1 What has changed in GDB?
2 (Organized release by release)
4 *** Changes since GDB 5.2:
10 * New native configurations
12 Alpha NetBSD alpha*-*-netbsd*
13 SH NetBSD sh*-*-netbsdelf*
15 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
17 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
18 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
19 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
22 * REMOVED configurations and files
24 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi, udi29k
25 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
26 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
27 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
28 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
30 testsuite/gdb.hp/gdb.threads-hp/ directory
32 * Changes in VAX configurations.
34 Multi-arch support is enabled for all VAX configurations.
36 * Changes in Alpha configurations.
38 Multi-arch support is enabled for all Alpha configurations.
40 * New command "set max-user-call-depth <nnn>"
42 This command allows the user to limit the call depth of user-defined
43 commands. The default is 1024.
45 * Changes in FreeBSD/i386 native debugging.
47 Support for the "generate-core-file" has been added.
49 * New commands "dump", "append", and "restore".
51 These commands allow data to be copied from target memory
52 to a bfd-format or binary file (dump and append), and back
53 from a file into memory (restore).
55 *** Changes in GDB 5.2:
57 * New command "set trust-readonly-sections on[off]".
59 This command is a hint that tells gdb that read-only sections
60 really are read-only (ie. that their contents will not change).
61 In this mode, gdb will go to the object file rather than the
62 target to read memory from read-only sections (such as ".text").
63 This can be a significant performance improvement on some
64 (notably embedded) targets.
66 * New command "generate-core-file" (or "gcore").
68 This new gdb command allows the user to drop a core file of the child
69 process state at any time. So far it's been implemented only for
70 GNU/Linux and Solaris, but should be relatively easily ported to other
71 hosts. Argument is core file name (defaults to core.<pid>).
73 * New command line option
75 GDB now accepts --pid or -p followed by a process id.
77 * Change in command line behavior -- corefiles vs. process ids.
79 There is a subtle behavior in the way in which GDB handles
80 command line arguments. The first non-flag argument is always
81 a program to debug, but the second non-flag argument may either
82 be a corefile or a process id. Previously, GDB would attempt to
83 open the second argument as a corefile, and if that failed, would
84 issue a superfluous error message and then attempt to attach it as
85 a process. Now, if the second argument begins with a non-digit,
86 it will be treated as a corefile. If it begins with a digit,
87 GDB will attempt to attach it as a process, and if no such process
88 is found, will then attempt to open it as a corefile.
90 * Changes in ARM configurations.
92 Multi-arch support is enabled for all ARM configurations. The ARM/NetBSD
93 configuration is fully multi-arch.
95 * New native configurations
97 ARM NetBSD arm*-*-netbsd*
98 x86 OpenBSD i[3456]86-*-openbsd*
99 AMD x86-64 running GNU/Linux x86_64-*-linux-*
100 Sparc64 running FreeBSD sparc64-*-freebsd*
104 Sanyo XStormy16 xstormy16-elf
106 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
108 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
109 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
110 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
113 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi, udi29k
114 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
115 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
116 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
117 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
119 testsuite/gdb.hp/gdb.threads-hp/ directory
121 * REMOVED configurations and files
123 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
125 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
126 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
127 PowerPC Netware powerpc-*-netware*
128 Harris/CXUX m88k m88*-harris-cxux*
129 Most ns32k hosts and targets ns32k-*-mach3* ns32k-umax-*
130 ns32k-utek-sysv* ns32k-utek-*
131 SunOS 4.0.Xi on i386 i[3456]86-*-sunos*
132 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1 a29k-nyu-sym1 a29k-*-kern*
133 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x m68*-sony-sysv news
134 ISI Optimum V (3.05) under 4.3bsd. m68*-isi-*
135 Apple Macintosh (MPW) host and target N/A host, powerpc-*-macos*
137 * Changes to command line processing
139 The new `--args' feature can be used to specify command-line arguments
140 for the inferior from gdb's command line.
142 * Changes to key bindings
144 There is a new `operate-and-get-next' function bound to `C-o'.
146 *** Changes in GDB 5.1.1
148 Fix compile problem on DJGPP.
150 Fix a problem with floating-point registers on the i386 being
153 Fix to stop GDB crashing on .debug_str debug info.
155 Numerous documentation fixes.
157 Numerous testsuite fixes.
159 *** Changes in GDB 5.1:
161 * New native configurations
163 Alpha FreeBSD alpha*-*-freebsd*
164 x86 FreeBSD 3.x and 4.x i[3456]86*-freebsd[34]*
165 MIPS GNU/Linux mips*-*-linux*
166 MIPS SGI Irix 6.x mips*-sgi-irix6*
168 s390 and s390x GNU/Linux {s390,s390x}-*-linux*
172 Motorola 68HC11 and 68HC12 m68hc11-elf
174 UltraSparc running GNU/Linux sparc64-*-linux*
176 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
178 x86 FreeBSD before 2.2 i[3456]86*-freebsd{1,2.[01]}*,
179 Harris/CXUX m88k m88*-harris-cxux*
180 Most ns32k hosts and targets ns32k-*-mach3* ns32k-umax-*
181 ns32k-utek-sysv* ns32k-utek-*
182 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
184 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1 a29k-nyu-sym1 a29k-*-kern*
185 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
186 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
187 PowerPC Netware powerpc-*-netware*
188 SunOS 4.0.Xi on i386 i[3456]86-*-sunos*
189 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x m68*-sony-sysv news
190 ISI Optimum V (3.05) under 4.3bsd. m68*-isi-*
191 Apple Macintosh (MPW) host N/A
193 stuff.c (Program to stuff files into a specially prepared space in kdb)
194 kdb-start.c (Main loop for the standalone kernel debugger)
196 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
197 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
198 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
201 * REMOVED configurations and files
203 Altos 3068 m68*-altos-*
204 Convex c1-*-*, c2-*-*
206 ARM RISCix arm-*-* (as host)
210 * GDB has been converted to ISO C.
212 GDB's source code has been converted to ISO C. In particular, the
213 sources are fully protoized, and rely on standard headers being
218 * "info symbol" works on platforms which use COFF, ECOFF, XCOFF, and NLM.
220 * The MI enabled by default.
222 The new machine oriented interface (MI) introduced in GDB 5.0 has been
223 revised and enabled by default. Packages which use GDB as a debugging
224 engine behind a UI or another front end are encouraged to switch to
225 using the GDB/MI interface, instead of the old annotations interface
226 which is now deprecated.
228 * Support for debugging Pascal programs.
230 GDB now includes support for debugging Pascal programs. The following
231 main features are supported:
233 - Pascal-specific data types such as sets;
235 - automatic recognition of Pascal sources based on file-name
238 - Pascal-style display of data types, variables, and functions;
240 - a Pascal expression parser.
242 However, some important features are not yet supported.
244 - Pascal string operations are not supported at all;
246 - there are some problems with boolean types;
248 - Pascal type hexadecimal constants are not supported
249 because they conflict with the internal variables format;
251 - support for Pascal objects and classes is not full yet;
253 - unlike Pascal, GDB is case-sensitive for symbol names.
255 * Changes in completion.
257 Commands such as `shell', `run' and `set args', which pass arguments
258 to inferior programs, now complete on file names, similar to what
259 users expect at the shell prompt.
261 Commands which accept locations, such as `disassemble', `print',
262 `breakpoint', `until', etc. now complete on filenames as well as
263 program symbols. Thus, if you type "break foob TAB", and the source
264 files linked into the programs include `foobar.c', that file name will
265 be one of the candidates for completion. However, file names are not
266 considered for completion after you typed a colon that delimits a file
267 name from a name of a function in that file, as in "break foo.c:bar".
269 `set demangle-style' completes on available demangling styles.
271 * New platform-independent commands:
273 It is now possible to define a post-hook for a command as well as a
274 hook that runs before the command. For more details, see the
275 documentation of `hookpost' in the GDB manual.
277 * Changes in GNU/Linux native debugging.
279 Support for debugging multi-threaded programs has been completely
280 revised for all platforms except m68k and sparc. You can now debug as
281 many threads as your system allows you to have.
283 Attach/detach is supported for multi-threaded programs.
285 Support for SSE registers was added for x86. This doesn't work for
286 multi-threaded programs though.
288 * Changes in MIPS configurations.
290 Multi-arch support is enabled for all MIPS configurations.
292 GDB can now be built as native debugger on SGI Irix 6.x systems for
293 debugging n32 executables. (Debugging 64-bit executables is not yet
296 * Unified support for hardware watchpoints in all x86 configurations.
298 Most (if not all) native x86 configurations support hardware-assisted
299 breakpoints and watchpoints in a unified manner. This support
300 implements debug register sharing between watchpoints, which allows to
301 put a virtually infinite number of watchpoints on the same address,
302 and also supports watching regions up to 16 bytes with several debug
305 The new maintenance command `maintenance show-debug-regs' toggles
306 debugging print-outs in functions that insert, remove, and test
307 watchpoints and hardware breakpoints.
309 * Changes in the DJGPP native configuration.
311 New command ``info dos sysinfo'' displays assorted information about
312 the CPU, OS, memory, and DPMI server.
314 New commands ``info dos gdt'', ``info dos ldt'', and ``info dos idt''
315 display information about segment descriptors stored in GDT, LDT, and
318 New commands ``info dos pde'' and ``info dos pte'' display entries
319 from Page Directory and Page Tables (for now works with CWSDPMI only).
320 New command ``info dos address-pte'' displays the Page Table entry for
321 a given linear address.
323 GDB can now pass command lines longer than 126 characters to the
324 program being debugged (requires an update to the libdbg.a library
325 which is part of the DJGPP development kit).
327 DWARF2 debug info is now supported.
329 It is now possible to `step' and `next' through calls to `longjmp'.
331 * Changes in documentation.
333 All GDB documentation was converted to GFDL, the GNU Free
334 Documentation License.
336 Tracepoints-related commands are now fully documented in the GDB
339 TUI, the Text-mode User Interface, is now documented in the manual.
341 Tracepoints-related commands are now fully documented in the GDB
344 The "GDB Internals" manual now has an index. It also includes
345 documentation of `ui_out' functions, GDB coding standards, x86
346 hardware watchpoints, and memory region attributes.
348 * GDB's version number moved to ``version.in''
350 The Makefile variable VERSION has been replaced by the file
351 ``version.in''. People creating GDB distributions should update the
352 contents of this file.
356 GUD support is now a standard part of the EMACS distribution.
358 *** Changes in GDB 5.0:
360 * Improved support for debugging FP programs on x86 targets
362 Unified and much-improved support for debugging floating-point
363 programs on all x86 targets. In particular, ``info float'' now
364 displays the FP registers in the same format on all x86 targets, with
365 greater level of detail.
367 * Improvements and bugfixes in hardware-assisted watchpoints
369 It is now possible to watch array elements, struct members, and
370 bitfields with hardware-assisted watchpoints. Data-read watchpoints
371 on x86 targets no longer erroneously trigger when the address is
374 * Improvements in the native DJGPP version of GDB
376 The distribution now includes all the scripts and auxiliary files
377 necessary to build the native DJGPP version on MS-DOS/MS-Windows
378 machines ``out of the box''.
380 The DJGPP version can now debug programs that use signals. It is
381 possible to catch signals that happened in the debuggee, deliver
382 signals to it, interrupt it with Ctrl-C, etc. (Previously, a signal
383 would kill the program being debugged.) Programs that hook hardware
384 interrupts (keyboard, timer, etc.) can also be debugged.
386 It is now possible to debug DJGPP programs that redirect their
387 standard handles or switch them to raw (as opposed to cooked) mode, or
388 even close them. The command ``run < foo > bar'' works as expected,
389 and ``info terminal'' reports useful information about the debuggee's
390 terminal, including raw/cooked mode, redirection, etc.
392 The DJGPP version now uses termios functions for console I/O, which
393 enables debugging graphics programs. Interrupting GDB with Ctrl-C
396 DOS-style file names with drive letters are now fully supported by
399 It is now possible to debug DJGPP programs that switch their working
400 directory. It is also possible to rerun the debuggee any number of
401 times without restarting GDB; thus, you can use the same setup,
402 breakpoints, etc. for many debugging sessions.
404 * New native configurations
406 ARM GNU/Linux arm*-*-linux*
407 PowerPC GNU/Linux powerpc-*-linux*
411 Motorola MCore mcore-*-*
412 x86 VxWorks i[3456]86-*-vxworks*
413 PowerPC VxWorks powerpc-*-vxworks*
414 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
416 * OBSOLETE configurations
418 Altos 3068 m68*-altos-*
419 Convex c1-*-*, c2-*-*
421 ARM RISCix arm-*-* (as host)
424 Configurations that have been declared obsolete will be commented out,
425 but the code will be left in place. If there is no activity to revive
426 these configurations before the next release of GDB, the sources will
427 be permanently REMOVED.
429 * Gould support removed
431 Support for the Gould PowerNode and NP1 has been removed.
433 * New features for SVR4
435 On SVR4 native platforms (such as Solaris), if you attach to a process
436 without first loading a symbol file, GDB will now attempt to locate and
437 load symbols from the running process's executable file.
439 * Many C++ enhancements
441 C++ support has been greatly improved. Overload resolution now works properly
442 in almost all cases. RTTI support is on the way.
444 * Remote targets can connect to a sub-program
446 A popen(3) style serial-device has been added. This device starts a
447 sub-process (such as a stand-alone simulator) and then communicates
448 with that. The sub-program to run is specified using the syntax
449 ``|<program> <args>'' vis:
451 (gdb) set remotedebug 1
452 (gdb) target extended-remote |mn10300-elf-sim program-args
454 * MIPS 64 remote protocol
456 A long standing bug in the mips64 remote protocol where by GDB
457 expected certain 32 bit registers (ex SR) to be transfered as 32
458 instead of 64 bits has been fixed.
460 The command ``set remote-mips64-transfers-32bit-regs on'' has been
461 added to provide backward compatibility with older versions of GDB.
463 * ``set remotebinarydownload'' replaced by ``set remote X-packet''
465 The command ``set remotebinarydownload'' command has been replaced by
466 ``set remote X-packet''. Other commands in ``set remote'' family
467 include ``set remote P-packet''.
469 * Breakpoint commands accept ranges.
471 The breakpoint commands ``enable'', ``disable'', and ``delete'' now
472 accept a range of breakpoints, e.g. ``5-7''. The tracepoint command
473 ``tracepoint passcount'' also accepts a range of tracepoints.
475 * ``apropos'' command added.
477 The ``apropos'' command searches through command names and
478 documentation strings, printing out matches, making it much easier to
479 try to find a command that does what you are looking for.
483 A new machine oriented interface (MI) has been added to GDB. This
484 interface is designed for debug environments running GDB as a separate
485 process. This is part of the long term libGDB project. See the
486 "GDB/MI" chapter of the GDB manual for further information. It can be
487 enabled by configuring with:
489 .../configure --enable-gdbmi
491 *** Changes in GDB-4.18:
493 * New native configurations
495 HP-UX 10.20 hppa*-*-hpux10.20
496 HP-UX 11.x hppa*-*-hpux11.0*
497 M68K GNU/Linux m68*-*-linux*
501 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
502 Intel StrongARM strongarm-*-*
503 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
505 * OBSOLETE configurations
507 Gould PowerNode, NP1 np1-*-*, pn-*-*
509 Configurations that have been declared obsolete will be commented out,
510 but the code will be left in place. If there is no activity to revive
511 these configurations before the next release of GDB, the sources will
512 be permanently REMOVED.
516 As a compatibility experiment, GDB's source files buildsym.h and
517 buildsym.c have been converted to pure standard C, no longer
518 containing any K&R compatibility code. We believe that all systems in
519 use today either come with a standard C compiler, or have a GCC port
520 available. If this is not true, please report the affected
521 configuration to bug-gdb@gnu.org immediately. See the README file for
522 information about getting a standard C compiler if you don't have one
527 GDB now uses readline 2.2.
529 * set extension-language
531 You can now control the mapping between filename extensions and source
532 languages by using the `set extension-language' command. For instance,
533 you can ask GDB to treat .c files as C++ by saying
534 set extension-language .c c++
535 The command `info extensions' lists all of the recognized extensions
536 and their associated languages.
538 * Setting processor type for PowerPC and RS/6000
540 When GDB is configured for a powerpc*-*-* or an rs6000*-*-* target,
541 you can use the `set processor' command to specify what variant of the
542 PowerPC family you are debugging. The command
546 sets the PowerPC/RS6000 variant to NAME. GDB knows about the
547 following PowerPC and RS6000 variants:
549 ppc-uisa PowerPC UISA - a PPC processor as viewed by user-level code
550 rs6000 IBM RS6000 ("POWER") architecture, user-level view
552 403GC IBM PowerPC 403GC
553 505 Motorola PowerPC 505
554 860 Motorola PowerPC 860 or 850
555 601 Motorola PowerPC 601
556 602 Motorola PowerPC 602
557 603 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 603 or 603e
558 604 Motorola PowerPC 604 or 604e
559 750 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 750 or 750
561 At the moment, this command just tells GDB what to name the
562 special-purpose processor registers. Since almost all the affected
563 registers are inaccessible to user-level programs, this command is
564 only useful for remote debugging in its present form.
568 Thanks to a major code donation from Hewlett-Packard, GDB now has much
569 more extensive support for HP-UX. Added features include shared
570 library support, kernel threads and hardware watchpoints for 11.00,
571 support for HP's ANSI C and C++ compilers, and a compatibility mode
572 for xdb and dbx commands.
576 HP's donation includes the new concept of catchpoints, which is a
577 generalization of the old catch command. On HP-UX, it is now possible
578 to catch exec, fork, and vfork, as well as library loading.
580 This means that the existing catch command has changed; its first
581 argument now specifies the type of catch to be set up. See the
582 output of "help catch" for a list of catchpoint types.
584 * Debugging across forks
586 On HP-UX, you can choose which process to debug when a fork() happens
591 HP has donated a curses-based terminal user interface (TUI). To get
592 it, build with --enable-tui. Although this can be enabled for any
593 configuration, at present it only works for native HP debugging.
595 * GDB remote protocol additions
597 A new protocol packet 'X' that writes binary data is now available.
598 Default behavior is to try 'X', then drop back to 'M' if the stub
599 fails to respond. The settable variable `remotebinarydownload'
600 allows explicit control over the use of 'X'.
602 For 64-bit targets, the memory packets ('M' and 'm') can now contain a
603 full 64-bit address. The command
605 set remoteaddresssize 32
607 can be used to revert to the old behaviour. For existing remote stubs
608 the change should not be noticed, as the additional address information
611 In order to assist in debugging stubs, you may use the maintenance
612 command `packet' to send any text string to the stub. For instance,
614 maint packet heythere
616 sends the packet "$heythere#<checksum>". Note that it is very easy to
617 disrupt a debugging session by sending the wrong packet at the wrong
620 The compare-sections command allows you to compare section data on the
621 target to what is in the executable file without uploading or
622 downloading, by comparing CRC checksums.
624 * Tracing can collect general expressions
626 You may now collect general expressions at tracepoints. This requires
627 further additions to the target-side stub; see tracepoint.c and
628 doc/agentexpr.texi for further details.
630 * mask-address variable for Mips
632 For Mips targets, you may control the zeroing of the upper 32 bits of
633 a 64-bit address by entering `set mask-address on'. This is mainly
634 of interest to users of embedded R4xxx and R5xxx processors.
636 * Higher serial baud rates
638 GDB's serial code now allows you to specify baud rates 57600, 115200,
639 230400, and 460800 baud. (Note that your host system may not be able
640 to achieve all of these rates.)
644 The i960 configuration now includes an initial implementation of a
645 builtin simulator, contributed by Jim Wilson.
648 *** Changes in GDB-4.17:
650 * New native configurations
652 Alpha GNU/Linux alpha*-*-linux*
653 Unixware 2.x i[3456]86-unixware2*
654 Irix 6.x mips*-sgi-irix6*
655 PowerPC GNU/Linux powerpc-*-linux*
656 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
657 Sparc GNU/Linux sparc-*-linux*
658 Motorola sysV68 R3V7.1 m68k-motorola-sysv
662 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
663 Hitachi H8/300S h8300*-*-*
664 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
665 Matsushita MN10300 w/simulator mn10300-*-*
666 MIPS NEC VR4100 mips64*vr4100*{,el}-*-elf*
667 MIPS NEC VR5000 mips64*vr5000*{,el}-*-elf*
668 MIPS Toshiba TX39 mips64*tx39*{,el}-*-elf*
669 Mitsubishi D10V w/simulator d10v-*-*
670 Mitsubishi M32R/D w/simulator m32r-*-elf*
671 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
672 NEC V850 w/simulator v850-*-*
674 * New debugging protocols
676 ARM with RDI protocol arm*-*-*
677 M68K with dBUG monitor m68*-*-{aout,coff,elf}
678 DDB and LSI variants of PMON protocol mips*-*-*
679 PowerPC with DINK32 monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
680 PowerPC with SDS protocol powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
681 Macraigor OCD (Wiggler) devices powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
685 All configurations can now understand and use the DWARF 2 debugging
686 format. The choice is automatic, if the symbol file contains DWARF 2
691 GDB now includes basic Java language support. This support is
692 only useful with Java compilers that produce native machine code.
694 * solib-absolute-prefix and solib-search-path
696 For SunOS and SVR4 shared libraries, you may now set the prefix for
697 loading absolute shared library symbol files, and the search path for
698 locating non-absolute shared library symbol files.
700 * Live range splitting
702 GDB can now effectively debug code for which GCC has performed live
703 range splitting as part of its optimization. See gdb/doc/LRS for
704 more details on the expected format of the stabs information.
708 GDB's support for the GNU Hurd, including thread debugging, has been
709 updated to work with current versions of the Hurd.
713 GDB's ARM target configuration now handles the ARM7T (Thumb) 16-bit
714 instruction set. ARM GDB automatically detects when Thumb
715 instructions are in use, and adjusts disassembly and backtracing
720 GDB's MIPS target configurations now handle the MIP16 16-bit
725 GDB now includes support for overlays; if an executable has been
726 linked such that multiple sections are based at the same address, GDB
727 will decide which section to use for symbolic info. You can choose to
728 control the decision manually, using overlay commands, or implement
729 additional target-side support and use "overlay load-target" to bring
730 in the overlay mapping. Do "help overlay" for more detail.
734 The command "info symbol <address>" displays information about
735 the symbol at the specified address.
739 The standard remote protocol now includes an extension that allows
740 asynchronous collection and display of trace data. This requires
741 extensive support in the target-side debugging stub. Tracing mode
742 includes a new interaction mode in GDB and new commands: see the
743 file tracepoint.c for more details.
747 Configurations for embedded MIPS now include a simulator contributed
748 by Cygnus Solutions. The simulator supports the instruction sets
749 of most MIPS variants.
753 Sparc configurations may now include the ERC32 simulator contributed
754 by the European Space Agency. The simulator is not built into
755 Sparc targets by default; configure with --enable-sim to include it.
759 For target configurations that may include multiple variants of a
760 basic architecture (such as MIPS and SH), you may now set the
761 architecture explicitly. "set arch" sets, "info arch" lists
762 the possible architectures.
764 *** Changes in GDB-4.16:
766 * New native configurations
768 Windows 95, x86 Windows NT i[345]86-*-cygwin32
769 M68K NetBSD m68k-*-netbsd*
770 PowerPC AIX 4.x powerpc-*-aix*
771 PowerPC MacOS powerpc-*-macos*
772 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
773 RS/6000 AIX 4.x rs6000-*-aix4*
777 ARM with RDP protocol arm-*-*
778 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
779 MIPS VxWorks mips*-*-vxworks*
780 MIPS VR4300 with PMON mips64*vr4300{,el}-*-elf*
781 PowerPC with PPCBUG monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi*
783 Matra Sparclet sparclet-*-*
787 The powerpc-eabi configuration now includes the PSIM simulator,
788 contributed by Andrew Cagney, with assistance from Mike Meissner.
789 PSIM is a very elaborate model of the PowerPC, including not only
790 basic instruction set execution, but also details of execution unit
791 performance and I/O hardware. See sim/ppc/README for more details.
795 GDB now works with Solaris 2.5.
797 * Windows 95/NT native
799 GDB will now work as a native debugger on Windows 95 and Windows NT.
800 To build it from source, you must use the "gnu-win32" environment,
801 which uses a DLL to emulate enough of Unix to run the GNU tools.
802 Further information, binaries, and sources are available at
803 ftp.cygnus.com, under pub/gnu-win32.
805 * dont-repeat command
807 If a user-defined command includes the command `dont-repeat', then the
808 command will not be repeated if the user just types return. This is
809 useful if the command is time-consuming to run, so that accidental
810 extra keystrokes don't run the same command many times.
812 * Send break instead of ^C
814 The standard remote protocol now includes an option to send a break
815 rather than a ^C to the target in order to interrupt it. By default,
816 GDB will send ^C; to send a break, set the variable `remotebreak' to 1.
818 * Remote protocol timeout
820 The standard remote protocol includes a new variable `remotetimeout'
821 that allows you to set the number of seconds before GDB gives up trying
822 to read from the target. The default value is 2.
824 * Automatic tracking of dynamic object loading (HPUX and Solaris only)
826 By default GDB will automatically keep track of objects as they are
827 loaded and unloaded by the dynamic linker. By using the command `set
828 stop-on-solib-events 1' you can arrange for GDB to stop the inferior
829 when shared library events occur, thus allowing you to set breakpoints
830 in shared libraries which are explicitly loaded by the inferior.
832 Note this feature does not work on hpux8. On hpux9 you must link
833 /usr/lib/end.o into your program. This feature should work
834 automatically on hpux10.
836 * Irix 5.x hardware watchpoint support
838 Irix 5 configurations now support the use of hardware watchpoints.
840 * Mips protocol "SYN garbage limit"
842 When debugging a Mips target using the `target mips' protocol, you
843 may set the number of characters that GDB will ignore by setting
844 the `syn-garbage-limit'. A value of -1 means that GDB will ignore
845 every character. The default value is 1050.
847 * Recording and replaying remote debug sessions
849 If you set `remotelogfile' to the name of a file, gdb will write to it
850 a recording of a remote debug session. This recording may then be
851 replayed back to gdb using "gdbreplay". See gdbserver/README for
852 details. This is useful when you have a problem with GDB while doing
853 remote debugging; you can make a recording of the session and send it
854 to someone else, who can then recreate the problem.
856 * Speedups for remote debugging
858 GDB includes speedups for downloading and stepping MIPS systems using
859 the IDT monitor, fast downloads to the Hitachi SH E7000 emulator,
860 and more efficient S-record downloading.
862 * Memory use reductions and statistics collection
864 GDB now uses less memory and reports statistics about memory usage.
865 Try the `maint print statistics' command, for example.
867 *** Changes in GDB-4.15:
871 The symbol reader for AIX GDB now uses partial symbol tables. This
872 can greatly improve startup time, especially for large executables.
874 * Remote targets use caching
876 Remote targets now use a data cache to speed up communication with the
877 remote side. The data cache could lead to incorrect results because
878 it doesn't know about volatile variables, thus making it impossible to
879 debug targets which use memory mapped I/O devices. `set remotecache
880 off' turns the the data cache off.
882 * Remote targets may have threads
884 The standard remote protocol now includes support for multiple threads
885 in the target system, using new protocol commands 'H' and 'T'. See
886 gdb/remote.c for details.
890 If GDB is configured with `--enable-netrom', then it will include
891 support for the NetROM ROM emulator from XLNT Designs. The NetROM
892 acts as though it is a bank of ROM on the target board, but you can
893 write into it over the network. GDB's support consists only of
894 support for fast loading into the emulated ROM; to debug, you must use
895 another protocol, such as standard remote protocol. The usual
896 sequence is something like
898 target nrom <netrom-hostname>
900 target remote <netrom-hostname>:1235
904 GDB now includes support for the Apple Macintosh, as a host only. It
905 may be run as either an MPW tool or as a standalone application, and
906 it can debug through the serial port. All the usual GDB commands are
907 available, but to the target command, you must supply "serial" as the
908 device type instead of "/dev/ttyXX". See mpw-README in the main
909 directory for more information on how to build. The MPW configuration
910 scripts */mpw-config.in support only a few targets, and only the
911 mips-idt-ecoff target has been tested.
915 GDB configuration now uses autoconf. This is not user-visible,
916 but does simplify configuration and building.
920 GDB now supports hpux10.
922 *** Changes in GDB-4.14:
924 * New native configurations
926 x86 FreeBSD i[345]86-*-freebsd
927 x86 NetBSD i[345]86-*-netbsd
928 NS32k NetBSD ns32k-*-netbsd
929 Sparc NetBSD sparc-*-netbsd
933 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
934 HP PA PRO embedded (WinBond W89K & Oki OP50N) hppa*-*-pro*
935 CPU32 EST-300 emulator m68*-*-est*
936 PowerPC ELF powerpc-*-elf
939 * Alpha OSF/1 support for procfs
941 GDB now supports procfs under OSF/1-2.x and higher, which makes it
942 possible to attach to running processes. As the mounting of the /proc
943 filesystem is optional on the Alpha, GDB automatically determines
944 the availability of /proc during startup. This can lead to problems
945 if /proc is unmounted after GDB has been started.
947 * Arguments to user-defined commands
949 User commands may accept up to 10 arguments separated by whitespace.
950 Arguments are accessed within the user command via $arg0..$arg9. A
953 print $arg0 + $arg1 + $arg2
955 To execute the command use:
958 Defines the command "adder" which prints the sum of its three arguments.
959 Note the arguments are text substitutions, so they may reference variables,
960 use complex expressions, or even perform inferior function calls.
962 * New `if' and `while' commands
964 This makes it possible to write more sophisticated user-defined
965 commands. Both commands take a single argument, which is the
966 expression to evaluate, and must be followed by the commands to
967 execute, one per line, if the expression is nonzero, the list being
968 terminated by the word `end'. The `if' command list may include an
969 `else' word, which causes the following commands to be executed only
970 if the expression is zero.
972 * Fortran source language mode
974 GDB now includes partial support for Fortran 77. It will recognize
975 Fortran programs and can evaluate a subset of Fortran expressions, but
976 variables and functions may not be handled correctly. GDB will work
977 with G77, but does not yet know much about symbols emitted by other
980 * Better HPUX support
982 Most debugging facilities now work on dynamic executables for HPPAs
983 running hpux9 or later. You can attach to running dynamically linked
984 processes, but by default the dynamic libraries will be read-only, so
985 for instance you won't be able to put breakpoints in them. To change
986 that behavior do the following before running the program:
992 This will cause the libraries to be mapped private and read-write.
993 To revert to the normal behavior, do this:
999 You cannot set breakpoints or examine data in the library until after
1000 the library is loaded if the function/data symbols do not have
1003 GDB can now also read debug symbols produced by the HP C compiler on
1004 HPPAs (sorry, no C++, Fortran or 68k support).
1006 * Target byte order now dynamically selectable
1008 You can choose which byte order to use with a target system, via the
1009 commands "set endian big" and "set endian little", and you can see the
1010 current setting by using "show endian". You can also give the command
1011 "set endian auto", in which case GDB will use the byte order
1012 associated with the executable. Currently, only embedded MIPS
1013 configurations support dynamic selection of target byte order.
1015 * New DOS host serial code
1017 This version uses DPMI interrupts to handle buffered I/O, so you
1018 no longer need to run asynctsr when debugging boards connected to
1021 *** Changes in GDB-4.13:
1023 * New "complete" command
1025 This lists all the possible completions for the rest of the line, if it
1026 were to be given as a command itself. This is intended for use by emacs.
1028 * Trailing space optional in prompt
1030 "set prompt" no longer adds a space for you after the prompt you set. This
1031 allows you to set a prompt which ends in a space or one that does not.
1033 * Breakpoint hit counts
1035 "info break" now displays a count of the number of times the breakpoint
1036 has been hit. This is especially useful in conjunction with "ignore"; you
1037 can ignore a large number of breakpoint hits, look at the breakpoint info
1038 to see how many times the breakpoint was hit, then run again, ignoring one
1039 less than that number, and this will get you quickly to the last hit of
1042 * Ability to stop printing at NULL character
1044 "set print null-stop" will cause GDB to stop printing the characters of
1045 an array when the first NULL is encountered. This is useful when large
1046 arrays actually contain only short strings.
1048 * Shared library breakpoints
1050 In SunOS 4.x, SVR4, and Alpha OSF/1 configurations, you can now set
1051 breakpoints in shared libraries before the executable is run.
1053 * Hardware watchpoints
1055 There is a new hardware breakpoint for the watch command for sparclite
1056 targets. See gdb/sparclite/hw_breakpoint.note.
1058 Hardware watchpoints are also now supported under GNU/Linux.
1062 Annotations have been added. These are for use with graphical interfaces,
1063 and are still experimental. Currently only gdba.el uses these.
1065 * Improved Irix 5 support
1067 GDB now works properly with Irix 5.2.
1069 * Improved HPPA support
1071 GDB now works properly with the latest GCC and GAS.
1073 * New native configurations
1075 Sequent PTX4 i[34]86-sequent-ptx4
1076 HPPA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
1077 Atari TT running SVR4 m68*-*-sysv4*
1078 RS/6000 LynxOS rs6000-*-lynxos*
1082 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
1083 MIPS R4000 mips64*{,el}-*-{ecoff,elf}
1086 * Hitachi SH7000 and E7000-PC ICE support
1088 There is now support for communicating with the Hitachi E7000-PC ICE.
1089 This is available automatically when GDB is configured for the SH.
1093 As usual, a variety of small fixes and improvements, both generic
1094 and configuration-specific. See the ChangeLog for more detail.
1096 *** Changes in GDB-4.12:
1098 * Irix 5 is now supported
1102 GDB-4.12 on the HPPA has a number of changes which make it unable
1103 to debug the output from the currently released versions of GCC and
1104 GAS (GCC 2.5.8 and GAS-2.2 or PAGAS-1.36). Until the next major release
1105 of GCC and GAS, versions of these tools designed to work with GDB-4.12
1106 can be retrieved via anonymous ftp from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist.
1109 *** Changes in GDB-4.11:
1111 * User visible changes:
1115 The "set remotedebug" option is now consistent between the mips remote
1116 target, remote targets using the gdb-specific protocol, UDI (AMD's
1117 debug protocol for the 29k) and the 88k bug monitor. It is now an
1118 integer specifying a debug level (normally 0 or 1, but 2 means more
1119 debugging info for the mips target).
1121 * DEC Alpha native support
1123 GDB now works on the DEC Alpha. GCC 2.4.5 does not produce usable
1124 debug info, but GDB works fairly well with the DEC compiler and should
1125 work with a future GCC release. See the README file for a few
1126 Alpha-specific notes.
1128 * Preliminary thread implementation
1130 GDB now has preliminary thread support for both SGI/Irix and LynxOS.
1132 * LynxOS native and target support for 386
1134 This release has been hosted on LynxOS 2.2, and also can be configured
1135 to remotely debug programs running under LynxOS (see gdb/gdbserver/README
1138 * Improvements in C++ mangling/demangling.
1140 This release has much better g++ debugging, specifically in name
1141 mangling/demangling, virtual function calls, print virtual table,
1142 call methods, ...etc.
1144 *** Changes in GDB-4.10:
1146 * User visible changes:
1148 Remote debugging using the GDB-specific (`target remote') protocol now
1149 supports the `load' command. This is only useful if you have some
1150 other way of getting the stub to the target system, and you can put it
1151 somewhere in memory where it won't get clobbered by the download.
1153 Filename completion now works.
1155 When run under emacs mode, the "info line" command now causes the
1156 arrow to point to the line specified. Also, "info line" prints
1157 addresses in symbolic form (as well as hex).
1159 All vxworks based targets now support a user settable option, called
1160 vxworks-timeout. This option represents the number of seconds gdb
1161 should wait for responses to rpc's. You might want to use this if
1162 your vxworks target is, perhaps, a slow software simulator or happens
1163 to be on the far side of a thin network line.
1167 This release contains support for using a DEC alpha as a GDB host for
1168 cross debugging. Native alpha debugging is not supported yet.
1171 *** Changes in GDB-4.9:
1175 This is the first GDB release which is accompanied by a matching testsuite.
1176 The testsuite requires installation of dejagnu, which should be available
1177 via ftp from most sites that carry GNU software.
1181 'Cfront' style demangling has had its name changed to 'ARM' style, to
1182 emphasize that it was written from the specifications in the C++ Annotated
1183 Reference Manual, not necessarily to be compatible with AT&T cfront. Despite
1184 disclaimers, it still generated too much confusion with users attempting to
1185 use gdb with AT&T cfront.
1189 GDB now uses a standard remote interface to a simulator library.
1190 So far, the library contains simulators for the Zilog Z8001/2, the
1191 Hitachi H8/300, H8/500 and Super-H.
1193 * New targets supported
1195 H8/300 simulator h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
1196 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
1197 SH simulator sh-hitachi-hms or sh
1198 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
1199 IDT MIPS board over serial line mips-idt-ecoff
1201 Cross-debugging to GO32 targets is supported. It requires a custom
1202 version of the i386-stub.c module which is integrated with the
1203 GO32 memory extender.
1205 * New remote protocols
1207 MIPS remote debugging protocol.
1209 * New source languages supported
1211 This version includes preliminary support for Chill, a Pascal like language
1212 used by telecommunications companies. Chill support is also being integrated
1213 into the GNU compiler, but we don't know when it will be publically available.
1216 *** Changes in GDB-4.8:
1218 * HP Precision Architecture supported
1220 GDB now supports HP PA-RISC machines running HPUX. A preliminary
1221 version of this support was available as a set of patches from the
1222 University of Utah. GDB does not support debugging of programs
1223 compiled with the HP compiler, because HP will not document their file
1224 format. Instead, you must use GCC (version 2.3.2 or later) and PA-GAS
1225 (as available from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist/pa-gas.u4.tar.Z).
1227 Many problems in the preliminary version have been fixed.
1229 * Faster and better demangling
1231 We have improved template demangling and fixed numerous bugs in the GNU style
1232 demangler. It can now handle type modifiers such as `static' or `const'. Wide
1233 character types (wchar_t) are now supported. Demangling of each symbol is now
1234 only done once, and is cached when the symbol table for a file is read in.
1235 This results in a small increase in memory usage for C programs, a moderate
1236 increase in memory usage for C++ programs, and a fantastic speedup in
1239 `Cfront' style demangling still doesn't work with AT&T cfront. It was written
1240 from the specifications in the Annotated Reference Manual, which AT&T's
1241 compiler does not actually implement.
1243 * G++ multiple inheritance compiler problem
1245 In the 2.3.2 release of gcc/g++, how the compiler resolves multiple
1246 inheritance lattices was reworked to properly discover ambiguities. We
1247 recently found an example which causes this new algorithm to fail in a
1248 very subtle way, producing bad debug information for those classes.
1249 The file 'gcc.patch' (in this directory) can be applied to gcc to
1250 circumvent the problem. A future GCC release will contain a complete
1253 The previous G++ debug info problem (mentioned below for the gdb-4.7
1254 release) is fixed in gcc version 2.3.2.
1256 * Improved configure script
1258 The `configure' script will now attempt to guess your system type if
1259 you don't supply a host system type. The old scheme of supplying a
1260 host system triplet is preferable over using this. All the magic is
1261 done in the new `config.guess' script. Examine it for details.
1263 We have also brought our configure script much more in line with the FSF's
1264 version. It now supports the --with-xxx options. In particular,
1265 `--with-minimal-bfd' can be used to make the GDB binary image smaller.
1266 The resulting GDB will not be able to read arbitrary object file formats --
1267 only the format ``expected'' to be used on the configured target system.
1268 We hope to make this the default in a future release.
1270 * Documentation improvements
1272 There's new internal documentation on how to modify GDB, and how to
1273 produce clean changes to the code. We implore people to read it
1274 before submitting changes.
1276 The GDB manual uses new, sexy Texinfo conditionals, rather than arcane
1277 M4 macros. The new texinfo.tex is provided in this release. Pre-built
1278 `info' files are also provided. To build `info' files from scratch,
1279 you will need the latest `makeinfo' release, which will be available in
1280 a future texinfo-X.Y release.
1282 *NOTE* The new texinfo.tex can cause old versions of TeX to hang.
1283 We're not sure exactly which versions have this problem, but it has
1284 been seen in 3.0. We highly recommend upgrading to TeX version 3.141
1285 or better. If that isn't possible, there is a patch in
1286 `texinfo/tex3patch' that will modify `texinfo/texinfo.tex' to work
1287 around this problem.
1291 GDB now supports array constants that can be used in expressions typed in by
1292 the user. The syntax is `{element, element, ...}'. Ie: you can now type
1293 `print {1, 2, 3}', and it will build up an array in memory malloc'd in
1296 The new directory `gdb/sparclite' contains a program that demonstrates
1297 how the sparc-stub.c remote stub runs on a Fujitsu SPARClite processor.
1299 * New native hosts supported
1301 HP/PA-RISC under HPUX using GNU tools hppa1.1-hp-hpux
1302 386 CPUs running SCO Unix 3.2v4 i386-unknown-sco3.2v4
1304 * New targets supported
1306 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi or udi29k
1308 * New file formats supported
1310 BFD now supports reading HP/PA-RISC executables (SOM file format?),
1311 HPUX core files, and SCO 3.2v2 core files.
1315 Attaching to processes now works again; thanks for the many bug reports.
1317 We have also stomped on a bunch of core dumps caused by
1318 printf_filtered("%s") problems.
1320 We eliminated a copyright problem on the rpc and ptrace header files
1321 for VxWorks, which was discovered at the last minute during the 4.7
1322 release. You should now be able to build a VxWorks GDB.
1324 You can now interrupt gdb while an attached process is running. This
1325 will cause the attached process to stop, and give control back to GDB.
1327 We fixed problems caused by using too many file descriptors
1328 for reading symbols from object files and libraries. This was
1329 especially a problem for programs that used many (~100) shared
1332 The `step' command now only enters a subroutine if there is line number
1333 information for the subroutine. Otherwise it acts like the `next'
1334 command. Previously, `step' would enter subroutines if there was
1335 any debugging information about the routine. This avoids problems
1336 when using `cc -g1' on MIPS machines.
1338 * Internal improvements
1340 GDB's internal interfaces have been improved to make it easier to support
1341 debugging of multiple languages in the future.
1343 GDB now uses a common structure for symbol information internally.
1344 Minimal symbols (derived from linkage symbols in object files), partial
1345 symbols (from a quick scan of debug information), and full symbols
1346 contain a common subset of information, making it easier to write
1347 shared code that handles any of them.
1349 * New command line options
1351 We now accept --silent as an alias for --quiet.
1355 The memory-mapped-malloc library is now licensed under the GNU Library
1356 General Public License.
1358 *** Changes in GDB-4.7:
1360 * Host/native/target split
1362 GDB has had some major internal surgery to untangle the support for
1363 hosts and remote targets. Now, when you configure GDB for a remote
1364 target, it will no longer load in all of the support for debugging
1365 local programs on the host. When fully completed and tested, this will
1366 ensure that arbitrary host/target combinations are possible.
1368 The primary conceptual shift is to separate the non-portable code in
1369 GDB into three categories. Host specific code is required any time GDB
1370 is compiled on that host, regardless of the target. Target specific
1371 code relates to the peculiarities of the target, but can be compiled on
1372 any host. Native specific code is everything else: it can only be
1373 built when the host and target are the same system. Child process
1374 handling and core file support are two common `native' examples.
1376 GDB's use of /proc for controlling Unix child processes is now cleaner.
1377 It has been split out into a single module under the `target_ops' vector,
1378 plus two native-dependent functions for each system that uses /proc.
1380 * New hosts supported
1382 HP/Apollo 68k (under the BSD domain) m68k-apollo-bsd or apollo68bsd
1383 386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
1384 386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or i386sco
1386 * New targets supported
1388 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
1389 68030 and CPU32 m68030-*-*, m68332-*-*
1391 * New native hosts supported
1393 386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
1394 (386bsd is not well tested yet)
1395 386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or sco
1397 * New file formats supported
1399 BFD now supports COFF files for the Zilog Z8000 microprocessor. It
1400 supports reading of `a.out.adobe' object files, which are an a.out
1401 format extended with minimal information about multiple sections.
1405 `show copying' is the same as the old `info copying'.
1406 `show warranty' is the same as `info warrantee'.
1407 These were renamed for consistency. The old commands continue to work.
1409 `info handle' is a new alias for `info signals'.
1411 You can now define pre-command hooks, which attach arbitrary command
1412 scripts to any command. The commands in the hook will be executed
1413 prior to the user's command. You can also create a hook which will be
1414 executed whenever the program stops. See gdb.texinfo.
1418 We now deal with Cfront style name mangling, and can even extract type
1419 info from mangled symbols. GDB can automatically figure out which
1420 symbol mangling style your C++ compiler uses.
1422 Calling of methods and virtual functions has been improved as well.
1426 The crash that occured when debugging Sun Ansi-C compiled binaries is
1427 fixed. This was due to mishandling of the extra N_SO stabs output
1430 We also finally got Ultrix 4.2 running in house, and fixed core file
1431 support, with help from a dozen people on the net.
1433 John M. Farrell discovered that the reason that single-stepping was so
1434 slow on all of the Mips based platforms (primarily SGI and DEC) was
1435 that we were trying to demangle and lookup a symbol used for internal
1436 purposes on every instruction that was being stepped through. Changing
1437 the name of that symbol so that it couldn't be mistaken for a C++
1438 mangled symbol sped things up a great deal.
1440 Rich Pixley sped up symbol lookups in general by getting much smarter
1441 about when C++ symbol mangling is necessary. This should make symbol
1442 completion (TAB on the command line) much faster. It's not as fast as
1443 we'd like, but it's significantly faster than gdb-4.6.
1447 A new user controllable variable 'call_scratch_address' can
1448 specify the location of a scratch area to be used when GDB
1449 calls a function in the target. This is necessary because the
1450 usual method of putting the scratch area on the stack does not work
1451 in systems that have separate instruction and data spaces.
1453 We integrated changes to support the 29k UDI (Universal Debugger
1454 Interface), but discovered at the last minute that we didn't have all
1455 of the appropriate copyright paperwork. We are working with AMD to
1456 resolve this, and hope to have it available soon.
1460 We have sped up the remote serial line protocol, especially for targets
1461 with lots of registers. It now supports a new `expedited status' ('T')
1462 message which can be used in place of the existing 'S' status message.
1463 This allows the remote stub to send only the registers that GDB
1464 needs to make a quick decision about single-stepping or conditional
1465 breakpoints, eliminating the need to fetch the entire register set for
1466 each instruction being stepped through.
1468 The GDB remote serial protocol now implements a write-through cache for
1469 registers, only re-reading the registers if the target has run.
1471 There is also a new remote serial stub for SPARC processors. You can
1472 find it in gdb-4.7/gdb/sparc-stub.c. This was written to support the
1473 Fujitsu SPARClite processor, but will run on any stand-alone SPARC
1474 processor with a serial port.
1478 Configure.in files have become much easier to read and modify. A new
1479 `table driven' format makes it more obvious what configurations are
1480 supported, and what files each one uses.
1484 There is a new opcodes library which will eventually contain all of the
1485 disassembly routines and opcode tables. At present, it only contains
1486 Sparc and Z8000 routines. This will allow the assembler, debugger, and
1487 disassembler (binutils/objdump) to share these routines.
1489 The libiberty library is now copylefted under the GNU Library General
1490 Public License. This allows more liberal use, and was done so libg++
1491 can use it. This makes no difference to GDB, since the Library License
1492 grants all the rights from the General Public License.
1496 The file gdb-4.7/gdb/doc/stabs.texinfo is a (relatively) complete
1497 reference to the stabs symbol info used by the debugger. It is (as far
1498 as we know) the only published document on this fascinating topic. We
1499 encourage you to read it, compare it to the stabs information on your
1500 system, and send improvements on the document in general (to
1501 bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu).
1503 And, of course, many bugs have been fixed.
1506 *** Changes in GDB-4.6:
1508 * Better support for C++ function names
1510 GDB now accepts as input the "demangled form" of C++ overloaded function
1511 names and member function names, and can do command completion on such names
1512 (using TAB, TAB-TAB, and ESC-?). The names have to be quoted with a pair of
1513 single quotes. Examples are 'func (int, long)' and 'obj::operator==(obj&)'.
1514 Make use of command completion, it is your friend.
1516 GDB also now accepts a variety of C++ mangled symbol formats. They are
1517 the GNU g++ style, the Cfront (ARM) style, and the Lucid (lcc) style.
1518 You can tell GDB which format to use by doing a 'set demangle-style {gnu,
1519 lucid, cfront, auto}'. 'gnu' is the default. Do a 'set demangle-style foo'
1520 for the list of formats.
1522 * G++ symbol mangling problem
1524 Recent versions of gcc have a bug in how they emit debugging information for
1525 C++ methods (when using dbx-style stabs). The file 'gcc.patch' (in this
1526 directory) can be applied to gcc to fix the problem. Alternatively, if you
1527 can't fix gcc, you can #define GCC_MANGLE_BUG when compling gdb/symtab.c. The
1528 usual symptom is difficulty with setting breakpoints on methods. GDB complains
1529 about the method being non-existent. (We believe that version 2.2.2 of GCC has
1532 * New 'maintenance' command
1534 All of the commands related to hacking GDB internals have been moved out of
1535 the main command set, and now live behind the 'maintenance' command. This
1536 can also be abbreviated as 'mt'. The following changes were made:
1538 dump-me -> maintenance dump-me
1539 info all-breakpoints -> maintenance info breakpoints
1540 printmsyms -> maintenance print msyms
1541 printobjfiles -> maintenance print objfiles
1542 printpsyms -> maintenance print psymbols
1543 printsyms -> maintenance print symbols
1545 The following commands are new:
1547 maintenance demangle Call internal GDB demangler routine to
1548 demangle a C++ link name and prints the result.
1549 maintenance print type Print a type chain for a given symbol
1551 * Change to .gdbinit file processing
1553 We now read the $HOME/.gdbinit file before processing the argv arguments
1554 (e.g. reading symbol files or core files). This allows global parameters to
1555 be set, which will apply during the symbol reading. The ./.gdbinit is still
1556 read after argv processing.
1558 * New hosts supported
1560 Solaris-2.0 !!! sparc-sun-solaris2 or sun4sol2
1562 GNU/Linux support i386-unknown-linux or linux
1564 We are also including code to support the HP/PA running BSD and HPUX. This
1565 is almost guaranteed not to work, as we didn't have time to test or build it
1566 for this release. We are including it so that the more adventurous (or
1567 masochistic) of you can play with it. We also had major problems with the
1568 fact that the compiler that we got from HP doesn't support the -g option.
1571 * New targets supported
1573 Hitachi H8/300 h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
1575 * More smarts about finding #include files
1577 GDB now remembers the compilation directory for all include files, and for
1578 all files from which C is generated (like yacc and lex sources). This
1579 greatly improves GDB's ability to find yacc/lex sources, and include files,
1580 especially if you are debugging your program from a directory different from
1581 the one that contains your sources.
1583 We also fixed a bug which caused difficulty with listing and setting
1584 breakpoints in include files which contain C code. (In the past, you had to
1585 try twice in order to list an include file that you hadn't looked at before.)
1587 * Interesting infernals change
1589 GDB now deals with arbitrary numbers of sections, where the symbols for each
1590 section must be relocated relative to that section's landing place in the
1591 target's address space. This work was needed to support ELF with embedded
1592 stabs used by Solaris-2.0.
1594 * Bug fixes (of course!)
1596 There have been loads of fixes for the following things:
1597 mips, rs6000, 29k/udi, m68k, g++, type handling, elf/dwarf, m88k,
1598 i960, stabs, DOS(GO32), procfs, etc...
1600 See the ChangeLog for details.
1602 *** Changes in GDB-4.5:
1604 * New machines supported (host and target)
1606 IBM RS6000 running AIX rs6000-ibm-aix or rs6000
1608 SGI Irix-4.x mips-sgi-irix4 or iris4
1610 * New malloc package
1612 GDB now uses a new memory manager called mmalloc, based on gmalloc.
1613 Mmalloc is capable of handling mutiple heaps of memory. It is also
1614 capable of saving a heap to a file, and then mapping it back in later.
1615 This can be used to greatly speedup the startup of GDB by using a
1616 pre-parsed symbol table which lives in a mmalloc managed heap. For
1617 more details, please read mmalloc/mmalloc.texi.
1621 The 'info proc' command (SVR4 only) has been enhanced quite a bit. See
1622 'help info proc' for details.
1624 * MIPS ecoff symbol table format
1626 The code that reads MIPS symbol table format is now supported on all hosts.
1627 Thanks to MIPS for releasing the sym.h and symconst.h files to make this
1630 * File name changes for MS-DOS
1632 Many files in the config directories have been renamed to make it easier to
1633 support GDB on MS-DOSe systems (which have very restrictive file name
1634 conventions :-( ). MS-DOSe host support (under DJ Delorie's GO32
1635 environment) is close to working but has some remaining problems. Note
1636 that debugging of DOS programs is not supported, due to limitations
1637 in the ``operating system'', but it can be used to host cross-debugging.
1639 * Cross byte order fixes
1641 Many fixes have been made to support cross debugging of Sparc and MIPS
1642 targets from hosts whose byte order differs.
1644 * New -mapped and -readnow options
1646 If memory-mapped files are available on your system through the 'mmap'
1647 system call, you can use the -mapped option on the `file' or
1648 `symbol-file' commands to cause GDB to write the symbols from your
1649 program into a reusable file. If the program you are debugging is
1650 called `/path/fred', the mapped symbol file will be `./fred.syms'.
1651 Future GDB debugging sessions will notice the presence of this file,
1652 and will quickly map in symbol information from it, rather than reading
1653 the symbol table from the executable program. Using the '-mapped'
1654 option in a GDB `file' or `symbol-file' command has the same effect as
1655 starting GDB with the '-mapped' command-line option.
1657 You can cause GDB to read the entire symbol table immediately by using
1658 the '-readnow' option with any of the commands that load symbol table
1659 information (or on the GDB command line). This makes the command
1660 slower, but makes future operations faster.
1662 The -mapped and -readnow options are typically combined in order to
1663 build a `fred.syms' file that contains complete symbol information.
1664 A simple GDB invocation to do nothing but build a `.syms' file for future
1667 gdb -batch -nx -mapped -readnow programname
1669 The `.syms' file is specific to the host machine on which GDB is run.
1670 It holds an exact image of GDB's internal symbol table. It cannot be
1671 shared across multiple host platforms.
1673 * longjmp() handling
1675 GDB is now capable of stepping and nexting over longjmp(), _longjmp(), and
1676 siglongjmp() without losing control. This feature has not yet been ported to
1677 all systems. It currently works on many 386 platforms, all MIPS-based
1678 platforms (SGI, DECstation, etc), and Sun3/4.
1682 Preliminary work has been put in to support the new Solaris OS from Sun. At
1683 this time, it can control and debug processes, but it is not capable of
1688 As always, many many bug fixes. The major areas were with g++, and mipsread.
1689 People using the MIPS-based platforms should experience fewer mysterious
1690 crashes and trashed symbol tables.
1692 *** Changes in GDB-4.4:
1694 * New machines supported (host and target)
1696 SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
1698 BSD Reno on Vax vax-dec-bsd
1699 Ultrix on Vax vax-dec-ultrix
1701 * New machines supported (target)
1703 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
1707 GDB continues to improve its handling of C++. `References' work better.
1708 The demangler has also been improved, and now deals with symbols mangled as
1709 per the Annotated C++ Reference Guide.
1711 GDB also now handles `stabs' symbol information embedded in MIPS
1712 `ecoff' symbol tables. Since the ecoff format was not easily
1713 extensible to handle new languages such as C++, this appeared to be a
1714 good way to put C++ debugging info into MIPS binaries. This option
1715 will be supported in the GNU C compiler, version 2, when it is
1718 * New features for SVR4
1720 GDB now handles SVR4 shared libraries, in the same fashion as SunOS
1721 shared libraries. Debugging dynamically linked programs should present
1722 only minor differences from debugging statically linked programs.
1724 The `info proc' command will print out information about any process
1725 on an SVR4 system (including the one you are debugging). At the moment,
1726 it prints the address mappings of the process.
1728 If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please send mail to
1729 bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were reqired (if any).
1731 * Better dynamic linking support in SunOS
1733 Reading symbols from shared libraries which contain debugging symbols
1734 now works properly. However, there remain issues such as automatic
1735 skipping of `transfer vector' code during function calls, which
1736 make it harder to debug code in a shared library, than to debug the
1737 same code linked statically.
1741 GDB is now using the latest `getopt' routines from the FSF. This
1742 version accepts the -- prefix for options with long names. GDB will
1743 continue to accept the old forms (-option and +option) as well.
1744 Various single letter abbreviations for options have been explicity
1745 added to the option table so that they won't get overshadowed in the
1746 future by other options that begin with the same letter.
1750 The `cleanup_undefined_types' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
1751 Many assorted bugs have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
1752 See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
1755 *** Changes in GDB-4.3:
1757 * New machines supported (host and target)
1759 Amiga 3000 running Amix m68k-cbm-svr4 or amix
1760 NCR 3000 386 running SVR4 i386-ncr-svr4 or ncr3000
1761 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
1763 * Almost SCO Unix support
1765 We had hoped to support:
1766 SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
1767 (except for core file support), but we discovered very late in the release
1768 that it has problems with process groups that render gdb unusable. Sorry
1769 about that. I encourage people to fix it and post the fixes.
1771 * Preliminary ELF and DWARF support
1773 GDB can read ELF object files on System V Release 4, and can handle
1774 debugging records for C, in DWARF format, in ELF files. This support
1775 is preliminary. If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please
1776 send mail to bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were
1781 GDB now uses the latest `readline' library. One user-visible change
1782 is that two tabs will list possible command completions, which previously
1783 required typing M-? (meta-question mark, or ESC ?).
1787 The `stepi' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
1788 Many bugs in C++ have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
1789 See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
1791 * State of the MIPS world (in case you wondered):
1793 GDB can understand the symbol tables emitted by the compilers
1794 supplied by most vendors of MIPS-based machines, including DEC. These
1795 symbol tables are in a format that essentially nobody else uses.
1797 Some versions of gcc come with an assembler post-processor called
1798 mips-tfile. This program is required if you want to do source-level
1799 debugging of gcc-compiled programs. I believe FSF does not ship
1800 mips-tfile with gcc version 1, but it will eventually come with gcc
1803 Debugging of g++ output remains a problem. g++ version 1.xx does not
1804 really support it at all. (If you're lucky, you should be able to get
1805 line numbers and stack traces to work, but no parameters or local
1806 variables.) With some work it should be possible to improve the
1809 When gcc version 2 is released, you will have somewhat better luck.
1810 However, even then you will get confusing results for inheritance and
1813 We will eventually provide full debugging of g++ output on
1814 DECstations. This will probably involve some kind of stabs-in-ecoff
1815 encapulation, but the details have not been worked out yet.
1818 *** Changes in GDB-4.2:
1820 * Improved configuration
1822 Only one copy of `configure' exists now, and it is not self-modifying.
1823 Porting BFD is simpler.
1827 The `step' and `next' commands now only stop at the first instruction
1828 of a source line. This prevents the multiple stops that used to occur
1829 in switch statements, for-loops, etc. `Step' continues to stop if a
1830 function that has debugging information is called within the line.
1834 Lots of small bugs fixed. More remain.
1836 * New host supported (not target)
1838 Intel 386 PC clone running Mach i386-none-mach
1841 *** Changes in GDB-4.1:
1843 * Multiple source language support
1845 GDB now has internal scaffolding to handle several source languages.
1846 It determines the type of each source file from its filename extension,
1847 and will switch expression parsing and number formatting to match the
1848 language of the function in the currently selected stack frame.
1849 You can also specifically set the language to be used, with
1850 `set language c' or `set language modula-2'.
1854 GDB now has preliminary support for the GNU Modula-2 compiler,
1855 currently under development at the State University of New York at
1856 Buffalo. Development of both GDB and the GNU Modula-2 compiler will
1857 continue through the fall of 1991 and into 1992.
1859 Other Modula-2 compilers are currently not supported, and attempting to
1860 debug programs compiled with them will likely result in an error as the
1861 symbol table is read. Feel free to work on it, though!
1863 There are hooks in GDB for strict type checking and range checking,
1864 in the `Modula-2 philosophy', but they do not currently work.
1868 GDB can now write to executable and core files (e.g. patch
1869 a variable's value). You must turn this switch on, specify
1870 the file ("exec foo" or "core foo"), *then* modify it, e.g.
1871 by assigning a new value to a variable. Modifications take
1874 * Automatic SunOS shared library reading
1876 When you run your program, GDB automatically determines where its
1877 shared libraries (if any) have been loaded, and reads their symbols.
1878 The `share' command is no longer needed. This also works when
1879 examining core files.
1883 You can specify the number of lines that the `list' command shows.
1886 * New machines supported (host and target)
1888 SGI Iris (MIPS) running Irix V3: mips-sgi-irix or iris
1889 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x: m68k-sony-sysv or news
1890 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1: a29k-nyu-sym1 or ultra3
1892 * New hosts supported (not targets)
1894 IBM RT/PC: romp-ibm-aix or rtpc
1896 * New targets supported (not hosts)
1898 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
1899 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
1900 Ultracomputer remote kernel debug a29k-nyu-kern
1902 * New remote interfaces
1908 *** Changes in GDB-4.0:
1912 Wide output is wrapped at good places to make the output more readable.
1914 Gdb now supports cross-debugging from a host machine of one type to a
1915 target machine of another type. Communication with the target system
1916 is over serial lines. The ``target'' command handles connecting to the
1917 remote system; the ``load'' command will download a program into the
1918 remote system. Serial stubs for the m68k and i386 are provided. Gdb
1919 also supports debugging of realtime processes running under VxWorks,
1920 using SunRPC Remote Procedure Calls over TCP/IP to talk to a debugger
1921 stub on the target system.
1923 New CPUs supported include the AMD 29000 and Intel 960.
1925 GDB now reads object files and symbol tables via a ``binary file''
1926 library, which allows a single copy of GDB to debug programs of multiple
1927 object file types such as a.out and coff.
1929 There is now a GDB reference card in "doc/refcard.tex". (Make targets
1930 refcard.dvi and refcard.ps are available to format it).
1933 * Control-Variable user interface simplified
1935 All variables that control the operation of the debugger can be set
1936 by the ``set'' command, and displayed by the ``show'' command.
1938 For example, ``set prompt new-gdb=>'' will change your prompt to new-gdb=>.
1939 ``Show prompt'' produces the response:
1940 Gdb's prompt is new-gdb=>.
1942 What follows are the NEW set commands. The command ``help set'' will
1943 print a complete list of old and new set commands. ``help set FOO''
1944 will give a longer description of the variable FOO. ``show'' will show
1945 all of the variable descriptions and their current settings.
1947 confirm on/off: Enables warning questions for operations that are
1948 hard to recover from, e.g. rerunning the program while
1949 it is already running. Default is ON.
1951 editing on/off: Enables EMACS style command line editing
1952 of input. Previous lines can be recalled with
1953 control-P, the current line can be edited with control-B,
1954 you can search for commands with control-R, etc.
1957 history filename NAME: NAME is where the gdb command history
1958 will be stored. The default is .gdb_history,
1959 or the value of the environment variable
1962 history size N: The size, in commands, of the command history. The
1963 default is 256, or the value of the environment variable
1966 history save on/off: If this value is set to ON, the history file will
1967 be saved after exiting gdb. If set to OFF, the
1968 file will not be saved. The default is OFF.
1970 history expansion on/off: If this value is set to ON, then csh-like
1971 history expansion will be performed on
1972 command line input. The default is OFF.
1974 radix N: Sets the default radix for input and output. It can be set
1975 to 8, 10, or 16. Note that the argument to "radix" is interpreted
1976 in the current radix, so "set radix 10" is always a no-op.
1978 height N: This integer value is the number of lines on a page. Default
1979 is 24, the current `stty rows'' setting, or the ``li#''
1980 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
1983 width N: This integer value is the number of characters on a line.
1984 Default is 80, the current `stty cols'' setting, or the ``co#''
1985 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
1988 Note: ``set screensize'' is obsolete. Use ``set height'' and
1989 ``set width'' instead.
1991 print address on/off: Print memory addresses in various command displays,
1992 such as stack traces and structure values. Gdb looks
1993 more ``symbolic'' if you turn this off; it looks more
1994 ``machine level'' with it on. Default is ON.
1996 print array on/off: Prettyprint arrays. New convenient format! Default
1999 print demangle on/off: Print C++ symbols in "source" form if on,
2002 print asm-demangle on/off: Same, for assembler level printouts
2005 print vtbl on/off: Prettyprint C++ virtual function tables. Default is OFF.
2008 * Support for Epoch Environment.
2010 The epoch environment is a version of Emacs v18 with windowing. One
2011 new command, ``inspect'', is identical to ``print'', except that if you
2012 are running in the epoch environment, the value is printed in its own
2016 * Support for Shared Libraries
2018 GDB can now debug programs and core files that use SunOS shared libraries.
2019 Symbols from a shared library cannot be referenced
2020 before the shared library has been linked with the program (this
2021 happens after you type ``run'' and before the function main() is entered).
2022 At any time after this linking (including when examining core files
2023 from dynamically linked programs), gdb reads the symbols from each
2024 shared library when you type the ``sharedlibrary'' command.
2025 It can be abbreviated ``share''.
2027 sharedlibrary REGEXP: Load shared object library symbols for files
2028 matching a unix regular expression. No argument
2029 indicates to load symbols for all shared libraries.
2031 info sharedlibrary: Status of loaded shared libraries.
2036 A watchpoint stops execution of a program whenever the value of an
2037 expression changes. Checking for this slows down execution
2038 tremendously whenever you are in the scope of the expression, but is
2039 quite useful for catching tough ``bit-spreader'' or pointer misuse
2040 problems. Some machines such as the 386 have hardware for doing this
2041 more quickly, and future versions of gdb will use this hardware.
2043 watch EXP: Set a watchpoint (breakpoint) for an expression.
2045 info watchpoints: Information about your watchpoints.
2047 delete N: Deletes watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
2048 disable N: Temporarily turns off watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
2049 enable N: Re-enables watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
2052 * C++ multiple inheritance
2054 When used with a GCC version 2 compiler, GDB supports multiple inheritance
2057 * C++ exception handling
2059 Gdb now supports limited C++ exception handling. Besides the existing
2060 ability to breakpoint on an exception handler, gdb can breakpoint on
2061 the raising of an exception (before the stack is peeled back to the
2064 catch FOO: If there is a FOO exception handler in the dynamic scope,
2065 set a breakpoint to catch exceptions which may be raised there.
2066 Multiple exceptions (``catch foo bar baz'') may be caught.
2068 info catch: Lists all exceptions which may be caught in the
2069 current stack frame.
2072 * Minor command changes
2074 The command ``call func (arg, arg, ...)'' now acts like the print
2075 command, except it does not print or save a value if the function's result
2076 is void. This is similar to dbx usage.
2078 The ``up'' and ``down'' commands now always print the frame they end up
2079 at; ``up-silently'' and `down-silently'' can be used in scripts to change
2080 frames without printing.
2082 * New directory command
2084 'dir' now adds directories to the FRONT of the source search path.
2085 The path starts off empty. Source files that contain debug information
2086 about the directory in which they were compiled can be found even
2087 with an empty path; Sun CC and GCC include this information. If GDB can't
2088 find your source file in the current directory, type "dir .".
2090 * Configuring GDB for compilation
2092 For normal use, type ``./configure host''. See README or gdb.texinfo
2095 GDB now handles cross debugging. If you are remotely debugging between
2096 two different machines, type ``./configure host -target=targ''.
2097 Host is the machine where GDB will run; targ is the machine
2098 where the program that you are debugging will run.
projects / deliverable / binutils-gdb.git / blob