1 What has changed in GDB?
2 (Organized release by release)
4 *** Changes since GDB 6.6
6 * When looking up multiply-defined global symbols, GDB will now prefer the
7 symbol definition in the current shared library if it was built using the
8 -Bsymbolic linker option.
10 * When the Text User Interface (TUI) is not configured, GDB will now
11 recognize the -tui command-line option and print a message that the TUI
14 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now has lower overhead for high
15 frequency signals (e.g. SIGALRM) via the QPassSignals packet.
17 * GDB for MIPS targets now autodetects whether a remote target provides
18 32-bit or 64-bit register values.
20 * Support for C++ member pointers has been improved.
22 * GDB now understands XML target descriptions, which specify the
23 target's overall architecture. GDB can read a description from
24 a local file or over the remote serial protocol.
26 * Arrays of explicitly SIGNED or UNSIGNED CHARs are now printed as arrays
29 * Target descriptions can now describe target-specific registers,
30 for architectures which have implemented the support (currently
33 * GDB and the GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now support the XScale
36 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, has been updated to support
37 ARM Windows CE (mingw32ce) debugging, and GDB Windows CE support
38 has been rewritten to use the standard GDB remote protocol.
40 * GDB can now step into C++ functions which are called through thunks.
42 * GDB for the Cell/B.E. SPU now supports overlay debugging.
44 * The GDB remote protocol "qOffsets" packet can now honor ELF segment
45 layout. It also supports a TextSeg= and DataSeg= response when only
46 segment base addresses (rather than offsets) are available.
48 * The /i format now outputs any trailing branch delay slot instructions
49 immediately following the last instruction within the count specified.
51 * The GDB remote protocol "T" stop reply packet now supports a
52 "library" response. Combined with the new "qXfer:libraries:read"
53 packet, this response allows GDB to debug shared libraries on targets
54 where the operating system manages the list of loaded libraries (e.g.
55 Windows and SymbianOS).
61 Enable or disable hardware flow control (RTS/CTS) on the serial port
62 when debugging using remote targets.
64 set mem inaccessible-by-default
65 show mem inaccessible-by-default
66 If the target supplies a memory map, for instance via the remote
67 protocol's "qXfer:memory-map:read" packet, setting this variable
68 prevents GDB from accessing memory outside the memory map. This
69 is useful for targets with memory mapped registers or which react
70 badly to accesses of unmapped address space.
72 set breakpoint auto-hw
73 show breakpoint auto-hw
74 If the target supplies a memory map, for instance via the remote
75 protocol's "qXfer:memory-map:read" packet, setting this variable
76 lets GDB use hardware breakpoints automatically for memory regions
77 where it can not use software breakpoints. This covers both the
78 "break" command and internal breakpoints used for other commands
79 including "next" and "finish".
82 catch exception unhandled
83 Stop the program execution when Ada exceptions are raised.
86 Stop the program execution when an Ada assertion failed.
90 Set an alternate system root for target files. This is a more
91 general version of "set solib-absolute-prefix", which is now
92 an alias to "set sysroot".
95 Provide extended SPU facility status information. This set of
96 commands is available only when debugging the Cell/B.E. SPU
99 * New native configurations
101 OpenBSD/sh sh*-*openbsd*
106 Use the specified local file as an XML target description, and do
107 not query the target for its built-in description.
111 OpenBSD/sh sh*-*-openbsd*
112 MIPS64 GNU/Linux (gdbserver) mips64-linux-gnu
113 Toshiba Media Processor mep-elf
118 Ignore the specified signals; pass them directly to the debugged program
119 without stopping other threads or reporting them to GDB.
122 Read an XML target description from the target, which describes its
127 Read or write contents of an spufs file on the target system. These
128 packets are available only on the Cell/B.E. SPU architecture.
130 qXfer:libraries:read:
131 Report the loaded shared libraries. Combined with new "T" packet
132 response, this packet allows GDB to debug shared libraries on
133 targets where the operating system manages the list of loaded
134 libraries (e.g. Windows and SymbianOS).
138 Support for these obsolete configurations has been removed.
147 i[34567]86-*-netware*
148 i[34567]86-*-sco3.2v5*
149 i[34567]86-*-sco3.2v4*
151 i[34567]86-*-sysv4.2*
154 i[34567]86-*-unixware2*
155 i[34567]86-*-unixware*
164 * Other removed features
171 Various m68k-only ROM monitors.
178 Various Renesas ROM monitors and debugging interfaces for SH and
183 Support for a Macraigor serial interface to on-chip debugging.
184 GDB does not directly support the newer parallel or USB
189 A debug information format. The predecessor to DWARF 2 and
190 DWARF 3, which are still supported.
192 Support for the HP aCC compiler on HP-UX/PA-RISC
194 SOM-encapsulated symbolic debugging information, automatic
195 invocation of pxdb, and the aCC custom C++ ABI. This does not
196 affect HP-UX for Itanium or GCC for HP-UX/PA-RISC. Code compiled
197 with aCC can still be debugged on an assembly level.
201 A MIPS-specific format used to describe stack frame layout
202 in debugging information.
206 GDB could work with an older version of Guile to debug
207 the interpreter and Scheme programs running in it.
209 set mips stack-arg-size
210 set mips saved-gpreg-size
212 Use "set mips abi" to control parameter passing for MIPS.
214 *** Changes in GDB 6.6
219 Cell Broadband Engine SPU spu-elf
221 * GDB can now be configured as a cross-debugger targeting native Windows
222 (mingw32) or Cygwin. It can communicate with a remote debugging stub
223 running on a Windows system over TCP/IP to debug Windows programs.
225 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, has been updated to support Windows and
226 Cygwin debugging. Both single-threaded and multi-threaded programs are
229 * The "set trust-readonly-sections" command works again. This command was
230 broken in GDB 6.3, 6.4, and 6.5.
232 * The "load" command now supports writing to flash memory, if the remote
233 stub provides the required support.
235 * Support for GNU/Linux Thread Local Storage (TLS, per-thread variables) no
236 longer requires symbolic debug information (e.g. DWARF-2).
241 unset substitute-path
243 Manage a list of substitution rules that GDB uses to rewrite the name
244 of the directories where the sources are located. This can be useful
245 for instance when the sources were moved to a different location
246 between compilation and debugging.
250 Print each CLI command as it is executed. Each command is prefixed with
251 a number of `+' symbols representing the nesting depth.
252 The source command now has a `-v' option to enable the same feature.
256 The ARM Demon monitor support (RDP protocol, "target rdp").
258 Kernel Object Display, an embedded debugging feature which only worked with
259 an obsolete version of Cisco IOS.
261 The 'set download-write-size' and 'show download-write-size' commands.
266 Tell a stub about GDB client features, and request remote target features.
267 The first feature implemented is PacketSize, which allows the target to
268 specify the size of packets it can handle - to minimize the number of
269 packets required and improve performance when connected to a remote
273 Fetch an OS auxilliary vector from the remote stub. This packet is a
274 more efficient replacement for qPart:auxv:read.
276 qXfer:memory-map:read:
277 Fetch a memory map from the remote stub, including information about
278 RAM, ROM, and flash memory devices.
283 Erase and program a flash memory device.
285 * Removed remote packets
288 This packet has been replaced by qXfer:auxv:read. Only GDB 6.4 and 6.5
289 used it, and only gdbserver implemented it.
291 *** Changes in GDB 6.5
295 Renesas M32C/M16C m32c-elf
297 Morpho Technologies ms1 ms1-elf
301 init-if-undefined Initialize a convenience variable, but
302 only if it doesn't already have a value.
304 The following commands are presently only implemented for native GNU/Linux:
306 checkpoint Save a snapshot of the program state.
308 restart <n> Return the program state to a
309 previously saved state.
311 info checkpoints List currently saved checkpoints.
313 delete-checkpoint <n> Delete a previously saved checkpoint.
315 set|show detach-on-fork Tell gdb whether to detach from a newly
316 forked process, or to keep debugging it.
318 info forks List forks of the user program that
319 are available to be debugged.
321 fork <n> Switch to debugging one of several
322 forks of the user program that are
323 available to be debugged.
325 delete-fork <n> Delete a fork from the list of forks
326 that are available to be debugged (and
327 kill the forked process).
329 detach-fork <n> Delete a fork from the list of forks
330 that are available to be debugged (and
331 allow the process to continue).
335 Morpho Technologies ms2 ms1-elf
337 * Improved Windows host support
339 GDB now builds as a cross debugger hosted on i686-mingw32, including
340 native console support, and remote communications using either
341 network sockets or serial ports.
343 * Improved Modula-2 language support
345 GDB can now print most types in the Modula-2 syntax. This includes:
346 basic types, set types, record types, enumerated types, range types,
347 pointer types and ARRAY types. Procedure var parameters are correctly
348 printed and hexadecimal addresses and character constants are also
349 written in the Modula-2 syntax. Best results can be obtained by using
350 GNU Modula-2 together with the -gdwarf-2 command line option.
354 The ARM rdi-share module.
356 The Netware NLM debug server.
358 *** Changes in GDB 6.4
360 * New native configurations
362 OpenBSD/arm arm*-*-openbsd*
363 OpenBSD/mips64 mips64-*-openbsd*
367 Morpho Technologies ms1 ms1-elf
369 * New command line options
371 --batch-silent As for --batch, but totally silent.
372 --return-child-result The debugger will exist with the same value
373 the child (debugged) program exited with.
374 --eval-command COMMAND, -ex COMMAND
375 Execute a single GDB CLI command. This may be
376 specified multiple times and in conjunction
377 with the --command (-x) option.
379 * Deprecated commands removed
381 The following commands, that were deprecated in 2000, have been
385 set|show arm disassembly-flavor set|show arm disassembler
386 othernames set arm disassembler
387 set|show remotedebug set|show debug remote
388 set|show archdebug set|show debug arch
389 set|show eventdebug set|show debug event
392 * New BSD user-level threads support
394 It is now possible to debug programs using the user-level threads
395 library on OpenBSD and FreeBSD. Currently supported (target)
398 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
399 FreeBSD/i386 i386-*-freebsd*
400 OpenBSD/i386 i386-*-openbsd*
402 Note that the new kernel threads libraries introduced in FreeBSD 5.x
403 are not yet supported.
405 * New support for Matsushita MN10300 w/sim added
406 (Work in progress). mn10300-elf.
408 * REMOVED configurations and files
410 VxWorks and the XDR protocol *-*-vxworks
411 Motorola MCORE mcore-*-*
412 National Semiconductor NS32000 ns32k-*-*
414 * New "set print array-indexes" command
416 After turning this setting "on", GDB prints the index of each element
417 when displaying arrays. The default is "off" to preserve the previous
420 * VAX floating point support
422 GDB now supports the not-quite-ieee VAX F and D floating point formats.
424 * User-defined command support
426 In addition to using $arg0..$arg9 for argument passing, it is now possible
427 to use $argc to determine now many arguments have been passed. See the
428 section on user-defined commands in the user manual for more information.
430 *** Changes in GDB 6.3:
432 * New command line option
434 GDB now accepts -l followed by a number to set the timeout for remote
437 * GDB works with GCC -feliminate-dwarf2-dups
439 GDB now supports a more compact representation of DWARF-2 debug
440 information using DW_FORM_ref_addr references. These are produced
441 by GCC with the option -feliminate-dwarf2-dups and also by some
442 proprietary compilers. With GCC, you must use GCC 3.3.4 or later
443 to use -feliminate-dwarf2-dups.
445 * Internationalization
447 When supported by the host system, GDB will be built with
448 internationalization (libintl). The task of marking up the sources is
449 continued, we're looking forward to our first translation.
453 Initial support for debugging programs compiled with the GNAT
454 implementation of the Ada programming language has been integrated
455 into GDB. In this release, support is limited to expression evaluation.
457 * New native configurations
459 GNU/Linux/m32r m32r-*-linux-gnu
463 GDB's remote protocol now includes support for the 'p' packet. This
464 packet is used to fetch individual registers from a remote inferior.
466 * END-OF-LIFE registers[] compatibility module
468 GDB's internal register infrastructure has been completely rewritten.
469 The new infrastructure making possible the implementation of key new
470 features including 32x64 (e.g., 64-bit amd64 GDB debugging a 32-bit
473 GDB 6.3 will be the last release to include the the registers[]
474 compatibility module that allowed out-of-date configurations to
475 continue to work. This change directly impacts the following
487 Unless there is activity to revive these configurations, they will be
488 made OBSOLETE in GDB 6.4, and REMOVED from GDB 6.5.
490 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
492 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
493 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
494 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
504 *** Changes in GDB 6.2.1:
506 * MIPS `break main; run' gave an heuristic-fence-post warning
508 When attempting to run even a simple program, a warning about
509 heuristic-fence-post being hit would be reported. This problem has
512 * MIPS IRIX 'long double' crashed GDB
514 When examining a long double variable, GDB would get a segmentation
515 fault. The crash has been fixed (but GDB 6.2 cannot correctly examine
516 IRIX long double values).
520 A bug in the VAX stack code was causing problems with the "next"
521 command. This problem has been fixed.
523 *** Changes in GDB 6.2:
525 * Fix for ``many threads''
527 On GNU/Linux systems that use the NPTL threads library, a program
528 rapidly creating and deleting threads would confuse GDB leading to the
531 ptrace: No such process.
532 thread_db_get_info: cannot get thread info: generic error
534 This problem has been fixed.
536 * "-async" and "-noasync" options removed.
538 Support for the broken "-noasync" option has been removed (it caused
541 * New ``start'' command.
543 This command runs the program until the begining of the main procedure.
545 * New BSD Kernel Data Access Library (libkvm) interface
547 Using ``target kvm'' it is now possible to debug kernel core dumps and
548 live kernel memory images on various FreeBSD, NetBSD and OpenBSD
549 platforms. Currently supported (native-only) configurations are:
551 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
552 FreeBSD/i386 i?86-*-freebsd*
553 NetBSD/i386 i?86-*-netbsd*
554 NetBSD/m68k m68*-*-netbsd*
555 NetBSD/sparc sparc-*-netbsd*
556 OpenBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-openbsd*
557 OpenBSD/i386 i?86-*-openbsd*
558 OpenBSD/m68k m68*-openbsd*
559 OpenBSD/sparc sparc-*-openbsd*
561 * Signal trampoline code overhauled
563 Many generic problems with GDB's signal handling code have been fixed.
564 These include: backtraces through non-contiguous stacks; recognition
565 of sa_sigaction signal trampolines; backtrace from a NULL pointer
566 call; backtrace through a signal trampoline; step into and out of
567 signal handlers; and single-stepping in the signal trampoline.
569 Please note that kernel bugs are a limiting factor here. These
570 features have been shown to work on an s390 GNU/Linux system that
571 include a 2.6.8-rc1 kernel. Ref PR breakpoints/1702.
573 * Cygwin support for DWARF 2 added.
575 * New native configurations
577 GNU/Linux/hppa hppa*-*-linux*
578 OpenBSD/hppa hppa*-*-openbsd*
579 OpenBSD/m68k m68*-*-openbsd*
580 OpenBSD/m88k m88*-*-openbsd*
581 OpenBSD/powerpc powerpc-*-openbsd*
582 NetBSD/vax vax-*-netbsd*
583 OpenBSD/vax vax-*-openbsd*
585 * END-OF-LIFE frame compatibility module
587 GDB's internal frame infrastructure has been completely rewritten.
588 The new infrastructure making it possible to support key new features
589 including DWARF 2 Call Frame Information. To aid in the task of
590 migrating old configurations to this new infrastructure, a
591 compatibility module, that allowed old configurations to continue to
592 work, was also included.
594 GDB 6.2 will be the last release to include this frame compatibility
595 module. This change directly impacts the following configurations:
605 Unless there is activity to revive these configurations, they will be
606 made OBSOLETE in GDB 6.3, and REMOVED from GDB 6.4.
608 * REMOVED configurations and files
610 Sun 3, running SunOS 3 m68*-*-sunos3*
611 Sun 3, running SunOS 4 m68*-*-sunos4*
612 Sun 2, running SunOS 3 m68000-*-sunos3*
613 Sun 2, running SunOS 4 m68000-*-sunos4*
614 Motorola 680x0 running LynxOS m68*-*-lynxos*
615 AT&T 3b1/Unix pc m68*-att-*
616 Bull DPX2 (68k, System V release 3) m68*-bull-sysv*
617 decstation mips-dec-* mips-little-*
618 riscos mips-*-riscos* mips-*-sysv*
620 sysv mips*-*-sysv4* (IRIX 5/6 not included)
622 *** Changes in GDB 6.1.1:
624 * TUI (Text-mode User Interface) built-in (also included in GDB 6.1)
626 The TUI (Text-mode User Interface) is now built as part of a default
627 GDB configuration. It is enabled by either selecting the TUI with the
628 command line option "-i=tui" or by running the separate "gdbtui"
629 program. For more information on the TUI, see the manual "Debugging
632 * Pending breakpoint support (also included in GDB 6.1)
634 Support has been added to allow you to specify breakpoints in shared
635 libraries that have not yet been loaded. If a breakpoint location
636 cannot be found, and the "breakpoint pending" option is set to auto,
637 GDB queries you if you wish to make the breakpoint pending on a future
638 shared-library load. If and when GDB resolves the breakpoint symbol,
639 the pending breakpoint is removed as one or more regular breakpoints
642 Pending breakpoints are very useful for GCJ Java debugging.
644 * Fixed ISO-C build problems
646 The files bfd/elf-bfd.h, gdb/dictionary.c and gdb/types.c contained
647 non ISO-C code that stopped them being built using a more strict ISO-C
648 compiler (e.g., IBM's C compiler).
650 * Fixed build problem on IRIX 5
652 Due to header problems with <sys/proc.h>, the file gdb/proc-api.c
653 wasn't able to compile compile on an IRIX 5 system.
655 * Added execute permission to gdb/gdbserver/configure
657 The shell script gdb/testsuite/gdb.stabs/configure lacked execute
658 permission. This bug would cause configure to fail on a number of
659 systems (Solaris, IRIX). Ref: server/519.
661 * Fixed build problem on hpux2.0w-hp-hpux11.00 using the HP ANSI C compiler
663 Older HPUX ANSI C compilers did not accept variable array sizes. somsolib.c
664 has been updated to use constant array sizes.
666 * Fixed a panic in the DWARF Call Frame Info code on Solaris 2.7
668 GCC 3.3.2, on Solaris 2.7, includes the DW_EH_PE_funcrel encoding in
669 its generated DWARF Call Frame Info. This encoding was causing GDB to
670 panic, that panic has been fixed. Ref: gdb/1628.
672 * Fixed a problem when examining parameters in shared library code.
674 When examining parameters in optimized shared library code generated
675 by a mainline GCC, GDB would incorrectly report ``Variable "..." is
676 not available''. GDB now correctly displays the variable's value.
678 *** Changes in GDB 6.1:
680 * Removed --with-mmalloc
682 Support for the mmalloc memory manager has been removed, as it
683 conflicted with the internal gdb byte cache.
685 * Changes in AMD64 configurations
687 The AMD64 target now includes the %cs and %ss registers. As a result
688 the AMD64 remote protocol has changed; this affects the floating-point
689 and SSE registers. If you rely on those registers for your debugging,
690 you should upgrade gdbserver on the remote side.
692 * Revised SPARC target
694 The SPARC target has been completely revised, incorporating the
695 FreeBSD/sparc64 support that was added for GDB 6.0. As a result
696 support for LynxOS and SunOS 4 has been dropped. Calling functions
697 from within GDB on operating systems with a non-executable stack
698 (Solaris, OpenBSD) now works.
702 GDB has a new C++ demangler which does a better job on the mangled
703 names generated by current versions of g++. It also runs faster, so
704 with this and other changes gdb should now start faster on large C++
707 * DWARF 2 Location Expressions
709 GDB support for location expressions has been extended to support function
710 arguments and frame bases. Older versions of GDB could crash when they
713 * C++ nested types and namespaces
715 GDB's support for nested types and namespaces in C++ has been
716 improved, especially if you use the DWARF 2 debugging format. (This
717 is the default for recent versions of GCC on most platforms.)
718 Specifically, if you have a class "Inner" defined within a class or
719 namespace "Outer", then GDB realizes that the class's name is
720 "Outer::Inner", not simply "Inner". This should greatly reduce the
721 frequency of complaints about not finding RTTI symbols. In addition,
722 if you are stopped at inside of a function defined within a namespace,
723 GDB modifies its name lookup accordingly.
725 * New native configurations
727 NetBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-netbsd*
728 OpenBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-openbsd*
729 OpenBSD/alpha alpha*-*-openbsd*
730 OpenBSD/sparc sparc-*-openbsd*
731 OpenBSD/sparc64 sparc64-*-openbsd*
733 * New debugging protocols
735 M32R with SDI protocol m32r-*-elf*
737 * "set prompt-escape-char" command deleted.
739 The command "set prompt-escape-char" has been deleted. This command,
740 and its very obscure effet on GDB's prompt, was never documented,
741 tested, nor mentioned in the NEWS file.
743 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
745 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
746 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
747 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
750 Sun 3, running SunOS 3 m68*-*-sunos3*
751 Sun 3, running SunOS 4 m68*-*-sunos4*
752 Sun 2, running SunOS 3 m68000-*-sunos3*
753 Sun 2, running SunOS 4 m68000-*-sunos4*
754 Motorola 680x0 running LynxOS m68*-*-lynxos*
755 AT&T 3b1/Unix pc m68*-att-*
756 Bull DPX2 (68k, System V release 3) m68*-bull-sysv*
757 decstation mips-dec-* mips-little-*
758 riscos mips-*-riscos* mips-*-sysv*
760 sysv mips*-*-sysv4* (IRIX 5/6 not included)
762 * REMOVED configurations and files
764 SGI Irix-4.x mips-sgi-irix4 or iris4
765 SGI Iris (MIPS) running Irix V3: mips-sgi-irix or iris
766 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
767 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
768 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
769 HP/PA running BSD hppa*-*-bsd*
770 HP/PA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
771 HP/PA Pro target hppa*-*-pro*
772 PMAX (MIPS) running Mach 3.0 mips*-*-mach3*
773 386BSD i[3456]86-*-bsd*
774 Sequent family i[3456]86-sequent-sysv4*
775 i[3456]86-sequent-sysv*
776 i[3456]86-sequent-bsd*
777 SPARC running LynxOS sparc-*-lynxos*
778 SPARC running SunOS 4 sparc-*-sunos4*
779 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
780 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
782 *** Changes in GDB 6.0:
786 Support for debugging the Objective-C programming language has been
789 * New backtrace mechanism (includes DWARF 2 Call Frame Information).
791 DWARF 2's Call Frame Information makes available compiler generated
792 information that more exactly describes the program's run-time stack.
793 By using this information, GDB is able to provide more robust stack
796 The i386, amd64 (nee, x86-64), Alpha, m68hc11, ia64, and m32r targets
797 have been updated to use a new backtrace mechanism which includes
802 GDB's remote protocol has been extended to include support for hosted
803 file I/O (where the remote target uses GDB's file system). See GDB's
804 remote protocol documentation for details.
806 * All targets using the new architecture framework.
808 All of GDB's targets have been updated to use the new internal
809 architecture framework. The way is now open for future GDB releases
810 to include cross-architecture native debugging support (i386 on amd64,
813 * GNU/Linux's Thread Local Storage (TLS)
815 GDB now includes support for for the GNU/Linux implementation of
816 per-thread variables.
818 * GNU/Linux's Native POSIX Thread Library (NPTL)
820 GDB's thread code has been updated to work with either the new
821 GNU/Linux NPTL thread library or the older "LinuxThreads" library.
823 * Separate debug info.
825 GDB, in conjunction with BINUTILS, now supports a mechanism for
826 automatically loading debug information from a separate file. Instead
827 of shipping full debug and non-debug versions of system libraries,
828 system integrators can now instead ship just the stripped libraries
829 and optional debug files.
831 * DWARF 2 Location Expressions
833 DWARF 2 Location Expressions allow the compiler to more completely
834 describe the location of variables (even in optimized code) to the
837 GDB now includes preliminary support for location expressions (support
838 for DW_OP_piece is still missing).
842 A number of long standing bugs that caused GDB to die while starting a
843 Java application have been fixed. GDB's Java support is now
844 considered "useable".
846 * GNU/Linux support for fork, vfork, and exec.
848 The "catch fork", "catch exec", "catch vfork", and "set follow-fork-mode"
849 commands are now implemented for GNU/Linux. They require a 2.5.x or later
852 * GDB supports logging output to a file
854 There are two new commands, "set logging" and "show logging", which can be
855 used to capture GDB's output to a file.
857 * The meaning of "detach" has changed for gdbserver
859 The "detach" command will now resume the application, as documented. To
860 disconnect from gdbserver and leave it stopped, use the new "disconnect"
863 * d10v, m68hc11 `regs' command deprecated
865 The `info registers' command has been updated so that it displays the
866 registers using a format identical to the old `regs' command.
870 A new command, "maint set profile on/off", has been added. This command can
871 be used to enable or disable profiling while running GDB, to profile a
872 session or a set of commands. In addition there is a new configure switch,
873 "--enable-profiling", which will cause GDB to be compiled with profiling
874 data, for more informative profiling results.
876 * Default MI syntax changed to "mi2".
878 The default MI (machine interface) syntax, enabled by the command line
879 option "-i=mi", has been changed to "mi2". The previous MI syntax,
880 "mi1", can be enabled by specifying the option "-i=mi1".
882 Support for the original "mi0" syntax (included in GDB 5.0) has been
885 Fix for gdb/192: removed extraneous space when displaying frame level.
886 Fix for gdb/672: update changelist is now output in mi list format.
887 Fix for gdb/702: a -var-assign that updates the value now shows up
888 in a subsequent -var-update.
890 * New native configurations.
892 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
894 * Multi-arched targets.
896 HP/PA HPUX11 hppa*-*-hpux*
897 Renesas M32R/D w/simulator m32r-*-elf*
899 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
901 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
902 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
903 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
906 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
907 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
908 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
909 HP/PA running BSD hppa*-*-bsd*
910 HP/PA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
911 HP/PA Pro target hppa*-*-pro*
912 PMAX (MIPS) running Mach 3.0 mips*-*-mach3*
913 Sequent family i[3456]86-sequent-sysv4*
914 i[3456]86-sequent-sysv*
915 i[3456]86-sequent-bsd*
916 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
917 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
919 * REMOVED configurations and files
922 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
923 IBM AIX PS/2 i[3456]86-*-aix
924 i386 running Mach 3.0 i[3456]86-*-mach3*
925 i386 running Mach i[3456]86-*-mach*
926 i386 running OSF/1 i[3456]86-*osf1mk*
927 HP/Apollo 68k Family m68*-apollo*-sysv*,
929 m68*-hp-bsd*, m68*-hp-hpux*
930 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
931 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
932 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
933 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
934 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
936 * MIPS $fp behavior changed
938 The convenience variable $fp, for the MIPS, now consistently returns
939 the address of the current frame's base. Previously, depending on the
940 context, $fp could refer to either $sp or the current frame's base
941 address. See ``8.10 Registers'' in the manual ``Debugging with GDB:
942 The GNU Source-Level Debugger''.
944 *** Changes in GDB 5.3:
946 * GNU/Linux shared library multi-threaded performance improved.
948 When debugging a multi-threaded application on GNU/Linux, GDB now uses
949 `/proc', in preference to `ptrace' for memory reads. This may result
950 in an improvement in the start-up time of multi-threaded, shared
951 library applications when run under GDB. One GDB user writes: ``loads
952 shared libs like mad''.
954 * ``gdbserver'' now supports multi-threaded applications on some targets
956 Support for debugging multi-threaded applications which use
957 the GNU/Linux LinuxThreads package has been added for
958 arm*-*-linux*-gnu*, i[3456]86-*-linux*-gnu*, mips*-*-linux*-gnu*,
959 powerpc*-*-linux*-gnu*, and sh*-*-linux*-gnu*.
961 * GDB now supports C/C++ preprocessor macros.
963 GDB now expands preprocessor macro invocations in C/C++ expressions,
964 and provides various commands for showing macro definitions and how
967 The new command `macro expand EXPRESSION' expands any macro
968 invocations in expression, and shows the result.
970 The new command `show macro MACRO-NAME' shows the definition of the
971 macro named MACRO-NAME, and where it was defined.
973 Most compilers don't include information about macros in the debugging
974 information by default. In GCC 3.1, for example, you need to compile
975 your program with the options `-gdwarf-2 -g3'. If the macro
976 information is present in the executable, GDB will read it.
978 * Multi-arched targets.
980 DEC Alpha (partial) alpha*-*-*
981 DEC VAX (partial) vax-*-*
983 National Semiconductor NS32000 (partial) ns32k-*-*
984 Motorola 68000 (partial) m68k-*-*
985 Motorola MCORE mcore-*-*
989 Fujitsu FRV architecture added by Red Hat frv*-*-*
992 * New native configurations
994 Alpha NetBSD alpha*-*-netbsd*
995 SH NetBSD sh*-*-netbsdelf*
996 MIPS NetBSD mips*-*-netbsd*
997 UltraSPARC NetBSD sparc64-*-netbsd*
999 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
1001 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
1002 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
1003 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
1004 permanently REMOVED.
1006 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
1007 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
1008 IBM AIX PS/2 i[3456]86-*-aix
1009 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
1010 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
1011 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
1012 i386 running Mach 3.0 i[3456]86-*-mach3*
1013 i386 running Mach i[3456]86-*-mach*
1014 i386 running OSF/1 i[3456]86-*osf1mk*
1015 HP/Apollo 68k Family m68*-apollo*-sysv*,
1017 m68*-hp-bsd*, m68*-hp-hpux*
1018 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
1020 * OBSOLETE languages
1022 CHILL, a Pascal like language used by telecommunications companies.
1024 * REMOVED configurations and files
1026 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi, udi29k
1027 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
1028 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
1029 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
1030 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
1032 testsuite/gdb.hp/gdb.threads-hp/ directory
1034 * New command "set max-user-call-depth <nnn>"
1036 This command allows the user to limit the call depth of user-defined
1037 commands. The default is 1024.
1039 * Changes in FreeBSD/i386 native debugging.
1041 Support for the "generate-core-file" has been added.
1043 * New commands "dump", "append", and "restore".
1045 These commands allow data to be copied from target memory
1046 to a bfd-format or binary file (dump and append), and back
1047 from a file into memory (restore).
1049 * Improved "next/step" support on multi-processor Alpha Tru64.
1051 The previous single-step mechanism could cause unpredictable problems,
1052 including the random appearance of SIGSEGV or SIGTRAP signals. The use
1053 of a software single-step mechanism prevents this.
1055 *** Changes in GDB 5.2.1:
1063 gdb/182: gdb/323: gdb/237: On alpha, gdb was reporting:
1064 mdebugread.c:2443: gdb-internal-error: sect_index_data not initialized
1065 Fix, by Joel Brobecker imported from mainline.
1067 gdb/439: gdb/291: On some ELF object files, gdb was reporting:
1068 dwarf2read.c:1072: gdb-internal-error: sect_index_text not initialize
1069 Fix, by Fred Fish, imported from mainline.
1071 Dwarf2 .debug_frame & .eh_frame handler improved in many ways.
1072 Surprisingly enough, it works now.
1073 By Michal Ludvig, imported from mainline.
1075 i386 hardware watchpoint support:
1076 avoid misses on second run for some targets.
1077 By Pierre Muller, imported from mainline.
1079 *** Changes in GDB 5.2:
1081 * New command "set trust-readonly-sections on[off]".
1083 This command is a hint that tells gdb that read-only sections
1084 really are read-only (ie. that their contents will not change).
1085 In this mode, gdb will go to the object file rather than the
1086 target to read memory from read-only sections (such as ".text").
1087 This can be a significant performance improvement on some
1088 (notably embedded) targets.
1090 * New command "generate-core-file" (or "gcore").
1092 This new gdb command allows the user to drop a core file of the child
1093 process state at any time. So far it's been implemented only for
1094 GNU/Linux and Solaris, but should be relatively easily ported to other
1095 hosts. Argument is core file name (defaults to core.<pid>).
1097 * New command line option
1099 GDB now accepts --pid or -p followed by a process id.
1101 * Change in command line behavior -- corefiles vs. process ids.
1103 There is a subtle behavior in the way in which GDB handles
1104 command line arguments. The first non-flag argument is always
1105 a program to debug, but the second non-flag argument may either
1106 be a corefile or a process id. Previously, GDB would attempt to
1107 open the second argument as a corefile, and if that failed, would
1108 issue a superfluous error message and then attempt to attach it as
1109 a process. Now, if the second argument begins with a non-digit,
1110 it will be treated as a corefile. If it begins with a digit,
1111 GDB will attempt to attach it as a process, and if no such process
1112 is found, will then attempt to open it as a corefile.
1114 * Changes in ARM configurations.
1116 Multi-arch support is enabled for all ARM configurations. The ARM/NetBSD
1117 configuration is fully multi-arch.
1119 * New native configurations
1121 ARM NetBSD arm*-*-netbsd*
1122 x86 OpenBSD i[3456]86-*-openbsd*
1123 AMD x86-64 running GNU/Linux x86_64-*-linux-*
1124 Sparc64 running FreeBSD sparc64-*-freebsd*
1128 Sanyo XStormy16 xstormy16-elf
1130 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
1132 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
1133 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
1134 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
1135 permanently REMOVED.
1137 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi, udi29k
1138 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
1139 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
1140 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
1141 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
1143 testsuite/gdb.hp/gdb.threads-hp/ directory
1145 * REMOVED configurations and files
1147 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
1149 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
1150 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
1151 PowerPC Netware powerpc-*-netware*
1152 Harris/CXUX m88k m88*-harris-cxux*
1153 Most ns32k hosts and targets ns32k-*-mach3* ns32k-umax-*
1154 ns32k-utek-sysv* ns32k-utek-*
1155 SunOS 4.0.Xi on i386 i[3456]86-*-sunos*
1156 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1 a29k-nyu-sym1 a29k-*-kern*
1157 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x m68*-sony-sysv news
1158 ISI Optimum V (3.05) under 4.3bsd. m68*-isi-*
1159 Apple Macintosh (MPW) host and target N/A host, powerpc-*-macos*
1161 * Changes to command line processing
1163 The new `--args' feature can be used to specify command-line arguments
1164 for the inferior from gdb's command line.
1166 * Changes to key bindings
1168 There is a new `operate-and-get-next' function bound to `C-o'.
1170 *** Changes in GDB 5.1.1
1172 Fix compile problem on DJGPP.
1174 Fix a problem with floating-point registers on the i386 being
1177 Fix to stop GDB crashing on .debug_str debug info.
1179 Numerous documentation fixes.
1181 Numerous testsuite fixes.
1183 *** Changes in GDB 5.1:
1185 * New native configurations
1187 Alpha FreeBSD alpha*-*-freebsd*
1188 x86 FreeBSD 3.x and 4.x i[3456]86*-freebsd[34]*
1189 MIPS GNU/Linux mips*-*-linux*
1190 MIPS SGI Irix 6.x mips*-sgi-irix6*
1191 ia64 AIX ia64-*-aix*
1192 s390 and s390x GNU/Linux {s390,s390x}-*-linux*
1196 Motorola 68HC11 and 68HC12 m68hc11-elf
1198 UltraSparc running GNU/Linux sparc64-*-linux*
1200 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
1202 x86 FreeBSD before 2.2 i[3456]86*-freebsd{1,2.[01]}*,
1203 Harris/CXUX m88k m88*-harris-cxux*
1204 Most ns32k hosts and targets ns32k-*-mach3* ns32k-umax-*
1205 ns32k-utek-sysv* ns32k-utek-*
1206 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
1208 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1 a29k-nyu-sym1 a29k-*-kern*
1209 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
1210 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
1211 PowerPC Netware powerpc-*-netware*
1212 SunOS 4.0.Xi on i386 i[3456]86-*-sunos*
1213 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x m68*-sony-sysv news
1214 ISI Optimum V (3.05) under 4.3bsd. m68*-isi-*
1215 Apple Macintosh (MPW) host N/A
1217 stuff.c (Program to stuff files into a specially prepared space in kdb)
1218 kdb-start.c (Main loop for the standalone kernel debugger)
1220 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
1221 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
1222 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
1223 permanently REMOVED.
1225 * REMOVED configurations and files
1227 Altos 3068 m68*-altos-*
1228 Convex c1-*-*, c2-*-*
1230 ARM RISCix arm-*-* (as host)
1234 * GDB has been converted to ISO C.
1236 GDB's source code has been converted to ISO C. In particular, the
1237 sources are fully protoized, and rely on standard headers being
1242 * "info symbol" works on platforms which use COFF, ECOFF, XCOFF, and NLM.
1244 * The MI enabled by default.
1246 The new machine oriented interface (MI) introduced in GDB 5.0 has been
1247 revised and enabled by default. Packages which use GDB as a debugging
1248 engine behind a UI or another front end are encouraged to switch to
1249 using the GDB/MI interface, instead of the old annotations interface
1250 which is now deprecated.
1252 * Support for debugging Pascal programs.
1254 GDB now includes support for debugging Pascal programs. The following
1255 main features are supported:
1257 - Pascal-specific data types such as sets;
1259 - automatic recognition of Pascal sources based on file-name
1262 - Pascal-style display of data types, variables, and functions;
1264 - a Pascal expression parser.
1266 However, some important features are not yet supported.
1268 - Pascal string operations are not supported at all;
1270 - there are some problems with boolean types;
1272 - Pascal type hexadecimal constants are not supported
1273 because they conflict with the internal variables format;
1275 - support for Pascal objects and classes is not full yet;
1277 - unlike Pascal, GDB is case-sensitive for symbol names.
1279 * Changes in completion.
1281 Commands such as `shell', `run' and `set args', which pass arguments
1282 to inferior programs, now complete on file names, similar to what
1283 users expect at the shell prompt.
1285 Commands which accept locations, such as `disassemble', `print',
1286 `breakpoint', `until', etc. now complete on filenames as well as
1287 program symbols. Thus, if you type "break foob TAB", and the source
1288 files linked into the programs include `foobar.c', that file name will
1289 be one of the candidates for completion. However, file names are not
1290 considered for completion after you typed a colon that delimits a file
1291 name from a name of a function in that file, as in "break foo.c:bar".
1293 `set demangle-style' completes on available demangling styles.
1295 * New platform-independent commands:
1297 It is now possible to define a post-hook for a command as well as a
1298 hook that runs before the command. For more details, see the
1299 documentation of `hookpost' in the GDB manual.
1301 * Changes in GNU/Linux native debugging.
1303 Support for debugging multi-threaded programs has been completely
1304 revised for all platforms except m68k and sparc. You can now debug as
1305 many threads as your system allows you to have.
1307 Attach/detach is supported for multi-threaded programs.
1309 Support for SSE registers was added for x86. This doesn't work for
1310 multi-threaded programs though.
1312 * Changes in MIPS configurations.
1314 Multi-arch support is enabled for all MIPS configurations.
1316 GDB can now be built as native debugger on SGI Irix 6.x systems for
1317 debugging n32 executables. (Debugging 64-bit executables is not yet
1320 * Unified support for hardware watchpoints in all x86 configurations.
1322 Most (if not all) native x86 configurations support hardware-assisted
1323 breakpoints and watchpoints in a unified manner. This support
1324 implements debug register sharing between watchpoints, which allows to
1325 put a virtually infinite number of watchpoints on the same address,
1326 and also supports watching regions up to 16 bytes with several debug
1329 The new maintenance command `maintenance show-debug-regs' toggles
1330 debugging print-outs in functions that insert, remove, and test
1331 watchpoints and hardware breakpoints.
1333 * Changes in the DJGPP native configuration.
1335 New command ``info dos sysinfo'' displays assorted information about
1336 the CPU, OS, memory, and DPMI server.
1338 New commands ``info dos gdt'', ``info dos ldt'', and ``info dos idt''
1339 display information about segment descriptors stored in GDT, LDT, and
1342 New commands ``info dos pde'' and ``info dos pte'' display entries
1343 from Page Directory and Page Tables (for now works with CWSDPMI only).
1344 New command ``info dos address-pte'' displays the Page Table entry for
1345 a given linear address.
1347 GDB can now pass command lines longer than 126 characters to the
1348 program being debugged (requires an update to the libdbg.a library
1349 which is part of the DJGPP development kit).
1351 DWARF2 debug info is now supported.
1353 It is now possible to `step' and `next' through calls to `longjmp'.
1355 * Changes in documentation.
1357 All GDB documentation was converted to GFDL, the GNU Free
1358 Documentation License.
1360 Tracepoints-related commands are now fully documented in the GDB
1363 TUI, the Text-mode User Interface, is now documented in the manual.
1365 Tracepoints-related commands are now fully documented in the GDB
1368 The "GDB Internals" manual now has an index. It also includes
1369 documentation of `ui_out' functions, GDB coding standards, x86
1370 hardware watchpoints, and memory region attributes.
1372 * GDB's version number moved to ``version.in''
1374 The Makefile variable VERSION has been replaced by the file
1375 ``version.in''. People creating GDB distributions should update the
1376 contents of this file.
1380 GUD support is now a standard part of the EMACS distribution.
1382 *** Changes in GDB 5.0:
1384 * Improved support for debugging FP programs on x86 targets
1386 Unified and much-improved support for debugging floating-point
1387 programs on all x86 targets. In particular, ``info float'' now
1388 displays the FP registers in the same format on all x86 targets, with
1389 greater level of detail.
1391 * Improvements and bugfixes in hardware-assisted watchpoints
1393 It is now possible to watch array elements, struct members, and
1394 bitfields with hardware-assisted watchpoints. Data-read watchpoints
1395 on x86 targets no longer erroneously trigger when the address is
1398 * Improvements in the native DJGPP version of GDB
1400 The distribution now includes all the scripts and auxiliary files
1401 necessary to build the native DJGPP version on MS-DOS/MS-Windows
1402 machines ``out of the box''.
1404 The DJGPP version can now debug programs that use signals. It is
1405 possible to catch signals that happened in the debuggee, deliver
1406 signals to it, interrupt it with Ctrl-C, etc. (Previously, a signal
1407 would kill the program being debugged.) Programs that hook hardware
1408 interrupts (keyboard, timer, etc.) can also be debugged.
1410 It is now possible to debug DJGPP programs that redirect their
1411 standard handles or switch them to raw (as opposed to cooked) mode, or
1412 even close them. The command ``run < foo > bar'' works as expected,
1413 and ``info terminal'' reports useful information about the debuggee's
1414 terminal, including raw/cooked mode, redirection, etc.
1416 The DJGPP version now uses termios functions for console I/O, which
1417 enables debugging graphics programs. Interrupting GDB with Ctrl-C
1420 DOS-style file names with drive letters are now fully supported by
1423 It is now possible to debug DJGPP programs that switch their working
1424 directory. It is also possible to rerun the debuggee any number of
1425 times without restarting GDB; thus, you can use the same setup,
1426 breakpoints, etc. for many debugging sessions.
1428 * New native configurations
1430 ARM GNU/Linux arm*-*-linux*
1431 PowerPC GNU/Linux powerpc-*-linux*
1435 Motorola MCore mcore-*-*
1436 x86 VxWorks i[3456]86-*-vxworks*
1437 PowerPC VxWorks powerpc-*-vxworks*
1438 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
1440 * OBSOLETE configurations
1442 Altos 3068 m68*-altos-*
1443 Convex c1-*-*, c2-*-*
1445 ARM RISCix arm-*-* (as host)
1448 Configurations that have been declared obsolete will be commented out,
1449 but the code will be left in place. If there is no activity to revive
1450 these configurations before the next release of GDB, the sources will
1451 be permanently REMOVED.
1453 * Gould support removed
1455 Support for the Gould PowerNode and NP1 has been removed.
1457 * New features for SVR4
1459 On SVR4 native platforms (such as Solaris), if you attach to a process
1460 without first loading a symbol file, GDB will now attempt to locate and
1461 load symbols from the running process's executable file.
1463 * Many C++ enhancements
1465 C++ support has been greatly improved. Overload resolution now works properly
1466 in almost all cases. RTTI support is on the way.
1468 * Remote targets can connect to a sub-program
1470 A popen(3) style serial-device has been added. This device starts a
1471 sub-process (such as a stand-alone simulator) and then communicates
1472 with that. The sub-program to run is specified using the syntax
1473 ``|<program> <args>'' vis:
1475 (gdb) set remotedebug 1
1476 (gdb) target extended-remote |mn10300-elf-sim program-args
1478 * MIPS 64 remote protocol
1480 A long standing bug in the mips64 remote protocol where by GDB
1481 expected certain 32 bit registers (ex SR) to be transfered as 32
1482 instead of 64 bits has been fixed.
1484 The command ``set remote-mips64-transfers-32bit-regs on'' has been
1485 added to provide backward compatibility with older versions of GDB.
1487 * ``set remotebinarydownload'' replaced by ``set remote X-packet''
1489 The command ``set remotebinarydownload'' command has been replaced by
1490 ``set remote X-packet''. Other commands in ``set remote'' family
1491 include ``set remote P-packet''.
1493 * Breakpoint commands accept ranges.
1495 The breakpoint commands ``enable'', ``disable'', and ``delete'' now
1496 accept a range of breakpoints, e.g. ``5-7''. The tracepoint command
1497 ``tracepoint passcount'' also accepts a range of tracepoints.
1499 * ``apropos'' command added.
1501 The ``apropos'' command searches through command names and
1502 documentation strings, printing out matches, making it much easier to
1503 try to find a command that does what you are looking for.
1507 A new machine oriented interface (MI) has been added to GDB. This
1508 interface is designed for debug environments running GDB as a separate
1509 process. This is part of the long term libGDB project. See the
1510 "GDB/MI" chapter of the GDB manual for further information. It can be
1511 enabled by configuring with:
1513 .../configure --enable-gdbmi
1515 *** Changes in GDB-4.18:
1517 * New native configurations
1519 HP-UX 10.20 hppa*-*-hpux10.20
1520 HP-UX 11.x hppa*-*-hpux11.0*
1521 M68K GNU/Linux m68*-*-linux*
1525 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
1526 Intel StrongARM strongarm-*-*
1527 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
1529 * OBSOLETE configurations
1531 Gould PowerNode, NP1 np1-*-*, pn-*-*
1533 Configurations that have been declared obsolete will be commented out,
1534 but the code will be left in place. If there is no activity to revive
1535 these configurations before the next release of GDB, the sources will
1536 be permanently REMOVED.
1540 As a compatibility experiment, GDB's source files buildsym.h and
1541 buildsym.c have been converted to pure standard C, no longer
1542 containing any K&R compatibility code. We believe that all systems in
1543 use today either come with a standard C compiler, or have a GCC port
1544 available. If this is not true, please report the affected
1545 configuration to bug-gdb@gnu.org immediately. See the README file for
1546 information about getting a standard C compiler if you don't have one
1551 GDB now uses readline 2.2.
1553 * set extension-language
1555 You can now control the mapping between filename extensions and source
1556 languages by using the `set extension-language' command. For instance,
1557 you can ask GDB to treat .c files as C++ by saying
1558 set extension-language .c c++
1559 The command `info extensions' lists all of the recognized extensions
1560 and their associated languages.
1562 * Setting processor type for PowerPC and RS/6000
1564 When GDB is configured for a powerpc*-*-* or an rs6000*-*-* target,
1565 you can use the `set processor' command to specify what variant of the
1566 PowerPC family you are debugging. The command
1570 sets the PowerPC/RS6000 variant to NAME. GDB knows about the
1571 following PowerPC and RS6000 variants:
1573 ppc-uisa PowerPC UISA - a PPC processor as viewed by user-level code
1574 rs6000 IBM RS6000 ("POWER") architecture, user-level view
1576 403GC IBM PowerPC 403GC
1577 505 Motorola PowerPC 505
1578 860 Motorola PowerPC 860 or 850
1579 601 Motorola PowerPC 601
1580 602 Motorola PowerPC 602
1581 603 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 603 or 603e
1582 604 Motorola PowerPC 604 or 604e
1583 750 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 750 or 750
1585 At the moment, this command just tells GDB what to name the
1586 special-purpose processor registers. Since almost all the affected
1587 registers are inaccessible to user-level programs, this command is
1588 only useful for remote debugging in its present form.
1592 Thanks to a major code donation from Hewlett-Packard, GDB now has much
1593 more extensive support for HP-UX. Added features include shared
1594 library support, kernel threads and hardware watchpoints for 11.00,
1595 support for HP's ANSI C and C++ compilers, and a compatibility mode
1596 for xdb and dbx commands.
1600 HP's donation includes the new concept of catchpoints, which is a
1601 generalization of the old catch command. On HP-UX, it is now possible
1602 to catch exec, fork, and vfork, as well as library loading.
1604 This means that the existing catch command has changed; its first
1605 argument now specifies the type of catch to be set up. See the
1606 output of "help catch" for a list of catchpoint types.
1608 * Debugging across forks
1610 On HP-UX, you can choose which process to debug when a fork() happens
1615 HP has donated a curses-based terminal user interface (TUI). To get
1616 it, build with --enable-tui. Although this can be enabled for any
1617 configuration, at present it only works for native HP debugging.
1619 * GDB remote protocol additions
1621 A new protocol packet 'X' that writes binary data is now available.
1622 Default behavior is to try 'X', then drop back to 'M' if the stub
1623 fails to respond. The settable variable `remotebinarydownload'
1624 allows explicit control over the use of 'X'.
1626 For 64-bit targets, the memory packets ('M' and 'm') can now contain a
1627 full 64-bit address. The command
1629 set remoteaddresssize 32
1631 can be used to revert to the old behaviour. For existing remote stubs
1632 the change should not be noticed, as the additional address information
1635 In order to assist in debugging stubs, you may use the maintenance
1636 command `packet' to send any text string to the stub. For instance,
1638 maint packet heythere
1640 sends the packet "$heythere#<checksum>". Note that it is very easy to
1641 disrupt a debugging session by sending the wrong packet at the wrong
1644 The compare-sections command allows you to compare section data on the
1645 target to what is in the executable file without uploading or
1646 downloading, by comparing CRC checksums.
1648 * Tracing can collect general expressions
1650 You may now collect general expressions at tracepoints. This requires
1651 further additions to the target-side stub; see tracepoint.c and
1652 doc/agentexpr.texi for further details.
1654 * mask-address variable for Mips
1656 For Mips targets, you may control the zeroing of the upper 32 bits of
1657 a 64-bit address by entering `set mask-address on'. This is mainly
1658 of interest to users of embedded R4xxx and R5xxx processors.
1660 * Higher serial baud rates
1662 GDB's serial code now allows you to specify baud rates 57600, 115200,
1663 230400, and 460800 baud. (Note that your host system may not be able
1664 to achieve all of these rates.)
1668 The i960 configuration now includes an initial implementation of a
1669 builtin simulator, contributed by Jim Wilson.
1672 *** Changes in GDB-4.17:
1674 * New native configurations
1676 Alpha GNU/Linux alpha*-*-linux*
1677 Unixware 2.x i[3456]86-unixware2*
1678 Irix 6.x mips*-sgi-irix6*
1679 PowerPC GNU/Linux powerpc-*-linux*
1680 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
1681 Sparc GNU/Linux sparc-*-linux*
1682 Motorola sysV68 R3V7.1 m68k-motorola-sysv
1686 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
1687 Hitachi H8/300S h8300*-*-*
1688 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
1689 Matsushita MN10300 w/simulator mn10300-*-*
1690 MIPS NEC VR4100 mips64*vr4100*{,el}-*-elf*
1691 MIPS NEC VR5000 mips64*vr5000*{,el}-*-elf*
1692 MIPS Toshiba TX39 mips64*tx39*{,el}-*-elf*
1693 Mitsubishi D10V w/simulator d10v-*-*
1694 Mitsubishi M32R/D w/simulator m32r-*-elf*
1695 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
1696 NEC V850 w/simulator v850-*-*
1698 * New debugging protocols
1700 ARM with RDI protocol arm*-*-*
1701 M68K with dBUG monitor m68*-*-{aout,coff,elf}
1702 DDB and LSI variants of PMON protocol mips*-*-*
1703 PowerPC with DINK32 monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
1704 PowerPC with SDS protocol powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
1705 Macraigor OCD (Wiggler) devices powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
1709 All configurations can now understand and use the DWARF 2 debugging
1710 format. The choice is automatic, if the symbol file contains DWARF 2
1715 GDB now includes basic Java language support. This support is
1716 only useful with Java compilers that produce native machine code.
1718 * solib-absolute-prefix and solib-search-path
1720 For SunOS and SVR4 shared libraries, you may now set the prefix for
1721 loading absolute shared library symbol files, and the search path for
1722 locating non-absolute shared library symbol files.
1724 * Live range splitting
1726 GDB can now effectively debug code for which GCC has performed live
1727 range splitting as part of its optimization. See gdb/doc/LRS for
1728 more details on the expected format of the stabs information.
1732 GDB's support for the GNU Hurd, including thread debugging, has been
1733 updated to work with current versions of the Hurd.
1737 GDB's ARM target configuration now handles the ARM7T (Thumb) 16-bit
1738 instruction set. ARM GDB automatically detects when Thumb
1739 instructions are in use, and adjusts disassembly and backtracing
1744 GDB's MIPS target configurations now handle the MIP16 16-bit
1749 GDB now includes support for overlays; if an executable has been
1750 linked such that multiple sections are based at the same address, GDB
1751 will decide which section to use for symbolic info. You can choose to
1752 control the decision manually, using overlay commands, or implement
1753 additional target-side support and use "overlay load-target" to bring
1754 in the overlay mapping. Do "help overlay" for more detail.
1758 The command "info symbol <address>" displays information about
1759 the symbol at the specified address.
1763 The standard remote protocol now includes an extension that allows
1764 asynchronous collection and display of trace data. This requires
1765 extensive support in the target-side debugging stub. Tracing mode
1766 includes a new interaction mode in GDB and new commands: see the
1767 file tracepoint.c for more details.
1771 Configurations for embedded MIPS now include a simulator contributed
1772 by Cygnus Solutions. The simulator supports the instruction sets
1773 of most MIPS variants.
1777 Sparc configurations may now include the ERC32 simulator contributed
1778 by the European Space Agency. The simulator is not built into
1779 Sparc targets by default; configure with --enable-sim to include it.
1783 For target configurations that may include multiple variants of a
1784 basic architecture (such as MIPS and SH), you may now set the
1785 architecture explicitly. "set arch" sets, "info arch" lists
1786 the possible architectures.
1788 *** Changes in GDB-4.16:
1790 * New native configurations
1792 Windows 95, x86 Windows NT i[345]86-*-cygwin32
1793 M68K NetBSD m68k-*-netbsd*
1794 PowerPC AIX 4.x powerpc-*-aix*
1795 PowerPC MacOS powerpc-*-macos*
1796 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
1797 RS/6000 AIX 4.x rs6000-*-aix4*
1801 ARM with RDP protocol arm-*-*
1802 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
1803 MIPS VxWorks mips*-*-vxworks*
1804 MIPS VR4300 with PMON mips64*vr4300{,el}-*-elf*
1805 PowerPC with PPCBUG monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi*
1807 Matra Sparclet sparclet-*-*
1811 The powerpc-eabi configuration now includes the PSIM simulator,
1812 contributed by Andrew Cagney, with assistance from Mike Meissner.
1813 PSIM is a very elaborate model of the PowerPC, including not only
1814 basic instruction set execution, but also details of execution unit
1815 performance and I/O hardware. See sim/ppc/README for more details.
1819 GDB now works with Solaris 2.5.
1821 * Windows 95/NT native
1823 GDB will now work as a native debugger on Windows 95 and Windows NT.
1824 To build it from source, you must use the "gnu-win32" environment,
1825 which uses a DLL to emulate enough of Unix to run the GNU tools.
1826 Further information, binaries, and sources are available at
1827 ftp.cygnus.com, under pub/gnu-win32.
1829 * dont-repeat command
1831 If a user-defined command includes the command `dont-repeat', then the
1832 command will not be repeated if the user just types return. This is
1833 useful if the command is time-consuming to run, so that accidental
1834 extra keystrokes don't run the same command many times.
1836 * Send break instead of ^C
1838 The standard remote protocol now includes an option to send a break
1839 rather than a ^C to the target in order to interrupt it. By default,
1840 GDB will send ^C; to send a break, set the variable `remotebreak' to 1.
1842 * Remote protocol timeout
1844 The standard remote protocol includes a new variable `remotetimeout'
1845 that allows you to set the number of seconds before GDB gives up trying
1846 to read from the target. The default value is 2.
1848 * Automatic tracking of dynamic object loading (HPUX and Solaris only)
1850 By default GDB will automatically keep track of objects as they are
1851 loaded and unloaded by the dynamic linker. By using the command `set
1852 stop-on-solib-events 1' you can arrange for GDB to stop the inferior
1853 when shared library events occur, thus allowing you to set breakpoints
1854 in shared libraries which are explicitly loaded by the inferior.
1856 Note this feature does not work on hpux8. On hpux9 you must link
1857 /usr/lib/end.o into your program. This feature should work
1858 automatically on hpux10.
1860 * Irix 5.x hardware watchpoint support
1862 Irix 5 configurations now support the use of hardware watchpoints.
1864 * Mips protocol "SYN garbage limit"
1866 When debugging a Mips target using the `target mips' protocol, you
1867 may set the number of characters that GDB will ignore by setting
1868 the `syn-garbage-limit'. A value of -1 means that GDB will ignore
1869 every character. The default value is 1050.
1871 * Recording and replaying remote debug sessions
1873 If you set `remotelogfile' to the name of a file, gdb will write to it
1874 a recording of a remote debug session. This recording may then be
1875 replayed back to gdb using "gdbreplay". See gdbserver/README for
1876 details. This is useful when you have a problem with GDB while doing
1877 remote debugging; you can make a recording of the session and send it
1878 to someone else, who can then recreate the problem.
1880 * Speedups for remote debugging
1882 GDB includes speedups for downloading and stepping MIPS systems using
1883 the IDT monitor, fast downloads to the Hitachi SH E7000 emulator,
1884 and more efficient S-record downloading.
1886 * Memory use reductions and statistics collection
1888 GDB now uses less memory and reports statistics about memory usage.
1889 Try the `maint print statistics' command, for example.
1891 *** Changes in GDB-4.15:
1893 * Psymtabs for XCOFF
1895 The symbol reader for AIX GDB now uses partial symbol tables. This
1896 can greatly improve startup time, especially for large executables.
1898 * Remote targets use caching
1900 Remote targets now use a data cache to speed up communication with the
1901 remote side. The data cache could lead to incorrect results because
1902 it doesn't know about volatile variables, thus making it impossible to
1903 debug targets which use memory mapped I/O devices. `set remotecache
1904 off' turns the the data cache off.
1906 * Remote targets may have threads
1908 The standard remote protocol now includes support for multiple threads
1909 in the target system, using new protocol commands 'H' and 'T'. See
1910 gdb/remote.c for details.
1914 If GDB is configured with `--enable-netrom', then it will include
1915 support for the NetROM ROM emulator from XLNT Designs. The NetROM
1916 acts as though it is a bank of ROM on the target board, but you can
1917 write into it over the network. GDB's support consists only of
1918 support for fast loading into the emulated ROM; to debug, you must use
1919 another protocol, such as standard remote protocol. The usual
1920 sequence is something like
1922 target nrom <netrom-hostname>
1924 target remote <netrom-hostname>:1235
1928 GDB now includes support for the Apple Macintosh, as a host only. It
1929 may be run as either an MPW tool or as a standalone application, and
1930 it can debug through the serial port. All the usual GDB commands are
1931 available, but to the target command, you must supply "serial" as the
1932 device type instead of "/dev/ttyXX". See mpw-README in the main
1933 directory for more information on how to build. The MPW configuration
1934 scripts */mpw-config.in support only a few targets, and only the
1935 mips-idt-ecoff target has been tested.
1939 GDB configuration now uses autoconf. This is not user-visible,
1940 but does simplify configuration and building.
1944 GDB now supports hpux10.
1946 *** Changes in GDB-4.14:
1948 * New native configurations
1950 x86 FreeBSD i[345]86-*-freebsd
1951 x86 NetBSD i[345]86-*-netbsd
1952 NS32k NetBSD ns32k-*-netbsd
1953 Sparc NetBSD sparc-*-netbsd
1957 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
1958 HP PA PRO embedded (WinBond W89K & Oki OP50N) hppa*-*-pro*
1959 CPU32 EST-300 emulator m68*-*-est*
1960 PowerPC ELF powerpc-*-elf
1963 * Alpha OSF/1 support for procfs
1965 GDB now supports procfs under OSF/1-2.x and higher, which makes it
1966 possible to attach to running processes. As the mounting of the /proc
1967 filesystem is optional on the Alpha, GDB automatically determines
1968 the availability of /proc during startup. This can lead to problems
1969 if /proc is unmounted after GDB has been started.
1971 * Arguments to user-defined commands
1973 User commands may accept up to 10 arguments separated by whitespace.
1974 Arguments are accessed within the user command via $arg0..$arg9. A
1977 print $arg0 + $arg1 + $arg2
1979 To execute the command use:
1982 Defines the command "adder" which prints the sum of its three arguments.
1983 Note the arguments are text substitutions, so they may reference variables,
1984 use complex expressions, or even perform inferior function calls.
1986 * New `if' and `while' commands
1988 This makes it possible to write more sophisticated user-defined
1989 commands. Both commands take a single argument, which is the
1990 expression to evaluate, and must be followed by the commands to
1991 execute, one per line, if the expression is nonzero, the list being
1992 terminated by the word `end'. The `if' command list may include an
1993 `else' word, which causes the following commands to be executed only
1994 if the expression is zero.
1996 * Fortran source language mode
1998 GDB now includes partial support for Fortran 77. It will recognize
1999 Fortran programs and can evaluate a subset of Fortran expressions, but
2000 variables and functions may not be handled correctly. GDB will work
2001 with G77, but does not yet know much about symbols emitted by other
2004 * Better HPUX support
2006 Most debugging facilities now work on dynamic executables for HPPAs
2007 running hpux9 or later. You can attach to running dynamically linked
2008 processes, but by default the dynamic libraries will be read-only, so
2009 for instance you won't be able to put breakpoints in them. To change
2010 that behavior do the following before running the program:
2016 This will cause the libraries to be mapped private and read-write.
2017 To revert to the normal behavior, do this:
2023 You cannot set breakpoints or examine data in the library until after
2024 the library is loaded if the function/data symbols do not have
2027 GDB can now also read debug symbols produced by the HP C compiler on
2028 HPPAs (sorry, no C++, Fortran or 68k support).
2030 * Target byte order now dynamically selectable
2032 You can choose which byte order to use with a target system, via the
2033 commands "set endian big" and "set endian little", and you can see the
2034 current setting by using "show endian". You can also give the command
2035 "set endian auto", in which case GDB will use the byte order
2036 associated with the executable. Currently, only embedded MIPS
2037 configurations support dynamic selection of target byte order.
2039 * New DOS host serial code
2041 This version uses DPMI interrupts to handle buffered I/O, so you
2042 no longer need to run asynctsr when debugging boards connected to
2045 *** Changes in GDB-4.13:
2047 * New "complete" command
2049 This lists all the possible completions for the rest of the line, if it
2050 were to be given as a command itself. This is intended for use by emacs.
2052 * Trailing space optional in prompt
2054 "set prompt" no longer adds a space for you after the prompt you set. This
2055 allows you to set a prompt which ends in a space or one that does not.
2057 * Breakpoint hit counts
2059 "info break" now displays a count of the number of times the breakpoint
2060 has been hit. This is especially useful in conjunction with "ignore"; you
2061 can ignore a large number of breakpoint hits, look at the breakpoint info
2062 to see how many times the breakpoint was hit, then run again, ignoring one
2063 less than that number, and this will get you quickly to the last hit of
2066 * Ability to stop printing at NULL character
2068 "set print null-stop" will cause GDB to stop printing the characters of
2069 an array when the first NULL is encountered. This is useful when large
2070 arrays actually contain only short strings.
2072 * Shared library breakpoints
2074 In SunOS 4.x, SVR4, and Alpha OSF/1 configurations, you can now set
2075 breakpoints in shared libraries before the executable is run.
2077 * Hardware watchpoints
2079 There is a new hardware breakpoint for the watch command for sparclite
2080 targets. See gdb/sparclite/hw_breakpoint.note.
2082 Hardware watchpoints are also now supported under GNU/Linux.
2086 Annotations have been added. These are for use with graphical interfaces,
2087 and are still experimental. Currently only gdba.el uses these.
2089 * Improved Irix 5 support
2091 GDB now works properly with Irix 5.2.
2093 * Improved HPPA support
2095 GDB now works properly with the latest GCC and GAS.
2097 * New native configurations
2099 Sequent PTX4 i[34]86-sequent-ptx4
2100 HPPA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
2101 Atari TT running SVR4 m68*-*-sysv4*
2102 RS/6000 LynxOS rs6000-*-lynxos*
2106 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
2107 MIPS R4000 mips64*{,el}-*-{ecoff,elf}
2110 * Hitachi SH7000 and E7000-PC ICE support
2112 There is now support for communicating with the Hitachi E7000-PC ICE.
2113 This is available automatically when GDB is configured for the SH.
2117 As usual, a variety of small fixes and improvements, both generic
2118 and configuration-specific. See the ChangeLog for more detail.
2120 *** Changes in GDB-4.12:
2122 * Irix 5 is now supported
2126 GDB-4.12 on the HPPA has a number of changes which make it unable
2127 to debug the output from the currently released versions of GCC and
2128 GAS (GCC 2.5.8 and GAS-2.2 or PAGAS-1.36). Until the next major release
2129 of GCC and GAS, versions of these tools designed to work with GDB-4.12
2130 can be retrieved via anonymous ftp from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist.
2133 *** Changes in GDB-4.11:
2135 * User visible changes:
2139 The "set remotedebug" option is now consistent between the mips remote
2140 target, remote targets using the gdb-specific protocol, UDI (AMD's
2141 debug protocol for the 29k) and the 88k bug monitor. It is now an
2142 integer specifying a debug level (normally 0 or 1, but 2 means more
2143 debugging info for the mips target).
2145 * DEC Alpha native support
2147 GDB now works on the DEC Alpha. GCC 2.4.5 does not produce usable
2148 debug info, but GDB works fairly well with the DEC compiler and should
2149 work with a future GCC release. See the README file for a few
2150 Alpha-specific notes.
2152 * Preliminary thread implementation
2154 GDB now has preliminary thread support for both SGI/Irix and LynxOS.
2156 * LynxOS native and target support for 386
2158 This release has been hosted on LynxOS 2.2, and also can be configured
2159 to remotely debug programs running under LynxOS (see gdb/gdbserver/README
2162 * Improvements in C++ mangling/demangling.
2164 This release has much better g++ debugging, specifically in name
2165 mangling/demangling, virtual function calls, print virtual table,
2166 call methods, ...etc.
2168 *** Changes in GDB-4.10:
2170 * User visible changes:
2172 Remote debugging using the GDB-specific (`target remote') protocol now
2173 supports the `load' command. This is only useful if you have some
2174 other way of getting the stub to the target system, and you can put it
2175 somewhere in memory where it won't get clobbered by the download.
2177 Filename completion now works.
2179 When run under emacs mode, the "info line" command now causes the
2180 arrow to point to the line specified. Also, "info line" prints
2181 addresses in symbolic form (as well as hex).
2183 All vxworks based targets now support a user settable option, called
2184 vxworks-timeout. This option represents the number of seconds gdb
2185 should wait for responses to rpc's. You might want to use this if
2186 your vxworks target is, perhaps, a slow software simulator or happens
2187 to be on the far side of a thin network line.
2191 This release contains support for using a DEC alpha as a GDB host for
2192 cross debugging. Native alpha debugging is not supported yet.
2195 *** Changes in GDB-4.9:
2199 This is the first GDB release which is accompanied by a matching testsuite.
2200 The testsuite requires installation of dejagnu, which should be available
2201 via ftp from most sites that carry GNU software.
2205 'Cfront' style demangling has had its name changed to 'ARM' style, to
2206 emphasize that it was written from the specifications in the C++ Annotated
2207 Reference Manual, not necessarily to be compatible with AT&T cfront. Despite
2208 disclaimers, it still generated too much confusion with users attempting to
2209 use gdb with AT&T cfront.
2213 GDB now uses a standard remote interface to a simulator library.
2214 So far, the library contains simulators for the Zilog Z8001/2, the
2215 Hitachi H8/300, H8/500 and Super-H.
2217 * New targets supported
2219 H8/300 simulator h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
2220 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
2221 SH simulator sh-hitachi-hms or sh
2222 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
2223 IDT MIPS board over serial line mips-idt-ecoff
2225 Cross-debugging to GO32 targets is supported. It requires a custom
2226 version of the i386-stub.c module which is integrated with the
2227 GO32 memory extender.
2229 * New remote protocols
2231 MIPS remote debugging protocol.
2233 * New source languages supported
2235 This version includes preliminary support for Chill, a Pascal like language
2236 used by telecommunications companies. Chill support is also being integrated
2237 into the GNU compiler, but we don't know when it will be publically available.
2240 *** Changes in GDB-4.8:
2242 * HP Precision Architecture supported
2244 GDB now supports HP PA-RISC machines running HPUX. A preliminary
2245 version of this support was available as a set of patches from the
2246 University of Utah. GDB does not support debugging of programs
2247 compiled with the HP compiler, because HP will not document their file
2248 format. Instead, you must use GCC (version 2.3.2 or later) and PA-GAS
2249 (as available from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist/pa-gas.u4.tar.Z).
2251 Many problems in the preliminary version have been fixed.
2253 * Faster and better demangling
2255 We have improved template demangling and fixed numerous bugs in the GNU style
2256 demangler. It can now handle type modifiers such as `static' or `const'. Wide
2257 character types (wchar_t) are now supported. Demangling of each symbol is now
2258 only done once, and is cached when the symbol table for a file is read in.
2259 This results in a small increase in memory usage for C programs, a moderate
2260 increase in memory usage for C++ programs, and a fantastic speedup in
2263 `Cfront' style demangling still doesn't work with AT&T cfront. It was written
2264 from the specifications in the Annotated Reference Manual, which AT&T's
2265 compiler does not actually implement.
2267 * G++ multiple inheritance compiler problem
2269 In the 2.3.2 release of gcc/g++, how the compiler resolves multiple
2270 inheritance lattices was reworked to properly discover ambiguities. We
2271 recently found an example which causes this new algorithm to fail in a
2272 very subtle way, producing bad debug information for those classes.
2273 The file 'gcc.patch' (in this directory) can be applied to gcc to
2274 circumvent the problem. A future GCC release will contain a complete
2277 The previous G++ debug info problem (mentioned below for the gdb-4.7
2278 release) is fixed in gcc version 2.3.2.
2280 * Improved configure script
2282 The `configure' script will now attempt to guess your system type if
2283 you don't supply a host system type. The old scheme of supplying a
2284 host system triplet is preferable over using this. All the magic is
2285 done in the new `config.guess' script. Examine it for details.
2287 We have also brought our configure script much more in line with the FSF's
2288 version. It now supports the --with-xxx options. In particular,
2289 `--with-minimal-bfd' can be used to make the GDB binary image smaller.
2290 The resulting GDB will not be able to read arbitrary object file formats --
2291 only the format ``expected'' to be used on the configured target system.
2292 We hope to make this the default in a future release.
2294 * Documentation improvements
2296 There's new internal documentation on how to modify GDB, and how to
2297 produce clean changes to the code. We implore people to read it
2298 before submitting changes.
2300 The GDB manual uses new, sexy Texinfo conditionals, rather than arcane
2301 M4 macros. The new texinfo.tex is provided in this release. Pre-built
2302 `info' files are also provided. To build `info' files from scratch,
2303 you will need the latest `makeinfo' release, which will be available in
2304 a future texinfo-X.Y release.
2306 *NOTE* The new texinfo.tex can cause old versions of TeX to hang.
2307 We're not sure exactly which versions have this problem, but it has
2308 been seen in 3.0. We highly recommend upgrading to TeX version 3.141
2309 or better. If that isn't possible, there is a patch in
2310 `texinfo/tex3patch' that will modify `texinfo/texinfo.tex' to work
2311 around this problem.
2315 GDB now supports array constants that can be used in expressions typed in by
2316 the user. The syntax is `{element, element, ...}'. Ie: you can now type
2317 `print {1, 2, 3}', and it will build up an array in memory malloc'd in
2320 The new directory `gdb/sparclite' contains a program that demonstrates
2321 how the sparc-stub.c remote stub runs on a Fujitsu SPARClite processor.
2323 * New native hosts supported
2325 HP/PA-RISC under HPUX using GNU tools hppa1.1-hp-hpux
2326 386 CPUs running SCO Unix 3.2v4 i386-unknown-sco3.2v4
2328 * New targets supported
2330 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi or udi29k
2332 * New file formats supported
2334 BFD now supports reading HP/PA-RISC executables (SOM file format?),
2335 HPUX core files, and SCO 3.2v2 core files.
2339 Attaching to processes now works again; thanks for the many bug reports.
2341 We have also stomped on a bunch of core dumps caused by
2342 printf_filtered("%s") problems.
2344 We eliminated a copyright problem on the rpc and ptrace header files
2345 for VxWorks, which was discovered at the last minute during the 4.7
2346 release. You should now be able to build a VxWorks GDB.
2348 You can now interrupt gdb while an attached process is running. This
2349 will cause the attached process to stop, and give control back to GDB.
2351 We fixed problems caused by using too many file descriptors
2352 for reading symbols from object files and libraries. This was
2353 especially a problem for programs that used many (~100) shared
2356 The `step' command now only enters a subroutine if there is line number
2357 information for the subroutine. Otherwise it acts like the `next'
2358 command. Previously, `step' would enter subroutines if there was
2359 any debugging information about the routine. This avoids problems
2360 when using `cc -g1' on MIPS machines.
2362 * Internal improvements
2364 GDB's internal interfaces have been improved to make it easier to support
2365 debugging of multiple languages in the future.
2367 GDB now uses a common structure for symbol information internally.
2368 Minimal symbols (derived from linkage symbols in object files), partial
2369 symbols (from a quick scan of debug information), and full symbols
2370 contain a common subset of information, making it easier to write
2371 shared code that handles any of them.
2373 * New command line options
2375 We now accept --silent as an alias for --quiet.
2379 The memory-mapped-malloc library is now licensed under the GNU Library
2380 General Public License.
2382 *** Changes in GDB-4.7:
2384 * Host/native/target split
2386 GDB has had some major internal surgery to untangle the support for
2387 hosts and remote targets. Now, when you configure GDB for a remote
2388 target, it will no longer load in all of the support for debugging
2389 local programs on the host. When fully completed and tested, this will
2390 ensure that arbitrary host/target combinations are possible.
2392 The primary conceptual shift is to separate the non-portable code in
2393 GDB into three categories. Host specific code is required any time GDB
2394 is compiled on that host, regardless of the target. Target specific
2395 code relates to the peculiarities of the target, but can be compiled on
2396 any host. Native specific code is everything else: it can only be
2397 built when the host and target are the same system. Child process
2398 handling and core file support are two common `native' examples.
2400 GDB's use of /proc for controlling Unix child processes is now cleaner.
2401 It has been split out into a single module under the `target_ops' vector,
2402 plus two native-dependent functions for each system that uses /proc.
2404 * New hosts supported
2406 HP/Apollo 68k (under the BSD domain) m68k-apollo-bsd or apollo68bsd
2407 386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
2408 386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or i386sco
2410 * New targets supported
2412 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
2413 68030 and CPU32 m68030-*-*, m68332-*-*
2415 * New native hosts supported
2417 386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
2418 (386bsd is not well tested yet)
2419 386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or sco
2421 * New file formats supported
2423 BFD now supports COFF files for the Zilog Z8000 microprocessor. It
2424 supports reading of `a.out.adobe' object files, which are an a.out
2425 format extended with minimal information about multiple sections.
2429 `show copying' is the same as the old `info copying'.
2430 `show warranty' is the same as `info warrantee'.
2431 These were renamed for consistency. The old commands continue to work.
2433 `info handle' is a new alias for `info signals'.
2435 You can now define pre-command hooks, which attach arbitrary command
2436 scripts to any command. The commands in the hook will be executed
2437 prior to the user's command. You can also create a hook which will be
2438 executed whenever the program stops. See gdb.texinfo.
2442 We now deal with Cfront style name mangling, and can even extract type
2443 info from mangled symbols. GDB can automatically figure out which
2444 symbol mangling style your C++ compiler uses.
2446 Calling of methods and virtual functions has been improved as well.
2450 The crash that occured when debugging Sun Ansi-C compiled binaries is
2451 fixed. This was due to mishandling of the extra N_SO stabs output
2454 We also finally got Ultrix 4.2 running in house, and fixed core file
2455 support, with help from a dozen people on the net.
2457 John M. Farrell discovered that the reason that single-stepping was so
2458 slow on all of the Mips based platforms (primarily SGI and DEC) was
2459 that we were trying to demangle and lookup a symbol used for internal
2460 purposes on every instruction that was being stepped through. Changing
2461 the name of that symbol so that it couldn't be mistaken for a C++
2462 mangled symbol sped things up a great deal.
2464 Rich Pixley sped up symbol lookups in general by getting much smarter
2465 about when C++ symbol mangling is necessary. This should make symbol
2466 completion (TAB on the command line) much faster. It's not as fast as
2467 we'd like, but it's significantly faster than gdb-4.6.
2471 A new user controllable variable 'call_scratch_address' can
2472 specify the location of a scratch area to be used when GDB
2473 calls a function in the target. This is necessary because the
2474 usual method of putting the scratch area on the stack does not work
2475 in systems that have separate instruction and data spaces.
2477 We integrated changes to support the 29k UDI (Universal Debugger
2478 Interface), but discovered at the last minute that we didn't have all
2479 of the appropriate copyright paperwork. We are working with AMD to
2480 resolve this, and hope to have it available soon.
2484 We have sped up the remote serial line protocol, especially for targets
2485 with lots of registers. It now supports a new `expedited status' ('T')
2486 message which can be used in place of the existing 'S' status message.
2487 This allows the remote stub to send only the registers that GDB
2488 needs to make a quick decision about single-stepping or conditional
2489 breakpoints, eliminating the need to fetch the entire register set for
2490 each instruction being stepped through.
2492 The GDB remote serial protocol now implements a write-through cache for
2493 registers, only re-reading the registers if the target has run.
2495 There is also a new remote serial stub for SPARC processors. You can
2496 find it in gdb-4.7/gdb/sparc-stub.c. This was written to support the
2497 Fujitsu SPARClite processor, but will run on any stand-alone SPARC
2498 processor with a serial port.
2502 Configure.in files have become much easier to read and modify. A new
2503 `table driven' format makes it more obvious what configurations are
2504 supported, and what files each one uses.
2508 There is a new opcodes library which will eventually contain all of the
2509 disassembly routines and opcode tables. At present, it only contains
2510 Sparc and Z8000 routines. This will allow the assembler, debugger, and
2511 disassembler (binutils/objdump) to share these routines.
2513 The libiberty library is now copylefted under the GNU Library General
2514 Public License. This allows more liberal use, and was done so libg++
2515 can use it. This makes no difference to GDB, since the Library License
2516 grants all the rights from the General Public License.
2520 The file gdb-4.7/gdb/doc/stabs.texinfo is a (relatively) complete
2521 reference to the stabs symbol info used by the debugger. It is (as far
2522 as we know) the only published document on this fascinating topic. We
2523 encourage you to read it, compare it to the stabs information on your
2524 system, and send improvements on the document in general (to
2525 bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu).
2527 And, of course, many bugs have been fixed.
2530 *** Changes in GDB-4.6:
2532 * Better support for C++ function names
2534 GDB now accepts as input the "demangled form" of C++ overloaded function
2535 names and member function names, and can do command completion on such names
2536 (using TAB, TAB-TAB, and ESC-?). The names have to be quoted with a pair of
2537 single quotes. Examples are 'func (int, long)' and 'obj::operator==(obj&)'.
2538 Make use of command completion, it is your friend.
2540 GDB also now accepts a variety of C++ mangled symbol formats. They are
2541 the GNU g++ style, the Cfront (ARM) style, and the Lucid (lcc) style.
2542 You can tell GDB which format to use by doing a 'set demangle-style {gnu,
2543 lucid, cfront, auto}'. 'gnu' is the default. Do a 'set demangle-style foo'
2544 for the list of formats.
2546 * G++ symbol mangling problem
2548 Recent versions of gcc have a bug in how they emit debugging information for
2549 C++ methods (when using dbx-style stabs). The file 'gcc.patch' (in this
2550 directory) can be applied to gcc to fix the problem. Alternatively, if you
2551 can't fix gcc, you can #define GCC_MANGLE_BUG when compling gdb/symtab.c. The
2552 usual symptom is difficulty with setting breakpoints on methods. GDB complains
2553 about the method being non-existent. (We believe that version 2.2.2 of GCC has
2556 * New 'maintenance' command
2558 All of the commands related to hacking GDB internals have been moved out of
2559 the main command set, and now live behind the 'maintenance' command. This
2560 can also be abbreviated as 'mt'. The following changes were made:
2562 dump-me -> maintenance dump-me
2563 info all-breakpoints -> maintenance info breakpoints
2564 printmsyms -> maintenance print msyms
2565 printobjfiles -> maintenance print objfiles
2566 printpsyms -> maintenance print psymbols
2567 printsyms -> maintenance print symbols
2569 The following commands are new:
2571 maintenance demangle Call internal GDB demangler routine to
2572 demangle a C++ link name and prints the result.
2573 maintenance print type Print a type chain for a given symbol
2575 * Change to .gdbinit file processing
2577 We now read the $HOME/.gdbinit file before processing the argv arguments
2578 (e.g. reading symbol files or core files). This allows global parameters to
2579 be set, which will apply during the symbol reading. The ./.gdbinit is still
2580 read after argv processing.
2582 * New hosts supported
2584 Solaris-2.0 !!! sparc-sun-solaris2 or sun4sol2
2586 GNU/Linux support i386-unknown-linux or linux
2588 We are also including code to support the HP/PA running BSD and HPUX. This
2589 is almost guaranteed not to work, as we didn't have time to test or build it
2590 for this release. We are including it so that the more adventurous (or
2591 masochistic) of you can play with it. We also had major problems with the
2592 fact that the compiler that we got from HP doesn't support the -g option.
2595 * New targets supported
2597 Hitachi H8/300 h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
2599 * More smarts about finding #include files
2601 GDB now remembers the compilation directory for all include files, and for
2602 all files from which C is generated (like yacc and lex sources). This
2603 greatly improves GDB's ability to find yacc/lex sources, and include files,
2604 especially if you are debugging your program from a directory different from
2605 the one that contains your sources.
2607 We also fixed a bug which caused difficulty with listing and setting
2608 breakpoints in include files which contain C code. (In the past, you had to
2609 try twice in order to list an include file that you hadn't looked at before.)
2611 * Interesting infernals change
2613 GDB now deals with arbitrary numbers of sections, where the symbols for each
2614 section must be relocated relative to that section's landing place in the
2615 target's address space. This work was needed to support ELF with embedded
2616 stabs used by Solaris-2.0.
2618 * Bug fixes (of course!)
2620 There have been loads of fixes for the following things:
2621 mips, rs6000, 29k/udi, m68k, g++, type handling, elf/dwarf, m88k,
2622 i960, stabs, DOS(GO32), procfs, etc...
2624 See the ChangeLog for details.
2626 *** Changes in GDB-4.5:
2628 * New machines supported (host and target)
2630 IBM RS6000 running AIX rs6000-ibm-aix or rs6000
2632 SGI Irix-4.x mips-sgi-irix4 or iris4
2634 * New malloc package
2636 GDB now uses a new memory manager called mmalloc, based on gmalloc.
2637 Mmalloc is capable of handling mutiple heaps of memory. It is also
2638 capable of saving a heap to a file, and then mapping it back in later.
2639 This can be used to greatly speedup the startup of GDB by using a
2640 pre-parsed symbol table which lives in a mmalloc managed heap. For
2641 more details, please read mmalloc/mmalloc.texi.
2645 The 'info proc' command (SVR4 only) has been enhanced quite a bit. See
2646 'help info proc' for details.
2648 * MIPS ecoff symbol table format
2650 The code that reads MIPS symbol table format is now supported on all hosts.
2651 Thanks to MIPS for releasing the sym.h and symconst.h files to make this
2654 * File name changes for MS-DOS
2656 Many files in the config directories have been renamed to make it easier to
2657 support GDB on MS-DOSe systems (which have very restrictive file name
2658 conventions :-( ). MS-DOSe host support (under DJ Delorie's GO32
2659 environment) is close to working but has some remaining problems. Note
2660 that debugging of DOS programs is not supported, due to limitations
2661 in the ``operating system'', but it can be used to host cross-debugging.
2663 * Cross byte order fixes
2665 Many fixes have been made to support cross debugging of Sparc and MIPS
2666 targets from hosts whose byte order differs.
2668 * New -mapped and -readnow options
2670 If memory-mapped files are available on your system through the 'mmap'
2671 system call, you can use the -mapped option on the `file' or
2672 `symbol-file' commands to cause GDB to write the symbols from your
2673 program into a reusable file. If the program you are debugging is
2674 called `/path/fred', the mapped symbol file will be `./fred.syms'.
2675 Future GDB debugging sessions will notice the presence of this file,
2676 and will quickly map in symbol information from it, rather than reading
2677 the symbol table from the executable program. Using the '-mapped'
2678 option in a GDB `file' or `symbol-file' command has the same effect as
2679 starting GDB with the '-mapped' command-line option.
2681 You can cause GDB to read the entire symbol table immediately by using
2682 the '-readnow' option with any of the commands that load symbol table
2683 information (or on the GDB command line). This makes the command
2684 slower, but makes future operations faster.
2686 The -mapped and -readnow options are typically combined in order to
2687 build a `fred.syms' file that contains complete symbol information.
2688 A simple GDB invocation to do nothing but build a `.syms' file for future
2691 gdb -batch -nx -mapped -readnow programname
2693 The `.syms' file is specific to the host machine on which GDB is run.
2694 It holds an exact image of GDB's internal symbol table. It cannot be
2695 shared across multiple host platforms.
2697 * longjmp() handling
2699 GDB is now capable of stepping and nexting over longjmp(), _longjmp(), and
2700 siglongjmp() without losing control. This feature has not yet been ported to
2701 all systems. It currently works on many 386 platforms, all MIPS-based
2702 platforms (SGI, DECstation, etc), and Sun3/4.
2706 Preliminary work has been put in to support the new Solaris OS from Sun. At
2707 this time, it can control and debug processes, but it is not capable of
2712 As always, many many bug fixes. The major areas were with g++, and mipsread.
2713 People using the MIPS-based platforms should experience fewer mysterious
2714 crashes and trashed symbol tables.
2716 *** Changes in GDB-4.4:
2718 * New machines supported (host and target)
2720 SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
2722 BSD Reno on Vax vax-dec-bsd
2723 Ultrix on Vax vax-dec-ultrix
2725 * New machines supported (target)
2727 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
2731 GDB continues to improve its handling of C++. `References' work better.
2732 The demangler has also been improved, and now deals with symbols mangled as
2733 per the Annotated C++ Reference Guide.
2735 GDB also now handles `stabs' symbol information embedded in MIPS
2736 `ecoff' symbol tables. Since the ecoff format was not easily
2737 extensible to handle new languages such as C++, this appeared to be a
2738 good way to put C++ debugging info into MIPS binaries. This option
2739 will be supported in the GNU C compiler, version 2, when it is
2742 * New features for SVR4
2744 GDB now handles SVR4 shared libraries, in the same fashion as SunOS
2745 shared libraries. Debugging dynamically linked programs should present
2746 only minor differences from debugging statically linked programs.
2748 The `info proc' command will print out information about any process
2749 on an SVR4 system (including the one you are debugging). At the moment,
2750 it prints the address mappings of the process.
2752 If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please send mail to
2753 bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were reqired (if any).
2755 * Better dynamic linking support in SunOS
2757 Reading symbols from shared libraries which contain debugging symbols
2758 now works properly. However, there remain issues such as automatic
2759 skipping of `transfer vector' code during function calls, which
2760 make it harder to debug code in a shared library, than to debug the
2761 same code linked statically.
2765 GDB is now using the latest `getopt' routines from the FSF. This
2766 version accepts the -- prefix for options with long names. GDB will
2767 continue to accept the old forms (-option and +option) as well.
2768 Various single letter abbreviations for options have been explicity
2769 added to the option table so that they won't get overshadowed in the
2770 future by other options that begin with the same letter.
2774 The `cleanup_undefined_types' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
2775 Many assorted bugs have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
2776 See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
2779 *** Changes in GDB-4.3:
2781 * New machines supported (host and target)
2783 Amiga 3000 running Amix m68k-cbm-svr4 or amix
2784 NCR 3000 386 running SVR4 i386-ncr-svr4 or ncr3000
2785 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
2787 * Almost SCO Unix support
2789 We had hoped to support:
2790 SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
2791 (except for core file support), but we discovered very late in the release
2792 that it has problems with process groups that render gdb unusable. Sorry
2793 about that. I encourage people to fix it and post the fixes.
2795 * Preliminary ELF and DWARF support
2797 GDB can read ELF object files on System V Release 4, and can handle
2798 debugging records for C, in DWARF format, in ELF files. This support
2799 is preliminary. If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please
2800 send mail to bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were
2805 GDB now uses the latest `readline' library. One user-visible change
2806 is that two tabs will list possible command completions, which previously
2807 required typing M-? (meta-question mark, or ESC ?).
2811 The `stepi' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
2812 Many bugs in C++ have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
2813 See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
2815 * State of the MIPS world (in case you wondered):
2817 GDB can understand the symbol tables emitted by the compilers
2818 supplied by most vendors of MIPS-based machines, including DEC. These
2819 symbol tables are in a format that essentially nobody else uses.
2821 Some versions of gcc come with an assembler post-processor called
2822 mips-tfile. This program is required if you want to do source-level
2823 debugging of gcc-compiled programs. I believe FSF does not ship
2824 mips-tfile with gcc version 1, but it will eventually come with gcc
2827 Debugging of g++ output remains a problem. g++ version 1.xx does not
2828 really support it at all. (If you're lucky, you should be able to get
2829 line numbers and stack traces to work, but no parameters or local
2830 variables.) With some work it should be possible to improve the
2833 When gcc version 2 is released, you will have somewhat better luck.
2834 However, even then you will get confusing results for inheritance and
2837 We will eventually provide full debugging of g++ output on
2838 DECstations. This will probably involve some kind of stabs-in-ecoff
2839 encapulation, but the details have not been worked out yet.
2842 *** Changes in GDB-4.2:
2844 * Improved configuration
2846 Only one copy of `configure' exists now, and it is not self-modifying.
2847 Porting BFD is simpler.
2851 The `step' and `next' commands now only stop at the first instruction
2852 of a source line. This prevents the multiple stops that used to occur
2853 in switch statements, for-loops, etc. `Step' continues to stop if a
2854 function that has debugging information is called within the line.
2858 Lots of small bugs fixed. More remain.
2860 * New host supported (not target)
2862 Intel 386 PC clone running Mach i386-none-mach
2865 *** Changes in GDB-4.1:
2867 * Multiple source language support
2869 GDB now has internal scaffolding to handle several source languages.
2870 It determines the type of each source file from its filename extension,
2871 and will switch expression parsing and number formatting to match the
2872 language of the function in the currently selected stack frame.
2873 You can also specifically set the language to be used, with
2874 `set language c' or `set language modula-2'.
2878 GDB now has preliminary support for the GNU Modula-2 compiler,
2879 currently under development at the State University of New York at
2880 Buffalo. Development of both GDB and the GNU Modula-2 compiler will
2881 continue through the fall of 1991 and into 1992.
2883 Other Modula-2 compilers are currently not supported, and attempting to
2884 debug programs compiled with them will likely result in an error as the
2885 symbol table is read. Feel free to work on it, though!
2887 There are hooks in GDB for strict type checking and range checking,
2888 in the `Modula-2 philosophy', but they do not currently work.
2892 GDB can now write to executable and core files (e.g. patch
2893 a variable's value). You must turn this switch on, specify
2894 the file ("exec foo" or "core foo"), *then* modify it, e.g.
2895 by assigning a new value to a variable. Modifications take
2898 * Automatic SunOS shared library reading
2900 When you run your program, GDB automatically determines where its
2901 shared libraries (if any) have been loaded, and reads their symbols.
2902 The `share' command is no longer needed. This also works when
2903 examining core files.
2907 You can specify the number of lines that the `list' command shows.
2910 * New machines supported (host and target)
2912 SGI Iris (MIPS) running Irix V3: mips-sgi-irix or iris
2913 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x: m68k-sony-sysv or news
2914 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1: a29k-nyu-sym1 or ultra3
2916 * New hosts supported (not targets)
2918 IBM RT/PC: romp-ibm-aix or rtpc
2920 * New targets supported (not hosts)
2922 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
2923 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
2924 Ultracomputer remote kernel debug a29k-nyu-kern
2926 * New remote interfaces
2932 *** Changes in GDB-4.0:
2936 Wide output is wrapped at good places to make the output more readable.
2938 Gdb now supports cross-debugging from a host machine of one type to a
2939 target machine of another type. Communication with the target system
2940 is over serial lines. The ``target'' command handles connecting to the
2941 remote system; the ``load'' command will download a program into the
2942 remote system. Serial stubs for the m68k and i386 are provided. Gdb
2943 also supports debugging of realtime processes running under VxWorks,
2944 using SunRPC Remote Procedure Calls over TCP/IP to talk to a debugger
2945 stub on the target system.
2947 New CPUs supported include the AMD 29000 and Intel 960.
2949 GDB now reads object files and symbol tables via a ``binary file''
2950 library, which allows a single copy of GDB to debug programs of multiple
2951 object file types such as a.out and coff.
2953 There is now a GDB reference card in "doc/refcard.tex". (Make targets
2954 refcard.dvi and refcard.ps are available to format it).
2957 * Control-Variable user interface simplified
2959 All variables that control the operation of the debugger can be set
2960 by the ``set'' command, and displayed by the ``show'' command.
2962 For example, ``set prompt new-gdb=>'' will change your prompt to new-gdb=>.
2963 ``Show prompt'' produces the response:
2964 Gdb's prompt is new-gdb=>.
2966 What follows are the NEW set commands. The command ``help set'' will
2967 print a complete list of old and new set commands. ``help set FOO''
2968 will give a longer description of the variable FOO. ``show'' will show
2969 all of the variable descriptions and their current settings.
2971 confirm on/off: Enables warning questions for operations that are
2972 hard to recover from, e.g. rerunning the program while
2973 it is already running. Default is ON.
2975 editing on/off: Enables EMACS style command line editing
2976 of input. Previous lines can be recalled with
2977 control-P, the current line can be edited with control-B,
2978 you can search for commands with control-R, etc.
2981 history filename NAME: NAME is where the gdb command history
2982 will be stored. The default is .gdb_history,
2983 or the value of the environment variable
2986 history size N: The size, in commands, of the command history. The
2987 default is 256, or the value of the environment variable
2990 history save on/off: If this value is set to ON, the history file will
2991 be saved after exiting gdb. If set to OFF, the
2992 file will not be saved. The default is OFF.
2994 history expansion on/off: If this value is set to ON, then csh-like
2995 history expansion will be performed on
2996 command line input. The default is OFF.
2998 radix N: Sets the default radix for input and output. It can be set
2999 to 8, 10, or 16. Note that the argument to "radix" is interpreted
3000 in the current radix, so "set radix 10" is always a no-op.
3002 height N: This integer value is the number of lines on a page. Default
3003 is 24, the current `stty rows'' setting, or the ``li#''
3004 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
3007 width N: This integer value is the number of characters on a line.
3008 Default is 80, the current `stty cols'' setting, or the ``co#''
3009 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
3012 Note: ``set screensize'' is obsolete. Use ``set height'' and
3013 ``set width'' instead.
3015 print address on/off: Print memory addresses in various command displays,
3016 such as stack traces and structure values. Gdb looks
3017 more ``symbolic'' if you turn this off; it looks more
3018 ``machine level'' with it on. Default is ON.
3020 print array on/off: Prettyprint arrays. New convenient format! Default
3023 print demangle on/off: Print C++ symbols in "source" form if on,
3026 print asm-demangle on/off: Same, for assembler level printouts
3029 print vtbl on/off: Prettyprint C++ virtual function tables. Default is OFF.
3032 * Support for Epoch Environment.
3034 The epoch environment is a version of Emacs v18 with windowing. One
3035 new command, ``inspect'', is identical to ``print'', except that if you
3036 are running in the epoch environment, the value is printed in its own
3040 * Support for Shared Libraries
3042 GDB can now debug programs and core files that use SunOS shared libraries.
3043 Symbols from a shared library cannot be referenced
3044 before the shared library has been linked with the program (this
3045 happens after you type ``run'' and before the function main() is entered).
3046 At any time after this linking (including when examining core files
3047 from dynamically linked programs), gdb reads the symbols from each
3048 shared library when you type the ``sharedlibrary'' command.
3049 It can be abbreviated ``share''.
3051 sharedlibrary REGEXP: Load shared object library symbols for files
3052 matching a unix regular expression. No argument
3053 indicates to load symbols for all shared libraries.
3055 info sharedlibrary: Status of loaded shared libraries.
3060 A watchpoint stops execution of a program whenever the value of an
3061 expression changes. Checking for this slows down execution
3062 tremendously whenever you are in the scope of the expression, but is
3063 quite useful for catching tough ``bit-spreader'' or pointer misuse
3064 problems. Some machines such as the 386 have hardware for doing this
3065 more quickly, and future versions of gdb will use this hardware.
3067 watch EXP: Set a watchpoint (breakpoint) for an expression.
3069 info watchpoints: Information about your watchpoints.
3071 delete N: Deletes watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
3072 disable N: Temporarily turns off watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
3073 enable N: Re-enables watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
3076 * C++ multiple inheritance
3078 When used with a GCC version 2 compiler, GDB supports multiple inheritance
3081 * C++ exception handling
3083 Gdb now supports limited C++ exception handling. Besides the existing
3084 ability to breakpoint on an exception handler, gdb can breakpoint on
3085 the raising of an exception (before the stack is peeled back to the
3088 catch FOO: If there is a FOO exception handler in the dynamic scope,
3089 set a breakpoint to catch exceptions which may be raised there.
3090 Multiple exceptions (``catch foo bar baz'') may be caught.
3092 info catch: Lists all exceptions which may be caught in the
3093 current stack frame.
3096 * Minor command changes
3098 The command ``call func (arg, arg, ...)'' now acts like the print
3099 command, except it does not print or save a value if the function's result
3100 is void. This is similar to dbx usage.
3102 The ``up'' and ``down'' commands now always print the frame they end up
3103 at; ``up-silently'' and `down-silently'' can be used in scripts to change
3104 frames without printing.
3106 * New directory command
3108 'dir' now adds directories to the FRONT of the source search path.
3109 The path starts off empty. Source files that contain debug information
3110 about the directory in which they were compiled can be found even
3111 with an empty path; Sun CC and GCC include this information. If GDB can't
3112 find your source file in the current directory, type "dir .".
3114 * Configuring GDB for compilation
3116 For normal use, type ``./configure host''. See README or gdb.texinfo
3119 GDB now handles cross debugging. If you are remotely debugging between
3120 two different machines, type ``./configure host -target=targ''.
3121 Host is the machine where GDB will run; targ is the machine
3122 where the program that you are debugging will run.
projects / deliverable / binutils-gdb.git / blob