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