1 What has changed in GDB?
2 (Organized release by release)
4 *** Changes since GDB 6.1:
6 * REMOVED configurations and files
8 Sun 3, running SunOS 3 m68*-*-sunos3*
9 Sun 3, running SunOS 4 m68*-*-sunos4*
10 Sun 2, running SunOS 3 m68000-*-sunos3*
11 Sun 2, running SunOS 4 m68000-*-sunos4*
12 Motorola 680x0 running LynxOS m68*-*-lynxos*
13 AT&T 3b1/Unix pc m68*-att-*
14 Bull DPX2 (68k, System V release 3) m68*-bull-sysv*
15 decstation mips-dec-* mips-little-*
16 riscos mips-*-riscos* mips-*-sysv*
18 sysv mips*-*-sysv4* (IRIX 5/6 not included)
20 *** Changes in GDB 6.1:
22 * Removed --with-mmalloc
24 Support for the mmalloc memory manager has been removed, as it
25 conflicted with the internal gdb byte cache.
27 * Changes in AMD64 configurations
29 The AMD64 target now includes the %cs and %ss registers. As a result
30 the AMD64 remote protocol has changed; this affects the floating-point
31 and SSE registers. If you rely on those registers for your debugging,
32 you should upgrade gdbserver on the remote side.
34 * Revised SPARC target
36 The SPARC target has been completely revised, incorporating the
37 FreeBSD/sparc64 support that was added for GDB 6.0. As a result
38 support for LynxOS and SunOS 4 has been dropped. Calling functions
39 from within GDB on operating systems with a non-executable stack
40 (Solaris, OpenBSD) now works.
44 GDB has a new C++ demangler which does a better job on the mangled
45 names generated by current versions of g++. It also runs faster, so
46 with this and other changes gdb should now start faster on large C++
49 * DWARF 2 Location Expressions
51 GDB support for location expressions has been extended to support function
52 arguments and frame bases. Older versions of GDB could crash when they
55 * C++ nested types and namespaces
57 GDB's support for nested types and namespaces in C++ has been
58 improved, especially if you use the DWARF 2 debugging format. (This
59 is the default for recent versions of GCC on most platforms.)
60 Specifically, if you have a class "Inner" defined within a class or
61 namespace "Outer", then GDB realizes that the class's name is
62 "Outer::Inner", not simply "Inner". This should greatly reduce the
63 frequency of complaints about not finding RTTI symbols. In addition,
64 if you are stopped at inside of a function defined within a namespace,
65 GDB modifies its name lookup accordingly.
67 * New native configurations
69 NetBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-netbsd*
70 OpenBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-openbsd*
71 OpenBSD/alpha alpha*-*-openbsd*
72 OpenBSD/sparc sparc-*-openbsd*
73 OpenBSD/sparc64 sparc64-*-openbsd*
75 * New debugging protocols
77 M32R with SDI protocol m32r-*-elf*
79 * "set prompt-escape-char" command deleted.
81 The command "set prompt-escape-char" has been deleted. This command,
82 and its very obscure effet on GDB's prompt, was never documented,
83 tested, nor mentioned in the NEWS file.
85 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
87 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
88 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
89 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
92 Sun 3, running SunOS 3 m68*-*-sunos3*
93 Sun 3, running SunOS 4 m68*-*-sunos4*
94 Sun 2, running SunOS 3 m68000-*-sunos3*
95 Sun 2, running SunOS 4 m68000-*-sunos4*
96 Motorola 680x0 running LynxOS m68*-*-lynxos*
97 AT&T 3b1/Unix pc m68*-att-*
98 Bull DPX2 (68k, System V release 3) m68*-bull-sysv*
99 decstation mips-dec-* mips-little-*
100 riscos mips-*-riscos* mips-*-sysv*
102 sysv mips*-*-sysv4* (IRIX 5/6 not included)
104 * REMOVED configurations and files
106 SGI Irix-4.x mips-sgi-irix4 or iris4
107 SGI Iris (MIPS) running Irix V3: mips-sgi-irix or iris
108 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
109 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
110 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
111 HP/PA running BSD hppa*-*-bsd*
112 HP/PA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
113 HP/PA Pro target hppa*-*-pro*
114 PMAX (MIPS) running Mach 3.0 mips*-*-mach3*
115 386BSD i[3456]86-*-bsd*
116 Sequent family i[3456]86-sequent-sysv4*
117 i[3456]86-sequent-sysv*
118 i[3456]86-sequent-bsd*
119 SPARC running LynxOS sparc-*-lynxos*
120 SPARC running SunOS 4 sparc-*-sunos4*
121 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
122 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
124 *** Changes in GDB 6.0:
128 Support for debugging the Objective-C programming language has been
131 * New backtrace mechanism (includes DWARF 2 Call Frame Information).
133 DWARF 2's Call Frame Information makes available compiler generated
134 information that more exactly describes the program's run-time stack.
135 By using this information, GDB is able to provide more robust stack
138 The i386, amd64 (nee, x86-64), Alpha, m68hc11, ia64, and m32r targets
139 have been updated to use a new backtrace mechanism which includes
144 GDB's remote protocol has been extended to include support for hosted
145 file I/O (where the remote target uses GDB's file system). See GDB's
146 remote protocol documentation for details.
148 * All targets using the new architecture framework.
150 All of GDB's targets have been updated to use the new internal
151 architecture framework. The way is now open for future GDB releases
152 to include cross-architecture native debugging support (i386 on amd64,
155 * GNU/Linux's Thread Local Storage (TLS)
157 GDB now includes support for for the GNU/Linux implementation of
158 per-thread variables.
160 * GNU/Linux's Native POSIX Thread Library (NPTL)
162 GDB's thread code has been updated to work with either the new
163 GNU/Linux NPTL thread library or the older "LinuxThreads" library.
165 * Separate debug info.
167 GDB, in conjunction with BINUTILS, now supports a mechanism for
168 automatically loading debug information from a separate file. Instead
169 of shipping full debug and non-debug versions of system libraries,
170 system integrators can now instead ship just the stripped libraries
171 and optional debug files.
173 * DWARF 2 Location Expressions
175 DWARF 2 Location Expressions allow the compiler to more completely
176 describe the location of variables (even in optimized code) to the
179 GDB now includes preliminary support for location expressions (support
180 for DW_OP_piece is still missing).
184 A number of long standing bugs that caused GDB to die while starting a
185 Java application have been fixed. GDB's Java support is now
186 considered "useable".
188 * GNU/Linux support for fork, vfork, and exec.
190 The "catch fork", "catch exec", "catch vfork", and "set follow-fork-mode"
191 commands are now implemented for GNU/Linux. They require a 2.5.x or later
194 * GDB supports logging output to a file
196 There are two new commands, "set logging" and "show logging", which can be
197 used to capture GDB's output to a file.
199 * The meaning of "detach" has changed for gdbserver
201 The "detach" command will now resume the application, as documented. To
202 disconnect from gdbserver and leave it stopped, use the new "disconnect"
205 * d10v, m68hc11 `regs' command deprecated
207 The `info registers' command has been updated so that it displays the
208 registers using a format identical to the old `regs' command.
212 A new command, "maint set profile on/off", has been added. This command can
213 be used to enable or disable profiling while running GDB, to profile a
214 session or a set of commands. In addition there is a new configure switch,
215 "--enable-profiling", which will cause GDB to be compiled with profiling
216 data, for more informative profiling results.
218 * Default MI syntax changed to "mi2".
220 The default MI (machine interface) syntax, enabled by the command line
221 option "-i=mi", has been changed to "mi2". The previous MI syntax,
222 "mi1", can be enabled by specifying the option "-i=mi1".
224 Support for the original "mi0" syntax (included in GDB 5.0) has been
227 Fix for gdb/192: removed extraneous space when displaying frame level.
228 Fix for gdb/672: update changelist is now output in mi list format.
229 Fix for gdb/702: a -var-assign that updates the value now shows up
230 in a subsequent -var-update.
232 * New native configurations.
234 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
236 * Multi-arched targets.
238 HP/PA HPUX11 hppa*-*-hpux*
239 Renesas M32R/D w/simulator m32r-*-elf*
241 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
243 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
244 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
245 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
248 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
249 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
250 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
251 HP/PA running BSD hppa*-*-bsd*
252 HP/PA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
253 HP/PA Pro target hppa*-*-pro*
254 PMAX (MIPS) running Mach 3.0 mips*-*-mach3*
255 Sequent family i[3456]86-sequent-sysv4*
256 i[3456]86-sequent-sysv*
257 i[3456]86-sequent-bsd*
258 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
259 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
261 * REMOVED configurations and files
264 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
265 IBM AIX PS/2 i[3456]86-*-aix
266 i386 running Mach 3.0 i[3456]86-*-mach3*
267 i386 running Mach i[3456]86-*-mach*
268 i386 running OSF/1 i[3456]86-*osf1mk*
269 HP/Apollo 68k Family m68*-apollo*-sysv*,
271 m68*-hp-bsd*, m68*-hp-hpux*
272 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
273 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
274 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
275 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
276 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
278 * MIPS $fp behavior changed
280 The convenience variable $fp, for the MIPS, now consistently returns
281 the address of the current frame's base. Previously, depending on the
282 context, $fp could refer to either $sp or the current frame's base
283 address. See ``8.10 Registers'' in the manual ``Debugging with GDB:
284 The GNU Source-Level Debugger''.
286 *** Changes in GDB 5.3:
288 * GNU/Linux shared library multi-threaded performance improved.
290 When debugging a multi-threaded application on GNU/Linux, GDB now uses
291 `/proc', in preference to `ptrace' for memory reads. This may result
292 in an improvement in the start-up time of multi-threaded, shared
293 library applications when run under GDB. One GDB user writes: ``loads
294 shared libs like mad''.
296 * ``gdbserver'' now supports multi-threaded applications on some targets
298 Support for debugging multi-threaded applications which use
299 the GNU/Linux LinuxThreads package has been added for
300 arm*-*-linux*-gnu*, i[3456]86-*-linux*-gnu*, mips*-*-linux*-gnu*,
301 powerpc*-*-linux*-gnu*, and sh*-*-linux*-gnu*.
303 * GDB now supports C/C++ preprocessor macros.
305 GDB now expands preprocessor macro invocations in C/C++ expressions,
306 and provides various commands for showing macro definitions and how
309 The new command `macro expand EXPRESSION' expands any macro
310 invocations in expression, and shows the result.
312 The new command `show macro MACRO-NAME' shows the definition of the
313 macro named MACRO-NAME, and where it was defined.
315 Most compilers don't include information about macros in the debugging
316 information by default. In GCC 3.1, for example, you need to compile
317 your program with the options `-gdwarf-2 -g3'. If the macro
318 information is present in the executable, GDB will read it.
320 * Multi-arched targets.
322 DEC Alpha (partial) alpha*-*-*
323 DEC VAX (partial) vax-*-*
325 National Semiconductor NS32000 (partial) ns32k-*-*
326 Motorola 68000 (partial) m68k-*-*
327 Motorola MCORE mcore-*-*
331 Fujitsu FRV architecture added by Red Hat frv*-*-*
334 * New native configurations
336 Alpha NetBSD alpha*-*-netbsd*
337 SH NetBSD sh*-*-netbsdelf*
338 MIPS NetBSD mips*-*-netbsd*
339 UltraSPARC NetBSD sparc64-*-netbsd*
341 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
343 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
344 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
345 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
348 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
349 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
350 IBM AIX PS/2 i[3456]86-*-aix
351 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
352 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
353 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
354 i386 running Mach 3.0 i[3456]86-*-mach3*
355 i386 running Mach i[3456]86-*-mach*
356 i386 running OSF/1 i[3456]86-*osf1mk*
357 HP/Apollo 68k Family m68*-apollo*-sysv*,
359 m68*-hp-bsd*, m68*-hp-hpux*
360 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
364 CHILL, a Pascal like language used by telecommunications companies.
366 * REMOVED configurations and files
368 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi, udi29k
369 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
370 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
371 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
372 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
374 testsuite/gdb.hp/gdb.threads-hp/ directory
376 * New command "set max-user-call-depth <nnn>"
378 This command allows the user to limit the call depth of user-defined
379 commands. The default is 1024.
381 * Changes in FreeBSD/i386 native debugging.
383 Support for the "generate-core-file" has been added.
385 * New commands "dump", "append", and "restore".
387 These commands allow data to be copied from target memory
388 to a bfd-format or binary file (dump and append), and back
389 from a file into memory (restore).
391 * Improved "next/step" support on multi-processor Alpha Tru64.
393 The previous single-step mechanism could cause unpredictable problems,
394 including the random appearance of SIGSEGV or SIGTRAP signals. The use
395 of a software single-step mechanism prevents this.
397 *** Changes in GDB 5.2.1:
405 gdb/182: gdb/323: gdb/237: On alpha, gdb was reporting:
406 mdebugread.c:2443: gdb-internal-error: sect_index_data not initialized
407 Fix, by Joel Brobecker imported from mainline.
409 gdb/439: gdb/291: On some ELF object files, gdb was reporting:
410 dwarf2read.c:1072: gdb-internal-error: sect_index_text not initialize
411 Fix, by Fred Fish, imported from mainline.
413 Dwarf2 .debug_frame & .eh_frame handler improved in many ways.
414 Surprisingly enough, it works now.
415 By Michal Ludvig, imported from mainline.
417 i386 hardware watchpoint support:
418 avoid misses on second run for some targets.
419 By Pierre Muller, imported from mainline.
421 *** Changes in GDB 5.2:
423 * New command "set trust-readonly-sections on[off]".
425 This command is a hint that tells gdb that read-only sections
426 really are read-only (ie. that their contents will not change).
427 In this mode, gdb will go to the object file rather than the
428 target to read memory from read-only sections (such as ".text").
429 This can be a significant performance improvement on some
430 (notably embedded) targets.
432 * New command "generate-core-file" (or "gcore").
434 This new gdb command allows the user to drop a core file of the child
435 process state at any time. So far it's been implemented only for
436 GNU/Linux and Solaris, but should be relatively easily ported to other
437 hosts. Argument is core file name (defaults to core.<pid>).
439 * New command line option
441 GDB now accepts --pid or -p followed by a process id.
443 * Change in command line behavior -- corefiles vs. process ids.
445 There is a subtle behavior in the way in which GDB handles
446 command line arguments. The first non-flag argument is always
447 a program to debug, but the second non-flag argument may either
448 be a corefile or a process id. Previously, GDB would attempt to
449 open the second argument as a corefile, and if that failed, would
450 issue a superfluous error message and then attempt to attach it as
451 a process. Now, if the second argument begins with a non-digit,
452 it will be treated as a corefile. If it begins with a digit,
453 GDB will attempt to attach it as a process, and if no such process
454 is found, will then attempt to open it as a corefile.
456 * Changes in ARM configurations.
458 Multi-arch support is enabled for all ARM configurations. The ARM/NetBSD
459 configuration is fully multi-arch.
461 * New native configurations
463 ARM NetBSD arm*-*-netbsd*
464 x86 OpenBSD i[3456]86-*-openbsd*
465 AMD x86-64 running GNU/Linux x86_64-*-linux-*
466 Sparc64 running FreeBSD sparc64-*-freebsd*
470 Sanyo XStormy16 xstormy16-elf
472 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
474 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
475 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
476 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
479 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi, udi29k
480 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
481 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
482 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
483 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
485 testsuite/gdb.hp/gdb.threads-hp/ directory
487 * REMOVED configurations and files
489 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
491 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
492 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
493 PowerPC Netware powerpc-*-netware*
494 Harris/CXUX m88k m88*-harris-cxux*
495 Most ns32k hosts and targets ns32k-*-mach3* ns32k-umax-*
496 ns32k-utek-sysv* ns32k-utek-*
497 SunOS 4.0.Xi on i386 i[3456]86-*-sunos*
498 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1 a29k-nyu-sym1 a29k-*-kern*
499 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x m68*-sony-sysv news
500 ISI Optimum V (3.05) under 4.3bsd. m68*-isi-*
501 Apple Macintosh (MPW) host and target N/A host, powerpc-*-macos*
503 * Changes to command line processing
505 The new `--args' feature can be used to specify command-line arguments
506 for the inferior from gdb's command line.
508 * Changes to key bindings
510 There is a new `operate-and-get-next' function bound to `C-o'.
512 *** Changes in GDB 5.1.1
514 Fix compile problem on DJGPP.
516 Fix a problem with floating-point registers on the i386 being
519 Fix to stop GDB crashing on .debug_str debug info.
521 Numerous documentation fixes.
523 Numerous testsuite fixes.
525 *** Changes in GDB 5.1:
527 * New native configurations
529 Alpha FreeBSD alpha*-*-freebsd*
530 x86 FreeBSD 3.x and 4.x i[3456]86*-freebsd[34]*
531 MIPS GNU/Linux mips*-*-linux*
532 MIPS SGI Irix 6.x mips*-sgi-irix6*
534 s390 and s390x GNU/Linux {s390,s390x}-*-linux*
538 Motorola 68HC11 and 68HC12 m68hc11-elf
540 UltraSparc running GNU/Linux sparc64-*-linux*
542 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
544 x86 FreeBSD before 2.2 i[3456]86*-freebsd{1,2.[01]}*,
545 Harris/CXUX m88k m88*-harris-cxux*
546 Most ns32k hosts and targets ns32k-*-mach3* ns32k-umax-*
547 ns32k-utek-sysv* ns32k-utek-*
548 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
550 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1 a29k-nyu-sym1 a29k-*-kern*
551 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
552 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
553 PowerPC Netware powerpc-*-netware*
554 SunOS 4.0.Xi on i386 i[3456]86-*-sunos*
555 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x m68*-sony-sysv news
556 ISI Optimum V (3.05) under 4.3bsd. m68*-isi-*
557 Apple Macintosh (MPW) host N/A
559 stuff.c (Program to stuff files into a specially prepared space in kdb)
560 kdb-start.c (Main loop for the standalone kernel debugger)
562 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
563 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
564 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
567 * REMOVED configurations and files
569 Altos 3068 m68*-altos-*
570 Convex c1-*-*, c2-*-*
572 ARM RISCix arm-*-* (as host)
576 * GDB has been converted to ISO C.
578 GDB's source code has been converted to ISO C. In particular, the
579 sources are fully protoized, and rely on standard headers being
584 * "info symbol" works on platforms which use COFF, ECOFF, XCOFF, and NLM.
586 * The MI enabled by default.
588 The new machine oriented interface (MI) introduced in GDB 5.0 has been
589 revised and enabled by default. Packages which use GDB as a debugging
590 engine behind a UI or another front end are encouraged to switch to
591 using the GDB/MI interface, instead of the old annotations interface
592 which is now deprecated.
594 * Support for debugging Pascal programs.
596 GDB now includes support for debugging Pascal programs. The following
597 main features are supported:
599 - Pascal-specific data types such as sets;
601 - automatic recognition of Pascal sources based on file-name
604 - Pascal-style display of data types, variables, and functions;
606 - a Pascal expression parser.
608 However, some important features are not yet supported.
610 - Pascal string operations are not supported at all;
612 - there are some problems with boolean types;
614 - Pascal type hexadecimal constants are not supported
615 because they conflict with the internal variables format;
617 - support for Pascal objects and classes is not full yet;
619 - unlike Pascal, GDB is case-sensitive for symbol names.
621 * Changes in completion.
623 Commands such as `shell', `run' and `set args', which pass arguments
624 to inferior programs, now complete on file names, similar to what
625 users expect at the shell prompt.
627 Commands which accept locations, such as `disassemble', `print',
628 `breakpoint', `until', etc. now complete on filenames as well as
629 program symbols. Thus, if you type "break foob TAB", and the source
630 files linked into the programs include `foobar.c', that file name will
631 be one of the candidates for completion. However, file names are not
632 considered for completion after you typed a colon that delimits a file
633 name from a name of a function in that file, as in "break foo.c:bar".
635 `set demangle-style' completes on available demangling styles.
637 * New platform-independent commands:
639 It is now possible to define a post-hook for a command as well as a
640 hook that runs before the command. For more details, see the
641 documentation of `hookpost' in the GDB manual.
643 * Changes in GNU/Linux native debugging.
645 Support for debugging multi-threaded programs has been completely
646 revised for all platforms except m68k and sparc. You can now debug as
647 many threads as your system allows you to have.
649 Attach/detach is supported for multi-threaded programs.
651 Support for SSE registers was added for x86. This doesn't work for
652 multi-threaded programs though.
654 * Changes in MIPS configurations.
656 Multi-arch support is enabled for all MIPS configurations.
658 GDB can now be built as native debugger on SGI Irix 6.x systems for
659 debugging n32 executables. (Debugging 64-bit executables is not yet
662 * Unified support for hardware watchpoints in all x86 configurations.
664 Most (if not all) native x86 configurations support hardware-assisted
665 breakpoints and watchpoints in a unified manner. This support
666 implements debug register sharing between watchpoints, which allows to
667 put a virtually infinite number of watchpoints on the same address,
668 and also supports watching regions up to 16 bytes with several debug
671 The new maintenance command `maintenance show-debug-regs' toggles
672 debugging print-outs in functions that insert, remove, and test
673 watchpoints and hardware breakpoints.
675 * Changes in the DJGPP native configuration.
677 New command ``info dos sysinfo'' displays assorted information about
678 the CPU, OS, memory, and DPMI server.
680 New commands ``info dos gdt'', ``info dos ldt'', and ``info dos idt''
681 display information about segment descriptors stored in GDT, LDT, and
684 New commands ``info dos pde'' and ``info dos pte'' display entries
685 from Page Directory and Page Tables (for now works with CWSDPMI only).
686 New command ``info dos address-pte'' displays the Page Table entry for
687 a given linear address.
689 GDB can now pass command lines longer than 126 characters to the
690 program being debugged (requires an update to the libdbg.a library
691 which is part of the DJGPP development kit).
693 DWARF2 debug info is now supported.
695 It is now possible to `step' and `next' through calls to `longjmp'.
697 * Changes in documentation.
699 All GDB documentation was converted to GFDL, the GNU Free
700 Documentation License.
702 Tracepoints-related commands are now fully documented in the GDB
705 TUI, the Text-mode User Interface, is now documented in the manual.
707 Tracepoints-related commands are now fully documented in the GDB
710 The "GDB Internals" manual now has an index. It also includes
711 documentation of `ui_out' functions, GDB coding standards, x86
712 hardware watchpoints, and memory region attributes.
714 * GDB's version number moved to ``version.in''
716 The Makefile variable VERSION has been replaced by the file
717 ``version.in''. People creating GDB distributions should update the
718 contents of this file.
722 GUD support is now a standard part of the EMACS distribution.
724 *** Changes in GDB 5.0:
726 * Improved support for debugging FP programs on x86 targets
728 Unified and much-improved support for debugging floating-point
729 programs on all x86 targets. In particular, ``info float'' now
730 displays the FP registers in the same format on all x86 targets, with
731 greater level of detail.
733 * Improvements and bugfixes in hardware-assisted watchpoints
735 It is now possible to watch array elements, struct members, and
736 bitfields with hardware-assisted watchpoints. Data-read watchpoints
737 on x86 targets no longer erroneously trigger when the address is
740 * Improvements in the native DJGPP version of GDB
742 The distribution now includes all the scripts and auxiliary files
743 necessary to build the native DJGPP version on MS-DOS/MS-Windows
744 machines ``out of the box''.
746 The DJGPP version can now debug programs that use signals. It is
747 possible to catch signals that happened in the debuggee, deliver
748 signals to it, interrupt it with Ctrl-C, etc. (Previously, a signal
749 would kill the program being debugged.) Programs that hook hardware
750 interrupts (keyboard, timer, etc.) can also be debugged.
752 It is now possible to debug DJGPP programs that redirect their
753 standard handles or switch them to raw (as opposed to cooked) mode, or
754 even close them. The command ``run < foo > bar'' works as expected,
755 and ``info terminal'' reports useful information about the debuggee's
756 terminal, including raw/cooked mode, redirection, etc.
758 The DJGPP version now uses termios functions for console I/O, which
759 enables debugging graphics programs. Interrupting GDB with Ctrl-C
762 DOS-style file names with drive letters are now fully supported by
765 It is now possible to debug DJGPP programs that switch their working
766 directory. It is also possible to rerun the debuggee any number of
767 times without restarting GDB; thus, you can use the same setup,
768 breakpoints, etc. for many debugging sessions.
770 * New native configurations
772 ARM GNU/Linux arm*-*-linux*
773 PowerPC GNU/Linux powerpc-*-linux*
777 Motorola MCore mcore-*-*
778 x86 VxWorks i[3456]86-*-vxworks*
779 PowerPC VxWorks powerpc-*-vxworks*
780 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
782 * OBSOLETE configurations
784 Altos 3068 m68*-altos-*
785 Convex c1-*-*, c2-*-*
787 ARM RISCix arm-*-* (as host)
790 Configurations that have been declared obsolete will be commented out,
791 but the code will be left in place. If there is no activity to revive
792 these configurations before the next release of GDB, the sources will
793 be permanently REMOVED.
795 * Gould support removed
797 Support for the Gould PowerNode and NP1 has been removed.
799 * New features for SVR4
801 On SVR4 native platforms (such as Solaris), if you attach to a process
802 without first loading a symbol file, GDB will now attempt to locate and
803 load symbols from the running process's executable file.
805 * Many C++ enhancements
807 C++ support has been greatly improved. Overload resolution now works properly
808 in almost all cases. RTTI support is on the way.
810 * Remote targets can connect to a sub-program
812 A popen(3) style serial-device has been added. This device starts a
813 sub-process (such as a stand-alone simulator) and then communicates
814 with that. The sub-program to run is specified using the syntax
815 ``|<program> <args>'' vis:
817 (gdb) set remotedebug 1
818 (gdb) target extended-remote |mn10300-elf-sim program-args
820 * MIPS 64 remote protocol
822 A long standing bug in the mips64 remote protocol where by GDB
823 expected certain 32 bit registers (ex SR) to be transfered as 32
824 instead of 64 bits has been fixed.
826 The command ``set remote-mips64-transfers-32bit-regs on'' has been
827 added to provide backward compatibility with older versions of GDB.
829 * ``set remotebinarydownload'' replaced by ``set remote X-packet''
831 The command ``set remotebinarydownload'' command has been replaced by
832 ``set remote X-packet''. Other commands in ``set remote'' family
833 include ``set remote P-packet''.
835 * Breakpoint commands accept ranges.
837 The breakpoint commands ``enable'', ``disable'', and ``delete'' now
838 accept a range of breakpoints, e.g. ``5-7''. The tracepoint command
839 ``tracepoint passcount'' also accepts a range of tracepoints.
841 * ``apropos'' command added.
843 The ``apropos'' command searches through command names and
844 documentation strings, printing out matches, making it much easier to
845 try to find a command that does what you are looking for.
849 A new machine oriented interface (MI) has been added to GDB. This
850 interface is designed for debug environments running GDB as a separate
851 process. This is part of the long term libGDB project. See the
852 "GDB/MI" chapter of the GDB manual for further information. It can be
853 enabled by configuring with:
855 .../configure --enable-gdbmi
857 *** Changes in GDB-4.18:
859 * New native configurations
861 HP-UX 10.20 hppa*-*-hpux10.20
862 HP-UX 11.x hppa*-*-hpux11.0*
863 M68K GNU/Linux m68*-*-linux*
867 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
868 Intel StrongARM strongarm-*-*
869 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
871 * OBSOLETE configurations
873 Gould PowerNode, NP1 np1-*-*, pn-*-*
875 Configurations that have been declared obsolete will be commented out,
876 but the code will be left in place. If there is no activity to revive
877 these configurations before the next release of GDB, the sources will
878 be permanently REMOVED.
882 As a compatibility experiment, GDB's source files buildsym.h and
883 buildsym.c have been converted to pure standard C, no longer
884 containing any K&R compatibility code. We believe that all systems in
885 use today either come with a standard C compiler, or have a GCC port
886 available. If this is not true, please report the affected
887 configuration to bug-gdb@gnu.org immediately. See the README file for
888 information about getting a standard C compiler if you don't have one
893 GDB now uses readline 2.2.
895 * set extension-language
897 You can now control the mapping between filename extensions and source
898 languages by using the `set extension-language' command. For instance,
899 you can ask GDB to treat .c files as C++ by saying
900 set extension-language .c c++
901 The command `info extensions' lists all of the recognized extensions
902 and their associated languages.
904 * Setting processor type for PowerPC and RS/6000
906 When GDB is configured for a powerpc*-*-* or an rs6000*-*-* target,
907 you can use the `set processor' command to specify what variant of the
908 PowerPC family you are debugging. The command
912 sets the PowerPC/RS6000 variant to NAME. GDB knows about the
913 following PowerPC and RS6000 variants:
915 ppc-uisa PowerPC UISA - a PPC processor as viewed by user-level code
916 rs6000 IBM RS6000 ("POWER") architecture, user-level view
918 403GC IBM PowerPC 403GC
919 505 Motorola PowerPC 505
920 860 Motorola PowerPC 860 or 850
921 601 Motorola PowerPC 601
922 602 Motorola PowerPC 602
923 603 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 603 or 603e
924 604 Motorola PowerPC 604 or 604e
925 750 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 750 or 750
927 At the moment, this command just tells GDB what to name the
928 special-purpose processor registers. Since almost all the affected
929 registers are inaccessible to user-level programs, this command is
930 only useful for remote debugging in its present form.
934 Thanks to a major code donation from Hewlett-Packard, GDB now has much
935 more extensive support for HP-UX. Added features include shared
936 library support, kernel threads and hardware watchpoints for 11.00,
937 support for HP's ANSI C and C++ compilers, and a compatibility mode
938 for xdb and dbx commands.
942 HP's donation includes the new concept of catchpoints, which is a
943 generalization of the old catch command. On HP-UX, it is now possible
944 to catch exec, fork, and vfork, as well as library loading.
946 This means that the existing catch command has changed; its first
947 argument now specifies the type of catch to be set up. See the
948 output of "help catch" for a list of catchpoint types.
950 * Debugging across forks
952 On HP-UX, you can choose which process to debug when a fork() happens
957 HP has donated a curses-based terminal user interface (TUI). To get
958 it, build with --enable-tui. Although this can be enabled for any
959 configuration, at present it only works for native HP debugging.
961 * GDB remote protocol additions
963 A new protocol packet 'X' that writes binary data is now available.
964 Default behavior is to try 'X', then drop back to 'M' if the stub
965 fails to respond. The settable variable `remotebinarydownload'
966 allows explicit control over the use of 'X'.
968 For 64-bit targets, the memory packets ('M' and 'm') can now contain a
969 full 64-bit address. The command
971 set remoteaddresssize 32
973 can be used to revert to the old behaviour. For existing remote stubs
974 the change should not be noticed, as the additional address information
977 In order to assist in debugging stubs, you may use the maintenance
978 command `packet' to send any text string to the stub. For instance,
980 maint packet heythere
982 sends the packet "$heythere#<checksum>". Note that it is very easy to
983 disrupt a debugging session by sending the wrong packet at the wrong
986 The compare-sections command allows you to compare section data on the
987 target to what is in the executable file without uploading or
988 downloading, by comparing CRC checksums.
990 * Tracing can collect general expressions
992 You may now collect general expressions at tracepoints. This requires
993 further additions to the target-side stub; see tracepoint.c and
994 doc/agentexpr.texi for further details.
996 * mask-address variable for Mips
998 For Mips targets, you may control the zeroing of the upper 32 bits of
999 a 64-bit address by entering `set mask-address on'. This is mainly
1000 of interest to users of embedded R4xxx and R5xxx processors.
1002 * Higher serial baud rates
1004 GDB's serial code now allows you to specify baud rates 57600, 115200,
1005 230400, and 460800 baud. (Note that your host system may not be able
1006 to achieve all of these rates.)
1010 The i960 configuration now includes an initial implementation of a
1011 builtin simulator, contributed by Jim Wilson.
1014 *** Changes in GDB-4.17:
1016 * New native configurations
1018 Alpha GNU/Linux alpha*-*-linux*
1019 Unixware 2.x i[3456]86-unixware2*
1020 Irix 6.x mips*-sgi-irix6*
1021 PowerPC GNU/Linux powerpc-*-linux*
1022 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
1023 Sparc GNU/Linux sparc-*-linux*
1024 Motorola sysV68 R3V7.1 m68k-motorola-sysv
1028 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
1029 Hitachi H8/300S h8300*-*-*
1030 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
1031 Matsushita MN10300 w/simulator mn10300-*-*
1032 MIPS NEC VR4100 mips64*vr4100*{,el}-*-elf*
1033 MIPS NEC VR5000 mips64*vr5000*{,el}-*-elf*
1034 MIPS Toshiba TX39 mips64*tx39*{,el}-*-elf*
1035 Mitsubishi D10V w/simulator d10v-*-*
1036 Mitsubishi M32R/D w/simulator m32r-*-elf*
1037 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
1038 NEC V850 w/simulator v850-*-*
1040 * New debugging protocols
1042 ARM with RDI protocol arm*-*-*
1043 M68K with dBUG monitor m68*-*-{aout,coff,elf}
1044 DDB and LSI variants of PMON protocol mips*-*-*
1045 PowerPC with DINK32 monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
1046 PowerPC with SDS protocol powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
1047 Macraigor OCD (Wiggler) devices powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
1051 All configurations can now understand and use the DWARF 2 debugging
1052 format. The choice is automatic, if the symbol file contains DWARF 2
1057 GDB now includes basic Java language support. This support is
1058 only useful with Java compilers that produce native machine code.
1060 * solib-absolute-prefix and solib-search-path
1062 For SunOS and SVR4 shared libraries, you may now set the prefix for
1063 loading absolute shared library symbol files, and the search path for
1064 locating non-absolute shared library symbol files.
1066 * Live range splitting
1068 GDB can now effectively debug code for which GCC has performed live
1069 range splitting as part of its optimization. See gdb/doc/LRS for
1070 more details on the expected format of the stabs information.
1074 GDB's support for the GNU Hurd, including thread debugging, has been
1075 updated to work with current versions of the Hurd.
1079 GDB's ARM target configuration now handles the ARM7T (Thumb) 16-bit
1080 instruction set. ARM GDB automatically detects when Thumb
1081 instructions are in use, and adjusts disassembly and backtracing
1086 GDB's MIPS target configurations now handle the MIP16 16-bit
1091 GDB now includes support for overlays; if an executable has been
1092 linked such that multiple sections are based at the same address, GDB
1093 will decide which section to use for symbolic info. You can choose to
1094 control the decision manually, using overlay commands, or implement
1095 additional target-side support and use "overlay load-target" to bring
1096 in the overlay mapping. Do "help overlay" for more detail.
1100 The command "info symbol <address>" displays information about
1101 the symbol at the specified address.
1105 The standard remote protocol now includes an extension that allows
1106 asynchronous collection and display of trace data. This requires
1107 extensive support in the target-side debugging stub. Tracing mode
1108 includes a new interaction mode in GDB and new commands: see the
1109 file tracepoint.c for more details.
1113 Configurations for embedded MIPS now include a simulator contributed
1114 by Cygnus Solutions. The simulator supports the instruction sets
1115 of most MIPS variants.
1119 Sparc configurations may now include the ERC32 simulator contributed
1120 by the European Space Agency. The simulator is not built into
1121 Sparc targets by default; configure with --enable-sim to include it.
1125 For target configurations that may include multiple variants of a
1126 basic architecture (such as MIPS and SH), you may now set the
1127 architecture explicitly. "set arch" sets, "info arch" lists
1128 the possible architectures.
1130 *** Changes in GDB-4.16:
1132 * New native configurations
1134 Windows 95, x86 Windows NT i[345]86-*-cygwin32
1135 M68K NetBSD m68k-*-netbsd*
1136 PowerPC AIX 4.x powerpc-*-aix*
1137 PowerPC MacOS powerpc-*-macos*
1138 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
1139 RS/6000 AIX 4.x rs6000-*-aix4*
1143 ARM with RDP protocol arm-*-*
1144 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
1145 MIPS VxWorks mips*-*-vxworks*
1146 MIPS VR4300 with PMON mips64*vr4300{,el}-*-elf*
1147 PowerPC with PPCBUG monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi*
1149 Matra Sparclet sparclet-*-*
1153 The powerpc-eabi configuration now includes the PSIM simulator,
1154 contributed by Andrew Cagney, with assistance from Mike Meissner.
1155 PSIM is a very elaborate model of the PowerPC, including not only
1156 basic instruction set execution, but also details of execution unit
1157 performance and I/O hardware. See sim/ppc/README for more details.
1161 GDB now works with Solaris 2.5.
1163 * Windows 95/NT native
1165 GDB will now work as a native debugger on Windows 95 and Windows NT.
1166 To build it from source, you must use the "gnu-win32" environment,
1167 which uses a DLL to emulate enough of Unix to run the GNU tools.
1168 Further information, binaries, and sources are available at
1169 ftp.cygnus.com, under pub/gnu-win32.
1171 * dont-repeat command
1173 If a user-defined command includes the command `dont-repeat', then the
1174 command will not be repeated if the user just types return. This is
1175 useful if the command is time-consuming to run, so that accidental
1176 extra keystrokes don't run the same command many times.
1178 * Send break instead of ^C
1180 The standard remote protocol now includes an option to send a break
1181 rather than a ^C to the target in order to interrupt it. By default,
1182 GDB will send ^C; to send a break, set the variable `remotebreak' to 1.
1184 * Remote protocol timeout
1186 The standard remote protocol includes a new variable `remotetimeout'
1187 that allows you to set the number of seconds before GDB gives up trying
1188 to read from the target. The default value is 2.
1190 * Automatic tracking of dynamic object loading (HPUX and Solaris only)
1192 By default GDB will automatically keep track of objects as they are
1193 loaded and unloaded by the dynamic linker. By using the command `set
1194 stop-on-solib-events 1' you can arrange for GDB to stop the inferior
1195 when shared library events occur, thus allowing you to set breakpoints
1196 in shared libraries which are explicitly loaded by the inferior.
1198 Note this feature does not work on hpux8. On hpux9 you must link
1199 /usr/lib/end.o into your program. This feature should work
1200 automatically on hpux10.
1202 * Irix 5.x hardware watchpoint support
1204 Irix 5 configurations now support the use of hardware watchpoints.
1206 * Mips protocol "SYN garbage limit"
1208 When debugging a Mips target using the `target mips' protocol, you
1209 may set the number of characters that GDB will ignore by setting
1210 the `syn-garbage-limit'. A value of -1 means that GDB will ignore
1211 every character. The default value is 1050.
1213 * Recording and replaying remote debug sessions
1215 If you set `remotelogfile' to the name of a file, gdb will write to it
1216 a recording of a remote debug session. This recording may then be
1217 replayed back to gdb using "gdbreplay". See gdbserver/README for
1218 details. This is useful when you have a problem with GDB while doing
1219 remote debugging; you can make a recording of the session and send it
1220 to someone else, who can then recreate the problem.
1222 * Speedups for remote debugging
1224 GDB includes speedups for downloading and stepping MIPS systems using
1225 the IDT monitor, fast downloads to the Hitachi SH E7000 emulator,
1226 and more efficient S-record downloading.
1228 * Memory use reductions and statistics collection
1230 GDB now uses less memory and reports statistics about memory usage.
1231 Try the `maint print statistics' command, for example.
1233 *** Changes in GDB-4.15:
1235 * Psymtabs for XCOFF
1237 The symbol reader for AIX GDB now uses partial symbol tables. This
1238 can greatly improve startup time, especially for large executables.
1240 * Remote targets use caching
1242 Remote targets now use a data cache to speed up communication with the
1243 remote side. The data cache could lead to incorrect results because
1244 it doesn't know about volatile variables, thus making it impossible to
1245 debug targets which use memory mapped I/O devices. `set remotecache
1246 off' turns the the data cache off.
1248 * Remote targets may have threads
1250 The standard remote protocol now includes support for multiple threads
1251 in the target system, using new protocol commands 'H' and 'T'. See
1252 gdb/remote.c for details.
1256 If GDB is configured with `--enable-netrom', then it will include
1257 support for the NetROM ROM emulator from XLNT Designs. The NetROM
1258 acts as though it is a bank of ROM on the target board, but you can
1259 write into it over the network. GDB's support consists only of
1260 support for fast loading into the emulated ROM; to debug, you must use
1261 another protocol, such as standard remote protocol. The usual
1262 sequence is something like
1264 target nrom <netrom-hostname>
1266 target remote <netrom-hostname>:1235
1270 GDB now includes support for the Apple Macintosh, as a host only. It
1271 may be run as either an MPW tool or as a standalone application, and
1272 it can debug through the serial port. All the usual GDB commands are
1273 available, but to the target command, you must supply "serial" as the
1274 device type instead of "/dev/ttyXX". See mpw-README in the main
1275 directory for more information on how to build. The MPW configuration
1276 scripts */mpw-config.in support only a few targets, and only the
1277 mips-idt-ecoff target has been tested.
1281 GDB configuration now uses autoconf. This is not user-visible,
1282 but does simplify configuration and building.
1286 GDB now supports hpux10.
1288 *** Changes in GDB-4.14:
1290 * New native configurations
1292 x86 FreeBSD i[345]86-*-freebsd
1293 x86 NetBSD i[345]86-*-netbsd
1294 NS32k NetBSD ns32k-*-netbsd
1295 Sparc NetBSD sparc-*-netbsd
1299 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
1300 HP PA PRO embedded (WinBond W89K & Oki OP50N) hppa*-*-pro*
1301 CPU32 EST-300 emulator m68*-*-est*
1302 PowerPC ELF powerpc-*-elf
1305 * Alpha OSF/1 support for procfs
1307 GDB now supports procfs under OSF/1-2.x and higher, which makes it
1308 possible to attach to running processes. As the mounting of the /proc
1309 filesystem is optional on the Alpha, GDB automatically determines
1310 the availability of /proc during startup. This can lead to problems
1311 if /proc is unmounted after GDB has been started.
1313 * Arguments to user-defined commands
1315 User commands may accept up to 10 arguments separated by whitespace.
1316 Arguments are accessed within the user command via $arg0..$arg9. A
1319 print $arg0 + $arg1 + $arg2
1321 To execute the command use:
1324 Defines the command "adder" which prints the sum of its three arguments.
1325 Note the arguments are text substitutions, so they may reference variables,
1326 use complex expressions, or even perform inferior function calls.
1328 * New `if' and `while' commands
1330 This makes it possible to write more sophisticated user-defined
1331 commands. Both commands take a single argument, which is the
1332 expression to evaluate, and must be followed by the commands to
1333 execute, one per line, if the expression is nonzero, the list being
1334 terminated by the word `end'. The `if' command list may include an
1335 `else' word, which causes the following commands to be executed only
1336 if the expression is zero.
1338 * Fortran source language mode
1340 GDB now includes partial support for Fortran 77. It will recognize
1341 Fortran programs and can evaluate a subset of Fortran expressions, but
1342 variables and functions may not be handled correctly. GDB will work
1343 with G77, but does not yet know much about symbols emitted by other
1346 * Better HPUX support
1348 Most debugging facilities now work on dynamic executables for HPPAs
1349 running hpux9 or later. You can attach to running dynamically linked
1350 processes, but by default the dynamic libraries will be read-only, so
1351 for instance you won't be able to put breakpoints in them. To change
1352 that behavior do the following before running the program:
1358 This will cause the libraries to be mapped private and read-write.
1359 To revert to the normal behavior, do this:
1365 You cannot set breakpoints or examine data in the library until after
1366 the library is loaded if the function/data symbols do not have
1369 GDB can now also read debug symbols produced by the HP C compiler on
1370 HPPAs (sorry, no C++, Fortran or 68k support).
1372 * Target byte order now dynamically selectable
1374 You can choose which byte order to use with a target system, via the
1375 commands "set endian big" and "set endian little", and you can see the
1376 current setting by using "show endian". You can also give the command
1377 "set endian auto", in which case GDB will use the byte order
1378 associated with the executable. Currently, only embedded MIPS
1379 configurations support dynamic selection of target byte order.
1381 * New DOS host serial code
1383 This version uses DPMI interrupts to handle buffered I/O, so you
1384 no longer need to run asynctsr when debugging boards connected to
1387 *** Changes in GDB-4.13:
1389 * New "complete" command
1391 This lists all the possible completions for the rest of the line, if it
1392 were to be given as a command itself. This is intended for use by emacs.
1394 * Trailing space optional in prompt
1396 "set prompt" no longer adds a space for you after the prompt you set. This
1397 allows you to set a prompt which ends in a space or one that does not.
1399 * Breakpoint hit counts
1401 "info break" now displays a count of the number of times the breakpoint
1402 has been hit. This is especially useful in conjunction with "ignore"; you
1403 can ignore a large number of breakpoint hits, look at the breakpoint info
1404 to see how many times the breakpoint was hit, then run again, ignoring one
1405 less than that number, and this will get you quickly to the last hit of
1408 * Ability to stop printing at NULL character
1410 "set print null-stop" will cause GDB to stop printing the characters of
1411 an array when the first NULL is encountered. This is useful when large
1412 arrays actually contain only short strings.
1414 * Shared library breakpoints
1416 In SunOS 4.x, SVR4, and Alpha OSF/1 configurations, you can now set
1417 breakpoints in shared libraries before the executable is run.
1419 * Hardware watchpoints
1421 There is a new hardware breakpoint for the watch command for sparclite
1422 targets. See gdb/sparclite/hw_breakpoint.note.
1424 Hardware watchpoints are also now supported under GNU/Linux.
1428 Annotations have been added. These are for use with graphical interfaces,
1429 and are still experimental. Currently only gdba.el uses these.
1431 * Improved Irix 5 support
1433 GDB now works properly with Irix 5.2.
1435 * Improved HPPA support
1437 GDB now works properly with the latest GCC and GAS.
1439 * New native configurations
1441 Sequent PTX4 i[34]86-sequent-ptx4
1442 HPPA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
1443 Atari TT running SVR4 m68*-*-sysv4*
1444 RS/6000 LynxOS rs6000-*-lynxos*
1448 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
1449 MIPS R4000 mips64*{,el}-*-{ecoff,elf}
1452 * Hitachi SH7000 and E7000-PC ICE support
1454 There is now support for communicating with the Hitachi E7000-PC ICE.
1455 This is available automatically when GDB is configured for the SH.
1459 As usual, a variety of small fixes and improvements, both generic
1460 and configuration-specific. See the ChangeLog for more detail.
1462 *** Changes in GDB-4.12:
1464 * Irix 5 is now supported
1468 GDB-4.12 on the HPPA has a number of changes which make it unable
1469 to debug the output from the currently released versions of GCC and
1470 GAS (GCC 2.5.8 and GAS-2.2 or PAGAS-1.36). Until the next major release
1471 of GCC and GAS, versions of these tools designed to work with GDB-4.12
1472 can be retrieved via anonymous ftp from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist.
1475 *** Changes in GDB-4.11:
1477 * User visible changes:
1481 The "set remotedebug" option is now consistent between the mips remote
1482 target, remote targets using the gdb-specific protocol, UDI (AMD's
1483 debug protocol for the 29k) and the 88k bug monitor. It is now an
1484 integer specifying a debug level (normally 0 or 1, but 2 means more
1485 debugging info for the mips target).
1487 * DEC Alpha native support
1489 GDB now works on the DEC Alpha. GCC 2.4.5 does not produce usable
1490 debug info, but GDB works fairly well with the DEC compiler and should
1491 work with a future GCC release. See the README file for a few
1492 Alpha-specific notes.
1494 * Preliminary thread implementation
1496 GDB now has preliminary thread support for both SGI/Irix and LynxOS.
1498 * LynxOS native and target support for 386
1500 This release has been hosted on LynxOS 2.2, and also can be configured
1501 to remotely debug programs running under LynxOS (see gdb/gdbserver/README
1504 * Improvements in C++ mangling/demangling.
1506 This release has much better g++ debugging, specifically in name
1507 mangling/demangling, virtual function calls, print virtual table,
1508 call methods, ...etc.
1510 *** Changes in GDB-4.10:
1512 * User visible changes:
1514 Remote debugging using the GDB-specific (`target remote') protocol now
1515 supports the `load' command. This is only useful if you have some
1516 other way of getting the stub to the target system, and you can put it
1517 somewhere in memory where it won't get clobbered by the download.
1519 Filename completion now works.
1521 When run under emacs mode, the "info line" command now causes the
1522 arrow to point to the line specified. Also, "info line" prints
1523 addresses in symbolic form (as well as hex).
1525 All vxworks based targets now support a user settable option, called
1526 vxworks-timeout. This option represents the number of seconds gdb
1527 should wait for responses to rpc's. You might want to use this if
1528 your vxworks target is, perhaps, a slow software simulator or happens
1529 to be on the far side of a thin network line.
1533 This release contains support for using a DEC alpha as a GDB host for
1534 cross debugging. Native alpha debugging is not supported yet.
1537 *** Changes in GDB-4.9:
1541 This is the first GDB release which is accompanied by a matching testsuite.
1542 The testsuite requires installation of dejagnu, which should be available
1543 via ftp from most sites that carry GNU software.
1547 'Cfront' style demangling has had its name changed to 'ARM' style, to
1548 emphasize that it was written from the specifications in the C++ Annotated
1549 Reference Manual, not necessarily to be compatible with AT&T cfront. Despite
1550 disclaimers, it still generated too much confusion with users attempting to
1551 use gdb with AT&T cfront.
1555 GDB now uses a standard remote interface to a simulator library.
1556 So far, the library contains simulators for the Zilog Z8001/2, the
1557 Hitachi H8/300, H8/500 and Super-H.
1559 * New targets supported
1561 H8/300 simulator h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
1562 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
1563 SH simulator sh-hitachi-hms or sh
1564 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
1565 IDT MIPS board over serial line mips-idt-ecoff
1567 Cross-debugging to GO32 targets is supported. It requires a custom
1568 version of the i386-stub.c module which is integrated with the
1569 GO32 memory extender.
1571 * New remote protocols
1573 MIPS remote debugging protocol.
1575 * New source languages supported
1577 This version includes preliminary support for Chill, a Pascal like language
1578 used by telecommunications companies. Chill support is also being integrated
1579 into the GNU compiler, but we don't know when it will be publically available.
1582 *** Changes in GDB-4.8:
1584 * HP Precision Architecture supported
1586 GDB now supports HP PA-RISC machines running HPUX. A preliminary
1587 version of this support was available as a set of patches from the
1588 University of Utah. GDB does not support debugging of programs
1589 compiled with the HP compiler, because HP will not document their file
1590 format. Instead, you must use GCC (version 2.3.2 or later) and PA-GAS
1591 (as available from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist/pa-gas.u4.tar.Z).
1593 Many problems in the preliminary version have been fixed.
1595 * Faster and better demangling
1597 We have improved template demangling and fixed numerous bugs in the GNU style
1598 demangler. It can now handle type modifiers such as `static' or `const'. Wide
1599 character types (wchar_t) are now supported. Demangling of each symbol is now
1600 only done once, and is cached when the symbol table for a file is read in.
1601 This results in a small increase in memory usage for C programs, a moderate
1602 increase in memory usage for C++ programs, and a fantastic speedup in
1605 `Cfront' style demangling still doesn't work with AT&T cfront. It was written
1606 from the specifications in the Annotated Reference Manual, which AT&T's
1607 compiler does not actually implement.
1609 * G++ multiple inheritance compiler problem
1611 In the 2.3.2 release of gcc/g++, how the compiler resolves multiple
1612 inheritance lattices was reworked to properly discover ambiguities. We
1613 recently found an example which causes this new algorithm to fail in a
1614 very subtle way, producing bad debug information for those classes.
1615 The file 'gcc.patch' (in this directory) can be applied to gcc to
1616 circumvent the problem. A future GCC release will contain a complete
1619 The previous G++ debug info problem (mentioned below for the gdb-4.7
1620 release) is fixed in gcc version 2.3.2.
1622 * Improved configure script
1624 The `configure' script will now attempt to guess your system type if
1625 you don't supply a host system type. The old scheme of supplying a
1626 host system triplet is preferable over using this. All the magic is
1627 done in the new `config.guess' script. Examine it for details.
1629 We have also brought our configure script much more in line with the FSF's
1630 version. It now supports the --with-xxx options. In particular,
1631 `--with-minimal-bfd' can be used to make the GDB binary image smaller.
1632 The resulting GDB will not be able to read arbitrary object file formats --
1633 only the format ``expected'' to be used on the configured target system.
1634 We hope to make this the default in a future release.
1636 * Documentation improvements
1638 There's new internal documentation on how to modify GDB, and how to
1639 produce clean changes to the code. We implore people to read it
1640 before submitting changes.
1642 The GDB manual uses new, sexy Texinfo conditionals, rather than arcane
1643 M4 macros. The new texinfo.tex is provided in this release. Pre-built
1644 `info' files are also provided. To build `info' files from scratch,
1645 you will need the latest `makeinfo' release, which will be available in
1646 a future texinfo-X.Y release.
1648 *NOTE* The new texinfo.tex can cause old versions of TeX to hang.
1649 We're not sure exactly which versions have this problem, but it has
1650 been seen in 3.0. We highly recommend upgrading to TeX version 3.141
1651 or better. If that isn't possible, there is a patch in
1652 `texinfo/tex3patch' that will modify `texinfo/texinfo.tex' to work
1653 around this problem.
1657 GDB now supports array constants that can be used in expressions typed in by
1658 the user. The syntax is `{element, element, ...}'. Ie: you can now type
1659 `print {1, 2, 3}', and it will build up an array in memory malloc'd in
1662 The new directory `gdb/sparclite' contains a program that demonstrates
1663 how the sparc-stub.c remote stub runs on a Fujitsu SPARClite processor.
1665 * New native hosts supported
1667 HP/PA-RISC under HPUX using GNU tools hppa1.1-hp-hpux
1668 386 CPUs running SCO Unix 3.2v4 i386-unknown-sco3.2v4
1670 * New targets supported
1672 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi or udi29k
1674 * New file formats supported
1676 BFD now supports reading HP/PA-RISC executables (SOM file format?),
1677 HPUX core files, and SCO 3.2v2 core files.
1681 Attaching to processes now works again; thanks for the many bug reports.
1683 We have also stomped on a bunch of core dumps caused by
1684 printf_filtered("%s") problems.
1686 We eliminated a copyright problem on the rpc and ptrace header files
1687 for VxWorks, which was discovered at the last minute during the 4.7
1688 release. You should now be able to build a VxWorks GDB.
1690 You can now interrupt gdb while an attached process is running. This
1691 will cause the attached process to stop, and give control back to GDB.
1693 We fixed problems caused by using too many file descriptors
1694 for reading symbols from object files and libraries. This was
1695 especially a problem for programs that used many (~100) shared
1698 The `step' command now only enters a subroutine if there is line number
1699 information for the subroutine. Otherwise it acts like the `next'
1700 command. Previously, `step' would enter subroutines if there was
1701 any debugging information about the routine. This avoids problems
1702 when using `cc -g1' on MIPS machines.
1704 * Internal improvements
1706 GDB's internal interfaces have been improved to make it easier to support
1707 debugging of multiple languages in the future.
1709 GDB now uses a common structure for symbol information internally.
1710 Minimal symbols (derived from linkage symbols in object files), partial
1711 symbols (from a quick scan of debug information), and full symbols
1712 contain a common subset of information, making it easier to write
1713 shared code that handles any of them.
1715 * New command line options
1717 We now accept --silent as an alias for --quiet.
1721 The memory-mapped-malloc library is now licensed under the GNU Library
1722 General Public License.
1724 *** Changes in GDB-4.7:
1726 * Host/native/target split
1728 GDB has had some major internal surgery to untangle the support for
1729 hosts and remote targets. Now, when you configure GDB for a remote
1730 target, it will no longer load in all of the support for debugging
1731 local programs on the host. When fully completed and tested, this will
1732 ensure that arbitrary host/target combinations are possible.
1734 The primary conceptual shift is to separate the non-portable code in
1735 GDB into three categories. Host specific code is required any time GDB
1736 is compiled on that host, regardless of the target. Target specific
1737 code relates to the peculiarities of the target, but can be compiled on
1738 any host. Native specific code is everything else: it can only be
1739 built when the host and target are the same system. Child process
1740 handling and core file support are two common `native' examples.
1742 GDB's use of /proc for controlling Unix child processes is now cleaner.
1743 It has been split out into a single module under the `target_ops' vector,
1744 plus two native-dependent functions for each system that uses /proc.
1746 * New hosts supported
1748 HP/Apollo 68k (under the BSD domain) m68k-apollo-bsd or apollo68bsd
1749 386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
1750 386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or i386sco
1752 * New targets supported
1754 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
1755 68030 and CPU32 m68030-*-*, m68332-*-*
1757 * New native hosts supported
1759 386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
1760 (386bsd is not well tested yet)
1761 386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or sco
1763 * New file formats supported
1765 BFD now supports COFF files for the Zilog Z8000 microprocessor. It
1766 supports reading of `a.out.adobe' object files, which are an a.out
1767 format extended with minimal information about multiple sections.
1771 `show copying' is the same as the old `info copying'.
1772 `show warranty' is the same as `info warrantee'.
1773 These were renamed for consistency. The old commands continue to work.
1775 `info handle' is a new alias for `info signals'.
1777 You can now define pre-command hooks, which attach arbitrary command
1778 scripts to any command. The commands in the hook will be executed
1779 prior to the user's command. You can also create a hook which will be
1780 executed whenever the program stops. See gdb.texinfo.
1784 We now deal with Cfront style name mangling, and can even extract type
1785 info from mangled symbols. GDB can automatically figure out which
1786 symbol mangling style your C++ compiler uses.
1788 Calling of methods and virtual functions has been improved as well.
1792 The crash that occured when debugging Sun Ansi-C compiled binaries is
1793 fixed. This was due to mishandling of the extra N_SO stabs output
1796 We also finally got Ultrix 4.2 running in house, and fixed core file
1797 support, with help from a dozen people on the net.
1799 John M. Farrell discovered that the reason that single-stepping was so
1800 slow on all of the Mips based platforms (primarily SGI and DEC) was
1801 that we were trying to demangle and lookup a symbol used for internal
1802 purposes on every instruction that was being stepped through. Changing
1803 the name of that symbol so that it couldn't be mistaken for a C++
1804 mangled symbol sped things up a great deal.
1806 Rich Pixley sped up symbol lookups in general by getting much smarter
1807 about when C++ symbol mangling is necessary. This should make symbol
1808 completion (TAB on the command line) much faster. It's not as fast as
1809 we'd like, but it's significantly faster than gdb-4.6.
1813 A new user controllable variable 'call_scratch_address' can
1814 specify the location of a scratch area to be used when GDB
1815 calls a function in the target. This is necessary because the
1816 usual method of putting the scratch area on the stack does not work
1817 in systems that have separate instruction and data spaces.
1819 We integrated changes to support the 29k UDI (Universal Debugger
1820 Interface), but discovered at the last minute that we didn't have all
1821 of the appropriate copyright paperwork. We are working with AMD to
1822 resolve this, and hope to have it available soon.
1826 We have sped up the remote serial line protocol, especially for targets
1827 with lots of registers. It now supports a new `expedited status' ('T')
1828 message which can be used in place of the existing 'S' status message.
1829 This allows the remote stub to send only the registers that GDB
1830 needs to make a quick decision about single-stepping or conditional
1831 breakpoints, eliminating the need to fetch the entire register set for
1832 each instruction being stepped through.
1834 The GDB remote serial protocol now implements a write-through cache for
1835 registers, only re-reading the registers if the target has run.
1837 There is also a new remote serial stub for SPARC processors. You can
1838 find it in gdb-4.7/gdb/sparc-stub.c. This was written to support the
1839 Fujitsu SPARClite processor, but will run on any stand-alone SPARC
1840 processor with a serial port.
1844 Configure.in files have become much easier to read and modify. A new
1845 `table driven' format makes it more obvious what configurations are
1846 supported, and what files each one uses.
1850 There is a new opcodes library which will eventually contain all of the
1851 disassembly routines and opcode tables. At present, it only contains
1852 Sparc and Z8000 routines. This will allow the assembler, debugger, and
1853 disassembler (binutils/objdump) to share these routines.
1855 The libiberty library is now copylefted under the GNU Library General
1856 Public License. This allows more liberal use, and was done so libg++
1857 can use it. This makes no difference to GDB, since the Library License
1858 grants all the rights from the General Public License.
1862 The file gdb-4.7/gdb/doc/stabs.texinfo is a (relatively) complete
1863 reference to the stabs symbol info used by the debugger. It is (as far
1864 as we know) the only published document on this fascinating topic. We
1865 encourage you to read it, compare it to the stabs information on your
1866 system, and send improvements on the document in general (to
1867 bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu).
1869 And, of course, many bugs have been fixed.
1872 *** Changes in GDB-4.6:
1874 * Better support for C++ function names
1876 GDB now accepts as input the "demangled form" of C++ overloaded function
1877 names and member function names, and can do command completion on such names
1878 (using TAB, TAB-TAB, and ESC-?). The names have to be quoted with a pair of
1879 single quotes. Examples are 'func (int, long)' and 'obj::operator==(obj&)'.
1880 Make use of command completion, it is your friend.
1882 GDB also now accepts a variety of C++ mangled symbol formats. They are
1883 the GNU g++ style, the Cfront (ARM) style, and the Lucid (lcc) style.
1884 You can tell GDB which format to use by doing a 'set demangle-style {gnu,
1885 lucid, cfront, auto}'. 'gnu' is the default. Do a 'set demangle-style foo'
1886 for the list of formats.
1888 * G++ symbol mangling problem
1890 Recent versions of gcc have a bug in how they emit debugging information for
1891 C++ methods (when using dbx-style stabs). The file 'gcc.patch' (in this
1892 directory) can be applied to gcc to fix the problem. Alternatively, if you
1893 can't fix gcc, you can #define GCC_MANGLE_BUG when compling gdb/symtab.c. The
1894 usual symptom is difficulty with setting breakpoints on methods. GDB complains
1895 about the method being non-existent. (We believe that version 2.2.2 of GCC has
1898 * New 'maintenance' command
1900 All of the commands related to hacking GDB internals have been moved out of
1901 the main command set, and now live behind the 'maintenance' command. This
1902 can also be abbreviated as 'mt'. The following changes were made:
1904 dump-me -> maintenance dump-me
1905 info all-breakpoints -> maintenance info breakpoints
1906 printmsyms -> maintenance print msyms
1907 printobjfiles -> maintenance print objfiles
1908 printpsyms -> maintenance print psymbols
1909 printsyms -> maintenance print symbols
1911 The following commands are new:
1913 maintenance demangle Call internal GDB demangler routine to
1914 demangle a C++ link name and prints the result.
1915 maintenance print type Print a type chain for a given symbol
1917 * Change to .gdbinit file processing
1919 We now read the $HOME/.gdbinit file before processing the argv arguments
1920 (e.g. reading symbol files or core files). This allows global parameters to
1921 be set, which will apply during the symbol reading. The ./.gdbinit is still
1922 read after argv processing.
1924 * New hosts supported
1926 Solaris-2.0 !!! sparc-sun-solaris2 or sun4sol2
1928 GNU/Linux support i386-unknown-linux or linux
1930 We are also including code to support the HP/PA running BSD and HPUX. This
1931 is almost guaranteed not to work, as we didn't have time to test or build it
1932 for this release. We are including it so that the more adventurous (or
1933 masochistic) of you can play with it. We also had major problems with the
1934 fact that the compiler that we got from HP doesn't support the -g option.
1937 * New targets supported
1939 Hitachi H8/300 h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
1941 * More smarts about finding #include files
1943 GDB now remembers the compilation directory for all include files, and for
1944 all files from which C is generated (like yacc and lex sources). This
1945 greatly improves GDB's ability to find yacc/lex sources, and include files,
1946 especially if you are debugging your program from a directory different from
1947 the one that contains your sources.
1949 We also fixed a bug which caused difficulty with listing and setting
1950 breakpoints in include files which contain C code. (In the past, you had to
1951 try twice in order to list an include file that you hadn't looked at before.)
1953 * Interesting infernals change
1955 GDB now deals with arbitrary numbers of sections, where the symbols for each
1956 section must be relocated relative to that section's landing place in the
1957 target's address space. This work was needed to support ELF with embedded
1958 stabs used by Solaris-2.0.
1960 * Bug fixes (of course!)
1962 There have been loads of fixes for the following things:
1963 mips, rs6000, 29k/udi, m68k, g++, type handling, elf/dwarf, m88k,
1964 i960, stabs, DOS(GO32), procfs, etc...
1966 See the ChangeLog for details.
1968 *** Changes in GDB-4.5:
1970 * New machines supported (host and target)
1972 IBM RS6000 running AIX rs6000-ibm-aix or rs6000
1974 SGI Irix-4.x mips-sgi-irix4 or iris4
1976 * New malloc package
1978 GDB now uses a new memory manager called mmalloc, based on gmalloc.
1979 Mmalloc is capable of handling mutiple heaps of memory. It is also
1980 capable of saving a heap to a file, and then mapping it back in later.
1981 This can be used to greatly speedup the startup of GDB by using a
1982 pre-parsed symbol table which lives in a mmalloc managed heap. For
1983 more details, please read mmalloc/mmalloc.texi.
1987 The 'info proc' command (SVR4 only) has been enhanced quite a bit. See
1988 'help info proc' for details.
1990 * MIPS ecoff symbol table format
1992 The code that reads MIPS symbol table format is now supported on all hosts.
1993 Thanks to MIPS for releasing the sym.h and symconst.h files to make this
1996 * File name changes for MS-DOS
1998 Many files in the config directories have been renamed to make it easier to
1999 support GDB on MS-DOSe systems (which have very restrictive file name
2000 conventions :-( ). MS-DOSe host support (under DJ Delorie's GO32
2001 environment) is close to working but has some remaining problems. Note
2002 that debugging of DOS programs is not supported, due to limitations
2003 in the ``operating system'', but it can be used to host cross-debugging.
2005 * Cross byte order fixes
2007 Many fixes have been made to support cross debugging of Sparc and MIPS
2008 targets from hosts whose byte order differs.
2010 * New -mapped and -readnow options
2012 If memory-mapped files are available on your system through the 'mmap'
2013 system call, you can use the -mapped option on the `file' or
2014 `symbol-file' commands to cause GDB to write the symbols from your
2015 program into a reusable file. If the program you are debugging is
2016 called `/path/fred', the mapped symbol file will be `./fred.syms'.
2017 Future GDB debugging sessions will notice the presence of this file,
2018 and will quickly map in symbol information from it, rather than reading
2019 the symbol table from the executable program. Using the '-mapped'
2020 option in a GDB `file' or `symbol-file' command has the same effect as
2021 starting GDB with the '-mapped' command-line option.
2023 You can cause GDB to read the entire symbol table immediately by using
2024 the '-readnow' option with any of the commands that load symbol table
2025 information (or on the GDB command line). This makes the command
2026 slower, but makes future operations faster.
2028 The -mapped and -readnow options are typically combined in order to
2029 build a `fred.syms' file that contains complete symbol information.
2030 A simple GDB invocation to do nothing but build a `.syms' file for future
2033 gdb -batch -nx -mapped -readnow programname
2035 The `.syms' file is specific to the host machine on which GDB is run.
2036 It holds an exact image of GDB's internal symbol table. It cannot be
2037 shared across multiple host platforms.
2039 * longjmp() handling
2041 GDB is now capable of stepping and nexting over longjmp(), _longjmp(), and
2042 siglongjmp() without losing control. This feature has not yet been ported to
2043 all systems. It currently works on many 386 platforms, all MIPS-based
2044 platforms (SGI, DECstation, etc), and Sun3/4.
2048 Preliminary work has been put in to support the new Solaris OS from Sun. At
2049 this time, it can control and debug processes, but it is not capable of
2054 As always, many many bug fixes. The major areas were with g++, and mipsread.
2055 People using the MIPS-based platforms should experience fewer mysterious
2056 crashes and trashed symbol tables.
2058 *** Changes in GDB-4.4:
2060 * New machines supported (host and target)
2062 SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
2064 BSD Reno on Vax vax-dec-bsd
2065 Ultrix on Vax vax-dec-ultrix
2067 * New machines supported (target)
2069 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
2073 GDB continues to improve its handling of C++. `References' work better.
2074 The demangler has also been improved, and now deals with symbols mangled as
2075 per the Annotated C++ Reference Guide.
2077 GDB also now handles `stabs' symbol information embedded in MIPS
2078 `ecoff' symbol tables. Since the ecoff format was not easily
2079 extensible to handle new languages such as C++, this appeared to be a
2080 good way to put C++ debugging info into MIPS binaries. This option
2081 will be supported in the GNU C compiler, version 2, when it is
2084 * New features for SVR4
2086 GDB now handles SVR4 shared libraries, in the same fashion as SunOS
2087 shared libraries. Debugging dynamically linked programs should present
2088 only minor differences from debugging statically linked programs.
2090 The `info proc' command will print out information about any process
2091 on an SVR4 system (including the one you are debugging). At the moment,
2092 it prints the address mappings of the process.
2094 If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please send mail to
2095 bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were reqired (if any).
2097 * Better dynamic linking support in SunOS
2099 Reading symbols from shared libraries which contain debugging symbols
2100 now works properly. However, there remain issues such as automatic
2101 skipping of `transfer vector' code during function calls, which
2102 make it harder to debug code in a shared library, than to debug the
2103 same code linked statically.
2107 GDB is now using the latest `getopt' routines from the FSF. This
2108 version accepts the -- prefix for options with long names. GDB will
2109 continue to accept the old forms (-option and +option) as well.
2110 Various single letter abbreviations for options have been explicity
2111 added to the option table so that they won't get overshadowed in the
2112 future by other options that begin with the same letter.
2116 The `cleanup_undefined_types' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
2117 Many assorted bugs have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
2118 See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
2121 *** Changes in GDB-4.3:
2123 * New machines supported (host and target)
2125 Amiga 3000 running Amix m68k-cbm-svr4 or amix
2126 NCR 3000 386 running SVR4 i386-ncr-svr4 or ncr3000
2127 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
2129 * Almost SCO Unix support
2131 We had hoped to support:
2132 SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
2133 (except for core file support), but we discovered very late in the release
2134 that it has problems with process groups that render gdb unusable. Sorry
2135 about that. I encourage people to fix it and post the fixes.
2137 * Preliminary ELF and DWARF support
2139 GDB can read ELF object files on System V Release 4, and can handle
2140 debugging records for C, in DWARF format, in ELF files. This support
2141 is preliminary. If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please
2142 send mail to bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were
2147 GDB now uses the latest `readline' library. One user-visible change
2148 is that two tabs will list possible command completions, which previously
2149 required typing M-? (meta-question mark, or ESC ?).
2153 The `stepi' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
2154 Many bugs in C++ have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
2155 See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
2157 * State of the MIPS world (in case you wondered):
2159 GDB can understand the symbol tables emitted by the compilers
2160 supplied by most vendors of MIPS-based machines, including DEC. These
2161 symbol tables are in a format that essentially nobody else uses.
2163 Some versions of gcc come with an assembler post-processor called
2164 mips-tfile. This program is required if you want to do source-level
2165 debugging of gcc-compiled programs. I believe FSF does not ship
2166 mips-tfile with gcc version 1, but it will eventually come with gcc
2169 Debugging of g++ output remains a problem. g++ version 1.xx does not
2170 really support it at all. (If you're lucky, you should be able to get
2171 line numbers and stack traces to work, but no parameters or local
2172 variables.) With some work it should be possible to improve the
2175 When gcc version 2 is released, you will have somewhat better luck.
2176 However, even then you will get confusing results for inheritance and
2179 We will eventually provide full debugging of g++ output on
2180 DECstations. This will probably involve some kind of stabs-in-ecoff
2181 encapulation, but the details have not been worked out yet.
2184 *** Changes in GDB-4.2:
2186 * Improved configuration
2188 Only one copy of `configure' exists now, and it is not self-modifying.
2189 Porting BFD is simpler.
2193 The `step' and `next' commands now only stop at the first instruction
2194 of a source line. This prevents the multiple stops that used to occur
2195 in switch statements, for-loops, etc. `Step' continues to stop if a
2196 function that has debugging information is called within the line.
2200 Lots of small bugs fixed. More remain.
2202 * New host supported (not target)
2204 Intel 386 PC clone running Mach i386-none-mach
2207 *** Changes in GDB-4.1:
2209 * Multiple source language support
2211 GDB now has internal scaffolding to handle several source languages.
2212 It determines the type of each source file from its filename extension,
2213 and will switch expression parsing and number formatting to match the
2214 language of the function in the currently selected stack frame.
2215 You can also specifically set the language to be used, with
2216 `set language c' or `set language modula-2'.
2220 GDB now has preliminary support for the GNU Modula-2 compiler,
2221 currently under development at the State University of New York at
2222 Buffalo. Development of both GDB and the GNU Modula-2 compiler will
2223 continue through the fall of 1991 and into 1992.
2225 Other Modula-2 compilers are currently not supported, and attempting to
2226 debug programs compiled with them will likely result in an error as the
2227 symbol table is read. Feel free to work on it, though!
2229 There are hooks in GDB for strict type checking and range checking,
2230 in the `Modula-2 philosophy', but they do not currently work.
2234 GDB can now write to executable and core files (e.g. patch
2235 a variable's value). You must turn this switch on, specify
2236 the file ("exec foo" or "core foo"), *then* modify it, e.g.
2237 by assigning a new value to a variable. Modifications take
2240 * Automatic SunOS shared library reading
2242 When you run your program, GDB automatically determines where its
2243 shared libraries (if any) have been loaded, and reads their symbols.
2244 The `share' command is no longer needed. This also works when
2245 examining core files.
2249 You can specify the number of lines that the `list' command shows.
2252 * New machines supported (host and target)
2254 SGI Iris (MIPS) running Irix V3: mips-sgi-irix or iris
2255 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x: m68k-sony-sysv or news
2256 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1: a29k-nyu-sym1 or ultra3
2258 * New hosts supported (not targets)
2260 IBM RT/PC: romp-ibm-aix or rtpc
2262 * New targets supported (not hosts)
2264 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
2265 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
2266 Ultracomputer remote kernel debug a29k-nyu-kern
2268 * New remote interfaces
2274 *** Changes in GDB-4.0:
2278 Wide output is wrapped at good places to make the output more readable.
2280 Gdb now supports cross-debugging from a host machine of one type to a
2281 target machine of another type. Communication with the target system
2282 is over serial lines. The ``target'' command handles connecting to the
2283 remote system; the ``load'' command will download a program into the
2284 remote system. Serial stubs for the m68k and i386 are provided. Gdb
2285 also supports debugging of realtime processes running under VxWorks,
2286 using SunRPC Remote Procedure Calls over TCP/IP to talk to a debugger
2287 stub on the target system.
2289 New CPUs supported include the AMD 29000 and Intel 960.
2291 GDB now reads object files and symbol tables via a ``binary file''
2292 library, which allows a single copy of GDB to debug programs of multiple
2293 object file types such as a.out and coff.
2295 There is now a GDB reference card in "doc/refcard.tex". (Make targets
2296 refcard.dvi and refcard.ps are available to format it).
2299 * Control-Variable user interface simplified
2301 All variables that control the operation of the debugger can be set
2302 by the ``set'' command, and displayed by the ``show'' command.
2304 For example, ``set prompt new-gdb=>'' will change your prompt to new-gdb=>.
2305 ``Show prompt'' produces the response:
2306 Gdb's prompt is new-gdb=>.
2308 What follows are the NEW set commands. The command ``help set'' will
2309 print a complete list of old and new set commands. ``help set FOO''
2310 will give a longer description of the variable FOO. ``show'' will show
2311 all of the variable descriptions and their current settings.
2313 confirm on/off: Enables warning questions for operations that are
2314 hard to recover from, e.g. rerunning the program while
2315 it is already running. Default is ON.
2317 editing on/off: Enables EMACS style command line editing
2318 of input. Previous lines can be recalled with
2319 control-P, the current line can be edited with control-B,
2320 you can search for commands with control-R, etc.
2323 history filename NAME: NAME is where the gdb command history
2324 will be stored. The default is .gdb_history,
2325 or the value of the environment variable
2328 history size N: The size, in commands, of the command history. The
2329 default is 256, or the value of the environment variable
2332 history save on/off: If this value is set to ON, the history file will
2333 be saved after exiting gdb. If set to OFF, the
2334 file will not be saved. The default is OFF.
2336 history expansion on/off: If this value is set to ON, then csh-like
2337 history expansion will be performed on
2338 command line input. The default is OFF.
2340 radix N: Sets the default radix for input and output. It can be set
2341 to 8, 10, or 16. Note that the argument to "radix" is interpreted
2342 in the current radix, so "set radix 10" is always a no-op.
2344 height N: This integer value is the number of lines on a page. Default
2345 is 24, the current `stty rows'' setting, or the ``li#''
2346 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
2349 width N: This integer value is the number of characters on a line.
2350 Default is 80, the current `stty cols'' setting, or the ``co#''
2351 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
2354 Note: ``set screensize'' is obsolete. Use ``set height'' and
2355 ``set width'' instead.
2357 print address on/off: Print memory addresses in various command displays,
2358 such as stack traces and structure values. Gdb looks
2359 more ``symbolic'' if you turn this off; it looks more
2360 ``machine level'' with it on. Default is ON.
2362 print array on/off: Prettyprint arrays. New convenient format! Default
2365 print demangle on/off: Print C++ symbols in "source" form if on,
2368 print asm-demangle on/off: Same, for assembler level printouts
2371 print vtbl on/off: Prettyprint C++ virtual function tables. Default is OFF.
2374 * Support for Epoch Environment.
2376 The epoch environment is a version of Emacs v18 with windowing. One
2377 new command, ``inspect'', is identical to ``print'', except that if you
2378 are running in the epoch environment, the value is printed in its own
2382 * Support for Shared Libraries
2384 GDB can now debug programs and core files that use SunOS shared libraries.
2385 Symbols from a shared library cannot be referenced
2386 before the shared library has been linked with the program (this
2387 happens after you type ``run'' and before the function main() is entered).
2388 At any time after this linking (including when examining core files
2389 from dynamically linked programs), gdb reads the symbols from each
2390 shared library when you type the ``sharedlibrary'' command.
2391 It can be abbreviated ``share''.
2393 sharedlibrary REGEXP: Load shared object library symbols for files
2394 matching a unix regular expression. No argument
2395 indicates to load symbols for all shared libraries.
2397 info sharedlibrary: Status of loaded shared libraries.
2402 A watchpoint stops execution of a program whenever the value of an
2403 expression changes. Checking for this slows down execution
2404 tremendously whenever you are in the scope of the expression, but is
2405 quite useful for catching tough ``bit-spreader'' or pointer misuse
2406 problems. Some machines such as the 386 have hardware for doing this
2407 more quickly, and future versions of gdb will use this hardware.
2409 watch EXP: Set a watchpoint (breakpoint) for an expression.
2411 info watchpoints: Information about your watchpoints.
2413 delete N: Deletes watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
2414 disable N: Temporarily turns off watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
2415 enable N: Re-enables watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
2418 * C++ multiple inheritance
2420 When used with a GCC version 2 compiler, GDB supports multiple inheritance
2423 * C++ exception handling
2425 Gdb now supports limited C++ exception handling. Besides the existing
2426 ability to breakpoint on an exception handler, gdb can breakpoint on
2427 the raising of an exception (before the stack is peeled back to the
2430 catch FOO: If there is a FOO exception handler in the dynamic scope,
2431 set a breakpoint to catch exceptions which may be raised there.
2432 Multiple exceptions (``catch foo bar baz'') may be caught.
2434 info catch: Lists all exceptions which may be caught in the
2435 current stack frame.
2438 * Minor command changes
2440 The command ``call func (arg, arg, ...)'' now acts like the print
2441 command, except it does not print or save a value if the function's result
2442 is void. This is similar to dbx usage.
2444 The ``up'' and ``down'' commands now always print the frame they end up
2445 at; ``up-silently'' and `down-silently'' can be used in scripts to change
2446 frames without printing.
2448 * New directory command
2450 'dir' now adds directories to the FRONT of the source search path.
2451 The path starts off empty. Source files that contain debug information
2452 about the directory in which they were compiled can be found even
2453 with an empty path; Sun CC and GCC include this information. If GDB can't
2454 find your source file in the current directory, type "dir .".
2456 * Configuring GDB for compilation
2458 For normal use, type ``./configure host''. See README or gdb.texinfo
2461 GDB now handles cross debugging. If you are remotely debugging between
2462 two different machines, type ``./configure host -target=targ''.
2463 Host is the machine where GDB will run; targ is the machine
2464 where the program that you are debugging will run.
projects / deliverable / binutils-gdb.git / blob