1 What has changed in GDB?
2 (Organized release by release)
4 *** Changes since GDB 5.1:
6 * New command line option
8 GDB now accepts --pid or -p followed by a process id.
10 * Change in command line behavior -- corefiles vs. process ids.
12 There is a subtle behavior in the way in which GDB handles
13 command line arguments. The first non-flag argument is always
14 a program to debug, but the second non-flag argument may either
15 be a corefile or a process id. Previously, GDB would attempt to
16 open the second argument as a corefile, and if that failed, would
17 issue a superfluous error message and then attempt to attach it as
18 a process. Now, if the second argument begins with a non-digit,
19 it will be treated as a corefile. If it begins with a digit,
20 GDB will attempt to attach it as a process, and if no such process
21 is found, will then attempt to open it as a corefile.
23 * New native configurations
25 x86 OpenBSD i[3456]86-*-openbsd*
26 AMD x86-64 running Linux x86_64-*-linux-*
30 Sanyo XStormy16 xstormy16-elf
32 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
34 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
35 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
36 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
39 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi, udi29k
40 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
41 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
42 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
43 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
45 testsuite/gdb.hp/gdb.threads-hp/ directory
47 * REMOVED configurations and files
49 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
51 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
52 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
53 PowerPC Netware powerpc-*-netware*
54 Harris/CXUX m88k m88*-harris-cxux*
55 Most ns32k hosts and targets ns32k-*-mach3* ns32k-umax-*
56 ns32k-utek-sysv* ns32k-utek-*
57 SunOS 4.0.Xi on i386 i[3456]86-*-sunos*
58 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1 a29k-nyu-sym1 a29k-*-kern*
59 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x m68*-sony-sysv news
60 ISI Optimum V (3.05) under 4.3bsd. m68*-isi-*
61 Apple Macintosh (MPW) host and target N/A host, powerpc-*-macos*
63 * Changes to command line processing
65 The new `--args' feature can be used to specify command-line arguments
66 for the inferior from gdb's command line.
68 * Changes to key bindings
70 There is a new `operate-and-get-next' function bound to `C-o'.
72 *** Changes in GDB 5.1:
74 * New native configurations
76 Alpha FreeBSD alpha*-*-freebsd*
77 x86 FreeBSD 3.x and 4.x i[3456]86*-freebsd[34]*
78 MIPS Linux mips*-*-linux*
79 MIPS SGI Irix 6.x mips*-sgi-irix6*
81 s390 and s390x Linux {s390,s390x}-*-linux*
85 Motorola 68HC11 and 68HC12 m68hc11-elf
87 UltraSparc running Linux sparc64-*-linux*
89 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
91 x86 FreeBSD before 2.2 i[3456]86*-freebsd{1,2.[01]}*,
92 Harris/CXUX m88k m88*-harris-cxux*
93 Most ns32k hosts and targets ns32k-*-mach3* ns32k-umax-*
94 ns32k-utek-sysv* ns32k-utek-*
95 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
97 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1 a29k-nyu-sym1 a29k-*-kern*
98 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
99 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
100 PowerPC Netware powerpc-*-netware*
101 SunOS 4.0.Xi on i386 i[3456]86-*-sunos*
102 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x m68*-sony-sysv news
103 ISI Optimum V (3.05) under 4.3bsd. m68*-isi-*
104 Apple Macintosh (MPW) host N/A
106 stuff.c (Program to stuff files into a specially prepared space in kdb)
107 kdb-start.c (Main loop for the standalone kernel debugger)
109 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
110 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
111 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
114 * REMOVED configurations and files
116 Altos 3068 m68*-altos-*
117 Convex c1-*-*, c2-*-*
119 ARM RISCix arm-*-* (as host)
123 * GDB has been converted to ISO C.
125 GDB's source code has been converted to ISO C. In particular, the
126 sources are fully protoized, and rely on standard headers being
131 * "info symbol" works on platforms which use COFF, ECOFF, XCOFF, and NLM.
133 * The MI enabled by default.
135 The new machine oriented interface (MI) introduced in GDB 5.0 has been
136 revised and enabled by default. Packages which use GDB as a debugging
137 engine behind a UI or another front end are encouraged to switch to
138 using the GDB/MI interface, instead of the old annotations interface
139 which is now deprecated.
141 * Support for debugging Pascal programs.
143 GDB now includes support for debugging Pascal programs. The following
144 main features are supported:
146 - Pascal-specific data types such as sets;
148 - automatic recognition of Pascal sources based on file-name
151 - Pascal-style display of data types, variables, and functions;
153 - a Pascal expression parser.
155 However, some important features are not yet supported.
157 - Pascal string operations are not supported at all;
159 - there are some problems with boolean types;
161 - Pascal type hexadecimal constants are not supported
162 because they conflict with the internal variables format;
164 - support for Pascal objects and classes is not full yet;
166 - unlike Pascal, GDB is case-sensitive for symbol names.
168 * Changes in completion.
170 Commands such as `shell', `run' and `set args', which pass arguments
171 to inferior programs, now complete on file names, similar to what
172 users expect at the shell prompt.
174 Commands which accept locations, such as `disassemble', `print',
175 `breakpoint', `until', etc. now complete on filenames as well as
176 program symbols. Thus, if you type "break foob TAB", and the source
177 files linked into the programs include `foobar.c', that file name will
178 be one of the candidates for completion. However, file names are not
179 considered for completion after you typed a colon that delimits a file
180 name from a name of a function in that file, as in "break foo.c:bar".
182 `set demangle-style' completes on available demangling styles.
184 * New platform-independent commands:
186 It is now possible to define a post-hook for a command as well as a
187 hook that runs before the command. For more details, see the
188 documentation of `hookpost' in the GDB manual.
190 * Changes in GNU/Linux native debugging.
192 Support for debugging multi-threaded programs has been completely
193 revised for all platforms except m68k and sparc. You can now debug as
194 many threads as your system allows you to have.
196 Attach/detach is supported for multi-threaded programs.
198 Support for SSE registers was added for x86. This doesn't work for
199 multi-threaded programs though.
201 * Changes in MIPS configurations.
203 Multi-arch support is enabled for all MIPS configurations.
205 GDB can now be built as native debugger on SGI Irix 6.x systems for
206 debugging n32 executables. (Debugging 64-bit executables is not yet
209 * Unified support for hardware watchpoints in all x86 configurations.
211 Most (if not all) native x86 configurations support hardware-assisted
212 breakpoints and watchpoints in a unified manner. This support
213 implements debug register sharing between watchpoints, which allows to
214 put a virtually infinite number of watchpoints on the same address,
215 and also supports watching regions up to 16 bytes with several debug
218 The new maintenance command `maintenance show-debug-regs' toggles
219 debugging print-outs in functions that insert, remove, and test
220 watchpoints and hardware breakpoints.
222 * Changes in the DJGPP native configuration.
224 New command ``info dos sysinfo'' displays assorted information about
225 the CPU, OS, memory, and DPMI server.
227 New commands ``info dos gdt'', ``info dos ldt'', and ``info dos idt''
228 display information about segment descriptors stored in GDT, LDT, and
231 New commands ``info dos pde'' and ``info dos pte'' display entries
232 from Page Directory and Page Tables (for now works with CWSDPMI only).
233 New command ``info dos address-pte'' displays the Page Table entry for
234 a given linear address.
236 GDB can now pass command lines longer than 126 characters to the
237 program being debugged (requires an update to the libdbg.a library
238 which is part of the DJGPP development kit).
240 DWARF2 debug info is now supported.
242 It is now possible to `step' and `next' through calls to `longjmp'.
244 * Changes in documentation.
246 All GDB documentation was converted to GFDL, the GNU Free
247 Documentation License.
249 Tracepoints-related commands are now fully documented in the GDB
252 TUI, the Text-mode User Interface, is now documented in the manual.
254 Tracepoints-related commands are now fully documented in the GDB
257 The "GDB Internals" manual now has an index. It also includes
258 documentation of `ui_out' functions, GDB coding standards, x86
259 hardware watchpoints, and memory region attributes.
261 * GDB's version number moved to ``version.in''
263 The Makefile variable VERSION has been replaced by the file
264 ``version.in''. People creating GDB distributions should update the
265 contents of this file.
269 GUD support is now a standard part of the EMACS distribution.
271 *** Changes in GDB 5.0:
273 * Improved support for debugging FP programs on x86 targets
275 Unified and much-improved support for debugging floating-point
276 programs on all x86 targets. In particular, ``info float'' now
277 displays the FP registers in the same format on all x86 targets, with
278 greater level of detail.
280 * Improvements and bugfixes in hardware-assisted watchpoints
282 It is now possible to watch array elements, struct members, and
283 bitfields with hardware-assisted watchpoints. Data-read watchpoints
284 on x86 targets no longer erroneously trigger when the address is
287 * Improvements in the native DJGPP version of GDB
289 The distribution now includes all the scripts and auxiliary files
290 necessary to build the native DJGPP version on MS-DOS/MS-Windows
291 machines ``out of the box''.
293 The DJGPP version can now debug programs that use signals. It is
294 possible to catch signals that happened in the debuggee, deliver
295 signals to it, interrupt it with Ctrl-C, etc. (Previously, a signal
296 would kill the program being debugged.) Programs that hook hardware
297 interrupts (keyboard, timer, etc.) can also be debugged.
299 It is now possible to debug DJGPP programs that redirect their
300 standard handles or switch them to raw (as opposed to cooked) mode, or
301 even close them. The command ``run < foo > bar'' works as expected,
302 and ``info terminal'' reports useful information about the debuggee's
303 terminal, including raw/cooked mode, redirection, etc.
305 The DJGPP version now uses termios functions for console I/O, which
306 enables debugging graphics programs. Interrupting GDB with Ctrl-C
309 DOS-style file names with drive letters are now fully supported by
312 It is now possible to debug DJGPP programs that switch their working
313 directory. It is also possible to rerun the debuggee any number of
314 times without restarting GDB; thus, you can use the same setup,
315 breakpoints, etc. for many debugging sessions.
317 * New native configurations
319 ARM GNU/Linux arm*-*-linux*
320 PowerPC GNU/Linux powerpc-*-linux*
324 Motorola MCore mcore-*-*
325 x86 VxWorks i[3456]86-*-vxworks*
326 PowerPC VxWorks powerpc-*-vxworks*
327 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
329 * OBSOLETE configurations
331 Altos 3068 m68*-altos-*
332 Convex c1-*-*, c2-*-*
334 ARM RISCix arm-*-* (as host)
337 Configurations that have been declared obsolete will be commented out,
338 but the code will be left in place. If there is no activity to revive
339 these configurations before the next release of GDB, the sources will
340 be permanently REMOVED.
342 * Gould support removed
344 Support for the Gould PowerNode and NP1 has been removed.
346 * New features for SVR4
348 On SVR4 native platforms (such as Solaris), if you attach to a process
349 without first loading a symbol file, GDB will now attempt to locate and
350 load symbols from the running process's executable file.
352 * Many C++ enhancements
354 C++ support has been greatly improved. Overload resolution now works properly
355 in almost all cases. RTTI support is on the way.
357 * Remote targets can connect to a sub-program
359 A popen(3) style serial-device has been added. This device starts a
360 sub-process (such as a stand-alone simulator) and then communicates
361 with that. The sub-program to run is specified using the syntax
362 ``|<program> <args>'' vis:
364 (gdb) set remotedebug 1
365 (gdb) target extended-remote |mn10300-elf-sim program-args
367 * MIPS 64 remote protocol
369 A long standing bug in the mips64 remote protocol where by GDB
370 expected certain 32 bit registers (ex SR) to be transfered as 32
371 instead of 64 bits has been fixed.
373 The command ``set remote-mips64-transfers-32bit-regs on'' has been
374 added to provide backward compatibility with older versions of GDB.
376 * ``set remotebinarydownload'' replaced by ``set remote X-packet''
378 The command ``set remotebinarydownload'' command has been replaced by
379 ``set remote X-packet''. Other commands in ``set remote'' family
380 include ``set remote P-packet''.
382 * Breakpoint commands accept ranges.
384 The breakpoint commands ``enable'', ``disable'', and ``delete'' now
385 accept a range of breakpoints, e.g. ``5-7''. The tracepoint command
386 ``tracepoint passcount'' also accepts a range of tracepoints.
388 * ``apropos'' command added.
390 The ``apropos'' command searches through command names and
391 documentation strings, printing out matches, making it much easier to
392 try to find a command that does what you are looking for.
396 A new machine oriented interface (MI) has been added to GDB. This
397 interface is designed for debug environments running GDB as a separate
398 process. This is part of the long term libGDB project. See the
399 "GDB/MI" chapter of the GDB manual for further information. It can be
400 enabled by configuring with:
402 .../configure --enable-gdbmi
404 *** Changes in GDB-4.18:
406 * New native configurations
408 HP-UX 10.20 hppa*-*-hpux10.20
409 HP-UX 11.x hppa*-*-hpux11.0*
410 M68K Linux m68*-*-linux*
414 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
415 Intel StrongARM strongarm-*-*
416 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
418 * OBSOLETE configurations
420 Gould PowerNode, NP1 np1-*-*, pn-*-*
422 Configurations that have been declared obsolete will be commented out,
423 but the code will be left in place. If there is no activity to revive
424 these configurations before the next release of GDB, the sources will
425 be permanently REMOVED.
429 As a compatibility experiment, GDB's source files buildsym.h and
430 buildsym.c have been converted to pure standard C, no longer
431 containing any K&R compatibility code. We believe that all systems in
432 use today either come with a standard C compiler, or have a GCC port
433 available. If this is not true, please report the affected
434 configuration to bug-gdb@gnu.org immediately. See the README file for
435 information about getting a standard C compiler if you don't have one
440 GDB now uses readline 2.2.
442 * set extension-language
444 You can now control the mapping between filename extensions and source
445 languages by using the `set extension-language' command. For instance,
446 you can ask GDB to treat .c files as C++ by saying
447 set extension-language .c c++
448 The command `info extensions' lists all of the recognized extensions
449 and their associated languages.
451 * Setting processor type for PowerPC and RS/6000
453 When GDB is configured for a powerpc*-*-* or an rs6000*-*-* target,
454 you can use the `set processor' command to specify what variant of the
455 PowerPC family you are debugging. The command
459 sets the PowerPC/RS6000 variant to NAME. GDB knows about the
460 following PowerPC and RS6000 variants:
462 ppc-uisa PowerPC UISA - a PPC processor as viewed by user-level code
463 rs6000 IBM RS6000 ("POWER") architecture, user-level view
465 403GC IBM PowerPC 403GC
466 505 Motorola PowerPC 505
467 860 Motorola PowerPC 860 or 850
468 601 Motorola PowerPC 601
469 602 Motorola PowerPC 602
470 603 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 603 or 603e
471 604 Motorola PowerPC 604 or 604e
472 750 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 750 or 750
474 At the moment, this command just tells GDB what to name the
475 special-purpose processor registers. Since almost all the affected
476 registers are inaccessible to user-level programs, this command is
477 only useful for remote debugging in its present form.
481 Thanks to a major code donation from Hewlett-Packard, GDB now has much
482 more extensive support for HP-UX. Added features include shared
483 library support, kernel threads and hardware watchpoints for 11.00,
484 support for HP's ANSI C and C++ compilers, and a compatibility mode
485 for xdb and dbx commands.
489 HP's donation includes the new concept of catchpoints, which is a
490 generalization of the old catch command. On HP-UX, it is now possible
491 to catch exec, fork, and vfork, as well as library loading.
493 This means that the existing catch command has changed; its first
494 argument now specifies the type of catch to be set up. See the
495 output of "help catch" for a list of catchpoint types.
497 * Debugging across forks
499 On HP-UX, you can choose which process to debug when a fork() happens
504 HP has donated a curses-based terminal user interface (TUI). To get
505 it, build with --enable-tui. Although this can be enabled for any
506 configuration, at present it only works for native HP debugging.
508 * GDB remote protocol additions
510 A new protocol packet 'X' that writes binary data is now available.
511 Default behavior is to try 'X', then drop back to 'M' if the stub
512 fails to respond. The settable variable `remotebinarydownload'
513 allows explicit control over the use of 'X'.
515 For 64-bit targets, the memory packets ('M' and 'm') can now contain a
516 full 64-bit address. The command
518 set remoteaddresssize 32
520 can be used to revert to the old behaviour. For existing remote stubs
521 the change should not be noticed, as the additional address information
524 In order to assist in debugging stubs, you may use the maintenance
525 command `packet' to send any text string to the stub. For instance,
527 maint packet heythere
529 sends the packet "$heythere#<checksum>". Note that it is very easy to
530 disrupt a debugging session by sending the wrong packet at the wrong
533 The compare-sections command allows you to compare section data on the
534 target to what is in the executable file without uploading or
535 downloading, by comparing CRC checksums.
537 * Tracing can collect general expressions
539 You may now collect general expressions at tracepoints. This requires
540 further additions to the target-side stub; see tracepoint.c and
541 doc/agentexpr.texi for further details.
543 * mask-address variable for Mips
545 For Mips targets, you may control the zeroing of the upper 32 bits of
546 a 64-bit address by entering `set mask-address on'. This is mainly
547 of interest to users of embedded R4xxx and R5xxx processors.
549 * Higher serial baud rates
551 GDB's serial code now allows you to specify baud rates 57600, 115200,
552 230400, and 460800 baud. (Note that your host system may not be able
553 to achieve all of these rates.)
557 The i960 configuration now includes an initial implementation of a
558 builtin simulator, contributed by Jim Wilson.
561 *** Changes in GDB-4.17:
563 * New native configurations
565 Alpha GNU/Linux alpha*-*-linux*
566 Unixware 2.x i[3456]86-unixware2*
567 Irix 6.x mips*-sgi-irix6*
568 PowerPC GNU/Linux powerpc-*-linux*
569 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
570 Sparc GNU/Linux sparc-*-linux*
571 Motorola sysV68 R3V7.1 m68k-motorola-sysv
575 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
576 Hitachi H8/300S h8300*-*-*
577 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
578 Matsushita MN10300 w/simulator mn10300-*-*
579 MIPS NEC VR4100 mips64*vr4100*{,el}-*-elf*
580 MIPS NEC VR5000 mips64*vr5000*{,el}-*-elf*
581 MIPS Toshiba TX39 mips64*tx39*{,el}-*-elf*
582 Mitsubishi D10V w/simulator d10v-*-*
583 Mitsubishi M32R/D w/simulator m32r-*-elf*
584 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
585 NEC V850 w/simulator v850-*-*
587 * New debugging protocols
589 ARM with RDI protocol arm*-*-*
590 M68K with dBUG monitor m68*-*-{aout,coff,elf}
591 DDB and LSI variants of PMON protocol mips*-*-*
592 PowerPC with DINK32 monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
593 PowerPC with SDS protocol powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
594 Macraigor OCD (Wiggler) devices powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
598 All configurations can now understand and use the DWARF 2 debugging
599 format. The choice is automatic, if the symbol file contains DWARF 2
604 GDB now includes basic Java language support. This support is
605 only useful with Java compilers that produce native machine code.
607 * solib-absolute-prefix and solib-search-path
609 For SunOS and SVR4 shared libraries, you may now set the prefix for
610 loading absolute shared library symbol files, and the search path for
611 locating non-absolute shared library symbol files.
613 * Live range splitting
615 GDB can now effectively debug code for which GCC has performed live
616 range splitting as part of its optimization. See gdb/doc/LRS for
617 more details on the expected format of the stabs information.
621 GDB's support for the GNU Hurd, including thread debugging, has been
622 updated to work with current versions of the Hurd.
626 GDB's ARM target configuration now handles the ARM7T (Thumb) 16-bit
627 instruction set. ARM GDB automatically detects when Thumb
628 instructions are in use, and adjusts disassembly and backtracing
633 GDB's MIPS target configurations now handle the MIP16 16-bit
638 GDB now includes support for overlays; if an executable has been
639 linked such that multiple sections are based at the same address, GDB
640 will decide which section to use for symbolic info. You can choose to
641 control the decision manually, using overlay commands, or implement
642 additional target-side support and use "overlay load-target" to bring
643 in the overlay mapping. Do "help overlay" for more detail.
647 The command "info symbol <address>" displays information about
648 the symbol at the specified address.
652 The standard remote protocol now includes an extension that allows
653 asynchronous collection and display of trace data. This requires
654 extensive support in the target-side debugging stub. Tracing mode
655 includes a new interaction mode in GDB and new commands: see the
656 file tracepoint.c for more details.
660 Configurations for embedded MIPS now include a simulator contributed
661 by Cygnus Solutions. The simulator supports the instruction sets
662 of most MIPS variants.
666 Sparc configurations may now include the ERC32 simulator contributed
667 by the European Space Agency. The simulator is not built into
668 Sparc targets by default; configure with --enable-sim to include it.
672 For target configurations that may include multiple variants of a
673 basic architecture (such as MIPS and SH), you may now set the
674 architecture explicitly. "set arch" sets, "info arch" lists
675 the possible architectures.
677 *** Changes in GDB-4.16:
679 * New native configurations
681 Windows 95, x86 Windows NT i[345]86-*-cygwin32
682 M68K NetBSD m68k-*-netbsd*
683 PowerPC AIX 4.x powerpc-*-aix*
684 PowerPC MacOS powerpc-*-macos*
685 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
686 RS/6000 AIX 4.x rs6000-*-aix4*
690 ARM with RDP protocol arm-*-*
691 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
692 MIPS VxWorks mips*-*-vxworks*
693 MIPS VR4300 with PMON mips64*vr4300{,el}-*-elf*
694 PowerPC with PPCBUG monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi*
696 Matra Sparclet sparclet-*-*
700 The powerpc-eabi configuration now includes the PSIM simulator,
701 contributed by Andrew Cagney, with assistance from Mike Meissner.
702 PSIM is a very elaborate model of the PowerPC, including not only
703 basic instruction set execution, but also details of execution unit
704 performance and I/O hardware. See sim/ppc/README for more details.
708 GDB now works with Solaris 2.5.
710 * Windows 95/NT native
712 GDB will now work as a native debugger on Windows 95 and Windows NT.
713 To build it from source, you must use the "gnu-win32" environment,
714 which uses a DLL to emulate enough of Unix to run the GNU tools.
715 Further information, binaries, and sources are available at
716 ftp.cygnus.com, under pub/gnu-win32.
718 * dont-repeat command
720 If a user-defined command includes the command `dont-repeat', then the
721 command will not be repeated if the user just types return. This is
722 useful if the command is time-consuming to run, so that accidental
723 extra keystrokes don't run the same command many times.
725 * Send break instead of ^C
727 The standard remote protocol now includes an option to send a break
728 rather than a ^C to the target in order to interrupt it. By default,
729 GDB will send ^C; to send a break, set the variable `remotebreak' to 1.
731 * Remote protocol timeout
733 The standard remote protocol includes a new variable `remotetimeout'
734 that allows you to set the number of seconds before GDB gives up trying
735 to read from the target. The default value is 2.
737 * Automatic tracking of dynamic object loading (HPUX and Solaris only)
739 By default GDB will automatically keep track of objects as they are
740 loaded and unloaded by the dynamic linker. By using the command `set
741 stop-on-solib-events 1' you can arrange for GDB to stop the inferior
742 when shared library events occur, thus allowing you to set breakpoints
743 in shared libraries which are explicitly loaded by the inferior.
745 Note this feature does not work on hpux8. On hpux9 you must link
746 /usr/lib/end.o into your program. This feature should work
747 automatically on hpux10.
749 * Irix 5.x hardware watchpoint support
751 Irix 5 configurations now support the use of hardware watchpoints.
753 * Mips protocol "SYN garbage limit"
755 When debugging a Mips target using the `target mips' protocol, you
756 may set the number of characters that GDB will ignore by setting
757 the `syn-garbage-limit'. A value of -1 means that GDB will ignore
758 every character. The default value is 1050.
760 * Recording and replaying remote debug sessions
762 If you set `remotelogfile' to the name of a file, gdb will write to it
763 a recording of a remote debug session. This recording may then be
764 replayed back to gdb using "gdbreplay". See gdbserver/README for
765 details. This is useful when you have a problem with GDB while doing
766 remote debugging; you can make a recording of the session and send it
767 to someone else, who can then recreate the problem.
769 * Speedups for remote debugging
771 GDB includes speedups for downloading and stepping MIPS systems using
772 the IDT monitor, fast downloads to the Hitachi SH E7000 emulator,
773 and more efficient S-record downloading.
775 * Memory use reductions and statistics collection
777 GDB now uses less memory and reports statistics about memory usage.
778 Try the `maint print statistics' command, for example.
780 *** Changes in GDB-4.15:
784 The symbol reader for AIX GDB now uses partial symbol tables. This
785 can greatly improve startup time, especially for large executables.
787 * Remote targets use caching
789 Remote targets now use a data cache to speed up communication with the
790 remote side. The data cache could lead to incorrect results because
791 it doesn't know about volatile variables, thus making it impossible to
792 debug targets which use memory mapped I/O devices. `set remotecache
793 off' turns the the data cache off.
795 * Remote targets may have threads
797 The standard remote protocol now includes support for multiple threads
798 in the target system, using new protocol commands 'H' and 'T'. See
799 gdb/remote.c for details.
803 If GDB is configured with `--enable-netrom', then it will include
804 support for the NetROM ROM emulator from XLNT Designs. The NetROM
805 acts as though it is a bank of ROM on the target board, but you can
806 write into it over the network. GDB's support consists only of
807 support for fast loading into the emulated ROM; to debug, you must use
808 another protocol, such as standard remote protocol. The usual
809 sequence is something like
811 target nrom <netrom-hostname>
813 target remote <netrom-hostname>:1235
817 GDB now includes support for the Apple Macintosh, as a host only. It
818 may be run as either an MPW tool or as a standalone application, and
819 it can debug through the serial port. All the usual GDB commands are
820 available, but to the target command, you must supply "serial" as the
821 device type instead of "/dev/ttyXX". See mpw-README in the main
822 directory for more information on how to build. The MPW configuration
823 scripts */mpw-config.in support only a few targets, and only the
824 mips-idt-ecoff target has been tested.
828 GDB configuration now uses autoconf. This is not user-visible,
829 but does simplify configuration and building.
833 GDB now supports hpux10.
835 *** Changes in GDB-4.14:
837 * New native configurations
839 x86 FreeBSD i[345]86-*-freebsd
840 x86 NetBSD i[345]86-*-netbsd
841 NS32k NetBSD ns32k-*-netbsd
842 Sparc NetBSD sparc-*-netbsd
846 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
847 HP PA PRO embedded (WinBond W89K & Oki OP50N) hppa*-*-pro*
848 CPU32 EST-300 emulator m68*-*-est*
849 PowerPC ELF powerpc-*-elf
852 * Alpha OSF/1 support for procfs
854 GDB now supports procfs under OSF/1-2.x and higher, which makes it
855 possible to attach to running processes. As the mounting of the /proc
856 filesystem is optional on the Alpha, GDB automatically determines
857 the availability of /proc during startup. This can lead to problems
858 if /proc is unmounted after GDB has been started.
860 * Arguments to user-defined commands
862 User commands may accept up to 10 arguments separated by whitespace.
863 Arguments are accessed within the user command via $arg0..$arg9. A
866 print $arg0 + $arg1 + $arg2
868 To execute the command use:
871 Defines the command "adder" which prints the sum of its three arguments.
872 Note the arguments are text substitutions, so they may reference variables,
873 use complex expressions, or even perform inferior function calls.
875 * New `if' and `while' commands
877 This makes it possible to write more sophisticated user-defined
878 commands. Both commands take a single argument, which is the
879 expression to evaluate, and must be followed by the commands to
880 execute, one per line, if the expression is nonzero, the list being
881 terminated by the word `end'. The `if' command list may include an
882 `else' word, which causes the following commands to be executed only
883 if the expression is zero.
885 * Fortran source language mode
887 GDB now includes partial support for Fortran 77. It will recognize
888 Fortran programs and can evaluate a subset of Fortran expressions, but
889 variables and functions may not be handled correctly. GDB will work
890 with G77, but does not yet know much about symbols emitted by other
893 * Better HPUX support
895 Most debugging facilities now work on dynamic executables for HPPAs
896 running hpux9 or later. You can attach to running dynamically linked
897 processes, but by default the dynamic libraries will be read-only, so
898 for instance you won't be able to put breakpoints in them. To change
899 that behavior do the following before running the program:
905 This will cause the libraries to be mapped private and read-write.
906 To revert to the normal behavior, do this:
912 You cannot set breakpoints or examine data in the library until after
913 the library is loaded if the function/data symbols do not have
916 GDB can now also read debug symbols produced by the HP C compiler on
917 HPPAs (sorry, no C++, Fortran or 68k support).
919 * Target byte order now dynamically selectable
921 You can choose which byte order to use with a target system, via the
922 commands "set endian big" and "set endian little", and you can see the
923 current setting by using "show endian". You can also give the command
924 "set endian auto", in which case GDB will use the byte order
925 associated with the executable. Currently, only embedded MIPS
926 configurations support dynamic selection of target byte order.
928 * New DOS host serial code
930 This version uses DPMI interrupts to handle buffered I/O, so you
931 no longer need to run asynctsr when debugging boards connected to
934 *** Changes in GDB-4.13:
936 * New "complete" command
938 This lists all the possible completions for the rest of the line, if it
939 were to be given as a command itself. This is intended for use by emacs.
941 * Trailing space optional in prompt
943 "set prompt" no longer adds a space for you after the prompt you set. This
944 allows you to set a prompt which ends in a space or one that does not.
946 * Breakpoint hit counts
948 "info break" now displays a count of the number of times the breakpoint
949 has been hit. This is especially useful in conjunction with "ignore"; you
950 can ignore a large number of breakpoint hits, look at the breakpoint info
951 to see how many times the breakpoint was hit, then run again, ignoring one
952 less than that number, and this will get you quickly to the last hit of
955 * Ability to stop printing at NULL character
957 "set print null-stop" will cause GDB to stop printing the characters of
958 an array when the first NULL is encountered. This is useful when large
959 arrays actually contain only short strings.
961 * Shared library breakpoints
963 In SunOS 4.x, SVR4, and Alpha OSF/1 configurations, you can now set
964 breakpoints in shared libraries before the executable is run.
966 * Hardware watchpoints
968 There is a new hardware breakpoint for the watch command for sparclite
969 targets. See gdb/sparclite/hw_breakpoint.note.
971 Hardware watchpoints are also now supported under Linux.
975 Annotations have been added. These are for use with graphical interfaces,
976 and are still experimental. Currently only gdba.el uses these.
978 * Improved Irix 5 support
980 GDB now works properly with Irix 5.2.
982 * Improved HPPA support
984 GDB now works properly with the latest GCC and GAS.
986 * New native configurations
988 Sequent PTX4 i[34]86-sequent-ptx4
989 HPPA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
990 Atari TT running SVR4 m68*-*-sysv4*
991 RS/6000 LynxOS rs6000-*-lynxos*
995 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
996 MIPS R4000 mips64*{,el}-*-{ecoff,elf}
999 * Hitachi SH7000 and E7000-PC ICE support
1001 There is now support for communicating with the Hitachi E7000-PC ICE.
1002 This is available automatically when GDB is configured for the SH.
1006 As usual, a variety of small fixes and improvements, both generic
1007 and configuration-specific. See the ChangeLog for more detail.
1009 *** Changes in GDB-4.12:
1011 * Irix 5 is now supported
1015 GDB-4.12 on the HPPA has a number of changes which make it unable
1016 to debug the output from the currently released versions of GCC and
1017 GAS (GCC 2.5.8 and GAS-2.2 or PAGAS-1.36). Until the next major release
1018 of GCC and GAS, versions of these tools designed to work with GDB-4.12
1019 can be retrieved via anonymous ftp from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist.
1022 *** Changes in GDB-4.11:
1024 * User visible changes:
1028 The "set remotedebug" option is now consistent between the mips remote
1029 target, remote targets using the gdb-specific protocol, UDI (AMD's
1030 debug protocol for the 29k) and the 88k bug monitor. It is now an
1031 integer specifying a debug level (normally 0 or 1, but 2 means more
1032 debugging info for the mips target).
1034 * DEC Alpha native support
1036 GDB now works on the DEC Alpha. GCC 2.4.5 does not produce usable
1037 debug info, but GDB works fairly well with the DEC compiler and should
1038 work with a future GCC release. See the README file for a few
1039 Alpha-specific notes.
1041 * Preliminary thread implementation
1043 GDB now has preliminary thread support for both SGI/Irix and LynxOS.
1045 * LynxOS native and target support for 386
1047 This release has been hosted on LynxOS 2.2, and also can be configured
1048 to remotely debug programs running under LynxOS (see gdb/gdbserver/README
1051 * Improvements in C++ mangling/demangling.
1053 This release has much better g++ debugging, specifically in name
1054 mangling/demangling, virtual function calls, print virtual table,
1055 call methods, ...etc.
1057 *** Changes in GDB-4.10:
1059 * User visible changes:
1061 Remote debugging using the GDB-specific (`target remote') protocol now
1062 supports the `load' command. This is only useful if you have some
1063 other way of getting the stub to the target system, and you can put it
1064 somewhere in memory where it won't get clobbered by the download.
1066 Filename completion now works.
1068 When run under emacs mode, the "info line" command now causes the
1069 arrow to point to the line specified. Also, "info line" prints
1070 addresses in symbolic form (as well as hex).
1072 All vxworks based targets now support a user settable option, called
1073 vxworks-timeout. This option represents the number of seconds gdb
1074 should wait for responses to rpc's. You might want to use this if
1075 your vxworks target is, perhaps, a slow software simulator or happens
1076 to be on the far side of a thin network line.
1080 This release contains support for using a DEC alpha as a GDB host for
1081 cross debugging. Native alpha debugging is not supported yet.
1084 *** Changes in GDB-4.9:
1088 This is the first GDB release which is accompanied by a matching testsuite.
1089 The testsuite requires installation of dejagnu, which should be available
1090 via ftp from most sites that carry GNU software.
1094 'Cfront' style demangling has had its name changed to 'ARM' style, to
1095 emphasize that it was written from the specifications in the C++ Annotated
1096 Reference Manual, not necessarily to be compatible with AT&T cfront. Despite
1097 disclaimers, it still generated too much confusion with users attempting to
1098 use gdb with AT&T cfront.
1102 GDB now uses a standard remote interface to a simulator library.
1103 So far, the library contains simulators for the Zilog Z8001/2, the
1104 Hitachi H8/300, H8/500 and Super-H.
1106 * New targets supported
1108 H8/300 simulator h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
1109 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
1110 SH simulator sh-hitachi-hms or sh
1111 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
1112 IDT MIPS board over serial line mips-idt-ecoff
1114 Cross-debugging to GO32 targets is supported. It requires a custom
1115 version of the i386-stub.c module which is integrated with the
1116 GO32 memory extender.
1118 * New remote protocols
1120 MIPS remote debugging protocol.
1122 * New source languages supported
1124 This version includes preliminary support for Chill, a Pascal like language
1125 used by telecommunications companies. Chill support is also being integrated
1126 into the GNU compiler, but we don't know when it will be publically available.
1129 *** Changes in GDB-4.8:
1131 * HP Precision Architecture supported
1133 GDB now supports HP PA-RISC machines running HPUX. A preliminary
1134 version of this support was available as a set of patches from the
1135 University of Utah. GDB does not support debugging of programs
1136 compiled with the HP compiler, because HP will not document their file
1137 format. Instead, you must use GCC (version 2.3.2 or later) and PA-GAS
1138 (as available from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist/pa-gas.u4.tar.Z).
1140 Many problems in the preliminary version have been fixed.
1142 * Faster and better demangling
1144 We have improved template demangling and fixed numerous bugs in the GNU style
1145 demangler. It can now handle type modifiers such as `static' or `const'. Wide
1146 character types (wchar_t) are now supported. Demangling of each symbol is now
1147 only done once, and is cached when the symbol table for a file is read in.
1148 This results in a small increase in memory usage for C programs, a moderate
1149 increase in memory usage for C++ programs, and a fantastic speedup in
1152 `Cfront' style demangling still doesn't work with AT&T cfront. It was written
1153 from the specifications in the Annotated Reference Manual, which AT&T's
1154 compiler does not actually implement.
1156 * G++ multiple inheritance compiler problem
1158 In the 2.3.2 release of gcc/g++, how the compiler resolves multiple
1159 inheritance lattices was reworked to properly discover ambiguities. We
1160 recently found an example which causes this new algorithm to fail in a
1161 very subtle way, producing bad debug information for those classes.
1162 The file 'gcc.patch' (in this directory) can be applied to gcc to
1163 circumvent the problem. A future GCC release will contain a complete
1166 The previous G++ debug info problem (mentioned below for the gdb-4.7
1167 release) is fixed in gcc version 2.3.2.
1169 * Improved configure script
1171 The `configure' script will now attempt to guess your system type if
1172 you don't supply a host system type. The old scheme of supplying a
1173 host system triplet is preferable over using this. All the magic is
1174 done in the new `config.guess' script. Examine it for details.
1176 We have also brought our configure script much more in line with the FSF's
1177 version. It now supports the --with-xxx options. In particular,
1178 `--with-minimal-bfd' can be used to make the GDB binary image smaller.
1179 The resulting GDB will not be able to read arbitrary object file formats --
1180 only the format ``expected'' to be used on the configured target system.
1181 We hope to make this the default in a future release.
1183 * Documentation improvements
1185 There's new internal documentation on how to modify GDB, and how to
1186 produce clean changes to the code. We implore people to read it
1187 before submitting changes.
1189 The GDB manual uses new, sexy Texinfo conditionals, rather than arcane
1190 M4 macros. The new texinfo.tex is provided in this release. Pre-built
1191 `info' files are also provided. To build `info' files from scratch,
1192 you will need the latest `makeinfo' release, which will be available in
1193 a future texinfo-X.Y release.
1195 *NOTE* The new texinfo.tex can cause old versions of TeX to hang.
1196 We're not sure exactly which versions have this problem, but it has
1197 been seen in 3.0. We highly recommend upgrading to TeX version 3.141
1198 or better. If that isn't possible, there is a patch in
1199 `texinfo/tex3patch' that will modify `texinfo/texinfo.tex' to work
1200 around this problem.
1204 GDB now supports array constants that can be used in expressions typed in by
1205 the user. The syntax is `{element, element, ...}'. Ie: you can now type
1206 `print {1, 2, 3}', and it will build up an array in memory malloc'd in
1209 The new directory `gdb/sparclite' contains a program that demonstrates
1210 how the sparc-stub.c remote stub runs on a Fujitsu SPARClite processor.
1212 * New native hosts supported
1214 HP/PA-RISC under HPUX using GNU tools hppa1.1-hp-hpux
1215 386 CPUs running SCO Unix 3.2v4 i386-unknown-sco3.2v4
1217 * New targets supported
1219 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi or udi29k
1221 * New file formats supported
1223 BFD now supports reading HP/PA-RISC executables (SOM file format?),
1224 HPUX core files, and SCO 3.2v2 core files.
1228 Attaching to processes now works again; thanks for the many bug reports.
1230 We have also stomped on a bunch of core dumps caused by
1231 printf_filtered("%s") problems.
1233 We eliminated a copyright problem on the rpc and ptrace header files
1234 for VxWorks, which was discovered at the last minute during the 4.7
1235 release. You should now be able to build a VxWorks GDB.
1237 You can now interrupt gdb while an attached process is running. This
1238 will cause the attached process to stop, and give control back to GDB.
1240 We fixed problems caused by using too many file descriptors
1241 for reading symbols from object files and libraries. This was
1242 especially a problem for programs that used many (~100) shared
1245 The `step' command now only enters a subroutine if there is line number
1246 information for the subroutine. Otherwise it acts like the `next'
1247 command. Previously, `step' would enter subroutines if there was
1248 any debugging information about the routine. This avoids problems
1249 when using `cc -g1' on MIPS machines.
1251 * Internal improvements
1253 GDB's internal interfaces have been improved to make it easier to support
1254 debugging of multiple languages in the future.
1256 GDB now uses a common structure for symbol information internally.
1257 Minimal symbols (derived from linkage symbols in object files), partial
1258 symbols (from a quick scan of debug information), and full symbols
1259 contain a common subset of information, making it easier to write
1260 shared code that handles any of them.
1262 * New command line options
1264 We now accept --silent as an alias for --quiet.
1268 The memory-mapped-malloc library is now licensed under the GNU Library
1269 General Public License.
1271 *** Changes in GDB-4.7:
1273 * Host/native/target split
1275 GDB has had some major internal surgery to untangle the support for
1276 hosts and remote targets. Now, when you configure GDB for a remote
1277 target, it will no longer load in all of the support for debugging
1278 local programs on the host. When fully completed and tested, this will
1279 ensure that arbitrary host/target combinations are possible.
1281 The primary conceptual shift is to separate the non-portable code in
1282 GDB into three categories. Host specific code is required any time GDB
1283 is compiled on that host, regardless of the target. Target specific
1284 code relates to the peculiarities of the target, but can be compiled on
1285 any host. Native specific code is everything else: it can only be
1286 built when the host and target are the same system. Child process
1287 handling and core file support are two common `native' examples.
1289 GDB's use of /proc for controlling Unix child processes is now cleaner.
1290 It has been split out into a single module under the `target_ops' vector,
1291 plus two native-dependent functions for each system that uses /proc.
1293 * New hosts supported
1295 HP/Apollo 68k (under the BSD domain) m68k-apollo-bsd or apollo68bsd
1296 386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
1297 386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or i386sco
1299 * New targets supported
1301 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
1302 68030 and CPU32 m68030-*-*, m68332-*-*
1304 * New native hosts supported
1306 386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
1307 (386bsd is not well tested yet)
1308 386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or sco
1310 * New file formats supported
1312 BFD now supports COFF files for the Zilog Z8000 microprocessor. It
1313 supports reading of `a.out.adobe' object files, which are an a.out
1314 format extended with minimal information about multiple sections.
1318 `show copying' is the same as the old `info copying'.
1319 `show warranty' is the same as `info warrantee'.
1320 These were renamed for consistency. The old commands continue to work.
1322 `info handle' is a new alias for `info signals'.
1324 You can now define pre-command hooks, which attach arbitrary command
1325 scripts to any command. The commands in the hook will be executed
1326 prior to the user's command. You can also create a hook which will be
1327 executed whenever the program stops. See gdb.texinfo.
1331 We now deal with Cfront style name mangling, and can even extract type
1332 info from mangled symbols. GDB can automatically figure out which
1333 symbol mangling style your C++ compiler uses.
1335 Calling of methods and virtual functions has been improved as well.
1339 The crash that occured when debugging Sun Ansi-C compiled binaries is
1340 fixed. This was due to mishandling of the extra N_SO stabs output
1343 We also finally got Ultrix 4.2 running in house, and fixed core file
1344 support, with help from a dozen people on the net.
1346 John M. Farrell discovered that the reason that single-stepping was so
1347 slow on all of the Mips based platforms (primarily SGI and DEC) was
1348 that we were trying to demangle and lookup a symbol used for internal
1349 purposes on every instruction that was being stepped through. Changing
1350 the name of that symbol so that it couldn't be mistaken for a C++
1351 mangled symbol sped things up a great deal.
1353 Rich Pixley sped up symbol lookups in general by getting much smarter
1354 about when C++ symbol mangling is necessary. This should make symbol
1355 completion (TAB on the command line) much faster. It's not as fast as
1356 we'd like, but it's significantly faster than gdb-4.6.
1360 A new user controllable variable 'call_scratch_address' can
1361 specify the location of a scratch area to be used when GDB
1362 calls a function in the target. This is necessary because the
1363 usual method of putting the scratch area on the stack does not work
1364 in systems that have separate instruction and data spaces.
1366 We integrated changes to support the 29k UDI (Universal Debugger
1367 Interface), but discovered at the last minute that we didn't have all
1368 of the appropriate copyright paperwork. We are working with AMD to
1369 resolve this, and hope to have it available soon.
1373 We have sped up the remote serial line protocol, especially for targets
1374 with lots of registers. It now supports a new `expedited status' ('T')
1375 message which can be used in place of the existing 'S' status message.
1376 This allows the remote stub to send only the registers that GDB
1377 needs to make a quick decision about single-stepping or conditional
1378 breakpoints, eliminating the need to fetch the entire register set for
1379 each instruction being stepped through.
1381 The GDB remote serial protocol now implements a write-through cache for
1382 registers, only re-reading the registers if the target has run.
1384 There is also a new remote serial stub for SPARC processors. You can
1385 find it in gdb-4.7/gdb/sparc-stub.c. This was written to support the
1386 Fujitsu SPARClite processor, but will run on any stand-alone SPARC
1387 processor with a serial port.
1391 Configure.in files have become much easier to read and modify. A new
1392 `table driven' format makes it more obvious what configurations are
1393 supported, and what files each one uses.
1397 There is a new opcodes library which will eventually contain all of the
1398 disassembly routines and opcode tables. At present, it only contains
1399 Sparc and Z8000 routines. This will allow the assembler, debugger, and
1400 disassembler (binutils/objdump) to share these routines.
1402 The libiberty library is now copylefted under the GNU Library General
1403 Public License. This allows more liberal use, and was done so libg++
1404 can use it. This makes no difference to GDB, since the Library License
1405 grants all the rights from the General Public License.
1409 The file gdb-4.7/gdb/doc/stabs.texinfo is a (relatively) complete
1410 reference to the stabs symbol info used by the debugger. It is (as far
1411 as we know) the only published document on this fascinating topic. We
1412 encourage you to read it, compare it to the stabs information on your
1413 system, and send improvements on the document in general (to
1414 bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu).
1416 And, of course, many bugs have been fixed.
1419 *** Changes in GDB-4.6:
1421 * Better support for C++ function names
1423 GDB now accepts as input the "demangled form" of C++ overloaded function
1424 names and member function names, and can do command completion on such names
1425 (using TAB, TAB-TAB, and ESC-?). The names have to be quoted with a pair of
1426 single quotes. Examples are 'func (int, long)' and 'obj::operator==(obj&)'.
1427 Make use of command completion, it is your friend.
1429 GDB also now accepts a variety of C++ mangled symbol formats. They are
1430 the GNU g++ style, the Cfront (ARM) style, and the Lucid (lcc) style.
1431 You can tell GDB which format to use by doing a 'set demangle-style {gnu,
1432 lucid, cfront, auto}'. 'gnu' is the default. Do a 'set demangle-style foo'
1433 for the list of formats.
1435 * G++ symbol mangling problem
1437 Recent versions of gcc have a bug in how they emit debugging information for
1438 C++ methods (when using dbx-style stabs). The file 'gcc.patch' (in this
1439 directory) can be applied to gcc to fix the problem. Alternatively, if you
1440 can't fix gcc, you can #define GCC_MANGLE_BUG when compling gdb/symtab.c. The
1441 usual symptom is difficulty with setting breakpoints on methods. GDB complains
1442 about the method being non-existent. (We believe that version 2.2.2 of GCC has
1445 * New 'maintenance' command
1447 All of the commands related to hacking GDB internals have been moved out of
1448 the main command set, and now live behind the 'maintenance' command. This
1449 can also be abbreviated as 'mt'. The following changes were made:
1451 dump-me -> maintenance dump-me
1452 info all-breakpoints -> maintenance info breakpoints
1453 printmsyms -> maintenance print msyms
1454 printobjfiles -> maintenance print objfiles
1455 printpsyms -> maintenance print psymbols
1456 printsyms -> maintenance print symbols
1458 The following commands are new:
1460 maintenance demangle Call internal GDB demangler routine to
1461 demangle a C++ link name and prints the result.
1462 maintenance print type Print a type chain for a given symbol
1464 * Change to .gdbinit file processing
1466 We now read the $HOME/.gdbinit file before processing the argv arguments
1467 (e.g. reading symbol files or core files). This allows global parameters to
1468 be set, which will apply during the symbol reading. The ./.gdbinit is still
1469 read after argv processing.
1471 * New hosts supported
1473 Solaris-2.0 !!! sparc-sun-solaris2 or sun4sol2
1475 Linux support i386-unknown-linux or linux
1477 We are also including code to support the HP/PA running BSD and HPUX. This
1478 is almost guaranteed not to work, as we didn't have time to test or build it
1479 for this release. We are including it so that the more adventurous (or
1480 masochistic) of you can play with it. We also had major problems with the
1481 fact that the compiler that we got from HP doesn't support the -g option.
1484 * New targets supported
1486 Hitachi H8/300 h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
1488 * More smarts about finding #include files
1490 GDB now remembers the compilation directory for all include files, and for
1491 all files from which C is generated (like yacc and lex sources). This
1492 greatly improves GDB's ability to find yacc/lex sources, and include files,
1493 especially if you are debugging your program from a directory different from
1494 the one that contains your sources.
1496 We also fixed a bug which caused difficulty with listing and setting
1497 breakpoints in include files which contain C code. (In the past, you had to
1498 try twice in order to list an include file that you hadn't looked at before.)
1500 * Interesting infernals change
1502 GDB now deals with arbitrary numbers of sections, where the symbols for each
1503 section must be relocated relative to that section's landing place in the
1504 target's address space. This work was needed to support ELF with embedded
1505 stabs used by Solaris-2.0.
1507 * Bug fixes (of course!)
1509 There have been loads of fixes for the following things:
1510 mips, rs6000, 29k/udi, m68k, g++, type handling, elf/dwarf, m88k,
1511 i960, stabs, DOS(GO32), procfs, etc...
1513 See the ChangeLog for details.
1515 *** Changes in GDB-4.5:
1517 * New machines supported (host and target)
1519 IBM RS6000 running AIX rs6000-ibm-aix or rs6000
1521 SGI Irix-4.x mips-sgi-irix4 or iris4
1523 * New malloc package
1525 GDB now uses a new memory manager called mmalloc, based on gmalloc.
1526 Mmalloc is capable of handling mutiple heaps of memory. It is also
1527 capable of saving a heap to a file, and then mapping it back in later.
1528 This can be used to greatly speedup the startup of GDB by using a
1529 pre-parsed symbol table which lives in a mmalloc managed heap. For
1530 more details, please read mmalloc/mmalloc.texi.
1534 The 'info proc' command (SVR4 only) has been enhanced quite a bit. See
1535 'help info proc' for details.
1537 * MIPS ecoff symbol table format
1539 The code that reads MIPS symbol table format is now supported on all hosts.
1540 Thanks to MIPS for releasing the sym.h and symconst.h files to make this
1543 * File name changes for MS-DOS
1545 Many files in the config directories have been renamed to make it easier to
1546 support GDB on MS-DOSe systems (which have very restrictive file name
1547 conventions :-( ). MS-DOSe host support (under DJ Delorie's GO32
1548 environment) is close to working but has some remaining problems. Note
1549 that debugging of DOS programs is not supported, due to limitations
1550 in the ``operating system'', but it can be used to host cross-debugging.
1552 * Cross byte order fixes
1554 Many fixes have been made to support cross debugging of Sparc and MIPS
1555 targets from hosts whose byte order differs.
1557 * New -mapped and -readnow options
1559 If memory-mapped files are available on your system through the 'mmap'
1560 system call, you can use the -mapped option on the `file' or
1561 `symbol-file' commands to cause GDB to write the symbols from your
1562 program into a reusable file. If the program you are debugging is
1563 called `/path/fred', the mapped symbol file will be `./fred.syms'.
1564 Future GDB debugging sessions will notice the presence of this file,
1565 and will quickly map in symbol information from it, rather than reading
1566 the symbol table from the executable program. Using the '-mapped'
1567 option in a GDB `file' or `symbol-file' command has the same effect as
1568 starting GDB with the '-mapped' command-line option.
1570 You can cause GDB to read the entire symbol table immediately by using
1571 the '-readnow' option with any of the commands that load symbol table
1572 information (or on the GDB command line). This makes the command
1573 slower, but makes future operations faster.
1575 The -mapped and -readnow options are typically combined in order to
1576 build a `fred.syms' file that contains complete symbol information.
1577 A simple GDB invocation to do nothing but build a `.syms' file for future
1580 gdb -batch -nx -mapped -readnow programname
1582 The `.syms' file is specific to the host machine on which GDB is run.
1583 It holds an exact image of GDB's internal symbol table. It cannot be
1584 shared across multiple host platforms.
1586 * longjmp() handling
1588 GDB is now capable of stepping and nexting over longjmp(), _longjmp(), and
1589 siglongjmp() without losing control. This feature has not yet been ported to
1590 all systems. It currently works on many 386 platforms, all MIPS-based
1591 platforms (SGI, DECstation, etc), and Sun3/4.
1595 Preliminary work has been put in to support the new Solaris OS from Sun. At
1596 this time, it can control and debug processes, but it is not capable of
1601 As always, many many bug fixes. The major areas were with g++, and mipsread.
1602 People using the MIPS-based platforms should experience fewer mysterious
1603 crashes and trashed symbol tables.
1605 *** Changes in GDB-4.4:
1607 * New machines supported (host and target)
1609 SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
1611 BSD Reno on Vax vax-dec-bsd
1612 Ultrix on Vax vax-dec-ultrix
1614 * New machines supported (target)
1616 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
1620 GDB continues to improve its handling of C++. `References' work better.
1621 The demangler has also been improved, and now deals with symbols mangled as
1622 per the Annotated C++ Reference Guide.
1624 GDB also now handles `stabs' symbol information embedded in MIPS
1625 `ecoff' symbol tables. Since the ecoff format was not easily
1626 extensible to handle new languages such as C++, this appeared to be a
1627 good way to put C++ debugging info into MIPS binaries. This option
1628 will be supported in the GNU C compiler, version 2, when it is
1631 * New features for SVR4
1633 GDB now handles SVR4 shared libraries, in the same fashion as SunOS
1634 shared libraries. Debugging dynamically linked programs should present
1635 only minor differences from debugging statically linked programs.
1637 The `info proc' command will print out information about any process
1638 on an SVR4 system (including the one you are debugging). At the moment,
1639 it prints the address mappings of the process.
1641 If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please send mail to
1642 bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were reqired (if any).
1644 * Better dynamic linking support in SunOS
1646 Reading symbols from shared libraries which contain debugging symbols
1647 now works properly. However, there remain issues such as automatic
1648 skipping of `transfer vector' code during function calls, which
1649 make it harder to debug code in a shared library, than to debug the
1650 same code linked statically.
1654 GDB is now using the latest `getopt' routines from the FSF. This
1655 version accepts the -- prefix for options with long names. GDB will
1656 continue to accept the old forms (-option and +option) as well.
1657 Various single letter abbreviations for options have been explicity
1658 added to the option table so that they won't get overshadowed in the
1659 future by other options that begin with the same letter.
1663 The `cleanup_undefined_types' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
1664 Many assorted bugs have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
1665 See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
1668 *** Changes in GDB-4.3:
1670 * New machines supported (host and target)
1672 Amiga 3000 running Amix m68k-cbm-svr4 or amix
1673 NCR 3000 386 running SVR4 i386-ncr-svr4 or ncr3000
1674 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
1676 * Almost SCO Unix support
1678 We had hoped to support:
1679 SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
1680 (except for core file support), but we discovered very late in the release
1681 that it has problems with process groups that render gdb unusable. Sorry
1682 about that. I encourage people to fix it and post the fixes.
1684 * Preliminary ELF and DWARF support
1686 GDB can read ELF object files on System V Release 4, and can handle
1687 debugging records for C, in DWARF format, in ELF files. This support
1688 is preliminary. If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please
1689 send mail to bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were
1694 GDB now uses the latest `readline' library. One user-visible change
1695 is that two tabs will list possible command completions, which previously
1696 required typing M-? (meta-question mark, or ESC ?).
1700 The `stepi' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
1701 Many bugs in C++ have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
1702 See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
1704 * State of the MIPS world (in case you wondered):
1706 GDB can understand the symbol tables emitted by the compilers
1707 supplied by most vendors of MIPS-based machines, including DEC. These
1708 symbol tables are in a format that essentially nobody else uses.
1710 Some versions of gcc come with an assembler post-processor called
1711 mips-tfile. This program is required if you want to do source-level
1712 debugging of gcc-compiled programs. I believe FSF does not ship
1713 mips-tfile with gcc version 1, but it will eventually come with gcc
1716 Debugging of g++ output remains a problem. g++ version 1.xx does not
1717 really support it at all. (If you're lucky, you should be able to get
1718 line numbers and stack traces to work, but no parameters or local
1719 variables.) With some work it should be possible to improve the
1722 When gcc version 2 is released, you will have somewhat better luck.
1723 However, even then you will get confusing results for inheritance and
1726 We will eventually provide full debugging of g++ output on
1727 DECstations. This will probably involve some kind of stabs-in-ecoff
1728 encapulation, but the details have not been worked out yet.
1731 *** Changes in GDB-4.2:
1733 * Improved configuration
1735 Only one copy of `configure' exists now, and it is not self-modifying.
1736 Porting BFD is simpler.
1740 The `step' and `next' commands now only stop at the first instruction
1741 of a source line. This prevents the multiple stops that used to occur
1742 in switch statements, for-loops, etc. `Step' continues to stop if a
1743 function that has debugging information is called within the line.
1747 Lots of small bugs fixed. More remain.
1749 * New host supported (not target)
1751 Intel 386 PC clone running Mach i386-none-mach
1754 *** Changes in GDB-4.1:
1756 * Multiple source language support
1758 GDB now has internal scaffolding to handle several source languages.
1759 It determines the type of each source file from its filename extension,
1760 and will switch expression parsing and number formatting to match the
1761 language of the function in the currently selected stack frame.
1762 You can also specifically set the language to be used, with
1763 `set language c' or `set language modula-2'.
1767 GDB now has preliminary support for the GNU Modula-2 compiler,
1768 currently under development at the State University of New York at
1769 Buffalo. Development of both GDB and the GNU Modula-2 compiler will
1770 continue through the fall of 1991 and into 1992.
1772 Other Modula-2 compilers are currently not supported, and attempting to
1773 debug programs compiled with them will likely result in an error as the
1774 symbol table is read. Feel free to work on it, though!
1776 There are hooks in GDB for strict type checking and range checking,
1777 in the `Modula-2 philosophy', but they do not currently work.
1781 GDB can now write to executable and core files (e.g. patch
1782 a variable's value). You must turn this switch on, specify
1783 the file ("exec foo" or "core foo"), *then* modify it, e.g.
1784 by assigning a new value to a variable. Modifications take
1787 * Automatic SunOS shared library reading
1789 When you run your program, GDB automatically determines where its
1790 shared libraries (if any) have been loaded, and reads their symbols.
1791 The `share' command is no longer needed. This also works when
1792 examining core files.
1796 You can specify the number of lines that the `list' command shows.
1799 * New machines supported (host and target)
1801 SGI Iris (MIPS) running Irix V3: mips-sgi-irix or iris
1802 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x: m68k-sony-sysv or news
1803 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1: a29k-nyu-sym1 or ultra3
1805 * New hosts supported (not targets)
1807 IBM RT/PC: romp-ibm-aix or rtpc
1809 * New targets supported (not hosts)
1811 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
1812 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
1813 Ultracomputer remote kernel debug a29k-nyu-kern
1815 * New remote interfaces
1821 *** Changes in GDB-4.0:
1825 Wide output is wrapped at good places to make the output more readable.
1827 Gdb now supports cross-debugging from a host machine of one type to a
1828 target machine of another type. Communication with the target system
1829 is over serial lines. The ``target'' command handles connecting to the
1830 remote system; the ``load'' command will download a program into the
1831 remote system. Serial stubs for the m68k and i386 are provided. Gdb
1832 also supports debugging of realtime processes running under VxWorks,
1833 using SunRPC Remote Procedure Calls over TCP/IP to talk to a debugger
1834 stub on the target system.
1836 New CPUs supported include the AMD 29000 and Intel 960.
1838 GDB now reads object files and symbol tables via a ``binary file''
1839 library, which allows a single copy of GDB to debug programs of multiple
1840 object file types such as a.out and coff.
1842 There is now a GDB reference card in "doc/refcard.tex". (Make targets
1843 refcard.dvi and refcard.ps are available to format it).
1846 * Control-Variable user interface simplified
1848 All variables that control the operation of the debugger can be set
1849 by the ``set'' command, and displayed by the ``show'' command.
1851 For example, ``set prompt new-gdb=>'' will change your prompt to new-gdb=>.
1852 ``Show prompt'' produces the response:
1853 Gdb's prompt is new-gdb=>.
1855 What follows are the NEW set commands. The command ``help set'' will
1856 print a complete list of old and new set commands. ``help set FOO''
1857 will give a longer description of the variable FOO. ``show'' will show
1858 all of the variable descriptions and their current settings.
1860 confirm on/off: Enables warning questions for operations that are
1861 hard to recover from, e.g. rerunning the program while
1862 it is already running. Default is ON.
1864 editing on/off: Enables EMACS style command line editing
1865 of input. Previous lines can be recalled with
1866 control-P, the current line can be edited with control-B,
1867 you can search for commands with control-R, etc.
1870 history filename NAME: NAME is where the gdb command history
1871 will be stored. The default is .gdb_history,
1872 or the value of the environment variable
1875 history size N: The size, in commands, of the command history. The
1876 default is 256, or the value of the environment variable
1879 history save on/off: If this value is set to ON, the history file will
1880 be saved after exiting gdb. If set to OFF, the
1881 file will not be saved. The default is OFF.
1883 history expansion on/off: If this value is set to ON, then csh-like
1884 history expansion will be performed on
1885 command line input. The default is OFF.
1887 radix N: Sets the default radix for input and output. It can be set
1888 to 8, 10, or 16. Note that the argument to "radix" is interpreted
1889 in the current radix, so "set radix 10" is always a no-op.
1891 height N: This integer value is the number of lines on a page. Default
1892 is 24, the current `stty rows'' setting, or the ``li#''
1893 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
1896 width N: This integer value is the number of characters on a line.
1897 Default is 80, the current `stty cols'' setting, or the ``co#''
1898 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
1901 Note: ``set screensize'' is obsolete. Use ``set height'' and
1902 ``set width'' instead.
1904 print address on/off: Print memory addresses in various command displays,
1905 such as stack traces and structure values. Gdb looks
1906 more ``symbolic'' if you turn this off; it looks more
1907 ``machine level'' with it on. Default is ON.
1909 print array on/off: Prettyprint arrays. New convenient format! Default
1912 print demangle on/off: Print C++ symbols in "source" form if on,
1915 print asm-demangle on/off: Same, for assembler level printouts
1918 print vtbl on/off: Prettyprint C++ virtual function tables. Default is OFF.
1921 * Support for Epoch Environment.
1923 The epoch environment is a version of Emacs v18 with windowing. One
1924 new command, ``inspect'', is identical to ``print'', except that if you
1925 are running in the epoch environment, the value is printed in its own
1929 * Support for Shared Libraries
1931 GDB can now debug programs and core files that use SunOS shared libraries.
1932 Symbols from a shared library cannot be referenced
1933 before the shared library has been linked with the program (this
1934 happens after you type ``run'' and before the function main() is entered).
1935 At any time after this linking (including when examining core files
1936 from dynamically linked programs), gdb reads the symbols from each
1937 shared library when you type the ``sharedlibrary'' command.
1938 It can be abbreviated ``share''.
1940 sharedlibrary REGEXP: Load shared object library symbols for files
1941 matching a unix regular expression. No argument
1942 indicates to load symbols for all shared libraries.
1944 info sharedlibrary: Status of loaded shared libraries.
1949 A watchpoint stops execution of a program whenever the value of an
1950 expression changes. Checking for this slows down execution
1951 tremendously whenever you are in the scope of the expression, but is
1952 quite useful for catching tough ``bit-spreader'' or pointer misuse
1953 problems. Some machines such as the 386 have hardware for doing this
1954 more quickly, and future versions of gdb will use this hardware.
1956 watch EXP: Set a watchpoint (breakpoint) for an expression.
1958 info watchpoints: Information about your watchpoints.
1960 delete N: Deletes watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
1961 disable N: Temporarily turns off watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
1962 enable N: Re-enables watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
1965 * C++ multiple inheritance
1967 When used with a GCC version 2 compiler, GDB supports multiple inheritance
1970 * C++ exception handling
1972 Gdb now supports limited C++ exception handling. Besides the existing
1973 ability to breakpoint on an exception handler, gdb can breakpoint on
1974 the raising of an exception (before the stack is peeled back to the
1977 catch FOO: If there is a FOO exception handler in the dynamic scope,
1978 set a breakpoint to catch exceptions which may be raised there.
1979 Multiple exceptions (``catch foo bar baz'') may be caught.
1981 info catch: Lists all exceptions which may be caught in the
1982 current stack frame.
1985 * Minor command changes
1987 The command ``call func (arg, arg, ...)'' now acts like the print
1988 command, except it does not print or save a value if the function's result
1989 is void. This is similar to dbx usage.
1991 The ``up'' and ``down'' commands now always print the frame they end up
1992 at; ``up-silently'' and `down-silently'' can be used in scripts to change
1993 frames without printing.
1995 * New directory command
1997 'dir' now adds directories to the FRONT of the source search path.
1998 The path starts off empty. Source files that contain debug information
1999 about the directory in which they were compiled can be found even
2000 with an empty path; Sun CC and GCC include this information. If GDB can't
2001 find your source file in the current directory, type "dir .".
2003 * Configuring GDB for compilation
2005 For normal use, type ``./configure host''. See README or gdb.texinfo
2008 GDB now handles cross debugging. If you are remotely debugging between
2009 two different machines, type ``./configure host -target=targ''.
2010 Host is the machine where GDB will run; targ is the machine
2011 where the program that you are debugging will run.