1 What has changed in GDB?
2 (Organized release by release)
4 *** Changes since GDB 6.7
6 * GDB can now be built as a native debugger for debugging Windows x86
7 (mingw32) Portable Executable (PE) programs.
9 * Pending breakpoints no longer change their number when their address
12 * GDB now supports breakpoints with multiple locations,
13 including breakpoints on C++ constructors, inside C++ templates,
14 and in inlined functions.
16 * Target descriptions can now describe registers for PowerPC.
18 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports the AltiVec and SPE
19 registers on PowerPC targets.
21 *** Changes in GDB 6.7
23 * Resolved 101 resource leaks, null pointer dereferences, etc. in gdb,
24 bfd, libiberty and opcodes, as revealed by static analysis donated by
25 Coverity, Inc. (http://scan.coverity.com).
27 * When looking up multiply-defined global symbols, GDB will now prefer the
28 symbol definition in the current shared library if it was built using the
29 -Bsymbolic linker option.
31 * When the Text User Interface (TUI) is not configured, GDB will now
32 recognize the -tui command-line option and print a message that the TUI
35 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now has lower overhead for high
36 frequency signals (e.g. SIGALRM) via the QPassSignals packet.
38 * GDB for MIPS targets now autodetects whether a remote target provides
39 32-bit or 64-bit register values.
41 * Support for C++ member pointers has been improved.
43 * GDB now understands XML target descriptions, which specify the
44 target's overall architecture. GDB can read a description from
45 a local file or over the remote serial protocol.
47 * Vectors of single-byte data use a new integer type which is not
48 automatically displayed as character or string data.
50 * The /s format now works with the print command. It displays
51 arrays of single-byte integers and pointers to single-byte integers
54 * Target descriptions can now describe target-specific registers,
55 for architectures which have implemented the support (currently
56 only ARM, M68K, and MIPS).
58 * GDB and the GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now support the XScale
61 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, has been updated to support
62 ARM Windows CE (mingw32ce) debugging, and GDB Windows CE support
63 has been rewritten to use the standard GDB remote protocol.
65 * GDB can now step into C++ functions which are called through thunks.
67 * GDB for the Cell/B.E. SPU now supports overlay debugging.
69 * The GDB remote protocol "qOffsets" packet can now honor ELF segment
70 layout. It also supports a TextSeg= and DataSeg= response when only
71 segment base addresses (rather than offsets) are available.
73 * The /i format now outputs any trailing branch delay slot instructions
74 immediately following the last instruction within the count specified.
76 * The GDB remote protocol "T" stop reply packet now supports a
77 "library" response. Combined with the new "qXfer:libraries:read"
78 packet, this response allows GDB to debug shared libraries on targets
79 where the operating system manages the list of loaded libraries (e.g.
80 Windows and SymbianOS).
82 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports dynamic link libraries
83 (DLLs) on Windows and Windows CE targets.
85 * GDB now supports a faster verification that a .debug file matches its binary
86 according to its build-id signature, if the signature is present.
92 Enable or disable hardware flow control (RTS/CTS) on the serial port
93 when debugging using remote targets.
95 set mem inaccessible-by-default
96 show mem inaccessible-by-default
97 If the target supplies a memory map, for instance via the remote
98 protocol's "qXfer:memory-map:read" packet, setting this variable
99 prevents GDB from accessing memory outside the memory map. This
100 is useful for targets with memory mapped registers or which react
101 badly to accesses of unmapped address space.
103 set breakpoint auto-hw
104 show breakpoint auto-hw
105 If the target supplies a memory map, for instance via the remote
106 protocol's "qXfer:memory-map:read" packet, setting this variable
107 lets GDB use hardware breakpoints automatically for memory regions
108 where it can not use software breakpoints. This covers both the
109 "break" command and internal breakpoints used for other commands
110 including "next" and "finish".
113 catch exception unhandled
114 Stop the program execution when Ada exceptions are raised.
117 Stop the program execution when an Ada assertion failed.
121 Set an alternate system root for target files. This is a more
122 general version of "set solib-absolute-prefix", which is now
123 an alias to "set sysroot".
126 Provide extended SPU facility status information. This set of
127 commands is available only when debugging the Cell/B.E. SPU
130 * New native configurations
132 OpenBSD/sh sh*-*openbsd*
137 Use the specified local file as an XML target description, and do
138 not query the target for its built-in description.
142 OpenBSD/sh sh*-*-openbsd*
143 MIPS64 GNU/Linux (gdbserver) mips64-linux-gnu
144 Toshiba Media Processor mep-elf
149 Ignore the specified signals; pass them directly to the debugged program
150 without stopping other threads or reporting them to GDB.
153 Read an XML target description from the target, which describes its
158 Read or write contents of an spufs file on the target system. These
159 packets are available only on the Cell/B.E. SPU architecture.
161 qXfer:libraries:read:
162 Report the loaded shared libraries. Combined with new "T" packet
163 response, this packet allows GDB to debug shared libraries on
164 targets where the operating system manages the list of loaded
165 libraries (e.g. Windows and SymbianOS).
169 Support for these obsolete configurations has been removed.
178 i[34567]86-*-netware*
179 i[34567]86-*-sco3.2v5*
180 i[34567]86-*-sco3.2v4*
182 i[34567]86-*-sysv4.2*
185 i[34567]86-*-unixware2*
186 i[34567]86-*-unixware*
195 * Other removed features
202 Various m68k-only ROM monitors.
209 Various Renesas ROM monitors and debugging interfaces for SH and
214 Support for a Macraigor serial interface to on-chip debugging.
215 GDB does not directly support the newer parallel or USB
220 A debug information format. The predecessor to DWARF 2 and
221 DWARF 3, which are still supported.
223 Support for the HP aCC compiler on HP-UX/PA-RISC
225 SOM-encapsulated symbolic debugging information, automatic
226 invocation of pxdb, and the aCC custom C++ ABI. This does not
227 affect HP-UX for Itanium or GCC for HP-UX/PA-RISC. Code compiled
228 with aCC can still be debugged on an assembly level.
232 A MIPS-specific format used to describe stack frame layout
233 in debugging information.
237 GDB could work with an older version of Guile to debug
238 the interpreter and Scheme programs running in it.
240 set mips stack-arg-size
241 set mips saved-gpreg-size
243 Use "set mips abi" to control parameter passing for MIPS.
245 *** Changes in GDB 6.6
250 Cell Broadband Engine SPU spu-elf
252 * GDB can now be configured as a cross-debugger targeting native Windows
253 (mingw32) or Cygwin. It can communicate with a remote debugging stub
254 running on a Windows system over TCP/IP to debug Windows programs.
256 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, has been updated to support Windows and
257 Cygwin debugging. Both single-threaded and multi-threaded programs are
260 * The "set trust-readonly-sections" command works again. This command was
261 broken in GDB 6.3, 6.4, and 6.5.
263 * The "load" command now supports writing to flash memory, if the remote
264 stub provides the required support.
266 * Support for GNU/Linux Thread Local Storage (TLS, per-thread variables) no
267 longer requires symbolic debug information (e.g. DWARF-2).
272 unset substitute-path
274 Manage a list of substitution rules that GDB uses to rewrite the name
275 of the directories where the sources are located. This can be useful
276 for instance when the sources were moved to a different location
277 between compilation and debugging.
281 Print each CLI command as it is executed. Each command is prefixed with
282 a number of `+' symbols representing the nesting depth.
283 The source command now has a `-v' option to enable the same feature.
287 The ARM Demon monitor support (RDP protocol, "target rdp").
289 Kernel Object Display, an embedded debugging feature which only worked with
290 an obsolete version of Cisco IOS.
292 The 'set download-write-size' and 'show download-write-size' commands.
297 Tell a stub about GDB client features, and request remote target features.
298 The first feature implemented is PacketSize, which allows the target to
299 specify the size of packets it can handle - to minimize the number of
300 packets required and improve performance when connected to a remote
304 Fetch an OS auxilliary vector from the remote stub. This packet is a
305 more efficient replacement for qPart:auxv:read.
307 qXfer:memory-map:read:
308 Fetch a memory map from the remote stub, including information about
309 RAM, ROM, and flash memory devices.
314 Erase and program a flash memory device.
316 * Removed remote packets
319 This packet has been replaced by qXfer:auxv:read. Only GDB 6.4 and 6.5
320 used it, and only gdbserver implemented it.
322 *** Changes in GDB 6.5
326 Renesas M32C/M16C m32c-elf
328 Morpho Technologies ms1 ms1-elf
332 init-if-undefined Initialize a convenience variable, but
333 only if it doesn't already have a value.
335 The following commands are presently only implemented for native GNU/Linux:
337 checkpoint Save a snapshot of the program state.
339 restart <n> Return the program state to a
340 previously saved state.
342 info checkpoints List currently saved checkpoints.
344 delete-checkpoint <n> Delete a previously saved checkpoint.
346 set|show detach-on-fork Tell gdb whether to detach from a newly
347 forked process, or to keep debugging it.
349 info forks List forks of the user program that
350 are available to be debugged.
352 fork <n> Switch to debugging one of several
353 forks of the user program that are
354 available to be debugged.
356 delete-fork <n> Delete a fork from the list of forks
357 that are available to be debugged (and
358 kill the forked process).
360 detach-fork <n> Delete a fork from the list of forks
361 that are available to be debugged (and
362 allow the process to continue).
366 Morpho Technologies ms2 ms1-elf
368 * Improved Windows host support
370 GDB now builds as a cross debugger hosted on i686-mingw32, including
371 native console support, and remote communications using either
372 network sockets or serial ports.
374 * Improved Modula-2 language support
376 GDB can now print most types in the Modula-2 syntax. This includes:
377 basic types, set types, record types, enumerated types, range types,
378 pointer types and ARRAY types. Procedure var parameters are correctly
379 printed and hexadecimal addresses and character constants are also
380 written in the Modula-2 syntax. Best results can be obtained by using
381 GNU Modula-2 together with the -gdwarf-2 command line option.
385 The ARM rdi-share module.
387 The Netware NLM debug server.
389 *** Changes in GDB 6.4
391 * New native configurations
393 OpenBSD/arm arm*-*-openbsd*
394 OpenBSD/mips64 mips64-*-openbsd*
398 Morpho Technologies ms1 ms1-elf
400 * New command line options
402 --batch-silent As for --batch, but totally silent.
403 --return-child-result The debugger will exist with the same value
404 the child (debugged) program exited with.
405 --eval-command COMMAND, -ex COMMAND
406 Execute a single GDB CLI command. This may be
407 specified multiple times and in conjunction
408 with the --command (-x) option.
410 * Deprecated commands removed
412 The following commands, that were deprecated in 2000, have been
416 set|show arm disassembly-flavor set|show arm disassembler
417 othernames set arm disassembler
418 set|show remotedebug set|show debug remote
419 set|show archdebug set|show debug arch
420 set|show eventdebug set|show debug event
423 * New BSD user-level threads support
425 It is now possible to debug programs using the user-level threads
426 library on OpenBSD and FreeBSD. Currently supported (target)
429 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
430 FreeBSD/i386 i386-*-freebsd*
431 OpenBSD/i386 i386-*-openbsd*
433 Note that the new kernel threads libraries introduced in FreeBSD 5.x
434 are not yet supported.
436 * New support for Matsushita MN10300 w/sim added
437 (Work in progress). mn10300-elf.
439 * REMOVED configurations and files
441 VxWorks and the XDR protocol *-*-vxworks
442 Motorola MCORE mcore-*-*
443 National Semiconductor NS32000 ns32k-*-*
445 * New "set print array-indexes" command
447 After turning this setting "on", GDB prints the index of each element
448 when displaying arrays. The default is "off" to preserve the previous
451 * VAX floating point support
453 GDB now supports the not-quite-ieee VAX F and D floating point formats.
455 * User-defined command support
457 In addition to using $arg0..$arg9 for argument passing, it is now possible
458 to use $argc to determine now many arguments have been passed. See the
459 section on user-defined commands in the user manual for more information.
461 *** Changes in GDB 6.3:
463 * New command line option
465 GDB now accepts -l followed by a number to set the timeout for remote
468 * GDB works with GCC -feliminate-dwarf2-dups
470 GDB now supports a more compact representation of DWARF-2 debug
471 information using DW_FORM_ref_addr references. These are produced
472 by GCC with the option -feliminate-dwarf2-dups and also by some
473 proprietary compilers. With GCC, you must use GCC 3.3.4 or later
474 to use -feliminate-dwarf2-dups.
476 * Internationalization
478 When supported by the host system, GDB will be built with
479 internationalization (libintl). The task of marking up the sources is
480 continued, we're looking forward to our first translation.
484 Initial support for debugging programs compiled with the GNAT
485 implementation of the Ada programming language has been integrated
486 into GDB. In this release, support is limited to expression evaluation.
488 * New native configurations
490 GNU/Linux/m32r m32r-*-linux-gnu
494 GDB's remote protocol now includes support for the 'p' packet. This
495 packet is used to fetch individual registers from a remote inferior.
497 * END-OF-LIFE registers[] compatibility module
499 GDB's internal register infrastructure has been completely rewritten.
500 The new infrastructure making possible the implementation of key new
501 features including 32x64 (e.g., 64-bit amd64 GDB debugging a 32-bit
504 GDB 6.3 will be the last release to include the the registers[]
505 compatibility module that allowed out-of-date configurations to
506 continue to work. This change directly impacts the following
518 Unless there is activity to revive these configurations, they will be
519 made OBSOLETE in GDB 6.4, and REMOVED from GDB 6.5.
521 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
523 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
524 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
525 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
535 *** Changes in GDB 6.2.1:
537 * MIPS `break main; run' gave an heuristic-fence-post warning
539 When attempting to run even a simple program, a warning about
540 heuristic-fence-post being hit would be reported. This problem has
543 * MIPS IRIX 'long double' crashed GDB
545 When examining a long double variable, GDB would get a segmentation
546 fault. The crash has been fixed (but GDB 6.2 cannot correctly examine
547 IRIX long double values).
551 A bug in the VAX stack code was causing problems with the "next"
552 command. This problem has been fixed.
554 *** Changes in GDB 6.2:
556 * Fix for ``many threads''
558 On GNU/Linux systems that use the NPTL threads library, a program
559 rapidly creating and deleting threads would confuse GDB leading to the
562 ptrace: No such process.
563 thread_db_get_info: cannot get thread info: generic error
565 This problem has been fixed.
567 * "-async" and "-noasync" options removed.
569 Support for the broken "-noasync" option has been removed (it caused
572 * New ``start'' command.
574 This command runs the program until the begining of the main procedure.
576 * New BSD Kernel Data Access Library (libkvm) interface
578 Using ``target kvm'' it is now possible to debug kernel core dumps and
579 live kernel memory images on various FreeBSD, NetBSD and OpenBSD
580 platforms. Currently supported (native-only) configurations are:
582 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
583 FreeBSD/i386 i?86-*-freebsd*
584 NetBSD/i386 i?86-*-netbsd*
585 NetBSD/m68k m68*-*-netbsd*
586 NetBSD/sparc sparc-*-netbsd*
587 OpenBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-openbsd*
588 OpenBSD/i386 i?86-*-openbsd*
589 OpenBSD/m68k m68*-openbsd*
590 OpenBSD/sparc sparc-*-openbsd*
592 * Signal trampoline code overhauled
594 Many generic problems with GDB's signal handling code have been fixed.
595 These include: backtraces through non-contiguous stacks; recognition
596 of sa_sigaction signal trampolines; backtrace from a NULL pointer
597 call; backtrace through a signal trampoline; step into and out of
598 signal handlers; and single-stepping in the signal trampoline.
600 Please note that kernel bugs are a limiting factor here. These
601 features have been shown to work on an s390 GNU/Linux system that
602 include a 2.6.8-rc1 kernel. Ref PR breakpoints/1702.
604 * Cygwin support for DWARF 2 added.
606 * New native configurations
608 GNU/Linux/hppa hppa*-*-linux*
609 OpenBSD/hppa hppa*-*-openbsd*
610 OpenBSD/m68k m68*-*-openbsd*
611 OpenBSD/m88k m88*-*-openbsd*
612 OpenBSD/powerpc powerpc-*-openbsd*
613 NetBSD/vax vax-*-netbsd*
614 OpenBSD/vax vax-*-openbsd*
616 * END-OF-LIFE frame compatibility module
618 GDB's internal frame infrastructure has been completely rewritten.
619 The new infrastructure making it possible to support key new features
620 including DWARF 2 Call Frame Information. To aid in the task of
621 migrating old configurations to this new infrastructure, a
622 compatibility module, that allowed old configurations to continue to
623 work, was also included.
625 GDB 6.2 will be the last release to include this frame compatibility
626 module. This change directly impacts the following configurations:
636 Unless there is activity to revive these configurations, they will be
637 made OBSOLETE in GDB 6.3, and REMOVED from GDB 6.4.
639 * REMOVED configurations and files
641 Sun 3, running SunOS 3 m68*-*-sunos3*
642 Sun 3, running SunOS 4 m68*-*-sunos4*
643 Sun 2, running SunOS 3 m68000-*-sunos3*
644 Sun 2, running SunOS 4 m68000-*-sunos4*
645 Motorola 680x0 running LynxOS m68*-*-lynxos*
646 AT&T 3b1/Unix pc m68*-att-*
647 Bull DPX2 (68k, System V release 3) m68*-bull-sysv*
648 decstation mips-dec-* mips-little-*
649 riscos mips-*-riscos* mips-*-sysv*
651 sysv mips*-*-sysv4* (IRIX 5/6 not included)
653 *** Changes in GDB 6.1.1:
655 * TUI (Text-mode User Interface) built-in (also included in GDB 6.1)
657 The TUI (Text-mode User Interface) is now built as part of a default
658 GDB configuration. It is enabled by either selecting the TUI with the
659 command line option "-i=tui" or by running the separate "gdbtui"
660 program. For more information on the TUI, see the manual "Debugging
663 * Pending breakpoint support (also included in GDB 6.1)
665 Support has been added to allow you to specify breakpoints in shared
666 libraries that have not yet been loaded. If a breakpoint location
667 cannot be found, and the "breakpoint pending" option is set to auto,
668 GDB queries you if you wish to make the breakpoint pending on a future
669 shared-library load. If and when GDB resolves the breakpoint symbol,
670 the pending breakpoint is removed as one or more regular breakpoints
673 Pending breakpoints are very useful for GCJ Java debugging.
675 * Fixed ISO-C build problems
677 The files bfd/elf-bfd.h, gdb/dictionary.c and gdb/types.c contained
678 non ISO-C code that stopped them being built using a more strict ISO-C
679 compiler (e.g., IBM's C compiler).
681 * Fixed build problem on IRIX 5
683 Due to header problems with <sys/proc.h>, the file gdb/proc-api.c
684 wasn't able to compile compile on an IRIX 5 system.
686 * Added execute permission to gdb/gdbserver/configure
688 The shell script gdb/testsuite/gdb.stabs/configure lacked execute
689 permission. This bug would cause configure to fail on a number of
690 systems (Solaris, IRIX). Ref: server/519.
692 * Fixed build problem on hpux2.0w-hp-hpux11.00 using the HP ANSI C compiler
694 Older HPUX ANSI C compilers did not accept variable array sizes. somsolib.c
695 has been updated to use constant array sizes.
697 * Fixed a panic in the DWARF Call Frame Info code on Solaris 2.7
699 GCC 3.3.2, on Solaris 2.7, includes the DW_EH_PE_funcrel encoding in
700 its generated DWARF Call Frame Info. This encoding was causing GDB to
701 panic, that panic has been fixed. Ref: gdb/1628.
703 * Fixed a problem when examining parameters in shared library code.
705 When examining parameters in optimized shared library code generated
706 by a mainline GCC, GDB would incorrectly report ``Variable "..." is
707 not available''. GDB now correctly displays the variable's value.
709 *** Changes in GDB 6.1:
711 * Removed --with-mmalloc
713 Support for the mmalloc memory manager has been removed, as it
714 conflicted with the internal gdb byte cache.
716 * Changes in AMD64 configurations
718 The AMD64 target now includes the %cs and %ss registers. As a result
719 the AMD64 remote protocol has changed; this affects the floating-point
720 and SSE registers. If you rely on those registers for your debugging,
721 you should upgrade gdbserver on the remote side.
723 * Revised SPARC target
725 The SPARC target has been completely revised, incorporating the
726 FreeBSD/sparc64 support that was added for GDB 6.0. As a result
727 support for LynxOS and SunOS 4 has been dropped. Calling functions
728 from within GDB on operating systems with a non-executable stack
729 (Solaris, OpenBSD) now works.
733 GDB has a new C++ demangler which does a better job on the mangled
734 names generated by current versions of g++. It also runs faster, so
735 with this and other changes gdb should now start faster on large C++
738 * DWARF 2 Location Expressions
740 GDB support for location expressions has been extended to support function
741 arguments and frame bases. Older versions of GDB could crash when they
744 * C++ nested types and namespaces
746 GDB's support for nested types and namespaces in C++ has been
747 improved, especially if you use the DWARF 2 debugging format. (This
748 is the default for recent versions of GCC on most platforms.)
749 Specifically, if you have a class "Inner" defined within a class or
750 namespace "Outer", then GDB realizes that the class's name is
751 "Outer::Inner", not simply "Inner". This should greatly reduce the
752 frequency of complaints about not finding RTTI symbols. In addition,
753 if you are stopped at inside of a function defined within a namespace,
754 GDB modifies its name lookup accordingly.
756 * New native configurations
758 NetBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-netbsd*
759 OpenBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-openbsd*
760 OpenBSD/alpha alpha*-*-openbsd*
761 OpenBSD/sparc sparc-*-openbsd*
762 OpenBSD/sparc64 sparc64-*-openbsd*
764 * New debugging protocols
766 M32R with SDI protocol m32r-*-elf*
768 * "set prompt-escape-char" command deleted.
770 The command "set prompt-escape-char" has been deleted. This command,
771 and its very obscure effet on GDB's prompt, was never documented,
772 tested, nor mentioned in the NEWS file.
774 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
776 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
777 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
778 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
781 Sun 3, running SunOS 3 m68*-*-sunos3*
782 Sun 3, running SunOS 4 m68*-*-sunos4*
783 Sun 2, running SunOS 3 m68000-*-sunos3*
784 Sun 2, running SunOS 4 m68000-*-sunos4*
785 Motorola 680x0 running LynxOS m68*-*-lynxos*
786 AT&T 3b1/Unix pc m68*-att-*
787 Bull DPX2 (68k, System V release 3) m68*-bull-sysv*
788 decstation mips-dec-* mips-little-*
789 riscos mips-*-riscos* mips-*-sysv*
791 sysv mips*-*-sysv4* (IRIX 5/6 not included)
793 * REMOVED configurations and files
795 SGI Irix-4.x mips-sgi-irix4 or iris4
796 SGI Iris (MIPS) running Irix V3: mips-sgi-irix or iris
797 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
798 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
799 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
800 HP/PA running BSD hppa*-*-bsd*
801 HP/PA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
802 HP/PA Pro target hppa*-*-pro*
803 PMAX (MIPS) running Mach 3.0 mips*-*-mach3*
804 386BSD i[3456]86-*-bsd*
805 Sequent family i[3456]86-sequent-sysv4*
806 i[3456]86-sequent-sysv*
807 i[3456]86-sequent-bsd*
808 SPARC running LynxOS sparc-*-lynxos*
809 SPARC running SunOS 4 sparc-*-sunos4*
810 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
811 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
813 *** Changes in GDB 6.0:
817 Support for debugging the Objective-C programming language has been
820 * New backtrace mechanism (includes DWARF 2 Call Frame Information).
822 DWARF 2's Call Frame Information makes available compiler generated
823 information that more exactly describes the program's run-time stack.
824 By using this information, GDB is able to provide more robust stack
827 The i386, amd64 (nee, x86-64), Alpha, m68hc11, ia64, and m32r targets
828 have been updated to use a new backtrace mechanism which includes
833 GDB's remote protocol has been extended to include support for hosted
834 file I/O (where the remote target uses GDB's file system). See GDB's
835 remote protocol documentation for details.
837 * All targets using the new architecture framework.
839 All of GDB's targets have been updated to use the new internal
840 architecture framework. The way is now open for future GDB releases
841 to include cross-architecture native debugging support (i386 on amd64,
844 * GNU/Linux's Thread Local Storage (TLS)
846 GDB now includes support for for the GNU/Linux implementation of
847 per-thread variables.
849 * GNU/Linux's Native POSIX Thread Library (NPTL)
851 GDB's thread code has been updated to work with either the new
852 GNU/Linux NPTL thread library or the older "LinuxThreads" library.
854 * Separate debug info.
856 GDB, in conjunction with BINUTILS, now supports a mechanism for
857 automatically loading debug information from a separate file. Instead
858 of shipping full debug and non-debug versions of system libraries,
859 system integrators can now instead ship just the stripped libraries
860 and optional debug files.
862 * DWARF 2 Location Expressions
864 DWARF 2 Location Expressions allow the compiler to more completely
865 describe the location of variables (even in optimized code) to the
868 GDB now includes preliminary support for location expressions (support
869 for DW_OP_piece is still missing).
873 A number of long standing bugs that caused GDB to die while starting a
874 Java application have been fixed. GDB's Java support is now
875 considered "useable".
877 * GNU/Linux support for fork, vfork, and exec.
879 The "catch fork", "catch exec", "catch vfork", and "set follow-fork-mode"
880 commands are now implemented for GNU/Linux. They require a 2.5.x or later
883 * GDB supports logging output to a file
885 There are two new commands, "set logging" and "show logging", which can be
886 used to capture GDB's output to a file.
888 * The meaning of "detach" has changed for gdbserver
890 The "detach" command will now resume the application, as documented. To
891 disconnect from gdbserver and leave it stopped, use the new "disconnect"
894 * d10v, m68hc11 `regs' command deprecated
896 The `info registers' command has been updated so that it displays the
897 registers using a format identical to the old `regs' command.
901 A new command, "maint set profile on/off", has been added. This command can
902 be used to enable or disable profiling while running GDB, to profile a
903 session or a set of commands. In addition there is a new configure switch,
904 "--enable-profiling", which will cause GDB to be compiled with profiling
905 data, for more informative profiling results.
907 * Default MI syntax changed to "mi2".
909 The default MI (machine interface) syntax, enabled by the command line
910 option "-i=mi", has been changed to "mi2". The previous MI syntax,
911 "mi1", can be enabled by specifying the option "-i=mi1".
913 Support for the original "mi0" syntax (included in GDB 5.0) has been
916 Fix for gdb/192: removed extraneous space when displaying frame level.
917 Fix for gdb/672: update changelist is now output in mi list format.
918 Fix for gdb/702: a -var-assign that updates the value now shows up
919 in a subsequent -var-update.
921 * New native configurations.
923 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
925 * Multi-arched targets.
927 HP/PA HPUX11 hppa*-*-hpux*
928 Renesas M32R/D w/simulator m32r-*-elf*
930 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
932 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
933 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
934 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
937 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
938 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
939 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
940 HP/PA running BSD hppa*-*-bsd*
941 HP/PA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
942 HP/PA Pro target hppa*-*-pro*
943 PMAX (MIPS) running Mach 3.0 mips*-*-mach3*
944 Sequent family i[3456]86-sequent-sysv4*
945 i[3456]86-sequent-sysv*
946 i[3456]86-sequent-bsd*
947 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
948 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
950 * REMOVED configurations and files
953 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
954 IBM AIX PS/2 i[3456]86-*-aix
955 i386 running Mach 3.0 i[3456]86-*-mach3*
956 i386 running Mach i[3456]86-*-mach*
957 i386 running OSF/1 i[3456]86-*osf1mk*
958 HP/Apollo 68k Family m68*-apollo*-sysv*,
960 m68*-hp-bsd*, m68*-hp-hpux*
961 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
962 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
963 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
964 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
965 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
967 * MIPS $fp behavior changed
969 The convenience variable $fp, for the MIPS, now consistently returns
970 the address of the current frame's base. Previously, depending on the
971 context, $fp could refer to either $sp or the current frame's base
972 address. See ``8.10 Registers'' in the manual ``Debugging with GDB:
973 The GNU Source-Level Debugger''.
975 *** Changes in GDB 5.3:
977 * GNU/Linux shared library multi-threaded performance improved.
979 When debugging a multi-threaded application on GNU/Linux, GDB now uses
980 `/proc', in preference to `ptrace' for memory reads. This may result
981 in an improvement in the start-up time of multi-threaded, shared
982 library applications when run under GDB. One GDB user writes: ``loads
983 shared libs like mad''.
985 * ``gdbserver'' now supports multi-threaded applications on some targets
987 Support for debugging multi-threaded applications which use
988 the GNU/Linux LinuxThreads package has been added for
989 arm*-*-linux*-gnu*, i[3456]86-*-linux*-gnu*, mips*-*-linux*-gnu*,
990 powerpc*-*-linux*-gnu*, and sh*-*-linux*-gnu*.
992 * GDB now supports C/C++ preprocessor macros.
994 GDB now expands preprocessor macro invocations in C/C++ expressions,
995 and provides various commands for showing macro definitions and how
998 The new command `macro expand EXPRESSION' expands any macro
999 invocations in expression, and shows the result.
1001 The new command `show macro MACRO-NAME' shows the definition of the
1002 macro named MACRO-NAME, and where it was defined.
1004 Most compilers don't include information about macros in the debugging
1005 information by default. In GCC 3.1, for example, you need to compile
1006 your program with the options `-gdwarf-2 -g3'. If the macro
1007 information is present in the executable, GDB will read it.
1009 * Multi-arched targets.
1011 DEC Alpha (partial) alpha*-*-*
1012 DEC VAX (partial) vax-*-*
1014 National Semiconductor NS32000 (partial) ns32k-*-*
1015 Motorola 68000 (partial) m68k-*-*
1016 Motorola MCORE mcore-*-*
1020 Fujitsu FRV architecture added by Red Hat frv*-*-*
1023 * New native configurations
1025 Alpha NetBSD alpha*-*-netbsd*
1026 SH NetBSD sh*-*-netbsdelf*
1027 MIPS NetBSD mips*-*-netbsd*
1028 UltraSPARC NetBSD sparc64-*-netbsd*
1030 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
1032 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
1033 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
1034 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
1035 permanently REMOVED.
1037 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
1038 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
1039 IBM AIX PS/2 i[3456]86-*-aix
1040 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
1041 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
1042 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
1043 i386 running Mach 3.0 i[3456]86-*-mach3*
1044 i386 running Mach i[3456]86-*-mach*
1045 i386 running OSF/1 i[3456]86-*osf1mk*
1046 HP/Apollo 68k Family m68*-apollo*-sysv*,
1048 m68*-hp-bsd*, m68*-hp-hpux*
1049 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
1051 * OBSOLETE languages
1053 CHILL, a Pascal like language used by telecommunications companies.
1055 * REMOVED configurations and files
1057 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi, udi29k
1058 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
1059 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
1060 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
1061 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
1063 testsuite/gdb.hp/gdb.threads-hp/ directory
1065 * New command "set max-user-call-depth <nnn>"
1067 This command allows the user to limit the call depth of user-defined
1068 commands. The default is 1024.
1070 * Changes in FreeBSD/i386 native debugging.
1072 Support for the "generate-core-file" has been added.
1074 * New commands "dump", "append", and "restore".
1076 These commands allow data to be copied from target memory
1077 to a bfd-format or binary file (dump and append), and back
1078 from a file into memory (restore).
1080 * Improved "next/step" support on multi-processor Alpha Tru64.
1082 The previous single-step mechanism could cause unpredictable problems,
1083 including the random appearance of SIGSEGV or SIGTRAP signals. The use
1084 of a software single-step mechanism prevents this.
1086 *** Changes in GDB 5.2.1:
1094 gdb/182: gdb/323: gdb/237: On alpha, gdb was reporting:
1095 mdebugread.c:2443: gdb-internal-error: sect_index_data not initialized
1096 Fix, by Joel Brobecker imported from mainline.
1098 gdb/439: gdb/291: On some ELF object files, gdb was reporting:
1099 dwarf2read.c:1072: gdb-internal-error: sect_index_text not initialize
1100 Fix, by Fred Fish, imported from mainline.
1102 Dwarf2 .debug_frame & .eh_frame handler improved in many ways.
1103 Surprisingly enough, it works now.
1104 By Michal Ludvig, imported from mainline.
1106 i386 hardware watchpoint support:
1107 avoid misses on second run for some targets.
1108 By Pierre Muller, imported from mainline.
1110 *** Changes in GDB 5.2:
1112 * New command "set trust-readonly-sections on[off]".
1114 This command is a hint that tells gdb that read-only sections
1115 really are read-only (ie. that their contents will not change).
1116 In this mode, gdb will go to the object file rather than the
1117 target to read memory from read-only sections (such as ".text").
1118 This can be a significant performance improvement on some
1119 (notably embedded) targets.
1121 * New command "generate-core-file" (or "gcore").
1123 This new gdb command allows the user to drop a core file of the child
1124 process state at any time. So far it's been implemented only for
1125 GNU/Linux and Solaris, but should be relatively easily ported to other
1126 hosts. Argument is core file name (defaults to core.<pid>).
1128 * New command line option
1130 GDB now accepts --pid or -p followed by a process id.
1132 * Change in command line behavior -- corefiles vs. process ids.
1134 There is a subtle behavior in the way in which GDB handles
1135 command line arguments. The first non-flag argument is always
1136 a program to debug, but the second non-flag argument may either
1137 be a corefile or a process id. Previously, GDB would attempt to
1138 open the second argument as a corefile, and if that failed, would
1139 issue a superfluous error message and then attempt to attach it as
1140 a process. Now, if the second argument begins with a non-digit,
1141 it will be treated as a corefile. If it begins with a digit,
1142 GDB will attempt to attach it as a process, and if no such process
1143 is found, will then attempt to open it as a corefile.
1145 * Changes in ARM configurations.
1147 Multi-arch support is enabled for all ARM configurations. The ARM/NetBSD
1148 configuration is fully multi-arch.
1150 * New native configurations
1152 ARM NetBSD arm*-*-netbsd*
1153 x86 OpenBSD i[3456]86-*-openbsd*
1154 AMD x86-64 running GNU/Linux x86_64-*-linux-*
1155 Sparc64 running FreeBSD sparc64-*-freebsd*
1159 Sanyo XStormy16 xstormy16-elf
1161 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
1163 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
1164 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
1165 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
1166 permanently REMOVED.
1168 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi, udi29k
1169 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
1170 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
1171 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
1172 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
1174 testsuite/gdb.hp/gdb.threads-hp/ directory
1176 * REMOVED configurations and files
1178 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
1180 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
1181 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
1182 PowerPC Netware powerpc-*-netware*
1183 Harris/CXUX m88k m88*-harris-cxux*
1184 Most ns32k hosts and targets ns32k-*-mach3* ns32k-umax-*
1185 ns32k-utek-sysv* ns32k-utek-*
1186 SunOS 4.0.Xi on i386 i[3456]86-*-sunos*
1187 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1 a29k-nyu-sym1 a29k-*-kern*
1188 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x m68*-sony-sysv news
1189 ISI Optimum V (3.05) under 4.3bsd. m68*-isi-*
1190 Apple Macintosh (MPW) host and target N/A host, powerpc-*-macos*
1192 * Changes to command line processing
1194 The new `--args' feature can be used to specify command-line arguments
1195 for the inferior from gdb's command line.
1197 * Changes to key bindings
1199 There is a new `operate-and-get-next' function bound to `C-o'.
1201 *** Changes in GDB 5.1.1
1203 Fix compile problem on DJGPP.
1205 Fix a problem with floating-point registers on the i386 being
1208 Fix to stop GDB crashing on .debug_str debug info.
1210 Numerous documentation fixes.
1212 Numerous testsuite fixes.
1214 *** Changes in GDB 5.1:
1216 * New native configurations
1218 Alpha FreeBSD alpha*-*-freebsd*
1219 x86 FreeBSD 3.x and 4.x i[3456]86*-freebsd[34]*
1220 MIPS GNU/Linux mips*-*-linux*
1221 MIPS SGI Irix 6.x mips*-sgi-irix6*
1222 ia64 AIX ia64-*-aix*
1223 s390 and s390x GNU/Linux {s390,s390x}-*-linux*
1227 Motorola 68HC11 and 68HC12 m68hc11-elf
1229 UltraSparc running GNU/Linux sparc64-*-linux*
1231 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
1233 x86 FreeBSD before 2.2 i[3456]86*-freebsd{1,2.[01]}*,
1234 Harris/CXUX m88k m88*-harris-cxux*
1235 Most ns32k hosts and targets ns32k-*-mach3* ns32k-umax-*
1236 ns32k-utek-sysv* ns32k-utek-*
1237 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
1239 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1 a29k-nyu-sym1 a29k-*-kern*
1240 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
1241 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
1242 PowerPC Netware powerpc-*-netware*
1243 SunOS 4.0.Xi on i386 i[3456]86-*-sunos*
1244 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x m68*-sony-sysv news
1245 ISI Optimum V (3.05) under 4.3bsd. m68*-isi-*
1246 Apple Macintosh (MPW) host N/A
1248 stuff.c (Program to stuff files into a specially prepared space in kdb)
1249 kdb-start.c (Main loop for the standalone kernel debugger)
1251 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
1252 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
1253 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
1254 permanently REMOVED.
1256 * REMOVED configurations and files
1258 Altos 3068 m68*-altos-*
1259 Convex c1-*-*, c2-*-*
1261 ARM RISCix arm-*-* (as host)
1265 * GDB has been converted to ISO C.
1267 GDB's source code has been converted to ISO C. In particular, the
1268 sources are fully protoized, and rely on standard headers being
1273 * "info symbol" works on platforms which use COFF, ECOFF, XCOFF, and NLM.
1275 * The MI enabled by default.
1277 The new machine oriented interface (MI) introduced in GDB 5.0 has been
1278 revised and enabled by default. Packages which use GDB as a debugging
1279 engine behind a UI or another front end are encouraged to switch to
1280 using the GDB/MI interface, instead of the old annotations interface
1281 which is now deprecated.
1283 * Support for debugging Pascal programs.
1285 GDB now includes support for debugging Pascal programs. The following
1286 main features are supported:
1288 - Pascal-specific data types such as sets;
1290 - automatic recognition of Pascal sources based on file-name
1293 - Pascal-style display of data types, variables, and functions;
1295 - a Pascal expression parser.
1297 However, some important features are not yet supported.
1299 - Pascal string operations are not supported at all;
1301 - there are some problems with boolean types;
1303 - Pascal type hexadecimal constants are not supported
1304 because they conflict with the internal variables format;
1306 - support for Pascal objects and classes is not full yet;
1308 - unlike Pascal, GDB is case-sensitive for symbol names.
1310 * Changes in completion.
1312 Commands such as `shell', `run' and `set args', which pass arguments
1313 to inferior programs, now complete on file names, similar to what
1314 users expect at the shell prompt.
1316 Commands which accept locations, such as `disassemble', `print',
1317 `breakpoint', `until', etc. now complete on filenames as well as
1318 program symbols. Thus, if you type "break foob TAB", and the source
1319 files linked into the programs include `foobar.c', that file name will
1320 be one of the candidates for completion. However, file names are not
1321 considered for completion after you typed a colon that delimits a file
1322 name from a name of a function in that file, as in "break foo.c:bar".
1324 `set demangle-style' completes on available demangling styles.
1326 * New platform-independent commands:
1328 It is now possible to define a post-hook for a command as well as a
1329 hook that runs before the command. For more details, see the
1330 documentation of `hookpost' in the GDB manual.
1332 * Changes in GNU/Linux native debugging.
1334 Support for debugging multi-threaded programs has been completely
1335 revised for all platforms except m68k and sparc. You can now debug as
1336 many threads as your system allows you to have.
1338 Attach/detach is supported for multi-threaded programs.
1340 Support for SSE registers was added for x86. This doesn't work for
1341 multi-threaded programs though.
1343 * Changes in MIPS configurations.
1345 Multi-arch support is enabled for all MIPS configurations.
1347 GDB can now be built as native debugger on SGI Irix 6.x systems for
1348 debugging n32 executables. (Debugging 64-bit executables is not yet
1351 * Unified support for hardware watchpoints in all x86 configurations.
1353 Most (if not all) native x86 configurations support hardware-assisted
1354 breakpoints and watchpoints in a unified manner. This support
1355 implements debug register sharing between watchpoints, which allows to
1356 put a virtually infinite number of watchpoints on the same address,
1357 and also supports watching regions up to 16 bytes with several debug
1360 The new maintenance command `maintenance show-debug-regs' toggles
1361 debugging print-outs in functions that insert, remove, and test
1362 watchpoints and hardware breakpoints.
1364 * Changes in the DJGPP native configuration.
1366 New command ``info dos sysinfo'' displays assorted information about
1367 the CPU, OS, memory, and DPMI server.
1369 New commands ``info dos gdt'', ``info dos ldt'', and ``info dos idt''
1370 display information about segment descriptors stored in GDT, LDT, and
1373 New commands ``info dos pde'' and ``info dos pte'' display entries
1374 from Page Directory and Page Tables (for now works with CWSDPMI only).
1375 New command ``info dos address-pte'' displays the Page Table entry for
1376 a given linear address.
1378 GDB can now pass command lines longer than 126 characters to the
1379 program being debugged (requires an update to the libdbg.a library
1380 which is part of the DJGPP development kit).
1382 DWARF2 debug info is now supported.
1384 It is now possible to `step' and `next' through calls to `longjmp'.
1386 * Changes in documentation.
1388 All GDB documentation was converted to GFDL, the GNU Free
1389 Documentation License.
1391 Tracepoints-related commands are now fully documented in the GDB
1394 TUI, the Text-mode User Interface, is now documented in the manual.
1396 Tracepoints-related commands are now fully documented in the GDB
1399 The "GDB Internals" manual now has an index. It also includes
1400 documentation of `ui_out' functions, GDB coding standards, x86
1401 hardware watchpoints, and memory region attributes.
1403 * GDB's version number moved to ``version.in''
1405 The Makefile variable VERSION has been replaced by the file
1406 ``version.in''. People creating GDB distributions should update the
1407 contents of this file.
1411 GUD support is now a standard part of the EMACS distribution.
1413 *** Changes in GDB 5.0:
1415 * Improved support for debugging FP programs on x86 targets
1417 Unified and much-improved support for debugging floating-point
1418 programs on all x86 targets. In particular, ``info float'' now
1419 displays the FP registers in the same format on all x86 targets, with
1420 greater level of detail.
1422 * Improvements and bugfixes in hardware-assisted watchpoints
1424 It is now possible to watch array elements, struct members, and
1425 bitfields with hardware-assisted watchpoints. Data-read watchpoints
1426 on x86 targets no longer erroneously trigger when the address is
1429 * Improvements in the native DJGPP version of GDB
1431 The distribution now includes all the scripts and auxiliary files
1432 necessary to build the native DJGPP version on MS-DOS/MS-Windows
1433 machines ``out of the box''.
1435 The DJGPP version can now debug programs that use signals. It is
1436 possible to catch signals that happened in the debuggee, deliver
1437 signals to it, interrupt it with Ctrl-C, etc. (Previously, a signal
1438 would kill the program being debugged.) Programs that hook hardware
1439 interrupts (keyboard, timer, etc.) can also be debugged.
1441 It is now possible to debug DJGPP programs that redirect their
1442 standard handles or switch them to raw (as opposed to cooked) mode, or
1443 even close them. The command ``run < foo > bar'' works as expected,
1444 and ``info terminal'' reports useful information about the debuggee's
1445 terminal, including raw/cooked mode, redirection, etc.
1447 The DJGPP version now uses termios functions for console I/O, which
1448 enables debugging graphics programs. Interrupting GDB with Ctrl-C
1451 DOS-style file names with drive letters are now fully supported by
1454 It is now possible to debug DJGPP programs that switch their working
1455 directory. It is also possible to rerun the debuggee any number of
1456 times without restarting GDB; thus, you can use the same setup,
1457 breakpoints, etc. for many debugging sessions.
1459 * New native configurations
1461 ARM GNU/Linux arm*-*-linux*
1462 PowerPC GNU/Linux powerpc-*-linux*
1466 Motorola MCore mcore-*-*
1467 x86 VxWorks i[3456]86-*-vxworks*
1468 PowerPC VxWorks powerpc-*-vxworks*
1469 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
1471 * OBSOLETE configurations
1473 Altos 3068 m68*-altos-*
1474 Convex c1-*-*, c2-*-*
1476 ARM RISCix arm-*-* (as host)
1479 Configurations that have been declared obsolete will be commented out,
1480 but the code will be left in place. If there is no activity to revive
1481 these configurations before the next release of GDB, the sources will
1482 be permanently REMOVED.
1484 * Gould support removed
1486 Support for the Gould PowerNode and NP1 has been removed.
1488 * New features for SVR4
1490 On SVR4 native platforms (such as Solaris), if you attach to a process
1491 without first loading a symbol file, GDB will now attempt to locate and
1492 load symbols from the running process's executable file.
1494 * Many C++ enhancements
1496 C++ support has been greatly improved. Overload resolution now works properly
1497 in almost all cases. RTTI support is on the way.
1499 * Remote targets can connect to a sub-program
1501 A popen(3) style serial-device has been added. This device starts a
1502 sub-process (such as a stand-alone simulator) and then communicates
1503 with that. The sub-program to run is specified using the syntax
1504 ``|<program> <args>'' vis:
1506 (gdb) set remotedebug 1
1507 (gdb) target extended-remote |mn10300-elf-sim program-args
1509 * MIPS 64 remote protocol
1511 A long standing bug in the mips64 remote protocol where by GDB
1512 expected certain 32 bit registers (ex SR) to be transfered as 32
1513 instead of 64 bits has been fixed.
1515 The command ``set remote-mips64-transfers-32bit-regs on'' has been
1516 added to provide backward compatibility with older versions of GDB.
1518 * ``set remotebinarydownload'' replaced by ``set remote X-packet''
1520 The command ``set remotebinarydownload'' command has been replaced by
1521 ``set remote X-packet''. Other commands in ``set remote'' family
1522 include ``set remote P-packet''.
1524 * Breakpoint commands accept ranges.
1526 The breakpoint commands ``enable'', ``disable'', and ``delete'' now
1527 accept a range of breakpoints, e.g. ``5-7''. The tracepoint command
1528 ``tracepoint passcount'' also accepts a range of tracepoints.
1530 * ``apropos'' command added.
1532 The ``apropos'' command searches through command names and
1533 documentation strings, printing out matches, making it much easier to
1534 try to find a command that does what you are looking for.
1538 A new machine oriented interface (MI) has been added to GDB. This
1539 interface is designed for debug environments running GDB as a separate
1540 process. This is part of the long term libGDB project. See the
1541 "GDB/MI" chapter of the GDB manual for further information. It can be
1542 enabled by configuring with:
1544 .../configure --enable-gdbmi
1546 *** Changes in GDB-4.18:
1548 * New native configurations
1550 HP-UX 10.20 hppa*-*-hpux10.20
1551 HP-UX 11.x hppa*-*-hpux11.0*
1552 M68K GNU/Linux m68*-*-linux*
1556 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
1557 Intel StrongARM strongarm-*-*
1558 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
1560 * OBSOLETE configurations
1562 Gould PowerNode, NP1 np1-*-*, pn-*-*
1564 Configurations that have been declared obsolete will be commented out,
1565 but the code will be left in place. If there is no activity to revive
1566 these configurations before the next release of GDB, the sources will
1567 be permanently REMOVED.
1571 As a compatibility experiment, GDB's source files buildsym.h and
1572 buildsym.c have been converted to pure standard C, no longer
1573 containing any K&R compatibility code. We believe that all systems in
1574 use today either come with a standard C compiler, or have a GCC port
1575 available. If this is not true, please report the affected
1576 configuration to bug-gdb@gnu.org immediately. See the README file for
1577 information about getting a standard C compiler if you don't have one
1582 GDB now uses readline 2.2.
1584 * set extension-language
1586 You can now control the mapping between filename extensions and source
1587 languages by using the `set extension-language' command. For instance,
1588 you can ask GDB to treat .c files as C++ by saying
1589 set extension-language .c c++
1590 The command `info extensions' lists all of the recognized extensions
1591 and their associated languages.
1593 * Setting processor type for PowerPC and RS/6000
1595 When GDB is configured for a powerpc*-*-* or an rs6000*-*-* target,
1596 you can use the `set processor' command to specify what variant of the
1597 PowerPC family you are debugging. The command
1601 sets the PowerPC/RS6000 variant to NAME. GDB knows about the
1602 following PowerPC and RS6000 variants:
1604 ppc-uisa PowerPC UISA - a PPC processor as viewed by user-level code
1605 rs6000 IBM RS6000 ("POWER") architecture, user-level view
1607 403GC IBM PowerPC 403GC
1608 505 Motorola PowerPC 505
1609 860 Motorola PowerPC 860 or 850
1610 601 Motorola PowerPC 601
1611 602 Motorola PowerPC 602
1612 603 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 603 or 603e
1613 604 Motorola PowerPC 604 or 604e
1614 750 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 750 or 750
1616 At the moment, this command just tells GDB what to name the
1617 special-purpose processor registers. Since almost all the affected
1618 registers are inaccessible to user-level programs, this command is
1619 only useful for remote debugging in its present form.
1623 Thanks to a major code donation from Hewlett-Packard, GDB now has much
1624 more extensive support for HP-UX. Added features include shared
1625 library support, kernel threads and hardware watchpoints for 11.00,
1626 support for HP's ANSI C and C++ compilers, and a compatibility mode
1627 for xdb and dbx commands.
1631 HP's donation includes the new concept of catchpoints, which is a
1632 generalization of the old catch command. On HP-UX, it is now possible
1633 to catch exec, fork, and vfork, as well as library loading.
1635 This means that the existing catch command has changed; its first
1636 argument now specifies the type of catch to be set up. See the
1637 output of "help catch" for a list of catchpoint types.
1639 * Debugging across forks
1641 On HP-UX, you can choose which process to debug when a fork() happens
1646 HP has donated a curses-based terminal user interface (TUI). To get
1647 it, build with --enable-tui. Although this can be enabled for any
1648 configuration, at present it only works for native HP debugging.
1650 * GDB remote protocol additions
1652 A new protocol packet 'X' that writes binary data is now available.
1653 Default behavior is to try 'X', then drop back to 'M' if the stub
1654 fails to respond. The settable variable `remotebinarydownload'
1655 allows explicit control over the use of 'X'.
1657 For 64-bit targets, the memory packets ('M' and 'm') can now contain a
1658 full 64-bit address. The command
1660 set remoteaddresssize 32
1662 can be used to revert to the old behaviour. For existing remote stubs
1663 the change should not be noticed, as the additional address information
1666 In order to assist in debugging stubs, you may use the maintenance
1667 command `packet' to send any text string to the stub. For instance,
1669 maint packet heythere
1671 sends the packet "$heythere#<checksum>". Note that it is very easy to
1672 disrupt a debugging session by sending the wrong packet at the wrong
1675 The compare-sections command allows you to compare section data on the
1676 target to what is in the executable file without uploading or
1677 downloading, by comparing CRC checksums.
1679 * Tracing can collect general expressions
1681 You may now collect general expressions at tracepoints. This requires
1682 further additions to the target-side stub; see tracepoint.c and
1683 doc/agentexpr.texi for further details.
1685 * mask-address variable for Mips
1687 For Mips targets, you may control the zeroing of the upper 32 bits of
1688 a 64-bit address by entering `set mask-address on'. This is mainly
1689 of interest to users of embedded R4xxx and R5xxx processors.
1691 * Higher serial baud rates
1693 GDB's serial code now allows you to specify baud rates 57600, 115200,
1694 230400, and 460800 baud. (Note that your host system may not be able
1695 to achieve all of these rates.)
1699 The i960 configuration now includes an initial implementation of a
1700 builtin simulator, contributed by Jim Wilson.
1703 *** Changes in GDB-4.17:
1705 * New native configurations
1707 Alpha GNU/Linux alpha*-*-linux*
1708 Unixware 2.x i[3456]86-unixware2*
1709 Irix 6.x mips*-sgi-irix6*
1710 PowerPC GNU/Linux powerpc-*-linux*
1711 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
1712 Sparc GNU/Linux sparc-*-linux*
1713 Motorola sysV68 R3V7.1 m68k-motorola-sysv
1717 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
1718 Hitachi H8/300S h8300*-*-*
1719 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
1720 Matsushita MN10300 w/simulator mn10300-*-*
1721 MIPS NEC VR4100 mips64*vr4100*{,el}-*-elf*
1722 MIPS NEC VR5000 mips64*vr5000*{,el}-*-elf*
1723 MIPS Toshiba TX39 mips64*tx39*{,el}-*-elf*
1724 Mitsubishi D10V w/simulator d10v-*-*
1725 Mitsubishi M32R/D w/simulator m32r-*-elf*
1726 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
1727 NEC V850 w/simulator v850-*-*
1729 * New debugging protocols
1731 ARM with RDI protocol arm*-*-*
1732 M68K with dBUG monitor m68*-*-{aout,coff,elf}
1733 DDB and LSI variants of PMON protocol mips*-*-*
1734 PowerPC with DINK32 monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
1735 PowerPC with SDS protocol powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
1736 Macraigor OCD (Wiggler) devices powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
1740 All configurations can now understand and use the DWARF 2 debugging
1741 format. The choice is automatic, if the symbol file contains DWARF 2
1746 GDB now includes basic Java language support. This support is
1747 only useful with Java compilers that produce native machine code.
1749 * solib-absolute-prefix and solib-search-path
1751 For SunOS and SVR4 shared libraries, you may now set the prefix for
1752 loading absolute shared library symbol files, and the search path for
1753 locating non-absolute shared library symbol files.
1755 * Live range splitting
1757 GDB can now effectively debug code for which GCC has performed live
1758 range splitting as part of its optimization. See gdb/doc/LRS for
1759 more details on the expected format of the stabs information.
1763 GDB's support for the GNU Hurd, including thread debugging, has been
1764 updated to work with current versions of the Hurd.
1768 GDB's ARM target configuration now handles the ARM7T (Thumb) 16-bit
1769 instruction set. ARM GDB automatically detects when Thumb
1770 instructions are in use, and adjusts disassembly and backtracing
1775 GDB's MIPS target configurations now handle the MIP16 16-bit
1780 GDB now includes support for overlays; if an executable has been
1781 linked such that multiple sections are based at the same address, GDB
1782 will decide which section to use for symbolic info. You can choose to
1783 control the decision manually, using overlay commands, or implement
1784 additional target-side support and use "overlay load-target" to bring
1785 in the overlay mapping. Do "help overlay" for more detail.
1789 The command "info symbol <address>" displays information about
1790 the symbol at the specified address.
1794 The standard remote protocol now includes an extension that allows
1795 asynchronous collection and display of trace data. This requires
1796 extensive support in the target-side debugging stub. Tracing mode
1797 includes a new interaction mode in GDB and new commands: see the
1798 file tracepoint.c for more details.
1802 Configurations for embedded MIPS now include a simulator contributed
1803 by Cygnus Solutions. The simulator supports the instruction sets
1804 of most MIPS variants.
1808 Sparc configurations may now include the ERC32 simulator contributed
1809 by the European Space Agency. The simulator is not built into
1810 Sparc targets by default; configure with --enable-sim to include it.
1814 For target configurations that may include multiple variants of a
1815 basic architecture (such as MIPS and SH), you may now set the
1816 architecture explicitly. "set arch" sets, "info arch" lists
1817 the possible architectures.
1819 *** Changes in GDB-4.16:
1821 * New native configurations
1823 Windows 95, x86 Windows NT i[345]86-*-cygwin32
1824 M68K NetBSD m68k-*-netbsd*
1825 PowerPC AIX 4.x powerpc-*-aix*
1826 PowerPC MacOS powerpc-*-macos*
1827 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
1828 RS/6000 AIX 4.x rs6000-*-aix4*
1832 ARM with RDP protocol arm-*-*
1833 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
1834 MIPS VxWorks mips*-*-vxworks*
1835 MIPS VR4300 with PMON mips64*vr4300{,el}-*-elf*
1836 PowerPC with PPCBUG monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi*
1838 Matra Sparclet sparclet-*-*
1842 The powerpc-eabi configuration now includes the PSIM simulator,
1843 contributed by Andrew Cagney, with assistance from Mike Meissner.
1844 PSIM is a very elaborate model of the PowerPC, including not only
1845 basic instruction set execution, but also details of execution unit
1846 performance and I/O hardware. See sim/ppc/README for more details.
1850 GDB now works with Solaris 2.5.
1852 * Windows 95/NT native
1854 GDB will now work as a native debugger on Windows 95 and Windows NT.
1855 To build it from source, you must use the "gnu-win32" environment,
1856 which uses a DLL to emulate enough of Unix to run the GNU tools.
1857 Further information, binaries, and sources are available at
1858 ftp.cygnus.com, under pub/gnu-win32.
1860 * dont-repeat command
1862 If a user-defined command includes the command `dont-repeat', then the
1863 command will not be repeated if the user just types return. This is
1864 useful if the command is time-consuming to run, so that accidental
1865 extra keystrokes don't run the same command many times.
1867 * Send break instead of ^C
1869 The standard remote protocol now includes an option to send a break
1870 rather than a ^C to the target in order to interrupt it. By default,
1871 GDB will send ^C; to send a break, set the variable `remotebreak' to 1.
1873 * Remote protocol timeout
1875 The standard remote protocol includes a new variable `remotetimeout'
1876 that allows you to set the number of seconds before GDB gives up trying
1877 to read from the target. The default value is 2.
1879 * Automatic tracking of dynamic object loading (HPUX and Solaris only)
1881 By default GDB will automatically keep track of objects as they are
1882 loaded and unloaded by the dynamic linker. By using the command `set
1883 stop-on-solib-events 1' you can arrange for GDB to stop the inferior
1884 when shared library events occur, thus allowing you to set breakpoints
1885 in shared libraries which are explicitly loaded by the inferior.
1887 Note this feature does not work on hpux8. On hpux9 you must link
1888 /usr/lib/end.o into your program. This feature should work
1889 automatically on hpux10.
1891 * Irix 5.x hardware watchpoint support
1893 Irix 5 configurations now support the use of hardware watchpoints.
1895 * Mips protocol "SYN garbage limit"
1897 When debugging a Mips target using the `target mips' protocol, you
1898 may set the number of characters that GDB will ignore by setting
1899 the `syn-garbage-limit'. A value of -1 means that GDB will ignore
1900 every character. The default value is 1050.
1902 * Recording and replaying remote debug sessions
1904 If you set `remotelogfile' to the name of a file, gdb will write to it
1905 a recording of a remote debug session. This recording may then be
1906 replayed back to gdb using "gdbreplay". See gdbserver/README for
1907 details. This is useful when you have a problem with GDB while doing
1908 remote debugging; you can make a recording of the session and send it
1909 to someone else, who can then recreate the problem.
1911 * Speedups for remote debugging
1913 GDB includes speedups for downloading and stepping MIPS systems using
1914 the IDT monitor, fast downloads to the Hitachi SH E7000 emulator,
1915 and more efficient S-record downloading.
1917 * Memory use reductions and statistics collection
1919 GDB now uses less memory and reports statistics about memory usage.
1920 Try the `maint print statistics' command, for example.
1922 *** Changes in GDB-4.15:
1924 * Psymtabs for XCOFF
1926 The symbol reader for AIX GDB now uses partial symbol tables. This
1927 can greatly improve startup time, especially for large executables.
1929 * Remote targets use caching
1931 Remote targets now use a data cache to speed up communication with the
1932 remote side. The data cache could lead to incorrect results because
1933 it doesn't know about volatile variables, thus making it impossible to
1934 debug targets which use memory mapped I/O devices. `set remotecache
1935 off' turns the the data cache off.
1937 * Remote targets may have threads
1939 The standard remote protocol now includes support for multiple threads
1940 in the target system, using new protocol commands 'H' and 'T'. See
1941 gdb/remote.c for details.
1945 If GDB is configured with `--enable-netrom', then it will include
1946 support for the NetROM ROM emulator from XLNT Designs. The NetROM
1947 acts as though it is a bank of ROM on the target board, but you can
1948 write into it over the network. GDB's support consists only of
1949 support for fast loading into the emulated ROM; to debug, you must use
1950 another protocol, such as standard remote protocol. The usual
1951 sequence is something like
1953 target nrom <netrom-hostname>
1955 target remote <netrom-hostname>:1235
1959 GDB now includes support for the Apple Macintosh, as a host only. It
1960 may be run as either an MPW tool or as a standalone application, and
1961 it can debug through the serial port. All the usual GDB commands are
1962 available, but to the target command, you must supply "serial" as the
1963 device type instead of "/dev/ttyXX". See mpw-README in the main
1964 directory for more information on how to build. The MPW configuration
1965 scripts */mpw-config.in support only a few targets, and only the
1966 mips-idt-ecoff target has been tested.
1970 GDB configuration now uses autoconf. This is not user-visible,
1971 but does simplify configuration and building.
1975 GDB now supports hpux10.
1977 *** Changes in GDB-4.14:
1979 * New native configurations
1981 x86 FreeBSD i[345]86-*-freebsd
1982 x86 NetBSD i[345]86-*-netbsd
1983 NS32k NetBSD ns32k-*-netbsd
1984 Sparc NetBSD sparc-*-netbsd
1988 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
1989 HP PA PRO embedded (WinBond W89K & Oki OP50N) hppa*-*-pro*
1990 CPU32 EST-300 emulator m68*-*-est*
1991 PowerPC ELF powerpc-*-elf
1994 * Alpha OSF/1 support for procfs
1996 GDB now supports procfs under OSF/1-2.x and higher, which makes it
1997 possible to attach to running processes. As the mounting of the /proc
1998 filesystem is optional on the Alpha, GDB automatically determines
1999 the availability of /proc during startup. This can lead to problems
2000 if /proc is unmounted after GDB has been started.
2002 * Arguments to user-defined commands
2004 User commands may accept up to 10 arguments separated by whitespace.
2005 Arguments are accessed within the user command via $arg0..$arg9. A
2008 print $arg0 + $arg1 + $arg2
2010 To execute the command use:
2013 Defines the command "adder" which prints the sum of its three arguments.
2014 Note the arguments are text substitutions, so they may reference variables,
2015 use complex expressions, or even perform inferior function calls.
2017 * New `if' and `while' commands
2019 This makes it possible to write more sophisticated user-defined
2020 commands. Both commands take a single argument, which is the
2021 expression to evaluate, and must be followed by the commands to
2022 execute, one per line, if the expression is nonzero, the list being
2023 terminated by the word `end'. The `if' command list may include an
2024 `else' word, which causes the following commands to be executed only
2025 if the expression is zero.
2027 * Fortran source language mode
2029 GDB now includes partial support for Fortran 77. It will recognize
2030 Fortran programs and can evaluate a subset of Fortran expressions, but
2031 variables and functions may not be handled correctly. GDB will work
2032 with G77, but does not yet know much about symbols emitted by other
2035 * Better HPUX support
2037 Most debugging facilities now work on dynamic executables for HPPAs
2038 running hpux9 or later. You can attach to running dynamically linked
2039 processes, but by default the dynamic libraries will be read-only, so
2040 for instance you won't be able to put breakpoints in them. To change
2041 that behavior do the following before running the program:
2047 This will cause the libraries to be mapped private and read-write.
2048 To revert to the normal behavior, do this:
2054 You cannot set breakpoints or examine data in the library until after
2055 the library is loaded if the function/data symbols do not have
2058 GDB can now also read debug symbols produced by the HP C compiler on
2059 HPPAs (sorry, no C++, Fortran or 68k support).
2061 * Target byte order now dynamically selectable
2063 You can choose which byte order to use with a target system, via the
2064 commands "set endian big" and "set endian little", and you can see the
2065 current setting by using "show endian". You can also give the command
2066 "set endian auto", in which case GDB will use the byte order
2067 associated with the executable. Currently, only embedded MIPS
2068 configurations support dynamic selection of target byte order.
2070 * New DOS host serial code
2072 This version uses DPMI interrupts to handle buffered I/O, so you
2073 no longer need to run asynctsr when debugging boards connected to
2076 *** Changes in GDB-4.13:
2078 * New "complete" command
2080 This lists all the possible completions for the rest of the line, if it
2081 were to be given as a command itself. This is intended for use by emacs.
2083 * Trailing space optional in prompt
2085 "set prompt" no longer adds a space for you after the prompt you set. This
2086 allows you to set a prompt which ends in a space or one that does not.
2088 * Breakpoint hit counts
2090 "info break" now displays a count of the number of times the breakpoint
2091 has been hit. This is especially useful in conjunction with "ignore"; you
2092 can ignore a large number of breakpoint hits, look at the breakpoint info
2093 to see how many times the breakpoint was hit, then run again, ignoring one
2094 less than that number, and this will get you quickly to the last hit of
2097 * Ability to stop printing at NULL character
2099 "set print null-stop" will cause GDB to stop printing the characters of
2100 an array when the first NULL is encountered. This is useful when large
2101 arrays actually contain only short strings.
2103 * Shared library breakpoints
2105 In SunOS 4.x, SVR4, and Alpha OSF/1 configurations, you can now set
2106 breakpoints in shared libraries before the executable is run.
2108 * Hardware watchpoints
2110 There is a new hardware breakpoint for the watch command for sparclite
2111 targets. See gdb/sparclite/hw_breakpoint.note.
2113 Hardware watchpoints are also now supported under GNU/Linux.
2117 Annotations have been added. These are for use with graphical interfaces,
2118 and are still experimental. Currently only gdba.el uses these.
2120 * Improved Irix 5 support
2122 GDB now works properly with Irix 5.2.
2124 * Improved HPPA support
2126 GDB now works properly with the latest GCC and GAS.
2128 * New native configurations
2130 Sequent PTX4 i[34]86-sequent-ptx4
2131 HPPA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
2132 Atari TT running SVR4 m68*-*-sysv4*
2133 RS/6000 LynxOS rs6000-*-lynxos*
2137 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
2138 MIPS R4000 mips64*{,el}-*-{ecoff,elf}
2141 * Hitachi SH7000 and E7000-PC ICE support
2143 There is now support for communicating with the Hitachi E7000-PC ICE.
2144 This is available automatically when GDB is configured for the SH.
2148 As usual, a variety of small fixes and improvements, both generic
2149 and configuration-specific. See the ChangeLog for more detail.
2151 *** Changes in GDB-4.12:
2153 * Irix 5 is now supported
2157 GDB-4.12 on the HPPA has a number of changes which make it unable
2158 to debug the output from the currently released versions of GCC and
2159 GAS (GCC 2.5.8 and GAS-2.2 or PAGAS-1.36). Until the next major release
2160 of GCC and GAS, versions of these tools designed to work with GDB-4.12
2161 can be retrieved via anonymous ftp from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist.
2164 *** Changes in GDB-4.11:
2166 * User visible changes:
2170 The "set remotedebug" option is now consistent between the mips remote
2171 target, remote targets using the gdb-specific protocol, UDI (AMD's
2172 debug protocol for the 29k) and the 88k bug monitor. It is now an
2173 integer specifying a debug level (normally 0 or 1, but 2 means more
2174 debugging info for the mips target).
2176 * DEC Alpha native support
2178 GDB now works on the DEC Alpha. GCC 2.4.5 does not produce usable
2179 debug info, but GDB works fairly well with the DEC compiler and should
2180 work with a future GCC release. See the README file for a few
2181 Alpha-specific notes.
2183 * Preliminary thread implementation
2185 GDB now has preliminary thread support for both SGI/Irix and LynxOS.
2187 * LynxOS native and target support for 386
2189 This release has been hosted on LynxOS 2.2, and also can be configured
2190 to remotely debug programs running under LynxOS (see gdb/gdbserver/README
2193 * Improvements in C++ mangling/demangling.
2195 This release has much better g++ debugging, specifically in name
2196 mangling/demangling, virtual function calls, print virtual table,
2197 call methods, ...etc.
2199 *** Changes in GDB-4.10:
2201 * User visible changes:
2203 Remote debugging using the GDB-specific (`target remote') protocol now
2204 supports the `load' command. This is only useful if you have some
2205 other way of getting the stub to the target system, and you can put it
2206 somewhere in memory where it won't get clobbered by the download.
2208 Filename completion now works.
2210 When run under emacs mode, the "info line" command now causes the
2211 arrow to point to the line specified. Also, "info line" prints
2212 addresses in symbolic form (as well as hex).
2214 All vxworks based targets now support a user settable option, called
2215 vxworks-timeout. This option represents the number of seconds gdb
2216 should wait for responses to rpc's. You might want to use this if
2217 your vxworks target is, perhaps, a slow software simulator or happens
2218 to be on the far side of a thin network line.
2222 This release contains support for using a DEC alpha as a GDB host for
2223 cross debugging. Native alpha debugging is not supported yet.
2226 *** Changes in GDB-4.9:
2230 This is the first GDB release which is accompanied by a matching testsuite.
2231 The testsuite requires installation of dejagnu, which should be available
2232 via ftp from most sites that carry GNU software.
2236 'Cfront' style demangling has had its name changed to 'ARM' style, to
2237 emphasize that it was written from the specifications in the C++ Annotated
2238 Reference Manual, not necessarily to be compatible with AT&T cfront. Despite
2239 disclaimers, it still generated too much confusion with users attempting to
2240 use gdb with AT&T cfront.
2244 GDB now uses a standard remote interface to a simulator library.
2245 So far, the library contains simulators for the Zilog Z8001/2, the
2246 Hitachi H8/300, H8/500 and Super-H.
2248 * New targets supported
2250 H8/300 simulator h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
2251 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
2252 SH simulator sh-hitachi-hms or sh
2253 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
2254 IDT MIPS board over serial line mips-idt-ecoff
2256 Cross-debugging to GO32 targets is supported. It requires a custom
2257 version of the i386-stub.c module which is integrated with the
2258 GO32 memory extender.
2260 * New remote protocols
2262 MIPS remote debugging protocol.
2264 * New source languages supported
2266 This version includes preliminary support for Chill, a Pascal like language
2267 used by telecommunications companies. Chill support is also being integrated
2268 into the GNU compiler, but we don't know when it will be publically available.
2271 *** Changes in GDB-4.8:
2273 * HP Precision Architecture supported
2275 GDB now supports HP PA-RISC machines running HPUX. A preliminary
2276 version of this support was available as a set of patches from the
2277 University of Utah. GDB does not support debugging of programs
2278 compiled with the HP compiler, because HP will not document their file
2279 format. Instead, you must use GCC (version 2.3.2 or later) and PA-GAS
2280 (as available from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist/pa-gas.u4.tar.Z).
2282 Many problems in the preliminary version have been fixed.
2284 * Faster and better demangling
2286 We have improved template demangling and fixed numerous bugs in the GNU style
2287 demangler. It can now handle type modifiers such as `static' or `const'. Wide
2288 character types (wchar_t) are now supported. Demangling of each symbol is now
2289 only done once, and is cached when the symbol table for a file is read in.
2290 This results in a small increase in memory usage for C programs, a moderate
2291 increase in memory usage for C++ programs, and a fantastic speedup in
2294 `Cfront' style demangling still doesn't work with AT&T cfront. It was written
2295 from the specifications in the Annotated Reference Manual, which AT&T's
2296 compiler does not actually implement.
2298 * G++ multiple inheritance compiler problem
2300 In the 2.3.2 release of gcc/g++, how the compiler resolves multiple
2301 inheritance lattices was reworked to properly discover ambiguities. We
2302 recently found an example which causes this new algorithm to fail in a
2303 very subtle way, producing bad debug information for those classes.
2304 The file 'gcc.patch' (in this directory) can be applied to gcc to
2305 circumvent the problem. A future GCC release will contain a complete
2308 The previous G++ debug info problem (mentioned below for the gdb-4.7
2309 release) is fixed in gcc version 2.3.2.
2311 * Improved configure script
2313 The `configure' script will now attempt to guess your system type if
2314 you don't supply a host system type. The old scheme of supplying a
2315 host system triplet is preferable over using this. All the magic is
2316 done in the new `config.guess' script. Examine it for details.
2318 We have also brought our configure script much more in line with the FSF's
2319 version. It now supports the --with-xxx options. In particular,
2320 `--with-minimal-bfd' can be used to make the GDB binary image smaller.
2321 The resulting GDB will not be able to read arbitrary object file formats --
2322 only the format ``expected'' to be used on the configured target system.
2323 We hope to make this the default in a future release.
2325 * Documentation improvements
2327 There's new internal documentation on how to modify GDB, and how to
2328 produce clean changes to the code. We implore people to read it
2329 before submitting changes.
2331 The GDB manual uses new, sexy Texinfo conditionals, rather than arcane
2332 M4 macros. The new texinfo.tex is provided in this release. Pre-built
2333 `info' files are also provided. To build `info' files from scratch,
2334 you will need the latest `makeinfo' release, which will be available in
2335 a future texinfo-X.Y release.
2337 *NOTE* The new texinfo.tex can cause old versions of TeX to hang.
2338 We're not sure exactly which versions have this problem, but it has
2339 been seen in 3.0. We highly recommend upgrading to TeX version 3.141
2340 or better. If that isn't possible, there is a patch in
2341 `texinfo/tex3patch' that will modify `texinfo/texinfo.tex' to work
2342 around this problem.
2346 GDB now supports array constants that can be used in expressions typed in by
2347 the user. The syntax is `{element, element, ...}'. Ie: you can now type
2348 `print {1, 2, 3}', and it will build up an array in memory malloc'd in
2351 The new directory `gdb/sparclite' contains a program that demonstrates
2352 how the sparc-stub.c remote stub runs on a Fujitsu SPARClite processor.
2354 * New native hosts supported
2356 HP/PA-RISC under HPUX using GNU tools hppa1.1-hp-hpux
2357 386 CPUs running SCO Unix 3.2v4 i386-unknown-sco3.2v4
2359 * New targets supported
2361 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi or udi29k
2363 * New file formats supported
2365 BFD now supports reading HP/PA-RISC executables (SOM file format?),
2366 HPUX core files, and SCO 3.2v2 core files.
2370 Attaching to processes now works again; thanks for the many bug reports.
2372 We have also stomped on a bunch of core dumps caused by
2373 printf_filtered("%s") problems.
2375 We eliminated a copyright problem on the rpc and ptrace header files
2376 for VxWorks, which was discovered at the last minute during the 4.7
2377 release. You should now be able to build a VxWorks GDB.
2379 You can now interrupt gdb while an attached process is running. This
2380 will cause the attached process to stop, and give control back to GDB.
2382 We fixed problems caused by using too many file descriptors
2383 for reading symbols from object files and libraries. This was
2384 especially a problem for programs that used many (~100) shared
2387 The `step' command now only enters a subroutine if there is line number
2388 information for the subroutine. Otherwise it acts like the `next'
2389 command. Previously, `step' would enter subroutines if there was
2390 any debugging information about the routine. This avoids problems
2391 when using `cc -g1' on MIPS machines.
2393 * Internal improvements
2395 GDB's internal interfaces have been improved to make it easier to support
2396 debugging of multiple languages in the future.
2398 GDB now uses a common structure for symbol information internally.
2399 Minimal symbols (derived from linkage symbols in object files), partial
2400 symbols (from a quick scan of debug information), and full symbols
2401 contain a common subset of information, making it easier to write
2402 shared code that handles any of them.
2404 * New command line options
2406 We now accept --silent as an alias for --quiet.
2410 The memory-mapped-malloc library is now licensed under the GNU Library
2411 General Public License.
2413 *** Changes in GDB-4.7:
2415 * Host/native/target split
2417 GDB has had some major internal surgery to untangle the support for
2418 hosts and remote targets. Now, when you configure GDB for a remote
2419 target, it will no longer load in all of the support for debugging
2420 local programs on the host. When fully completed and tested, this will
2421 ensure that arbitrary host/target combinations are possible.
2423 The primary conceptual shift is to separate the non-portable code in
2424 GDB into three categories. Host specific code is required any time GDB
2425 is compiled on that host, regardless of the target. Target specific
2426 code relates to the peculiarities of the target, but can be compiled on
2427 any host. Native specific code is everything else: it can only be
2428 built when the host and target are the same system. Child process
2429 handling and core file support are two common `native' examples.
2431 GDB's use of /proc for controlling Unix child processes is now cleaner.
2432 It has been split out into a single module under the `target_ops' vector,
2433 plus two native-dependent functions for each system that uses /proc.
2435 * New hosts supported
2437 HP/Apollo 68k (under the BSD domain) m68k-apollo-bsd or apollo68bsd
2438 386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
2439 386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or i386sco
2441 * New targets supported
2443 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
2444 68030 and CPU32 m68030-*-*, m68332-*-*
2446 * New native hosts supported
2448 386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
2449 (386bsd is not well tested yet)
2450 386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or sco
2452 * New file formats supported
2454 BFD now supports COFF files for the Zilog Z8000 microprocessor. It
2455 supports reading of `a.out.adobe' object files, which are an a.out
2456 format extended with minimal information about multiple sections.
2460 `show copying' is the same as the old `info copying'.
2461 `show warranty' is the same as `info warrantee'.
2462 These were renamed for consistency. The old commands continue to work.
2464 `info handle' is a new alias for `info signals'.
2466 You can now define pre-command hooks, which attach arbitrary command
2467 scripts to any command. The commands in the hook will be executed
2468 prior to the user's command. You can also create a hook which will be
2469 executed whenever the program stops. See gdb.texinfo.
2473 We now deal with Cfront style name mangling, and can even extract type
2474 info from mangled symbols. GDB can automatically figure out which
2475 symbol mangling style your C++ compiler uses.
2477 Calling of methods and virtual functions has been improved as well.
2481 The crash that occured when debugging Sun Ansi-C compiled binaries is
2482 fixed. This was due to mishandling of the extra N_SO stabs output
2485 We also finally got Ultrix 4.2 running in house, and fixed core file
2486 support, with help from a dozen people on the net.
2488 John M. Farrell discovered that the reason that single-stepping was so
2489 slow on all of the Mips based platforms (primarily SGI and DEC) was
2490 that we were trying to demangle and lookup a symbol used for internal
2491 purposes on every instruction that was being stepped through. Changing
2492 the name of that symbol so that it couldn't be mistaken for a C++
2493 mangled symbol sped things up a great deal.
2495 Rich Pixley sped up symbol lookups in general by getting much smarter
2496 about when C++ symbol mangling is necessary. This should make symbol
2497 completion (TAB on the command line) much faster. It's not as fast as
2498 we'd like, but it's significantly faster than gdb-4.6.
2502 A new user controllable variable 'call_scratch_address' can
2503 specify the location of a scratch area to be used when GDB
2504 calls a function in the target. This is necessary because the
2505 usual method of putting the scratch area on the stack does not work
2506 in systems that have separate instruction and data spaces.
2508 We integrated changes to support the 29k UDI (Universal Debugger
2509 Interface), but discovered at the last minute that we didn't have all
2510 of the appropriate copyright paperwork. We are working with AMD to
2511 resolve this, and hope to have it available soon.
2515 We have sped up the remote serial line protocol, especially for targets
2516 with lots of registers. It now supports a new `expedited status' ('T')
2517 message which can be used in place of the existing 'S' status message.
2518 This allows the remote stub to send only the registers that GDB
2519 needs to make a quick decision about single-stepping or conditional
2520 breakpoints, eliminating the need to fetch the entire register set for
2521 each instruction being stepped through.
2523 The GDB remote serial protocol now implements a write-through cache for
2524 registers, only re-reading the registers if the target has run.
2526 There is also a new remote serial stub for SPARC processors. You can
2527 find it in gdb-4.7/gdb/sparc-stub.c. This was written to support the
2528 Fujitsu SPARClite processor, but will run on any stand-alone SPARC
2529 processor with a serial port.
2533 Configure.in files have become much easier to read and modify. A new
2534 `table driven' format makes it more obvious what configurations are
2535 supported, and what files each one uses.
2539 There is a new opcodes library which will eventually contain all of the
2540 disassembly routines and opcode tables. At present, it only contains
2541 Sparc and Z8000 routines. This will allow the assembler, debugger, and
2542 disassembler (binutils/objdump) to share these routines.
2544 The libiberty library is now copylefted under the GNU Library General
2545 Public License. This allows more liberal use, and was done so libg++
2546 can use it. This makes no difference to GDB, since the Library License
2547 grants all the rights from the General Public License.
2551 The file gdb-4.7/gdb/doc/stabs.texinfo is a (relatively) complete
2552 reference to the stabs symbol info used by the debugger. It is (as far
2553 as we know) the only published document on this fascinating topic. We
2554 encourage you to read it, compare it to the stabs information on your
2555 system, and send improvements on the document in general (to
2556 bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu).
2558 And, of course, many bugs have been fixed.
2561 *** Changes in GDB-4.6:
2563 * Better support for C++ function names
2565 GDB now accepts as input the "demangled form" of C++ overloaded function
2566 names and member function names, and can do command completion on such names
2567 (using TAB, TAB-TAB, and ESC-?). The names have to be quoted with a pair of
2568 single quotes. Examples are 'func (int, long)' and 'obj::operator==(obj&)'.
2569 Make use of command completion, it is your friend.
2571 GDB also now accepts a variety of C++ mangled symbol formats. They are
2572 the GNU g++ style, the Cfront (ARM) style, and the Lucid (lcc) style.
2573 You can tell GDB which format to use by doing a 'set demangle-style {gnu,
2574 lucid, cfront, auto}'. 'gnu' is the default. Do a 'set demangle-style foo'
2575 for the list of formats.
2577 * G++ symbol mangling problem
2579 Recent versions of gcc have a bug in how they emit debugging information for
2580 C++ methods (when using dbx-style stabs). The file 'gcc.patch' (in this
2581 directory) can be applied to gcc to fix the problem. Alternatively, if you
2582 can't fix gcc, you can #define GCC_MANGLE_BUG when compling gdb/symtab.c. The
2583 usual symptom is difficulty with setting breakpoints on methods. GDB complains
2584 about the method being non-existent. (We believe that version 2.2.2 of GCC has
2587 * New 'maintenance' command
2589 All of the commands related to hacking GDB internals have been moved out of
2590 the main command set, and now live behind the 'maintenance' command. This
2591 can also be abbreviated as 'mt'. The following changes were made:
2593 dump-me -> maintenance dump-me
2594 info all-breakpoints -> maintenance info breakpoints
2595 printmsyms -> maintenance print msyms
2596 printobjfiles -> maintenance print objfiles
2597 printpsyms -> maintenance print psymbols
2598 printsyms -> maintenance print symbols
2600 The following commands are new:
2602 maintenance demangle Call internal GDB demangler routine to
2603 demangle a C++ link name and prints the result.
2604 maintenance print type Print a type chain for a given symbol
2606 * Change to .gdbinit file processing
2608 We now read the $HOME/.gdbinit file before processing the argv arguments
2609 (e.g. reading symbol files or core files). This allows global parameters to
2610 be set, which will apply during the symbol reading. The ./.gdbinit is still
2611 read after argv processing.
2613 * New hosts supported
2615 Solaris-2.0 !!! sparc-sun-solaris2 or sun4sol2
2617 GNU/Linux support i386-unknown-linux or linux
2619 We are also including code to support the HP/PA running BSD and HPUX. This
2620 is almost guaranteed not to work, as we didn't have time to test or build it
2621 for this release. We are including it so that the more adventurous (or
2622 masochistic) of you can play with it. We also had major problems with the
2623 fact that the compiler that we got from HP doesn't support the -g option.
2626 * New targets supported
2628 Hitachi H8/300 h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
2630 * More smarts about finding #include files
2632 GDB now remembers the compilation directory for all include files, and for
2633 all files from which C is generated (like yacc and lex sources). This
2634 greatly improves GDB's ability to find yacc/lex sources, and include files,
2635 especially if you are debugging your program from a directory different from
2636 the one that contains your sources.
2638 We also fixed a bug which caused difficulty with listing and setting
2639 breakpoints in include files which contain C code. (In the past, you had to
2640 try twice in order to list an include file that you hadn't looked at before.)
2642 * Interesting infernals change
2644 GDB now deals with arbitrary numbers of sections, where the symbols for each
2645 section must be relocated relative to that section's landing place in the
2646 target's address space. This work was needed to support ELF with embedded
2647 stabs used by Solaris-2.0.
2649 * Bug fixes (of course!)
2651 There have been loads of fixes for the following things:
2652 mips, rs6000, 29k/udi, m68k, g++, type handling, elf/dwarf, m88k,
2653 i960, stabs, DOS(GO32), procfs, etc...
2655 See the ChangeLog for details.
2657 *** Changes in GDB-4.5:
2659 * New machines supported (host and target)
2661 IBM RS6000 running AIX rs6000-ibm-aix or rs6000
2663 SGI Irix-4.x mips-sgi-irix4 or iris4
2665 * New malloc package
2667 GDB now uses a new memory manager called mmalloc, based on gmalloc.
2668 Mmalloc is capable of handling mutiple heaps of memory. It is also
2669 capable of saving a heap to a file, and then mapping it back in later.
2670 This can be used to greatly speedup the startup of GDB by using a
2671 pre-parsed symbol table which lives in a mmalloc managed heap. For
2672 more details, please read mmalloc/mmalloc.texi.
2676 The 'info proc' command (SVR4 only) has been enhanced quite a bit. See
2677 'help info proc' for details.
2679 * MIPS ecoff symbol table format
2681 The code that reads MIPS symbol table format is now supported on all hosts.
2682 Thanks to MIPS for releasing the sym.h and symconst.h files to make this
2685 * File name changes for MS-DOS
2687 Many files in the config directories have been renamed to make it easier to
2688 support GDB on MS-DOSe systems (which have very restrictive file name
2689 conventions :-( ). MS-DOSe host support (under DJ Delorie's GO32
2690 environment) is close to working but has some remaining problems. Note
2691 that debugging of DOS programs is not supported, due to limitations
2692 in the ``operating system'', but it can be used to host cross-debugging.
2694 * Cross byte order fixes
2696 Many fixes have been made to support cross debugging of Sparc and MIPS
2697 targets from hosts whose byte order differs.
2699 * New -mapped and -readnow options
2701 If memory-mapped files are available on your system through the 'mmap'
2702 system call, you can use the -mapped option on the `file' or
2703 `symbol-file' commands to cause GDB to write the symbols from your
2704 program into a reusable file. If the program you are debugging is
2705 called `/path/fred', the mapped symbol file will be `./fred.syms'.
2706 Future GDB debugging sessions will notice the presence of this file,
2707 and will quickly map in symbol information from it, rather than reading
2708 the symbol table from the executable program. Using the '-mapped'
2709 option in a GDB `file' or `symbol-file' command has the same effect as
2710 starting GDB with the '-mapped' command-line option.
2712 You can cause GDB to read the entire symbol table immediately by using
2713 the '-readnow' option with any of the commands that load symbol table
2714 information (or on the GDB command line). This makes the command
2715 slower, but makes future operations faster.
2717 The -mapped and -readnow options are typically combined in order to
2718 build a `fred.syms' file that contains complete symbol information.
2719 A simple GDB invocation to do nothing but build a `.syms' file for future
2722 gdb -batch -nx -mapped -readnow programname
2724 The `.syms' file is specific to the host machine on which GDB is run.
2725 It holds an exact image of GDB's internal symbol table. It cannot be
2726 shared across multiple host platforms.
2728 * longjmp() handling
2730 GDB is now capable of stepping and nexting over longjmp(), _longjmp(), and
2731 siglongjmp() without losing control. This feature has not yet been ported to
2732 all systems. It currently works on many 386 platforms, all MIPS-based
2733 platforms (SGI, DECstation, etc), and Sun3/4.
2737 Preliminary work has been put in to support the new Solaris OS from Sun. At
2738 this time, it can control and debug processes, but it is not capable of
2743 As always, many many bug fixes. The major areas were with g++, and mipsread.
2744 People using the MIPS-based platforms should experience fewer mysterious
2745 crashes and trashed symbol tables.
2747 *** Changes in GDB-4.4:
2749 * New machines supported (host and target)
2751 SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
2753 BSD Reno on Vax vax-dec-bsd
2754 Ultrix on Vax vax-dec-ultrix
2756 * New machines supported (target)
2758 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
2762 GDB continues to improve its handling of C++. `References' work better.
2763 The demangler has also been improved, and now deals with symbols mangled as
2764 per the Annotated C++ Reference Guide.
2766 GDB also now handles `stabs' symbol information embedded in MIPS
2767 `ecoff' symbol tables. Since the ecoff format was not easily
2768 extensible to handle new languages such as C++, this appeared to be a
2769 good way to put C++ debugging info into MIPS binaries. This option
2770 will be supported in the GNU C compiler, version 2, when it is
2773 * New features for SVR4
2775 GDB now handles SVR4 shared libraries, in the same fashion as SunOS
2776 shared libraries. Debugging dynamically linked programs should present
2777 only minor differences from debugging statically linked programs.
2779 The `info proc' command will print out information about any process
2780 on an SVR4 system (including the one you are debugging). At the moment,
2781 it prints the address mappings of the process.
2783 If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please send mail to
2784 bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were reqired (if any).
2786 * Better dynamic linking support in SunOS
2788 Reading symbols from shared libraries which contain debugging symbols
2789 now works properly. However, there remain issues such as automatic
2790 skipping of `transfer vector' code during function calls, which
2791 make it harder to debug code in a shared library, than to debug the
2792 same code linked statically.
2796 GDB is now using the latest `getopt' routines from the FSF. This
2797 version accepts the -- prefix for options with long names. GDB will
2798 continue to accept the old forms (-option and +option) as well.
2799 Various single letter abbreviations for options have been explicity
2800 added to the option table so that they won't get overshadowed in the
2801 future by other options that begin with the same letter.
2805 The `cleanup_undefined_types' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
2806 Many assorted bugs have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
2807 See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
2810 *** Changes in GDB-4.3:
2812 * New machines supported (host and target)
2814 Amiga 3000 running Amix m68k-cbm-svr4 or amix
2815 NCR 3000 386 running SVR4 i386-ncr-svr4 or ncr3000
2816 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
2818 * Almost SCO Unix support
2820 We had hoped to support:
2821 SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
2822 (except for core file support), but we discovered very late in the release
2823 that it has problems with process groups that render gdb unusable. Sorry
2824 about that. I encourage people to fix it and post the fixes.
2826 * Preliminary ELF and DWARF support
2828 GDB can read ELF object files on System V Release 4, and can handle
2829 debugging records for C, in DWARF format, in ELF files. This support
2830 is preliminary. If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please
2831 send mail to bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were
2836 GDB now uses the latest `readline' library. One user-visible change
2837 is that two tabs will list possible command completions, which previously
2838 required typing M-? (meta-question mark, or ESC ?).
2842 The `stepi' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
2843 Many bugs in C++ have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
2844 See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
2846 * State of the MIPS world (in case you wondered):
2848 GDB can understand the symbol tables emitted by the compilers
2849 supplied by most vendors of MIPS-based machines, including DEC. These
2850 symbol tables are in a format that essentially nobody else uses.
2852 Some versions of gcc come with an assembler post-processor called
2853 mips-tfile. This program is required if you want to do source-level
2854 debugging of gcc-compiled programs. I believe FSF does not ship
2855 mips-tfile with gcc version 1, but it will eventually come with gcc
2858 Debugging of g++ output remains a problem. g++ version 1.xx does not
2859 really support it at all. (If you're lucky, you should be able to get
2860 line numbers and stack traces to work, but no parameters or local
2861 variables.) With some work it should be possible to improve the
2864 When gcc version 2 is released, you will have somewhat better luck.
2865 However, even then you will get confusing results for inheritance and
2868 We will eventually provide full debugging of g++ output on
2869 DECstations. This will probably involve some kind of stabs-in-ecoff
2870 encapulation, but the details have not been worked out yet.
2873 *** Changes in GDB-4.2:
2875 * Improved configuration
2877 Only one copy of `configure' exists now, and it is not self-modifying.
2878 Porting BFD is simpler.
2882 The `step' and `next' commands now only stop at the first instruction
2883 of a source line. This prevents the multiple stops that used to occur
2884 in switch statements, for-loops, etc. `Step' continues to stop if a
2885 function that has debugging information is called within the line.
2889 Lots of small bugs fixed. More remain.
2891 * New host supported (not target)
2893 Intel 386 PC clone running Mach i386-none-mach
2896 *** Changes in GDB-4.1:
2898 * Multiple source language support
2900 GDB now has internal scaffolding to handle several source languages.
2901 It determines the type of each source file from its filename extension,
2902 and will switch expression parsing and number formatting to match the
2903 language of the function in the currently selected stack frame.
2904 You can also specifically set the language to be used, with
2905 `set language c' or `set language modula-2'.
2909 GDB now has preliminary support for the GNU Modula-2 compiler,
2910 currently under development at the State University of New York at
2911 Buffalo. Development of both GDB and the GNU Modula-2 compiler will
2912 continue through the fall of 1991 and into 1992.
2914 Other Modula-2 compilers are currently not supported, and attempting to
2915 debug programs compiled with them will likely result in an error as the
2916 symbol table is read. Feel free to work on it, though!
2918 There are hooks in GDB for strict type checking and range checking,
2919 in the `Modula-2 philosophy', but they do not currently work.
2923 GDB can now write to executable and core files (e.g. patch
2924 a variable's value). You must turn this switch on, specify
2925 the file ("exec foo" or "core foo"), *then* modify it, e.g.
2926 by assigning a new value to a variable. Modifications take
2929 * Automatic SunOS shared library reading
2931 When you run your program, GDB automatically determines where its
2932 shared libraries (if any) have been loaded, and reads their symbols.
2933 The `share' command is no longer needed. This also works when
2934 examining core files.
2938 You can specify the number of lines that the `list' command shows.
2941 * New machines supported (host and target)
2943 SGI Iris (MIPS) running Irix V3: mips-sgi-irix or iris
2944 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x: m68k-sony-sysv or news
2945 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1: a29k-nyu-sym1 or ultra3
2947 * New hosts supported (not targets)
2949 IBM RT/PC: romp-ibm-aix or rtpc
2951 * New targets supported (not hosts)
2953 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
2954 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
2955 Ultracomputer remote kernel debug a29k-nyu-kern
2957 * New remote interfaces
2963 *** Changes in GDB-4.0:
2967 Wide output is wrapped at good places to make the output more readable.
2969 Gdb now supports cross-debugging from a host machine of one type to a
2970 target machine of another type. Communication with the target system
2971 is over serial lines. The ``target'' command handles connecting to the
2972 remote system; the ``load'' command will download a program into the
2973 remote system. Serial stubs for the m68k and i386 are provided. Gdb
2974 also supports debugging of realtime processes running under VxWorks,
2975 using SunRPC Remote Procedure Calls over TCP/IP to talk to a debugger
2976 stub on the target system.
2978 New CPUs supported include the AMD 29000 and Intel 960.
2980 GDB now reads object files and symbol tables via a ``binary file''
2981 library, which allows a single copy of GDB to debug programs of multiple
2982 object file types such as a.out and coff.
2984 There is now a GDB reference card in "doc/refcard.tex". (Make targets
2985 refcard.dvi and refcard.ps are available to format it).
2988 * Control-Variable user interface simplified
2990 All variables that control the operation of the debugger can be set
2991 by the ``set'' command, and displayed by the ``show'' command.
2993 For example, ``set prompt new-gdb=>'' will change your prompt to new-gdb=>.
2994 ``Show prompt'' produces the response:
2995 Gdb's prompt is new-gdb=>.
2997 What follows are the NEW set commands. The command ``help set'' will
2998 print a complete list of old and new set commands. ``help set FOO''
2999 will give a longer description of the variable FOO. ``show'' will show
3000 all of the variable descriptions and their current settings.
3002 confirm on/off: Enables warning questions for operations that are
3003 hard to recover from, e.g. rerunning the program while
3004 it is already running. Default is ON.
3006 editing on/off: Enables EMACS style command line editing
3007 of input. Previous lines can be recalled with
3008 control-P, the current line can be edited with control-B,
3009 you can search for commands with control-R, etc.
3012 history filename NAME: NAME is where the gdb command history
3013 will be stored. The default is .gdb_history,
3014 or the value of the environment variable
3017 history size N: The size, in commands, of the command history. The
3018 default is 256, or the value of the environment variable
3021 history save on/off: If this value is set to ON, the history file will
3022 be saved after exiting gdb. If set to OFF, the
3023 file will not be saved. The default is OFF.
3025 history expansion on/off: If this value is set to ON, then csh-like
3026 history expansion will be performed on
3027 command line input. The default is OFF.
3029 radix N: Sets the default radix for input and output. It can be set
3030 to 8, 10, or 16. Note that the argument to "radix" is interpreted
3031 in the current radix, so "set radix 10" is always a no-op.
3033 height N: This integer value is the number of lines on a page. Default
3034 is 24, the current `stty rows'' setting, or the ``li#''
3035 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
3038 width N: This integer value is the number of characters on a line.
3039 Default is 80, the current `stty cols'' setting, or the ``co#''
3040 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
3043 Note: ``set screensize'' is obsolete. Use ``set height'' and
3044 ``set width'' instead.
3046 print address on/off: Print memory addresses in various command displays,
3047 such as stack traces and structure values. Gdb looks
3048 more ``symbolic'' if you turn this off; it looks more
3049 ``machine level'' with it on. Default is ON.
3051 print array on/off: Prettyprint arrays. New convenient format! Default
3054 print demangle on/off: Print C++ symbols in "source" form if on,
3057 print asm-demangle on/off: Same, for assembler level printouts
3060 print vtbl on/off: Prettyprint C++ virtual function tables. Default is OFF.
3063 * Support for Epoch Environment.
3065 The epoch environment is a version of Emacs v18 with windowing. One
3066 new command, ``inspect'', is identical to ``print'', except that if you
3067 are running in the epoch environment, the value is printed in its own
3071 * Support for Shared Libraries
3073 GDB can now debug programs and core files that use SunOS shared libraries.
3074 Symbols from a shared library cannot be referenced
3075 before the shared library has been linked with the program (this
3076 happens after you type ``run'' and before the function main() is entered).
3077 At any time after this linking (including when examining core files
3078 from dynamically linked programs), gdb reads the symbols from each
3079 shared library when you type the ``sharedlibrary'' command.
3080 It can be abbreviated ``share''.
3082 sharedlibrary REGEXP: Load shared object library symbols for files
3083 matching a unix regular expression. No argument
3084 indicates to load symbols for all shared libraries.
3086 info sharedlibrary: Status of loaded shared libraries.
3091 A watchpoint stops execution of a program whenever the value of an
3092 expression changes. Checking for this slows down execution
3093 tremendously whenever you are in the scope of the expression, but is
3094 quite useful for catching tough ``bit-spreader'' or pointer misuse
3095 problems. Some machines such as the 386 have hardware for doing this
3096 more quickly, and future versions of gdb will use this hardware.
3098 watch EXP: Set a watchpoint (breakpoint) for an expression.
3100 info watchpoints: Information about your watchpoints.
3102 delete N: Deletes watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
3103 disable N: Temporarily turns off watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
3104 enable N: Re-enables watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
3107 * C++ multiple inheritance
3109 When used with a GCC version 2 compiler, GDB supports multiple inheritance
3112 * C++ exception handling
3114 Gdb now supports limited C++ exception handling. Besides the existing
3115 ability to breakpoint on an exception handler, gdb can breakpoint on
3116 the raising of an exception (before the stack is peeled back to the
3119 catch FOO: If there is a FOO exception handler in the dynamic scope,
3120 set a breakpoint to catch exceptions which may be raised there.
3121 Multiple exceptions (``catch foo bar baz'') may be caught.
3123 info catch: Lists all exceptions which may be caught in the
3124 current stack frame.
3127 * Minor command changes
3129 The command ``call func (arg, arg, ...)'' now acts like the print
3130 command, except it does not print or save a value if the function's result
3131 is void. This is similar to dbx usage.
3133 The ``up'' and ``down'' commands now always print the frame they end up
3134 at; ``up-silently'' and `down-silently'' can be used in scripts to change
3135 frames without printing.
3137 * New directory command
3139 'dir' now adds directories to the FRONT of the source search path.
3140 The path starts off empty. Source files that contain debug information
3141 about the directory in which they were compiled can be found even
3142 with an empty path; Sun CC and GCC include this information. If GDB can't
3143 find your source file in the current directory, type "dir .".
3145 * Configuring GDB for compilation
3147 For normal use, type ``./configure host''. See README or gdb.texinfo
3150 GDB now handles cross debugging. If you are remotely debugging between
3151 two different machines, type ``./configure host -target=targ''.
3152 Host is the machine where GDB will run; targ is the machine
3153 where the program that you are debugging will run.
projects / deliverable / binutils-gdb.git / blob