1 What has changed in GDB?
2 (Organized release by release)
4 *** Changes since GDB 6.6
6 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now has lower overhead for high
7 frequency signals (e.g. SIGALRM) via the QPassSignals packet.
9 * GDB for MIPS targets now autodetects whether a remote target provides
10 32-bit or 64-bit register values.
14 set mem inaccessible-by-default
15 show mem inaccessible-by-default
16 If the target supplies a memory map, for instance via the remote
17 protocol's "qXfer:memory-map:read" packet, setting this variable
18 prevents GDB from accessing memory outside the memory map. This
19 is useful for targets with memory mapped registers or which react
20 badly to accesses of unmapped address space.
22 set breakpoint auto-hw
23 show breakpoint auto-hw
24 If the target supplies a memory map, for instance via the remote
25 protocol's "qXfer:memory-map:read" packet, setting this variable
26 lets GDB use hardware breakpoints automatically for memory regions
27 where it can not use software breakpoints. This covers both the
28 "break" command and internal breakpoints used for other commands
29 including "next" and "finish".
33 OpenBSD/sh sh*-*-openbsd*
34 MIPS64 GNU/Linux (gdbserver) mips64-linux-gnu
39 Ignore the specified signals; pass them directly to the debugged program
40 without stopping other threads or reporting them to GDB.
43 *** Changes in GDB 6.6
48 Cell Broadband Engine SPU spu-elf
50 * GDB can now be configured as a cross-debugger targeting native Windows
51 (mingw32) or Cygwin. It can communicate with a remote debugging stub
52 running on a Windows system over TCP/IP to debug Windows programs.
54 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, has been updated to support Windows and
55 Cygwin debugging. Both single-threaded and multi-threaded programs are
58 * The "set trust-readonly-sections" command works again. This command was
59 broken in GDB 6.3, 6.4, and 6.5.
61 * Support for GNU/Linux Thread Local Storage (TLS, per-thread variables) no
62 longer requires symbolic debug information (e.g. DWARF-2).
69 Manage a list of substitution rules that GDB uses to rewrite the name
70 of the directories where the sources are located. This can be useful
71 for instance when the sources were moved to a different location
72 between compilation and debugging.
76 Print each CLI command as it is executed. Each command is prefixed with
77 a number of `+' symbols representing the nesting depth.
78 The source command now has a `-v' option to enable the same feature.
82 The ARM Demon monitor support (RDP protocol, "target rdp").
84 Kernel Object Display, an embedded debugging feature which only worked with
85 an obsolete version of Cisco IOS.
87 The 'set download-write-size' and 'show download-write-size' commands.
92 Tell a stub about GDB client features, and request remote target features.
93 The first feature implemented is PacketSize, which allows the target to
94 specify the size of packets it can handle - to minimize the number of
95 packets required and improve performance when connected to a remote
99 Fetch an OS auxilliary vector from the remote stub. This packet is a
100 more efficient replacement for qPart:auxv:read.
102 * Removed remote packets
105 This packet has been replaced by qXfer:auxv:read. Only GDB 6.4 and 6.5
106 used it, and only gdbserver implemented it.
108 *** Changes in GDB 6.5
112 Renesas M32C/M16C m32c-elf
114 Morpho Technologies ms1 ms1-elf
118 init-if-undefined Initialize a convenience variable, but
119 only if it doesn't already have a value.
121 The following commands are presently only implemented for native GNU/Linux:
123 checkpoint Save a snapshot of the program state.
125 restart <n> Return the program state to a
126 previously saved state.
128 info checkpoints List currently saved checkpoints.
130 delete-checkpoint <n> Delete a previously saved checkpoint.
132 set|show detach-on-fork Tell gdb whether to detach from a newly
133 forked process, or to keep debugging it.
135 info forks List forks of the user program that
136 are available to be debugged.
138 fork <n> Switch to debugging one of several
139 forks of the user program that are
140 available to be debugged.
142 delete-fork <n> Delete a fork from the list of forks
143 that are available to be debugged (and
144 kill the forked process).
146 detach-fork <n> Delete a fork from the list of forks
147 that are available to be debugged (and
148 allow the process to continue).
152 Morpho Technologies ms2 ms1-elf
154 * Improved Windows host support
156 GDB now builds as a cross debugger hosted on i686-mingw32, including
157 native console support, and remote communications using either
158 network sockets or serial ports.
160 * Improved Modula-2 language support
162 GDB can now print most types in the Modula-2 syntax. This includes:
163 basic types, set types, record types, enumerated types, range types,
164 pointer types and ARRAY types. Procedure var parameters are correctly
165 printed and hexadecimal addresses and character constants are also
166 written in the Modula-2 syntax. Best results can be obtained by using
167 GNU Modula-2 together with the -gdwarf-2 command line option.
171 The ARM rdi-share module.
173 The Netware NLM debug server.
175 *** Changes in GDB 6.4
177 * New native configurations
179 OpenBSD/arm arm*-*-openbsd*
180 OpenBSD/mips64 mips64-*-openbsd*
184 Morpho Technologies ms1 ms1-elf
186 * New command line options
188 --batch-silent As for --batch, but totally silent.
189 --return-child-result The debugger will exist with the same value
190 the child (debugged) program exited with.
191 --eval-command COMMAND, -ex COMMAND
192 Execute a single GDB CLI command. This may be
193 specified multiple times and in conjunction
194 with the --command (-x) option.
196 * Deprecated commands removed
198 The following commands, that were deprecated in 2000, have been
202 set|show arm disassembly-flavor set|show arm disassembler
203 othernames set arm disassembler
204 set|show remotedebug set|show debug remote
205 set|show archdebug set|show debug arch
206 set|show eventdebug set|show debug event
209 * New BSD user-level threads support
211 It is now possible to debug programs using the user-level threads
212 library on OpenBSD and FreeBSD. Currently supported (target)
215 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
216 FreeBSD/i386 i386-*-freebsd*
217 OpenBSD/i386 i386-*-openbsd*
219 Note that the new kernel threads libraries introduced in FreeBSD 5.x
220 are not yet supported.
222 * New support for Matsushita MN10300 w/sim added
223 (Work in progress). mn10300-elf.
225 * REMOVED configurations and files
227 VxWorks and the XDR protocol *-*-vxworks
228 Motorola MCORE mcore-*-*
229 National Semiconductor NS32000 ns32k-*-*
231 * New "set print array-indexes" command
233 After turning this setting "on", GDB prints the index of each element
234 when displaying arrays. The default is "off" to preserve the previous
237 * VAX floating point support
239 GDB now supports the not-quite-ieee VAX F and D floating point formats.
241 * User-defined command support
243 In addition to using $arg0..$arg9 for argument passing, it is now possible
244 to use $argc to determine now many arguments have been passed. See the
245 section on user-defined commands in the user manual for more information.
247 *** Changes in GDB 6.3:
249 * New command line option
251 GDB now accepts -l followed by a number to set the timeout for remote
254 * GDB works with GCC -feliminate-dwarf2-dups
256 GDB now supports a more compact representation of DWARF-2 debug
257 information using DW_FORM_ref_addr references. These are produced
258 by GCC with the option -feliminate-dwarf2-dups and also by some
259 proprietary compilers. With GCC, you must use GCC 3.3.4 or later
260 to use -feliminate-dwarf2-dups.
262 * Internationalization
264 When supported by the host system, GDB will be built with
265 internationalization (libintl). The task of marking up the sources is
266 continued, we're looking forward to our first translation.
270 Initial support for debugging programs compiled with the GNAT
271 implementation of the Ada programming language has been integrated
272 into GDB. In this release, support is limited to expression evaluation.
274 * New native configurations
276 GNU/Linux/m32r m32r-*-linux-gnu
280 GDB's remote protocol now includes support for the 'p' packet. This
281 packet is used to fetch individual registers from a remote inferior.
283 * END-OF-LIFE registers[] compatibility module
285 GDB's internal register infrastructure has been completely rewritten.
286 The new infrastructure making possible the implementation of key new
287 features including 32x64 (e.g., 64-bit amd64 GDB debugging a 32-bit
290 GDB 6.3 will be the last release to include the the registers[]
291 compatibility module that allowed out-of-date configurations to
292 continue to work. This change directly impacts the following
304 Unless there is activity to revive these configurations, they will be
305 made OBSOLETE in GDB 6.4, and REMOVED from GDB 6.5.
307 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
309 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
310 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
311 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
321 *** Changes in GDB 6.2.1:
323 * MIPS `break main; run' gave an heuristic-fence-post warning
325 When attempting to run even a simple program, a warning about
326 heuristic-fence-post being hit would be reported. This problem has
329 * MIPS IRIX 'long double' crashed GDB
331 When examining a long double variable, GDB would get a segmentation
332 fault. The crash has been fixed (but GDB 6.2 cannot correctly examine
333 IRIX long double values).
337 A bug in the VAX stack code was causing problems with the "next"
338 command. This problem has been fixed.
340 *** Changes in GDB 6.2:
342 * Fix for ``many threads''
344 On GNU/Linux systems that use the NPTL threads library, a program
345 rapidly creating and deleting threads would confuse GDB leading to the
348 ptrace: No such process.
349 thread_db_get_info: cannot get thread info: generic error
351 This problem has been fixed.
353 * "-async" and "-noasync" options removed.
355 Support for the broken "-noasync" option has been removed (it caused
358 * New ``start'' command.
360 This command runs the program until the begining of the main procedure.
362 * New BSD Kernel Data Access Library (libkvm) interface
364 Using ``target kvm'' it is now possible to debug kernel core dumps and
365 live kernel memory images on various FreeBSD, NetBSD and OpenBSD
366 platforms. Currently supported (native-only) configurations are:
368 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
369 FreeBSD/i386 i?86-*-freebsd*
370 NetBSD/i386 i?86-*-netbsd*
371 NetBSD/m68k m68*-*-netbsd*
372 NetBSD/sparc sparc-*-netbsd*
373 OpenBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-openbsd*
374 OpenBSD/i386 i?86-*-openbsd*
375 OpenBSD/m68k m68*-openbsd*
376 OpenBSD/sparc sparc-*-openbsd*
378 * Signal trampoline code overhauled
380 Many generic problems with GDB's signal handling code have been fixed.
381 These include: backtraces through non-contiguous stacks; recognition
382 of sa_sigaction signal trampolines; backtrace from a NULL pointer
383 call; backtrace through a signal trampoline; step into and out of
384 signal handlers; and single-stepping in the signal trampoline.
386 Please note that kernel bugs are a limiting factor here. These
387 features have been shown to work on an s390 GNU/Linux system that
388 include a 2.6.8-rc1 kernel. Ref PR breakpoints/1702.
390 * Cygwin support for DWARF 2 added.
392 * New native configurations
394 GNU/Linux/hppa hppa*-*-linux*
395 OpenBSD/hppa hppa*-*-openbsd*
396 OpenBSD/m68k m68*-*-openbsd*
397 OpenBSD/m88k m88*-*-openbsd*
398 OpenBSD/powerpc powerpc-*-openbsd*
399 NetBSD/vax vax-*-netbsd*
400 OpenBSD/vax vax-*-openbsd*
402 * END-OF-LIFE frame compatibility module
404 GDB's internal frame infrastructure has been completely rewritten.
405 The new infrastructure making it possible to support key new features
406 including DWARF 2 Call Frame Information. To aid in the task of
407 migrating old configurations to this new infrastructure, a
408 compatibility module, that allowed old configurations to continue to
409 work, was also included.
411 GDB 6.2 will be the last release to include this frame compatibility
412 module. This change directly impacts the following configurations:
422 Unless there is activity to revive these configurations, they will be
423 made OBSOLETE in GDB 6.3, and REMOVED from GDB 6.4.
425 * REMOVED configurations and files
427 Sun 3, running SunOS 3 m68*-*-sunos3*
428 Sun 3, running SunOS 4 m68*-*-sunos4*
429 Sun 2, running SunOS 3 m68000-*-sunos3*
430 Sun 2, running SunOS 4 m68000-*-sunos4*
431 Motorola 680x0 running LynxOS m68*-*-lynxos*
432 AT&T 3b1/Unix pc m68*-att-*
433 Bull DPX2 (68k, System V release 3) m68*-bull-sysv*
434 decstation mips-dec-* mips-little-*
435 riscos mips-*-riscos* mips-*-sysv*
437 sysv mips*-*-sysv4* (IRIX 5/6 not included)
439 *** Changes in GDB 6.1.1:
441 * TUI (Text-mode User Interface) built-in (also included in GDB 6.1)
443 The TUI (Text-mode User Interface) is now built as part of a default
444 GDB configuration. It is enabled by either selecting the TUI with the
445 command line option "-i=tui" or by running the separate "gdbtui"
446 program. For more information on the TUI, see the manual "Debugging
449 * Pending breakpoint support (also included in GDB 6.1)
451 Support has been added to allow you to specify breakpoints in shared
452 libraries that have not yet been loaded. If a breakpoint location
453 cannot be found, and the "breakpoint pending" option is set to auto,
454 GDB queries you if you wish to make the breakpoint pending on a future
455 shared-library load. If and when GDB resolves the breakpoint symbol,
456 the pending breakpoint is removed as one or more regular breakpoints
459 Pending breakpoints are very useful for GCJ Java debugging.
461 * Fixed ISO-C build problems
463 The files bfd/elf-bfd.h, gdb/dictionary.c and gdb/types.c contained
464 non ISO-C code that stopped them being built using a more strict ISO-C
465 compiler (e.g., IBM's C compiler).
467 * Fixed build problem on IRIX 5
469 Due to header problems with <sys/proc.h>, the file gdb/proc-api.c
470 wasn't able to compile compile on an IRIX 5 system.
472 * Added execute permission to gdb/gdbserver/configure
474 The shell script gdb/testsuite/gdb.stabs/configure lacked execute
475 permission. This bug would cause configure to fail on a number of
476 systems (Solaris, IRIX). Ref: server/519.
478 * Fixed build problem on hpux2.0w-hp-hpux11.00 using the HP ANSI C compiler
480 Older HPUX ANSI C compilers did not accept variable array sizes. somsolib.c
481 has been updated to use constant array sizes.
483 * Fixed a panic in the DWARF Call Frame Info code on Solaris 2.7
485 GCC 3.3.2, on Solaris 2.7, includes the DW_EH_PE_funcrel encoding in
486 its generated DWARF Call Frame Info. This encoding was causing GDB to
487 panic, that panic has been fixed. Ref: gdb/1628.
489 * Fixed a problem when examining parameters in shared library code.
491 When examining parameters in optimized shared library code generated
492 by a mainline GCC, GDB would incorrectly report ``Variable "..." is
493 not available''. GDB now correctly displays the variable's value.
495 *** Changes in GDB 6.1:
497 * Removed --with-mmalloc
499 Support for the mmalloc memory manager has been removed, as it
500 conflicted with the internal gdb byte cache.
502 * Changes in AMD64 configurations
504 The AMD64 target now includes the %cs and %ss registers. As a result
505 the AMD64 remote protocol has changed; this affects the floating-point
506 and SSE registers. If you rely on those registers for your debugging,
507 you should upgrade gdbserver on the remote side.
509 * Revised SPARC target
511 The SPARC target has been completely revised, incorporating the
512 FreeBSD/sparc64 support that was added for GDB 6.0. As a result
513 support for LynxOS and SunOS 4 has been dropped. Calling functions
514 from within GDB on operating systems with a non-executable stack
515 (Solaris, OpenBSD) now works.
519 GDB has a new C++ demangler which does a better job on the mangled
520 names generated by current versions of g++. It also runs faster, so
521 with this and other changes gdb should now start faster on large C++
524 * DWARF 2 Location Expressions
526 GDB support for location expressions has been extended to support function
527 arguments and frame bases. Older versions of GDB could crash when they
530 * C++ nested types and namespaces
532 GDB's support for nested types and namespaces in C++ has been
533 improved, especially if you use the DWARF 2 debugging format. (This
534 is the default for recent versions of GCC on most platforms.)
535 Specifically, if you have a class "Inner" defined within a class or
536 namespace "Outer", then GDB realizes that the class's name is
537 "Outer::Inner", not simply "Inner". This should greatly reduce the
538 frequency of complaints about not finding RTTI symbols. In addition,
539 if you are stopped at inside of a function defined within a namespace,
540 GDB modifies its name lookup accordingly.
542 * New native configurations
544 NetBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-netbsd*
545 OpenBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-openbsd*
546 OpenBSD/alpha alpha*-*-openbsd*
547 OpenBSD/sparc sparc-*-openbsd*
548 OpenBSD/sparc64 sparc64-*-openbsd*
550 * New debugging protocols
552 M32R with SDI protocol m32r-*-elf*
554 * "set prompt-escape-char" command deleted.
556 The command "set prompt-escape-char" has been deleted. This command,
557 and its very obscure effet on GDB's prompt, was never documented,
558 tested, nor mentioned in the NEWS file.
560 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
562 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
563 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
564 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
567 Sun 3, running SunOS 3 m68*-*-sunos3*
568 Sun 3, running SunOS 4 m68*-*-sunos4*
569 Sun 2, running SunOS 3 m68000-*-sunos3*
570 Sun 2, running SunOS 4 m68000-*-sunos4*
571 Motorola 680x0 running LynxOS m68*-*-lynxos*
572 AT&T 3b1/Unix pc m68*-att-*
573 Bull DPX2 (68k, System V release 3) m68*-bull-sysv*
574 decstation mips-dec-* mips-little-*
575 riscos mips-*-riscos* mips-*-sysv*
577 sysv mips*-*-sysv4* (IRIX 5/6 not included)
579 * REMOVED configurations and files
581 SGI Irix-4.x mips-sgi-irix4 or iris4
582 SGI Iris (MIPS) running Irix V3: mips-sgi-irix or iris
583 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
584 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
585 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
586 HP/PA running BSD hppa*-*-bsd*
587 HP/PA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
588 HP/PA Pro target hppa*-*-pro*
589 PMAX (MIPS) running Mach 3.0 mips*-*-mach3*
590 386BSD i[3456]86-*-bsd*
591 Sequent family i[3456]86-sequent-sysv4*
592 i[3456]86-sequent-sysv*
593 i[3456]86-sequent-bsd*
594 SPARC running LynxOS sparc-*-lynxos*
595 SPARC running SunOS 4 sparc-*-sunos4*
596 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
597 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
599 *** Changes in GDB 6.0:
603 Support for debugging the Objective-C programming language has been
606 * New backtrace mechanism (includes DWARF 2 Call Frame Information).
608 DWARF 2's Call Frame Information makes available compiler generated
609 information that more exactly describes the program's run-time stack.
610 By using this information, GDB is able to provide more robust stack
613 The i386, amd64 (nee, x86-64), Alpha, m68hc11, ia64, and m32r targets
614 have been updated to use a new backtrace mechanism which includes
619 GDB's remote protocol has been extended to include support for hosted
620 file I/O (where the remote target uses GDB's file system). See GDB's
621 remote protocol documentation for details.
623 * All targets using the new architecture framework.
625 All of GDB's targets have been updated to use the new internal
626 architecture framework. The way is now open for future GDB releases
627 to include cross-architecture native debugging support (i386 on amd64,
630 * GNU/Linux's Thread Local Storage (TLS)
632 GDB now includes support for for the GNU/Linux implementation of
633 per-thread variables.
635 * GNU/Linux's Native POSIX Thread Library (NPTL)
637 GDB's thread code has been updated to work with either the new
638 GNU/Linux NPTL thread library or the older "LinuxThreads" library.
640 * Separate debug info.
642 GDB, in conjunction with BINUTILS, now supports a mechanism for
643 automatically loading debug information from a separate file. Instead
644 of shipping full debug and non-debug versions of system libraries,
645 system integrators can now instead ship just the stripped libraries
646 and optional debug files.
648 * DWARF 2 Location Expressions
650 DWARF 2 Location Expressions allow the compiler to more completely
651 describe the location of variables (even in optimized code) to the
654 GDB now includes preliminary support for location expressions (support
655 for DW_OP_piece is still missing).
659 A number of long standing bugs that caused GDB to die while starting a
660 Java application have been fixed. GDB's Java support is now
661 considered "useable".
663 * GNU/Linux support for fork, vfork, and exec.
665 The "catch fork", "catch exec", "catch vfork", and "set follow-fork-mode"
666 commands are now implemented for GNU/Linux. They require a 2.5.x or later
669 * GDB supports logging output to a file
671 There are two new commands, "set logging" and "show logging", which can be
672 used to capture GDB's output to a file.
674 * The meaning of "detach" has changed for gdbserver
676 The "detach" command will now resume the application, as documented. To
677 disconnect from gdbserver and leave it stopped, use the new "disconnect"
680 * d10v, m68hc11 `regs' command deprecated
682 The `info registers' command has been updated so that it displays the
683 registers using a format identical to the old `regs' command.
687 A new command, "maint set profile on/off", has been added. This command can
688 be used to enable or disable profiling while running GDB, to profile a
689 session or a set of commands. In addition there is a new configure switch,
690 "--enable-profiling", which will cause GDB to be compiled with profiling
691 data, for more informative profiling results.
693 * Default MI syntax changed to "mi2".
695 The default MI (machine interface) syntax, enabled by the command line
696 option "-i=mi", has been changed to "mi2". The previous MI syntax,
697 "mi1", can be enabled by specifying the option "-i=mi1".
699 Support for the original "mi0" syntax (included in GDB 5.0) has been
702 Fix for gdb/192: removed extraneous space when displaying frame level.
703 Fix for gdb/672: update changelist is now output in mi list format.
704 Fix for gdb/702: a -var-assign that updates the value now shows up
705 in a subsequent -var-update.
707 * New native configurations.
709 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
711 * Multi-arched targets.
713 HP/PA HPUX11 hppa*-*-hpux*
714 Renesas M32R/D w/simulator m32r-*-elf*
716 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
718 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
719 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
720 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
723 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
724 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
725 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
726 HP/PA running BSD hppa*-*-bsd*
727 HP/PA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
728 HP/PA Pro target hppa*-*-pro*
729 PMAX (MIPS) running Mach 3.0 mips*-*-mach3*
730 Sequent family i[3456]86-sequent-sysv4*
731 i[3456]86-sequent-sysv*
732 i[3456]86-sequent-bsd*
733 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
734 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
736 * REMOVED configurations and files
739 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
740 IBM AIX PS/2 i[3456]86-*-aix
741 i386 running Mach 3.0 i[3456]86-*-mach3*
742 i386 running Mach i[3456]86-*-mach*
743 i386 running OSF/1 i[3456]86-*osf1mk*
744 HP/Apollo 68k Family m68*-apollo*-sysv*,
746 m68*-hp-bsd*, m68*-hp-hpux*
747 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
748 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
749 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
750 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
751 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
753 * MIPS $fp behavior changed
755 The convenience variable $fp, for the MIPS, now consistently returns
756 the address of the current frame's base. Previously, depending on the
757 context, $fp could refer to either $sp or the current frame's base
758 address. See ``8.10 Registers'' in the manual ``Debugging with GDB:
759 The GNU Source-Level Debugger''.
761 *** Changes in GDB 5.3:
763 * GNU/Linux shared library multi-threaded performance improved.
765 When debugging a multi-threaded application on GNU/Linux, GDB now uses
766 `/proc', in preference to `ptrace' for memory reads. This may result
767 in an improvement in the start-up time of multi-threaded, shared
768 library applications when run under GDB. One GDB user writes: ``loads
769 shared libs like mad''.
771 * ``gdbserver'' now supports multi-threaded applications on some targets
773 Support for debugging multi-threaded applications which use
774 the GNU/Linux LinuxThreads package has been added for
775 arm*-*-linux*-gnu*, i[3456]86-*-linux*-gnu*, mips*-*-linux*-gnu*,
776 powerpc*-*-linux*-gnu*, and sh*-*-linux*-gnu*.
778 * GDB now supports C/C++ preprocessor macros.
780 GDB now expands preprocessor macro invocations in C/C++ expressions,
781 and provides various commands for showing macro definitions and how
784 The new command `macro expand EXPRESSION' expands any macro
785 invocations in expression, and shows the result.
787 The new command `show macro MACRO-NAME' shows the definition of the
788 macro named MACRO-NAME, and where it was defined.
790 Most compilers don't include information about macros in the debugging
791 information by default. In GCC 3.1, for example, you need to compile
792 your program with the options `-gdwarf-2 -g3'. If the macro
793 information is present in the executable, GDB will read it.
795 * Multi-arched targets.
797 DEC Alpha (partial) alpha*-*-*
798 DEC VAX (partial) vax-*-*
800 National Semiconductor NS32000 (partial) ns32k-*-*
801 Motorola 68000 (partial) m68k-*-*
802 Motorola MCORE mcore-*-*
806 Fujitsu FRV architecture added by Red Hat frv*-*-*
809 * New native configurations
811 Alpha NetBSD alpha*-*-netbsd*
812 SH NetBSD sh*-*-netbsdelf*
813 MIPS NetBSD mips*-*-netbsd*
814 UltraSPARC NetBSD sparc64-*-netbsd*
816 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
818 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
819 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
820 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
823 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
824 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
825 IBM AIX PS/2 i[3456]86-*-aix
826 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
827 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
828 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
829 i386 running Mach 3.0 i[3456]86-*-mach3*
830 i386 running Mach i[3456]86-*-mach*
831 i386 running OSF/1 i[3456]86-*osf1mk*
832 HP/Apollo 68k Family m68*-apollo*-sysv*,
834 m68*-hp-bsd*, m68*-hp-hpux*
835 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
839 CHILL, a Pascal like language used by telecommunications companies.
841 * REMOVED configurations and files
843 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi, udi29k
844 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
845 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
846 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
847 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
849 testsuite/gdb.hp/gdb.threads-hp/ directory
851 * New command "set max-user-call-depth <nnn>"
853 This command allows the user to limit the call depth of user-defined
854 commands. The default is 1024.
856 * Changes in FreeBSD/i386 native debugging.
858 Support for the "generate-core-file" has been added.
860 * New commands "dump", "append", and "restore".
862 These commands allow data to be copied from target memory
863 to a bfd-format or binary file (dump and append), and back
864 from a file into memory (restore).
866 * Improved "next/step" support on multi-processor Alpha Tru64.
868 The previous single-step mechanism could cause unpredictable problems,
869 including the random appearance of SIGSEGV or SIGTRAP signals. The use
870 of a software single-step mechanism prevents this.
872 *** Changes in GDB 5.2.1:
880 gdb/182: gdb/323: gdb/237: On alpha, gdb was reporting:
881 mdebugread.c:2443: gdb-internal-error: sect_index_data not initialized
882 Fix, by Joel Brobecker imported from mainline.
884 gdb/439: gdb/291: On some ELF object files, gdb was reporting:
885 dwarf2read.c:1072: gdb-internal-error: sect_index_text not initialize
886 Fix, by Fred Fish, imported from mainline.
888 Dwarf2 .debug_frame & .eh_frame handler improved in many ways.
889 Surprisingly enough, it works now.
890 By Michal Ludvig, imported from mainline.
892 i386 hardware watchpoint support:
893 avoid misses on second run for some targets.
894 By Pierre Muller, imported from mainline.
896 *** Changes in GDB 5.2:
898 * New command "set trust-readonly-sections on[off]".
900 This command is a hint that tells gdb that read-only sections
901 really are read-only (ie. that their contents will not change).
902 In this mode, gdb will go to the object file rather than the
903 target to read memory from read-only sections (such as ".text").
904 This can be a significant performance improvement on some
905 (notably embedded) targets.
907 * New command "generate-core-file" (or "gcore").
909 This new gdb command allows the user to drop a core file of the child
910 process state at any time. So far it's been implemented only for
911 GNU/Linux and Solaris, but should be relatively easily ported to other
912 hosts. Argument is core file name (defaults to core.<pid>).
914 * New command line option
916 GDB now accepts --pid or -p followed by a process id.
918 * Change in command line behavior -- corefiles vs. process ids.
920 There is a subtle behavior in the way in which GDB handles
921 command line arguments. The first non-flag argument is always
922 a program to debug, but the second non-flag argument may either
923 be a corefile or a process id. Previously, GDB would attempt to
924 open the second argument as a corefile, and if that failed, would
925 issue a superfluous error message and then attempt to attach it as
926 a process. Now, if the second argument begins with a non-digit,
927 it will be treated as a corefile. If it begins with a digit,
928 GDB will attempt to attach it as a process, and if no such process
929 is found, will then attempt to open it as a corefile.
931 * Changes in ARM configurations.
933 Multi-arch support is enabled for all ARM configurations. The ARM/NetBSD
934 configuration is fully multi-arch.
936 * New native configurations
938 ARM NetBSD arm*-*-netbsd*
939 x86 OpenBSD i[3456]86-*-openbsd*
940 AMD x86-64 running GNU/Linux x86_64-*-linux-*
941 Sparc64 running FreeBSD sparc64-*-freebsd*
945 Sanyo XStormy16 xstormy16-elf
947 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
949 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
950 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
951 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
954 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi, udi29k
955 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
956 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
957 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
958 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
960 testsuite/gdb.hp/gdb.threads-hp/ directory
962 * REMOVED configurations and files
964 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
966 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
967 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
968 PowerPC Netware powerpc-*-netware*
969 Harris/CXUX m88k m88*-harris-cxux*
970 Most ns32k hosts and targets ns32k-*-mach3* ns32k-umax-*
971 ns32k-utek-sysv* ns32k-utek-*
972 SunOS 4.0.Xi on i386 i[3456]86-*-sunos*
973 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1 a29k-nyu-sym1 a29k-*-kern*
974 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x m68*-sony-sysv news
975 ISI Optimum V (3.05) under 4.3bsd. m68*-isi-*
976 Apple Macintosh (MPW) host and target N/A host, powerpc-*-macos*
978 * Changes to command line processing
980 The new `--args' feature can be used to specify command-line arguments
981 for the inferior from gdb's command line.
983 * Changes to key bindings
985 There is a new `operate-and-get-next' function bound to `C-o'.
987 *** Changes in GDB 5.1.1
989 Fix compile problem on DJGPP.
991 Fix a problem with floating-point registers on the i386 being
994 Fix to stop GDB crashing on .debug_str debug info.
996 Numerous documentation fixes.
998 Numerous testsuite fixes.
1000 *** Changes in GDB 5.1:
1002 * New native configurations
1004 Alpha FreeBSD alpha*-*-freebsd*
1005 x86 FreeBSD 3.x and 4.x i[3456]86*-freebsd[34]*
1006 MIPS GNU/Linux mips*-*-linux*
1007 MIPS SGI Irix 6.x mips*-sgi-irix6*
1008 ia64 AIX ia64-*-aix*
1009 s390 and s390x GNU/Linux {s390,s390x}-*-linux*
1013 Motorola 68HC11 and 68HC12 m68hc11-elf
1015 UltraSparc running GNU/Linux sparc64-*-linux*
1017 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
1019 x86 FreeBSD before 2.2 i[3456]86*-freebsd{1,2.[01]}*,
1020 Harris/CXUX m88k m88*-harris-cxux*
1021 Most ns32k hosts and targets ns32k-*-mach3* ns32k-umax-*
1022 ns32k-utek-sysv* ns32k-utek-*
1023 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
1025 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1 a29k-nyu-sym1 a29k-*-kern*
1026 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
1027 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
1028 PowerPC Netware powerpc-*-netware*
1029 SunOS 4.0.Xi on i386 i[3456]86-*-sunos*
1030 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x m68*-sony-sysv news
1031 ISI Optimum V (3.05) under 4.3bsd. m68*-isi-*
1032 Apple Macintosh (MPW) host N/A
1034 stuff.c (Program to stuff files into a specially prepared space in kdb)
1035 kdb-start.c (Main loop for the standalone kernel debugger)
1037 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
1038 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
1039 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
1040 permanently REMOVED.
1042 * REMOVED configurations and files
1044 Altos 3068 m68*-altos-*
1045 Convex c1-*-*, c2-*-*
1047 ARM RISCix arm-*-* (as host)
1051 * GDB has been converted to ISO C.
1053 GDB's source code has been converted to ISO C. In particular, the
1054 sources are fully protoized, and rely on standard headers being
1059 * "info symbol" works on platforms which use COFF, ECOFF, XCOFF, and NLM.
1061 * The MI enabled by default.
1063 The new machine oriented interface (MI) introduced in GDB 5.0 has been
1064 revised and enabled by default. Packages which use GDB as a debugging
1065 engine behind a UI or another front end are encouraged to switch to
1066 using the GDB/MI interface, instead of the old annotations interface
1067 which is now deprecated.
1069 * Support for debugging Pascal programs.
1071 GDB now includes support for debugging Pascal programs. The following
1072 main features are supported:
1074 - Pascal-specific data types such as sets;
1076 - automatic recognition of Pascal sources based on file-name
1079 - Pascal-style display of data types, variables, and functions;
1081 - a Pascal expression parser.
1083 However, some important features are not yet supported.
1085 - Pascal string operations are not supported at all;
1087 - there are some problems with boolean types;
1089 - Pascal type hexadecimal constants are not supported
1090 because they conflict with the internal variables format;
1092 - support for Pascal objects and classes is not full yet;
1094 - unlike Pascal, GDB is case-sensitive for symbol names.
1096 * Changes in completion.
1098 Commands such as `shell', `run' and `set args', which pass arguments
1099 to inferior programs, now complete on file names, similar to what
1100 users expect at the shell prompt.
1102 Commands which accept locations, such as `disassemble', `print',
1103 `breakpoint', `until', etc. now complete on filenames as well as
1104 program symbols. Thus, if you type "break foob TAB", and the source
1105 files linked into the programs include `foobar.c', that file name will
1106 be one of the candidates for completion. However, file names are not
1107 considered for completion after you typed a colon that delimits a file
1108 name from a name of a function in that file, as in "break foo.c:bar".
1110 `set demangle-style' completes on available demangling styles.
1112 * New platform-independent commands:
1114 It is now possible to define a post-hook for a command as well as a
1115 hook that runs before the command. For more details, see the
1116 documentation of `hookpost' in the GDB manual.
1118 * Changes in GNU/Linux native debugging.
1120 Support for debugging multi-threaded programs has been completely
1121 revised for all platforms except m68k and sparc. You can now debug as
1122 many threads as your system allows you to have.
1124 Attach/detach is supported for multi-threaded programs.
1126 Support for SSE registers was added for x86. This doesn't work for
1127 multi-threaded programs though.
1129 * Changes in MIPS configurations.
1131 Multi-arch support is enabled for all MIPS configurations.
1133 GDB can now be built as native debugger on SGI Irix 6.x systems for
1134 debugging n32 executables. (Debugging 64-bit executables is not yet
1137 * Unified support for hardware watchpoints in all x86 configurations.
1139 Most (if not all) native x86 configurations support hardware-assisted
1140 breakpoints and watchpoints in a unified manner. This support
1141 implements debug register sharing between watchpoints, which allows to
1142 put a virtually infinite number of watchpoints on the same address,
1143 and also supports watching regions up to 16 bytes with several debug
1146 The new maintenance command `maintenance show-debug-regs' toggles
1147 debugging print-outs in functions that insert, remove, and test
1148 watchpoints and hardware breakpoints.
1150 * Changes in the DJGPP native configuration.
1152 New command ``info dos sysinfo'' displays assorted information about
1153 the CPU, OS, memory, and DPMI server.
1155 New commands ``info dos gdt'', ``info dos ldt'', and ``info dos idt''
1156 display information about segment descriptors stored in GDT, LDT, and
1159 New commands ``info dos pde'' and ``info dos pte'' display entries
1160 from Page Directory and Page Tables (for now works with CWSDPMI only).
1161 New command ``info dos address-pte'' displays the Page Table entry for
1162 a given linear address.
1164 GDB can now pass command lines longer than 126 characters to the
1165 program being debugged (requires an update to the libdbg.a library
1166 which is part of the DJGPP development kit).
1168 DWARF2 debug info is now supported.
1170 It is now possible to `step' and `next' through calls to `longjmp'.
1172 * Changes in documentation.
1174 All GDB documentation was converted to GFDL, the GNU Free
1175 Documentation License.
1177 Tracepoints-related commands are now fully documented in the GDB
1180 TUI, the Text-mode User Interface, is now documented in the manual.
1182 Tracepoints-related commands are now fully documented in the GDB
1185 The "GDB Internals" manual now has an index. It also includes
1186 documentation of `ui_out' functions, GDB coding standards, x86
1187 hardware watchpoints, and memory region attributes.
1189 * GDB's version number moved to ``version.in''
1191 The Makefile variable VERSION has been replaced by the file
1192 ``version.in''. People creating GDB distributions should update the
1193 contents of this file.
1197 GUD support is now a standard part of the EMACS distribution.
1199 *** Changes in GDB 5.0:
1201 * Improved support for debugging FP programs on x86 targets
1203 Unified and much-improved support for debugging floating-point
1204 programs on all x86 targets. In particular, ``info float'' now
1205 displays the FP registers in the same format on all x86 targets, with
1206 greater level of detail.
1208 * Improvements and bugfixes in hardware-assisted watchpoints
1210 It is now possible to watch array elements, struct members, and
1211 bitfields with hardware-assisted watchpoints. Data-read watchpoints
1212 on x86 targets no longer erroneously trigger when the address is
1215 * Improvements in the native DJGPP version of GDB
1217 The distribution now includes all the scripts and auxiliary files
1218 necessary to build the native DJGPP version on MS-DOS/MS-Windows
1219 machines ``out of the box''.
1221 The DJGPP version can now debug programs that use signals. It is
1222 possible to catch signals that happened in the debuggee, deliver
1223 signals to it, interrupt it with Ctrl-C, etc. (Previously, a signal
1224 would kill the program being debugged.) Programs that hook hardware
1225 interrupts (keyboard, timer, etc.) can also be debugged.
1227 It is now possible to debug DJGPP programs that redirect their
1228 standard handles or switch them to raw (as opposed to cooked) mode, or
1229 even close them. The command ``run < foo > bar'' works as expected,
1230 and ``info terminal'' reports useful information about the debuggee's
1231 terminal, including raw/cooked mode, redirection, etc.
1233 The DJGPP version now uses termios functions for console I/O, which
1234 enables debugging graphics programs. Interrupting GDB with Ctrl-C
1237 DOS-style file names with drive letters are now fully supported by
1240 It is now possible to debug DJGPP programs that switch their working
1241 directory. It is also possible to rerun the debuggee any number of
1242 times without restarting GDB; thus, you can use the same setup,
1243 breakpoints, etc. for many debugging sessions.
1245 * New native configurations
1247 ARM GNU/Linux arm*-*-linux*
1248 PowerPC GNU/Linux powerpc-*-linux*
1252 Motorola MCore mcore-*-*
1253 x86 VxWorks i[3456]86-*-vxworks*
1254 PowerPC VxWorks powerpc-*-vxworks*
1255 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
1257 * OBSOLETE configurations
1259 Altos 3068 m68*-altos-*
1260 Convex c1-*-*, c2-*-*
1262 ARM RISCix arm-*-* (as host)
1265 Configurations that have been declared obsolete will be commented out,
1266 but the code will be left in place. If there is no activity to revive
1267 these configurations before the next release of GDB, the sources will
1268 be permanently REMOVED.
1270 * Gould support removed
1272 Support for the Gould PowerNode and NP1 has been removed.
1274 * New features for SVR4
1276 On SVR4 native platforms (such as Solaris), if you attach to a process
1277 without first loading a symbol file, GDB will now attempt to locate and
1278 load symbols from the running process's executable file.
1280 * Many C++ enhancements
1282 C++ support has been greatly improved. Overload resolution now works properly
1283 in almost all cases. RTTI support is on the way.
1285 * Remote targets can connect to a sub-program
1287 A popen(3) style serial-device has been added. This device starts a
1288 sub-process (such as a stand-alone simulator) and then communicates
1289 with that. The sub-program to run is specified using the syntax
1290 ``|<program> <args>'' vis:
1292 (gdb) set remotedebug 1
1293 (gdb) target extended-remote |mn10300-elf-sim program-args
1295 * MIPS 64 remote protocol
1297 A long standing bug in the mips64 remote protocol where by GDB
1298 expected certain 32 bit registers (ex SR) to be transfered as 32
1299 instead of 64 bits has been fixed.
1301 The command ``set remote-mips64-transfers-32bit-regs on'' has been
1302 added to provide backward compatibility with older versions of GDB.
1304 * ``set remotebinarydownload'' replaced by ``set remote X-packet''
1306 The command ``set remotebinarydownload'' command has been replaced by
1307 ``set remote X-packet''. Other commands in ``set remote'' family
1308 include ``set remote P-packet''.
1310 * Breakpoint commands accept ranges.
1312 The breakpoint commands ``enable'', ``disable'', and ``delete'' now
1313 accept a range of breakpoints, e.g. ``5-7''. The tracepoint command
1314 ``tracepoint passcount'' also accepts a range of tracepoints.
1316 * ``apropos'' command added.
1318 The ``apropos'' command searches through command names and
1319 documentation strings, printing out matches, making it much easier to
1320 try to find a command that does what you are looking for.
1324 A new machine oriented interface (MI) has been added to GDB. This
1325 interface is designed for debug environments running GDB as a separate
1326 process. This is part of the long term libGDB project. See the
1327 "GDB/MI" chapter of the GDB manual for further information. It can be
1328 enabled by configuring with:
1330 .../configure --enable-gdbmi
1332 *** Changes in GDB-4.18:
1334 * New native configurations
1336 HP-UX 10.20 hppa*-*-hpux10.20
1337 HP-UX 11.x hppa*-*-hpux11.0*
1338 M68K GNU/Linux m68*-*-linux*
1342 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
1343 Intel StrongARM strongarm-*-*
1344 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
1346 * OBSOLETE configurations
1348 Gould PowerNode, NP1 np1-*-*, pn-*-*
1350 Configurations that have been declared obsolete will be commented out,
1351 but the code will be left in place. If there is no activity to revive
1352 these configurations before the next release of GDB, the sources will
1353 be permanently REMOVED.
1357 As a compatibility experiment, GDB's source files buildsym.h and
1358 buildsym.c have been converted to pure standard C, no longer
1359 containing any K&R compatibility code. We believe that all systems in
1360 use today either come with a standard C compiler, or have a GCC port
1361 available. If this is not true, please report the affected
1362 configuration to bug-gdb@gnu.org immediately. See the README file for
1363 information about getting a standard C compiler if you don't have one
1368 GDB now uses readline 2.2.
1370 * set extension-language
1372 You can now control the mapping between filename extensions and source
1373 languages by using the `set extension-language' command. For instance,
1374 you can ask GDB to treat .c files as C++ by saying
1375 set extension-language .c c++
1376 The command `info extensions' lists all of the recognized extensions
1377 and their associated languages.
1379 * Setting processor type for PowerPC and RS/6000
1381 When GDB is configured for a powerpc*-*-* or an rs6000*-*-* target,
1382 you can use the `set processor' command to specify what variant of the
1383 PowerPC family you are debugging. The command
1387 sets the PowerPC/RS6000 variant to NAME. GDB knows about the
1388 following PowerPC and RS6000 variants:
1390 ppc-uisa PowerPC UISA - a PPC processor as viewed by user-level code
1391 rs6000 IBM RS6000 ("POWER") architecture, user-level view
1393 403GC IBM PowerPC 403GC
1394 505 Motorola PowerPC 505
1395 860 Motorola PowerPC 860 or 850
1396 601 Motorola PowerPC 601
1397 602 Motorola PowerPC 602
1398 603 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 603 or 603e
1399 604 Motorola PowerPC 604 or 604e
1400 750 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 750 or 750
1402 At the moment, this command just tells GDB what to name the
1403 special-purpose processor registers. Since almost all the affected
1404 registers are inaccessible to user-level programs, this command is
1405 only useful for remote debugging in its present form.
1409 Thanks to a major code donation from Hewlett-Packard, GDB now has much
1410 more extensive support for HP-UX. Added features include shared
1411 library support, kernel threads and hardware watchpoints for 11.00,
1412 support for HP's ANSI C and C++ compilers, and a compatibility mode
1413 for xdb and dbx commands.
1417 HP's donation includes the new concept of catchpoints, which is a
1418 generalization of the old catch command. On HP-UX, it is now possible
1419 to catch exec, fork, and vfork, as well as library loading.
1421 This means that the existing catch command has changed; its first
1422 argument now specifies the type of catch to be set up. See the
1423 output of "help catch" for a list of catchpoint types.
1425 * Debugging across forks
1427 On HP-UX, you can choose which process to debug when a fork() happens
1432 HP has donated a curses-based terminal user interface (TUI). To get
1433 it, build with --enable-tui. Although this can be enabled for any
1434 configuration, at present it only works for native HP debugging.
1436 * GDB remote protocol additions
1438 A new protocol packet 'X' that writes binary data is now available.
1439 Default behavior is to try 'X', then drop back to 'M' if the stub
1440 fails to respond. The settable variable `remotebinarydownload'
1441 allows explicit control over the use of 'X'.
1443 For 64-bit targets, the memory packets ('M' and 'm') can now contain a
1444 full 64-bit address. The command
1446 set remoteaddresssize 32
1448 can be used to revert to the old behaviour. For existing remote stubs
1449 the change should not be noticed, as the additional address information
1452 In order to assist in debugging stubs, you may use the maintenance
1453 command `packet' to send any text string to the stub. For instance,
1455 maint packet heythere
1457 sends the packet "$heythere#<checksum>". Note that it is very easy to
1458 disrupt a debugging session by sending the wrong packet at the wrong
1461 The compare-sections command allows you to compare section data on the
1462 target to what is in the executable file without uploading or
1463 downloading, by comparing CRC checksums.
1465 * Tracing can collect general expressions
1467 You may now collect general expressions at tracepoints. This requires
1468 further additions to the target-side stub; see tracepoint.c and
1469 doc/agentexpr.texi for further details.
1471 * mask-address variable for Mips
1473 For Mips targets, you may control the zeroing of the upper 32 bits of
1474 a 64-bit address by entering `set mask-address on'. This is mainly
1475 of interest to users of embedded R4xxx and R5xxx processors.
1477 * Higher serial baud rates
1479 GDB's serial code now allows you to specify baud rates 57600, 115200,
1480 230400, and 460800 baud. (Note that your host system may not be able
1481 to achieve all of these rates.)
1485 The i960 configuration now includes an initial implementation of a
1486 builtin simulator, contributed by Jim Wilson.
1489 *** Changes in GDB-4.17:
1491 * New native configurations
1493 Alpha GNU/Linux alpha*-*-linux*
1494 Unixware 2.x i[3456]86-unixware2*
1495 Irix 6.x mips*-sgi-irix6*
1496 PowerPC GNU/Linux powerpc-*-linux*
1497 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
1498 Sparc GNU/Linux sparc-*-linux*
1499 Motorola sysV68 R3V7.1 m68k-motorola-sysv
1503 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
1504 Hitachi H8/300S h8300*-*-*
1505 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
1506 Matsushita MN10300 w/simulator mn10300-*-*
1507 MIPS NEC VR4100 mips64*vr4100*{,el}-*-elf*
1508 MIPS NEC VR5000 mips64*vr5000*{,el}-*-elf*
1509 MIPS Toshiba TX39 mips64*tx39*{,el}-*-elf*
1510 Mitsubishi D10V w/simulator d10v-*-*
1511 Mitsubishi M32R/D w/simulator m32r-*-elf*
1512 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
1513 NEC V850 w/simulator v850-*-*
1515 * New debugging protocols
1517 ARM with RDI protocol arm*-*-*
1518 M68K with dBUG monitor m68*-*-{aout,coff,elf}
1519 DDB and LSI variants of PMON protocol mips*-*-*
1520 PowerPC with DINK32 monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
1521 PowerPC with SDS protocol powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
1522 Macraigor OCD (Wiggler) devices powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
1526 All configurations can now understand and use the DWARF 2 debugging
1527 format. The choice is automatic, if the symbol file contains DWARF 2
1532 GDB now includes basic Java language support. This support is
1533 only useful with Java compilers that produce native machine code.
1535 * solib-absolute-prefix and solib-search-path
1537 For SunOS and SVR4 shared libraries, you may now set the prefix for
1538 loading absolute shared library symbol files, and the search path for
1539 locating non-absolute shared library symbol files.
1541 * Live range splitting
1543 GDB can now effectively debug code for which GCC has performed live
1544 range splitting as part of its optimization. See gdb/doc/LRS for
1545 more details on the expected format of the stabs information.
1549 GDB's support for the GNU Hurd, including thread debugging, has been
1550 updated to work with current versions of the Hurd.
1554 GDB's ARM target configuration now handles the ARM7T (Thumb) 16-bit
1555 instruction set. ARM GDB automatically detects when Thumb
1556 instructions are in use, and adjusts disassembly and backtracing
1561 GDB's MIPS target configurations now handle the MIP16 16-bit
1566 GDB now includes support for overlays; if an executable has been
1567 linked such that multiple sections are based at the same address, GDB
1568 will decide which section to use for symbolic info. You can choose to
1569 control the decision manually, using overlay commands, or implement
1570 additional target-side support and use "overlay load-target" to bring
1571 in the overlay mapping. Do "help overlay" for more detail.
1575 The command "info symbol <address>" displays information about
1576 the symbol at the specified address.
1580 The standard remote protocol now includes an extension that allows
1581 asynchronous collection and display of trace data. This requires
1582 extensive support in the target-side debugging stub. Tracing mode
1583 includes a new interaction mode in GDB and new commands: see the
1584 file tracepoint.c for more details.
1588 Configurations for embedded MIPS now include a simulator contributed
1589 by Cygnus Solutions. The simulator supports the instruction sets
1590 of most MIPS variants.
1594 Sparc configurations may now include the ERC32 simulator contributed
1595 by the European Space Agency. The simulator is not built into
1596 Sparc targets by default; configure with --enable-sim to include it.
1600 For target configurations that may include multiple variants of a
1601 basic architecture (such as MIPS and SH), you may now set the
1602 architecture explicitly. "set arch" sets, "info arch" lists
1603 the possible architectures.
1605 *** Changes in GDB-4.16:
1607 * New native configurations
1609 Windows 95, x86 Windows NT i[345]86-*-cygwin32
1610 M68K NetBSD m68k-*-netbsd*
1611 PowerPC AIX 4.x powerpc-*-aix*
1612 PowerPC MacOS powerpc-*-macos*
1613 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
1614 RS/6000 AIX 4.x rs6000-*-aix4*
1618 ARM with RDP protocol arm-*-*
1619 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
1620 MIPS VxWorks mips*-*-vxworks*
1621 MIPS VR4300 with PMON mips64*vr4300{,el}-*-elf*
1622 PowerPC with PPCBUG monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi*
1624 Matra Sparclet sparclet-*-*
1628 The powerpc-eabi configuration now includes the PSIM simulator,
1629 contributed by Andrew Cagney, with assistance from Mike Meissner.
1630 PSIM is a very elaborate model of the PowerPC, including not only
1631 basic instruction set execution, but also details of execution unit
1632 performance and I/O hardware. See sim/ppc/README for more details.
1636 GDB now works with Solaris 2.5.
1638 * Windows 95/NT native
1640 GDB will now work as a native debugger on Windows 95 and Windows NT.
1641 To build it from source, you must use the "gnu-win32" environment,
1642 which uses a DLL to emulate enough of Unix to run the GNU tools.
1643 Further information, binaries, and sources are available at
1644 ftp.cygnus.com, under pub/gnu-win32.
1646 * dont-repeat command
1648 If a user-defined command includes the command `dont-repeat', then the
1649 command will not be repeated if the user just types return. This is
1650 useful if the command is time-consuming to run, so that accidental
1651 extra keystrokes don't run the same command many times.
1653 * Send break instead of ^C
1655 The standard remote protocol now includes an option to send a break
1656 rather than a ^C to the target in order to interrupt it. By default,
1657 GDB will send ^C; to send a break, set the variable `remotebreak' to 1.
1659 * Remote protocol timeout
1661 The standard remote protocol includes a new variable `remotetimeout'
1662 that allows you to set the number of seconds before GDB gives up trying
1663 to read from the target. The default value is 2.
1665 * Automatic tracking of dynamic object loading (HPUX and Solaris only)
1667 By default GDB will automatically keep track of objects as they are
1668 loaded and unloaded by the dynamic linker. By using the command `set
1669 stop-on-solib-events 1' you can arrange for GDB to stop the inferior
1670 when shared library events occur, thus allowing you to set breakpoints
1671 in shared libraries which are explicitly loaded by the inferior.
1673 Note this feature does not work on hpux8. On hpux9 you must link
1674 /usr/lib/end.o into your program. This feature should work
1675 automatically on hpux10.
1677 * Irix 5.x hardware watchpoint support
1679 Irix 5 configurations now support the use of hardware watchpoints.
1681 * Mips protocol "SYN garbage limit"
1683 When debugging a Mips target using the `target mips' protocol, you
1684 may set the number of characters that GDB will ignore by setting
1685 the `syn-garbage-limit'. A value of -1 means that GDB will ignore
1686 every character. The default value is 1050.
1688 * Recording and replaying remote debug sessions
1690 If you set `remotelogfile' to the name of a file, gdb will write to it
1691 a recording of a remote debug session. This recording may then be
1692 replayed back to gdb using "gdbreplay". See gdbserver/README for
1693 details. This is useful when you have a problem with GDB while doing
1694 remote debugging; you can make a recording of the session and send it
1695 to someone else, who can then recreate the problem.
1697 * Speedups for remote debugging
1699 GDB includes speedups for downloading and stepping MIPS systems using
1700 the IDT monitor, fast downloads to the Hitachi SH E7000 emulator,
1701 and more efficient S-record downloading.
1703 * Memory use reductions and statistics collection
1705 GDB now uses less memory and reports statistics about memory usage.
1706 Try the `maint print statistics' command, for example.
1708 *** Changes in GDB-4.15:
1710 * Psymtabs for XCOFF
1712 The symbol reader for AIX GDB now uses partial symbol tables. This
1713 can greatly improve startup time, especially for large executables.
1715 * Remote targets use caching
1717 Remote targets now use a data cache to speed up communication with the
1718 remote side. The data cache could lead to incorrect results because
1719 it doesn't know about volatile variables, thus making it impossible to
1720 debug targets which use memory mapped I/O devices. `set remotecache
1721 off' turns the the data cache off.
1723 * Remote targets may have threads
1725 The standard remote protocol now includes support for multiple threads
1726 in the target system, using new protocol commands 'H' and 'T'. See
1727 gdb/remote.c for details.
1731 If GDB is configured with `--enable-netrom', then it will include
1732 support for the NetROM ROM emulator from XLNT Designs. The NetROM
1733 acts as though it is a bank of ROM on the target board, but you can
1734 write into it over the network. GDB's support consists only of
1735 support for fast loading into the emulated ROM; to debug, you must use
1736 another protocol, such as standard remote protocol. The usual
1737 sequence is something like
1739 target nrom <netrom-hostname>
1741 target remote <netrom-hostname>:1235
1745 GDB now includes support for the Apple Macintosh, as a host only. It
1746 may be run as either an MPW tool or as a standalone application, and
1747 it can debug through the serial port. All the usual GDB commands are
1748 available, but to the target command, you must supply "serial" as the
1749 device type instead of "/dev/ttyXX". See mpw-README in the main
1750 directory for more information on how to build. The MPW configuration
1751 scripts */mpw-config.in support only a few targets, and only the
1752 mips-idt-ecoff target has been tested.
1756 GDB configuration now uses autoconf. This is not user-visible,
1757 but does simplify configuration and building.
1761 GDB now supports hpux10.
1763 *** Changes in GDB-4.14:
1765 * New native configurations
1767 x86 FreeBSD i[345]86-*-freebsd
1768 x86 NetBSD i[345]86-*-netbsd
1769 NS32k NetBSD ns32k-*-netbsd
1770 Sparc NetBSD sparc-*-netbsd
1774 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
1775 HP PA PRO embedded (WinBond W89K & Oki OP50N) hppa*-*-pro*
1776 CPU32 EST-300 emulator m68*-*-est*
1777 PowerPC ELF powerpc-*-elf
1780 * Alpha OSF/1 support for procfs
1782 GDB now supports procfs under OSF/1-2.x and higher, which makes it
1783 possible to attach to running processes. As the mounting of the /proc
1784 filesystem is optional on the Alpha, GDB automatically determines
1785 the availability of /proc during startup. This can lead to problems
1786 if /proc is unmounted after GDB has been started.
1788 * Arguments to user-defined commands
1790 User commands may accept up to 10 arguments separated by whitespace.
1791 Arguments are accessed within the user command via $arg0..$arg9. A
1794 print $arg0 + $arg1 + $arg2
1796 To execute the command use:
1799 Defines the command "adder" which prints the sum of its three arguments.
1800 Note the arguments are text substitutions, so they may reference variables,
1801 use complex expressions, or even perform inferior function calls.
1803 * New `if' and `while' commands
1805 This makes it possible to write more sophisticated user-defined
1806 commands. Both commands take a single argument, which is the
1807 expression to evaluate, and must be followed by the commands to
1808 execute, one per line, if the expression is nonzero, the list being
1809 terminated by the word `end'. The `if' command list may include an
1810 `else' word, which causes the following commands to be executed only
1811 if the expression is zero.
1813 * Fortran source language mode
1815 GDB now includes partial support for Fortran 77. It will recognize
1816 Fortran programs and can evaluate a subset of Fortran expressions, but
1817 variables and functions may not be handled correctly. GDB will work
1818 with G77, but does not yet know much about symbols emitted by other
1821 * Better HPUX support
1823 Most debugging facilities now work on dynamic executables for HPPAs
1824 running hpux9 or later. You can attach to running dynamically linked
1825 processes, but by default the dynamic libraries will be read-only, so
1826 for instance you won't be able to put breakpoints in them. To change
1827 that behavior do the following before running the program:
1833 This will cause the libraries to be mapped private and read-write.
1834 To revert to the normal behavior, do this:
1840 You cannot set breakpoints or examine data in the library until after
1841 the library is loaded if the function/data symbols do not have
1844 GDB can now also read debug symbols produced by the HP C compiler on
1845 HPPAs (sorry, no C++, Fortran or 68k support).
1847 * Target byte order now dynamically selectable
1849 You can choose which byte order to use with a target system, via the
1850 commands "set endian big" and "set endian little", and you can see the
1851 current setting by using "show endian". You can also give the command
1852 "set endian auto", in which case GDB will use the byte order
1853 associated with the executable. Currently, only embedded MIPS
1854 configurations support dynamic selection of target byte order.
1856 * New DOS host serial code
1858 This version uses DPMI interrupts to handle buffered I/O, so you
1859 no longer need to run asynctsr when debugging boards connected to
1862 *** Changes in GDB-4.13:
1864 * New "complete" command
1866 This lists all the possible completions for the rest of the line, if it
1867 were to be given as a command itself. This is intended for use by emacs.
1869 * Trailing space optional in prompt
1871 "set prompt" no longer adds a space for you after the prompt you set. This
1872 allows you to set a prompt which ends in a space or one that does not.
1874 * Breakpoint hit counts
1876 "info break" now displays a count of the number of times the breakpoint
1877 has been hit. This is especially useful in conjunction with "ignore"; you
1878 can ignore a large number of breakpoint hits, look at the breakpoint info
1879 to see how many times the breakpoint was hit, then run again, ignoring one
1880 less than that number, and this will get you quickly to the last hit of
1883 * Ability to stop printing at NULL character
1885 "set print null-stop" will cause GDB to stop printing the characters of
1886 an array when the first NULL is encountered. This is useful when large
1887 arrays actually contain only short strings.
1889 * Shared library breakpoints
1891 In SunOS 4.x, SVR4, and Alpha OSF/1 configurations, you can now set
1892 breakpoints in shared libraries before the executable is run.
1894 * Hardware watchpoints
1896 There is a new hardware breakpoint for the watch command for sparclite
1897 targets. See gdb/sparclite/hw_breakpoint.note.
1899 Hardware watchpoints are also now supported under GNU/Linux.
1903 Annotations have been added. These are for use with graphical interfaces,
1904 and are still experimental. Currently only gdba.el uses these.
1906 * Improved Irix 5 support
1908 GDB now works properly with Irix 5.2.
1910 * Improved HPPA support
1912 GDB now works properly with the latest GCC and GAS.
1914 * New native configurations
1916 Sequent PTX4 i[34]86-sequent-ptx4
1917 HPPA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
1918 Atari TT running SVR4 m68*-*-sysv4*
1919 RS/6000 LynxOS rs6000-*-lynxos*
1923 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
1924 MIPS R4000 mips64*{,el}-*-{ecoff,elf}
1927 * Hitachi SH7000 and E7000-PC ICE support
1929 There is now support for communicating with the Hitachi E7000-PC ICE.
1930 This is available automatically when GDB is configured for the SH.
1934 As usual, a variety of small fixes and improvements, both generic
1935 and configuration-specific. See the ChangeLog for more detail.
1937 *** Changes in GDB-4.12:
1939 * Irix 5 is now supported
1943 GDB-4.12 on the HPPA has a number of changes which make it unable
1944 to debug the output from the currently released versions of GCC and
1945 GAS (GCC 2.5.8 and GAS-2.2 or PAGAS-1.36). Until the next major release
1946 of GCC and GAS, versions of these tools designed to work with GDB-4.12
1947 can be retrieved via anonymous ftp from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist.
1950 *** Changes in GDB-4.11:
1952 * User visible changes:
1956 The "set remotedebug" option is now consistent between the mips remote
1957 target, remote targets using the gdb-specific protocol, UDI (AMD's
1958 debug protocol for the 29k) and the 88k bug monitor. It is now an
1959 integer specifying a debug level (normally 0 or 1, but 2 means more
1960 debugging info for the mips target).
1962 * DEC Alpha native support
1964 GDB now works on the DEC Alpha. GCC 2.4.5 does not produce usable
1965 debug info, but GDB works fairly well with the DEC compiler and should
1966 work with a future GCC release. See the README file for a few
1967 Alpha-specific notes.
1969 * Preliminary thread implementation
1971 GDB now has preliminary thread support for both SGI/Irix and LynxOS.
1973 * LynxOS native and target support for 386
1975 This release has been hosted on LynxOS 2.2, and also can be configured
1976 to remotely debug programs running under LynxOS (see gdb/gdbserver/README
1979 * Improvements in C++ mangling/demangling.
1981 This release has much better g++ debugging, specifically in name
1982 mangling/demangling, virtual function calls, print virtual table,
1983 call methods, ...etc.
1985 *** Changes in GDB-4.10:
1987 * User visible changes:
1989 Remote debugging using the GDB-specific (`target remote') protocol now
1990 supports the `load' command. This is only useful if you have some
1991 other way of getting the stub to the target system, and you can put it
1992 somewhere in memory where it won't get clobbered by the download.
1994 Filename completion now works.
1996 When run under emacs mode, the "info line" command now causes the
1997 arrow to point to the line specified. Also, "info line" prints
1998 addresses in symbolic form (as well as hex).
2000 All vxworks based targets now support a user settable option, called
2001 vxworks-timeout. This option represents the number of seconds gdb
2002 should wait for responses to rpc's. You might want to use this if
2003 your vxworks target is, perhaps, a slow software simulator or happens
2004 to be on the far side of a thin network line.
2008 This release contains support for using a DEC alpha as a GDB host for
2009 cross debugging. Native alpha debugging is not supported yet.
2012 *** Changes in GDB-4.9:
2016 This is the first GDB release which is accompanied by a matching testsuite.
2017 The testsuite requires installation of dejagnu, which should be available
2018 via ftp from most sites that carry GNU software.
2022 'Cfront' style demangling has had its name changed to 'ARM' style, to
2023 emphasize that it was written from the specifications in the C++ Annotated
2024 Reference Manual, not necessarily to be compatible with AT&T cfront. Despite
2025 disclaimers, it still generated too much confusion with users attempting to
2026 use gdb with AT&T cfront.
2030 GDB now uses a standard remote interface to a simulator library.
2031 So far, the library contains simulators for the Zilog Z8001/2, the
2032 Hitachi H8/300, H8/500 and Super-H.
2034 * New targets supported
2036 H8/300 simulator h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
2037 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
2038 SH simulator sh-hitachi-hms or sh
2039 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
2040 IDT MIPS board over serial line mips-idt-ecoff
2042 Cross-debugging to GO32 targets is supported. It requires a custom
2043 version of the i386-stub.c module which is integrated with the
2044 GO32 memory extender.
2046 * New remote protocols
2048 MIPS remote debugging protocol.
2050 * New source languages supported
2052 This version includes preliminary support for Chill, a Pascal like language
2053 used by telecommunications companies. Chill support is also being integrated
2054 into the GNU compiler, but we don't know when it will be publically available.
2057 *** Changes in GDB-4.8:
2059 * HP Precision Architecture supported
2061 GDB now supports HP PA-RISC machines running HPUX. A preliminary
2062 version of this support was available as a set of patches from the
2063 University of Utah. GDB does not support debugging of programs
2064 compiled with the HP compiler, because HP will not document their file
2065 format. Instead, you must use GCC (version 2.3.2 or later) and PA-GAS
2066 (as available from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist/pa-gas.u4.tar.Z).
2068 Many problems in the preliminary version have been fixed.
2070 * Faster and better demangling
2072 We have improved template demangling and fixed numerous bugs in the GNU style
2073 demangler. It can now handle type modifiers such as `static' or `const'. Wide
2074 character types (wchar_t) are now supported. Demangling of each symbol is now
2075 only done once, and is cached when the symbol table for a file is read in.
2076 This results in a small increase in memory usage for C programs, a moderate
2077 increase in memory usage for C++ programs, and a fantastic speedup in
2080 `Cfront' style demangling still doesn't work with AT&T cfront. It was written
2081 from the specifications in the Annotated Reference Manual, which AT&T's
2082 compiler does not actually implement.
2084 * G++ multiple inheritance compiler problem
2086 In the 2.3.2 release of gcc/g++, how the compiler resolves multiple
2087 inheritance lattices was reworked to properly discover ambiguities. We
2088 recently found an example which causes this new algorithm to fail in a
2089 very subtle way, producing bad debug information for those classes.
2090 The file 'gcc.patch' (in this directory) can be applied to gcc to
2091 circumvent the problem. A future GCC release will contain a complete
2094 The previous G++ debug info problem (mentioned below for the gdb-4.7
2095 release) is fixed in gcc version 2.3.2.
2097 * Improved configure script
2099 The `configure' script will now attempt to guess your system type if
2100 you don't supply a host system type. The old scheme of supplying a
2101 host system triplet is preferable over using this. All the magic is
2102 done in the new `config.guess' script. Examine it for details.
2104 We have also brought our configure script much more in line with the FSF's
2105 version. It now supports the --with-xxx options. In particular,
2106 `--with-minimal-bfd' can be used to make the GDB binary image smaller.
2107 The resulting GDB will not be able to read arbitrary object file formats --
2108 only the format ``expected'' to be used on the configured target system.
2109 We hope to make this the default in a future release.
2111 * Documentation improvements
2113 There's new internal documentation on how to modify GDB, and how to
2114 produce clean changes to the code. We implore people to read it
2115 before submitting changes.
2117 The GDB manual uses new, sexy Texinfo conditionals, rather than arcane
2118 M4 macros. The new texinfo.tex is provided in this release. Pre-built
2119 `info' files are also provided. To build `info' files from scratch,
2120 you will need the latest `makeinfo' release, which will be available in
2121 a future texinfo-X.Y release.
2123 *NOTE* The new texinfo.tex can cause old versions of TeX to hang.
2124 We're not sure exactly which versions have this problem, but it has
2125 been seen in 3.0. We highly recommend upgrading to TeX version 3.141
2126 or better. If that isn't possible, there is a patch in
2127 `texinfo/tex3patch' that will modify `texinfo/texinfo.tex' to work
2128 around this problem.
2132 GDB now supports array constants that can be used in expressions typed in by
2133 the user. The syntax is `{element, element, ...}'. Ie: you can now type
2134 `print {1, 2, 3}', and it will build up an array in memory malloc'd in
2137 The new directory `gdb/sparclite' contains a program that demonstrates
2138 how the sparc-stub.c remote stub runs on a Fujitsu SPARClite processor.
2140 * New native hosts supported
2142 HP/PA-RISC under HPUX using GNU tools hppa1.1-hp-hpux
2143 386 CPUs running SCO Unix 3.2v4 i386-unknown-sco3.2v4
2145 * New targets supported
2147 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi or udi29k
2149 * New file formats supported
2151 BFD now supports reading HP/PA-RISC executables (SOM file format?),
2152 HPUX core files, and SCO 3.2v2 core files.
2156 Attaching to processes now works again; thanks for the many bug reports.
2158 We have also stomped on a bunch of core dumps caused by
2159 printf_filtered("%s") problems.
2161 We eliminated a copyright problem on the rpc and ptrace header files
2162 for VxWorks, which was discovered at the last minute during the 4.7
2163 release. You should now be able to build a VxWorks GDB.
2165 You can now interrupt gdb while an attached process is running. This
2166 will cause the attached process to stop, and give control back to GDB.
2168 We fixed problems caused by using too many file descriptors
2169 for reading symbols from object files and libraries. This was
2170 especially a problem for programs that used many (~100) shared
2173 The `step' command now only enters a subroutine if there is line number
2174 information for the subroutine. Otherwise it acts like the `next'
2175 command. Previously, `step' would enter subroutines if there was
2176 any debugging information about the routine. This avoids problems
2177 when using `cc -g1' on MIPS machines.
2179 * Internal improvements
2181 GDB's internal interfaces have been improved to make it easier to support
2182 debugging of multiple languages in the future.
2184 GDB now uses a common structure for symbol information internally.
2185 Minimal symbols (derived from linkage symbols in object files), partial
2186 symbols (from a quick scan of debug information), and full symbols
2187 contain a common subset of information, making it easier to write
2188 shared code that handles any of them.
2190 * New command line options
2192 We now accept --silent as an alias for --quiet.
2196 The memory-mapped-malloc library is now licensed under the GNU Library
2197 General Public License.
2199 *** Changes in GDB-4.7:
2201 * Host/native/target split
2203 GDB has had some major internal surgery to untangle the support for
2204 hosts and remote targets. Now, when you configure GDB for a remote
2205 target, it will no longer load in all of the support for debugging
2206 local programs on the host. When fully completed and tested, this will
2207 ensure that arbitrary host/target combinations are possible.
2209 The primary conceptual shift is to separate the non-portable code in
2210 GDB into three categories. Host specific code is required any time GDB
2211 is compiled on that host, regardless of the target. Target specific
2212 code relates to the peculiarities of the target, but can be compiled on
2213 any host. Native specific code is everything else: it can only be
2214 built when the host and target are the same system. Child process
2215 handling and core file support are two common `native' examples.
2217 GDB's use of /proc for controlling Unix child processes is now cleaner.
2218 It has been split out into a single module under the `target_ops' vector,
2219 plus two native-dependent functions for each system that uses /proc.
2221 * New hosts supported
2223 HP/Apollo 68k (under the BSD domain) m68k-apollo-bsd or apollo68bsd
2224 386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
2225 386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or i386sco
2227 * New targets supported
2229 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
2230 68030 and CPU32 m68030-*-*, m68332-*-*
2232 * New native hosts supported
2234 386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
2235 (386bsd is not well tested yet)
2236 386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or sco
2238 * New file formats supported
2240 BFD now supports COFF files for the Zilog Z8000 microprocessor. It
2241 supports reading of `a.out.adobe' object files, which are an a.out
2242 format extended with minimal information about multiple sections.
2246 `show copying' is the same as the old `info copying'.
2247 `show warranty' is the same as `info warrantee'.
2248 These were renamed for consistency. The old commands continue to work.
2250 `info handle' is a new alias for `info signals'.
2252 You can now define pre-command hooks, which attach arbitrary command
2253 scripts to any command. The commands in the hook will be executed
2254 prior to the user's command. You can also create a hook which will be
2255 executed whenever the program stops. See gdb.texinfo.
2259 We now deal with Cfront style name mangling, and can even extract type
2260 info from mangled symbols. GDB can automatically figure out which
2261 symbol mangling style your C++ compiler uses.
2263 Calling of methods and virtual functions has been improved as well.
2267 The crash that occured when debugging Sun Ansi-C compiled binaries is
2268 fixed. This was due to mishandling of the extra N_SO stabs output
2271 We also finally got Ultrix 4.2 running in house, and fixed core file
2272 support, with help from a dozen people on the net.
2274 John M. Farrell discovered that the reason that single-stepping was so
2275 slow on all of the Mips based platforms (primarily SGI and DEC) was
2276 that we were trying to demangle and lookup a symbol used for internal
2277 purposes on every instruction that was being stepped through. Changing
2278 the name of that symbol so that it couldn't be mistaken for a C++
2279 mangled symbol sped things up a great deal.
2281 Rich Pixley sped up symbol lookups in general by getting much smarter
2282 about when C++ symbol mangling is necessary. This should make symbol
2283 completion (TAB on the command line) much faster. It's not as fast as
2284 we'd like, but it's significantly faster than gdb-4.6.
2288 A new user controllable variable 'call_scratch_address' can
2289 specify the location of a scratch area to be used when GDB
2290 calls a function in the target. This is necessary because the
2291 usual method of putting the scratch area on the stack does not work
2292 in systems that have separate instruction and data spaces.
2294 We integrated changes to support the 29k UDI (Universal Debugger
2295 Interface), but discovered at the last minute that we didn't have all
2296 of the appropriate copyright paperwork. We are working with AMD to
2297 resolve this, and hope to have it available soon.
2301 We have sped up the remote serial line protocol, especially for targets
2302 with lots of registers. It now supports a new `expedited status' ('T')
2303 message which can be used in place of the existing 'S' status message.
2304 This allows the remote stub to send only the registers that GDB
2305 needs to make a quick decision about single-stepping or conditional
2306 breakpoints, eliminating the need to fetch the entire register set for
2307 each instruction being stepped through.
2309 The GDB remote serial protocol now implements a write-through cache for
2310 registers, only re-reading the registers if the target has run.
2312 There is also a new remote serial stub for SPARC processors. You can
2313 find it in gdb-4.7/gdb/sparc-stub.c. This was written to support the
2314 Fujitsu SPARClite processor, but will run on any stand-alone SPARC
2315 processor with a serial port.
2319 Configure.in files have become much easier to read and modify. A new
2320 `table driven' format makes it more obvious what configurations are
2321 supported, and what files each one uses.
2325 There is a new opcodes library which will eventually contain all of the
2326 disassembly routines and opcode tables. At present, it only contains
2327 Sparc and Z8000 routines. This will allow the assembler, debugger, and
2328 disassembler (binutils/objdump) to share these routines.
2330 The libiberty library is now copylefted under the GNU Library General
2331 Public License. This allows more liberal use, and was done so libg++
2332 can use it. This makes no difference to GDB, since the Library License
2333 grants all the rights from the General Public License.
2337 The file gdb-4.7/gdb/doc/stabs.texinfo is a (relatively) complete
2338 reference to the stabs symbol info used by the debugger. It is (as far
2339 as we know) the only published document on this fascinating topic. We
2340 encourage you to read it, compare it to the stabs information on your
2341 system, and send improvements on the document in general (to
2342 bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu).
2344 And, of course, many bugs have been fixed.
2347 *** Changes in GDB-4.6:
2349 * Better support for C++ function names
2351 GDB now accepts as input the "demangled form" of C++ overloaded function
2352 names and member function names, and can do command completion on such names
2353 (using TAB, TAB-TAB, and ESC-?). The names have to be quoted with a pair of
2354 single quotes. Examples are 'func (int, long)' and 'obj::operator==(obj&)'.
2355 Make use of command completion, it is your friend.
2357 GDB also now accepts a variety of C++ mangled symbol formats. They are
2358 the GNU g++ style, the Cfront (ARM) style, and the Lucid (lcc) style.
2359 You can tell GDB which format to use by doing a 'set demangle-style {gnu,
2360 lucid, cfront, auto}'. 'gnu' is the default. Do a 'set demangle-style foo'
2361 for the list of formats.
2363 * G++ symbol mangling problem
2365 Recent versions of gcc have a bug in how they emit debugging information for
2366 C++ methods (when using dbx-style stabs). The file 'gcc.patch' (in this
2367 directory) can be applied to gcc to fix the problem. Alternatively, if you
2368 can't fix gcc, you can #define GCC_MANGLE_BUG when compling gdb/symtab.c. The
2369 usual symptom is difficulty with setting breakpoints on methods. GDB complains
2370 about the method being non-existent. (We believe that version 2.2.2 of GCC has
2373 * New 'maintenance' command
2375 All of the commands related to hacking GDB internals have been moved out of
2376 the main command set, and now live behind the 'maintenance' command. This
2377 can also be abbreviated as 'mt'. The following changes were made:
2379 dump-me -> maintenance dump-me
2380 info all-breakpoints -> maintenance info breakpoints
2381 printmsyms -> maintenance print msyms
2382 printobjfiles -> maintenance print objfiles
2383 printpsyms -> maintenance print psymbols
2384 printsyms -> maintenance print symbols
2386 The following commands are new:
2388 maintenance demangle Call internal GDB demangler routine to
2389 demangle a C++ link name and prints the result.
2390 maintenance print type Print a type chain for a given symbol
2392 * Change to .gdbinit file processing
2394 We now read the $HOME/.gdbinit file before processing the argv arguments
2395 (e.g. reading symbol files or core files). This allows global parameters to
2396 be set, which will apply during the symbol reading. The ./.gdbinit is still
2397 read after argv processing.
2399 * New hosts supported
2401 Solaris-2.0 !!! sparc-sun-solaris2 or sun4sol2
2403 GNU/Linux support i386-unknown-linux or linux
2405 We are also including code to support the HP/PA running BSD and HPUX. This
2406 is almost guaranteed not to work, as we didn't have time to test or build it
2407 for this release. We are including it so that the more adventurous (or
2408 masochistic) of you can play with it. We also had major problems with the
2409 fact that the compiler that we got from HP doesn't support the -g option.
2412 * New targets supported
2414 Hitachi H8/300 h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
2416 * More smarts about finding #include files
2418 GDB now remembers the compilation directory for all include files, and for
2419 all files from which C is generated (like yacc and lex sources). This
2420 greatly improves GDB's ability to find yacc/lex sources, and include files,
2421 especially if you are debugging your program from a directory different from
2422 the one that contains your sources.
2424 We also fixed a bug which caused difficulty with listing and setting
2425 breakpoints in include files which contain C code. (In the past, you had to
2426 try twice in order to list an include file that you hadn't looked at before.)
2428 * Interesting infernals change
2430 GDB now deals with arbitrary numbers of sections, where the symbols for each
2431 section must be relocated relative to that section's landing place in the
2432 target's address space. This work was needed to support ELF with embedded
2433 stabs used by Solaris-2.0.
2435 * Bug fixes (of course!)
2437 There have been loads of fixes for the following things:
2438 mips, rs6000, 29k/udi, m68k, g++, type handling, elf/dwarf, m88k,
2439 i960, stabs, DOS(GO32), procfs, etc...
2441 See the ChangeLog for details.
2443 *** Changes in GDB-4.5:
2445 * New machines supported (host and target)
2447 IBM RS6000 running AIX rs6000-ibm-aix or rs6000
2449 SGI Irix-4.x mips-sgi-irix4 or iris4
2451 * New malloc package
2453 GDB now uses a new memory manager called mmalloc, based on gmalloc.
2454 Mmalloc is capable of handling mutiple heaps of memory. It is also
2455 capable of saving a heap to a file, and then mapping it back in later.
2456 This can be used to greatly speedup the startup of GDB by using a
2457 pre-parsed symbol table which lives in a mmalloc managed heap. For
2458 more details, please read mmalloc/mmalloc.texi.
2462 The 'info proc' command (SVR4 only) has been enhanced quite a bit. See
2463 'help info proc' for details.
2465 * MIPS ecoff symbol table format
2467 The code that reads MIPS symbol table format is now supported on all hosts.
2468 Thanks to MIPS for releasing the sym.h and symconst.h files to make this
2471 * File name changes for MS-DOS
2473 Many files in the config directories have been renamed to make it easier to
2474 support GDB on MS-DOSe systems (which have very restrictive file name
2475 conventions :-( ). MS-DOSe host support (under DJ Delorie's GO32
2476 environment) is close to working but has some remaining problems. Note
2477 that debugging of DOS programs is not supported, due to limitations
2478 in the ``operating system'', but it can be used to host cross-debugging.
2480 * Cross byte order fixes
2482 Many fixes have been made to support cross debugging of Sparc and MIPS
2483 targets from hosts whose byte order differs.
2485 * New -mapped and -readnow options
2487 If memory-mapped files are available on your system through the 'mmap'
2488 system call, you can use the -mapped option on the `file' or
2489 `symbol-file' commands to cause GDB to write the symbols from your
2490 program into a reusable file. If the program you are debugging is
2491 called `/path/fred', the mapped symbol file will be `./fred.syms'.
2492 Future GDB debugging sessions will notice the presence of this file,
2493 and will quickly map in symbol information from it, rather than reading
2494 the symbol table from the executable program. Using the '-mapped'
2495 option in a GDB `file' or `symbol-file' command has the same effect as
2496 starting GDB with the '-mapped' command-line option.
2498 You can cause GDB to read the entire symbol table immediately by using
2499 the '-readnow' option with any of the commands that load symbol table
2500 information (or on the GDB command line). This makes the command
2501 slower, but makes future operations faster.
2503 The -mapped and -readnow options are typically combined in order to
2504 build a `fred.syms' file that contains complete symbol information.
2505 A simple GDB invocation to do nothing but build a `.syms' file for future
2508 gdb -batch -nx -mapped -readnow programname
2510 The `.syms' file is specific to the host machine on which GDB is run.
2511 It holds an exact image of GDB's internal symbol table. It cannot be
2512 shared across multiple host platforms.
2514 * longjmp() handling
2516 GDB is now capable of stepping and nexting over longjmp(), _longjmp(), and
2517 siglongjmp() without losing control. This feature has not yet been ported to
2518 all systems. It currently works on many 386 platforms, all MIPS-based
2519 platforms (SGI, DECstation, etc), and Sun3/4.
2523 Preliminary work has been put in to support the new Solaris OS from Sun. At
2524 this time, it can control and debug processes, but it is not capable of
2529 As always, many many bug fixes. The major areas were with g++, and mipsread.
2530 People using the MIPS-based platforms should experience fewer mysterious
2531 crashes and trashed symbol tables.
2533 *** Changes in GDB-4.4:
2535 * New machines supported (host and target)
2537 SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
2539 BSD Reno on Vax vax-dec-bsd
2540 Ultrix on Vax vax-dec-ultrix
2542 * New machines supported (target)
2544 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
2548 GDB continues to improve its handling of C++. `References' work better.
2549 The demangler has also been improved, and now deals with symbols mangled as
2550 per the Annotated C++ Reference Guide.
2552 GDB also now handles `stabs' symbol information embedded in MIPS
2553 `ecoff' symbol tables. Since the ecoff format was not easily
2554 extensible to handle new languages such as C++, this appeared to be a
2555 good way to put C++ debugging info into MIPS binaries. This option
2556 will be supported in the GNU C compiler, version 2, when it is
2559 * New features for SVR4
2561 GDB now handles SVR4 shared libraries, in the same fashion as SunOS
2562 shared libraries. Debugging dynamically linked programs should present
2563 only minor differences from debugging statically linked programs.
2565 The `info proc' command will print out information about any process
2566 on an SVR4 system (including the one you are debugging). At the moment,
2567 it prints the address mappings of the process.
2569 If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please send mail to
2570 bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were reqired (if any).
2572 * Better dynamic linking support in SunOS
2574 Reading symbols from shared libraries which contain debugging symbols
2575 now works properly. However, there remain issues such as automatic
2576 skipping of `transfer vector' code during function calls, which
2577 make it harder to debug code in a shared library, than to debug the
2578 same code linked statically.
2582 GDB is now using the latest `getopt' routines from the FSF. This
2583 version accepts the -- prefix for options with long names. GDB will
2584 continue to accept the old forms (-option and +option) as well.
2585 Various single letter abbreviations for options have been explicity
2586 added to the option table so that they won't get overshadowed in the
2587 future by other options that begin with the same letter.
2591 The `cleanup_undefined_types' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
2592 Many assorted bugs have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
2593 See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
2596 *** Changes in GDB-4.3:
2598 * New machines supported (host and target)
2600 Amiga 3000 running Amix m68k-cbm-svr4 or amix
2601 NCR 3000 386 running SVR4 i386-ncr-svr4 or ncr3000
2602 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
2604 * Almost SCO Unix support
2606 We had hoped to support:
2607 SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
2608 (except for core file support), but we discovered very late in the release
2609 that it has problems with process groups that render gdb unusable. Sorry
2610 about that. I encourage people to fix it and post the fixes.
2612 * Preliminary ELF and DWARF support
2614 GDB can read ELF object files on System V Release 4, and can handle
2615 debugging records for C, in DWARF format, in ELF files. This support
2616 is preliminary. If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please
2617 send mail to bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were
2622 GDB now uses the latest `readline' library. One user-visible change
2623 is that two tabs will list possible command completions, which previously
2624 required typing M-? (meta-question mark, or ESC ?).
2628 The `stepi' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
2629 Many bugs in C++ have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
2630 See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
2632 * State of the MIPS world (in case you wondered):
2634 GDB can understand the symbol tables emitted by the compilers
2635 supplied by most vendors of MIPS-based machines, including DEC. These
2636 symbol tables are in a format that essentially nobody else uses.
2638 Some versions of gcc come with an assembler post-processor called
2639 mips-tfile. This program is required if you want to do source-level
2640 debugging of gcc-compiled programs. I believe FSF does not ship
2641 mips-tfile with gcc version 1, but it will eventually come with gcc
2644 Debugging of g++ output remains a problem. g++ version 1.xx does not
2645 really support it at all. (If you're lucky, you should be able to get
2646 line numbers and stack traces to work, but no parameters or local
2647 variables.) With some work it should be possible to improve the
2650 When gcc version 2 is released, you will have somewhat better luck.
2651 However, even then you will get confusing results for inheritance and
2654 We will eventually provide full debugging of g++ output on
2655 DECstations. This will probably involve some kind of stabs-in-ecoff
2656 encapulation, but the details have not been worked out yet.
2659 *** Changes in GDB-4.2:
2661 * Improved configuration
2663 Only one copy of `configure' exists now, and it is not self-modifying.
2664 Porting BFD is simpler.
2668 The `step' and `next' commands now only stop at the first instruction
2669 of a source line. This prevents the multiple stops that used to occur
2670 in switch statements, for-loops, etc. `Step' continues to stop if a
2671 function that has debugging information is called within the line.
2675 Lots of small bugs fixed. More remain.
2677 * New host supported (not target)
2679 Intel 386 PC clone running Mach i386-none-mach
2682 *** Changes in GDB-4.1:
2684 * Multiple source language support
2686 GDB now has internal scaffolding to handle several source languages.
2687 It determines the type of each source file from its filename extension,
2688 and will switch expression parsing and number formatting to match the
2689 language of the function in the currently selected stack frame.
2690 You can also specifically set the language to be used, with
2691 `set language c' or `set language modula-2'.
2695 GDB now has preliminary support for the GNU Modula-2 compiler,
2696 currently under development at the State University of New York at
2697 Buffalo. Development of both GDB and the GNU Modula-2 compiler will
2698 continue through the fall of 1991 and into 1992.
2700 Other Modula-2 compilers are currently not supported, and attempting to
2701 debug programs compiled with them will likely result in an error as the
2702 symbol table is read. Feel free to work on it, though!
2704 There are hooks in GDB for strict type checking and range checking,
2705 in the `Modula-2 philosophy', but they do not currently work.
2709 GDB can now write to executable and core files (e.g. patch
2710 a variable's value). You must turn this switch on, specify
2711 the file ("exec foo" or "core foo"), *then* modify it, e.g.
2712 by assigning a new value to a variable. Modifications take
2715 * Automatic SunOS shared library reading
2717 When you run your program, GDB automatically determines where its
2718 shared libraries (if any) have been loaded, and reads their symbols.
2719 The `share' command is no longer needed. This also works when
2720 examining core files.
2724 You can specify the number of lines that the `list' command shows.
2727 * New machines supported (host and target)
2729 SGI Iris (MIPS) running Irix V3: mips-sgi-irix or iris
2730 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x: m68k-sony-sysv or news
2731 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1: a29k-nyu-sym1 or ultra3
2733 * New hosts supported (not targets)
2735 IBM RT/PC: romp-ibm-aix or rtpc
2737 * New targets supported (not hosts)
2739 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
2740 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
2741 Ultracomputer remote kernel debug a29k-nyu-kern
2743 * New remote interfaces
2749 *** Changes in GDB-4.0:
2753 Wide output is wrapped at good places to make the output more readable.
2755 Gdb now supports cross-debugging from a host machine of one type to a
2756 target machine of another type. Communication with the target system
2757 is over serial lines. The ``target'' command handles connecting to the
2758 remote system; the ``load'' command will download a program into the
2759 remote system. Serial stubs for the m68k and i386 are provided. Gdb
2760 also supports debugging of realtime processes running under VxWorks,
2761 using SunRPC Remote Procedure Calls over TCP/IP to talk to a debugger
2762 stub on the target system.
2764 New CPUs supported include the AMD 29000 and Intel 960.
2766 GDB now reads object files and symbol tables via a ``binary file''
2767 library, which allows a single copy of GDB to debug programs of multiple
2768 object file types such as a.out and coff.
2770 There is now a GDB reference card in "doc/refcard.tex". (Make targets
2771 refcard.dvi and refcard.ps are available to format it).
2774 * Control-Variable user interface simplified
2776 All variables that control the operation of the debugger can be set
2777 by the ``set'' command, and displayed by the ``show'' command.
2779 For example, ``set prompt new-gdb=>'' will change your prompt to new-gdb=>.
2780 ``Show prompt'' produces the response:
2781 Gdb's prompt is new-gdb=>.
2783 What follows are the NEW set commands. The command ``help set'' will
2784 print a complete list of old and new set commands. ``help set FOO''
2785 will give a longer description of the variable FOO. ``show'' will show
2786 all of the variable descriptions and their current settings.
2788 confirm on/off: Enables warning questions for operations that are
2789 hard to recover from, e.g. rerunning the program while
2790 it is already running. Default is ON.
2792 editing on/off: Enables EMACS style command line editing
2793 of input. Previous lines can be recalled with
2794 control-P, the current line can be edited with control-B,
2795 you can search for commands with control-R, etc.
2798 history filename NAME: NAME is where the gdb command history
2799 will be stored. The default is .gdb_history,
2800 or the value of the environment variable
2803 history size N: The size, in commands, of the command history. The
2804 default is 256, or the value of the environment variable
2807 history save on/off: If this value is set to ON, the history file will
2808 be saved after exiting gdb. If set to OFF, the
2809 file will not be saved. The default is OFF.
2811 history expansion on/off: If this value is set to ON, then csh-like
2812 history expansion will be performed on
2813 command line input. The default is OFF.
2815 radix N: Sets the default radix for input and output. It can be set
2816 to 8, 10, or 16. Note that the argument to "radix" is interpreted
2817 in the current radix, so "set radix 10" is always a no-op.
2819 height N: This integer value is the number of lines on a page. Default
2820 is 24, the current `stty rows'' setting, or the ``li#''
2821 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
2824 width N: This integer value is the number of characters on a line.
2825 Default is 80, the current `stty cols'' setting, or the ``co#''
2826 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
2829 Note: ``set screensize'' is obsolete. Use ``set height'' and
2830 ``set width'' instead.
2832 print address on/off: Print memory addresses in various command displays,
2833 such as stack traces and structure values. Gdb looks
2834 more ``symbolic'' if you turn this off; it looks more
2835 ``machine level'' with it on. Default is ON.
2837 print array on/off: Prettyprint arrays. New convenient format! Default
2840 print demangle on/off: Print C++ symbols in "source" form if on,
2843 print asm-demangle on/off: Same, for assembler level printouts
2846 print vtbl on/off: Prettyprint C++ virtual function tables. Default is OFF.
2849 * Support for Epoch Environment.
2851 The epoch environment is a version of Emacs v18 with windowing. One
2852 new command, ``inspect'', is identical to ``print'', except that if you
2853 are running in the epoch environment, the value is printed in its own
2857 * Support for Shared Libraries
2859 GDB can now debug programs and core files that use SunOS shared libraries.
2860 Symbols from a shared library cannot be referenced
2861 before the shared library has been linked with the program (this
2862 happens after you type ``run'' and before the function main() is entered).
2863 At any time after this linking (including when examining core files
2864 from dynamically linked programs), gdb reads the symbols from each
2865 shared library when you type the ``sharedlibrary'' command.
2866 It can be abbreviated ``share''.
2868 sharedlibrary REGEXP: Load shared object library symbols for files
2869 matching a unix regular expression. No argument
2870 indicates to load symbols for all shared libraries.
2872 info sharedlibrary: Status of loaded shared libraries.
2877 A watchpoint stops execution of a program whenever the value of an
2878 expression changes. Checking for this slows down execution
2879 tremendously whenever you are in the scope of the expression, but is
2880 quite useful for catching tough ``bit-spreader'' or pointer misuse
2881 problems. Some machines such as the 386 have hardware for doing this
2882 more quickly, and future versions of gdb will use this hardware.
2884 watch EXP: Set a watchpoint (breakpoint) for an expression.
2886 info watchpoints: Information about your watchpoints.
2888 delete N: Deletes watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
2889 disable N: Temporarily turns off watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
2890 enable N: Re-enables watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
2893 * C++ multiple inheritance
2895 When used with a GCC version 2 compiler, GDB supports multiple inheritance
2898 * C++ exception handling
2900 Gdb now supports limited C++ exception handling. Besides the existing
2901 ability to breakpoint on an exception handler, gdb can breakpoint on
2902 the raising of an exception (before the stack is peeled back to the
2905 catch FOO: If there is a FOO exception handler in the dynamic scope,
2906 set a breakpoint to catch exceptions which may be raised there.
2907 Multiple exceptions (``catch foo bar baz'') may be caught.
2909 info catch: Lists all exceptions which may be caught in the
2910 current stack frame.
2913 * Minor command changes
2915 The command ``call func (arg, arg, ...)'' now acts like the print
2916 command, except it does not print or save a value if the function's result
2917 is void. This is similar to dbx usage.
2919 The ``up'' and ``down'' commands now always print the frame they end up
2920 at; ``up-silently'' and `down-silently'' can be used in scripts to change
2921 frames without printing.
2923 * New directory command
2925 'dir' now adds directories to the FRONT of the source search path.
2926 The path starts off empty. Source files that contain debug information
2927 about the directory in which they were compiled can be found even
2928 with an empty path; Sun CC and GCC include this information. If GDB can't
2929 find your source file in the current directory, type "dir .".
2931 * Configuring GDB for compilation
2933 For normal use, type ``./configure host''. See README or gdb.texinfo
2936 GDB now handles cross debugging. If you are remotely debugging between
2937 two different machines, type ``./configure host -target=targ''.
2938 Host is the machine where GDB will run; targ is the machine
2939 where the program that you are debugging will run.
projects / deliverable / binutils-gdb.git / blob