New option "set print symbol-loading".
[deliverable/binutils-gdb.git] / gdb / NEWS
1 What has changed in GDB?
2 (Organized release by release)
3
4 *** Changes since GDB 7.7
5
6 * Guile scripting
7
8 GDB now has support for scripting using Guile. Whether this is
9 available is determined at configure time.
10 Guile version 2.0 or greater is required.
11 Guile version 2.0.9 is well tested, earlier 2.0 versions are not.
12
13 * New commands (for set/show, see "New options" below)
14
15 guile [code]
16 gu [code]
17 Invoke CODE by passing it to the Guile interpreter.
18
19 guile-repl
20 gr
21 Start a Guile interactive prompt (or "repl" for "read-eval-print loop").
22
23 info auto-load guile-scripts [regexp]
24 Print the list of automatically loaded Guile scripts.
25
26 * The source command is now capable of sourcing Guile scripts.
27 This feature is dependent on the debugger being built with Guile support.
28
29 * New options
30
31 set print symbol-loading (off|brief|full)
32 show print symbol-loading
33 Control whether to print informational messages when loading symbol
34 information for a file. The default is "full", but when debugging
35 programs with large numbers of shared libraries the amount of output
36 becomes less useful.
37
38 set guile print-stack (none|message|full)
39 show guile print-stack
40 Show a stack trace when an error is encountered in a Guile script.
41
42 set auto-load guile-scripts (on|off)
43 show auto-load guile-scripts
44 Control auto-loading of Guile script files.
45
46 maint ada set ignore-descriptive-types (on|off)
47 maint ada show ignore-descriptive-types
48 Control whether the debugger should ignore descriptive types in Ada
49 programs. The default is not to ignore the descriptive types. See
50 the user manual for more details on descriptive types and the intended
51 usage of this option.
52
53 * New features in the GDB remote stub, GDBserver
54
55 ** New option --debug-format=option1[,option2,...] allows one to add
56 additional text to each output. At present only timestamps
57 are supported: --debug-format=timestamps.
58 Timestamps can also be turned on with the
59 "monitor set debug-format timestamps" command from GDB.
60
61 * The 'record instruction-history' command now starts counting instructions
62 at one. This also affects the instruction ranges reported by the
63 'record function-call-history' command when given the /i modifier.
64
65 * The command 'record function-call-history' supports a new modifier '/c' to
66 indent the function names based on their call stack depth.
67 The fields for the '/i' and '/l' modifier have been reordered.
68 The source line range is now prefixed with 'at'.
69 The instruction range is now prefixed with 'inst'.
70 Both ranges are now printed as '<from>, <to>' to allow copy&paste to the
71 "record instruction-history" and "list" commands.
72
73 * The ranges given as arguments to the 'record function-call-history' and
74 'record instruction-history' commands are now inclusive.
75
76 * The btrace record target now supports the 'record goto' command.
77 For locations inside the execution trace, the back trace is computed
78 based on the information stored in the execution trace.
79
80 * The btrace record target supports limited reverse execution and replay.
81 The target does not record data and therefore does not allow reading
82 memory or registers.
83
84 * The "catch syscall" command now works on s390*-linux* targets.
85
86 * New remote packets
87
88 qXfer:btrace:read's annex
89 The qXfer:btrace:read packet supports a new annex 'delta' to read
90 branch trace incrementally.
91
92 * Python Scripting
93
94 ** Valid Python operations on gdb.Value objects representing
95 structs/classes invoke the corresponding overloaded operators if
96 available.
97
98 * New targets
99 PowerPC64 GNU/Linux little-endian powerpc64le-*-linux*
100
101 * The "dll-symbols" command, and its two aliases ("add-shared-symbol-files"
102 and "assf"), have been deprecated. Use the "sharedlibrary" command, or
103 its alias "share", instead.
104
105 *** Changes in GDB 7.7
106
107 * Improved support for process record-replay and reverse debugging on
108 arm*-linux* targets. Support for thumb32 and syscall instruction
109 recording has been added.
110
111 * GDB now supports SystemTap SDT probes on AArch64 GNU/Linux.
112
113 * GDB now supports Fission DWP file format version 2.
114 http://gcc.gnu.org/wiki/DebugFission
115
116 * New convenience function "$_isvoid", to check whether an expression
117 is void. A void expression is an expression where the type of the
118 result is "void". For example, some convenience variables may be
119 "void" when evaluated (e.g., "$_exitcode" before the execution of
120 the program being debugged; or an undefined convenience variable).
121 Another example, when calling a function whose return type is
122 "void".
123
124 * The "maintenance print objfiles" command now takes an optional regexp.
125
126 * The "catch syscall" command now works on arm*-linux* targets.
127
128 * GDB now consistently shows "<not saved>" when printing values of
129 registers the debug info indicates have not been saved in the frame
130 and there's nowhere to retrieve them from
131 (callee-saved/call-clobbered registers):
132
133 (gdb) p $rax
134 $1 = <not saved>
135
136 (gdb) info registers rax
137 rax <not saved>
138
139 Before, the former would print "<optimized out>", and the latter
140 "*value not available*".
141
142 * New script contrib/gdb-add-index.sh for adding .gdb_index sections
143 to binaries.
144
145 * Python scripting
146
147 ** Frame filters and frame decorators have been added.
148 ** Temporary breakpoints are now supported.
149 ** Line tables representation has been added.
150 ** New attribute 'parent_type' for gdb.Field objects.
151 ** gdb.Field objects can be used as subscripts on gdb.Value objects.
152 ** New attribute 'name' for gdb.Type objects.
153
154 * New targets
155
156 Nios II ELF nios2*-*-elf
157 Nios II GNU/Linux nios2*-*-linux
158 Texas Instruments MSP430 msp430*-*-elf
159
160 * Removed native configurations
161
162 Support for these a.out NetBSD and OpenBSD obsolete configurations has
163 been removed. ELF variants of these configurations are kept supported.
164
165 arm*-*-netbsd* but arm*-*-netbsdelf* is kept supported.
166 i[34567]86-*-netbsd* but i[34567]86-*-netbsdelf* is kept supported.
167 i[34567]86-*-openbsd[0-2].* but i[34567]86-*-openbsd* is kept supported.
168 i[34567]86-*-openbsd3.[0-3]
169 m68*-*-netbsd* but m68*-*-netbsdelf* is kept supported.
170 sparc-*-netbsd* but sparc-*-netbsdelf* is kept supported.
171 vax-*-netbsd* but vax-*-netbsdelf* is kept supported.
172
173 * New commands:
174 catch rethrow
175 Like "catch throw", but catches a re-thrown exception.
176 maint check-psymtabs
177 Renamed from old "maint check-symtabs".
178 maint check-symtabs
179 Perform consistency checks on symtabs.
180 maint expand-symtabs
181 Expand symtabs matching an optional regexp.
182
183 show configuration
184 Display the details of GDB configure-time options.
185
186 maint set|show per-command
187 maint set|show per-command space
188 maint set|show per-command time
189 maint set|show per-command symtab
190 Enable display of per-command gdb resource usage.
191
192 remove-symbol-file FILENAME
193 remove-symbol-file -a ADDRESS
194 Remove a symbol file added via add-symbol-file. The file to remove
195 can be identified by its filename or by an address that lies within
196 the boundaries of this symbol file in memory.
197
198 info exceptions
199 info exceptions REGEXP
200 Display the list of Ada exceptions defined in the program being
201 debugged. If provided, only the exceptions whose names match REGEXP
202 are listed.
203
204 * New options
205
206 set debug symfile off|on
207 show debug symfile
208 Control display of debugging info regarding reading symbol files and
209 symbol tables within those files
210
211 set print raw frame-arguments
212 show print raw frame-arguments
213 Set/show whether to print frame arguments in raw mode,
214 disregarding any defined pretty-printers.
215
216 set remote trace-status-packet
217 show remote trace-status-packet
218 Set/show the use of remote protocol qTStatus packet.
219
220 set debug nios2
221 show debug nios2
222 Control display of debugging messages related to Nios II targets.
223
224 set range-stepping
225 show range-stepping
226 Control whether target-assisted range stepping is enabled.
227
228 set startup-with-shell
229 show startup-with-shell
230 Specifies whether Unix child processes are started via a shell or
231 directly.
232
233 set code-cache
234 show code-cache
235 Use the target memory cache for accesses to the code segment. This
236 improves performance of remote debugging (particularly disassembly).
237
238 * You can now use a literal value 'unlimited' for options that
239 interpret 0 or -1 as meaning "unlimited". E.g., "set
240 trace-buffer-size unlimited" is now an alias for "set
241 trace-buffer-size -1" and "set height unlimited" is now an alias for
242 "set height 0".
243
244 * The "set debug symtab-create" debugging option of GDB has been changed to
245 accept a verbosity level. 0 means "off", 1 provides basic debugging
246 output, and values of 2 or greater provides more verbose output.
247
248 * New command-line options
249 --configuration
250 Display the details of GDB configure-time options.
251
252 * The command 'tsave' can now support new option '-ctf' to save trace
253 buffer in Common Trace Format.
254
255 * Newly installed $prefix/bin/gcore acts as a shell interface for the
256 GDB command gcore.
257
258 * GDB now implements the the C++ 'typeid' operator.
259
260 * The new convenience variable $_exception holds the exception being
261 thrown or caught at an exception-related catchpoint.
262
263 * The exception-related catchpoints, like "catch throw", now accept a
264 regular expression which can be used to filter exceptions by type.
265
266 * The new convenience variable $_exitsignal is automatically set to
267 the terminating signal number when the program being debugged dies
268 due to an uncaught signal.
269
270 * MI changes
271
272 ** All MI commands now accept an optional "--language" option.
273 Support for this feature can be verified by using the "-list-features"
274 command, which should contain "language-option".
275
276 ** The new command -info-gdb-mi-command allows the user to determine
277 whether a GDB/MI command is supported or not.
278
279 ** The "^error" result record returned when trying to execute an undefined
280 GDB/MI command now provides a variable named "code" whose content is the
281 "undefined-command" error code. Support for this feature can be verified
282 by using the "-list-features" command, which should contain
283 "undefined-command-error-code".
284
285 ** The -trace-save MI command can optionally save trace buffer in Common
286 Trace Format now.
287
288 ** The new command -dprintf-insert sets a dynamic printf breakpoint.
289
290 ** The command -data-list-register-values now accepts an optional
291 "--skip-unavailable" option. When used, only the available registers
292 are displayed.
293
294 ** The new command -trace-frame-collected dumps collected variables,
295 computed expressions, tvars, memory and registers in a traceframe.
296
297 ** The commands -stack-list-locals, -stack-list-arguments and
298 -stack-list-variables now accept an option "--skip-unavailable".
299 When used, only the available locals or arguments are displayed.
300
301 ** The -exec-run command now accepts an optional "--start" option.
302 When used, the command follows the same semantics as the "start"
303 command, stopping the program's execution at the start of its
304 main subprogram. Support for this feature can be verified using
305 the "-list-features" command, which should contain
306 "exec-run-start-option".
307
308 ** The new commands -catch-assert and -catch-exceptions insert
309 catchpoints stopping the program when Ada exceptions are raised.
310
311 ** The new command -info-ada-exceptions provides the equivalent of
312 the new "info exceptions" command.
313
314 * New system-wide configuration scripts
315 A GDB installation now provides scripts suitable for use as system-wide
316 configuration scripts for the following systems:
317 ** ElinOS
318 ** Wind River Linux
319
320 * GDB now supports target-assigned range stepping with remote targets.
321 This improves the performance of stepping source lines by reducing
322 the number of control packets from/to GDB. See "New remote packets"
323 below.
324
325 * GDB now understands the element 'tvar' in the XML traceframe info.
326 It has the id of the collected trace state variables.
327
328 * On S/390 targets that provide the transactional-execution feature,
329 the program interruption transaction diagnostic block (TDB) is now
330 represented as a number of additional "registers" in GDB.
331
332 * New remote packets
333
334 vCont;r
335
336 The vCont packet supports a new 'r' action, that tells the remote
337 stub to step through an address range itself, without GDB
338 involvemement at each single-step.
339
340 qXfer:libraries-svr4:read's annex
341 The previously unused annex of the qXfer:libraries-svr4:read packet
342 is now used to support passing an argument list. The remote stub
343 reports support for this argument list to GDB's qSupported query.
344 The defined arguments are "start" and "prev", used to reduce work
345 necessary for library list updating, resulting in significant
346 speedup.
347
348 * New features in the GDB remote stub, GDBserver
349
350 ** GDBserver now supports target-assisted range stepping. Currently
351 enabled on x86/x86_64 GNU/Linux targets.
352
353 ** GDBserver now adds element 'tvar' in the XML in the reply to
354 'qXfer:traceframe-info:read'. It has the id of the collected
355 trace state variables.
356
357 ** GDBserver now supports hardware watchpoints on the MIPS GNU/Linux
358 target.
359
360 * New 'z' formatter for printing and examining memory, this displays the
361 value as hexadecimal zero padded on the left to the size of the type.
362
363 * GDB can now use Windows x64 unwinding data.
364
365 * The "set remotebaud" command has been replaced by "set serial baud".
366 Similarly, "show remotebaud" has been replaced by "show serial baud".
367 The "set remotebaud" and "show remotebaud" commands are still available
368 to provide backward compatibility with older versions of GDB.
369
370 *** Changes in GDB 7.6
371
372 * Target record has been renamed to record-full.
373 Record/replay is now enabled with the "record full" command.
374 This also affects settings that are associated with full record/replay
375 that have been moved from "set/show record" to "set/show record full":
376
377 set|show record full insn-number-max
378 set|show record full stop-at-limit
379 set|show record full memory-query
380
381 * A new record target "record-btrace" has been added. The new target
382 uses hardware support to record the control-flow of a process. It
383 does not support replaying the execution, but it implements the
384 below new commands for investigating the recorded execution log.
385 This new recording method can be enabled using:
386
387 record btrace
388
389 The "record-btrace" target is only available on Intel Atom processors
390 and requires a Linux kernel 2.6.32 or later.
391
392 * Two new commands have been added for record/replay to give information
393 about the recorded execution without having to replay the execution.
394 The commands are only supported by "record btrace".
395
396 record instruction-history prints the execution history at
397 instruction granularity
398
399 record function-call-history prints the execution history at
400 function granularity
401
402 * New native configurations
403
404 ARM AArch64 GNU/Linux aarch64*-*-linux-gnu
405 FreeBSD/powerpc powerpc*-*-freebsd
406 x86_64/Cygwin x86_64-*-cygwin*
407 Tilera TILE-Gx GNU/Linux tilegx*-*-linux-gnu
408
409 * New targets
410
411 ARM AArch64 aarch64*-*-elf
412 ARM AArch64 GNU/Linux aarch64*-*-linux
413 Lynx 178 PowerPC powerpc-*-lynx*178
414 x86_64/Cygwin x86_64-*-cygwin*
415 Tilera TILE-Gx GNU/Linux tilegx*-*-linux
416
417 * If the configured location of system.gdbinit file (as given by the
418 --with-system-gdbinit option at configure time) is in the
419 data-directory (as specified by --with-gdb-datadir at configure
420 time) or in one of its subdirectories, then GDB will look for the
421 system-wide init file in the directory specified by the
422 --data-directory command-line option.
423
424 * New command line options:
425
426 -nh Disables auto-loading of ~/.gdbinit, but still executes all the
427 other initialization files, unlike -nx which disables all of them.
428
429 * Removed command line options
430
431 -epoch This was used by the gdb mode in Epoch, an ancient fork of
432 Emacs.
433
434 * The 'ptype' and 'whatis' commands now accept an argument to control
435 type formatting.
436
437 * 'info proc' now works on some core files.
438
439 * Python scripting
440
441 ** Vectors can be created with gdb.Type.vector.
442
443 ** Python's atexit.register now works in GDB.
444
445 ** Types can be pretty-printed via a Python API.
446
447 ** Python 3 is now supported (in addition to Python 2.4 or later)
448
449 ** New class gdb.Architecture exposes GDB's internal representation
450 of architecture in the Python API.
451
452 ** New method Frame.architecture returns the gdb.Architecture object
453 corresponding to the frame's architecture.
454
455 * New Python-based convenience functions:
456
457 ** $_memeq(buf1, buf2, length)
458 ** $_streq(str1, str2)
459 ** $_strlen(str)
460 ** $_regex(str, regex)
461
462 * The 'cd' command now defaults to using '~' (the home directory) if not
463 given an argument.
464
465 * The C++ ABI now defaults to the GNU v3 ABI. This has been the
466 default for GCC since November 2000.
467
468 * The command 'forward-search' can now be abbreviated as 'fo'.
469
470 * The command 'info tracepoints' can now display 'installed on target'
471 or 'not installed on target' for each non-pending location of tracepoint.
472
473 * New configure options
474
475 --enable-libmcheck/--disable-libmcheck
476 By default, development versions are built with -lmcheck on hosts
477 that support it, in order to help track memory corruption issues.
478 Release versions, on the other hand, are built without -lmcheck
479 by default. The --enable-libmcheck/--disable-libmcheck configure
480 options allow the user to override that default.
481 --with-babeltrace/--with-babeltrace-include/--with-babeltrace-lib
482 This configure option allows the user to build GDB with
483 libbabeltrace using which GDB can read Common Trace Format data.
484
485 * New commands (for set/show, see "New options" below)
486
487 catch signal
488 Catch signals. This is similar to "handle", but allows commands and
489 conditions to be attached.
490
491 maint info bfds
492 List the BFDs known to GDB.
493
494 python-interactive [command]
495 pi [command]
496 Start a Python interactive prompt, or evaluate the optional command
497 and print the result of expressions.
498
499 py [command]
500 "py" is a new alias for "python".
501
502 enable type-printer [name]...
503 disable type-printer [name]...
504 Enable or disable type printers.
505
506 * Removed commands
507
508 ** For the Renesas Super-H architecture, the "regs" command has been removed
509 (has been deprecated in GDB 7.5), and "info all-registers" should be used
510 instead.
511
512 * New options
513
514 set print type methods (on|off)
515 show print type methods
516 Control whether method declarations are displayed by "ptype".
517 The default is to show them.
518
519 set print type typedefs (on|off)
520 show print type typedefs
521 Control whether typedef definitions are displayed by "ptype".
522 The default is to show them.
523
524 set filename-display basename|relative|absolute
525 show filename-display
526 Control the way in which filenames is displayed.
527 The default is "relative", which preserves previous behavior.
528
529 set trace-buffer-size
530 show trace-buffer-size
531 Request target to change the size of trace buffer.
532
533 set remote trace-buffer-size-packet auto|on|off
534 show remote trace-buffer-size-packet
535 Control the use of the remote protocol `QTBuffer:size' packet.
536
537 set debug aarch64
538 show debug aarch64
539 Control display of debugging messages related to ARM AArch64.
540 The default is off.
541
542 set debug coff-pe-read
543 show debug coff-pe-read
544 Control display of debugging messages related to reading of COFF/PE
545 exported symbols.
546
547 set debug mach-o
548 show debug mach-o
549 Control display of debugging messages related to Mach-O symbols
550 processing.
551
552 set debug notification
553 show debug notification
554 Control display of debugging info for async remote notification.
555
556 * MI changes
557
558 ** Command parameter changes are now notified using new async record
559 "=cmd-param-changed".
560 ** Trace frame changes caused by command "tfind" are now notified using
561 new async record "=traceframe-changed".
562 ** The creation, deletion and modification of trace state variables
563 are now notified using new async records "=tsv-created",
564 "=tsv-deleted" and "=tsv-modified".
565 ** The start and stop of process record are now notified using new
566 async record "=record-started" and "=record-stopped".
567 ** Memory changes are now notified using new async record
568 "=memory-changed".
569 ** The data-disassemble command response will include a "fullname" field
570 containing the absolute file name when source has been requested.
571 ** New optional parameter COUNT added to the "-data-write-memory-bytes"
572 command, to allow pattern filling of memory areas.
573 ** New commands "-catch-load"/"-catch-unload" added for intercepting
574 library load/unload events.
575 ** The response to breakpoint commands and breakpoint async records
576 includes an "installed" field containing a boolean state about each
577 non-pending tracepoint location is whether installed on target or not.
578 ** Output of the "-trace-status" command includes a "trace-file" field
579 containing the name of the trace file being examined. This field is
580 optional, and only present when examining a trace file.
581 ** The "fullname" field is now always present along with the "file" field,
582 even if the file cannot be found by GDB.
583
584 * GDB now supports the "mini debuginfo" section, .gnu_debugdata.
585 You must have the LZMA library available when configuring GDB for this
586 feature to be enabled. For more information, see:
587 http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features/MiniDebugInfo
588
589 * New remote packets
590
591 QTBuffer:size
592 Set the size of trace buffer. The remote stub reports support for this
593 packet to gdb's qSupported query.
594
595 Qbtrace:bts
596 Enable Branch Trace Store (BTS)-based branch tracing for the current
597 thread. The remote stub reports support for this packet to gdb's
598 qSupported query.
599
600 Qbtrace:off
601 Disable branch tracing for the current thread. The remote stub reports
602 support for this packet to gdb's qSupported query.
603
604 qXfer:btrace:read
605 Read the traced branches for the current thread. The remote stub
606 reports support for this packet to gdb's qSupported query.
607
608 *** Changes in GDB 7.5
609
610 * GDB now supports x32 ABI. Visit <http://sites.google.com/site/x32abi/>
611 for more x32 ABI info.
612
613 * GDB now supports access to MIPS DSP registers on Linux targets.
614
615 * GDB now supports debugging microMIPS binaries.
616
617 * The "info os" command on GNU/Linux can now display information on
618 several new classes of objects managed by the operating system:
619 "info os procgroups" lists process groups
620 "info os files" lists file descriptors
621 "info os sockets" lists internet-domain sockets
622 "info os shm" lists shared-memory regions
623 "info os semaphores" lists semaphores
624 "info os msg" lists message queues
625 "info os modules" lists loaded kernel modules
626
627 * GDB now has support for SDT (Static Defined Tracing) probes. Currently,
628 the only implemented backend is for SystemTap probes (<sys/sdt.h>). You
629 can set a breakpoint using the new "-probe, "-pstap" or "-probe-stap"
630 options and inspect the probe arguments using the new $_probe_arg family
631 of convenience variables. You can obtain more information about SystemTap
632 in <http://sourceware.org/systemtap/>.
633
634 * GDB now supports reversible debugging on ARM, it allows you to
635 debug basic ARM and THUMB instructions, and provides
636 record/replay support.
637
638 * The option "symbol-reloading" has been deleted as it is no longer used.
639
640 * Python scripting
641
642 ** GDB commands implemented in Python can now be put in command class
643 "gdb.COMMAND_USER".
644
645 ** The "maint set python print-stack on|off" is now deleted.
646
647 ** A new class, gdb.printing.FlagEnumerationPrinter, can be used to
648 apply "flag enum"-style pretty-printing to any enum.
649
650 ** gdb.lookup_symbol can now work when there is no current frame.
651
652 ** gdb.Symbol now has a 'line' attribute, holding the line number in
653 the source at which the symbol was defined.
654
655 ** gdb.Symbol now has the new attribute 'needs_frame' and the new
656 method 'value'. The former indicates whether the symbol needs a
657 frame in order to compute its value, and the latter computes the
658 symbol's value.
659
660 ** A new method 'referenced_value' on gdb.Value objects which can
661 dereference pointer as well as C++ reference values.
662
663 ** New methods 'global_block' and 'static_block' on gdb.Symtab objects
664 which return the global and static blocks (as gdb.Block objects),
665 of the underlying symbol table, respectively.
666
667 ** New function gdb.find_pc_line which returns the gdb.Symtab_and_line
668 object associated with a PC value.
669
670 ** gdb.Symtab_and_line has new attribute 'last' which holds the end
671 of the address range occupied by code for the current source line.
672
673 * Go language support.
674 GDB now supports debugging programs written in the Go programming
675 language.
676
677 * GDBserver now supports stdio connections.
678 E.g. (gdb) target remote | ssh myhost gdbserver - hello
679
680 * The binary "gdbtui" can no longer be built or installed.
681 Use "gdb -tui" instead.
682
683 * GDB will now print "flag" enums specially. A flag enum is one where
684 all the enumerator values have no bits in common when pairwise
685 "and"ed. When printing a value whose type is a flag enum, GDB will
686 show all the constants, e.g., for enum E { ONE = 1, TWO = 2}:
687 (gdb) print (enum E) 3
688 $1 = (ONE | TWO)
689
690 * The filename part of a linespec will now match trailing components
691 of a source file name. For example, "break gcc/expr.c:1000" will
692 now set a breakpoint in build/gcc/expr.c, but not
693 build/libcpp/expr.c.
694
695 * The "info proc" and "generate-core-file" commands will now also
696 work on remote targets connected to GDBserver on Linux.
697
698 * The command "info catch" has been removed. It has been disabled
699 since December 2007.
700
701 * The "catch exception" and "catch assert" commands now accept
702 a condition at the end of the command, much like the "break"
703 command does. For instance:
704
705 (gdb) catch exception Constraint_Error if Barrier = True
706
707 Previously, it was possible to add a condition to such catchpoints,
708 but it had to be done as a second step, after the catchpoint had been
709 created, using the "condition" command.
710
711 * The "info static-tracepoint-marker" command will now also work on
712 native Linux targets with in-process agent.
713
714 * GDB can now set breakpoints on inlined functions.
715
716 * The .gdb_index section has been updated to include symbols for
717 inlined functions. GDB will ignore older .gdb_index sections by
718 default, which could cause symbol files to be loaded more slowly
719 until their .gdb_index sections can be recreated. The new command
720 "set use-deprecated-index-sections on" will cause GDB to use any older
721 .gdb_index sections it finds. This will restore performance, but the
722 ability to set breakpoints on inlined functions will be lost in symbol
723 files with older .gdb_index sections.
724
725 The .gdb_index section has also been updated to record more information
726 about each symbol. This speeds up the "info variables", "info functions"
727 and "info types" commands when used with programs having the .gdb_index
728 section, as well as speeding up debugging with shared libraries using
729 the .gdb_index section.
730
731 * Ada support for GDB/MI Variable Objects has been added.
732
733 * GDB can now support 'breakpoint always-inserted mode' in 'record'
734 target.
735
736 * MI changes
737
738 ** New command -info-os is the MI equivalent of "info os".
739
740 ** Output logs ("set logging" and related) now include MI output.
741
742 * New commands
743
744 ** "set use-deprecated-index-sections on|off"
745 "show use-deprecated-index-sections on|off"
746 Controls the use of deprecated .gdb_index sections.
747
748 ** "catch load" and "catch unload" can be used to stop when a shared
749 library is loaded or unloaded, respectively.
750
751 ** "enable count" can be used to auto-disable a breakpoint after
752 several hits.
753
754 ** "info vtbl" can be used to show the virtual method tables for
755 C++ and Java objects.
756
757 ** "explore" and its sub commands "explore value" and "explore type"
758 can be used to recursively explore values and types of
759 expressions. These commands are available only if GDB is
760 configured with '--with-python'.
761
762 ** "info auto-load" shows status of all kinds of auto-loaded files,
763 "info auto-load gdb-scripts" shows status of auto-loading GDB canned
764 sequences of commands files, "info auto-load python-scripts"
765 shows status of auto-loading Python script files,
766 "info auto-load local-gdbinit" shows status of loading init file
767 (.gdbinit) from current directory and "info auto-load libthread-db" shows
768 status of inferior specific thread debugging shared library loading.
769
770 ** "info auto-load-scripts", "set auto-load-scripts on|off"
771 and "show auto-load-scripts" commands have been deprecated, use their
772 "info auto-load python-scripts", "set auto-load python-scripts on|off"
773 and "show auto-load python-scripts" counterparts instead.
774
775 ** "dprintf location,format,args..." creates a dynamic printf, which
776 is basically a breakpoint that does a printf and immediately
777 resumes your program's execution, so it is like a printf that you
778 can insert dynamically at runtime instead of at compiletime.
779
780 ** "set print symbol"
781 "show print symbol"
782 Controls whether GDB attempts to display the symbol, if any,
783 corresponding to addresses it prints. This defaults to "on", but
784 you can set it to "off" to restore GDB's previous behavior.
785
786 * Deprecated commands
787
788 ** For the Renesas Super-H architecture, the "regs" command has been
789 deprecated, and "info all-registers" should be used instead.
790
791 * New targets
792
793 Renesas RL78 rl78-*-elf
794 HP OpenVMS ia64 ia64-hp-openvms*
795
796 * GDBserver supports evaluation of breakpoint conditions. When
797 support is advertised by GDBserver, GDB may be told to send the
798 breakpoint conditions in bytecode form to GDBserver. GDBserver
799 will only report the breakpoint trigger to GDB when its condition
800 evaluates to true.
801
802 * New options
803
804 set mips compression
805 show mips compression
806 Select the compressed ISA encoding used in functions that have no symbol
807 information available. The encoding can be set to either of:
808 mips16
809 micromips
810 and is updated automatically from ELF file flags if available.
811
812 set breakpoint condition-evaluation
813 show breakpoint condition-evaluation
814 Control whether breakpoint conditions are evaluated by GDB ("host") or by
815 GDBserver ("target"). Default option "auto" chooses the most efficient
816 available mode.
817 This option can improve debugger efficiency depending on the speed of the
818 target.
819
820 set auto-load off
821 Disable auto-loading globally.
822
823 show auto-load
824 Show auto-loading setting of all kinds of auto-loaded files.
825
826 set auto-load gdb-scripts on|off
827 show auto-load gdb-scripts
828 Control auto-loading of GDB canned sequences of commands files.
829
830 set auto-load python-scripts on|off
831 show auto-load python-scripts
832 Control auto-loading of Python script files.
833
834 set auto-load local-gdbinit on|off
835 show auto-load local-gdbinit
836 Control loading of init file (.gdbinit) from current directory.
837
838 set auto-load libthread-db on|off
839 show auto-load libthread-db
840 Control auto-loading of inferior specific thread debugging shared library.
841
842 set auto-load scripts-directory <dir1>[:<dir2>...]
843 show auto-load scripts-directory
844 Set a list of directories from which to load auto-loaded scripts.
845 Automatically loaded Python scripts and GDB scripts are located in one
846 of the directories listed by this option.
847 The delimiter (':' above) may differ according to the host platform.
848
849 set auto-load safe-path <dir1>[:<dir2>...]
850 show auto-load safe-path
851 Set a list of directories from which it is safe to auto-load files.
852 The delimiter (':' above) may differ according to the host platform.
853
854 set debug auto-load on|off
855 show debug auto-load
856 Control display of debugging info for auto-loading the files above.
857
858 set dprintf-style gdb|call|agent
859 show dprintf-style
860 Control the way in which a dynamic printf is performed; "gdb"
861 requests a GDB printf command, while "call" causes dprintf to call a
862 function in the inferior. "agent" requests that the target agent
863 (such as GDBserver) do the printing.
864
865 set dprintf-function <expr>
866 show dprintf-function
867 set dprintf-channel <expr>
868 show dprintf-channel
869 Set the function and optional first argument to the call when using
870 the "call" style of dynamic printf.
871
872 set disconnected-dprintf on|off
873 show disconnected-dprintf
874 Control whether agent-style dynamic printfs continue to be in effect
875 after GDB disconnects.
876
877 * New configure options
878
879 --with-auto-load-dir
880 Configure default value for the 'set auto-load scripts-directory'
881 setting above. It defaults to '$debugdir:$datadir/auto-load',
882 $debugdir representing global debugging info directories (available
883 via 'show debug-file-directory') and $datadir representing GDB's data
884 directory (available via 'show data-directory').
885
886 --with-auto-load-safe-path
887 Configure default value for the 'set auto-load safe-path' setting
888 above. It defaults to the --with-auto-load-dir setting.
889
890 --without-auto-load-safe-path
891 Set 'set auto-load safe-path' to '/', effectively disabling this
892 security feature.
893
894 * New remote packets
895
896 z0/z1 conditional breakpoints extension
897
898 The z0/z1 breakpoint insertion packets have been extended to carry
899 a list of conditional expressions over to the remote stub depending on the
900 condition evaluation mode. The use of this extension can be controlled
901 via the "set remote conditional-breakpoints-packet" command.
902
903 QProgramSignals:
904
905 Specify the signals which the remote stub may pass to the debugged
906 program without GDB involvement.
907
908 * New command line options
909
910 --init-command=FILE, -ix Like --command, -x but execute it
911 before loading inferior.
912 --init-eval-command=COMMAND, -iex Like --eval-command=COMMAND, -ex but
913 execute it before loading inferior.
914
915 *** Changes in GDB 7.4
916
917 * GDB now handles ambiguous linespecs more consistently; the existing
918 FILE:LINE support has been expanded to other types of linespecs. A
919 breakpoint will now be set on all matching locations in all
920 inferiors, and locations will be added or removed according to
921 inferior changes.
922
923 * GDB now allows you to skip uninteresting functions and files when
924 stepping with the "skip function" and "skip file" commands.
925
926 * GDB has two new commands: "set remote hardware-watchpoint-length-limit"
927 and "show remote hardware-watchpoint-length-limit". These allows to
928 set or show the maximum length limit (in bytes) of a remote
929 target hardware watchpoint.
930
931 This allows e.g. to use "unlimited" hardware watchpoints with the
932 gdbserver integrated in Valgrind version >= 3.7.0. Such Valgrind
933 watchpoints are slower than real hardware watchpoints but are
934 significantly faster than gdb software watchpoints.
935
936 * Python scripting
937
938 ** The register_pretty_printer function in module gdb.printing now takes
939 an optional `replace' argument. If True, the new printer replaces any
940 existing one.
941
942 ** The "maint set python print-stack on|off" command has been
943 deprecated and will be deleted in GDB 7.5.
944 A new command: "set python print-stack none|full|message" has
945 replaced it. Additionally, the default for "print-stack" is
946 now "message", which just prints the error message without
947 the stack trace.
948
949 ** A prompt substitution hook (prompt_hook) is now available to the
950 Python API.
951
952 ** A new Python module, gdb.prompt has been added to the GDB Python
953 modules library. This module provides functionality for
954 escape sequences in prompts (used by set/show
955 extended-prompt). These escape sequences are replaced by their
956 corresponding value.
957
958 ** Python commands and convenience-functions located in
959 'data-directory'/python/gdb/command and
960 'data-directory'/python/gdb/function are now automatically loaded
961 on GDB start-up.
962
963 ** Blocks now provide four new attributes. global_block and
964 static_block will return the global and static blocks
965 respectively. is_static and is_global are boolean attributes
966 that indicate if the block is one of those two types.
967
968 ** Symbols now provide the "type" attribute, the type of the symbol.
969
970 ** The "gdb.breakpoint" function has been deprecated in favor of
971 "gdb.breakpoints".
972
973 ** A new class "gdb.FinishBreakpoint" is provided to catch the return
974 of a function. This class is based on the "finish" command
975 available in the CLI.
976
977 ** Type objects for struct and union types now allow access to
978 the fields using standard Python dictionary (mapping) methods.
979 For example, "some_type['myfield']" now works, as does
980 "some_type.items()".
981
982 ** A new event "gdb.new_objfile" has been added, triggered by loading a
983 new object file.
984
985 ** A new function, "deep_items" has been added to the gdb.types
986 module in the GDB Python modules library. This function returns
987 an iterator over the fields of a struct or union type. Unlike
988 the standard Python "iteritems" method, it will recursively traverse
989 any anonymous fields.
990
991 * MI changes
992
993 ** "*stopped" events can report several new "reason"s, such as
994 "solib-event".
995
996 ** Breakpoint changes are now notified using new async records, like
997 "=breakpoint-modified".
998
999 ** New command -ada-task-info.
1000
1001 * libthread-db-search-path now supports two special values: $sdir and $pdir.
1002 $sdir specifies the default system locations of shared libraries.
1003 $pdir specifies the directory where the libpthread used by the application
1004 lives.
1005
1006 GDB no longer looks in $sdir and $pdir after it has searched the directories
1007 mentioned in libthread-db-search-path. If you want to search those
1008 directories, they must be specified in libthread-db-search-path.
1009 The default value of libthread-db-search-path on GNU/Linux and Solaris
1010 systems is now "$sdir:$pdir".
1011
1012 $pdir is not supported by gdbserver, it is currently ignored.
1013 $sdir is supported by gdbserver.
1014
1015 * New configure option --with-iconv-bin.
1016 When using the internationalization support like the one in the GNU C
1017 library, GDB will invoke the "iconv" program to get a list of supported
1018 character sets. If this program lives in a non-standard location, one can
1019 use this option to specify where to find it.
1020
1021 * When natively debugging programs on PowerPC BookE processors running
1022 a Linux kernel version 2.6.34 or later, GDB supports masked hardware
1023 watchpoints, which specify a mask in addition to an address to watch.
1024 The mask specifies that some bits of an address (the bits which are
1025 reset in the mask) should be ignored when matching the address accessed
1026 by the inferior against the watchpoint address. See the "PowerPC Embedded"
1027 section in the user manual for more details.
1028
1029 * The new option --once causes GDBserver to stop listening for connections once
1030 the first connection is made. The listening port used by GDBserver will
1031 become available after that.
1032
1033 * New commands "info macros" and "alias" have been added.
1034
1035 * New function parameters suffix @entry specifies value of function parameter
1036 at the time the function got called. Entry values are available only since
1037 gcc version 4.7.
1038
1039 * New commands
1040
1041 !SHELL COMMAND
1042 "!" is now an alias of the "shell" command.
1043 Note that no space is needed between "!" and SHELL COMMAND.
1044
1045 * Changed commands
1046
1047 watch EXPRESSION mask MASK_VALUE
1048 The watch command now supports the mask argument which allows creation
1049 of masked watchpoints, if the current architecture supports this feature.
1050
1051 info auto-load-scripts [REGEXP]
1052 This command was formerly named "maintenance print section-scripts".
1053 It is now generally useful and is no longer a maintenance-only command.
1054
1055 info macro [-all] [--] MACRO
1056 The info macro command has new options `-all' and `--'. The first for
1057 printing all definitions of a macro. The second for explicitly specifying
1058 the end of arguments and the beginning of the macro name in case the macro
1059 name starts with a hyphen.
1060
1061 collect[/s] EXPRESSIONS
1062 The tracepoint collect command now takes an optional modifier "/s"
1063 that directs it to dereference pointer-to-character types and
1064 collect the bytes of memory up to a zero byte. The behavior is
1065 similar to what you see when you use the regular print command on a
1066 string. An optional integer following the "/s" sets a bound on the
1067 number of bytes that will be collected.
1068
1069 tstart [NOTES]
1070 The trace start command now interprets any supplied arguments as a
1071 note to be recorded with the trace run, with an effect similar to
1072 setting the variable trace-notes.
1073
1074 tstop [NOTES]
1075 The trace stop command now interprets any arguments as a note to be
1076 mentioned along with the tstatus report that the trace was stopped
1077 with a command. The effect is similar to setting the variable
1078 trace-stop-notes.
1079
1080 * Tracepoints can now be enabled and disabled at any time after a trace
1081 experiment has been started using the standard "enable" and "disable"
1082 commands. It is now possible to start a trace experiment with no enabled
1083 tracepoints; GDB will display a warning, but will allow the experiment to
1084 begin, assuming that tracepoints will be enabled as needed while the trace
1085 is running.
1086
1087 * Fast tracepoints on 32-bit x86-architectures can now be placed at
1088 locations with 4-byte instructions, when they were previously
1089 limited to locations with instructions of 5 bytes or longer.
1090
1091 * New options
1092
1093 set debug dwarf2-read
1094 show debug dwarf2-read
1095 Turns on or off display of debugging messages related to reading
1096 DWARF debug info. The default is off.
1097
1098 set debug symtab-create
1099 show debug symtab-create
1100 Turns on or off display of debugging messages related to symbol table
1101 creation. The default is off.
1102
1103 set extended-prompt
1104 show extended-prompt
1105 Set the GDB prompt, and allow escape sequences to be inserted to
1106 display miscellaneous information (see 'help set extended-prompt'
1107 for the list of sequences). This prompt (and any information
1108 accessed through the escape sequences) is updated every time the
1109 prompt is displayed.
1110
1111 set print entry-values (both|compact|default|if-needed|no|only|preferred)
1112 show print entry-values
1113 Set printing of frame argument values at function entry. In some cases
1114 GDB can determine the value of function argument which was passed by the
1115 function caller, even if the value was modified inside the called function.
1116
1117 set debug entry-values
1118 show debug entry-values
1119 Control display of debugging info for determining frame argument values at
1120 function entry and virtual tail call frames.
1121
1122 set basenames-may-differ
1123 show basenames-may-differ
1124 Set whether a source file may have multiple base names.
1125 (A "base name" is the name of a file with the directory part removed.
1126 Example: The base name of "/home/user/hello.c" is "hello.c".)
1127 If set, GDB will canonicalize file names (e.g., expand symlinks)
1128 before comparing them. Canonicalization is an expensive operation,
1129 but it allows the same file be known by more than one base name.
1130 If not set (the default), all source files are assumed to have just
1131 one base name, and gdb will do file name comparisons more efficiently.
1132
1133 set trace-user
1134 show trace-user
1135 set trace-notes
1136 show trace-notes
1137 Set a user name and notes for the current and any future trace runs.
1138 This is useful for long-running and/or disconnected traces, to
1139 inform others (or yourself) as to who is running the trace, supply
1140 contact information, or otherwise explain what is going on.
1141
1142 set trace-stop-notes
1143 show trace-stop-notes
1144 Set a note attached to the trace run, that is displayed when the
1145 trace has been stopped by a tstop command. This is useful for
1146 instance as an explanation, if you are stopping a trace run that was
1147 started by someone else.
1148
1149 * New remote packets
1150
1151 QTEnable
1152
1153 Dynamically enable a tracepoint in a started trace experiment.
1154
1155 QTDisable
1156
1157 Dynamically disable a tracepoint in a started trace experiment.
1158
1159 QTNotes
1160
1161 Set the user and notes of the trace run.
1162
1163 qTP
1164
1165 Query the current status of a tracepoint.
1166
1167 qTMinFTPILen
1168
1169 Query the minimum length of instruction at which a fast tracepoint may
1170 be placed.
1171
1172 * Dcache size (number of lines) and line-size are now runtime-configurable
1173 via "set dcache line" and "set dcache line-size" commands.
1174
1175 * New targets
1176
1177 Texas Instruments TMS320C6x tic6x-*-*
1178
1179 * New Simulators
1180
1181 Renesas RL78 rl78-*-elf
1182
1183 *** Changes in GDB 7.3.1
1184
1185 * The build failure for NetBSD and OpenBSD targets have now been fixed.
1186
1187 *** Changes in GDB 7.3
1188
1189 * GDB has a new command: "thread find [REGEXP]".
1190 It finds the thread id whose name, target id, or thread extra info
1191 matches the given regular expression.
1192
1193 * The "catch syscall" command now works on mips*-linux* targets.
1194
1195 * The -data-disassemble MI command now supports modes 2 and 3 for
1196 dumping the instruction opcodes.
1197
1198 * New command line options
1199
1200 -data-directory DIR Specify DIR as the "data-directory".
1201 This is mostly for testing purposes.
1202
1203 * The "maint set python auto-load on|off" command has been renamed to
1204 "set auto-load-scripts on|off".
1205
1206 * GDB has a new command: "set directories".
1207 It is like the "dir" command except that it replaces the
1208 source path list instead of augmenting it.
1209
1210 * GDB now understands thread names.
1211
1212 On GNU/Linux, "info threads" will display the thread name as set by
1213 prctl or pthread_setname_np.
1214
1215 There is also a new command, "thread name", which can be used to
1216 assign a name internally for GDB to display.
1217
1218 * OpenCL C
1219 Initial support for the OpenCL C language (http://www.khronos.org/opencl)
1220 has been integrated into GDB.
1221
1222 * Python scripting
1223
1224 ** The function gdb.Write now accepts an optional keyword 'stream'.
1225 This keyword, when provided, will direct the output to either
1226 stdout, stderr, or GDB's logging output.
1227
1228 ** Parameters can now be be sub-classed in Python, and in particular
1229 you may implement the get_set_doc and get_show_doc functions.
1230 This improves how Parameter set/show documentation is processed
1231 and allows for more dynamic content.
1232
1233 ** Symbols, Symbol Table, Symbol Table and Line, Object Files,
1234 Inferior, Inferior Thread, Blocks, and Block Iterator APIs now
1235 have an is_valid method.
1236
1237 ** Breakpoints can now be sub-classed in Python, and in particular
1238 you may implement a 'stop' function that is executed each time
1239 the inferior reaches that breakpoint.
1240
1241 ** New function gdb.lookup_global_symbol looks up a global symbol.
1242
1243 ** GDB values in Python are now callable if the value represents a
1244 function. For example, if 'some_value' represents a function that
1245 takes two integer parameters and returns a value, you can call
1246 that function like so:
1247
1248 result = some_value (10,20)
1249
1250 ** Module gdb.types has been added.
1251 It contains a collection of utilities for working with gdb.Types objects:
1252 get_basic_type, has_field, make_enum_dict.
1253
1254 ** Module gdb.printing has been added.
1255 It contains utilities for writing and registering pretty-printers.
1256 New classes: PrettyPrinter, SubPrettyPrinter,
1257 RegexpCollectionPrettyPrinter.
1258 New function: register_pretty_printer.
1259
1260 ** New commands "info pretty-printers", "enable pretty-printer" and
1261 "disable pretty-printer" have been added.
1262
1263 ** gdb.parameter("directories") is now available.
1264
1265 ** New function gdb.newest_frame returns the newest frame in the
1266 selected thread.
1267
1268 ** The gdb.InferiorThread class has a new "name" attribute. This
1269 holds the thread's name.
1270
1271 ** Python Support for Inferior events.
1272 Python scripts can add observers to be notified of events
1273 occurring in the process being debugged.
1274 The following events are currently supported:
1275 - gdb.events.cont Continue event.
1276 - gdb.events.exited Inferior exited event.
1277 - gdb.events.stop Signal received, and Breakpoint hit events.
1278
1279 * C++ Improvements:
1280
1281 ** GDB now puts template parameters in scope when debugging in an
1282 instantiation. For example, if you have:
1283
1284 template<int X> int func (void) { return X; }
1285
1286 then if you step into func<5>, "print X" will show "5". This
1287 feature requires proper debuginfo support from the compiler; it
1288 was added to GCC 4.5.
1289
1290 ** The motion commands "next", "finish", "until", and "advance" now
1291 work better when exceptions are thrown. In particular, GDB will
1292 no longer lose control of the inferior; instead, the GDB will
1293 stop the inferior at the point at which the exception is caught.
1294 This functionality requires a change in the exception handling
1295 code that was introduced in GCC 4.5.
1296
1297 * GDB now follows GCC's rules on accessing volatile objects when
1298 reading or writing target state during expression evaluation.
1299 One notable difference to prior behavior is that "print x = 0"
1300 no longer generates a read of x; the value of the assignment is
1301 now always taken directly from the value being assigned.
1302
1303 * GDB now has some support for using labels in the program's source in
1304 linespecs. For instance, you can use "advance label" to continue
1305 execution to a label.
1306
1307 * GDB now has support for reading and writing a new .gdb_index
1308 section. This section holds a fast index of DWARF debugging
1309 information and can be used to greatly speed up GDB startup and
1310 operation. See the documentation for `save gdb-index' for details.
1311
1312 * The "watch" command now accepts an optional "-location" argument.
1313 When used, this causes GDB to watch the memory referred to by the
1314 expression. Such a watchpoint is never deleted due to it going out
1315 of scope.
1316
1317 * GDB now supports thread debugging of core dumps on GNU/Linux.
1318
1319 GDB now activates thread debugging using the libthread_db library
1320 when debugging GNU/Linux core dumps, similarly to when debugging
1321 live processes. As a result, when debugging a core dump file, GDB
1322 is now able to display pthread_t ids of threads. For example, "info
1323 threads" shows the same output as when debugging the process when it
1324 was live. In earlier releases, you'd see something like this:
1325
1326 (gdb) info threads
1327 * 1 LWP 6780 main () at main.c:10
1328
1329 While now you see this:
1330
1331 (gdb) info threads
1332 * 1 Thread 0x7f0f5712a700 (LWP 6780) main () at main.c:10
1333
1334 It is also now possible to inspect TLS variables when debugging core
1335 dumps.
1336
1337 When debugging a core dump generated on a machine other than the one
1338 used to run GDB, you may need to point GDB at the correct
1339 libthread_db library with the "set libthread-db-search-path"
1340 command. See the user manual for more details on this command.
1341
1342 * When natively debugging programs on PowerPC BookE processors running
1343 a Linux kernel version 2.6.34 or later, GDB supports ranged breakpoints,
1344 which stop execution of the inferior whenever it executes an instruction
1345 at any address within the specified range. See the "PowerPC Embedded"
1346 section in the user manual for more details.
1347
1348 * New features in the GDB remote stub, GDBserver
1349
1350 ** GDBserver is now supported on PowerPC LynxOS (versions 4.x and 5.x),
1351 and i686 LynxOS (version 5.x).
1352
1353 ** GDBserver is now supported on Blackfin Linux.
1354
1355 * New native configurations
1356
1357 ia64 HP-UX ia64-*-hpux*
1358
1359 * New targets:
1360
1361 Analog Devices, Inc. Blackfin Processor bfin-*
1362
1363 * Ada task switching is now supported on sparc-elf targets when
1364 debugging a program using the Ravenscar Profile. For more information,
1365 see the "Tasking Support when using the Ravenscar Profile" section
1366 in the GDB user manual.
1367
1368 * Guile support was removed.
1369
1370 * New features in the GNU simulator
1371
1372 ** The --map-info flag lists all known core mappings.
1373
1374 ** CFI flashes may be simulated via the "cfi" device.
1375
1376 *** Changes in GDB 7.2
1377
1378 * Shared library support for remote targets by default
1379
1380 When GDB is configured for a generic, non-OS specific target, like
1381 for example, --target=arm-eabi or one of the many *-*-elf targets,
1382 GDB now queries remote stubs for loaded shared libraries using the
1383 `qXfer:libraries:read' packet. Previously, shared library support
1384 was always disabled for such configurations.
1385
1386 * C++ Improvements:
1387
1388 ** Argument Dependent Lookup (ADL)
1389
1390 In C++ ADL lookup directs function search to the namespaces of its
1391 arguments even if the namespace has not been imported.
1392 For example:
1393 namespace A
1394 {
1395 class B { };
1396 void foo (B) { }
1397 }
1398 ...
1399 A::B b
1400 foo(b)
1401 Here the compiler will search for `foo' in the namespace of 'b'
1402 and find A::foo. GDB now supports this. This construct is commonly
1403 used in the Standard Template Library for operators.
1404
1405 ** Improved User Defined Operator Support
1406
1407 In addition to member operators, GDB now supports lookup of operators
1408 defined in a namespace and imported with a `using' directive, operators
1409 defined in the global scope, operators imported implicitly from an
1410 anonymous namespace, and the ADL operators mentioned in the previous
1411 entry.
1412 GDB now also supports proper overload resolution for all the previously
1413 mentioned flavors of operators.
1414
1415 ** static const class members
1416
1417 Printing of static const class members that are initialized in the
1418 class definition has been fixed.
1419
1420 * Windows Thread Information Block access.
1421
1422 On Windows targets, GDB now supports displaying the Windows Thread
1423 Information Block (TIB) structure. This structure is visible either
1424 by using the new command `info w32 thread-information-block' or, by
1425 dereferencing the new convenience variable named `$_tlb', a
1426 thread-specific pointer to the TIB. This feature is also supported
1427 when remote debugging using GDBserver.
1428
1429 * Static tracepoints
1430
1431 Static tracepoints are calls in the user program into a tracing
1432 library. One such library is a port of the LTTng kernel tracer to
1433 userspace --- UST (LTTng Userspace Tracer, http://lttng.org/ust).
1434 When debugging with GDBserver, GDB now supports combining the GDB
1435 tracepoint machinery with such libraries. For example: the user can
1436 use GDB to probe a static tracepoint marker (a call from the user
1437 program into the tracing library) with the new "strace" command (see
1438 "New commands" below). This creates a "static tracepoint" in the
1439 breakpoint list, that can be manipulated with the same feature set
1440 as fast and regular tracepoints. E.g., collect registers, local and
1441 global variables, collect trace state variables, and define
1442 tracepoint conditions. In addition, the user can collect extra
1443 static tracepoint marker specific data, by collecting the new
1444 $_sdata internal variable. When analyzing the trace buffer, you can
1445 inspect $_sdata like any other variable available to GDB. For more
1446 information, see the "Tracepoints" chapter in GDB user manual. New
1447 remote packets have been defined to support static tracepoints, see
1448 the "New remote packets" section below.
1449
1450 * Better reconstruction of tracepoints after disconnected tracing
1451
1452 GDB will attempt to download the original source form of tracepoint
1453 definitions when starting a trace run, and then will upload these
1454 upon reconnection to the target, resulting in a more accurate
1455 reconstruction of the tracepoints that are in use on the target.
1456
1457 * Observer mode
1458
1459 You can now exercise direct control over the ways that GDB can
1460 affect your program. For instance, you can disallow the setting of
1461 breakpoints, so that the program can run continuously (assuming
1462 non-stop mode). In addition, the "observer" variable is available
1463 to switch all of the different controls; in observer mode, GDB
1464 cannot affect the target's behavior at all, which is useful for
1465 tasks like diagnosing live systems in the field.
1466
1467 * The new convenience variable $_thread holds the number of the
1468 current thread.
1469
1470 * New remote packets
1471
1472 qGetTIBAddr
1473
1474 Return the address of the Windows Thread Information Block of a given thread.
1475
1476 qRelocInsn
1477
1478 In response to several of the tracepoint packets, the target may now
1479 also respond with a number of intermediate `qRelocInsn' request
1480 packets before the final result packet, to have GDB handle
1481 relocating an instruction to execute at a different address. This
1482 is particularly useful for stubs that support fast tracepoints. GDB
1483 reports support for this feature in the qSupported packet.
1484
1485 qTfSTM, qTsSTM
1486
1487 List static tracepoint markers in the target program.
1488
1489 qTSTMat
1490
1491 List static tracepoint markers at a given address in the target
1492 program.
1493
1494 qXfer:statictrace:read
1495
1496 Read the static trace data collected (by a `collect $_sdata'
1497 tracepoint action). The remote stub reports support for this packet
1498 to gdb's qSupported query.
1499
1500 QAllow
1501
1502 Send the current settings of GDB's permission flags.
1503
1504 QTDPsrc
1505
1506 Send part of the source (textual) form of a tracepoint definition,
1507 which includes location, conditional, and action list.
1508
1509 * The source command now accepts a -s option to force searching for the
1510 script in the source search path even if the script name specifies
1511 a directory.
1512
1513 * New features in the GDB remote stub, GDBserver
1514
1515 - GDBserver now support tracepoints (including fast tracepoints, and
1516 static tracepoints). The feature is currently supported by the
1517 i386-linux and amd64-linux builds. See the "Tracepoints support
1518 in gdbserver" section in the manual for more information.
1519
1520 GDBserver JIT compiles the tracepoint's conditional agent
1521 expression bytecode into native code whenever possible for low
1522 overhead dynamic tracepoints conditionals. For such tracepoints,
1523 an expression that examines program state is evaluated when the
1524 tracepoint is reached, in order to determine whether to capture
1525 trace data. If the condition is simple and false, processing the
1526 tracepoint finishes very quickly and no data is gathered.
1527
1528 GDBserver interfaces with the UST (LTTng Userspace Tracer) library
1529 for static tracepoints support.
1530
1531 - GDBserver now supports x86_64 Windows 64-bit debugging.
1532
1533 * GDB now sends xmlRegisters= in qSupported packet to indicate that
1534 it understands register description.
1535
1536 * The --batch flag now disables pagination and queries.
1537
1538 * X86 general purpose registers
1539
1540 GDB now supports reading/writing byte, word and double-word x86
1541 general purpose registers directly. This means you can use, say,
1542 $ah or $ax to refer, respectively, to the byte register AH and
1543 16-bit word register AX that are actually portions of the 32-bit
1544 register EAX or 64-bit register RAX.
1545
1546 * The `commands' command now accepts a range of breakpoints to modify.
1547 A plain `commands' following a command that creates multiple
1548 breakpoints affects all the breakpoints set by that command. This
1549 applies to breakpoints set by `rbreak', and also applies when a
1550 single `break' command creates multiple breakpoints (e.g.,
1551 breakpoints on overloaded c++ functions).
1552
1553 * The `rbreak' command now accepts a filename specification as part of
1554 its argument, limiting the functions selected by the regex to those
1555 in the specified file.
1556
1557 * Support for remote debugging Windows and SymbianOS shared libraries
1558 from Unix hosts has been improved. Non Windows GDB builds now can
1559 understand target reported file names that follow MS-DOS based file
1560 system semantics, such as file names that include drive letters and
1561 use the backslash character as directory separator. This makes it
1562 possible to transparently use the "set sysroot" and "set
1563 solib-search-path" on Unix hosts to point as host copies of the
1564 target's shared libraries. See the new command "set
1565 target-file-system-kind" described below, and the "Commands to
1566 specify files" section in the user manual for more information.
1567
1568 * New commands
1569
1570 eval template, expressions...
1571 Convert the values of one or more expressions under the control
1572 of the string template to a command line, and call it.
1573
1574 set target-file-system-kind unix|dos-based|auto
1575 show target-file-system-kind
1576 Set or show the assumed file system kind for target reported file
1577 names.
1578
1579 save breakpoints <filename>
1580 Save all current breakpoint definitions to a file suitable for use
1581 in a later debugging session. To read the saved breakpoint
1582 definitions, use the `source' command.
1583
1584 `save tracepoints' is a new alias for `save-tracepoints'. The latter
1585 is now deprecated.
1586
1587 info static-tracepoint-markers
1588 Display information about static tracepoint markers in the target.
1589
1590 strace FN | FILE:LINE | *ADDR | -m MARKER_ID
1591 Define a static tracepoint by probing a marker at the given
1592 function, line, address, or marker ID.
1593
1594 set observer on|off
1595 show observer
1596 Enable and disable observer mode.
1597
1598 set may-write-registers on|off
1599 set may-write-memory on|off
1600 set may-insert-breakpoints on|off
1601 set may-insert-tracepoints on|off
1602 set may-insert-fast-tracepoints on|off
1603 set may-interrupt on|off
1604 Set individual permissions for GDB effects on the target. Note that
1605 some of these settings can have undesirable or surprising
1606 consequences, particularly when changed in the middle of a session.
1607 For instance, disabling the writing of memory can prevent
1608 breakpoints from being inserted, cause single-stepping to fail, or
1609 even crash your program, if you disable after breakpoints have been
1610 inserted. However, GDB should not crash.
1611
1612 set record memory-query on|off
1613 show record memory-query
1614 Control whether to stop the inferior if memory changes caused
1615 by an instruction cannot be recorded.
1616
1617 * Changed commands
1618
1619 disassemble
1620 The disassemble command now supports "start,+length" form of two arguments.
1621
1622 * Python scripting
1623
1624 ** GDB now provides a new directory location, called the python directory,
1625 where Python scripts written for GDB can be installed. The location
1626 of that directory is <data-directory>/python, where <data-directory>
1627 is the GDB data directory. For more details, see section `Scripting
1628 GDB using Python' in the manual.
1629
1630 ** The GDB Python API now has access to breakpoints, symbols, symbol
1631 tables, program spaces, inferiors, threads and frame's code blocks.
1632 Additionally, GDB Parameters can now be created from the API, and
1633 manipulated via set/show in the CLI.
1634
1635 ** New functions gdb.target_charset, gdb.target_wide_charset,
1636 gdb.progspaces, gdb.current_progspace, and gdb.string_to_argv.
1637
1638 ** New exception gdb.GdbError.
1639
1640 ** Pretty-printers are now also looked up in the current program space.
1641
1642 ** Pretty-printers can now be individually enabled and disabled.
1643
1644 ** GDB now looks for names of Python scripts to auto-load in a
1645 special section named `.debug_gdb_scripts', in addition to looking
1646 for a OBJFILE-gdb.py script when OBJFILE is read by the debugger.
1647
1648 * Tracepoint actions were unified with breakpoint commands. In particular,
1649 there are no longer differences in "info break" output for breakpoints and
1650 tracepoints and the "commands" command can be used for both tracepoints and
1651 regular breakpoints.
1652
1653 * New targets
1654
1655 ARM Symbian arm*-*-symbianelf*
1656
1657 * D language support.
1658 GDB now supports debugging programs written in the D programming
1659 language.
1660
1661 * GDB now supports the extended ptrace interface for PowerPC which is
1662 available since Linux kernel version 2.6.34. This automatically enables
1663 any hardware breakpoints and additional hardware watchpoints available in
1664 the processor. The old ptrace interface exposes just one hardware
1665 watchpoint and no hardware breakpoints.
1666
1667 * GDB is now able to use the Data Value Compare (DVC) register available on
1668 embedded PowerPC processors to implement in hardware simple watchpoint
1669 conditions of the form:
1670
1671 watch ADDRESS|VARIABLE if ADDRESS|VARIABLE == CONSTANT EXPRESSION
1672
1673 This works in native GDB running on Linux kernels with the extended ptrace
1674 interface mentioned above.
1675
1676 *** Changes in GDB 7.1
1677
1678 * C++ Improvements
1679
1680 ** Namespace Support
1681
1682 GDB now supports importing of namespaces in C++. This enables the
1683 user to inspect variables from imported namespaces. Support for
1684 namepace aliasing has also been added. So, if a namespace is
1685 aliased in the current scope (e.g. namepace C=A; ) the user can
1686 print variables using the alias (e.g. (gdb) print C::x).
1687
1688 ** Bug Fixes
1689
1690 All known bugs relating to the printing of virtual base class were
1691 fixed. It is now possible to call overloaded static methods using a
1692 qualified name.
1693
1694 ** Cast Operators
1695
1696 The C++ cast operators static_cast<>, dynamic_cast<>, const_cast<>,
1697 and reinterpret_cast<> are now handled by the C++ expression parser.
1698
1699 * New targets
1700
1701 Xilinx MicroBlaze microblaze-*-*
1702 Renesas RX rx-*-elf
1703
1704 * New Simulators
1705
1706 Xilinx MicroBlaze microblaze
1707 Renesas RX rx
1708
1709 * Multi-program debugging.
1710
1711 GDB now has support for multi-program (a.k.a. multi-executable or
1712 multi-exec) debugging. This allows for debugging multiple inferiors
1713 simultaneously each running a different program under the same GDB
1714 session. See "Debugging Multiple Inferiors and Programs" in the
1715 manual for more information. This implied some user visible changes
1716 in the multi-inferior support. For example, "info inferiors" now
1717 lists inferiors that are not running yet or that have exited
1718 already. See also "New commands" and "New options" below.
1719
1720 * New tracing features
1721
1722 GDB's tracepoint facility now includes several new features:
1723
1724 ** Trace state variables
1725
1726 GDB tracepoints now include support for trace state variables, which
1727 are variables managed by the target agent during a tracing
1728 experiment. They are useful for tracepoints that trigger each
1729 other, so for instance one tracepoint can count hits in a variable,
1730 and then a second tracepoint has a condition that is true when the
1731 count reaches a particular value. Trace state variables share the
1732 $-syntax of GDB convenience variables, and can appear in both
1733 tracepoint actions and condition expressions. Use the "tvariable"
1734 command to create, and "info tvariables" to view; see "Trace State
1735 Variables" in the manual for more detail.
1736
1737 ** Fast tracepoints
1738
1739 GDB now includes an option for defining fast tracepoints, which
1740 targets may implement more efficiently, such as by installing a jump
1741 into the target agent rather than a trap instruction. The resulting
1742 speedup can be by two orders of magnitude or more, although the
1743 tradeoff is that some program locations on some target architectures
1744 might not allow fast tracepoint installation, for instance if the
1745 instruction to be replaced is shorter than the jump. To request a
1746 fast tracepoint, use the "ftrace" command, with syntax identical to
1747 the regular trace command.
1748
1749 ** Disconnected tracing
1750
1751 It is now possible to detach GDB from the target while it is running
1752 a trace experiment, then reconnect later to see how the experiment
1753 is going. In addition, a new variable disconnected-tracing lets you
1754 tell the target agent whether to continue running a trace if the
1755 connection is lost unexpectedly.
1756
1757 ** Trace files
1758
1759 GDB now has the ability to save the trace buffer into a file, and
1760 then use that file as a target, similarly to you can do with
1761 corefiles. You can select trace frames, print data that was
1762 collected in them, and use tstatus to display the state of the
1763 tracing run at the moment that it was saved. To create a trace
1764 file, use "tsave <filename>", and to use it, do "target tfile
1765 <name>".
1766
1767 ** Circular trace buffer
1768
1769 You can ask the target agent to handle the trace buffer as a
1770 circular buffer, discarding the oldest trace frames to make room for
1771 newer ones, by setting circular-trace-buffer to on. This feature may
1772 not be available for all target agents.
1773
1774 * Changed commands
1775
1776 disassemble
1777 The disassemble command, when invoked with two arguments, now requires
1778 the arguments to be comma-separated.
1779
1780 info variables
1781 The info variables command now displays variable definitions. Files
1782 which only declare a variable are not shown.
1783
1784 source
1785 The source command is now capable of sourcing Python scripts.
1786 This feature is dependent on the debugger being build with Python
1787 support.
1788
1789 Related to this enhancement is also the introduction of a new command
1790 "set script-extension" (see below).
1791
1792 * New commands (for set/show, see "New options" below)
1793
1794 record save [<FILENAME>]
1795 Save a file (in core file format) containing the process record
1796 execution log for replay debugging at a later time.
1797
1798 record restore <FILENAME>
1799 Restore the process record execution log that was saved at an
1800 earlier time, for replay debugging.
1801
1802 add-inferior [-copies <N>] [-exec <FILENAME>]
1803 Add a new inferior.
1804
1805 clone-inferior [-copies <N>] [ID]
1806 Make a new inferior ready to execute the same program another
1807 inferior has loaded.
1808
1809 remove-inferior ID
1810 Remove an inferior.
1811
1812 maint info program-spaces
1813 List the program spaces loaded into GDB.
1814
1815 set remote interrupt-sequence [Ctrl-C | BREAK | BREAK-g]
1816 show remote interrupt-sequence
1817 Allow the user to select one of ^C, a BREAK signal or BREAK-g
1818 as the sequence to the remote target in order to interrupt the execution.
1819 Ctrl-C is a default. Some system prefers BREAK which is high level of
1820 serial line for some certain time. Linux kernel prefers BREAK-g, a.k.a
1821 Magic SysRq g. It is BREAK signal and character 'g'.
1822
1823 set remote interrupt-on-connect [on | off]
1824 show remote interrupt-on-connect
1825 When interrupt-on-connect is ON, gdb sends interrupt-sequence to
1826 remote target when gdb connects to it. This is needed when you debug
1827 Linux kernel.
1828
1829 set remotebreak [on | off]
1830 show remotebreak
1831 Deprecated. Use "set/show remote interrupt-sequence" instead.
1832
1833 tvariable $NAME [ = EXP ]
1834 Create or modify a trace state variable.
1835
1836 info tvariables
1837 List trace state variables and their values.
1838
1839 delete tvariable $NAME ...
1840 Delete one or more trace state variables.
1841
1842 teval EXPR, ...
1843 Evaluate the given expressions without collecting anything into the
1844 trace buffer. (Valid in tracepoint actions only.)
1845
1846 ftrace FN / FILE:LINE / *ADDR
1847 Define a fast tracepoint at the given function, line, or address.
1848
1849 * New expression syntax
1850
1851 GDB now parses the 0b prefix of binary numbers the same way as GCC does.
1852 GDB now parses 0b101010 identically with 42.
1853
1854 * New options
1855
1856 set follow-exec-mode new|same
1857 show follow-exec-mode
1858 Control whether GDB reuses the same inferior across an exec call or
1859 creates a new one. This is useful to be able to restart the old
1860 executable after the inferior having done an exec call.
1861
1862 set default-collect EXPR, ...
1863 show default-collect
1864 Define a list of expressions to be collected at each tracepoint.
1865 This is a useful way to ensure essential items are not overlooked,
1866 such as registers or a critical global variable.
1867
1868 set disconnected-tracing
1869 show disconnected-tracing
1870 If set to 1, the target is instructed to continue tracing if it
1871 loses its connection to GDB. If 0, the target is to stop tracing
1872 upon disconnection.
1873
1874 set circular-trace-buffer
1875 show circular-trace-buffer
1876 If set to on, the target is instructed to use a circular trace buffer
1877 and discard the oldest trace frames instead of stopping the trace due
1878 to a full trace buffer. If set to off, the trace stops when the buffer
1879 fills up. Some targets may not support this.
1880
1881 set script-extension off|soft|strict
1882 show script-extension
1883 If set to "off", the debugger does not perform any script language
1884 recognition, and all sourced files are assumed to be GDB scripts.
1885 If set to "soft" (the default), files are sourced according to
1886 filename extension, falling back to GDB scripts if the first
1887 evaluation failed.
1888 If set to "strict", files are sourced according to filename extension.
1889
1890 set ada trust-PAD-over-XVS on|off
1891 show ada trust-PAD-over-XVS
1892 If off, activate a workaround against a bug in the debugging information
1893 generated by the compiler for PAD types (see gcc/exp_dbug.ads in
1894 the GCC sources for more information about the GNAT encoding and
1895 PAD types in particular). It is always safe to set this option to
1896 off, but this introduces a slight performance penalty. The default
1897 is on.
1898
1899 * Python API Improvements
1900
1901 ** GDB provides the new class gdb.LazyString. This is useful in
1902 some pretty-printing cases. The new method gdb.Value.lazy_string
1903 provides a simple way to create objects of this type.
1904
1905 ** The fields returned by gdb.Type.fields now have an
1906 `is_base_class' attribute.
1907
1908 ** The new method gdb.Type.range returns the range of an array type.
1909
1910 ** The new method gdb.parse_and_eval can be used to parse and
1911 evaluate an expression.
1912
1913 * New remote packets
1914
1915 QTDV
1916 Define a trace state variable.
1917
1918 qTV
1919 Get the current value of a trace state variable.
1920
1921 QTDisconnected
1922 Set desired tracing behavior upon disconnection.
1923
1924 QTBuffer:circular
1925 Set the trace buffer to be linear or circular.
1926
1927 qTfP, qTsP
1928 Get data about the tracepoints currently in use.
1929
1930 * Bug fixes
1931
1932 Process record now works correctly with hardware watchpoints.
1933
1934 Multiple bug fixes have been made to the mips-irix port, making it
1935 much more reliable. In particular:
1936 - Debugging threaded applications is now possible again. Previously,
1937 GDB would hang while starting the program, or while waiting for
1938 the program to stop at a breakpoint.
1939 - Attaching to a running process no longer hangs.
1940 - An error occurring while loading a core file has been fixed.
1941 - Changing the value of the PC register now works again. This fixes
1942 problems observed when using the "jump" command, or when calling
1943 a function from GDB, or even when assigning a new value to $pc.
1944 - With the "finish" and "return" commands, the return value for functions
1945 returning a small array is now correctly printed.
1946 - It is now possible to break on shared library code which gets executed
1947 during a shared library init phase (code executed while executing
1948 their .init section). Previously, the breakpoint would have no effect.
1949 - GDB is now able to backtrace through the signal handler for
1950 non-threaded programs.
1951
1952 PIE (Position Independent Executable) programs debugging is now supported.
1953 This includes debugging execution of PIC (Position Independent Code) shared
1954 libraries although for that, it should be possible to run such libraries as an
1955 executable program.
1956
1957 *** Changes in GDB 7.0
1958
1959 * GDB now has an interface for JIT compilation. Applications that
1960 dynamically generate code can create symbol files in memory and register
1961 them with GDB. For users, the feature should work transparently, and
1962 for JIT developers, the interface is documented in the GDB manual in the
1963 "JIT Compilation Interface" chapter.
1964
1965 * Tracepoints may now be conditional. The syntax is as for
1966 breakpoints; either an "if" clause appended to the "trace" command,
1967 or the "condition" command is available. GDB sends the condition to
1968 the target for evaluation using the same bytecode format as is used
1969 for tracepoint actions.
1970
1971 * The disassemble command now supports: an optional /r modifier, print the
1972 raw instructions in hex as well as in symbolic form, and an optional /m
1973 modifier to print mixed source+assembly.
1974
1975 * Process record and replay
1976
1977 In a architecture environment that supports ``process record and
1978 replay'', ``process record and replay'' target can record a log of
1979 the process execution, and replay it with both forward and reverse
1980 execute commands.
1981
1982 * Reverse debugging: GDB now has new commands reverse-continue, reverse-
1983 step, reverse-next, reverse-finish, reverse-stepi, reverse-nexti, and
1984 set execution-direction {forward|reverse}, for targets that support
1985 reverse execution.
1986
1987 * GDB now supports hardware watchpoints on MIPS/Linux systems. This
1988 feature is available with a native GDB running on kernel version
1989 2.6.28 or later.
1990
1991 * GDB now has support for multi-byte and wide character sets on the
1992 target. Strings whose character type is wchar_t, char16_t, or
1993 char32_t are now correctly printed. GDB supports wide- and unicode-
1994 literals in C, that is, L'x', L"string", u'x', u"string", U'x', and
1995 U"string" syntax. And, GDB allows the "%ls" and "%lc" formats in
1996 `printf'. This feature requires iconv to work properly; if your
1997 system does not have a working iconv, GDB can use GNU libiconv. See
1998 the installation instructions for more information.
1999
2000 * GDB now supports automatic retrieval of shared library files from
2001 remote targets. To use this feature, specify a system root that begins
2002 with the `remote:' prefix, either via the `set sysroot' command or via
2003 the `--with-sysroot' configure-time option.
2004
2005 * "info sharedlibrary" now takes an optional regex of libraries to show,
2006 and it now reports if a shared library has no debugging information.
2007
2008 * Commands `set debug-file-directory', `set solib-search-path' and `set args'
2009 now complete on file names.
2010
2011 * When completing in expressions, gdb will attempt to limit
2012 completions to allowable structure or union fields, where appropriate.
2013 For instance, consider:
2014
2015 # struct example { int f1; double f2; };
2016 # struct example variable;
2017 (gdb) p variable.
2018
2019 If the user types TAB at the end of this command line, the available
2020 completions will be "f1" and "f2".
2021
2022 * Inlined functions are now supported. They show up in backtraces, and
2023 the "step", "next", and "finish" commands handle them automatically.
2024
2025 * GDB now supports the token-splicing (##) and stringification (#)
2026 operators when expanding macros. It also supports variable-arity
2027 macros.
2028
2029 * GDB now supports inspecting extra signal information, exported by
2030 the new $_siginfo convenience variable. The feature is currently
2031 implemented on linux ARM, i386 and amd64.
2032
2033 * GDB can now display the VFP floating point registers and NEON vector
2034 registers on ARM targets. Both ARM GNU/Linux native GDB and gdbserver
2035 can provide these registers (requires Linux 2.6.30 or later). Remote
2036 and simulator targets may also provide them.
2037
2038 * New remote packets
2039
2040 qSearch:memory:
2041 Search memory for a sequence of bytes.
2042
2043 QStartNoAckMode
2044 Turn off `+'/`-' protocol acknowledgments to permit more efficient
2045 operation over reliable transport links. Use of this packet is
2046 controlled by the `set remote noack-packet' command.
2047
2048 vKill
2049 Kill the process with the specified process ID. Use this in preference
2050 to `k' when multiprocess protocol extensions are supported.
2051
2052 qXfer:osdata:read
2053 Obtains additional operating system information
2054
2055 qXfer:siginfo:read
2056 qXfer:siginfo:write
2057 Read or write additional signal information.
2058
2059 * Removed remote protocol undocumented extension
2060
2061 An undocumented extension to the remote protocol's `S' stop reply
2062 packet that permited the stub to pass a process id was removed.
2063 Remote servers should use the `T' stop reply packet instead.
2064
2065 * GDB now supports multiple function calling conventions according to the
2066 DWARF-2 DW_AT_calling_convention function attribute.
2067
2068 * The SH target utilizes the aforementioned change to distinguish between gcc
2069 and Renesas calling convention. It also adds the new CLI commands
2070 `set/show sh calling-convention'.
2071
2072 * GDB can now read compressed debug sections, as produced by GNU gold
2073 with the --compress-debug-sections=zlib flag.
2074
2075 * 64-bit core files are now supported on AIX.
2076
2077 * Thread switching is now supported on Tru64.
2078
2079 * Watchpoints can now be set on unreadable memory locations, e.g. addresses
2080 which will be allocated using malloc later in program execution.
2081
2082 * The qXfer:libraries:read remote procotol packet now allows passing a
2083 list of section offsets.
2084
2085 * On GNU/Linux, GDB can now attach to stopped processes. Several race
2086 conditions handling signals delivered during attach or thread creation
2087 have also been fixed.
2088
2089 * GDB now supports the use of DWARF boolean types for Ada's type Boolean.
2090 From the user's standpoint, all unqualified instances of True and False
2091 are treated as the standard definitions, regardless of context.
2092
2093 * GDB now parses C++ symbol and type names more flexibly. For
2094 example, given:
2095
2096 template<typename T> class C { };
2097 C<char const *> c;
2098
2099 GDB will now correctly handle all of:
2100
2101 ptype C<char const *>
2102 ptype C<char const*>
2103 ptype C<const char *>
2104 ptype C<const char*>
2105
2106 * New features in the GDB remote stub, gdbserver
2107
2108 - The "--wrapper" command-line argument tells gdbserver to use a
2109 wrapper program to launch programs for debugging.
2110
2111 - On PowerPC and S/390 targets, it is now possible to use a single
2112 gdbserver executable to debug both 32-bit and 64-bit programs.
2113 (This requires gdbserver itself to be built as a 64-bit executable.)
2114
2115 - gdbserver uses the new noack protocol mode for TCP connections to
2116 reduce communications latency, if also supported and enabled in GDB.
2117
2118 - Support for the sparc64-linux-gnu target is now included in
2119 gdbserver.
2120
2121 - The amd64-linux build of gdbserver now supports debugging both
2122 32-bit and 64-bit programs.
2123
2124 - The i386-linux, amd64-linux, and i386-win32 builds of gdbserver
2125 now support hardware watchpoints, and will use them automatically
2126 as appropriate.
2127
2128 * Python scripting
2129
2130 GDB now has support for scripting using Python. Whether this is
2131 available is determined at configure time.
2132
2133 New GDB commands can now be written in Python.
2134
2135 * Ada tasking support
2136
2137 Ada tasks can now be inspected in GDB. The following commands have
2138 been introduced:
2139
2140 info tasks
2141 Print the list of Ada tasks.
2142 info task N
2143 Print detailed information about task number N.
2144 task
2145 Print the task number of the current task.
2146 task N
2147 Switch the context of debugging to task number N.
2148
2149 * Support for user-defined prefixed commands. The "define" command can
2150 add new commands to existing prefixes, e.g. "target".
2151
2152 * Multi-inferior, multi-process debugging.
2153
2154 GDB now has generalized support for multi-inferior debugging. See
2155 "Debugging Multiple Inferiors" in the manual for more information.
2156 Although availability still depends on target support, the command
2157 set is more uniform now. The GNU/Linux specific multi-forks support
2158 has been migrated to this new framework. This implied some user
2159 visible changes; see "New commands" and also "Removed commands"
2160 below.
2161
2162 * Target descriptions can now describe the target OS ABI. See the
2163 "Target Description Format" section in the user manual for more
2164 information.
2165
2166 * Target descriptions can now describe "compatible" architectures
2167 to indicate that the target can execute applications for a different
2168 architecture in addition to those for the main target architecture.
2169 See the "Target Description Format" section in the user manual for
2170 more information.
2171
2172 * Multi-architecture debugging.
2173
2174 GDB now includes general supports for debugging applications on
2175 hybrid systems that use more than one single processor architecture
2176 at the same time. Each such hybrid architecture still requires
2177 specific support to be added. The only hybrid architecture supported
2178 in this version of GDB is the Cell Broadband Engine.
2179
2180 * GDB now supports integrated debugging of Cell/B.E. applications that
2181 use both the PPU and SPU architectures. To enable support for hybrid
2182 Cell/B.E. debugging, you need to configure GDB to support both the
2183 powerpc-linux or powerpc64-linux and the spu-elf targets, using the
2184 --enable-targets configure option.
2185
2186 * Non-stop mode debugging.
2187
2188 For some targets, GDB now supports an optional mode of operation in
2189 which you can examine stopped threads while other threads continue
2190 to execute freely. This is referred to as non-stop mode, with the
2191 old mode referred to as all-stop mode. See the "Non-Stop Mode"
2192 section in the user manual for more information.
2193
2194 To be able to support remote non-stop debugging, a remote stub needs
2195 to implement the non-stop mode remote protocol extensions, as
2196 described in the "Remote Non-Stop" section of the user manual. The
2197 GDB remote stub, gdbserver, has been adjusted to support these
2198 extensions on linux targets.
2199
2200 * New commands (for set/show, see "New options" below)
2201
2202 catch syscall [NAME(S) | NUMBER(S)]
2203 Catch system calls. Arguments, which should be names of system
2204 calls or their numbers, mean catch only those syscalls. Without
2205 arguments, every syscall will be caught. When the inferior issues
2206 any of the specified syscalls, GDB will stop and announce the system
2207 call, both when it is called and when its call returns. This
2208 feature is currently available with a native GDB running on the
2209 Linux Kernel, under the following architectures: x86, x86_64,
2210 PowerPC and PowerPC64.
2211
2212 find [/size-char] [/max-count] start-address, end-address|+search-space-size,
2213 val1 [, val2, ...]
2214 Search memory for a sequence of bytes.
2215
2216 maint set python print-stack
2217 maint show python print-stack
2218 Show a stack trace when an error is encountered in a Python script.
2219
2220 python [CODE]
2221 Invoke CODE by passing it to the Python interpreter.
2222
2223 macro define
2224 macro list
2225 macro undef
2226 These allow macros to be defined, undefined, and listed
2227 interactively.
2228
2229 info os processes
2230 Show operating system information about processes.
2231
2232 info inferiors
2233 List the inferiors currently under GDB's control.
2234
2235 inferior NUM
2236 Switch focus to inferior number NUM.
2237
2238 detach inferior NUM
2239 Detach from inferior number NUM.
2240
2241 kill inferior NUM
2242 Kill inferior number NUM.
2243
2244 * New options
2245
2246 set spu stop-on-load
2247 show spu stop-on-load
2248 Control whether to stop for new SPE threads during Cell/B.E. debugging.
2249
2250 set spu auto-flush-cache
2251 show spu auto-flush-cache
2252 Control whether to automatically flush the software-managed cache
2253 during Cell/B.E. debugging.
2254
2255 set sh calling-convention
2256 show sh calling-convention
2257 Control the calling convention used when calling SH target functions.
2258
2259 set debug timestamp
2260 show debug timestamp
2261 Control display of timestamps with GDB debugging output.
2262
2263 set disassemble-next-line
2264 show disassemble-next-line
2265 Control display of disassembled source lines or instructions when
2266 the debuggee stops.
2267
2268 set remote noack-packet
2269 show remote noack-packet
2270 Set/show the use of remote protocol QStartNoAckMode packet. See above
2271 under "New remote packets."
2272
2273 set remote query-attached-packet
2274 show remote query-attached-packet
2275 Control use of remote protocol `qAttached' (query-attached) packet.
2276
2277 set remote read-siginfo-object
2278 show remote read-siginfo-object
2279 Control use of remote protocol `qXfer:siginfo:read' (read-siginfo-object)
2280 packet.
2281
2282 set remote write-siginfo-object
2283 show remote write-siginfo-object
2284 Control use of remote protocol `qXfer:siginfo:write' (write-siginfo-object)
2285 packet.
2286
2287 set remote reverse-continue
2288 show remote reverse-continue
2289 Control use of remote protocol 'bc' (reverse-continue) packet.
2290
2291 set remote reverse-step
2292 show remote reverse-step
2293 Control use of remote protocol 'bs' (reverse-step) packet.
2294
2295 set displaced-stepping
2296 show displaced-stepping
2297 Control displaced stepping mode. Displaced stepping is a way to
2298 single-step over breakpoints without removing them from the debuggee.
2299 Also known as "out-of-line single-stepping".
2300
2301 set debug displaced
2302 show debug displaced
2303 Control display of debugging info for displaced stepping.
2304
2305 maint set internal-error
2306 maint show internal-error
2307 Control what GDB does when an internal error is detected.
2308
2309 maint set internal-warning
2310 maint show internal-warning
2311 Control what GDB does when an internal warning is detected.
2312
2313 set exec-wrapper
2314 show exec-wrapper
2315 unset exec-wrapper
2316 Use a wrapper program to launch programs for debugging.
2317
2318 set multiple-symbols (all|ask|cancel)
2319 show multiple-symbols
2320 The value of this variable can be changed to adjust the debugger behavior
2321 when an expression or a breakpoint location contains an ambiguous symbol
2322 name (an overloaded function name, for instance).
2323
2324 set breakpoint always-inserted
2325 show breakpoint always-inserted
2326 Keep breakpoints always inserted in the target, as opposed to inserting
2327 them when resuming the target, and removing them when the target stops.
2328 This option can improve debugger performance on slow remote targets.
2329
2330 set arm fallback-mode (arm|thumb|auto)
2331 show arm fallback-mode
2332 set arm force-mode (arm|thumb|auto)
2333 show arm force-mode
2334 These commands control how ARM GDB determines whether instructions
2335 are ARM or Thumb. The default for both settings is auto, which uses
2336 the current CPSR value for instructions without symbols; previous
2337 versions of GDB behaved as if "set arm fallback-mode arm".
2338
2339 set disable-randomization
2340 show disable-randomization
2341 Standalone programs run with the virtual address space randomization enabled
2342 by default on some platforms. This option keeps the addresses stable across
2343 multiple debugging sessions.
2344
2345 set non-stop
2346 show non-stop
2347 Control whether other threads are stopped or not when some thread hits
2348 a breakpoint.
2349
2350 set target-async
2351 show target-async
2352 Requests that asynchronous execution is enabled in the target, if available.
2353 In this case, it's possible to resume target in the background, and interact
2354 with GDB while the target is running. "show target-async" displays the
2355 current state of asynchronous execution of the target.
2356
2357 set target-wide-charset
2358 show target-wide-charset
2359 The target-wide-charset is the name of the character set that GDB
2360 uses when printing characters whose type is wchar_t.
2361
2362 set tcp auto-retry (on|off)
2363 show tcp auto-retry
2364 set tcp connect-timeout
2365 show tcp connect-timeout
2366 These commands allow GDB to retry failed TCP connections to a remote stub
2367 with a specified timeout period; this is useful if the stub is launched
2368 in parallel with GDB but may not be ready to accept connections immediately.
2369
2370 set libthread-db-search-path
2371 show libthread-db-search-path
2372 Control list of directories which GDB will search for appropriate
2373 libthread_db.
2374
2375 set schedule-multiple (on|off)
2376 show schedule-multiple
2377 Allow GDB to resume all threads of all processes or only threads of
2378 the current process.
2379
2380 set stack-cache
2381 show stack-cache
2382 Use more aggressive caching for accesses to the stack. This improves
2383 performance of remote debugging (particularly backtraces) without
2384 affecting correctness.
2385
2386 set interactive-mode (on|off|auto)
2387 show interactive-mode
2388 Control whether GDB runs in interactive mode (on) or not (off).
2389 When in interactive mode, GDB waits for the user to answer all
2390 queries. Otherwise, GDB does not wait and assumes the default
2391 answer. When set to auto (the default), GDB determines which
2392 mode to use based on the stdin settings.
2393
2394 * Removed commands
2395
2396 info forks
2397 For program forks, this is replaced by the new more generic `info
2398 inferiors' command. To list checkpoints, you can still use the
2399 `info checkpoints' command, which was an alias for the `info forks'
2400 command.
2401
2402 fork NUM
2403 Replaced by the new `inferior' command. To switch between
2404 checkpoints, you can still use the `restart' command, which was an
2405 alias for the `fork' command.
2406
2407 process PID
2408 This is removed, since some targets don't have a notion of
2409 processes. To switch between processes, you can still use the
2410 `inferior' command using GDB's own inferior number.
2411
2412 delete fork NUM
2413 For program forks, this is replaced by the new more generic `kill
2414 inferior' command. To delete a checkpoint, you can still use the
2415 `delete checkpoint' command, which was an alias for the `delete
2416 fork' command.
2417
2418 detach fork NUM
2419 For program forks, this is replaced by the new more generic `detach
2420 inferior' command. To detach a checkpoint, you can still use the
2421 `detach checkpoint' command, which was an alias for the `detach
2422 fork' command.
2423
2424 * New native configurations
2425
2426 x86/x86_64 Darwin i[34567]86-*-darwin*
2427
2428 x86_64 MinGW x86_64-*-mingw*
2429
2430 * New targets
2431
2432 Lattice Mico32 lm32-*
2433 x86 DICOS i[34567]86-*-dicos*
2434 x86_64 DICOS x86_64-*-dicos*
2435 S+core 3 score-*-*
2436
2437 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports x86 Windows CE
2438 (mingw32ce) debugging.
2439
2440 * Removed commands
2441
2442 catch load
2443 catch unload
2444 These commands were actually not implemented on any target.
2445
2446 *** Changes in GDB 6.8
2447
2448 * New native configurations
2449
2450 NetBSD/hppa hppa*-*netbsd*
2451 Xtensa GNU/Linux xtensa*-*-linux*
2452
2453 * New targets
2454
2455 NetBSD/hppa hppa*-*-netbsd*
2456 Xtensa GNU/Lunux xtensa*-*-linux*
2457
2458 * Change in command line behavior -- corefiles vs. process ids.
2459
2460 When the '-p NUMBER' or '--pid NUMBER' options are used, and
2461 attaching to process NUMBER fails, GDB no longer attempts to open a
2462 core file named NUMBER. Attaching to a program using the -c option
2463 is no longer supported. Instead, use the '-p' or '--pid' options.
2464
2465 * GDB can now be built as a native debugger for debugging Windows x86
2466 (mingw32) Portable Executable (PE) programs.
2467
2468 * Pending breakpoints no longer change their number when their address
2469 is resolved.
2470
2471 * GDB now supports breakpoints with multiple locations,
2472 including breakpoints on C++ constructors, inside C++ templates,
2473 and in inlined functions.
2474
2475 * GDB's ability to debug optimized code has been improved. GDB more
2476 accurately identifies function bodies and lexical blocks that occupy
2477 more than one contiguous range of addresses.
2478
2479 * Target descriptions can now describe registers for PowerPC.
2480
2481 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports the AltiVec and SPE
2482 registers on PowerPC targets.
2483
2484 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports thread debugging on GNU/Linux
2485 targets even when the libthread_db library is not available.
2486
2487 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports the new file transfer
2488 commands (remote put, remote get, and remote delete).
2489
2490 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports run and attach in
2491 extended-remote mode.
2492
2493 * hppa*64*-*-hpux11* target broken
2494 The debugger is unable to start a program and fails with the following
2495 error: "Error trying to get information about dynamic linker".
2496 The gdb-6.7 release is also affected.
2497
2498 * GDB now supports the --enable-targets= configure option to allow
2499 building a single GDB executable that supports multiple remote
2500 target architectures.
2501
2502 * GDB now supports debugging C and C++ programs which use the
2503 Decimal Floating Point extension. In addition, the PowerPC target
2504 now has a set of pseudo-registers to inspect decimal float values
2505 stored in two consecutive float registers.
2506
2507 * The -break-insert MI command can optionally create pending
2508 breakpoints now.
2509
2510 * Improved support for debugging Ada
2511 Many improvements to the Ada language support have been made. These
2512 include:
2513 - Better support for Ada2005 interface types
2514 - Improved handling of arrays and slices in general
2515 - Better support for Taft-amendment types
2516 - The '{type} ADDRESS' expression is now allowed on the left hand-side
2517 of an assignment
2518 - Improved command completion in Ada
2519 - Several bug fixes
2520
2521 * GDB on GNU/Linux and HP/UX can now debug through "exec" of a new
2522 process.
2523
2524 * New commands
2525
2526 set print frame-arguments (all|scalars|none)
2527 show print frame-arguments
2528 The value of this variable can be changed to control which argument
2529 values should be printed by the debugger when displaying a frame.
2530
2531 remote put
2532 remote get
2533 remote delete
2534 Transfer files to and from a remote target, and delete remote files.
2535
2536 * New MI commands
2537
2538 -target-file-put
2539 -target-file-get
2540 -target-file-delete
2541 Transfer files to and from a remote target, and delete remote files.
2542
2543 * New remote packets
2544
2545 vFile:open:
2546 vFile:close:
2547 vFile:pread:
2548 vFile:pwrite:
2549 vFile:unlink:
2550 Open, close, read, write, and delete files on the remote system.
2551
2552 vAttach
2553 Attach to an existing process on the remote system, in extended-remote
2554 mode.
2555
2556 vRun
2557 Run a new process on the remote system, in extended-remote mode.
2558
2559 *** Changes in GDB 6.7
2560
2561 * Resolved 101 resource leaks, null pointer dereferences, etc. in gdb,
2562 bfd, libiberty and opcodes, as revealed by static analysis donated by
2563 Coverity, Inc. (http://scan.coverity.com).
2564
2565 * When looking up multiply-defined global symbols, GDB will now prefer the
2566 symbol definition in the current shared library if it was built using the
2567 -Bsymbolic linker option.
2568
2569 * When the Text User Interface (TUI) is not configured, GDB will now
2570 recognize the -tui command-line option and print a message that the TUI
2571 is not supported.
2572
2573 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now has lower overhead for high
2574 frequency signals (e.g. SIGALRM) via the QPassSignals packet.
2575
2576 * GDB for MIPS targets now autodetects whether a remote target provides
2577 32-bit or 64-bit register values.
2578
2579 * Support for C++ member pointers has been improved.
2580
2581 * GDB now understands XML target descriptions, which specify the
2582 target's overall architecture. GDB can read a description from
2583 a local file or over the remote serial protocol.
2584
2585 * Vectors of single-byte data use a new integer type which is not
2586 automatically displayed as character or string data.
2587
2588 * The /s format now works with the print command. It displays
2589 arrays of single-byte integers and pointers to single-byte integers
2590 as strings.
2591
2592 * Target descriptions can now describe target-specific registers,
2593 for architectures which have implemented the support (currently
2594 only ARM, M68K, and MIPS).
2595
2596 * GDB and the GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now support the XScale
2597 iWMMXt coprocessor.
2598
2599 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, has been updated to support
2600 ARM Windows CE (mingw32ce) debugging, and GDB Windows CE support
2601 has been rewritten to use the standard GDB remote protocol.
2602
2603 * GDB can now step into C++ functions which are called through thunks.
2604
2605 * GDB for the Cell/B.E. SPU now supports overlay debugging.
2606
2607 * The GDB remote protocol "qOffsets" packet can now honor ELF segment
2608 layout. It also supports a TextSeg= and DataSeg= response when only
2609 segment base addresses (rather than offsets) are available.
2610
2611 * The /i format now outputs any trailing branch delay slot instructions
2612 immediately following the last instruction within the count specified.
2613
2614 * The GDB remote protocol "T" stop reply packet now supports a
2615 "library" response. Combined with the new "qXfer:libraries:read"
2616 packet, this response allows GDB to debug shared libraries on targets
2617 where the operating system manages the list of loaded libraries (e.g.
2618 Windows and SymbianOS).
2619
2620 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports dynamic link libraries
2621 (DLLs) on Windows and Windows CE targets.
2622
2623 * GDB now supports a faster verification that a .debug file matches its binary
2624 according to its build-id signature, if the signature is present.
2625
2626 * New commands
2627
2628 set remoteflow
2629 show remoteflow
2630 Enable or disable hardware flow control (RTS/CTS) on the serial port
2631 when debugging using remote targets.
2632
2633 set mem inaccessible-by-default
2634 show mem inaccessible-by-default
2635 If the target supplies a memory map, for instance via the remote
2636 protocol's "qXfer:memory-map:read" packet, setting this variable
2637 prevents GDB from accessing memory outside the memory map. This
2638 is useful for targets with memory mapped registers or which react
2639 badly to accesses of unmapped address space.
2640
2641 set breakpoint auto-hw
2642 show breakpoint auto-hw
2643 If the target supplies a memory map, for instance via the remote
2644 protocol's "qXfer:memory-map:read" packet, setting this variable
2645 lets GDB use hardware breakpoints automatically for memory regions
2646 where it can not use software breakpoints. This covers both the
2647 "break" command and internal breakpoints used for other commands
2648 including "next" and "finish".
2649
2650 catch exception
2651 catch exception unhandled
2652 Stop the program execution when Ada exceptions are raised.
2653
2654 catch assert
2655 Stop the program execution when an Ada assertion failed.
2656
2657 set sysroot
2658 show sysroot
2659 Set an alternate system root for target files. This is a more
2660 general version of "set solib-absolute-prefix", which is now
2661 an alias to "set sysroot".
2662
2663 info spu
2664 Provide extended SPU facility status information. This set of
2665 commands is available only when debugging the Cell/B.E. SPU
2666 architecture.
2667
2668 * New native configurations
2669
2670 OpenBSD/sh sh*-*openbsd*
2671
2672 set tdesc filename
2673 unset tdesc filename
2674 show tdesc filename
2675 Use the specified local file as an XML target description, and do
2676 not query the target for its built-in description.
2677
2678 * New targets
2679
2680 OpenBSD/sh sh*-*-openbsd*
2681 MIPS64 GNU/Linux (gdbserver) mips64-linux-gnu
2682 Toshiba Media Processor mep-elf
2683
2684 * New remote packets
2685
2686 QPassSignals:
2687 Ignore the specified signals; pass them directly to the debugged program
2688 without stopping other threads or reporting them to GDB.
2689
2690 qXfer:features:read:
2691 Read an XML target description from the target, which describes its
2692 features.
2693
2694 qXfer:spu:read:
2695 qXfer:spu:write:
2696 Read or write contents of an spufs file on the target system. These
2697 packets are available only on the Cell/B.E. SPU architecture.
2698
2699 qXfer:libraries:read:
2700 Report the loaded shared libraries. Combined with new "T" packet
2701 response, this packet allows GDB to debug shared libraries on
2702 targets where the operating system manages the list of loaded
2703 libraries (e.g. Windows and SymbianOS).
2704
2705 * Removed targets
2706
2707 Support for these obsolete configurations has been removed.
2708
2709 alpha*-*-osf1*
2710 alpha*-*-osf2*
2711 d10v-*-*
2712 hppa*-*-hiux*
2713 i[34567]86-ncr-*
2714 i[34567]86-*-dgux*
2715 i[34567]86-*-lynxos*
2716 i[34567]86-*-netware*
2717 i[34567]86-*-sco3.2v5*
2718 i[34567]86-*-sco3.2v4*
2719 i[34567]86-*-sco*
2720 i[34567]86-*-sysv4.2*
2721 i[34567]86-*-sysv4*
2722 i[34567]86-*-sysv5*
2723 i[34567]86-*-unixware2*
2724 i[34567]86-*-unixware*
2725 i[34567]86-*-sysv*
2726 i[34567]86-*-isc*
2727 m68*-cisco*-*
2728 m68*-tandem-*
2729 mips*-*-pe
2730 rs6000-*-lynxos*
2731 sh*-*-pe
2732
2733 * Other removed features
2734
2735 target abug
2736 target cpu32bug
2737 target est
2738 target rom68k
2739
2740 Various m68k-only ROM monitors.
2741
2742 target hms
2743 target e7000
2744 target sh3
2745 target sh3e
2746
2747 Various Renesas ROM monitors and debugging interfaces for SH and
2748 H8/300.
2749
2750 target ocd
2751
2752 Support for a Macraigor serial interface to on-chip debugging.
2753 GDB does not directly support the newer parallel or USB
2754 interfaces.
2755
2756 DWARF 1 support
2757
2758 A debug information format. The predecessor to DWARF 2 and
2759 DWARF 3, which are still supported.
2760
2761 Support for the HP aCC compiler on HP-UX/PA-RISC
2762
2763 SOM-encapsulated symbolic debugging information, automatic
2764 invocation of pxdb, and the aCC custom C++ ABI. This does not
2765 affect HP-UX for Itanium or GCC for HP-UX/PA-RISC. Code compiled
2766 with aCC can still be debugged on an assembly level.
2767
2768 MIPS ".pdr" sections
2769
2770 A MIPS-specific format used to describe stack frame layout
2771 in debugging information.
2772
2773 Scheme support
2774
2775 GDB could work with an older version of Guile to debug
2776 the interpreter and Scheme programs running in it.
2777
2778 set mips stack-arg-size
2779 set mips saved-gpreg-size
2780
2781 Use "set mips abi" to control parameter passing for MIPS.
2782
2783 *** Changes in GDB 6.6
2784
2785 * New targets
2786
2787 Xtensa xtensa-elf
2788 Cell Broadband Engine SPU spu-elf
2789
2790 * GDB can now be configured as a cross-debugger targeting native Windows
2791 (mingw32) or Cygwin. It can communicate with a remote debugging stub
2792 running on a Windows system over TCP/IP to debug Windows programs.
2793
2794 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, has been updated to support Windows and
2795 Cygwin debugging. Both single-threaded and multi-threaded programs are
2796 supported.
2797
2798 * The "set trust-readonly-sections" command works again. This command was
2799 broken in GDB 6.3, 6.4, and 6.5.
2800
2801 * The "load" command now supports writing to flash memory, if the remote
2802 stub provides the required support.
2803
2804 * Support for GNU/Linux Thread Local Storage (TLS, per-thread variables) no
2805 longer requires symbolic debug information (e.g. DWARF-2).
2806
2807 * New commands
2808
2809 set substitute-path
2810 unset substitute-path
2811 show substitute-path
2812 Manage a list of substitution rules that GDB uses to rewrite the name
2813 of the directories where the sources are located. This can be useful
2814 for instance when the sources were moved to a different location
2815 between compilation and debugging.
2816
2817 set trace-commands
2818 show trace-commands
2819 Print each CLI command as it is executed. Each command is prefixed with
2820 a number of `+' symbols representing the nesting depth.
2821 The source command now has a `-v' option to enable the same feature.
2822
2823 * REMOVED features
2824
2825 The ARM Demon monitor support (RDP protocol, "target rdp").
2826
2827 Kernel Object Display, an embedded debugging feature which only worked with
2828 an obsolete version of Cisco IOS.
2829
2830 The 'set download-write-size' and 'show download-write-size' commands.
2831
2832 * New remote packets
2833
2834 qSupported:
2835 Tell a stub about GDB client features, and request remote target features.
2836 The first feature implemented is PacketSize, which allows the target to
2837 specify the size of packets it can handle - to minimize the number of
2838 packets required and improve performance when connected to a remote
2839 target.
2840
2841 qXfer:auxv:read:
2842 Fetch an OS auxilliary vector from the remote stub. This packet is a
2843 more efficient replacement for qPart:auxv:read.
2844
2845 qXfer:memory-map:read:
2846 Fetch a memory map from the remote stub, including information about
2847 RAM, ROM, and flash memory devices.
2848
2849 vFlashErase:
2850 vFlashWrite:
2851 vFlashDone:
2852 Erase and program a flash memory device.
2853
2854 * Removed remote packets
2855
2856 qPart:auxv:read:
2857 This packet has been replaced by qXfer:auxv:read. Only GDB 6.4 and 6.5
2858 used it, and only gdbserver implemented it.
2859
2860 *** Changes in GDB 6.5
2861
2862 * New targets
2863
2864 Renesas M32C/M16C m32c-elf
2865
2866 Morpho Technologies ms1 ms1-elf
2867
2868 * New commands
2869
2870 init-if-undefined Initialize a convenience variable, but
2871 only if it doesn't already have a value.
2872
2873 The following commands are presently only implemented for native GNU/Linux:
2874
2875 checkpoint Save a snapshot of the program state.
2876
2877 restart <n> Return the program state to a
2878 previously saved state.
2879
2880 info checkpoints List currently saved checkpoints.
2881
2882 delete-checkpoint <n> Delete a previously saved checkpoint.
2883
2884 set|show detach-on-fork Tell gdb whether to detach from a newly
2885 forked process, or to keep debugging it.
2886
2887 info forks List forks of the user program that
2888 are available to be debugged.
2889
2890 fork <n> Switch to debugging one of several
2891 forks of the user program that are
2892 available to be debugged.
2893
2894 delete-fork <n> Delete a fork from the list of forks
2895 that are available to be debugged (and
2896 kill the forked process).
2897
2898 detach-fork <n> Delete a fork from the list of forks
2899 that are available to be debugged (and
2900 allow the process to continue).
2901
2902 * New architecture
2903
2904 Morpho Technologies ms2 ms1-elf
2905
2906 * Improved Windows host support
2907
2908 GDB now builds as a cross debugger hosted on i686-mingw32, including
2909 native console support, and remote communications using either
2910 network sockets or serial ports.
2911
2912 * Improved Modula-2 language support
2913
2914 GDB can now print most types in the Modula-2 syntax. This includes:
2915 basic types, set types, record types, enumerated types, range types,
2916 pointer types and ARRAY types. Procedure var parameters are correctly
2917 printed and hexadecimal addresses and character constants are also
2918 written in the Modula-2 syntax. Best results can be obtained by using
2919 GNU Modula-2 together with the -gdwarf-2 command line option.
2920
2921 * REMOVED features
2922
2923 The ARM rdi-share module.
2924
2925 The Netware NLM debug server.
2926
2927 *** Changes in GDB 6.4
2928
2929 * New native configurations
2930
2931 OpenBSD/arm arm*-*-openbsd*
2932 OpenBSD/mips64 mips64-*-openbsd*
2933
2934 * New targets
2935
2936 Morpho Technologies ms1 ms1-elf
2937
2938 * New command line options
2939
2940 --batch-silent As for --batch, but totally silent.
2941 --return-child-result The debugger will exist with the same value
2942 the child (debugged) program exited with.
2943 --eval-command COMMAND, -ex COMMAND
2944 Execute a single GDB CLI command. This may be
2945 specified multiple times and in conjunction
2946 with the --command (-x) option.
2947
2948 * Deprecated commands removed
2949
2950 The following commands, that were deprecated in 2000, have been
2951 removed:
2952
2953 Command Replacement
2954 set|show arm disassembly-flavor set|show arm disassembler
2955 othernames set arm disassembler
2956 set|show remotedebug set|show debug remote
2957 set|show archdebug set|show debug arch
2958 set|show eventdebug set|show debug event
2959 regs info registers
2960
2961 * New BSD user-level threads support
2962
2963 It is now possible to debug programs using the user-level threads
2964 library on OpenBSD and FreeBSD. Currently supported (target)
2965 configurations are:
2966
2967 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
2968 FreeBSD/i386 i386-*-freebsd*
2969 OpenBSD/i386 i386-*-openbsd*
2970
2971 Note that the new kernel threads libraries introduced in FreeBSD 5.x
2972 are not yet supported.
2973
2974 * New support for Matsushita MN10300 w/sim added
2975 (Work in progress). mn10300-elf.
2976
2977 * REMOVED configurations and files
2978
2979 VxWorks and the XDR protocol *-*-vxworks
2980 Motorola MCORE mcore-*-*
2981 National Semiconductor NS32000 ns32k-*-*
2982
2983 * New "set print array-indexes" command
2984
2985 After turning this setting "on", GDB prints the index of each element
2986 when displaying arrays. The default is "off" to preserve the previous
2987 behavior.
2988
2989 * VAX floating point support
2990
2991 GDB now supports the not-quite-ieee VAX F and D floating point formats.
2992
2993 * User-defined command support
2994
2995 In addition to using $arg0..$arg9 for argument passing, it is now possible
2996 to use $argc to determine now many arguments have been passed. See the
2997 section on user-defined commands in the user manual for more information.
2998
2999 *** Changes in GDB 6.3:
3000
3001 * New command line option
3002
3003 GDB now accepts -l followed by a number to set the timeout for remote
3004 debugging.
3005
3006 * GDB works with GCC -feliminate-dwarf2-dups
3007
3008 GDB now supports a more compact representation of DWARF-2 debug
3009 information using DW_FORM_ref_addr references. These are produced
3010 by GCC with the option -feliminate-dwarf2-dups and also by some
3011 proprietary compilers. With GCC, you must use GCC 3.3.4 or later
3012 to use -feliminate-dwarf2-dups.
3013
3014 * Internationalization
3015
3016 When supported by the host system, GDB will be built with
3017 internationalization (libintl). The task of marking up the sources is
3018 continued, we're looking forward to our first translation.
3019
3020 * Ada
3021
3022 Initial support for debugging programs compiled with the GNAT
3023 implementation of the Ada programming language has been integrated
3024 into GDB. In this release, support is limited to expression evaluation.
3025
3026 * New native configurations
3027
3028 GNU/Linux/m32r m32r-*-linux-gnu
3029
3030 * Remote 'p' packet
3031
3032 GDB's remote protocol now includes support for the 'p' packet. This
3033 packet is used to fetch individual registers from a remote inferior.
3034
3035 * END-OF-LIFE registers[] compatibility module
3036
3037 GDB's internal register infrastructure has been completely rewritten.
3038 The new infrastructure making possible the implementation of key new
3039 features including 32x64 (e.g., 64-bit amd64 GDB debugging a 32-bit
3040 i386 application).
3041
3042 GDB 6.3 will be the last release to include the the registers[]
3043 compatibility module that allowed out-of-date configurations to
3044 continue to work. This change directly impacts the following
3045 configurations:
3046
3047 hppa-*-hpux
3048 ia64-*-aix
3049 mips-*-irix*
3050 *-*-lynx
3051 mips-*-linux-gnu
3052 sds protocol
3053 xdr protocol
3054 powerpc bdm protocol
3055
3056 Unless there is activity to revive these configurations, they will be
3057 made OBSOLETE in GDB 6.4, and REMOVED from GDB 6.5.
3058
3059 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
3060
3061 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
3062 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
3063 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
3064 permanently REMOVED.
3065
3066 h8300-*-*
3067 mcore-*-*
3068 mn10300-*-*
3069 ns32k-*-*
3070 sh64-*-*
3071 v850-*-*
3072
3073 *** Changes in GDB 6.2.1:
3074
3075 * MIPS `break main; run' gave an heuristic-fence-post warning
3076
3077 When attempting to run even a simple program, a warning about
3078 heuristic-fence-post being hit would be reported. This problem has
3079 been fixed.
3080
3081 * MIPS IRIX 'long double' crashed GDB
3082
3083 When examining a long double variable, GDB would get a segmentation
3084 fault. The crash has been fixed (but GDB 6.2 cannot correctly examine
3085 IRIX long double values).
3086
3087 * VAX and "next"
3088
3089 A bug in the VAX stack code was causing problems with the "next"
3090 command. This problem has been fixed.
3091
3092 *** Changes in GDB 6.2:
3093
3094 * Fix for ``many threads''
3095
3096 On GNU/Linux systems that use the NPTL threads library, a program
3097 rapidly creating and deleting threads would confuse GDB leading to the
3098 error message:
3099
3100 ptrace: No such process.
3101 thread_db_get_info: cannot get thread info: generic error
3102
3103 This problem has been fixed.
3104
3105 * "-async" and "-noasync" options removed.
3106
3107 Support for the broken "-noasync" option has been removed (it caused
3108 GDB to dump core).
3109
3110 * New ``start'' command.
3111
3112 This command runs the program until the begining of the main procedure.
3113
3114 * New BSD Kernel Data Access Library (libkvm) interface
3115
3116 Using ``target kvm'' it is now possible to debug kernel core dumps and
3117 live kernel memory images on various FreeBSD, NetBSD and OpenBSD
3118 platforms. Currently supported (native-only) configurations are:
3119
3120 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
3121 FreeBSD/i386 i?86-*-freebsd*
3122 NetBSD/i386 i?86-*-netbsd*
3123 NetBSD/m68k m68*-*-netbsd*
3124 NetBSD/sparc sparc-*-netbsd*
3125 OpenBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-openbsd*
3126 OpenBSD/i386 i?86-*-openbsd*
3127 OpenBSD/m68k m68*-openbsd*
3128 OpenBSD/sparc sparc-*-openbsd*
3129
3130 * Signal trampoline code overhauled
3131
3132 Many generic problems with GDB's signal handling code have been fixed.
3133 These include: backtraces through non-contiguous stacks; recognition
3134 of sa_sigaction signal trampolines; backtrace from a NULL pointer
3135 call; backtrace through a signal trampoline; step into and out of
3136 signal handlers; and single-stepping in the signal trampoline.
3137
3138 Please note that kernel bugs are a limiting factor here. These
3139 features have been shown to work on an s390 GNU/Linux system that
3140 include a 2.6.8-rc1 kernel. Ref PR breakpoints/1702.
3141
3142 * Cygwin support for DWARF 2 added.
3143
3144 * New native configurations
3145
3146 GNU/Linux/hppa hppa*-*-linux*
3147 OpenBSD/hppa hppa*-*-openbsd*
3148 OpenBSD/m68k m68*-*-openbsd*
3149 OpenBSD/m88k m88*-*-openbsd*
3150 OpenBSD/powerpc powerpc-*-openbsd*
3151 NetBSD/vax vax-*-netbsd*
3152 OpenBSD/vax vax-*-openbsd*
3153
3154 * END-OF-LIFE frame compatibility module
3155
3156 GDB's internal frame infrastructure has been completely rewritten.
3157 The new infrastructure making it possible to support key new features
3158 including DWARF 2 Call Frame Information. To aid in the task of
3159 migrating old configurations to this new infrastructure, a
3160 compatibility module, that allowed old configurations to continue to
3161 work, was also included.
3162
3163 GDB 6.2 will be the last release to include this frame compatibility
3164 module. This change directly impacts the following configurations:
3165
3166 h8300-*-*
3167 mcore-*-*
3168 mn10300-*-*
3169 ns32k-*-*
3170 sh64-*-*
3171 v850-*-*
3172 xstormy16-*-*
3173
3174 Unless there is activity to revive these configurations, they will be
3175 made OBSOLETE in GDB 6.3, and REMOVED from GDB 6.4.
3176
3177 * REMOVED configurations and files
3178
3179 Sun 3, running SunOS 3 m68*-*-sunos3*
3180 Sun 3, running SunOS 4 m68*-*-sunos4*
3181 Sun 2, running SunOS 3 m68000-*-sunos3*
3182 Sun 2, running SunOS 4 m68000-*-sunos4*
3183 Motorola 680x0 running LynxOS m68*-*-lynxos*
3184 AT&T 3b1/Unix pc m68*-att-*
3185 Bull DPX2 (68k, System V release 3) m68*-bull-sysv*
3186 decstation mips-dec-* mips-little-*
3187 riscos mips-*-riscos* mips-*-sysv*
3188 sonymips mips-sony-*
3189 sysv mips*-*-sysv4* (IRIX 5/6 not included)
3190
3191 *** Changes in GDB 6.1.1:
3192
3193 * TUI (Text-mode User Interface) built-in (also included in GDB 6.1)
3194
3195 The TUI (Text-mode User Interface) is now built as part of a default
3196 GDB configuration. It is enabled by either selecting the TUI with the
3197 command line option "-i=tui" or by running the separate "gdbtui"
3198 program. For more information on the TUI, see the manual "Debugging
3199 with GDB".
3200
3201 * Pending breakpoint support (also included in GDB 6.1)
3202
3203 Support has been added to allow you to specify breakpoints in shared
3204 libraries that have not yet been loaded. If a breakpoint location
3205 cannot be found, and the "breakpoint pending" option is set to auto,
3206 GDB queries you if you wish to make the breakpoint pending on a future
3207 shared-library load. If and when GDB resolves the breakpoint symbol,
3208 the pending breakpoint is removed as one or more regular breakpoints
3209 are created.
3210
3211 Pending breakpoints are very useful for GCJ Java debugging.
3212
3213 * Fixed ISO-C build problems
3214
3215 The files bfd/elf-bfd.h, gdb/dictionary.c and gdb/types.c contained
3216 non ISO-C code that stopped them being built using a more strict ISO-C
3217 compiler (e.g., IBM's C compiler).
3218
3219 * Fixed build problem on IRIX 5
3220
3221 Due to header problems with <sys/proc.h>, the file gdb/proc-api.c
3222 wasn't able to compile compile on an IRIX 5 system.
3223
3224 * Added execute permission to gdb/gdbserver/configure
3225
3226 The shell script gdb/testsuite/gdb.stabs/configure lacked execute
3227 permission. This bug would cause configure to fail on a number of
3228 systems (Solaris, IRIX). Ref: server/519.
3229
3230 * Fixed build problem on hpux2.0w-hp-hpux11.00 using the HP ANSI C compiler
3231
3232 Older HPUX ANSI C compilers did not accept variable array sizes. somsolib.c
3233 has been updated to use constant array sizes.
3234
3235 * Fixed a panic in the DWARF Call Frame Info code on Solaris 2.7
3236
3237 GCC 3.3.2, on Solaris 2.7, includes the DW_EH_PE_funcrel encoding in
3238 its generated DWARF Call Frame Info. This encoding was causing GDB to
3239 panic, that panic has been fixed. Ref: gdb/1628.
3240
3241 * Fixed a problem when examining parameters in shared library code.
3242
3243 When examining parameters in optimized shared library code generated
3244 by a mainline GCC, GDB would incorrectly report ``Variable "..." is
3245 not available''. GDB now correctly displays the variable's value.
3246
3247 *** Changes in GDB 6.1:
3248
3249 * Removed --with-mmalloc
3250
3251 Support for the mmalloc memory manager has been removed, as it
3252 conflicted with the internal gdb byte cache.
3253
3254 * Changes in AMD64 configurations
3255
3256 The AMD64 target now includes the %cs and %ss registers. As a result
3257 the AMD64 remote protocol has changed; this affects the floating-point
3258 and SSE registers. If you rely on those registers for your debugging,
3259 you should upgrade gdbserver on the remote side.
3260
3261 * Revised SPARC target
3262
3263 The SPARC target has been completely revised, incorporating the
3264 FreeBSD/sparc64 support that was added for GDB 6.0. As a result
3265 support for LynxOS and SunOS 4 has been dropped. Calling functions
3266 from within GDB on operating systems with a non-executable stack
3267 (Solaris, OpenBSD) now works.
3268
3269 * New C++ demangler
3270
3271 GDB has a new C++ demangler which does a better job on the mangled
3272 names generated by current versions of g++. It also runs faster, so
3273 with this and other changes gdb should now start faster on large C++
3274 programs.
3275
3276 * DWARF 2 Location Expressions
3277
3278 GDB support for location expressions has been extended to support function
3279 arguments and frame bases. Older versions of GDB could crash when they
3280 encountered these.
3281
3282 * C++ nested types and namespaces
3283
3284 GDB's support for nested types and namespaces in C++ has been
3285 improved, especially if you use the DWARF 2 debugging format. (This
3286 is the default for recent versions of GCC on most platforms.)
3287 Specifically, if you have a class "Inner" defined within a class or
3288 namespace "Outer", then GDB realizes that the class's name is
3289 "Outer::Inner", not simply "Inner". This should greatly reduce the
3290 frequency of complaints about not finding RTTI symbols. In addition,
3291 if you are stopped at inside of a function defined within a namespace,
3292 GDB modifies its name lookup accordingly.
3293
3294 * New native configurations
3295
3296 NetBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-netbsd*
3297 OpenBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-openbsd*
3298 OpenBSD/alpha alpha*-*-openbsd*
3299 OpenBSD/sparc sparc-*-openbsd*
3300 OpenBSD/sparc64 sparc64-*-openbsd*
3301
3302 * New debugging protocols
3303
3304 M32R with SDI protocol m32r-*-elf*
3305
3306 * "set prompt-escape-char" command deleted.
3307
3308 The command "set prompt-escape-char" has been deleted. This command,
3309 and its very obscure effet on GDB's prompt, was never documented,
3310 tested, nor mentioned in the NEWS file.
3311
3312 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
3313
3314 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
3315 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
3316 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
3317 permanently REMOVED.
3318
3319 Sun 3, running SunOS 3 m68*-*-sunos3*
3320 Sun 3, running SunOS 4 m68*-*-sunos4*
3321 Sun 2, running SunOS 3 m68000-*-sunos3*
3322 Sun 2, running SunOS 4 m68000-*-sunos4*
3323 Motorola 680x0 running LynxOS m68*-*-lynxos*
3324 AT&T 3b1/Unix pc m68*-att-*
3325 Bull DPX2 (68k, System V release 3) m68*-bull-sysv*
3326 decstation mips-dec-* mips-little-*
3327 riscos mips-*-riscos* mips-*-sysv*
3328 sonymips mips-sony-*
3329 sysv mips*-*-sysv4* (IRIX 5/6 not included)
3330
3331 * REMOVED configurations and files
3332
3333 SGI Irix-4.x mips-sgi-irix4 or iris4
3334 SGI Iris (MIPS) running Irix V3: mips-sgi-irix or iris
3335 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
3336 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
3337 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
3338 HP/PA running BSD hppa*-*-bsd*
3339 HP/PA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
3340 HP/PA Pro target hppa*-*-pro*
3341 PMAX (MIPS) running Mach 3.0 mips*-*-mach3*
3342 386BSD i[3456]86-*-bsd*
3343 Sequent family i[3456]86-sequent-sysv4*
3344 i[3456]86-sequent-sysv*
3345 i[3456]86-sequent-bsd*
3346 SPARC running LynxOS sparc-*-lynxos*
3347 SPARC running SunOS 4 sparc-*-sunos4*
3348 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
3349 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
3350
3351 *** Changes in GDB 6.0:
3352
3353 * Objective-C
3354
3355 Support for debugging the Objective-C programming language has been
3356 integrated into GDB.
3357
3358 * New backtrace mechanism (includes DWARF 2 Call Frame Information).
3359
3360 DWARF 2's Call Frame Information makes available compiler generated
3361 information that more exactly describes the program's run-time stack.
3362 By using this information, GDB is able to provide more robust stack
3363 backtraces.
3364
3365 The i386, amd64 (nee, x86-64), Alpha, m68hc11, ia64, and m32r targets
3366 have been updated to use a new backtrace mechanism which includes
3367 DWARF 2 CFI support.
3368
3369 * Hosted file I/O.
3370
3371 GDB's remote protocol has been extended to include support for hosted
3372 file I/O (where the remote target uses GDB's file system). See GDB's
3373 remote protocol documentation for details.
3374
3375 * All targets using the new architecture framework.
3376
3377 All of GDB's targets have been updated to use the new internal
3378 architecture framework. The way is now open for future GDB releases
3379 to include cross-architecture native debugging support (i386 on amd64,
3380 ppc32 on ppc64).
3381
3382 * GNU/Linux's Thread Local Storage (TLS)
3383
3384 GDB now includes support for for the GNU/Linux implementation of
3385 per-thread variables.
3386
3387 * GNU/Linux's Native POSIX Thread Library (NPTL)
3388
3389 GDB's thread code has been updated to work with either the new
3390 GNU/Linux NPTL thread library or the older "LinuxThreads" library.
3391
3392 * Separate debug info.
3393
3394 GDB, in conjunction with BINUTILS, now supports a mechanism for
3395 automatically loading debug information from a separate file. Instead
3396 of shipping full debug and non-debug versions of system libraries,
3397 system integrators can now instead ship just the stripped libraries
3398 and optional debug files.
3399
3400 * DWARF 2 Location Expressions
3401
3402 DWARF 2 Location Expressions allow the compiler to more completely
3403 describe the location of variables (even in optimized code) to the
3404 debugger.
3405
3406 GDB now includes preliminary support for location expressions (support
3407 for DW_OP_piece is still missing).
3408
3409 * Java
3410
3411 A number of long standing bugs that caused GDB to die while starting a
3412 Java application have been fixed. GDB's Java support is now
3413 considered "useable".
3414
3415 * GNU/Linux support for fork, vfork, and exec.
3416
3417 The "catch fork", "catch exec", "catch vfork", and "set follow-fork-mode"
3418 commands are now implemented for GNU/Linux. They require a 2.5.x or later
3419 kernel.
3420
3421 * GDB supports logging output to a file
3422
3423 There are two new commands, "set logging" and "show logging", which can be
3424 used to capture GDB's output to a file.
3425
3426 * The meaning of "detach" has changed for gdbserver
3427
3428 The "detach" command will now resume the application, as documented. To
3429 disconnect from gdbserver and leave it stopped, use the new "disconnect"
3430 command.
3431
3432 * d10v, m68hc11 `regs' command deprecated
3433
3434 The `info registers' command has been updated so that it displays the
3435 registers using a format identical to the old `regs' command.
3436
3437 * Profiling support
3438
3439 A new command, "maint set profile on/off", has been added. This command can
3440 be used to enable or disable profiling while running GDB, to profile a
3441 session or a set of commands. In addition there is a new configure switch,
3442 "--enable-profiling", which will cause GDB to be compiled with profiling
3443 data, for more informative profiling results.
3444
3445 * Default MI syntax changed to "mi2".
3446
3447 The default MI (machine interface) syntax, enabled by the command line
3448 option "-i=mi", has been changed to "mi2". The previous MI syntax,
3449 "mi1", can be enabled by specifying the option "-i=mi1".
3450
3451 Support for the original "mi0" syntax (included in GDB 5.0) has been
3452 removed.
3453
3454 Fix for gdb/192: removed extraneous space when displaying frame level.
3455 Fix for gdb/672: update changelist is now output in mi list format.
3456 Fix for gdb/702: a -var-assign that updates the value now shows up
3457 in a subsequent -var-update.
3458
3459 * New native configurations.
3460
3461 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
3462
3463 * Multi-arched targets.
3464
3465 HP/PA HPUX11 hppa*-*-hpux*
3466 Renesas M32R/D w/simulator m32r-*-elf*
3467
3468 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
3469
3470 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
3471 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
3472 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
3473 permanently REMOVED.
3474
3475 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
3476 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
3477 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
3478 HP/PA running BSD hppa*-*-bsd*
3479 HP/PA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
3480 HP/PA Pro target hppa*-*-pro*
3481 PMAX (MIPS) running Mach 3.0 mips*-*-mach3*
3482 Sequent family i[3456]86-sequent-sysv4*
3483 i[3456]86-sequent-sysv*
3484 i[3456]86-sequent-bsd*
3485 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
3486 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
3487
3488 * REMOVED configurations and files
3489
3490 V850EA ISA
3491 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
3492 IBM AIX PS/2 i[3456]86-*-aix
3493 i386 running Mach 3.0 i[3456]86-*-mach3*
3494 i386 running Mach i[3456]86-*-mach*
3495 i386 running OSF/1 i[3456]86-*osf1mk*
3496 HP/Apollo 68k Family m68*-apollo*-sysv*,
3497 m68*-apollo*-bsd*,
3498 m68*-hp-bsd*, m68*-hp-hpux*
3499 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
3500 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
3501 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
3502 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
3503 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
3504
3505 * MIPS $fp behavior changed
3506
3507 The convenience variable $fp, for the MIPS, now consistently returns
3508 the address of the current frame's base. Previously, depending on the
3509 context, $fp could refer to either $sp or the current frame's base
3510 address. See ``8.10 Registers'' in the manual ``Debugging with GDB:
3511 The GNU Source-Level Debugger''.
3512
3513 *** Changes in GDB 5.3:
3514
3515 * GNU/Linux shared library multi-threaded performance improved.
3516
3517 When debugging a multi-threaded application on GNU/Linux, GDB now uses
3518 `/proc', in preference to `ptrace' for memory reads. This may result
3519 in an improvement in the start-up time of multi-threaded, shared
3520 library applications when run under GDB. One GDB user writes: ``loads
3521 shared libs like mad''.
3522
3523 * ``gdbserver'' now supports multi-threaded applications on some targets
3524
3525 Support for debugging multi-threaded applications which use
3526 the GNU/Linux LinuxThreads package has been added for
3527 arm*-*-linux*-gnu*, i[3456]86-*-linux*-gnu*, mips*-*-linux*-gnu*,
3528 powerpc*-*-linux*-gnu*, and sh*-*-linux*-gnu*.
3529
3530 * GDB now supports C/C++ preprocessor macros.
3531
3532 GDB now expands preprocessor macro invocations in C/C++ expressions,
3533 and provides various commands for showing macro definitions and how
3534 they expand.
3535
3536 The new command `macro expand EXPRESSION' expands any macro
3537 invocations in expression, and shows the result.
3538
3539 The new command `show macro MACRO-NAME' shows the definition of the
3540 macro named MACRO-NAME, and where it was defined.
3541
3542 Most compilers don't include information about macros in the debugging
3543 information by default. In GCC 3.1, for example, you need to compile
3544 your program with the options `-gdwarf-2 -g3'. If the macro
3545 information is present in the executable, GDB will read it.
3546
3547 * Multi-arched targets.
3548
3549 DEC Alpha (partial) alpha*-*-*
3550 DEC VAX (partial) vax-*-*
3551 NEC V850 v850-*-*
3552 National Semiconductor NS32000 (partial) ns32k-*-*
3553 Motorola 68000 (partial) m68k-*-*
3554 Motorola MCORE mcore-*-*
3555
3556 * New targets.
3557
3558 Fujitsu FRV architecture added by Red Hat frv*-*-*
3559
3560
3561 * New native configurations
3562
3563 Alpha NetBSD alpha*-*-netbsd*
3564 SH NetBSD sh*-*-netbsdelf*
3565 MIPS NetBSD mips*-*-netbsd*
3566 UltraSPARC NetBSD sparc64-*-netbsd*
3567
3568 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
3569
3570 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
3571 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
3572 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
3573 permanently REMOVED.
3574
3575 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
3576 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
3577 IBM AIX PS/2 i[3456]86-*-aix
3578 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
3579 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
3580 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
3581 i386 running Mach 3.0 i[3456]86-*-mach3*
3582 i386 running Mach i[3456]86-*-mach*
3583 i386 running OSF/1 i[3456]86-*osf1mk*
3584 HP/Apollo 68k Family m68*-apollo*-sysv*,
3585 m68*-apollo*-bsd*,
3586 m68*-hp-bsd*, m68*-hp-hpux*
3587 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
3588
3589 * OBSOLETE languages
3590
3591 CHILL, a Pascal like language used by telecommunications companies.
3592
3593 * REMOVED configurations and files
3594
3595 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi, udi29k
3596 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
3597 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
3598 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
3599 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
3600
3601 testsuite/gdb.hp/gdb.threads-hp/ directory
3602
3603 * New command "set max-user-call-depth <nnn>"
3604
3605 This command allows the user to limit the call depth of user-defined
3606 commands. The default is 1024.
3607
3608 * Changes in FreeBSD/i386 native debugging.
3609
3610 Support for the "generate-core-file" has been added.
3611
3612 * New commands "dump", "append", and "restore".
3613
3614 These commands allow data to be copied from target memory
3615 to a bfd-format or binary file (dump and append), and back
3616 from a file into memory (restore).
3617
3618 * Improved "next/step" support on multi-processor Alpha Tru64.
3619
3620 The previous single-step mechanism could cause unpredictable problems,
3621 including the random appearance of SIGSEGV or SIGTRAP signals. The use
3622 of a software single-step mechanism prevents this.
3623
3624 *** Changes in GDB 5.2.1:
3625
3626 * New targets.
3627
3628 Atmel AVR avr*-*-*
3629
3630 * Bug fixes
3631
3632 gdb/182: gdb/323: gdb/237: On alpha, gdb was reporting:
3633 mdebugread.c:2443: gdb-internal-error: sect_index_data not initialized
3634 Fix, by Joel Brobecker imported from mainline.
3635
3636 gdb/439: gdb/291: On some ELF object files, gdb was reporting:
3637 dwarf2read.c:1072: gdb-internal-error: sect_index_text not initialize
3638 Fix, by Fred Fish, imported from mainline.
3639
3640 Dwarf2 .debug_frame & .eh_frame handler improved in many ways.
3641 Surprisingly enough, it works now.
3642 By Michal Ludvig, imported from mainline.
3643
3644 i386 hardware watchpoint support:
3645 avoid misses on second run for some targets.
3646 By Pierre Muller, imported from mainline.
3647
3648 *** Changes in GDB 5.2:
3649
3650 * New command "set trust-readonly-sections on[off]".
3651
3652 This command is a hint that tells gdb that read-only sections
3653 really are read-only (ie. that their contents will not change).
3654 In this mode, gdb will go to the object file rather than the
3655 target to read memory from read-only sections (such as ".text").
3656 This can be a significant performance improvement on some
3657 (notably embedded) targets.
3658
3659 * New command "generate-core-file" (or "gcore").
3660
3661 This new gdb command allows the user to drop a core file of the child
3662 process state at any time. So far it's been implemented only for
3663 GNU/Linux and Solaris, but should be relatively easily ported to other
3664 hosts. Argument is core file name (defaults to core.<pid>).
3665
3666 * New command line option
3667
3668 GDB now accepts --pid or -p followed by a process id.
3669
3670 * Change in command line behavior -- corefiles vs. process ids.
3671
3672 There is a subtle behavior in the way in which GDB handles
3673 command line arguments. The first non-flag argument is always
3674 a program to debug, but the second non-flag argument may either
3675 be a corefile or a process id. Previously, GDB would attempt to
3676 open the second argument as a corefile, and if that failed, would
3677 issue a superfluous error message and then attempt to attach it as
3678 a process. Now, if the second argument begins with a non-digit,
3679 it will be treated as a corefile. If it begins with a digit,
3680 GDB will attempt to attach it as a process, and if no such process
3681 is found, will then attempt to open it as a corefile.
3682
3683 * Changes in ARM configurations.
3684
3685 Multi-arch support is enabled for all ARM configurations. The ARM/NetBSD
3686 configuration is fully multi-arch.
3687
3688 * New native configurations
3689
3690 ARM NetBSD arm*-*-netbsd*
3691 x86 OpenBSD i[3456]86-*-openbsd*
3692 AMD x86-64 running GNU/Linux x86_64-*-linux-*
3693 Sparc64 running FreeBSD sparc64-*-freebsd*
3694
3695 * New targets
3696
3697 Sanyo XStormy16 xstormy16-elf
3698
3699 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
3700
3701 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
3702 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
3703 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
3704 permanently REMOVED.
3705
3706 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi, udi29k
3707 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
3708 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
3709 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
3710 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
3711
3712 testsuite/gdb.hp/gdb.threads-hp/ directory
3713
3714 * REMOVED configurations and files
3715
3716 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
3717 WDC 65816 w65-*-*
3718 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
3719 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
3720 PowerPC Netware powerpc-*-netware*
3721 Harris/CXUX m88k m88*-harris-cxux*
3722 Most ns32k hosts and targets ns32k-*-mach3* ns32k-umax-*
3723 ns32k-utek-sysv* ns32k-utek-*
3724 SunOS 4.0.Xi on i386 i[3456]86-*-sunos*
3725 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1 a29k-nyu-sym1 a29k-*-kern*
3726 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x m68*-sony-sysv news
3727 ISI Optimum V (3.05) under 4.3bsd. m68*-isi-*
3728 Apple Macintosh (MPW) host and target N/A host, powerpc-*-macos*
3729
3730 * Changes to command line processing
3731
3732 The new `--args' feature can be used to specify command-line arguments
3733 for the inferior from gdb's command line.
3734
3735 * Changes to key bindings
3736
3737 There is a new `operate-and-get-next' function bound to `C-o'.
3738
3739 *** Changes in GDB 5.1.1
3740
3741 Fix compile problem on DJGPP.
3742
3743 Fix a problem with floating-point registers on the i386 being
3744 corrupted.
3745
3746 Fix to stop GDB crashing on .debug_str debug info.
3747
3748 Numerous documentation fixes.
3749
3750 Numerous testsuite fixes.
3751
3752 *** Changes in GDB 5.1:
3753
3754 * New native configurations
3755
3756 Alpha FreeBSD alpha*-*-freebsd*
3757 x86 FreeBSD 3.x and 4.x i[3456]86*-freebsd[34]*
3758 MIPS GNU/Linux mips*-*-linux*
3759 MIPS SGI Irix 6.x mips*-sgi-irix6*
3760 ia64 AIX ia64-*-aix*
3761 s390 and s390x GNU/Linux {s390,s390x}-*-linux*
3762
3763 * New targets
3764
3765 Motorola 68HC11 and 68HC12 m68hc11-elf
3766 CRIS cris-axis
3767 UltraSparc running GNU/Linux sparc64-*-linux*
3768
3769 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
3770
3771 x86 FreeBSD before 2.2 i[3456]86*-freebsd{1,2.[01]}*,
3772 Harris/CXUX m88k m88*-harris-cxux*
3773 Most ns32k hosts and targets ns32k-*-mach3* ns32k-umax-*
3774 ns32k-utek-sysv* ns32k-utek-*
3775 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
3776 WDC 65816 w65-*-*
3777 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1 a29k-nyu-sym1 a29k-*-kern*
3778 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
3779 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
3780 PowerPC Netware powerpc-*-netware*
3781 SunOS 4.0.Xi on i386 i[3456]86-*-sunos*
3782 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x m68*-sony-sysv news
3783 ISI Optimum V (3.05) under 4.3bsd. m68*-isi-*
3784 Apple Macintosh (MPW) host N/A
3785
3786 stuff.c (Program to stuff files into a specially prepared space in kdb)
3787 kdb-start.c (Main loop for the standalone kernel debugger)
3788
3789 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
3790 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
3791 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
3792 permanently REMOVED.
3793
3794 * REMOVED configurations and files
3795
3796 Altos 3068 m68*-altos-*
3797 Convex c1-*-*, c2-*-*
3798 Pyramid pyramid-*-*
3799 ARM RISCix arm-*-* (as host)
3800 Tahoe tahoe-*-*
3801 ser-ocd.c *-*-*
3802
3803 * GDB has been converted to ISO C.
3804
3805 GDB's source code has been converted to ISO C. In particular, the
3806 sources are fully protoized, and rely on standard headers being
3807 present.
3808
3809 * Other news:
3810
3811 * "info symbol" works on platforms which use COFF, ECOFF, XCOFF, and NLM.
3812
3813 * The MI enabled by default.
3814
3815 The new machine oriented interface (MI) introduced in GDB 5.0 has been
3816 revised and enabled by default. Packages which use GDB as a debugging
3817 engine behind a UI or another front end are encouraged to switch to
3818 using the GDB/MI interface, instead of the old annotations interface
3819 which is now deprecated.
3820
3821 * Support for debugging Pascal programs.
3822
3823 GDB now includes support for debugging Pascal programs. The following
3824 main features are supported:
3825
3826 - Pascal-specific data types such as sets;
3827
3828 - automatic recognition of Pascal sources based on file-name
3829 extension;
3830
3831 - Pascal-style display of data types, variables, and functions;
3832
3833 - a Pascal expression parser.
3834
3835 However, some important features are not yet supported.
3836
3837 - Pascal string operations are not supported at all;
3838
3839 - there are some problems with boolean types;
3840
3841 - Pascal type hexadecimal constants are not supported
3842 because they conflict with the internal variables format;
3843
3844 - support for Pascal objects and classes is not full yet;
3845
3846 - unlike Pascal, GDB is case-sensitive for symbol names.
3847
3848 * Changes in completion.
3849
3850 Commands such as `shell', `run' and `set args', which pass arguments
3851 to inferior programs, now complete on file names, similar to what
3852 users expect at the shell prompt.
3853
3854 Commands which accept locations, such as `disassemble', `print',
3855 `breakpoint', `until', etc. now complete on filenames as well as
3856 program symbols. Thus, if you type "break foob TAB", and the source
3857 files linked into the programs include `foobar.c', that file name will
3858 be one of the candidates for completion. However, file names are not
3859 considered for completion after you typed a colon that delimits a file
3860 name from a name of a function in that file, as in "break foo.c:bar".
3861
3862 `set demangle-style' completes on available demangling styles.
3863
3864 * New platform-independent commands:
3865
3866 It is now possible to define a post-hook for a command as well as a
3867 hook that runs before the command. For more details, see the
3868 documentation of `hookpost' in the GDB manual.
3869
3870 * Changes in GNU/Linux native debugging.
3871
3872 Support for debugging multi-threaded programs has been completely
3873 revised for all platforms except m68k and sparc. You can now debug as
3874 many threads as your system allows you to have.
3875
3876 Attach/detach is supported for multi-threaded programs.
3877
3878 Support for SSE registers was added for x86. This doesn't work for
3879 multi-threaded programs though.
3880
3881 * Changes in MIPS configurations.
3882
3883 Multi-arch support is enabled for all MIPS configurations.
3884
3885 GDB can now be built as native debugger on SGI Irix 6.x systems for
3886 debugging n32 executables. (Debugging 64-bit executables is not yet
3887 supported.)
3888
3889 * Unified support for hardware watchpoints in all x86 configurations.
3890
3891 Most (if not all) native x86 configurations support hardware-assisted
3892 breakpoints and watchpoints in a unified manner. This support
3893 implements debug register sharing between watchpoints, which allows to
3894 put a virtually infinite number of watchpoints on the same address,
3895 and also supports watching regions up to 16 bytes with several debug
3896 registers.
3897
3898 The new maintenance command `maintenance show-debug-regs' toggles
3899 debugging print-outs in functions that insert, remove, and test
3900 watchpoints and hardware breakpoints.
3901
3902 * Changes in the DJGPP native configuration.
3903
3904 New command ``info dos sysinfo'' displays assorted information about
3905 the CPU, OS, memory, and DPMI server.
3906
3907 New commands ``info dos gdt'', ``info dos ldt'', and ``info dos idt''
3908 display information about segment descriptors stored in GDT, LDT, and
3909 IDT.
3910
3911 New commands ``info dos pde'' and ``info dos pte'' display entries
3912 from Page Directory and Page Tables (for now works with CWSDPMI only).
3913 New command ``info dos address-pte'' displays the Page Table entry for
3914 a given linear address.
3915
3916 GDB can now pass command lines longer than 126 characters to the
3917 program being debugged (requires an update to the libdbg.a library
3918 which is part of the DJGPP development kit).
3919
3920 DWARF2 debug info is now supported.
3921
3922 It is now possible to `step' and `next' through calls to `longjmp'.
3923
3924 * Changes in documentation.
3925
3926 All GDB documentation was converted to GFDL, the GNU Free
3927 Documentation License.
3928
3929 Tracepoints-related commands are now fully documented in the GDB
3930 manual.
3931
3932 TUI, the Text-mode User Interface, is now documented in the manual.
3933
3934 Tracepoints-related commands are now fully documented in the GDB
3935 manual.
3936
3937 The "GDB Internals" manual now has an index. It also includes
3938 documentation of `ui_out' functions, GDB coding standards, x86
3939 hardware watchpoints, and memory region attributes.
3940
3941 * GDB's version number moved to ``version.in''
3942
3943 The Makefile variable VERSION has been replaced by the file
3944 ``version.in''. People creating GDB distributions should update the
3945 contents of this file.
3946
3947 * gdba.el deleted
3948
3949 GUD support is now a standard part of the EMACS distribution.
3950
3951 *** Changes in GDB 5.0:
3952
3953 * Improved support for debugging FP programs on x86 targets
3954
3955 Unified and much-improved support for debugging floating-point
3956 programs on all x86 targets. In particular, ``info float'' now
3957 displays the FP registers in the same format on all x86 targets, with
3958 greater level of detail.
3959
3960 * Improvements and bugfixes in hardware-assisted watchpoints
3961
3962 It is now possible to watch array elements, struct members, and
3963 bitfields with hardware-assisted watchpoints. Data-read watchpoints
3964 on x86 targets no longer erroneously trigger when the address is
3965 written.
3966
3967 * Improvements in the native DJGPP version of GDB
3968
3969 The distribution now includes all the scripts and auxiliary files
3970 necessary to build the native DJGPP version on MS-DOS/MS-Windows
3971 machines ``out of the box''.
3972
3973 The DJGPP version can now debug programs that use signals. It is
3974 possible to catch signals that happened in the debuggee, deliver
3975 signals to it, interrupt it with Ctrl-C, etc. (Previously, a signal
3976 would kill the program being debugged.) Programs that hook hardware
3977 interrupts (keyboard, timer, etc.) can also be debugged.
3978
3979 It is now possible to debug DJGPP programs that redirect their
3980 standard handles or switch them to raw (as opposed to cooked) mode, or
3981 even close them. The command ``run < foo > bar'' works as expected,
3982 and ``info terminal'' reports useful information about the debuggee's
3983 terminal, including raw/cooked mode, redirection, etc.
3984
3985 The DJGPP version now uses termios functions for console I/O, which
3986 enables debugging graphics programs. Interrupting GDB with Ctrl-C
3987 also works.
3988
3989 DOS-style file names with drive letters are now fully supported by
3990 GDB.
3991
3992 It is now possible to debug DJGPP programs that switch their working
3993 directory. It is also possible to rerun the debuggee any number of
3994 times without restarting GDB; thus, you can use the same setup,
3995 breakpoints, etc. for many debugging sessions.
3996
3997 * New native configurations
3998
3999 ARM GNU/Linux arm*-*-linux*
4000 PowerPC GNU/Linux powerpc-*-linux*
4001
4002 * New targets
4003
4004 Motorola MCore mcore-*-*
4005 x86 VxWorks i[3456]86-*-vxworks*
4006 PowerPC VxWorks powerpc-*-vxworks*
4007 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
4008
4009 * OBSOLETE configurations
4010
4011 Altos 3068 m68*-altos-*
4012 Convex c1-*-*, c2-*-*
4013 Pyramid pyramid-*-*
4014 ARM RISCix arm-*-* (as host)
4015 Tahoe tahoe-*-*
4016
4017 Configurations that have been declared obsolete will be commented out,
4018 but the code will be left in place. If there is no activity to revive
4019 these configurations before the next release of GDB, the sources will
4020 be permanently REMOVED.
4021
4022 * Gould support removed
4023
4024 Support for the Gould PowerNode and NP1 has been removed.
4025
4026 * New features for SVR4
4027
4028 On SVR4 native platforms (such as Solaris), if you attach to a process
4029 without first loading a symbol file, GDB will now attempt to locate and
4030 load symbols from the running process's executable file.
4031
4032 * Many C++ enhancements
4033
4034 C++ support has been greatly improved. Overload resolution now works properly
4035 in almost all cases. RTTI support is on the way.
4036
4037 * Remote targets can connect to a sub-program
4038
4039 A popen(3) style serial-device has been added. This device starts a
4040 sub-process (such as a stand-alone simulator) and then communicates
4041 with that. The sub-program to run is specified using the syntax
4042 ``|<program> <args>'' vis:
4043
4044 (gdb) set remotedebug 1
4045 (gdb) target extended-remote |mn10300-elf-sim program-args
4046
4047 * MIPS 64 remote protocol
4048
4049 A long standing bug in the mips64 remote protocol where by GDB
4050 expected certain 32 bit registers (ex SR) to be transfered as 32
4051 instead of 64 bits has been fixed.
4052
4053 The command ``set remote-mips64-transfers-32bit-regs on'' has been
4054 added to provide backward compatibility with older versions of GDB.
4055
4056 * ``set remotebinarydownload'' replaced by ``set remote X-packet''
4057
4058 The command ``set remotebinarydownload'' command has been replaced by
4059 ``set remote X-packet''. Other commands in ``set remote'' family
4060 include ``set remote P-packet''.
4061
4062 * Breakpoint commands accept ranges.
4063
4064 The breakpoint commands ``enable'', ``disable'', and ``delete'' now
4065 accept a range of breakpoints, e.g. ``5-7''. The tracepoint command
4066 ``tracepoint passcount'' also accepts a range of tracepoints.
4067
4068 * ``apropos'' command added.
4069
4070 The ``apropos'' command searches through command names and
4071 documentation strings, printing out matches, making it much easier to
4072 try to find a command that does what you are looking for.
4073
4074 * New MI interface
4075
4076 A new machine oriented interface (MI) has been added to GDB. This
4077 interface is designed for debug environments running GDB as a separate
4078 process. This is part of the long term libGDB project. See the
4079 "GDB/MI" chapter of the GDB manual for further information. It can be
4080 enabled by configuring with:
4081
4082 .../configure --enable-gdbmi
4083
4084 *** Changes in GDB-4.18:
4085
4086 * New native configurations
4087
4088 HP-UX 10.20 hppa*-*-hpux10.20
4089 HP-UX 11.x hppa*-*-hpux11.0*
4090 M68K GNU/Linux m68*-*-linux*
4091
4092 * New targets
4093
4094 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
4095 Intel StrongARM strongarm-*-*
4096 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
4097
4098 * OBSOLETE configurations
4099
4100 Gould PowerNode, NP1 np1-*-*, pn-*-*
4101
4102 Configurations that have been declared obsolete will be commented out,
4103 but the code will be left in place. If there is no activity to revive
4104 these configurations before the next release of GDB, the sources will
4105 be permanently REMOVED.
4106
4107 * ANSI/ISO C
4108
4109 As a compatibility experiment, GDB's source files buildsym.h and
4110 buildsym.c have been converted to pure standard C, no longer
4111 containing any K&R compatibility code. We believe that all systems in
4112 use today either come with a standard C compiler, or have a GCC port
4113 available. If this is not true, please report the affected
4114 configuration to bug-gdb@gnu.org immediately. See the README file for
4115 information about getting a standard C compiler if you don't have one
4116 already.
4117
4118 * Readline 2.2
4119
4120 GDB now uses readline 2.2.
4121
4122 * set extension-language
4123
4124 You can now control the mapping between filename extensions and source
4125 languages by using the `set extension-language' command. For instance,
4126 you can ask GDB to treat .c files as C++ by saying
4127 set extension-language .c c++
4128 The command `info extensions' lists all of the recognized extensions
4129 and their associated languages.
4130
4131 * Setting processor type for PowerPC and RS/6000
4132
4133 When GDB is configured for a powerpc*-*-* or an rs6000*-*-* target,
4134 you can use the `set processor' command to specify what variant of the
4135 PowerPC family you are debugging. The command
4136
4137 set processor NAME
4138
4139 sets the PowerPC/RS6000 variant to NAME. GDB knows about the
4140 following PowerPC and RS6000 variants:
4141
4142 ppc-uisa PowerPC UISA - a PPC processor as viewed by user-level code
4143 rs6000 IBM RS6000 ("POWER") architecture, user-level view
4144 403 IBM PowerPC 403
4145 403GC IBM PowerPC 403GC
4146 505 Motorola PowerPC 505
4147 860 Motorola PowerPC 860 or 850
4148 601 Motorola PowerPC 601
4149 602 Motorola PowerPC 602
4150 603 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 603 or 603e
4151 604 Motorola PowerPC 604 or 604e
4152 750 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 750 or 750
4153
4154 At the moment, this command just tells GDB what to name the
4155 special-purpose processor registers. Since almost all the affected
4156 registers are inaccessible to user-level programs, this command is
4157 only useful for remote debugging in its present form.
4158
4159 * HP-UX support
4160
4161 Thanks to a major code donation from Hewlett-Packard, GDB now has much
4162 more extensive support for HP-UX. Added features include shared
4163 library support, kernel threads and hardware watchpoints for 11.00,
4164 support for HP's ANSI C and C++ compilers, and a compatibility mode
4165 for xdb and dbx commands.
4166
4167 * Catchpoints
4168
4169 HP's donation includes the new concept of catchpoints, which is a
4170 generalization of the old catch command. On HP-UX, it is now possible
4171 to catch exec, fork, and vfork, as well as library loading.
4172
4173 This means that the existing catch command has changed; its first
4174 argument now specifies the type of catch to be set up. See the
4175 output of "help catch" for a list of catchpoint types.
4176
4177 * Debugging across forks
4178
4179 On HP-UX, you can choose which process to debug when a fork() happens
4180 in the inferior.
4181
4182 * TUI
4183
4184 HP has donated a curses-based terminal user interface (TUI). To get
4185 it, build with --enable-tui. Although this can be enabled for any
4186 configuration, at present it only works for native HP debugging.
4187
4188 * GDB remote protocol additions
4189
4190 A new protocol packet 'X' that writes binary data is now available.
4191 Default behavior is to try 'X', then drop back to 'M' if the stub
4192 fails to respond. The settable variable `remotebinarydownload'
4193 allows explicit control over the use of 'X'.
4194
4195 For 64-bit targets, the memory packets ('M' and 'm') can now contain a
4196 full 64-bit address. The command
4197
4198 set remoteaddresssize 32
4199
4200 can be used to revert to the old behaviour. For existing remote stubs
4201 the change should not be noticed, as the additional address information
4202 will be discarded.
4203
4204 In order to assist in debugging stubs, you may use the maintenance
4205 command `packet' to send any text string to the stub. For instance,
4206
4207 maint packet heythere
4208
4209 sends the packet "$heythere#<checksum>". Note that it is very easy to
4210 disrupt a debugging session by sending the wrong packet at the wrong
4211 time.
4212
4213 The compare-sections command allows you to compare section data on the
4214 target to what is in the executable file without uploading or
4215 downloading, by comparing CRC checksums.
4216
4217 * Tracing can collect general expressions
4218
4219 You may now collect general expressions at tracepoints. This requires
4220 further additions to the target-side stub; see tracepoint.c and
4221 doc/agentexpr.texi for further details.
4222
4223 * mask-address variable for Mips
4224
4225 For Mips targets, you may control the zeroing of the upper 32 bits of
4226 a 64-bit address by entering `set mask-address on'. This is mainly
4227 of interest to users of embedded R4xxx and R5xxx processors.
4228
4229 * Higher serial baud rates
4230
4231 GDB's serial code now allows you to specify baud rates 57600, 115200,
4232 230400, and 460800 baud. (Note that your host system may not be able
4233 to achieve all of these rates.)
4234
4235 * i960 simulator
4236
4237 The i960 configuration now includes an initial implementation of a
4238 builtin simulator, contributed by Jim Wilson.
4239
4240
4241 *** Changes in GDB-4.17:
4242
4243 * New native configurations
4244
4245 Alpha GNU/Linux alpha*-*-linux*
4246 Unixware 2.x i[3456]86-unixware2*
4247 Irix 6.x mips*-sgi-irix6*
4248 PowerPC GNU/Linux powerpc-*-linux*
4249 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
4250 Sparc GNU/Linux sparc-*-linux*
4251 Motorola sysV68 R3V7.1 m68k-motorola-sysv
4252
4253 * New targets
4254
4255 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
4256 Hitachi H8/300S h8300*-*-*
4257 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
4258 Matsushita MN10300 w/simulator mn10300-*-*
4259 MIPS NEC VR4100 mips64*vr4100*{,el}-*-elf*
4260 MIPS NEC VR5000 mips64*vr5000*{,el}-*-elf*
4261 MIPS Toshiba TX39 mips64*tx39*{,el}-*-elf*
4262 Mitsubishi D10V w/simulator d10v-*-*
4263 Mitsubishi M32R/D w/simulator m32r-*-elf*
4264 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
4265 NEC V850 w/simulator v850-*-*
4266
4267 * New debugging protocols
4268
4269 ARM with RDI protocol arm*-*-*
4270 M68K with dBUG monitor m68*-*-{aout,coff,elf}
4271 DDB and LSI variants of PMON protocol mips*-*-*
4272 PowerPC with DINK32 monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
4273 PowerPC with SDS protocol powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
4274 Macraigor OCD (Wiggler) devices powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
4275
4276 * DWARF 2
4277
4278 All configurations can now understand and use the DWARF 2 debugging
4279 format. The choice is automatic, if the symbol file contains DWARF 2
4280 information.
4281
4282 * Java frontend
4283
4284 GDB now includes basic Java language support. This support is
4285 only useful with Java compilers that produce native machine code.
4286
4287 * solib-absolute-prefix and solib-search-path
4288
4289 For SunOS and SVR4 shared libraries, you may now set the prefix for
4290 loading absolute shared library symbol files, and the search path for
4291 locating non-absolute shared library symbol files.
4292
4293 * Live range splitting
4294
4295 GDB can now effectively debug code for which GCC has performed live
4296 range splitting as part of its optimization. See gdb/doc/LRS for
4297 more details on the expected format of the stabs information.
4298
4299 * Hurd support
4300
4301 GDB's support for the GNU Hurd, including thread debugging, has been
4302 updated to work with current versions of the Hurd.
4303
4304 * ARM Thumb support
4305
4306 GDB's ARM target configuration now handles the ARM7T (Thumb) 16-bit
4307 instruction set. ARM GDB automatically detects when Thumb
4308 instructions are in use, and adjusts disassembly and backtracing
4309 accordingly.
4310
4311 * MIPS16 support
4312
4313 GDB's MIPS target configurations now handle the MIP16 16-bit
4314 instruction set.
4315
4316 * Overlay support
4317
4318 GDB now includes support for overlays; if an executable has been
4319 linked such that multiple sections are based at the same address, GDB
4320 will decide which section to use for symbolic info. You can choose to
4321 control the decision manually, using overlay commands, or implement
4322 additional target-side support and use "overlay load-target" to bring
4323 in the overlay mapping. Do "help overlay" for more detail.
4324
4325 * info symbol
4326
4327 The command "info symbol <address>" displays information about
4328 the symbol at the specified address.
4329
4330 * Trace support
4331
4332 The standard remote protocol now includes an extension that allows
4333 asynchronous collection and display of trace data. This requires
4334 extensive support in the target-side debugging stub. Tracing mode
4335 includes a new interaction mode in GDB and new commands: see the
4336 file tracepoint.c for more details.
4337
4338 * MIPS simulator
4339
4340 Configurations for embedded MIPS now include a simulator contributed
4341 by Cygnus Solutions. The simulator supports the instruction sets
4342 of most MIPS variants.
4343
4344 * Sparc simulator
4345
4346 Sparc configurations may now include the ERC32 simulator contributed
4347 by the European Space Agency. The simulator is not built into
4348 Sparc targets by default; configure with --enable-sim to include it.
4349
4350 * set architecture
4351
4352 For target configurations that may include multiple variants of a
4353 basic architecture (such as MIPS and SH), you may now set the
4354 architecture explicitly. "set arch" sets, "info arch" lists
4355 the possible architectures.
4356
4357 *** Changes in GDB-4.16:
4358
4359 * New native configurations
4360
4361 Windows 95, x86 Windows NT i[345]86-*-cygwin32
4362 M68K NetBSD m68k-*-netbsd*
4363 PowerPC AIX 4.x powerpc-*-aix*
4364 PowerPC MacOS powerpc-*-macos*
4365 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
4366 RS/6000 AIX 4.x rs6000-*-aix4*
4367
4368 * New targets
4369
4370 ARM with RDP protocol arm-*-*
4371 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
4372 MIPS VxWorks mips*-*-vxworks*
4373 MIPS VR4300 with PMON mips64*vr4300{,el}-*-elf*
4374 PowerPC with PPCBUG monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi*
4375 Hitachi SH3 sh-*-*
4376 Matra Sparclet sparclet-*-*
4377
4378 * PowerPC simulator
4379
4380 The powerpc-eabi configuration now includes the PSIM simulator,
4381 contributed by Andrew Cagney, with assistance from Mike Meissner.
4382 PSIM is a very elaborate model of the PowerPC, including not only
4383 basic instruction set execution, but also details of execution unit
4384 performance and I/O hardware. See sim/ppc/README for more details.
4385
4386 * Solaris 2.5
4387
4388 GDB now works with Solaris 2.5.
4389
4390 * Windows 95/NT native
4391
4392 GDB will now work as a native debugger on Windows 95 and Windows NT.
4393 To build it from source, you must use the "gnu-win32" environment,
4394 which uses a DLL to emulate enough of Unix to run the GNU tools.
4395 Further information, binaries, and sources are available at
4396 ftp.cygnus.com, under pub/gnu-win32.
4397
4398 * dont-repeat command
4399
4400 If a user-defined command includes the command `dont-repeat', then the
4401 command will not be repeated if the user just types return. This is
4402 useful if the command is time-consuming to run, so that accidental
4403 extra keystrokes don't run the same command many times.
4404
4405 * Send break instead of ^C
4406
4407 The standard remote protocol now includes an option to send a break
4408 rather than a ^C to the target in order to interrupt it. By default,
4409 GDB will send ^C; to send a break, set the variable `remotebreak' to 1.
4410
4411 * Remote protocol timeout
4412
4413 The standard remote protocol includes a new variable `remotetimeout'
4414 that allows you to set the number of seconds before GDB gives up trying
4415 to read from the target. The default value is 2.
4416
4417 * Automatic tracking of dynamic object loading (HPUX and Solaris only)
4418
4419 By default GDB will automatically keep track of objects as they are
4420 loaded and unloaded by the dynamic linker. By using the command `set
4421 stop-on-solib-events 1' you can arrange for GDB to stop the inferior
4422 when shared library events occur, thus allowing you to set breakpoints
4423 in shared libraries which are explicitly loaded by the inferior.
4424
4425 Note this feature does not work on hpux8. On hpux9 you must link
4426 /usr/lib/end.o into your program. This feature should work
4427 automatically on hpux10.
4428
4429 * Irix 5.x hardware watchpoint support
4430
4431 Irix 5 configurations now support the use of hardware watchpoints.
4432
4433 * Mips protocol "SYN garbage limit"
4434
4435 When debugging a Mips target using the `target mips' protocol, you
4436 may set the number of characters that GDB will ignore by setting
4437 the `syn-garbage-limit'. A value of -1 means that GDB will ignore
4438 every character. The default value is 1050.
4439
4440 * Recording and replaying remote debug sessions
4441
4442 If you set `remotelogfile' to the name of a file, gdb will write to it
4443 a recording of a remote debug session. This recording may then be
4444 replayed back to gdb using "gdbreplay". See gdbserver/README for
4445 details. This is useful when you have a problem with GDB while doing
4446 remote debugging; you can make a recording of the session and send it
4447 to someone else, who can then recreate the problem.
4448
4449 * Speedups for remote debugging
4450
4451 GDB includes speedups for downloading and stepping MIPS systems using
4452 the IDT monitor, fast downloads to the Hitachi SH E7000 emulator,
4453 and more efficient S-record downloading.
4454
4455 * Memory use reductions and statistics collection
4456
4457 GDB now uses less memory and reports statistics about memory usage.
4458 Try the `maint print statistics' command, for example.
4459
4460 *** Changes in GDB-4.15:
4461
4462 * Psymtabs for XCOFF
4463
4464 The symbol reader for AIX GDB now uses partial symbol tables. This
4465 can greatly improve startup time, especially for large executables.
4466
4467 * Remote targets use caching
4468
4469 Remote targets now use a data cache to speed up communication with the
4470 remote side. The data cache could lead to incorrect results because
4471 it doesn't know about volatile variables, thus making it impossible to
4472 debug targets which use memory mapped I/O devices. `set remotecache
4473 off' turns the the data cache off.
4474
4475 * Remote targets may have threads
4476
4477 The standard remote protocol now includes support for multiple threads
4478 in the target system, using new protocol commands 'H' and 'T'. See
4479 gdb/remote.c for details.
4480
4481 * NetROM support
4482
4483 If GDB is configured with `--enable-netrom', then it will include
4484 support for the NetROM ROM emulator from XLNT Designs. The NetROM
4485 acts as though it is a bank of ROM on the target board, but you can
4486 write into it over the network. GDB's support consists only of
4487 support for fast loading into the emulated ROM; to debug, you must use
4488 another protocol, such as standard remote protocol. The usual
4489 sequence is something like
4490
4491 target nrom <netrom-hostname>
4492 load <prog>
4493 target remote <netrom-hostname>:1235
4494
4495 * Macintosh host
4496
4497 GDB now includes support for the Apple Macintosh, as a host only. It
4498 may be run as either an MPW tool or as a standalone application, and
4499 it can debug through the serial port. All the usual GDB commands are
4500 available, but to the target command, you must supply "serial" as the
4501 device type instead of "/dev/ttyXX". See mpw-README in the main
4502 directory for more information on how to build. The MPW configuration
4503 scripts */mpw-config.in support only a few targets, and only the
4504 mips-idt-ecoff target has been tested.
4505
4506 * Autoconf
4507
4508 GDB configuration now uses autoconf. This is not user-visible,
4509 but does simplify configuration and building.
4510
4511 * hpux10
4512
4513 GDB now supports hpux10.
4514
4515 *** Changes in GDB-4.14:
4516
4517 * New native configurations
4518
4519 x86 FreeBSD i[345]86-*-freebsd
4520 x86 NetBSD i[345]86-*-netbsd
4521 NS32k NetBSD ns32k-*-netbsd
4522 Sparc NetBSD sparc-*-netbsd
4523
4524 * New targets
4525
4526 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
4527 HP PA PRO embedded (WinBond W89K & Oki OP50N) hppa*-*-pro*
4528 CPU32 EST-300 emulator m68*-*-est*
4529 PowerPC ELF powerpc-*-elf
4530 WDC 65816 w65-*-*
4531
4532 * Alpha OSF/1 support for procfs
4533
4534 GDB now supports procfs under OSF/1-2.x and higher, which makes it
4535 possible to attach to running processes. As the mounting of the /proc
4536 filesystem is optional on the Alpha, GDB automatically determines
4537 the availability of /proc during startup. This can lead to problems
4538 if /proc is unmounted after GDB has been started.
4539
4540 * Arguments to user-defined commands
4541
4542 User commands may accept up to 10 arguments separated by whitespace.
4543 Arguments are accessed within the user command via $arg0..$arg9. A
4544 trivial example:
4545 define adder
4546 print $arg0 + $arg1 + $arg2
4547
4548 To execute the command use:
4549 adder 1 2 3
4550
4551 Defines the command "adder" which prints the sum of its three arguments.
4552 Note the arguments are text substitutions, so they may reference variables,
4553 use complex expressions, or even perform inferior function calls.
4554
4555 * New `if' and `while' commands
4556
4557 This makes it possible to write more sophisticated user-defined
4558 commands. Both commands take a single argument, which is the
4559 expression to evaluate, and must be followed by the commands to
4560 execute, one per line, if the expression is nonzero, the list being
4561 terminated by the word `end'. The `if' command list may include an
4562 `else' word, which causes the following commands to be executed only
4563 if the expression is zero.
4564
4565 * Fortran source language mode
4566
4567 GDB now includes partial support for Fortran 77. It will recognize
4568 Fortran programs and can evaluate a subset of Fortran expressions, but
4569 variables and functions may not be handled correctly. GDB will work
4570 with G77, but does not yet know much about symbols emitted by other
4571 Fortran compilers.
4572
4573 * Better HPUX support
4574
4575 Most debugging facilities now work on dynamic executables for HPPAs
4576 running hpux9 or later. You can attach to running dynamically linked
4577 processes, but by default the dynamic libraries will be read-only, so
4578 for instance you won't be able to put breakpoints in them. To change
4579 that behavior do the following before running the program:
4580
4581 adb -w a.out
4582 __dld_flags?W 0x5
4583 control-d
4584
4585 This will cause the libraries to be mapped private and read-write.
4586 To revert to the normal behavior, do this:
4587
4588 adb -w a.out
4589 __dld_flags?W 0x4
4590 control-d
4591
4592 You cannot set breakpoints or examine data in the library until after
4593 the library is loaded if the function/data symbols do not have
4594 external linkage.
4595
4596 GDB can now also read debug symbols produced by the HP C compiler on
4597 HPPAs (sorry, no C++, Fortran or 68k support).
4598
4599 * Target byte order now dynamically selectable
4600
4601 You can choose which byte order to use with a target system, via the
4602 commands "set endian big" and "set endian little", and you can see the
4603 current setting by using "show endian". You can also give the command
4604 "set endian auto", in which case GDB will use the byte order
4605 associated with the executable. Currently, only embedded MIPS
4606 configurations support dynamic selection of target byte order.
4607
4608 * New DOS host serial code
4609
4610 This version uses DPMI interrupts to handle buffered I/O, so you
4611 no longer need to run asynctsr when debugging boards connected to
4612 a PC's serial port.
4613
4614 *** Changes in GDB-4.13:
4615
4616 * New "complete" command
4617
4618 This lists all the possible completions for the rest of the line, if it
4619 were to be given as a command itself. This is intended for use by emacs.
4620
4621 * Trailing space optional in prompt
4622
4623 "set prompt" no longer adds a space for you after the prompt you set. This
4624 allows you to set a prompt which ends in a space or one that does not.
4625
4626 * Breakpoint hit counts
4627
4628 "info break" now displays a count of the number of times the breakpoint
4629 has been hit. This is especially useful in conjunction with "ignore"; you
4630 can ignore a large number of breakpoint hits, look at the breakpoint info
4631 to see how many times the breakpoint was hit, then run again, ignoring one
4632 less than that number, and this will get you quickly to the last hit of
4633 that breakpoint.
4634
4635 * Ability to stop printing at NULL character
4636
4637 "set print null-stop" will cause GDB to stop printing the characters of
4638 an array when the first NULL is encountered. This is useful when large
4639 arrays actually contain only short strings.
4640
4641 * Shared library breakpoints
4642
4643 In SunOS 4.x, SVR4, and Alpha OSF/1 configurations, you can now set
4644 breakpoints in shared libraries before the executable is run.
4645
4646 * Hardware watchpoints
4647
4648 There is a new hardware breakpoint for the watch command for sparclite
4649 targets. See gdb/sparclite/hw_breakpoint.note.
4650
4651 Hardware watchpoints are also now supported under GNU/Linux.
4652
4653 * Annotations
4654
4655 Annotations have been added. These are for use with graphical interfaces,
4656 and are still experimental. Currently only gdba.el uses these.
4657
4658 * Improved Irix 5 support
4659
4660 GDB now works properly with Irix 5.2.
4661
4662 * Improved HPPA support
4663
4664 GDB now works properly with the latest GCC and GAS.
4665
4666 * New native configurations
4667
4668 Sequent PTX4 i[34]86-sequent-ptx4
4669 HPPA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
4670 Atari TT running SVR4 m68*-*-sysv4*
4671 RS/6000 LynxOS rs6000-*-lynxos*
4672
4673 * New targets
4674
4675 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
4676 MIPS R4000 mips64*{,el}-*-{ecoff,elf}
4677 Sparc64 sparc64-*-*
4678
4679 * Hitachi SH7000 and E7000-PC ICE support
4680
4681 There is now support for communicating with the Hitachi E7000-PC ICE.
4682 This is available automatically when GDB is configured for the SH.
4683
4684 * Fixes
4685
4686 As usual, a variety of small fixes and improvements, both generic
4687 and configuration-specific. See the ChangeLog for more detail.
4688
4689 *** Changes in GDB-4.12:
4690
4691 * Irix 5 is now supported
4692
4693 * HPPA support
4694
4695 GDB-4.12 on the HPPA has a number of changes which make it unable
4696 to debug the output from the currently released versions of GCC and
4697 GAS (GCC 2.5.8 and GAS-2.2 or PAGAS-1.36). Until the next major release
4698 of GCC and GAS, versions of these tools designed to work with GDB-4.12
4699 can be retrieved via anonymous ftp from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist.
4700
4701
4702 *** Changes in GDB-4.11:
4703
4704 * User visible changes:
4705
4706 * Remote Debugging
4707
4708 The "set remotedebug" option is now consistent between the mips remote
4709 target, remote targets using the gdb-specific protocol, UDI (AMD's
4710 debug protocol for the 29k) and the 88k bug monitor. It is now an
4711 integer specifying a debug level (normally 0 or 1, but 2 means more
4712 debugging info for the mips target).
4713
4714 * DEC Alpha native support
4715
4716 GDB now works on the DEC Alpha. GCC 2.4.5 does not produce usable
4717 debug info, but GDB works fairly well with the DEC compiler and should
4718 work with a future GCC release. See the README file for a few
4719 Alpha-specific notes.
4720
4721 * Preliminary thread implementation
4722
4723 GDB now has preliminary thread support for both SGI/Irix and LynxOS.
4724
4725 * LynxOS native and target support for 386
4726
4727 This release has been hosted on LynxOS 2.2, and also can be configured
4728 to remotely debug programs running under LynxOS (see gdb/gdbserver/README
4729 for details).
4730
4731 * Improvements in C++ mangling/demangling.
4732
4733 This release has much better g++ debugging, specifically in name
4734 mangling/demangling, virtual function calls, print virtual table,
4735 call methods, ...etc.
4736
4737 *** Changes in GDB-4.10:
4738
4739 * User visible changes:
4740
4741 Remote debugging using the GDB-specific (`target remote') protocol now
4742 supports the `load' command. This is only useful if you have some
4743 other way of getting the stub to the target system, and you can put it
4744 somewhere in memory where it won't get clobbered by the download.
4745
4746 Filename completion now works.
4747
4748 When run under emacs mode, the "info line" command now causes the
4749 arrow to point to the line specified. Also, "info line" prints
4750 addresses in symbolic form (as well as hex).
4751
4752 All vxworks based targets now support a user settable option, called
4753 vxworks-timeout. This option represents the number of seconds gdb
4754 should wait for responses to rpc's. You might want to use this if
4755 your vxworks target is, perhaps, a slow software simulator or happens
4756 to be on the far side of a thin network line.
4757
4758 * DEC alpha support
4759
4760 This release contains support for using a DEC alpha as a GDB host for
4761 cross debugging. Native alpha debugging is not supported yet.
4762
4763
4764 *** Changes in GDB-4.9:
4765
4766 * Testsuite
4767
4768 This is the first GDB release which is accompanied by a matching testsuite.
4769 The testsuite requires installation of dejagnu, which should be available
4770 via ftp from most sites that carry GNU software.
4771
4772 * C++ demangling
4773
4774 'Cfront' style demangling has had its name changed to 'ARM' style, to
4775 emphasize that it was written from the specifications in the C++ Annotated
4776 Reference Manual, not necessarily to be compatible with AT&T cfront. Despite
4777 disclaimers, it still generated too much confusion with users attempting to
4778 use gdb with AT&T cfront.
4779
4780 * Simulators
4781
4782 GDB now uses a standard remote interface to a simulator library.
4783 So far, the library contains simulators for the Zilog Z8001/2, the
4784 Hitachi H8/300, H8/500 and Super-H.
4785
4786 * New targets supported
4787
4788 H8/300 simulator h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
4789 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
4790 SH simulator sh-hitachi-hms or sh
4791 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
4792 IDT MIPS board over serial line mips-idt-ecoff
4793
4794 Cross-debugging to GO32 targets is supported. It requires a custom
4795 version of the i386-stub.c module which is integrated with the
4796 GO32 memory extender.
4797
4798 * New remote protocols
4799
4800 MIPS remote debugging protocol.
4801
4802 * New source languages supported
4803
4804 This version includes preliminary support for Chill, a Pascal like language
4805 used by telecommunications companies. Chill support is also being integrated
4806 into the GNU compiler, but we don't know when it will be publically available.
4807
4808
4809 *** Changes in GDB-4.8:
4810
4811 * HP Precision Architecture supported
4812
4813 GDB now supports HP PA-RISC machines running HPUX. A preliminary
4814 version of this support was available as a set of patches from the
4815 University of Utah. GDB does not support debugging of programs
4816 compiled with the HP compiler, because HP will not document their file
4817 format. Instead, you must use GCC (version 2.3.2 or later) and PA-GAS
4818 (as available from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist/pa-gas.u4.tar.Z).
4819
4820 Many problems in the preliminary version have been fixed.
4821
4822 * Faster and better demangling
4823
4824 We have improved template demangling and fixed numerous bugs in the GNU style
4825 demangler. It can now handle type modifiers such as `static' or `const'. Wide
4826 character types (wchar_t) are now supported. Demangling of each symbol is now
4827 only done once, and is cached when the symbol table for a file is read in.
4828 This results in a small increase in memory usage for C programs, a moderate
4829 increase in memory usage for C++ programs, and a fantastic speedup in
4830 symbol lookups.
4831
4832 `Cfront' style demangling still doesn't work with AT&T cfront. It was written
4833 from the specifications in the Annotated Reference Manual, which AT&T's
4834 compiler does not actually implement.
4835
4836 * G++ multiple inheritance compiler problem
4837
4838 In the 2.3.2 release of gcc/g++, how the compiler resolves multiple
4839 inheritance lattices was reworked to properly discover ambiguities. We
4840 recently found an example which causes this new algorithm to fail in a
4841 very subtle way, producing bad debug information for those classes.
4842 The file 'gcc.patch' (in this directory) can be applied to gcc to
4843 circumvent the problem. A future GCC release will contain a complete
4844 fix.
4845
4846 The previous G++ debug info problem (mentioned below for the gdb-4.7
4847 release) is fixed in gcc version 2.3.2.
4848
4849 * Improved configure script
4850
4851 The `configure' script will now attempt to guess your system type if
4852 you don't supply a host system type. The old scheme of supplying a
4853 host system triplet is preferable over using this. All the magic is
4854 done in the new `config.guess' script. Examine it for details.
4855
4856 We have also brought our configure script much more in line with the FSF's
4857 version. It now supports the --with-xxx options. In particular,
4858 `--with-minimal-bfd' can be used to make the GDB binary image smaller.
4859 The resulting GDB will not be able to read arbitrary object file formats --
4860 only the format ``expected'' to be used on the configured target system.
4861 We hope to make this the default in a future release.
4862
4863 * Documentation improvements
4864
4865 There's new internal documentation on how to modify GDB, and how to
4866 produce clean changes to the code. We implore people to read it
4867 before submitting changes.
4868
4869 The GDB manual uses new, sexy Texinfo conditionals, rather than arcane
4870 M4 macros. The new texinfo.tex is provided in this release. Pre-built
4871 `info' files are also provided. To build `info' files from scratch,
4872 you will need the latest `makeinfo' release, which will be available in
4873 a future texinfo-X.Y release.
4874
4875 *NOTE* The new texinfo.tex can cause old versions of TeX to hang.
4876 We're not sure exactly which versions have this problem, but it has
4877 been seen in 3.0. We highly recommend upgrading to TeX version 3.141
4878 or better. If that isn't possible, there is a patch in
4879 `texinfo/tex3patch' that will modify `texinfo/texinfo.tex' to work
4880 around this problem.
4881
4882 * New features
4883
4884 GDB now supports array constants that can be used in expressions typed in by
4885 the user. The syntax is `{element, element, ...}'. Ie: you can now type
4886 `print {1, 2, 3}', and it will build up an array in memory malloc'd in
4887 the target program.
4888
4889 The new directory `gdb/sparclite' contains a program that demonstrates
4890 how the sparc-stub.c remote stub runs on a Fujitsu SPARClite processor.
4891
4892 * New native hosts supported
4893
4894 HP/PA-RISC under HPUX using GNU tools hppa1.1-hp-hpux
4895 386 CPUs running SCO Unix 3.2v4 i386-unknown-sco3.2v4
4896
4897 * New targets supported
4898
4899 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi or udi29k
4900
4901 * New file formats supported
4902
4903 BFD now supports reading HP/PA-RISC executables (SOM file format?),
4904 HPUX core files, and SCO 3.2v2 core files.
4905
4906 * Major bug fixes
4907
4908 Attaching to processes now works again; thanks for the many bug reports.
4909
4910 We have also stomped on a bunch of core dumps caused by
4911 printf_filtered("%s") problems.
4912
4913 We eliminated a copyright problem on the rpc and ptrace header files
4914 for VxWorks, which was discovered at the last minute during the 4.7
4915 release. You should now be able to build a VxWorks GDB.
4916
4917 You can now interrupt gdb while an attached process is running. This
4918 will cause the attached process to stop, and give control back to GDB.
4919
4920 We fixed problems caused by using too many file descriptors
4921 for reading symbols from object files and libraries. This was
4922 especially a problem for programs that used many (~100) shared
4923 libraries.
4924
4925 The `step' command now only enters a subroutine if there is line number
4926 information for the subroutine. Otherwise it acts like the `next'
4927 command. Previously, `step' would enter subroutines if there was
4928 any debugging information about the routine. This avoids problems
4929 when using `cc -g1' on MIPS machines.
4930
4931 * Internal improvements
4932
4933 GDB's internal interfaces have been improved to make it easier to support
4934 debugging of multiple languages in the future.
4935
4936 GDB now uses a common structure for symbol information internally.
4937 Minimal symbols (derived from linkage symbols in object files), partial
4938 symbols (from a quick scan of debug information), and full symbols
4939 contain a common subset of information, making it easier to write
4940 shared code that handles any of them.
4941
4942 * New command line options
4943
4944 We now accept --silent as an alias for --quiet.
4945
4946 * Mmalloc licensing
4947
4948 The memory-mapped-malloc library is now licensed under the GNU Library
4949 General Public License.
4950
4951 *** Changes in GDB-4.7:
4952
4953 * Host/native/target split
4954
4955 GDB has had some major internal surgery to untangle the support for
4956 hosts and remote targets. Now, when you configure GDB for a remote
4957 target, it will no longer load in all of the support for debugging
4958 local programs on the host. When fully completed and tested, this will
4959 ensure that arbitrary host/target combinations are possible.
4960
4961 The primary conceptual shift is to separate the non-portable code in
4962 GDB into three categories. Host specific code is required any time GDB
4963 is compiled on that host, regardless of the target. Target specific
4964 code relates to the peculiarities of the target, but can be compiled on
4965 any host. Native specific code is everything else: it can only be
4966 built when the host and target are the same system. Child process
4967 handling and core file support are two common `native' examples.
4968
4969 GDB's use of /proc for controlling Unix child processes is now cleaner.
4970 It has been split out into a single module under the `target_ops' vector,
4971 plus two native-dependent functions for each system that uses /proc.
4972
4973 * New hosts supported
4974
4975 HP/Apollo 68k (under the BSD domain) m68k-apollo-bsd or apollo68bsd
4976 386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
4977 386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or i386sco
4978
4979 * New targets supported
4980
4981 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
4982 68030 and CPU32 m68030-*-*, m68332-*-*
4983
4984 * New native hosts supported
4985
4986 386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
4987 (386bsd is not well tested yet)
4988 386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or sco
4989
4990 * New file formats supported
4991
4992 BFD now supports COFF files for the Zilog Z8000 microprocessor. It
4993 supports reading of `a.out.adobe' object files, which are an a.out
4994 format extended with minimal information about multiple sections.
4995
4996 * New commands
4997
4998 `show copying' is the same as the old `info copying'.
4999 `show warranty' is the same as `info warrantee'.
5000 These were renamed for consistency. The old commands continue to work.
5001
5002 `info handle' is a new alias for `info signals'.
5003
5004 You can now define pre-command hooks, which attach arbitrary command
5005 scripts to any command. The commands in the hook will be executed
5006 prior to the user's command. You can also create a hook which will be
5007 executed whenever the program stops. See gdb.texinfo.
5008
5009 * C++ improvements
5010
5011 We now deal with Cfront style name mangling, and can even extract type
5012 info from mangled symbols. GDB can automatically figure out which
5013 symbol mangling style your C++ compiler uses.
5014
5015 Calling of methods and virtual functions has been improved as well.
5016
5017 * Major bug fixes
5018
5019 The crash that occured when debugging Sun Ansi-C compiled binaries is
5020 fixed. This was due to mishandling of the extra N_SO stabs output
5021 by the compiler.
5022
5023 We also finally got Ultrix 4.2 running in house, and fixed core file
5024 support, with help from a dozen people on the net.
5025
5026 John M. Farrell discovered that the reason that single-stepping was so
5027 slow on all of the Mips based platforms (primarily SGI and DEC) was
5028 that we were trying to demangle and lookup a symbol used for internal
5029 purposes on every instruction that was being stepped through. Changing
5030 the name of that symbol so that it couldn't be mistaken for a C++
5031 mangled symbol sped things up a great deal.
5032
5033 Rich Pixley sped up symbol lookups in general by getting much smarter
5034 about when C++ symbol mangling is necessary. This should make symbol
5035 completion (TAB on the command line) much faster. It's not as fast as
5036 we'd like, but it's significantly faster than gdb-4.6.
5037
5038 * AMD 29k support
5039
5040 A new user controllable variable 'call_scratch_address' can
5041 specify the location of a scratch area to be used when GDB
5042 calls a function in the target. This is necessary because the
5043 usual method of putting the scratch area on the stack does not work
5044 in systems that have separate instruction and data spaces.
5045
5046 We integrated changes to support the 29k UDI (Universal Debugger
5047 Interface), but discovered at the last minute that we didn't have all
5048 of the appropriate copyright paperwork. We are working with AMD to
5049 resolve this, and hope to have it available soon.
5050
5051 * Remote interfaces
5052
5053 We have sped up the remote serial line protocol, especially for targets
5054 with lots of registers. It now supports a new `expedited status' ('T')
5055 message which can be used in place of the existing 'S' status message.
5056 This allows the remote stub to send only the registers that GDB
5057 needs to make a quick decision about single-stepping or conditional
5058 breakpoints, eliminating the need to fetch the entire register set for
5059 each instruction being stepped through.
5060
5061 The GDB remote serial protocol now implements a write-through cache for
5062 registers, only re-reading the registers if the target has run.
5063
5064 There is also a new remote serial stub for SPARC processors. You can
5065 find it in gdb-4.7/gdb/sparc-stub.c. This was written to support the
5066 Fujitsu SPARClite processor, but will run on any stand-alone SPARC
5067 processor with a serial port.
5068
5069 * Configuration
5070
5071 Configure.in files have become much easier to read and modify. A new
5072 `table driven' format makes it more obvious what configurations are
5073 supported, and what files each one uses.
5074
5075 * Library changes
5076
5077 There is a new opcodes library which will eventually contain all of the
5078 disassembly routines and opcode tables. At present, it only contains
5079 Sparc and Z8000 routines. This will allow the assembler, debugger, and
5080 disassembler (binutils/objdump) to share these routines.
5081
5082 The libiberty library is now copylefted under the GNU Library General
5083 Public License. This allows more liberal use, and was done so libg++
5084 can use it. This makes no difference to GDB, since the Library License
5085 grants all the rights from the General Public License.
5086
5087 * Documentation
5088
5089 The file gdb-4.7/gdb/doc/stabs.texinfo is a (relatively) complete
5090 reference to the stabs symbol info used by the debugger. It is (as far
5091 as we know) the only published document on this fascinating topic. We
5092 encourage you to read it, compare it to the stabs information on your
5093 system, and send improvements on the document in general (to
5094 bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu).
5095
5096 And, of course, many bugs have been fixed.
5097
5098
5099 *** Changes in GDB-4.6:
5100
5101 * Better support for C++ function names
5102
5103 GDB now accepts as input the "demangled form" of C++ overloaded function
5104 names and member function names, and can do command completion on such names
5105 (using TAB, TAB-TAB, and ESC-?). The names have to be quoted with a pair of
5106 single quotes. Examples are 'func (int, long)' and 'obj::operator==(obj&)'.
5107 Make use of command completion, it is your friend.
5108
5109 GDB also now accepts a variety of C++ mangled symbol formats. They are
5110 the GNU g++ style, the Cfront (ARM) style, and the Lucid (lcc) style.
5111 You can tell GDB which format to use by doing a 'set demangle-style {gnu,
5112 lucid, cfront, auto}'. 'gnu' is the default. Do a 'set demangle-style foo'
5113 for the list of formats.
5114
5115 * G++ symbol mangling problem
5116
5117 Recent versions of gcc have a bug in how they emit debugging information for
5118 C++ methods (when using dbx-style stabs). The file 'gcc.patch' (in this
5119 directory) can be applied to gcc to fix the problem. Alternatively, if you
5120 can't fix gcc, you can #define GCC_MANGLE_BUG when compling gdb/symtab.c. The
5121 usual symptom is difficulty with setting breakpoints on methods. GDB complains
5122 about the method being non-existent. (We believe that version 2.2.2 of GCC has
5123 this problem.)
5124
5125 * New 'maintenance' command
5126
5127 All of the commands related to hacking GDB internals have been moved out of
5128 the main command set, and now live behind the 'maintenance' command. This
5129 can also be abbreviated as 'mt'. The following changes were made:
5130
5131 dump-me -> maintenance dump-me
5132 info all-breakpoints -> maintenance info breakpoints
5133 printmsyms -> maintenance print msyms
5134 printobjfiles -> maintenance print objfiles
5135 printpsyms -> maintenance print psymbols
5136 printsyms -> maintenance print symbols
5137
5138 The following commands are new:
5139
5140 maintenance demangle Call internal GDB demangler routine to
5141 demangle a C++ link name and prints the result.
5142 maintenance print type Print a type chain for a given symbol
5143
5144 * Change to .gdbinit file processing
5145
5146 We now read the $HOME/.gdbinit file before processing the argv arguments
5147 (e.g. reading symbol files or core files). This allows global parameters to
5148 be set, which will apply during the symbol reading. The ./.gdbinit is still
5149 read after argv processing.
5150
5151 * New hosts supported
5152
5153 Solaris-2.0 !!! sparc-sun-solaris2 or sun4sol2
5154
5155 GNU/Linux support i386-unknown-linux or linux
5156
5157 We are also including code to support the HP/PA running BSD and HPUX. This
5158 is almost guaranteed not to work, as we didn't have time to test or build it
5159 for this release. We are including it so that the more adventurous (or
5160 masochistic) of you can play with it. We also had major problems with the
5161 fact that the compiler that we got from HP doesn't support the -g option.
5162 It costs extra.
5163
5164 * New targets supported
5165
5166 Hitachi H8/300 h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
5167
5168 * More smarts about finding #include files
5169
5170 GDB now remembers the compilation directory for all include files, and for
5171 all files from which C is generated (like yacc and lex sources). This
5172 greatly improves GDB's ability to find yacc/lex sources, and include files,
5173 especially if you are debugging your program from a directory different from
5174 the one that contains your sources.
5175
5176 We also fixed a bug which caused difficulty with listing and setting
5177 breakpoints in include files which contain C code. (In the past, you had to
5178 try twice in order to list an include file that you hadn't looked at before.)
5179
5180 * Interesting infernals change
5181
5182 GDB now deals with arbitrary numbers of sections, where the symbols for each
5183 section must be relocated relative to that section's landing place in the
5184 target's address space. This work was needed to support ELF with embedded
5185 stabs used by Solaris-2.0.
5186
5187 * Bug fixes (of course!)
5188
5189 There have been loads of fixes for the following things:
5190 mips, rs6000, 29k/udi, m68k, g++, type handling, elf/dwarf, m88k,
5191 i960, stabs, DOS(GO32), procfs, etc...
5192
5193 See the ChangeLog for details.
5194
5195 *** Changes in GDB-4.5:
5196
5197 * New machines supported (host and target)
5198
5199 IBM RS6000 running AIX rs6000-ibm-aix or rs6000
5200
5201 SGI Irix-4.x mips-sgi-irix4 or iris4
5202
5203 * New malloc package
5204
5205 GDB now uses a new memory manager called mmalloc, based on gmalloc.
5206 Mmalloc is capable of handling mutiple heaps of memory. It is also
5207 capable of saving a heap to a file, and then mapping it back in later.
5208 This can be used to greatly speedup the startup of GDB by using a
5209 pre-parsed symbol table which lives in a mmalloc managed heap. For
5210 more details, please read mmalloc/mmalloc.texi.
5211
5212 * info proc
5213
5214 The 'info proc' command (SVR4 only) has been enhanced quite a bit. See
5215 'help info proc' for details.
5216
5217 * MIPS ecoff symbol table format
5218
5219 The code that reads MIPS symbol table format is now supported on all hosts.
5220 Thanks to MIPS for releasing the sym.h and symconst.h files to make this
5221 possible.
5222
5223 * File name changes for MS-DOS
5224
5225 Many files in the config directories have been renamed to make it easier to
5226 support GDB on MS-DOSe systems (which have very restrictive file name
5227 conventions :-( ). MS-DOSe host support (under DJ Delorie's GO32
5228 environment) is close to working but has some remaining problems. Note
5229 that debugging of DOS programs is not supported, due to limitations
5230 in the ``operating system'', but it can be used to host cross-debugging.
5231
5232 * Cross byte order fixes
5233
5234 Many fixes have been made to support cross debugging of Sparc and MIPS
5235 targets from hosts whose byte order differs.
5236
5237 * New -mapped and -readnow options
5238
5239 If memory-mapped files are available on your system through the 'mmap'
5240 system call, you can use the -mapped option on the `file' or
5241 `symbol-file' commands to cause GDB to write the symbols from your
5242 program into a reusable file. If the program you are debugging is
5243 called `/path/fred', the mapped symbol file will be `./fred.syms'.
5244 Future GDB debugging sessions will notice the presence of this file,
5245 and will quickly map in symbol information from it, rather than reading
5246 the symbol table from the executable program. Using the '-mapped'
5247 option in a GDB `file' or `symbol-file' command has the same effect as
5248 starting GDB with the '-mapped' command-line option.
5249
5250 You can cause GDB to read the entire symbol table immediately by using
5251 the '-readnow' option with any of the commands that load symbol table
5252 information (or on the GDB command line). This makes the command
5253 slower, but makes future operations faster.
5254
5255 The -mapped and -readnow options are typically combined in order to
5256 build a `fred.syms' file that contains complete symbol information.
5257 A simple GDB invocation to do nothing but build a `.syms' file for future
5258 use is:
5259
5260 gdb -batch -nx -mapped -readnow programname
5261
5262 The `.syms' file is specific to the host machine on which GDB is run.
5263 It holds an exact image of GDB's internal symbol table. It cannot be
5264 shared across multiple host platforms.
5265
5266 * longjmp() handling
5267
5268 GDB is now capable of stepping and nexting over longjmp(), _longjmp(), and
5269 siglongjmp() without losing control. This feature has not yet been ported to
5270 all systems. It currently works on many 386 platforms, all MIPS-based
5271 platforms (SGI, DECstation, etc), and Sun3/4.
5272
5273 * Solaris 2.0
5274
5275 Preliminary work has been put in to support the new Solaris OS from Sun. At
5276 this time, it can control and debug processes, but it is not capable of
5277 reading symbols.
5278
5279 * Bug fixes
5280
5281 As always, many many bug fixes. The major areas were with g++, and mipsread.
5282 People using the MIPS-based platforms should experience fewer mysterious
5283 crashes and trashed symbol tables.
5284
5285 *** Changes in GDB-4.4:
5286
5287 * New machines supported (host and target)
5288
5289 SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
5290 (except core files)
5291 BSD Reno on Vax vax-dec-bsd
5292 Ultrix on Vax vax-dec-ultrix
5293
5294 * New machines supported (target)
5295
5296 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
5297
5298 * C++ support
5299
5300 GDB continues to improve its handling of C++. `References' work better.
5301 The demangler has also been improved, and now deals with symbols mangled as
5302 per the Annotated C++ Reference Guide.
5303
5304 GDB also now handles `stabs' symbol information embedded in MIPS
5305 `ecoff' symbol tables. Since the ecoff format was not easily
5306 extensible to handle new languages such as C++, this appeared to be a
5307 good way to put C++ debugging info into MIPS binaries. This option
5308 will be supported in the GNU C compiler, version 2, when it is
5309 released.
5310
5311 * New features for SVR4
5312
5313 GDB now handles SVR4 shared libraries, in the same fashion as SunOS
5314 shared libraries. Debugging dynamically linked programs should present
5315 only minor differences from debugging statically linked programs.
5316
5317 The `info proc' command will print out information about any process
5318 on an SVR4 system (including the one you are debugging). At the moment,
5319 it prints the address mappings of the process.
5320
5321 If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please send mail to
5322 bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were reqired (if any).
5323
5324 * Better dynamic linking support in SunOS
5325
5326 Reading symbols from shared libraries which contain debugging symbols
5327 now works properly. However, there remain issues such as automatic
5328 skipping of `transfer vector' code during function calls, which
5329 make it harder to debug code in a shared library, than to debug the
5330 same code linked statically.
5331
5332 * New Getopt
5333
5334 GDB is now using the latest `getopt' routines from the FSF. This
5335 version accepts the -- prefix for options with long names. GDB will
5336 continue to accept the old forms (-option and +option) as well.
5337 Various single letter abbreviations for options have been explicity
5338 added to the option table so that they won't get overshadowed in the
5339 future by other options that begin with the same letter.
5340
5341 * Bugs fixed
5342
5343 The `cleanup_undefined_types' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
5344 Many assorted bugs have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
5345 See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
5346
5347
5348 *** Changes in GDB-4.3:
5349
5350 * New machines supported (host and target)
5351
5352 Amiga 3000 running Amix m68k-cbm-svr4 or amix
5353 NCR 3000 386 running SVR4 i386-ncr-svr4 or ncr3000
5354 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
5355
5356 * Almost SCO Unix support
5357
5358 We had hoped to support:
5359 SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
5360 (except for core file support), but we discovered very late in the release
5361 that it has problems with process groups that render gdb unusable. Sorry
5362 about that. I encourage people to fix it and post the fixes.
5363
5364 * Preliminary ELF and DWARF support
5365
5366 GDB can read ELF object files on System V Release 4, and can handle
5367 debugging records for C, in DWARF format, in ELF files. This support
5368 is preliminary. If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please
5369 send mail to bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were
5370 reqired (if any).
5371
5372 * New Readline
5373
5374 GDB now uses the latest `readline' library. One user-visible change
5375 is that two tabs will list possible command completions, which previously
5376 required typing M-? (meta-question mark, or ESC ?).
5377
5378 * Bugs fixed
5379
5380 The `stepi' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
5381 Many bugs in C++ have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
5382 See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
5383
5384 * State of the MIPS world (in case you wondered):
5385
5386 GDB can understand the symbol tables emitted by the compilers
5387 supplied by most vendors of MIPS-based machines, including DEC. These
5388 symbol tables are in a format that essentially nobody else uses.
5389
5390 Some versions of gcc come with an assembler post-processor called
5391 mips-tfile. This program is required if you want to do source-level
5392 debugging of gcc-compiled programs. I believe FSF does not ship
5393 mips-tfile with gcc version 1, but it will eventually come with gcc
5394 version 2.
5395
5396 Debugging of g++ output remains a problem. g++ version 1.xx does not
5397 really support it at all. (If you're lucky, you should be able to get
5398 line numbers and stack traces to work, but no parameters or local
5399 variables.) With some work it should be possible to improve the
5400 situation somewhat.
5401
5402 When gcc version 2 is released, you will have somewhat better luck.
5403 However, even then you will get confusing results for inheritance and
5404 methods.
5405
5406 We will eventually provide full debugging of g++ output on
5407 DECstations. This will probably involve some kind of stabs-in-ecoff
5408 encapulation, but the details have not been worked out yet.
5409
5410
5411 *** Changes in GDB-4.2:
5412
5413 * Improved configuration
5414
5415 Only one copy of `configure' exists now, and it is not self-modifying.
5416 Porting BFD is simpler.
5417
5418 * Stepping improved
5419
5420 The `step' and `next' commands now only stop at the first instruction
5421 of a source line. This prevents the multiple stops that used to occur
5422 in switch statements, for-loops, etc. `Step' continues to stop if a
5423 function that has debugging information is called within the line.
5424
5425 * Bug fixing
5426
5427 Lots of small bugs fixed. More remain.
5428
5429 * New host supported (not target)
5430
5431 Intel 386 PC clone running Mach i386-none-mach
5432
5433
5434 *** Changes in GDB-4.1:
5435
5436 * Multiple source language support
5437
5438 GDB now has internal scaffolding to handle several source languages.
5439 It determines the type of each source file from its filename extension,
5440 and will switch expression parsing and number formatting to match the
5441 language of the function in the currently selected stack frame.
5442 You can also specifically set the language to be used, with
5443 `set language c' or `set language modula-2'.
5444
5445 * GDB and Modula-2
5446
5447 GDB now has preliminary support for the GNU Modula-2 compiler,
5448 currently under development at the State University of New York at
5449 Buffalo. Development of both GDB and the GNU Modula-2 compiler will
5450 continue through the fall of 1991 and into 1992.
5451
5452 Other Modula-2 compilers are currently not supported, and attempting to
5453 debug programs compiled with them will likely result in an error as the
5454 symbol table is read. Feel free to work on it, though!
5455
5456 There are hooks in GDB for strict type checking and range checking,
5457 in the `Modula-2 philosophy', but they do not currently work.
5458
5459 * set write on/off
5460
5461 GDB can now write to executable and core files (e.g. patch
5462 a variable's value). You must turn this switch on, specify
5463 the file ("exec foo" or "core foo"), *then* modify it, e.g.
5464 by assigning a new value to a variable. Modifications take
5465 effect immediately.
5466
5467 * Automatic SunOS shared library reading
5468
5469 When you run your program, GDB automatically determines where its
5470 shared libraries (if any) have been loaded, and reads their symbols.
5471 The `share' command is no longer needed. This also works when
5472 examining core files.
5473
5474 * set listsize
5475
5476 You can specify the number of lines that the `list' command shows.
5477 The default is 10.
5478
5479 * New machines supported (host and target)
5480
5481 SGI Iris (MIPS) running Irix V3: mips-sgi-irix or iris
5482 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x: m68k-sony-sysv or news
5483 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1: a29k-nyu-sym1 or ultra3
5484
5485 * New hosts supported (not targets)
5486
5487 IBM RT/PC: romp-ibm-aix or rtpc
5488
5489 * New targets supported (not hosts)
5490
5491 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
5492 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
5493 Ultracomputer remote kernel debug a29k-nyu-kern
5494
5495 * New remote interfaces
5496
5497 AMD 29000 Adapt
5498 AMD 29000 Minimon
5499
5500
5501 *** Changes in GDB-4.0:
5502
5503 * New Facilities
5504
5505 Wide output is wrapped at good places to make the output more readable.
5506
5507 Gdb now supports cross-debugging from a host machine of one type to a
5508 target machine of another type. Communication with the target system
5509 is over serial lines. The ``target'' command handles connecting to the
5510 remote system; the ``load'' command will download a program into the
5511 remote system. Serial stubs for the m68k and i386 are provided. Gdb
5512 also supports debugging of realtime processes running under VxWorks,
5513 using SunRPC Remote Procedure Calls over TCP/IP to talk to a debugger
5514 stub on the target system.
5515
5516 New CPUs supported include the AMD 29000 and Intel 960.
5517
5518 GDB now reads object files and symbol tables via a ``binary file''
5519 library, which allows a single copy of GDB to debug programs of multiple
5520 object file types such as a.out and coff.
5521
5522 There is now a GDB reference card in "doc/refcard.tex". (Make targets
5523 refcard.dvi and refcard.ps are available to format it).
5524
5525
5526 * Control-Variable user interface simplified
5527
5528 All variables that control the operation of the debugger can be set
5529 by the ``set'' command, and displayed by the ``show'' command.
5530
5531 For example, ``set prompt new-gdb=>'' will change your prompt to new-gdb=>.
5532 ``Show prompt'' produces the response:
5533 Gdb's prompt is new-gdb=>.
5534
5535 What follows are the NEW set commands. The command ``help set'' will
5536 print a complete list of old and new set commands. ``help set FOO''
5537 will give a longer description of the variable FOO. ``show'' will show
5538 all of the variable descriptions and their current settings.
5539
5540 confirm on/off: Enables warning questions for operations that are
5541 hard to recover from, e.g. rerunning the program while
5542 it is already running. Default is ON.
5543
5544 editing on/off: Enables EMACS style command line editing
5545 of input. Previous lines can be recalled with
5546 control-P, the current line can be edited with control-B,
5547 you can search for commands with control-R, etc.
5548 Default is ON.
5549
5550 history filename NAME: NAME is where the gdb command history
5551 will be stored. The default is .gdb_history,
5552 or the value of the environment variable
5553 GDBHISTFILE.
5554
5555 history size N: The size, in commands, of the command history. The
5556 default is 256, or the value of the environment variable
5557 HISTSIZE.
5558
5559 history save on/off: If this value is set to ON, the history file will
5560 be saved after exiting gdb. If set to OFF, the
5561 file will not be saved. The default is OFF.
5562
5563 history expansion on/off: If this value is set to ON, then csh-like
5564 history expansion will be performed on
5565 command line input. The default is OFF.
5566
5567 radix N: Sets the default radix for input and output. It can be set
5568 to 8, 10, or 16. Note that the argument to "radix" is interpreted
5569 in the current radix, so "set radix 10" is always a no-op.
5570
5571 height N: This integer value is the number of lines on a page. Default
5572 is 24, the current `stty rows'' setting, or the ``li#''
5573 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
5574 variable TERM.
5575
5576 width N: This integer value is the number of characters on a line.
5577 Default is 80, the current `stty cols'' setting, or the ``co#''
5578 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
5579 variable TERM.
5580
5581 Note: ``set screensize'' is obsolete. Use ``set height'' and
5582 ``set width'' instead.
5583
5584 print address on/off: Print memory addresses in various command displays,
5585 such as stack traces and structure values. Gdb looks
5586 more ``symbolic'' if you turn this off; it looks more
5587 ``machine level'' with it on. Default is ON.
5588
5589 print array on/off: Prettyprint arrays. New convenient format! Default
5590 is OFF.
5591
5592 print demangle on/off: Print C++ symbols in "source" form if on,
5593 "raw" form if off.
5594
5595 print asm-demangle on/off: Same, for assembler level printouts
5596 like instructions.
5597
5598 print vtbl on/off: Prettyprint C++ virtual function tables. Default is OFF.
5599
5600
5601 * Support for Epoch Environment.
5602
5603 The epoch environment is a version of Emacs v18 with windowing. One
5604 new command, ``inspect'', is identical to ``print'', except that if you
5605 are running in the epoch environment, the value is printed in its own
5606 window.
5607
5608
5609 * Support for Shared Libraries
5610
5611 GDB can now debug programs and core files that use SunOS shared libraries.
5612 Symbols from a shared library cannot be referenced
5613 before the shared library has been linked with the program (this
5614 happens after you type ``run'' and before the function main() is entered).
5615 At any time after this linking (including when examining core files
5616 from dynamically linked programs), gdb reads the symbols from each
5617 shared library when you type the ``sharedlibrary'' command.
5618 It can be abbreviated ``share''.
5619
5620 sharedlibrary REGEXP: Load shared object library symbols for files
5621 matching a unix regular expression. No argument
5622 indicates to load symbols for all shared libraries.
5623
5624 info sharedlibrary: Status of loaded shared libraries.
5625
5626
5627 * Watchpoints
5628
5629 A watchpoint stops execution of a program whenever the value of an
5630 expression changes. Checking for this slows down execution
5631 tremendously whenever you are in the scope of the expression, but is
5632 quite useful for catching tough ``bit-spreader'' or pointer misuse
5633 problems. Some machines such as the 386 have hardware for doing this
5634 more quickly, and future versions of gdb will use this hardware.
5635
5636 watch EXP: Set a watchpoint (breakpoint) for an expression.
5637
5638 info watchpoints: Information about your watchpoints.
5639
5640 delete N: Deletes watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
5641 disable N: Temporarily turns off watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
5642 enable N: Re-enables watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
5643
5644
5645 * C++ multiple inheritance
5646
5647 When used with a GCC version 2 compiler, GDB supports multiple inheritance
5648 for C++ programs.
5649
5650 * C++ exception handling
5651
5652 Gdb now supports limited C++ exception handling. Besides the existing
5653 ability to breakpoint on an exception handler, gdb can breakpoint on
5654 the raising of an exception (before the stack is peeled back to the
5655 handler's context).
5656
5657 catch FOO: If there is a FOO exception handler in the dynamic scope,
5658 set a breakpoint to catch exceptions which may be raised there.
5659 Multiple exceptions (``catch foo bar baz'') may be caught.
5660
5661 info catch: Lists all exceptions which may be caught in the
5662 current stack frame.
5663
5664
5665 * Minor command changes
5666
5667 The command ``call func (arg, arg, ...)'' now acts like the print
5668 command, except it does not print or save a value if the function's result
5669 is void. This is similar to dbx usage.
5670
5671 The ``up'' and ``down'' commands now always print the frame they end up
5672 at; ``up-silently'' and `down-silently'' can be used in scripts to change
5673 frames without printing.
5674
5675 * New directory command
5676
5677 'dir' now adds directories to the FRONT of the source search path.
5678 The path starts off empty. Source files that contain debug information
5679 about the directory in which they were compiled can be found even
5680 with an empty path; Sun CC and GCC include this information. If GDB can't
5681 find your source file in the current directory, type "dir .".
5682
5683 * Configuring GDB for compilation
5684
5685 For normal use, type ``./configure host''. See README or gdb.texinfo
5686 for more details.
5687
5688 GDB now handles cross debugging. If you are remotely debugging between
5689 two different machines, type ``./configure host -target=targ''.
5690 Host is the machine where GDB will run; targ is the machine
5691 where the program that you are debugging will run.
5692
5693 * GDB now supports access to Intel(R) MPX registers on GNU/Linux.
This page took 0.143441 seconds and 5 git commands to generate.