1 What has changed in GDB?
2 (Organized release by release)
4 *** Changes since GDB 6.1:
6 * Fixed build problem on IRIX 5
8 Due to header problems with <sys/proc.h>, the file gdb/proc-api.c
9 wasn't able to compile compile on an IRIX 5 system.
11 * Added execute permission to gdb/gdbserver/configure
13 The shell script gdb/testsuite/gdb.stabs/configure lacked execute
14 permission. This bug would cause configure to fail on a number of
15 systems (Solaris, IRIX). Ref: server/519.
17 * New native configurations
19 OpenBSD/powerpc powerpc-*-openbsd*
20 NetBSD/vax vax-*-netbsd*
21 OpenBSD/vax vax-*-openbsd*
23 * REMOVED configurations and files
25 Sun 3, running SunOS 3 m68*-*-sunos3*
26 Sun 3, running SunOS 4 m68*-*-sunos4*
27 Sun 2, running SunOS 3 m68000-*-sunos3*
28 Sun 2, running SunOS 4 m68000-*-sunos4*
29 Motorola 680x0 running LynxOS m68*-*-lynxos*
30 AT&T 3b1/Unix pc m68*-att-*
31 Bull DPX2 (68k, System V release 3) m68*-bull-sysv*
32 decstation mips-dec-* mips-little-*
33 riscos mips-*-riscos* mips-*-sysv*
35 sysv mips*-*-sysv4* (IRIX 5/6 not included)
37 *** Changes in GDB 6.1:
39 * Removed --with-mmalloc
41 Support for the mmalloc memory manager has been removed, as it
42 conflicted with the internal gdb byte cache.
44 * Changes in AMD64 configurations
46 The AMD64 target now includes the %cs and %ss registers. As a result
47 the AMD64 remote protocol has changed; this affects the floating-point
48 and SSE registers. If you rely on those registers for your debugging,
49 you should upgrade gdbserver on the remote side.
51 * Revised SPARC target
53 The SPARC target has been completely revised, incorporating the
54 FreeBSD/sparc64 support that was added for GDB 6.0. As a result
55 support for LynxOS and SunOS 4 has been dropped. Calling functions
56 from within GDB on operating systems with a non-executable stack
57 (Solaris, OpenBSD) now works.
61 GDB has a new C++ demangler which does a better job on the mangled
62 names generated by current versions of g++. It also runs faster, so
63 with this and other changes gdb should now start faster on large C++
66 * DWARF 2 Location Expressions
68 GDB support for location expressions has been extended to support function
69 arguments and frame bases. Older versions of GDB could crash when they
72 * C++ nested types and namespaces
74 GDB's support for nested types and namespaces in C++ has been
75 improved, especially if you use the DWARF 2 debugging format. (This
76 is the default for recent versions of GCC on most platforms.)
77 Specifically, if you have a class "Inner" defined within a class or
78 namespace "Outer", then GDB realizes that the class's name is
79 "Outer::Inner", not simply "Inner". This should greatly reduce the
80 frequency of complaints about not finding RTTI symbols. In addition,
81 if you are stopped at inside of a function defined within a namespace,
82 GDB modifies its name lookup accordingly.
84 * New native configurations
86 NetBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-netbsd*
87 OpenBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-openbsd*
88 OpenBSD/alpha alpha*-*-openbsd*
89 OpenBSD/sparc sparc-*-openbsd*
90 OpenBSD/sparc64 sparc64-*-openbsd*
92 * New debugging protocols
94 M32R with SDI protocol m32r-*-elf*
96 * "set prompt-escape-char" command deleted.
98 The command "set prompt-escape-char" has been deleted. This command,
99 and its very obscure effet on GDB's prompt, was never documented,
100 tested, nor mentioned in the NEWS file.
102 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
104 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
105 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
106 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
109 Sun 3, running SunOS 3 m68*-*-sunos3*
110 Sun 3, running SunOS 4 m68*-*-sunos4*
111 Sun 2, running SunOS 3 m68000-*-sunos3*
112 Sun 2, running SunOS 4 m68000-*-sunos4*
113 Motorola 680x0 running LynxOS m68*-*-lynxos*
114 AT&T 3b1/Unix pc m68*-att-*
115 Bull DPX2 (68k, System V release 3) m68*-bull-sysv*
116 decstation mips-dec-* mips-little-*
117 riscos mips-*-riscos* mips-*-sysv*
119 sysv mips*-*-sysv4* (IRIX 5/6 not included)
121 * REMOVED configurations and files
123 SGI Irix-4.x mips-sgi-irix4 or iris4
124 SGI Iris (MIPS) running Irix V3: mips-sgi-irix or iris
125 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
126 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
127 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
128 HP/PA running BSD hppa*-*-bsd*
129 HP/PA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
130 HP/PA Pro target hppa*-*-pro*
131 PMAX (MIPS) running Mach 3.0 mips*-*-mach3*
132 386BSD i[3456]86-*-bsd*
133 Sequent family i[3456]86-sequent-sysv4*
134 i[3456]86-sequent-sysv*
135 i[3456]86-sequent-bsd*
136 SPARC running LynxOS sparc-*-lynxos*
137 SPARC running SunOS 4 sparc-*-sunos4*
138 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
139 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
141 *** Changes in GDB 6.0:
145 Support for debugging the Objective-C programming language has been
148 * New backtrace mechanism (includes DWARF 2 Call Frame Information).
150 DWARF 2's Call Frame Information makes available compiler generated
151 information that more exactly describes the program's run-time stack.
152 By using this information, GDB is able to provide more robust stack
155 The i386, amd64 (nee, x86-64), Alpha, m68hc11, ia64, and m32r targets
156 have been updated to use a new backtrace mechanism which includes
161 GDB's remote protocol has been extended to include support for hosted
162 file I/O (where the remote target uses GDB's file system). See GDB's
163 remote protocol documentation for details.
165 * All targets using the new architecture framework.
167 All of GDB's targets have been updated to use the new internal
168 architecture framework. The way is now open for future GDB releases
169 to include cross-architecture native debugging support (i386 on amd64,
172 * GNU/Linux's Thread Local Storage (TLS)
174 GDB now includes support for for the GNU/Linux implementation of
175 per-thread variables.
177 * GNU/Linux's Native POSIX Thread Library (NPTL)
179 GDB's thread code has been updated to work with either the new
180 GNU/Linux NPTL thread library or the older "LinuxThreads" library.
182 * Separate debug info.
184 GDB, in conjunction with BINUTILS, now supports a mechanism for
185 automatically loading debug information from a separate file. Instead
186 of shipping full debug and non-debug versions of system libraries,
187 system integrators can now instead ship just the stripped libraries
188 and optional debug files.
190 * DWARF 2 Location Expressions
192 DWARF 2 Location Expressions allow the compiler to more completely
193 describe the location of variables (even in optimized code) to the
196 GDB now includes preliminary support for location expressions (support
197 for DW_OP_piece is still missing).
201 A number of long standing bugs that caused GDB to die while starting a
202 Java application have been fixed. GDB's Java support is now
203 considered "useable".
205 * GNU/Linux support for fork, vfork, and exec.
207 The "catch fork", "catch exec", "catch vfork", and "set follow-fork-mode"
208 commands are now implemented for GNU/Linux. They require a 2.5.x or later
211 * GDB supports logging output to a file
213 There are two new commands, "set logging" and "show logging", which can be
214 used to capture GDB's output to a file.
216 * The meaning of "detach" has changed for gdbserver
218 The "detach" command will now resume the application, as documented. To
219 disconnect from gdbserver and leave it stopped, use the new "disconnect"
222 * d10v, m68hc11 `regs' command deprecated
224 The `info registers' command has been updated so that it displays the
225 registers using a format identical to the old `regs' command.
229 A new command, "maint set profile on/off", has been added. This command can
230 be used to enable or disable profiling while running GDB, to profile a
231 session or a set of commands. In addition there is a new configure switch,
232 "--enable-profiling", which will cause GDB to be compiled with profiling
233 data, for more informative profiling results.
235 * Default MI syntax changed to "mi2".
237 The default MI (machine interface) syntax, enabled by the command line
238 option "-i=mi", has been changed to "mi2". The previous MI syntax,
239 "mi1", can be enabled by specifying the option "-i=mi1".
241 Support for the original "mi0" syntax (included in GDB 5.0) has been
244 Fix for gdb/192: removed extraneous space when displaying frame level.
245 Fix for gdb/672: update changelist is now output in mi list format.
246 Fix for gdb/702: a -var-assign that updates the value now shows up
247 in a subsequent -var-update.
249 * New native configurations.
251 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
253 * Multi-arched targets.
255 HP/PA HPUX11 hppa*-*-hpux*
256 Renesas M32R/D w/simulator m32r-*-elf*
258 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
260 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
261 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
262 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
265 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
266 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
267 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
268 HP/PA running BSD hppa*-*-bsd*
269 HP/PA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
270 HP/PA Pro target hppa*-*-pro*
271 PMAX (MIPS) running Mach 3.0 mips*-*-mach3*
272 Sequent family i[3456]86-sequent-sysv4*
273 i[3456]86-sequent-sysv*
274 i[3456]86-sequent-bsd*
275 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
276 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
278 * REMOVED configurations and files
281 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
282 IBM AIX PS/2 i[3456]86-*-aix
283 i386 running Mach 3.0 i[3456]86-*-mach3*
284 i386 running Mach i[3456]86-*-mach*
285 i386 running OSF/1 i[3456]86-*osf1mk*
286 HP/Apollo 68k Family m68*-apollo*-sysv*,
288 m68*-hp-bsd*, m68*-hp-hpux*
289 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
290 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
291 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
292 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
293 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
295 * MIPS $fp behavior changed
297 The convenience variable $fp, for the MIPS, now consistently returns
298 the address of the current frame's base. Previously, depending on the
299 context, $fp could refer to either $sp or the current frame's base
300 address. See ``8.10 Registers'' in the manual ``Debugging with GDB:
301 The GNU Source-Level Debugger''.
303 *** Changes in GDB 5.3:
305 * GNU/Linux shared library multi-threaded performance improved.
307 When debugging a multi-threaded application on GNU/Linux, GDB now uses
308 `/proc', in preference to `ptrace' for memory reads. This may result
309 in an improvement in the start-up time of multi-threaded, shared
310 library applications when run under GDB. One GDB user writes: ``loads
311 shared libs like mad''.
313 * ``gdbserver'' now supports multi-threaded applications on some targets
315 Support for debugging multi-threaded applications which use
316 the GNU/Linux LinuxThreads package has been added for
317 arm*-*-linux*-gnu*, i[3456]86-*-linux*-gnu*, mips*-*-linux*-gnu*,
318 powerpc*-*-linux*-gnu*, and sh*-*-linux*-gnu*.
320 * GDB now supports C/C++ preprocessor macros.
322 GDB now expands preprocessor macro invocations in C/C++ expressions,
323 and provides various commands for showing macro definitions and how
326 The new command `macro expand EXPRESSION' expands any macro
327 invocations in expression, and shows the result.
329 The new command `show macro MACRO-NAME' shows the definition of the
330 macro named MACRO-NAME, and where it was defined.
332 Most compilers don't include information about macros in the debugging
333 information by default. In GCC 3.1, for example, you need to compile
334 your program with the options `-gdwarf-2 -g3'. If the macro
335 information is present in the executable, GDB will read it.
337 * Multi-arched targets.
339 DEC Alpha (partial) alpha*-*-*
340 DEC VAX (partial) vax-*-*
342 National Semiconductor NS32000 (partial) ns32k-*-*
343 Motorola 68000 (partial) m68k-*-*
344 Motorola MCORE mcore-*-*
348 Fujitsu FRV architecture added by Red Hat frv*-*-*
351 * New native configurations
353 Alpha NetBSD alpha*-*-netbsd*
354 SH NetBSD sh*-*-netbsdelf*
355 MIPS NetBSD mips*-*-netbsd*
356 UltraSPARC NetBSD sparc64-*-netbsd*
358 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
360 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
361 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
362 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
365 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
366 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
367 IBM AIX PS/2 i[3456]86-*-aix
368 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
369 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
370 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
371 i386 running Mach 3.0 i[3456]86-*-mach3*
372 i386 running Mach i[3456]86-*-mach*
373 i386 running OSF/1 i[3456]86-*osf1mk*
374 HP/Apollo 68k Family m68*-apollo*-sysv*,
376 m68*-hp-bsd*, m68*-hp-hpux*
377 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
381 CHILL, a Pascal like language used by telecommunications companies.
383 * REMOVED configurations and files
385 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi, udi29k
386 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
387 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
388 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
389 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
391 testsuite/gdb.hp/gdb.threads-hp/ directory
393 * New command "set max-user-call-depth <nnn>"
395 This command allows the user to limit the call depth of user-defined
396 commands. The default is 1024.
398 * Changes in FreeBSD/i386 native debugging.
400 Support for the "generate-core-file" has been added.
402 * New commands "dump", "append", and "restore".
404 These commands allow data to be copied from target memory
405 to a bfd-format or binary file (dump and append), and back
406 from a file into memory (restore).
408 * Improved "next/step" support on multi-processor Alpha Tru64.
410 The previous single-step mechanism could cause unpredictable problems,
411 including the random appearance of SIGSEGV or SIGTRAP signals. The use
412 of a software single-step mechanism prevents this.
414 *** Changes in GDB 5.2.1:
422 gdb/182: gdb/323: gdb/237: On alpha, gdb was reporting:
423 mdebugread.c:2443: gdb-internal-error: sect_index_data not initialized
424 Fix, by Joel Brobecker imported from mainline.
426 gdb/439: gdb/291: On some ELF object files, gdb was reporting:
427 dwarf2read.c:1072: gdb-internal-error: sect_index_text not initialize
428 Fix, by Fred Fish, imported from mainline.
430 Dwarf2 .debug_frame & .eh_frame handler improved in many ways.
431 Surprisingly enough, it works now.
432 By Michal Ludvig, imported from mainline.
434 i386 hardware watchpoint support:
435 avoid misses on second run for some targets.
436 By Pierre Muller, imported from mainline.
438 *** Changes in GDB 5.2:
440 * New command "set trust-readonly-sections on[off]".
442 This command is a hint that tells gdb that read-only sections
443 really are read-only (ie. that their contents will not change).
444 In this mode, gdb will go to the object file rather than the
445 target to read memory from read-only sections (such as ".text").
446 This can be a significant performance improvement on some
447 (notably embedded) targets.
449 * New command "generate-core-file" (or "gcore").
451 This new gdb command allows the user to drop a core file of the child
452 process state at any time. So far it's been implemented only for
453 GNU/Linux and Solaris, but should be relatively easily ported to other
454 hosts. Argument is core file name (defaults to core.<pid>).
456 * New command line option
458 GDB now accepts --pid or -p followed by a process id.
460 * Change in command line behavior -- corefiles vs. process ids.
462 There is a subtle behavior in the way in which GDB handles
463 command line arguments. The first non-flag argument is always
464 a program to debug, but the second non-flag argument may either
465 be a corefile or a process id. Previously, GDB would attempt to
466 open the second argument as a corefile, and if that failed, would
467 issue a superfluous error message and then attempt to attach it as
468 a process. Now, if the second argument begins with a non-digit,
469 it will be treated as a corefile. If it begins with a digit,
470 GDB will attempt to attach it as a process, and if no such process
471 is found, will then attempt to open it as a corefile.
473 * Changes in ARM configurations.
475 Multi-arch support is enabled for all ARM configurations. The ARM/NetBSD
476 configuration is fully multi-arch.
478 * New native configurations
480 ARM NetBSD arm*-*-netbsd*
481 x86 OpenBSD i[3456]86-*-openbsd*
482 AMD x86-64 running GNU/Linux x86_64-*-linux-*
483 Sparc64 running FreeBSD sparc64-*-freebsd*
487 Sanyo XStormy16 xstormy16-elf
489 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
491 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
492 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
493 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
496 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi, udi29k
497 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
498 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
499 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
500 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
502 testsuite/gdb.hp/gdb.threads-hp/ directory
504 * REMOVED configurations and files
506 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
508 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
509 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
510 PowerPC Netware powerpc-*-netware*
511 Harris/CXUX m88k m88*-harris-cxux*
512 Most ns32k hosts and targets ns32k-*-mach3* ns32k-umax-*
513 ns32k-utek-sysv* ns32k-utek-*
514 SunOS 4.0.Xi on i386 i[3456]86-*-sunos*
515 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1 a29k-nyu-sym1 a29k-*-kern*
516 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x m68*-sony-sysv news
517 ISI Optimum V (3.05) under 4.3bsd. m68*-isi-*
518 Apple Macintosh (MPW) host and target N/A host, powerpc-*-macos*
520 * Changes to command line processing
522 The new `--args' feature can be used to specify command-line arguments
523 for the inferior from gdb's command line.
525 * Changes to key bindings
527 There is a new `operate-and-get-next' function bound to `C-o'.
529 *** Changes in GDB 5.1.1
531 Fix compile problem on DJGPP.
533 Fix a problem with floating-point registers on the i386 being
536 Fix to stop GDB crashing on .debug_str debug info.
538 Numerous documentation fixes.
540 Numerous testsuite fixes.
542 *** Changes in GDB 5.1:
544 * New native configurations
546 Alpha FreeBSD alpha*-*-freebsd*
547 x86 FreeBSD 3.x and 4.x i[3456]86*-freebsd[34]*
548 MIPS GNU/Linux mips*-*-linux*
549 MIPS SGI Irix 6.x mips*-sgi-irix6*
551 s390 and s390x GNU/Linux {s390,s390x}-*-linux*
555 Motorola 68HC11 and 68HC12 m68hc11-elf
557 UltraSparc running GNU/Linux sparc64-*-linux*
559 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
561 x86 FreeBSD before 2.2 i[3456]86*-freebsd{1,2.[01]}*,
562 Harris/CXUX m88k m88*-harris-cxux*
563 Most ns32k hosts and targets ns32k-*-mach3* ns32k-umax-*
564 ns32k-utek-sysv* ns32k-utek-*
565 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
567 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1 a29k-nyu-sym1 a29k-*-kern*
568 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
569 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
570 PowerPC Netware powerpc-*-netware*
571 SunOS 4.0.Xi on i386 i[3456]86-*-sunos*
572 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x m68*-sony-sysv news
573 ISI Optimum V (3.05) under 4.3bsd. m68*-isi-*
574 Apple Macintosh (MPW) host N/A
576 stuff.c (Program to stuff files into a specially prepared space in kdb)
577 kdb-start.c (Main loop for the standalone kernel debugger)
579 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
580 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
581 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
584 * REMOVED configurations and files
586 Altos 3068 m68*-altos-*
587 Convex c1-*-*, c2-*-*
589 ARM RISCix arm-*-* (as host)
593 * GDB has been converted to ISO C.
595 GDB's source code has been converted to ISO C. In particular, the
596 sources are fully protoized, and rely on standard headers being
601 * "info symbol" works on platforms which use COFF, ECOFF, XCOFF, and NLM.
603 * The MI enabled by default.
605 The new machine oriented interface (MI) introduced in GDB 5.0 has been
606 revised and enabled by default. Packages which use GDB as a debugging
607 engine behind a UI or another front end are encouraged to switch to
608 using the GDB/MI interface, instead of the old annotations interface
609 which is now deprecated.
611 * Support for debugging Pascal programs.
613 GDB now includes support for debugging Pascal programs. The following
614 main features are supported:
616 - Pascal-specific data types such as sets;
618 - automatic recognition of Pascal sources based on file-name
621 - Pascal-style display of data types, variables, and functions;
623 - a Pascal expression parser.
625 However, some important features are not yet supported.
627 - Pascal string operations are not supported at all;
629 - there are some problems with boolean types;
631 - Pascal type hexadecimal constants are not supported
632 because they conflict with the internal variables format;
634 - support for Pascal objects and classes is not full yet;
636 - unlike Pascal, GDB is case-sensitive for symbol names.
638 * Changes in completion.
640 Commands such as `shell', `run' and `set args', which pass arguments
641 to inferior programs, now complete on file names, similar to what
642 users expect at the shell prompt.
644 Commands which accept locations, such as `disassemble', `print',
645 `breakpoint', `until', etc. now complete on filenames as well as
646 program symbols. Thus, if you type "break foob TAB", and the source
647 files linked into the programs include `foobar.c', that file name will
648 be one of the candidates for completion. However, file names are not
649 considered for completion after you typed a colon that delimits a file
650 name from a name of a function in that file, as in "break foo.c:bar".
652 `set demangle-style' completes on available demangling styles.
654 * New platform-independent commands:
656 It is now possible to define a post-hook for a command as well as a
657 hook that runs before the command. For more details, see the
658 documentation of `hookpost' in the GDB manual.
660 * Changes in GNU/Linux native debugging.
662 Support for debugging multi-threaded programs has been completely
663 revised for all platforms except m68k and sparc. You can now debug as
664 many threads as your system allows you to have.
666 Attach/detach is supported for multi-threaded programs.
668 Support for SSE registers was added for x86. This doesn't work for
669 multi-threaded programs though.
671 * Changes in MIPS configurations.
673 Multi-arch support is enabled for all MIPS configurations.
675 GDB can now be built as native debugger on SGI Irix 6.x systems for
676 debugging n32 executables. (Debugging 64-bit executables is not yet
679 * Unified support for hardware watchpoints in all x86 configurations.
681 Most (if not all) native x86 configurations support hardware-assisted
682 breakpoints and watchpoints in a unified manner. This support
683 implements debug register sharing between watchpoints, which allows to
684 put a virtually infinite number of watchpoints on the same address,
685 and also supports watching regions up to 16 bytes with several debug
688 The new maintenance command `maintenance show-debug-regs' toggles
689 debugging print-outs in functions that insert, remove, and test
690 watchpoints and hardware breakpoints.
692 * Changes in the DJGPP native configuration.
694 New command ``info dos sysinfo'' displays assorted information about
695 the CPU, OS, memory, and DPMI server.
697 New commands ``info dos gdt'', ``info dos ldt'', and ``info dos idt''
698 display information about segment descriptors stored in GDT, LDT, and
701 New commands ``info dos pde'' and ``info dos pte'' display entries
702 from Page Directory and Page Tables (for now works with CWSDPMI only).
703 New command ``info dos address-pte'' displays the Page Table entry for
704 a given linear address.
706 GDB can now pass command lines longer than 126 characters to the
707 program being debugged (requires an update to the libdbg.a library
708 which is part of the DJGPP development kit).
710 DWARF2 debug info is now supported.
712 It is now possible to `step' and `next' through calls to `longjmp'.
714 * Changes in documentation.
716 All GDB documentation was converted to GFDL, the GNU Free
717 Documentation License.
719 Tracepoints-related commands are now fully documented in the GDB
722 TUI, the Text-mode User Interface, is now documented in the manual.
724 Tracepoints-related commands are now fully documented in the GDB
727 The "GDB Internals" manual now has an index. It also includes
728 documentation of `ui_out' functions, GDB coding standards, x86
729 hardware watchpoints, and memory region attributes.
731 * GDB's version number moved to ``version.in''
733 The Makefile variable VERSION has been replaced by the file
734 ``version.in''. People creating GDB distributions should update the
735 contents of this file.
739 GUD support is now a standard part of the EMACS distribution.
741 *** Changes in GDB 5.0:
743 * Improved support for debugging FP programs on x86 targets
745 Unified and much-improved support for debugging floating-point
746 programs on all x86 targets. In particular, ``info float'' now
747 displays the FP registers in the same format on all x86 targets, with
748 greater level of detail.
750 * Improvements and bugfixes in hardware-assisted watchpoints
752 It is now possible to watch array elements, struct members, and
753 bitfields with hardware-assisted watchpoints. Data-read watchpoints
754 on x86 targets no longer erroneously trigger when the address is
757 * Improvements in the native DJGPP version of GDB
759 The distribution now includes all the scripts and auxiliary files
760 necessary to build the native DJGPP version on MS-DOS/MS-Windows
761 machines ``out of the box''.
763 The DJGPP version can now debug programs that use signals. It is
764 possible to catch signals that happened in the debuggee, deliver
765 signals to it, interrupt it with Ctrl-C, etc. (Previously, a signal
766 would kill the program being debugged.) Programs that hook hardware
767 interrupts (keyboard, timer, etc.) can also be debugged.
769 It is now possible to debug DJGPP programs that redirect their
770 standard handles or switch them to raw (as opposed to cooked) mode, or
771 even close them. The command ``run < foo > bar'' works as expected,
772 and ``info terminal'' reports useful information about the debuggee's
773 terminal, including raw/cooked mode, redirection, etc.
775 The DJGPP version now uses termios functions for console I/O, which
776 enables debugging graphics programs. Interrupting GDB with Ctrl-C
779 DOS-style file names with drive letters are now fully supported by
782 It is now possible to debug DJGPP programs that switch their working
783 directory. It is also possible to rerun the debuggee any number of
784 times without restarting GDB; thus, you can use the same setup,
785 breakpoints, etc. for many debugging sessions.
787 * New native configurations
789 ARM GNU/Linux arm*-*-linux*
790 PowerPC GNU/Linux powerpc-*-linux*
794 Motorola MCore mcore-*-*
795 x86 VxWorks i[3456]86-*-vxworks*
796 PowerPC VxWorks powerpc-*-vxworks*
797 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
799 * OBSOLETE configurations
801 Altos 3068 m68*-altos-*
802 Convex c1-*-*, c2-*-*
804 ARM RISCix arm-*-* (as host)
807 Configurations that have been declared obsolete will be commented out,
808 but the code will be left in place. If there is no activity to revive
809 these configurations before the next release of GDB, the sources will
810 be permanently REMOVED.
812 * Gould support removed
814 Support for the Gould PowerNode and NP1 has been removed.
816 * New features for SVR4
818 On SVR4 native platforms (such as Solaris), if you attach to a process
819 without first loading a symbol file, GDB will now attempt to locate and
820 load symbols from the running process's executable file.
822 * Many C++ enhancements
824 C++ support has been greatly improved. Overload resolution now works properly
825 in almost all cases. RTTI support is on the way.
827 * Remote targets can connect to a sub-program
829 A popen(3) style serial-device has been added. This device starts a
830 sub-process (such as a stand-alone simulator) and then communicates
831 with that. The sub-program to run is specified using the syntax
832 ``|<program> <args>'' vis:
834 (gdb) set remotedebug 1
835 (gdb) target extended-remote |mn10300-elf-sim program-args
837 * MIPS 64 remote protocol
839 A long standing bug in the mips64 remote protocol where by GDB
840 expected certain 32 bit registers (ex SR) to be transfered as 32
841 instead of 64 bits has been fixed.
843 The command ``set remote-mips64-transfers-32bit-regs on'' has been
844 added to provide backward compatibility with older versions of GDB.
846 * ``set remotebinarydownload'' replaced by ``set remote X-packet''
848 The command ``set remotebinarydownload'' command has been replaced by
849 ``set remote X-packet''. Other commands in ``set remote'' family
850 include ``set remote P-packet''.
852 * Breakpoint commands accept ranges.
854 The breakpoint commands ``enable'', ``disable'', and ``delete'' now
855 accept a range of breakpoints, e.g. ``5-7''. The tracepoint command
856 ``tracepoint passcount'' also accepts a range of tracepoints.
858 * ``apropos'' command added.
860 The ``apropos'' command searches through command names and
861 documentation strings, printing out matches, making it much easier to
862 try to find a command that does what you are looking for.
866 A new machine oriented interface (MI) has been added to GDB. This
867 interface is designed for debug environments running GDB as a separate
868 process. This is part of the long term libGDB project. See the
869 "GDB/MI" chapter of the GDB manual for further information. It can be
870 enabled by configuring with:
872 .../configure --enable-gdbmi
874 *** Changes in GDB-4.18:
876 * New native configurations
878 HP-UX 10.20 hppa*-*-hpux10.20
879 HP-UX 11.x hppa*-*-hpux11.0*
880 M68K GNU/Linux m68*-*-linux*
884 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
885 Intel StrongARM strongarm-*-*
886 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
888 * OBSOLETE configurations
890 Gould PowerNode, NP1 np1-*-*, pn-*-*
892 Configurations that have been declared obsolete will be commented out,
893 but the code will be left in place. If there is no activity to revive
894 these configurations before the next release of GDB, the sources will
895 be permanently REMOVED.
899 As a compatibility experiment, GDB's source files buildsym.h and
900 buildsym.c have been converted to pure standard C, no longer
901 containing any K&R compatibility code. We believe that all systems in
902 use today either come with a standard C compiler, or have a GCC port
903 available. If this is not true, please report the affected
904 configuration to bug-gdb@gnu.org immediately. See the README file for
905 information about getting a standard C compiler if you don't have one
910 GDB now uses readline 2.2.
912 * set extension-language
914 You can now control the mapping between filename extensions and source
915 languages by using the `set extension-language' command. For instance,
916 you can ask GDB to treat .c files as C++ by saying
917 set extension-language .c c++
918 The command `info extensions' lists all of the recognized extensions
919 and their associated languages.
921 * Setting processor type for PowerPC and RS/6000
923 When GDB is configured for a powerpc*-*-* or an rs6000*-*-* target,
924 you can use the `set processor' command to specify what variant of the
925 PowerPC family you are debugging. The command
929 sets the PowerPC/RS6000 variant to NAME. GDB knows about the
930 following PowerPC and RS6000 variants:
932 ppc-uisa PowerPC UISA - a PPC processor as viewed by user-level code
933 rs6000 IBM RS6000 ("POWER") architecture, user-level view
935 403GC IBM PowerPC 403GC
936 505 Motorola PowerPC 505
937 860 Motorola PowerPC 860 or 850
938 601 Motorola PowerPC 601
939 602 Motorola PowerPC 602
940 603 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 603 or 603e
941 604 Motorola PowerPC 604 or 604e
942 750 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 750 or 750
944 At the moment, this command just tells GDB what to name the
945 special-purpose processor registers. Since almost all the affected
946 registers are inaccessible to user-level programs, this command is
947 only useful for remote debugging in its present form.
951 Thanks to a major code donation from Hewlett-Packard, GDB now has much
952 more extensive support for HP-UX. Added features include shared
953 library support, kernel threads and hardware watchpoints for 11.00,
954 support for HP's ANSI C and C++ compilers, and a compatibility mode
955 for xdb and dbx commands.
959 HP's donation includes the new concept of catchpoints, which is a
960 generalization of the old catch command. On HP-UX, it is now possible
961 to catch exec, fork, and vfork, as well as library loading.
963 This means that the existing catch command has changed; its first
964 argument now specifies the type of catch to be set up. See the
965 output of "help catch" for a list of catchpoint types.
967 * Debugging across forks
969 On HP-UX, you can choose which process to debug when a fork() happens
974 HP has donated a curses-based terminal user interface (TUI). To get
975 it, build with --enable-tui. Although this can be enabled for any
976 configuration, at present it only works for native HP debugging.
978 * GDB remote protocol additions
980 A new protocol packet 'X' that writes binary data is now available.
981 Default behavior is to try 'X', then drop back to 'M' if the stub
982 fails to respond. The settable variable `remotebinarydownload'
983 allows explicit control over the use of 'X'.
985 For 64-bit targets, the memory packets ('M' and 'm') can now contain a
986 full 64-bit address. The command
988 set remoteaddresssize 32
990 can be used to revert to the old behaviour. For existing remote stubs
991 the change should not be noticed, as the additional address information
994 In order to assist in debugging stubs, you may use the maintenance
995 command `packet' to send any text string to the stub. For instance,
997 maint packet heythere
999 sends the packet "$heythere#<checksum>". Note that it is very easy to
1000 disrupt a debugging session by sending the wrong packet at the wrong
1003 The compare-sections command allows you to compare section data on the
1004 target to what is in the executable file without uploading or
1005 downloading, by comparing CRC checksums.
1007 * Tracing can collect general expressions
1009 You may now collect general expressions at tracepoints. This requires
1010 further additions to the target-side stub; see tracepoint.c and
1011 doc/agentexpr.texi for further details.
1013 * mask-address variable for Mips
1015 For Mips targets, you may control the zeroing of the upper 32 bits of
1016 a 64-bit address by entering `set mask-address on'. This is mainly
1017 of interest to users of embedded R4xxx and R5xxx processors.
1019 * Higher serial baud rates
1021 GDB's serial code now allows you to specify baud rates 57600, 115200,
1022 230400, and 460800 baud. (Note that your host system may not be able
1023 to achieve all of these rates.)
1027 The i960 configuration now includes an initial implementation of a
1028 builtin simulator, contributed by Jim Wilson.
1031 *** Changes in GDB-4.17:
1033 * New native configurations
1035 Alpha GNU/Linux alpha*-*-linux*
1036 Unixware 2.x i[3456]86-unixware2*
1037 Irix 6.x mips*-sgi-irix6*
1038 PowerPC GNU/Linux powerpc-*-linux*
1039 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
1040 Sparc GNU/Linux sparc-*-linux*
1041 Motorola sysV68 R3V7.1 m68k-motorola-sysv
1045 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
1046 Hitachi H8/300S h8300*-*-*
1047 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
1048 Matsushita MN10300 w/simulator mn10300-*-*
1049 MIPS NEC VR4100 mips64*vr4100*{,el}-*-elf*
1050 MIPS NEC VR5000 mips64*vr5000*{,el}-*-elf*
1051 MIPS Toshiba TX39 mips64*tx39*{,el}-*-elf*
1052 Mitsubishi D10V w/simulator d10v-*-*
1053 Mitsubishi M32R/D w/simulator m32r-*-elf*
1054 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
1055 NEC V850 w/simulator v850-*-*
1057 * New debugging protocols
1059 ARM with RDI protocol arm*-*-*
1060 M68K with dBUG monitor m68*-*-{aout,coff,elf}
1061 DDB and LSI variants of PMON protocol mips*-*-*
1062 PowerPC with DINK32 monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
1063 PowerPC with SDS protocol powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
1064 Macraigor OCD (Wiggler) devices powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
1068 All configurations can now understand and use the DWARF 2 debugging
1069 format. The choice is automatic, if the symbol file contains DWARF 2
1074 GDB now includes basic Java language support. This support is
1075 only useful with Java compilers that produce native machine code.
1077 * solib-absolute-prefix and solib-search-path
1079 For SunOS and SVR4 shared libraries, you may now set the prefix for
1080 loading absolute shared library symbol files, and the search path for
1081 locating non-absolute shared library symbol files.
1083 * Live range splitting
1085 GDB can now effectively debug code for which GCC has performed live
1086 range splitting as part of its optimization. See gdb/doc/LRS for
1087 more details on the expected format of the stabs information.
1091 GDB's support for the GNU Hurd, including thread debugging, has been
1092 updated to work with current versions of the Hurd.
1096 GDB's ARM target configuration now handles the ARM7T (Thumb) 16-bit
1097 instruction set. ARM GDB automatically detects when Thumb
1098 instructions are in use, and adjusts disassembly and backtracing
1103 GDB's MIPS target configurations now handle the MIP16 16-bit
1108 GDB now includes support for overlays; if an executable has been
1109 linked such that multiple sections are based at the same address, GDB
1110 will decide which section to use for symbolic info. You can choose to
1111 control the decision manually, using overlay commands, or implement
1112 additional target-side support and use "overlay load-target" to bring
1113 in the overlay mapping. Do "help overlay" for more detail.
1117 The command "info symbol <address>" displays information about
1118 the symbol at the specified address.
1122 The standard remote protocol now includes an extension that allows
1123 asynchronous collection and display of trace data. This requires
1124 extensive support in the target-side debugging stub. Tracing mode
1125 includes a new interaction mode in GDB and new commands: see the
1126 file tracepoint.c for more details.
1130 Configurations for embedded MIPS now include a simulator contributed
1131 by Cygnus Solutions. The simulator supports the instruction sets
1132 of most MIPS variants.
1136 Sparc configurations may now include the ERC32 simulator contributed
1137 by the European Space Agency. The simulator is not built into
1138 Sparc targets by default; configure with --enable-sim to include it.
1142 For target configurations that may include multiple variants of a
1143 basic architecture (such as MIPS and SH), you may now set the
1144 architecture explicitly. "set arch" sets, "info arch" lists
1145 the possible architectures.
1147 *** Changes in GDB-4.16:
1149 * New native configurations
1151 Windows 95, x86 Windows NT i[345]86-*-cygwin32
1152 M68K NetBSD m68k-*-netbsd*
1153 PowerPC AIX 4.x powerpc-*-aix*
1154 PowerPC MacOS powerpc-*-macos*
1155 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
1156 RS/6000 AIX 4.x rs6000-*-aix4*
1160 ARM with RDP protocol arm-*-*
1161 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
1162 MIPS VxWorks mips*-*-vxworks*
1163 MIPS VR4300 with PMON mips64*vr4300{,el}-*-elf*
1164 PowerPC with PPCBUG monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi*
1166 Matra Sparclet sparclet-*-*
1170 The powerpc-eabi configuration now includes the PSIM simulator,
1171 contributed by Andrew Cagney, with assistance from Mike Meissner.
1172 PSIM is a very elaborate model of the PowerPC, including not only
1173 basic instruction set execution, but also details of execution unit
1174 performance and I/O hardware. See sim/ppc/README for more details.
1178 GDB now works with Solaris 2.5.
1180 * Windows 95/NT native
1182 GDB will now work as a native debugger on Windows 95 and Windows NT.
1183 To build it from source, you must use the "gnu-win32" environment,
1184 which uses a DLL to emulate enough of Unix to run the GNU tools.
1185 Further information, binaries, and sources are available at
1186 ftp.cygnus.com, under pub/gnu-win32.
1188 * dont-repeat command
1190 If a user-defined command includes the command `dont-repeat', then the
1191 command will not be repeated if the user just types return. This is
1192 useful if the command is time-consuming to run, so that accidental
1193 extra keystrokes don't run the same command many times.
1195 * Send break instead of ^C
1197 The standard remote protocol now includes an option to send a break
1198 rather than a ^C to the target in order to interrupt it. By default,
1199 GDB will send ^C; to send a break, set the variable `remotebreak' to 1.
1201 * Remote protocol timeout
1203 The standard remote protocol includes a new variable `remotetimeout'
1204 that allows you to set the number of seconds before GDB gives up trying
1205 to read from the target. The default value is 2.
1207 * Automatic tracking of dynamic object loading (HPUX and Solaris only)
1209 By default GDB will automatically keep track of objects as they are
1210 loaded and unloaded by the dynamic linker. By using the command `set
1211 stop-on-solib-events 1' you can arrange for GDB to stop the inferior
1212 when shared library events occur, thus allowing you to set breakpoints
1213 in shared libraries which are explicitly loaded by the inferior.
1215 Note this feature does not work on hpux8. On hpux9 you must link
1216 /usr/lib/end.o into your program. This feature should work
1217 automatically on hpux10.
1219 * Irix 5.x hardware watchpoint support
1221 Irix 5 configurations now support the use of hardware watchpoints.
1223 * Mips protocol "SYN garbage limit"
1225 When debugging a Mips target using the `target mips' protocol, you
1226 may set the number of characters that GDB will ignore by setting
1227 the `syn-garbage-limit'. A value of -1 means that GDB will ignore
1228 every character. The default value is 1050.
1230 * Recording and replaying remote debug sessions
1232 If you set `remotelogfile' to the name of a file, gdb will write to it
1233 a recording of a remote debug session. This recording may then be
1234 replayed back to gdb using "gdbreplay". See gdbserver/README for
1235 details. This is useful when you have a problem with GDB while doing
1236 remote debugging; you can make a recording of the session and send it
1237 to someone else, who can then recreate the problem.
1239 * Speedups for remote debugging
1241 GDB includes speedups for downloading and stepping MIPS systems using
1242 the IDT monitor, fast downloads to the Hitachi SH E7000 emulator,
1243 and more efficient S-record downloading.
1245 * Memory use reductions and statistics collection
1247 GDB now uses less memory and reports statistics about memory usage.
1248 Try the `maint print statistics' command, for example.
1250 *** Changes in GDB-4.15:
1252 * Psymtabs for XCOFF
1254 The symbol reader for AIX GDB now uses partial symbol tables. This
1255 can greatly improve startup time, especially for large executables.
1257 * Remote targets use caching
1259 Remote targets now use a data cache to speed up communication with the
1260 remote side. The data cache could lead to incorrect results because
1261 it doesn't know about volatile variables, thus making it impossible to
1262 debug targets which use memory mapped I/O devices. `set remotecache
1263 off' turns the the data cache off.
1265 * Remote targets may have threads
1267 The standard remote protocol now includes support for multiple threads
1268 in the target system, using new protocol commands 'H' and 'T'. See
1269 gdb/remote.c for details.
1273 If GDB is configured with `--enable-netrom', then it will include
1274 support for the NetROM ROM emulator from XLNT Designs. The NetROM
1275 acts as though it is a bank of ROM on the target board, but you can
1276 write into it over the network. GDB's support consists only of
1277 support for fast loading into the emulated ROM; to debug, you must use
1278 another protocol, such as standard remote protocol. The usual
1279 sequence is something like
1281 target nrom <netrom-hostname>
1283 target remote <netrom-hostname>:1235
1287 GDB now includes support for the Apple Macintosh, as a host only. It
1288 may be run as either an MPW tool or as a standalone application, and
1289 it can debug through the serial port. All the usual GDB commands are
1290 available, but to the target command, you must supply "serial" as the
1291 device type instead of "/dev/ttyXX". See mpw-README in the main
1292 directory for more information on how to build. The MPW configuration
1293 scripts */mpw-config.in support only a few targets, and only the
1294 mips-idt-ecoff target has been tested.
1298 GDB configuration now uses autoconf. This is not user-visible,
1299 but does simplify configuration and building.
1303 GDB now supports hpux10.
1305 *** Changes in GDB-4.14:
1307 * New native configurations
1309 x86 FreeBSD i[345]86-*-freebsd
1310 x86 NetBSD i[345]86-*-netbsd
1311 NS32k NetBSD ns32k-*-netbsd
1312 Sparc NetBSD sparc-*-netbsd
1316 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
1317 HP PA PRO embedded (WinBond W89K & Oki OP50N) hppa*-*-pro*
1318 CPU32 EST-300 emulator m68*-*-est*
1319 PowerPC ELF powerpc-*-elf
1322 * Alpha OSF/1 support for procfs
1324 GDB now supports procfs under OSF/1-2.x and higher, which makes it
1325 possible to attach to running processes. As the mounting of the /proc
1326 filesystem is optional on the Alpha, GDB automatically determines
1327 the availability of /proc during startup. This can lead to problems
1328 if /proc is unmounted after GDB has been started.
1330 * Arguments to user-defined commands
1332 User commands may accept up to 10 arguments separated by whitespace.
1333 Arguments are accessed within the user command via $arg0..$arg9. A
1336 print $arg0 + $arg1 + $arg2
1338 To execute the command use:
1341 Defines the command "adder" which prints the sum of its three arguments.
1342 Note the arguments are text substitutions, so they may reference variables,
1343 use complex expressions, or even perform inferior function calls.
1345 * New `if' and `while' commands
1347 This makes it possible to write more sophisticated user-defined
1348 commands. Both commands take a single argument, which is the
1349 expression to evaluate, and must be followed by the commands to
1350 execute, one per line, if the expression is nonzero, the list being
1351 terminated by the word `end'. The `if' command list may include an
1352 `else' word, which causes the following commands to be executed only
1353 if the expression is zero.
1355 * Fortran source language mode
1357 GDB now includes partial support for Fortran 77. It will recognize
1358 Fortran programs and can evaluate a subset of Fortran expressions, but
1359 variables and functions may not be handled correctly. GDB will work
1360 with G77, but does not yet know much about symbols emitted by other
1363 * Better HPUX support
1365 Most debugging facilities now work on dynamic executables for HPPAs
1366 running hpux9 or later. You can attach to running dynamically linked
1367 processes, but by default the dynamic libraries will be read-only, so
1368 for instance you won't be able to put breakpoints in them. To change
1369 that behavior do the following before running the program:
1375 This will cause the libraries to be mapped private and read-write.
1376 To revert to the normal behavior, do this:
1382 You cannot set breakpoints or examine data in the library until after
1383 the library is loaded if the function/data symbols do not have
1386 GDB can now also read debug symbols produced by the HP C compiler on
1387 HPPAs (sorry, no C++, Fortran or 68k support).
1389 * Target byte order now dynamically selectable
1391 You can choose which byte order to use with a target system, via the
1392 commands "set endian big" and "set endian little", and you can see the
1393 current setting by using "show endian". You can also give the command
1394 "set endian auto", in which case GDB will use the byte order
1395 associated with the executable. Currently, only embedded MIPS
1396 configurations support dynamic selection of target byte order.
1398 * New DOS host serial code
1400 This version uses DPMI interrupts to handle buffered I/O, so you
1401 no longer need to run asynctsr when debugging boards connected to
1404 *** Changes in GDB-4.13:
1406 * New "complete" command
1408 This lists all the possible completions for the rest of the line, if it
1409 were to be given as a command itself. This is intended for use by emacs.
1411 * Trailing space optional in prompt
1413 "set prompt" no longer adds a space for you after the prompt you set. This
1414 allows you to set a prompt which ends in a space or one that does not.
1416 * Breakpoint hit counts
1418 "info break" now displays a count of the number of times the breakpoint
1419 has been hit. This is especially useful in conjunction with "ignore"; you
1420 can ignore a large number of breakpoint hits, look at the breakpoint info
1421 to see how many times the breakpoint was hit, then run again, ignoring one
1422 less than that number, and this will get you quickly to the last hit of
1425 * Ability to stop printing at NULL character
1427 "set print null-stop" will cause GDB to stop printing the characters of
1428 an array when the first NULL is encountered. This is useful when large
1429 arrays actually contain only short strings.
1431 * Shared library breakpoints
1433 In SunOS 4.x, SVR4, and Alpha OSF/1 configurations, you can now set
1434 breakpoints in shared libraries before the executable is run.
1436 * Hardware watchpoints
1438 There is a new hardware breakpoint for the watch command for sparclite
1439 targets. See gdb/sparclite/hw_breakpoint.note.
1441 Hardware watchpoints are also now supported under GNU/Linux.
1445 Annotations have been added. These are for use with graphical interfaces,
1446 and are still experimental. Currently only gdba.el uses these.
1448 * Improved Irix 5 support
1450 GDB now works properly with Irix 5.2.
1452 * Improved HPPA support
1454 GDB now works properly with the latest GCC and GAS.
1456 * New native configurations
1458 Sequent PTX4 i[34]86-sequent-ptx4
1459 HPPA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
1460 Atari TT running SVR4 m68*-*-sysv4*
1461 RS/6000 LynxOS rs6000-*-lynxos*
1465 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
1466 MIPS R4000 mips64*{,el}-*-{ecoff,elf}
1469 * Hitachi SH7000 and E7000-PC ICE support
1471 There is now support for communicating with the Hitachi E7000-PC ICE.
1472 This is available automatically when GDB is configured for the SH.
1476 As usual, a variety of small fixes and improvements, both generic
1477 and configuration-specific. See the ChangeLog for more detail.
1479 *** Changes in GDB-4.12:
1481 * Irix 5 is now supported
1485 GDB-4.12 on the HPPA has a number of changes which make it unable
1486 to debug the output from the currently released versions of GCC and
1487 GAS (GCC 2.5.8 and GAS-2.2 or PAGAS-1.36). Until the next major release
1488 of GCC and GAS, versions of these tools designed to work with GDB-4.12
1489 can be retrieved via anonymous ftp from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist.
1492 *** Changes in GDB-4.11:
1494 * User visible changes:
1498 The "set remotedebug" option is now consistent between the mips remote
1499 target, remote targets using the gdb-specific protocol, UDI (AMD's
1500 debug protocol for the 29k) and the 88k bug monitor. It is now an
1501 integer specifying a debug level (normally 0 or 1, but 2 means more
1502 debugging info for the mips target).
1504 * DEC Alpha native support
1506 GDB now works on the DEC Alpha. GCC 2.4.5 does not produce usable
1507 debug info, but GDB works fairly well with the DEC compiler and should
1508 work with a future GCC release. See the README file for a few
1509 Alpha-specific notes.
1511 * Preliminary thread implementation
1513 GDB now has preliminary thread support for both SGI/Irix and LynxOS.
1515 * LynxOS native and target support for 386
1517 This release has been hosted on LynxOS 2.2, and also can be configured
1518 to remotely debug programs running under LynxOS (see gdb/gdbserver/README
1521 * Improvements in C++ mangling/demangling.
1523 This release has much better g++ debugging, specifically in name
1524 mangling/demangling, virtual function calls, print virtual table,
1525 call methods, ...etc.
1527 *** Changes in GDB-4.10:
1529 * User visible changes:
1531 Remote debugging using the GDB-specific (`target remote') protocol now
1532 supports the `load' command. This is only useful if you have some
1533 other way of getting the stub to the target system, and you can put it
1534 somewhere in memory where it won't get clobbered by the download.
1536 Filename completion now works.
1538 When run under emacs mode, the "info line" command now causes the
1539 arrow to point to the line specified. Also, "info line" prints
1540 addresses in symbolic form (as well as hex).
1542 All vxworks based targets now support a user settable option, called
1543 vxworks-timeout. This option represents the number of seconds gdb
1544 should wait for responses to rpc's. You might want to use this if
1545 your vxworks target is, perhaps, a slow software simulator or happens
1546 to be on the far side of a thin network line.
1550 This release contains support for using a DEC alpha as a GDB host for
1551 cross debugging. Native alpha debugging is not supported yet.
1554 *** Changes in GDB-4.9:
1558 This is the first GDB release which is accompanied by a matching testsuite.
1559 The testsuite requires installation of dejagnu, which should be available
1560 via ftp from most sites that carry GNU software.
1564 'Cfront' style demangling has had its name changed to 'ARM' style, to
1565 emphasize that it was written from the specifications in the C++ Annotated
1566 Reference Manual, not necessarily to be compatible with AT&T cfront. Despite
1567 disclaimers, it still generated too much confusion with users attempting to
1568 use gdb with AT&T cfront.
1572 GDB now uses a standard remote interface to a simulator library.
1573 So far, the library contains simulators for the Zilog Z8001/2, the
1574 Hitachi H8/300, H8/500 and Super-H.
1576 * New targets supported
1578 H8/300 simulator h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
1579 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
1580 SH simulator sh-hitachi-hms or sh
1581 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
1582 IDT MIPS board over serial line mips-idt-ecoff
1584 Cross-debugging to GO32 targets is supported. It requires a custom
1585 version of the i386-stub.c module which is integrated with the
1586 GO32 memory extender.
1588 * New remote protocols
1590 MIPS remote debugging protocol.
1592 * New source languages supported
1594 This version includes preliminary support for Chill, a Pascal like language
1595 used by telecommunications companies. Chill support is also being integrated
1596 into the GNU compiler, but we don't know when it will be publically available.
1599 *** Changes in GDB-4.8:
1601 * HP Precision Architecture supported
1603 GDB now supports HP PA-RISC machines running HPUX. A preliminary
1604 version of this support was available as a set of patches from the
1605 University of Utah. GDB does not support debugging of programs
1606 compiled with the HP compiler, because HP will not document their file
1607 format. Instead, you must use GCC (version 2.3.2 or later) and PA-GAS
1608 (as available from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist/pa-gas.u4.tar.Z).
1610 Many problems in the preliminary version have been fixed.
1612 * Faster and better demangling
1614 We have improved template demangling and fixed numerous bugs in the GNU style
1615 demangler. It can now handle type modifiers such as `static' or `const'. Wide
1616 character types (wchar_t) are now supported. Demangling of each symbol is now
1617 only done once, and is cached when the symbol table for a file is read in.
1618 This results in a small increase in memory usage for C programs, a moderate
1619 increase in memory usage for C++ programs, and a fantastic speedup in
1622 `Cfront' style demangling still doesn't work with AT&T cfront. It was written
1623 from the specifications in the Annotated Reference Manual, which AT&T's
1624 compiler does not actually implement.
1626 * G++ multiple inheritance compiler problem
1628 In the 2.3.2 release of gcc/g++, how the compiler resolves multiple
1629 inheritance lattices was reworked to properly discover ambiguities. We
1630 recently found an example which causes this new algorithm to fail in a
1631 very subtle way, producing bad debug information for those classes.
1632 The file 'gcc.patch' (in this directory) can be applied to gcc to
1633 circumvent the problem. A future GCC release will contain a complete
1636 The previous G++ debug info problem (mentioned below for the gdb-4.7
1637 release) is fixed in gcc version 2.3.2.
1639 * Improved configure script
1641 The `configure' script will now attempt to guess your system type if
1642 you don't supply a host system type. The old scheme of supplying a
1643 host system triplet is preferable over using this. All the magic is
1644 done in the new `config.guess' script. Examine it for details.
1646 We have also brought our configure script much more in line with the FSF's
1647 version. It now supports the --with-xxx options. In particular,
1648 `--with-minimal-bfd' can be used to make the GDB binary image smaller.
1649 The resulting GDB will not be able to read arbitrary object file formats --
1650 only the format ``expected'' to be used on the configured target system.
1651 We hope to make this the default in a future release.
1653 * Documentation improvements
1655 There's new internal documentation on how to modify GDB, and how to
1656 produce clean changes to the code. We implore people to read it
1657 before submitting changes.
1659 The GDB manual uses new, sexy Texinfo conditionals, rather than arcane
1660 M4 macros. The new texinfo.tex is provided in this release. Pre-built
1661 `info' files are also provided. To build `info' files from scratch,
1662 you will need the latest `makeinfo' release, which will be available in
1663 a future texinfo-X.Y release.
1665 *NOTE* The new texinfo.tex can cause old versions of TeX to hang.
1666 We're not sure exactly which versions have this problem, but it has
1667 been seen in 3.0. We highly recommend upgrading to TeX version 3.141
1668 or better. If that isn't possible, there is a patch in
1669 `texinfo/tex3patch' that will modify `texinfo/texinfo.tex' to work
1670 around this problem.
1674 GDB now supports array constants that can be used in expressions typed in by
1675 the user. The syntax is `{element, element, ...}'. Ie: you can now type
1676 `print {1, 2, 3}', and it will build up an array in memory malloc'd in
1679 The new directory `gdb/sparclite' contains a program that demonstrates
1680 how the sparc-stub.c remote stub runs on a Fujitsu SPARClite processor.
1682 * New native hosts supported
1684 HP/PA-RISC under HPUX using GNU tools hppa1.1-hp-hpux
1685 386 CPUs running SCO Unix 3.2v4 i386-unknown-sco3.2v4
1687 * New targets supported
1689 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi or udi29k
1691 * New file formats supported
1693 BFD now supports reading HP/PA-RISC executables (SOM file format?),
1694 HPUX core files, and SCO 3.2v2 core files.
1698 Attaching to processes now works again; thanks for the many bug reports.
1700 We have also stomped on a bunch of core dumps caused by
1701 printf_filtered("%s") problems.
1703 We eliminated a copyright problem on the rpc and ptrace header files
1704 for VxWorks, which was discovered at the last minute during the 4.7
1705 release. You should now be able to build a VxWorks GDB.
1707 You can now interrupt gdb while an attached process is running. This
1708 will cause the attached process to stop, and give control back to GDB.
1710 We fixed problems caused by using too many file descriptors
1711 for reading symbols from object files and libraries. This was
1712 especially a problem for programs that used many (~100) shared
1715 The `step' command now only enters a subroutine if there is line number
1716 information for the subroutine. Otherwise it acts like the `next'
1717 command. Previously, `step' would enter subroutines if there was
1718 any debugging information about the routine. This avoids problems
1719 when using `cc -g1' on MIPS machines.
1721 * Internal improvements
1723 GDB's internal interfaces have been improved to make it easier to support
1724 debugging of multiple languages in the future.
1726 GDB now uses a common structure for symbol information internally.
1727 Minimal symbols (derived from linkage symbols in object files), partial
1728 symbols (from a quick scan of debug information), and full symbols
1729 contain a common subset of information, making it easier to write
1730 shared code that handles any of them.
1732 * New command line options
1734 We now accept --silent as an alias for --quiet.
1738 The memory-mapped-malloc library is now licensed under the GNU Library
1739 General Public License.
1741 *** Changes in GDB-4.7:
1743 * Host/native/target split
1745 GDB has had some major internal surgery to untangle the support for
1746 hosts and remote targets. Now, when you configure GDB for a remote
1747 target, it will no longer load in all of the support for debugging
1748 local programs on the host. When fully completed and tested, this will
1749 ensure that arbitrary host/target combinations are possible.
1751 The primary conceptual shift is to separate the non-portable code in
1752 GDB into three categories. Host specific code is required any time GDB
1753 is compiled on that host, regardless of the target. Target specific
1754 code relates to the peculiarities of the target, but can be compiled on
1755 any host. Native specific code is everything else: it can only be
1756 built when the host and target are the same system. Child process
1757 handling and core file support are two common `native' examples.
1759 GDB's use of /proc for controlling Unix child processes is now cleaner.
1760 It has been split out into a single module under the `target_ops' vector,
1761 plus two native-dependent functions for each system that uses /proc.
1763 * New hosts supported
1765 HP/Apollo 68k (under the BSD domain) m68k-apollo-bsd or apollo68bsd
1766 386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
1767 386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or i386sco
1769 * New targets supported
1771 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
1772 68030 and CPU32 m68030-*-*, m68332-*-*
1774 * New native hosts supported
1776 386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
1777 (386bsd is not well tested yet)
1778 386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or sco
1780 * New file formats supported
1782 BFD now supports COFF files for the Zilog Z8000 microprocessor. It
1783 supports reading of `a.out.adobe' object files, which are an a.out
1784 format extended with minimal information about multiple sections.
1788 `show copying' is the same as the old `info copying'.
1789 `show warranty' is the same as `info warrantee'.
1790 These were renamed for consistency. The old commands continue to work.
1792 `info handle' is a new alias for `info signals'.
1794 You can now define pre-command hooks, which attach arbitrary command
1795 scripts to any command. The commands in the hook will be executed
1796 prior to the user's command. You can also create a hook which will be
1797 executed whenever the program stops. See gdb.texinfo.
1801 We now deal with Cfront style name mangling, and can even extract type
1802 info from mangled symbols. GDB can automatically figure out which
1803 symbol mangling style your C++ compiler uses.
1805 Calling of methods and virtual functions has been improved as well.
1809 The crash that occured when debugging Sun Ansi-C compiled binaries is
1810 fixed. This was due to mishandling of the extra N_SO stabs output
1813 We also finally got Ultrix 4.2 running in house, and fixed core file
1814 support, with help from a dozen people on the net.
1816 John M. Farrell discovered that the reason that single-stepping was so
1817 slow on all of the Mips based platforms (primarily SGI and DEC) was
1818 that we were trying to demangle and lookup a symbol used for internal
1819 purposes on every instruction that was being stepped through. Changing
1820 the name of that symbol so that it couldn't be mistaken for a C++
1821 mangled symbol sped things up a great deal.
1823 Rich Pixley sped up symbol lookups in general by getting much smarter
1824 about when C++ symbol mangling is necessary. This should make symbol
1825 completion (TAB on the command line) much faster. It's not as fast as
1826 we'd like, but it's significantly faster than gdb-4.6.
1830 A new user controllable variable 'call_scratch_address' can
1831 specify the location of a scratch area to be used when GDB
1832 calls a function in the target. This is necessary because the
1833 usual method of putting the scratch area on the stack does not work
1834 in systems that have separate instruction and data spaces.
1836 We integrated changes to support the 29k UDI (Universal Debugger
1837 Interface), but discovered at the last minute that we didn't have all
1838 of the appropriate copyright paperwork. We are working with AMD to
1839 resolve this, and hope to have it available soon.
1843 We have sped up the remote serial line protocol, especially for targets
1844 with lots of registers. It now supports a new `expedited status' ('T')
1845 message which can be used in place of the existing 'S' status message.
1846 This allows the remote stub to send only the registers that GDB
1847 needs to make a quick decision about single-stepping or conditional
1848 breakpoints, eliminating the need to fetch the entire register set for
1849 each instruction being stepped through.
1851 The GDB remote serial protocol now implements a write-through cache for
1852 registers, only re-reading the registers if the target has run.
1854 There is also a new remote serial stub for SPARC processors. You can
1855 find it in gdb-4.7/gdb/sparc-stub.c. This was written to support the
1856 Fujitsu SPARClite processor, but will run on any stand-alone SPARC
1857 processor with a serial port.
1861 Configure.in files have become much easier to read and modify. A new
1862 `table driven' format makes it more obvious what configurations are
1863 supported, and what files each one uses.
1867 There is a new opcodes library which will eventually contain all of the
1868 disassembly routines and opcode tables. At present, it only contains
1869 Sparc and Z8000 routines. This will allow the assembler, debugger, and
1870 disassembler (binutils/objdump) to share these routines.
1872 The libiberty library is now copylefted under the GNU Library General
1873 Public License. This allows more liberal use, and was done so libg++
1874 can use it. This makes no difference to GDB, since the Library License
1875 grants all the rights from the General Public License.
1879 The file gdb-4.7/gdb/doc/stabs.texinfo is a (relatively) complete
1880 reference to the stabs symbol info used by the debugger. It is (as far
1881 as we know) the only published document on this fascinating topic. We
1882 encourage you to read it, compare it to the stabs information on your
1883 system, and send improvements on the document in general (to
1884 bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu).
1886 And, of course, many bugs have been fixed.
1889 *** Changes in GDB-4.6:
1891 * Better support for C++ function names
1893 GDB now accepts as input the "demangled form" of C++ overloaded function
1894 names and member function names, and can do command completion on such names
1895 (using TAB, TAB-TAB, and ESC-?). The names have to be quoted with a pair of
1896 single quotes. Examples are 'func (int, long)' and 'obj::operator==(obj&)'.
1897 Make use of command completion, it is your friend.
1899 GDB also now accepts a variety of C++ mangled symbol formats. They are
1900 the GNU g++ style, the Cfront (ARM) style, and the Lucid (lcc) style.
1901 You can tell GDB which format to use by doing a 'set demangle-style {gnu,
1902 lucid, cfront, auto}'. 'gnu' is the default. Do a 'set demangle-style foo'
1903 for the list of formats.
1905 * G++ symbol mangling problem
1907 Recent versions of gcc have a bug in how they emit debugging information for
1908 C++ methods (when using dbx-style stabs). The file 'gcc.patch' (in this
1909 directory) can be applied to gcc to fix the problem. Alternatively, if you
1910 can't fix gcc, you can #define GCC_MANGLE_BUG when compling gdb/symtab.c. The
1911 usual symptom is difficulty with setting breakpoints on methods. GDB complains
1912 about the method being non-existent. (We believe that version 2.2.2 of GCC has
1915 * New 'maintenance' command
1917 All of the commands related to hacking GDB internals have been moved out of
1918 the main command set, and now live behind the 'maintenance' command. This
1919 can also be abbreviated as 'mt'. The following changes were made:
1921 dump-me -> maintenance dump-me
1922 info all-breakpoints -> maintenance info breakpoints
1923 printmsyms -> maintenance print msyms
1924 printobjfiles -> maintenance print objfiles
1925 printpsyms -> maintenance print psymbols
1926 printsyms -> maintenance print symbols
1928 The following commands are new:
1930 maintenance demangle Call internal GDB demangler routine to
1931 demangle a C++ link name and prints the result.
1932 maintenance print type Print a type chain for a given symbol
1934 * Change to .gdbinit file processing
1936 We now read the $HOME/.gdbinit file before processing the argv arguments
1937 (e.g. reading symbol files or core files). This allows global parameters to
1938 be set, which will apply during the symbol reading. The ./.gdbinit is still
1939 read after argv processing.
1941 * New hosts supported
1943 Solaris-2.0 !!! sparc-sun-solaris2 or sun4sol2
1945 GNU/Linux support i386-unknown-linux or linux
1947 We are also including code to support the HP/PA running BSD and HPUX. This
1948 is almost guaranteed not to work, as we didn't have time to test or build it
1949 for this release. We are including it so that the more adventurous (or
1950 masochistic) of you can play with it. We also had major problems with the
1951 fact that the compiler that we got from HP doesn't support the -g option.
1954 * New targets supported
1956 Hitachi H8/300 h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
1958 * More smarts about finding #include files
1960 GDB now remembers the compilation directory for all include files, and for
1961 all files from which C is generated (like yacc and lex sources). This
1962 greatly improves GDB's ability to find yacc/lex sources, and include files,
1963 especially if you are debugging your program from a directory different from
1964 the one that contains your sources.
1966 We also fixed a bug which caused difficulty with listing and setting
1967 breakpoints in include files which contain C code. (In the past, you had to
1968 try twice in order to list an include file that you hadn't looked at before.)
1970 * Interesting infernals change
1972 GDB now deals with arbitrary numbers of sections, where the symbols for each
1973 section must be relocated relative to that section's landing place in the
1974 target's address space. This work was needed to support ELF with embedded
1975 stabs used by Solaris-2.0.
1977 * Bug fixes (of course!)
1979 There have been loads of fixes for the following things:
1980 mips, rs6000, 29k/udi, m68k, g++, type handling, elf/dwarf, m88k,
1981 i960, stabs, DOS(GO32), procfs, etc...
1983 See the ChangeLog for details.
1985 *** Changes in GDB-4.5:
1987 * New machines supported (host and target)
1989 IBM RS6000 running AIX rs6000-ibm-aix or rs6000
1991 SGI Irix-4.x mips-sgi-irix4 or iris4
1993 * New malloc package
1995 GDB now uses a new memory manager called mmalloc, based on gmalloc.
1996 Mmalloc is capable of handling mutiple heaps of memory. It is also
1997 capable of saving a heap to a file, and then mapping it back in later.
1998 This can be used to greatly speedup the startup of GDB by using a
1999 pre-parsed symbol table which lives in a mmalloc managed heap. For
2000 more details, please read mmalloc/mmalloc.texi.
2004 The 'info proc' command (SVR4 only) has been enhanced quite a bit. See
2005 'help info proc' for details.
2007 * MIPS ecoff symbol table format
2009 The code that reads MIPS symbol table format is now supported on all hosts.
2010 Thanks to MIPS for releasing the sym.h and symconst.h files to make this
2013 * File name changes for MS-DOS
2015 Many files in the config directories have been renamed to make it easier to
2016 support GDB on MS-DOSe systems (which have very restrictive file name
2017 conventions :-( ). MS-DOSe host support (under DJ Delorie's GO32
2018 environment) is close to working but has some remaining problems. Note
2019 that debugging of DOS programs is not supported, due to limitations
2020 in the ``operating system'', but it can be used to host cross-debugging.
2022 * Cross byte order fixes
2024 Many fixes have been made to support cross debugging of Sparc and MIPS
2025 targets from hosts whose byte order differs.
2027 * New -mapped and -readnow options
2029 If memory-mapped files are available on your system through the 'mmap'
2030 system call, you can use the -mapped option on the `file' or
2031 `symbol-file' commands to cause GDB to write the symbols from your
2032 program into a reusable file. If the program you are debugging is
2033 called `/path/fred', the mapped symbol file will be `./fred.syms'.
2034 Future GDB debugging sessions will notice the presence of this file,
2035 and will quickly map in symbol information from it, rather than reading
2036 the symbol table from the executable program. Using the '-mapped'
2037 option in a GDB `file' or `symbol-file' command has the same effect as
2038 starting GDB with the '-mapped' command-line option.
2040 You can cause GDB to read the entire symbol table immediately by using
2041 the '-readnow' option with any of the commands that load symbol table
2042 information (or on the GDB command line). This makes the command
2043 slower, but makes future operations faster.
2045 The -mapped and -readnow options are typically combined in order to
2046 build a `fred.syms' file that contains complete symbol information.
2047 A simple GDB invocation to do nothing but build a `.syms' file for future
2050 gdb -batch -nx -mapped -readnow programname
2052 The `.syms' file is specific to the host machine on which GDB is run.
2053 It holds an exact image of GDB's internal symbol table. It cannot be
2054 shared across multiple host platforms.
2056 * longjmp() handling
2058 GDB is now capable of stepping and nexting over longjmp(), _longjmp(), and
2059 siglongjmp() without losing control. This feature has not yet been ported to
2060 all systems. It currently works on many 386 platforms, all MIPS-based
2061 platforms (SGI, DECstation, etc), and Sun3/4.
2065 Preliminary work has been put in to support the new Solaris OS from Sun. At
2066 this time, it can control and debug processes, but it is not capable of
2071 As always, many many bug fixes. The major areas were with g++, and mipsread.
2072 People using the MIPS-based platforms should experience fewer mysterious
2073 crashes and trashed symbol tables.
2075 *** Changes in GDB-4.4:
2077 * New machines supported (host and target)
2079 SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
2081 BSD Reno on Vax vax-dec-bsd
2082 Ultrix on Vax vax-dec-ultrix
2084 * New machines supported (target)
2086 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
2090 GDB continues to improve its handling of C++. `References' work better.
2091 The demangler has also been improved, and now deals with symbols mangled as
2092 per the Annotated C++ Reference Guide.
2094 GDB also now handles `stabs' symbol information embedded in MIPS
2095 `ecoff' symbol tables. Since the ecoff format was not easily
2096 extensible to handle new languages such as C++, this appeared to be a
2097 good way to put C++ debugging info into MIPS binaries. This option
2098 will be supported in the GNU C compiler, version 2, when it is
2101 * New features for SVR4
2103 GDB now handles SVR4 shared libraries, in the same fashion as SunOS
2104 shared libraries. Debugging dynamically linked programs should present
2105 only minor differences from debugging statically linked programs.
2107 The `info proc' command will print out information about any process
2108 on an SVR4 system (including the one you are debugging). At the moment,
2109 it prints the address mappings of the process.
2111 If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please send mail to
2112 bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were reqired (if any).
2114 * Better dynamic linking support in SunOS
2116 Reading symbols from shared libraries which contain debugging symbols
2117 now works properly. However, there remain issues such as automatic
2118 skipping of `transfer vector' code during function calls, which
2119 make it harder to debug code in a shared library, than to debug the
2120 same code linked statically.
2124 GDB is now using the latest `getopt' routines from the FSF. This
2125 version accepts the -- prefix for options with long names. GDB will
2126 continue to accept the old forms (-option and +option) as well.
2127 Various single letter abbreviations for options have been explicity
2128 added to the option table so that they won't get overshadowed in the
2129 future by other options that begin with the same letter.
2133 The `cleanup_undefined_types' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
2134 Many assorted bugs have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
2135 See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
2138 *** Changes in GDB-4.3:
2140 * New machines supported (host and target)
2142 Amiga 3000 running Amix m68k-cbm-svr4 or amix
2143 NCR 3000 386 running SVR4 i386-ncr-svr4 or ncr3000
2144 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
2146 * Almost SCO Unix support
2148 We had hoped to support:
2149 SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
2150 (except for core file support), but we discovered very late in the release
2151 that it has problems with process groups that render gdb unusable. Sorry
2152 about that. I encourage people to fix it and post the fixes.
2154 * Preliminary ELF and DWARF support
2156 GDB can read ELF object files on System V Release 4, and can handle
2157 debugging records for C, in DWARF format, in ELF files. This support
2158 is preliminary. If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please
2159 send mail to bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were
2164 GDB now uses the latest `readline' library. One user-visible change
2165 is that two tabs will list possible command completions, which previously
2166 required typing M-? (meta-question mark, or ESC ?).
2170 The `stepi' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
2171 Many bugs in C++ have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
2172 See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
2174 * State of the MIPS world (in case you wondered):
2176 GDB can understand the symbol tables emitted by the compilers
2177 supplied by most vendors of MIPS-based machines, including DEC. These
2178 symbol tables are in a format that essentially nobody else uses.
2180 Some versions of gcc come with an assembler post-processor called
2181 mips-tfile. This program is required if you want to do source-level
2182 debugging of gcc-compiled programs. I believe FSF does not ship
2183 mips-tfile with gcc version 1, but it will eventually come with gcc
2186 Debugging of g++ output remains a problem. g++ version 1.xx does not
2187 really support it at all. (If you're lucky, you should be able to get
2188 line numbers and stack traces to work, but no parameters or local
2189 variables.) With some work it should be possible to improve the
2192 When gcc version 2 is released, you will have somewhat better luck.
2193 However, even then you will get confusing results for inheritance and
2196 We will eventually provide full debugging of g++ output on
2197 DECstations. This will probably involve some kind of stabs-in-ecoff
2198 encapulation, but the details have not been worked out yet.
2201 *** Changes in GDB-4.2:
2203 * Improved configuration
2205 Only one copy of `configure' exists now, and it is not self-modifying.
2206 Porting BFD is simpler.
2210 The `step' and `next' commands now only stop at the first instruction
2211 of a source line. This prevents the multiple stops that used to occur
2212 in switch statements, for-loops, etc. `Step' continues to stop if a
2213 function that has debugging information is called within the line.
2217 Lots of small bugs fixed. More remain.
2219 * New host supported (not target)
2221 Intel 386 PC clone running Mach i386-none-mach
2224 *** Changes in GDB-4.1:
2226 * Multiple source language support
2228 GDB now has internal scaffolding to handle several source languages.
2229 It determines the type of each source file from its filename extension,
2230 and will switch expression parsing and number formatting to match the
2231 language of the function in the currently selected stack frame.
2232 You can also specifically set the language to be used, with
2233 `set language c' or `set language modula-2'.
2237 GDB now has preliminary support for the GNU Modula-2 compiler,
2238 currently under development at the State University of New York at
2239 Buffalo. Development of both GDB and the GNU Modula-2 compiler will
2240 continue through the fall of 1991 and into 1992.
2242 Other Modula-2 compilers are currently not supported, and attempting to
2243 debug programs compiled with them will likely result in an error as the
2244 symbol table is read. Feel free to work on it, though!
2246 There are hooks in GDB for strict type checking and range checking,
2247 in the `Modula-2 philosophy', but they do not currently work.
2251 GDB can now write to executable and core files (e.g. patch
2252 a variable's value). You must turn this switch on, specify
2253 the file ("exec foo" or "core foo"), *then* modify it, e.g.
2254 by assigning a new value to a variable. Modifications take
2257 * Automatic SunOS shared library reading
2259 When you run your program, GDB automatically determines where its
2260 shared libraries (if any) have been loaded, and reads their symbols.
2261 The `share' command is no longer needed. This also works when
2262 examining core files.
2266 You can specify the number of lines that the `list' command shows.
2269 * New machines supported (host and target)
2271 SGI Iris (MIPS) running Irix V3: mips-sgi-irix or iris
2272 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x: m68k-sony-sysv or news
2273 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1: a29k-nyu-sym1 or ultra3
2275 * New hosts supported (not targets)
2277 IBM RT/PC: romp-ibm-aix or rtpc
2279 * New targets supported (not hosts)
2281 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
2282 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
2283 Ultracomputer remote kernel debug a29k-nyu-kern
2285 * New remote interfaces
2291 *** Changes in GDB-4.0:
2295 Wide output is wrapped at good places to make the output more readable.
2297 Gdb now supports cross-debugging from a host machine of one type to a
2298 target machine of another type. Communication with the target system
2299 is over serial lines. The ``target'' command handles connecting to the
2300 remote system; the ``load'' command will download a program into the
2301 remote system. Serial stubs for the m68k and i386 are provided. Gdb
2302 also supports debugging of realtime processes running under VxWorks,
2303 using SunRPC Remote Procedure Calls over TCP/IP to talk to a debugger
2304 stub on the target system.
2306 New CPUs supported include the AMD 29000 and Intel 960.
2308 GDB now reads object files and symbol tables via a ``binary file''
2309 library, which allows a single copy of GDB to debug programs of multiple
2310 object file types such as a.out and coff.
2312 There is now a GDB reference card in "doc/refcard.tex". (Make targets
2313 refcard.dvi and refcard.ps are available to format it).
2316 * Control-Variable user interface simplified
2318 All variables that control the operation of the debugger can be set
2319 by the ``set'' command, and displayed by the ``show'' command.
2321 For example, ``set prompt new-gdb=>'' will change your prompt to new-gdb=>.
2322 ``Show prompt'' produces the response:
2323 Gdb's prompt is new-gdb=>.
2325 What follows are the NEW set commands. The command ``help set'' will
2326 print a complete list of old and new set commands. ``help set FOO''
2327 will give a longer description of the variable FOO. ``show'' will show
2328 all of the variable descriptions and their current settings.
2330 confirm on/off: Enables warning questions for operations that are
2331 hard to recover from, e.g. rerunning the program while
2332 it is already running. Default is ON.
2334 editing on/off: Enables EMACS style command line editing
2335 of input. Previous lines can be recalled with
2336 control-P, the current line can be edited with control-B,
2337 you can search for commands with control-R, etc.
2340 history filename NAME: NAME is where the gdb command history
2341 will be stored. The default is .gdb_history,
2342 or the value of the environment variable
2345 history size N: The size, in commands, of the command history. The
2346 default is 256, or the value of the environment variable
2349 history save on/off: If this value is set to ON, the history file will
2350 be saved after exiting gdb. If set to OFF, the
2351 file will not be saved. The default is OFF.
2353 history expansion on/off: If this value is set to ON, then csh-like
2354 history expansion will be performed on
2355 command line input. The default is OFF.
2357 radix N: Sets the default radix for input and output. It can be set
2358 to 8, 10, or 16. Note that the argument to "radix" is interpreted
2359 in the current radix, so "set radix 10" is always a no-op.
2361 height N: This integer value is the number of lines on a page. Default
2362 is 24, the current `stty rows'' setting, or the ``li#''
2363 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
2366 width N: This integer value is the number of characters on a line.
2367 Default is 80, the current `stty cols'' setting, or the ``co#''
2368 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
2371 Note: ``set screensize'' is obsolete. Use ``set height'' and
2372 ``set width'' instead.
2374 print address on/off: Print memory addresses in various command displays,
2375 such as stack traces and structure values. Gdb looks
2376 more ``symbolic'' if you turn this off; it looks more
2377 ``machine level'' with it on. Default is ON.
2379 print array on/off: Prettyprint arrays. New convenient format! Default
2382 print demangle on/off: Print C++ symbols in "source" form if on,
2385 print asm-demangle on/off: Same, for assembler level printouts
2388 print vtbl on/off: Prettyprint C++ virtual function tables. Default is OFF.
2391 * Support for Epoch Environment.
2393 The epoch environment is a version of Emacs v18 with windowing. One
2394 new command, ``inspect'', is identical to ``print'', except that if you
2395 are running in the epoch environment, the value is printed in its own
2399 * Support for Shared Libraries
2401 GDB can now debug programs and core files that use SunOS shared libraries.
2402 Symbols from a shared library cannot be referenced
2403 before the shared library has been linked with the program (this
2404 happens after you type ``run'' and before the function main() is entered).
2405 At any time after this linking (including when examining core files
2406 from dynamically linked programs), gdb reads the symbols from each
2407 shared library when you type the ``sharedlibrary'' command.
2408 It can be abbreviated ``share''.
2410 sharedlibrary REGEXP: Load shared object library symbols for files
2411 matching a unix regular expression. No argument
2412 indicates to load symbols for all shared libraries.
2414 info sharedlibrary: Status of loaded shared libraries.
2419 A watchpoint stops execution of a program whenever the value of an
2420 expression changes. Checking for this slows down execution
2421 tremendously whenever you are in the scope of the expression, but is
2422 quite useful for catching tough ``bit-spreader'' or pointer misuse
2423 problems. Some machines such as the 386 have hardware for doing this
2424 more quickly, and future versions of gdb will use this hardware.
2426 watch EXP: Set a watchpoint (breakpoint) for an expression.
2428 info watchpoints: Information about your watchpoints.
2430 delete N: Deletes watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
2431 disable N: Temporarily turns off watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
2432 enable N: Re-enables watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
2435 * C++ multiple inheritance
2437 When used with a GCC version 2 compiler, GDB supports multiple inheritance
2440 * C++ exception handling
2442 Gdb now supports limited C++ exception handling. Besides the existing
2443 ability to breakpoint on an exception handler, gdb can breakpoint on
2444 the raising of an exception (before the stack is peeled back to the
2447 catch FOO: If there is a FOO exception handler in the dynamic scope,
2448 set a breakpoint to catch exceptions which may be raised there.
2449 Multiple exceptions (``catch foo bar baz'') may be caught.
2451 info catch: Lists all exceptions which may be caught in the
2452 current stack frame.
2455 * Minor command changes
2457 The command ``call func (arg, arg, ...)'' now acts like the print
2458 command, except it does not print or save a value if the function's result
2459 is void. This is similar to dbx usage.
2461 The ``up'' and ``down'' commands now always print the frame they end up
2462 at; ``up-silently'' and `down-silently'' can be used in scripts to change
2463 frames without printing.
2465 * New directory command
2467 'dir' now adds directories to the FRONT of the source search path.
2468 The path starts off empty. Source files that contain debug information
2469 about the directory in which they were compiled can be found even
2470 with an empty path; Sun CC and GCC include this information. If GDB can't
2471 find your source file in the current directory, type "dir .".
2473 * Configuring GDB for compilation
2475 For normal use, type ``./configure host''. See README or gdb.texinfo
2478 GDB now handles cross debugging. If you are remotely debugging between
2479 two different machines, type ``./configure host -target=targ''.
2480 Host is the machine where GDB will run; targ is the machine
2481 where the program that you are debugging will run.
projects / deliverable / binutils-gdb.git / blob