1 What has changed in GDB?
2 (Organized release by release)
4 *** Changes since GDB 6.8
6 * Watchpoints can now be set on unreadable memory locations, e.g. addresses
7 which will be allocated using malloc later in program execution.
9 * New features in the GDB remote stub, gdbserver
11 - The "--wrapper" command-line argument tells gdbserver to use a
12 wrapper program to launch programs for debugging.
18 Display timestamps with GDB debugging output.
23 Use a wrapper program to launch programs for debugging.
25 *** Changes in GDB 6.8
27 * New native configurations
29 NetBSD/hppa hppa*-*netbsd*
30 Xtensa GNU/Linux xtensa*-*-linux*
34 NetBSD/hppa hppa*-*-netbsd*
35 Xtensa GNU/Lunux xtensa*-*-linux*
37 * Change in command line behavior -- corefiles vs. process ids.
39 When the '-p NUMBER' or '--pid NUMBER' options are used, and
40 attaching to process NUMBER fails, GDB no longer attempts to open a
41 core file named NUMBER. Attaching to a program using the -c option
42 is no longer supported. Instead, use the '-p' or '--pid' options.
44 * GDB can now be built as a native debugger for debugging Windows x86
45 (mingw32) Portable Executable (PE) programs.
47 * Pending breakpoints no longer change their number when their address
50 * GDB now supports breakpoints with multiple locations,
51 including breakpoints on C++ constructors, inside C++ templates,
52 and in inlined functions.
54 * GDB's ability to debug optimized code has been improved. GDB more
55 accurately identifies function bodies and lexical blocks that occupy
56 more than one contiguous range of addresses.
58 * Target descriptions can now describe registers for PowerPC.
60 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports the AltiVec and SPE
61 registers on PowerPC targets.
63 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports thread debugging on GNU/Linux
64 targets even when the libthread_db library is not available.
66 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports the new file transfer
67 commands (remote put, remote get, and remote delete).
69 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports run and attach in
72 * hppa*64*-*-hpux11* target broken
73 The debugger is unable to start a program and fails with the following
74 error: "Error trying to get information about dynamic linker".
75 The gdb-6.7 release is also affected.
77 * GDB now supports the --enable-targets= configure option to allow
78 building a single GDB executable that supports multiple remote
81 * GDB now supports debugging C and C++ programs which use the
82 Decimal Floating Point extension. In addition, the PowerPC target
83 now has a set of pseudo-registers to inspect decimal float values
84 stored in two consecutive float registers.
86 * The -break-insert MI command can optionally create pending
89 * Improved support for debugging Ada
90 Many improvements to the Ada language support have been made. These
92 - Better support for Ada2005 interface types
93 - Improved handling of arrays and slices in general
94 - Better support for Taft-amendment types
95 - The '{type} ADDRESS' expression is now allowed on the left hand-side
97 - Improved command completion in Ada
102 set print frame-arguments (all|scalars|none)
103 show print frame-arguments
104 The value of this variable can be changed to control which argument
105 values should be printed by the debugger when displaying a frame.
110 Transfer files to and from a remote target, and delete remote files.
117 Transfer files to and from a remote target, and delete remote files.
126 Open, close, read, write, and delete files on the remote system.
128 * GDB on GNU/Linux and HP/UX can now debug through "exec" of a new
132 Attach to an existing process on the remote system, in extended-remote
136 Run a new process on the remote system, in extended-remote mode.
138 *** Changes in GDB 6.7
140 * Resolved 101 resource leaks, null pointer dereferences, etc. in gdb,
141 bfd, libiberty and opcodes, as revealed by static analysis donated by
142 Coverity, Inc. (http://scan.coverity.com).
144 * When looking up multiply-defined global symbols, GDB will now prefer the
145 symbol definition in the current shared library if it was built using the
146 -Bsymbolic linker option.
148 * When the Text User Interface (TUI) is not configured, GDB will now
149 recognize the -tui command-line option and print a message that the TUI
152 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now has lower overhead for high
153 frequency signals (e.g. SIGALRM) via the QPassSignals packet.
155 * GDB for MIPS targets now autodetects whether a remote target provides
156 32-bit or 64-bit register values.
158 * Support for C++ member pointers has been improved.
160 * GDB now understands XML target descriptions, which specify the
161 target's overall architecture. GDB can read a description from
162 a local file or over the remote serial protocol.
164 * Vectors of single-byte data use a new integer type which is not
165 automatically displayed as character or string data.
167 * The /s format now works with the print command. It displays
168 arrays of single-byte integers and pointers to single-byte integers
171 * Target descriptions can now describe target-specific registers,
172 for architectures which have implemented the support (currently
173 only ARM, M68K, and MIPS).
175 * GDB and the GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now support the XScale
178 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, has been updated to support
179 ARM Windows CE (mingw32ce) debugging, and GDB Windows CE support
180 has been rewritten to use the standard GDB remote protocol.
182 * GDB can now step into C++ functions which are called through thunks.
184 * GDB for the Cell/B.E. SPU now supports overlay debugging.
186 * The GDB remote protocol "qOffsets" packet can now honor ELF segment
187 layout. It also supports a TextSeg= and DataSeg= response when only
188 segment base addresses (rather than offsets) are available.
190 * The /i format now outputs any trailing branch delay slot instructions
191 immediately following the last instruction within the count specified.
193 * The GDB remote protocol "T" stop reply packet now supports a
194 "library" response. Combined with the new "qXfer:libraries:read"
195 packet, this response allows GDB to debug shared libraries on targets
196 where the operating system manages the list of loaded libraries (e.g.
197 Windows and SymbianOS).
199 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports dynamic link libraries
200 (DLLs) on Windows and Windows CE targets.
202 * GDB now supports a faster verification that a .debug file matches its binary
203 according to its build-id signature, if the signature is present.
209 Enable or disable hardware flow control (RTS/CTS) on the serial port
210 when debugging using remote targets.
212 set mem inaccessible-by-default
213 show mem inaccessible-by-default
214 If the target supplies a memory map, for instance via the remote
215 protocol's "qXfer:memory-map:read" packet, setting this variable
216 prevents GDB from accessing memory outside the memory map. This
217 is useful for targets with memory mapped registers or which react
218 badly to accesses of unmapped address space.
220 set breakpoint auto-hw
221 show breakpoint auto-hw
222 If the target supplies a memory map, for instance via the remote
223 protocol's "qXfer:memory-map:read" packet, setting this variable
224 lets GDB use hardware breakpoints automatically for memory regions
225 where it can not use software breakpoints. This covers both the
226 "break" command and internal breakpoints used for other commands
227 including "next" and "finish".
230 catch exception unhandled
231 Stop the program execution when Ada exceptions are raised.
234 Stop the program execution when an Ada assertion failed.
238 Set an alternate system root for target files. This is a more
239 general version of "set solib-absolute-prefix", which is now
240 an alias to "set sysroot".
243 Provide extended SPU facility status information. This set of
244 commands is available only when debugging the Cell/B.E. SPU
247 * New native configurations
249 OpenBSD/sh sh*-*openbsd*
254 Use the specified local file as an XML target description, and do
255 not query the target for its built-in description.
259 OpenBSD/sh sh*-*-openbsd*
260 MIPS64 GNU/Linux (gdbserver) mips64-linux-gnu
261 Toshiba Media Processor mep-elf
266 Ignore the specified signals; pass them directly to the debugged program
267 without stopping other threads or reporting them to GDB.
270 Read an XML target description from the target, which describes its
275 Read or write contents of an spufs file on the target system. These
276 packets are available only on the Cell/B.E. SPU architecture.
278 qXfer:libraries:read:
279 Report the loaded shared libraries. Combined with new "T" packet
280 response, this packet allows GDB to debug shared libraries on
281 targets where the operating system manages the list of loaded
282 libraries (e.g. Windows and SymbianOS).
286 Support for these obsolete configurations has been removed.
295 i[34567]86-*-netware*
296 i[34567]86-*-sco3.2v5*
297 i[34567]86-*-sco3.2v4*
299 i[34567]86-*-sysv4.2*
302 i[34567]86-*-unixware2*
303 i[34567]86-*-unixware*
312 * Other removed features
319 Various m68k-only ROM monitors.
326 Various Renesas ROM monitors and debugging interfaces for SH and
331 Support for a Macraigor serial interface to on-chip debugging.
332 GDB does not directly support the newer parallel or USB
337 A debug information format. The predecessor to DWARF 2 and
338 DWARF 3, which are still supported.
340 Support for the HP aCC compiler on HP-UX/PA-RISC
342 SOM-encapsulated symbolic debugging information, automatic
343 invocation of pxdb, and the aCC custom C++ ABI. This does not
344 affect HP-UX for Itanium or GCC for HP-UX/PA-RISC. Code compiled
345 with aCC can still be debugged on an assembly level.
349 A MIPS-specific format used to describe stack frame layout
350 in debugging information.
354 GDB could work with an older version of Guile to debug
355 the interpreter and Scheme programs running in it.
357 set mips stack-arg-size
358 set mips saved-gpreg-size
360 Use "set mips abi" to control parameter passing for MIPS.
362 *** Changes in GDB 6.6
367 Cell Broadband Engine SPU spu-elf
369 * GDB can now be configured as a cross-debugger targeting native Windows
370 (mingw32) or Cygwin. It can communicate with a remote debugging stub
371 running on a Windows system over TCP/IP to debug Windows programs.
373 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, has been updated to support Windows and
374 Cygwin debugging. Both single-threaded and multi-threaded programs are
377 * The "set trust-readonly-sections" command works again. This command was
378 broken in GDB 6.3, 6.4, and 6.5.
380 * The "load" command now supports writing to flash memory, if the remote
381 stub provides the required support.
383 * Support for GNU/Linux Thread Local Storage (TLS, per-thread variables) no
384 longer requires symbolic debug information (e.g. DWARF-2).
389 unset substitute-path
391 Manage a list of substitution rules that GDB uses to rewrite the name
392 of the directories where the sources are located. This can be useful
393 for instance when the sources were moved to a different location
394 between compilation and debugging.
398 Print each CLI command as it is executed. Each command is prefixed with
399 a number of `+' symbols representing the nesting depth.
400 The source command now has a `-v' option to enable the same feature.
404 The ARM Demon monitor support (RDP protocol, "target rdp").
406 Kernel Object Display, an embedded debugging feature which only worked with
407 an obsolete version of Cisco IOS.
409 The 'set download-write-size' and 'show download-write-size' commands.
414 Tell a stub about GDB client features, and request remote target features.
415 The first feature implemented is PacketSize, which allows the target to
416 specify the size of packets it can handle - to minimize the number of
417 packets required and improve performance when connected to a remote
421 Fetch an OS auxilliary vector from the remote stub. This packet is a
422 more efficient replacement for qPart:auxv:read.
424 qXfer:memory-map:read:
425 Fetch a memory map from the remote stub, including information about
426 RAM, ROM, and flash memory devices.
431 Erase and program a flash memory device.
433 * Removed remote packets
436 This packet has been replaced by qXfer:auxv:read. Only GDB 6.4 and 6.5
437 used it, and only gdbserver implemented it.
439 *** Changes in GDB 6.5
443 Renesas M32C/M16C m32c-elf
445 Morpho Technologies ms1 ms1-elf
449 init-if-undefined Initialize a convenience variable, but
450 only if it doesn't already have a value.
452 The following commands are presently only implemented for native GNU/Linux:
454 checkpoint Save a snapshot of the program state.
456 restart <n> Return the program state to a
457 previously saved state.
459 info checkpoints List currently saved checkpoints.
461 delete-checkpoint <n> Delete a previously saved checkpoint.
463 set|show detach-on-fork Tell gdb whether to detach from a newly
464 forked process, or to keep debugging it.
466 info forks List forks of the user program that
467 are available to be debugged.
469 fork <n> Switch to debugging one of several
470 forks of the user program that are
471 available to be debugged.
473 delete-fork <n> Delete a fork from the list of forks
474 that are available to be debugged (and
475 kill the forked process).
477 detach-fork <n> Delete a fork from the list of forks
478 that are available to be debugged (and
479 allow the process to continue).
483 Morpho Technologies ms2 ms1-elf
485 * Improved Windows host support
487 GDB now builds as a cross debugger hosted on i686-mingw32, including
488 native console support, and remote communications using either
489 network sockets or serial ports.
491 * Improved Modula-2 language support
493 GDB can now print most types in the Modula-2 syntax. This includes:
494 basic types, set types, record types, enumerated types, range types,
495 pointer types and ARRAY types. Procedure var parameters are correctly
496 printed and hexadecimal addresses and character constants are also
497 written in the Modula-2 syntax. Best results can be obtained by using
498 GNU Modula-2 together with the -gdwarf-2 command line option.
502 The ARM rdi-share module.
504 The Netware NLM debug server.
506 *** Changes in GDB 6.4
508 * New native configurations
510 OpenBSD/arm arm*-*-openbsd*
511 OpenBSD/mips64 mips64-*-openbsd*
515 Morpho Technologies ms1 ms1-elf
517 * New command line options
519 --batch-silent As for --batch, but totally silent.
520 --return-child-result The debugger will exist with the same value
521 the child (debugged) program exited with.
522 --eval-command COMMAND, -ex COMMAND
523 Execute a single GDB CLI command. This may be
524 specified multiple times and in conjunction
525 with the --command (-x) option.
527 * Deprecated commands removed
529 The following commands, that were deprecated in 2000, have been
533 set|show arm disassembly-flavor set|show arm disassembler
534 othernames set arm disassembler
535 set|show remotedebug set|show debug remote
536 set|show archdebug set|show debug arch
537 set|show eventdebug set|show debug event
540 * New BSD user-level threads support
542 It is now possible to debug programs using the user-level threads
543 library on OpenBSD and FreeBSD. Currently supported (target)
546 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
547 FreeBSD/i386 i386-*-freebsd*
548 OpenBSD/i386 i386-*-openbsd*
550 Note that the new kernel threads libraries introduced in FreeBSD 5.x
551 are not yet supported.
553 * New support for Matsushita MN10300 w/sim added
554 (Work in progress). mn10300-elf.
556 * REMOVED configurations and files
558 VxWorks and the XDR protocol *-*-vxworks
559 Motorola MCORE mcore-*-*
560 National Semiconductor NS32000 ns32k-*-*
562 * New "set print array-indexes" command
564 After turning this setting "on", GDB prints the index of each element
565 when displaying arrays. The default is "off" to preserve the previous
568 * VAX floating point support
570 GDB now supports the not-quite-ieee VAX F and D floating point formats.
572 * User-defined command support
574 In addition to using $arg0..$arg9 for argument passing, it is now possible
575 to use $argc to determine now many arguments have been passed. See the
576 section on user-defined commands in the user manual for more information.
578 *** Changes in GDB 6.3:
580 * New command line option
582 GDB now accepts -l followed by a number to set the timeout for remote
585 * GDB works with GCC -feliminate-dwarf2-dups
587 GDB now supports a more compact representation of DWARF-2 debug
588 information using DW_FORM_ref_addr references. These are produced
589 by GCC with the option -feliminate-dwarf2-dups and also by some
590 proprietary compilers. With GCC, you must use GCC 3.3.4 or later
591 to use -feliminate-dwarf2-dups.
593 * Internationalization
595 When supported by the host system, GDB will be built with
596 internationalization (libintl). The task of marking up the sources is
597 continued, we're looking forward to our first translation.
601 Initial support for debugging programs compiled with the GNAT
602 implementation of the Ada programming language has been integrated
603 into GDB. In this release, support is limited to expression evaluation.
605 * New native configurations
607 GNU/Linux/m32r m32r-*-linux-gnu
611 GDB's remote protocol now includes support for the 'p' packet. This
612 packet is used to fetch individual registers from a remote inferior.
614 * END-OF-LIFE registers[] compatibility module
616 GDB's internal register infrastructure has been completely rewritten.
617 The new infrastructure making possible the implementation of key new
618 features including 32x64 (e.g., 64-bit amd64 GDB debugging a 32-bit
621 GDB 6.3 will be the last release to include the the registers[]
622 compatibility module that allowed out-of-date configurations to
623 continue to work. This change directly impacts the following
635 Unless there is activity to revive these configurations, they will be
636 made OBSOLETE in GDB 6.4, and REMOVED from GDB 6.5.
638 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
640 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
641 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
642 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
652 *** Changes in GDB 6.2.1:
654 * MIPS `break main; run' gave an heuristic-fence-post warning
656 When attempting to run even a simple program, a warning about
657 heuristic-fence-post being hit would be reported. This problem has
660 * MIPS IRIX 'long double' crashed GDB
662 When examining a long double variable, GDB would get a segmentation
663 fault. The crash has been fixed (but GDB 6.2 cannot correctly examine
664 IRIX long double values).
668 A bug in the VAX stack code was causing problems with the "next"
669 command. This problem has been fixed.
671 *** Changes in GDB 6.2:
673 * Fix for ``many threads''
675 On GNU/Linux systems that use the NPTL threads library, a program
676 rapidly creating and deleting threads would confuse GDB leading to the
679 ptrace: No such process.
680 thread_db_get_info: cannot get thread info: generic error
682 This problem has been fixed.
684 * "-async" and "-noasync" options removed.
686 Support for the broken "-noasync" option has been removed (it caused
689 * New ``start'' command.
691 This command runs the program until the begining of the main procedure.
693 * New BSD Kernel Data Access Library (libkvm) interface
695 Using ``target kvm'' it is now possible to debug kernel core dumps and
696 live kernel memory images on various FreeBSD, NetBSD and OpenBSD
697 platforms. Currently supported (native-only) configurations are:
699 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
700 FreeBSD/i386 i?86-*-freebsd*
701 NetBSD/i386 i?86-*-netbsd*
702 NetBSD/m68k m68*-*-netbsd*
703 NetBSD/sparc sparc-*-netbsd*
704 OpenBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-openbsd*
705 OpenBSD/i386 i?86-*-openbsd*
706 OpenBSD/m68k m68*-openbsd*
707 OpenBSD/sparc sparc-*-openbsd*
709 * Signal trampoline code overhauled
711 Many generic problems with GDB's signal handling code have been fixed.
712 These include: backtraces through non-contiguous stacks; recognition
713 of sa_sigaction signal trampolines; backtrace from a NULL pointer
714 call; backtrace through a signal trampoline; step into and out of
715 signal handlers; and single-stepping in the signal trampoline.
717 Please note that kernel bugs are a limiting factor here. These
718 features have been shown to work on an s390 GNU/Linux system that
719 include a 2.6.8-rc1 kernel. Ref PR breakpoints/1702.
721 * Cygwin support for DWARF 2 added.
723 * New native configurations
725 GNU/Linux/hppa hppa*-*-linux*
726 OpenBSD/hppa hppa*-*-openbsd*
727 OpenBSD/m68k m68*-*-openbsd*
728 OpenBSD/m88k m88*-*-openbsd*
729 OpenBSD/powerpc powerpc-*-openbsd*
730 NetBSD/vax vax-*-netbsd*
731 OpenBSD/vax vax-*-openbsd*
733 * END-OF-LIFE frame compatibility module
735 GDB's internal frame infrastructure has been completely rewritten.
736 The new infrastructure making it possible to support key new features
737 including DWARF 2 Call Frame Information. To aid in the task of
738 migrating old configurations to this new infrastructure, a
739 compatibility module, that allowed old configurations to continue to
740 work, was also included.
742 GDB 6.2 will be the last release to include this frame compatibility
743 module. This change directly impacts the following configurations:
753 Unless there is activity to revive these configurations, they will be
754 made OBSOLETE in GDB 6.3, and REMOVED from GDB 6.4.
756 * REMOVED configurations and files
758 Sun 3, running SunOS 3 m68*-*-sunos3*
759 Sun 3, running SunOS 4 m68*-*-sunos4*
760 Sun 2, running SunOS 3 m68000-*-sunos3*
761 Sun 2, running SunOS 4 m68000-*-sunos4*
762 Motorola 680x0 running LynxOS m68*-*-lynxos*
763 AT&T 3b1/Unix pc m68*-att-*
764 Bull DPX2 (68k, System V release 3) m68*-bull-sysv*
765 decstation mips-dec-* mips-little-*
766 riscos mips-*-riscos* mips-*-sysv*
768 sysv mips*-*-sysv4* (IRIX 5/6 not included)
770 *** Changes in GDB 6.1.1:
772 * TUI (Text-mode User Interface) built-in (also included in GDB 6.1)
774 The TUI (Text-mode User Interface) is now built as part of a default
775 GDB configuration. It is enabled by either selecting the TUI with the
776 command line option "-i=tui" or by running the separate "gdbtui"
777 program. For more information on the TUI, see the manual "Debugging
780 * Pending breakpoint support (also included in GDB 6.1)
782 Support has been added to allow you to specify breakpoints in shared
783 libraries that have not yet been loaded. If a breakpoint location
784 cannot be found, and the "breakpoint pending" option is set to auto,
785 GDB queries you if you wish to make the breakpoint pending on a future
786 shared-library load. If and when GDB resolves the breakpoint symbol,
787 the pending breakpoint is removed as one or more regular breakpoints
790 Pending breakpoints are very useful for GCJ Java debugging.
792 * Fixed ISO-C build problems
794 The files bfd/elf-bfd.h, gdb/dictionary.c and gdb/types.c contained
795 non ISO-C code that stopped them being built using a more strict ISO-C
796 compiler (e.g., IBM's C compiler).
798 * Fixed build problem on IRIX 5
800 Due to header problems with <sys/proc.h>, the file gdb/proc-api.c
801 wasn't able to compile compile on an IRIX 5 system.
803 * Added execute permission to gdb/gdbserver/configure
805 The shell script gdb/testsuite/gdb.stabs/configure lacked execute
806 permission. This bug would cause configure to fail on a number of
807 systems (Solaris, IRIX). Ref: server/519.
809 * Fixed build problem on hpux2.0w-hp-hpux11.00 using the HP ANSI C compiler
811 Older HPUX ANSI C compilers did not accept variable array sizes. somsolib.c
812 has been updated to use constant array sizes.
814 * Fixed a panic in the DWARF Call Frame Info code on Solaris 2.7
816 GCC 3.3.2, on Solaris 2.7, includes the DW_EH_PE_funcrel encoding in
817 its generated DWARF Call Frame Info. This encoding was causing GDB to
818 panic, that panic has been fixed. Ref: gdb/1628.
820 * Fixed a problem when examining parameters in shared library code.
822 When examining parameters in optimized shared library code generated
823 by a mainline GCC, GDB would incorrectly report ``Variable "..." is
824 not available''. GDB now correctly displays the variable's value.
826 *** Changes in GDB 6.1:
828 * Removed --with-mmalloc
830 Support for the mmalloc memory manager has been removed, as it
831 conflicted with the internal gdb byte cache.
833 * Changes in AMD64 configurations
835 The AMD64 target now includes the %cs and %ss registers. As a result
836 the AMD64 remote protocol has changed; this affects the floating-point
837 and SSE registers. If you rely on those registers for your debugging,
838 you should upgrade gdbserver on the remote side.
840 * Revised SPARC target
842 The SPARC target has been completely revised, incorporating the
843 FreeBSD/sparc64 support that was added for GDB 6.0. As a result
844 support for LynxOS and SunOS 4 has been dropped. Calling functions
845 from within GDB on operating systems with a non-executable stack
846 (Solaris, OpenBSD) now works.
850 GDB has a new C++ demangler which does a better job on the mangled
851 names generated by current versions of g++. It also runs faster, so
852 with this and other changes gdb should now start faster on large C++
855 * DWARF 2 Location Expressions
857 GDB support for location expressions has been extended to support function
858 arguments and frame bases. Older versions of GDB could crash when they
861 * C++ nested types and namespaces
863 GDB's support for nested types and namespaces in C++ has been
864 improved, especially if you use the DWARF 2 debugging format. (This
865 is the default for recent versions of GCC on most platforms.)
866 Specifically, if you have a class "Inner" defined within a class or
867 namespace "Outer", then GDB realizes that the class's name is
868 "Outer::Inner", not simply "Inner". This should greatly reduce the
869 frequency of complaints about not finding RTTI symbols. In addition,
870 if you are stopped at inside of a function defined within a namespace,
871 GDB modifies its name lookup accordingly.
873 * New native configurations
875 NetBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-netbsd*
876 OpenBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-openbsd*
877 OpenBSD/alpha alpha*-*-openbsd*
878 OpenBSD/sparc sparc-*-openbsd*
879 OpenBSD/sparc64 sparc64-*-openbsd*
881 * New debugging protocols
883 M32R with SDI protocol m32r-*-elf*
885 * "set prompt-escape-char" command deleted.
887 The command "set prompt-escape-char" has been deleted. This command,
888 and its very obscure effet on GDB's prompt, was never documented,
889 tested, nor mentioned in the NEWS file.
891 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
893 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
894 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
895 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
898 Sun 3, running SunOS 3 m68*-*-sunos3*
899 Sun 3, running SunOS 4 m68*-*-sunos4*
900 Sun 2, running SunOS 3 m68000-*-sunos3*
901 Sun 2, running SunOS 4 m68000-*-sunos4*
902 Motorola 680x0 running LynxOS m68*-*-lynxos*
903 AT&T 3b1/Unix pc m68*-att-*
904 Bull DPX2 (68k, System V release 3) m68*-bull-sysv*
905 decstation mips-dec-* mips-little-*
906 riscos mips-*-riscos* mips-*-sysv*
908 sysv mips*-*-sysv4* (IRIX 5/6 not included)
910 * REMOVED configurations and files
912 SGI Irix-4.x mips-sgi-irix4 or iris4
913 SGI Iris (MIPS) running Irix V3: mips-sgi-irix or iris
914 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
915 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
916 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
917 HP/PA running BSD hppa*-*-bsd*
918 HP/PA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
919 HP/PA Pro target hppa*-*-pro*
920 PMAX (MIPS) running Mach 3.0 mips*-*-mach3*
921 386BSD i[3456]86-*-bsd*
922 Sequent family i[3456]86-sequent-sysv4*
923 i[3456]86-sequent-sysv*
924 i[3456]86-sequent-bsd*
925 SPARC running LynxOS sparc-*-lynxos*
926 SPARC running SunOS 4 sparc-*-sunos4*
927 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
928 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
930 *** Changes in GDB 6.0:
934 Support for debugging the Objective-C programming language has been
937 * New backtrace mechanism (includes DWARF 2 Call Frame Information).
939 DWARF 2's Call Frame Information makes available compiler generated
940 information that more exactly describes the program's run-time stack.
941 By using this information, GDB is able to provide more robust stack
944 The i386, amd64 (nee, x86-64), Alpha, m68hc11, ia64, and m32r targets
945 have been updated to use a new backtrace mechanism which includes
950 GDB's remote protocol has been extended to include support for hosted
951 file I/O (where the remote target uses GDB's file system). See GDB's
952 remote protocol documentation for details.
954 * All targets using the new architecture framework.
956 All of GDB's targets have been updated to use the new internal
957 architecture framework. The way is now open for future GDB releases
958 to include cross-architecture native debugging support (i386 on amd64,
961 * GNU/Linux's Thread Local Storage (TLS)
963 GDB now includes support for for the GNU/Linux implementation of
964 per-thread variables.
966 * GNU/Linux's Native POSIX Thread Library (NPTL)
968 GDB's thread code has been updated to work with either the new
969 GNU/Linux NPTL thread library or the older "LinuxThreads" library.
971 * Separate debug info.
973 GDB, in conjunction with BINUTILS, now supports a mechanism for
974 automatically loading debug information from a separate file. Instead
975 of shipping full debug and non-debug versions of system libraries,
976 system integrators can now instead ship just the stripped libraries
977 and optional debug files.
979 * DWARF 2 Location Expressions
981 DWARF 2 Location Expressions allow the compiler to more completely
982 describe the location of variables (even in optimized code) to the
985 GDB now includes preliminary support for location expressions (support
986 for DW_OP_piece is still missing).
990 A number of long standing bugs that caused GDB to die while starting a
991 Java application have been fixed. GDB's Java support is now
992 considered "useable".
994 * GNU/Linux support for fork, vfork, and exec.
996 The "catch fork", "catch exec", "catch vfork", and "set follow-fork-mode"
997 commands are now implemented for GNU/Linux. They require a 2.5.x or later
1000 * GDB supports logging output to a file
1002 There are two new commands, "set logging" and "show logging", which can be
1003 used to capture GDB's output to a file.
1005 * The meaning of "detach" has changed for gdbserver
1007 The "detach" command will now resume the application, as documented. To
1008 disconnect from gdbserver and leave it stopped, use the new "disconnect"
1011 * d10v, m68hc11 `regs' command deprecated
1013 The `info registers' command has been updated so that it displays the
1014 registers using a format identical to the old `regs' command.
1018 A new command, "maint set profile on/off", has been added. This command can
1019 be used to enable or disable profiling while running GDB, to profile a
1020 session or a set of commands. In addition there is a new configure switch,
1021 "--enable-profiling", which will cause GDB to be compiled with profiling
1022 data, for more informative profiling results.
1024 * Default MI syntax changed to "mi2".
1026 The default MI (machine interface) syntax, enabled by the command line
1027 option "-i=mi", has been changed to "mi2". The previous MI syntax,
1028 "mi1", can be enabled by specifying the option "-i=mi1".
1030 Support for the original "mi0" syntax (included in GDB 5.0) has been
1033 Fix for gdb/192: removed extraneous space when displaying frame level.
1034 Fix for gdb/672: update changelist is now output in mi list format.
1035 Fix for gdb/702: a -var-assign that updates the value now shows up
1036 in a subsequent -var-update.
1038 * New native configurations.
1040 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
1042 * Multi-arched targets.
1044 HP/PA HPUX11 hppa*-*-hpux*
1045 Renesas M32R/D w/simulator m32r-*-elf*
1047 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
1049 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
1050 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
1051 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
1052 permanently REMOVED.
1054 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
1055 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
1056 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
1057 HP/PA running BSD hppa*-*-bsd*
1058 HP/PA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
1059 HP/PA Pro target hppa*-*-pro*
1060 PMAX (MIPS) running Mach 3.0 mips*-*-mach3*
1061 Sequent family i[3456]86-sequent-sysv4*
1062 i[3456]86-sequent-sysv*
1063 i[3456]86-sequent-bsd*
1064 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
1065 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
1067 * REMOVED configurations and files
1070 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
1071 IBM AIX PS/2 i[3456]86-*-aix
1072 i386 running Mach 3.0 i[3456]86-*-mach3*
1073 i386 running Mach i[3456]86-*-mach*
1074 i386 running OSF/1 i[3456]86-*osf1mk*
1075 HP/Apollo 68k Family m68*-apollo*-sysv*,
1077 m68*-hp-bsd*, m68*-hp-hpux*
1078 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
1079 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
1080 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
1081 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
1082 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
1084 * MIPS $fp behavior changed
1086 The convenience variable $fp, for the MIPS, now consistently returns
1087 the address of the current frame's base. Previously, depending on the
1088 context, $fp could refer to either $sp or the current frame's base
1089 address. See ``8.10 Registers'' in the manual ``Debugging with GDB:
1090 The GNU Source-Level Debugger''.
1092 *** Changes in GDB 5.3:
1094 * GNU/Linux shared library multi-threaded performance improved.
1096 When debugging a multi-threaded application on GNU/Linux, GDB now uses
1097 `/proc', in preference to `ptrace' for memory reads. This may result
1098 in an improvement in the start-up time of multi-threaded, shared
1099 library applications when run under GDB. One GDB user writes: ``loads
1100 shared libs like mad''.
1102 * ``gdbserver'' now supports multi-threaded applications on some targets
1104 Support for debugging multi-threaded applications which use
1105 the GNU/Linux LinuxThreads package has been added for
1106 arm*-*-linux*-gnu*, i[3456]86-*-linux*-gnu*, mips*-*-linux*-gnu*,
1107 powerpc*-*-linux*-gnu*, and sh*-*-linux*-gnu*.
1109 * GDB now supports C/C++ preprocessor macros.
1111 GDB now expands preprocessor macro invocations in C/C++ expressions,
1112 and provides various commands for showing macro definitions and how
1115 The new command `macro expand EXPRESSION' expands any macro
1116 invocations in expression, and shows the result.
1118 The new command `show macro MACRO-NAME' shows the definition of the
1119 macro named MACRO-NAME, and where it was defined.
1121 Most compilers don't include information about macros in the debugging
1122 information by default. In GCC 3.1, for example, you need to compile
1123 your program with the options `-gdwarf-2 -g3'. If the macro
1124 information is present in the executable, GDB will read it.
1126 * Multi-arched targets.
1128 DEC Alpha (partial) alpha*-*-*
1129 DEC VAX (partial) vax-*-*
1131 National Semiconductor NS32000 (partial) ns32k-*-*
1132 Motorola 68000 (partial) m68k-*-*
1133 Motorola MCORE mcore-*-*
1137 Fujitsu FRV architecture added by Red Hat frv*-*-*
1140 * New native configurations
1142 Alpha NetBSD alpha*-*-netbsd*
1143 SH NetBSD sh*-*-netbsdelf*
1144 MIPS NetBSD mips*-*-netbsd*
1145 UltraSPARC NetBSD sparc64-*-netbsd*
1147 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
1149 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
1150 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
1151 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
1152 permanently REMOVED.
1154 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
1155 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
1156 IBM AIX PS/2 i[3456]86-*-aix
1157 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
1158 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
1159 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
1160 i386 running Mach 3.0 i[3456]86-*-mach3*
1161 i386 running Mach i[3456]86-*-mach*
1162 i386 running OSF/1 i[3456]86-*osf1mk*
1163 HP/Apollo 68k Family m68*-apollo*-sysv*,
1165 m68*-hp-bsd*, m68*-hp-hpux*
1166 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
1168 * OBSOLETE languages
1170 CHILL, a Pascal like language used by telecommunications companies.
1172 * REMOVED configurations and files
1174 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi, udi29k
1175 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
1176 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
1177 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
1178 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
1180 testsuite/gdb.hp/gdb.threads-hp/ directory
1182 * New command "set max-user-call-depth <nnn>"
1184 This command allows the user to limit the call depth of user-defined
1185 commands. The default is 1024.
1187 * Changes in FreeBSD/i386 native debugging.
1189 Support for the "generate-core-file" has been added.
1191 * New commands "dump", "append", and "restore".
1193 These commands allow data to be copied from target memory
1194 to a bfd-format or binary file (dump and append), and back
1195 from a file into memory (restore).
1197 * Improved "next/step" support on multi-processor Alpha Tru64.
1199 The previous single-step mechanism could cause unpredictable problems,
1200 including the random appearance of SIGSEGV or SIGTRAP signals. The use
1201 of a software single-step mechanism prevents this.
1203 *** Changes in GDB 5.2.1:
1211 gdb/182: gdb/323: gdb/237: On alpha, gdb was reporting:
1212 mdebugread.c:2443: gdb-internal-error: sect_index_data not initialized
1213 Fix, by Joel Brobecker imported from mainline.
1215 gdb/439: gdb/291: On some ELF object files, gdb was reporting:
1216 dwarf2read.c:1072: gdb-internal-error: sect_index_text not initialize
1217 Fix, by Fred Fish, imported from mainline.
1219 Dwarf2 .debug_frame & .eh_frame handler improved in many ways.
1220 Surprisingly enough, it works now.
1221 By Michal Ludvig, imported from mainline.
1223 i386 hardware watchpoint support:
1224 avoid misses on second run for some targets.
1225 By Pierre Muller, imported from mainline.
1227 *** Changes in GDB 5.2:
1229 * New command "set trust-readonly-sections on[off]".
1231 This command is a hint that tells gdb that read-only sections
1232 really are read-only (ie. that their contents will not change).
1233 In this mode, gdb will go to the object file rather than the
1234 target to read memory from read-only sections (such as ".text").
1235 This can be a significant performance improvement on some
1236 (notably embedded) targets.
1238 * New command "generate-core-file" (or "gcore").
1240 This new gdb command allows the user to drop a core file of the child
1241 process state at any time. So far it's been implemented only for
1242 GNU/Linux and Solaris, but should be relatively easily ported to other
1243 hosts. Argument is core file name (defaults to core.<pid>).
1245 * New command line option
1247 GDB now accepts --pid or -p followed by a process id.
1249 * Change in command line behavior -- corefiles vs. process ids.
1251 There is a subtle behavior in the way in which GDB handles
1252 command line arguments. The first non-flag argument is always
1253 a program to debug, but the second non-flag argument may either
1254 be a corefile or a process id. Previously, GDB would attempt to
1255 open the second argument as a corefile, and if that failed, would
1256 issue a superfluous error message and then attempt to attach it as
1257 a process. Now, if the second argument begins with a non-digit,
1258 it will be treated as a corefile. If it begins with a digit,
1259 GDB will attempt to attach it as a process, and if no such process
1260 is found, will then attempt to open it as a corefile.
1262 * Changes in ARM configurations.
1264 Multi-arch support is enabled for all ARM configurations. The ARM/NetBSD
1265 configuration is fully multi-arch.
1267 * New native configurations
1269 ARM NetBSD arm*-*-netbsd*
1270 x86 OpenBSD i[3456]86-*-openbsd*
1271 AMD x86-64 running GNU/Linux x86_64-*-linux-*
1272 Sparc64 running FreeBSD sparc64-*-freebsd*
1276 Sanyo XStormy16 xstormy16-elf
1278 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
1280 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
1281 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
1282 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
1283 permanently REMOVED.
1285 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi, udi29k
1286 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
1287 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
1288 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
1289 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
1291 testsuite/gdb.hp/gdb.threads-hp/ directory
1293 * REMOVED configurations and files
1295 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
1297 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
1298 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
1299 PowerPC Netware powerpc-*-netware*
1300 Harris/CXUX m88k m88*-harris-cxux*
1301 Most ns32k hosts and targets ns32k-*-mach3* ns32k-umax-*
1302 ns32k-utek-sysv* ns32k-utek-*
1303 SunOS 4.0.Xi on i386 i[3456]86-*-sunos*
1304 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1 a29k-nyu-sym1 a29k-*-kern*
1305 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x m68*-sony-sysv news
1306 ISI Optimum V (3.05) under 4.3bsd. m68*-isi-*
1307 Apple Macintosh (MPW) host and target N/A host, powerpc-*-macos*
1309 * Changes to command line processing
1311 The new `--args' feature can be used to specify command-line arguments
1312 for the inferior from gdb's command line.
1314 * Changes to key bindings
1316 There is a new `operate-and-get-next' function bound to `C-o'.
1318 *** Changes in GDB 5.1.1
1320 Fix compile problem on DJGPP.
1322 Fix a problem with floating-point registers on the i386 being
1325 Fix to stop GDB crashing on .debug_str debug info.
1327 Numerous documentation fixes.
1329 Numerous testsuite fixes.
1331 *** Changes in GDB 5.1:
1333 * New native configurations
1335 Alpha FreeBSD alpha*-*-freebsd*
1336 x86 FreeBSD 3.x and 4.x i[3456]86*-freebsd[34]*
1337 MIPS GNU/Linux mips*-*-linux*
1338 MIPS SGI Irix 6.x mips*-sgi-irix6*
1339 ia64 AIX ia64-*-aix*
1340 s390 and s390x GNU/Linux {s390,s390x}-*-linux*
1344 Motorola 68HC11 and 68HC12 m68hc11-elf
1346 UltraSparc running GNU/Linux sparc64-*-linux*
1348 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
1350 x86 FreeBSD before 2.2 i[3456]86*-freebsd{1,2.[01]}*,
1351 Harris/CXUX m88k m88*-harris-cxux*
1352 Most ns32k hosts and targets ns32k-*-mach3* ns32k-umax-*
1353 ns32k-utek-sysv* ns32k-utek-*
1354 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
1356 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1 a29k-nyu-sym1 a29k-*-kern*
1357 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
1358 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
1359 PowerPC Netware powerpc-*-netware*
1360 SunOS 4.0.Xi on i386 i[3456]86-*-sunos*
1361 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x m68*-sony-sysv news
1362 ISI Optimum V (3.05) under 4.3bsd. m68*-isi-*
1363 Apple Macintosh (MPW) host N/A
1365 stuff.c (Program to stuff files into a specially prepared space in kdb)
1366 kdb-start.c (Main loop for the standalone kernel debugger)
1368 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
1369 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
1370 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
1371 permanently REMOVED.
1373 * REMOVED configurations and files
1375 Altos 3068 m68*-altos-*
1376 Convex c1-*-*, c2-*-*
1378 ARM RISCix arm-*-* (as host)
1382 * GDB has been converted to ISO C.
1384 GDB's source code has been converted to ISO C. In particular, the
1385 sources are fully protoized, and rely on standard headers being
1390 * "info symbol" works on platforms which use COFF, ECOFF, XCOFF, and NLM.
1392 * The MI enabled by default.
1394 The new machine oriented interface (MI) introduced in GDB 5.0 has been
1395 revised and enabled by default. Packages which use GDB as a debugging
1396 engine behind a UI or another front end are encouraged to switch to
1397 using the GDB/MI interface, instead of the old annotations interface
1398 which is now deprecated.
1400 * Support for debugging Pascal programs.
1402 GDB now includes support for debugging Pascal programs. The following
1403 main features are supported:
1405 - Pascal-specific data types such as sets;
1407 - automatic recognition of Pascal sources based on file-name
1410 - Pascal-style display of data types, variables, and functions;
1412 - a Pascal expression parser.
1414 However, some important features are not yet supported.
1416 - Pascal string operations are not supported at all;
1418 - there are some problems with boolean types;
1420 - Pascal type hexadecimal constants are not supported
1421 because they conflict with the internal variables format;
1423 - support for Pascal objects and classes is not full yet;
1425 - unlike Pascal, GDB is case-sensitive for symbol names.
1427 * Changes in completion.
1429 Commands such as `shell', `run' and `set args', which pass arguments
1430 to inferior programs, now complete on file names, similar to what
1431 users expect at the shell prompt.
1433 Commands which accept locations, such as `disassemble', `print',
1434 `breakpoint', `until', etc. now complete on filenames as well as
1435 program symbols. Thus, if you type "break foob TAB", and the source
1436 files linked into the programs include `foobar.c', that file name will
1437 be one of the candidates for completion. However, file names are not
1438 considered for completion after you typed a colon that delimits a file
1439 name from a name of a function in that file, as in "break foo.c:bar".
1441 `set demangle-style' completes on available demangling styles.
1443 * New platform-independent commands:
1445 It is now possible to define a post-hook for a command as well as a
1446 hook that runs before the command. For more details, see the
1447 documentation of `hookpost' in the GDB manual.
1449 * Changes in GNU/Linux native debugging.
1451 Support for debugging multi-threaded programs has been completely
1452 revised for all platforms except m68k and sparc. You can now debug as
1453 many threads as your system allows you to have.
1455 Attach/detach is supported for multi-threaded programs.
1457 Support for SSE registers was added for x86. This doesn't work for
1458 multi-threaded programs though.
1460 * Changes in MIPS configurations.
1462 Multi-arch support is enabled for all MIPS configurations.
1464 GDB can now be built as native debugger on SGI Irix 6.x systems for
1465 debugging n32 executables. (Debugging 64-bit executables is not yet
1468 * Unified support for hardware watchpoints in all x86 configurations.
1470 Most (if not all) native x86 configurations support hardware-assisted
1471 breakpoints and watchpoints in a unified manner. This support
1472 implements debug register sharing between watchpoints, which allows to
1473 put a virtually infinite number of watchpoints on the same address,
1474 and also supports watching regions up to 16 bytes with several debug
1477 The new maintenance command `maintenance show-debug-regs' toggles
1478 debugging print-outs in functions that insert, remove, and test
1479 watchpoints and hardware breakpoints.
1481 * Changes in the DJGPP native configuration.
1483 New command ``info dos sysinfo'' displays assorted information about
1484 the CPU, OS, memory, and DPMI server.
1486 New commands ``info dos gdt'', ``info dos ldt'', and ``info dos idt''
1487 display information about segment descriptors stored in GDT, LDT, and
1490 New commands ``info dos pde'' and ``info dos pte'' display entries
1491 from Page Directory and Page Tables (for now works with CWSDPMI only).
1492 New command ``info dos address-pte'' displays the Page Table entry for
1493 a given linear address.
1495 GDB can now pass command lines longer than 126 characters to the
1496 program being debugged (requires an update to the libdbg.a library
1497 which is part of the DJGPP development kit).
1499 DWARF2 debug info is now supported.
1501 It is now possible to `step' and `next' through calls to `longjmp'.
1503 * Changes in documentation.
1505 All GDB documentation was converted to GFDL, the GNU Free
1506 Documentation License.
1508 Tracepoints-related commands are now fully documented in the GDB
1511 TUI, the Text-mode User Interface, is now documented in the manual.
1513 Tracepoints-related commands are now fully documented in the GDB
1516 The "GDB Internals" manual now has an index. It also includes
1517 documentation of `ui_out' functions, GDB coding standards, x86
1518 hardware watchpoints, and memory region attributes.
1520 * GDB's version number moved to ``version.in''
1522 The Makefile variable VERSION has been replaced by the file
1523 ``version.in''. People creating GDB distributions should update the
1524 contents of this file.
1528 GUD support is now a standard part of the EMACS distribution.
1530 *** Changes in GDB 5.0:
1532 * Improved support for debugging FP programs on x86 targets
1534 Unified and much-improved support for debugging floating-point
1535 programs on all x86 targets. In particular, ``info float'' now
1536 displays the FP registers in the same format on all x86 targets, with
1537 greater level of detail.
1539 * Improvements and bugfixes in hardware-assisted watchpoints
1541 It is now possible to watch array elements, struct members, and
1542 bitfields with hardware-assisted watchpoints. Data-read watchpoints
1543 on x86 targets no longer erroneously trigger when the address is
1546 * Improvements in the native DJGPP version of GDB
1548 The distribution now includes all the scripts and auxiliary files
1549 necessary to build the native DJGPP version on MS-DOS/MS-Windows
1550 machines ``out of the box''.
1552 The DJGPP version can now debug programs that use signals. It is
1553 possible to catch signals that happened in the debuggee, deliver
1554 signals to it, interrupt it with Ctrl-C, etc. (Previously, a signal
1555 would kill the program being debugged.) Programs that hook hardware
1556 interrupts (keyboard, timer, etc.) can also be debugged.
1558 It is now possible to debug DJGPP programs that redirect their
1559 standard handles or switch them to raw (as opposed to cooked) mode, or
1560 even close them. The command ``run < foo > bar'' works as expected,
1561 and ``info terminal'' reports useful information about the debuggee's
1562 terminal, including raw/cooked mode, redirection, etc.
1564 The DJGPP version now uses termios functions for console I/O, which
1565 enables debugging graphics programs. Interrupting GDB with Ctrl-C
1568 DOS-style file names with drive letters are now fully supported by
1571 It is now possible to debug DJGPP programs that switch their working
1572 directory. It is also possible to rerun the debuggee any number of
1573 times without restarting GDB; thus, you can use the same setup,
1574 breakpoints, etc. for many debugging sessions.
1576 * New native configurations
1578 ARM GNU/Linux arm*-*-linux*
1579 PowerPC GNU/Linux powerpc-*-linux*
1583 Motorola MCore mcore-*-*
1584 x86 VxWorks i[3456]86-*-vxworks*
1585 PowerPC VxWorks powerpc-*-vxworks*
1586 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
1588 * OBSOLETE configurations
1590 Altos 3068 m68*-altos-*
1591 Convex c1-*-*, c2-*-*
1593 ARM RISCix arm-*-* (as host)
1596 Configurations that have been declared obsolete will be commented out,
1597 but the code will be left in place. If there is no activity to revive
1598 these configurations before the next release of GDB, the sources will
1599 be permanently REMOVED.
1601 * Gould support removed
1603 Support for the Gould PowerNode and NP1 has been removed.
1605 * New features for SVR4
1607 On SVR4 native platforms (such as Solaris), if you attach to a process
1608 without first loading a symbol file, GDB will now attempt to locate and
1609 load symbols from the running process's executable file.
1611 * Many C++ enhancements
1613 C++ support has been greatly improved. Overload resolution now works properly
1614 in almost all cases. RTTI support is on the way.
1616 * Remote targets can connect to a sub-program
1618 A popen(3) style serial-device has been added. This device starts a
1619 sub-process (such as a stand-alone simulator) and then communicates
1620 with that. The sub-program to run is specified using the syntax
1621 ``|<program> <args>'' vis:
1623 (gdb) set remotedebug 1
1624 (gdb) target extended-remote |mn10300-elf-sim program-args
1626 * MIPS 64 remote protocol
1628 A long standing bug in the mips64 remote protocol where by GDB
1629 expected certain 32 bit registers (ex SR) to be transfered as 32
1630 instead of 64 bits has been fixed.
1632 The command ``set remote-mips64-transfers-32bit-regs on'' has been
1633 added to provide backward compatibility with older versions of GDB.
1635 * ``set remotebinarydownload'' replaced by ``set remote X-packet''
1637 The command ``set remotebinarydownload'' command has been replaced by
1638 ``set remote X-packet''. Other commands in ``set remote'' family
1639 include ``set remote P-packet''.
1641 * Breakpoint commands accept ranges.
1643 The breakpoint commands ``enable'', ``disable'', and ``delete'' now
1644 accept a range of breakpoints, e.g. ``5-7''. The tracepoint command
1645 ``tracepoint passcount'' also accepts a range of tracepoints.
1647 * ``apropos'' command added.
1649 The ``apropos'' command searches through command names and
1650 documentation strings, printing out matches, making it much easier to
1651 try to find a command that does what you are looking for.
1655 A new machine oriented interface (MI) has been added to GDB. This
1656 interface is designed for debug environments running GDB as a separate
1657 process. This is part of the long term libGDB project. See the
1658 "GDB/MI" chapter of the GDB manual for further information. It can be
1659 enabled by configuring with:
1661 .../configure --enable-gdbmi
1663 *** Changes in GDB-4.18:
1665 * New native configurations
1667 HP-UX 10.20 hppa*-*-hpux10.20
1668 HP-UX 11.x hppa*-*-hpux11.0*
1669 M68K GNU/Linux m68*-*-linux*
1673 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
1674 Intel StrongARM strongarm-*-*
1675 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
1677 * OBSOLETE configurations
1679 Gould PowerNode, NP1 np1-*-*, pn-*-*
1681 Configurations that have been declared obsolete will be commented out,
1682 but the code will be left in place. If there is no activity to revive
1683 these configurations before the next release of GDB, the sources will
1684 be permanently REMOVED.
1688 As a compatibility experiment, GDB's source files buildsym.h and
1689 buildsym.c have been converted to pure standard C, no longer
1690 containing any K&R compatibility code. We believe that all systems in
1691 use today either come with a standard C compiler, or have a GCC port
1692 available. If this is not true, please report the affected
1693 configuration to bug-gdb@gnu.org immediately. See the README file for
1694 information about getting a standard C compiler if you don't have one
1699 GDB now uses readline 2.2.
1701 * set extension-language
1703 You can now control the mapping between filename extensions and source
1704 languages by using the `set extension-language' command. For instance,
1705 you can ask GDB to treat .c files as C++ by saying
1706 set extension-language .c c++
1707 The command `info extensions' lists all of the recognized extensions
1708 and their associated languages.
1710 * Setting processor type for PowerPC and RS/6000
1712 When GDB is configured for a powerpc*-*-* or an rs6000*-*-* target,
1713 you can use the `set processor' command to specify what variant of the
1714 PowerPC family you are debugging. The command
1718 sets the PowerPC/RS6000 variant to NAME. GDB knows about the
1719 following PowerPC and RS6000 variants:
1721 ppc-uisa PowerPC UISA - a PPC processor as viewed by user-level code
1722 rs6000 IBM RS6000 ("POWER") architecture, user-level view
1724 403GC IBM PowerPC 403GC
1725 505 Motorola PowerPC 505
1726 860 Motorola PowerPC 860 or 850
1727 601 Motorola PowerPC 601
1728 602 Motorola PowerPC 602
1729 603 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 603 or 603e
1730 604 Motorola PowerPC 604 or 604e
1731 750 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 750 or 750
1733 At the moment, this command just tells GDB what to name the
1734 special-purpose processor registers. Since almost all the affected
1735 registers are inaccessible to user-level programs, this command is
1736 only useful for remote debugging in its present form.
1740 Thanks to a major code donation from Hewlett-Packard, GDB now has much
1741 more extensive support for HP-UX. Added features include shared
1742 library support, kernel threads and hardware watchpoints for 11.00,
1743 support for HP's ANSI C and C++ compilers, and a compatibility mode
1744 for xdb and dbx commands.
1748 HP's donation includes the new concept of catchpoints, which is a
1749 generalization of the old catch command. On HP-UX, it is now possible
1750 to catch exec, fork, and vfork, as well as library loading.
1752 This means that the existing catch command has changed; its first
1753 argument now specifies the type of catch to be set up. See the
1754 output of "help catch" for a list of catchpoint types.
1756 * Debugging across forks
1758 On HP-UX, you can choose which process to debug when a fork() happens
1763 HP has donated a curses-based terminal user interface (TUI). To get
1764 it, build with --enable-tui. Although this can be enabled for any
1765 configuration, at present it only works for native HP debugging.
1767 * GDB remote protocol additions
1769 A new protocol packet 'X' that writes binary data is now available.
1770 Default behavior is to try 'X', then drop back to 'M' if the stub
1771 fails to respond. The settable variable `remotebinarydownload'
1772 allows explicit control over the use of 'X'.
1774 For 64-bit targets, the memory packets ('M' and 'm') can now contain a
1775 full 64-bit address. The command
1777 set remoteaddresssize 32
1779 can be used to revert to the old behaviour. For existing remote stubs
1780 the change should not be noticed, as the additional address information
1783 In order to assist in debugging stubs, you may use the maintenance
1784 command `packet' to send any text string to the stub. For instance,
1786 maint packet heythere
1788 sends the packet "$heythere#<checksum>". Note that it is very easy to
1789 disrupt a debugging session by sending the wrong packet at the wrong
1792 The compare-sections command allows you to compare section data on the
1793 target to what is in the executable file without uploading or
1794 downloading, by comparing CRC checksums.
1796 * Tracing can collect general expressions
1798 You may now collect general expressions at tracepoints. This requires
1799 further additions to the target-side stub; see tracepoint.c and
1800 doc/agentexpr.texi for further details.
1802 * mask-address variable for Mips
1804 For Mips targets, you may control the zeroing of the upper 32 bits of
1805 a 64-bit address by entering `set mask-address on'. This is mainly
1806 of interest to users of embedded R4xxx and R5xxx processors.
1808 * Higher serial baud rates
1810 GDB's serial code now allows you to specify baud rates 57600, 115200,
1811 230400, and 460800 baud. (Note that your host system may not be able
1812 to achieve all of these rates.)
1816 The i960 configuration now includes an initial implementation of a
1817 builtin simulator, contributed by Jim Wilson.
1820 *** Changes in GDB-4.17:
1822 * New native configurations
1824 Alpha GNU/Linux alpha*-*-linux*
1825 Unixware 2.x i[3456]86-unixware2*
1826 Irix 6.x mips*-sgi-irix6*
1827 PowerPC GNU/Linux powerpc-*-linux*
1828 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
1829 Sparc GNU/Linux sparc-*-linux*
1830 Motorola sysV68 R3V7.1 m68k-motorola-sysv
1834 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
1835 Hitachi H8/300S h8300*-*-*
1836 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
1837 Matsushita MN10300 w/simulator mn10300-*-*
1838 MIPS NEC VR4100 mips64*vr4100*{,el}-*-elf*
1839 MIPS NEC VR5000 mips64*vr5000*{,el}-*-elf*
1840 MIPS Toshiba TX39 mips64*tx39*{,el}-*-elf*
1841 Mitsubishi D10V w/simulator d10v-*-*
1842 Mitsubishi M32R/D w/simulator m32r-*-elf*
1843 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
1844 NEC V850 w/simulator v850-*-*
1846 * New debugging protocols
1848 ARM with RDI protocol arm*-*-*
1849 M68K with dBUG monitor m68*-*-{aout,coff,elf}
1850 DDB and LSI variants of PMON protocol mips*-*-*
1851 PowerPC with DINK32 monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
1852 PowerPC with SDS protocol powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
1853 Macraigor OCD (Wiggler) devices powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
1857 All configurations can now understand and use the DWARF 2 debugging
1858 format. The choice is automatic, if the symbol file contains DWARF 2
1863 GDB now includes basic Java language support. This support is
1864 only useful with Java compilers that produce native machine code.
1866 * solib-absolute-prefix and solib-search-path
1868 For SunOS and SVR4 shared libraries, you may now set the prefix for
1869 loading absolute shared library symbol files, and the search path for
1870 locating non-absolute shared library symbol files.
1872 * Live range splitting
1874 GDB can now effectively debug code for which GCC has performed live
1875 range splitting as part of its optimization. See gdb/doc/LRS for
1876 more details on the expected format of the stabs information.
1880 GDB's support for the GNU Hurd, including thread debugging, has been
1881 updated to work with current versions of the Hurd.
1885 GDB's ARM target configuration now handles the ARM7T (Thumb) 16-bit
1886 instruction set. ARM GDB automatically detects when Thumb
1887 instructions are in use, and adjusts disassembly and backtracing
1892 GDB's MIPS target configurations now handle the MIP16 16-bit
1897 GDB now includes support for overlays; if an executable has been
1898 linked such that multiple sections are based at the same address, GDB
1899 will decide which section to use for symbolic info. You can choose to
1900 control the decision manually, using overlay commands, or implement
1901 additional target-side support and use "overlay load-target" to bring
1902 in the overlay mapping. Do "help overlay" for more detail.
1906 The command "info symbol <address>" displays information about
1907 the symbol at the specified address.
1911 The standard remote protocol now includes an extension that allows
1912 asynchronous collection and display of trace data. This requires
1913 extensive support in the target-side debugging stub. Tracing mode
1914 includes a new interaction mode in GDB and new commands: see the
1915 file tracepoint.c for more details.
1919 Configurations for embedded MIPS now include a simulator contributed
1920 by Cygnus Solutions. The simulator supports the instruction sets
1921 of most MIPS variants.
1925 Sparc configurations may now include the ERC32 simulator contributed
1926 by the European Space Agency. The simulator is not built into
1927 Sparc targets by default; configure with --enable-sim to include it.
1931 For target configurations that may include multiple variants of a
1932 basic architecture (such as MIPS and SH), you may now set the
1933 architecture explicitly. "set arch" sets, "info arch" lists
1934 the possible architectures.
1936 *** Changes in GDB-4.16:
1938 * New native configurations
1940 Windows 95, x86 Windows NT i[345]86-*-cygwin32
1941 M68K NetBSD m68k-*-netbsd*
1942 PowerPC AIX 4.x powerpc-*-aix*
1943 PowerPC MacOS powerpc-*-macos*
1944 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
1945 RS/6000 AIX 4.x rs6000-*-aix4*
1949 ARM with RDP protocol arm-*-*
1950 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
1951 MIPS VxWorks mips*-*-vxworks*
1952 MIPS VR4300 with PMON mips64*vr4300{,el}-*-elf*
1953 PowerPC with PPCBUG monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi*
1955 Matra Sparclet sparclet-*-*
1959 The powerpc-eabi configuration now includes the PSIM simulator,
1960 contributed by Andrew Cagney, with assistance from Mike Meissner.
1961 PSIM is a very elaborate model of the PowerPC, including not only
1962 basic instruction set execution, but also details of execution unit
1963 performance and I/O hardware. See sim/ppc/README for more details.
1967 GDB now works with Solaris 2.5.
1969 * Windows 95/NT native
1971 GDB will now work as a native debugger on Windows 95 and Windows NT.
1972 To build it from source, you must use the "gnu-win32" environment,
1973 which uses a DLL to emulate enough of Unix to run the GNU tools.
1974 Further information, binaries, and sources are available at
1975 ftp.cygnus.com, under pub/gnu-win32.
1977 * dont-repeat command
1979 If a user-defined command includes the command `dont-repeat', then the
1980 command will not be repeated if the user just types return. This is
1981 useful if the command is time-consuming to run, so that accidental
1982 extra keystrokes don't run the same command many times.
1984 * Send break instead of ^C
1986 The standard remote protocol now includes an option to send a break
1987 rather than a ^C to the target in order to interrupt it. By default,
1988 GDB will send ^C; to send a break, set the variable `remotebreak' to 1.
1990 * Remote protocol timeout
1992 The standard remote protocol includes a new variable `remotetimeout'
1993 that allows you to set the number of seconds before GDB gives up trying
1994 to read from the target. The default value is 2.
1996 * Automatic tracking of dynamic object loading (HPUX and Solaris only)
1998 By default GDB will automatically keep track of objects as they are
1999 loaded and unloaded by the dynamic linker. By using the command `set
2000 stop-on-solib-events 1' you can arrange for GDB to stop the inferior
2001 when shared library events occur, thus allowing you to set breakpoints
2002 in shared libraries which are explicitly loaded by the inferior.
2004 Note this feature does not work on hpux8. On hpux9 you must link
2005 /usr/lib/end.o into your program. This feature should work
2006 automatically on hpux10.
2008 * Irix 5.x hardware watchpoint support
2010 Irix 5 configurations now support the use of hardware watchpoints.
2012 * Mips protocol "SYN garbage limit"
2014 When debugging a Mips target using the `target mips' protocol, you
2015 may set the number of characters that GDB will ignore by setting
2016 the `syn-garbage-limit'. A value of -1 means that GDB will ignore
2017 every character. The default value is 1050.
2019 * Recording and replaying remote debug sessions
2021 If you set `remotelogfile' to the name of a file, gdb will write to it
2022 a recording of a remote debug session. This recording may then be
2023 replayed back to gdb using "gdbreplay". See gdbserver/README for
2024 details. This is useful when you have a problem with GDB while doing
2025 remote debugging; you can make a recording of the session and send it
2026 to someone else, who can then recreate the problem.
2028 * Speedups for remote debugging
2030 GDB includes speedups for downloading and stepping MIPS systems using
2031 the IDT monitor, fast downloads to the Hitachi SH E7000 emulator,
2032 and more efficient S-record downloading.
2034 * Memory use reductions and statistics collection
2036 GDB now uses less memory and reports statistics about memory usage.
2037 Try the `maint print statistics' command, for example.
2039 *** Changes in GDB-4.15:
2041 * Psymtabs for XCOFF
2043 The symbol reader for AIX GDB now uses partial symbol tables. This
2044 can greatly improve startup time, especially for large executables.
2046 * Remote targets use caching
2048 Remote targets now use a data cache to speed up communication with the
2049 remote side. The data cache could lead to incorrect results because
2050 it doesn't know about volatile variables, thus making it impossible to
2051 debug targets which use memory mapped I/O devices. `set remotecache
2052 off' turns the the data cache off.
2054 * Remote targets may have threads
2056 The standard remote protocol now includes support for multiple threads
2057 in the target system, using new protocol commands 'H' and 'T'. See
2058 gdb/remote.c for details.
2062 If GDB is configured with `--enable-netrom', then it will include
2063 support for the NetROM ROM emulator from XLNT Designs. The NetROM
2064 acts as though it is a bank of ROM on the target board, but you can
2065 write into it over the network. GDB's support consists only of
2066 support for fast loading into the emulated ROM; to debug, you must use
2067 another protocol, such as standard remote protocol. The usual
2068 sequence is something like
2070 target nrom <netrom-hostname>
2072 target remote <netrom-hostname>:1235
2076 GDB now includes support for the Apple Macintosh, as a host only. It
2077 may be run as either an MPW tool or as a standalone application, and
2078 it can debug through the serial port. All the usual GDB commands are
2079 available, but to the target command, you must supply "serial" as the
2080 device type instead of "/dev/ttyXX". See mpw-README in the main
2081 directory for more information on how to build. The MPW configuration
2082 scripts */mpw-config.in support only a few targets, and only the
2083 mips-idt-ecoff target has been tested.
2087 GDB configuration now uses autoconf. This is not user-visible,
2088 but does simplify configuration and building.
2092 GDB now supports hpux10.
2094 *** Changes in GDB-4.14:
2096 * New native configurations
2098 x86 FreeBSD i[345]86-*-freebsd
2099 x86 NetBSD i[345]86-*-netbsd
2100 NS32k NetBSD ns32k-*-netbsd
2101 Sparc NetBSD sparc-*-netbsd
2105 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
2106 HP PA PRO embedded (WinBond W89K & Oki OP50N) hppa*-*-pro*
2107 CPU32 EST-300 emulator m68*-*-est*
2108 PowerPC ELF powerpc-*-elf
2111 * Alpha OSF/1 support for procfs
2113 GDB now supports procfs under OSF/1-2.x and higher, which makes it
2114 possible to attach to running processes. As the mounting of the /proc
2115 filesystem is optional on the Alpha, GDB automatically determines
2116 the availability of /proc during startup. This can lead to problems
2117 if /proc is unmounted after GDB has been started.
2119 * Arguments to user-defined commands
2121 User commands may accept up to 10 arguments separated by whitespace.
2122 Arguments are accessed within the user command via $arg0..$arg9. A
2125 print $arg0 + $arg1 + $arg2
2127 To execute the command use:
2130 Defines the command "adder" which prints the sum of its three arguments.
2131 Note the arguments are text substitutions, so they may reference variables,
2132 use complex expressions, or even perform inferior function calls.
2134 * New `if' and `while' commands
2136 This makes it possible to write more sophisticated user-defined
2137 commands. Both commands take a single argument, which is the
2138 expression to evaluate, and must be followed by the commands to
2139 execute, one per line, if the expression is nonzero, the list being
2140 terminated by the word `end'. The `if' command list may include an
2141 `else' word, which causes the following commands to be executed only
2142 if the expression is zero.
2144 * Fortran source language mode
2146 GDB now includes partial support for Fortran 77. It will recognize
2147 Fortran programs and can evaluate a subset of Fortran expressions, but
2148 variables and functions may not be handled correctly. GDB will work
2149 with G77, but does not yet know much about symbols emitted by other
2152 * Better HPUX support
2154 Most debugging facilities now work on dynamic executables for HPPAs
2155 running hpux9 or later. You can attach to running dynamically linked
2156 processes, but by default the dynamic libraries will be read-only, so
2157 for instance you won't be able to put breakpoints in them. To change
2158 that behavior do the following before running the program:
2164 This will cause the libraries to be mapped private and read-write.
2165 To revert to the normal behavior, do this:
2171 You cannot set breakpoints or examine data in the library until after
2172 the library is loaded if the function/data symbols do not have
2175 GDB can now also read debug symbols produced by the HP C compiler on
2176 HPPAs (sorry, no C++, Fortran or 68k support).
2178 * Target byte order now dynamically selectable
2180 You can choose which byte order to use with a target system, via the
2181 commands "set endian big" and "set endian little", and you can see the
2182 current setting by using "show endian". You can also give the command
2183 "set endian auto", in which case GDB will use the byte order
2184 associated with the executable. Currently, only embedded MIPS
2185 configurations support dynamic selection of target byte order.
2187 * New DOS host serial code
2189 This version uses DPMI interrupts to handle buffered I/O, so you
2190 no longer need to run asynctsr when debugging boards connected to
2193 *** Changes in GDB-4.13:
2195 * New "complete" command
2197 This lists all the possible completions for the rest of the line, if it
2198 were to be given as a command itself. This is intended for use by emacs.
2200 * Trailing space optional in prompt
2202 "set prompt" no longer adds a space for you after the prompt you set. This
2203 allows you to set a prompt which ends in a space or one that does not.
2205 * Breakpoint hit counts
2207 "info break" now displays a count of the number of times the breakpoint
2208 has been hit. This is especially useful in conjunction with "ignore"; you
2209 can ignore a large number of breakpoint hits, look at the breakpoint info
2210 to see how many times the breakpoint was hit, then run again, ignoring one
2211 less than that number, and this will get you quickly to the last hit of
2214 * Ability to stop printing at NULL character
2216 "set print null-stop" will cause GDB to stop printing the characters of
2217 an array when the first NULL is encountered. This is useful when large
2218 arrays actually contain only short strings.
2220 * Shared library breakpoints
2222 In SunOS 4.x, SVR4, and Alpha OSF/1 configurations, you can now set
2223 breakpoints in shared libraries before the executable is run.
2225 * Hardware watchpoints
2227 There is a new hardware breakpoint for the watch command for sparclite
2228 targets. See gdb/sparclite/hw_breakpoint.note.
2230 Hardware watchpoints are also now supported under GNU/Linux.
2234 Annotations have been added. These are for use with graphical interfaces,
2235 and are still experimental. Currently only gdba.el uses these.
2237 * Improved Irix 5 support
2239 GDB now works properly with Irix 5.2.
2241 * Improved HPPA support
2243 GDB now works properly with the latest GCC and GAS.
2245 * New native configurations
2247 Sequent PTX4 i[34]86-sequent-ptx4
2248 HPPA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
2249 Atari TT running SVR4 m68*-*-sysv4*
2250 RS/6000 LynxOS rs6000-*-lynxos*
2254 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
2255 MIPS R4000 mips64*{,el}-*-{ecoff,elf}
2258 * Hitachi SH7000 and E7000-PC ICE support
2260 There is now support for communicating with the Hitachi E7000-PC ICE.
2261 This is available automatically when GDB is configured for the SH.
2265 As usual, a variety of small fixes and improvements, both generic
2266 and configuration-specific. See the ChangeLog for more detail.
2268 *** Changes in GDB-4.12:
2270 * Irix 5 is now supported
2274 GDB-4.12 on the HPPA has a number of changes which make it unable
2275 to debug the output from the currently released versions of GCC and
2276 GAS (GCC 2.5.8 and GAS-2.2 or PAGAS-1.36). Until the next major release
2277 of GCC and GAS, versions of these tools designed to work with GDB-4.12
2278 can be retrieved via anonymous ftp from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist.
2281 *** Changes in GDB-4.11:
2283 * User visible changes:
2287 The "set remotedebug" option is now consistent between the mips remote
2288 target, remote targets using the gdb-specific protocol, UDI (AMD's
2289 debug protocol for the 29k) and the 88k bug monitor. It is now an
2290 integer specifying a debug level (normally 0 or 1, but 2 means more
2291 debugging info for the mips target).
2293 * DEC Alpha native support
2295 GDB now works on the DEC Alpha. GCC 2.4.5 does not produce usable
2296 debug info, but GDB works fairly well with the DEC compiler and should
2297 work with a future GCC release. See the README file for a few
2298 Alpha-specific notes.
2300 * Preliminary thread implementation
2302 GDB now has preliminary thread support for both SGI/Irix and LynxOS.
2304 * LynxOS native and target support for 386
2306 This release has been hosted on LynxOS 2.2, and also can be configured
2307 to remotely debug programs running under LynxOS (see gdb/gdbserver/README
2310 * Improvements in C++ mangling/demangling.
2312 This release has much better g++ debugging, specifically in name
2313 mangling/demangling, virtual function calls, print virtual table,
2314 call methods, ...etc.
2316 *** Changes in GDB-4.10:
2318 * User visible changes:
2320 Remote debugging using the GDB-specific (`target remote') protocol now
2321 supports the `load' command. This is only useful if you have some
2322 other way of getting the stub to the target system, and you can put it
2323 somewhere in memory where it won't get clobbered by the download.
2325 Filename completion now works.
2327 When run under emacs mode, the "info line" command now causes the
2328 arrow to point to the line specified. Also, "info line" prints
2329 addresses in symbolic form (as well as hex).
2331 All vxworks based targets now support a user settable option, called
2332 vxworks-timeout. This option represents the number of seconds gdb
2333 should wait for responses to rpc's. You might want to use this if
2334 your vxworks target is, perhaps, a slow software simulator or happens
2335 to be on the far side of a thin network line.
2339 This release contains support for using a DEC alpha as a GDB host for
2340 cross debugging. Native alpha debugging is not supported yet.
2343 *** Changes in GDB-4.9:
2347 This is the first GDB release which is accompanied by a matching testsuite.
2348 The testsuite requires installation of dejagnu, which should be available
2349 via ftp from most sites that carry GNU software.
2353 'Cfront' style demangling has had its name changed to 'ARM' style, to
2354 emphasize that it was written from the specifications in the C++ Annotated
2355 Reference Manual, not necessarily to be compatible with AT&T cfront. Despite
2356 disclaimers, it still generated too much confusion with users attempting to
2357 use gdb with AT&T cfront.
2361 GDB now uses a standard remote interface to a simulator library.
2362 So far, the library contains simulators for the Zilog Z8001/2, the
2363 Hitachi H8/300, H8/500 and Super-H.
2365 * New targets supported
2367 H8/300 simulator h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
2368 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
2369 SH simulator sh-hitachi-hms or sh
2370 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
2371 IDT MIPS board over serial line mips-idt-ecoff
2373 Cross-debugging to GO32 targets is supported. It requires a custom
2374 version of the i386-stub.c module which is integrated with the
2375 GO32 memory extender.
2377 * New remote protocols
2379 MIPS remote debugging protocol.
2381 * New source languages supported
2383 This version includes preliminary support for Chill, a Pascal like language
2384 used by telecommunications companies. Chill support is also being integrated
2385 into the GNU compiler, but we don't know when it will be publically available.
2388 *** Changes in GDB-4.8:
2390 * HP Precision Architecture supported
2392 GDB now supports HP PA-RISC machines running HPUX. A preliminary
2393 version of this support was available as a set of patches from the
2394 University of Utah. GDB does not support debugging of programs
2395 compiled with the HP compiler, because HP will not document their file
2396 format. Instead, you must use GCC (version 2.3.2 or later) and PA-GAS
2397 (as available from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist/pa-gas.u4.tar.Z).
2399 Many problems in the preliminary version have been fixed.
2401 * Faster and better demangling
2403 We have improved template demangling and fixed numerous bugs in the GNU style
2404 demangler. It can now handle type modifiers such as `static' or `const'. Wide
2405 character types (wchar_t) are now supported. Demangling of each symbol is now
2406 only done once, and is cached when the symbol table for a file is read in.
2407 This results in a small increase in memory usage for C programs, a moderate
2408 increase in memory usage for C++ programs, and a fantastic speedup in
2411 `Cfront' style demangling still doesn't work with AT&T cfront. It was written
2412 from the specifications in the Annotated Reference Manual, which AT&T's
2413 compiler does not actually implement.
2415 * G++ multiple inheritance compiler problem
2417 In the 2.3.2 release of gcc/g++, how the compiler resolves multiple
2418 inheritance lattices was reworked to properly discover ambiguities. We
2419 recently found an example which causes this new algorithm to fail in a
2420 very subtle way, producing bad debug information for those classes.
2421 The file 'gcc.patch' (in this directory) can be applied to gcc to
2422 circumvent the problem. A future GCC release will contain a complete
2425 The previous G++ debug info problem (mentioned below for the gdb-4.7
2426 release) is fixed in gcc version 2.3.2.
2428 * Improved configure script
2430 The `configure' script will now attempt to guess your system type if
2431 you don't supply a host system type. The old scheme of supplying a
2432 host system triplet is preferable over using this. All the magic is
2433 done in the new `config.guess' script. Examine it for details.
2435 We have also brought our configure script much more in line with the FSF's
2436 version. It now supports the --with-xxx options. In particular,
2437 `--with-minimal-bfd' can be used to make the GDB binary image smaller.
2438 The resulting GDB will not be able to read arbitrary object file formats --
2439 only the format ``expected'' to be used on the configured target system.
2440 We hope to make this the default in a future release.
2442 * Documentation improvements
2444 There's new internal documentation on how to modify GDB, and how to
2445 produce clean changes to the code. We implore people to read it
2446 before submitting changes.
2448 The GDB manual uses new, sexy Texinfo conditionals, rather than arcane
2449 M4 macros. The new texinfo.tex is provided in this release. Pre-built
2450 `info' files are also provided. To build `info' files from scratch,
2451 you will need the latest `makeinfo' release, which will be available in
2452 a future texinfo-X.Y release.
2454 *NOTE* The new texinfo.tex can cause old versions of TeX to hang.
2455 We're not sure exactly which versions have this problem, but it has
2456 been seen in 3.0. We highly recommend upgrading to TeX version 3.141
2457 or better. If that isn't possible, there is a patch in
2458 `texinfo/tex3patch' that will modify `texinfo/texinfo.tex' to work
2459 around this problem.
2463 GDB now supports array constants that can be used in expressions typed in by
2464 the user. The syntax is `{element, element, ...}'. Ie: you can now type
2465 `print {1, 2, 3}', and it will build up an array in memory malloc'd in
2468 The new directory `gdb/sparclite' contains a program that demonstrates
2469 how the sparc-stub.c remote stub runs on a Fujitsu SPARClite processor.
2471 * New native hosts supported
2473 HP/PA-RISC under HPUX using GNU tools hppa1.1-hp-hpux
2474 386 CPUs running SCO Unix 3.2v4 i386-unknown-sco3.2v4
2476 * New targets supported
2478 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi or udi29k
2480 * New file formats supported
2482 BFD now supports reading HP/PA-RISC executables (SOM file format?),
2483 HPUX core files, and SCO 3.2v2 core files.
2487 Attaching to processes now works again; thanks for the many bug reports.
2489 We have also stomped on a bunch of core dumps caused by
2490 printf_filtered("%s") problems.
2492 We eliminated a copyright problem on the rpc and ptrace header files
2493 for VxWorks, which was discovered at the last minute during the 4.7
2494 release. You should now be able to build a VxWorks GDB.
2496 You can now interrupt gdb while an attached process is running. This
2497 will cause the attached process to stop, and give control back to GDB.
2499 We fixed problems caused by using too many file descriptors
2500 for reading symbols from object files and libraries. This was
2501 especially a problem for programs that used many (~100) shared
2504 The `step' command now only enters a subroutine if there is line number
2505 information for the subroutine. Otherwise it acts like the `next'
2506 command. Previously, `step' would enter subroutines if there was
2507 any debugging information about the routine. This avoids problems
2508 when using `cc -g1' on MIPS machines.
2510 * Internal improvements
2512 GDB's internal interfaces have been improved to make it easier to support
2513 debugging of multiple languages in the future.
2515 GDB now uses a common structure for symbol information internally.
2516 Minimal symbols (derived from linkage symbols in object files), partial
2517 symbols (from a quick scan of debug information), and full symbols
2518 contain a common subset of information, making it easier to write
2519 shared code that handles any of them.
2521 * New command line options
2523 We now accept --silent as an alias for --quiet.
2527 The memory-mapped-malloc library is now licensed under the GNU Library
2528 General Public License.
2530 *** Changes in GDB-4.7:
2532 * Host/native/target split
2534 GDB has had some major internal surgery to untangle the support for
2535 hosts and remote targets. Now, when you configure GDB for a remote
2536 target, it will no longer load in all of the support for debugging
2537 local programs on the host. When fully completed and tested, this will
2538 ensure that arbitrary host/target combinations are possible.
2540 The primary conceptual shift is to separate the non-portable code in
2541 GDB into three categories. Host specific code is required any time GDB
2542 is compiled on that host, regardless of the target. Target specific
2543 code relates to the peculiarities of the target, but can be compiled on
2544 any host. Native specific code is everything else: it can only be
2545 built when the host and target are the same system. Child process
2546 handling and core file support are two common `native' examples.
2548 GDB's use of /proc for controlling Unix child processes is now cleaner.
2549 It has been split out into a single module under the `target_ops' vector,
2550 plus two native-dependent functions for each system that uses /proc.
2552 * New hosts supported
2554 HP/Apollo 68k (under the BSD domain) m68k-apollo-bsd or apollo68bsd
2555 386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
2556 386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or i386sco
2558 * New targets supported
2560 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
2561 68030 and CPU32 m68030-*-*, m68332-*-*
2563 * New native hosts supported
2565 386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
2566 (386bsd is not well tested yet)
2567 386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or sco
2569 * New file formats supported
2571 BFD now supports COFF files for the Zilog Z8000 microprocessor. It
2572 supports reading of `a.out.adobe' object files, which are an a.out
2573 format extended with minimal information about multiple sections.
2577 `show copying' is the same as the old `info copying'.
2578 `show warranty' is the same as `info warrantee'.
2579 These were renamed for consistency. The old commands continue to work.
2581 `info handle' is a new alias for `info signals'.
2583 You can now define pre-command hooks, which attach arbitrary command
2584 scripts to any command. The commands in the hook will be executed
2585 prior to the user's command. You can also create a hook which will be
2586 executed whenever the program stops. See gdb.texinfo.
2590 We now deal with Cfront style name mangling, and can even extract type
2591 info from mangled symbols. GDB can automatically figure out which
2592 symbol mangling style your C++ compiler uses.
2594 Calling of methods and virtual functions has been improved as well.
2598 The crash that occured when debugging Sun Ansi-C compiled binaries is
2599 fixed. This was due to mishandling of the extra N_SO stabs output
2602 We also finally got Ultrix 4.2 running in house, and fixed core file
2603 support, with help from a dozen people on the net.
2605 John M. Farrell discovered that the reason that single-stepping was so
2606 slow on all of the Mips based platforms (primarily SGI and DEC) was
2607 that we were trying to demangle and lookup a symbol used for internal
2608 purposes on every instruction that was being stepped through. Changing
2609 the name of that symbol so that it couldn't be mistaken for a C++
2610 mangled symbol sped things up a great deal.
2612 Rich Pixley sped up symbol lookups in general by getting much smarter
2613 about when C++ symbol mangling is necessary. This should make symbol
2614 completion (TAB on the command line) much faster. It's not as fast as
2615 we'd like, but it's significantly faster than gdb-4.6.
2619 A new user controllable variable 'call_scratch_address' can
2620 specify the location of a scratch area to be used when GDB
2621 calls a function in the target. This is necessary because the
2622 usual method of putting the scratch area on the stack does not work
2623 in systems that have separate instruction and data spaces.
2625 We integrated changes to support the 29k UDI (Universal Debugger
2626 Interface), but discovered at the last minute that we didn't have all
2627 of the appropriate copyright paperwork. We are working with AMD to
2628 resolve this, and hope to have it available soon.
2632 We have sped up the remote serial line protocol, especially for targets
2633 with lots of registers. It now supports a new `expedited status' ('T')
2634 message which can be used in place of the existing 'S' status message.
2635 This allows the remote stub to send only the registers that GDB
2636 needs to make a quick decision about single-stepping or conditional
2637 breakpoints, eliminating the need to fetch the entire register set for
2638 each instruction being stepped through.
2640 The GDB remote serial protocol now implements a write-through cache for
2641 registers, only re-reading the registers if the target has run.
2643 There is also a new remote serial stub for SPARC processors. You can
2644 find it in gdb-4.7/gdb/sparc-stub.c. This was written to support the
2645 Fujitsu SPARClite processor, but will run on any stand-alone SPARC
2646 processor with a serial port.
2650 Configure.in files have become much easier to read and modify. A new
2651 `table driven' format makes it more obvious what configurations are
2652 supported, and what files each one uses.
2656 There is a new opcodes library which will eventually contain all of the
2657 disassembly routines and opcode tables. At present, it only contains
2658 Sparc and Z8000 routines. This will allow the assembler, debugger, and
2659 disassembler (binutils/objdump) to share these routines.
2661 The libiberty library is now copylefted under the GNU Library General
2662 Public License. This allows more liberal use, and was done so libg++
2663 can use it. This makes no difference to GDB, since the Library License
2664 grants all the rights from the General Public License.
2668 The file gdb-4.7/gdb/doc/stabs.texinfo is a (relatively) complete
2669 reference to the stabs symbol info used by the debugger. It is (as far
2670 as we know) the only published document on this fascinating topic. We
2671 encourage you to read it, compare it to the stabs information on your
2672 system, and send improvements on the document in general (to
2673 bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu).
2675 And, of course, many bugs have been fixed.
2678 *** Changes in GDB-4.6:
2680 * Better support for C++ function names
2682 GDB now accepts as input the "demangled form" of C++ overloaded function
2683 names and member function names, and can do command completion on such names
2684 (using TAB, TAB-TAB, and ESC-?). The names have to be quoted with a pair of
2685 single quotes. Examples are 'func (int, long)' and 'obj::operator==(obj&)'.
2686 Make use of command completion, it is your friend.
2688 GDB also now accepts a variety of C++ mangled symbol formats. They are
2689 the GNU g++ style, the Cfront (ARM) style, and the Lucid (lcc) style.
2690 You can tell GDB which format to use by doing a 'set demangle-style {gnu,
2691 lucid, cfront, auto}'. 'gnu' is the default. Do a 'set demangle-style foo'
2692 for the list of formats.
2694 * G++ symbol mangling problem
2696 Recent versions of gcc have a bug in how they emit debugging information for
2697 C++ methods (when using dbx-style stabs). The file 'gcc.patch' (in this
2698 directory) can be applied to gcc to fix the problem. Alternatively, if you
2699 can't fix gcc, you can #define GCC_MANGLE_BUG when compling gdb/symtab.c. The
2700 usual symptom is difficulty with setting breakpoints on methods. GDB complains
2701 about the method being non-existent. (We believe that version 2.2.2 of GCC has
2704 * New 'maintenance' command
2706 All of the commands related to hacking GDB internals have been moved out of
2707 the main command set, and now live behind the 'maintenance' command. This
2708 can also be abbreviated as 'mt'. The following changes were made:
2710 dump-me -> maintenance dump-me
2711 info all-breakpoints -> maintenance info breakpoints
2712 printmsyms -> maintenance print msyms
2713 printobjfiles -> maintenance print objfiles
2714 printpsyms -> maintenance print psymbols
2715 printsyms -> maintenance print symbols
2717 The following commands are new:
2719 maintenance demangle Call internal GDB demangler routine to
2720 demangle a C++ link name and prints the result.
2721 maintenance print type Print a type chain for a given symbol
2723 * Change to .gdbinit file processing
2725 We now read the $HOME/.gdbinit file before processing the argv arguments
2726 (e.g. reading symbol files or core files). This allows global parameters to
2727 be set, which will apply during the symbol reading. The ./.gdbinit is still
2728 read after argv processing.
2730 * New hosts supported
2732 Solaris-2.0 !!! sparc-sun-solaris2 or sun4sol2
2734 GNU/Linux support i386-unknown-linux or linux
2736 We are also including code to support the HP/PA running BSD and HPUX. This
2737 is almost guaranteed not to work, as we didn't have time to test or build it
2738 for this release. We are including it so that the more adventurous (or
2739 masochistic) of you can play with it. We also had major problems with the
2740 fact that the compiler that we got from HP doesn't support the -g option.
2743 * New targets supported
2745 Hitachi H8/300 h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
2747 * More smarts about finding #include files
2749 GDB now remembers the compilation directory for all include files, and for
2750 all files from which C is generated (like yacc and lex sources). This
2751 greatly improves GDB's ability to find yacc/lex sources, and include files,
2752 especially if you are debugging your program from a directory different from
2753 the one that contains your sources.
2755 We also fixed a bug which caused difficulty with listing and setting
2756 breakpoints in include files which contain C code. (In the past, you had to
2757 try twice in order to list an include file that you hadn't looked at before.)
2759 * Interesting infernals change
2761 GDB now deals with arbitrary numbers of sections, where the symbols for each
2762 section must be relocated relative to that section's landing place in the
2763 target's address space. This work was needed to support ELF with embedded
2764 stabs used by Solaris-2.0.
2766 * Bug fixes (of course!)
2768 There have been loads of fixes for the following things:
2769 mips, rs6000, 29k/udi, m68k, g++, type handling, elf/dwarf, m88k,
2770 i960, stabs, DOS(GO32), procfs, etc...
2772 See the ChangeLog for details.
2774 *** Changes in GDB-4.5:
2776 * New machines supported (host and target)
2778 IBM RS6000 running AIX rs6000-ibm-aix or rs6000
2780 SGI Irix-4.x mips-sgi-irix4 or iris4
2782 * New malloc package
2784 GDB now uses a new memory manager called mmalloc, based on gmalloc.
2785 Mmalloc is capable of handling mutiple heaps of memory. It is also
2786 capable of saving a heap to a file, and then mapping it back in later.
2787 This can be used to greatly speedup the startup of GDB by using a
2788 pre-parsed symbol table which lives in a mmalloc managed heap. For
2789 more details, please read mmalloc/mmalloc.texi.
2793 The 'info proc' command (SVR4 only) has been enhanced quite a bit. See
2794 'help info proc' for details.
2796 * MIPS ecoff symbol table format
2798 The code that reads MIPS symbol table format is now supported on all hosts.
2799 Thanks to MIPS for releasing the sym.h and symconst.h files to make this
2802 * File name changes for MS-DOS
2804 Many files in the config directories have been renamed to make it easier to
2805 support GDB on MS-DOSe systems (which have very restrictive file name
2806 conventions :-( ). MS-DOSe host support (under DJ Delorie's GO32
2807 environment) is close to working but has some remaining problems. Note
2808 that debugging of DOS programs is not supported, due to limitations
2809 in the ``operating system'', but it can be used to host cross-debugging.
2811 * Cross byte order fixes
2813 Many fixes have been made to support cross debugging of Sparc and MIPS
2814 targets from hosts whose byte order differs.
2816 * New -mapped and -readnow options
2818 If memory-mapped files are available on your system through the 'mmap'
2819 system call, you can use the -mapped option on the `file' or
2820 `symbol-file' commands to cause GDB to write the symbols from your
2821 program into a reusable file. If the program you are debugging is
2822 called `/path/fred', the mapped symbol file will be `./fred.syms'.
2823 Future GDB debugging sessions will notice the presence of this file,
2824 and will quickly map in symbol information from it, rather than reading
2825 the symbol table from the executable program. Using the '-mapped'
2826 option in a GDB `file' or `symbol-file' command has the same effect as
2827 starting GDB with the '-mapped' command-line option.
2829 You can cause GDB to read the entire symbol table immediately by using
2830 the '-readnow' option with any of the commands that load symbol table
2831 information (or on the GDB command line). This makes the command
2832 slower, but makes future operations faster.
2834 The -mapped and -readnow options are typically combined in order to
2835 build a `fred.syms' file that contains complete symbol information.
2836 A simple GDB invocation to do nothing but build a `.syms' file for future
2839 gdb -batch -nx -mapped -readnow programname
2841 The `.syms' file is specific to the host machine on which GDB is run.
2842 It holds an exact image of GDB's internal symbol table. It cannot be
2843 shared across multiple host platforms.
2845 * longjmp() handling
2847 GDB is now capable of stepping and nexting over longjmp(), _longjmp(), and
2848 siglongjmp() without losing control. This feature has not yet been ported to
2849 all systems. It currently works on many 386 platforms, all MIPS-based
2850 platforms (SGI, DECstation, etc), and Sun3/4.
2854 Preliminary work has been put in to support the new Solaris OS from Sun. At
2855 this time, it can control and debug processes, but it is not capable of
2860 As always, many many bug fixes. The major areas were with g++, and mipsread.
2861 People using the MIPS-based platforms should experience fewer mysterious
2862 crashes and trashed symbol tables.
2864 *** Changes in GDB-4.4:
2866 * New machines supported (host and target)
2868 SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
2870 BSD Reno on Vax vax-dec-bsd
2871 Ultrix on Vax vax-dec-ultrix
2873 * New machines supported (target)
2875 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
2879 GDB continues to improve its handling of C++. `References' work better.
2880 The demangler has also been improved, and now deals with symbols mangled as
2881 per the Annotated C++ Reference Guide.
2883 GDB also now handles `stabs' symbol information embedded in MIPS
2884 `ecoff' symbol tables. Since the ecoff format was not easily
2885 extensible to handle new languages such as C++, this appeared to be a
2886 good way to put C++ debugging info into MIPS binaries. This option
2887 will be supported in the GNU C compiler, version 2, when it is
2890 * New features for SVR4
2892 GDB now handles SVR4 shared libraries, in the same fashion as SunOS
2893 shared libraries. Debugging dynamically linked programs should present
2894 only minor differences from debugging statically linked programs.
2896 The `info proc' command will print out information about any process
2897 on an SVR4 system (including the one you are debugging). At the moment,
2898 it prints the address mappings of the process.
2900 If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please send mail to
2901 bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were reqired (if any).
2903 * Better dynamic linking support in SunOS
2905 Reading symbols from shared libraries which contain debugging symbols
2906 now works properly. However, there remain issues such as automatic
2907 skipping of `transfer vector' code during function calls, which
2908 make it harder to debug code in a shared library, than to debug the
2909 same code linked statically.
2913 GDB is now using the latest `getopt' routines from the FSF. This
2914 version accepts the -- prefix for options with long names. GDB will
2915 continue to accept the old forms (-option and +option) as well.
2916 Various single letter abbreviations for options have been explicity
2917 added to the option table so that they won't get overshadowed in the
2918 future by other options that begin with the same letter.
2922 The `cleanup_undefined_types' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
2923 Many assorted bugs have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
2924 See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
2927 *** Changes in GDB-4.3:
2929 * New machines supported (host and target)
2931 Amiga 3000 running Amix m68k-cbm-svr4 or amix
2932 NCR 3000 386 running SVR4 i386-ncr-svr4 or ncr3000
2933 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
2935 * Almost SCO Unix support
2937 We had hoped to support:
2938 SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
2939 (except for core file support), but we discovered very late in the release
2940 that it has problems with process groups that render gdb unusable. Sorry
2941 about that. I encourage people to fix it and post the fixes.
2943 * Preliminary ELF and DWARF support
2945 GDB can read ELF object files on System V Release 4, and can handle
2946 debugging records for C, in DWARF format, in ELF files. This support
2947 is preliminary. If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please
2948 send mail to bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were
2953 GDB now uses the latest `readline' library. One user-visible change
2954 is that two tabs will list possible command completions, which previously
2955 required typing M-? (meta-question mark, or ESC ?).
2959 The `stepi' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
2960 Many bugs in C++ have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
2961 See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
2963 * State of the MIPS world (in case you wondered):
2965 GDB can understand the symbol tables emitted by the compilers
2966 supplied by most vendors of MIPS-based machines, including DEC. These
2967 symbol tables are in a format that essentially nobody else uses.
2969 Some versions of gcc come with an assembler post-processor called
2970 mips-tfile. This program is required if you want to do source-level
2971 debugging of gcc-compiled programs. I believe FSF does not ship
2972 mips-tfile with gcc version 1, but it will eventually come with gcc
2975 Debugging of g++ output remains a problem. g++ version 1.xx does not
2976 really support it at all. (If you're lucky, you should be able to get
2977 line numbers and stack traces to work, but no parameters or local
2978 variables.) With some work it should be possible to improve the
2981 When gcc version 2 is released, you will have somewhat better luck.
2982 However, even then you will get confusing results for inheritance and
2985 We will eventually provide full debugging of g++ output on
2986 DECstations. This will probably involve some kind of stabs-in-ecoff
2987 encapulation, but the details have not been worked out yet.
2990 *** Changes in GDB-4.2:
2992 * Improved configuration
2994 Only one copy of `configure' exists now, and it is not self-modifying.
2995 Porting BFD is simpler.
2999 The `step' and `next' commands now only stop at the first instruction
3000 of a source line. This prevents the multiple stops that used to occur
3001 in switch statements, for-loops, etc. `Step' continues to stop if a
3002 function that has debugging information is called within the line.
3006 Lots of small bugs fixed. More remain.
3008 * New host supported (not target)
3010 Intel 386 PC clone running Mach i386-none-mach
3013 *** Changes in GDB-4.1:
3015 * Multiple source language support
3017 GDB now has internal scaffolding to handle several source languages.
3018 It determines the type of each source file from its filename extension,
3019 and will switch expression parsing and number formatting to match the
3020 language of the function in the currently selected stack frame.
3021 You can also specifically set the language to be used, with
3022 `set language c' or `set language modula-2'.
3026 GDB now has preliminary support for the GNU Modula-2 compiler,
3027 currently under development at the State University of New York at
3028 Buffalo. Development of both GDB and the GNU Modula-2 compiler will
3029 continue through the fall of 1991 and into 1992.
3031 Other Modula-2 compilers are currently not supported, and attempting to
3032 debug programs compiled with them will likely result in an error as the
3033 symbol table is read. Feel free to work on it, though!
3035 There are hooks in GDB for strict type checking and range checking,
3036 in the `Modula-2 philosophy', but they do not currently work.
3040 GDB can now write to executable and core files (e.g. patch
3041 a variable's value). You must turn this switch on, specify
3042 the file ("exec foo" or "core foo"), *then* modify it, e.g.
3043 by assigning a new value to a variable. Modifications take
3046 * Automatic SunOS shared library reading
3048 When you run your program, GDB automatically determines where its
3049 shared libraries (if any) have been loaded, and reads their symbols.
3050 The `share' command is no longer needed. This also works when
3051 examining core files.
3055 You can specify the number of lines that the `list' command shows.
3058 * New machines supported (host and target)
3060 SGI Iris (MIPS) running Irix V3: mips-sgi-irix or iris
3061 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x: m68k-sony-sysv or news
3062 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1: a29k-nyu-sym1 or ultra3
3064 * New hosts supported (not targets)
3066 IBM RT/PC: romp-ibm-aix or rtpc
3068 * New targets supported (not hosts)
3070 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
3071 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
3072 Ultracomputer remote kernel debug a29k-nyu-kern
3074 * New remote interfaces
3080 *** Changes in GDB-4.0:
3084 Wide output is wrapped at good places to make the output more readable.
3086 Gdb now supports cross-debugging from a host machine of one type to a
3087 target machine of another type. Communication with the target system
3088 is over serial lines. The ``target'' command handles connecting to the
3089 remote system; the ``load'' command will download a program into the
3090 remote system. Serial stubs for the m68k and i386 are provided. Gdb
3091 also supports debugging of realtime processes running under VxWorks,
3092 using SunRPC Remote Procedure Calls over TCP/IP to talk to a debugger
3093 stub on the target system.
3095 New CPUs supported include the AMD 29000 and Intel 960.
3097 GDB now reads object files and symbol tables via a ``binary file''
3098 library, which allows a single copy of GDB to debug programs of multiple
3099 object file types such as a.out and coff.
3101 There is now a GDB reference card in "doc/refcard.tex". (Make targets
3102 refcard.dvi and refcard.ps are available to format it).
3105 * Control-Variable user interface simplified
3107 All variables that control the operation of the debugger can be set
3108 by the ``set'' command, and displayed by the ``show'' command.
3110 For example, ``set prompt new-gdb=>'' will change your prompt to new-gdb=>.
3111 ``Show prompt'' produces the response:
3112 Gdb's prompt is new-gdb=>.
3114 What follows are the NEW set commands. The command ``help set'' will
3115 print a complete list of old and new set commands. ``help set FOO''
3116 will give a longer description of the variable FOO. ``show'' will show
3117 all of the variable descriptions and their current settings.
3119 confirm on/off: Enables warning questions for operations that are
3120 hard to recover from, e.g. rerunning the program while
3121 it is already running. Default is ON.
3123 editing on/off: Enables EMACS style command line editing
3124 of input. Previous lines can be recalled with
3125 control-P, the current line can be edited with control-B,
3126 you can search for commands with control-R, etc.
3129 history filename NAME: NAME is where the gdb command history
3130 will be stored. The default is .gdb_history,
3131 or the value of the environment variable
3134 history size N: The size, in commands, of the command history. The
3135 default is 256, or the value of the environment variable
3138 history save on/off: If this value is set to ON, the history file will
3139 be saved after exiting gdb. If set to OFF, the
3140 file will not be saved. The default is OFF.
3142 history expansion on/off: If this value is set to ON, then csh-like
3143 history expansion will be performed on
3144 command line input. The default is OFF.
3146 radix N: Sets the default radix for input and output. It can be set
3147 to 8, 10, or 16. Note that the argument to "radix" is interpreted
3148 in the current radix, so "set radix 10" is always a no-op.
3150 height N: This integer value is the number of lines on a page. Default
3151 is 24, the current `stty rows'' setting, or the ``li#''
3152 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
3155 width N: This integer value is the number of characters on a line.
3156 Default is 80, the current `stty cols'' setting, or the ``co#''
3157 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
3160 Note: ``set screensize'' is obsolete. Use ``set height'' and
3161 ``set width'' instead.
3163 print address on/off: Print memory addresses in various command displays,
3164 such as stack traces and structure values. Gdb looks
3165 more ``symbolic'' if you turn this off; it looks more
3166 ``machine level'' with it on. Default is ON.
3168 print array on/off: Prettyprint arrays. New convenient format! Default
3171 print demangle on/off: Print C++ symbols in "source" form if on,
3174 print asm-demangle on/off: Same, for assembler level printouts
3177 print vtbl on/off: Prettyprint C++ virtual function tables. Default is OFF.
3180 * Support for Epoch Environment.
3182 The epoch environment is a version of Emacs v18 with windowing. One
3183 new command, ``inspect'', is identical to ``print'', except that if you
3184 are running in the epoch environment, the value is printed in its own
3188 * Support for Shared Libraries
3190 GDB can now debug programs and core files that use SunOS shared libraries.
3191 Symbols from a shared library cannot be referenced
3192 before the shared library has been linked with the program (this
3193 happens after you type ``run'' and before the function main() is entered).
3194 At any time after this linking (including when examining core files
3195 from dynamically linked programs), gdb reads the symbols from each
3196 shared library when you type the ``sharedlibrary'' command.
3197 It can be abbreviated ``share''.
3199 sharedlibrary REGEXP: Load shared object library symbols for files
3200 matching a unix regular expression. No argument
3201 indicates to load symbols for all shared libraries.
3203 info sharedlibrary: Status of loaded shared libraries.
3208 A watchpoint stops execution of a program whenever the value of an
3209 expression changes. Checking for this slows down execution
3210 tremendously whenever you are in the scope of the expression, but is
3211 quite useful for catching tough ``bit-spreader'' or pointer misuse
3212 problems. Some machines such as the 386 have hardware for doing this
3213 more quickly, and future versions of gdb will use this hardware.
3215 watch EXP: Set a watchpoint (breakpoint) for an expression.
3217 info watchpoints: Information about your watchpoints.
3219 delete N: Deletes watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
3220 disable N: Temporarily turns off watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
3221 enable N: Re-enables watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
3224 * C++ multiple inheritance
3226 When used with a GCC version 2 compiler, GDB supports multiple inheritance
3229 * C++ exception handling
3231 Gdb now supports limited C++ exception handling. Besides the existing
3232 ability to breakpoint on an exception handler, gdb can breakpoint on
3233 the raising of an exception (before the stack is peeled back to the
3236 catch FOO: If there is a FOO exception handler in the dynamic scope,
3237 set a breakpoint to catch exceptions which may be raised there.
3238 Multiple exceptions (``catch foo bar baz'') may be caught.
3240 info catch: Lists all exceptions which may be caught in the
3241 current stack frame.
3244 * Minor command changes
3246 The command ``call func (arg, arg, ...)'' now acts like the print
3247 command, except it does not print or save a value if the function's result
3248 is void. This is similar to dbx usage.
3250 The ``up'' and ``down'' commands now always print the frame they end up
3251 at; ``up-silently'' and `down-silently'' can be used in scripts to change
3252 frames without printing.
3254 * New directory command
3256 'dir' now adds directories to the FRONT of the source search path.
3257 The path starts off empty. Source files that contain debug information
3258 about the directory in which they were compiled can be found even
3259 with an empty path; Sun CC and GCC include this information. If GDB can't
3260 find your source file in the current directory, type "dir .".
3262 * Configuring GDB for compilation
3264 For normal use, type ``./configure host''. See README or gdb.texinfo
3267 GDB now handles cross debugging. If you are remotely debugging between
3268 two different machines, type ``./configure host -target=targ''.
3269 Host is the machine where GDB will run; targ is the machine
3270 where the program that you are debugging will run.
projects / deliverable / binutils-gdb.git / blob