What has changed in GDB?
(Organized release by release)
-*** Changes since GDB 6.7
+*** Changes since GDB 6.8
+
+* GDB now supports automatic retrieval of shared library files from
+remote targets. To use this feature, specify a system root that begins
+with the `remote:' prefix, either via the `set sysroot' command or via
+the `--with-sysroot' configure-time option.
+
+* Commands `set debug-file-directory', `set solib-search-path' and `set args'
+now complete on file names.
+
+* When completing in expressions, gdb will attempt to limit
+completions to allowable structure or union fields, where appropriate.
+For instance, consider:
+
+ # struct example { int f1; double f2; };
+ # struct example variable;
+ (gdb) p variable.
+
+If the user types TAB at the end of this command line, the available
+completions will be "f1" and "f2".
+
+* GDB now supports the token-splicing (##) and stringification (#)
+operators when expanding macros. It also supports variable-arity
+macros.
+
+* New remote packets
+
+qSearch:memory:
+ Search memory for a sequence of bytes.
+
+QStartNoAckMode
+ Turn off `+'/`-' protocol acknowledgments to permit more efficient
+ operation over reliable transport links. Use of this packet is
+ controlled by the `set remote noack-packet' command.
+
+* Removed remote protocol undocumented extension
+
+ An undocumented extension to the remote protocol's `S' stop reply
+ packet that permited the stub to pass a process id was removed.
+ Remote servers should use the `T' stop reply packet instead.
+
+* The "disassemble" command now supports an optional /m modifier to print mixed
+source+assembly.
+
+* GDB now supports multiple function calling conventions according to the
+DWARF-2 DW_AT_calling_convention function attribute.
+
+* The SH target utilizes the aforementioned change to distinguish between gcc
+and Renesas calling convention. It also adds the new CLI commands
+`set/show sh calling-convention'.
+
+* GDB can now read compressed debug sections, as produced by GNU gold
+with the --compress-debug-sections=zlib flag.
+
+* 64-bit core files are now supported on AIX.
+
+* Watchpoints can now be set on unreadable memory locations, e.g. addresses
+which will be allocated using malloc later in program execution.
+
+* The qXfer:libraries:read remote procotol packet now allows passing a
+list of section offsets.
+
+* On GNU/Linux, GDB can now attach to stopped processes. Several race
+conditions handling signals delivered during attach or thread creation
+have also been fixed.
+
+* GDB now supports the use of DWARF boolean types for Ada's type Boolean.
+From the user's standpoint, all unqualified instances of True and False
+are treated as the standard definitions, regardless of context.
+
+* New features in the GDB remote stub, gdbserver
+
+ - The "--wrapper" command-line argument tells gdbserver to use a
+ wrapper program to launch programs for debugging.
+
+ - On PowerPC and S/390 targets, it is now possible to use a single
+ gdbserver executable to debug both 32-bit and 64-bit programs.
+ (This requires gdbserver itself to be built as a 64-bit executable.)
+
+ - gdbserver uses the new noack protocol mode for TCP connections to
+ reduce communications latency, if also supported and enabled in GDB.
+
+* Python scripting
+
+ GDB now has support for scripting using Python. Whether this is
+ available is determined at configure time.
+
+* New commands
+
+find [/size-char] [/max-count] start-address, end-address|+search-space-size,
+ val1 [, val2, ...]
+ Search memory for a sequence of bytes.
+
+maint set python print-stack
+maint show python print-stack
+ Show a stack trace when an error is encountered in a Python script.
+
+python [CODE]
+ Invoke CODE by passing it to the Python interpreter.
+
+set print symbol-loading
+show print symbol-loading
+ Control printing of symbol loading messages.
+
+set debug timestamp
+show debug timestamp
+ Display timestamps with GDB debugging output.
+
+set exec-wrapper
+show exec-wrapper
+unset exec-wrapper
+ Use a wrapper program to launch programs for debugging.
+
+set multiple-symbols (all|ask|cancel)
+show multiple-symbols
+ The value of this variable can be changed to adjust the debugger behavior
+ when an expression or a breakpoint location contains an ambiguous symbol
+ name (an overloaded function name, for instance).
+
+set breakpoint always-inserted
+show breakpoint always-inserted
+ Keep breakpoints always inserted in the target, as opposed to inserting
+ them when resuming the target, and removing them when the target stops.
+ This option can improve debugger performance on slow remote targets.
+
+set arm fallback-mode (arm|thumb|auto)
+show arm fallback-mode
+set arm force-mode (arm|thumb|auto)
+show arm force-mode
+ These commands control how ARM GDB determines whether instructions
+ are ARM or Thumb. The default for both settings is auto, which uses
+ the current CPSR value for instructions without symbols; previous
+ versions of GDB behaved as if "set arm fallback-mode arm".
+
+set disable-randomization
+show disable-randomization
+ Standalone programs run with the virtual address space randomization enabled
+ by default on some platforms. This option keeps the addresses stable across
+ multiple debugging sessions.
+
+set target-async
+ Requests that asynchronous execution is enabled in the target, if available.
+ In this case, it's possible to resume target in the background, and interact
+ with GDB while the target is running. "show target-async" displays the
+ current state of asynchronous execution of the target.
+
+macro define
+macro list
+macro undef
+ These allow macros to be defined, undefined, and listed
+ interactively.
+
+* New targets
+
+x86 DICOS i[34567]86-*-dicos*
+
+*** Changes in GDB 6.8
+
+* New native configurations
+
+NetBSD/hppa hppa*-*netbsd*
+Xtensa GNU/Linux xtensa*-*-linux*
+
+* New targets
+
+NetBSD/hppa hppa*-*-netbsd*
+Xtensa GNU/Lunux xtensa*-*-linux*
+
+* Change in command line behavior -- corefiles vs. process ids.
+
+ When the '-p NUMBER' or '--pid NUMBER' options are used, and
+ attaching to process NUMBER fails, GDB no longer attempts to open a
+ core file named NUMBER. Attaching to a program using the -c option
+ is no longer supported. Instead, use the '-p' or '--pid' options.
* GDB can now be built as a native debugger for debugging Windows x86
(mingw32) Portable Executable (PE) programs.
including breakpoints on C++ constructors, inside C++ templates,
and in inlined functions.
+* GDB's ability to debug optimized code has been improved. GDB more
+accurately identifies function bodies and lexical blocks that occupy
+more than one contiguous range of addresses.
+
* Target descriptions can now describe registers for PowerPC.
* The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports the AltiVec and SPE
* The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports thread debugging on GNU/Linux
targets even when the libthread_db library is not available.
+* The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports the new file transfer
+commands (remote put, remote get, and remote delete).
+
+* The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports run and attach in
+extended-remote mode.
+
* hppa*64*-*-hpux11* target broken
- The debugger is unable to start a program and fails with the following
- error: "Error trying to get information about dynamic linker".
- The gdb-6.7 release is also affected.
+The debugger is unable to start a program and fails with the following
+error: "Error trying to get information about dynamic linker".
+The gdb-6.7 release is also affected.
+
+* GDB now supports the --enable-targets= configure option to allow
+building a single GDB executable that supports multiple remote
+target architectures.
+
+* GDB now supports debugging C and C++ programs which use the
+Decimal Floating Point extension. In addition, the PowerPC target
+now has a set of pseudo-registers to inspect decimal float values
+stored in two consecutive float registers.
+
+* The -break-insert MI command can optionally create pending
+breakpoints now.
+
+* Improved support for debugging Ada
+Many improvements to the Ada language support have been made. These
+include:
+ - Better support for Ada2005 interface types
+ - Improved handling of arrays and slices in general
+ - Better support for Taft-amendment types
+ - The '{type} ADDRESS' expression is now allowed on the left hand-side
+ of an assignment
+ - Improved command completion in Ada
+ - Several bug fixes
+
+* GDB on GNU/Linux and HP/UX can now debug through "exec" of a new
+process.
+
+* New commands
+
+set print frame-arguments (all|scalars|none)
+show print frame-arguments
+ The value of this variable can be changed to control which argument
+ values should be printed by the debugger when displaying a frame.
+
+remote put
+remote get
+remote delete
+ Transfer files to and from a remote target, and delete remote files.
+
+* New MI commands
+
+-target-file-put
+-target-file-get
+-target-file-delete
+ Transfer files to and from a remote target, and delete remote files.
+
+* New remote packets
+
+vFile:open:
+vFile:close:
+vFile:pread:
+vFile:pwrite:
+vFile:unlink:
+ Open, close, read, write, and delete files on the remote system.
+
+vAttach
+ Attach to an existing process on the remote system, in extended-remote
+ mode.
+
+vRun
+ Run a new process on the remote system, in extended-remote mode.
*** Changes in GDB 6.7