What has changed in GDB?
(Organized release by release)
-*** Changes since GDB 7.12
+*** Changes since GDB 8.1
+
+* 'info proc' now works on running processes on FreeBSD systems and core
+ files created on FreeBSD systems.
+
+* New commands
+
+set debug fbsd-nat
+show debug fbsd-nat
+ Control display of debugging info regarding the FreeBSD native target.
+
+set|show varsize-limit
+ This new setting allows the user to control the maximum size of Ada
+ objects being printed when those objects have a variable type,
+ instead of that maximum size being hardcoded to 65536 bytes.
+
+* New targets
+
+RiscV ELF riscv*-*-elf
+
+*** Changes in GDB 8.1
+
+* GDB now supports dynamically creating arbitrary register groups specified
+ in XML target descriptions. This allows for finer grain grouping of
+ registers on systems with a large amount of registers.
+
+* The 'ptype' command now accepts a '/o' flag, which prints the
+ offsets and sizes of fields in a struct, like the pahole(1) tool.
+
+* New "--readnever" command line option instructs GDB to not read each
+ symbol file's symbolic debug information. This makes startup faster
+ but at the expense of not being able to perform symbolic debugging.
+ This option is intended for use cases where symbolic debugging will
+ not be used, e.g., when you only need to dump the debuggee's core.
+
+* GDB now uses the GNU MPFR library, if available, to emulate target
+ floating-point arithmetic during expression evaluation when the target
+ uses different floating-point formats than the host. At least version
+ 3.1 of GNU MPFR is required.
+
+* GDB now supports access to the guarded-storage-control registers and the
+ software-based guarded-storage broadcast control registers on IBM z14.
+
+* On Unix systems, GDB now supports transmitting environment variables
+ that are to be set or unset to GDBserver. These variables will
+ affect the environment to be passed to the remote inferior.
+
+ To inform GDB of environment variables that are to be transmitted to
+ GDBserver, use the "set environment" command. Only user set
+ environment variables are sent to GDBserver.
+
+ To inform GDB of environment variables that are to be unset before
+ the remote inferior is started by the GDBserver, use the "unset
+ environment" command.
+
+* Completion improvements
+
+ ** GDB can now complete function parameters in linespecs and
+ explicit locations without quoting. When setting breakpoints,
+ quoting around functions names to help with TAB-completion is
+ generally no longer necessary. For example, this now completes
+ correctly:
+
+ (gdb) b function(in[TAB]
+ (gdb) b function(int)
+
+ Related, GDB is no longer confused with completing functions in
+ C++ anonymous namespaces:
+
+ (gdb) b (anon[TAB]
+ (gdb) b (anonymous namespace)::[TAB][TAB]
+ (anonymous namespace)::a_function()
+ (anonymous namespace)::b_function()
+
+ ** GDB now has much improved linespec and explicit locations TAB
+ completion support, that better understands what you're
+ completing and offers better suggestions. For example, GDB no
+ longer offers data symbols as possible completions when you're
+ setting a breakpoint.
+
+ ** GDB now TAB-completes label symbol names.
+
+ ** The "complete" command now mimics TAB completion accurately.
+
+* New command line options (gcore)
+
+-a
+ Dump all memory mappings.
+
+* Breakpoints on C++ functions are now set on all scopes by default
+
+ By default, breakpoints on functions/methods are now interpreted as
+ specifying all functions with the given name ignoring missing
+ leading scopes (namespaces and classes).
+
+ For example, assuming a C++ program with symbols named:
+
+ A::B::func()
+ B::func()
+
+ both commands "break func()" and "break B::func()" set a breakpoint
+ on both symbols.
+
+ You can use the new flag "-qualified" to override this. This makes
+ GDB interpret the specified function name as a complete
+ fully-qualified name instead. For example, using the same C++
+ program, the "break -q B::func" command sets a breakpoint on
+ "B::func", only. A parameter has been added to the Python
+ gdb.Breakpoint constructor to achieve the same result when creating
+ a breakpoint from Python.
+
+* Breakpoints on functions marked with C++ ABI tags
+
+ GDB can now set breakpoints on functions marked with C++ ABI tags
+ (e.g., [abi:cxx11]). See here for a description of ABI tags:
+ https://developers.redhat.com/blog/2015/02/05/gcc5-and-the-c11-abi/
+
+ Functions with a C++11 abi tag are demangled/displayed like this:
+
+ function[abi:cxx11](int)
+ ^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+ You can now set a breakpoint on such functions simply as if they had
+ no tag, like:
+
+ (gdb) b function(int)
+
+ Or if you need to disambiguate between tags, like:
+
+ (gdb) b function[abi:other_tag](int)
+
+ Tab completion was adjusted accordingly as well.
+
+* Python Scripting
+
+ ** New events gdb.new_inferior, gdb.inferior_deleted, and
+ gdb.new_thread are emitted. See the manual for further
+ description of these.
+
+ ** A new function, "gdb.rbreak" has been added to the Python API.
+ This function allows the setting of a large number of breakpoints
+ via a regex pattern in Python. See the manual for further details.
+
+ ** Python breakpoints can now accept explicit locations. See the
+ manual for a further description of this feature.
+
+
+* New features in the GDB remote stub, GDBserver
+
+ ** GDBserver is now able to start inferior processes with a
+ specified initial working directory.
+
+ The user can set the desired working directory to be used from
+ GDB using the new "set cwd" command.
+
+ ** New "--selftest" command line option runs some GDBserver self
+ tests. These self tests are disabled in releases.
+
+ ** On Unix systems, GDBserver now does globbing expansion and variable
+ substitution in inferior command line arguments.
+
+ This is done by starting inferiors using a shell, like GDB does.
+ See "set startup-with-shell" in the user manual for how to disable
+ this from GDB when using "target extended-remote". When using
+ "target remote", you can disable the startup with shell by using the
+ new "--no-startup-with-shell" GDBserver command line option.
+
+ ** On Unix systems, GDBserver now supports receiving environment
+ variables that are to be set or unset from GDB. These variables
+ will affect the environment to be passed to the inferior.
+
+* When catching an Ada exception raised with a message, GDB now prints
+ the message in the catchpoint hit notification. In GDB/MI mode, that
+ information is provided as an extra field named "exception-message"
+ in the *stopped notification.
+
+* Trait objects can now be inspected When debugging Rust code. This
+ requires compiler support which will appear in Rust 1.24.
+
+* New remote packets
+
+QEnvironmentHexEncoded
+ Inform GDBserver of an environment variable that is to be passed to
+ the inferior when starting it.
+
+QEnvironmentUnset
+ Inform GDBserver of an environment variable that is to be unset
+ before starting the remote inferior.
+
+QEnvironmentReset
+ Inform GDBserver that the environment should be reset (i.e.,
+ user-set environment variables should be unset).
+
+QStartupWithShell
+ Indicates whether the inferior must be started with a shell or not.
+
+QSetWorkingDir
+ Tell GDBserver that the inferior to be started should use a specific
+ working directory.
+
+* The "maintenance print c-tdesc" command now takes an optional
+ argument which is the file name of XML target description.
+
+* The "maintenance selftest" command now takes an optional argument to
+ filter the tests to be run.
+
+* The "enable", and "disable" commands now accept a range of
+ breakpoint locations, e.g. "enable 1.3-5".
+
+* New commands
+
+set|show cwd
+ Set and show the current working directory for the inferior.
+
+set|show compile-gcc
+ Set and show compilation command used for compiling and injecting code
+ with the 'compile' commands.
+
+set debug separate-debug-file
+show debug separate-debug-file
+ Control the display of debug output about separate debug file search.
+
+set dump-excluded-mappings
+show dump-excluded-mappings
+ Control whether mappings marked with the VM_DONTDUMP flag should be
+ dumped when generating a core file.
+
+maint info selftests
+ List the registered selftests.
+
+starti
+ Start the debugged program stopping at the first instruction.
+
+set|show debug or1k
+ Control display of debugging messages related to OpenRISC targets.
+
+set|show print type nested-type-limit
+ Set and show the limit of nesting level for nested types that the
+ type printer will show.
+
+* TUI Single-Key mode now supports two new shortcut keys: `i' for stepi and
+ `o' for nexti.
+
+* Safer/improved support for debugging with no debug info
+
+ GDB no longer assumes functions with no debug information return
+ 'int'.
+
+ This means that GDB now refuses to call such functions unless you
+ tell it the function's type, by either casting the call to the
+ declared return type, or by casting the function to a function
+ pointer of the right type, and calling that:
+
+ (gdb) p getenv ("PATH")
+ 'getenv' has unknown return type; cast the call to its declared return type
+ (gdb) p (char *) getenv ("PATH")
+ $1 = 0x7fffffffe "/usr/local/bin:/"...
+ (gdb) p ((char * (*) (const char *)) getenv) ("PATH")
+ $2 = 0x7fffffffe "/usr/local/bin:/"...
+
+ Similarly, GDB no longer assumes that global variables with no debug
+ info have type 'int', and refuses to print the variable's value
+ unless you tell it the variable's type:
+
+ (gdb) p var
+ 'var' has unknown type; cast it to its declared type
+ (gdb) p (float) var
+ $3 = 3.14
+
+* New native configurations
+
+FreeBSD/aarch64 aarch64*-*-freebsd*
+FreeBSD/arm arm*-*-freebsd*
+
+* New targets
+
+FreeBSD/aarch64 aarch64*-*-freebsd*
+FreeBSD/arm arm*-*-freebsd*
+OpenRISC ELF or1k*-*-elf
+
+* Removed targets and native configurations
+
+Solaris 2.0-9 i?86-*-solaris2.[0-9], sparc*-*-solaris2.[0-9]
+
+*** Changes in GDB 8.0
* GDB now supports access to the PKU register on GNU/Linux. The register is
added by the Memory Protection Keys for Userspace feature which will be
FreeBSD/mips mips*-*-freebsd
-
* New targets
Synopsys ARC arc*-*-elf32
FreeBSD/mips mips*-*-freebsd
+* Removed targets and native configurations
+
+Alpha running FreeBSD alpha*-*-freebsd*
+Alpha running GNU/kFreeBSD alpha*-*-kfreebsd*-gnu
+
* New commands
flash-erase
Erases all the flash memory regions reported by the target.
-* New MI commands
-
--target-flash-erase
- Erases all the flash memory regions reported by the target. This is
- equivalent to the CLI command flash-erase.
-
--file-list-shared-libraries
- List the shared libraries in the program. This is
- equivalent to the CLI command "info shared".
+maint print arc arc-instruction address
+ Print internal disassembler information about instruction at a given address.
-* New commands
+* New options
set disassembler-options
show disassembler-options
The default value is the empty string. Currently, the only supported
targets are ARM, PowerPC and S/390.
-maint print arc arc-instruction address
- Print internal disassembler information about instruction at a given address.
+* New MI commands
+
+-target-flash-erase
+ Erases all the flash memory regions reported by the target. This is
+ equivalent to the CLI command flash-erase.
+
+-file-list-shared-libraries
+ List the shared libraries in the program. This is
+ equivalent to the CLI command "info shared".
+
+-catch-handlers
+ Catchpoints stopping the program when Ada exceptions are
+ handled. This is equivalent to the CLI command "catch handlers".
*** Changes in GDB 7.12
* Support for reading/writing memory and extracting values on architectures
whose memory is addressable in units of any integral multiple of 8 bits.
+catch handlers
+ Allows to break when an Ada exception is handled.
+
* New remote packets
exec stop reason