- README for gdb-6.3 release
- Updated 8, November, 2004 by Andrew Cagney
+ README for GDB release
This is GDB, the GNU source-level debugger.
Unpacking and Installation -- quick overview
==========================
- In this release, the GDB debugger sources, the generic GNU include
+ The release is provided as a gzipped tar file called
+'gdb-VERSION.tar.gz', where VERSION is the version of GDB.
+
+ The GDB debugger sources, the generic GNU include
files, the BFD ("binary file description") library, the readline
library, and other libraries all have directories of their own
-underneath the gdb-6.3 directory. The idea is that a variety of GNU
+underneath the gdb-VERSION directory. The idea is that a variety of GNU
tools can share a common copy of these things. Be aware of variation
-over time--for example don't try to build gdb with a copy of bfd from
-a release other than the gdb release (such as a binutils release),
+over time--for example don't try to build GDB with a copy of bfd from
+a release other than the GDB release (such as a binutils release),
especially if the releases are more than a few weeks apart.
Configuration scripts and makefiles exist to cruise up and down this
directory tree and automatically build all the pieces in the right
order.
- When you unpack the gdb-6.3.tar.gz file, you'll find a directory
-called `gdb-6.3', which contains:
-
- COPYING config-ml.in gdb ltcf-gcj.sh readline
- COPYING.LIB config.guess gettext.m4 ltconfig sim
- Makefile.def config.if include ltmain.sh src-release
- Makefile.in config.sub install-sh md5.sum symlink-tree
- Makefile.tpl configure libiberty missing texinfo
- README configure.in libtool.m4 mkinstalldirs ylwrap
- bfd djunpack.bat ltcf-c.sh move-if-change
- config etc ltcf-cxx.sh opcodes
+ When you unpack the gdb-VERSION.tar.gz file, it will create a
+source directory called `gdb-VERSION'.
You can build GDB right in the source directory:
- cd gdb-6.3
+ cd gdb-VERSION
./configure
make
cp gdb/gdb /usr/local/bin/gdb (or wherever you want)
mkdir build
cd build
- <full path to your sources>/gdb-6.3/configure
+ <full path to your sources>/gdb-VERSION/configure
make
cp gdb/gdb /usr/local/bin/gdb (or wherever you want)
(Building GDB with DJGPP tools for MS-DOS/MS-Windows is slightly
-different; see the file gdb-6.3/gdb/config/djgpp/README for details.)
+different; see the file gdb-VERSION/gdb/config/djgpp/README for details.)
This will configure and build all the libraries as well as GDB. If
`configure' can't determine your system type, specify one as its
argument, e.g., `./configure sun4' or `./configure decstation'.
- Make sure that your 'configure' line ends in 'gdb-6.3/configure':
+ Make sure that your 'configure' line ends in 'gdb-VERSION/configure':
- /berman/migchain/source/gdb-6.3/configure # RIGHT
- /berman/migchain/source/gdb-6.3/gdb/configure # WRONG
+ /berman/migchain/source/gdb-VERSION/configure # RIGHT
+ /berman/migchain/source/gdb-VERSION/gdb/configure # WRONG
- The gdb package contains several subdirectories, such as 'gdb',
+ The GDB package contains several subdirectories, such as 'gdb',
'bfd', and 'readline'. If your 'configure' line ends in
-'gdb-6.3/gdb/configure', then you are configuring only the gdb
-subdirectory, not the whole gdb package. This leads to build errors
+'gdb-VERSION/gdb/configure', then you are configuring only the gdb
+subdirectory, not the whole GDB package. This leads to build errors
such as:
make: *** No rule to make target `../bfd/bfd.h', needed by `gdb.o'. Stop.
GDB requires an ISO C (ANSI C) compiler. If you do not have an ISO
C compiler for your system, you may be able to download and install
the GNU CC compiler. It is available via anonymous FTP from the
-directory `ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/gcc'.
+directory `ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/gcc'. GDB also requires an ISO
+C standard library. The GDB remote server, GDBserver, builds with some
+non-ISO standard libraries - e.g. for Windows CE.
+
+ GDB uses Expat, an XML parsing library, to implement some target-specific
+features. Expat will be linked in if it is available at build time, or
+those features will be disabled. The latest version of Expat should be
+available from `http://expat.sourceforge.net'.
+
+ GDB uses GNU MPFR, a library for multiple-precision floating-point
+computation with correct rounding, to emulate target floating-point
+arithmetic during expression evaluation when the target uses different
+floating-point formats than the host. MPFR will be linked in if it is
+available at build time. If GNU MPFR it is not available, GDB will fall
+back to using host floating-point arithmetic. The latest version of
+GNU MPFR should be available from `http://www.mpfr.org'.
GDB can be used as a cross-debugger, running on a machine of one
type while debugging a program running on a machine of another type.
GDB includes an already formatted copy of the on-line Info version
of this manual in the `gdb/doc' subdirectory. The main Info file is
-`gdb-6.3/gdb/doc/gdb.info', and it refers to subordinate files
+`gdb-VERSION/gdb/doc/gdb.info', and it refers to subordinate files
matching `gdb.info*' in the same directory. If necessary, you can
print out these files, or read them with any editor; but they are
easier to read using the `info' subsystem in GNU Emacs or the
`makeinfo'.
If you have `makeinfo' installed, and are in the top level GDB
-source directory (`gdb-6.3', in the case of version 6.3), you can make
-the Info file by typing:
+source directory (`gdb-VERSION'), you can make the Info file by
+typing:
cd gdb/doc
make info
If you want to typeset and print copies of this manual, you need
TeX, a program to print its DVI output files, and `texinfo.tex', the
Texinfo definitions file. This file is included in the GDB
-distribution, in the directory `gdb-6.3/texinfo'.
+distribution, in the directory `gdb-VERSION/texinfo'.
TeX is a typesetting program; it does not print files directly, but
produces output files called DVI files. To print a typeset document,
This file tells TeX how to typeset a document written in Texinfo
format. On its own, TeX cannot read, much less typeset a Texinfo file.
`texinfo.tex' is distributed with GDB and is located in the
-`gdb-6.3/texinfo' directory.
+`gdb-VERSION/texinfo' directory.
If you have TeX and a DVI printer program installed, you can typeset
-and print this manual. First switch to the the `gdb' subdirectory of
-the main source directory (for example, to `gdb-6.3/gdb') and then type:
+and print this manual. First switch to the `gdb' subdirectory of
+the main source directory (for example, to `gdb-VERSION/gdb') and then type:
make doc/gdb.dvi
`gdb' program.
The GDB distribution includes all the source code you need for GDB in
-a single directory, whose name is usually composed by appending the
-version number to `gdb'.
-
- For example, the GDB version 6.3 distribution is in the `gdb-6.3'
-directory. That directory contains:
+a single directory. That directory contains:
-`gdb-6.3/{COPYING,COPYING.LIB}'
+`gdb-VERSION/{COPYING,COPYING.LIB}'
Standard GNU license files. Please read them.
-`gdb-6.3/bfd'
+`gdb-VERSION/bfd'
source for the Binary File Descriptor library
-`gdb-6.3/config*'
+`gdb-VERSION/config*'
script for configuring GDB, along with other support files
-`gdb-6.3/gdb'
+`gdb-VERSION/gdb'
the source specific to GDB itself
-`gdb-6.3/include'
+`gdb-VERSION/include'
GNU include files
-`gdb-6.3/libiberty'
+`gdb-VERSION/libiberty'
source for the `-liberty' free software library
-`gdb-6.3/opcodes'
+`gdb-VERSION/opcodes'
source for the library of opcode tables and disassemblers
-`gdb-6.3/readline'
+`gdb-VERSION/readline'
source for the GNU command-line interface
NOTE: The readline library is compiled for use by GDB, but will
not be installed on your system when "make install" is issued.
-`gdb-6.3/sim'
+`gdb-VERSION/sim'
source for some simulators (ARM, D10V, SPARC, M32R, MIPS, PPC, V850, etc)
-`gdb-6.3/texinfo'
+`gdb-VERSION/texinfo'
The `texinfo.tex' file, which you need in order to make a printed
manual using TeX.
-`gdb-6.3/etc'
+`gdb-VERSION/etc'
Coding standards, useful files for editing GDB, and other
miscellanea.
MS-DOS/MS-Windows are in the file gdb/config/djgpp/README.
The simplest way to configure and build GDB is to run `configure'
-from the `gdb-VERSION-NUMBER' source directory, which in this example
-is the `gdb-6.3' directory.
+from the `gdb-VERSION' directory.
- First switch to the `gdb-VERSION-NUMBER' source directory if you are
+ First switch to the `gdb-VERSION' source directory if you are
not already in it; then run `configure'.
For example:
- cd gdb-6.3
+ cd gdb-VERSION
./configure
make
sh configure
If you run `configure' from a directory that contains source
-directories for multiple libraries or programs, such as the `gdb-6.3'
-source directory for version 6.3, `configure' creates configuration
-files for every directory level underneath (unless you tell it not to,
-with the `--norecursion' option).
-
- You can run the `configure' script from any of the subordinate
-directories in the GDB distribution, if you only want to configure that
-subdirectory; but be sure to specify a path to it.
-
- For example, with version 6.3, type the following to configure only
-the `bfd' subdirectory:
-
- cd gdb-6.3/bfd
- ../configure
+directories for multiple libraries or programs, `configure' creates
+configuration files for every directory level underneath (unless
+you tell it not to, with the `--norecursion' option).
You can install `gdb' anywhere; it has no hardwired paths. However,
you should make sure that the shell on your path (named by the `SHELL'
argument to `--srcdir', you can leave out the `--srcdir' option; it
will be assumed.)
- For example, with version 6.3, you can build GDB in a separate
+ For example, you can build GDB in a separate
directory for a Sun 4 like this:
- cd gdb-6.3
+ cd gdb-VERSION
mkdir ../gdb-sun4
cd ../gdb-sun4
- ../gdb-6.3/configure
+ ../gdb-VERSION/configure
make
When `configure' builds a configuration using a remote source
The `Makefile' that `configure' generates in each source directory
also runs recursively. If you type `make' in a source directory such
-as `gdb-6.3' (or in a separate configured directory configured with
-`--srcdir=PATH/gdb-6.3'), you will build all the required libraries,
+as `gdb-VERSION' (or in a separate configured directory configured with
+`--srcdir=PATH/gdb-VERSION'), you will build all the required libraries,
and then build GDB.
When you have multiple hosts or targets configured in separate
% sh config.sub i786v
Invalid configuration `i786v': machine `i786v' not recognized
-`config.sub' is also distributed in the GDB source directory
-(`gdb-6.3', for version 6.3).
+`config.sub' is also distributed in the GDB source directory.
`configure' options
directories under the working directory in parallel to the source
directories below PATH.
+`--host=HOST'
+ Configure GDB to run on the specified HOST.
+
+ There is no convenient way to generate a list of all available
+ hosts.
+
+`HOST ...'
+ Same as `--host=HOST'. If you omit this, GDB will guess; it's
+ quite accurate.
+
`--norecursion'
Configure only the directory level where `configure' is executed;
do not propagate configuration to subdirectories.
-Wparentheses
-Wpointer-arith
+`--enable-werror'
+ Treat compiler warnings as werrors. Use this only with GCC. It
+ adds the -Werror flag to the compiler, which will fail the
+ compilation if the compiler outputs any warning messages.
+
`--target=TARGET'
Configure GDB for cross-debugging programs running on the specified
TARGET. Without this option, GDB is configured to debug programs
There is no convenient way to generate a list of all available
targets.
-`--host=HOST'
- Configure GDB to run on the specified HOST.
-
- There is no convenient way to generate a list of all available
- hosts.
-
-`HOST ...'
- Same as `--host=HOST'. If you omit this, GDB will guess; it's
- quite accurate.
+`--with-gdb-datadir=PATH'
+ Set the GDB-specific data directory. GDB will look here for
+ certain supporting files or scripts. This defaults to the `gdb'
+ subdirectory of `datadir' (which can be set using `--datadir').
+
+`--with-relocated-sources=DIR'
+ Sets up the default source path substitution rule so that
+ directory names recorded in debug information will be
+ automatically adjusted for any directory under DIR. DIR should
+ be a subdirectory of GDB's configured prefix, the one mentioned
+ in the `--prefix' or `--exec-prefix' options to configure. This
+ option is useful if GDB is supposed to be moved to a different
+ place after it is built.
+
+`--enable-64-bit-bfd'
+ Enable 64-bit support in BFD on 32-bit hosts.
+
+`--disable-gdbmi'
+ Build GDB without the GDB/MI machine interface.
+
+`--enable-tui'
+ Build GDB with the text-mode full-screen user interface (TUI).
+ Requires a curses library (ncurses and cursesX are also
+ supported).
+
+`--enable-gdbtk'
+ Build GDB with the gdbtk GUI interface. Requires TCL/Tk to be
+ installed.
+
+`--with-libunwind-ia64'
+ Use the libunwind library for unwinding function call stack on ia64
+ target platforms.
+ See http://www.nongnu.org/libunwind/index.html for details.
+
+`--with-curses'
+ Use the curses library instead of the termcap library, for
+ text-mode terminal operations.
+
+`--enable-profiling' Enable profiling of GDB itself. Necessary if you
+ want to use the "maint set profile" command for profiling GDB.
+ Requires the functions `monstartup' and `_mcleanup' to be present
+ in the standard C library used to build GDB, and also requires a
+ compiler that supports the `-pg' option.
+
+`--with-system-readline'
+ Use the readline library installed on the host, rather than the
+ library supplied as part of GDB tarball.
+
+`--with-expat'
+ Build GDB with the libexpat library. (Done by default if
+ libexpat is installed and found at configure time.) This library
+ is used to read XML files supplied with GDB. If it is
+ unavailable, some features, such as remote protocol memory maps,
+ target descriptions, and shared library lists, that are based on
+ XML files, will not be available in GDB. If your host does not
+ have libexpat installed, you can get the latest version from
+ http://expat.sourceforge.net.
+
+`--with-mpfr'
+ Build GDB with the GNU MPFR library. (Done by default if
+ GNU MPFR is installed and found at configure time.) This library
+ is used to emulate target floating-point arithmetic during expression
+ evaluation when the target uses different floating-point formats than
+ the host. If GNU MPFR is not available, GDB will fall back to using
+ host floating-point arithmetic. If your host does not have GNU MPFR
+ installed, you can get the latest version from http://www.mpfr.org.
+
+`--with-python[=PATH]'
+ Build GDB with Python scripting support. (Done by default if
+ libpython is present and found at configure time.) Python makes
+ GDB scripting much more powerful than the restricted CLI
+ scripting language. If your host does not have Python installed,
+ you can find it on http://www.python.org/download/. The oldest
+ version of Python supported by GDB is 2.4. The optional argument
+ PATH says where to find the Python headers and libraries; the
+ configure script will look in PATH/include for headers and in
+ PATH/lib for the libraries.
+
+`--without-included-regex'
+ Don't use the regex library included with GDB (as part of the
+ libiberty library). This is the default on hosts with version 2
+ of the GNU C library.
+
+`--with-sysroot=DIR'
+ Use DIR as the default system root directory for libraries whose
+ file names begin with `/lib' or `/usr/lib'. (The value of DIR
+ can be modified at run time by using the "set sysroot" command.)
+ If DIR is under the GDB configured prefix (set with `--prefix' or
+ `--exec-prefix' options), the default system root will be
+ automatically adjusted if and when GDB is moved to a different
+ location.
+
+`--with-system-gdbinit=FILE'
+ Configure GDB to automatically load a system-wide init file.
+ FILE should be an absolute file name. If FILE is in a directory
+ under the configured prefix, and GDB is moved to another location
+ after being built, the location of the system-wide init file will
+ be adjusted accordingly.
`configure' accepts other options, for compatibility with configuring
other GNU tools recursively; but these are the only options that affect
with the remote.c stub over a serial line.
The directory gdb/gdbserver/ contains `gdbserver', a program that
-allows remote debugging for Unix applications. gdbserver is only
+allows remote debugging for Unix applications. GDBserver is only
supported for some native configurations, including Sun 3, Sun 4, and
Linux.
+The file gdb/gdbserver/README includes further notes on GDBserver; in
+particular, it explains how to build GDBserver for cross-debugging
+(where GDBserver runs on the target machine, which is of a different
+architecture than the host machine running GDB).
There are a number of remote interfaces for talking to existing ROM
monitors and other hardware:
- remote-e7000.c Renesas E7000 ICE
- remote-est.c EST emulator
- remote-hms.c Renesas Micro Systems H8/300 monitor
remote-mips.c MIPS remote debugging protocol
- remote-rdi.c ARM with Angel monitor
- remote-rdp.c ARM with Demon monitor
remote-sds.c PowerPC SDS monitor
remote-sim.c Generalized simulator protocol
- remote-st.c Tandem ST-2000 monitor
- remote-vx.c VxWorks realtime kernel
-
- Remote-vx.c and the vx-share subdirectory contain a remote
-interface for the VxWorks realtime kernel, which communicates over TCP
-using the Sun RPC library. This would be a useful starting point for
-other remote- via-ethernet back ends.
Reporting Bugs in GDB
As an alternative, the bug report can be submitted, via e-mail, to the
address "bug-gdb@gnu.org".
- When submitting a bug, please include the GDB version number (e.g.,
-gdb-6.3), and how you configured it (e.g., "sun4" or "mach386 host,
+ When submitting a bug, please include the GDB version number, and
+how you configured it (e.g., "sun4" or "mach386 host,
i586-intel-synopsys target"). Since GDB now supports so many
different configurations, it is important that you be precise about
-this. If at all possible, you should include the actual banner that
-GDB prints when it starts up, or failing that, the actual configure
-command that you used when configuring GDB.
+this. If at all possible, you should include the actual banner
+that GDB prints when it starts up, or failing that, the actual
+configure command that you used when configuring GDB.
For more information on how/whether to report bugs, see the
Reporting Bugs chapter of the GDB manual (gdb/doc/gdb.texinfo).
Writing Code for GDB
=====================
- There is a lot of information about writing code for GDB in the
-internals manual, distributed with GDB in gdb/doc/gdbint.texinfo. You
-can read it by hand, print it by using TeX and texinfo, or process it
-into an `info' file for use with Emacs' info mode or the standalone
-`info' program.
+ There is information about writing code for GDB in the file
+`CONTRIBUTE' and at the website:
+
+ http://www.gnu.org/software/gdb/
+
+in particular in the wiki.
If you are pondering writing anything but a short patch, especially
-take note of the information about copyrights in the node Submitting
-Patches. It can take quite a while to get all the paperwork done, so
+take note of the information about copyrights and copyright assignment.
+It can take quite a while to get all the paperwork done, so
we encourage you to start that process as soon as you decide you are
planning to work on something, or at least well ahead of when you
think you will be ready to submit the patches.
Once DejaGNU is installed, you can run the tests in one of the
following ways:
- (1) cd gdb-6.3
+ (1) cd gdb-VERSION
make check-gdb
or
- (2) cd gdb-6.3/gdb
+ (2) cd gdb-VERSION/gdb
make check
or
- (3) cd gdb-6.3/gdb/testsuite
+ (3) cd gdb-VERSION/gdb/testsuite
make site.exp (builds the site specific file)
runtest -tool gdb GDB=../gdb (or GDB=<somepath> as appropriate)
+When using a `make'-based method, you can use the Makefile variable
+`RUNTESTFLAGS' to pass flags to `runtest', e.g.:
+
+ make RUNTESTFLAGS=--directory=gdb.cp check
+
+If you use GNU make, you can use its `-j' option to run the testsuite
+in parallel. This can greatly reduce the amount of time it takes for
+the testsuite to run. In this case, if you set `RUNTESTFLAGS' then,
+by default, the tests will be run serially even under `-j'. You can
+override this and force a parallel run by setting the `make' variable
+`FORCE_PARALLEL' to any non-empty value. Note that the parallel `make
+check' assumes that you want to run the entire testsuite, so it is not
+compatible with some dejagnu options, like `--directory'.
+
The last method gives you slightly more control in case of problems
with building one or more test executables or if you are using the
testsuite `standalone', without it being part of the GDB source tree.
See the DejaGNU documentation for further details.
+
+Copyright and License Notices
+=============================
+
+Most files maintained by the GDB Project contain a copyright notice
+as well as a license notice, usually at the start of the file.
+
+To reduce the length of copyright notices, consecutive years in the
+copyright notice can be combined into a single range. For instance,
+the following list of copyright years...
+
+ 1986, 1988, 1989, 1991-1993, 1999, 2000, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011
+
+... is abbreviated into:
+
+ 1986, 1988-1989, 1991-1993, 1999-2000, 2007-2011
+
+Every year of each range, inclusive, is a copyrightable year that
+could be listed individually.
+
\f
(this is for editing this file with GNU emacs)
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