* NEWS: Mention new maintenance commands check-symtabs, and
[deliverable/binutils-gdb.git] / gdb / NEWS
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1 What has changed in GDB?
2 (Organized release by release)
3
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4*** Changes since GDB 7.6
5
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6* Python scripting
7
8 ** Frame filters and frame decorators have been added.
9
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10* New targets
11
12Nios II ELF nios2*-*-elf
13Nios II GNU/Linux nios2*-*-linux
14
bd712aed 15* New commands:
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16catch rethrow
17 Like "catch throw", but catches a re-thrown exception.
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18maint check-psymtabs
19 Renamed from old "maint check-symtabs".
20maint check-symtabs
21 Perform consistency checks on symtabs.
22maint expand-symtabs
23 Expand symtabs matching an optional regexp.
b340913d 24
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25show configuration
26 Display the details of GDB configure-time options.
27
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28maint set|show per-command
29maint set|show per-command space
30maint set|show per-command time
31maint set|show per-command symtab
32 Enable display of per-command gdb resource usage.
33
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34* New options
35
36set remote trace-status-packet
37show remote trace-status-packet
38 Set/show the use of remote protocol qTStatus packet.
39
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40set debug nios2
41show debug nios2
42 Control display of debugging messages related to Nios II targets.
43
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44* You can now use a literal value 'unlimited' for options that
45 interpret 0 or -1 as meaning "unlimited". E.g., "set
46 trace-buffer-size unlimited" is now an alias for "set
47 trace-buffer-size -1" and "set height unlimited" is now an alias for
48 "set height 0".
49
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50* New command-line options
51--configuration
52 Display the details of GDB configure-time options.
53
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54* The command 'tsave' can now support new option '-ctf' to save trace
55 buffer in Common Trace Format.
56
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57* Newly installed $prefix/bin/gcore acts as a shell interface for the
58 GDB command gcore.
59
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60* GDB now implements the the C++ 'typeid' operator.
61
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62* The new convenience variable $_exception holds the exception being
63 thrown or caught at an exception-related catchpoint.
64
65* The exception-related catchpoints, like "catch throw", now accept a
66 regular expression which can be used to filter exceptions by type.
67
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68* MI changes
69
70 ** The -trace-save MI command can optionally save trace buffer in Common
71 Trace Format now.
72
2d450646 73*** Changes in GDB 7.6
80c8d323 74
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75* Target record has been renamed to record-full.
76 Record/replay is now enabled with the "record full" command.
77 This also affects settings that are associated with full record/replay
78 that have been moved from "set/show record" to "set/show record full":
79
80set|show record full insn-number-max
81set|show record full stop-at-limit
82set|show record full memory-query
83
84* A new record target "record-btrace" has been added. The new target
85 uses hardware support to record the control-flow of a process. It
86 does not support replaying the execution, but it implements the
87 below new commands for investigating the recorded execution log.
88 This new recording method can be enabled using:
89
90record btrace
91
92 The "record-btrace" target is only available on Intel Atom processors
93 and requires a Linux kernel 2.6.32 or later.
94
95* Two new commands have been added for record/replay to give information
96 about the recorded execution without having to replay the execution.
97 The commands are only supported by "record btrace".
98
99record instruction-history prints the execution history at
100 instruction granularity
101
102record function-call-history prints the execution history at
103 function granularity
104
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105* New native configurations
106
51d66578 107ARM AArch64 GNU/Linux aarch64*-*-linux-gnu
543bf33d 108FreeBSD/powerpc powerpc*-*-freebsd
4f4352f7 109x86_64/Cygwin x86_64-*-cygwin*
ea5f3910 110Tilera TILE-Gx GNU/Linux tilegx*-*-linux-gnu
543bf33d 111
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112* New targets
113
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114ARM AArch64 aarch64*-*-elf
115ARM AArch64 GNU/Linux aarch64*-*-linux
249729c4 116Lynx 178 PowerPC powerpc-*-lynx*178
3c095f49 117x86_64/Cygwin x86_64-*-cygwin*
ea5f3910 118Tilera TILE-Gx GNU/Linux tilegx*-*-linux
249729c4 119
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120* If the configured location of system.gdbinit file (as given by the
121 --with-system-gdbinit option at configure time) is in the
122 data-directory (as specified by --with-gdb-datadir at configure
123 time) or in one of its subdirectories, then GDB will look for the
124 system-wide init file in the directory specified by the
125 --data-directory command-line option.
126
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127* New command line options:
128
129-nh Disables auto-loading of ~/.gdbinit, but still executes all the
130 other initialization files, unlike -nx which disables all of them.
131
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132* Removed command line options
133
134-epoch This was used by the gdb mode in Epoch, an ancient fork of
135 Emacs.
136
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137* The 'ptype' and 'whatis' commands now accept an argument to control
138 type formatting.
139
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140* 'info proc' now works on some core files.
141
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142* Python scripting
143
144 ** Vectors can be created with gdb.Type.vector.
145
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146 ** Python's atexit.register now works in GDB.
147
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148 ** Types can be pretty-printed via a Python API.
149
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150 ** Python 3 is now supported (in addition to Python 2.4 or later)
151
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152 ** New class gdb.Architecture exposes GDB's internal representation
153 of architecture in the Python API.
154
155 ** New method Frame.architecture returns the gdb.Architecture object
156 corresponding to the frame's architecture.
157
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158* New Python-based convenience functions:
159
160 ** $_memeq(buf1, buf2, length)
161 ** $_streq(str1, str2)
162 ** $_strlen(str)
163 ** $_regex(str, regex)
164
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165* The 'cd' command now defaults to using '~' (the home directory) if not
166 given an argument.
167
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168* The C++ ABI now defaults to the GNU v3 ABI. This has been the
169 default for GCC since November 2000.
170
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171* The command 'forward-search' can now be abbreviated as 'fo'.
172
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173* The command 'info tracepoints' can now display 'installed on target'
174 or 'not installed on target' for each non-pending location of tracepoint.
175
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176* New configure options
177
178--enable-libmcheck/--disable-libmcheck
179 By default, development versions are built with -lmcheck on hosts
180 that support it, in order to help track memory corruption issues.
181 Release versions, on the other hand, are built without -lmcheck
182 by default. The --enable-libmcheck/--disable-libmcheck configure
183 options allow the user to override that default.
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184--with-babeltrace/--with-babeltrace-include/--with-babeltrace-lib
185 This configure option allows the user to build GDB with
186 libbabeltrace using which GDB can read Common Trace Format data.
23a80689 187
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188* New commands (for set/show, see "New options" below)
189
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190catch signal
191 Catch signals. This is similar to "handle", but allows commands and
192 conditions to be attached.
193
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194maint info bfds
195 List the BFDs known to GDB.
196
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197python-interactive [command]
198pi [command]
199 Start a Python interactive prompt, or evaluate the optional command
200 and print the result of expressions.
201
202py [command]
203 "py" is a new alias for "python".
204
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205enable type-printer [name]...
206disable type-printer [name]...
207 Enable or disable type printers.
208
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209* Removed commands
210
211 ** For the Renesas Super-H architecture, the "regs" command has been removed
212 (has been deprecated in GDB 7.5), and "info all-registers" should be used
213 instead.
214
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215* New options
216
217set print type methods (on|off)
218show print type methods
219 Control whether method declarations are displayed by "ptype".
220 The default is to show them.
221
222set print type typedefs (on|off)
223show print type typedefs
224 Control whether typedef definitions are displayed by "ptype".
225 The default is to show them.
226
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227set filename-display basename|relative|absolute
228show filename-display
229 Control the way in which filenames is displayed.
230 The default is "relative", which preserves previous behavior.
231
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232set trace-buffer-size
233show trace-buffer-size
234 Request target to change the size of trace buffer.
235
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236set remote trace-buffer-size-packet auto|on|off
237show remote trace-buffer-size-packet
238 Control the use of the remote protocol `QTBuffer:size' packet.
239
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240set debug aarch64
241show debug aarch64
242 Control display of debugging messages related to ARM AArch64.
243 The default is off.
244
245set debug coff-pe-read
246show debug coff-pe-read
247 Control display of debugging messages related to reading of COFF/PE
248 exported symbols.
249
250set debug mach-o
251show debug mach-o
252 Control display of debugging messages related to Mach-O symbols
253 processing.
254
255set debug notification
256show debug notification
257 Control display of debugging info for async remote notification.
258
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259* MI changes
260
261 ** Command parameter changes are now notified using new async record
262 "=cmd-param-changed".
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263 ** Trace frame changes caused by command "tfind" are now notified using
264 new async record "=traceframe-changed".
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265 ** The creation, deletion and modification of trace state variables
266 are now notified using new async records "=tsv-created",
267 "=tsv-deleted" and "=tsv-modified".
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268 ** The start and stop of process record are now notified using new
269 async record "=record-started" and "=record-stopped".
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270 ** Memory changes are now notified using new async record
271 "=memory-changed".
ed8a1c2d 272 ** The data-disassemble command response will include a "fullname" field
ec83d211 273 containing the absolute file name when source has been requested.
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274 ** New optional parameter COUNT added to the "-data-write-memory-bytes"
275 command, to allow pattern filling of memory areas.
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276 ** New commands "-catch-load"/"-catch-unload" added for intercepting
277 library load/unload events.
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278 ** The response to breakpoint commands and breakpoint async records
279 includes an "installed" field containing a boolean state about each
280 non-pending tracepoint location is whether installed on target or not.
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281 ** Output of the "-trace-status" command includes a "trace-file" field
282 containing the name of the trace file being examined. This field is
283 optional, and only present when examining a trace file.
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284 ** The "fullname" field is now always present along with the "file" field,
285 even if the file cannot be found by GDB.
5b9afe8a 286
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287* GDB now supports the "mini debuginfo" section, .gnu_debugdata.
288 You must have the LZMA library available when configuring GDB for this
289 feature to be enabled. For more information, see:
290 http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features/MiniDebugInfo
291
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292* New remote packets
293
294QTBuffer:size
295 Set the size of trace buffer. The remote stub reports support for this
296 packet to gdb's qSupported query.
297
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298Qbtrace:bts
299 Enable Branch Trace Store (BTS)-based branch tracing for the current
300 thread. The remote stub reports support for this packet to gdb's
301 qSupported query.
302
303Qbtrace:off
304 Disable branch tracing for the current thread. The remote stub reports
305 support for this packet to gdb's qSupported query.
306
307qXfer:btrace:read
308 Read the traced branches for the current thread. The remote stub
309 reports support for this packet to gdb's qSupported query.
310
80c8d323 311*** Changes in GDB 7.5
d6e00af6 312
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313* GDB now supports x32 ABI. Visit <http://sites.google.com/site/x32abi/>
314 for more x32 ABI info.
315
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316* GDB now supports access to MIPS DSP registers on Linux targets.
317
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318* GDB now supports debugging microMIPS binaries.
319
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320* The "info os" command on GNU/Linux can now display information on
321 several new classes of objects managed by the operating system:
322 "info os procgroups" lists process groups
323 "info os files" lists file descriptors
324 "info os sockets" lists internet-domain sockets
325 "info os shm" lists shared-memory regions
326 "info os semaphores" lists semaphores
327 "info os msg" lists message queues
328 "info os modules" lists loaded kernel modules
329
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330* GDB now has support for SDT (Static Defined Tracing) probes. Currently,
331 the only implemented backend is for SystemTap probes (<sys/sdt.h>). You
332 can set a breakpoint using the new "-probe, "-pstap" or "-probe-stap"
333 options and inspect the probe arguments using the new $_probe_arg family
334 of convenience variables. You can obtain more information about SystemTap
335 in <http://sourceware.org/systemtap/>.
336
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337* GDB now supports reversible debugging on ARM, it allows you to
338 debug basic ARM and THUMB instructions, and provides
339 record/replay support.
340
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341* The option "symbol-reloading" has been deleted as it is no longer used.
342
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343* Python scripting
344
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345 ** GDB commands implemented in Python can now be put in command class
346 "gdb.COMMAND_USER".
347
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348 ** The "maint set python print-stack on|off" is now deleted.
349
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350 ** A new class, gdb.printing.FlagEnumerationPrinter, can be used to
351 apply "flag enum"-style pretty-printing to any enum.
352
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353 ** gdb.lookup_symbol can now work when there is no current frame.
354
355 ** gdb.Symbol now has a 'line' attribute, holding the line number in
356 the source at which the symbol was defined.
357
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358 ** gdb.Symbol now has the new attribute 'needs_frame' and the new
359 method 'value'. The former indicates whether the symbol needs a
360 frame in order to compute its value, and the latter computes the
361 symbol's value.
362
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363 ** A new method 'referenced_value' on gdb.Value objects which can
364 dereference pointer as well as C++ reference values.
365
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366 ** New methods 'global_block' and 'static_block' on gdb.Symtab objects
367 which return the global and static blocks (as gdb.Block objects),
368 of the underlying symbol table, respectively.
369
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370 ** New function gdb.find_pc_line which returns the gdb.Symtab_and_line
371 object associated with a PC value.
372
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373 ** gdb.Symtab_and_line has new attribute 'last' which holds the end
374 of the address range occupied by code for the current source line.
375
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376* Go language support.
377 GDB now supports debugging programs written in the Go programming
378 language.
379
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380* GDBserver now supports stdio connections.
381 E.g. (gdb) target remote | ssh myhost gdbserver - hello
382
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383* The binary "gdbtui" can no longer be built or installed.
384 Use "gdb -tui" instead.
385
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386* GDB will now print "flag" enums specially. A flag enum is one where
387 all the enumerator values have no bits in common when pairwise
388 "and"ed. When printing a value whose type is a flag enum, GDB will
389 show all the constants, e.g., for enum E { ONE = 1, TWO = 2}:
390 (gdb) print (enum E) 3
391 $1 = (ONE | TWO)
392
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393* The filename part of a linespec will now match trailing components
394 of a source file name. For example, "break gcc/expr.c:1000" will
395 now set a breakpoint in build/gcc/expr.c, but not
396 build/libcpp/expr.c.
397
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398* The "info proc" and "generate-core-file" commands will now also
399 work on remote targets connected to GDBserver on Linux.
400
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401* The command "info catch" has been removed. It has been disabled
402 since December 2007.
403
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404* The "catch exception" and "catch assert" commands now accept
405 a condition at the end of the command, much like the "break"
406 command does. For instance:
407
408 (gdb) catch exception Constraint_Error if Barrier = True
409
410 Previously, it was possible to add a condition to such catchpoints,
411 but it had to be done as a second step, after the catchpoint had been
412 created, using the "condition" command.
413
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414* The "info static-tracepoint-marker" command will now also work on
415 native Linux targets with in-process agent.
416
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417* GDB can now set breakpoints on inlined functions.
418
419* The .gdb_index section has been updated to include symbols for
420 inlined functions. GDB will ignore older .gdb_index sections by
421 default, which could cause symbol files to be loaded more slowly
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422 until their .gdb_index sections can be recreated. The new command
423 "set use-deprecated-index-sections on" will cause GDB to use any older
424 .gdb_index sections it finds. This will restore performance, but the
425 ability to set breakpoints on inlined functions will be lost in symbol
426 files with older .gdb_index sections.
481860b3 427
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428 The .gdb_index section has also been updated to record more information
429 about each symbol. This speeds up the "info variables", "info functions"
430 and "info types" commands when used with programs having the .gdb_index
431 section, as well as speeding up debugging with shared libraries using
432 the .gdb_index section.
433
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434* Ada support for GDB/MI Variable Objects has been added.
435
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436* GDB can now support 'breakpoint always-inserted mode' in 'record'
437 target.
438
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439* MI changes
440
441 ** New command -info-os is the MI equivalent of "info os".
442
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443 ** Output logs ("set logging" and related) now include MI output.
444
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445* New commands
446
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447 ** "set use-deprecated-index-sections on|off"
448 "show use-deprecated-index-sections on|off"
449 Controls the use of deprecated .gdb_index sections.
450
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451 ** "catch load" and "catch unload" can be used to stop when a shared
452 library is loaded or unloaded, respectively.
453
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454 ** "enable count" can be used to auto-disable a breakpoint after
455 several hits.
456
57651221 457 ** "info vtbl" can be used to show the virtual method tables for
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458 C++ and Java objects.
459
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460 ** "explore" and its sub commands "explore value" and "explore type"
461 can be used to reccursively explore values and types of
462 expressions. These commands are available only if GDB is
463 configured with '--with-python'.
464
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465 ** "info auto-load" shows status of all kinds of auto-loaded files,
466 "info auto-load gdb-scripts" shows status of auto-loading GDB canned
467 sequences of commands files, "info auto-load python-scripts"
468 shows status of auto-loading Python script files,
469 "info auto-load local-gdbinit" shows status of loading init file
470 (.gdbinit) from current directory and "info auto-load libthread-db" shows
471 status of inferior specific thread debugging shared library loading.
472
473 ** "info auto-load-scripts", "set auto-load-scripts on|off"
474 and "show auto-load-scripts" commands have been deprecated, use their
475 "info auto-load python-scripts", "set auto-load python-scripts on|off"
476 and "show auto-load python-scripts" counterparts instead.
477
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478 ** "dprintf location,format,args..." creates a dynamic printf, which
479 is basically a breakpoint that does a printf and immediately
480 resumes your program's execution, so it is like a printf that you
481 can insert dynamically at runtime instead of at compiletime.
482
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483 ** "set print symbol"
484 "show print symbol"
485 Controls whether GDB attempts to display the symbol, if any,
486 corresponding to addresses it prints. This defaults to "on", but
487 you can set it to "off" to restore GDB's previous behavior.
488
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489* Deprecated commands
490
491 ** For the Renesas Super-H architecture, the "regs" command has been
492 deprecated, and "info all-registers" should be used instead.
493
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494* New targets
495
496Renesas RL78 rl78-*-elf
60c9a3c0 497HP OpenVMS ia64 ia64-hp-openvms*
a58b110a 498
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499* GDBserver supports evaluation of breakpoint conditions. When
500 support is advertised by GDBserver, GDB may be told to send the
501 breakpoint conditions in bytecode form to GDBserver. GDBserver
502 will only report the breakpoint trigger to GDB when its condition
503 evaluates to true.
504
505* New options
506
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507set mips compression
508show mips compression
509 Select the compressed ISA encoding used in functions that have no symbol
510 information available. The encoding can be set to either of:
511 mips16
512 micromips
513 and is updated automatically from ELF file flags if available.
514
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515set breakpoint condition-evaluation
516show breakpoint condition-evaluation
cf65ecd3 517 Control whether breakpoint conditions are evaluated by GDB ("host") or by
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518 GDBserver ("target"). Default option "auto" chooses the most efficient
519 available mode.
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520 This option can improve debugger efficiency depending on the speed of the
521 target.
522
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523set auto-load off
524 Disable auto-loading globally.
525
526show auto-load
527 Show auto-loading setting of all kinds of auto-loaded files.
528
529set auto-load gdb-scripts on|off
530show auto-load gdb-scripts
531 Control auto-loading of GDB canned sequences of commands files.
532
533set auto-load python-scripts on|off
534show auto-load python-scripts
535 Control auto-loading of Python script files.
536
537set auto-load local-gdbinit on|off
538show auto-load local-gdbinit
539 Control loading of init file (.gdbinit) from current directory.
540
541set auto-load libthread-db on|off
542show auto-load libthread-db
543 Control auto-loading of inferior specific thread debugging shared library.
544
7349ff92 545set auto-load scripts-directory <dir1>[:<dir2>...]
9cc815f5 546show auto-load scripts-directory
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547 Set a list of directories from which to load auto-loaded scripts.
548 Automatically loaded Python scripts and GDB scripts are located in one
549 of the directories listed by this option.
550 The delimiter (':' above) may differ according to the host platform.
551
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552set auto-load safe-path <dir1>[:<dir2>...]
553show auto-load safe-path
554 Set a list of directories from which it is safe to auto-load files.
555 The delimiter (':' above) may differ according to the host platform.
556
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557set debug auto-load on|off
558show debug auto-load
559 Control display of debugging info for auto-loading the files above.
560
d3ce09f5 561set dprintf-style gdb|call|agent
e7e0cddf 562show dprintf-style
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563 Control the way in which a dynamic printf is performed; "gdb"
564 requests a GDB printf command, while "call" causes dprintf to call a
565 function in the inferior. "agent" requests that the target agent
566 (such as GDBserver) do the printing.
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567
568set dprintf-function <expr>
569show dprintf-function
570set dprintf-channel <expr>
571show dprintf-channel
572 Set the function and optional first argument to the call when using
573 the "call" style of dynamic printf.
574
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575set disconnected-dprintf on|off
576show disconnected-dprintf
577 Control whether agent-style dynamic printfs continue to be in effect
578 after GDB disconnects.
579
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580* New configure options
581
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582--with-auto-load-dir
583 Configure default value for the 'set auto-load scripts-directory'
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584 setting above. It defaults to '$debugdir:$datadir/auto-load',
585 $debugdir representing global debugging info directories (available
586 via 'show debug-file-directory') and $datadir representing GDB's data
587 directory (available via 'show data-directory').
7349ff92 588
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589--with-auto-load-safe-path
590 Configure default value for the 'set auto-load safe-path' setting
7349ff92 591 above. It defaults to the --with-auto-load-dir setting.
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592
593--without-auto-load-safe-path
594 Set 'set auto-load safe-path' to '/', effectively disabling this
595 security feature.
596
72895ff6
LM
597* New remote packets
598
74c48cbb
PA
599z0/z1 conditional breakpoints extension
600
72895ff6
LM
601 The z0/z1 breakpoint insertion packets have been extended to carry
602 a list of conditional expressions over to the remote stub depending on the
603 condition evaluation mode. The use of this extension can be controlled
604 via the "set remote conditional-breakpoints-packet" command.
605
9b224c5e
PA
606QProgramSignals:
607
608 Specify the signals which the remote stub may pass to the debugged
609 program without GDB involvement.
610
8320cc4f
JK
611* New command line options
612
613--init-command=FILE, -ix Like --command, -x but execute it
614 before loading inferior.
615--init-eval-command=COMMAND, -iex Like --eval-command=COMMAND, -ex but
616 execute it before loading inferior.
617
8837a20f
JB
618*** Changes in GDB 7.4
619
f8eba3c6
TT
620* GDB now handles ambiguous linespecs more consistently; the existing
621 FILE:LINE support has been expanded to other types of linespecs. A
622 breakpoint will now be set on all matching locations in all
623 inferiors, and locations will be added or removed according to
624 inferior changes.
625
1bfeeb0f
JL
626* GDB now allows you to skip uninteresting functions and files when
627 stepping with the "skip function" and "skip file" commands.
628
480a3f21
PW
629* GDB has two new commands: "set remote hardware-watchpoint-length-limit"
630 and "show remote hardware-watchpoint-length-limit". These allows to
631 set or show the maximum length limit (in bytes) of a remote
632 target hardware watchpoint.
633
634 This allows e.g. to use "unlimited" hardware watchpoints with the
635 gdbserver integrated in Valgrind version >= 3.7.0. Such Valgrind
636 watchpoints are slower than real hardware watchpoints but are
637 significantly faster than gdb software watchpoints.
638
3a7bf607
PM
639* Python scripting
640
32d1c362 641 ** The register_pretty_printer function in module gdb.printing now takes
7d0aff21 642 an optional `replace' argument. If True, the new printer replaces any
32d1c362
DE
643 existing one.
644
3a7bf607 645 ** The "maint set python print-stack on|off" command has been
4795f398
DE
646 deprecated and will be deleted in GDB 7.5.
647 A new command: "set python print-stack none|full|message" has
648 replaced it. Additionally, the default for "print-stack" is
649 now "message", which just prints the error message without
650 the stack trace.
3a7bf607 651
baacfb07 652 ** A prompt substitution hook (prompt_hook) is now available to the
3a7bf607 653 Python API.
713389e0 654
fa3a4f15
PM
655 ** A new Python module, gdb.prompt has been added to the GDB Python
656 modules library. This module provides functionality for
baacfb07 657 escape sequences in prompts (used by set/show
fa3a4f15
PM
658 extended-prompt). These escape sequences are replaced by their
659 corresponding value.
660
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PM
661 ** Python commands and convenience-functions located in
662 'data-directory'/python/gdb/command and
663 'data-directory'/python/gdb/function are now automatically loaded
664 on GDB start-up.
665
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PM
666 ** Blocks now provide four new attributes. global_block and
667 static_block will return the global and static blocks
668 respectively. is_static and is_global are boolean attributes
669 that indicate if the block is one of those two types.
670
457e09f0
DE
671 ** Symbols now provide the "type" attribute, the type of the symbol.
672
6839b47f
KP
673 ** The "gdb.breakpoint" function has been deprecated in favor of
674 "gdb.breakpoints".
675
cc72b2a2
KP
676 ** A new class "gdb.FinishBreakpoint" is provided to catch the return
677 of a function. This class is based on the "finish" command
678 available in the CLI.
679
84ad80e6
PK
680 ** Type objects for struct and union types now allow access to
681 the fields using standard Python dictionary (mapping) methods.
682 For example, "some_type['myfield']" now works, as does
683 "some_type.items()".
684
20c168b5
KP
685 ** A new event "gdb.new_objfile" has been added, triggered by loading a
686 new object file.
687
03c3051a
PK
688 ** A new function, "deep_items" has been added to the gdb.types
689 module in the GDB Python modules library. This function returns
690 an iterator over the fields of a struct or union type. Unlike
691 the standard Python "iteritems" method, it will recursively traverse
692 any anonymous fields.
693
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TT
694* MI changes
695
696 ** "*stopped" events can report several new "reason"s, such as
697 "solib-event".
698
699 ** Breakpoint changes are now notified using new async records, like
700 "=breakpoint-modified".
701
702 ** New command -ada-task-info.
703
98a5dd13
DE
704* libthread-db-search-path now supports two special values: $sdir and $pdir.
705 $sdir specifies the default system locations of shared libraries.
706 $pdir specifies the directory where the libpthread used by the application
707 lives.
708
709 GDB no longer looks in $sdir and $pdir after it has searched the directories
710 mentioned in libthread-db-search-path. If you want to search those
711 directories, they must be specified in libthread-db-search-path.
712 The default value of libthread-db-search-path on GNU/Linux and Solaris
713 systems is now "$sdir:$pdir".
714
715 $pdir is not supported by gdbserver, it is currently ignored.
716 $sdir is supported by gdbserver.
717
478aac75
DE
718* New configure option --with-iconv-bin.
719 When using the internationalization support like the one in the GNU C
720 library, GDB will invoke the "iconv" program to get a list of supported
721 character sets. If this program lives in a non-standard location, one can
722 use this option to specify where to find it.
723
9c06b0b4
TJB
724* When natively debugging programs on PowerPC BookE processors running
725 a Linux kernel version 2.6.34 or later, GDB supports masked hardware
726 watchpoints, which specify a mask in addition to an address to watch.
727 The mask specifies that some bits of an address (the bits which are
728 reset in the mask) should be ignored when matching the address accessed
729 by the inferior against the watchpoint address. See the "PowerPC Embedded"
730 section in the user manual for more details.
731
03f2bd59
JK
732* The new option --once causes GDBserver to stop listening for connections once
733 the first connection is made. The listening port used by GDBserver will
734 become available after that.
735
71eba9c2 736* New commands "info macros" and "alias" have been added.
edc84990 737
2bda9cc5
JK
738* New function parameters suffix @entry specifies value of function parameter
739 at the time the function got called. Entry values are available only since
740 gcc version 4.7.
741
ed59ded5
DE
742* New commands
743
744!SHELL COMMAND
745 "!" is now an alias of the "shell" command.
746 Note that no space is needed between "!" and SHELL COMMAND.
747
9c06b0b4
TJB
748* Changed commands
749
750watch EXPRESSION mask MASK_VALUE
751 The watch command now supports the mask argument which allows creation
752 of masked watchpoints, if the current architecture supports this feature.
753
dbaefcf7
DE
754info auto-load-scripts [REGEXP]
755 This command was formerly named "maintenance print section-scripts".
756 It is now generally useful and is no longer a maintenance-only command.
757
71eba9c2 758info macro [-all] [--] MACRO
759 The info macro command has new options `-all' and `--'. The first for
760 printing all definitions of a macro. The second for explicitly specifying
761 the end of arguments and the beginning of the macro name in case the macro
762 name starts with a hyphen.
763
3065dfb6
SS
764collect[/s] EXPRESSIONS
765 The tracepoint collect command now takes an optional modifier "/s"
766 that directs it to dereference pointer-to-character types and
767 collect the bytes of memory up to a zero byte. The behavior is
768 similar to what you see when you use the regular print command on a
769 string. An optional integer following the "/s" sets a bound on the
770 number of bytes that will be collected.
771
f196051f
SS
772tstart [NOTES]
773 The trace start command now interprets any supplied arguments as a
774 note to be recorded with the trace run, with an effect similar to
775 setting the variable trace-notes.
776
777tstop [NOTES]
778 The trace stop command now interprets any arguments as a note to be
779 mentioned along with the tstatus report that the trace was stopped
780 with a command. The effect is similar to setting the variable
781 trace-stop-notes.
782
d248b706
KY
783* Tracepoints can now be enabled and disabled at any time after a trace
784 experiment has been started using the standard "enable" and "disable"
785 commands. It is now possible to start a trace experiment with no enabled
786 tracepoints; GDB will display a warning, but will allow the experiment to
787 begin, assuming that tracepoints will be enabled as needed while the trace
788 is running.
789
405f8e94
SS
790* Fast tracepoints on 32-bit x86-architectures can now be placed at
791 locations with 4-byte instructions, when they were previously
792 limited to locations with instructions of 5 bytes or longer.
793
2bda9cc5
JK
794* New options
795
45cfd468
DE
796set debug dwarf2-read
797show debug dwarf2-read
798 Turns on or off display of debugging messages related to reading
799 DWARF debug info. The default is off.
800
801set debug symtab-create
802show debug symtab-create
803 Turns on or off display of debugging messages related to symbol table
804 creation. The default is off.
805
baacfb07
PM
806set extended-prompt
807show extended-prompt
808 Set the GDB prompt, and allow escape sequences to be inserted to
809 display miscellaneous information (see 'help set extended-prompt'
810 for the list of sequences). This prompt (and any information
811 accessed through the escape sequences) is updated every time the
812 prompt is displayed.
813
2bda9cc5
JK
814set print entry-values (both|compact|default|if-needed|no|only|preferred)
815show print entry-values
816 Set printing of frame argument values at function entry. In some cases
817 GDB can determine the value of function argument which was passed by the
818 function caller, even if the value was modified inside the called function.
819
820set debug entry-values
821show debug entry-values
822 Control display of debugging info for determining frame argument values at
823 function entry and virtual tail call frames.
824
c011a4f4
DE
825set basenames-may-differ
826show basenames-may-differ
827 Set whether a source file may have multiple base names.
828 (A "base name" is the name of a file with the directory part removed.
829 Example: The base name of "/home/user/hello.c" is "hello.c".)
830 If set, GDB will canonicalize file names (e.g., expand symlinks)
831 before comparing them. Canonicalization is an expensive operation,
832 but it allows the same file be known by more than one base name.
833 If not set (the default), all source files are assumed to have just
834 one base name, and gdb will do file name comparisons more efficiently.
835
f196051f
SS
836set trace-user
837show trace-user
838set trace-notes
839show trace-notes
840 Set a user name and notes for the current and any future trace runs.
841 This is useful for long-running and/or disconnected traces, to
842 inform others (or yourself) as to who is running the trace, supply
843 contact information, or otherwise explain what is going on.
844
845set trace-stop-notes
846show trace-stop-notes
847 Set a note attached to the trace run, that is displayed when the
848 trace has been stopped by a tstop command. This is useful for
849 instance as an explanation, if you are stopping a trace run that was
850 started by someone else.
851
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KY
852* New remote packets
853
854QTEnable
855
856 Dynamically enable a tracepoint in a started trace experiment.
857
858QTDisable
859
860 Dynamically disable a tracepoint in a started trace experiment.
861
f196051f
SS
862QTNotes
863
864 Set the user and notes of the trace run.
865
866qTP
867
868 Query the current status of a tracepoint.
869
405f8e94
SS
870qTMinFTPILen
871
872 Query the minimum length of instruction at which a fast tracepoint may
873 be placed.
874
1a532630
PP
875* Dcache size (number of lines) and line-size are now runtime-configurable
876 via "set dcache line" and "set dcache line-size" commands.
877
11315641
YQ
878* New targets
879
880Texas Instruments TMS320C6x tic6x-*-*
881
87326c78
DD
882* New Simulators
883
884Renesas RL78 rl78-*-elf
885
e8d56f18
JB
886*** Changes in GDB 7.3.1
887
888* The build failure for NetBSD and OpenBSD targets have now been fixed.
889
d6e00af6 890*** Changes in GDB 7.3
797054e6 891
60f98dde
MS
892* GDB has a new command: "thread find [REGEXP]".
893 It finds the thread id whose name, target id, or thread extra info
894 matches the given regular expression.
895
eee5b35e
DD
896* The "catch syscall" command now works on mips*-linux* targets.
897
b716877b
AB
898* The -data-disassemble MI command now supports modes 2 and 3 for
899 dumping the instruction opcodes.
900
aae1c79a
DE
901* New command line options
902
903-data-directory DIR Specify DIR as the "data-directory".
904 This is mostly for testing purposes.
905
a86caf66
DE
906* The "maint set python auto-load on|off" command has been renamed to
907 "set auto-load-scripts on|off".
908
99e7ae30
DE
909* GDB has a new command: "set directories".
910 It is like the "dir" command except that it replaces the
911 source path list instead of augmenting it.
912
4694da01
TT
913* GDB now understands thread names.
914
915 On GNU/Linux, "info threads" will display the thread name as set by
916 prctl or pthread_setname_np.
917
918 There is also a new command, "thread name", which can be used to
919 assign a name internally for GDB to display.
920
f4b8a18d
KW
921* OpenCL C
922 Initial support for the OpenCL C language (http://www.khronos.org/opencl)
923 has been integrated into GDB.
924
585d1eb8
PM
925* Python scripting
926
da5d4055
PM
927 ** The function gdb.Write now accepts an optional keyword 'stream'.
928 This keyword, when provided, will direct the output to either
929 stdout, stderr, or GDB's logging output.
930
9a6f1302
PM
931 ** Parameters can now be be sub-classed in Python, and in particular
932 you may implement the get_set_doc and get_show_doc functions.
933 This improves how Parameter set/show documentation is processed
934 and allows for more dynamic content.
935
29703da4
PM
936 ** Symbols, Symbol Table, Symbol Table and Line, Object Files,
937 Inferior, Inferior Thread, Blocks, and Block Iterator APIs now
938 have an is_valid method.
939
350c6c65
PM
940 ** Breakpoints can now be sub-classed in Python, and in particular
941 you may implement a 'stop' function that is executed each time
942 the inferior reaches that breakpoint.
943
6e6fbe60
DE
944 ** New function gdb.lookup_global_symbol looks up a global symbol.
945
585d1eb8
PM
946 ** GDB values in Python are now callable if the value represents a
947 function. For example, if 'some_value' represents a function that
948 takes two integer parameters and returns a value, you can call
949 that function like so:
950
951 result = some_value (10,20)
952
0e3509db
DE
953 ** Module gdb.types has been added.
954 It contains a collection of utilities for working with gdb.Types objects:
955 get_basic_type, has_field, make_enum_dict.
956
7b51bc51
DE
957 ** Module gdb.printing has been added.
958 It contains utilities for writing and registering pretty-printers.
959 New classes: PrettyPrinter, SubPrettyPrinter,
960 RegexpCollectionPrettyPrinter.
961 New function: register_pretty_printer.
962
963 ** New commands "info pretty-printers", "enable pretty-printer" and
964 "disable pretty-printer" have been added.
965
99e7ae30
DE
966 ** gdb.parameter("directories") is now available.
967
d8e22779
TT
968 ** New function gdb.newest_frame returns the newest frame in the
969 selected thread.
970
4694da01
TT
971 ** The gdb.InferiorThread class has a new "name" attribute. This
972 holds the thread's name.
973
505500db
SW
974 ** Python Support for Inferior events.
975 Python scripts can add observers to be notified of events
824446ad 976 occurring in the process being debugged.
c17a9e46
HZ
977 The following events are currently supported:
978 - gdb.events.cont Continue event.
979 - gdb.events.exited Inferior exited event.
980 - gdb.events.stop Signal received, and Breakpoint hit events.
981
def98928
TT
982* C++ Improvements:
983
984 ** GDB now puts template parameters in scope when debugging in an
985 instantiation. For example, if you have:
986
987 template<int X> int func (void) { return X; }
988
989 then if you step into func<5>, "print X" will show "5". This
990 feature requires proper debuginfo support from the compiler; it
991 was added to GCC 4.5.
992
66cb8159
TT
993 ** The motion commands "next", "finish", "until", and "advance" now
994 work better when exceptions are thrown. In particular, GDB will
995 no longer lose control of the inferior; instead, the GDB will
996 stop the inferior at the point at which the exception is caught.
997 This functionality requires a change in the exception handling
998 code that was introduced in GCC 4.5.
999
4aac0db7
UW
1000* GDB now follows GCC's rules on accessing volatile objects when
1001 reading or writing target state during expression evaluation.
1002 One notable difference to prior behavior is that "print x = 0"
1003 no longer generates a read of x; the value of the assignment is
1004 now always taken directly from the value being assigned.
1005
283e6a52
TT
1006* GDB now has some support for using labels in the program's source in
1007 linespecs. For instance, you can use "advance label" to continue
1008 execution to a label.
1009
1010* GDB now has support for reading and writing a new .gdb_index
1011 section. This section holds a fast index of DWARF debugging
1012 information and can be used to greatly speed up GDB startup and
1013 operation. See the documentation for `save gdb-index' for details.
1014
b56df873 1015* The "watch" command now accepts an optional "-location" argument.
14c0d4e1 1016 When used, this causes GDB to watch the memory referred to by the
b56df873
TT
1017 expression. Such a watchpoint is never deleted due to it going out
1018 of scope.
1019
ae53ffa4
PA
1020* GDB now supports thread debugging of core dumps on GNU/Linux.
1021
1022 GDB now activates thread debugging using the libthread_db library
1023 when debugging GNU/Linux core dumps, similarly to when debugging
1024 live processes. As a result, when debugging a core dump file, GDB
1025 is now able to display pthread_t ids of threads. For example, "info
1026 threads" shows the same output as when debugging the process when it
1027 was live. In earlier releases, you'd see something like this:
1028
1029 (gdb) info threads
1030 * 1 LWP 6780 main () at main.c:10
1031
1032 While now you see this:
1033
1034 (gdb) info threads
1035 * 1 Thread 0x7f0f5712a700 (LWP 6780) main () at main.c:10
1036
1037 It is also now possible to inspect TLS variables when debugging core
1038 dumps.
1039
1040 When debugging a core dump generated on a machine other than the one
1041 used to run GDB, you may need to point GDB at the correct
1042 libthread_db library with the "set libthread-db-search-path"
1043 command. See the user manual for more details on this command.
1044
f1310107
TJB
1045* When natively debugging programs on PowerPC BookE processors running
1046 a Linux kernel version 2.6.34 or later, GDB supports ranged breakpoints,
1047 which stop execution of the inferior whenever it executes an instruction
1048 at any address within the specified range. See the "PowerPC Embedded"
1049 section in the user manual for more details.
1050
248c9dbc
JB
1051* New features in the GDB remote stub, GDBserver
1052
1aee7009
JB
1053 ** GDBserver is now supported on PowerPC LynxOS (versions 4.x and 5.x),
1054 and i686 LynxOS (version 5.x).
248c9dbc 1055
eb826dc6
MF
1056 ** GDBserver is now supported on Blackfin Linux.
1057
44603653
JB
1058* New native configurations
1059
1060ia64 HP-UX ia64-*-hpux*
1061
91021223
MF
1062* New targets:
1063
1064Analog Devices, Inc. Blackfin Processor bfin-*
1065
6e1bb179
JB
1066* Ada task switching is now supported on sparc-elf targets when
1067 debugging a program using the Ravenscar Profile. For more information,
1068 see the "Tasking Support when using the Ravenscar Profile" section
1069 in the GDB user manual.
1070
50c97f38
TT
1071* Guile support was removed.
1072
448a92bf
MF
1073* New features in the GNU simulator
1074
1075 ** The --map-info flag lists all known core mappings.
1076
66ee2731
MF
1077 ** CFI flashes may be simulated via the "cfi" device.
1078
76b8507d 1079*** Changes in GDB 7.2
bfbf3774 1080
ba25b921
PA
1081* Shared library support for remote targets by default
1082
1083 When GDB is configured for a generic, non-OS specific target, like
1084 for example, --target=arm-eabi or one of the many *-*-elf targets,
1085 GDB now queries remote stubs for loaded shared libraries using the
1086 `qXfer:libraries:read' packet. Previously, shared library support
1087 was always disabled for such configurations.
1088
4656f5c6
SW
1089* C++ Improvements:
1090
1091 ** Argument Dependent Lookup (ADL)
1092
1093 In C++ ADL lookup directs function search to the namespaces of its
1094 arguments even if the namespace has not been imported.
1095 For example:
1096 namespace A
1097 {
1098 class B { };
1099 void foo (B) { }
1100 }
1101 ...
1102 A::B b
1103 foo(b)
1104 Here the compiler will search for `foo' in the namespace of 'b'
1105 and find A::foo. GDB now supports this. This construct is commonly
1106 used in the Standard Template Library for operators.
1107
1108 ** Improved User Defined Operator Support
1109
1110 In addition to member operators, GDB now supports lookup of operators
1111 defined in a namespace and imported with a `using' directive, operators
1112 defined in the global scope, operators imported implicitly from an
1113 anonymous namespace, and the ADL operators mentioned in the previous
1114 entry.
1115 GDB now also supports proper overload resolution for all the previously
1116 mentioned flavors of operators.
1117
254e6b9e
DE
1118 ** static const class members
1119
1120 Printing of static const class members that are initialized in the
1121 class definition has been fixed.
1122
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PM
1123* Windows Thread Information Block access.
1124
1125 On Windows targets, GDB now supports displaying the Windows Thread
1126 Information Block (TIB) structure. This structure is visible either
1127 by using the new command `info w32 thread-information-block' or, by
1128 dereferencing the new convenience variable named `$_tlb', a
1129 thread-specific pointer to the TIB. This feature is also supported
1130 when remote debugging using GDBserver.
1131
0fb4aa4b
PA
1132* Static tracepoints
1133
1134 Static tracepoints are calls in the user program into a tracing
1135 library. One such library is a port of the LTTng kernel tracer to
1136 userspace --- UST (LTTng Userspace Tracer, http://lttng.org/ust).
1137 When debugging with GDBserver, GDB now supports combining the GDB
1138 tracepoint machinery with such libraries. For example: the user can
1139 use GDB to probe a static tracepoint marker (a call from the user
1140 program into the tracing library) with the new "strace" command (see
1141 "New commands" below). This creates a "static tracepoint" in the
1142 breakpoint list, that can be manipulated with the same feature set
1143 as fast and regular tracepoints. E.g., collect registers, local and
1144 global variables, collect trace state variables, and define
1145 tracepoint conditions. In addition, the user can collect extra
1146 static tracepoint marker specific data, by collecting the new
1147 $_sdata internal variable. When analyzing the trace buffer, you can
1148 inspect $_sdata like any other variable available to GDB. For more
1149 information, see the "Tracepoints" chapter in GDB user manual. New
1150 remote packets have been defined to support static tracepoints, see
1151 the "New remote packets" section below.
1152
ca11e899
SS
1153* Better reconstruction of tracepoints after disconnected tracing
1154
1155 GDB will attempt to download the original source form of tracepoint
1156 definitions when starting a trace run, and then will upload these
1157 upon reconnection to the target, resulting in a more accurate
1158 reconstruction of the tracepoints that are in use on the target.
1159
1160* Observer mode
1161
1162 You can now exercise direct control over the ways that GDB can
1163 affect your program. For instance, you can disallow the setting of
1164 breakpoints, so that the program can run continuously (assuming
1165 non-stop mode). In addition, the "observer" variable is available
1166 to switch all of the different controls; in observer mode, GDB
1167 cannot affect the target's behavior at all, which is useful for
1168 tasks like diagnosing live systems in the field.
1169
1170* The new convenience variable $_thread holds the number of the
1171 current thread.
1172
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PM
1173* New remote packets
1174
1175qGetTIBAddr
1176
1177 Return the address of the Windows Thread Information Block of a given thread.
1178
dde08ee1
PA
1179qRelocInsn
1180
1181 In response to several of the tracepoint packets, the target may now
1182 also respond with a number of intermediate `qRelocInsn' request
1183 packets before the final result packet, to have GDB handle
1184 relocating an instruction to execute at a different address. This
1185 is particularly useful for stubs that support fast tracepoints. GDB
1186 reports support for this feature in the qSupported packet.
1187
0fb4aa4b
PA
1188qTfSTM, qTsSTM
1189
1190 List static tracepoint markers in the target program.
1191
1192qTSTMat
1193
1194 List static tracepoint markers at a given address in the target
1195 program.
1196
1197qXfer:statictrace:read
1198
1199 Read the static trace data collected (by a `collect $_sdata'
1200 tracepoint action). The remote stub reports support for this packet
1201 to gdb's qSupported query.
1202
ca11e899
SS
1203QAllow
1204
1205 Send the current settings of GDB's permission flags.
1206
1207QTDPsrc
1208
1209 Send part of the source (textual) form of a tracepoint definition,
1210 which includes location, conditional, and action list.
1211
3f7b2faa
DE
1212* The source command now accepts a -s option to force searching for the
1213 script in the source search path even if the script name specifies
1214 a directory.
1215
d337e9f0
PA
1216* New features in the GDB remote stub, GDBserver
1217
0fb4aa4b
PA
1218 - GDBserver now support tracepoints (including fast tracepoints, and
1219 static tracepoints). The feature is currently supported by the
1220 i386-linux and amd64-linux builds. See the "Tracepoints support
1221 in gdbserver" section in the manual for more information.
1222
1223 GDBserver JIT compiles the tracepoint's conditional agent
1224 expression bytecode into native code whenever possible for low
1225 overhead dynamic tracepoints conditionals. For such tracepoints,
1226 an expression that examines program state is evaluated when the
1227 tracepoint is reached, in order to determine whether to capture
1228 trace data. If the condition is simple and false, processing the
1229 tracepoint finishes very quickly and no data is gathered.
1230
1231 GDBserver interfaces with the UST (LTTng Userspace Tracer) library
1232 for static tracepoints support.
d337e9f0 1233
c24d0242
PM
1234 - GDBserver now supports x86_64 Windows 64-bit debugging.
1235
c8d5aac9
L
1236* GDB now sends xmlRegisters= in qSupported packet to indicate that
1237 it understands register description.
1238
7c953934
TT
1239* The --batch flag now disables pagination and queries.
1240
8685c86f
L
1241* X86 general purpose registers
1242
1243 GDB now supports reading/writing byte, word and double-word x86
1244 general purpose registers directly. This means you can use, say,
1245 $ah or $ax to refer, respectively, to the byte register AH and
1246 16-bit word register AX that are actually portions of the 32-bit
1247 register EAX or 64-bit register RAX.
1248
95a42b64 1249* The `commands' command now accepts a range of breakpoints to modify.
86b17b60
PA
1250 A plain `commands' following a command that creates multiple
1251 breakpoints affects all the breakpoints set by that command. This
1252 applies to breakpoints set by `rbreak', and also applies when a
1253 single `break' command creates multiple breakpoints (e.g.,
1254 breakpoints on overloaded c++ functions).
95a42b64 1255
8bd10a10
CM
1256* The `rbreak' command now accepts a filename specification as part of
1257 its argument, limiting the functions selected by the regex to those
1258 in the specified file.
1259
ab38a727
PA
1260* Support for remote debugging Windows and SymbianOS shared libraries
1261 from Unix hosts has been improved. Non Windows GDB builds now can
1262 understand target reported file names that follow MS-DOS based file
1263 system semantics, such as file names that include drive letters and
1264 use the backslash character as directory separator. This makes it
1265 possible to transparently use the "set sysroot" and "set
1266 solib-search-path" on Unix hosts to point as host copies of the
1267 target's shared libraries. See the new command "set
1268 target-file-system-kind" described below, and the "Commands to
1269 specify files" section in the user manual for more information.
1270
6149aea9
PA
1271* New commands
1272
f1421989
HZ
1273eval template, expressions...
1274 Convert the values of one or more expressions under the control
1275 of the string template to a command line, and call it.
1276
ab38a727
PA
1277set target-file-system-kind unix|dos-based|auto
1278show target-file-system-kind
1279 Set or show the assumed file system kind for target reported file
1280 names.
1281
6149aea9
PA
1282save breakpoints <filename>
1283 Save all current breakpoint definitions to a file suitable for use
1284 in a later debugging session. To read the saved breakpoint
1285 definitions, use the `source' command.
1286
1287`save tracepoints' is a new alias for `save-tracepoints'. The latter
1288is now deprecated.
1289
0fb4aa4b
PA
1290info static-tracepoint-markers
1291 Display information about static tracepoint markers in the target.
1292
1293strace FN | FILE:LINE | *ADDR | -m MARKER_ID
1294 Define a static tracepoint by probing a marker at the given
1295 function, line, address, or marker ID.
1296
ca11e899
SS
1297set observer on|off
1298show observer
1299 Enable and disable observer mode.
1300
1301set may-write-registers on|off
1302set may-write-memory on|off
1303set may-insert-breakpoints on|off
1304set may-insert-tracepoints on|off
1305set may-insert-fast-tracepoints on|off
1306set may-interrupt on|off
1307 Set individual permissions for GDB effects on the target. Note that
1308 some of these settings can have undesirable or surprising
1309 consequences, particularly when changed in the middle of a session.
1310 For instance, disabling the writing of memory can prevent
1311 breakpoints from being inserted, cause single-stepping to fail, or
1312 even crash your program, if you disable after breakpoints have been
1313 inserted. However, GDB should not crash.
1314
1315set record memory-query on|off
1316show record memory-query
1317 Control whether to stop the inferior if memory changes caused
1318 by an instruction cannot be recorded.
1319
53a71c06
CR
1320* Changed commands
1321
1322disassemble
1323 The disassemble command now supports "start,+length" form of two arguments.
1324
f3e9a817
PM
1325* Python scripting
1326
9279c692
JB
1327** GDB now provides a new directory location, called the python directory,
1328 where Python scripts written for GDB can be installed. The location
1329 of that directory is <data-directory>/python, where <data-directory>
1330 is the GDB data directory. For more details, see section `Scripting
1331 GDB using Python' in the manual.
1332
adc36818 1333** The GDB Python API now has access to breakpoints, symbols, symbol
595939de
PM
1334 tables, program spaces, inferiors, threads and frame's code blocks.
1335 Additionally, GDB Parameters can now be created from the API, and
1336 manipulated via set/show in the CLI.
f870a310 1337
fa33c3cd 1338** New functions gdb.target_charset, gdb.target_wide_charset,
07ca107c
DE
1339 gdb.progspaces, gdb.current_progspace, and gdb.string_to_argv.
1340
1341** New exception gdb.GdbError.
fa33c3cd
DE
1342
1343** Pretty-printers are now also looked up in the current program space.
f3e9a817 1344
967cf477
DE
1345** Pretty-printers can now be individually enabled and disabled.
1346
8a1ea21f
DE
1347** GDB now looks for names of Python scripts to auto-load in a
1348 special section named `.debug_gdb_scripts', in addition to looking
1349 for a OBJFILE-gdb.py script when OBJFILE is read by the debugger.
1350
a7bdde9e
VP
1351* Tracepoint actions were unified with breakpoint commands. In particular,
1352there are no longer differences in "info break" output for breakpoints and
1353tracepoints and the "commands" command can be used for both tracepoints and
1354regular breakpoints.
1355
05071a4d
PA
1356* New targets
1357
1358ARM Symbian arm*-*-symbianelf*
1359
6aecb9c2
JB
1360* D language support.
1361 GDB now supports debugging programs written in the D programming
1362 language.
1363
431e49aa
TJB
1364* GDB now supports the extended ptrace interface for PowerPC which is
1365 available since Linux kernel version 2.6.34. This automatically enables
1366 any hardware breakpoints and additional hardware watchpoints available in
1367 the processor. The old ptrace interface exposes just one hardware
1368 watchpoint and no hardware breakpoints.
1369
1370* GDB is now able to use the Data Value Compare (DVC) register available on
1371 embedded PowerPC processors to implement in hardware simple watchpoint
1372 conditions of the form:
1373
1374 watch ADDRESS|VARIABLE if ADDRESS|VARIABLE == CONSTANT EXPRESSION
1375
1376 This works in native GDB running on Linux kernels with the extended ptrace
1377 interface mentioned above.
1378
bfbf3774 1379*** Changes in GDB 7.1
abc7453d 1380
4eef138c
TT
1381* C++ Improvements
1382
1383 ** Namespace Support
71dee663
SW
1384
1385 GDB now supports importing of namespaces in C++. This enables the
1386 user to inspect variables from imported namespaces. Support for
1387 namepace aliasing has also been added. So, if a namespace is
1388 aliased in the current scope (e.g. namepace C=A; ) the user can
1389 print variables using the alias (e.g. (gdb) print C::x).
1390
4eef138c
TT
1391 ** Bug Fixes
1392
1393 All known bugs relating to the printing of virtual base class were
1394 fixed. It is now possible to call overloaded static methods using a
1395 qualified name.
1396
1397 ** Cast Operators
1398
1399 The C++ cast operators static_cast<>, dynamic_cast<>, const_cast<>,
1400 and reinterpret_cast<> are now handled by the C++ expression parser.
1401
2d1c1221
ME
1402* New targets
1403
1404Xilinx MicroBlaze microblaze-*-*
34207b9e 1405Renesas RX rx-*-elf
2d1c1221
ME
1406
1407* New Simulators
1408
1409Xilinx MicroBlaze microblaze
34207b9e 1410Renesas RX rx
2d1c1221 1411
6c95b8df
PA
1412* Multi-program debugging.
1413
1414 GDB now has support for multi-program (a.k.a. multi-executable or
1415 multi-exec) debugging. This allows for debugging multiple inferiors
1416 simultaneously each running a different program under the same GDB
1417 session. See "Debugging Multiple Inferiors and Programs" in the
1418 manual for more information. This implied some user visible changes
1419 in the multi-inferior support. For example, "info inferiors" now
1420 lists inferiors that are not running yet or that have exited
1421 already. See also "New commands" and "New options" below.
1422
d5551862
SS
1423* New tracing features
1424
1425 GDB's tracepoint facility now includes several new features:
1426
1427 ** Trace state variables
f61e138d
SS
1428
1429 GDB tracepoints now include support for trace state variables, which
1430 are variables managed by the target agent during a tracing
1431 experiment. They are useful for tracepoints that trigger each
1432 other, so for instance one tracepoint can count hits in a variable,
1433 and then a second tracepoint has a condition that is true when the
1434 count reaches a particular value. Trace state variables share the
1435 $-syntax of GDB convenience variables, and can appear in both
1436 tracepoint actions and condition expressions. Use the "tvariable"
1437 command to create, and "info tvariables" to view; see "Trace State
1438 Variables" in the manual for more detail.
7a697b8d 1439
d5551862 1440 ** Fast tracepoints
7a697b8d
SS
1441
1442 GDB now includes an option for defining fast tracepoints, which
1443 targets may implement more efficiently, such as by installing a jump
1444 into the target agent rather than a trap instruction. The resulting
1445 speedup can be by two orders of magnitude or more, although the
1446 tradeoff is that some program locations on some target architectures
1447 might not allow fast tracepoint installation, for instance if the
1448 instruction to be replaced is shorter than the jump. To request a
1449 fast tracepoint, use the "ftrace" command, with syntax identical to
1450 the regular trace command.
1451
d5551862
SS
1452 ** Disconnected tracing
1453
1454 It is now possible to detach GDB from the target while it is running
1455 a trace experiment, then reconnect later to see how the experiment
1456 is going. In addition, a new variable disconnected-tracing lets you
1457 tell the target agent whether to continue running a trace if the
1458 connection is lost unexpectedly.
1459
00bf0b85
SS
1460 ** Trace files
1461
1462 GDB now has the ability to save the trace buffer into a file, and
1463 then use that file as a target, similarly to you can do with
1464 corefiles. You can select trace frames, print data that was
1465 collected in them, and use tstatus to display the state of the
1466 tracing run at the moment that it was saved. To create a trace
1467 file, use "tsave <filename>", and to use it, do "target tfile
1468 <name>".
4daf5ac0
SS
1469
1470 ** Circular trace buffer
1471
1472 You can ask the target agent to handle the trace buffer as a
1473 circular buffer, discarding the oldest trace frames to make room for
1474 newer ones, by setting circular-trace-buffer to on. This feature may
1475 not be available for all target agents.
1476
21a0512e
PP
1477* Changed commands
1478
1479disassemble
1480 The disassemble command, when invoked with two arguments, now requires
1481 the arguments to be comma-separated.
1482
0fe7935b
DJ
1483info variables
1484 The info variables command now displays variable definitions. Files
1485 which only declare a variable are not shown.
1486
fb2e7cb4
JB
1487source
1488 The source command is now capable of sourcing Python scripts.
1489 This feature is dependent on the debugger being build with Python
1490 support.
1491
1492 Related to this enhancement is also the introduction of a new command
1493 "set script-extension" (see below).
1494
6c95b8df
PA
1495* New commands (for set/show, see "New options" below)
1496
399cd161
MS
1497record save [<FILENAME>]
1498 Save a file (in core file format) containing the process record
1499 execution log for replay debugging at a later time.
1500
1501record restore <FILENAME>
1502 Restore the process record execution log that was saved at an
1503 earlier time, for replay debugging.
1504
6c95b8df
PA
1505add-inferior [-copies <N>] [-exec <FILENAME>]
1506 Add a new inferior.
1507
1508clone-inferior [-copies <N>] [ID]
1509 Make a new inferior ready to execute the same program another
1510 inferior has loaded.
1511
1512remove-inferior ID
1513 Remove an inferior.
1514
1515maint info program-spaces
1516 List the program spaces loaded into GDB.
1517
9a7071a8
JB
1518set remote interrupt-sequence [Ctrl-C | BREAK | BREAK-g]
1519show remote interrupt-sequence
1520 Allow the user to select one of ^C, a BREAK signal or BREAK-g
1521 as the sequence to the remote target in order to interrupt the execution.
1522 Ctrl-C is a default. Some system prefers BREAK which is high level of
1523 serial line for some certain time. Linux kernel prefers BREAK-g, a.k.a
1524 Magic SysRq g. It is BREAK signal and character 'g'.
1525
1526set remote interrupt-on-connect [on | off]
1527show remote interrupt-on-connect
1528 When interrupt-on-connect is ON, gdb sends interrupt-sequence to
1529 remote target when gdb connects to it. This is needed when you debug
1530 Linux kernel.
1531
1532set remotebreak [on | off]
1533show remotebreak
1534Deprecated. Use "set/show remote interrupt-sequence" instead.
1535
f61e138d
SS
1536tvariable $NAME [ = EXP ]
1537 Create or modify a trace state variable.
1538
1539info tvariables
1540 List trace state variables and their values.
1541
1542delete tvariable $NAME ...
1543 Delete one or more trace state variables.
1544
6da95a67
SS
1545teval EXPR, ...
1546 Evaluate the given expressions without collecting anything into the
1547 trace buffer. (Valid in tracepoint actions only.)
1548
7a697b8d
SS
1549ftrace FN / FILE:LINE / *ADDR
1550 Define a fast tracepoint at the given function, line, or address.
1551
b0f02ee9
JK
1552* New expression syntax
1553
1554 GDB now parses the 0b prefix of binary numbers the same way as GCC does.
1555 GDB now parses 0b101010 identically with 42.
1556
6c95b8df
PA
1557* New options
1558
1559set follow-exec-mode new|same
1560show follow-exec-mode
1561 Control whether GDB reuses the same inferior across an exec call or
1562 creates a new one. This is useful to be able to restart the old
1563 executable after the inferior having done an exec call.
1564
236f1d4d
SS
1565set default-collect EXPR, ...
1566show default-collect
1567 Define a list of expressions to be collected at each tracepoint.
1568 This is a useful way to ensure essential items are not overlooked,
1569 such as registers or a critical global variable.
1570
d5551862
SS
1571set disconnected-tracing
1572show disconnected-tracing
1573 If set to 1, the target is instructed to continue tracing if it
1574 loses its connection to GDB. If 0, the target is to stop tracing
1575 upon disconnection.
1576
4daf5ac0
SS
1577set circular-trace-buffer
1578show circular-trace-buffer
1579 If set to on, the target is instructed to use a circular trace buffer
1580 and discard the oldest trace frames instead of stopping the trace due
1581 to a full trace buffer. If set to off, the trace stops when the buffer
1582 fills up. Some targets may not support this.
1583
fb2e7cb4
JB
1584set script-extension off|soft|strict
1585show script-extension
1586 If set to "off", the debugger does not perform any script language
1587 recognition, and all sourced files are assumed to be GDB scripts.
1588 If set to "soft" (the default), files are sourced according to
1589 filename extension, falling back to GDB scripts if the first
1590 evaluation failed.
1591 If set to "strict", files are sourced according to filename extension.
1592
2b71fc8e
JB
1593set ada trust-PAD-over-XVS on|off
1594show ada trust-PAD-over-XVS
1595 If off, activate a workaround against a bug in the debugging information
1596 generated by the compiler for PAD types (see gcc/exp_dbug.ads in
1597 the GCC sources for more information about the GNAT encoding and
1598 PAD types in particular). It is always safe to set this option to
1599 off, but this introduces a slight performance penalty. The default
1600 is on.
1601
de2e5182
TT
1602* Python API Improvements
1603
1604 ** GDB provides the new class gdb.LazyString. This is useful in
1605 some pretty-printing cases. The new method gdb.Value.lazy_string
1606 provides a simple way to create objects of this type.
1607
1608 ** The fields returned by gdb.Type.fields now have an
1609 `is_base_class' attribute.
1610
1611 ** The new method gdb.Type.range returns the range of an array type.
1612
1613 ** The new method gdb.parse_and_eval can be used to parse and
1614 evaluate an expression.
1615
f61e138d
SS
1616* New remote packets
1617
1618QTDV
1619 Define a trace state variable.
1620
1621qTV
1622 Get the current value of a trace state variable.
1623
d5551862
SS
1624QTDisconnected
1625 Set desired tracing behavior upon disconnection.
1626
4daf5ac0
SS
1627QTBuffer:circular
1628 Set the trace buffer to be linear or circular.
1629
d5551862
SS
1630qTfP, qTsP
1631 Get data about the tracepoints currently in use.
1632
2d483d34
MS
1633* Bug fixes
1634
1635Process record now works correctly with hardware watchpoints.
1636
6e0e5977
JB
1637Multiple bug fixes have been made to the mips-irix port, making it
1638much more reliable. In particular:
1639 - Debugging threaded applications is now possible again. Previously,
1640 GDB would hang while starting the program, or while waiting for
1641 the program to stop at a breakpoint.
1642 - Attaching to a running process no longer hangs.
1643 - An error occurring while loading a core file has been fixed.
1644 - Changing the value of the PC register now works again. This fixes
1645 problems observed when using the "jump" command, or when calling
1646 a function from GDB, or even when assigning a new value to $pc.
1647 - With the "finish" and "return" commands, the return value for functions
1648 returning a small array is now correctly printed.
1649 - It is now possible to break on shared library code which gets executed
1650 during a shared library init phase (code executed while executing
1651 their .init section). Previously, the breakpoint would have no effect.
1652 - GDB is now able to backtrace through the signal handler for
1653 non-threaded programs.
1654
93c26624
JK
1655PIE (Position Independent Executable) programs debugging is now supported.
1656This includes debugging execution of PIC (Position Independent Code) shared
1657libraries although for that, it should be possible to run such libraries as an
1658executable program.
1659
abc7453d 1660*** Changes in GDB 7.0
75feb17d 1661
4efc6507
DE
1662* GDB now has an interface for JIT compilation. Applications that
1663dynamically generate code can create symbol files in memory and register
1664them with GDB. For users, the feature should work transparently, and
1665for JIT developers, the interface is documented in the GDB manual in the
1666"JIT Compilation Interface" chapter.
1667
782b2b07
SS
1668* Tracepoints may now be conditional. The syntax is as for
1669breakpoints; either an "if" clause appended to the "trace" command,
1670or the "condition" command is available. GDB sends the condition to
1671the target for evaluation using the same bytecode format as is used
1672for tracepoint actions.
1673
53a71c06
CR
1674* The disassemble command now supports: an optional /r modifier, print the
1675raw instructions in hex as well as in symbolic form, and an optional /m
1676modifier to print mixed source+assembly.
e6158f16 1677
e7a8dbfb
HZ
1678* Process record and replay
1679
1680 In a architecture environment that supports ``process record and
1681 replay'', ``process record and replay'' target can record a log of
1682 the process execution, and replay it with both forward and reverse
1683 execute commands.
1684
64644d9b
MS
1685* Reverse debugging: GDB now has new commands reverse-continue, reverse-
1686step, reverse-next, reverse-finish, reverse-stepi, reverse-nexti, and
1687set execution-direction {forward|reverse}, for targets that support
1688reverse execution.
1689
b9412953
DD
1690* GDB now supports hardware watchpoints on MIPS/Linux systems. This
1691feature is available with a native GDB running on kernel version
16922.6.28 or later.
1693
6c7a06a3
TT
1694* GDB now has support for multi-byte and wide character sets on the
1695target. Strings whose character type is wchar_t, char16_t, or
1696char32_t are now correctly printed. GDB supports wide- and unicode-
1697literals in C, that is, L'x', L"string", u'x', u"string", U'x', and
1698U"string" syntax. And, GDB allows the "%ls" and "%lc" formats in
1699`printf'. This feature requires iconv to work properly; if your
1700system does not have a working iconv, GDB can use GNU libiconv. See
1701the installation instructions for more information.
1702
f1838a98
UW
1703* GDB now supports automatic retrieval of shared library files from
1704remote targets. To use this feature, specify a system root that begins
1705with the `remote:' prefix, either via the `set sysroot' command or via
1706the `--with-sysroot' configure-time option.
1707
55333a84
DE
1708* "info sharedlibrary" now takes an optional regex of libraries to show,
1709and it now reports if a shared library has no debugging information.
1710
7f6a6314
PM
1711* Commands `set debug-file-directory', `set solib-search-path' and `set args'
1712now complete on file names.
1713
65d12d83
TT
1714* When completing in expressions, gdb will attempt to limit
1715completions to allowable structure or union fields, where appropriate.
1716For instance, consider:
1717
1718 # struct example { int f1; double f2; };
1719 # struct example variable;
1720 (gdb) p variable.
1721
1722If the user types TAB at the end of this command line, the available
1723completions will be "f1" and "f2".
1724
edb3359d
DJ
1725* Inlined functions are now supported. They show up in backtraces, and
1726the "step", "next", and "finish" commands handle them automatically.
1727
2fae03e8
TT
1728* GDB now supports the token-splicing (##) and stringification (#)
1729operators when expanding macros. It also supports variable-arity
1730macros.
1731
47a3467a 1732* GDB now supports inspecting extra signal information, exported by
58d6951d
DJ
1733the new $_siginfo convenience variable. The feature is currently
1734implemented on linux ARM, i386 and amd64.
1735
1736* GDB can now display the VFP floating point registers and NEON vector
1737registers on ARM targets. Both ARM GNU/Linux native GDB and gdbserver
1738can provide these registers (requires Linux 2.6.30 or later). Remote
1739and simulator targets may also provide them.
47a3467a 1740
08388c79
DE
1741* New remote packets
1742
1743qSearch:memory:
1744 Search memory for a sequence of bytes.
1745
a6f3e723
SL
1746QStartNoAckMode
1747 Turn off `+'/`-' protocol acknowledgments to permit more efficient
1748 operation over reliable transport links. Use of this packet is
1749 controlled by the `set remote noack-packet' command.
1750
d7713ae0
EZ
1751vKill
1752 Kill the process with the specified process ID. Use this in preference
1753 to `k' when multiprocess protocol extensions are supported.
1754
07e059b5
VP
1755qXfer:osdata:read
1756 Obtains additional operating system information
1757
47a3467a
PA
1758qXfer:siginfo:read
1759qXfer:siginfo:write
1760 Read or write additional signal information.
1761
060871df
PA
1762* Removed remote protocol undocumented extension
1763
1764 An undocumented extension to the remote protocol's `S' stop reply
1765 packet that permited the stub to pass a process id was removed.
1766 Remote servers should use the `T' stop reply packet instead.
1767
c055b101 1768* GDB now supports multiple function calling conventions according to the
a0ef4274 1769DWARF-2 DW_AT_calling_convention function attribute.
c055b101
CV
1770
1771* The SH target utilizes the aforementioned change to distinguish between gcc
a0ef4274
DJ
1772and Renesas calling convention. It also adds the new CLI commands
1773`set/show sh calling-convention'.
c055b101 1774
31fffb02
CS
1775* GDB can now read compressed debug sections, as produced by GNU gold
1776with the --compress-debug-sections=zlib flag.
1777
88d8a8e0
JB
1778* 64-bit core files are now supported on AIX.
1779
7f99b190
JB
1780* Thread switching is now supported on Tru64.
1781
ccd213ac
DJ
1782* Watchpoints can now be set on unreadable memory locations, e.g. addresses
1783which will be allocated using malloc later in program execution.
1784
1fddbabb 1785* The qXfer:libraries:read remote procotol packet now allows passing a
31fffb02 1786list of section offsets.
1fddbabb 1787
a0ef4274
DJ
1788* On GNU/Linux, GDB can now attach to stopped processes. Several race
1789conditions handling signals delivered during attach or thread creation
1790have also been fixed.
1791
bfb8797a 1792* GDB now supports the use of DWARF boolean types for Ada's type Boolean.
158c7665
PH
1793From the user's standpoint, all unqualified instances of True and False
1794are treated as the standard definitions, regardless of context.
bfb8797a 1795
71c25dea
TT
1796* GDB now parses C++ symbol and type names more flexibly. For
1797example, given:
1798
1799 template<typename T> class C { };
1800 C<char const *> c;
1801
1802GDB will now correctly handle all of:
1803
1804 ptype C<char const *>
1805 ptype C<char const*>
1806 ptype C<const char *>
1807 ptype C<const char*>
1808
ccd213ac
DJ
1809* New features in the GDB remote stub, gdbserver
1810
1811 - The "--wrapper" command-line argument tells gdbserver to use a
1812 wrapper program to launch programs for debugging.
1813
7ae0e2a2
UW
1814 - On PowerPC and S/390 targets, it is now possible to use a single
1815 gdbserver executable to debug both 32-bit and 64-bit programs.
1816 (This requires gdbserver itself to be built as a 64-bit executable.)
1817
a6f3e723
SL
1818 - gdbserver uses the new noack protocol mode for TCP connections to
1819 reduce communications latency, if also supported and enabled in GDB.
1820
da8bd9a3
DJ
1821 - Support for the sparc64-linux-gnu target is now included in
1822 gdbserver.
1823
d70e31dd
DE
1824 - The amd64-linux build of gdbserver now supports debugging both
1825 32-bit and 64-bit programs.
1826
1827 - The i386-linux, amd64-linux, and i386-win32 builds of gdbserver
1828 now support hardware watchpoints, and will use them automatically
1829 as appropriate.
1830
d57a3c85
TJB
1831* Python scripting
1832
1833 GDB now has support for scripting using Python. Whether this is
1834 available is determined at configure time.
1835
d8906c6f
TJB
1836 New GDB commands can now be written in Python.
1837
aadc346a
JB
1838* Ada tasking support
1839
1840 Ada tasks can now be inspected in GDB. The following commands have
1841 been introduced:
1842
1843 info tasks
1844 Print the list of Ada tasks.
1845 info task N
1846 Print detailed information about task number N.
1847 task
1848 Print the task number of the current task.
1849 task N
1850 Switch the context of debugging to task number N.
1851
adb483fe
DJ
1852* Support for user-defined prefixed commands. The "define" command can
1853add new commands to existing prefixes, e.g. "target".
1854
2277426b
PA
1855* Multi-inferior, multi-process debugging.
1856
1857 GDB now has generalized support for multi-inferior debugging. See
1858 "Debugging Multiple Inferiors" in the manual for more information.
1859 Although availability still depends on target support, the command
1860 set is more uniform now. The GNU/Linux specific multi-forks support
1861 has been migrated to this new framework. This implied some user
1862 visible changes; see "New commands" and also "Removed commands"
1863 below.
1864
08d16641
PA
1865* Target descriptions can now describe the target OS ABI. See the
1866"Target Description Format" section in the user manual for more
1867information.
1868
e35359c5
UW
1869* Target descriptions can now describe "compatible" architectures
1870to indicate that the target can execute applications for a different
1871architecture in addition to those for the main target architecture.
1872See the "Target Description Format" section in the user manual for
1873more information.
1874
85e747d2
UW
1875* Multi-architecture debugging.
1876
1877 GDB now includes general supports for debugging applications on
1878 hybrid systems that use more than one single processor architecture
1879 at the same time. Each such hybrid architecture still requires
1880 specific support to be added. The only hybrid architecture supported
1881 in this version of GDB is the Cell Broadband Engine.
1882
1883* GDB now supports integrated debugging of Cell/B.E. applications that
1884use both the PPU and SPU architectures. To enable support for hybrid
1885Cell/B.E. debugging, you need to configure GDB to support both the
1886powerpc-linux or powerpc64-linux and the spu-elf targets, using the
1887--enable-targets configure option.
1888
11ade57a
PA
1889* Non-stop mode debugging.
1890
1891 For some targets, GDB now supports an optional mode of operation in
1892 which you can examine stopped threads while other threads continue
1893 to execute freely. This is referred to as non-stop mode, with the
1894 old mode referred to as all-stop mode. See the "Non-Stop Mode"
1895 section in the user manual for more information.
1896
1897 To be able to support remote non-stop debugging, a remote stub needs
1898 to implement the non-stop mode remote protocol extensions, as
1899 described in the "Remote Non-Stop" section of the user manual. The
1900 GDB remote stub, gdbserver, has been adjusted to support these
1901 extensions on linux targets.
1902
d7713ae0 1903* New commands (for set/show, see "New options" below)
75feb17d 1904
a96d9b2e
SDJ
1905catch syscall [NAME(S) | NUMBER(S)]
1906 Catch system calls. Arguments, which should be names of system
1907 calls or their numbers, mean catch only those syscalls. Without
1908 arguments, every syscall will be caught. When the inferior issues
1909 any of the specified syscalls, GDB will stop and announce the system
1910 call, both when it is called and when its call returns. This
1911 feature is currently available with a native GDB running on the
1912 Linux Kernel, under the following architectures: x86, x86_64,
1913 PowerPC and PowerPC64.
1914
08388c79
DE
1915find [/size-char] [/max-count] start-address, end-address|+search-space-size,
1916 val1 [, val2, ...]
1917 Search memory for a sequence of bytes.
1918
d57a3c85
TJB
1919maint set python print-stack
1920maint show python print-stack
1921 Show a stack trace when an error is encountered in a Python script.
1922
1923python [CODE]
1924 Invoke CODE by passing it to the Python interpreter.
1925
d7713ae0
EZ
1926macro define
1927macro list
1928macro undef
1929 These allow macros to be defined, undefined, and listed
1930 interactively.
1931
1932info os processes
1933 Show operating system information about processes.
1934
2277426b
PA
1935info inferiors
1936 List the inferiors currently under GDB's control.
1937
1938inferior NUM
1939 Switch focus to inferior number NUM.
1940
1941detach inferior NUM
1942 Detach from inferior number NUM.
1943
1944kill inferior NUM
1945 Kill inferior number NUM.
1946
d7713ae0
EZ
1947* New options
1948
3285f3fe
UW
1949set spu stop-on-load
1950show spu stop-on-load
1951 Control whether to stop for new SPE threads during Cell/B.E. debugging.
1952
ff1a52c6
UW
1953set spu auto-flush-cache
1954show spu auto-flush-cache
1955 Control whether to automatically flush the software-managed cache
1956 during Cell/B.E. debugging.
1957
d7713ae0
EZ
1958set sh calling-convention
1959show sh calling-convention
1960 Control the calling convention used when calling SH target functions.
1961
e0a3ce09 1962set debug timestamp
75feb17d 1963show debug timestamp
d7713ae0
EZ
1964 Control display of timestamps with GDB debugging output.
1965
1966set disassemble-next-line
1967show disassemble-next-line
1968 Control display of disassembled source lines or instructions when
1969 the debuggee stops.
1970
1971set remote noack-packet
1972show remote noack-packet
1973 Set/show the use of remote protocol QStartNoAckMode packet. See above
1974 under "New remote packets."
1975
1976set remote query-attached-packet
1977show remote query-attached-packet
1978 Control use of remote protocol `qAttached' (query-attached) packet.
1979
1980set remote read-siginfo-object
1981show remote read-siginfo-object
1982 Control use of remote protocol `qXfer:siginfo:read' (read-siginfo-object)
1983 packet.
1984
1985set remote write-siginfo-object
1986show remote write-siginfo-object
1987 Control use of remote protocol `qXfer:siginfo:write' (write-siginfo-object)
1988 packet.
1989
40ab02ce
MS
1990set remote reverse-continue
1991show remote reverse-continue
1992 Control use of remote protocol 'bc' (reverse-continue) packet.
1993
1994set remote reverse-step
1995show remote reverse-step
1996 Control use of remote protocol 'bs' (reverse-step) packet.
1997
d7713ae0
EZ
1998set displaced-stepping
1999show displaced-stepping
2000 Control displaced stepping mode. Displaced stepping is a way to
2001 single-step over breakpoints without removing them from the debuggee.
2002 Also known as "out-of-line single-stepping".
2003
2004set debug displaced
2005show debug displaced
2006 Control display of debugging info for displaced stepping.
2007
2008maint set internal-error
2009maint show internal-error
2010 Control what GDB does when an internal error is detected.
2011
2012maint set internal-warning
2013maint show internal-warning
2014 Control what GDB does when an internal warning is detected.
75feb17d 2015
ccd213ac
DJ
2016set exec-wrapper
2017show exec-wrapper
2018unset exec-wrapper
2019 Use a wrapper program to launch programs for debugging.
fa4727a6 2020
aad4b048
JB
2021set multiple-symbols (all|ask|cancel)
2022show multiple-symbols
2023 The value of this variable can be changed to adjust the debugger behavior
2024 when an expression or a breakpoint location contains an ambiguous symbol
2025 name (an overloaded function name, for instance).
2026
74960c60
VP
2027set breakpoint always-inserted
2028show breakpoint always-inserted
2029 Keep breakpoints always inserted in the target, as opposed to inserting
2030 them when resuming the target, and removing them when the target stops.
2031 This option can improve debugger performance on slow remote targets.
2032
0428b8f5
DJ
2033set arm fallback-mode (arm|thumb|auto)
2034show arm fallback-mode
2035set arm force-mode (arm|thumb|auto)
2036show arm force-mode
2037 These commands control how ARM GDB determines whether instructions
2038 are ARM or Thumb. The default for both settings is auto, which uses
2039 the current CPSR value for instructions without symbols; previous
2040 versions of GDB behaved as if "set arm fallback-mode arm".
2041
10568435
JK
2042set disable-randomization
2043show disable-randomization
2044 Standalone programs run with the virtual address space randomization enabled
2045 by default on some platforms. This option keeps the addresses stable across
2046 multiple debugging sessions.
2047
d7713ae0
EZ
2048set non-stop
2049show non-stop
2050 Control whether other threads are stopped or not when some thread hits
2051 a breakpoint.
2052
b3eb342c 2053set target-async
d7713ae0 2054show target-async
b3eb342c
VP
2055 Requests that asynchronous execution is enabled in the target, if available.
2056 In this case, it's possible to resume target in the background, and interact
2057 with GDB while the target is running. "show target-async" displays the
2058 current state of asynchronous execution of the target.
2059
6c7a06a3
TT
2060set target-wide-charset
2061show target-wide-charset
2062 The target-wide-charset is the name of the character set that GDB
2063 uses when printing characters whose type is wchar_t.
2064
84603566
SL
2065set tcp auto-retry (on|off)
2066show tcp auto-retry
2067set tcp connect-timeout
2068show tcp connect-timeout
2069 These commands allow GDB to retry failed TCP connections to a remote stub
2070 with a specified timeout period; this is useful if the stub is launched
2071 in parallel with GDB but may not be ready to accept connections immediately.
2072
17a37d48
PP
2073set libthread-db-search-path
2074show libthread-db-search-path
2075 Control list of directories which GDB will search for appropriate
2076 libthread_db.
2077
d4db2f36
PA
2078set schedule-multiple (on|off)
2079show schedule-multiple
2080 Allow GDB to resume all threads of all processes or only threads of
2081 the current process.
2082
4e5d721f
DE
2083set stack-cache
2084show stack-cache
2085 Use more aggressive caching for accesses to the stack. This improves
2086 performance of remote debugging (particularly backtraces) without
2087 affecting correctness.
2088
910c5da8
JB
2089set interactive-mode (on|off|auto)
2090show interactive-mode
2091 Control whether GDB runs in interactive mode (on) or not (off).
2092 When in interactive mode, GDB waits for the user to answer all
2093 queries. Otherwise, GDB does not wait and assumes the default
2094 answer. When set to auto (the default), GDB determines which
2095 mode to use based on the stdin settings.
2096
2277426b
PA
2097* Removed commands
2098
2099info forks
2100 For program forks, this is replaced by the new more generic `info
2101 inferiors' command. To list checkpoints, you can still use the
2102 `info checkpoints' command, which was an alias for the `info forks'
2103 command.
2104
2105fork NUM
2106 Replaced by the new `inferior' command. To switch between
2107 checkpoints, you can still use the `restart' command, which was an
2108 alias for the `fork' command.
2109
2110process PID
2111 This is removed, since some targets don't have a notion of
2112 processes. To switch between processes, you can still use the
2113 `inferior' command using GDB's own inferior number.
2114
2115delete fork NUM
2116 For program forks, this is replaced by the new more generic `kill
2117 inferior' command. To delete a checkpoint, you can still use the
2118 `delete checkpoint' command, which was an alias for the `delete
2119 fork' command.
2120
2121detach fork NUM
2122 For program forks, this is replaced by the new more generic `detach
2123 inferior' command. To detach a checkpoint, you can still use the
2124 `detach checkpoint' command, which was an alias for the `detach
2125 fork' command.
2126
a80b95ba
TG
2127* New native configurations
2128
2129x86/x86_64 Darwin i[34567]86-*-darwin*
2130
b8bfd3ed
JB
2131x86_64 MinGW x86_64-*-mingw*
2132
75a2d5e7
TT
2133* New targets
2134
c28c63d8 2135Lattice Mico32 lm32-*
75a2d5e7 2136x86 DICOS i[34567]86-*-dicos*
4c1d2973 2137x86_64 DICOS x86_64-*-dicos*
5f814c3b 2138S+core 3 score-*-*
75a2d5e7 2139
6de3146c
PA
2140* The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports x86 Windows CE
2141 (mingw32ce) debugging.
2142
d5cbbe6e
JB
2143* Removed commands
2144
2145catch load
2146catch unload
2147 These commands were actually not implemented on any target.
2148
75feb17d 2149*** Changes in GDB 6.8
f9ed52be 2150
af5ca30d
NH
2151* New native configurations
2152
2153NetBSD/hppa hppa*-*netbsd*
94a0e877 2154Xtensa GNU/Linux xtensa*-*-linux*
af5ca30d
NH
2155
2156* New targets
2157
2158NetBSD/hppa hppa*-*-netbsd*
94a0e877 2159Xtensa GNU/Lunux xtensa*-*-linux*
af5ca30d 2160
7a404eba
PA
2161* Change in command line behavior -- corefiles vs. process ids.
2162
2163 When the '-p NUMBER' or '--pid NUMBER' options are used, and
2164 attaching to process NUMBER fails, GDB no longer attempts to open a
2165 core file named NUMBER. Attaching to a program using the -c option
2166 is no longer supported. Instead, use the '-p' or '--pid' options.
2167
430ebac9
PA
2168* GDB can now be built as a native debugger for debugging Windows x86
2169(mingw32) Portable Executable (PE) programs.
2170
fe6fbf8b 2171* Pending breakpoints no longer change their number when their address
8d5f9c6f 2172is resolved.
fe6fbf8b
VP
2173
2174* GDB now supports breakpoints with multiple locations,
8d5f9c6f
DJ
2175including breakpoints on C++ constructors, inside C++ templates,
2176and in inlined functions.
fe6fbf8b 2177
10665d76
JB
2178* GDB's ability to debug optimized code has been improved. GDB more
2179accurately identifies function bodies and lexical blocks that occupy
2180more than one contiguous range of addresses.
2181
7cc46491
DJ
2182* Target descriptions can now describe registers for PowerPC.
2183
d71340b8
DJ
2184* The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports the AltiVec and SPE
2185registers on PowerPC targets.
2186
523c4513
DJ
2187* The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports thread debugging on GNU/Linux
2188targets even when the libthread_db library is not available.
2189
a6b151f1
DJ
2190* The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports the new file transfer
2191commands (remote put, remote get, and remote delete).
2192
2d717e4f
DJ
2193* The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports run and attach in
2194extended-remote mode.
2195
24a836bd 2196* hppa*64*-*-hpux11* target broken
d001be7a
DJ
2197The debugger is unable to start a program and fails with the following
2198error: "Error trying to get information about dynamic linker".
2199The gdb-6.7 release is also affected.
24a836bd 2200
d0c678e6
UW
2201* GDB now supports the --enable-targets= configure option to allow
2202building a single GDB executable that supports multiple remote
2203target architectures.
2204
d64a946d
TJB
2205* GDB now supports debugging C and C++ programs which use the
2206Decimal Floating Point extension. In addition, the PowerPC target
2207now has a set of pseudo-registers to inspect decimal float values
2208stored in two consecutive float registers.
2209
ee163bf5
VP
2210* The -break-insert MI command can optionally create pending
2211breakpoints now.
2212
b93b6ca7 2213* Improved support for debugging Ada
d001be7a
DJ
2214Many improvements to the Ada language support have been made. These
2215include:
b93b6ca7
JB
2216 - Better support for Ada2005 interface types
2217 - Improved handling of arrays and slices in general
2218 - Better support for Taft-amendment types
2219 - The '{type} ADDRESS' expression is now allowed on the left hand-side
2220 of an assignment
2221 - Improved command completion in Ada
2222 - Several bug fixes
2223
d001be7a
DJ
2224* GDB on GNU/Linux and HP/UX can now debug through "exec" of a new
2225process.
2226
a6b151f1
DJ
2227* New commands
2228
6d53d0af
JB
2229set print frame-arguments (all|scalars|none)
2230show print frame-arguments
2231 The value of this variable can be changed to control which argument
2232 values should be printed by the debugger when displaying a frame.
2233
a6b151f1
DJ
2234remote put
2235remote get
2236remote delete
2237 Transfer files to and from a remote target, and delete remote files.
2238
2239* New MI commands
2240
2241-target-file-put
2242-target-file-get
2243-target-file-delete
2244 Transfer files to and from a remote target, and delete remote files.
2245
2246* New remote packets
2247
2248vFile:open:
2249vFile:close:
2250vFile:pread:
2251vFile:pwrite:
2252vFile:unlink:
2253 Open, close, read, write, and delete files on the remote system.
d0c678e6 2254
2d717e4f
DJ
2255vAttach
2256 Attach to an existing process on the remote system, in extended-remote
2257 mode.
2258
2259vRun
2260 Run a new process on the remote system, in extended-remote mode.
2261
8d5f9c6f 2262*** Changes in GDB 6.7
6dd09645 2263
19d378fc
MS
2264* Resolved 101 resource leaks, null pointer dereferences, etc. in gdb,
2265bfd, libiberty and opcodes, as revealed by static analysis donated by
2266Coverity, Inc. (http://scan.coverity.com).
2267
3a40aaa0
UW
2268* When looking up multiply-defined global symbols, GDB will now prefer the
2269symbol definition in the current shared library if it was built using the
2270-Bsymbolic linker option.
2271
a6ec25f2
BW
2272* When the Text User Interface (TUI) is not configured, GDB will now
2273recognize the -tui command-line option and print a message that the TUI
2274is not supported.
2275
6dd09645
JB
2276* The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now has lower overhead for high
2277frequency signals (e.g. SIGALRM) via the QPassSignals packet.
2278
c9bb8148
DJ
2279* GDB for MIPS targets now autodetects whether a remote target provides
228032-bit or 64-bit register values.
2281
0d5de010
DJ
2282* Support for C++ member pointers has been improved.
2283
23181151
DJ
2284* GDB now understands XML target descriptions, which specify the
2285target's overall architecture. GDB can read a description from
2286a local file or over the remote serial protocol.
2287
ea37ba09
DJ
2288* Vectors of single-byte data use a new integer type which is not
2289automatically displayed as character or string data.
2290
2291* The /s format now works with the print command. It displays
2292arrays of single-byte integers and pointers to single-byte integers
2293as strings.
e1f48ead 2294
123dc839
DJ
2295* Target descriptions can now describe target-specific registers,
2296for architectures which have implemented the support (currently
8d5f9c6f 2297only ARM, M68K, and MIPS).
123dc839 2298
05a4558a
DJ
2299* GDB and the GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now support the XScale
2300iWMMXt coprocessor.
fb1e4ffc 2301
7c963485
PA
2302* The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, has been updated to support
2303ARM Windows CE (mingw32ce) debugging, and GDB Windows CE support
2304has been rewritten to use the standard GDB remote protocol.
2305
b18be20d
DJ
2306* GDB can now step into C++ functions which are called through thunks.
2307
0ca420ce
UW
2308* GDB for the Cell/B.E. SPU now supports overlay debugging.
2309
31d99776
DJ
2310* The GDB remote protocol "qOffsets" packet can now honor ELF segment
2311layout. It also supports a TextSeg= and DataSeg= response when only
2312segment base addresses (rather than offsets) are available.
2313
a4642986
MR
2314* The /i format now outputs any trailing branch delay slot instructions
2315immediately following the last instruction within the count specified.
2316
cfa9d6d9
DJ
2317* The GDB remote protocol "T" stop reply packet now supports a
2318"library" response. Combined with the new "qXfer:libraries:read"
2319packet, this response allows GDB to debug shared libraries on targets
2320where the operating system manages the list of loaded libraries (e.g.
2321Windows and SymbianOS).
255e7678
DJ
2322
2323* The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports dynamic link libraries
2324(DLLs) on Windows and Windows CE targets.
f5db8714
JK
2325
2326* GDB now supports a faster verification that a .debug file matches its binary
2327according to its build-id signature, if the signature is present.
cfa9d6d9 2328
c9bb8148
DJ
2329* New commands
2330
23776285
MR
2331set remoteflow
2332show remoteflow
2333 Enable or disable hardware flow control (RTS/CTS) on the serial port
2334 when debugging using remote targets.
2335
c9bb8148
DJ
2336set mem inaccessible-by-default
2337show mem inaccessible-by-default
2338 If the target supplies a memory map, for instance via the remote
2339 protocol's "qXfer:memory-map:read" packet, setting this variable
2340 prevents GDB from accessing memory outside the memory map. This
2341 is useful for targets with memory mapped registers or which react
2342 badly to accesses of unmapped address space.
2343
2344set breakpoint auto-hw
2345show breakpoint auto-hw
2346 If the target supplies a memory map, for instance via the remote
2347 protocol's "qXfer:memory-map:read" packet, setting this variable
2348 lets GDB use hardware breakpoints automatically for memory regions
2349 where it can not use software breakpoints. This covers both the
2350 "break" command and internal breakpoints used for other commands
2351 including "next" and "finish".
2352
0e420bd8
JB
2353catch exception
2354catch exception unhandled
2355 Stop the program execution when Ada exceptions are raised.
2356
2357catch assert
2358 Stop the program execution when an Ada assertion failed.
2359
f822c95b
DJ
2360set sysroot
2361show sysroot
2362 Set an alternate system root for target files. This is a more
2363 general version of "set solib-absolute-prefix", which is now
2364 an alias to "set sysroot".
2365
83cc5c53
UW
2366info spu
2367 Provide extended SPU facility status information. This set of
2368 commands is available only when debugging the Cell/B.E. SPU
2369 architecture.
2370
bd372731
MK
2371* New native configurations
2372
2373OpenBSD/sh sh*-*openbsd*
2374
23181151
DJ
2375set tdesc filename
2376unset tdesc filename
2377show tdesc filename
2378 Use the specified local file as an XML target description, and do
2379 not query the target for its built-in description.
2380
c9bb8148
DJ
2381* New targets
2382
54fe9172 2383OpenBSD/sh sh*-*-openbsd*
c9bb8148 2384MIPS64 GNU/Linux (gdbserver) mips64-linux-gnu
c077150c 2385Toshiba Media Processor mep-elf
c9bb8148 2386
6dd09645
JB
2387* New remote packets
2388
2389QPassSignals:
2390 Ignore the specified signals; pass them directly to the debugged program
2391 without stopping other threads or reporting them to GDB.
2392
23181151
DJ
2393qXfer:features:read:
2394 Read an XML target description from the target, which describes its
2395 features.
6dd09645 2396
83cc5c53
UW
2397qXfer:spu:read:
2398qXfer:spu:write:
2399 Read or write contents of an spufs file on the target system. These
2400 packets are available only on the Cell/B.E. SPU architecture.
2401
cfa9d6d9
DJ
2402qXfer:libraries:read:
2403 Report the loaded shared libraries. Combined with new "T" packet
2404 response, this packet allows GDB to debug shared libraries on
2405 targets where the operating system manages the list of loaded
2406 libraries (e.g. Windows and SymbianOS).
2407
483367ee
DJ
2408* Removed targets
2409
2410Support for these obsolete configurations has been removed.
2411
d08950c4
UW
2412alpha*-*-osf1*
2413alpha*-*-osf2*
7ce59000 2414d10v-*-*
483367ee
DJ
2415hppa*-*-hiux*
2416i[34567]86-ncr-*
2417i[34567]86-*-dgux*
2418i[34567]86-*-lynxos*
2419i[34567]86-*-netware*
2420i[34567]86-*-sco3.2v5*
2421i[34567]86-*-sco3.2v4*
2422i[34567]86-*-sco*
2423i[34567]86-*-sysv4.2*
2424i[34567]86-*-sysv4*
2425i[34567]86-*-sysv5*
2426i[34567]86-*-unixware2*
2427i[34567]86-*-unixware*
2428i[34567]86-*-sysv*
2429i[34567]86-*-isc*
2430m68*-cisco*-*
2431m68*-tandem-*
ad527d2e 2432mips*-*-pe
483367ee 2433rs6000-*-lynxos*
ad527d2e 2434sh*-*-pe
483367ee 2435
7ce59000
DJ
2436* Other removed features
2437
2438target abug
2439target cpu32bug
2440target est
2441target rom68k
2442
2443 Various m68k-only ROM monitors.
2444
ea35711c
DJ
2445target hms
2446target e7000
2447target sh3
2448target sh3e
2449
2450 Various Renesas ROM monitors and debugging interfaces for SH and
2451 H8/300.
2452
2453target ocd
2454
2455 Support for a Macraigor serial interface to on-chip debugging.
2456 GDB does not directly support the newer parallel or USB
2457 interfaces.
2458
7ce59000
DJ
2459DWARF 1 support
2460
2461 A debug information format. The predecessor to DWARF 2 and
2462 DWARF 3, which are still supported.
2463
54d61198
DJ
2464Support for the HP aCC compiler on HP-UX/PA-RISC
2465
2466 SOM-encapsulated symbolic debugging information, automatic
2467 invocation of pxdb, and the aCC custom C++ ABI. This does not
2468 affect HP-UX for Itanium or GCC for HP-UX/PA-RISC. Code compiled
2469 with aCC can still be debugged on an assembly level.
2470
ea35711c
DJ
2471MIPS ".pdr" sections
2472
2473 A MIPS-specific format used to describe stack frame layout
2474 in debugging information.
2475
2476Scheme support
2477
2478 GDB could work with an older version of Guile to debug
2479 the interpreter and Scheme programs running in it.
2480
1a69e1e4
DJ
2481set mips stack-arg-size
2482set mips saved-gpreg-size
2483
2484 Use "set mips abi" to control parameter passing for MIPS.
2485
6dd09645 2486*** Changes in GDB 6.6
e374b601 2487
ca3bf3bd
DJ
2488* New targets
2489
2490Xtensa xtensa-elf
9c309e77 2491Cell Broadband Engine SPU spu-elf
ca3bf3bd 2492
6aec2e11
DJ
2493* GDB can now be configured as a cross-debugger targeting native Windows
2494(mingw32) or Cygwin. It can communicate with a remote debugging stub
2495running on a Windows system over TCP/IP to debug Windows programs.
2496
2497* The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, has been updated to support Windows and
2498Cygwin debugging. Both single-threaded and multi-threaded programs are
2499supported.
2500
17218d91
DJ
2501* The "set trust-readonly-sections" command works again. This command was
2502broken in GDB 6.3, 6.4, and 6.5.
2503
9ebce043
DJ
2504* The "load" command now supports writing to flash memory, if the remote
2505stub provides the required support.
2506
7d3d3ece
DJ
2507* Support for GNU/Linux Thread Local Storage (TLS, per-thread variables) no
2508longer requires symbolic debug information (e.g. DWARF-2).
2509
4f8253f3
JB
2510* New commands
2511
2512set substitute-path
2513unset substitute-path
2514show substitute-path
2515 Manage a list of substitution rules that GDB uses to rewrite the name
2516 of the directories where the sources are located. This can be useful
2517 for instance when the sources were moved to a different location
2518 between compilation and debugging.
2519
9fa66fd7
AS
2520set trace-commands
2521show trace-commands
2522 Print each CLI command as it is executed. Each command is prefixed with
2523 a number of `+' symbols representing the nesting depth.
2524 The source command now has a `-v' option to enable the same feature.
2525
1f5befc1
DJ
2526* REMOVED features
2527
2528The ARM Demon monitor support (RDP protocol, "target rdp").
2529
2ec3381a
DJ
2530Kernel Object Display, an embedded debugging feature which only worked with
2531an obsolete version of Cisco IOS.
2532
3d00d119
DJ
2533The 'set download-write-size' and 'show download-write-size' commands.
2534
be2a5f71
DJ
2535* New remote packets
2536
2537qSupported:
2538 Tell a stub about GDB client features, and request remote target features.
2539 The first feature implemented is PacketSize, which allows the target to
2540 specify the size of packets it can handle - to minimize the number of
2541 packets required and improve performance when connected to a remote
2542 target.
2543
0876f84a
DJ
2544qXfer:auxv:read:
2545 Fetch an OS auxilliary vector from the remote stub. This packet is a
2546 more efficient replacement for qPart:auxv:read.
2547
9ebce043
DJ
2548qXfer:memory-map:read:
2549 Fetch a memory map from the remote stub, including information about
2550 RAM, ROM, and flash memory devices.
2551
2552vFlashErase:
2553vFlashWrite:
2554vFlashDone:
2555 Erase and program a flash memory device.
2556
0876f84a
DJ
2557* Removed remote packets
2558
2559qPart:auxv:read:
2560 This packet has been replaced by qXfer:auxv:read. Only GDB 6.4 and 6.5
2561 used it, and only gdbserver implemented it.
2562
e374b601 2563*** Changes in GDB 6.5
53e5f3cf 2564
96309189
MS
2565* New targets
2566
2567Renesas M32C/M16C m32c-elf
2568
2569Morpho Technologies ms1 ms1-elf
2570
53e5f3cf
AS
2571* New commands
2572
2573init-if-undefined Initialize a convenience variable, but
2574 only if it doesn't already have a value.
2575
ac264b3b
MS
2576The following commands are presently only implemented for native GNU/Linux:
2577
2578checkpoint Save a snapshot of the program state.
2579
2580restart <n> Return the program state to a
2581 previously saved state.
2582
2583info checkpoints List currently saved checkpoints.
2584
2585delete-checkpoint <n> Delete a previously saved checkpoint.
2586
2587set|show detach-on-fork Tell gdb whether to detach from a newly
2588 forked process, or to keep debugging it.
2589
2590info forks List forks of the user program that
2591 are available to be debugged.
2592
2593fork <n> Switch to debugging one of several
2594 forks of the user program that are
2595 available to be debugged.
2596
2597delete-fork <n> Delete a fork from the list of forks
2598 that are available to be debugged (and
2599 kill the forked process).
2600
2601detach-fork <n> Delete a fork from the list of forks
2602 that are available to be debugged (and
2603 allow the process to continue).
2604
3950dc3f
NS
2605* New architecture
2606
2607Morpho Technologies ms2 ms1-elf
2608
0ea3f30e
DJ
2609* Improved Windows host support
2610
2611GDB now builds as a cross debugger hosted on i686-mingw32, including
2612native console support, and remote communications using either
2613network sockets or serial ports.
2614
f79daebb
GM
2615* Improved Modula-2 language support
2616
2617GDB can now print most types in the Modula-2 syntax. This includes:
2618basic types, set types, record types, enumerated types, range types,
2619pointer types and ARRAY types. Procedure var parameters are correctly
2620printed and hexadecimal addresses and character constants are also
2621written in the Modula-2 syntax. Best results can be obtained by using
2622GNU Modula-2 together with the -gdwarf-2 command line option.
2623
acab6ab2
MM
2624* REMOVED features
2625
2626The ARM rdi-share module.
2627
f4267320
DJ
2628The Netware NLM debug server.
2629
53e5f3cf 2630*** Changes in GDB 6.4
156a53ca 2631
e0ecbda1
MK
2632* New native configurations
2633
02a677ac 2634OpenBSD/arm arm*-*-openbsd*
e0ecbda1
MK
2635OpenBSD/mips64 mips64-*-openbsd*
2636
d64a6579
KB
2637* New targets
2638
2639Morpho Technologies ms1 ms1-elf
2640
b33a6190
AS
2641* New command line options
2642
2643--batch-silent As for --batch, but totally silent.
2644--return-child-result The debugger will exist with the same value
2645 the child (debugged) program exited with.
2646--eval-command COMMAND, -ex COMMAND
2647 Execute a single GDB CLI command. This may be
2648 specified multiple times and in conjunction
2649 with the --command (-x) option.
2650
11dced61
AC
2651* Deprecated commands removed
2652
2653The following commands, that were deprecated in 2000, have been
2654removed:
2655
2656 Command Replacement
2657 set|show arm disassembly-flavor set|show arm disassembler
2658 othernames set arm disassembler
2659 set|show remotedebug set|show debug remote
2660 set|show archdebug set|show debug arch
2661 set|show eventdebug set|show debug event
2662 regs info registers
2663
6fe85783
MK
2664* New BSD user-level threads support
2665
2666It is now possible to debug programs using the user-level threads
2667library on OpenBSD and FreeBSD. Currently supported (target)
2668configurations are:
2669
2670FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
2671FreeBSD/i386 i386-*-freebsd*
2672OpenBSD/i386 i386-*-openbsd*
2673
2674Note that the new kernel threads libraries introduced in FreeBSD 5.x
2675are not yet supported.
2676
5260ca71
MS
2677* New support for Matsushita MN10300 w/sim added
2678(Work in progress). mn10300-elf.
2679
e84ecc99
AC
2680* REMOVED configurations and files
2681
2682VxWorks and the XDR protocol *-*-vxworks
9445aa30 2683Motorola MCORE mcore-*-*
9445aa30 2684National Semiconductor NS32000 ns32k-*-*
156a53ca 2685
31e35378
JB
2686* New "set print array-indexes" command
2687
2688After turning this setting "on", GDB prints the index of each element
2689when displaying arrays. The default is "off" to preserve the previous
2690behavior.
2691
e85e5c83
MK
2692* VAX floating point support
2693
2694GDB now supports the not-quite-ieee VAX F and D floating point formats.
2695
d91e9901
AS
2696* User-defined command support
2697
2698In addition to using $arg0..$arg9 for argument passing, it is now possible
2699to use $argc to determine now many arguments have been passed. See the
2700section on user-defined commands in the user manual for more information.
2701
f2cb65ca
MC
2702*** Changes in GDB 6.3:
2703
f47b1503
AS
2704* New command line option
2705
2706GDB now accepts -l followed by a number to set the timeout for remote
2707debugging.
2708
f2cb65ca
MC
2709* GDB works with GCC -feliminate-dwarf2-dups
2710
2711GDB now supports a more compact representation of DWARF-2 debug
2712information using DW_FORM_ref_addr references. These are produced
2713by GCC with the option -feliminate-dwarf2-dups and also by some
2714proprietary compilers. With GCC, you must use GCC 3.3.4 or later
2715to use -feliminate-dwarf2-dups.
860660cb 2716
d08c0230
AC
2717* Internationalization
2718
2719When supported by the host system, GDB will be built with
2720internationalization (libintl). The task of marking up the sources is
2721continued, we're looking forward to our first translation.
2722
117ea3cf
PH
2723* Ada
2724
2725Initial support for debugging programs compiled with the GNAT
2726implementation of the Ada programming language has been integrated
2727into GDB. In this release, support is limited to expression evaluation.
2728
d08c0230
AC
2729* New native configurations
2730
2731GNU/Linux/m32r m32r-*-linux-gnu
2732
2733* Remote 'p' packet
2734
2735GDB's remote protocol now includes support for the 'p' packet. This
2736packet is used to fetch individual registers from a remote inferior.
2737
2738* END-OF-LIFE registers[] compatibility module
2739
2740GDB's internal register infrastructure has been completely rewritten.
2741The new infrastructure making possible the implementation of key new
2742features including 32x64 (e.g., 64-bit amd64 GDB debugging a 32-bit
2743i386 application).
2744
2745GDB 6.3 will be the last release to include the the registers[]
2746compatibility module that allowed out-of-date configurations to
2747continue to work. This change directly impacts the following
2748configurations:
2749
2750hppa-*-hpux
2751ia64-*-aix
2752mips-*-irix*
2753*-*-lynx
2754mips-*-linux-gnu
2755sds protocol
2756xdr protocol
2757powerpc bdm protocol
2758
2759Unless there is activity to revive these configurations, they will be
2760made OBSOLETE in GDB 6.4, and REMOVED from GDB 6.5.
2761
2762* OBSOLETE configurations and files
2763
2764Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
2765been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
2766configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
2767permanently REMOVED.
2768
2769h8300-*-*
2770mcore-*-*
2771mn10300-*-*
2772ns32k-*-*
2773sh64-*-*
2774v850-*-*
2775
ebb7c577
AC
2776*** Changes in GDB 6.2.1:
2777
2778* MIPS `break main; run' gave an heuristic-fence-post warning
2779
2780When attempting to run even a simple program, a warning about
2781heuristic-fence-post being hit would be reported. This problem has
2782been fixed.
2783
2784* MIPS IRIX 'long double' crashed GDB
2785
2786When examining a long double variable, GDB would get a segmentation
2787fault. The crash has been fixed (but GDB 6.2 cannot correctly examine
2788IRIX long double values).
2789
2790* VAX and "next"
2791
2792A bug in the VAX stack code was causing problems with the "next"
2793command. This problem has been fixed.
2794
860660cb 2795*** Changes in GDB 6.2:
faae5abe 2796
0dea2468
AC
2797* Fix for ``many threads''
2798
2799On GNU/Linux systems that use the NPTL threads library, a program
2800rapidly creating and deleting threads would confuse GDB leading to the
2801error message:
2802
2803 ptrace: No such process.
2804 thread_db_get_info: cannot get thread info: generic error
2805
2806This problem has been fixed.
2807
2c07db7a
AC
2808* "-async" and "-noasync" options removed.
2809
2810Support for the broken "-noasync" option has been removed (it caused
2811GDB to dump core).
2812
c23968a2
JB
2813* New ``start'' command.
2814
2815This command runs the program until the begining of the main procedure.
2816
71009278
MK
2817* New BSD Kernel Data Access Library (libkvm) interface
2818
2819Using ``target kvm'' it is now possible to debug kernel core dumps and
2820live kernel memory images on various FreeBSD, NetBSD and OpenBSD
2821platforms. Currently supported (native-only) configurations are:
2822
2823FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
2824FreeBSD/i386 i?86-*-freebsd*
2825NetBSD/i386 i?86-*-netbsd*
2826NetBSD/m68k m68*-*-netbsd*
2827NetBSD/sparc sparc-*-netbsd*
2828OpenBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-openbsd*
2829OpenBSD/i386 i?86-*-openbsd*
2830OpenBSD/m68k m68*-openbsd*
2831OpenBSD/sparc sparc-*-openbsd*
2832
3c0b7db2
AC
2833* Signal trampoline code overhauled
2834
2835Many generic problems with GDB's signal handling code have been fixed.
2836These include: backtraces through non-contiguous stacks; recognition
2837of sa_sigaction signal trampolines; backtrace from a NULL pointer
2838call; backtrace through a signal trampoline; step into and out of
2839signal handlers; and single-stepping in the signal trampoline.
2840
73cc75f3
AC
2841Please note that kernel bugs are a limiting factor here. These
2842features have been shown to work on an s390 GNU/Linux system that
2843include a 2.6.8-rc1 kernel. Ref PR breakpoints/1702.
3c0b7db2 2844
7243600a
BF
2845* Cygwin support for DWARF 2 added.
2846
6f606e1c
MK
2847* New native configurations
2848
97dc871c 2849GNU/Linux/hppa hppa*-*-linux*
0e56aeaf 2850OpenBSD/hppa hppa*-*-openbsd*
bf2ca189
MK
2851OpenBSD/m68k m68*-*-openbsd*
2852OpenBSD/m88k m88*-*-openbsd*
d195bc9f 2853OpenBSD/powerpc powerpc-*-openbsd*
6f606e1c 2854NetBSD/vax vax-*-netbsd*
9f076e7a 2855OpenBSD/vax vax-*-openbsd*
6f606e1c 2856
a1b461bf
AC
2857* END-OF-LIFE frame compatibility module
2858
2859GDB's internal frame infrastructure has been completely rewritten.
2860The new infrastructure making it possible to support key new features
2861including DWARF 2 Call Frame Information. To aid in the task of
2862migrating old configurations to this new infrastructure, a
2863compatibility module, that allowed old configurations to continue to
2864work, was also included.
2865
2866GDB 6.2 will be the last release to include this frame compatibility
2867module. This change directly impacts the following configurations:
2868
2869h8300-*-*
2870mcore-*-*
2871mn10300-*-*
2872ns32k-*-*
2873sh64-*-*
2874v850-*-*
2875xstormy16-*-*
2876
2877Unless there is activity to revive these configurations, they will be
2878made OBSOLETE in GDB 6.3, and REMOVED from GDB 6.4.
2879
3c7012f5
AC
2880* REMOVED configurations and files
2881
2882Sun 3, running SunOS 3 m68*-*-sunos3*
2883Sun 3, running SunOS 4 m68*-*-sunos4*
2884Sun 2, running SunOS 3 m68000-*-sunos3*
2885Sun 2, running SunOS 4 m68000-*-sunos4*
2886Motorola 680x0 running LynxOS m68*-*-lynxos*
2887AT&T 3b1/Unix pc m68*-att-*
2888Bull DPX2 (68k, System V release 3) m68*-bull-sysv*
2889decstation mips-dec-* mips-little-*
2890riscos mips-*-riscos* mips-*-sysv*
2891sonymips mips-sony-*
2892sysv mips*-*-sysv4* (IRIX 5/6 not included)
2893
e5fe55f7
AC
2894*** Changes in GDB 6.1.1:
2895
2896* TUI (Text-mode User Interface) built-in (also included in GDB 6.1)
2897
2898The TUI (Text-mode User Interface) is now built as part of a default
2899GDB configuration. It is enabled by either selecting the TUI with the
2900command line option "-i=tui" or by running the separate "gdbtui"
2901program. For more information on the TUI, see the manual "Debugging
2902with GDB".
2903
2904* Pending breakpoint support (also included in GDB 6.1)
2905
2906Support has been added to allow you to specify breakpoints in shared
2907libraries that have not yet been loaded. If a breakpoint location
2908cannot be found, and the "breakpoint pending" option is set to auto,
2909GDB queries you if you wish to make the breakpoint pending on a future
2910shared-library load. If and when GDB resolves the breakpoint symbol,
2911the pending breakpoint is removed as one or more regular breakpoints
2912are created.
2913
2914Pending breakpoints are very useful for GCJ Java debugging.
2915
2916* Fixed ISO-C build problems
2917
2918The files bfd/elf-bfd.h, gdb/dictionary.c and gdb/types.c contained
2919non ISO-C code that stopped them being built using a more strict ISO-C
2920compiler (e.g., IBM's C compiler).
2921
2922* Fixed build problem on IRIX 5
2923
2924Due to header problems with <sys/proc.h>, the file gdb/proc-api.c
2925wasn't able to compile compile on an IRIX 5 system.
2926
2927* Added execute permission to gdb/gdbserver/configure
2928
2929The shell script gdb/testsuite/gdb.stabs/configure lacked execute
2930permission. This bug would cause configure to fail on a number of
2931systems (Solaris, IRIX). Ref: server/519.
2932
2933* Fixed build problem on hpux2.0w-hp-hpux11.00 using the HP ANSI C compiler
2934
2935Older HPUX ANSI C compilers did not accept variable array sizes. somsolib.c
2936has been updated to use constant array sizes.
2937
2938* Fixed a panic in the DWARF Call Frame Info code on Solaris 2.7
2939
2940GCC 3.3.2, on Solaris 2.7, includes the DW_EH_PE_funcrel encoding in
2941its generated DWARF Call Frame Info. This encoding was causing GDB to
2942panic, that panic has been fixed. Ref: gdb/1628.
2943
2944* Fixed a problem when examining parameters in shared library code.
2945
2946When examining parameters in optimized shared library code generated
2947by a mainline GCC, GDB would incorrectly report ``Variable "..." is
2948not available''. GDB now correctly displays the variable's value.
2949
faae5abe 2950*** Changes in GDB 6.1:
f2c06f52 2951
9175c9a3
MC
2952* Removed --with-mmalloc
2953
2954Support for the mmalloc memory manager has been removed, as it
2955conflicted with the internal gdb byte cache.
2956
3cc87ec0
MK
2957* Changes in AMD64 configurations
2958
2959The AMD64 target now includes the %cs and %ss registers. As a result
2960the AMD64 remote protocol has changed; this affects the floating-point
2961and SSE registers. If you rely on those registers for your debugging,
2962you should upgrade gdbserver on the remote side.
2963
f0424ef6
MK
2964* Revised SPARC target
2965
2966The SPARC target has been completely revised, incorporating the
2967FreeBSD/sparc64 support that was added for GDB 6.0. As a result
03cebad2
MK
2968support for LynxOS and SunOS 4 has been dropped. Calling functions
2969from within GDB on operating systems with a non-executable stack
2970(Solaris, OpenBSD) now works.
f0424ef6 2971
59659be2
ILT
2972* New C++ demangler
2973
2974GDB has a new C++ demangler which does a better job on the mangled
2975names generated by current versions of g++. It also runs faster, so
2976with this and other changes gdb should now start faster on large C++
2977programs.
2978
9e08b29b
DJ
2979* DWARF 2 Location Expressions
2980
2981GDB support for location expressions has been extended to support function
2982arguments and frame bases. Older versions of GDB could crash when they
2983encountered these.
2984
8dfe8985
DC
2985* C++ nested types and namespaces
2986
2987GDB's support for nested types and namespaces in C++ has been
2988improved, especially if you use the DWARF 2 debugging format. (This
2989is the default for recent versions of GCC on most platforms.)
2990Specifically, if you have a class "Inner" defined within a class or
2991namespace "Outer", then GDB realizes that the class's name is
2992"Outer::Inner", not simply "Inner". This should greatly reduce the
2993frequency of complaints about not finding RTTI symbols. In addition,
2994if you are stopped at inside of a function defined within a namespace,
2995GDB modifies its name lookup accordingly.
2996
cced5e27
MK
2997* New native configurations
2998
2999NetBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-netbsd*
27d1e716 3000OpenBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-openbsd*
2031c21a 3001OpenBSD/alpha alpha*-*-openbsd*
f2cab569
MK
3002OpenBSD/sparc sparc-*-openbsd*
3003OpenBSD/sparc64 sparc64-*-openbsd*
cced5e27 3004
b4b4b794
KI
3005* New debugging protocols
3006
3007M32R with SDI protocol m32r-*-elf*
3008
7989c619
AC
3009* "set prompt-escape-char" command deleted.
3010
3011The command "set prompt-escape-char" has been deleted. This command,
3012and its very obscure effet on GDB's prompt, was never documented,
3013tested, nor mentioned in the NEWS file.
3014
5994185b
AC
3015* OBSOLETE configurations and files
3016
3017Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
3018been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
3019configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
3020permanently REMOVED.
3021
3022Sun 3, running SunOS 3 m68*-*-sunos3*
3023Sun 3, running SunOS 4 m68*-*-sunos4*
3024Sun 2, running SunOS 3 m68000-*-sunos3*
3025Sun 2, running SunOS 4 m68000-*-sunos4*
3026Motorola 680x0 running LynxOS m68*-*-lynxos*
3027AT&T 3b1/Unix pc m68*-att-*
3028Bull DPX2 (68k, System V release 3) m68*-bull-sysv*
0748d941
AC
3029decstation mips-dec-* mips-little-*
3030riscos mips-*-riscos* mips-*-sysv*
3031sonymips mips-sony-*
3032sysv mips*-*-sysv4* (IRIX 5/6 not included)
5994185b 3033
0ddabb4c
AC
3034* REMOVED configurations and files
3035
3036SGI Irix-4.x mips-sgi-irix4 or iris4
3037SGI Iris (MIPS) running Irix V3: mips-sgi-irix or iris
4a8269c0
AC
3038Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
3039Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
3040H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
3041HP/PA running BSD hppa*-*-bsd*
3042HP/PA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
3043HP/PA Pro target hppa*-*-pro*
3044PMAX (MIPS) running Mach 3.0 mips*-*-mach3*
cf7c5c23 3045386BSD i[3456]86-*-bsd*
4a8269c0
AC
3046Sequent family i[3456]86-sequent-sysv4*
3047 i[3456]86-sequent-sysv*
3048 i[3456]86-sequent-bsd*
f0424ef6
MK
3049SPARC running LynxOS sparc-*-lynxos*
3050SPARC running SunOS 4 sparc-*-sunos4*
4a8269c0
AC
3051Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
3052Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
0ddabb4c 3053
c7f1390e
DJ
3054*** Changes in GDB 6.0:
3055
1fe43d45
AC
3056* Objective-C
3057
3058Support for debugging the Objective-C programming language has been
3059integrated into GDB.
3060
e6beb428
AC
3061* New backtrace mechanism (includes DWARF 2 Call Frame Information).
3062
3063DWARF 2's Call Frame Information makes available compiler generated
3064information that more exactly describes the program's run-time stack.
3065By using this information, GDB is able to provide more robust stack
3066backtraces.
3067
3068The i386, amd64 (nee, x86-64), Alpha, m68hc11, ia64, and m32r targets
3069have been updated to use a new backtrace mechanism which includes
3070DWARF 2 CFI support.
3071
3072* Hosted file I/O.
3073
3074GDB's remote protocol has been extended to include support for hosted
3075file I/O (where the remote target uses GDB's file system). See GDB's
3076remote protocol documentation for details.
3077
3078* All targets using the new architecture framework.
3079
3080All of GDB's targets have been updated to use the new internal
3081architecture framework. The way is now open for future GDB releases
3082to include cross-architecture native debugging support (i386 on amd64,
3083ppc32 on ppc64).
3084
3085* GNU/Linux's Thread Local Storage (TLS)
3086
3087GDB now includes support for for the GNU/Linux implementation of
3088per-thread variables.
3089
3090* GNU/Linux's Native POSIX Thread Library (NPTL)
3091
3092GDB's thread code has been updated to work with either the new
3093GNU/Linux NPTL thread library or the older "LinuxThreads" library.
3094
3095* Separate debug info.
3096
3097GDB, in conjunction with BINUTILS, now supports a mechanism for
3098automatically loading debug information from a separate file. Instead
3099of shipping full debug and non-debug versions of system libraries,
3100system integrators can now instead ship just the stripped libraries
3101and optional debug files.
3102
3103* DWARF 2 Location Expressions
3104
3105DWARF 2 Location Expressions allow the compiler to more completely
3106describe the location of variables (even in optimized code) to the
3107debugger.
3108
3109GDB now includes preliminary support for location expressions (support
3110for DW_OP_piece is still missing).
3111
3112* Java
3113
3114A number of long standing bugs that caused GDB to die while starting a
3115Java application have been fixed. GDB's Java support is now
3116considered "useable".
3117
85f8f974
DJ
3118* GNU/Linux support for fork, vfork, and exec.
3119
3120The "catch fork", "catch exec", "catch vfork", and "set follow-fork-mode"
3121commands are now implemented for GNU/Linux. They require a 2.5.x or later
3122kernel.
3123
0fac0b41
DJ
3124* GDB supports logging output to a file
3125
3126There are two new commands, "set logging" and "show logging", which can be
3127used to capture GDB's output to a file.
f2c06f52 3128
6ad8ae5c
DJ
3129* The meaning of "detach" has changed for gdbserver
3130
3131The "detach" command will now resume the application, as documented. To
3132disconnect from gdbserver and leave it stopped, use the new "disconnect"
3133command.
3134
e286caf2 3135* d10v, m68hc11 `regs' command deprecated
5f601589
AC
3136
3137The `info registers' command has been updated so that it displays the
3138registers using a format identical to the old `regs' command.
3139
d28f9cdf
DJ
3140* Profiling support
3141
3142A new command, "maint set profile on/off", has been added. This command can
3143be used to enable or disable profiling while running GDB, to profile a
3144session or a set of commands. In addition there is a new configure switch,
3145"--enable-profiling", which will cause GDB to be compiled with profiling
3146data, for more informative profiling results.
3147
da0f9dcd
AC
3148* Default MI syntax changed to "mi2".
3149
3150The default MI (machine interface) syntax, enabled by the command line
3151option "-i=mi", has been changed to "mi2". The previous MI syntax,
b68767c1 3152"mi1", can be enabled by specifying the option "-i=mi1".
da0f9dcd
AC
3153
3154Support for the original "mi0" syntax (included in GDB 5.0) has been
3155removed.
3156
fb9b6b35
JJ
3157Fix for gdb/192: removed extraneous space when displaying frame level.
3158Fix for gdb/672: update changelist is now output in mi list format.
3159Fix for gdb/702: a -var-assign that updates the value now shows up
3160 in a subsequent -var-update.
3161
954a4db8
MK
3162* New native configurations.
3163
3164FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
3165
6760f9e6
JB
3166* Multi-arched targets.
3167
b4263afa 3168HP/PA HPUX11 hppa*-*-hpux*
85a453d5 3169Renesas M32R/D w/simulator m32r-*-elf*
6760f9e6 3170
1b831c93
AC
3171* OBSOLETE configurations and files
3172
3173Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
3174been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
3175configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
3176permanently REMOVED.
3177
8b0e5691 3178Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
67f16606 3179Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
fd2299bd 3180H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
56056df7
AC
3181HP/PA running BSD hppa*-*-bsd*
3182HP/PA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
3183HP/PA Pro target hppa*-*-pro*
78c43945 3184PMAX (MIPS) running Mach 3.0 mips*-*-mach3*
2fbce691
AC
3185Sequent family i[3456]86-sequent-sysv4*
3186 i[3456]86-sequent-sysv*
3187 i[3456]86-sequent-bsd*
f81824a9
AC
3188Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
3189Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
fd2299bd 3190
5835abe7
NC
3191* REMOVED configurations and files
3192
3193V850EA ISA
1b831c93
AC
3194Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
3195IBM AIX PS/2 i[3456]86-*-aix
3196i386 running Mach 3.0 i[3456]86-*-mach3*
3197i386 running Mach i[3456]86-*-mach*
3198i386 running OSF/1 i[3456]86-*osf1mk*
3199HP/Apollo 68k Family m68*-apollo*-sysv*,
3200 m68*-apollo*-bsd*,
3201 m68*-hp-bsd*, m68*-hp-hpux*
3202Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
3203Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
3204Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
3205OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
3206I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
5835abe7 3207
a094c6fb
AC
3208* MIPS $fp behavior changed
3209
3210The convenience variable $fp, for the MIPS, now consistently returns
3211the address of the current frame's base. Previously, depending on the
3212context, $fp could refer to either $sp or the current frame's base
3213address. See ``8.10 Registers'' in the manual ``Debugging with GDB:
3214The GNU Source-Level Debugger''.
3215
299ffc64 3216*** Changes in GDB 5.3:
37057839 3217
46248966
AC
3218* GNU/Linux shared library multi-threaded performance improved.
3219
3220When debugging a multi-threaded application on GNU/Linux, GDB now uses
3221`/proc', in preference to `ptrace' for memory reads. This may result
3222in an improvement in the start-up time of multi-threaded, shared
3223library applications when run under GDB. One GDB user writes: ``loads
3224shared libs like mad''.
3225
b9d14705 3226* ``gdbserver'' now supports multi-threaded applications on some targets
6da02953 3227
b9d14705
DJ
3228Support for debugging multi-threaded applications which use
3229the GNU/Linux LinuxThreads package has been added for
3230arm*-*-linux*-gnu*, i[3456]86-*-linux*-gnu*, mips*-*-linux*-gnu*,
3231powerpc*-*-linux*-gnu*, and sh*-*-linux*-gnu*.
6da02953 3232
e0e9281e
JB
3233* GDB now supports C/C++ preprocessor macros.
3234
3235GDB now expands preprocessor macro invocations in C/C++ expressions,
3236and provides various commands for showing macro definitions and how
3237they expand.
3238
dd73b9bb
AC
3239The new command `macro expand EXPRESSION' expands any macro
3240invocations in expression, and shows the result.
3241
3242The new command `show macro MACRO-NAME' shows the definition of the
3243macro named MACRO-NAME, and where it was defined.
3244
e0e9281e
JB
3245Most compilers don't include information about macros in the debugging
3246information by default. In GCC 3.1, for example, you need to compile
3247your program with the options `-gdwarf-2 -g3'. If the macro
3248information is present in the executable, GDB will read it.
3249
2250ee0c
CV
3250* Multi-arched targets.
3251
6e3ba3b8
JT
3252DEC Alpha (partial) alpha*-*-*
3253DEC VAX (partial) vax-*-*
2250ee0c 3254NEC V850 v850-*-*
6e3ba3b8 3255National Semiconductor NS32000 (partial) ns32k-*-*
a1789893
GS
3256Motorola 68000 (partial) m68k-*-*
3257Motorola MCORE mcore-*-*
2250ee0c 3258
cd9bfe15 3259* New targets.
e33ce519 3260
456f8b9d
DB
3261Fujitsu FRV architecture added by Red Hat frv*-*-*
3262
e33ce519 3263
da8ca43d
JT
3264* New native configurations
3265
3266Alpha NetBSD alpha*-*-netbsd*
029923d4 3267SH NetBSD sh*-*-netbsdelf*
45888261 3268MIPS NetBSD mips*-*-netbsd*
9ce5c36a 3269UltraSPARC NetBSD sparc64-*-netbsd*
da8ca43d 3270
cd9bfe15
AC
3271* OBSOLETE configurations and files
3272
3273Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
3274been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
3275configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
3276permanently REMOVED.
3277
92eb23c5 3278Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
a99a9e1b 3279OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
1c7cc583 3280IBM AIX PS/2 i[3456]86-*-aix
7a3085c1 3281Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
7fb623f7 3282Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
eb4c54a2 3283Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
d8ee244c
MK
3284i386 running Mach 3.0 i[3456]86-*-mach3*
3285i386 running Mach i[3456]86-*-mach*
3286i386 running OSF/1 i[3456]86-*osf1mk*
822e978b
AC
3287HP/Apollo 68k Family m68*-apollo*-sysv*,
3288 m68*-apollo*-bsd*,
3289 m68*-hp-bsd*, m68*-hp-hpux*
4d210288 3290I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
92eb23c5 3291
db034ac5
AC
3292* OBSOLETE languages
3293
3294CHILL, a Pascal like language used by telecommunications companies.
3295
cd9bfe15
AC
3296* REMOVED configurations and files
3297
3298AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi, udi29k
3299A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
3300AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
3301AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
3302AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
3303
3304testsuite/gdb.hp/gdb.threads-hp/ directory
3305
20f01a46
DH
3306* New command "set max-user-call-depth <nnn>"
3307
3308This command allows the user to limit the call depth of user-defined
3309commands. The default is 1024.
3310
a5941fbf
MK
3311* Changes in FreeBSD/i386 native debugging.
3312
3313Support for the "generate-core-file" has been added.
3314
89743e04
MS
3315* New commands "dump", "append", and "restore".
3316
3317These commands allow data to be copied from target memory
3318to a bfd-format or binary file (dump and append), and back
3319from a file into memory (restore).
37057839 3320
9fb14e79
JB
3321* Improved "next/step" support on multi-processor Alpha Tru64.
3322
3323The previous single-step mechanism could cause unpredictable problems,
3324including the random appearance of SIGSEGV or SIGTRAP signals. The use
3325of a software single-step mechanism prevents this.
3326
2037aebb
AC
3327*** Changes in GDB 5.2.1:
3328
3329* New targets.
3330
3331Atmel AVR avr*-*-*
3332
3333* Bug fixes
3334
3335gdb/182: gdb/323: gdb/237: On alpha, gdb was reporting:
3336mdebugread.c:2443: gdb-internal-error: sect_index_data not initialized
3337Fix, by Joel Brobecker imported from mainline.
3338
3339gdb/439: gdb/291: On some ELF object files, gdb was reporting:
3340dwarf2read.c:1072: gdb-internal-error: sect_index_text not initialize
3341Fix, by Fred Fish, imported from mainline.
3342
3343Dwarf2 .debug_frame & .eh_frame handler improved in many ways.
3344Surprisingly enough, it works now.
3345By Michal Ludvig, imported from mainline.
3346
3347i386 hardware watchpoint support:
3348avoid misses on second run for some targets.
3349By Pierre Muller, imported from mainline.
3350
37057839 3351*** Changes in GDB 5.2:
eb7cedd9 3352
1a703748
MS
3353* New command "set trust-readonly-sections on[off]".
3354
3355This command is a hint that tells gdb that read-only sections
3356really are read-only (ie. that their contents will not change).
3357In this mode, gdb will go to the object file rather than the
3358target to read memory from read-only sections (such as ".text").
3359This can be a significant performance improvement on some
3360(notably embedded) targets.
3361
cefd4ef5
MS
3362* New command "generate-core-file" (or "gcore").
3363
55241689
AC
3364This new gdb command allows the user to drop a core file of the child
3365process state at any time. So far it's been implemented only for
3366GNU/Linux and Solaris, but should be relatively easily ported to other
3367hosts. Argument is core file name (defaults to core.<pid>).
cefd4ef5 3368
352ed7b4
MS
3369* New command line option
3370
3371GDB now accepts --pid or -p followed by a process id.
3372
3373* Change in command line behavior -- corefiles vs. process ids.
3374
3375There is a subtle behavior in the way in which GDB handles
3376command line arguments. The first non-flag argument is always
3377a program to debug, but the second non-flag argument may either
3378be a corefile or a process id. Previously, GDB would attempt to
3379open the second argument as a corefile, and if that failed, would
3380issue a superfluous error message and then attempt to attach it as
3381a process. Now, if the second argument begins with a non-digit,
3382it will be treated as a corefile. If it begins with a digit,
3383GDB will attempt to attach it as a process, and if no such process
3384is found, will then attempt to open it as a corefile.
3385
fe419ffc
RE
3386* Changes in ARM configurations.
3387
3388Multi-arch support is enabled for all ARM configurations. The ARM/NetBSD
3389configuration is fully multi-arch.
3390
eb7cedd9
MK
3391* New native configurations
3392
fe419ffc 3393ARM NetBSD arm*-*-netbsd*
eb7cedd9 3394x86 OpenBSD i[3456]86-*-openbsd*
55241689 3395AMD x86-64 running GNU/Linux x86_64-*-linux-*
768f0842 3396Sparc64 running FreeBSD sparc64-*-freebsd*
eb7cedd9 3397
c9f63e6b
CV
3398* New targets
3399
3400Sanyo XStormy16 xstormy16-elf
3401
9b4ff276
AC
3402* OBSOLETE configurations and files
3403
3404Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
3405been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
3406configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
3407permanently REMOVED.
3408
3409AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi, udi29k
3410A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
3411AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
3412AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
3413AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
3414
b4ceaee6 3415testsuite/gdb.hp/gdb.threads-hp/ directory
9b4ff276 3416
e2caac18
AC
3417* REMOVED configurations and files
3418
3419TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
7bc65f05 3420WDC 65816 w65-*-*
7768dd6c
AC
3421PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
3422PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
3423PowerPC Netware powerpc-*-netware*
5e734e1f 3424Harris/CXUX m88k m88*-harris-cxux*
1406caf7
AC
3425Most ns32k hosts and targets ns32k-*-mach3* ns32k-umax-*
3426 ns32k-utek-sysv* ns32k-utek-*
7e24f0b1 3427SunOS 4.0.Xi on i386 i[3456]86-*-sunos*
9b567150 3428Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1 a29k-nyu-sym1 a29k-*-kern*
3680c638
AC
3429Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x m68*-sony-sysv news
3430ISI Optimum V (3.05) under 4.3bsd. m68*-isi-*
a752853e 3431Apple Macintosh (MPW) host and target N/A host, powerpc-*-macos*
e2caac18 3432
c2a727fa
TT
3433* Changes to command line processing
3434
3435The new `--args' feature can be used to specify command-line arguments
3436for the inferior from gdb's command line.
3437
467d8519
TT
3438* Changes to key bindings
3439
3440There is a new `operate-and-get-next' function bound to `C-o'.
3441
7072a954
AC
3442*** Changes in GDB 5.1.1
3443
3444Fix compile problem on DJGPP.
3445
3446Fix a problem with floating-point registers on the i386 being
3447corrupted.
3448
3449Fix to stop GDB crashing on .debug_str debug info.
3450
3451Numerous documentation fixes.
3452
3453Numerous testsuite fixes.
3454
34f47bc4 3455*** Changes in GDB 5.1:
139760b7
MK
3456
3457* New native configurations
3458
3459Alpha FreeBSD alpha*-*-freebsd*
3460x86 FreeBSD 3.x and 4.x i[3456]86*-freebsd[34]*
55241689 3461MIPS GNU/Linux mips*-*-linux*
e23194cb
EZ
3462MIPS SGI Irix 6.x mips*-sgi-irix6*
3463ia64 AIX ia64-*-aix*
55241689 3464s390 and s390x GNU/Linux {s390,s390x}-*-linux*
139760b7 3465
bf64bfd6
AC
3466* New targets
3467
def90278 3468Motorola 68HC11 and 68HC12 m68hc11-elf
24be5c34 3469CRIS cris-axis
55241689 3470UltraSparc running GNU/Linux sparc64-*-linux*
def90278 3471
17e78a56 3472* OBSOLETE configurations and files
bf64bfd6
AC
3473
3474x86 FreeBSD before 2.2 i[3456]86*-freebsd{1,2.[01]}*,
9b9c068d 3475Harris/CXUX m88k m88*-harris-cxux*
bb19ff3b
AC
3476Most ns32k hosts and targets ns32k-*-mach3* ns32k-umax-*
3477 ns32k-utek-sysv* ns32k-utek-*
76f4ea53
AC
3478TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
3479WDC 65816 w65-*-*
4a1968f4 3480Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1 a29k-nyu-sym1 a29k-*-kern*
1b2b2c16
AC
3481PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
3482PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
3483PowerPC Netware powerpc-*-netware*
24f89b68 3484SunOS 4.0.Xi on i386 i[3456]86-*-sunos*
514e603d
AC
3485Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x m68*-sony-sysv news
3486ISI Optimum V (3.05) under 4.3bsd. m68*-isi-*
d036b4d9 3487Apple Macintosh (MPW) host N/A
bf64bfd6 3488
17e78a56
AC
3489stuff.c (Program to stuff files into a specially prepared space in kdb)
3490kdb-start.c (Main loop for the standalone kernel debugger)
3491
7fcca85b
AC
3492Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
3493been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
3494configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
3495permanently REMOVED.
3496
a196c81c 3497* REMOVED configurations and files
7fcca85b
AC
3498
3499Altos 3068 m68*-altos-*
3500Convex c1-*-*, c2-*-*
3501Pyramid pyramid-*-*
3502ARM RISCix arm-*-* (as host)
3503Tahoe tahoe-*-*
a196c81c 3504ser-ocd.c *-*-*
bf64bfd6 3505
6d6b80e5 3506* GDB has been converted to ISO C.
e23194cb 3507
6d6b80e5 3508GDB's source code has been converted to ISO C. In particular, the
e23194cb
EZ
3509sources are fully protoized, and rely on standard headers being
3510present.
3511
bf64bfd6
AC
3512* Other news:
3513
e23194cb
EZ
3514* "info symbol" works on platforms which use COFF, ECOFF, XCOFF, and NLM.
3515
3516* The MI enabled by default.
3517
3518The new machine oriented interface (MI) introduced in GDB 5.0 has been
3519revised and enabled by default. Packages which use GDB as a debugging
3520engine behind a UI or another front end are encouraged to switch to
3521using the GDB/MI interface, instead of the old annotations interface
3522which is now deprecated.
3523
3524* Support for debugging Pascal programs.
3525
3526GDB now includes support for debugging Pascal programs. The following
3527main features are supported:
3528
3529 - Pascal-specific data types such as sets;
3530
3531 - automatic recognition of Pascal sources based on file-name
3532 extension;
3533
3534 - Pascal-style display of data types, variables, and functions;
3535
3536 - a Pascal expression parser.
3537
3538However, some important features are not yet supported.
3539
3540 - Pascal string operations are not supported at all;
3541
3542 - there are some problems with boolean types;
3543
3544 - Pascal type hexadecimal constants are not supported
3545 because they conflict with the internal variables format;
3546
3547 - support for Pascal objects and classes is not full yet;
3548
3549 - unlike Pascal, GDB is case-sensitive for symbol names.
3550
3551* Changes in completion.
3552
3553Commands such as `shell', `run' and `set args', which pass arguments
3554to inferior programs, now complete on file names, similar to what
3555users expect at the shell prompt.
3556
3557Commands which accept locations, such as `disassemble', `print',
3558`breakpoint', `until', etc. now complete on filenames as well as
3559program symbols. Thus, if you type "break foob TAB", and the source
3560files linked into the programs include `foobar.c', that file name will
3561be one of the candidates for completion. However, file names are not
3562considered for completion after you typed a colon that delimits a file
3563name from a name of a function in that file, as in "break foo.c:bar".
3564
3565`set demangle-style' completes on available demangling styles.
3566
3567* New platform-independent commands:
3568
3569It is now possible to define a post-hook for a command as well as a
3570hook that runs before the command. For more details, see the
3571documentation of `hookpost' in the GDB manual.
3572
3573* Changes in GNU/Linux native debugging.
3574
d7275149
MK
3575Support for debugging multi-threaded programs has been completely
3576revised for all platforms except m68k and sparc. You can now debug as
3577many threads as your system allows you to have.
3578
e23194cb
EZ
3579Attach/detach is supported for multi-threaded programs.
3580
d7275149
MK
3581Support for SSE registers was added for x86. This doesn't work for
3582multi-threaded programs though.
e23194cb
EZ
3583
3584* Changes in MIPS configurations.
bf64bfd6
AC
3585
3586Multi-arch support is enabled for all MIPS configurations.
3587
e23194cb
EZ
3588GDB can now be built as native debugger on SGI Irix 6.x systems for
3589debugging n32 executables. (Debugging 64-bit executables is not yet
3590supported.)
3591
3592* Unified support for hardware watchpoints in all x86 configurations.
3593
3594Most (if not all) native x86 configurations support hardware-assisted
3595breakpoints and watchpoints in a unified manner. This support
3596implements debug register sharing between watchpoints, which allows to
3597put a virtually infinite number of watchpoints on the same address,
3598and also supports watching regions up to 16 bytes with several debug
3599registers.
3600
3601The new maintenance command `maintenance show-debug-regs' toggles
3602debugging print-outs in functions that insert, remove, and test
3603watchpoints and hardware breakpoints.
3604
3605* Changes in the DJGPP native configuration.
3606
3607New command ``info dos sysinfo'' displays assorted information about
3608the CPU, OS, memory, and DPMI server.
3609
3610New commands ``info dos gdt'', ``info dos ldt'', and ``info dos idt''
3611display information about segment descriptors stored in GDT, LDT, and
3612IDT.
3613
3614New commands ``info dos pde'' and ``info dos pte'' display entries
3615from Page Directory and Page Tables (for now works with CWSDPMI only).
3616New command ``info dos address-pte'' displays the Page Table entry for
3617a given linear address.
3618
3619GDB can now pass command lines longer than 126 characters to the
3620program being debugged (requires an update to the libdbg.a library
3621which is part of the DJGPP development kit).
3622
3623DWARF2 debug info is now supported.
3624
6c56c069
EZ
3625It is now possible to `step' and `next' through calls to `longjmp'.
3626
e23194cb
EZ
3627* Changes in documentation.
3628
3629All GDB documentation was converted to GFDL, the GNU Free
3630Documentation License.
3631
3632Tracepoints-related commands are now fully documented in the GDB
3633manual.
3634
3635TUI, the Text-mode User Interface, is now documented in the manual.
3636
3637Tracepoints-related commands are now fully documented in the GDB
3638manual.
3639
3640The "GDB Internals" manual now has an index. It also includes
3641documentation of `ui_out' functions, GDB coding standards, x86
3642hardware watchpoints, and memory region attributes.
3643
5d6640b1
AC
3644* GDB's version number moved to ``version.in''
3645
3646The Makefile variable VERSION has been replaced by the file
3647``version.in''. People creating GDB distributions should update the
3648contents of this file.
3649
1a1d8446
AC
3650* gdba.el deleted
3651
3652GUD support is now a standard part of the EMACS distribution.
139760b7 3653
9debab2f 3654*** Changes in GDB 5.0:
7a292a7a 3655
c63ce875
EZ
3656* Improved support for debugging FP programs on x86 targets
3657
3658Unified and much-improved support for debugging floating-point
3659programs on all x86 targets. In particular, ``info float'' now
3660displays the FP registers in the same format on all x86 targets, with
3661greater level of detail.
3662
3663* Improvements and bugfixes in hardware-assisted watchpoints
3664
3665It is now possible to watch array elements, struct members, and
3666bitfields with hardware-assisted watchpoints. Data-read watchpoints
3667on x86 targets no longer erroneously trigger when the address is
3668written.
3669
3670* Improvements in the native DJGPP version of GDB
3671
3672The distribution now includes all the scripts and auxiliary files
3673necessary to build the native DJGPP version on MS-DOS/MS-Windows
3674machines ``out of the box''.
3675
3676The DJGPP version can now debug programs that use signals. It is
3677possible to catch signals that happened in the debuggee, deliver
3678signals to it, interrupt it with Ctrl-C, etc. (Previously, a signal
3679would kill the program being debugged.) Programs that hook hardware
3680interrupts (keyboard, timer, etc.) can also be debugged.
3681
3682It is now possible to debug DJGPP programs that redirect their
3683standard handles or switch them to raw (as opposed to cooked) mode, or
3684even close them. The command ``run < foo > bar'' works as expected,
3685and ``info terminal'' reports useful information about the debuggee's
3686terminal, including raw/cooked mode, redirection, etc.
3687
3688The DJGPP version now uses termios functions for console I/O, which
3689enables debugging graphics programs. Interrupting GDB with Ctrl-C
3690also works.
3691
3692DOS-style file names with drive letters are now fully supported by
3693GDB.
3694
3695It is now possible to debug DJGPP programs that switch their working
3696directory. It is also possible to rerun the debuggee any number of
3697times without restarting GDB; thus, you can use the same setup,
3698breakpoints, etc. for many debugging sessions.
3699
ed9a39eb
JM
3700* New native configurations
3701
3702ARM GNU/Linux arm*-*-linux*
afc05dd4 3703PowerPC GNU/Linux powerpc-*-linux*
ed9a39eb 3704
7a292a7a
SS
3705* New targets
3706
96baa820 3707Motorola MCore mcore-*-*
adf40b2e
JM
3708x86 VxWorks i[3456]86-*-vxworks*
3709PowerPC VxWorks powerpc-*-vxworks*
7a292a7a
SS
3710TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
3711
085dd6e6
JM
3712* OBSOLETE configurations
3713
3714Altos 3068 m68*-altos-*
3715Convex c1-*-*, c2-*-*
9846de1b 3716Pyramid pyramid-*-*
ed9a39eb 3717ARM RISCix arm-*-* (as host)
104c1213 3718Tahoe tahoe-*-*
7a292a7a 3719
9debab2f
AC
3720Configurations that have been declared obsolete will be commented out,
3721but the code will be left in place. If there is no activity to revive
3722these configurations before the next release of GDB, the sources will
3723be permanently REMOVED.
3724
5330533d
SS
3725* Gould support removed
3726
3727Support for the Gould PowerNode and NP1 has been removed.
3728
bc9e5bbf
AC
3729* New features for SVR4
3730
3731On SVR4 native platforms (such as Solaris), if you attach to a process
3732without first loading a symbol file, GDB will now attempt to locate and
3733load symbols from the running process's executable file.
3734
3735* Many C++ enhancements
3736
3737C++ support has been greatly improved. Overload resolution now works properly
3738in almost all cases. RTTI support is on the way.
3739
adf40b2e
JM
3740* Remote targets can connect to a sub-program
3741
3742A popen(3) style serial-device has been added. This device starts a
3743sub-process (such as a stand-alone simulator) and then communicates
3744with that. The sub-program to run is specified using the syntax
3745``|<program> <args>'' vis:
3746
3747 (gdb) set remotedebug 1
3748 (gdb) target extended-remote |mn10300-elf-sim program-args
3749
43e526b9
JM
3750* MIPS 64 remote protocol
3751
3752A long standing bug in the mips64 remote protocol where by GDB
3753expected certain 32 bit registers (ex SR) to be transfered as 32
3754instead of 64 bits has been fixed.
3755
3756The command ``set remote-mips64-transfers-32bit-regs on'' has been
3757added to provide backward compatibility with older versions of GDB.
3758
96baa820
JM
3759* ``set remotebinarydownload'' replaced by ``set remote X-packet''
3760
3761The command ``set remotebinarydownload'' command has been replaced by
3762``set remote X-packet''. Other commands in ``set remote'' family
3763include ``set remote P-packet''.
3764
11cf8741
JM
3765* Breakpoint commands accept ranges.
3766
3767The breakpoint commands ``enable'', ``disable'', and ``delete'' now
3768accept a range of breakpoints, e.g. ``5-7''. The tracepoint command
3769``tracepoint passcount'' also accepts a range of tracepoints.
3770
7876dd43
DB
3771* ``apropos'' command added.
3772
3773The ``apropos'' command searches through command names and
3774documentation strings, printing out matches, making it much easier to
3775try to find a command that does what you are looking for.
3776
bc9e5bbf
AC
3777* New MI interface
3778
3779A new machine oriented interface (MI) has been added to GDB. This
3780interface is designed for debug environments running GDB as a separate
7162c0ca
EZ
3781process. This is part of the long term libGDB project. See the
3782"GDB/MI" chapter of the GDB manual for further information. It can be
3783enabled by configuring with:
bc9e5bbf
AC
3784
3785 .../configure --enable-gdbmi
3786
c906108c
SS
3787*** Changes in GDB-4.18:
3788
3789* New native configurations
3790
3791HP-UX 10.20 hppa*-*-hpux10.20
3792HP-UX 11.x hppa*-*-hpux11.0*
55241689 3793M68K GNU/Linux m68*-*-linux*
c906108c
SS
3794
3795* New targets
3796
3797Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
3798Intel StrongARM strongarm-*-*
3799Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
3800
3801* OBSOLETE configurations
3802
3803Gould PowerNode, NP1 np1-*-*, pn-*-*
3804
3805Configurations that have been declared obsolete will be commented out,
3806but the code will be left in place. If there is no activity to revive
3807these configurations before the next release of GDB, the sources will
3808be permanently REMOVED.
3809
3810* ANSI/ISO C
3811
3812As a compatibility experiment, GDB's source files buildsym.h and
3813buildsym.c have been converted to pure standard C, no longer
3814containing any K&R compatibility code. We believe that all systems in
3815use today either come with a standard C compiler, or have a GCC port
3816available. If this is not true, please report the affected
3817configuration to bug-gdb@gnu.org immediately. See the README file for
3818information about getting a standard C compiler if you don't have one
3819already.
3820
3821* Readline 2.2
3822
3823GDB now uses readline 2.2.
3824
3825* set extension-language
3826
3827You can now control the mapping between filename extensions and source
3828languages by using the `set extension-language' command. For instance,
3829you can ask GDB to treat .c files as C++ by saying
3830 set extension-language .c c++
3831The command `info extensions' lists all of the recognized extensions
3832and their associated languages.
3833
3834* Setting processor type for PowerPC and RS/6000
3835
3836When GDB is configured for a powerpc*-*-* or an rs6000*-*-* target,
3837you can use the `set processor' command to specify what variant of the
3838PowerPC family you are debugging. The command
3839
3840 set processor NAME
3841
3842sets the PowerPC/RS6000 variant to NAME. GDB knows about the
3843following PowerPC and RS6000 variants:
3844
3845 ppc-uisa PowerPC UISA - a PPC processor as viewed by user-level code
3846 rs6000 IBM RS6000 ("POWER") architecture, user-level view
3847 403 IBM PowerPC 403
3848 403GC IBM PowerPC 403GC
3849 505 Motorola PowerPC 505
3850 860 Motorola PowerPC 860 or 850
3851 601 Motorola PowerPC 601
3852 602 Motorola PowerPC 602
3853 603 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 603 or 603e
3854 604 Motorola PowerPC 604 or 604e
3855 750 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 750 or 750
3856
3857At the moment, this command just tells GDB what to name the
3858special-purpose processor registers. Since almost all the affected
3859registers are inaccessible to user-level programs, this command is
3860only useful for remote debugging in its present form.
3861
3862* HP-UX support
3863
3864Thanks to a major code donation from Hewlett-Packard, GDB now has much
3865more extensive support for HP-UX. Added features include shared
3866library support, kernel threads and hardware watchpoints for 11.00,
3867support for HP's ANSI C and C++ compilers, and a compatibility mode
3868for xdb and dbx commands.
3869
3870* Catchpoints
3871
3872HP's donation includes the new concept of catchpoints, which is a
3873generalization of the old catch command. On HP-UX, it is now possible
3874to catch exec, fork, and vfork, as well as library loading.
3875
3876This means that the existing catch command has changed; its first
3877argument now specifies the type of catch to be set up. See the
3878output of "help catch" for a list of catchpoint types.
3879
3880* Debugging across forks
3881
3882On HP-UX, you can choose which process to debug when a fork() happens
3883in the inferior.
3884
3885* TUI
3886
3887HP has donated a curses-based terminal user interface (TUI). To get
3888it, build with --enable-tui. Although this can be enabled for any
3889configuration, at present it only works for native HP debugging.
3890
3891* GDB remote protocol additions
3892
3893A new protocol packet 'X' that writes binary data is now available.
3894Default behavior is to try 'X', then drop back to 'M' if the stub
3895fails to respond. The settable variable `remotebinarydownload'
3896allows explicit control over the use of 'X'.
3897
3898For 64-bit targets, the memory packets ('M' and 'm') can now contain a
3899full 64-bit address. The command
3900
3901 set remoteaddresssize 32
3902
3903can be used to revert to the old behaviour. For existing remote stubs
3904the change should not be noticed, as the additional address information
3905will be discarded.
3906
3907In order to assist in debugging stubs, you may use the maintenance
3908command `packet' to send any text string to the stub. For instance,
3909
3910 maint packet heythere
3911
3912sends the packet "$heythere#<checksum>". Note that it is very easy to
3913disrupt a debugging session by sending the wrong packet at the wrong
3914time.
3915
3916The compare-sections command allows you to compare section data on the
3917target to what is in the executable file without uploading or
3918downloading, by comparing CRC checksums.
3919
3920* Tracing can collect general expressions
3921
3922You may now collect general expressions at tracepoints. This requires
3923further additions to the target-side stub; see tracepoint.c and
3924doc/agentexpr.texi for further details.
3925
3926* mask-address variable for Mips
3927
3928For Mips targets, you may control the zeroing of the upper 32 bits of
3929a 64-bit address by entering `set mask-address on'. This is mainly
3930of interest to users of embedded R4xxx and R5xxx processors.
3931
3932* Higher serial baud rates
3933
3934GDB's serial code now allows you to specify baud rates 57600, 115200,
3935230400, and 460800 baud. (Note that your host system may not be able
3936to achieve all of these rates.)
3937
3938* i960 simulator
3939
3940The i960 configuration now includes an initial implementation of a
3941builtin simulator, contributed by Jim Wilson.
3942
3943
3944*** Changes in GDB-4.17:
3945
3946* New native configurations
3947
3948Alpha GNU/Linux alpha*-*-linux*
3949Unixware 2.x i[3456]86-unixware2*
3950Irix 6.x mips*-sgi-irix6*
3951PowerPC GNU/Linux powerpc-*-linux*
3952PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
3953Sparc GNU/Linux sparc-*-linux*
3954Motorola sysV68 R3V7.1 m68k-motorola-sysv
3955
3956* New targets
3957
3958Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
3959Hitachi H8/300S h8300*-*-*
3960Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
3961Matsushita MN10300 w/simulator mn10300-*-*
3962MIPS NEC VR4100 mips64*vr4100*{,el}-*-elf*
3963MIPS NEC VR5000 mips64*vr5000*{,el}-*-elf*
3964MIPS Toshiba TX39 mips64*tx39*{,el}-*-elf*
3965Mitsubishi D10V w/simulator d10v-*-*
3966Mitsubishi M32R/D w/simulator m32r-*-elf*
3967Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
3968NEC V850 w/simulator v850-*-*
3969
3970* New debugging protocols
3971
3972ARM with RDI protocol arm*-*-*
3973M68K with dBUG monitor m68*-*-{aout,coff,elf}
3974DDB and LSI variants of PMON protocol mips*-*-*
3975PowerPC with DINK32 monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
3976PowerPC with SDS protocol powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
3977Macraigor OCD (Wiggler) devices powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
3978
3979* DWARF 2
3980
3981All configurations can now understand and use the DWARF 2 debugging
3982format. The choice is automatic, if the symbol file contains DWARF 2
3983information.
3984
3985* Java frontend
3986
3987GDB now includes basic Java language support. This support is
3988only useful with Java compilers that produce native machine code.
3989
3990* solib-absolute-prefix and solib-search-path
3991
3992For SunOS and SVR4 shared libraries, you may now set the prefix for
3993loading absolute shared library symbol files, and the search path for
3994locating non-absolute shared library symbol files.
3995
3996* Live range splitting
3997
3998GDB can now effectively debug code for which GCC has performed live
3999range splitting as part of its optimization. See gdb/doc/LRS for
4000more details on the expected format of the stabs information.
4001
4002* Hurd support
4003
4004GDB's support for the GNU Hurd, including thread debugging, has been
4005updated to work with current versions of the Hurd.
4006
4007* ARM Thumb support
4008
4009GDB's ARM target configuration now handles the ARM7T (Thumb) 16-bit
4010instruction set. ARM GDB automatically detects when Thumb
4011instructions are in use, and adjusts disassembly and backtracing
4012accordingly.
4013
4014* MIPS16 support
4015
4016GDB's MIPS target configurations now handle the MIP16 16-bit
4017instruction set.
4018
4019* Overlay support
4020
4021GDB now includes support for overlays; if an executable has been
4022linked such that multiple sections are based at the same address, GDB
4023will decide which section to use for symbolic info. You can choose to
4024control the decision manually, using overlay commands, or implement
4025additional target-side support and use "overlay load-target" to bring
4026in the overlay mapping. Do "help overlay" for more detail.
4027
4028* info symbol
4029
4030The command "info symbol <address>" displays information about
4031the symbol at the specified address.
4032
4033* Trace support
4034
4035The standard remote protocol now includes an extension that allows
4036asynchronous collection and display of trace data. This requires
4037extensive support in the target-side debugging stub. Tracing mode
4038includes a new interaction mode in GDB and new commands: see the
4039file tracepoint.c for more details.
4040
4041* MIPS simulator
4042
4043Configurations for embedded MIPS now include a simulator contributed
4044by Cygnus Solutions. The simulator supports the instruction sets
4045of most MIPS variants.
4046
4047* Sparc simulator
4048
4049Sparc configurations may now include the ERC32 simulator contributed
4050by the European Space Agency. The simulator is not built into
4051Sparc targets by default; configure with --enable-sim to include it.
4052
4053* set architecture
4054
4055For target configurations that may include multiple variants of a
4056basic architecture (such as MIPS and SH), you may now set the
4057architecture explicitly. "set arch" sets, "info arch" lists
4058the possible architectures.
4059
4060*** Changes in GDB-4.16:
4061
4062* New native configurations
4063
4064Windows 95, x86 Windows NT i[345]86-*-cygwin32
4065M68K NetBSD m68k-*-netbsd*
4066PowerPC AIX 4.x powerpc-*-aix*
4067PowerPC MacOS powerpc-*-macos*
4068PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
4069RS/6000 AIX 4.x rs6000-*-aix4*
4070
4071* New targets
4072
4073ARM with RDP protocol arm-*-*
4074I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
4075MIPS VxWorks mips*-*-vxworks*
4076MIPS VR4300 with PMON mips64*vr4300{,el}-*-elf*
4077PowerPC with PPCBUG monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi*
4078Hitachi SH3 sh-*-*
4079Matra Sparclet sparclet-*-*
4080
4081* PowerPC simulator
4082
4083The powerpc-eabi configuration now includes the PSIM simulator,
4084contributed by Andrew Cagney, with assistance from Mike Meissner.
4085PSIM is a very elaborate model of the PowerPC, including not only
4086basic instruction set execution, but also details of execution unit
4087performance and I/O hardware. See sim/ppc/README for more details.
4088
4089* Solaris 2.5
4090
4091GDB now works with Solaris 2.5.
4092
4093* Windows 95/NT native
4094
4095GDB will now work as a native debugger on Windows 95 and Windows NT.
4096To build it from source, you must use the "gnu-win32" environment,
4097which uses a DLL to emulate enough of Unix to run the GNU tools.
4098Further information, binaries, and sources are available at
4099ftp.cygnus.com, under pub/gnu-win32.
4100
4101* dont-repeat command
4102
4103If a user-defined command includes the command `dont-repeat', then the
4104command will not be repeated if the user just types return. This is
4105useful if the command is time-consuming to run, so that accidental
4106extra keystrokes don't run the same command many times.
4107
4108* Send break instead of ^C
4109
4110The standard remote protocol now includes an option to send a break
4111rather than a ^C to the target in order to interrupt it. By default,
4112GDB will send ^C; to send a break, set the variable `remotebreak' to 1.
4113
4114* Remote protocol timeout
4115
4116The standard remote protocol includes a new variable `remotetimeout'
4117that allows you to set the number of seconds before GDB gives up trying
4118to read from the target. The default value is 2.
4119
4120* Automatic tracking of dynamic object loading (HPUX and Solaris only)
4121
4122By default GDB will automatically keep track of objects as they are
4123loaded and unloaded by the dynamic linker. By using the command `set
4124stop-on-solib-events 1' you can arrange for GDB to stop the inferior
4125when shared library events occur, thus allowing you to set breakpoints
4126in shared libraries which are explicitly loaded by the inferior.
4127
4128Note this feature does not work on hpux8. On hpux9 you must link
4129/usr/lib/end.o into your program. This feature should work
4130automatically on hpux10.
4131
4132* Irix 5.x hardware watchpoint support
4133
4134Irix 5 configurations now support the use of hardware watchpoints.
4135
4136* Mips protocol "SYN garbage limit"
4137
4138When debugging a Mips target using the `target mips' protocol, you
4139may set the number of characters that GDB will ignore by setting
4140the `syn-garbage-limit'. A value of -1 means that GDB will ignore
4141every character. The default value is 1050.
4142
4143* Recording and replaying remote debug sessions
4144
4145If you set `remotelogfile' to the name of a file, gdb will write to it
4146a recording of a remote debug session. This recording may then be
4147replayed back to gdb using "gdbreplay". See gdbserver/README for
4148details. This is useful when you have a problem with GDB while doing
4149remote debugging; you can make a recording of the session and send it
4150to someone else, who can then recreate the problem.
4151
4152* Speedups for remote debugging
4153
4154GDB includes speedups for downloading and stepping MIPS systems using
4155the IDT monitor, fast downloads to the Hitachi SH E7000 emulator,
4156and more efficient S-record downloading.
4157
4158* Memory use reductions and statistics collection
4159
4160GDB now uses less memory and reports statistics about memory usage.
4161Try the `maint print statistics' command, for example.
4162
4163*** Changes in GDB-4.15:
4164
4165* Psymtabs for XCOFF
4166
4167The symbol reader for AIX GDB now uses partial symbol tables. This
4168can greatly improve startup time, especially for large executables.
4169
4170* Remote targets use caching
4171
4172Remote targets now use a data cache to speed up communication with the
4173remote side. The data cache could lead to incorrect results because
4174it doesn't know about volatile variables, thus making it impossible to
4175debug targets which use memory mapped I/O devices. `set remotecache
4176off' turns the the data cache off.
4177
4178* Remote targets may have threads
4179
4180The standard remote protocol now includes support for multiple threads
4181in the target system, using new protocol commands 'H' and 'T'. See
4182gdb/remote.c for details.
4183
4184* NetROM support
4185
4186If GDB is configured with `--enable-netrom', then it will include
4187support for the NetROM ROM emulator from XLNT Designs. The NetROM
4188acts as though it is a bank of ROM on the target board, but you can
4189write into it over the network. GDB's support consists only of
4190support for fast loading into the emulated ROM; to debug, you must use
4191another protocol, such as standard remote protocol. The usual
4192sequence is something like
4193
4194 target nrom <netrom-hostname>
4195 load <prog>
4196 target remote <netrom-hostname>:1235
4197
4198* Macintosh host
4199
4200GDB now includes support for the Apple Macintosh, as a host only. It
4201may be run as either an MPW tool or as a standalone application, and
4202it can debug through the serial port. All the usual GDB commands are
4203available, but to the target command, you must supply "serial" as the
4204device type instead of "/dev/ttyXX". See mpw-README in the main
4205directory for more information on how to build. The MPW configuration
4206scripts */mpw-config.in support only a few targets, and only the
4207mips-idt-ecoff target has been tested.
4208
4209* Autoconf
4210
4211GDB configuration now uses autoconf. This is not user-visible,
4212but does simplify configuration and building.
4213
4214* hpux10
4215
4216GDB now supports hpux10.
4217
4218*** Changes in GDB-4.14:
4219
4220* New native configurations
4221
4222x86 FreeBSD i[345]86-*-freebsd
4223x86 NetBSD i[345]86-*-netbsd
4224NS32k NetBSD ns32k-*-netbsd
4225Sparc NetBSD sparc-*-netbsd
4226
4227* New targets
4228
4229A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
4230HP PA PRO embedded (WinBond W89K & Oki OP50N) hppa*-*-pro*
4231CPU32 EST-300 emulator m68*-*-est*
4232PowerPC ELF powerpc-*-elf
4233WDC 65816 w65-*-*
4234
4235* Alpha OSF/1 support for procfs
4236
4237GDB now supports procfs under OSF/1-2.x and higher, which makes it
4238possible to attach to running processes. As the mounting of the /proc
4239filesystem is optional on the Alpha, GDB automatically determines
4240the availability of /proc during startup. This can lead to problems
4241if /proc is unmounted after GDB has been started.
4242
4243* Arguments to user-defined commands
4244
4245User commands may accept up to 10 arguments separated by whitespace.
4246Arguments are accessed within the user command via $arg0..$arg9. A
4247trivial example:
4248define adder
4249 print $arg0 + $arg1 + $arg2
4250
4251To execute the command use:
4252adder 1 2 3
4253
4254Defines the command "adder" which prints the sum of its three arguments.
4255Note the arguments are text substitutions, so they may reference variables,
4256use complex expressions, or even perform inferior function calls.
4257
4258* New `if' and `while' commands
4259
4260This makes it possible to write more sophisticated user-defined
4261commands. Both commands take a single argument, which is the
4262expression to evaluate, and must be followed by the commands to
4263execute, one per line, if the expression is nonzero, the list being
4264terminated by the word `end'. The `if' command list may include an
4265`else' word, which causes the following commands to be executed only
4266if the expression is zero.
4267
4268* Fortran source language mode
4269
4270GDB now includes partial support for Fortran 77. It will recognize
4271Fortran programs and can evaluate a subset of Fortran expressions, but
4272variables and functions may not be handled correctly. GDB will work
4273with G77, but does not yet know much about symbols emitted by other
4274Fortran compilers.
4275
4276* Better HPUX support
4277
4278Most debugging facilities now work on dynamic executables for HPPAs
4279running hpux9 or later. You can attach to running dynamically linked
4280processes, but by default the dynamic libraries will be read-only, so
4281for instance you won't be able to put breakpoints in them. To change
4282that behavior do the following before running the program:
4283
4284 adb -w a.out
4285 __dld_flags?W 0x5
4286 control-d
4287
4288This will cause the libraries to be mapped private and read-write.
4289To revert to the normal behavior, do this:
4290
4291 adb -w a.out
4292 __dld_flags?W 0x4
4293 control-d
4294
4295You cannot set breakpoints or examine data in the library until after
4296the library is loaded if the function/data symbols do not have
4297external linkage.
4298
4299GDB can now also read debug symbols produced by the HP C compiler on
4300HPPAs (sorry, no C++, Fortran or 68k support).
4301
4302* Target byte order now dynamically selectable
4303
4304You can choose which byte order to use with a target system, via the
4305commands "set endian big" and "set endian little", and you can see the
4306current setting by using "show endian". You can also give the command
4307"set endian auto", in which case GDB will use the byte order
4308associated with the executable. Currently, only embedded MIPS
4309configurations support dynamic selection of target byte order.
4310
4311* New DOS host serial code
4312
4313This version uses DPMI interrupts to handle buffered I/O, so you
4314no longer need to run asynctsr when debugging boards connected to
4315a PC's serial port.
4316
4317*** Changes in GDB-4.13:
4318
4319* New "complete" command
4320
4321This lists all the possible completions for the rest of the line, if it
4322were to be given as a command itself. This is intended for use by emacs.
4323
4324* Trailing space optional in prompt
4325
4326"set prompt" no longer adds a space for you after the prompt you set. This
4327allows you to set a prompt which ends in a space or one that does not.
4328
4329* Breakpoint hit counts
4330
4331"info break" now displays a count of the number of times the breakpoint
4332has been hit. This is especially useful in conjunction with "ignore"; you
4333can ignore a large number of breakpoint hits, look at the breakpoint info
4334to see how many times the breakpoint was hit, then run again, ignoring one
4335less than that number, and this will get you quickly to the last hit of
4336that breakpoint.
4337
4338* Ability to stop printing at NULL character
4339
4340"set print null-stop" will cause GDB to stop printing the characters of
4341an array when the first NULL is encountered. This is useful when large
4342arrays actually contain only short strings.
4343
4344* Shared library breakpoints
4345
4346In SunOS 4.x, SVR4, and Alpha OSF/1 configurations, you can now set
4347breakpoints in shared libraries before the executable is run.
4348
4349* Hardware watchpoints
4350
4351There is a new hardware breakpoint for the watch command for sparclite
4352targets. See gdb/sparclite/hw_breakpoint.note.
4353
55241689 4354Hardware watchpoints are also now supported under GNU/Linux.
c906108c
SS
4355
4356* Annotations
4357
4358Annotations have been added. These are for use with graphical interfaces,
4359and are still experimental. Currently only gdba.el uses these.
4360
4361* Improved Irix 5 support
4362
4363GDB now works properly with Irix 5.2.
4364
4365* Improved HPPA support
4366
4367GDB now works properly with the latest GCC and GAS.
4368
4369* New native configurations
4370
4371Sequent PTX4 i[34]86-sequent-ptx4
4372HPPA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
4373Atari TT running SVR4 m68*-*-sysv4*
4374RS/6000 LynxOS rs6000-*-lynxos*
4375
4376* New targets
4377
4378OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
4379MIPS R4000 mips64*{,el}-*-{ecoff,elf}
4380Sparc64 sparc64-*-*
4381
4382* Hitachi SH7000 and E7000-PC ICE support
4383
4384There is now support for communicating with the Hitachi E7000-PC ICE.
4385This is available automatically when GDB is configured for the SH.
4386
4387* Fixes
4388
4389As usual, a variety of small fixes and improvements, both generic
4390and configuration-specific. See the ChangeLog for more detail.
4391
4392*** Changes in GDB-4.12:
4393
4394* Irix 5 is now supported
4395
4396* HPPA support
4397
4398GDB-4.12 on the HPPA has a number of changes which make it unable
4399to debug the output from the currently released versions of GCC and
4400GAS (GCC 2.5.8 and GAS-2.2 or PAGAS-1.36). Until the next major release
4401of GCC and GAS, versions of these tools designed to work with GDB-4.12
4402can be retrieved via anonymous ftp from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist.
4403
4404
4405*** Changes in GDB-4.11:
4406
4407* User visible changes:
4408
4409* Remote Debugging
4410
4411The "set remotedebug" option is now consistent between the mips remote
4412target, remote targets using the gdb-specific protocol, UDI (AMD's
4413debug protocol for the 29k) and the 88k bug monitor. It is now an
4414integer specifying a debug level (normally 0 or 1, but 2 means more
4415debugging info for the mips target).
4416
4417* DEC Alpha native support
4418
4419GDB now works on the DEC Alpha. GCC 2.4.5 does not produce usable
4420debug info, but GDB works fairly well with the DEC compiler and should
4421work with a future GCC release. See the README file for a few
4422Alpha-specific notes.
4423
4424* Preliminary thread implementation
4425
4426GDB now has preliminary thread support for both SGI/Irix and LynxOS.
4427
4428* LynxOS native and target support for 386
4429
4430This release has been hosted on LynxOS 2.2, and also can be configured
4431to remotely debug programs running under LynxOS (see gdb/gdbserver/README
4432for details).
4433
4434* Improvements in C++ mangling/demangling.
4435
4436This release has much better g++ debugging, specifically in name
4437mangling/demangling, virtual function calls, print virtual table,
4438call methods, ...etc.
4439
4440*** Changes in GDB-4.10:
4441
4442 * User visible changes:
4443
4444Remote debugging using the GDB-specific (`target remote') protocol now
4445supports the `load' command. This is only useful if you have some
4446other way of getting the stub to the target system, and you can put it
4447somewhere in memory where it won't get clobbered by the download.
4448
4449Filename completion now works.
4450
4451When run under emacs mode, the "info line" command now causes the
4452arrow to point to the line specified. Also, "info line" prints
4453addresses in symbolic form (as well as hex).
4454
4455All vxworks based targets now support a user settable option, called
4456vxworks-timeout. This option represents the number of seconds gdb
4457should wait for responses to rpc's. You might want to use this if
4458your vxworks target is, perhaps, a slow software simulator or happens
4459to be on the far side of a thin network line.
4460
4461 * DEC alpha support
4462
4463This release contains support for using a DEC alpha as a GDB host for
4464cross debugging. Native alpha debugging is not supported yet.
4465
4466
4467*** Changes in GDB-4.9:
4468
4469 * Testsuite
4470
4471This is the first GDB release which is accompanied by a matching testsuite.
4472The testsuite requires installation of dejagnu, which should be available
4473via ftp from most sites that carry GNU software.
4474
4475 * C++ demangling
4476
4477'Cfront' style demangling has had its name changed to 'ARM' style, to
4478emphasize that it was written from the specifications in the C++ Annotated
4479Reference Manual, not necessarily to be compatible with AT&T cfront. Despite
4480disclaimers, it still generated too much confusion with users attempting to
4481use gdb with AT&T cfront.
4482
4483 * Simulators
4484
4485GDB now uses a standard remote interface to a simulator library.
4486So far, the library contains simulators for the Zilog Z8001/2, the
4487Hitachi H8/300, H8/500 and Super-H.
4488
4489 * New targets supported
4490
4491H8/300 simulator h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
4492H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
4493SH simulator sh-hitachi-hms or sh
4494Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
4495IDT MIPS board over serial line mips-idt-ecoff
4496
4497Cross-debugging to GO32 targets is supported. It requires a custom
4498version of the i386-stub.c module which is integrated with the
4499GO32 memory extender.
4500
4501 * New remote protocols
4502
4503MIPS remote debugging protocol.
4504
4505 * New source languages supported
4506
4507This version includes preliminary support for Chill, a Pascal like language
4508used by telecommunications companies. Chill support is also being integrated
4509into the GNU compiler, but we don't know when it will be publically available.
4510
4511
4512*** Changes in GDB-4.8:
4513
4514 * HP Precision Architecture supported
4515
4516GDB now supports HP PA-RISC machines running HPUX. A preliminary
4517version of this support was available as a set of patches from the
4518University of Utah. GDB does not support debugging of programs
4519compiled with the HP compiler, because HP will not document their file
4520format. Instead, you must use GCC (version 2.3.2 or later) and PA-GAS
4521(as available from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist/pa-gas.u4.tar.Z).
4522
4523Many problems in the preliminary version have been fixed.
4524
4525 * Faster and better demangling
4526
4527We have improved template demangling and fixed numerous bugs in the GNU style
4528demangler. It can now handle type modifiers such as `static' or `const'. Wide
4529character types (wchar_t) are now supported. Demangling of each symbol is now
4530only done once, and is cached when the symbol table for a file is read in.
4531This results in a small increase in memory usage for C programs, a moderate
4532increase in memory usage for C++ programs, and a fantastic speedup in
4533symbol lookups.
4534
4535`Cfront' style demangling still doesn't work with AT&T cfront. It was written
4536from the specifications in the Annotated Reference Manual, which AT&T's
4537compiler does not actually implement.
4538
4539 * G++ multiple inheritance compiler problem
4540
4541In the 2.3.2 release of gcc/g++, how the compiler resolves multiple
4542inheritance lattices was reworked to properly discover ambiguities. We
4543recently found an example which causes this new algorithm to fail in a
4544very subtle way, producing bad debug information for those classes.
4545The file 'gcc.patch' (in this directory) can be applied to gcc to
4546circumvent the problem. A future GCC release will contain a complete
4547fix.
4548
4549The previous G++ debug info problem (mentioned below for the gdb-4.7
4550release) is fixed in gcc version 2.3.2.
4551
4552 * Improved configure script
4553
4554The `configure' script will now attempt to guess your system type if
4555you don't supply a host system type. The old scheme of supplying a
4556host system triplet is preferable over using this. All the magic is
4557done in the new `config.guess' script. Examine it for details.
4558
4559We have also brought our configure script much more in line with the FSF's
4560version. It now supports the --with-xxx options. In particular,
4561`--with-minimal-bfd' can be used to make the GDB binary image smaller.
4562The resulting GDB will not be able to read arbitrary object file formats --
4563only the format ``expected'' to be used on the configured target system.
4564We hope to make this the default in a future release.
4565
4566 * Documentation improvements
4567
4568There's new internal documentation on how to modify GDB, and how to
4569produce clean changes to the code. We implore people to read it
4570before submitting changes.
4571
4572The GDB manual uses new, sexy Texinfo conditionals, rather than arcane
4573M4 macros. The new texinfo.tex is provided in this release. Pre-built
4574`info' files are also provided. To build `info' files from scratch,
4575you will need the latest `makeinfo' release, which will be available in
4576a future texinfo-X.Y release.
4577
4578*NOTE* The new texinfo.tex can cause old versions of TeX to hang.
4579We're not sure exactly which versions have this problem, but it has
4580been seen in 3.0. We highly recommend upgrading to TeX version 3.141
4581or better. If that isn't possible, there is a patch in
4582`texinfo/tex3patch' that will modify `texinfo/texinfo.tex' to work
4583around this problem.
4584
4585 * New features
4586
4587GDB now supports array constants that can be used in expressions typed in by
4588the user. The syntax is `{element, element, ...}'. Ie: you can now type
4589`print {1, 2, 3}', and it will build up an array in memory malloc'd in
4590the target program.
4591
4592The new directory `gdb/sparclite' contains a program that demonstrates
4593how the sparc-stub.c remote stub runs on a Fujitsu SPARClite processor.
4594
4595 * New native hosts supported
4596
4597HP/PA-RISC under HPUX using GNU tools hppa1.1-hp-hpux
4598386 CPUs running SCO Unix 3.2v4 i386-unknown-sco3.2v4
4599
4600 * New targets supported
4601
4602AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi or udi29k
4603
4604 * New file formats supported
4605
4606BFD now supports reading HP/PA-RISC executables (SOM file format?),
4607HPUX core files, and SCO 3.2v2 core files.
4608
4609 * Major bug fixes
4610
4611Attaching to processes now works again; thanks for the many bug reports.
4612
4613We have also stomped on a bunch of core dumps caused by
4614printf_filtered("%s") problems.
4615
4616We eliminated a copyright problem on the rpc and ptrace header files
4617for VxWorks, which was discovered at the last minute during the 4.7
4618release. You should now be able to build a VxWorks GDB.
4619
4620You can now interrupt gdb while an attached process is running. This
4621will cause the attached process to stop, and give control back to GDB.
4622
4623We fixed problems caused by using too many file descriptors
4624for reading symbols from object files and libraries. This was
4625especially a problem for programs that used many (~100) shared
4626libraries.
4627
4628The `step' command now only enters a subroutine if there is line number
4629information for the subroutine. Otherwise it acts like the `next'
4630command. Previously, `step' would enter subroutines if there was
4631any debugging information about the routine. This avoids problems
4632when using `cc -g1' on MIPS machines.
4633
4634 * Internal improvements
4635
4636GDB's internal interfaces have been improved to make it easier to support
4637debugging of multiple languages in the future.
4638
4639GDB now uses a common structure for symbol information internally.
4640Minimal symbols (derived from linkage symbols in object files), partial
4641symbols (from a quick scan of debug information), and full symbols
4642contain a common subset of information, making it easier to write
4643shared code that handles any of them.
4644
4645 * New command line options
4646
4647We now accept --silent as an alias for --quiet.
4648
4649 * Mmalloc licensing
4650
4651The memory-mapped-malloc library is now licensed under the GNU Library
4652General Public License.
4653
4654*** Changes in GDB-4.7:
4655
4656 * Host/native/target split
4657
4658GDB has had some major internal surgery to untangle the support for
4659hosts and remote targets. Now, when you configure GDB for a remote
4660target, it will no longer load in all of the support for debugging
4661local programs on the host. When fully completed and tested, this will
4662ensure that arbitrary host/target combinations are possible.
4663
4664The primary conceptual shift is to separate the non-portable code in
4665GDB into three categories. Host specific code is required any time GDB
4666is compiled on that host, regardless of the target. Target specific
4667code relates to the peculiarities of the target, but can be compiled on
4668any host. Native specific code is everything else: it can only be
4669built when the host and target are the same system. Child process
4670handling and core file support are two common `native' examples.
4671
4672GDB's use of /proc for controlling Unix child processes is now cleaner.
4673It has been split out into a single module under the `target_ops' vector,
4674plus two native-dependent functions for each system that uses /proc.
4675
4676 * New hosts supported
4677
4678HP/Apollo 68k (under the BSD domain) m68k-apollo-bsd or apollo68bsd
4679386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
4680386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or i386sco
4681
4682 * New targets supported
4683
4684Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
468568030 and CPU32 m68030-*-*, m68332-*-*
4686
4687 * New native hosts supported
4688
4689386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
4690 (386bsd is not well tested yet)
4691386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or sco
4692
4693 * New file formats supported
4694
4695BFD now supports COFF files for the Zilog Z8000 microprocessor. It
4696supports reading of `a.out.adobe' object files, which are an a.out
4697format extended with minimal information about multiple sections.
4698
4699 * New commands
4700
4701`show copying' is the same as the old `info copying'.
4702`show warranty' is the same as `info warrantee'.
4703These were renamed for consistency. The old commands continue to work.
4704
4705`info handle' is a new alias for `info signals'.
4706
4707You can now define pre-command hooks, which attach arbitrary command
4708scripts to any command. The commands in the hook will be executed
4709prior to the user's command. You can also create a hook which will be
4710executed whenever the program stops. See gdb.texinfo.
4711
4712 * C++ improvements
4713
4714We now deal with Cfront style name mangling, and can even extract type
4715info from mangled symbols. GDB can automatically figure out which
4716symbol mangling style your C++ compiler uses.
4717
4718Calling of methods and virtual functions has been improved as well.
4719
4720 * Major bug fixes
4721
4722The crash that occured when debugging Sun Ansi-C compiled binaries is
4723fixed. This was due to mishandling of the extra N_SO stabs output
4724by the compiler.
4725
4726We also finally got Ultrix 4.2 running in house, and fixed core file
4727support, with help from a dozen people on the net.
4728
4729John M. Farrell discovered that the reason that single-stepping was so
4730slow on all of the Mips based platforms (primarily SGI and DEC) was
4731that we were trying to demangle and lookup a symbol used for internal
4732purposes on every instruction that was being stepped through. Changing
4733the name of that symbol so that it couldn't be mistaken for a C++
4734mangled symbol sped things up a great deal.
4735
4736Rich Pixley sped up symbol lookups in general by getting much smarter
4737about when C++ symbol mangling is necessary. This should make symbol
4738completion (TAB on the command line) much faster. It's not as fast as
4739we'd like, but it's significantly faster than gdb-4.6.
4740
4741 * AMD 29k support
4742
4743A new user controllable variable 'call_scratch_address' can
4744specify the location of a scratch area to be used when GDB
4745calls a function in the target. This is necessary because the
4746usual method of putting the scratch area on the stack does not work
4747in systems that have separate instruction and data spaces.
4748
4749We integrated changes to support the 29k UDI (Universal Debugger
4750Interface), but discovered at the last minute that we didn't have all
4751of the appropriate copyright paperwork. We are working with AMD to
4752resolve this, and hope to have it available soon.
4753
4754 * Remote interfaces
4755
4756We have sped up the remote serial line protocol, especially for targets
4757with lots of registers. It now supports a new `expedited status' ('T')
4758message which can be used in place of the existing 'S' status message.
4759This allows the remote stub to send only the registers that GDB
4760needs to make a quick decision about single-stepping or conditional
4761breakpoints, eliminating the need to fetch the entire register set for
4762each instruction being stepped through.
4763
4764The GDB remote serial protocol now implements a write-through cache for
4765registers, only re-reading the registers if the target has run.
4766
4767There is also a new remote serial stub for SPARC processors. You can
4768find it in gdb-4.7/gdb/sparc-stub.c. This was written to support the
4769Fujitsu SPARClite processor, but will run on any stand-alone SPARC
4770processor with a serial port.
4771
4772 * Configuration
4773
4774Configure.in files have become much easier to read and modify. A new
4775`table driven' format makes it more obvious what configurations are
4776supported, and what files each one uses.
4777
4778 * Library changes
4779
4780There is a new opcodes library which will eventually contain all of the
4781disassembly routines and opcode tables. At present, it only contains
4782Sparc and Z8000 routines. This will allow the assembler, debugger, and
4783disassembler (binutils/objdump) to share these routines.
4784
4785The libiberty library is now copylefted under the GNU Library General
4786Public License. This allows more liberal use, and was done so libg++
4787can use it. This makes no difference to GDB, since the Library License
4788grants all the rights from the General Public License.
4789
4790 * Documentation
4791
4792The file gdb-4.7/gdb/doc/stabs.texinfo is a (relatively) complete
4793reference to the stabs symbol info used by the debugger. It is (as far
4794as we know) the only published document on this fascinating topic. We
4795encourage you to read it, compare it to the stabs information on your
4796system, and send improvements on the document in general (to
4797bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu).
4798
4799And, of course, many bugs have been fixed.
4800
4801
4802*** Changes in GDB-4.6:
4803
4804 * Better support for C++ function names
4805
4806GDB now accepts as input the "demangled form" of C++ overloaded function
4807names and member function names, and can do command completion on such names
4808(using TAB, TAB-TAB, and ESC-?). The names have to be quoted with a pair of
4809single quotes. Examples are 'func (int, long)' and 'obj::operator==(obj&)'.
4810Make use of command completion, it is your friend.
4811
4812GDB also now accepts a variety of C++ mangled symbol formats. They are
4813the GNU g++ style, the Cfront (ARM) style, and the Lucid (lcc) style.
4814You can tell GDB which format to use by doing a 'set demangle-style {gnu,
4815lucid, cfront, auto}'. 'gnu' is the default. Do a 'set demangle-style foo'
4816for the list of formats.
4817
4818 * G++ symbol mangling problem
4819
4820Recent versions of gcc have a bug in how they emit debugging information for
4821C++ methods (when using dbx-style stabs). The file 'gcc.patch' (in this
4822directory) can be applied to gcc to fix the problem. Alternatively, if you
4823can't fix gcc, you can #define GCC_MANGLE_BUG when compling gdb/symtab.c. The
4824usual symptom is difficulty with setting breakpoints on methods. GDB complains
4825about the method being non-existent. (We believe that version 2.2.2 of GCC has
4826this problem.)
4827
4828 * New 'maintenance' command
4829
4830All of the commands related to hacking GDB internals have been moved out of
4831the main command set, and now live behind the 'maintenance' command. This
4832can also be abbreviated as 'mt'. The following changes were made:
4833
4834 dump-me -> maintenance dump-me
4835 info all-breakpoints -> maintenance info breakpoints
4836 printmsyms -> maintenance print msyms
4837 printobjfiles -> maintenance print objfiles
4838 printpsyms -> maintenance print psymbols
4839 printsyms -> maintenance print symbols
4840
4841The following commands are new:
4842
4843 maintenance demangle Call internal GDB demangler routine to
4844 demangle a C++ link name and prints the result.
4845 maintenance print type Print a type chain for a given symbol
4846
4847 * Change to .gdbinit file processing
4848
4849We now read the $HOME/.gdbinit file before processing the argv arguments
4850(e.g. reading symbol files or core files). This allows global parameters to
4851be set, which will apply during the symbol reading. The ./.gdbinit is still
4852read after argv processing.
4853
4854 * New hosts supported
4855
4856Solaris-2.0 !!! sparc-sun-solaris2 or sun4sol2
4857
55241689 4858GNU/Linux support i386-unknown-linux or linux
c906108c
SS
4859
4860We are also including code to support the HP/PA running BSD and HPUX. This
4861is almost guaranteed not to work, as we didn't have time to test or build it
4862for this release. We are including it so that the more adventurous (or
4863masochistic) of you can play with it. We also had major problems with the
4864fact that the compiler that we got from HP doesn't support the -g option.
4865It costs extra.
4866
4867 * New targets supported
4868
4869Hitachi H8/300 h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
4870
4871 * More smarts about finding #include files
4872
4873GDB now remembers the compilation directory for all include files, and for
4874all files from which C is generated (like yacc and lex sources). This
4875greatly improves GDB's ability to find yacc/lex sources, and include files,
4876especially if you are debugging your program from a directory different from
4877the one that contains your sources.
4878
4879We also fixed a bug which caused difficulty with listing and setting
4880breakpoints in include files which contain C code. (In the past, you had to
4881try twice in order to list an include file that you hadn't looked at before.)
4882
4883 * Interesting infernals change
4884
4885GDB now deals with arbitrary numbers of sections, where the symbols for each
4886section must be relocated relative to that section's landing place in the
4887target's address space. This work was needed to support ELF with embedded
4888stabs used by Solaris-2.0.
4889
4890 * Bug fixes (of course!)
4891
4892There have been loads of fixes for the following things:
4893 mips, rs6000, 29k/udi, m68k, g++, type handling, elf/dwarf, m88k,
4894 i960, stabs, DOS(GO32), procfs, etc...
4895
4896See the ChangeLog for details.
4897
4898*** Changes in GDB-4.5:
4899
4900 * New machines supported (host and target)
4901
4902IBM RS6000 running AIX rs6000-ibm-aix or rs6000
4903
4904SGI Irix-4.x mips-sgi-irix4 or iris4
4905
4906 * New malloc package
4907
4908GDB now uses a new memory manager called mmalloc, based on gmalloc.
4909Mmalloc is capable of handling mutiple heaps of memory. It is also
4910capable of saving a heap to a file, and then mapping it back in later.
4911This can be used to greatly speedup the startup of GDB by using a
4912pre-parsed symbol table which lives in a mmalloc managed heap. For
4913more details, please read mmalloc/mmalloc.texi.
4914
4915 * info proc
4916
4917The 'info proc' command (SVR4 only) has been enhanced quite a bit. See
4918'help info proc' for details.
4919
4920 * MIPS ecoff symbol table format
4921
4922The code that reads MIPS symbol table format is now supported on all hosts.
4923Thanks to MIPS for releasing the sym.h and symconst.h files to make this
4924possible.
4925
4926 * File name changes for MS-DOS
4927
4928Many files in the config directories have been renamed to make it easier to
4929support GDB on MS-DOSe systems (which have very restrictive file name
4930conventions :-( ). MS-DOSe host support (under DJ Delorie's GO32
4931environment) is close to working but has some remaining problems. Note
4932that debugging of DOS programs is not supported, due to limitations
4933in the ``operating system'', but it can be used to host cross-debugging.
4934
4935 * Cross byte order fixes
4936
4937Many fixes have been made to support cross debugging of Sparc and MIPS
4938targets from hosts whose byte order differs.
4939
4940 * New -mapped and -readnow options
4941
4942If memory-mapped files are available on your system through the 'mmap'
4943system call, you can use the -mapped option on the `file' or
4944`symbol-file' commands to cause GDB to write the symbols from your
4945program into a reusable file. If the program you are debugging is
4946called `/path/fred', the mapped symbol file will be `./fred.syms'.
4947Future GDB debugging sessions will notice the presence of this file,
4948and will quickly map in symbol information from it, rather than reading
4949the symbol table from the executable program. Using the '-mapped'
4950option in a GDB `file' or `symbol-file' command has the same effect as
4951starting GDB with the '-mapped' command-line option.
4952
4953You can cause GDB to read the entire symbol table immediately by using
4954the '-readnow' option with any of the commands that load symbol table
4955information (or on the GDB command line). This makes the command
4956slower, but makes future operations faster.
4957
4958The -mapped and -readnow options are typically combined in order to
4959build a `fred.syms' file that contains complete symbol information.
4960A simple GDB invocation to do nothing but build a `.syms' file for future
4961use is:
4962
4963 gdb -batch -nx -mapped -readnow programname
4964
4965The `.syms' file is specific to the host machine on which GDB is run.
4966It holds an exact image of GDB's internal symbol table. It cannot be
4967shared across multiple host platforms.
4968
4969 * longjmp() handling
4970
4971GDB is now capable of stepping and nexting over longjmp(), _longjmp(), and
4972siglongjmp() without losing control. This feature has not yet been ported to
4973all systems. It currently works on many 386 platforms, all MIPS-based
4974platforms (SGI, DECstation, etc), and Sun3/4.
4975
4976 * Solaris 2.0
4977
4978Preliminary work has been put in to support the new Solaris OS from Sun. At
4979this time, it can control and debug processes, but it is not capable of
4980reading symbols.
4981
4982 * Bug fixes
4983
4984As always, many many bug fixes. The major areas were with g++, and mipsread.
4985People using the MIPS-based platforms should experience fewer mysterious
4986crashes and trashed symbol tables.
4987
4988*** Changes in GDB-4.4:
4989
4990 * New machines supported (host and target)
4991
4992SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
4993 (except core files)
4994BSD Reno on Vax vax-dec-bsd
4995Ultrix on Vax vax-dec-ultrix
4996
4997 * New machines supported (target)
4998
4999AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
5000
5001 * C++ support
5002
5003GDB continues to improve its handling of C++. `References' work better.
5004The demangler has also been improved, and now deals with symbols mangled as
5005per the Annotated C++ Reference Guide.
5006
5007GDB also now handles `stabs' symbol information embedded in MIPS
5008`ecoff' symbol tables. Since the ecoff format was not easily
5009extensible to handle new languages such as C++, this appeared to be a
5010good way to put C++ debugging info into MIPS binaries. This option
5011will be supported in the GNU C compiler, version 2, when it is
5012released.
5013
5014 * New features for SVR4
5015
5016GDB now handles SVR4 shared libraries, in the same fashion as SunOS
5017shared libraries. Debugging dynamically linked programs should present
5018only minor differences from debugging statically linked programs.
5019
5020The `info proc' command will print out information about any process
5021on an SVR4 system (including the one you are debugging). At the moment,
5022it prints the address mappings of the process.
5023
5024If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please send mail to
5025bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were reqired (if any).
5026
5027 * Better dynamic linking support in SunOS
5028
5029Reading symbols from shared libraries which contain debugging symbols
5030now works properly. However, there remain issues such as automatic
5031skipping of `transfer vector' code during function calls, which
5032make it harder to debug code in a shared library, than to debug the
5033same code linked statically.
5034
5035 * New Getopt
5036
5037GDB is now using the latest `getopt' routines from the FSF. This
5038version accepts the -- prefix for options with long names. GDB will
5039continue to accept the old forms (-option and +option) as well.
5040Various single letter abbreviations for options have been explicity
5041added to the option table so that they won't get overshadowed in the
5042future by other options that begin with the same letter.
5043
5044 * Bugs fixed
5045
5046The `cleanup_undefined_types' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
5047Many assorted bugs have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
5048See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
5049
5050
5051*** Changes in GDB-4.3:
5052
5053 * New machines supported (host and target)
5054
5055Amiga 3000 running Amix m68k-cbm-svr4 or amix
5056NCR 3000 386 running SVR4 i386-ncr-svr4 or ncr3000
5057Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
5058
5059 * Almost SCO Unix support
5060
5061We had hoped to support:
5062SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
5063(except for core file support), but we discovered very late in the release
5064that it has problems with process groups that render gdb unusable. Sorry
5065about that. I encourage people to fix it and post the fixes.
5066
5067 * Preliminary ELF and DWARF support
5068
5069GDB can read ELF object files on System V Release 4, and can handle
5070debugging records for C, in DWARF format, in ELF files. This support
5071is preliminary. If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please
5072send mail to bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were
5073reqired (if any).
5074
5075 * New Readline
5076
5077GDB now uses the latest `readline' library. One user-visible change
5078is that two tabs will list possible command completions, which previously
5079required typing M-? (meta-question mark, or ESC ?).
5080
5081 * Bugs fixed
5082
5083The `stepi' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
5084Many bugs in C++ have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
5085See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
5086
5087 * State of the MIPS world (in case you wondered):
5088
5089GDB can understand the symbol tables emitted by the compilers
5090supplied by most vendors of MIPS-based machines, including DEC. These
5091symbol tables are in a format that essentially nobody else uses.
5092
5093Some versions of gcc come with an assembler post-processor called
5094mips-tfile. This program is required if you want to do source-level
5095debugging of gcc-compiled programs. I believe FSF does not ship
5096mips-tfile with gcc version 1, but it will eventually come with gcc
5097version 2.
5098
5099Debugging of g++ output remains a problem. g++ version 1.xx does not
5100really support it at all. (If you're lucky, you should be able to get
5101line numbers and stack traces to work, but no parameters or local
5102variables.) With some work it should be possible to improve the
5103situation somewhat.
5104
5105When gcc version 2 is released, you will have somewhat better luck.
5106However, even then you will get confusing results for inheritance and
5107methods.
5108
5109We will eventually provide full debugging of g++ output on
5110DECstations. This will probably involve some kind of stabs-in-ecoff
5111encapulation, but the details have not been worked out yet.
5112
5113
5114*** Changes in GDB-4.2:
5115
5116 * Improved configuration
5117
5118Only one copy of `configure' exists now, and it is not self-modifying.
5119Porting BFD is simpler.
5120
5121 * Stepping improved
5122
5123The `step' and `next' commands now only stop at the first instruction
5124of a source line. This prevents the multiple stops that used to occur
5125in switch statements, for-loops, etc. `Step' continues to stop if a
5126function that has debugging information is called within the line.
5127
5128 * Bug fixing
5129
5130Lots of small bugs fixed. More remain.
5131
5132 * New host supported (not target)
5133
5134Intel 386 PC clone running Mach i386-none-mach
5135
5136
5137*** Changes in GDB-4.1:
5138
5139 * Multiple source language support
5140
5141GDB now has internal scaffolding to handle several source languages.
5142It determines the type of each source file from its filename extension,
5143and will switch expression parsing and number formatting to match the
5144language of the function in the currently selected stack frame.
5145You can also specifically set the language to be used, with
5146`set language c' or `set language modula-2'.
5147
5148 * GDB and Modula-2
5149
5150GDB now has preliminary support for the GNU Modula-2 compiler,
5151currently under development at the State University of New York at
5152Buffalo. Development of both GDB and the GNU Modula-2 compiler will
5153continue through the fall of 1991 and into 1992.
5154
5155Other Modula-2 compilers are currently not supported, and attempting to
5156debug programs compiled with them will likely result in an error as the
5157symbol table is read. Feel free to work on it, though!
5158
5159There are hooks in GDB for strict type checking and range checking,
5160in the `Modula-2 philosophy', but they do not currently work.
5161
5162 * set write on/off
5163
5164GDB can now write to executable and core files (e.g. patch
5165a variable's value). You must turn this switch on, specify
5166the file ("exec foo" or "core foo"), *then* modify it, e.g.
5167by assigning a new value to a variable. Modifications take
5168effect immediately.
5169
5170 * Automatic SunOS shared library reading
5171
5172When you run your program, GDB automatically determines where its
5173shared libraries (if any) have been loaded, and reads their symbols.
5174The `share' command is no longer needed. This also works when
5175examining core files.
5176
5177 * set listsize
5178
5179You can specify the number of lines that the `list' command shows.
5180The default is 10.
5181
5182 * New machines supported (host and target)
5183
5184SGI Iris (MIPS) running Irix V3: mips-sgi-irix or iris
5185Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x: m68k-sony-sysv or news
5186Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1: a29k-nyu-sym1 or ultra3
5187
5188 * New hosts supported (not targets)
5189
5190IBM RT/PC: romp-ibm-aix or rtpc
5191
5192 * New targets supported (not hosts)
5193
5194AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
5195AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
5196Ultracomputer remote kernel debug a29k-nyu-kern
5197
5198 * New remote interfaces
5199
5200AMD 29000 Adapt
5201AMD 29000 Minimon
5202
5203
5204*** Changes in GDB-4.0:
5205
5206 * New Facilities
5207
5208Wide output is wrapped at good places to make the output more readable.
5209
5210Gdb now supports cross-debugging from a host machine of one type to a
5211target machine of another type. Communication with the target system
5212is over serial lines. The ``target'' command handles connecting to the
5213remote system; the ``load'' command will download a program into the
5214remote system. Serial stubs for the m68k and i386 are provided. Gdb
5215also supports debugging of realtime processes running under VxWorks,
5216using SunRPC Remote Procedure Calls over TCP/IP to talk to a debugger
5217stub on the target system.
5218
5219New CPUs supported include the AMD 29000 and Intel 960.
5220
5221GDB now reads object files and symbol tables via a ``binary file''
5222library, which allows a single copy of GDB to debug programs of multiple
5223object file types such as a.out and coff.
5224
5225There is now a GDB reference card in "doc/refcard.tex". (Make targets
5226refcard.dvi and refcard.ps are available to format it).
5227
5228
5229 * Control-Variable user interface simplified
5230
5231All variables that control the operation of the debugger can be set
5232by the ``set'' command, and displayed by the ``show'' command.
5233
5234For example, ``set prompt new-gdb=>'' will change your prompt to new-gdb=>.
5235``Show prompt'' produces the response:
5236Gdb's prompt is new-gdb=>.
5237
5238What follows are the NEW set commands. The command ``help set'' will
5239print a complete list of old and new set commands. ``help set FOO''
5240will give a longer description of the variable FOO. ``show'' will show
5241all of the variable descriptions and their current settings.
5242
5243confirm on/off: Enables warning questions for operations that are
5244 hard to recover from, e.g. rerunning the program while
5245 it is already running. Default is ON.
5246
5247editing on/off: Enables EMACS style command line editing
5248 of input. Previous lines can be recalled with
5249 control-P, the current line can be edited with control-B,
5250 you can search for commands with control-R, etc.
5251 Default is ON.
5252
5253history filename NAME: NAME is where the gdb command history
5254 will be stored. The default is .gdb_history,
5255 or the value of the environment variable
5256 GDBHISTFILE.
5257
5258history size N: The size, in commands, of the command history. The
5259 default is 256, or the value of the environment variable
5260 HISTSIZE.
5261
5262history save on/off: If this value is set to ON, the history file will
5263 be saved after exiting gdb. If set to OFF, the
5264 file will not be saved. The default is OFF.
5265
5266history expansion on/off: If this value is set to ON, then csh-like
5267 history expansion will be performed on
5268 command line input. The default is OFF.
5269
5270radix N: Sets the default radix for input and output. It can be set
5271 to 8, 10, or 16. Note that the argument to "radix" is interpreted
5272 in the current radix, so "set radix 10" is always a no-op.
5273
5274height N: This integer value is the number of lines on a page. Default
5275 is 24, the current `stty rows'' setting, or the ``li#''
5276 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
5277 variable TERM.
5278
5279width N: This integer value is the number of characters on a line.
5280 Default is 80, the current `stty cols'' setting, or the ``co#''
5281 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
5282 variable TERM.
5283
5284Note: ``set screensize'' is obsolete. Use ``set height'' and
5285``set width'' instead.
5286
5287print address on/off: Print memory addresses in various command displays,
5288 such as stack traces and structure values. Gdb looks
5289 more ``symbolic'' if you turn this off; it looks more
5290 ``machine level'' with it on. Default is ON.
5291
5292print array on/off: Prettyprint arrays. New convenient format! Default
5293 is OFF.
5294
5295print demangle on/off: Print C++ symbols in "source" form if on,
5296 "raw" form if off.
5297
5298print asm-demangle on/off: Same, for assembler level printouts
5299 like instructions.
5300
5301print vtbl on/off: Prettyprint C++ virtual function tables. Default is OFF.
5302
5303
5304 * Support for Epoch Environment.
5305
5306The epoch environment is a version of Emacs v18 with windowing. One
5307new command, ``inspect'', is identical to ``print'', except that if you
5308are running in the epoch environment, the value is printed in its own
5309window.
5310
5311
5312 * Support for Shared Libraries
5313
5314GDB can now debug programs and core files that use SunOS shared libraries.
5315Symbols from a shared library cannot be referenced
5316before the shared library has been linked with the program (this
5317happens after you type ``run'' and before the function main() is entered).
5318At any time after this linking (including when examining core files
5319from dynamically linked programs), gdb reads the symbols from each
5320shared library when you type the ``sharedlibrary'' command.
5321It can be abbreviated ``share''.
5322
5323sharedlibrary REGEXP: Load shared object library symbols for files
5324 matching a unix regular expression. No argument
5325 indicates to load symbols for all shared libraries.
5326
5327info sharedlibrary: Status of loaded shared libraries.
5328
5329
5330 * Watchpoints
5331
5332A watchpoint stops execution of a program whenever the value of an
5333expression changes. Checking for this slows down execution
5334tremendously whenever you are in the scope of the expression, but is
5335quite useful for catching tough ``bit-spreader'' or pointer misuse
5336problems. Some machines such as the 386 have hardware for doing this
5337more quickly, and future versions of gdb will use this hardware.
5338
5339watch EXP: Set a watchpoint (breakpoint) for an expression.
5340
5341info watchpoints: Information about your watchpoints.
5342
5343delete N: Deletes watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
5344disable N: Temporarily turns off watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
5345enable N: Re-enables watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
5346
5347
5348 * C++ multiple inheritance
5349
5350When used with a GCC version 2 compiler, GDB supports multiple inheritance
5351for C++ programs.
5352
5353 * C++ exception handling
5354
5355Gdb now supports limited C++ exception handling. Besides the existing
5356ability to breakpoint on an exception handler, gdb can breakpoint on
5357the raising of an exception (before the stack is peeled back to the
5358handler's context).
5359
5360catch FOO: If there is a FOO exception handler in the dynamic scope,
5361 set a breakpoint to catch exceptions which may be raised there.
5362 Multiple exceptions (``catch foo bar baz'') may be caught.
5363
5364info catch: Lists all exceptions which may be caught in the
5365 current stack frame.
5366
5367
5368 * Minor command changes
5369
5370The command ``call func (arg, arg, ...)'' now acts like the print
5371command, except it does not print or save a value if the function's result
5372is void. This is similar to dbx usage.
5373
5374The ``up'' and ``down'' commands now always print the frame they end up
5375at; ``up-silently'' and `down-silently'' can be used in scripts to change
5376frames without printing.
5377
5378 * New directory command
5379
5380'dir' now adds directories to the FRONT of the source search path.
5381The path starts off empty. Source files that contain debug information
5382about the directory in which they were compiled can be found even
5383with an empty path; Sun CC and GCC include this information. If GDB can't
5384find your source file in the current directory, type "dir .".
5385
5386 * Configuring GDB for compilation
5387
5388For normal use, type ``./configure host''. See README or gdb.texinfo
5389for more details.
5390
5391GDB now handles cross debugging. If you are remotely debugging between
5392two different machines, type ``./configure host -target=targ''.
5393Host is the machine where GDB will run; targ is the machine
5394where the program that you are debugging will run.
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