1 What has changed in GDB?
2 (Organized release by release)
4 *** Changes since GDB-4.18:
10 * OBSOLETE configurations
12 Altos 3068 m68*-altos-*
15 *** Changes in GDB-4.18:
17 * New native configurations
19 HP-UX 10.20 hppa*-*-hpux10.20
20 HP-UX 11.x hppa*-*-hpux11.0*
21 M68K Linux m68*-*-linux*
25 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
26 Intel StrongARM strongarm-*-*
27 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
29 * OBSOLETE configurations
31 Gould PowerNode, NP1 np1-*-*, pn-*-*
33 Configurations that have been declared obsolete will be commented out,
34 but the code will be left in place. If there is no activity to revive
35 these configurations before the next release of GDB, the sources will
36 be permanently REMOVED.
40 As a compatibility experiment, GDB's source files buildsym.h and
41 buildsym.c have been converted to pure standard C, no longer
42 containing any K&R compatibility code. We believe that all systems in
43 use today either come with a standard C compiler, or have a GCC port
44 available. If this is not true, please report the affected
45 configuration to bug-gdb@gnu.org immediately. See the README file for
46 information about getting a standard C compiler if you don't have one
51 GDB now uses readline 2.2.
53 * set extension-language
55 You can now control the mapping between filename extensions and source
56 languages by using the `set extension-language' command. For instance,
57 you can ask GDB to treat .c files as C++ by saying
58 set extension-language .c c++
59 The command `info extensions' lists all of the recognized extensions
60 and their associated languages.
62 * Setting processor type for PowerPC and RS/6000
64 When GDB is configured for a powerpc*-*-* or an rs6000*-*-* target,
65 you can use the `set processor' command to specify what variant of the
66 PowerPC family you are debugging. The command
70 sets the PowerPC/RS6000 variant to NAME. GDB knows about the
71 following PowerPC and RS6000 variants:
73 ppc-uisa PowerPC UISA - a PPC processor as viewed by user-level code
74 rs6000 IBM RS6000 ("POWER") architecture, user-level view
76 403GC IBM PowerPC 403GC
77 505 Motorola PowerPC 505
78 860 Motorola PowerPC 860 or 850
79 601 Motorola PowerPC 601
80 602 Motorola PowerPC 602
81 603 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 603 or 603e
82 604 Motorola PowerPC 604 or 604e
83 750 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 750 or 750
85 At the moment, this command just tells GDB what to name the
86 special-purpose processor registers. Since almost all the affected
87 registers are inaccessible to user-level programs, this command is
88 only useful for remote debugging in its present form.
92 Thanks to a major code donation from Hewlett-Packard, GDB now has much
93 more extensive support for HP-UX. Added features include shared
94 library support, kernel threads and hardware watchpoints for 11.00,
95 support for HP's ANSI C and C++ compilers, and a compatibility mode
96 for xdb and dbx commands.
100 HP's donation includes the new concept of catchpoints, which is a
101 generalization of the old catch command. On HP-UX, it is now possible
102 to catch exec, fork, and vfork, as well as library loading.
104 This means that the existing catch command has changed; its first
105 argument now specifies the type of catch to be set up. See the
106 output of "help catch" for a list of catchpoint types.
108 * Debugging across forks
110 On HP-UX, you can choose which process to debug when a fork() happens
115 HP has donated a curses-based terminal user interface (TUI). To get
116 it, build with --enable-tui. Although this can be enabled for any
117 configuration, at present it only works for native HP debugging.
119 * GDB remote protocol additions
121 A new protocol packet 'X' that writes binary data is now available.
122 Default behavior is to try 'X', then drop back to 'M' if the stub
123 fails to respond. The settable variable `remotebinarydownload'
124 allows explicit control over the use of 'X'.
126 For 64-bit targets, the memory packets ('M' and 'm') can now contain a
127 full 64-bit address. The command
129 set remoteaddresssize 32
131 can be used to revert to the old behaviour. For existing remote stubs
132 the change should not be noticed, as the additional address information
135 In order to assist in debugging stubs, you may use the maintenance
136 command `packet' to send any text string to the stub. For instance,
138 maint packet heythere
140 sends the packet "$heythere#<checksum>". Note that it is very easy to
141 disrupt a debugging session by sending the wrong packet at the wrong
144 The compare-sections command allows you to compare section data on the
145 target to what is in the executable file without uploading or
146 downloading, by comparing CRC checksums.
148 * Tracing can collect general expressions
150 You may now collect general expressions at tracepoints. This requires
151 further additions to the target-side stub; see tracepoint.c and
152 doc/agentexpr.texi for further details.
154 * mask-address variable for Mips
156 For Mips targets, you may control the zeroing of the upper 32 bits of
157 a 64-bit address by entering `set mask-address on'. This is mainly
158 of interest to users of embedded R4xxx and R5xxx processors.
160 * Higher serial baud rates
162 GDB's serial code now allows you to specify baud rates 57600, 115200,
163 230400, and 460800 baud. (Note that your host system may not be able
164 to achieve all of these rates.)
168 The i960 configuration now includes an initial implementation of a
169 builtin simulator, contributed by Jim Wilson.
172 *** Changes in GDB-4.17:
174 * New native configurations
176 Alpha GNU/Linux alpha*-*-linux*
177 Unixware 2.x i[3456]86-unixware2*
178 Irix 6.x mips*-sgi-irix6*
179 PowerPC GNU/Linux powerpc-*-linux*
180 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
181 Sparc GNU/Linux sparc-*-linux*
182 Motorola sysV68 R3V7.1 m68k-motorola-sysv
186 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
187 Hitachi H8/300S h8300*-*-*
188 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
189 Matsushita MN10300 w/simulator mn10300-*-*
190 MIPS NEC VR4100 mips64*vr4100*{,el}-*-elf*
191 MIPS NEC VR5000 mips64*vr5000*{,el}-*-elf*
192 MIPS Toshiba TX39 mips64*tx39*{,el}-*-elf*
193 Mitsubishi D10V w/simulator d10v-*-*
194 Mitsubishi M32R/D w/simulator m32r-*-elf*
195 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
196 NEC V850 w/simulator v850-*-*
198 * New debugging protocols
200 ARM with RDI protocol arm*-*-*
201 M68K with dBUG monitor m68*-*-{aout,coff,elf}
202 DDB and LSI variants of PMON protocol mips*-*-*
203 PowerPC with DINK32 monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
204 PowerPC with SDS protocol powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
205 Macraigor OCD (Wiggler) devices powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
209 All configurations can now understand and use the DWARF 2 debugging
210 format. The choice is automatic, if the symbol file contains DWARF 2
215 GDB now includes basic Java language support. This support is
216 only useful with Java compilers that produce native machine code.
218 * solib-absolute-prefix and solib-search-path
220 For SunOS and SVR4 shared libraries, you may now set the prefix for
221 loading absolute shared library symbol files, and the search path for
222 locating non-absolute shared library symbol files.
224 * Live range splitting
226 GDB can now effectively debug code for which GCC has performed live
227 range splitting as part of its optimization. See gdb/doc/LRS for
228 more details on the expected format of the stabs information.
232 GDB's support for the GNU Hurd, including thread debugging, has been
233 updated to work with current versions of the Hurd.
237 GDB's ARM target configuration now handles the ARM7T (Thumb) 16-bit
238 instruction set. ARM GDB automatically detects when Thumb
239 instructions are in use, and adjusts disassembly and backtracing
244 GDB's MIPS target configurations now handle the MIP16 16-bit
249 GDB now includes support for overlays; if an executable has been
250 linked such that multiple sections are based at the same address, GDB
251 will decide which section to use for symbolic info. You can choose to
252 control the decision manually, using overlay commands, or implement
253 additional target-side support and use "overlay load-target" to bring
254 in the overlay mapping. Do "help overlay" for more detail.
258 The command "info symbol <address>" displays information about
259 the symbol at the specified address.
263 The standard remote protocol now includes an extension that allows
264 asynchronous collection and display of trace data. This requires
265 extensive support in the target-side debugging stub. Tracing mode
266 includes a new interaction mode in GDB and new commands: see the
267 file tracepoint.c for more details.
271 Configurations for embedded MIPS now include a simulator contributed
272 by Cygnus Solutions. The simulator supports the instruction sets
273 of most MIPS variants.
277 Sparc configurations may now include the ERC32 simulator contributed
278 by the European Space Agency. The simulator is not built into
279 Sparc targets by default; configure with --enable-sim to include it.
283 For target configurations that may include multiple variants of a
284 basic architecture (such as MIPS and SH), you may now set the
285 architecture explicitly. "set arch" sets, "info arch" lists
286 the possible architectures.
288 *** Changes in GDB-4.16:
290 * New native configurations
292 Windows 95, x86 Windows NT i[345]86-*-cygwin32
293 M68K NetBSD m68k-*-netbsd*
294 PowerPC AIX 4.x powerpc-*-aix*
295 PowerPC MacOS powerpc-*-macos*
296 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
297 RS/6000 AIX 4.x rs6000-*-aix4*
301 ARM with RDP protocol arm-*-*
302 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
303 MIPS VxWorks mips*-*-vxworks*
304 MIPS VR4300 with PMON mips64*vr4300{,el}-*-elf*
305 PowerPC with PPCBUG monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi*
307 Matra Sparclet sparclet-*-*
311 The powerpc-eabi configuration now includes the PSIM simulator,
312 contributed by Andrew Cagney, with assistance from Mike Meissner.
313 PSIM is a very elaborate model of the PowerPC, including not only
314 basic instruction set execution, but also details of execution unit
315 performance and I/O hardware. See sim/ppc/README for more details.
319 GDB now works with Solaris 2.5.
321 * Windows 95/NT native
323 GDB will now work as a native debugger on Windows 95 and Windows NT.
324 To build it from source, you must use the "gnu-win32" environment,
325 which uses a DLL to emulate enough of Unix to run the GNU tools.
326 Further information, binaries, and sources are available at
327 ftp.cygnus.com, under pub/gnu-win32.
329 * dont-repeat command
331 If a user-defined command includes the command `dont-repeat', then the
332 command will not be repeated if the user just types return. This is
333 useful if the command is time-consuming to run, so that accidental
334 extra keystrokes don't run the same command many times.
336 * Send break instead of ^C
338 The standard remote protocol now includes an option to send a break
339 rather than a ^C to the target in order to interrupt it. By default,
340 GDB will send ^C; to send a break, set the variable `remotebreak' to 1.
342 * Remote protocol timeout
344 The standard remote protocol includes a new variable `remotetimeout'
345 that allows you to set the number of seconds before GDB gives up trying
346 to read from the target. The default value is 2.
348 * Automatic tracking of dynamic object loading (HPUX and Solaris only)
350 By default GDB will automatically keep track of objects as they are
351 loaded and unloaded by the dynamic linker. By using the command `set
352 stop-on-solib-events 1' you can arrange for GDB to stop the inferior
353 when shared library events occur, thus allowing you to set breakpoints
354 in shared libraries which are explicitly loaded by the inferior.
356 Note this feature does not work on hpux8. On hpux9 you must link
357 /usr/lib/end.o into your program. This feature should work
358 automatically on hpux10.
360 * Irix 5.x hardware watchpoint support
362 Irix 5 configurations now support the use of hardware watchpoints.
364 * Mips protocol "SYN garbage limit"
366 When debugging a Mips target using the `target mips' protocol, you
367 may set the number of characters that GDB will ignore by setting
368 the `syn-garbage-limit'. A value of -1 means that GDB will ignore
369 every character. The default value is 1050.
371 * Recording and replaying remote debug sessions
373 If you set `remotelogfile' to the name of a file, gdb will write to it
374 a recording of a remote debug session. This recording may then be
375 replayed back to gdb using "gdbreplay". See gdbserver/README for
376 details. This is useful when you have a problem with GDB while doing
377 remote debugging; you can make a recording of the session and send it
378 to someone else, who can then recreate the problem.
380 * Speedups for remote debugging
382 GDB includes speedups for downloading and stepping MIPS systems using
383 the IDT monitor, fast downloads to the Hitachi SH E7000 emulator,
384 and more efficient S-record downloading.
386 * Memory use reductions and statistics collection
388 GDB now uses less memory and reports statistics about memory usage.
389 Try the `maint print statistics' command, for example.
391 *** Changes in GDB-4.15:
395 The symbol reader for AIX GDB now uses partial symbol tables. This
396 can greatly improve startup time, especially for large executables.
398 * Remote targets use caching
400 Remote targets now use a data cache to speed up communication with the
401 remote side. The data cache could lead to incorrect results because
402 it doesn't know about volatile variables, thus making it impossible to
403 debug targets which use memory mapped I/O devices. `set remotecache
404 off' turns the the data cache off.
406 * Remote targets may have threads
408 The standard remote protocol now includes support for multiple threads
409 in the target system, using new protocol commands 'H' and 'T'. See
410 gdb/remote.c for details.
414 If GDB is configured with `--enable-netrom', then it will include
415 support for the NetROM ROM emulator from XLNT Designs. The NetROM
416 acts as though it is a bank of ROM on the target board, but you can
417 write into it over the network. GDB's support consists only of
418 support for fast loading into the emulated ROM; to debug, you must use
419 another protocol, such as standard remote protocol. The usual
420 sequence is something like
422 target nrom <netrom-hostname>
424 target remote <netrom-hostname>:1235
428 GDB now includes support for the Apple Macintosh, as a host only. It
429 may be run as either an MPW tool or as a standalone application, and
430 it can debug through the serial port. All the usual GDB commands are
431 available, but to the target command, you must supply "serial" as the
432 device type instead of "/dev/ttyXX". See mpw-README in the main
433 directory for more information on how to build. The MPW configuration
434 scripts */mpw-config.in support only a few targets, and only the
435 mips-idt-ecoff target has been tested.
439 GDB configuration now uses autoconf. This is not user-visible,
440 but does simplify configuration and building.
444 GDB now supports hpux10.
446 *** Changes in GDB-4.14:
448 * New native configurations
450 x86 FreeBSD i[345]86-*-freebsd
451 x86 NetBSD i[345]86-*-netbsd
452 NS32k NetBSD ns32k-*-netbsd
453 Sparc NetBSD sparc-*-netbsd
457 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
458 HP PA PRO embedded (WinBond W89K & Oki OP50N) hppa*-*-pro*
459 CPU32 EST-300 emulator m68*-*-est*
460 PowerPC ELF powerpc-*-elf
463 * Alpha OSF/1 support for procfs
465 GDB now supports procfs under OSF/1-2.x and higher, which makes it
466 possible to attach to running processes. As the mounting of the /proc
467 filesystem is optional on the Alpha, GDB automatically determines
468 the availability of /proc during startup. This can lead to problems
469 if /proc is unmounted after GDB has been started.
471 * Arguments to user-defined commands
473 User commands may accept up to 10 arguments separated by whitespace.
474 Arguments are accessed within the user command via $arg0..$arg9. A
477 print $arg0 + $arg1 + $arg2
479 To execute the command use:
482 Defines the command "adder" which prints the sum of its three arguments.
483 Note the arguments are text substitutions, so they may reference variables,
484 use complex expressions, or even perform inferior function calls.
486 * New `if' and `while' commands
488 This makes it possible to write more sophisticated user-defined
489 commands. Both commands take a single argument, which is the
490 expression to evaluate, and must be followed by the commands to
491 execute, one per line, if the expression is nonzero, the list being
492 terminated by the word `end'. The `if' command list may include an
493 `else' word, which causes the following commands to be executed only
494 if the expression is zero.
496 * Fortran source language mode
498 GDB now includes partial support for Fortran 77. It will recognize
499 Fortran programs and can evaluate a subset of Fortran expressions, but
500 variables and functions may not be handled correctly. GDB will work
501 with G77, but does not yet know much about symbols emitted by other
504 * Better HPUX support
506 Most debugging facilities now work on dynamic executables for HPPAs
507 running hpux9 or later. You can attach to running dynamically linked
508 processes, but by default the dynamic libraries will be read-only, so
509 for instance you won't be able to put breakpoints in them. To change
510 that behavior do the following before running the program:
516 This will cause the libraries to be mapped private and read-write.
517 To revert to the normal behavior, do this:
523 You cannot set breakpoints or examine data in the library until after
524 the library is loaded if the function/data symbols do not have
527 GDB can now also read debug symbols produced by the HP C compiler on
528 HPPAs (sorry, no C++, Fortran or 68k support).
530 * Target byte order now dynamically selectable
532 You can choose which byte order to use with a target system, via the
533 commands "set endian big" and "set endian little", and you can see the
534 current setting by using "show endian". You can also give the command
535 "set endian auto", in which case GDB will use the byte order
536 associated with the executable. Currently, only embedded MIPS
537 configurations support dynamic selection of target byte order.
539 * New DOS host serial code
541 This version uses DPMI interrupts to handle buffered I/O, so you
542 no longer need to run asynctsr when debugging boards connected to
545 *** Changes in GDB-4.13:
547 * New "complete" command
549 This lists all the possible completions for the rest of the line, if it
550 were to be given as a command itself. This is intended for use by emacs.
552 * Trailing space optional in prompt
554 "set prompt" no longer adds a space for you after the prompt you set. This
555 allows you to set a prompt which ends in a space or one that does not.
557 * Breakpoint hit counts
559 "info break" now displays a count of the number of times the breakpoint
560 has been hit. This is especially useful in conjunction with "ignore"; you
561 can ignore a large number of breakpoint hits, look at the breakpoint info
562 to see how many times the breakpoint was hit, then run again, ignoring one
563 less than that number, and this will get you quickly to the last hit of
566 * Ability to stop printing at NULL character
568 "set print null-stop" will cause GDB to stop printing the characters of
569 an array when the first NULL is encountered. This is useful when large
570 arrays actually contain only short strings.
572 * Shared library breakpoints
574 In SunOS 4.x, SVR4, and Alpha OSF/1 configurations, you can now set
575 breakpoints in shared libraries before the executable is run.
577 * Hardware watchpoints
579 There is a new hardware breakpoint for the watch command for sparclite
580 targets. See gdb/sparclite/hw_breakpoint.note.
582 Hardware watchpoints are also now supported under Linux.
586 Annotations have been added. These are for use with graphical interfaces,
587 and are still experimental. Currently only gdba.el uses these.
589 * Improved Irix 5 support
591 GDB now works properly with Irix 5.2.
593 * Improved HPPA support
595 GDB now works properly with the latest GCC and GAS.
597 * New native configurations
599 Sequent PTX4 i[34]86-sequent-ptx4
600 HPPA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
601 Atari TT running SVR4 m68*-*-sysv4*
602 RS/6000 LynxOS rs6000-*-lynxos*
606 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
607 MIPS R4000 mips64*{,el}-*-{ecoff,elf}
610 * Hitachi SH7000 and E7000-PC ICE support
612 There is now support for communicating with the Hitachi E7000-PC ICE.
613 This is available automatically when GDB is configured for the SH.
617 As usual, a variety of small fixes and improvements, both generic
618 and configuration-specific. See the ChangeLog for more detail.
620 *** Changes in GDB-4.12:
622 * Irix 5 is now supported
626 GDB-4.12 on the HPPA has a number of changes which make it unable
627 to debug the output from the currently released versions of GCC and
628 GAS (GCC 2.5.8 and GAS-2.2 or PAGAS-1.36). Until the next major release
629 of GCC and GAS, versions of these tools designed to work with GDB-4.12
630 can be retrieved via anonymous ftp from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist.
633 *** Changes in GDB-4.11:
635 * User visible changes:
639 The "set remotedebug" option is now consistent between the mips remote
640 target, remote targets using the gdb-specific protocol, UDI (AMD's
641 debug protocol for the 29k) and the 88k bug monitor. It is now an
642 integer specifying a debug level (normally 0 or 1, but 2 means more
643 debugging info for the mips target).
645 * DEC Alpha native support
647 GDB now works on the DEC Alpha. GCC 2.4.5 does not produce usable
648 debug info, but GDB works fairly well with the DEC compiler and should
649 work with a future GCC release. See the README file for a few
650 Alpha-specific notes.
652 * Preliminary thread implementation
654 GDB now has preliminary thread support for both SGI/Irix and LynxOS.
656 * LynxOS native and target support for 386
658 This release has been hosted on LynxOS 2.2, and also can be configured
659 to remotely debug programs running under LynxOS (see gdb/gdbserver/README
662 * Improvements in C++ mangling/demangling.
664 This release has much better g++ debugging, specifically in name
665 mangling/demangling, virtual function calls, print virtual table,
666 call methods, ...etc.
668 *** Changes in GDB-4.10:
670 * User visible changes:
672 Remote debugging using the GDB-specific (`target remote') protocol now
673 supports the `load' command. This is only useful if you have some
674 other way of getting the stub to the target system, and you can put it
675 somewhere in memory where it won't get clobbered by the download.
677 Filename completion now works.
679 When run under emacs mode, the "info line" command now causes the
680 arrow to point to the line specified. Also, "info line" prints
681 addresses in symbolic form (as well as hex).
683 All vxworks based targets now support a user settable option, called
684 vxworks-timeout. This option represents the number of seconds gdb
685 should wait for responses to rpc's. You might want to use this if
686 your vxworks target is, perhaps, a slow software simulator or happens
687 to be on the far side of a thin network line.
691 This release contains support for using a DEC alpha as a GDB host for
692 cross debugging. Native alpha debugging is not supported yet.
695 *** Changes in GDB-4.9:
699 This is the first GDB release which is accompanied by a matching testsuite.
700 The testsuite requires installation of dejagnu, which should be available
701 via ftp from most sites that carry GNU software.
705 'Cfront' style demangling has had its name changed to 'ARM' style, to
706 emphasize that it was written from the specifications in the C++ Annotated
707 Reference Manual, not necessarily to be compatible with AT&T cfront. Despite
708 disclaimers, it still generated too much confusion with users attempting to
709 use gdb with AT&T cfront.
713 GDB now uses a standard remote interface to a simulator library.
714 So far, the library contains simulators for the Zilog Z8001/2, the
715 Hitachi H8/300, H8/500 and Super-H.
717 * New targets supported
719 H8/300 simulator h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
720 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
721 SH simulator sh-hitachi-hms or sh
722 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
723 IDT MIPS board over serial line mips-idt-ecoff
725 Cross-debugging to GO32 targets is supported. It requires a custom
726 version of the i386-stub.c module which is integrated with the
727 GO32 memory extender.
729 * New remote protocols
731 MIPS remote debugging protocol.
733 * New source languages supported
735 This version includes preliminary support for Chill, a Pascal like language
736 used by telecommunications companies. Chill support is also being integrated
737 into the GNU compiler, but we don't know when it will be publically available.
740 *** Changes in GDB-4.8:
742 * HP Precision Architecture supported
744 GDB now supports HP PA-RISC machines running HPUX. A preliminary
745 version of this support was available as a set of patches from the
746 University of Utah. GDB does not support debugging of programs
747 compiled with the HP compiler, because HP will not document their file
748 format. Instead, you must use GCC (version 2.3.2 or later) and PA-GAS
749 (as available from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist/pa-gas.u4.tar.Z).
751 Many problems in the preliminary version have been fixed.
753 * Faster and better demangling
755 We have improved template demangling and fixed numerous bugs in the GNU style
756 demangler. It can now handle type modifiers such as `static' or `const'. Wide
757 character types (wchar_t) are now supported. Demangling of each symbol is now
758 only done once, and is cached when the symbol table for a file is read in.
759 This results in a small increase in memory usage for C programs, a moderate
760 increase in memory usage for C++ programs, and a fantastic speedup in
763 `Cfront' style demangling still doesn't work with AT&T cfront. It was written
764 from the specifications in the Annotated Reference Manual, which AT&T's
765 compiler does not actually implement.
767 * G++ multiple inheritance compiler problem
769 In the 2.3.2 release of gcc/g++, how the compiler resolves multiple
770 inheritance lattices was reworked to properly discover ambiguities. We
771 recently found an example which causes this new algorithm to fail in a
772 very subtle way, producing bad debug information for those classes.
773 The file 'gcc.patch' (in this directory) can be applied to gcc to
774 circumvent the problem. A future GCC release will contain a complete
777 The previous G++ debug info problem (mentioned below for the gdb-4.7
778 release) is fixed in gcc version 2.3.2.
780 * Improved configure script
782 The `configure' script will now attempt to guess your system type if
783 you don't supply a host system type. The old scheme of supplying a
784 host system triplet is preferable over using this. All the magic is
785 done in the new `config.guess' script. Examine it for details.
787 We have also brought our configure script much more in line with the FSF's
788 version. It now supports the --with-xxx options. In particular,
789 `--with-minimal-bfd' can be used to make the GDB binary image smaller.
790 The resulting GDB will not be able to read arbitrary object file formats --
791 only the format ``expected'' to be used on the configured target system.
792 We hope to make this the default in a future release.
794 * Documentation improvements
796 There's new internal documentation on how to modify GDB, and how to
797 produce clean changes to the code. We implore people to read it
798 before submitting changes.
800 The GDB manual uses new, sexy Texinfo conditionals, rather than arcane
801 M4 macros. The new texinfo.tex is provided in this release. Pre-built
802 `info' files are also provided. To build `info' files from scratch,
803 you will need the latest `makeinfo' release, which will be available in
804 a future texinfo-X.Y release.
806 *NOTE* The new texinfo.tex can cause old versions of TeX to hang.
807 We're not sure exactly which versions have this problem, but it has
808 been seen in 3.0. We highly recommend upgrading to TeX version 3.141
809 or better. If that isn't possible, there is a patch in
810 `texinfo/tex3patch' that will modify `texinfo/texinfo.tex' to work
815 GDB now supports array constants that can be used in expressions typed in by
816 the user. The syntax is `{element, element, ...}'. Ie: you can now type
817 `print {1, 2, 3}', and it will build up an array in memory malloc'd in
820 The new directory `gdb/sparclite' contains a program that demonstrates
821 how the sparc-stub.c remote stub runs on a Fujitsu SPARClite processor.
823 * New native hosts supported
825 HP/PA-RISC under HPUX using GNU tools hppa1.1-hp-hpux
826 386 CPUs running SCO Unix 3.2v4 i386-unknown-sco3.2v4
828 * New targets supported
830 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi or udi29k
832 * New file formats supported
834 BFD now supports reading HP/PA-RISC executables (SOM file format?),
835 HPUX core files, and SCO 3.2v2 core files.
839 Attaching to processes now works again; thanks for the many bug reports.
841 We have also stomped on a bunch of core dumps caused by
842 printf_filtered("%s") problems.
844 We eliminated a copyright problem on the rpc and ptrace header files
845 for VxWorks, which was discovered at the last minute during the 4.7
846 release. You should now be able to build a VxWorks GDB.
848 You can now interrupt gdb while an attached process is running. This
849 will cause the attached process to stop, and give control back to GDB.
851 We fixed problems caused by using too many file descriptors
852 for reading symbols from object files and libraries. This was
853 especially a problem for programs that used many (~100) shared
856 The `step' command now only enters a subroutine if there is line number
857 information for the subroutine. Otherwise it acts like the `next'
858 command. Previously, `step' would enter subroutines if there was
859 any debugging information about the routine. This avoids problems
860 when using `cc -g1' on MIPS machines.
862 * Internal improvements
864 GDB's internal interfaces have been improved to make it easier to support
865 debugging of multiple languages in the future.
867 GDB now uses a common structure for symbol information internally.
868 Minimal symbols (derived from linkage symbols in object files), partial
869 symbols (from a quick scan of debug information), and full symbols
870 contain a common subset of information, making it easier to write
871 shared code that handles any of them.
873 * New command line options
875 We now accept --silent as an alias for --quiet.
879 The memory-mapped-malloc library is now licensed under the GNU Library
880 General Public License.
882 *** Changes in GDB-4.7:
884 * Host/native/target split
886 GDB has had some major internal surgery to untangle the support for
887 hosts and remote targets. Now, when you configure GDB for a remote
888 target, it will no longer load in all of the support for debugging
889 local programs on the host. When fully completed and tested, this will
890 ensure that arbitrary host/target combinations are possible.
892 The primary conceptual shift is to separate the non-portable code in
893 GDB into three categories. Host specific code is required any time GDB
894 is compiled on that host, regardless of the target. Target specific
895 code relates to the peculiarities of the target, but can be compiled on
896 any host. Native specific code is everything else: it can only be
897 built when the host and target are the same system. Child process
898 handling and core file support are two common `native' examples.
900 GDB's use of /proc for controlling Unix child processes is now cleaner.
901 It has been split out into a single module under the `target_ops' vector,
902 plus two native-dependent functions for each system that uses /proc.
904 * New hosts supported
906 HP/Apollo 68k (under the BSD domain) m68k-apollo-bsd or apollo68bsd
907 386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
908 386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or i386sco
910 * New targets supported
912 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
913 68030 and CPU32 m68030-*-*, m68332-*-*
915 * New native hosts supported
917 386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
918 (386bsd is not well tested yet)
919 386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or sco
921 * New file formats supported
923 BFD now supports COFF files for the Zilog Z8000 microprocessor. It
924 supports reading of `a.out.adobe' object files, which are an a.out
925 format extended with minimal information about multiple sections.
929 `show copying' is the same as the old `info copying'.
930 `show warranty' is the same as `info warrantee'.
931 These were renamed for consistency. The old commands continue to work.
933 `info handle' is a new alias for `info signals'.
935 You can now define pre-command hooks, which attach arbitrary command
936 scripts to any command. The commands in the hook will be executed
937 prior to the user's command. You can also create a hook which will be
938 executed whenever the program stops. See gdb.texinfo.
942 We now deal with Cfront style name mangling, and can even extract type
943 info from mangled symbols. GDB can automatically figure out which
944 symbol mangling style your C++ compiler uses.
946 Calling of methods and virtual functions has been improved as well.
950 The crash that occured when debugging Sun Ansi-C compiled binaries is
951 fixed. This was due to mishandling of the extra N_SO stabs output
954 We also finally got Ultrix 4.2 running in house, and fixed core file
955 support, with help from a dozen people on the net.
957 John M. Farrell discovered that the reason that single-stepping was so
958 slow on all of the Mips based platforms (primarily SGI and DEC) was
959 that we were trying to demangle and lookup a symbol used for internal
960 purposes on every instruction that was being stepped through. Changing
961 the name of that symbol so that it couldn't be mistaken for a C++
962 mangled symbol sped things up a great deal.
964 Rich Pixley sped up symbol lookups in general by getting much smarter
965 about when C++ symbol mangling is necessary. This should make symbol
966 completion (TAB on the command line) much faster. It's not as fast as
967 we'd like, but it's significantly faster than gdb-4.6.
971 A new user controllable variable 'call_scratch_address' can
972 specify the location of a scratch area to be used when GDB
973 calls a function in the target. This is necessary because the
974 usual method of putting the scratch area on the stack does not work
975 in systems that have separate instruction and data spaces.
977 We integrated changes to support the 29k UDI (Universal Debugger
978 Interface), but discovered at the last minute that we didn't have all
979 of the appropriate copyright paperwork. We are working with AMD to
980 resolve this, and hope to have it available soon.
984 We have sped up the remote serial line protocol, especially for targets
985 with lots of registers. It now supports a new `expedited status' ('T')
986 message which can be used in place of the existing 'S' status message.
987 This allows the remote stub to send only the registers that GDB
988 needs to make a quick decision about single-stepping or conditional
989 breakpoints, eliminating the need to fetch the entire register set for
990 each instruction being stepped through.
992 The GDB remote serial protocol now implements a write-through cache for
993 registers, only re-reading the registers if the target has run.
995 There is also a new remote serial stub for SPARC processors. You can
996 find it in gdb-4.7/gdb/sparc-stub.c. This was written to support the
997 Fujitsu SPARClite processor, but will run on any stand-alone SPARC
998 processor with a serial port.
1002 Configure.in files have become much easier to read and modify. A new
1003 `table driven' format makes it more obvious what configurations are
1004 supported, and what files each one uses.
1008 There is a new opcodes library which will eventually contain all of the
1009 disassembly routines and opcode tables. At present, it only contains
1010 Sparc and Z8000 routines. This will allow the assembler, debugger, and
1011 disassembler (binutils/objdump) to share these routines.
1013 The libiberty library is now copylefted under the GNU Library General
1014 Public License. This allows more liberal use, and was done so libg++
1015 can use it. This makes no difference to GDB, since the Library License
1016 grants all the rights from the General Public License.
1020 The file gdb-4.7/gdb/doc/stabs.texinfo is a (relatively) complete
1021 reference to the stabs symbol info used by the debugger. It is (as far
1022 as we know) the only published document on this fascinating topic. We
1023 encourage you to read it, compare it to the stabs information on your
1024 system, and send improvements on the document in general (to
1025 bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu).
1027 And, of course, many bugs have been fixed.
1030 *** Changes in GDB-4.6:
1032 * Better support for C++ function names
1034 GDB now accepts as input the "demangled form" of C++ overloaded function
1035 names and member function names, and can do command completion on such names
1036 (using TAB, TAB-TAB, and ESC-?). The names have to be quoted with a pair of
1037 single quotes. Examples are 'func (int, long)' and 'obj::operator==(obj&)'.
1038 Make use of command completion, it is your friend.
1040 GDB also now accepts a variety of C++ mangled symbol formats. They are
1041 the GNU g++ style, the Cfront (ARM) style, and the Lucid (lcc) style.
1042 You can tell GDB which format to use by doing a 'set demangle-style {gnu,
1043 lucid, cfront, auto}'. 'gnu' is the default. Do a 'set demangle-style foo'
1044 for the list of formats.
1046 * G++ symbol mangling problem
1048 Recent versions of gcc have a bug in how they emit debugging information for
1049 C++ methods (when using dbx-style stabs). The file 'gcc.patch' (in this
1050 directory) can be applied to gcc to fix the problem. Alternatively, if you
1051 can't fix gcc, you can #define GCC_MANGLE_BUG when compling gdb/symtab.c. The
1052 usual symptom is difficulty with setting breakpoints on methods. GDB complains
1053 about the method being non-existent. (We believe that version 2.2.2 of GCC has
1056 * New 'maintenance' command
1058 All of the commands related to hacking GDB internals have been moved out of
1059 the main command set, and now live behind the 'maintenance' command. This
1060 can also be abbreviated as 'mt'. The following changes were made:
1062 dump-me -> maintenance dump-me
1063 info all-breakpoints -> maintenance info breakpoints
1064 printmsyms -> maintenance print msyms
1065 printobjfiles -> maintenance print objfiles
1066 printpsyms -> maintenance print psymbols
1067 printsyms -> maintenance print symbols
1069 The following commands are new:
1071 maintenance demangle Call internal GDB demangler routine to
1072 demangle a C++ link name and prints the result.
1073 maintenance print type Print a type chain for a given symbol
1075 * Change to .gdbinit file processing
1077 We now read the $HOME/.gdbinit file before processing the argv arguments
1078 (e.g. reading symbol files or core files). This allows global parameters to
1079 be set, which will apply during the symbol reading. The ./.gdbinit is still
1080 read after argv processing.
1082 * New hosts supported
1084 Solaris-2.0 !!! sparc-sun-solaris2 or sun4sol2
1086 Linux support i386-unknown-linux or linux
1088 We are also including code to support the HP/PA running BSD and HPUX. This
1089 is almost guaranteed not to work, as we didn't have time to test or build it
1090 for this release. We are including it so that the more adventurous (or
1091 masochistic) of you can play with it. We also had major problems with the
1092 fact that the compiler that we got from HP doesn't support the -g option.
1095 * New targets supported
1097 Hitachi H8/300 h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
1099 * More smarts about finding #include files
1101 GDB now remembers the compilation directory for all include files, and for
1102 all files from which C is generated (like yacc and lex sources). This
1103 greatly improves GDB's ability to find yacc/lex sources, and include files,
1104 especially if you are debugging your program from a directory different from
1105 the one that contains your sources.
1107 We also fixed a bug which caused difficulty with listing and setting
1108 breakpoints in include files which contain C code. (In the past, you had to
1109 try twice in order to list an include file that you hadn't looked at before.)
1111 * Interesting infernals change
1113 GDB now deals with arbitrary numbers of sections, where the symbols for each
1114 section must be relocated relative to that section's landing place in the
1115 target's address space. This work was needed to support ELF with embedded
1116 stabs used by Solaris-2.0.
1118 * Bug fixes (of course!)
1120 There have been loads of fixes for the following things:
1121 mips, rs6000, 29k/udi, m68k, g++, type handling, elf/dwarf, m88k,
1122 i960, stabs, DOS(GO32), procfs, etc...
1124 See the ChangeLog for details.
1126 *** Changes in GDB-4.5:
1128 * New machines supported (host and target)
1130 IBM RS6000 running AIX rs6000-ibm-aix or rs6000
1132 SGI Irix-4.x mips-sgi-irix4 or iris4
1134 * New malloc package
1136 GDB now uses a new memory manager called mmalloc, based on gmalloc.
1137 Mmalloc is capable of handling mutiple heaps of memory. It is also
1138 capable of saving a heap to a file, and then mapping it back in later.
1139 This can be used to greatly speedup the startup of GDB by using a
1140 pre-parsed symbol table which lives in a mmalloc managed heap. For
1141 more details, please read mmalloc/mmalloc.texi.
1145 The 'info proc' command (SVR4 only) has been enhanced quite a bit. See
1146 'help info proc' for details.
1148 * MIPS ecoff symbol table format
1150 The code that reads MIPS symbol table format is now supported on all hosts.
1151 Thanks to MIPS for releasing the sym.h and symconst.h files to make this
1154 * File name changes for MS-DOS
1156 Many files in the config directories have been renamed to make it easier to
1157 support GDB on MS-DOSe systems (which have very restrictive file name
1158 conventions :-( ). MS-DOSe host support (under DJ Delorie's GO32
1159 environment) is close to working but has some remaining problems. Note
1160 that debugging of DOS programs is not supported, due to limitations
1161 in the ``operating system'', but it can be used to host cross-debugging.
1163 * Cross byte order fixes
1165 Many fixes have been made to support cross debugging of Sparc and MIPS
1166 targets from hosts whose byte order differs.
1168 * New -mapped and -readnow options
1170 If memory-mapped files are available on your system through the 'mmap'
1171 system call, you can use the -mapped option on the `file' or
1172 `symbol-file' commands to cause GDB to write the symbols from your
1173 program into a reusable file. If the program you are debugging is
1174 called `/path/fred', the mapped symbol file will be `./fred.syms'.
1175 Future GDB debugging sessions will notice the presence of this file,
1176 and will quickly map in symbol information from it, rather than reading
1177 the symbol table from the executable program. Using the '-mapped'
1178 option in a GDB `file' or `symbol-file' command has the same effect as
1179 starting GDB with the '-mapped' command-line option.
1181 You can cause GDB to read the entire symbol table immediately by using
1182 the '-readnow' option with any of the commands that load symbol table
1183 information (or on the GDB command line). This makes the command
1184 slower, but makes future operations faster.
1186 The -mapped and -readnow options are typically combined in order to
1187 build a `fred.syms' file that contains complete symbol information.
1188 A simple GDB invocation to do nothing but build a `.syms' file for future
1191 gdb -batch -nx -mapped -readnow programname
1193 The `.syms' file is specific to the host machine on which GDB is run.
1194 It holds an exact image of GDB's internal symbol table. It cannot be
1195 shared across multiple host platforms.
1197 * longjmp() handling
1199 GDB is now capable of stepping and nexting over longjmp(), _longjmp(), and
1200 siglongjmp() without losing control. This feature has not yet been ported to
1201 all systems. It currently works on many 386 platforms, all MIPS-based
1202 platforms (SGI, DECstation, etc), and Sun3/4.
1206 Preliminary work has been put in to support the new Solaris OS from Sun. At
1207 this time, it can control and debug processes, but it is not capable of
1212 As always, many many bug fixes. The major areas were with g++, and mipsread.
1213 People using the MIPS-based platforms should experience fewer mysterious
1214 crashes and trashed symbol tables.
1216 *** Changes in GDB-4.4:
1218 * New machines supported (host and target)
1220 SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
1222 BSD Reno on Vax vax-dec-bsd
1223 Ultrix on Vax vax-dec-ultrix
1225 * New machines supported (target)
1227 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
1231 GDB continues to improve its handling of C++. `References' work better.
1232 The demangler has also been improved, and now deals with symbols mangled as
1233 per the Annotated C++ Reference Guide.
1235 GDB also now handles `stabs' symbol information embedded in MIPS
1236 `ecoff' symbol tables. Since the ecoff format was not easily
1237 extensible to handle new languages such as C++, this appeared to be a
1238 good way to put C++ debugging info into MIPS binaries. This option
1239 will be supported in the GNU C compiler, version 2, when it is
1242 * New features for SVR4
1244 GDB now handles SVR4 shared libraries, in the same fashion as SunOS
1245 shared libraries. Debugging dynamically linked programs should present
1246 only minor differences from debugging statically linked programs.
1248 The `info proc' command will print out information about any process
1249 on an SVR4 system (including the one you are debugging). At the moment,
1250 it prints the address mappings of the process.
1252 If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please send mail to
1253 bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were reqired (if any).
1255 * Better dynamic linking support in SunOS
1257 Reading symbols from shared libraries which contain debugging symbols
1258 now works properly. However, there remain issues such as automatic
1259 skipping of `transfer vector' code during function calls, which
1260 make it harder to debug code in a shared library, than to debug the
1261 same code linked statically.
1265 GDB is now using the latest `getopt' routines from the FSF. This
1266 version accepts the -- prefix for options with long names. GDB will
1267 continue to accept the old forms (-option and +option) as well.
1268 Various single letter abbreviations for options have been explicity
1269 added to the option table so that they won't get overshadowed in the
1270 future by other options that begin with the same letter.
1274 The `cleanup_undefined_types' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
1275 Many assorted bugs have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
1276 See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
1279 *** Changes in GDB-4.3:
1281 * New machines supported (host and target)
1283 Amiga 3000 running Amix m68k-cbm-svr4 or amix
1284 NCR 3000 386 running SVR4 i386-ncr-svr4 or ncr3000
1285 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
1287 * Almost SCO Unix support
1289 We had hoped to support:
1290 SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
1291 (except for core file support), but we discovered very late in the release
1292 that it has problems with process groups that render gdb unusable. Sorry
1293 about that. I encourage people to fix it and post the fixes.
1295 * Preliminary ELF and DWARF support
1297 GDB can read ELF object files on System V Release 4, and can handle
1298 debugging records for C, in DWARF format, in ELF files. This support
1299 is preliminary. If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please
1300 send mail to bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were
1305 GDB now uses the latest `readline' library. One user-visible change
1306 is that two tabs will list possible command completions, which previously
1307 required typing M-? (meta-question mark, or ESC ?).
1311 The `stepi' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
1312 Many bugs in C++ have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
1313 See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
1315 * State of the MIPS world (in case you wondered):
1317 GDB can understand the symbol tables emitted by the compilers
1318 supplied by most vendors of MIPS-based machines, including DEC. These
1319 symbol tables are in a format that essentially nobody else uses.
1321 Some versions of gcc come with an assembler post-processor called
1322 mips-tfile. This program is required if you want to do source-level
1323 debugging of gcc-compiled programs. I believe FSF does not ship
1324 mips-tfile with gcc version 1, but it will eventually come with gcc
1327 Debugging of g++ output remains a problem. g++ version 1.xx does not
1328 really support it at all. (If you're lucky, you should be able to get
1329 line numbers and stack traces to work, but no parameters or local
1330 variables.) With some work it should be possible to improve the
1333 When gcc version 2 is released, you will have somewhat better luck.
1334 However, even then you will get confusing results for inheritance and
1337 We will eventually provide full debugging of g++ output on
1338 DECstations. This will probably involve some kind of stabs-in-ecoff
1339 encapulation, but the details have not been worked out yet.
1342 *** Changes in GDB-4.2:
1344 * Improved configuration
1346 Only one copy of `configure' exists now, and it is not self-modifying.
1347 Porting BFD is simpler.
1351 The `step' and `next' commands now only stop at the first instruction
1352 of a source line. This prevents the multiple stops that used to occur
1353 in switch statements, for-loops, etc. `Step' continues to stop if a
1354 function that has debugging information is called within the line.
1358 Lots of small bugs fixed. More remain.
1360 * New host supported (not target)
1362 Intel 386 PC clone running Mach i386-none-mach
1365 *** Changes in GDB-4.1:
1367 * Multiple source language support
1369 GDB now has internal scaffolding to handle several source languages.
1370 It determines the type of each source file from its filename extension,
1371 and will switch expression parsing and number formatting to match the
1372 language of the function in the currently selected stack frame.
1373 You can also specifically set the language to be used, with
1374 `set language c' or `set language modula-2'.
1378 GDB now has preliminary support for the GNU Modula-2 compiler,
1379 currently under development at the State University of New York at
1380 Buffalo. Development of both GDB and the GNU Modula-2 compiler will
1381 continue through the fall of 1991 and into 1992.
1383 Other Modula-2 compilers are currently not supported, and attempting to
1384 debug programs compiled with them will likely result in an error as the
1385 symbol table is read. Feel free to work on it, though!
1387 There are hooks in GDB for strict type checking and range checking,
1388 in the `Modula-2 philosophy', but they do not currently work.
1392 GDB can now write to executable and core files (e.g. patch
1393 a variable's value). You must turn this switch on, specify
1394 the file ("exec foo" or "core foo"), *then* modify it, e.g.
1395 by assigning a new value to a variable. Modifications take
1398 * Automatic SunOS shared library reading
1400 When you run your program, GDB automatically determines where its
1401 shared libraries (if any) have been loaded, and reads their symbols.
1402 The `share' command is no longer needed. This also works when
1403 examining core files.
1407 You can specify the number of lines that the `list' command shows.
1410 * New machines supported (host and target)
1412 SGI Iris (MIPS) running Irix V3: mips-sgi-irix or iris
1413 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x: m68k-sony-sysv or news
1414 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1: a29k-nyu-sym1 or ultra3
1416 * New hosts supported (not targets)
1418 IBM RT/PC: romp-ibm-aix or rtpc
1420 * New targets supported (not hosts)
1422 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
1423 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
1424 Ultracomputer remote kernel debug a29k-nyu-kern
1426 * New remote interfaces
1432 *** Changes in GDB-4.0:
1436 Wide output is wrapped at good places to make the output more readable.
1438 Gdb now supports cross-debugging from a host machine of one type to a
1439 target machine of another type. Communication with the target system
1440 is over serial lines. The ``target'' command handles connecting to the
1441 remote system; the ``load'' command will download a program into the
1442 remote system. Serial stubs for the m68k and i386 are provided. Gdb
1443 also supports debugging of realtime processes running under VxWorks,
1444 using SunRPC Remote Procedure Calls over TCP/IP to talk to a debugger
1445 stub on the target system.
1447 New CPUs supported include the AMD 29000 and Intel 960.
1449 GDB now reads object files and symbol tables via a ``binary file''
1450 library, which allows a single copy of GDB to debug programs of multiple
1451 object file types such as a.out and coff.
1453 There is now a GDB reference card in "doc/refcard.tex". (Make targets
1454 refcard.dvi and refcard.ps are available to format it).
1457 * Control-Variable user interface simplified
1459 All variables that control the operation of the debugger can be set
1460 by the ``set'' command, and displayed by the ``show'' command.
1462 For example, ``set prompt new-gdb=>'' will change your prompt to new-gdb=>.
1463 ``Show prompt'' produces the response:
1464 Gdb's prompt is new-gdb=>.
1466 What follows are the NEW set commands. The command ``help set'' will
1467 print a complete list of old and new set commands. ``help set FOO''
1468 will give a longer description of the variable FOO. ``show'' will show
1469 all of the variable descriptions and their current settings.
1471 confirm on/off: Enables warning questions for operations that are
1472 hard to recover from, e.g. rerunning the program while
1473 it is already running. Default is ON.
1475 editing on/off: Enables EMACS style command line editing
1476 of input. Previous lines can be recalled with
1477 control-P, the current line can be edited with control-B,
1478 you can search for commands with control-R, etc.
1481 history filename NAME: NAME is where the gdb command history
1482 will be stored. The default is .gdb_history,
1483 or the value of the environment variable
1486 history size N: The size, in commands, of the command history. The
1487 default is 256, or the value of the environment variable
1490 history save on/off: If this value is set to ON, the history file will
1491 be saved after exiting gdb. If set to OFF, the
1492 file will not be saved. The default is OFF.
1494 history expansion on/off: If this value is set to ON, then csh-like
1495 history expansion will be performed on
1496 command line input. The default is OFF.
1498 radix N: Sets the default radix for input and output. It can be set
1499 to 8, 10, or 16. Note that the argument to "radix" is interpreted
1500 in the current radix, so "set radix 10" is always a no-op.
1502 height N: This integer value is the number of lines on a page. Default
1503 is 24, the current `stty rows'' setting, or the ``li#''
1504 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
1507 width N: This integer value is the number of characters on a line.
1508 Default is 80, the current `stty cols'' setting, or the ``co#''
1509 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
1512 Note: ``set screensize'' is obsolete. Use ``set height'' and
1513 ``set width'' instead.
1515 print address on/off: Print memory addresses in various command displays,
1516 such as stack traces and structure values. Gdb looks
1517 more ``symbolic'' if you turn this off; it looks more
1518 ``machine level'' with it on. Default is ON.
1520 print array on/off: Prettyprint arrays. New convenient format! Default
1523 print demangle on/off: Print C++ symbols in "source" form if on,
1526 print asm-demangle on/off: Same, for assembler level printouts
1529 print vtbl on/off: Prettyprint C++ virtual function tables. Default is OFF.
1532 * Support for Epoch Environment.
1534 The epoch environment is a version of Emacs v18 with windowing. One
1535 new command, ``inspect'', is identical to ``print'', except that if you
1536 are running in the epoch environment, the value is printed in its own
1540 * Support for Shared Libraries
1542 GDB can now debug programs and core files that use SunOS shared libraries.
1543 Symbols from a shared library cannot be referenced
1544 before the shared library has been linked with the program (this
1545 happens after you type ``run'' and before the function main() is entered).
1546 At any time after this linking (including when examining core files
1547 from dynamically linked programs), gdb reads the symbols from each
1548 shared library when you type the ``sharedlibrary'' command.
1549 It can be abbreviated ``share''.
1551 sharedlibrary REGEXP: Load shared object library symbols for files
1552 matching a unix regular expression. No argument
1553 indicates to load symbols for all shared libraries.
1555 info sharedlibrary: Status of loaded shared libraries.
1560 A watchpoint stops execution of a program whenever the value of an
1561 expression changes. Checking for this slows down execution
1562 tremendously whenever you are in the scope of the expression, but is
1563 quite useful for catching tough ``bit-spreader'' or pointer misuse
1564 problems. Some machines such as the 386 have hardware for doing this
1565 more quickly, and future versions of gdb will use this hardware.
1567 watch EXP: Set a watchpoint (breakpoint) for an expression.
1569 info watchpoints: Information about your watchpoints.
1571 delete N: Deletes watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
1572 disable N: Temporarily turns off watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
1573 enable N: Re-enables watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
1576 * C++ multiple inheritance
1578 When used with a GCC version 2 compiler, GDB supports multiple inheritance
1581 * C++ exception handling
1583 Gdb now supports limited C++ exception handling. Besides the existing
1584 ability to breakpoint on an exception handler, gdb can breakpoint on
1585 the raising of an exception (before the stack is peeled back to the
1588 catch FOO: If there is a FOO exception handler in the dynamic scope,
1589 set a breakpoint to catch exceptions which may be raised there.
1590 Multiple exceptions (``catch foo bar baz'') may be caught.
1592 info catch: Lists all exceptions which may be caught in the
1593 current stack frame.
1596 * Minor command changes
1598 The command ``call func (arg, arg, ...)'' now acts like the print
1599 command, except it does not print or save a value if the function's result
1600 is void. This is similar to dbx usage.
1602 The ``up'' and ``down'' commands now always print the frame they end up
1603 at; ``up-silently'' and `down-silently'' can be used in scripts to change
1604 frames without printing.
1606 * New directory command
1608 'dir' now adds directories to the FRONT of the source search path.
1609 The path starts off empty. Source files that contain debug information
1610 about the directory in which they were compiled can be found even
1611 with an empty path; Sun CC and GCC include this information. If GDB can't
1612 find your source file in the current directory, type "dir .".
1614 * Configuring GDB for compilation
1616 For normal use, type ``./configure host''. See README or gdb.texinfo
1619 GDB now handles cross debugging. If you are remotely debugging between
1620 two different machines, type ``./configure host -target=targ''.
1621 Host is the machine where GDB will run; targ is the machine
1622 where the program that you are debugging will run.
projects / deliverable / binutils-gdb.git / blob