GDBSERVER: Listen on a unix domain (instead of TCP) socket if requested.
[deliverable/binutils-gdb.git] / gdb / NEWS
1 What has changed in GDB?
2 (Organized release by release)
3
4 *** Changes since GDB 8.2
5
6 * GDB now has experimental support for the compilation and injection of
7 C++ source code into the inferior. This beta release does not include
8 support for several language features, such as templates, constructors,
9 and operators.
10
11 This feature requires GCC 7.1 or higher built with libcp1.so
12 (the C++ plug-in).
13
14 * GDB and GDBserver now support IPv6 connections. IPv6 addresses
15 can be passed using the '[ADDRESS]:PORT' notation, or the regular
16 'ADDRESS:PORT' method.
17
18 * GDB and GDBserver now support local domain socket connections. The
19 name of a local domain socket may be provided instead of the
20 [ADDRESS]:PORT notation.
21
22 * DWARF index cache: GDB can now automatically save indices of DWARF
23 symbols on disk to speed up further loading of the same binaries.
24
25 * GDB in batch mode now exits with status 1 if the last command to be
26 executed failed.
27
28 * Changes to the "frame", "select-frame", and "info frame" CLI
29 commands. These commands all now take a frame specification which
30 is either a frame level, or one of the keywords 'level', 'address',
31 'function', or 'view' followed by a parameter. Selecting a frame by
32 address, or viewing a frame outside the current backtrace now
33 requires the use of a keyword. Selecting a frame by level is
34 unchanged. The MI comment "-stack-select-frame" is unchanged.
35
36 * New commands
37
38 set debug compile-cplus-types
39 show debug compile-cplus-types
40 Control the display of debug output about type conversion in the
41 C++ compile feature. Commands have no effect while compiliong
42 for other languages.
43
44 set debug skip
45 show debug skip
46 Control whether debug output about files/functions skipping is
47 displayed.
48
49 frame apply [all | COUNT | -COUNT | level LEVEL...] [FLAG]... COMMAND
50 Apply a command to some frames.
51 FLAG arguments allow to control what output to produce and how to handle
52 errors raised when applying COMMAND to a frame.
53
54 taas COMMAND
55 Apply a command to all threads (ignoring errors and empty output).
56 Shortcut for 'thread apply all -s COMMAND'.
57
58 faas COMMAND
59 Apply a command to all frames (ignoring errors and empty output).
60 Shortcut for 'frame apply all -s COMMAND'.
61
62 tfaas COMMAND
63 Apply a command to all frames of all threads (ignoring errors and empty
64 output).
65 Shortcut for 'thread apply all -s frame apply all -s COMMAND'.
66
67 maint set dwarf unwinders (on|off)
68 maint show dwarf unwinders
69 Control whether DWARF unwinders can be used.
70
71 info proc files
72 Display a list of open files for a process.
73
74 * Changed commands
75
76 target remote FILENAME
77 target extended-remote FILENAME
78 If FILENAME is a Unix domain socket, GDB will attempt to connect
79 to this socket instead of opening FILENAME as a character device.
80
81 thread apply [all | COUNT | -COUNT] [FLAG]... COMMAND
82 The 'thread apply' command accepts new FLAG arguments.
83 FLAG arguments allow to control what output to produce and how to handle
84 errors raised when applying COMMAND to a thread.
85
86 set tui tab-width NCHARS
87 show tui tab-width NCHARS
88 "set tui tab-width" replaces the "tabset" command, which has been deprecated.
89
90 * MI changes
91
92 ** The '-data-disassemble' MI command now accepts an '-a' option to
93 disassemble the whole function surrounding the given program
94 counter value or function name. Support for this feature can be
95 verified by using the "-list-features" command, which should
96 contain "data-disassemble-a-option".
97
98 ** Command responses and notifications that include a frame now include
99 the frame's architecture in a new "arch" attribute.
100
101 * New native configurations
102
103 GNU/Linux/RISC-V riscv*-*-linux*
104 FreeBSD/riscv riscv*-*-freebsd*
105
106 * New targets
107
108 GNU/Linux/RISC-V riscv*-*-linux*
109 CSKY ELF csky*-*-elf
110 CSKY GNU/LINUX csky*-*-linux
111 FreeBSD/riscv riscv*-*-freebsd*
112
113 * Python API
114
115 ** The gdb.Inferior type has a new 'progspace' property, which is the program
116 space associated to that inferior.
117
118 ** The gdb.Progspace type has a new 'objfiles' method, which returns the list
119 of objfiles associated to that program space.
120
121 ** gdb.SYMBOL_LOC_COMMON_BLOCK, gdb.SYMBOL_MODULE_DOMAIN, and
122 gdb.SYMBOL_COMMON_BLOCK_DOMAIN were added to reflect changes to
123 the gdb core.
124
125 ** gdb.SYMBOL_VARIABLES_DOMAIN, gdb.SYMBOL_FUNCTIONS_DOMAIN, and
126 gdb.SYMBOL_TYPES_DOMAIN are now deprecated. These were never
127 correct and did not work properly.
128
129 * Configure changes
130
131 --enable-ubsan
132
133 Enable or disable the undefined behavior sanitizer. This is
134 disabled by default, but passing --enable-ubsan=yes or
135 --enable-ubsan=auto to configure will enable it. Enabling this can
136 cause a performance penalty. The undefined behavior sanitizer was
137 first introduced in GCC 4.9.
138
139 *** Changes in GDB 8.2
140
141 * The 'set disassembler-options' command now supports specifying options
142 for the MIPS target.
143
144 * The 'symbol-file' command now accepts an '-o' option to add a relative
145 offset to all sections.
146
147 * Similarly, the 'add-symbol-file' command also accepts an '-o' option to add
148 a relative offset to all sections, but it allows to override the load
149 address of individual sections using '-s'.
150
151 * The 'add-symbol-file' command no longer requires the second argument
152 (address of the text section).
153
154 * The endianness used with the 'set endian auto' mode in the absence of
155 an executable selected for debugging is now the last endianness chosen
156 either by one of the 'set endian big' and 'set endian little' commands
157 or by inferring from the last executable used, rather than the startup
158 default.
159
160 * The pager now allows a "c" response, meaning to disable the pager
161 for the rest of the current command.
162
163 * The commands 'info variables/functions/types' now show the source line
164 numbers of symbol definitions when available.
165
166 * 'info proc' now works on running processes on FreeBSD systems and core
167 files created on FreeBSD systems.
168
169 * C expressions can now use _Alignof, and C++ expressions can now use
170 alignof.
171
172 * Support for SVE on AArch64 Linux. Note that GDB does not detect changes to
173 the vector length while the process is running.
174
175 * New commands
176
177 set debug fbsd-nat
178 show debug fbsd-nat
179 Control display of debugging info regarding the FreeBSD native target.
180
181 set|show varsize-limit
182 This new setting allows the user to control the maximum size of Ada
183 objects being printed when those objects have a variable type,
184 instead of that maximum size being hardcoded to 65536 bytes.
185
186 set|show record btrace cpu
187 Controls the processor to be used for enabling errata workarounds for
188 branch trace decode.
189
190 maint check libthread-db
191 Run integrity checks on the current inferior's thread debugging
192 library
193
194 maint set check-libthread-db (on|off)
195 maint show check-libthread-db
196 Control whether to run integrity checks on inferior specific thread
197 debugging libraries as they are loaded. The default is not to
198 perform such checks.
199
200 * Python API
201
202 ** Type alignment is now exposed via the "align" attribute of a gdb.Type.
203
204 ** The commands attached to a breakpoint can be set by assigning to
205 the breakpoint's "commands" field.
206
207 ** gdb.execute can now execute multi-line gdb commands.
208
209 ** The new functions gdb.convenience_variable and
210 gdb.set_convenience_variable can be used to get and set the value
211 of convenience variables.
212
213 ** A gdb.Parameter will no longer print the "set" help text on an
214 ordinary "set"; instead by default a "set" will be silent unless
215 the get_set_string method returns a non-empty string.
216
217 * New targets
218
219 RiscV ELF riscv*-*-elf
220
221 * Removed targets and native configurations
222
223 m88k running OpenBSD m88*-*-openbsd*
224 SH-5/SH64 ELF sh64-*-elf*, SH-5/SH64 support in sh*
225 SH-5/SH64 running GNU/Linux SH-5/SH64 support in sh*-*-linux*
226 SH-5/SH64 running OpenBSD SH-5/SH64 support in sh*-*-openbsd*
227
228 * Aarch64/Linux hardware watchpoints improvements
229
230 Hardware watchpoints on unaligned addresses are now properly
231 supported when running Linux kernel 4.10 or higher: read and access
232 watchpoints are no longer spuriously missed, and all watchpoints
233 lengths between 1 and 8 bytes are supported. On older kernels,
234 watchpoints set on unaligned addresses are no longer missed, with
235 the tradeoff that there is a possibility of false hits being
236 reported.
237
238 * Configure changes
239
240 --enable-codesign=CERT
241 This can be used to invoke "codesign -s CERT" after building gdb.
242 This option is useful on macOS, where code signing is required for
243 gdb to work properly.
244
245 --disable-gdbcli has been removed
246 This is now silently accepted, but does nothing.
247
248 *** Changes in GDB 8.1
249
250 * GDB now supports dynamically creating arbitrary register groups specified
251 in XML target descriptions. This allows for finer grain grouping of
252 registers on systems with a large amount of registers.
253
254 * The 'ptype' command now accepts a '/o' flag, which prints the
255 offsets and sizes of fields in a struct, like the pahole(1) tool.
256
257 * New "--readnever" command line option instructs GDB to not read each
258 symbol file's symbolic debug information. This makes startup faster
259 but at the expense of not being able to perform symbolic debugging.
260 This option is intended for use cases where symbolic debugging will
261 not be used, e.g., when you only need to dump the debuggee's core.
262
263 * GDB now uses the GNU MPFR library, if available, to emulate target
264 floating-point arithmetic during expression evaluation when the target
265 uses different floating-point formats than the host. At least version
266 3.1 of GNU MPFR is required.
267
268 * GDB now supports access to the guarded-storage-control registers and the
269 software-based guarded-storage broadcast control registers on IBM z14.
270
271 * On Unix systems, GDB now supports transmitting environment variables
272 that are to be set or unset to GDBserver. These variables will
273 affect the environment to be passed to the remote inferior.
274
275 To inform GDB of environment variables that are to be transmitted to
276 GDBserver, use the "set environment" command. Only user set
277 environment variables are sent to GDBserver.
278
279 To inform GDB of environment variables that are to be unset before
280 the remote inferior is started by the GDBserver, use the "unset
281 environment" command.
282
283 * Completion improvements
284
285 ** GDB can now complete function parameters in linespecs and
286 explicit locations without quoting. When setting breakpoints,
287 quoting around functions names to help with TAB-completion is
288 generally no longer necessary. For example, this now completes
289 correctly:
290
291 (gdb) b function(in[TAB]
292 (gdb) b function(int)
293
294 Related, GDB is no longer confused with completing functions in
295 C++ anonymous namespaces:
296
297 (gdb) b (anon[TAB]
298 (gdb) b (anonymous namespace)::[TAB][TAB]
299 (anonymous namespace)::a_function()
300 (anonymous namespace)::b_function()
301
302 ** GDB now has much improved linespec and explicit locations TAB
303 completion support, that better understands what you're
304 completing and offers better suggestions. For example, GDB no
305 longer offers data symbols as possible completions when you're
306 setting a breakpoint.
307
308 ** GDB now TAB-completes label symbol names.
309
310 ** The "complete" command now mimics TAB completion accurately.
311
312 * New command line options (gcore)
313
314 -a
315 Dump all memory mappings.
316
317 * Breakpoints on C++ functions are now set on all scopes by default
318
319 By default, breakpoints on functions/methods are now interpreted as
320 specifying all functions with the given name ignoring missing
321 leading scopes (namespaces and classes).
322
323 For example, assuming a C++ program with symbols named:
324
325 A::B::func()
326 B::func()
327
328 both commands "break func()" and "break B::func()" set a breakpoint
329 on both symbols.
330
331 You can use the new flag "-qualified" to override this. This makes
332 GDB interpret the specified function name as a complete
333 fully-qualified name instead. For example, using the same C++
334 program, the "break -q B::func" command sets a breakpoint on
335 "B::func", only. A parameter has been added to the Python
336 gdb.Breakpoint constructor to achieve the same result when creating
337 a breakpoint from Python.
338
339 * Breakpoints on functions marked with C++ ABI tags
340
341 GDB can now set breakpoints on functions marked with C++ ABI tags
342 (e.g., [abi:cxx11]). See here for a description of ABI tags:
343 https://developers.redhat.com/blog/2015/02/05/gcc5-and-the-c11-abi/
344
345 Functions with a C++11 abi tag are demangled/displayed like this:
346
347 function[abi:cxx11](int)
348 ^^^^^^^^^^^
349
350 You can now set a breakpoint on such functions simply as if they had
351 no tag, like:
352
353 (gdb) b function(int)
354
355 Or if you need to disambiguate between tags, like:
356
357 (gdb) b function[abi:other_tag](int)
358
359 Tab completion was adjusted accordingly as well.
360
361 * Python Scripting
362
363 ** New events gdb.new_inferior, gdb.inferior_deleted, and
364 gdb.new_thread are emitted. See the manual for further
365 description of these.
366
367 ** A new function, "gdb.rbreak" has been added to the Python API.
368 This function allows the setting of a large number of breakpoints
369 via a regex pattern in Python. See the manual for further details.
370
371 ** Python breakpoints can now accept explicit locations. See the
372 manual for a further description of this feature.
373
374
375 * New features in the GDB remote stub, GDBserver
376
377 ** GDBserver is now able to start inferior processes with a
378 specified initial working directory.
379
380 The user can set the desired working directory to be used from
381 GDB using the new "set cwd" command.
382
383 ** New "--selftest" command line option runs some GDBserver self
384 tests. These self tests are disabled in releases.
385
386 ** On Unix systems, GDBserver now does globbing expansion and variable
387 substitution in inferior command line arguments.
388
389 This is done by starting inferiors using a shell, like GDB does.
390 See "set startup-with-shell" in the user manual for how to disable
391 this from GDB when using "target extended-remote". When using
392 "target remote", you can disable the startup with shell by using the
393 new "--no-startup-with-shell" GDBserver command line option.
394
395 ** On Unix systems, GDBserver now supports receiving environment
396 variables that are to be set or unset from GDB. These variables
397 will affect the environment to be passed to the inferior.
398
399 * When catching an Ada exception raised with a message, GDB now prints
400 the message in the catchpoint hit notification. In GDB/MI mode, that
401 information is provided as an extra field named "exception-message"
402 in the *stopped notification.
403
404 * Trait objects can now be inspected When debugging Rust code. This
405 requires compiler support which will appear in Rust 1.24.
406
407 * New remote packets
408
409 QEnvironmentHexEncoded
410 Inform GDBserver of an environment variable that is to be passed to
411 the inferior when starting it.
412
413 QEnvironmentUnset
414 Inform GDBserver of an environment variable that is to be unset
415 before starting the remote inferior.
416
417 QEnvironmentReset
418 Inform GDBserver that the environment should be reset (i.e.,
419 user-set environment variables should be unset).
420
421 QStartupWithShell
422 Indicates whether the inferior must be started with a shell or not.
423
424 QSetWorkingDir
425 Tell GDBserver that the inferior to be started should use a specific
426 working directory.
427
428 * The "maintenance print c-tdesc" command now takes an optional
429 argument which is the file name of XML target description.
430
431 * The "maintenance selftest" command now takes an optional argument to
432 filter the tests to be run.
433
434 * The "enable", and "disable" commands now accept a range of
435 breakpoint locations, e.g. "enable 1.3-5".
436
437 * New commands
438
439 set|show cwd
440 Set and show the current working directory for the inferior.
441
442 set|show compile-gcc
443 Set and show compilation command used for compiling and injecting code
444 with the 'compile' commands.
445
446 set debug separate-debug-file
447 show debug separate-debug-file
448 Control the display of debug output about separate debug file search.
449
450 set dump-excluded-mappings
451 show dump-excluded-mappings
452 Control whether mappings marked with the VM_DONTDUMP flag should be
453 dumped when generating a core file.
454
455 maint info selftests
456 List the registered selftests.
457
458 starti
459 Start the debugged program stopping at the first instruction.
460
461 set|show debug or1k
462 Control display of debugging messages related to OpenRISC targets.
463
464 set|show print type nested-type-limit
465 Set and show the limit of nesting level for nested types that the
466 type printer will show.
467
468 * TUI Single-Key mode now supports two new shortcut keys: `i' for stepi and
469 `o' for nexti.
470
471 * Safer/improved support for debugging with no debug info
472
473 GDB no longer assumes functions with no debug information return
474 'int'.
475
476 This means that GDB now refuses to call such functions unless you
477 tell it the function's type, by either casting the call to the
478 declared return type, or by casting the function to a function
479 pointer of the right type, and calling that:
480
481 (gdb) p getenv ("PATH")
482 'getenv' has unknown return type; cast the call to its declared return type
483 (gdb) p (char *) getenv ("PATH")
484 $1 = 0x7fffffffe "/usr/local/bin:/"...
485 (gdb) p ((char * (*) (const char *)) getenv) ("PATH")
486 $2 = 0x7fffffffe "/usr/local/bin:/"...
487
488 Similarly, GDB no longer assumes that global variables with no debug
489 info have type 'int', and refuses to print the variable's value
490 unless you tell it the variable's type:
491
492 (gdb) p var
493 'var' has unknown type; cast it to its declared type
494 (gdb) p (float) var
495 $3 = 3.14
496
497 * New native configurations
498
499 FreeBSD/aarch64 aarch64*-*-freebsd*
500 FreeBSD/arm arm*-*-freebsd*
501
502 * New targets
503
504 FreeBSD/aarch64 aarch64*-*-freebsd*
505 FreeBSD/arm arm*-*-freebsd*
506 OpenRISC ELF or1k*-*-elf
507
508 * Removed targets and native configurations
509
510 Solaris 2.0-9 i?86-*-solaris2.[0-9], sparc*-*-solaris2.[0-9]
511
512 *** Changes in GDB 8.0
513
514 * GDB now supports access to the PKU register on GNU/Linux. The register is
515 added by the Memory Protection Keys for Userspace feature which will be
516 available in future Intel CPUs.
517
518 * GDB now supports C++11 rvalue references.
519
520 * Python Scripting
521
522 ** New functions to start, stop and access a running btrace recording.
523 ** Rvalue references are now supported in gdb.Type.
524
525 * GDB now supports recording and replaying rdrand and rdseed Intel 64
526 instructions.
527
528 * Building GDB and GDBserver now requires a C++11 compiler.
529
530 For example, GCC 4.8 or later.
531
532 It is no longer possible to build GDB or GDBserver with a C
533 compiler. The --disable-build-with-cxx configure option has been
534 removed.
535
536 * Building GDB and GDBserver now requires GNU make >= 3.81.
537
538 It is no longer supported to build GDB or GDBserver with another
539 implementation of the make program or an earlier version of GNU make.
540
541 * Native debugging on MS-Windows supports command-line redirection
542
543 Command-line arguments used for starting programs on MS-Windows can
544 now include redirection symbols supported by native Windows shells,
545 such as '<', '>', '>>', '2>&1', etc. This affects GDB commands such
546 as "run", "start", and "set args", as well as the corresponding MI
547 features.
548
549 * Support for thread names on MS-Windows.
550
551 GDB now catches and handles the special exception that programs
552 running on MS-Windows use to assign names to threads in the
553 debugger.
554
555 * Support for Java programs compiled with gcj has been removed.
556
557 * User commands now accept an unlimited number of arguments.
558 Previously, only up to 10 was accepted.
559
560 * The "eval" command now expands user-defined command arguments.
561
562 This makes it easier to process a variable number of arguments:
563
564 define mycommand
565 set $i = 0
566 while $i < $argc
567 eval "print $arg%d", $i
568 set $i = $i + 1
569 end
570 end
571
572 * Target descriptions can now describe registers for sparc32 and sparc64.
573
574 * GDB now supports DWARF version 5 (debug information format).
575 Its .debug_names index is not yet supported.
576
577 * New native configurations
578
579 FreeBSD/mips mips*-*-freebsd
580
581 * New targets
582
583 Synopsys ARC arc*-*-elf32
584 FreeBSD/mips mips*-*-freebsd
585
586 * Removed targets and native configurations
587
588 Alpha running FreeBSD alpha*-*-freebsd*
589 Alpha running GNU/kFreeBSD alpha*-*-kfreebsd*-gnu
590
591 * New commands
592
593 flash-erase
594 Erases all the flash memory regions reported by the target.
595
596 maint print arc arc-instruction address
597 Print internal disassembler information about instruction at a given address.
598
599 * New options
600
601 set disassembler-options
602 show disassembler-options
603 Controls the passing of target specific information to the disassembler.
604 If it is necessary to specify more than one disassembler option then
605 multiple options can be placed together into a comma separated list.
606 The default value is the empty string. Currently, the only supported
607 targets are ARM, PowerPC and S/390.
608
609 * New MI commands
610
611 -target-flash-erase
612 Erases all the flash memory regions reported by the target. This is
613 equivalent to the CLI command flash-erase.
614
615 -file-list-shared-libraries
616 List the shared libraries in the program. This is
617 equivalent to the CLI command "info shared".
618
619 -catch-handlers
620 Catchpoints stopping the program when Ada exceptions are
621 handled. This is equivalent to the CLI command "catch handlers".
622
623 *** Changes in GDB 7.12
624
625 * GDB and GDBserver now build with a C++ compiler by default.
626
627 The --enable-build-with-cxx configure option is now enabled by
628 default. One must now explicitly configure with
629 --disable-build-with-cxx in order to build with a C compiler. This
630 option will be removed in a future release.
631
632 * GDBserver now supports recording btrace without maintaining an active
633 GDB connection.
634
635 * GDB now supports a negative repeat count in the 'x' command to examine
636 memory backward from the given address. For example:
637
638 (gdb) bt
639 #0 Func1 (n=42, p=0x40061c "hogehoge") at main.cpp:4
640 #1 0x400580 in main (argc=1, argv=0x7fffffffe5c8) at main.cpp:8
641 (gdb) x/-5i 0x0000000000400580
642 0x40056a <main(int, char**)+8>: mov %edi,-0x4(%rbp)
643 0x40056d <main(int, char**)+11>: mov %rsi,-0x10(%rbp)
644 0x400571 <main(int, char**)+15>: mov $0x40061c,%esi
645 0x400576 <main(int, char**)+20>: mov $0x2a,%edi
646 0x40057b <main(int, char**)+25>:
647 callq 0x400536 <Func1(int, char const*)>
648
649 * Fortran: Support structures with fields of dynamic types and
650 arrays of dynamic types.
651
652 * The symbol dumping maintenance commands have new syntax.
653 maint print symbols [-pc address] [--] [filename]
654 maint print symbols [-objfile objfile] [-source source] [--] [filename]
655 maint print psymbols [-objfile objfile] [-pc address] [--] [filename]
656 maint print psymbols [-objfile objfile] [-source source] [--] [filename]
657 maint print msymbols [-objfile objfile] [--] [filename]
658
659 * GDB now supports multibit bitfields and enums in target register
660 descriptions.
661
662 * New Python-based convenience function $_as_string(val), which returns
663 the textual representation of a value. This function is especially
664 useful to obtain the text label of an enum value.
665
666 * Intel MPX bound violation handling.
667
668 Segmentation faults caused by a Intel MPX boundary violation
669 now display the kind of violation (upper or lower), the memory
670 address accessed and the memory bounds, along with the usual
671 signal received and code location.
672
673 For example:
674
675 Program received signal SIGSEGV, Segmentation fault
676 Upper bound violation while accessing address 0x7fffffffc3b3
677 Bounds: [lower = 0x7fffffffc390, upper = 0x7fffffffc3a3]
678 0x0000000000400d7c in upper () at i386-mpx-sigsegv.c:68
679
680 * Rust language support.
681 GDB now supports debugging programs written in the Rust programming
682 language. See https://www.rust-lang.org/ for more information about
683 Rust.
684
685 * Support for running interpreters on specified input/output devices
686
687 GDB now supports a new mechanism that allows frontends to provide
688 fully featured GDB console views, as a better alternative to
689 building such views on top of the "-interpreter-exec console"
690 command. See the new "new-ui" command below. With that command,
691 frontends can now start GDB in the traditional command-line mode
692 running in an embedded terminal emulator widget, and create a
693 separate MI interpreter running on a specified i/o device. In this
694 way, GDB handles line editing, history, tab completion, etc. in the
695 console all by itself, and the GUI uses the separate MI interpreter
696 for its own control and synchronization, invisible to the command
697 line.
698
699 * The "catch syscall" command catches groups of related syscalls.
700
701 The "catch syscall" command now supports catching a group of related
702 syscalls using the 'group:' or 'g:' prefix.
703
704 * New commands
705
706 skip -file file
707 skip -gfile file-glob-pattern
708 skip -function function
709 skip -rfunction regular-expression
710 A generalized form of the skip command, with new support for
711 glob-style file names and regular expressions for function names.
712 Additionally, a file spec and a function spec may now be combined.
713
714 maint info line-table REGEXP
715 Display the contents of GDB's internal line table data struture.
716
717 maint selftest
718 Run any GDB unit tests that were compiled in.
719
720 new-ui INTERP TTY
721 Start a new user interface instance running INTERP as interpreter,
722 using the TTY file for input/output.
723
724 * Python Scripting
725
726 ** gdb.Breakpoint objects have a new attribute "pending", which
727 indicates whether the breakpoint is pending.
728 ** Three new breakpoint-related events have been added:
729 gdb.breakpoint_created, gdb.breakpoint_modified, and
730 gdb.breakpoint_deleted.
731
732 signal-event EVENTID
733 Signal ("set") the given MS-Windows event object. This is used in
734 conjunction with the Windows JIT debugging (AeDebug) support, where
735 the OS suspends a crashing process until a debugger can attach to
736 it. Resuming the crashing process, in order to debug it, is done by
737 signalling an event.
738
739 * Support for tracepoints and fast tracepoints on s390-linux and s390x-linux
740 was added in GDBserver, including JIT compiling fast tracepoint's
741 conditional expression bytecode into native code.
742
743 * Support for various remote target protocols and ROM monitors has
744 been removed:
745
746 target m32rsdi Remote M32R debugging over SDI
747 target mips MIPS remote debugging protocol
748 target pmon PMON ROM monitor
749 target ddb NEC's DDB variant of PMON for Vr4300
750 target rockhopper NEC RockHopper variant of PMON
751 target lsi LSI variant of PMO
752
753 * Support for tracepoints and fast tracepoints on powerpc-linux,
754 powerpc64-linux, and powerpc64le-linux was added in GDBserver,
755 including JIT compiling fast tracepoint's conditional expression
756 bytecode into native code.
757
758 * MI async record =record-started now includes the method and format used for
759 recording. For example:
760
761 =record-started,thread-group="i1",method="btrace",format="bts"
762
763 * MI async record =thread-selected now includes the frame field. For example:
764
765 =thread-selected,id="3",frame={level="0",addr="0x00000000004007c0"}
766
767 * New targets
768
769 Andes NDS32 nds32*-*-elf
770
771 *** Changes in GDB 7.11
772
773 * GDB now supports debugging kernel-based threads on FreeBSD.
774
775 * Per-inferior thread numbers
776
777 Thread numbers are now per inferior instead of global. If you're
778 debugging multiple inferiors, GDB displays thread IDs using a
779 qualified INF_NUM.THR_NUM form. For example:
780
781 (gdb) info threads
782 Id Target Id Frame
783 1.1 Thread 0x7ffff7fc2740 (LWP 8155) (running)
784 1.2 Thread 0x7ffff7fc1700 (LWP 8168) (running)
785 * 2.1 Thread 0x7ffff7fc2740 (LWP 8157) (running)
786 2.2 Thread 0x7ffff7fc1700 (LWP 8190) (running)
787
788 As consequence, thread numbers as visible in the $_thread
789 convenience variable and in Python's InferiorThread.num attribute
790 are no longer unique between inferiors.
791
792 GDB now maintains a second thread ID per thread, referred to as the
793 global thread ID, which is the new equivalent of thread numbers in
794 previous releases. See also $_gthread below.
795
796 For backwards compatibility, MI's thread IDs always refer to global
797 IDs.
798
799 * Commands that accept thread IDs now accept the qualified
800 INF_NUM.THR_NUM form as well. For example:
801
802 (gdb) thread 2.1
803 [Switching to thread 2.1 (Thread 0x7ffff7fc2740 (LWP 8157))] (running)
804 (gdb)
805
806 * In commands that accept a list of thread IDs, you can now refer to
807 all threads of an inferior using a star wildcard. GDB accepts
808 "INF_NUM.*", to refer to all threads of inferior INF_NUM, and "*" to
809 refer to all threads of the current inferior. For example, "info
810 threads 2.*".
811
812 * You can use "info threads -gid" to display the global thread ID of
813 all threads.
814
815 * The new convenience variable $_gthread holds the global number of
816 the current thread.
817
818 * The new convenience variable $_inferior holds the number of the
819 current inferior.
820
821 * GDB now displays the ID and name of the thread that hit a breakpoint
822 or received a signal, if your program is multi-threaded. For
823 example:
824
825 Thread 3 "bar" hit Breakpoint 1 at 0x40087a: file program.c, line 20.
826 Thread 1 "main" received signal SIGINT, Interrupt.
827
828 * Record btrace now supports non-stop mode.
829
830 * Support for tracepoints on aarch64-linux was added in GDBserver.
831
832 * The 'record instruction-history' command now indicates speculative execution
833 when using the Intel Processor Trace recording format.
834
835 * GDB now allows users to specify explicit locations, bypassing
836 the linespec parser. This feature is also available to GDB/MI
837 clients.
838
839 * Multi-architecture debugging is supported on AArch64 GNU/Linux.
840 GDB now is able to debug both AArch64 applications and ARM applications
841 at the same time.
842
843 * Support for fast tracepoints on aarch64-linux was added in GDBserver,
844 including JIT compiling fast tracepoint's conditional expression bytecode
845 into native code.
846
847 * GDB now supports displaced stepping on AArch64 GNU/Linux.
848
849 * "info threads", "info inferiors", "info display", "info checkpoints"
850 and "maint info program-spaces" now list the corresponding items in
851 ascending ID order, for consistency with all other "info" commands.
852
853 * In Ada, the overloads selection menu has been enhanced to display the
854 parameter types and the return types for the matching overloaded subprograms.
855
856 * New commands
857
858 maint set target-non-stop (on|off|auto)
859 maint show target-non-stop
860 Control whether GDB targets always operate in non-stop mode even if
861 "set non-stop" is "off". The default is "auto", meaning non-stop
862 mode is enabled if supported by the target.
863
864 maint set bfd-sharing
865 maint show bfd-sharing
866 Control the reuse of bfd objects.
867
868 set debug bfd-cache
869 show debug bfd-cache
870 Control display of debugging info regarding bfd caching.
871
872 set debug fbsd-lwp
873 show debug fbsd-lwp
874 Control display of debugging info regarding FreeBSD threads.
875
876 set remote multiprocess-extensions-packet
877 show remote multiprocess-extensions-packet
878 Set/show the use of the remote protocol multiprocess extensions.
879
880 set remote thread-events
881 show remote thread-events
882 Set/show the use of thread create/exit events.
883
884 set ada print-signatures on|off
885 show ada print-signatures"
886 Control whether parameter types and return types are displayed in overloads
887 selection menus. It is activaled (@code{on}) by default.
888
889 set max-value-size
890 show max-value-size
891 Controls the maximum size of memory, in bytes, that GDB will
892 allocate for value contents. Prevents incorrect programs from
893 causing GDB to allocate overly large buffers. Default is 64k.
894
895 * The "disassemble" command accepts a new modifier: /s.
896 It prints mixed source+disassembly like /m with two differences:
897 - disassembled instructions are now printed in program order, and
898 - and source for all relevant files is now printed.
899 The "/m" option is now considered deprecated: its "source-centric"
900 output hasn't proved useful in practice.
901
902 * The "record instruction-history" command accepts a new modifier: /s.
903 It behaves exactly like /m and prints mixed source+disassembly.
904
905 * The "set scheduler-locking" command supports a new mode "replay".
906 It behaves like "off" in record mode and like "on" in replay mode.
907
908 * Support for various ROM monitors has been removed:
909
910 target dbug dBUG ROM monitor for Motorola ColdFire
911 target picobug Motorola picobug monitor
912 target dink32 DINK32 ROM monitor for PowerPC
913 target m32r Renesas M32R/D ROM monitor
914 target mon2000 mon2000 ROM monitor
915 target ppcbug PPCBUG ROM monitor for PowerPC
916
917 * Support for reading/writing memory and extracting values on architectures
918 whose memory is addressable in units of any integral multiple of 8 bits.
919
920 catch handlers
921 Allows to break when an Ada exception is handled.
922
923 * New remote packets
924
925 exec stop reason
926 Indicates that an exec system call was executed.
927
928 exec-events feature in qSupported
929 The qSupported packet allows GDB to request support for exec
930 events using the new 'gdbfeature' exec-event, and the qSupported
931 response can contain the corresponding 'stubfeature'. Set and
932 show commands can be used to display whether these features are enabled.
933
934 vCtrlC
935 Equivalent to interrupting with the ^C character, but works in
936 non-stop mode.
937
938 thread created stop reason (T05 create:...)
939 Indicates that the thread was just created and is stopped at entry.
940
941 thread exit stop reply (w exitcode;tid)
942 Indicates that the thread has terminated.
943
944 QThreadEvents
945 Enables/disables thread create and exit event reporting. For
946 example, this is used in non-stop mode when GDB stops a set of
947 threads and synchronously waits for the their corresponding stop
948 replies. Without exit events, if one of the threads exits, GDB
949 would hang forever not knowing that it should no longer expect a
950 stop for that same thread.
951
952 N stop reply
953 Indicates that there are no resumed threads left in the target (all
954 threads are stopped). The remote stub reports support for this stop
955 reply to GDB's qSupported query.
956
957 QCatchSyscalls
958 Enables/disables catching syscalls from the inferior process.
959 The remote stub reports support for this packet to GDB's qSupported query.
960
961 syscall_entry stop reason
962 Indicates that a syscall was just called.
963
964 syscall_return stop reason
965 Indicates that a syscall just returned.
966
967 * Extended-remote exec events
968
969 ** GDB now has support for exec events on extended-remote Linux targets.
970 For such targets with Linux kernels 2.5.46 and later, this enables
971 follow-exec-mode and exec catchpoints.
972
973 set remote exec-event-feature-packet
974 show remote exec-event-feature-packet
975 Set/show the use of the remote exec event feature.
976
977 * Thread names in remote protocol
978
979 The reply to qXfer:threads:read may now include a name attribute for each
980 thread.
981
982 * Target remote mode fork and exec events
983
984 ** GDB now has support for fork and exec events on target remote mode
985 Linux targets. For such targets with Linux kernels 2.5.46 and later,
986 this enables follow-fork-mode, detach-on-fork, follow-exec-mode, and
987 fork and exec catchpoints.
988
989 * Remote syscall events
990
991 ** GDB now has support for catch syscall on remote Linux targets,
992 currently enabled on x86/x86_64 architectures.
993
994 set remote catch-syscall-packet
995 show remote catch-syscall-packet
996 Set/show the use of the remote catch syscall feature.
997
998 * MI changes
999
1000 ** The -var-set-format command now accepts the zero-hexadecimal
1001 format. It outputs data in hexadecimal format with zero-padding on the
1002 left.
1003
1004 * Python Scripting
1005
1006 ** gdb.InferiorThread objects have a new attribute "global_num",
1007 which refers to the thread's global thread ID. The existing
1008 "num" attribute now refers to the thread's per-inferior number.
1009 See "Per-inferior thread numbers" above.
1010 ** gdb.InferiorThread objects have a new attribute "inferior", which
1011 is the Inferior object the thread belongs to.
1012
1013 *** Changes in GDB 7.10
1014
1015 * Support for process record-replay and reverse debugging on aarch64*-linux*
1016 targets has been added. GDB now supports recording of A64 instruction set
1017 including advance SIMD instructions.
1018
1019 * Support for Sun's version of the "stabs" debug file format has been removed.
1020
1021 * GDB now honors the content of the file /proc/PID/coredump_filter
1022 (PID is the process ID) on GNU/Linux systems. This file can be used
1023 to specify the types of memory mappings that will be included in a
1024 corefile. For more information, please refer to the manual page of
1025 "core(5)". GDB also has a new command: "set use-coredump-filter
1026 on|off". It allows to set whether GDB will read the content of the
1027 /proc/PID/coredump_filter file when generating a corefile.
1028
1029 * The "info os" command on GNU/Linux can now display information on
1030 cpu information :
1031 "info os cpus" Listing of all cpus/cores on the system
1032
1033 * GDB has two new commands: "set serial parity odd|even|none" and
1034 "show serial parity". These allows to set or show parity for the
1035 remote serial I/O.
1036
1037 * The "info source" command now displays the producer string if it was
1038 present in the debug info. This typically includes the compiler version
1039 and may include things like its command line arguments.
1040
1041 * The "info dll", an alias of the "info sharedlibrary" command,
1042 is now available on all platforms.
1043
1044 * Directory names supplied to the "set sysroot" commands may be
1045 prefixed with "target:" to tell GDB to access shared libraries from
1046 the target system, be it local or remote. This replaces the prefix
1047 "remote:". The default sysroot has been changed from "" to
1048 "target:". "remote:" is automatically converted to "target:" for
1049 backward compatibility.
1050
1051 * The system root specified by "set sysroot" will be prepended to the
1052 filename of the main executable (if reported to GDB as absolute by
1053 the operating system) when starting processes remotely, and when
1054 attaching to already-running local or remote processes.
1055
1056 * GDB now supports automatic location and retrieval of executable
1057 files from remote targets. Remote debugging can now be initiated
1058 using only a "target remote" or "target extended-remote" command
1059 (no "set sysroot" or "file" commands are required). See "New remote
1060 packets" below.
1061
1062 * The "dump" command now supports verilog hex format.
1063
1064 * GDB now supports the vector ABI on S/390 GNU/Linux targets.
1065
1066 * On GNU/Linux, GDB and gdbserver are now able to access executable
1067 and shared library files without a "set sysroot" command when
1068 attaching to processes running in different mount namespaces from
1069 the debugger. This makes it possible to attach to processes in
1070 containers as simply as "gdb -p PID" or "gdbserver --attach PID".
1071 See "New remote packets" below.
1072
1073 * The "tui reg" command now provides completion for all of the
1074 available register groups, including target specific groups.
1075
1076 * The HISTSIZE environment variable is no longer read when determining
1077 the size of GDB's command history. GDB now instead reads the dedicated
1078 GDBHISTSIZE environment variable. Setting GDBHISTSIZE to "-1" or to "" now
1079 disables truncation of command history. Non-numeric values of GDBHISTSIZE
1080 are ignored.
1081
1082 * Guile Scripting
1083
1084 ** Memory ports can now be unbuffered.
1085
1086 * Python Scripting
1087
1088 ** gdb.Objfile objects have a new attribute "username",
1089 which is the name of the objfile as specified by the user,
1090 without, for example, resolving symlinks.
1091 ** You can now write frame unwinders in Python.
1092 ** gdb.Type objects have a new method "optimized_out",
1093 returning optimized out gdb.Value instance of this type.
1094 ** gdb.Value objects have new methods "reference_value" and
1095 "const_value" which return a reference to the value and a
1096 "const" version of the value respectively.
1097
1098 * New commands
1099
1100 maint print symbol-cache
1101 Print the contents of the symbol cache.
1102
1103 maint print symbol-cache-statistics
1104 Print statistics of symbol cache usage.
1105
1106 maint flush-symbol-cache
1107 Flush the contents of the symbol cache.
1108
1109 record btrace bts
1110 record bts
1111 Start branch trace recording using Branch Trace Store (BTS) format.
1112
1113 compile print
1114 Evaluate expression by using the compiler and print result.
1115
1116 tui enable
1117 tui disable
1118 Explicit commands for enabling and disabling tui mode.
1119
1120 show mpx bound
1121 set mpx bound on i386 and amd64
1122 Support for bound table investigation on Intel MPX enabled applications.
1123
1124 record btrace pt
1125 record pt
1126 Start branch trace recording using Intel Processor Trace format.
1127
1128 maint info btrace
1129 Print information about branch tracing internals.
1130
1131 maint btrace packet-history
1132 Print the raw branch tracing data.
1133
1134 maint btrace clear-packet-history
1135 Discard the stored raw branch tracing data.
1136
1137 maint btrace clear
1138 Discard all branch tracing data. It will be fetched and processed
1139 anew by the next "record" command.
1140
1141 * New options
1142
1143 set debug dwarf-die
1144 Renamed from "set debug dwarf2-die".
1145 show debug dwarf-die
1146 Renamed from "show debug dwarf2-die".
1147
1148 set debug dwarf-read
1149 Renamed from "set debug dwarf2-read".
1150 show debug dwarf-read
1151 Renamed from "show debug dwarf2-read".
1152
1153 maint set dwarf always-disassemble
1154 Renamed from "maint set dwarf2 always-disassemble".
1155 maint show dwarf always-disassemble
1156 Renamed from "maint show dwarf2 always-disassemble".
1157
1158 maint set dwarf max-cache-age
1159 Renamed from "maint set dwarf2 max-cache-age".
1160 maint show dwarf max-cache-age
1161 Renamed from "maint show dwarf2 max-cache-age".
1162
1163 set debug dwarf-line
1164 show debug dwarf-line
1165 Control display of debugging info regarding DWARF line processing.
1166
1167 set max-completions
1168 show max-completions
1169 Set the maximum number of candidates to be considered during
1170 completion. The default value is 200. This limit allows GDB
1171 to avoid generating large completion lists, the computation of
1172 which can cause the debugger to become temporarily unresponsive.
1173
1174 set history remove-duplicates
1175 show history remove-duplicates
1176 Control the removal of duplicate history entries.
1177
1178 maint set symbol-cache-size
1179 maint show symbol-cache-size
1180 Control the size of the symbol cache.
1181
1182 set|show record btrace bts buffer-size
1183 Set and show the size of the ring buffer used for branch tracing in
1184 BTS format.
1185 The obtained size may differ from the requested size. Use "info
1186 record" to see the obtained buffer size.
1187
1188 set debug linux-namespaces
1189 show debug linux-namespaces
1190 Control display of debugging info regarding Linux namespaces.
1191
1192 set|show record btrace pt buffer-size
1193 Set and show the size of the ring buffer used for branch tracing in
1194 Intel Processor Trace format.
1195 The obtained size may differ from the requested size. Use "info
1196 record" to see the obtained buffer size.
1197
1198 maint set|show btrace pt skip-pad
1199 Set and show whether PAD packets are skipped when computing the
1200 packet history.
1201
1202 * The command 'thread apply all' can now support new option '-ascending'
1203 to call its specified command for all threads in ascending order.
1204
1205 * Python/Guile scripting
1206
1207 ** GDB now supports auto-loading of Python/Guile scripts contained in the
1208 special section named `.debug_gdb_scripts'.
1209
1210 * New remote packets
1211
1212 qXfer:btrace-conf:read
1213 Return the branch trace configuration for the current thread.
1214
1215 Qbtrace-conf:bts:size
1216 Set the requested ring buffer size for branch tracing in BTS format.
1217
1218 Qbtrace:pt
1219 Enable Intel Procesor Trace-based branch tracing for the current
1220 process. The remote stub reports support for this packet to GDB's
1221 qSupported query.
1222
1223 Qbtrace-conf:pt:size
1224 Set the requested ring buffer size for branch tracing in Intel Processor
1225 Trace format.
1226
1227 swbreak stop reason
1228 Indicates a memory breakpoint instruction was executed, irrespective
1229 of whether it was GDB that planted the breakpoint or the breakpoint
1230 is hardcoded in the program. This is required for correct non-stop
1231 mode operation.
1232
1233 hwbreak stop reason
1234 Indicates the target stopped for a hardware breakpoint. This is
1235 required for correct non-stop mode operation.
1236
1237 vFile:fstat:
1238 Return information about files on the remote system.
1239
1240 qXfer:exec-file:read
1241 Return the full absolute name of the file that was executed to
1242 create a process running on the remote system.
1243
1244 vFile:setfs:
1245 Select the filesystem on which vFile: operations with filename
1246 arguments will operate. This is required for GDB to be able to
1247 access files on remote targets where the remote stub does not
1248 share a common filesystem with the inferior(s).
1249
1250 fork stop reason
1251 Indicates that a fork system call was executed.
1252
1253 vfork stop reason
1254 Indicates that a vfork system call was executed.
1255
1256 vforkdone stop reason
1257 Indicates that a vfork child of the specified process has executed
1258 an exec or exit, allowing the vfork parent to resume execution.
1259
1260 fork-events and vfork-events features in qSupported
1261 The qSupported packet allows GDB to request support for fork and
1262 vfork events using new 'gdbfeatures' fork-events and vfork-events,
1263 and the qSupported response can contain the corresponding
1264 'stubfeatures'. Set and show commands can be used to display
1265 whether these features are enabled.
1266
1267 * Extended-remote fork events
1268
1269 ** GDB now has support for fork events on extended-remote Linux
1270 targets. For targets with Linux kernels 2.5.60 and later, this
1271 enables follow-fork-mode and detach-on-fork for both fork and
1272 vfork, as well as fork and vfork catchpoints.
1273
1274 * The info record command now shows the recording format and the
1275 branch tracing configuration for the current thread when using
1276 the btrace record target.
1277 For the BTS format, it shows the ring buffer size.
1278
1279 * GDB now has support for DTrace USDT (Userland Static Defined
1280 Tracing) probes. The supported targets are x86_64-*-linux-gnu.
1281
1282 * GDB now supports access to vector registers on S/390 GNU/Linux
1283 targets.
1284
1285 * Removed command line options
1286
1287 -xdb HP-UX XDB compatibility mode.
1288
1289 * Removed targets and native configurations
1290
1291 HP/PA running HP-UX hppa*-*-hpux*
1292 Itanium running HP-UX ia64-*-hpux*
1293
1294 * New configure options
1295
1296 --with-intel-pt
1297 This configure option allows the user to build GDB with support for
1298 Intel Processor Trace (default: auto). This requires libipt.
1299
1300 --with-libipt-prefix=PATH
1301 Specify the path to the version of libipt that GDB should use.
1302 $PATH/include should contain the intel-pt.h header and
1303 $PATH/lib should contain the libipt.so library.
1304
1305 *** Changes in GDB 7.9.1
1306
1307 * Python Scripting
1308
1309 ** Xmethods can now specify a result type.
1310
1311 *** Changes in GDB 7.9
1312
1313 * GDB now supports hardware watchpoints on x86 GNU Hurd.
1314
1315 * Python Scripting
1316
1317 ** You can now access frame registers from Python scripts.
1318 ** New attribute 'producer' for gdb.Symtab objects.
1319 ** gdb.Objfile objects have a new attribute "progspace",
1320 which is the gdb.Progspace object of the containing program space.
1321 ** gdb.Objfile objects have a new attribute "owner".
1322 ** gdb.Objfile objects have a new attribute "build_id",
1323 which is the build ID generated when the file was built.
1324 ** gdb.Objfile objects have a new method "add_separate_debug_file".
1325 ** A new event "gdb.clear_objfiles" has been added, triggered when
1326 selecting a new file to debug.
1327 ** You can now add attributes to gdb.Objfile and gdb.Progspace objects.
1328 ** New function gdb.lookup_objfile.
1329
1330 New events which are triggered when GDB modifies the state of the
1331 inferior.
1332
1333 ** gdb.events.inferior_call_pre: Function call is about to be made.
1334 ** gdb.events.inferior_call_post: Function call has just been made.
1335 ** gdb.events.memory_changed: A memory location has been altered.
1336 ** gdb.events.register_changed: A register has been altered.
1337
1338 * New Python-based convenience functions:
1339
1340 ** $_caller_is(name [, number_of_frames])
1341 ** $_caller_matches(regexp [, number_of_frames])
1342 ** $_any_caller_is(name [, number_of_frames])
1343 ** $_any_caller_matches(regexp [, number_of_frames])
1344
1345 * GDB now supports the compilation and injection of source code into
1346 the inferior. GDB will use GCC 5.0 or higher built with libcc1.so
1347 to compile the source code to object code, and if successful, inject
1348 and execute that code within the current context of the inferior.
1349 Currently the C language is supported. The commands used to
1350 interface with this new feature are:
1351
1352 compile code [-raw|-r] [--] [source code]
1353 compile file [-raw|-r] filename
1354
1355 * New commands
1356
1357 demangle [-l language] [--] name
1358 Demangle "name" in the specified language, or the current language
1359 if elided. This command is renamed from the "maint demangle" command.
1360 The latter is kept as a no-op to avoid "maint demangle" being interpreted
1361 as "maint demangler-warning".
1362
1363 queue-signal signal-name-or-number
1364 Queue a signal to be delivered to the thread when it is resumed.
1365
1366 add-auto-load-scripts-directory directory
1367 Add entries to the list of directories from which to load auto-loaded
1368 scripts.
1369
1370 maint print user-registers
1371 List all currently available "user" registers.
1372
1373 compile code [-r|-raw] [--] [source code]
1374 Compile, inject, and execute in the inferior the executable object
1375 code produced by compiling the provided source code.
1376
1377 compile file [-r|-raw] filename
1378 Compile and inject into the inferior the executable object code
1379 produced by compiling the source code stored in the filename
1380 provided.
1381
1382 * On resume, GDB now always passes the signal the program had stopped
1383 for to the thread the signal was sent to, even if the user changed
1384 threads before resuming. Previously GDB would often (but not
1385 always) deliver the signal to the thread that happens to be current
1386 at resume time.
1387
1388 * Conversely, the "signal" command now consistently delivers the
1389 requested signal to the current thread. GDB now asks for
1390 confirmation if the program had stopped for a signal and the user
1391 switched threads meanwhile.
1392
1393 * "breakpoint always-inserted" modes "off" and "auto" merged.
1394
1395 Now, when 'breakpoint always-inserted mode' is set to "off", GDB
1396 won't remove breakpoints from the target until all threads stop,
1397 even in non-stop mode. The "auto" mode has been removed, and "off"
1398 is now the default mode.
1399
1400 * New options
1401
1402 set debug symbol-lookup
1403 show debug symbol-lookup
1404 Control display of debugging info regarding symbol lookup.
1405
1406 * MI changes
1407
1408 ** The -list-thread-groups command outputs an exit-code field for
1409 inferiors that have exited.
1410
1411 * New targets
1412
1413 MIPS SDE mips*-sde*-elf*
1414
1415 * Removed targets
1416
1417 Support for these obsolete configurations has been removed.
1418
1419 Alpha running OSF/1 (or Tru64) alpha*-*-osf*
1420 SGI Irix-5.x mips-*-irix5*
1421 SGI Irix-6.x mips-*-irix6*
1422 VAX running (4.2 - 4.3 Reno) BSD vax-*-bsd*
1423 VAX running Ultrix vax-*-ultrix*
1424
1425 * The "dll-symbols" command, and its two aliases ("add-shared-symbol-files"
1426 and "assf"), have been removed. Use the "sharedlibrary" command, or
1427 its alias "share", instead.
1428
1429 *** Changes in GDB 7.8
1430
1431 * New command line options
1432
1433 -D data-directory
1434 This is an alias for the --data-directory option.
1435
1436 * GDB supports printing and modifying of variable length automatic arrays
1437 as specified in ISO C99.
1438
1439 * The ARM simulator now supports instruction level tracing
1440 with or without disassembly.
1441
1442 * Guile scripting
1443
1444 GDB now has support for scripting using Guile. Whether this is
1445 available is determined at configure time.
1446 Guile version 2.0 or greater is required.
1447 Guile version 2.0.9 is well tested, earlier 2.0 versions are not.
1448
1449 * New commands (for set/show, see "New options" below)
1450
1451 guile [code]
1452 gu [code]
1453 Invoke CODE by passing it to the Guile interpreter.
1454
1455 guile-repl
1456 gr
1457 Start a Guile interactive prompt (or "repl" for "read-eval-print loop").
1458
1459 info auto-load guile-scripts [regexp]
1460 Print the list of automatically loaded Guile scripts.
1461
1462 * The source command is now capable of sourcing Guile scripts.
1463 This feature is dependent on the debugger being built with Guile support.
1464
1465 * New options
1466
1467 set print symbol-loading (off|brief|full)
1468 show print symbol-loading
1469 Control whether to print informational messages when loading symbol
1470 information for a file. The default is "full", but when debugging
1471 programs with large numbers of shared libraries the amount of output
1472 becomes less useful.
1473
1474 set guile print-stack (none|message|full)
1475 show guile print-stack
1476 Show a stack trace when an error is encountered in a Guile script.
1477
1478 set auto-load guile-scripts (on|off)
1479 show auto-load guile-scripts
1480 Control auto-loading of Guile script files.
1481
1482 maint ada set ignore-descriptive-types (on|off)
1483 maint ada show ignore-descriptive-types
1484 Control whether the debugger should ignore descriptive types in Ada
1485 programs. The default is not to ignore the descriptive types. See
1486 the user manual for more details on descriptive types and the intended
1487 usage of this option.
1488
1489 set auto-connect-native-target
1490
1491 Control whether GDB is allowed to automatically connect to the
1492 native target for the run, attach, etc. commands when not connected
1493 to any target yet. See also "target native" below.
1494
1495 set record btrace replay-memory-access (read-only|read-write)
1496 show record btrace replay-memory-access
1497 Control what memory accesses are allowed during replay.
1498
1499 maint set target-async (on|off)
1500 maint show target-async
1501 This controls whether GDB targets operate in synchronous or
1502 asynchronous mode. Normally the default is asynchronous, if it is
1503 available; but this can be changed to more easily debug problems
1504 occurring only in synchronous mode.
1505
1506 set mi-async (on|off)
1507 show mi-async
1508 Control whether MI asynchronous mode is preferred. This supersedes
1509 "set target-async" of previous GDB versions.
1510
1511 * "set target-async" is deprecated as a CLI option and is now an alias
1512 for "set mi-async" (only puts MI into async mode).
1513
1514 * Background execution commands (e.g., "c&", "s&", etc.) are now
1515 possible ``out of the box'' if the target supports them. Previously
1516 the user would need to explicitly enable the possibility with the
1517 "set target-async on" command.
1518
1519 * New features in the GDB remote stub, GDBserver
1520
1521 ** New option --debug-format=option1[,option2,...] allows one to add
1522 additional text to each output. At present only timestamps
1523 are supported: --debug-format=timestamps.
1524 Timestamps can also be turned on with the
1525 "monitor set debug-format timestamps" command from GDB.
1526
1527 * The 'record instruction-history' command now starts counting instructions
1528 at one. This also affects the instruction ranges reported by the
1529 'record function-call-history' command when given the /i modifier.
1530
1531 * The command 'record function-call-history' supports a new modifier '/c' to
1532 indent the function names based on their call stack depth.
1533 The fields for the '/i' and '/l' modifier have been reordered.
1534 The source line range is now prefixed with 'at'.
1535 The instruction range is now prefixed with 'inst'.
1536 Both ranges are now printed as '<from>, <to>' to allow copy&paste to the
1537 "record instruction-history" and "list" commands.
1538
1539 * The ranges given as arguments to the 'record function-call-history' and
1540 'record instruction-history' commands are now inclusive.
1541
1542 * The btrace record target now supports the 'record goto' command.
1543 For locations inside the execution trace, the back trace is computed
1544 based on the information stored in the execution trace.
1545
1546 * The btrace record target supports limited reverse execution and replay.
1547 The target does not record data and therefore does not allow reading
1548 memory or registers.
1549
1550 * The "catch syscall" command now works on s390*-linux* targets.
1551
1552 * The "compare-sections" command is no longer specific to target
1553 remote. It now works with all targets.
1554
1555 * All native targets are now consistently called "native".
1556 Consequently, the "target child", "target GNU", "target djgpp",
1557 "target procfs" (Solaris/Irix/OSF/AIX) and "target darwin-child"
1558 commands have been replaced with "target native". The QNX/NTO port
1559 leaves the "procfs" target in place and adds a "native" target for
1560 consistency with other ports. The impact on users should be minimal
1561 as these commands previously either throwed an error, or were
1562 no-ops. The target's name is visible in the output of the following
1563 commands: "help target", "info target", "info files", "maint print
1564 target-stack".
1565
1566 * The "target native" command now connects to the native target. This
1567 can be used to launch native programs even when "set
1568 auto-connect-native-target" is set to off.
1569
1570 * GDB now supports access to Intel MPX registers on GNU/Linux.
1571
1572 * Support for Intel AVX-512 registers on GNU/Linux.
1573 Support displaying and modifying Intel AVX-512 registers
1574 $zmm0 - $zmm31 and $k0 - $k7 on GNU/Linux.
1575
1576 * New remote packets
1577
1578 qXfer:btrace:read's annex
1579 The qXfer:btrace:read packet supports a new annex 'delta' to read
1580 branch trace incrementally.
1581
1582 * Python Scripting
1583
1584 ** Valid Python operations on gdb.Value objects representing
1585 structs/classes invoke the corresponding overloaded operators if
1586 available.
1587 ** New `Xmethods' feature in the Python API. Xmethods are
1588 additional methods or replacements for existing methods of a C++
1589 class. This feature is useful for those cases where a method
1590 defined in C++ source code could be inlined or optimized out by
1591 the compiler, making it unavailable to GDB.
1592
1593 * New targets
1594 PowerPC64 GNU/Linux little-endian powerpc64le-*-linux*
1595
1596 * The "dll-symbols" command, and its two aliases ("add-shared-symbol-files"
1597 and "assf"), have been deprecated. Use the "sharedlibrary" command, or
1598 its alias "share", instead.
1599
1600 * The commands "set remotebaud" and "show remotebaud" are no longer
1601 supported. Use "set serial baud" and "show serial baud" (respectively)
1602 instead.
1603
1604 * MI changes
1605
1606 ** A new option "-gdb-set mi-async" replaces "-gdb-set
1607 target-async". The latter is left as a deprecated alias of the
1608 former for backward compatibility. If the target supports it,
1609 CLI background execution commands are now always possible by
1610 default, independently of whether the frontend stated a
1611 preference for asynchronous execution with "-gdb-set mi-async".
1612 Previously "-gdb-set target-async off" affected both MI execution
1613 commands and CLI execution commands.
1614
1615 *** Changes in GDB 7.7
1616
1617 * Improved support for process record-replay and reverse debugging on
1618 arm*-linux* targets. Support for thumb32 and syscall instruction
1619 recording has been added.
1620
1621 * GDB now supports SystemTap SDT probes on AArch64 GNU/Linux.
1622
1623 * GDB now supports Fission DWP file format version 2.
1624 http://gcc.gnu.org/wiki/DebugFission
1625
1626 * New convenience function "$_isvoid", to check whether an expression
1627 is void. A void expression is an expression where the type of the
1628 result is "void". For example, some convenience variables may be
1629 "void" when evaluated (e.g., "$_exitcode" before the execution of
1630 the program being debugged; or an undefined convenience variable).
1631 Another example, when calling a function whose return type is
1632 "void".
1633
1634 * The "maintenance print objfiles" command now takes an optional regexp.
1635
1636 * The "catch syscall" command now works on arm*-linux* targets.
1637
1638 * GDB now consistently shows "<not saved>" when printing values of
1639 registers the debug info indicates have not been saved in the frame
1640 and there's nowhere to retrieve them from
1641 (callee-saved/call-clobbered registers):
1642
1643 (gdb) p $rax
1644 $1 = <not saved>
1645
1646 (gdb) info registers rax
1647 rax <not saved>
1648
1649 Before, the former would print "<optimized out>", and the latter
1650 "*value not available*".
1651
1652 * New script contrib/gdb-add-index.sh for adding .gdb_index sections
1653 to binaries.
1654
1655 * Python scripting
1656
1657 ** Frame filters and frame decorators have been added.
1658 ** Temporary breakpoints are now supported.
1659 ** Line tables representation has been added.
1660 ** New attribute 'parent_type' for gdb.Field objects.
1661 ** gdb.Field objects can be used as subscripts on gdb.Value objects.
1662 ** New attribute 'name' for gdb.Type objects.
1663
1664 * New targets
1665
1666 Nios II ELF nios2*-*-elf
1667 Nios II GNU/Linux nios2*-*-linux
1668 Texas Instruments MSP430 msp430*-*-elf
1669
1670 * Removed native configurations
1671
1672 Support for these a.out NetBSD and OpenBSD obsolete configurations has
1673 been removed. ELF variants of these configurations are kept supported.
1674
1675 arm*-*-netbsd* but arm*-*-netbsdelf* is kept supported.
1676 i[34567]86-*-netbsd* but i[34567]86-*-netbsdelf* is kept supported.
1677 i[34567]86-*-openbsd[0-2].* but i[34567]86-*-openbsd* is kept supported.
1678 i[34567]86-*-openbsd3.[0-3]
1679 m68*-*-netbsd* but m68*-*-netbsdelf* is kept supported.
1680 sparc-*-netbsd* but sparc-*-netbsdelf* is kept supported.
1681 vax-*-netbsd* but vax-*-netbsdelf* is kept supported.
1682
1683 * New commands:
1684 catch rethrow
1685 Like "catch throw", but catches a re-thrown exception.
1686 maint check-psymtabs
1687 Renamed from old "maint check-symtabs".
1688 maint check-symtabs
1689 Perform consistency checks on symtabs.
1690 maint expand-symtabs
1691 Expand symtabs matching an optional regexp.
1692
1693 show configuration
1694 Display the details of GDB configure-time options.
1695
1696 maint set|show per-command
1697 maint set|show per-command space
1698 maint set|show per-command time
1699 maint set|show per-command symtab
1700 Enable display of per-command gdb resource usage.
1701
1702 remove-symbol-file FILENAME
1703 remove-symbol-file -a ADDRESS
1704 Remove a symbol file added via add-symbol-file. The file to remove
1705 can be identified by its filename or by an address that lies within
1706 the boundaries of this symbol file in memory.
1707
1708 info exceptions
1709 info exceptions REGEXP
1710 Display the list of Ada exceptions defined in the program being
1711 debugged. If provided, only the exceptions whose names match REGEXP
1712 are listed.
1713
1714 * New options
1715
1716 set debug symfile off|on
1717 show debug symfile
1718 Control display of debugging info regarding reading symbol files and
1719 symbol tables within those files
1720
1721 set print raw frame-arguments
1722 show print raw frame-arguments
1723 Set/show whether to print frame arguments in raw mode,
1724 disregarding any defined pretty-printers.
1725
1726 set remote trace-status-packet
1727 show remote trace-status-packet
1728 Set/show the use of remote protocol qTStatus packet.
1729
1730 set debug nios2
1731 show debug nios2
1732 Control display of debugging messages related to Nios II targets.
1733
1734 set range-stepping
1735 show range-stepping
1736 Control whether target-assisted range stepping is enabled.
1737
1738 set startup-with-shell
1739 show startup-with-shell
1740 Specifies whether Unix child processes are started via a shell or
1741 directly.
1742
1743 set code-cache
1744 show code-cache
1745 Use the target memory cache for accesses to the code segment. This
1746 improves performance of remote debugging (particularly disassembly).
1747
1748 * You can now use a literal value 'unlimited' for options that
1749 interpret 0 or -1 as meaning "unlimited". E.g., "set
1750 trace-buffer-size unlimited" is now an alias for "set
1751 trace-buffer-size -1" and "set height unlimited" is now an alias for
1752 "set height 0".
1753
1754 * The "set debug symtab-create" debugging option of GDB has been changed to
1755 accept a verbosity level. 0 means "off", 1 provides basic debugging
1756 output, and values of 2 or greater provides more verbose output.
1757
1758 * New command-line options
1759 --configuration
1760 Display the details of GDB configure-time options.
1761
1762 * The command 'tsave' can now support new option '-ctf' to save trace
1763 buffer in Common Trace Format.
1764
1765 * Newly installed $prefix/bin/gcore acts as a shell interface for the
1766 GDB command gcore.
1767
1768 * GDB now implements the the C++ 'typeid' operator.
1769
1770 * The new convenience variable $_exception holds the exception being
1771 thrown or caught at an exception-related catchpoint.
1772
1773 * The exception-related catchpoints, like "catch throw", now accept a
1774 regular expression which can be used to filter exceptions by type.
1775
1776 * The new convenience variable $_exitsignal is automatically set to
1777 the terminating signal number when the program being debugged dies
1778 due to an uncaught signal.
1779
1780 * MI changes
1781
1782 ** All MI commands now accept an optional "--language" option.
1783 Support for this feature can be verified by using the "-list-features"
1784 command, which should contain "language-option".
1785
1786 ** The new command -info-gdb-mi-command allows the user to determine
1787 whether a GDB/MI command is supported or not.
1788
1789 ** The "^error" result record returned when trying to execute an undefined
1790 GDB/MI command now provides a variable named "code" whose content is the
1791 "undefined-command" error code. Support for this feature can be verified
1792 by using the "-list-features" command, which should contain
1793 "undefined-command-error-code".
1794
1795 ** The -trace-save MI command can optionally save trace buffer in Common
1796 Trace Format now.
1797
1798 ** The new command -dprintf-insert sets a dynamic printf breakpoint.
1799
1800 ** The command -data-list-register-values now accepts an optional
1801 "--skip-unavailable" option. When used, only the available registers
1802 are displayed.
1803
1804 ** The new command -trace-frame-collected dumps collected variables,
1805 computed expressions, tvars, memory and registers in a traceframe.
1806
1807 ** The commands -stack-list-locals, -stack-list-arguments and
1808 -stack-list-variables now accept an option "--skip-unavailable".
1809 When used, only the available locals or arguments are displayed.
1810
1811 ** The -exec-run command now accepts an optional "--start" option.
1812 When used, the command follows the same semantics as the "start"
1813 command, stopping the program's execution at the start of its
1814 main subprogram. Support for this feature can be verified using
1815 the "-list-features" command, which should contain
1816 "exec-run-start-option".
1817
1818 ** The new commands -catch-assert and -catch-exceptions insert
1819 catchpoints stopping the program when Ada exceptions are raised.
1820
1821 ** The new command -info-ada-exceptions provides the equivalent of
1822 the new "info exceptions" command.
1823
1824 * New system-wide configuration scripts
1825 A GDB installation now provides scripts suitable for use as system-wide
1826 configuration scripts for the following systems:
1827 ** ElinOS
1828 ** Wind River Linux
1829
1830 * GDB now supports target-assigned range stepping with remote targets.
1831 This improves the performance of stepping source lines by reducing
1832 the number of control packets from/to GDB. See "New remote packets"
1833 below.
1834
1835 * GDB now understands the element 'tvar' in the XML traceframe info.
1836 It has the id of the collected trace state variables.
1837
1838 * On S/390 targets that provide the transactional-execution feature,
1839 the program interruption transaction diagnostic block (TDB) is now
1840 represented as a number of additional "registers" in GDB.
1841
1842 * New remote packets
1843
1844 vCont;r
1845
1846 The vCont packet supports a new 'r' action, that tells the remote
1847 stub to step through an address range itself, without GDB
1848 involvemement at each single-step.
1849
1850 qXfer:libraries-svr4:read's annex
1851 The previously unused annex of the qXfer:libraries-svr4:read packet
1852 is now used to support passing an argument list. The remote stub
1853 reports support for this argument list to GDB's qSupported query.
1854 The defined arguments are "start" and "prev", used to reduce work
1855 necessary for library list updating, resulting in significant
1856 speedup.
1857
1858 * New features in the GDB remote stub, GDBserver
1859
1860 ** GDBserver now supports target-assisted range stepping. Currently
1861 enabled on x86/x86_64 GNU/Linux targets.
1862
1863 ** GDBserver now adds element 'tvar' in the XML in the reply to
1864 'qXfer:traceframe-info:read'. It has the id of the collected
1865 trace state variables.
1866
1867 ** GDBserver now supports hardware watchpoints on the MIPS GNU/Linux
1868 target.
1869
1870 * New 'z' formatter for printing and examining memory, this displays the
1871 value as hexadecimal zero padded on the left to the size of the type.
1872
1873 * GDB can now use Windows x64 unwinding data.
1874
1875 * The "set remotebaud" command has been replaced by "set serial baud".
1876 Similarly, "show remotebaud" has been replaced by "show serial baud".
1877 The "set remotebaud" and "show remotebaud" commands are still available
1878 to provide backward compatibility with older versions of GDB.
1879
1880 *** Changes in GDB 7.6
1881
1882 * Target record has been renamed to record-full.
1883 Record/replay is now enabled with the "record full" command.
1884 This also affects settings that are associated with full record/replay
1885 that have been moved from "set/show record" to "set/show record full":
1886
1887 set|show record full insn-number-max
1888 set|show record full stop-at-limit
1889 set|show record full memory-query
1890
1891 * A new record target "record-btrace" has been added. The new target
1892 uses hardware support to record the control-flow of a process. It
1893 does not support replaying the execution, but it implements the
1894 below new commands for investigating the recorded execution log.
1895 This new recording method can be enabled using:
1896
1897 record btrace
1898
1899 The "record-btrace" target is only available on Intel Atom processors
1900 and requires a Linux kernel 2.6.32 or later.
1901
1902 * Two new commands have been added for record/replay to give information
1903 about the recorded execution without having to replay the execution.
1904 The commands are only supported by "record btrace".
1905
1906 record instruction-history prints the execution history at
1907 instruction granularity
1908
1909 record function-call-history prints the execution history at
1910 function granularity
1911
1912 * New native configurations
1913
1914 ARM AArch64 GNU/Linux aarch64*-*-linux-gnu
1915 FreeBSD/powerpc powerpc*-*-freebsd
1916 x86_64/Cygwin x86_64-*-cygwin*
1917 Tilera TILE-Gx GNU/Linux tilegx*-*-linux-gnu
1918
1919 * New targets
1920
1921 ARM AArch64 aarch64*-*-elf
1922 ARM AArch64 GNU/Linux aarch64*-*-linux
1923 Lynx 178 PowerPC powerpc-*-lynx*178
1924 x86_64/Cygwin x86_64-*-cygwin*
1925 Tilera TILE-Gx GNU/Linux tilegx*-*-linux
1926
1927 * If the configured location of system.gdbinit file (as given by the
1928 --with-system-gdbinit option at configure time) is in the
1929 data-directory (as specified by --with-gdb-datadir at configure
1930 time) or in one of its subdirectories, then GDB will look for the
1931 system-wide init file in the directory specified by the
1932 --data-directory command-line option.
1933
1934 * New command line options:
1935
1936 -nh Disables auto-loading of ~/.gdbinit, but still executes all the
1937 other initialization files, unlike -nx which disables all of them.
1938
1939 * Removed command line options
1940
1941 -epoch This was used by the gdb mode in Epoch, an ancient fork of
1942 Emacs.
1943
1944 * The 'ptype' and 'whatis' commands now accept an argument to control
1945 type formatting.
1946
1947 * 'info proc' now works on some core files.
1948
1949 * Python scripting
1950
1951 ** Vectors can be created with gdb.Type.vector.
1952
1953 ** Python's atexit.register now works in GDB.
1954
1955 ** Types can be pretty-printed via a Python API.
1956
1957 ** Python 3 is now supported (in addition to Python 2.4 or later)
1958
1959 ** New class gdb.Architecture exposes GDB's internal representation
1960 of architecture in the Python API.
1961
1962 ** New method Frame.architecture returns the gdb.Architecture object
1963 corresponding to the frame's architecture.
1964
1965 * New Python-based convenience functions:
1966
1967 ** $_memeq(buf1, buf2, length)
1968 ** $_streq(str1, str2)
1969 ** $_strlen(str)
1970 ** $_regex(str, regex)
1971
1972 * The 'cd' command now defaults to using '~' (the home directory) if not
1973 given an argument.
1974
1975 * The C++ ABI now defaults to the GNU v3 ABI. This has been the
1976 default for GCC since November 2000.
1977
1978 * The command 'forward-search' can now be abbreviated as 'fo'.
1979
1980 * The command 'info tracepoints' can now display 'installed on target'
1981 or 'not installed on target' for each non-pending location of tracepoint.
1982
1983 * New configure options
1984
1985 --enable-libmcheck/--disable-libmcheck
1986 By default, development versions are built with -lmcheck on hosts
1987 that support it, in order to help track memory corruption issues.
1988 Release versions, on the other hand, are built without -lmcheck
1989 by default. The --enable-libmcheck/--disable-libmcheck configure
1990 options allow the user to override that default.
1991 --with-babeltrace/--with-babeltrace-include/--with-babeltrace-lib
1992 This configure option allows the user to build GDB with
1993 libbabeltrace using which GDB can read Common Trace Format data.
1994
1995 * New commands (for set/show, see "New options" below)
1996
1997 catch signal
1998 Catch signals. This is similar to "handle", but allows commands and
1999 conditions to be attached.
2000
2001 maint info bfds
2002 List the BFDs known to GDB.
2003
2004 python-interactive [command]
2005 pi [command]
2006 Start a Python interactive prompt, or evaluate the optional command
2007 and print the result of expressions.
2008
2009 py [command]
2010 "py" is a new alias for "python".
2011
2012 enable type-printer [name]...
2013 disable type-printer [name]...
2014 Enable or disable type printers.
2015
2016 * Removed commands
2017
2018 ** For the Renesas Super-H architecture, the "regs" command has been removed
2019 (has been deprecated in GDB 7.5), and "info all-registers" should be used
2020 instead.
2021
2022 * New options
2023
2024 set print type methods (on|off)
2025 show print type methods
2026 Control whether method declarations are displayed by "ptype".
2027 The default is to show them.
2028
2029 set print type typedefs (on|off)
2030 show print type typedefs
2031 Control whether typedef definitions are displayed by "ptype".
2032 The default is to show them.
2033
2034 set filename-display basename|relative|absolute
2035 show filename-display
2036 Control the way in which filenames is displayed.
2037 The default is "relative", which preserves previous behavior.
2038
2039 set trace-buffer-size
2040 show trace-buffer-size
2041 Request target to change the size of trace buffer.
2042
2043 set remote trace-buffer-size-packet auto|on|off
2044 show remote trace-buffer-size-packet
2045 Control the use of the remote protocol `QTBuffer:size' packet.
2046
2047 set debug aarch64
2048 show debug aarch64
2049 Control display of debugging messages related to ARM AArch64.
2050 The default is off.
2051
2052 set debug coff-pe-read
2053 show debug coff-pe-read
2054 Control display of debugging messages related to reading of COFF/PE
2055 exported symbols.
2056
2057 set debug mach-o
2058 show debug mach-o
2059 Control display of debugging messages related to Mach-O symbols
2060 processing.
2061
2062 set debug notification
2063 show debug notification
2064 Control display of debugging info for async remote notification.
2065
2066 * MI changes
2067
2068 ** Command parameter changes are now notified using new async record
2069 "=cmd-param-changed".
2070 ** Trace frame changes caused by command "tfind" are now notified using
2071 new async record "=traceframe-changed".
2072 ** The creation, deletion and modification of trace state variables
2073 are now notified using new async records "=tsv-created",
2074 "=tsv-deleted" and "=tsv-modified".
2075 ** The start and stop of process record are now notified using new
2076 async record "=record-started" and "=record-stopped".
2077 ** Memory changes are now notified using new async record
2078 "=memory-changed".
2079 ** The data-disassemble command response will include a "fullname" field
2080 containing the absolute file name when source has been requested.
2081 ** New optional parameter COUNT added to the "-data-write-memory-bytes"
2082 command, to allow pattern filling of memory areas.
2083 ** New commands "-catch-load"/"-catch-unload" added for intercepting
2084 library load/unload events.
2085 ** The response to breakpoint commands and breakpoint async records
2086 includes an "installed" field containing a boolean state about each
2087 non-pending tracepoint location is whether installed on target or not.
2088 ** Output of the "-trace-status" command includes a "trace-file" field
2089 containing the name of the trace file being examined. This field is
2090 optional, and only present when examining a trace file.
2091 ** The "fullname" field is now always present along with the "file" field,
2092 even if the file cannot be found by GDB.
2093
2094 * GDB now supports the "mini debuginfo" section, .gnu_debugdata.
2095 You must have the LZMA library available when configuring GDB for this
2096 feature to be enabled. For more information, see:
2097 http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features/MiniDebugInfo
2098
2099 * New remote packets
2100
2101 QTBuffer:size
2102 Set the size of trace buffer. The remote stub reports support for this
2103 packet to gdb's qSupported query.
2104
2105 Qbtrace:bts
2106 Enable Branch Trace Store (BTS)-based branch tracing for the current
2107 thread. The remote stub reports support for this packet to gdb's
2108 qSupported query.
2109
2110 Qbtrace:off
2111 Disable branch tracing for the current thread. The remote stub reports
2112 support for this packet to gdb's qSupported query.
2113
2114 qXfer:btrace:read
2115 Read the traced branches for the current thread. The remote stub
2116 reports support for this packet to gdb's qSupported query.
2117
2118 *** Changes in GDB 7.5
2119
2120 * GDB now supports x32 ABI. Visit <http://sites.google.com/site/x32abi/>
2121 for more x32 ABI info.
2122
2123 * GDB now supports access to MIPS DSP registers on Linux targets.
2124
2125 * GDB now supports debugging microMIPS binaries.
2126
2127 * The "info os" command on GNU/Linux can now display information on
2128 several new classes of objects managed by the operating system:
2129 "info os procgroups" lists process groups
2130 "info os files" lists file descriptors
2131 "info os sockets" lists internet-domain sockets
2132 "info os shm" lists shared-memory regions
2133 "info os semaphores" lists semaphores
2134 "info os msg" lists message queues
2135 "info os modules" lists loaded kernel modules
2136
2137 * GDB now has support for SDT (Static Defined Tracing) probes. Currently,
2138 the only implemented backend is for SystemTap probes (<sys/sdt.h>). You
2139 can set a breakpoint using the new "-probe, "-pstap" or "-probe-stap"
2140 options and inspect the probe arguments using the new $_probe_arg family
2141 of convenience variables. You can obtain more information about SystemTap
2142 in <http://sourceware.org/systemtap/>.
2143
2144 * GDB now supports reversible debugging on ARM, it allows you to
2145 debug basic ARM and THUMB instructions, and provides
2146 record/replay support.
2147
2148 * The option "symbol-reloading" has been deleted as it is no longer used.
2149
2150 * Python scripting
2151
2152 ** GDB commands implemented in Python can now be put in command class
2153 "gdb.COMMAND_USER".
2154
2155 ** The "maint set python print-stack on|off" is now deleted.
2156
2157 ** A new class, gdb.printing.FlagEnumerationPrinter, can be used to
2158 apply "flag enum"-style pretty-printing to any enum.
2159
2160 ** gdb.lookup_symbol can now work when there is no current frame.
2161
2162 ** gdb.Symbol now has a 'line' attribute, holding the line number in
2163 the source at which the symbol was defined.
2164
2165 ** gdb.Symbol now has the new attribute 'needs_frame' and the new
2166 method 'value'. The former indicates whether the symbol needs a
2167 frame in order to compute its value, and the latter computes the
2168 symbol's value.
2169
2170 ** A new method 'referenced_value' on gdb.Value objects which can
2171 dereference pointer as well as C++ reference values.
2172
2173 ** New methods 'global_block' and 'static_block' on gdb.Symtab objects
2174 which return the global and static blocks (as gdb.Block objects),
2175 of the underlying symbol table, respectively.
2176
2177 ** New function gdb.find_pc_line which returns the gdb.Symtab_and_line
2178 object associated with a PC value.
2179
2180 ** gdb.Symtab_and_line has new attribute 'last' which holds the end
2181 of the address range occupied by code for the current source line.
2182
2183 * Go language support.
2184 GDB now supports debugging programs written in the Go programming
2185 language.
2186
2187 * GDBserver now supports stdio connections.
2188 E.g. (gdb) target remote | ssh myhost gdbserver - hello
2189
2190 * The binary "gdbtui" can no longer be built or installed.
2191 Use "gdb -tui" instead.
2192
2193 * GDB will now print "flag" enums specially. A flag enum is one where
2194 all the enumerator values have no bits in common when pairwise
2195 "and"ed. When printing a value whose type is a flag enum, GDB will
2196 show all the constants, e.g., for enum E { ONE = 1, TWO = 2}:
2197 (gdb) print (enum E) 3
2198 $1 = (ONE | TWO)
2199
2200 * The filename part of a linespec will now match trailing components
2201 of a source file name. For example, "break gcc/expr.c:1000" will
2202 now set a breakpoint in build/gcc/expr.c, but not
2203 build/libcpp/expr.c.
2204
2205 * The "info proc" and "generate-core-file" commands will now also
2206 work on remote targets connected to GDBserver on Linux.
2207
2208 * The command "info catch" has been removed. It has been disabled
2209 since December 2007.
2210
2211 * The "catch exception" and "catch assert" commands now accept
2212 a condition at the end of the command, much like the "break"
2213 command does. For instance:
2214
2215 (gdb) catch exception Constraint_Error if Barrier = True
2216
2217 Previously, it was possible to add a condition to such catchpoints,
2218 but it had to be done as a second step, after the catchpoint had been
2219 created, using the "condition" command.
2220
2221 * The "info static-tracepoint-marker" command will now also work on
2222 native Linux targets with in-process agent.
2223
2224 * GDB can now set breakpoints on inlined functions.
2225
2226 * The .gdb_index section has been updated to include symbols for
2227 inlined functions. GDB will ignore older .gdb_index sections by
2228 default, which could cause symbol files to be loaded more slowly
2229 until their .gdb_index sections can be recreated. The new command
2230 "set use-deprecated-index-sections on" will cause GDB to use any older
2231 .gdb_index sections it finds. This will restore performance, but the
2232 ability to set breakpoints on inlined functions will be lost in symbol
2233 files with older .gdb_index sections.
2234
2235 The .gdb_index section has also been updated to record more information
2236 about each symbol. This speeds up the "info variables", "info functions"
2237 and "info types" commands when used with programs having the .gdb_index
2238 section, as well as speeding up debugging with shared libraries using
2239 the .gdb_index section.
2240
2241 * Ada support for GDB/MI Variable Objects has been added.
2242
2243 * GDB can now support 'breakpoint always-inserted mode' in 'record'
2244 target.
2245
2246 * MI changes
2247
2248 ** New command -info-os is the MI equivalent of "info os".
2249
2250 ** Output logs ("set logging" and related) now include MI output.
2251
2252 * New commands
2253
2254 ** "set use-deprecated-index-sections on|off"
2255 "show use-deprecated-index-sections on|off"
2256 Controls the use of deprecated .gdb_index sections.
2257
2258 ** "catch load" and "catch unload" can be used to stop when a shared
2259 library is loaded or unloaded, respectively.
2260
2261 ** "enable count" can be used to auto-disable a breakpoint after
2262 several hits.
2263
2264 ** "info vtbl" can be used to show the virtual method tables for
2265 C++ and Java objects.
2266
2267 ** "explore" and its sub commands "explore value" and "explore type"
2268 can be used to recursively explore values and types of
2269 expressions. These commands are available only if GDB is
2270 configured with '--with-python'.
2271
2272 ** "info auto-load" shows status of all kinds of auto-loaded files,
2273 "info auto-load gdb-scripts" shows status of auto-loading GDB canned
2274 sequences of commands files, "info auto-load python-scripts"
2275 shows status of auto-loading Python script files,
2276 "info auto-load local-gdbinit" shows status of loading init file
2277 (.gdbinit) from current directory and "info auto-load libthread-db" shows
2278 status of inferior specific thread debugging shared library loading.
2279
2280 ** "info auto-load-scripts", "set auto-load-scripts on|off"
2281 and "show auto-load-scripts" commands have been deprecated, use their
2282 "info auto-load python-scripts", "set auto-load python-scripts on|off"
2283 and "show auto-load python-scripts" counterparts instead.
2284
2285 ** "dprintf location,format,args..." creates a dynamic printf, which
2286 is basically a breakpoint that does a printf and immediately
2287 resumes your program's execution, so it is like a printf that you
2288 can insert dynamically at runtime instead of at compiletime.
2289
2290 ** "set print symbol"
2291 "show print symbol"
2292 Controls whether GDB attempts to display the symbol, if any,
2293 corresponding to addresses it prints. This defaults to "on", but
2294 you can set it to "off" to restore GDB's previous behavior.
2295
2296 * Deprecated commands
2297
2298 ** For the Renesas Super-H architecture, the "regs" command has been
2299 deprecated, and "info all-registers" should be used instead.
2300
2301 * New targets
2302
2303 Renesas RL78 rl78-*-elf
2304 HP OpenVMS ia64 ia64-hp-openvms*
2305
2306 * GDBserver supports evaluation of breakpoint conditions. When
2307 support is advertised by GDBserver, GDB may be told to send the
2308 breakpoint conditions in bytecode form to GDBserver. GDBserver
2309 will only report the breakpoint trigger to GDB when its condition
2310 evaluates to true.
2311
2312 * New options
2313
2314 set mips compression
2315 show mips compression
2316 Select the compressed ISA encoding used in functions that have no symbol
2317 information available. The encoding can be set to either of:
2318 mips16
2319 micromips
2320 and is updated automatically from ELF file flags if available.
2321
2322 set breakpoint condition-evaluation
2323 show breakpoint condition-evaluation
2324 Control whether breakpoint conditions are evaluated by GDB ("host") or by
2325 GDBserver ("target"). Default option "auto" chooses the most efficient
2326 available mode.
2327 This option can improve debugger efficiency depending on the speed of the
2328 target.
2329
2330 set auto-load off
2331 Disable auto-loading globally.
2332
2333 show auto-load
2334 Show auto-loading setting of all kinds of auto-loaded files.
2335
2336 set auto-load gdb-scripts on|off
2337 show auto-load gdb-scripts
2338 Control auto-loading of GDB canned sequences of commands files.
2339
2340 set auto-load python-scripts on|off
2341 show auto-load python-scripts
2342 Control auto-loading of Python script files.
2343
2344 set auto-load local-gdbinit on|off
2345 show auto-load local-gdbinit
2346 Control loading of init file (.gdbinit) from current directory.
2347
2348 set auto-load libthread-db on|off
2349 show auto-load libthread-db
2350 Control auto-loading of inferior specific thread debugging shared library.
2351
2352 set auto-load scripts-directory <dir1>[:<dir2>...]
2353 show auto-load scripts-directory
2354 Set a list of directories from which to load auto-loaded scripts.
2355 Automatically loaded Python scripts and GDB scripts are located in one
2356 of the directories listed by this option.
2357 The delimiter (':' above) may differ according to the host platform.
2358
2359 set auto-load safe-path <dir1>[:<dir2>...]
2360 show auto-load safe-path
2361 Set a list of directories from which it is safe to auto-load files.
2362 The delimiter (':' above) may differ according to the host platform.
2363
2364 set debug auto-load on|off
2365 show debug auto-load
2366 Control display of debugging info for auto-loading the files above.
2367
2368 set dprintf-style gdb|call|agent
2369 show dprintf-style
2370 Control the way in which a dynamic printf is performed; "gdb"
2371 requests a GDB printf command, while "call" causes dprintf to call a
2372 function in the inferior. "agent" requests that the target agent
2373 (such as GDBserver) do the printing.
2374
2375 set dprintf-function <expr>
2376 show dprintf-function
2377 set dprintf-channel <expr>
2378 show dprintf-channel
2379 Set the function and optional first argument to the call when using
2380 the "call" style of dynamic printf.
2381
2382 set disconnected-dprintf on|off
2383 show disconnected-dprintf
2384 Control whether agent-style dynamic printfs continue to be in effect
2385 after GDB disconnects.
2386
2387 * New configure options
2388
2389 --with-auto-load-dir
2390 Configure default value for the 'set auto-load scripts-directory'
2391 setting above. It defaults to '$debugdir:$datadir/auto-load',
2392 $debugdir representing global debugging info directories (available
2393 via 'show debug-file-directory') and $datadir representing GDB's data
2394 directory (available via 'show data-directory').
2395
2396 --with-auto-load-safe-path
2397 Configure default value for the 'set auto-load safe-path' setting
2398 above. It defaults to the --with-auto-load-dir setting.
2399
2400 --without-auto-load-safe-path
2401 Set 'set auto-load safe-path' to '/', effectively disabling this
2402 security feature.
2403
2404 * New remote packets
2405
2406 z0/z1 conditional breakpoints extension
2407
2408 The z0/z1 breakpoint insertion packets have been extended to carry
2409 a list of conditional expressions over to the remote stub depending on the
2410 condition evaluation mode. The use of this extension can be controlled
2411 via the "set remote conditional-breakpoints-packet" command.
2412
2413 QProgramSignals:
2414
2415 Specify the signals which the remote stub may pass to the debugged
2416 program without GDB involvement.
2417
2418 * New command line options
2419
2420 --init-command=FILE, -ix Like --command, -x but execute it
2421 before loading inferior.
2422 --init-eval-command=COMMAND, -iex Like --eval-command=COMMAND, -ex but
2423 execute it before loading inferior.
2424
2425 *** Changes in GDB 7.4
2426
2427 * GDB now handles ambiguous linespecs more consistently; the existing
2428 FILE:LINE support has been expanded to other types of linespecs. A
2429 breakpoint will now be set on all matching locations in all
2430 inferiors, and locations will be added or removed according to
2431 inferior changes.
2432
2433 * GDB now allows you to skip uninteresting functions and files when
2434 stepping with the "skip function" and "skip file" commands.
2435
2436 * GDB has two new commands: "set remote hardware-watchpoint-length-limit"
2437 and "show remote hardware-watchpoint-length-limit". These allows to
2438 set or show the maximum length limit (in bytes) of a remote
2439 target hardware watchpoint.
2440
2441 This allows e.g. to use "unlimited" hardware watchpoints with the
2442 gdbserver integrated in Valgrind version >= 3.7.0. Such Valgrind
2443 watchpoints are slower than real hardware watchpoints but are
2444 significantly faster than gdb software watchpoints.
2445
2446 * Python scripting
2447
2448 ** The register_pretty_printer function in module gdb.printing now takes
2449 an optional `replace' argument. If True, the new printer replaces any
2450 existing one.
2451
2452 ** The "maint set python print-stack on|off" command has been
2453 deprecated and will be deleted in GDB 7.5.
2454 A new command: "set python print-stack none|full|message" has
2455 replaced it. Additionally, the default for "print-stack" is
2456 now "message", which just prints the error message without
2457 the stack trace.
2458
2459 ** A prompt substitution hook (prompt_hook) is now available to the
2460 Python API.
2461
2462 ** A new Python module, gdb.prompt has been added to the GDB Python
2463 modules library. This module provides functionality for
2464 escape sequences in prompts (used by set/show
2465 extended-prompt). These escape sequences are replaced by their
2466 corresponding value.
2467
2468 ** Python commands and convenience-functions located in
2469 'data-directory'/python/gdb/command and
2470 'data-directory'/python/gdb/function are now automatically loaded
2471 on GDB start-up.
2472
2473 ** Blocks now provide four new attributes. global_block and
2474 static_block will return the global and static blocks
2475 respectively. is_static and is_global are boolean attributes
2476 that indicate if the block is one of those two types.
2477
2478 ** Symbols now provide the "type" attribute, the type of the symbol.
2479
2480 ** The "gdb.breakpoint" function has been deprecated in favor of
2481 "gdb.breakpoints".
2482
2483 ** A new class "gdb.FinishBreakpoint" is provided to catch the return
2484 of a function. This class is based on the "finish" command
2485 available in the CLI.
2486
2487 ** Type objects for struct and union types now allow access to
2488 the fields using standard Python dictionary (mapping) methods.
2489 For example, "some_type['myfield']" now works, as does
2490 "some_type.items()".
2491
2492 ** A new event "gdb.new_objfile" has been added, triggered by loading a
2493 new object file.
2494
2495 ** A new function, "deep_items" has been added to the gdb.types
2496 module in the GDB Python modules library. This function returns
2497 an iterator over the fields of a struct or union type. Unlike
2498 the standard Python "iteritems" method, it will recursively traverse
2499 any anonymous fields.
2500
2501 * MI changes
2502
2503 ** "*stopped" events can report several new "reason"s, such as
2504 "solib-event".
2505
2506 ** Breakpoint changes are now notified using new async records, like
2507 "=breakpoint-modified".
2508
2509 ** New command -ada-task-info.
2510
2511 * libthread-db-search-path now supports two special values: $sdir and $pdir.
2512 $sdir specifies the default system locations of shared libraries.
2513 $pdir specifies the directory where the libpthread used by the application
2514 lives.
2515
2516 GDB no longer looks in $sdir and $pdir after it has searched the directories
2517 mentioned in libthread-db-search-path. If you want to search those
2518 directories, they must be specified in libthread-db-search-path.
2519 The default value of libthread-db-search-path on GNU/Linux and Solaris
2520 systems is now "$sdir:$pdir".
2521
2522 $pdir is not supported by gdbserver, it is currently ignored.
2523 $sdir is supported by gdbserver.
2524
2525 * New configure option --with-iconv-bin.
2526 When using the internationalization support like the one in the GNU C
2527 library, GDB will invoke the "iconv" program to get a list of supported
2528 character sets. If this program lives in a non-standard location, one can
2529 use this option to specify where to find it.
2530
2531 * When natively debugging programs on PowerPC BookE processors running
2532 a Linux kernel version 2.6.34 or later, GDB supports masked hardware
2533 watchpoints, which specify a mask in addition to an address to watch.
2534 The mask specifies that some bits of an address (the bits which are
2535 reset in the mask) should be ignored when matching the address accessed
2536 by the inferior against the watchpoint address. See the "PowerPC Embedded"
2537 section in the user manual for more details.
2538
2539 * The new option --once causes GDBserver to stop listening for connections once
2540 the first connection is made. The listening port used by GDBserver will
2541 become available after that.
2542
2543 * New commands "info macros" and "alias" have been added.
2544
2545 * New function parameters suffix @entry specifies value of function parameter
2546 at the time the function got called. Entry values are available only since
2547 gcc version 4.7.
2548
2549 * New commands
2550
2551 !SHELL COMMAND
2552 "!" is now an alias of the "shell" command.
2553 Note that no space is needed between "!" and SHELL COMMAND.
2554
2555 * Changed commands
2556
2557 watch EXPRESSION mask MASK_VALUE
2558 The watch command now supports the mask argument which allows creation
2559 of masked watchpoints, if the current architecture supports this feature.
2560
2561 info auto-load-scripts [REGEXP]
2562 This command was formerly named "maintenance print section-scripts".
2563 It is now generally useful and is no longer a maintenance-only command.
2564
2565 info macro [-all] [--] MACRO
2566 The info macro command has new options `-all' and `--'. The first for
2567 printing all definitions of a macro. The second for explicitly specifying
2568 the end of arguments and the beginning of the macro name in case the macro
2569 name starts with a hyphen.
2570
2571 collect[/s] EXPRESSIONS
2572 The tracepoint collect command now takes an optional modifier "/s"
2573 that directs it to dereference pointer-to-character types and
2574 collect the bytes of memory up to a zero byte. The behavior is
2575 similar to what you see when you use the regular print command on a
2576 string. An optional integer following the "/s" sets a bound on the
2577 number of bytes that will be collected.
2578
2579 tstart [NOTES]
2580 The trace start command now interprets any supplied arguments as a
2581 note to be recorded with the trace run, with an effect similar to
2582 setting the variable trace-notes.
2583
2584 tstop [NOTES]
2585 The trace stop command now interprets any arguments as a note to be
2586 mentioned along with the tstatus report that the trace was stopped
2587 with a command. The effect is similar to setting the variable
2588 trace-stop-notes.
2589
2590 * Tracepoints can now be enabled and disabled at any time after a trace
2591 experiment has been started using the standard "enable" and "disable"
2592 commands. It is now possible to start a trace experiment with no enabled
2593 tracepoints; GDB will display a warning, but will allow the experiment to
2594 begin, assuming that tracepoints will be enabled as needed while the trace
2595 is running.
2596
2597 * Fast tracepoints on 32-bit x86-architectures can now be placed at
2598 locations with 4-byte instructions, when they were previously
2599 limited to locations with instructions of 5 bytes or longer.
2600
2601 * New options
2602
2603 set debug dwarf2-read
2604 show debug dwarf2-read
2605 Turns on or off display of debugging messages related to reading
2606 DWARF debug info. The default is off.
2607
2608 set debug symtab-create
2609 show debug symtab-create
2610 Turns on or off display of debugging messages related to symbol table
2611 creation. The default is off.
2612
2613 set extended-prompt
2614 show extended-prompt
2615 Set the GDB prompt, and allow escape sequences to be inserted to
2616 display miscellaneous information (see 'help set extended-prompt'
2617 for the list of sequences). This prompt (and any information
2618 accessed through the escape sequences) is updated every time the
2619 prompt is displayed.
2620
2621 set print entry-values (both|compact|default|if-needed|no|only|preferred)
2622 show print entry-values
2623 Set printing of frame argument values at function entry. In some cases
2624 GDB can determine the value of function argument which was passed by the
2625 function caller, even if the value was modified inside the called function.
2626
2627 set debug entry-values
2628 show debug entry-values
2629 Control display of debugging info for determining frame argument values at
2630 function entry and virtual tail call frames.
2631
2632 set basenames-may-differ
2633 show basenames-may-differ
2634 Set whether a source file may have multiple base names.
2635 (A "base name" is the name of a file with the directory part removed.
2636 Example: The base name of "/home/user/hello.c" is "hello.c".)
2637 If set, GDB will canonicalize file names (e.g., expand symlinks)
2638 before comparing them. Canonicalization is an expensive operation,
2639 but it allows the same file be known by more than one base name.
2640 If not set (the default), all source files are assumed to have just
2641 one base name, and gdb will do file name comparisons more efficiently.
2642
2643 set trace-user
2644 show trace-user
2645 set trace-notes
2646 show trace-notes
2647 Set a user name and notes for the current and any future trace runs.
2648 This is useful for long-running and/or disconnected traces, to
2649 inform others (or yourself) as to who is running the trace, supply
2650 contact information, or otherwise explain what is going on.
2651
2652 set trace-stop-notes
2653 show trace-stop-notes
2654 Set a note attached to the trace run, that is displayed when the
2655 trace has been stopped by a tstop command. This is useful for
2656 instance as an explanation, if you are stopping a trace run that was
2657 started by someone else.
2658
2659 * New remote packets
2660
2661 QTEnable
2662
2663 Dynamically enable a tracepoint in a started trace experiment.
2664
2665 QTDisable
2666
2667 Dynamically disable a tracepoint in a started trace experiment.
2668
2669 QTNotes
2670
2671 Set the user and notes of the trace run.
2672
2673 qTP
2674
2675 Query the current status of a tracepoint.
2676
2677 qTMinFTPILen
2678
2679 Query the minimum length of instruction at which a fast tracepoint may
2680 be placed.
2681
2682 * Dcache size (number of lines) and line-size are now runtime-configurable
2683 via "set dcache line" and "set dcache line-size" commands.
2684
2685 * New targets
2686
2687 Texas Instruments TMS320C6x tic6x-*-*
2688
2689 * New Simulators
2690
2691 Renesas RL78 rl78-*-elf
2692
2693 *** Changes in GDB 7.3.1
2694
2695 * The build failure for NetBSD and OpenBSD targets have now been fixed.
2696
2697 *** Changes in GDB 7.3
2698
2699 * GDB has a new command: "thread find [REGEXP]".
2700 It finds the thread id whose name, target id, or thread extra info
2701 matches the given regular expression.
2702
2703 * The "catch syscall" command now works on mips*-linux* targets.
2704
2705 * The -data-disassemble MI command now supports modes 2 and 3 for
2706 dumping the instruction opcodes.
2707
2708 * New command line options
2709
2710 -data-directory DIR Specify DIR as the "data-directory".
2711 This is mostly for testing purposes.
2712
2713 * The "maint set python auto-load on|off" command has been renamed to
2714 "set auto-load-scripts on|off".
2715
2716 * GDB has a new command: "set directories".
2717 It is like the "dir" command except that it replaces the
2718 source path list instead of augmenting it.
2719
2720 * GDB now understands thread names.
2721
2722 On GNU/Linux, "info threads" will display the thread name as set by
2723 prctl or pthread_setname_np.
2724
2725 There is also a new command, "thread name", which can be used to
2726 assign a name internally for GDB to display.
2727
2728 * OpenCL C
2729 Initial support for the OpenCL C language (http://www.khronos.org/opencl)
2730 has been integrated into GDB.
2731
2732 * Python scripting
2733
2734 ** The function gdb.Write now accepts an optional keyword 'stream'.
2735 This keyword, when provided, will direct the output to either
2736 stdout, stderr, or GDB's logging output.
2737
2738 ** Parameters can now be be sub-classed in Python, and in particular
2739 you may implement the get_set_doc and get_show_doc functions.
2740 This improves how Parameter set/show documentation is processed
2741 and allows for more dynamic content.
2742
2743 ** Symbols, Symbol Table, Symbol Table and Line, Object Files,
2744 Inferior, Inferior Thread, Blocks, and Block Iterator APIs now
2745 have an is_valid method.
2746
2747 ** Breakpoints can now be sub-classed in Python, and in particular
2748 you may implement a 'stop' function that is executed each time
2749 the inferior reaches that breakpoint.
2750
2751 ** New function gdb.lookup_global_symbol looks up a global symbol.
2752
2753 ** GDB values in Python are now callable if the value represents a
2754 function. For example, if 'some_value' represents a function that
2755 takes two integer parameters and returns a value, you can call
2756 that function like so:
2757
2758 result = some_value (10,20)
2759
2760 ** Module gdb.types has been added.
2761 It contains a collection of utilities for working with gdb.Types objects:
2762 get_basic_type, has_field, make_enum_dict.
2763
2764 ** Module gdb.printing has been added.
2765 It contains utilities for writing and registering pretty-printers.
2766 New classes: PrettyPrinter, SubPrettyPrinter,
2767 RegexpCollectionPrettyPrinter.
2768 New function: register_pretty_printer.
2769
2770 ** New commands "info pretty-printers", "enable pretty-printer" and
2771 "disable pretty-printer" have been added.
2772
2773 ** gdb.parameter("directories") is now available.
2774
2775 ** New function gdb.newest_frame returns the newest frame in the
2776 selected thread.
2777
2778 ** The gdb.InferiorThread class has a new "name" attribute. This
2779 holds the thread's name.
2780
2781 ** Python Support for Inferior events.
2782 Python scripts can add observers to be notified of events
2783 occurring in the process being debugged.
2784 The following events are currently supported:
2785 - gdb.events.cont Continue event.
2786 - gdb.events.exited Inferior exited event.
2787 - gdb.events.stop Signal received, and Breakpoint hit events.
2788
2789 * C++ Improvements:
2790
2791 ** GDB now puts template parameters in scope when debugging in an
2792 instantiation. For example, if you have:
2793
2794 template<int X> int func (void) { return X; }
2795
2796 then if you step into func<5>, "print X" will show "5". This
2797 feature requires proper debuginfo support from the compiler; it
2798 was added to GCC 4.5.
2799
2800 ** The motion commands "next", "finish", "until", and "advance" now
2801 work better when exceptions are thrown. In particular, GDB will
2802 no longer lose control of the inferior; instead, the GDB will
2803 stop the inferior at the point at which the exception is caught.
2804 This functionality requires a change in the exception handling
2805 code that was introduced in GCC 4.5.
2806
2807 * GDB now follows GCC's rules on accessing volatile objects when
2808 reading or writing target state during expression evaluation.
2809 One notable difference to prior behavior is that "print x = 0"
2810 no longer generates a read of x; the value of the assignment is
2811 now always taken directly from the value being assigned.
2812
2813 * GDB now has some support for using labels in the program's source in
2814 linespecs. For instance, you can use "advance label" to continue
2815 execution to a label.
2816
2817 * GDB now has support for reading and writing a new .gdb_index
2818 section. This section holds a fast index of DWARF debugging
2819 information and can be used to greatly speed up GDB startup and
2820 operation. See the documentation for `save gdb-index' for details.
2821
2822 * The "watch" command now accepts an optional "-location" argument.
2823 When used, this causes GDB to watch the memory referred to by the
2824 expression. Such a watchpoint is never deleted due to it going out
2825 of scope.
2826
2827 * GDB now supports thread debugging of core dumps on GNU/Linux.
2828
2829 GDB now activates thread debugging using the libthread_db library
2830 when debugging GNU/Linux core dumps, similarly to when debugging
2831 live processes. As a result, when debugging a core dump file, GDB
2832 is now able to display pthread_t ids of threads. For example, "info
2833 threads" shows the same output as when debugging the process when it
2834 was live. In earlier releases, you'd see something like this:
2835
2836 (gdb) info threads
2837 * 1 LWP 6780 main () at main.c:10
2838
2839 While now you see this:
2840
2841 (gdb) info threads
2842 * 1 Thread 0x7f0f5712a700 (LWP 6780) main () at main.c:10
2843
2844 It is also now possible to inspect TLS variables when debugging core
2845 dumps.
2846
2847 When debugging a core dump generated on a machine other than the one
2848 used to run GDB, you may need to point GDB at the correct
2849 libthread_db library with the "set libthread-db-search-path"
2850 command. See the user manual for more details on this command.
2851
2852 * When natively debugging programs on PowerPC BookE processors running
2853 a Linux kernel version 2.6.34 or later, GDB supports ranged breakpoints,
2854 which stop execution of the inferior whenever it executes an instruction
2855 at any address within the specified range. See the "PowerPC Embedded"
2856 section in the user manual for more details.
2857
2858 * New features in the GDB remote stub, GDBserver
2859
2860 ** GDBserver is now supported on PowerPC LynxOS (versions 4.x and 5.x),
2861 and i686 LynxOS (version 5.x).
2862
2863 ** GDBserver is now supported on Blackfin Linux.
2864
2865 * New native configurations
2866
2867 ia64 HP-UX ia64-*-hpux*
2868
2869 * New targets:
2870
2871 Analog Devices, Inc. Blackfin Processor bfin-*
2872
2873 * Ada task switching is now supported on sparc-elf targets when
2874 debugging a program using the Ravenscar Profile. For more information,
2875 see the "Tasking Support when using the Ravenscar Profile" section
2876 in the GDB user manual.
2877
2878 * Guile support was removed.
2879
2880 * New features in the GNU simulator
2881
2882 ** The --map-info flag lists all known core mappings.
2883
2884 ** CFI flashes may be simulated via the "cfi" device.
2885
2886 *** Changes in GDB 7.2
2887
2888 * Shared library support for remote targets by default
2889
2890 When GDB is configured for a generic, non-OS specific target, like
2891 for example, --target=arm-eabi or one of the many *-*-elf targets,
2892 GDB now queries remote stubs for loaded shared libraries using the
2893 `qXfer:libraries:read' packet. Previously, shared library support
2894 was always disabled for such configurations.
2895
2896 * C++ Improvements:
2897
2898 ** Argument Dependent Lookup (ADL)
2899
2900 In C++ ADL lookup directs function search to the namespaces of its
2901 arguments even if the namespace has not been imported.
2902 For example:
2903 namespace A
2904 {
2905 class B { };
2906 void foo (B) { }
2907 }
2908 ...
2909 A::B b
2910 foo(b)
2911 Here the compiler will search for `foo' in the namespace of 'b'
2912 and find A::foo. GDB now supports this. This construct is commonly
2913 used in the Standard Template Library for operators.
2914
2915 ** Improved User Defined Operator Support
2916
2917 In addition to member operators, GDB now supports lookup of operators
2918 defined in a namespace and imported with a `using' directive, operators
2919 defined in the global scope, operators imported implicitly from an
2920 anonymous namespace, and the ADL operators mentioned in the previous
2921 entry.
2922 GDB now also supports proper overload resolution for all the previously
2923 mentioned flavors of operators.
2924
2925 ** static const class members
2926
2927 Printing of static const class members that are initialized in the
2928 class definition has been fixed.
2929
2930 * Windows Thread Information Block access.
2931
2932 On Windows targets, GDB now supports displaying the Windows Thread
2933 Information Block (TIB) structure. This structure is visible either
2934 by using the new command `info w32 thread-information-block' or, by
2935 dereferencing the new convenience variable named `$_tlb', a
2936 thread-specific pointer to the TIB. This feature is also supported
2937 when remote debugging using GDBserver.
2938
2939 * Static tracepoints
2940
2941 Static tracepoints are calls in the user program into a tracing
2942 library. One such library is a port of the LTTng kernel tracer to
2943 userspace --- UST (LTTng Userspace Tracer, http://lttng.org/ust).
2944 When debugging with GDBserver, GDB now supports combining the GDB
2945 tracepoint machinery with such libraries. For example: the user can
2946 use GDB to probe a static tracepoint marker (a call from the user
2947 program into the tracing library) with the new "strace" command (see
2948 "New commands" below). This creates a "static tracepoint" in the
2949 breakpoint list, that can be manipulated with the same feature set
2950 as fast and regular tracepoints. E.g., collect registers, local and
2951 global variables, collect trace state variables, and define
2952 tracepoint conditions. In addition, the user can collect extra
2953 static tracepoint marker specific data, by collecting the new
2954 $_sdata internal variable. When analyzing the trace buffer, you can
2955 inspect $_sdata like any other variable available to GDB. For more
2956 information, see the "Tracepoints" chapter in GDB user manual. New
2957 remote packets have been defined to support static tracepoints, see
2958 the "New remote packets" section below.
2959
2960 * Better reconstruction of tracepoints after disconnected tracing
2961
2962 GDB will attempt to download the original source form of tracepoint
2963 definitions when starting a trace run, and then will upload these
2964 upon reconnection to the target, resulting in a more accurate
2965 reconstruction of the tracepoints that are in use on the target.
2966
2967 * Observer mode
2968
2969 You can now exercise direct control over the ways that GDB can
2970 affect your program. For instance, you can disallow the setting of
2971 breakpoints, so that the program can run continuously (assuming
2972 non-stop mode). In addition, the "observer" variable is available
2973 to switch all of the different controls; in observer mode, GDB
2974 cannot affect the target's behavior at all, which is useful for
2975 tasks like diagnosing live systems in the field.
2976
2977 * The new convenience variable $_thread holds the number of the
2978 current thread.
2979
2980 * New remote packets
2981
2982 qGetTIBAddr
2983
2984 Return the address of the Windows Thread Information Block of a given thread.
2985
2986 qRelocInsn
2987
2988 In response to several of the tracepoint packets, the target may now
2989 also respond with a number of intermediate `qRelocInsn' request
2990 packets before the final result packet, to have GDB handle
2991 relocating an instruction to execute at a different address. This
2992 is particularly useful for stubs that support fast tracepoints. GDB
2993 reports support for this feature in the qSupported packet.
2994
2995 qTfSTM, qTsSTM
2996
2997 List static tracepoint markers in the target program.
2998
2999 qTSTMat
3000
3001 List static tracepoint markers at a given address in the target
3002 program.
3003
3004 qXfer:statictrace:read
3005
3006 Read the static trace data collected (by a `collect $_sdata'
3007 tracepoint action). The remote stub reports support for this packet
3008 to gdb's qSupported query.
3009
3010 QAllow
3011
3012 Send the current settings of GDB's permission flags.
3013
3014 QTDPsrc
3015
3016 Send part of the source (textual) form of a tracepoint definition,
3017 which includes location, conditional, and action list.
3018
3019 * The source command now accepts a -s option to force searching for the
3020 script in the source search path even if the script name specifies
3021 a directory.
3022
3023 * New features in the GDB remote stub, GDBserver
3024
3025 - GDBserver now support tracepoints (including fast tracepoints, and
3026 static tracepoints). The feature is currently supported by the
3027 i386-linux and amd64-linux builds. See the "Tracepoints support
3028 in gdbserver" section in the manual for more information.
3029
3030 GDBserver JIT compiles the tracepoint's conditional agent
3031 expression bytecode into native code whenever possible for low
3032 overhead dynamic tracepoints conditionals. For such tracepoints,
3033 an expression that examines program state is evaluated when the
3034 tracepoint is reached, in order to determine whether to capture
3035 trace data. If the condition is simple and false, processing the
3036 tracepoint finishes very quickly and no data is gathered.
3037
3038 GDBserver interfaces with the UST (LTTng Userspace Tracer) library
3039 for static tracepoints support.
3040
3041 - GDBserver now supports x86_64 Windows 64-bit debugging.
3042
3043 * GDB now sends xmlRegisters= in qSupported packet to indicate that
3044 it understands register description.
3045
3046 * The --batch flag now disables pagination and queries.
3047
3048 * X86 general purpose registers
3049
3050 GDB now supports reading/writing byte, word and double-word x86
3051 general purpose registers directly. This means you can use, say,
3052 $ah or $ax to refer, respectively, to the byte register AH and
3053 16-bit word register AX that are actually portions of the 32-bit
3054 register EAX or 64-bit register RAX.
3055
3056 * The `commands' command now accepts a range of breakpoints to modify.
3057 A plain `commands' following a command that creates multiple
3058 breakpoints affects all the breakpoints set by that command. This
3059 applies to breakpoints set by `rbreak', and also applies when a
3060 single `break' command creates multiple breakpoints (e.g.,
3061 breakpoints on overloaded c++ functions).
3062
3063 * The `rbreak' command now accepts a filename specification as part of
3064 its argument, limiting the functions selected by the regex to those
3065 in the specified file.
3066
3067 * Support for remote debugging Windows and SymbianOS shared libraries
3068 from Unix hosts has been improved. Non Windows GDB builds now can
3069 understand target reported file names that follow MS-DOS based file
3070 system semantics, such as file names that include drive letters and
3071 use the backslash character as directory separator. This makes it
3072 possible to transparently use the "set sysroot" and "set
3073 solib-search-path" on Unix hosts to point as host copies of the
3074 target's shared libraries. See the new command "set
3075 target-file-system-kind" described below, and the "Commands to
3076 specify files" section in the user manual for more information.
3077
3078 * New commands
3079
3080 eval template, expressions...
3081 Convert the values of one or more expressions under the control
3082 of the string template to a command line, and call it.
3083
3084 set target-file-system-kind unix|dos-based|auto
3085 show target-file-system-kind
3086 Set or show the assumed file system kind for target reported file
3087 names.
3088
3089 save breakpoints <filename>
3090 Save all current breakpoint definitions to a file suitable for use
3091 in a later debugging session. To read the saved breakpoint
3092 definitions, use the `source' command.
3093
3094 `save tracepoints' is a new alias for `save-tracepoints'. The latter
3095 is now deprecated.
3096
3097 info static-tracepoint-markers
3098 Display information about static tracepoint markers in the target.
3099
3100 strace FN | FILE:LINE | *ADDR | -m MARKER_ID
3101 Define a static tracepoint by probing a marker at the given
3102 function, line, address, or marker ID.
3103
3104 set observer on|off
3105 show observer
3106 Enable and disable observer mode.
3107
3108 set may-write-registers on|off
3109 set may-write-memory on|off
3110 set may-insert-breakpoints on|off
3111 set may-insert-tracepoints on|off
3112 set may-insert-fast-tracepoints on|off
3113 set may-interrupt on|off
3114 Set individual permissions for GDB effects on the target. Note that
3115 some of these settings can have undesirable or surprising
3116 consequences, particularly when changed in the middle of a session.
3117 For instance, disabling the writing of memory can prevent
3118 breakpoints from being inserted, cause single-stepping to fail, or
3119 even crash your program, if you disable after breakpoints have been
3120 inserted. However, GDB should not crash.
3121
3122 set record memory-query on|off
3123 show record memory-query
3124 Control whether to stop the inferior if memory changes caused
3125 by an instruction cannot be recorded.
3126
3127 * Changed commands
3128
3129 disassemble
3130 The disassemble command now supports "start,+length" form of two arguments.
3131
3132 * Python scripting
3133
3134 ** GDB now provides a new directory location, called the python directory,
3135 where Python scripts written for GDB can be installed. The location
3136 of that directory is <data-directory>/python, where <data-directory>
3137 is the GDB data directory. For more details, see section `Scripting
3138 GDB using Python' in the manual.
3139
3140 ** The GDB Python API now has access to breakpoints, symbols, symbol
3141 tables, program spaces, inferiors, threads and frame's code blocks.
3142 Additionally, GDB Parameters can now be created from the API, and
3143 manipulated via set/show in the CLI.
3144
3145 ** New functions gdb.target_charset, gdb.target_wide_charset,
3146 gdb.progspaces, gdb.current_progspace, and gdb.string_to_argv.
3147
3148 ** New exception gdb.GdbError.
3149
3150 ** Pretty-printers are now also looked up in the current program space.
3151
3152 ** Pretty-printers can now be individually enabled and disabled.
3153
3154 ** GDB now looks for names of Python scripts to auto-load in a
3155 special section named `.debug_gdb_scripts', in addition to looking
3156 for a OBJFILE-gdb.py script when OBJFILE is read by the debugger.
3157
3158 * Tracepoint actions were unified with breakpoint commands. In particular,
3159 there are no longer differences in "info break" output for breakpoints and
3160 tracepoints and the "commands" command can be used for both tracepoints and
3161 regular breakpoints.
3162
3163 * New targets
3164
3165 ARM Symbian arm*-*-symbianelf*
3166
3167 * D language support.
3168 GDB now supports debugging programs written in the D programming
3169 language.
3170
3171 * GDB now supports the extended ptrace interface for PowerPC which is
3172 available since Linux kernel version 2.6.34. This automatically enables
3173 any hardware breakpoints and additional hardware watchpoints available in
3174 the processor. The old ptrace interface exposes just one hardware
3175 watchpoint and no hardware breakpoints.
3176
3177 * GDB is now able to use the Data Value Compare (DVC) register available on
3178 embedded PowerPC processors to implement in hardware simple watchpoint
3179 conditions of the form:
3180
3181 watch ADDRESS|VARIABLE if ADDRESS|VARIABLE == CONSTANT EXPRESSION
3182
3183 This works in native GDB running on Linux kernels with the extended ptrace
3184 interface mentioned above.
3185
3186 *** Changes in GDB 7.1
3187
3188 * C++ Improvements
3189
3190 ** Namespace Support
3191
3192 GDB now supports importing of namespaces in C++. This enables the
3193 user to inspect variables from imported namespaces. Support for
3194 namepace aliasing has also been added. So, if a namespace is
3195 aliased in the current scope (e.g. namepace C=A; ) the user can
3196 print variables using the alias (e.g. (gdb) print C::x).
3197
3198 ** Bug Fixes
3199
3200 All known bugs relating to the printing of virtual base class were
3201 fixed. It is now possible to call overloaded static methods using a
3202 qualified name.
3203
3204 ** Cast Operators
3205
3206 The C++ cast operators static_cast<>, dynamic_cast<>, const_cast<>,
3207 and reinterpret_cast<> are now handled by the C++ expression parser.
3208
3209 * New targets
3210
3211 Xilinx MicroBlaze microblaze-*-*
3212 Renesas RX rx-*-elf
3213
3214 * New Simulators
3215
3216 Xilinx MicroBlaze microblaze
3217 Renesas RX rx
3218
3219 * Multi-program debugging.
3220
3221 GDB now has support for multi-program (a.k.a. multi-executable or
3222 multi-exec) debugging. This allows for debugging multiple inferiors
3223 simultaneously each running a different program under the same GDB
3224 session. See "Debugging Multiple Inferiors and Programs" in the
3225 manual for more information. This implied some user visible changes
3226 in the multi-inferior support. For example, "info inferiors" now
3227 lists inferiors that are not running yet or that have exited
3228 already. See also "New commands" and "New options" below.
3229
3230 * New tracing features
3231
3232 GDB's tracepoint facility now includes several new features:
3233
3234 ** Trace state variables
3235
3236 GDB tracepoints now include support for trace state variables, which
3237 are variables managed by the target agent during a tracing
3238 experiment. They are useful for tracepoints that trigger each
3239 other, so for instance one tracepoint can count hits in a variable,
3240 and then a second tracepoint has a condition that is true when the
3241 count reaches a particular value. Trace state variables share the
3242 $-syntax of GDB convenience variables, and can appear in both
3243 tracepoint actions and condition expressions. Use the "tvariable"
3244 command to create, and "info tvariables" to view; see "Trace State
3245 Variables" in the manual for more detail.
3246
3247 ** Fast tracepoints
3248
3249 GDB now includes an option for defining fast tracepoints, which
3250 targets may implement more efficiently, such as by installing a jump
3251 into the target agent rather than a trap instruction. The resulting
3252 speedup can be by two orders of magnitude or more, although the
3253 tradeoff is that some program locations on some target architectures
3254 might not allow fast tracepoint installation, for instance if the
3255 instruction to be replaced is shorter than the jump. To request a
3256 fast tracepoint, use the "ftrace" command, with syntax identical to
3257 the regular trace command.
3258
3259 ** Disconnected tracing
3260
3261 It is now possible to detach GDB from the target while it is running
3262 a trace experiment, then reconnect later to see how the experiment
3263 is going. In addition, a new variable disconnected-tracing lets you
3264 tell the target agent whether to continue running a trace if the
3265 connection is lost unexpectedly.
3266
3267 ** Trace files
3268
3269 GDB now has the ability to save the trace buffer into a file, and
3270 then use that file as a target, similarly to you can do with
3271 corefiles. You can select trace frames, print data that was
3272 collected in them, and use tstatus to display the state of the
3273 tracing run at the moment that it was saved. To create a trace
3274 file, use "tsave <filename>", and to use it, do "target tfile
3275 <name>".
3276
3277 ** Circular trace buffer
3278
3279 You can ask the target agent to handle the trace buffer as a
3280 circular buffer, discarding the oldest trace frames to make room for
3281 newer ones, by setting circular-trace-buffer to on. This feature may
3282 not be available for all target agents.
3283
3284 * Changed commands
3285
3286 disassemble
3287 The disassemble command, when invoked with two arguments, now requires
3288 the arguments to be comma-separated.
3289
3290 info variables
3291 The info variables command now displays variable definitions. Files
3292 which only declare a variable are not shown.
3293
3294 source
3295 The source command is now capable of sourcing Python scripts.
3296 This feature is dependent on the debugger being build with Python
3297 support.
3298
3299 Related to this enhancement is also the introduction of a new command
3300 "set script-extension" (see below).
3301
3302 * New commands (for set/show, see "New options" below)
3303
3304 record save [<FILENAME>]
3305 Save a file (in core file format) containing the process record
3306 execution log for replay debugging at a later time.
3307
3308 record restore <FILENAME>
3309 Restore the process record execution log that was saved at an
3310 earlier time, for replay debugging.
3311
3312 add-inferior [-copies <N>] [-exec <FILENAME>]
3313 Add a new inferior.
3314
3315 clone-inferior [-copies <N>] [ID]
3316 Make a new inferior ready to execute the same program another
3317 inferior has loaded.
3318
3319 remove-inferior ID
3320 Remove an inferior.
3321
3322 maint info program-spaces
3323 List the program spaces loaded into GDB.
3324
3325 set remote interrupt-sequence [Ctrl-C | BREAK | BREAK-g]
3326 show remote interrupt-sequence
3327 Allow the user to select one of ^C, a BREAK signal or BREAK-g
3328 as the sequence to the remote target in order to interrupt the execution.
3329 Ctrl-C is a default. Some system prefers BREAK which is high level of
3330 serial line for some certain time. Linux kernel prefers BREAK-g, a.k.a
3331 Magic SysRq g. It is BREAK signal and character 'g'.
3332
3333 set remote interrupt-on-connect [on | off]
3334 show remote interrupt-on-connect
3335 When interrupt-on-connect is ON, gdb sends interrupt-sequence to
3336 remote target when gdb connects to it. This is needed when you debug
3337 Linux kernel.
3338
3339 set remotebreak [on | off]
3340 show remotebreak
3341 Deprecated. Use "set/show remote interrupt-sequence" instead.
3342
3343 tvariable $NAME [ = EXP ]
3344 Create or modify a trace state variable.
3345
3346 info tvariables
3347 List trace state variables and their values.
3348
3349 delete tvariable $NAME ...
3350 Delete one or more trace state variables.
3351
3352 teval EXPR, ...
3353 Evaluate the given expressions without collecting anything into the
3354 trace buffer. (Valid in tracepoint actions only.)
3355
3356 ftrace FN / FILE:LINE / *ADDR
3357 Define a fast tracepoint at the given function, line, or address.
3358
3359 * New expression syntax
3360
3361 GDB now parses the 0b prefix of binary numbers the same way as GCC does.
3362 GDB now parses 0b101010 identically with 42.
3363
3364 * New options
3365
3366 set follow-exec-mode new|same
3367 show follow-exec-mode
3368 Control whether GDB reuses the same inferior across an exec call or
3369 creates a new one. This is useful to be able to restart the old
3370 executable after the inferior having done an exec call.
3371
3372 set default-collect EXPR, ...
3373 show default-collect
3374 Define a list of expressions to be collected at each tracepoint.
3375 This is a useful way to ensure essential items are not overlooked,
3376 such as registers or a critical global variable.
3377
3378 set disconnected-tracing
3379 show disconnected-tracing
3380 If set to 1, the target is instructed to continue tracing if it
3381 loses its connection to GDB. If 0, the target is to stop tracing
3382 upon disconnection.
3383
3384 set circular-trace-buffer
3385 show circular-trace-buffer
3386 If set to on, the target is instructed to use a circular trace buffer
3387 and discard the oldest trace frames instead of stopping the trace due
3388 to a full trace buffer. If set to off, the trace stops when the buffer
3389 fills up. Some targets may not support this.
3390
3391 set script-extension off|soft|strict
3392 show script-extension
3393 If set to "off", the debugger does not perform any script language
3394 recognition, and all sourced files are assumed to be GDB scripts.
3395 If set to "soft" (the default), files are sourced according to
3396 filename extension, falling back to GDB scripts if the first
3397 evaluation failed.
3398 If set to "strict", files are sourced according to filename extension.
3399
3400 set ada trust-PAD-over-XVS on|off
3401 show ada trust-PAD-over-XVS
3402 If off, activate a workaround against a bug in the debugging information
3403 generated by the compiler for PAD types (see gcc/exp_dbug.ads in
3404 the GCC sources for more information about the GNAT encoding and
3405 PAD types in particular). It is always safe to set this option to
3406 off, but this introduces a slight performance penalty. The default
3407 is on.
3408
3409 * Python API Improvements
3410
3411 ** GDB provides the new class gdb.LazyString. This is useful in
3412 some pretty-printing cases. The new method gdb.Value.lazy_string
3413 provides a simple way to create objects of this type.
3414
3415 ** The fields returned by gdb.Type.fields now have an
3416 `is_base_class' attribute.
3417
3418 ** The new method gdb.Type.range returns the range of an array type.
3419
3420 ** The new method gdb.parse_and_eval can be used to parse and
3421 evaluate an expression.
3422
3423 * New remote packets
3424
3425 QTDV
3426 Define a trace state variable.
3427
3428 qTV
3429 Get the current value of a trace state variable.
3430
3431 QTDisconnected
3432 Set desired tracing behavior upon disconnection.
3433
3434 QTBuffer:circular
3435 Set the trace buffer to be linear or circular.
3436
3437 qTfP, qTsP
3438 Get data about the tracepoints currently in use.
3439
3440 * Bug fixes
3441
3442 Process record now works correctly with hardware watchpoints.
3443
3444 Multiple bug fixes have been made to the mips-irix port, making it
3445 much more reliable. In particular:
3446 - Debugging threaded applications is now possible again. Previously,
3447 GDB would hang while starting the program, or while waiting for
3448 the program to stop at a breakpoint.
3449 - Attaching to a running process no longer hangs.
3450 - An error occurring while loading a core file has been fixed.
3451 - Changing the value of the PC register now works again. This fixes
3452 problems observed when using the "jump" command, or when calling
3453 a function from GDB, or even when assigning a new value to $pc.
3454 - With the "finish" and "return" commands, the return value for functions
3455 returning a small array is now correctly printed.
3456 - It is now possible to break on shared library code which gets executed
3457 during a shared library init phase (code executed while executing
3458 their .init section). Previously, the breakpoint would have no effect.
3459 - GDB is now able to backtrace through the signal handler for
3460 non-threaded programs.
3461
3462 PIE (Position Independent Executable) programs debugging is now supported.
3463 This includes debugging execution of PIC (Position Independent Code) shared
3464 libraries although for that, it should be possible to run such libraries as an
3465 executable program.
3466
3467 *** Changes in GDB 7.0
3468
3469 * GDB now has an interface for JIT compilation. Applications that
3470 dynamically generate code can create symbol files in memory and register
3471 them with GDB. For users, the feature should work transparently, and
3472 for JIT developers, the interface is documented in the GDB manual in the
3473 "JIT Compilation Interface" chapter.
3474
3475 * Tracepoints may now be conditional. The syntax is as for
3476 breakpoints; either an "if" clause appended to the "trace" command,
3477 or the "condition" command is available. GDB sends the condition to
3478 the target for evaluation using the same bytecode format as is used
3479 for tracepoint actions.
3480
3481 * The disassemble command now supports: an optional /r modifier, print the
3482 raw instructions in hex as well as in symbolic form, and an optional /m
3483 modifier to print mixed source+assembly.
3484
3485 * Process record and replay
3486
3487 In a architecture environment that supports ``process record and
3488 replay'', ``process record and replay'' target can record a log of
3489 the process execution, and replay it with both forward and reverse
3490 execute commands.
3491
3492 * Reverse debugging: GDB now has new commands reverse-continue, reverse-
3493 step, reverse-next, reverse-finish, reverse-stepi, reverse-nexti, and
3494 set execution-direction {forward|reverse}, for targets that support
3495 reverse execution.
3496
3497 * GDB now supports hardware watchpoints on MIPS/Linux systems. This
3498 feature is available with a native GDB running on kernel version
3499 2.6.28 or later.
3500
3501 * GDB now has support for multi-byte and wide character sets on the
3502 target. Strings whose character type is wchar_t, char16_t, or
3503 char32_t are now correctly printed. GDB supports wide- and unicode-
3504 literals in C, that is, L'x', L"string", u'x', u"string", U'x', and
3505 U"string" syntax. And, GDB allows the "%ls" and "%lc" formats in
3506 `printf'. This feature requires iconv to work properly; if your
3507 system does not have a working iconv, GDB can use GNU libiconv. See
3508 the installation instructions for more information.
3509
3510 * GDB now supports automatic retrieval of shared library files from
3511 remote targets. To use this feature, specify a system root that begins
3512 with the `remote:' prefix, either via the `set sysroot' command or via
3513 the `--with-sysroot' configure-time option.
3514
3515 * "info sharedlibrary" now takes an optional regex of libraries to show,
3516 and it now reports if a shared library has no debugging information.
3517
3518 * Commands `set debug-file-directory', `set solib-search-path' and `set args'
3519 now complete on file names.
3520
3521 * When completing in expressions, gdb will attempt to limit
3522 completions to allowable structure or union fields, where appropriate.
3523 For instance, consider:
3524
3525 # struct example { int f1; double f2; };
3526 # struct example variable;
3527 (gdb) p variable.
3528
3529 If the user types TAB at the end of this command line, the available
3530 completions will be "f1" and "f2".
3531
3532 * Inlined functions are now supported. They show up in backtraces, and
3533 the "step", "next", and "finish" commands handle them automatically.
3534
3535 * GDB now supports the token-splicing (##) and stringification (#)
3536 operators when expanding macros. It also supports variable-arity
3537 macros.
3538
3539 * GDB now supports inspecting extra signal information, exported by
3540 the new $_siginfo convenience variable. The feature is currently
3541 implemented on linux ARM, i386 and amd64.
3542
3543 * GDB can now display the VFP floating point registers and NEON vector
3544 registers on ARM targets. Both ARM GNU/Linux native GDB and gdbserver
3545 can provide these registers (requires Linux 2.6.30 or later). Remote
3546 and simulator targets may also provide them.
3547
3548 * New remote packets
3549
3550 qSearch:memory:
3551 Search memory for a sequence of bytes.
3552
3553 QStartNoAckMode
3554 Turn off `+'/`-' protocol acknowledgments to permit more efficient
3555 operation over reliable transport links. Use of this packet is
3556 controlled by the `set remote noack-packet' command.
3557
3558 vKill
3559 Kill the process with the specified process ID. Use this in preference
3560 to `k' when multiprocess protocol extensions are supported.
3561
3562 qXfer:osdata:read
3563 Obtains additional operating system information
3564
3565 qXfer:siginfo:read
3566 qXfer:siginfo:write
3567 Read or write additional signal information.
3568
3569 * Removed remote protocol undocumented extension
3570
3571 An undocumented extension to the remote protocol's `S' stop reply
3572 packet that permited the stub to pass a process id was removed.
3573 Remote servers should use the `T' stop reply packet instead.
3574
3575 * GDB now supports multiple function calling conventions according to the
3576 DWARF-2 DW_AT_calling_convention function attribute.
3577
3578 * The SH target utilizes the aforementioned change to distinguish between gcc
3579 and Renesas calling convention. It also adds the new CLI commands
3580 `set/show sh calling-convention'.
3581
3582 * GDB can now read compressed debug sections, as produced by GNU gold
3583 with the --compress-debug-sections=zlib flag.
3584
3585 * 64-bit core files are now supported on AIX.
3586
3587 * Thread switching is now supported on Tru64.
3588
3589 * Watchpoints can now be set on unreadable memory locations, e.g. addresses
3590 which will be allocated using malloc later in program execution.
3591
3592 * The qXfer:libraries:read remote procotol packet now allows passing a
3593 list of section offsets.
3594
3595 * On GNU/Linux, GDB can now attach to stopped processes. Several race
3596 conditions handling signals delivered during attach or thread creation
3597 have also been fixed.
3598
3599 * GDB now supports the use of DWARF boolean types for Ada's type Boolean.
3600 From the user's standpoint, all unqualified instances of True and False
3601 are treated as the standard definitions, regardless of context.
3602
3603 * GDB now parses C++ symbol and type names more flexibly. For
3604 example, given:
3605
3606 template<typename T> class C { };
3607 C<char const *> c;
3608
3609 GDB will now correctly handle all of:
3610
3611 ptype C<char const *>
3612 ptype C<char const*>
3613 ptype C<const char *>
3614 ptype C<const char*>
3615
3616 * New features in the GDB remote stub, gdbserver
3617
3618 - The "--wrapper" command-line argument tells gdbserver to use a
3619 wrapper program to launch programs for debugging.
3620
3621 - On PowerPC and S/390 targets, it is now possible to use a single
3622 gdbserver executable to debug both 32-bit and 64-bit programs.
3623 (This requires gdbserver itself to be built as a 64-bit executable.)
3624
3625 - gdbserver uses the new noack protocol mode for TCP connections to
3626 reduce communications latency, if also supported and enabled in GDB.
3627
3628 - Support for the sparc64-linux-gnu target is now included in
3629 gdbserver.
3630
3631 - The amd64-linux build of gdbserver now supports debugging both
3632 32-bit and 64-bit programs.
3633
3634 - The i386-linux, amd64-linux, and i386-win32 builds of gdbserver
3635 now support hardware watchpoints, and will use them automatically
3636 as appropriate.
3637
3638 * Python scripting
3639
3640 GDB now has support for scripting using Python. Whether this is
3641 available is determined at configure time.
3642
3643 New GDB commands can now be written in Python.
3644
3645 * Ada tasking support
3646
3647 Ada tasks can now be inspected in GDB. The following commands have
3648 been introduced:
3649
3650 info tasks
3651 Print the list of Ada tasks.
3652 info task N
3653 Print detailed information about task number N.
3654 task
3655 Print the task number of the current task.
3656 task N
3657 Switch the context of debugging to task number N.
3658
3659 * Support for user-defined prefixed commands. The "define" command can
3660 add new commands to existing prefixes, e.g. "target".
3661
3662 * Multi-inferior, multi-process debugging.
3663
3664 GDB now has generalized support for multi-inferior debugging. See
3665 "Debugging Multiple Inferiors" in the manual for more information.
3666 Although availability still depends on target support, the command
3667 set is more uniform now. The GNU/Linux specific multi-forks support
3668 has been migrated to this new framework. This implied some user
3669 visible changes; see "New commands" and also "Removed commands"
3670 below.
3671
3672 * Target descriptions can now describe the target OS ABI. See the
3673 "Target Description Format" section in the user manual for more
3674 information.
3675
3676 * Target descriptions can now describe "compatible" architectures
3677 to indicate that the target can execute applications for a different
3678 architecture in addition to those for the main target architecture.
3679 See the "Target Description Format" section in the user manual for
3680 more information.
3681
3682 * Multi-architecture debugging.
3683
3684 GDB now includes general supports for debugging applications on
3685 hybrid systems that use more than one single processor architecture
3686 at the same time. Each such hybrid architecture still requires
3687 specific support to be added. The only hybrid architecture supported
3688 in this version of GDB is the Cell Broadband Engine.
3689
3690 * GDB now supports integrated debugging of Cell/B.E. applications that
3691 use both the PPU and SPU architectures. To enable support for hybrid
3692 Cell/B.E. debugging, you need to configure GDB to support both the
3693 powerpc-linux or powerpc64-linux and the spu-elf targets, using the
3694 --enable-targets configure option.
3695
3696 * Non-stop mode debugging.
3697
3698 For some targets, GDB now supports an optional mode of operation in
3699 which you can examine stopped threads while other threads continue
3700 to execute freely. This is referred to as non-stop mode, with the
3701 old mode referred to as all-stop mode. See the "Non-Stop Mode"
3702 section in the user manual for more information.
3703
3704 To be able to support remote non-stop debugging, a remote stub needs
3705 to implement the non-stop mode remote protocol extensions, as
3706 described in the "Remote Non-Stop" section of the user manual. The
3707 GDB remote stub, gdbserver, has been adjusted to support these
3708 extensions on linux targets.
3709
3710 * New commands (for set/show, see "New options" below)
3711
3712 catch syscall [NAME(S) | NUMBER(S)]
3713 Catch system calls. Arguments, which should be names of system
3714 calls or their numbers, mean catch only those syscalls. Without
3715 arguments, every syscall will be caught. When the inferior issues
3716 any of the specified syscalls, GDB will stop and announce the system
3717 call, both when it is called and when its call returns. This
3718 feature is currently available with a native GDB running on the
3719 Linux Kernel, under the following architectures: x86, x86_64,
3720 PowerPC and PowerPC64.
3721
3722 find [/size-char] [/max-count] start-address, end-address|+search-space-size,
3723 val1 [, val2, ...]
3724 Search memory for a sequence of bytes.
3725
3726 maint set python print-stack
3727 maint show python print-stack
3728 Show a stack trace when an error is encountered in a Python script.
3729
3730 python [CODE]
3731 Invoke CODE by passing it to the Python interpreter.
3732
3733 macro define
3734 macro list
3735 macro undef
3736 These allow macros to be defined, undefined, and listed
3737 interactively.
3738
3739 info os processes
3740 Show operating system information about processes.
3741
3742 info inferiors
3743 List the inferiors currently under GDB's control.
3744
3745 inferior NUM
3746 Switch focus to inferior number NUM.
3747
3748 detach inferior NUM
3749 Detach from inferior number NUM.
3750
3751 kill inferior NUM
3752 Kill inferior number NUM.
3753
3754 * New options
3755
3756 set spu stop-on-load
3757 show spu stop-on-load
3758 Control whether to stop for new SPE threads during Cell/B.E. debugging.
3759
3760 set spu auto-flush-cache
3761 show spu auto-flush-cache
3762 Control whether to automatically flush the software-managed cache
3763 during Cell/B.E. debugging.
3764
3765 set sh calling-convention
3766 show sh calling-convention
3767 Control the calling convention used when calling SH target functions.
3768
3769 set debug timestamp
3770 show debug timestamp
3771 Control display of timestamps with GDB debugging output.
3772
3773 set disassemble-next-line
3774 show disassemble-next-line
3775 Control display of disassembled source lines or instructions when
3776 the debuggee stops.
3777
3778 set remote noack-packet
3779 show remote noack-packet
3780 Set/show the use of remote protocol QStartNoAckMode packet. See above
3781 under "New remote packets."
3782
3783 set remote query-attached-packet
3784 show remote query-attached-packet
3785 Control use of remote protocol `qAttached' (query-attached) packet.
3786
3787 set remote read-siginfo-object
3788 show remote read-siginfo-object
3789 Control use of remote protocol `qXfer:siginfo:read' (read-siginfo-object)
3790 packet.
3791
3792 set remote write-siginfo-object
3793 show remote write-siginfo-object
3794 Control use of remote protocol `qXfer:siginfo:write' (write-siginfo-object)
3795 packet.
3796
3797 set remote reverse-continue
3798 show remote reverse-continue
3799 Control use of remote protocol 'bc' (reverse-continue) packet.
3800
3801 set remote reverse-step
3802 show remote reverse-step
3803 Control use of remote protocol 'bs' (reverse-step) packet.
3804
3805 set displaced-stepping
3806 show displaced-stepping
3807 Control displaced stepping mode. Displaced stepping is a way to
3808 single-step over breakpoints without removing them from the debuggee.
3809 Also known as "out-of-line single-stepping".
3810
3811 set debug displaced
3812 show debug displaced
3813 Control display of debugging info for displaced stepping.
3814
3815 maint set internal-error
3816 maint show internal-error
3817 Control what GDB does when an internal error is detected.
3818
3819 maint set internal-warning
3820 maint show internal-warning
3821 Control what GDB does when an internal warning is detected.
3822
3823 set exec-wrapper
3824 show exec-wrapper
3825 unset exec-wrapper
3826 Use a wrapper program to launch programs for debugging.
3827
3828 set multiple-symbols (all|ask|cancel)
3829 show multiple-symbols
3830 The value of this variable can be changed to adjust the debugger behavior
3831 when an expression or a breakpoint location contains an ambiguous symbol
3832 name (an overloaded function name, for instance).
3833
3834 set breakpoint always-inserted
3835 show breakpoint always-inserted
3836 Keep breakpoints always inserted in the target, as opposed to inserting
3837 them when resuming the target, and removing them when the target stops.
3838 This option can improve debugger performance on slow remote targets.
3839
3840 set arm fallback-mode (arm|thumb|auto)
3841 show arm fallback-mode
3842 set arm force-mode (arm|thumb|auto)
3843 show arm force-mode
3844 These commands control how ARM GDB determines whether instructions
3845 are ARM or Thumb. The default for both settings is auto, which uses
3846 the current CPSR value for instructions without symbols; previous
3847 versions of GDB behaved as if "set arm fallback-mode arm".
3848
3849 set disable-randomization
3850 show disable-randomization
3851 Standalone programs run with the virtual address space randomization enabled
3852 by default on some platforms. This option keeps the addresses stable across
3853 multiple debugging sessions.
3854
3855 set non-stop
3856 show non-stop
3857 Control whether other threads are stopped or not when some thread hits
3858 a breakpoint.
3859
3860 set target-async
3861 show target-async
3862 Requests that asynchronous execution is enabled in the target, if available.
3863 In this case, it's possible to resume target in the background, and interact
3864 with GDB while the target is running. "show target-async" displays the
3865 current state of asynchronous execution of the target.
3866
3867 set target-wide-charset
3868 show target-wide-charset
3869 The target-wide-charset is the name of the character set that GDB
3870 uses when printing characters whose type is wchar_t.
3871
3872 set tcp auto-retry (on|off)
3873 show tcp auto-retry
3874 set tcp connect-timeout
3875 show tcp connect-timeout
3876 These commands allow GDB to retry failed TCP connections to a remote stub
3877 with a specified timeout period; this is useful if the stub is launched
3878 in parallel with GDB but may not be ready to accept connections immediately.
3879
3880 set libthread-db-search-path
3881 show libthread-db-search-path
3882 Control list of directories which GDB will search for appropriate
3883 libthread_db.
3884
3885 set schedule-multiple (on|off)
3886 show schedule-multiple
3887 Allow GDB to resume all threads of all processes or only threads of
3888 the current process.
3889
3890 set stack-cache
3891 show stack-cache
3892 Use more aggressive caching for accesses to the stack. This improves
3893 performance of remote debugging (particularly backtraces) without
3894 affecting correctness.
3895
3896 set interactive-mode (on|off|auto)
3897 show interactive-mode
3898 Control whether GDB runs in interactive mode (on) or not (off).
3899 When in interactive mode, GDB waits for the user to answer all
3900 queries. Otherwise, GDB does not wait and assumes the default
3901 answer. When set to auto (the default), GDB determines which
3902 mode to use based on the stdin settings.
3903
3904 * Removed commands
3905
3906 info forks
3907 For program forks, this is replaced by the new more generic `info
3908 inferiors' command. To list checkpoints, you can still use the
3909 `info checkpoints' command, which was an alias for the `info forks'
3910 command.
3911
3912 fork NUM
3913 Replaced by the new `inferior' command. To switch between
3914 checkpoints, you can still use the `restart' command, which was an
3915 alias for the `fork' command.
3916
3917 process PID
3918 This is removed, since some targets don't have a notion of
3919 processes. To switch between processes, you can still use the
3920 `inferior' command using GDB's own inferior number.
3921
3922 delete fork NUM
3923 For program forks, this is replaced by the new more generic `kill
3924 inferior' command. To delete a checkpoint, you can still use the
3925 `delete checkpoint' command, which was an alias for the `delete
3926 fork' command.
3927
3928 detach fork NUM
3929 For program forks, this is replaced by the new more generic `detach
3930 inferior' command. To detach a checkpoint, you can still use the
3931 `detach checkpoint' command, which was an alias for the `detach
3932 fork' command.
3933
3934 * New native configurations
3935
3936 x86/x86_64 Darwin i[34567]86-*-darwin*
3937
3938 x86_64 MinGW x86_64-*-mingw*
3939
3940 * New targets
3941
3942 Lattice Mico32 lm32-*
3943 x86 DICOS i[34567]86-*-dicos*
3944 x86_64 DICOS x86_64-*-dicos*
3945 S+core 3 score-*-*
3946
3947 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports x86 Windows CE
3948 (mingw32ce) debugging.
3949
3950 * Removed commands
3951
3952 catch load
3953 catch unload
3954 These commands were actually not implemented on any target.
3955
3956 *** Changes in GDB 6.8
3957
3958 * New native configurations
3959
3960 NetBSD/hppa hppa*-*netbsd*
3961 Xtensa GNU/Linux xtensa*-*-linux*
3962
3963 * New targets
3964
3965 NetBSD/hppa hppa*-*-netbsd*
3966 Xtensa GNU/Lunux xtensa*-*-linux*
3967
3968 * Change in command line behavior -- corefiles vs. process ids.
3969
3970 When the '-p NUMBER' or '--pid NUMBER' options are used, and
3971 attaching to process NUMBER fails, GDB no longer attempts to open a
3972 core file named NUMBER. Attaching to a program using the -c option
3973 is no longer supported. Instead, use the '-p' or '--pid' options.
3974
3975 * GDB can now be built as a native debugger for debugging Windows x86
3976 (mingw32) Portable Executable (PE) programs.
3977
3978 * Pending breakpoints no longer change their number when their address
3979 is resolved.
3980
3981 * GDB now supports breakpoints with multiple locations,
3982 including breakpoints on C++ constructors, inside C++ templates,
3983 and in inlined functions.
3984
3985 * GDB's ability to debug optimized code has been improved. GDB more
3986 accurately identifies function bodies and lexical blocks that occupy
3987 more than one contiguous range of addresses.
3988
3989 * Target descriptions can now describe registers for PowerPC.
3990
3991 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports the AltiVec and SPE
3992 registers on PowerPC targets.
3993
3994 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports thread debugging on GNU/Linux
3995 targets even when the libthread_db library is not available.
3996
3997 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports the new file transfer
3998 commands (remote put, remote get, and remote delete).
3999
4000 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports run and attach in
4001 extended-remote mode.
4002
4003 * hppa*64*-*-hpux11* target broken
4004 The debugger is unable to start a program and fails with the following
4005 error: "Error trying to get information about dynamic linker".
4006 The gdb-6.7 release is also affected.
4007
4008 * GDB now supports the --enable-targets= configure option to allow
4009 building a single GDB executable that supports multiple remote
4010 target architectures.
4011
4012 * GDB now supports debugging C and C++ programs which use the
4013 Decimal Floating Point extension. In addition, the PowerPC target
4014 now has a set of pseudo-registers to inspect decimal float values
4015 stored in two consecutive float registers.
4016
4017 * The -break-insert MI command can optionally create pending
4018 breakpoints now.
4019
4020 * Improved support for debugging Ada
4021 Many improvements to the Ada language support have been made. These
4022 include:
4023 - Better support for Ada2005 interface types
4024 - Improved handling of arrays and slices in general
4025 - Better support for Taft-amendment types
4026 - The '{type} ADDRESS' expression is now allowed on the left hand-side
4027 of an assignment
4028 - Improved command completion in Ada
4029 - Several bug fixes
4030
4031 * GDB on GNU/Linux and HP/UX can now debug through "exec" of a new
4032 process.
4033
4034 * New commands
4035
4036 set print frame-arguments (all|scalars|none)
4037 show print frame-arguments
4038 The value of this variable can be changed to control which argument
4039 values should be printed by the debugger when displaying a frame.
4040
4041 remote put
4042 remote get
4043 remote delete
4044 Transfer files to and from a remote target, and delete remote files.
4045
4046 * New MI commands
4047
4048 -target-file-put
4049 -target-file-get
4050 -target-file-delete
4051 Transfer files to and from a remote target, and delete remote files.
4052
4053 * New remote packets
4054
4055 vFile:open:
4056 vFile:close:
4057 vFile:pread:
4058 vFile:pwrite:
4059 vFile:unlink:
4060 Open, close, read, write, and delete files on the remote system.
4061
4062 vAttach
4063 Attach to an existing process on the remote system, in extended-remote
4064 mode.
4065
4066 vRun
4067 Run a new process on the remote system, in extended-remote mode.
4068
4069 *** Changes in GDB 6.7
4070
4071 * Resolved 101 resource leaks, null pointer dereferences, etc. in gdb,
4072 bfd, libiberty and opcodes, as revealed by static analysis donated by
4073 Coverity, Inc. (http://scan.coverity.com).
4074
4075 * When looking up multiply-defined global symbols, GDB will now prefer the
4076 symbol definition in the current shared library if it was built using the
4077 -Bsymbolic linker option.
4078
4079 * When the Text User Interface (TUI) is not configured, GDB will now
4080 recognize the -tui command-line option and print a message that the TUI
4081 is not supported.
4082
4083 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now has lower overhead for high
4084 frequency signals (e.g. SIGALRM) via the QPassSignals packet.
4085
4086 * GDB for MIPS targets now autodetects whether a remote target provides
4087 32-bit or 64-bit register values.
4088
4089 * Support for C++ member pointers has been improved.
4090
4091 * GDB now understands XML target descriptions, which specify the
4092 target's overall architecture. GDB can read a description from
4093 a local file or over the remote serial protocol.
4094
4095 * Vectors of single-byte data use a new integer type which is not
4096 automatically displayed as character or string data.
4097
4098 * The /s format now works with the print command. It displays
4099 arrays of single-byte integers and pointers to single-byte integers
4100 as strings.
4101
4102 * Target descriptions can now describe target-specific registers,
4103 for architectures which have implemented the support (currently
4104 only ARM, M68K, and MIPS).
4105
4106 * GDB and the GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now support the XScale
4107 iWMMXt coprocessor.
4108
4109 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, has been updated to support
4110 ARM Windows CE (mingw32ce) debugging, and GDB Windows CE support
4111 has been rewritten to use the standard GDB remote protocol.
4112
4113 * GDB can now step into C++ functions which are called through thunks.
4114
4115 * GDB for the Cell/B.E. SPU now supports overlay debugging.
4116
4117 * The GDB remote protocol "qOffsets" packet can now honor ELF segment
4118 layout. It also supports a TextSeg= and DataSeg= response when only
4119 segment base addresses (rather than offsets) are available.
4120
4121 * The /i format now outputs any trailing branch delay slot instructions
4122 immediately following the last instruction within the count specified.
4123
4124 * The GDB remote protocol "T" stop reply packet now supports a
4125 "library" response. Combined with the new "qXfer:libraries:read"
4126 packet, this response allows GDB to debug shared libraries on targets
4127 where the operating system manages the list of loaded libraries (e.g.
4128 Windows and SymbianOS).
4129
4130 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports dynamic link libraries
4131 (DLLs) on Windows and Windows CE targets.
4132
4133 * GDB now supports a faster verification that a .debug file matches its binary
4134 according to its build-id signature, if the signature is present.
4135
4136 * New commands
4137
4138 set remoteflow
4139 show remoteflow
4140 Enable or disable hardware flow control (RTS/CTS) on the serial port
4141 when debugging using remote targets.
4142
4143 set mem inaccessible-by-default
4144 show mem inaccessible-by-default
4145 If the target supplies a memory map, for instance via the remote
4146 protocol's "qXfer:memory-map:read" packet, setting this variable
4147 prevents GDB from accessing memory outside the memory map. This
4148 is useful for targets with memory mapped registers or which react
4149 badly to accesses of unmapped address space.
4150
4151 set breakpoint auto-hw
4152 show breakpoint auto-hw
4153 If the target supplies a memory map, for instance via the remote
4154 protocol's "qXfer:memory-map:read" packet, setting this variable
4155 lets GDB use hardware breakpoints automatically for memory regions
4156 where it can not use software breakpoints. This covers both the
4157 "break" command and internal breakpoints used for other commands
4158 including "next" and "finish".
4159
4160 catch exception
4161 catch exception unhandled
4162 Stop the program execution when Ada exceptions are raised.
4163
4164 catch assert
4165 Stop the program execution when an Ada assertion failed.
4166
4167 set sysroot
4168 show sysroot
4169 Set an alternate system root for target files. This is a more
4170 general version of "set solib-absolute-prefix", which is now
4171 an alias to "set sysroot".
4172
4173 info spu
4174 Provide extended SPU facility status information. This set of
4175 commands is available only when debugging the Cell/B.E. SPU
4176 architecture.
4177
4178 * New native configurations
4179
4180 OpenBSD/sh sh*-*openbsd*
4181
4182 set tdesc filename
4183 unset tdesc filename
4184 show tdesc filename
4185 Use the specified local file as an XML target description, and do
4186 not query the target for its built-in description.
4187
4188 * New targets
4189
4190 OpenBSD/sh sh*-*-openbsd*
4191 MIPS64 GNU/Linux (gdbserver) mips64-linux-gnu
4192 Toshiba Media Processor mep-elf
4193
4194 * New remote packets
4195
4196 QPassSignals:
4197 Ignore the specified signals; pass them directly to the debugged program
4198 without stopping other threads or reporting them to GDB.
4199
4200 qXfer:features:read:
4201 Read an XML target description from the target, which describes its
4202 features.
4203
4204 qXfer:spu:read:
4205 qXfer:spu:write:
4206 Read or write contents of an spufs file on the target system. These
4207 packets are available only on the Cell/B.E. SPU architecture.
4208
4209 qXfer:libraries:read:
4210 Report the loaded shared libraries. Combined with new "T" packet
4211 response, this packet allows GDB to debug shared libraries on
4212 targets where the operating system manages the list of loaded
4213 libraries (e.g. Windows and SymbianOS).
4214
4215 * Removed targets
4216
4217 Support for these obsolete configurations has been removed.
4218
4219 alpha*-*-osf1*
4220 alpha*-*-osf2*
4221 d10v-*-*
4222 hppa*-*-hiux*
4223 i[34567]86-ncr-*
4224 i[34567]86-*-dgux*
4225 i[34567]86-*-lynxos*
4226 i[34567]86-*-netware*
4227 i[34567]86-*-sco3.2v5*
4228 i[34567]86-*-sco3.2v4*
4229 i[34567]86-*-sco*
4230 i[34567]86-*-sysv4.2*
4231 i[34567]86-*-sysv4*
4232 i[34567]86-*-sysv5*
4233 i[34567]86-*-unixware2*
4234 i[34567]86-*-unixware*
4235 i[34567]86-*-sysv*
4236 i[34567]86-*-isc*
4237 m68*-cisco*-*
4238 m68*-tandem-*
4239 mips*-*-pe
4240 rs6000-*-lynxos*
4241 sh*-*-pe
4242
4243 * Other removed features
4244
4245 target abug
4246 target cpu32bug
4247 target est
4248 target rom68k
4249
4250 Various m68k-only ROM monitors.
4251
4252 target hms
4253 target e7000
4254 target sh3
4255 target sh3e
4256
4257 Various Renesas ROM monitors and debugging interfaces for SH and
4258 H8/300.
4259
4260 target ocd
4261
4262 Support for a Macraigor serial interface to on-chip debugging.
4263 GDB does not directly support the newer parallel or USB
4264 interfaces.
4265
4266 DWARF 1 support
4267
4268 A debug information format. The predecessor to DWARF 2 and
4269 DWARF 3, which are still supported.
4270
4271 Support for the HP aCC compiler on HP-UX/PA-RISC
4272
4273 SOM-encapsulated symbolic debugging information, automatic
4274 invocation of pxdb, and the aCC custom C++ ABI. This does not
4275 affect HP-UX for Itanium or GCC for HP-UX/PA-RISC. Code compiled
4276 with aCC can still be debugged on an assembly level.
4277
4278 MIPS ".pdr" sections
4279
4280 A MIPS-specific format used to describe stack frame layout
4281 in debugging information.
4282
4283 Scheme support
4284
4285 GDB could work with an older version of Guile to debug
4286 the interpreter and Scheme programs running in it.
4287
4288 set mips stack-arg-size
4289 set mips saved-gpreg-size
4290
4291 Use "set mips abi" to control parameter passing for MIPS.
4292
4293 *** Changes in GDB 6.6
4294
4295 * New targets
4296
4297 Xtensa xtensa-elf
4298 Cell Broadband Engine SPU spu-elf
4299
4300 * GDB can now be configured as a cross-debugger targeting native Windows
4301 (mingw32) or Cygwin. It can communicate with a remote debugging stub
4302 running on a Windows system over TCP/IP to debug Windows programs.
4303
4304 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, has been updated to support Windows and
4305 Cygwin debugging. Both single-threaded and multi-threaded programs are
4306 supported.
4307
4308 * The "set trust-readonly-sections" command works again. This command was
4309 broken in GDB 6.3, 6.4, and 6.5.
4310
4311 * The "load" command now supports writing to flash memory, if the remote
4312 stub provides the required support.
4313
4314 * Support for GNU/Linux Thread Local Storage (TLS, per-thread variables) no
4315 longer requires symbolic debug information (e.g. DWARF-2).
4316
4317 * New commands
4318
4319 set substitute-path
4320 unset substitute-path
4321 show substitute-path
4322 Manage a list of substitution rules that GDB uses to rewrite the name
4323 of the directories where the sources are located. This can be useful
4324 for instance when the sources were moved to a different location
4325 between compilation and debugging.
4326
4327 set trace-commands
4328 show trace-commands
4329 Print each CLI command as it is executed. Each command is prefixed with
4330 a number of `+' symbols representing the nesting depth.
4331 The source command now has a `-v' option to enable the same feature.
4332
4333 * REMOVED features
4334
4335 The ARM Demon monitor support (RDP protocol, "target rdp").
4336
4337 Kernel Object Display, an embedded debugging feature which only worked with
4338 an obsolete version of Cisco IOS.
4339
4340 The 'set download-write-size' and 'show download-write-size' commands.
4341
4342 * New remote packets
4343
4344 qSupported:
4345 Tell a stub about GDB client features, and request remote target features.
4346 The first feature implemented is PacketSize, which allows the target to
4347 specify the size of packets it can handle - to minimize the number of
4348 packets required and improve performance when connected to a remote
4349 target.
4350
4351 qXfer:auxv:read:
4352 Fetch an OS auxilliary vector from the remote stub. This packet is a
4353 more efficient replacement for qPart:auxv:read.
4354
4355 qXfer:memory-map:read:
4356 Fetch a memory map from the remote stub, including information about
4357 RAM, ROM, and flash memory devices.
4358
4359 vFlashErase:
4360 vFlashWrite:
4361 vFlashDone:
4362 Erase and program a flash memory device.
4363
4364 * Removed remote packets
4365
4366 qPart:auxv:read:
4367 This packet has been replaced by qXfer:auxv:read. Only GDB 6.4 and 6.5
4368 used it, and only gdbserver implemented it.
4369
4370 *** Changes in GDB 6.5
4371
4372 * New targets
4373
4374 Renesas M32C/M16C m32c-elf
4375
4376 Morpho Technologies ms1 ms1-elf
4377
4378 * New commands
4379
4380 init-if-undefined Initialize a convenience variable, but
4381 only if it doesn't already have a value.
4382
4383 The following commands are presently only implemented for native GNU/Linux:
4384
4385 checkpoint Save a snapshot of the program state.
4386
4387 restart <n> Return the program state to a
4388 previously saved state.
4389
4390 info checkpoints List currently saved checkpoints.
4391
4392 delete-checkpoint <n> Delete a previously saved checkpoint.
4393
4394 set|show detach-on-fork Tell gdb whether to detach from a newly
4395 forked process, or to keep debugging it.
4396
4397 info forks List forks of the user program that
4398 are available to be debugged.
4399
4400 fork <n> Switch to debugging one of several
4401 forks of the user program that are
4402 available to be debugged.
4403
4404 delete-fork <n> Delete a fork from the list of forks
4405 that are available to be debugged (and
4406 kill the forked process).
4407
4408 detach-fork <n> Delete a fork from the list of forks
4409 that are available to be debugged (and
4410 allow the process to continue).
4411
4412 * New architecture
4413
4414 Morpho Technologies ms2 ms1-elf
4415
4416 * Improved Windows host support
4417
4418 GDB now builds as a cross debugger hosted on i686-mingw32, including
4419 native console support, and remote communications using either
4420 network sockets or serial ports.
4421
4422 * Improved Modula-2 language support
4423
4424 GDB can now print most types in the Modula-2 syntax. This includes:
4425 basic types, set types, record types, enumerated types, range types,
4426 pointer types and ARRAY types. Procedure var parameters are correctly
4427 printed and hexadecimal addresses and character constants are also
4428 written in the Modula-2 syntax. Best results can be obtained by using
4429 GNU Modula-2 together with the -gdwarf-2 command line option.
4430
4431 * REMOVED features
4432
4433 The ARM rdi-share module.
4434
4435 The Netware NLM debug server.
4436
4437 *** Changes in GDB 6.4
4438
4439 * New native configurations
4440
4441 OpenBSD/arm arm*-*-openbsd*
4442 OpenBSD/mips64 mips64-*-openbsd*
4443
4444 * New targets
4445
4446 Morpho Technologies ms1 ms1-elf
4447
4448 * New command line options
4449
4450 --batch-silent As for --batch, but totally silent.
4451 --return-child-result The debugger will exist with the same value
4452 the child (debugged) program exited with.
4453 --eval-command COMMAND, -ex COMMAND
4454 Execute a single GDB CLI command. This may be
4455 specified multiple times and in conjunction
4456 with the --command (-x) option.
4457
4458 * Deprecated commands removed
4459
4460 The following commands, that were deprecated in 2000, have been
4461 removed:
4462
4463 Command Replacement
4464 set|show arm disassembly-flavor set|show arm disassembler
4465 othernames set arm disassembler
4466 set|show remotedebug set|show debug remote
4467 set|show archdebug set|show debug arch
4468 set|show eventdebug set|show debug event
4469 regs info registers
4470
4471 * New BSD user-level threads support
4472
4473 It is now possible to debug programs using the user-level threads
4474 library on OpenBSD and FreeBSD. Currently supported (target)
4475 configurations are:
4476
4477 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
4478 FreeBSD/i386 i386-*-freebsd*
4479 OpenBSD/i386 i386-*-openbsd*
4480
4481 Note that the new kernel threads libraries introduced in FreeBSD 5.x
4482 are not yet supported.
4483
4484 * New support for Matsushita MN10300 w/sim added
4485 (Work in progress). mn10300-elf.
4486
4487 * REMOVED configurations and files
4488
4489 VxWorks and the XDR protocol *-*-vxworks
4490 Motorola MCORE mcore-*-*
4491 National Semiconductor NS32000 ns32k-*-*
4492
4493 * New "set print array-indexes" command
4494
4495 After turning this setting "on", GDB prints the index of each element
4496 when displaying arrays. The default is "off" to preserve the previous
4497 behavior.
4498
4499 * VAX floating point support
4500
4501 GDB now supports the not-quite-ieee VAX F and D floating point formats.
4502
4503 * User-defined command support
4504
4505 In addition to using $arg0..$arg9 for argument passing, it is now possible
4506 to use $argc to determine now many arguments have been passed. See the
4507 section on user-defined commands in the user manual for more information.
4508
4509 *** Changes in GDB 6.3:
4510
4511 * New command line option
4512
4513 GDB now accepts -l followed by a number to set the timeout for remote
4514 debugging.
4515
4516 * GDB works with GCC -feliminate-dwarf2-dups
4517
4518 GDB now supports a more compact representation of DWARF-2 debug
4519 information using DW_FORM_ref_addr references. These are produced
4520 by GCC with the option -feliminate-dwarf2-dups and also by some
4521 proprietary compilers. With GCC, you must use GCC 3.3.4 or later
4522 to use -feliminate-dwarf2-dups.
4523
4524 * Internationalization
4525
4526 When supported by the host system, GDB will be built with
4527 internationalization (libintl). The task of marking up the sources is
4528 continued, we're looking forward to our first translation.
4529
4530 * Ada
4531
4532 Initial support for debugging programs compiled with the GNAT
4533 implementation of the Ada programming language has been integrated
4534 into GDB. In this release, support is limited to expression evaluation.
4535
4536 * New native configurations
4537
4538 GNU/Linux/m32r m32r-*-linux-gnu
4539
4540 * Remote 'p' packet
4541
4542 GDB's remote protocol now includes support for the 'p' packet. This
4543 packet is used to fetch individual registers from a remote inferior.
4544
4545 * END-OF-LIFE registers[] compatibility module
4546
4547 GDB's internal register infrastructure has been completely rewritten.
4548 The new infrastructure making possible the implementation of key new
4549 features including 32x64 (e.g., 64-bit amd64 GDB debugging a 32-bit
4550 i386 application).
4551
4552 GDB 6.3 will be the last release to include the the registers[]
4553 compatibility module that allowed out-of-date configurations to
4554 continue to work. This change directly impacts the following
4555 configurations:
4556
4557 hppa-*-hpux
4558 ia64-*-aix
4559 mips-*-irix*
4560 *-*-lynx
4561 mips-*-linux-gnu
4562 sds protocol
4563 xdr protocol
4564 powerpc bdm protocol
4565
4566 Unless there is activity to revive these configurations, they will be
4567 made OBSOLETE in GDB 6.4, and REMOVED from GDB 6.5.
4568
4569 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
4570
4571 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
4572 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
4573 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
4574 permanently REMOVED.
4575
4576 h8300-*-*
4577 mcore-*-*
4578 mn10300-*-*
4579 ns32k-*-*
4580 sh64-*-*
4581 v850-*-*
4582
4583 *** Changes in GDB 6.2.1:
4584
4585 * MIPS `break main; run' gave an heuristic-fence-post warning
4586
4587 When attempting to run even a simple program, a warning about
4588 heuristic-fence-post being hit would be reported. This problem has
4589 been fixed.
4590
4591 * MIPS IRIX 'long double' crashed GDB
4592
4593 When examining a long double variable, GDB would get a segmentation
4594 fault. The crash has been fixed (but GDB 6.2 cannot correctly examine
4595 IRIX long double values).
4596
4597 * VAX and "next"
4598
4599 A bug in the VAX stack code was causing problems with the "next"
4600 command. This problem has been fixed.
4601
4602 *** Changes in GDB 6.2:
4603
4604 * Fix for ``many threads''
4605
4606 On GNU/Linux systems that use the NPTL threads library, a program
4607 rapidly creating and deleting threads would confuse GDB leading to the
4608 error message:
4609
4610 ptrace: No such process.
4611 thread_db_get_info: cannot get thread info: generic error
4612
4613 This problem has been fixed.
4614
4615 * "-async" and "-noasync" options removed.
4616
4617 Support for the broken "-noasync" option has been removed (it caused
4618 GDB to dump core).
4619
4620 * New ``start'' command.
4621
4622 This command runs the program until the begining of the main procedure.
4623
4624 * New BSD Kernel Data Access Library (libkvm) interface
4625
4626 Using ``target kvm'' it is now possible to debug kernel core dumps and
4627 live kernel memory images on various FreeBSD, NetBSD and OpenBSD
4628 platforms. Currently supported (native-only) configurations are:
4629
4630 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
4631 FreeBSD/i386 i?86-*-freebsd*
4632 NetBSD/i386 i?86-*-netbsd*
4633 NetBSD/m68k m68*-*-netbsd*
4634 NetBSD/sparc sparc-*-netbsd*
4635 OpenBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-openbsd*
4636 OpenBSD/i386 i?86-*-openbsd*
4637 OpenBSD/m68k m68*-openbsd*
4638 OpenBSD/sparc sparc-*-openbsd*
4639
4640 * Signal trampoline code overhauled
4641
4642 Many generic problems with GDB's signal handling code have been fixed.
4643 These include: backtraces through non-contiguous stacks; recognition
4644 of sa_sigaction signal trampolines; backtrace from a NULL pointer
4645 call; backtrace through a signal trampoline; step into and out of
4646 signal handlers; and single-stepping in the signal trampoline.
4647
4648 Please note that kernel bugs are a limiting factor here. These
4649 features have been shown to work on an s390 GNU/Linux system that
4650 include a 2.6.8-rc1 kernel. Ref PR breakpoints/1702.
4651
4652 * Cygwin support for DWARF 2 added.
4653
4654 * New native configurations
4655
4656 GNU/Linux/hppa hppa*-*-linux*
4657 OpenBSD/hppa hppa*-*-openbsd*
4658 OpenBSD/m68k m68*-*-openbsd*
4659 OpenBSD/m88k m88*-*-openbsd*
4660 OpenBSD/powerpc powerpc-*-openbsd*
4661 NetBSD/vax vax-*-netbsd*
4662 OpenBSD/vax vax-*-openbsd*
4663
4664 * END-OF-LIFE frame compatibility module
4665
4666 GDB's internal frame infrastructure has been completely rewritten.
4667 The new infrastructure making it possible to support key new features
4668 including DWARF 2 Call Frame Information. To aid in the task of
4669 migrating old configurations to this new infrastructure, a
4670 compatibility module, that allowed old configurations to continue to
4671 work, was also included.
4672
4673 GDB 6.2 will be the last release to include this frame compatibility
4674 module. This change directly impacts the following configurations:
4675
4676 h8300-*-*
4677 mcore-*-*
4678 mn10300-*-*
4679 ns32k-*-*
4680 sh64-*-*
4681 v850-*-*
4682 xstormy16-*-*
4683
4684 Unless there is activity to revive these configurations, they will be
4685 made OBSOLETE in GDB 6.3, and REMOVED from GDB 6.4.
4686
4687 * REMOVED configurations and files
4688
4689 Sun 3, running SunOS 3 m68*-*-sunos3*
4690 Sun 3, running SunOS 4 m68*-*-sunos4*
4691 Sun 2, running SunOS 3 m68000-*-sunos3*
4692 Sun 2, running SunOS 4 m68000-*-sunos4*
4693 Motorola 680x0 running LynxOS m68*-*-lynxos*
4694 AT&T 3b1/Unix pc m68*-att-*
4695 Bull DPX2 (68k, System V release 3) m68*-bull-sysv*
4696 decstation mips-dec-* mips-little-*
4697 riscos mips-*-riscos* mips-*-sysv*
4698 sonymips mips-sony-*
4699 sysv mips*-*-sysv4* (IRIX 5/6 not included)
4700
4701 *** Changes in GDB 6.1.1:
4702
4703 * TUI (Text-mode User Interface) built-in (also included in GDB 6.1)
4704
4705 The TUI (Text-mode User Interface) is now built as part of a default
4706 GDB configuration. It is enabled by either selecting the TUI with the
4707 command line option "-i=tui" or by running the separate "gdbtui"
4708 program. For more information on the TUI, see the manual "Debugging
4709 with GDB".
4710
4711 * Pending breakpoint support (also included in GDB 6.1)
4712
4713 Support has been added to allow you to specify breakpoints in shared
4714 libraries that have not yet been loaded. If a breakpoint location
4715 cannot be found, and the "breakpoint pending" option is set to auto,
4716 GDB queries you if you wish to make the breakpoint pending on a future
4717 shared-library load. If and when GDB resolves the breakpoint symbol,
4718 the pending breakpoint is removed as one or more regular breakpoints
4719 are created.
4720
4721 Pending breakpoints are very useful for GCJ Java debugging.
4722
4723 * Fixed ISO-C build problems
4724
4725 The files bfd/elf-bfd.h, gdb/dictionary.c and gdb/types.c contained
4726 non ISO-C code that stopped them being built using a more strict ISO-C
4727 compiler (e.g., IBM's C compiler).
4728
4729 * Fixed build problem on IRIX 5
4730
4731 Due to header problems with <sys/proc.h>, the file gdb/proc-api.c
4732 wasn't able to compile compile on an IRIX 5 system.
4733
4734 * Added execute permission to gdb/gdbserver/configure
4735
4736 The shell script gdb/testsuite/gdb.stabs/configure lacked execute
4737 permission. This bug would cause configure to fail on a number of
4738 systems (Solaris, IRIX). Ref: server/519.
4739
4740 * Fixed build problem on hpux2.0w-hp-hpux11.00 using the HP ANSI C compiler
4741
4742 Older HPUX ANSI C compilers did not accept variable array sizes. somsolib.c
4743 has been updated to use constant array sizes.
4744
4745 * Fixed a panic in the DWARF Call Frame Info code on Solaris 2.7
4746
4747 GCC 3.3.2, on Solaris 2.7, includes the DW_EH_PE_funcrel encoding in
4748 its generated DWARF Call Frame Info. This encoding was causing GDB to
4749 panic, that panic has been fixed. Ref: gdb/1628.
4750
4751 * Fixed a problem when examining parameters in shared library code.
4752
4753 When examining parameters in optimized shared library code generated
4754 by a mainline GCC, GDB would incorrectly report ``Variable "..." is
4755 not available''. GDB now correctly displays the variable's value.
4756
4757 *** Changes in GDB 6.1:
4758
4759 * Removed --with-mmalloc
4760
4761 Support for the mmalloc memory manager has been removed, as it
4762 conflicted with the internal gdb byte cache.
4763
4764 * Changes in AMD64 configurations
4765
4766 The AMD64 target now includes the %cs and %ss registers. As a result
4767 the AMD64 remote protocol has changed; this affects the floating-point
4768 and SSE registers. If you rely on those registers for your debugging,
4769 you should upgrade gdbserver on the remote side.
4770
4771 * Revised SPARC target
4772
4773 The SPARC target has been completely revised, incorporating the
4774 FreeBSD/sparc64 support that was added for GDB 6.0. As a result
4775 support for LynxOS and SunOS 4 has been dropped. Calling functions
4776 from within GDB on operating systems with a non-executable stack
4777 (Solaris, OpenBSD) now works.
4778
4779 * New C++ demangler
4780
4781 GDB has a new C++ demangler which does a better job on the mangled
4782 names generated by current versions of g++. It also runs faster, so
4783 with this and other changes gdb should now start faster on large C++
4784 programs.
4785
4786 * DWARF 2 Location Expressions
4787
4788 GDB support for location expressions has been extended to support function
4789 arguments and frame bases. Older versions of GDB could crash when they
4790 encountered these.
4791
4792 * C++ nested types and namespaces
4793
4794 GDB's support for nested types and namespaces in C++ has been
4795 improved, especially if you use the DWARF 2 debugging format. (This
4796 is the default for recent versions of GCC on most platforms.)
4797 Specifically, if you have a class "Inner" defined within a class or
4798 namespace "Outer", then GDB realizes that the class's name is
4799 "Outer::Inner", not simply "Inner". This should greatly reduce the
4800 frequency of complaints about not finding RTTI symbols. In addition,
4801 if you are stopped at inside of a function defined within a namespace,
4802 GDB modifies its name lookup accordingly.
4803
4804 * New native configurations
4805
4806 NetBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-netbsd*
4807 OpenBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-openbsd*
4808 OpenBSD/alpha alpha*-*-openbsd*
4809 OpenBSD/sparc sparc-*-openbsd*
4810 OpenBSD/sparc64 sparc64-*-openbsd*
4811
4812 * New debugging protocols
4813
4814 M32R with SDI protocol m32r-*-elf*
4815
4816 * "set prompt-escape-char" command deleted.
4817
4818 The command "set prompt-escape-char" has been deleted. This command,
4819 and its very obscure effet on GDB's prompt, was never documented,
4820 tested, nor mentioned in the NEWS file.
4821
4822 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
4823
4824 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
4825 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
4826 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
4827 permanently REMOVED.
4828
4829 Sun 3, running SunOS 3 m68*-*-sunos3*
4830 Sun 3, running SunOS 4 m68*-*-sunos4*
4831 Sun 2, running SunOS 3 m68000-*-sunos3*
4832 Sun 2, running SunOS 4 m68000-*-sunos4*
4833 Motorola 680x0 running LynxOS m68*-*-lynxos*
4834 AT&T 3b1/Unix pc m68*-att-*
4835 Bull DPX2 (68k, System V release 3) m68*-bull-sysv*
4836 decstation mips-dec-* mips-little-*
4837 riscos mips-*-riscos* mips-*-sysv*
4838 sonymips mips-sony-*
4839 sysv mips*-*-sysv4* (IRIX 5/6 not included)
4840
4841 * REMOVED configurations and files
4842
4843 SGI Irix-4.x mips-sgi-irix4 or iris4
4844 SGI Iris (MIPS) running Irix V3: mips-sgi-irix or iris
4845 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
4846 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
4847 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
4848 HP/PA running BSD hppa*-*-bsd*
4849 HP/PA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
4850 HP/PA Pro target hppa*-*-pro*
4851 PMAX (MIPS) running Mach 3.0 mips*-*-mach3*
4852 386BSD i[3456]86-*-bsd*
4853 Sequent family i[3456]86-sequent-sysv4*
4854 i[3456]86-sequent-sysv*
4855 i[3456]86-sequent-bsd*
4856 SPARC running LynxOS sparc-*-lynxos*
4857 SPARC running SunOS 4 sparc-*-sunos4*
4858 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
4859 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
4860
4861 *** Changes in GDB 6.0:
4862
4863 * Objective-C
4864
4865 Support for debugging the Objective-C programming language has been
4866 integrated into GDB.
4867
4868 * New backtrace mechanism (includes DWARF 2 Call Frame Information).
4869
4870 DWARF 2's Call Frame Information makes available compiler generated
4871 information that more exactly describes the program's run-time stack.
4872 By using this information, GDB is able to provide more robust stack
4873 backtraces.
4874
4875 The i386, amd64 (nee, x86-64), Alpha, m68hc11, ia64, and m32r targets
4876 have been updated to use a new backtrace mechanism which includes
4877 DWARF 2 CFI support.
4878
4879 * Hosted file I/O.
4880
4881 GDB's remote protocol has been extended to include support for hosted
4882 file I/O (where the remote target uses GDB's file system). See GDB's
4883 remote protocol documentation for details.
4884
4885 * All targets using the new architecture framework.
4886
4887 All of GDB's targets have been updated to use the new internal
4888 architecture framework. The way is now open for future GDB releases
4889 to include cross-architecture native debugging support (i386 on amd64,
4890 ppc32 on ppc64).
4891
4892 * GNU/Linux's Thread Local Storage (TLS)
4893
4894 GDB now includes support for for the GNU/Linux implementation of
4895 per-thread variables.
4896
4897 * GNU/Linux's Native POSIX Thread Library (NPTL)
4898
4899 GDB's thread code has been updated to work with either the new
4900 GNU/Linux NPTL thread library or the older "LinuxThreads" library.
4901
4902 * Separate debug info.
4903
4904 GDB, in conjunction with BINUTILS, now supports a mechanism for
4905 automatically loading debug information from a separate file. Instead
4906 of shipping full debug and non-debug versions of system libraries,
4907 system integrators can now instead ship just the stripped libraries
4908 and optional debug files.
4909
4910 * DWARF 2 Location Expressions
4911
4912 DWARF 2 Location Expressions allow the compiler to more completely
4913 describe the location of variables (even in optimized code) to the
4914 debugger.
4915
4916 GDB now includes preliminary support for location expressions (support
4917 for DW_OP_piece is still missing).
4918
4919 * Java
4920
4921 A number of long standing bugs that caused GDB to die while starting a
4922 Java application have been fixed. GDB's Java support is now
4923 considered "useable".
4924
4925 * GNU/Linux support for fork, vfork, and exec.
4926
4927 The "catch fork", "catch exec", "catch vfork", and "set follow-fork-mode"
4928 commands are now implemented for GNU/Linux. They require a 2.5.x or later
4929 kernel.
4930
4931 * GDB supports logging output to a file
4932
4933 There are two new commands, "set logging" and "show logging", which can be
4934 used to capture GDB's output to a file.
4935
4936 * The meaning of "detach" has changed for gdbserver
4937
4938 The "detach" command will now resume the application, as documented. To
4939 disconnect from gdbserver and leave it stopped, use the new "disconnect"
4940 command.
4941
4942 * d10v, m68hc11 `regs' command deprecated
4943
4944 The `info registers' command has been updated so that it displays the
4945 registers using a format identical to the old `regs' command.
4946
4947 * Profiling support
4948
4949 A new command, "maint set profile on/off", has been added. This command can
4950 be used to enable or disable profiling while running GDB, to profile a
4951 session or a set of commands. In addition there is a new configure switch,
4952 "--enable-profiling", which will cause GDB to be compiled with profiling
4953 data, for more informative profiling results.
4954
4955 * Default MI syntax changed to "mi2".
4956
4957 The default MI (machine interface) syntax, enabled by the command line
4958 option "-i=mi", has been changed to "mi2". The previous MI syntax,
4959 "mi1", can be enabled by specifying the option "-i=mi1".
4960
4961 Support for the original "mi0" syntax (included in GDB 5.0) has been
4962 removed.
4963
4964 Fix for gdb/192: removed extraneous space when displaying frame level.
4965 Fix for gdb/672: update changelist is now output in mi list format.
4966 Fix for gdb/702: a -var-assign that updates the value now shows up
4967 in a subsequent -var-update.
4968
4969 * New native configurations.
4970
4971 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
4972
4973 * Multi-arched targets.
4974
4975 HP/PA HPUX11 hppa*-*-hpux*
4976 Renesas M32R/D w/simulator m32r-*-elf*
4977
4978 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
4979
4980 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
4981 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
4982 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
4983 permanently REMOVED.
4984
4985 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
4986 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
4987 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
4988 HP/PA running BSD hppa*-*-bsd*
4989 HP/PA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
4990 HP/PA Pro target hppa*-*-pro*
4991 PMAX (MIPS) running Mach 3.0 mips*-*-mach3*
4992 Sequent family i[3456]86-sequent-sysv4*
4993 i[3456]86-sequent-sysv*
4994 i[3456]86-sequent-bsd*
4995 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
4996 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
4997
4998 * REMOVED configurations and files
4999
5000 V850EA ISA
5001 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
5002 IBM AIX PS/2 i[3456]86-*-aix
5003 i386 running Mach 3.0 i[3456]86-*-mach3*
5004 i386 running Mach i[3456]86-*-mach*
5005 i386 running OSF/1 i[3456]86-*osf1mk*
5006 HP/Apollo 68k Family m68*-apollo*-sysv*,
5007 m68*-apollo*-bsd*,
5008 m68*-hp-bsd*, m68*-hp-hpux*
5009 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
5010 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
5011 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
5012 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
5013 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
5014
5015 * MIPS $fp behavior changed
5016
5017 The convenience variable $fp, for the MIPS, now consistently returns
5018 the address of the current frame's base. Previously, depending on the
5019 context, $fp could refer to either $sp or the current frame's base
5020 address. See ``8.10 Registers'' in the manual ``Debugging with GDB:
5021 The GNU Source-Level Debugger''.
5022
5023 *** Changes in GDB 5.3:
5024
5025 * GNU/Linux shared library multi-threaded performance improved.
5026
5027 When debugging a multi-threaded application on GNU/Linux, GDB now uses
5028 `/proc', in preference to `ptrace' for memory reads. This may result
5029 in an improvement in the start-up time of multi-threaded, shared
5030 library applications when run under GDB. One GDB user writes: ``loads
5031 shared libs like mad''.
5032
5033 * ``gdbserver'' now supports multi-threaded applications on some targets
5034
5035 Support for debugging multi-threaded applications which use
5036 the GNU/Linux LinuxThreads package has been added for
5037 arm*-*-linux*-gnu*, i[3456]86-*-linux*-gnu*, mips*-*-linux*-gnu*,
5038 powerpc*-*-linux*-gnu*, and sh*-*-linux*-gnu*.
5039
5040 * GDB now supports C/C++ preprocessor macros.
5041
5042 GDB now expands preprocessor macro invocations in C/C++ expressions,
5043 and provides various commands for showing macro definitions and how
5044 they expand.
5045
5046 The new command `macro expand EXPRESSION' expands any macro
5047 invocations in expression, and shows the result.
5048
5049 The new command `show macro MACRO-NAME' shows the definition of the
5050 macro named MACRO-NAME, and where it was defined.
5051
5052 Most compilers don't include information about macros in the debugging
5053 information by default. In GCC 3.1, for example, you need to compile
5054 your program with the options `-gdwarf-2 -g3'. If the macro
5055 information is present in the executable, GDB will read it.
5056
5057 * Multi-arched targets.
5058
5059 DEC Alpha (partial) alpha*-*-*
5060 DEC VAX (partial) vax-*-*
5061 NEC V850 v850-*-*
5062 National Semiconductor NS32000 (partial) ns32k-*-*
5063 Motorola 68000 (partial) m68k-*-*
5064 Motorola MCORE mcore-*-*
5065
5066 * New targets.
5067
5068 Fujitsu FRV architecture added by Red Hat frv*-*-*
5069
5070
5071 * New native configurations
5072
5073 Alpha NetBSD alpha*-*-netbsd*
5074 SH NetBSD sh*-*-netbsdelf*
5075 MIPS NetBSD mips*-*-netbsd*
5076 UltraSPARC NetBSD sparc64-*-netbsd*
5077
5078 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
5079
5080 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
5081 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
5082 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
5083 permanently REMOVED.
5084
5085 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
5086 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
5087 IBM AIX PS/2 i[3456]86-*-aix
5088 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
5089 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
5090 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
5091 i386 running Mach 3.0 i[3456]86-*-mach3*
5092 i386 running Mach i[3456]86-*-mach*
5093 i386 running OSF/1 i[3456]86-*osf1mk*
5094 HP/Apollo 68k Family m68*-apollo*-sysv*,
5095 m68*-apollo*-bsd*,
5096 m68*-hp-bsd*, m68*-hp-hpux*
5097 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
5098
5099 * OBSOLETE languages
5100
5101 CHILL, a Pascal like language used by telecommunications companies.
5102
5103 * REMOVED configurations and files
5104
5105 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi, udi29k
5106 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
5107 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
5108 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
5109 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
5110
5111 testsuite/gdb.hp/gdb.threads-hp/ directory
5112
5113 * New command "set max-user-call-depth <nnn>"
5114
5115 This command allows the user to limit the call depth of user-defined
5116 commands. The default is 1024.
5117
5118 * Changes in FreeBSD/i386 native debugging.
5119
5120 Support for the "generate-core-file" has been added.
5121
5122 * New commands "dump", "append", and "restore".
5123
5124 These commands allow data to be copied from target memory
5125 to a bfd-format or binary file (dump and append), and back
5126 from a file into memory (restore).
5127
5128 * Improved "next/step" support on multi-processor Alpha Tru64.
5129
5130 The previous single-step mechanism could cause unpredictable problems,
5131 including the random appearance of SIGSEGV or SIGTRAP signals. The use
5132 of a software single-step mechanism prevents this.
5133
5134 *** Changes in GDB 5.2.1:
5135
5136 * New targets.
5137
5138 Atmel AVR avr*-*-*
5139
5140 * Bug fixes
5141
5142 gdb/182: gdb/323: gdb/237: On alpha, gdb was reporting:
5143 mdebugread.c:2443: gdb-internal-error: sect_index_data not initialized
5144 Fix, by Joel Brobecker imported from mainline.
5145
5146 gdb/439: gdb/291: On some ELF object files, gdb was reporting:
5147 dwarf2read.c:1072: gdb-internal-error: sect_index_text not initialize
5148 Fix, by Fred Fish, imported from mainline.
5149
5150 Dwarf2 .debug_frame & .eh_frame handler improved in many ways.
5151 Surprisingly enough, it works now.
5152 By Michal Ludvig, imported from mainline.
5153
5154 i386 hardware watchpoint support:
5155 avoid misses on second run for some targets.
5156 By Pierre Muller, imported from mainline.
5157
5158 *** Changes in GDB 5.2:
5159
5160 * New command "set trust-readonly-sections on[off]".
5161
5162 This command is a hint that tells gdb that read-only sections
5163 really are read-only (ie. that their contents will not change).
5164 In this mode, gdb will go to the object file rather than the
5165 target to read memory from read-only sections (such as ".text").
5166 This can be a significant performance improvement on some
5167 (notably embedded) targets.
5168
5169 * New command "generate-core-file" (or "gcore").
5170
5171 This new gdb command allows the user to drop a core file of the child
5172 process state at any time. So far it's been implemented only for
5173 GNU/Linux and Solaris, but should be relatively easily ported to other
5174 hosts. Argument is core file name (defaults to core.<pid>).
5175
5176 * New command line option
5177
5178 GDB now accepts --pid or -p followed by a process id.
5179
5180 * Change in command line behavior -- corefiles vs. process ids.
5181
5182 There is a subtle behavior in the way in which GDB handles
5183 command line arguments. The first non-flag argument is always
5184 a program to debug, but the second non-flag argument may either
5185 be a corefile or a process id. Previously, GDB would attempt to
5186 open the second argument as a corefile, and if that failed, would
5187 issue a superfluous error message and then attempt to attach it as
5188 a process. Now, if the second argument begins with a non-digit,
5189 it will be treated as a corefile. If it begins with a digit,
5190 GDB will attempt to attach it as a process, and if no such process
5191 is found, will then attempt to open it as a corefile.
5192
5193 * Changes in ARM configurations.
5194
5195 Multi-arch support is enabled for all ARM configurations. The ARM/NetBSD
5196 configuration is fully multi-arch.
5197
5198 * New native configurations
5199
5200 ARM NetBSD arm*-*-netbsd*
5201 x86 OpenBSD i[3456]86-*-openbsd*
5202 AMD x86-64 running GNU/Linux x86_64-*-linux-*
5203 Sparc64 running FreeBSD sparc64-*-freebsd*
5204
5205 * New targets
5206
5207 Sanyo XStormy16 xstormy16-elf
5208
5209 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
5210
5211 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
5212 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
5213 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
5214 permanently REMOVED.
5215
5216 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi, udi29k
5217 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
5218 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
5219 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
5220 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
5221
5222 testsuite/gdb.hp/gdb.threads-hp/ directory
5223
5224 * REMOVED configurations and files
5225
5226 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
5227 WDC 65816 w65-*-*
5228 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
5229 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
5230 PowerPC Netware powerpc-*-netware*
5231 Harris/CXUX m88k m88*-harris-cxux*
5232 Most ns32k hosts and targets ns32k-*-mach3* ns32k-umax-*
5233 ns32k-utek-sysv* ns32k-utek-*
5234 SunOS 4.0.Xi on i386 i[3456]86-*-sunos*
5235 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1 a29k-nyu-sym1 a29k-*-kern*
5236 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x m68*-sony-sysv news
5237 ISI Optimum V (3.05) under 4.3bsd. m68*-isi-*
5238 Apple Macintosh (MPW) host and target N/A host, powerpc-*-macos*
5239
5240 * Changes to command line processing
5241
5242 The new `--args' feature can be used to specify command-line arguments
5243 for the inferior from gdb's command line.
5244
5245 * Changes to key bindings
5246
5247 There is a new `operate-and-get-next' function bound to `C-o'.
5248
5249 *** Changes in GDB 5.1.1
5250
5251 Fix compile problem on DJGPP.
5252
5253 Fix a problem with floating-point registers on the i386 being
5254 corrupted.
5255
5256 Fix to stop GDB crashing on .debug_str debug info.
5257
5258 Numerous documentation fixes.
5259
5260 Numerous testsuite fixes.
5261
5262 *** Changes in GDB 5.1:
5263
5264 * New native configurations
5265
5266 Alpha FreeBSD alpha*-*-freebsd*
5267 x86 FreeBSD 3.x and 4.x i[3456]86*-freebsd[34]*
5268 MIPS GNU/Linux mips*-*-linux*
5269 MIPS SGI Irix 6.x mips*-sgi-irix6*
5270 ia64 AIX ia64-*-aix*
5271 s390 and s390x GNU/Linux {s390,s390x}-*-linux*
5272
5273 * New targets
5274
5275 Motorola 68HC11 and 68HC12 m68hc11-elf
5276 CRIS cris-axis
5277 UltraSparc running GNU/Linux sparc64-*-linux*
5278
5279 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
5280
5281 x86 FreeBSD before 2.2 i[3456]86*-freebsd{1,2.[01]}*,
5282 Harris/CXUX m88k m88*-harris-cxux*
5283 Most ns32k hosts and targets ns32k-*-mach3* ns32k-umax-*
5284 ns32k-utek-sysv* ns32k-utek-*
5285 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
5286 WDC 65816 w65-*-*
5287 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1 a29k-nyu-sym1 a29k-*-kern*
5288 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
5289 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
5290 PowerPC Netware powerpc-*-netware*
5291 SunOS 4.0.Xi on i386 i[3456]86-*-sunos*
5292 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x m68*-sony-sysv news
5293 ISI Optimum V (3.05) under 4.3bsd. m68*-isi-*
5294 Apple Macintosh (MPW) host N/A
5295
5296 stuff.c (Program to stuff files into a specially prepared space in kdb)
5297 kdb-start.c (Main loop for the standalone kernel debugger)
5298
5299 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
5300 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
5301 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
5302 permanently REMOVED.
5303
5304 * REMOVED configurations and files
5305
5306 Altos 3068 m68*-altos-*
5307 Convex c1-*-*, c2-*-*
5308 Pyramid pyramid-*-*
5309 ARM RISCix arm-*-* (as host)
5310 Tahoe tahoe-*-*
5311 ser-ocd.c *-*-*
5312
5313 * GDB has been converted to ISO C.
5314
5315 GDB's source code has been converted to ISO C. In particular, the
5316 sources are fully protoized, and rely on standard headers being
5317 present.
5318
5319 * Other news:
5320
5321 * "info symbol" works on platforms which use COFF, ECOFF, XCOFF, and NLM.
5322
5323 * The MI enabled by default.
5324
5325 The new machine oriented interface (MI) introduced in GDB 5.0 has been
5326 revised and enabled by default. Packages which use GDB as a debugging
5327 engine behind a UI or another front end are encouraged to switch to
5328 using the GDB/MI interface, instead of the old annotations interface
5329 which is now deprecated.
5330
5331 * Support for debugging Pascal programs.
5332
5333 GDB now includes support for debugging Pascal programs. The following
5334 main features are supported:
5335
5336 - Pascal-specific data types such as sets;
5337
5338 - automatic recognition of Pascal sources based on file-name
5339 extension;
5340
5341 - Pascal-style display of data types, variables, and functions;
5342
5343 - a Pascal expression parser.
5344
5345 However, some important features are not yet supported.
5346
5347 - Pascal string operations are not supported at all;
5348
5349 - there are some problems with boolean types;
5350
5351 - Pascal type hexadecimal constants are not supported
5352 because they conflict with the internal variables format;
5353
5354 - support for Pascal objects and classes is not full yet;
5355
5356 - unlike Pascal, GDB is case-sensitive for symbol names.
5357
5358 * Changes in completion.
5359
5360 Commands such as `shell', `run' and `set args', which pass arguments
5361 to inferior programs, now complete on file names, similar to what
5362 users expect at the shell prompt.
5363
5364 Commands which accept locations, such as `disassemble', `print',
5365 `breakpoint', `until', etc. now complete on filenames as well as
5366 program symbols. Thus, if you type "break foob TAB", and the source
5367 files linked into the programs include `foobar.c', that file name will
5368 be one of the candidates for completion. However, file names are not
5369 considered for completion after you typed a colon that delimits a file
5370 name from a name of a function in that file, as in "break foo.c:bar".
5371
5372 `set demangle-style' completes on available demangling styles.
5373
5374 * New platform-independent commands:
5375
5376 It is now possible to define a post-hook for a command as well as a
5377 hook that runs before the command. For more details, see the
5378 documentation of `hookpost' in the GDB manual.
5379
5380 * Changes in GNU/Linux native debugging.
5381
5382 Support for debugging multi-threaded programs has been completely
5383 revised for all platforms except m68k and sparc. You can now debug as
5384 many threads as your system allows you to have.
5385
5386 Attach/detach is supported for multi-threaded programs.
5387
5388 Support for SSE registers was added for x86. This doesn't work for
5389 multi-threaded programs though.
5390
5391 * Changes in MIPS configurations.
5392
5393 Multi-arch support is enabled for all MIPS configurations.
5394
5395 GDB can now be built as native debugger on SGI Irix 6.x systems for
5396 debugging n32 executables. (Debugging 64-bit executables is not yet
5397 supported.)
5398
5399 * Unified support for hardware watchpoints in all x86 configurations.
5400
5401 Most (if not all) native x86 configurations support hardware-assisted
5402 breakpoints and watchpoints in a unified manner. This support
5403 implements debug register sharing between watchpoints, which allows to
5404 put a virtually infinite number of watchpoints on the same address,
5405 and also supports watching regions up to 16 bytes with several debug
5406 registers.
5407
5408 The new maintenance command `maintenance show-debug-regs' toggles
5409 debugging print-outs in functions that insert, remove, and test
5410 watchpoints and hardware breakpoints.
5411
5412 * Changes in the DJGPP native configuration.
5413
5414 New command ``info dos sysinfo'' displays assorted information about
5415 the CPU, OS, memory, and DPMI server.
5416
5417 New commands ``info dos gdt'', ``info dos ldt'', and ``info dos idt''
5418 display information about segment descriptors stored in GDT, LDT, and
5419 IDT.
5420
5421 New commands ``info dos pde'' and ``info dos pte'' display entries
5422 from Page Directory and Page Tables (for now works with CWSDPMI only).
5423 New command ``info dos address-pte'' displays the Page Table entry for
5424 a given linear address.
5425
5426 GDB can now pass command lines longer than 126 characters to the
5427 program being debugged (requires an update to the libdbg.a library
5428 which is part of the DJGPP development kit).
5429
5430 DWARF2 debug info is now supported.
5431
5432 It is now possible to `step' and `next' through calls to `longjmp'.
5433
5434 * Changes in documentation.
5435
5436 All GDB documentation was converted to GFDL, the GNU Free
5437 Documentation License.
5438
5439 Tracepoints-related commands are now fully documented in the GDB
5440 manual.
5441
5442 TUI, the Text-mode User Interface, is now documented in the manual.
5443
5444 Tracepoints-related commands are now fully documented in the GDB
5445 manual.
5446
5447 The "GDB Internals" manual now has an index. It also includes
5448 documentation of `ui_out' functions, GDB coding standards, x86
5449 hardware watchpoints, and memory region attributes.
5450
5451 * GDB's version number moved to ``version.in''
5452
5453 The Makefile variable VERSION has been replaced by the file
5454 ``version.in''. People creating GDB distributions should update the
5455 contents of this file.
5456
5457 * gdba.el deleted
5458
5459 GUD support is now a standard part of the EMACS distribution.
5460
5461 *** Changes in GDB 5.0:
5462
5463 * Improved support for debugging FP programs on x86 targets
5464
5465 Unified and much-improved support for debugging floating-point
5466 programs on all x86 targets. In particular, ``info float'' now
5467 displays the FP registers in the same format on all x86 targets, with
5468 greater level of detail.
5469
5470 * Improvements and bugfixes in hardware-assisted watchpoints
5471
5472 It is now possible to watch array elements, struct members, and
5473 bitfields with hardware-assisted watchpoints. Data-read watchpoints
5474 on x86 targets no longer erroneously trigger when the address is
5475 written.
5476
5477 * Improvements in the native DJGPP version of GDB
5478
5479 The distribution now includes all the scripts and auxiliary files
5480 necessary to build the native DJGPP version on MS-DOS/MS-Windows
5481 machines ``out of the box''.
5482
5483 The DJGPP version can now debug programs that use signals. It is
5484 possible to catch signals that happened in the debuggee, deliver
5485 signals to it, interrupt it with Ctrl-C, etc. (Previously, a signal
5486 would kill the program being debugged.) Programs that hook hardware
5487 interrupts (keyboard, timer, etc.) can also be debugged.
5488
5489 It is now possible to debug DJGPP programs that redirect their
5490 standard handles or switch them to raw (as opposed to cooked) mode, or
5491 even close them. The command ``run < foo > bar'' works as expected,
5492 and ``info terminal'' reports useful information about the debuggee's
5493 terminal, including raw/cooked mode, redirection, etc.
5494
5495 The DJGPP version now uses termios functions for console I/O, which
5496 enables debugging graphics programs. Interrupting GDB with Ctrl-C
5497 also works.
5498
5499 DOS-style file names with drive letters are now fully supported by
5500 GDB.
5501
5502 It is now possible to debug DJGPP programs that switch their working
5503 directory. It is also possible to rerun the debuggee any number of
5504 times without restarting GDB; thus, you can use the same setup,
5505 breakpoints, etc. for many debugging sessions.
5506
5507 * New native configurations
5508
5509 ARM GNU/Linux arm*-*-linux*
5510 PowerPC GNU/Linux powerpc-*-linux*
5511
5512 * New targets
5513
5514 Motorola MCore mcore-*-*
5515 x86 VxWorks i[3456]86-*-vxworks*
5516 PowerPC VxWorks powerpc-*-vxworks*
5517 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
5518
5519 * OBSOLETE configurations
5520
5521 Altos 3068 m68*-altos-*
5522 Convex c1-*-*, c2-*-*
5523 Pyramid pyramid-*-*
5524 ARM RISCix arm-*-* (as host)
5525 Tahoe tahoe-*-*
5526
5527 Configurations that have been declared obsolete will be commented out,
5528 but the code will be left in place. If there is no activity to revive
5529 these configurations before the next release of GDB, the sources will
5530 be permanently REMOVED.
5531
5532 * Gould support removed
5533
5534 Support for the Gould PowerNode and NP1 has been removed.
5535
5536 * New features for SVR4
5537
5538 On SVR4 native platforms (such as Solaris), if you attach to a process
5539 without first loading a symbol file, GDB will now attempt to locate and
5540 load symbols from the running process's executable file.
5541
5542 * Many C++ enhancements
5543
5544 C++ support has been greatly improved. Overload resolution now works properly
5545 in almost all cases. RTTI support is on the way.
5546
5547 * Remote targets can connect to a sub-program
5548
5549 A popen(3) style serial-device has been added. This device starts a
5550 sub-process (such as a stand-alone simulator) and then communicates
5551 with that. The sub-program to run is specified using the syntax
5552 ``|<program> <args>'' vis:
5553
5554 (gdb) set remotedebug 1
5555 (gdb) target extended-remote |mn10300-elf-sim program-args
5556
5557 * MIPS 64 remote protocol
5558
5559 A long standing bug in the mips64 remote protocol where by GDB
5560 expected certain 32 bit registers (ex SR) to be transfered as 32
5561 instead of 64 bits has been fixed.
5562
5563 The command ``set remote-mips64-transfers-32bit-regs on'' has been
5564 added to provide backward compatibility with older versions of GDB.
5565
5566 * ``set remotebinarydownload'' replaced by ``set remote X-packet''
5567
5568 The command ``set remotebinarydownload'' command has been replaced by
5569 ``set remote X-packet''. Other commands in ``set remote'' family
5570 include ``set remote P-packet''.
5571
5572 * Breakpoint commands accept ranges.
5573
5574 The breakpoint commands ``enable'', ``disable'', and ``delete'' now
5575 accept a range of breakpoints, e.g. ``5-7''. The tracepoint command
5576 ``tracepoint passcount'' also accepts a range of tracepoints.
5577
5578 * ``apropos'' command added.
5579
5580 The ``apropos'' command searches through command names and
5581 documentation strings, printing out matches, making it much easier to
5582 try to find a command that does what you are looking for.
5583
5584 * New MI interface
5585
5586 A new machine oriented interface (MI) has been added to GDB. This
5587 interface is designed for debug environments running GDB as a separate
5588 process. This is part of the long term libGDB project. See the
5589 "GDB/MI" chapter of the GDB manual for further information. It can be
5590 enabled by configuring with:
5591
5592 .../configure --enable-gdbmi
5593
5594 *** Changes in GDB-4.18:
5595
5596 * New native configurations
5597
5598 HP-UX 10.20 hppa*-*-hpux10.20
5599 HP-UX 11.x hppa*-*-hpux11.0*
5600 M68K GNU/Linux m68*-*-linux*
5601
5602 * New targets
5603
5604 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
5605 Intel StrongARM strongarm-*-*
5606 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
5607
5608 * OBSOLETE configurations
5609
5610 Gould PowerNode, NP1 np1-*-*, pn-*-*
5611
5612 Configurations that have been declared obsolete will be commented out,
5613 but the code will be left in place. If there is no activity to revive
5614 these configurations before the next release of GDB, the sources will
5615 be permanently REMOVED.
5616
5617 * ANSI/ISO C
5618
5619 As a compatibility experiment, GDB's source files buildsym.h and
5620 buildsym.c have been converted to pure standard C, no longer
5621 containing any K&R compatibility code. We believe that all systems in
5622 use today either come with a standard C compiler, or have a GCC port
5623 available. If this is not true, please report the affected
5624 configuration to bug-gdb@gnu.org immediately. See the README file for
5625 information about getting a standard C compiler if you don't have one
5626 already.
5627
5628 * Readline 2.2
5629
5630 GDB now uses readline 2.2.
5631
5632 * set extension-language
5633
5634 You can now control the mapping between filename extensions and source
5635 languages by using the `set extension-language' command. For instance,
5636 you can ask GDB to treat .c files as C++ by saying
5637 set extension-language .c c++
5638 The command `info extensions' lists all of the recognized extensions
5639 and their associated languages.
5640
5641 * Setting processor type for PowerPC and RS/6000
5642
5643 When GDB is configured for a powerpc*-*-* or an rs6000*-*-* target,
5644 you can use the `set processor' command to specify what variant of the
5645 PowerPC family you are debugging. The command
5646
5647 set processor NAME
5648
5649 sets the PowerPC/RS6000 variant to NAME. GDB knows about the
5650 following PowerPC and RS6000 variants:
5651
5652 ppc-uisa PowerPC UISA - a PPC processor as viewed by user-level code
5653 rs6000 IBM RS6000 ("POWER") architecture, user-level view
5654 403 IBM PowerPC 403
5655 403GC IBM PowerPC 403GC
5656 505 Motorola PowerPC 505
5657 860 Motorola PowerPC 860 or 850
5658 601 Motorola PowerPC 601
5659 602 Motorola PowerPC 602
5660 603 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 603 or 603e
5661 604 Motorola PowerPC 604 or 604e
5662 750 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 750 or 750
5663
5664 At the moment, this command just tells GDB what to name the
5665 special-purpose processor registers. Since almost all the affected
5666 registers are inaccessible to user-level programs, this command is
5667 only useful for remote debugging in its present form.
5668
5669 * HP-UX support
5670
5671 Thanks to a major code donation from Hewlett-Packard, GDB now has much
5672 more extensive support for HP-UX. Added features include shared
5673 library support, kernel threads and hardware watchpoints for 11.00,
5674 support for HP's ANSI C and C++ compilers, and a compatibility mode
5675 for xdb and dbx commands.
5676
5677 * Catchpoints
5678
5679 HP's donation includes the new concept of catchpoints, which is a
5680 generalization of the old catch command. On HP-UX, it is now possible
5681 to catch exec, fork, and vfork, as well as library loading.
5682
5683 This means that the existing catch command has changed; its first
5684 argument now specifies the type of catch to be set up. See the
5685 output of "help catch" for a list of catchpoint types.
5686
5687 * Debugging across forks
5688
5689 On HP-UX, you can choose which process to debug when a fork() happens
5690 in the inferior.
5691
5692 * TUI
5693
5694 HP has donated a curses-based terminal user interface (TUI). To get
5695 it, build with --enable-tui. Although this can be enabled for any
5696 configuration, at present it only works for native HP debugging.
5697
5698 * GDB remote protocol additions
5699
5700 A new protocol packet 'X' that writes binary data is now available.
5701 Default behavior is to try 'X', then drop back to 'M' if the stub
5702 fails to respond. The settable variable `remotebinarydownload'
5703 allows explicit control over the use of 'X'.
5704
5705 For 64-bit targets, the memory packets ('M' and 'm') can now contain a
5706 full 64-bit address. The command
5707
5708 set remoteaddresssize 32
5709
5710 can be used to revert to the old behaviour. For existing remote stubs
5711 the change should not be noticed, as the additional address information
5712 will be discarded.
5713
5714 In order to assist in debugging stubs, you may use the maintenance
5715 command `packet' to send any text string to the stub. For instance,
5716
5717 maint packet heythere
5718
5719 sends the packet "$heythere#<checksum>". Note that it is very easy to
5720 disrupt a debugging session by sending the wrong packet at the wrong
5721 time.
5722
5723 The compare-sections command allows you to compare section data on the
5724 target to what is in the executable file without uploading or
5725 downloading, by comparing CRC checksums.
5726
5727 * Tracing can collect general expressions
5728
5729 You may now collect general expressions at tracepoints. This requires
5730 further additions to the target-side stub; see tracepoint.c and
5731 doc/agentexpr.texi for further details.
5732
5733 * mask-address variable for Mips
5734
5735 For Mips targets, you may control the zeroing of the upper 32 bits of
5736 a 64-bit address by entering `set mask-address on'. This is mainly
5737 of interest to users of embedded R4xxx and R5xxx processors.
5738
5739 * Higher serial baud rates
5740
5741 GDB's serial code now allows you to specify baud rates 57600, 115200,
5742 230400, and 460800 baud. (Note that your host system may not be able
5743 to achieve all of these rates.)
5744
5745 * i960 simulator
5746
5747 The i960 configuration now includes an initial implementation of a
5748 builtin simulator, contributed by Jim Wilson.
5749
5750
5751 *** Changes in GDB-4.17:
5752
5753 * New native configurations
5754
5755 Alpha GNU/Linux alpha*-*-linux*
5756 Unixware 2.x i[3456]86-unixware2*
5757 Irix 6.x mips*-sgi-irix6*
5758 PowerPC GNU/Linux powerpc-*-linux*
5759 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
5760 Sparc GNU/Linux sparc-*-linux*
5761 Motorola sysV68 R3V7.1 m68k-motorola-sysv
5762
5763 * New targets
5764
5765 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
5766 Hitachi H8/300S h8300*-*-*
5767 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
5768 Matsushita MN10300 w/simulator mn10300-*-*
5769 MIPS NEC VR4100 mips64*vr4100*{,el}-*-elf*
5770 MIPS NEC VR5000 mips64*vr5000*{,el}-*-elf*
5771 MIPS Toshiba TX39 mips64*tx39*{,el}-*-elf*
5772 Mitsubishi D10V w/simulator d10v-*-*
5773 Mitsubishi M32R/D w/simulator m32r-*-elf*
5774 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
5775 NEC V850 w/simulator v850-*-*
5776
5777 * New debugging protocols
5778
5779 ARM with RDI protocol arm*-*-*
5780 M68K with dBUG monitor m68*-*-{aout,coff,elf}
5781 DDB and LSI variants of PMON protocol mips*-*-*
5782 PowerPC with DINK32 monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
5783 PowerPC with SDS protocol powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
5784 Macraigor OCD (Wiggler) devices powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
5785
5786 * DWARF 2
5787
5788 All configurations can now understand and use the DWARF 2 debugging
5789 format. The choice is automatic, if the symbol file contains DWARF 2
5790 information.
5791
5792 * Java frontend
5793
5794 GDB now includes basic Java language support. This support is
5795 only useful with Java compilers that produce native machine code.
5796
5797 * solib-absolute-prefix and solib-search-path
5798
5799 For SunOS and SVR4 shared libraries, you may now set the prefix for
5800 loading absolute shared library symbol files, and the search path for
5801 locating non-absolute shared library symbol files.
5802
5803 * Live range splitting
5804
5805 GDB can now effectively debug code for which GCC has performed live
5806 range splitting as part of its optimization. See gdb/doc/LRS for
5807 more details on the expected format of the stabs information.
5808
5809 * Hurd support
5810
5811 GDB's support for the GNU Hurd, including thread debugging, has been
5812 updated to work with current versions of the Hurd.
5813
5814 * ARM Thumb support
5815
5816 GDB's ARM target configuration now handles the ARM7T (Thumb) 16-bit
5817 instruction set. ARM GDB automatically detects when Thumb
5818 instructions are in use, and adjusts disassembly and backtracing
5819 accordingly.
5820
5821 * MIPS16 support
5822
5823 GDB's MIPS target configurations now handle the MIP16 16-bit
5824 instruction set.
5825
5826 * Overlay support
5827
5828 GDB now includes support for overlays; if an executable has been
5829 linked such that multiple sections are based at the same address, GDB
5830 will decide which section to use for symbolic info. You can choose to
5831 control the decision manually, using overlay commands, or implement
5832 additional target-side support and use "overlay load-target" to bring
5833 in the overlay mapping. Do "help overlay" for more detail.
5834
5835 * info symbol
5836
5837 The command "info symbol <address>" displays information about
5838 the symbol at the specified address.
5839
5840 * Trace support
5841
5842 The standard remote protocol now includes an extension that allows
5843 asynchronous collection and display of trace data. This requires
5844 extensive support in the target-side debugging stub. Tracing mode
5845 includes a new interaction mode in GDB and new commands: see the
5846 file tracepoint.c for more details.
5847
5848 * MIPS simulator
5849
5850 Configurations for embedded MIPS now include a simulator contributed
5851 by Cygnus Solutions. The simulator supports the instruction sets
5852 of most MIPS variants.
5853
5854 * Sparc simulator
5855
5856 Sparc configurations may now include the ERC32 simulator contributed
5857 by the European Space Agency. The simulator is not built into
5858 Sparc targets by default; configure with --enable-sim to include it.
5859
5860 * set architecture
5861
5862 For target configurations that may include multiple variants of a
5863 basic architecture (such as MIPS and SH), you may now set the
5864 architecture explicitly. "set arch" sets, "info arch" lists
5865 the possible architectures.
5866
5867 *** Changes in GDB-4.16:
5868
5869 * New native configurations
5870
5871 Windows 95, x86 Windows NT i[345]86-*-cygwin32
5872 M68K NetBSD m68k-*-netbsd*
5873 PowerPC AIX 4.x powerpc-*-aix*
5874 PowerPC MacOS powerpc-*-macos*
5875 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
5876 RS/6000 AIX 4.x rs6000-*-aix4*
5877
5878 * New targets
5879
5880 ARM with RDP protocol arm-*-*
5881 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
5882 MIPS VxWorks mips*-*-vxworks*
5883 MIPS VR4300 with PMON mips64*vr4300{,el}-*-elf*
5884 PowerPC with PPCBUG monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi*
5885 Hitachi SH3 sh-*-*
5886 Matra Sparclet sparclet-*-*
5887
5888 * PowerPC simulator
5889
5890 The powerpc-eabi configuration now includes the PSIM simulator,
5891 contributed by Andrew Cagney, with assistance from Mike Meissner.
5892 PSIM is a very elaborate model of the PowerPC, including not only
5893 basic instruction set execution, but also details of execution unit
5894 performance and I/O hardware. See sim/ppc/README for more details.
5895
5896 * Solaris 2.5
5897
5898 GDB now works with Solaris 2.5.
5899
5900 * Windows 95/NT native
5901
5902 GDB will now work as a native debugger on Windows 95 and Windows NT.
5903 To build it from source, you must use the "gnu-win32" environment,
5904 which uses a DLL to emulate enough of Unix to run the GNU tools.
5905 Further information, binaries, and sources are available at
5906 ftp.cygnus.com, under pub/gnu-win32.
5907
5908 * dont-repeat command
5909
5910 If a user-defined command includes the command `dont-repeat', then the
5911 command will not be repeated if the user just types return. This is
5912 useful if the command is time-consuming to run, so that accidental
5913 extra keystrokes don't run the same command many times.
5914
5915 * Send break instead of ^C
5916
5917 The standard remote protocol now includes an option to send a break
5918 rather than a ^C to the target in order to interrupt it. By default,
5919 GDB will send ^C; to send a break, set the variable `remotebreak' to 1.
5920
5921 * Remote protocol timeout
5922
5923 The standard remote protocol includes a new variable `remotetimeout'
5924 that allows you to set the number of seconds before GDB gives up trying
5925 to read from the target. The default value is 2.
5926
5927 * Automatic tracking of dynamic object loading (HPUX and Solaris only)
5928
5929 By default GDB will automatically keep track of objects as they are
5930 loaded and unloaded by the dynamic linker. By using the command `set
5931 stop-on-solib-events 1' you can arrange for GDB to stop the inferior
5932 when shared library events occur, thus allowing you to set breakpoints
5933 in shared libraries which are explicitly loaded by the inferior.
5934
5935 Note this feature does not work on hpux8. On hpux9 you must link
5936 /usr/lib/end.o into your program. This feature should work
5937 automatically on hpux10.
5938
5939 * Irix 5.x hardware watchpoint support
5940
5941 Irix 5 configurations now support the use of hardware watchpoints.
5942
5943 * Mips protocol "SYN garbage limit"
5944
5945 When debugging a Mips target using the `target mips' protocol, you
5946 may set the number of characters that GDB will ignore by setting
5947 the `syn-garbage-limit'. A value of -1 means that GDB will ignore
5948 every character. The default value is 1050.
5949
5950 * Recording and replaying remote debug sessions
5951
5952 If you set `remotelogfile' to the name of a file, gdb will write to it
5953 a recording of a remote debug session. This recording may then be
5954 replayed back to gdb using "gdbreplay". See gdbserver/README for
5955 details. This is useful when you have a problem with GDB while doing
5956 remote debugging; you can make a recording of the session and send it
5957 to someone else, who can then recreate the problem.
5958
5959 * Speedups for remote debugging
5960
5961 GDB includes speedups for downloading and stepping MIPS systems using
5962 the IDT monitor, fast downloads to the Hitachi SH E7000 emulator,
5963 and more efficient S-record downloading.
5964
5965 * Memory use reductions and statistics collection
5966
5967 GDB now uses less memory and reports statistics about memory usage.
5968 Try the `maint print statistics' command, for example.
5969
5970 *** Changes in GDB-4.15:
5971
5972 * Psymtabs for XCOFF
5973
5974 The symbol reader for AIX GDB now uses partial symbol tables. This
5975 can greatly improve startup time, especially for large executables.
5976
5977 * Remote targets use caching
5978
5979 Remote targets now use a data cache to speed up communication with the
5980 remote side. The data cache could lead to incorrect results because
5981 it doesn't know about volatile variables, thus making it impossible to
5982 debug targets which use memory mapped I/O devices. `set remotecache
5983 off' turns the the data cache off.
5984
5985 * Remote targets may have threads
5986
5987 The standard remote protocol now includes support for multiple threads
5988 in the target system, using new protocol commands 'H' and 'T'. See
5989 gdb/remote.c for details.
5990
5991 * NetROM support
5992
5993 If GDB is configured with `--enable-netrom', then it will include
5994 support for the NetROM ROM emulator from XLNT Designs. The NetROM
5995 acts as though it is a bank of ROM on the target board, but you can
5996 write into it over the network. GDB's support consists only of
5997 support for fast loading into the emulated ROM; to debug, you must use
5998 another protocol, such as standard remote protocol. The usual
5999 sequence is something like
6000
6001 target nrom <netrom-hostname>
6002 load <prog>
6003 target remote <netrom-hostname>:1235
6004
6005 * Macintosh host
6006
6007 GDB now includes support for the Apple Macintosh, as a host only. It
6008 may be run as either an MPW tool or as a standalone application, and
6009 it can debug through the serial port. All the usual GDB commands are
6010 available, but to the target command, you must supply "serial" as the
6011 device type instead of "/dev/ttyXX". See mpw-README in the main
6012 directory for more information on how to build. The MPW configuration
6013 scripts */mpw-config.in support only a few targets, and only the
6014 mips-idt-ecoff target has been tested.
6015
6016 * Autoconf
6017
6018 GDB configuration now uses autoconf. This is not user-visible,
6019 but does simplify configuration and building.
6020
6021 * hpux10
6022
6023 GDB now supports hpux10.
6024
6025 *** Changes in GDB-4.14:
6026
6027 * New native configurations
6028
6029 x86 FreeBSD i[345]86-*-freebsd
6030 x86 NetBSD i[345]86-*-netbsd
6031 NS32k NetBSD ns32k-*-netbsd
6032 Sparc NetBSD sparc-*-netbsd
6033
6034 * New targets
6035
6036 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
6037 HP PA PRO embedded (WinBond W89K & Oki OP50N) hppa*-*-pro*
6038 CPU32 EST-300 emulator m68*-*-est*
6039 PowerPC ELF powerpc-*-elf
6040 WDC 65816 w65-*-*
6041
6042 * Alpha OSF/1 support for procfs
6043
6044 GDB now supports procfs under OSF/1-2.x and higher, which makes it
6045 possible to attach to running processes. As the mounting of the /proc
6046 filesystem is optional on the Alpha, GDB automatically determines
6047 the availability of /proc during startup. This can lead to problems
6048 if /proc is unmounted after GDB has been started.
6049
6050 * Arguments to user-defined commands
6051
6052 User commands may accept up to 10 arguments separated by whitespace.
6053 Arguments are accessed within the user command via $arg0..$arg9. A
6054 trivial example:
6055 define adder
6056 print $arg0 + $arg1 + $arg2
6057
6058 To execute the command use:
6059 adder 1 2 3
6060
6061 Defines the command "adder" which prints the sum of its three arguments.
6062 Note the arguments are text substitutions, so they may reference variables,
6063 use complex expressions, or even perform inferior function calls.
6064
6065 * New `if' and `while' commands
6066
6067 This makes it possible to write more sophisticated user-defined
6068 commands. Both commands take a single argument, which is the
6069 expression to evaluate, and must be followed by the commands to
6070 execute, one per line, if the expression is nonzero, the list being
6071 terminated by the word `end'. The `if' command list may include an
6072 `else' word, which causes the following commands to be executed only
6073 if the expression is zero.
6074
6075 * Fortran source language mode
6076
6077 GDB now includes partial support for Fortran 77. It will recognize
6078 Fortran programs and can evaluate a subset of Fortran expressions, but
6079 variables and functions may not be handled correctly. GDB will work
6080 with G77, but does not yet know much about symbols emitted by other
6081 Fortran compilers.
6082
6083 * Better HPUX support
6084
6085 Most debugging facilities now work on dynamic executables for HPPAs
6086 running hpux9 or later. You can attach to running dynamically linked
6087 processes, but by default the dynamic libraries will be read-only, so
6088 for instance you won't be able to put breakpoints in them. To change
6089 that behavior do the following before running the program:
6090
6091 adb -w a.out
6092 __dld_flags?W 0x5
6093 control-d
6094
6095 This will cause the libraries to be mapped private and read-write.
6096 To revert to the normal behavior, do this:
6097
6098 adb -w a.out
6099 __dld_flags?W 0x4
6100 control-d
6101
6102 You cannot set breakpoints or examine data in the library until after
6103 the library is loaded if the function/data symbols do not have
6104 external linkage.
6105
6106 GDB can now also read debug symbols produced by the HP C compiler on
6107 HPPAs (sorry, no C++, Fortran or 68k support).
6108
6109 * Target byte order now dynamically selectable
6110
6111 You can choose which byte order to use with a target system, via the
6112 commands "set endian big" and "set endian little", and you can see the
6113 current setting by using "show endian". You can also give the command
6114 "set endian auto", in which case GDB will use the byte order
6115 associated with the executable. Currently, only embedded MIPS
6116 configurations support dynamic selection of target byte order.
6117
6118 * New DOS host serial code
6119
6120 This version uses DPMI interrupts to handle buffered I/O, so you
6121 no longer need to run asynctsr when debugging boards connected to
6122 a PC's serial port.
6123
6124 *** Changes in GDB-4.13:
6125
6126 * New "complete" command
6127
6128 This lists all the possible completions for the rest of the line, if it
6129 were to be given as a command itself. This is intended for use by emacs.
6130
6131 * Trailing space optional in prompt
6132
6133 "set prompt" no longer adds a space for you after the prompt you set. This
6134 allows you to set a prompt which ends in a space or one that does not.
6135
6136 * Breakpoint hit counts
6137
6138 "info break" now displays a count of the number of times the breakpoint
6139 has been hit. This is especially useful in conjunction with "ignore"; you
6140 can ignore a large number of breakpoint hits, look at the breakpoint info
6141 to see how many times the breakpoint was hit, then run again, ignoring one
6142 less than that number, and this will get you quickly to the last hit of
6143 that breakpoint.
6144
6145 * Ability to stop printing at NULL character
6146
6147 "set print null-stop" will cause GDB to stop printing the characters of
6148 an array when the first NULL is encountered. This is useful when large
6149 arrays actually contain only short strings.
6150
6151 * Shared library breakpoints
6152
6153 In SunOS 4.x, SVR4, and Alpha OSF/1 configurations, you can now set
6154 breakpoints in shared libraries before the executable is run.
6155
6156 * Hardware watchpoints
6157
6158 There is a new hardware breakpoint for the watch command for sparclite
6159 targets. See gdb/sparclite/hw_breakpoint.note.
6160
6161 Hardware watchpoints are also now supported under GNU/Linux.
6162
6163 * Annotations
6164
6165 Annotations have been added. These are for use with graphical interfaces,
6166 and are still experimental. Currently only gdba.el uses these.
6167
6168 * Improved Irix 5 support
6169
6170 GDB now works properly with Irix 5.2.
6171
6172 * Improved HPPA support
6173
6174 GDB now works properly with the latest GCC and GAS.
6175
6176 * New native configurations
6177
6178 Sequent PTX4 i[34]86-sequent-ptx4
6179 HPPA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
6180 Atari TT running SVR4 m68*-*-sysv4*
6181 RS/6000 LynxOS rs6000-*-lynxos*
6182
6183 * New targets
6184
6185 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
6186 MIPS R4000 mips64*{,el}-*-{ecoff,elf}
6187 Sparc64 sparc64-*-*
6188
6189 * Hitachi SH7000 and E7000-PC ICE support
6190
6191 There is now support for communicating with the Hitachi E7000-PC ICE.
6192 This is available automatically when GDB is configured for the SH.
6193
6194 * Fixes
6195
6196 As usual, a variety of small fixes and improvements, both generic
6197 and configuration-specific. See the ChangeLog for more detail.
6198
6199 *** Changes in GDB-4.12:
6200
6201 * Irix 5 is now supported
6202
6203 * HPPA support
6204
6205 GDB-4.12 on the HPPA has a number of changes which make it unable
6206 to debug the output from the currently released versions of GCC and
6207 GAS (GCC 2.5.8 and GAS-2.2 or PAGAS-1.36). Until the next major release
6208 of GCC and GAS, versions of these tools designed to work with GDB-4.12
6209 can be retrieved via anonymous ftp from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist.
6210
6211
6212 *** Changes in GDB-4.11:
6213
6214 * User visible changes:
6215
6216 * Remote Debugging
6217
6218 The "set remotedebug" option is now consistent between the mips remote
6219 target, remote targets using the gdb-specific protocol, UDI (AMD's
6220 debug protocol for the 29k) and the 88k bug monitor. It is now an
6221 integer specifying a debug level (normally 0 or 1, but 2 means more
6222 debugging info for the mips target).
6223
6224 * DEC Alpha native support
6225
6226 GDB now works on the DEC Alpha. GCC 2.4.5 does not produce usable
6227 debug info, but GDB works fairly well with the DEC compiler and should
6228 work with a future GCC release. See the README file for a few
6229 Alpha-specific notes.
6230
6231 * Preliminary thread implementation
6232
6233 GDB now has preliminary thread support for both SGI/Irix and LynxOS.
6234
6235 * LynxOS native and target support for 386
6236
6237 This release has been hosted on LynxOS 2.2, and also can be configured
6238 to remotely debug programs running under LynxOS (see gdb/gdbserver/README
6239 for details).
6240
6241 * Improvements in C++ mangling/demangling.
6242
6243 This release has much better g++ debugging, specifically in name
6244 mangling/demangling, virtual function calls, print virtual table,
6245 call methods, ...etc.
6246
6247 *** Changes in GDB-4.10:
6248
6249 * User visible changes:
6250
6251 Remote debugging using the GDB-specific (`target remote') protocol now
6252 supports the `load' command. This is only useful if you have some
6253 other way of getting the stub to the target system, and you can put it
6254 somewhere in memory where it won't get clobbered by the download.
6255
6256 Filename completion now works.
6257
6258 When run under emacs mode, the "info line" command now causes the
6259 arrow to point to the line specified. Also, "info line" prints
6260 addresses in symbolic form (as well as hex).
6261
6262 All vxworks based targets now support a user settable option, called
6263 vxworks-timeout. This option represents the number of seconds gdb
6264 should wait for responses to rpc's. You might want to use this if
6265 your vxworks target is, perhaps, a slow software simulator or happens
6266 to be on the far side of a thin network line.
6267
6268 * DEC alpha support
6269
6270 This release contains support for using a DEC alpha as a GDB host for
6271 cross debugging. Native alpha debugging is not supported yet.
6272
6273
6274 *** Changes in GDB-4.9:
6275
6276 * Testsuite
6277
6278 This is the first GDB release which is accompanied by a matching testsuite.
6279 The testsuite requires installation of dejagnu, which should be available
6280 via ftp from most sites that carry GNU software.
6281
6282 * C++ demangling
6283
6284 'Cfront' style demangling has had its name changed to 'ARM' style, to
6285 emphasize that it was written from the specifications in the C++ Annotated
6286 Reference Manual, not necessarily to be compatible with AT&T cfront. Despite
6287 disclaimers, it still generated too much confusion with users attempting to
6288 use gdb with AT&T cfront.
6289
6290 * Simulators
6291
6292 GDB now uses a standard remote interface to a simulator library.
6293 So far, the library contains simulators for the Zilog Z8001/2, the
6294 Hitachi H8/300, H8/500 and Super-H.
6295
6296 * New targets supported
6297
6298 H8/300 simulator h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
6299 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
6300 SH simulator sh-hitachi-hms or sh
6301 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
6302 IDT MIPS board over serial line mips-idt-ecoff
6303
6304 Cross-debugging to GO32 targets is supported. It requires a custom
6305 version of the i386-stub.c module which is integrated with the
6306 GO32 memory extender.
6307
6308 * New remote protocols
6309
6310 MIPS remote debugging protocol.
6311
6312 * New source languages supported
6313
6314 This version includes preliminary support for Chill, a Pascal like language
6315 used by telecommunications companies. Chill support is also being integrated
6316 into the GNU compiler, but we don't know when it will be publically available.
6317
6318
6319 *** Changes in GDB-4.8:
6320
6321 * HP Precision Architecture supported
6322
6323 GDB now supports HP PA-RISC machines running HPUX. A preliminary
6324 version of this support was available as a set of patches from the
6325 University of Utah. GDB does not support debugging of programs
6326 compiled with the HP compiler, because HP will not document their file
6327 format. Instead, you must use GCC (version 2.3.2 or later) and PA-GAS
6328 (as available from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist/pa-gas.u4.tar.Z).
6329
6330 Many problems in the preliminary version have been fixed.
6331
6332 * Faster and better demangling
6333
6334 We have improved template demangling and fixed numerous bugs in the GNU style
6335 demangler. It can now handle type modifiers such as `static' or `const'. Wide
6336 character types (wchar_t) are now supported. Demangling of each symbol is now
6337 only done once, and is cached when the symbol table for a file is read in.
6338 This results in a small increase in memory usage for C programs, a moderate
6339 increase in memory usage for C++ programs, and a fantastic speedup in
6340 symbol lookups.
6341
6342 `Cfront' style demangling still doesn't work with AT&T cfront. It was written
6343 from the specifications in the Annotated Reference Manual, which AT&T's
6344 compiler does not actually implement.
6345
6346 * G++ multiple inheritance compiler problem
6347
6348 In the 2.3.2 release of gcc/g++, how the compiler resolves multiple
6349 inheritance lattices was reworked to properly discover ambiguities. We
6350 recently found an example which causes this new algorithm to fail in a
6351 very subtle way, producing bad debug information for those classes.
6352 The file 'gcc.patch' (in this directory) can be applied to gcc to
6353 circumvent the problem. A future GCC release will contain a complete
6354 fix.
6355
6356 The previous G++ debug info problem (mentioned below for the gdb-4.7
6357 release) is fixed in gcc version 2.3.2.
6358
6359 * Improved configure script
6360
6361 The `configure' script will now attempt to guess your system type if
6362 you don't supply a host system type. The old scheme of supplying a
6363 host system triplet is preferable over using this. All the magic is
6364 done in the new `config.guess' script. Examine it for details.
6365
6366 We have also brought our configure script much more in line with the FSF's
6367 version. It now supports the --with-xxx options. In particular,
6368 `--with-minimal-bfd' can be used to make the GDB binary image smaller.
6369 The resulting GDB will not be able to read arbitrary object file formats --
6370 only the format ``expected'' to be used on the configured target system.
6371 We hope to make this the default in a future release.
6372
6373 * Documentation improvements
6374
6375 There's new internal documentation on how to modify GDB, and how to
6376 produce clean changes to the code. We implore people to read it
6377 before submitting changes.
6378
6379 The GDB manual uses new, sexy Texinfo conditionals, rather than arcane
6380 M4 macros. The new texinfo.tex is provided in this release. Pre-built
6381 `info' files are also provided. To build `info' files from scratch,
6382 you will need the latest `makeinfo' release, which will be available in
6383 a future texinfo-X.Y release.
6384
6385 *NOTE* The new texinfo.tex can cause old versions of TeX to hang.
6386 We're not sure exactly which versions have this problem, but it has
6387 been seen in 3.0. We highly recommend upgrading to TeX version 3.141
6388 or better. If that isn't possible, there is a patch in
6389 `texinfo/tex3patch' that will modify `texinfo/texinfo.tex' to work
6390 around this problem.
6391
6392 * New features
6393
6394 GDB now supports array constants that can be used in expressions typed in by
6395 the user. The syntax is `{element, element, ...}'. Ie: you can now type
6396 `print {1, 2, 3}', and it will build up an array in memory malloc'd in
6397 the target program.
6398
6399 The new directory `gdb/sparclite' contains a program that demonstrates
6400 how the sparc-stub.c remote stub runs on a Fujitsu SPARClite processor.
6401
6402 * New native hosts supported
6403
6404 HP/PA-RISC under HPUX using GNU tools hppa1.1-hp-hpux
6405 386 CPUs running SCO Unix 3.2v4 i386-unknown-sco3.2v4
6406
6407 * New targets supported
6408
6409 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi or udi29k
6410
6411 * New file formats supported
6412
6413 BFD now supports reading HP/PA-RISC executables (SOM file format?),
6414 HPUX core files, and SCO 3.2v2 core files.
6415
6416 * Major bug fixes
6417
6418 Attaching to processes now works again; thanks for the many bug reports.
6419
6420 We have also stomped on a bunch of core dumps caused by
6421 printf_filtered("%s") problems.
6422
6423 We eliminated a copyright problem on the rpc and ptrace header files
6424 for VxWorks, which was discovered at the last minute during the 4.7
6425 release. You should now be able to build a VxWorks GDB.
6426
6427 You can now interrupt gdb while an attached process is running. This
6428 will cause the attached process to stop, and give control back to GDB.
6429
6430 We fixed problems caused by using too many file descriptors
6431 for reading symbols from object files and libraries. This was
6432 especially a problem for programs that used many (~100) shared
6433 libraries.
6434
6435 The `step' command now only enters a subroutine if there is line number
6436 information for the subroutine. Otherwise it acts like the `next'
6437 command. Previously, `step' would enter subroutines if there was
6438 any debugging information about the routine. This avoids problems
6439 when using `cc -g1' on MIPS machines.
6440
6441 * Internal improvements
6442
6443 GDB's internal interfaces have been improved to make it easier to support
6444 debugging of multiple languages in the future.
6445
6446 GDB now uses a common structure for symbol information internally.
6447 Minimal symbols (derived from linkage symbols in object files), partial
6448 symbols (from a quick scan of debug information), and full symbols
6449 contain a common subset of information, making it easier to write
6450 shared code that handles any of them.
6451
6452 * New command line options
6453
6454 We now accept --silent as an alias for --quiet.
6455
6456 * Mmalloc licensing
6457
6458 The memory-mapped-malloc library is now licensed under the GNU Library
6459 General Public License.
6460
6461 *** Changes in GDB-4.7:
6462
6463 * Host/native/target split
6464
6465 GDB has had some major internal surgery to untangle the support for
6466 hosts and remote targets. Now, when you configure GDB for a remote
6467 target, it will no longer load in all of the support for debugging
6468 local programs on the host. When fully completed and tested, this will
6469 ensure that arbitrary host/target combinations are possible.
6470
6471 The primary conceptual shift is to separate the non-portable code in
6472 GDB into three categories. Host specific code is required any time GDB
6473 is compiled on that host, regardless of the target. Target specific
6474 code relates to the peculiarities of the target, but can be compiled on
6475 any host. Native specific code is everything else: it can only be
6476 built when the host and target are the same system. Child process
6477 handling and core file support are two common `native' examples.
6478
6479 GDB's use of /proc for controlling Unix child processes is now cleaner.
6480 It has been split out into a single module under the `target_ops' vector,
6481 plus two native-dependent functions for each system that uses /proc.
6482
6483 * New hosts supported
6484
6485 HP/Apollo 68k (under the BSD domain) m68k-apollo-bsd or apollo68bsd
6486 386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
6487 386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or i386sco
6488
6489 * New targets supported
6490
6491 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
6492 68030 and CPU32 m68030-*-*, m68332-*-*
6493
6494 * New native hosts supported
6495
6496 386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
6497 (386bsd is not well tested yet)
6498 386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or sco
6499
6500 * New file formats supported
6501
6502 BFD now supports COFF files for the Zilog Z8000 microprocessor. It
6503 supports reading of `a.out.adobe' object files, which are an a.out
6504 format extended with minimal information about multiple sections.
6505
6506 * New commands
6507
6508 `show copying' is the same as the old `info copying'.
6509 `show warranty' is the same as `info warrantee'.
6510 These were renamed for consistency. The old commands continue to work.
6511
6512 `info handle' is a new alias for `info signals'.
6513
6514 You can now define pre-command hooks, which attach arbitrary command
6515 scripts to any command. The commands in the hook will be executed
6516 prior to the user's command. You can also create a hook which will be
6517 executed whenever the program stops. See gdb.texinfo.
6518
6519 * C++ improvements
6520
6521 We now deal with Cfront style name mangling, and can even extract type
6522 info from mangled symbols. GDB can automatically figure out which
6523 symbol mangling style your C++ compiler uses.
6524
6525 Calling of methods and virtual functions has been improved as well.
6526
6527 * Major bug fixes
6528
6529 The crash that occured when debugging Sun Ansi-C compiled binaries is
6530 fixed. This was due to mishandling of the extra N_SO stabs output
6531 by the compiler.
6532
6533 We also finally got Ultrix 4.2 running in house, and fixed core file
6534 support, with help from a dozen people on the net.
6535
6536 John M. Farrell discovered that the reason that single-stepping was so
6537 slow on all of the Mips based platforms (primarily SGI and DEC) was
6538 that we were trying to demangle and lookup a symbol used for internal
6539 purposes on every instruction that was being stepped through. Changing
6540 the name of that symbol so that it couldn't be mistaken for a C++
6541 mangled symbol sped things up a great deal.
6542
6543 Rich Pixley sped up symbol lookups in general by getting much smarter
6544 about when C++ symbol mangling is necessary. This should make symbol
6545 completion (TAB on the command line) much faster. It's not as fast as
6546 we'd like, but it's significantly faster than gdb-4.6.
6547
6548 * AMD 29k support
6549
6550 A new user controllable variable 'call_scratch_address' can
6551 specify the location of a scratch area to be used when GDB
6552 calls a function in the target. This is necessary because the
6553 usual method of putting the scratch area on the stack does not work
6554 in systems that have separate instruction and data spaces.
6555
6556 We integrated changes to support the 29k UDI (Universal Debugger
6557 Interface), but discovered at the last minute that we didn't have all
6558 of the appropriate copyright paperwork. We are working with AMD to
6559 resolve this, and hope to have it available soon.
6560
6561 * Remote interfaces
6562
6563 We have sped up the remote serial line protocol, especially for targets
6564 with lots of registers. It now supports a new `expedited status' ('T')
6565 message which can be used in place of the existing 'S' status message.
6566 This allows the remote stub to send only the registers that GDB
6567 needs to make a quick decision about single-stepping or conditional
6568 breakpoints, eliminating the need to fetch the entire register set for
6569 each instruction being stepped through.
6570
6571 The GDB remote serial protocol now implements a write-through cache for
6572 registers, only re-reading the registers if the target has run.
6573
6574 There is also a new remote serial stub for SPARC processors. You can
6575 find it in gdb-4.7/gdb/sparc-stub.c. This was written to support the
6576 Fujitsu SPARClite processor, but will run on any stand-alone SPARC
6577 processor with a serial port.
6578
6579 * Configuration
6580
6581 Configure.in files have become much easier to read and modify. A new
6582 `table driven' format makes it more obvious what configurations are
6583 supported, and what files each one uses.
6584
6585 * Library changes
6586
6587 There is a new opcodes library which will eventually contain all of the
6588 disassembly routines and opcode tables. At present, it only contains
6589 Sparc and Z8000 routines. This will allow the assembler, debugger, and
6590 disassembler (binutils/objdump) to share these routines.
6591
6592 The libiberty library is now copylefted under the GNU Library General
6593 Public License. This allows more liberal use, and was done so libg++
6594 can use it. This makes no difference to GDB, since the Library License
6595 grants all the rights from the General Public License.
6596
6597 * Documentation
6598
6599 The file gdb-4.7/gdb/doc/stabs.texinfo is a (relatively) complete
6600 reference to the stabs symbol info used by the debugger. It is (as far
6601 as we know) the only published document on this fascinating topic. We
6602 encourage you to read it, compare it to the stabs information on your
6603 system, and send improvements on the document in general (to
6604 bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu).
6605
6606 And, of course, many bugs have been fixed.
6607
6608
6609 *** Changes in GDB-4.6:
6610
6611 * Better support for C++ function names
6612
6613 GDB now accepts as input the "demangled form" of C++ overloaded function
6614 names and member function names, and can do command completion on such names
6615 (using TAB, TAB-TAB, and ESC-?). The names have to be quoted with a pair of
6616 single quotes. Examples are 'func (int, long)' and 'obj::operator==(obj&)'.
6617 Make use of command completion, it is your friend.
6618
6619 GDB also now accepts a variety of C++ mangled symbol formats. They are
6620 the GNU g++ style, the Cfront (ARM) style, and the Lucid (lcc) style.
6621 You can tell GDB which format to use by doing a 'set demangle-style {gnu,
6622 lucid, cfront, auto}'. 'gnu' is the default. Do a 'set demangle-style foo'
6623 for the list of formats.
6624
6625 * G++ symbol mangling problem
6626
6627 Recent versions of gcc have a bug in how they emit debugging information for
6628 C++ methods (when using dbx-style stabs). The file 'gcc.patch' (in this
6629 directory) can be applied to gcc to fix the problem. Alternatively, if you
6630 can't fix gcc, you can #define GCC_MANGLE_BUG when compling gdb/symtab.c. The
6631 usual symptom is difficulty with setting breakpoints on methods. GDB complains
6632 about the method being non-existent. (We believe that version 2.2.2 of GCC has
6633 this problem.)
6634
6635 * New 'maintenance' command
6636
6637 All of the commands related to hacking GDB internals have been moved out of
6638 the main command set, and now live behind the 'maintenance' command. This
6639 can also be abbreviated as 'mt'. The following changes were made:
6640
6641 dump-me -> maintenance dump-me
6642 info all-breakpoints -> maintenance info breakpoints
6643 printmsyms -> maintenance print msyms
6644 printobjfiles -> maintenance print objfiles
6645 printpsyms -> maintenance print psymbols
6646 printsyms -> maintenance print symbols
6647
6648 The following commands are new:
6649
6650 maintenance demangle Call internal GDB demangler routine to
6651 demangle a C++ link name and prints the result.
6652 maintenance print type Print a type chain for a given symbol
6653
6654 * Change to .gdbinit file processing
6655
6656 We now read the $HOME/.gdbinit file before processing the argv arguments
6657 (e.g. reading symbol files or core files). This allows global parameters to
6658 be set, which will apply during the symbol reading. The ./.gdbinit is still
6659 read after argv processing.
6660
6661 * New hosts supported
6662
6663 Solaris-2.0 !!! sparc-sun-solaris2 or sun4sol2
6664
6665 GNU/Linux support i386-unknown-linux or linux
6666
6667 We are also including code to support the HP/PA running BSD and HPUX. This
6668 is almost guaranteed not to work, as we didn't have time to test or build it
6669 for this release. We are including it so that the more adventurous (or
6670 masochistic) of you can play with it. We also had major problems with the
6671 fact that the compiler that we got from HP doesn't support the -g option.
6672 It costs extra.
6673
6674 * New targets supported
6675
6676 Hitachi H8/300 h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
6677
6678 * More smarts about finding #include files
6679
6680 GDB now remembers the compilation directory for all include files, and for
6681 all files from which C is generated (like yacc and lex sources). This
6682 greatly improves GDB's ability to find yacc/lex sources, and include files,
6683 especially if you are debugging your program from a directory different from
6684 the one that contains your sources.
6685
6686 We also fixed a bug which caused difficulty with listing and setting
6687 breakpoints in include files which contain C code. (In the past, you had to
6688 try twice in order to list an include file that you hadn't looked at before.)
6689
6690 * Interesting infernals change
6691
6692 GDB now deals with arbitrary numbers of sections, where the symbols for each
6693 section must be relocated relative to that section's landing place in the
6694 target's address space. This work was needed to support ELF with embedded
6695 stabs used by Solaris-2.0.
6696
6697 * Bug fixes (of course!)
6698
6699 There have been loads of fixes for the following things:
6700 mips, rs6000, 29k/udi, m68k, g++, type handling, elf/dwarf, m88k,
6701 i960, stabs, DOS(GO32), procfs, etc...
6702
6703 See the ChangeLog for details.
6704
6705 *** Changes in GDB-4.5:
6706
6707 * New machines supported (host and target)
6708
6709 IBM RS6000 running AIX rs6000-ibm-aix or rs6000
6710
6711 SGI Irix-4.x mips-sgi-irix4 or iris4
6712
6713 * New malloc package
6714
6715 GDB now uses a new memory manager called mmalloc, based on gmalloc.
6716 Mmalloc is capable of handling mutiple heaps of memory. It is also
6717 capable of saving a heap to a file, and then mapping it back in later.
6718 This can be used to greatly speedup the startup of GDB by using a
6719 pre-parsed symbol table which lives in a mmalloc managed heap. For
6720 more details, please read mmalloc/mmalloc.texi.
6721
6722 * info proc
6723
6724 The 'info proc' command (SVR4 only) has been enhanced quite a bit. See
6725 'help info proc' for details.
6726
6727 * MIPS ecoff symbol table format
6728
6729 The code that reads MIPS symbol table format is now supported on all hosts.
6730 Thanks to MIPS for releasing the sym.h and symconst.h files to make this
6731 possible.
6732
6733 * File name changes for MS-DOS
6734
6735 Many files in the config directories have been renamed to make it easier to
6736 support GDB on MS-DOSe systems (which have very restrictive file name
6737 conventions :-( ). MS-DOSe host support (under DJ Delorie's GO32
6738 environment) is close to working but has some remaining problems. Note
6739 that debugging of DOS programs is not supported, due to limitations
6740 in the ``operating system'', but it can be used to host cross-debugging.
6741
6742 * Cross byte order fixes
6743
6744 Many fixes have been made to support cross debugging of Sparc and MIPS
6745 targets from hosts whose byte order differs.
6746
6747 * New -mapped and -readnow options
6748
6749 If memory-mapped files are available on your system through the 'mmap'
6750 system call, you can use the -mapped option on the `file' or
6751 `symbol-file' commands to cause GDB to write the symbols from your
6752 program into a reusable file. If the program you are debugging is
6753 called `/path/fred', the mapped symbol file will be `./fred.syms'.
6754 Future GDB debugging sessions will notice the presence of this file,
6755 and will quickly map in symbol information from it, rather than reading
6756 the symbol table from the executable program. Using the '-mapped'
6757 option in a GDB `file' or `symbol-file' command has the same effect as
6758 starting GDB with the '-mapped' command-line option.
6759
6760 You can cause GDB to read the entire symbol table immediately by using
6761 the '-readnow' option with any of the commands that load symbol table
6762 information (or on the GDB command line). This makes the command
6763 slower, but makes future operations faster.
6764
6765 The -mapped and -readnow options are typically combined in order to
6766 build a `fred.syms' file that contains complete symbol information.
6767 A simple GDB invocation to do nothing but build a `.syms' file for future
6768 use is:
6769
6770 gdb -batch -nx -mapped -readnow programname
6771
6772 The `.syms' file is specific to the host machine on which GDB is run.
6773 It holds an exact image of GDB's internal symbol table. It cannot be
6774 shared across multiple host platforms.
6775
6776 * longjmp() handling
6777
6778 GDB is now capable of stepping and nexting over longjmp(), _longjmp(), and
6779 siglongjmp() without losing control. This feature has not yet been ported to
6780 all systems. It currently works on many 386 platforms, all MIPS-based
6781 platforms (SGI, DECstation, etc), and Sun3/4.
6782
6783 * Solaris 2.0
6784
6785 Preliminary work has been put in to support the new Solaris OS from Sun. At
6786 this time, it can control and debug processes, but it is not capable of
6787 reading symbols.
6788
6789 * Bug fixes
6790
6791 As always, many many bug fixes. The major areas were with g++, and mipsread.
6792 People using the MIPS-based platforms should experience fewer mysterious
6793 crashes and trashed symbol tables.
6794
6795 *** Changes in GDB-4.4:
6796
6797 * New machines supported (host and target)
6798
6799 SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
6800 (except core files)
6801 BSD Reno on Vax vax-dec-bsd
6802 Ultrix on Vax vax-dec-ultrix
6803
6804 * New machines supported (target)
6805
6806 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
6807
6808 * C++ support
6809
6810 GDB continues to improve its handling of C++. `References' work better.
6811 The demangler has also been improved, and now deals with symbols mangled as
6812 per the Annotated C++ Reference Guide.
6813
6814 GDB also now handles `stabs' symbol information embedded in MIPS
6815 `ecoff' symbol tables. Since the ecoff format was not easily
6816 extensible to handle new languages such as C++, this appeared to be a
6817 good way to put C++ debugging info into MIPS binaries. This option
6818 will be supported in the GNU C compiler, version 2, when it is
6819 released.
6820
6821 * New features for SVR4
6822
6823 GDB now handles SVR4 shared libraries, in the same fashion as SunOS
6824 shared libraries. Debugging dynamically linked programs should present
6825 only minor differences from debugging statically linked programs.
6826
6827 The `info proc' command will print out information about any process
6828 on an SVR4 system (including the one you are debugging). At the moment,
6829 it prints the address mappings of the process.
6830
6831 If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please send mail to
6832 bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were reqired (if any).
6833
6834 * Better dynamic linking support in SunOS
6835
6836 Reading symbols from shared libraries which contain debugging symbols
6837 now works properly. However, there remain issues such as automatic
6838 skipping of `transfer vector' code during function calls, which
6839 make it harder to debug code in a shared library, than to debug the
6840 same code linked statically.
6841
6842 * New Getopt
6843
6844 GDB is now using the latest `getopt' routines from the FSF. This
6845 version accepts the -- prefix for options with long names. GDB will
6846 continue to accept the old forms (-option and +option) as well.
6847 Various single letter abbreviations for options have been explicity
6848 added to the option table so that they won't get overshadowed in the
6849 future by other options that begin with the same letter.
6850
6851 * Bugs fixed
6852
6853 The `cleanup_undefined_types' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
6854 Many assorted bugs have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
6855 See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
6856
6857
6858 *** Changes in GDB-4.3:
6859
6860 * New machines supported (host and target)
6861
6862 Amiga 3000 running Amix m68k-cbm-svr4 or amix
6863 NCR 3000 386 running SVR4 i386-ncr-svr4 or ncr3000
6864 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
6865
6866 * Almost SCO Unix support
6867
6868 We had hoped to support:
6869 SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
6870 (except for core file support), but we discovered very late in the release
6871 that it has problems with process groups that render gdb unusable. Sorry
6872 about that. I encourage people to fix it and post the fixes.
6873
6874 * Preliminary ELF and DWARF support
6875
6876 GDB can read ELF object files on System V Release 4, and can handle
6877 debugging records for C, in DWARF format, in ELF files. This support
6878 is preliminary. If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please
6879 send mail to bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were
6880 reqired (if any).
6881
6882 * New Readline
6883
6884 GDB now uses the latest `readline' library. One user-visible change
6885 is that two tabs will list possible command completions, which previously
6886 required typing M-? (meta-question mark, or ESC ?).
6887
6888 * Bugs fixed
6889
6890 The `stepi' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
6891 Many bugs in C++ have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
6892 See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
6893
6894 * State of the MIPS world (in case you wondered):
6895
6896 GDB can understand the symbol tables emitted by the compilers
6897 supplied by most vendors of MIPS-based machines, including DEC. These
6898 symbol tables are in a format that essentially nobody else uses.
6899
6900 Some versions of gcc come with an assembler post-processor called
6901 mips-tfile. This program is required if you want to do source-level
6902 debugging of gcc-compiled programs. I believe FSF does not ship
6903 mips-tfile with gcc version 1, but it will eventually come with gcc
6904 version 2.
6905
6906 Debugging of g++ output remains a problem. g++ version 1.xx does not
6907 really support it at all. (If you're lucky, you should be able to get
6908 line numbers and stack traces to work, but no parameters or local
6909 variables.) With some work it should be possible to improve the
6910 situation somewhat.
6911
6912 When gcc version 2 is released, you will have somewhat better luck.
6913 However, even then you will get confusing results for inheritance and
6914 methods.
6915
6916 We will eventually provide full debugging of g++ output on
6917 DECstations. This will probably involve some kind of stabs-in-ecoff
6918 encapulation, but the details have not been worked out yet.
6919
6920
6921 *** Changes in GDB-4.2:
6922
6923 * Improved configuration
6924
6925 Only one copy of `configure' exists now, and it is not self-modifying.
6926 Porting BFD is simpler.
6927
6928 * Stepping improved
6929
6930 The `step' and `next' commands now only stop at the first instruction
6931 of a source line. This prevents the multiple stops that used to occur
6932 in switch statements, for-loops, etc. `Step' continues to stop if a
6933 function that has debugging information is called within the line.
6934
6935 * Bug fixing
6936
6937 Lots of small bugs fixed. More remain.
6938
6939 * New host supported (not target)
6940
6941 Intel 386 PC clone running Mach i386-none-mach
6942
6943
6944 *** Changes in GDB-4.1:
6945
6946 * Multiple source language support
6947
6948 GDB now has internal scaffolding to handle several source languages.
6949 It determines the type of each source file from its filename extension,
6950 and will switch expression parsing and number formatting to match the
6951 language of the function in the currently selected stack frame.
6952 You can also specifically set the language to be used, with
6953 `set language c' or `set language modula-2'.
6954
6955 * GDB and Modula-2
6956
6957 GDB now has preliminary support for the GNU Modula-2 compiler,
6958 currently under development at the State University of New York at
6959 Buffalo. Development of both GDB and the GNU Modula-2 compiler will
6960 continue through the fall of 1991 and into 1992.
6961
6962 Other Modula-2 compilers are currently not supported, and attempting to
6963 debug programs compiled with them will likely result in an error as the
6964 symbol table is read. Feel free to work on it, though!
6965
6966 There are hooks in GDB for strict type checking and range checking,
6967 in the `Modula-2 philosophy', but they do not currently work.
6968
6969 * set write on/off
6970
6971 GDB can now write to executable and core files (e.g. patch
6972 a variable's value). You must turn this switch on, specify
6973 the file ("exec foo" or "core foo"), *then* modify it, e.g.
6974 by assigning a new value to a variable. Modifications take
6975 effect immediately.
6976
6977 * Automatic SunOS shared library reading
6978
6979 When you run your program, GDB automatically determines where its
6980 shared libraries (if any) have been loaded, and reads their symbols.
6981 The `share' command is no longer needed. This also works when
6982 examining core files.
6983
6984 * set listsize
6985
6986 You can specify the number of lines that the `list' command shows.
6987 The default is 10.
6988
6989 * New machines supported (host and target)
6990
6991 SGI Iris (MIPS) running Irix V3: mips-sgi-irix or iris
6992 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x: m68k-sony-sysv or news
6993 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1: a29k-nyu-sym1 or ultra3
6994
6995 * New hosts supported (not targets)
6996
6997 IBM RT/PC: romp-ibm-aix or rtpc
6998
6999 * New targets supported (not hosts)
7000
7001 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
7002 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
7003 Ultracomputer remote kernel debug a29k-nyu-kern
7004
7005 * New remote interfaces
7006
7007 AMD 29000 Adapt
7008 AMD 29000 Minimon
7009
7010
7011 *** Changes in GDB-4.0:
7012
7013 * New Facilities
7014
7015 Wide output is wrapped at good places to make the output more readable.
7016
7017 Gdb now supports cross-debugging from a host machine of one type to a
7018 target machine of another type. Communication with the target system
7019 is over serial lines. The ``target'' command handles connecting to the
7020 remote system; the ``load'' command will download a program into the
7021 remote system. Serial stubs for the m68k and i386 are provided. Gdb
7022 also supports debugging of realtime processes running under VxWorks,
7023 using SunRPC Remote Procedure Calls over TCP/IP to talk to a debugger
7024 stub on the target system.
7025
7026 New CPUs supported include the AMD 29000 and Intel 960.
7027
7028 GDB now reads object files and symbol tables via a ``binary file''
7029 library, which allows a single copy of GDB to debug programs of multiple
7030 object file types such as a.out and coff.
7031
7032 There is now a GDB reference card in "doc/refcard.tex". (Make targets
7033 refcard.dvi and refcard.ps are available to format it).
7034
7035
7036 * Control-Variable user interface simplified
7037
7038 All variables that control the operation of the debugger can be set
7039 by the ``set'' command, and displayed by the ``show'' command.
7040
7041 For example, ``set prompt new-gdb=>'' will change your prompt to new-gdb=>.
7042 ``Show prompt'' produces the response:
7043 Gdb's prompt is new-gdb=>.
7044
7045 What follows are the NEW set commands. The command ``help set'' will
7046 print a complete list of old and new set commands. ``help set FOO''
7047 will give a longer description of the variable FOO. ``show'' will show
7048 all of the variable descriptions and their current settings.
7049
7050 confirm on/off: Enables warning questions for operations that are
7051 hard to recover from, e.g. rerunning the program while
7052 it is already running. Default is ON.
7053
7054 editing on/off: Enables EMACS style command line editing
7055 of input. Previous lines can be recalled with
7056 control-P, the current line can be edited with control-B,
7057 you can search for commands with control-R, etc.
7058 Default is ON.
7059
7060 history filename NAME: NAME is where the gdb command history
7061 will be stored. The default is .gdb_history,
7062 or the value of the environment variable
7063 GDBHISTFILE.
7064
7065 history size N: The size, in commands, of the command history. The
7066 default is 256, or the value of the environment variable
7067 HISTSIZE.
7068
7069 history save on/off: If this value is set to ON, the history file will
7070 be saved after exiting gdb. If set to OFF, the
7071 file will not be saved. The default is OFF.
7072
7073 history expansion on/off: If this value is set to ON, then csh-like
7074 history expansion will be performed on
7075 command line input. The default is OFF.
7076
7077 radix N: Sets the default radix for input and output. It can be set
7078 to 8, 10, or 16. Note that the argument to "radix" is interpreted
7079 in the current radix, so "set radix 10" is always a no-op.
7080
7081 height N: This integer value is the number of lines on a page. Default
7082 is 24, the current `stty rows'' setting, or the ``li#''
7083 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
7084 variable TERM.
7085
7086 width N: This integer value is the number of characters on a line.
7087 Default is 80, the current `stty cols'' setting, or the ``co#''
7088 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
7089 variable TERM.
7090
7091 Note: ``set screensize'' is obsolete. Use ``set height'' and
7092 ``set width'' instead.
7093
7094 print address on/off: Print memory addresses in various command displays,
7095 such as stack traces and structure values. Gdb looks
7096 more ``symbolic'' if you turn this off; it looks more
7097 ``machine level'' with it on. Default is ON.
7098
7099 print array on/off: Prettyprint arrays. New convenient format! Default
7100 is OFF.
7101
7102 print demangle on/off: Print C++ symbols in "source" form if on,
7103 "raw" form if off.
7104
7105 print asm-demangle on/off: Same, for assembler level printouts
7106 like instructions.
7107
7108 print vtbl on/off: Prettyprint C++ virtual function tables. Default is OFF.
7109
7110
7111 * Support for Epoch Environment.
7112
7113 The epoch environment is a version of Emacs v18 with windowing. One
7114 new command, ``inspect'', is identical to ``print'', except that if you
7115 are running in the epoch environment, the value is printed in its own
7116 window.
7117
7118
7119 * Support for Shared Libraries
7120
7121 GDB can now debug programs and core files that use SunOS shared libraries.
7122 Symbols from a shared library cannot be referenced
7123 before the shared library has been linked with the program (this
7124 happens after you type ``run'' and before the function main() is entered).
7125 At any time after this linking (including when examining core files
7126 from dynamically linked programs), gdb reads the symbols from each
7127 shared library when you type the ``sharedlibrary'' command.
7128 It can be abbreviated ``share''.
7129
7130 sharedlibrary REGEXP: Load shared object library symbols for files
7131 matching a unix regular expression. No argument
7132 indicates to load symbols for all shared libraries.
7133
7134 info sharedlibrary: Status of loaded shared libraries.
7135
7136
7137 * Watchpoints
7138
7139 A watchpoint stops execution of a program whenever the value of an
7140 expression changes. Checking for this slows down execution
7141 tremendously whenever you are in the scope of the expression, but is
7142 quite useful for catching tough ``bit-spreader'' or pointer misuse
7143 problems. Some machines such as the 386 have hardware for doing this
7144 more quickly, and future versions of gdb will use this hardware.
7145
7146 watch EXP: Set a watchpoint (breakpoint) for an expression.
7147
7148 info watchpoints: Information about your watchpoints.
7149
7150 delete N: Deletes watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
7151 disable N: Temporarily turns off watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
7152 enable N: Re-enables watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
7153
7154
7155 * C++ multiple inheritance
7156
7157 When used with a GCC version 2 compiler, GDB supports multiple inheritance
7158 for C++ programs.
7159
7160 * C++ exception handling
7161
7162 Gdb now supports limited C++ exception handling. Besides the existing
7163 ability to breakpoint on an exception handler, gdb can breakpoint on
7164 the raising of an exception (before the stack is peeled back to the
7165 handler's context).
7166
7167 catch FOO: If there is a FOO exception handler in the dynamic scope,
7168 set a breakpoint to catch exceptions which may be raised there.
7169 Multiple exceptions (``catch foo bar baz'') may be caught.
7170
7171 info catch: Lists all exceptions which may be caught in the
7172 current stack frame.
7173
7174
7175 * Minor command changes
7176
7177 The command ``call func (arg, arg, ...)'' now acts like the print
7178 command, except it does not print or save a value if the function's result
7179 is void. This is similar to dbx usage.
7180
7181 The ``up'' and ``down'' commands now always print the frame they end up
7182 at; ``up-silently'' and `down-silently'' can be used in scripts to change
7183 frames without printing.
7184
7185 * New directory command
7186
7187 'dir' now adds directories to the FRONT of the source search path.
7188 The path starts off empty. Source files that contain debug information
7189 about the directory in which they were compiled can be found even
7190 with an empty path; Sun CC and GCC include this information. If GDB can't
7191 find your source file in the current directory, type "dir .".
7192
7193 * Configuring GDB for compilation
7194
7195 For normal use, type ``./configure host''. See README or gdb.texinfo
7196 for more details.
7197
7198 GDB now handles cross debugging. If you are remotely debugging between
7199 two different machines, type ``./configure host -target=targ''.
7200 Host is the machine where GDB will run; targ is the machine
7201 where the program that you are debugging will run.
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