* server.c (handle_query): Correct error handling for read_auxv.
[deliverable/binutils-gdb.git] / gdb / NEWS
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1 What has changed in GDB?
2 (Organized release by release)
3
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4*** Changes since GDB 6.5
5
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6* GDB can now be configured as a cross-debugger targeting native Windows
7(mingw32) or Cygwin. It can communicate with a remote debugging stub
8running on a Windows system over TCP/IP to debug Windows programs.
9
10* The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, has been updated to support Windows and
11Cygwin debugging. Both single-threaded and multi-threaded programs are
12supported.
13
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14* The "set trust-readonly-sections" command works again. This command was
15broken in GDB 6.3, 6.4, and 6.5.
16
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17* Support for GNU/Linux Thread Local Storage (TLS, per-thread variables) no
18longer requires symbolic debug information (e.g. DWARF-2).
19
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20* New commands
21
22set substitute-path
23unset substitute-path
24show substitute-path
25 Manage a list of substitution rules that GDB uses to rewrite the name
26 of the directories where the sources are located. This can be useful
27 for instance when the sources were moved to a different location
28 between compilation and debugging.
29
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30set trace-commands
31show trace-commands
32 Print each CLI command as it is executed. Each command is prefixed with
33 a number of `+' symbols representing the nesting depth.
34 The source command now has a `-v' option to enable the same feature.
35
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36* REMOVED features
37
38The ARM Demon monitor support (RDP protocol, "target rdp").
39
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40Kernel Object Display, an embedded debugging feature which only worked with
41an obsolete version of Cisco IOS.
42
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43The 'set download-write-size' and 'show download-write-size' commands.
44
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45* New remote packets
46
47qSupported:
48 Tell a stub about GDB client features, and request remote target features.
49 The first feature implemented is PacketSize, which allows the target to
50 specify the size of packets it can handle - to minimize the number of
51 packets required and improve performance when connected to a remote
52 target.
53
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54qXfer:auxv:read:
55 Fetch an OS auxilliary vector from the remote stub. This packet is a
56 more efficient replacement for qPart:auxv:read.
57
58* Removed remote packets
59
60qPart:auxv:read:
61 This packet has been replaced by qXfer:auxv:read. Only GDB 6.4 and 6.5
62 used it, and only gdbserver implemented it.
63
e374b601 64*** Changes in GDB 6.5
53e5f3cf 65
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66* New targets
67
68Renesas M32C/M16C m32c-elf
69
70Morpho Technologies ms1 ms1-elf
71
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72* New commands
73
74init-if-undefined Initialize a convenience variable, but
75 only if it doesn't already have a value.
76
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77The following commands are presently only implemented for native GNU/Linux:
78
79checkpoint Save a snapshot of the program state.
80
81restart <n> Return the program state to a
82 previously saved state.
83
84info checkpoints List currently saved checkpoints.
85
86delete-checkpoint <n> Delete a previously saved checkpoint.
87
88set|show detach-on-fork Tell gdb whether to detach from a newly
89 forked process, or to keep debugging it.
90
91info forks List forks of the user program that
92 are available to be debugged.
93
94fork <n> Switch to debugging one of several
95 forks of the user program that are
96 available to be debugged.
97
98delete-fork <n> Delete a fork from the list of forks
99 that are available to be debugged (and
100 kill the forked process).
101
102detach-fork <n> Delete a fork from the list of forks
103 that are available to be debugged (and
104 allow the process to continue).
105
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106* New architecture
107
108Morpho Technologies ms2 ms1-elf
109
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110* Improved Windows host support
111
112GDB now builds as a cross debugger hosted on i686-mingw32, including
113native console support, and remote communications using either
114network sockets or serial ports.
115
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116* Improved Modula-2 language support
117
118GDB can now print most types in the Modula-2 syntax. This includes:
119basic types, set types, record types, enumerated types, range types,
120pointer types and ARRAY types. Procedure var parameters are correctly
121printed and hexadecimal addresses and character constants are also
122written in the Modula-2 syntax. Best results can be obtained by using
123GNU Modula-2 together with the -gdwarf-2 command line option.
124
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125* REMOVED features
126
127The ARM rdi-share module.
128
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129The Netware NLM debug server.
130
53e5f3cf 131*** Changes in GDB 6.4
156a53ca 132
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133* New native configurations
134
02a677ac 135OpenBSD/arm arm*-*-openbsd*
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136OpenBSD/mips64 mips64-*-openbsd*
137
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138* New targets
139
140Morpho Technologies ms1 ms1-elf
141
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142* New command line options
143
144--batch-silent As for --batch, but totally silent.
145--return-child-result The debugger will exist with the same value
146 the child (debugged) program exited with.
147--eval-command COMMAND, -ex COMMAND
148 Execute a single GDB CLI command. This may be
149 specified multiple times and in conjunction
150 with the --command (-x) option.
151
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152* Deprecated commands removed
153
154The following commands, that were deprecated in 2000, have been
155removed:
156
157 Command Replacement
158 set|show arm disassembly-flavor set|show arm disassembler
159 othernames set arm disassembler
160 set|show remotedebug set|show debug remote
161 set|show archdebug set|show debug arch
162 set|show eventdebug set|show debug event
163 regs info registers
164
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165* New BSD user-level threads support
166
167It is now possible to debug programs using the user-level threads
168library on OpenBSD and FreeBSD. Currently supported (target)
169configurations are:
170
171FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
172FreeBSD/i386 i386-*-freebsd*
173OpenBSD/i386 i386-*-openbsd*
174
175Note that the new kernel threads libraries introduced in FreeBSD 5.x
176are not yet supported.
177
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178* New support for Matsushita MN10300 w/sim added
179(Work in progress). mn10300-elf.
180
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181* REMOVED configurations and files
182
183VxWorks and the XDR protocol *-*-vxworks
9445aa30 184Motorola MCORE mcore-*-*
9445aa30 185National Semiconductor NS32000 ns32k-*-*
156a53ca 186
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187* New "set print array-indexes" command
188
189After turning this setting "on", GDB prints the index of each element
190when displaying arrays. The default is "off" to preserve the previous
191behavior.
192
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193* VAX floating point support
194
195GDB now supports the not-quite-ieee VAX F and D floating point formats.
196
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197* User-defined command support
198
199In addition to using $arg0..$arg9 for argument passing, it is now possible
200to use $argc to determine now many arguments have been passed. See the
201section on user-defined commands in the user manual for more information.
202
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203*** Changes in GDB 6.3:
204
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205* New command line option
206
207GDB now accepts -l followed by a number to set the timeout for remote
208debugging.
209
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210* GDB works with GCC -feliminate-dwarf2-dups
211
212GDB now supports a more compact representation of DWARF-2 debug
213information using DW_FORM_ref_addr references. These are produced
214by GCC with the option -feliminate-dwarf2-dups and also by some
215proprietary compilers. With GCC, you must use GCC 3.3.4 or later
216to use -feliminate-dwarf2-dups.
860660cb 217
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218* Internationalization
219
220When supported by the host system, GDB will be built with
221internationalization (libintl). The task of marking up the sources is
222continued, we're looking forward to our first translation.
223
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224* Ada
225
226Initial support for debugging programs compiled with the GNAT
227implementation of the Ada programming language has been integrated
228into GDB. In this release, support is limited to expression evaluation.
229
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230* New native configurations
231
232GNU/Linux/m32r m32r-*-linux-gnu
233
234* Remote 'p' packet
235
236GDB's remote protocol now includes support for the 'p' packet. This
237packet is used to fetch individual registers from a remote inferior.
238
239* END-OF-LIFE registers[] compatibility module
240
241GDB's internal register infrastructure has been completely rewritten.
242The new infrastructure making possible the implementation of key new
243features including 32x64 (e.g., 64-bit amd64 GDB debugging a 32-bit
244i386 application).
245
246GDB 6.3 will be the last release to include the the registers[]
247compatibility module that allowed out-of-date configurations to
248continue to work. This change directly impacts the following
249configurations:
250
251hppa-*-hpux
252ia64-*-aix
253mips-*-irix*
254*-*-lynx
255mips-*-linux-gnu
256sds protocol
257xdr protocol
258powerpc bdm protocol
259
260Unless there is activity to revive these configurations, they will be
261made OBSOLETE in GDB 6.4, and REMOVED from GDB 6.5.
262
263* OBSOLETE configurations and files
264
265Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
266been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
267configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
268permanently REMOVED.
269
270h8300-*-*
271mcore-*-*
272mn10300-*-*
273ns32k-*-*
274sh64-*-*
275v850-*-*
276
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277*** Changes in GDB 6.2.1:
278
279* MIPS `break main; run' gave an heuristic-fence-post warning
280
281When attempting to run even a simple program, a warning about
282heuristic-fence-post being hit would be reported. This problem has
283been fixed.
284
285* MIPS IRIX 'long double' crashed GDB
286
287When examining a long double variable, GDB would get a segmentation
288fault. The crash has been fixed (but GDB 6.2 cannot correctly examine
289IRIX long double values).
290
291* VAX and "next"
292
293A bug in the VAX stack code was causing problems with the "next"
294command. This problem has been fixed.
295
860660cb 296*** Changes in GDB 6.2:
faae5abe 297
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298* Fix for ``many threads''
299
300On GNU/Linux systems that use the NPTL threads library, a program
301rapidly creating and deleting threads would confuse GDB leading to the
302error message:
303
304 ptrace: No such process.
305 thread_db_get_info: cannot get thread info: generic error
306
307This problem has been fixed.
308
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309* "-async" and "-noasync" options removed.
310
311Support for the broken "-noasync" option has been removed (it caused
312GDB to dump core).
313
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314* New ``start'' command.
315
316This command runs the program until the begining of the main procedure.
317
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318* New BSD Kernel Data Access Library (libkvm) interface
319
320Using ``target kvm'' it is now possible to debug kernel core dumps and
321live kernel memory images on various FreeBSD, NetBSD and OpenBSD
322platforms. Currently supported (native-only) configurations are:
323
324FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
325FreeBSD/i386 i?86-*-freebsd*
326NetBSD/i386 i?86-*-netbsd*
327NetBSD/m68k m68*-*-netbsd*
328NetBSD/sparc sparc-*-netbsd*
329OpenBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-openbsd*
330OpenBSD/i386 i?86-*-openbsd*
331OpenBSD/m68k m68*-openbsd*
332OpenBSD/sparc sparc-*-openbsd*
333
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334* Signal trampoline code overhauled
335
336Many generic problems with GDB's signal handling code have been fixed.
337These include: backtraces through non-contiguous stacks; recognition
338of sa_sigaction signal trampolines; backtrace from a NULL pointer
339call; backtrace through a signal trampoline; step into and out of
340signal handlers; and single-stepping in the signal trampoline.
341
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342Please note that kernel bugs are a limiting factor here. These
343features have been shown to work on an s390 GNU/Linux system that
344include a 2.6.8-rc1 kernel. Ref PR breakpoints/1702.
3c0b7db2 345
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346* Cygwin support for DWARF 2 added.
347
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348* New native configurations
349
97dc871c 350GNU/Linux/hppa hppa*-*-linux*
0e56aeaf 351OpenBSD/hppa hppa*-*-openbsd*
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352OpenBSD/m68k m68*-*-openbsd*
353OpenBSD/m88k m88*-*-openbsd*
d195bc9f 354OpenBSD/powerpc powerpc-*-openbsd*
6f606e1c 355NetBSD/vax vax-*-netbsd*
9f076e7a 356OpenBSD/vax vax-*-openbsd*
6f606e1c 357
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358* END-OF-LIFE frame compatibility module
359
360GDB's internal frame infrastructure has been completely rewritten.
361The new infrastructure making it possible to support key new features
362including DWARF 2 Call Frame Information. To aid in the task of
363migrating old configurations to this new infrastructure, a
364compatibility module, that allowed old configurations to continue to
365work, was also included.
366
367GDB 6.2 will be the last release to include this frame compatibility
368module. This change directly impacts the following configurations:
369
370h8300-*-*
371mcore-*-*
372mn10300-*-*
373ns32k-*-*
374sh64-*-*
375v850-*-*
376xstormy16-*-*
377
378Unless there is activity to revive these configurations, they will be
379made OBSOLETE in GDB 6.3, and REMOVED from GDB 6.4.
380
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381* REMOVED configurations and files
382
383Sun 3, running SunOS 3 m68*-*-sunos3*
384Sun 3, running SunOS 4 m68*-*-sunos4*
385Sun 2, running SunOS 3 m68000-*-sunos3*
386Sun 2, running SunOS 4 m68000-*-sunos4*
387Motorola 680x0 running LynxOS m68*-*-lynxos*
388AT&T 3b1/Unix pc m68*-att-*
389Bull DPX2 (68k, System V release 3) m68*-bull-sysv*
390decstation mips-dec-* mips-little-*
391riscos mips-*-riscos* mips-*-sysv*
392sonymips mips-sony-*
393sysv mips*-*-sysv4* (IRIX 5/6 not included)
394
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395*** Changes in GDB 6.1.1:
396
397* TUI (Text-mode User Interface) built-in (also included in GDB 6.1)
398
399The TUI (Text-mode User Interface) is now built as part of a default
400GDB configuration. It is enabled by either selecting the TUI with the
401command line option "-i=tui" or by running the separate "gdbtui"
402program. For more information on the TUI, see the manual "Debugging
403with GDB".
404
405* Pending breakpoint support (also included in GDB 6.1)
406
407Support has been added to allow you to specify breakpoints in shared
408libraries that have not yet been loaded. If a breakpoint location
409cannot be found, and the "breakpoint pending" option is set to auto,
410GDB queries you if you wish to make the breakpoint pending on a future
411shared-library load. If and when GDB resolves the breakpoint symbol,
412the pending breakpoint is removed as one or more regular breakpoints
413are created.
414
415Pending breakpoints are very useful for GCJ Java debugging.
416
417* Fixed ISO-C build problems
418
419The files bfd/elf-bfd.h, gdb/dictionary.c and gdb/types.c contained
420non ISO-C code that stopped them being built using a more strict ISO-C
421compiler (e.g., IBM's C compiler).
422
423* Fixed build problem on IRIX 5
424
425Due to header problems with <sys/proc.h>, the file gdb/proc-api.c
426wasn't able to compile compile on an IRIX 5 system.
427
428* Added execute permission to gdb/gdbserver/configure
429
430The shell script gdb/testsuite/gdb.stabs/configure lacked execute
431permission. This bug would cause configure to fail on a number of
432systems (Solaris, IRIX). Ref: server/519.
433
434* Fixed build problem on hpux2.0w-hp-hpux11.00 using the HP ANSI C compiler
435
436Older HPUX ANSI C compilers did not accept variable array sizes. somsolib.c
437has been updated to use constant array sizes.
438
439* Fixed a panic in the DWARF Call Frame Info code on Solaris 2.7
440
441GCC 3.3.2, on Solaris 2.7, includes the DW_EH_PE_funcrel encoding in
442its generated DWARF Call Frame Info. This encoding was causing GDB to
443panic, that panic has been fixed. Ref: gdb/1628.
444
445* Fixed a problem when examining parameters in shared library code.
446
447When examining parameters in optimized shared library code generated
448by a mainline GCC, GDB would incorrectly report ``Variable "..." is
449not available''. GDB now correctly displays the variable's value.
450
faae5abe 451*** Changes in GDB 6.1:
f2c06f52 452
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453* Removed --with-mmalloc
454
455Support for the mmalloc memory manager has been removed, as it
456conflicted with the internal gdb byte cache.
457
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458* Changes in AMD64 configurations
459
460The AMD64 target now includes the %cs and %ss registers. As a result
461the AMD64 remote protocol has changed; this affects the floating-point
462and SSE registers. If you rely on those registers for your debugging,
463you should upgrade gdbserver on the remote side.
464
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465* Revised SPARC target
466
467The SPARC target has been completely revised, incorporating the
468FreeBSD/sparc64 support that was added for GDB 6.0. As a result
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469support for LynxOS and SunOS 4 has been dropped. Calling functions
470from within GDB on operating systems with a non-executable stack
471(Solaris, OpenBSD) now works.
f0424ef6 472
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473* New C++ demangler
474
475GDB has a new C++ demangler which does a better job on the mangled
476names generated by current versions of g++. It also runs faster, so
477with this and other changes gdb should now start faster on large C++
478programs.
479
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480* DWARF 2 Location Expressions
481
482GDB support for location expressions has been extended to support function
483arguments and frame bases. Older versions of GDB could crash when they
484encountered these.
485
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486* C++ nested types and namespaces
487
488GDB's support for nested types and namespaces in C++ has been
489improved, especially if you use the DWARF 2 debugging format. (This
490is the default for recent versions of GCC on most platforms.)
491Specifically, if you have a class "Inner" defined within a class or
492namespace "Outer", then GDB realizes that the class's name is
493"Outer::Inner", not simply "Inner". This should greatly reduce the
494frequency of complaints about not finding RTTI symbols. In addition,
495if you are stopped at inside of a function defined within a namespace,
496GDB modifies its name lookup accordingly.
497
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498* New native configurations
499
500NetBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-netbsd*
27d1e716 501OpenBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-openbsd*
2031c21a 502OpenBSD/alpha alpha*-*-openbsd*
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503OpenBSD/sparc sparc-*-openbsd*
504OpenBSD/sparc64 sparc64-*-openbsd*
cced5e27 505
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506* New debugging protocols
507
508M32R with SDI protocol m32r-*-elf*
509
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510* "set prompt-escape-char" command deleted.
511
512The command "set prompt-escape-char" has been deleted. This command,
513and its very obscure effet on GDB's prompt, was never documented,
514tested, nor mentioned in the NEWS file.
515
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516* OBSOLETE configurations and files
517
518Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
519been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
520configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
521permanently REMOVED.
522
523Sun 3, running SunOS 3 m68*-*-sunos3*
524Sun 3, running SunOS 4 m68*-*-sunos4*
525Sun 2, running SunOS 3 m68000-*-sunos3*
526Sun 2, running SunOS 4 m68000-*-sunos4*
527Motorola 680x0 running LynxOS m68*-*-lynxos*
528AT&T 3b1/Unix pc m68*-att-*
529Bull DPX2 (68k, System V release 3) m68*-bull-sysv*
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530decstation mips-dec-* mips-little-*
531riscos mips-*-riscos* mips-*-sysv*
532sonymips mips-sony-*
533sysv mips*-*-sysv4* (IRIX 5/6 not included)
5994185b 534
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535* REMOVED configurations and files
536
537SGI Irix-4.x mips-sgi-irix4 or iris4
538SGI Iris (MIPS) running Irix V3: mips-sgi-irix or iris
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539Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
540Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
541H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
542HP/PA running BSD hppa*-*-bsd*
543HP/PA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
544HP/PA Pro target hppa*-*-pro*
545PMAX (MIPS) running Mach 3.0 mips*-*-mach3*
cf7c5c23 546386BSD i[3456]86-*-bsd*
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547Sequent family i[3456]86-sequent-sysv4*
548 i[3456]86-sequent-sysv*
549 i[3456]86-sequent-bsd*
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550SPARC running LynxOS sparc-*-lynxos*
551SPARC running SunOS 4 sparc-*-sunos4*
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552Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
553Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
0ddabb4c 554
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555*** Changes in GDB 6.0:
556
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557* Objective-C
558
559Support for debugging the Objective-C programming language has been
560integrated into GDB.
561
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562* New backtrace mechanism (includes DWARF 2 Call Frame Information).
563
564DWARF 2's Call Frame Information makes available compiler generated
565information that more exactly describes the program's run-time stack.
566By using this information, GDB is able to provide more robust stack
567backtraces.
568
569The i386, amd64 (nee, x86-64), Alpha, m68hc11, ia64, and m32r targets
570have been updated to use a new backtrace mechanism which includes
571DWARF 2 CFI support.
572
573* Hosted file I/O.
574
575GDB's remote protocol has been extended to include support for hosted
576file I/O (where the remote target uses GDB's file system). See GDB's
577remote protocol documentation for details.
578
579* All targets using the new architecture framework.
580
581All of GDB's targets have been updated to use the new internal
582architecture framework. The way is now open for future GDB releases
583to include cross-architecture native debugging support (i386 on amd64,
584ppc32 on ppc64).
585
586* GNU/Linux's Thread Local Storage (TLS)
587
588GDB now includes support for for the GNU/Linux implementation of
589per-thread variables.
590
591* GNU/Linux's Native POSIX Thread Library (NPTL)
592
593GDB's thread code has been updated to work with either the new
594GNU/Linux NPTL thread library or the older "LinuxThreads" library.
595
596* Separate debug info.
597
598GDB, in conjunction with BINUTILS, now supports a mechanism for
599automatically loading debug information from a separate file. Instead
600of shipping full debug and non-debug versions of system libraries,
601system integrators can now instead ship just the stripped libraries
602and optional debug files.
603
604* DWARF 2 Location Expressions
605
606DWARF 2 Location Expressions allow the compiler to more completely
607describe the location of variables (even in optimized code) to the
608debugger.
609
610GDB now includes preliminary support for location expressions (support
611for DW_OP_piece is still missing).
612
613* Java
614
615A number of long standing bugs that caused GDB to die while starting a
616Java application have been fixed. GDB's Java support is now
617considered "useable".
618
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619* GNU/Linux support for fork, vfork, and exec.
620
621The "catch fork", "catch exec", "catch vfork", and "set follow-fork-mode"
622commands are now implemented for GNU/Linux. They require a 2.5.x or later
623kernel.
624
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625* GDB supports logging output to a file
626
627There are two new commands, "set logging" and "show logging", which can be
628used to capture GDB's output to a file.
f2c06f52 629
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630* The meaning of "detach" has changed for gdbserver
631
632The "detach" command will now resume the application, as documented. To
633disconnect from gdbserver and leave it stopped, use the new "disconnect"
634command.
635
e286caf2 636* d10v, m68hc11 `regs' command deprecated
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637
638The `info registers' command has been updated so that it displays the
639registers using a format identical to the old `regs' command.
640
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641* Profiling support
642
643A new command, "maint set profile on/off", has been added. This command can
644be used to enable or disable profiling while running GDB, to profile a
645session or a set of commands. In addition there is a new configure switch,
646"--enable-profiling", which will cause GDB to be compiled with profiling
647data, for more informative profiling results.
648
da0f9dcd
AC
649* Default MI syntax changed to "mi2".
650
651The default MI (machine interface) syntax, enabled by the command line
652option "-i=mi", has been changed to "mi2". The previous MI syntax,
b68767c1 653"mi1", can be enabled by specifying the option "-i=mi1".
da0f9dcd
AC
654
655Support for the original "mi0" syntax (included in GDB 5.0) has been
656removed.
657
fb9b6b35
JJ
658Fix for gdb/192: removed extraneous space when displaying frame level.
659Fix for gdb/672: update changelist is now output in mi list format.
660Fix for gdb/702: a -var-assign that updates the value now shows up
661 in a subsequent -var-update.
662
954a4db8
MK
663* New native configurations.
664
665FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
666
6760f9e6
JB
667* Multi-arched targets.
668
b4263afa 669HP/PA HPUX11 hppa*-*-hpux*
85a453d5 670Renesas M32R/D w/simulator m32r-*-elf*
6760f9e6 671
1b831c93
AC
672* OBSOLETE configurations and files
673
674Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
675been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
676configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
677permanently REMOVED.
678
8b0e5691 679Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
67f16606 680Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
fd2299bd 681H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
56056df7
AC
682HP/PA running BSD hppa*-*-bsd*
683HP/PA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
684HP/PA Pro target hppa*-*-pro*
78c43945 685PMAX (MIPS) running Mach 3.0 mips*-*-mach3*
2fbce691
AC
686Sequent family i[3456]86-sequent-sysv4*
687 i[3456]86-sequent-sysv*
688 i[3456]86-sequent-bsd*
f81824a9
AC
689Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
690Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
fd2299bd 691
5835abe7
NC
692* REMOVED configurations and files
693
694V850EA ISA
1b831c93
AC
695Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
696IBM AIX PS/2 i[3456]86-*-aix
697i386 running Mach 3.0 i[3456]86-*-mach3*
698i386 running Mach i[3456]86-*-mach*
699i386 running OSF/1 i[3456]86-*osf1mk*
700HP/Apollo 68k Family m68*-apollo*-sysv*,
701 m68*-apollo*-bsd*,
702 m68*-hp-bsd*, m68*-hp-hpux*
703Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
704Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
705Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
706OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
707I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
5835abe7 708
a094c6fb
AC
709* MIPS $fp behavior changed
710
711The convenience variable $fp, for the MIPS, now consistently returns
712the address of the current frame's base. Previously, depending on the
713context, $fp could refer to either $sp or the current frame's base
714address. See ``8.10 Registers'' in the manual ``Debugging with GDB:
715The GNU Source-Level Debugger''.
716
299ffc64 717*** Changes in GDB 5.3:
37057839 718
46248966
AC
719* GNU/Linux shared library multi-threaded performance improved.
720
721When debugging a multi-threaded application on GNU/Linux, GDB now uses
722`/proc', in preference to `ptrace' for memory reads. This may result
723in an improvement in the start-up time of multi-threaded, shared
724library applications when run under GDB. One GDB user writes: ``loads
725shared libs like mad''.
726
b9d14705 727* ``gdbserver'' now supports multi-threaded applications on some targets
6da02953 728
b9d14705
DJ
729Support for debugging multi-threaded applications which use
730the GNU/Linux LinuxThreads package has been added for
731arm*-*-linux*-gnu*, i[3456]86-*-linux*-gnu*, mips*-*-linux*-gnu*,
732powerpc*-*-linux*-gnu*, and sh*-*-linux*-gnu*.
6da02953 733
e0e9281e
JB
734* GDB now supports C/C++ preprocessor macros.
735
736GDB now expands preprocessor macro invocations in C/C++ expressions,
737and provides various commands for showing macro definitions and how
738they expand.
739
dd73b9bb
AC
740The new command `macro expand EXPRESSION' expands any macro
741invocations in expression, and shows the result.
742
743The new command `show macro MACRO-NAME' shows the definition of the
744macro named MACRO-NAME, and where it was defined.
745
e0e9281e
JB
746Most compilers don't include information about macros in the debugging
747information by default. In GCC 3.1, for example, you need to compile
748your program with the options `-gdwarf-2 -g3'. If the macro
749information is present in the executable, GDB will read it.
750
2250ee0c
CV
751* Multi-arched targets.
752
6e3ba3b8
JT
753DEC Alpha (partial) alpha*-*-*
754DEC VAX (partial) vax-*-*
2250ee0c 755NEC V850 v850-*-*
6e3ba3b8 756National Semiconductor NS32000 (partial) ns32k-*-*
a1789893
GS
757Motorola 68000 (partial) m68k-*-*
758Motorola MCORE mcore-*-*
2250ee0c 759
cd9bfe15 760* New targets.
e33ce519 761
456f8b9d
DB
762Fujitsu FRV architecture added by Red Hat frv*-*-*
763
e33ce519 764
da8ca43d
JT
765* New native configurations
766
767Alpha NetBSD alpha*-*-netbsd*
029923d4 768SH NetBSD sh*-*-netbsdelf*
45888261 769MIPS NetBSD mips*-*-netbsd*
9ce5c36a 770UltraSPARC NetBSD sparc64-*-netbsd*
da8ca43d 771
cd9bfe15
AC
772* OBSOLETE configurations and files
773
774Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
775been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
776configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
777permanently REMOVED.
778
92eb23c5 779Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
a99a9e1b 780OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
1c7cc583 781IBM AIX PS/2 i[3456]86-*-aix
7a3085c1 782Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
7fb623f7 783Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
eb4c54a2 784Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
d8ee244c
MK
785i386 running Mach 3.0 i[3456]86-*-mach3*
786i386 running Mach i[3456]86-*-mach*
787i386 running OSF/1 i[3456]86-*osf1mk*
822e978b
AC
788HP/Apollo 68k Family m68*-apollo*-sysv*,
789 m68*-apollo*-bsd*,
790 m68*-hp-bsd*, m68*-hp-hpux*
4d210288 791I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
92eb23c5 792
db034ac5
AC
793* OBSOLETE languages
794
795CHILL, a Pascal like language used by telecommunications companies.
796
cd9bfe15
AC
797* REMOVED configurations and files
798
799AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi, udi29k
800A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
801AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
802AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
803AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
804
805testsuite/gdb.hp/gdb.threads-hp/ directory
806
20f01a46
DH
807* New command "set max-user-call-depth <nnn>"
808
809This command allows the user to limit the call depth of user-defined
810commands. The default is 1024.
811
a5941fbf
MK
812* Changes in FreeBSD/i386 native debugging.
813
814Support for the "generate-core-file" has been added.
815
89743e04
MS
816* New commands "dump", "append", and "restore".
817
818These commands allow data to be copied from target memory
819to a bfd-format or binary file (dump and append), and back
820from a file into memory (restore).
37057839 821
9fb14e79
JB
822* Improved "next/step" support on multi-processor Alpha Tru64.
823
824The previous single-step mechanism could cause unpredictable problems,
825including the random appearance of SIGSEGV or SIGTRAP signals. The use
826of a software single-step mechanism prevents this.
827
2037aebb
AC
828*** Changes in GDB 5.2.1:
829
830* New targets.
831
832Atmel AVR avr*-*-*
833
834* Bug fixes
835
836gdb/182: gdb/323: gdb/237: On alpha, gdb was reporting:
837mdebugread.c:2443: gdb-internal-error: sect_index_data not initialized
838Fix, by Joel Brobecker imported from mainline.
839
840gdb/439: gdb/291: On some ELF object files, gdb was reporting:
841dwarf2read.c:1072: gdb-internal-error: sect_index_text not initialize
842Fix, by Fred Fish, imported from mainline.
843
844Dwarf2 .debug_frame & .eh_frame handler improved in many ways.
845Surprisingly enough, it works now.
846By Michal Ludvig, imported from mainline.
847
848i386 hardware watchpoint support:
849avoid misses on second run for some targets.
850By Pierre Muller, imported from mainline.
851
37057839 852*** Changes in GDB 5.2:
eb7cedd9 853
1a703748
MS
854* New command "set trust-readonly-sections on[off]".
855
856This command is a hint that tells gdb that read-only sections
857really are read-only (ie. that their contents will not change).
858In this mode, gdb will go to the object file rather than the
859target to read memory from read-only sections (such as ".text").
860This can be a significant performance improvement on some
861(notably embedded) targets.
862
cefd4ef5
MS
863* New command "generate-core-file" (or "gcore").
864
55241689
AC
865This new gdb command allows the user to drop a core file of the child
866process state at any time. So far it's been implemented only for
867GNU/Linux and Solaris, but should be relatively easily ported to other
868hosts. Argument is core file name (defaults to core.<pid>).
cefd4ef5 869
352ed7b4
MS
870* New command line option
871
872GDB now accepts --pid or -p followed by a process id.
873
874* Change in command line behavior -- corefiles vs. process ids.
875
876There is a subtle behavior in the way in which GDB handles
877command line arguments. The first non-flag argument is always
878a program to debug, but the second non-flag argument may either
879be a corefile or a process id. Previously, GDB would attempt to
880open the second argument as a corefile, and if that failed, would
881issue a superfluous error message and then attempt to attach it as
882a process. Now, if the second argument begins with a non-digit,
883it will be treated as a corefile. If it begins with a digit,
884GDB will attempt to attach it as a process, and if no such process
885is found, will then attempt to open it as a corefile.
886
fe419ffc
RE
887* Changes in ARM configurations.
888
889Multi-arch support is enabled for all ARM configurations. The ARM/NetBSD
890configuration is fully multi-arch.
891
eb7cedd9
MK
892* New native configurations
893
fe419ffc 894ARM NetBSD arm*-*-netbsd*
eb7cedd9 895x86 OpenBSD i[3456]86-*-openbsd*
55241689 896AMD x86-64 running GNU/Linux x86_64-*-linux-*
768f0842 897Sparc64 running FreeBSD sparc64-*-freebsd*
eb7cedd9 898
c9f63e6b
CV
899* New targets
900
901Sanyo XStormy16 xstormy16-elf
902
9b4ff276
AC
903* OBSOLETE configurations and files
904
905Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
906been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
907configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
908permanently REMOVED.
909
910AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi, udi29k
911A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
912AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
913AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
914AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
915
b4ceaee6 916testsuite/gdb.hp/gdb.threads-hp/ directory
9b4ff276 917
e2caac18
AC
918* REMOVED configurations and files
919
920TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
7bc65f05 921WDC 65816 w65-*-*
7768dd6c
AC
922PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
923PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
924PowerPC Netware powerpc-*-netware*
5e734e1f 925Harris/CXUX m88k m88*-harris-cxux*
1406caf7
AC
926Most ns32k hosts and targets ns32k-*-mach3* ns32k-umax-*
927 ns32k-utek-sysv* ns32k-utek-*
7e24f0b1 928SunOS 4.0.Xi on i386 i[3456]86-*-sunos*
9b567150 929Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1 a29k-nyu-sym1 a29k-*-kern*
3680c638
AC
930Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x m68*-sony-sysv news
931ISI Optimum V (3.05) under 4.3bsd. m68*-isi-*
a752853e 932Apple Macintosh (MPW) host and target N/A host, powerpc-*-macos*
e2caac18 933
c2a727fa
TT
934* Changes to command line processing
935
936The new `--args' feature can be used to specify command-line arguments
937for the inferior from gdb's command line.
938
467d8519
TT
939* Changes to key bindings
940
941There is a new `operate-and-get-next' function bound to `C-o'.
942
7072a954
AC
943*** Changes in GDB 5.1.1
944
945Fix compile problem on DJGPP.
946
947Fix a problem with floating-point registers on the i386 being
948corrupted.
949
950Fix to stop GDB crashing on .debug_str debug info.
951
952Numerous documentation fixes.
953
954Numerous testsuite fixes.
955
34f47bc4 956*** Changes in GDB 5.1:
139760b7
MK
957
958* New native configurations
959
960Alpha FreeBSD alpha*-*-freebsd*
961x86 FreeBSD 3.x and 4.x i[3456]86*-freebsd[34]*
55241689 962MIPS GNU/Linux mips*-*-linux*
e23194cb
EZ
963MIPS SGI Irix 6.x mips*-sgi-irix6*
964ia64 AIX ia64-*-aix*
55241689 965s390 and s390x GNU/Linux {s390,s390x}-*-linux*
139760b7 966
bf64bfd6
AC
967* New targets
968
def90278 969Motorola 68HC11 and 68HC12 m68hc11-elf
24be5c34 970CRIS cris-axis
55241689 971UltraSparc running GNU/Linux sparc64-*-linux*
def90278 972
17e78a56 973* OBSOLETE configurations and files
bf64bfd6
AC
974
975x86 FreeBSD before 2.2 i[3456]86*-freebsd{1,2.[01]}*,
9b9c068d 976Harris/CXUX m88k m88*-harris-cxux*
bb19ff3b
AC
977Most ns32k hosts and targets ns32k-*-mach3* ns32k-umax-*
978 ns32k-utek-sysv* ns32k-utek-*
76f4ea53
AC
979TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
980WDC 65816 w65-*-*
4a1968f4 981Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1 a29k-nyu-sym1 a29k-*-kern*
1b2b2c16
AC
982PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
983PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
984PowerPC Netware powerpc-*-netware*
24f89b68 985SunOS 4.0.Xi on i386 i[3456]86-*-sunos*
514e603d
AC
986Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x m68*-sony-sysv news
987ISI Optimum V (3.05) under 4.3bsd. m68*-isi-*
d036b4d9 988Apple Macintosh (MPW) host N/A
bf64bfd6 989
17e78a56
AC
990stuff.c (Program to stuff files into a specially prepared space in kdb)
991kdb-start.c (Main loop for the standalone kernel debugger)
992
7fcca85b
AC
993Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
994been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
995configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
996permanently REMOVED.
997
a196c81c 998* REMOVED configurations and files
7fcca85b
AC
999
1000Altos 3068 m68*-altos-*
1001Convex c1-*-*, c2-*-*
1002Pyramid pyramid-*-*
1003ARM RISCix arm-*-* (as host)
1004Tahoe tahoe-*-*
a196c81c 1005ser-ocd.c *-*-*
bf64bfd6 1006
6d6b80e5 1007* GDB has been converted to ISO C.
e23194cb 1008
6d6b80e5 1009GDB's source code has been converted to ISO C. In particular, the
e23194cb
EZ
1010sources are fully protoized, and rely on standard headers being
1011present.
1012
bf64bfd6
AC
1013* Other news:
1014
e23194cb
EZ
1015* "info symbol" works on platforms which use COFF, ECOFF, XCOFF, and NLM.
1016
1017* The MI enabled by default.
1018
1019The new machine oriented interface (MI) introduced in GDB 5.0 has been
1020revised and enabled by default. Packages which use GDB as a debugging
1021engine behind a UI or another front end are encouraged to switch to
1022using the GDB/MI interface, instead of the old annotations interface
1023which is now deprecated.
1024
1025* Support for debugging Pascal programs.
1026
1027GDB now includes support for debugging Pascal programs. The following
1028main features are supported:
1029
1030 - Pascal-specific data types such as sets;
1031
1032 - automatic recognition of Pascal sources based on file-name
1033 extension;
1034
1035 - Pascal-style display of data types, variables, and functions;
1036
1037 - a Pascal expression parser.
1038
1039However, some important features are not yet supported.
1040
1041 - Pascal string operations are not supported at all;
1042
1043 - there are some problems with boolean types;
1044
1045 - Pascal type hexadecimal constants are not supported
1046 because they conflict with the internal variables format;
1047
1048 - support for Pascal objects and classes is not full yet;
1049
1050 - unlike Pascal, GDB is case-sensitive for symbol names.
1051
1052* Changes in completion.
1053
1054Commands such as `shell', `run' and `set args', which pass arguments
1055to inferior programs, now complete on file names, similar to what
1056users expect at the shell prompt.
1057
1058Commands which accept locations, such as `disassemble', `print',
1059`breakpoint', `until', etc. now complete on filenames as well as
1060program symbols. Thus, if you type "break foob TAB", and the source
1061files linked into the programs include `foobar.c', that file name will
1062be one of the candidates for completion. However, file names are not
1063considered for completion after you typed a colon that delimits a file
1064name from a name of a function in that file, as in "break foo.c:bar".
1065
1066`set demangle-style' completes on available demangling styles.
1067
1068* New platform-independent commands:
1069
1070It is now possible to define a post-hook for a command as well as a
1071hook that runs before the command. For more details, see the
1072documentation of `hookpost' in the GDB manual.
1073
1074* Changes in GNU/Linux native debugging.
1075
d7275149
MK
1076Support for debugging multi-threaded programs has been completely
1077revised for all platforms except m68k and sparc. You can now debug as
1078many threads as your system allows you to have.
1079
e23194cb
EZ
1080Attach/detach is supported for multi-threaded programs.
1081
d7275149
MK
1082Support for SSE registers was added for x86. This doesn't work for
1083multi-threaded programs though.
e23194cb
EZ
1084
1085* Changes in MIPS configurations.
bf64bfd6
AC
1086
1087Multi-arch support is enabled for all MIPS configurations.
1088
e23194cb
EZ
1089GDB can now be built as native debugger on SGI Irix 6.x systems for
1090debugging n32 executables. (Debugging 64-bit executables is not yet
1091supported.)
1092
1093* Unified support for hardware watchpoints in all x86 configurations.
1094
1095Most (if not all) native x86 configurations support hardware-assisted
1096breakpoints and watchpoints in a unified manner. This support
1097implements debug register sharing between watchpoints, which allows to
1098put a virtually infinite number of watchpoints on the same address,
1099and also supports watching regions up to 16 bytes with several debug
1100registers.
1101
1102The new maintenance command `maintenance show-debug-regs' toggles
1103debugging print-outs in functions that insert, remove, and test
1104watchpoints and hardware breakpoints.
1105
1106* Changes in the DJGPP native configuration.
1107
1108New command ``info dos sysinfo'' displays assorted information about
1109the CPU, OS, memory, and DPMI server.
1110
1111New commands ``info dos gdt'', ``info dos ldt'', and ``info dos idt''
1112display information about segment descriptors stored in GDT, LDT, and
1113IDT.
1114
1115New commands ``info dos pde'' and ``info dos pte'' display entries
1116from Page Directory and Page Tables (for now works with CWSDPMI only).
1117New command ``info dos address-pte'' displays the Page Table entry for
1118a given linear address.
1119
1120GDB can now pass command lines longer than 126 characters to the
1121program being debugged (requires an update to the libdbg.a library
1122which is part of the DJGPP development kit).
1123
1124DWARF2 debug info is now supported.
1125
6c56c069
EZ
1126It is now possible to `step' and `next' through calls to `longjmp'.
1127
e23194cb
EZ
1128* Changes in documentation.
1129
1130All GDB documentation was converted to GFDL, the GNU Free
1131Documentation License.
1132
1133Tracepoints-related commands are now fully documented in the GDB
1134manual.
1135
1136TUI, the Text-mode User Interface, is now documented in the manual.
1137
1138Tracepoints-related commands are now fully documented in the GDB
1139manual.
1140
1141The "GDB Internals" manual now has an index. It also includes
1142documentation of `ui_out' functions, GDB coding standards, x86
1143hardware watchpoints, and memory region attributes.
1144
5d6640b1
AC
1145* GDB's version number moved to ``version.in''
1146
1147The Makefile variable VERSION has been replaced by the file
1148``version.in''. People creating GDB distributions should update the
1149contents of this file.
1150
1a1d8446
AC
1151* gdba.el deleted
1152
1153GUD support is now a standard part of the EMACS distribution.
139760b7 1154
9debab2f 1155*** Changes in GDB 5.0:
7a292a7a 1156
c63ce875
EZ
1157* Improved support for debugging FP programs on x86 targets
1158
1159Unified and much-improved support for debugging floating-point
1160programs on all x86 targets. In particular, ``info float'' now
1161displays the FP registers in the same format on all x86 targets, with
1162greater level of detail.
1163
1164* Improvements and bugfixes in hardware-assisted watchpoints
1165
1166It is now possible to watch array elements, struct members, and
1167bitfields with hardware-assisted watchpoints. Data-read watchpoints
1168on x86 targets no longer erroneously trigger when the address is
1169written.
1170
1171* Improvements in the native DJGPP version of GDB
1172
1173The distribution now includes all the scripts and auxiliary files
1174necessary to build the native DJGPP version on MS-DOS/MS-Windows
1175machines ``out of the box''.
1176
1177The DJGPP version can now debug programs that use signals. It is
1178possible to catch signals that happened in the debuggee, deliver
1179signals to it, interrupt it with Ctrl-C, etc. (Previously, a signal
1180would kill the program being debugged.) Programs that hook hardware
1181interrupts (keyboard, timer, etc.) can also be debugged.
1182
1183It is now possible to debug DJGPP programs that redirect their
1184standard handles or switch them to raw (as opposed to cooked) mode, or
1185even close them. The command ``run < foo > bar'' works as expected,
1186and ``info terminal'' reports useful information about the debuggee's
1187terminal, including raw/cooked mode, redirection, etc.
1188
1189The DJGPP version now uses termios functions for console I/O, which
1190enables debugging graphics programs. Interrupting GDB with Ctrl-C
1191also works.
1192
1193DOS-style file names with drive letters are now fully supported by
1194GDB.
1195
1196It is now possible to debug DJGPP programs that switch their working
1197directory. It is also possible to rerun the debuggee any number of
1198times without restarting GDB; thus, you can use the same setup,
1199breakpoints, etc. for many debugging sessions.
1200
ed9a39eb
JM
1201* New native configurations
1202
1203ARM GNU/Linux arm*-*-linux*
afc05dd4 1204PowerPC GNU/Linux powerpc-*-linux*
ed9a39eb 1205
7a292a7a
SS
1206* New targets
1207
96baa820 1208Motorola MCore mcore-*-*
adf40b2e
JM
1209x86 VxWorks i[3456]86-*-vxworks*
1210PowerPC VxWorks powerpc-*-vxworks*
7a292a7a
SS
1211TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
1212
085dd6e6
JM
1213* OBSOLETE configurations
1214
1215Altos 3068 m68*-altos-*
1216Convex c1-*-*, c2-*-*
9846de1b 1217Pyramid pyramid-*-*
ed9a39eb 1218ARM RISCix arm-*-* (as host)
104c1213 1219Tahoe tahoe-*-*
7a292a7a 1220
9debab2f
AC
1221Configurations that have been declared obsolete will be commented out,
1222but the code will be left in place. If there is no activity to revive
1223these configurations before the next release of GDB, the sources will
1224be permanently REMOVED.
1225
5330533d
SS
1226* Gould support removed
1227
1228Support for the Gould PowerNode and NP1 has been removed.
1229
bc9e5bbf
AC
1230* New features for SVR4
1231
1232On SVR4 native platforms (such as Solaris), if you attach to a process
1233without first loading a symbol file, GDB will now attempt to locate and
1234load symbols from the running process's executable file.
1235
1236* Many C++ enhancements
1237
1238C++ support has been greatly improved. Overload resolution now works properly
1239in almost all cases. RTTI support is on the way.
1240
adf40b2e
JM
1241* Remote targets can connect to a sub-program
1242
1243A popen(3) style serial-device has been added. This device starts a
1244sub-process (such as a stand-alone simulator) and then communicates
1245with that. The sub-program to run is specified using the syntax
1246``|<program> <args>'' vis:
1247
1248 (gdb) set remotedebug 1
1249 (gdb) target extended-remote |mn10300-elf-sim program-args
1250
43e526b9
JM
1251* MIPS 64 remote protocol
1252
1253A long standing bug in the mips64 remote protocol where by GDB
1254expected certain 32 bit registers (ex SR) to be transfered as 32
1255instead of 64 bits has been fixed.
1256
1257The command ``set remote-mips64-transfers-32bit-regs on'' has been
1258added to provide backward compatibility with older versions of GDB.
1259
96baa820
JM
1260* ``set remotebinarydownload'' replaced by ``set remote X-packet''
1261
1262The command ``set remotebinarydownload'' command has been replaced by
1263``set remote X-packet''. Other commands in ``set remote'' family
1264include ``set remote P-packet''.
1265
11cf8741
JM
1266* Breakpoint commands accept ranges.
1267
1268The breakpoint commands ``enable'', ``disable'', and ``delete'' now
1269accept a range of breakpoints, e.g. ``5-7''. The tracepoint command
1270``tracepoint passcount'' also accepts a range of tracepoints.
1271
7876dd43
DB
1272* ``apropos'' command added.
1273
1274The ``apropos'' command searches through command names and
1275documentation strings, printing out matches, making it much easier to
1276try to find a command that does what you are looking for.
1277
bc9e5bbf
AC
1278* New MI interface
1279
1280A new machine oriented interface (MI) has been added to GDB. This
1281interface is designed for debug environments running GDB as a separate
7162c0ca
EZ
1282process. This is part of the long term libGDB project. See the
1283"GDB/MI" chapter of the GDB manual for further information. It can be
1284enabled by configuring with:
bc9e5bbf
AC
1285
1286 .../configure --enable-gdbmi
1287
c906108c
SS
1288*** Changes in GDB-4.18:
1289
1290* New native configurations
1291
1292HP-UX 10.20 hppa*-*-hpux10.20
1293HP-UX 11.x hppa*-*-hpux11.0*
55241689 1294M68K GNU/Linux m68*-*-linux*
c906108c
SS
1295
1296* New targets
1297
1298Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
1299Intel StrongARM strongarm-*-*
1300Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
1301
1302* OBSOLETE configurations
1303
1304Gould PowerNode, NP1 np1-*-*, pn-*-*
1305
1306Configurations that have been declared obsolete will be commented out,
1307but the code will be left in place. If there is no activity to revive
1308these configurations before the next release of GDB, the sources will
1309be permanently REMOVED.
1310
1311* ANSI/ISO C
1312
1313As a compatibility experiment, GDB's source files buildsym.h and
1314buildsym.c have been converted to pure standard C, no longer
1315containing any K&R compatibility code. We believe that all systems in
1316use today either come with a standard C compiler, or have a GCC port
1317available. If this is not true, please report the affected
1318configuration to bug-gdb@gnu.org immediately. See the README file for
1319information about getting a standard C compiler if you don't have one
1320already.
1321
1322* Readline 2.2
1323
1324GDB now uses readline 2.2.
1325
1326* set extension-language
1327
1328You can now control the mapping between filename extensions and source
1329languages by using the `set extension-language' command. For instance,
1330you can ask GDB to treat .c files as C++ by saying
1331 set extension-language .c c++
1332The command `info extensions' lists all of the recognized extensions
1333and their associated languages.
1334
1335* Setting processor type for PowerPC and RS/6000
1336
1337When GDB is configured for a powerpc*-*-* or an rs6000*-*-* target,
1338you can use the `set processor' command to specify what variant of the
1339PowerPC family you are debugging. The command
1340
1341 set processor NAME
1342
1343sets the PowerPC/RS6000 variant to NAME. GDB knows about the
1344following PowerPC and RS6000 variants:
1345
1346 ppc-uisa PowerPC UISA - a PPC processor as viewed by user-level code
1347 rs6000 IBM RS6000 ("POWER") architecture, user-level view
1348 403 IBM PowerPC 403
1349 403GC IBM PowerPC 403GC
1350 505 Motorola PowerPC 505
1351 860 Motorola PowerPC 860 or 850
1352 601 Motorola PowerPC 601
1353 602 Motorola PowerPC 602
1354 603 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 603 or 603e
1355 604 Motorola PowerPC 604 or 604e
1356 750 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 750 or 750
1357
1358At the moment, this command just tells GDB what to name the
1359special-purpose processor registers. Since almost all the affected
1360registers are inaccessible to user-level programs, this command is
1361only useful for remote debugging in its present form.
1362
1363* HP-UX support
1364
1365Thanks to a major code donation from Hewlett-Packard, GDB now has much
1366more extensive support for HP-UX. Added features include shared
1367library support, kernel threads and hardware watchpoints for 11.00,
1368support for HP's ANSI C and C++ compilers, and a compatibility mode
1369for xdb and dbx commands.
1370
1371* Catchpoints
1372
1373HP's donation includes the new concept of catchpoints, which is a
1374generalization of the old catch command. On HP-UX, it is now possible
1375to catch exec, fork, and vfork, as well as library loading.
1376
1377This means that the existing catch command has changed; its first
1378argument now specifies the type of catch to be set up. See the
1379output of "help catch" for a list of catchpoint types.
1380
1381* Debugging across forks
1382
1383On HP-UX, you can choose which process to debug when a fork() happens
1384in the inferior.
1385
1386* TUI
1387
1388HP has donated a curses-based terminal user interface (TUI). To get
1389it, build with --enable-tui. Although this can be enabled for any
1390configuration, at present it only works for native HP debugging.
1391
1392* GDB remote protocol additions
1393
1394A new protocol packet 'X' that writes binary data is now available.
1395Default behavior is to try 'X', then drop back to 'M' if the stub
1396fails to respond. The settable variable `remotebinarydownload'
1397allows explicit control over the use of 'X'.
1398
1399For 64-bit targets, the memory packets ('M' and 'm') can now contain a
1400full 64-bit address. The command
1401
1402 set remoteaddresssize 32
1403
1404can be used to revert to the old behaviour. For existing remote stubs
1405the change should not be noticed, as the additional address information
1406will be discarded.
1407
1408In order to assist in debugging stubs, you may use the maintenance
1409command `packet' to send any text string to the stub. For instance,
1410
1411 maint packet heythere
1412
1413sends the packet "$heythere#<checksum>". Note that it is very easy to
1414disrupt a debugging session by sending the wrong packet at the wrong
1415time.
1416
1417The compare-sections command allows you to compare section data on the
1418target to what is in the executable file without uploading or
1419downloading, by comparing CRC checksums.
1420
1421* Tracing can collect general expressions
1422
1423You may now collect general expressions at tracepoints. This requires
1424further additions to the target-side stub; see tracepoint.c and
1425doc/agentexpr.texi for further details.
1426
1427* mask-address variable for Mips
1428
1429For Mips targets, you may control the zeroing of the upper 32 bits of
1430a 64-bit address by entering `set mask-address on'. This is mainly
1431of interest to users of embedded R4xxx and R5xxx processors.
1432
1433* Higher serial baud rates
1434
1435GDB's serial code now allows you to specify baud rates 57600, 115200,
1436230400, and 460800 baud. (Note that your host system may not be able
1437to achieve all of these rates.)
1438
1439* i960 simulator
1440
1441The i960 configuration now includes an initial implementation of a
1442builtin simulator, contributed by Jim Wilson.
1443
1444
1445*** Changes in GDB-4.17:
1446
1447* New native configurations
1448
1449Alpha GNU/Linux alpha*-*-linux*
1450Unixware 2.x i[3456]86-unixware2*
1451Irix 6.x mips*-sgi-irix6*
1452PowerPC GNU/Linux powerpc-*-linux*
1453PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
1454Sparc GNU/Linux sparc-*-linux*
1455Motorola sysV68 R3V7.1 m68k-motorola-sysv
1456
1457* New targets
1458
1459Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
1460Hitachi H8/300S h8300*-*-*
1461Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
1462Matsushita MN10300 w/simulator mn10300-*-*
1463MIPS NEC VR4100 mips64*vr4100*{,el}-*-elf*
1464MIPS NEC VR5000 mips64*vr5000*{,el}-*-elf*
1465MIPS Toshiba TX39 mips64*tx39*{,el}-*-elf*
1466Mitsubishi D10V w/simulator d10v-*-*
1467Mitsubishi M32R/D w/simulator m32r-*-elf*
1468Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
1469NEC V850 w/simulator v850-*-*
1470
1471* New debugging protocols
1472
1473ARM with RDI protocol arm*-*-*
1474M68K with dBUG monitor m68*-*-{aout,coff,elf}
1475DDB and LSI variants of PMON protocol mips*-*-*
1476PowerPC with DINK32 monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
1477PowerPC with SDS protocol powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
1478Macraigor OCD (Wiggler) devices powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
1479
1480* DWARF 2
1481
1482All configurations can now understand and use the DWARF 2 debugging
1483format. The choice is automatic, if the symbol file contains DWARF 2
1484information.
1485
1486* Java frontend
1487
1488GDB now includes basic Java language support. This support is
1489only useful with Java compilers that produce native machine code.
1490
1491* solib-absolute-prefix and solib-search-path
1492
1493For SunOS and SVR4 shared libraries, you may now set the prefix for
1494loading absolute shared library symbol files, and the search path for
1495locating non-absolute shared library symbol files.
1496
1497* Live range splitting
1498
1499GDB can now effectively debug code for which GCC has performed live
1500range splitting as part of its optimization. See gdb/doc/LRS for
1501more details on the expected format of the stabs information.
1502
1503* Hurd support
1504
1505GDB's support for the GNU Hurd, including thread debugging, has been
1506updated to work with current versions of the Hurd.
1507
1508* ARM Thumb support
1509
1510GDB's ARM target configuration now handles the ARM7T (Thumb) 16-bit
1511instruction set. ARM GDB automatically detects when Thumb
1512instructions are in use, and adjusts disassembly and backtracing
1513accordingly.
1514
1515* MIPS16 support
1516
1517GDB's MIPS target configurations now handle the MIP16 16-bit
1518instruction set.
1519
1520* Overlay support
1521
1522GDB now includes support for overlays; if an executable has been
1523linked such that multiple sections are based at the same address, GDB
1524will decide which section to use for symbolic info. You can choose to
1525control the decision manually, using overlay commands, or implement
1526additional target-side support and use "overlay load-target" to bring
1527in the overlay mapping. Do "help overlay" for more detail.
1528
1529* info symbol
1530
1531The command "info symbol <address>" displays information about
1532the symbol at the specified address.
1533
1534* Trace support
1535
1536The standard remote protocol now includes an extension that allows
1537asynchronous collection and display of trace data. This requires
1538extensive support in the target-side debugging stub. Tracing mode
1539includes a new interaction mode in GDB and new commands: see the
1540file tracepoint.c for more details.
1541
1542* MIPS simulator
1543
1544Configurations for embedded MIPS now include a simulator contributed
1545by Cygnus Solutions. The simulator supports the instruction sets
1546of most MIPS variants.
1547
1548* Sparc simulator
1549
1550Sparc configurations may now include the ERC32 simulator contributed
1551by the European Space Agency. The simulator is not built into
1552Sparc targets by default; configure with --enable-sim to include it.
1553
1554* set architecture
1555
1556For target configurations that may include multiple variants of a
1557basic architecture (such as MIPS and SH), you may now set the
1558architecture explicitly. "set arch" sets, "info arch" lists
1559the possible architectures.
1560
1561*** Changes in GDB-4.16:
1562
1563* New native configurations
1564
1565Windows 95, x86 Windows NT i[345]86-*-cygwin32
1566M68K NetBSD m68k-*-netbsd*
1567PowerPC AIX 4.x powerpc-*-aix*
1568PowerPC MacOS powerpc-*-macos*
1569PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
1570RS/6000 AIX 4.x rs6000-*-aix4*
1571
1572* New targets
1573
1574ARM with RDP protocol arm-*-*
1575I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
1576MIPS VxWorks mips*-*-vxworks*
1577MIPS VR4300 with PMON mips64*vr4300{,el}-*-elf*
1578PowerPC with PPCBUG monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi*
1579Hitachi SH3 sh-*-*
1580Matra Sparclet sparclet-*-*
1581
1582* PowerPC simulator
1583
1584The powerpc-eabi configuration now includes the PSIM simulator,
1585contributed by Andrew Cagney, with assistance from Mike Meissner.
1586PSIM is a very elaborate model of the PowerPC, including not only
1587basic instruction set execution, but also details of execution unit
1588performance and I/O hardware. See sim/ppc/README for more details.
1589
1590* Solaris 2.5
1591
1592GDB now works with Solaris 2.5.
1593
1594* Windows 95/NT native
1595
1596GDB will now work as a native debugger on Windows 95 and Windows NT.
1597To build it from source, you must use the "gnu-win32" environment,
1598which uses a DLL to emulate enough of Unix to run the GNU tools.
1599Further information, binaries, and sources are available at
1600ftp.cygnus.com, under pub/gnu-win32.
1601
1602* dont-repeat command
1603
1604If a user-defined command includes the command `dont-repeat', then the
1605command will not be repeated if the user just types return. This is
1606useful if the command is time-consuming to run, so that accidental
1607extra keystrokes don't run the same command many times.
1608
1609* Send break instead of ^C
1610
1611The standard remote protocol now includes an option to send a break
1612rather than a ^C to the target in order to interrupt it. By default,
1613GDB will send ^C; to send a break, set the variable `remotebreak' to 1.
1614
1615* Remote protocol timeout
1616
1617The standard remote protocol includes a new variable `remotetimeout'
1618that allows you to set the number of seconds before GDB gives up trying
1619to read from the target. The default value is 2.
1620
1621* Automatic tracking of dynamic object loading (HPUX and Solaris only)
1622
1623By default GDB will automatically keep track of objects as they are
1624loaded and unloaded by the dynamic linker. By using the command `set
1625stop-on-solib-events 1' you can arrange for GDB to stop the inferior
1626when shared library events occur, thus allowing you to set breakpoints
1627in shared libraries which are explicitly loaded by the inferior.
1628
1629Note this feature does not work on hpux8. On hpux9 you must link
1630/usr/lib/end.o into your program. This feature should work
1631automatically on hpux10.
1632
1633* Irix 5.x hardware watchpoint support
1634
1635Irix 5 configurations now support the use of hardware watchpoints.
1636
1637* Mips protocol "SYN garbage limit"
1638
1639When debugging a Mips target using the `target mips' protocol, you
1640may set the number of characters that GDB will ignore by setting
1641the `syn-garbage-limit'. A value of -1 means that GDB will ignore
1642every character. The default value is 1050.
1643
1644* Recording and replaying remote debug sessions
1645
1646If you set `remotelogfile' to the name of a file, gdb will write to it
1647a recording of a remote debug session. This recording may then be
1648replayed back to gdb using "gdbreplay". See gdbserver/README for
1649details. This is useful when you have a problem with GDB while doing
1650remote debugging; you can make a recording of the session and send it
1651to someone else, who can then recreate the problem.
1652
1653* Speedups for remote debugging
1654
1655GDB includes speedups for downloading and stepping MIPS systems using
1656the IDT monitor, fast downloads to the Hitachi SH E7000 emulator,
1657and more efficient S-record downloading.
1658
1659* Memory use reductions and statistics collection
1660
1661GDB now uses less memory and reports statistics about memory usage.
1662Try the `maint print statistics' command, for example.
1663
1664*** Changes in GDB-4.15:
1665
1666* Psymtabs for XCOFF
1667
1668The symbol reader for AIX GDB now uses partial symbol tables. This
1669can greatly improve startup time, especially for large executables.
1670
1671* Remote targets use caching
1672
1673Remote targets now use a data cache to speed up communication with the
1674remote side. The data cache could lead to incorrect results because
1675it doesn't know about volatile variables, thus making it impossible to
1676debug targets which use memory mapped I/O devices. `set remotecache
1677off' turns the the data cache off.
1678
1679* Remote targets may have threads
1680
1681The standard remote protocol now includes support for multiple threads
1682in the target system, using new protocol commands 'H' and 'T'. See
1683gdb/remote.c for details.
1684
1685* NetROM support
1686
1687If GDB is configured with `--enable-netrom', then it will include
1688support for the NetROM ROM emulator from XLNT Designs. The NetROM
1689acts as though it is a bank of ROM on the target board, but you can
1690write into it over the network. GDB's support consists only of
1691support for fast loading into the emulated ROM; to debug, you must use
1692another protocol, such as standard remote protocol. The usual
1693sequence is something like
1694
1695 target nrom <netrom-hostname>
1696 load <prog>
1697 target remote <netrom-hostname>:1235
1698
1699* Macintosh host
1700
1701GDB now includes support for the Apple Macintosh, as a host only. It
1702may be run as either an MPW tool or as a standalone application, and
1703it can debug through the serial port. All the usual GDB commands are
1704available, but to the target command, you must supply "serial" as the
1705device type instead of "/dev/ttyXX". See mpw-README in the main
1706directory for more information on how to build. The MPW configuration
1707scripts */mpw-config.in support only a few targets, and only the
1708mips-idt-ecoff target has been tested.
1709
1710* Autoconf
1711
1712GDB configuration now uses autoconf. This is not user-visible,
1713but does simplify configuration and building.
1714
1715* hpux10
1716
1717GDB now supports hpux10.
1718
1719*** Changes in GDB-4.14:
1720
1721* New native configurations
1722
1723x86 FreeBSD i[345]86-*-freebsd
1724x86 NetBSD i[345]86-*-netbsd
1725NS32k NetBSD ns32k-*-netbsd
1726Sparc NetBSD sparc-*-netbsd
1727
1728* New targets
1729
1730A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
1731HP PA PRO embedded (WinBond W89K & Oki OP50N) hppa*-*-pro*
1732CPU32 EST-300 emulator m68*-*-est*
1733PowerPC ELF powerpc-*-elf
1734WDC 65816 w65-*-*
1735
1736* Alpha OSF/1 support for procfs
1737
1738GDB now supports procfs under OSF/1-2.x and higher, which makes it
1739possible to attach to running processes. As the mounting of the /proc
1740filesystem is optional on the Alpha, GDB automatically determines
1741the availability of /proc during startup. This can lead to problems
1742if /proc is unmounted after GDB has been started.
1743
1744* Arguments to user-defined commands
1745
1746User commands may accept up to 10 arguments separated by whitespace.
1747Arguments are accessed within the user command via $arg0..$arg9. A
1748trivial example:
1749define adder
1750 print $arg0 + $arg1 + $arg2
1751
1752To execute the command use:
1753adder 1 2 3
1754
1755Defines the command "adder" which prints the sum of its three arguments.
1756Note the arguments are text substitutions, so they may reference variables,
1757use complex expressions, or even perform inferior function calls.
1758
1759* New `if' and `while' commands
1760
1761This makes it possible to write more sophisticated user-defined
1762commands. Both commands take a single argument, which is the
1763expression to evaluate, and must be followed by the commands to
1764execute, one per line, if the expression is nonzero, the list being
1765terminated by the word `end'. The `if' command list may include an
1766`else' word, which causes the following commands to be executed only
1767if the expression is zero.
1768
1769* Fortran source language mode
1770
1771GDB now includes partial support for Fortran 77. It will recognize
1772Fortran programs and can evaluate a subset of Fortran expressions, but
1773variables and functions may not be handled correctly. GDB will work
1774with G77, but does not yet know much about symbols emitted by other
1775Fortran compilers.
1776
1777* Better HPUX support
1778
1779Most debugging facilities now work on dynamic executables for HPPAs
1780running hpux9 or later. You can attach to running dynamically linked
1781processes, but by default the dynamic libraries will be read-only, so
1782for instance you won't be able to put breakpoints in them. To change
1783that behavior do the following before running the program:
1784
1785 adb -w a.out
1786 __dld_flags?W 0x5
1787 control-d
1788
1789This will cause the libraries to be mapped private and read-write.
1790To revert to the normal behavior, do this:
1791
1792 adb -w a.out
1793 __dld_flags?W 0x4
1794 control-d
1795
1796You cannot set breakpoints or examine data in the library until after
1797the library is loaded if the function/data symbols do not have
1798external linkage.
1799
1800GDB can now also read debug symbols produced by the HP C compiler on
1801HPPAs (sorry, no C++, Fortran or 68k support).
1802
1803* Target byte order now dynamically selectable
1804
1805You can choose which byte order to use with a target system, via the
1806commands "set endian big" and "set endian little", and you can see the
1807current setting by using "show endian". You can also give the command
1808"set endian auto", in which case GDB will use the byte order
1809associated with the executable. Currently, only embedded MIPS
1810configurations support dynamic selection of target byte order.
1811
1812* New DOS host serial code
1813
1814This version uses DPMI interrupts to handle buffered I/O, so you
1815no longer need to run asynctsr when debugging boards connected to
1816a PC's serial port.
1817
1818*** Changes in GDB-4.13:
1819
1820* New "complete" command
1821
1822This lists all the possible completions for the rest of the line, if it
1823were to be given as a command itself. This is intended for use by emacs.
1824
1825* Trailing space optional in prompt
1826
1827"set prompt" no longer adds a space for you after the prompt you set. This
1828allows you to set a prompt which ends in a space or one that does not.
1829
1830* Breakpoint hit counts
1831
1832"info break" now displays a count of the number of times the breakpoint
1833has been hit. This is especially useful in conjunction with "ignore"; you
1834can ignore a large number of breakpoint hits, look at the breakpoint info
1835to see how many times the breakpoint was hit, then run again, ignoring one
1836less than that number, and this will get you quickly to the last hit of
1837that breakpoint.
1838
1839* Ability to stop printing at NULL character
1840
1841"set print null-stop" will cause GDB to stop printing the characters of
1842an array when the first NULL is encountered. This is useful when large
1843arrays actually contain only short strings.
1844
1845* Shared library breakpoints
1846
1847In SunOS 4.x, SVR4, and Alpha OSF/1 configurations, you can now set
1848breakpoints in shared libraries before the executable is run.
1849
1850* Hardware watchpoints
1851
1852There is a new hardware breakpoint for the watch command for sparclite
1853targets. See gdb/sparclite/hw_breakpoint.note.
1854
55241689 1855Hardware watchpoints are also now supported under GNU/Linux.
c906108c
SS
1856
1857* Annotations
1858
1859Annotations have been added. These are for use with graphical interfaces,
1860and are still experimental. Currently only gdba.el uses these.
1861
1862* Improved Irix 5 support
1863
1864GDB now works properly with Irix 5.2.
1865
1866* Improved HPPA support
1867
1868GDB now works properly with the latest GCC and GAS.
1869
1870* New native configurations
1871
1872Sequent PTX4 i[34]86-sequent-ptx4
1873HPPA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
1874Atari TT running SVR4 m68*-*-sysv4*
1875RS/6000 LynxOS rs6000-*-lynxos*
1876
1877* New targets
1878
1879OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
1880MIPS R4000 mips64*{,el}-*-{ecoff,elf}
1881Sparc64 sparc64-*-*
1882
1883* Hitachi SH7000 and E7000-PC ICE support
1884
1885There is now support for communicating with the Hitachi E7000-PC ICE.
1886This is available automatically when GDB is configured for the SH.
1887
1888* Fixes
1889
1890As usual, a variety of small fixes and improvements, both generic
1891and configuration-specific. See the ChangeLog for more detail.
1892
1893*** Changes in GDB-4.12:
1894
1895* Irix 5 is now supported
1896
1897* HPPA support
1898
1899GDB-4.12 on the HPPA has a number of changes which make it unable
1900to debug the output from the currently released versions of GCC and
1901GAS (GCC 2.5.8 and GAS-2.2 or PAGAS-1.36). Until the next major release
1902of GCC and GAS, versions of these tools designed to work with GDB-4.12
1903can be retrieved via anonymous ftp from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist.
1904
1905
1906*** Changes in GDB-4.11:
1907
1908* User visible changes:
1909
1910* Remote Debugging
1911
1912The "set remotedebug" option is now consistent between the mips remote
1913target, remote targets using the gdb-specific protocol, UDI (AMD's
1914debug protocol for the 29k) and the 88k bug monitor. It is now an
1915integer specifying a debug level (normally 0 or 1, but 2 means more
1916debugging info for the mips target).
1917
1918* DEC Alpha native support
1919
1920GDB now works on the DEC Alpha. GCC 2.4.5 does not produce usable
1921debug info, but GDB works fairly well with the DEC compiler and should
1922work with a future GCC release. See the README file for a few
1923Alpha-specific notes.
1924
1925* Preliminary thread implementation
1926
1927GDB now has preliminary thread support for both SGI/Irix and LynxOS.
1928
1929* LynxOS native and target support for 386
1930
1931This release has been hosted on LynxOS 2.2, and also can be configured
1932to remotely debug programs running under LynxOS (see gdb/gdbserver/README
1933for details).
1934
1935* Improvements in C++ mangling/demangling.
1936
1937This release has much better g++ debugging, specifically in name
1938mangling/demangling, virtual function calls, print virtual table,
1939call methods, ...etc.
1940
1941*** Changes in GDB-4.10:
1942
1943 * User visible changes:
1944
1945Remote debugging using the GDB-specific (`target remote') protocol now
1946supports the `load' command. This is only useful if you have some
1947other way of getting the stub to the target system, and you can put it
1948somewhere in memory where it won't get clobbered by the download.
1949
1950Filename completion now works.
1951
1952When run under emacs mode, the "info line" command now causes the
1953arrow to point to the line specified. Also, "info line" prints
1954addresses in symbolic form (as well as hex).
1955
1956All vxworks based targets now support a user settable option, called
1957vxworks-timeout. This option represents the number of seconds gdb
1958should wait for responses to rpc's. You might want to use this if
1959your vxworks target is, perhaps, a slow software simulator or happens
1960to be on the far side of a thin network line.
1961
1962 * DEC alpha support
1963
1964This release contains support for using a DEC alpha as a GDB host for
1965cross debugging. Native alpha debugging is not supported yet.
1966
1967
1968*** Changes in GDB-4.9:
1969
1970 * Testsuite
1971
1972This is the first GDB release which is accompanied by a matching testsuite.
1973The testsuite requires installation of dejagnu, which should be available
1974via ftp from most sites that carry GNU software.
1975
1976 * C++ demangling
1977
1978'Cfront' style demangling has had its name changed to 'ARM' style, to
1979emphasize that it was written from the specifications in the C++ Annotated
1980Reference Manual, not necessarily to be compatible with AT&T cfront. Despite
1981disclaimers, it still generated too much confusion with users attempting to
1982use gdb with AT&T cfront.
1983
1984 * Simulators
1985
1986GDB now uses a standard remote interface to a simulator library.
1987So far, the library contains simulators for the Zilog Z8001/2, the
1988Hitachi H8/300, H8/500 and Super-H.
1989
1990 * New targets supported
1991
1992H8/300 simulator h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
1993H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
1994SH simulator sh-hitachi-hms or sh
1995Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
1996IDT MIPS board over serial line mips-idt-ecoff
1997
1998Cross-debugging to GO32 targets is supported. It requires a custom
1999version of the i386-stub.c module which is integrated with the
2000GO32 memory extender.
2001
2002 * New remote protocols
2003
2004MIPS remote debugging protocol.
2005
2006 * New source languages supported
2007
2008This version includes preliminary support for Chill, a Pascal like language
2009used by telecommunications companies. Chill support is also being integrated
2010into the GNU compiler, but we don't know when it will be publically available.
2011
2012
2013*** Changes in GDB-4.8:
2014
2015 * HP Precision Architecture supported
2016
2017GDB now supports HP PA-RISC machines running HPUX. A preliminary
2018version of this support was available as a set of patches from the
2019University of Utah. GDB does not support debugging of programs
2020compiled with the HP compiler, because HP will not document their file
2021format. Instead, you must use GCC (version 2.3.2 or later) and PA-GAS
2022(as available from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist/pa-gas.u4.tar.Z).
2023
2024Many problems in the preliminary version have been fixed.
2025
2026 * Faster and better demangling
2027
2028We have improved template demangling and fixed numerous bugs in the GNU style
2029demangler. It can now handle type modifiers such as `static' or `const'. Wide
2030character types (wchar_t) are now supported. Demangling of each symbol is now
2031only done once, and is cached when the symbol table for a file is read in.
2032This results in a small increase in memory usage for C programs, a moderate
2033increase in memory usage for C++ programs, and a fantastic speedup in
2034symbol lookups.
2035
2036`Cfront' style demangling still doesn't work with AT&T cfront. It was written
2037from the specifications in the Annotated Reference Manual, which AT&T's
2038compiler does not actually implement.
2039
2040 * G++ multiple inheritance compiler problem
2041
2042In the 2.3.2 release of gcc/g++, how the compiler resolves multiple
2043inheritance lattices was reworked to properly discover ambiguities. We
2044recently found an example which causes this new algorithm to fail in a
2045very subtle way, producing bad debug information for those classes.
2046The file 'gcc.patch' (in this directory) can be applied to gcc to
2047circumvent the problem. A future GCC release will contain a complete
2048fix.
2049
2050The previous G++ debug info problem (mentioned below for the gdb-4.7
2051release) is fixed in gcc version 2.3.2.
2052
2053 * Improved configure script
2054
2055The `configure' script will now attempt to guess your system type if
2056you don't supply a host system type. The old scheme of supplying a
2057host system triplet is preferable over using this. All the magic is
2058done in the new `config.guess' script. Examine it for details.
2059
2060We have also brought our configure script much more in line with the FSF's
2061version. It now supports the --with-xxx options. In particular,
2062`--with-minimal-bfd' can be used to make the GDB binary image smaller.
2063The resulting GDB will not be able to read arbitrary object file formats --
2064only the format ``expected'' to be used on the configured target system.
2065We hope to make this the default in a future release.
2066
2067 * Documentation improvements
2068
2069There's new internal documentation on how to modify GDB, and how to
2070produce clean changes to the code. We implore people to read it
2071before submitting changes.
2072
2073The GDB manual uses new, sexy Texinfo conditionals, rather than arcane
2074M4 macros. The new texinfo.tex is provided in this release. Pre-built
2075`info' files are also provided. To build `info' files from scratch,
2076you will need the latest `makeinfo' release, which will be available in
2077a future texinfo-X.Y release.
2078
2079*NOTE* The new texinfo.tex can cause old versions of TeX to hang.
2080We're not sure exactly which versions have this problem, but it has
2081been seen in 3.0. We highly recommend upgrading to TeX version 3.141
2082or better. If that isn't possible, there is a patch in
2083`texinfo/tex3patch' that will modify `texinfo/texinfo.tex' to work
2084around this problem.
2085
2086 * New features
2087
2088GDB now supports array constants that can be used in expressions typed in by
2089the user. The syntax is `{element, element, ...}'. Ie: you can now type
2090`print {1, 2, 3}', and it will build up an array in memory malloc'd in
2091the target program.
2092
2093The new directory `gdb/sparclite' contains a program that demonstrates
2094how the sparc-stub.c remote stub runs on a Fujitsu SPARClite processor.
2095
2096 * New native hosts supported
2097
2098HP/PA-RISC under HPUX using GNU tools hppa1.1-hp-hpux
2099386 CPUs running SCO Unix 3.2v4 i386-unknown-sco3.2v4
2100
2101 * New targets supported
2102
2103AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi or udi29k
2104
2105 * New file formats supported
2106
2107BFD now supports reading HP/PA-RISC executables (SOM file format?),
2108HPUX core files, and SCO 3.2v2 core files.
2109
2110 * Major bug fixes
2111
2112Attaching to processes now works again; thanks for the many bug reports.
2113
2114We have also stomped on a bunch of core dumps caused by
2115printf_filtered("%s") problems.
2116
2117We eliminated a copyright problem on the rpc and ptrace header files
2118for VxWorks, which was discovered at the last minute during the 4.7
2119release. You should now be able to build a VxWorks GDB.
2120
2121You can now interrupt gdb while an attached process is running. This
2122will cause the attached process to stop, and give control back to GDB.
2123
2124We fixed problems caused by using too many file descriptors
2125for reading symbols from object files and libraries. This was
2126especially a problem for programs that used many (~100) shared
2127libraries.
2128
2129The `step' command now only enters a subroutine if there is line number
2130information for the subroutine. Otherwise it acts like the `next'
2131command. Previously, `step' would enter subroutines if there was
2132any debugging information about the routine. This avoids problems
2133when using `cc -g1' on MIPS machines.
2134
2135 * Internal improvements
2136
2137GDB's internal interfaces have been improved to make it easier to support
2138debugging of multiple languages in the future.
2139
2140GDB now uses a common structure for symbol information internally.
2141Minimal symbols (derived from linkage symbols in object files), partial
2142symbols (from a quick scan of debug information), and full symbols
2143contain a common subset of information, making it easier to write
2144shared code that handles any of them.
2145
2146 * New command line options
2147
2148We now accept --silent as an alias for --quiet.
2149
2150 * Mmalloc licensing
2151
2152The memory-mapped-malloc library is now licensed under the GNU Library
2153General Public License.
2154
2155*** Changes in GDB-4.7:
2156
2157 * Host/native/target split
2158
2159GDB has had some major internal surgery to untangle the support for
2160hosts and remote targets. Now, when you configure GDB for a remote
2161target, it will no longer load in all of the support for debugging
2162local programs on the host. When fully completed and tested, this will
2163ensure that arbitrary host/target combinations are possible.
2164
2165The primary conceptual shift is to separate the non-portable code in
2166GDB into three categories. Host specific code is required any time GDB
2167is compiled on that host, regardless of the target. Target specific
2168code relates to the peculiarities of the target, but can be compiled on
2169any host. Native specific code is everything else: it can only be
2170built when the host and target are the same system. Child process
2171handling and core file support are two common `native' examples.
2172
2173GDB's use of /proc for controlling Unix child processes is now cleaner.
2174It has been split out into a single module under the `target_ops' vector,
2175plus two native-dependent functions for each system that uses /proc.
2176
2177 * New hosts supported
2178
2179HP/Apollo 68k (under the BSD domain) m68k-apollo-bsd or apollo68bsd
2180386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
2181386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or i386sco
2182
2183 * New targets supported
2184
2185Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
218668030 and CPU32 m68030-*-*, m68332-*-*
2187
2188 * New native hosts supported
2189
2190386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
2191 (386bsd is not well tested yet)
2192386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or sco
2193
2194 * New file formats supported
2195
2196BFD now supports COFF files for the Zilog Z8000 microprocessor. It
2197supports reading of `a.out.adobe' object files, which are an a.out
2198format extended with minimal information about multiple sections.
2199
2200 * New commands
2201
2202`show copying' is the same as the old `info copying'.
2203`show warranty' is the same as `info warrantee'.
2204These were renamed for consistency. The old commands continue to work.
2205
2206`info handle' is a new alias for `info signals'.
2207
2208You can now define pre-command hooks, which attach arbitrary command
2209scripts to any command. The commands in the hook will be executed
2210prior to the user's command. You can also create a hook which will be
2211executed whenever the program stops. See gdb.texinfo.
2212
2213 * C++ improvements
2214
2215We now deal with Cfront style name mangling, and can even extract type
2216info from mangled symbols. GDB can automatically figure out which
2217symbol mangling style your C++ compiler uses.
2218
2219Calling of methods and virtual functions has been improved as well.
2220
2221 * Major bug fixes
2222
2223The crash that occured when debugging Sun Ansi-C compiled binaries is
2224fixed. This was due to mishandling of the extra N_SO stabs output
2225by the compiler.
2226
2227We also finally got Ultrix 4.2 running in house, and fixed core file
2228support, with help from a dozen people on the net.
2229
2230John M. Farrell discovered that the reason that single-stepping was so
2231slow on all of the Mips based platforms (primarily SGI and DEC) was
2232that we were trying to demangle and lookup a symbol used for internal
2233purposes on every instruction that was being stepped through. Changing
2234the name of that symbol so that it couldn't be mistaken for a C++
2235mangled symbol sped things up a great deal.
2236
2237Rich Pixley sped up symbol lookups in general by getting much smarter
2238about when C++ symbol mangling is necessary. This should make symbol
2239completion (TAB on the command line) much faster. It's not as fast as
2240we'd like, but it's significantly faster than gdb-4.6.
2241
2242 * AMD 29k support
2243
2244A new user controllable variable 'call_scratch_address' can
2245specify the location of a scratch area to be used when GDB
2246calls a function in the target. This is necessary because the
2247usual method of putting the scratch area on the stack does not work
2248in systems that have separate instruction and data spaces.
2249
2250We integrated changes to support the 29k UDI (Universal Debugger
2251Interface), but discovered at the last minute that we didn't have all
2252of the appropriate copyright paperwork. We are working with AMD to
2253resolve this, and hope to have it available soon.
2254
2255 * Remote interfaces
2256
2257We have sped up the remote serial line protocol, especially for targets
2258with lots of registers. It now supports a new `expedited status' ('T')
2259message which can be used in place of the existing 'S' status message.
2260This allows the remote stub to send only the registers that GDB
2261needs to make a quick decision about single-stepping or conditional
2262breakpoints, eliminating the need to fetch the entire register set for
2263each instruction being stepped through.
2264
2265The GDB remote serial protocol now implements a write-through cache for
2266registers, only re-reading the registers if the target has run.
2267
2268There is also a new remote serial stub for SPARC processors. You can
2269find it in gdb-4.7/gdb/sparc-stub.c. This was written to support the
2270Fujitsu SPARClite processor, but will run on any stand-alone SPARC
2271processor with a serial port.
2272
2273 * Configuration
2274
2275Configure.in files have become much easier to read and modify. A new
2276`table driven' format makes it more obvious what configurations are
2277supported, and what files each one uses.
2278
2279 * Library changes
2280
2281There is a new opcodes library which will eventually contain all of the
2282disassembly routines and opcode tables. At present, it only contains
2283Sparc and Z8000 routines. This will allow the assembler, debugger, and
2284disassembler (binutils/objdump) to share these routines.
2285
2286The libiberty library is now copylefted under the GNU Library General
2287Public License. This allows more liberal use, and was done so libg++
2288can use it. This makes no difference to GDB, since the Library License
2289grants all the rights from the General Public License.
2290
2291 * Documentation
2292
2293The file gdb-4.7/gdb/doc/stabs.texinfo is a (relatively) complete
2294reference to the stabs symbol info used by the debugger. It is (as far
2295as we know) the only published document on this fascinating topic. We
2296encourage you to read it, compare it to the stabs information on your
2297system, and send improvements on the document in general (to
2298bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu).
2299
2300And, of course, many bugs have been fixed.
2301
2302
2303*** Changes in GDB-4.6:
2304
2305 * Better support for C++ function names
2306
2307GDB now accepts as input the "demangled form" of C++ overloaded function
2308names and member function names, and can do command completion on such names
2309(using TAB, TAB-TAB, and ESC-?). The names have to be quoted with a pair of
2310single quotes. Examples are 'func (int, long)' and 'obj::operator==(obj&)'.
2311Make use of command completion, it is your friend.
2312
2313GDB also now accepts a variety of C++ mangled symbol formats. They are
2314the GNU g++ style, the Cfront (ARM) style, and the Lucid (lcc) style.
2315You can tell GDB which format to use by doing a 'set demangle-style {gnu,
2316lucid, cfront, auto}'. 'gnu' is the default. Do a 'set demangle-style foo'
2317for the list of formats.
2318
2319 * G++ symbol mangling problem
2320
2321Recent versions of gcc have a bug in how they emit debugging information for
2322C++ methods (when using dbx-style stabs). The file 'gcc.patch' (in this
2323directory) can be applied to gcc to fix the problem. Alternatively, if you
2324can't fix gcc, you can #define GCC_MANGLE_BUG when compling gdb/symtab.c. The
2325usual symptom is difficulty with setting breakpoints on methods. GDB complains
2326about the method being non-existent. (We believe that version 2.2.2 of GCC has
2327this problem.)
2328
2329 * New 'maintenance' command
2330
2331All of the commands related to hacking GDB internals have been moved out of
2332the main command set, and now live behind the 'maintenance' command. This
2333can also be abbreviated as 'mt'. The following changes were made:
2334
2335 dump-me -> maintenance dump-me
2336 info all-breakpoints -> maintenance info breakpoints
2337 printmsyms -> maintenance print msyms
2338 printobjfiles -> maintenance print objfiles
2339 printpsyms -> maintenance print psymbols
2340 printsyms -> maintenance print symbols
2341
2342The following commands are new:
2343
2344 maintenance demangle Call internal GDB demangler routine to
2345 demangle a C++ link name and prints the result.
2346 maintenance print type Print a type chain for a given symbol
2347
2348 * Change to .gdbinit file processing
2349
2350We now read the $HOME/.gdbinit file before processing the argv arguments
2351(e.g. reading symbol files or core files). This allows global parameters to
2352be set, which will apply during the symbol reading. The ./.gdbinit is still
2353read after argv processing.
2354
2355 * New hosts supported
2356
2357Solaris-2.0 !!! sparc-sun-solaris2 or sun4sol2
2358
55241689 2359GNU/Linux support i386-unknown-linux or linux
c906108c
SS
2360
2361We are also including code to support the HP/PA running BSD and HPUX. This
2362is almost guaranteed not to work, as we didn't have time to test or build it
2363for this release. We are including it so that the more adventurous (or
2364masochistic) of you can play with it. We also had major problems with the
2365fact that the compiler that we got from HP doesn't support the -g option.
2366It costs extra.
2367
2368 * New targets supported
2369
2370Hitachi H8/300 h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
2371
2372 * More smarts about finding #include files
2373
2374GDB now remembers the compilation directory for all include files, and for
2375all files from which C is generated (like yacc and lex sources). This
2376greatly improves GDB's ability to find yacc/lex sources, and include files,
2377especially if you are debugging your program from a directory different from
2378the one that contains your sources.
2379
2380We also fixed a bug which caused difficulty with listing and setting
2381breakpoints in include files which contain C code. (In the past, you had to
2382try twice in order to list an include file that you hadn't looked at before.)
2383
2384 * Interesting infernals change
2385
2386GDB now deals with arbitrary numbers of sections, where the symbols for each
2387section must be relocated relative to that section's landing place in the
2388target's address space. This work was needed to support ELF with embedded
2389stabs used by Solaris-2.0.
2390
2391 * Bug fixes (of course!)
2392
2393There have been loads of fixes for the following things:
2394 mips, rs6000, 29k/udi, m68k, g++, type handling, elf/dwarf, m88k,
2395 i960, stabs, DOS(GO32), procfs, etc...
2396
2397See the ChangeLog for details.
2398
2399*** Changes in GDB-4.5:
2400
2401 * New machines supported (host and target)
2402
2403IBM RS6000 running AIX rs6000-ibm-aix or rs6000
2404
2405SGI Irix-4.x mips-sgi-irix4 or iris4
2406
2407 * New malloc package
2408
2409GDB now uses a new memory manager called mmalloc, based on gmalloc.
2410Mmalloc is capable of handling mutiple heaps of memory. It is also
2411capable of saving a heap to a file, and then mapping it back in later.
2412This can be used to greatly speedup the startup of GDB by using a
2413pre-parsed symbol table which lives in a mmalloc managed heap. For
2414more details, please read mmalloc/mmalloc.texi.
2415
2416 * info proc
2417
2418The 'info proc' command (SVR4 only) has been enhanced quite a bit. See
2419'help info proc' for details.
2420
2421 * MIPS ecoff symbol table format
2422
2423The code that reads MIPS symbol table format is now supported on all hosts.
2424Thanks to MIPS for releasing the sym.h and symconst.h files to make this
2425possible.
2426
2427 * File name changes for MS-DOS
2428
2429Many files in the config directories have been renamed to make it easier to
2430support GDB on MS-DOSe systems (which have very restrictive file name
2431conventions :-( ). MS-DOSe host support (under DJ Delorie's GO32
2432environment) is close to working but has some remaining problems. Note
2433that debugging of DOS programs is not supported, due to limitations
2434in the ``operating system'', but it can be used to host cross-debugging.
2435
2436 * Cross byte order fixes
2437
2438Many fixes have been made to support cross debugging of Sparc and MIPS
2439targets from hosts whose byte order differs.
2440
2441 * New -mapped and -readnow options
2442
2443If memory-mapped files are available on your system through the 'mmap'
2444system call, you can use the -mapped option on the `file' or
2445`symbol-file' commands to cause GDB to write the symbols from your
2446program into a reusable file. If the program you are debugging is
2447called `/path/fred', the mapped symbol file will be `./fred.syms'.
2448Future GDB debugging sessions will notice the presence of this file,
2449and will quickly map in symbol information from it, rather than reading
2450the symbol table from the executable program. Using the '-mapped'
2451option in a GDB `file' or `symbol-file' command has the same effect as
2452starting GDB with the '-mapped' command-line option.
2453
2454You can cause GDB to read the entire symbol table immediately by using
2455the '-readnow' option with any of the commands that load symbol table
2456information (or on the GDB command line). This makes the command
2457slower, but makes future operations faster.
2458
2459The -mapped and -readnow options are typically combined in order to
2460build a `fred.syms' file that contains complete symbol information.
2461A simple GDB invocation to do nothing but build a `.syms' file for future
2462use is:
2463
2464 gdb -batch -nx -mapped -readnow programname
2465
2466The `.syms' file is specific to the host machine on which GDB is run.
2467It holds an exact image of GDB's internal symbol table. It cannot be
2468shared across multiple host platforms.
2469
2470 * longjmp() handling
2471
2472GDB is now capable of stepping and nexting over longjmp(), _longjmp(), and
2473siglongjmp() without losing control. This feature has not yet been ported to
2474all systems. It currently works on many 386 platforms, all MIPS-based
2475platforms (SGI, DECstation, etc), and Sun3/4.
2476
2477 * Solaris 2.0
2478
2479Preliminary work has been put in to support the new Solaris OS from Sun. At
2480this time, it can control and debug processes, but it is not capable of
2481reading symbols.
2482
2483 * Bug fixes
2484
2485As always, many many bug fixes. The major areas were with g++, and mipsread.
2486People using the MIPS-based platforms should experience fewer mysterious
2487crashes and trashed symbol tables.
2488
2489*** Changes in GDB-4.4:
2490
2491 * New machines supported (host and target)
2492
2493SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
2494 (except core files)
2495BSD Reno on Vax vax-dec-bsd
2496Ultrix on Vax vax-dec-ultrix
2497
2498 * New machines supported (target)
2499
2500AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
2501
2502 * C++ support
2503
2504GDB continues to improve its handling of C++. `References' work better.
2505The demangler has also been improved, and now deals with symbols mangled as
2506per the Annotated C++ Reference Guide.
2507
2508GDB also now handles `stabs' symbol information embedded in MIPS
2509`ecoff' symbol tables. Since the ecoff format was not easily
2510extensible to handle new languages such as C++, this appeared to be a
2511good way to put C++ debugging info into MIPS binaries. This option
2512will be supported in the GNU C compiler, version 2, when it is
2513released.
2514
2515 * New features for SVR4
2516
2517GDB now handles SVR4 shared libraries, in the same fashion as SunOS
2518shared libraries. Debugging dynamically linked programs should present
2519only minor differences from debugging statically linked programs.
2520
2521The `info proc' command will print out information about any process
2522on an SVR4 system (including the one you are debugging). At the moment,
2523it prints the address mappings of the process.
2524
2525If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please send mail to
2526bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were reqired (if any).
2527
2528 * Better dynamic linking support in SunOS
2529
2530Reading symbols from shared libraries which contain debugging symbols
2531now works properly. However, there remain issues such as automatic
2532skipping of `transfer vector' code during function calls, which
2533make it harder to debug code in a shared library, than to debug the
2534same code linked statically.
2535
2536 * New Getopt
2537
2538GDB is now using the latest `getopt' routines from the FSF. This
2539version accepts the -- prefix for options with long names. GDB will
2540continue to accept the old forms (-option and +option) as well.
2541Various single letter abbreviations for options have been explicity
2542added to the option table so that they won't get overshadowed in the
2543future by other options that begin with the same letter.
2544
2545 * Bugs fixed
2546
2547The `cleanup_undefined_types' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
2548Many assorted bugs have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
2549See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
2550
2551
2552*** Changes in GDB-4.3:
2553
2554 * New machines supported (host and target)
2555
2556Amiga 3000 running Amix m68k-cbm-svr4 or amix
2557NCR 3000 386 running SVR4 i386-ncr-svr4 or ncr3000
2558Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
2559
2560 * Almost SCO Unix support
2561
2562We had hoped to support:
2563SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
2564(except for core file support), but we discovered very late in the release
2565that it has problems with process groups that render gdb unusable. Sorry
2566about that. I encourage people to fix it and post the fixes.
2567
2568 * Preliminary ELF and DWARF support
2569
2570GDB can read ELF object files on System V Release 4, and can handle
2571debugging records for C, in DWARF format, in ELF files. This support
2572is preliminary. If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please
2573send mail to bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were
2574reqired (if any).
2575
2576 * New Readline
2577
2578GDB now uses the latest `readline' library. One user-visible change
2579is that two tabs will list possible command completions, which previously
2580required typing M-? (meta-question mark, or ESC ?).
2581
2582 * Bugs fixed
2583
2584The `stepi' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
2585Many bugs in C++ have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
2586See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
2587
2588 * State of the MIPS world (in case you wondered):
2589
2590GDB can understand the symbol tables emitted by the compilers
2591supplied by most vendors of MIPS-based machines, including DEC. These
2592symbol tables are in a format that essentially nobody else uses.
2593
2594Some versions of gcc come with an assembler post-processor called
2595mips-tfile. This program is required if you want to do source-level
2596debugging of gcc-compiled programs. I believe FSF does not ship
2597mips-tfile with gcc version 1, but it will eventually come with gcc
2598version 2.
2599
2600Debugging of g++ output remains a problem. g++ version 1.xx does not
2601really support it at all. (If you're lucky, you should be able to get
2602line numbers and stack traces to work, but no parameters or local
2603variables.) With some work it should be possible to improve the
2604situation somewhat.
2605
2606When gcc version 2 is released, you will have somewhat better luck.
2607However, even then you will get confusing results for inheritance and
2608methods.
2609
2610We will eventually provide full debugging of g++ output on
2611DECstations. This will probably involve some kind of stabs-in-ecoff
2612encapulation, but the details have not been worked out yet.
2613
2614
2615*** Changes in GDB-4.2:
2616
2617 * Improved configuration
2618
2619Only one copy of `configure' exists now, and it is not self-modifying.
2620Porting BFD is simpler.
2621
2622 * Stepping improved
2623
2624The `step' and `next' commands now only stop at the first instruction
2625of a source line. This prevents the multiple stops that used to occur
2626in switch statements, for-loops, etc. `Step' continues to stop if a
2627function that has debugging information is called within the line.
2628
2629 * Bug fixing
2630
2631Lots of small bugs fixed. More remain.
2632
2633 * New host supported (not target)
2634
2635Intel 386 PC clone running Mach i386-none-mach
2636
2637
2638*** Changes in GDB-4.1:
2639
2640 * Multiple source language support
2641
2642GDB now has internal scaffolding to handle several source languages.
2643It determines the type of each source file from its filename extension,
2644and will switch expression parsing and number formatting to match the
2645language of the function in the currently selected stack frame.
2646You can also specifically set the language to be used, with
2647`set language c' or `set language modula-2'.
2648
2649 * GDB and Modula-2
2650
2651GDB now has preliminary support for the GNU Modula-2 compiler,
2652currently under development at the State University of New York at
2653Buffalo. Development of both GDB and the GNU Modula-2 compiler will
2654continue through the fall of 1991 and into 1992.
2655
2656Other Modula-2 compilers are currently not supported, and attempting to
2657debug programs compiled with them will likely result in an error as the
2658symbol table is read. Feel free to work on it, though!
2659
2660There are hooks in GDB for strict type checking and range checking,
2661in the `Modula-2 philosophy', but they do not currently work.
2662
2663 * set write on/off
2664
2665GDB can now write to executable and core files (e.g. patch
2666a variable's value). You must turn this switch on, specify
2667the file ("exec foo" or "core foo"), *then* modify it, e.g.
2668by assigning a new value to a variable. Modifications take
2669effect immediately.
2670
2671 * Automatic SunOS shared library reading
2672
2673When you run your program, GDB automatically determines where its
2674shared libraries (if any) have been loaded, and reads their symbols.
2675The `share' command is no longer needed. This also works when
2676examining core files.
2677
2678 * set listsize
2679
2680You can specify the number of lines that the `list' command shows.
2681The default is 10.
2682
2683 * New machines supported (host and target)
2684
2685SGI Iris (MIPS) running Irix V3: mips-sgi-irix or iris
2686Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x: m68k-sony-sysv or news
2687Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1: a29k-nyu-sym1 or ultra3
2688
2689 * New hosts supported (not targets)
2690
2691IBM RT/PC: romp-ibm-aix or rtpc
2692
2693 * New targets supported (not hosts)
2694
2695AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
2696AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
2697Ultracomputer remote kernel debug a29k-nyu-kern
2698
2699 * New remote interfaces
2700
2701AMD 29000 Adapt
2702AMD 29000 Minimon
2703
2704
2705*** Changes in GDB-4.0:
2706
2707 * New Facilities
2708
2709Wide output is wrapped at good places to make the output more readable.
2710
2711Gdb now supports cross-debugging from a host machine of one type to a
2712target machine of another type. Communication with the target system
2713is over serial lines. The ``target'' command handles connecting to the
2714remote system; the ``load'' command will download a program into the
2715remote system. Serial stubs for the m68k and i386 are provided. Gdb
2716also supports debugging of realtime processes running under VxWorks,
2717using SunRPC Remote Procedure Calls over TCP/IP to talk to a debugger
2718stub on the target system.
2719
2720New CPUs supported include the AMD 29000 and Intel 960.
2721
2722GDB now reads object files and symbol tables via a ``binary file''
2723library, which allows a single copy of GDB to debug programs of multiple
2724object file types such as a.out and coff.
2725
2726There is now a GDB reference card in "doc/refcard.tex". (Make targets
2727refcard.dvi and refcard.ps are available to format it).
2728
2729
2730 * Control-Variable user interface simplified
2731
2732All variables that control the operation of the debugger can be set
2733by the ``set'' command, and displayed by the ``show'' command.
2734
2735For example, ``set prompt new-gdb=>'' will change your prompt to new-gdb=>.
2736``Show prompt'' produces the response:
2737Gdb's prompt is new-gdb=>.
2738
2739What follows are the NEW set commands. The command ``help set'' will
2740print a complete list of old and new set commands. ``help set FOO''
2741will give a longer description of the variable FOO. ``show'' will show
2742all of the variable descriptions and their current settings.
2743
2744confirm on/off: Enables warning questions for operations that are
2745 hard to recover from, e.g. rerunning the program while
2746 it is already running. Default is ON.
2747
2748editing on/off: Enables EMACS style command line editing
2749 of input. Previous lines can be recalled with
2750 control-P, the current line can be edited with control-B,
2751 you can search for commands with control-R, etc.
2752 Default is ON.
2753
2754history filename NAME: NAME is where the gdb command history
2755 will be stored. The default is .gdb_history,
2756 or the value of the environment variable
2757 GDBHISTFILE.
2758
2759history size N: The size, in commands, of the command history. The
2760 default is 256, or the value of the environment variable
2761 HISTSIZE.
2762
2763history save on/off: If this value is set to ON, the history file will
2764 be saved after exiting gdb. If set to OFF, the
2765 file will not be saved. The default is OFF.
2766
2767history expansion on/off: If this value is set to ON, then csh-like
2768 history expansion will be performed on
2769 command line input. The default is OFF.
2770
2771radix N: Sets the default radix for input and output. It can be set
2772 to 8, 10, or 16. Note that the argument to "radix" is interpreted
2773 in the current radix, so "set radix 10" is always a no-op.
2774
2775height N: This integer value is the number of lines on a page. Default
2776 is 24, the current `stty rows'' setting, or the ``li#''
2777 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
2778 variable TERM.
2779
2780width N: This integer value is the number of characters on a line.
2781 Default is 80, the current `stty cols'' setting, or the ``co#''
2782 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
2783 variable TERM.
2784
2785Note: ``set screensize'' is obsolete. Use ``set height'' and
2786``set width'' instead.
2787
2788print address on/off: Print memory addresses in various command displays,
2789 such as stack traces and structure values. Gdb looks
2790 more ``symbolic'' if you turn this off; it looks more
2791 ``machine level'' with it on. Default is ON.
2792
2793print array on/off: Prettyprint arrays. New convenient format! Default
2794 is OFF.
2795
2796print demangle on/off: Print C++ symbols in "source" form if on,
2797 "raw" form if off.
2798
2799print asm-demangle on/off: Same, for assembler level printouts
2800 like instructions.
2801
2802print vtbl on/off: Prettyprint C++ virtual function tables. Default is OFF.
2803
2804
2805 * Support for Epoch Environment.
2806
2807The epoch environment is a version of Emacs v18 with windowing. One
2808new command, ``inspect'', is identical to ``print'', except that if you
2809are running in the epoch environment, the value is printed in its own
2810window.
2811
2812
2813 * Support for Shared Libraries
2814
2815GDB can now debug programs and core files that use SunOS shared libraries.
2816Symbols from a shared library cannot be referenced
2817before the shared library has been linked with the program (this
2818happens after you type ``run'' and before the function main() is entered).
2819At any time after this linking (including when examining core files
2820from dynamically linked programs), gdb reads the symbols from each
2821shared library when you type the ``sharedlibrary'' command.
2822It can be abbreviated ``share''.
2823
2824sharedlibrary REGEXP: Load shared object library symbols for files
2825 matching a unix regular expression. No argument
2826 indicates to load symbols for all shared libraries.
2827
2828info sharedlibrary: Status of loaded shared libraries.
2829
2830
2831 * Watchpoints
2832
2833A watchpoint stops execution of a program whenever the value of an
2834expression changes. Checking for this slows down execution
2835tremendously whenever you are in the scope of the expression, but is
2836quite useful for catching tough ``bit-spreader'' or pointer misuse
2837problems. Some machines such as the 386 have hardware for doing this
2838more quickly, and future versions of gdb will use this hardware.
2839
2840watch EXP: Set a watchpoint (breakpoint) for an expression.
2841
2842info watchpoints: Information about your watchpoints.
2843
2844delete N: Deletes watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
2845disable N: Temporarily turns off watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
2846enable N: Re-enables watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
2847
2848
2849 * C++ multiple inheritance
2850
2851When used with a GCC version 2 compiler, GDB supports multiple inheritance
2852for C++ programs.
2853
2854 * C++ exception handling
2855
2856Gdb now supports limited C++ exception handling. Besides the existing
2857ability to breakpoint on an exception handler, gdb can breakpoint on
2858the raising of an exception (before the stack is peeled back to the
2859handler's context).
2860
2861catch FOO: If there is a FOO exception handler in the dynamic scope,
2862 set a breakpoint to catch exceptions which may be raised there.
2863 Multiple exceptions (``catch foo bar baz'') may be caught.
2864
2865info catch: Lists all exceptions which may be caught in the
2866 current stack frame.
2867
2868
2869 * Minor command changes
2870
2871The command ``call func (arg, arg, ...)'' now acts like the print
2872command, except it does not print or save a value if the function's result
2873is void. This is similar to dbx usage.
2874
2875The ``up'' and ``down'' commands now always print the frame they end up
2876at; ``up-silently'' and `down-silently'' can be used in scripts to change
2877frames without printing.
2878
2879 * New directory command
2880
2881'dir' now adds directories to the FRONT of the source search path.
2882The path starts off empty. Source files that contain debug information
2883about the directory in which they were compiled can be found even
2884with an empty path; Sun CC and GCC include this information. If GDB can't
2885find your source file in the current directory, type "dir .".
2886
2887 * Configuring GDB for compilation
2888
2889For normal use, type ``./configure host''. See README or gdb.texinfo
2890for more details.
2891
2892GDB now handles cross debugging. If you are remotely debugging between
2893two different machines, type ``./configure host -target=targ''.
2894Host is the machine where GDB will run; targ is the machine
2895where the program that you are debugging will run.
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