2007-10-15 H.J. Lu <hongjiu.lu@intel.com>
[deliverable/binutils-gdb.git] / gdb / NEWS
CommitLineData
c906108c
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1 What has changed in GDB?
2 (Organized release by release)
3
f9ed52be
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4*** Changes since GDB 6.7
5
fe6fbf8b 6* Pending breakpoints no longer change their number when their address
8d5f9c6f 7is resolved.
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8
9* GDB now supports breakpoints with multiple locations,
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10including breakpoints on C++ constructors, inside C++ templates,
11and in inlined functions.
fe6fbf8b 12
8d5f9c6f 13*** Changes in GDB 6.7
6dd09645 14
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15* Resolved 101 resource leaks, null pointer dereferences, etc. in gdb,
16bfd, libiberty and opcodes, as revealed by static analysis donated by
17Coverity, Inc. (http://scan.coverity.com).
18
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19* When looking up multiply-defined global symbols, GDB will now prefer the
20symbol definition in the current shared library if it was built using the
21-Bsymbolic linker option.
22
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23* When the Text User Interface (TUI) is not configured, GDB will now
24recognize the -tui command-line option and print a message that the TUI
25is not supported.
26
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27* The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now has lower overhead for high
28frequency signals (e.g. SIGALRM) via the QPassSignals packet.
29
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30* GDB for MIPS targets now autodetects whether a remote target provides
3132-bit or 64-bit register values.
32
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33* Support for C++ member pointers has been improved.
34
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35* GDB now understands XML target descriptions, which specify the
36target's overall architecture. GDB can read a description from
37a local file or over the remote serial protocol.
38
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39* Vectors of single-byte data use a new integer type which is not
40automatically displayed as character or string data.
41
42* The /s format now works with the print command. It displays
43arrays of single-byte integers and pointers to single-byte integers
44as strings.
e1f48ead 45
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46* Target descriptions can now describe target-specific registers,
47for architectures which have implemented the support (currently
8d5f9c6f 48only ARM, M68K, and MIPS).
123dc839 49
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50* GDB and the GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now support the XScale
51iWMMXt coprocessor.
fb1e4ffc 52
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53* The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, has been updated to support
54ARM Windows CE (mingw32ce) debugging, and GDB Windows CE support
55has been rewritten to use the standard GDB remote protocol.
56
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57* GDB can now step into C++ functions which are called through thunks.
58
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59* GDB for the Cell/B.E. SPU now supports overlay debugging.
60
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61* The GDB remote protocol "qOffsets" packet can now honor ELF segment
62layout. It also supports a TextSeg= and DataSeg= response when only
63segment base addresses (rather than offsets) are available.
64
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65* The /i format now outputs any trailing branch delay slot instructions
66immediately following the last instruction within the count specified.
67
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68* The GDB remote protocol "T" stop reply packet now supports a
69"library" response. Combined with the new "qXfer:libraries:read"
70packet, this response allows GDB to debug shared libraries on targets
71where the operating system manages the list of loaded libraries (e.g.
72Windows and SymbianOS).
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73
74* The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports dynamic link libraries
75(DLLs) on Windows and Windows CE targets.
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76
77* GDB now supports a faster verification that a .debug file matches its binary
78according to its build-id signature, if the signature is present.
cfa9d6d9 79
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80* New commands
81
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82set remoteflow
83show remoteflow
84 Enable or disable hardware flow control (RTS/CTS) on the serial port
85 when debugging using remote targets.
86
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87set mem inaccessible-by-default
88show mem inaccessible-by-default
89 If the target supplies a memory map, for instance via the remote
90 protocol's "qXfer:memory-map:read" packet, setting this variable
91 prevents GDB from accessing memory outside the memory map. This
92 is useful for targets with memory mapped registers or which react
93 badly to accesses of unmapped address space.
94
95set breakpoint auto-hw
96show breakpoint auto-hw
97 If the target supplies a memory map, for instance via the remote
98 protocol's "qXfer:memory-map:read" packet, setting this variable
99 lets GDB use hardware breakpoints automatically for memory regions
100 where it can not use software breakpoints. This covers both the
101 "break" command and internal breakpoints used for other commands
102 including "next" and "finish".
103
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104catch exception
105catch exception unhandled
106 Stop the program execution when Ada exceptions are raised.
107
108catch assert
109 Stop the program execution when an Ada assertion failed.
110
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111set sysroot
112show sysroot
113 Set an alternate system root for target files. This is a more
114 general version of "set solib-absolute-prefix", which is now
115 an alias to "set sysroot".
116
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117info spu
118 Provide extended SPU facility status information. This set of
119 commands is available only when debugging the Cell/B.E. SPU
120 architecture.
121
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122* New native configurations
123
124OpenBSD/sh sh*-*openbsd*
125
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126set tdesc filename
127unset tdesc filename
128show tdesc filename
129 Use the specified local file as an XML target description, and do
130 not query the target for its built-in description.
131
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132* New targets
133
54fe9172 134OpenBSD/sh sh*-*-openbsd*
c9bb8148 135MIPS64 GNU/Linux (gdbserver) mips64-linux-gnu
c077150c 136Toshiba Media Processor mep-elf
c9bb8148 137
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138* New remote packets
139
140QPassSignals:
141 Ignore the specified signals; pass them directly to the debugged program
142 without stopping other threads or reporting them to GDB.
143
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144qXfer:features:read:
145 Read an XML target description from the target, which describes its
146 features.
6dd09645 147
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148qXfer:spu:read:
149qXfer:spu:write:
150 Read or write contents of an spufs file on the target system. These
151 packets are available only on the Cell/B.E. SPU architecture.
152
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153qXfer:libraries:read:
154 Report the loaded shared libraries. Combined with new "T" packet
155 response, this packet allows GDB to debug shared libraries on
156 targets where the operating system manages the list of loaded
157 libraries (e.g. Windows and SymbianOS).
158
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159* Removed targets
160
161Support for these obsolete configurations has been removed.
162
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163alpha*-*-osf1*
164alpha*-*-osf2*
7ce59000 165d10v-*-*
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166hppa*-*-hiux*
167i[34567]86-ncr-*
168i[34567]86-*-dgux*
169i[34567]86-*-lynxos*
170i[34567]86-*-netware*
171i[34567]86-*-sco3.2v5*
172i[34567]86-*-sco3.2v4*
173i[34567]86-*-sco*
174i[34567]86-*-sysv4.2*
175i[34567]86-*-sysv4*
176i[34567]86-*-sysv5*
177i[34567]86-*-unixware2*
178i[34567]86-*-unixware*
179i[34567]86-*-sysv*
180i[34567]86-*-isc*
181m68*-cisco*-*
182m68*-tandem-*
ad527d2e 183mips*-*-pe
483367ee 184rs6000-*-lynxos*
ad527d2e 185sh*-*-pe
483367ee 186
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187* Other removed features
188
189target abug
190target cpu32bug
191target est
192target rom68k
193
194 Various m68k-only ROM monitors.
195
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196target hms
197target e7000
198target sh3
199target sh3e
200
201 Various Renesas ROM monitors and debugging interfaces for SH and
202 H8/300.
203
204target ocd
205
206 Support for a Macraigor serial interface to on-chip debugging.
207 GDB does not directly support the newer parallel or USB
208 interfaces.
209
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210DWARF 1 support
211
212 A debug information format. The predecessor to DWARF 2 and
213 DWARF 3, which are still supported.
214
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215Support for the HP aCC compiler on HP-UX/PA-RISC
216
217 SOM-encapsulated symbolic debugging information, automatic
218 invocation of pxdb, and the aCC custom C++ ABI. This does not
219 affect HP-UX for Itanium or GCC for HP-UX/PA-RISC. Code compiled
220 with aCC can still be debugged on an assembly level.
221
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222MIPS ".pdr" sections
223
224 A MIPS-specific format used to describe stack frame layout
225 in debugging information.
226
227Scheme support
228
229 GDB could work with an older version of Guile to debug
230 the interpreter and Scheme programs running in it.
231
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232set mips stack-arg-size
233set mips saved-gpreg-size
234
235 Use "set mips abi" to control parameter passing for MIPS.
236
6dd09645 237*** Changes in GDB 6.6
e374b601 238
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239* New targets
240
241Xtensa xtensa-elf
9c309e77 242Cell Broadband Engine SPU spu-elf
ca3bf3bd 243
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244* GDB can now be configured as a cross-debugger targeting native Windows
245(mingw32) or Cygwin. It can communicate with a remote debugging stub
246running on a Windows system over TCP/IP to debug Windows programs.
247
248* The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, has been updated to support Windows and
249Cygwin debugging. Both single-threaded and multi-threaded programs are
250supported.
251
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252* The "set trust-readonly-sections" command works again. This command was
253broken in GDB 6.3, 6.4, and 6.5.
254
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255* The "load" command now supports writing to flash memory, if the remote
256stub provides the required support.
257
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258* Support for GNU/Linux Thread Local Storage (TLS, per-thread variables) no
259longer requires symbolic debug information (e.g. DWARF-2).
260
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261* New commands
262
263set substitute-path
264unset substitute-path
265show substitute-path
266 Manage a list of substitution rules that GDB uses to rewrite the name
267 of the directories where the sources are located. This can be useful
268 for instance when the sources were moved to a different location
269 between compilation and debugging.
270
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271set trace-commands
272show trace-commands
273 Print each CLI command as it is executed. Each command is prefixed with
274 a number of `+' symbols representing the nesting depth.
275 The source command now has a `-v' option to enable the same feature.
276
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277* REMOVED features
278
279The ARM Demon monitor support (RDP protocol, "target rdp").
280
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281Kernel Object Display, an embedded debugging feature which only worked with
282an obsolete version of Cisco IOS.
283
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284The 'set download-write-size' and 'show download-write-size' commands.
285
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286* New remote packets
287
288qSupported:
289 Tell a stub about GDB client features, and request remote target features.
290 The first feature implemented is PacketSize, which allows the target to
291 specify the size of packets it can handle - to minimize the number of
292 packets required and improve performance when connected to a remote
293 target.
294
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295qXfer:auxv:read:
296 Fetch an OS auxilliary vector from the remote stub. This packet is a
297 more efficient replacement for qPart:auxv:read.
298
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299qXfer:memory-map:read:
300 Fetch a memory map from the remote stub, including information about
301 RAM, ROM, and flash memory devices.
302
303vFlashErase:
304vFlashWrite:
305vFlashDone:
306 Erase and program a flash memory device.
307
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308* Removed remote packets
309
310qPart:auxv:read:
311 This packet has been replaced by qXfer:auxv:read. Only GDB 6.4 and 6.5
312 used it, and only gdbserver implemented it.
313
e374b601 314*** Changes in GDB 6.5
53e5f3cf 315
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316* New targets
317
318Renesas M32C/M16C m32c-elf
319
320Morpho Technologies ms1 ms1-elf
321
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322* New commands
323
324init-if-undefined Initialize a convenience variable, but
325 only if it doesn't already have a value.
326
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327The following commands are presently only implemented for native GNU/Linux:
328
329checkpoint Save a snapshot of the program state.
330
331restart <n> Return the program state to a
332 previously saved state.
333
334info checkpoints List currently saved checkpoints.
335
336delete-checkpoint <n> Delete a previously saved checkpoint.
337
338set|show detach-on-fork Tell gdb whether to detach from a newly
339 forked process, or to keep debugging it.
340
341info forks List forks of the user program that
342 are available to be debugged.
343
344fork <n> Switch to debugging one of several
345 forks of the user program that are
346 available to be debugged.
347
348delete-fork <n> Delete a fork from the list of forks
349 that are available to be debugged (and
350 kill the forked process).
351
352detach-fork <n> Delete a fork from the list of forks
353 that are available to be debugged (and
354 allow the process to continue).
355
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356* New architecture
357
358Morpho Technologies ms2 ms1-elf
359
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360* Improved Windows host support
361
362GDB now builds as a cross debugger hosted on i686-mingw32, including
363native console support, and remote communications using either
364network sockets or serial ports.
365
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366* Improved Modula-2 language support
367
368GDB can now print most types in the Modula-2 syntax. This includes:
369basic types, set types, record types, enumerated types, range types,
370pointer types and ARRAY types. Procedure var parameters are correctly
371printed and hexadecimal addresses and character constants are also
372written in the Modula-2 syntax. Best results can be obtained by using
373GNU Modula-2 together with the -gdwarf-2 command line option.
374
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375* REMOVED features
376
377The ARM rdi-share module.
378
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379The Netware NLM debug server.
380
53e5f3cf 381*** Changes in GDB 6.4
156a53ca 382
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383* New native configurations
384
02a677ac 385OpenBSD/arm arm*-*-openbsd*
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386OpenBSD/mips64 mips64-*-openbsd*
387
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388* New targets
389
390Morpho Technologies ms1 ms1-elf
391
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392* New command line options
393
394--batch-silent As for --batch, but totally silent.
395--return-child-result The debugger will exist with the same value
396 the child (debugged) program exited with.
397--eval-command COMMAND, -ex COMMAND
398 Execute a single GDB CLI command. This may be
399 specified multiple times and in conjunction
400 with the --command (-x) option.
401
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402* Deprecated commands removed
403
404The following commands, that were deprecated in 2000, have been
405removed:
406
407 Command Replacement
408 set|show arm disassembly-flavor set|show arm disassembler
409 othernames set arm disassembler
410 set|show remotedebug set|show debug remote
411 set|show archdebug set|show debug arch
412 set|show eventdebug set|show debug event
413 regs info registers
414
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415* New BSD user-level threads support
416
417It is now possible to debug programs using the user-level threads
418library on OpenBSD and FreeBSD. Currently supported (target)
419configurations are:
420
421FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
422FreeBSD/i386 i386-*-freebsd*
423OpenBSD/i386 i386-*-openbsd*
424
425Note that the new kernel threads libraries introduced in FreeBSD 5.x
426are not yet supported.
427
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428* New support for Matsushita MN10300 w/sim added
429(Work in progress). mn10300-elf.
430
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431* REMOVED configurations and files
432
433VxWorks and the XDR protocol *-*-vxworks
9445aa30 434Motorola MCORE mcore-*-*
9445aa30 435National Semiconductor NS32000 ns32k-*-*
156a53ca 436
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437* New "set print array-indexes" command
438
439After turning this setting "on", GDB prints the index of each element
440when displaying arrays. The default is "off" to preserve the previous
441behavior.
442
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443* VAX floating point support
444
445GDB now supports the not-quite-ieee VAX F and D floating point formats.
446
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447* User-defined command support
448
449In addition to using $arg0..$arg9 for argument passing, it is now possible
450to use $argc to determine now many arguments have been passed. See the
451section on user-defined commands in the user manual for more information.
452
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453*** Changes in GDB 6.3:
454
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455* New command line option
456
457GDB now accepts -l followed by a number to set the timeout for remote
458debugging.
459
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460* GDB works with GCC -feliminate-dwarf2-dups
461
462GDB now supports a more compact representation of DWARF-2 debug
463information using DW_FORM_ref_addr references. These are produced
464by GCC with the option -feliminate-dwarf2-dups and also by some
465proprietary compilers. With GCC, you must use GCC 3.3.4 or later
466to use -feliminate-dwarf2-dups.
860660cb 467
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468* Internationalization
469
470When supported by the host system, GDB will be built with
471internationalization (libintl). The task of marking up the sources is
472continued, we're looking forward to our first translation.
473
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474* Ada
475
476Initial support for debugging programs compiled with the GNAT
477implementation of the Ada programming language has been integrated
478into GDB. In this release, support is limited to expression evaluation.
479
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480* New native configurations
481
482GNU/Linux/m32r m32r-*-linux-gnu
483
484* Remote 'p' packet
485
486GDB's remote protocol now includes support for the 'p' packet. This
487packet is used to fetch individual registers from a remote inferior.
488
489* END-OF-LIFE registers[] compatibility module
490
491GDB's internal register infrastructure has been completely rewritten.
492The new infrastructure making possible the implementation of key new
493features including 32x64 (e.g., 64-bit amd64 GDB debugging a 32-bit
494i386 application).
495
496GDB 6.3 will be the last release to include the the registers[]
497compatibility module that allowed out-of-date configurations to
498continue to work. This change directly impacts the following
499configurations:
500
501hppa-*-hpux
502ia64-*-aix
503mips-*-irix*
504*-*-lynx
505mips-*-linux-gnu
506sds protocol
507xdr protocol
508powerpc bdm protocol
509
510Unless there is activity to revive these configurations, they will be
511made OBSOLETE in GDB 6.4, and REMOVED from GDB 6.5.
512
513* OBSOLETE configurations and files
514
515Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
516been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
517configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
518permanently REMOVED.
519
520h8300-*-*
521mcore-*-*
522mn10300-*-*
523ns32k-*-*
524sh64-*-*
525v850-*-*
526
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527*** Changes in GDB 6.2.1:
528
529* MIPS `break main; run' gave an heuristic-fence-post warning
530
531When attempting to run even a simple program, a warning about
532heuristic-fence-post being hit would be reported. This problem has
533been fixed.
534
535* MIPS IRIX 'long double' crashed GDB
536
537When examining a long double variable, GDB would get a segmentation
538fault. The crash has been fixed (but GDB 6.2 cannot correctly examine
539IRIX long double values).
540
541* VAX and "next"
542
543A bug in the VAX stack code was causing problems with the "next"
544command. This problem has been fixed.
545
860660cb 546*** Changes in GDB 6.2:
faae5abe 547
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548* Fix for ``many threads''
549
550On GNU/Linux systems that use the NPTL threads library, a program
551rapidly creating and deleting threads would confuse GDB leading to the
552error message:
553
554 ptrace: No such process.
555 thread_db_get_info: cannot get thread info: generic error
556
557This problem has been fixed.
558
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559* "-async" and "-noasync" options removed.
560
561Support for the broken "-noasync" option has been removed (it caused
562GDB to dump core).
563
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564* New ``start'' command.
565
566This command runs the program until the begining of the main procedure.
567
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568* New BSD Kernel Data Access Library (libkvm) interface
569
570Using ``target kvm'' it is now possible to debug kernel core dumps and
571live kernel memory images on various FreeBSD, NetBSD and OpenBSD
572platforms. Currently supported (native-only) configurations are:
573
574FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
575FreeBSD/i386 i?86-*-freebsd*
576NetBSD/i386 i?86-*-netbsd*
577NetBSD/m68k m68*-*-netbsd*
578NetBSD/sparc sparc-*-netbsd*
579OpenBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-openbsd*
580OpenBSD/i386 i?86-*-openbsd*
581OpenBSD/m68k m68*-openbsd*
582OpenBSD/sparc sparc-*-openbsd*
583
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584* Signal trampoline code overhauled
585
586Many generic problems with GDB's signal handling code have been fixed.
587These include: backtraces through non-contiguous stacks; recognition
588of sa_sigaction signal trampolines; backtrace from a NULL pointer
589call; backtrace through a signal trampoline; step into and out of
590signal handlers; and single-stepping in the signal trampoline.
591
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592Please note that kernel bugs are a limiting factor here. These
593features have been shown to work on an s390 GNU/Linux system that
594include a 2.6.8-rc1 kernel. Ref PR breakpoints/1702.
3c0b7db2 595
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596* Cygwin support for DWARF 2 added.
597
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598* New native configurations
599
97dc871c 600GNU/Linux/hppa hppa*-*-linux*
0e56aeaf 601OpenBSD/hppa hppa*-*-openbsd*
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602OpenBSD/m68k m68*-*-openbsd*
603OpenBSD/m88k m88*-*-openbsd*
d195bc9f 604OpenBSD/powerpc powerpc-*-openbsd*
6f606e1c 605NetBSD/vax vax-*-netbsd*
9f076e7a 606OpenBSD/vax vax-*-openbsd*
6f606e1c 607
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608* END-OF-LIFE frame compatibility module
609
610GDB's internal frame infrastructure has been completely rewritten.
611The new infrastructure making it possible to support key new features
612including DWARF 2 Call Frame Information. To aid in the task of
613migrating old configurations to this new infrastructure, a
614compatibility module, that allowed old configurations to continue to
615work, was also included.
616
617GDB 6.2 will be the last release to include this frame compatibility
618module. This change directly impacts the following configurations:
619
620h8300-*-*
621mcore-*-*
622mn10300-*-*
623ns32k-*-*
624sh64-*-*
625v850-*-*
626xstormy16-*-*
627
628Unless there is activity to revive these configurations, they will be
629made OBSOLETE in GDB 6.3, and REMOVED from GDB 6.4.
630
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631* REMOVED configurations and files
632
633Sun 3, running SunOS 3 m68*-*-sunos3*
634Sun 3, running SunOS 4 m68*-*-sunos4*
635Sun 2, running SunOS 3 m68000-*-sunos3*
636Sun 2, running SunOS 4 m68000-*-sunos4*
637Motorola 680x0 running LynxOS m68*-*-lynxos*
638AT&T 3b1/Unix pc m68*-att-*
639Bull DPX2 (68k, System V release 3) m68*-bull-sysv*
640decstation mips-dec-* mips-little-*
641riscos mips-*-riscos* mips-*-sysv*
642sonymips mips-sony-*
643sysv mips*-*-sysv4* (IRIX 5/6 not included)
644
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645*** Changes in GDB 6.1.1:
646
647* TUI (Text-mode User Interface) built-in (also included in GDB 6.1)
648
649The TUI (Text-mode User Interface) is now built as part of a default
650GDB configuration. It is enabled by either selecting the TUI with the
651command line option "-i=tui" or by running the separate "gdbtui"
652program. For more information on the TUI, see the manual "Debugging
653with GDB".
654
655* Pending breakpoint support (also included in GDB 6.1)
656
657Support has been added to allow you to specify breakpoints in shared
658libraries that have not yet been loaded. If a breakpoint location
659cannot be found, and the "breakpoint pending" option is set to auto,
660GDB queries you if you wish to make the breakpoint pending on a future
661shared-library load. If and when GDB resolves the breakpoint symbol,
662the pending breakpoint is removed as one or more regular breakpoints
663are created.
664
665Pending breakpoints are very useful for GCJ Java debugging.
666
667* Fixed ISO-C build problems
668
669The files bfd/elf-bfd.h, gdb/dictionary.c and gdb/types.c contained
670non ISO-C code that stopped them being built using a more strict ISO-C
671compiler (e.g., IBM's C compiler).
672
673* Fixed build problem on IRIX 5
674
675Due to header problems with <sys/proc.h>, the file gdb/proc-api.c
676wasn't able to compile compile on an IRIX 5 system.
677
678* Added execute permission to gdb/gdbserver/configure
679
680The shell script gdb/testsuite/gdb.stabs/configure lacked execute
681permission. This bug would cause configure to fail on a number of
682systems (Solaris, IRIX). Ref: server/519.
683
684* Fixed build problem on hpux2.0w-hp-hpux11.00 using the HP ANSI C compiler
685
686Older HPUX ANSI C compilers did not accept variable array sizes. somsolib.c
687has been updated to use constant array sizes.
688
689* Fixed a panic in the DWARF Call Frame Info code on Solaris 2.7
690
691GCC 3.3.2, on Solaris 2.7, includes the DW_EH_PE_funcrel encoding in
692its generated DWARF Call Frame Info. This encoding was causing GDB to
693panic, that panic has been fixed. Ref: gdb/1628.
694
695* Fixed a problem when examining parameters in shared library code.
696
697When examining parameters in optimized shared library code generated
698by a mainline GCC, GDB would incorrectly report ``Variable "..." is
699not available''. GDB now correctly displays the variable's value.
700
faae5abe 701*** Changes in GDB 6.1:
f2c06f52 702
9175c9a3
MC
703* Removed --with-mmalloc
704
705Support for the mmalloc memory manager has been removed, as it
706conflicted with the internal gdb byte cache.
707
3cc87ec0
MK
708* Changes in AMD64 configurations
709
710The AMD64 target now includes the %cs and %ss registers. As a result
711the AMD64 remote protocol has changed; this affects the floating-point
712and SSE registers. If you rely on those registers for your debugging,
713you should upgrade gdbserver on the remote side.
714
f0424ef6
MK
715* Revised SPARC target
716
717The SPARC target has been completely revised, incorporating the
718FreeBSD/sparc64 support that was added for GDB 6.0. As a result
03cebad2
MK
719support for LynxOS and SunOS 4 has been dropped. Calling functions
720from within GDB on operating systems with a non-executable stack
721(Solaris, OpenBSD) now works.
f0424ef6 722
59659be2
ILT
723* New C++ demangler
724
725GDB has a new C++ demangler which does a better job on the mangled
726names generated by current versions of g++. It also runs faster, so
727with this and other changes gdb should now start faster on large C++
728programs.
729
9e08b29b
DJ
730* DWARF 2 Location Expressions
731
732GDB support for location expressions has been extended to support function
733arguments and frame bases. Older versions of GDB could crash when they
734encountered these.
735
8dfe8985
DC
736* C++ nested types and namespaces
737
738GDB's support for nested types and namespaces in C++ has been
739improved, especially if you use the DWARF 2 debugging format. (This
740is the default for recent versions of GCC on most platforms.)
741Specifically, if you have a class "Inner" defined within a class or
742namespace "Outer", then GDB realizes that the class's name is
743"Outer::Inner", not simply "Inner". This should greatly reduce the
744frequency of complaints about not finding RTTI symbols. In addition,
745if you are stopped at inside of a function defined within a namespace,
746GDB modifies its name lookup accordingly.
747
cced5e27
MK
748* New native configurations
749
750NetBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-netbsd*
27d1e716 751OpenBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-openbsd*
2031c21a 752OpenBSD/alpha alpha*-*-openbsd*
f2cab569
MK
753OpenBSD/sparc sparc-*-openbsd*
754OpenBSD/sparc64 sparc64-*-openbsd*
cced5e27 755
b4b4b794
KI
756* New debugging protocols
757
758M32R with SDI protocol m32r-*-elf*
759
7989c619
AC
760* "set prompt-escape-char" command deleted.
761
762The command "set prompt-escape-char" has been deleted. This command,
763and its very obscure effet on GDB's prompt, was never documented,
764tested, nor mentioned in the NEWS file.
765
5994185b
AC
766* OBSOLETE configurations and files
767
768Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
769been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
770configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
771permanently REMOVED.
772
773Sun 3, running SunOS 3 m68*-*-sunos3*
774Sun 3, running SunOS 4 m68*-*-sunos4*
775Sun 2, running SunOS 3 m68000-*-sunos3*
776Sun 2, running SunOS 4 m68000-*-sunos4*
777Motorola 680x0 running LynxOS m68*-*-lynxos*
778AT&T 3b1/Unix pc m68*-att-*
779Bull DPX2 (68k, System V release 3) m68*-bull-sysv*
0748d941
AC
780decstation mips-dec-* mips-little-*
781riscos mips-*-riscos* mips-*-sysv*
782sonymips mips-sony-*
783sysv mips*-*-sysv4* (IRIX 5/6 not included)
5994185b 784
0ddabb4c
AC
785* REMOVED configurations and files
786
787SGI Irix-4.x mips-sgi-irix4 or iris4
788SGI Iris (MIPS) running Irix V3: mips-sgi-irix or iris
4a8269c0
AC
789Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
790Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
791H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
792HP/PA running BSD hppa*-*-bsd*
793HP/PA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
794HP/PA Pro target hppa*-*-pro*
795PMAX (MIPS) running Mach 3.0 mips*-*-mach3*
cf7c5c23 796386BSD i[3456]86-*-bsd*
4a8269c0
AC
797Sequent family i[3456]86-sequent-sysv4*
798 i[3456]86-sequent-sysv*
799 i[3456]86-sequent-bsd*
f0424ef6
MK
800SPARC running LynxOS sparc-*-lynxos*
801SPARC running SunOS 4 sparc-*-sunos4*
4a8269c0
AC
802Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
803Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
0ddabb4c 804
c7f1390e
DJ
805*** Changes in GDB 6.0:
806
1fe43d45
AC
807* Objective-C
808
809Support for debugging the Objective-C programming language has been
810integrated into GDB.
811
e6beb428
AC
812* New backtrace mechanism (includes DWARF 2 Call Frame Information).
813
814DWARF 2's Call Frame Information makes available compiler generated
815information that more exactly describes the program's run-time stack.
816By using this information, GDB is able to provide more robust stack
817backtraces.
818
819The i386, amd64 (nee, x86-64), Alpha, m68hc11, ia64, and m32r targets
820have been updated to use a new backtrace mechanism which includes
821DWARF 2 CFI support.
822
823* Hosted file I/O.
824
825GDB's remote protocol has been extended to include support for hosted
826file I/O (where the remote target uses GDB's file system). See GDB's
827remote protocol documentation for details.
828
829* All targets using the new architecture framework.
830
831All of GDB's targets have been updated to use the new internal
832architecture framework. The way is now open for future GDB releases
833to include cross-architecture native debugging support (i386 on amd64,
834ppc32 on ppc64).
835
836* GNU/Linux's Thread Local Storage (TLS)
837
838GDB now includes support for for the GNU/Linux implementation of
839per-thread variables.
840
841* GNU/Linux's Native POSIX Thread Library (NPTL)
842
843GDB's thread code has been updated to work with either the new
844GNU/Linux NPTL thread library or the older "LinuxThreads" library.
845
846* Separate debug info.
847
848GDB, in conjunction with BINUTILS, now supports a mechanism for
849automatically loading debug information from a separate file. Instead
850of shipping full debug and non-debug versions of system libraries,
851system integrators can now instead ship just the stripped libraries
852and optional debug files.
853
854* DWARF 2 Location Expressions
855
856DWARF 2 Location Expressions allow the compiler to more completely
857describe the location of variables (even in optimized code) to the
858debugger.
859
860GDB now includes preliminary support for location expressions (support
861for DW_OP_piece is still missing).
862
863* Java
864
865A number of long standing bugs that caused GDB to die while starting a
866Java application have been fixed. GDB's Java support is now
867considered "useable".
868
85f8f974
DJ
869* GNU/Linux support for fork, vfork, and exec.
870
871The "catch fork", "catch exec", "catch vfork", and "set follow-fork-mode"
872commands are now implemented for GNU/Linux. They require a 2.5.x or later
873kernel.
874
0fac0b41
DJ
875* GDB supports logging output to a file
876
877There are two new commands, "set logging" and "show logging", which can be
878used to capture GDB's output to a file.
f2c06f52 879
6ad8ae5c
DJ
880* The meaning of "detach" has changed for gdbserver
881
882The "detach" command will now resume the application, as documented. To
883disconnect from gdbserver and leave it stopped, use the new "disconnect"
884command.
885
e286caf2 886* d10v, m68hc11 `regs' command deprecated
5f601589
AC
887
888The `info registers' command has been updated so that it displays the
889registers using a format identical to the old `regs' command.
890
d28f9cdf
DJ
891* Profiling support
892
893A new command, "maint set profile on/off", has been added. This command can
894be used to enable or disable profiling while running GDB, to profile a
895session or a set of commands. In addition there is a new configure switch,
896"--enable-profiling", which will cause GDB to be compiled with profiling
897data, for more informative profiling results.
898
da0f9dcd
AC
899* Default MI syntax changed to "mi2".
900
901The default MI (machine interface) syntax, enabled by the command line
902option "-i=mi", has been changed to "mi2". The previous MI syntax,
b68767c1 903"mi1", can be enabled by specifying the option "-i=mi1".
da0f9dcd
AC
904
905Support for the original "mi0" syntax (included in GDB 5.0) has been
906removed.
907
fb9b6b35
JJ
908Fix for gdb/192: removed extraneous space when displaying frame level.
909Fix for gdb/672: update changelist is now output in mi list format.
910Fix for gdb/702: a -var-assign that updates the value now shows up
911 in a subsequent -var-update.
912
954a4db8
MK
913* New native configurations.
914
915FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
916
6760f9e6
JB
917* Multi-arched targets.
918
b4263afa 919HP/PA HPUX11 hppa*-*-hpux*
85a453d5 920Renesas M32R/D w/simulator m32r-*-elf*
6760f9e6 921
1b831c93
AC
922* OBSOLETE configurations and files
923
924Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
925been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
926configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
927permanently REMOVED.
928
8b0e5691 929Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
67f16606 930Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
fd2299bd 931H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
56056df7
AC
932HP/PA running BSD hppa*-*-bsd*
933HP/PA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
934HP/PA Pro target hppa*-*-pro*
78c43945 935PMAX (MIPS) running Mach 3.0 mips*-*-mach3*
2fbce691
AC
936Sequent family i[3456]86-sequent-sysv4*
937 i[3456]86-sequent-sysv*
938 i[3456]86-sequent-bsd*
f81824a9
AC
939Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
940Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
fd2299bd 941
5835abe7
NC
942* REMOVED configurations and files
943
944V850EA ISA
1b831c93
AC
945Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
946IBM AIX PS/2 i[3456]86-*-aix
947i386 running Mach 3.0 i[3456]86-*-mach3*
948i386 running Mach i[3456]86-*-mach*
949i386 running OSF/1 i[3456]86-*osf1mk*
950HP/Apollo 68k Family m68*-apollo*-sysv*,
951 m68*-apollo*-bsd*,
952 m68*-hp-bsd*, m68*-hp-hpux*
953Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
954Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
955Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
956OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
957I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
5835abe7 958
a094c6fb
AC
959* MIPS $fp behavior changed
960
961The convenience variable $fp, for the MIPS, now consistently returns
962the address of the current frame's base. Previously, depending on the
963context, $fp could refer to either $sp or the current frame's base
964address. See ``8.10 Registers'' in the manual ``Debugging with GDB:
965The GNU Source-Level Debugger''.
966
299ffc64 967*** Changes in GDB 5.3:
37057839 968
46248966
AC
969* GNU/Linux shared library multi-threaded performance improved.
970
971When debugging a multi-threaded application on GNU/Linux, GDB now uses
972`/proc', in preference to `ptrace' for memory reads. This may result
973in an improvement in the start-up time of multi-threaded, shared
974library applications when run under GDB. One GDB user writes: ``loads
975shared libs like mad''.
976
b9d14705 977* ``gdbserver'' now supports multi-threaded applications on some targets
6da02953 978
b9d14705
DJ
979Support for debugging multi-threaded applications which use
980the GNU/Linux LinuxThreads package has been added for
981arm*-*-linux*-gnu*, i[3456]86-*-linux*-gnu*, mips*-*-linux*-gnu*,
982powerpc*-*-linux*-gnu*, and sh*-*-linux*-gnu*.
6da02953 983
e0e9281e
JB
984* GDB now supports C/C++ preprocessor macros.
985
986GDB now expands preprocessor macro invocations in C/C++ expressions,
987and provides various commands for showing macro definitions and how
988they expand.
989
dd73b9bb
AC
990The new command `macro expand EXPRESSION' expands any macro
991invocations in expression, and shows the result.
992
993The new command `show macro MACRO-NAME' shows the definition of the
994macro named MACRO-NAME, and where it was defined.
995
e0e9281e
JB
996Most compilers don't include information about macros in the debugging
997information by default. In GCC 3.1, for example, you need to compile
998your program with the options `-gdwarf-2 -g3'. If the macro
999information is present in the executable, GDB will read it.
1000
2250ee0c
CV
1001* Multi-arched targets.
1002
6e3ba3b8
JT
1003DEC Alpha (partial) alpha*-*-*
1004DEC VAX (partial) vax-*-*
2250ee0c 1005NEC V850 v850-*-*
6e3ba3b8 1006National Semiconductor NS32000 (partial) ns32k-*-*
a1789893
GS
1007Motorola 68000 (partial) m68k-*-*
1008Motorola MCORE mcore-*-*
2250ee0c 1009
cd9bfe15 1010* New targets.
e33ce519 1011
456f8b9d
DB
1012Fujitsu FRV architecture added by Red Hat frv*-*-*
1013
e33ce519 1014
da8ca43d
JT
1015* New native configurations
1016
1017Alpha NetBSD alpha*-*-netbsd*
029923d4 1018SH NetBSD sh*-*-netbsdelf*
45888261 1019MIPS NetBSD mips*-*-netbsd*
9ce5c36a 1020UltraSPARC NetBSD sparc64-*-netbsd*
da8ca43d 1021
cd9bfe15
AC
1022* OBSOLETE configurations and files
1023
1024Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
1025been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
1026configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
1027permanently REMOVED.
1028
92eb23c5 1029Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
a99a9e1b 1030OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
1c7cc583 1031IBM AIX PS/2 i[3456]86-*-aix
7a3085c1 1032Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
7fb623f7 1033Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
eb4c54a2 1034Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
d8ee244c
MK
1035i386 running Mach 3.0 i[3456]86-*-mach3*
1036i386 running Mach i[3456]86-*-mach*
1037i386 running OSF/1 i[3456]86-*osf1mk*
822e978b
AC
1038HP/Apollo 68k Family m68*-apollo*-sysv*,
1039 m68*-apollo*-bsd*,
1040 m68*-hp-bsd*, m68*-hp-hpux*
4d210288 1041I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
92eb23c5 1042
db034ac5
AC
1043* OBSOLETE languages
1044
1045CHILL, a Pascal like language used by telecommunications companies.
1046
cd9bfe15
AC
1047* REMOVED configurations and files
1048
1049AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi, udi29k
1050A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
1051AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
1052AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
1053AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
1054
1055testsuite/gdb.hp/gdb.threads-hp/ directory
1056
20f01a46
DH
1057* New command "set max-user-call-depth <nnn>"
1058
1059This command allows the user to limit the call depth of user-defined
1060commands. The default is 1024.
1061
a5941fbf
MK
1062* Changes in FreeBSD/i386 native debugging.
1063
1064Support for the "generate-core-file" has been added.
1065
89743e04
MS
1066* New commands "dump", "append", and "restore".
1067
1068These commands allow data to be copied from target memory
1069to a bfd-format or binary file (dump and append), and back
1070from a file into memory (restore).
37057839 1071
9fb14e79
JB
1072* Improved "next/step" support on multi-processor Alpha Tru64.
1073
1074The previous single-step mechanism could cause unpredictable problems,
1075including the random appearance of SIGSEGV or SIGTRAP signals. The use
1076of a software single-step mechanism prevents this.
1077
2037aebb
AC
1078*** Changes in GDB 5.2.1:
1079
1080* New targets.
1081
1082Atmel AVR avr*-*-*
1083
1084* Bug fixes
1085
1086gdb/182: gdb/323: gdb/237: On alpha, gdb was reporting:
1087mdebugread.c:2443: gdb-internal-error: sect_index_data not initialized
1088Fix, by Joel Brobecker imported from mainline.
1089
1090gdb/439: gdb/291: On some ELF object files, gdb was reporting:
1091dwarf2read.c:1072: gdb-internal-error: sect_index_text not initialize
1092Fix, by Fred Fish, imported from mainline.
1093
1094Dwarf2 .debug_frame & .eh_frame handler improved in many ways.
1095Surprisingly enough, it works now.
1096By Michal Ludvig, imported from mainline.
1097
1098i386 hardware watchpoint support:
1099avoid misses on second run for some targets.
1100By Pierre Muller, imported from mainline.
1101
37057839 1102*** Changes in GDB 5.2:
eb7cedd9 1103
1a703748
MS
1104* New command "set trust-readonly-sections on[off]".
1105
1106This command is a hint that tells gdb that read-only sections
1107really are read-only (ie. that their contents will not change).
1108In this mode, gdb will go to the object file rather than the
1109target to read memory from read-only sections (such as ".text").
1110This can be a significant performance improvement on some
1111(notably embedded) targets.
1112
cefd4ef5
MS
1113* New command "generate-core-file" (or "gcore").
1114
55241689
AC
1115This new gdb command allows the user to drop a core file of the child
1116process state at any time. So far it's been implemented only for
1117GNU/Linux and Solaris, but should be relatively easily ported to other
1118hosts. Argument is core file name (defaults to core.<pid>).
cefd4ef5 1119
352ed7b4
MS
1120* New command line option
1121
1122GDB now accepts --pid or -p followed by a process id.
1123
1124* Change in command line behavior -- corefiles vs. process ids.
1125
1126There is a subtle behavior in the way in which GDB handles
1127command line arguments. The first non-flag argument is always
1128a program to debug, but the second non-flag argument may either
1129be a corefile or a process id. Previously, GDB would attempt to
1130open the second argument as a corefile, and if that failed, would
1131issue a superfluous error message and then attempt to attach it as
1132a process. Now, if the second argument begins with a non-digit,
1133it will be treated as a corefile. If it begins with a digit,
1134GDB will attempt to attach it as a process, and if no such process
1135is found, will then attempt to open it as a corefile.
1136
fe419ffc
RE
1137* Changes in ARM configurations.
1138
1139Multi-arch support is enabled for all ARM configurations. The ARM/NetBSD
1140configuration is fully multi-arch.
1141
eb7cedd9
MK
1142* New native configurations
1143
fe419ffc 1144ARM NetBSD arm*-*-netbsd*
eb7cedd9 1145x86 OpenBSD i[3456]86-*-openbsd*
55241689 1146AMD x86-64 running GNU/Linux x86_64-*-linux-*
768f0842 1147Sparc64 running FreeBSD sparc64-*-freebsd*
eb7cedd9 1148
c9f63e6b
CV
1149* New targets
1150
1151Sanyo XStormy16 xstormy16-elf
1152
9b4ff276
AC
1153* OBSOLETE configurations and files
1154
1155Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
1156been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
1157configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
1158permanently REMOVED.
1159
1160AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi, udi29k
1161A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
1162AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
1163AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
1164AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
1165
b4ceaee6 1166testsuite/gdb.hp/gdb.threads-hp/ directory
9b4ff276 1167
e2caac18
AC
1168* REMOVED configurations and files
1169
1170TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
7bc65f05 1171WDC 65816 w65-*-*
7768dd6c
AC
1172PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
1173PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
1174PowerPC Netware powerpc-*-netware*
5e734e1f 1175Harris/CXUX m88k m88*-harris-cxux*
1406caf7
AC
1176Most ns32k hosts and targets ns32k-*-mach3* ns32k-umax-*
1177 ns32k-utek-sysv* ns32k-utek-*
7e24f0b1 1178SunOS 4.0.Xi on i386 i[3456]86-*-sunos*
9b567150 1179Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1 a29k-nyu-sym1 a29k-*-kern*
3680c638
AC
1180Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x m68*-sony-sysv news
1181ISI Optimum V (3.05) under 4.3bsd. m68*-isi-*
a752853e 1182Apple Macintosh (MPW) host and target N/A host, powerpc-*-macos*
e2caac18 1183
c2a727fa
TT
1184* Changes to command line processing
1185
1186The new `--args' feature can be used to specify command-line arguments
1187for the inferior from gdb's command line.
1188
467d8519
TT
1189* Changes to key bindings
1190
1191There is a new `operate-and-get-next' function bound to `C-o'.
1192
7072a954
AC
1193*** Changes in GDB 5.1.1
1194
1195Fix compile problem on DJGPP.
1196
1197Fix a problem with floating-point registers on the i386 being
1198corrupted.
1199
1200Fix to stop GDB crashing on .debug_str debug info.
1201
1202Numerous documentation fixes.
1203
1204Numerous testsuite fixes.
1205
34f47bc4 1206*** Changes in GDB 5.1:
139760b7
MK
1207
1208* New native configurations
1209
1210Alpha FreeBSD alpha*-*-freebsd*
1211x86 FreeBSD 3.x and 4.x i[3456]86*-freebsd[34]*
55241689 1212MIPS GNU/Linux mips*-*-linux*
e23194cb
EZ
1213MIPS SGI Irix 6.x mips*-sgi-irix6*
1214ia64 AIX ia64-*-aix*
55241689 1215s390 and s390x GNU/Linux {s390,s390x}-*-linux*
139760b7 1216
bf64bfd6
AC
1217* New targets
1218
def90278 1219Motorola 68HC11 and 68HC12 m68hc11-elf
24be5c34 1220CRIS cris-axis
55241689 1221UltraSparc running GNU/Linux sparc64-*-linux*
def90278 1222
17e78a56 1223* OBSOLETE configurations and files
bf64bfd6
AC
1224
1225x86 FreeBSD before 2.2 i[3456]86*-freebsd{1,2.[01]}*,
9b9c068d 1226Harris/CXUX m88k m88*-harris-cxux*
bb19ff3b
AC
1227Most ns32k hosts and targets ns32k-*-mach3* ns32k-umax-*
1228 ns32k-utek-sysv* ns32k-utek-*
76f4ea53
AC
1229TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
1230WDC 65816 w65-*-*
4a1968f4 1231Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1 a29k-nyu-sym1 a29k-*-kern*
1b2b2c16
AC
1232PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
1233PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
1234PowerPC Netware powerpc-*-netware*
24f89b68 1235SunOS 4.0.Xi on i386 i[3456]86-*-sunos*
514e603d
AC
1236Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x m68*-sony-sysv news
1237ISI Optimum V (3.05) under 4.3bsd. m68*-isi-*
d036b4d9 1238Apple Macintosh (MPW) host N/A
bf64bfd6 1239
17e78a56
AC
1240stuff.c (Program to stuff files into a specially prepared space in kdb)
1241kdb-start.c (Main loop for the standalone kernel debugger)
1242
7fcca85b
AC
1243Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
1244been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
1245configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
1246permanently REMOVED.
1247
a196c81c 1248* REMOVED configurations and files
7fcca85b
AC
1249
1250Altos 3068 m68*-altos-*
1251Convex c1-*-*, c2-*-*
1252Pyramid pyramid-*-*
1253ARM RISCix arm-*-* (as host)
1254Tahoe tahoe-*-*
a196c81c 1255ser-ocd.c *-*-*
bf64bfd6 1256
6d6b80e5 1257* GDB has been converted to ISO C.
e23194cb 1258
6d6b80e5 1259GDB's source code has been converted to ISO C. In particular, the
e23194cb
EZ
1260sources are fully protoized, and rely on standard headers being
1261present.
1262
bf64bfd6
AC
1263* Other news:
1264
e23194cb
EZ
1265* "info symbol" works on platforms which use COFF, ECOFF, XCOFF, and NLM.
1266
1267* The MI enabled by default.
1268
1269The new machine oriented interface (MI) introduced in GDB 5.0 has been
1270revised and enabled by default. Packages which use GDB as a debugging
1271engine behind a UI or another front end are encouraged to switch to
1272using the GDB/MI interface, instead of the old annotations interface
1273which is now deprecated.
1274
1275* Support for debugging Pascal programs.
1276
1277GDB now includes support for debugging Pascal programs. The following
1278main features are supported:
1279
1280 - Pascal-specific data types such as sets;
1281
1282 - automatic recognition of Pascal sources based on file-name
1283 extension;
1284
1285 - Pascal-style display of data types, variables, and functions;
1286
1287 - a Pascal expression parser.
1288
1289However, some important features are not yet supported.
1290
1291 - Pascal string operations are not supported at all;
1292
1293 - there are some problems with boolean types;
1294
1295 - Pascal type hexadecimal constants are not supported
1296 because they conflict with the internal variables format;
1297
1298 - support for Pascal objects and classes is not full yet;
1299
1300 - unlike Pascal, GDB is case-sensitive for symbol names.
1301
1302* Changes in completion.
1303
1304Commands such as `shell', `run' and `set args', which pass arguments
1305to inferior programs, now complete on file names, similar to what
1306users expect at the shell prompt.
1307
1308Commands which accept locations, such as `disassemble', `print',
1309`breakpoint', `until', etc. now complete on filenames as well as
1310program symbols. Thus, if you type "break foob TAB", and the source
1311files linked into the programs include `foobar.c', that file name will
1312be one of the candidates for completion. However, file names are not
1313considered for completion after you typed a colon that delimits a file
1314name from a name of a function in that file, as in "break foo.c:bar".
1315
1316`set demangle-style' completes on available demangling styles.
1317
1318* New platform-independent commands:
1319
1320It is now possible to define a post-hook for a command as well as a
1321hook that runs before the command. For more details, see the
1322documentation of `hookpost' in the GDB manual.
1323
1324* Changes in GNU/Linux native debugging.
1325
d7275149
MK
1326Support for debugging multi-threaded programs has been completely
1327revised for all platforms except m68k and sparc. You can now debug as
1328many threads as your system allows you to have.
1329
e23194cb
EZ
1330Attach/detach is supported for multi-threaded programs.
1331
d7275149
MK
1332Support for SSE registers was added for x86. This doesn't work for
1333multi-threaded programs though.
e23194cb
EZ
1334
1335* Changes in MIPS configurations.
bf64bfd6
AC
1336
1337Multi-arch support is enabled for all MIPS configurations.
1338
e23194cb
EZ
1339GDB can now be built as native debugger on SGI Irix 6.x systems for
1340debugging n32 executables. (Debugging 64-bit executables is not yet
1341supported.)
1342
1343* Unified support for hardware watchpoints in all x86 configurations.
1344
1345Most (if not all) native x86 configurations support hardware-assisted
1346breakpoints and watchpoints in a unified manner. This support
1347implements debug register sharing between watchpoints, which allows to
1348put a virtually infinite number of watchpoints on the same address,
1349and also supports watching regions up to 16 bytes with several debug
1350registers.
1351
1352The new maintenance command `maintenance show-debug-regs' toggles
1353debugging print-outs in functions that insert, remove, and test
1354watchpoints and hardware breakpoints.
1355
1356* Changes in the DJGPP native configuration.
1357
1358New command ``info dos sysinfo'' displays assorted information about
1359the CPU, OS, memory, and DPMI server.
1360
1361New commands ``info dos gdt'', ``info dos ldt'', and ``info dos idt''
1362display information about segment descriptors stored in GDT, LDT, and
1363IDT.
1364
1365New commands ``info dos pde'' and ``info dos pte'' display entries
1366from Page Directory and Page Tables (for now works with CWSDPMI only).
1367New command ``info dos address-pte'' displays the Page Table entry for
1368a given linear address.
1369
1370GDB can now pass command lines longer than 126 characters to the
1371program being debugged (requires an update to the libdbg.a library
1372which is part of the DJGPP development kit).
1373
1374DWARF2 debug info is now supported.
1375
6c56c069
EZ
1376It is now possible to `step' and `next' through calls to `longjmp'.
1377
e23194cb
EZ
1378* Changes in documentation.
1379
1380All GDB documentation was converted to GFDL, the GNU Free
1381Documentation License.
1382
1383Tracepoints-related commands are now fully documented in the GDB
1384manual.
1385
1386TUI, the Text-mode User Interface, is now documented in the manual.
1387
1388Tracepoints-related commands are now fully documented in the GDB
1389manual.
1390
1391The "GDB Internals" manual now has an index. It also includes
1392documentation of `ui_out' functions, GDB coding standards, x86
1393hardware watchpoints, and memory region attributes.
1394
5d6640b1
AC
1395* GDB's version number moved to ``version.in''
1396
1397The Makefile variable VERSION has been replaced by the file
1398``version.in''. People creating GDB distributions should update the
1399contents of this file.
1400
1a1d8446
AC
1401* gdba.el deleted
1402
1403GUD support is now a standard part of the EMACS distribution.
139760b7 1404
9debab2f 1405*** Changes in GDB 5.0:
7a292a7a 1406
c63ce875
EZ
1407* Improved support for debugging FP programs on x86 targets
1408
1409Unified and much-improved support for debugging floating-point
1410programs on all x86 targets. In particular, ``info float'' now
1411displays the FP registers in the same format on all x86 targets, with
1412greater level of detail.
1413
1414* Improvements and bugfixes in hardware-assisted watchpoints
1415
1416It is now possible to watch array elements, struct members, and
1417bitfields with hardware-assisted watchpoints. Data-read watchpoints
1418on x86 targets no longer erroneously trigger when the address is
1419written.
1420
1421* Improvements in the native DJGPP version of GDB
1422
1423The distribution now includes all the scripts and auxiliary files
1424necessary to build the native DJGPP version on MS-DOS/MS-Windows
1425machines ``out of the box''.
1426
1427The DJGPP version can now debug programs that use signals. It is
1428possible to catch signals that happened in the debuggee, deliver
1429signals to it, interrupt it with Ctrl-C, etc. (Previously, a signal
1430would kill the program being debugged.) Programs that hook hardware
1431interrupts (keyboard, timer, etc.) can also be debugged.
1432
1433It is now possible to debug DJGPP programs that redirect their
1434standard handles or switch them to raw (as opposed to cooked) mode, or
1435even close them. The command ``run < foo > bar'' works as expected,
1436and ``info terminal'' reports useful information about the debuggee's
1437terminal, including raw/cooked mode, redirection, etc.
1438
1439The DJGPP version now uses termios functions for console I/O, which
1440enables debugging graphics programs. Interrupting GDB with Ctrl-C
1441also works.
1442
1443DOS-style file names with drive letters are now fully supported by
1444GDB.
1445
1446It is now possible to debug DJGPP programs that switch their working
1447directory. It is also possible to rerun the debuggee any number of
1448times without restarting GDB; thus, you can use the same setup,
1449breakpoints, etc. for many debugging sessions.
1450
ed9a39eb
JM
1451* New native configurations
1452
1453ARM GNU/Linux arm*-*-linux*
afc05dd4 1454PowerPC GNU/Linux powerpc-*-linux*
ed9a39eb 1455
7a292a7a
SS
1456* New targets
1457
96baa820 1458Motorola MCore mcore-*-*
adf40b2e
JM
1459x86 VxWorks i[3456]86-*-vxworks*
1460PowerPC VxWorks powerpc-*-vxworks*
7a292a7a
SS
1461TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
1462
085dd6e6
JM
1463* OBSOLETE configurations
1464
1465Altos 3068 m68*-altos-*
1466Convex c1-*-*, c2-*-*
9846de1b 1467Pyramid pyramid-*-*
ed9a39eb 1468ARM RISCix arm-*-* (as host)
104c1213 1469Tahoe tahoe-*-*
7a292a7a 1470
9debab2f
AC
1471Configurations that have been declared obsolete will be commented out,
1472but the code will be left in place. If there is no activity to revive
1473these configurations before the next release of GDB, the sources will
1474be permanently REMOVED.
1475
5330533d
SS
1476* Gould support removed
1477
1478Support for the Gould PowerNode and NP1 has been removed.
1479
bc9e5bbf
AC
1480* New features for SVR4
1481
1482On SVR4 native platforms (such as Solaris), if you attach to a process
1483without first loading a symbol file, GDB will now attempt to locate and
1484load symbols from the running process's executable file.
1485
1486* Many C++ enhancements
1487
1488C++ support has been greatly improved. Overload resolution now works properly
1489in almost all cases. RTTI support is on the way.
1490
adf40b2e
JM
1491* Remote targets can connect to a sub-program
1492
1493A popen(3) style serial-device has been added. This device starts a
1494sub-process (such as a stand-alone simulator) and then communicates
1495with that. The sub-program to run is specified using the syntax
1496``|<program> <args>'' vis:
1497
1498 (gdb) set remotedebug 1
1499 (gdb) target extended-remote |mn10300-elf-sim program-args
1500
43e526b9
JM
1501* MIPS 64 remote protocol
1502
1503A long standing bug in the mips64 remote protocol where by GDB
1504expected certain 32 bit registers (ex SR) to be transfered as 32
1505instead of 64 bits has been fixed.
1506
1507The command ``set remote-mips64-transfers-32bit-regs on'' has been
1508added to provide backward compatibility with older versions of GDB.
1509
96baa820
JM
1510* ``set remotebinarydownload'' replaced by ``set remote X-packet''
1511
1512The command ``set remotebinarydownload'' command has been replaced by
1513``set remote X-packet''. Other commands in ``set remote'' family
1514include ``set remote P-packet''.
1515
11cf8741
JM
1516* Breakpoint commands accept ranges.
1517
1518The breakpoint commands ``enable'', ``disable'', and ``delete'' now
1519accept a range of breakpoints, e.g. ``5-7''. The tracepoint command
1520``tracepoint passcount'' also accepts a range of tracepoints.
1521
7876dd43
DB
1522* ``apropos'' command added.
1523
1524The ``apropos'' command searches through command names and
1525documentation strings, printing out matches, making it much easier to
1526try to find a command that does what you are looking for.
1527
bc9e5bbf
AC
1528* New MI interface
1529
1530A new machine oriented interface (MI) has been added to GDB. This
1531interface is designed for debug environments running GDB as a separate
7162c0ca
EZ
1532process. This is part of the long term libGDB project. See the
1533"GDB/MI" chapter of the GDB manual for further information. It can be
1534enabled by configuring with:
bc9e5bbf
AC
1535
1536 .../configure --enable-gdbmi
1537
c906108c
SS
1538*** Changes in GDB-4.18:
1539
1540* New native configurations
1541
1542HP-UX 10.20 hppa*-*-hpux10.20
1543HP-UX 11.x hppa*-*-hpux11.0*
55241689 1544M68K GNU/Linux m68*-*-linux*
c906108c
SS
1545
1546* New targets
1547
1548Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
1549Intel StrongARM strongarm-*-*
1550Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
1551
1552* OBSOLETE configurations
1553
1554Gould PowerNode, NP1 np1-*-*, pn-*-*
1555
1556Configurations that have been declared obsolete will be commented out,
1557but the code will be left in place. If there is no activity to revive
1558these configurations before the next release of GDB, the sources will
1559be permanently REMOVED.
1560
1561* ANSI/ISO C
1562
1563As a compatibility experiment, GDB's source files buildsym.h and
1564buildsym.c have been converted to pure standard C, no longer
1565containing any K&R compatibility code. We believe that all systems in
1566use today either come with a standard C compiler, or have a GCC port
1567available. If this is not true, please report the affected
1568configuration to bug-gdb@gnu.org immediately. See the README file for
1569information about getting a standard C compiler if you don't have one
1570already.
1571
1572* Readline 2.2
1573
1574GDB now uses readline 2.2.
1575
1576* set extension-language
1577
1578You can now control the mapping between filename extensions and source
1579languages by using the `set extension-language' command. For instance,
1580you can ask GDB to treat .c files as C++ by saying
1581 set extension-language .c c++
1582The command `info extensions' lists all of the recognized extensions
1583and their associated languages.
1584
1585* Setting processor type for PowerPC and RS/6000
1586
1587When GDB is configured for a powerpc*-*-* or an rs6000*-*-* target,
1588you can use the `set processor' command to specify what variant of the
1589PowerPC family you are debugging. The command
1590
1591 set processor NAME
1592
1593sets the PowerPC/RS6000 variant to NAME. GDB knows about the
1594following PowerPC and RS6000 variants:
1595
1596 ppc-uisa PowerPC UISA - a PPC processor as viewed by user-level code
1597 rs6000 IBM RS6000 ("POWER") architecture, user-level view
1598 403 IBM PowerPC 403
1599 403GC IBM PowerPC 403GC
1600 505 Motorola PowerPC 505
1601 860 Motorola PowerPC 860 or 850
1602 601 Motorola PowerPC 601
1603 602 Motorola PowerPC 602
1604 603 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 603 or 603e
1605 604 Motorola PowerPC 604 or 604e
1606 750 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 750 or 750
1607
1608At the moment, this command just tells GDB what to name the
1609special-purpose processor registers. Since almost all the affected
1610registers are inaccessible to user-level programs, this command is
1611only useful for remote debugging in its present form.
1612
1613* HP-UX support
1614
1615Thanks to a major code donation from Hewlett-Packard, GDB now has much
1616more extensive support for HP-UX. Added features include shared
1617library support, kernel threads and hardware watchpoints for 11.00,
1618support for HP's ANSI C and C++ compilers, and a compatibility mode
1619for xdb and dbx commands.
1620
1621* Catchpoints
1622
1623HP's donation includes the new concept of catchpoints, which is a
1624generalization of the old catch command. On HP-UX, it is now possible
1625to catch exec, fork, and vfork, as well as library loading.
1626
1627This means that the existing catch command has changed; its first
1628argument now specifies the type of catch to be set up. See the
1629output of "help catch" for a list of catchpoint types.
1630
1631* Debugging across forks
1632
1633On HP-UX, you can choose which process to debug when a fork() happens
1634in the inferior.
1635
1636* TUI
1637
1638HP has donated a curses-based terminal user interface (TUI). To get
1639it, build with --enable-tui. Although this can be enabled for any
1640configuration, at present it only works for native HP debugging.
1641
1642* GDB remote protocol additions
1643
1644A new protocol packet 'X' that writes binary data is now available.
1645Default behavior is to try 'X', then drop back to 'M' if the stub
1646fails to respond. The settable variable `remotebinarydownload'
1647allows explicit control over the use of 'X'.
1648
1649For 64-bit targets, the memory packets ('M' and 'm') can now contain a
1650full 64-bit address. The command
1651
1652 set remoteaddresssize 32
1653
1654can be used to revert to the old behaviour. For existing remote stubs
1655the change should not be noticed, as the additional address information
1656will be discarded.
1657
1658In order to assist in debugging stubs, you may use the maintenance
1659command `packet' to send any text string to the stub. For instance,
1660
1661 maint packet heythere
1662
1663sends the packet "$heythere#<checksum>". Note that it is very easy to
1664disrupt a debugging session by sending the wrong packet at the wrong
1665time.
1666
1667The compare-sections command allows you to compare section data on the
1668target to what is in the executable file without uploading or
1669downloading, by comparing CRC checksums.
1670
1671* Tracing can collect general expressions
1672
1673You may now collect general expressions at tracepoints. This requires
1674further additions to the target-side stub; see tracepoint.c and
1675doc/agentexpr.texi for further details.
1676
1677* mask-address variable for Mips
1678
1679For Mips targets, you may control the zeroing of the upper 32 bits of
1680a 64-bit address by entering `set mask-address on'. This is mainly
1681of interest to users of embedded R4xxx and R5xxx processors.
1682
1683* Higher serial baud rates
1684
1685GDB's serial code now allows you to specify baud rates 57600, 115200,
1686230400, and 460800 baud. (Note that your host system may not be able
1687to achieve all of these rates.)
1688
1689* i960 simulator
1690
1691The i960 configuration now includes an initial implementation of a
1692builtin simulator, contributed by Jim Wilson.
1693
1694
1695*** Changes in GDB-4.17:
1696
1697* New native configurations
1698
1699Alpha GNU/Linux alpha*-*-linux*
1700Unixware 2.x i[3456]86-unixware2*
1701Irix 6.x mips*-sgi-irix6*
1702PowerPC GNU/Linux powerpc-*-linux*
1703PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
1704Sparc GNU/Linux sparc-*-linux*
1705Motorola sysV68 R3V7.1 m68k-motorola-sysv
1706
1707* New targets
1708
1709Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
1710Hitachi H8/300S h8300*-*-*
1711Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
1712Matsushita MN10300 w/simulator mn10300-*-*
1713MIPS NEC VR4100 mips64*vr4100*{,el}-*-elf*
1714MIPS NEC VR5000 mips64*vr5000*{,el}-*-elf*
1715MIPS Toshiba TX39 mips64*tx39*{,el}-*-elf*
1716Mitsubishi D10V w/simulator d10v-*-*
1717Mitsubishi M32R/D w/simulator m32r-*-elf*
1718Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
1719NEC V850 w/simulator v850-*-*
1720
1721* New debugging protocols
1722
1723ARM with RDI protocol arm*-*-*
1724M68K with dBUG monitor m68*-*-{aout,coff,elf}
1725DDB and LSI variants of PMON protocol mips*-*-*
1726PowerPC with DINK32 monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
1727PowerPC with SDS protocol powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
1728Macraigor OCD (Wiggler) devices powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
1729
1730* DWARF 2
1731
1732All configurations can now understand and use the DWARF 2 debugging
1733format. The choice is automatic, if the symbol file contains DWARF 2
1734information.
1735
1736* Java frontend
1737
1738GDB now includes basic Java language support. This support is
1739only useful with Java compilers that produce native machine code.
1740
1741* solib-absolute-prefix and solib-search-path
1742
1743For SunOS and SVR4 shared libraries, you may now set the prefix for
1744loading absolute shared library symbol files, and the search path for
1745locating non-absolute shared library symbol files.
1746
1747* Live range splitting
1748
1749GDB can now effectively debug code for which GCC has performed live
1750range splitting as part of its optimization. See gdb/doc/LRS for
1751more details on the expected format of the stabs information.
1752
1753* Hurd support
1754
1755GDB's support for the GNU Hurd, including thread debugging, has been
1756updated to work with current versions of the Hurd.
1757
1758* ARM Thumb support
1759
1760GDB's ARM target configuration now handles the ARM7T (Thumb) 16-bit
1761instruction set. ARM GDB automatically detects when Thumb
1762instructions are in use, and adjusts disassembly and backtracing
1763accordingly.
1764
1765* MIPS16 support
1766
1767GDB's MIPS target configurations now handle the MIP16 16-bit
1768instruction set.
1769
1770* Overlay support
1771
1772GDB now includes support for overlays; if an executable has been
1773linked such that multiple sections are based at the same address, GDB
1774will decide which section to use for symbolic info. You can choose to
1775control the decision manually, using overlay commands, or implement
1776additional target-side support and use "overlay load-target" to bring
1777in the overlay mapping. Do "help overlay" for more detail.
1778
1779* info symbol
1780
1781The command "info symbol <address>" displays information about
1782the symbol at the specified address.
1783
1784* Trace support
1785
1786The standard remote protocol now includes an extension that allows
1787asynchronous collection and display of trace data. This requires
1788extensive support in the target-side debugging stub. Tracing mode
1789includes a new interaction mode in GDB and new commands: see the
1790file tracepoint.c for more details.
1791
1792* MIPS simulator
1793
1794Configurations for embedded MIPS now include a simulator contributed
1795by Cygnus Solutions. The simulator supports the instruction sets
1796of most MIPS variants.
1797
1798* Sparc simulator
1799
1800Sparc configurations may now include the ERC32 simulator contributed
1801by the European Space Agency. The simulator is not built into
1802Sparc targets by default; configure with --enable-sim to include it.
1803
1804* set architecture
1805
1806For target configurations that may include multiple variants of a
1807basic architecture (such as MIPS and SH), you may now set the
1808architecture explicitly. "set arch" sets, "info arch" lists
1809the possible architectures.
1810
1811*** Changes in GDB-4.16:
1812
1813* New native configurations
1814
1815Windows 95, x86 Windows NT i[345]86-*-cygwin32
1816M68K NetBSD m68k-*-netbsd*
1817PowerPC AIX 4.x powerpc-*-aix*
1818PowerPC MacOS powerpc-*-macos*
1819PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
1820RS/6000 AIX 4.x rs6000-*-aix4*
1821
1822* New targets
1823
1824ARM with RDP protocol arm-*-*
1825I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
1826MIPS VxWorks mips*-*-vxworks*
1827MIPS VR4300 with PMON mips64*vr4300{,el}-*-elf*
1828PowerPC with PPCBUG monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi*
1829Hitachi SH3 sh-*-*
1830Matra Sparclet sparclet-*-*
1831
1832* PowerPC simulator
1833
1834The powerpc-eabi configuration now includes the PSIM simulator,
1835contributed by Andrew Cagney, with assistance from Mike Meissner.
1836PSIM is a very elaborate model of the PowerPC, including not only
1837basic instruction set execution, but also details of execution unit
1838performance and I/O hardware. See sim/ppc/README for more details.
1839
1840* Solaris 2.5
1841
1842GDB now works with Solaris 2.5.
1843
1844* Windows 95/NT native
1845
1846GDB will now work as a native debugger on Windows 95 and Windows NT.
1847To build it from source, you must use the "gnu-win32" environment,
1848which uses a DLL to emulate enough of Unix to run the GNU tools.
1849Further information, binaries, and sources are available at
1850ftp.cygnus.com, under pub/gnu-win32.
1851
1852* dont-repeat command
1853
1854If a user-defined command includes the command `dont-repeat', then the
1855command will not be repeated if the user just types return. This is
1856useful if the command is time-consuming to run, so that accidental
1857extra keystrokes don't run the same command many times.
1858
1859* Send break instead of ^C
1860
1861The standard remote protocol now includes an option to send a break
1862rather than a ^C to the target in order to interrupt it. By default,
1863GDB will send ^C; to send a break, set the variable `remotebreak' to 1.
1864
1865* Remote protocol timeout
1866
1867The standard remote protocol includes a new variable `remotetimeout'
1868that allows you to set the number of seconds before GDB gives up trying
1869to read from the target. The default value is 2.
1870
1871* Automatic tracking of dynamic object loading (HPUX and Solaris only)
1872
1873By default GDB will automatically keep track of objects as they are
1874loaded and unloaded by the dynamic linker. By using the command `set
1875stop-on-solib-events 1' you can arrange for GDB to stop the inferior
1876when shared library events occur, thus allowing you to set breakpoints
1877in shared libraries which are explicitly loaded by the inferior.
1878
1879Note this feature does not work on hpux8. On hpux9 you must link
1880/usr/lib/end.o into your program. This feature should work
1881automatically on hpux10.
1882
1883* Irix 5.x hardware watchpoint support
1884
1885Irix 5 configurations now support the use of hardware watchpoints.
1886
1887* Mips protocol "SYN garbage limit"
1888
1889When debugging a Mips target using the `target mips' protocol, you
1890may set the number of characters that GDB will ignore by setting
1891the `syn-garbage-limit'. A value of -1 means that GDB will ignore
1892every character. The default value is 1050.
1893
1894* Recording and replaying remote debug sessions
1895
1896If you set `remotelogfile' to the name of a file, gdb will write to it
1897a recording of a remote debug session. This recording may then be
1898replayed back to gdb using "gdbreplay". See gdbserver/README for
1899details. This is useful when you have a problem with GDB while doing
1900remote debugging; you can make a recording of the session and send it
1901to someone else, who can then recreate the problem.
1902
1903* Speedups for remote debugging
1904
1905GDB includes speedups for downloading and stepping MIPS systems using
1906the IDT monitor, fast downloads to the Hitachi SH E7000 emulator,
1907and more efficient S-record downloading.
1908
1909* Memory use reductions and statistics collection
1910
1911GDB now uses less memory and reports statistics about memory usage.
1912Try the `maint print statistics' command, for example.
1913
1914*** Changes in GDB-4.15:
1915
1916* Psymtabs for XCOFF
1917
1918The symbol reader for AIX GDB now uses partial symbol tables. This
1919can greatly improve startup time, especially for large executables.
1920
1921* Remote targets use caching
1922
1923Remote targets now use a data cache to speed up communication with the
1924remote side. The data cache could lead to incorrect results because
1925it doesn't know about volatile variables, thus making it impossible to
1926debug targets which use memory mapped I/O devices. `set remotecache
1927off' turns the the data cache off.
1928
1929* Remote targets may have threads
1930
1931The standard remote protocol now includes support for multiple threads
1932in the target system, using new protocol commands 'H' and 'T'. See
1933gdb/remote.c for details.
1934
1935* NetROM support
1936
1937If GDB is configured with `--enable-netrom', then it will include
1938support for the NetROM ROM emulator from XLNT Designs. The NetROM
1939acts as though it is a bank of ROM on the target board, but you can
1940write into it over the network. GDB's support consists only of
1941support for fast loading into the emulated ROM; to debug, you must use
1942another protocol, such as standard remote protocol. The usual
1943sequence is something like
1944
1945 target nrom <netrom-hostname>
1946 load <prog>
1947 target remote <netrom-hostname>:1235
1948
1949* Macintosh host
1950
1951GDB now includes support for the Apple Macintosh, as a host only. It
1952may be run as either an MPW tool or as a standalone application, and
1953it can debug through the serial port. All the usual GDB commands are
1954available, but to the target command, you must supply "serial" as the
1955device type instead of "/dev/ttyXX". See mpw-README in the main
1956directory for more information on how to build. The MPW configuration
1957scripts */mpw-config.in support only a few targets, and only the
1958mips-idt-ecoff target has been tested.
1959
1960* Autoconf
1961
1962GDB configuration now uses autoconf. This is not user-visible,
1963but does simplify configuration and building.
1964
1965* hpux10
1966
1967GDB now supports hpux10.
1968
1969*** Changes in GDB-4.14:
1970
1971* New native configurations
1972
1973x86 FreeBSD i[345]86-*-freebsd
1974x86 NetBSD i[345]86-*-netbsd
1975NS32k NetBSD ns32k-*-netbsd
1976Sparc NetBSD sparc-*-netbsd
1977
1978* New targets
1979
1980A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
1981HP PA PRO embedded (WinBond W89K & Oki OP50N) hppa*-*-pro*
1982CPU32 EST-300 emulator m68*-*-est*
1983PowerPC ELF powerpc-*-elf
1984WDC 65816 w65-*-*
1985
1986* Alpha OSF/1 support for procfs
1987
1988GDB now supports procfs under OSF/1-2.x and higher, which makes it
1989possible to attach to running processes. As the mounting of the /proc
1990filesystem is optional on the Alpha, GDB automatically determines
1991the availability of /proc during startup. This can lead to problems
1992if /proc is unmounted after GDB has been started.
1993
1994* Arguments to user-defined commands
1995
1996User commands may accept up to 10 arguments separated by whitespace.
1997Arguments are accessed within the user command via $arg0..$arg9. A
1998trivial example:
1999define adder
2000 print $arg0 + $arg1 + $arg2
2001
2002To execute the command use:
2003adder 1 2 3
2004
2005Defines the command "adder" which prints the sum of its three arguments.
2006Note the arguments are text substitutions, so they may reference variables,
2007use complex expressions, or even perform inferior function calls.
2008
2009* New `if' and `while' commands
2010
2011This makes it possible to write more sophisticated user-defined
2012commands. Both commands take a single argument, which is the
2013expression to evaluate, and must be followed by the commands to
2014execute, one per line, if the expression is nonzero, the list being
2015terminated by the word `end'. The `if' command list may include an
2016`else' word, which causes the following commands to be executed only
2017if the expression is zero.
2018
2019* Fortran source language mode
2020
2021GDB now includes partial support for Fortran 77. It will recognize
2022Fortran programs and can evaluate a subset of Fortran expressions, but
2023variables and functions may not be handled correctly. GDB will work
2024with G77, but does not yet know much about symbols emitted by other
2025Fortran compilers.
2026
2027* Better HPUX support
2028
2029Most debugging facilities now work on dynamic executables for HPPAs
2030running hpux9 or later. You can attach to running dynamically linked
2031processes, but by default the dynamic libraries will be read-only, so
2032for instance you won't be able to put breakpoints in them. To change
2033that behavior do the following before running the program:
2034
2035 adb -w a.out
2036 __dld_flags?W 0x5
2037 control-d
2038
2039This will cause the libraries to be mapped private and read-write.
2040To revert to the normal behavior, do this:
2041
2042 adb -w a.out
2043 __dld_flags?W 0x4
2044 control-d
2045
2046You cannot set breakpoints or examine data in the library until after
2047the library is loaded if the function/data symbols do not have
2048external linkage.
2049
2050GDB can now also read debug symbols produced by the HP C compiler on
2051HPPAs (sorry, no C++, Fortran or 68k support).
2052
2053* Target byte order now dynamically selectable
2054
2055You can choose which byte order to use with a target system, via the
2056commands "set endian big" and "set endian little", and you can see the
2057current setting by using "show endian". You can also give the command
2058"set endian auto", in which case GDB will use the byte order
2059associated with the executable. Currently, only embedded MIPS
2060configurations support dynamic selection of target byte order.
2061
2062* New DOS host serial code
2063
2064This version uses DPMI interrupts to handle buffered I/O, so you
2065no longer need to run asynctsr when debugging boards connected to
2066a PC's serial port.
2067
2068*** Changes in GDB-4.13:
2069
2070* New "complete" command
2071
2072This lists all the possible completions for the rest of the line, if it
2073were to be given as a command itself. This is intended for use by emacs.
2074
2075* Trailing space optional in prompt
2076
2077"set prompt" no longer adds a space for you after the prompt you set. This
2078allows you to set a prompt which ends in a space or one that does not.
2079
2080* Breakpoint hit counts
2081
2082"info break" now displays a count of the number of times the breakpoint
2083has been hit. This is especially useful in conjunction with "ignore"; you
2084can ignore a large number of breakpoint hits, look at the breakpoint info
2085to see how many times the breakpoint was hit, then run again, ignoring one
2086less than that number, and this will get you quickly to the last hit of
2087that breakpoint.
2088
2089* Ability to stop printing at NULL character
2090
2091"set print null-stop" will cause GDB to stop printing the characters of
2092an array when the first NULL is encountered. This is useful when large
2093arrays actually contain only short strings.
2094
2095* Shared library breakpoints
2096
2097In SunOS 4.x, SVR4, and Alpha OSF/1 configurations, you can now set
2098breakpoints in shared libraries before the executable is run.
2099
2100* Hardware watchpoints
2101
2102There is a new hardware breakpoint for the watch command for sparclite
2103targets. See gdb/sparclite/hw_breakpoint.note.
2104
55241689 2105Hardware watchpoints are also now supported under GNU/Linux.
c906108c
SS
2106
2107* Annotations
2108
2109Annotations have been added. These are for use with graphical interfaces,
2110and are still experimental. Currently only gdba.el uses these.
2111
2112* Improved Irix 5 support
2113
2114GDB now works properly with Irix 5.2.
2115
2116* Improved HPPA support
2117
2118GDB now works properly with the latest GCC and GAS.
2119
2120* New native configurations
2121
2122Sequent PTX4 i[34]86-sequent-ptx4
2123HPPA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
2124Atari TT running SVR4 m68*-*-sysv4*
2125RS/6000 LynxOS rs6000-*-lynxos*
2126
2127* New targets
2128
2129OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
2130MIPS R4000 mips64*{,el}-*-{ecoff,elf}
2131Sparc64 sparc64-*-*
2132
2133* Hitachi SH7000 and E7000-PC ICE support
2134
2135There is now support for communicating with the Hitachi E7000-PC ICE.
2136This is available automatically when GDB is configured for the SH.
2137
2138* Fixes
2139
2140As usual, a variety of small fixes and improvements, both generic
2141and configuration-specific. See the ChangeLog for more detail.
2142
2143*** Changes in GDB-4.12:
2144
2145* Irix 5 is now supported
2146
2147* HPPA support
2148
2149GDB-4.12 on the HPPA has a number of changes which make it unable
2150to debug the output from the currently released versions of GCC and
2151GAS (GCC 2.5.8 and GAS-2.2 or PAGAS-1.36). Until the next major release
2152of GCC and GAS, versions of these tools designed to work with GDB-4.12
2153can be retrieved via anonymous ftp from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist.
2154
2155
2156*** Changes in GDB-4.11:
2157
2158* User visible changes:
2159
2160* Remote Debugging
2161
2162The "set remotedebug" option is now consistent between the mips remote
2163target, remote targets using the gdb-specific protocol, UDI (AMD's
2164debug protocol for the 29k) and the 88k bug monitor. It is now an
2165integer specifying a debug level (normally 0 or 1, but 2 means more
2166debugging info for the mips target).
2167
2168* DEC Alpha native support
2169
2170GDB now works on the DEC Alpha. GCC 2.4.5 does not produce usable
2171debug info, but GDB works fairly well with the DEC compiler and should
2172work with a future GCC release. See the README file for a few
2173Alpha-specific notes.
2174
2175* Preliminary thread implementation
2176
2177GDB now has preliminary thread support for both SGI/Irix and LynxOS.
2178
2179* LynxOS native and target support for 386
2180
2181This release has been hosted on LynxOS 2.2, and also can be configured
2182to remotely debug programs running under LynxOS (see gdb/gdbserver/README
2183for details).
2184
2185* Improvements in C++ mangling/demangling.
2186
2187This release has much better g++ debugging, specifically in name
2188mangling/demangling, virtual function calls, print virtual table,
2189call methods, ...etc.
2190
2191*** Changes in GDB-4.10:
2192
2193 * User visible changes:
2194
2195Remote debugging using the GDB-specific (`target remote') protocol now
2196supports the `load' command. This is only useful if you have some
2197other way of getting the stub to the target system, and you can put it
2198somewhere in memory where it won't get clobbered by the download.
2199
2200Filename completion now works.
2201
2202When run under emacs mode, the "info line" command now causes the
2203arrow to point to the line specified. Also, "info line" prints
2204addresses in symbolic form (as well as hex).
2205
2206All vxworks based targets now support a user settable option, called
2207vxworks-timeout. This option represents the number of seconds gdb
2208should wait for responses to rpc's. You might want to use this if
2209your vxworks target is, perhaps, a slow software simulator or happens
2210to be on the far side of a thin network line.
2211
2212 * DEC alpha support
2213
2214This release contains support for using a DEC alpha as a GDB host for
2215cross debugging. Native alpha debugging is not supported yet.
2216
2217
2218*** Changes in GDB-4.9:
2219
2220 * Testsuite
2221
2222This is the first GDB release which is accompanied by a matching testsuite.
2223The testsuite requires installation of dejagnu, which should be available
2224via ftp from most sites that carry GNU software.
2225
2226 * C++ demangling
2227
2228'Cfront' style demangling has had its name changed to 'ARM' style, to
2229emphasize that it was written from the specifications in the C++ Annotated
2230Reference Manual, not necessarily to be compatible with AT&T cfront. Despite
2231disclaimers, it still generated too much confusion with users attempting to
2232use gdb with AT&T cfront.
2233
2234 * Simulators
2235
2236GDB now uses a standard remote interface to a simulator library.
2237So far, the library contains simulators for the Zilog Z8001/2, the
2238Hitachi H8/300, H8/500 and Super-H.
2239
2240 * New targets supported
2241
2242H8/300 simulator h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
2243H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
2244SH simulator sh-hitachi-hms or sh
2245Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
2246IDT MIPS board over serial line mips-idt-ecoff
2247
2248Cross-debugging to GO32 targets is supported. It requires a custom
2249version of the i386-stub.c module which is integrated with the
2250GO32 memory extender.
2251
2252 * New remote protocols
2253
2254MIPS remote debugging protocol.
2255
2256 * New source languages supported
2257
2258This version includes preliminary support for Chill, a Pascal like language
2259used by telecommunications companies. Chill support is also being integrated
2260into the GNU compiler, but we don't know when it will be publically available.
2261
2262
2263*** Changes in GDB-4.8:
2264
2265 * HP Precision Architecture supported
2266
2267GDB now supports HP PA-RISC machines running HPUX. A preliminary
2268version of this support was available as a set of patches from the
2269University of Utah. GDB does not support debugging of programs
2270compiled with the HP compiler, because HP will not document their file
2271format. Instead, you must use GCC (version 2.3.2 or later) and PA-GAS
2272(as available from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist/pa-gas.u4.tar.Z).
2273
2274Many problems in the preliminary version have been fixed.
2275
2276 * Faster and better demangling
2277
2278We have improved template demangling and fixed numerous bugs in the GNU style
2279demangler. It can now handle type modifiers such as `static' or `const'. Wide
2280character types (wchar_t) are now supported. Demangling of each symbol is now
2281only done once, and is cached when the symbol table for a file is read in.
2282This results in a small increase in memory usage for C programs, a moderate
2283increase in memory usage for C++ programs, and a fantastic speedup in
2284symbol lookups.
2285
2286`Cfront' style demangling still doesn't work with AT&T cfront. It was written
2287from the specifications in the Annotated Reference Manual, which AT&T's
2288compiler does not actually implement.
2289
2290 * G++ multiple inheritance compiler problem
2291
2292In the 2.3.2 release of gcc/g++, how the compiler resolves multiple
2293inheritance lattices was reworked to properly discover ambiguities. We
2294recently found an example which causes this new algorithm to fail in a
2295very subtle way, producing bad debug information for those classes.
2296The file 'gcc.patch' (in this directory) can be applied to gcc to
2297circumvent the problem. A future GCC release will contain a complete
2298fix.
2299
2300The previous G++ debug info problem (mentioned below for the gdb-4.7
2301release) is fixed in gcc version 2.3.2.
2302
2303 * Improved configure script
2304
2305The `configure' script will now attempt to guess your system type if
2306you don't supply a host system type. The old scheme of supplying a
2307host system triplet is preferable over using this. All the magic is
2308done in the new `config.guess' script. Examine it for details.
2309
2310We have also brought our configure script much more in line with the FSF's
2311version. It now supports the --with-xxx options. In particular,
2312`--with-minimal-bfd' can be used to make the GDB binary image smaller.
2313The resulting GDB will not be able to read arbitrary object file formats --
2314only the format ``expected'' to be used on the configured target system.
2315We hope to make this the default in a future release.
2316
2317 * Documentation improvements
2318
2319There's new internal documentation on how to modify GDB, and how to
2320produce clean changes to the code. We implore people to read it
2321before submitting changes.
2322
2323The GDB manual uses new, sexy Texinfo conditionals, rather than arcane
2324M4 macros. The new texinfo.tex is provided in this release. Pre-built
2325`info' files are also provided. To build `info' files from scratch,
2326you will need the latest `makeinfo' release, which will be available in
2327a future texinfo-X.Y release.
2328
2329*NOTE* The new texinfo.tex can cause old versions of TeX to hang.
2330We're not sure exactly which versions have this problem, but it has
2331been seen in 3.0. We highly recommend upgrading to TeX version 3.141
2332or better. If that isn't possible, there is a patch in
2333`texinfo/tex3patch' that will modify `texinfo/texinfo.tex' to work
2334around this problem.
2335
2336 * New features
2337
2338GDB now supports array constants that can be used in expressions typed in by
2339the user. The syntax is `{element, element, ...}'. Ie: you can now type
2340`print {1, 2, 3}', and it will build up an array in memory malloc'd in
2341the target program.
2342
2343The new directory `gdb/sparclite' contains a program that demonstrates
2344how the sparc-stub.c remote stub runs on a Fujitsu SPARClite processor.
2345
2346 * New native hosts supported
2347
2348HP/PA-RISC under HPUX using GNU tools hppa1.1-hp-hpux
2349386 CPUs running SCO Unix 3.2v4 i386-unknown-sco3.2v4
2350
2351 * New targets supported
2352
2353AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi or udi29k
2354
2355 * New file formats supported
2356
2357BFD now supports reading HP/PA-RISC executables (SOM file format?),
2358HPUX core files, and SCO 3.2v2 core files.
2359
2360 * Major bug fixes
2361
2362Attaching to processes now works again; thanks for the many bug reports.
2363
2364We have also stomped on a bunch of core dumps caused by
2365printf_filtered("%s") problems.
2366
2367We eliminated a copyright problem on the rpc and ptrace header files
2368for VxWorks, which was discovered at the last minute during the 4.7
2369release. You should now be able to build a VxWorks GDB.
2370
2371You can now interrupt gdb while an attached process is running. This
2372will cause the attached process to stop, and give control back to GDB.
2373
2374We fixed problems caused by using too many file descriptors
2375for reading symbols from object files and libraries. This was
2376especially a problem for programs that used many (~100) shared
2377libraries.
2378
2379The `step' command now only enters a subroutine if there is line number
2380information for the subroutine. Otherwise it acts like the `next'
2381command. Previously, `step' would enter subroutines if there was
2382any debugging information about the routine. This avoids problems
2383when using `cc -g1' on MIPS machines.
2384
2385 * Internal improvements
2386
2387GDB's internal interfaces have been improved to make it easier to support
2388debugging of multiple languages in the future.
2389
2390GDB now uses a common structure for symbol information internally.
2391Minimal symbols (derived from linkage symbols in object files), partial
2392symbols (from a quick scan of debug information), and full symbols
2393contain a common subset of information, making it easier to write
2394shared code that handles any of them.
2395
2396 * New command line options
2397
2398We now accept --silent as an alias for --quiet.
2399
2400 * Mmalloc licensing
2401
2402The memory-mapped-malloc library is now licensed under the GNU Library
2403General Public License.
2404
2405*** Changes in GDB-4.7:
2406
2407 * Host/native/target split
2408
2409GDB has had some major internal surgery to untangle the support for
2410hosts and remote targets. Now, when you configure GDB for a remote
2411target, it will no longer load in all of the support for debugging
2412local programs on the host. When fully completed and tested, this will
2413ensure that arbitrary host/target combinations are possible.
2414
2415The primary conceptual shift is to separate the non-portable code in
2416GDB into three categories. Host specific code is required any time GDB
2417is compiled on that host, regardless of the target. Target specific
2418code relates to the peculiarities of the target, but can be compiled on
2419any host. Native specific code is everything else: it can only be
2420built when the host and target are the same system. Child process
2421handling and core file support are two common `native' examples.
2422
2423GDB's use of /proc for controlling Unix child processes is now cleaner.
2424It has been split out into a single module under the `target_ops' vector,
2425plus two native-dependent functions for each system that uses /proc.
2426
2427 * New hosts supported
2428
2429HP/Apollo 68k (under the BSD domain) m68k-apollo-bsd or apollo68bsd
2430386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
2431386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or i386sco
2432
2433 * New targets supported
2434
2435Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
243668030 and CPU32 m68030-*-*, m68332-*-*
2437
2438 * New native hosts supported
2439
2440386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
2441 (386bsd is not well tested yet)
2442386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or sco
2443
2444 * New file formats supported
2445
2446BFD now supports COFF files for the Zilog Z8000 microprocessor. It
2447supports reading of `a.out.adobe' object files, which are an a.out
2448format extended with minimal information about multiple sections.
2449
2450 * New commands
2451
2452`show copying' is the same as the old `info copying'.
2453`show warranty' is the same as `info warrantee'.
2454These were renamed for consistency. The old commands continue to work.
2455
2456`info handle' is a new alias for `info signals'.
2457
2458You can now define pre-command hooks, which attach arbitrary command
2459scripts to any command. The commands in the hook will be executed
2460prior to the user's command. You can also create a hook which will be
2461executed whenever the program stops. See gdb.texinfo.
2462
2463 * C++ improvements
2464
2465We now deal with Cfront style name mangling, and can even extract type
2466info from mangled symbols. GDB can automatically figure out which
2467symbol mangling style your C++ compiler uses.
2468
2469Calling of methods and virtual functions has been improved as well.
2470
2471 * Major bug fixes
2472
2473The crash that occured when debugging Sun Ansi-C compiled binaries is
2474fixed. This was due to mishandling of the extra N_SO stabs output
2475by the compiler.
2476
2477We also finally got Ultrix 4.2 running in house, and fixed core file
2478support, with help from a dozen people on the net.
2479
2480John M. Farrell discovered that the reason that single-stepping was so
2481slow on all of the Mips based platforms (primarily SGI and DEC) was
2482that we were trying to demangle and lookup a symbol used for internal
2483purposes on every instruction that was being stepped through. Changing
2484the name of that symbol so that it couldn't be mistaken for a C++
2485mangled symbol sped things up a great deal.
2486
2487Rich Pixley sped up symbol lookups in general by getting much smarter
2488about when C++ symbol mangling is necessary. This should make symbol
2489completion (TAB on the command line) much faster. It's not as fast as
2490we'd like, but it's significantly faster than gdb-4.6.
2491
2492 * AMD 29k support
2493
2494A new user controllable variable 'call_scratch_address' can
2495specify the location of a scratch area to be used when GDB
2496calls a function in the target. This is necessary because the
2497usual method of putting the scratch area on the stack does not work
2498in systems that have separate instruction and data spaces.
2499
2500We integrated changes to support the 29k UDI (Universal Debugger
2501Interface), but discovered at the last minute that we didn't have all
2502of the appropriate copyright paperwork. We are working with AMD to
2503resolve this, and hope to have it available soon.
2504
2505 * Remote interfaces
2506
2507We have sped up the remote serial line protocol, especially for targets
2508with lots of registers. It now supports a new `expedited status' ('T')
2509message which can be used in place of the existing 'S' status message.
2510This allows the remote stub to send only the registers that GDB
2511needs to make a quick decision about single-stepping or conditional
2512breakpoints, eliminating the need to fetch the entire register set for
2513each instruction being stepped through.
2514
2515The GDB remote serial protocol now implements a write-through cache for
2516registers, only re-reading the registers if the target has run.
2517
2518There is also a new remote serial stub for SPARC processors. You can
2519find it in gdb-4.7/gdb/sparc-stub.c. This was written to support the
2520Fujitsu SPARClite processor, but will run on any stand-alone SPARC
2521processor with a serial port.
2522
2523 * Configuration
2524
2525Configure.in files have become much easier to read and modify. A new
2526`table driven' format makes it more obvious what configurations are
2527supported, and what files each one uses.
2528
2529 * Library changes
2530
2531There is a new opcodes library which will eventually contain all of the
2532disassembly routines and opcode tables. At present, it only contains
2533Sparc and Z8000 routines. This will allow the assembler, debugger, and
2534disassembler (binutils/objdump) to share these routines.
2535
2536The libiberty library is now copylefted under the GNU Library General
2537Public License. This allows more liberal use, and was done so libg++
2538can use it. This makes no difference to GDB, since the Library License
2539grants all the rights from the General Public License.
2540
2541 * Documentation
2542
2543The file gdb-4.7/gdb/doc/stabs.texinfo is a (relatively) complete
2544reference to the stabs symbol info used by the debugger. It is (as far
2545as we know) the only published document on this fascinating topic. We
2546encourage you to read it, compare it to the stabs information on your
2547system, and send improvements on the document in general (to
2548bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu).
2549
2550And, of course, many bugs have been fixed.
2551
2552
2553*** Changes in GDB-4.6:
2554
2555 * Better support for C++ function names
2556
2557GDB now accepts as input the "demangled form" of C++ overloaded function
2558names and member function names, and can do command completion on such names
2559(using TAB, TAB-TAB, and ESC-?). The names have to be quoted with a pair of
2560single quotes. Examples are 'func (int, long)' and 'obj::operator==(obj&)'.
2561Make use of command completion, it is your friend.
2562
2563GDB also now accepts a variety of C++ mangled symbol formats. They are
2564the GNU g++ style, the Cfront (ARM) style, and the Lucid (lcc) style.
2565You can tell GDB which format to use by doing a 'set demangle-style {gnu,
2566lucid, cfront, auto}'. 'gnu' is the default. Do a 'set demangle-style foo'
2567for the list of formats.
2568
2569 * G++ symbol mangling problem
2570
2571Recent versions of gcc have a bug in how they emit debugging information for
2572C++ methods (when using dbx-style stabs). The file 'gcc.patch' (in this
2573directory) can be applied to gcc to fix the problem. Alternatively, if you
2574can't fix gcc, you can #define GCC_MANGLE_BUG when compling gdb/symtab.c. The
2575usual symptom is difficulty with setting breakpoints on methods. GDB complains
2576about the method being non-existent. (We believe that version 2.2.2 of GCC has
2577this problem.)
2578
2579 * New 'maintenance' command
2580
2581All of the commands related to hacking GDB internals have been moved out of
2582the main command set, and now live behind the 'maintenance' command. This
2583can also be abbreviated as 'mt'. The following changes were made:
2584
2585 dump-me -> maintenance dump-me
2586 info all-breakpoints -> maintenance info breakpoints
2587 printmsyms -> maintenance print msyms
2588 printobjfiles -> maintenance print objfiles
2589 printpsyms -> maintenance print psymbols
2590 printsyms -> maintenance print symbols
2591
2592The following commands are new:
2593
2594 maintenance demangle Call internal GDB demangler routine to
2595 demangle a C++ link name and prints the result.
2596 maintenance print type Print a type chain for a given symbol
2597
2598 * Change to .gdbinit file processing
2599
2600We now read the $HOME/.gdbinit file before processing the argv arguments
2601(e.g. reading symbol files or core files). This allows global parameters to
2602be set, which will apply during the symbol reading. The ./.gdbinit is still
2603read after argv processing.
2604
2605 * New hosts supported
2606
2607Solaris-2.0 !!! sparc-sun-solaris2 or sun4sol2
2608
55241689 2609GNU/Linux support i386-unknown-linux or linux
c906108c
SS
2610
2611We are also including code to support the HP/PA running BSD and HPUX. This
2612is almost guaranteed not to work, as we didn't have time to test or build it
2613for this release. We are including it so that the more adventurous (or
2614masochistic) of you can play with it. We also had major problems with the
2615fact that the compiler that we got from HP doesn't support the -g option.
2616It costs extra.
2617
2618 * New targets supported
2619
2620Hitachi H8/300 h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
2621
2622 * More smarts about finding #include files
2623
2624GDB now remembers the compilation directory for all include files, and for
2625all files from which C is generated (like yacc and lex sources). This
2626greatly improves GDB's ability to find yacc/lex sources, and include files,
2627especially if you are debugging your program from a directory different from
2628the one that contains your sources.
2629
2630We also fixed a bug which caused difficulty with listing and setting
2631breakpoints in include files which contain C code. (In the past, you had to
2632try twice in order to list an include file that you hadn't looked at before.)
2633
2634 * Interesting infernals change
2635
2636GDB now deals with arbitrary numbers of sections, where the symbols for each
2637section must be relocated relative to that section's landing place in the
2638target's address space. This work was needed to support ELF with embedded
2639stabs used by Solaris-2.0.
2640
2641 * Bug fixes (of course!)
2642
2643There have been loads of fixes for the following things:
2644 mips, rs6000, 29k/udi, m68k, g++, type handling, elf/dwarf, m88k,
2645 i960, stabs, DOS(GO32), procfs, etc...
2646
2647See the ChangeLog for details.
2648
2649*** Changes in GDB-4.5:
2650
2651 * New machines supported (host and target)
2652
2653IBM RS6000 running AIX rs6000-ibm-aix or rs6000
2654
2655SGI Irix-4.x mips-sgi-irix4 or iris4
2656
2657 * New malloc package
2658
2659GDB now uses a new memory manager called mmalloc, based on gmalloc.
2660Mmalloc is capable of handling mutiple heaps of memory. It is also
2661capable of saving a heap to a file, and then mapping it back in later.
2662This can be used to greatly speedup the startup of GDB by using a
2663pre-parsed symbol table which lives in a mmalloc managed heap. For
2664more details, please read mmalloc/mmalloc.texi.
2665
2666 * info proc
2667
2668The 'info proc' command (SVR4 only) has been enhanced quite a bit. See
2669'help info proc' for details.
2670
2671 * MIPS ecoff symbol table format
2672
2673The code that reads MIPS symbol table format is now supported on all hosts.
2674Thanks to MIPS for releasing the sym.h and symconst.h files to make this
2675possible.
2676
2677 * File name changes for MS-DOS
2678
2679Many files in the config directories have been renamed to make it easier to
2680support GDB on MS-DOSe systems (which have very restrictive file name
2681conventions :-( ). MS-DOSe host support (under DJ Delorie's GO32
2682environment) is close to working but has some remaining problems. Note
2683that debugging of DOS programs is not supported, due to limitations
2684in the ``operating system'', but it can be used to host cross-debugging.
2685
2686 * Cross byte order fixes
2687
2688Many fixes have been made to support cross debugging of Sparc and MIPS
2689targets from hosts whose byte order differs.
2690
2691 * New -mapped and -readnow options
2692
2693If memory-mapped files are available on your system through the 'mmap'
2694system call, you can use the -mapped option on the `file' or
2695`symbol-file' commands to cause GDB to write the symbols from your
2696program into a reusable file. If the program you are debugging is
2697called `/path/fred', the mapped symbol file will be `./fred.syms'.
2698Future GDB debugging sessions will notice the presence of this file,
2699and will quickly map in symbol information from it, rather than reading
2700the symbol table from the executable program. Using the '-mapped'
2701option in a GDB `file' or `symbol-file' command has the same effect as
2702starting GDB with the '-mapped' command-line option.
2703
2704You can cause GDB to read the entire symbol table immediately by using
2705the '-readnow' option with any of the commands that load symbol table
2706information (or on the GDB command line). This makes the command
2707slower, but makes future operations faster.
2708
2709The -mapped and -readnow options are typically combined in order to
2710build a `fred.syms' file that contains complete symbol information.
2711A simple GDB invocation to do nothing but build a `.syms' file for future
2712use is:
2713
2714 gdb -batch -nx -mapped -readnow programname
2715
2716The `.syms' file is specific to the host machine on which GDB is run.
2717It holds an exact image of GDB's internal symbol table. It cannot be
2718shared across multiple host platforms.
2719
2720 * longjmp() handling
2721
2722GDB is now capable of stepping and nexting over longjmp(), _longjmp(), and
2723siglongjmp() without losing control. This feature has not yet been ported to
2724all systems. It currently works on many 386 platforms, all MIPS-based
2725platforms (SGI, DECstation, etc), and Sun3/4.
2726
2727 * Solaris 2.0
2728
2729Preliminary work has been put in to support the new Solaris OS from Sun. At
2730this time, it can control and debug processes, but it is not capable of
2731reading symbols.
2732
2733 * Bug fixes
2734
2735As always, many many bug fixes. The major areas were with g++, and mipsread.
2736People using the MIPS-based platforms should experience fewer mysterious
2737crashes and trashed symbol tables.
2738
2739*** Changes in GDB-4.4:
2740
2741 * New machines supported (host and target)
2742
2743SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
2744 (except core files)
2745BSD Reno on Vax vax-dec-bsd
2746Ultrix on Vax vax-dec-ultrix
2747
2748 * New machines supported (target)
2749
2750AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
2751
2752 * C++ support
2753
2754GDB continues to improve its handling of C++. `References' work better.
2755The demangler has also been improved, and now deals with symbols mangled as
2756per the Annotated C++ Reference Guide.
2757
2758GDB also now handles `stabs' symbol information embedded in MIPS
2759`ecoff' symbol tables. Since the ecoff format was not easily
2760extensible to handle new languages such as C++, this appeared to be a
2761good way to put C++ debugging info into MIPS binaries. This option
2762will be supported in the GNU C compiler, version 2, when it is
2763released.
2764
2765 * New features for SVR4
2766
2767GDB now handles SVR4 shared libraries, in the same fashion as SunOS
2768shared libraries. Debugging dynamically linked programs should present
2769only minor differences from debugging statically linked programs.
2770
2771The `info proc' command will print out information about any process
2772on an SVR4 system (including the one you are debugging). At the moment,
2773it prints the address mappings of the process.
2774
2775If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please send mail to
2776bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were reqired (if any).
2777
2778 * Better dynamic linking support in SunOS
2779
2780Reading symbols from shared libraries which contain debugging symbols
2781now works properly. However, there remain issues such as automatic
2782skipping of `transfer vector' code during function calls, which
2783make it harder to debug code in a shared library, than to debug the
2784same code linked statically.
2785
2786 * New Getopt
2787
2788GDB is now using the latest `getopt' routines from the FSF. This
2789version accepts the -- prefix for options with long names. GDB will
2790continue to accept the old forms (-option and +option) as well.
2791Various single letter abbreviations for options have been explicity
2792added to the option table so that they won't get overshadowed in the
2793future by other options that begin with the same letter.
2794
2795 * Bugs fixed
2796
2797The `cleanup_undefined_types' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
2798Many assorted bugs have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
2799See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
2800
2801
2802*** Changes in GDB-4.3:
2803
2804 * New machines supported (host and target)
2805
2806Amiga 3000 running Amix m68k-cbm-svr4 or amix
2807NCR 3000 386 running SVR4 i386-ncr-svr4 or ncr3000
2808Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
2809
2810 * Almost SCO Unix support
2811
2812We had hoped to support:
2813SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
2814(except for core file support), but we discovered very late in the release
2815that it has problems with process groups that render gdb unusable. Sorry
2816about that. I encourage people to fix it and post the fixes.
2817
2818 * Preliminary ELF and DWARF support
2819
2820GDB can read ELF object files on System V Release 4, and can handle
2821debugging records for C, in DWARF format, in ELF files. This support
2822is preliminary. If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please
2823send mail to bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were
2824reqired (if any).
2825
2826 * New Readline
2827
2828GDB now uses the latest `readline' library. One user-visible change
2829is that two tabs will list possible command completions, which previously
2830required typing M-? (meta-question mark, or ESC ?).
2831
2832 * Bugs fixed
2833
2834The `stepi' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
2835Many bugs in C++ have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
2836See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
2837
2838 * State of the MIPS world (in case you wondered):
2839
2840GDB can understand the symbol tables emitted by the compilers
2841supplied by most vendors of MIPS-based machines, including DEC. These
2842symbol tables are in a format that essentially nobody else uses.
2843
2844Some versions of gcc come with an assembler post-processor called
2845mips-tfile. This program is required if you want to do source-level
2846debugging of gcc-compiled programs. I believe FSF does not ship
2847mips-tfile with gcc version 1, but it will eventually come with gcc
2848version 2.
2849
2850Debugging of g++ output remains a problem. g++ version 1.xx does not
2851really support it at all. (If you're lucky, you should be able to get
2852line numbers and stack traces to work, but no parameters or local
2853variables.) With some work it should be possible to improve the
2854situation somewhat.
2855
2856When gcc version 2 is released, you will have somewhat better luck.
2857However, even then you will get confusing results for inheritance and
2858methods.
2859
2860We will eventually provide full debugging of g++ output on
2861DECstations. This will probably involve some kind of stabs-in-ecoff
2862encapulation, but the details have not been worked out yet.
2863
2864
2865*** Changes in GDB-4.2:
2866
2867 * Improved configuration
2868
2869Only one copy of `configure' exists now, and it is not self-modifying.
2870Porting BFD is simpler.
2871
2872 * Stepping improved
2873
2874The `step' and `next' commands now only stop at the first instruction
2875of a source line. This prevents the multiple stops that used to occur
2876in switch statements, for-loops, etc. `Step' continues to stop if a
2877function that has debugging information is called within the line.
2878
2879 * Bug fixing
2880
2881Lots of small bugs fixed. More remain.
2882
2883 * New host supported (not target)
2884
2885Intel 386 PC clone running Mach i386-none-mach
2886
2887
2888*** Changes in GDB-4.1:
2889
2890 * Multiple source language support
2891
2892GDB now has internal scaffolding to handle several source languages.
2893It determines the type of each source file from its filename extension,
2894and will switch expression parsing and number formatting to match the
2895language of the function in the currently selected stack frame.
2896You can also specifically set the language to be used, with
2897`set language c' or `set language modula-2'.
2898
2899 * GDB and Modula-2
2900
2901GDB now has preliminary support for the GNU Modula-2 compiler,
2902currently under development at the State University of New York at
2903Buffalo. Development of both GDB and the GNU Modula-2 compiler will
2904continue through the fall of 1991 and into 1992.
2905
2906Other Modula-2 compilers are currently not supported, and attempting to
2907debug programs compiled with them will likely result in an error as the
2908symbol table is read. Feel free to work on it, though!
2909
2910There are hooks in GDB for strict type checking and range checking,
2911in the `Modula-2 philosophy', but they do not currently work.
2912
2913 * set write on/off
2914
2915GDB can now write to executable and core files (e.g. patch
2916a variable's value). You must turn this switch on, specify
2917the file ("exec foo" or "core foo"), *then* modify it, e.g.
2918by assigning a new value to a variable. Modifications take
2919effect immediately.
2920
2921 * Automatic SunOS shared library reading
2922
2923When you run your program, GDB automatically determines where its
2924shared libraries (if any) have been loaded, and reads their symbols.
2925The `share' command is no longer needed. This also works when
2926examining core files.
2927
2928 * set listsize
2929
2930You can specify the number of lines that the `list' command shows.
2931The default is 10.
2932
2933 * New machines supported (host and target)
2934
2935SGI Iris (MIPS) running Irix V3: mips-sgi-irix or iris
2936Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x: m68k-sony-sysv or news
2937Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1: a29k-nyu-sym1 or ultra3
2938
2939 * New hosts supported (not targets)
2940
2941IBM RT/PC: romp-ibm-aix or rtpc
2942
2943 * New targets supported (not hosts)
2944
2945AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
2946AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
2947Ultracomputer remote kernel debug a29k-nyu-kern
2948
2949 * New remote interfaces
2950
2951AMD 29000 Adapt
2952AMD 29000 Minimon
2953
2954
2955*** Changes in GDB-4.0:
2956
2957 * New Facilities
2958
2959Wide output is wrapped at good places to make the output more readable.
2960
2961Gdb now supports cross-debugging from a host machine of one type to a
2962target machine of another type. Communication with the target system
2963is over serial lines. The ``target'' command handles connecting to the
2964remote system; the ``load'' command will download a program into the
2965remote system. Serial stubs for the m68k and i386 are provided. Gdb
2966also supports debugging of realtime processes running under VxWorks,
2967using SunRPC Remote Procedure Calls over TCP/IP to talk to a debugger
2968stub on the target system.
2969
2970New CPUs supported include the AMD 29000 and Intel 960.
2971
2972GDB now reads object files and symbol tables via a ``binary file''
2973library, which allows a single copy of GDB to debug programs of multiple
2974object file types such as a.out and coff.
2975
2976There is now a GDB reference card in "doc/refcard.tex". (Make targets
2977refcard.dvi and refcard.ps are available to format it).
2978
2979
2980 * Control-Variable user interface simplified
2981
2982All variables that control the operation of the debugger can be set
2983by the ``set'' command, and displayed by the ``show'' command.
2984
2985For example, ``set prompt new-gdb=>'' will change your prompt to new-gdb=>.
2986``Show prompt'' produces the response:
2987Gdb's prompt is new-gdb=>.
2988
2989What follows are the NEW set commands. The command ``help set'' will
2990print a complete list of old and new set commands. ``help set FOO''
2991will give a longer description of the variable FOO. ``show'' will show
2992all of the variable descriptions and their current settings.
2993
2994confirm on/off: Enables warning questions for operations that are
2995 hard to recover from, e.g. rerunning the program while
2996 it is already running. Default is ON.
2997
2998editing on/off: Enables EMACS style command line editing
2999 of input. Previous lines can be recalled with
3000 control-P, the current line can be edited with control-B,
3001 you can search for commands with control-R, etc.
3002 Default is ON.
3003
3004history filename NAME: NAME is where the gdb command history
3005 will be stored. The default is .gdb_history,
3006 or the value of the environment variable
3007 GDBHISTFILE.
3008
3009history size N: The size, in commands, of the command history. The
3010 default is 256, or the value of the environment variable
3011 HISTSIZE.
3012
3013history save on/off: If this value is set to ON, the history file will
3014 be saved after exiting gdb. If set to OFF, the
3015 file will not be saved. The default is OFF.
3016
3017history expansion on/off: If this value is set to ON, then csh-like
3018 history expansion will be performed on
3019 command line input. The default is OFF.
3020
3021radix N: Sets the default radix for input and output. It can be set
3022 to 8, 10, or 16. Note that the argument to "radix" is interpreted
3023 in the current radix, so "set radix 10" is always a no-op.
3024
3025height N: This integer value is the number of lines on a page. Default
3026 is 24, the current `stty rows'' setting, or the ``li#''
3027 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
3028 variable TERM.
3029
3030width N: This integer value is the number of characters on a line.
3031 Default is 80, the current `stty cols'' setting, or the ``co#''
3032 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
3033 variable TERM.
3034
3035Note: ``set screensize'' is obsolete. Use ``set height'' and
3036``set width'' instead.
3037
3038print address on/off: Print memory addresses in various command displays,
3039 such as stack traces and structure values. Gdb looks
3040 more ``symbolic'' if you turn this off; it looks more
3041 ``machine level'' with it on. Default is ON.
3042
3043print array on/off: Prettyprint arrays. New convenient format! Default
3044 is OFF.
3045
3046print demangle on/off: Print C++ symbols in "source" form if on,
3047 "raw" form if off.
3048
3049print asm-demangle on/off: Same, for assembler level printouts
3050 like instructions.
3051
3052print vtbl on/off: Prettyprint C++ virtual function tables. Default is OFF.
3053
3054
3055 * Support for Epoch Environment.
3056
3057The epoch environment is a version of Emacs v18 with windowing. One
3058new command, ``inspect'', is identical to ``print'', except that if you
3059are running in the epoch environment, the value is printed in its own
3060window.
3061
3062
3063 * Support for Shared Libraries
3064
3065GDB can now debug programs and core files that use SunOS shared libraries.
3066Symbols from a shared library cannot be referenced
3067before the shared library has been linked with the program (this
3068happens after you type ``run'' and before the function main() is entered).
3069At any time after this linking (including when examining core files
3070from dynamically linked programs), gdb reads the symbols from each
3071shared library when you type the ``sharedlibrary'' command.
3072It can be abbreviated ``share''.
3073
3074sharedlibrary REGEXP: Load shared object library symbols for files
3075 matching a unix regular expression. No argument
3076 indicates to load symbols for all shared libraries.
3077
3078info sharedlibrary: Status of loaded shared libraries.
3079
3080
3081 * Watchpoints
3082
3083A watchpoint stops execution of a program whenever the value of an
3084expression changes. Checking for this slows down execution
3085tremendously whenever you are in the scope of the expression, but is
3086quite useful for catching tough ``bit-spreader'' or pointer misuse
3087problems. Some machines such as the 386 have hardware for doing this
3088more quickly, and future versions of gdb will use this hardware.
3089
3090watch EXP: Set a watchpoint (breakpoint) for an expression.
3091
3092info watchpoints: Information about your watchpoints.
3093
3094delete N: Deletes watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
3095disable N: Temporarily turns off watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
3096enable N: Re-enables watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
3097
3098
3099 * C++ multiple inheritance
3100
3101When used with a GCC version 2 compiler, GDB supports multiple inheritance
3102for C++ programs.
3103
3104 * C++ exception handling
3105
3106Gdb now supports limited C++ exception handling. Besides the existing
3107ability to breakpoint on an exception handler, gdb can breakpoint on
3108the raising of an exception (before the stack is peeled back to the
3109handler's context).
3110
3111catch FOO: If there is a FOO exception handler in the dynamic scope,
3112 set a breakpoint to catch exceptions which may be raised there.
3113 Multiple exceptions (``catch foo bar baz'') may be caught.
3114
3115info catch: Lists all exceptions which may be caught in the
3116 current stack frame.
3117
3118
3119 * Minor command changes
3120
3121The command ``call func (arg, arg, ...)'' now acts like the print
3122command, except it does not print or save a value if the function's result
3123is void. This is similar to dbx usage.
3124
3125The ``up'' and ``down'' commands now always print the frame they end up
3126at; ``up-silently'' and `down-silently'' can be used in scripts to change
3127frames without printing.
3128
3129 * New directory command
3130
3131'dir' now adds directories to the FRONT of the source search path.
3132The path starts off empty. Source files that contain debug information
3133about the directory in which they were compiled can be found even
3134with an empty path; Sun CC and GCC include this information. If GDB can't
3135find your source file in the current directory, type "dir .".
3136
3137 * Configuring GDB for compilation
3138
3139For normal use, type ``./configure host''. See README or gdb.texinfo
3140for more details.
3141
3142GDB now handles cross debugging. If you are remotely debugging between
3143two different machines, type ``./configure host -target=targ''.
3144Host is the machine where GDB will run; targ is the machine
3145where the program that you are debugging will run.
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