* format.c (bfd_check_format_matches): Don't match a target in
[deliverable/binutils-gdb.git] / gdb / NEWS
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1 What has changed in GDB?
2 (Organized release by release)
3
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4*** Changes since GDB 7.6
5
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6* Python scripting
7
8 ** Frame filters and frame decorators have been added.
9
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10* New targets
11
12Nios II ELF nios2*-*-elf
13Nios II GNU/Linux nios2*-*-linux
14
bd712aed 15* New commands:
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16catch rethrow
17 Like "catch throw", but catches a re-thrown exception.
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18maint check-psymtabs
19 Renamed from old "maint check-symtabs".
20maint check-symtabs
21 Perform consistency checks on symtabs.
22maint expand-symtabs
23 Expand symtabs matching an optional regexp.
b340913d 24
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25show configuration
26 Display the details of GDB configure-time options.
27
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28maint set|show per-command
29maint set|show per-command space
30maint set|show per-command time
31maint set|show per-command symtab
32 Enable display of per-command gdb resource usage.
33
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34* New options
35
36set remote trace-status-packet
37show remote trace-status-packet
38 Set/show the use of remote protocol qTStatus packet.
39
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40set debug nios2
41show debug nios2
42 Control display of debugging messages related to Nios II targets.
43
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44* You can now use a literal value 'unlimited' for options that
45 interpret 0 or -1 as meaning "unlimited". E.g., "set
46 trace-buffer-size unlimited" is now an alias for "set
47 trace-buffer-size -1" and "set height unlimited" is now an alias for
48 "set height 0".
49
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50* New command-line options
51--configuration
52 Display the details of GDB configure-time options.
53
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54* The command 'tsave' can now support new option '-ctf' to save trace
55 buffer in Common Trace Format.
56
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57* Newly installed $prefix/bin/gcore acts as a shell interface for the
58 GDB command gcore.
59
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60* GDB now implements the the C++ 'typeid' operator.
61
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62* The new convenience variable $_exception holds the exception being
63 thrown or caught at an exception-related catchpoint.
64
65* The exception-related catchpoints, like "catch throw", now accept a
66 regular expression which can be used to filter exceptions by type.
67
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68* MI changes
69
70 ** The -trace-save MI command can optionally save trace buffer in Common
71 Trace Format now.
72
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73 ** The new command -dprintf-insert sets a dynamic printf breakpoint.
74
2d450646 75*** Changes in GDB 7.6
80c8d323 76
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77* Target record has been renamed to record-full.
78 Record/replay is now enabled with the "record full" command.
79 This also affects settings that are associated with full record/replay
80 that have been moved from "set/show record" to "set/show record full":
81
82set|show record full insn-number-max
83set|show record full stop-at-limit
84set|show record full memory-query
85
86* A new record target "record-btrace" has been added. The new target
87 uses hardware support to record the control-flow of a process. It
88 does not support replaying the execution, but it implements the
89 below new commands for investigating the recorded execution log.
90 This new recording method can be enabled using:
91
92record btrace
93
94 The "record-btrace" target is only available on Intel Atom processors
95 and requires a Linux kernel 2.6.32 or later.
96
97* Two new commands have been added for record/replay to give information
98 about the recorded execution without having to replay the execution.
99 The commands are only supported by "record btrace".
100
101record instruction-history prints the execution history at
102 instruction granularity
103
104record function-call-history prints the execution history at
105 function granularity
106
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107* New native configurations
108
51d66578 109ARM AArch64 GNU/Linux aarch64*-*-linux-gnu
543bf33d 110FreeBSD/powerpc powerpc*-*-freebsd
4f4352f7 111x86_64/Cygwin x86_64-*-cygwin*
ea5f3910 112Tilera TILE-Gx GNU/Linux tilegx*-*-linux-gnu
543bf33d 113
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114* New targets
115
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116ARM AArch64 aarch64*-*-elf
117ARM AArch64 GNU/Linux aarch64*-*-linux
249729c4 118Lynx 178 PowerPC powerpc-*-lynx*178
3c095f49 119x86_64/Cygwin x86_64-*-cygwin*
ea5f3910 120Tilera TILE-Gx GNU/Linux tilegx*-*-linux
249729c4 121
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122* If the configured location of system.gdbinit file (as given by the
123 --with-system-gdbinit option at configure time) is in the
124 data-directory (as specified by --with-gdb-datadir at configure
125 time) or in one of its subdirectories, then GDB will look for the
126 system-wide init file in the directory specified by the
127 --data-directory command-line option.
128
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129* New command line options:
130
131-nh Disables auto-loading of ~/.gdbinit, but still executes all the
132 other initialization files, unlike -nx which disables all of them.
133
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134* Removed command line options
135
136-epoch This was used by the gdb mode in Epoch, an ancient fork of
137 Emacs.
138
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139* The 'ptype' and 'whatis' commands now accept an argument to control
140 type formatting.
141
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142* 'info proc' now works on some core files.
143
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144* Python scripting
145
146 ** Vectors can be created with gdb.Type.vector.
147
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148 ** Python's atexit.register now works in GDB.
149
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150 ** Types can be pretty-printed via a Python API.
151
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152 ** Python 3 is now supported (in addition to Python 2.4 or later)
153
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154 ** New class gdb.Architecture exposes GDB's internal representation
155 of architecture in the Python API.
156
157 ** New method Frame.architecture returns the gdb.Architecture object
158 corresponding to the frame's architecture.
159
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160* New Python-based convenience functions:
161
162 ** $_memeq(buf1, buf2, length)
163 ** $_streq(str1, str2)
164 ** $_strlen(str)
165 ** $_regex(str, regex)
166
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167* The 'cd' command now defaults to using '~' (the home directory) if not
168 given an argument.
169
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170* The C++ ABI now defaults to the GNU v3 ABI. This has been the
171 default for GCC since November 2000.
172
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173* The command 'forward-search' can now be abbreviated as 'fo'.
174
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175* The command 'info tracepoints' can now display 'installed on target'
176 or 'not installed on target' for each non-pending location of tracepoint.
177
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178* New configure options
179
180--enable-libmcheck/--disable-libmcheck
181 By default, development versions are built with -lmcheck on hosts
182 that support it, in order to help track memory corruption issues.
183 Release versions, on the other hand, are built without -lmcheck
184 by default. The --enable-libmcheck/--disable-libmcheck configure
185 options allow the user to override that default.
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186--with-babeltrace/--with-babeltrace-include/--with-babeltrace-lib
187 This configure option allows the user to build GDB with
188 libbabeltrace using which GDB can read Common Trace Format data.
23a80689 189
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190* New commands (for set/show, see "New options" below)
191
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192catch signal
193 Catch signals. This is similar to "handle", but allows commands and
194 conditions to be attached.
195
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196maint info bfds
197 List the BFDs known to GDB.
198
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199python-interactive [command]
200pi [command]
201 Start a Python interactive prompt, or evaluate the optional command
202 and print the result of expressions.
203
204py [command]
205 "py" is a new alias for "python".
206
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207enable type-printer [name]...
208disable type-printer [name]...
209 Enable or disable type printers.
210
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211* Removed commands
212
213 ** For the Renesas Super-H architecture, the "regs" command has been removed
214 (has been deprecated in GDB 7.5), and "info all-registers" should be used
215 instead.
216
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217* New options
218
219set print type methods (on|off)
220show print type methods
221 Control whether method declarations are displayed by "ptype".
222 The default is to show them.
223
224set print type typedefs (on|off)
225show print type typedefs
226 Control whether typedef definitions are displayed by "ptype".
227 The default is to show them.
228
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229set filename-display basename|relative|absolute
230show filename-display
231 Control the way in which filenames is displayed.
232 The default is "relative", which preserves previous behavior.
233
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234set trace-buffer-size
235show trace-buffer-size
236 Request target to change the size of trace buffer.
237
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238set remote trace-buffer-size-packet auto|on|off
239show remote trace-buffer-size-packet
240 Control the use of the remote protocol `QTBuffer:size' packet.
241
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242set debug aarch64
243show debug aarch64
244 Control display of debugging messages related to ARM AArch64.
245 The default is off.
246
247set debug coff-pe-read
248show debug coff-pe-read
249 Control display of debugging messages related to reading of COFF/PE
250 exported symbols.
251
252set debug mach-o
253show debug mach-o
254 Control display of debugging messages related to Mach-O symbols
255 processing.
256
257set debug notification
258show debug notification
259 Control display of debugging info for async remote notification.
260
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261* MI changes
262
263 ** Command parameter changes are now notified using new async record
264 "=cmd-param-changed".
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265 ** Trace frame changes caused by command "tfind" are now notified using
266 new async record "=traceframe-changed".
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267 ** The creation, deletion and modification of trace state variables
268 are now notified using new async records "=tsv-created",
269 "=tsv-deleted" and "=tsv-modified".
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270 ** The start and stop of process record are now notified using new
271 async record "=record-started" and "=record-stopped".
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272 ** Memory changes are now notified using new async record
273 "=memory-changed".
ed8a1c2d 274 ** The data-disassemble command response will include a "fullname" field
ec83d211 275 containing the absolute file name when source has been requested.
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276 ** New optional parameter COUNT added to the "-data-write-memory-bytes"
277 command, to allow pattern filling of memory areas.
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278 ** New commands "-catch-load"/"-catch-unload" added for intercepting
279 library load/unload events.
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280 ** The response to breakpoint commands and breakpoint async records
281 includes an "installed" field containing a boolean state about each
282 non-pending tracepoint location is whether installed on target or not.
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283 ** Output of the "-trace-status" command includes a "trace-file" field
284 containing the name of the trace file being examined. This field is
285 optional, and only present when examining a trace file.
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286 ** The "fullname" field is now always present along with the "file" field,
287 even if the file cannot be found by GDB.
5b9afe8a 288
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289* GDB now supports the "mini debuginfo" section, .gnu_debugdata.
290 You must have the LZMA library available when configuring GDB for this
291 feature to be enabled. For more information, see:
292 http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features/MiniDebugInfo
293
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294* New remote packets
295
296QTBuffer:size
297 Set the size of trace buffer. The remote stub reports support for this
298 packet to gdb's qSupported query.
299
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300Qbtrace:bts
301 Enable Branch Trace Store (BTS)-based branch tracing for the current
302 thread. The remote stub reports support for this packet to gdb's
303 qSupported query.
304
305Qbtrace:off
306 Disable branch tracing for the current thread. The remote stub reports
307 support for this packet to gdb's qSupported query.
308
309qXfer:btrace:read
310 Read the traced branches for the current thread. The remote stub
311 reports support for this packet to gdb's qSupported query.
312
80c8d323 313*** Changes in GDB 7.5
d6e00af6 314
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315* GDB now supports x32 ABI. Visit <http://sites.google.com/site/x32abi/>
316 for more x32 ABI info.
317
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318* GDB now supports access to MIPS DSP registers on Linux targets.
319
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320* GDB now supports debugging microMIPS binaries.
321
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322* The "info os" command on GNU/Linux can now display information on
323 several new classes of objects managed by the operating system:
324 "info os procgroups" lists process groups
325 "info os files" lists file descriptors
326 "info os sockets" lists internet-domain sockets
327 "info os shm" lists shared-memory regions
328 "info os semaphores" lists semaphores
329 "info os msg" lists message queues
330 "info os modules" lists loaded kernel modules
331
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332* GDB now has support for SDT (Static Defined Tracing) probes. Currently,
333 the only implemented backend is for SystemTap probes (<sys/sdt.h>). You
334 can set a breakpoint using the new "-probe, "-pstap" or "-probe-stap"
335 options and inspect the probe arguments using the new $_probe_arg family
336 of convenience variables. You can obtain more information about SystemTap
337 in <http://sourceware.org/systemtap/>.
338
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339* GDB now supports reversible debugging on ARM, it allows you to
340 debug basic ARM and THUMB instructions, and provides
341 record/replay support.
342
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343* The option "symbol-reloading" has been deleted as it is no longer used.
344
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345* Python scripting
346
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347 ** GDB commands implemented in Python can now be put in command class
348 "gdb.COMMAND_USER".
349
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350 ** The "maint set python print-stack on|off" is now deleted.
351
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352 ** A new class, gdb.printing.FlagEnumerationPrinter, can be used to
353 apply "flag enum"-style pretty-printing to any enum.
354
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355 ** gdb.lookup_symbol can now work when there is no current frame.
356
357 ** gdb.Symbol now has a 'line' attribute, holding the line number in
358 the source at which the symbol was defined.
359
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360 ** gdb.Symbol now has the new attribute 'needs_frame' and the new
361 method 'value'. The former indicates whether the symbol needs a
362 frame in order to compute its value, and the latter computes the
363 symbol's value.
364
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365 ** A new method 'referenced_value' on gdb.Value objects which can
366 dereference pointer as well as C++ reference values.
367
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368 ** New methods 'global_block' and 'static_block' on gdb.Symtab objects
369 which return the global and static blocks (as gdb.Block objects),
370 of the underlying symbol table, respectively.
371
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372 ** New function gdb.find_pc_line which returns the gdb.Symtab_and_line
373 object associated with a PC value.
374
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375 ** gdb.Symtab_and_line has new attribute 'last' which holds the end
376 of the address range occupied by code for the current source line.
377
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378* Go language support.
379 GDB now supports debugging programs written in the Go programming
380 language.
381
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382* GDBserver now supports stdio connections.
383 E.g. (gdb) target remote | ssh myhost gdbserver - hello
384
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385* The binary "gdbtui" can no longer be built or installed.
386 Use "gdb -tui" instead.
387
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388* GDB will now print "flag" enums specially. A flag enum is one where
389 all the enumerator values have no bits in common when pairwise
390 "and"ed. When printing a value whose type is a flag enum, GDB will
391 show all the constants, e.g., for enum E { ONE = 1, TWO = 2}:
392 (gdb) print (enum E) 3
393 $1 = (ONE | TWO)
394
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395* The filename part of a linespec will now match trailing components
396 of a source file name. For example, "break gcc/expr.c:1000" will
397 now set a breakpoint in build/gcc/expr.c, but not
398 build/libcpp/expr.c.
399
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400* The "info proc" and "generate-core-file" commands will now also
401 work on remote targets connected to GDBserver on Linux.
402
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403* The command "info catch" has been removed. It has been disabled
404 since December 2007.
405
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406* The "catch exception" and "catch assert" commands now accept
407 a condition at the end of the command, much like the "break"
408 command does. For instance:
409
410 (gdb) catch exception Constraint_Error if Barrier = True
411
412 Previously, it was possible to add a condition to such catchpoints,
413 but it had to be done as a second step, after the catchpoint had been
414 created, using the "condition" command.
415
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416* The "info static-tracepoint-marker" command will now also work on
417 native Linux targets with in-process agent.
418
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419* GDB can now set breakpoints on inlined functions.
420
421* The .gdb_index section has been updated to include symbols for
422 inlined functions. GDB will ignore older .gdb_index sections by
423 default, which could cause symbol files to be loaded more slowly
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424 until their .gdb_index sections can be recreated. The new command
425 "set use-deprecated-index-sections on" will cause GDB to use any older
426 .gdb_index sections it finds. This will restore performance, but the
427 ability to set breakpoints on inlined functions will be lost in symbol
428 files with older .gdb_index sections.
481860b3 429
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430 The .gdb_index section has also been updated to record more information
431 about each symbol. This speeds up the "info variables", "info functions"
432 and "info types" commands when used with programs having the .gdb_index
433 section, as well as speeding up debugging with shared libraries using
434 the .gdb_index section.
435
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436* Ada support for GDB/MI Variable Objects has been added.
437
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438* GDB can now support 'breakpoint always-inserted mode' in 'record'
439 target.
440
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441* MI changes
442
443 ** New command -info-os is the MI equivalent of "info os".
444
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445 ** Output logs ("set logging" and related) now include MI output.
446
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447* New commands
448
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449 ** "set use-deprecated-index-sections on|off"
450 "show use-deprecated-index-sections on|off"
451 Controls the use of deprecated .gdb_index sections.
452
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453 ** "catch load" and "catch unload" can be used to stop when a shared
454 library is loaded or unloaded, respectively.
455
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456 ** "enable count" can be used to auto-disable a breakpoint after
457 several hits.
458
57651221 459 ** "info vtbl" can be used to show the virtual method tables for
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460 C++ and Java objects.
461
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462 ** "explore" and its sub commands "explore value" and "explore type"
463 can be used to reccursively explore values and types of
464 expressions. These commands are available only if GDB is
465 configured with '--with-python'.
466
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467 ** "info auto-load" shows status of all kinds of auto-loaded files,
468 "info auto-load gdb-scripts" shows status of auto-loading GDB canned
469 sequences of commands files, "info auto-load python-scripts"
470 shows status of auto-loading Python script files,
471 "info auto-load local-gdbinit" shows status of loading init file
472 (.gdbinit) from current directory and "info auto-load libthread-db" shows
473 status of inferior specific thread debugging shared library loading.
474
475 ** "info auto-load-scripts", "set auto-load-scripts on|off"
476 and "show auto-load-scripts" commands have been deprecated, use their
477 "info auto-load python-scripts", "set auto-load python-scripts on|off"
478 and "show auto-load python-scripts" counterparts instead.
479
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480 ** "dprintf location,format,args..." creates a dynamic printf, which
481 is basically a breakpoint that does a printf and immediately
482 resumes your program's execution, so it is like a printf that you
483 can insert dynamically at runtime instead of at compiletime.
484
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485 ** "set print symbol"
486 "show print symbol"
487 Controls whether GDB attempts to display the symbol, if any,
488 corresponding to addresses it prints. This defaults to "on", but
489 you can set it to "off" to restore GDB's previous behavior.
490
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491* Deprecated commands
492
493 ** For the Renesas Super-H architecture, the "regs" command has been
494 deprecated, and "info all-registers" should be used instead.
495
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496* New targets
497
498Renesas RL78 rl78-*-elf
60c9a3c0 499HP OpenVMS ia64 ia64-hp-openvms*
a58b110a 500
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501* GDBserver supports evaluation of breakpoint conditions. When
502 support is advertised by GDBserver, GDB may be told to send the
503 breakpoint conditions in bytecode form to GDBserver. GDBserver
504 will only report the breakpoint trigger to GDB when its condition
505 evaluates to true.
506
507* New options
508
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509set mips compression
510show mips compression
511 Select the compressed ISA encoding used in functions that have no symbol
512 information available. The encoding can be set to either of:
513 mips16
514 micromips
515 and is updated automatically from ELF file flags if available.
516
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517set breakpoint condition-evaluation
518show breakpoint condition-evaluation
cf65ecd3 519 Control whether breakpoint conditions are evaluated by GDB ("host") or by
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520 GDBserver ("target"). Default option "auto" chooses the most efficient
521 available mode.
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522 This option can improve debugger efficiency depending on the speed of the
523 target.
524
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525set auto-load off
526 Disable auto-loading globally.
527
528show auto-load
529 Show auto-loading setting of all kinds of auto-loaded files.
530
531set auto-load gdb-scripts on|off
532show auto-load gdb-scripts
533 Control auto-loading of GDB canned sequences of commands files.
534
535set auto-load python-scripts on|off
536show auto-load python-scripts
537 Control auto-loading of Python script files.
538
539set auto-load local-gdbinit on|off
540show auto-load local-gdbinit
541 Control loading of init file (.gdbinit) from current directory.
542
543set auto-load libthread-db on|off
544show auto-load libthread-db
545 Control auto-loading of inferior specific thread debugging shared library.
546
7349ff92 547set auto-load scripts-directory <dir1>[:<dir2>...]
9cc815f5 548show auto-load scripts-directory
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549 Set a list of directories from which to load auto-loaded scripts.
550 Automatically loaded Python scripts and GDB scripts are located in one
551 of the directories listed by this option.
552 The delimiter (':' above) may differ according to the host platform.
553
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554set auto-load safe-path <dir1>[:<dir2>...]
555show auto-load safe-path
556 Set a list of directories from which it is safe to auto-load files.
557 The delimiter (':' above) may differ according to the host platform.
558
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559set debug auto-load on|off
560show debug auto-load
561 Control display of debugging info for auto-loading the files above.
562
d3ce09f5 563set dprintf-style gdb|call|agent
e7e0cddf 564show dprintf-style
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565 Control the way in which a dynamic printf is performed; "gdb"
566 requests a GDB printf command, while "call" causes dprintf to call a
567 function in the inferior. "agent" requests that the target agent
568 (such as GDBserver) do the printing.
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569
570set dprintf-function <expr>
571show dprintf-function
572set dprintf-channel <expr>
573show dprintf-channel
574 Set the function and optional first argument to the call when using
575 the "call" style of dynamic printf.
576
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577set disconnected-dprintf on|off
578show disconnected-dprintf
579 Control whether agent-style dynamic printfs continue to be in effect
580 after GDB disconnects.
581
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582* New configure options
583
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584--with-auto-load-dir
585 Configure default value for the 'set auto-load scripts-directory'
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586 setting above. It defaults to '$debugdir:$datadir/auto-load',
587 $debugdir representing global debugging info directories (available
588 via 'show debug-file-directory') and $datadir representing GDB's data
589 directory (available via 'show data-directory').
7349ff92 590
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591--with-auto-load-safe-path
592 Configure default value for the 'set auto-load safe-path' setting
7349ff92 593 above. It defaults to the --with-auto-load-dir setting.
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594
595--without-auto-load-safe-path
596 Set 'set auto-load safe-path' to '/', effectively disabling this
597 security feature.
598
72895ff6
LM
599* New remote packets
600
74c48cbb
PA
601z0/z1 conditional breakpoints extension
602
72895ff6
LM
603 The z0/z1 breakpoint insertion packets have been extended to carry
604 a list of conditional expressions over to the remote stub depending on the
605 condition evaluation mode. The use of this extension can be controlled
606 via the "set remote conditional-breakpoints-packet" command.
607
9b224c5e
PA
608QProgramSignals:
609
610 Specify the signals which the remote stub may pass to the debugged
611 program without GDB involvement.
612
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JK
613* New command line options
614
615--init-command=FILE, -ix Like --command, -x but execute it
616 before loading inferior.
617--init-eval-command=COMMAND, -iex Like --eval-command=COMMAND, -ex but
618 execute it before loading inferior.
619
8837a20f
JB
620*** Changes in GDB 7.4
621
f8eba3c6
TT
622* GDB now handles ambiguous linespecs more consistently; the existing
623 FILE:LINE support has been expanded to other types of linespecs. A
624 breakpoint will now be set on all matching locations in all
625 inferiors, and locations will be added or removed according to
626 inferior changes.
627
1bfeeb0f
JL
628* GDB now allows you to skip uninteresting functions and files when
629 stepping with the "skip function" and "skip file" commands.
630
480a3f21
PW
631* GDB has two new commands: "set remote hardware-watchpoint-length-limit"
632 and "show remote hardware-watchpoint-length-limit". These allows to
633 set or show the maximum length limit (in bytes) of a remote
634 target hardware watchpoint.
635
636 This allows e.g. to use "unlimited" hardware watchpoints with the
637 gdbserver integrated in Valgrind version >= 3.7.0. Such Valgrind
638 watchpoints are slower than real hardware watchpoints but are
639 significantly faster than gdb software watchpoints.
640
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PM
641* Python scripting
642
32d1c362 643 ** The register_pretty_printer function in module gdb.printing now takes
7d0aff21 644 an optional `replace' argument. If True, the new printer replaces any
32d1c362
DE
645 existing one.
646
3a7bf607 647 ** The "maint set python print-stack on|off" command has been
4795f398
DE
648 deprecated and will be deleted in GDB 7.5.
649 A new command: "set python print-stack none|full|message" has
650 replaced it. Additionally, the default for "print-stack" is
651 now "message", which just prints the error message without
652 the stack trace.
3a7bf607 653
baacfb07 654 ** A prompt substitution hook (prompt_hook) is now available to the
3a7bf607 655 Python API.
713389e0 656
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PM
657 ** A new Python module, gdb.prompt has been added to the GDB Python
658 modules library. This module provides functionality for
baacfb07 659 escape sequences in prompts (used by set/show
fa3a4f15
PM
660 extended-prompt). These escape sequences are replaced by their
661 corresponding value.
662
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PM
663 ** Python commands and convenience-functions located in
664 'data-directory'/python/gdb/command and
665 'data-directory'/python/gdb/function are now automatically loaded
666 on GDB start-up.
667
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PM
668 ** Blocks now provide four new attributes. global_block and
669 static_block will return the global and static blocks
670 respectively. is_static and is_global are boolean attributes
671 that indicate if the block is one of those two types.
672
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DE
673 ** Symbols now provide the "type" attribute, the type of the symbol.
674
6839b47f
KP
675 ** The "gdb.breakpoint" function has been deprecated in favor of
676 "gdb.breakpoints".
677
cc72b2a2
KP
678 ** A new class "gdb.FinishBreakpoint" is provided to catch the return
679 of a function. This class is based on the "finish" command
680 available in the CLI.
681
84ad80e6
PK
682 ** Type objects for struct and union types now allow access to
683 the fields using standard Python dictionary (mapping) methods.
684 For example, "some_type['myfield']" now works, as does
685 "some_type.items()".
686
20c168b5
KP
687 ** A new event "gdb.new_objfile" has been added, triggered by loading a
688 new object file.
689
03c3051a
PK
690 ** A new function, "deep_items" has been added to the gdb.types
691 module in the GDB Python modules library. This function returns
692 an iterator over the fields of a struct or union type. Unlike
693 the standard Python "iteritems" method, it will recursively traverse
694 any anonymous fields.
695
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TT
696* MI changes
697
698 ** "*stopped" events can report several new "reason"s, such as
699 "solib-event".
700
701 ** Breakpoint changes are now notified using new async records, like
702 "=breakpoint-modified".
703
704 ** New command -ada-task-info.
705
98a5dd13
DE
706* libthread-db-search-path now supports two special values: $sdir and $pdir.
707 $sdir specifies the default system locations of shared libraries.
708 $pdir specifies the directory where the libpthread used by the application
709 lives.
710
711 GDB no longer looks in $sdir and $pdir after it has searched the directories
712 mentioned in libthread-db-search-path. If you want to search those
713 directories, they must be specified in libthread-db-search-path.
714 The default value of libthread-db-search-path on GNU/Linux and Solaris
715 systems is now "$sdir:$pdir".
716
717 $pdir is not supported by gdbserver, it is currently ignored.
718 $sdir is supported by gdbserver.
719
478aac75
DE
720* New configure option --with-iconv-bin.
721 When using the internationalization support like the one in the GNU C
722 library, GDB will invoke the "iconv" program to get a list of supported
723 character sets. If this program lives in a non-standard location, one can
724 use this option to specify where to find it.
725
9c06b0b4
TJB
726* When natively debugging programs on PowerPC BookE processors running
727 a Linux kernel version 2.6.34 or later, GDB supports masked hardware
728 watchpoints, which specify a mask in addition to an address to watch.
729 The mask specifies that some bits of an address (the bits which are
730 reset in the mask) should be ignored when matching the address accessed
731 by the inferior against the watchpoint address. See the "PowerPC Embedded"
732 section in the user manual for more details.
733
03f2bd59
JK
734* The new option --once causes GDBserver to stop listening for connections once
735 the first connection is made. The listening port used by GDBserver will
736 become available after that.
737
71eba9c2 738* New commands "info macros" and "alias" have been added.
edc84990 739
2bda9cc5
JK
740* New function parameters suffix @entry specifies value of function parameter
741 at the time the function got called. Entry values are available only since
742 gcc version 4.7.
743
ed59ded5
DE
744* New commands
745
746!SHELL COMMAND
747 "!" is now an alias of the "shell" command.
748 Note that no space is needed between "!" and SHELL COMMAND.
749
9c06b0b4
TJB
750* Changed commands
751
752watch EXPRESSION mask MASK_VALUE
753 The watch command now supports the mask argument which allows creation
754 of masked watchpoints, if the current architecture supports this feature.
755
dbaefcf7
DE
756info auto-load-scripts [REGEXP]
757 This command was formerly named "maintenance print section-scripts".
758 It is now generally useful and is no longer a maintenance-only command.
759
71eba9c2 760info macro [-all] [--] MACRO
761 The info macro command has new options `-all' and `--'. The first for
762 printing all definitions of a macro. The second for explicitly specifying
763 the end of arguments and the beginning of the macro name in case the macro
764 name starts with a hyphen.
765
3065dfb6
SS
766collect[/s] EXPRESSIONS
767 The tracepoint collect command now takes an optional modifier "/s"
768 that directs it to dereference pointer-to-character types and
769 collect the bytes of memory up to a zero byte. The behavior is
770 similar to what you see when you use the regular print command on a
771 string. An optional integer following the "/s" sets a bound on the
772 number of bytes that will be collected.
773
f196051f
SS
774tstart [NOTES]
775 The trace start command now interprets any supplied arguments as a
776 note to be recorded with the trace run, with an effect similar to
777 setting the variable trace-notes.
778
779tstop [NOTES]
780 The trace stop command now interprets any arguments as a note to be
781 mentioned along with the tstatus report that the trace was stopped
782 with a command. The effect is similar to setting the variable
783 trace-stop-notes.
784
d248b706
KY
785* Tracepoints can now be enabled and disabled at any time after a trace
786 experiment has been started using the standard "enable" and "disable"
787 commands. It is now possible to start a trace experiment with no enabled
788 tracepoints; GDB will display a warning, but will allow the experiment to
789 begin, assuming that tracepoints will be enabled as needed while the trace
790 is running.
791
405f8e94
SS
792* Fast tracepoints on 32-bit x86-architectures can now be placed at
793 locations with 4-byte instructions, when they were previously
794 limited to locations with instructions of 5 bytes or longer.
795
2bda9cc5
JK
796* New options
797
45cfd468
DE
798set debug dwarf2-read
799show debug dwarf2-read
800 Turns on or off display of debugging messages related to reading
801 DWARF debug info. The default is off.
802
803set debug symtab-create
804show debug symtab-create
805 Turns on or off display of debugging messages related to symbol table
806 creation. The default is off.
807
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PM
808set extended-prompt
809show extended-prompt
810 Set the GDB prompt, and allow escape sequences to be inserted to
811 display miscellaneous information (see 'help set extended-prompt'
812 for the list of sequences). This prompt (and any information
813 accessed through the escape sequences) is updated every time the
814 prompt is displayed.
815
2bda9cc5
JK
816set print entry-values (both|compact|default|if-needed|no|only|preferred)
817show print entry-values
818 Set printing of frame argument values at function entry. In some cases
819 GDB can determine the value of function argument which was passed by the
820 function caller, even if the value was modified inside the called function.
821
822set debug entry-values
823show debug entry-values
824 Control display of debugging info for determining frame argument values at
825 function entry and virtual tail call frames.
826
c011a4f4
DE
827set basenames-may-differ
828show basenames-may-differ
829 Set whether a source file may have multiple base names.
830 (A "base name" is the name of a file with the directory part removed.
831 Example: The base name of "/home/user/hello.c" is "hello.c".)
832 If set, GDB will canonicalize file names (e.g., expand symlinks)
833 before comparing them. Canonicalization is an expensive operation,
834 but it allows the same file be known by more than one base name.
835 If not set (the default), all source files are assumed to have just
836 one base name, and gdb will do file name comparisons more efficiently.
837
f196051f
SS
838set trace-user
839show trace-user
840set trace-notes
841show trace-notes
842 Set a user name and notes for the current and any future trace runs.
843 This is useful for long-running and/or disconnected traces, to
844 inform others (or yourself) as to who is running the trace, supply
845 contact information, or otherwise explain what is going on.
846
847set trace-stop-notes
848show trace-stop-notes
849 Set a note attached to the trace run, that is displayed when the
850 trace has been stopped by a tstop command. This is useful for
851 instance as an explanation, if you are stopping a trace run that was
852 started by someone else.
853
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KY
854* New remote packets
855
856QTEnable
857
858 Dynamically enable a tracepoint in a started trace experiment.
859
860QTDisable
861
862 Dynamically disable a tracepoint in a started trace experiment.
863
f196051f
SS
864QTNotes
865
866 Set the user and notes of the trace run.
867
868qTP
869
870 Query the current status of a tracepoint.
871
405f8e94
SS
872qTMinFTPILen
873
874 Query the minimum length of instruction at which a fast tracepoint may
875 be placed.
876
1a532630
PP
877* Dcache size (number of lines) and line-size are now runtime-configurable
878 via "set dcache line" and "set dcache line-size" commands.
879
11315641
YQ
880* New targets
881
882Texas Instruments TMS320C6x tic6x-*-*
883
87326c78
DD
884* New Simulators
885
886Renesas RL78 rl78-*-elf
887
e8d56f18
JB
888*** Changes in GDB 7.3.1
889
890* The build failure for NetBSD and OpenBSD targets have now been fixed.
891
d6e00af6 892*** Changes in GDB 7.3
797054e6 893
60f98dde
MS
894* GDB has a new command: "thread find [REGEXP]".
895 It finds the thread id whose name, target id, or thread extra info
896 matches the given regular expression.
897
eee5b35e
DD
898* The "catch syscall" command now works on mips*-linux* targets.
899
b716877b
AB
900* The -data-disassemble MI command now supports modes 2 and 3 for
901 dumping the instruction opcodes.
902
aae1c79a
DE
903* New command line options
904
905-data-directory DIR Specify DIR as the "data-directory".
906 This is mostly for testing purposes.
907
a86caf66
DE
908* The "maint set python auto-load on|off" command has been renamed to
909 "set auto-load-scripts on|off".
910
99e7ae30
DE
911* GDB has a new command: "set directories".
912 It is like the "dir" command except that it replaces the
913 source path list instead of augmenting it.
914
4694da01
TT
915* GDB now understands thread names.
916
917 On GNU/Linux, "info threads" will display the thread name as set by
918 prctl or pthread_setname_np.
919
920 There is also a new command, "thread name", which can be used to
921 assign a name internally for GDB to display.
922
f4b8a18d
KW
923* OpenCL C
924 Initial support for the OpenCL C language (http://www.khronos.org/opencl)
925 has been integrated into GDB.
926
585d1eb8
PM
927* Python scripting
928
da5d4055
PM
929 ** The function gdb.Write now accepts an optional keyword 'stream'.
930 This keyword, when provided, will direct the output to either
931 stdout, stderr, or GDB's logging output.
932
9a6f1302
PM
933 ** Parameters can now be be sub-classed in Python, and in particular
934 you may implement the get_set_doc and get_show_doc functions.
935 This improves how Parameter set/show documentation is processed
936 and allows for more dynamic content.
937
29703da4
PM
938 ** Symbols, Symbol Table, Symbol Table and Line, Object Files,
939 Inferior, Inferior Thread, Blocks, and Block Iterator APIs now
940 have an is_valid method.
941
350c6c65
PM
942 ** Breakpoints can now be sub-classed in Python, and in particular
943 you may implement a 'stop' function that is executed each time
944 the inferior reaches that breakpoint.
945
6e6fbe60
DE
946 ** New function gdb.lookup_global_symbol looks up a global symbol.
947
585d1eb8
PM
948 ** GDB values in Python are now callable if the value represents a
949 function. For example, if 'some_value' represents a function that
950 takes two integer parameters and returns a value, you can call
951 that function like so:
952
953 result = some_value (10,20)
954
0e3509db
DE
955 ** Module gdb.types has been added.
956 It contains a collection of utilities for working with gdb.Types objects:
957 get_basic_type, has_field, make_enum_dict.
958
7b51bc51
DE
959 ** Module gdb.printing has been added.
960 It contains utilities for writing and registering pretty-printers.
961 New classes: PrettyPrinter, SubPrettyPrinter,
962 RegexpCollectionPrettyPrinter.
963 New function: register_pretty_printer.
964
965 ** New commands "info pretty-printers", "enable pretty-printer" and
966 "disable pretty-printer" have been added.
967
99e7ae30
DE
968 ** gdb.parameter("directories") is now available.
969
d8e22779
TT
970 ** New function gdb.newest_frame returns the newest frame in the
971 selected thread.
972
4694da01
TT
973 ** The gdb.InferiorThread class has a new "name" attribute. This
974 holds the thread's name.
975
505500db
SW
976 ** Python Support for Inferior events.
977 Python scripts can add observers to be notified of events
824446ad 978 occurring in the process being debugged.
c17a9e46
HZ
979 The following events are currently supported:
980 - gdb.events.cont Continue event.
981 - gdb.events.exited Inferior exited event.
982 - gdb.events.stop Signal received, and Breakpoint hit events.
983
def98928
TT
984* C++ Improvements:
985
986 ** GDB now puts template parameters in scope when debugging in an
987 instantiation. For example, if you have:
988
989 template<int X> int func (void) { return X; }
990
991 then if you step into func<5>, "print X" will show "5". This
992 feature requires proper debuginfo support from the compiler; it
993 was added to GCC 4.5.
994
66cb8159
TT
995 ** The motion commands "next", "finish", "until", and "advance" now
996 work better when exceptions are thrown. In particular, GDB will
997 no longer lose control of the inferior; instead, the GDB will
998 stop the inferior at the point at which the exception is caught.
999 This functionality requires a change in the exception handling
1000 code that was introduced in GCC 4.5.
1001
4aac0db7
UW
1002* GDB now follows GCC's rules on accessing volatile objects when
1003 reading or writing target state during expression evaluation.
1004 One notable difference to prior behavior is that "print x = 0"
1005 no longer generates a read of x; the value of the assignment is
1006 now always taken directly from the value being assigned.
1007
283e6a52
TT
1008* GDB now has some support for using labels in the program's source in
1009 linespecs. For instance, you can use "advance label" to continue
1010 execution to a label.
1011
1012* GDB now has support for reading and writing a new .gdb_index
1013 section. This section holds a fast index of DWARF debugging
1014 information and can be used to greatly speed up GDB startup and
1015 operation. See the documentation for `save gdb-index' for details.
1016
b56df873 1017* The "watch" command now accepts an optional "-location" argument.
14c0d4e1 1018 When used, this causes GDB to watch the memory referred to by the
b56df873
TT
1019 expression. Such a watchpoint is never deleted due to it going out
1020 of scope.
1021
ae53ffa4
PA
1022* GDB now supports thread debugging of core dumps on GNU/Linux.
1023
1024 GDB now activates thread debugging using the libthread_db library
1025 when debugging GNU/Linux core dumps, similarly to when debugging
1026 live processes. As a result, when debugging a core dump file, GDB
1027 is now able to display pthread_t ids of threads. For example, "info
1028 threads" shows the same output as when debugging the process when it
1029 was live. In earlier releases, you'd see something like this:
1030
1031 (gdb) info threads
1032 * 1 LWP 6780 main () at main.c:10
1033
1034 While now you see this:
1035
1036 (gdb) info threads
1037 * 1 Thread 0x7f0f5712a700 (LWP 6780) main () at main.c:10
1038
1039 It is also now possible to inspect TLS variables when debugging core
1040 dumps.
1041
1042 When debugging a core dump generated on a machine other than the one
1043 used to run GDB, you may need to point GDB at the correct
1044 libthread_db library with the "set libthread-db-search-path"
1045 command. See the user manual for more details on this command.
1046
f1310107
TJB
1047* When natively debugging programs on PowerPC BookE processors running
1048 a Linux kernel version 2.6.34 or later, GDB supports ranged breakpoints,
1049 which stop execution of the inferior whenever it executes an instruction
1050 at any address within the specified range. See the "PowerPC Embedded"
1051 section in the user manual for more details.
1052
248c9dbc
JB
1053* New features in the GDB remote stub, GDBserver
1054
1aee7009
JB
1055 ** GDBserver is now supported on PowerPC LynxOS (versions 4.x and 5.x),
1056 and i686 LynxOS (version 5.x).
248c9dbc 1057
eb826dc6
MF
1058 ** GDBserver is now supported on Blackfin Linux.
1059
44603653
JB
1060* New native configurations
1061
1062ia64 HP-UX ia64-*-hpux*
1063
91021223
MF
1064* New targets:
1065
1066Analog Devices, Inc. Blackfin Processor bfin-*
1067
6e1bb179
JB
1068* Ada task switching is now supported on sparc-elf targets when
1069 debugging a program using the Ravenscar Profile. For more information,
1070 see the "Tasking Support when using the Ravenscar Profile" section
1071 in the GDB user manual.
1072
50c97f38
TT
1073* Guile support was removed.
1074
448a92bf
MF
1075* New features in the GNU simulator
1076
1077 ** The --map-info flag lists all known core mappings.
1078
66ee2731
MF
1079 ** CFI flashes may be simulated via the "cfi" device.
1080
76b8507d 1081*** Changes in GDB 7.2
bfbf3774 1082
ba25b921
PA
1083* Shared library support for remote targets by default
1084
1085 When GDB is configured for a generic, non-OS specific target, like
1086 for example, --target=arm-eabi or one of the many *-*-elf targets,
1087 GDB now queries remote stubs for loaded shared libraries using the
1088 `qXfer:libraries:read' packet. Previously, shared library support
1089 was always disabled for such configurations.
1090
4656f5c6
SW
1091* C++ Improvements:
1092
1093 ** Argument Dependent Lookup (ADL)
1094
1095 In C++ ADL lookup directs function search to the namespaces of its
1096 arguments even if the namespace has not been imported.
1097 For example:
1098 namespace A
1099 {
1100 class B { };
1101 void foo (B) { }
1102 }
1103 ...
1104 A::B b
1105 foo(b)
1106 Here the compiler will search for `foo' in the namespace of 'b'
1107 and find A::foo. GDB now supports this. This construct is commonly
1108 used in the Standard Template Library for operators.
1109
1110 ** Improved User Defined Operator Support
1111
1112 In addition to member operators, GDB now supports lookup of operators
1113 defined in a namespace and imported with a `using' directive, operators
1114 defined in the global scope, operators imported implicitly from an
1115 anonymous namespace, and the ADL operators mentioned in the previous
1116 entry.
1117 GDB now also supports proper overload resolution for all the previously
1118 mentioned flavors of operators.
1119
254e6b9e
DE
1120 ** static const class members
1121
1122 Printing of static const class members that are initialized in the
1123 class definition has been fixed.
1124
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PM
1125* Windows Thread Information Block access.
1126
1127 On Windows targets, GDB now supports displaying the Windows Thread
1128 Information Block (TIB) structure. This structure is visible either
1129 by using the new command `info w32 thread-information-block' or, by
1130 dereferencing the new convenience variable named `$_tlb', a
1131 thread-specific pointer to the TIB. This feature is also supported
1132 when remote debugging using GDBserver.
1133
0fb4aa4b
PA
1134* Static tracepoints
1135
1136 Static tracepoints are calls in the user program into a tracing
1137 library. One such library is a port of the LTTng kernel tracer to
1138 userspace --- UST (LTTng Userspace Tracer, http://lttng.org/ust).
1139 When debugging with GDBserver, GDB now supports combining the GDB
1140 tracepoint machinery with such libraries. For example: the user can
1141 use GDB to probe a static tracepoint marker (a call from the user
1142 program into the tracing library) with the new "strace" command (see
1143 "New commands" below). This creates a "static tracepoint" in the
1144 breakpoint list, that can be manipulated with the same feature set
1145 as fast and regular tracepoints. E.g., collect registers, local and
1146 global variables, collect trace state variables, and define
1147 tracepoint conditions. In addition, the user can collect extra
1148 static tracepoint marker specific data, by collecting the new
1149 $_sdata internal variable. When analyzing the trace buffer, you can
1150 inspect $_sdata like any other variable available to GDB. For more
1151 information, see the "Tracepoints" chapter in GDB user manual. New
1152 remote packets have been defined to support static tracepoints, see
1153 the "New remote packets" section below.
1154
ca11e899
SS
1155* Better reconstruction of tracepoints after disconnected tracing
1156
1157 GDB will attempt to download the original source form of tracepoint
1158 definitions when starting a trace run, and then will upload these
1159 upon reconnection to the target, resulting in a more accurate
1160 reconstruction of the tracepoints that are in use on the target.
1161
1162* Observer mode
1163
1164 You can now exercise direct control over the ways that GDB can
1165 affect your program. For instance, you can disallow the setting of
1166 breakpoints, so that the program can run continuously (assuming
1167 non-stop mode). In addition, the "observer" variable is available
1168 to switch all of the different controls; in observer mode, GDB
1169 cannot affect the target's behavior at all, which is useful for
1170 tasks like diagnosing live systems in the field.
1171
1172* The new convenience variable $_thread holds the number of the
1173 current thread.
1174
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PM
1175* New remote packets
1176
1177qGetTIBAddr
1178
1179 Return the address of the Windows Thread Information Block of a given thread.
1180
dde08ee1
PA
1181qRelocInsn
1182
1183 In response to several of the tracepoint packets, the target may now
1184 also respond with a number of intermediate `qRelocInsn' request
1185 packets before the final result packet, to have GDB handle
1186 relocating an instruction to execute at a different address. This
1187 is particularly useful for stubs that support fast tracepoints. GDB
1188 reports support for this feature in the qSupported packet.
1189
0fb4aa4b
PA
1190qTfSTM, qTsSTM
1191
1192 List static tracepoint markers in the target program.
1193
1194qTSTMat
1195
1196 List static tracepoint markers at a given address in the target
1197 program.
1198
1199qXfer:statictrace:read
1200
1201 Read the static trace data collected (by a `collect $_sdata'
1202 tracepoint action). The remote stub reports support for this packet
1203 to gdb's qSupported query.
1204
ca11e899
SS
1205QAllow
1206
1207 Send the current settings of GDB's permission flags.
1208
1209QTDPsrc
1210
1211 Send part of the source (textual) form of a tracepoint definition,
1212 which includes location, conditional, and action list.
1213
3f7b2faa
DE
1214* The source command now accepts a -s option to force searching for the
1215 script in the source search path even if the script name specifies
1216 a directory.
1217
d337e9f0
PA
1218* New features in the GDB remote stub, GDBserver
1219
0fb4aa4b
PA
1220 - GDBserver now support tracepoints (including fast tracepoints, and
1221 static tracepoints). The feature is currently supported by the
1222 i386-linux and amd64-linux builds. See the "Tracepoints support
1223 in gdbserver" section in the manual for more information.
1224
1225 GDBserver JIT compiles the tracepoint's conditional agent
1226 expression bytecode into native code whenever possible for low
1227 overhead dynamic tracepoints conditionals. For such tracepoints,
1228 an expression that examines program state is evaluated when the
1229 tracepoint is reached, in order to determine whether to capture
1230 trace data. If the condition is simple and false, processing the
1231 tracepoint finishes very quickly and no data is gathered.
1232
1233 GDBserver interfaces with the UST (LTTng Userspace Tracer) library
1234 for static tracepoints support.
d337e9f0 1235
c24d0242
PM
1236 - GDBserver now supports x86_64 Windows 64-bit debugging.
1237
c8d5aac9
L
1238* GDB now sends xmlRegisters= in qSupported packet to indicate that
1239 it understands register description.
1240
7c953934
TT
1241* The --batch flag now disables pagination and queries.
1242
8685c86f
L
1243* X86 general purpose registers
1244
1245 GDB now supports reading/writing byte, word and double-word x86
1246 general purpose registers directly. This means you can use, say,
1247 $ah or $ax to refer, respectively, to the byte register AH and
1248 16-bit word register AX that are actually portions of the 32-bit
1249 register EAX or 64-bit register RAX.
1250
95a42b64 1251* The `commands' command now accepts a range of breakpoints to modify.
86b17b60
PA
1252 A plain `commands' following a command that creates multiple
1253 breakpoints affects all the breakpoints set by that command. This
1254 applies to breakpoints set by `rbreak', and also applies when a
1255 single `break' command creates multiple breakpoints (e.g.,
1256 breakpoints on overloaded c++ functions).
95a42b64 1257
8bd10a10
CM
1258* The `rbreak' command now accepts a filename specification as part of
1259 its argument, limiting the functions selected by the regex to those
1260 in the specified file.
1261
ab38a727
PA
1262* Support for remote debugging Windows and SymbianOS shared libraries
1263 from Unix hosts has been improved. Non Windows GDB builds now can
1264 understand target reported file names that follow MS-DOS based file
1265 system semantics, such as file names that include drive letters and
1266 use the backslash character as directory separator. This makes it
1267 possible to transparently use the "set sysroot" and "set
1268 solib-search-path" on Unix hosts to point as host copies of the
1269 target's shared libraries. See the new command "set
1270 target-file-system-kind" described below, and the "Commands to
1271 specify files" section in the user manual for more information.
1272
6149aea9
PA
1273* New commands
1274
f1421989
HZ
1275eval template, expressions...
1276 Convert the values of one or more expressions under the control
1277 of the string template to a command line, and call it.
1278
ab38a727
PA
1279set target-file-system-kind unix|dos-based|auto
1280show target-file-system-kind
1281 Set or show the assumed file system kind for target reported file
1282 names.
1283
6149aea9
PA
1284save breakpoints <filename>
1285 Save all current breakpoint definitions to a file suitable for use
1286 in a later debugging session. To read the saved breakpoint
1287 definitions, use the `source' command.
1288
1289`save tracepoints' is a new alias for `save-tracepoints'. The latter
1290is now deprecated.
1291
0fb4aa4b
PA
1292info static-tracepoint-markers
1293 Display information about static tracepoint markers in the target.
1294
1295strace FN | FILE:LINE | *ADDR | -m MARKER_ID
1296 Define a static tracepoint by probing a marker at the given
1297 function, line, address, or marker ID.
1298
ca11e899
SS
1299set observer on|off
1300show observer
1301 Enable and disable observer mode.
1302
1303set may-write-registers on|off
1304set may-write-memory on|off
1305set may-insert-breakpoints on|off
1306set may-insert-tracepoints on|off
1307set may-insert-fast-tracepoints on|off
1308set may-interrupt on|off
1309 Set individual permissions for GDB effects on the target. Note that
1310 some of these settings can have undesirable or surprising
1311 consequences, particularly when changed in the middle of a session.
1312 For instance, disabling the writing of memory can prevent
1313 breakpoints from being inserted, cause single-stepping to fail, or
1314 even crash your program, if you disable after breakpoints have been
1315 inserted. However, GDB should not crash.
1316
1317set record memory-query on|off
1318show record memory-query
1319 Control whether to stop the inferior if memory changes caused
1320 by an instruction cannot be recorded.
1321
53a71c06
CR
1322* Changed commands
1323
1324disassemble
1325 The disassemble command now supports "start,+length" form of two arguments.
1326
f3e9a817
PM
1327* Python scripting
1328
9279c692
JB
1329** GDB now provides a new directory location, called the python directory,
1330 where Python scripts written for GDB can be installed. The location
1331 of that directory is <data-directory>/python, where <data-directory>
1332 is the GDB data directory. For more details, see section `Scripting
1333 GDB using Python' in the manual.
1334
adc36818 1335** The GDB Python API now has access to breakpoints, symbols, symbol
595939de
PM
1336 tables, program spaces, inferiors, threads and frame's code blocks.
1337 Additionally, GDB Parameters can now be created from the API, and
1338 manipulated via set/show in the CLI.
f870a310 1339
fa33c3cd 1340** New functions gdb.target_charset, gdb.target_wide_charset,
07ca107c
DE
1341 gdb.progspaces, gdb.current_progspace, and gdb.string_to_argv.
1342
1343** New exception gdb.GdbError.
fa33c3cd
DE
1344
1345** Pretty-printers are now also looked up in the current program space.
f3e9a817 1346
967cf477
DE
1347** Pretty-printers can now be individually enabled and disabled.
1348
8a1ea21f
DE
1349** GDB now looks for names of Python scripts to auto-load in a
1350 special section named `.debug_gdb_scripts', in addition to looking
1351 for a OBJFILE-gdb.py script when OBJFILE is read by the debugger.
1352
a7bdde9e
VP
1353* Tracepoint actions were unified with breakpoint commands. In particular,
1354there are no longer differences in "info break" output for breakpoints and
1355tracepoints and the "commands" command can be used for both tracepoints and
1356regular breakpoints.
1357
05071a4d
PA
1358* New targets
1359
1360ARM Symbian arm*-*-symbianelf*
1361
6aecb9c2
JB
1362* D language support.
1363 GDB now supports debugging programs written in the D programming
1364 language.
1365
431e49aa
TJB
1366* GDB now supports the extended ptrace interface for PowerPC which is
1367 available since Linux kernel version 2.6.34. This automatically enables
1368 any hardware breakpoints and additional hardware watchpoints available in
1369 the processor. The old ptrace interface exposes just one hardware
1370 watchpoint and no hardware breakpoints.
1371
1372* GDB is now able to use the Data Value Compare (DVC) register available on
1373 embedded PowerPC processors to implement in hardware simple watchpoint
1374 conditions of the form:
1375
1376 watch ADDRESS|VARIABLE if ADDRESS|VARIABLE == CONSTANT EXPRESSION
1377
1378 This works in native GDB running on Linux kernels with the extended ptrace
1379 interface mentioned above.
1380
bfbf3774 1381*** Changes in GDB 7.1
abc7453d 1382
4eef138c
TT
1383* C++ Improvements
1384
1385 ** Namespace Support
71dee663
SW
1386
1387 GDB now supports importing of namespaces in C++. This enables the
1388 user to inspect variables from imported namespaces. Support for
1389 namepace aliasing has also been added. So, if a namespace is
1390 aliased in the current scope (e.g. namepace C=A; ) the user can
1391 print variables using the alias (e.g. (gdb) print C::x).
1392
4eef138c
TT
1393 ** Bug Fixes
1394
1395 All known bugs relating to the printing of virtual base class were
1396 fixed. It is now possible to call overloaded static methods using a
1397 qualified name.
1398
1399 ** Cast Operators
1400
1401 The C++ cast operators static_cast<>, dynamic_cast<>, const_cast<>,
1402 and reinterpret_cast<> are now handled by the C++ expression parser.
1403
2d1c1221
ME
1404* New targets
1405
1406Xilinx MicroBlaze microblaze-*-*
34207b9e 1407Renesas RX rx-*-elf
2d1c1221
ME
1408
1409* New Simulators
1410
1411Xilinx MicroBlaze microblaze
34207b9e 1412Renesas RX rx
2d1c1221 1413
6c95b8df
PA
1414* Multi-program debugging.
1415
1416 GDB now has support for multi-program (a.k.a. multi-executable or
1417 multi-exec) debugging. This allows for debugging multiple inferiors
1418 simultaneously each running a different program under the same GDB
1419 session. See "Debugging Multiple Inferiors and Programs" in the
1420 manual for more information. This implied some user visible changes
1421 in the multi-inferior support. For example, "info inferiors" now
1422 lists inferiors that are not running yet or that have exited
1423 already. See also "New commands" and "New options" below.
1424
d5551862
SS
1425* New tracing features
1426
1427 GDB's tracepoint facility now includes several new features:
1428
1429 ** Trace state variables
f61e138d
SS
1430
1431 GDB tracepoints now include support for trace state variables, which
1432 are variables managed by the target agent during a tracing
1433 experiment. They are useful for tracepoints that trigger each
1434 other, so for instance one tracepoint can count hits in a variable,
1435 and then a second tracepoint has a condition that is true when the
1436 count reaches a particular value. Trace state variables share the
1437 $-syntax of GDB convenience variables, and can appear in both
1438 tracepoint actions and condition expressions. Use the "tvariable"
1439 command to create, and "info tvariables" to view; see "Trace State
1440 Variables" in the manual for more detail.
7a697b8d 1441
d5551862 1442 ** Fast tracepoints
7a697b8d
SS
1443
1444 GDB now includes an option for defining fast tracepoints, which
1445 targets may implement more efficiently, such as by installing a jump
1446 into the target agent rather than a trap instruction. The resulting
1447 speedup can be by two orders of magnitude or more, although the
1448 tradeoff is that some program locations on some target architectures
1449 might not allow fast tracepoint installation, for instance if the
1450 instruction to be replaced is shorter than the jump. To request a
1451 fast tracepoint, use the "ftrace" command, with syntax identical to
1452 the regular trace command.
1453
d5551862
SS
1454 ** Disconnected tracing
1455
1456 It is now possible to detach GDB from the target while it is running
1457 a trace experiment, then reconnect later to see how the experiment
1458 is going. In addition, a new variable disconnected-tracing lets you
1459 tell the target agent whether to continue running a trace if the
1460 connection is lost unexpectedly.
1461
00bf0b85
SS
1462 ** Trace files
1463
1464 GDB now has the ability to save the trace buffer into a file, and
1465 then use that file as a target, similarly to you can do with
1466 corefiles. You can select trace frames, print data that was
1467 collected in them, and use tstatus to display the state of the
1468 tracing run at the moment that it was saved. To create a trace
1469 file, use "tsave <filename>", and to use it, do "target tfile
1470 <name>".
4daf5ac0
SS
1471
1472 ** Circular trace buffer
1473
1474 You can ask the target agent to handle the trace buffer as a
1475 circular buffer, discarding the oldest trace frames to make room for
1476 newer ones, by setting circular-trace-buffer to on. This feature may
1477 not be available for all target agents.
1478
21a0512e
PP
1479* Changed commands
1480
1481disassemble
1482 The disassemble command, when invoked with two arguments, now requires
1483 the arguments to be comma-separated.
1484
0fe7935b
DJ
1485info variables
1486 The info variables command now displays variable definitions. Files
1487 which only declare a variable are not shown.
1488
fb2e7cb4
JB
1489source
1490 The source command is now capable of sourcing Python scripts.
1491 This feature is dependent on the debugger being build with Python
1492 support.
1493
1494 Related to this enhancement is also the introduction of a new command
1495 "set script-extension" (see below).
1496
6c95b8df
PA
1497* New commands (for set/show, see "New options" below)
1498
399cd161
MS
1499record save [<FILENAME>]
1500 Save a file (in core file format) containing the process record
1501 execution log for replay debugging at a later time.
1502
1503record restore <FILENAME>
1504 Restore the process record execution log that was saved at an
1505 earlier time, for replay debugging.
1506
6c95b8df
PA
1507add-inferior [-copies <N>] [-exec <FILENAME>]
1508 Add a new inferior.
1509
1510clone-inferior [-copies <N>] [ID]
1511 Make a new inferior ready to execute the same program another
1512 inferior has loaded.
1513
1514remove-inferior ID
1515 Remove an inferior.
1516
1517maint info program-spaces
1518 List the program spaces loaded into GDB.
1519
9a7071a8
JB
1520set remote interrupt-sequence [Ctrl-C | BREAK | BREAK-g]
1521show remote interrupt-sequence
1522 Allow the user to select one of ^C, a BREAK signal or BREAK-g
1523 as the sequence to the remote target in order to interrupt the execution.
1524 Ctrl-C is a default. Some system prefers BREAK which is high level of
1525 serial line for some certain time. Linux kernel prefers BREAK-g, a.k.a
1526 Magic SysRq g. It is BREAK signal and character 'g'.
1527
1528set remote interrupt-on-connect [on | off]
1529show remote interrupt-on-connect
1530 When interrupt-on-connect is ON, gdb sends interrupt-sequence to
1531 remote target when gdb connects to it. This is needed when you debug
1532 Linux kernel.
1533
1534set remotebreak [on | off]
1535show remotebreak
1536Deprecated. Use "set/show remote interrupt-sequence" instead.
1537
f61e138d
SS
1538tvariable $NAME [ = EXP ]
1539 Create or modify a trace state variable.
1540
1541info tvariables
1542 List trace state variables and their values.
1543
1544delete tvariable $NAME ...
1545 Delete one or more trace state variables.
1546
6da95a67
SS
1547teval EXPR, ...
1548 Evaluate the given expressions without collecting anything into the
1549 trace buffer. (Valid in tracepoint actions only.)
1550
7a697b8d
SS
1551ftrace FN / FILE:LINE / *ADDR
1552 Define a fast tracepoint at the given function, line, or address.
1553
b0f02ee9
JK
1554* New expression syntax
1555
1556 GDB now parses the 0b prefix of binary numbers the same way as GCC does.
1557 GDB now parses 0b101010 identically with 42.
1558
6c95b8df
PA
1559* New options
1560
1561set follow-exec-mode new|same
1562show follow-exec-mode
1563 Control whether GDB reuses the same inferior across an exec call or
1564 creates a new one. This is useful to be able to restart the old
1565 executable after the inferior having done an exec call.
1566
236f1d4d
SS
1567set default-collect EXPR, ...
1568show default-collect
1569 Define a list of expressions to be collected at each tracepoint.
1570 This is a useful way to ensure essential items are not overlooked,
1571 such as registers or a critical global variable.
1572
d5551862
SS
1573set disconnected-tracing
1574show disconnected-tracing
1575 If set to 1, the target is instructed to continue tracing if it
1576 loses its connection to GDB. If 0, the target is to stop tracing
1577 upon disconnection.
1578
4daf5ac0
SS
1579set circular-trace-buffer
1580show circular-trace-buffer
1581 If set to on, the target is instructed to use a circular trace buffer
1582 and discard the oldest trace frames instead of stopping the trace due
1583 to a full trace buffer. If set to off, the trace stops when the buffer
1584 fills up. Some targets may not support this.
1585
fb2e7cb4
JB
1586set script-extension off|soft|strict
1587show script-extension
1588 If set to "off", the debugger does not perform any script language
1589 recognition, and all sourced files are assumed to be GDB scripts.
1590 If set to "soft" (the default), files are sourced according to
1591 filename extension, falling back to GDB scripts if the first
1592 evaluation failed.
1593 If set to "strict", files are sourced according to filename extension.
1594
2b71fc8e
JB
1595set ada trust-PAD-over-XVS on|off
1596show ada trust-PAD-over-XVS
1597 If off, activate a workaround against a bug in the debugging information
1598 generated by the compiler for PAD types (see gcc/exp_dbug.ads in
1599 the GCC sources for more information about the GNAT encoding and
1600 PAD types in particular). It is always safe to set this option to
1601 off, but this introduces a slight performance penalty. The default
1602 is on.
1603
de2e5182
TT
1604* Python API Improvements
1605
1606 ** GDB provides the new class gdb.LazyString. This is useful in
1607 some pretty-printing cases. The new method gdb.Value.lazy_string
1608 provides a simple way to create objects of this type.
1609
1610 ** The fields returned by gdb.Type.fields now have an
1611 `is_base_class' attribute.
1612
1613 ** The new method gdb.Type.range returns the range of an array type.
1614
1615 ** The new method gdb.parse_and_eval can be used to parse and
1616 evaluate an expression.
1617
f61e138d
SS
1618* New remote packets
1619
1620QTDV
1621 Define a trace state variable.
1622
1623qTV
1624 Get the current value of a trace state variable.
1625
d5551862
SS
1626QTDisconnected
1627 Set desired tracing behavior upon disconnection.
1628
4daf5ac0
SS
1629QTBuffer:circular
1630 Set the trace buffer to be linear or circular.
1631
d5551862
SS
1632qTfP, qTsP
1633 Get data about the tracepoints currently in use.
1634
2d483d34
MS
1635* Bug fixes
1636
1637Process record now works correctly with hardware watchpoints.
1638
6e0e5977
JB
1639Multiple bug fixes have been made to the mips-irix port, making it
1640much more reliable. In particular:
1641 - Debugging threaded applications is now possible again. Previously,
1642 GDB would hang while starting the program, or while waiting for
1643 the program to stop at a breakpoint.
1644 - Attaching to a running process no longer hangs.
1645 - An error occurring while loading a core file has been fixed.
1646 - Changing the value of the PC register now works again. This fixes
1647 problems observed when using the "jump" command, or when calling
1648 a function from GDB, or even when assigning a new value to $pc.
1649 - With the "finish" and "return" commands, the return value for functions
1650 returning a small array is now correctly printed.
1651 - It is now possible to break on shared library code which gets executed
1652 during a shared library init phase (code executed while executing
1653 their .init section). Previously, the breakpoint would have no effect.
1654 - GDB is now able to backtrace through the signal handler for
1655 non-threaded programs.
1656
93c26624
JK
1657PIE (Position Independent Executable) programs debugging is now supported.
1658This includes debugging execution of PIC (Position Independent Code) shared
1659libraries although for that, it should be possible to run such libraries as an
1660executable program.
1661
abc7453d 1662*** Changes in GDB 7.0
75feb17d 1663
4efc6507
DE
1664* GDB now has an interface for JIT compilation. Applications that
1665dynamically generate code can create symbol files in memory and register
1666them with GDB. For users, the feature should work transparently, and
1667for JIT developers, the interface is documented in the GDB manual in the
1668"JIT Compilation Interface" chapter.
1669
782b2b07
SS
1670* Tracepoints may now be conditional. The syntax is as for
1671breakpoints; either an "if" clause appended to the "trace" command,
1672or the "condition" command is available. GDB sends the condition to
1673the target for evaluation using the same bytecode format as is used
1674for tracepoint actions.
1675
53a71c06
CR
1676* The disassemble command now supports: an optional /r modifier, print the
1677raw instructions in hex as well as in symbolic form, and an optional /m
1678modifier to print mixed source+assembly.
e6158f16 1679
e7a8dbfb
HZ
1680* Process record and replay
1681
1682 In a architecture environment that supports ``process record and
1683 replay'', ``process record and replay'' target can record a log of
1684 the process execution, and replay it with both forward and reverse
1685 execute commands.
1686
64644d9b
MS
1687* Reverse debugging: GDB now has new commands reverse-continue, reverse-
1688step, reverse-next, reverse-finish, reverse-stepi, reverse-nexti, and
1689set execution-direction {forward|reverse}, for targets that support
1690reverse execution.
1691
b9412953
DD
1692* GDB now supports hardware watchpoints on MIPS/Linux systems. This
1693feature is available with a native GDB running on kernel version
16942.6.28 or later.
1695
6c7a06a3
TT
1696* GDB now has support for multi-byte and wide character sets on the
1697target. Strings whose character type is wchar_t, char16_t, or
1698char32_t are now correctly printed. GDB supports wide- and unicode-
1699literals in C, that is, L'x', L"string", u'x', u"string", U'x', and
1700U"string" syntax. And, GDB allows the "%ls" and "%lc" formats in
1701`printf'. This feature requires iconv to work properly; if your
1702system does not have a working iconv, GDB can use GNU libiconv. See
1703the installation instructions for more information.
1704
f1838a98
UW
1705* GDB now supports automatic retrieval of shared library files from
1706remote targets. To use this feature, specify a system root that begins
1707with the `remote:' prefix, either via the `set sysroot' command or via
1708the `--with-sysroot' configure-time option.
1709
55333a84
DE
1710* "info sharedlibrary" now takes an optional regex of libraries to show,
1711and it now reports if a shared library has no debugging information.
1712
7f6a6314
PM
1713* Commands `set debug-file-directory', `set solib-search-path' and `set args'
1714now complete on file names.
1715
65d12d83
TT
1716* When completing in expressions, gdb will attempt to limit
1717completions to allowable structure or union fields, where appropriate.
1718For instance, consider:
1719
1720 # struct example { int f1; double f2; };
1721 # struct example variable;
1722 (gdb) p variable.
1723
1724If the user types TAB at the end of this command line, the available
1725completions will be "f1" and "f2".
1726
edb3359d
DJ
1727* Inlined functions are now supported. They show up in backtraces, and
1728the "step", "next", and "finish" commands handle them automatically.
1729
2fae03e8
TT
1730* GDB now supports the token-splicing (##) and stringification (#)
1731operators when expanding macros. It also supports variable-arity
1732macros.
1733
47a3467a 1734* GDB now supports inspecting extra signal information, exported by
58d6951d
DJ
1735the new $_siginfo convenience variable. The feature is currently
1736implemented on linux ARM, i386 and amd64.
1737
1738* GDB can now display the VFP floating point registers and NEON vector
1739registers on ARM targets. Both ARM GNU/Linux native GDB and gdbserver
1740can provide these registers (requires Linux 2.6.30 or later). Remote
1741and simulator targets may also provide them.
47a3467a 1742
08388c79
DE
1743* New remote packets
1744
1745qSearch:memory:
1746 Search memory for a sequence of bytes.
1747
a6f3e723
SL
1748QStartNoAckMode
1749 Turn off `+'/`-' protocol acknowledgments to permit more efficient
1750 operation over reliable transport links. Use of this packet is
1751 controlled by the `set remote noack-packet' command.
1752
d7713ae0
EZ
1753vKill
1754 Kill the process with the specified process ID. Use this in preference
1755 to `k' when multiprocess protocol extensions are supported.
1756
07e059b5
VP
1757qXfer:osdata:read
1758 Obtains additional operating system information
1759
47a3467a
PA
1760qXfer:siginfo:read
1761qXfer:siginfo:write
1762 Read or write additional signal information.
1763
060871df
PA
1764* Removed remote protocol undocumented extension
1765
1766 An undocumented extension to the remote protocol's `S' stop reply
1767 packet that permited the stub to pass a process id was removed.
1768 Remote servers should use the `T' stop reply packet instead.
1769
c055b101 1770* GDB now supports multiple function calling conventions according to the
a0ef4274 1771DWARF-2 DW_AT_calling_convention function attribute.
c055b101
CV
1772
1773* The SH target utilizes the aforementioned change to distinguish between gcc
a0ef4274
DJ
1774and Renesas calling convention. It also adds the new CLI commands
1775`set/show sh calling-convention'.
c055b101 1776
31fffb02
CS
1777* GDB can now read compressed debug sections, as produced by GNU gold
1778with the --compress-debug-sections=zlib flag.
1779
88d8a8e0
JB
1780* 64-bit core files are now supported on AIX.
1781
7f99b190
JB
1782* Thread switching is now supported on Tru64.
1783
ccd213ac
DJ
1784* Watchpoints can now be set on unreadable memory locations, e.g. addresses
1785which will be allocated using malloc later in program execution.
1786
1fddbabb 1787* The qXfer:libraries:read remote procotol packet now allows passing a
31fffb02 1788list of section offsets.
1fddbabb 1789
a0ef4274
DJ
1790* On GNU/Linux, GDB can now attach to stopped processes. Several race
1791conditions handling signals delivered during attach or thread creation
1792have also been fixed.
1793
bfb8797a 1794* GDB now supports the use of DWARF boolean types for Ada's type Boolean.
158c7665
PH
1795From the user's standpoint, all unqualified instances of True and False
1796are treated as the standard definitions, regardless of context.
bfb8797a 1797
71c25dea
TT
1798* GDB now parses C++ symbol and type names more flexibly. For
1799example, given:
1800
1801 template<typename T> class C { };
1802 C<char const *> c;
1803
1804GDB will now correctly handle all of:
1805
1806 ptype C<char const *>
1807 ptype C<char const*>
1808 ptype C<const char *>
1809 ptype C<const char*>
1810
ccd213ac
DJ
1811* New features in the GDB remote stub, gdbserver
1812
1813 - The "--wrapper" command-line argument tells gdbserver to use a
1814 wrapper program to launch programs for debugging.
1815
7ae0e2a2
UW
1816 - On PowerPC and S/390 targets, it is now possible to use a single
1817 gdbserver executable to debug both 32-bit and 64-bit programs.
1818 (This requires gdbserver itself to be built as a 64-bit executable.)
1819
a6f3e723
SL
1820 - gdbserver uses the new noack protocol mode for TCP connections to
1821 reduce communications latency, if also supported and enabled in GDB.
1822
da8bd9a3
DJ
1823 - Support for the sparc64-linux-gnu target is now included in
1824 gdbserver.
1825
d70e31dd
DE
1826 - The amd64-linux build of gdbserver now supports debugging both
1827 32-bit and 64-bit programs.
1828
1829 - The i386-linux, amd64-linux, and i386-win32 builds of gdbserver
1830 now support hardware watchpoints, and will use them automatically
1831 as appropriate.
1832
d57a3c85
TJB
1833* Python scripting
1834
1835 GDB now has support for scripting using Python. Whether this is
1836 available is determined at configure time.
1837
d8906c6f
TJB
1838 New GDB commands can now be written in Python.
1839
aadc346a
JB
1840* Ada tasking support
1841
1842 Ada tasks can now be inspected in GDB. The following commands have
1843 been introduced:
1844
1845 info tasks
1846 Print the list of Ada tasks.
1847 info task N
1848 Print detailed information about task number N.
1849 task
1850 Print the task number of the current task.
1851 task N
1852 Switch the context of debugging to task number N.
1853
adb483fe
DJ
1854* Support for user-defined prefixed commands. The "define" command can
1855add new commands to existing prefixes, e.g. "target".
1856
2277426b
PA
1857* Multi-inferior, multi-process debugging.
1858
1859 GDB now has generalized support for multi-inferior debugging. See
1860 "Debugging Multiple Inferiors" in the manual for more information.
1861 Although availability still depends on target support, the command
1862 set is more uniform now. The GNU/Linux specific multi-forks support
1863 has been migrated to this new framework. This implied some user
1864 visible changes; see "New commands" and also "Removed commands"
1865 below.
1866
08d16641
PA
1867* Target descriptions can now describe the target OS ABI. See the
1868"Target Description Format" section in the user manual for more
1869information.
1870
e35359c5
UW
1871* Target descriptions can now describe "compatible" architectures
1872to indicate that the target can execute applications for a different
1873architecture in addition to those for the main target architecture.
1874See the "Target Description Format" section in the user manual for
1875more information.
1876
85e747d2
UW
1877* Multi-architecture debugging.
1878
1879 GDB now includes general supports for debugging applications on
1880 hybrid systems that use more than one single processor architecture
1881 at the same time. Each such hybrid architecture still requires
1882 specific support to be added. The only hybrid architecture supported
1883 in this version of GDB is the Cell Broadband Engine.
1884
1885* GDB now supports integrated debugging of Cell/B.E. applications that
1886use both the PPU and SPU architectures. To enable support for hybrid
1887Cell/B.E. debugging, you need to configure GDB to support both the
1888powerpc-linux or powerpc64-linux and the spu-elf targets, using the
1889--enable-targets configure option.
1890
11ade57a
PA
1891* Non-stop mode debugging.
1892
1893 For some targets, GDB now supports an optional mode of operation in
1894 which you can examine stopped threads while other threads continue
1895 to execute freely. This is referred to as non-stop mode, with the
1896 old mode referred to as all-stop mode. See the "Non-Stop Mode"
1897 section in the user manual for more information.
1898
1899 To be able to support remote non-stop debugging, a remote stub needs
1900 to implement the non-stop mode remote protocol extensions, as
1901 described in the "Remote Non-Stop" section of the user manual. The
1902 GDB remote stub, gdbserver, has been adjusted to support these
1903 extensions on linux targets.
1904
d7713ae0 1905* New commands (for set/show, see "New options" below)
75feb17d 1906
a96d9b2e
SDJ
1907catch syscall [NAME(S) | NUMBER(S)]
1908 Catch system calls. Arguments, which should be names of system
1909 calls or their numbers, mean catch only those syscalls. Without
1910 arguments, every syscall will be caught. When the inferior issues
1911 any of the specified syscalls, GDB will stop and announce the system
1912 call, both when it is called and when its call returns. This
1913 feature is currently available with a native GDB running on the
1914 Linux Kernel, under the following architectures: x86, x86_64,
1915 PowerPC and PowerPC64.
1916
08388c79
DE
1917find [/size-char] [/max-count] start-address, end-address|+search-space-size,
1918 val1 [, val2, ...]
1919 Search memory for a sequence of bytes.
1920
d57a3c85
TJB
1921maint set python print-stack
1922maint show python print-stack
1923 Show a stack trace when an error is encountered in a Python script.
1924
1925python [CODE]
1926 Invoke CODE by passing it to the Python interpreter.
1927
d7713ae0
EZ
1928macro define
1929macro list
1930macro undef
1931 These allow macros to be defined, undefined, and listed
1932 interactively.
1933
1934info os processes
1935 Show operating system information about processes.
1936
2277426b
PA
1937info inferiors
1938 List the inferiors currently under GDB's control.
1939
1940inferior NUM
1941 Switch focus to inferior number NUM.
1942
1943detach inferior NUM
1944 Detach from inferior number NUM.
1945
1946kill inferior NUM
1947 Kill inferior number NUM.
1948
d7713ae0
EZ
1949* New options
1950
3285f3fe
UW
1951set spu stop-on-load
1952show spu stop-on-load
1953 Control whether to stop for new SPE threads during Cell/B.E. debugging.
1954
ff1a52c6
UW
1955set spu auto-flush-cache
1956show spu auto-flush-cache
1957 Control whether to automatically flush the software-managed cache
1958 during Cell/B.E. debugging.
1959
d7713ae0
EZ
1960set sh calling-convention
1961show sh calling-convention
1962 Control the calling convention used when calling SH target functions.
1963
e0a3ce09 1964set debug timestamp
75feb17d 1965show debug timestamp
d7713ae0
EZ
1966 Control display of timestamps with GDB debugging output.
1967
1968set disassemble-next-line
1969show disassemble-next-line
1970 Control display of disassembled source lines or instructions when
1971 the debuggee stops.
1972
1973set remote noack-packet
1974show remote noack-packet
1975 Set/show the use of remote protocol QStartNoAckMode packet. See above
1976 under "New remote packets."
1977
1978set remote query-attached-packet
1979show remote query-attached-packet
1980 Control use of remote protocol `qAttached' (query-attached) packet.
1981
1982set remote read-siginfo-object
1983show remote read-siginfo-object
1984 Control use of remote protocol `qXfer:siginfo:read' (read-siginfo-object)
1985 packet.
1986
1987set remote write-siginfo-object
1988show remote write-siginfo-object
1989 Control use of remote protocol `qXfer:siginfo:write' (write-siginfo-object)
1990 packet.
1991
40ab02ce
MS
1992set remote reverse-continue
1993show remote reverse-continue
1994 Control use of remote protocol 'bc' (reverse-continue) packet.
1995
1996set remote reverse-step
1997show remote reverse-step
1998 Control use of remote protocol 'bs' (reverse-step) packet.
1999
d7713ae0
EZ
2000set displaced-stepping
2001show displaced-stepping
2002 Control displaced stepping mode. Displaced stepping is a way to
2003 single-step over breakpoints without removing them from the debuggee.
2004 Also known as "out-of-line single-stepping".
2005
2006set debug displaced
2007show debug displaced
2008 Control display of debugging info for displaced stepping.
2009
2010maint set internal-error
2011maint show internal-error
2012 Control what GDB does when an internal error is detected.
2013
2014maint set internal-warning
2015maint show internal-warning
2016 Control what GDB does when an internal warning is detected.
75feb17d 2017
ccd213ac
DJ
2018set exec-wrapper
2019show exec-wrapper
2020unset exec-wrapper
2021 Use a wrapper program to launch programs for debugging.
fa4727a6 2022
aad4b048
JB
2023set multiple-symbols (all|ask|cancel)
2024show multiple-symbols
2025 The value of this variable can be changed to adjust the debugger behavior
2026 when an expression or a breakpoint location contains an ambiguous symbol
2027 name (an overloaded function name, for instance).
2028
74960c60
VP
2029set breakpoint always-inserted
2030show breakpoint always-inserted
2031 Keep breakpoints always inserted in the target, as opposed to inserting
2032 them when resuming the target, and removing them when the target stops.
2033 This option can improve debugger performance on slow remote targets.
2034
0428b8f5
DJ
2035set arm fallback-mode (arm|thumb|auto)
2036show arm fallback-mode
2037set arm force-mode (arm|thumb|auto)
2038show arm force-mode
2039 These commands control how ARM GDB determines whether instructions
2040 are ARM or Thumb. The default for both settings is auto, which uses
2041 the current CPSR value for instructions without symbols; previous
2042 versions of GDB behaved as if "set arm fallback-mode arm".
2043
10568435
JK
2044set disable-randomization
2045show disable-randomization
2046 Standalone programs run with the virtual address space randomization enabled
2047 by default on some platforms. This option keeps the addresses stable across
2048 multiple debugging sessions.
2049
d7713ae0
EZ
2050set non-stop
2051show non-stop
2052 Control whether other threads are stopped or not when some thread hits
2053 a breakpoint.
2054
b3eb342c 2055set target-async
d7713ae0 2056show target-async
b3eb342c
VP
2057 Requests that asynchronous execution is enabled in the target, if available.
2058 In this case, it's possible to resume target in the background, and interact
2059 with GDB while the target is running. "show target-async" displays the
2060 current state of asynchronous execution of the target.
2061
6c7a06a3
TT
2062set target-wide-charset
2063show target-wide-charset
2064 The target-wide-charset is the name of the character set that GDB
2065 uses when printing characters whose type is wchar_t.
2066
84603566
SL
2067set tcp auto-retry (on|off)
2068show tcp auto-retry
2069set tcp connect-timeout
2070show tcp connect-timeout
2071 These commands allow GDB to retry failed TCP connections to a remote stub
2072 with a specified timeout period; this is useful if the stub is launched
2073 in parallel with GDB but may not be ready to accept connections immediately.
2074
17a37d48
PP
2075set libthread-db-search-path
2076show libthread-db-search-path
2077 Control list of directories which GDB will search for appropriate
2078 libthread_db.
2079
d4db2f36
PA
2080set schedule-multiple (on|off)
2081show schedule-multiple
2082 Allow GDB to resume all threads of all processes or only threads of
2083 the current process.
2084
4e5d721f
DE
2085set stack-cache
2086show stack-cache
2087 Use more aggressive caching for accesses to the stack. This improves
2088 performance of remote debugging (particularly backtraces) without
2089 affecting correctness.
2090
910c5da8
JB
2091set interactive-mode (on|off|auto)
2092show interactive-mode
2093 Control whether GDB runs in interactive mode (on) or not (off).
2094 When in interactive mode, GDB waits for the user to answer all
2095 queries. Otherwise, GDB does not wait and assumes the default
2096 answer. When set to auto (the default), GDB determines which
2097 mode to use based on the stdin settings.
2098
2277426b
PA
2099* Removed commands
2100
2101info forks
2102 For program forks, this is replaced by the new more generic `info
2103 inferiors' command. To list checkpoints, you can still use the
2104 `info checkpoints' command, which was an alias for the `info forks'
2105 command.
2106
2107fork NUM
2108 Replaced by the new `inferior' command. To switch between
2109 checkpoints, you can still use the `restart' command, which was an
2110 alias for the `fork' command.
2111
2112process PID
2113 This is removed, since some targets don't have a notion of
2114 processes. To switch between processes, you can still use the
2115 `inferior' command using GDB's own inferior number.
2116
2117delete fork NUM
2118 For program forks, this is replaced by the new more generic `kill
2119 inferior' command. To delete a checkpoint, you can still use the
2120 `delete checkpoint' command, which was an alias for the `delete
2121 fork' command.
2122
2123detach fork NUM
2124 For program forks, this is replaced by the new more generic `detach
2125 inferior' command. To detach a checkpoint, you can still use the
2126 `detach checkpoint' command, which was an alias for the `detach
2127 fork' command.
2128
a80b95ba
TG
2129* New native configurations
2130
2131x86/x86_64 Darwin i[34567]86-*-darwin*
2132
b8bfd3ed
JB
2133x86_64 MinGW x86_64-*-mingw*
2134
75a2d5e7
TT
2135* New targets
2136
c28c63d8 2137Lattice Mico32 lm32-*
75a2d5e7 2138x86 DICOS i[34567]86-*-dicos*
4c1d2973 2139x86_64 DICOS x86_64-*-dicos*
5f814c3b 2140S+core 3 score-*-*
75a2d5e7 2141
6de3146c
PA
2142* The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports x86 Windows CE
2143 (mingw32ce) debugging.
2144
d5cbbe6e
JB
2145* Removed commands
2146
2147catch load
2148catch unload
2149 These commands were actually not implemented on any target.
2150
75feb17d 2151*** Changes in GDB 6.8
f9ed52be 2152
af5ca30d
NH
2153* New native configurations
2154
2155NetBSD/hppa hppa*-*netbsd*
94a0e877 2156Xtensa GNU/Linux xtensa*-*-linux*
af5ca30d
NH
2157
2158* New targets
2159
2160NetBSD/hppa hppa*-*-netbsd*
94a0e877 2161Xtensa GNU/Lunux xtensa*-*-linux*
af5ca30d 2162
7a404eba
PA
2163* Change in command line behavior -- corefiles vs. process ids.
2164
2165 When the '-p NUMBER' or '--pid NUMBER' options are used, and
2166 attaching to process NUMBER fails, GDB no longer attempts to open a
2167 core file named NUMBER. Attaching to a program using the -c option
2168 is no longer supported. Instead, use the '-p' or '--pid' options.
2169
430ebac9
PA
2170* GDB can now be built as a native debugger for debugging Windows x86
2171(mingw32) Portable Executable (PE) programs.
2172
fe6fbf8b 2173* Pending breakpoints no longer change their number when their address
8d5f9c6f 2174is resolved.
fe6fbf8b
VP
2175
2176* GDB now supports breakpoints with multiple locations,
8d5f9c6f
DJ
2177including breakpoints on C++ constructors, inside C++ templates,
2178and in inlined functions.
fe6fbf8b 2179
10665d76
JB
2180* GDB's ability to debug optimized code has been improved. GDB more
2181accurately identifies function bodies and lexical blocks that occupy
2182more than one contiguous range of addresses.
2183
7cc46491
DJ
2184* Target descriptions can now describe registers for PowerPC.
2185
d71340b8
DJ
2186* The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports the AltiVec and SPE
2187registers on PowerPC targets.
2188
523c4513
DJ
2189* The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports thread debugging on GNU/Linux
2190targets even when the libthread_db library is not available.
2191
a6b151f1
DJ
2192* The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports the new file transfer
2193commands (remote put, remote get, and remote delete).
2194
2d717e4f
DJ
2195* The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports run and attach in
2196extended-remote mode.
2197
24a836bd 2198* hppa*64*-*-hpux11* target broken
d001be7a
DJ
2199The debugger is unable to start a program and fails with the following
2200error: "Error trying to get information about dynamic linker".
2201The gdb-6.7 release is also affected.
24a836bd 2202
d0c678e6
UW
2203* GDB now supports the --enable-targets= configure option to allow
2204building a single GDB executable that supports multiple remote
2205target architectures.
2206
d64a946d
TJB
2207* GDB now supports debugging C and C++ programs which use the
2208Decimal Floating Point extension. In addition, the PowerPC target
2209now has a set of pseudo-registers to inspect decimal float values
2210stored in two consecutive float registers.
2211
ee163bf5
VP
2212* The -break-insert MI command can optionally create pending
2213breakpoints now.
2214
b93b6ca7 2215* Improved support for debugging Ada
d001be7a
DJ
2216Many improvements to the Ada language support have been made. These
2217include:
b93b6ca7
JB
2218 - Better support for Ada2005 interface types
2219 - Improved handling of arrays and slices in general
2220 - Better support for Taft-amendment types
2221 - The '{type} ADDRESS' expression is now allowed on the left hand-side
2222 of an assignment
2223 - Improved command completion in Ada
2224 - Several bug fixes
2225
d001be7a
DJ
2226* GDB on GNU/Linux and HP/UX can now debug through "exec" of a new
2227process.
2228
a6b151f1
DJ
2229* New commands
2230
6d53d0af
JB
2231set print frame-arguments (all|scalars|none)
2232show print frame-arguments
2233 The value of this variable can be changed to control which argument
2234 values should be printed by the debugger when displaying a frame.
2235
a6b151f1
DJ
2236remote put
2237remote get
2238remote delete
2239 Transfer files to and from a remote target, and delete remote files.
2240
2241* New MI commands
2242
2243-target-file-put
2244-target-file-get
2245-target-file-delete
2246 Transfer files to and from a remote target, and delete remote files.
2247
2248* New remote packets
2249
2250vFile:open:
2251vFile:close:
2252vFile:pread:
2253vFile:pwrite:
2254vFile:unlink:
2255 Open, close, read, write, and delete files on the remote system.
d0c678e6 2256
2d717e4f
DJ
2257vAttach
2258 Attach to an existing process on the remote system, in extended-remote
2259 mode.
2260
2261vRun
2262 Run a new process on the remote system, in extended-remote mode.
2263
8d5f9c6f 2264*** Changes in GDB 6.7
6dd09645 2265
19d378fc
MS
2266* Resolved 101 resource leaks, null pointer dereferences, etc. in gdb,
2267bfd, libiberty and opcodes, as revealed by static analysis donated by
2268Coverity, Inc. (http://scan.coverity.com).
2269
3a40aaa0
UW
2270* When looking up multiply-defined global symbols, GDB will now prefer the
2271symbol definition in the current shared library if it was built using the
2272-Bsymbolic linker option.
2273
a6ec25f2
BW
2274* When the Text User Interface (TUI) is not configured, GDB will now
2275recognize the -tui command-line option and print a message that the TUI
2276is not supported.
2277
6dd09645
JB
2278* The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now has lower overhead for high
2279frequency signals (e.g. SIGALRM) via the QPassSignals packet.
2280
c9bb8148
DJ
2281* GDB for MIPS targets now autodetects whether a remote target provides
228232-bit or 64-bit register values.
2283
0d5de010
DJ
2284* Support for C++ member pointers has been improved.
2285
23181151
DJ
2286* GDB now understands XML target descriptions, which specify the
2287target's overall architecture. GDB can read a description from
2288a local file or over the remote serial protocol.
2289
ea37ba09
DJ
2290* Vectors of single-byte data use a new integer type which is not
2291automatically displayed as character or string data.
2292
2293* The /s format now works with the print command. It displays
2294arrays of single-byte integers and pointers to single-byte integers
2295as strings.
e1f48ead 2296
123dc839
DJ
2297* Target descriptions can now describe target-specific registers,
2298for architectures which have implemented the support (currently
8d5f9c6f 2299only ARM, M68K, and MIPS).
123dc839 2300
05a4558a
DJ
2301* GDB and the GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now support the XScale
2302iWMMXt coprocessor.
fb1e4ffc 2303
7c963485
PA
2304* The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, has been updated to support
2305ARM Windows CE (mingw32ce) debugging, and GDB Windows CE support
2306has been rewritten to use the standard GDB remote protocol.
2307
b18be20d
DJ
2308* GDB can now step into C++ functions which are called through thunks.
2309
0ca420ce
UW
2310* GDB for the Cell/B.E. SPU now supports overlay debugging.
2311
31d99776
DJ
2312* The GDB remote protocol "qOffsets" packet can now honor ELF segment
2313layout. It also supports a TextSeg= and DataSeg= response when only
2314segment base addresses (rather than offsets) are available.
2315
a4642986
MR
2316* The /i format now outputs any trailing branch delay slot instructions
2317immediately following the last instruction within the count specified.
2318
cfa9d6d9
DJ
2319* The GDB remote protocol "T" stop reply packet now supports a
2320"library" response. Combined with the new "qXfer:libraries:read"
2321packet, this response allows GDB to debug shared libraries on targets
2322where the operating system manages the list of loaded libraries (e.g.
2323Windows and SymbianOS).
255e7678
DJ
2324
2325* The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports dynamic link libraries
2326(DLLs) on Windows and Windows CE targets.
f5db8714
JK
2327
2328* GDB now supports a faster verification that a .debug file matches its binary
2329according to its build-id signature, if the signature is present.
cfa9d6d9 2330
c9bb8148
DJ
2331* New commands
2332
23776285
MR
2333set remoteflow
2334show remoteflow
2335 Enable or disable hardware flow control (RTS/CTS) on the serial port
2336 when debugging using remote targets.
2337
c9bb8148
DJ
2338set mem inaccessible-by-default
2339show mem inaccessible-by-default
2340 If the target supplies a memory map, for instance via the remote
2341 protocol's "qXfer:memory-map:read" packet, setting this variable
2342 prevents GDB from accessing memory outside the memory map. This
2343 is useful for targets with memory mapped registers or which react
2344 badly to accesses of unmapped address space.
2345
2346set breakpoint auto-hw
2347show breakpoint auto-hw
2348 If the target supplies a memory map, for instance via the remote
2349 protocol's "qXfer:memory-map:read" packet, setting this variable
2350 lets GDB use hardware breakpoints automatically for memory regions
2351 where it can not use software breakpoints. This covers both the
2352 "break" command and internal breakpoints used for other commands
2353 including "next" and "finish".
2354
0e420bd8
JB
2355catch exception
2356catch exception unhandled
2357 Stop the program execution when Ada exceptions are raised.
2358
2359catch assert
2360 Stop the program execution when an Ada assertion failed.
2361
f822c95b
DJ
2362set sysroot
2363show sysroot
2364 Set an alternate system root for target files. This is a more
2365 general version of "set solib-absolute-prefix", which is now
2366 an alias to "set sysroot".
2367
83cc5c53
UW
2368info spu
2369 Provide extended SPU facility status information. This set of
2370 commands is available only when debugging the Cell/B.E. SPU
2371 architecture.
2372
bd372731
MK
2373* New native configurations
2374
2375OpenBSD/sh sh*-*openbsd*
2376
23181151
DJ
2377set tdesc filename
2378unset tdesc filename
2379show tdesc filename
2380 Use the specified local file as an XML target description, and do
2381 not query the target for its built-in description.
2382
c9bb8148
DJ
2383* New targets
2384
54fe9172 2385OpenBSD/sh sh*-*-openbsd*
c9bb8148 2386MIPS64 GNU/Linux (gdbserver) mips64-linux-gnu
c077150c 2387Toshiba Media Processor mep-elf
c9bb8148 2388
6dd09645
JB
2389* New remote packets
2390
2391QPassSignals:
2392 Ignore the specified signals; pass them directly to the debugged program
2393 without stopping other threads or reporting them to GDB.
2394
23181151
DJ
2395qXfer:features:read:
2396 Read an XML target description from the target, which describes its
2397 features.
6dd09645 2398
83cc5c53
UW
2399qXfer:spu:read:
2400qXfer:spu:write:
2401 Read or write contents of an spufs file on the target system. These
2402 packets are available only on the Cell/B.E. SPU architecture.
2403
cfa9d6d9
DJ
2404qXfer:libraries:read:
2405 Report the loaded shared libraries. Combined with new "T" packet
2406 response, this packet allows GDB to debug shared libraries on
2407 targets where the operating system manages the list of loaded
2408 libraries (e.g. Windows and SymbianOS).
2409
483367ee
DJ
2410* Removed targets
2411
2412Support for these obsolete configurations has been removed.
2413
d08950c4
UW
2414alpha*-*-osf1*
2415alpha*-*-osf2*
7ce59000 2416d10v-*-*
483367ee
DJ
2417hppa*-*-hiux*
2418i[34567]86-ncr-*
2419i[34567]86-*-dgux*
2420i[34567]86-*-lynxos*
2421i[34567]86-*-netware*
2422i[34567]86-*-sco3.2v5*
2423i[34567]86-*-sco3.2v4*
2424i[34567]86-*-sco*
2425i[34567]86-*-sysv4.2*
2426i[34567]86-*-sysv4*
2427i[34567]86-*-sysv5*
2428i[34567]86-*-unixware2*
2429i[34567]86-*-unixware*
2430i[34567]86-*-sysv*
2431i[34567]86-*-isc*
2432m68*-cisco*-*
2433m68*-tandem-*
ad527d2e 2434mips*-*-pe
483367ee 2435rs6000-*-lynxos*
ad527d2e 2436sh*-*-pe
483367ee 2437
7ce59000
DJ
2438* Other removed features
2439
2440target abug
2441target cpu32bug
2442target est
2443target rom68k
2444
2445 Various m68k-only ROM monitors.
2446
ea35711c
DJ
2447target hms
2448target e7000
2449target sh3
2450target sh3e
2451
2452 Various Renesas ROM monitors and debugging interfaces for SH and
2453 H8/300.
2454
2455target ocd
2456
2457 Support for a Macraigor serial interface to on-chip debugging.
2458 GDB does not directly support the newer parallel or USB
2459 interfaces.
2460
7ce59000
DJ
2461DWARF 1 support
2462
2463 A debug information format. The predecessor to DWARF 2 and
2464 DWARF 3, which are still supported.
2465
54d61198
DJ
2466Support for the HP aCC compiler on HP-UX/PA-RISC
2467
2468 SOM-encapsulated symbolic debugging information, automatic
2469 invocation of pxdb, and the aCC custom C++ ABI. This does not
2470 affect HP-UX for Itanium or GCC for HP-UX/PA-RISC. Code compiled
2471 with aCC can still be debugged on an assembly level.
2472
ea35711c
DJ
2473MIPS ".pdr" sections
2474
2475 A MIPS-specific format used to describe stack frame layout
2476 in debugging information.
2477
2478Scheme support
2479
2480 GDB could work with an older version of Guile to debug
2481 the interpreter and Scheme programs running in it.
2482
1a69e1e4
DJ
2483set mips stack-arg-size
2484set mips saved-gpreg-size
2485
2486 Use "set mips abi" to control parameter passing for MIPS.
2487
6dd09645 2488*** Changes in GDB 6.6
e374b601 2489
ca3bf3bd
DJ
2490* New targets
2491
2492Xtensa xtensa-elf
9c309e77 2493Cell Broadband Engine SPU spu-elf
ca3bf3bd 2494
6aec2e11
DJ
2495* GDB can now be configured as a cross-debugger targeting native Windows
2496(mingw32) or Cygwin. It can communicate with a remote debugging stub
2497running on a Windows system over TCP/IP to debug Windows programs.
2498
2499* The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, has been updated to support Windows and
2500Cygwin debugging. Both single-threaded and multi-threaded programs are
2501supported.
2502
17218d91
DJ
2503* The "set trust-readonly-sections" command works again. This command was
2504broken in GDB 6.3, 6.4, and 6.5.
2505
9ebce043
DJ
2506* The "load" command now supports writing to flash memory, if the remote
2507stub provides the required support.
2508
7d3d3ece
DJ
2509* Support for GNU/Linux Thread Local Storage (TLS, per-thread variables) no
2510longer requires symbolic debug information (e.g. DWARF-2).
2511
4f8253f3
JB
2512* New commands
2513
2514set substitute-path
2515unset substitute-path
2516show substitute-path
2517 Manage a list of substitution rules that GDB uses to rewrite the name
2518 of the directories where the sources are located. This can be useful
2519 for instance when the sources were moved to a different location
2520 between compilation and debugging.
2521
9fa66fd7
AS
2522set trace-commands
2523show trace-commands
2524 Print each CLI command as it is executed. Each command is prefixed with
2525 a number of `+' symbols representing the nesting depth.
2526 The source command now has a `-v' option to enable the same feature.
2527
1f5befc1
DJ
2528* REMOVED features
2529
2530The ARM Demon monitor support (RDP protocol, "target rdp").
2531
2ec3381a
DJ
2532Kernel Object Display, an embedded debugging feature which only worked with
2533an obsolete version of Cisco IOS.
2534
3d00d119
DJ
2535The 'set download-write-size' and 'show download-write-size' commands.
2536
be2a5f71
DJ
2537* New remote packets
2538
2539qSupported:
2540 Tell a stub about GDB client features, and request remote target features.
2541 The first feature implemented is PacketSize, which allows the target to
2542 specify the size of packets it can handle - to minimize the number of
2543 packets required and improve performance when connected to a remote
2544 target.
2545
0876f84a
DJ
2546qXfer:auxv:read:
2547 Fetch an OS auxilliary vector from the remote stub. This packet is a
2548 more efficient replacement for qPart:auxv:read.
2549
9ebce043
DJ
2550qXfer:memory-map:read:
2551 Fetch a memory map from the remote stub, including information about
2552 RAM, ROM, and flash memory devices.
2553
2554vFlashErase:
2555vFlashWrite:
2556vFlashDone:
2557 Erase and program a flash memory device.
2558
0876f84a
DJ
2559* Removed remote packets
2560
2561qPart:auxv:read:
2562 This packet has been replaced by qXfer:auxv:read. Only GDB 6.4 and 6.5
2563 used it, and only gdbserver implemented it.
2564
e374b601 2565*** Changes in GDB 6.5
53e5f3cf 2566
96309189
MS
2567* New targets
2568
2569Renesas M32C/M16C m32c-elf
2570
2571Morpho Technologies ms1 ms1-elf
2572
53e5f3cf
AS
2573* New commands
2574
2575init-if-undefined Initialize a convenience variable, but
2576 only if it doesn't already have a value.
2577
ac264b3b
MS
2578The following commands are presently only implemented for native GNU/Linux:
2579
2580checkpoint Save a snapshot of the program state.
2581
2582restart <n> Return the program state to a
2583 previously saved state.
2584
2585info checkpoints List currently saved checkpoints.
2586
2587delete-checkpoint <n> Delete a previously saved checkpoint.
2588
2589set|show detach-on-fork Tell gdb whether to detach from a newly
2590 forked process, or to keep debugging it.
2591
2592info forks List forks of the user program that
2593 are available to be debugged.
2594
2595fork <n> Switch to debugging one of several
2596 forks of the user program that are
2597 available to be debugged.
2598
2599delete-fork <n> Delete a fork from the list of forks
2600 that are available to be debugged (and
2601 kill the forked process).
2602
2603detach-fork <n> Delete a fork from the list of forks
2604 that are available to be debugged (and
2605 allow the process to continue).
2606
3950dc3f
NS
2607* New architecture
2608
2609Morpho Technologies ms2 ms1-elf
2610
0ea3f30e
DJ
2611* Improved Windows host support
2612
2613GDB now builds as a cross debugger hosted on i686-mingw32, including
2614native console support, and remote communications using either
2615network sockets or serial ports.
2616
f79daebb
GM
2617* Improved Modula-2 language support
2618
2619GDB can now print most types in the Modula-2 syntax. This includes:
2620basic types, set types, record types, enumerated types, range types,
2621pointer types and ARRAY types. Procedure var parameters are correctly
2622printed and hexadecimal addresses and character constants are also
2623written in the Modula-2 syntax. Best results can be obtained by using
2624GNU Modula-2 together with the -gdwarf-2 command line option.
2625
acab6ab2
MM
2626* REMOVED features
2627
2628The ARM rdi-share module.
2629
f4267320
DJ
2630The Netware NLM debug server.
2631
53e5f3cf 2632*** Changes in GDB 6.4
156a53ca 2633
e0ecbda1
MK
2634* New native configurations
2635
02a677ac 2636OpenBSD/arm arm*-*-openbsd*
e0ecbda1
MK
2637OpenBSD/mips64 mips64-*-openbsd*
2638
d64a6579
KB
2639* New targets
2640
2641Morpho Technologies ms1 ms1-elf
2642
b33a6190
AS
2643* New command line options
2644
2645--batch-silent As for --batch, but totally silent.
2646--return-child-result The debugger will exist with the same value
2647 the child (debugged) program exited with.
2648--eval-command COMMAND, -ex COMMAND
2649 Execute a single GDB CLI command. This may be
2650 specified multiple times and in conjunction
2651 with the --command (-x) option.
2652
11dced61
AC
2653* Deprecated commands removed
2654
2655The following commands, that were deprecated in 2000, have been
2656removed:
2657
2658 Command Replacement
2659 set|show arm disassembly-flavor set|show arm disassembler
2660 othernames set arm disassembler
2661 set|show remotedebug set|show debug remote
2662 set|show archdebug set|show debug arch
2663 set|show eventdebug set|show debug event
2664 regs info registers
2665
6fe85783
MK
2666* New BSD user-level threads support
2667
2668It is now possible to debug programs using the user-level threads
2669library on OpenBSD and FreeBSD. Currently supported (target)
2670configurations are:
2671
2672FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
2673FreeBSD/i386 i386-*-freebsd*
2674OpenBSD/i386 i386-*-openbsd*
2675
2676Note that the new kernel threads libraries introduced in FreeBSD 5.x
2677are not yet supported.
2678
5260ca71
MS
2679* New support for Matsushita MN10300 w/sim added
2680(Work in progress). mn10300-elf.
2681
e84ecc99
AC
2682* REMOVED configurations and files
2683
2684VxWorks and the XDR protocol *-*-vxworks
9445aa30 2685Motorola MCORE mcore-*-*
9445aa30 2686National Semiconductor NS32000 ns32k-*-*
156a53ca 2687
31e35378
JB
2688* New "set print array-indexes" command
2689
2690After turning this setting "on", GDB prints the index of each element
2691when displaying arrays. The default is "off" to preserve the previous
2692behavior.
2693
e85e5c83
MK
2694* VAX floating point support
2695
2696GDB now supports the not-quite-ieee VAX F and D floating point formats.
2697
d91e9901
AS
2698* User-defined command support
2699
2700In addition to using $arg0..$arg9 for argument passing, it is now possible
2701to use $argc to determine now many arguments have been passed. See the
2702section on user-defined commands in the user manual for more information.
2703
f2cb65ca
MC
2704*** Changes in GDB 6.3:
2705
f47b1503
AS
2706* New command line option
2707
2708GDB now accepts -l followed by a number to set the timeout for remote
2709debugging.
2710
f2cb65ca
MC
2711* GDB works with GCC -feliminate-dwarf2-dups
2712
2713GDB now supports a more compact representation of DWARF-2 debug
2714information using DW_FORM_ref_addr references. These are produced
2715by GCC with the option -feliminate-dwarf2-dups and also by some
2716proprietary compilers. With GCC, you must use GCC 3.3.4 or later
2717to use -feliminate-dwarf2-dups.
860660cb 2718
d08c0230
AC
2719* Internationalization
2720
2721When supported by the host system, GDB will be built with
2722internationalization (libintl). The task of marking up the sources is
2723continued, we're looking forward to our first translation.
2724
117ea3cf
PH
2725* Ada
2726
2727Initial support for debugging programs compiled with the GNAT
2728implementation of the Ada programming language has been integrated
2729into GDB. In this release, support is limited to expression evaluation.
2730
d08c0230
AC
2731* New native configurations
2732
2733GNU/Linux/m32r m32r-*-linux-gnu
2734
2735* Remote 'p' packet
2736
2737GDB's remote protocol now includes support for the 'p' packet. This
2738packet is used to fetch individual registers from a remote inferior.
2739
2740* END-OF-LIFE registers[] compatibility module
2741
2742GDB's internal register infrastructure has been completely rewritten.
2743The new infrastructure making possible the implementation of key new
2744features including 32x64 (e.g., 64-bit amd64 GDB debugging a 32-bit
2745i386 application).
2746
2747GDB 6.3 will be the last release to include the the registers[]
2748compatibility module that allowed out-of-date configurations to
2749continue to work. This change directly impacts the following
2750configurations:
2751
2752hppa-*-hpux
2753ia64-*-aix
2754mips-*-irix*
2755*-*-lynx
2756mips-*-linux-gnu
2757sds protocol
2758xdr protocol
2759powerpc bdm protocol
2760
2761Unless there is activity to revive these configurations, they will be
2762made OBSOLETE in GDB 6.4, and REMOVED from GDB 6.5.
2763
2764* OBSOLETE configurations and files
2765
2766Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
2767been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
2768configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
2769permanently REMOVED.
2770
2771h8300-*-*
2772mcore-*-*
2773mn10300-*-*
2774ns32k-*-*
2775sh64-*-*
2776v850-*-*
2777
ebb7c577
AC
2778*** Changes in GDB 6.2.1:
2779
2780* MIPS `break main; run' gave an heuristic-fence-post warning
2781
2782When attempting to run even a simple program, a warning about
2783heuristic-fence-post being hit would be reported. This problem has
2784been fixed.
2785
2786* MIPS IRIX 'long double' crashed GDB
2787
2788When examining a long double variable, GDB would get a segmentation
2789fault. The crash has been fixed (but GDB 6.2 cannot correctly examine
2790IRIX long double values).
2791
2792* VAX and "next"
2793
2794A bug in the VAX stack code was causing problems with the "next"
2795command. This problem has been fixed.
2796
860660cb 2797*** Changes in GDB 6.2:
faae5abe 2798
0dea2468
AC
2799* Fix for ``many threads''
2800
2801On GNU/Linux systems that use the NPTL threads library, a program
2802rapidly creating and deleting threads would confuse GDB leading to the
2803error message:
2804
2805 ptrace: No such process.
2806 thread_db_get_info: cannot get thread info: generic error
2807
2808This problem has been fixed.
2809
2c07db7a
AC
2810* "-async" and "-noasync" options removed.
2811
2812Support for the broken "-noasync" option has been removed (it caused
2813GDB to dump core).
2814
c23968a2
JB
2815* New ``start'' command.
2816
2817This command runs the program until the begining of the main procedure.
2818
71009278
MK
2819* New BSD Kernel Data Access Library (libkvm) interface
2820
2821Using ``target kvm'' it is now possible to debug kernel core dumps and
2822live kernel memory images on various FreeBSD, NetBSD and OpenBSD
2823platforms. Currently supported (native-only) configurations are:
2824
2825FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
2826FreeBSD/i386 i?86-*-freebsd*
2827NetBSD/i386 i?86-*-netbsd*
2828NetBSD/m68k m68*-*-netbsd*
2829NetBSD/sparc sparc-*-netbsd*
2830OpenBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-openbsd*
2831OpenBSD/i386 i?86-*-openbsd*
2832OpenBSD/m68k m68*-openbsd*
2833OpenBSD/sparc sparc-*-openbsd*
2834
3c0b7db2
AC
2835* Signal trampoline code overhauled
2836
2837Many generic problems with GDB's signal handling code have been fixed.
2838These include: backtraces through non-contiguous stacks; recognition
2839of sa_sigaction signal trampolines; backtrace from a NULL pointer
2840call; backtrace through a signal trampoline; step into and out of
2841signal handlers; and single-stepping in the signal trampoline.
2842
73cc75f3
AC
2843Please note that kernel bugs are a limiting factor here. These
2844features have been shown to work on an s390 GNU/Linux system that
2845include a 2.6.8-rc1 kernel. Ref PR breakpoints/1702.
3c0b7db2 2846
7243600a
BF
2847* Cygwin support for DWARF 2 added.
2848
6f606e1c
MK
2849* New native configurations
2850
97dc871c 2851GNU/Linux/hppa hppa*-*-linux*
0e56aeaf 2852OpenBSD/hppa hppa*-*-openbsd*
bf2ca189
MK
2853OpenBSD/m68k m68*-*-openbsd*
2854OpenBSD/m88k m88*-*-openbsd*
d195bc9f 2855OpenBSD/powerpc powerpc-*-openbsd*
6f606e1c 2856NetBSD/vax vax-*-netbsd*
9f076e7a 2857OpenBSD/vax vax-*-openbsd*
6f606e1c 2858
a1b461bf
AC
2859* END-OF-LIFE frame compatibility module
2860
2861GDB's internal frame infrastructure has been completely rewritten.
2862The new infrastructure making it possible to support key new features
2863including DWARF 2 Call Frame Information. To aid in the task of
2864migrating old configurations to this new infrastructure, a
2865compatibility module, that allowed old configurations to continue to
2866work, was also included.
2867
2868GDB 6.2 will be the last release to include this frame compatibility
2869module. This change directly impacts the following configurations:
2870
2871h8300-*-*
2872mcore-*-*
2873mn10300-*-*
2874ns32k-*-*
2875sh64-*-*
2876v850-*-*
2877xstormy16-*-*
2878
2879Unless there is activity to revive these configurations, they will be
2880made OBSOLETE in GDB 6.3, and REMOVED from GDB 6.4.
2881
3c7012f5
AC
2882* REMOVED configurations and files
2883
2884Sun 3, running SunOS 3 m68*-*-sunos3*
2885Sun 3, running SunOS 4 m68*-*-sunos4*
2886Sun 2, running SunOS 3 m68000-*-sunos3*
2887Sun 2, running SunOS 4 m68000-*-sunos4*
2888Motorola 680x0 running LynxOS m68*-*-lynxos*
2889AT&T 3b1/Unix pc m68*-att-*
2890Bull DPX2 (68k, System V release 3) m68*-bull-sysv*
2891decstation mips-dec-* mips-little-*
2892riscos mips-*-riscos* mips-*-sysv*
2893sonymips mips-sony-*
2894sysv mips*-*-sysv4* (IRIX 5/6 not included)
2895
e5fe55f7
AC
2896*** Changes in GDB 6.1.1:
2897
2898* TUI (Text-mode User Interface) built-in (also included in GDB 6.1)
2899
2900The TUI (Text-mode User Interface) is now built as part of a default
2901GDB configuration. It is enabled by either selecting the TUI with the
2902command line option "-i=tui" or by running the separate "gdbtui"
2903program. For more information on the TUI, see the manual "Debugging
2904with GDB".
2905
2906* Pending breakpoint support (also included in GDB 6.1)
2907
2908Support has been added to allow you to specify breakpoints in shared
2909libraries that have not yet been loaded. If a breakpoint location
2910cannot be found, and the "breakpoint pending" option is set to auto,
2911GDB queries you if you wish to make the breakpoint pending on a future
2912shared-library load. If and when GDB resolves the breakpoint symbol,
2913the pending breakpoint is removed as one or more regular breakpoints
2914are created.
2915
2916Pending breakpoints are very useful for GCJ Java debugging.
2917
2918* Fixed ISO-C build problems
2919
2920The files bfd/elf-bfd.h, gdb/dictionary.c and gdb/types.c contained
2921non ISO-C code that stopped them being built using a more strict ISO-C
2922compiler (e.g., IBM's C compiler).
2923
2924* Fixed build problem on IRIX 5
2925
2926Due to header problems with <sys/proc.h>, the file gdb/proc-api.c
2927wasn't able to compile compile on an IRIX 5 system.
2928
2929* Added execute permission to gdb/gdbserver/configure
2930
2931The shell script gdb/testsuite/gdb.stabs/configure lacked execute
2932permission. This bug would cause configure to fail on a number of
2933systems (Solaris, IRIX). Ref: server/519.
2934
2935* Fixed build problem on hpux2.0w-hp-hpux11.00 using the HP ANSI C compiler
2936
2937Older HPUX ANSI C compilers did not accept variable array sizes. somsolib.c
2938has been updated to use constant array sizes.
2939
2940* Fixed a panic in the DWARF Call Frame Info code on Solaris 2.7
2941
2942GCC 3.3.2, on Solaris 2.7, includes the DW_EH_PE_funcrel encoding in
2943its generated DWARF Call Frame Info. This encoding was causing GDB to
2944panic, that panic has been fixed. Ref: gdb/1628.
2945
2946* Fixed a problem when examining parameters in shared library code.
2947
2948When examining parameters in optimized shared library code generated
2949by a mainline GCC, GDB would incorrectly report ``Variable "..." is
2950not available''. GDB now correctly displays the variable's value.
2951
faae5abe 2952*** Changes in GDB 6.1:
f2c06f52 2953
9175c9a3
MC
2954* Removed --with-mmalloc
2955
2956Support for the mmalloc memory manager has been removed, as it
2957conflicted with the internal gdb byte cache.
2958
3cc87ec0
MK
2959* Changes in AMD64 configurations
2960
2961The AMD64 target now includes the %cs and %ss registers. As a result
2962the AMD64 remote protocol has changed; this affects the floating-point
2963and SSE registers. If you rely on those registers for your debugging,
2964you should upgrade gdbserver on the remote side.
2965
f0424ef6
MK
2966* Revised SPARC target
2967
2968The SPARC target has been completely revised, incorporating the
2969FreeBSD/sparc64 support that was added for GDB 6.0. As a result
03cebad2
MK
2970support for LynxOS and SunOS 4 has been dropped. Calling functions
2971from within GDB on operating systems with a non-executable stack
2972(Solaris, OpenBSD) now works.
f0424ef6 2973
59659be2
ILT
2974* New C++ demangler
2975
2976GDB has a new C++ demangler which does a better job on the mangled
2977names generated by current versions of g++. It also runs faster, so
2978with this and other changes gdb should now start faster on large C++
2979programs.
2980
9e08b29b
DJ
2981* DWARF 2 Location Expressions
2982
2983GDB support for location expressions has been extended to support function
2984arguments and frame bases. Older versions of GDB could crash when they
2985encountered these.
2986
8dfe8985
DC
2987* C++ nested types and namespaces
2988
2989GDB's support for nested types and namespaces in C++ has been
2990improved, especially if you use the DWARF 2 debugging format. (This
2991is the default for recent versions of GCC on most platforms.)
2992Specifically, if you have a class "Inner" defined within a class or
2993namespace "Outer", then GDB realizes that the class's name is
2994"Outer::Inner", not simply "Inner". This should greatly reduce the
2995frequency of complaints about not finding RTTI symbols. In addition,
2996if you are stopped at inside of a function defined within a namespace,
2997GDB modifies its name lookup accordingly.
2998
cced5e27
MK
2999* New native configurations
3000
3001NetBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-netbsd*
27d1e716 3002OpenBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-openbsd*
2031c21a 3003OpenBSD/alpha alpha*-*-openbsd*
f2cab569
MK
3004OpenBSD/sparc sparc-*-openbsd*
3005OpenBSD/sparc64 sparc64-*-openbsd*
cced5e27 3006
b4b4b794
KI
3007* New debugging protocols
3008
3009M32R with SDI protocol m32r-*-elf*
3010
7989c619
AC
3011* "set prompt-escape-char" command deleted.
3012
3013The command "set prompt-escape-char" has been deleted. This command,
3014and its very obscure effet on GDB's prompt, was never documented,
3015tested, nor mentioned in the NEWS file.
3016
5994185b
AC
3017* OBSOLETE configurations and files
3018
3019Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
3020been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
3021configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
3022permanently REMOVED.
3023
3024Sun 3, running SunOS 3 m68*-*-sunos3*
3025Sun 3, running SunOS 4 m68*-*-sunos4*
3026Sun 2, running SunOS 3 m68000-*-sunos3*
3027Sun 2, running SunOS 4 m68000-*-sunos4*
3028Motorola 680x0 running LynxOS m68*-*-lynxos*
3029AT&T 3b1/Unix pc m68*-att-*
3030Bull DPX2 (68k, System V release 3) m68*-bull-sysv*
0748d941
AC
3031decstation mips-dec-* mips-little-*
3032riscos mips-*-riscos* mips-*-sysv*
3033sonymips mips-sony-*
3034sysv mips*-*-sysv4* (IRIX 5/6 not included)
5994185b 3035
0ddabb4c
AC
3036* REMOVED configurations and files
3037
3038SGI Irix-4.x mips-sgi-irix4 or iris4
3039SGI Iris (MIPS) running Irix V3: mips-sgi-irix or iris
4a8269c0
AC
3040Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
3041Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
3042H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
3043HP/PA running BSD hppa*-*-bsd*
3044HP/PA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
3045HP/PA Pro target hppa*-*-pro*
3046PMAX (MIPS) running Mach 3.0 mips*-*-mach3*
cf7c5c23 3047386BSD i[3456]86-*-bsd*
4a8269c0
AC
3048Sequent family i[3456]86-sequent-sysv4*
3049 i[3456]86-sequent-sysv*
3050 i[3456]86-sequent-bsd*
f0424ef6
MK
3051SPARC running LynxOS sparc-*-lynxos*
3052SPARC running SunOS 4 sparc-*-sunos4*
4a8269c0
AC
3053Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
3054Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
0ddabb4c 3055
c7f1390e
DJ
3056*** Changes in GDB 6.0:
3057
1fe43d45
AC
3058* Objective-C
3059
3060Support for debugging the Objective-C programming language has been
3061integrated into GDB.
3062
e6beb428
AC
3063* New backtrace mechanism (includes DWARF 2 Call Frame Information).
3064
3065DWARF 2's Call Frame Information makes available compiler generated
3066information that more exactly describes the program's run-time stack.
3067By using this information, GDB is able to provide more robust stack
3068backtraces.
3069
3070The i386, amd64 (nee, x86-64), Alpha, m68hc11, ia64, and m32r targets
3071have been updated to use a new backtrace mechanism which includes
3072DWARF 2 CFI support.
3073
3074* Hosted file I/O.
3075
3076GDB's remote protocol has been extended to include support for hosted
3077file I/O (where the remote target uses GDB's file system). See GDB's
3078remote protocol documentation for details.
3079
3080* All targets using the new architecture framework.
3081
3082All of GDB's targets have been updated to use the new internal
3083architecture framework. The way is now open for future GDB releases
3084to include cross-architecture native debugging support (i386 on amd64,
3085ppc32 on ppc64).
3086
3087* GNU/Linux's Thread Local Storage (TLS)
3088
3089GDB now includes support for for the GNU/Linux implementation of
3090per-thread variables.
3091
3092* GNU/Linux's Native POSIX Thread Library (NPTL)
3093
3094GDB's thread code has been updated to work with either the new
3095GNU/Linux NPTL thread library or the older "LinuxThreads" library.
3096
3097* Separate debug info.
3098
3099GDB, in conjunction with BINUTILS, now supports a mechanism for
3100automatically loading debug information from a separate file. Instead
3101of shipping full debug and non-debug versions of system libraries,
3102system integrators can now instead ship just the stripped libraries
3103and optional debug files.
3104
3105* DWARF 2 Location Expressions
3106
3107DWARF 2 Location Expressions allow the compiler to more completely
3108describe the location of variables (even in optimized code) to the
3109debugger.
3110
3111GDB now includes preliminary support for location expressions (support
3112for DW_OP_piece is still missing).
3113
3114* Java
3115
3116A number of long standing bugs that caused GDB to die while starting a
3117Java application have been fixed. GDB's Java support is now
3118considered "useable".
3119
85f8f974
DJ
3120* GNU/Linux support for fork, vfork, and exec.
3121
3122The "catch fork", "catch exec", "catch vfork", and "set follow-fork-mode"
3123commands are now implemented for GNU/Linux. They require a 2.5.x or later
3124kernel.
3125
0fac0b41
DJ
3126* GDB supports logging output to a file
3127
3128There are two new commands, "set logging" and "show logging", which can be
3129used to capture GDB's output to a file.
f2c06f52 3130
6ad8ae5c
DJ
3131* The meaning of "detach" has changed for gdbserver
3132
3133The "detach" command will now resume the application, as documented. To
3134disconnect from gdbserver and leave it stopped, use the new "disconnect"
3135command.
3136
e286caf2 3137* d10v, m68hc11 `regs' command deprecated
5f601589
AC
3138
3139The `info registers' command has been updated so that it displays the
3140registers using a format identical to the old `regs' command.
3141
d28f9cdf
DJ
3142* Profiling support
3143
3144A new command, "maint set profile on/off", has been added. This command can
3145be used to enable or disable profiling while running GDB, to profile a
3146session or a set of commands. In addition there is a new configure switch,
3147"--enable-profiling", which will cause GDB to be compiled with profiling
3148data, for more informative profiling results.
3149
da0f9dcd
AC
3150* Default MI syntax changed to "mi2".
3151
3152The default MI (machine interface) syntax, enabled by the command line
3153option "-i=mi", has been changed to "mi2". The previous MI syntax,
b68767c1 3154"mi1", can be enabled by specifying the option "-i=mi1".
da0f9dcd
AC
3155
3156Support for the original "mi0" syntax (included in GDB 5.0) has been
3157removed.
3158
fb9b6b35
JJ
3159Fix for gdb/192: removed extraneous space when displaying frame level.
3160Fix for gdb/672: update changelist is now output in mi list format.
3161Fix for gdb/702: a -var-assign that updates the value now shows up
3162 in a subsequent -var-update.
3163
954a4db8
MK
3164* New native configurations.
3165
3166FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
3167
6760f9e6
JB
3168* Multi-arched targets.
3169
b4263afa 3170HP/PA HPUX11 hppa*-*-hpux*
85a453d5 3171Renesas M32R/D w/simulator m32r-*-elf*
6760f9e6 3172
1b831c93
AC
3173* OBSOLETE configurations and files
3174
3175Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
3176been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
3177configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
3178permanently REMOVED.
3179
8b0e5691 3180Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
67f16606 3181Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
fd2299bd 3182H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
56056df7
AC
3183HP/PA running BSD hppa*-*-bsd*
3184HP/PA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
3185HP/PA Pro target hppa*-*-pro*
78c43945 3186PMAX (MIPS) running Mach 3.0 mips*-*-mach3*
2fbce691
AC
3187Sequent family i[3456]86-sequent-sysv4*
3188 i[3456]86-sequent-sysv*
3189 i[3456]86-sequent-bsd*
f81824a9
AC
3190Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
3191Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
fd2299bd 3192
5835abe7
NC
3193* REMOVED configurations and files
3194
3195V850EA ISA
1b831c93
AC
3196Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
3197IBM AIX PS/2 i[3456]86-*-aix
3198i386 running Mach 3.0 i[3456]86-*-mach3*
3199i386 running Mach i[3456]86-*-mach*
3200i386 running OSF/1 i[3456]86-*osf1mk*
3201HP/Apollo 68k Family m68*-apollo*-sysv*,
3202 m68*-apollo*-bsd*,
3203 m68*-hp-bsd*, m68*-hp-hpux*
3204Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
3205Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
3206Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
3207OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
3208I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
5835abe7 3209
a094c6fb
AC
3210* MIPS $fp behavior changed
3211
3212The convenience variable $fp, for the MIPS, now consistently returns
3213the address of the current frame's base. Previously, depending on the
3214context, $fp could refer to either $sp or the current frame's base
3215address. See ``8.10 Registers'' in the manual ``Debugging with GDB:
3216The GNU Source-Level Debugger''.
3217
299ffc64 3218*** Changes in GDB 5.3:
37057839 3219
46248966
AC
3220* GNU/Linux shared library multi-threaded performance improved.
3221
3222When debugging a multi-threaded application on GNU/Linux, GDB now uses
3223`/proc', in preference to `ptrace' for memory reads. This may result
3224in an improvement in the start-up time of multi-threaded, shared
3225library applications when run under GDB. One GDB user writes: ``loads
3226shared libs like mad''.
3227
b9d14705 3228* ``gdbserver'' now supports multi-threaded applications on some targets
6da02953 3229
b9d14705
DJ
3230Support for debugging multi-threaded applications which use
3231the GNU/Linux LinuxThreads package has been added for
3232arm*-*-linux*-gnu*, i[3456]86-*-linux*-gnu*, mips*-*-linux*-gnu*,
3233powerpc*-*-linux*-gnu*, and sh*-*-linux*-gnu*.
6da02953 3234
e0e9281e
JB
3235* GDB now supports C/C++ preprocessor macros.
3236
3237GDB now expands preprocessor macro invocations in C/C++ expressions,
3238and provides various commands for showing macro definitions and how
3239they expand.
3240
dd73b9bb
AC
3241The new command `macro expand EXPRESSION' expands any macro
3242invocations in expression, and shows the result.
3243
3244The new command `show macro MACRO-NAME' shows the definition of the
3245macro named MACRO-NAME, and where it was defined.
3246
e0e9281e
JB
3247Most compilers don't include information about macros in the debugging
3248information by default. In GCC 3.1, for example, you need to compile
3249your program with the options `-gdwarf-2 -g3'. If the macro
3250information is present in the executable, GDB will read it.
3251
2250ee0c
CV
3252* Multi-arched targets.
3253
6e3ba3b8
JT
3254DEC Alpha (partial) alpha*-*-*
3255DEC VAX (partial) vax-*-*
2250ee0c 3256NEC V850 v850-*-*
6e3ba3b8 3257National Semiconductor NS32000 (partial) ns32k-*-*
a1789893
GS
3258Motorola 68000 (partial) m68k-*-*
3259Motorola MCORE mcore-*-*
2250ee0c 3260
cd9bfe15 3261* New targets.
e33ce519 3262
456f8b9d
DB
3263Fujitsu FRV architecture added by Red Hat frv*-*-*
3264
e33ce519 3265
da8ca43d
JT
3266* New native configurations
3267
3268Alpha NetBSD alpha*-*-netbsd*
029923d4 3269SH NetBSD sh*-*-netbsdelf*
45888261 3270MIPS NetBSD mips*-*-netbsd*
9ce5c36a 3271UltraSPARC NetBSD sparc64-*-netbsd*
da8ca43d 3272
cd9bfe15
AC
3273* OBSOLETE configurations and files
3274
3275Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
3276been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
3277configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
3278permanently REMOVED.
3279
92eb23c5 3280Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
a99a9e1b 3281OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
1c7cc583 3282IBM AIX PS/2 i[3456]86-*-aix
7a3085c1 3283Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
7fb623f7 3284Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
eb4c54a2 3285Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
d8ee244c
MK
3286i386 running Mach 3.0 i[3456]86-*-mach3*
3287i386 running Mach i[3456]86-*-mach*
3288i386 running OSF/1 i[3456]86-*osf1mk*
822e978b
AC
3289HP/Apollo 68k Family m68*-apollo*-sysv*,
3290 m68*-apollo*-bsd*,
3291 m68*-hp-bsd*, m68*-hp-hpux*
4d210288 3292I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
92eb23c5 3293
db034ac5
AC
3294* OBSOLETE languages
3295
3296CHILL, a Pascal like language used by telecommunications companies.
3297
cd9bfe15
AC
3298* REMOVED configurations and files
3299
3300AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi, udi29k
3301A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
3302AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
3303AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
3304AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
3305
3306testsuite/gdb.hp/gdb.threads-hp/ directory
3307
20f01a46
DH
3308* New command "set max-user-call-depth <nnn>"
3309
3310This command allows the user to limit the call depth of user-defined
3311commands. The default is 1024.
3312
a5941fbf
MK
3313* Changes in FreeBSD/i386 native debugging.
3314
3315Support for the "generate-core-file" has been added.
3316
89743e04
MS
3317* New commands "dump", "append", and "restore".
3318
3319These commands allow data to be copied from target memory
3320to a bfd-format or binary file (dump and append), and back
3321from a file into memory (restore).
37057839 3322
9fb14e79
JB
3323* Improved "next/step" support on multi-processor Alpha Tru64.
3324
3325The previous single-step mechanism could cause unpredictable problems,
3326including the random appearance of SIGSEGV or SIGTRAP signals. The use
3327of a software single-step mechanism prevents this.
3328
2037aebb
AC
3329*** Changes in GDB 5.2.1:
3330
3331* New targets.
3332
3333Atmel AVR avr*-*-*
3334
3335* Bug fixes
3336
3337gdb/182: gdb/323: gdb/237: On alpha, gdb was reporting:
3338mdebugread.c:2443: gdb-internal-error: sect_index_data not initialized
3339Fix, by Joel Brobecker imported from mainline.
3340
3341gdb/439: gdb/291: On some ELF object files, gdb was reporting:
3342dwarf2read.c:1072: gdb-internal-error: sect_index_text not initialize
3343Fix, by Fred Fish, imported from mainline.
3344
3345Dwarf2 .debug_frame & .eh_frame handler improved in many ways.
3346Surprisingly enough, it works now.
3347By Michal Ludvig, imported from mainline.
3348
3349i386 hardware watchpoint support:
3350avoid misses on second run for some targets.
3351By Pierre Muller, imported from mainline.
3352
37057839 3353*** Changes in GDB 5.2:
eb7cedd9 3354
1a703748
MS
3355* New command "set trust-readonly-sections on[off]".
3356
3357This command is a hint that tells gdb that read-only sections
3358really are read-only (ie. that their contents will not change).
3359In this mode, gdb will go to the object file rather than the
3360target to read memory from read-only sections (such as ".text").
3361This can be a significant performance improvement on some
3362(notably embedded) targets.
3363
cefd4ef5
MS
3364* New command "generate-core-file" (or "gcore").
3365
55241689
AC
3366This new gdb command allows the user to drop a core file of the child
3367process state at any time. So far it's been implemented only for
3368GNU/Linux and Solaris, but should be relatively easily ported to other
3369hosts. Argument is core file name (defaults to core.<pid>).
cefd4ef5 3370
352ed7b4
MS
3371* New command line option
3372
3373GDB now accepts --pid or -p followed by a process id.
3374
3375* Change in command line behavior -- corefiles vs. process ids.
3376
3377There is a subtle behavior in the way in which GDB handles
3378command line arguments. The first non-flag argument is always
3379a program to debug, but the second non-flag argument may either
3380be a corefile or a process id. Previously, GDB would attempt to
3381open the second argument as a corefile, and if that failed, would
3382issue a superfluous error message and then attempt to attach it as
3383a process. Now, if the second argument begins with a non-digit,
3384it will be treated as a corefile. If it begins with a digit,
3385GDB will attempt to attach it as a process, and if no such process
3386is found, will then attempt to open it as a corefile.
3387
fe419ffc
RE
3388* Changes in ARM configurations.
3389
3390Multi-arch support is enabled for all ARM configurations. The ARM/NetBSD
3391configuration is fully multi-arch.
3392
eb7cedd9
MK
3393* New native configurations
3394
fe419ffc 3395ARM NetBSD arm*-*-netbsd*
eb7cedd9 3396x86 OpenBSD i[3456]86-*-openbsd*
55241689 3397AMD x86-64 running GNU/Linux x86_64-*-linux-*
768f0842 3398Sparc64 running FreeBSD sparc64-*-freebsd*
eb7cedd9 3399
c9f63e6b
CV
3400* New targets
3401
3402Sanyo XStormy16 xstormy16-elf
3403
9b4ff276
AC
3404* OBSOLETE configurations and files
3405
3406Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
3407been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
3408configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
3409permanently REMOVED.
3410
3411AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi, udi29k
3412A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
3413AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
3414AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
3415AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
3416
b4ceaee6 3417testsuite/gdb.hp/gdb.threads-hp/ directory
9b4ff276 3418
e2caac18
AC
3419* REMOVED configurations and files
3420
3421TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
7bc65f05 3422WDC 65816 w65-*-*
7768dd6c
AC
3423PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
3424PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
3425PowerPC Netware powerpc-*-netware*
5e734e1f 3426Harris/CXUX m88k m88*-harris-cxux*
1406caf7
AC
3427Most ns32k hosts and targets ns32k-*-mach3* ns32k-umax-*
3428 ns32k-utek-sysv* ns32k-utek-*
7e24f0b1 3429SunOS 4.0.Xi on i386 i[3456]86-*-sunos*
9b567150 3430Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1 a29k-nyu-sym1 a29k-*-kern*
3680c638
AC
3431Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x m68*-sony-sysv news
3432ISI Optimum V (3.05) under 4.3bsd. m68*-isi-*
a752853e 3433Apple Macintosh (MPW) host and target N/A host, powerpc-*-macos*
e2caac18 3434
c2a727fa
TT
3435* Changes to command line processing
3436
3437The new `--args' feature can be used to specify command-line arguments
3438for the inferior from gdb's command line.
3439
467d8519
TT
3440* Changes to key bindings
3441
3442There is a new `operate-and-get-next' function bound to `C-o'.
3443
7072a954
AC
3444*** Changes in GDB 5.1.1
3445
3446Fix compile problem on DJGPP.
3447
3448Fix a problem with floating-point registers on the i386 being
3449corrupted.
3450
3451Fix to stop GDB crashing on .debug_str debug info.
3452
3453Numerous documentation fixes.
3454
3455Numerous testsuite fixes.
3456
34f47bc4 3457*** Changes in GDB 5.1:
139760b7
MK
3458
3459* New native configurations
3460
3461Alpha FreeBSD alpha*-*-freebsd*
3462x86 FreeBSD 3.x and 4.x i[3456]86*-freebsd[34]*
55241689 3463MIPS GNU/Linux mips*-*-linux*
e23194cb
EZ
3464MIPS SGI Irix 6.x mips*-sgi-irix6*
3465ia64 AIX ia64-*-aix*
55241689 3466s390 and s390x GNU/Linux {s390,s390x}-*-linux*
139760b7 3467
bf64bfd6
AC
3468* New targets
3469
def90278 3470Motorola 68HC11 and 68HC12 m68hc11-elf
24be5c34 3471CRIS cris-axis
55241689 3472UltraSparc running GNU/Linux sparc64-*-linux*
def90278 3473
17e78a56 3474* OBSOLETE configurations and files
bf64bfd6
AC
3475
3476x86 FreeBSD before 2.2 i[3456]86*-freebsd{1,2.[01]}*,
9b9c068d 3477Harris/CXUX m88k m88*-harris-cxux*
bb19ff3b
AC
3478Most ns32k hosts and targets ns32k-*-mach3* ns32k-umax-*
3479 ns32k-utek-sysv* ns32k-utek-*
76f4ea53
AC
3480TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
3481WDC 65816 w65-*-*
4a1968f4 3482Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1 a29k-nyu-sym1 a29k-*-kern*
1b2b2c16
AC
3483PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
3484PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
3485PowerPC Netware powerpc-*-netware*
24f89b68 3486SunOS 4.0.Xi on i386 i[3456]86-*-sunos*
514e603d
AC
3487Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x m68*-sony-sysv news
3488ISI Optimum V (3.05) under 4.3bsd. m68*-isi-*
d036b4d9 3489Apple Macintosh (MPW) host N/A
bf64bfd6 3490
17e78a56
AC
3491stuff.c (Program to stuff files into a specially prepared space in kdb)
3492kdb-start.c (Main loop for the standalone kernel debugger)
3493
7fcca85b
AC
3494Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
3495been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
3496configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
3497permanently REMOVED.
3498
a196c81c 3499* REMOVED configurations and files
7fcca85b
AC
3500
3501Altos 3068 m68*-altos-*
3502Convex c1-*-*, c2-*-*
3503Pyramid pyramid-*-*
3504ARM RISCix arm-*-* (as host)
3505Tahoe tahoe-*-*
a196c81c 3506ser-ocd.c *-*-*
bf64bfd6 3507
6d6b80e5 3508* GDB has been converted to ISO C.
e23194cb 3509
6d6b80e5 3510GDB's source code has been converted to ISO C. In particular, the
e23194cb
EZ
3511sources are fully protoized, and rely on standard headers being
3512present.
3513
bf64bfd6
AC
3514* Other news:
3515
e23194cb
EZ
3516* "info symbol" works on platforms which use COFF, ECOFF, XCOFF, and NLM.
3517
3518* The MI enabled by default.
3519
3520The new machine oriented interface (MI) introduced in GDB 5.0 has been
3521revised and enabled by default. Packages which use GDB as a debugging
3522engine behind a UI or another front end are encouraged to switch to
3523using the GDB/MI interface, instead of the old annotations interface
3524which is now deprecated.
3525
3526* Support for debugging Pascal programs.
3527
3528GDB now includes support for debugging Pascal programs. The following
3529main features are supported:
3530
3531 - Pascal-specific data types such as sets;
3532
3533 - automatic recognition of Pascal sources based on file-name
3534 extension;
3535
3536 - Pascal-style display of data types, variables, and functions;
3537
3538 - a Pascal expression parser.
3539
3540However, some important features are not yet supported.
3541
3542 - Pascal string operations are not supported at all;
3543
3544 - there are some problems with boolean types;
3545
3546 - Pascal type hexadecimal constants are not supported
3547 because they conflict with the internal variables format;
3548
3549 - support for Pascal objects and classes is not full yet;
3550
3551 - unlike Pascal, GDB is case-sensitive for symbol names.
3552
3553* Changes in completion.
3554
3555Commands such as `shell', `run' and `set args', which pass arguments
3556to inferior programs, now complete on file names, similar to what
3557users expect at the shell prompt.
3558
3559Commands which accept locations, such as `disassemble', `print',
3560`breakpoint', `until', etc. now complete on filenames as well as
3561program symbols. Thus, if you type "break foob TAB", and the source
3562files linked into the programs include `foobar.c', that file name will
3563be one of the candidates for completion. However, file names are not
3564considered for completion after you typed a colon that delimits a file
3565name from a name of a function in that file, as in "break foo.c:bar".
3566
3567`set demangle-style' completes on available demangling styles.
3568
3569* New platform-independent commands:
3570
3571It is now possible to define a post-hook for a command as well as a
3572hook that runs before the command. For more details, see the
3573documentation of `hookpost' in the GDB manual.
3574
3575* Changes in GNU/Linux native debugging.
3576
d7275149
MK
3577Support for debugging multi-threaded programs has been completely
3578revised for all platforms except m68k and sparc. You can now debug as
3579many threads as your system allows you to have.
3580
e23194cb
EZ
3581Attach/detach is supported for multi-threaded programs.
3582
d7275149
MK
3583Support for SSE registers was added for x86. This doesn't work for
3584multi-threaded programs though.
e23194cb
EZ
3585
3586* Changes in MIPS configurations.
bf64bfd6
AC
3587
3588Multi-arch support is enabled for all MIPS configurations.
3589
e23194cb
EZ
3590GDB can now be built as native debugger on SGI Irix 6.x systems for
3591debugging n32 executables. (Debugging 64-bit executables is not yet
3592supported.)
3593
3594* Unified support for hardware watchpoints in all x86 configurations.
3595
3596Most (if not all) native x86 configurations support hardware-assisted
3597breakpoints and watchpoints in a unified manner. This support
3598implements debug register sharing between watchpoints, which allows to
3599put a virtually infinite number of watchpoints on the same address,
3600and also supports watching regions up to 16 bytes with several debug
3601registers.
3602
3603The new maintenance command `maintenance show-debug-regs' toggles
3604debugging print-outs in functions that insert, remove, and test
3605watchpoints and hardware breakpoints.
3606
3607* Changes in the DJGPP native configuration.
3608
3609New command ``info dos sysinfo'' displays assorted information about
3610the CPU, OS, memory, and DPMI server.
3611
3612New commands ``info dos gdt'', ``info dos ldt'', and ``info dos idt''
3613display information about segment descriptors stored in GDT, LDT, and
3614IDT.
3615
3616New commands ``info dos pde'' and ``info dos pte'' display entries
3617from Page Directory and Page Tables (for now works with CWSDPMI only).
3618New command ``info dos address-pte'' displays the Page Table entry for
3619a given linear address.
3620
3621GDB can now pass command lines longer than 126 characters to the
3622program being debugged (requires an update to the libdbg.a library
3623which is part of the DJGPP development kit).
3624
3625DWARF2 debug info is now supported.
3626
6c56c069
EZ
3627It is now possible to `step' and `next' through calls to `longjmp'.
3628
e23194cb
EZ
3629* Changes in documentation.
3630
3631All GDB documentation was converted to GFDL, the GNU Free
3632Documentation License.
3633
3634Tracepoints-related commands are now fully documented in the GDB
3635manual.
3636
3637TUI, the Text-mode User Interface, is now documented in the manual.
3638
3639Tracepoints-related commands are now fully documented in the GDB
3640manual.
3641
3642The "GDB Internals" manual now has an index. It also includes
3643documentation of `ui_out' functions, GDB coding standards, x86
3644hardware watchpoints, and memory region attributes.
3645
5d6640b1
AC
3646* GDB's version number moved to ``version.in''
3647
3648The Makefile variable VERSION has been replaced by the file
3649``version.in''. People creating GDB distributions should update the
3650contents of this file.
3651
1a1d8446
AC
3652* gdba.el deleted
3653
3654GUD support is now a standard part of the EMACS distribution.
139760b7 3655
9debab2f 3656*** Changes in GDB 5.0:
7a292a7a 3657
c63ce875
EZ
3658* Improved support for debugging FP programs on x86 targets
3659
3660Unified and much-improved support for debugging floating-point
3661programs on all x86 targets. In particular, ``info float'' now
3662displays the FP registers in the same format on all x86 targets, with
3663greater level of detail.
3664
3665* Improvements and bugfixes in hardware-assisted watchpoints
3666
3667It is now possible to watch array elements, struct members, and
3668bitfields with hardware-assisted watchpoints. Data-read watchpoints
3669on x86 targets no longer erroneously trigger when the address is
3670written.
3671
3672* Improvements in the native DJGPP version of GDB
3673
3674The distribution now includes all the scripts and auxiliary files
3675necessary to build the native DJGPP version on MS-DOS/MS-Windows
3676machines ``out of the box''.
3677
3678The DJGPP version can now debug programs that use signals. It is
3679possible to catch signals that happened in the debuggee, deliver
3680signals to it, interrupt it with Ctrl-C, etc. (Previously, a signal
3681would kill the program being debugged.) Programs that hook hardware
3682interrupts (keyboard, timer, etc.) can also be debugged.
3683
3684It is now possible to debug DJGPP programs that redirect their
3685standard handles or switch them to raw (as opposed to cooked) mode, or
3686even close them. The command ``run < foo > bar'' works as expected,
3687and ``info terminal'' reports useful information about the debuggee's
3688terminal, including raw/cooked mode, redirection, etc.
3689
3690The DJGPP version now uses termios functions for console I/O, which
3691enables debugging graphics programs. Interrupting GDB with Ctrl-C
3692also works.
3693
3694DOS-style file names with drive letters are now fully supported by
3695GDB.
3696
3697It is now possible to debug DJGPP programs that switch their working
3698directory. It is also possible to rerun the debuggee any number of
3699times without restarting GDB; thus, you can use the same setup,
3700breakpoints, etc. for many debugging sessions.
3701
ed9a39eb
JM
3702* New native configurations
3703
3704ARM GNU/Linux arm*-*-linux*
afc05dd4 3705PowerPC GNU/Linux powerpc-*-linux*
ed9a39eb 3706
7a292a7a
SS
3707* New targets
3708
96baa820 3709Motorola MCore mcore-*-*
adf40b2e
JM
3710x86 VxWorks i[3456]86-*-vxworks*
3711PowerPC VxWorks powerpc-*-vxworks*
7a292a7a
SS
3712TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
3713
085dd6e6
JM
3714* OBSOLETE configurations
3715
3716Altos 3068 m68*-altos-*
3717Convex c1-*-*, c2-*-*
9846de1b 3718Pyramid pyramid-*-*
ed9a39eb 3719ARM RISCix arm-*-* (as host)
104c1213 3720Tahoe tahoe-*-*
7a292a7a 3721
9debab2f
AC
3722Configurations that have been declared obsolete will be commented out,
3723but the code will be left in place. If there is no activity to revive
3724these configurations before the next release of GDB, the sources will
3725be permanently REMOVED.
3726
5330533d
SS
3727* Gould support removed
3728
3729Support for the Gould PowerNode and NP1 has been removed.
3730
bc9e5bbf
AC
3731* New features for SVR4
3732
3733On SVR4 native platforms (such as Solaris), if you attach to a process
3734without first loading a symbol file, GDB will now attempt to locate and
3735load symbols from the running process's executable file.
3736
3737* Many C++ enhancements
3738
3739C++ support has been greatly improved. Overload resolution now works properly
3740in almost all cases. RTTI support is on the way.
3741
adf40b2e
JM
3742* Remote targets can connect to a sub-program
3743
3744A popen(3) style serial-device has been added. This device starts a
3745sub-process (such as a stand-alone simulator) and then communicates
3746with that. The sub-program to run is specified using the syntax
3747``|<program> <args>'' vis:
3748
3749 (gdb) set remotedebug 1
3750 (gdb) target extended-remote |mn10300-elf-sim program-args
3751
43e526b9
JM
3752* MIPS 64 remote protocol
3753
3754A long standing bug in the mips64 remote protocol where by GDB
3755expected certain 32 bit registers (ex SR) to be transfered as 32
3756instead of 64 bits has been fixed.
3757
3758The command ``set remote-mips64-transfers-32bit-regs on'' has been
3759added to provide backward compatibility with older versions of GDB.
3760
96baa820
JM
3761* ``set remotebinarydownload'' replaced by ``set remote X-packet''
3762
3763The command ``set remotebinarydownload'' command has been replaced by
3764``set remote X-packet''. Other commands in ``set remote'' family
3765include ``set remote P-packet''.
3766
11cf8741
JM
3767* Breakpoint commands accept ranges.
3768
3769The breakpoint commands ``enable'', ``disable'', and ``delete'' now
3770accept a range of breakpoints, e.g. ``5-7''. The tracepoint command
3771``tracepoint passcount'' also accepts a range of tracepoints.
3772
7876dd43
DB
3773* ``apropos'' command added.
3774
3775The ``apropos'' command searches through command names and
3776documentation strings, printing out matches, making it much easier to
3777try to find a command that does what you are looking for.
3778
bc9e5bbf
AC
3779* New MI interface
3780
3781A new machine oriented interface (MI) has been added to GDB. This
3782interface is designed for debug environments running GDB as a separate
7162c0ca
EZ
3783process. This is part of the long term libGDB project. See the
3784"GDB/MI" chapter of the GDB manual for further information. It can be
3785enabled by configuring with:
bc9e5bbf
AC
3786
3787 .../configure --enable-gdbmi
3788
c906108c
SS
3789*** Changes in GDB-4.18:
3790
3791* New native configurations
3792
3793HP-UX 10.20 hppa*-*-hpux10.20
3794HP-UX 11.x hppa*-*-hpux11.0*
55241689 3795M68K GNU/Linux m68*-*-linux*
c906108c
SS
3796
3797* New targets
3798
3799Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
3800Intel StrongARM strongarm-*-*
3801Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
3802
3803* OBSOLETE configurations
3804
3805Gould PowerNode, NP1 np1-*-*, pn-*-*
3806
3807Configurations that have been declared obsolete will be commented out,
3808but the code will be left in place. If there is no activity to revive
3809these configurations before the next release of GDB, the sources will
3810be permanently REMOVED.
3811
3812* ANSI/ISO C
3813
3814As a compatibility experiment, GDB's source files buildsym.h and
3815buildsym.c have been converted to pure standard C, no longer
3816containing any K&R compatibility code. We believe that all systems in
3817use today either come with a standard C compiler, or have a GCC port
3818available. If this is not true, please report the affected
3819configuration to bug-gdb@gnu.org immediately. See the README file for
3820information about getting a standard C compiler if you don't have one
3821already.
3822
3823* Readline 2.2
3824
3825GDB now uses readline 2.2.
3826
3827* set extension-language
3828
3829You can now control the mapping between filename extensions and source
3830languages by using the `set extension-language' command. For instance,
3831you can ask GDB to treat .c files as C++ by saying
3832 set extension-language .c c++
3833The command `info extensions' lists all of the recognized extensions
3834and their associated languages.
3835
3836* Setting processor type for PowerPC and RS/6000
3837
3838When GDB is configured for a powerpc*-*-* or an rs6000*-*-* target,
3839you can use the `set processor' command to specify what variant of the
3840PowerPC family you are debugging. The command
3841
3842 set processor NAME
3843
3844sets the PowerPC/RS6000 variant to NAME. GDB knows about the
3845following PowerPC and RS6000 variants:
3846
3847 ppc-uisa PowerPC UISA - a PPC processor as viewed by user-level code
3848 rs6000 IBM RS6000 ("POWER") architecture, user-level view
3849 403 IBM PowerPC 403
3850 403GC IBM PowerPC 403GC
3851 505 Motorola PowerPC 505
3852 860 Motorola PowerPC 860 or 850
3853 601 Motorola PowerPC 601
3854 602 Motorola PowerPC 602
3855 603 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 603 or 603e
3856 604 Motorola PowerPC 604 or 604e
3857 750 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 750 or 750
3858
3859At the moment, this command just tells GDB what to name the
3860special-purpose processor registers. Since almost all the affected
3861registers are inaccessible to user-level programs, this command is
3862only useful for remote debugging in its present form.
3863
3864* HP-UX support
3865
3866Thanks to a major code donation from Hewlett-Packard, GDB now has much
3867more extensive support for HP-UX. Added features include shared
3868library support, kernel threads and hardware watchpoints for 11.00,
3869support for HP's ANSI C and C++ compilers, and a compatibility mode
3870for xdb and dbx commands.
3871
3872* Catchpoints
3873
3874HP's donation includes the new concept of catchpoints, which is a
3875generalization of the old catch command. On HP-UX, it is now possible
3876to catch exec, fork, and vfork, as well as library loading.
3877
3878This means that the existing catch command has changed; its first
3879argument now specifies the type of catch to be set up. See the
3880output of "help catch" for a list of catchpoint types.
3881
3882* Debugging across forks
3883
3884On HP-UX, you can choose which process to debug when a fork() happens
3885in the inferior.
3886
3887* TUI
3888
3889HP has donated a curses-based terminal user interface (TUI). To get
3890it, build with --enable-tui. Although this can be enabled for any
3891configuration, at present it only works for native HP debugging.
3892
3893* GDB remote protocol additions
3894
3895A new protocol packet 'X' that writes binary data is now available.
3896Default behavior is to try 'X', then drop back to 'M' if the stub
3897fails to respond. The settable variable `remotebinarydownload'
3898allows explicit control over the use of 'X'.
3899
3900For 64-bit targets, the memory packets ('M' and 'm') can now contain a
3901full 64-bit address. The command
3902
3903 set remoteaddresssize 32
3904
3905can be used to revert to the old behaviour. For existing remote stubs
3906the change should not be noticed, as the additional address information
3907will be discarded.
3908
3909In order to assist in debugging stubs, you may use the maintenance
3910command `packet' to send any text string to the stub. For instance,
3911
3912 maint packet heythere
3913
3914sends the packet "$heythere#<checksum>". Note that it is very easy to
3915disrupt a debugging session by sending the wrong packet at the wrong
3916time.
3917
3918The compare-sections command allows you to compare section data on the
3919target to what is in the executable file without uploading or
3920downloading, by comparing CRC checksums.
3921
3922* Tracing can collect general expressions
3923
3924You may now collect general expressions at tracepoints. This requires
3925further additions to the target-side stub; see tracepoint.c and
3926doc/agentexpr.texi for further details.
3927
3928* mask-address variable for Mips
3929
3930For Mips targets, you may control the zeroing of the upper 32 bits of
3931a 64-bit address by entering `set mask-address on'. This is mainly
3932of interest to users of embedded R4xxx and R5xxx processors.
3933
3934* Higher serial baud rates
3935
3936GDB's serial code now allows you to specify baud rates 57600, 115200,
3937230400, and 460800 baud. (Note that your host system may not be able
3938to achieve all of these rates.)
3939
3940* i960 simulator
3941
3942The i960 configuration now includes an initial implementation of a
3943builtin simulator, contributed by Jim Wilson.
3944
3945
3946*** Changes in GDB-4.17:
3947
3948* New native configurations
3949
3950Alpha GNU/Linux alpha*-*-linux*
3951Unixware 2.x i[3456]86-unixware2*
3952Irix 6.x mips*-sgi-irix6*
3953PowerPC GNU/Linux powerpc-*-linux*
3954PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
3955Sparc GNU/Linux sparc-*-linux*
3956Motorola sysV68 R3V7.1 m68k-motorola-sysv
3957
3958* New targets
3959
3960Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
3961Hitachi H8/300S h8300*-*-*
3962Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
3963Matsushita MN10300 w/simulator mn10300-*-*
3964MIPS NEC VR4100 mips64*vr4100*{,el}-*-elf*
3965MIPS NEC VR5000 mips64*vr5000*{,el}-*-elf*
3966MIPS Toshiba TX39 mips64*tx39*{,el}-*-elf*
3967Mitsubishi D10V w/simulator d10v-*-*
3968Mitsubishi M32R/D w/simulator m32r-*-elf*
3969Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
3970NEC V850 w/simulator v850-*-*
3971
3972* New debugging protocols
3973
3974ARM with RDI protocol arm*-*-*
3975M68K with dBUG monitor m68*-*-{aout,coff,elf}
3976DDB and LSI variants of PMON protocol mips*-*-*
3977PowerPC with DINK32 monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
3978PowerPC with SDS protocol powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
3979Macraigor OCD (Wiggler) devices powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
3980
3981* DWARF 2
3982
3983All configurations can now understand and use the DWARF 2 debugging
3984format. The choice is automatic, if the symbol file contains DWARF 2
3985information.
3986
3987* Java frontend
3988
3989GDB now includes basic Java language support. This support is
3990only useful with Java compilers that produce native machine code.
3991
3992* solib-absolute-prefix and solib-search-path
3993
3994For SunOS and SVR4 shared libraries, you may now set the prefix for
3995loading absolute shared library symbol files, and the search path for
3996locating non-absolute shared library symbol files.
3997
3998* Live range splitting
3999
4000GDB can now effectively debug code for which GCC has performed live
4001range splitting as part of its optimization. See gdb/doc/LRS for
4002more details on the expected format of the stabs information.
4003
4004* Hurd support
4005
4006GDB's support for the GNU Hurd, including thread debugging, has been
4007updated to work with current versions of the Hurd.
4008
4009* ARM Thumb support
4010
4011GDB's ARM target configuration now handles the ARM7T (Thumb) 16-bit
4012instruction set. ARM GDB automatically detects when Thumb
4013instructions are in use, and adjusts disassembly and backtracing
4014accordingly.
4015
4016* MIPS16 support
4017
4018GDB's MIPS target configurations now handle the MIP16 16-bit
4019instruction set.
4020
4021* Overlay support
4022
4023GDB now includes support for overlays; if an executable has been
4024linked such that multiple sections are based at the same address, GDB
4025will decide which section to use for symbolic info. You can choose to
4026control the decision manually, using overlay commands, or implement
4027additional target-side support and use "overlay load-target" to bring
4028in the overlay mapping. Do "help overlay" for more detail.
4029
4030* info symbol
4031
4032The command "info symbol <address>" displays information about
4033the symbol at the specified address.
4034
4035* Trace support
4036
4037The standard remote protocol now includes an extension that allows
4038asynchronous collection and display of trace data. This requires
4039extensive support in the target-side debugging stub. Tracing mode
4040includes a new interaction mode in GDB and new commands: see the
4041file tracepoint.c for more details.
4042
4043* MIPS simulator
4044
4045Configurations for embedded MIPS now include a simulator contributed
4046by Cygnus Solutions. The simulator supports the instruction sets
4047of most MIPS variants.
4048
4049* Sparc simulator
4050
4051Sparc configurations may now include the ERC32 simulator contributed
4052by the European Space Agency. The simulator is not built into
4053Sparc targets by default; configure with --enable-sim to include it.
4054
4055* set architecture
4056
4057For target configurations that may include multiple variants of a
4058basic architecture (such as MIPS and SH), you may now set the
4059architecture explicitly. "set arch" sets, "info arch" lists
4060the possible architectures.
4061
4062*** Changes in GDB-4.16:
4063
4064* New native configurations
4065
4066Windows 95, x86 Windows NT i[345]86-*-cygwin32
4067M68K NetBSD m68k-*-netbsd*
4068PowerPC AIX 4.x powerpc-*-aix*
4069PowerPC MacOS powerpc-*-macos*
4070PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
4071RS/6000 AIX 4.x rs6000-*-aix4*
4072
4073* New targets
4074
4075ARM with RDP protocol arm-*-*
4076I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
4077MIPS VxWorks mips*-*-vxworks*
4078MIPS VR4300 with PMON mips64*vr4300{,el}-*-elf*
4079PowerPC with PPCBUG monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi*
4080Hitachi SH3 sh-*-*
4081Matra Sparclet sparclet-*-*
4082
4083* PowerPC simulator
4084
4085The powerpc-eabi configuration now includes the PSIM simulator,
4086contributed by Andrew Cagney, with assistance from Mike Meissner.
4087PSIM is a very elaborate model of the PowerPC, including not only
4088basic instruction set execution, but also details of execution unit
4089performance and I/O hardware. See sim/ppc/README for more details.
4090
4091* Solaris 2.5
4092
4093GDB now works with Solaris 2.5.
4094
4095* Windows 95/NT native
4096
4097GDB will now work as a native debugger on Windows 95 and Windows NT.
4098To build it from source, you must use the "gnu-win32" environment,
4099which uses a DLL to emulate enough of Unix to run the GNU tools.
4100Further information, binaries, and sources are available at
4101ftp.cygnus.com, under pub/gnu-win32.
4102
4103* dont-repeat command
4104
4105If a user-defined command includes the command `dont-repeat', then the
4106command will not be repeated if the user just types return. This is
4107useful if the command is time-consuming to run, so that accidental
4108extra keystrokes don't run the same command many times.
4109
4110* Send break instead of ^C
4111
4112The standard remote protocol now includes an option to send a break
4113rather than a ^C to the target in order to interrupt it. By default,
4114GDB will send ^C; to send a break, set the variable `remotebreak' to 1.
4115
4116* Remote protocol timeout
4117
4118The standard remote protocol includes a new variable `remotetimeout'
4119that allows you to set the number of seconds before GDB gives up trying
4120to read from the target. The default value is 2.
4121
4122* Automatic tracking of dynamic object loading (HPUX and Solaris only)
4123
4124By default GDB will automatically keep track of objects as they are
4125loaded and unloaded by the dynamic linker. By using the command `set
4126stop-on-solib-events 1' you can arrange for GDB to stop the inferior
4127when shared library events occur, thus allowing you to set breakpoints
4128in shared libraries which are explicitly loaded by the inferior.
4129
4130Note this feature does not work on hpux8. On hpux9 you must link
4131/usr/lib/end.o into your program. This feature should work
4132automatically on hpux10.
4133
4134* Irix 5.x hardware watchpoint support
4135
4136Irix 5 configurations now support the use of hardware watchpoints.
4137
4138* Mips protocol "SYN garbage limit"
4139
4140When debugging a Mips target using the `target mips' protocol, you
4141may set the number of characters that GDB will ignore by setting
4142the `syn-garbage-limit'. A value of -1 means that GDB will ignore
4143every character. The default value is 1050.
4144
4145* Recording and replaying remote debug sessions
4146
4147If you set `remotelogfile' to the name of a file, gdb will write to it
4148a recording of a remote debug session. This recording may then be
4149replayed back to gdb using "gdbreplay". See gdbserver/README for
4150details. This is useful when you have a problem with GDB while doing
4151remote debugging; you can make a recording of the session and send it
4152to someone else, who can then recreate the problem.
4153
4154* Speedups for remote debugging
4155
4156GDB includes speedups for downloading and stepping MIPS systems using
4157the IDT monitor, fast downloads to the Hitachi SH E7000 emulator,
4158and more efficient S-record downloading.
4159
4160* Memory use reductions and statistics collection
4161
4162GDB now uses less memory and reports statistics about memory usage.
4163Try the `maint print statistics' command, for example.
4164
4165*** Changes in GDB-4.15:
4166
4167* Psymtabs for XCOFF
4168
4169The symbol reader for AIX GDB now uses partial symbol tables. This
4170can greatly improve startup time, especially for large executables.
4171
4172* Remote targets use caching
4173
4174Remote targets now use a data cache to speed up communication with the
4175remote side. The data cache could lead to incorrect results because
4176it doesn't know about volatile variables, thus making it impossible to
4177debug targets which use memory mapped I/O devices. `set remotecache
4178off' turns the the data cache off.
4179
4180* Remote targets may have threads
4181
4182The standard remote protocol now includes support for multiple threads
4183in the target system, using new protocol commands 'H' and 'T'. See
4184gdb/remote.c for details.
4185
4186* NetROM support
4187
4188If GDB is configured with `--enable-netrom', then it will include
4189support for the NetROM ROM emulator from XLNT Designs. The NetROM
4190acts as though it is a bank of ROM on the target board, but you can
4191write into it over the network. GDB's support consists only of
4192support for fast loading into the emulated ROM; to debug, you must use
4193another protocol, such as standard remote protocol. The usual
4194sequence is something like
4195
4196 target nrom <netrom-hostname>
4197 load <prog>
4198 target remote <netrom-hostname>:1235
4199
4200* Macintosh host
4201
4202GDB now includes support for the Apple Macintosh, as a host only. It
4203may be run as either an MPW tool or as a standalone application, and
4204it can debug through the serial port. All the usual GDB commands are
4205available, but to the target command, you must supply "serial" as the
4206device type instead of "/dev/ttyXX". See mpw-README in the main
4207directory for more information on how to build. The MPW configuration
4208scripts */mpw-config.in support only a few targets, and only the
4209mips-idt-ecoff target has been tested.
4210
4211* Autoconf
4212
4213GDB configuration now uses autoconf. This is not user-visible,
4214but does simplify configuration and building.
4215
4216* hpux10
4217
4218GDB now supports hpux10.
4219
4220*** Changes in GDB-4.14:
4221
4222* New native configurations
4223
4224x86 FreeBSD i[345]86-*-freebsd
4225x86 NetBSD i[345]86-*-netbsd
4226NS32k NetBSD ns32k-*-netbsd
4227Sparc NetBSD sparc-*-netbsd
4228
4229* New targets
4230
4231A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
4232HP PA PRO embedded (WinBond W89K & Oki OP50N) hppa*-*-pro*
4233CPU32 EST-300 emulator m68*-*-est*
4234PowerPC ELF powerpc-*-elf
4235WDC 65816 w65-*-*
4236
4237* Alpha OSF/1 support for procfs
4238
4239GDB now supports procfs under OSF/1-2.x and higher, which makes it
4240possible to attach to running processes. As the mounting of the /proc
4241filesystem is optional on the Alpha, GDB automatically determines
4242the availability of /proc during startup. This can lead to problems
4243if /proc is unmounted after GDB has been started.
4244
4245* Arguments to user-defined commands
4246
4247User commands may accept up to 10 arguments separated by whitespace.
4248Arguments are accessed within the user command via $arg0..$arg9. A
4249trivial example:
4250define adder
4251 print $arg0 + $arg1 + $arg2
4252
4253To execute the command use:
4254adder 1 2 3
4255
4256Defines the command "adder" which prints the sum of its three arguments.
4257Note the arguments are text substitutions, so they may reference variables,
4258use complex expressions, or even perform inferior function calls.
4259
4260* New `if' and `while' commands
4261
4262This makes it possible to write more sophisticated user-defined
4263commands. Both commands take a single argument, which is the
4264expression to evaluate, and must be followed by the commands to
4265execute, one per line, if the expression is nonzero, the list being
4266terminated by the word `end'. The `if' command list may include an
4267`else' word, which causes the following commands to be executed only
4268if the expression is zero.
4269
4270* Fortran source language mode
4271
4272GDB now includes partial support for Fortran 77. It will recognize
4273Fortran programs and can evaluate a subset of Fortran expressions, but
4274variables and functions may not be handled correctly. GDB will work
4275with G77, but does not yet know much about symbols emitted by other
4276Fortran compilers.
4277
4278* Better HPUX support
4279
4280Most debugging facilities now work on dynamic executables for HPPAs
4281running hpux9 or later. You can attach to running dynamically linked
4282processes, but by default the dynamic libraries will be read-only, so
4283for instance you won't be able to put breakpoints in them. To change
4284that behavior do the following before running the program:
4285
4286 adb -w a.out
4287 __dld_flags?W 0x5
4288 control-d
4289
4290This will cause the libraries to be mapped private and read-write.
4291To revert to the normal behavior, do this:
4292
4293 adb -w a.out
4294 __dld_flags?W 0x4
4295 control-d
4296
4297You cannot set breakpoints or examine data in the library until after
4298the library is loaded if the function/data symbols do not have
4299external linkage.
4300
4301GDB can now also read debug symbols produced by the HP C compiler on
4302HPPAs (sorry, no C++, Fortran or 68k support).
4303
4304* Target byte order now dynamically selectable
4305
4306You can choose which byte order to use with a target system, via the
4307commands "set endian big" and "set endian little", and you can see the
4308current setting by using "show endian". You can also give the command
4309"set endian auto", in which case GDB will use the byte order
4310associated with the executable. Currently, only embedded MIPS
4311configurations support dynamic selection of target byte order.
4312
4313* New DOS host serial code
4314
4315This version uses DPMI interrupts to handle buffered I/O, so you
4316no longer need to run asynctsr when debugging boards connected to
4317a PC's serial port.
4318
4319*** Changes in GDB-4.13:
4320
4321* New "complete" command
4322
4323This lists all the possible completions for the rest of the line, if it
4324were to be given as a command itself. This is intended for use by emacs.
4325
4326* Trailing space optional in prompt
4327
4328"set prompt" no longer adds a space for you after the prompt you set. This
4329allows you to set a prompt which ends in a space or one that does not.
4330
4331* Breakpoint hit counts
4332
4333"info break" now displays a count of the number of times the breakpoint
4334has been hit. This is especially useful in conjunction with "ignore"; you
4335can ignore a large number of breakpoint hits, look at the breakpoint info
4336to see how many times the breakpoint was hit, then run again, ignoring one
4337less than that number, and this will get you quickly to the last hit of
4338that breakpoint.
4339
4340* Ability to stop printing at NULL character
4341
4342"set print null-stop" will cause GDB to stop printing the characters of
4343an array when the first NULL is encountered. This is useful when large
4344arrays actually contain only short strings.
4345
4346* Shared library breakpoints
4347
4348In SunOS 4.x, SVR4, and Alpha OSF/1 configurations, you can now set
4349breakpoints in shared libraries before the executable is run.
4350
4351* Hardware watchpoints
4352
4353There is a new hardware breakpoint for the watch command for sparclite
4354targets. See gdb/sparclite/hw_breakpoint.note.
4355
55241689 4356Hardware watchpoints are also now supported under GNU/Linux.
c906108c
SS
4357
4358* Annotations
4359
4360Annotations have been added. These are for use with graphical interfaces,
4361and are still experimental. Currently only gdba.el uses these.
4362
4363* Improved Irix 5 support
4364
4365GDB now works properly with Irix 5.2.
4366
4367* Improved HPPA support
4368
4369GDB now works properly with the latest GCC and GAS.
4370
4371* New native configurations
4372
4373Sequent PTX4 i[34]86-sequent-ptx4
4374HPPA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
4375Atari TT running SVR4 m68*-*-sysv4*
4376RS/6000 LynxOS rs6000-*-lynxos*
4377
4378* New targets
4379
4380OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
4381MIPS R4000 mips64*{,el}-*-{ecoff,elf}
4382Sparc64 sparc64-*-*
4383
4384* Hitachi SH7000 and E7000-PC ICE support
4385
4386There is now support for communicating with the Hitachi E7000-PC ICE.
4387This is available automatically when GDB is configured for the SH.
4388
4389* Fixes
4390
4391As usual, a variety of small fixes and improvements, both generic
4392and configuration-specific. See the ChangeLog for more detail.
4393
4394*** Changes in GDB-4.12:
4395
4396* Irix 5 is now supported
4397
4398* HPPA support
4399
4400GDB-4.12 on the HPPA has a number of changes which make it unable
4401to debug the output from the currently released versions of GCC and
4402GAS (GCC 2.5.8 and GAS-2.2 or PAGAS-1.36). Until the next major release
4403of GCC and GAS, versions of these tools designed to work with GDB-4.12
4404can be retrieved via anonymous ftp from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist.
4405
4406
4407*** Changes in GDB-4.11:
4408
4409* User visible changes:
4410
4411* Remote Debugging
4412
4413The "set remotedebug" option is now consistent between the mips remote
4414target, remote targets using the gdb-specific protocol, UDI (AMD's
4415debug protocol for the 29k) and the 88k bug monitor. It is now an
4416integer specifying a debug level (normally 0 or 1, but 2 means more
4417debugging info for the mips target).
4418
4419* DEC Alpha native support
4420
4421GDB now works on the DEC Alpha. GCC 2.4.5 does not produce usable
4422debug info, but GDB works fairly well with the DEC compiler and should
4423work with a future GCC release. See the README file for a few
4424Alpha-specific notes.
4425
4426* Preliminary thread implementation
4427
4428GDB now has preliminary thread support for both SGI/Irix and LynxOS.
4429
4430* LynxOS native and target support for 386
4431
4432This release has been hosted on LynxOS 2.2, and also can be configured
4433to remotely debug programs running under LynxOS (see gdb/gdbserver/README
4434for details).
4435
4436* Improvements in C++ mangling/demangling.
4437
4438This release has much better g++ debugging, specifically in name
4439mangling/demangling, virtual function calls, print virtual table,
4440call methods, ...etc.
4441
4442*** Changes in GDB-4.10:
4443
4444 * User visible changes:
4445
4446Remote debugging using the GDB-specific (`target remote') protocol now
4447supports the `load' command. This is only useful if you have some
4448other way of getting the stub to the target system, and you can put it
4449somewhere in memory where it won't get clobbered by the download.
4450
4451Filename completion now works.
4452
4453When run under emacs mode, the "info line" command now causes the
4454arrow to point to the line specified. Also, "info line" prints
4455addresses in symbolic form (as well as hex).
4456
4457All vxworks based targets now support a user settable option, called
4458vxworks-timeout. This option represents the number of seconds gdb
4459should wait for responses to rpc's. You might want to use this if
4460your vxworks target is, perhaps, a slow software simulator or happens
4461to be on the far side of a thin network line.
4462
4463 * DEC alpha support
4464
4465This release contains support for using a DEC alpha as a GDB host for
4466cross debugging. Native alpha debugging is not supported yet.
4467
4468
4469*** Changes in GDB-4.9:
4470
4471 * Testsuite
4472
4473This is the first GDB release which is accompanied by a matching testsuite.
4474The testsuite requires installation of dejagnu, which should be available
4475via ftp from most sites that carry GNU software.
4476
4477 * C++ demangling
4478
4479'Cfront' style demangling has had its name changed to 'ARM' style, to
4480emphasize that it was written from the specifications in the C++ Annotated
4481Reference Manual, not necessarily to be compatible with AT&T cfront. Despite
4482disclaimers, it still generated too much confusion with users attempting to
4483use gdb with AT&T cfront.
4484
4485 * Simulators
4486
4487GDB now uses a standard remote interface to a simulator library.
4488So far, the library contains simulators for the Zilog Z8001/2, the
4489Hitachi H8/300, H8/500 and Super-H.
4490
4491 * New targets supported
4492
4493H8/300 simulator h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
4494H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
4495SH simulator sh-hitachi-hms or sh
4496Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
4497IDT MIPS board over serial line mips-idt-ecoff
4498
4499Cross-debugging to GO32 targets is supported. It requires a custom
4500version of the i386-stub.c module which is integrated with the
4501GO32 memory extender.
4502
4503 * New remote protocols
4504
4505MIPS remote debugging protocol.
4506
4507 * New source languages supported
4508
4509This version includes preliminary support for Chill, a Pascal like language
4510used by telecommunications companies. Chill support is also being integrated
4511into the GNU compiler, but we don't know when it will be publically available.
4512
4513
4514*** Changes in GDB-4.8:
4515
4516 * HP Precision Architecture supported
4517
4518GDB now supports HP PA-RISC machines running HPUX. A preliminary
4519version of this support was available as a set of patches from the
4520University of Utah. GDB does not support debugging of programs
4521compiled with the HP compiler, because HP will not document their file
4522format. Instead, you must use GCC (version 2.3.2 or later) and PA-GAS
4523(as available from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist/pa-gas.u4.tar.Z).
4524
4525Many problems in the preliminary version have been fixed.
4526
4527 * Faster and better demangling
4528
4529We have improved template demangling and fixed numerous bugs in the GNU style
4530demangler. It can now handle type modifiers such as `static' or `const'. Wide
4531character types (wchar_t) are now supported. Demangling of each symbol is now
4532only done once, and is cached when the symbol table for a file is read in.
4533This results in a small increase in memory usage for C programs, a moderate
4534increase in memory usage for C++ programs, and a fantastic speedup in
4535symbol lookups.
4536
4537`Cfront' style demangling still doesn't work with AT&T cfront. It was written
4538from the specifications in the Annotated Reference Manual, which AT&T's
4539compiler does not actually implement.
4540
4541 * G++ multiple inheritance compiler problem
4542
4543In the 2.3.2 release of gcc/g++, how the compiler resolves multiple
4544inheritance lattices was reworked to properly discover ambiguities. We
4545recently found an example which causes this new algorithm to fail in a
4546very subtle way, producing bad debug information for those classes.
4547The file 'gcc.patch' (in this directory) can be applied to gcc to
4548circumvent the problem. A future GCC release will contain a complete
4549fix.
4550
4551The previous G++ debug info problem (mentioned below for the gdb-4.7
4552release) is fixed in gcc version 2.3.2.
4553
4554 * Improved configure script
4555
4556The `configure' script will now attempt to guess your system type if
4557you don't supply a host system type. The old scheme of supplying a
4558host system triplet is preferable over using this. All the magic is
4559done in the new `config.guess' script. Examine it for details.
4560
4561We have also brought our configure script much more in line with the FSF's
4562version. It now supports the --with-xxx options. In particular,
4563`--with-minimal-bfd' can be used to make the GDB binary image smaller.
4564The resulting GDB will not be able to read arbitrary object file formats --
4565only the format ``expected'' to be used on the configured target system.
4566We hope to make this the default in a future release.
4567
4568 * Documentation improvements
4569
4570There's new internal documentation on how to modify GDB, and how to
4571produce clean changes to the code. We implore people to read it
4572before submitting changes.
4573
4574The GDB manual uses new, sexy Texinfo conditionals, rather than arcane
4575M4 macros. The new texinfo.tex is provided in this release. Pre-built
4576`info' files are also provided. To build `info' files from scratch,
4577you will need the latest `makeinfo' release, which will be available in
4578a future texinfo-X.Y release.
4579
4580*NOTE* The new texinfo.tex can cause old versions of TeX to hang.
4581We're not sure exactly which versions have this problem, but it has
4582been seen in 3.0. We highly recommend upgrading to TeX version 3.141
4583or better. If that isn't possible, there is a patch in
4584`texinfo/tex3patch' that will modify `texinfo/texinfo.tex' to work
4585around this problem.
4586
4587 * New features
4588
4589GDB now supports array constants that can be used in expressions typed in by
4590the user. The syntax is `{element, element, ...}'. Ie: you can now type
4591`print {1, 2, 3}', and it will build up an array in memory malloc'd in
4592the target program.
4593
4594The new directory `gdb/sparclite' contains a program that demonstrates
4595how the sparc-stub.c remote stub runs on a Fujitsu SPARClite processor.
4596
4597 * New native hosts supported
4598
4599HP/PA-RISC under HPUX using GNU tools hppa1.1-hp-hpux
4600386 CPUs running SCO Unix 3.2v4 i386-unknown-sco3.2v4
4601
4602 * New targets supported
4603
4604AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi or udi29k
4605
4606 * New file formats supported
4607
4608BFD now supports reading HP/PA-RISC executables (SOM file format?),
4609HPUX core files, and SCO 3.2v2 core files.
4610
4611 * Major bug fixes
4612
4613Attaching to processes now works again; thanks for the many bug reports.
4614
4615We have also stomped on a bunch of core dumps caused by
4616printf_filtered("%s") problems.
4617
4618We eliminated a copyright problem on the rpc and ptrace header files
4619for VxWorks, which was discovered at the last minute during the 4.7
4620release. You should now be able to build a VxWorks GDB.
4621
4622You can now interrupt gdb while an attached process is running. This
4623will cause the attached process to stop, and give control back to GDB.
4624
4625We fixed problems caused by using too many file descriptors
4626for reading symbols from object files and libraries. This was
4627especially a problem for programs that used many (~100) shared
4628libraries.
4629
4630The `step' command now only enters a subroutine if there is line number
4631information for the subroutine. Otherwise it acts like the `next'
4632command. Previously, `step' would enter subroutines if there was
4633any debugging information about the routine. This avoids problems
4634when using `cc -g1' on MIPS machines.
4635
4636 * Internal improvements
4637
4638GDB's internal interfaces have been improved to make it easier to support
4639debugging of multiple languages in the future.
4640
4641GDB now uses a common structure for symbol information internally.
4642Minimal symbols (derived from linkage symbols in object files), partial
4643symbols (from a quick scan of debug information), and full symbols
4644contain a common subset of information, making it easier to write
4645shared code that handles any of them.
4646
4647 * New command line options
4648
4649We now accept --silent as an alias for --quiet.
4650
4651 * Mmalloc licensing
4652
4653The memory-mapped-malloc library is now licensed under the GNU Library
4654General Public License.
4655
4656*** Changes in GDB-4.7:
4657
4658 * Host/native/target split
4659
4660GDB has had some major internal surgery to untangle the support for
4661hosts and remote targets. Now, when you configure GDB for a remote
4662target, it will no longer load in all of the support for debugging
4663local programs on the host. When fully completed and tested, this will
4664ensure that arbitrary host/target combinations are possible.
4665
4666The primary conceptual shift is to separate the non-portable code in
4667GDB into three categories. Host specific code is required any time GDB
4668is compiled on that host, regardless of the target. Target specific
4669code relates to the peculiarities of the target, but can be compiled on
4670any host. Native specific code is everything else: it can only be
4671built when the host and target are the same system. Child process
4672handling and core file support are two common `native' examples.
4673
4674GDB's use of /proc for controlling Unix child processes is now cleaner.
4675It has been split out into a single module under the `target_ops' vector,
4676plus two native-dependent functions for each system that uses /proc.
4677
4678 * New hosts supported
4679
4680HP/Apollo 68k (under the BSD domain) m68k-apollo-bsd or apollo68bsd
4681386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
4682386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or i386sco
4683
4684 * New targets supported
4685
4686Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
468768030 and CPU32 m68030-*-*, m68332-*-*
4688
4689 * New native hosts supported
4690
4691386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
4692 (386bsd is not well tested yet)
4693386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or sco
4694
4695 * New file formats supported
4696
4697BFD now supports COFF files for the Zilog Z8000 microprocessor. It
4698supports reading of `a.out.adobe' object files, which are an a.out
4699format extended with minimal information about multiple sections.
4700
4701 * New commands
4702
4703`show copying' is the same as the old `info copying'.
4704`show warranty' is the same as `info warrantee'.
4705These were renamed for consistency. The old commands continue to work.
4706
4707`info handle' is a new alias for `info signals'.
4708
4709You can now define pre-command hooks, which attach arbitrary command
4710scripts to any command. The commands in the hook will be executed
4711prior to the user's command. You can also create a hook which will be
4712executed whenever the program stops. See gdb.texinfo.
4713
4714 * C++ improvements
4715
4716We now deal with Cfront style name mangling, and can even extract type
4717info from mangled symbols. GDB can automatically figure out which
4718symbol mangling style your C++ compiler uses.
4719
4720Calling of methods and virtual functions has been improved as well.
4721
4722 * Major bug fixes
4723
4724The crash that occured when debugging Sun Ansi-C compiled binaries is
4725fixed. This was due to mishandling of the extra N_SO stabs output
4726by the compiler.
4727
4728We also finally got Ultrix 4.2 running in house, and fixed core file
4729support, with help from a dozen people on the net.
4730
4731John M. Farrell discovered that the reason that single-stepping was so
4732slow on all of the Mips based platforms (primarily SGI and DEC) was
4733that we were trying to demangle and lookup a symbol used for internal
4734purposes on every instruction that was being stepped through. Changing
4735the name of that symbol so that it couldn't be mistaken for a C++
4736mangled symbol sped things up a great deal.
4737
4738Rich Pixley sped up symbol lookups in general by getting much smarter
4739about when C++ symbol mangling is necessary. This should make symbol
4740completion (TAB on the command line) much faster. It's not as fast as
4741we'd like, but it's significantly faster than gdb-4.6.
4742
4743 * AMD 29k support
4744
4745A new user controllable variable 'call_scratch_address' can
4746specify the location of a scratch area to be used when GDB
4747calls a function in the target. This is necessary because the
4748usual method of putting the scratch area on the stack does not work
4749in systems that have separate instruction and data spaces.
4750
4751We integrated changes to support the 29k UDI (Universal Debugger
4752Interface), but discovered at the last minute that we didn't have all
4753of the appropriate copyright paperwork. We are working with AMD to
4754resolve this, and hope to have it available soon.
4755
4756 * Remote interfaces
4757
4758We have sped up the remote serial line protocol, especially for targets
4759with lots of registers. It now supports a new `expedited status' ('T')
4760message which can be used in place of the existing 'S' status message.
4761This allows the remote stub to send only the registers that GDB
4762needs to make a quick decision about single-stepping or conditional
4763breakpoints, eliminating the need to fetch the entire register set for
4764each instruction being stepped through.
4765
4766The GDB remote serial protocol now implements a write-through cache for
4767registers, only re-reading the registers if the target has run.
4768
4769There is also a new remote serial stub for SPARC processors. You can
4770find it in gdb-4.7/gdb/sparc-stub.c. This was written to support the
4771Fujitsu SPARClite processor, but will run on any stand-alone SPARC
4772processor with a serial port.
4773
4774 * Configuration
4775
4776Configure.in files have become much easier to read and modify. A new
4777`table driven' format makes it more obvious what configurations are
4778supported, and what files each one uses.
4779
4780 * Library changes
4781
4782There is a new opcodes library which will eventually contain all of the
4783disassembly routines and opcode tables. At present, it only contains
4784Sparc and Z8000 routines. This will allow the assembler, debugger, and
4785disassembler (binutils/objdump) to share these routines.
4786
4787The libiberty library is now copylefted under the GNU Library General
4788Public License. This allows more liberal use, and was done so libg++
4789can use it. This makes no difference to GDB, since the Library License
4790grants all the rights from the General Public License.
4791
4792 * Documentation
4793
4794The file gdb-4.7/gdb/doc/stabs.texinfo is a (relatively) complete
4795reference to the stabs symbol info used by the debugger. It is (as far
4796as we know) the only published document on this fascinating topic. We
4797encourage you to read it, compare it to the stabs information on your
4798system, and send improvements on the document in general (to
4799bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu).
4800
4801And, of course, many bugs have been fixed.
4802
4803
4804*** Changes in GDB-4.6:
4805
4806 * Better support for C++ function names
4807
4808GDB now accepts as input the "demangled form" of C++ overloaded function
4809names and member function names, and can do command completion on such names
4810(using TAB, TAB-TAB, and ESC-?). The names have to be quoted with a pair of
4811single quotes. Examples are 'func (int, long)' and 'obj::operator==(obj&)'.
4812Make use of command completion, it is your friend.
4813
4814GDB also now accepts a variety of C++ mangled symbol formats. They are
4815the GNU g++ style, the Cfront (ARM) style, and the Lucid (lcc) style.
4816You can tell GDB which format to use by doing a 'set demangle-style {gnu,
4817lucid, cfront, auto}'. 'gnu' is the default. Do a 'set demangle-style foo'
4818for the list of formats.
4819
4820 * G++ symbol mangling problem
4821
4822Recent versions of gcc have a bug in how they emit debugging information for
4823C++ methods (when using dbx-style stabs). The file 'gcc.patch' (in this
4824directory) can be applied to gcc to fix the problem. Alternatively, if you
4825can't fix gcc, you can #define GCC_MANGLE_BUG when compling gdb/symtab.c. The
4826usual symptom is difficulty with setting breakpoints on methods. GDB complains
4827about the method being non-existent. (We believe that version 2.2.2 of GCC has
4828this problem.)
4829
4830 * New 'maintenance' command
4831
4832All of the commands related to hacking GDB internals have been moved out of
4833the main command set, and now live behind the 'maintenance' command. This
4834can also be abbreviated as 'mt'. The following changes were made:
4835
4836 dump-me -> maintenance dump-me
4837 info all-breakpoints -> maintenance info breakpoints
4838 printmsyms -> maintenance print msyms
4839 printobjfiles -> maintenance print objfiles
4840 printpsyms -> maintenance print psymbols
4841 printsyms -> maintenance print symbols
4842
4843The following commands are new:
4844
4845 maintenance demangle Call internal GDB demangler routine to
4846 demangle a C++ link name and prints the result.
4847 maintenance print type Print a type chain for a given symbol
4848
4849 * Change to .gdbinit file processing
4850
4851We now read the $HOME/.gdbinit file before processing the argv arguments
4852(e.g. reading symbol files or core files). This allows global parameters to
4853be set, which will apply during the symbol reading. The ./.gdbinit is still
4854read after argv processing.
4855
4856 * New hosts supported
4857
4858Solaris-2.0 !!! sparc-sun-solaris2 or sun4sol2
4859
55241689 4860GNU/Linux support i386-unknown-linux or linux
c906108c
SS
4861
4862We are also including code to support the HP/PA running BSD and HPUX. This
4863is almost guaranteed not to work, as we didn't have time to test or build it
4864for this release. We are including it so that the more adventurous (or
4865masochistic) of you can play with it. We also had major problems with the
4866fact that the compiler that we got from HP doesn't support the -g option.
4867It costs extra.
4868
4869 * New targets supported
4870
4871Hitachi H8/300 h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
4872
4873 * More smarts about finding #include files
4874
4875GDB now remembers the compilation directory for all include files, and for
4876all files from which C is generated (like yacc and lex sources). This
4877greatly improves GDB's ability to find yacc/lex sources, and include files,
4878especially if you are debugging your program from a directory different from
4879the one that contains your sources.
4880
4881We also fixed a bug which caused difficulty with listing and setting
4882breakpoints in include files which contain C code. (In the past, you had to
4883try twice in order to list an include file that you hadn't looked at before.)
4884
4885 * Interesting infernals change
4886
4887GDB now deals with arbitrary numbers of sections, where the symbols for each
4888section must be relocated relative to that section's landing place in the
4889target's address space. This work was needed to support ELF with embedded
4890stabs used by Solaris-2.0.
4891
4892 * Bug fixes (of course!)
4893
4894There have been loads of fixes for the following things:
4895 mips, rs6000, 29k/udi, m68k, g++, type handling, elf/dwarf, m88k,
4896 i960, stabs, DOS(GO32), procfs, etc...
4897
4898See the ChangeLog for details.
4899
4900*** Changes in GDB-4.5:
4901
4902 * New machines supported (host and target)
4903
4904IBM RS6000 running AIX rs6000-ibm-aix or rs6000
4905
4906SGI Irix-4.x mips-sgi-irix4 or iris4
4907
4908 * New malloc package
4909
4910GDB now uses a new memory manager called mmalloc, based on gmalloc.
4911Mmalloc is capable of handling mutiple heaps of memory. It is also
4912capable of saving a heap to a file, and then mapping it back in later.
4913This can be used to greatly speedup the startup of GDB by using a
4914pre-parsed symbol table which lives in a mmalloc managed heap. For
4915more details, please read mmalloc/mmalloc.texi.
4916
4917 * info proc
4918
4919The 'info proc' command (SVR4 only) has been enhanced quite a bit. See
4920'help info proc' for details.
4921
4922 * MIPS ecoff symbol table format
4923
4924The code that reads MIPS symbol table format is now supported on all hosts.
4925Thanks to MIPS for releasing the sym.h and symconst.h files to make this
4926possible.
4927
4928 * File name changes for MS-DOS
4929
4930Many files in the config directories have been renamed to make it easier to
4931support GDB on MS-DOSe systems (which have very restrictive file name
4932conventions :-( ). MS-DOSe host support (under DJ Delorie's GO32
4933environment) is close to working but has some remaining problems. Note
4934that debugging of DOS programs is not supported, due to limitations
4935in the ``operating system'', but it can be used to host cross-debugging.
4936
4937 * Cross byte order fixes
4938
4939Many fixes have been made to support cross debugging of Sparc and MIPS
4940targets from hosts whose byte order differs.
4941
4942 * New -mapped and -readnow options
4943
4944If memory-mapped files are available on your system through the 'mmap'
4945system call, you can use the -mapped option on the `file' or
4946`symbol-file' commands to cause GDB to write the symbols from your
4947program into a reusable file. If the program you are debugging is
4948called `/path/fred', the mapped symbol file will be `./fred.syms'.
4949Future GDB debugging sessions will notice the presence of this file,
4950and will quickly map in symbol information from it, rather than reading
4951the symbol table from the executable program. Using the '-mapped'
4952option in a GDB `file' or `symbol-file' command has the same effect as
4953starting GDB with the '-mapped' command-line option.
4954
4955You can cause GDB to read the entire symbol table immediately by using
4956the '-readnow' option with any of the commands that load symbol table
4957information (or on the GDB command line). This makes the command
4958slower, but makes future operations faster.
4959
4960The -mapped and -readnow options are typically combined in order to
4961build a `fred.syms' file that contains complete symbol information.
4962A simple GDB invocation to do nothing but build a `.syms' file for future
4963use is:
4964
4965 gdb -batch -nx -mapped -readnow programname
4966
4967The `.syms' file is specific to the host machine on which GDB is run.
4968It holds an exact image of GDB's internal symbol table. It cannot be
4969shared across multiple host platforms.
4970
4971 * longjmp() handling
4972
4973GDB is now capable of stepping and nexting over longjmp(), _longjmp(), and
4974siglongjmp() without losing control. This feature has not yet been ported to
4975all systems. It currently works on many 386 platforms, all MIPS-based
4976platforms (SGI, DECstation, etc), and Sun3/4.
4977
4978 * Solaris 2.0
4979
4980Preliminary work has been put in to support the new Solaris OS from Sun. At
4981this time, it can control and debug processes, but it is not capable of
4982reading symbols.
4983
4984 * Bug fixes
4985
4986As always, many many bug fixes. The major areas were with g++, and mipsread.
4987People using the MIPS-based platforms should experience fewer mysterious
4988crashes and trashed symbol tables.
4989
4990*** Changes in GDB-4.4:
4991
4992 * New machines supported (host and target)
4993
4994SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
4995 (except core files)
4996BSD Reno on Vax vax-dec-bsd
4997Ultrix on Vax vax-dec-ultrix
4998
4999 * New machines supported (target)
5000
5001AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
5002
5003 * C++ support
5004
5005GDB continues to improve its handling of C++. `References' work better.
5006The demangler has also been improved, and now deals with symbols mangled as
5007per the Annotated C++ Reference Guide.
5008
5009GDB also now handles `stabs' symbol information embedded in MIPS
5010`ecoff' symbol tables. Since the ecoff format was not easily
5011extensible to handle new languages such as C++, this appeared to be a
5012good way to put C++ debugging info into MIPS binaries. This option
5013will be supported in the GNU C compiler, version 2, when it is
5014released.
5015
5016 * New features for SVR4
5017
5018GDB now handles SVR4 shared libraries, in the same fashion as SunOS
5019shared libraries. Debugging dynamically linked programs should present
5020only minor differences from debugging statically linked programs.
5021
5022The `info proc' command will print out information about any process
5023on an SVR4 system (including the one you are debugging). At the moment,
5024it prints the address mappings of the process.
5025
5026If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please send mail to
5027bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were reqired (if any).
5028
5029 * Better dynamic linking support in SunOS
5030
5031Reading symbols from shared libraries which contain debugging symbols
5032now works properly. However, there remain issues such as automatic
5033skipping of `transfer vector' code during function calls, which
5034make it harder to debug code in a shared library, than to debug the
5035same code linked statically.
5036
5037 * New Getopt
5038
5039GDB is now using the latest `getopt' routines from the FSF. This
5040version accepts the -- prefix for options with long names. GDB will
5041continue to accept the old forms (-option and +option) as well.
5042Various single letter abbreviations for options have been explicity
5043added to the option table so that they won't get overshadowed in the
5044future by other options that begin with the same letter.
5045
5046 * Bugs fixed
5047
5048The `cleanup_undefined_types' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
5049Many assorted bugs have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
5050See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
5051
5052
5053*** Changes in GDB-4.3:
5054
5055 * New machines supported (host and target)
5056
5057Amiga 3000 running Amix m68k-cbm-svr4 or amix
5058NCR 3000 386 running SVR4 i386-ncr-svr4 or ncr3000
5059Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
5060
5061 * Almost SCO Unix support
5062
5063We had hoped to support:
5064SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
5065(except for core file support), but we discovered very late in the release
5066that it has problems with process groups that render gdb unusable. Sorry
5067about that. I encourage people to fix it and post the fixes.
5068
5069 * Preliminary ELF and DWARF support
5070
5071GDB can read ELF object files on System V Release 4, and can handle
5072debugging records for C, in DWARF format, in ELF files. This support
5073is preliminary. If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please
5074send mail to bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were
5075reqired (if any).
5076
5077 * New Readline
5078
5079GDB now uses the latest `readline' library. One user-visible change
5080is that two tabs will list possible command completions, which previously
5081required typing M-? (meta-question mark, or ESC ?).
5082
5083 * Bugs fixed
5084
5085The `stepi' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
5086Many bugs in C++ have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
5087See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
5088
5089 * State of the MIPS world (in case you wondered):
5090
5091GDB can understand the symbol tables emitted by the compilers
5092supplied by most vendors of MIPS-based machines, including DEC. These
5093symbol tables are in a format that essentially nobody else uses.
5094
5095Some versions of gcc come with an assembler post-processor called
5096mips-tfile. This program is required if you want to do source-level
5097debugging of gcc-compiled programs. I believe FSF does not ship
5098mips-tfile with gcc version 1, but it will eventually come with gcc
5099version 2.
5100
5101Debugging of g++ output remains a problem. g++ version 1.xx does not
5102really support it at all. (If you're lucky, you should be able to get
5103line numbers and stack traces to work, but no parameters or local
5104variables.) With some work it should be possible to improve the
5105situation somewhat.
5106
5107When gcc version 2 is released, you will have somewhat better luck.
5108However, even then you will get confusing results for inheritance and
5109methods.
5110
5111We will eventually provide full debugging of g++ output on
5112DECstations. This will probably involve some kind of stabs-in-ecoff
5113encapulation, but the details have not been worked out yet.
5114
5115
5116*** Changes in GDB-4.2:
5117
5118 * Improved configuration
5119
5120Only one copy of `configure' exists now, and it is not self-modifying.
5121Porting BFD is simpler.
5122
5123 * Stepping improved
5124
5125The `step' and `next' commands now only stop at the first instruction
5126of a source line. This prevents the multiple stops that used to occur
5127in switch statements, for-loops, etc. `Step' continues to stop if a
5128function that has debugging information is called within the line.
5129
5130 * Bug fixing
5131
5132Lots of small bugs fixed. More remain.
5133
5134 * New host supported (not target)
5135
5136Intel 386 PC clone running Mach i386-none-mach
5137
5138
5139*** Changes in GDB-4.1:
5140
5141 * Multiple source language support
5142
5143GDB now has internal scaffolding to handle several source languages.
5144It determines the type of each source file from its filename extension,
5145and will switch expression parsing and number formatting to match the
5146language of the function in the currently selected stack frame.
5147You can also specifically set the language to be used, with
5148`set language c' or `set language modula-2'.
5149
5150 * GDB and Modula-2
5151
5152GDB now has preliminary support for the GNU Modula-2 compiler,
5153currently under development at the State University of New York at
5154Buffalo. Development of both GDB and the GNU Modula-2 compiler will
5155continue through the fall of 1991 and into 1992.
5156
5157Other Modula-2 compilers are currently not supported, and attempting to
5158debug programs compiled with them will likely result in an error as the
5159symbol table is read. Feel free to work on it, though!
5160
5161There are hooks in GDB for strict type checking and range checking,
5162in the `Modula-2 philosophy', but they do not currently work.
5163
5164 * set write on/off
5165
5166GDB can now write to executable and core files (e.g. patch
5167a variable's value). You must turn this switch on, specify
5168the file ("exec foo" or "core foo"), *then* modify it, e.g.
5169by assigning a new value to a variable. Modifications take
5170effect immediately.
5171
5172 * Automatic SunOS shared library reading
5173
5174When you run your program, GDB automatically determines where its
5175shared libraries (if any) have been loaded, and reads their symbols.
5176The `share' command is no longer needed. This also works when
5177examining core files.
5178
5179 * set listsize
5180
5181You can specify the number of lines that the `list' command shows.
5182The default is 10.
5183
5184 * New machines supported (host and target)
5185
5186SGI Iris (MIPS) running Irix V3: mips-sgi-irix or iris
5187Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x: m68k-sony-sysv or news
5188Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1: a29k-nyu-sym1 or ultra3
5189
5190 * New hosts supported (not targets)
5191
5192IBM RT/PC: romp-ibm-aix or rtpc
5193
5194 * New targets supported (not hosts)
5195
5196AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
5197AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
5198Ultracomputer remote kernel debug a29k-nyu-kern
5199
5200 * New remote interfaces
5201
5202AMD 29000 Adapt
5203AMD 29000 Minimon
5204
5205
5206*** Changes in GDB-4.0:
5207
5208 * New Facilities
5209
5210Wide output is wrapped at good places to make the output more readable.
5211
5212Gdb now supports cross-debugging from a host machine of one type to a
5213target machine of another type. Communication with the target system
5214is over serial lines. The ``target'' command handles connecting to the
5215remote system; the ``load'' command will download a program into the
5216remote system. Serial stubs for the m68k and i386 are provided. Gdb
5217also supports debugging of realtime processes running under VxWorks,
5218using SunRPC Remote Procedure Calls over TCP/IP to talk to a debugger
5219stub on the target system.
5220
5221New CPUs supported include the AMD 29000 and Intel 960.
5222
5223GDB now reads object files and symbol tables via a ``binary file''
5224library, which allows a single copy of GDB to debug programs of multiple
5225object file types such as a.out and coff.
5226
5227There is now a GDB reference card in "doc/refcard.tex". (Make targets
5228refcard.dvi and refcard.ps are available to format it).
5229
5230
5231 * Control-Variable user interface simplified
5232
5233All variables that control the operation of the debugger can be set
5234by the ``set'' command, and displayed by the ``show'' command.
5235
5236For example, ``set prompt new-gdb=>'' will change your prompt to new-gdb=>.
5237``Show prompt'' produces the response:
5238Gdb's prompt is new-gdb=>.
5239
5240What follows are the NEW set commands. The command ``help set'' will
5241print a complete list of old and new set commands. ``help set FOO''
5242will give a longer description of the variable FOO. ``show'' will show
5243all of the variable descriptions and their current settings.
5244
5245confirm on/off: Enables warning questions for operations that are
5246 hard to recover from, e.g. rerunning the program while
5247 it is already running. Default is ON.
5248
5249editing on/off: Enables EMACS style command line editing
5250 of input. Previous lines can be recalled with
5251 control-P, the current line can be edited with control-B,
5252 you can search for commands with control-R, etc.
5253 Default is ON.
5254
5255history filename NAME: NAME is where the gdb command history
5256 will be stored. The default is .gdb_history,
5257 or the value of the environment variable
5258 GDBHISTFILE.
5259
5260history size N: The size, in commands, of the command history. The
5261 default is 256, or the value of the environment variable
5262 HISTSIZE.
5263
5264history save on/off: If this value is set to ON, the history file will
5265 be saved after exiting gdb. If set to OFF, the
5266 file will not be saved. The default is OFF.
5267
5268history expansion on/off: If this value is set to ON, then csh-like
5269 history expansion will be performed on
5270 command line input. The default is OFF.
5271
5272radix N: Sets the default radix for input and output. It can be set
5273 to 8, 10, or 16. Note that the argument to "radix" is interpreted
5274 in the current radix, so "set radix 10" is always a no-op.
5275
5276height N: This integer value is the number of lines on a page. Default
5277 is 24, the current `stty rows'' setting, or the ``li#''
5278 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
5279 variable TERM.
5280
5281width N: This integer value is the number of characters on a line.
5282 Default is 80, the current `stty cols'' setting, or the ``co#''
5283 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
5284 variable TERM.
5285
5286Note: ``set screensize'' is obsolete. Use ``set height'' and
5287``set width'' instead.
5288
5289print address on/off: Print memory addresses in various command displays,
5290 such as stack traces and structure values. Gdb looks
5291 more ``symbolic'' if you turn this off; it looks more
5292 ``machine level'' with it on. Default is ON.
5293
5294print array on/off: Prettyprint arrays. New convenient format! Default
5295 is OFF.
5296
5297print demangle on/off: Print C++ symbols in "source" form if on,
5298 "raw" form if off.
5299
5300print asm-demangle on/off: Same, for assembler level printouts
5301 like instructions.
5302
5303print vtbl on/off: Prettyprint C++ virtual function tables. Default is OFF.
5304
5305
5306 * Support for Epoch Environment.
5307
5308The epoch environment is a version of Emacs v18 with windowing. One
5309new command, ``inspect'', is identical to ``print'', except that if you
5310are running in the epoch environment, the value is printed in its own
5311window.
5312
5313
5314 * Support for Shared Libraries
5315
5316GDB can now debug programs and core files that use SunOS shared libraries.
5317Symbols from a shared library cannot be referenced
5318before the shared library has been linked with the program (this
5319happens after you type ``run'' and before the function main() is entered).
5320At any time after this linking (including when examining core files
5321from dynamically linked programs), gdb reads the symbols from each
5322shared library when you type the ``sharedlibrary'' command.
5323It can be abbreviated ``share''.
5324
5325sharedlibrary REGEXP: Load shared object library symbols for files
5326 matching a unix regular expression. No argument
5327 indicates to load symbols for all shared libraries.
5328
5329info sharedlibrary: Status of loaded shared libraries.
5330
5331
5332 * Watchpoints
5333
5334A watchpoint stops execution of a program whenever the value of an
5335expression changes. Checking for this slows down execution
5336tremendously whenever you are in the scope of the expression, but is
5337quite useful for catching tough ``bit-spreader'' or pointer misuse
5338problems. Some machines such as the 386 have hardware for doing this
5339more quickly, and future versions of gdb will use this hardware.
5340
5341watch EXP: Set a watchpoint (breakpoint) for an expression.
5342
5343info watchpoints: Information about your watchpoints.
5344
5345delete N: Deletes watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
5346disable N: Temporarily turns off watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
5347enable N: Re-enables watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
5348
5349
5350 * C++ multiple inheritance
5351
5352When used with a GCC version 2 compiler, GDB supports multiple inheritance
5353for C++ programs.
5354
5355 * C++ exception handling
5356
5357Gdb now supports limited C++ exception handling. Besides the existing
5358ability to breakpoint on an exception handler, gdb can breakpoint on
5359the raising of an exception (before the stack is peeled back to the
5360handler's context).
5361
5362catch FOO: If there is a FOO exception handler in the dynamic scope,
5363 set a breakpoint to catch exceptions which may be raised there.
5364 Multiple exceptions (``catch foo bar baz'') may be caught.
5365
5366info catch: Lists all exceptions which may be caught in the
5367 current stack frame.
5368
5369
5370 * Minor command changes
5371
5372The command ``call func (arg, arg, ...)'' now acts like the print
5373command, except it does not print or save a value if the function's result
5374is void. This is similar to dbx usage.
5375
5376The ``up'' and ``down'' commands now always print the frame they end up
5377at; ``up-silently'' and `down-silently'' can be used in scripts to change
5378frames without printing.
5379
5380 * New directory command
5381
5382'dir' now adds directories to the FRONT of the source search path.
5383The path starts off empty. Source files that contain debug information
5384about the directory in which they were compiled can be found even
5385with an empty path; Sun CC and GCC include this information. If GDB can't
5386find your source file in the current directory, type "dir .".
5387
5388 * Configuring GDB for compilation
5389
5390For normal use, type ``./configure host''. See README or gdb.texinfo
5391for more details.
5392
5393GDB now handles cross debugging. If you are remotely debugging between
5394two different machines, type ``./configure host -target=targ''.
5395Host is the machine where GDB will run; targ is the machine
5396where the program that you are debugging will run.
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