1 What has changed in GDB?
2 (Organized release by release)
4 *** Changes since GDB 6.3
6 * New native configurations
8 OpenBSD/arm arm*-*-openbsd*
9 OpenBSD/mips64 mips64-*-openbsd*
11 * Deprecated commands removed
13 The following commands, that were deprecated in 2000, have been
17 set|show arm disassembly-flavor set|show arm disassembler
18 othernames set arm disassembler
19 set|show remotedebug set|show debug remote
20 set|show archdebug set|show debug arch
21 set|show eventdebug set|show debug event
24 * New BSD user-level threads support
26 It is now possible to debug programs using the user-level threads
27 library on OpenBSD and FreeBSD. Currently supported (target)
30 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
31 FreeBSD/i386 i386-*-freebsd*
32 OpenBSD/i386 i386-*-openbsd*
34 Note that the new kernel threads libraries introduced in FreeBSD 5.x
35 are not yet supported.
37 * New support for Matsushita MN10300 w/sim added
38 (Work in progress). mn10300-elf.
40 * REMOVED configurations and files
42 VxWorks and the XDR protocol *-*-vxworks
43 Renesas H8/300S h8300*-*-*
44 Motorola MCORE mcore-*-*
45 Matsushita MN10300 w/simulator mn10300-*-*
46 National Semiconductor NS32000 ns32k-*-*
49 *** Changes in GDB 6.3:
51 * New command line option
53 GDB now accepts -l followed by a number to set the timeout for remote
56 * GDB works with GCC -feliminate-dwarf2-dups
58 GDB now supports a more compact representation of DWARF-2 debug
59 information using DW_FORM_ref_addr references. These are produced
60 by GCC with the option -feliminate-dwarf2-dups and also by some
61 proprietary compilers. With GCC, you must use GCC 3.3.4 or later
62 to use -feliminate-dwarf2-dups.
64 * Internationalization
66 When supported by the host system, GDB will be built with
67 internationalization (libintl). The task of marking up the sources is
68 continued, we're looking forward to our first translation.
72 Initial support for debugging programs compiled with the GNAT
73 implementation of the Ada programming language has been integrated
74 into GDB. In this release, support is limited to expression evaluation.
76 * New native configurations
78 GNU/Linux/m32r m32r-*-linux-gnu
82 GDB's remote protocol now includes support for the 'p' packet. This
83 packet is used to fetch individual registers from a remote inferior.
85 * END-OF-LIFE registers[] compatibility module
87 GDB's internal register infrastructure has been completely rewritten.
88 The new infrastructure making possible the implementation of key new
89 features including 32x64 (e.g., 64-bit amd64 GDB debugging a 32-bit
92 GDB 6.3 will be the last release to include the the registers[]
93 compatibility module that allowed out-of-date configurations to
94 continue to work. This change directly impacts the following
106 Unless there is activity to revive these configurations, they will be
107 made OBSOLETE in GDB 6.4, and REMOVED from GDB 6.5.
109 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
111 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
112 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
113 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
123 *** Changes in GDB 6.2.1:
125 * MIPS `break main; run' gave an heuristic-fence-post warning
127 When attempting to run even a simple program, a warning about
128 heuristic-fence-post being hit would be reported. This problem has
131 * MIPS IRIX 'long double' crashed GDB
133 When examining a long double variable, GDB would get a segmentation
134 fault. The crash has been fixed (but GDB 6.2 cannot correctly examine
135 IRIX long double values).
139 A bug in the VAX stack code was causing problems with the "next"
140 command. This problem has been fixed.
142 *** Changes in GDB 6.2:
144 * Fix for ``many threads''
146 On GNU/Linux systems that use the NPTL threads library, a program
147 rapidly creating and deleting threads would confuse GDB leading to the
150 ptrace: No such process.
151 thread_db_get_info: cannot get thread info: generic error
153 This problem has been fixed.
155 * "-async" and "-noasync" options removed.
157 Support for the broken "-noasync" option has been removed (it caused
160 * New ``start'' command.
162 This command runs the program until the begining of the main procedure.
164 * New BSD Kernel Data Access Library (libkvm) interface
166 Using ``target kvm'' it is now possible to debug kernel core dumps and
167 live kernel memory images on various FreeBSD, NetBSD and OpenBSD
168 platforms. Currently supported (native-only) configurations are:
170 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
171 FreeBSD/i386 i?86-*-freebsd*
172 NetBSD/i386 i?86-*-netbsd*
173 NetBSD/m68k m68*-*-netbsd*
174 NetBSD/sparc sparc-*-netbsd*
175 OpenBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-openbsd*
176 OpenBSD/i386 i?86-*-openbsd*
177 OpenBSD/m68k m68*-openbsd*
178 OpenBSD/sparc sparc-*-openbsd*
180 * Signal trampoline code overhauled
182 Many generic problems with GDB's signal handling code have been fixed.
183 These include: backtraces through non-contiguous stacks; recognition
184 of sa_sigaction signal trampolines; backtrace from a NULL pointer
185 call; backtrace through a signal trampoline; step into and out of
186 signal handlers; and single-stepping in the signal trampoline.
188 Please note that kernel bugs are a limiting factor here. These
189 features have been shown to work on an s390 GNU/Linux system that
190 include a 2.6.8-rc1 kernel. Ref PR breakpoints/1702.
192 * Cygwin support for DWARF 2 added.
194 * New native configurations
196 GNU/Linux/hppa hppa*-*-linux*
197 OpenBSD/hppa hppa*-*-openbsd*
198 OpenBSD/m68k m68*-*-openbsd*
199 OpenBSD/m88k m88*-*-openbsd*
200 OpenBSD/powerpc powerpc-*-openbsd*
201 NetBSD/vax vax-*-netbsd*
202 OpenBSD/vax vax-*-openbsd*
204 * END-OF-LIFE frame compatibility module
206 GDB's internal frame infrastructure has been completely rewritten.
207 The new infrastructure making it possible to support key new features
208 including DWARF 2 Call Frame Information. To aid in the task of
209 migrating old configurations to this new infrastructure, a
210 compatibility module, that allowed old configurations to continue to
211 work, was also included.
213 GDB 6.2 will be the last release to include this frame compatibility
214 module. This change directly impacts the following configurations:
224 Unless there is activity to revive these configurations, they will be
225 made OBSOLETE in GDB 6.3, and REMOVED from GDB 6.4.
227 * REMOVED configurations and files
229 Sun 3, running SunOS 3 m68*-*-sunos3*
230 Sun 3, running SunOS 4 m68*-*-sunos4*
231 Sun 2, running SunOS 3 m68000-*-sunos3*
232 Sun 2, running SunOS 4 m68000-*-sunos4*
233 Motorola 680x0 running LynxOS m68*-*-lynxos*
234 AT&T 3b1/Unix pc m68*-att-*
235 Bull DPX2 (68k, System V release 3) m68*-bull-sysv*
236 decstation mips-dec-* mips-little-*
237 riscos mips-*-riscos* mips-*-sysv*
239 sysv mips*-*-sysv4* (IRIX 5/6 not included)
241 *** Changes in GDB 6.1.1:
243 * TUI (Text-mode User Interface) built-in (also included in GDB 6.1)
245 The TUI (Text-mode User Interface) is now built as part of a default
246 GDB configuration. It is enabled by either selecting the TUI with the
247 command line option "-i=tui" or by running the separate "gdbtui"
248 program. For more information on the TUI, see the manual "Debugging
251 * Pending breakpoint support (also included in GDB 6.1)
253 Support has been added to allow you to specify breakpoints in shared
254 libraries that have not yet been loaded. If a breakpoint location
255 cannot be found, and the "breakpoint pending" option is set to auto,
256 GDB queries you if you wish to make the breakpoint pending on a future
257 shared-library load. If and when GDB resolves the breakpoint symbol,
258 the pending breakpoint is removed as one or more regular breakpoints
261 Pending breakpoints are very useful for GCJ Java debugging.
263 * Fixed ISO-C build problems
265 The files bfd/elf-bfd.h, gdb/dictionary.c and gdb/types.c contained
266 non ISO-C code that stopped them being built using a more strict ISO-C
267 compiler (e.g., IBM's C compiler).
269 * Fixed build problem on IRIX 5
271 Due to header problems with <sys/proc.h>, the file gdb/proc-api.c
272 wasn't able to compile compile on an IRIX 5 system.
274 * Added execute permission to gdb/gdbserver/configure
276 The shell script gdb/testsuite/gdb.stabs/configure lacked execute
277 permission. This bug would cause configure to fail on a number of
278 systems (Solaris, IRIX). Ref: server/519.
280 * Fixed build problem on hpux2.0w-hp-hpux11.00 using the HP ANSI C compiler
282 Older HPUX ANSI C compilers did not accept variable array sizes. somsolib.c
283 has been updated to use constant array sizes.
285 * Fixed a panic in the DWARF Call Frame Info code on Solaris 2.7
287 GCC 3.3.2, on Solaris 2.7, includes the DW_EH_PE_funcrel encoding in
288 its generated DWARF Call Frame Info. This encoding was causing GDB to
289 panic, that panic has been fixed. Ref: gdb/1628.
291 * Fixed a problem when examining parameters in shared library code.
293 When examining parameters in optimized shared library code generated
294 by a mainline GCC, GDB would incorrectly report ``Variable "..." is
295 not available''. GDB now correctly displays the variable's value.
297 *** Changes in GDB 6.1:
299 * Removed --with-mmalloc
301 Support for the mmalloc memory manager has been removed, as it
302 conflicted with the internal gdb byte cache.
304 * Changes in AMD64 configurations
306 The AMD64 target now includes the %cs and %ss registers. As a result
307 the AMD64 remote protocol has changed; this affects the floating-point
308 and SSE registers. If you rely on those registers for your debugging,
309 you should upgrade gdbserver on the remote side.
311 * Revised SPARC target
313 The SPARC target has been completely revised, incorporating the
314 FreeBSD/sparc64 support that was added for GDB 6.0. As a result
315 support for LynxOS and SunOS 4 has been dropped. Calling functions
316 from within GDB on operating systems with a non-executable stack
317 (Solaris, OpenBSD) now works.
321 GDB has a new C++ demangler which does a better job on the mangled
322 names generated by current versions of g++. It also runs faster, so
323 with this and other changes gdb should now start faster on large C++
326 * DWARF 2 Location Expressions
328 GDB support for location expressions has been extended to support function
329 arguments and frame bases. Older versions of GDB could crash when they
332 * C++ nested types and namespaces
334 GDB's support for nested types and namespaces in C++ has been
335 improved, especially if you use the DWARF 2 debugging format. (This
336 is the default for recent versions of GCC on most platforms.)
337 Specifically, if you have a class "Inner" defined within a class or
338 namespace "Outer", then GDB realizes that the class's name is
339 "Outer::Inner", not simply "Inner". This should greatly reduce the
340 frequency of complaints about not finding RTTI symbols. In addition,
341 if you are stopped at inside of a function defined within a namespace,
342 GDB modifies its name lookup accordingly.
344 * New native configurations
346 NetBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-netbsd*
347 OpenBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-openbsd*
348 OpenBSD/alpha alpha*-*-openbsd*
349 OpenBSD/sparc sparc-*-openbsd*
350 OpenBSD/sparc64 sparc64-*-openbsd*
352 * New debugging protocols
354 M32R with SDI protocol m32r-*-elf*
356 * "set prompt-escape-char" command deleted.
358 The command "set prompt-escape-char" has been deleted. This command,
359 and its very obscure effet on GDB's prompt, was never documented,
360 tested, nor mentioned in the NEWS file.
362 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
364 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
365 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
366 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
369 Sun 3, running SunOS 3 m68*-*-sunos3*
370 Sun 3, running SunOS 4 m68*-*-sunos4*
371 Sun 2, running SunOS 3 m68000-*-sunos3*
372 Sun 2, running SunOS 4 m68000-*-sunos4*
373 Motorola 680x0 running LynxOS m68*-*-lynxos*
374 AT&T 3b1/Unix pc m68*-att-*
375 Bull DPX2 (68k, System V release 3) m68*-bull-sysv*
376 decstation mips-dec-* mips-little-*
377 riscos mips-*-riscos* mips-*-sysv*
379 sysv mips*-*-sysv4* (IRIX 5/6 not included)
381 * REMOVED configurations and files
383 SGI Irix-4.x mips-sgi-irix4 or iris4
384 SGI Iris (MIPS) running Irix V3: mips-sgi-irix or iris
385 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
386 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
387 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
388 HP/PA running BSD hppa*-*-bsd*
389 HP/PA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
390 HP/PA Pro target hppa*-*-pro*
391 PMAX (MIPS) running Mach 3.0 mips*-*-mach3*
392 386BSD i[3456]86-*-bsd*
393 Sequent family i[3456]86-sequent-sysv4*
394 i[3456]86-sequent-sysv*
395 i[3456]86-sequent-bsd*
396 SPARC running LynxOS sparc-*-lynxos*
397 SPARC running SunOS 4 sparc-*-sunos4*
398 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
399 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
401 *** Changes in GDB 6.0:
405 Support for debugging the Objective-C programming language has been
408 * New backtrace mechanism (includes DWARF 2 Call Frame Information).
410 DWARF 2's Call Frame Information makes available compiler generated
411 information that more exactly describes the program's run-time stack.
412 By using this information, GDB is able to provide more robust stack
415 The i386, amd64 (nee, x86-64), Alpha, m68hc11, ia64, and m32r targets
416 have been updated to use a new backtrace mechanism which includes
421 GDB's remote protocol has been extended to include support for hosted
422 file I/O (where the remote target uses GDB's file system). See GDB's
423 remote protocol documentation for details.
425 * All targets using the new architecture framework.
427 All of GDB's targets have been updated to use the new internal
428 architecture framework. The way is now open for future GDB releases
429 to include cross-architecture native debugging support (i386 on amd64,
432 * GNU/Linux's Thread Local Storage (TLS)
434 GDB now includes support for for the GNU/Linux implementation of
435 per-thread variables.
437 * GNU/Linux's Native POSIX Thread Library (NPTL)
439 GDB's thread code has been updated to work with either the new
440 GNU/Linux NPTL thread library or the older "LinuxThreads" library.
442 * Separate debug info.
444 GDB, in conjunction with BINUTILS, now supports a mechanism for
445 automatically loading debug information from a separate file. Instead
446 of shipping full debug and non-debug versions of system libraries,
447 system integrators can now instead ship just the stripped libraries
448 and optional debug files.
450 * DWARF 2 Location Expressions
452 DWARF 2 Location Expressions allow the compiler to more completely
453 describe the location of variables (even in optimized code) to the
456 GDB now includes preliminary support for location expressions (support
457 for DW_OP_piece is still missing).
461 A number of long standing bugs that caused GDB to die while starting a
462 Java application have been fixed. GDB's Java support is now
463 considered "useable".
465 * GNU/Linux support for fork, vfork, and exec.
467 The "catch fork", "catch exec", "catch vfork", and "set follow-fork-mode"
468 commands are now implemented for GNU/Linux. They require a 2.5.x or later
471 * GDB supports logging output to a file
473 There are two new commands, "set logging" and "show logging", which can be
474 used to capture GDB's output to a file.
476 * The meaning of "detach" has changed for gdbserver
478 The "detach" command will now resume the application, as documented. To
479 disconnect from gdbserver and leave it stopped, use the new "disconnect"
482 * d10v, m68hc11 `regs' command deprecated
484 The `info registers' command has been updated so that it displays the
485 registers using a format identical to the old `regs' command.
489 A new command, "maint set profile on/off", has been added. This command can
490 be used to enable or disable profiling while running GDB, to profile a
491 session or a set of commands. In addition there is a new configure switch,
492 "--enable-profiling", which will cause GDB to be compiled with profiling
493 data, for more informative profiling results.
495 * Default MI syntax changed to "mi2".
497 The default MI (machine interface) syntax, enabled by the command line
498 option "-i=mi", has been changed to "mi2". The previous MI syntax,
499 "mi1", can be enabled by specifying the option "-i=mi1".
501 Support for the original "mi0" syntax (included in GDB 5.0) has been
504 Fix for gdb/192: removed extraneous space when displaying frame level.
505 Fix for gdb/672: update changelist is now output in mi list format.
506 Fix for gdb/702: a -var-assign that updates the value now shows up
507 in a subsequent -var-update.
509 * New native configurations.
511 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
513 * Multi-arched targets.
515 HP/PA HPUX11 hppa*-*-hpux*
516 Renesas M32R/D w/simulator m32r-*-elf*
518 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
520 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
521 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
522 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
525 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
526 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
527 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
528 HP/PA running BSD hppa*-*-bsd*
529 HP/PA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
530 HP/PA Pro target hppa*-*-pro*
531 PMAX (MIPS) running Mach 3.0 mips*-*-mach3*
532 Sequent family i[3456]86-sequent-sysv4*
533 i[3456]86-sequent-sysv*
534 i[3456]86-sequent-bsd*
535 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
536 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
538 * REMOVED configurations and files
541 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
542 IBM AIX PS/2 i[3456]86-*-aix
543 i386 running Mach 3.0 i[3456]86-*-mach3*
544 i386 running Mach i[3456]86-*-mach*
545 i386 running OSF/1 i[3456]86-*osf1mk*
546 HP/Apollo 68k Family m68*-apollo*-sysv*,
548 m68*-hp-bsd*, m68*-hp-hpux*
549 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
550 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
551 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
552 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
553 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
555 * MIPS $fp behavior changed
557 The convenience variable $fp, for the MIPS, now consistently returns
558 the address of the current frame's base. Previously, depending on the
559 context, $fp could refer to either $sp or the current frame's base
560 address. See ``8.10 Registers'' in the manual ``Debugging with GDB:
561 The GNU Source-Level Debugger''.
563 *** Changes in GDB 5.3:
565 * GNU/Linux shared library multi-threaded performance improved.
567 When debugging a multi-threaded application on GNU/Linux, GDB now uses
568 `/proc', in preference to `ptrace' for memory reads. This may result
569 in an improvement in the start-up time of multi-threaded, shared
570 library applications when run under GDB. One GDB user writes: ``loads
571 shared libs like mad''.
573 * ``gdbserver'' now supports multi-threaded applications on some targets
575 Support for debugging multi-threaded applications which use
576 the GNU/Linux LinuxThreads package has been added for
577 arm*-*-linux*-gnu*, i[3456]86-*-linux*-gnu*, mips*-*-linux*-gnu*,
578 powerpc*-*-linux*-gnu*, and sh*-*-linux*-gnu*.
580 * GDB now supports C/C++ preprocessor macros.
582 GDB now expands preprocessor macro invocations in C/C++ expressions,
583 and provides various commands for showing macro definitions and how
586 The new command `macro expand EXPRESSION' expands any macro
587 invocations in expression, and shows the result.
589 The new command `show macro MACRO-NAME' shows the definition of the
590 macro named MACRO-NAME, and where it was defined.
592 Most compilers don't include information about macros in the debugging
593 information by default. In GCC 3.1, for example, you need to compile
594 your program with the options `-gdwarf-2 -g3'. If the macro
595 information is present in the executable, GDB will read it.
597 * Multi-arched targets.
599 DEC Alpha (partial) alpha*-*-*
600 DEC VAX (partial) vax-*-*
602 National Semiconductor NS32000 (partial) ns32k-*-*
603 Motorola 68000 (partial) m68k-*-*
604 Motorola MCORE mcore-*-*
608 Fujitsu FRV architecture added by Red Hat frv*-*-*
611 * New native configurations
613 Alpha NetBSD alpha*-*-netbsd*
614 SH NetBSD sh*-*-netbsdelf*
615 MIPS NetBSD mips*-*-netbsd*
616 UltraSPARC NetBSD sparc64-*-netbsd*
618 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
620 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
621 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
622 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
625 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
626 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
627 IBM AIX PS/2 i[3456]86-*-aix
628 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
629 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
630 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
631 i386 running Mach 3.0 i[3456]86-*-mach3*
632 i386 running Mach i[3456]86-*-mach*
633 i386 running OSF/1 i[3456]86-*osf1mk*
634 HP/Apollo 68k Family m68*-apollo*-sysv*,
636 m68*-hp-bsd*, m68*-hp-hpux*
637 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
641 CHILL, a Pascal like language used by telecommunications companies.
643 * REMOVED configurations and files
645 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi, udi29k
646 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
647 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
648 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
649 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
651 testsuite/gdb.hp/gdb.threads-hp/ directory
653 * New command "set max-user-call-depth <nnn>"
655 This command allows the user to limit the call depth of user-defined
656 commands. The default is 1024.
658 * Changes in FreeBSD/i386 native debugging.
660 Support for the "generate-core-file" has been added.
662 * New commands "dump", "append", and "restore".
664 These commands allow data to be copied from target memory
665 to a bfd-format or binary file (dump and append), and back
666 from a file into memory (restore).
668 * Improved "next/step" support on multi-processor Alpha Tru64.
670 The previous single-step mechanism could cause unpredictable problems,
671 including the random appearance of SIGSEGV or SIGTRAP signals. The use
672 of a software single-step mechanism prevents this.
674 *** Changes in GDB 5.2.1:
682 gdb/182: gdb/323: gdb/237: On alpha, gdb was reporting:
683 mdebugread.c:2443: gdb-internal-error: sect_index_data not initialized
684 Fix, by Joel Brobecker imported from mainline.
686 gdb/439: gdb/291: On some ELF object files, gdb was reporting:
687 dwarf2read.c:1072: gdb-internal-error: sect_index_text not initialize
688 Fix, by Fred Fish, imported from mainline.
690 Dwarf2 .debug_frame & .eh_frame handler improved in many ways.
691 Surprisingly enough, it works now.
692 By Michal Ludvig, imported from mainline.
694 i386 hardware watchpoint support:
695 avoid misses on second run for some targets.
696 By Pierre Muller, imported from mainline.
698 *** Changes in GDB 5.2:
700 * New command "set trust-readonly-sections on[off]".
702 This command is a hint that tells gdb that read-only sections
703 really are read-only (ie. that their contents will not change).
704 In this mode, gdb will go to the object file rather than the
705 target to read memory from read-only sections (such as ".text").
706 This can be a significant performance improvement on some
707 (notably embedded) targets.
709 * New command "generate-core-file" (or "gcore").
711 This new gdb command allows the user to drop a core file of the child
712 process state at any time. So far it's been implemented only for
713 GNU/Linux and Solaris, but should be relatively easily ported to other
714 hosts. Argument is core file name (defaults to core.<pid>).
716 * New command line option
718 GDB now accepts --pid or -p followed by a process id.
720 * Change in command line behavior -- corefiles vs. process ids.
722 There is a subtle behavior in the way in which GDB handles
723 command line arguments. The first non-flag argument is always
724 a program to debug, but the second non-flag argument may either
725 be a corefile or a process id. Previously, GDB would attempt to
726 open the second argument as a corefile, and if that failed, would
727 issue a superfluous error message and then attempt to attach it as
728 a process. Now, if the second argument begins with a non-digit,
729 it will be treated as a corefile. If it begins with a digit,
730 GDB will attempt to attach it as a process, and if no such process
731 is found, will then attempt to open it as a corefile.
733 * Changes in ARM configurations.
735 Multi-arch support is enabled for all ARM configurations. The ARM/NetBSD
736 configuration is fully multi-arch.
738 * New native configurations
740 ARM NetBSD arm*-*-netbsd*
741 x86 OpenBSD i[3456]86-*-openbsd*
742 AMD x86-64 running GNU/Linux x86_64-*-linux-*
743 Sparc64 running FreeBSD sparc64-*-freebsd*
747 Sanyo XStormy16 xstormy16-elf
749 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
751 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
752 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
753 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
756 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi, udi29k
757 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
758 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
759 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
760 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
762 testsuite/gdb.hp/gdb.threads-hp/ directory
764 * REMOVED configurations and files
766 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
768 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
769 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
770 PowerPC Netware powerpc-*-netware*
771 Harris/CXUX m88k m88*-harris-cxux*
772 Most ns32k hosts and targets ns32k-*-mach3* ns32k-umax-*
773 ns32k-utek-sysv* ns32k-utek-*
774 SunOS 4.0.Xi on i386 i[3456]86-*-sunos*
775 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1 a29k-nyu-sym1 a29k-*-kern*
776 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x m68*-sony-sysv news
777 ISI Optimum V (3.05) under 4.3bsd. m68*-isi-*
778 Apple Macintosh (MPW) host and target N/A host, powerpc-*-macos*
780 * Changes to command line processing
782 The new `--args' feature can be used to specify command-line arguments
783 for the inferior from gdb's command line.
785 * Changes to key bindings
787 There is a new `operate-and-get-next' function bound to `C-o'.
789 *** Changes in GDB 5.1.1
791 Fix compile problem on DJGPP.
793 Fix a problem with floating-point registers on the i386 being
796 Fix to stop GDB crashing on .debug_str debug info.
798 Numerous documentation fixes.
800 Numerous testsuite fixes.
802 *** Changes in GDB 5.1:
804 * New native configurations
806 Alpha FreeBSD alpha*-*-freebsd*
807 x86 FreeBSD 3.x and 4.x i[3456]86*-freebsd[34]*
808 MIPS GNU/Linux mips*-*-linux*
809 MIPS SGI Irix 6.x mips*-sgi-irix6*
811 s390 and s390x GNU/Linux {s390,s390x}-*-linux*
815 Motorola 68HC11 and 68HC12 m68hc11-elf
817 UltraSparc running GNU/Linux sparc64-*-linux*
819 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
821 x86 FreeBSD before 2.2 i[3456]86*-freebsd{1,2.[01]}*,
822 Harris/CXUX m88k m88*-harris-cxux*
823 Most ns32k hosts and targets ns32k-*-mach3* ns32k-umax-*
824 ns32k-utek-sysv* ns32k-utek-*
825 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
827 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1 a29k-nyu-sym1 a29k-*-kern*
828 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
829 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
830 PowerPC Netware powerpc-*-netware*
831 SunOS 4.0.Xi on i386 i[3456]86-*-sunos*
832 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x m68*-sony-sysv news
833 ISI Optimum V (3.05) under 4.3bsd. m68*-isi-*
834 Apple Macintosh (MPW) host N/A
836 stuff.c (Program to stuff files into a specially prepared space in kdb)
837 kdb-start.c (Main loop for the standalone kernel debugger)
839 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
840 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
841 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
844 * REMOVED configurations and files
846 Altos 3068 m68*-altos-*
847 Convex c1-*-*, c2-*-*
849 ARM RISCix arm-*-* (as host)
853 * GDB has been converted to ISO C.
855 GDB's source code has been converted to ISO C. In particular, the
856 sources are fully protoized, and rely on standard headers being
861 * "info symbol" works on platforms which use COFF, ECOFF, XCOFF, and NLM.
863 * The MI enabled by default.
865 The new machine oriented interface (MI) introduced in GDB 5.0 has been
866 revised and enabled by default. Packages which use GDB as a debugging
867 engine behind a UI or another front end are encouraged to switch to
868 using the GDB/MI interface, instead of the old annotations interface
869 which is now deprecated.
871 * Support for debugging Pascal programs.
873 GDB now includes support for debugging Pascal programs. The following
874 main features are supported:
876 - Pascal-specific data types such as sets;
878 - automatic recognition of Pascal sources based on file-name
881 - Pascal-style display of data types, variables, and functions;
883 - a Pascal expression parser.
885 However, some important features are not yet supported.
887 - Pascal string operations are not supported at all;
889 - there are some problems with boolean types;
891 - Pascal type hexadecimal constants are not supported
892 because they conflict with the internal variables format;
894 - support for Pascal objects and classes is not full yet;
896 - unlike Pascal, GDB is case-sensitive for symbol names.
898 * Changes in completion.
900 Commands such as `shell', `run' and `set args', which pass arguments
901 to inferior programs, now complete on file names, similar to what
902 users expect at the shell prompt.
904 Commands which accept locations, such as `disassemble', `print',
905 `breakpoint', `until', etc. now complete on filenames as well as
906 program symbols. Thus, if you type "break foob TAB", and the source
907 files linked into the programs include `foobar.c', that file name will
908 be one of the candidates for completion. However, file names are not
909 considered for completion after you typed a colon that delimits a file
910 name from a name of a function in that file, as in "break foo.c:bar".
912 `set demangle-style' completes on available demangling styles.
914 * New platform-independent commands:
916 It is now possible to define a post-hook for a command as well as a
917 hook that runs before the command. For more details, see the
918 documentation of `hookpost' in the GDB manual.
920 * Changes in GNU/Linux native debugging.
922 Support for debugging multi-threaded programs has been completely
923 revised for all platforms except m68k and sparc. You can now debug as
924 many threads as your system allows you to have.
926 Attach/detach is supported for multi-threaded programs.
928 Support for SSE registers was added for x86. This doesn't work for
929 multi-threaded programs though.
931 * Changes in MIPS configurations.
933 Multi-arch support is enabled for all MIPS configurations.
935 GDB can now be built as native debugger on SGI Irix 6.x systems for
936 debugging n32 executables. (Debugging 64-bit executables is not yet
939 * Unified support for hardware watchpoints in all x86 configurations.
941 Most (if not all) native x86 configurations support hardware-assisted
942 breakpoints and watchpoints in a unified manner. This support
943 implements debug register sharing between watchpoints, which allows to
944 put a virtually infinite number of watchpoints on the same address,
945 and also supports watching regions up to 16 bytes with several debug
948 The new maintenance command `maintenance show-debug-regs' toggles
949 debugging print-outs in functions that insert, remove, and test
950 watchpoints and hardware breakpoints.
952 * Changes in the DJGPP native configuration.
954 New command ``info dos sysinfo'' displays assorted information about
955 the CPU, OS, memory, and DPMI server.
957 New commands ``info dos gdt'', ``info dos ldt'', and ``info dos idt''
958 display information about segment descriptors stored in GDT, LDT, and
961 New commands ``info dos pde'' and ``info dos pte'' display entries
962 from Page Directory and Page Tables (for now works with CWSDPMI only).
963 New command ``info dos address-pte'' displays the Page Table entry for
964 a given linear address.
966 GDB can now pass command lines longer than 126 characters to the
967 program being debugged (requires an update to the libdbg.a library
968 which is part of the DJGPP development kit).
970 DWARF2 debug info is now supported.
972 It is now possible to `step' and `next' through calls to `longjmp'.
974 * Changes in documentation.
976 All GDB documentation was converted to GFDL, the GNU Free
977 Documentation License.
979 Tracepoints-related commands are now fully documented in the GDB
982 TUI, the Text-mode User Interface, is now documented in the manual.
984 Tracepoints-related commands are now fully documented in the GDB
987 The "GDB Internals" manual now has an index. It also includes
988 documentation of `ui_out' functions, GDB coding standards, x86
989 hardware watchpoints, and memory region attributes.
991 * GDB's version number moved to ``version.in''
993 The Makefile variable VERSION has been replaced by the file
994 ``version.in''. People creating GDB distributions should update the
995 contents of this file.
999 GUD support is now a standard part of the EMACS distribution.
1001 *** Changes in GDB 5.0:
1003 * Improved support for debugging FP programs on x86 targets
1005 Unified and much-improved support for debugging floating-point
1006 programs on all x86 targets. In particular, ``info float'' now
1007 displays the FP registers in the same format on all x86 targets, with
1008 greater level of detail.
1010 * Improvements and bugfixes in hardware-assisted watchpoints
1012 It is now possible to watch array elements, struct members, and
1013 bitfields with hardware-assisted watchpoints. Data-read watchpoints
1014 on x86 targets no longer erroneously trigger when the address is
1017 * Improvements in the native DJGPP version of GDB
1019 The distribution now includes all the scripts and auxiliary files
1020 necessary to build the native DJGPP version on MS-DOS/MS-Windows
1021 machines ``out of the box''.
1023 The DJGPP version can now debug programs that use signals. It is
1024 possible to catch signals that happened in the debuggee, deliver
1025 signals to it, interrupt it with Ctrl-C, etc. (Previously, a signal
1026 would kill the program being debugged.) Programs that hook hardware
1027 interrupts (keyboard, timer, etc.) can also be debugged.
1029 It is now possible to debug DJGPP programs that redirect their
1030 standard handles or switch them to raw (as opposed to cooked) mode, or
1031 even close them. The command ``run < foo > bar'' works as expected,
1032 and ``info terminal'' reports useful information about the debuggee's
1033 terminal, including raw/cooked mode, redirection, etc.
1035 The DJGPP version now uses termios functions for console I/O, which
1036 enables debugging graphics programs. Interrupting GDB with Ctrl-C
1039 DOS-style file names with drive letters are now fully supported by
1042 It is now possible to debug DJGPP programs that switch their working
1043 directory. It is also possible to rerun the debuggee any number of
1044 times without restarting GDB; thus, you can use the same setup,
1045 breakpoints, etc. for many debugging sessions.
1047 * New native configurations
1049 ARM GNU/Linux arm*-*-linux*
1050 PowerPC GNU/Linux powerpc-*-linux*
1054 Motorola MCore mcore-*-*
1055 x86 VxWorks i[3456]86-*-vxworks*
1056 PowerPC VxWorks powerpc-*-vxworks*
1057 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
1059 * OBSOLETE configurations
1061 Altos 3068 m68*-altos-*
1062 Convex c1-*-*, c2-*-*
1064 ARM RISCix arm-*-* (as host)
1067 Configurations that have been declared obsolete will be commented out,
1068 but the code will be left in place. If there is no activity to revive
1069 these configurations before the next release of GDB, the sources will
1070 be permanently REMOVED.
1072 * Gould support removed
1074 Support for the Gould PowerNode and NP1 has been removed.
1076 * New features for SVR4
1078 On SVR4 native platforms (such as Solaris), if you attach to a process
1079 without first loading a symbol file, GDB will now attempt to locate and
1080 load symbols from the running process's executable file.
1082 * Many C++ enhancements
1084 C++ support has been greatly improved. Overload resolution now works properly
1085 in almost all cases. RTTI support is on the way.
1087 * Remote targets can connect to a sub-program
1089 A popen(3) style serial-device has been added. This device starts a
1090 sub-process (such as a stand-alone simulator) and then communicates
1091 with that. The sub-program to run is specified using the syntax
1092 ``|<program> <args>'' vis:
1094 (gdb) set remotedebug 1
1095 (gdb) target extended-remote |mn10300-elf-sim program-args
1097 * MIPS 64 remote protocol
1099 A long standing bug in the mips64 remote protocol where by GDB
1100 expected certain 32 bit registers (ex SR) to be transfered as 32
1101 instead of 64 bits has been fixed.
1103 The command ``set remote-mips64-transfers-32bit-regs on'' has been
1104 added to provide backward compatibility with older versions of GDB.
1106 * ``set remotebinarydownload'' replaced by ``set remote X-packet''
1108 The command ``set remotebinarydownload'' command has been replaced by
1109 ``set remote X-packet''. Other commands in ``set remote'' family
1110 include ``set remote P-packet''.
1112 * Breakpoint commands accept ranges.
1114 The breakpoint commands ``enable'', ``disable'', and ``delete'' now
1115 accept a range of breakpoints, e.g. ``5-7''. The tracepoint command
1116 ``tracepoint passcount'' also accepts a range of tracepoints.
1118 * ``apropos'' command added.
1120 The ``apropos'' command searches through command names and
1121 documentation strings, printing out matches, making it much easier to
1122 try to find a command that does what you are looking for.
1126 A new machine oriented interface (MI) has been added to GDB. This
1127 interface is designed for debug environments running GDB as a separate
1128 process. This is part of the long term libGDB project. See the
1129 "GDB/MI" chapter of the GDB manual for further information. It can be
1130 enabled by configuring with:
1132 .../configure --enable-gdbmi
1134 *** Changes in GDB-4.18:
1136 * New native configurations
1138 HP-UX 10.20 hppa*-*-hpux10.20
1139 HP-UX 11.x hppa*-*-hpux11.0*
1140 M68K GNU/Linux m68*-*-linux*
1144 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
1145 Intel StrongARM strongarm-*-*
1146 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
1148 * OBSOLETE configurations
1150 Gould PowerNode, NP1 np1-*-*, pn-*-*
1152 Configurations that have been declared obsolete will be commented out,
1153 but the code will be left in place. If there is no activity to revive
1154 these configurations before the next release of GDB, the sources will
1155 be permanently REMOVED.
1159 As a compatibility experiment, GDB's source files buildsym.h and
1160 buildsym.c have been converted to pure standard C, no longer
1161 containing any K&R compatibility code. We believe that all systems in
1162 use today either come with a standard C compiler, or have a GCC port
1163 available. If this is not true, please report the affected
1164 configuration to bug-gdb@gnu.org immediately. See the README file for
1165 information about getting a standard C compiler if you don't have one
1170 GDB now uses readline 2.2.
1172 * set extension-language
1174 You can now control the mapping between filename extensions and source
1175 languages by using the `set extension-language' command. For instance,
1176 you can ask GDB to treat .c files as C++ by saying
1177 set extension-language .c c++
1178 The command `info extensions' lists all of the recognized extensions
1179 and their associated languages.
1181 * Setting processor type for PowerPC and RS/6000
1183 When GDB is configured for a powerpc*-*-* or an rs6000*-*-* target,
1184 you can use the `set processor' command to specify what variant of the
1185 PowerPC family you are debugging. The command
1189 sets the PowerPC/RS6000 variant to NAME. GDB knows about the
1190 following PowerPC and RS6000 variants:
1192 ppc-uisa PowerPC UISA - a PPC processor as viewed by user-level code
1193 rs6000 IBM RS6000 ("POWER") architecture, user-level view
1195 403GC IBM PowerPC 403GC
1196 505 Motorola PowerPC 505
1197 860 Motorola PowerPC 860 or 850
1198 601 Motorola PowerPC 601
1199 602 Motorola PowerPC 602
1200 603 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 603 or 603e
1201 604 Motorola PowerPC 604 or 604e
1202 750 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 750 or 750
1204 At the moment, this command just tells GDB what to name the
1205 special-purpose processor registers. Since almost all the affected
1206 registers are inaccessible to user-level programs, this command is
1207 only useful for remote debugging in its present form.
1211 Thanks to a major code donation from Hewlett-Packard, GDB now has much
1212 more extensive support for HP-UX. Added features include shared
1213 library support, kernel threads and hardware watchpoints for 11.00,
1214 support for HP's ANSI C and C++ compilers, and a compatibility mode
1215 for xdb and dbx commands.
1219 HP's donation includes the new concept of catchpoints, which is a
1220 generalization of the old catch command. On HP-UX, it is now possible
1221 to catch exec, fork, and vfork, as well as library loading.
1223 This means that the existing catch command has changed; its first
1224 argument now specifies the type of catch to be set up. See the
1225 output of "help catch" for a list of catchpoint types.
1227 * Debugging across forks
1229 On HP-UX, you can choose which process to debug when a fork() happens
1234 HP has donated a curses-based terminal user interface (TUI). To get
1235 it, build with --enable-tui. Although this can be enabled for any
1236 configuration, at present it only works for native HP debugging.
1238 * GDB remote protocol additions
1240 A new protocol packet 'X' that writes binary data is now available.
1241 Default behavior is to try 'X', then drop back to 'M' if the stub
1242 fails to respond. The settable variable `remotebinarydownload'
1243 allows explicit control over the use of 'X'.
1245 For 64-bit targets, the memory packets ('M' and 'm') can now contain a
1246 full 64-bit address. The command
1248 set remoteaddresssize 32
1250 can be used to revert to the old behaviour. For existing remote stubs
1251 the change should not be noticed, as the additional address information
1254 In order to assist in debugging stubs, you may use the maintenance
1255 command `packet' to send any text string to the stub. For instance,
1257 maint packet heythere
1259 sends the packet "$heythere#<checksum>". Note that it is very easy to
1260 disrupt a debugging session by sending the wrong packet at the wrong
1263 The compare-sections command allows you to compare section data on the
1264 target to what is in the executable file without uploading or
1265 downloading, by comparing CRC checksums.
1267 * Tracing can collect general expressions
1269 You may now collect general expressions at tracepoints. This requires
1270 further additions to the target-side stub; see tracepoint.c and
1271 doc/agentexpr.texi for further details.
1273 * mask-address variable for Mips
1275 For Mips targets, you may control the zeroing of the upper 32 bits of
1276 a 64-bit address by entering `set mask-address on'. This is mainly
1277 of interest to users of embedded R4xxx and R5xxx processors.
1279 * Higher serial baud rates
1281 GDB's serial code now allows you to specify baud rates 57600, 115200,
1282 230400, and 460800 baud. (Note that your host system may not be able
1283 to achieve all of these rates.)
1287 The i960 configuration now includes an initial implementation of a
1288 builtin simulator, contributed by Jim Wilson.
1291 *** Changes in GDB-4.17:
1293 * New native configurations
1295 Alpha GNU/Linux alpha*-*-linux*
1296 Unixware 2.x i[3456]86-unixware2*
1297 Irix 6.x mips*-sgi-irix6*
1298 PowerPC GNU/Linux powerpc-*-linux*
1299 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
1300 Sparc GNU/Linux sparc-*-linux*
1301 Motorola sysV68 R3V7.1 m68k-motorola-sysv
1305 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
1306 Hitachi H8/300S h8300*-*-*
1307 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
1308 Matsushita MN10300 w/simulator mn10300-*-*
1309 MIPS NEC VR4100 mips64*vr4100*{,el}-*-elf*
1310 MIPS NEC VR5000 mips64*vr5000*{,el}-*-elf*
1311 MIPS Toshiba TX39 mips64*tx39*{,el}-*-elf*
1312 Mitsubishi D10V w/simulator d10v-*-*
1313 Mitsubishi M32R/D w/simulator m32r-*-elf*
1314 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
1315 NEC V850 w/simulator v850-*-*
1317 * New debugging protocols
1319 ARM with RDI protocol arm*-*-*
1320 M68K with dBUG monitor m68*-*-{aout,coff,elf}
1321 DDB and LSI variants of PMON protocol mips*-*-*
1322 PowerPC with DINK32 monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
1323 PowerPC with SDS protocol powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
1324 Macraigor OCD (Wiggler) devices powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
1328 All configurations can now understand and use the DWARF 2 debugging
1329 format. The choice is automatic, if the symbol file contains DWARF 2
1334 GDB now includes basic Java language support. This support is
1335 only useful with Java compilers that produce native machine code.
1337 * solib-absolute-prefix and solib-search-path
1339 For SunOS and SVR4 shared libraries, you may now set the prefix for
1340 loading absolute shared library symbol files, and the search path for
1341 locating non-absolute shared library symbol files.
1343 * Live range splitting
1345 GDB can now effectively debug code for which GCC has performed live
1346 range splitting as part of its optimization. See gdb/doc/LRS for
1347 more details on the expected format of the stabs information.
1351 GDB's support for the GNU Hurd, including thread debugging, has been
1352 updated to work with current versions of the Hurd.
1356 GDB's ARM target configuration now handles the ARM7T (Thumb) 16-bit
1357 instruction set. ARM GDB automatically detects when Thumb
1358 instructions are in use, and adjusts disassembly and backtracing
1363 GDB's MIPS target configurations now handle the MIP16 16-bit
1368 GDB now includes support for overlays; if an executable has been
1369 linked such that multiple sections are based at the same address, GDB
1370 will decide which section to use for symbolic info. You can choose to
1371 control the decision manually, using overlay commands, or implement
1372 additional target-side support and use "overlay load-target" to bring
1373 in the overlay mapping. Do "help overlay" for more detail.
1377 The command "info symbol <address>" displays information about
1378 the symbol at the specified address.
1382 The standard remote protocol now includes an extension that allows
1383 asynchronous collection and display of trace data. This requires
1384 extensive support in the target-side debugging stub. Tracing mode
1385 includes a new interaction mode in GDB and new commands: see the
1386 file tracepoint.c for more details.
1390 Configurations for embedded MIPS now include a simulator contributed
1391 by Cygnus Solutions. The simulator supports the instruction sets
1392 of most MIPS variants.
1396 Sparc configurations may now include the ERC32 simulator contributed
1397 by the European Space Agency. The simulator is not built into
1398 Sparc targets by default; configure with --enable-sim to include it.
1402 For target configurations that may include multiple variants of a
1403 basic architecture (such as MIPS and SH), you may now set the
1404 architecture explicitly. "set arch" sets, "info arch" lists
1405 the possible architectures.
1407 *** Changes in GDB-4.16:
1409 * New native configurations
1411 Windows 95, x86 Windows NT i[345]86-*-cygwin32
1412 M68K NetBSD m68k-*-netbsd*
1413 PowerPC AIX 4.x powerpc-*-aix*
1414 PowerPC MacOS powerpc-*-macos*
1415 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
1416 RS/6000 AIX 4.x rs6000-*-aix4*
1420 ARM with RDP protocol arm-*-*
1421 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
1422 MIPS VxWorks mips*-*-vxworks*
1423 MIPS VR4300 with PMON mips64*vr4300{,el}-*-elf*
1424 PowerPC with PPCBUG monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi*
1426 Matra Sparclet sparclet-*-*
1430 The powerpc-eabi configuration now includes the PSIM simulator,
1431 contributed by Andrew Cagney, with assistance from Mike Meissner.
1432 PSIM is a very elaborate model of the PowerPC, including not only
1433 basic instruction set execution, but also details of execution unit
1434 performance and I/O hardware. See sim/ppc/README for more details.
1438 GDB now works with Solaris 2.5.
1440 * Windows 95/NT native
1442 GDB will now work as a native debugger on Windows 95 and Windows NT.
1443 To build it from source, you must use the "gnu-win32" environment,
1444 which uses a DLL to emulate enough of Unix to run the GNU tools.
1445 Further information, binaries, and sources are available at
1446 ftp.cygnus.com, under pub/gnu-win32.
1448 * dont-repeat command
1450 If a user-defined command includes the command `dont-repeat', then the
1451 command will not be repeated if the user just types return. This is
1452 useful if the command is time-consuming to run, so that accidental
1453 extra keystrokes don't run the same command many times.
1455 * Send break instead of ^C
1457 The standard remote protocol now includes an option to send a break
1458 rather than a ^C to the target in order to interrupt it. By default,
1459 GDB will send ^C; to send a break, set the variable `remotebreak' to 1.
1461 * Remote protocol timeout
1463 The standard remote protocol includes a new variable `remotetimeout'
1464 that allows you to set the number of seconds before GDB gives up trying
1465 to read from the target. The default value is 2.
1467 * Automatic tracking of dynamic object loading (HPUX and Solaris only)
1469 By default GDB will automatically keep track of objects as they are
1470 loaded and unloaded by the dynamic linker. By using the command `set
1471 stop-on-solib-events 1' you can arrange for GDB to stop the inferior
1472 when shared library events occur, thus allowing you to set breakpoints
1473 in shared libraries which are explicitly loaded by the inferior.
1475 Note this feature does not work on hpux8. On hpux9 you must link
1476 /usr/lib/end.o into your program. This feature should work
1477 automatically on hpux10.
1479 * Irix 5.x hardware watchpoint support
1481 Irix 5 configurations now support the use of hardware watchpoints.
1483 * Mips protocol "SYN garbage limit"
1485 When debugging a Mips target using the `target mips' protocol, you
1486 may set the number of characters that GDB will ignore by setting
1487 the `syn-garbage-limit'. A value of -1 means that GDB will ignore
1488 every character. The default value is 1050.
1490 * Recording and replaying remote debug sessions
1492 If you set `remotelogfile' to the name of a file, gdb will write to it
1493 a recording of a remote debug session. This recording may then be
1494 replayed back to gdb using "gdbreplay". See gdbserver/README for
1495 details. This is useful when you have a problem with GDB while doing
1496 remote debugging; you can make a recording of the session and send it
1497 to someone else, who can then recreate the problem.
1499 * Speedups for remote debugging
1501 GDB includes speedups for downloading and stepping MIPS systems using
1502 the IDT monitor, fast downloads to the Hitachi SH E7000 emulator,
1503 and more efficient S-record downloading.
1505 * Memory use reductions and statistics collection
1507 GDB now uses less memory and reports statistics about memory usage.
1508 Try the `maint print statistics' command, for example.
1510 *** Changes in GDB-4.15:
1512 * Psymtabs for XCOFF
1514 The symbol reader for AIX GDB now uses partial symbol tables. This
1515 can greatly improve startup time, especially for large executables.
1517 * Remote targets use caching
1519 Remote targets now use a data cache to speed up communication with the
1520 remote side. The data cache could lead to incorrect results because
1521 it doesn't know about volatile variables, thus making it impossible to
1522 debug targets which use memory mapped I/O devices. `set remotecache
1523 off' turns the the data cache off.
1525 * Remote targets may have threads
1527 The standard remote protocol now includes support for multiple threads
1528 in the target system, using new protocol commands 'H' and 'T'. See
1529 gdb/remote.c for details.
1533 If GDB is configured with `--enable-netrom', then it will include
1534 support for the NetROM ROM emulator from XLNT Designs. The NetROM
1535 acts as though it is a bank of ROM on the target board, but you can
1536 write into it over the network. GDB's support consists only of
1537 support for fast loading into the emulated ROM; to debug, you must use
1538 another protocol, such as standard remote protocol. The usual
1539 sequence is something like
1541 target nrom <netrom-hostname>
1543 target remote <netrom-hostname>:1235
1547 GDB now includes support for the Apple Macintosh, as a host only. It
1548 may be run as either an MPW tool or as a standalone application, and
1549 it can debug through the serial port. All the usual GDB commands are
1550 available, but to the target command, you must supply "serial" as the
1551 device type instead of "/dev/ttyXX". See mpw-README in the main
1552 directory for more information on how to build. The MPW configuration
1553 scripts */mpw-config.in support only a few targets, and only the
1554 mips-idt-ecoff target has been tested.
1558 GDB configuration now uses autoconf. This is not user-visible,
1559 but does simplify configuration and building.
1563 GDB now supports hpux10.
1565 *** Changes in GDB-4.14:
1567 * New native configurations
1569 x86 FreeBSD i[345]86-*-freebsd
1570 x86 NetBSD i[345]86-*-netbsd
1571 NS32k NetBSD ns32k-*-netbsd
1572 Sparc NetBSD sparc-*-netbsd
1576 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
1577 HP PA PRO embedded (WinBond W89K & Oki OP50N) hppa*-*-pro*
1578 CPU32 EST-300 emulator m68*-*-est*
1579 PowerPC ELF powerpc-*-elf
1582 * Alpha OSF/1 support for procfs
1584 GDB now supports procfs under OSF/1-2.x and higher, which makes it
1585 possible to attach to running processes. As the mounting of the /proc
1586 filesystem is optional on the Alpha, GDB automatically determines
1587 the availability of /proc during startup. This can lead to problems
1588 if /proc is unmounted after GDB has been started.
1590 * Arguments to user-defined commands
1592 User commands may accept up to 10 arguments separated by whitespace.
1593 Arguments are accessed within the user command via $arg0..$arg9. A
1596 print $arg0 + $arg1 + $arg2
1598 To execute the command use:
1601 Defines the command "adder" which prints the sum of its three arguments.
1602 Note the arguments are text substitutions, so they may reference variables,
1603 use complex expressions, or even perform inferior function calls.
1605 * New `if' and `while' commands
1607 This makes it possible to write more sophisticated user-defined
1608 commands. Both commands take a single argument, which is the
1609 expression to evaluate, and must be followed by the commands to
1610 execute, one per line, if the expression is nonzero, the list being
1611 terminated by the word `end'. The `if' command list may include an
1612 `else' word, which causes the following commands to be executed only
1613 if the expression is zero.
1615 * Fortran source language mode
1617 GDB now includes partial support for Fortran 77. It will recognize
1618 Fortran programs and can evaluate a subset of Fortran expressions, but
1619 variables and functions may not be handled correctly. GDB will work
1620 with G77, but does not yet know much about symbols emitted by other
1623 * Better HPUX support
1625 Most debugging facilities now work on dynamic executables for HPPAs
1626 running hpux9 or later. You can attach to running dynamically linked
1627 processes, but by default the dynamic libraries will be read-only, so
1628 for instance you won't be able to put breakpoints in them. To change
1629 that behavior do the following before running the program:
1635 This will cause the libraries to be mapped private and read-write.
1636 To revert to the normal behavior, do this:
1642 You cannot set breakpoints or examine data in the library until after
1643 the library is loaded if the function/data symbols do not have
1646 GDB can now also read debug symbols produced by the HP C compiler on
1647 HPPAs (sorry, no C++, Fortran or 68k support).
1649 * Target byte order now dynamically selectable
1651 You can choose which byte order to use with a target system, via the
1652 commands "set endian big" and "set endian little", and you can see the
1653 current setting by using "show endian". You can also give the command
1654 "set endian auto", in which case GDB will use the byte order
1655 associated with the executable. Currently, only embedded MIPS
1656 configurations support dynamic selection of target byte order.
1658 * New DOS host serial code
1660 This version uses DPMI interrupts to handle buffered I/O, so you
1661 no longer need to run asynctsr when debugging boards connected to
1664 *** Changes in GDB-4.13:
1666 * New "complete" command
1668 This lists all the possible completions for the rest of the line, if it
1669 were to be given as a command itself. This is intended for use by emacs.
1671 * Trailing space optional in prompt
1673 "set prompt" no longer adds a space for you after the prompt you set. This
1674 allows you to set a prompt which ends in a space or one that does not.
1676 * Breakpoint hit counts
1678 "info break" now displays a count of the number of times the breakpoint
1679 has been hit. This is especially useful in conjunction with "ignore"; you
1680 can ignore a large number of breakpoint hits, look at the breakpoint info
1681 to see how many times the breakpoint was hit, then run again, ignoring one
1682 less than that number, and this will get you quickly to the last hit of
1685 * Ability to stop printing at NULL character
1687 "set print null-stop" will cause GDB to stop printing the characters of
1688 an array when the first NULL is encountered. This is useful when large
1689 arrays actually contain only short strings.
1691 * Shared library breakpoints
1693 In SunOS 4.x, SVR4, and Alpha OSF/1 configurations, you can now set
1694 breakpoints in shared libraries before the executable is run.
1696 * Hardware watchpoints
1698 There is a new hardware breakpoint for the watch command for sparclite
1699 targets. See gdb/sparclite/hw_breakpoint.note.
1701 Hardware watchpoints are also now supported under GNU/Linux.
1705 Annotations have been added. These are for use with graphical interfaces,
1706 and are still experimental. Currently only gdba.el uses these.
1708 * Improved Irix 5 support
1710 GDB now works properly with Irix 5.2.
1712 * Improved HPPA support
1714 GDB now works properly with the latest GCC and GAS.
1716 * New native configurations
1718 Sequent PTX4 i[34]86-sequent-ptx4
1719 HPPA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
1720 Atari TT running SVR4 m68*-*-sysv4*
1721 RS/6000 LynxOS rs6000-*-lynxos*
1725 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
1726 MIPS R4000 mips64*{,el}-*-{ecoff,elf}
1729 * Hitachi SH7000 and E7000-PC ICE support
1731 There is now support for communicating with the Hitachi E7000-PC ICE.
1732 This is available automatically when GDB is configured for the SH.
1736 As usual, a variety of small fixes and improvements, both generic
1737 and configuration-specific. See the ChangeLog for more detail.
1739 *** Changes in GDB-4.12:
1741 * Irix 5 is now supported
1745 GDB-4.12 on the HPPA has a number of changes which make it unable
1746 to debug the output from the currently released versions of GCC and
1747 GAS (GCC 2.5.8 and GAS-2.2 or PAGAS-1.36). Until the next major release
1748 of GCC and GAS, versions of these tools designed to work with GDB-4.12
1749 can be retrieved via anonymous ftp from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist.
1752 *** Changes in GDB-4.11:
1754 * User visible changes:
1758 The "set remotedebug" option is now consistent between the mips remote
1759 target, remote targets using the gdb-specific protocol, UDI (AMD's
1760 debug protocol for the 29k) and the 88k bug monitor. It is now an
1761 integer specifying a debug level (normally 0 or 1, but 2 means more
1762 debugging info for the mips target).
1764 * DEC Alpha native support
1766 GDB now works on the DEC Alpha. GCC 2.4.5 does not produce usable
1767 debug info, but GDB works fairly well with the DEC compiler and should
1768 work with a future GCC release. See the README file for a few
1769 Alpha-specific notes.
1771 * Preliminary thread implementation
1773 GDB now has preliminary thread support for both SGI/Irix and LynxOS.
1775 * LynxOS native and target support for 386
1777 This release has been hosted on LynxOS 2.2, and also can be configured
1778 to remotely debug programs running under LynxOS (see gdb/gdbserver/README
1781 * Improvements in C++ mangling/demangling.
1783 This release has much better g++ debugging, specifically in name
1784 mangling/demangling, virtual function calls, print virtual table,
1785 call methods, ...etc.
1787 *** Changes in GDB-4.10:
1789 * User visible changes:
1791 Remote debugging using the GDB-specific (`target remote') protocol now
1792 supports the `load' command. This is only useful if you have some
1793 other way of getting the stub to the target system, and you can put it
1794 somewhere in memory where it won't get clobbered by the download.
1796 Filename completion now works.
1798 When run under emacs mode, the "info line" command now causes the
1799 arrow to point to the line specified. Also, "info line" prints
1800 addresses in symbolic form (as well as hex).
1802 All vxworks based targets now support a user settable option, called
1803 vxworks-timeout. This option represents the number of seconds gdb
1804 should wait for responses to rpc's. You might want to use this if
1805 your vxworks target is, perhaps, a slow software simulator or happens
1806 to be on the far side of a thin network line.
1810 This release contains support for using a DEC alpha as a GDB host for
1811 cross debugging. Native alpha debugging is not supported yet.
1814 *** Changes in GDB-4.9:
1818 This is the first GDB release which is accompanied by a matching testsuite.
1819 The testsuite requires installation of dejagnu, which should be available
1820 via ftp from most sites that carry GNU software.
1824 'Cfront' style demangling has had its name changed to 'ARM' style, to
1825 emphasize that it was written from the specifications in the C++ Annotated
1826 Reference Manual, not necessarily to be compatible with AT&T cfront. Despite
1827 disclaimers, it still generated too much confusion with users attempting to
1828 use gdb with AT&T cfront.
1832 GDB now uses a standard remote interface to a simulator library.
1833 So far, the library contains simulators for the Zilog Z8001/2, the
1834 Hitachi H8/300, H8/500 and Super-H.
1836 * New targets supported
1838 H8/300 simulator h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
1839 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
1840 SH simulator sh-hitachi-hms or sh
1841 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
1842 IDT MIPS board over serial line mips-idt-ecoff
1844 Cross-debugging to GO32 targets is supported. It requires a custom
1845 version of the i386-stub.c module which is integrated with the
1846 GO32 memory extender.
1848 * New remote protocols
1850 MIPS remote debugging protocol.
1852 * New source languages supported
1854 This version includes preliminary support for Chill, a Pascal like language
1855 used by telecommunications companies. Chill support is also being integrated
1856 into the GNU compiler, but we don't know when it will be publically available.
1859 *** Changes in GDB-4.8:
1861 * HP Precision Architecture supported
1863 GDB now supports HP PA-RISC machines running HPUX. A preliminary
1864 version of this support was available as a set of patches from the
1865 University of Utah. GDB does not support debugging of programs
1866 compiled with the HP compiler, because HP will not document their file
1867 format. Instead, you must use GCC (version 2.3.2 or later) and PA-GAS
1868 (as available from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist/pa-gas.u4.tar.Z).
1870 Many problems in the preliminary version have been fixed.
1872 * Faster and better demangling
1874 We have improved template demangling and fixed numerous bugs in the GNU style
1875 demangler. It can now handle type modifiers such as `static' or `const'. Wide
1876 character types (wchar_t) are now supported. Demangling of each symbol is now
1877 only done once, and is cached when the symbol table for a file is read in.
1878 This results in a small increase in memory usage for C programs, a moderate
1879 increase in memory usage for C++ programs, and a fantastic speedup in
1882 `Cfront' style demangling still doesn't work with AT&T cfront. It was written
1883 from the specifications in the Annotated Reference Manual, which AT&T's
1884 compiler does not actually implement.
1886 * G++ multiple inheritance compiler problem
1888 In the 2.3.2 release of gcc/g++, how the compiler resolves multiple
1889 inheritance lattices was reworked to properly discover ambiguities. We
1890 recently found an example which causes this new algorithm to fail in a
1891 very subtle way, producing bad debug information for those classes.
1892 The file 'gcc.patch' (in this directory) can be applied to gcc to
1893 circumvent the problem. A future GCC release will contain a complete
1896 The previous G++ debug info problem (mentioned below for the gdb-4.7
1897 release) is fixed in gcc version 2.3.2.
1899 * Improved configure script
1901 The `configure' script will now attempt to guess your system type if
1902 you don't supply a host system type. The old scheme of supplying a
1903 host system triplet is preferable over using this. All the magic is
1904 done in the new `config.guess' script. Examine it for details.
1906 We have also brought our configure script much more in line with the FSF's
1907 version. It now supports the --with-xxx options. In particular,
1908 `--with-minimal-bfd' can be used to make the GDB binary image smaller.
1909 The resulting GDB will not be able to read arbitrary object file formats --
1910 only the format ``expected'' to be used on the configured target system.
1911 We hope to make this the default in a future release.
1913 * Documentation improvements
1915 There's new internal documentation on how to modify GDB, and how to
1916 produce clean changes to the code. We implore people to read it
1917 before submitting changes.
1919 The GDB manual uses new, sexy Texinfo conditionals, rather than arcane
1920 M4 macros. The new texinfo.tex is provided in this release. Pre-built
1921 `info' files are also provided. To build `info' files from scratch,
1922 you will need the latest `makeinfo' release, which will be available in
1923 a future texinfo-X.Y release.
1925 *NOTE* The new texinfo.tex can cause old versions of TeX to hang.
1926 We're not sure exactly which versions have this problem, but it has
1927 been seen in 3.0. We highly recommend upgrading to TeX version 3.141
1928 or better. If that isn't possible, there is a patch in
1929 `texinfo/tex3patch' that will modify `texinfo/texinfo.tex' to work
1930 around this problem.
1934 GDB now supports array constants that can be used in expressions typed in by
1935 the user. The syntax is `{element, element, ...}'. Ie: you can now type
1936 `print {1, 2, 3}', and it will build up an array in memory malloc'd in
1939 The new directory `gdb/sparclite' contains a program that demonstrates
1940 how the sparc-stub.c remote stub runs on a Fujitsu SPARClite processor.
1942 * New native hosts supported
1944 HP/PA-RISC under HPUX using GNU tools hppa1.1-hp-hpux
1945 386 CPUs running SCO Unix 3.2v4 i386-unknown-sco3.2v4
1947 * New targets supported
1949 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi or udi29k
1951 * New file formats supported
1953 BFD now supports reading HP/PA-RISC executables (SOM file format?),
1954 HPUX core files, and SCO 3.2v2 core files.
1958 Attaching to processes now works again; thanks for the many bug reports.
1960 We have also stomped on a bunch of core dumps caused by
1961 printf_filtered("%s") problems.
1963 We eliminated a copyright problem on the rpc and ptrace header files
1964 for VxWorks, which was discovered at the last minute during the 4.7
1965 release. You should now be able to build a VxWorks GDB.
1967 You can now interrupt gdb while an attached process is running. This
1968 will cause the attached process to stop, and give control back to GDB.
1970 We fixed problems caused by using too many file descriptors
1971 for reading symbols from object files and libraries. This was
1972 especially a problem for programs that used many (~100) shared
1975 The `step' command now only enters a subroutine if there is line number
1976 information for the subroutine. Otherwise it acts like the `next'
1977 command. Previously, `step' would enter subroutines if there was
1978 any debugging information about the routine. This avoids problems
1979 when using `cc -g1' on MIPS machines.
1981 * Internal improvements
1983 GDB's internal interfaces have been improved to make it easier to support
1984 debugging of multiple languages in the future.
1986 GDB now uses a common structure for symbol information internally.
1987 Minimal symbols (derived from linkage symbols in object files), partial
1988 symbols (from a quick scan of debug information), and full symbols
1989 contain a common subset of information, making it easier to write
1990 shared code that handles any of them.
1992 * New command line options
1994 We now accept --silent as an alias for --quiet.
1998 The memory-mapped-malloc library is now licensed under the GNU Library
1999 General Public License.
2001 *** Changes in GDB-4.7:
2003 * Host/native/target split
2005 GDB has had some major internal surgery to untangle the support for
2006 hosts and remote targets. Now, when you configure GDB for a remote
2007 target, it will no longer load in all of the support for debugging
2008 local programs on the host. When fully completed and tested, this will
2009 ensure that arbitrary host/target combinations are possible.
2011 The primary conceptual shift is to separate the non-portable code in
2012 GDB into three categories. Host specific code is required any time GDB
2013 is compiled on that host, regardless of the target. Target specific
2014 code relates to the peculiarities of the target, but can be compiled on
2015 any host. Native specific code is everything else: it can only be
2016 built when the host and target are the same system. Child process
2017 handling and core file support are two common `native' examples.
2019 GDB's use of /proc for controlling Unix child processes is now cleaner.
2020 It has been split out into a single module under the `target_ops' vector,
2021 plus two native-dependent functions for each system that uses /proc.
2023 * New hosts supported
2025 HP/Apollo 68k (under the BSD domain) m68k-apollo-bsd or apollo68bsd
2026 386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
2027 386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or i386sco
2029 * New targets supported
2031 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
2032 68030 and CPU32 m68030-*-*, m68332-*-*
2034 * New native hosts supported
2036 386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
2037 (386bsd is not well tested yet)
2038 386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or sco
2040 * New file formats supported
2042 BFD now supports COFF files for the Zilog Z8000 microprocessor. It
2043 supports reading of `a.out.adobe' object files, which are an a.out
2044 format extended with minimal information about multiple sections.
2048 `show copying' is the same as the old `info copying'.
2049 `show warranty' is the same as `info warrantee'.
2050 These were renamed for consistency. The old commands continue to work.
2052 `info handle' is a new alias for `info signals'.
2054 You can now define pre-command hooks, which attach arbitrary command
2055 scripts to any command. The commands in the hook will be executed
2056 prior to the user's command. You can also create a hook which will be
2057 executed whenever the program stops. See gdb.texinfo.
2061 We now deal with Cfront style name mangling, and can even extract type
2062 info from mangled symbols. GDB can automatically figure out which
2063 symbol mangling style your C++ compiler uses.
2065 Calling of methods and virtual functions has been improved as well.
2069 The crash that occured when debugging Sun Ansi-C compiled binaries is
2070 fixed. This was due to mishandling of the extra N_SO stabs output
2073 We also finally got Ultrix 4.2 running in house, and fixed core file
2074 support, with help from a dozen people on the net.
2076 John M. Farrell discovered that the reason that single-stepping was so
2077 slow on all of the Mips based platforms (primarily SGI and DEC) was
2078 that we were trying to demangle and lookup a symbol used for internal
2079 purposes on every instruction that was being stepped through. Changing
2080 the name of that symbol so that it couldn't be mistaken for a C++
2081 mangled symbol sped things up a great deal.
2083 Rich Pixley sped up symbol lookups in general by getting much smarter
2084 about when C++ symbol mangling is necessary. This should make symbol
2085 completion (TAB on the command line) much faster. It's not as fast as
2086 we'd like, but it's significantly faster than gdb-4.6.
2090 A new user controllable variable 'call_scratch_address' can
2091 specify the location of a scratch area to be used when GDB
2092 calls a function in the target. This is necessary because the
2093 usual method of putting the scratch area on the stack does not work
2094 in systems that have separate instruction and data spaces.
2096 We integrated changes to support the 29k UDI (Universal Debugger
2097 Interface), but discovered at the last minute that we didn't have all
2098 of the appropriate copyright paperwork. We are working with AMD to
2099 resolve this, and hope to have it available soon.
2103 We have sped up the remote serial line protocol, especially for targets
2104 with lots of registers. It now supports a new `expedited status' ('T')
2105 message which can be used in place of the existing 'S' status message.
2106 This allows the remote stub to send only the registers that GDB
2107 needs to make a quick decision about single-stepping or conditional
2108 breakpoints, eliminating the need to fetch the entire register set for
2109 each instruction being stepped through.
2111 The GDB remote serial protocol now implements a write-through cache for
2112 registers, only re-reading the registers if the target has run.
2114 There is also a new remote serial stub for SPARC processors. You can
2115 find it in gdb-4.7/gdb/sparc-stub.c. This was written to support the
2116 Fujitsu SPARClite processor, but will run on any stand-alone SPARC
2117 processor with a serial port.
2121 Configure.in files have become much easier to read and modify. A new
2122 `table driven' format makes it more obvious what configurations are
2123 supported, and what files each one uses.
2127 There is a new opcodes library which will eventually contain all of the
2128 disassembly routines and opcode tables. At present, it only contains
2129 Sparc and Z8000 routines. This will allow the assembler, debugger, and
2130 disassembler (binutils/objdump) to share these routines.
2132 The libiberty library is now copylefted under the GNU Library General
2133 Public License. This allows more liberal use, and was done so libg++
2134 can use it. This makes no difference to GDB, since the Library License
2135 grants all the rights from the General Public License.
2139 The file gdb-4.7/gdb/doc/stabs.texinfo is a (relatively) complete
2140 reference to the stabs symbol info used by the debugger. It is (as far
2141 as we know) the only published document on this fascinating topic. We
2142 encourage you to read it, compare it to the stabs information on your
2143 system, and send improvements on the document in general (to
2144 bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu).
2146 And, of course, many bugs have been fixed.
2149 *** Changes in GDB-4.6:
2151 * Better support for C++ function names
2153 GDB now accepts as input the "demangled form" of C++ overloaded function
2154 names and member function names, and can do command completion on such names
2155 (using TAB, TAB-TAB, and ESC-?). The names have to be quoted with a pair of
2156 single quotes. Examples are 'func (int, long)' and 'obj::operator==(obj&)'.
2157 Make use of command completion, it is your friend.
2159 GDB also now accepts a variety of C++ mangled symbol formats. They are
2160 the GNU g++ style, the Cfront (ARM) style, and the Lucid (lcc) style.
2161 You can tell GDB which format to use by doing a 'set demangle-style {gnu,
2162 lucid, cfront, auto}'. 'gnu' is the default. Do a 'set demangle-style foo'
2163 for the list of formats.
2165 * G++ symbol mangling problem
2167 Recent versions of gcc have a bug in how they emit debugging information for
2168 C++ methods (when using dbx-style stabs). The file 'gcc.patch' (in this
2169 directory) can be applied to gcc to fix the problem. Alternatively, if you
2170 can't fix gcc, you can #define GCC_MANGLE_BUG when compling gdb/symtab.c. The
2171 usual symptom is difficulty with setting breakpoints on methods. GDB complains
2172 about the method being non-existent. (We believe that version 2.2.2 of GCC has
2175 * New 'maintenance' command
2177 All of the commands related to hacking GDB internals have been moved out of
2178 the main command set, and now live behind the 'maintenance' command. This
2179 can also be abbreviated as 'mt'. The following changes were made:
2181 dump-me -> maintenance dump-me
2182 info all-breakpoints -> maintenance info breakpoints
2183 printmsyms -> maintenance print msyms
2184 printobjfiles -> maintenance print objfiles
2185 printpsyms -> maintenance print psymbols
2186 printsyms -> maintenance print symbols
2188 The following commands are new:
2190 maintenance demangle Call internal GDB demangler routine to
2191 demangle a C++ link name and prints the result.
2192 maintenance print type Print a type chain for a given symbol
2194 * Change to .gdbinit file processing
2196 We now read the $HOME/.gdbinit file before processing the argv arguments
2197 (e.g. reading symbol files or core files). This allows global parameters to
2198 be set, which will apply during the symbol reading. The ./.gdbinit is still
2199 read after argv processing.
2201 * New hosts supported
2203 Solaris-2.0 !!! sparc-sun-solaris2 or sun4sol2
2205 GNU/Linux support i386-unknown-linux or linux
2207 We are also including code to support the HP/PA running BSD and HPUX. This
2208 is almost guaranteed not to work, as we didn't have time to test or build it
2209 for this release. We are including it so that the more adventurous (or
2210 masochistic) of you can play with it. We also had major problems with the
2211 fact that the compiler that we got from HP doesn't support the -g option.
2214 * New targets supported
2216 Hitachi H8/300 h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
2218 * More smarts about finding #include files
2220 GDB now remembers the compilation directory for all include files, and for
2221 all files from which C is generated (like yacc and lex sources). This
2222 greatly improves GDB's ability to find yacc/lex sources, and include files,
2223 especially if you are debugging your program from a directory different from
2224 the one that contains your sources.
2226 We also fixed a bug which caused difficulty with listing and setting
2227 breakpoints in include files which contain C code. (In the past, you had to
2228 try twice in order to list an include file that you hadn't looked at before.)
2230 * Interesting infernals change
2232 GDB now deals with arbitrary numbers of sections, where the symbols for each
2233 section must be relocated relative to that section's landing place in the
2234 target's address space. This work was needed to support ELF with embedded
2235 stabs used by Solaris-2.0.
2237 * Bug fixes (of course!)
2239 There have been loads of fixes for the following things:
2240 mips, rs6000, 29k/udi, m68k, g++, type handling, elf/dwarf, m88k,
2241 i960, stabs, DOS(GO32), procfs, etc...
2243 See the ChangeLog for details.
2245 *** Changes in GDB-4.5:
2247 * New machines supported (host and target)
2249 IBM RS6000 running AIX rs6000-ibm-aix or rs6000
2251 SGI Irix-4.x mips-sgi-irix4 or iris4
2253 * New malloc package
2255 GDB now uses a new memory manager called mmalloc, based on gmalloc.
2256 Mmalloc is capable of handling mutiple heaps of memory. It is also
2257 capable of saving a heap to a file, and then mapping it back in later.
2258 This can be used to greatly speedup the startup of GDB by using a
2259 pre-parsed symbol table which lives in a mmalloc managed heap. For
2260 more details, please read mmalloc/mmalloc.texi.
2264 The 'info proc' command (SVR4 only) has been enhanced quite a bit. See
2265 'help info proc' for details.
2267 * MIPS ecoff symbol table format
2269 The code that reads MIPS symbol table format is now supported on all hosts.
2270 Thanks to MIPS for releasing the sym.h and symconst.h files to make this
2273 * File name changes for MS-DOS
2275 Many files in the config directories have been renamed to make it easier to
2276 support GDB on MS-DOSe systems (which have very restrictive file name
2277 conventions :-( ). MS-DOSe host support (under DJ Delorie's GO32
2278 environment) is close to working but has some remaining problems. Note
2279 that debugging of DOS programs is not supported, due to limitations
2280 in the ``operating system'', but it can be used to host cross-debugging.
2282 * Cross byte order fixes
2284 Many fixes have been made to support cross debugging of Sparc and MIPS
2285 targets from hosts whose byte order differs.
2287 * New -mapped and -readnow options
2289 If memory-mapped files are available on your system through the 'mmap'
2290 system call, you can use the -mapped option on the `file' or
2291 `symbol-file' commands to cause GDB to write the symbols from your
2292 program into a reusable file. If the program you are debugging is
2293 called `/path/fred', the mapped symbol file will be `./fred.syms'.
2294 Future GDB debugging sessions will notice the presence of this file,
2295 and will quickly map in symbol information from it, rather than reading
2296 the symbol table from the executable program. Using the '-mapped'
2297 option in a GDB `file' or `symbol-file' command has the same effect as
2298 starting GDB with the '-mapped' command-line option.
2300 You can cause GDB to read the entire symbol table immediately by using
2301 the '-readnow' option with any of the commands that load symbol table
2302 information (or on the GDB command line). This makes the command
2303 slower, but makes future operations faster.
2305 The -mapped and -readnow options are typically combined in order to
2306 build a `fred.syms' file that contains complete symbol information.
2307 A simple GDB invocation to do nothing but build a `.syms' file for future
2310 gdb -batch -nx -mapped -readnow programname
2312 The `.syms' file is specific to the host machine on which GDB is run.
2313 It holds an exact image of GDB's internal symbol table. It cannot be
2314 shared across multiple host platforms.
2316 * longjmp() handling
2318 GDB is now capable of stepping and nexting over longjmp(), _longjmp(), and
2319 siglongjmp() without losing control. This feature has not yet been ported to
2320 all systems. It currently works on many 386 platforms, all MIPS-based
2321 platforms (SGI, DECstation, etc), and Sun3/4.
2325 Preliminary work has been put in to support the new Solaris OS from Sun. At
2326 this time, it can control and debug processes, but it is not capable of
2331 As always, many many bug fixes. The major areas were with g++, and mipsread.
2332 People using the MIPS-based platforms should experience fewer mysterious
2333 crashes and trashed symbol tables.
2335 *** Changes in GDB-4.4:
2337 * New machines supported (host and target)
2339 SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
2341 BSD Reno on Vax vax-dec-bsd
2342 Ultrix on Vax vax-dec-ultrix
2344 * New machines supported (target)
2346 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
2350 GDB continues to improve its handling of C++. `References' work better.
2351 The demangler has also been improved, and now deals with symbols mangled as
2352 per the Annotated C++ Reference Guide.
2354 GDB also now handles `stabs' symbol information embedded in MIPS
2355 `ecoff' symbol tables. Since the ecoff format was not easily
2356 extensible to handle new languages such as C++, this appeared to be a
2357 good way to put C++ debugging info into MIPS binaries. This option
2358 will be supported in the GNU C compiler, version 2, when it is
2361 * New features for SVR4
2363 GDB now handles SVR4 shared libraries, in the same fashion as SunOS
2364 shared libraries. Debugging dynamically linked programs should present
2365 only minor differences from debugging statically linked programs.
2367 The `info proc' command will print out information about any process
2368 on an SVR4 system (including the one you are debugging). At the moment,
2369 it prints the address mappings of the process.
2371 If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please send mail to
2372 bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were reqired (if any).
2374 * Better dynamic linking support in SunOS
2376 Reading symbols from shared libraries which contain debugging symbols
2377 now works properly. However, there remain issues such as automatic
2378 skipping of `transfer vector' code during function calls, which
2379 make it harder to debug code in a shared library, than to debug the
2380 same code linked statically.
2384 GDB is now using the latest `getopt' routines from the FSF. This
2385 version accepts the -- prefix for options with long names. GDB will
2386 continue to accept the old forms (-option and +option) as well.
2387 Various single letter abbreviations for options have been explicity
2388 added to the option table so that they won't get overshadowed in the
2389 future by other options that begin with the same letter.
2393 The `cleanup_undefined_types' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
2394 Many assorted bugs have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
2395 See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
2398 *** Changes in GDB-4.3:
2400 * New machines supported (host and target)
2402 Amiga 3000 running Amix m68k-cbm-svr4 or amix
2403 NCR 3000 386 running SVR4 i386-ncr-svr4 or ncr3000
2404 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
2406 * Almost SCO Unix support
2408 We had hoped to support:
2409 SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
2410 (except for core file support), but we discovered very late in the release
2411 that it has problems with process groups that render gdb unusable. Sorry
2412 about that. I encourage people to fix it and post the fixes.
2414 * Preliminary ELF and DWARF support
2416 GDB can read ELF object files on System V Release 4, and can handle
2417 debugging records for C, in DWARF format, in ELF files. This support
2418 is preliminary. If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please
2419 send mail to bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were
2424 GDB now uses the latest `readline' library. One user-visible change
2425 is that two tabs will list possible command completions, which previously
2426 required typing M-? (meta-question mark, or ESC ?).
2430 The `stepi' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
2431 Many bugs in C++ have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
2432 See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
2434 * State of the MIPS world (in case you wondered):
2436 GDB can understand the symbol tables emitted by the compilers
2437 supplied by most vendors of MIPS-based machines, including DEC. These
2438 symbol tables are in a format that essentially nobody else uses.
2440 Some versions of gcc come with an assembler post-processor called
2441 mips-tfile. This program is required if you want to do source-level
2442 debugging of gcc-compiled programs. I believe FSF does not ship
2443 mips-tfile with gcc version 1, but it will eventually come with gcc
2446 Debugging of g++ output remains a problem. g++ version 1.xx does not
2447 really support it at all. (If you're lucky, you should be able to get
2448 line numbers and stack traces to work, but no parameters or local
2449 variables.) With some work it should be possible to improve the
2452 When gcc version 2 is released, you will have somewhat better luck.
2453 However, even then you will get confusing results for inheritance and
2456 We will eventually provide full debugging of g++ output on
2457 DECstations. This will probably involve some kind of stabs-in-ecoff
2458 encapulation, but the details have not been worked out yet.
2461 *** Changes in GDB-4.2:
2463 * Improved configuration
2465 Only one copy of `configure' exists now, and it is not self-modifying.
2466 Porting BFD is simpler.
2470 The `step' and `next' commands now only stop at the first instruction
2471 of a source line. This prevents the multiple stops that used to occur
2472 in switch statements, for-loops, etc. `Step' continues to stop if a
2473 function that has debugging information is called within the line.
2477 Lots of small bugs fixed. More remain.
2479 * New host supported (not target)
2481 Intel 386 PC clone running Mach i386-none-mach
2484 *** Changes in GDB-4.1:
2486 * Multiple source language support
2488 GDB now has internal scaffolding to handle several source languages.
2489 It determines the type of each source file from its filename extension,
2490 and will switch expression parsing and number formatting to match the
2491 language of the function in the currently selected stack frame.
2492 You can also specifically set the language to be used, with
2493 `set language c' or `set language modula-2'.
2497 GDB now has preliminary support for the GNU Modula-2 compiler,
2498 currently under development at the State University of New York at
2499 Buffalo. Development of both GDB and the GNU Modula-2 compiler will
2500 continue through the fall of 1991 and into 1992.
2502 Other Modula-2 compilers are currently not supported, and attempting to
2503 debug programs compiled with them will likely result in an error as the
2504 symbol table is read. Feel free to work on it, though!
2506 There are hooks in GDB for strict type checking and range checking,
2507 in the `Modula-2 philosophy', but they do not currently work.
2511 GDB can now write to executable and core files (e.g. patch
2512 a variable's value). You must turn this switch on, specify
2513 the file ("exec foo" or "core foo"), *then* modify it, e.g.
2514 by assigning a new value to a variable. Modifications take
2517 * Automatic SunOS shared library reading
2519 When you run your program, GDB automatically determines where its
2520 shared libraries (if any) have been loaded, and reads their symbols.
2521 The `share' command is no longer needed. This also works when
2522 examining core files.
2526 You can specify the number of lines that the `list' command shows.
2529 * New machines supported (host and target)
2531 SGI Iris (MIPS) running Irix V3: mips-sgi-irix or iris
2532 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x: m68k-sony-sysv or news
2533 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1: a29k-nyu-sym1 or ultra3
2535 * New hosts supported (not targets)
2537 IBM RT/PC: romp-ibm-aix or rtpc
2539 * New targets supported (not hosts)
2541 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
2542 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
2543 Ultracomputer remote kernel debug a29k-nyu-kern
2545 * New remote interfaces
2551 *** Changes in GDB-4.0:
2555 Wide output is wrapped at good places to make the output more readable.
2557 Gdb now supports cross-debugging from a host machine of one type to a
2558 target machine of another type. Communication with the target system
2559 is over serial lines. The ``target'' command handles connecting to the
2560 remote system; the ``load'' command will download a program into the
2561 remote system. Serial stubs for the m68k and i386 are provided. Gdb
2562 also supports debugging of realtime processes running under VxWorks,
2563 using SunRPC Remote Procedure Calls over TCP/IP to talk to a debugger
2564 stub on the target system.
2566 New CPUs supported include the AMD 29000 and Intel 960.
2568 GDB now reads object files and symbol tables via a ``binary file''
2569 library, which allows a single copy of GDB to debug programs of multiple
2570 object file types such as a.out and coff.
2572 There is now a GDB reference card in "doc/refcard.tex". (Make targets
2573 refcard.dvi and refcard.ps are available to format it).
2576 * Control-Variable user interface simplified
2578 All variables that control the operation of the debugger can be set
2579 by the ``set'' command, and displayed by the ``show'' command.
2581 For example, ``set prompt new-gdb=>'' will change your prompt to new-gdb=>.
2582 ``Show prompt'' produces the response:
2583 Gdb's prompt is new-gdb=>.
2585 What follows are the NEW set commands. The command ``help set'' will
2586 print a complete list of old and new set commands. ``help set FOO''
2587 will give a longer description of the variable FOO. ``show'' will show
2588 all of the variable descriptions and their current settings.
2590 confirm on/off: Enables warning questions for operations that are
2591 hard to recover from, e.g. rerunning the program while
2592 it is already running. Default is ON.
2594 editing on/off: Enables EMACS style command line editing
2595 of input. Previous lines can be recalled with
2596 control-P, the current line can be edited with control-B,
2597 you can search for commands with control-R, etc.
2600 history filename NAME: NAME is where the gdb command history
2601 will be stored. The default is .gdb_history,
2602 or the value of the environment variable
2605 history size N: The size, in commands, of the command history. The
2606 default is 256, or the value of the environment variable
2609 history save on/off: If this value is set to ON, the history file will
2610 be saved after exiting gdb. If set to OFF, the
2611 file will not be saved. The default is OFF.
2613 history expansion on/off: If this value is set to ON, then csh-like
2614 history expansion will be performed on
2615 command line input. The default is OFF.
2617 radix N: Sets the default radix for input and output. It can be set
2618 to 8, 10, or 16. Note that the argument to "radix" is interpreted
2619 in the current radix, so "set radix 10" is always a no-op.
2621 height N: This integer value is the number of lines on a page. Default
2622 is 24, the current `stty rows'' setting, or the ``li#''
2623 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
2626 width N: This integer value is the number of characters on a line.
2627 Default is 80, the current `stty cols'' setting, or the ``co#''
2628 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
2631 Note: ``set screensize'' is obsolete. Use ``set height'' and
2632 ``set width'' instead.
2634 print address on/off: Print memory addresses in various command displays,
2635 such as stack traces and structure values. Gdb looks
2636 more ``symbolic'' if you turn this off; it looks more
2637 ``machine level'' with it on. Default is ON.
2639 print array on/off: Prettyprint arrays. New convenient format! Default
2642 print demangle on/off: Print C++ symbols in "source" form if on,
2645 print asm-demangle on/off: Same, for assembler level printouts
2648 print vtbl on/off: Prettyprint C++ virtual function tables. Default is OFF.
2651 * Support for Epoch Environment.
2653 The epoch environment is a version of Emacs v18 with windowing. One
2654 new command, ``inspect'', is identical to ``print'', except that if you
2655 are running in the epoch environment, the value is printed in its own
2659 * Support for Shared Libraries
2661 GDB can now debug programs and core files that use SunOS shared libraries.
2662 Symbols from a shared library cannot be referenced
2663 before the shared library has been linked with the program (this
2664 happens after you type ``run'' and before the function main() is entered).
2665 At any time after this linking (including when examining core files
2666 from dynamically linked programs), gdb reads the symbols from each
2667 shared library when you type the ``sharedlibrary'' command.
2668 It can be abbreviated ``share''.
2670 sharedlibrary REGEXP: Load shared object library symbols for files
2671 matching a unix regular expression. No argument
2672 indicates to load symbols for all shared libraries.
2674 info sharedlibrary: Status of loaded shared libraries.
2679 A watchpoint stops execution of a program whenever the value of an
2680 expression changes. Checking for this slows down execution
2681 tremendously whenever you are in the scope of the expression, but is
2682 quite useful for catching tough ``bit-spreader'' or pointer misuse
2683 problems. Some machines such as the 386 have hardware for doing this
2684 more quickly, and future versions of gdb will use this hardware.
2686 watch EXP: Set a watchpoint (breakpoint) for an expression.
2688 info watchpoints: Information about your watchpoints.
2690 delete N: Deletes watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
2691 disable N: Temporarily turns off watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
2692 enable N: Re-enables watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
2695 * C++ multiple inheritance
2697 When used with a GCC version 2 compiler, GDB supports multiple inheritance
2700 * C++ exception handling
2702 Gdb now supports limited C++ exception handling. Besides the existing
2703 ability to breakpoint on an exception handler, gdb can breakpoint on
2704 the raising of an exception (before the stack is peeled back to the
2707 catch FOO: If there is a FOO exception handler in the dynamic scope,
2708 set a breakpoint to catch exceptions which may be raised there.
2709 Multiple exceptions (``catch foo bar baz'') may be caught.
2711 info catch: Lists all exceptions which may be caught in the
2712 current stack frame.
2715 * Minor command changes
2717 The command ``call func (arg, arg, ...)'' now acts like the print
2718 command, except it does not print or save a value if the function's result
2719 is void. This is similar to dbx usage.
2721 The ``up'' and ``down'' commands now always print the frame they end up
2722 at; ``up-silently'' and `down-silently'' can be used in scripts to change
2723 frames without printing.
2725 * New directory command
2727 'dir' now adds directories to the FRONT of the source search path.
2728 The path starts off empty. Source files that contain debug information
2729 about the directory in which they were compiled can be found even
2730 with an empty path; Sun CC and GCC include this information. If GDB can't
2731 find your source file in the current directory, type "dir .".
2733 * Configuring GDB for compilation
2735 For normal use, type ``./configure host''. See README or gdb.texinfo
2738 GDB now handles cross debugging. If you are remotely debugging between
2739 two different machines, type ``./configure host -target=targ''.
2740 Host is the machine where GDB will run; targ is the machine
2741 where the program that you are debugging will run.
projects / deliverable / binutils-gdb.git / blob