1 What has changed in GDB?
2 (Organized release by release)
4 *** Changes since GDB 6.7
8 set print frame-arguments (all|scalars|none)
9 show print frame-arguments
10 The value of this variable can be changed to control which argument
11 values should be printed by the debugger when displaying a frame.
13 * GDB can now be built as a native debugger for debugging Windows x86
14 (mingw32) Portable Executable (PE) programs.
16 * Pending breakpoints no longer change their number when their address
19 * GDB now supports breakpoints with multiple locations,
20 including breakpoints on C++ constructors, inside C++ templates,
21 and in inlined functions.
23 * Target descriptions can now describe registers for PowerPC.
25 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports the AltiVec and SPE
26 registers on PowerPC targets.
28 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports thread debugging on GNU/Linux
29 targets even when the libthread_db library is not available.
31 * hppa*64*-*-hpux11* target broken
32 The debugger is unable to start a program and fails with the following
33 error: "Error trying to get information about dynamic linker".
34 The gdb-6.7 release is also affected.
36 * GDB now supports the --enable-targets= configure option to allow
37 building a single GDB executable that supports multiple remote
41 *** Changes in GDB 6.7
43 * Resolved 101 resource leaks, null pointer dereferences, etc. in gdb,
44 bfd, libiberty and opcodes, as revealed by static analysis donated by
45 Coverity, Inc. (http://scan.coverity.com).
47 * When looking up multiply-defined global symbols, GDB will now prefer the
48 symbol definition in the current shared library if it was built using the
49 -Bsymbolic linker option.
51 * When the Text User Interface (TUI) is not configured, GDB will now
52 recognize the -tui command-line option and print a message that the TUI
55 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now has lower overhead for high
56 frequency signals (e.g. SIGALRM) via the QPassSignals packet.
58 * GDB for MIPS targets now autodetects whether a remote target provides
59 32-bit or 64-bit register values.
61 * Support for C++ member pointers has been improved.
63 * GDB now understands XML target descriptions, which specify the
64 target's overall architecture. GDB can read a description from
65 a local file or over the remote serial protocol.
67 * Vectors of single-byte data use a new integer type which is not
68 automatically displayed as character or string data.
70 * The /s format now works with the print command. It displays
71 arrays of single-byte integers and pointers to single-byte integers
74 * Target descriptions can now describe target-specific registers,
75 for architectures which have implemented the support (currently
76 only ARM, M68K, and MIPS).
78 * GDB and the GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now support the XScale
81 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, has been updated to support
82 ARM Windows CE (mingw32ce) debugging, and GDB Windows CE support
83 has been rewritten to use the standard GDB remote protocol.
85 * GDB can now step into C++ functions which are called through thunks.
87 * GDB for the Cell/B.E. SPU now supports overlay debugging.
89 * The GDB remote protocol "qOffsets" packet can now honor ELF segment
90 layout. It also supports a TextSeg= and DataSeg= response when only
91 segment base addresses (rather than offsets) are available.
93 * The /i format now outputs any trailing branch delay slot instructions
94 immediately following the last instruction within the count specified.
96 * The GDB remote protocol "T" stop reply packet now supports a
97 "library" response. Combined with the new "qXfer:libraries:read"
98 packet, this response allows GDB to debug shared libraries on targets
99 where the operating system manages the list of loaded libraries (e.g.
100 Windows and SymbianOS).
102 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports dynamic link libraries
103 (DLLs) on Windows and Windows CE targets.
105 * GDB now supports a faster verification that a .debug file matches its binary
106 according to its build-id signature, if the signature is present.
112 Enable or disable hardware flow control (RTS/CTS) on the serial port
113 when debugging using remote targets.
115 set mem inaccessible-by-default
116 show mem inaccessible-by-default
117 If the target supplies a memory map, for instance via the remote
118 protocol's "qXfer:memory-map:read" packet, setting this variable
119 prevents GDB from accessing memory outside the memory map. This
120 is useful for targets with memory mapped registers or which react
121 badly to accesses of unmapped address space.
123 set breakpoint auto-hw
124 show breakpoint auto-hw
125 If the target supplies a memory map, for instance via the remote
126 protocol's "qXfer:memory-map:read" packet, setting this variable
127 lets GDB use hardware breakpoints automatically for memory regions
128 where it can not use software breakpoints. This covers both the
129 "break" command and internal breakpoints used for other commands
130 including "next" and "finish".
133 catch exception unhandled
134 Stop the program execution when Ada exceptions are raised.
137 Stop the program execution when an Ada assertion failed.
141 Set an alternate system root for target files. This is a more
142 general version of "set solib-absolute-prefix", which is now
143 an alias to "set sysroot".
146 Provide extended SPU facility status information. This set of
147 commands is available only when debugging the Cell/B.E. SPU
150 * New native configurations
152 OpenBSD/sh sh*-*openbsd*
157 Use the specified local file as an XML target description, and do
158 not query the target for its built-in description.
162 OpenBSD/sh sh*-*-openbsd*
163 MIPS64 GNU/Linux (gdbserver) mips64-linux-gnu
164 Toshiba Media Processor mep-elf
169 Ignore the specified signals; pass them directly to the debugged program
170 without stopping other threads or reporting them to GDB.
173 Read an XML target description from the target, which describes its
178 Read or write contents of an spufs file on the target system. These
179 packets are available only on the Cell/B.E. SPU architecture.
181 qXfer:libraries:read:
182 Report the loaded shared libraries. Combined with new "T" packet
183 response, this packet allows GDB to debug shared libraries on
184 targets where the operating system manages the list of loaded
185 libraries (e.g. Windows and SymbianOS).
189 Support for these obsolete configurations has been removed.
198 i[34567]86-*-netware*
199 i[34567]86-*-sco3.2v5*
200 i[34567]86-*-sco3.2v4*
202 i[34567]86-*-sysv4.2*
205 i[34567]86-*-unixware2*
206 i[34567]86-*-unixware*
215 * Other removed features
222 Various m68k-only ROM monitors.
229 Various Renesas ROM monitors and debugging interfaces for SH and
234 Support for a Macraigor serial interface to on-chip debugging.
235 GDB does not directly support the newer parallel or USB
240 A debug information format. The predecessor to DWARF 2 and
241 DWARF 3, which are still supported.
243 Support for the HP aCC compiler on HP-UX/PA-RISC
245 SOM-encapsulated symbolic debugging information, automatic
246 invocation of pxdb, and the aCC custom C++ ABI. This does not
247 affect HP-UX for Itanium or GCC for HP-UX/PA-RISC. Code compiled
248 with aCC can still be debugged on an assembly level.
252 A MIPS-specific format used to describe stack frame layout
253 in debugging information.
257 GDB could work with an older version of Guile to debug
258 the interpreter and Scheme programs running in it.
260 set mips stack-arg-size
261 set mips saved-gpreg-size
263 Use "set mips abi" to control parameter passing for MIPS.
265 *** Changes in GDB 6.6
270 Cell Broadband Engine SPU spu-elf
272 * GDB can now be configured as a cross-debugger targeting native Windows
273 (mingw32) or Cygwin. It can communicate with a remote debugging stub
274 running on a Windows system over TCP/IP to debug Windows programs.
276 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, has been updated to support Windows and
277 Cygwin debugging. Both single-threaded and multi-threaded programs are
280 * The "set trust-readonly-sections" command works again. This command was
281 broken in GDB 6.3, 6.4, and 6.5.
283 * The "load" command now supports writing to flash memory, if the remote
284 stub provides the required support.
286 * Support for GNU/Linux Thread Local Storage (TLS, per-thread variables) no
287 longer requires symbolic debug information (e.g. DWARF-2).
292 unset substitute-path
294 Manage a list of substitution rules that GDB uses to rewrite the name
295 of the directories where the sources are located. This can be useful
296 for instance when the sources were moved to a different location
297 between compilation and debugging.
301 Print each CLI command as it is executed. Each command is prefixed with
302 a number of `+' symbols representing the nesting depth.
303 The source command now has a `-v' option to enable the same feature.
307 The ARM Demon monitor support (RDP protocol, "target rdp").
309 Kernel Object Display, an embedded debugging feature which only worked with
310 an obsolete version of Cisco IOS.
312 The 'set download-write-size' and 'show download-write-size' commands.
317 Tell a stub about GDB client features, and request remote target features.
318 The first feature implemented is PacketSize, which allows the target to
319 specify the size of packets it can handle - to minimize the number of
320 packets required and improve performance when connected to a remote
324 Fetch an OS auxilliary vector from the remote stub. This packet is a
325 more efficient replacement for qPart:auxv:read.
327 qXfer:memory-map:read:
328 Fetch a memory map from the remote stub, including information about
329 RAM, ROM, and flash memory devices.
334 Erase and program a flash memory device.
336 * Removed remote packets
339 This packet has been replaced by qXfer:auxv:read. Only GDB 6.4 and 6.5
340 used it, and only gdbserver implemented it.
342 *** Changes in GDB 6.5
346 Renesas M32C/M16C m32c-elf
348 Morpho Technologies ms1 ms1-elf
352 init-if-undefined Initialize a convenience variable, but
353 only if it doesn't already have a value.
355 The following commands are presently only implemented for native GNU/Linux:
357 checkpoint Save a snapshot of the program state.
359 restart <n> Return the program state to a
360 previously saved state.
362 info checkpoints List currently saved checkpoints.
364 delete-checkpoint <n> Delete a previously saved checkpoint.
366 set|show detach-on-fork Tell gdb whether to detach from a newly
367 forked process, or to keep debugging it.
369 info forks List forks of the user program that
370 are available to be debugged.
372 fork <n> Switch to debugging one of several
373 forks of the user program that are
374 available to be debugged.
376 delete-fork <n> Delete a fork from the list of forks
377 that are available to be debugged (and
378 kill the forked process).
380 detach-fork <n> Delete a fork from the list of forks
381 that are available to be debugged (and
382 allow the process to continue).
386 Morpho Technologies ms2 ms1-elf
388 * Improved Windows host support
390 GDB now builds as a cross debugger hosted on i686-mingw32, including
391 native console support, and remote communications using either
392 network sockets or serial ports.
394 * Improved Modula-2 language support
396 GDB can now print most types in the Modula-2 syntax. This includes:
397 basic types, set types, record types, enumerated types, range types,
398 pointer types and ARRAY types. Procedure var parameters are correctly
399 printed and hexadecimal addresses and character constants are also
400 written in the Modula-2 syntax. Best results can be obtained by using
401 GNU Modula-2 together with the -gdwarf-2 command line option.
405 The ARM rdi-share module.
407 The Netware NLM debug server.
409 *** Changes in GDB 6.4
411 * New native configurations
413 OpenBSD/arm arm*-*-openbsd*
414 OpenBSD/mips64 mips64-*-openbsd*
418 Morpho Technologies ms1 ms1-elf
420 * New command line options
422 --batch-silent As for --batch, but totally silent.
423 --return-child-result The debugger will exist with the same value
424 the child (debugged) program exited with.
425 --eval-command COMMAND, -ex COMMAND
426 Execute a single GDB CLI command. This may be
427 specified multiple times and in conjunction
428 with the --command (-x) option.
430 * Deprecated commands removed
432 The following commands, that were deprecated in 2000, have been
436 set|show arm disassembly-flavor set|show arm disassembler
437 othernames set arm disassembler
438 set|show remotedebug set|show debug remote
439 set|show archdebug set|show debug arch
440 set|show eventdebug set|show debug event
443 * New BSD user-level threads support
445 It is now possible to debug programs using the user-level threads
446 library on OpenBSD and FreeBSD. Currently supported (target)
449 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
450 FreeBSD/i386 i386-*-freebsd*
451 OpenBSD/i386 i386-*-openbsd*
453 Note that the new kernel threads libraries introduced in FreeBSD 5.x
454 are not yet supported.
456 * New support for Matsushita MN10300 w/sim added
457 (Work in progress). mn10300-elf.
459 * REMOVED configurations and files
461 VxWorks and the XDR protocol *-*-vxworks
462 Motorola MCORE mcore-*-*
463 National Semiconductor NS32000 ns32k-*-*
465 * New "set print array-indexes" command
467 After turning this setting "on", GDB prints the index of each element
468 when displaying arrays. The default is "off" to preserve the previous
471 * VAX floating point support
473 GDB now supports the not-quite-ieee VAX F and D floating point formats.
475 * User-defined command support
477 In addition to using $arg0..$arg9 for argument passing, it is now possible
478 to use $argc to determine now many arguments have been passed. See the
479 section on user-defined commands in the user manual for more information.
481 *** Changes in GDB 6.3:
483 * New command line option
485 GDB now accepts -l followed by a number to set the timeout for remote
488 * GDB works with GCC -feliminate-dwarf2-dups
490 GDB now supports a more compact representation of DWARF-2 debug
491 information using DW_FORM_ref_addr references. These are produced
492 by GCC with the option -feliminate-dwarf2-dups and also by some
493 proprietary compilers. With GCC, you must use GCC 3.3.4 or later
494 to use -feliminate-dwarf2-dups.
496 * Internationalization
498 When supported by the host system, GDB will be built with
499 internationalization (libintl). The task of marking up the sources is
500 continued, we're looking forward to our first translation.
504 Initial support for debugging programs compiled with the GNAT
505 implementation of the Ada programming language has been integrated
506 into GDB. In this release, support is limited to expression evaluation.
508 * New native configurations
510 GNU/Linux/m32r m32r-*-linux-gnu
514 GDB's remote protocol now includes support for the 'p' packet. This
515 packet is used to fetch individual registers from a remote inferior.
517 * END-OF-LIFE registers[] compatibility module
519 GDB's internal register infrastructure has been completely rewritten.
520 The new infrastructure making possible the implementation of key new
521 features including 32x64 (e.g., 64-bit amd64 GDB debugging a 32-bit
524 GDB 6.3 will be the last release to include the the registers[]
525 compatibility module that allowed out-of-date configurations to
526 continue to work. This change directly impacts the following
538 Unless there is activity to revive these configurations, they will be
539 made OBSOLETE in GDB 6.4, and REMOVED from GDB 6.5.
541 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
543 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
544 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
545 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
555 *** Changes in GDB 6.2.1:
557 * MIPS `break main; run' gave an heuristic-fence-post warning
559 When attempting to run even a simple program, a warning about
560 heuristic-fence-post being hit would be reported. This problem has
563 * MIPS IRIX 'long double' crashed GDB
565 When examining a long double variable, GDB would get a segmentation
566 fault. The crash has been fixed (but GDB 6.2 cannot correctly examine
567 IRIX long double values).
571 A bug in the VAX stack code was causing problems with the "next"
572 command. This problem has been fixed.
574 *** Changes in GDB 6.2:
576 * Fix for ``many threads''
578 On GNU/Linux systems that use the NPTL threads library, a program
579 rapidly creating and deleting threads would confuse GDB leading to the
582 ptrace: No such process.
583 thread_db_get_info: cannot get thread info: generic error
585 This problem has been fixed.
587 * "-async" and "-noasync" options removed.
589 Support for the broken "-noasync" option has been removed (it caused
592 * New ``start'' command.
594 This command runs the program until the begining of the main procedure.
596 * New BSD Kernel Data Access Library (libkvm) interface
598 Using ``target kvm'' it is now possible to debug kernel core dumps and
599 live kernel memory images on various FreeBSD, NetBSD and OpenBSD
600 platforms. Currently supported (native-only) configurations are:
602 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
603 FreeBSD/i386 i?86-*-freebsd*
604 NetBSD/i386 i?86-*-netbsd*
605 NetBSD/m68k m68*-*-netbsd*
606 NetBSD/sparc sparc-*-netbsd*
607 OpenBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-openbsd*
608 OpenBSD/i386 i?86-*-openbsd*
609 OpenBSD/m68k m68*-openbsd*
610 OpenBSD/sparc sparc-*-openbsd*
612 * Signal trampoline code overhauled
614 Many generic problems with GDB's signal handling code have been fixed.
615 These include: backtraces through non-contiguous stacks; recognition
616 of sa_sigaction signal trampolines; backtrace from a NULL pointer
617 call; backtrace through a signal trampoline; step into and out of
618 signal handlers; and single-stepping in the signal trampoline.
620 Please note that kernel bugs are a limiting factor here. These
621 features have been shown to work on an s390 GNU/Linux system that
622 include a 2.6.8-rc1 kernel. Ref PR breakpoints/1702.
624 * Cygwin support for DWARF 2 added.
626 * New native configurations
628 GNU/Linux/hppa hppa*-*-linux*
629 OpenBSD/hppa hppa*-*-openbsd*
630 OpenBSD/m68k m68*-*-openbsd*
631 OpenBSD/m88k m88*-*-openbsd*
632 OpenBSD/powerpc powerpc-*-openbsd*
633 NetBSD/vax vax-*-netbsd*
634 OpenBSD/vax vax-*-openbsd*
636 * END-OF-LIFE frame compatibility module
638 GDB's internal frame infrastructure has been completely rewritten.
639 The new infrastructure making it possible to support key new features
640 including DWARF 2 Call Frame Information. To aid in the task of
641 migrating old configurations to this new infrastructure, a
642 compatibility module, that allowed old configurations to continue to
643 work, was also included.
645 GDB 6.2 will be the last release to include this frame compatibility
646 module. This change directly impacts the following configurations:
656 Unless there is activity to revive these configurations, they will be
657 made OBSOLETE in GDB 6.3, and REMOVED from GDB 6.4.
659 * REMOVED configurations and files
661 Sun 3, running SunOS 3 m68*-*-sunos3*
662 Sun 3, running SunOS 4 m68*-*-sunos4*
663 Sun 2, running SunOS 3 m68000-*-sunos3*
664 Sun 2, running SunOS 4 m68000-*-sunos4*
665 Motorola 680x0 running LynxOS m68*-*-lynxos*
666 AT&T 3b1/Unix pc m68*-att-*
667 Bull DPX2 (68k, System V release 3) m68*-bull-sysv*
668 decstation mips-dec-* mips-little-*
669 riscos mips-*-riscos* mips-*-sysv*
671 sysv mips*-*-sysv4* (IRIX 5/6 not included)
673 *** Changes in GDB 6.1.1:
675 * TUI (Text-mode User Interface) built-in (also included in GDB 6.1)
677 The TUI (Text-mode User Interface) is now built as part of a default
678 GDB configuration. It is enabled by either selecting the TUI with the
679 command line option "-i=tui" or by running the separate "gdbtui"
680 program. For more information on the TUI, see the manual "Debugging
683 * Pending breakpoint support (also included in GDB 6.1)
685 Support has been added to allow you to specify breakpoints in shared
686 libraries that have not yet been loaded. If a breakpoint location
687 cannot be found, and the "breakpoint pending" option is set to auto,
688 GDB queries you if you wish to make the breakpoint pending on a future
689 shared-library load. If and when GDB resolves the breakpoint symbol,
690 the pending breakpoint is removed as one or more regular breakpoints
693 Pending breakpoints are very useful for GCJ Java debugging.
695 * Fixed ISO-C build problems
697 The files bfd/elf-bfd.h, gdb/dictionary.c and gdb/types.c contained
698 non ISO-C code that stopped them being built using a more strict ISO-C
699 compiler (e.g., IBM's C compiler).
701 * Fixed build problem on IRIX 5
703 Due to header problems with <sys/proc.h>, the file gdb/proc-api.c
704 wasn't able to compile compile on an IRIX 5 system.
706 * Added execute permission to gdb/gdbserver/configure
708 The shell script gdb/testsuite/gdb.stabs/configure lacked execute
709 permission. This bug would cause configure to fail on a number of
710 systems (Solaris, IRIX). Ref: server/519.
712 * Fixed build problem on hpux2.0w-hp-hpux11.00 using the HP ANSI C compiler
714 Older HPUX ANSI C compilers did not accept variable array sizes. somsolib.c
715 has been updated to use constant array sizes.
717 * Fixed a panic in the DWARF Call Frame Info code on Solaris 2.7
719 GCC 3.3.2, on Solaris 2.7, includes the DW_EH_PE_funcrel encoding in
720 its generated DWARF Call Frame Info. This encoding was causing GDB to
721 panic, that panic has been fixed. Ref: gdb/1628.
723 * Fixed a problem when examining parameters in shared library code.
725 When examining parameters in optimized shared library code generated
726 by a mainline GCC, GDB would incorrectly report ``Variable "..." is
727 not available''. GDB now correctly displays the variable's value.
729 *** Changes in GDB 6.1:
731 * Removed --with-mmalloc
733 Support for the mmalloc memory manager has been removed, as it
734 conflicted with the internal gdb byte cache.
736 * Changes in AMD64 configurations
738 The AMD64 target now includes the %cs and %ss registers. As a result
739 the AMD64 remote protocol has changed; this affects the floating-point
740 and SSE registers. If you rely on those registers for your debugging,
741 you should upgrade gdbserver on the remote side.
743 * Revised SPARC target
745 The SPARC target has been completely revised, incorporating the
746 FreeBSD/sparc64 support that was added for GDB 6.0. As a result
747 support for LynxOS and SunOS 4 has been dropped. Calling functions
748 from within GDB on operating systems with a non-executable stack
749 (Solaris, OpenBSD) now works.
753 GDB has a new C++ demangler which does a better job on the mangled
754 names generated by current versions of g++. It also runs faster, so
755 with this and other changes gdb should now start faster on large C++
758 * DWARF 2 Location Expressions
760 GDB support for location expressions has been extended to support function
761 arguments and frame bases. Older versions of GDB could crash when they
764 * C++ nested types and namespaces
766 GDB's support for nested types and namespaces in C++ has been
767 improved, especially if you use the DWARF 2 debugging format. (This
768 is the default for recent versions of GCC on most platforms.)
769 Specifically, if you have a class "Inner" defined within a class or
770 namespace "Outer", then GDB realizes that the class's name is
771 "Outer::Inner", not simply "Inner". This should greatly reduce the
772 frequency of complaints about not finding RTTI symbols. In addition,
773 if you are stopped at inside of a function defined within a namespace,
774 GDB modifies its name lookup accordingly.
776 * New native configurations
778 NetBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-netbsd*
779 OpenBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-openbsd*
780 OpenBSD/alpha alpha*-*-openbsd*
781 OpenBSD/sparc sparc-*-openbsd*
782 OpenBSD/sparc64 sparc64-*-openbsd*
784 * New debugging protocols
786 M32R with SDI protocol m32r-*-elf*
788 * "set prompt-escape-char" command deleted.
790 The command "set prompt-escape-char" has been deleted. This command,
791 and its very obscure effet on GDB's prompt, was never documented,
792 tested, nor mentioned in the NEWS file.
794 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
796 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
797 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
798 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
801 Sun 3, running SunOS 3 m68*-*-sunos3*
802 Sun 3, running SunOS 4 m68*-*-sunos4*
803 Sun 2, running SunOS 3 m68000-*-sunos3*
804 Sun 2, running SunOS 4 m68000-*-sunos4*
805 Motorola 680x0 running LynxOS m68*-*-lynxos*
806 AT&T 3b1/Unix pc m68*-att-*
807 Bull DPX2 (68k, System V release 3) m68*-bull-sysv*
808 decstation mips-dec-* mips-little-*
809 riscos mips-*-riscos* mips-*-sysv*
811 sysv mips*-*-sysv4* (IRIX 5/6 not included)
813 * REMOVED configurations and files
815 SGI Irix-4.x mips-sgi-irix4 or iris4
816 SGI Iris (MIPS) running Irix V3: mips-sgi-irix or iris
817 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
818 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
819 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
820 HP/PA running BSD hppa*-*-bsd*
821 HP/PA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
822 HP/PA Pro target hppa*-*-pro*
823 PMAX (MIPS) running Mach 3.0 mips*-*-mach3*
824 386BSD i[3456]86-*-bsd*
825 Sequent family i[3456]86-sequent-sysv4*
826 i[3456]86-sequent-sysv*
827 i[3456]86-sequent-bsd*
828 SPARC running LynxOS sparc-*-lynxos*
829 SPARC running SunOS 4 sparc-*-sunos4*
830 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
831 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
833 *** Changes in GDB 6.0:
837 Support for debugging the Objective-C programming language has been
840 * New backtrace mechanism (includes DWARF 2 Call Frame Information).
842 DWARF 2's Call Frame Information makes available compiler generated
843 information that more exactly describes the program's run-time stack.
844 By using this information, GDB is able to provide more robust stack
847 The i386, amd64 (nee, x86-64), Alpha, m68hc11, ia64, and m32r targets
848 have been updated to use a new backtrace mechanism which includes
853 GDB's remote protocol has been extended to include support for hosted
854 file I/O (where the remote target uses GDB's file system). See GDB's
855 remote protocol documentation for details.
857 * All targets using the new architecture framework.
859 All of GDB's targets have been updated to use the new internal
860 architecture framework. The way is now open for future GDB releases
861 to include cross-architecture native debugging support (i386 on amd64,
864 * GNU/Linux's Thread Local Storage (TLS)
866 GDB now includes support for for the GNU/Linux implementation of
867 per-thread variables.
869 * GNU/Linux's Native POSIX Thread Library (NPTL)
871 GDB's thread code has been updated to work with either the new
872 GNU/Linux NPTL thread library or the older "LinuxThreads" library.
874 * Separate debug info.
876 GDB, in conjunction with BINUTILS, now supports a mechanism for
877 automatically loading debug information from a separate file. Instead
878 of shipping full debug and non-debug versions of system libraries,
879 system integrators can now instead ship just the stripped libraries
880 and optional debug files.
882 * DWARF 2 Location Expressions
884 DWARF 2 Location Expressions allow the compiler to more completely
885 describe the location of variables (even in optimized code) to the
888 GDB now includes preliminary support for location expressions (support
889 for DW_OP_piece is still missing).
893 A number of long standing bugs that caused GDB to die while starting a
894 Java application have been fixed. GDB's Java support is now
895 considered "useable".
897 * GNU/Linux support for fork, vfork, and exec.
899 The "catch fork", "catch exec", "catch vfork", and "set follow-fork-mode"
900 commands are now implemented for GNU/Linux. They require a 2.5.x or later
903 * GDB supports logging output to a file
905 There are two new commands, "set logging" and "show logging", which can be
906 used to capture GDB's output to a file.
908 * The meaning of "detach" has changed for gdbserver
910 The "detach" command will now resume the application, as documented. To
911 disconnect from gdbserver and leave it stopped, use the new "disconnect"
914 * d10v, m68hc11 `regs' command deprecated
916 The `info registers' command has been updated so that it displays the
917 registers using a format identical to the old `regs' command.
921 A new command, "maint set profile on/off", has been added. This command can
922 be used to enable or disable profiling while running GDB, to profile a
923 session or a set of commands. In addition there is a new configure switch,
924 "--enable-profiling", which will cause GDB to be compiled with profiling
925 data, for more informative profiling results.
927 * Default MI syntax changed to "mi2".
929 The default MI (machine interface) syntax, enabled by the command line
930 option "-i=mi", has been changed to "mi2". The previous MI syntax,
931 "mi1", can be enabled by specifying the option "-i=mi1".
933 Support for the original "mi0" syntax (included in GDB 5.0) has been
936 Fix for gdb/192: removed extraneous space when displaying frame level.
937 Fix for gdb/672: update changelist is now output in mi list format.
938 Fix for gdb/702: a -var-assign that updates the value now shows up
939 in a subsequent -var-update.
941 * New native configurations.
943 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
945 * Multi-arched targets.
947 HP/PA HPUX11 hppa*-*-hpux*
948 Renesas M32R/D w/simulator m32r-*-elf*
950 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
952 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
953 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
954 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
957 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
958 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
959 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
960 HP/PA running BSD hppa*-*-bsd*
961 HP/PA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
962 HP/PA Pro target hppa*-*-pro*
963 PMAX (MIPS) running Mach 3.0 mips*-*-mach3*
964 Sequent family i[3456]86-sequent-sysv4*
965 i[3456]86-sequent-sysv*
966 i[3456]86-sequent-bsd*
967 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
968 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
970 * REMOVED configurations and files
973 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
974 IBM AIX PS/2 i[3456]86-*-aix
975 i386 running Mach 3.0 i[3456]86-*-mach3*
976 i386 running Mach i[3456]86-*-mach*
977 i386 running OSF/1 i[3456]86-*osf1mk*
978 HP/Apollo 68k Family m68*-apollo*-sysv*,
980 m68*-hp-bsd*, m68*-hp-hpux*
981 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
982 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
983 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
984 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
985 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
987 * MIPS $fp behavior changed
989 The convenience variable $fp, for the MIPS, now consistently returns
990 the address of the current frame's base. Previously, depending on the
991 context, $fp could refer to either $sp or the current frame's base
992 address. See ``8.10 Registers'' in the manual ``Debugging with GDB:
993 The GNU Source-Level Debugger''.
995 *** Changes in GDB 5.3:
997 * GNU/Linux shared library multi-threaded performance improved.
999 When debugging a multi-threaded application on GNU/Linux, GDB now uses
1000 `/proc', in preference to `ptrace' for memory reads. This may result
1001 in an improvement in the start-up time of multi-threaded, shared
1002 library applications when run under GDB. One GDB user writes: ``loads
1003 shared libs like mad''.
1005 * ``gdbserver'' now supports multi-threaded applications on some targets
1007 Support for debugging multi-threaded applications which use
1008 the GNU/Linux LinuxThreads package has been added for
1009 arm*-*-linux*-gnu*, i[3456]86-*-linux*-gnu*, mips*-*-linux*-gnu*,
1010 powerpc*-*-linux*-gnu*, and sh*-*-linux*-gnu*.
1012 * GDB now supports C/C++ preprocessor macros.
1014 GDB now expands preprocessor macro invocations in C/C++ expressions,
1015 and provides various commands for showing macro definitions and how
1018 The new command `macro expand EXPRESSION' expands any macro
1019 invocations in expression, and shows the result.
1021 The new command `show macro MACRO-NAME' shows the definition of the
1022 macro named MACRO-NAME, and where it was defined.
1024 Most compilers don't include information about macros in the debugging
1025 information by default. In GCC 3.1, for example, you need to compile
1026 your program with the options `-gdwarf-2 -g3'. If the macro
1027 information is present in the executable, GDB will read it.
1029 * Multi-arched targets.
1031 DEC Alpha (partial) alpha*-*-*
1032 DEC VAX (partial) vax-*-*
1034 National Semiconductor NS32000 (partial) ns32k-*-*
1035 Motorola 68000 (partial) m68k-*-*
1036 Motorola MCORE mcore-*-*
1040 Fujitsu FRV architecture added by Red Hat frv*-*-*
1043 * New native configurations
1045 Alpha NetBSD alpha*-*-netbsd*
1046 SH NetBSD sh*-*-netbsdelf*
1047 MIPS NetBSD mips*-*-netbsd*
1048 UltraSPARC NetBSD sparc64-*-netbsd*
1050 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
1052 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
1053 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
1054 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
1055 permanently REMOVED.
1057 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
1058 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
1059 IBM AIX PS/2 i[3456]86-*-aix
1060 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
1061 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
1062 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
1063 i386 running Mach 3.0 i[3456]86-*-mach3*
1064 i386 running Mach i[3456]86-*-mach*
1065 i386 running OSF/1 i[3456]86-*osf1mk*
1066 HP/Apollo 68k Family m68*-apollo*-sysv*,
1068 m68*-hp-bsd*, m68*-hp-hpux*
1069 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
1071 * OBSOLETE languages
1073 CHILL, a Pascal like language used by telecommunications companies.
1075 * REMOVED configurations and files
1077 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi, udi29k
1078 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
1079 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
1080 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
1081 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
1083 testsuite/gdb.hp/gdb.threads-hp/ directory
1085 * New command "set max-user-call-depth <nnn>"
1087 This command allows the user to limit the call depth of user-defined
1088 commands. The default is 1024.
1090 * Changes in FreeBSD/i386 native debugging.
1092 Support for the "generate-core-file" has been added.
1094 * New commands "dump", "append", and "restore".
1096 These commands allow data to be copied from target memory
1097 to a bfd-format or binary file (dump and append), and back
1098 from a file into memory (restore).
1100 * Improved "next/step" support on multi-processor Alpha Tru64.
1102 The previous single-step mechanism could cause unpredictable problems,
1103 including the random appearance of SIGSEGV or SIGTRAP signals. The use
1104 of a software single-step mechanism prevents this.
1106 *** Changes in GDB 5.2.1:
1114 gdb/182: gdb/323: gdb/237: On alpha, gdb was reporting:
1115 mdebugread.c:2443: gdb-internal-error: sect_index_data not initialized
1116 Fix, by Joel Brobecker imported from mainline.
1118 gdb/439: gdb/291: On some ELF object files, gdb was reporting:
1119 dwarf2read.c:1072: gdb-internal-error: sect_index_text not initialize
1120 Fix, by Fred Fish, imported from mainline.
1122 Dwarf2 .debug_frame & .eh_frame handler improved in many ways.
1123 Surprisingly enough, it works now.
1124 By Michal Ludvig, imported from mainline.
1126 i386 hardware watchpoint support:
1127 avoid misses on second run for some targets.
1128 By Pierre Muller, imported from mainline.
1130 *** Changes in GDB 5.2:
1132 * New command "set trust-readonly-sections on[off]".
1134 This command is a hint that tells gdb that read-only sections
1135 really are read-only (ie. that their contents will not change).
1136 In this mode, gdb will go to the object file rather than the
1137 target to read memory from read-only sections (such as ".text").
1138 This can be a significant performance improvement on some
1139 (notably embedded) targets.
1141 * New command "generate-core-file" (or "gcore").
1143 This new gdb command allows the user to drop a core file of the child
1144 process state at any time. So far it's been implemented only for
1145 GNU/Linux and Solaris, but should be relatively easily ported to other
1146 hosts. Argument is core file name (defaults to core.<pid>).
1148 * New command line option
1150 GDB now accepts --pid or -p followed by a process id.
1152 * Change in command line behavior -- corefiles vs. process ids.
1154 There is a subtle behavior in the way in which GDB handles
1155 command line arguments. The first non-flag argument is always
1156 a program to debug, but the second non-flag argument may either
1157 be a corefile or a process id. Previously, GDB would attempt to
1158 open the second argument as a corefile, and if that failed, would
1159 issue a superfluous error message and then attempt to attach it as
1160 a process. Now, if the second argument begins with a non-digit,
1161 it will be treated as a corefile. If it begins with a digit,
1162 GDB will attempt to attach it as a process, and if no such process
1163 is found, will then attempt to open it as a corefile.
1165 * Changes in ARM configurations.
1167 Multi-arch support is enabled for all ARM configurations. The ARM/NetBSD
1168 configuration is fully multi-arch.
1170 * New native configurations
1172 ARM NetBSD arm*-*-netbsd*
1173 x86 OpenBSD i[3456]86-*-openbsd*
1174 AMD x86-64 running GNU/Linux x86_64-*-linux-*
1175 Sparc64 running FreeBSD sparc64-*-freebsd*
1179 Sanyo XStormy16 xstormy16-elf
1181 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
1183 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
1184 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
1185 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
1186 permanently REMOVED.
1188 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi, udi29k
1189 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
1190 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
1191 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
1192 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
1194 testsuite/gdb.hp/gdb.threads-hp/ directory
1196 * REMOVED configurations and files
1198 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
1200 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
1201 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
1202 PowerPC Netware powerpc-*-netware*
1203 Harris/CXUX m88k m88*-harris-cxux*
1204 Most ns32k hosts and targets ns32k-*-mach3* ns32k-umax-*
1205 ns32k-utek-sysv* ns32k-utek-*
1206 SunOS 4.0.Xi on i386 i[3456]86-*-sunos*
1207 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1 a29k-nyu-sym1 a29k-*-kern*
1208 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x m68*-sony-sysv news
1209 ISI Optimum V (3.05) under 4.3bsd. m68*-isi-*
1210 Apple Macintosh (MPW) host and target N/A host, powerpc-*-macos*
1212 * Changes to command line processing
1214 The new `--args' feature can be used to specify command-line arguments
1215 for the inferior from gdb's command line.
1217 * Changes to key bindings
1219 There is a new `operate-and-get-next' function bound to `C-o'.
1221 *** Changes in GDB 5.1.1
1223 Fix compile problem on DJGPP.
1225 Fix a problem with floating-point registers on the i386 being
1228 Fix to stop GDB crashing on .debug_str debug info.
1230 Numerous documentation fixes.
1232 Numerous testsuite fixes.
1234 *** Changes in GDB 5.1:
1236 * New native configurations
1238 Alpha FreeBSD alpha*-*-freebsd*
1239 x86 FreeBSD 3.x and 4.x i[3456]86*-freebsd[34]*
1240 MIPS GNU/Linux mips*-*-linux*
1241 MIPS SGI Irix 6.x mips*-sgi-irix6*
1242 ia64 AIX ia64-*-aix*
1243 s390 and s390x GNU/Linux {s390,s390x}-*-linux*
1247 Motorola 68HC11 and 68HC12 m68hc11-elf
1249 UltraSparc running GNU/Linux sparc64-*-linux*
1251 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
1253 x86 FreeBSD before 2.2 i[3456]86*-freebsd{1,2.[01]}*,
1254 Harris/CXUX m88k m88*-harris-cxux*
1255 Most ns32k hosts and targets ns32k-*-mach3* ns32k-umax-*
1256 ns32k-utek-sysv* ns32k-utek-*
1257 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
1259 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1 a29k-nyu-sym1 a29k-*-kern*
1260 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
1261 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
1262 PowerPC Netware powerpc-*-netware*
1263 SunOS 4.0.Xi on i386 i[3456]86-*-sunos*
1264 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x m68*-sony-sysv news
1265 ISI Optimum V (3.05) under 4.3bsd. m68*-isi-*
1266 Apple Macintosh (MPW) host N/A
1268 stuff.c (Program to stuff files into a specially prepared space in kdb)
1269 kdb-start.c (Main loop for the standalone kernel debugger)
1271 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
1272 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
1273 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
1274 permanently REMOVED.
1276 * REMOVED configurations and files
1278 Altos 3068 m68*-altos-*
1279 Convex c1-*-*, c2-*-*
1281 ARM RISCix arm-*-* (as host)
1285 * GDB has been converted to ISO C.
1287 GDB's source code has been converted to ISO C. In particular, the
1288 sources are fully protoized, and rely on standard headers being
1293 * "info symbol" works on platforms which use COFF, ECOFF, XCOFF, and NLM.
1295 * The MI enabled by default.
1297 The new machine oriented interface (MI) introduced in GDB 5.0 has been
1298 revised and enabled by default. Packages which use GDB as a debugging
1299 engine behind a UI or another front end are encouraged to switch to
1300 using the GDB/MI interface, instead of the old annotations interface
1301 which is now deprecated.
1303 * Support for debugging Pascal programs.
1305 GDB now includes support for debugging Pascal programs. The following
1306 main features are supported:
1308 - Pascal-specific data types such as sets;
1310 - automatic recognition of Pascal sources based on file-name
1313 - Pascal-style display of data types, variables, and functions;
1315 - a Pascal expression parser.
1317 However, some important features are not yet supported.
1319 - Pascal string operations are not supported at all;
1321 - there are some problems with boolean types;
1323 - Pascal type hexadecimal constants are not supported
1324 because they conflict with the internal variables format;
1326 - support for Pascal objects and classes is not full yet;
1328 - unlike Pascal, GDB is case-sensitive for symbol names.
1330 * Changes in completion.
1332 Commands such as `shell', `run' and `set args', which pass arguments
1333 to inferior programs, now complete on file names, similar to what
1334 users expect at the shell prompt.
1336 Commands which accept locations, such as `disassemble', `print',
1337 `breakpoint', `until', etc. now complete on filenames as well as
1338 program symbols. Thus, if you type "break foob TAB", and the source
1339 files linked into the programs include `foobar.c', that file name will
1340 be one of the candidates for completion. However, file names are not
1341 considered for completion after you typed a colon that delimits a file
1342 name from a name of a function in that file, as in "break foo.c:bar".
1344 `set demangle-style' completes on available demangling styles.
1346 * New platform-independent commands:
1348 It is now possible to define a post-hook for a command as well as a
1349 hook that runs before the command. For more details, see the
1350 documentation of `hookpost' in the GDB manual.
1352 * Changes in GNU/Linux native debugging.
1354 Support for debugging multi-threaded programs has been completely
1355 revised for all platforms except m68k and sparc. You can now debug as
1356 many threads as your system allows you to have.
1358 Attach/detach is supported for multi-threaded programs.
1360 Support for SSE registers was added for x86. This doesn't work for
1361 multi-threaded programs though.
1363 * Changes in MIPS configurations.
1365 Multi-arch support is enabled for all MIPS configurations.
1367 GDB can now be built as native debugger on SGI Irix 6.x systems for
1368 debugging n32 executables. (Debugging 64-bit executables is not yet
1371 * Unified support for hardware watchpoints in all x86 configurations.
1373 Most (if not all) native x86 configurations support hardware-assisted
1374 breakpoints and watchpoints in a unified manner. This support
1375 implements debug register sharing between watchpoints, which allows to
1376 put a virtually infinite number of watchpoints on the same address,
1377 and also supports watching regions up to 16 bytes with several debug
1380 The new maintenance command `maintenance show-debug-regs' toggles
1381 debugging print-outs in functions that insert, remove, and test
1382 watchpoints and hardware breakpoints.
1384 * Changes in the DJGPP native configuration.
1386 New command ``info dos sysinfo'' displays assorted information about
1387 the CPU, OS, memory, and DPMI server.
1389 New commands ``info dos gdt'', ``info dos ldt'', and ``info dos idt''
1390 display information about segment descriptors stored in GDT, LDT, and
1393 New commands ``info dos pde'' and ``info dos pte'' display entries
1394 from Page Directory and Page Tables (for now works with CWSDPMI only).
1395 New command ``info dos address-pte'' displays the Page Table entry for
1396 a given linear address.
1398 GDB can now pass command lines longer than 126 characters to the
1399 program being debugged (requires an update to the libdbg.a library
1400 which is part of the DJGPP development kit).
1402 DWARF2 debug info is now supported.
1404 It is now possible to `step' and `next' through calls to `longjmp'.
1406 * Changes in documentation.
1408 All GDB documentation was converted to GFDL, the GNU Free
1409 Documentation License.
1411 Tracepoints-related commands are now fully documented in the GDB
1414 TUI, the Text-mode User Interface, is now documented in the manual.
1416 Tracepoints-related commands are now fully documented in the GDB
1419 The "GDB Internals" manual now has an index. It also includes
1420 documentation of `ui_out' functions, GDB coding standards, x86
1421 hardware watchpoints, and memory region attributes.
1423 * GDB's version number moved to ``version.in''
1425 The Makefile variable VERSION has been replaced by the file
1426 ``version.in''. People creating GDB distributions should update the
1427 contents of this file.
1431 GUD support is now a standard part of the EMACS distribution.
1433 *** Changes in GDB 5.0:
1435 * Improved support for debugging FP programs on x86 targets
1437 Unified and much-improved support for debugging floating-point
1438 programs on all x86 targets. In particular, ``info float'' now
1439 displays the FP registers in the same format on all x86 targets, with
1440 greater level of detail.
1442 * Improvements and bugfixes in hardware-assisted watchpoints
1444 It is now possible to watch array elements, struct members, and
1445 bitfields with hardware-assisted watchpoints. Data-read watchpoints
1446 on x86 targets no longer erroneously trigger when the address is
1449 * Improvements in the native DJGPP version of GDB
1451 The distribution now includes all the scripts and auxiliary files
1452 necessary to build the native DJGPP version on MS-DOS/MS-Windows
1453 machines ``out of the box''.
1455 The DJGPP version can now debug programs that use signals. It is
1456 possible to catch signals that happened in the debuggee, deliver
1457 signals to it, interrupt it with Ctrl-C, etc. (Previously, a signal
1458 would kill the program being debugged.) Programs that hook hardware
1459 interrupts (keyboard, timer, etc.) can also be debugged.
1461 It is now possible to debug DJGPP programs that redirect their
1462 standard handles or switch them to raw (as opposed to cooked) mode, or
1463 even close them. The command ``run < foo > bar'' works as expected,
1464 and ``info terminal'' reports useful information about the debuggee's
1465 terminal, including raw/cooked mode, redirection, etc.
1467 The DJGPP version now uses termios functions for console I/O, which
1468 enables debugging graphics programs. Interrupting GDB with Ctrl-C
1471 DOS-style file names with drive letters are now fully supported by
1474 It is now possible to debug DJGPP programs that switch their working
1475 directory. It is also possible to rerun the debuggee any number of
1476 times without restarting GDB; thus, you can use the same setup,
1477 breakpoints, etc. for many debugging sessions.
1479 * New native configurations
1481 ARM GNU/Linux arm*-*-linux*
1482 PowerPC GNU/Linux powerpc-*-linux*
1486 Motorola MCore mcore-*-*
1487 x86 VxWorks i[3456]86-*-vxworks*
1488 PowerPC VxWorks powerpc-*-vxworks*
1489 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
1491 * OBSOLETE configurations
1493 Altos 3068 m68*-altos-*
1494 Convex c1-*-*, c2-*-*
1496 ARM RISCix arm-*-* (as host)
1499 Configurations that have been declared obsolete will be commented out,
1500 but the code will be left in place. If there is no activity to revive
1501 these configurations before the next release of GDB, the sources will
1502 be permanently REMOVED.
1504 * Gould support removed
1506 Support for the Gould PowerNode and NP1 has been removed.
1508 * New features for SVR4
1510 On SVR4 native platforms (such as Solaris), if you attach to a process
1511 without first loading a symbol file, GDB will now attempt to locate and
1512 load symbols from the running process's executable file.
1514 * Many C++ enhancements
1516 C++ support has been greatly improved. Overload resolution now works properly
1517 in almost all cases. RTTI support is on the way.
1519 * Remote targets can connect to a sub-program
1521 A popen(3) style serial-device has been added. This device starts a
1522 sub-process (such as a stand-alone simulator) and then communicates
1523 with that. The sub-program to run is specified using the syntax
1524 ``|<program> <args>'' vis:
1526 (gdb) set remotedebug 1
1527 (gdb) target extended-remote |mn10300-elf-sim program-args
1529 * MIPS 64 remote protocol
1531 A long standing bug in the mips64 remote protocol where by GDB
1532 expected certain 32 bit registers (ex SR) to be transfered as 32
1533 instead of 64 bits has been fixed.
1535 The command ``set remote-mips64-transfers-32bit-regs on'' has been
1536 added to provide backward compatibility with older versions of GDB.
1538 * ``set remotebinarydownload'' replaced by ``set remote X-packet''
1540 The command ``set remotebinarydownload'' command has been replaced by
1541 ``set remote X-packet''. Other commands in ``set remote'' family
1542 include ``set remote P-packet''.
1544 * Breakpoint commands accept ranges.
1546 The breakpoint commands ``enable'', ``disable'', and ``delete'' now
1547 accept a range of breakpoints, e.g. ``5-7''. The tracepoint command
1548 ``tracepoint passcount'' also accepts a range of tracepoints.
1550 * ``apropos'' command added.
1552 The ``apropos'' command searches through command names and
1553 documentation strings, printing out matches, making it much easier to
1554 try to find a command that does what you are looking for.
1558 A new machine oriented interface (MI) has been added to GDB. This
1559 interface is designed for debug environments running GDB as a separate
1560 process. This is part of the long term libGDB project. See the
1561 "GDB/MI" chapter of the GDB manual for further information. It can be
1562 enabled by configuring with:
1564 .../configure --enable-gdbmi
1566 *** Changes in GDB-4.18:
1568 * New native configurations
1570 HP-UX 10.20 hppa*-*-hpux10.20
1571 HP-UX 11.x hppa*-*-hpux11.0*
1572 M68K GNU/Linux m68*-*-linux*
1576 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
1577 Intel StrongARM strongarm-*-*
1578 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
1580 * OBSOLETE configurations
1582 Gould PowerNode, NP1 np1-*-*, pn-*-*
1584 Configurations that have been declared obsolete will be commented out,
1585 but the code will be left in place. If there is no activity to revive
1586 these configurations before the next release of GDB, the sources will
1587 be permanently REMOVED.
1591 As a compatibility experiment, GDB's source files buildsym.h and
1592 buildsym.c have been converted to pure standard C, no longer
1593 containing any K&R compatibility code. We believe that all systems in
1594 use today either come with a standard C compiler, or have a GCC port
1595 available. If this is not true, please report the affected
1596 configuration to bug-gdb@gnu.org immediately. See the README file for
1597 information about getting a standard C compiler if you don't have one
1602 GDB now uses readline 2.2.
1604 * set extension-language
1606 You can now control the mapping between filename extensions and source
1607 languages by using the `set extension-language' command. For instance,
1608 you can ask GDB to treat .c files as C++ by saying
1609 set extension-language .c c++
1610 The command `info extensions' lists all of the recognized extensions
1611 and their associated languages.
1613 * Setting processor type for PowerPC and RS/6000
1615 When GDB is configured for a powerpc*-*-* or an rs6000*-*-* target,
1616 you can use the `set processor' command to specify what variant of the
1617 PowerPC family you are debugging. The command
1621 sets the PowerPC/RS6000 variant to NAME. GDB knows about the
1622 following PowerPC and RS6000 variants:
1624 ppc-uisa PowerPC UISA - a PPC processor as viewed by user-level code
1625 rs6000 IBM RS6000 ("POWER") architecture, user-level view
1627 403GC IBM PowerPC 403GC
1628 505 Motorola PowerPC 505
1629 860 Motorola PowerPC 860 or 850
1630 601 Motorola PowerPC 601
1631 602 Motorola PowerPC 602
1632 603 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 603 or 603e
1633 604 Motorola PowerPC 604 or 604e
1634 750 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 750 or 750
1636 At the moment, this command just tells GDB what to name the
1637 special-purpose processor registers. Since almost all the affected
1638 registers are inaccessible to user-level programs, this command is
1639 only useful for remote debugging in its present form.
1643 Thanks to a major code donation from Hewlett-Packard, GDB now has much
1644 more extensive support for HP-UX. Added features include shared
1645 library support, kernel threads and hardware watchpoints for 11.00,
1646 support for HP's ANSI C and C++ compilers, and a compatibility mode
1647 for xdb and dbx commands.
1651 HP's donation includes the new concept of catchpoints, which is a
1652 generalization of the old catch command. On HP-UX, it is now possible
1653 to catch exec, fork, and vfork, as well as library loading.
1655 This means that the existing catch command has changed; its first
1656 argument now specifies the type of catch to be set up. See the
1657 output of "help catch" for a list of catchpoint types.
1659 * Debugging across forks
1661 On HP-UX, you can choose which process to debug when a fork() happens
1666 HP has donated a curses-based terminal user interface (TUI). To get
1667 it, build with --enable-tui. Although this can be enabled for any
1668 configuration, at present it only works for native HP debugging.
1670 * GDB remote protocol additions
1672 A new protocol packet 'X' that writes binary data is now available.
1673 Default behavior is to try 'X', then drop back to 'M' if the stub
1674 fails to respond. The settable variable `remotebinarydownload'
1675 allows explicit control over the use of 'X'.
1677 For 64-bit targets, the memory packets ('M' and 'm') can now contain a
1678 full 64-bit address. The command
1680 set remoteaddresssize 32
1682 can be used to revert to the old behaviour. For existing remote stubs
1683 the change should not be noticed, as the additional address information
1686 In order to assist in debugging stubs, you may use the maintenance
1687 command `packet' to send any text string to the stub. For instance,
1689 maint packet heythere
1691 sends the packet "$heythere#<checksum>". Note that it is very easy to
1692 disrupt a debugging session by sending the wrong packet at the wrong
1695 The compare-sections command allows you to compare section data on the
1696 target to what is in the executable file without uploading or
1697 downloading, by comparing CRC checksums.
1699 * Tracing can collect general expressions
1701 You may now collect general expressions at tracepoints. This requires
1702 further additions to the target-side stub; see tracepoint.c and
1703 doc/agentexpr.texi for further details.
1705 * mask-address variable for Mips
1707 For Mips targets, you may control the zeroing of the upper 32 bits of
1708 a 64-bit address by entering `set mask-address on'. This is mainly
1709 of interest to users of embedded R4xxx and R5xxx processors.
1711 * Higher serial baud rates
1713 GDB's serial code now allows you to specify baud rates 57600, 115200,
1714 230400, and 460800 baud. (Note that your host system may not be able
1715 to achieve all of these rates.)
1719 The i960 configuration now includes an initial implementation of a
1720 builtin simulator, contributed by Jim Wilson.
1723 *** Changes in GDB-4.17:
1725 * New native configurations
1727 Alpha GNU/Linux alpha*-*-linux*
1728 Unixware 2.x i[3456]86-unixware2*
1729 Irix 6.x mips*-sgi-irix6*
1730 PowerPC GNU/Linux powerpc-*-linux*
1731 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
1732 Sparc GNU/Linux sparc-*-linux*
1733 Motorola sysV68 R3V7.1 m68k-motorola-sysv
1737 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
1738 Hitachi H8/300S h8300*-*-*
1739 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
1740 Matsushita MN10300 w/simulator mn10300-*-*
1741 MIPS NEC VR4100 mips64*vr4100*{,el}-*-elf*
1742 MIPS NEC VR5000 mips64*vr5000*{,el}-*-elf*
1743 MIPS Toshiba TX39 mips64*tx39*{,el}-*-elf*
1744 Mitsubishi D10V w/simulator d10v-*-*
1745 Mitsubishi M32R/D w/simulator m32r-*-elf*
1746 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
1747 NEC V850 w/simulator v850-*-*
1749 * New debugging protocols
1751 ARM with RDI protocol arm*-*-*
1752 M68K with dBUG monitor m68*-*-{aout,coff,elf}
1753 DDB and LSI variants of PMON protocol mips*-*-*
1754 PowerPC with DINK32 monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
1755 PowerPC with SDS protocol powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
1756 Macraigor OCD (Wiggler) devices powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
1760 All configurations can now understand and use the DWARF 2 debugging
1761 format. The choice is automatic, if the symbol file contains DWARF 2
1766 GDB now includes basic Java language support. This support is
1767 only useful with Java compilers that produce native machine code.
1769 * solib-absolute-prefix and solib-search-path
1771 For SunOS and SVR4 shared libraries, you may now set the prefix for
1772 loading absolute shared library symbol files, and the search path for
1773 locating non-absolute shared library symbol files.
1775 * Live range splitting
1777 GDB can now effectively debug code for which GCC has performed live
1778 range splitting as part of its optimization. See gdb/doc/LRS for
1779 more details on the expected format of the stabs information.
1783 GDB's support for the GNU Hurd, including thread debugging, has been
1784 updated to work with current versions of the Hurd.
1788 GDB's ARM target configuration now handles the ARM7T (Thumb) 16-bit
1789 instruction set. ARM GDB automatically detects when Thumb
1790 instructions are in use, and adjusts disassembly and backtracing
1795 GDB's MIPS target configurations now handle the MIP16 16-bit
1800 GDB now includes support for overlays; if an executable has been
1801 linked such that multiple sections are based at the same address, GDB
1802 will decide which section to use for symbolic info. You can choose to
1803 control the decision manually, using overlay commands, or implement
1804 additional target-side support and use "overlay load-target" to bring
1805 in the overlay mapping. Do "help overlay" for more detail.
1809 The command "info symbol <address>" displays information about
1810 the symbol at the specified address.
1814 The standard remote protocol now includes an extension that allows
1815 asynchronous collection and display of trace data. This requires
1816 extensive support in the target-side debugging stub. Tracing mode
1817 includes a new interaction mode in GDB and new commands: see the
1818 file tracepoint.c for more details.
1822 Configurations for embedded MIPS now include a simulator contributed
1823 by Cygnus Solutions. The simulator supports the instruction sets
1824 of most MIPS variants.
1828 Sparc configurations may now include the ERC32 simulator contributed
1829 by the European Space Agency. The simulator is not built into
1830 Sparc targets by default; configure with --enable-sim to include it.
1834 For target configurations that may include multiple variants of a
1835 basic architecture (such as MIPS and SH), you may now set the
1836 architecture explicitly. "set arch" sets, "info arch" lists
1837 the possible architectures.
1839 *** Changes in GDB-4.16:
1841 * New native configurations
1843 Windows 95, x86 Windows NT i[345]86-*-cygwin32
1844 M68K NetBSD m68k-*-netbsd*
1845 PowerPC AIX 4.x powerpc-*-aix*
1846 PowerPC MacOS powerpc-*-macos*
1847 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
1848 RS/6000 AIX 4.x rs6000-*-aix4*
1852 ARM with RDP protocol arm-*-*
1853 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
1854 MIPS VxWorks mips*-*-vxworks*
1855 MIPS VR4300 with PMON mips64*vr4300{,el}-*-elf*
1856 PowerPC with PPCBUG monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi*
1858 Matra Sparclet sparclet-*-*
1862 The powerpc-eabi configuration now includes the PSIM simulator,
1863 contributed by Andrew Cagney, with assistance from Mike Meissner.
1864 PSIM is a very elaborate model of the PowerPC, including not only
1865 basic instruction set execution, but also details of execution unit
1866 performance and I/O hardware. See sim/ppc/README for more details.
1870 GDB now works with Solaris 2.5.
1872 * Windows 95/NT native
1874 GDB will now work as a native debugger on Windows 95 and Windows NT.
1875 To build it from source, you must use the "gnu-win32" environment,
1876 which uses a DLL to emulate enough of Unix to run the GNU tools.
1877 Further information, binaries, and sources are available at
1878 ftp.cygnus.com, under pub/gnu-win32.
1880 * dont-repeat command
1882 If a user-defined command includes the command `dont-repeat', then the
1883 command will not be repeated if the user just types return. This is
1884 useful if the command is time-consuming to run, so that accidental
1885 extra keystrokes don't run the same command many times.
1887 * Send break instead of ^C
1889 The standard remote protocol now includes an option to send a break
1890 rather than a ^C to the target in order to interrupt it. By default,
1891 GDB will send ^C; to send a break, set the variable `remotebreak' to 1.
1893 * Remote protocol timeout
1895 The standard remote protocol includes a new variable `remotetimeout'
1896 that allows you to set the number of seconds before GDB gives up trying
1897 to read from the target. The default value is 2.
1899 * Automatic tracking of dynamic object loading (HPUX and Solaris only)
1901 By default GDB will automatically keep track of objects as they are
1902 loaded and unloaded by the dynamic linker. By using the command `set
1903 stop-on-solib-events 1' you can arrange for GDB to stop the inferior
1904 when shared library events occur, thus allowing you to set breakpoints
1905 in shared libraries which are explicitly loaded by the inferior.
1907 Note this feature does not work on hpux8. On hpux9 you must link
1908 /usr/lib/end.o into your program. This feature should work
1909 automatically on hpux10.
1911 * Irix 5.x hardware watchpoint support
1913 Irix 5 configurations now support the use of hardware watchpoints.
1915 * Mips protocol "SYN garbage limit"
1917 When debugging a Mips target using the `target mips' protocol, you
1918 may set the number of characters that GDB will ignore by setting
1919 the `syn-garbage-limit'. A value of -1 means that GDB will ignore
1920 every character. The default value is 1050.
1922 * Recording and replaying remote debug sessions
1924 If you set `remotelogfile' to the name of a file, gdb will write to it
1925 a recording of a remote debug session. This recording may then be
1926 replayed back to gdb using "gdbreplay". See gdbserver/README for
1927 details. This is useful when you have a problem with GDB while doing
1928 remote debugging; you can make a recording of the session and send it
1929 to someone else, who can then recreate the problem.
1931 * Speedups for remote debugging
1933 GDB includes speedups for downloading and stepping MIPS systems using
1934 the IDT monitor, fast downloads to the Hitachi SH E7000 emulator,
1935 and more efficient S-record downloading.
1937 * Memory use reductions and statistics collection
1939 GDB now uses less memory and reports statistics about memory usage.
1940 Try the `maint print statistics' command, for example.
1942 *** Changes in GDB-4.15:
1944 * Psymtabs for XCOFF
1946 The symbol reader for AIX GDB now uses partial symbol tables. This
1947 can greatly improve startup time, especially for large executables.
1949 * Remote targets use caching
1951 Remote targets now use a data cache to speed up communication with the
1952 remote side. The data cache could lead to incorrect results because
1953 it doesn't know about volatile variables, thus making it impossible to
1954 debug targets which use memory mapped I/O devices. `set remotecache
1955 off' turns the the data cache off.
1957 * Remote targets may have threads
1959 The standard remote protocol now includes support for multiple threads
1960 in the target system, using new protocol commands 'H' and 'T'. See
1961 gdb/remote.c for details.
1965 If GDB is configured with `--enable-netrom', then it will include
1966 support for the NetROM ROM emulator from XLNT Designs. The NetROM
1967 acts as though it is a bank of ROM on the target board, but you can
1968 write into it over the network. GDB's support consists only of
1969 support for fast loading into the emulated ROM; to debug, you must use
1970 another protocol, such as standard remote protocol. The usual
1971 sequence is something like
1973 target nrom <netrom-hostname>
1975 target remote <netrom-hostname>:1235
1979 GDB now includes support for the Apple Macintosh, as a host only. It
1980 may be run as either an MPW tool or as a standalone application, and
1981 it can debug through the serial port. All the usual GDB commands are
1982 available, but to the target command, you must supply "serial" as the
1983 device type instead of "/dev/ttyXX". See mpw-README in the main
1984 directory for more information on how to build. The MPW configuration
1985 scripts */mpw-config.in support only a few targets, and only the
1986 mips-idt-ecoff target has been tested.
1990 GDB configuration now uses autoconf. This is not user-visible,
1991 but does simplify configuration and building.
1995 GDB now supports hpux10.
1997 *** Changes in GDB-4.14:
1999 * New native configurations
2001 x86 FreeBSD i[345]86-*-freebsd
2002 x86 NetBSD i[345]86-*-netbsd
2003 NS32k NetBSD ns32k-*-netbsd
2004 Sparc NetBSD sparc-*-netbsd
2008 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
2009 HP PA PRO embedded (WinBond W89K & Oki OP50N) hppa*-*-pro*
2010 CPU32 EST-300 emulator m68*-*-est*
2011 PowerPC ELF powerpc-*-elf
2014 * Alpha OSF/1 support for procfs
2016 GDB now supports procfs under OSF/1-2.x and higher, which makes it
2017 possible to attach to running processes. As the mounting of the /proc
2018 filesystem is optional on the Alpha, GDB automatically determines
2019 the availability of /proc during startup. This can lead to problems
2020 if /proc is unmounted after GDB has been started.
2022 * Arguments to user-defined commands
2024 User commands may accept up to 10 arguments separated by whitespace.
2025 Arguments are accessed within the user command via $arg0..$arg9. A
2028 print $arg0 + $arg1 + $arg2
2030 To execute the command use:
2033 Defines the command "adder" which prints the sum of its three arguments.
2034 Note the arguments are text substitutions, so they may reference variables,
2035 use complex expressions, or even perform inferior function calls.
2037 * New `if' and `while' commands
2039 This makes it possible to write more sophisticated user-defined
2040 commands. Both commands take a single argument, which is the
2041 expression to evaluate, and must be followed by the commands to
2042 execute, one per line, if the expression is nonzero, the list being
2043 terminated by the word `end'. The `if' command list may include an
2044 `else' word, which causes the following commands to be executed only
2045 if the expression is zero.
2047 * Fortran source language mode
2049 GDB now includes partial support for Fortran 77. It will recognize
2050 Fortran programs and can evaluate a subset of Fortran expressions, but
2051 variables and functions may not be handled correctly. GDB will work
2052 with G77, but does not yet know much about symbols emitted by other
2055 * Better HPUX support
2057 Most debugging facilities now work on dynamic executables for HPPAs
2058 running hpux9 or later. You can attach to running dynamically linked
2059 processes, but by default the dynamic libraries will be read-only, so
2060 for instance you won't be able to put breakpoints in them. To change
2061 that behavior do the following before running the program:
2067 This will cause the libraries to be mapped private and read-write.
2068 To revert to the normal behavior, do this:
2074 You cannot set breakpoints or examine data in the library until after
2075 the library is loaded if the function/data symbols do not have
2078 GDB can now also read debug symbols produced by the HP C compiler on
2079 HPPAs (sorry, no C++, Fortran or 68k support).
2081 * Target byte order now dynamically selectable
2083 You can choose which byte order to use with a target system, via the
2084 commands "set endian big" and "set endian little", and you can see the
2085 current setting by using "show endian". You can also give the command
2086 "set endian auto", in which case GDB will use the byte order
2087 associated with the executable. Currently, only embedded MIPS
2088 configurations support dynamic selection of target byte order.
2090 * New DOS host serial code
2092 This version uses DPMI interrupts to handle buffered I/O, so you
2093 no longer need to run asynctsr when debugging boards connected to
2096 *** Changes in GDB-4.13:
2098 * New "complete" command
2100 This lists all the possible completions for the rest of the line, if it
2101 were to be given as a command itself. This is intended for use by emacs.
2103 * Trailing space optional in prompt
2105 "set prompt" no longer adds a space for you after the prompt you set. This
2106 allows you to set a prompt which ends in a space or one that does not.
2108 * Breakpoint hit counts
2110 "info break" now displays a count of the number of times the breakpoint
2111 has been hit. This is especially useful in conjunction with "ignore"; you
2112 can ignore a large number of breakpoint hits, look at the breakpoint info
2113 to see how many times the breakpoint was hit, then run again, ignoring one
2114 less than that number, and this will get you quickly to the last hit of
2117 * Ability to stop printing at NULL character
2119 "set print null-stop" will cause GDB to stop printing the characters of
2120 an array when the first NULL is encountered. This is useful when large
2121 arrays actually contain only short strings.
2123 * Shared library breakpoints
2125 In SunOS 4.x, SVR4, and Alpha OSF/1 configurations, you can now set
2126 breakpoints in shared libraries before the executable is run.
2128 * Hardware watchpoints
2130 There is a new hardware breakpoint for the watch command for sparclite
2131 targets. See gdb/sparclite/hw_breakpoint.note.
2133 Hardware watchpoints are also now supported under GNU/Linux.
2137 Annotations have been added. These are for use with graphical interfaces,
2138 and are still experimental. Currently only gdba.el uses these.
2140 * Improved Irix 5 support
2142 GDB now works properly with Irix 5.2.
2144 * Improved HPPA support
2146 GDB now works properly with the latest GCC and GAS.
2148 * New native configurations
2150 Sequent PTX4 i[34]86-sequent-ptx4
2151 HPPA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
2152 Atari TT running SVR4 m68*-*-sysv4*
2153 RS/6000 LynxOS rs6000-*-lynxos*
2157 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
2158 MIPS R4000 mips64*{,el}-*-{ecoff,elf}
2161 * Hitachi SH7000 and E7000-PC ICE support
2163 There is now support for communicating with the Hitachi E7000-PC ICE.
2164 This is available automatically when GDB is configured for the SH.
2168 As usual, a variety of small fixes and improvements, both generic
2169 and configuration-specific. See the ChangeLog for more detail.
2171 *** Changes in GDB-4.12:
2173 * Irix 5 is now supported
2177 GDB-4.12 on the HPPA has a number of changes which make it unable
2178 to debug the output from the currently released versions of GCC and
2179 GAS (GCC 2.5.8 and GAS-2.2 or PAGAS-1.36). Until the next major release
2180 of GCC and GAS, versions of these tools designed to work with GDB-4.12
2181 can be retrieved via anonymous ftp from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist.
2184 *** Changes in GDB-4.11:
2186 * User visible changes:
2190 The "set remotedebug" option is now consistent between the mips remote
2191 target, remote targets using the gdb-specific protocol, UDI (AMD's
2192 debug protocol for the 29k) and the 88k bug monitor. It is now an
2193 integer specifying a debug level (normally 0 or 1, but 2 means more
2194 debugging info for the mips target).
2196 * DEC Alpha native support
2198 GDB now works on the DEC Alpha. GCC 2.4.5 does not produce usable
2199 debug info, but GDB works fairly well with the DEC compiler and should
2200 work with a future GCC release. See the README file for a few
2201 Alpha-specific notes.
2203 * Preliminary thread implementation
2205 GDB now has preliminary thread support for both SGI/Irix and LynxOS.
2207 * LynxOS native and target support for 386
2209 This release has been hosted on LynxOS 2.2, and also can be configured
2210 to remotely debug programs running under LynxOS (see gdb/gdbserver/README
2213 * Improvements in C++ mangling/demangling.
2215 This release has much better g++ debugging, specifically in name
2216 mangling/demangling, virtual function calls, print virtual table,
2217 call methods, ...etc.
2219 *** Changes in GDB-4.10:
2221 * User visible changes:
2223 Remote debugging using the GDB-specific (`target remote') protocol now
2224 supports the `load' command. This is only useful if you have some
2225 other way of getting the stub to the target system, and you can put it
2226 somewhere in memory where it won't get clobbered by the download.
2228 Filename completion now works.
2230 When run under emacs mode, the "info line" command now causes the
2231 arrow to point to the line specified. Also, "info line" prints
2232 addresses in symbolic form (as well as hex).
2234 All vxworks based targets now support a user settable option, called
2235 vxworks-timeout. This option represents the number of seconds gdb
2236 should wait for responses to rpc's. You might want to use this if
2237 your vxworks target is, perhaps, a slow software simulator or happens
2238 to be on the far side of a thin network line.
2242 This release contains support for using a DEC alpha as a GDB host for
2243 cross debugging. Native alpha debugging is not supported yet.
2246 *** Changes in GDB-4.9:
2250 This is the first GDB release which is accompanied by a matching testsuite.
2251 The testsuite requires installation of dejagnu, which should be available
2252 via ftp from most sites that carry GNU software.
2256 'Cfront' style demangling has had its name changed to 'ARM' style, to
2257 emphasize that it was written from the specifications in the C++ Annotated
2258 Reference Manual, not necessarily to be compatible with AT&T cfront. Despite
2259 disclaimers, it still generated too much confusion with users attempting to
2260 use gdb with AT&T cfront.
2264 GDB now uses a standard remote interface to a simulator library.
2265 So far, the library contains simulators for the Zilog Z8001/2, the
2266 Hitachi H8/300, H8/500 and Super-H.
2268 * New targets supported
2270 H8/300 simulator h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
2271 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
2272 SH simulator sh-hitachi-hms or sh
2273 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
2274 IDT MIPS board over serial line mips-idt-ecoff
2276 Cross-debugging to GO32 targets is supported. It requires a custom
2277 version of the i386-stub.c module which is integrated with the
2278 GO32 memory extender.
2280 * New remote protocols
2282 MIPS remote debugging protocol.
2284 * New source languages supported
2286 This version includes preliminary support for Chill, a Pascal like language
2287 used by telecommunications companies. Chill support is also being integrated
2288 into the GNU compiler, but we don't know when it will be publically available.
2291 *** Changes in GDB-4.8:
2293 * HP Precision Architecture supported
2295 GDB now supports HP PA-RISC machines running HPUX. A preliminary
2296 version of this support was available as a set of patches from the
2297 University of Utah. GDB does not support debugging of programs
2298 compiled with the HP compiler, because HP will not document their file
2299 format. Instead, you must use GCC (version 2.3.2 or later) and PA-GAS
2300 (as available from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist/pa-gas.u4.tar.Z).
2302 Many problems in the preliminary version have been fixed.
2304 * Faster and better demangling
2306 We have improved template demangling and fixed numerous bugs in the GNU style
2307 demangler. It can now handle type modifiers such as `static' or `const'. Wide
2308 character types (wchar_t) are now supported. Demangling of each symbol is now
2309 only done once, and is cached when the symbol table for a file is read in.
2310 This results in a small increase in memory usage for C programs, a moderate
2311 increase in memory usage for C++ programs, and a fantastic speedup in
2314 `Cfront' style demangling still doesn't work with AT&T cfront. It was written
2315 from the specifications in the Annotated Reference Manual, which AT&T's
2316 compiler does not actually implement.
2318 * G++ multiple inheritance compiler problem
2320 In the 2.3.2 release of gcc/g++, how the compiler resolves multiple
2321 inheritance lattices was reworked to properly discover ambiguities. We
2322 recently found an example which causes this new algorithm to fail in a
2323 very subtle way, producing bad debug information for those classes.
2324 The file 'gcc.patch' (in this directory) can be applied to gcc to
2325 circumvent the problem. A future GCC release will contain a complete
2328 The previous G++ debug info problem (mentioned below for the gdb-4.7
2329 release) is fixed in gcc version 2.3.2.
2331 * Improved configure script
2333 The `configure' script will now attempt to guess your system type if
2334 you don't supply a host system type. The old scheme of supplying a
2335 host system triplet is preferable over using this. All the magic is
2336 done in the new `config.guess' script. Examine it for details.
2338 We have also brought our configure script much more in line with the FSF's
2339 version. It now supports the --with-xxx options. In particular,
2340 `--with-minimal-bfd' can be used to make the GDB binary image smaller.
2341 The resulting GDB will not be able to read arbitrary object file formats --
2342 only the format ``expected'' to be used on the configured target system.
2343 We hope to make this the default in a future release.
2345 * Documentation improvements
2347 There's new internal documentation on how to modify GDB, and how to
2348 produce clean changes to the code. We implore people to read it
2349 before submitting changes.
2351 The GDB manual uses new, sexy Texinfo conditionals, rather than arcane
2352 M4 macros. The new texinfo.tex is provided in this release. Pre-built
2353 `info' files are also provided. To build `info' files from scratch,
2354 you will need the latest `makeinfo' release, which will be available in
2355 a future texinfo-X.Y release.
2357 *NOTE* The new texinfo.tex can cause old versions of TeX to hang.
2358 We're not sure exactly which versions have this problem, but it has
2359 been seen in 3.0. We highly recommend upgrading to TeX version 3.141
2360 or better. If that isn't possible, there is a patch in
2361 `texinfo/tex3patch' that will modify `texinfo/texinfo.tex' to work
2362 around this problem.
2366 GDB now supports array constants that can be used in expressions typed in by
2367 the user. The syntax is `{element, element, ...}'. Ie: you can now type
2368 `print {1, 2, 3}', and it will build up an array in memory malloc'd in
2371 The new directory `gdb/sparclite' contains a program that demonstrates
2372 how the sparc-stub.c remote stub runs on a Fujitsu SPARClite processor.
2374 * New native hosts supported
2376 HP/PA-RISC under HPUX using GNU tools hppa1.1-hp-hpux
2377 386 CPUs running SCO Unix 3.2v4 i386-unknown-sco3.2v4
2379 * New targets supported
2381 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi or udi29k
2383 * New file formats supported
2385 BFD now supports reading HP/PA-RISC executables (SOM file format?),
2386 HPUX core files, and SCO 3.2v2 core files.
2390 Attaching to processes now works again; thanks for the many bug reports.
2392 We have also stomped on a bunch of core dumps caused by
2393 printf_filtered("%s") problems.
2395 We eliminated a copyright problem on the rpc and ptrace header files
2396 for VxWorks, which was discovered at the last minute during the 4.7
2397 release. You should now be able to build a VxWorks GDB.
2399 You can now interrupt gdb while an attached process is running. This
2400 will cause the attached process to stop, and give control back to GDB.
2402 We fixed problems caused by using too many file descriptors
2403 for reading symbols from object files and libraries. This was
2404 especially a problem for programs that used many (~100) shared
2407 The `step' command now only enters a subroutine if there is line number
2408 information for the subroutine. Otherwise it acts like the `next'
2409 command. Previously, `step' would enter subroutines if there was
2410 any debugging information about the routine. This avoids problems
2411 when using `cc -g1' on MIPS machines.
2413 * Internal improvements
2415 GDB's internal interfaces have been improved to make it easier to support
2416 debugging of multiple languages in the future.
2418 GDB now uses a common structure for symbol information internally.
2419 Minimal symbols (derived from linkage symbols in object files), partial
2420 symbols (from a quick scan of debug information), and full symbols
2421 contain a common subset of information, making it easier to write
2422 shared code that handles any of them.
2424 * New command line options
2426 We now accept --silent as an alias for --quiet.
2430 The memory-mapped-malloc library is now licensed under the GNU Library
2431 General Public License.
2433 *** Changes in GDB-4.7:
2435 * Host/native/target split
2437 GDB has had some major internal surgery to untangle the support for
2438 hosts and remote targets. Now, when you configure GDB for a remote
2439 target, it will no longer load in all of the support for debugging
2440 local programs on the host. When fully completed and tested, this will
2441 ensure that arbitrary host/target combinations are possible.
2443 The primary conceptual shift is to separate the non-portable code in
2444 GDB into three categories. Host specific code is required any time GDB
2445 is compiled on that host, regardless of the target. Target specific
2446 code relates to the peculiarities of the target, but can be compiled on
2447 any host. Native specific code is everything else: it can only be
2448 built when the host and target are the same system. Child process
2449 handling and core file support are two common `native' examples.
2451 GDB's use of /proc for controlling Unix child processes is now cleaner.
2452 It has been split out into a single module under the `target_ops' vector,
2453 plus two native-dependent functions for each system that uses /proc.
2455 * New hosts supported
2457 HP/Apollo 68k (under the BSD domain) m68k-apollo-bsd or apollo68bsd
2458 386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
2459 386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or i386sco
2461 * New targets supported
2463 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
2464 68030 and CPU32 m68030-*-*, m68332-*-*
2466 * New native hosts supported
2468 386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
2469 (386bsd is not well tested yet)
2470 386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or sco
2472 * New file formats supported
2474 BFD now supports COFF files for the Zilog Z8000 microprocessor. It
2475 supports reading of `a.out.adobe' object files, which are an a.out
2476 format extended with minimal information about multiple sections.
2480 `show copying' is the same as the old `info copying'.
2481 `show warranty' is the same as `info warrantee'.
2482 These were renamed for consistency. The old commands continue to work.
2484 `info handle' is a new alias for `info signals'.
2486 You can now define pre-command hooks, which attach arbitrary command
2487 scripts to any command. The commands in the hook will be executed
2488 prior to the user's command. You can also create a hook which will be
2489 executed whenever the program stops. See gdb.texinfo.
2493 We now deal with Cfront style name mangling, and can even extract type
2494 info from mangled symbols. GDB can automatically figure out which
2495 symbol mangling style your C++ compiler uses.
2497 Calling of methods and virtual functions has been improved as well.
2501 The crash that occured when debugging Sun Ansi-C compiled binaries is
2502 fixed. This was due to mishandling of the extra N_SO stabs output
2505 We also finally got Ultrix 4.2 running in house, and fixed core file
2506 support, with help from a dozen people on the net.
2508 John M. Farrell discovered that the reason that single-stepping was so
2509 slow on all of the Mips based platforms (primarily SGI and DEC) was
2510 that we were trying to demangle and lookup a symbol used for internal
2511 purposes on every instruction that was being stepped through. Changing
2512 the name of that symbol so that it couldn't be mistaken for a C++
2513 mangled symbol sped things up a great deal.
2515 Rich Pixley sped up symbol lookups in general by getting much smarter
2516 about when C++ symbol mangling is necessary. This should make symbol
2517 completion (TAB on the command line) much faster. It's not as fast as
2518 we'd like, but it's significantly faster than gdb-4.6.
2522 A new user controllable variable 'call_scratch_address' can
2523 specify the location of a scratch area to be used when GDB
2524 calls a function in the target. This is necessary because the
2525 usual method of putting the scratch area on the stack does not work
2526 in systems that have separate instruction and data spaces.
2528 We integrated changes to support the 29k UDI (Universal Debugger
2529 Interface), but discovered at the last minute that we didn't have all
2530 of the appropriate copyright paperwork. We are working with AMD to
2531 resolve this, and hope to have it available soon.
2535 We have sped up the remote serial line protocol, especially for targets
2536 with lots of registers. It now supports a new `expedited status' ('T')
2537 message which can be used in place of the existing 'S' status message.
2538 This allows the remote stub to send only the registers that GDB
2539 needs to make a quick decision about single-stepping or conditional
2540 breakpoints, eliminating the need to fetch the entire register set for
2541 each instruction being stepped through.
2543 The GDB remote serial protocol now implements a write-through cache for
2544 registers, only re-reading the registers if the target has run.
2546 There is also a new remote serial stub for SPARC processors. You can
2547 find it in gdb-4.7/gdb/sparc-stub.c. This was written to support the
2548 Fujitsu SPARClite processor, but will run on any stand-alone SPARC
2549 processor with a serial port.
2553 Configure.in files have become much easier to read and modify. A new
2554 `table driven' format makes it more obvious what configurations are
2555 supported, and what files each one uses.
2559 There is a new opcodes library which will eventually contain all of the
2560 disassembly routines and opcode tables. At present, it only contains
2561 Sparc and Z8000 routines. This will allow the assembler, debugger, and
2562 disassembler (binutils/objdump) to share these routines.
2564 The libiberty library is now copylefted under the GNU Library General
2565 Public License. This allows more liberal use, and was done so libg++
2566 can use it. This makes no difference to GDB, since the Library License
2567 grants all the rights from the General Public License.
2571 The file gdb-4.7/gdb/doc/stabs.texinfo is a (relatively) complete
2572 reference to the stabs symbol info used by the debugger. It is (as far
2573 as we know) the only published document on this fascinating topic. We
2574 encourage you to read it, compare it to the stabs information on your
2575 system, and send improvements on the document in general (to
2576 bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu).
2578 And, of course, many bugs have been fixed.
2581 *** Changes in GDB-4.6:
2583 * Better support for C++ function names
2585 GDB now accepts as input the "demangled form" of C++ overloaded function
2586 names and member function names, and can do command completion on such names
2587 (using TAB, TAB-TAB, and ESC-?). The names have to be quoted with a pair of
2588 single quotes. Examples are 'func (int, long)' and 'obj::operator==(obj&)'.
2589 Make use of command completion, it is your friend.
2591 GDB also now accepts a variety of C++ mangled symbol formats. They are
2592 the GNU g++ style, the Cfront (ARM) style, and the Lucid (lcc) style.
2593 You can tell GDB which format to use by doing a 'set demangle-style {gnu,
2594 lucid, cfront, auto}'. 'gnu' is the default. Do a 'set demangle-style foo'
2595 for the list of formats.
2597 * G++ symbol mangling problem
2599 Recent versions of gcc have a bug in how they emit debugging information for
2600 C++ methods (when using dbx-style stabs). The file 'gcc.patch' (in this
2601 directory) can be applied to gcc to fix the problem. Alternatively, if you
2602 can't fix gcc, you can #define GCC_MANGLE_BUG when compling gdb/symtab.c. The
2603 usual symptom is difficulty with setting breakpoints on methods. GDB complains
2604 about the method being non-existent. (We believe that version 2.2.2 of GCC has
2607 * New 'maintenance' command
2609 All of the commands related to hacking GDB internals have been moved out of
2610 the main command set, and now live behind the 'maintenance' command. This
2611 can also be abbreviated as 'mt'. The following changes were made:
2613 dump-me -> maintenance dump-me
2614 info all-breakpoints -> maintenance info breakpoints
2615 printmsyms -> maintenance print msyms
2616 printobjfiles -> maintenance print objfiles
2617 printpsyms -> maintenance print psymbols
2618 printsyms -> maintenance print symbols
2620 The following commands are new:
2622 maintenance demangle Call internal GDB demangler routine to
2623 demangle a C++ link name and prints the result.
2624 maintenance print type Print a type chain for a given symbol
2626 * Change to .gdbinit file processing
2628 We now read the $HOME/.gdbinit file before processing the argv arguments
2629 (e.g. reading symbol files or core files). This allows global parameters to
2630 be set, which will apply during the symbol reading. The ./.gdbinit is still
2631 read after argv processing.
2633 * New hosts supported
2635 Solaris-2.0 !!! sparc-sun-solaris2 or sun4sol2
2637 GNU/Linux support i386-unknown-linux or linux
2639 We are also including code to support the HP/PA running BSD and HPUX. This
2640 is almost guaranteed not to work, as we didn't have time to test or build it
2641 for this release. We are including it so that the more adventurous (or
2642 masochistic) of you can play with it. We also had major problems with the
2643 fact that the compiler that we got from HP doesn't support the -g option.
2646 * New targets supported
2648 Hitachi H8/300 h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
2650 * More smarts about finding #include files
2652 GDB now remembers the compilation directory for all include files, and for
2653 all files from which C is generated (like yacc and lex sources). This
2654 greatly improves GDB's ability to find yacc/lex sources, and include files,
2655 especially if you are debugging your program from a directory different from
2656 the one that contains your sources.
2658 We also fixed a bug which caused difficulty with listing and setting
2659 breakpoints in include files which contain C code. (In the past, you had to
2660 try twice in order to list an include file that you hadn't looked at before.)
2662 * Interesting infernals change
2664 GDB now deals with arbitrary numbers of sections, where the symbols for each
2665 section must be relocated relative to that section's landing place in the
2666 target's address space. This work was needed to support ELF with embedded
2667 stabs used by Solaris-2.0.
2669 * Bug fixes (of course!)
2671 There have been loads of fixes for the following things:
2672 mips, rs6000, 29k/udi, m68k, g++, type handling, elf/dwarf, m88k,
2673 i960, stabs, DOS(GO32), procfs, etc...
2675 See the ChangeLog for details.
2677 *** Changes in GDB-4.5:
2679 * New machines supported (host and target)
2681 IBM RS6000 running AIX rs6000-ibm-aix or rs6000
2683 SGI Irix-4.x mips-sgi-irix4 or iris4
2685 * New malloc package
2687 GDB now uses a new memory manager called mmalloc, based on gmalloc.
2688 Mmalloc is capable of handling mutiple heaps of memory. It is also
2689 capable of saving a heap to a file, and then mapping it back in later.
2690 This can be used to greatly speedup the startup of GDB by using a
2691 pre-parsed symbol table which lives in a mmalloc managed heap. For
2692 more details, please read mmalloc/mmalloc.texi.
2696 The 'info proc' command (SVR4 only) has been enhanced quite a bit. See
2697 'help info proc' for details.
2699 * MIPS ecoff symbol table format
2701 The code that reads MIPS symbol table format is now supported on all hosts.
2702 Thanks to MIPS for releasing the sym.h and symconst.h files to make this
2705 * File name changes for MS-DOS
2707 Many files in the config directories have been renamed to make it easier to
2708 support GDB on MS-DOSe systems (which have very restrictive file name
2709 conventions :-( ). MS-DOSe host support (under DJ Delorie's GO32
2710 environment) is close to working but has some remaining problems. Note
2711 that debugging of DOS programs is not supported, due to limitations
2712 in the ``operating system'', but it can be used to host cross-debugging.
2714 * Cross byte order fixes
2716 Many fixes have been made to support cross debugging of Sparc and MIPS
2717 targets from hosts whose byte order differs.
2719 * New -mapped and -readnow options
2721 If memory-mapped files are available on your system through the 'mmap'
2722 system call, you can use the -mapped option on the `file' or
2723 `symbol-file' commands to cause GDB to write the symbols from your
2724 program into a reusable file. If the program you are debugging is
2725 called `/path/fred', the mapped symbol file will be `./fred.syms'.
2726 Future GDB debugging sessions will notice the presence of this file,
2727 and will quickly map in symbol information from it, rather than reading
2728 the symbol table from the executable program. Using the '-mapped'
2729 option in a GDB `file' or `symbol-file' command has the same effect as
2730 starting GDB with the '-mapped' command-line option.
2732 You can cause GDB to read the entire symbol table immediately by using
2733 the '-readnow' option with any of the commands that load symbol table
2734 information (or on the GDB command line). This makes the command
2735 slower, but makes future operations faster.
2737 The -mapped and -readnow options are typically combined in order to
2738 build a `fred.syms' file that contains complete symbol information.
2739 A simple GDB invocation to do nothing but build a `.syms' file for future
2742 gdb -batch -nx -mapped -readnow programname
2744 The `.syms' file is specific to the host machine on which GDB is run.
2745 It holds an exact image of GDB's internal symbol table. It cannot be
2746 shared across multiple host platforms.
2748 * longjmp() handling
2750 GDB is now capable of stepping and nexting over longjmp(), _longjmp(), and
2751 siglongjmp() without losing control. This feature has not yet been ported to
2752 all systems. It currently works on many 386 platforms, all MIPS-based
2753 platforms (SGI, DECstation, etc), and Sun3/4.
2757 Preliminary work has been put in to support the new Solaris OS from Sun. At
2758 this time, it can control and debug processes, but it is not capable of
2763 As always, many many bug fixes. The major areas were with g++, and mipsread.
2764 People using the MIPS-based platforms should experience fewer mysterious
2765 crashes and trashed symbol tables.
2767 *** Changes in GDB-4.4:
2769 * New machines supported (host and target)
2771 SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
2773 BSD Reno on Vax vax-dec-bsd
2774 Ultrix on Vax vax-dec-ultrix
2776 * New machines supported (target)
2778 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
2782 GDB continues to improve its handling of C++. `References' work better.
2783 The demangler has also been improved, and now deals with symbols mangled as
2784 per the Annotated C++ Reference Guide.
2786 GDB also now handles `stabs' symbol information embedded in MIPS
2787 `ecoff' symbol tables. Since the ecoff format was not easily
2788 extensible to handle new languages such as C++, this appeared to be a
2789 good way to put C++ debugging info into MIPS binaries. This option
2790 will be supported in the GNU C compiler, version 2, when it is
2793 * New features for SVR4
2795 GDB now handles SVR4 shared libraries, in the same fashion as SunOS
2796 shared libraries. Debugging dynamically linked programs should present
2797 only minor differences from debugging statically linked programs.
2799 The `info proc' command will print out information about any process
2800 on an SVR4 system (including the one you are debugging). At the moment,
2801 it prints the address mappings of the process.
2803 If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please send mail to
2804 bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were reqired (if any).
2806 * Better dynamic linking support in SunOS
2808 Reading symbols from shared libraries which contain debugging symbols
2809 now works properly. However, there remain issues such as automatic
2810 skipping of `transfer vector' code during function calls, which
2811 make it harder to debug code in a shared library, than to debug the
2812 same code linked statically.
2816 GDB is now using the latest `getopt' routines from the FSF. This
2817 version accepts the -- prefix for options with long names. GDB will
2818 continue to accept the old forms (-option and +option) as well.
2819 Various single letter abbreviations for options have been explicity
2820 added to the option table so that they won't get overshadowed in the
2821 future by other options that begin with the same letter.
2825 The `cleanup_undefined_types' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
2826 Many assorted bugs have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
2827 See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
2830 *** Changes in GDB-4.3:
2832 * New machines supported (host and target)
2834 Amiga 3000 running Amix m68k-cbm-svr4 or amix
2835 NCR 3000 386 running SVR4 i386-ncr-svr4 or ncr3000
2836 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
2838 * Almost SCO Unix support
2840 We had hoped to support:
2841 SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
2842 (except for core file support), but we discovered very late in the release
2843 that it has problems with process groups that render gdb unusable. Sorry
2844 about that. I encourage people to fix it and post the fixes.
2846 * Preliminary ELF and DWARF support
2848 GDB can read ELF object files on System V Release 4, and can handle
2849 debugging records for C, in DWARF format, in ELF files. This support
2850 is preliminary. If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please
2851 send mail to bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were
2856 GDB now uses the latest `readline' library. One user-visible change
2857 is that two tabs will list possible command completions, which previously
2858 required typing M-? (meta-question mark, or ESC ?).
2862 The `stepi' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
2863 Many bugs in C++ have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
2864 See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
2866 * State of the MIPS world (in case you wondered):
2868 GDB can understand the symbol tables emitted by the compilers
2869 supplied by most vendors of MIPS-based machines, including DEC. These
2870 symbol tables are in a format that essentially nobody else uses.
2872 Some versions of gcc come with an assembler post-processor called
2873 mips-tfile. This program is required if you want to do source-level
2874 debugging of gcc-compiled programs. I believe FSF does not ship
2875 mips-tfile with gcc version 1, but it will eventually come with gcc
2878 Debugging of g++ output remains a problem. g++ version 1.xx does not
2879 really support it at all. (If you're lucky, you should be able to get
2880 line numbers and stack traces to work, but no parameters or local
2881 variables.) With some work it should be possible to improve the
2884 When gcc version 2 is released, you will have somewhat better luck.
2885 However, even then you will get confusing results for inheritance and
2888 We will eventually provide full debugging of g++ output on
2889 DECstations. This will probably involve some kind of stabs-in-ecoff
2890 encapulation, but the details have not been worked out yet.
2893 *** Changes in GDB-4.2:
2895 * Improved configuration
2897 Only one copy of `configure' exists now, and it is not self-modifying.
2898 Porting BFD is simpler.
2902 The `step' and `next' commands now only stop at the first instruction
2903 of a source line. This prevents the multiple stops that used to occur
2904 in switch statements, for-loops, etc. `Step' continues to stop if a
2905 function that has debugging information is called within the line.
2909 Lots of small bugs fixed. More remain.
2911 * New host supported (not target)
2913 Intel 386 PC clone running Mach i386-none-mach
2916 *** Changes in GDB-4.1:
2918 * Multiple source language support
2920 GDB now has internal scaffolding to handle several source languages.
2921 It determines the type of each source file from its filename extension,
2922 and will switch expression parsing and number formatting to match the
2923 language of the function in the currently selected stack frame.
2924 You can also specifically set the language to be used, with
2925 `set language c' or `set language modula-2'.
2929 GDB now has preliminary support for the GNU Modula-2 compiler,
2930 currently under development at the State University of New York at
2931 Buffalo. Development of both GDB and the GNU Modula-2 compiler will
2932 continue through the fall of 1991 and into 1992.
2934 Other Modula-2 compilers are currently not supported, and attempting to
2935 debug programs compiled with them will likely result in an error as the
2936 symbol table is read. Feel free to work on it, though!
2938 There are hooks in GDB for strict type checking and range checking,
2939 in the `Modula-2 philosophy', but they do not currently work.
2943 GDB can now write to executable and core files (e.g. patch
2944 a variable's value). You must turn this switch on, specify
2945 the file ("exec foo" or "core foo"), *then* modify it, e.g.
2946 by assigning a new value to a variable. Modifications take
2949 * Automatic SunOS shared library reading
2951 When you run your program, GDB automatically determines where its
2952 shared libraries (if any) have been loaded, and reads their symbols.
2953 The `share' command is no longer needed. This also works when
2954 examining core files.
2958 You can specify the number of lines that the `list' command shows.
2961 * New machines supported (host and target)
2963 SGI Iris (MIPS) running Irix V3: mips-sgi-irix or iris
2964 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x: m68k-sony-sysv or news
2965 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1: a29k-nyu-sym1 or ultra3
2967 * New hosts supported (not targets)
2969 IBM RT/PC: romp-ibm-aix or rtpc
2971 * New targets supported (not hosts)
2973 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
2974 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
2975 Ultracomputer remote kernel debug a29k-nyu-kern
2977 * New remote interfaces
2983 *** Changes in GDB-4.0:
2987 Wide output is wrapped at good places to make the output more readable.
2989 Gdb now supports cross-debugging from a host machine of one type to a
2990 target machine of another type. Communication with the target system
2991 is over serial lines. The ``target'' command handles connecting to the
2992 remote system; the ``load'' command will download a program into the
2993 remote system. Serial stubs for the m68k and i386 are provided. Gdb
2994 also supports debugging of realtime processes running under VxWorks,
2995 using SunRPC Remote Procedure Calls over TCP/IP to talk to a debugger
2996 stub on the target system.
2998 New CPUs supported include the AMD 29000 and Intel 960.
3000 GDB now reads object files and symbol tables via a ``binary file''
3001 library, which allows a single copy of GDB to debug programs of multiple
3002 object file types such as a.out and coff.
3004 There is now a GDB reference card in "doc/refcard.tex". (Make targets
3005 refcard.dvi and refcard.ps are available to format it).
3008 * Control-Variable user interface simplified
3010 All variables that control the operation of the debugger can be set
3011 by the ``set'' command, and displayed by the ``show'' command.
3013 For example, ``set prompt new-gdb=>'' will change your prompt to new-gdb=>.
3014 ``Show prompt'' produces the response:
3015 Gdb's prompt is new-gdb=>.
3017 What follows are the NEW set commands. The command ``help set'' will
3018 print a complete list of old and new set commands. ``help set FOO''
3019 will give a longer description of the variable FOO. ``show'' will show
3020 all of the variable descriptions and their current settings.
3022 confirm on/off: Enables warning questions for operations that are
3023 hard to recover from, e.g. rerunning the program while
3024 it is already running. Default is ON.
3026 editing on/off: Enables EMACS style command line editing
3027 of input. Previous lines can be recalled with
3028 control-P, the current line can be edited with control-B,
3029 you can search for commands with control-R, etc.
3032 history filename NAME: NAME is where the gdb command history
3033 will be stored. The default is .gdb_history,
3034 or the value of the environment variable
3037 history size N: The size, in commands, of the command history. The
3038 default is 256, or the value of the environment variable
3041 history save on/off: If this value is set to ON, the history file will
3042 be saved after exiting gdb. If set to OFF, the
3043 file will not be saved. The default is OFF.
3045 history expansion on/off: If this value is set to ON, then csh-like
3046 history expansion will be performed on
3047 command line input. The default is OFF.
3049 radix N: Sets the default radix for input and output. It can be set
3050 to 8, 10, or 16. Note that the argument to "radix" is interpreted
3051 in the current radix, so "set radix 10" is always a no-op.
3053 height N: This integer value is the number of lines on a page. Default
3054 is 24, the current `stty rows'' setting, or the ``li#''
3055 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
3058 width N: This integer value is the number of characters on a line.
3059 Default is 80, the current `stty cols'' setting, or the ``co#''
3060 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
3063 Note: ``set screensize'' is obsolete. Use ``set height'' and
3064 ``set width'' instead.
3066 print address on/off: Print memory addresses in various command displays,
3067 such as stack traces and structure values. Gdb looks
3068 more ``symbolic'' if you turn this off; it looks more
3069 ``machine level'' with it on. Default is ON.
3071 print array on/off: Prettyprint arrays. New convenient format! Default
3074 print demangle on/off: Print C++ symbols in "source" form if on,
3077 print asm-demangle on/off: Same, for assembler level printouts
3080 print vtbl on/off: Prettyprint C++ virtual function tables. Default is OFF.
3083 * Support for Epoch Environment.
3085 The epoch environment is a version of Emacs v18 with windowing. One
3086 new command, ``inspect'', is identical to ``print'', except that if you
3087 are running in the epoch environment, the value is printed in its own
3091 * Support for Shared Libraries
3093 GDB can now debug programs and core files that use SunOS shared libraries.
3094 Symbols from a shared library cannot be referenced
3095 before the shared library has been linked with the program (this
3096 happens after you type ``run'' and before the function main() is entered).
3097 At any time after this linking (including when examining core files
3098 from dynamically linked programs), gdb reads the symbols from each
3099 shared library when you type the ``sharedlibrary'' command.
3100 It can be abbreviated ``share''.
3102 sharedlibrary REGEXP: Load shared object library symbols for files
3103 matching a unix regular expression. No argument
3104 indicates to load symbols for all shared libraries.
3106 info sharedlibrary: Status of loaded shared libraries.
3111 A watchpoint stops execution of a program whenever the value of an
3112 expression changes. Checking for this slows down execution
3113 tremendously whenever you are in the scope of the expression, but is
3114 quite useful for catching tough ``bit-spreader'' or pointer misuse
3115 problems. Some machines such as the 386 have hardware for doing this
3116 more quickly, and future versions of gdb will use this hardware.
3118 watch EXP: Set a watchpoint (breakpoint) for an expression.
3120 info watchpoints: Information about your watchpoints.
3122 delete N: Deletes watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
3123 disable N: Temporarily turns off watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
3124 enable N: Re-enables watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
3127 * C++ multiple inheritance
3129 When used with a GCC version 2 compiler, GDB supports multiple inheritance
3132 * C++ exception handling
3134 Gdb now supports limited C++ exception handling. Besides the existing
3135 ability to breakpoint on an exception handler, gdb can breakpoint on
3136 the raising of an exception (before the stack is peeled back to the
3139 catch FOO: If there is a FOO exception handler in the dynamic scope,
3140 set a breakpoint to catch exceptions which may be raised there.
3141 Multiple exceptions (``catch foo bar baz'') may be caught.
3143 info catch: Lists all exceptions which may be caught in the
3144 current stack frame.
3147 * Minor command changes
3149 The command ``call func (arg, arg, ...)'' now acts like the print
3150 command, except it does not print or save a value if the function's result
3151 is void. This is similar to dbx usage.
3153 The ``up'' and ``down'' commands now always print the frame they end up
3154 at; ``up-silently'' and `down-silently'' can be used in scripts to change
3155 frames without printing.
3157 * New directory command
3159 'dir' now adds directories to the FRONT of the source search path.
3160 The path starts off empty. Source files that contain debug information
3161 about the directory in which they were compiled can be found even
3162 with an empty path; Sun CC and GCC include this information. If GDB can't
3163 find your source file in the current directory, type "dir .".
3165 * Configuring GDB for compilation
3167 For normal use, type ``./configure host''. See README or gdb.texinfo
3170 GDB now handles cross debugging. If you are remotely debugging between
3171 two different machines, type ``./configure host -target=targ''.
3172 Host is the machine where GDB will run; targ is the machine
3173 where the program that you are debugging will run.