Add debug output about skipping files and functions
[deliverable/binutils-gdb.git] / gdb / NEWS
1 What has changed in GDB?
2 (Organized release by release)
3
4 *** Changes since GDB 8.2
5
6 * GDB now has experimental support for the compilation and injection of
7 C++ source code into the inferior. This beta release does not include
8 support for several language features, such as templates, constructors,
9 and operators.
10
11 This feature requires GCC 7.1 or higher built with libcp1.so
12 (the C++ plug-in).
13
14 * GDB and GDBserver now support IPv6 connections. IPv6 addresses
15 can be passed using the '[ADDRESS]:PORT' notation, or the regular
16 'ADDRESS:PORT' method.
17
18 * DWARF index cache: GDB can now automatically save indices of DWARF
19 symbols on disk to speed up further loading of the same binaries.
20
21 * GDB in batch mode now exits with status 1 if the last command to be
22 executed failed.
23
24 * New commands
25
26 set debug compile-cplus-types
27 show debug compile-cplus-types
28 Control the display of debug output about type conversion in the
29 C++ compile feature. Commands have no effect while compiliong
30 for other languages.
31
32 set debug skip
33 show debug skip
34 Control whether debug output about files/functions skipping is
35 displayed.
36
37 frame apply [all | COUNT | -COUNT | level LEVEL...] [FLAG]... COMMAND
38 Apply a command to some frames.
39 FLAG arguments allow to control what output to produce and how to handle
40 errors raised when applying COMMAND to a frame.
41
42 taas COMMAND
43 Apply a command to all threads (ignoring errors and empty output).
44 Shortcut for 'thread apply all -s COMMAND'.
45
46 faas COMMAND
47 Apply a command to all frames (ignoring errors and empty output).
48 Shortcut for 'frame apply all -s COMMAND'.
49
50 tfaas COMMAND
51 Apply a command to all frames of all threads (ignoring errors and empty
52 output).
53 Shortcut for 'thread apply all -s frame apply all -s COMMAND'.
54
55 maint set dwarf unwinders (on|off)
56 maint show dwarf unwinders
57 Control whether DWARF unwinders can be used.
58
59 * Changed commands
60
61 thread apply [all | COUNT | -COUNT] [FLAG]... COMMAND
62 The 'thread apply' command accepts new FLAG arguments.
63 FLAG arguments allow to control what output to produce and how to handle
64 errors raised when applying COMMAND to a thread.
65
66 * MI changes
67
68 ** The '-data-disassemble' MI command now accepts an '-a' option to
69 disassemble the whole function surrounding the given program
70 counter value or function name. Support for this feature can be
71 verified by using the "-list-features" command, which should
72 contain "data-disassemble-a-option".
73
74 ** Command responses and notifications that include a frame now include
75 the frame's architecture in a new "arch" attribute.
76
77 * New native configurations
78
79 GNU/Linux/RISC-V riscv*-*-linux*
80
81 * New targets
82
83 GNU/Linux/RISC-V riscv*-*-linux*
84 CSKY ELF csky*-*-elf
85 CSKY GNU/LINUX csky*-*-linux
86
87 *** Changes in GDB 8.2
88
89 * The 'set disassembler-options' command now supports specifying options
90 for the MIPS target.
91
92 * The 'symbol-file' command now accepts an '-o' option to add a relative
93 offset to all sections.
94
95 * Similarly, the 'add-symbol-file' command also accepts an '-o' option to add
96 a relative offset to all sections, but it allows to override the load
97 address of individual sections using '-s'.
98
99 * The 'add-symbol-file' command no longer requires the second argument
100 (address of the text section).
101
102 * The endianness used with the 'set endian auto' mode in the absence of
103 an executable selected for debugging is now the last endianness chosen
104 either by one of the 'set endian big' and 'set endian little' commands
105 or by inferring from the last executable used, rather than the startup
106 default.
107
108 * The pager now allows a "c" response, meaning to disable the pager
109 for the rest of the current command.
110
111 * The commands 'info variables/functions/types' now show the source line
112 numbers of symbol definitions when available.
113
114 * 'info proc' now works on running processes on FreeBSD systems and core
115 files created on FreeBSD systems.
116
117 * C expressions can now use _Alignof, and C++ expressions can now use
118 alignof.
119
120 * Support for SVE on AArch64 Linux. Note that GDB does not detect changes to
121 the vector length while the process is running.
122
123 * New commands
124
125 set debug fbsd-nat
126 show debug fbsd-nat
127 Control display of debugging info regarding the FreeBSD native target.
128
129 set|show varsize-limit
130 This new setting allows the user to control the maximum size of Ada
131 objects being printed when those objects have a variable type,
132 instead of that maximum size being hardcoded to 65536 bytes.
133
134 set|show record btrace cpu
135 Controls the processor to be used for enabling errata workarounds for
136 branch trace decode.
137
138 maint check libthread-db
139 Run integrity checks on the current inferior's thread debugging
140 library
141
142 maint set check-libthread-db (on|off)
143 maint show check-libthread-db
144 Control whether to run integrity checks on inferior specific thread
145 debugging libraries as they are loaded. The default is not to
146 perform such checks.
147
148 * Python API
149
150 ** Type alignment is now exposed via the "align" attribute of a gdb.Type.
151
152 ** The commands attached to a breakpoint can be set by assigning to
153 the breakpoint's "commands" field.
154
155 ** gdb.execute can now execute multi-line gdb commands.
156
157 ** The new functions gdb.convenience_variable and
158 gdb.set_convenience_variable can be used to get and set the value
159 of convenience variables.
160
161 ** A gdb.Parameter will no longer print the "set" help text on an
162 ordinary "set"; instead by default a "set" will be silent unless
163 the get_set_string method returns a non-empty string.
164
165 * New targets
166
167 RiscV ELF riscv*-*-elf
168
169 * Removed targets and native configurations
170
171 m88k running OpenBSD m88*-*-openbsd*
172 SH-5/SH64 ELF sh64-*-elf*, SH-5/SH64 support in sh*
173 SH-5/SH64 running GNU/Linux SH-5/SH64 support in sh*-*-linux*
174 SH-5/SH64 running OpenBSD SH-5/SH64 support in sh*-*-openbsd*
175
176 * Aarch64/Linux hardware watchpoints improvements
177
178 Hardware watchpoints on unaligned addresses are now properly
179 supported when running Linux kernel 4.10 or higher: read and access
180 watchpoints are no longer spuriously missed, and all watchpoints
181 lengths between 1 and 8 bytes are supported. On older kernels,
182 watchpoints set on unaligned addresses are no longer missed, with
183 the tradeoff that there is a possibility of false hits being
184 reported.
185
186 * Configure changes
187
188 --enable-codesign=CERT
189 This can be used to invoke "codesign -s CERT" after building gdb.
190 This option is useful on macOS, where code signing is required for
191 gdb to work properly.
192
193 --disable-gdbcli has been removed
194 This is now silently accepted, but does nothing.
195
196 *** Changes in GDB 8.1
197
198 * GDB now supports dynamically creating arbitrary register groups specified
199 in XML target descriptions. This allows for finer grain grouping of
200 registers on systems with a large amount of registers.
201
202 * The 'ptype' command now accepts a '/o' flag, which prints the
203 offsets and sizes of fields in a struct, like the pahole(1) tool.
204
205 * New "--readnever" command line option instructs GDB to not read each
206 symbol file's symbolic debug information. This makes startup faster
207 but at the expense of not being able to perform symbolic debugging.
208 This option is intended for use cases where symbolic debugging will
209 not be used, e.g., when you only need to dump the debuggee's core.
210
211 * GDB now uses the GNU MPFR library, if available, to emulate target
212 floating-point arithmetic during expression evaluation when the target
213 uses different floating-point formats than the host. At least version
214 3.1 of GNU MPFR is required.
215
216 * GDB now supports access to the guarded-storage-control registers and the
217 software-based guarded-storage broadcast control registers on IBM z14.
218
219 * On Unix systems, GDB now supports transmitting environment variables
220 that are to be set or unset to GDBserver. These variables will
221 affect the environment to be passed to the remote inferior.
222
223 To inform GDB of environment variables that are to be transmitted to
224 GDBserver, use the "set environment" command. Only user set
225 environment variables are sent to GDBserver.
226
227 To inform GDB of environment variables that are to be unset before
228 the remote inferior is started by the GDBserver, use the "unset
229 environment" command.
230
231 * Completion improvements
232
233 ** GDB can now complete function parameters in linespecs and
234 explicit locations without quoting. When setting breakpoints,
235 quoting around functions names to help with TAB-completion is
236 generally no longer necessary. For example, this now completes
237 correctly:
238
239 (gdb) b function(in[TAB]
240 (gdb) b function(int)
241
242 Related, GDB is no longer confused with completing functions in
243 C++ anonymous namespaces:
244
245 (gdb) b (anon[TAB]
246 (gdb) b (anonymous namespace)::[TAB][TAB]
247 (anonymous namespace)::a_function()
248 (anonymous namespace)::b_function()
249
250 ** GDB now has much improved linespec and explicit locations TAB
251 completion support, that better understands what you're
252 completing and offers better suggestions. For example, GDB no
253 longer offers data symbols as possible completions when you're
254 setting a breakpoint.
255
256 ** GDB now TAB-completes label symbol names.
257
258 ** The "complete" command now mimics TAB completion accurately.
259
260 * New command line options (gcore)
261
262 -a
263 Dump all memory mappings.
264
265 * Breakpoints on C++ functions are now set on all scopes by default
266
267 By default, breakpoints on functions/methods are now interpreted as
268 specifying all functions with the given name ignoring missing
269 leading scopes (namespaces and classes).
270
271 For example, assuming a C++ program with symbols named:
272
273 A::B::func()
274 B::func()
275
276 both commands "break func()" and "break B::func()" set a breakpoint
277 on both symbols.
278
279 You can use the new flag "-qualified" to override this. This makes
280 GDB interpret the specified function name as a complete
281 fully-qualified name instead. For example, using the same C++
282 program, the "break -q B::func" command sets a breakpoint on
283 "B::func", only. A parameter has been added to the Python
284 gdb.Breakpoint constructor to achieve the same result when creating
285 a breakpoint from Python.
286
287 * Breakpoints on functions marked with C++ ABI tags
288
289 GDB can now set breakpoints on functions marked with C++ ABI tags
290 (e.g., [abi:cxx11]). See here for a description of ABI tags:
291 https://developers.redhat.com/blog/2015/02/05/gcc5-and-the-c11-abi/
292
293 Functions with a C++11 abi tag are demangled/displayed like this:
294
295 function[abi:cxx11](int)
296 ^^^^^^^^^^^
297
298 You can now set a breakpoint on such functions simply as if they had
299 no tag, like:
300
301 (gdb) b function(int)
302
303 Or if you need to disambiguate between tags, like:
304
305 (gdb) b function[abi:other_tag](int)
306
307 Tab completion was adjusted accordingly as well.
308
309 * Python Scripting
310
311 ** New events gdb.new_inferior, gdb.inferior_deleted, and
312 gdb.new_thread are emitted. See the manual for further
313 description of these.
314
315 ** A new function, "gdb.rbreak" has been added to the Python API.
316 This function allows the setting of a large number of breakpoints
317 via a regex pattern in Python. See the manual for further details.
318
319 ** Python breakpoints can now accept explicit locations. See the
320 manual for a further description of this feature.
321
322
323 * New features in the GDB remote stub, GDBserver
324
325 ** GDBserver is now able to start inferior processes with a
326 specified initial working directory.
327
328 The user can set the desired working directory to be used from
329 GDB using the new "set cwd" command.
330
331 ** New "--selftest" command line option runs some GDBserver self
332 tests. These self tests are disabled in releases.
333
334 ** On Unix systems, GDBserver now does globbing expansion and variable
335 substitution in inferior command line arguments.
336
337 This is done by starting inferiors using a shell, like GDB does.
338 See "set startup-with-shell" in the user manual for how to disable
339 this from GDB when using "target extended-remote". When using
340 "target remote", you can disable the startup with shell by using the
341 new "--no-startup-with-shell" GDBserver command line option.
342
343 ** On Unix systems, GDBserver now supports receiving environment
344 variables that are to be set or unset from GDB. These variables
345 will affect the environment to be passed to the inferior.
346
347 * When catching an Ada exception raised with a message, GDB now prints
348 the message in the catchpoint hit notification. In GDB/MI mode, that
349 information is provided as an extra field named "exception-message"
350 in the *stopped notification.
351
352 * Trait objects can now be inspected When debugging Rust code. This
353 requires compiler support which will appear in Rust 1.24.
354
355 * New remote packets
356
357 QEnvironmentHexEncoded
358 Inform GDBserver of an environment variable that is to be passed to
359 the inferior when starting it.
360
361 QEnvironmentUnset
362 Inform GDBserver of an environment variable that is to be unset
363 before starting the remote inferior.
364
365 QEnvironmentReset
366 Inform GDBserver that the environment should be reset (i.e.,
367 user-set environment variables should be unset).
368
369 QStartupWithShell
370 Indicates whether the inferior must be started with a shell or not.
371
372 QSetWorkingDir
373 Tell GDBserver that the inferior to be started should use a specific
374 working directory.
375
376 * The "maintenance print c-tdesc" command now takes an optional
377 argument which is the file name of XML target description.
378
379 * The "maintenance selftest" command now takes an optional argument to
380 filter the tests to be run.
381
382 * The "enable", and "disable" commands now accept a range of
383 breakpoint locations, e.g. "enable 1.3-5".
384
385 * New commands
386
387 set|show cwd
388 Set and show the current working directory for the inferior.
389
390 set|show compile-gcc
391 Set and show compilation command used for compiling and injecting code
392 with the 'compile' commands.
393
394 set debug separate-debug-file
395 show debug separate-debug-file
396 Control the display of debug output about separate debug file search.
397
398 set dump-excluded-mappings
399 show dump-excluded-mappings
400 Control whether mappings marked with the VM_DONTDUMP flag should be
401 dumped when generating a core file.
402
403 maint info selftests
404 List the registered selftests.
405
406 starti
407 Start the debugged program stopping at the first instruction.
408
409 set|show debug or1k
410 Control display of debugging messages related to OpenRISC targets.
411
412 set|show print type nested-type-limit
413 Set and show the limit of nesting level for nested types that the
414 type printer will show.
415
416 * TUI Single-Key mode now supports two new shortcut keys: `i' for stepi and
417 `o' for nexti.
418
419 * Safer/improved support for debugging with no debug info
420
421 GDB no longer assumes functions with no debug information return
422 'int'.
423
424 This means that GDB now refuses to call such functions unless you
425 tell it the function's type, by either casting the call to the
426 declared return type, or by casting the function to a function
427 pointer of the right type, and calling that:
428
429 (gdb) p getenv ("PATH")
430 'getenv' has unknown return type; cast the call to its declared return type
431 (gdb) p (char *) getenv ("PATH")
432 $1 = 0x7fffffffe "/usr/local/bin:/"...
433 (gdb) p ((char * (*) (const char *)) getenv) ("PATH")
434 $2 = 0x7fffffffe "/usr/local/bin:/"...
435
436 Similarly, GDB no longer assumes that global variables with no debug
437 info have type 'int', and refuses to print the variable's value
438 unless you tell it the variable's type:
439
440 (gdb) p var
441 'var' has unknown type; cast it to its declared type
442 (gdb) p (float) var
443 $3 = 3.14
444
445 * New native configurations
446
447 FreeBSD/aarch64 aarch64*-*-freebsd*
448 FreeBSD/arm arm*-*-freebsd*
449
450 * New targets
451
452 FreeBSD/aarch64 aarch64*-*-freebsd*
453 FreeBSD/arm arm*-*-freebsd*
454 OpenRISC ELF or1k*-*-elf
455
456 * Removed targets and native configurations
457
458 Solaris 2.0-9 i?86-*-solaris2.[0-9], sparc*-*-solaris2.[0-9]
459
460 *** Changes in GDB 8.0
461
462 * GDB now supports access to the PKU register on GNU/Linux. The register is
463 added by the Memory Protection Keys for Userspace feature which will be
464 available in future Intel CPUs.
465
466 * GDB now supports C++11 rvalue references.
467
468 * Python Scripting
469
470 ** New functions to start, stop and access a running btrace recording.
471 ** Rvalue references are now supported in gdb.Type.
472
473 * GDB now supports recording and replaying rdrand and rdseed Intel 64
474 instructions.
475
476 * Building GDB and GDBserver now requires a C++11 compiler.
477
478 For example, GCC 4.8 or later.
479
480 It is no longer possible to build GDB or GDBserver with a C
481 compiler. The --disable-build-with-cxx configure option has been
482 removed.
483
484 * Building GDB and GDBserver now requires GNU make >= 3.81.
485
486 It is no longer supported to build GDB or GDBserver with another
487 implementation of the make program or an earlier version of GNU make.
488
489 * Native debugging on MS-Windows supports command-line redirection
490
491 Command-line arguments used for starting programs on MS-Windows can
492 now include redirection symbols supported by native Windows shells,
493 such as '<', '>', '>>', '2>&1', etc. This affects GDB commands such
494 as "run", "start", and "set args", as well as the corresponding MI
495 features.
496
497 * Support for thread names on MS-Windows.
498
499 GDB now catches and handles the special exception that programs
500 running on MS-Windows use to assign names to threads in the
501 debugger.
502
503 * Support for Java programs compiled with gcj has been removed.
504
505 * User commands now accept an unlimited number of arguments.
506 Previously, only up to 10 was accepted.
507
508 * The "eval" command now expands user-defined command arguments.
509
510 This makes it easier to process a variable number of arguments:
511
512 define mycommand
513 set $i = 0
514 while $i < $argc
515 eval "print $arg%d", $i
516 set $i = $i + 1
517 end
518 end
519
520 * Target descriptions can now describe registers for sparc32 and sparc64.
521
522 * GDB now supports DWARF version 5 (debug information format).
523 Its .debug_names index is not yet supported.
524
525 * New native configurations
526
527 FreeBSD/mips mips*-*-freebsd
528
529 * New targets
530
531 Synopsys ARC arc*-*-elf32
532 FreeBSD/mips mips*-*-freebsd
533
534 * Removed targets and native configurations
535
536 Alpha running FreeBSD alpha*-*-freebsd*
537 Alpha running GNU/kFreeBSD alpha*-*-kfreebsd*-gnu
538
539 * New commands
540
541 flash-erase
542 Erases all the flash memory regions reported by the target.
543
544 maint print arc arc-instruction address
545 Print internal disassembler information about instruction at a given address.
546
547 * New options
548
549 set disassembler-options
550 show disassembler-options
551 Controls the passing of target specific information to the disassembler.
552 If it is necessary to specify more than one disassembler option then
553 multiple options can be placed together into a comma separated list.
554 The default value is the empty string. Currently, the only supported
555 targets are ARM, PowerPC and S/390.
556
557 * New MI commands
558
559 -target-flash-erase
560 Erases all the flash memory regions reported by the target. This is
561 equivalent to the CLI command flash-erase.
562
563 -file-list-shared-libraries
564 List the shared libraries in the program. This is
565 equivalent to the CLI command "info shared".
566
567 -catch-handlers
568 Catchpoints stopping the program when Ada exceptions are
569 handled. This is equivalent to the CLI command "catch handlers".
570
571 *** Changes in GDB 7.12
572
573 * GDB and GDBserver now build with a C++ compiler by default.
574
575 The --enable-build-with-cxx configure option is now enabled by
576 default. One must now explicitly configure with
577 --disable-build-with-cxx in order to build with a C compiler. This
578 option will be removed in a future release.
579
580 * GDBserver now supports recording btrace without maintaining an active
581 GDB connection.
582
583 * GDB now supports a negative repeat count in the 'x' command to examine
584 memory backward from the given address. For example:
585
586 (gdb) bt
587 #0 Func1 (n=42, p=0x40061c "hogehoge") at main.cpp:4
588 #1 0x400580 in main (argc=1, argv=0x7fffffffe5c8) at main.cpp:8
589 (gdb) x/-5i 0x0000000000400580
590 0x40056a <main(int, char**)+8>: mov %edi,-0x4(%rbp)
591 0x40056d <main(int, char**)+11>: mov %rsi,-0x10(%rbp)
592 0x400571 <main(int, char**)+15>: mov $0x40061c,%esi
593 0x400576 <main(int, char**)+20>: mov $0x2a,%edi
594 0x40057b <main(int, char**)+25>:
595 callq 0x400536 <Func1(int, char const*)>
596
597 * Fortran: Support structures with fields of dynamic types and
598 arrays of dynamic types.
599
600 * The symbol dumping maintenance commands have new syntax.
601 maint print symbols [-pc address] [--] [filename]
602 maint print symbols [-objfile objfile] [-source source] [--] [filename]
603 maint print psymbols [-objfile objfile] [-pc address] [--] [filename]
604 maint print psymbols [-objfile objfile] [-source source] [--] [filename]
605 maint print msymbols [-objfile objfile] [--] [filename]
606
607 * GDB now supports multibit bitfields and enums in target register
608 descriptions.
609
610 * New Python-based convenience function $_as_string(val), which returns
611 the textual representation of a value. This function is especially
612 useful to obtain the text label of an enum value.
613
614 * Intel MPX bound violation handling.
615
616 Segmentation faults caused by a Intel MPX boundary violation
617 now display the kind of violation (upper or lower), the memory
618 address accessed and the memory bounds, along with the usual
619 signal received and code location.
620
621 For example:
622
623 Program received signal SIGSEGV, Segmentation fault
624 Upper bound violation while accessing address 0x7fffffffc3b3
625 Bounds: [lower = 0x7fffffffc390, upper = 0x7fffffffc3a3]
626 0x0000000000400d7c in upper () at i386-mpx-sigsegv.c:68
627
628 * Rust language support.
629 GDB now supports debugging programs written in the Rust programming
630 language. See https://www.rust-lang.org/ for more information about
631 Rust.
632
633 * Support for running interpreters on specified input/output devices
634
635 GDB now supports a new mechanism that allows frontends to provide
636 fully featured GDB console views, as a better alternative to
637 building such views on top of the "-interpreter-exec console"
638 command. See the new "new-ui" command below. With that command,
639 frontends can now start GDB in the traditional command-line mode
640 running in an embedded terminal emulator widget, and create a
641 separate MI interpreter running on a specified i/o device. In this
642 way, GDB handles line editing, history, tab completion, etc. in the
643 console all by itself, and the GUI uses the separate MI interpreter
644 for its own control and synchronization, invisible to the command
645 line.
646
647 * The "catch syscall" command catches groups of related syscalls.
648
649 The "catch syscall" command now supports catching a group of related
650 syscalls using the 'group:' or 'g:' prefix.
651
652 * New commands
653
654 skip -file file
655 skip -gfile file-glob-pattern
656 skip -function function
657 skip -rfunction regular-expression
658 A generalized form of the skip command, with new support for
659 glob-style file names and regular expressions for function names.
660 Additionally, a file spec and a function spec may now be combined.
661
662 maint info line-table REGEXP
663 Display the contents of GDB's internal line table data struture.
664
665 maint selftest
666 Run any GDB unit tests that were compiled in.
667
668 new-ui INTERP TTY
669 Start a new user interface instance running INTERP as interpreter,
670 using the TTY file for input/output.
671
672 * Python Scripting
673
674 ** gdb.Breakpoint objects have a new attribute "pending", which
675 indicates whether the breakpoint is pending.
676 ** Three new breakpoint-related events have been added:
677 gdb.breakpoint_created, gdb.breakpoint_modified, and
678 gdb.breakpoint_deleted.
679
680 signal-event EVENTID
681 Signal ("set") the given MS-Windows event object. This is used in
682 conjunction with the Windows JIT debugging (AeDebug) support, where
683 the OS suspends a crashing process until a debugger can attach to
684 it. Resuming the crashing process, in order to debug it, is done by
685 signalling an event.
686
687 * Support for tracepoints and fast tracepoints on s390-linux and s390x-linux
688 was added in GDBserver, including JIT compiling fast tracepoint's
689 conditional expression bytecode into native code.
690
691 * Support for various remote target protocols and ROM monitors has
692 been removed:
693
694 target m32rsdi Remote M32R debugging over SDI
695 target mips MIPS remote debugging protocol
696 target pmon PMON ROM monitor
697 target ddb NEC's DDB variant of PMON for Vr4300
698 target rockhopper NEC RockHopper variant of PMON
699 target lsi LSI variant of PMO
700
701 * Support for tracepoints and fast tracepoints on powerpc-linux,
702 powerpc64-linux, and powerpc64le-linux was added in GDBserver,
703 including JIT compiling fast tracepoint's conditional expression
704 bytecode into native code.
705
706 * MI async record =record-started now includes the method and format used for
707 recording. For example:
708
709 =record-started,thread-group="i1",method="btrace",format="bts"
710
711 * MI async record =thread-selected now includes the frame field. For example:
712
713 =thread-selected,id="3",frame={level="0",addr="0x00000000004007c0"}
714
715 * New targets
716
717 Andes NDS32 nds32*-*-elf
718
719 *** Changes in GDB 7.11
720
721 * GDB now supports debugging kernel-based threads on FreeBSD.
722
723 * Per-inferior thread numbers
724
725 Thread numbers are now per inferior instead of global. If you're
726 debugging multiple inferiors, GDB displays thread IDs using a
727 qualified INF_NUM.THR_NUM form. For example:
728
729 (gdb) info threads
730 Id Target Id Frame
731 1.1 Thread 0x7ffff7fc2740 (LWP 8155) (running)
732 1.2 Thread 0x7ffff7fc1700 (LWP 8168) (running)
733 * 2.1 Thread 0x7ffff7fc2740 (LWP 8157) (running)
734 2.2 Thread 0x7ffff7fc1700 (LWP 8190) (running)
735
736 As consequence, thread numbers as visible in the $_thread
737 convenience variable and in Python's InferiorThread.num attribute
738 are no longer unique between inferiors.
739
740 GDB now maintains a second thread ID per thread, referred to as the
741 global thread ID, which is the new equivalent of thread numbers in
742 previous releases. See also $_gthread below.
743
744 For backwards compatibility, MI's thread IDs always refer to global
745 IDs.
746
747 * Commands that accept thread IDs now accept the qualified
748 INF_NUM.THR_NUM form as well. For example:
749
750 (gdb) thread 2.1
751 [Switching to thread 2.1 (Thread 0x7ffff7fc2740 (LWP 8157))] (running)
752 (gdb)
753
754 * In commands that accept a list of thread IDs, you can now refer to
755 all threads of an inferior using a star wildcard. GDB accepts
756 "INF_NUM.*", to refer to all threads of inferior INF_NUM, and "*" to
757 refer to all threads of the current inferior. For example, "info
758 threads 2.*".
759
760 * You can use "info threads -gid" to display the global thread ID of
761 all threads.
762
763 * The new convenience variable $_gthread holds the global number of
764 the current thread.
765
766 * The new convenience variable $_inferior holds the number of the
767 current inferior.
768
769 * GDB now displays the ID and name of the thread that hit a breakpoint
770 or received a signal, if your program is multi-threaded. For
771 example:
772
773 Thread 3 "bar" hit Breakpoint 1 at 0x40087a: file program.c, line 20.
774 Thread 1 "main" received signal SIGINT, Interrupt.
775
776 * Record btrace now supports non-stop mode.
777
778 * Support for tracepoints on aarch64-linux was added in GDBserver.
779
780 * The 'record instruction-history' command now indicates speculative execution
781 when using the Intel Processor Trace recording format.
782
783 * GDB now allows users to specify explicit locations, bypassing
784 the linespec parser. This feature is also available to GDB/MI
785 clients.
786
787 * Multi-architecture debugging is supported on AArch64 GNU/Linux.
788 GDB now is able to debug both AArch64 applications and ARM applications
789 at the same time.
790
791 * Support for fast tracepoints on aarch64-linux was added in GDBserver,
792 including JIT compiling fast tracepoint's conditional expression bytecode
793 into native code.
794
795 * GDB now supports displaced stepping on AArch64 GNU/Linux.
796
797 * "info threads", "info inferiors", "info display", "info checkpoints"
798 and "maint info program-spaces" now list the corresponding items in
799 ascending ID order, for consistency with all other "info" commands.
800
801 * In Ada, the overloads selection menu has been enhanced to display the
802 parameter types and the return types for the matching overloaded subprograms.
803
804 * New commands
805
806 maint set target-non-stop (on|off|auto)
807 maint show target-non-stop
808 Control whether GDB targets always operate in non-stop mode even if
809 "set non-stop" is "off". The default is "auto", meaning non-stop
810 mode is enabled if supported by the target.
811
812 maint set bfd-sharing
813 maint show bfd-sharing
814 Control the reuse of bfd objects.
815
816 set debug bfd-cache
817 show debug bfd-cache
818 Control display of debugging info regarding bfd caching.
819
820 set debug fbsd-lwp
821 show debug fbsd-lwp
822 Control display of debugging info regarding FreeBSD threads.
823
824 set remote multiprocess-extensions-packet
825 show remote multiprocess-extensions-packet
826 Set/show the use of the remote protocol multiprocess extensions.
827
828 set remote thread-events
829 show remote thread-events
830 Set/show the use of thread create/exit events.
831
832 set ada print-signatures on|off
833 show ada print-signatures"
834 Control whether parameter types and return types are displayed in overloads
835 selection menus. It is activaled (@code{on}) by default.
836
837 set max-value-size
838 show max-value-size
839 Controls the maximum size of memory, in bytes, that GDB will
840 allocate for value contents. Prevents incorrect programs from
841 causing GDB to allocate overly large buffers. Default is 64k.
842
843 * The "disassemble" command accepts a new modifier: /s.
844 It prints mixed source+disassembly like /m with two differences:
845 - disassembled instructions are now printed in program order, and
846 - and source for all relevant files is now printed.
847 The "/m" option is now considered deprecated: its "source-centric"
848 output hasn't proved useful in practice.
849
850 * The "record instruction-history" command accepts a new modifier: /s.
851 It behaves exactly like /m and prints mixed source+disassembly.
852
853 * The "set scheduler-locking" command supports a new mode "replay".
854 It behaves like "off" in record mode and like "on" in replay mode.
855
856 * Support for various ROM monitors has been removed:
857
858 target dbug dBUG ROM monitor for Motorola ColdFire
859 target picobug Motorola picobug monitor
860 target dink32 DINK32 ROM monitor for PowerPC
861 target m32r Renesas M32R/D ROM monitor
862 target mon2000 mon2000 ROM monitor
863 target ppcbug PPCBUG ROM monitor for PowerPC
864
865 * Support for reading/writing memory and extracting values on architectures
866 whose memory is addressable in units of any integral multiple of 8 bits.
867
868 catch handlers
869 Allows to break when an Ada exception is handled.
870
871 * New remote packets
872
873 exec stop reason
874 Indicates that an exec system call was executed.
875
876 exec-events feature in qSupported
877 The qSupported packet allows GDB to request support for exec
878 events using the new 'gdbfeature' exec-event, and the qSupported
879 response can contain the corresponding 'stubfeature'. Set and
880 show commands can be used to display whether these features are enabled.
881
882 vCtrlC
883 Equivalent to interrupting with the ^C character, but works in
884 non-stop mode.
885
886 thread created stop reason (T05 create:...)
887 Indicates that the thread was just created and is stopped at entry.
888
889 thread exit stop reply (w exitcode;tid)
890 Indicates that the thread has terminated.
891
892 QThreadEvents
893 Enables/disables thread create and exit event reporting. For
894 example, this is used in non-stop mode when GDB stops a set of
895 threads and synchronously waits for the their corresponding stop
896 replies. Without exit events, if one of the threads exits, GDB
897 would hang forever not knowing that it should no longer expect a
898 stop for that same thread.
899
900 N stop reply
901 Indicates that there are no resumed threads left in the target (all
902 threads are stopped). The remote stub reports support for this stop
903 reply to GDB's qSupported query.
904
905 QCatchSyscalls
906 Enables/disables catching syscalls from the inferior process.
907 The remote stub reports support for this packet to GDB's qSupported query.
908
909 syscall_entry stop reason
910 Indicates that a syscall was just called.
911
912 syscall_return stop reason
913 Indicates that a syscall just returned.
914
915 * Extended-remote exec events
916
917 ** GDB now has support for exec events on extended-remote Linux targets.
918 For such targets with Linux kernels 2.5.46 and later, this enables
919 follow-exec-mode and exec catchpoints.
920
921 set remote exec-event-feature-packet
922 show remote exec-event-feature-packet
923 Set/show the use of the remote exec event feature.
924
925 * Thread names in remote protocol
926
927 The reply to qXfer:threads:read may now include a name attribute for each
928 thread.
929
930 * Target remote mode fork and exec events
931
932 ** GDB now has support for fork and exec events on target remote mode
933 Linux targets. For such targets with Linux kernels 2.5.46 and later,
934 this enables follow-fork-mode, detach-on-fork, follow-exec-mode, and
935 fork and exec catchpoints.
936
937 * Remote syscall events
938
939 ** GDB now has support for catch syscall on remote Linux targets,
940 currently enabled on x86/x86_64 architectures.
941
942 set remote catch-syscall-packet
943 show remote catch-syscall-packet
944 Set/show the use of the remote catch syscall feature.
945
946 * MI changes
947
948 ** The -var-set-format command now accepts the zero-hexadecimal
949 format. It outputs data in hexadecimal format with zero-padding on the
950 left.
951
952 * Python Scripting
953
954 ** gdb.InferiorThread objects have a new attribute "global_num",
955 which refers to the thread's global thread ID. The existing
956 "num" attribute now refers to the thread's per-inferior number.
957 See "Per-inferior thread numbers" above.
958 ** gdb.InferiorThread objects have a new attribute "inferior", which
959 is the Inferior object the thread belongs to.
960
961 *** Changes in GDB 7.10
962
963 * Support for process record-replay and reverse debugging on aarch64*-linux*
964 targets has been added. GDB now supports recording of A64 instruction set
965 including advance SIMD instructions.
966
967 * Support for Sun's version of the "stabs" debug file format has been removed.
968
969 * GDB now honors the content of the file /proc/PID/coredump_filter
970 (PID is the process ID) on GNU/Linux systems. This file can be used
971 to specify the types of memory mappings that will be included in a
972 corefile. For more information, please refer to the manual page of
973 "core(5)". GDB also has a new command: "set use-coredump-filter
974 on|off". It allows to set whether GDB will read the content of the
975 /proc/PID/coredump_filter file when generating a corefile.
976
977 * The "info os" command on GNU/Linux can now display information on
978 cpu information :
979 "info os cpus" Listing of all cpus/cores on the system
980
981 * GDB has two new commands: "set serial parity odd|even|none" and
982 "show serial parity". These allows to set or show parity for the
983 remote serial I/O.
984
985 * The "info source" command now displays the producer string if it was
986 present in the debug info. This typically includes the compiler version
987 and may include things like its command line arguments.
988
989 * The "info dll", an alias of the "info sharedlibrary" command,
990 is now available on all platforms.
991
992 * Directory names supplied to the "set sysroot" commands may be
993 prefixed with "target:" to tell GDB to access shared libraries from
994 the target system, be it local or remote. This replaces the prefix
995 "remote:". The default sysroot has been changed from "" to
996 "target:". "remote:" is automatically converted to "target:" for
997 backward compatibility.
998
999 * The system root specified by "set sysroot" will be prepended to the
1000 filename of the main executable (if reported to GDB as absolute by
1001 the operating system) when starting processes remotely, and when
1002 attaching to already-running local or remote processes.
1003
1004 * GDB now supports automatic location and retrieval of executable
1005 files from remote targets. Remote debugging can now be initiated
1006 using only a "target remote" or "target extended-remote" command
1007 (no "set sysroot" or "file" commands are required). See "New remote
1008 packets" below.
1009
1010 * The "dump" command now supports verilog hex format.
1011
1012 * GDB now supports the vector ABI on S/390 GNU/Linux targets.
1013
1014 * On GNU/Linux, GDB and gdbserver are now able to access executable
1015 and shared library files without a "set sysroot" command when
1016 attaching to processes running in different mount namespaces from
1017 the debugger. This makes it possible to attach to processes in
1018 containers as simply as "gdb -p PID" or "gdbserver --attach PID".
1019 See "New remote packets" below.
1020
1021 * The "tui reg" command now provides completion for all of the
1022 available register groups, including target specific groups.
1023
1024 * The HISTSIZE environment variable is no longer read when determining
1025 the size of GDB's command history. GDB now instead reads the dedicated
1026 GDBHISTSIZE environment variable. Setting GDBHISTSIZE to "-1" or to "" now
1027 disables truncation of command history. Non-numeric values of GDBHISTSIZE
1028 are ignored.
1029
1030 * Guile Scripting
1031
1032 ** Memory ports can now be unbuffered.
1033
1034 * Python Scripting
1035
1036 ** gdb.Objfile objects have a new attribute "username",
1037 which is the name of the objfile as specified by the user,
1038 without, for example, resolving symlinks.
1039 ** You can now write frame unwinders in Python.
1040 ** gdb.Type objects have a new method "optimized_out",
1041 returning optimized out gdb.Value instance of this type.
1042 ** gdb.Value objects have new methods "reference_value" and
1043 "const_value" which return a reference to the value and a
1044 "const" version of the value respectively.
1045
1046 * New commands
1047
1048 maint print symbol-cache
1049 Print the contents of the symbol cache.
1050
1051 maint print symbol-cache-statistics
1052 Print statistics of symbol cache usage.
1053
1054 maint flush-symbol-cache
1055 Flush the contents of the symbol cache.
1056
1057 record btrace bts
1058 record bts
1059 Start branch trace recording using Branch Trace Store (BTS) format.
1060
1061 compile print
1062 Evaluate expression by using the compiler and print result.
1063
1064 tui enable
1065 tui disable
1066 Explicit commands for enabling and disabling tui mode.
1067
1068 show mpx bound
1069 set mpx bound on i386 and amd64
1070 Support for bound table investigation on Intel MPX enabled applications.
1071
1072 record btrace pt
1073 record pt
1074 Start branch trace recording using Intel Processor Trace format.
1075
1076 maint info btrace
1077 Print information about branch tracing internals.
1078
1079 maint btrace packet-history
1080 Print the raw branch tracing data.
1081
1082 maint btrace clear-packet-history
1083 Discard the stored raw branch tracing data.
1084
1085 maint btrace clear
1086 Discard all branch tracing data. It will be fetched and processed
1087 anew by the next "record" command.
1088
1089 * New options
1090
1091 set debug dwarf-die
1092 Renamed from "set debug dwarf2-die".
1093 show debug dwarf-die
1094 Renamed from "show debug dwarf2-die".
1095
1096 set debug dwarf-read
1097 Renamed from "set debug dwarf2-read".
1098 show debug dwarf-read
1099 Renamed from "show debug dwarf2-read".
1100
1101 maint set dwarf always-disassemble
1102 Renamed from "maint set dwarf2 always-disassemble".
1103 maint show dwarf always-disassemble
1104 Renamed from "maint show dwarf2 always-disassemble".
1105
1106 maint set dwarf max-cache-age
1107 Renamed from "maint set dwarf2 max-cache-age".
1108 maint show dwarf max-cache-age
1109 Renamed from "maint show dwarf2 max-cache-age".
1110
1111 set debug dwarf-line
1112 show debug dwarf-line
1113 Control display of debugging info regarding DWARF line processing.
1114
1115 set max-completions
1116 show max-completions
1117 Set the maximum number of candidates to be considered during
1118 completion. The default value is 200. This limit allows GDB
1119 to avoid generating large completion lists, the computation of
1120 which can cause the debugger to become temporarily unresponsive.
1121
1122 set history remove-duplicates
1123 show history remove-duplicates
1124 Control the removal of duplicate history entries.
1125
1126 maint set symbol-cache-size
1127 maint show symbol-cache-size
1128 Control the size of the symbol cache.
1129
1130 set|show record btrace bts buffer-size
1131 Set and show the size of the ring buffer used for branch tracing in
1132 BTS format.
1133 The obtained size may differ from the requested size. Use "info
1134 record" to see the obtained buffer size.
1135
1136 set debug linux-namespaces
1137 show debug linux-namespaces
1138 Control display of debugging info regarding Linux namespaces.
1139
1140 set|show record btrace pt buffer-size
1141 Set and show the size of the ring buffer used for branch tracing in
1142 Intel Processor Trace format.
1143 The obtained size may differ from the requested size. Use "info
1144 record" to see the obtained buffer size.
1145
1146 maint set|show btrace pt skip-pad
1147 Set and show whether PAD packets are skipped when computing the
1148 packet history.
1149
1150 * The command 'thread apply all' can now support new option '-ascending'
1151 to call its specified command for all threads in ascending order.
1152
1153 * Python/Guile scripting
1154
1155 ** GDB now supports auto-loading of Python/Guile scripts contained in the
1156 special section named `.debug_gdb_scripts'.
1157
1158 * New remote packets
1159
1160 qXfer:btrace-conf:read
1161 Return the branch trace configuration for the current thread.
1162
1163 Qbtrace-conf:bts:size
1164 Set the requested ring buffer size for branch tracing in BTS format.
1165
1166 Qbtrace:pt
1167 Enable Intel Procesor Trace-based branch tracing for the current
1168 process. The remote stub reports support for this packet to GDB's
1169 qSupported query.
1170
1171 Qbtrace-conf:pt:size
1172 Set the requested ring buffer size for branch tracing in Intel Processor
1173 Trace format.
1174
1175 swbreak stop reason
1176 Indicates a memory breakpoint instruction was executed, irrespective
1177 of whether it was GDB that planted the breakpoint or the breakpoint
1178 is hardcoded in the program. This is required for correct non-stop
1179 mode operation.
1180
1181 hwbreak stop reason
1182 Indicates the target stopped for a hardware breakpoint. This is
1183 required for correct non-stop mode operation.
1184
1185 vFile:fstat:
1186 Return information about files on the remote system.
1187
1188 qXfer:exec-file:read
1189 Return the full absolute name of the file that was executed to
1190 create a process running on the remote system.
1191
1192 vFile:setfs:
1193 Select the filesystem on which vFile: operations with filename
1194 arguments will operate. This is required for GDB to be able to
1195 access files on remote targets where the remote stub does not
1196 share a common filesystem with the inferior(s).
1197
1198 fork stop reason
1199 Indicates that a fork system call was executed.
1200
1201 vfork stop reason
1202 Indicates that a vfork system call was executed.
1203
1204 vforkdone stop reason
1205 Indicates that a vfork child of the specified process has executed
1206 an exec or exit, allowing the vfork parent to resume execution.
1207
1208 fork-events and vfork-events features in qSupported
1209 The qSupported packet allows GDB to request support for fork and
1210 vfork events using new 'gdbfeatures' fork-events and vfork-events,
1211 and the qSupported response can contain the corresponding
1212 'stubfeatures'. Set and show commands can be used to display
1213 whether these features are enabled.
1214
1215 * Extended-remote fork events
1216
1217 ** GDB now has support for fork events on extended-remote Linux
1218 targets. For targets with Linux kernels 2.5.60 and later, this
1219 enables follow-fork-mode and detach-on-fork for both fork and
1220 vfork, as well as fork and vfork catchpoints.
1221
1222 * The info record command now shows the recording format and the
1223 branch tracing configuration for the current thread when using
1224 the btrace record target.
1225 For the BTS format, it shows the ring buffer size.
1226
1227 * GDB now has support for DTrace USDT (Userland Static Defined
1228 Tracing) probes. The supported targets are x86_64-*-linux-gnu.
1229
1230 * GDB now supports access to vector registers on S/390 GNU/Linux
1231 targets.
1232
1233 * Removed command line options
1234
1235 -xdb HP-UX XDB compatibility mode.
1236
1237 * Removed targets and native configurations
1238
1239 HP/PA running HP-UX hppa*-*-hpux*
1240 Itanium running HP-UX ia64-*-hpux*
1241
1242 * New configure options
1243
1244 --with-intel-pt
1245 This configure option allows the user to build GDB with support for
1246 Intel Processor Trace (default: auto). This requires libipt.
1247
1248 --with-libipt-prefix=PATH
1249 Specify the path to the version of libipt that GDB should use.
1250 $PATH/include should contain the intel-pt.h header and
1251 $PATH/lib should contain the libipt.so library.
1252
1253 *** Changes in GDB 7.9.1
1254
1255 * Python Scripting
1256
1257 ** Xmethods can now specify a result type.
1258
1259 *** Changes in GDB 7.9
1260
1261 * GDB now supports hardware watchpoints on x86 GNU Hurd.
1262
1263 * Python Scripting
1264
1265 ** You can now access frame registers from Python scripts.
1266 ** New attribute 'producer' for gdb.Symtab objects.
1267 ** gdb.Objfile objects have a new attribute "progspace",
1268 which is the gdb.Progspace object of the containing program space.
1269 ** gdb.Objfile objects have a new attribute "owner".
1270 ** gdb.Objfile objects have a new attribute "build_id",
1271 which is the build ID generated when the file was built.
1272 ** gdb.Objfile objects have a new method "add_separate_debug_file".
1273 ** A new event "gdb.clear_objfiles" has been added, triggered when
1274 selecting a new file to debug.
1275 ** You can now add attributes to gdb.Objfile and gdb.Progspace objects.
1276 ** New function gdb.lookup_objfile.
1277
1278 New events which are triggered when GDB modifies the state of the
1279 inferior.
1280
1281 ** gdb.events.inferior_call_pre: Function call is about to be made.
1282 ** gdb.events.inferior_call_post: Function call has just been made.
1283 ** gdb.events.memory_changed: A memory location has been altered.
1284 ** gdb.events.register_changed: A register has been altered.
1285
1286 * New Python-based convenience functions:
1287
1288 ** $_caller_is(name [, number_of_frames])
1289 ** $_caller_matches(regexp [, number_of_frames])
1290 ** $_any_caller_is(name [, number_of_frames])
1291 ** $_any_caller_matches(regexp [, number_of_frames])
1292
1293 * GDB now supports the compilation and injection of source code into
1294 the inferior. GDB will use GCC 5.0 or higher built with libcc1.so
1295 to compile the source code to object code, and if successful, inject
1296 and execute that code within the current context of the inferior.
1297 Currently the C language is supported. The commands used to
1298 interface with this new feature are:
1299
1300 compile code [-raw|-r] [--] [source code]
1301 compile file [-raw|-r] filename
1302
1303 * New commands
1304
1305 demangle [-l language] [--] name
1306 Demangle "name" in the specified language, or the current language
1307 if elided. This command is renamed from the "maint demangle" command.
1308 The latter is kept as a no-op to avoid "maint demangle" being interpreted
1309 as "maint demangler-warning".
1310
1311 queue-signal signal-name-or-number
1312 Queue a signal to be delivered to the thread when it is resumed.
1313
1314 add-auto-load-scripts-directory directory
1315 Add entries to the list of directories from which to load auto-loaded
1316 scripts.
1317
1318 maint print user-registers
1319 List all currently available "user" registers.
1320
1321 compile code [-r|-raw] [--] [source code]
1322 Compile, inject, and execute in the inferior the executable object
1323 code produced by compiling the provided source code.
1324
1325 compile file [-r|-raw] filename
1326 Compile and inject into the inferior the executable object code
1327 produced by compiling the source code stored in the filename
1328 provided.
1329
1330 * On resume, GDB now always passes the signal the program had stopped
1331 for to the thread the signal was sent to, even if the user changed
1332 threads before resuming. Previously GDB would often (but not
1333 always) deliver the signal to the thread that happens to be current
1334 at resume time.
1335
1336 * Conversely, the "signal" command now consistently delivers the
1337 requested signal to the current thread. GDB now asks for
1338 confirmation if the program had stopped for a signal and the user
1339 switched threads meanwhile.
1340
1341 * "breakpoint always-inserted" modes "off" and "auto" merged.
1342
1343 Now, when 'breakpoint always-inserted mode' is set to "off", GDB
1344 won't remove breakpoints from the target until all threads stop,
1345 even in non-stop mode. The "auto" mode has been removed, and "off"
1346 is now the default mode.
1347
1348 * New options
1349
1350 set debug symbol-lookup
1351 show debug symbol-lookup
1352 Control display of debugging info regarding symbol lookup.
1353
1354 * MI changes
1355
1356 ** The -list-thread-groups command outputs an exit-code field for
1357 inferiors that have exited.
1358
1359 * New targets
1360
1361 MIPS SDE mips*-sde*-elf*
1362
1363 * Removed targets
1364
1365 Support for these obsolete configurations has been removed.
1366
1367 Alpha running OSF/1 (or Tru64) alpha*-*-osf*
1368 SGI Irix-5.x mips-*-irix5*
1369 SGI Irix-6.x mips-*-irix6*
1370 VAX running (4.2 - 4.3 Reno) BSD vax-*-bsd*
1371 VAX running Ultrix vax-*-ultrix*
1372
1373 * The "dll-symbols" command, and its two aliases ("add-shared-symbol-files"
1374 and "assf"), have been removed. Use the "sharedlibrary" command, or
1375 its alias "share", instead.
1376
1377 *** Changes in GDB 7.8
1378
1379 * New command line options
1380
1381 -D data-directory
1382 This is an alias for the --data-directory option.
1383
1384 * GDB supports printing and modifying of variable length automatic arrays
1385 as specified in ISO C99.
1386
1387 * The ARM simulator now supports instruction level tracing
1388 with or without disassembly.
1389
1390 * Guile scripting
1391
1392 GDB now has support for scripting using Guile. Whether this is
1393 available is determined at configure time.
1394 Guile version 2.0 or greater is required.
1395 Guile version 2.0.9 is well tested, earlier 2.0 versions are not.
1396
1397 * New commands (for set/show, see "New options" below)
1398
1399 guile [code]
1400 gu [code]
1401 Invoke CODE by passing it to the Guile interpreter.
1402
1403 guile-repl
1404 gr
1405 Start a Guile interactive prompt (or "repl" for "read-eval-print loop").
1406
1407 info auto-load guile-scripts [regexp]
1408 Print the list of automatically loaded Guile scripts.
1409
1410 * The source command is now capable of sourcing Guile scripts.
1411 This feature is dependent on the debugger being built with Guile support.
1412
1413 * New options
1414
1415 set print symbol-loading (off|brief|full)
1416 show print symbol-loading
1417 Control whether to print informational messages when loading symbol
1418 information for a file. The default is "full", but when debugging
1419 programs with large numbers of shared libraries the amount of output
1420 becomes less useful.
1421
1422 set guile print-stack (none|message|full)
1423 show guile print-stack
1424 Show a stack trace when an error is encountered in a Guile script.
1425
1426 set auto-load guile-scripts (on|off)
1427 show auto-load guile-scripts
1428 Control auto-loading of Guile script files.
1429
1430 maint ada set ignore-descriptive-types (on|off)
1431 maint ada show ignore-descriptive-types
1432 Control whether the debugger should ignore descriptive types in Ada
1433 programs. The default is not to ignore the descriptive types. See
1434 the user manual for more details on descriptive types and the intended
1435 usage of this option.
1436
1437 set auto-connect-native-target
1438
1439 Control whether GDB is allowed to automatically connect to the
1440 native target for the run, attach, etc. commands when not connected
1441 to any target yet. See also "target native" below.
1442
1443 set record btrace replay-memory-access (read-only|read-write)
1444 show record btrace replay-memory-access
1445 Control what memory accesses are allowed during replay.
1446
1447 maint set target-async (on|off)
1448 maint show target-async
1449 This controls whether GDB targets operate in synchronous or
1450 asynchronous mode. Normally the default is asynchronous, if it is
1451 available; but this can be changed to more easily debug problems
1452 occurring only in synchronous mode.
1453
1454 set mi-async (on|off)
1455 show mi-async
1456 Control whether MI asynchronous mode is preferred. This supersedes
1457 "set target-async" of previous GDB versions.
1458
1459 * "set target-async" is deprecated as a CLI option and is now an alias
1460 for "set mi-async" (only puts MI into async mode).
1461
1462 * Background execution commands (e.g., "c&", "s&", etc.) are now
1463 possible ``out of the box'' if the target supports them. Previously
1464 the user would need to explicitly enable the possibility with the
1465 "set target-async on" command.
1466
1467 * New features in the GDB remote stub, GDBserver
1468
1469 ** New option --debug-format=option1[,option2,...] allows one to add
1470 additional text to each output. At present only timestamps
1471 are supported: --debug-format=timestamps.
1472 Timestamps can also be turned on with the
1473 "monitor set debug-format timestamps" command from GDB.
1474
1475 * The 'record instruction-history' command now starts counting instructions
1476 at one. This also affects the instruction ranges reported by the
1477 'record function-call-history' command when given the /i modifier.
1478
1479 * The command 'record function-call-history' supports a new modifier '/c' to
1480 indent the function names based on their call stack depth.
1481 The fields for the '/i' and '/l' modifier have been reordered.
1482 The source line range is now prefixed with 'at'.
1483 The instruction range is now prefixed with 'inst'.
1484 Both ranges are now printed as '<from>, <to>' to allow copy&paste to the
1485 "record instruction-history" and "list" commands.
1486
1487 * The ranges given as arguments to the 'record function-call-history' and
1488 'record instruction-history' commands are now inclusive.
1489
1490 * The btrace record target now supports the 'record goto' command.
1491 For locations inside the execution trace, the back trace is computed
1492 based on the information stored in the execution trace.
1493
1494 * The btrace record target supports limited reverse execution and replay.
1495 The target does not record data and therefore does not allow reading
1496 memory or registers.
1497
1498 * The "catch syscall" command now works on s390*-linux* targets.
1499
1500 * The "compare-sections" command is no longer specific to target
1501 remote. It now works with all targets.
1502
1503 * All native targets are now consistently called "native".
1504 Consequently, the "target child", "target GNU", "target djgpp",
1505 "target procfs" (Solaris/Irix/OSF/AIX) and "target darwin-child"
1506 commands have been replaced with "target native". The QNX/NTO port
1507 leaves the "procfs" target in place and adds a "native" target for
1508 consistency with other ports. The impact on users should be minimal
1509 as these commands previously either throwed an error, or were
1510 no-ops. The target's name is visible in the output of the following
1511 commands: "help target", "info target", "info files", "maint print
1512 target-stack".
1513
1514 * The "target native" command now connects to the native target. This
1515 can be used to launch native programs even when "set
1516 auto-connect-native-target" is set to off.
1517
1518 * GDB now supports access to Intel MPX registers on GNU/Linux.
1519
1520 * Support for Intel AVX-512 registers on GNU/Linux.
1521 Support displaying and modifying Intel AVX-512 registers
1522 $zmm0 - $zmm31 and $k0 - $k7 on GNU/Linux.
1523
1524 * New remote packets
1525
1526 qXfer:btrace:read's annex
1527 The qXfer:btrace:read packet supports a new annex 'delta' to read
1528 branch trace incrementally.
1529
1530 * Python Scripting
1531
1532 ** Valid Python operations on gdb.Value objects representing
1533 structs/classes invoke the corresponding overloaded operators if
1534 available.
1535 ** New `Xmethods' feature in the Python API. Xmethods are
1536 additional methods or replacements for existing methods of a C++
1537 class. This feature is useful for those cases where a method
1538 defined in C++ source code could be inlined or optimized out by
1539 the compiler, making it unavailable to GDB.
1540
1541 * New targets
1542 PowerPC64 GNU/Linux little-endian powerpc64le-*-linux*
1543
1544 * The "dll-symbols" command, and its two aliases ("add-shared-symbol-files"
1545 and "assf"), have been deprecated. Use the "sharedlibrary" command, or
1546 its alias "share", instead.
1547
1548 * The commands "set remotebaud" and "show remotebaud" are no longer
1549 supported. Use "set serial baud" and "show serial baud" (respectively)
1550 instead.
1551
1552 * MI changes
1553
1554 ** A new option "-gdb-set mi-async" replaces "-gdb-set
1555 target-async". The latter is left as a deprecated alias of the
1556 former for backward compatibility. If the target supports it,
1557 CLI background execution commands are now always possible by
1558 default, independently of whether the frontend stated a
1559 preference for asynchronous execution with "-gdb-set mi-async".
1560 Previously "-gdb-set target-async off" affected both MI execution
1561 commands and CLI execution commands.
1562
1563 *** Changes in GDB 7.7
1564
1565 * Improved support for process record-replay and reverse debugging on
1566 arm*-linux* targets. Support for thumb32 and syscall instruction
1567 recording has been added.
1568
1569 * GDB now supports SystemTap SDT probes on AArch64 GNU/Linux.
1570
1571 * GDB now supports Fission DWP file format version 2.
1572 http://gcc.gnu.org/wiki/DebugFission
1573
1574 * New convenience function "$_isvoid", to check whether an expression
1575 is void. A void expression is an expression where the type of the
1576 result is "void". For example, some convenience variables may be
1577 "void" when evaluated (e.g., "$_exitcode" before the execution of
1578 the program being debugged; or an undefined convenience variable).
1579 Another example, when calling a function whose return type is
1580 "void".
1581
1582 * The "maintenance print objfiles" command now takes an optional regexp.
1583
1584 * The "catch syscall" command now works on arm*-linux* targets.
1585
1586 * GDB now consistently shows "<not saved>" when printing values of
1587 registers the debug info indicates have not been saved in the frame
1588 and there's nowhere to retrieve them from
1589 (callee-saved/call-clobbered registers):
1590
1591 (gdb) p $rax
1592 $1 = <not saved>
1593
1594 (gdb) info registers rax
1595 rax <not saved>
1596
1597 Before, the former would print "<optimized out>", and the latter
1598 "*value not available*".
1599
1600 * New script contrib/gdb-add-index.sh for adding .gdb_index sections
1601 to binaries.
1602
1603 * Python scripting
1604
1605 ** Frame filters and frame decorators have been added.
1606 ** Temporary breakpoints are now supported.
1607 ** Line tables representation has been added.
1608 ** New attribute 'parent_type' for gdb.Field objects.
1609 ** gdb.Field objects can be used as subscripts on gdb.Value objects.
1610 ** New attribute 'name' for gdb.Type objects.
1611
1612 * New targets
1613
1614 Nios II ELF nios2*-*-elf
1615 Nios II GNU/Linux nios2*-*-linux
1616 Texas Instruments MSP430 msp430*-*-elf
1617
1618 * Removed native configurations
1619
1620 Support for these a.out NetBSD and OpenBSD obsolete configurations has
1621 been removed. ELF variants of these configurations are kept supported.
1622
1623 arm*-*-netbsd* but arm*-*-netbsdelf* is kept supported.
1624 i[34567]86-*-netbsd* but i[34567]86-*-netbsdelf* is kept supported.
1625 i[34567]86-*-openbsd[0-2].* but i[34567]86-*-openbsd* is kept supported.
1626 i[34567]86-*-openbsd3.[0-3]
1627 m68*-*-netbsd* but m68*-*-netbsdelf* is kept supported.
1628 sparc-*-netbsd* but sparc-*-netbsdelf* is kept supported.
1629 vax-*-netbsd* but vax-*-netbsdelf* is kept supported.
1630
1631 * New commands:
1632 catch rethrow
1633 Like "catch throw", but catches a re-thrown exception.
1634 maint check-psymtabs
1635 Renamed from old "maint check-symtabs".
1636 maint check-symtabs
1637 Perform consistency checks on symtabs.
1638 maint expand-symtabs
1639 Expand symtabs matching an optional regexp.
1640
1641 show configuration
1642 Display the details of GDB configure-time options.
1643
1644 maint set|show per-command
1645 maint set|show per-command space
1646 maint set|show per-command time
1647 maint set|show per-command symtab
1648 Enable display of per-command gdb resource usage.
1649
1650 remove-symbol-file FILENAME
1651 remove-symbol-file -a ADDRESS
1652 Remove a symbol file added via add-symbol-file. The file to remove
1653 can be identified by its filename or by an address that lies within
1654 the boundaries of this symbol file in memory.
1655
1656 info exceptions
1657 info exceptions REGEXP
1658 Display the list of Ada exceptions defined in the program being
1659 debugged. If provided, only the exceptions whose names match REGEXP
1660 are listed.
1661
1662 * New options
1663
1664 set debug symfile off|on
1665 show debug symfile
1666 Control display of debugging info regarding reading symbol files and
1667 symbol tables within those files
1668
1669 set print raw frame-arguments
1670 show print raw frame-arguments
1671 Set/show whether to print frame arguments in raw mode,
1672 disregarding any defined pretty-printers.
1673
1674 set remote trace-status-packet
1675 show remote trace-status-packet
1676 Set/show the use of remote protocol qTStatus packet.
1677
1678 set debug nios2
1679 show debug nios2
1680 Control display of debugging messages related to Nios II targets.
1681
1682 set range-stepping
1683 show range-stepping
1684 Control whether target-assisted range stepping is enabled.
1685
1686 set startup-with-shell
1687 show startup-with-shell
1688 Specifies whether Unix child processes are started via a shell or
1689 directly.
1690
1691 set code-cache
1692 show code-cache
1693 Use the target memory cache for accesses to the code segment. This
1694 improves performance of remote debugging (particularly disassembly).
1695
1696 * You can now use a literal value 'unlimited' for options that
1697 interpret 0 or -1 as meaning "unlimited". E.g., "set
1698 trace-buffer-size unlimited" is now an alias for "set
1699 trace-buffer-size -1" and "set height unlimited" is now an alias for
1700 "set height 0".
1701
1702 * The "set debug symtab-create" debugging option of GDB has been changed to
1703 accept a verbosity level. 0 means "off", 1 provides basic debugging
1704 output, and values of 2 or greater provides more verbose output.
1705
1706 * New command-line options
1707 --configuration
1708 Display the details of GDB configure-time options.
1709
1710 * The command 'tsave' can now support new option '-ctf' to save trace
1711 buffer in Common Trace Format.
1712
1713 * Newly installed $prefix/bin/gcore acts as a shell interface for the
1714 GDB command gcore.
1715
1716 * GDB now implements the the C++ 'typeid' operator.
1717
1718 * The new convenience variable $_exception holds the exception being
1719 thrown or caught at an exception-related catchpoint.
1720
1721 * The exception-related catchpoints, like "catch throw", now accept a
1722 regular expression which can be used to filter exceptions by type.
1723
1724 * The new convenience variable $_exitsignal is automatically set to
1725 the terminating signal number when the program being debugged dies
1726 due to an uncaught signal.
1727
1728 * MI changes
1729
1730 ** All MI commands now accept an optional "--language" option.
1731 Support for this feature can be verified by using the "-list-features"
1732 command, which should contain "language-option".
1733
1734 ** The new command -info-gdb-mi-command allows the user to determine
1735 whether a GDB/MI command is supported or not.
1736
1737 ** The "^error" result record returned when trying to execute an undefined
1738 GDB/MI command now provides a variable named "code" whose content is the
1739 "undefined-command" error code. Support for this feature can be verified
1740 by using the "-list-features" command, which should contain
1741 "undefined-command-error-code".
1742
1743 ** The -trace-save MI command can optionally save trace buffer in Common
1744 Trace Format now.
1745
1746 ** The new command -dprintf-insert sets a dynamic printf breakpoint.
1747
1748 ** The command -data-list-register-values now accepts an optional
1749 "--skip-unavailable" option. When used, only the available registers
1750 are displayed.
1751
1752 ** The new command -trace-frame-collected dumps collected variables,
1753 computed expressions, tvars, memory and registers in a traceframe.
1754
1755 ** The commands -stack-list-locals, -stack-list-arguments and
1756 -stack-list-variables now accept an option "--skip-unavailable".
1757 When used, only the available locals or arguments are displayed.
1758
1759 ** The -exec-run command now accepts an optional "--start" option.
1760 When used, the command follows the same semantics as the "start"
1761 command, stopping the program's execution at the start of its
1762 main subprogram. Support for this feature can be verified using
1763 the "-list-features" command, which should contain
1764 "exec-run-start-option".
1765
1766 ** The new commands -catch-assert and -catch-exceptions insert
1767 catchpoints stopping the program when Ada exceptions are raised.
1768
1769 ** The new command -info-ada-exceptions provides the equivalent of
1770 the new "info exceptions" command.
1771
1772 * New system-wide configuration scripts
1773 A GDB installation now provides scripts suitable for use as system-wide
1774 configuration scripts for the following systems:
1775 ** ElinOS
1776 ** Wind River Linux
1777
1778 * GDB now supports target-assigned range stepping with remote targets.
1779 This improves the performance of stepping source lines by reducing
1780 the number of control packets from/to GDB. See "New remote packets"
1781 below.
1782
1783 * GDB now understands the element 'tvar' in the XML traceframe info.
1784 It has the id of the collected trace state variables.
1785
1786 * On S/390 targets that provide the transactional-execution feature,
1787 the program interruption transaction diagnostic block (TDB) is now
1788 represented as a number of additional "registers" in GDB.
1789
1790 * New remote packets
1791
1792 vCont;r
1793
1794 The vCont packet supports a new 'r' action, that tells the remote
1795 stub to step through an address range itself, without GDB
1796 involvemement at each single-step.
1797
1798 qXfer:libraries-svr4:read's annex
1799 The previously unused annex of the qXfer:libraries-svr4:read packet
1800 is now used to support passing an argument list. The remote stub
1801 reports support for this argument list to GDB's qSupported query.
1802 The defined arguments are "start" and "prev", used to reduce work
1803 necessary for library list updating, resulting in significant
1804 speedup.
1805
1806 * New features in the GDB remote stub, GDBserver
1807
1808 ** GDBserver now supports target-assisted range stepping. Currently
1809 enabled on x86/x86_64 GNU/Linux targets.
1810
1811 ** GDBserver now adds element 'tvar' in the XML in the reply to
1812 'qXfer:traceframe-info:read'. It has the id of the collected
1813 trace state variables.
1814
1815 ** GDBserver now supports hardware watchpoints on the MIPS GNU/Linux
1816 target.
1817
1818 * New 'z' formatter for printing and examining memory, this displays the
1819 value as hexadecimal zero padded on the left to the size of the type.
1820
1821 * GDB can now use Windows x64 unwinding data.
1822
1823 * The "set remotebaud" command has been replaced by "set serial baud".
1824 Similarly, "show remotebaud" has been replaced by "show serial baud".
1825 The "set remotebaud" and "show remotebaud" commands are still available
1826 to provide backward compatibility with older versions of GDB.
1827
1828 *** Changes in GDB 7.6
1829
1830 * Target record has been renamed to record-full.
1831 Record/replay is now enabled with the "record full" command.
1832 This also affects settings that are associated with full record/replay
1833 that have been moved from "set/show record" to "set/show record full":
1834
1835 set|show record full insn-number-max
1836 set|show record full stop-at-limit
1837 set|show record full memory-query
1838
1839 * A new record target "record-btrace" has been added. The new target
1840 uses hardware support to record the control-flow of a process. It
1841 does not support replaying the execution, but it implements the
1842 below new commands for investigating the recorded execution log.
1843 This new recording method can be enabled using:
1844
1845 record btrace
1846
1847 The "record-btrace" target is only available on Intel Atom processors
1848 and requires a Linux kernel 2.6.32 or later.
1849
1850 * Two new commands have been added for record/replay to give information
1851 about the recorded execution without having to replay the execution.
1852 The commands are only supported by "record btrace".
1853
1854 record instruction-history prints the execution history at
1855 instruction granularity
1856
1857 record function-call-history prints the execution history at
1858 function granularity
1859
1860 * New native configurations
1861
1862 ARM AArch64 GNU/Linux aarch64*-*-linux-gnu
1863 FreeBSD/powerpc powerpc*-*-freebsd
1864 x86_64/Cygwin x86_64-*-cygwin*
1865 Tilera TILE-Gx GNU/Linux tilegx*-*-linux-gnu
1866
1867 * New targets
1868
1869 ARM AArch64 aarch64*-*-elf
1870 ARM AArch64 GNU/Linux aarch64*-*-linux
1871 Lynx 178 PowerPC powerpc-*-lynx*178
1872 x86_64/Cygwin x86_64-*-cygwin*
1873 Tilera TILE-Gx GNU/Linux tilegx*-*-linux
1874
1875 * If the configured location of system.gdbinit file (as given by the
1876 --with-system-gdbinit option at configure time) is in the
1877 data-directory (as specified by --with-gdb-datadir at configure
1878 time) or in one of its subdirectories, then GDB will look for the
1879 system-wide init file in the directory specified by the
1880 --data-directory command-line option.
1881
1882 * New command line options:
1883
1884 -nh Disables auto-loading of ~/.gdbinit, but still executes all the
1885 other initialization files, unlike -nx which disables all of them.
1886
1887 * Removed command line options
1888
1889 -epoch This was used by the gdb mode in Epoch, an ancient fork of
1890 Emacs.
1891
1892 * The 'ptype' and 'whatis' commands now accept an argument to control
1893 type formatting.
1894
1895 * 'info proc' now works on some core files.
1896
1897 * Python scripting
1898
1899 ** Vectors can be created with gdb.Type.vector.
1900
1901 ** Python's atexit.register now works in GDB.
1902
1903 ** Types can be pretty-printed via a Python API.
1904
1905 ** Python 3 is now supported (in addition to Python 2.4 or later)
1906
1907 ** New class gdb.Architecture exposes GDB's internal representation
1908 of architecture in the Python API.
1909
1910 ** New method Frame.architecture returns the gdb.Architecture object
1911 corresponding to the frame's architecture.
1912
1913 * New Python-based convenience functions:
1914
1915 ** $_memeq(buf1, buf2, length)
1916 ** $_streq(str1, str2)
1917 ** $_strlen(str)
1918 ** $_regex(str, regex)
1919
1920 * The 'cd' command now defaults to using '~' (the home directory) if not
1921 given an argument.
1922
1923 * The C++ ABI now defaults to the GNU v3 ABI. This has been the
1924 default for GCC since November 2000.
1925
1926 * The command 'forward-search' can now be abbreviated as 'fo'.
1927
1928 * The command 'info tracepoints' can now display 'installed on target'
1929 or 'not installed on target' for each non-pending location of tracepoint.
1930
1931 * New configure options
1932
1933 --enable-libmcheck/--disable-libmcheck
1934 By default, development versions are built with -lmcheck on hosts
1935 that support it, in order to help track memory corruption issues.
1936 Release versions, on the other hand, are built without -lmcheck
1937 by default. The --enable-libmcheck/--disable-libmcheck configure
1938 options allow the user to override that default.
1939 --with-babeltrace/--with-babeltrace-include/--with-babeltrace-lib
1940 This configure option allows the user to build GDB with
1941 libbabeltrace using which GDB can read Common Trace Format data.
1942
1943 * New commands (for set/show, see "New options" below)
1944
1945 catch signal
1946 Catch signals. This is similar to "handle", but allows commands and
1947 conditions to be attached.
1948
1949 maint info bfds
1950 List the BFDs known to GDB.
1951
1952 python-interactive [command]
1953 pi [command]
1954 Start a Python interactive prompt, or evaluate the optional command
1955 and print the result of expressions.
1956
1957 py [command]
1958 "py" is a new alias for "python".
1959
1960 enable type-printer [name]...
1961 disable type-printer [name]...
1962 Enable or disable type printers.
1963
1964 * Removed commands
1965
1966 ** For the Renesas Super-H architecture, the "regs" command has been removed
1967 (has been deprecated in GDB 7.5), and "info all-registers" should be used
1968 instead.
1969
1970 * New options
1971
1972 set print type methods (on|off)
1973 show print type methods
1974 Control whether method declarations are displayed by "ptype".
1975 The default is to show them.
1976
1977 set print type typedefs (on|off)
1978 show print type typedefs
1979 Control whether typedef definitions are displayed by "ptype".
1980 The default is to show them.
1981
1982 set filename-display basename|relative|absolute
1983 show filename-display
1984 Control the way in which filenames is displayed.
1985 The default is "relative", which preserves previous behavior.
1986
1987 set trace-buffer-size
1988 show trace-buffer-size
1989 Request target to change the size of trace buffer.
1990
1991 set remote trace-buffer-size-packet auto|on|off
1992 show remote trace-buffer-size-packet
1993 Control the use of the remote protocol `QTBuffer:size' packet.
1994
1995 set debug aarch64
1996 show debug aarch64
1997 Control display of debugging messages related to ARM AArch64.
1998 The default is off.
1999
2000 set debug coff-pe-read
2001 show debug coff-pe-read
2002 Control display of debugging messages related to reading of COFF/PE
2003 exported symbols.
2004
2005 set debug mach-o
2006 show debug mach-o
2007 Control display of debugging messages related to Mach-O symbols
2008 processing.
2009
2010 set debug notification
2011 show debug notification
2012 Control display of debugging info for async remote notification.
2013
2014 * MI changes
2015
2016 ** Command parameter changes are now notified using new async record
2017 "=cmd-param-changed".
2018 ** Trace frame changes caused by command "tfind" are now notified using
2019 new async record "=traceframe-changed".
2020 ** The creation, deletion and modification of trace state variables
2021 are now notified using new async records "=tsv-created",
2022 "=tsv-deleted" and "=tsv-modified".
2023 ** The start and stop of process record are now notified using new
2024 async record "=record-started" and "=record-stopped".
2025 ** Memory changes are now notified using new async record
2026 "=memory-changed".
2027 ** The data-disassemble command response will include a "fullname" field
2028 containing the absolute file name when source has been requested.
2029 ** New optional parameter COUNT added to the "-data-write-memory-bytes"
2030 command, to allow pattern filling of memory areas.
2031 ** New commands "-catch-load"/"-catch-unload" added for intercepting
2032 library load/unload events.
2033 ** The response to breakpoint commands and breakpoint async records
2034 includes an "installed" field containing a boolean state about each
2035 non-pending tracepoint location is whether installed on target or not.
2036 ** Output of the "-trace-status" command includes a "trace-file" field
2037 containing the name of the trace file being examined. This field is
2038 optional, and only present when examining a trace file.
2039 ** The "fullname" field is now always present along with the "file" field,
2040 even if the file cannot be found by GDB.
2041
2042 * GDB now supports the "mini debuginfo" section, .gnu_debugdata.
2043 You must have the LZMA library available when configuring GDB for this
2044 feature to be enabled. For more information, see:
2045 http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features/MiniDebugInfo
2046
2047 * New remote packets
2048
2049 QTBuffer:size
2050 Set the size of trace buffer. The remote stub reports support for this
2051 packet to gdb's qSupported query.
2052
2053 Qbtrace:bts
2054 Enable Branch Trace Store (BTS)-based branch tracing for the current
2055 thread. The remote stub reports support for this packet to gdb's
2056 qSupported query.
2057
2058 Qbtrace:off
2059 Disable branch tracing for the current thread. The remote stub reports
2060 support for this packet to gdb's qSupported query.
2061
2062 qXfer:btrace:read
2063 Read the traced branches for the current thread. The remote stub
2064 reports support for this packet to gdb's qSupported query.
2065
2066 *** Changes in GDB 7.5
2067
2068 * GDB now supports x32 ABI. Visit <http://sites.google.com/site/x32abi/>
2069 for more x32 ABI info.
2070
2071 * GDB now supports access to MIPS DSP registers on Linux targets.
2072
2073 * GDB now supports debugging microMIPS binaries.
2074
2075 * The "info os" command on GNU/Linux can now display information on
2076 several new classes of objects managed by the operating system:
2077 "info os procgroups" lists process groups
2078 "info os files" lists file descriptors
2079 "info os sockets" lists internet-domain sockets
2080 "info os shm" lists shared-memory regions
2081 "info os semaphores" lists semaphores
2082 "info os msg" lists message queues
2083 "info os modules" lists loaded kernel modules
2084
2085 * GDB now has support for SDT (Static Defined Tracing) probes. Currently,
2086 the only implemented backend is for SystemTap probes (<sys/sdt.h>). You
2087 can set a breakpoint using the new "-probe, "-pstap" or "-probe-stap"
2088 options and inspect the probe arguments using the new $_probe_arg family
2089 of convenience variables. You can obtain more information about SystemTap
2090 in <http://sourceware.org/systemtap/>.
2091
2092 * GDB now supports reversible debugging on ARM, it allows you to
2093 debug basic ARM and THUMB instructions, and provides
2094 record/replay support.
2095
2096 * The option "symbol-reloading" has been deleted as it is no longer used.
2097
2098 * Python scripting
2099
2100 ** GDB commands implemented in Python can now be put in command class
2101 "gdb.COMMAND_USER".
2102
2103 ** The "maint set python print-stack on|off" is now deleted.
2104
2105 ** A new class, gdb.printing.FlagEnumerationPrinter, can be used to
2106 apply "flag enum"-style pretty-printing to any enum.
2107
2108 ** gdb.lookup_symbol can now work when there is no current frame.
2109
2110 ** gdb.Symbol now has a 'line' attribute, holding the line number in
2111 the source at which the symbol was defined.
2112
2113 ** gdb.Symbol now has the new attribute 'needs_frame' and the new
2114 method 'value'. The former indicates whether the symbol needs a
2115 frame in order to compute its value, and the latter computes the
2116 symbol's value.
2117
2118 ** A new method 'referenced_value' on gdb.Value objects which can
2119 dereference pointer as well as C++ reference values.
2120
2121 ** New methods 'global_block' and 'static_block' on gdb.Symtab objects
2122 which return the global and static blocks (as gdb.Block objects),
2123 of the underlying symbol table, respectively.
2124
2125 ** New function gdb.find_pc_line which returns the gdb.Symtab_and_line
2126 object associated with a PC value.
2127
2128 ** gdb.Symtab_and_line has new attribute 'last' which holds the end
2129 of the address range occupied by code for the current source line.
2130
2131 * Go language support.
2132 GDB now supports debugging programs written in the Go programming
2133 language.
2134
2135 * GDBserver now supports stdio connections.
2136 E.g. (gdb) target remote | ssh myhost gdbserver - hello
2137
2138 * The binary "gdbtui" can no longer be built or installed.
2139 Use "gdb -tui" instead.
2140
2141 * GDB will now print "flag" enums specially. A flag enum is one where
2142 all the enumerator values have no bits in common when pairwise
2143 "and"ed. When printing a value whose type is a flag enum, GDB will
2144 show all the constants, e.g., for enum E { ONE = 1, TWO = 2}:
2145 (gdb) print (enum E) 3
2146 $1 = (ONE | TWO)
2147
2148 * The filename part of a linespec will now match trailing components
2149 of a source file name. For example, "break gcc/expr.c:1000" will
2150 now set a breakpoint in build/gcc/expr.c, but not
2151 build/libcpp/expr.c.
2152
2153 * The "info proc" and "generate-core-file" commands will now also
2154 work on remote targets connected to GDBserver on Linux.
2155
2156 * The command "info catch" has been removed. It has been disabled
2157 since December 2007.
2158
2159 * The "catch exception" and "catch assert" commands now accept
2160 a condition at the end of the command, much like the "break"
2161 command does. For instance:
2162
2163 (gdb) catch exception Constraint_Error if Barrier = True
2164
2165 Previously, it was possible to add a condition to such catchpoints,
2166 but it had to be done as a second step, after the catchpoint had been
2167 created, using the "condition" command.
2168
2169 * The "info static-tracepoint-marker" command will now also work on
2170 native Linux targets with in-process agent.
2171
2172 * GDB can now set breakpoints on inlined functions.
2173
2174 * The .gdb_index section has been updated to include symbols for
2175 inlined functions. GDB will ignore older .gdb_index sections by
2176 default, which could cause symbol files to be loaded more slowly
2177 until their .gdb_index sections can be recreated. The new command
2178 "set use-deprecated-index-sections on" will cause GDB to use any older
2179 .gdb_index sections it finds. This will restore performance, but the
2180 ability to set breakpoints on inlined functions will be lost in symbol
2181 files with older .gdb_index sections.
2182
2183 The .gdb_index section has also been updated to record more information
2184 about each symbol. This speeds up the "info variables", "info functions"
2185 and "info types" commands when used with programs having the .gdb_index
2186 section, as well as speeding up debugging with shared libraries using
2187 the .gdb_index section.
2188
2189 * Ada support for GDB/MI Variable Objects has been added.
2190
2191 * GDB can now support 'breakpoint always-inserted mode' in 'record'
2192 target.
2193
2194 * MI changes
2195
2196 ** New command -info-os is the MI equivalent of "info os".
2197
2198 ** Output logs ("set logging" and related) now include MI output.
2199
2200 * New commands
2201
2202 ** "set use-deprecated-index-sections on|off"
2203 "show use-deprecated-index-sections on|off"
2204 Controls the use of deprecated .gdb_index sections.
2205
2206 ** "catch load" and "catch unload" can be used to stop when a shared
2207 library is loaded or unloaded, respectively.
2208
2209 ** "enable count" can be used to auto-disable a breakpoint after
2210 several hits.
2211
2212 ** "info vtbl" can be used to show the virtual method tables for
2213 C++ and Java objects.
2214
2215 ** "explore" and its sub commands "explore value" and "explore type"
2216 can be used to recursively explore values and types of
2217 expressions. These commands are available only if GDB is
2218 configured with '--with-python'.
2219
2220 ** "info auto-load" shows status of all kinds of auto-loaded files,
2221 "info auto-load gdb-scripts" shows status of auto-loading GDB canned
2222 sequences of commands files, "info auto-load python-scripts"
2223 shows status of auto-loading Python script files,
2224 "info auto-load local-gdbinit" shows status of loading init file
2225 (.gdbinit) from current directory and "info auto-load libthread-db" shows
2226 status of inferior specific thread debugging shared library loading.
2227
2228 ** "info auto-load-scripts", "set auto-load-scripts on|off"
2229 and "show auto-load-scripts" commands have been deprecated, use their
2230 "info auto-load python-scripts", "set auto-load python-scripts on|off"
2231 and "show auto-load python-scripts" counterparts instead.
2232
2233 ** "dprintf location,format,args..." creates a dynamic printf, which
2234 is basically a breakpoint that does a printf and immediately
2235 resumes your program's execution, so it is like a printf that you
2236 can insert dynamically at runtime instead of at compiletime.
2237
2238 ** "set print symbol"
2239 "show print symbol"
2240 Controls whether GDB attempts to display the symbol, if any,
2241 corresponding to addresses it prints. This defaults to "on", but
2242 you can set it to "off" to restore GDB's previous behavior.
2243
2244 * Deprecated commands
2245
2246 ** For the Renesas Super-H architecture, the "regs" command has been
2247 deprecated, and "info all-registers" should be used instead.
2248
2249 * New targets
2250
2251 Renesas RL78 rl78-*-elf
2252 HP OpenVMS ia64 ia64-hp-openvms*
2253
2254 * GDBserver supports evaluation of breakpoint conditions. When
2255 support is advertised by GDBserver, GDB may be told to send the
2256 breakpoint conditions in bytecode form to GDBserver. GDBserver
2257 will only report the breakpoint trigger to GDB when its condition
2258 evaluates to true.
2259
2260 * New options
2261
2262 set mips compression
2263 show mips compression
2264 Select the compressed ISA encoding used in functions that have no symbol
2265 information available. The encoding can be set to either of:
2266 mips16
2267 micromips
2268 and is updated automatically from ELF file flags if available.
2269
2270 set breakpoint condition-evaluation
2271 show breakpoint condition-evaluation
2272 Control whether breakpoint conditions are evaluated by GDB ("host") or by
2273 GDBserver ("target"). Default option "auto" chooses the most efficient
2274 available mode.
2275 This option can improve debugger efficiency depending on the speed of the
2276 target.
2277
2278 set auto-load off
2279 Disable auto-loading globally.
2280
2281 show auto-load
2282 Show auto-loading setting of all kinds of auto-loaded files.
2283
2284 set auto-load gdb-scripts on|off
2285 show auto-load gdb-scripts
2286 Control auto-loading of GDB canned sequences of commands files.
2287
2288 set auto-load python-scripts on|off
2289 show auto-load python-scripts
2290 Control auto-loading of Python script files.
2291
2292 set auto-load local-gdbinit on|off
2293 show auto-load local-gdbinit
2294 Control loading of init file (.gdbinit) from current directory.
2295
2296 set auto-load libthread-db on|off
2297 show auto-load libthread-db
2298 Control auto-loading of inferior specific thread debugging shared library.
2299
2300 set auto-load scripts-directory <dir1>[:<dir2>...]
2301 show auto-load scripts-directory
2302 Set a list of directories from which to load auto-loaded scripts.
2303 Automatically loaded Python scripts and GDB scripts are located in one
2304 of the directories listed by this option.
2305 The delimiter (':' above) may differ according to the host platform.
2306
2307 set auto-load safe-path <dir1>[:<dir2>...]
2308 show auto-load safe-path
2309 Set a list of directories from which it is safe to auto-load files.
2310 The delimiter (':' above) may differ according to the host platform.
2311
2312 set debug auto-load on|off
2313 show debug auto-load
2314 Control display of debugging info for auto-loading the files above.
2315
2316 set dprintf-style gdb|call|agent
2317 show dprintf-style
2318 Control the way in which a dynamic printf is performed; "gdb"
2319 requests a GDB printf command, while "call" causes dprintf to call a
2320 function in the inferior. "agent" requests that the target agent
2321 (such as GDBserver) do the printing.
2322
2323 set dprintf-function <expr>
2324 show dprintf-function
2325 set dprintf-channel <expr>
2326 show dprintf-channel
2327 Set the function and optional first argument to the call when using
2328 the "call" style of dynamic printf.
2329
2330 set disconnected-dprintf on|off
2331 show disconnected-dprintf
2332 Control whether agent-style dynamic printfs continue to be in effect
2333 after GDB disconnects.
2334
2335 * New configure options
2336
2337 --with-auto-load-dir
2338 Configure default value for the 'set auto-load scripts-directory'
2339 setting above. It defaults to '$debugdir:$datadir/auto-load',
2340 $debugdir representing global debugging info directories (available
2341 via 'show debug-file-directory') and $datadir representing GDB's data
2342 directory (available via 'show data-directory').
2343
2344 --with-auto-load-safe-path
2345 Configure default value for the 'set auto-load safe-path' setting
2346 above. It defaults to the --with-auto-load-dir setting.
2347
2348 --without-auto-load-safe-path
2349 Set 'set auto-load safe-path' to '/', effectively disabling this
2350 security feature.
2351
2352 * New remote packets
2353
2354 z0/z1 conditional breakpoints extension
2355
2356 The z0/z1 breakpoint insertion packets have been extended to carry
2357 a list of conditional expressions over to the remote stub depending on the
2358 condition evaluation mode. The use of this extension can be controlled
2359 via the "set remote conditional-breakpoints-packet" command.
2360
2361 QProgramSignals:
2362
2363 Specify the signals which the remote stub may pass to the debugged
2364 program without GDB involvement.
2365
2366 * New command line options
2367
2368 --init-command=FILE, -ix Like --command, -x but execute it
2369 before loading inferior.
2370 --init-eval-command=COMMAND, -iex Like --eval-command=COMMAND, -ex but
2371 execute it before loading inferior.
2372
2373 *** Changes in GDB 7.4
2374
2375 * GDB now handles ambiguous linespecs more consistently; the existing
2376 FILE:LINE support has been expanded to other types of linespecs. A
2377 breakpoint will now be set on all matching locations in all
2378 inferiors, and locations will be added or removed according to
2379 inferior changes.
2380
2381 * GDB now allows you to skip uninteresting functions and files when
2382 stepping with the "skip function" and "skip file" commands.
2383
2384 * GDB has two new commands: "set remote hardware-watchpoint-length-limit"
2385 and "show remote hardware-watchpoint-length-limit". These allows to
2386 set or show the maximum length limit (in bytes) of a remote
2387 target hardware watchpoint.
2388
2389 This allows e.g. to use "unlimited" hardware watchpoints with the
2390 gdbserver integrated in Valgrind version >= 3.7.0. Such Valgrind
2391 watchpoints are slower than real hardware watchpoints but are
2392 significantly faster than gdb software watchpoints.
2393
2394 * Python scripting
2395
2396 ** The register_pretty_printer function in module gdb.printing now takes
2397 an optional `replace' argument. If True, the new printer replaces any
2398 existing one.
2399
2400 ** The "maint set python print-stack on|off" command has been
2401 deprecated and will be deleted in GDB 7.5.
2402 A new command: "set python print-stack none|full|message" has
2403 replaced it. Additionally, the default for "print-stack" is
2404 now "message", which just prints the error message without
2405 the stack trace.
2406
2407 ** A prompt substitution hook (prompt_hook) is now available to the
2408 Python API.
2409
2410 ** A new Python module, gdb.prompt has been added to the GDB Python
2411 modules library. This module provides functionality for
2412 escape sequences in prompts (used by set/show
2413 extended-prompt). These escape sequences are replaced by their
2414 corresponding value.
2415
2416 ** Python commands and convenience-functions located in
2417 'data-directory'/python/gdb/command and
2418 'data-directory'/python/gdb/function are now automatically loaded
2419 on GDB start-up.
2420
2421 ** Blocks now provide four new attributes. global_block and
2422 static_block will return the global and static blocks
2423 respectively. is_static and is_global are boolean attributes
2424 that indicate if the block is one of those two types.
2425
2426 ** Symbols now provide the "type" attribute, the type of the symbol.
2427
2428 ** The "gdb.breakpoint" function has been deprecated in favor of
2429 "gdb.breakpoints".
2430
2431 ** A new class "gdb.FinishBreakpoint" is provided to catch the return
2432 of a function. This class is based on the "finish" command
2433 available in the CLI.
2434
2435 ** Type objects for struct and union types now allow access to
2436 the fields using standard Python dictionary (mapping) methods.
2437 For example, "some_type['myfield']" now works, as does
2438 "some_type.items()".
2439
2440 ** A new event "gdb.new_objfile" has been added, triggered by loading a
2441 new object file.
2442
2443 ** A new function, "deep_items" has been added to the gdb.types
2444 module in the GDB Python modules library. This function returns
2445 an iterator over the fields of a struct or union type. Unlike
2446 the standard Python "iteritems" method, it will recursively traverse
2447 any anonymous fields.
2448
2449 * MI changes
2450
2451 ** "*stopped" events can report several new "reason"s, such as
2452 "solib-event".
2453
2454 ** Breakpoint changes are now notified using new async records, like
2455 "=breakpoint-modified".
2456
2457 ** New command -ada-task-info.
2458
2459 * libthread-db-search-path now supports two special values: $sdir and $pdir.
2460 $sdir specifies the default system locations of shared libraries.
2461 $pdir specifies the directory where the libpthread used by the application
2462 lives.
2463
2464 GDB no longer looks in $sdir and $pdir after it has searched the directories
2465 mentioned in libthread-db-search-path. If you want to search those
2466 directories, they must be specified in libthread-db-search-path.
2467 The default value of libthread-db-search-path on GNU/Linux and Solaris
2468 systems is now "$sdir:$pdir".
2469
2470 $pdir is not supported by gdbserver, it is currently ignored.
2471 $sdir is supported by gdbserver.
2472
2473 * New configure option --with-iconv-bin.
2474 When using the internationalization support like the one in the GNU C
2475 library, GDB will invoke the "iconv" program to get a list of supported
2476 character sets. If this program lives in a non-standard location, one can
2477 use this option to specify where to find it.
2478
2479 * When natively debugging programs on PowerPC BookE processors running
2480 a Linux kernel version 2.6.34 or later, GDB supports masked hardware
2481 watchpoints, which specify a mask in addition to an address to watch.
2482 The mask specifies that some bits of an address (the bits which are
2483 reset in the mask) should be ignored when matching the address accessed
2484 by the inferior against the watchpoint address. See the "PowerPC Embedded"
2485 section in the user manual for more details.
2486
2487 * The new option --once causes GDBserver to stop listening for connections once
2488 the first connection is made. The listening port used by GDBserver will
2489 become available after that.
2490
2491 * New commands "info macros" and "alias" have been added.
2492
2493 * New function parameters suffix @entry specifies value of function parameter
2494 at the time the function got called. Entry values are available only since
2495 gcc version 4.7.
2496
2497 * New commands
2498
2499 !SHELL COMMAND
2500 "!" is now an alias of the "shell" command.
2501 Note that no space is needed between "!" and SHELL COMMAND.
2502
2503 * Changed commands
2504
2505 watch EXPRESSION mask MASK_VALUE
2506 The watch command now supports the mask argument which allows creation
2507 of masked watchpoints, if the current architecture supports this feature.
2508
2509 info auto-load-scripts [REGEXP]
2510 This command was formerly named "maintenance print section-scripts".
2511 It is now generally useful and is no longer a maintenance-only command.
2512
2513 info macro [-all] [--] MACRO
2514 The info macro command has new options `-all' and `--'. The first for
2515 printing all definitions of a macro. The second for explicitly specifying
2516 the end of arguments and the beginning of the macro name in case the macro
2517 name starts with a hyphen.
2518
2519 collect[/s] EXPRESSIONS
2520 The tracepoint collect command now takes an optional modifier "/s"
2521 that directs it to dereference pointer-to-character types and
2522 collect the bytes of memory up to a zero byte. The behavior is
2523 similar to what you see when you use the regular print command on a
2524 string. An optional integer following the "/s" sets a bound on the
2525 number of bytes that will be collected.
2526
2527 tstart [NOTES]
2528 The trace start command now interprets any supplied arguments as a
2529 note to be recorded with the trace run, with an effect similar to
2530 setting the variable trace-notes.
2531
2532 tstop [NOTES]
2533 The trace stop command now interprets any arguments as a note to be
2534 mentioned along with the tstatus report that the trace was stopped
2535 with a command. The effect is similar to setting the variable
2536 trace-stop-notes.
2537
2538 * Tracepoints can now be enabled and disabled at any time after a trace
2539 experiment has been started using the standard "enable" and "disable"
2540 commands. It is now possible to start a trace experiment with no enabled
2541 tracepoints; GDB will display a warning, but will allow the experiment to
2542 begin, assuming that tracepoints will be enabled as needed while the trace
2543 is running.
2544
2545 * Fast tracepoints on 32-bit x86-architectures can now be placed at
2546 locations with 4-byte instructions, when they were previously
2547 limited to locations with instructions of 5 bytes or longer.
2548
2549 * New options
2550
2551 set debug dwarf2-read
2552 show debug dwarf2-read
2553 Turns on or off display of debugging messages related to reading
2554 DWARF debug info. The default is off.
2555
2556 set debug symtab-create
2557 show debug symtab-create
2558 Turns on or off display of debugging messages related to symbol table
2559 creation. The default is off.
2560
2561 set extended-prompt
2562 show extended-prompt
2563 Set the GDB prompt, and allow escape sequences to be inserted to
2564 display miscellaneous information (see 'help set extended-prompt'
2565 for the list of sequences). This prompt (and any information
2566 accessed through the escape sequences) is updated every time the
2567 prompt is displayed.
2568
2569 set print entry-values (both|compact|default|if-needed|no|only|preferred)
2570 show print entry-values
2571 Set printing of frame argument values at function entry. In some cases
2572 GDB can determine the value of function argument which was passed by the
2573 function caller, even if the value was modified inside the called function.
2574
2575 set debug entry-values
2576 show debug entry-values
2577 Control display of debugging info for determining frame argument values at
2578 function entry and virtual tail call frames.
2579
2580 set basenames-may-differ
2581 show basenames-may-differ
2582 Set whether a source file may have multiple base names.
2583 (A "base name" is the name of a file with the directory part removed.
2584 Example: The base name of "/home/user/hello.c" is "hello.c".)
2585 If set, GDB will canonicalize file names (e.g., expand symlinks)
2586 before comparing them. Canonicalization is an expensive operation,
2587 but it allows the same file be known by more than one base name.
2588 If not set (the default), all source files are assumed to have just
2589 one base name, and gdb will do file name comparisons more efficiently.
2590
2591 set trace-user
2592 show trace-user
2593 set trace-notes
2594 show trace-notes
2595 Set a user name and notes for the current and any future trace runs.
2596 This is useful for long-running and/or disconnected traces, to
2597 inform others (or yourself) as to who is running the trace, supply
2598 contact information, or otherwise explain what is going on.
2599
2600 set trace-stop-notes
2601 show trace-stop-notes
2602 Set a note attached to the trace run, that is displayed when the
2603 trace has been stopped by a tstop command. This is useful for
2604 instance as an explanation, if you are stopping a trace run that was
2605 started by someone else.
2606
2607 * New remote packets
2608
2609 QTEnable
2610
2611 Dynamically enable a tracepoint in a started trace experiment.
2612
2613 QTDisable
2614
2615 Dynamically disable a tracepoint in a started trace experiment.
2616
2617 QTNotes
2618
2619 Set the user and notes of the trace run.
2620
2621 qTP
2622
2623 Query the current status of a tracepoint.
2624
2625 qTMinFTPILen
2626
2627 Query the minimum length of instruction at which a fast tracepoint may
2628 be placed.
2629
2630 * Dcache size (number of lines) and line-size are now runtime-configurable
2631 via "set dcache line" and "set dcache line-size" commands.
2632
2633 * New targets
2634
2635 Texas Instruments TMS320C6x tic6x-*-*
2636
2637 * New Simulators
2638
2639 Renesas RL78 rl78-*-elf
2640
2641 *** Changes in GDB 7.3.1
2642
2643 * The build failure for NetBSD and OpenBSD targets have now been fixed.
2644
2645 *** Changes in GDB 7.3
2646
2647 * GDB has a new command: "thread find [REGEXP]".
2648 It finds the thread id whose name, target id, or thread extra info
2649 matches the given regular expression.
2650
2651 * The "catch syscall" command now works on mips*-linux* targets.
2652
2653 * The -data-disassemble MI command now supports modes 2 and 3 for
2654 dumping the instruction opcodes.
2655
2656 * New command line options
2657
2658 -data-directory DIR Specify DIR as the "data-directory".
2659 This is mostly for testing purposes.
2660
2661 * The "maint set python auto-load on|off" command has been renamed to
2662 "set auto-load-scripts on|off".
2663
2664 * GDB has a new command: "set directories".
2665 It is like the "dir" command except that it replaces the
2666 source path list instead of augmenting it.
2667
2668 * GDB now understands thread names.
2669
2670 On GNU/Linux, "info threads" will display the thread name as set by
2671 prctl or pthread_setname_np.
2672
2673 There is also a new command, "thread name", which can be used to
2674 assign a name internally for GDB to display.
2675
2676 * OpenCL C
2677 Initial support for the OpenCL C language (http://www.khronos.org/opencl)
2678 has been integrated into GDB.
2679
2680 * Python scripting
2681
2682 ** The function gdb.Write now accepts an optional keyword 'stream'.
2683 This keyword, when provided, will direct the output to either
2684 stdout, stderr, or GDB's logging output.
2685
2686 ** Parameters can now be be sub-classed in Python, and in particular
2687 you may implement the get_set_doc and get_show_doc functions.
2688 This improves how Parameter set/show documentation is processed
2689 and allows for more dynamic content.
2690
2691 ** Symbols, Symbol Table, Symbol Table and Line, Object Files,
2692 Inferior, Inferior Thread, Blocks, and Block Iterator APIs now
2693 have an is_valid method.
2694
2695 ** Breakpoints can now be sub-classed in Python, and in particular
2696 you may implement a 'stop' function that is executed each time
2697 the inferior reaches that breakpoint.
2698
2699 ** New function gdb.lookup_global_symbol looks up a global symbol.
2700
2701 ** GDB values in Python are now callable if the value represents a
2702 function. For example, if 'some_value' represents a function that
2703 takes two integer parameters and returns a value, you can call
2704 that function like so:
2705
2706 result = some_value (10,20)
2707
2708 ** Module gdb.types has been added.
2709 It contains a collection of utilities for working with gdb.Types objects:
2710 get_basic_type, has_field, make_enum_dict.
2711
2712 ** Module gdb.printing has been added.
2713 It contains utilities for writing and registering pretty-printers.
2714 New classes: PrettyPrinter, SubPrettyPrinter,
2715 RegexpCollectionPrettyPrinter.
2716 New function: register_pretty_printer.
2717
2718 ** New commands "info pretty-printers", "enable pretty-printer" and
2719 "disable pretty-printer" have been added.
2720
2721 ** gdb.parameter("directories") is now available.
2722
2723 ** New function gdb.newest_frame returns the newest frame in the
2724 selected thread.
2725
2726 ** The gdb.InferiorThread class has a new "name" attribute. This
2727 holds the thread's name.
2728
2729 ** Python Support for Inferior events.
2730 Python scripts can add observers to be notified of events
2731 occurring in the process being debugged.
2732 The following events are currently supported:
2733 - gdb.events.cont Continue event.
2734 - gdb.events.exited Inferior exited event.
2735 - gdb.events.stop Signal received, and Breakpoint hit events.
2736
2737 * C++ Improvements:
2738
2739 ** GDB now puts template parameters in scope when debugging in an
2740 instantiation. For example, if you have:
2741
2742 template<int X> int func (void) { return X; }
2743
2744 then if you step into func<5>, "print X" will show "5". This
2745 feature requires proper debuginfo support from the compiler; it
2746 was added to GCC 4.5.
2747
2748 ** The motion commands "next", "finish", "until", and "advance" now
2749 work better when exceptions are thrown. In particular, GDB will
2750 no longer lose control of the inferior; instead, the GDB will
2751 stop the inferior at the point at which the exception is caught.
2752 This functionality requires a change in the exception handling
2753 code that was introduced in GCC 4.5.
2754
2755 * GDB now follows GCC's rules on accessing volatile objects when
2756 reading or writing target state during expression evaluation.
2757 One notable difference to prior behavior is that "print x = 0"
2758 no longer generates a read of x; the value of the assignment is
2759 now always taken directly from the value being assigned.
2760
2761 * GDB now has some support for using labels in the program's source in
2762 linespecs. For instance, you can use "advance label" to continue
2763 execution to a label.
2764
2765 * GDB now has support for reading and writing a new .gdb_index
2766 section. This section holds a fast index of DWARF debugging
2767 information and can be used to greatly speed up GDB startup and
2768 operation. See the documentation for `save gdb-index' for details.
2769
2770 * The "watch" command now accepts an optional "-location" argument.
2771 When used, this causes GDB to watch the memory referred to by the
2772 expression. Such a watchpoint is never deleted due to it going out
2773 of scope.
2774
2775 * GDB now supports thread debugging of core dumps on GNU/Linux.
2776
2777 GDB now activates thread debugging using the libthread_db library
2778 when debugging GNU/Linux core dumps, similarly to when debugging
2779 live processes. As a result, when debugging a core dump file, GDB
2780 is now able to display pthread_t ids of threads. For example, "info
2781 threads" shows the same output as when debugging the process when it
2782 was live. In earlier releases, you'd see something like this:
2783
2784 (gdb) info threads
2785 * 1 LWP 6780 main () at main.c:10
2786
2787 While now you see this:
2788
2789 (gdb) info threads
2790 * 1 Thread 0x7f0f5712a700 (LWP 6780) main () at main.c:10
2791
2792 It is also now possible to inspect TLS variables when debugging core
2793 dumps.
2794
2795 When debugging a core dump generated on a machine other than the one
2796 used to run GDB, you may need to point GDB at the correct
2797 libthread_db library with the "set libthread-db-search-path"
2798 command. See the user manual for more details on this command.
2799
2800 * When natively debugging programs on PowerPC BookE processors running
2801 a Linux kernel version 2.6.34 or later, GDB supports ranged breakpoints,
2802 which stop execution of the inferior whenever it executes an instruction
2803 at any address within the specified range. See the "PowerPC Embedded"
2804 section in the user manual for more details.
2805
2806 * New features in the GDB remote stub, GDBserver
2807
2808 ** GDBserver is now supported on PowerPC LynxOS (versions 4.x and 5.x),
2809 and i686 LynxOS (version 5.x).
2810
2811 ** GDBserver is now supported on Blackfin Linux.
2812
2813 * New native configurations
2814
2815 ia64 HP-UX ia64-*-hpux*
2816
2817 * New targets:
2818
2819 Analog Devices, Inc. Blackfin Processor bfin-*
2820
2821 * Ada task switching is now supported on sparc-elf targets when
2822 debugging a program using the Ravenscar Profile. For more information,
2823 see the "Tasking Support when using the Ravenscar Profile" section
2824 in the GDB user manual.
2825
2826 * Guile support was removed.
2827
2828 * New features in the GNU simulator
2829
2830 ** The --map-info flag lists all known core mappings.
2831
2832 ** CFI flashes may be simulated via the "cfi" device.
2833
2834 *** Changes in GDB 7.2
2835
2836 * Shared library support for remote targets by default
2837
2838 When GDB is configured for a generic, non-OS specific target, like
2839 for example, --target=arm-eabi or one of the many *-*-elf targets,
2840 GDB now queries remote stubs for loaded shared libraries using the
2841 `qXfer:libraries:read' packet. Previously, shared library support
2842 was always disabled for such configurations.
2843
2844 * C++ Improvements:
2845
2846 ** Argument Dependent Lookup (ADL)
2847
2848 In C++ ADL lookup directs function search to the namespaces of its
2849 arguments even if the namespace has not been imported.
2850 For example:
2851 namespace A
2852 {
2853 class B { };
2854 void foo (B) { }
2855 }
2856 ...
2857 A::B b
2858 foo(b)
2859 Here the compiler will search for `foo' in the namespace of 'b'
2860 and find A::foo. GDB now supports this. This construct is commonly
2861 used in the Standard Template Library for operators.
2862
2863 ** Improved User Defined Operator Support
2864
2865 In addition to member operators, GDB now supports lookup of operators
2866 defined in a namespace and imported with a `using' directive, operators
2867 defined in the global scope, operators imported implicitly from an
2868 anonymous namespace, and the ADL operators mentioned in the previous
2869 entry.
2870 GDB now also supports proper overload resolution for all the previously
2871 mentioned flavors of operators.
2872
2873 ** static const class members
2874
2875 Printing of static const class members that are initialized in the
2876 class definition has been fixed.
2877
2878 * Windows Thread Information Block access.
2879
2880 On Windows targets, GDB now supports displaying the Windows Thread
2881 Information Block (TIB) structure. This structure is visible either
2882 by using the new command `info w32 thread-information-block' or, by
2883 dereferencing the new convenience variable named `$_tlb', a
2884 thread-specific pointer to the TIB. This feature is also supported
2885 when remote debugging using GDBserver.
2886
2887 * Static tracepoints
2888
2889 Static tracepoints are calls in the user program into a tracing
2890 library. One such library is a port of the LTTng kernel tracer to
2891 userspace --- UST (LTTng Userspace Tracer, http://lttng.org/ust).
2892 When debugging with GDBserver, GDB now supports combining the GDB
2893 tracepoint machinery with such libraries. For example: the user can
2894 use GDB to probe a static tracepoint marker (a call from the user
2895 program into the tracing library) with the new "strace" command (see
2896 "New commands" below). This creates a "static tracepoint" in the
2897 breakpoint list, that can be manipulated with the same feature set
2898 as fast and regular tracepoints. E.g., collect registers, local and
2899 global variables, collect trace state variables, and define
2900 tracepoint conditions. In addition, the user can collect extra
2901 static tracepoint marker specific data, by collecting the new
2902 $_sdata internal variable. When analyzing the trace buffer, you can
2903 inspect $_sdata like any other variable available to GDB. For more
2904 information, see the "Tracepoints" chapter in GDB user manual. New
2905 remote packets have been defined to support static tracepoints, see
2906 the "New remote packets" section below.
2907
2908 * Better reconstruction of tracepoints after disconnected tracing
2909
2910 GDB will attempt to download the original source form of tracepoint
2911 definitions when starting a trace run, and then will upload these
2912 upon reconnection to the target, resulting in a more accurate
2913 reconstruction of the tracepoints that are in use on the target.
2914
2915 * Observer mode
2916
2917 You can now exercise direct control over the ways that GDB can
2918 affect your program. For instance, you can disallow the setting of
2919 breakpoints, so that the program can run continuously (assuming
2920 non-stop mode). In addition, the "observer" variable is available
2921 to switch all of the different controls; in observer mode, GDB
2922 cannot affect the target's behavior at all, which is useful for
2923 tasks like diagnosing live systems in the field.
2924
2925 * The new convenience variable $_thread holds the number of the
2926 current thread.
2927
2928 * New remote packets
2929
2930 qGetTIBAddr
2931
2932 Return the address of the Windows Thread Information Block of a given thread.
2933
2934 qRelocInsn
2935
2936 In response to several of the tracepoint packets, the target may now
2937 also respond with a number of intermediate `qRelocInsn' request
2938 packets before the final result packet, to have GDB handle
2939 relocating an instruction to execute at a different address. This
2940 is particularly useful for stubs that support fast tracepoints. GDB
2941 reports support for this feature in the qSupported packet.
2942
2943 qTfSTM, qTsSTM
2944
2945 List static tracepoint markers in the target program.
2946
2947 qTSTMat
2948
2949 List static tracepoint markers at a given address in the target
2950 program.
2951
2952 qXfer:statictrace:read
2953
2954 Read the static trace data collected (by a `collect $_sdata'
2955 tracepoint action). The remote stub reports support for this packet
2956 to gdb's qSupported query.
2957
2958 QAllow
2959
2960 Send the current settings of GDB's permission flags.
2961
2962 QTDPsrc
2963
2964 Send part of the source (textual) form of a tracepoint definition,
2965 which includes location, conditional, and action list.
2966
2967 * The source command now accepts a -s option to force searching for the
2968 script in the source search path even if the script name specifies
2969 a directory.
2970
2971 * New features in the GDB remote stub, GDBserver
2972
2973 - GDBserver now support tracepoints (including fast tracepoints, and
2974 static tracepoints). The feature is currently supported by the
2975 i386-linux and amd64-linux builds. See the "Tracepoints support
2976 in gdbserver" section in the manual for more information.
2977
2978 GDBserver JIT compiles the tracepoint's conditional agent
2979 expression bytecode into native code whenever possible for low
2980 overhead dynamic tracepoints conditionals. For such tracepoints,
2981 an expression that examines program state is evaluated when the
2982 tracepoint is reached, in order to determine whether to capture
2983 trace data. If the condition is simple and false, processing the
2984 tracepoint finishes very quickly and no data is gathered.
2985
2986 GDBserver interfaces with the UST (LTTng Userspace Tracer) library
2987 for static tracepoints support.
2988
2989 - GDBserver now supports x86_64 Windows 64-bit debugging.
2990
2991 * GDB now sends xmlRegisters= in qSupported packet to indicate that
2992 it understands register description.
2993
2994 * The --batch flag now disables pagination and queries.
2995
2996 * X86 general purpose registers
2997
2998 GDB now supports reading/writing byte, word and double-word x86
2999 general purpose registers directly. This means you can use, say,
3000 $ah or $ax to refer, respectively, to the byte register AH and
3001 16-bit word register AX that are actually portions of the 32-bit
3002 register EAX or 64-bit register RAX.
3003
3004 * The `commands' command now accepts a range of breakpoints to modify.
3005 A plain `commands' following a command that creates multiple
3006 breakpoints affects all the breakpoints set by that command. This
3007 applies to breakpoints set by `rbreak', and also applies when a
3008 single `break' command creates multiple breakpoints (e.g.,
3009 breakpoints on overloaded c++ functions).
3010
3011 * The `rbreak' command now accepts a filename specification as part of
3012 its argument, limiting the functions selected by the regex to those
3013 in the specified file.
3014
3015 * Support for remote debugging Windows and SymbianOS shared libraries
3016 from Unix hosts has been improved. Non Windows GDB builds now can
3017 understand target reported file names that follow MS-DOS based file
3018 system semantics, such as file names that include drive letters and
3019 use the backslash character as directory separator. This makes it
3020 possible to transparently use the "set sysroot" and "set
3021 solib-search-path" on Unix hosts to point as host copies of the
3022 target's shared libraries. See the new command "set
3023 target-file-system-kind" described below, and the "Commands to
3024 specify files" section in the user manual for more information.
3025
3026 * New commands
3027
3028 eval template, expressions...
3029 Convert the values of one or more expressions under the control
3030 of the string template to a command line, and call it.
3031
3032 set target-file-system-kind unix|dos-based|auto
3033 show target-file-system-kind
3034 Set or show the assumed file system kind for target reported file
3035 names.
3036
3037 save breakpoints <filename>
3038 Save all current breakpoint definitions to a file suitable for use
3039 in a later debugging session. To read the saved breakpoint
3040 definitions, use the `source' command.
3041
3042 `save tracepoints' is a new alias for `save-tracepoints'. The latter
3043 is now deprecated.
3044
3045 info static-tracepoint-markers
3046 Display information about static tracepoint markers in the target.
3047
3048 strace FN | FILE:LINE | *ADDR | -m MARKER_ID
3049 Define a static tracepoint by probing a marker at the given
3050 function, line, address, or marker ID.
3051
3052 set observer on|off
3053 show observer
3054 Enable and disable observer mode.
3055
3056 set may-write-registers on|off
3057 set may-write-memory on|off
3058 set may-insert-breakpoints on|off
3059 set may-insert-tracepoints on|off
3060 set may-insert-fast-tracepoints on|off
3061 set may-interrupt on|off
3062 Set individual permissions for GDB effects on the target. Note that
3063 some of these settings can have undesirable or surprising
3064 consequences, particularly when changed in the middle of a session.
3065 For instance, disabling the writing of memory can prevent
3066 breakpoints from being inserted, cause single-stepping to fail, or
3067 even crash your program, if you disable after breakpoints have been
3068 inserted. However, GDB should not crash.
3069
3070 set record memory-query on|off
3071 show record memory-query
3072 Control whether to stop the inferior if memory changes caused
3073 by an instruction cannot be recorded.
3074
3075 * Changed commands
3076
3077 disassemble
3078 The disassemble command now supports "start,+length" form of two arguments.
3079
3080 * Python scripting
3081
3082 ** GDB now provides a new directory location, called the python directory,
3083 where Python scripts written for GDB can be installed. The location
3084 of that directory is <data-directory>/python, where <data-directory>
3085 is the GDB data directory. For more details, see section `Scripting
3086 GDB using Python' in the manual.
3087
3088 ** The GDB Python API now has access to breakpoints, symbols, symbol
3089 tables, program spaces, inferiors, threads and frame's code blocks.
3090 Additionally, GDB Parameters can now be created from the API, and
3091 manipulated via set/show in the CLI.
3092
3093 ** New functions gdb.target_charset, gdb.target_wide_charset,
3094 gdb.progspaces, gdb.current_progspace, and gdb.string_to_argv.
3095
3096 ** New exception gdb.GdbError.
3097
3098 ** Pretty-printers are now also looked up in the current program space.
3099
3100 ** Pretty-printers can now be individually enabled and disabled.
3101
3102 ** GDB now looks for names of Python scripts to auto-load in a
3103 special section named `.debug_gdb_scripts', in addition to looking
3104 for a OBJFILE-gdb.py script when OBJFILE is read by the debugger.
3105
3106 * Tracepoint actions were unified with breakpoint commands. In particular,
3107 there are no longer differences in "info break" output for breakpoints and
3108 tracepoints and the "commands" command can be used for both tracepoints and
3109 regular breakpoints.
3110
3111 * New targets
3112
3113 ARM Symbian arm*-*-symbianelf*
3114
3115 * D language support.
3116 GDB now supports debugging programs written in the D programming
3117 language.
3118
3119 * GDB now supports the extended ptrace interface for PowerPC which is
3120 available since Linux kernel version 2.6.34. This automatically enables
3121 any hardware breakpoints and additional hardware watchpoints available in
3122 the processor. The old ptrace interface exposes just one hardware
3123 watchpoint and no hardware breakpoints.
3124
3125 * GDB is now able to use the Data Value Compare (DVC) register available on
3126 embedded PowerPC processors to implement in hardware simple watchpoint
3127 conditions of the form:
3128
3129 watch ADDRESS|VARIABLE if ADDRESS|VARIABLE == CONSTANT EXPRESSION
3130
3131 This works in native GDB running on Linux kernels with the extended ptrace
3132 interface mentioned above.
3133
3134 *** Changes in GDB 7.1
3135
3136 * C++ Improvements
3137
3138 ** Namespace Support
3139
3140 GDB now supports importing of namespaces in C++. This enables the
3141 user to inspect variables from imported namespaces. Support for
3142 namepace aliasing has also been added. So, if a namespace is
3143 aliased in the current scope (e.g. namepace C=A; ) the user can
3144 print variables using the alias (e.g. (gdb) print C::x).
3145
3146 ** Bug Fixes
3147
3148 All known bugs relating to the printing of virtual base class were
3149 fixed. It is now possible to call overloaded static methods using a
3150 qualified name.
3151
3152 ** Cast Operators
3153
3154 The C++ cast operators static_cast<>, dynamic_cast<>, const_cast<>,
3155 and reinterpret_cast<> are now handled by the C++ expression parser.
3156
3157 * New targets
3158
3159 Xilinx MicroBlaze microblaze-*-*
3160 Renesas RX rx-*-elf
3161
3162 * New Simulators
3163
3164 Xilinx MicroBlaze microblaze
3165 Renesas RX rx
3166
3167 * Multi-program debugging.
3168
3169 GDB now has support for multi-program (a.k.a. multi-executable or
3170 multi-exec) debugging. This allows for debugging multiple inferiors
3171 simultaneously each running a different program under the same GDB
3172 session. See "Debugging Multiple Inferiors and Programs" in the
3173 manual for more information. This implied some user visible changes
3174 in the multi-inferior support. For example, "info inferiors" now
3175 lists inferiors that are not running yet or that have exited
3176 already. See also "New commands" and "New options" below.
3177
3178 * New tracing features
3179
3180 GDB's tracepoint facility now includes several new features:
3181
3182 ** Trace state variables
3183
3184 GDB tracepoints now include support for trace state variables, which
3185 are variables managed by the target agent during a tracing
3186 experiment. They are useful for tracepoints that trigger each
3187 other, so for instance one tracepoint can count hits in a variable,
3188 and then a second tracepoint has a condition that is true when the
3189 count reaches a particular value. Trace state variables share the
3190 $-syntax of GDB convenience variables, and can appear in both
3191 tracepoint actions and condition expressions. Use the "tvariable"
3192 command to create, and "info tvariables" to view; see "Trace State
3193 Variables" in the manual for more detail.
3194
3195 ** Fast tracepoints
3196
3197 GDB now includes an option for defining fast tracepoints, which
3198 targets may implement more efficiently, such as by installing a jump
3199 into the target agent rather than a trap instruction. The resulting
3200 speedup can be by two orders of magnitude or more, although the
3201 tradeoff is that some program locations on some target architectures
3202 might not allow fast tracepoint installation, for instance if the
3203 instruction to be replaced is shorter than the jump. To request a
3204 fast tracepoint, use the "ftrace" command, with syntax identical to
3205 the regular trace command.
3206
3207 ** Disconnected tracing
3208
3209 It is now possible to detach GDB from the target while it is running
3210 a trace experiment, then reconnect later to see how the experiment
3211 is going. In addition, a new variable disconnected-tracing lets you
3212 tell the target agent whether to continue running a trace if the
3213 connection is lost unexpectedly.
3214
3215 ** Trace files
3216
3217 GDB now has the ability to save the trace buffer into a file, and
3218 then use that file as a target, similarly to you can do with
3219 corefiles. You can select trace frames, print data that was
3220 collected in them, and use tstatus to display the state of the
3221 tracing run at the moment that it was saved. To create a trace
3222 file, use "tsave <filename>", and to use it, do "target tfile
3223 <name>".
3224
3225 ** Circular trace buffer
3226
3227 You can ask the target agent to handle the trace buffer as a
3228 circular buffer, discarding the oldest trace frames to make room for
3229 newer ones, by setting circular-trace-buffer to on. This feature may
3230 not be available for all target agents.
3231
3232 * Changed commands
3233
3234 disassemble
3235 The disassemble command, when invoked with two arguments, now requires
3236 the arguments to be comma-separated.
3237
3238 info variables
3239 The info variables command now displays variable definitions. Files
3240 which only declare a variable are not shown.
3241
3242 source
3243 The source command is now capable of sourcing Python scripts.
3244 This feature is dependent on the debugger being build with Python
3245 support.
3246
3247 Related to this enhancement is also the introduction of a new command
3248 "set script-extension" (see below).
3249
3250 * New commands (for set/show, see "New options" below)
3251
3252 record save [<FILENAME>]
3253 Save a file (in core file format) containing the process record
3254 execution log for replay debugging at a later time.
3255
3256 record restore <FILENAME>
3257 Restore the process record execution log that was saved at an
3258 earlier time, for replay debugging.
3259
3260 add-inferior [-copies <N>] [-exec <FILENAME>]
3261 Add a new inferior.
3262
3263 clone-inferior [-copies <N>] [ID]
3264 Make a new inferior ready to execute the same program another
3265 inferior has loaded.
3266
3267 remove-inferior ID
3268 Remove an inferior.
3269
3270 maint info program-spaces
3271 List the program spaces loaded into GDB.
3272
3273 set remote interrupt-sequence [Ctrl-C | BREAK | BREAK-g]
3274 show remote interrupt-sequence
3275 Allow the user to select one of ^C, a BREAK signal or BREAK-g
3276 as the sequence to the remote target in order to interrupt the execution.
3277 Ctrl-C is a default. Some system prefers BREAK which is high level of
3278 serial line for some certain time. Linux kernel prefers BREAK-g, a.k.a
3279 Magic SysRq g. It is BREAK signal and character 'g'.
3280
3281 set remote interrupt-on-connect [on | off]
3282 show remote interrupt-on-connect
3283 When interrupt-on-connect is ON, gdb sends interrupt-sequence to
3284 remote target when gdb connects to it. This is needed when you debug
3285 Linux kernel.
3286
3287 set remotebreak [on | off]
3288 show remotebreak
3289 Deprecated. Use "set/show remote interrupt-sequence" instead.
3290
3291 tvariable $NAME [ = EXP ]
3292 Create or modify a trace state variable.
3293
3294 info tvariables
3295 List trace state variables and their values.
3296
3297 delete tvariable $NAME ...
3298 Delete one or more trace state variables.
3299
3300 teval EXPR, ...
3301 Evaluate the given expressions without collecting anything into the
3302 trace buffer. (Valid in tracepoint actions only.)
3303
3304 ftrace FN / FILE:LINE / *ADDR
3305 Define a fast tracepoint at the given function, line, or address.
3306
3307 * New expression syntax
3308
3309 GDB now parses the 0b prefix of binary numbers the same way as GCC does.
3310 GDB now parses 0b101010 identically with 42.
3311
3312 * New options
3313
3314 set follow-exec-mode new|same
3315 show follow-exec-mode
3316 Control whether GDB reuses the same inferior across an exec call or
3317 creates a new one. This is useful to be able to restart the old
3318 executable after the inferior having done an exec call.
3319
3320 set default-collect EXPR, ...
3321 show default-collect
3322 Define a list of expressions to be collected at each tracepoint.
3323 This is a useful way to ensure essential items are not overlooked,
3324 such as registers or a critical global variable.
3325
3326 set disconnected-tracing
3327 show disconnected-tracing
3328 If set to 1, the target is instructed to continue tracing if it
3329 loses its connection to GDB. If 0, the target is to stop tracing
3330 upon disconnection.
3331
3332 set circular-trace-buffer
3333 show circular-trace-buffer
3334 If set to on, the target is instructed to use a circular trace buffer
3335 and discard the oldest trace frames instead of stopping the trace due
3336 to a full trace buffer. If set to off, the trace stops when the buffer
3337 fills up. Some targets may not support this.
3338
3339 set script-extension off|soft|strict
3340 show script-extension
3341 If set to "off", the debugger does not perform any script language
3342 recognition, and all sourced files are assumed to be GDB scripts.
3343 If set to "soft" (the default), files are sourced according to
3344 filename extension, falling back to GDB scripts if the first
3345 evaluation failed.
3346 If set to "strict", files are sourced according to filename extension.
3347
3348 set ada trust-PAD-over-XVS on|off
3349 show ada trust-PAD-over-XVS
3350 If off, activate a workaround against a bug in the debugging information
3351 generated by the compiler for PAD types (see gcc/exp_dbug.ads in
3352 the GCC sources for more information about the GNAT encoding and
3353 PAD types in particular). It is always safe to set this option to
3354 off, but this introduces a slight performance penalty. The default
3355 is on.
3356
3357 * Python API Improvements
3358
3359 ** GDB provides the new class gdb.LazyString. This is useful in
3360 some pretty-printing cases. The new method gdb.Value.lazy_string
3361 provides a simple way to create objects of this type.
3362
3363 ** The fields returned by gdb.Type.fields now have an
3364 `is_base_class' attribute.
3365
3366 ** The new method gdb.Type.range returns the range of an array type.
3367
3368 ** The new method gdb.parse_and_eval can be used to parse and
3369 evaluate an expression.
3370
3371 * New remote packets
3372
3373 QTDV
3374 Define a trace state variable.
3375
3376 qTV
3377 Get the current value of a trace state variable.
3378
3379 QTDisconnected
3380 Set desired tracing behavior upon disconnection.
3381
3382 QTBuffer:circular
3383 Set the trace buffer to be linear or circular.
3384
3385 qTfP, qTsP
3386 Get data about the tracepoints currently in use.
3387
3388 * Bug fixes
3389
3390 Process record now works correctly with hardware watchpoints.
3391
3392 Multiple bug fixes have been made to the mips-irix port, making it
3393 much more reliable. In particular:
3394 - Debugging threaded applications is now possible again. Previously,
3395 GDB would hang while starting the program, or while waiting for
3396 the program to stop at a breakpoint.
3397 - Attaching to a running process no longer hangs.
3398 - An error occurring while loading a core file has been fixed.
3399 - Changing the value of the PC register now works again. This fixes
3400 problems observed when using the "jump" command, or when calling
3401 a function from GDB, or even when assigning a new value to $pc.
3402 - With the "finish" and "return" commands, the return value for functions
3403 returning a small array is now correctly printed.
3404 - It is now possible to break on shared library code which gets executed
3405 during a shared library init phase (code executed while executing
3406 their .init section). Previously, the breakpoint would have no effect.
3407 - GDB is now able to backtrace through the signal handler for
3408 non-threaded programs.
3409
3410 PIE (Position Independent Executable) programs debugging is now supported.
3411 This includes debugging execution of PIC (Position Independent Code) shared
3412 libraries although for that, it should be possible to run such libraries as an
3413 executable program.
3414
3415 *** Changes in GDB 7.0
3416
3417 * GDB now has an interface for JIT compilation. Applications that
3418 dynamically generate code can create symbol files in memory and register
3419 them with GDB. For users, the feature should work transparently, and
3420 for JIT developers, the interface is documented in the GDB manual in the
3421 "JIT Compilation Interface" chapter.
3422
3423 * Tracepoints may now be conditional. The syntax is as for
3424 breakpoints; either an "if" clause appended to the "trace" command,
3425 or the "condition" command is available. GDB sends the condition to
3426 the target for evaluation using the same bytecode format as is used
3427 for tracepoint actions.
3428
3429 * The disassemble command now supports: an optional /r modifier, print the
3430 raw instructions in hex as well as in symbolic form, and an optional /m
3431 modifier to print mixed source+assembly.
3432
3433 * Process record and replay
3434
3435 In a architecture environment that supports ``process record and
3436 replay'', ``process record and replay'' target can record a log of
3437 the process execution, and replay it with both forward and reverse
3438 execute commands.
3439
3440 * Reverse debugging: GDB now has new commands reverse-continue, reverse-
3441 step, reverse-next, reverse-finish, reverse-stepi, reverse-nexti, and
3442 set execution-direction {forward|reverse}, for targets that support
3443 reverse execution.
3444
3445 * GDB now supports hardware watchpoints on MIPS/Linux systems. This
3446 feature is available with a native GDB running on kernel version
3447 2.6.28 or later.
3448
3449 * GDB now has support for multi-byte and wide character sets on the
3450 target. Strings whose character type is wchar_t, char16_t, or
3451 char32_t are now correctly printed. GDB supports wide- and unicode-
3452 literals in C, that is, L'x', L"string", u'x', u"string", U'x', and
3453 U"string" syntax. And, GDB allows the "%ls" and "%lc" formats in
3454 `printf'. This feature requires iconv to work properly; if your
3455 system does not have a working iconv, GDB can use GNU libiconv. See
3456 the installation instructions for more information.
3457
3458 * GDB now supports automatic retrieval of shared library files from
3459 remote targets. To use this feature, specify a system root that begins
3460 with the `remote:' prefix, either via the `set sysroot' command or via
3461 the `--with-sysroot' configure-time option.
3462
3463 * "info sharedlibrary" now takes an optional regex of libraries to show,
3464 and it now reports if a shared library has no debugging information.
3465
3466 * Commands `set debug-file-directory', `set solib-search-path' and `set args'
3467 now complete on file names.
3468
3469 * When completing in expressions, gdb will attempt to limit
3470 completions to allowable structure or union fields, where appropriate.
3471 For instance, consider:
3472
3473 # struct example { int f1; double f2; };
3474 # struct example variable;
3475 (gdb) p variable.
3476
3477 If the user types TAB at the end of this command line, the available
3478 completions will be "f1" and "f2".
3479
3480 * Inlined functions are now supported. They show up in backtraces, and
3481 the "step", "next", and "finish" commands handle them automatically.
3482
3483 * GDB now supports the token-splicing (##) and stringification (#)
3484 operators when expanding macros. It also supports variable-arity
3485 macros.
3486
3487 * GDB now supports inspecting extra signal information, exported by
3488 the new $_siginfo convenience variable. The feature is currently
3489 implemented on linux ARM, i386 and amd64.
3490
3491 * GDB can now display the VFP floating point registers and NEON vector
3492 registers on ARM targets. Both ARM GNU/Linux native GDB and gdbserver
3493 can provide these registers (requires Linux 2.6.30 or later). Remote
3494 and simulator targets may also provide them.
3495
3496 * New remote packets
3497
3498 qSearch:memory:
3499 Search memory for a sequence of bytes.
3500
3501 QStartNoAckMode
3502 Turn off `+'/`-' protocol acknowledgments to permit more efficient
3503 operation over reliable transport links. Use of this packet is
3504 controlled by the `set remote noack-packet' command.
3505
3506 vKill
3507 Kill the process with the specified process ID. Use this in preference
3508 to `k' when multiprocess protocol extensions are supported.
3509
3510 qXfer:osdata:read
3511 Obtains additional operating system information
3512
3513 qXfer:siginfo:read
3514 qXfer:siginfo:write
3515 Read or write additional signal information.
3516
3517 * Removed remote protocol undocumented extension
3518
3519 An undocumented extension to the remote protocol's `S' stop reply
3520 packet that permited the stub to pass a process id was removed.
3521 Remote servers should use the `T' stop reply packet instead.
3522
3523 * GDB now supports multiple function calling conventions according to the
3524 DWARF-2 DW_AT_calling_convention function attribute.
3525
3526 * The SH target utilizes the aforementioned change to distinguish between gcc
3527 and Renesas calling convention. It also adds the new CLI commands
3528 `set/show sh calling-convention'.
3529
3530 * GDB can now read compressed debug sections, as produced by GNU gold
3531 with the --compress-debug-sections=zlib flag.
3532
3533 * 64-bit core files are now supported on AIX.
3534
3535 * Thread switching is now supported on Tru64.
3536
3537 * Watchpoints can now be set on unreadable memory locations, e.g. addresses
3538 which will be allocated using malloc later in program execution.
3539
3540 * The qXfer:libraries:read remote procotol packet now allows passing a
3541 list of section offsets.
3542
3543 * On GNU/Linux, GDB can now attach to stopped processes. Several race
3544 conditions handling signals delivered during attach or thread creation
3545 have also been fixed.
3546
3547 * GDB now supports the use of DWARF boolean types for Ada's type Boolean.
3548 From the user's standpoint, all unqualified instances of True and False
3549 are treated as the standard definitions, regardless of context.
3550
3551 * GDB now parses C++ symbol and type names more flexibly. For
3552 example, given:
3553
3554 template<typename T> class C { };
3555 C<char const *> c;
3556
3557 GDB will now correctly handle all of:
3558
3559 ptype C<char const *>
3560 ptype C<char const*>
3561 ptype C<const char *>
3562 ptype C<const char*>
3563
3564 * New features in the GDB remote stub, gdbserver
3565
3566 - The "--wrapper" command-line argument tells gdbserver to use a
3567 wrapper program to launch programs for debugging.
3568
3569 - On PowerPC and S/390 targets, it is now possible to use a single
3570 gdbserver executable to debug both 32-bit and 64-bit programs.
3571 (This requires gdbserver itself to be built as a 64-bit executable.)
3572
3573 - gdbserver uses the new noack protocol mode for TCP connections to
3574 reduce communications latency, if also supported and enabled in GDB.
3575
3576 - Support for the sparc64-linux-gnu target is now included in
3577 gdbserver.
3578
3579 - The amd64-linux build of gdbserver now supports debugging both
3580 32-bit and 64-bit programs.
3581
3582 - The i386-linux, amd64-linux, and i386-win32 builds of gdbserver
3583 now support hardware watchpoints, and will use them automatically
3584 as appropriate.
3585
3586 * Python scripting
3587
3588 GDB now has support for scripting using Python. Whether this is
3589 available is determined at configure time.
3590
3591 New GDB commands can now be written in Python.
3592
3593 * Ada tasking support
3594
3595 Ada tasks can now be inspected in GDB. The following commands have
3596 been introduced:
3597
3598 info tasks
3599 Print the list of Ada tasks.
3600 info task N
3601 Print detailed information about task number N.
3602 task
3603 Print the task number of the current task.
3604 task N
3605 Switch the context of debugging to task number N.
3606
3607 * Support for user-defined prefixed commands. The "define" command can
3608 add new commands to existing prefixes, e.g. "target".
3609
3610 * Multi-inferior, multi-process debugging.
3611
3612 GDB now has generalized support for multi-inferior debugging. See
3613 "Debugging Multiple Inferiors" in the manual for more information.
3614 Although availability still depends on target support, the command
3615 set is more uniform now. The GNU/Linux specific multi-forks support
3616 has been migrated to this new framework. This implied some user
3617 visible changes; see "New commands" and also "Removed commands"
3618 below.
3619
3620 * Target descriptions can now describe the target OS ABI. See the
3621 "Target Description Format" section in the user manual for more
3622 information.
3623
3624 * Target descriptions can now describe "compatible" architectures
3625 to indicate that the target can execute applications for a different
3626 architecture in addition to those for the main target architecture.
3627 See the "Target Description Format" section in the user manual for
3628 more information.
3629
3630 * Multi-architecture debugging.
3631
3632 GDB now includes general supports for debugging applications on
3633 hybrid systems that use more than one single processor architecture
3634 at the same time. Each such hybrid architecture still requires
3635 specific support to be added. The only hybrid architecture supported
3636 in this version of GDB is the Cell Broadband Engine.
3637
3638 * GDB now supports integrated debugging of Cell/B.E. applications that
3639 use both the PPU and SPU architectures. To enable support for hybrid
3640 Cell/B.E. debugging, you need to configure GDB to support both the
3641 powerpc-linux or powerpc64-linux and the spu-elf targets, using the
3642 --enable-targets configure option.
3643
3644 * Non-stop mode debugging.
3645
3646 For some targets, GDB now supports an optional mode of operation in
3647 which you can examine stopped threads while other threads continue
3648 to execute freely. This is referred to as non-stop mode, with the
3649 old mode referred to as all-stop mode. See the "Non-Stop Mode"
3650 section in the user manual for more information.
3651
3652 To be able to support remote non-stop debugging, a remote stub needs
3653 to implement the non-stop mode remote protocol extensions, as
3654 described in the "Remote Non-Stop" section of the user manual. The
3655 GDB remote stub, gdbserver, has been adjusted to support these
3656 extensions on linux targets.
3657
3658 * New commands (for set/show, see "New options" below)
3659
3660 catch syscall [NAME(S) | NUMBER(S)]
3661 Catch system calls. Arguments, which should be names of system
3662 calls or their numbers, mean catch only those syscalls. Without
3663 arguments, every syscall will be caught. When the inferior issues
3664 any of the specified syscalls, GDB will stop and announce the system
3665 call, both when it is called and when its call returns. This
3666 feature is currently available with a native GDB running on the
3667 Linux Kernel, under the following architectures: x86, x86_64,
3668 PowerPC and PowerPC64.
3669
3670 find [/size-char] [/max-count] start-address, end-address|+search-space-size,
3671 val1 [, val2, ...]
3672 Search memory for a sequence of bytes.
3673
3674 maint set python print-stack
3675 maint show python print-stack
3676 Show a stack trace when an error is encountered in a Python script.
3677
3678 python [CODE]
3679 Invoke CODE by passing it to the Python interpreter.
3680
3681 macro define
3682 macro list
3683 macro undef
3684 These allow macros to be defined, undefined, and listed
3685 interactively.
3686
3687 info os processes
3688 Show operating system information about processes.
3689
3690 info inferiors
3691 List the inferiors currently under GDB's control.
3692
3693 inferior NUM
3694 Switch focus to inferior number NUM.
3695
3696 detach inferior NUM
3697 Detach from inferior number NUM.
3698
3699 kill inferior NUM
3700 Kill inferior number NUM.
3701
3702 * New options
3703
3704 set spu stop-on-load
3705 show spu stop-on-load
3706 Control whether to stop for new SPE threads during Cell/B.E. debugging.
3707
3708 set spu auto-flush-cache
3709 show spu auto-flush-cache
3710 Control whether to automatically flush the software-managed cache
3711 during Cell/B.E. debugging.
3712
3713 set sh calling-convention
3714 show sh calling-convention
3715 Control the calling convention used when calling SH target functions.
3716
3717 set debug timestamp
3718 show debug timestamp
3719 Control display of timestamps with GDB debugging output.
3720
3721 set disassemble-next-line
3722 show disassemble-next-line
3723 Control display of disassembled source lines or instructions when
3724 the debuggee stops.
3725
3726 set remote noack-packet
3727 show remote noack-packet
3728 Set/show the use of remote protocol QStartNoAckMode packet. See above
3729 under "New remote packets."
3730
3731 set remote query-attached-packet
3732 show remote query-attached-packet
3733 Control use of remote protocol `qAttached' (query-attached) packet.
3734
3735 set remote read-siginfo-object
3736 show remote read-siginfo-object
3737 Control use of remote protocol `qXfer:siginfo:read' (read-siginfo-object)
3738 packet.
3739
3740 set remote write-siginfo-object
3741 show remote write-siginfo-object
3742 Control use of remote protocol `qXfer:siginfo:write' (write-siginfo-object)
3743 packet.
3744
3745 set remote reverse-continue
3746 show remote reverse-continue
3747 Control use of remote protocol 'bc' (reverse-continue) packet.
3748
3749 set remote reverse-step
3750 show remote reverse-step
3751 Control use of remote protocol 'bs' (reverse-step) packet.
3752
3753 set displaced-stepping
3754 show displaced-stepping
3755 Control displaced stepping mode. Displaced stepping is a way to
3756 single-step over breakpoints without removing them from the debuggee.
3757 Also known as "out-of-line single-stepping".
3758
3759 set debug displaced
3760 show debug displaced
3761 Control display of debugging info for displaced stepping.
3762
3763 maint set internal-error
3764 maint show internal-error
3765 Control what GDB does when an internal error is detected.
3766
3767 maint set internal-warning
3768 maint show internal-warning
3769 Control what GDB does when an internal warning is detected.
3770
3771 set exec-wrapper
3772 show exec-wrapper
3773 unset exec-wrapper
3774 Use a wrapper program to launch programs for debugging.
3775
3776 set multiple-symbols (all|ask|cancel)
3777 show multiple-symbols
3778 The value of this variable can be changed to adjust the debugger behavior
3779 when an expression or a breakpoint location contains an ambiguous symbol
3780 name (an overloaded function name, for instance).
3781
3782 set breakpoint always-inserted
3783 show breakpoint always-inserted
3784 Keep breakpoints always inserted in the target, as opposed to inserting
3785 them when resuming the target, and removing them when the target stops.
3786 This option can improve debugger performance on slow remote targets.
3787
3788 set arm fallback-mode (arm|thumb|auto)
3789 show arm fallback-mode
3790 set arm force-mode (arm|thumb|auto)
3791 show arm force-mode
3792 These commands control how ARM GDB determines whether instructions
3793 are ARM or Thumb. The default for both settings is auto, which uses
3794 the current CPSR value for instructions without symbols; previous
3795 versions of GDB behaved as if "set arm fallback-mode arm".
3796
3797 set disable-randomization
3798 show disable-randomization
3799 Standalone programs run with the virtual address space randomization enabled
3800 by default on some platforms. This option keeps the addresses stable across
3801 multiple debugging sessions.
3802
3803 set non-stop
3804 show non-stop
3805 Control whether other threads are stopped or not when some thread hits
3806 a breakpoint.
3807
3808 set target-async
3809 show target-async
3810 Requests that asynchronous execution is enabled in the target, if available.
3811 In this case, it's possible to resume target in the background, and interact
3812 with GDB while the target is running. "show target-async" displays the
3813 current state of asynchronous execution of the target.
3814
3815 set target-wide-charset
3816 show target-wide-charset
3817 The target-wide-charset is the name of the character set that GDB
3818 uses when printing characters whose type is wchar_t.
3819
3820 set tcp auto-retry (on|off)
3821 show tcp auto-retry
3822 set tcp connect-timeout
3823 show tcp connect-timeout
3824 These commands allow GDB to retry failed TCP connections to a remote stub
3825 with a specified timeout period; this is useful if the stub is launched
3826 in parallel with GDB but may not be ready to accept connections immediately.
3827
3828 set libthread-db-search-path
3829 show libthread-db-search-path
3830 Control list of directories which GDB will search for appropriate
3831 libthread_db.
3832
3833 set schedule-multiple (on|off)
3834 show schedule-multiple
3835 Allow GDB to resume all threads of all processes or only threads of
3836 the current process.
3837
3838 set stack-cache
3839 show stack-cache
3840 Use more aggressive caching for accesses to the stack. This improves
3841 performance of remote debugging (particularly backtraces) without
3842 affecting correctness.
3843
3844 set interactive-mode (on|off|auto)
3845 show interactive-mode
3846 Control whether GDB runs in interactive mode (on) or not (off).
3847 When in interactive mode, GDB waits for the user to answer all
3848 queries. Otherwise, GDB does not wait and assumes the default
3849 answer. When set to auto (the default), GDB determines which
3850 mode to use based on the stdin settings.
3851
3852 * Removed commands
3853
3854 info forks
3855 For program forks, this is replaced by the new more generic `info
3856 inferiors' command. To list checkpoints, you can still use the
3857 `info checkpoints' command, which was an alias for the `info forks'
3858 command.
3859
3860 fork NUM
3861 Replaced by the new `inferior' command. To switch between
3862 checkpoints, you can still use the `restart' command, which was an
3863 alias for the `fork' command.
3864
3865 process PID
3866 This is removed, since some targets don't have a notion of
3867 processes. To switch between processes, you can still use the
3868 `inferior' command using GDB's own inferior number.
3869
3870 delete fork NUM
3871 For program forks, this is replaced by the new more generic `kill
3872 inferior' command. To delete a checkpoint, you can still use the
3873 `delete checkpoint' command, which was an alias for the `delete
3874 fork' command.
3875
3876 detach fork NUM
3877 For program forks, this is replaced by the new more generic `detach
3878 inferior' command. To detach a checkpoint, you can still use the
3879 `detach checkpoint' command, which was an alias for the `detach
3880 fork' command.
3881
3882 * New native configurations
3883
3884 x86/x86_64 Darwin i[34567]86-*-darwin*
3885
3886 x86_64 MinGW x86_64-*-mingw*
3887
3888 * New targets
3889
3890 Lattice Mico32 lm32-*
3891 x86 DICOS i[34567]86-*-dicos*
3892 x86_64 DICOS x86_64-*-dicos*
3893 S+core 3 score-*-*
3894
3895 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports x86 Windows CE
3896 (mingw32ce) debugging.
3897
3898 * Removed commands
3899
3900 catch load
3901 catch unload
3902 These commands were actually not implemented on any target.
3903
3904 *** Changes in GDB 6.8
3905
3906 * New native configurations
3907
3908 NetBSD/hppa hppa*-*netbsd*
3909 Xtensa GNU/Linux xtensa*-*-linux*
3910
3911 * New targets
3912
3913 NetBSD/hppa hppa*-*-netbsd*
3914 Xtensa GNU/Lunux xtensa*-*-linux*
3915
3916 * Change in command line behavior -- corefiles vs. process ids.
3917
3918 When the '-p NUMBER' or '--pid NUMBER' options are used, and
3919 attaching to process NUMBER fails, GDB no longer attempts to open a
3920 core file named NUMBER. Attaching to a program using the -c option
3921 is no longer supported. Instead, use the '-p' or '--pid' options.
3922
3923 * GDB can now be built as a native debugger for debugging Windows x86
3924 (mingw32) Portable Executable (PE) programs.
3925
3926 * Pending breakpoints no longer change their number when their address
3927 is resolved.
3928
3929 * GDB now supports breakpoints with multiple locations,
3930 including breakpoints on C++ constructors, inside C++ templates,
3931 and in inlined functions.
3932
3933 * GDB's ability to debug optimized code has been improved. GDB more
3934 accurately identifies function bodies and lexical blocks that occupy
3935 more than one contiguous range of addresses.
3936
3937 * Target descriptions can now describe registers for PowerPC.
3938
3939 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports the AltiVec and SPE
3940 registers on PowerPC targets.
3941
3942 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports thread debugging on GNU/Linux
3943 targets even when the libthread_db library is not available.
3944
3945 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports the new file transfer
3946 commands (remote put, remote get, and remote delete).
3947
3948 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports run and attach in
3949 extended-remote mode.
3950
3951 * hppa*64*-*-hpux11* target broken
3952 The debugger is unable to start a program and fails with the following
3953 error: "Error trying to get information about dynamic linker".
3954 The gdb-6.7 release is also affected.
3955
3956 * GDB now supports the --enable-targets= configure option to allow
3957 building a single GDB executable that supports multiple remote
3958 target architectures.
3959
3960 * GDB now supports debugging C and C++ programs which use the
3961 Decimal Floating Point extension. In addition, the PowerPC target
3962 now has a set of pseudo-registers to inspect decimal float values
3963 stored in two consecutive float registers.
3964
3965 * The -break-insert MI command can optionally create pending
3966 breakpoints now.
3967
3968 * Improved support for debugging Ada
3969 Many improvements to the Ada language support have been made. These
3970 include:
3971 - Better support for Ada2005 interface types
3972 - Improved handling of arrays and slices in general
3973 - Better support for Taft-amendment types
3974 - The '{type} ADDRESS' expression is now allowed on the left hand-side
3975 of an assignment
3976 - Improved command completion in Ada
3977 - Several bug fixes
3978
3979 * GDB on GNU/Linux and HP/UX can now debug through "exec" of a new
3980 process.
3981
3982 * New commands
3983
3984 set print frame-arguments (all|scalars|none)
3985 show print frame-arguments
3986 The value of this variable can be changed to control which argument
3987 values should be printed by the debugger when displaying a frame.
3988
3989 remote put
3990 remote get
3991 remote delete
3992 Transfer files to and from a remote target, and delete remote files.
3993
3994 * New MI commands
3995
3996 -target-file-put
3997 -target-file-get
3998 -target-file-delete
3999 Transfer files to and from a remote target, and delete remote files.
4000
4001 * New remote packets
4002
4003 vFile:open:
4004 vFile:close:
4005 vFile:pread:
4006 vFile:pwrite:
4007 vFile:unlink:
4008 Open, close, read, write, and delete files on the remote system.
4009
4010 vAttach
4011 Attach to an existing process on the remote system, in extended-remote
4012 mode.
4013
4014 vRun
4015 Run a new process on the remote system, in extended-remote mode.
4016
4017 *** Changes in GDB 6.7
4018
4019 * Resolved 101 resource leaks, null pointer dereferences, etc. in gdb,
4020 bfd, libiberty and opcodes, as revealed by static analysis donated by
4021 Coverity, Inc. (http://scan.coverity.com).
4022
4023 * When looking up multiply-defined global symbols, GDB will now prefer the
4024 symbol definition in the current shared library if it was built using the
4025 -Bsymbolic linker option.
4026
4027 * When the Text User Interface (TUI) is not configured, GDB will now
4028 recognize the -tui command-line option and print a message that the TUI
4029 is not supported.
4030
4031 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now has lower overhead for high
4032 frequency signals (e.g. SIGALRM) via the QPassSignals packet.
4033
4034 * GDB for MIPS targets now autodetects whether a remote target provides
4035 32-bit or 64-bit register values.
4036
4037 * Support for C++ member pointers has been improved.
4038
4039 * GDB now understands XML target descriptions, which specify the
4040 target's overall architecture. GDB can read a description from
4041 a local file or over the remote serial protocol.
4042
4043 * Vectors of single-byte data use a new integer type which is not
4044 automatically displayed as character or string data.
4045
4046 * The /s format now works with the print command. It displays
4047 arrays of single-byte integers and pointers to single-byte integers
4048 as strings.
4049
4050 * Target descriptions can now describe target-specific registers,
4051 for architectures which have implemented the support (currently
4052 only ARM, M68K, and MIPS).
4053
4054 * GDB and the GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now support the XScale
4055 iWMMXt coprocessor.
4056
4057 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, has been updated to support
4058 ARM Windows CE (mingw32ce) debugging, and GDB Windows CE support
4059 has been rewritten to use the standard GDB remote protocol.
4060
4061 * GDB can now step into C++ functions which are called through thunks.
4062
4063 * GDB for the Cell/B.E. SPU now supports overlay debugging.
4064
4065 * The GDB remote protocol "qOffsets" packet can now honor ELF segment
4066 layout. It also supports a TextSeg= and DataSeg= response when only
4067 segment base addresses (rather than offsets) are available.
4068
4069 * The /i format now outputs any trailing branch delay slot instructions
4070 immediately following the last instruction within the count specified.
4071
4072 * The GDB remote protocol "T" stop reply packet now supports a
4073 "library" response. Combined with the new "qXfer:libraries:read"
4074 packet, this response allows GDB to debug shared libraries on targets
4075 where the operating system manages the list of loaded libraries (e.g.
4076 Windows and SymbianOS).
4077
4078 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports dynamic link libraries
4079 (DLLs) on Windows and Windows CE targets.
4080
4081 * GDB now supports a faster verification that a .debug file matches its binary
4082 according to its build-id signature, if the signature is present.
4083
4084 * New commands
4085
4086 set remoteflow
4087 show remoteflow
4088 Enable or disable hardware flow control (RTS/CTS) on the serial port
4089 when debugging using remote targets.
4090
4091 set mem inaccessible-by-default
4092 show mem inaccessible-by-default
4093 If the target supplies a memory map, for instance via the remote
4094 protocol's "qXfer:memory-map:read" packet, setting this variable
4095 prevents GDB from accessing memory outside the memory map. This
4096 is useful for targets with memory mapped registers or which react
4097 badly to accesses of unmapped address space.
4098
4099 set breakpoint auto-hw
4100 show breakpoint auto-hw
4101 If the target supplies a memory map, for instance via the remote
4102 protocol's "qXfer:memory-map:read" packet, setting this variable
4103 lets GDB use hardware breakpoints automatically for memory regions
4104 where it can not use software breakpoints. This covers both the
4105 "break" command and internal breakpoints used for other commands
4106 including "next" and "finish".
4107
4108 catch exception
4109 catch exception unhandled
4110 Stop the program execution when Ada exceptions are raised.
4111
4112 catch assert
4113 Stop the program execution when an Ada assertion failed.
4114
4115 set sysroot
4116 show sysroot
4117 Set an alternate system root for target files. This is a more
4118 general version of "set solib-absolute-prefix", which is now
4119 an alias to "set sysroot".
4120
4121 info spu
4122 Provide extended SPU facility status information. This set of
4123 commands is available only when debugging the Cell/B.E. SPU
4124 architecture.
4125
4126 * New native configurations
4127
4128 OpenBSD/sh sh*-*openbsd*
4129
4130 set tdesc filename
4131 unset tdesc filename
4132 show tdesc filename
4133 Use the specified local file as an XML target description, and do
4134 not query the target for its built-in description.
4135
4136 * New targets
4137
4138 OpenBSD/sh sh*-*-openbsd*
4139 MIPS64 GNU/Linux (gdbserver) mips64-linux-gnu
4140 Toshiba Media Processor mep-elf
4141
4142 * New remote packets
4143
4144 QPassSignals:
4145 Ignore the specified signals; pass them directly to the debugged program
4146 without stopping other threads or reporting them to GDB.
4147
4148 qXfer:features:read:
4149 Read an XML target description from the target, which describes its
4150 features.
4151
4152 qXfer:spu:read:
4153 qXfer:spu:write:
4154 Read or write contents of an spufs file on the target system. These
4155 packets are available only on the Cell/B.E. SPU architecture.
4156
4157 qXfer:libraries:read:
4158 Report the loaded shared libraries. Combined with new "T" packet
4159 response, this packet allows GDB to debug shared libraries on
4160 targets where the operating system manages the list of loaded
4161 libraries (e.g. Windows and SymbianOS).
4162
4163 * Removed targets
4164
4165 Support for these obsolete configurations has been removed.
4166
4167 alpha*-*-osf1*
4168 alpha*-*-osf2*
4169 d10v-*-*
4170 hppa*-*-hiux*
4171 i[34567]86-ncr-*
4172 i[34567]86-*-dgux*
4173 i[34567]86-*-lynxos*
4174 i[34567]86-*-netware*
4175 i[34567]86-*-sco3.2v5*
4176 i[34567]86-*-sco3.2v4*
4177 i[34567]86-*-sco*
4178 i[34567]86-*-sysv4.2*
4179 i[34567]86-*-sysv4*
4180 i[34567]86-*-sysv5*
4181 i[34567]86-*-unixware2*
4182 i[34567]86-*-unixware*
4183 i[34567]86-*-sysv*
4184 i[34567]86-*-isc*
4185 m68*-cisco*-*
4186 m68*-tandem-*
4187 mips*-*-pe
4188 rs6000-*-lynxos*
4189 sh*-*-pe
4190
4191 * Other removed features
4192
4193 target abug
4194 target cpu32bug
4195 target est
4196 target rom68k
4197
4198 Various m68k-only ROM monitors.
4199
4200 target hms
4201 target e7000
4202 target sh3
4203 target sh3e
4204
4205 Various Renesas ROM monitors and debugging interfaces for SH and
4206 H8/300.
4207
4208 target ocd
4209
4210 Support for a Macraigor serial interface to on-chip debugging.
4211 GDB does not directly support the newer parallel or USB
4212 interfaces.
4213
4214 DWARF 1 support
4215
4216 A debug information format. The predecessor to DWARF 2 and
4217 DWARF 3, which are still supported.
4218
4219 Support for the HP aCC compiler on HP-UX/PA-RISC
4220
4221 SOM-encapsulated symbolic debugging information, automatic
4222 invocation of pxdb, and the aCC custom C++ ABI. This does not
4223 affect HP-UX for Itanium or GCC for HP-UX/PA-RISC. Code compiled
4224 with aCC can still be debugged on an assembly level.
4225
4226 MIPS ".pdr" sections
4227
4228 A MIPS-specific format used to describe stack frame layout
4229 in debugging information.
4230
4231 Scheme support
4232
4233 GDB could work with an older version of Guile to debug
4234 the interpreter and Scheme programs running in it.
4235
4236 set mips stack-arg-size
4237 set mips saved-gpreg-size
4238
4239 Use "set mips abi" to control parameter passing for MIPS.
4240
4241 *** Changes in GDB 6.6
4242
4243 * New targets
4244
4245 Xtensa xtensa-elf
4246 Cell Broadband Engine SPU spu-elf
4247
4248 * GDB can now be configured as a cross-debugger targeting native Windows
4249 (mingw32) or Cygwin. It can communicate with a remote debugging stub
4250 running on a Windows system over TCP/IP to debug Windows programs.
4251
4252 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, has been updated to support Windows and
4253 Cygwin debugging. Both single-threaded and multi-threaded programs are
4254 supported.
4255
4256 * The "set trust-readonly-sections" command works again. This command was
4257 broken in GDB 6.3, 6.4, and 6.5.
4258
4259 * The "load" command now supports writing to flash memory, if the remote
4260 stub provides the required support.
4261
4262 * Support for GNU/Linux Thread Local Storage (TLS, per-thread variables) no
4263 longer requires symbolic debug information (e.g. DWARF-2).
4264
4265 * New commands
4266
4267 set substitute-path
4268 unset substitute-path
4269 show substitute-path
4270 Manage a list of substitution rules that GDB uses to rewrite the name
4271 of the directories where the sources are located. This can be useful
4272 for instance when the sources were moved to a different location
4273 between compilation and debugging.
4274
4275 set trace-commands
4276 show trace-commands
4277 Print each CLI command as it is executed. Each command is prefixed with
4278 a number of `+' symbols representing the nesting depth.
4279 The source command now has a `-v' option to enable the same feature.
4280
4281 * REMOVED features
4282
4283 The ARM Demon monitor support (RDP protocol, "target rdp").
4284
4285 Kernel Object Display, an embedded debugging feature which only worked with
4286 an obsolete version of Cisco IOS.
4287
4288 The 'set download-write-size' and 'show download-write-size' commands.
4289
4290 * New remote packets
4291
4292 qSupported:
4293 Tell a stub about GDB client features, and request remote target features.
4294 The first feature implemented is PacketSize, which allows the target to
4295 specify the size of packets it can handle - to minimize the number of
4296 packets required and improve performance when connected to a remote
4297 target.
4298
4299 qXfer:auxv:read:
4300 Fetch an OS auxilliary vector from the remote stub. This packet is a
4301 more efficient replacement for qPart:auxv:read.
4302
4303 qXfer:memory-map:read:
4304 Fetch a memory map from the remote stub, including information about
4305 RAM, ROM, and flash memory devices.
4306
4307 vFlashErase:
4308 vFlashWrite:
4309 vFlashDone:
4310 Erase and program a flash memory device.
4311
4312 * Removed remote packets
4313
4314 qPart:auxv:read:
4315 This packet has been replaced by qXfer:auxv:read. Only GDB 6.4 and 6.5
4316 used it, and only gdbserver implemented it.
4317
4318 *** Changes in GDB 6.5
4319
4320 * New targets
4321
4322 Renesas M32C/M16C m32c-elf
4323
4324 Morpho Technologies ms1 ms1-elf
4325
4326 * New commands
4327
4328 init-if-undefined Initialize a convenience variable, but
4329 only if it doesn't already have a value.
4330
4331 The following commands are presently only implemented for native GNU/Linux:
4332
4333 checkpoint Save a snapshot of the program state.
4334
4335 restart <n> Return the program state to a
4336 previously saved state.
4337
4338 info checkpoints List currently saved checkpoints.
4339
4340 delete-checkpoint <n> Delete a previously saved checkpoint.
4341
4342 set|show detach-on-fork Tell gdb whether to detach from a newly
4343 forked process, or to keep debugging it.
4344
4345 info forks List forks of the user program that
4346 are available to be debugged.
4347
4348 fork <n> Switch to debugging one of several
4349 forks of the user program that are
4350 available to be debugged.
4351
4352 delete-fork <n> Delete a fork from the list of forks
4353 that are available to be debugged (and
4354 kill the forked process).
4355
4356 detach-fork <n> Delete a fork from the list of forks
4357 that are available to be debugged (and
4358 allow the process to continue).
4359
4360 * New architecture
4361
4362 Morpho Technologies ms2 ms1-elf
4363
4364 * Improved Windows host support
4365
4366 GDB now builds as a cross debugger hosted on i686-mingw32, including
4367 native console support, and remote communications using either
4368 network sockets or serial ports.
4369
4370 * Improved Modula-2 language support
4371
4372 GDB can now print most types in the Modula-2 syntax. This includes:
4373 basic types, set types, record types, enumerated types, range types,
4374 pointer types and ARRAY types. Procedure var parameters are correctly
4375 printed and hexadecimal addresses and character constants are also
4376 written in the Modula-2 syntax. Best results can be obtained by using
4377 GNU Modula-2 together with the -gdwarf-2 command line option.
4378
4379 * REMOVED features
4380
4381 The ARM rdi-share module.
4382
4383 The Netware NLM debug server.
4384
4385 *** Changes in GDB 6.4
4386
4387 * New native configurations
4388
4389 OpenBSD/arm arm*-*-openbsd*
4390 OpenBSD/mips64 mips64-*-openbsd*
4391
4392 * New targets
4393
4394 Morpho Technologies ms1 ms1-elf
4395
4396 * New command line options
4397
4398 --batch-silent As for --batch, but totally silent.
4399 --return-child-result The debugger will exist with the same value
4400 the child (debugged) program exited with.
4401 --eval-command COMMAND, -ex COMMAND
4402 Execute a single GDB CLI command. This may be
4403 specified multiple times and in conjunction
4404 with the --command (-x) option.
4405
4406 * Deprecated commands removed
4407
4408 The following commands, that were deprecated in 2000, have been
4409 removed:
4410
4411 Command Replacement
4412 set|show arm disassembly-flavor set|show arm disassembler
4413 othernames set arm disassembler
4414 set|show remotedebug set|show debug remote
4415 set|show archdebug set|show debug arch
4416 set|show eventdebug set|show debug event
4417 regs info registers
4418
4419 * New BSD user-level threads support
4420
4421 It is now possible to debug programs using the user-level threads
4422 library on OpenBSD and FreeBSD. Currently supported (target)
4423 configurations are:
4424
4425 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
4426 FreeBSD/i386 i386-*-freebsd*
4427 OpenBSD/i386 i386-*-openbsd*
4428
4429 Note that the new kernel threads libraries introduced in FreeBSD 5.x
4430 are not yet supported.
4431
4432 * New support for Matsushita MN10300 w/sim added
4433 (Work in progress). mn10300-elf.
4434
4435 * REMOVED configurations and files
4436
4437 VxWorks and the XDR protocol *-*-vxworks
4438 Motorola MCORE mcore-*-*
4439 National Semiconductor NS32000 ns32k-*-*
4440
4441 * New "set print array-indexes" command
4442
4443 After turning this setting "on", GDB prints the index of each element
4444 when displaying arrays. The default is "off" to preserve the previous
4445 behavior.
4446
4447 * VAX floating point support
4448
4449 GDB now supports the not-quite-ieee VAX F and D floating point formats.
4450
4451 * User-defined command support
4452
4453 In addition to using $arg0..$arg9 for argument passing, it is now possible
4454 to use $argc to determine now many arguments have been passed. See the
4455 section on user-defined commands in the user manual for more information.
4456
4457 *** Changes in GDB 6.3:
4458
4459 * New command line option
4460
4461 GDB now accepts -l followed by a number to set the timeout for remote
4462 debugging.
4463
4464 * GDB works with GCC -feliminate-dwarf2-dups
4465
4466 GDB now supports a more compact representation of DWARF-2 debug
4467 information using DW_FORM_ref_addr references. These are produced
4468 by GCC with the option -feliminate-dwarf2-dups and also by some
4469 proprietary compilers. With GCC, you must use GCC 3.3.4 or later
4470 to use -feliminate-dwarf2-dups.
4471
4472 * Internationalization
4473
4474 When supported by the host system, GDB will be built with
4475 internationalization (libintl). The task of marking up the sources is
4476 continued, we're looking forward to our first translation.
4477
4478 * Ada
4479
4480 Initial support for debugging programs compiled with the GNAT
4481 implementation of the Ada programming language has been integrated
4482 into GDB. In this release, support is limited to expression evaluation.
4483
4484 * New native configurations
4485
4486 GNU/Linux/m32r m32r-*-linux-gnu
4487
4488 * Remote 'p' packet
4489
4490 GDB's remote protocol now includes support for the 'p' packet. This
4491 packet is used to fetch individual registers from a remote inferior.
4492
4493 * END-OF-LIFE registers[] compatibility module
4494
4495 GDB's internal register infrastructure has been completely rewritten.
4496 The new infrastructure making possible the implementation of key new
4497 features including 32x64 (e.g., 64-bit amd64 GDB debugging a 32-bit
4498 i386 application).
4499
4500 GDB 6.3 will be the last release to include the the registers[]
4501 compatibility module that allowed out-of-date configurations to
4502 continue to work. This change directly impacts the following
4503 configurations:
4504
4505 hppa-*-hpux
4506 ia64-*-aix
4507 mips-*-irix*
4508 *-*-lynx
4509 mips-*-linux-gnu
4510 sds protocol
4511 xdr protocol
4512 powerpc bdm protocol
4513
4514 Unless there is activity to revive these configurations, they will be
4515 made OBSOLETE in GDB 6.4, and REMOVED from GDB 6.5.
4516
4517 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
4518
4519 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
4520 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
4521 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
4522 permanently REMOVED.
4523
4524 h8300-*-*
4525 mcore-*-*
4526 mn10300-*-*
4527 ns32k-*-*
4528 sh64-*-*
4529 v850-*-*
4530
4531 *** Changes in GDB 6.2.1:
4532
4533 * MIPS `break main; run' gave an heuristic-fence-post warning
4534
4535 When attempting to run even a simple program, a warning about
4536 heuristic-fence-post being hit would be reported. This problem has
4537 been fixed.
4538
4539 * MIPS IRIX 'long double' crashed GDB
4540
4541 When examining a long double variable, GDB would get a segmentation
4542 fault. The crash has been fixed (but GDB 6.2 cannot correctly examine
4543 IRIX long double values).
4544
4545 * VAX and "next"
4546
4547 A bug in the VAX stack code was causing problems with the "next"
4548 command. This problem has been fixed.
4549
4550 *** Changes in GDB 6.2:
4551
4552 * Fix for ``many threads''
4553
4554 On GNU/Linux systems that use the NPTL threads library, a program
4555 rapidly creating and deleting threads would confuse GDB leading to the
4556 error message:
4557
4558 ptrace: No such process.
4559 thread_db_get_info: cannot get thread info: generic error
4560
4561 This problem has been fixed.
4562
4563 * "-async" and "-noasync" options removed.
4564
4565 Support for the broken "-noasync" option has been removed (it caused
4566 GDB to dump core).
4567
4568 * New ``start'' command.
4569
4570 This command runs the program until the begining of the main procedure.
4571
4572 * New BSD Kernel Data Access Library (libkvm) interface
4573
4574 Using ``target kvm'' it is now possible to debug kernel core dumps and
4575 live kernel memory images on various FreeBSD, NetBSD and OpenBSD
4576 platforms. Currently supported (native-only) configurations are:
4577
4578 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
4579 FreeBSD/i386 i?86-*-freebsd*
4580 NetBSD/i386 i?86-*-netbsd*
4581 NetBSD/m68k m68*-*-netbsd*
4582 NetBSD/sparc sparc-*-netbsd*
4583 OpenBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-openbsd*
4584 OpenBSD/i386 i?86-*-openbsd*
4585 OpenBSD/m68k m68*-openbsd*
4586 OpenBSD/sparc sparc-*-openbsd*
4587
4588 * Signal trampoline code overhauled
4589
4590 Many generic problems with GDB's signal handling code have been fixed.
4591 These include: backtraces through non-contiguous stacks; recognition
4592 of sa_sigaction signal trampolines; backtrace from a NULL pointer
4593 call; backtrace through a signal trampoline; step into and out of
4594 signal handlers; and single-stepping in the signal trampoline.
4595
4596 Please note that kernel bugs are a limiting factor here. These
4597 features have been shown to work on an s390 GNU/Linux system that
4598 include a 2.6.8-rc1 kernel. Ref PR breakpoints/1702.
4599
4600 * Cygwin support for DWARF 2 added.
4601
4602 * New native configurations
4603
4604 GNU/Linux/hppa hppa*-*-linux*
4605 OpenBSD/hppa hppa*-*-openbsd*
4606 OpenBSD/m68k m68*-*-openbsd*
4607 OpenBSD/m88k m88*-*-openbsd*
4608 OpenBSD/powerpc powerpc-*-openbsd*
4609 NetBSD/vax vax-*-netbsd*
4610 OpenBSD/vax vax-*-openbsd*
4611
4612 * END-OF-LIFE frame compatibility module
4613
4614 GDB's internal frame infrastructure has been completely rewritten.
4615 The new infrastructure making it possible to support key new features
4616 including DWARF 2 Call Frame Information. To aid in the task of
4617 migrating old configurations to this new infrastructure, a
4618 compatibility module, that allowed old configurations to continue to
4619 work, was also included.
4620
4621 GDB 6.2 will be the last release to include this frame compatibility
4622 module. This change directly impacts the following configurations:
4623
4624 h8300-*-*
4625 mcore-*-*
4626 mn10300-*-*
4627 ns32k-*-*
4628 sh64-*-*
4629 v850-*-*
4630 xstormy16-*-*
4631
4632 Unless there is activity to revive these configurations, they will be
4633 made OBSOLETE in GDB 6.3, and REMOVED from GDB 6.4.
4634
4635 * REMOVED configurations and files
4636
4637 Sun 3, running SunOS 3 m68*-*-sunos3*
4638 Sun 3, running SunOS 4 m68*-*-sunos4*
4639 Sun 2, running SunOS 3 m68000-*-sunos3*
4640 Sun 2, running SunOS 4 m68000-*-sunos4*
4641 Motorola 680x0 running LynxOS m68*-*-lynxos*
4642 AT&T 3b1/Unix pc m68*-att-*
4643 Bull DPX2 (68k, System V release 3) m68*-bull-sysv*
4644 decstation mips-dec-* mips-little-*
4645 riscos mips-*-riscos* mips-*-sysv*
4646 sonymips mips-sony-*
4647 sysv mips*-*-sysv4* (IRIX 5/6 not included)
4648
4649 *** Changes in GDB 6.1.1:
4650
4651 * TUI (Text-mode User Interface) built-in (also included in GDB 6.1)
4652
4653 The TUI (Text-mode User Interface) is now built as part of a default
4654 GDB configuration. It is enabled by either selecting the TUI with the
4655 command line option "-i=tui" or by running the separate "gdbtui"
4656 program. For more information on the TUI, see the manual "Debugging
4657 with GDB".
4658
4659 * Pending breakpoint support (also included in GDB 6.1)
4660
4661 Support has been added to allow you to specify breakpoints in shared
4662 libraries that have not yet been loaded. If a breakpoint location
4663 cannot be found, and the "breakpoint pending" option is set to auto,
4664 GDB queries you if you wish to make the breakpoint pending on a future
4665 shared-library load. If and when GDB resolves the breakpoint symbol,
4666 the pending breakpoint is removed as one or more regular breakpoints
4667 are created.
4668
4669 Pending breakpoints are very useful for GCJ Java debugging.
4670
4671 * Fixed ISO-C build problems
4672
4673 The files bfd/elf-bfd.h, gdb/dictionary.c and gdb/types.c contained
4674 non ISO-C code that stopped them being built using a more strict ISO-C
4675 compiler (e.g., IBM's C compiler).
4676
4677 * Fixed build problem on IRIX 5
4678
4679 Due to header problems with <sys/proc.h>, the file gdb/proc-api.c
4680 wasn't able to compile compile on an IRIX 5 system.
4681
4682 * Added execute permission to gdb/gdbserver/configure
4683
4684 The shell script gdb/testsuite/gdb.stabs/configure lacked execute
4685 permission. This bug would cause configure to fail on a number of
4686 systems (Solaris, IRIX). Ref: server/519.
4687
4688 * Fixed build problem on hpux2.0w-hp-hpux11.00 using the HP ANSI C compiler
4689
4690 Older HPUX ANSI C compilers did not accept variable array sizes. somsolib.c
4691 has been updated to use constant array sizes.
4692
4693 * Fixed a panic in the DWARF Call Frame Info code on Solaris 2.7
4694
4695 GCC 3.3.2, on Solaris 2.7, includes the DW_EH_PE_funcrel encoding in
4696 its generated DWARF Call Frame Info. This encoding was causing GDB to
4697 panic, that panic has been fixed. Ref: gdb/1628.
4698
4699 * Fixed a problem when examining parameters in shared library code.
4700
4701 When examining parameters in optimized shared library code generated
4702 by a mainline GCC, GDB would incorrectly report ``Variable "..." is
4703 not available''. GDB now correctly displays the variable's value.
4704
4705 *** Changes in GDB 6.1:
4706
4707 * Removed --with-mmalloc
4708
4709 Support for the mmalloc memory manager has been removed, as it
4710 conflicted with the internal gdb byte cache.
4711
4712 * Changes in AMD64 configurations
4713
4714 The AMD64 target now includes the %cs and %ss registers. As a result
4715 the AMD64 remote protocol has changed; this affects the floating-point
4716 and SSE registers. If you rely on those registers for your debugging,
4717 you should upgrade gdbserver on the remote side.
4718
4719 * Revised SPARC target
4720
4721 The SPARC target has been completely revised, incorporating the
4722 FreeBSD/sparc64 support that was added for GDB 6.0. As a result
4723 support for LynxOS and SunOS 4 has been dropped. Calling functions
4724 from within GDB on operating systems with a non-executable stack
4725 (Solaris, OpenBSD) now works.
4726
4727 * New C++ demangler
4728
4729 GDB has a new C++ demangler which does a better job on the mangled
4730 names generated by current versions of g++. It also runs faster, so
4731 with this and other changes gdb should now start faster on large C++
4732 programs.
4733
4734 * DWARF 2 Location Expressions
4735
4736 GDB support for location expressions has been extended to support function
4737 arguments and frame bases. Older versions of GDB could crash when they
4738 encountered these.
4739
4740 * C++ nested types and namespaces
4741
4742 GDB's support for nested types and namespaces in C++ has been
4743 improved, especially if you use the DWARF 2 debugging format. (This
4744 is the default for recent versions of GCC on most platforms.)
4745 Specifically, if you have a class "Inner" defined within a class or
4746 namespace "Outer", then GDB realizes that the class's name is
4747 "Outer::Inner", not simply "Inner". This should greatly reduce the
4748 frequency of complaints about not finding RTTI symbols. In addition,
4749 if you are stopped at inside of a function defined within a namespace,
4750 GDB modifies its name lookup accordingly.
4751
4752 * New native configurations
4753
4754 NetBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-netbsd*
4755 OpenBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-openbsd*
4756 OpenBSD/alpha alpha*-*-openbsd*
4757 OpenBSD/sparc sparc-*-openbsd*
4758 OpenBSD/sparc64 sparc64-*-openbsd*
4759
4760 * New debugging protocols
4761
4762 M32R with SDI protocol m32r-*-elf*
4763
4764 * "set prompt-escape-char" command deleted.
4765
4766 The command "set prompt-escape-char" has been deleted. This command,
4767 and its very obscure effet on GDB's prompt, was never documented,
4768 tested, nor mentioned in the NEWS file.
4769
4770 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
4771
4772 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
4773 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
4774 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
4775 permanently REMOVED.
4776
4777 Sun 3, running SunOS 3 m68*-*-sunos3*
4778 Sun 3, running SunOS 4 m68*-*-sunos4*
4779 Sun 2, running SunOS 3 m68000-*-sunos3*
4780 Sun 2, running SunOS 4 m68000-*-sunos4*
4781 Motorola 680x0 running LynxOS m68*-*-lynxos*
4782 AT&T 3b1/Unix pc m68*-att-*
4783 Bull DPX2 (68k, System V release 3) m68*-bull-sysv*
4784 decstation mips-dec-* mips-little-*
4785 riscos mips-*-riscos* mips-*-sysv*
4786 sonymips mips-sony-*
4787 sysv mips*-*-sysv4* (IRIX 5/6 not included)
4788
4789 * REMOVED configurations and files
4790
4791 SGI Irix-4.x mips-sgi-irix4 or iris4
4792 SGI Iris (MIPS) running Irix V3: mips-sgi-irix or iris
4793 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
4794 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
4795 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
4796 HP/PA running BSD hppa*-*-bsd*
4797 HP/PA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
4798 HP/PA Pro target hppa*-*-pro*
4799 PMAX (MIPS) running Mach 3.0 mips*-*-mach3*
4800 386BSD i[3456]86-*-bsd*
4801 Sequent family i[3456]86-sequent-sysv4*
4802 i[3456]86-sequent-sysv*
4803 i[3456]86-sequent-bsd*
4804 SPARC running LynxOS sparc-*-lynxos*
4805 SPARC running SunOS 4 sparc-*-sunos4*
4806 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
4807 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
4808
4809 *** Changes in GDB 6.0:
4810
4811 * Objective-C
4812
4813 Support for debugging the Objective-C programming language has been
4814 integrated into GDB.
4815
4816 * New backtrace mechanism (includes DWARF 2 Call Frame Information).
4817
4818 DWARF 2's Call Frame Information makes available compiler generated
4819 information that more exactly describes the program's run-time stack.
4820 By using this information, GDB is able to provide more robust stack
4821 backtraces.
4822
4823 The i386, amd64 (nee, x86-64), Alpha, m68hc11, ia64, and m32r targets
4824 have been updated to use a new backtrace mechanism which includes
4825 DWARF 2 CFI support.
4826
4827 * Hosted file I/O.
4828
4829 GDB's remote protocol has been extended to include support for hosted
4830 file I/O (where the remote target uses GDB's file system). See GDB's
4831 remote protocol documentation for details.
4832
4833 * All targets using the new architecture framework.
4834
4835 All of GDB's targets have been updated to use the new internal
4836 architecture framework. The way is now open for future GDB releases
4837 to include cross-architecture native debugging support (i386 on amd64,
4838 ppc32 on ppc64).
4839
4840 * GNU/Linux's Thread Local Storage (TLS)
4841
4842 GDB now includes support for for the GNU/Linux implementation of
4843 per-thread variables.
4844
4845 * GNU/Linux's Native POSIX Thread Library (NPTL)
4846
4847 GDB's thread code has been updated to work with either the new
4848 GNU/Linux NPTL thread library or the older "LinuxThreads" library.
4849
4850 * Separate debug info.
4851
4852 GDB, in conjunction with BINUTILS, now supports a mechanism for
4853 automatically loading debug information from a separate file. Instead
4854 of shipping full debug and non-debug versions of system libraries,
4855 system integrators can now instead ship just the stripped libraries
4856 and optional debug files.
4857
4858 * DWARF 2 Location Expressions
4859
4860 DWARF 2 Location Expressions allow the compiler to more completely
4861 describe the location of variables (even in optimized code) to the
4862 debugger.
4863
4864 GDB now includes preliminary support for location expressions (support
4865 for DW_OP_piece is still missing).
4866
4867 * Java
4868
4869 A number of long standing bugs that caused GDB to die while starting a
4870 Java application have been fixed. GDB's Java support is now
4871 considered "useable".
4872
4873 * GNU/Linux support for fork, vfork, and exec.
4874
4875 The "catch fork", "catch exec", "catch vfork", and "set follow-fork-mode"
4876 commands are now implemented for GNU/Linux. They require a 2.5.x or later
4877 kernel.
4878
4879 * GDB supports logging output to a file
4880
4881 There are two new commands, "set logging" and "show logging", which can be
4882 used to capture GDB's output to a file.
4883
4884 * The meaning of "detach" has changed for gdbserver
4885
4886 The "detach" command will now resume the application, as documented. To
4887 disconnect from gdbserver and leave it stopped, use the new "disconnect"
4888 command.
4889
4890 * d10v, m68hc11 `regs' command deprecated
4891
4892 The `info registers' command has been updated so that it displays the
4893 registers using a format identical to the old `regs' command.
4894
4895 * Profiling support
4896
4897 A new command, "maint set profile on/off", has been added. This command can
4898 be used to enable or disable profiling while running GDB, to profile a
4899 session or a set of commands. In addition there is a new configure switch,
4900 "--enable-profiling", which will cause GDB to be compiled with profiling
4901 data, for more informative profiling results.
4902
4903 * Default MI syntax changed to "mi2".
4904
4905 The default MI (machine interface) syntax, enabled by the command line
4906 option "-i=mi", has been changed to "mi2". The previous MI syntax,
4907 "mi1", can be enabled by specifying the option "-i=mi1".
4908
4909 Support for the original "mi0" syntax (included in GDB 5.0) has been
4910 removed.
4911
4912 Fix for gdb/192: removed extraneous space when displaying frame level.
4913 Fix for gdb/672: update changelist is now output in mi list format.
4914 Fix for gdb/702: a -var-assign that updates the value now shows up
4915 in a subsequent -var-update.
4916
4917 * New native configurations.
4918
4919 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
4920
4921 * Multi-arched targets.
4922
4923 HP/PA HPUX11 hppa*-*-hpux*
4924 Renesas M32R/D w/simulator m32r-*-elf*
4925
4926 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
4927
4928 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
4929 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
4930 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
4931 permanently REMOVED.
4932
4933 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
4934 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
4935 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
4936 HP/PA running BSD hppa*-*-bsd*
4937 HP/PA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
4938 HP/PA Pro target hppa*-*-pro*
4939 PMAX (MIPS) running Mach 3.0 mips*-*-mach3*
4940 Sequent family i[3456]86-sequent-sysv4*
4941 i[3456]86-sequent-sysv*
4942 i[3456]86-sequent-bsd*
4943 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
4944 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
4945
4946 * REMOVED configurations and files
4947
4948 V850EA ISA
4949 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
4950 IBM AIX PS/2 i[3456]86-*-aix
4951 i386 running Mach 3.0 i[3456]86-*-mach3*
4952 i386 running Mach i[3456]86-*-mach*
4953 i386 running OSF/1 i[3456]86-*osf1mk*
4954 HP/Apollo 68k Family m68*-apollo*-sysv*,
4955 m68*-apollo*-bsd*,
4956 m68*-hp-bsd*, m68*-hp-hpux*
4957 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
4958 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
4959 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
4960 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
4961 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
4962
4963 * MIPS $fp behavior changed
4964
4965 The convenience variable $fp, for the MIPS, now consistently returns
4966 the address of the current frame's base. Previously, depending on the
4967 context, $fp could refer to either $sp or the current frame's base
4968 address. See ``8.10 Registers'' in the manual ``Debugging with GDB:
4969 The GNU Source-Level Debugger''.
4970
4971 *** Changes in GDB 5.3:
4972
4973 * GNU/Linux shared library multi-threaded performance improved.
4974
4975 When debugging a multi-threaded application on GNU/Linux, GDB now uses
4976 `/proc', in preference to `ptrace' for memory reads. This may result
4977 in an improvement in the start-up time of multi-threaded, shared
4978 library applications when run under GDB. One GDB user writes: ``loads
4979 shared libs like mad''.
4980
4981 * ``gdbserver'' now supports multi-threaded applications on some targets
4982
4983 Support for debugging multi-threaded applications which use
4984 the GNU/Linux LinuxThreads package has been added for
4985 arm*-*-linux*-gnu*, i[3456]86-*-linux*-gnu*, mips*-*-linux*-gnu*,
4986 powerpc*-*-linux*-gnu*, and sh*-*-linux*-gnu*.
4987
4988 * GDB now supports C/C++ preprocessor macros.
4989
4990 GDB now expands preprocessor macro invocations in C/C++ expressions,
4991 and provides various commands for showing macro definitions and how
4992 they expand.
4993
4994 The new command `macro expand EXPRESSION' expands any macro
4995 invocations in expression, and shows the result.
4996
4997 The new command `show macro MACRO-NAME' shows the definition of the
4998 macro named MACRO-NAME, and where it was defined.
4999
5000 Most compilers don't include information about macros in the debugging
5001 information by default. In GCC 3.1, for example, you need to compile
5002 your program with the options `-gdwarf-2 -g3'. If the macro
5003 information is present in the executable, GDB will read it.
5004
5005 * Multi-arched targets.
5006
5007 DEC Alpha (partial) alpha*-*-*
5008 DEC VAX (partial) vax-*-*
5009 NEC V850 v850-*-*
5010 National Semiconductor NS32000 (partial) ns32k-*-*
5011 Motorola 68000 (partial) m68k-*-*
5012 Motorola MCORE mcore-*-*
5013
5014 * New targets.
5015
5016 Fujitsu FRV architecture added by Red Hat frv*-*-*
5017
5018
5019 * New native configurations
5020
5021 Alpha NetBSD alpha*-*-netbsd*
5022 SH NetBSD sh*-*-netbsdelf*
5023 MIPS NetBSD mips*-*-netbsd*
5024 UltraSPARC NetBSD sparc64-*-netbsd*
5025
5026 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
5027
5028 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
5029 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
5030 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
5031 permanently REMOVED.
5032
5033 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
5034 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
5035 IBM AIX PS/2 i[3456]86-*-aix
5036 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
5037 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
5038 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
5039 i386 running Mach 3.0 i[3456]86-*-mach3*
5040 i386 running Mach i[3456]86-*-mach*
5041 i386 running OSF/1 i[3456]86-*osf1mk*
5042 HP/Apollo 68k Family m68*-apollo*-sysv*,
5043 m68*-apollo*-bsd*,
5044 m68*-hp-bsd*, m68*-hp-hpux*
5045 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
5046
5047 * OBSOLETE languages
5048
5049 CHILL, a Pascal like language used by telecommunications companies.
5050
5051 * REMOVED configurations and files
5052
5053 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi, udi29k
5054 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
5055 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
5056 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
5057 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
5058
5059 testsuite/gdb.hp/gdb.threads-hp/ directory
5060
5061 * New command "set max-user-call-depth <nnn>"
5062
5063 This command allows the user to limit the call depth of user-defined
5064 commands. The default is 1024.
5065
5066 * Changes in FreeBSD/i386 native debugging.
5067
5068 Support for the "generate-core-file" has been added.
5069
5070 * New commands "dump", "append", and "restore".
5071
5072 These commands allow data to be copied from target memory
5073 to a bfd-format or binary file (dump and append), and back
5074 from a file into memory (restore).
5075
5076 * Improved "next/step" support on multi-processor Alpha Tru64.
5077
5078 The previous single-step mechanism could cause unpredictable problems,
5079 including the random appearance of SIGSEGV or SIGTRAP signals. The use
5080 of a software single-step mechanism prevents this.
5081
5082 *** Changes in GDB 5.2.1:
5083
5084 * New targets.
5085
5086 Atmel AVR avr*-*-*
5087
5088 * Bug fixes
5089
5090 gdb/182: gdb/323: gdb/237: On alpha, gdb was reporting:
5091 mdebugread.c:2443: gdb-internal-error: sect_index_data not initialized
5092 Fix, by Joel Brobecker imported from mainline.
5093
5094 gdb/439: gdb/291: On some ELF object files, gdb was reporting:
5095 dwarf2read.c:1072: gdb-internal-error: sect_index_text not initialize
5096 Fix, by Fred Fish, imported from mainline.
5097
5098 Dwarf2 .debug_frame & .eh_frame handler improved in many ways.
5099 Surprisingly enough, it works now.
5100 By Michal Ludvig, imported from mainline.
5101
5102 i386 hardware watchpoint support:
5103 avoid misses on second run for some targets.
5104 By Pierre Muller, imported from mainline.
5105
5106 *** Changes in GDB 5.2:
5107
5108 * New command "set trust-readonly-sections on[off]".
5109
5110 This command is a hint that tells gdb that read-only sections
5111 really are read-only (ie. that their contents will not change).
5112 In this mode, gdb will go to the object file rather than the
5113 target to read memory from read-only sections (such as ".text").
5114 This can be a significant performance improvement on some
5115 (notably embedded) targets.
5116
5117 * New command "generate-core-file" (or "gcore").
5118
5119 This new gdb command allows the user to drop a core file of the child
5120 process state at any time. So far it's been implemented only for
5121 GNU/Linux and Solaris, but should be relatively easily ported to other
5122 hosts. Argument is core file name (defaults to core.<pid>).
5123
5124 * New command line option
5125
5126 GDB now accepts --pid or -p followed by a process id.
5127
5128 * Change in command line behavior -- corefiles vs. process ids.
5129
5130 There is a subtle behavior in the way in which GDB handles
5131 command line arguments. The first non-flag argument is always
5132 a program to debug, but the second non-flag argument may either
5133 be a corefile or a process id. Previously, GDB would attempt to
5134 open the second argument as a corefile, and if that failed, would
5135 issue a superfluous error message and then attempt to attach it as
5136 a process. Now, if the second argument begins with a non-digit,
5137 it will be treated as a corefile. If it begins with a digit,
5138 GDB will attempt to attach it as a process, and if no such process
5139 is found, will then attempt to open it as a corefile.
5140
5141 * Changes in ARM configurations.
5142
5143 Multi-arch support is enabled for all ARM configurations. The ARM/NetBSD
5144 configuration is fully multi-arch.
5145
5146 * New native configurations
5147
5148 ARM NetBSD arm*-*-netbsd*
5149 x86 OpenBSD i[3456]86-*-openbsd*
5150 AMD x86-64 running GNU/Linux x86_64-*-linux-*
5151 Sparc64 running FreeBSD sparc64-*-freebsd*
5152
5153 * New targets
5154
5155 Sanyo XStormy16 xstormy16-elf
5156
5157 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
5158
5159 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
5160 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
5161 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
5162 permanently REMOVED.
5163
5164 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi, udi29k
5165 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
5166 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
5167 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
5168 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
5169
5170 testsuite/gdb.hp/gdb.threads-hp/ directory
5171
5172 * REMOVED configurations and files
5173
5174 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
5175 WDC 65816 w65-*-*
5176 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
5177 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
5178 PowerPC Netware powerpc-*-netware*
5179 Harris/CXUX m88k m88*-harris-cxux*
5180 Most ns32k hosts and targets ns32k-*-mach3* ns32k-umax-*
5181 ns32k-utek-sysv* ns32k-utek-*
5182 SunOS 4.0.Xi on i386 i[3456]86-*-sunos*
5183 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1 a29k-nyu-sym1 a29k-*-kern*
5184 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x m68*-sony-sysv news
5185 ISI Optimum V (3.05) under 4.3bsd. m68*-isi-*
5186 Apple Macintosh (MPW) host and target N/A host, powerpc-*-macos*
5187
5188 * Changes to command line processing
5189
5190 The new `--args' feature can be used to specify command-line arguments
5191 for the inferior from gdb's command line.
5192
5193 * Changes to key bindings
5194
5195 There is a new `operate-and-get-next' function bound to `C-o'.
5196
5197 *** Changes in GDB 5.1.1
5198
5199 Fix compile problem on DJGPP.
5200
5201 Fix a problem with floating-point registers on the i386 being
5202 corrupted.
5203
5204 Fix to stop GDB crashing on .debug_str debug info.
5205
5206 Numerous documentation fixes.
5207
5208 Numerous testsuite fixes.
5209
5210 *** Changes in GDB 5.1:
5211
5212 * New native configurations
5213
5214 Alpha FreeBSD alpha*-*-freebsd*
5215 x86 FreeBSD 3.x and 4.x i[3456]86*-freebsd[34]*
5216 MIPS GNU/Linux mips*-*-linux*
5217 MIPS SGI Irix 6.x mips*-sgi-irix6*
5218 ia64 AIX ia64-*-aix*
5219 s390 and s390x GNU/Linux {s390,s390x}-*-linux*
5220
5221 * New targets
5222
5223 Motorola 68HC11 and 68HC12 m68hc11-elf
5224 CRIS cris-axis
5225 UltraSparc running GNU/Linux sparc64-*-linux*
5226
5227 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
5228
5229 x86 FreeBSD before 2.2 i[3456]86*-freebsd{1,2.[01]}*,
5230 Harris/CXUX m88k m88*-harris-cxux*
5231 Most ns32k hosts and targets ns32k-*-mach3* ns32k-umax-*
5232 ns32k-utek-sysv* ns32k-utek-*
5233 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
5234 WDC 65816 w65-*-*
5235 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1 a29k-nyu-sym1 a29k-*-kern*
5236 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
5237 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
5238 PowerPC Netware powerpc-*-netware*
5239 SunOS 4.0.Xi on i386 i[3456]86-*-sunos*
5240 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x m68*-sony-sysv news
5241 ISI Optimum V (3.05) under 4.3bsd. m68*-isi-*
5242 Apple Macintosh (MPW) host N/A
5243
5244 stuff.c (Program to stuff files into a specially prepared space in kdb)
5245 kdb-start.c (Main loop for the standalone kernel debugger)
5246
5247 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
5248 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
5249 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
5250 permanently REMOVED.
5251
5252 * REMOVED configurations and files
5253
5254 Altos 3068 m68*-altos-*
5255 Convex c1-*-*, c2-*-*
5256 Pyramid pyramid-*-*
5257 ARM RISCix arm-*-* (as host)
5258 Tahoe tahoe-*-*
5259 ser-ocd.c *-*-*
5260
5261 * GDB has been converted to ISO C.
5262
5263 GDB's source code has been converted to ISO C. In particular, the
5264 sources are fully protoized, and rely on standard headers being
5265 present.
5266
5267 * Other news:
5268
5269 * "info symbol" works on platforms which use COFF, ECOFF, XCOFF, and NLM.
5270
5271 * The MI enabled by default.
5272
5273 The new machine oriented interface (MI) introduced in GDB 5.0 has been
5274 revised and enabled by default. Packages which use GDB as a debugging
5275 engine behind a UI or another front end are encouraged to switch to
5276 using the GDB/MI interface, instead of the old annotations interface
5277 which is now deprecated.
5278
5279 * Support for debugging Pascal programs.
5280
5281 GDB now includes support for debugging Pascal programs. The following
5282 main features are supported:
5283
5284 - Pascal-specific data types such as sets;
5285
5286 - automatic recognition of Pascal sources based on file-name
5287 extension;
5288
5289 - Pascal-style display of data types, variables, and functions;
5290
5291 - a Pascal expression parser.
5292
5293 However, some important features are not yet supported.
5294
5295 - Pascal string operations are not supported at all;
5296
5297 - there are some problems with boolean types;
5298
5299 - Pascal type hexadecimal constants are not supported
5300 because they conflict with the internal variables format;
5301
5302 - support for Pascal objects and classes is not full yet;
5303
5304 - unlike Pascal, GDB is case-sensitive for symbol names.
5305
5306 * Changes in completion.
5307
5308 Commands such as `shell', `run' and `set args', which pass arguments
5309 to inferior programs, now complete on file names, similar to what
5310 users expect at the shell prompt.
5311
5312 Commands which accept locations, such as `disassemble', `print',
5313 `breakpoint', `until', etc. now complete on filenames as well as
5314 program symbols. Thus, if you type "break foob TAB", and the source
5315 files linked into the programs include `foobar.c', that file name will
5316 be one of the candidates for completion. However, file names are not
5317 considered for completion after you typed a colon that delimits a file
5318 name from a name of a function in that file, as in "break foo.c:bar".
5319
5320 `set demangle-style' completes on available demangling styles.
5321
5322 * New platform-independent commands:
5323
5324 It is now possible to define a post-hook for a command as well as a
5325 hook that runs before the command. For more details, see the
5326 documentation of `hookpost' in the GDB manual.
5327
5328 * Changes in GNU/Linux native debugging.
5329
5330 Support for debugging multi-threaded programs has been completely
5331 revised for all platforms except m68k and sparc. You can now debug as
5332 many threads as your system allows you to have.
5333
5334 Attach/detach is supported for multi-threaded programs.
5335
5336 Support for SSE registers was added for x86. This doesn't work for
5337 multi-threaded programs though.
5338
5339 * Changes in MIPS configurations.
5340
5341 Multi-arch support is enabled for all MIPS configurations.
5342
5343 GDB can now be built as native debugger on SGI Irix 6.x systems for
5344 debugging n32 executables. (Debugging 64-bit executables is not yet
5345 supported.)
5346
5347 * Unified support for hardware watchpoints in all x86 configurations.
5348
5349 Most (if not all) native x86 configurations support hardware-assisted
5350 breakpoints and watchpoints in a unified manner. This support
5351 implements debug register sharing between watchpoints, which allows to
5352 put a virtually infinite number of watchpoints on the same address,
5353 and also supports watching regions up to 16 bytes with several debug
5354 registers.
5355
5356 The new maintenance command `maintenance show-debug-regs' toggles
5357 debugging print-outs in functions that insert, remove, and test
5358 watchpoints and hardware breakpoints.
5359
5360 * Changes in the DJGPP native configuration.
5361
5362 New command ``info dos sysinfo'' displays assorted information about
5363 the CPU, OS, memory, and DPMI server.
5364
5365 New commands ``info dos gdt'', ``info dos ldt'', and ``info dos idt''
5366 display information about segment descriptors stored in GDT, LDT, and
5367 IDT.
5368
5369 New commands ``info dos pde'' and ``info dos pte'' display entries
5370 from Page Directory and Page Tables (for now works with CWSDPMI only).
5371 New command ``info dos address-pte'' displays the Page Table entry for
5372 a given linear address.
5373
5374 GDB can now pass command lines longer than 126 characters to the
5375 program being debugged (requires an update to the libdbg.a library
5376 which is part of the DJGPP development kit).
5377
5378 DWARF2 debug info is now supported.
5379
5380 It is now possible to `step' and `next' through calls to `longjmp'.
5381
5382 * Changes in documentation.
5383
5384 All GDB documentation was converted to GFDL, the GNU Free
5385 Documentation License.
5386
5387 Tracepoints-related commands are now fully documented in the GDB
5388 manual.
5389
5390 TUI, the Text-mode User Interface, is now documented in the manual.
5391
5392 Tracepoints-related commands are now fully documented in the GDB
5393 manual.
5394
5395 The "GDB Internals" manual now has an index. It also includes
5396 documentation of `ui_out' functions, GDB coding standards, x86
5397 hardware watchpoints, and memory region attributes.
5398
5399 * GDB's version number moved to ``version.in''
5400
5401 The Makefile variable VERSION has been replaced by the file
5402 ``version.in''. People creating GDB distributions should update the
5403 contents of this file.
5404
5405 * gdba.el deleted
5406
5407 GUD support is now a standard part of the EMACS distribution.
5408
5409 *** Changes in GDB 5.0:
5410
5411 * Improved support for debugging FP programs on x86 targets
5412
5413 Unified and much-improved support for debugging floating-point
5414 programs on all x86 targets. In particular, ``info float'' now
5415 displays the FP registers in the same format on all x86 targets, with
5416 greater level of detail.
5417
5418 * Improvements and bugfixes in hardware-assisted watchpoints
5419
5420 It is now possible to watch array elements, struct members, and
5421 bitfields with hardware-assisted watchpoints. Data-read watchpoints
5422 on x86 targets no longer erroneously trigger when the address is
5423 written.
5424
5425 * Improvements in the native DJGPP version of GDB
5426
5427 The distribution now includes all the scripts and auxiliary files
5428 necessary to build the native DJGPP version on MS-DOS/MS-Windows
5429 machines ``out of the box''.
5430
5431 The DJGPP version can now debug programs that use signals. It is
5432 possible to catch signals that happened in the debuggee, deliver
5433 signals to it, interrupt it with Ctrl-C, etc. (Previously, a signal
5434 would kill the program being debugged.) Programs that hook hardware
5435 interrupts (keyboard, timer, etc.) can also be debugged.
5436
5437 It is now possible to debug DJGPP programs that redirect their
5438 standard handles or switch them to raw (as opposed to cooked) mode, or
5439 even close them. The command ``run < foo > bar'' works as expected,
5440 and ``info terminal'' reports useful information about the debuggee's
5441 terminal, including raw/cooked mode, redirection, etc.
5442
5443 The DJGPP version now uses termios functions for console I/O, which
5444 enables debugging graphics programs. Interrupting GDB with Ctrl-C
5445 also works.
5446
5447 DOS-style file names with drive letters are now fully supported by
5448 GDB.
5449
5450 It is now possible to debug DJGPP programs that switch their working
5451 directory. It is also possible to rerun the debuggee any number of
5452 times without restarting GDB; thus, you can use the same setup,
5453 breakpoints, etc. for many debugging sessions.
5454
5455 * New native configurations
5456
5457 ARM GNU/Linux arm*-*-linux*
5458 PowerPC GNU/Linux powerpc-*-linux*
5459
5460 * New targets
5461
5462 Motorola MCore mcore-*-*
5463 x86 VxWorks i[3456]86-*-vxworks*
5464 PowerPC VxWorks powerpc-*-vxworks*
5465 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
5466
5467 * OBSOLETE configurations
5468
5469 Altos 3068 m68*-altos-*
5470 Convex c1-*-*, c2-*-*
5471 Pyramid pyramid-*-*
5472 ARM RISCix arm-*-* (as host)
5473 Tahoe tahoe-*-*
5474
5475 Configurations that have been declared obsolete will be commented out,
5476 but the code will be left in place. If there is no activity to revive
5477 these configurations before the next release of GDB, the sources will
5478 be permanently REMOVED.
5479
5480 * Gould support removed
5481
5482 Support for the Gould PowerNode and NP1 has been removed.
5483
5484 * New features for SVR4
5485
5486 On SVR4 native platforms (such as Solaris), if you attach to a process
5487 without first loading a symbol file, GDB will now attempt to locate and
5488 load symbols from the running process's executable file.
5489
5490 * Many C++ enhancements
5491
5492 C++ support has been greatly improved. Overload resolution now works properly
5493 in almost all cases. RTTI support is on the way.
5494
5495 * Remote targets can connect to a sub-program
5496
5497 A popen(3) style serial-device has been added. This device starts a
5498 sub-process (such as a stand-alone simulator) and then communicates
5499 with that. The sub-program to run is specified using the syntax
5500 ``|<program> <args>'' vis:
5501
5502 (gdb) set remotedebug 1
5503 (gdb) target extended-remote |mn10300-elf-sim program-args
5504
5505 * MIPS 64 remote protocol
5506
5507 A long standing bug in the mips64 remote protocol where by GDB
5508 expected certain 32 bit registers (ex SR) to be transfered as 32
5509 instead of 64 bits has been fixed.
5510
5511 The command ``set remote-mips64-transfers-32bit-regs on'' has been
5512 added to provide backward compatibility with older versions of GDB.
5513
5514 * ``set remotebinarydownload'' replaced by ``set remote X-packet''
5515
5516 The command ``set remotebinarydownload'' command has been replaced by
5517 ``set remote X-packet''. Other commands in ``set remote'' family
5518 include ``set remote P-packet''.
5519
5520 * Breakpoint commands accept ranges.
5521
5522 The breakpoint commands ``enable'', ``disable'', and ``delete'' now
5523 accept a range of breakpoints, e.g. ``5-7''. The tracepoint command
5524 ``tracepoint passcount'' also accepts a range of tracepoints.
5525
5526 * ``apropos'' command added.
5527
5528 The ``apropos'' command searches through command names and
5529 documentation strings, printing out matches, making it much easier to
5530 try to find a command that does what you are looking for.
5531
5532 * New MI interface
5533
5534 A new machine oriented interface (MI) has been added to GDB. This
5535 interface is designed for debug environments running GDB as a separate
5536 process. This is part of the long term libGDB project. See the
5537 "GDB/MI" chapter of the GDB manual for further information. It can be
5538 enabled by configuring with:
5539
5540 .../configure --enable-gdbmi
5541
5542 *** Changes in GDB-4.18:
5543
5544 * New native configurations
5545
5546 HP-UX 10.20 hppa*-*-hpux10.20
5547 HP-UX 11.x hppa*-*-hpux11.0*
5548 M68K GNU/Linux m68*-*-linux*
5549
5550 * New targets
5551
5552 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
5553 Intel StrongARM strongarm-*-*
5554 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
5555
5556 * OBSOLETE configurations
5557
5558 Gould PowerNode, NP1 np1-*-*, pn-*-*
5559
5560 Configurations that have been declared obsolete will be commented out,
5561 but the code will be left in place. If there is no activity to revive
5562 these configurations before the next release of GDB, the sources will
5563 be permanently REMOVED.
5564
5565 * ANSI/ISO C
5566
5567 As a compatibility experiment, GDB's source files buildsym.h and
5568 buildsym.c have been converted to pure standard C, no longer
5569 containing any K&R compatibility code. We believe that all systems in
5570 use today either come with a standard C compiler, or have a GCC port
5571 available. If this is not true, please report the affected
5572 configuration to bug-gdb@gnu.org immediately. See the README file for
5573 information about getting a standard C compiler if you don't have one
5574 already.
5575
5576 * Readline 2.2
5577
5578 GDB now uses readline 2.2.
5579
5580 * set extension-language
5581
5582 You can now control the mapping between filename extensions and source
5583 languages by using the `set extension-language' command. For instance,
5584 you can ask GDB to treat .c files as C++ by saying
5585 set extension-language .c c++
5586 The command `info extensions' lists all of the recognized extensions
5587 and their associated languages.
5588
5589 * Setting processor type for PowerPC and RS/6000
5590
5591 When GDB is configured for a powerpc*-*-* or an rs6000*-*-* target,
5592 you can use the `set processor' command to specify what variant of the
5593 PowerPC family you are debugging. The command
5594
5595 set processor NAME
5596
5597 sets the PowerPC/RS6000 variant to NAME. GDB knows about the
5598 following PowerPC and RS6000 variants:
5599
5600 ppc-uisa PowerPC UISA - a PPC processor as viewed by user-level code
5601 rs6000 IBM RS6000 ("POWER") architecture, user-level view
5602 403 IBM PowerPC 403
5603 403GC IBM PowerPC 403GC
5604 505 Motorola PowerPC 505
5605 860 Motorola PowerPC 860 or 850
5606 601 Motorola PowerPC 601
5607 602 Motorola PowerPC 602
5608 603 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 603 or 603e
5609 604 Motorola PowerPC 604 or 604e
5610 750 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 750 or 750
5611
5612 At the moment, this command just tells GDB what to name the
5613 special-purpose processor registers. Since almost all the affected
5614 registers are inaccessible to user-level programs, this command is
5615 only useful for remote debugging in its present form.
5616
5617 * HP-UX support
5618
5619 Thanks to a major code donation from Hewlett-Packard, GDB now has much
5620 more extensive support for HP-UX. Added features include shared
5621 library support, kernel threads and hardware watchpoints for 11.00,
5622 support for HP's ANSI C and C++ compilers, and a compatibility mode
5623 for xdb and dbx commands.
5624
5625 * Catchpoints
5626
5627 HP's donation includes the new concept of catchpoints, which is a
5628 generalization of the old catch command. On HP-UX, it is now possible
5629 to catch exec, fork, and vfork, as well as library loading.
5630
5631 This means that the existing catch command has changed; its first
5632 argument now specifies the type of catch to be set up. See the
5633 output of "help catch" for a list of catchpoint types.
5634
5635 * Debugging across forks
5636
5637 On HP-UX, you can choose which process to debug when a fork() happens
5638 in the inferior.
5639
5640 * TUI
5641
5642 HP has donated a curses-based terminal user interface (TUI). To get
5643 it, build with --enable-tui. Although this can be enabled for any
5644 configuration, at present it only works for native HP debugging.
5645
5646 * GDB remote protocol additions
5647
5648 A new protocol packet 'X' that writes binary data is now available.
5649 Default behavior is to try 'X', then drop back to 'M' if the stub
5650 fails to respond. The settable variable `remotebinarydownload'
5651 allows explicit control over the use of 'X'.
5652
5653 For 64-bit targets, the memory packets ('M' and 'm') can now contain a
5654 full 64-bit address. The command
5655
5656 set remoteaddresssize 32
5657
5658 can be used to revert to the old behaviour. For existing remote stubs
5659 the change should not be noticed, as the additional address information
5660 will be discarded.
5661
5662 In order to assist in debugging stubs, you may use the maintenance
5663 command `packet' to send any text string to the stub. For instance,
5664
5665 maint packet heythere
5666
5667 sends the packet "$heythere#<checksum>". Note that it is very easy to
5668 disrupt a debugging session by sending the wrong packet at the wrong
5669 time.
5670
5671 The compare-sections command allows you to compare section data on the
5672 target to what is in the executable file without uploading or
5673 downloading, by comparing CRC checksums.
5674
5675 * Tracing can collect general expressions
5676
5677 You may now collect general expressions at tracepoints. This requires
5678 further additions to the target-side stub; see tracepoint.c and
5679 doc/agentexpr.texi for further details.
5680
5681 * mask-address variable for Mips
5682
5683 For Mips targets, you may control the zeroing of the upper 32 bits of
5684 a 64-bit address by entering `set mask-address on'. This is mainly
5685 of interest to users of embedded R4xxx and R5xxx processors.
5686
5687 * Higher serial baud rates
5688
5689 GDB's serial code now allows you to specify baud rates 57600, 115200,
5690 230400, and 460800 baud. (Note that your host system may not be able
5691 to achieve all of these rates.)
5692
5693 * i960 simulator
5694
5695 The i960 configuration now includes an initial implementation of a
5696 builtin simulator, contributed by Jim Wilson.
5697
5698
5699 *** Changes in GDB-4.17:
5700
5701 * New native configurations
5702
5703 Alpha GNU/Linux alpha*-*-linux*
5704 Unixware 2.x i[3456]86-unixware2*
5705 Irix 6.x mips*-sgi-irix6*
5706 PowerPC GNU/Linux powerpc-*-linux*
5707 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
5708 Sparc GNU/Linux sparc-*-linux*
5709 Motorola sysV68 R3V7.1 m68k-motorola-sysv
5710
5711 * New targets
5712
5713 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
5714 Hitachi H8/300S h8300*-*-*
5715 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
5716 Matsushita MN10300 w/simulator mn10300-*-*
5717 MIPS NEC VR4100 mips64*vr4100*{,el}-*-elf*
5718 MIPS NEC VR5000 mips64*vr5000*{,el}-*-elf*
5719 MIPS Toshiba TX39 mips64*tx39*{,el}-*-elf*
5720 Mitsubishi D10V w/simulator d10v-*-*
5721 Mitsubishi M32R/D w/simulator m32r-*-elf*
5722 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
5723 NEC V850 w/simulator v850-*-*
5724
5725 * New debugging protocols
5726
5727 ARM with RDI protocol arm*-*-*
5728 M68K with dBUG monitor m68*-*-{aout,coff,elf}
5729 DDB and LSI variants of PMON protocol mips*-*-*
5730 PowerPC with DINK32 monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
5731 PowerPC with SDS protocol powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
5732 Macraigor OCD (Wiggler) devices powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
5733
5734 * DWARF 2
5735
5736 All configurations can now understand and use the DWARF 2 debugging
5737 format. The choice is automatic, if the symbol file contains DWARF 2
5738 information.
5739
5740 * Java frontend
5741
5742 GDB now includes basic Java language support. This support is
5743 only useful with Java compilers that produce native machine code.
5744
5745 * solib-absolute-prefix and solib-search-path
5746
5747 For SunOS and SVR4 shared libraries, you may now set the prefix for
5748 loading absolute shared library symbol files, and the search path for
5749 locating non-absolute shared library symbol files.
5750
5751 * Live range splitting
5752
5753 GDB can now effectively debug code for which GCC has performed live
5754 range splitting as part of its optimization. See gdb/doc/LRS for
5755 more details on the expected format of the stabs information.
5756
5757 * Hurd support
5758
5759 GDB's support for the GNU Hurd, including thread debugging, has been
5760 updated to work with current versions of the Hurd.
5761
5762 * ARM Thumb support
5763
5764 GDB's ARM target configuration now handles the ARM7T (Thumb) 16-bit
5765 instruction set. ARM GDB automatically detects when Thumb
5766 instructions are in use, and adjusts disassembly and backtracing
5767 accordingly.
5768
5769 * MIPS16 support
5770
5771 GDB's MIPS target configurations now handle the MIP16 16-bit
5772 instruction set.
5773
5774 * Overlay support
5775
5776 GDB now includes support for overlays; if an executable has been
5777 linked such that multiple sections are based at the same address, GDB
5778 will decide which section to use for symbolic info. You can choose to
5779 control the decision manually, using overlay commands, or implement
5780 additional target-side support and use "overlay load-target" to bring
5781 in the overlay mapping. Do "help overlay" for more detail.
5782
5783 * info symbol
5784
5785 The command "info symbol <address>" displays information about
5786 the symbol at the specified address.
5787
5788 * Trace support
5789
5790 The standard remote protocol now includes an extension that allows
5791 asynchronous collection and display of trace data. This requires
5792 extensive support in the target-side debugging stub. Tracing mode
5793 includes a new interaction mode in GDB and new commands: see the
5794 file tracepoint.c for more details.
5795
5796 * MIPS simulator
5797
5798 Configurations for embedded MIPS now include a simulator contributed
5799 by Cygnus Solutions. The simulator supports the instruction sets
5800 of most MIPS variants.
5801
5802 * Sparc simulator
5803
5804 Sparc configurations may now include the ERC32 simulator contributed
5805 by the European Space Agency. The simulator is not built into
5806 Sparc targets by default; configure with --enable-sim to include it.
5807
5808 * set architecture
5809
5810 For target configurations that may include multiple variants of a
5811 basic architecture (such as MIPS and SH), you may now set the
5812 architecture explicitly. "set arch" sets, "info arch" lists
5813 the possible architectures.
5814
5815 *** Changes in GDB-4.16:
5816
5817 * New native configurations
5818
5819 Windows 95, x86 Windows NT i[345]86-*-cygwin32
5820 M68K NetBSD m68k-*-netbsd*
5821 PowerPC AIX 4.x powerpc-*-aix*
5822 PowerPC MacOS powerpc-*-macos*
5823 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
5824 RS/6000 AIX 4.x rs6000-*-aix4*
5825
5826 * New targets
5827
5828 ARM with RDP protocol arm-*-*
5829 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
5830 MIPS VxWorks mips*-*-vxworks*
5831 MIPS VR4300 with PMON mips64*vr4300{,el}-*-elf*
5832 PowerPC with PPCBUG monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi*
5833 Hitachi SH3 sh-*-*
5834 Matra Sparclet sparclet-*-*
5835
5836 * PowerPC simulator
5837
5838 The powerpc-eabi configuration now includes the PSIM simulator,
5839 contributed by Andrew Cagney, with assistance from Mike Meissner.
5840 PSIM is a very elaborate model of the PowerPC, including not only
5841 basic instruction set execution, but also details of execution unit
5842 performance and I/O hardware. See sim/ppc/README for more details.
5843
5844 * Solaris 2.5
5845
5846 GDB now works with Solaris 2.5.
5847
5848 * Windows 95/NT native
5849
5850 GDB will now work as a native debugger on Windows 95 and Windows NT.
5851 To build it from source, you must use the "gnu-win32" environment,
5852 which uses a DLL to emulate enough of Unix to run the GNU tools.
5853 Further information, binaries, and sources are available at
5854 ftp.cygnus.com, under pub/gnu-win32.
5855
5856 * dont-repeat command
5857
5858 If a user-defined command includes the command `dont-repeat', then the
5859 command will not be repeated if the user just types return. This is
5860 useful if the command is time-consuming to run, so that accidental
5861 extra keystrokes don't run the same command many times.
5862
5863 * Send break instead of ^C
5864
5865 The standard remote protocol now includes an option to send a break
5866 rather than a ^C to the target in order to interrupt it. By default,
5867 GDB will send ^C; to send a break, set the variable `remotebreak' to 1.
5868
5869 * Remote protocol timeout
5870
5871 The standard remote protocol includes a new variable `remotetimeout'
5872 that allows you to set the number of seconds before GDB gives up trying
5873 to read from the target. The default value is 2.
5874
5875 * Automatic tracking of dynamic object loading (HPUX and Solaris only)
5876
5877 By default GDB will automatically keep track of objects as they are
5878 loaded and unloaded by the dynamic linker. By using the command `set
5879 stop-on-solib-events 1' you can arrange for GDB to stop the inferior
5880 when shared library events occur, thus allowing you to set breakpoints
5881 in shared libraries which are explicitly loaded by the inferior.
5882
5883 Note this feature does not work on hpux8. On hpux9 you must link
5884 /usr/lib/end.o into your program. This feature should work
5885 automatically on hpux10.
5886
5887 * Irix 5.x hardware watchpoint support
5888
5889 Irix 5 configurations now support the use of hardware watchpoints.
5890
5891 * Mips protocol "SYN garbage limit"
5892
5893 When debugging a Mips target using the `target mips' protocol, you
5894 may set the number of characters that GDB will ignore by setting
5895 the `syn-garbage-limit'. A value of -1 means that GDB will ignore
5896 every character. The default value is 1050.
5897
5898 * Recording and replaying remote debug sessions
5899
5900 If you set `remotelogfile' to the name of a file, gdb will write to it
5901 a recording of a remote debug session. This recording may then be
5902 replayed back to gdb using "gdbreplay". See gdbserver/README for
5903 details. This is useful when you have a problem with GDB while doing
5904 remote debugging; you can make a recording of the session and send it
5905 to someone else, who can then recreate the problem.
5906
5907 * Speedups for remote debugging
5908
5909 GDB includes speedups for downloading and stepping MIPS systems using
5910 the IDT monitor, fast downloads to the Hitachi SH E7000 emulator,
5911 and more efficient S-record downloading.
5912
5913 * Memory use reductions and statistics collection
5914
5915 GDB now uses less memory and reports statistics about memory usage.
5916 Try the `maint print statistics' command, for example.
5917
5918 *** Changes in GDB-4.15:
5919
5920 * Psymtabs for XCOFF
5921
5922 The symbol reader for AIX GDB now uses partial symbol tables. This
5923 can greatly improve startup time, especially for large executables.
5924
5925 * Remote targets use caching
5926
5927 Remote targets now use a data cache to speed up communication with the
5928 remote side. The data cache could lead to incorrect results because
5929 it doesn't know about volatile variables, thus making it impossible to
5930 debug targets which use memory mapped I/O devices. `set remotecache
5931 off' turns the the data cache off.
5932
5933 * Remote targets may have threads
5934
5935 The standard remote protocol now includes support for multiple threads
5936 in the target system, using new protocol commands 'H' and 'T'. See
5937 gdb/remote.c for details.
5938
5939 * NetROM support
5940
5941 If GDB is configured with `--enable-netrom', then it will include
5942 support for the NetROM ROM emulator from XLNT Designs. The NetROM
5943 acts as though it is a bank of ROM on the target board, but you can
5944 write into it over the network. GDB's support consists only of
5945 support for fast loading into the emulated ROM; to debug, you must use
5946 another protocol, such as standard remote protocol. The usual
5947 sequence is something like
5948
5949 target nrom <netrom-hostname>
5950 load <prog>
5951 target remote <netrom-hostname>:1235
5952
5953 * Macintosh host
5954
5955 GDB now includes support for the Apple Macintosh, as a host only. It
5956 may be run as either an MPW tool or as a standalone application, and
5957 it can debug through the serial port. All the usual GDB commands are
5958 available, but to the target command, you must supply "serial" as the
5959 device type instead of "/dev/ttyXX". See mpw-README in the main
5960 directory for more information on how to build. The MPW configuration
5961 scripts */mpw-config.in support only a few targets, and only the
5962 mips-idt-ecoff target has been tested.
5963
5964 * Autoconf
5965
5966 GDB configuration now uses autoconf. This is not user-visible,
5967 but does simplify configuration and building.
5968
5969 * hpux10
5970
5971 GDB now supports hpux10.
5972
5973 *** Changes in GDB-4.14:
5974
5975 * New native configurations
5976
5977 x86 FreeBSD i[345]86-*-freebsd
5978 x86 NetBSD i[345]86-*-netbsd
5979 NS32k NetBSD ns32k-*-netbsd
5980 Sparc NetBSD sparc-*-netbsd
5981
5982 * New targets
5983
5984 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
5985 HP PA PRO embedded (WinBond W89K & Oki OP50N) hppa*-*-pro*
5986 CPU32 EST-300 emulator m68*-*-est*
5987 PowerPC ELF powerpc-*-elf
5988 WDC 65816 w65-*-*
5989
5990 * Alpha OSF/1 support for procfs
5991
5992 GDB now supports procfs under OSF/1-2.x and higher, which makes it
5993 possible to attach to running processes. As the mounting of the /proc
5994 filesystem is optional on the Alpha, GDB automatically determines
5995 the availability of /proc during startup. This can lead to problems
5996 if /proc is unmounted after GDB has been started.
5997
5998 * Arguments to user-defined commands
5999
6000 User commands may accept up to 10 arguments separated by whitespace.
6001 Arguments are accessed within the user command via $arg0..$arg9. A
6002 trivial example:
6003 define adder
6004 print $arg0 + $arg1 + $arg2
6005
6006 To execute the command use:
6007 adder 1 2 3
6008
6009 Defines the command "adder" which prints the sum of its three arguments.
6010 Note the arguments are text substitutions, so they may reference variables,
6011 use complex expressions, or even perform inferior function calls.
6012
6013 * New `if' and `while' commands
6014
6015 This makes it possible to write more sophisticated user-defined
6016 commands. Both commands take a single argument, which is the
6017 expression to evaluate, and must be followed by the commands to
6018 execute, one per line, if the expression is nonzero, the list being
6019 terminated by the word `end'. The `if' command list may include an
6020 `else' word, which causes the following commands to be executed only
6021 if the expression is zero.
6022
6023 * Fortran source language mode
6024
6025 GDB now includes partial support for Fortran 77. It will recognize
6026 Fortran programs and can evaluate a subset of Fortran expressions, but
6027 variables and functions may not be handled correctly. GDB will work
6028 with G77, but does not yet know much about symbols emitted by other
6029 Fortran compilers.
6030
6031 * Better HPUX support
6032
6033 Most debugging facilities now work on dynamic executables for HPPAs
6034 running hpux9 or later. You can attach to running dynamically linked
6035 processes, but by default the dynamic libraries will be read-only, so
6036 for instance you won't be able to put breakpoints in them. To change
6037 that behavior do the following before running the program:
6038
6039 adb -w a.out
6040 __dld_flags?W 0x5
6041 control-d
6042
6043 This will cause the libraries to be mapped private and read-write.
6044 To revert to the normal behavior, do this:
6045
6046 adb -w a.out
6047 __dld_flags?W 0x4
6048 control-d
6049
6050 You cannot set breakpoints or examine data in the library until after
6051 the library is loaded if the function/data symbols do not have
6052 external linkage.
6053
6054 GDB can now also read debug symbols produced by the HP C compiler on
6055 HPPAs (sorry, no C++, Fortran or 68k support).
6056
6057 * Target byte order now dynamically selectable
6058
6059 You can choose which byte order to use with a target system, via the
6060 commands "set endian big" and "set endian little", and you can see the
6061 current setting by using "show endian". You can also give the command
6062 "set endian auto", in which case GDB will use the byte order
6063 associated with the executable. Currently, only embedded MIPS
6064 configurations support dynamic selection of target byte order.
6065
6066 * New DOS host serial code
6067
6068 This version uses DPMI interrupts to handle buffered I/O, so you
6069 no longer need to run asynctsr when debugging boards connected to
6070 a PC's serial port.
6071
6072 *** Changes in GDB-4.13:
6073
6074 * New "complete" command
6075
6076 This lists all the possible completions for the rest of the line, if it
6077 were to be given as a command itself. This is intended for use by emacs.
6078
6079 * Trailing space optional in prompt
6080
6081 "set prompt" no longer adds a space for you after the prompt you set. This
6082 allows you to set a prompt which ends in a space or one that does not.
6083
6084 * Breakpoint hit counts
6085
6086 "info break" now displays a count of the number of times the breakpoint
6087 has been hit. This is especially useful in conjunction with "ignore"; you
6088 can ignore a large number of breakpoint hits, look at the breakpoint info
6089 to see how many times the breakpoint was hit, then run again, ignoring one
6090 less than that number, and this will get you quickly to the last hit of
6091 that breakpoint.
6092
6093 * Ability to stop printing at NULL character
6094
6095 "set print null-stop" will cause GDB to stop printing the characters of
6096 an array when the first NULL is encountered. This is useful when large
6097 arrays actually contain only short strings.
6098
6099 * Shared library breakpoints
6100
6101 In SunOS 4.x, SVR4, and Alpha OSF/1 configurations, you can now set
6102 breakpoints in shared libraries before the executable is run.
6103
6104 * Hardware watchpoints
6105
6106 There is a new hardware breakpoint for the watch command for sparclite
6107 targets. See gdb/sparclite/hw_breakpoint.note.
6108
6109 Hardware watchpoints are also now supported under GNU/Linux.
6110
6111 * Annotations
6112
6113 Annotations have been added. These are for use with graphical interfaces,
6114 and are still experimental. Currently only gdba.el uses these.
6115
6116 * Improved Irix 5 support
6117
6118 GDB now works properly with Irix 5.2.
6119
6120 * Improved HPPA support
6121
6122 GDB now works properly with the latest GCC and GAS.
6123
6124 * New native configurations
6125
6126 Sequent PTX4 i[34]86-sequent-ptx4
6127 HPPA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
6128 Atari TT running SVR4 m68*-*-sysv4*
6129 RS/6000 LynxOS rs6000-*-lynxos*
6130
6131 * New targets
6132
6133 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
6134 MIPS R4000 mips64*{,el}-*-{ecoff,elf}
6135 Sparc64 sparc64-*-*
6136
6137 * Hitachi SH7000 and E7000-PC ICE support
6138
6139 There is now support for communicating with the Hitachi E7000-PC ICE.
6140 This is available automatically when GDB is configured for the SH.
6141
6142 * Fixes
6143
6144 As usual, a variety of small fixes and improvements, both generic
6145 and configuration-specific. See the ChangeLog for more detail.
6146
6147 *** Changes in GDB-4.12:
6148
6149 * Irix 5 is now supported
6150
6151 * HPPA support
6152
6153 GDB-4.12 on the HPPA has a number of changes which make it unable
6154 to debug the output from the currently released versions of GCC and
6155 GAS (GCC 2.5.8 and GAS-2.2 or PAGAS-1.36). Until the next major release
6156 of GCC and GAS, versions of these tools designed to work with GDB-4.12
6157 can be retrieved via anonymous ftp from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist.
6158
6159
6160 *** Changes in GDB-4.11:
6161
6162 * User visible changes:
6163
6164 * Remote Debugging
6165
6166 The "set remotedebug" option is now consistent between the mips remote
6167 target, remote targets using the gdb-specific protocol, UDI (AMD's
6168 debug protocol for the 29k) and the 88k bug monitor. It is now an
6169 integer specifying a debug level (normally 0 or 1, but 2 means more
6170 debugging info for the mips target).
6171
6172 * DEC Alpha native support
6173
6174 GDB now works on the DEC Alpha. GCC 2.4.5 does not produce usable
6175 debug info, but GDB works fairly well with the DEC compiler and should
6176 work with a future GCC release. See the README file for a few
6177 Alpha-specific notes.
6178
6179 * Preliminary thread implementation
6180
6181 GDB now has preliminary thread support for both SGI/Irix and LynxOS.
6182
6183 * LynxOS native and target support for 386
6184
6185 This release has been hosted on LynxOS 2.2, and also can be configured
6186 to remotely debug programs running under LynxOS (see gdb/gdbserver/README
6187 for details).
6188
6189 * Improvements in C++ mangling/demangling.
6190
6191 This release has much better g++ debugging, specifically in name
6192 mangling/demangling, virtual function calls, print virtual table,
6193 call methods, ...etc.
6194
6195 *** Changes in GDB-4.10:
6196
6197 * User visible changes:
6198
6199 Remote debugging using the GDB-specific (`target remote') protocol now
6200 supports the `load' command. This is only useful if you have some
6201 other way of getting the stub to the target system, and you can put it
6202 somewhere in memory where it won't get clobbered by the download.
6203
6204 Filename completion now works.
6205
6206 When run under emacs mode, the "info line" command now causes the
6207 arrow to point to the line specified. Also, "info line" prints
6208 addresses in symbolic form (as well as hex).
6209
6210 All vxworks based targets now support a user settable option, called
6211 vxworks-timeout. This option represents the number of seconds gdb
6212 should wait for responses to rpc's. You might want to use this if
6213 your vxworks target is, perhaps, a slow software simulator or happens
6214 to be on the far side of a thin network line.
6215
6216 * DEC alpha support
6217
6218 This release contains support for using a DEC alpha as a GDB host for
6219 cross debugging. Native alpha debugging is not supported yet.
6220
6221
6222 *** Changes in GDB-4.9:
6223
6224 * Testsuite
6225
6226 This is the first GDB release which is accompanied by a matching testsuite.
6227 The testsuite requires installation of dejagnu, which should be available
6228 via ftp from most sites that carry GNU software.
6229
6230 * C++ demangling
6231
6232 'Cfront' style demangling has had its name changed to 'ARM' style, to
6233 emphasize that it was written from the specifications in the C++ Annotated
6234 Reference Manual, not necessarily to be compatible with AT&T cfront. Despite
6235 disclaimers, it still generated too much confusion with users attempting to
6236 use gdb with AT&T cfront.
6237
6238 * Simulators
6239
6240 GDB now uses a standard remote interface to a simulator library.
6241 So far, the library contains simulators for the Zilog Z8001/2, the
6242 Hitachi H8/300, H8/500 and Super-H.
6243
6244 * New targets supported
6245
6246 H8/300 simulator h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
6247 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
6248 SH simulator sh-hitachi-hms or sh
6249 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
6250 IDT MIPS board over serial line mips-idt-ecoff
6251
6252 Cross-debugging to GO32 targets is supported. It requires a custom
6253 version of the i386-stub.c module which is integrated with the
6254 GO32 memory extender.
6255
6256 * New remote protocols
6257
6258 MIPS remote debugging protocol.
6259
6260 * New source languages supported
6261
6262 This version includes preliminary support for Chill, a Pascal like language
6263 used by telecommunications companies. Chill support is also being integrated
6264 into the GNU compiler, but we don't know when it will be publically available.
6265
6266
6267 *** Changes in GDB-4.8:
6268
6269 * HP Precision Architecture supported
6270
6271 GDB now supports HP PA-RISC machines running HPUX. A preliminary
6272 version of this support was available as a set of patches from the
6273 University of Utah. GDB does not support debugging of programs
6274 compiled with the HP compiler, because HP will not document their file
6275 format. Instead, you must use GCC (version 2.3.2 or later) and PA-GAS
6276 (as available from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist/pa-gas.u4.tar.Z).
6277
6278 Many problems in the preliminary version have been fixed.
6279
6280 * Faster and better demangling
6281
6282 We have improved template demangling and fixed numerous bugs in the GNU style
6283 demangler. It can now handle type modifiers such as `static' or `const'. Wide
6284 character types (wchar_t) are now supported. Demangling of each symbol is now
6285 only done once, and is cached when the symbol table for a file is read in.
6286 This results in a small increase in memory usage for C programs, a moderate
6287 increase in memory usage for C++ programs, and a fantastic speedup in
6288 symbol lookups.
6289
6290 `Cfront' style demangling still doesn't work with AT&T cfront. It was written
6291 from the specifications in the Annotated Reference Manual, which AT&T's
6292 compiler does not actually implement.
6293
6294 * G++ multiple inheritance compiler problem
6295
6296 In the 2.3.2 release of gcc/g++, how the compiler resolves multiple
6297 inheritance lattices was reworked to properly discover ambiguities. We
6298 recently found an example which causes this new algorithm to fail in a
6299 very subtle way, producing bad debug information for those classes.
6300 The file 'gcc.patch' (in this directory) can be applied to gcc to
6301 circumvent the problem. A future GCC release will contain a complete
6302 fix.
6303
6304 The previous G++ debug info problem (mentioned below for the gdb-4.7
6305 release) is fixed in gcc version 2.3.2.
6306
6307 * Improved configure script
6308
6309 The `configure' script will now attempt to guess your system type if
6310 you don't supply a host system type. The old scheme of supplying a
6311 host system triplet is preferable over using this. All the magic is
6312 done in the new `config.guess' script. Examine it for details.
6313
6314 We have also brought our configure script much more in line with the FSF's
6315 version. It now supports the --with-xxx options. In particular,
6316 `--with-minimal-bfd' can be used to make the GDB binary image smaller.
6317 The resulting GDB will not be able to read arbitrary object file formats --
6318 only the format ``expected'' to be used on the configured target system.
6319 We hope to make this the default in a future release.
6320
6321 * Documentation improvements
6322
6323 There's new internal documentation on how to modify GDB, and how to
6324 produce clean changes to the code. We implore people to read it
6325 before submitting changes.
6326
6327 The GDB manual uses new, sexy Texinfo conditionals, rather than arcane
6328 M4 macros. The new texinfo.tex is provided in this release. Pre-built
6329 `info' files are also provided. To build `info' files from scratch,
6330 you will need the latest `makeinfo' release, which will be available in
6331 a future texinfo-X.Y release.
6332
6333 *NOTE* The new texinfo.tex can cause old versions of TeX to hang.
6334 We're not sure exactly which versions have this problem, but it has
6335 been seen in 3.0. We highly recommend upgrading to TeX version 3.141
6336 or better. If that isn't possible, there is a patch in
6337 `texinfo/tex3patch' that will modify `texinfo/texinfo.tex' to work
6338 around this problem.
6339
6340 * New features
6341
6342 GDB now supports array constants that can be used in expressions typed in by
6343 the user. The syntax is `{element, element, ...}'. Ie: you can now type
6344 `print {1, 2, 3}', and it will build up an array in memory malloc'd in
6345 the target program.
6346
6347 The new directory `gdb/sparclite' contains a program that demonstrates
6348 how the sparc-stub.c remote stub runs on a Fujitsu SPARClite processor.
6349
6350 * New native hosts supported
6351
6352 HP/PA-RISC under HPUX using GNU tools hppa1.1-hp-hpux
6353 386 CPUs running SCO Unix 3.2v4 i386-unknown-sco3.2v4
6354
6355 * New targets supported
6356
6357 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi or udi29k
6358
6359 * New file formats supported
6360
6361 BFD now supports reading HP/PA-RISC executables (SOM file format?),
6362 HPUX core files, and SCO 3.2v2 core files.
6363
6364 * Major bug fixes
6365
6366 Attaching to processes now works again; thanks for the many bug reports.
6367
6368 We have also stomped on a bunch of core dumps caused by
6369 printf_filtered("%s") problems.
6370
6371 We eliminated a copyright problem on the rpc and ptrace header files
6372 for VxWorks, which was discovered at the last minute during the 4.7
6373 release. You should now be able to build a VxWorks GDB.
6374
6375 You can now interrupt gdb while an attached process is running. This
6376 will cause the attached process to stop, and give control back to GDB.
6377
6378 We fixed problems caused by using too many file descriptors
6379 for reading symbols from object files and libraries. This was
6380 especially a problem for programs that used many (~100) shared
6381 libraries.
6382
6383 The `step' command now only enters a subroutine if there is line number
6384 information for the subroutine. Otherwise it acts like the `next'
6385 command. Previously, `step' would enter subroutines if there was
6386 any debugging information about the routine. This avoids problems
6387 when using `cc -g1' on MIPS machines.
6388
6389 * Internal improvements
6390
6391 GDB's internal interfaces have been improved to make it easier to support
6392 debugging of multiple languages in the future.
6393
6394 GDB now uses a common structure for symbol information internally.
6395 Minimal symbols (derived from linkage symbols in object files), partial
6396 symbols (from a quick scan of debug information), and full symbols
6397 contain a common subset of information, making it easier to write
6398 shared code that handles any of them.
6399
6400 * New command line options
6401
6402 We now accept --silent as an alias for --quiet.
6403
6404 * Mmalloc licensing
6405
6406 The memory-mapped-malloc library is now licensed under the GNU Library
6407 General Public License.
6408
6409 *** Changes in GDB-4.7:
6410
6411 * Host/native/target split
6412
6413 GDB has had some major internal surgery to untangle the support for
6414 hosts and remote targets. Now, when you configure GDB for a remote
6415 target, it will no longer load in all of the support for debugging
6416 local programs on the host. When fully completed and tested, this will
6417 ensure that arbitrary host/target combinations are possible.
6418
6419 The primary conceptual shift is to separate the non-portable code in
6420 GDB into three categories. Host specific code is required any time GDB
6421 is compiled on that host, regardless of the target. Target specific
6422 code relates to the peculiarities of the target, but can be compiled on
6423 any host. Native specific code is everything else: it can only be
6424 built when the host and target are the same system. Child process
6425 handling and core file support are two common `native' examples.
6426
6427 GDB's use of /proc for controlling Unix child processes is now cleaner.
6428 It has been split out into a single module under the `target_ops' vector,
6429 plus two native-dependent functions for each system that uses /proc.
6430
6431 * New hosts supported
6432
6433 HP/Apollo 68k (under the BSD domain) m68k-apollo-bsd or apollo68bsd
6434 386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
6435 386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or i386sco
6436
6437 * New targets supported
6438
6439 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
6440 68030 and CPU32 m68030-*-*, m68332-*-*
6441
6442 * New native hosts supported
6443
6444 386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
6445 (386bsd is not well tested yet)
6446 386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or sco
6447
6448 * New file formats supported
6449
6450 BFD now supports COFF files for the Zilog Z8000 microprocessor. It
6451 supports reading of `a.out.adobe' object files, which are an a.out
6452 format extended with minimal information about multiple sections.
6453
6454 * New commands
6455
6456 `show copying' is the same as the old `info copying'.
6457 `show warranty' is the same as `info warrantee'.
6458 These were renamed for consistency. The old commands continue to work.
6459
6460 `info handle' is a new alias for `info signals'.
6461
6462 You can now define pre-command hooks, which attach arbitrary command
6463 scripts to any command. The commands in the hook will be executed
6464 prior to the user's command. You can also create a hook which will be
6465 executed whenever the program stops. See gdb.texinfo.
6466
6467 * C++ improvements
6468
6469 We now deal with Cfront style name mangling, and can even extract type
6470 info from mangled symbols. GDB can automatically figure out which
6471 symbol mangling style your C++ compiler uses.
6472
6473 Calling of methods and virtual functions has been improved as well.
6474
6475 * Major bug fixes
6476
6477 The crash that occured when debugging Sun Ansi-C compiled binaries is
6478 fixed. This was due to mishandling of the extra N_SO stabs output
6479 by the compiler.
6480
6481 We also finally got Ultrix 4.2 running in house, and fixed core file
6482 support, with help from a dozen people on the net.
6483
6484 John M. Farrell discovered that the reason that single-stepping was so
6485 slow on all of the Mips based platforms (primarily SGI and DEC) was
6486 that we were trying to demangle and lookup a symbol used for internal
6487 purposes on every instruction that was being stepped through. Changing
6488 the name of that symbol so that it couldn't be mistaken for a C++
6489 mangled symbol sped things up a great deal.
6490
6491 Rich Pixley sped up symbol lookups in general by getting much smarter
6492 about when C++ symbol mangling is necessary. This should make symbol
6493 completion (TAB on the command line) much faster. It's not as fast as
6494 we'd like, but it's significantly faster than gdb-4.6.
6495
6496 * AMD 29k support
6497
6498 A new user controllable variable 'call_scratch_address' can
6499 specify the location of a scratch area to be used when GDB
6500 calls a function in the target. This is necessary because the
6501 usual method of putting the scratch area on the stack does not work
6502 in systems that have separate instruction and data spaces.
6503
6504 We integrated changes to support the 29k UDI (Universal Debugger
6505 Interface), but discovered at the last minute that we didn't have all
6506 of the appropriate copyright paperwork. We are working with AMD to
6507 resolve this, and hope to have it available soon.
6508
6509 * Remote interfaces
6510
6511 We have sped up the remote serial line protocol, especially for targets
6512 with lots of registers. It now supports a new `expedited status' ('T')
6513 message which can be used in place of the existing 'S' status message.
6514 This allows the remote stub to send only the registers that GDB
6515 needs to make a quick decision about single-stepping or conditional
6516 breakpoints, eliminating the need to fetch the entire register set for
6517 each instruction being stepped through.
6518
6519 The GDB remote serial protocol now implements a write-through cache for
6520 registers, only re-reading the registers if the target has run.
6521
6522 There is also a new remote serial stub for SPARC processors. You can
6523 find it in gdb-4.7/gdb/sparc-stub.c. This was written to support the
6524 Fujitsu SPARClite processor, but will run on any stand-alone SPARC
6525 processor with a serial port.
6526
6527 * Configuration
6528
6529 Configure.in files have become much easier to read and modify. A new
6530 `table driven' format makes it more obvious what configurations are
6531 supported, and what files each one uses.
6532
6533 * Library changes
6534
6535 There is a new opcodes library which will eventually contain all of the
6536 disassembly routines and opcode tables. At present, it only contains
6537 Sparc and Z8000 routines. This will allow the assembler, debugger, and
6538 disassembler (binutils/objdump) to share these routines.
6539
6540 The libiberty library is now copylefted under the GNU Library General
6541 Public License. This allows more liberal use, and was done so libg++
6542 can use it. This makes no difference to GDB, since the Library License
6543 grants all the rights from the General Public License.
6544
6545 * Documentation
6546
6547 The file gdb-4.7/gdb/doc/stabs.texinfo is a (relatively) complete
6548 reference to the stabs symbol info used by the debugger. It is (as far
6549 as we know) the only published document on this fascinating topic. We
6550 encourage you to read it, compare it to the stabs information on your
6551 system, and send improvements on the document in general (to
6552 bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu).
6553
6554 And, of course, many bugs have been fixed.
6555
6556
6557 *** Changes in GDB-4.6:
6558
6559 * Better support for C++ function names
6560
6561 GDB now accepts as input the "demangled form" of C++ overloaded function
6562 names and member function names, and can do command completion on such names
6563 (using TAB, TAB-TAB, and ESC-?). The names have to be quoted with a pair of
6564 single quotes. Examples are 'func (int, long)' and 'obj::operator==(obj&)'.
6565 Make use of command completion, it is your friend.
6566
6567 GDB also now accepts a variety of C++ mangled symbol formats. They are
6568 the GNU g++ style, the Cfront (ARM) style, and the Lucid (lcc) style.
6569 You can tell GDB which format to use by doing a 'set demangle-style {gnu,
6570 lucid, cfront, auto}'. 'gnu' is the default. Do a 'set demangle-style foo'
6571 for the list of formats.
6572
6573 * G++ symbol mangling problem
6574
6575 Recent versions of gcc have a bug in how they emit debugging information for
6576 C++ methods (when using dbx-style stabs). The file 'gcc.patch' (in this
6577 directory) can be applied to gcc to fix the problem. Alternatively, if you
6578 can't fix gcc, you can #define GCC_MANGLE_BUG when compling gdb/symtab.c. The
6579 usual symptom is difficulty with setting breakpoints on methods. GDB complains
6580 about the method being non-existent. (We believe that version 2.2.2 of GCC has
6581 this problem.)
6582
6583 * New 'maintenance' command
6584
6585 All of the commands related to hacking GDB internals have been moved out of
6586 the main command set, and now live behind the 'maintenance' command. This
6587 can also be abbreviated as 'mt'. The following changes were made:
6588
6589 dump-me -> maintenance dump-me
6590 info all-breakpoints -> maintenance info breakpoints
6591 printmsyms -> maintenance print msyms
6592 printobjfiles -> maintenance print objfiles
6593 printpsyms -> maintenance print psymbols
6594 printsyms -> maintenance print symbols
6595
6596 The following commands are new:
6597
6598 maintenance demangle Call internal GDB demangler routine to
6599 demangle a C++ link name and prints the result.
6600 maintenance print type Print a type chain for a given symbol
6601
6602 * Change to .gdbinit file processing
6603
6604 We now read the $HOME/.gdbinit file before processing the argv arguments
6605 (e.g. reading symbol files or core files). This allows global parameters to
6606 be set, which will apply during the symbol reading. The ./.gdbinit is still
6607 read after argv processing.
6608
6609 * New hosts supported
6610
6611 Solaris-2.0 !!! sparc-sun-solaris2 or sun4sol2
6612
6613 GNU/Linux support i386-unknown-linux or linux
6614
6615 We are also including code to support the HP/PA running BSD and HPUX. This
6616 is almost guaranteed not to work, as we didn't have time to test or build it
6617 for this release. We are including it so that the more adventurous (or
6618 masochistic) of you can play with it. We also had major problems with the
6619 fact that the compiler that we got from HP doesn't support the -g option.
6620 It costs extra.
6621
6622 * New targets supported
6623
6624 Hitachi H8/300 h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
6625
6626 * More smarts about finding #include files
6627
6628 GDB now remembers the compilation directory for all include files, and for
6629 all files from which C is generated (like yacc and lex sources). This
6630 greatly improves GDB's ability to find yacc/lex sources, and include files,
6631 especially if you are debugging your program from a directory different from
6632 the one that contains your sources.
6633
6634 We also fixed a bug which caused difficulty with listing and setting
6635 breakpoints in include files which contain C code. (In the past, you had to
6636 try twice in order to list an include file that you hadn't looked at before.)
6637
6638 * Interesting infernals change
6639
6640 GDB now deals with arbitrary numbers of sections, where the symbols for each
6641 section must be relocated relative to that section's landing place in the
6642 target's address space. This work was needed to support ELF with embedded
6643 stabs used by Solaris-2.0.
6644
6645 * Bug fixes (of course!)
6646
6647 There have been loads of fixes for the following things:
6648 mips, rs6000, 29k/udi, m68k, g++, type handling, elf/dwarf, m88k,
6649 i960, stabs, DOS(GO32), procfs, etc...
6650
6651 See the ChangeLog for details.
6652
6653 *** Changes in GDB-4.5:
6654
6655 * New machines supported (host and target)
6656
6657 IBM RS6000 running AIX rs6000-ibm-aix or rs6000
6658
6659 SGI Irix-4.x mips-sgi-irix4 or iris4
6660
6661 * New malloc package
6662
6663 GDB now uses a new memory manager called mmalloc, based on gmalloc.
6664 Mmalloc is capable of handling mutiple heaps of memory. It is also
6665 capable of saving a heap to a file, and then mapping it back in later.
6666 This can be used to greatly speedup the startup of GDB by using a
6667 pre-parsed symbol table which lives in a mmalloc managed heap. For
6668 more details, please read mmalloc/mmalloc.texi.
6669
6670 * info proc
6671
6672 The 'info proc' command (SVR4 only) has been enhanced quite a bit. See
6673 'help info proc' for details.
6674
6675 * MIPS ecoff symbol table format
6676
6677 The code that reads MIPS symbol table format is now supported on all hosts.
6678 Thanks to MIPS for releasing the sym.h and symconst.h files to make this
6679 possible.
6680
6681 * File name changes for MS-DOS
6682
6683 Many files in the config directories have been renamed to make it easier to
6684 support GDB on MS-DOSe systems (which have very restrictive file name
6685 conventions :-( ). MS-DOSe host support (under DJ Delorie's GO32
6686 environment) is close to working but has some remaining problems. Note
6687 that debugging of DOS programs is not supported, due to limitations
6688 in the ``operating system'', but it can be used to host cross-debugging.
6689
6690 * Cross byte order fixes
6691
6692 Many fixes have been made to support cross debugging of Sparc and MIPS
6693 targets from hosts whose byte order differs.
6694
6695 * New -mapped and -readnow options
6696
6697 If memory-mapped files are available on your system through the 'mmap'
6698 system call, you can use the -mapped option on the `file' or
6699 `symbol-file' commands to cause GDB to write the symbols from your
6700 program into a reusable file. If the program you are debugging is
6701 called `/path/fred', the mapped symbol file will be `./fred.syms'.
6702 Future GDB debugging sessions will notice the presence of this file,
6703 and will quickly map in symbol information from it, rather than reading
6704 the symbol table from the executable program. Using the '-mapped'
6705 option in a GDB `file' or `symbol-file' command has the same effect as
6706 starting GDB with the '-mapped' command-line option.
6707
6708 You can cause GDB to read the entire symbol table immediately by using
6709 the '-readnow' option with any of the commands that load symbol table
6710 information (or on the GDB command line). This makes the command
6711 slower, but makes future operations faster.
6712
6713 The -mapped and -readnow options are typically combined in order to
6714 build a `fred.syms' file that contains complete symbol information.
6715 A simple GDB invocation to do nothing but build a `.syms' file for future
6716 use is:
6717
6718 gdb -batch -nx -mapped -readnow programname
6719
6720 The `.syms' file is specific to the host machine on which GDB is run.
6721 It holds an exact image of GDB's internal symbol table. It cannot be
6722 shared across multiple host platforms.
6723
6724 * longjmp() handling
6725
6726 GDB is now capable of stepping and nexting over longjmp(), _longjmp(), and
6727 siglongjmp() without losing control. This feature has not yet been ported to
6728 all systems. It currently works on many 386 platforms, all MIPS-based
6729 platforms (SGI, DECstation, etc), and Sun3/4.
6730
6731 * Solaris 2.0
6732
6733 Preliminary work has been put in to support the new Solaris OS from Sun. At
6734 this time, it can control and debug processes, but it is not capable of
6735 reading symbols.
6736
6737 * Bug fixes
6738
6739 As always, many many bug fixes. The major areas were with g++, and mipsread.
6740 People using the MIPS-based platforms should experience fewer mysterious
6741 crashes and trashed symbol tables.
6742
6743 *** Changes in GDB-4.4:
6744
6745 * New machines supported (host and target)
6746
6747 SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
6748 (except core files)
6749 BSD Reno on Vax vax-dec-bsd
6750 Ultrix on Vax vax-dec-ultrix
6751
6752 * New machines supported (target)
6753
6754 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
6755
6756 * C++ support
6757
6758 GDB continues to improve its handling of C++. `References' work better.
6759 The demangler has also been improved, and now deals with symbols mangled as
6760 per the Annotated C++ Reference Guide.
6761
6762 GDB also now handles `stabs' symbol information embedded in MIPS
6763 `ecoff' symbol tables. Since the ecoff format was not easily
6764 extensible to handle new languages such as C++, this appeared to be a
6765 good way to put C++ debugging info into MIPS binaries. This option
6766 will be supported in the GNU C compiler, version 2, when it is
6767 released.
6768
6769 * New features for SVR4
6770
6771 GDB now handles SVR4 shared libraries, in the same fashion as SunOS
6772 shared libraries. Debugging dynamically linked programs should present
6773 only minor differences from debugging statically linked programs.
6774
6775 The `info proc' command will print out information about any process
6776 on an SVR4 system (including the one you are debugging). At the moment,
6777 it prints the address mappings of the process.
6778
6779 If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please send mail to
6780 bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were reqired (if any).
6781
6782 * Better dynamic linking support in SunOS
6783
6784 Reading symbols from shared libraries which contain debugging symbols
6785 now works properly. However, there remain issues such as automatic
6786 skipping of `transfer vector' code during function calls, which
6787 make it harder to debug code in a shared library, than to debug the
6788 same code linked statically.
6789
6790 * New Getopt
6791
6792 GDB is now using the latest `getopt' routines from the FSF. This
6793 version accepts the -- prefix for options with long names. GDB will
6794 continue to accept the old forms (-option and +option) as well.
6795 Various single letter abbreviations for options have been explicity
6796 added to the option table so that they won't get overshadowed in the
6797 future by other options that begin with the same letter.
6798
6799 * Bugs fixed
6800
6801 The `cleanup_undefined_types' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
6802 Many assorted bugs have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
6803 See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
6804
6805
6806 *** Changes in GDB-4.3:
6807
6808 * New machines supported (host and target)
6809
6810 Amiga 3000 running Amix m68k-cbm-svr4 or amix
6811 NCR 3000 386 running SVR4 i386-ncr-svr4 or ncr3000
6812 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
6813
6814 * Almost SCO Unix support
6815
6816 We had hoped to support:
6817 SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
6818 (except for core file support), but we discovered very late in the release
6819 that it has problems with process groups that render gdb unusable. Sorry
6820 about that. I encourage people to fix it and post the fixes.
6821
6822 * Preliminary ELF and DWARF support
6823
6824 GDB can read ELF object files on System V Release 4, and can handle
6825 debugging records for C, in DWARF format, in ELF files. This support
6826 is preliminary. If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please
6827 send mail to bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were
6828 reqired (if any).
6829
6830 * New Readline
6831
6832 GDB now uses the latest `readline' library. One user-visible change
6833 is that two tabs will list possible command completions, which previously
6834 required typing M-? (meta-question mark, or ESC ?).
6835
6836 * Bugs fixed
6837
6838 The `stepi' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
6839 Many bugs in C++ have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
6840 See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
6841
6842 * State of the MIPS world (in case you wondered):
6843
6844 GDB can understand the symbol tables emitted by the compilers
6845 supplied by most vendors of MIPS-based machines, including DEC. These
6846 symbol tables are in a format that essentially nobody else uses.
6847
6848 Some versions of gcc come with an assembler post-processor called
6849 mips-tfile. This program is required if you want to do source-level
6850 debugging of gcc-compiled programs. I believe FSF does not ship
6851 mips-tfile with gcc version 1, but it will eventually come with gcc
6852 version 2.
6853
6854 Debugging of g++ output remains a problem. g++ version 1.xx does not
6855 really support it at all. (If you're lucky, you should be able to get
6856 line numbers and stack traces to work, but no parameters or local
6857 variables.) With some work it should be possible to improve the
6858 situation somewhat.
6859
6860 When gcc version 2 is released, you will have somewhat better luck.
6861 However, even then you will get confusing results for inheritance and
6862 methods.
6863
6864 We will eventually provide full debugging of g++ output on
6865 DECstations. This will probably involve some kind of stabs-in-ecoff
6866 encapulation, but the details have not been worked out yet.
6867
6868
6869 *** Changes in GDB-4.2:
6870
6871 * Improved configuration
6872
6873 Only one copy of `configure' exists now, and it is not self-modifying.
6874 Porting BFD is simpler.
6875
6876 * Stepping improved
6877
6878 The `step' and `next' commands now only stop at the first instruction
6879 of a source line. This prevents the multiple stops that used to occur
6880 in switch statements, for-loops, etc. `Step' continues to stop if a
6881 function that has debugging information is called within the line.
6882
6883 * Bug fixing
6884
6885 Lots of small bugs fixed. More remain.
6886
6887 * New host supported (not target)
6888
6889 Intel 386 PC clone running Mach i386-none-mach
6890
6891
6892 *** Changes in GDB-4.1:
6893
6894 * Multiple source language support
6895
6896 GDB now has internal scaffolding to handle several source languages.
6897 It determines the type of each source file from its filename extension,
6898 and will switch expression parsing and number formatting to match the
6899 language of the function in the currently selected stack frame.
6900 You can also specifically set the language to be used, with
6901 `set language c' or `set language modula-2'.
6902
6903 * GDB and Modula-2
6904
6905 GDB now has preliminary support for the GNU Modula-2 compiler,
6906 currently under development at the State University of New York at
6907 Buffalo. Development of both GDB and the GNU Modula-2 compiler will
6908 continue through the fall of 1991 and into 1992.
6909
6910 Other Modula-2 compilers are currently not supported, and attempting to
6911 debug programs compiled with them will likely result in an error as the
6912 symbol table is read. Feel free to work on it, though!
6913
6914 There are hooks in GDB for strict type checking and range checking,
6915 in the `Modula-2 philosophy', but they do not currently work.
6916
6917 * set write on/off
6918
6919 GDB can now write to executable and core files (e.g. patch
6920 a variable's value). You must turn this switch on, specify
6921 the file ("exec foo" or "core foo"), *then* modify it, e.g.
6922 by assigning a new value to a variable. Modifications take
6923 effect immediately.
6924
6925 * Automatic SunOS shared library reading
6926
6927 When you run your program, GDB automatically determines where its
6928 shared libraries (if any) have been loaded, and reads their symbols.
6929 The `share' command is no longer needed. This also works when
6930 examining core files.
6931
6932 * set listsize
6933
6934 You can specify the number of lines that the `list' command shows.
6935 The default is 10.
6936
6937 * New machines supported (host and target)
6938
6939 SGI Iris (MIPS) running Irix V3: mips-sgi-irix or iris
6940 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x: m68k-sony-sysv or news
6941 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1: a29k-nyu-sym1 or ultra3
6942
6943 * New hosts supported (not targets)
6944
6945 IBM RT/PC: romp-ibm-aix or rtpc
6946
6947 * New targets supported (not hosts)
6948
6949 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
6950 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
6951 Ultracomputer remote kernel debug a29k-nyu-kern
6952
6953 * New remote interfaces
6954
6955 AMD 29000 Adapt
6956 AMD 29000 Minimon
6957
6958
6959 *** Changes in GDB-4.0:
6960
6961 * New Facilities
6962
6963 Wide output is wrapped at good places to make the output more readable.
6964
6965 Gdb now supports cross-debugging from a host machine of one type to a
6966 target machine of another type. Communication with the target system
6967 is over serial lines. The ``target'' command handles connecting to the
6968 remote system; the ``load'' command will download a program into the
6969 remote system. Serial stubs for the m68k and i386 are provided. Gdb
6970 also supports debugging of realtime processes running under VxWorks,
6971 using SunRPC Remote Procedure Calls over TCP/IP to talk to a debugger
6972 stub on the target system.
6973
6974 New CPUs supported include the AMD 29000 and Intel 960.
6975
6976 GDB now reads object files and symbol tables via a ``binary file''
6977 library, which allows a single copy of GDB to debug programs of multiple
6978 object file types such as a.out and coff.
6979
6980 There is now a GDB reference card in "doc/refcard.tex". (Make targets
6981 refcard.dvi and refcard.ps are available to format it).
6982
6983
6984 * Control-Variable user interface simplified
6985
6986 All variables that control the operation of the debugger can be set
6987 by the ``set'' command, and displayed by the ``show'' command.
6988
6989 For example, ``set prompt new-gdb=>'' will change your prompt to new-gdb=>.
6990 ``Show prompt'' produces the response:
6991 Gdb's prompt is new-gdb=>.
6992
6993 What follows are the NEW set commands. The command ``help set'' will
6994 print a complete list of old and new set commands. ``help set FOO''
6995 will give a longer description of the variable FOO. ``show'' will show
6996 all of the variable descriptions and their current settings.
6997
6998 confirm on/off: Enables warning questions for operations that are
6999 hard to recover from, e.g. rerunning the program while
7000 it is already running. Default is ON.
7001
7002 editing on/off: Enables EMACS style command line editing
7003 of input. Previous lines can be recalled with
7004 control-P, the current line can be edited with control-B,
7005 you can search for commands with control-R, etc.
7006 Default is ON.
7007
7008 history filename NAME: NAME is where the gdb command history
7009 will be stored. The default is .gdb_history,
7010 or the value of the environment variable
7011 GDBHISTFILE.
7012
7013 history size N: The size, in commands, of the command history. The
7014 default is 256, or the value of the environment variable
7015 HISTSIZE.
7016
7017 history save on/off: If this value is set to ON, the history file will
7018 be saved after exiting gdb. If set to OFF, the
7019 file will not be saved. The default is OFF.
7020
7021 history expansion on/off: If this value is set to ON, then csh-like
7022 history expansion will be performed on
7023 command line input. The default is OFF.
7024
7025 radix N: Sets the default radix for input and output. It can be set
7026 to 8, 10, or 16. Note that the argument to "radix" is interpreted
7027 in the current radix, so "set radix 10" is always a no-op.
7028
7029 height N: This integer value is the number of lines on a page. Default
7030 is 24, the current `stty rows'' setting, or the ``li#''
7031 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
7032 variable TERM.
7033
7034 width N: This integer value is the number of characters on a line.
7035 Default is 80, the current `stty cols'' setting, or the ``co#''
7036 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
7037 variable TERM.
7038
7039 Note: ``set screensize'' is obsolete. Use ``set height'' and
7040 ``set width'' instead.
7041
7042 print address on/off: Print memory addresses in various command displays,
7043 such as stack traces and structure values. Gdb looks
7044 more ``symbolic'' if you turn this off; it looks more
7045 ``machine level'' with it on. Default is ON.
7046
7047 print array on/off: Prettyprint arrays. New convenient format! Default
7048 is OFF.
7049
7050 print demangle on/off: Print C++ symbols in "source" form if on,
7051 "raw" form if off.
7052
7053 print asm-demangle on/off: Same, for assembler level printouts
7054 like instructions.
7055
7056 print vtbl on/off: Prettyprint C++ virtual function tables. Default is OFF.
7057
7058
7059 * Support for Epoch Environment.
7060
7061 The epoch environment is a version of Emacs v18 with windowing. One
7062 new command, ``inspect'', is identical to ``print'', except that if you
7063 are running in the epoch environment, the value is printed in its own
7064 window.
7065
7066
7067 * Support for Shared Libraries
7068
7069 GDB can now debug programs and core files that use SunOS shared libraries.
7070 Symbols from a shared library cannot be referenced
7071 before the shared library has been linked with the program (this
7072 happens after you type ``run'' and before the function main() is entered).
7073 At any time after this linking (including when examining core files
7074 from dynamically linked programs), gdb reads the symbols from each
7075 shared library when you type the ``sharedlibrary'' command.
7076 It can be abbreviated ``share''.
7077
7078 sharedlibrary REGEXP: Load shared object library symbols for files
7079 matching a unix regular expression. No argument
7080 indicates to load symbols for all shared libraries.
7081
7082 info sharedlibrary: Status of loaded shared libraries.
7083
7084
7085 * Watchpoints
7086
7087 A watchpoint stops execution of a program whenever the value of an
7088 expression changes. Checking for this slows down execution
7089 tremendously whenever you are in the scope of the expression, but is
7090 quite useful for catching tough ``bit-spreader'' or pointer misuse
7091 problems. Some machines such as the 386 have hardware for doing this
7092 more quickly, and future versions of gdb will use this hardware.
7093
7094 watch EXP: Set a watchpoint (breakpoint) for an expression.
7095
7096 info watchpoints: Information about your watchpoints.
7097
7098 delete N: Deletes watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
7099 disable N: Temporarily turns off watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
7100 enable N: Re-enables watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
7101
7102
7103 * C++ multiple inheritance
7104
7105 When used with a GCC version 2 compiler, GDB supports multiple inheritance
7106 for C++ programs.
7107
7108 * C++ exception handling
7109
7110 Gdb now supports limited C++ exception handling. Besides the existing
7111 ability to breakpoint on an exception handler, gdb can breakpoint on
7112 the raising of an exception (before the stack is peeled back to the
7113 handler's context).
7114
7115 catch FOO: If there is a FOO exception handler in the dynamic scope,
7116 set a breakpoint to catch exceptions which may be raised there.
7117 Multiple exceptions (``catch foo bar baz'') may be caught.
7118
7119 info catch: Lists all exceptions which may be caught in the
7120 current stack frame.
7121
7122
7123 * Minor command changes
7124
7125 The command ``call func (arg, arg, ...)'' now acts like the print
7126 command, except it does not print or save a value if the function's result
7127 is void. This is similar to dbx usage.
7128
7129 The ``up'' and ``down'' commands now always print the frame they end up
7130 at; ``up-silently'' and `down-silently'' can be used in scripts to change
7131 frames without printing.
7132
7133 * New directory command
7134
7135 'dir' now adds directories to the FRONT of the source search path.
7136 The path starts off empty. Source files that contain debug information
7137 about the directory in which they were compiled can be found even
7138 with an empty path; Sun CC and GCC include this information. If GDB can't
7139 find your source file in the current directory, type "dir .".
7140
7141 * Configuring GDB for compilation
7142
7143 For normal use, type ``./configure host''. See README or gdb.texinfo
7144 for more details.
7145
7146 GDB now handles cross debugging. If you are remotely debugging between
7147 two different machines, type ``./configure host -target=targ''.
7148 Host is the machine where GDB will run; targ is the machine
7149 where the program that you are debugging will run.
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