1 What has changed in GDB?
2 (Organized release by release)
4 *** Changes since GDB 6.4
8 init-if-undefined Initialize a convenience variable, but
9 only if it doesn't already have a value.
11 *** Changes in GDB 6.4
13 * New native configurations
15 OpenBSD/arm arm*-*-openbsd*
16 OpenBSD/mips64 mips64-*-openbsd*
20 Morpho Technologies ms1 ms1-elf
22 * New command line options
24 --batch-silent As for --batch, but totally silent.
25 --return-child-result The debugger will exist with the same value
26 the child (debugged) program exited with.
27 --eval-command COMMAND, -ex COMMAND
28 Execute a single GDB CLI command. This may be
29 specified multiple times and in conjunction
30 with the --command (-x) option.
32 * Deprecated commands removed
34 The following commands, that were deprecated in 2000, have been
38 set|show arm disassembly-flavor set|show arm disassembler
39 othernames set arm disassembler
40 set|show remotedebug set|show debug remote
41 set|show archdebug set|show debug arch
42 set|show eventdebug set|show debug event
45 * New BSD user-level threads support
47 It is now possible to debug programs using the user-level threads
48 library on OpenBSD and FreeBSD. Currently supported (target)
51 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
52 FreeBSD/i386 i386-*-freebsd*
53 OpenBSD/i386 i386-*-openbsd*
55 Note that the new kernel threads libraries introduced in FreeBSD 5.x
56 are not yet supported.
58 * New support for Matsushita MN10300 w/sim added
59 (Work in progress). mn10300-elf.
61 * REMOVED configurations and files
63 VxWorks and the XDR protocol *-*-vxworks
64 Renesas H8/300S h8300*-*-*
65 Motorola MCORE mcore-*-*
66 Matsushita MN10300 w/simulator mn10300-*-*
67 National Semiconductor NS32000 ns32k-*-*
70 * New "set print array-indexes" command
72 After turning this setting "on", GDB prints the index of each element
73 when displaying arrays. The default is "off" to preserve the previous
76 * VAX floating point support
78 GDB now supports the not-quite-ieee VAX F and D floating point formats.
80 * User-defined command support
82 In addition to using $arg0..$arg9 for argument passing, it is now possible
83 to use $argc to determine now many arguments have been passed. See the
84 section on user-defined commands in the user manual for more information.
86 *** Changes in GDB 6.3:
88 * New command line option
90 GDB now accepts -l followed by a number to set the timeout for remote
93 * GDB works with GCC -feliminate-dwarf2-dups
95 GDB now supports a more compact representation of DWARF-2 debug
96 information using DW_FORM_ref_addr references. These are produced
97 by GCC with the option -feliminate-dwarf2-dups and also by some
98 proprietary compilers. With GCC, you must use GCC 3.3.4 or later
99 to use -feliminate-dwarf2-dups.
101 * Internationalization
103 When supported by the host system, GDB will be built with
104 internationalization (libintl). The task of marking up the sources is
105 continued, we're looking forward to our first translation.
109 Initial support for debugging programs compiled with the GNAT
110 implementation of the Ada programming language has been integrated
111 into GDB. In this release, support is limited to expression evaluation.
113 * New native configurations
115 GNU/Linux/m32r m32r-*-linux-gnu
119 GDB's remote protocol now includes support for the 'p' packet. This
120 packet is used to fetch individual registers from a remote inferior.
122 * END-OF-LIFE registers[] compatibility module
124 GDB's internal register infrastructure has been completely rewritten.
125 The new infrastructure making possible the implementation of key new
126 features including 32x64 (e.g., 64-bit amd64 GDB debugging a 32-bit
129 GDB 6.3 will be the last release to include the the registers[]
130 compatibility module that allowed out-of-date configurations to
131 continue to work. This change directly impacts the following
143 Unless there is activity to revive these configurations, they will be
144 made OBSOLETE in GDB 6.4, and REMOVED from GDB 6.5.
146 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
148 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
149 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
150 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
160 *** Changes in GDB 6.2.1:
162 * MIPS `break main; run' gave an heuristic-fence-post warning
164 When attempting to run even a simple program, a warning about
165 heuristic-fence-post being hit would be reported. This problem has
168 * MIPS IRIX 'long double' crashed GDB
170 When examining a long double variable, GDB would get a segmentation
171 fault. The crash has been fixed (but GDB 6.2 cannot correctly examine
172 IRIX long double values).
176 A bug in the VAX stack code was causing problems with the "next"
177 command. This problem has been fixed.
179 *** Changes in GDB 6.2:
181 * Fix for ``many threads''
183 On GNU/Linux systems that use the NPTL threads library, a program
184 rapidly creating and deleting threads would confuse GDB leading to the
187 ptrace: No such process.
188 thread_db_get_info: cannot get thread info: generic error
190 This problem has been fixed.
192 * "-async" and "-noasync" options removed.
194 Support for the broken "-noasync" option has been removed (it caused
197 * New ``start'' command.
199 This command runs the program until the begining of the main procedure.
201 * New BSD Kernel Data Access Library (libkvm) interface
203 Using ``target kvm'' it is now possible to debug kernel core dumps and
204 live kernel memory images on various FreeBSD, NetBSD and OpenBSD
205 platforms. Currently supported (native-only) configurations are:
207 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
208 FreeBSD/i386 i?86-*-freebsd*
209 NetBSD/i386 i?86-*-netbsd*
210 NetBSD/m68k m68*-*-netbsd*
211 NetBSD/sparc sparc-*-netbsd*
212 OpenBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-openbsd*
213 OpenBSD/i386 i?86-*-openbsd*
214 OpenBSD/m68k m68*-openbsd*
215 OpenBSD/sparc sparc-*-openbsd*
217 * Signal trampoline code overhauled
219 Many generic problems with GDB's signal handling code have been fixed.
220 These include: backtraces through non-contiguous stacks; recognition
221 of sa_sigaction signal trampolines; backtrace from a NULL pointer
222 call; backtrace through a signal trampoline; step into and out of
223 signal handlers; and single-stepping in the signal trampoline.
225 Please note that kernel bugs are a limiting factor here. These
226 features have been shown to work on an s390 GNU/Linux system that
227 include a 2.6.8-rc1 kernel. Ref PR breakpoints/1702.
229 * Cygwin support for DWARF 2 added.
231 * New native configurations
233 GNU/Linux/hppa hppa*-*-linux*
234 OpenBSD/hppa hppa*-*-openbsd*
235 OpenBSD/m68k m68*-*-openbsd*
236 OpenBSD/m88k m88*-*-openbsd*
237 OpenBSD/powerpc powerpc-*-openbsd*
238 NetBSD/vax vax-*-netbsd*
239 OpenBSD/vax vax-*-openbsd*
241 * END-OF-LIFE frame compatibility module
243 GDB's internal frame infrastructure has been completely rewritten.
244 The new infrastructure making it possible to support key new features
245 including DWARF 2 Call Frame Information. To aid in the task of
246 migrating old configurations to this new infrastructure, a
247 compatibility module, that allowed old configurations to continue to
248 work, was also included.
250 GDB 6.2 will be the last release to include this frame compatibility
251 module. This change directly impacts the following configurations:
261 Unless there is activity to revive these configurations, they will be
262 made OBSOLETE in GDB 6.3, and REMOVED from GDB 6.4.
264 * REMOVED configurations and files
266 Sun 3, running SunOS 3 m68*-*-sunos3*
267 Sun 3, running SunOS 4 m68*-*-sunos4*
268 Sun 2, running SunOS 3 m68000-*-sunos3*
269 Sun 2, running SunOS 4 m68000-*-sunos4*
270 Motorola 680x0 running LynxOS m68*-*-lynxos*
271 AT&T 3b1/Unix pc m68*-att-*
272 Bull DPX2 (68k, System V release 3) m68*-bull-sysv*
273 decstation mips-dec-* mips-little-*
274 riscos mips-*-riscos* mips-*-sysv*
276 sysv mips*-*-sysv4* (IRIX 5/6 not included)
278 *** Changes in GDB 6.1.1:
280 * TUI (Text-mode User Interface) built-in (also included in GDB 6.1)
282 The TUI (Text-mode User Interface) is now built as part of a default
283 GDB configuration. It is enabled by either selecting the TUI with the
284 command line option "-i=tui" or by running the separate "gdbtui"
285 program. For more information on the TUI, see the manual "Debugging
288 * Pending breakpoint support (also included in GDB 6.1)
290 Support has been added to allow you to specify breakpoints in shared
291 libraries that have not yet been loaded. If a breakpoint location
292 cannot be found, and the "breakpoint pending" option is set to auto,
293 GDB queries you if you wish to make the breakpoint pending on a future
294 shared-library load. If and when GDB resolves the breakpoint symbol,
295 the pending breakpoint is removed as one or more regular breakpoints
298 Pending breakpoints are very useful for GCJ Java debugging.
300 * Fixed ISO-C build problems
302 The files bfd/elf-bfd.h, gdb/dictionary.c and gdb/types.c contained
303 non ISO-C code that stopped them being built using a more strict ISO-C
304 compiler (e.g., IBM's C compiler).
306 * Fixed build problem on IRIX 5
308 Due to header problems with <sys/proc.h>, the file gdb/proc-api.c
309 wasn't able to compile compile on an IRIX 5 system.
311 * Added execute permission to gdb/gdbserver/configure
313 The shell script gdb/testsuite/gdb.stabs/configure lacked execute
314 permission. This bug would cause configure to fail on a number of
315 systems (Solaris, IRIX). Ref: server/519.
317 * Fixed build problem on hpux2.0w-hp-hpux11.00 using the HP ANSI C compiler
319 Older HPUX ANSI C compilers did not accept variable array sizes. somsolib.c
320 has been updated to use constant array sizes.
322 * Fixed a panic in the DWARF Call Frame Info code on Solaris 2.7
324 GCC 3.3.2, on Solaris 2.7, includes the DW_EH_PE_funcrel encoding in
325 its generated DWARF Call Frame Info. This encoding was causing GDB to
326 panic, that panic has been fixed. Ref: gdb/1628.
328 * Fixed a problem when examining parameters in shared library code.
330 When examining parameters in optimized shared library code generated
331 by a mainline GCC, GDB would incorrectly report ``Variable "..." is
332 not available''. GDB now correctly displays the variable's value.
334 *** Changes in GDB 6.1:
336 * Removed --with-mmalloc
338 Support for the mmalloc memory manager has been removed, as it
339 conflicted with the internal gdb byte cache.
341 * Changes in AMD64 configurations
343 The AMD64 target now includes the %cs and %ss registers. As a result
344 the AMD64 remote protocol has changed; this affects the floating-point
345 and SSE registers. If you rely on those registers for your debugging,
346 you should upgrade gdbserver on the remote side.
348 * Revised SPARC target
350 The SPARC target has been completely revised, incorporating the
351 FreeBSD/sparc64 support that was added for GDB 6.0. As a result
352 support for LynxOS and SunOS 4 has been dropped. Calling functions
353 from within GDB on operating systems with a non-executable stack
354 (Solaris, OpenBSD) now works.
358 GDB has a new C++ demangler which does a better job on the mangled
359 names generated by current versions of g++. It also runs faster, so
360 with this and other changes gdb should now start faster on large C++
363 * DWARF 2 Location Expressions
365 GDB support for location expressions has been extended to support function
366 arguments and frame bases. Older versions of GDB could crash when they
369 * C++ nested types and namespaces
371 GDB's support for nested types and namespaces in C++ has been
372 improved, especially if you use the DWARF 2 debugging format. (This
373 is the default for recent versions of GCC on most platforms.)
374 Specifically, if you have a class "Inner" defined within a class or
375 namespace "Outer", then GDB realizes that the class's name is
376 "Outer::Inner", not simply "Inner". This should greatly reduce the
377 frequency of complaints about not finding RTTI symbols. In addition,
378 if you are stopped at inside of a function defined within a namespace,
379 GDB modifies its name lookup accordingly.
381 * New native configurations
383 NetBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-netbsd*
384 OpenBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-openbsd*
385 OpenBSD/alpha alpha*-*-openbsd*
386 OpenBSD/sparc sparc-*-openbsd*
387 OpenBSD/sparc64 sparc64-*-openbsd*
389 * New debugging protocols
391 M32R with SDI protocol m32r-*-elf*
393 * "set prompt-escape-char" command deleted.
395 The command "set prompt-escape-char" has been deleted. This command,
396 and its very obscure effet on GDB's prompt, was never documented,
397 tested, nor mentioned in the NEWS file.
399 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
401 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
402 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
403 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
406 Sun 3, running SunOS 3 m68*-*-sunos3*
407 Sun 3, running SunOS 4 m68*-*-sunos4*
408 Sun 2, running SunOS 3 m68000-*-sunos3*
409 Sun 2, running SunOS 4 m68000-*-sunos4*
410 Motorola 680x0 running LynxOS m68*-*-lynxos*
411 AT&T 3b1/Unix pc m68*-att-*
412 Bull DPX2 (68k, System V release 3) m68*-bull-sysv*
413 decstation mips-dec-* mips-little-*
414 riscos mips-*-riscos* mips-*-sysv*
416 sysv mips*-*-sysv4* (IRIX 5/6 not included)
418 * REMOVED configurations and files
420 SGI Irix-4.x mips-sgi-irix4 or iris4
421 SGI Iris (MIPS) running Irix V3: mips-sgi-irix or iris
422 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
423 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
424 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
425 HP/PA running BSD hppa*-*-bsd*
426 HP/PA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
427 HP/PA Pro target hppa*-*-pro*
428 PMAX (MIPS) running Mach 3.0 mips*-*-mach3*
429 386BSD i[3456]86-*-bsd*
430 Sequent family i[3456]86-sequent-sysv4*
431 i[3456]86-sequent-sysv*
432 i[3456]86-sequent-bsd*
433 SPARC running LynxOS sparc-*-lynxos*
434 SPARC running SunOS 4 sparc-*-sunos4*
435 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
436 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
438 *** Changes in GDB 6.0:
442 Support for debugging the Objective-C programming language has been
445 * New backtrace mechanism (includes DWARF 2 Call Frame Information).
447 DWARF 2's Call Frame Information makes available compiler generated
448 information that more exactly describes the program's run-time stack.
449 By using this information, GDB is able to provide more robust stack
452 The i386, amd64 (nee, x86-64), Alpha, m68hc11, ia64, and m32r targets
453 have been updated to use a new backtrace mechanism which includes
458 GDB's remote protocol has been extended to include support for hosted
459 file I/O (where the remote target uses GDB's file system). See GDB's
460 remote protocol documentation for details.
462 * All targets using the new architecture framework.
464 All of GDB's targets have been updated to use the new internal
465 architecture framework. The way is now open for future GDB releases
466 to include cross-architecture native debugging support (i386 on amd64,
469 * GNU/Linux's Thread Local Storage (TLS)
471 GDB now includes support for for the GNU/Linux implementation of
472 per-thread variables.
474 * GNU/Linux's Native POSIX Thread Library (NPTL)
476 GDB's thread code has been updated to work with either the new
477 GNU/Linux NPTL thread library or the older "LinuxThreads" library.
479 * Separate debug info.
481 GDB, in conjunction with BINUTILS, now supports a mechanism for
482 automatically loading debug information from a separate file. Instead
483 of shipping full debug and non-debug versions of system libraries,
484 system integrators can now instead ship just the stripped libraries
485 and optional debug files.
487 * DWARF 2 Location Expressions
489 DWARF 2 Location Expressions allow the compiler to more completely
490 describe the location of variables (even in optimized code) to the
493 GDB now includes preliminary support for location expressions (support
494 for DW_OP_piece is still missing).
498 A number of long standing bugs that caused GDB to die while starting a
499 Java application have been fixed. GDB's Java support is now
500 considered "useable".
502 * GNU/Linux support for fork, vfork, and exec.
504 The "catch fork", "catch exec", "catch vfork", and "set follow-fork-mode"
505 commands are now implemented for GNU/Linux. They require a 2.5.x or later
508 * GDB supports logging output to a file
510 There are two new commands, "set logging" and "show logging", which can be
511 used to capture GDB's output to a file.
513 * The meaning of "detach" has changed for gdbserver
515 The "detach" command will now resume the application, as documented. To
516 disconnect from gdbserver and leave it stopped, use the new "disconnect"
519 * d10v, m68hc11 `regs' command deprecated
521 The `info registers' command has been updated so that it displays the
522 registers using a format identical to the old `regs' command.
526 A new command, "maint set profile on/off", has been added. This command can
527 be used to enable or disable profiling while running GDB, to profile a
528 session or a set of commands. In addition there is a new configure switch,
529 "--enable-profiling", which will cause GDB to be compiled with profiling
530 data, for more informative profiling results.
532 * Default MI syntax changed to "mi2".
534 The default MI (machine interface) syntax, enabled by the command line
535 option "-i=mi", has been changed to "mi2". The previous MI syntax,
536 "mi1", can be enabled by specifying the option "-i=mi1".
538 Support for the original "mi0" syntax (included in GDB 5.0) has been
541 Fix for gdb/192: removed extraneous space when displaying frame level.
542 Fix for gdb/672: update changelist is now output in mi list format.
543 Fix for gdb/702: a -var-assign that updates the value now shows up
544 in a subsequent -var-update.
546 * New native configurations.
548 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
550 * Multi-arched targets.
552 HP/PA HPUX11 hppa*-*-hpux*
553 Renesas M32R/D w/simulator m32r-*-elf*
555 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
557 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
558 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
559 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
562 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
563 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
564 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
565 HP/PA running BSD hppa*-*-bsd*
566 HP/PA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
567 HP/PA Pro target hppa*-*-pro*
568 PMAX (MIPS) running Mach 3.0 mips*-*-mach3*
569 Sequent family i[3456]86-sequent-sysv4*
570 i[3456]86-sequent-sysv*
571 i[3456]86-sequent-bsd*
572 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
573 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
575 * REMOVED configurations and files
578 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
579 IBM AIX PS/2 i[3456]86-*-aix
580 i386 running Mach 3.0 i[3456]86-*-mach3*
581 i386 running Mach i[3456]86-*-mach*
582 i386 running OSF/1 i[3456]86-*osf1mk*
583 HP/Apollo 68k Family m68*-apollo*-sysv*,
585 m68*-hp-bsd*, m68*-hp-hpux*
586 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
587 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
588 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
589 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
590 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
592 * MIPS $fp behavior changed
594 The convenience variable $fp, for the MIPS, now consistently returns
595 the address of the current frame's base. Previously, depending on the
596 context, $fp could refer to either $sp or the current frame's base
597 address. See ``8.10 Registers'' in the manual ``Debugging with GDB:
598 The GNU Source-Level Debugger''.
600 *** Changes in GDB 5.3:
602 * GNU/Linux shared library multi-threaded performance improved.
604 When debugging a multi-threaded application on GNU/Linux, GDB now uses
605 `/proc', in preference to `ptrace' for memory reads. This may result
606 in an improvement in the start-up time of multi-threaded, shared
607 library applications when run under GDB. One GDB user writes: ``loads
608 shared libs like mad''.
610 * ``gdbserver'' now supports multi-threaded applications on some targets
612 Support for debugging multi-threaded applications which use
613 the GNU/Linux LinuxThreads package has been added for
614 arm*-*-linux*-gnu*, i[3456]86-*-linux*-gnu*, mips*-*-linux*-gnu*,
615 powerpc*-*-linux*-gnu*, and sh*-*-linux*-gnu*.
617 * GDB now supports C/C++ preprocessor macros.
619 GDB now expands preprocessor macro invocations in C/C++ expressions,
620 and provides various commands for showing macro definitions and how
623 The new command `macro expand EXPRESSION' expands any macro
624 invocations in expression, and shows the result.
626 The new command `show macro MACRO-NAME' shows the definition of the
627 macro named MACRO-NAME, and where it was defined.
629 Most compilers don't include information about macros in the debugging
630 information by default. In GCC 3.1, for example, you need to compile
631 your program with the options `-gdwarf-2 -g3'. If the macro
632 information is present in the executable, GDB will read it.
634 * Multi-arched targets.
636 DEC Alpha (partial) alpha*-*-*
637 DEC VAX (partial) vax-*-*
639 National Semiconductor NS32000 (partial) ns32k-*-*
640 Motorola 68000 (partial) m68k-*-*
641 Motorola MCORE mcore-*-*
645 Fujitsu FRV architecture added by Red Hat frv*-*-*
648 * New native configurations
650 Alpha NetBSD alpha*-*-netbsd*
651 SH NetBSD sh*-*-netbsdelf*
652 MIPS NetBSD mips*-*-netbsd*
653 UltraSPARC NetBSD sparc64-*-netbsd*
655 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
657 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
658 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
659 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
662 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
663 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
664 IBM AIX PS/2 i[3456]86-*-aix
665 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
666 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
667 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
668 i386 running Mach 3.0 i[3456]86-*-mach3*
669 i386 running Mach i[3456]86-*-mach*
670 i386 running OSF/1 i[3456]86-*osf1mk*
671 HP/Apollo 68k Family m68*-apollo*-sysv*,
673 m68*-hp-bsd*, m68*-hp-hpux*
674 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
678 CHILL, a Pascal like language used by telecommunications companies.
680 * REMOVED configurations and files
682 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi, udi29k
683 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
684 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
685 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
686 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
688 testsuite/gdb.hp/gdb.threads-hp/ directory
690 * New command "set max-user-call-depth <nnn>"
692 This command allows the user to limit the call depth of user-defined
693 commands. The default is 1024.
695 * Changes in FreeBSD/i386 native debugging.
697 Support for the "generate-core-file" has been added.
699 * New commands "dump", "append", and "restore".
701 These commands allow data to be copied from target memory
702 to a bfd-format or binary file (dump and append), and back
703 from a file into memory (restore).
705 * Improved "next/step" support on multi-processor Alpha Tru64.
707 The previous single-step mechanism could cause unpredictable problems,
708 including the random appearance of SIGSEGV or SIGTRAP signals. The use
709 of a software single-step mechanism prevents this.
711 *** Changes in GDB 5.2.1:
719 gdb/182: gdb/323: gdb/237: On alpha, gdb was reporting:
720 mdebugread.c:2443: gdb-internal-error: sect_index_data not initialized
721 Fix, by Joel Brobecker imported from mainline.
723 gdb/439: gdb/291: On some ELF object files, gdb was reporting:
724 dwarf2read.c:1072: gdb-internal-error: sect_index_text not initialize
725 Fix, by Fred Fish, imported from mainline.
727 Dwarf2 .debug_frame & .eh_frame handler improved in many ways.
728 Surprisingly enough, it works now.
729 By Michal Ludvig, imported from mainline.
731 i386 hardware watchpoint support:
732 avoid misses on second run for some targets.
733 By Pierre Muller, imported from mainline.
735 *** Changes in GDB 5.2:
737 * New command "set trust-readonly-sections on[off]".
739 This command is a hint that tells gdb that read-only sections
740 really are read-only (ie. that their contents will not change).
741 In this mode, gdb will go to the object file rather than the
742 target to read memory from read-only sections (such as ".text").
743 This can be a significant performance improvement on some
744 (notably embedded) targets.
746 * New command "generate-core-file" (or "gcore").
748 This new gdb command allows the user to drop a core file of the child
749 process state at any time. So far it's been implemented only for
750 GNU/Linux and Solaris, but should be relatively easily ported to other
751 hosts. Argument is core file name (defaults to core.<pid>).
753 * New command line option
755 GDB now accepts --pid or -p followed by a process id.
757 * Change in command line behavior -- corefiles vs. process ids.
759 There is a subtle behavior in the way in which GDB handles
760 command line arguments. The first non-flag argument is always
761 a program to debug, but the second non-flag argument may either
762 be a corefile or a process id. Previously, GDB would attempt to
763 open the second argument as a corefile, and if that failed, would
764 issue a superfluous error message and then attempt to attach it as
765 a process. Now, if the second argument begins with a non-digit,
766 it will be treated as a corefile. If it begins with a digit,
767 GDB will attempt to attach it as a process, and if no such process
768 is found, will then attempt to open it as a corefile.
770 * Changes in ARM configurations.
772 Multi-arch support is enabled for all ARM configurations. The ARM/NetBSD
773 configuration is fully multi-arch.
775 * New native configurations
777 ARM NetBSD arm*-*-netbsd*
778 x86 OpenBSD i[3456]86-*-openbsd*
779 AMD x86-64 running GNU/Linux x86_64-*-linux-*
780 Sparc64 running FreeBSD sparc64-*-freebsd*
784 Sanyo XStormy16 xstormy16-elf
786 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
788 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
789 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
790 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
793 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi, udi29k
794 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
795 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
796 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
797 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
799 testsuite/gdb.hp/gdb.threads-hp/ directory
801 * REMOVED configurations and files
803 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
805 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
806 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
807 PowerPC Netware powerpc-*-netware*
808 Harris/CXUX m88k m88*-harris-cxux*
809 Most ns32k hosts and targets ns32k-*-mach3* ns32k-umax-*
810 ns32k-utek-sysv* ns32k-utek-*
811 SunOS 4.0.Xi on i386 i[3456]86-*-sunos*
812 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1 a29k-nyu-sym1 a29k-*-kern*
813 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x m68*-sony-sysv news
814 ISI Optimum V (3.05) under 4.3bsd. m68*-isi-*
815 Apple Macintosh (MPW) host and target N/A host, powerpc-*-macos*
817 * Changes to command line processing
819 The new `--args' feature can be used to specify command-line arguments
820 for the inferior from gdb's command line.
822 * Changes to key bindings
824 There is a new `operate-and-get-next' function bound to `C-o'.
826 *** Changes in GDB 5.1.1
828 Fix compile problem on DJGPP.
830 Fix a problem with floating-point registers on the i386 being
833 Fix to stop GDB crashing on .debug_str debug info.
835 Numerous documentation fixes.
837 Numerous testsuite fixes.
839 *** Changes in GDB 5.1:
841 * New native configurations
843 Alpha FreeBSD alpha*-*-freebsd*
844 x86 FreeBSD 3.x and 4.x i[3456]86*-freebsd[34]*
845 MIPS GNU/Linux mips*-*-linux*
846 MIPS SGI Irix 6.x mips*-sgi-irix6*
848 s390 and s390x GNU/Linux {s390,s390x}-*-linux*
852 Motorola 68HC11 and 68HC12 m68hc11-elf
854 UltraSparc running GNU/Linux sparc64-*-linux*
856 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
858 x86 FreeBSD before 2.2 i[3456]86*-freebsd{1,2.[01]}*,
859 Harris/CXUX m88k m88*-harris-cxux*
860 Most ns32k hosts and targets ns32k-*-mach3* ns32k-umax-*
861 ns32k-utek-sysv* ns32k-utek-*
862 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
864 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1 a29k-nyu-sym1 a29k-*-kern*
865 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
866 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
867 PowerPC Netware powerpc-*-netware*
868 SunOS 4.0.Xi on i386 i[3456]86-*-sunos*
869 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x m68*-sony-sysv news
870 ISI Optimum V (3.05) under 4.3bsd. m68*-isi-*
871 Apple Macintosh (MPW) host N/A
873 stuff.c (Program to stuff files into a specially prepared space in kdb)
874 kdb-start.c (Main loop for the standalone kernel debugger)
876 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
877 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
878 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
881 * REMOVED configurations and files
883 Altos 3068 m68*-altos-*
884 Convex c1-*-*, c2-*-*
886 ARM RISCix arm-*-* (as host)
890 * GDB has been converted to ISO C.
892 GDB's source code has been converted to ISO C. In particular, the
893 sources are fully protoized, and rely on standard headers being
898 * "info symbol" works on platforms which use COFF, ECOFF, XCOFF, and NLM.
900 * The MI enabled by default.
902 The new machine oriented interface (MI) introduced in GDB 5.0 has been
903 revised and enabled by default. Packages which use GDB as a debugging
904 engine behind a UI or another front end are encouraged to switch to
905 using the GDB/MI interface, instead of the old annotations interface
906 which is now deprecated.
908 * Support for debugging Pascal programs.
910 GDB now includes support for debugging Pascal programs. The following
911 main features are supported:
913 - Pascal-specific data types such as sets;
915 - automatic recognition of Pascal sources based on file-name
918 - Pascal-style display of data types, variables, and functions;
920 - a Pascal expression parser.
922 However, some important features are not yet supported.
924 - Pascal string operations are not supported at all;
926 - there are some problems with boolean types;
928 - Pascal type hexadecimal constants are not supported
929 because they conflict with the internal variables format;
931 - support for Pascal objects and classes is not full yet;
933 - unlike Pascal, GDB is case-sensitive for symbol names.
935 * Changes in completion.
937 Commands such as `shell', `run' and `set args', which pass arguments
938 to inferior programs, now complete on file names, similar to what
939 users expect at the shell prompt.
941 Commands which accept locations, such as `disassemble', `print',
942 `breakpoint', `until', etc. now complete on filenames as well as
943 program symbols. Thus, if you type "break foob TAB", and the source
944 files linked into the programs include `foobar.c', that file name will
945 be one of the candidates for completion. However, file names are not
946 considered for completion after you typed a colon that delimits a file
947 name from a name of a function in that file, as in "break foo.c:bar".
949 `set demangle-style' completes on available demangling styles.
951 * New platform-independent commands:
953 It is now possible to define a post-hook for a command as well as a
954 hook that runs before the command. For more details, see the
955 documentation of `hookpost' in the GDB manual.
957 * Changes in GNU/Linux native debugging.
959 Support for debugging multi-threaded programs has been completely
960 revised for all platforms except m68k and sparc. You can now debug as
961 many threads as your system allows you to have.
963 Attach/detach is supported for multi-threaded programs.
965 Support for SSE registers was added for x86. This doesn't work for
966 multi-threaded programs though.
968 * Changes in MIPS configurations.
970 Multi-arch support is enabled for all MIPS configurations.
972 GDB can now be built as native debugger on SGI Irix 6.x systems for
973 debugging n32 executables. (Debugging 64-bit executables is not yet
976 * Unified support for hardware watchpoints in all x86 configurations.
978 Most (if not all) native x86 configurations support hardware-assisted
979 breakpoints and watchpoints in a unified manner. This support
980 implements debug register sharing between watchpoints, which allows to
981 put a virtually infinite number of watchpoints on the same address,
982 and also supports watching regions up to 16 bytes with several debug
985 The new maintenance command `maintenance show-debug-regs' toggles
986 debugging print-outs in functions that insert, remove, and test
987 watchpoints and hardware breakpoints.
989 * Changes in the DJGPP native configuration.
991 New command ``info dos sysinfo'' displays assorted information about
992 the CPU, OS, memory, and DPMI server.
994 New commands ``info dos gdt'', ``info dos ldt'', and ``info dos idt''
995 display information about segment descriptors stored in GDT, LDT, and
998 New commands ``info dos pde'' and ``info dos pte'' display entries
999 from Page Directory and Page Tables (for now works with CWSDPMI only).
1000 New command ``info dos address-pte'' displays the Page Table entry for
1001 a given linear address.
1003 GDB can now pass command lines longer than 126 characters to the
1004 program being debugged (requires an update to the libdbg.a library
1005 which is part of the DJGPP development kit).
1007 DWARF2 debug info is now supported.
1009 It is now possible to `step' and `next' through calls to `longjmp'.
1011 * Changes in documentation.
1013 All GDB documentation was converted to GFDL, the GNU Free
1014 Documentation License.
1016 Tracepoints-related commands are now fully documented in the GDB
1019 TUI, the Text-mode User Interface, is now documented in the manual.
1021 Tracepoints-related commands are now fully documented in the GDB
1024 The "GDB Internals" manual now has an index. It also includes
1025 documentation of `ui_out' functions, GDB coding standards, x86
1026 hardware watchpoints, and memory region attributes.
1028 * GDB's version number moved to ``version.in''
1030 The Makefile variable VERSION has been replaced by the file
1031 ``version.in''. People creating GDB distributions should update the
1032 contents of this file.
1036 GUD support is now a standard part of the EMACS distribution.
1038 *** Changes in GDB 5.0:
1040 * Improved support for debugging FP programs on x86 targets
1042 Unified and much-improved support for debugging floating-point
1043 programs on all x86 targets. In particular, ``info float'' now
1044 displays the FP registers in the same format on all x86 targets, with
1045 greater level of detail.
1047 * Improvements and bugfixes in hardware-assisted watchpoints
1049 It is now possible to watch array elements, struct members, and
1050 bitfields with hardware-assisted watchpoints. Data-read watchpoints
1051 on x86 targets no longer erroneously trigger when the address is
1054 * Improvements in the native DJGPP version of GDB
1056 The distribution now includes all the scripts and auxiliary files
1057 necessary to build the native DJGPP version on MS-DOS/MS-Windows
1058 machines ``out of the box''.
1060 The DJGPP version can now debug programs that use signals. It is
1061 possible to catch signals that happened in the debuggee, deliver
1062 signals to it, interrupt it with Ctrl-C, etc. (Previously, a signal
1063 would kill the program being debugged.) Programs that hook hardware
1064 interrupts (keyboard, timer, etc.) can also be debugged.
1066 It is now possible to debug DJGPP programs that redirect their
1067 standard handles or switch them to raw (as opposed to cooked) mode, or
1068 even close them. The command ``run < foo > bar'' works as expected,
1069 and ``info terminal'' reports useful information about the debuggee's
1070 terminal, including raw/cooked mode, redirection, etc.
1072 The DJGPP version now uses termios functions for console I/O, which
1073 enables debugging graphics programs. Interrupting GDB with Ctrl-C
1076 DOS-style file names with drive letters are now fully supported by
1079 It is now possible to debug DJGPP programs that switch their working
1080 directory. It is also possible to rerun the debuggee any number of
1081 times without restarting GDB; thus, you can use the same setup,
1082 breakpoints, etc. for many debugging sessions.
1084 * New native configurations
1086 ARM GNU/Linux arm*-*-linux*
1087 PowerPC GNU/Linux powerpc-*-linux*
1091 Motorola MCore mcore-*-*
1092 x86 VxWorks i[3456]86-*-vxworks*
1093 PowerPC VxWorks powerpc-*-vxworks*
1094 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
1096 * OBSOLETE configurations
1098 Altos 3068 m68*-altos-*
1099 Convex c1-*-*, c2-*-*
1101 ARM RISCix arm-*-* (as host)
1104 Configurations that have been declared obsolete will be commented out,
1105 but the code will be left in place. If there is no activity to revive
1106 these configurations before the next release of GDB, the sources will
1107 be permanently REMOVED.
1109 * Gould support removed
1111 Support for the Gould PowerNode and NP1 has been removed.
1113 * New features for SVR4
1115 On SVR4 native platforms (such as Solaris), if you attach to a process
1116 without first loading a symbol file, GDB will now attempt to locate and
1117 load symbols from the running process's executable file.
1119 * Many C++ enhancements
1121 C++ support has been greatly improved. Overload resolution now works properly
1122 in almost all cases. RTTI support is on the way.
1124 * Remote targets can connect to a sub-program
1126 A popen(3) style serial-device has been added. This device starts a
1127 sub-process (such as a stand-alone simulator) and then communicates
1128 with that. The sub-program to run is specified using the syntax
1129 ``|<program> <args>'' vis:
1131 (gdb) set remotedebug 1
1132 (gdb) target extended-remote |mn10300-elf-sim program-args
1134 * MIPS 64 remote protocol
1136 A long standing bug in the mips64 remote protocol where by GDB
1137 expected certain 32 bit registers (ex SR) to be transfered as 32
1138 instead of 64 bits has been fixed.
1140 The command ``set remote-mips64-transfers-32bit-regs on'' has been
1141 added to provide backward compatibility with older versions of GDB.
1143 * ``set remotebinarydownload'' replaced by ``set remote X-packet''
1145 The command ``set remotebinarydownload'' command has been replaced by
1146 ``set remote X-packet''. Other commands in ``set remote'' family
1147 include ``set remote P-packet''.
1149 * Breakpoint commands accept ranges.
1151 The breakpoint commands ``enable'', ``disable'', and ``delete'' now
1152 accept a range of breakpoints, e.g. ``5-7''. The tracepoint command
1153 ``tracepoint passcount'' also accepts a range of tracepoints.
1155 * ``apropos'' command added.
1157 The ``apropos'' command searches through command names and
1158 documentation strings, printing out matches, making it much easier to
1159 try to find a command that does what you are looking for.
1163 A new machine oriented interface (MI) has been added to GDB. This
1164 interface is designed for debug environments running GDB as a separate
1165 process. This is part of the long term libGDB project. See the
1166 "GDB/MI" chapter of the GDB manual for further information. It can be
1167 enabled by configuring with:
1169 .../configure --enable-gdbmi
1171 *** Changes in GDB-4.18:
1173 * New native configurations
1175 HP-UX 10.20 hppa*-*-hpux10.20
1176 HP-UX 11.x hppa*-*-hpux11.0*
1177 M68K GNU/Linux m68*-*-linux*
1181 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
1182 Intel StrongARM strongarm-*-*
1183 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
1185 * OBSOLETE configurations
1187 Gould PowerNode, NP1 np1-*-*, pn-*-*
1189 Configurations that have been declared obsolete will be commented out,
1190 but the code will be left in place. If there is no activity to revive
1191 these configurations before the next release of GDB, the sources will
1192 be permanently REMOVED.
1196 As a compatibility experiment, GDB's source files buildsym.h and
1197 buildsym.c have been converted to pure standard C, no longer
1198 containing any K&R compatibility code. We believe that all systems in
1199 use today either come with a standard C compiler, or have a GCC port
1200 available. If this is not true, please report the affected
1201 configuration to bug-gdb@gnu.org immediately. See the README file for
1202 information about getting a standard C compiler if you don't have one
1207 GDB now uses readline 2.2.
1209 * set extension-language
1211 You can now control the mapping between filename extensions and source
1212 languages by using the `set extension-language' command. For instance,
1213 you can ask GDB to treat .c files as C++ by saying
1214 set extension-language .c c++
1215 The command `info extensions' lists all of the recognized extensions
1216 and their associated languages.
1218 * Setting processor type for PowerPC and RS/6000
1220 When GDB is configured for a powerpc*-*-* or an rs6000*-*-* target,
1221 you can use the `set processor' command to specify what variant of the
1222 PowerPC family you are debugging. The command
1226 sets the PowerPC/RS6000 variant to NAME. GDB knows about the
1227 following PowerPC and RS6000 variants:
1229 ppc-uisa PowerPC UISA - a PPC processor as viewed by user-level code
1230 rs6000 IBM RS6000 ("POWER") architecture, user-level view
1232 403GC IBM PowerPC 403GC
1233 505 Motorola PowerPC 505
1234 860 Motorola PowerPC 860 or 850
1235 601 Motorola PowerPC 601
1236 602 Motorola PowerPC 602
1237 603 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 603 or 603e
1238 604 Motorola PowerPC 604 or 604e
1239 750 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 750 or 750
1241 At the moment, this command just tells GDB what to name the
1242 special-purpose processor registers. Since almost all the affected
1243 registers are inaccessible to user-level programs, this command is
1244 only useful for remote debugging in its present form.
1248 Thanks to a major code donation from Hewlett-Packard, GDB now has much
1249 more extensive support for HP-UX. Added features include shared
1250 library support, kernel threads and hardware watchpoints for 11.00,
1251 support for HP's ANSI C and C++ compilers, and a compatibility mode
1252 for xdb and dbx commands.
1256 HP's donation includes the new concept of catchpoints, which is a
1257 generalization of the old catch command. On HP-UX, it is now possible
1258 to catch exec, fork, and vfork, as well as library loading.
1260 This means that the existing catch command has changed; its first
1261 argument now specifies the type of catch to be set up. See the
1262 output of "help catch" for a list of catchpoint types.
1264 * Debugging across forks
1266 On HP-UX, you can choose which process to debug when a fork() happens
1271 HP has donated a curses-based terminal user interface (TUI). To get
1272 it, build with --enable-tui. Although this can be enabled for any
1273 configuration, at present it only works for native HP debugging.
1275 * GDB remote protocol additions
1277 A new protocol packet 'X' that writes binary data is now available.
1278 Default behavior is to try 'X', then drop back to 'M' if the stub
1279 fails to respond. The settable variable `remotebinarydownload'
1280 allows explicit control over the use of 'X'.
1282 For 64-bit targets, the memory packets ('M' and 'm') can now contain a
1283 full 64-bit address. The command
1285 set remoteaddresssize 32
1287 can be used to revert to the old behaviour. For existing remote stubs
1288 the change should not be noticed, as the additional address information
1291 In order to assist in debugging stubs, you may use the maintenance
1292 command `packet' to send any text string to the stub. For instance,
1294 maint packet heythere
1296 sends the packet "$heythere#<checksum>". Note that it is very easy to
1297 disrupt a debugging session by sending the wrong packet at the wrong
1300 The compare-sections command allows you to compare section data on the
1301 target to what is in the executable file without uploading or
1302 downloading, by comparing CRC checksums.
1304 * Tracing can collect general expressions
1306 You may now collect general expressions at tracepoints. This requires
1307 further additions to the target-side stub; see tracepoint.c and
1308 doc/agentexpr.texi for further details.
1310 * mask-address variable for Mips
1312 For Mips targets, you may control the zeroing of the upper 32 bits of
1313 a 64-bit address by entering `set mask-address on'. This is mainly
1314 of interest to users of embedded R4xxx and R5xxx processors.
1316 * Higher serial baud rates
1318 GDB's serial code now allows you to specify baud rates 57600, 115200,
1319 230400, and 460800 baud. (Note that your host system may not be able
1320 to achieve all of these rates.)
1324 The i960 configuration now includes an initial implementation of a
1325 builtin simulator, contributed by Jim Wilson.
1328 *** Changes in GDB-4.17:
1330 * New native configurations
1332 Alpha GNU/Linux alpha*-*-linux*
1333 Unixware 2.x i[3456]86-unixware2*
1334 Irix 6.x mips*-sgi-irix6*
1335 PowerPC GNU/Linux powerpc-*-linux*
1336 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
1337 Sparc GNU/Linux sparc-*-linux*
1338 Motorola sysV68 R3V7.1 m68k-motorola-sysv
1342 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
1343 Hitachi H8/300S h8300*-*-*
1344 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
1345 Matsushita MN10300 w/simulator mn10300-*-*
1346 MIPS NEC VR4100 mips64*vr4100*{,el}-*-elf*
1347 MIPS NEC VR5000 mips64*vr5000*{,el}-*-elf*
1348 MIPS Toshiba TX39 mips64*tx39*{,el}-*-elf*
1349 Mitsubishi D10V w/simulator d10v-*-*
1350 Mitsubishi M32R/D w/simulator m32r-*-elf*
1351 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
1352 NEC V850 w/simulator v850-*-*
1354 * New debugging protocols
1356 ARM with RDI protocol arm*-*-*
1357 M68K with dBUG monitor m68*-*-{aout,coff,elf}
1358 DDB and LSI variants of PMON protocol mips*-*-*
1359 PowerPC with DINK32 monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
1360 PowerPC with SDS protocol powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
1361 Macraigor OCD (Wiggler) devices powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
1365 All configurations can now understand and use the DWARF 2 debugging
1366 format. The choice is automatic, if the symbol file contains DWARF 2
1371 GDB now includes basic Java language support. This support is
1372 only useful with Java compilers that produce native machine code.
1374 * solib-absolute-prefix and solib-search-path
1376 For SunOS and SVR4 shared libraries, you may now set the prefix for
1377 loading absolute shared library symbol files, and the search path for
1378 locating non-absolute shared library symbol files.
1380 * Live range splitting
1382 GDB can now effectively debug code for which GCC has performed live
1383 range splitting as part of its optimization. See gdb/doc/LRS for
1384 more details on the expected format of the stabs information.
1388 GDB's support for the GNU Hurd, including thread debugging, has been
1389 updated to work with current versions of the Hurd.
1393 GDB's ARM target configuration now handles the ARM7T (Thumb) 16-bit
1394 instruction set. ARM GDB automatically detects when Thumb
1395 instructions are in use, and adjusts disassembly and backtracing
1400 GDB's MIPS target configurations now handle the MIP16 16-bit
1405 GDB now includes support for overlays; if an executable has been
1406 linked such that multiple sections are based at the same address, GDB
1407 will decide which section to use for symbolic info. You can choose to
1408 control the decision manually, using overlay commands, or implement
1409 additional target-side support and use "overlay load-target" to bring
1410 in the overlay mapping. Do "help overlay" for more detail.
1414 The command "info symbol <address>" displays information about
1415 the symbol at the specified address.
1419 The standard remote protocol now includes an extension that allows
1420 asynchronous collection and display of trace data. This requires
1421 extensive support in the target-side debugging stub. Tracing mode
1422 includes a new interaction mode in GDB and new commands: see the
1423 file tracepoint.c for more details.
1427 Configurations for embedded MIPS now include a simulator contributed
1428 by Cygnus Solutions. The simulator supports the instruction sets
1429 of most MIPS variants.
1433 Sparc configurations may now include the ERC32 simulator contributed
1434 by the European Space Agency. The simulator is not built into
1435 Sparc targets by default; configure with --enable-sim to include it.
1439 For target configurations that may include multiple variants of a
1440 basic architecture (such as MIPS and SH), you may now set the
1441 architecture explicitly. "set arch" sets, "info arch" lists
1442 the possible architectures.
1444 *** Changes in GDB-4.16:
1446 * New native configurations
1448 Windows 95, x86 Windows NT i[345]86-*-cygwin32
1449 M68K NetBSD m68k-*-netbsd*
1450 PowerPC AIX 4.x powerpc-*-aix*
1451 PowerPC MacOS powerpc-*-macos*
1452 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
1453 RS/6000 AIX 4.x rs6000-*-aix4*
1457 ARM with RDP protocol arm-*-*
1458 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
1459 MIPS VxWorks mips*-*-vxworks*
1460 MIPS VR4300 with PMON mips64*vr4300{,el}-*-elf*
1461 PowerPC with PPCBUG monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi*
1463 Matra Sparclet sparclet-*-*
1467 The powerpc-eabi configuration now includes the PSIM simulator,
1468 contributed by Andrew Cagney, with assistance from Mike Meissner.
1469 PSIM is a very elaborate model of the PowerPC, including not only
1470 basic instruction set execution, but also details of execution unit
1471 performance and I/O hardware. See sim/ppc/README for more details.
1475 GDB now works with Solaris 2.5.
1477 * Windows 95/NT native
1479 GDB will now work as a native debugger on Windows 95 and Windows NT.
1480 To build it from source, you must use the "gnu-win32" environment,
1481 which uses a DLL to emulate enough of Unix to run the GNU tools.
1482 Further information, binaries, and sources are available at
1483 ftp.cygnus.com, under pub/gnu-win32.
1485 * dont-repeat command
1487 If a user-defined command includes the command `dont-repeat', then the
1488 command will not be repeated if the user just types return. This is
1489 useful if the command is time-consuming to run, so that accidental
1490 extra keystrokes don't run the same command many times.
1492 * Send break instead of ^C
1494 The standard remote protocol now includes an option to send a break
1495 rather than a ^C to the target in order to interrupt it. By default,
1496 GDB will send ^C; to send a break, set the variable `remotebreak' to 1.
1498 * Remote protocol timeout
1500 The standard remote protocol includes a new variable `remotetimeout'
1501 that allows you to set the number of seconds before GDB gives up trying
1502 to read from the target. The default value is 2.
1504 * Automatic tracking of dynamic object loading (HPUX and Solaris only)
1506 By default GDB will automatically keep track of objects as they are
1507 loaded and unloaded by the dynamic linker. By using the command `set
1508 stop-on-solib-events 1' you can arrange for GDB to stop the inferior
1509 when shared library events occur, thus allowing you to set breakpoints
1510 in shared libraries which are explicitly loaded by the inferior.
1512 Note this feature does not work on hpux8. On hpux9 you must link
1513 /usr/lib/end.o into your program. This feature should work
1514 automatically on hpux10.
1516 * Irix 5.x hardware watchpoint support
1518 Irix 5 configurations now support the use of hardware watchpoints.
1520 * Mips protocol "SYN garbage limit"
1522 When debugging a Mips target using the `target mips' protocol, you
1523 may set the number of characters that GDB will ignore by setting
1524 the `syn-garbage-limit'. A value of -1 means that GDB will ignore
1525 every character. The default value is 1050.
1527 * Recording and replaying remote debug sessions
1529 If you set `remotelogfile' to the name of a file, gdb will write to it
1530 a recording of a remote debug session. This recording may then be
1531 replayed back to gdb using "gdbreplay". See gdbserver/README for
1532 details. This is useful when you have a problem with GDB while doing
1533 remote debugging; you can make a recording of the session and send it
1534 to someone else, who can then recreate the problem.
1536 * Speedups for remote debugging
1538 GDB includes speedups for downloading and stepping MIPS systems using
1539 the IDT monitor, fast downloads to the Hitachi SH E7000 emulator,
1540 and more efficient S-record downloading.
1542 * Memory use reductions and statistics collection
1544 GDB now uses less memory and reports statistics about memory usage.
1545 Try the `maint print statistics' command, for example.
1547 *** Changes in GDB-4.15:
1549 * Psymtabs for XCOFF
1551 The symbol reader for AIX GDB now uses partial symbol tables. This
1552 can greatly improve startup time, especially for large executables.
1554 * Remote targets use caching
1556 Remote targets now use a data cache to speed up communication with the
1557 remote side. The data cache could lead to incorrect results because
1558 it doesn't know about volatile variables, thus making it impossible to
1559 debug targets which use memory mapped I/O devices. `set remotecache
1560 off' turns the the data cache off.
1562 * Remote targets may have threads
1564 The standard remote protocol now includes support for multiple threads
1565 in the target system, using new protocol commands 'H' and 'T'. See
1566 gdb/remote.c for details.
1570 If GDB is configured with `--enable-netrom', then it will include
1571 support for the NetROM ROM emulator from XLNT Designs. The NetROM
1572 acts as though it is a bank of ROM on the target board, but you can
1573 write into it over the network. GDB's support consists only of
1574 support for fast loading into the emulated ROM; to debug, you must use
1575 another protocol, such as standard remote protocol. The usual
1576 sequence is something like
1578 target nrom <netrom-hostname>
1580 target remote <netrom-hostname>:1235
1584 GDB now includes support for the Apple Macintosh, as a host only. It
1585 may be run as either an MPW tool or as a standalone application, and
1586 it can debug through the serial port. All the usual GDB commands are
1587 available, but to the target command, you must supply "serial" as the
1588 device type instead of "/dev/ttyXX". See mpw-README in the main
1589 directory for more information on how to build. The MPW configuration
1590 scripts */mpw-config.in support only a few targets, and only the
1591 mips-idt-ecoff target has been tested.
1595 GDB configuration now uses autoconf. This is not user-visible,
1596 but does simplify configuration and building.
1600 GDB now supports hpux10.
1602 *** Changes in GDB-4.14:
1604 * New native configurations
1606 x86 FreeBSD i[345]86-*-freebsd
1607 x86 NetBSD i[345]86-*-netbsd
1608 NS32k NetBSD ns32k-*-netbsd
1609 Sparc NetBSD sparc-*-netbsd
1613 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
1614 HP PA PRO embedded (WinBond W89K & Oki OP50N) hppa*-*-pro*
1615 CPU32 EST-300 emulator m68*-*-est*
1616 PowerPC ELF powerpc-*-elf
1619 * Alpha OSF/1 support for procfs
1621 GDB now supports procfs under OSF/1-2.x and higher, which makes it
1622 possible to attach to running processes. As the mounting of the /proc
1623 filesystem is optional on the Alpha, GDB automatically determines
1624 the availability of /proc during startup. This can lead to problems
1625 if /proc is unmounted after GDB has been started.
1627 * Arguments to user-defined commands
1629 User commands may accept up to 10 arguments separated by whitespace.
1630 Arguments are accessed within the user command via $arg0..$arg9. A
1633 print $arg0 + $arg1 + $arg2
1635 To execute the command use:
1638 Defines the command "adder" which prints the sum of its three arguments.
1639 Note the arguments are text substitutions, so they may reference variables,
1640 use complex expressions, or even perform inferior function calls.
1642 * New `if' and `while' commands
1644 This makes it possible to write more sophisticated user-defined
1645 commands. Both commands take a single argument, which is the
1646 expression to evaluate, and must be followed by the commands to
1647 execute, one per line, if the expression is nonzero, the list being
1648 terminated by the word `end'. The `if' command list may include an
1649 `else' word, which causes the following commands to be executed only
1650 if the expression is zero.
1652 * Fortran source language mode
1654 GDB now includes partial support for Fortran 77. It will recognize
1655 Fortran programs and can evaluate a subset of Fortran expressions, but
1656 variables and functions may not be handled correctly. GDB will work
1657 with G77, but does not yet know much about symbols emitted by other
1660 * Better HPUX support
1662 Most debugging facilities now work on dynamic executables for HPPAs
1663 running hpux9 or later. You can attach to running dynamically linked
1664 processes, but by default the dynamic libraries will be read-only, so
1665 for instance you won't be able to put breakpoints in them. To change
1666 that behavior do the following before running the program:
1672 This will cause the libraries to be mapped private and read-write.
1673 To revert to the normal behavior, do this:
1679 You cannot set breakpoints or examine data in the library until after
1680 the library is loaded if the function/data symbols do not have
1683 GDB can now also read debug symbols produced by the HP C compiler on
1684 HPPAs (sorry, no C++, Fortran or 68k support).
1686 * Target byte order now dynamically selectable
1688 You can choose which byte order to use with a target system, via the
1689 commands "set endian big" and "set endian little", and you can see the
1690 current setting by using "show endian". You can also give the command
1691 "set endian auto", in which case GDB will use the byte order
1692 associated with the executable. Currently, only embedded MIPS
1693 configurations support dynamic selection of target byte order.
1695 * New DOS host serial code
1697 This version uses DPMI interrupts to handle buffered I/O, so you
1698 no longer need to run asynctsr when debugging boards connected to
1701 *** Changes in GDB-4.13:
1703 * New "complete" command
1705 This lists all the possible completions for the rest of the line, if it
1706 were to be given as a command itself. This is intended for use by emacs.
1708 * Trailing space optional in prompt
1710 "set prompt" no longer adds a space for you after the prompt you set. This
1711 allows you to set a prompt which ends in a space or one that does not.
1713 * Breakpoint hit counts
1715 "info break" now displays a count of the number of times the breakpoint
1716 has been hit. This is especially useful in conjunction with "ignore"; you
1717 can ignore a large number of breakpoint hits, look at the breakpoint info
1718 to see how many times the breakpoint was hit, then run again, ignoring one
1719 less than that number, and this will get you quickly to the last hit of
1722 * Ability to stop printing at NULL character
1724 "set print null-stop" will cause GDB to stop printing the characters of
1725 an array when the first NULL is encountered. This is useful when large
1726 arrays actually contain only short strings.
1728 * Shared library breakpoints
1730 In SunOS 4.x, SVR4, and Alpha OSF/1 configurations, you can now set
1731 breakpoints in shared libraries before the executable is run.
1733 * Hardware watchpoints
1735 There is a new hardware breakpoint for the watch command for sparclite
1736 targets. See gdb/sparclite/hw_breakpoint.note.
1738 Hardware watchpoints are also now supported under GNU/Linux.
1742 Annotations have been added. These are for use with graphical interfaces,
1743 and are still experimental. Currently only gdba.el uses these.
1745 * Improved Irix 5 support
1747 GDB now works properly with Irix 5.2.
1749 * Improved HPPA support
1751 GDB now works properly with the latest GCC and GAS.
1753 * New native configurations
1755 Sequent PTX4 i[34]86-sequent-ptx4
1756 HPPA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
1757 Atari TT running SVR4 m68*-*-sysv4*
1758 RS/6000 LynxOS rs6000-*-lynxos*
1762 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
1763 MIPS R4000 mips64*{,el}-*-{ecoff,elf}
1766 * Hitachi SH7000 and E7000-PC ICE support
1768 There is now support for communicating with the Hitachi E7000-PC ICE.
1769 This is available automatically when GDB is configured for the SH.
1773 As usual, a variety of small fixes and improvements, both generic
1774 and configuration-specific. See the ChangeLog for more detail.
1776 *** Changes in GDB-4.12:
1778 * Irix 5 is now supported
1782 GDB-4.12 on the HPPA has a number of changes which make it unable
1783 to debug the output from the currently released versions of GCC and
1784 GAS (GCC 2.5.8 and GAS-2.2 or PAGAS-1.36). Until the next major release
1785 of GCC and GAS, versions of these tools designed to work with GDB-4.12
1786 can be retrieved via anonymous ftp from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist.
1789 *** Changes in GDB-4.11:
1791 * User visible changes:
1795 The "set remotedebug" option is now consistent between the mips remote
1796 target, remote targets using the gdb-specific protocol, UDI (AMD's
1797 debug protocol for the 29k) and the 88k bug monitor. It is now an
1798 integer specifying a debug level (normally 0 or 1, but 2 means more
1799 debugging info for the mips target).
1801 * DEC Alpha native support
1803 GDB now works on the DEC Alpha. GCC 2.4.5 does not produce usable
1804 debug info, but GDB works fairly well with the DEC compiler and should
1805 work with a future GCC release. See the README file for a few
1806 Alpha-specific notes.
1808 * Preliminary thread implementation
1810 GDB now has preliminary thread support for both SGI/Irix and LynxOS.
1812 * LynxOS native and target support for 386
1814 This release has been hosted on LynxOS 2.2, and also can be configured
1815 to remotely debug programs running under LynxOS (see gdb/gdbserver/README
1818 * Improvements in C++ mangling/demangling.
1820 This release has much better g++ debugging, specifically in name
1821 mangling/demangling, virtual function calls, print virtual table,
1822 call methods, ...etc.
1824 *** Changes in GDB-4.10:
1826 * User visible changes:
1828 Remote debugging using the GDB-specific (`target remote') protocol now
1829 supports the `load' command. This is only useful if you have some
1830 other way of getting the stub to the target system, and you can put it
1831 somewhere in memory where it won't get clobbered by the download.
1833 Filename completion now works.
1835 When run under emacs mode, the "info line" command now causes the
1836 arrow to point to the line specified. Also, "info line" prints
1837 addresses in symbolic form (as well as hex).
1839 All vxworks based targets now support a user settable option, called
1840 vxworks-timeout. This option represents the number of seconds gdb
1841 should wait for responses to rpc's. You might want to use this if
1842 your vxworks target is, perhaps, a slow software simulator or happens
1843 to be on the far side of a thin network line.
1847 This release contains support for using a DEC alpha as a GDB host for
1848 cross debugging. Native alpha debugging is not supported yet.
1851 *** Changes in GDB-4.9:
1855 This is the first GDB release which is accompanied by a matching testsuite.
1856 The testsuite requires installation of dejagnu, which should be available
1857 via ftp from most sites that carry GNU software.
1861 'Cfront' style demangling has had its name changed to 'ARM' style, to
1862 emphasize that it was written from the specifications in the C++ Annotated
1863 Reference Manual, not necessarily to be compatible with AT&T cfront. Despite
1864 disclaimers, it still generated too much confusion with users attempting to
1865 use gdb with AT&T cfront.
1869 GDB now uses a standard remote interface to a simulator library.
1870 So far, the library contains simulators for the Zilog Z8001/2, the
1871 Hitachi H8/300, H8/500 and Super-H.
1873 * New targets supported
1875 H8/300 simulator h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
1876 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
1877 SH simulator sh-hitachi-hms or sh
1878 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
1879 IDT MIPS board over serial line mips-idt-ecoff
1881 Cross-debugging to GO32 targets is supported. It requires a custom
1882 version of the i386-stub.c module which is integrated with the
1883 GO32 memory extender.
1885 * New remote protocols
1887 MIPS remote debugging protocol.
1889 * New source languages supported
1891 This version includes preliminary support for Chill, a Pascal like language
1892 used by telecommunications companies. Chill support is also being integrated
1893 into the GNU compiler, but we don't know when it will be publically available.
1896 *** Changes in GDB-4.8:
1898 * HP Precision Architecture supported
1900 GDB now supports HP PA-RISC machines running HPUX. A preliminary
1901 version of this support was available as a set of patches from the
1902 University of Utah. GDB does not support debugging of programs
1903 compiled with the HP compiler, because HP will not document their file
1904 format. Instead, you must use GCC (version 2.3.2 or later) and PA-GAS
1905 (as available from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist/pa-gas.u4.tar.Z).
1907 Many problems in the preliminary version have been fixed.
1909 * Faster and better demangling
1911 We have improved template demangling and fixed numerous bugs in the GNU style
1912 demangler. It can now handle type modifiers such as `static' or `const'. Wide
1913 character types (wchar_t) are now supported. Demangling of each symbol is now
1914 only done once, and is cached when the symbol table for a file is read in.
1915 This results in a small increase in memory usage for C programs, a moderate
1916 increase in memory usage for C++ programs, and a fantastic speedup in
1919 `Cfront' style demangling still doesn't work with AT&T cfront. It was written
1920 from the specifications in the Annotated Reference Manual, which AT&T's
1921 compiler does not actually implement.
1923 * G++ multiple inheritance compiler problem
1925 In the 2.3.2 release of gcc/g++, how the compiler resolves multiple
1926 inheritance lattices was reworked to properly discover ambiguities. We
1927 recently found an example which causes this new algorithm to fail in a
1928 very subtle way, producing bad debug information for those classes.
1929 The file 'gcc.patch' (in this directory) can be applied to gcc to
1930 circumvent the problem. A future GCC release will contain a complete
1933 The previous G++ debug info problem (mentioned below for the gdb-4.7
1934 release) is fixed in gcc version 2.3.2.
1936 * Improved configure script
1938 The `configure' script will now attempt to guess your system type if
1939 you don't supply a host system type. The old scheme of supplying a
1940 host system triplet is preferable over using this. All the magic is
1941 done in the new `config.guess' script. Examine it for details.
1943 We have also brought our configure script much more in line with the FSF's
1944 version. It now supports the --with-xxx options. In particular,
1945 `--with-minimal-bfd' can be used to make the GDB binary image smaller.
1946 The resulting GDB will not be able to read arbitrary object file formats --
1947 only the format ``expected'' to be used on the configured target system.
1948 We hope to make this the default in a future release.
1950 * Documentation improvements
1952 There's new internal documentation on how to modify GDB, and how to
1953 produce clean changes to the code. We implore people to read it
1954 before submitting changes.
1956 The GDB manual uses new, sexy Texinfo conditionals, rather than arcane
1957 M4 macros. The new texinfo.tex is provided in this release. Pre-built
1958 `info' files are also provided. To build `info' files from scratch,
1959 you will need the latest `makeinfo' release, which will be available in
1960 a future texinfo-X.Y release.
1962 *NOTE* The new texinfo.tex can cause old versions of TeX to hang.
1963 We're not sure exactly which versions have this problem, but it has
1964 been seen in 3.0. We highly recommend upgrading to TeX version 3.141
1965 or better. If that isn't possible, there is a patch in
1966 `texinfo/tex3patch' that will modify `texinfo/texinfo.tex' to work
1967 around this problem.
1971 GDB now supports array constants that can be used in expressions typed in by
1972 the user. The syntax is `{element, element, ...}'. Ie: you can now type
1973 `print {1, 2, 3}', and it will build up an array in memory malloc'd in
1976 The new directory `gdb/sparclite' contains a program that demonstrates
1977 how the sparc-stub.c remote stub runs on a Fujitsu SPARClite processor.
1979 * New native hosts supported
1981 HP/PA-RISC under HPUX using GNU tools hppa1.1-hp-hpux
1982 386 CPUs running SCO Unix 3.2v4 i386-unknown-sco3.2v4
1984 * New targets supported
1986 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi or udi29k
1988 * New file formats supported
1990 BFD now supports reading HP/PA-RISC executables (SOM file format?),
1991 HPUX core files, and SCO 3.2v2 core files.
1995 Attaching to processes now works again; thanks for the many bug reports.
1997 We have also stomped on a bunch of core dumps caused by
1998 printf_filtered("%s") problems.
2000 We eliminated a copyright problem on the rpc and ptrace header files
2001 for VxWorks, which was discovered at the last minute during the 4.7
2002 release. You should now be able to build a VxWorks GDB.
2004 You can now interrupt gdb while an attached process is running. This
2005 will cause the attached process to stop, and give control back to GDB.
2007 We fixed problems caused by using too many file descriptors
2008 for reading symbols from object files and libraries. This was
2009 especially a problem for programs that used many (~100) shared
2012 The `step' command now only enters a subroutine if there is line number
2013 information for the subroutine. Otherwise it acts like the `next'
2014 command. Previously, `step' would enter subroutines if there was
2015 any debugging information about the routine. This avoids problems
2016 when using `cc -g1' on MIPS machines.
2018 * Internal improvements
2020 GDB's internal interfaces have been improved to make it easier to support
2021 debugging of multiple languages in the future.
2023 GDB now uses a common structure for symbol information internally.
2024 Minimal symbols (derived from linkage symbols in object files), partial
2025 symbols (from a quick scan of debug information), and full symbols
2026 contain a common subset of information, making it easier to write
2027 shared code that handles any of them.
2029 * New command line options
2031 We now accept --silent as an alias for --quiet.
2035 The memory-mapped-malloc library is now licensed under the GNU Library
2036 General Public License.
2038 *** Changes in GDB-4.7:
2040 * Host/native/target split
2042 GDB has had some major internal surgery to untangle the support for
2043 hosts and remote targets. Now, when you configure GDB for a remote
2044 target, it will no longer load in all of the support for debugging
2045 local programs on the host. When fully completed and tested, this will
2046 ensure that arbitrary host/target combinations are possible.
2048 The primary conceptual shift is to separate the non-portable code in
2049 GDB into three categories. Host specific code is required any time GDB
2050 is compiled on that host, regardless of the target. Target specific
2051 code relates to the peculiarities of the target, but can be compiled on
2052 any host. Native specific code is everything else: it can only be
2053 built when the host and target are the same system. Child process
2054 handling and core file support are two common `native' examples.
2056 GDB's use of /proc for controlling Unix child processes is now cleaner.
2057 It has been split out into a single module under the `target_ops' vector,
2058 plus two native-dependent functions for each system that uses /proc.
2060 * New hosts supported
2062 HP/Apollo 68k (under the BSD domain) m68k-apollo-bsd or apollo68bsd
2063 386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
2064 386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or i386sco
2066 * New targets supported
2068 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
2069 68030 and CPU32 m68030-*-*, m68332-*-*
2071 * New native hosts supported
2073 386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
2074 (386bsd is not well tested yet)
2075 386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or sco
2077 * New file formats supported
2079 BFD now supports COFF files for the Zilog Z8000 microprocessor. It
2080 supports reading of `a.out.adobe' object files, which are an a.out
2081 format extended with minimal information about multiple sections.
2085 `show copying' is the same as the old `info copying'.
2086 `show warranty' is the same as `info warrantee'.
2087 These were renamed for consistency. The old commands continue to work.
2089 `info handle' is a new alias for `info signals'.
2091 You can now define pre-command hooks, which attach arbitrary command
2092 scripts to any command. The commands in the hook will be executed
2093 prior to the user's command. You can also create a hook which will be
2094 executed whenever the program stops. See gdb.texinfo.
2098 We now deal with Cfront style name mangling, and can even extract type
2099 info from mangled symbols. GDB can automatically figure out which
2100 symbol mangling style your C++ compiler uses.
2102 Calling of methods and virtual functions has been improved as well.
2106 The crash that occured when debugging Sun Ansi-C compiled binaries is
2107 fixed. This was due to mishandling of the extra N_SO stabs output
2110 We also finally got Ultrix 4.2 running in house, and fixed core file
2111 support, with help from a dozen people on the net.
2113 John M. Farrell discovered that the reason that single-stepping was so
2114 slow on all of the Mips based platforms (primarily SGI and DEC) was
2115 that we were trying to demangle and lookup a symbol used for internal
2116 purposes on every instruction that was being stepped through. Changing
2117 the name of that symbol so that it couldn't be mistaken for a C++
2118 mangled symbol sped things up a great deal.
2120 Rich Pixley sped up symbol lookups in general by getting much smarter
2121 about when C++ symbol mangling is necessary. This should make symbol
2122 completion (TAB on the command line) much faster. It's not as fast as
2123 we'd like, but it's significantly faster than gdb-4.6.
2127 A new user controllable variable 'call_scratch_address' can
2128 specify the location of a scratch area to be used when GDB
2129 calls a function in the target. This is necessary because the
2130 usual method of putting the scratch area on the stack does not work
2131 in systems that have separate instruction and data spaces.
2133 We integrated changes to support the 29k UDI (Universal Debugger
2134 Interface), but discovered at the last minute that we didn't have all
2135 of the appropriate copyright paperwork. We are working with AMD to
2136 resolve this, and hope to have it available soon.
2140 We have sped up the remote serial line protocol, especially for targets
2141 with lots of registers. It now supports a new `expedited status' ('T')
2142 message which can be used in place of the existing 'S' status message.
2143 This allows the remote stub to send only the registers that GDB
2144 needs to make a quick decision about single-stepping or conditional
2145 breakpoints, eliminating the need to fetch the entire register set for
2146 each instruction being stepped through.
2148 The GDB remote serial protocol now implements a write-through cache for
2149 registers, only re-reading the registers if the target has run.
2151 There is also a new remote serial stub for SPARC processors. You can
2152 find it in gdb-4.7/gdb/sparc-stub.c. This was written to support the
2153 Fujitsu SPARClite processor, but will run on any stand-alone SPARC
2154 processor with a serial port.
2158 Configure.in files have become much easier to read and modify. A new
2159 `table driven' format makes it more obvious what configurations are
2160 supported, and what files each one uses.
2164 There is a new opcodes library which will eventually contain all of the
2165 disassembly routines and opcode tables. At present, it only contains
2166 Sparc and Z8000 routines. This will allow the assembler, debugger, and
2167 disassembler (binutils/objdump) to share these routines.
2169 The libiberty library is now copylefted under the GNU Library General
2170 Public License. This allows more liberal use, and was done so libg++
2171 can use it. This makes no difference to GDB, since the Library License
2172 grants all the rights from the General Public License.
2176 The file gdb-4.7/gdb/doc/stabs.texinfo is a (relatively) complete
2177 reference to the stabs symbol info used by the debugger. It is (as far
2178 as we know) the only published document on this fascinating topic. We
2179 encourage you to read it, compare it to the stabs information on your
2180 system, and send improvements on the document in general (to
2181 bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu).
2183 And, of course, many bugs have been fixed.
2186 *** Changes in GDB-4.6:
2188 * Better support for C++ function names
2190 GDB now accepts as input the "demangled form" of C++ overloaded function
2191 names and member function names, and can do command completion on such names
2192 (using TAB, TAB-TAB, and ESC-?). The names have to be quoted with a pair of
2193 single quotes. Examples are 'func (int, long)' and 'obj::operator==(obj&)'.
2194 Make use of command completion, it is your friend.
2196 GDB also now accepts a variety of C++ mangled symbol formats. They are
2197 the GNU g++ style, the Cfront (ARM) style, and the Lucid (lcc) style.
2198 You can tell GDB which format to use by doing a 'set demangle-style {gnu,
2199 lucid, cfront, auto}'. 'gnu' is the default. Do a 'set demangle-style foo'
2200 for the list of formats.
2202 * G++ symbol mangling problem
2204 Recent versions of gcc have a bug in how they emit debugging information for
2205 C++ methods (when using dbx-style stabs). The file 'gcc.patch' (in this
2206 directory) can be applied to gcc to fix the problem. Alternatively, if you
2207 can't fix gcc, you can #define GCC_MANGLE_BUG when compling gdb/symtab.c. The
2208 usual symptom is difficulty with setting breakpoints on methods. GDB complains
2209 about the method being non-existent. (We believe that version 2.2.2 of GCC has
2212 * New 'maintenance' command
2214 All of the commands related to hacking GDB internals have been moved out of
2215 the main command set, and now live behind the 'maintenance' command. This
2216 can also be abbreviated as 'mt'. The following changes were made:
2218 dump-me -> maintenance dump-me
2219 info all-breakpoints -> maintenance info breakpoints
2220 printmsyms -> maintenance print msyms
2221 printobjfiles -> maintenance print objfiles
2222 printpsyms -> maintenance print psymbols
2223 printsyms -> maintenance print symbols
2225 The following commands are new:
2227 maintenance demangle Call internal GDB demangler routine to
2228 demangle a C++ link name and prints the result.
2229 maintenance print type Print a type chain for a given symbol
2231 * Change to .gdbinit file processing
2233 We now read the $HOME/.gdbinit file before processing the argv arguments
2234 (e.g. reading symbol files or core files). This allows global parameters to
2235 be set, which will apply during the symbol reading. The ./.gdbinit is still
2236 read after argv processing.
2238 * New hosts supported
2240 Solaris-2.0 !!! sparc-sun-solaris2 or sun4sol2
2242 GNU/Linux support i386-unknown-linux or linux
2244 We are also including code to support the HP/PA running BSD and HPUX. This
2245 is almost guaranteed not to work, as we didn't have time to test or build it
2246 for this release. We are including it so that the more adventurous (or
2247 masochistic) of you can play with it. We also had major problems with the
2248 fact that the compiler that we got from HP doesn't support the -g option.
2251 * New targets supported
2253 Hitachi H8/300 h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
2255 * More smarts about finding #include files
2257 GDB now remembers the compilation directory for all include files, and for
2258 all files from which C is generated (like yacc and lex sources). This
2259 greatly improves GDB's ability to find yacc/lex sources, and include files,
2260 especially if you are debugging your program from a directory different from
2261 the one that contains your sources.
2263 We also fixed a bug which caused difficulty with listing and setting
2264 breakpoints in include files which contain C code. (In the past, you had to
2265 try twice in order to list an include file that you hadn't looked at before.)
2267 * Interesting infernals change
2269 GDB now deals with arbitrary numbers of sections, where the symbols for each
2270 section must be relocated relative to that section's landing place in the
2271 target's address space. This work was needed to support ELF with embedded
2272 stabs used by Solaris-2.0.
2274 * Bug fixes (of course!)
2276 There have been loads of fixes for the following things:
2277 mips, rs6000, 29k/udi, m68k, g++, type handling, elf/dwarf, m88k,
2278 i960, stabs, DOS(GO32), procfs, etc...
2280 See the ChangeLog for details.
2282 *** Changes in GDB-4.5:
2284 * New machines supported (host and target)
2286 IBM RS6000 running AIX rs6000-ibm-aix or rs6000
2288 SGI Irix-4.x mips-sgi-irix4 or iris4
2290 * New malloc package
2292 GDB now uses a new memory manager called mmalloc, based on gmalloc.
2293 Mmalloc is capable of handling mutiple heaps of memory. It is also
2294 capable of saving a heap to a file, and then mapping it back in later.
2295 This can be used to greatly speedup the startup of GDB by using a
2296 pre-parsed symbol table which lives in a mmalloc managed heap. For
2297 more details, please read mmalloc/mmalloc.texi.
2301 The 'info proc' command (SVR4 only) has been enhanced quite a bit. See
2302 'help info proc' for details.
2304 * MIPS ecoff symbol table format
2306 The code that reads MIPS symbol table format is now supported on all hosts.
2307 Thanks to MIPS for releasing the sym.h and symconst.h files to make this
2310 * File name changes for MS-DOS
2312 Many files in the config directories have been renamed to make it easier to
2313 support GDB on MS-DOSe systems (which have very restrictive file name
2314 conventions :-( ). MS-DOSe host support (under DJ Delorie's GO32
2315 environment) is close to working but has some remaining problems. Note
2316 that debugging of DOS programs is not supported, due to limitations
2317 in the ``operating system'', but it can be used to host cross-debugging.
2319 * Cross byte order fixes
2321 Many fixes have been made to support cross debugging of Sparc and MIPS
2322 targets from hosts whose byte order differs.
2324 * New -mapped and -readnow options
2326 If memory-mapped files are available on your system through the 'mmap'
2327 system call, you can use the -mapped option on the `file' or
2328 `symbol-file' commands to cause GDB to write the symbols from your
2329 program into a reusable file. If the program you are debugging is
2330 called `/path/fred', the mapped symbol file will be `./fred.syms'.
2331 Future GDB debugging sessions will notice the presence of this file,
2332 and will quickly map in symbol information from it, rather than reading
2333 the symbol table from the executable program. Using the '-mapped'
2334 option in a GDB `file' or `symbol-file' command has the same effect as
2335 starting GDB with the '-mapped' command-line option.
2337 You can cause GDB to read the entire symbol table immediately by using
2338 the '-readnow' option with any of the commands that load symbol table
2339 information (or on the GDB command line). This makes the command
2340 slower, but makes future operations faster.
2342 The -mapped and -readnow options are typically combined in order to
2343 build a `fred.syms' file that contains complete symbol information.
2344 A simple GDB invocation to do nothing but build a `.syms' file for future
2347 gdb -batch -nx -mapped -readnow programname
2349 The `.syms' file is specific to the host machine on which GDB is run.
2350 It holds an exact image of GDB's internal symbol table. It cannot be
2351 shared across multiple host platforms.
2353 * longjmp() handling
2355 GDB is now capable of stepping and nexting over longjmp(), _longjmp(), and
2356 siglongjmp() without losing control. This feature has not yet been ported to
2357 all systems. It currently works on many 386 platforms, all MIPS-based
2358 platforms (SGI, DECstation, etc), and Sun3/4.
2362 Preliminary work has been put in to support the new Solaris OS from Sun. At
2363 this time, it can control and debug processes, but it is not capable of
2368 As always, many many bug fixes. The major areas were with g++, and mipsread.
2369 People using the MIPS-based platforms should experience fewer mysterious
2370 crashes and trashed symbol tables.
2372 *** Changes in GDB-4.4:
2374 * New machines supported (host and target)
2376 SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
2378 BSD Reno on Vax vax-dec-bsd
2379 Ultrix on Vax vax-dec-ultrix
2381 * New machines supported (target)
2383 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
2387 GDB continues to improve its handling of C++. `References' work better.
2388 The demangler has also been improved, and now deals with symbols mangled as
2389 per the Annotated C++ Reference Guide.
2391 GDB also now handles `stabs' symbol information embedded in MIPS
2392 `ecoff' symbol tables. Since the ecoff format was not easily
2393 extensible to handle new languages such as C++, this appeared to be a
2394 good way to put C++ debugging info into MIPS binaries. This option
2395 will be supported in the GNU C compiler, version 2, when it is
2398 * New features for SVR4
2400 GDB now handles SVR4 shared libraries, in the same fashion as SunOS
2401 shared libraries. Debugging dynamically linked programs should present
2402 only minor differences from debugging statically linked programs.
2404 The `info proc' command will print out information about any process
2405 on an SVR4 system (including the one you are debugging). At the moment,
2406 it prints the address mappings of the process.
2408 If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please send mail to
2409 bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were reqired (if any).
2411 * Better dynamic linking support in SunOS
2413 Reading symbols from shared libraries which contain debugging symbols
2414 now works properly. However, there remain issues such as automatic
2415 skipping of `transfer vector' code during function calls, which
2416 make it harder to debug code in a shared library, than to debug the
2417 same code linked statically.
2421 GDB is now using the latest `getopt' routines from the FSF. This
2422 version accepts the -- prefix for options with long names. GDB will
2423 continue to accept the old forms (-option and +option) as well.
2424 Various single letter abbreviations for options have been explicity
2425 added to the option table so that they won't get overshadowed in the
2426 future by other options that begin with the same letter.
2430 The `cleanup_undefined_types' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
2431 Many assorted bugs have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
2432 See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
2435 *** Changes in GDB-4.3:
2437 * New machines supported (host and target)
2439 Amiga 3000 running Amix m68k-cbm-svr4 or amix
2440 NCR 3000 386 running SVR4 i386-ncr-svr4 or ncr3000
2441 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
2443 * Almost SCO Unix support
2445 We had hoped to support:
2446 SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
2447 (except for core file support), but we discovered very late in the release
2448 that it has problems with process groups that render gdb unusable. Sorry
2449 about that. I encourage people to fix it and post the fixes.
2451 * Preliminary ELF and DWARF support
2453 GDB can read ELF object files on System V Release 4, and can handle
2454 debugging records for C, in DWARF format, in ELF files. This support
2455 is preliminary. If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please
2456 send mail to bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were
2461 GDB now uses the latest `readline' library. One user-visible change
2462 is that two tabs will list possible command completions, which previously
2463 required typing M-? (meta-question mark, or ESC ?).
2467 The `stepi' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
2468 Many bugs in C++ have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
2469 See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
2471 * State of the MIPS world (in case you wondered):
2473 GDB can understand the symbol tables emitted by the compilers
2474 supplied by most vendors of MIPS-based machines, including DEC. These
2475 symbol tables are in a format that essentially nobody else uses.
2477 Some versions of gcc come with an assembler post-processor called
2478 mips-tfile. This program is required if you want to do source-level
2479 debugging of gcc-compiled programs. I believe FSF does not ship
2480 mips-tfile with gcc version 1, but it will eventually come with gcc
2483 Debugging of g++ output remains a problem. g++ version 1.xx does not
2484 really support it at all. (If you're lucky, you should be able to get
2485 line numbers and stack traces to work, but no parameters or local
2486 variables.) With some work it should be possible to improve the
2489 When gcc version 2 is released, you will have somewhat better luck.
2490 However, even then you will get confusing results for inheritance and
2493 We will eventually provide full debugging of g++ output on
2494 DECstations. This will probably involve some kind of stabs-in-ecoff
2495 encapulation, but the details have not been worked out yet.
2498 *** Changes in GDB-4.2:
2500 * Improved configuration
2502 Only one copy of `configure' exists now, and it is not self-modifying.
2503 Porting BFD is simpler.
2507 The `step' and `next' commands now only stop at the first instruction
2508 of a source line. This prevents the multiple stops that used to occur
2509 in switch statements, for-loops, etc. `Step' continues to stop if a
2510 function that has debugging information is called within the line.
2514 Lots of small bugs fixed. More remain.
2516 * New host supported (not target)
2518 Intel 386 PC clone running Mach i386-none-mach
2521 *** Changes in GDB-4.1:
2523 * Multiple source language support
2525 GDB now has internal scaffolding to handle several source languages.
2526 It determines the type of each source file from its filename extension,
2527 and will switch expression parsing and number formatting to match the
2528 language of the function in the currently selected stack frame.
2529 You can also specifically set the language to be used, with
2530 `set language c' or `set language modula-2'.
2534 GDB now has preliminary support for the GNU Modula-2 compiler,
2535 currently under development at the State University of New York at
2536 Buffalo. Development of both GDB and the GNU Modula-2 compiler will
2537 continue through the fall of 1991 and into 1992.
2539 Other Modula-2 compilers are currently not supported, and attempting to
2540 debug programs compiled with them will likely result in an error as the
2541 symbol table is read. Feel free to work on it, though!
2543 There are hooks in GDB for strict type checking and range checking,
2544 in the `Modula-2 philosophy', but they do not currently work.
2548 GDB can now write to executable and core files (e.g. patch
2549 a variable's value). You must turn this switch on, specify
2550 the file ("exec foo" or "core foo"), *then* modify it, e.g.
2551 by assigning a new value to a variable. Modifications take
2554 * Automatic SunOS shared library reading
2556 When you run your program, GDB automatically determines where its
2557 shared libraries (if any) have been loaded, and reads their symbols.
2558 The `share' command is no longer needed. This also works when
2559 examining core files.
2563 You can specify the number of lines that the `list' command shows.
2566 * New machines supported (host and target)
2568 SGI Iris (MIPS) running Irix V3: mips-sgi-irix or iris
2569 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x: m68k-sony-sysv or news
2570 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1: a29k-nyu-sym1 or ultra3
2572 * New hosts supported (not targets)
2574 IBM RT/PC: romp-ibm-aix or rtpc
2576 * New targets supported (not hosts)
2578 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
2579 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
2580 Ultracomputer remote kernel debug a29k-nyu-kern
2582 * New remote interfaces
2588 *** Changes in GDB-4.0:
2592 Wide output is wrapped at good places to make the output more readable.
2594 Gdb now supports cross-debugging from a host machine of one type to a
2595 target machine of another type. Communication with the target system
2596 is over serial lines. The ``target'' command handles connecting to the
2597 remote system; the ``load'' command will download a program into the
2598 remote system. Serial stubs for the m68k and i386 are provided. Gdb
2599 also supports debugging of realtime processes running under VxWorks,
2600 using SunRPC Remote Procedure Calls over TCP/IP to talk to a debugger
2601 stub on the target system.
2603 New CPUs supported include the AMD 29000 and Intel 960.
2605 GDB now reads object files and symbol tables via a ``binary file''
2606 library, which allows a single copy of GDB to debug programs of multiple
2607 object file types such as a.out and coff.
2609 There is now a GDB reference card in "doc/refcard.tex". (Make targets
2610 refcard.dvi and refcard.ps are available to format it).
2613 * Control-Variable user interface simplified
2615 All variables that control the operation of the debugger can be set
2616 by the ``set'' command, and displayed by the ``show'' command.
2618 For example, ``set prompt new-gdb=>'' will change your prompt to new-gdb=>.
2619 ``Show prompt'' produces the response:
2620 Gdb's prompt is new-gdb=>.
2622 What follows are the NEW set commands. The command ``help set'' will
2623 print a complete list of old and new set commands. ``help set FOO''
2624 will give a longer description of the variable FOO. ``show'' will show
2625 all of the variable descriptions and their current settings.
2627 confirm on/off: Enables warning questions for operations that are
2628 hard to recover from, e.g. rerunning the program while
2629 it is already running. Default is ON.
2631 editing on/off: Enables EMACS style command line editing
2632 of input. Previous lines can be recalled with
2633 control-P, the current line can be edited with control-B,
2634 you can search for commands with control-R, etc.
2637 history filename NAME: NAME is where the gdb command history
2638 will be stored. The default is .gdb_history,
2639 or the value of the environment variable
2642 history size N: The size, in commands, of the command history. The
2643 default is 256, or the value of the environment variable
2646 history save on/off: If this value is set to ON, the history file will
2647 be saved after exiting gdb. If set to OFF, the
2648 file will not be saved. The default is OFF.
2650 history expansion on/off: If this value is set to ON, then csh-like
2651 history expansion will be performed on
2652 command line input. The default is OFF.
2654 radix N: Sets the default radix for input and output. It can be set
2655 to 8, 10, or 16. Note that the argument to "radix" is interpreted
2656 in the current radix, so "set radix 10" is always a no-op.
2658 height N: This integer value is the number of lines on a page. Default
2659 is 24, the current `stty rows'' setting, or the ``li#''
2660 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
2663 width N: This integer value is the number of characters on a line.
2664 Default is 80, the current `stty cols'' setting, or the ``co#''
2665 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
2668 Note: ``set screensize'' is obsolete. Use ``set height'' and
2669 ``set width'' instead.
2671 print address on/off: Print memory addresses in various command displays,
2672 such as stack traces and structure values. Gdb looks
2673 more ``symbolic'' if you turn this off; it looks more
2674 ``machine level'' with it on. Default is ON.
2676 print array on/off: Prettyprint arrays. New convenient format! Default
2679 print demangle on/off: Print C++ symbols in "source" form if on,
2682 print asm-demangle on/off: Same, for assembler level printouts
2685 print vtbl on/off: Prettyprint C++ virtual function tables. Default is OFF.
2688 * Support for Epoch Environment.
2690 The epoch environment is a version of Emacs v18 with windowing. One
2691 new command, ``inspect'', is identical to ``print'', except that if you
2692 are running in the epoch environment, the value is printed in its own
2696 * Support for Shared Libraries
2698 GDB can now debug programs and core files that use SunOS shared libraries.
2699 Symbols from a shared library cannot be referenced
2700 before the shared library has been linked with the program (this
2701 happens after you type ``run'' and before the function main() is entered).
2702 At any time after this linking (including when examining core files
2703 from dynamically linked programs), gdb reads the symbols from each
2704 shared library when you type the ``sharedlibrary'' command.
2705 It can be abbreviated ``share''.
2707 sharedlibrary REGEXP: Load shared object library symbols for files
2708 matching a unix regular expression. No argument
2709 indicates to load symbols for all shared libraries.
2711 info sharedlibrary: Status of loaded shared libraries.
2716 A watchpoint stops execution of a program whenever the value of an
2717 expression changes. Checking for this slows down execution
2718 tremendously whenever you are in the scope of the expression, but is
2719 quite useful for catching tough ``bit-spreader'' or pointer misuse
2720 problems. Some machines such as the 386 have hardware for doing this
2721 more quickly, and future versions of gdb will use this hardware.
2723 watch EXP: Set a watchpoint (breakpoint) for an expression.
2725 info watchpoints: Information about your watchpoints.
2727 delete N: Deletes watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
2728 disable N: Temporarily turns off watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
2729 enable N: Re-enables watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
2732 * C++ multiple inheritance
2734 When used with a GCC version 2 compiler, GDB supports multiple inheritance
2737 * C++ exception handling
2739 Gdb now supports limited C++ exception handling. Besides the existing
2740 ability to breakpoint on an exception handler, gdb can breakpoint on
2741 the raising of an exception (before the stack is peeled back to the
2744 catch FOO: If there is a FOO exception handler in the dynamic scope,
2745 set a breakpoint to catch exceptions which may be raised there.
2746 Multiple exceptions (``catch foo bar baz'') may be caught.
2748 info catch: Lists all exceptions which may be caught in the
2749 current stack frame.
2752 * Minor command changes
2754 The command ``call func (arg, arg, ...)'' now acts like the print
2755 command, except it does not print or save a value if the function's result
2756 is void. This is similar to dbx usage.
2758 The ``up'' and ``down'' commands now always print the frame they end up
2759 at; ``up-silently'' and `down-silently'' can be used in scripts to change
2760 frames without printing.
2762 * New directory command
2764 'dir' now adds directories to the FRONT of the source search path.
2765 The path starts off empty. Source files that contain debug information
2766 about the directory in which they were compiled can be found even
2767 with an empty path; Sun CC and GCC include this information. If GDB can't
2768 find your source file in the current directory, type "dir .".
2770 * Configuring GDB for compilation
2772 For normal use, type ``./configure host''. See README or gdb.texinfo
2775 GDB now handles cross debugging. If you are remotely debugging between
2776 two different machines, type ``./configure host -target=targ''.
2777 Host is the machine where GDB will run; targ is the machine
2778 where the program that you are debugging will run.
projects / deliverable / binutils-gdb.git / blob