d27beaa4b8429f3577e1f26831f7e7fb4b4379dd
[deliverable/binutils-gdb.git] / gdb / NEWS
1 What has changed in GDB?
2 (Organized release by release)
3
4 *** Changes since GDB 7.9
5
6 * GDB now honors the content of the file /proc/PID/coredump_filter
7 (PID is the process ID) on GNU/Linux systems. This file can be used
8 to specify the types of memory mappings that will be included in a
9 corefile. For more information, please refer to the manual page of
10 "core(5)". GDB also has a new command: "set use-coredump-filter
11 on|off". It allows to set whether GDB will read the content of the
12 /proc/PID/coredump_filter file when generating a corefile.
13
14 * The "info os" command on GNU/Linux can now display information on
15 cpu information :
16 "info os cpus" Listing of all cpus/cores on the system
17
18 * GDB has two new commands: "set serial parity odd|even|none" and
19 "show serial parity". These allows to set or show parity for the
20 remote serial I/O.
21
22 * The "info source" command now displays the producer string if it was
23 present in the debug info. This typically includes the compiler version
24 and may include things like its command line arguments.
25
26 * The "info dll", an alias of the "info sharedlibrary" command,
27 is now available on all platforms.
28
29 * Directory names supplied to the "set sysroot" commands may be
30 prefixed with "target:" to tell GDB to access shared libraries from
31 the target system, be it local or remote. This replaces the prefix
32 "remote:". The default sysroot has been changed from "" to
33 "target:". "remote:" is automatically converted to "target:" for
34 backward compatibility.
35
36 * The system root specified by "set sysroot" will be prepended to the
37 filename of the main executable (if reported to GDB as absolute by
38 the operating system) when starting processes remotely, and when
39 attaching to already-running local or remote processes.
40
41 * GDB now supports automatic location and retrieval of executable
42 files from remote targets. Remote debugging can now be initiated
43 using only a "target remote" or "target extended-remote" command
44 (no "set sysroot" or "file" commands are required). See "New remote
45 packets" below.
46
47 * The "dump" command now supports verilog hex format.
48
49 * GDB now supports the vector ABI on S/390 GNU/Linux targets.
50
51 * Python Scripting
52
53 ** gdb.Objfile objects have a new attribute "username",
54 which is the name of the objfile as specified by the user,
55 without, for example, resolving symlinks.
56 ** You can now write frame unwinders in Python.
57 ** gdb.Type objects have a new method "optimized_out",
58 returning optimized out gdb.Value instance of this type.
59 ** gdb.Value objects have new methods "reference_value" and
60 "const_value" which return a reference to the value and a
61 "const" version of the value respectively.
62
63 * New commands
64
65 maint print symbol-cache
66 Print the contents of the symbol cache.
67
68 maint print symbol-cache-statistics
69 Print statistics of symbol cache usage.
70
71 maint flush-symbol-cache
72 Flush the contents of the symbol cache.
73
74 record btrace bts
75 record bts
76 Start branch trace recording using Branch Trace Store (BTS) format.
77
78 compile print
79 Evaluate expression by using the compiler and print result.
80
81 * New options
82
83 set max-completions
84 show max-completions
85 Set the maximum number of candidates to be considered during
86 completion. The default value is 200. This limit allows GDB
87 to avoid generating large completion lists, the computation of
88 which can cause the debugger to become temporarily unresponsive.
89
90 maint set symbol-cache-size
91 maint show symbol-cache-size
92 Control the size of the symbol cache.
93
94 set|show record btrace bts buffer-size
95 Set and show the size of the ring buffer used for branch tracing in
96 BTS format.
97 The obtained size may differ from the requested size. Use "info
98 record" to see the obtained buffer size.
99
100 * The command 'thread apply all' can now support new option '-ascending'
101 to call its specified command for all threads in ascending order.
102
103 * Python/Guile scripting
104
105 ** GDB now supports auto-loading of Python/Guile scripts contained in the
106 special section named `.debug_gdb_scripts'.
107
108 * New remote packets
109
110 qXfer:btrace-conf:read
111 Return the branch trace configuration for the current thread.
112
113 Qbtrace-conf:bts:size
114 Set the requested ring buffer size for branch tracing in BTS format.
115
116 swbreak stop reason
117 Indicates a memory breakpoint instruction was executed, irrespective
118 of whether it was GDB that planted the breakpoint or the breakpoint
119 is hardcoded in the program. This is required for correct non-stop
120 mode operation.
121
122 hwbreak stop reason
123 Indicates the target stopped for a hardware breakpoint. This is
124 required for correct non-stop mode operation.
125
126 vFile:fstat:
127 Return information about files on the remote system.
128
129 qXfer:exec-file:read
130 Return the full absolute name of the file that was executed to
131 create a process running on the remote system.
132
133 fork stop reason
134 Indicates that a fork system call was executed.
135
136 vfork stop reason
137 Indicates that a vfork system call was executed.
138
139 vforkdone stop reason
140 Indicates that a vfork child of the specified process has executed
141 an exec or exit, allowing the vfork parent to resume execution.
142
143 fork-events and vfork-events features in qSupported
144 The qSupported packet allows GDB to request support for fork and
145 vfork events using new 'gdbfeatures' fork-events and vfork-events,
146 and the qSupported response can contain the corresponding
147 'stubfeatures'. Set and show commands can be used to display
148 whether these features are enabled.
149
150 * Extended-remote fork events
151
152 ** GDB now has support for fork events on extended-remote Linux
153 targets. For targets with Linux kernels 2.5.60 and later, this
154 enables follow-fork-mode and detach-on-fork for both fork and
155 vfork, as well as fork and vfork catchpoints.
156
157 * The info record command now shows the recording format and the
158 branch tracing configuration for the current thread when using
159 the btrace record target.
160 For the BTS format, it shows the ring buffer size.
161
162 * GDB now has support for DTrace USDT (Userland Static Defined
163 Tracing) probes. The supported targets are x86_64-*-linux-gnu.
164
165 * GDB now supports access to vector registers on S/390 GNU/Linux
166 targets.
167
168 * Removed command line options
169
170 -xdb HP-UX XDB compatibility mode.
171
172 * Removed targets and native configurations
173
174 HP/PA running HP-UX hppa*-*-hpux*
175 Itanium running HP-UX ia64-*-hpux*
176
177 *** Changes in GDB 7.9.1
178
179 * Python Scripting
180
181 ** Xmethods can now specify a result type.
182
183 *** Changes in GDB 7.9
184
185 * GDB now supports hardware watchpoints on x86 GNU Hurd.
186
187 * Python Scripting
188
189 ** You can now access frame registers from Python scripts.
190 ** New attribute 'producer' for gdb.Symtab objects.
191 ** gdb.Objfile objects have a new attribute "progspace",
192 which is the gdb.Progspace object of the containing program space.
193 ** gdb.Objfile objects have a new attribute "owner".
194 ** gdb.Objfile objects have a new attribute "build_id",
195 which is the build ID generated when the file was built.
196 ** gdb.Objfile objects have a new method "add_separate_debug_file".
197 ** A new event "gdb.clear_objfiles" has been added, triggered when
198 selecting a new file to debug.
199 ** You can now add attributes to gdb.Objfile and gdb.Progspace objects.
200 ** New function gdb.lookup_objfile.
201
202 New events which are triggered when GDB modifies the state of the
203 inferior.
204
205 ** gdb.events.inferior_call_pre: Function call is about to be made.
206 ** gdb.events.inferior_call_post: Function call has just been made.
207 ** gdb.events.memory_changed: A memory location has been altered.
208 ** gdb.events.register_changed: A register has been altered.
209
210 * New Python-based convenience functions:
211
212 ** $_caller_is(name [, number_of_frames])
213 ** $_caller_matches(regexp [, number_of_frames])
214 ** $_any_caller_is(name [, number_of_frames])
215 ** $_any_caller_matches(regexp [, number_of_frames])
216
217 * GDB now supports the compilation and injection of source code into
218 the inferior. GDB will use GCC 5.0 or higher built with libcc1.so
219 to compile the source code to object code, and if successful, inject
220 and execute that code within the current context of the inferior.
221 Currently the C language is supported. The commands used to
222 interface with this new feature are:
223
224 compile code [-raw|-r] [--] [source code]
225 compile file [-raw|-r] filename
226
227 * New commands
228
229 demangle [-l language] [--] name
230 Demangle "name" in the specified language, or the current language
231 if elided. This command is renamed from the "maint demangle" command.
232 The latter is kept as a no-op to avoid "maint demangle" being interpreted
233 as "maint demangler-warning".
234
235 queue-signal signal-name-or-number
236 Queue a signal to be delivered to the thread when it is resumed.
237
238 add-auto-load-scripts-directory directory
239 Add entries to the list of directories from which to load auto-loaded
240 scripts.
241
242 maint print user-registers
243 List all currently available "user" registers.
244
245 compile code [-r|-raw] [--] [source code]
246 Compile, inject, and execute in the inferior the executable object
247 code produced by compiling the provided source code.
248
249 compile file [-r|-raw] filename
250 Compile and inject into the inferior the executable object code
251 produced by compiling the source code stored in the filename
252 provided.
253
254 * On resume, GDB now always passes the signal the program had stopped
255 for to the thread the signal was sent to, even if the user changed
256 threads before resuming. Previously GDB would often (but not
257 always) deliver the signal to the thread that happens to be current
258 at resume time.
259
260 * Conversely, the "signal" command now consistently delivers the
261 requested signal to the current thread. GDB now asks for
262 confirmation if the program had stopped for a signal and the user
263 switched threads meanwhile.
264
265 * "breakpoint always-inserted" modes "off" and "auto" merged.
266
267 Now, when 'breakpoint always-inserted mode' is set to "off", GDB
268 won't remove breakpoints from the target until all threads stop,
269 even in non-stop mode. The "auto" mode has been removed, and "off"
270 is now the default mode.
271
272 * New options
273
274 set debug symbol-lookup
275 show debug symbol-lookup
276 Control display of debugging info regarding symbol lookup.
277
278 * MI changes
279
280 ** The -list-thread-groups command outputs an exit-code field for
281 inferiors that have exited.
282
283 * New targets
284
285 MIPS SDE mips*-sde*-elf*
286
287 * Removed targets
288
289 Support for these obsolete configurations has been removed.
290
291 Alpha running OSF/1 (or Tru64) alpha*-*-osf*
292 SGI Irix-5.x mips-*-irix5*
293 SGI Irix-6.x mips-*-irix6*
294 VAX running (4.2 - 4.3 Reno) BSD vax-*-bsd*
295 VAX running Ultrix vax-*-ultrix*
296
297 * The "dll-symbols" command, and its two aliases ("add-shared-symbol-files"
298 and "assf"), have been removed. Use the "sharedlibrary" command, or
299 its alias "share", instead.
300
301 *** Changes in GDB 7.8
302
303 * New command line options
304
305 -D data-directory
306 This is an alias for the --data-directory option.
307
308 * GDB supports printing and modifying of variable length automatic arrays
309 as specified in ISO C99.
310
311 * The ARM simulator now supports instruction level tracing
312 with or without disassembly.
313
314 * Guile scripting
315
316 GDB now has support for scripting using Guile. Whether this is
317 available is determined at configure time.
318 Guile version 2.0 or greater is required.
319 Guile version 2.0.9 is well tested, earlier 2.0 versions are not.
320
321 * New commands (for set/show, see "New options" below)
322
323 guile [code]
324 gu [code]
325 Invoke CODE by passing it to the Guile interpreter.
326
327 guile-repl
328 gr
329 Start a Guile interactive prompt (or "repl" for "read-eval-print loop").
330
331 info auto-load guile-scripts [regexp]
332 Print the list of automatically loaded Guile scripts.
333
334 * The source command is now capable of sourcing Guile scripts.
335 This feature is dependent on the debugger being built with Guile support.
336
337 * New options
338
339 set print symbol-loading (off|brief|full)
340 show print symbol-loading
341 Control whether to print informational messages when loading symbol
342 information for a file. The default is "full", but when debugging
343 programs with large numbers of shared libraries the amount of output
344 becomes less useful.
345
346 set guile print-stack (none|message|full)
347 show guile print-stack
348 Show a stack trace when an error is encountered in a Guile script.
349
350 set auto-load guile-scripts (on|off)
351 show auto-load guile-scripts
352 Control auto-loading of Guile script files.
353
354 maint ada set ignore-descriptive-types (on|off)
355 maint ada show ignore-descriptive-types
356 Control whether the debugger should ignore descriptive types in Ada
357 programs. The default is not to ignore the descriptive types. See
358 the user manual for more details on descriptive types and the intended
359 usage of this option.
360
361 set auto-connect-native-target
362
363 Control whether GDB is allowed to automatically connect to the
364 native target for the run, attach, etc. commands when not connected
365 to any target yet. See also "target native" below.
366
367 set record btrace replay-memory-access (read-only|read-write)
368 show record btrace replay-memory-access
369 Control what memory accesses are allowed during replay.
370
371 maint set target-async (on|off)
372 maint show target-async
373 This controls whether GDB targets operate in synchronous or
374 asynchronous mode. Normally the default is asynchronous, if it is
375 available; but this can be changed to more easily debug problems
376 occurring only in synchronous mode.
377
378 set mi-async (on|off)
379 show mi-async
380 Control whether MI asynchronous mode is preferred. This supersedes
381 "set target-async" of previous GDB versions.
382
383 * "set target-async" is deprecated as a CLI option and is now an alias
384 for "set mi-async" (only puts MI into async mode).
385
386 * Background execution commands (e.g., "c&", "s&", etc.) are now
387 possible ``out of the box'' if the target supports them. Previously
388 the user would need to explicitly enable the possibility with the
389 "set target-async on" command.
390
391 * New features in the GDB remote stub, GDBserver
392
393 ** New option --debug-format=option1[,option2,...] allows one to add
394 additional text to each output. At present only timestamps
395 are supported: --debug-format=timestamps.
396 Timestamps can also be turned on with the
397 "monitor set debug-format timestamps" command from GDB.
398
399 * The 'record instruction-history' command now starts counting instructions
400 at one. This also affects the instruction ranges reported by the
401 'record function-call-history' command when given the /i modifier.
402
403 * The command 'record function-call-history' supports a new modifier '/c' to
404 indent the function names based on their call stack depth.
405 The fields for the '/i' and '/l' modifier have been reordered.
406 The source line range is now prefixed with 'at'.
407 The instruction range is now prefixed with 'inst'.
408 Both ranges are now printed as '<from>, <to>' to allow copy&paste to the
409 "record instruction-history" and "list" commands.
410
411 * The ranges given as arguments to the 'record function-call-history' and
412 'record instruction-history' commands are now inclusive.
413
414 * The btrace record target now supports the 'record goto' command.
415 For locations inside the execution trace, the back trace is computed
416 based on the information stored in the execution trace.
417
418 * The btrace record target supports limited reverse execution and replay.
419 The target does not record data and therefore does not allow reading
420 memory or registers.
421
422 * The "catch syscall" command now works on s390*-linux* targets.
423
424 * The "compare-sections" command is no longer specific to target
425 remote. It now works with all targets.
426
427 * All native targets are now consistently called "native".
428 Consequently, the "target child", "target GNU", "target djgpp",
429 "target procfs" (Solaris/Irix/OSF/AIX) and "target darwin-child"
430 commands have been replaced with "target native". The QNX/NTO port
431 leaves the "procfs" target in place and adds a "native" target for
432 consistency with other ports. The impact on users should be minimal
433 as these commands previously either throwed an error, or were
434 no-ops. The target's name is visible in the output of the following
435 commands: "help target", "info target", "info files", "maint print
436 target-stack".
437
438 * The "target native" command now connects to the native target. This
439 can be used to launch native programs even when "set
440 auto-connect-native-target" is set to off.
441
442 * GDB now supports access to Intel(R) MPX registers on GNU/Linux.
443
444 * Support for Intel(R) AVX-512 registers on GNU/Linux.
445 Support displaying and modifying Intel(R) AVX-512 registers
446 $zmm0 - $zmm31 and $k0 - $k7 on GNU/Linux.
447
448 * New remote packets
449
450 qXfer:btrace:read's annex
451 The qXfer:btrace:read packet supports a new annex 'delta' to read
452 branch trace incrementally.
453
454 * Python Scripting
455
456 ** Valid Python operations on gdb.Value objects representing
457 structs/classes invoke the corresponding overloaded operators if
458 available.
459 ** New `Xmethods' feature in the Python API. Xmethods are
460 additional methods or replacements for existing methods of a C++
461 class. This feature is useful for those cases where a method
462 defined in C++ source code could be inlined or optimized out by
463 the compiler, making it unavailable to GDB.
464
465 * New targets
466 PowerPC64 GNU/Linux little-endian powerpc64le-*-linux*
467
468 * The "dll-symbols" command, and its two aliases ("add-shared-symbol-files"
469 and "assf"), have been deprecated. Use the "sharedlibrary" command, or
470 its alias "share", instead.
471
472 * The commands "set remotebaud" and "show remotebaud" are no longer
473 supported. Use "set serial baud" and "show serial baud" (respectively)
474 instead.
475
476 * MI changes
477
478 ** A new option "-gdb-set mi-async" replaces "-gdb-set
479 target-async". The latter is left as a deprecated alias of the
480 former for backward compatibility. If the target supports it,
481 CLI background execution commands are now always possible by
482 default, independently of whether the frontend stated a
483 preference for asynchronous execution with "-gdb-set mi-async".
484 Previously "-gdb-set target-async off" affected both MI execution
485 commands and CLI execution commands.
486
487 *** Changes in GDB 7.7
488
489 * Improved support for process record-replay and reverse debugging on
490 arm*-linux* targets. Support for thumb32 and syscall instruction
491 recording has been added.
492
493 * GDB now supports SystemTap SDT probes on AArch64 GNU/Linux.
494
495 * GDB now supports Fission DWP file format version 2.
496 http://gcc.gnu.org/wiki/DebugFission
497
498 * New convenience function "$_isvoid", to check whether an expression
499 is void. A void expression is an expression where the type of the
500 result is "void". For example, some convenience variables may be
501 "void" when evaluated (e.g., "$_exitcode" before the execution of
502 the program being debugged; or an undefined convenience variable).
503 Another example, when calling a function whose return type is
504 "void".
505
506 * The "maintenance print objfiles" command now takes an optional regexp.
507
508 * The "catch syscall" command now works on arm*-linux* targets.
509
510 * GDB now consistently shows "<not saved>" when printing values of
511 registers the debug info indicates have not been saved in the frame
512 and there's nowhere to retrieve them from
513 (callee-saved/call-clobbered registers):
514
515 (gdb) p $rax
516 $1 = <not saved>
517
518 (gdb) info registers rax
519 rax <not saved>
520
521 Before, the former would print "<optimized out>", and the latter
522 "*value not available*".
523
524 * New script contrib/gdb-add-index.sh for adding .gdb_index sections
525 to binaries.
526
527 * Python scripting
528
529 ** Frame filters and frame decorators have been added.
530 ** Temporary breakpoints are now supported.
531 ** Line tables representation has been added.
532 ** New attribute 'parent_type' for gdb.Field objects.
533 ** gdb.Field objects can be used as subscripts on gdb.Value objects.
534 ** New attribute 'name' for gdb.Type objects.
535
536 * New targets
537
538 Nios II ELF nios2*-*-elf
539 Nios II GNU/Linux nios2*-*-linux
540 Texas Instruments MSP430 msp430*-*-elf
541
542 * Removed native configurations
543
544 Support for these a.out NetBSD and OpenBSD obsolete configurations has
545 been removed. ELF variants of these configurations are kept supported.
546
547 arm*-*-netbsd* but arm*-*-netbsdelf* is kept supported.
548 i[34567]86-*-netbsd* but i[34567]86-*-netbsdelf* is kept supported.
549 i[34567]86-*-openbsd[0-2].* but i[34567]86-*-openbsd* is kept supported.
550 i[34567]86-*-openbsd3.[0-3]
551 m68*-*-netbsd* but m68*-*-netbsdelf* is kept supported.
552 sparc-*-netbsd* but sparc-*-netbsdelf* is kept supported.
553 vax-*-netbsd* but vax-*-netbsdelf* is kept supported.
554
555 * New commands:
556 catch rethrow
557 Like "catch throw", but catches a re-thrown exception.
558 maint check-psymtabs
559 Renamed from old "maint check-symtabs".
560 maint check-symtabs
561 Perform consistency checks on symtabs.
562 maint expand-symtabs
563 Expand symtabs matching an optional regexp.
564
565 show configuration
566 Display the details of GDB configure-time options.
567
568 maint set|show per-command
569 maint set|show per-command space
570 maint set|show per-command time
571 maint set|show per-command symtab
572 Enable display of per-command gdb resource usage.
573
574 remove-symbol-file FILENAME
575 remove-symbol-file -a ADDRESS
576 Remove a symbol file added via add-symbol-file. The file to remove
577 can be identified by its filename or by an address that lies within
578 the boundaries of this symbol file in memory.
579
580 info exceptions
581 info exceptions REGEXP
582 Display the list of Ada exceptions defined in the program being
583 debugged. If provided, only the exceptions whose names match REGEXP
584 are listed.
585
586 * New options
587
588 set debug symfile off|on
589 show debug symfile
590 Control display of debugging info regarding reading symbol files and
591 symbol tables within those files
592
593 set print raw frame-arguments
594 show print raw frame-arguments
595 Set/show whether to print frame arguments in raw mode,
596 disregarding any defined pretty-printers.
597
598 set remote trace-status-packet
599 show remote trace-status-packet
600 Set/show the use of remote protocol qTStatus packet.
601
602 set debug nios2
603 show debug nios2
604 Control display of debugging messages related to Nios II targets.
605
606 set range-stepping
607 show range-stepping
608 Control whether target-assisted range stepping is enabled.
609
610 set startup-with-shell
611 show startup-with-shell
612 Specifies whether Unix child processes are started via a shell or
613 directly.
614
615 set code-cache
616 show code-cache
617 Use the target memory cache for accesses to the code segment. This
618 improves performance of remote debugging (particularly disassembly).
619
620 * You can now use a literal value 'unlimited' for options that
621 interpret 0 or -1 as meaning "unlimited". E.g., "set
622 trace-buffer-size unlimited" is now an alias for "set
623 trace-buffer-size -1" and "set height unlimited" is now an alias for
624 "set height 0".
625
626 * The "set debug symtab-create" debugging option of GDB has been changed to
627 accept a verbosity level. 0 means "off", 1 provides basic debugging
628 output, and values of 2 or greater provides more verbose output.
629
630 * New command-line options
631 --configuration
632 Display the details of GDB configure-time options.
633
634 * The command 'tsave' can now support new option '-ctf' to save trace
635 buffer in Common Trace Format.
636
637 * Newly installed $prefix/bin/gcore acts as a shell interface for the
638 GDB command gcore.
639
640 * GDB now implements the the C++ 'typeid' operator.
641
642 * The new convenience variable $_exception holds the exception being
643 thrown or caught at an exception-related catchpoint.
644
645 * The exception-related catchpoints, like "catch throw", now accept a
646 regular expression which can be used to filter exceptions by type.
647
648 * The new convenience variable $_exitsignal is automatically set to
649 the terminating signal number when the program being debugged dies
650 due to an uncaught signal.
651
652 * MI changes
653
654 ** All MI commands now accept an optional "--language" option.
655 Support for this feature can be verified by using the "-list-features"
656 command, which should contain "language-option".
657
658 ** The new command -info-gdb-mi-command allows the user to determine
659 whether a GDB/MI command is supported or not.
660
661 ** The "^error" result record returned when trying to execute an undefined
662 GDB/MI command now provides a variable named "code" whose content is the
663 "undefined-command" error code. Support for this feature can be verified
664 by using the "-list-features" command, which should contain
665 "undefined-command-error-code".
666
667 ** The -trace-save MI command can optionally save trace buffer in Common
668 Trace Format now.
669
670 ** The new command -dprintf-insert sets a dynamic printf breakpoint.
671
672 ** The command -data-list-register-values now accepts an optional
673 "--skip-unavailable" option. When used, only the available registers
674 are displayed.
675
676 ** The new command -trace-frame-collected dumps collected variables,
677 computed expressions, tvars, memory and registers in a traceframe.
678
679 ** The commands -stack-list-locals, -stack-list-arguments and
680 -stack-list-variables now accept an option "--skip-unavailable".
681 When used, only the available locals or arguments are displayed.
682
683 ** The -exec-run command now accepts an optional "--start" option.
684 When used, the command follows the same semantics as the "start"
685 command, stopping the program's execution at the start of its
686 main subprogram. Support for this feature can be verified using
687 the "-list-features" command, which should contain
688 "exec-run-start-option".
689
690 ** The new commands -catch-assert and -catch-exceptions insert
691 catchpoints stopping the program when Ada exceptions are raised.
692
693 ** The new command -info-ada-exceptions provides the equivalent of
694 the new "info exceptions" command.
695
696 * New system-wide configuration scripts
697 A GDB installation now provides scripts suitable for use as system-wide
698 configuration scripts for the following systems:
699 ** ElinOS
700 ** Wind River Linux
701
702 * GDB now supports target-assigned range stepping with remote targets.
703 This improves the performance of stepping source lines by reducing
704 the number of control packets from/to GDB. See "New remote packets"
705 below.
706
707 * GDB now understands the element 'tvar' in the XML traceframe info.
708 It has the id of the collected trace state variables.
709
710 * On S/390 targets that provide the transactional-execution feature,
711 the program interruption transaction diagnostic block (TDB) is now
712 represented as a number of additional "registers" in GDB.
713
714 * New remote packets
715
716 vCont;r
717
718 The vCont packet supports a new 'r' action, that tells the remote
719 stub to step through an address range itself, without GDB
720 involvemement at each single-step.
721
722 qXfer:libraries-svr4:read's annex
723 The previously unused annex of the qXfer:libraries-svr4:read packet
724 is now used to support passing an argument list. The remote stub
725 reports support for this argument list to GDB's qSupported query.
726 The defined arguments are "start" and "prev", used to reduce work
727 necessary for library list updating, resulting in significant
728 speedup.
729
730 * New features in the GDB remote stub, GDBserver
731
732 ** GDBserver now supports target-assisted range stepping. Currently
733 enabled on x86/x86_64 GNU/Linux targets.
734
735 ** GDBserver now adds element 'tvar' in the XML in the reply to
736 'qXfer:traceframe-info:read'. It has the id of the collected
737 trace state variables.
738
739 ** GDBserver now supports hardware watchpoints on the MIPS GNU/Linux
740 target.
741
742 * New 'z' formatter for printing and examining memory, this displays the
743 value as hexadecimal zero padded on the left to the size of the type.
744
745 * GDB can now use Windows x64 unwinding data.
746
747 * The "set remotebaud" command has been replaced by "set serial baud".
748 Similarly, "show remotebaud" has been replaced by "show serial baud".
749 The "set remotebaud" and "show remotebaud" commands are still available
750 to provide backward compatibility with older versions of GDB.
751
752 *** Changes in GDB 7.6
753
754 * Target record has been renamed to record-full.
755 Record/replay is now enabled with the "record full" command.
756 This also affects settings that are associated with full record/replay
757 that have been moved from "set/show record" to "set/show record full":
758
759 set|show record full insn-number-max
760 set|show record full stop-at-limit
761 set|show record full memory-query
762
763 * A new record target "record-btrace" has been added. The new target
764 uses hardware support to record the control-flow of a process. It
765 does not support replaying the execution, but it implements the
766 below new commands for investigating the recorded execution log.
767 This new recording method can be enabled using:
768
769 record btrace
770
771 The "record-btrace" target is only available on Intel Atom processors
772 and requires a Linux kernel 2.6.32 or later.
773
774 * Two new commands have been added for record/replay to give information
775 about the recorded execution without having to replay the execution.
776 The commands are only supported by "record btrace".
777
778 record instruction-history prints the execution history at
779 instruction granularity
780
781 record function-call-history prints the execution history at
782 function granularity
783
784 * New native configurations
785
786 ARM AArch64 GNU/Linux aarch64*-*-linux-gnu
787 FreeBSD/powerpc powerpc*-*-freebsd
788 x86_64/Cygwin x86_64-*-cygwin*
789 Tilera TILE-Gx GNU/Linux tilegx*-*-linux-gnu
790
791 * New targets
792
793 ARM AArch64 aarch64*-*-elf
794 ARM AArch64 GNU/Linux aarch64*-*-linux
795 Lynx 178 PowerPC powerpc-*-lynx*178
796 x86_64/Cygwin x86_64-*-cygwin*
797 Tilera TILE-Gx GNU/Linux tilegx*-*-linux
798
799 * If the configured location of system.gdbinit file (as given by the
800 --with-system-gdbinit option at configure time) is in the
801 data-directory (as specified by --with-gdb-datadir at configure
802 time) or in one of its subdirectories, then GDB will look for the
803 system-wide init file in the directory specified by the
804 --data-directory command-line option.
805
806 * New command line options:
807
808 -nh Disables auto-loading of ~/.gdbinit, but still executes all the
809 other initialization files, unlike -nx which disables all of them.
810
811 * Removed command line options
812
813 -epoch This was used by the gdb mode in Epoch, an ancient fork of
814 Emacs.
815
816 * The 'ptype' and 'whatis' commands now accept an argument to control
817 type formatting.
818
819 * 'info proc' now works on some core files.
820
821 * Python scripting
822
823 ** Vectors can be created with gdb.Type.vector.
824
825 ** Python's atexit.register now works in GDB.
826
827 ** Types can be pretty-printed via a Python API.
828
829 ** Python 3 is now supported (in addition to Python 2.4 or later)
830
831 ** New class gdb.Architecture exposes GDB's internal representation
832 of architecture in the Python API.
833
834 ** New method Frame.architecture returns the gdb.Architecture object
835 corresponding to the frame's architecture.
836
837 * New Python-based convenience functions:
838
839 ** $_memeq(buf1, buf2, length)
840 ** $_streq(str1, str2)
841 ** $_strlen(str)
842 ** $_regex(str, regex)
843
844 * The 'cd' command now defaults to using '~' (the home directory) if not
845 given an argument.
846
847 * The C++ ABI now defaults to the GNU v3 ABI. This has been the
848 default for GCC since November 2000.
849
850 * The command 'forward-search' can now be abbreviated as 'fo'.
851
852 * The command 'info tracepoints' can now display 'installed on target'
853 or 'not installed on target' for each non-pending location of tracepoint.
854
855 * New configure options
856
857 --enable-libmcheck/--disable-libmcheck
858 By default, development versions are built with -lmcheck on hosts
859 that support it, in order to help track memory corruption issues.
860 Release versions, on the other hand, are built without -lmcheck
861 by default. The --enable-libmcheck/--disable-libmcheck configure
862 options allow the user to override that default.
863 --with-babeltrace/--with-babeltrace-include/--with-babeltrace-lib
864 This configure option allows the user to build GDB with
865 libbabeltrace using which GDB can read Common Trace Format data.
866
867 * New commands (for set/show, see "New options" below)
868
869 catch signal
870 Catch signals. This is similar to "handle", but allows commands and
871 conditions to be attached.
872
873 maint info bfds
874 List the BFDs known to GDB.
875
876 python-interactive [command]
877 pi [command]
878 Start a Python interactive prompt, or evaluate the optional command
879 and print the result of expressions.
880
881 py [command]
882 "py" is a new alias for "python".
883
884 enable type-printer [name]...
885 disable type-printer [name]...
886 Enable or disable type printers.
887
888 * Removed commands
889
890 ** For the Renesas Super-H architecture, the "regs" command has been removed
891 (has been deprecated in GDB 7.5), and "info all-registers" should be used
892 instead.
893
894 * New options
895
896 set print type methods (on|off)
897 show print type methods
898 Control whether method declarations are displayed by "ptype".
899 The default is to show them.
900
901 set print type typedefs (on|off)
902 show print type typedefs
903 Control whether typedef definitions are displayed by "ptype".
904 The default is to show them.
905
906 set filename-display basename|relative|absolute
907 show filename-display
908 Control the way in which filenames is displayed.
909 The default is "relative", which preserves previous behavior.
910
911 set trace-buffer-size
912 show trace-buffer-size
913 Request target to change the size of trace buffer.
914
915 set remote trace-buffer-size-packet auto|on|off
916 show remote trace-buffer-size-packet
917 Control the use of the remote protocol `QTBuffer:size' packet.
918
919 set debug aarch64
920 show debug aarch64
921 Control display of debugging messages related to ARM AArch64.
922 The default is off.
923
924 set debug coff-pe-read
925 show debug coff-pe-read
926 Control display of debugging messages related to reading of COFF/PE
927 exported symbols.
928
929 set debug mach-o
930 show debug mach-o
931 Control display of debugging messages related to Mach-O symbols
932 processing.
933
934 set debug notification
935 show debug notification
936 Control display of debugging info for async remote notification.
937
938 * MI changes
939
940 ** Command parameter changes are now notified using new async record
941 "=cmd-param-changed".
942 ** Trace frame changes caused by command "tfind" are now notified using
943 new async record "=traceframe-changed".
944 ** The creation, deletion and modification of trace state variables
945 are now notified using new async records "=tsv-created",
946 "=tsv-deleted" and "=tsv-modified".
947 ** The start and stop of process record are now notified using new
948 async record "=record-started" and "=record-stopped".
949 ** Memory changes are now notified using new async record
950 "=memory-changed".
951 ** The data-disassemble command response will include a "fullname" field
952 containing the absolute file name when source has been requested.
953 ** New optional parameter COUNT added to the "-data-write-memory-bytes"
954 command, to allow pattern filling of memory areas.
955 ** New commands "-catch-load"/"-catch-unload" added for intercepting
956 library load/unload events.
957 ** The response to breakpoint commands and breakpoint async records
958 includes an "installed" field containing a boolean state about each
959 non-pending tracepoint location is whether installed on target or not.
960 ** Output of the "-trace-status" command includes a "trace-file" field
961 containing the name of the trace file being examined. This field is
962 optional, and only present when examining a trace file.
963 ** The "fullname" field is now always present along with the "file" field,
964 even if the file cannot be found by GDB.
965
966 * GDB now supports the "mini debuginfo" section, .gnu_debugdata.
967 You must have the LZMA library available when configuring GDB for this
968 feature to be enabled. For more information, see:
969 http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features/MiniDebugInfo
970
971 * New remote packets
972
973 QTBuffer:size
974 Set the size of trace buffer. The remote stub reports support for this
975 packet to gdb's qSupported query.
976
977 Qbtrace:bts
978 Enable Branch Trace Store (BTS)-based branch tracing for the current
979 thread. The remote stub reports support for this packet to gdb's
980 qSupported query.
981
982 Qbtrace:off
983 Disable branch tracing for the current thread. The remote stub reports
984 support for this packet to gdb's qSupported query.
985
986 qXfer:btrace:read
987 Read the traced branches for the current thread. The remote stub
988 reports support for this packet to gdb's qSupported query.
989
990 *** Changes in GDB 7.5
991
992 * GDB now supports x32 ABI. Visit <http://sites.google.com/site/x32abi/>
993 for more x32 ABI info.
994
995 * GDB now supports access to MIPS DSP registers on Linux targets.
996
997 * GDB now supports debugging microMIPS binaries.
998
999 * The "info os" command on GNU/Linux can now display information on
1000 several new classes of objects managed by the operating system:
1001 "info os procgroups" lists process groups
1002 "info os files" lists file descriptors
1003 "info os sockets" lists internet-domain sockets
1004 "info os shm" lists shared-memory regions
1005 "info os semaphores" lists semaphores
1006 "info os msg" lists message queues
1007 "info os modules" lists loaded kernel modules
1008
1009 * GDB now has support for SDT (Static Defined Tracing) probes. Currently,
1010 the only implemented backend is for SystemTap probes (<sys/sdt.h>). You
1011 can set a breakpoint using the new "-probe, "-pstap" or "-probe-stap"
1012 options and inspect the probe arguments using the new $_probe_arg family
1013 of convenience variables. You can obtain more information about SystemTap
1014 in <http://sourceware.org/systemtap/>.
1015
1016 * GDB now supports reversible debugging on ARM, it allows you to
1017 debug basic ARM and THUMB instructions, and provides
1018 record/replay support.
1019
1020 * The option "symbol-reloading" has been deleted as it is no longer used.
1021
1022 * Python scripting
1023
1024 ** GDB commands implemented in Python can now be put in command class
1025 "gdb.COMMAND_USER".
1026
1027 ** The "maint set python print-stack on|off" is now deleted.
1028
1029 ** A new class, gdb.printing.FlagEnumerationPrinter, can be used to
1030 apply "flag enum"-style pretty-printing to any enum.
1031
1032 ** gdb.lookup_symbol can now work when there is no current frame.
1033
1034 ** gdb.Symbol now has a 'line' attribute, holding the line number in
1035 the source at which the symbol was defined.
1036
1037 ** gdb.Symbol now has the new attribute 'needs_frame' and the new
1038 method 'value'. The former indicates whether the symbol needs a
1039 frame in order to compute its value, and the latter computes the
1040 symbol's value.
1041
1042 ** A new method 'referenced_value' on gdb.Value objects which can
1043 dereference pointer as well as C++ reference values.
1044
1045 ** New methods 'global_block' and 'static_block' on gdb.Symtab objects
1046 which return the global and static blocks (as gdb.Block objects),
1047 of the underlying symbol table, respectively.
1048
1049 ** New function gdb.find_pc_line which returns the gdb.Symtab_and_line
1050 object associated with a PC value.
1051
1052 ** gdb.Symtab_and_line has new attribute 'last' which holds the end
1053 of the address range occupied by code for the current source line.
1054
1055 * Go language support.
1056 GDB now supports debugging programs written in the Go programming
1057 language.
1058
1059 * GDBserver now supports stdio connections.
1060 E.g. (gdb) target remote | ssh myhost gdbserver - hello
1061
1062 * The binary "gdbtui" can no longer be built or installed.
1063 Use "gdb -tui" instead.
1064
1065 * GDB will now print "flag" enums specially. A flag enum is one where
1066 all the enumerator values have no bits in common when pairwise
1067 "and"ed. When printing a value whose type is a flag enum, GDB will
1068 show all the constants, e.g., for enum E { ONE = 1, TWO = 2}:
1069 (gdb) print (enum E) 3
1070 $1 = (ONE | TWO)
1071
1072 * The filename part of a linespec will now match trailing components
1073 of a source file name. For example, "break gcc/expr.c:1000" will
1074 now set a breakpoint in build/gcc/expr.c, but not
1075 build/libcpp/expr.c.
1076
1077 * The "info proc" and "generate-core-file" commands will now also
1078 work on remote targets connected to GDBserver on Linux.
1079
1080 * The command "info catch" has been removed. It has been disabled
1081 since December 2007.
1082
1083 * The "catch exception" and "catch assert" commands now accept
1084 a condition at the end of the command, much like the "break"
1085 command does. For instance:
1086
1087 (gdb) catch exception Constraint_Error if Barrier = True
1088
1089 Previously, it was possible to add a condition to such catchpoints,
1090 but it had to be done as a second step, after the catchpoint had been
1091 created, using the "condition" command.
1092
1093 * The "info static-tracepoint-marker" command will now also work on
1094 native Linux targets with in-process agent.
1095
1096 * GDB can now set breakpoints on inlined functions.
1097
1098 * The .gdb_index section has been updated to include symbols for
1099 inlined functions. GDB will ignore older .gdb_index sections by
1100 default, which could cause symbol files to be loaded more slowly
1101 until their .gdb_index sections can be recreated. The new command
1102 "set use-deprecated-index-sections on" will cause GDB to use any older
1103 .gdb_index sections it finds. This will restore performance, but the
1104 ability to set breakpoints on inlined functions will be lost in symbol
1105 files with older .gdb_index sections.
1106
1107 The .gdb_index section has also been updated to record more information
1108 about each symbol. This speeds up the "info variables", "info functions"
1109 and "info types" commands when used with programs having the .gdb_index
1110 section, as well as speeding up debugging with shared libraries using
1111 the .gdb_index section.
1112
1113 * Ada support for GDB/MI Variable Objects has been added.
1114
1115 * GDB can now support 'breakpoint always-inserted mode' in 'record'
1116 target.
1117
1118 * MI changes
1119
1120 ** New command -info-os is the MI equivalent of "info os".
1121
1122 ** Output logs ("set logging" and related) now include MI output.
1123
1124 * New commands
1125
1126 ** "set use-deprecated-index-sections on|off"
1127 "show use-deprecated-index-sections on|off"
1128 Controls the use of deprecated .gdb_index sections.
1129
1130 ** "catch load" and "catch unload" can be used to stop when a shared
1131 library is loaded or unloaded, respectively.
1132
1133 ** "enable count" can be used to auto-disable a breakpoint after
1134 several hits.
1135
1136 ** "info vtbl" can be used to show the virtual method tables for
1137 C++ and Java objects.
1138
1139 ** "explore" and its sub commands "explore value" and "explore type"
1140 can be used to recursively explore values and types of
1141 expressions. These commands are available only if GDB is
1142 configured with '--with-python'.
1143
1144 ** "info auto-load" shows status of all kinds of auto-loaded files,
1145 "info auto-load gdb-scripts" shows status of auto-loading GDB canned
1146 sequences of commands files, "info auto-load python-scripts"
1147 shows status of auto-loading Python script files,
1148 "info auto-load local-gdbinit" shows status of loading init file
1149 (.gdbinit) from current directory and "info auto-load libthread-db" shows
1150 status of inferior specific thread debugging shared library loading.
1151
1152 ** "info auto-load-scripts", "set auto-load-scripts on|off"
1153 and "show auto-load-scripts" commands have been deprecated, use their
1154 "info auto-load python-scripts", "set auto-load python-scripts on|off"
1155 and "show auto-load python-scripts" counterparts instead.
1156
1157 ** "dprintf location,format,args..." creates a dynamic printf, which
1158 is basically a breakpoint that does a printf and immediately
1159 resumes your program's execution, so it is like a printf that you
1160 can insert dynamically at runtime instead of at compiletime.
1161
1162 ** "set print symbol"
1163 "show print symbol"
1164 Controls whether GDB attempts to display the symbol, if any,
1165 corresponding to addresses it prints. This defaults to "on", but
1166 you can set it to "off" to restore GDB's previous behavior.
1167
1168 * Deprecated commands
1169
1170 ** For the Renesas Super-H architecture, the "regs" command has been
1171 deprecated, and "info all-registers" should be used instead.
1172
1173 * New targets
1174
1175 Renesas RL78 rl78-*-elf
1176 HP OpenVMS ia64 ia64-hp-openvms*
1177
1178 * GDBserver supports evaluation of breakpoint conditions. When
1179 support is advertised by GDBserver, GDB may be told to send the
1180 breakpoint conditions in bytecode form to GDBserver. GDBserver
1181 will only report the breakpoint trigger to GDB when its condition
1182 evaluates to true.
1183
1184 * New options
1185
1186 set mips compression
1187 show mips compression
1188 Select the compressed ISA encoding used in functions that have no symbol
1189 information available. The encoding can be set to either of:
1190 mips16
1191 micromips
1192 and is updated automatically from ELF file flags if available.
1193
1194 set breakpoint condition-evaluation
1195 show breakpoint condition-evaluation
1196 Control whether breakpoint conditions are evaluated by GDB ("host") or by
1197 GDBserver ("target"). Default option "auto" chooses the most efficient
1198 available mode.
1199 This option can improve debugger efficiency depending on the speed of the
1200 target.
1201
1202 set auto-load off
1203 Disable auto-loading globally.
1204
1205 show auto-load
1206 Show auto-loading setting of all kinds of auto-loaded files.
1207
1208 set auto-load gdb-scripts on|off
1209 show auto-load gdb-scripts
1210 Control auto-loading of GDB canned sequences of commands files.
1211
1212 set auto-load python-scripts on|off
1213 show auto-load python-scripts
1214 Control auto-loading of Python script files.
1215
1216 set auto-load local-gdbinit on|off
1217 show auto-load local-gdbinit
1218 Control loading of init file (.gdbinit) from current directory.
1219
1220 set auto-load libthread-db on|off
1221 show auto-load libthread-db
1222 Control auto-loading of inferior specific thread debugging shared library.
1223
1224 set auto-load scripts-directory <dir1>[:<dir2>...]
1225 show auto-load scripts-directory
1226 Set a list of directories from which to load auto-loaded scripts.
1227 Automatically loaded Python scripts and GDB scripts are located in one
1228 of the directories listed by this option.
1229 The delimiter (':' above) may differ according to the host platform.
1230
1231 set auto-load safe-path <dir1>[:<dir2>...]
1232 show auto-load safe-path
1233 Set a list of directories from which it is safe to auto-load files.
1234 The delimiter (':' above) may differ according to the host platform.
1235
1236 set debug auto-load on|off
1237 show debug auto-load
1238 Control display of debugging info for auto-loading the files above.
1239
1240 set dprintf-style gdb|call|agent
1241 show dprintf-style
1242 Control the way in which a dynamic printf is performed; "gdb"
1243 requests a GDB printf command, while "call" causes dprintf to call a
1244 function in the inferior. "agent" requests that the target agent
1245 (such as GDBserver) do the printing.
1246
1247 set dprintf-function <expr>
1248 show dprintf-function
1249 set dprintf-channel <expr>
1250 show dprintf-channel
1251 Set the function and optional first argument to the call when using
1252 the "call" style of dynamic printf.
1253
1254 set disconnected-dprintf on|off
1255 show disconnected-dprintf
1256 Control whether agent-style dynamic printfs continue to be in effect
1257 after GDB disconnects.
1258
1259 * New configure options
1260
1261 --with-auto-load-dir
1262 Configure default value for the 'set auto-load scripts-directory'
1263 setting above. It defaults to '$debugdir:$datadir/auto-load',
1264 $debugdir representing global debugging info directories (available
1265 via 'show debug-file-directory') and $datadir representing GDB's data
1266 directory (available via 'show data-directory').
1267
1268 --with-auto-load-safe-path
1269 Configure default value for the 'set auto-load safe-path' setting
1270 above. It defaults to the --with-auto-load-dir setting.
1271
1272 --without-auto-load-safe-path
1273 Set 'set auto-load safe-path' to '/', effectively disabling this
1274 security feature.
1275
1276 * New remote packets
1277
1278 z0/z1 conditional breakpoints extension
1279
1280 The z0/z1 breakpoint insertion packets have been extended to carry
1281 a list of conditional expressions over to the remote stub depending on the
1282 condition evaluation mode. The use of this extension can be controlled
1283 via the "set remote conditional-breakpoints-packet" command.
1284
1285 QProgramSignals:
1286
1287 Specify the signals which the remote stub may pass to the debugged
1288 program without GDB involvement.
1289
1290 * New command line options
1291
1292 --init-command=FILE, -ix Like --command, -x but execute it
1293 before loading inferior.
1294 --init-eval-command=COMMAND, -iex Like --eval-command=COMMAND, -ex but
1295 execute it before loading inferior.
1296
1297 *** Changes in GDB 7.4
1298
1299 * GDB now handles ambiguous linespecs more consistently; the existing
1300 FILE:LINE support has been expanded to other types of linespecs. A
1301 breakpoint will now be set on all matching locations in all
1302 inferiors, and locations will be added or removed according to
1303 inferior changes.
1304
1305 * GDB now allows you to skip uninteresting functions and files when
1306 stepping with the "skip function" and "skip file" commands.
1307
1308 * GDB has two new commands: "set remote hardware-watchpoint-length-limit"
1309 and "show remote hardware-watchpoint-length-limit". These allows to
1310 set or show the maximum length limit (in bytes) of a remote
1311 target hardware watchpoint.
1312
1313 This allows e.g. to use "unlimited" hardware watchpoints with the
1314 gdbserver integrated in Valgrind version >= 3.7.0. Such Valgrind
1315 watchpoints are slower than real hardware watchpoints but are
1316 significantly faster than gdb software watchpoints.
1317
1318 * Python scripting
1319
1320 ** The register_pretty_printer function in module gdb.printing now takes
1321 an optional `replace' argument. If True, the new printer replaces any
1322 existing one.
1323
1324 ** The "maint set python print-stack on|off" command has been
1325 deprecated and will be deleted in GDB 7.5.
1326 A new command: "set python print-stack none|full|message" has
1327 replaced it. Additionally, the default for "print-stack" is
1328 now "message", which just prints the error message without
1329 the stack trace.
1330
1331 ** A prompt substitution hook (prompt_hook) is now available to the
1332 Python API.
1333
1334 ** A new Python module, gdb.prompt has been added to the GDB Python
1335 modules library. This module provides functionality for
1336 escape sequences in prompts (used by set/show
1337 extended-prompt). These escape sequences are replaced by their
1338 corresponding value.
1339
1340 ** Python commands and convenience-functions located in
1341 'data-directory'/python/gdb/command and
1342 'data-directory'/python/gdb/function are now automatically loaded
1343 on GDB start-up.
1344
1345 ** Blocks now provide four new attributes. global_block and
1346 static_block will return the global and static blocks
1347 respectively. is_static and is_global are boolean attributes
1348 that indicate if the block is one of those two types.
1349
1350 ** Symbols now provide the "type" attribute, the type of the symbol.
1351
1352 ** The "gdb.breakpoint" function has been deprecated in favor of
1353 "gdb.breakpoints".
1354
1355 ** A new class "gdb.FinishBreakpoint" is provided to catch the return
1356 of a function. This class is based on the "finish" command
1357 available in the CLI.
1358
1359 ** Type objects for struct and union types now allow access to
1360 the fields using standard Python dictionary (mapping) methods.
1361 For example, "some_type['myfield']" now works, as does
1362 "some_type.items()".
1363
1364 ** A new event "gdb.new_objfile" has been added, triggered by loading a
1365 new object file.
1366
1367 ** A new function, "deep_items" has been added to the gdb.types
1368 module in the GDB Python modules library. This function returns
1369 an iterator over the fields of a struct or union type. Unlike
1370 the standard Python "iteritems" method, it will recursively traverse
1371 any anonymous fields.
1372
1373 * MI changes
1374
1375 ** "*stopped" events can report several new "reason"s, such as
1376 "solib-event".
1377
1378 ** Breakpoint changes are now notified using new async records, like
1379 "=breakpoint-modified".
1380
1381 ** New command -ada-task-info.
1382
1383 * libthread-db-search-path now supports two special values: $sdir and $pdir.
1384 $sdir specifies the default system locations of shared libraries.
1385 $pdir specifies the directory where the libpthread used by the application
1386 lives.
1387
1388 GDB no longer looks in $sdir and $pdir after it has searched the directories
1389 mentioned in libthread-db-search-path. If you want to search those
1390 directories, they must be specified in libthread-db-search-path.
1391 The default value of libthread-db-search-path on GNU/Linux and Solaris
1392 systems is now "$sdir:$pdir".
1393
1394 $pdir is not supported by gdbserver, it is currently ignored.
1395 $sdir is supported by gdbserver.
1396
1397 * New configure option --with-iconv-bin.
1398 When using the internationalization support like the one in the GNU C
1399 library, GDB will invoke the "iconv" program to get a list of supported
1400 character sets. If this program lives in a non-standard location, one can
1401 use this option to specify where to find it.
1402
1403 * When natively debugging programs on PowerPC BookE processors running
1404 a Linux kernel version 2.6.34 or later, GDB supports masked hardware
1405 watchpoints, which specify a mask in addition to an address to watch.
1406 The mask specifies that some bits of an address (the bits which are
1407 reset in the mask) should be ignored when matching the address accessed
1408 by the inferior against the watchpoint address. See the "PowerPC Embedded"
1409 section in the user manual for more details.
1410
1411 * The new option --once causes GDBserver to stop listening for connections once
1412 the first connection is made. The listening port used by GDBserver will
1413 become available after that.
1414
1415 * New commands "info macros" and "alias" have been added.
1416
1417 * New function parameters suffix @entry specifies value of function parameter
1418 at the time the function got called. Entry values are available only since
1419 gcc version 4.7.
1420
1421 * New commands
1422
1423 !SHELL COMMAND
1424 "!" is now an alias of the "shell" command.
1425 Note that no space is needed between "!" and SHELL COMMAND.
1426
1427 * Changed commands
1428
1429 watch EXPRESSION mask MASK_VALUE
1430 The watch command now supports the mask argument which allows creation
1431 of masked watchpoints, if the current architecture supports this feature.
1432
1433 info auto-load-scripts [REGEXP]
1434 This command was formerly named "maintenance print section-scripts".
1435 It is now generally useful and is no longer a maintenance-only command.
1436
1437 info macro [-all] [--] MACRO
1438 The info macro command has new options `-all' and `--'. The first for
1439 printing all definitions of a macro. The second for explicitly specifying
1440 the end of arguments and the beginning of the macro name in case the macro
1441 name starts with a hyphen.
1442
1443 collect[/s] EXPRESSIONS
1444 The tracepoint collect command now takes an optional modifier "/s"
1445 that directs it to dereference pointer-to-character types and
1446 collect the bytes of memory up to a zero byte. The behavior is
1447 similar to what you see when you use the regular print command on a
1448 string. An optional integer following the "/s" sets a bound on the
1449 number of bytes that will be collected.
1450
1451 tstart [NOTES]
1452 The trace start command now interprets any supplied arguments as a
1453 note to be recorded with the trace run, with an effect similar to
1454 setting the variable trace-notes.
1455
1456 tstop [NOTES]
1457 The trace stop command now interprets any arguments as a note to be
1458 mentioned along with the tstatus report that the trace was stopped
1459 with a command. The effect is similar to setting the variable
1460 trace-stop-notes.
1461
1462 * Tracepoints can now be enabled and disabled at any time after a trace
1463 experiment has been started using the standard "enable" and "disable"
1464 commands. It is now possible to start a trace experiment with no enabled
1465 tracepoints; GDB will display a warning, but will allow the experiment to
1466 begin, assuming that tracepoints will be enabled as needed while the trace
1467 is running.
1468
1469 * Fast tracepoints on 32-bit x86-architectures can now be placed at
1470 locations with 4-byte instructions, when they were previously
1471 limited to locations with instructions of 5 bytes or longer.
1472
1473 * New options
1474
1475 set debug dwarf2-read
1476 show debug dwarf2-read
1477 Turns on or off display of debugging messages related to reading
1478 DWARF debug info. The default is off.
1479
1480 set debug symtab-create
1481 show debug symtab-create
1482 Turns on or off display of debugging messages related to symbol table
1483 creation. The default is off.
1484
1485 set extended-prompt
1486 show extended-prompt
1487 Set the GDB prompt, and allow escape sequences to be inserted to
1488 display miscellaneous information (see 'help set extended-prompt'
1489 for the list of sequences). This prompt (and any information
1490 accessed through the escape sequences) is updated every time the
1491 prompt is displayed.
1492
1493 set print entry-values (both|compact|default|if-needed|no|only|preferred)
1494 show print entry-values
1495 Set printing of frame argument values at function entry. In some cases
1496 GDB can determine the value of function argument which was passed by the
1497 function caller, even if the value was modified inside the called function.
1498
1499 set debug entry-values
1500 show debug entry-values
1501 Control display of debugging info for determining frame argument values at
1502 function entry and virtual tail call frames.
1503
1504 set basenames-may-differ
1505 show basenames-may-differ
1506 Set whether a source file may have multiple base names.
1507 (A "base name" is the name of a file with the directory part removed.
1508 Example: The base name of "/home/user/hello.c" is "hello.c".)
1509 If set, GDB will canonicalize file names (e.g., expand symlinks)
1510 before comparing them. Canonicalization is an expensive operation,
1511 but it allows the same file be known by more than one base name.
1512 If not set (the default), all source files are assumed to have just
1513 one base name, and gdb will do file name comparisons more efficiently.
1514
1515 set trace-user
1516 show trace-user
1517 set trace-notes
1518 show trace-notes
1519 Set a user name and notes for the current and any future trace runs.
1520 This is useful for long-running and/or disconnected traces, to
1521 inform others (or yourself) as to who is running the trace, supply
1522 contact information, or otherwise explain what is going on.
1523
1524 set trace-stop-notes
1525 show trace-stop-notes
1526 Set a note attached to the trace run, that is displayed when the
1527 trace has been stopped by a tstop command. This is useful for
1528 instance as an explanation, if you are stopping a trace run that was
1529 started by someone else.
1530
1531 * New remote packets
1532
1533 QTEnable
1534
1535 Dynamically enable a tracepoint in a started trace experiment.
1536
1537 QTDisable
1538
1539 Dynamically disable a tracepoint in a started trace experiment.
1540
1541 QTNotes
1542
1543 Set the user and notes of the trace run.
1544
1545 qTP
1546
1547 Query the current status of a tracepoint.
1548
1549 qTMinFTPILen
1550
1551 Query the minimum length of instruction at which a fast tracepoint may
1552 be placed.
1553
1554 * Dcache size (number of lines) and line-size are now runtime-configurable
1555 via "set dcache line" and "set dcache line-size" commands.
1556
1557 * New targets
1558
1559 Texas Instruments TMS320C6x tic6x-*-*
1560
1561 * New Simulators
1562
1563 Renesas RL78 rl78-*-elf
1564
1565 *** Changes in GDB 7.3.1
1566
1567 * The build failure for NetBSD and OpenBSD targets have now been fixed.
1568
1569 *** Changes in GDB 7.3
1570
1571 * GDB has a new command: "thread find [REGEXP]".
1572 It finds the thread id whose name, target id, or thread extra info
1573 matches the given regular expression.
1574
1575 * The "catch syscall" command now works on mips*-linux* targets.
1576
1577 * The -data-disassemble MI command now supports modes 2 and 3 for
1578 dumping the instruction opcodes.
1579
1580 * New command line options
1581
1582 -data-directory DIR Specify DIR as the "data-directory".
1583 This is mostly for testing purposes.
1584
1585 * The "maint set python auto-load on|off" command has been renamed to
1586 "set auto-load-scripts on|off".
1587
1588 * GDB has a new command: "set directories".
1589 It is like the "dir" command except that it replaces the
1590 source path list instead of augmenting it.
1591
1592 * GDB now understands thread names.
1593
1594 On GNU/Linux, "info threads" will display the thread name as set by
1595 prctl or pthread_setname_np.
1596
1597 There is also a new command, "thread name", which can be used to
1598 assign a name internally for GDB to display.
1599
1600 * OpenCL C
1601 Initial support for the OpenCL C language (http://www.khronos.org/opencl)
1602 has been integrated into GDB.
1603
1604 * Python scripting
1605
1606 ** The function gdb.Write now accepts an optional keyword 'stream'.
1607 This keyword, when provided, will direct the output to either
1608 stdout, stderr, or GDB's logging output.
1609
1610 ** Parameters can now be be sub-classed in Python, and in particular
1611 you may implement the get_set_doc and get_show_doc functions.
1612 This improves how Parameter set/show documentation is processed
1613 and allows for more dynamic content.
1614
1615 ** Symbols, Symbol Table, Symbol Table and Line, Object Files,
1616 Inferior, Inferior Thread, Blocks, and Block Iterator APIs now
1617 have an is_valid method.
1618
1619 ** Breakpoints can now be sub-classed in Python, and in particular
1620 you may implement a 'stop' function that is executed each time
1621 the inferior reaches that breakpoint.
1622
1623 ** New function gdb.lookup_global_symbol looks up a global symbol.
1624
1625 ** GDB values in Python are now callable if the value represents a
1626 function. For example, if 'some_value' represents a function that
1627 takes two integer parameters and returns a value, you can call
1628 that function like so:
1629
1630 result = some_value (10,20)
1631
1632 ** Module gdb.types has been added.
1633 It contains a collection of utilities for working with gdb.Types objects:
1634 get_basic_type, has_field, make_enum_dict.
1635
1636 ** Module gdb.printing has been added.
1637 It contains utilities for writing and registering pretty-printers.
1638 New classes: PrettyPrinter, SubPrettyPrinter,
1639 RegexpCollectionPrettyPrinter.
1640 New function: register_pretty_printer.
1641
1642 ** New commands "info pretty-printers", "enable pretty-printer" and
1643 "disable pretty-printer" have been added.
1644
1645 ** gdb.parameter("directories") is now available.
1646
1647 ** New function gdb.newest_frame returns the newest frame in the
1648 selected thread.
1649
1650 ** The gdb.InferiorThread class has a new "name" attribute. This
1651 holds the thread's name.
1652
1653 ** Python Support for Inferior events.
1654 Python scripts can add observers to be notified of events
1655 occurring in the process being debugged.
1656 The following events are currently supported:
1657 - gdb.events.cont Continue event.
1658 - gdb.events.exited Inferior exited event.
1659 - gdb.events.stop Signal received, and Breakpoint hit events.
1660
1661 * C++ Improvements:
1662
1663 ** GDB now puts template parameters in scope when debugging in an
1664 instantiation. For example, if you have:
1665
1666 template<int X> int func (void) { return X; }
1667
1668 then if you step into func<5>, "print X" will show "5". This
1669 feature requires proper debuginfo support from the compiler; it
1670 was added to GCC 4.5.
1671
1672 ** The motion commands "next", "finish", "until", and "advance" now
1673 work better when exceptions are thrown. In particular, GDB will
1674 no longer lose control of the inferior; instead, the GDB will
1675 stop the inferior at the point at which the exception is caught.
1676 This functionality requires a change in the exception handling
1677 code that was introduced in GCC 4.5.
1678
1679 * GDB now follows GCC's rules on accessing volatile objects when
1680 reading or writing target state during expression evaluation.
1681 One notable difference to prior behavior is that "print x = 0"
1682 no longer generates a read of x; the value of the assignment is
1683 now always taken directly from the value being assigned.
1684
1685 * GDB now has some support for using labels in the program's source in
1686 linespecs. For instance, you can use "advance label" to continue
1687 execution to a label.
1688
1689 * GDB now has support for reading and writing a new .gdb_index
1690 section. This section holds a fast index of DWARF debugging
1691 information and can be used to greatly speed up GDB startup and
1692 operation. See the documentation for `save gdb-index' for details.
1693
1694 * The "watch" command now accepts an optional "-location" argument.
1695 When used, this causes GDB to watch the memory referred to by the
1696 expression. Such a watchpoint is never deleted due to it going out
1697 of scope.
1698
1699 * GDB now supports thread debugging of core dumps on GNU/Linux.
1700
1701 GDB now activates thread debugging using the libthread_db library
1702 when debugging GNU/Linux core dumps, similarly to when debugging
1703 live processes. As a result, when debugging a core dump file, GDB
1704 is now able to display pthread_t ids of threads. For example, "info
1705 threads" shows the same output as when debugging the process when it
1706 was live. In earlier releases, you'd see something like this:
1707
1708 (gdb) info threads
1709 * 1 LWP 6780 main () at main.c:10
1710
1711 While now you see this:
1712
1713 (gdb) info threads
1714 * 1 Thread 0x7f0f5712a700 (LWP 6780) main () at main.c:10
1715
1716 It is also now possible to inspect TLS variables when debugging core
1717 dumps.
1718
1719 When debugging a core dump generated on a machine other than the one
1720 used to run GDB, you may need to point GDB at the correct
1721 libthread_db library with the "set libthread-db-search-path"
1722 command. See the user manual for more details on this command.
1723
1724 * When natively debugging programs on PowerPC BookE processors running
1725 a Linux kernel version 2.6.34 or later, GDB supports ranged breakpoints,
1726 which stop execution of the inferior whenever it executes an instruction
1727 at any address within the specified range. See the "PowerPC Embedded"
1728 section in the user manual for more details.
1729
1730 * New features in the GDB remote stub, GDBserver
1731
1732 ** GDBserver is now supported on PowerPC LynxOS (versions 4.x and 5.x),
1733 and i686 LynxOS (version 5.x).
1734
1735 ** GDBserver is now supported on Blackfin Linux.
1736
1737 * New native configurations
1738
1739 ia64 HP-UX ia64-*-hpux*
1740
1741 * New targets:
1742
1743 Analog Devices, Inc. Blackfin Processor bfin-*
1744
1745 * Ada task switching is now supported on sparc-elf targets when
1746 debugging a program using the Ravenscar Profile. For more information,
1747 see the "Tasking Support when using the Ravenscar Profile" section
1748 in the GDB user manual.
1749
1750 * Guile support was removed.
1751
1752 * New features in the GNU simulator
1753
1754 ** The --map-info flag lists all known core mappings.
1755
1756 ** CFI flashes may be simulated via the "cfi" device.
1757
1758 *** Changes in GDB 7.2
1759
1760 * Shared library support for remote targets by default
1761
1762 When GDB is configured for a generic, non-OS specific target, like
1763 for example, --target=arm-eabi or one of the many *-*-elf targets,
1764 GDB now queries remote stubs for loaded shared libraries using the
1765 `qXfer:libraries:read' packet. Previously, shared library support
1766 was always disabled for such configurations.
1767
1768 * C++ Improvements:
1769
1770 ** Argument Dependent Lookup (ADL)
1771
1772 In C++ ADL lookup directs function search to the namespaces of its
1773 arguments even if the namespace has not been imported.
1774 For example:
1775 namespace A
1776 {
1777 class B { };
1778 void foo (B) { }
1779 }
1780 ...
1781 A::B b
1782 foo(b)
1783 Here the compiler will search for `foo' in the namespace of 'b'
1784 and find A::foo. GDB now supports this. This construct is commonly
1785 used in the Standard Template Library for operators.
1786
1787 ** Improved User Defined Operator Support
1788
1789 In addition to member operators, GDB now supports lookup of operators
1790 defined in a namespace and imported with a `using' directive, operators
1791 defined in the global scope, operators imported implicitly from an
1792 anonymous namespace, and the ADL operators mentioned in the previous
1793 entry.
1794 GDB now also supports proper overload resolution for all the previously
1795 mentioned flavors of operators.
1796
1797 ** static const class members
1798
1799 Printing of static const class members that are initialized in the
1800 class definition has been fixed.
1801
1802 * Windows Thread Information Block access.
1803
1804 On Windows targets, GDB now supports displaying the Windows Thread
1805 Information Block (TIB) structure. This structure is visible either
1806 by using the new command `info w32 thread-information-block' or, by
1807 dereferencing the new convenience variable named `$_tlb', a
1808 thread-specific pointer to the TIB. This feature is also supported
1809 when remote debugging using GDBserver.
1810
1811 * Static tracepoints
1812
1813 Static tracepoints are calls in the user program into a tracing
1814 library. One such library is a port of the LTTng kernel tracer to
1815 userspace --- UST (LTTng Userspace Tracer, http://lttng.org/ust).
1816 When debugging with GDBserver, GDB now supports combining the GDB
1817 tracepoint machinery with such libraries. For example: the user can
1818 use GDB to probe a static tracepoint marker (a call from the user
1819 program into the tracing library) with the new "strace" command (see
1820 "New commands" below). This creates a "static tracepoint" in the
1821 breakpoint list, that can be manipulated with the same feature set
1822 as fast and regular tracepoints. E.g., collect registers, local and
1823 global variables, collect trace state variables, and define
1824 tracepoint conditions. In addition, the user can collect extra
1825 static tracepoint marker specific data, by collecting the new
1826 $_sdata internal variable. When analyzing the trace buffer, you can
1827 inspect $_sdata like any other variable available to GDB. For more
1828 information, see the "Tracepoints" chapter in GDB user manual. New
1829 remote packets have been defined to support static tracepoints, see
1830 the "New remote packets" section below.
1831
1832 * Better reconstruction of tracepoints after disconnected tracing
1833
1834 GDB will attempt to download the original source form of tracepoint
1835 definitions when starting a trace run, and then will upload these
1836 upon reconnection to the target, resulting in a more accurate
1837 reconstruction of the tracepoints that are in use on the target.
1838
1839 * Observer mode
1840
1841 You can now exercise direct control over the ways that GDB can
1842 affect your program. For instance, you can disallow the setting of
1843 breakpoints, so that the program can run continuously (assuming
1844 non-stop mode). In addition, the "observer" variable is available
1845 to switch all of the different controls; in observer mode, GDB
1846 cannot affect the target's behavior at all, which is useful for
1847 tasks like diagnosing live systems in the field.
1848
1849 * The new convenience variable $_thread holds the number of the
1850 current thread.
1851
1852 * New remote packets
1853
1854 qGetTIBAddr
1855
1856 Return the address of the Windows Thread Information Block of a given thread.
1857
1858 qRelocInsn
1859
1860 In response to several of the tracepoint packets, the target may now
1861 also respond with a number of intermediate `qRelocInsn' request
1862 packets before the final result packet, to have GDB handle
1863 relocating an instruction to execute at a different address. This
1864 is particularly useful for stubs that support fast tracepoints. GDB
1865 reports support for this feature in the qSupported packet.
1866
1867 qTfSTM, qTsSTM
1868
1869 List static tracepoint markers in the target program.
1870
1871 qTSTMat
1872
1873 List static tracepoint markers at a given address in the target
1874 program.
1875
1876 qXfer:statictrace:read
1877
1878 Read the static trace data collected (by a `collect $_sdata'
1879 tracepoint action). The remote stub reports support for this packet
1880 to gdb's qSupported query.
1881
1882 QAllow
1883
1884 Send the current settings of GDB's permission flags.
1885
1886 QTDPsrc
1887
1888 Send part of the source (textual) form of a tracepoint definition,
1889 which includes location, conditional, and action list.
1890
1891 * The source command now accepts a -s option to force searching for the
1892 script in the source search path even if the script name specifies
1893 a directory.
1894
1895 * New features in the GDB remote stub, GDBserver
1896
1897 - GDBserver now support tracepoints (including fast tracepoints, and
1898 static tracepoints). The feature is currently supported by the
1899 i386-linux and amd64-linux builds. See the "Tracepoints support
1900 in gdbserver" section in the manual for more information.
1901
1902 GDBserver JIT compiles the tracepoint's conditional agent
1903 expression bytecode into native code whenever possible for low
1904 overhead dynamic tracepoints conditionals. For such tracepoints,
1905 an expression that examines program state is evaluated when the
1906 tracepoint is reached, in order to determine whether to capture
1907 trace data. If the condition is simple and false, processing the
1908 tracepoint finishes very quickly and no data is gathered.
1909
1910 GDBserver interfaces with the UST (LTTng Userspace Tracer) library
1911 for static tracepoints support.
1912
1913 - GDBserver now supports x86_64 Windows 64-bit debugging.
1914
1915 * GDB now sends xmlRegisters= in qSupported packet to indicate that
1916 it understands register description.
1917
1918 * The --batch flag now disables pagination and queries.
1919
1920 * X86 general purpose registers
1921
1922 GDB now supports reading/writing byte, word and double-word x86
1923 general purpose registers directly. This means you can use, say,
1924 $ah or $ax to refer, respectively, to the byte register AH and
1925 16-bit word register AX that are actually portions of the 32-bit
1926 register EAX or 64-bit register RAX.
1927
1928 * The `commands' command now accepts a range of breakpoints to modify.
1929 A plain `commands' following a command that creates multiple
1930 breakpoints affects all the breakpoints set by that command. This
1931 applies to breakpoints set by `rbreak', and also applies when a
1932 single `break' command creates multiple breakpoints (e.g.,
1933 breakpoints on overloaded c++ functions).
1934
1935 * The `rbreak' command now accepts a filename specification as part of
1936 its argument, limiting the functions selected by the regex to those
1937 in the specified file.
1938
1939 * Support for remote debugging Windows and SymbianOS shared libraries
1940 from Unix hosts has been improved. Non Windows GDB builds now can
1941 understand target reported file names that follow MS-DOS based file
1942 system semantics, such as file names that include drive letters and
1943 use the backslash character as directory separator. This makes it
1944 possible to transparently use the "set sysroot" and "set
1945 solib-search-path" on Unix hosts to point as host copies of the
1946 target's shared libraries. See the new command "set
1947 target-file-system-kind" described below, and the "Commands to
1948 specify files" section in the user manual for more information.
1949
1950 * New commands
1951
1952 eval template, expressions...
1953 Convert the values of one or more expressions under the control
1954 of the string template to a command line, and call it.
1955
1956 set target-file-system-kind unix|dos-based|auto
1957 show target-file-system-kind
1958 Set or show the assumed file system kind for target reported file
1959 names.
1960
1961 save breakpoints <filename>
1962 Save all current breakpoint definitions to a file suitable for use
1963 in a later debugging session. To read the saved breakpoint
1964 definitions, use the `source' command.
1965
1966 `save tracepoints' is a new alias for `save-tracepoints'. The latter
1967 is now deprecated.
1968
1969 info static-tracepoint-markers
1970 Display information about static tracepoint markers in the target.
1971
1972 strace FN | FILE:LINE | *ADDR | -m MARKER_ID
1973 Define a static tracepoint by probing a marker at the given
1974 function, line, address, or marker ID.
1975
1976 set observer on|off
1977 show observer
1978 Enable and disable observer mode.
1979
1980 set may-write-registers on|off
1981 set may-write-memory on|off
1982 set may-insert-breakpoints on|off
1983 set may-insert-tracepoints on|off
1984 set may-insert-fast-tracepoints on|off
1985 set may-interrupt on|off
1986 Set individual permissions for GDB effects on the target. Note that
1987 some of these settings can have undesirable or surprising
1988 consequences, particularly when changed in the middle of a session.
1989 For instance, disabling the writing of memory can prevent
1990 breakpoints from being inserted, cause single-stepping to fail, or
1991 even crash your program, if you disable after breakpoints have been
1992 inserted. However, GDB should not crash.
1993
1994 set record memory-query on|off
1995 show record memory-query
1996 Control whether to stop the inferior if memory changes caused
1997 by an instruction cannot be recorded.
1998
1999 * Changed commands
2000
2001 disassemble
2002 The disassemble command now supports "start,+length" form of two arguments.
2003
2004 * Python scripting
2005
2006 ** GDB now provides a new directory location, called the python directory,
2007 where Python scripts written for GDB can be installed. The location
2008 of that directory is <data-directory>/python, where <data-directory>
2009 is the GDB data directory. For more details, see section `Scripting
2010 GDB using Python' in the manual.
2011
2012 ** The GDB Python API now has access to breakpoints, symbols, symbol
2013 tables, program spaces, inferiors, threads and frame's code blocks.
2014 Additionally, GDB Parameters can now be created from the API, and
2015 manipulated via set/show in the CLI.
2016
2017 ** New functions gdb.target_charset, gdb.target_wide_charset,
2018 gdb.progspaces, gdb.current_progspace, and gdb.string_to_argv.
2019
2020 ** New exception gdb.GdbError.
2021
2022 ** Pretty-printers are now also looked up in the current program space.
2023
2024 ** Pretty-printers can now be individually enabled and disabled.
2025
2026 ** GDB now looks for names of Python scripts to auto-load in a
2027 special section named `.debug_gdb_scripts', in addition to looking
2028 for a OBJFILE-gdb.py script when OBJFILE is read by the debugger.
2029
2030 * Tracepoint actions were unified with breakpoint commands. In particular,
2031 there are no longer differences in "info break" output for breakpoints and
2032 tracepoints and the "commands" command can be used for both tracepoints and
2033 regular breakpoints.
2034
2035 * New targets
2036
2037 ARM Symbian arm*-*-symbianelf*
2038
2039 * D language support.
2040 GDB now supports debugging programs written in the D programming
2041 language.
2042
2043 * GDB now supports the extended ptrace interface for PowerPC which is
2044 available since Linux kernel version 2.6.34. This automatically enables
2045 any hardware breakpoints and additional hardware watchpoints available in
2046 the processor. The old ptrace interface exposes just one hardware
2047 watchpoint and no hardware breakpoints.
2048
2049 * GDB is now able to use the Data Value Compare (DVC) register available on
2050 embedded PowerPC processors to implement in hardware simple watchpoint
2051 conditions of the form:
2052
2053 watch ADDRESS|VARIABLE if ADDRESS|VARIABLE == CONSTANT EXPRESSION
2054
2055 This works in native GDB running on Linux kernels with the extended ptrace
2056 interface mentioned above.
2057
2058 *** Changes in GDB 7.1
2059
2060 * C++ Improvements
2061
2062 ** Namespace Support
2063
2064 GDB now supports importing of namespaces in C++. This enables the
2065 user to inspect variables from imported namespaces. Support for
2066 namepace aliasing has also been added. So, if a namespace is
2067 aliased in the current scope (e.g. namepace C=A; ) the user can
2068 print variables using the alias (e.g. (gdb) print C::x).
2069
2070 ** Bug Fixes
2071
2072 All known bugs relating to the printing of virtual base class were
2073 fixed. It is now possible to call overloaded static methods using a
2074 qualified name.
2075
2076 ** Cast Operators
2077
2078 The C++ cast operators static_cast<>, dynamic_cast<>, const_cast<>,
2079 and reinterpret_cast<> are now handled by the C++ expression parser.
2080
2081 * New targets
2082
2083 Xilinx MicroBlaze microblaze-*-*
2084 Renesas RX rx-*-elf
2085
2086 * New Simulators
2087
2088 Xilinx MicroBlaze microblaze
2089 Renesas RX rx
2090
2091 * Multi-program debugging.
2092
2093 GDB now has support for multi-program (a.k.a. multi-executable or
2094 multi-exec) debugging. This allows for debugging multiple inferiors
2095 simultaneously each running a different program under the same GDB
2096 session. See "Debugging Multiple Inferiors and Programs" in the
2097 manual for more information. This implied some user visible changes
2098 in the multi-inferior support. For example, "info inferiors" now
2099 lists inferiors that are not running yet or that have exited
2100 already. See also "New commands" and "New options" below.
2101
2102 * New tracing features
2103
2104 GDB's tracepoint facility now includes several new features:
2105
2106 ** Trace state variables
2107
2108 GDB tracepoints now include support for trace state variables, which
2109 are variables managed by the target agent during a tracing
2110 experiment. They are useful for tracepoints that trigger each
2111 other, so for instance one tracepoint can count hits in a variable,
2112 and then a second tracepoint has a condition that is true when the
2113 count reaches a particular value. Trace state variables share the
2114 $-syntax of GDB convenience variables, and can appear in both
2115 tracepoint actions and condition expressions. Use the "tvariable"
2116 command to create, and "info tvariables" to view; see "Trace State
2117 Variables" in the manual for more detail.
2118
2119 ** Fast tracepoints
2120
2121 GDB now includes an option for defining fast tracepoints, which
2122 targets may implement more efficiently, such as by installing a jump
2123 into the target agent rather than a trap instruction. The resulting
2124 speedup can be by two orders of magnitude or more, although the
2125 tradeoff is that some program locations on some target architectures
2126 might not allow fast tracepoint installation, for instance if the
2127 instruction to be replaced is shorter than the jump. To request a
2128 fast tracepoint, use the "ftrace" command, with syntax identical to
2129 the regular trace command.
2130
2131 ** Disconnected tracing
2132
2133 It is now possible to detach GDB from the target while it is running
2134 a trace experiment, then reconnect later to see how the experiment
2135 is going. In addition, a new variable disconnected-tracing lets you
2136 tell the target agent whether to continue running a trace if the
2137 connection is lost unexpectedly.
2138
2139 ** Trace files
2140
2141 GDB now has the ability to save the trace buffer into a file, and
2142 then use that file as a target, similarly to you can do with
2143 corefiles. You can select trace frames, print data that was
2144 collected in them, and use tstatus to display the state of the
2145 tracing run at the moment that it was saved. To create a trace
2146 file, use "tsave <filename>", and to use it, do "target tfile
2147 <name>".
2148
2149 ** Circular trace buffer
2150
2151 You can ask the target agent to handle the trace buffer as a
2152 circular buffer, discarding the oldest trace frames to make room for
2153 newer ones, by setting circular-trace-buffer to on. This feature may
2154 not be available for all target agents.
2155
2156 * Changed commands
2157
2158 disassemble
2159 The disassemble command, when invoked with two arguments, now requires
2160 the arguments to be comma-separated.
2161
2162 info variables
2163 The info variables command now displays variable definitions. Files
2164 which only declare a variable are not shown.
2165
2166 source
2167 The source command is now capable of sourcing Python scripts.
2168 This feature is dependent on the debugger being build with Python
2169 support.
2170
2171 Related to this enhancement is also the introduction of a new command
2172 "set script-extension" (see below).
2173
2174 * New commands (for set/show, see "New options" below)
2175
2176 record save [<FILENAME>]
2177 Save a file (in core file format) containing the process record
2178 execution log for replay debugging at a later time.
2179
2180 record restore <FILENAME>
2181 Restore the process record execution log that was saved at an
2182 earlier time, for replay debugging.
2183
2184 add-inferior [-copies <N>] [-exec <FILENAME>]
2185 Add a new inferior.
2186
2187 clone-inferior [-copies <N>] [ID]
2188 Make a new inferior ready to execute the same program another
2189 inferior has loaded.
2190
2191 remove-inferior ID
2192 Remove an inferior.
2193
2194 maint info program-spaces
2195 List the program spaces loaded into GDB.
2196
2197 set remote interrupt-sequence [Ctrl-C | BREAK | BREAK-g]
2198 show remote interrupt-sequence
2199 Allow the user to select one of ^C, a BREAK signal or BREAK-g
2200 as the sequence to the remote target in order to interrupt the execution.
2201 Ctrl-C is a default. Some system prefers BREAK which is high level of
2202 serial line for some certain time. Linux kernel prefers BREAK-g, a.k.a
2203 Magic SysRq g. It is BREAK signal and character 'g'.
2204
2205 set remote interrupt-on-connect [on | off]
2206 show remote interrupt-on-connect
2207 When interrupt-on-connect is ON, gdb sends interrupt-sequence to
2208 remote target when gdb connects to it. This is needed when you debug
2209 Linux kernel.
2210
2211 set remotebreak [on | off]
2212 show remotebreak
2213 Deprecated. Use "set/show remote interrupt-sequence" instead.
2214
2215 tvariable $NAME [ = EXP ]
2216 Create or modify a trace state variable.
2217
2218 info tvariables
2219 List trace state variables and their values.
2220
2221 delete tvariable $NAME ...
2222 Delete one or more trace state variables.
2223
2224 teval EXPR, ...
2225 Evaluate the given expressions without collecting anything into the
2226 trace buffer. (Valid in tracepoint actions only.)
2227
2228 ftrace FN / FILE:LINE / *ADDR
2229 Define a fast tracepoint at the given function, line, or address.
2230
2231 * New expression syntax
2232
2233 GDB now parses the 0b prefix of binary numbers the same way as GCC does.
2234 GDB now parses 0b101010 identically with 42.
2235
2236 * New options
2237
2238 set follow-exec-mode new|same
2239 show follow-exec-mode
2240 Control whether GDB reuses the same inferior across an exec call or
2241 creates a new one. This is useful to be able to restart the old
2242 executable after the inferior having done an exec call.
2243
2244 set default-collect EXPR, ...
2245 show default-collect
2246 Define a list of expressions to be collected at each tracepoint.
2247 This is a useful way to ensure essential items are not overlooked,
2248 such as registers or a critical global variable.
2249
2250 set disconnected-tracing
2251 show disconnected-tracing
2252 If set to 1, the target is instructed to continue tracing if it
2253 loses its connection to GDB. If 0, the target is to stop tracing
2254 upon disconnection.
2255
2256 set circular-trace-buffer
2257 show circular-trace-buffer
2258 If set to on, the target is instructed to use a circular trace buffer
2259 and discard the oldest trace frames instead of stopping the trace due
2260 to a full trace buffer. If set to off, the trace stops when the buffer
2261 fills up. Some targets may not support this.
2262
2263 set script-extension off|soft|strict
2264 show script-extension
2265 If set to "off", the debugger does not perform any script language
2266 recognition, and all sourced files are assumed to be GDB scripts.
2267 If set to "soft" (the default), files are sourced according to
2268 filename extension, falling back to GDB scripts if the first
2269 evaluation failed.
2270 If set to "strict", files are sourced according to filename extension.
2271
2272 set ada trust-PAD-over-XVS on|off
2273 show ada trust-PAD-over-XVS
2274 If off, activate a workaround against a bug in the debugging information
2275 generated by the compiler for PAD types (see gcc/exp_dbug.ads in
2276 the GCC sources for more information about the GNAT encoding and
2277 PAD types in particular). It is always safe to set this option to
2278 off, but this introduces a slight performance penalty. The default
2279 is on.
2280
2281 * Python API Improvements
2282
2283 ** GDB provides the new class gdb.LazyString. This is useful in
2284 some pretty-printing cases. The new method gdb.Value.lazy_string
2285 provides a simple way to create objects of this type.
2286
2287 ** The fields returned by gdb.Type.fields now have an
2288 `is_base_class' attribute.
2289
2290 ** The new method gdb.Type.range returns the range of an array type.
2291
2292 ** The new method gdb.parse_and_eval can be used to parse and
2293 evaluate an expression.
2294
2295 * New remote packets
2296
2297 QTDV
2298 Define a trace state variable.
2299
2300 qTV
2301 Get the current value of a trace state variable.
2302
2303 QTDisconnected
2304 Set desired tracing behavior upon disconnection.
2305
2306 QTBuffer:circular
2307 Set the trace buffer to be linear or circular.
2308
2309 qTfP, qTsP
2310 Get data about the tracepoints currently in use.
2311
2312 * Bug fixes
2313
2314 Process record now works correctly with hardware watchpoints.
2315
2316 Multiple bug fixes have been made to the mips-irix port, making it
2317 much more reliable. In particular:
2318 - Debugging threaded applications is now possible again. Previously,
2319 GDB would hang while starting the program, or while waiting for
2320 the program to stop at a breakpoint.
2321 - Attaching to a running process no longer hangs.
2322 - An error occurring while loading a core file has been fixed.
2323 - Changing the value of the PC register now works again. This fixes
2324 problems observed when using the "jump" command, or when calling
2325 a function from GDB, or even when assigning a new value to $pc.
2326 - With the "finish" and "return" commands, the return value for functions
2327 returning a small array is now correctly printed.
2328 - It is now possible to break on shared library code which gets executed
2329 during a shared library init phase (code executed while executing
2330 their .init section). Previously, the breakpoint would have no effect.
2331 - GDB is now able to backtrace through the signal handler for
2332 non-threaded programs.
2333
2334 PIE (Position Independent Executable) programs debugging is now supported.
2335 This includes debugging execution of PIC (Position Independent Code) shared
2336 libraries although for that, it should be possible to run such libraries as an
2337 executable program.
2338
2339 *** Changes in GDB 7.0
2340
2341 * GDB now has an interface for JIT compilation. Applications that
2342 dynamically generate code can create symbol files in memory and register
2343 them with GDB. For users, the feature should work transparently, and
2344 for JIT developers, the interface is documented in the GDB manual in the
2345 "JIT Compilation Interface" chapter.
2346
2347 * Tracepoints may now be conditional. The syntax is as for
2348 breakpoints; either an "if" clause appended to the "trace" command,
2349 or the "condition" command is available. GDB sends the condition to
2350 the target for evaluation using the same bytecode format as is used
2351 for tracepoint actions.
2352
2353 * The disassemble command now supports: an optional /r modifier, print the
2354 raw instructions in hex as well as in symbolic form, and an optional /m
2355 modifier to print mixed source+assembly.
2356
2357 * Process record and replay
2358
2359 In a architecture environment that supports ``process record and
2360 replay'', ``process record and replay'' target can record a log of
2361 the process execution, and replay it with both forward and reverse
2362 execute commands.
2363
2364 * Reverse debugging: GDB now has new commands reverse-continue, reverse-
2365 step, reverse-next, reverse-finish, reverse-stepi, reverse-nexti, and
2366 set execution-direction {forward|reverse}, for targets that support
2367 reverse execution.
2368
2369 * GDB now supports hardware watchpoints on MIPS/Linux systems. This
2370 feature is available with a native GDB running on kernel version
2371 2.6.28 or later.
2372
2373 * GDB now has support for multi-byte and wide character sets on the
2374 target. Strings whose character type is wchar_t, char16_t, or
2375 char32_t are now correctly printed. GDB supports wide- and unicode-
2376 literals in C, that is, L'x', L"string", u'x', u"string", U'x', and
2377 U"string" syntax. And, GDB allows the "%ls" and "%lc" formats in
2378 `printf'. This feature requires iconv to work properly; if your
2379 system does not have a working iconv, GDB can use GNU libiconv. See
2380 the installation instructions for more information.
2381
2382 * GDB now supports automatic retrieval of shared library files from
2383 remote targets. To use this feature, specify a system root that begins
2384 with the `remote:' prefix, either via the `set sysroot' command or via
2385 the `--with-sysroot' configure-time option.
2386
2387 * "info sharedlibrary" now takes an optional regex of libraries to show,
2388 and it now reports if a shared library has no debugging information.
2389
2390 * Commands `set debug-file-directory', `set solib-search-path' and `set args'
2391 now complete on file names.
2392
2393 * When completing in expressions, gdb will attempt to limit
2394 completions to allowable structure or union fields, where appropriate.
2395 For instance, consider:
2396
2397 # struct example { int f1; double f2; };
2398 # struct example variable;
2399 (gdb) p variable.
2400
2401 If the user types TAB at the end of this command line, the available
2402 completions will be "f1" and "f2".
2403
2404 * Inlined functions are now supported. They show up in backtraces, and
2405 the "step", "next", and "finish" commands handle them automatically.
2406
2407 * GDB now supports the token-splicing (##) and stringification (#)
2408 operators when expanding macros. It also supports variable-arity
2409 macros.
2410
2411 * GDB now supports inspecting extra signal information, exported by
2412 the new $_siginfo convenience variable. The feature is currently
2413 implemented on linux ARM, i386 and amd64.
2414
2415 * GDB can now display the VFP floating point registers and NEON vector
2416 registers on ARM targets. Both ARM GNU/Linux native GDB and gdbserver
2417 can provide these registers (requires Linux 2.6.30 or later). Remote
2418 and simulator targets may also provide them.
2419
2420 * New remote packets
2421
2422 qSearch:memory:
2423 Search memory for a sequence of bytes.
2424
2425 QStartNoAckMode
2426 Turn off `+'/`-' protocol acknowledgments to permit more efficient
2427 operation over reliable transport links. Use of this packet is
2428 controlled by the `set remote noack-packet' command.
2429
2430 vKill
2431 Kill the process with the specified process ID. Use this in preference
2432 to `k' when multiprocess protocol extensions are supported.
2433
2434 qXfer:osdata:read
2435 Obtains additional operating system information
2436
2437 qXfer:siginfo:read
2438 qXfer:siginfo:write
2439 Read or write additional signal information.
2440
2441 * Removed remote protocol undocumented extension
2442
2443 An undocumented extension to the remote protocol's `S' stop reply
2444 packet that permited the stub to pass a process id was removed.
2445 Remote servers should use the `T' stop reply packet instead.
2446
2447 * GDB now supports multiple function calling conventions according to the
2448 DWARF-2 DW_AT_calling_convention function attribute.
2449
2450 * The SH target utilizes the aforementioned change to distinguish between gcc
2451 and Renesas calling convention. It also adds the new CLI commands
2452 `set/show sh calling-convention'.
2453
2454 * GDB can now read compressed debug sections, as produced by GNU gold
2455 with the --compress-debug-sections=zlib flag.
2456
2457 * 64-bit core files are now supported on AIX.
2458
2459 * Thread switching is now supported on Tru64.
2460
2461 * Watchpoints can now be set on unreadable memory locations, e.g. addresses
2462 which will be allocated using malloc later in program execution.
2463
2464 * The qXfer:libraries:read remote procotol packet now allows passing a
2465 list of section offsets.
2466
2467 * On GNU/Linux, GDB can now attach to stopped processes. Several race
2468 conditions handling signals delivered during attach or thread creation
2469 have also been fixed.
2470
2471 * GDB now supports the use of DWARF boolean types for Ada's type Boolean.
2472 From the user's standpoint, all unqualified instances of True and False
2473 are treated as the standard definitions, regardless of context.
2474
2475 * GDB now parses C++ symbol and type names more flexibly. For
2476 example, given:
2477
2478 template<typename T> class C { };
2479 C<char const *> c;
2480
2481 GDB will now correctly handle all of:
2482
2483 ptype C<char const *>
2484 ptype C<char const*>
2485 ptype C<const char *>
2486 ptype C<const char*>
2487
2488 * New features in the GDB remote stub, gdbserver
2489
2490 - The "--wrapper" command-line argument tells gdbserver to use a
2491 wrapper program to launch programs for debugging.
2492
2493 - On PowerPC and S/390 targets, it is now possible to use a single
2494 gdbserver executable to debug both 32-bit and 64-bit programs.
2495 (This requires gdbserver itself to be built as a 64-bit executable.)
2496
2497 - gdbserver uses the new noack protocol mode for TCP connections to
2498 reduce communications latency, if also supported and enabled in GDB.
2499
2500 - Support for the sparc64-linux-gnu target is now included in
2501 gdbserver.
2502
2503 - The amd64-linux build of gdbserver now supports debugging both
2504 32-bit and 64-bit programs.
2505
2506 - The i386-linux, amd64-linux, and i386-win32 builds of gdbserver
2507 now support hardware watchpoints, and will use them automatically
2508 as appropriate.
2509
2510 * Python scripting
2511
2512 GDB now has support for scripting using Python. Whether this is
2513 available is determined at configure time.
2514
2515 New GDB commands can now be written in Python.
2516
2517 * Ada tasking support
2518
2519 Ada tasks can now be inspected in GDB. The following commands have
2520 been introduced:
2521
2522 info tasks
2523 Print the list of Ada tasks.
2524 info task N
2525 Print detailed information about task number N.
2526 task
2527 Print the task number of the current task.
2528 task N
2529 Switch the context of debugging to task number N.
2530
2531 * Support for user-defined prefixed commands. The "define" command can
2532 add new commands to existing prefixes, e.g. "target".
2533
2534 * Multi-inferior, multi-process debugging.
2535
2536 GDB now has generalized support for multi-inferior debugging. See
2537 "Debugging Multiple Inferiors" in the manual for more information.
2538 Although availability still depends on target support, the command
2539 set is more uniform now. The GNU/Linux specific multi-forks support
2540 has been migrated to this new framework. This implied some user
2541 visible changes; see "New commands" and also "Removed commands"
2542 below.
2543
2544 * Target descriptions can now describe the target OS ABI. See the
2545 "Target Description Format" section in the user manual for more
2546 information.
2547
2548 * Target descriptions can now describe "compatible" architectures
2549 to indicate that the target can execute applications for a different
2550 architecture in addition to those for the main target architecture.
2551 See the "Target Description Format" section in the user manual for
2552 more information.
2553
2554 * Multi-architecture debugging.
2555
2556 GDB now includes general supports for debugging applications on
2557 hybrid systems that use more than one single processor architecture
2558 at the same time. Each such hybrid architecture still requires
2559 specific support to be added. The only hybrid architecture supported
2560 in this version of GDB is the Cell Broadband Engine.
2561
2562 * GDB now supports integrated debugging of Cell/B.E. applications that
2563 use both the PPU and SPU architectures. To enable support for hybrid
2564 Cell/B.E. debugging, you need to configure GDB to support both the
2565 powerpc-linux or powerpc64-linux and the spu-elf targets, using the
2566 --enable-targets configure option.
2567
2568 * Non-stop mode debugging.
2569
2570 For some targets, GDB now supports an optional mode of operation in
2571 which you can examine stopped threads while other threads continue
2572 to execute freely. This is referred to as non-stop mode, with the
2573 old mode referred to as all-stop mode. See the "Non-Stop Mode"
2574 section in the user manual for more information.
2575
2576 To be able to support remote non-stop debugging, a remote stub needs
2577 to implement the non-stop mode remote protocol extensions, as
2578 described in the "Remote Non-Stop" section of the user manual. The
2579 GDB remote stub, gdbserver, has been adjusted to support these
2580 extensions on linux targets.
2581
2582 * New commands (for set/show, see "New options" below)
2583
2584 catch syscall [NAME(S) | NUMBER(S)]
2585 Catch system calls. Arguments, which should be names of system
2586 calls or their numbers, mean catch only those syscalls. Without
2587 arguments, every syscall will be caught. When the inferior issues
2588 any of the specified syscalls, GDB will stop and announce the system
2589 call, both when it is called and when its call returns. This
2590 feature is currently available with a native GDB running on the
2591 Linux Kernel, under the following architectures: x86, x86_64,
2592 PowerPC and PowerPC64.
2593
2594 find [/size-char] [/max-count] start-address, end-address|+search-space-size,
2595 val1 [, val2, ...]
2596 Search memory for a sequence of bytes.
2597
2598 maint set python print-stack
2599 maint show python print-stack
2600 Show a stack trace when an error is encountered in a Python script.
2601
2602 python [CODE]
2603 Invoke CODE by passing it to the Python interpreter.
2604
2605 macro define
2606 macro list
2607 macro undef
2608 These allow macros to be defined, undefined, and listed
2609 interactively.
2610
2611 info os processes
2612 Show operating system information about processes.
2613
2614 info inferiors
2615 List the inferiors currently under GDB's control.
2616
2617 inferior NUM
2618 Switch focus to inferior number NUM.
2619
2620 detach inferior NUM
2621 Detach from inferior number NUM.
2622
2623 kill inferior NUM
2624 Kill inferior number NUM.
2625
2626 * New options
2627
2628 set spu stop-on-load
2629 show spu stop-on-load
2630 Control whether to stop for new SPE threads during Cell/B.E. debugging.
2631
2632 set spu auto-flush-cache
2633 show spu auto-flush-cache
2634 Control whether to automatically flush the software-managed cache
2635 during Cell/B.E. debugging.
2636
2637 set sh calling-convention
2638 show sh calling-convention
2639 Control the calling convention used when calling SH target functions.
2640
2641 set debug timestamp
2642 show debug timestamp
2643 Control display of timestamps with GDB debugging output.
2644
2645 set disassemble-next-line
2646 show disassemble-next-line
2647 Control display of disassembled source lines or instructions when
2648 the debuggee stops.
2649
2650 set remote noack-packet
2651 show remote noack-packet
2652 Set/show the use of remote protocol QStartNoAckMode packet. See above
2653 under "New remote packets."
2654
2655 set remote query-attached-packet
2656 show remote query-attached-packet
2657 Control use of remote protocol `qAttached' (query-attached) packet.
2658
2659 set remote read-siginfo-object
2660 show remote read-siginfo-object
2661 Control use of remote protocol `qXfer:siginfo:read' (read-siginfo-object)
2662 packet.
2663
2664 set remote write-siginfo-object
2665 show remote write-siginfo-object
2666 Control use of remote protocol `qXfer:siginfo:write' (write-siginfo-object)
2667 packet.
2668
2669 set remote reverse-continue
2670 show remote reverse-continue
2671 Control use of remote protocol 'bc' (reverse-continue) packet.
2672
2673 set remote reverse-step
2674 show remote reverse-step
2675 Control use of remote protocol 'bs' (reverse-step) packet.
2676
2677 set displaced-stepping
2678 show displaced-stepping
2679 Control displaced stepping mode. Displaced stepping is a way to
2680 single-step over breakpoints without removing them from the debuggee.
2681 Also known as "out-of-line single-stepping".
2682
2683 set debug displaced
2684 show debug displaced
2685 Control display of debugging info for displaced stepping.
2686
2687 maint set internal-error
2688 maint show internal-error
2689 Control what GDB does when an internal error is detected.
2690
2691 maint set internal-warning
2692 maint show internal-warning
2693 Control what GDB does when an internal warning is detected.
2694
2695 set exec-wrapper
2696 show exec-wrapper
2697 unset exec-wrapper
2698 Use a wrapper program to launch programs for debugging.
2699
2700 set multiple-symbols (all|ask|cancel)
2701 show multiple-symbols
2702 The value of this variable can be changed to adjust the debugger behavior
2703 when an expression or a breakpoint location contains an ambiguous symbol
2704 name (an overloaded function name, for instance).
2705
2706 set breakpoint always-inserted
2707 show breakpoint always-inserted
2708 Keep breakpoints always inserted in the target, as opposed to inserting
2709 them when resuming the target, and removing them when the target stops.
2710 This option can improve debugger performance on slow remote targets.
2711
2712 set arm fallback-mode (arm|thumb|auto)
2713 show arm fallback-mode
2714 set arm force-mode (arm|thumb|auto)
2715 show arm force-mode
2716 These commands control how ARM GDB determines whether instructions
2717 are ARM or Thumb. The default for both settings is auto, which uses
2718 the current CPSR value for instructions without symbols; previous
2719 versions of GDB behaved as if "set arm fallback-mode arm".
2720
2721 set disable-randomization
2722 show disable-randomization
2723 Standalone programs run with the virtual address space randomization enabled
2724 by default on some platforms. This option keeps the addresses stable across
2725 multiple debugging sessions.
2726
2727 set non-stop
2728 show non-stop
2729 Control whether other threads are stopped or not when some thread hits
2730 a breakpoint.
2731
2732 set target-async
2733 show target-async
2734 Requests that asynchronous execution is enabled in the target, if available.
2735 In this case, it's possible to resume target in the background, and interact
2736 with GDB while the target is running. "show target-async" displays the
2737 current state of asynchronous execution of the target.
2738
2739 set target-wide-charset
2740 show target-wide-charset
2741 The target-wide-charset is the name of the character set that GDB
2742 uses when printing characters whose type is wchar_t.
2743
2744 set tcp auto-retry (on|off)
2745 show tcp auto-retry
2746 set tcp connect-timeout
2747 show tcp connect-timeout
2748 These commands allow GDB to retry failed TCP connections to a remote stub
2749 with a specified timeout period; this is useful if the stub is launched
2750 in parallel with GDB but may not be ready to accept connections immediately.
2751
2752 set libthread-db-search-path
2753 show libthread-db-search-path
2754 Control list of directories which GDB will search for appropriate
2755 libthread_db.
2756
2757 set schedule-multiple (on|off)
2758 show schedule-multiple
2759 Allow GDB to resume all threads of all processes or only threads of
2760 the current process.
2761
2762 set stack-cache
2763 show stack-cache
2764 Use more aggressive caching for accesses to the stack. This improves
2765 performance of remote debugging (particularly backtraces) without
2766 affecting correctness.
2767
2768 set interactive-mode (on|off|auto)
2769 show interactive-mode
2770 Control whether GDB runs in interactive mode (on) or not (off).
2771 When in interactive mode, GDB waits for the user to answer all
2772 queries. Otherwise, GDB does not wait and assumes the default
2773 answer. When set to auto (the default), GDB determines which
2774 mode to use based on the stdin settings.
2775
2776 * Removed commands
2777
2778 info forks
2779 For program forks, this is replaced by the new more generic `info
2780 inferiors' command. To list checkpoints, you can still use the
2781 `info checkpoints' command, which was an alias for the `info forks'
2782 command.
2783
2784 fork NUM
2785 Replaced by the new `inferior' command. To switch between
2786 checkpoints, you can still use the `restart' command, which was an
2787 alias for the `fork' command.
2788
2789 process PID
2790 This is removed, since some targets don't have a notion of
2791 processes. To switch between processes, you can still use the
2792 `inferior' command using GDB's own inferior number.
2793
2794 delete fork NUM
2795 For program forks, this is replaced by the new more generic `kill
2796 inferior' command. To delete a checkpoint, you can still use the
2797 `delete checkpoint' command, which was an alias for the `delete
2798 fork' command.
2799
2800 detach fork NUM
2801 For program forks, this is replaced by the new more generic `detach
2802 inferior' command. To detach a checkpoint, you can still use the
2803 `detach checkpoint' command, which was an alias for the `detach
2804 fork' command.
2805
2806 * New native configurations
2807
2808 x86/x86_64 Darwin i[34567]86-*-darwin*
2809
2810 x86_64 MinGW x86_64-*-mingw*
2811
2812 * New targets
2813
2814 Lattice Mico32 lm32-*
2815 x86 DICOS i[34567]86-*-dicos*
2816 x86_64 DICOS x86_64-*-dicos*
2817 S+core 3 score-*-*
2818
2819 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports x86 Windows CE
2820 (mingw32ce) debugging.
2821
2822 * Removed commands
2823
2824 catch load
2825 catch unload
2826 These commands were actually not implemented on any target.
2827
2828 *** Changes in GDB 6.8
2829
2830 * New native configurations
2831
2832 NetBSD/hppa hppa*-*netbsd*
2833 Xtensa GNU/Linux xtensa*-*-linux*
2834
2835 * New targets
2836
2837 NetBSD/hppa hppa*-*-netbsd*
2838 Xtensa GNU/Lunux xtensa*-*-linux*
2839
2840 * Change in command line behavior -- corefiles vs. process ids.
2841
2842 When the '-p NUMBER' or '--pid NUMBER' options are used, and
2843 attaching to process NUMBER fails, GDB no longer attempts to open a
2844 core file named NUMBER. Attaching to a program using the -c option
2845 is no longer supported. Instead, use the '-p' or '--pid' options.
2846
2847 * GDB can now be built as a native debugger for debugging Windows x86
2848 (mingw32) Portable Executable (PE) programs.
2849
2850 * Pending breakpoints no longer change their number when their address
2851 is resolved.
2852
2853 * GDB now supports breakpoints with multiple locations,
2854 including breakpoints on C++ constructors, inside C++ templates,
2855 and in inlined functions.
2856
2857 * GDB's ability to debug optimized code has been improved. GDB more
2858 accurately identifies function bodies and lexical blocks that occupy
2859 more than one contiguous range of addresses.
2860
2861 * Target descriptions can now describe registers for PowerPC.
2862
2863 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports the AltiVec and SPE
2864 registers on PowerPC targets.
2865
2866 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports thread debugging on GNU/Linux
2867 targets even when the libthread_db library is not available.
2868
2869 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports the new file transfer
2870 commands (remote put, remote get, and remote delete).
2871
2872 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports run and attach in
2873 extended-remote mode.
2874
2875 * hppa*64*-*-hpux11* target broken
2876 The debugger is unable to start a program and fails with the following
2877 error: "Error trying to get information about dynamic linker".
2878 The gdb-6.7 release is also affected.
2879
2880 * GDB now supports the --enable-targets= configure option to allow
2881 building a single GDB executable that supports multiple remote
2882 target architectures.
2883
2884 * GDB now supports debugging C and C++ programs which use the
2885 Decimal Floating Point extension. In addition, the PowerPC target
2886 now has a set of pseudo-registers to inspect decimal float values
2887 stored in two consecutive float registers.
2888
2889 * The -break-insert MI command can optionally create pending
2890 breakpoints now.
2891
2892 * Improved support for debugging Ada
2893 Many improvements to the Ada language support have been made. These
2894 include:
2895 - Better support for Ada2005 interface types
2896 - Improved handling of arrays and slices in general
2897 - Better support for Taft-amendment types
2898 - The '{type} ADDRESS' expression is now allowed on the left hand-side
2899 of an assignment
2900 - Improved command completion in Ada
2901 - Several bug fixes
2902
2903 * GDB on GNU/Linux and HP/UX can now debug through "exec" of a new
2904 process.
2905
2906 * New commands
2907
2908 set print frame-arguments (all|scalars|none)
2909 show print frame-arguments
2910 The value of this variable can be changed to control which argument
2911 values should be printed by the debugger when displaying a frame.
2912
2913 remote put
2914 remote get
2915 remote delete
2916 Transfer files to and from a remote target, and delete remote files.
2917
2918 * New MI commands
2919
2920 -target-file-put
2921 -target-file-get
2922 -target-file-delete
2923 Transfer files to and from a remote target, and delete remote files.
2924
2925 * New remote packets
2926
2927 vFile:open:
2928 vFile:close:
2929 vFile:pread:
2930 vFile:pwrite:
2931 vFile:unlink:
2932 Open, close, read, write, and delete files on the remote system.
2933
2934 vAttach
2935 Attach to an existing process on the remote system, in extended-remote
2936 mode.
2937
2938 vRun
2939 Run a new process on the remote system, in extended-remote mode.
2940
2941 *** Changes in GDB 6.7
2942
2943 * Resolved 101 resource leaks, null pointer dereferences, etc. in gdb,
2944 bfd, libiberty and opcodes, as revealed by static analysis donated by
2945 Coverity, Inc. (http://scan.coverity.com).
2946
2947 * When looking up multiply-defined global symbols, GDB will now prefer the
2948 symbol definition in the current shared library if it was built using the
2949 -Bsymbolic linker option.
2950
2951 * When the Text User Interface (TUI) is not configured, GDB will now
2952 recognize the -tui command-line option and print a message that the TUI
2953 is not supported.
2954
2955 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now has lower overhead for high
2956 frequency signals (e.g. SIGALRM) via the QPassSignals packet.
2957
2958 * GDB for MIPS targets now autodetects whether a remote target provides
2959 32-bit or 64-bit register values.
2960
2961 * Support for C++ member pointers has been improved.
2962
2963 * GDB now understands XML target descriptions, which specify the
2964 target's overall architecture. GDB can read a description from
2965 a local file or over the remote serial protocol.
2966
2967 * Vectors of single-byte data use a new integer type which is not
2968 automatically displayed as character or string data.
2969
2970 * The /s format now works with the print command. It displays
2971 arrays of single-byte integers and pointers to single-byte integers
2972 as strings.
2973
2974 * Target descriptions can now describe target-specific registers,
2975 for architectures which have implemented the support (currently
2976 only ARM, M68K, and MIPS).
2977
2978 * GDB and the GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now support the XScale
2979 iWMMXt coprocessor.
2980
2981 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, has been updated to support
2982 ARM Windows CE (mingw32ce) debugging, and GDB Windows CE support
2983 has been rewritten to use the standard GDB remote protocol.
2984
2985 * GDB can now step into C++ functions which are called through thunks.
2986
2987 * GDB for the Cell/B.E. SPU now supports overlay debugging.
2988
2989 * The GDB remote protocol "qOffsets" packet can now honor ELF segment
2990 layout. It also supports a TextSeg= and DataSeg= response when only
2991 segment base addresses (rather than offsets) are available.
2992
2993 * The /i format now outputs any trailing branch delay slot instructions
2994 immediately following the last instruction within the count specified.
2995
2996 * The GDB remote protocol "T" stop reply packet now supports a
2997 "library" response. Combined with the new "qXfer:libraries:read"
2998 packet, this response allows GDB to debug shared libraries on targets
2999 where the operating system manages the list of loaded libraries (e.g.
3000 Windows and SymbianOS).
3001
3002 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports dynamic link libraries
3003 (DLLs) on Windows and Windows CE targets.
3004
3005 * GDB now supports a faster verification that a .debug file matches its binary
3006 according to its build-id signature, if the signature is present.
3007
3008 * New commands
3009
3010 set remoteflow
3011 show remoteflow
3012 Enable or disable hardware flow control (RTS/CTS) on the serial port
3013 when debugging using remote targets.
3014
3015 set mem inaccessible-by-default
3016 show mem inaccessible-by-default
3017 If the target supplies a memory map, for instance via the remote
3018 protocol's "qXfer:memory-map:read" packet, setting this variable
3019 prevents GDB from accessing memory outside the memory map. This
3020 is useful for targets with memory mapped registers or which react
3021 badly to accesses of unmapped address space.
3022
3023 set breakpoint auto-hw
3024 show breakpoint auto-hw
3025 If the target supplies a memory map, for instance via the remote
3026 protocol's "qXfer:memory-map:read" packet, setting this variable
3027 lets GDB use hardware breakpoints automatically for memory regions
3028 where it can not use software breakpoints. This covers both the
3029 "break" command and internal breakpoints used for other commands
3030 including "next" and "finish".
3031
3032 catch exception
3033 catch exception unhandled
3034 Stop the program execution when Ada exceptions are raised.
3035
3036 catch assert
3037 Stop the program execution when an Ada assertion failed.
3038
3039 set sysroot
3040 show sysroot
3041 Set an alternate system root for target files. This is a more
3042 general version of "set solib-absolute-prefix", which is now
3043 an alias to "set sysroot".
3044
3045 info spu
3046 Provide extended SPU facility status information. This set of
3047 commands is available only when debugging the Cell/B.E. SPU
3048 architecture.
3049
3050 * New native configurations
3051
3052 OpenBSD/sh sh*-*openbsd*
3053
3054 set tdesc filename
3055 unset tdesc filename
3056 show tdesc filename
3057 Use the specified local file as an XML target description, and do
3058 not query the target for its built-in description.
3059
3060 * New targets
3061
3062 OpenBSD/sh sh*-*-openbsd*
3063 MIPS64 GNU/Linux (gdbserver) mips64-linux-gnu
3064 Toshiba Media Processor mep-elf
3065
3066 * New remote packets
3067
3068 QPassSignals:
3069 Ignore the specified signals; pass them directly to the debugged program
3070 without stopping other threads or reporting them to GDB.
3071
3072 qXfer:features:read:
3073 Read an XML target description from the target, which describes its
3074 features.
3075
3076 qXfer:spu:read:
3077 qXfer:spu:write:
3078 Read or write contents of an spufs file on the target system. These
3079 packets are available only on the Cell/B.E. SPU architecture.
3080
3081 qXfer:libraries:read:
3082 Report the loaded shared libraries. Combined with new "T" packet
3083 response, this packet allows GDB to debug shared libraries on
3084 targets where the operating system manages the list of loaded
3085 libraries (e.g. Windows and SymbianOS).
3086
3087 * Removed targets
3088
3089 Support for these obsolete configurations has been removed.
3090
3091 alpha*-*-osf1*
3092 alpha*-*-osf2*
3093 d10v-*-*
3094 hppa*-*-hiux*
3095 i[34567]86-ncr-*
3096 i[34567]86-*-dgux*
3097 i[34567]86-*-lynxos*
3098 i[34567]86-*-netware*
3099 i[34567]86-*-sco3.2v5*
3100 i[34567]86-*-sco3.2v4*
3101 i[34567]86-*-sco*
3102 i[34567]86-*-sysv4.2*
3103 i[34567]86-*-sysv4*
3104 i[34567]86-*-sysv5*
3105 i[34567]86-*-unixware2*
3106 i[34567]86-*-unixware*
3107 i[34567]86-*-sysv*
3108 i[34567]86-*-isc*
3109 m68*-cisco*-*
3110 m68*-tandem-*
3111 mips*-*-pe
3112 rs6000-*-lynxos*
3113 sh*-*-pe
3114
3115 * Other removed features
3116
3117 target abug
3118 target cpu32bug
3119 target est
3120 target rom68k
3121
3122 Various m68k-only ROM monitors.
3123
3124 target hms
3125 target e7000
3126 target sh3
3127 target sh3e
3128
3129 Various Renesas ROM monitors and debugging interfaces for SH and
3130 H8/300.
3131
3132 target ocd
3133
3134 Support for a Macraigor serial interface to on-chip debugging.
3135 GDB does not directly support the newer parallel or USB
3136 interfaces.
3137
3138 DWARF 1 support
3139
3140 A debug information format. The predecessor to DWARF 2 and
3141 DWARF 3, which are still supported.
3142
3143 Support for the HP aCC compiler on HP-UX/PA-RISC
3144
3145 SOM-encapsulated symbolic debugging information, automatic
3146 invocation of pxdb, and the aCC custom C++ ABI. This does not
3147 affect HP-UX for Itanium or GCC for HP-UX/PA-RISC. Code compiled
3148 with aCC can still be debugged on an assembly level.
3149
3150 MIPS ".pdr" sections
3151
3152 A MIPS-specific format used to describe stack frame layout
3153 in debugging information.
3154
3155 Scheme support
3156
3157 GDB could work with an older version of Guile to debug
3158 the interpreter and Scheme programs running in it.
3159
3160 set mips stack-arg-size
3161 set mips saved-gpreg-size
3162
3163 Use "set mips abi" to control parameter passing for MIPS.
3164
3165 *** Changes in GDB 6.6
3166
3167 * New targets
3168
3169 Xtensa xtensa-elf
3170 Cell Broadband Engine SPU spu-elf
3171
3172 * GDB can now be configured as a cross-debugger targeting native Windows
3173 (mingw32) or Cygwin. It can communicate with a remote debugging stub
3174 running on a Windows system over TCP/IP to debug Windows programs.
3175
3176 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, has been updated to support Windows and
3177 Cygwin debugging. Both single-threaded and multi-threaded programs are
3178 supported.
3179
3180 * The "set trust-readonly-sections" command works again. This command was
3181 broken in GDB 6.3, 6.4, and 6.5.
3182
3183 * The "load" command now supports writing to flash memory, if the remote
3184 stub provides the required support.
3185
3186 * Support for GNU/Linux Thread Local Storage (TLS, per-thread variables) no
3187 longer requires symbolic debug information (e.g. DWARF-2).
3188
3189 * New commands
3190
3191 set substitute-path
3192 unset substitute-path
3193 show substitute-path
3194 Manage a list of substitution rules that GDB uses to rewrite the name
3195 of the directories where the sources are located. This can be useful
3196 for instance when the sources were moved to a different location
3197 between compilation and debugging.
3198
3199 set trace-commands
3200 show trace-commands
3201 Print each CLI command as it is executed. Each command is prefixed with
3202 a number of `+' symbols representing the nesting depth.
3203 The source command now has a `-v' option to enable the same feature.
3204
3205 * REMOVED features
3206
3207 The ARM Demon monitor support (RDP protocol, "target rdp").
3208
3209 Kernel Object Display, an embedded debugging feature which only worked with
3210 an obsolete version of Cisco IOS.
3211
3212 The 'set download-write-size' and 'show download-write-size' commands.
3213
3214 * New remote packets
3215
3216 qSupported:
3217 Tell a stub about GDB client features, and request remote target features.
3218 The first feature implemented is PacketSize, which allows the target to
3219 specify the size of packets it can handle - to minimize the number of
3220 packets required and improve performance when connected to a remote
3221 target.
3222
3223 qXfer:auxv:read:
3224 Fetch an OS auxilliary vector from the remote stub. This packet is a
3225 more efficient replacement for qPart:auxv:read.
3226
3227 qXfer:memory-map:read:
3228 Fetch a memory map from the remote stub, including information about
3229 RAM, ROM, and flash memory devices.
3230
3231 vFlashErase:
3232 vFlashWrite:
3233 vFlashDone:
3234 Erase and program a flash memory device.
3235
3236 * Removed remote packets
3237
3238 qPart:auxv:read:
3239 This packet has been replaced by qXfer:auxv:read. Only GDB 6.4 and 6.5
3240 used it, and only gdbserver implemented it.
3241
3242 *** Changes in GDB 6.5
3243
3244 * New targets
3245
3246 Renesas M32C/M16C m32c-elf
3247
3248 Morpho Technologies ms1 ms1-elf
3249
3250 * New commands
3251
3252 init-if-undefined Initialize a convenience variable, but
3253 only if it doesn't already have a value.
3254
3255 The following commands are presently only implemented for native GNU/Linux:
3256
3257 checkpoint Save a snapshot of the program state.
3258
3259 restart <n> Return the program state to a
3260 previously saved state.
3261
3262 info checkpoints List currently saved checkpoints.
3263
3264 delete-checkpoint <n> Delete a previously saved checkpoint.
3265
3266 set|show detach-on-fork Tell gdb whether to detach from a newly
3267 forked process, or to keep debugging it.
3268
3269 info forks List forks of the user program that
3270 are available to be debugged.
3271
3272 fork <n> Switch to debugging one of several
3273 forks of the user program that are
3274 available to be debugged.
3275
3276 delete-fork <n> Delete a fork from the list of forks
3277 that are available to be debugged (and
3278 kill the forked process).
3279
3280 detach-fork <n> Delete a fork from the list of forks
3281 that are available to be debugged (and
3282 allow the process to continue).
3283
3284 * New architecture
3285
3286 Morpho Technologies ms2 ms1-elf
3287
3288 * Improved Windows host support
3289
3290 GDB now builds as a cross debugger hosted on i686-mingw32, including
3291 native console support, and remote communications using either
3292 network sockets or serial ports.
3293
3294 * Improved Modula-2 language support
3295
3296 GDB can now print most types in the Modula-2 syntax. This includes:
3297 basic types, set types, record types, enumerated types, range types,
3298 pointer types and ARRAY types. Procedure var parameters are correctly
3299 printed and hexadecimal addresses and character constants are also
3300 written in the Modula-2 syntax. Best results can be obtained by using
3301 GNU Modula-2 together with the -gdwarf-2 command line option.
3302
3303 * REMOVED features
3304
3305 The ARM rdi-share module.
3306
3307 The Netware NLM debug server.
3308
3309 *** Changes in GDB 6.4
3310
3311 * New native configurations
3312
3313 OpenBSD/arm arm*-*-openbsd*
3314 OpenBSD/mips64 mips64-*-openbsd*
3315
3316 * New targets
3317
3318 Morpho Technologies ms1 ms1-elf
3319
3320 * New command line options
3321
3322 --batch-silent As for --batch, but totally silent.
3323 --return-child-result The debugger will exist with the same value
3324 the child (debugged) program exited with.
3325 --eval-command COMMAND, -ex COMMAND
3326 Execute a single GDB CLI command. This may be
3327 specified multiple times and in conjunction
3328 with the --command (-x) option.
3329
3330 * Deprecated commands removed
3331
3332 The following commands, that were deprecated in 2000, have been
3333 removed:
3334
3335 Command Replacement
3336 set|show arm disassembly-flavor set|show arm disassembler
3337 othernames set arm disassembler
3338 set|show remotedebug set|show debug remote
3339 set|show archdebug set|show debug arch
3340 set|show eventdebug set|show debug event
3341 regs info registers
3342
3343 * New BSD user-level threads support
3344
3345 It is now possible to debug programs using the user-level threads
3346 library on OpenBSD and FreeBSD. Currently supported (target)
3347 configurations are:
3348
3349 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
3350 FreeBSD/i386 i386-*-freebsd*
3351 OpenBSD/i386 i386-*-openbsd*
3352
3353 Note that the new kernel threads libraries introduced in FreeBSD 5.x
3354 are not yet supported.
3355
3356 * New support for Matsushita MN10300 w/sim added
3357 (Work in progress). mn10300-elf.
3358
3359 * REMOVED configurations and files
3360
3361 VxWorks and the XDR protocol *-*-vxworks
3362 Motorola MCORE mcore-*-*
3363 National Semiconductor NS32000 ns32k-*-*
3364
3365 * New "set print array-indexes" command
3366
3367 After turning this setting "on", GDB prints the index of each element
3368 when displaying arrays. The default is "off" to preserve the previous
3369 behavior.
3370
3371 * VAX floating point support
3372
3373 GDB now supports the not-quite-ieee VAX F and D floating point formats.
3374
3375 * User-defined command support
3376
3377 In addition to using $arg0..$arg9 for argument passing, it is now possible
3378 to use $argc to determine now many arguments have been passed. See the
3379 section on user-defined commands in the user manual for more information.
3380
3381 *** Changes in GDB 6.3:
3382
3383 * New command line option
3384
3385 GDB now accepts -l followed by a number to set the timeout for remote
3386 debugging.
3387
3388 * GDB works with GCC -feliminate-dwarf2-dups
3389
3390 GDB now supports a more compact representation of DWARF-2 debug
3391 information using DW_FORM_ref_addr references. These are produced
3392 by GCC with the option -feliminate-dwarf2-dups and also by some
3393 proprietary compilers. With GCC, you must use GCC 3.3.4 or later
3394 to use -feliminate-dwarf2-dups.
3395
3396 * Internationalization
3397
3398 When supported by the host system, GDB will be built with
3399 internationalization (libintl). The task of marking up the sources is
3400 continued, we're looking forward to our first translation.
3401
3402 * Ada
3403
3404 Initial support for debugging programs compiled with the GNAT
3405 implementation of the Ada programming language has been integrated
3406 into GDB. In this release, support is limited to expression evaluation.
3407
3408 * New native configurations
3409
3410 GNU/Linux/m32r m32r-*-linux-gnu
3411
3412 * Remote 'p' packet
3413
3414 GDB's remote protocol now includes support for the 'p' packet. This
3415 packet is used to fetch individual registers from a remote inferior.
3416
3417 * END-OF-LIFE registers[] compatibility module
3418
3419 GDB's internal register infrastructure has been completely rewritten.
3420 The new infrastructure making possible the implementation of key new
3421 features including 32x64 (e.g., 64-bit amd64 GDB debugging a 32-bit
3422 i386 application).
3423
3424 GDB 6.3 will be the last release to include the the registers[]
3425 compatibility module that allowed out-of-date configurations to
3426 continue to work. This change directly impacts the following
3427 configurations:
3428
3429 hppa-*-hpux
3430 ia64-*-aix
3431 mips-*-irix*
3432 *-*-lynx
3433 mips-*-linux-gnu
3434 sds protocol
3435 xdr protocol
3436 powerpc bdm protocol
3437
3438 Unless there is activity to revive these configurations, they will be
3439 made OBSOLETE in GDB 6.4, and REMOVED from GDB 6.5.
3440
3441 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
3442
3443 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
3444 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
3445 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
3446 permanently REMOVED.
3447
3448 h8300-*-*
3449 mcore-*-*
3450 mn10300-*-*
3451 ns32k-*-*
3452 sh64-*-*
3453 v850-*-*
3454
3455 *** Changes in GDB 6.2.1:
3456
3457 * MIPS `break main; run' gave an heuristic-fence-post warning
3458
3459 When attempting to run even a simple program, a warning about
3460 heuristic-fence-post being hit would be reported. This problem has
3461 been fixed.
3462
3463 * MIPS IRIX 'long double' crashed GDB
3464
3465 When examining a long double variable, GDB would get a segmentation
3466 fault. The crash has been fixed (but GDB 6.2 cannot correctly examine
3467 IRIX long double values).
3468
3469 * VAX and "next"
3470
3471 A bug in the VAX stack code was causing problems with the "next"
3472 command. This problem has been fixed.
3473
3474 *** Changes in GDB 6.2:
3475
3476 * Fix for ``many threads''
3477
3478 On GNU/Linux systems that use the NPTL threads library, a program
3479 rapidly creating and deleting threads would confuse GDB leading to the
3480 error message:
3481
3482 ptrace: No such process.
3483 thread_db_get_info: cannot get thread info: generic error
3484
3485 This problem has been fixed.
3486
3487 * "-async" and "-noasync" options removed.
3488
3489 Support for the broken "-noasync" option has been removed (it caused
3490 GDB to dump core).
3491
3492 * New ``start'' command.
3493
3494 This command runs the program until the begining of the main procedure.
3495
3496 * New BSD Kernel Data Access Library (libkvm) interface
3497
3498 Using ``target kvm'' it is now possible to debug kernel core dumps and
3499 live kernel memory images on various FreeBSD, NetBSD and OpenBSD
3500 platforms. Currently supported (native-only) configurations are:
3501
3502 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
3503 FreeBSD/i386 i?86-*-freebsd*
3504 NetBSD/i386 i?86-*-netbsd*
3505 NetBSD/m68k m68*-*-netbsd*
3506 NetBSD/sparc sparc-*-netbsd*
3507 OpenBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-openbsd*
3508 OpenBSD/i386 i?86-*-openbsd*
3509 OpenBSD/m68k m68*-openbsd*
3510 OpenBSD/sparc sparc-*-openbsd*
3511
3512 * Signal trampoline code overhauled
3513
3514 Many generic problems with GDB's signal handling code have been fixed.
3515 These include: backtraces through non-contiguous stacks; recognition
3516 of sa_sigaction signal trampolines; backtrace from a NULL pointer
3517 call; backtrace through a signal trampoline; step into and out of
3518 signal handlers; and single-stepping in the signal trampoline.
3519
3520 Please note that kernel bugs are a limiting factor here. These
3521 features have been shown to work on an s390 GNU/Linux system that
3522 include a 2.6.8-rc1 kernel. Ref PR breakpoints/1702.
3523
3524 * Cygwin support for DWARF 2 added.
3525
3526 * New native configurations
3527
3528 GNU/Linux/hppa hppa*-*-linux*
3529 OpenBSD/hppa hppa*-*-openbsd*
3530 OpenBSD/m68k m68*-*-openbsd*
3531 OpenBSD/m88k m88*-*-openbsd*
3532 OpenBSD/powerpc powerpc-*-openbsd*
3533 NetBSD/vax vax-*-netbsd*
3534 OpenBSD/vax vax-*-openbsd*
3535
3536 * END-OF-LIFE frame compatibility module
3537
3538 GDB's internal frame infrastructure has been completely rewritten.
3539 The new infrastructure making it possible to support key new features
3540 including DWARF 2 Call Frame Information. To aid in the task of
3541 migrating old configurations to this new infrastructure, a
3542 compatibility module, that allowed old configurations to continue to
3543 work, was also included.
3544
3545 GDB 6.2 will be the last release to include this frame compatibility
3546 module. This change directly impacts the following configurations:
3547
3548 h8300-*-*
3549 mcore-*-*
3550 mn10300-*-*
3551 ns32k-*-*
3552 sh64-*-*
3553 v850-*-*
3554 xstormy16-*-*
3555
3556 Unless there is activity to revive these configurations, they will be
3557 made OBSOLETE in GDB 6.3, and REMOVED from GDB 6.4.
3558
3559 * REMOVED configurations and files
3560
3561 Sun 3, running SunOS 3 m68*-*-sunos3*
3562 Sun 3, running SunOS 4 m68*-*-sunos4*
3563 Sun 2, running SunOS 3 m68000-*-sunos3*
3564 Sun 2, running SunOS 4 m68000-*-sunos4*
3565 Motorola 680x0 running LynxOS m68*-*-lynxos*
3566 AT&T 3b1/Unix pc m68*-att-*
3567 Bull DPX2 (68k, System V release 3) m68*-bull-sysv*
3568 decstation mips-dec-* mips-little-*
3569 riscos mips-*-riscos* mips-*-sysv*
3570 sonymips mips-sony-*
3571 sysv mips*-*-sysv4* (IRIX 5/6 not included)
3572
3573 *** Changes in GDB 6.1.1:
3574
3575 * TUI (Text-mode User Interface) built-in (also included in GDB 6.1)
3576
3577 The TUI (Text-mode User Interface) is now built as part of a default
3578 GDB configuration. It is enabled by either selecting the TUI with the
3579 command line option "-i=tui" or by running the separate "gdbtui"
3580 program. For more information on the TUI, see the manual "Debugging
3581 with GDB".
3582
3583 * Pending breakpoint support (also included in GDB 6.1)
3584
3585 Support has been added to allow you to specify breakpoints in shared
3586 libraries that have not yet been loaded. If a breakpoint location
3587 cannot be found, and the "breakpoint pending" option is set to auto,
3588 GDB queries you if you wish to make the breakpoint pending on a future
3589 shared-library load. If and when GDB resolves the breakpoint symbol,
3590 the pending breakpoint is removed as one or more regular breakpoints
3591 are created.
3592
3593 Pending breakpoints are very useful for GCJ Java debugging.
3594
3595 * Fixed ISO-C build problems
3596
3597 The files bfd/elf-bfd.h, gdb/dictionary.c and gdb/types.c contained
3598 non ISO-C code that stopped them being built using a more strict ISO-C
3599 compiler (e.g., IBM's C compiler).
3600
3601 * Fixed build problem on IRIX 5
3602
3603 Due to header problems with <sys/proc.h>, the file gdb/proc-api.c
3604 wasn't able to compile compile on an IRIX 5 system.
3605
3606 * Added execute permission to gdb/gdbserver/configure
3607
3608 The shell script gdb/testsuite/gdb.stabs/configure lacked execute
3609 permission. This bug would cause configure to fail on a number of
3610 systems (Solaris, IRIX). Ref: server/519.
3611
3612 * Fixed build problem on hpux2.0w-hp-hpux11.00 using the HP ANSI C compiler
3613
3614 Older HPUX ANSI C compilers did not accept variable array sizes. somsolib.c
3615 has been updated to use constant array sizes.
3616
3617 * Fixed a panic in the DWARF Call Frame Info code on Solaris 2.7
3618
3619 GCC 3.3.2, on Solaris 2.7, includes the DW_EH_PE_funcrel encoding in
3620 its generated DWARF Call Frame Info. This encoding was causing GDB to
3621 panic, that panic has been fixed. Ref: gdb/1628.
3622
3623 * Fixed a problem when examining parameters in shared library code.
3624
3625 When examining parameters in optimized shared library code generated
3626 by a mainline GCC, GDB would incorrectly report ``Variable "..." is
3627 not available''. GDB now correctly displays the variable's value.
3628
3629 *** Changes in GDB 6.1:
3630
3631 * Removed --with-mmalloc
3632
3633 Support for the mmalloc memory manager has been removed, as it
3634 conflicted with the internal gdb byte cache.
3635
3636 * Changes in AMD64 configurations
3637
3638 The AMD64 target now includes the %cs and %ss registers. As a result
3639 the AMD64 remote protocol has changed; this affects the floating-point
3640 and SSE registers. If you rely on those registers for your debugging,
3641 you should upgrade gdbserver on the remote side.
3642
3643 * Revised SPARC target
3644
3645 The SPARC target has been completely revised, incorporating the
3646 FreeBSD/sparc64 support that was added for GDB 6.0. As a result
3647 support for LynxOS and SunOS 4 has been dropped. Calling functions
3648 from within GDB on operating systems with a non-executable stack
3649 (Solaris, OpenBSD) now works.
3650
3651 * New C++ demangler
3652
3653 GDB has a new C++ demangler which does a better job on the mangled
3654 names generated by current versions of g++. It also runs faster, so
3655 with this and other changes gdb should now start faster on large C++
3656 programs.
3657
3658 * DWARF 2 Location Expressions
3659
3660 GDB support for location expressions has been extended to support function
3661 arguments and frame bases. Older versions of GDB could crash when they
3662 encountered these.
3663
3664 * C++ nested types and namespaces
3665
3666 GDB's support for nested types and namespaces in C++ has been
3667 improved, especially if you use the DWARF 2 debugging format. (This
3668 is the default for recent versions of GCC on most platforms.)
3669 Specifically, if you have a class "Inner" defined within a class or
3670 namespace "Outer", then GDB realizes that the class's name is
3671 "Outer::Inner", not simply "Inner". This should greatly reduce the
3672 frequency of complaints about not finding RTTI symbols. In addition,
3673 if you are stopped at inside of a function defined within a namespace,
3674 GDB modifies its name lookup accordingly.
3675
3676 * New native configurations
3677
3678 NetBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-netbsd*
3679 OpenBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-openbsd*
3680 OpenBSD/alpha alpha*-*-openbsd*
3681 OpenBSD/sparc sparc-*-openbsd*
3682 OpenBSD/sparc64 sparc64-*-openbsd*
3683
3684 * New debugging protocols
3685
3686 M32R with SDI protocol m32r-*-elf*
3687
3688 * "set prompt-escape-char" command deleted.
3689
3690 The command "set prompt-escape-char" has been deleted. This command,
3691 and its very obscure effet on GDB's prompt, was never documented,
3692 tested, nor mentioned in the NEWS file.
3693
3694 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
3695
3696 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
3697 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
3698 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
3699 permanently REMOVED.
3700
3701 Sun 3, running SunOS 3 m68*-*-sunos3*
3702 Sun 3, running SunOS 4 m68*-*-sunos4*
3703 Sun 2, running SunOS 3 m68000-*-sunos3*
3704 Sun 2, running SunOS 4 m68000-*-sunos4*
3705 Motorola 680x0 running LynxOS m68*-*-lynxos*
3706 AT&T 3b1/Unix pc m68*-att-*
3707 Bull DPX2 (68k, System V release 3) m68*-bull-sysv*
3708 decstation mips-dec-* mips-little-*
3709 riscos mips-*-riscos* mips-*-sysv*
3710 sonymips mips-sony-*
3711 sysv mips*-*-sysv4* (IRIX 5/6 not included)
3712
3713 * REMOVED configurations and files
3714
3715 SGI Irix-4.x mips-sgi-irix4 or iris4
3716 SGI Iris (MIPS) running Irix V3: mips-sgi-irix or iris
3717 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
3718 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
3719 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
3720 HP/PA running BSD hppa*-*-bsd*
3721 HP/PA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
3722 HP/PA Pro target hppa*-*-pro*
3723 PMAX (MIPS) running Mach 3.0 mips*-*-mach3*
3724 386BSD i[3456]86-*-bsd*
3725 Sequent family i[3456]86-sequent-sysv4*
3726 i[3456]86-sequent-sysv*
3727 i[3456]86-sequent-bsd*
3728 SPARC running LynxOS sparc-*-lynxos*
3729 SPARC running SunOS 4 sparc-*-sunos4*
3730 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
3731 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
3732
3733 *** Changes in GDB 6.0:
3734
3735 * Objective-C
3736
3737 Support for debugging the Objective-C programming language has been
3738 integrated into GDB.
3739
3740 * New backtrace mechanism (includes DWARF 2 Call Frame Information).
3741
3742 DWARF 2's Call Frame Information makes available compiler generated
3743 information that more exactly describes the program's run-time stack.
3744 By using this information, GDB is able to provide more robust stack
3745 backtraces.
3746
3747 The i386, amd64 (nee, x86-64), Alpha, m68hc11, ia64, and m32r targets
3748 have been updated to use a new backtrace mechanism which includes
3749 DWARF 2 CFI support.
3750
3751 * Hosted file I/O.
3752
3753 GDB's remote protocol has been extended to include support for hosted
3754 file I/O (where the remote target uses GDB's file system). See GDB's
3755 remote protocol documentation for details.
3756
3757 * All targets using the new architecture framework.
3758
3759 All of GDB's targets have been updated to use the new internal
3760 architecture framework. The way is now open for future GDB releases
3761 to include cross-architecture native debugging support (i386 on amd64,
3762 ppc32 on ppc64).
3763
3764 * GNU/Linux's Thread Local Storage (TLS)
3765
3766 GDB now includes support for for the GNU/Linux implementation of
3767 per-thread variables.
3768
3769 * GNU/Linux's Native POSIX Thread Library (NPTL)
3770
3771 GDB's thread code has been updated to work with either the new
3772 GNU/Linux NPTL thread library or the older "LinuxThreads" library.
3773
3774 * Separate debug info.
3775
3776 GDB, in conjunction with BINUTILS, now supports a mechanism for
3777 automatically loading debug information from a separate file. Instead
3778 of shipping full debug and non-debug versions of system libraries,
3779 system integrators can now instead ship just the stripped libraries
3780 and optional debug files.
3781
3782 * DWARF 2 Location Expressions
3783
3784 DWARF 2 Location Expressions allow the compiler to more completely
3785 describe the location of variables (even in optimized code) to the
3786 debugger.
3787
3788 GDB now includes preliminary support for location expressions (support
3789 for DW_OP_piece is still missing).
3790
3791 * Java
3792
3793 A number of long standing bugs that caused GDB to die while starting a
3794 Java application have been fixed. GDB's Java support is now
3795 considered "useable".
3796
3797 * GNU/Linux support for fork, vfork, and exec.
3798
3799 The "catch fork", "catch exec", "catch vfork", and "set follow-fork-mode"
3800 commands are now implemented for GNU/Linux. They require a 2.5.x or later
3801 kernel.
3802
3803 * GDB supports logging output to a file
3804
3805 There are two new commands, "set logging" and "show logging", which can be
3806 used to capture GDB's output to a file.
3807
3808 * The meaning of "detach" has changed for gdbserver
3809
3810 The "detach" command will now resume the application, as documented. To
3811 disconnect from gdbserver and leave it stopped, use the new "disconnect"
3812 command.
3813
3814 * d10v, m68hc11 `regs' command deprecated
3815
3816 The `info registers' command has been updated so that it displays the
3817 registers using a format identical to the old `regs' command.
3818
3819 * Profiling support
3820
3821 A new command, "maint set profile on/off", has been added. This command can
3822 be used to enable or disable profiling while running GDB, to profile a
3823 session or a set of commands. In addition there is a new configure switch,
3824 "--enable-profiling", which will cause GDB to be compiled with profiling
3825 data, for more informative profiling results.
3826
3827 * Default MI syntax changed to "mi2".
3828
3829 The default MI (machine interface) syntax, enabled by the command line
3830 option "-i=mi", has been changed to "mi2". The previous MI syntax,
3831 "mi1", can be enabled by specifying the option "-i=mi1".
3832
3833 Support for the original "mi0" syntax (included in GDB 5.0) has been
3834 removed.
3835
3836 Fix for gdb/192: removed extraneous space when displaying frame level.
3837 Fix for gdb/672: update changelist is now output in mi list format.
3838 Fix for gdb/702: a -var-assign that updates the value now shows up
3839 in a subsequent -var-update.
3840
3841 * New native configurations.
3842
3843 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
3844
3845 * Multi-arched targets.
3846
3847 HP/PA HPUX11 hppa*-*-hpux*
3848 Renesas M32R/D w/simulator m32r-*-elf*
3849
3850 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
3851
3852 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
3853 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
3854 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
3855 permanently REMOVED.
3856
3857 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
3858 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
3859 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
3860 HP/PA running BSD hppa*-*-bsd*
3861 HP/PA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
3862 HP/PA Pro target hppa*-*-pro*
3863 PMAX (MIPS) running Mach 3.0 mips*-*-mach3*
3864 Sequent family i[3456]86-sequent-sysv4*
3865 i[3456]86-sequent-sysv*
3866 i[3456]86-sequent-bsd*
3867 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
3868 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
3869
3870 * REMOVED configurations and files
3871
3872 V850EA ISA
3873 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
3874 IBM AIX PS/2 i[3456]86-*-aix
3875 i386 running Mach 3.0 i[3456]86-*-mach3*
3876 i386 running Mach i[3456]86-*-mach*
3877 i386 running OSF/1 i[3456]86-*osf1mk*
3878 HP/Apollo 68k Family m68*-apollo*-sysv*,
3879 m68*-apollo*-bsd*,
3880 m68*-hp-bsd*, m68*-hp-hpux*
3881 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
3882 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
3883 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
3884 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
3885 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
3886
3887 * MIPS $fp behavior changed
3888
3889 The convenience variable $fp, for the MIPS, now consistently returns
3890 the address of the current frame's base. Previously, depending on the
3891 context, $fp could refer to either $sp or the current frame's base
3892 address. See ``8.10 Registers'' in the manual ``Debugging with GDB:
3893 The GNU Source-Level Debugger''.
3894
3895 *** Changes in GDB 5.3:
3896
3897 * GNU/Linux shared library multi-threaded performance improved.
3898
3899 When debugging a multi-threaded application on GNU/Linux, GDB now uses
3900 `/proc', in preference to `ptrace' for memory reads. This may result
3901 in an improvement in the start-up time of multi-threaded, shared
3902 library applications when run under GDB. One GDB user writes: ``loads
3903 shared libs like mad''.
3904
3905 * ``gdbserver'' now supports multi-threaded applications on some targets
3906
3907 Support for debugging multi-threaded applications which use
3908 the GNU/Linux LinuxThreads package has been added for
3909 arm*-*-linux*-gnu*, i[3456]86-*-linux*-gnu*, mips*-*-linux*-gnu*,
3910 powerpc*-*-linux*-gnu*, and sh*-*-linux*-gnu*.
3911
3912 * GDB now supports C/C++ preprocessor macros.
3913
3914 GDB now expands preprocessor macro invocations in C/C++ expressions,
3915 and provides various commands for showing macro definitions and how
3916 they expand.
3917
3918 The new command `macro expand EXPRESSION' expands any macro
3919 invocations in expression, and shows the result.
3920
3921 The new command `show macro MACRO-NAME' shows the definition of the
3922 macro named MACRO-NAME, and where it was defined.
3923
3924 Most compilers don't include information about macros in the debugging
3925 information by default. In GCC 3.1, for example, you need to compile
3926 your program with the options `-gdwarf-2 -g3'. If the macro
3927 information is present in the executable, GDB will read it.
3928
3929 * Multi-arched targets.
3930
3931 DEC Alpha (partial) alpha*-*-*
3932 DEC VAX (partial) vax-*-*
3933 NEC V850 v850-*-*
3934 National Semiconductor NS32000 (partial) ns32k-*-*
3935 Motorola 68000 (partial) m68k-*-*
3936 Motorola MCORE mcore-*-*
3937
3938 * New targets.
3939
3940 Fujitsu FRV architecture added by Red Hat frv*-*-*
3941
3942
3943 * New native configurations
3944
3945 Alpha NetBSD alpha*-*-netbsd*
3946 SH NetBSD sh*-*-netbsdelf*
3947 MIPS NetBSD mips*-*-netbsd*
3948 UltraSPARC NetBSD sparc64-*-netbsd*
3949
3950 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
3951
3952 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
3953 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
3954 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
3955 permanently REMOVED.
3956
3957 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
3958 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
3959 IBM AIX PS/2 i[3456]86-*-aix
3960 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
3961 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
3962 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
3963 i386 running Mach 3.0 i[3456]86-*-mach3*
3964 i386 running Mach i[3456]86-*-mach*
3965 i386 running OSF/1 i[3456]86-*osf1mk*
3966 HP/Apollo 68k Family m68*-apollo*-sysv*,
3967 m68*-apollo*-bsd*,
3968 m68*-hp-bsd*, m68*-hp-hpux*
3969 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
3970
3971 * OBSOLETE languages
3972
3973 CHILL, a Pascal like language used by telecommunications companies.
3974
3975 * REMOVED configurations and files
3976
3977 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi, udi29k
3978 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
3979 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
3980 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
3981 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
3982
3983 testsuite/gdb.hp/gdb.threads-hp/ directory
3984
3985 * New command "set max-user-call-depth <nnn>"
3986
3987 This command allows the user to limit the call depth of user-defined
3988 commands. The default is 1024.
3989
3990 * Changes in FreeBSD/i386 native debugging.
3991
3992 Support for the "generate-core-file" has been added.
3993
3994 * New commands "dump", "append", and "restore".
3995
3996 These commands allow data to be copied from target memory
3997 to a bfd-format or binary file (dump and append), and back
3998 from a file into memory (restore).
3999
4000 * Improved "next/step" support on multi-processor Alpha Tru64.
4001
4002 The previous single-step mechanism could cause unpredictable problems,
4003 including the random appearance of SIGSEGV or SIGTRAP signals. The use
4004 of a software single-step mechanism prevents this.
4005
4006 *** Changes in GDB 5.2.1:
4007
4008 * New targets.
4009
4010 Atmel AVR avr*-*-*
4011
4012 * Bug fixes
4013
4014 gdb/182: gdb/323: gdb/237: On alpha, gdb was reporting:
4015 mdebugread.c:2443: gdb-internal-error: sect_index_data not initialized
4016 Fix, by Joel Brobecker imported from mainline.
4017
4018 gdb/439: gdb/291: On some ELF object files, gdb was reporting:
4019 dwarf2read.c:1072: gdb-internal-error: sect_index_text not initialize
4020 Fix, by Fred Fish, imported from mainline.
4021
4022 Dwarf2 .debug_frame & .eh_frame handler improved in many ways.
4023 Surprisingly enough, it works now.
4024 By Michal Ludvig, imported from mainline.
4025
4026 i386 hardware watchpoint support:
4027 avoid misses on second run for some targets.
4028 By Pierre Muller, imported from mainline.
4029
4030 *** Changes in GDB 5.2:
4031
4032 * New command "set trust-readonly-sections on[off]".
4033
4034 This command is a hint that tells gdb that read-only sections
4035 really are read-only (ie. that their contents will not change).
4036 In this mode, gdb will go to the object file rather than the
4037 target to read memory from read-only sections (such as ".text").
4038 This can be a significant performance improvement on some
4039 (notably embedded) targets.
4040
4041 * New command "generate-core-file" (or "gcore").
4042
4043 This new gdb command allows the user to drop a core file of the child
4044 process state at any time. So far it's been implemented only for
4045 GNU/Linux and Solaris, but should be relatively easily ported to other
4046 hosts. Argument is core file name (defaults to core.<pid>).
4047
4048 * New command line option
4049
4050 GDB now accepts --pid or -p followed by a process id.
4051
4052 * Change in command line behavior -- corefiles vs. process ids.
4053
4054 There is a subtle behavior in the way in which GDB handles
4055 command line arguments. The first non-flag argument is always
4056 a program to debug, but the second non-flag argument may either
4057 be a corefile or a process id. Previously, GDB would attempt to
4058 open the second argument as a corefile, and if that failed, would
4059 issue a superfluous error message and then attempt to attach it as
4060 a process. Now, if the second argument begins with a non-digit,
4061 it will be treated as a corefile. If it begins with a digit,
4062 GDB will attempt to attach it as a process, and if no such process
4063 is found, will then attempt to open it as a corefile.
4064
4065 * Changes in ARM configurations.
4066
4067 Multi-arch support is enabled for all ARM configurations. The ARM/NetBSD
4068 configuration is fully multi-arch.
4069
4070 * New native configurations
4071
4072 ARM NetBSD arm*-*-netbsd*
4073 x86 OpenBSD i[3456]86-*-openbsd*
4074 AMD x86-64 running GNU/Linux x86_64-*-linux-*
4075 Sparc64 running FreeBSD sparc64-*-freebsd*
4076
4077 * New targets
4078
4079 Sanyo XStormy16 xstormy16-elf
4080
4081 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
4082
4083 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
4084 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
4085 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
4086 permanently REMOVED.
4087
4088 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi, udi29k
4089 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
4090 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
4091 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
4092 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
4093
4094 testsuite/gdb.hp/gdb.threads-hp/ directory
4095
4096 * REMOVED configurations and files
4097
4098 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
4099 WDC 65816 w65-*-*
4100 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
4101 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
4102 PowerPC Netware powerpc-*-netware*
4103 Harris/CXUX m88k m88*-harris-cxux*
4104 Most ns32k hosts and targets ns32k-*-mach3* ns32k-umax-*
4105 ns32k-utek-sysv* ns32k-utek-*
4106 SunOS 4.0.Xi on i386 i[3456]86-*-sunos*
4107 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1 a29k-nyu-sym1 a29k-*-kern*
4108 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x m68*-sony-sysv news
4109 ISI Optimum V (3.05) under 4.3bsd. m68*-isi-*
4110 Apple Macintosh (MPW) host and target N/A host, powerpc-*-macos*
4111
4112 * Changes to command line processing
4113
4114 The new `--args' feature can be used to specify command-line arguments
4115 for the inferior from gdb's command line.
4116
4117 * Changes to key bindings
4118
4119 There is a new `operate-and-get-next' function bound to `C-o'.
4120
4121 *** Changes in GDB 5.1.1
4122
4123 Fix compile problem on DJGPP.
4124
4125 Fix a problem with floating-point registers on the i386 being
4126 corrupted.
4127
4128 Fix to stop GDB crashing on .debug_str debug info.
4129
4130 Numerous documentation fixes.
4131
4132 Numerous testsuite fixes.
4133
4134 *** Changes in GDB 5.1:
4135
4136 * New native configurations
4137
4138 Alpha FreeBSD alpha*-*-freebsd*
4139 x86 FreeBSD 3.x and 4.x i[3456]86*-freebsd[34]*
4140 MIPS GNU/Linux mips*-*-linux*
4141 MIPS SGI Irix 6.x mips*-sgi-irix6*
4142 ia64 AIX ia64-*-aix*
4143 s390 and s390x GNU/Linux {s390,s390x}-*-linux*
4144
4145 * New targets
4146
4147 Motorola 68HC11 and 68HC12 m68hc11-elf
4148 CRIS cris-axis
4149 UltraSparc running GNU/Linux sparc64-*-linux*
4150
4151 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
4152
4153 x86 FreeBSD before 2.2 i[3456]86*-freebsd{1,2.[01]}*,
4154 Harris/CXUX m88k m88*-harris-cxux*
4155 Most ns32k hosts and targets ns32k-*-mach3* ns32k-umax-*
4156 ns32k-utek-sysv* ns32k-utek-*
4157 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
4158 WDC 65816 w65-*-*
4159 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1 a29k-nyu-sym1 a29k-*-kern*
4160 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
4161 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
4162 PowerPC Netware powerpc-*-netware*
4163 SunOS 4.0.Xi on i386 i[3456]86-*-sunos*
4164 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x m68*-sony-sysv news
4165 ISI Optimum V (3.05) under 4.3bsd. m68*-isi-*
4166 Apple Macintosh (MPW) host N/A
4167
4168 stuff.c (Program to stuff files into a specially prepared space in kdb)
4169 kdb-start.c (Main loop for the standalone kernel debugger)
4170
4171 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
4172 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
4173 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
4174 permanently REMOVED.
4175
4176 * REMOVED configurations and files
4177
4178 Altos 3068 m68*-altos-*
4179 Convex c1-*-*, c2-*-*
4180 Pyramid pyramid-*-*
4181 ARM RISCix arm-*-* (as host)
4182 Tahoe tahoe-*-*
4183 ser-ocd.c *-*-*
4184
4185 * GDB has been converted to ISO C.
4186
4187 GDB's source code has been converted to ISO C. In particular, the
4188 sources are fully protoized, and rely on standard headers being
4189 present.
4190
4191 * Other news:
4192
4193 * "info symbol" works on platforms which use COFF, ECOFF, XCOFF, and NLM.
4194
4195 * The MI enabled by default.
4196
4197 The new machine oriented interface (MI) introduced in GDB 5.0 has been
4198 revised and enabled by default. Packages which use GDB as a debugging
4199 engine behind a UI or another front end are encouraged to switch to
4200 using the GDB/MI interface, instead of the old annotations interface
4201 which is now deprecated.
4202
4203 * Support for debugging Pascal programs.
4204
4205 GDB now includes support for debugging Pascal programs. The following
4206 main features are supported:
4207
4208 - Pascal-specific data types such as sets;
4209
4210 - automatic recognition of Pascal sources based on file-name
4211 extension;
4212
4213 - Pascal-style display of data types, variables, and functions;
4214
4215 - a Pascal expression parser.
4216
4217 However, some important features are not yet supported.
4218
4219 - Pascal string operations are not supported at all;
4220
4221 - there are some problems with boolean types;
4222
4223 - Pascal type hexadecimal constants are not supported
4224 because they conflict with the internal variables format;
4225
4226 - support for Pascal objects and classes is not full yet;
4227
4228 - unlike Pascal, GDB is case-sensitive for symbol names.
4229
4230 * Changes in completion.
4231
4232 Commands such as `shell', `run' and `set args', which pass arguments
4233 to inferior programs, now complete on file names, similar to what
4234 users expect at the shell prompt.
4235
4236 Commands which accept locations, such as `disassemble', `print',
4237 `breakpoint', `until', etc. now complete on filenames as well as
4238 program symbols. Thus, if you type "break foob TAB", and the source
4239 files linked into the programs include `foobar.c', that file name will
4240 be one of the candidates for completion. However, file names are not
4241 considered for completion after you typed a colon that delimits a file
4242 name from a name of a function in that file, as in "break foo.c:bar".
4243
4244 `set demangle-style' completes on available demangling styles.
4245
4246 * New platform-independent commands:
4247
4248 It is now possible to define a post-hook for a command as well as a
4249 hook that runs before the command. For more details, see the
4250 documentation of `hookpost' in the GDB manual.
4251
4252 * Changes in GNU/Linux native debugging.
4253
4254 Support for debugging multi-threaded programs has been completely
4255 revised for all platforms except m68k and sparc. You can now debug as
4256 many threads as your system allows you to have.
4257
4258 Attach/detach is supported for multi-threaded programs.
4259
4260 Support for SSE registers was added for x86. This doesn't work for
4261 multi-threaded programs though.
4262
4263 * Changes in MIPS configurations.
4264
4265 Multi-arch support is enabled for all MIPS configurations.
4266
4267 GDB can now be built as native debugger on SGI Irix 6.x systems for
4268 debugging n32 executables. (Debugging 64-bit executables is not yet
4269 supported.)
4270
4271 * Unified support for hardware watchpoints in all x86 configurations.
4272
4273 Most (if not all) native x86 configurations support hardware-assisted
4274 breakpoints and watchpoints in a unified manner. This support
4275 implements debug register sharing between watchpoints, which allows to
4276 put a virtually infinite number of watchpoints on the same address,
4277 and also supports watching regions up to 16 bytes with several debug
4278 registers.
4279
4280 The new maintenance command `maintenance show-debug-regs' toggles
4281 debugging print-outs in functions that insert, remove, and test
4282 watchpoints and hardware breakpoints.
4283
4284 * Changes in the DJGPP native configuration.
4285
4286 New command ``info dos sysinfo'' displays assorted information about
4287 the CPU, OS, memory, and DPMI server.
4288
4289 New commands ``info dos gdt'', ``info dos ldt'', and ``info dos idt''
4290 display information about segment descriptors stored in GDT, LDT, and
4291 IDT.
4292
4293 New commands ``info dos pde'' and ``info dos pte'' display entries
4294 from Page Directory and Page Tables (for now works with CWSDPMI only).
4295 New command ``info dos address-pte'' displays the Page Table entry for
4296 a given linear address.
4297
4298 GDB can now pass command lines longer than 126 characters to the
4299 program being debugged (requires an update to the libdbg.a library
4300 which is part of the DJGPP development kit).
4301
4302 DWARF2 debug info is now supported.
4303
4304 It is now possible to `step' and `next' through calls to `longjmp'.
4305
4306 * Changes in documentation.
4307
4308 All GDB documentation was converted to GFDL, the GNU Free
4309 Documentation License.
4310
4311 Tracepoints-related commands are now fully documented in the GDB
4312 manual.
4313
4314 TUI, the Text-mode User Interface, is now documented in the manual.
4315
4316 Tracepoints-related commands are now fully documented in the GDB
4317 manual.
4318
4319 The "GDB Internals" manual now has an index. It also includes
4320 documentation of `ui_out' functions, GDB coding standards, x86
4321 hardware watchpoints, and memory region attributes.
4322
4323 * GDB's version number moved to ``version.in''
4324
4325 The Makefile variable VERSION has been replaced by the file
4326 ``version.in''. People creating GDB distributions should update the
4327 contents of this file.
4328
4329 * gdba.el deleted
4330
4331 GUD support is now a standard part of the EMACS distribution.
4332
4333 *** Changes in GDB 5.0:
4334
4335 * Improved support for debugging FP programs on x86 targets
4336
4337 Unified and much-improved support for debugging floating-point
4338 programs on all x86 targets. In particular, ``info float'' now
4339 displays the FP registers in the same format on all x86 targets, with
4340 greater level of detail.
4341
4342 * Improvements and bugfixes in hardware-assisted watchpoints
4343
4344 It is now possible to watch array elements, struct members, and
4345 bitfields with hardware-assisted watchpoints. Data-read watchpoints
4346 on x86 targets no longer erroneously trigger when the address is
4347 written.
4348
4349 * Improvements in the native DJGPP version of GDB
4350
4351 The distribution now includes all the scripts and auxiliary files
4352 necessary to build the native DJGPP version on MS-DOS/MS-Windows
4353 machines ``out of the box''.
4354
4355 The DJGPP version can now debug programs that use signals. It is
4356 possible to catch signals that happened in the debuggee, deliver
4357 signals to it, interrupt it with Ctrl-C, etc. (Previously, a signal
4358 would kill the program being debugged.) Programs that hook hardware
4359 interrupts (keyboard, timer, etc.) can also be debugged.
4360
4361 It is now possible to debug DJGPP programs that redirect their
4362 standard handles or switch them to raw (as opposed to cooked) mode, or
4363 even close them. The command ``run < foo > bar'' works as expected,
4364 and ``info terminal'' reports useful information about the debuggee's
4365 terminal, including raw/cooked mode, redirection, etc.
4366
4367 The DJGPP version now uses termios functions for console I/O, which
4368 enables debugging graphics programs. Interrupting GDB with Ctrl-C
4369 also works.
4370
4371 DOS-style file names with drive letters are now fully supported by
4372 GDB.
4373
4374 It is now possible to debug DJGPP programs that switch their working
4375 directory. It is also possible to rerun the debuggee any number of
4376 times without restarting GDB; thus, you can use the same setup,
4377 breakpoints, etc. for many debugging sessions.
4378
4379 * New native configurations
4380
4381 ARM GNU/Linux arm*-*-linux*
4382 PowerPC GNU/Linux powerpc-*-linux*
4383
4384 * New targets
4385
4386 Motorola MCore mcore-*-*
4387 x86 VxWorks i[3456]86-*-vxworks*
4388 PowerPC VxWorks powerpc-*-vxworks*
4389 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
4390
4391 * OBSOLETE configurations
4392
4393 Altos 3068 m68*-altos-*
4394 Convex c1-*-*, c2-*-*
4395 Pyramid pyramid-*-*
4396 ARM RISCix arm-*-* (as host)
4397 Tahoe tahoe-*-*
4398
4399 Configurations that have been declared obsolete will be commented out,
4400 but the code will be left in place. If there is no activity to revive
4401 these configurations before the next release of GDB, the sources will
4402 be permanently REMOVED.
4403
4404 * Gould support removed
4405
4406 Support for the Gould PowerNode and NP1 has been removed.
4407
4408 * New features for SVR4
4409
4410 On SVR4 native platforms (such as Solaris), if you attach to a process
4411 without first loading a symbol file, GDB will now attempt to locate and
4412 load symbols from the running process's executable file.
4413
4414 * Many C++ enhancements
4415
4416 C++ support has been greatly improved. Overload resolution now works properly
4417 in almost all cases. RTTI support is on the way.
4418
4419 * Remote targets can connect to a sub-program
4420
4421 A popen(3) style serial-device has been added. This device starts a
4422 sub-process (such as a stand-alone simulator) and then communicates
4423 with that. The sub-program to run is specified using the syntax
4424 ``|<program> <args>'' vis:
4425
4426 (gdb) set remotedebug 1
4427 (gdb) target extended-remote |mn10300-elf-sim program-args
4428
4429 * MIPS 64 remote protocol
4430
4431 A long standing bug in the mips64 remote protocol where by GDB
4432 expected certain 32 bit registers (ex SR) to be transfered as 32
4433 instead of 64 bits has been fixed.
4434
4435 The command ``set remote-mips64-transfers-32bit-regs on'' has been
4436 added to provide backward compatibility with older versions of GDB.
4437
4438 * ``set remotebinarydownload'' replaced by ``set remote X-packet''
4439
4440 The command ``set remotebinarydownload'' command has been replaced by
4441 ``set remote X-packet''. Other commands in ``set remote'' family
4442 include ``set remote P-packet''.
4443
4444 * Breakpoint commands accept ranges.
4445
4446 The breakpoint commands ``enable'', ``disable'', and ``delete'' now
4447 accept a range of breakpoints, e.g. ``5-7''. The tracepoint command
4448 ``tracepoint passcount'' also accepts a range of tracepoints.
4449
4450 * ``apropos'' command added.
4451
4452 The ``apropos'' command searches through command names and
4453 documentation strings, printing out matches, making it much easier to
4454 try to find a command that does what you are looking for.
4455
4456 * New MI interface
4457
4458 A new machine oriented interface (MI) has been added to GDB. This
4459 interface is designed for debug environments running GDB as a separate
4460 process. This is part of the long term libGDB project. See the
4461 "GDB/MI" chapter of the GDB manual for further information. It can be
4462 enabled by configuring with:
4463
4464 .../configure --enable-gdbmi
4465
4466 *** Changes in GDB-4.18:
4467
4468 * New native configurations
4469
4470 HP-UX 10.20 hppa*-*-hpux10.20
4471 HP-UX 11.x hppa*-*-hpux11.0*
4472 M68K GNU/Linux m68*-*-linux*
4473
4474 * New targets
4475
4476 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
4477 Intel StrongARM strongarm-*-*
4478 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
4479
4480 * OBSOLETE configurations
4481
4482 Gould PowerNode, NP1 np1-*-*, pn-*-*
4483
4484 Configurations that have been declared obsolete will be commented out,
4485 but the code will be left in place. If there is no activity to revive
4486 these configurations before the next release of GDB, the sources will
4487 be permanently REMOVED.
4488
4489 * ANSI/ISO C
4490
4491 As a compatibility experiment, GDB's source files buildsym.h and
4492 buildsym.c have been converted to pure standard C, no longer
4493 containing any K&R compatibility code. We believe that all systems in
4494 use today either come with a standard C compiler, or have a GCC port
4495 available. If this is not true, please report the affected
4496 configuration to bug-gdb@gnu.org immediately. See the README file for
4497 information about getting a standard C compiler if you don't have one
4498 already.
4499
4500 * Readline 2.2
4501
4502 GDB now uses readline 2.2.
4503
4504 * set extension-language
4505
4506 You can now control the mapping between filename extensions and source
4507 languages by using the `set extension-language' command. For instance,
4508 you can ask GDB to treat .c files as C++ by saying
4509 set extension-language .c c++
4510 The command `info extensions' lists all of the recognized extensions
4511 and their associated languages.
4512
4513 * Setting processor type for PowerPC and RS/6000
4514
4515 When GDB is configured for a powerpc*-*-* or an rs6000*-*-* target,
4516 you can use the `set processor' command to specify what variant of the
4517 PowerPC family you are debugging. The command
4518
4519 set processor NAME
4520
4521 sets the PowerPC/RS6000 variant to NAME. GDB knows about the
4522 following PowerPC and RS6000 variants:
4523
4524 ppc-uisa PowerPC UISA - a PPC processor as viewed by user-level code
4525 rs6000 IBM RS6000 ("POWER") architecture, user-level view
4526 403 IBM PowerPC 403
4527 403GC IBM PowerPC 403GC
4528 505 Motorola PowerPC 505
4529 860 Motorola PowerPC 860 or 850
4530 601 Motorola PowerPC 601
4531 602 Motorola PowerPC 602
4532 603 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 603 or 603e
4533 604 Motorola PowerPC 604 or 604e
4534 750 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 750 or 750
4535
4536 At the moment, this command just tells GDB what to name the
4537 special-purpose processor registers. Since almost all the affected
4538 registers are inaccessible to user-level programs, this command is
4539 only useful for remote debugging in its present form.
4540
4541 * HP-UX support
4542
4543 Thanks to a major code donation from Hewlett-Packard, GDB now has much
4544 more extensive support for HP-UX. Added features include shared
4545 library support, kernel threads and hardware watchpoints for 11.00,
4546 support for HP's ANSI C and C++ compilers, and a compatibility mode
4547 for xdb and dbx commands.
4548
4549 * Catchpoints
4550
4551 HP's donation includes the new concept of catchpoints, which is a
4552 generalization of the old catch command. On HP-UX, it is now possible
4553 to catch exec, fork, and vfork, as well as library loading.
4554
4555 This means that the existing catch command has changed; its first
4556 argument now specifies the type of catch to be set up. See the
4557 output of "help catch" for a list of catchpoint types.
4558
4559 * Debugging across forks
4560
4561 On HP-UX, you can choose which process to debug when a fork() happens
4562 in the inferior.
4563
4564 * TUI
4565
4566 HP has donated a curses-based terminal user interface (TUI). To get
4567 it, build with --enable-tui. Although this can be enabled for any
4568 configuration, at present it only works for native HP debugging.
4569
4570 * GDB remote protocol additions
4571
4572 A new protocol packet 'X' that writes binary data is now available.
4573 Default behavior is to try 'X', then drop back to 'M' if the stub
4574 fails to respond. The settable variable `remotebinarydownload'
4575 allows explicit control over the use of 'X'.
4576
4577 For 64-bit targets, the memory packets ('M' and 'm') can now contain a
4578 full 64-bit address. The command
4579
4580 set remoteaddresssize 32
4581
4582 can be used to revert to the old behaviour. For existing remote stubs
4583 the change should not be noticed, as the additional address information
4584 will be discarded.
4585
4586 In order to assist in debugging stubs, you may use the maintenance
4587 command `packet' to send any text string to the stub. For instance,
4588
4589 maint packet heythere
4590
4591 sends the packet "$heythere#<checksum>". Note that it is very easy to
4592 disrupt a debugging session by sending the wrong packet at the wrong
4593 time.
4594
4595 The compare-sections command allows you to compare section data on the
4596 target to what is in the executable file without uploading or
4597 downloading, by comparing CRC checksums.
4598
4599 * Tracing can collect general expressions
4600
4601 You may now collect general expressions at tracepoints. This requires
4602 further additions to the target-side stub; see tracepoint.c and
4603 doc/agentexpr.texi for further details.
4604
4605 * mask-address variable for Mips
4606
4607 For Mips targets, you may control the zeroing of the upper 32 bits of
4608 a 64-bit address by entering `set mask-address on'. This is mainly
4609 of interest to users of embedded R4xxx and R5xxx processors.
4610
4611 * Higher serial baud rates
4612
4613 GDB's serial code now allows you to specify baud rates 57600, 115200,
4614 230400, and 460800 baud. (Note that your host system may not be able
4615 to achieve all of these rates.)
4616
4617 * i960 simulator
4618
4619 The i960 configuration now includes an initial implementation of a
4620 builtin simulator, contributed by Jim Wilson.
4621
4622
4623 *** Changes in GDB-4.17:
4624
4625 * New native configurations
4626
4627 Alpha GNU/Linux alpha*-*-linux*
4628 Unixware 2.x i[3456]86-unixware2*
4629 Irix 6.x mips*-sgi-irix6*
4630 PowerPC GNU/Linux powerpc-*-linux*
4631 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
4632 Sparc GNU/Linux sparc-*-linux*
4633 Motorola sysV68 R3V7.1 m68k-motorola-sysv
4634
4635 * New targets
4636
4637 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
4638 Hitachi H8/300S h8300*-*-*
4639 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
4640 Matsushita MN10300 w/simulator mn10300-*-*
4641 MIPS NEC VR4100 mips64*vr4100*{,el}-*-elf*
4642 MIPS NEC VR5000 mips64*vr5000*{,el}-*-elf*
4643 MIPS Toshiba TX39 mips64*tx39*{,el}-*-elf*
4644 Mitsubishi D10V w/simulator d10v-*-*
4645 Mitsubishi M32R/D w/simulator m32r-*-elf*
4646 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
4647 NEC V850 w/simulator v850-*-*
4648
4649 * New debugging protocols
4650
4651 ARM with RDI protocol arm*-*-*
4652 M68K with dBUG monitor m68*-*-{aout,coff,elf}
4653 DDB and LSI variants of PMON protocol mips*-*-*
4654 PowerPC with DINK32 monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
4655 PowerPC with SDS protocol powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
4656 Macraigor OCD (Wiggler) devices powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
4657
4658 * DWARF 2
4659
4660 All configurations can now understand and use the DWARF 2 debugging
4661 format. The choice is automatic, if the symbol file contains DWARF 2
4662 information.
4663
4664 * Java frontend
4665
4666 GDB now includes basic Java language support. This support is
4667 only useful with Java compilers that produce native machine code.
4668
4669 * solib-absolute-prefix and solib-search-path
4670
4671 For SunOS and SVR4 shared libraries, you may now set the prefix for
4672 loading absolute shared library symbol files, and the search path for
4673 locating non-absolute shared library symbol files.
4674
4675 * Live range splitting
4676
4677 GDB can now effectively debug code for which GCC has performed live
4678 range splitting as part of its optimization. See gdb/doc/LRS for
4679 more details on the expected format of the stabs information.
4680
4681 * Hurd support
4682
4683 GDB's support for the GNU Hurd, including thread debugging, has been
4684 updated to work with current versions of the Hurd.
4685
4686 * ARM Thumb support
4687
4688 GDB's ARM target configuration now handles the ARM7T (Thumb) 16-bit
4689 instruction set. ARM GDB automatically detects when Thumb
4690 instructions are in use, and adjusts disassembly and backtracing
4691 accordingly.
4692
4693 * MIPS16 support
4694
4695 GDB's MIPS target configurations now handle the MIP16 16-bit
4696 instruction set.
4697
4698 * Overlay support
4699
4700 GDB now includes support for overlays; if an executable has been
4701 linked such that multiple sections are based at the same address, GDB
4702 will decide which section to use for symbolic info. You can choose to
4703 control the decision manually, using overlay commands, or implement
4704 additional target-side support and use "overlay load-target" to bring
4705 in the overlay mapping. Do "help overlay" for more detail.
4706
4707 * info symbol
4708
4709 The command "info symbol <address>" displays information about
4710 the symbol at the specified address.
4711
4712 * Trace support
4713
4714 The standard remote protocol now includes an extension that allows
4715 asynchronous collection and display of trace data. This requires
4716 extensive support in the target-side debugging stub. Tracing mode
4717 includes a new interaction mode in GDB and new commands: see the
4718 file tracepoint.c for more details.
4719
4720 * MIPS simulator
4721
4722 Configurations for embedded MIPS now include a simulator contributed
4723 by Cygnus Solutions. The simulator supports the instruction sets
4724 of most MIPS variants.
4725
4726 * Sparc simulator
4727
4728 Sparc configurations may now include the ERC32 simulator contributed
4729 by the European Space Agency. The simulator is not built into
4730 Sparc targets by default; configure with --enable-sim to include it.
4731
4732 * set architecture
4733
4734 For target configurations that may include multiple variants of a
4735 basic architecture (such as MIPS and SH), you may now set the
4736 architecture explicitly. "set arch" sets, "info arch" lists
4737 the possible architectures.
4738
4739 *** Changes in GDB-4.16:
4740
4741 * New native configurations
4742
4743 Windows 95, x86 Windows NT i[345]86-*-cygwin32
4744 M68K NetBSD m68k-*-netbsd*
4745 PowerPC AIX 4.x powerpc-*-aix*
4746 PowerPC MacOS powerpc-*-macos*
4747 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
4748 RS/6000 AIX 4.x rs6000-*-aix4*
4749
4750 * New targets
4751
4752 ARM with RDP protocol arm-*-*
4753 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
4754 MIPS VxWorks mips*-*-vxworks*
4755 MIPS VR4300 with PMON mips64*vr4300{,el}-*-elf*
4756 PowerPC with PPCBUG monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi*
4757 Hitachi SH3 sh-*-*
4758 Matra Sparclet sparclet-*-*
4759
4760 * PowerPC simulator
4761
4762 The powerpc-eabi configuration now includes the PSIM simulator,
4763 contributed by Andrew Cagney, with assistance from Mike Meissner.
4764 PSIM is a very elaborate model of the PowerPC, including not only
4765 basic instruction set execution, but also details of execution unit
4766 performance and I/O hardware. See sim/ppc/README for more details.
4767
4768 * Solaris 2.5
4769
4770 GDB now works with Solaris 2.5.
4771
4772 * Windows 95/NT native
4773
4774 GDB will now work as a native debugger on Windows 95 and Windows NT.
4775 To build it from source, you must use the "gnu-win32" environment,
4776 which uses a DLL to emulate enough of Unix to run the GNU tools.
4777 Further information, binaries, and sources are available at
4778 ftp.cygnus.com, under pub/gnu-win32.
4779
4780 * dont-repeat command
4781
4782 If a user-defined command includes the command `dont-repeat', then the
4783 command will not be repeated if the user just types return. This is
4784 useful if the command is time-consuming to run, so that accidental
4785 extra keystrokes don't run the same command many times.
4786
4787 * Send break instead of ^C
4788
4789 The standard remote protocol now includes an option to send a break
4790 rather than a ^C to the target in order to interrupt it. By default,
4791 GDB will send ^C; to send a break, set the variable `remotebreak' to 1.
4792
4793 * Remote protocol timeout
4794
4795 The standard remote protocol includes a new variable `remotetimeout'
4796 that allows you to set the number of seconds before GDB gives up trying
4797 to read from the target. The default value is 2.
4798
4799 * Automatic tracking of dynamic object loading (HPUX and Solaris only)
4800
4801 By default GDB will automatically keep track of objects as they are
4802 loaded and unloaded by the dynamic linker. By using the command `set
4803 stop-on-solib-events 1' you can arrange for GDB to stop the inferior
4804 when shared library events occur, thus allowing you to set breakpoints
4805 in shared libraries which are explicitly loaded by the inferior.
4806
4807 Note this feature does not work on hpux8. On hpux9 you must link
4808 /usr/lib/end.o into your program. This feature should work
4809 automatically on hpux10.
4810
4811 * Irix 5.x hardware watchpoint support
4812
4813 Irix 5 configurations now support the use of hardware watchpoints.
4814
4815 * Mips protocol "SYN garbage limit"
4816
4817 When debugging a Mips target using the `target mips' protocol, you
4818 may set the number of characters that GDB will ignore by setting
4819 the `syn-garbage-limit'. A value of -1 means that GDB will ignore
4820 every character. The default value is 1050.
4821
4822 * Recording and replaying remote debug sessions
4823
4824 If you set `remotelogfile' to the name of a file, gdb will write to it
4825 a recording of a remote debug session. This recording may then be
4826 replayed back to gdb using "gdbreplay". See gdbserver/README for
4827 details. This is useful when you have a problem with GDB while doing
4828 remote debugging; you can make a recording of the session and send it
4829 to someone else, who can then recreate the problem.
4830
4831 * Speedups for remote debugging
4832
4833 GDB includes speedups for downloading and stepping MIPS systems using
4834 the IDT monitor, fast downloads to the Hitachi SH E7000 emulator,
4835 and more efficient S-record downloading.
4836
4837 * Memory use reductions and statistics collection
4838
4839 GDB now uses less memory and reports statistics about memory usage.
4840 Try the `maint print statistics' command, for example.
4841
4842 *** Changes in GDB-4.15:
4843
4844 * Psymtabs for XCOFF
4845
4846 The symbol reader for AIX GDB now uses partial symbol tables. This
4847 can greatly improve startup time, especially for large executables.
4848
4849 * Remote targets use caching
4850
4851 Remote targets now use a data cache to speed up communication with the
4852 remote side. The data cache could lead to incorrect results because
4853 it doesn't know about volatile variables, thus making it impossible to
4854 debug targets which use memory mapped I/O devices. `set remotecache
4855 off' turns the the data cache off.
4856
4857 * Remote targets may have threads
4858
4859 The standard remote protocol now includes support for multiple threads
4860 in the target system, using new protocol commands 'H' and 'T'. See
4861 gdb/remote.c for details.
4862
4863 * NetROM support
4864
4865 If GDB is configured with `--enable-netrom', then it will include
4866 support for the NetROM ROM emulator from XLNT Designs. The NetROM
4867 acts as though it is a bank of ROM on the target board, but you can
4868 write into it over the network. GDB's support consists only of
4869 support for fast loading into the emulated ROM; to debug, you must use
4870 another protocol, such as standard remote protocol. The usual
4871 sequence is something like
4872
4873 target nrom <netrom-hostname>
4874 load <prog>
4875 target remote <netrom-hostname>:1235
4876
4877 * Macintosh host
4878
4879 GDB now includes support for the Apple Macintosh, as a host only. It
4880 may be run as either an MPW tool or as a standalone application, and
4881 it can debug through the serial port. All the usual GDB commands are
4882 available, but to the target command, you must supply "serial" as the
4883 device type instead of "/dev/ttyXX". See mpw-README in the main
4884 directory for more information on how to build. The MPW configuration
4885 scripts */mpw-config.in support only a few targets, and only the
4886 mips-idt-ecoff target has been tested.
4887
4888 * Autoconf
4889
4890 GDB configuration now uses autoconf. This is not user-visible,
4891 but does simplify configuration and building.
4892
4893 * hpux10
4894
4895 GDB now supports hpux10.
4896
4897 *** Changes in GDB-4.14:
4898
4899 * New native configurations
4900
4901 x86 FreeBSD i[345]86-*-freebsd
4902 x86 NetBSD i[345]86-*-netbsd
4903 NS32k NetBSD ns32k-*-netbsd
4904 Sparc NetBSD sparc-*-netbsd
4905
4906 * New targets
4907
4908 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
4909 HP PA PRO embedded (WinBond W89K & Oki OP50N) hppa*-*-pro*
4910 CPU32 EST-300 emulator m68*-*-est*
4911 PowerPC ELF powerpc-*-elf
4912 WDC 65816 w65-*-*
4913
4914 * Alpha OSF/1 support for procfs
4915
4916 GDB now supports procfs under OSF/1-2.x and higher, which makes it
4917 possible to attach to running processes. As the mounting of the /proc
4918 filesystem is optional on the Alpha, GDB automatically determines
4919 the availability of /proc during startup. This can lead to problems
4920 if /proc is unmounted after GDB has been started.
4921
4922 * Arguments to user-defined commands
4923
4924 User commands may accept up to 10 arguments separated by whitespace.
4925 Arguments are accessed within the user command via $arg0..$arg9. A
4926 trivial example:
4927 define adder
4928 print $arg0 + $arg1 + $arg2
4929
4930 To execute the command use:
4931 adder 1 2 3
4932
4933 Defines the command "adder" which prints the sum of its three arguments.
4934 Note the arguments are text substitutions, so they may reference variables,
4935 use complex expressions, or even perform inferior function calls.
4936
4937 * New `if' and `while' commands
4938
4939 This makes it possible to write more sophisticated user-defined
4940 commands. Both commands take a single argument, which is the
4941 expression to evaluate, and must be followed by the commands to
4942 execute, one per line, if the expression is nonzero, the list being
4943 terminated by the word `end'. The `if' command list may include an
4944 `else' word, which causes the following commands to be executed only
4945 if the expression is zero.
4946
4947 * Fortran source language mode
4948
4949 GDB now includes partial support for Fortran 77. It will recognize
4950 Fortran programs and can evaluate a subset of Fortran expressions, but
4951 variables and functions may not be handled correctly. GDB will work
4952 with G77, but does not yet know much about symbols emitted by other
4953 Fortran compilers.
4954
4955 * Better HPUX support
4956
4957 Most debugging facilities now work on dynamic executables for HPPAs
4958 running hpux9 or later. You can attach to running dynamically linked
4959 processes, but by default the dynamic libraries will be read-only, so
4960 for instance you won't be able to put breakpoints in them. To change
4961 that behavior do the following before running the program:
4962
4963 adb -w a.out
4964 __dld_flags?W 0x5
4965 control-d
4966
4967 This will cause the libraries to be mapped private and read-write.
4968 To revert to the normal behavior, do this:
4969
4970 adb -w a.out
4971 __dld_flags?W 0x4
4972 control-d
4973
4974 You cannot set breakpoints or examine data in the library until after
4975 the library is loaded if the function/data symbols do not have
4976 external linkage.
4977
4978 GDB can now also read debug symbols produced by the HP C compiler on
4979 HPPAs (sorry, no C++, Fortran or 68k support).
4980
4981 * Target byte order now dynamically selectable
4982
4983 You can choose which byte order to use with a target system, via the
4984 commands "set endian big" and "set endian little", and you can see the
4985 current setting by using "show endian". You can also give the command
4986 "set endian auto", in which case GDB will use the byte order
4987 associated with the executable. Currently, only embedded MIPS
4988 configurations support dynamic selection of target byte order.
4989
4990 * New DOS host serial code
4991
4992 This version uses DPMI interrupts to handle buffered I/O, so you
4993 no longer need to run asynctsr when debugging boards connected to
4994 a PC's serial port.
4995
4996 *** Changes in GDB-4.13:
4997
4998 * New "complete" command
4999
5000 This lists all the possible completions for the rest of the line, if it
5001 were to be given as a command itself. This is intended for use by emacs.
5002
5003 * Trailing space optional in prompt
5004
5005 "set prompt" no longer adds a space for you after the prompt you set. This
5006 allows you to set a prompt which ends in a space or one that does not.
5007
5008 * Breakpoint hit counts
5009
5010 "info break" now displays a count of the number of times the breakpoint
5011 has been hit. This is especially useful in conjunction with "ignore"; you
5012 can ignore a large number of breakpoint hits, look at the breakpoint info
5013 to see how many times the breakpoint was hit, then run again, ignoring one
5014 less than that number, and this will get you quickly to the last hit of
5015 that breakpoint.
5016
5017 * Ability to stop printing at NULL character
5018
5019 "set print null-stop" will cause GDB to stop printing the characters of
5020 an array when the first NULL is encountered. This is useful when large
5021 arrays actually contain only short strings.
5022
5023 * Shared library breakpoints
5024
5025 In SunOS 4.x, SVR4, and Alpha OSF/1 configurations, you can now set
5026 breakpoints in shared libraries before the executable is run.
5027
5028 * Hardware watchpoints
5029
5030 There is a new hardware breakpoint for the watch command for sparclite
5031 targets. See gdb/sparclite/hw_breakpoint.note.
5032
5033 Hardware watchpoints are also now supported under GNU/Linux.
5034
5035 * Annotations
5036
5037 Annotations have been added. These are for use with graphical interfaces,
5038 and are still experimental. Currently only gdba.el uses these.
5039
5040 * Improved Irix 5 support
5041
5042 GDB now works properly with Irix 5.2.
5043
5044 * Improved HPPA support
5045
5046 GDB now works properly with the latest GCC and GAS.
5047
5048 * New native configurations
5049
5050 Sequent PTX4 i[34]86-sequent-ptx4
5051 HPPA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
5052 Atari TT running SVR4 m68*-*-sysv4*
5053 RS/6000 LynxOS rs6000-*-lynxos*
5054
5055 * New targets
5056
5057 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
5058 MIPS R4000 mips64*{,el}-*-{ecoff,elf}
5059 Sparc64 sparc64-*-*
5060
5061 * Hitachi SH7000 and E7000-PC ICE support
5062
5063 There is now support for communicating with the Hitachi E7000-PC ICE.
5064 This is available automatically when GDB is configured for the SH.
5065
5066 * Fixes
5067
5068 As usual, a variety of small fixes and improvements, both generic
5069 and configuration-specific. See the ChangeLog for more detail.
5070
5071 *** Changes in GDB-4.12:
5072
5073 * Irix 5 is now supported
5074
5075 * HPPA support
5076
5077 GDB-4.12 on the HPPA has a number of changes which make it unable
5078 to debug the output from the currently released versions of GCC and
5079 GAS (GCC 2.5.8 and GAS-2.2 or PAGAS-1.36). Until the next major release
5080 of GCC and GAS, versions of these tools designed to work with GDB-4.12
5081 can be retrieved via anonymous ftp from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist.
5082
5083
5084 *** Changes in GDB-4.11:
5085
5086 * User visible changes:
5087
5088 * Remote Debugging
5089
5090 The "set remotedebug" option is now consistent between the mips remote
5091 target, remote targets using the gdb-specific protocol, UDI (AMD's
5092 debug protocol for the 29k) and the 88k bug monitor. It is now an
5093 integer specifying a debug level (normally 0 or 1, but 2 means more
5094 debugging info for the mips target).
5095
5096 * DEC Alpha native support
5097
5098 GDB now works on the DEC Alpha. GCC 2.4.5 does not produce usable
5099 debug info, but GDB works fairly well with the DEC compiler and should
5100 work with a future GCC release. See the README file for a few
5101 Alpha-specific notes.
5102
5103 * Preliminary thread implementation
5104
5105 GDB now has preliminary thread support for both SGI/Irix and LynxOS.
5106
5107 * LynxOS native and target support for 386
5108
5109 This release has been hosted on LynxOS 2.2, and also can be configured
5110 to remotely debug programs running under LynxOS (see gdb/gdbserver/README
5111 for details).
5112
5113 * Improvements in C++ mangling/demangling.
5114
5115 This release has much better g++ debugging, specifically in name
5116 mangling/demangling, virtual function calls, print virtual table,
5117 call methods, ...etc.
5118
5119 *** Changes in GDB-4.10:
5120
5121 * User visible changes:
5122
5123 Remote debugging using the GDB-specific (`target remote') protocol now
5124 supports the `load' command. This is only useful if you have some
5125 other way of getting the stub to the target system, and you can put it
5126 somewhere in memory where it won't get clobbered by the download.
5127
5128 Filename completion now works.
5129
5130 When run under emacs mode, the "info line" command now causes the
5131 arrow to point to the line specified. Also, "info line" prints
5132 addresses in symbolic form (as well as hex).
5133
5134 All vxworks based targets now support a user settable option, called
5135 vxworks-timeout. This option represents the number of seconds gdb
5136 should wait for responses to rpc's. You might want to use this if
5137 your vxworks target is, perhaps, a slow software simulator or happens
5138 to be on the far side of a thin network line.
5139
5140 * DEC alpha support
5141
5142 This release contains support for using a DEC alpha as a GDB host for
5143 cross debugging. Native alpha debugging is not supported yet.
5144
5145
5146 *** Changes in GDB-4.9:
5147
5148 * Testsuite
5149
5150 This is the first GDB release which is accompanied by a matching testsuite.
5151 The testsuite requires installation of dejagnu, which should be available
5152 via ftp from most sites that carry GNU software.
5153
5154 * C++ demangling
5155
5156 'Cfront' style demangling has had its name changed to 'ARM' style, to
5157 emphasize that it was written from the specifications in the C++ Annotated
5158 Reference Manual, not necessarily to be compatible with AT&T cfront. Despite
5159 disclaimers, it still generated too much confusion with users attempting to
5160 use gdb with AT&T cfront.
5161
5162 * Simulators
5163
5164 GDB now uses a standard remote interface to a simulator library.
5165 So far, the library contains simulators for the Zilog Z8001/2, the
5166 Hitachi H8/300, H8/500 and Super-H.
5167
5168 * New targets supported
5169
5170 H8/300 simulator h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
5171 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
5172 SH simulator sh-hitachi-hms or sh
5173 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
5174 IDT MIPS board over serial line mips-idt-ecoff
5175
5176 Cross-debugging to GO32 targets is supported. It requires a custom
5177 version of the i386-stub.c module which is integrated with the
5178 GO32 memory extender.
5179
5180 * New remote protocols
5181
5182 MIPS remote debugging protocol.
5183
5184 * New source languages supported
5185
5186 This version includes preliminary support for Chill, a Pascal like language
5187 used by telecommunications companies. Chill support is also being integrated
5188 into the GNU compiler, but we don't know when it will be publically available.
5189
5190
5191 *** Changes in GDB-4.8:
5192
5193 * HP Precision Architecture supported
5194
5195 GDB now supports HP PA-RISC machines running HPUX. A preliminary
5196 version of this support was available as a set of patches from the
5197 University of Utah. GDB does not support debugging of programs
5198 compiled with the HP compiler, because HP will not document their file
5199 format. Instead, you must use GCC (version 2.3.2 or later) and PA-GAS
5200 (as available from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist/pa-gas.u4.tar.Z).
5201
5202 Many problems in the preliminary version have been fixed.
5203
5204 * Faster and better demangling
5205
5206 We have improved template demangling and fixed numerous bugs in the GNU style
5207 demangler. It can now handle type modifiers such as `static' or `const'. Wide
5208 character types (wchar_t) are now supported. Demangling of each symbol is now
5209 only done once, and is cached when the symbol table for a file is read in.
5210 This results in a small increase in memory usage for C programs, a moderate
5211 increase in memory usage for C++ programs, and a fantastic speedup in
5212 symbol lookups.
5213
5214 `Cfront' style demangling still doesn't work with AT&T cfront. It was written
5215 from the specifications in the Annotated Reference Manual, which AT&T's
5216 compiler does not actually implement.
5217
5218 * G++ multiple inheritance compiler problem
5219
5220 In the 2.3.2 release of gcc/g++, how the compiler resolves multiple
5221 inheritance lattices was reworked to properly discover ambiguities. We
5222 recently found an example which causes this new algorithm to fail in a
5223 very subtle way, producing bad debug information for those classes.
5224 The file 'gcc.patch' (in this directory) can be applied to gcc to
5225 circumvent the problem. A future GCC release will contain a complete
5226 fix.
5227
5228 The previous G++ debug info problem (mentioned below for the gdb-4.7
5229 release) is fixed in gcc version 2.3.2.
5230
5231 * Improved configure script
5232
5233 The `configure' script will now attempt to guess your system type if
5234 you don't supply a host system type. The old scheme of supplying a
5235 host system triplet is preferable over using this. All the magic is
5236 done in the new `config.guess' script. Examine it for details.
5237
5238 We have also brought our configure script much more in line with the FSF's
5239 version. It now supports the --with-xxx options. In particular,
5240 `--with-minimal-bfd' can be used to make the GDB binary image smaller.
5241 The resulting GDB will not be able to read arbitrary object file formats --
5242 only the format ``expected'' to be used on the configured target system.
5243 We hope to make this the default in a future release.
5244
5245 * Documentation improvements
5246
5247 There's new internal documentation on how to modify GDB, and how to
5248 produce clean changes to the code. We implore people to read it
5249 before submitting changes.
5250
5251 The GDB manual uses new, sexy Texinfo conditionals, rather than arcane
5252 M4 macros. The new texinfo.tex is provided in this release. Pre-built
5253 `info' files are also provided. To build `info' files from scratch,
5254 you will need the latest `makeinfo' release, which will be available in
5255 a future texinfo-X.Y release.
5256
5257 *NOTE* The new texinfo.tex can cause old versions of TeX to hang.
5258 We're not sure exactly which versions have this problem, but it has
5259 been seen in 3.0. We highly recommend upgrading to TeX version 3.141
5260 or better. If that isn't possible, there is a patch in
5261 `texinfo/tex3patch' that will modify `texinfo/texinfo.tex' to work
5262 around this problem.
5263
5264 * New features
5265
5266 GDB now supports array constants that can be used in expressions typed in by
5267 the user. The syntax is `{element, element, ...}'. Ie: you can now type
5268 `print {1, 2, 3}', and it will build up an array in memory malloc'd in
5269 the target program.
5270
5271 The new directory `gdb/sparclite' contains a program that demonstrates
5272 how the sparc-stub.c remote stub runs on a Fujitsu SPARClite processor.
5273
5274 * New native hosts supported
5275
5276 HP/PA-RISC under HPUX using GNU tools hppa1.1-hp-hpux
5277 386 CPUs running SCO Unix 3.2v4 i386-unknown-sco3.2v4
5278
5279 * New targets supported
5280
5281 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi or udi29k
5282
5283 * New file formats supported
5284
5285 BFD now supports reading HP/PA-RISC executables (SOM file format?),
5286 HPUX core files, and SCO 3.2v2 core files.
5287
5288 * Major bug fixes
5289
5290 Attaching to processes now works again; thanks for the many bug reports.
5291
5292 We have also stomped on a bunch of core dumps caused by
5293 printf_filtered("%s") problems.
5294
5295 We eliminated a copyright problem on the rpc and ptrace header files
5296 for VxWorks, which was discovered at the last minute during the 4.7
5297 release. You should now be able to build a VxWorks GDB.
5298
5299 You can now interrupt gdb while an attached process is running. This
5300 will cause the attached process to stop, and give control back to GDB.
5301
5302 We fixed problems caused by using too many file descriptors
5303 for reading symbols from object files and libraries. This was
5304 especially a problem for programs that used many (~100) shared
5305 libraries.
5306
5307 The `step' command now only enters a subroutine if there is line number
5308 information for the subroutine. Otherwise it acts like the `next'
5309 command. Previously, `step' would enter subroutines if there was
5310 any debugging information about the routine. This avoids problems
5311 when using `cc -g1' on MIPS machines.
5312
5313 * Internal improvements
5314
5315 GDB's internal interfaces have been improved to make it easier to support
5316 debugging of multiple languages in the future.
5317
5318 GDB now uses a common structure for symbol information internally.
5319 Minimal symbols (derived from linkage symbols in object files), partial
5320 symbols (from a quick scan of debug information), and full symbols
5321 contain a common subset of information, making it easier to write
5322 shared code that handles any of them.
5323
5324 * New command line options
5325
5326 We now accept --silent as an alias for --quiet.
5327
5328 * Mmalloc licensing
5329
5330 The memory-mapped-malloc library is now licensed under the GNU Library
5331 General Public License.
5332
5333 *** Changes in GDB-4.7:
5334
5335 * Host/native/target split
5336
5337 GDB has had some major internal surgery to untangle the support for
5338 hosts and remote targets. Now, when you configure GDB for a remote
5339 target, it will no longer load in all of the support for debugging
5340 local programs on the host. When fully completed and tested, this will
5341 ensure that arbitrary host/target combinations are possible.
5342
5343 The primary conceptual shift is to separate the non-portable code in
5344 GDB into three categories. Host specific code is required any time GDB
5345 is compiled on that host, regardless of the target. Target specific
5346 code relates to the peculiarities of the target, but can be compiled on
5347 any host. Native specific code is everything else: it can only be
5348 built when the host and target are the same system. Child process
5349 handling and core file support are two common `native' examples.
5350
5351 GDB's use of /proc for controlling Unix child processes is now cleaner.
5352 It has been split out into a single module under the `target_ops' vector,
5353 plus two native-dependent functions for each system that uses /proc.
5354
5355 * New hosts supported
5356
5357 HP/Apollo 68k (under the BSD domain) m68k-apollo-bsd or apollo68bsd
5358 386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
5359 386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or i386sco
5360
5361 * New targets supported
5362
5363 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
5364 68030 and CPU32 m68030-*-*, m68332-*-*
5365
5366 * New native hosts supported
5367
5368 386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
5369 (386bsd is not well tested yet)
5370 386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or sco
5371
5372 * New file formats supported
5373
5374 BFD now supports COFF files for the Zilog Z8000 microprocessor. It
5375 supports reading of `a.out.adobe' object files, which are an a.out
5376 format extended with minimal information about multiple sections.
5377
5378 * New commands
5379
5380 `show copying' is the same as the old `info copying'.
5381 `show warranty' is the same as `info warrantee'.
5382 These were renamed for consistency. The old commands continue to work.
5383
5384 `info handle' is a new alias for `info signals'.
5385
5386 You can now define pre-command hooks, which attach arbitrary command
5387 scripts to any command. The commands in the hook will be executed
5388 prior to the user's command. You can also create a hook which will be
5389 executed whenever the program stops. See gdb.texinfo.
5390
5391 * C++ improvements
5392
5393 We now deal with Cfront style name mangling, and can even extract type
5394 info from mangled symbols. GDB can automatically figure out which
5395 symbol mangling style your C++ compiler uses.
5396
5397 Calling of methods and virtual functions has been improved as well.
5398
5399 * Major bug fixes
5400
5401 The crash that occured when debugging Sun Ansi-C compiled binaries is
5402 fixed. This was due to mishandling of the extra N_SO stabs output
5403 by the compiler.
5404
5405 We also finally got Ultrix 4.2 running in house, and fixed core file
5406 support, with help from a dozen people on the net.
5407
5408 John M. Farrell discovered that the reason that single-stepping was so
5409 slow on all of the Mips based platforms (primarily SGI and DEC) was
5410 that we were trying to demangle and lookup a symbol used for internal
5411 purposes on every instruction that was being stepped through. Changing
5412 the name of that symbol so that it couldn't be mistaken for a C++
5413 mangled symbol sped things up a great deal.
5414
5415 Rich Pixley sped up symbol lookups in general by getting much smarter
5416 about when C++ symbol mangling is necessary. This should make symbol
5417 completion (TAB on the command line) much faster. It's not as fast as
5418 we'd like, but it's significantly faster than gdb-4.6.
5419
5420 * AMD 29k support
5421
5422 A new user controllable variable 'call_scratch_address' can
5423 specify the location of a scratch area to be used when GDB
5424 calls a function in the target. This is necessary because the
5425 usual method of putting the scratch area on the stack does not work
5426 in systems that have separate instruction and data spaces.
5427
5428 We integrated changes to support the 29k UDI (Universal Debugger
5429 Interface), but discovered at the last minute that we didn't have all
5430 of the appropriate copyright paperwork. We are working with AMD to
5431 resolve this, and hope to have it available soon.
5432
5433 * Remote interfaces
5434
5435 We have sped up the remote serial line protocol, especially for targets
5436 with lots of registers. It now supports a new `expedited status' ('T')
5437 message which can be used in place of the existing 'S' status message.
5438 This allows the remote stub to send only the registers that GDB
5439 needs to make a quick decision about single-stepping or conditional
5440 breakpoints, eliminating the need to fetch the entire register set for
5441 each instruction being stepped through.
5442
5443 The GDB remote serial protocol now implements a write-through cache for
5444 registers, only re-reading the registers if the target has run.
5445
5446 There is also a new remote serial stub for SPARC processors. You can
5447 find it in gdb-4.7/gdb/sparc-stub.c. This was written to support the
5448 Fujitsu SPARClite processor, but will run on any stand-alone SPARC
5449 processor with a serial port.
5450
5451 * Configuration
5452
5453 Configure.in files have become much easier to read and modify. A new
5454 `table driven' format makes it more obvious what configurations are
5455 supported, and what files each one uses.
5456
5457 * Library changes
5458
5459 There is a new opcodes library which will eventually contain all of the
5460 disassembly routines and opcode tables. At present, it only contains
5461 Sparc and Z8000 routines. This will allow the assembler, debugger, and
5462 disassembler (binutils/objdump) to share these routines.
5463
5464 The libiberty library is now copylefted under the GNU Library General
5465 Public License. This allows more liberal use, and was done so libg++
5466 can use it. This makes no difference to GDB, since the Library License
5467 grants all the rights from the General Public License.
5468
5469 * Documentation
5470
5471 The file gdb-4.7/gdb/doc/stabs.texinfo is a (relatively) complete
5472 reference to the stabs symbol info used by the debugger. It is (as far
5473 as we know) the only published document on this fascinating topic. We
5474 encourage you to read it, compare it to the stabs information on your
5475 system, and send improvements on the document in general (to
5476 bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu).
5477
5478 And, of course, many bugs have been fixed.
5479
5480
5481 *** Changes in GDB-4.6:
5482
5483 * Better support for C++ function names
5484
5485 GDB now accepts as input the "demangled form" of C++ overloaded function
5486 names and member function names, and can do command completion on such names
5487 (using TAB, TAB-TAB, and ESC-?). The names have to be quoted with a pair of
5488 single quotes. Examples are 'func (int, long)' and 'obj::operator==(obj&)'.
5489 Make use of command completion, it is your friend.
5490
5491 GDB also now accepts a variety of C++ mangled symbol formats. They are
5492 the GNU g++ style, the Cfront (ARM) style, and the Lucid (lcc) style.
5493 You can tell GDB which format to use by doing a 'set demangle-style {gnu,
5494 lucid, cfront, auto}'. 'gnu' is the default. Do a 'set demangle-style foo'
5495 for the list of formats.
5496
5497 * G++ symbol mangling problem
5498
5499 Recent versions of gcc have a bug in how they emit debugging information for
5500 C++ methods (when using dbx-style stabs). The file 'gcc.patch' (in this
5501 directory) can be applied to gcc to fix the problem. Alternatively, if you
5502 can't fix gcc, you can #define GCC_MANGLE_BUG when compling gdb/symtab.c. The
5503 usual symptom is difficulty with setting breakpoints on methods. GDB complains
5504 about the method being non-existent. (We believe that version 2.2.2 of GCC has
5505 this problem.)
5506
5507 * New 'maintenance' command
5508
5509 All of the commands related to hacking GDB internals have been moved out of
5510 the main command set, and now live behind the 'maintenance' command. This
5511 can also be abbreviated as 'mt'. The following changes were made:
5512
5513 dump-me -> maintenance dump-me
5514 info all-breakpoints -> maintenance info breakpoints
5515 printmsyms -> maintenance print msyms
5516 printobjfiles -> maintenance print objfiles
5517 printpsyms -> maintenance print psymbols
5518 printsyms -> maintenance print symbols
5519
5520 The following commands are new:
5521
5522 maintenance demangle Call internal GDB demangler routine to
5523 demangle a C++ link name and prints the result.
5524 maintenance print type Print a type chain for a given symbol
5525
5526 * Change to .gdbinit file processing
5527
5528 We now read the $HOME/.gdbinit file before processing the argv arguments
5529 (e.g. reading symbol files or core files). This allows global parameters to
5530 be set, which will apply during the symbol reading. The ./.gdbinit is still
5531 read after argv processing.
5532
5533 * New hosts supported
5534
5535 Solaris-2.0 !!! sparc-sun-solaris2 or sun4sol2
5536
5537 GNU/Linux support i386-unknown-linux or linux
5538
5539 We are also including code to support the HP/PA running BSD and HPUX. This
5540 is almost guaranteed not to work, as we didn't have time to test or build it
5541 for this release. We are including it so that the more adventurous (or
5542 masochistic) of you can play with it. We also had major problems with the
5543 fact that the compiler that we got from HP doesn't support the -g option.
5544 It costs extra.
5545
5546 * New targets supported
5547
5548 Hitachi H8/300 h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
5549
5550 * More smarts about finding #include files
5551
5552 GDB now remembers the compilation directory for all include files, and for
5553 all files from which C is generated (like yacc and lex sources). This
5554 greatly improves GDB's ability to find yacc/lex sources, and include files,
5555 especially if you are debugging your program from a directory different from
5556 the one that contains your sources.
5557
5558 We also fixed a bug which caused difficulty with listing and setting
5559 breakpoints in include files which contain C code. (In the past, you had to
5560 try twice in order to list an include file that you hadn't looked at before.)
5561
5562 * Interesting infernals change
5563
5564 GDB now deals with arbitrary numbers of sections, where the symbols for each
5565 section must be relocated relative to that section's landing place in the
5566 target's address space. This work was needed to support ELF with embedded
5567 stabs used by Solaris-2.0.
5568
5569 * Bug fixes (of course!)
5570
5571 There have been loads of fixes for the following things:
5572 mips, rs6000, 29k/udi, m68k, g++, type handling, elf/dwarf, m88k,
5573 i960, stabs, DOS(GO32), procfs, etc...
5574
5575 See the ChangeLog for details.
5576
5577 *** Changes in GDB-4.5:
5578
5579 * New machines supported (host and target)
5580
5581 IBM RS6000 running AIX rs6000-ibm-aix or rs6000
5582
5583 SGI Irix-4.x mips-sgi-irix4 or iris4
5584
5585 * New malloc package
5586
5587 GDB now uses a new memory manager called mmalloc, based on gmalloc.
5588 Mmalloc is capable of handling mutiple heaps of memory. It is also
5589 capable of saving a heap to a file, and then mapping it back in later.
5590 This can be used to greatly speedup the startup of GDB by using a
5591 pre-parsed symbol table which lives in a mmalloc managed heap. For
5592 more details, please read mmalloc/mmalloc.texi.
5593
5594 * info proc
5595
5596 The 'info proc' command (SVR4 only) has been enhanced quite a bit. See
5597 'help info proc' for details.
5598
5599 * MIPS ecoff symbol table format
5600
5601 The code that reads MIPS symbol table format is now supported on all hosts.
5602 Thanks to MIPS for releasing the sym.h and symconst.h files to make this
5603 possible.
5604
5605 * File name changes for MS-DOS
5606
5607 Many files in the config directories have been renamed to make it easier to
5608 support GDB on MS-DOSe systems (which have very restrictive file name
5609 conventions :-( ). MS-DOSe host support (under DJ Delorie's GO32
5610 environment) is close to working but has some remaining problems. Note
5611 that debugging of DOS programs is not supported, due to limitations
5612 in the ``operating system'', but it can be used to host cross-debugging.
5613
5614 * Cross byte order fixes
5615
5616 Many fixes have been made to support cross debugging of Sparc and MIPS
5617 targets from hosts whose byte order differs.
5618
5619 * New -mapped and -readnow options
5620
5621 If memory-mapped files are available on your system through the 'mmap'
5622 system call, you can use the -mapped option on the `file' or
5623 `symbol-file' commands to cause GDB to write the symbols from your
5624 program into a reusable file. If the program you are debugging is
5625 called `/path/fred', the mapped symbol file will be `./fred.syms'.
5626 Future GDB debugging sessions will notice the presence of this file,
5627 and will quickly map in symbol information from it, rather than reading
5628 the symbol table from the executable program. Using the '-mapped'
5629 option in a GDB `file' or `symbol-file' command has the same effect as
5630 starting GDB with the '-mapped' command-line option.
5631
5632 You can cause GDB to read the entire symbol table immediately by using
5633 the '-readnow' option with any of the commands that load symbol table
5634 information (or on the GDB command line). This makes the command
5635 slower, but makes future operations faster.
5636
5637 The -mapped and -readnow options are typically combined in order to
5638 build a `fred.syms' file that contains complete symbol information.
5639 A simple GDB invocation to do nothing but build a `.syms' file for future
5640 use is:
5641
5642 gdb -batch -nx -mapped -readnow programname
5643
5644 The `.syms' file is specific to the host machine on which GDB is run.
5645 It holds an exact image of GDB's internal symbol table. It cannot be
5646 shared across multiple host platforms.
5647
5648 * longjmp() handling
5649
5650 GDB is now capable of stepping and nexting over longjmp(), _longjmp(), and
5651 siglongjmp() without losing control. This feature has not yet been ported to
5652 all systems. It currently works on many 386 platforms, all MIPS-based
5653 platforms (SGI, DECstation, etc), and Sun3/4.
5654
5655 * Solaris 2.0
5656
5657 Preliminary work has been put in to support the new Solaris OS from Sun. At
5658 this time, it can control and debug processes, but it is not capable of
5659 reading symbols.
5660
5661 * Bug fixes
5662
5663 As always, many many bug fixes. The major areas were with g++, and mipsread.
5664 People using the MIPS-based platforms should experience fewer mysterious
5665 crashes and trashed symbol tables.
5666
5667 *** Changes in GDB-4.4:
5668
5669 * New machines supported (host and target)
5670
5671 SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
5672 (except core files)
5673 BSD Reno on Vax vax-dec-bsd
5674 Ultrix on Vax vax-dec-ultrix
5675
5676 * New machines supported (target)
5677
5678 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
5679
5680 * C++ support
5681
5682 GDB continues to improve its handling of C++. `References' work better.
5683 The demangler has also been improved, and now deals with symbols mangled as
5684 per the Annotated C++ Reference Guide.
5685
5686 GDB also now handles `stabs' symbol information embedded in MIPS
5687 `ecoff' symbol tables. Since the ecoff format was not easily
5688 extensible to handle new languages such as C++, this appeared to be a
5689 good way to put C++ debugging info into MIPS binaries. This option
5690 will be supported in the GNU C compiler, version 2, when it is
5691 released.
5692
5693 * New features for SVR4
5694
5695 GDB now handles SVR4 shared libraries, in the same fashion as SunOS
5696 shared libraries. Debugging dynamically linked programs should present
5697 only minor differences from debugging statically linked programs.
5698
5699 The `info proc' command will print out information about any process
5700 on an SVR4 system (including the one you are debugging). At the moment,
5701 it prints the address mappings of the process.
5702
5703 If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please send mail to
5704 bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were reqired (if any).
5705
5706 * Better dynamic linking support in SunOS
5707
5708 Reading symbols from shared libraries which contain debugging symbols
5709 now works properly. However, there remain issues such as automatic
5710 skipping of `transfer vector' code during function calls, which
5711 make it harder to debug code in a shared library, than to debug the
5712 same code linked statically.
5713
5714 * New Getopt
5715
5716 GDB is now using the latest `getopt' routines from the FSF. This
5717 version accepts the -- prefix for options with long names. GDB will
5718 continue to accept the old forms (-option and +option) as well.
5719 Various single letter abbreviations for options have been explicity
5720 added to the option table so that they won't get overshadowed in the
5721 future by other options that begin with the same letter.
5722
5723 * Bugs fixed
5724
5725 The `cleanup_undefined_types' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
5726 Many assorted bugs have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
5727 See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
5728
5729
5730 *** Changes in GDB-4.3:
5731
5732 * New machines supported (host and target)
5733
5734 Amiga 3000 running Amix m68k-cbm-svr4 or amix
5735 NCR 3000 386 running SVR4 i386-ncr-svr4 or ncr3000
5736 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
5737
5738 * Almost SCO Unix support
5739
5740 We had hoped to support:
5741 SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
5742 (except for core file support), but we discovered very late in the release
5743 that it has problems with process groups that render gdb unusable. Sorry
5744 about that. I encourage people to fix it and post the fixes.
5745
5746 * Preliminary ELF and DWARF support
5747
5748 GDB can read ELF object files on System V Release 4, and can handle
5749 debugging records for C, in DWARF format, in ELF files. This support
5750 is preliminary. If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please
5751 send mail to bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were
5752 reqired (if any).
5753
5754 * New Readline
5755
5756 GDB now uses the latest `readline' library. One user-visible change
5757 is that two tabs will list possible command completions, which previously
5758 required typing M-? (meta-question mark, or ESC ?).
5759
5760 * Bugs fixed
5761
5762 The `stepi' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
5763 Many bugs in C++ have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
5764 See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
5765
5766 * State of the MIPS world (in case you wondered):
5767
5768 GDB can understand the symbol tables emitted by the compilers
5769 supplied by most vendors of MIPS-based machines, including DEC. These
5770 symbol tables are in a format that essentially nobody else uses.
5771
5772 Some versions of gcc come with an assembler post-processor called
5773 mips-tfile. This program is required if you want to do source-level
5774 debugging of gcc-compiled programs. I believe FSF does not ship
5775 mips-tfile with gcc version 1, but it will eventually come with gcc
5776 version 2.
5777
5778 Debugging of g++ output remains a problem. g++ version 1.xx does not
5779 really support it at all. (If you're lucky, you should be able to get
5780 line numbers and stack traces to work, but no parameters or local
5781 variables.) With some work it should be possible to improve the
5782 situation somewhat.
5783
5784 When gcc version 2 is released, you will have somewhat better luck.
5785 However, even then you will get confusing results for inheritance and
5786 methods.
5787
5788 We will eventually provide full debugging of g++ output on
5789 DECstations. This will probably involve some kind of stabs-in-ecoff
5790 encapulation, but the details have not been worked out yet.
5791
5792
5793 *** Changes in GDB-4.2:
5794
5795 * Improved configuration
5796
5797 Only one copy of `configure' exists now, and it is not self-modifying.
5798 Porting BFD is simpler.
5799
5800 * Stepping improved
5801
5802 The `step' and `next' commands now only stop at the first instruction
5803 of a source line. This prevents the multiple stops that used to occur
5804 in switch statements, for-loops, etc. `Step' continues to stop if a
5805 function that has debugging information is called within the line.
5806
5807 * Bug fixing
5808
5809 Lots of small bugs fixed. More remain.
5810
5811 * New host supported (not target)
5812
5813 Intel 386 PC clone running Mach i386-none-mach
5814
5815
5816 *** Changes in GDB-4.1:
5817
5818 * Multiple source language support
5819
5820 GDB now has internal scaffolding to handle several source languages.
5821 It determines the type of each source file from its filename extension,
5822 and will switch expression parsing and number formatting to match the
5823 language of the function in the currently selected stack frame.
5824 You can also specifically set the language to be used, with
5825 `set language c' or `set language modula-2'.
5826
5827 * GDB and Modula-2
5828
5829 GDB now has preliminary support for the GNU Modula-2 compiler,
5830 currently under development at the State University of New York at
5831 Buffalo. Development of both GDB and the GNU Modula-2 compiler will
5832 continue through the fall of 1991 and into 1992.
5833
5834 Other Modula-2 compilers are currently not supported, and attempting to
5835 debug programs compiled with them will likely result in an error as the
5836 symbol table is read. Feel free to work on it, though!
5837
5838 There are hooks in GDB for strict type checking and range checking,
5839 in the `Modula-2 philosophy', but they do not currently work.
5840
5841 * set write on/off
5842
5843 GDB can now write to executable and core files (e.g. patch
5844 a variable's value). You must turn this switch on, specify
5845 the file ("exec foo" or "core foo"), *then* modify it, e.g.
5846 by assigning a new value to a variable. Modifications take
5847 effect immediately.
5848
5849 * Automatic SunOS shared library reading
5850
5851 When you run your program, GDB automatically determines where its
5852 shared libraries (if any) have been loaded, and reads their symbols.
5853 The `share' command is no longer needed. This also works when
5854 examining core files.
5855
5856 * set listsize
5857
5858 You can specify the number of lines that the `list' command shows.
5859 The default is 10.
5860
5861 * New machines supported (host and target)
5862
5863 SGI Iris (MIPS) running Irix V3: mips-sgi-irix or iris
5864 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x: m68k-sony-sysv or news
5865 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1: a29k-nyu-sym1 or ultra3
5866
5867 * New hosts supported (not targets)
5868
5869 IBM RT/PC: romp-ibm-aix or rtpc
5870
5871 * New targets supported (not hosts)
5872
5873 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
5874 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
5875 Ultracomputer remote kernel debug a29k-nyu-kern
5876
5877 * New remote interfaces
5878
5879 AMD 29000 Adapt
5880 AMD 29000 Minimon
5881
5882
5883 *** Changes in GDB-4.0:
5884
5885 * New Facilities
5886
5887 Wide output is wrapped at good places to make the output more readable.
5888
5889 Gdb now supports cross-debugging from a host machine of one type to a
5890 target machine of another type. Communication with the target system
5891 is over serial lines. The ``target'' command handles connecting to the
5892 remote system; the ``load'' command will download a program into the
5893 remote system. Serial stubs for the m68k and i386 are provided. Gdb
5894 also supports debugging of realtime processes running under VxWorks,
5895 using SunRPC Remote Procedure Calls over TCP/IP to talk to a debugger
5896 stub on the target system.
5897
5898 New CPUs supported include the AMD 29000 and Intel 960.
5899
5900 GDB now reads object files and symbol tables via a ``binary file''
5901 library, which allows a single copy of GDB to debug programs of multiple
5902 object file types such as a.out and coff.
5903
5904 There is now a GDB reference card in "doc/refcard.tex". (Make targets
5905 refcard.dvi and refcard.ps are available to format it).
5906
5907
5908 * Control-Variable user interface simplified
5909
5910 All variables that control the operation of the debugger can be set
5911 by the ``set'' command, and displayed by the ``show'' command.
5912
5913 For example, ``set prompt new-gdb=>'' will change your prompt to new-gdb=>.
5914 ``Show prompt'' produces the response:
5915 Gdb's prompt is new-gdb=>.
5916
5917 What follows are the NEW set commands. The command ``help set'' will
5918 print a complete list of old and new set commands. ``help set FOO''
5919 will give a longer description of the variable FOO. ``show'' will show
5920 all of the variable descriptions and their current settings.
5921
5922 confirm on/off: Enables warning questions for operations that are
5923 hard to recover from, e.g. rerunning the program while
5924 it is already running. Default is ON.
5925
5926 editing on/off: Enables EMACS style command line editing
5927 of input. Previous lines can be recalled with
5928 control-P, the current line can be edited with control-B,
5929 you can search for commands with control-R, etc.
5930 Default is ON.
5931
5932 history filename NAME: NAME is where the gdb command history
5933 will be stored. The default is .gdb_history,
5934 or the value of the environment variable
5935 GDBHISTFILE.
5936
5937 history size N: The size, in commands, of the command history. The
5938 default is 256, or the value of the environment variable
5939 HISTSIZE.
5940
5941 history save on/off: If this value is set to ON, the history file will
5942 be saved after exiting gdb. If set to OFF, the
5943 file will not be saved. The default is OFF.
5944
5945 history expansion on/off: If this value is set to ON, then csh-like
5946 history expansion will be performed on
5947 command line input. The default is OFF.
5948
5949 radix N: Sets the default radix for input and output. It can be set
5950 to 8, 10, or 16. Note that the argument to "radix" is interpreted
5951 in the current radix, so "set radix 10" is always a no-op.
5952
5953 height N: This integer value is the number of lines on a page. Default
5954 is 24, the current `stty rows'' setting, or the ``li#''
5955 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
5956 variable TERM.
5957
5958 width N: This integer value is the number of characters on a line.
5959 Default is 80, the current `stty cols'' setting, or the ``co#''
5960 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
5961 variable TERM.
5962
5963 Note: ``set screensize'' is obsolete. Use ``set height'' and
5964 ``set width'' instead.
5965
5966 print address on/off: Print memory addresses in various command displays,
5967 such as stack traces and structure values. Gdb looks
5968 more ``symbolic'' if you turn this off; it looks more
5969 ``machine level'' with it on. Default is ON.
5970
5971 print array on/off: Prettyprint arrays. New convenient format! Default
5972 is OFF.
5973
5974 print demangle on/off: Print C++ symbols in "source" form if on,
5975 "raw" form if off.
5976
5977 print asm-demangle on/off: Same, for assembler level printouts
5978 like instructions.
5979
5980 print vtbl on/off: Prettyprint C++ virtual function tables. Default is OFF.
5981
5982
5983 * Support for Epoch Environment.
5984
5985 The epoch environment is a version of Emacs v18 with windowing. One
5986 new command, ``inspect'', is identical to ``print'', except that if you
5987 are running in the epoch environment, the value is printed in its own
5988 window.
5989
5990
5991 * Support for Shared Libraries
5992
5993 GDB can now debug programs and core files that use SunOS shared libraries.
5994 Symbols from a shared library cannot be referenced
5995 before the shared library has been linked with the program (this
5996 happens after you type ``run'' and before the function main() is entered).
5997 At any time after this linking (including when examining core files
5998 from dynamically linked programs), gdb reads the symbols from each
5999 shared library when you type the ``sharedlibrary'' command.
6000 It can be abbreviated ``share''.
6001
6002 sharedlibrary REGEXP: Load shared object library symbols for files
6003 matching a unix regular expression. No argument
6004 indicates to load symbols for all shared libraries.
6005
6006 info sharedlibrary: Status of loaded shared libraries.
6007
6008
6009 * Watchpoints
6010
6011 A watchpoint stops execution of a program whenever the value of an
6012 expression changes. Checking for this slows down execution
6013 tremendously whenever you are in the scope of the expression, but is
6014 quite useful for catching tough ``bit-spreader'' or pointer misuse
6015 problems. Some machines such as the 386 have hardware for doing this
6016 more quickly, and future versions of gdb will use this hardware.
6017
6018 watch EXP: Set a watchpoint (breakpoint) for an expression.
6019
6020 info watchpoints: Information about your watchpoints.
6021
6022 delete N: Deletes watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
6023 disable N: Temporarily turns off watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
6024 enable N: Re-enables watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
6025
6026
6027 * C++ multiple inheritance
6028
6029 When used with a GCC version 2 compiler, GDB supports multiple inheritance
6030 for C++ programs.
6031
6032 * C++ exception handling
6033
6034 Gdb now supports limited C++ exception handling. Besides the existing
6035 ability to breakpoint on an exception handler, gdb can breakpoint on
6036 the raising of an exception (before the stack is peeled back to the
6037 handler's context).
6038
6039 catch FOO: If there is a FOO exception handler in the dynamic scope,
6040 set a breakpoint to catch exceptions which may be raised there.
6041 Multiple exceptions (``catch foo bar baz'') may be caught.
6042
6043 info catch: Lists all exceptions which may be caught in the
6044 current stack frame.
6045
6046
6047 * Minor command changes
6048
6049 The command ``call func (arg, arg, ...)'' now acts like the print
6050 command, except it does not print or save a value if the function's result
6051 is void. This is similar to dbx usage.
6052
6053 The ``up'' and ``down'' commands now always print the frame they end up
6054 at; ``up-silently'' and `down-silently'' can be used in scripts to change
6055 frames without printing.
6056
6057 * New directory command
6058
6059 'dir' now adds directories to the FRONT of the source search path.
6060 The path starts off empty. Source files that contain debug information
6061 about the directory in which they were compiled can be found even
6062 with an empty path; Sun CC and GCC include this information. If GDB can't
6063 find your source file in the current directory, type "dir .".
6064
6065 * Configuring GDB for compilation
6066
6067 For normal use, type ``./configure host''. See README or gdb.texinfo
6068 for more details.
6069
6070 GDB now handles cross debugging. If you are remotely debugging between
6071 two different machines, type ``./configure host -target=targ''.
6072 Host is the machine where GDB will run; targ is the machine
6073 where the program that you are debugging will run.
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