1 What has changed in GDB?
2 (Organized release by release)
4 *** Changes since GDB 6.7
6 * New native configurations
8 NetBSD/hppa hppa*-*netbsd*
12 NetBSD/hppa hppa*-*-netbsd*
14 * Change in command line behavior -- corefiles vs. process ids.
16 When the '-p NUMBER' or '--pid NUMBER' options are used, and
17 attaching to process NUMBER fails, GDB no longer attempts to open a
18 core file named NUMBER. Attaching to a program using the -c option
19 is no longer supported. Instead, use the '-p' or '--pid' options.
21 * GDB can now be built as a native debugger for debugging Windows x86
22 (mingw32) Portable Executable (PE) programs.
24 * Pending breakpoints no longer change their number when their address
27 * GDB now supports breakpoints with multiple locations,
28 including breakpoints on C++ constructors, inside C++ templates,
29 and in inlined functions.
31 * GDB's ability to debug optimized code has been improved. GDB more
32 accurately identifies function bodies and lexical blocks that occupy
33 more than one contiguous range of addresses.
35 * Target descriptions can now describe registers for PowerPC.
37 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports the AltiVec and SPE
38 registers on PowerPC targets.
40 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports thread debugging on GNU/Linux
41 targets even when the libthread_db library is not available.
43 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports the new file transfer
44 commands (remote put, remote get, and remote delete).
46 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports run and attach in
49 * hppa*64*-*-hpux11* target broken
50 The debugger is unable to start a program and fails with the following
51 error: "Error trying to get information about dynamic linker".
52 The gdb-6.7 release is also affected.
54 * GDB now supports the --enable-targets= configure option to allow
55 building a single GDB executable that supports multiple remote
58 * GDB now supports debugging C and C++ programs which use the
59 Decimal Floating Point extension. In addition, the PowerPC target
60 now has a set of pseudo-registers to inspect decimal float values
61 stored in two consecutive float registers.
65 set print frame-arguments (all|scalars|none)
66 show print frame-arguments
67 The value of this variable can be changed to control which argument
68 values should be printed by the debugger when displaying a frame.
73 Transfer files to and from a remote target, and delete remote files.
80 Transfer files to and from a remote target, and delete remote files.
89 Open, close, read, write, and delete files on the remote system.
91 * GDB on GNU/Linux and HP/UX can now debug through "exec" of a new
95 Attach to an existing process on the remote system, in extended-remote
99 Run a new process on the remote system, in extended-remote mode.
101 *** Changes in GDB 6.7
103 * Resolved 101 resource leaks, null pointer dereferences, etc. in gdb,
104 bfd, libiberty and opcodes, as revealed by static analysis donated by
105 Coverity, Inc. (http://scan.coverity.com).
107 * When looking up multiply-defined global symbols, GDB will now prefer the
108 symbol definition in the current shared library if it was built using the
109 -Bsymbolic linker option.
111 * When the Text User Interface (TUI) is not configured, GDB will now
112 recognize the -tui command-line option and print a message that the TUI
115 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now has lower overhead for high
116 frequency signals (e.g. SIGALRM) via the QPassSignals packet.
118 * GDB for MIPS targets now autodetects whether a remote target provides
119 32-bit or 64-bit register values.
121 * Support for C++ member pointers has been improved.
123 * GDB now understands XML target descriptions, which specify the
124 target's overall architecture. GDB can read a description from
125 a local file or over the remote serial protocol.
127 * Vectors of single-byte data use a new integer type which is not
128 automatically displayed as character or string data.
130 * The /s format now works with the print command. It displays
131 arrays of single-byte integers and pointers to single-byte integers
134 * Target descriptions can now describe target-specific registers,
135 for architectures which have implemented the support (currently
136 only ARM, M68K, and MIPS).
138 * GDB and the GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now support the XScale
141 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, has been updated to support
142 ARM Windows CE (mingw32ce) debugging, and GDB Windows CE support
143 has been rewritten to use the standard GDB remote protocol.
145 * GDB can now step into C++ functions which are called through thunks.
147 * GDB for the Cell/B.E. SPU now supports overlay debugging.
149 * The GDB remote protocol "qOffsets" packet can now honor ELF segment
150 layout. It also supports a TextSeg= and DataSeg= response when only
151 segment base addresses (rather than offsets) are available.
153 * The /i format now outputs any trailing branch delay slot instructions
154 immediately following the last instruction within the count specified.
156 * The GDB remote protocol "T" stop reply packet now supports a
157 "library" response. Combined with the new "qXfer:libraries:read"
158 packet, this response allows GDB to debug shared libraries on targets
159 where the operating system manages the list of loaded libraries (e.g.
160 Windows and SymbianOS).
162 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports dynamic link libraries
163 (DLLs) on Windows and Windows CE targets.
165 * GDB now supports a faster verification that a .debug file matches its binary
166 according to its build-id signature, if the signature is present.
172 Enable or disable hardware flow control (RTS/CTS) on the serial port
173 when debugging using remote targets.
175 set mem inaccessible-by-default
176 show mem inaccessible-by-default
177 If the target supplies a memory map, for instance via the remote
178 protocol's "qXfer:memory-map:read" packet, setting this variable
179 prevents GDB from accessing memory outside the memory map. This
180 is useful for targets with memory mapped registers or which react
181 badly to accesses of unmapped address space.
183 set breakpoint auto-hw
184 show breakpoint auto-hw
185 If the target supplies a memory map, for instance via the remote
186 protocol's "qXfer:memory-map:read" packet, setting this variable
187 lets GDB use hardware breakpoints automatically for memory regions
188 where it can not use software breakpoints. This covers both the
189 "break" command and internal breakpoints used for other commands
190 including "next" and "finish".
193 catch exception unhandled
194 Stop the program execution when Ada exceptions are raised.
197 Stop the program execution when an Ada assertion failed.
201 Set an alternate system root for target files. This is a more
202 general version of "set solib-absolute-prefix", which is now
203 an alias to "set sysroot".
206 Provide extended SPU facility status information. This set of
207 commands is available only when debugging the Cell/B.E. SPU
210 * New native configurations
212 OpenBSD/sh sh*-*openbsd*
217 Use the specified local file as an XML target description, and do
218 not query the target for its built-in description.
222 OpenBSD/sh sh*-*-openbsd*
223 MIPS64 GNU/Linux (gdbserver) mips64-linux-gnu
224 Toshiba Media Processor mep-elf
229 Ignore the specified signals; pass them directly to the debugged program
230 without stopping other threads or reporting them to GDB.
233 Read an XML target description from the target, which describes its
238 Read or write contents of an spufs file on the target system. These
239 packets are available only on the Cell/B.E. SPU architecture.
241 qXfer:libraries:read:
242 Report the loaded shared libraries. Combined with new "T" packet
243 response, this packet allows GDB to debug shared libraries on
244 targets where the operating system manages the list of loaded
245 libraries (e.g. Windows and SymbianOS).
249 Support for these obsolete configurations has been removed.
258 i[34567]86-*-netware*
259 i[34567]86-*-sco3.2v5*
260 i[34567]86-*-sco3.2v4*
262 i[34567]86-*-sysv4.2*
265 i[34567]86-*-unixware2*
266 i[34567]86-*-unixware*
275 * Other removed features
282 Various m68k-only ROM monitors.
289 Various Renesas ROM monitors and debugging interfaces for SH and
294 Support for a Macraigor serial interface to on-chip debugging.
295 GDB does not directly support the newer parallel or USB
300 A debug information format. The predecessor to DWARF 2 and
301 DWARF 3, which are still supported.
303 Support for the HP aCC compiler on HP-UX/PA-RISC
305 SOM-encapsulated symbolic debugging information, automatic
306 invocation of pxdb, and the aCC custom C++ ABI. This does not
307 affect HP-UX for Itanium or GCC for HP-UX/PA-RISC. Code compiled
308 with aCC can still be debugged on an assembly level.
312 A MIPS-specific format used to describe stack frame layout
313 in debugging information.
317 GDB could work with an older version of Guile to debug
318 the interpreter and Scheme programs running in it.
320 set mips stack-arg-size
321 set mips saved-gpreg-size
323 Use "set mips abi" to control parameter passing for MIPS.
325 *** Changes in GDB 6.6
330 Cell Broadband Engine SPU spu-elf
332 * GDB can now be configured as a cross-debugger targeting native Windows
333 (mingw32) or Cygwin. It can communicate with a remote debugging stub
334 running on a Windows system over TCP/IP to debug Windows programs.
336 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, has been updated to support Windows and
337 Cygwin debugging. Both single-threaded and multi-threaded programs are
340 * The "set trust-readonly-sections" command works again. This command was
341 broken in GDB 6.3, 6.4, and 6.5.
343 * The "load" command now supports writing to flash memory, if the remote
344 stub provides the required support.
346 * Support for GNU/Linux Thread Local Storage (TLS, per-thread variables) no
347 longer requires symbolic debug information (e.g. DWARF-2).
352 unset substitute-path
354 Manage a list of substitution rules that GDB uses to rewrite the name
355 of the directories where the sources are located. This can be useful
356 for instance when the sources were moved to a different location
357 between compilation and debugging.
361 Print each CLI command as it is executed. Each command is prefixed with
362 a number of `+' symbols representing the nesting depth.
363 The source command now has a `-v' option to enable the same feature.
367 The ARM Demon monitor support (RDP protocol, "target rdp").
369 Kernel Object Display, an embedded debugging feature which only worked with
370 an obsolete version of Cisco IOS.
372 The 'set download-write-size' and 'show download-write-size' commands.
377 Tell a stub about GDB client features, and request remote target features.
378 The first feature implemented is PacketSize, which allows the target to
379 specify the size of packets it can handle - to minimize the number of
380 packets required and improve performance when connected to a remote
384 Fetch an OS auxilliary vector from the remote stub. This packet is a
385 more efficient replacement for qPart:auxv:read.
387 qXfer:memory-map:read:
388 Fetch a memory map from the remote stub, including information about
389 RAM, ROM, and flash memory devices.
394 Erase and program a flash memory device.
396 * Removed remote packets
399 This packet has been replaced by qXfer:auxv:read. Only GDB 6.4 and 6.5
400 used it, and only gdbserver implemented it.
402 *** Changes in GDB 6.5
406 Renesas M32C/M16C m32c-elf
408 Morpho Technologies ms1 ms1-elf
412 init-if-undefined Initialize a convenience variable, but
413 only if it doesn't already have a value.
415 The following commands are presently only implemented for native GNU/Linux:
417 checkpoint Save a snapshot of the program state.
419 restart <n> Return the program state to a
420 previously saved state.
422 info checkpoints List currently saved checkpoints.
424 delete-checkpoint <n> Delete a previously saved checkpoint.
426 set|show detach-on-fork Tell gdb whether to detach from a newly
427 forked process, or to keep debugging it.
429 info forks List forks of the user program that
430 are available to be debugged.
432 fork <n> Switch to debugging one of several
433 forks of the user program that are
434 available to be debugged.
436 delete-fork <n> Delete a fork from the list of forks
437 that are available to be debugged (and
438 kill the forked process).
440 detach-fork <n> Delete a fork from the list of forks
441 that are available to be debugged (and
442 allow the process to continue).
446 Morpho Technologies ms2 ms1-elf
448 * Improved Windows host support
450 GDB now builds as a cross debugger hosted on i686-mingw32, including
451 native console support, and remote communications using either
452 network sockets or serial ports.
454 * Improved Modula-2 language support
456 GDB can now print most types in the Modula-2 syntax. This includes:
457 basic types, set types, record types, enumerated types, range types,
458 pointer types and ARRAY types. Procedure var parameters are correctly
459 printed and hexadecimal addresses and character constants are also
460 written in the Modula-2 syntax. Best results can be obtained by using
461 GNU Modula-2 together with the -gdwarf-2 command line option.
465 The ARM rdi-share module.
467 The Netware NLM debug server.
469 *** Changes in GDB 6.4
471 * New native configurations
473 OpenBSD/arm arm*-*-openbsd*
474 OpenBSD/mips64 mips64-*-openbsd*
478 Morpho Technologies ms1 ms1-elf
480 * New command line options
482 --batch-silent As for --batch, but totally silent.
483 --return-child-result The debugger will exist with the same value
484 the child (debugged) program exited with.
485 --eval-command COMMAND, -ex COMMAND
486 Execute a single GDB CLI command. This may be
487 specified multiple times and in conjunction
488 with the --command (-x) option.
490 * Deprecated commands removed
492 The following commands, that were deprecated in 2000, have been
496 set|show arm disassembly-flavor set|show arm disassembler
497 othernames set arm disassembler
498 set|show remotedebug set|show debug remote
499 set|show archdebug set|show debug arch
500 set|show eventdebug set|show debug event
503 * New BSD user-level threads support
505 It is now possible to debug programs using the user-level threads
506 library on OpenBSD and FreeBSD. Currently supported (target)
509 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
510 FreeBSD/i386 i386-*-freebsd*
511 OpenBSD/i386 i386-*-openbsd*
513 Note that the new kernel threads libraries introduced in FreeBSD 5.x
514 are not yet supported.
516 * New support for Matsushita MN10300 w/sim added
517 (Work in progress). mn10300-elf.
519 * REMOVED configurations and files
521 VxWorks and the XDR protocol *-*-vxworks
522 Motorola MCORE mcore-*-*
523 National Semiconductor NS32000 ns32k-*-*
525 * New "set print array-indexes" command
527 After turning this setting "on", GDB prints the index of each element
528 when displaying arrays. The default is "off" to preserve the previous
531 * VAX floating point support
533 GDB now supports the not-quite-ieee VAX F and D floating point formats.
535 * User-defined command support
537 In addition to using $arg0..$arg9 for argument passing, it is now possible
538 to use $argc to determine now many arguments have been passed. See the
539 section on user-defined commands in the user manual for more information.
541 *** Changes in GDB 6.3:
543 * New command line option
545 GDB now accepts -l followed by a number to set the timeout for remote
548 * GDB works with GCC -feliminate-dwarf2-dups
550 GDB now supports a more compact representation of DWARF-2 debug
551 information using DW_FORM_ref_addr references. These are produced
552 by GCC with the option -feliminate-dwarf2-dups and also by some
553 proprietary compilers. With GCC, you must use GCC 3.3.4 or later
554 to use -feliminate-dwarf2-dups.
556 * Internationalization
558 When supported by the host system, GDB will be built with
559 internationalization (libintl). The task of marking up the sources is
560 continued, we're looking forward to our first translation.
564 Initial support for debugging programs compiled with the GNAT
565 implementation of the Ada programming language has been integrated
566 into GDB. In this release, support is limited to expression evaluation.
568 * New native configurations
570 GNU/Linux/m32r m32r-*-linux-gnu
574 GDB's remote protocol now includes support for the 'p' packet. This
575 packet is used to fetch individual registers from a remote inferior.
577 * END-OF-LIFE registers[] compatibility module
579 GDB's internal register infrastructure has been completely rewritten.
580 The new infrastructure making possible the implementation of key new
581 features including 32x64 (e.g., 64-bit amd64 GDB debugging a 32-bit
584 GDB 6.3 will be the last release to include the the registers[]
585 compatibility module that allowed out-of-date configurations to
586 continue to work. This change directly impacts the following
598 Unless there is activity to revive these configurations, they will be
599 made OBSOLETE in GDB 6.4, and REMOVED from GDB 6.5.
601 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
603 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
604 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
605 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
615 *** Changes in GDB 6.2.1:
617 * MIPS `break main; run' gave an heuristic-fence-post warning
619 When attempting to run even a simple program, a warning about
620 heuristic-fence-post being hit would be reported. This problem has
623 * MIPS IRIX 'long double' crashed GDB
625 When examining a long double variable, GDB would get a segmentation
626 fault. The crash has been fixed (but GDB 6.2 cannot correctly examine
627 IRIX long double values).
631 A bug in the VAX stack code was causing problems with the "next"
632 command. This problem has been fixed.
634 *** Changes in GDB 6.2:
636 * Fix for ``many threads''
638 On GNU/Linux systems that use the NPTL threads library, a program
639 rapidly creating and deleting threads would confuse GDB leading to the
642 ptrace: No such process.
643 thread_db_get_info: cannot get thread info: generic error
645 This problem has been fixed.
647 * "-async" and "-noasync" options removed.
649 Support for the broken "-noasync" option has been removed (it caused
652 * New ``start'' command.
654 This command runs the program until the begining of the main procedure.
656 * New BSD Kernel Data Access Library (libkvm) interface
658 Using ``target kvm'' it is now possible to debug kernel core dumps and
659 live kernel memory images on various FreeBSD, NetBSD and OpenBSD
660 platforms. Currently supported (native-only) configurations are:
662 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
663 FreeBSD/i386 i?86-*-freebsd*
664 NetBSD/i386 i?86-*-netbsd*
665 NetBSD/m68k m68*-*-netbsd*
666 NetBSD/sparc sparc-*-netbsd*
667 OpenBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-openbsd*
668 OpenBSD/i386 i?86-*-openbsd*
669 OpenBSD/m68k m68*-openbsd*
670 OpenBSD/sparc sparc-*-openbsd*
672 * Signal trampoline code overhauled
674 Many generic problems with GDB's signal handling code have been fixed.
675 These include: backtraces through non-contiguous stacks; recognition
676 of sa_sigaction signal trampolines; backtrace from a NULL pointer
677 call; backtrace through a signal trampoline; step into and out of
678 signal handlers; and single-stepping in the signal trampoline.
680 Please note that kernel bugs are a limiting factor here. These
681 features have been shown to work on an s390 GNU/Linux system that
682 include a 2.6.8-rc1 kernel. Ref PR breakpoints/1702.
684 * Cygwin support for DWARF 2 added.
686 * New native configurations
688 GNU/Linux/hppa hppa*-*-linux*
689 OpenBSD/hppa hppa*-*-openbsd*
690 OpenBSD/m68k m68*-*-openbsd*
691 OpenBSD/m88k m88*-*-openbsd*
692 OpenBSD/powerpc powerpc-*-openbsd*
693 NetBSD/vax vax-*-netbsd*
694 OpenBSD/vax vax-*-openbsd*
696 * END-OF-LIFE frame compatibility module
698 GDB's internal frame infrastructure has been completely rewritten.
699 The new infrastructure making it possible to support key new features
700 including DWARF 2 Call Frame Information. To aid in the task of
701 migrating old configurations to this new infrastructure, a
702 compatibility module, that allowed old configurations to continue to
703 work, was also included.
705 GDB 6.2 will be the last release to include this frame compatibility
706 module. This change directly impacts the following configurations:
716 Unless there is activity to revive these configurations, they will be
717 made OBSOLETE in GDB 6.3, and REMOVED from GDB 6.4.
719 * REMOVED configurations and files
721 Sun 3, running SunOS 3 m68*-*-sunos3*
722 Sun 3, running SunOS 4 m68*-*-sunos4*
723 Sun 2, running SunOS 3 m68000-*-sunos3*
724 Sun 2, running SunOS 4 m68000-*-sunos4*
725 Motorola 680x0 running LynxOS m68*-*-lynxos*
726 AT&T 3b1/Unix pc m68*-att-*
727 Bull DPX2 (68k, System V release 3) m68*-bull-sysv*
728 decstation mips-dec-* mips-little-*
729 riscos mips-*-riscos* mips-*-sysv*
731 sysv mips*-*-sysv4* (IRIX 5/6 not included)
733 *** Changes in GDB 6.1.1:
735 * TUI (Text-mode User Interface) built-in (also included in GDB 6.1)
737 The TUI (Text-mode User Interface) is now built as part of a default
738 GDB configuration. It is enabled by either selecting the TUI with the
739 command line option "-i=tui" or by running the separate "gdbtui"
740 program. For more information on the TUI, see the manual "Debugging
743 * Pending breakpoint support (also included in GDB 6.1)
745 Support has been added to allow you to specify breakpoints in shared
746 libraries that have not yet been loaded. If a breakpoint location
747 cannot be found, and the "breakpoint pending" option is set to auto,
748 GDB queries you if you wish to make the breakpoint pending on a future
749 shared-library load. If and when GDB resolves the breakpoint symbol,
750 the pending breakpoint is removed as one or more regular breakpoints
753 Pending breakpoints are very useful for GCJ Java debugging.
755 * Fixed ISO-C build problems
757 The files bfd/elf-bfd.h, gdb/dictionary.c and gdb/types.c contained
758 non ISO-C code that stopped them being built using a more strict ISO-C
759 compiler (e.g., IBM's C compiler).
761 * Fixed build problem on IRIX 5
763 Due to header problems with <sys/proc.h>, the file gdb/proc-api.c
764 wasn't able to compile compile on an IRIX 5 system.
766 * Added execute permission to gdb/gdbserver/configure
768 The shell script gdb/testsuite/gdb.stabs/configure lacked execute
769 permission. This bug would cause configure to fail on a number of
770 systems (Solaris, IRIX). Ref: server/519.
772 * Fixed build problem on hpux2.0w-hp-hpux11.00 using the HP ANSI C compiler
774 Older HPUX ANSI C compilers did not accept variable array sizes. somsolib.c
775 has been updated to use constant array sizes.
777 * Fixed a panic in the DWARF Call Frame Info code on Solaris 2.7
779 GCC 3.3.2, on Solaris 2.7, includes the DW_EH_PE_funcrel encoding in
780 its generated DWARF Call Frame Info. This encoding was causing GDB to
781 panic, that panic has been fixed. Ref: gdb/1628.
783 * Fixed a problem when examining parameters in shared library code.
785 When examining parameters in optimized shared library code generated
786 by a mainline GCC, GDB would incorrectly report ``Variable "..." is
787 not available''. GDB now correctly displays the variable's value.
789 *** Changes in GDB 6.1:
791 * Removed --with-mmalloc
793 Support for the mmalloc memory manager has been removed, as it
794 conflicted with the internal gdb byte cache.
796 * Changes in AMD64 configurations
798 The AMD64 target now includes the %cs and %ss registers. As a result
799 the AMD64 remote protocol has changed; this affects the floating-point
800 and SSE registers. If you rely on those registers for your debugging,
801 you should upgrade gdbserver on the remote side.
803 * Revised SPARC target
805 The SPARC target has been completely revised, incorporating the
806 FreeBSD/sparc64 support that was added for GDB 6.0. As a result
807 support for LynxOS and SunOS 4 has been dropped. Calling functions
808 from within GDB on operating systems with a non-executable stack
809 (Solaris, OpenBSD) now works.
813 GDB has a new C++ demangler which does a better job on the mangled
814 names generated by current versions of g++. It also runs faster, so
815 with this and other changes gdb should now start faster on large C++
818 * DWARF 2 Location Expressions
820 GDB support for location expressions has been extended to support function
821 arguments and frame bases. Older versions of GDB could crash when they
824 * C++ nested types and namespaces
826 GDB's support for nested types and namespaces in C++ has been
827 improved, especially if you use the DWARF 2 debugging format. (This
828 is the default for recent versions of GCC on most platforms.)
829 Specifically, if you have a class "Inner" defined within a class or
830 namespace "Outer", then GDB realizes that the class's name is
831 "Outer::Inner", not simply "Inner". This should greatly reduce the
832 frequency of complaints about not finding RTTI symbols. In addition,
833 if you are stopped at inside of a function defined within a namespace,
834 GDB modifies its name lookup accordingly.
836 * New native configurations
838 NetBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-netbsd*
839 OpenBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-openbsd*
840 OpenBSD/alpha alpha*-*-openbsd*
841 OpenBSD/sparc sparc-*-openbsd*
842 OpenBSD/sparc64 sparc64-*-openbsd*
844 * New debugging protocols
846 M32R with SDI protocol m32r-*-elf*
848 * "set prompt-escape-char" command deleted.
850 The command "set prompt-escape-char" has been deleted. This command,
851 and its very obscure effet on GDB's prompt, was never documented,
852 tested, nor mentioned in the NEWS file.
854 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
856 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
857 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
858 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
861 Sun 3, running SunOS 3 m68*-*-sunos3*
862 Sun 3, running SunOS 4 m68*-*-sunos4*
863 Sun 2, running SunOS 3 m68000-*-sunos3*
864 Sun 2, running SunOS 4 m68000-*-sunos4*
865 Motorola 680x0 running LynxOS m68*-*-lynxos*
866 AT&T 3b1/Unix pc m68*-att-*
867 Bull DPX2 (68k, System V release 3) m68*-bull-sysv*
868 decstation mips-dec-* mips-little-*
869 riscos mips-*-riscos* mips-*-sysv*
871 sysv mips*-*-sysv4* (IRIX 5/6 not included)
873 * REMOVED configurations and files
875 SGI Irix-4.x mips-sgi-irix4 or iris4
876 SGI Iris (MIPS) running Irix V3: mips-sgi-irix or iris
877 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
878 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
879 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
880 HP/PA running BSD hppa*-*-bsd*
881 HP/PA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
882 HP/PA Pro target hppa*-*-pro*
883 PMAX (MIPS) running Mach 3.0 mips*-*-mach3*
884 386BSD i[3456]86-*-bsd*
885 Sequent family i[3456]86-sequent-sysv4*
886 i[3456]86-sequent-sysv*
887 i[3456]86-sequent-bsd*
888 SPARC running LynxOS sparc-*-lynxos*
889 SPARC running SunOS 4 sparc-*-sunos4*
890 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
891 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
893 *** Changes in GDB 6.0:
897 Support for debugging the Objective-C programming language has been
900 * New backtrace mechanism (includes DWARF 2 Call Frame Information).
902 DWARF 2's Call Frame Information makes available compiler generated
903 information that more exactly describes the program's run-time stack.
904 By using this information, GDB is able to provide more robust stack
907 The i386, amd64 (nee, x86-64), Alpha, m68hc11, ia64, and m32r targets
908 have been updated to use a new backtrace mechanism which includes
913 GDB's remote protocol has been extended to include support for hosted
914 file I/O (where the remote target uses GDB's file system). See GDB's
915 remote protocol documentation for details.
917 * All targets using the new architecture framework.
919 All of GDB's targets have been updated to use the new internal
920 architecture framework. The way is now open for future GDB releases
921 to include cross-architecture native debugging support (i386 on amd64,
924 * GNU/Linux's Thread Local Storage (TLS)
926 GDB now includes support for for the GNU/Linux implementation of
927 per-thread variables.
929 * GNU/Linux's Native POSIX Thread Library (NPTL)
931 GDB's thread code has been updated to work with either the new
932 GNU/Linux NPTL thread library or the older "LinuxThreads" library.
934 * Separate debug info.
936 GDB, in conjunction with BINUTILS, now supports a mechanism for
937 automatically loading debug information from a separate file. Instead
938 of shipping full debug and non-debug versions of system libraries,
939 system integrators can now instead ship just the stripped libraries
940 and optional debug files.
942 * DWARF 2 Location Expressions
944 DWARF 2 Location Expressions allow the compiler to more completely
945 describe the location of variables (even in optimized code) to the
948 GDB now includes preliminary support for location expressions (support
949 for DW_OP_piece is still missing).
953 A number of long standing bugs that caused GDB to die while starting a
954 Java application have been fixed. GDB's Java support is now
955 considered "useable".
957 * GNU/Linux support for fork, vfork, and exec.
959 The "catch fork", "catch exec", "catch vfork", and "set follow-fork-mode"
960 commands are now implemented for GNU/Linux. They require a 2.5.x or later
963 * GDB supports logging output to a file
965 There are two new commands, "set logging" and "show logging", which can be
966 used to capture GDB's output to a file.
968 * The meaning of "detach" has changed for gdbserver
970 The "detach" command will now resume the application, as documented. To
971 disconnect from gdbserver and leave it stopped, use the new "disconnect"
974 * d10v, m68hc11 `regs' command deprecated
976 The `info registers' command has been updated so that it displays the
977 registers using a format identical to the old `regs' command.
981 A new command, "maint set profile on/off", has been added. This command can
982 be used to enable or disable profiling while running GDB, to profile a
983 session or a set of commands. In addition there is a new configure switch,
984 "--enable-profiling", which will cause GDB to be compiled with profiling
985 data, for more informative profiling results.
987 * Default MI syntax changed to "mi2".
989 The default MI (machine interface) syntax, enabled by the command line
990 option "-i=mi", has been changed to "mi2". The previous MI syntax,
991 "mi1", can be enabled by specifying the option "-i=mi1".
993 Support for the original "mi0" syntax (included in GDB 5.0) has been
996 Fix for gdb/192: removed extraneous space when displaying frame level.
997 Fix for gdb/672: update changelist is now output in mi list format.
998 Fix for gdb/702: a -var-assign that updates the value now shows up
999 in a subsequent -var-update.
1001 * New native configurations.
1003 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
1005 * Multi-arched targets.
1007 HP/PA HPUX11 hppa*-*-hpux*
1008 Renesas M32R/D w/simulator m32r-*-elf*
1010 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
1012 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
1013 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
1014 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
1015 permanently REMOVED.
1017 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
1018 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
1019 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
1020 HP/PA running BSD hppa*-*-bsd*
1021 HP/PA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
1022 HP/PA Pro target hppa*-*-pro*
1023 PMAX (MIPS) running Mach 3.0 mips*-*-mach3*
1024 Sequent family i[3456]86-sequent-sysv4*
1025 i[3456]86-sequent-sysv*
1026 i[3456]86-sequent-bsd*
1027 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
1028 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
1030 * REMOVED configurations and files
1033 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
1034 IBM AIX PS/2 i[3456]86-*-aix
1035 i386 running Mach 3.0 i[3456]86-*-mach3*
1036 i386 running Mach i[3456]86-*-mach*
1037 i386 running OSF/1 i[3456]86-*osf1mk*
1038 HP/Apollo 68k Family m68*-apollo*-sysv*,
1040 m68*-hp-bsd*, m68*-hp-hpux*
1041 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
1042 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
1043 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
1044 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
1045 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
1047 * MIPS $fp behavior changed
1049 The convenience variable $fp, for the MIPS, now consistently returns
1050 the address of the current frame's base. Previously, depending on the
1051 context, $fp could refer to either $sp or the current frame's base
1052 address. See ``8.10 Registers'' in the manual ``Debugging with GDB:
1053 The GNU Source-Level Debugger''.
1055 *** Changes in GDB 5.3:
1057 * GNU/Linux shared library multi-threaded performance improved.
1059 When debugging a multi-threaded application on GNU/Linux, GDB now uses
1060 `/proc', in preference to `ptrace' for memory reads. This may result
1061 in an improvement in the start-up time of multi-threaded, shared
1062 library applications when run under GDB. One GDB user writes: ``loads
1063 shared libs like mad''.
1065 * ``gdbserver'' now supports multi-threaded applications on some targets
1067 Support for debugging multi-threaded applications which use
1068 the GNU/Linux LinuxThreads package has been added for
1069 arm*-*-linux*-gnu*, i[3456]86-*-linux*-gnu*, mips*-*-linux*-gnu*,
1070 powerpc*-*-linux*-gnu*, and sh*-*-linux*-gnu*.
1072 * GDB now supports C/C++ preprocessor macros.
1074 GDB now expands preprocessor macro invocations in C/C++ expressions,
1075 and provides various commands for showing macro definitions and how
1078 The new command `macro expand EXPRESSION' expands any macro
1079 invocations in expression, and shows the result.
1081 The new command `show macro MACRO-NAME' shows the definition of the
1082 macro named MACRO-NAME, and where it was defined.
1084 Most compilers don't include information about macros in the debugging
1085 information by default. In GCC 3.1, for example, you need to compile
1086 your program with the options `-gdwarf-2 -g3'. If the macro
1087 information is present in the executable, GDB will read it.
1089 * Multi-arched targets.
1091 DEC Alpha (partial) alpha*-*-*
1092 DEC VAX (partial) vax-*-*
1094 National Semiconductor NS32000 (partial) ns32k-*-*
1095 Motorola 68000 (partial) m68k-*-*
1096 Motorola MCORE mcore-*-*
1100 Fujitsu FRV architecture added by Red Hat frv*-*-*
1103 * New native configurations
1105 Alpha NetBSD alpha*-*-netbsd*
1106 SH NetBSD sh*-*-netbsdelf*
1107 MIPS NetBSD mips*-*-netbsd*
1108 UltraSPARC NetBSD sparc64-*-netbsd*
1110 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
1112 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
1113 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
1114 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
1115 permanently REMOVED.
1117 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
1118 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
1119 IBM AIX PS/2 i[3456]86-*-aix
1120 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
1121 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
1122 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
1123 i386 running Mach 3.0 i[3456]86-*-mach3*
1124 i386 running Mach i[3456]86-*-mach*
1125 i386 running OSF/1 i[3456]86-*osf1mk*
1126 HP/Apollo 68k Family m68*-apollo*-sysv*,
1128 m68*-hp-bsd*, m68*-hp-hpux*
1129 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
1131 * OBSOLETE languages
1133 CHILL, a Pascal like language used by telecommunications companies.
1135 * REMOVED configurations and files
1137 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi, udi29k
1138 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
1139 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
1140 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
1141 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
1143 testsuite/gdb.hp/gdb.threads-hp/ directory
1145 * New command "set max-user-call-depth <nnn>"
1147 This command allows the user to limit the call depth of user-defined
1148 commands. The default is 1024.
1150 * Changes in FreeBSD/i386 native debugging.
1152 Support for the "generate-core-file" has been added.
1154 * New commands "dump", "append", and "restore".
1156 These commands allow data to be copied from target memory
1157 to a bfd-format or binary file (dump and append), and back
1158 from a file into memory (restore).
1160 * Improved "next/step" support on multi-processor Alpha Tru64.
1162 The previous single-step mechanism could cause unpredictable problems,
1163 including the random appearance of SIGSEGV or SIGTRAP signals. The use
1164 of a software single-step mechanism prevents this.
1166 *** Changes in GDB 5.2.1:
1174 gdb/182: gdb/323: gdb/237: On alpha, gdb was reporting:
1175 mdebugread.c:2443: gdb-internal-error: sect_index_data not initialized
1176 Fix, by Joel Brobecker imported from mainline.
1178 gdb/439: gdb/291: On some ELF object files, gdb was reporting:
1179 dwarf2read.c:1072: gdb-internal-error: sect_index_text not initialize
1180 Fix, by Fred Fish, imported from mainline.
1182 Dwarf2 .debug_frame & .eh_frame handler improved in many ways.
1183 Surprisingly enough, it works now.
1184 By Michal Ludvig, imported from mainline.
1186 i386 hardware watchpoint support:
1187 avoid misses on second run for some targets.
1188 By Pierre Muller, imported from mainline.
1190 *** Changes in GDB 5.2:
1192 * New command "set trust-readonly-sections on[off]".
1194 This command is a hint that tells gdb that read-only sections
1195 really are read-only (ie. that their contents will not change).
1196 In this mode, gdb will go to the object file rather than the
1197 target to read memory from read-only sections (such as ".text").
1198 This can be a significant performance improvement on some
1199 (notably embedded) targets.
1201 * New command "generate-core-file" (or "gcore").
1203 This new gdb command allows the user to drop a core file of the child
1204 process state at any time. So far it's been implemented only for
1205 GNU/Linux and Solaris, but should be relatively easily ported to other
1206 hosts. Argument is core file name (defaults to core.<pid>).
1208 * New command line option
1210 GDB now accepts --pid or -p followed by a process id.
1212 * Change in command line behavior -- corefiles vs. process ids.
1214 There is a subtle behavior in the way in which GDB handles
1215 command line arguments. The first non-flag argument is always
1216 a program to debug, but the second non-flag argument may either
1217 be a corefile or a process id. Previously, GDB would attempt to
1218 open the second argument as a corefile, and if that failed, would
1219 issue a superfluous error message and then attempt to attach it as
1220 a process. Now, if the second argument begins with a non-digit,
1221 it will be treated as a corefile. If it begins with a digit,
1222 GDB will attempt to attach it as a process, and if no such process
1223 is found, will then attempt to open it as a corefile.
1225 * Changes in ARM configurations.
1227 Multi-arch support is enabled for all ARM configurations. The ARM/NetBSD
1228 configuration is fully multi-arch.
1230 * New native configurations
1232 ARM NetBSD arm*-*-netbsd*
1233 x86 OpenBSD i[3456]86-*-openbsd*
1234 AMD x86-64 running GNU/Linux x86_64-*-linux-*
1235 Sparc64 running FreeBSD sparc64-*-freebsd*
1239 Sanyo XStormy16 xstormy16-elf
1241 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
1243 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
1244 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
1245 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
1246 permanently REMOVED.
1248 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi, udi29k
1249 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
1250 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
1251 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
1252 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
1254 testsuite/gdb.hp/gdb.threads-hp/ directory
1256 * REMOVED configurations and files
1258 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
1260 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
1261 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
1262 PowerPC Netware powerpc-*-netware*
1263 Harris/CXUX m88k m88*-harris-cxux*
1264 Most ns32k hosts and targets ns32k-*-mach3* ns32k-umax-*
1265 ns32k-utek-sysv* ns32k-utek-*
1266 SunOS 4.0.Xi on i386 i[3456]86-*-sunos*
1267 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1 a29k-nyu-sym1 a29k-*-kern*
1268 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x m68*-sony-sysv news
1269 ISI Optimum V (3.05) under 4.3bsd. m68*-isi-*
1270 Apple Macintosh (MPW) host and target N/A host, powerpc-*-macos*
1272 * Changes to command line processing
1274 The new `--args' feature can be used to specify command-line arguments
1275 for the inferior from gdb's command line.
1277 * Changes to key bindings
1279 There is a new `operate-and-get-next' function bound to `C-o'.
1281 *** Changes in GDB 5.1.1
1283 Fix compile problem on DJGPP.
1285 Fix a problem with floating-point registers on the i386 being
1288 Fix to stop GDB crashing on .debug_str debug info.
1290 Numerous documentation fixes.
1292 Numerous testsuite fixes.
1294 *** Changes in GDB 5.1:
1296 * New native configurations
1298 Alpha FreeBSD alpha*-*-freebsd*
1299 x86 FreeBSD 3.x and 4.x i[3456]86*-freebsd[34]*
1300 MIPS GNU/Linux mips*-*-linux*
1301 MIPS SGI Irix 6.x mips*-sgi-irix6*
1302 ia64 AIX ia64-*-aix*
1303 s390 and s390x GNU/Linux {s390,s390x}-*-linux*
1307 Motorola 68HC11 and 68HC12 m68hc11-elf
1309 UltraSparc running GNU/Linux sparc64-*-linux*
1311 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
1313 x86 FreeBSD before 2.2 i[3456]86*-freebsd{1,2.[01]}*,
1314 Harris/CXUX m88k m88*-harris-cxux*
1315 Most ns32k hosts and targets ns32k-*-mach3* ns32k-umax-*
1316 ns32k-utek-sysv* ns32k-utek-*
1317 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
1319 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1 a29k-nyu-sym1 a29k-*-kern*
1320 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
1321 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
1322 PowerPC Netware powerpc-*-netware*
1323 SunOS 4.0.Xi on i386 i[3456]86-*-sunos*
1324 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x m68*-sony-sysv news
1325 ISI Optimum V (3.05) under 4.3bsd. m68*-isi-*
1326 Apple Macintosh (MPW) host N/A
1328 stuff.c (Program to stuff files into a specially prepared space in kdb)
1329 kdb-start.c (Main loop for the standalone kernel debugger)
1331 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
1332 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
1333 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
1334 permanently REMOVED.
1336 * REMOVED configurations and files
1338 Altos 3068 m68*-altos-*
1339 Convex c1-*-*, c2-*-*
1341 ARM RISCix arm-*-* (as host)
1345 * GDB has been converted to ISO C.
1347 GDB's source code has been converted to ISO C. In particular, the
1348 sources are fully protoized, and rely on standard headers being
1353 * "info symbol" works on platforms which use COFF, ECOFF, XCOFF, and NLM.
1355 * The MI enabled by default.
1357 The new machine oriented interface (MI) introduced in GDB 5.0 has been
1358 revised and enabled by default. Packages which use GDB as a debugging
1359 engine behind a UI or another front end are encouraged to switch to
1360 using the GDB/MI interface, instead of the old annotations interface
1361 which is now deprecated.
1363 * Support for debugging Pascal programs.
1365 GDB now includes support for debugging Pascal programs. The following
1366 main features are supported:
1368 - Pascal-specific data types such as sets;
1370 - automatic recognition of Pascal sources based on file-name
1373 - Pascal-style display of data types, variables, and functions;
1375 - a Pascal expression parser.
1377 However, some important features are not yet supported.
1379 - Pascal string operations are not supported at all;
1381 - there are some problems with boolean types;
1383 - Pascal type hexadecimal constants are not supported
1384 because they conflict with the internal variables format;
1386 - support for Pascal objects and classes is not full yet;
1388 - unlike Pascal, GDB is case-sensitive for symbol names.
1390 * Changes in completion.
1392 Commands such as `shell', `run' and `set args', which pass arguments
1393 to inferior programs, now complete on file names, similar to what
1394 users expect at the shell prompt.
1396 Commands which accept locations, such as `disassemble', `print',
1397 `breakpoint', `until', etc. now complete on filenames as well as
1398 program symbols. Thus, if you type "break foob TAB", and the source
1399 files linked into the programs include `foobar.c', that file name will
1400 be one of the candidates for completion. However, file names are not
1401 considered for completion after you typed a colon that delimits a file
1402 name from a name of a function in that file, as in "break foo.c:bar".
1404 `set demangle-style' completes on available demangling styles.
1406 * New platform-independent commands:
1408 It is now possible to define a post-hook for a command as well as a
1409 hook that runs before the command. For more details, see the
1410 documentation of `hookpost' in the GDB manual.
1412 * Changes in GNU/Linux native debugging.
1414 Support for debugging multi-threaded programs has been completely
1415 revised for all platforms except m68k and sparc. You can now debug as
1416 many threads as your system allows you to have.
1418 Attach/detach is supported for multi-threaded programs.
1420 Support for SSE registers was added for x86. This doesn't work for
1421 multi-threaded programs though.
1423 * Changes in MIPS configurations.
1425 Multi-arch support is enabled for all MIPS configurations.
1427 GDB can now be built as native debugger on SGI Irix 6.x systems for
1428 debugging n32 executables. (Debugging 64-bit executables is not yet
1431 * Unified support for hardware watchpoints in all x86 configurations.
1433 Most (if not all) native x86 configurations support hardware-assisted
1434 breakpoints and watchpoints in a unified manner. This support
1435 implements debug register sharing between watchpoints, which allows to
1436 put a virtually infinite number of watchpoints on the same address,
1437 and also supports watching regions up to 16 bytes with several debug
1440 The new maintenance command `maintenance show-debug-regs' toggles
1441 debugging print-outs in functions that insert, remove, and test
1442 watchpoints and hardware breakpoints.
1444 * Changes in the DJGPP native configuration.
1446 New command ``info dos sysinfo'' displays assorted information about
1447 the CPU, OS, memory, and DPMI server.
1449 New commands ``info dos gdt'', ``info dos ldt'', and ``info dos idt''
1450 display information about segment descriptors stored in GDT, LDT, and
1453 New commands ``info dos pde'' and ``info dos pte'' display entries
1454 from Page Directory and Page Tables (for now works with CWSDPMI only).
1455 New command ``info dos address-pte'' displays the Page Table entry for
1456 a given linear address.
1458 GDB can now pass command lines longer than 126 characters to the
1459 program being debugged (requires an update to the libdbg.a library
1460 which is part of the DJGPP development kit).
1462 DWARF2 debug info is now supported.
1464 It is now possible to `step' and `next' through calls to `longjmp'.
1466 * Changes in documentation.
1468 All GDB documentation was converted to GFDL, the GNU Free
1469 Documentation License.
1471 Tracepoints-related commands are now fully documented in the GDB
1474 TUI, the Text-mode User Interface, is now documented in the manual.
1476 Tracepoints-related commands are now fully documented in the GDB
1479 The "GDB Internals" manual now has an index. It also includes
1480 documentation of `ui_out' functions, GDB coding standards, x86
1481 hardware watchpoints, and memory region attributes.
1483 * GDB's version number moved to ``version.in''
1485 The Makefile variable VERSION has been replaced by the file
1486 ``version.in''. People creating GDB distributions should update the
1487 contents of this file.
1491 GUD support is now a standard part of the EMACS distribution.
1493 *** Changes in GDB 5.0:
1495 * Improved support for debugging FP programs on x86 targets
1497 Unified and much-improved support for debugging floating-point
1498 programs on all x86 targets. In particular, ``info float'' now
1499 displays the FP registers in the same format on all x86 targets, with
1500 greater level of detail.
1502 * Improvements and bugfixes in hardware-assisted watchpoints
1504 It is now possible to watch array elements, struct members, and
1505 bitfields with hardware-assisted watchpoints. Data-read watchpoints
1506 on x86 targets no longer erroneously trigger when the address is
1509 * Improvements in the native DJGPP version of GDB
1511 The distribution now includes all the scripts and auxiliary files
1512 necessary to build the native DJGPP version on MS-DOS/MS-Windows
1513 machines ``out of the box''.
1515 The DJGPP version can now debug programs that use signals. It is
1516 possible to catch signals that happened in the debuggee, deliver
1517 signals to it, interrupt it with Ctrl-C, etc. (Previously, a signal
1518 would kill the program being debugged.) Programs that hook hardware
1519 interrupts (keyboard, timer, etc.) can also be debugged.
1521 It is now possible to debug DJGPP programs that redirect their
1522 standard handles or switch them to raw (as opposed to cooked) mode, or
1523 even close them. The command ``run < foo > bar'' works as expected,
1524 and ``info terminal'' reports useful information about the debuggee's
1525 terminal, including raw/cooked mode, redirection, etc.
1527 The DJGPP version now uses termios functions for console I/O, which
1528 enables debugging graphics programs. Interrupting GDB with Ctrl-C
1531 DOS-style file names with drive letters are now fully supported by
1534 It is now possible to debug DJGPP programs that switch their working
1535 directory. It is also possible to rerun the debuggee any number of
1536 times without restarting GDB; thus, you can use the same setup,
1537 breakpoints, etc. for many debugging sessions.
1539 * New native configurations
1541 ARM GNU/Linux arm*-*-linux*
1542 PowerPC GNU/Linux powerpc-*-linux*
1546 Motorola MCore mcore-*-*
1547 x86 VxWorks i[3456]86-*-vxworks*
1548 PowerPC VxWorks powerpc-*-vxworks*
1549 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
1551 * OBSOLETE configurations
1553 Altos 3068 m68*-altos-*
1554 Convex c1-*-*, c2-*-*
1556 ARM RISCix arm-*-* (as host)
1559 Configurations that have been declared obsolete will be commented out,
1560 but the code will be left in place. If there is no activity to revive
1561 these configurations before the next release of GDB, the sources will
1562 be permanently REMOVED.
1564 * Gould support removed
1566 Support for the Gould PowerNode and NP1 has been removed.
1568 * New features for SVR4
1570 On SVR4 native platforms (such as Solaris), if you attach to a process
1571 without first loading a symbol file, GDB will now attempt to locate and
1572 load symbols from the running process's executable file.
1574 * Many C++ enhancements
1576 C++ support has been greatly improved. Overload resolution now works properly
1577 in almost all cases. RTTI support is on the way.
1579 * Remote targets can connect to a sub-program
1581 A popen(3) style serial-device has been added. This device starts a
1582 sub-process (such as a stand-alone simulator) and then communicates
1583 with that. The sub-program to run is specified using the syntax
1584 ``|<program> <args>'' vis:
1586 (gdb) set remotedebug 1
1587 (gdb) target extended-remote |mn10300-elf-sim program-args
1589 * MIPS 64 remote protocol
1591 A long standing bug in the mips64 remote protocol where by GDB
1592 expected certain 32 bit registers (ex SR) to be transfered as 32
1593 instead of 64 bits has been fixed.
1595 The command ``set remote-mips64-transfers-32bit-regs on'' has been
1596 added to provide backward compatibility with older versions of GDB.
1598 * ``set remotebinarydownload'' replaced by ``set remote X-packet''
1600 The command ``set remotebinarydownload'' command has been replaced by
1601 ``set remote X-packet''. Other commands in ``set remote'' family
1602 include ``set remote P-packet''.
1604 * Breakpoint commands accept ranges.
1606 The breakpoint commands ``enable'', ``disable'', and ``delete'' now
1607 accept a range of breakpoints, e.g. ``5-7''. The tracepoint command
1608 ``tracepoint passcount'' also accepts a range of tracepoints.
1610 * ``apropos'' command added.
1612 The ``apropos'' command searches through command names and
1613 documentation strings, printing out matches, making it much easier to
1614 try to find a command that does what you are looking for.
1618 A new machine oriented interface (MI) has been added to GDB. This
1619 interface is designed for debug environments running GDB as a separate
1620 process. This is part of the long term libGDB project. See the
1621 "GDB/MI" chapter of the GDB manual for further information. It can be
1622 enabled by configuring with:
1624 .../configure --enable-gdbmi
1626 *** Changes in GDB-4.18:
1628 * New native configurations
1630 HP-UX 10.20 hppa*-*-hpux10.20
1631 HP-UX 11.x hppa*-*-hpux11.0*
1632 M68K GNU/Linux m68*-*-linux*
1636 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
1637 Intel StrongARM strongarm-*-*
1638 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
1640 * OBSOLETE configurations
1642 Gould PowerNode, NP1 np1-*-*, pn-*-*
1644 Configurations that have been declared obsolete will be commented out,
1645 but the code will be left in place. If there is no activity to revive
1646 these configurations before the next release of GDB, the sources will
1647 be permanently REMOVED.
1651 As a compatibility experiment, GDB's source files buildsym.h and
1652 buildsym.c have been converted to pure standard C, no longer
1653 containing any K&R compatibility code. We believe that all systems in
1654 use today either come with a standard C compiler, or have a GCC port
1655 available. If this is not true, please report the affected
1656 configuration to bug-gdb@gnu.org immediately. See the README file for
1657 information about getting a standard C compiler if you don't have one
1662 GDB now uses readline 2.2.
1664 * set extension-language
1666 You can now control the mapping between filename extensions and source
1667 languages by using the `set extension-language' command. For instance,
1668 you can ask GDB to treat .c files as C++ by saying
1669 set extension-language .c c++
1670 The command `info extensions' lists all of the recognized extensions
1671 and their associated languages.
1673 * Setting processor type for PowerPC and RS/6000
1675 When GDB is configured for a powerpc*-*-* or an rs6000*-*-* target,
1676 you can use the `set processor' command to specify what variant of the
1677 PowerPC family you are debugging. The command
1681 sets the PowerPC/RS6000 variant to NAME. GDB knows about the
1682 following PowerPC and RS6000 variants:
1684 ppc-uisa PowerPC UISA - a PPC processor as viewed by user-level code
1685 rs6000 IBM RS6000 ("POWER") architecture, user-level view
1687 403GC IBM PowerPC 403GC
1688 505 Motorola PowerPC 505
1689 860 Motorola PowerPC 860 or 850
1690 601 Motorola PowerPC 601
1691 602 Motorola PowerPC 602
1692 603 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 603 or 603e
1693 604 Motorola PowerPC 604 or 604e
1694 750 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 750 or 750
1696 At the moment, this command just tells GDB what to name the
1697 special-purpose processor registers. Since almost all the affected
1698 registers are inaccessible to user-level programs, this command is
1699 only useful for remote debugging in its present form.
1703 Thanks to a major code donation from Hewlett-Packard, GDB now has much
1704 more extensive support for HP-UX. Added features include shared
1705 library support, kernel threads and hardware watchpoints for 11.00,
1706 support for HP's ANSI C and C++ compilers, and a compatibility mode
1707 for xdb and dbx commands.
1711 HP's donation includes the new concept of catchpoints, which is a
1712 generalization of the old catch command. On HP-UX, it is now possible
1713 to catch exec, fork, and vfork, as well as library loading.
1715 This means that the existing catch command has changed; its first
1716 argument now specifies the type of catch to be set up. See the
1717 output of "help catch" for a list of catchpoint types.
1719 * Debugging across forks
1721 On HP-UX, you can choose which process to debug when a fork() happens
1726 HP has donated a curses-based terminal user interface (TUI). To get
1727 it, build with --enable-tui. Although this can be enabled for any
1728 configuration, at present it only works for native HP debugging.
1730 * GDB remote protocol additions
1732 A new protocol packet 'X' that writes binary data is now available.
1733 Default behavior is to try 'X', then drop back to 'M' if the stub
1734 fails to respond. The settable variable `remotebinarydownload'
1735 allows explicit control over the use of 'X'.
1737 For 64-bit targets, the memory packets ('M' and 'm') can now contain a
1738 full 64-bit address. The command
1740 set remoteaddresssize 32
1742 can be used to revert to the old behaviour. For existing remote stubs
1743 the change should not be noticed, as the additional address information
1746 In order to assist in debugging stubs, you may use the maintenance
1747 command `packet' to send any text string to the stub. For instance,
1749 maint packet heythere
1751 sends the packet "$heythere#<checksum>". Note that it is very easy to
1752 disrupt a debugging session by sending the wrong packet at the wrong
1755 The compare-sections command allows you to compare section data on the
1756 target to what is in the executable file without uploading or
1757 downloading, by comparing CRC checksums.
1759 * Tracing can collect general expressions
1761 You may now collect general expressions at tracepoints. This requires
1762 further additions to the target-side stub; see tracepoint.c and
1763 doc/agentexpr.texi for further details.
1765 * mask-address variable for Mips
1767 For Mips targets, you may control the zeroing of the upper 32 bits of
1768 a 64-bit address by entering `set mask-address on'. This is mainly
1769 of interest to users of embedded R4xxx and R5xxx processors.
1771 * Higher serial baud rates
1773 GDB's serial code now allows you to specify baud rates 57600, 115200,
1774 230400, and 460800 baud. (Note that your host system may not be able
1775 to achieve all of these rates.)
1779 The i960 configuration now includes an initial implementation of a
1780 builtin simulator, contributed by Jim Wilson.
1783 *** Changes in GDB-4.17:
1785 * New native configurations
1787 Alpha GNU/Linux alpha*-*-linux*
1788 Unixware 2.x i[3456]86-unixware2*
1789 Irix 6.x mips*-sgi-irix6*
1790 PowerPC GNU/Linux powerpc-*-linux*
1791 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
1792 Sparc GNU/Linux sparc-*-linux*
1793 Motorola sysV68 R3V7.1 m68k-motorola-sysv
1797 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
1798 Hitachi H8/300S h8300*-*-*
1799 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
1800 Matsushita MN10300 w/simulator mn10300-*-*
1801 MIPS NEC VR4100 mips64*vr4100*{,el}-*-elf*
1802 MIPS NEC VR5000 mips64*vr5000*{,el}-*-elf*
1803 MIPS Toshiba TX39 mips64*tx39*{,el}-*-elf*
1804 Mitsubishi D10V w/simulator d10v-*-*
1805 Mitsubishi M32R/D w/simulator m32r-*-elf*
1806 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
1807 NEC V850 w/simulator v850-*-*
1809 * New debugging protocols
1811 ARM with RDI protocol arm*-*-*
1812 M68K with dBUG monitor m68*-*-{aout,coff,elf}
1813 DDB and LSI variants of PMON protocol mips*-*-*
1814 PowerPC with DINK32 monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
1815 PowerPC with SDS protocol powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
1816 Macraigor OCD (Wiggler) devices powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
1820 All configurations can now understand and use the DWARF 2 debugging
1821 format. The choice is automatic, if the symbol file contains DWARF 2
1826 GDB now includes basic Java language support. This support is
1827 only useful with Java compilers that produce native machine code.
1829 * solib-absolute-prefix and solib-search-path
1831 For SunOS and SVR4 shared libraries, you may now set the prefix for
1832 loading absolute shared library symbol files, and the search path for
1833 locating non-absolute shared library symbol files.
1835 * Live range splitting
1837 GDB can now effectively debug code for which GCC has performed live
1838 range splitting as part of its optimization. See gdb/doc/LRS for
1839 more details on the expected format of the stabs information.
1843 GDB's support for the GNU Hurd, including thread debugging, has been
1844 updated to work with current versions of the Hurd.
1848 GDB's ARM target configuration now handles the ARM7T (Thumb) 16-bit
1849 instruction set. ARM GDB automatically detects when Thumb
1850 instructions are in use, and adjusts disassembly and backtracing
1855 GDB's MIPS target configurations now handle the MIP16 16-bit
1860 GDB now includes support for overlays; if an executable has been
1861 linked such that multiple sections are based at the same address, GDB
1862 will decide which section to use for symbolic info. You can choose to
1863 control the decision manually, using overlay commands, or implement
1864 additional target-side support and use "overlay load-target" to bring
1865 in the overlay mapping. Do "help overlay" for more detail.
1869 The command "info symbol <address>" displays information about
1870 the symbol at the specified address.
1874 The standard remote protocol now includes an extension that allows
1875 asynchronous collection and display of trace data. This requires
1876 extensive support in the target-side debugging stub. Tracing mode
1877 includes a new interaction mode in GDB and new commands: see the
1878 file tracepoint.c for more details.
1882 Configurations for embedded MIPS now include a simulator contributed
1883 by Cygnus Solutions. The simulator supports the instruction sets
1884 of most MIPS variants.
1888 Sparc configurations may now include the ERC32 simulator contributed
1889 by the European Space Agency. The simulator is not built into
1890 Sparc targets by default; configure with --enable-sim to include it.
1894 For target configurations that may include multiple variants of a
1895 basic architecture (such as MIPS and SH), you may now set the
1896 architecture explicitly. "set arch" sets, "info arch" lists
1897 the possible architectures.
1899 *** Changes in GDB-4.16:
1901 * New native configurations
1903 Windows 95, x86 Windows NT i[345]86-*-cygwin32
1904 M68K NetBSD m68k-*-netbsd*
1905 PowerPC AIX 4.x powerpc-*-aix*
1906 PowerPC MacOS powerpc-*-macos*
1907 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
1908 RS/6000 AIX 4.x rs6000-*-aix4*
1912 ARM with RDP protocol arm-*-*
1913 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
1914 MIPS VxWorks mips*-*-vxworks*
1915 MIPS VR4300 with PMON mips64*vr4300{,el}-*-elf*
1916 PowerPC with PPCBUG monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi*
1918 Matra Sparclet sparclet-*-*
1922 The powerpc-eabi configuration now includes the PSIM simulator,
1923 contributed by Andrew Cagney, with assistance from Mike Meissner.
1924 PSIM is a very elaborate model of the PowerPC, including not only
1925 basic instruction set execution, but also details of execution unit
1926 performance and I/O hardware. See sim/ppc/README for more details.
1930 GDB now works with Solaris 2.5.
1932 * Windows 95/NT native
1934 GDB will now work as a native debugger on Windows 95 and Windows NT.
1935 To build it from source, you must use the "gnu-win32" environment,
1936 which uses a DLL to emulate enough of Unix to run the GNU tools.
1937 Further information, binaries, and sources are available at
1938 ftp.cygnus.com, under pub/gnu-win32.
1940 * dont-repeat command
1942 If a user-defined command includes the command `dont-repeat', then the
1943 command will not be repeated if the user just types return. This is
1944 useful if the command is time-consuming to run, so that accidental
1945 extra keystrokes don't run the same command many times.
1947 * Send break instead of ^C
1949 The standard remote protocol now includes an option to send a break
1950 rather than a ^C to the target in order to interrupt it. By default,
1951 GDB will send ^C; to send a break, set the variable `remotebreak' to 1.
1953 * Remote protocol timeout
1955 The standard remote protocol includes a new variable `remotetimeout'
1956 that allows you to set the number of seconds before GDB gives up trying
1957 to read from the target. The default value is 2.
1959 * Automatic tracking of dynamic object loading (HPUX and Solaris only)
1961 By default GDB will automatically keep track of objects as they are
1962 loaded and unloaded by the dynamic linker. By using the command `set
1963 stop-on-solib-events 1' you can arrange for GDB to stop the inferior
1964 when shared library events occur, thus allowing you to set breakpoints
1965 in shared libraries which are explicitly loaded by the inferior.
1967 Note this feature does not work on hpux8. On hpux9 you must link
1968 /usr/lib/end.o into your program. This feature should work
1969 automatically on hpux10.
1971 * Irix 5.x hardware watchpoint support
1973 Irix 5 configurations now support the use of hardware watchpoints.
1975 * Mips protocol "SYN garbage limit"
1977 When debugging a Mips target using the `target mips' protocol, you
1978 may set the number of characters that GDB will ignore by setting
1979 the `syn-garbage-limit'. A value of -1 means that GDB will ignore
1980 every character. The default value is 1050.
1982 * Recording and replaying remote debug sessions
1984 If you set `remotelogfile' to the name of a file, gdb will write to it
1985 a recording of a remote debug session. This recording may then be
1986 replayed back to gdb using "gdbreplay". See gdbserver/README for
1987 details. This is useful when you have a problem with GDB while doing
1988 remote debugging; you can make a recording of the session and send it
1989 to someone else, who can then recreate the problem.
1991 * Speedups for remote debugging
1993 GDB includes speedups for downloading and stepping MIPS systems using
1994 the IDT monitor, fast downloads to the Hitachi SH E7000 emulator,
1995 and more efficient S-record downloading.
1997 * Memory use reductions and statistics collection
1999 GDB now uses less memory and reports statistics about memory usage.
2000 Try the `maint print statistics' command, for example.
2002 *** Changes in GDB-4.15:
2004 * Psymtabs for XCOFF
2006 The symbol reader for AIX GDB now uses partial symbol tables. This
2007 can greatly improve startup time, especially for large executables.
2009 * Remote targets use caching
2011 Remote targets now use a data cache to speed up communication with the
2012 remote side. The data cache could lead to incorrect results because
2013 it doesn't know about volatile variables, thus making it impossible to
2014 debug targets which use memory mapped I/O devices. `set remotecache
2015 off' turns the the data cache off.
2017 * Remote targets may have threads
2019 The standard remote protocol now includes support for multiple threads
2020 in the target system, using new protocol commands 'H' and 'T'. See
2021 gdb/remote.c for details.
2025 If GDB is configured with `--enable-netrom', then it will include
2026 support for the NetROM ROM emulator from XLNT Designs. The NetROM
2027 acts as though it is a bank of ROM on the target board, but you can
2028 write into it over the network. GDB's support consists only of
2029 support for fast loading into the emulated ROM; to debug, you must use
2030 another protocol, such as standard remote protocol. The usual
2031 sequence is something like
2033 target nrom <netrom-hostname>
2035 target remote <netrom-hostname>:1235
2039 GDB now includes support for the Apple Macintosh, as a host only. It
2040 may be run as either an MPW tool or as a standalone application, and
2041 it can debug through the serial port. All the usual GDB commands are
2042 available, but to the target command, you must supply "serial" as the
2043 device type instead of "/dev/ttyXX". See mpw-README in the main
2044 directory for more information on how to build. The MPW configuration
2045 scripts */mpw-config.in support only a few targets, and only the
2046 mips-idt-ecoff target has been tested.
2050 GDB configuration now uses autoconf. This is not user-visible,
2051 but does simplify configuration and building.
2055 GDB now supports hpux10.
2057 *** Changes in GDB-4.14:
2059 * New native configurations
2061 x86 FreeBSD i[345]86-*-freebsd
2062 x86 NetBSD i[345]86-*-netbsd
2063 NS32k NetBSD ns32k-*-netbsd
2064 Sparc NetBSD sparc-*-netbsd
2068 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
2069 HP PA PRO embedded (WinBond W89K & Oki OP50N) hppa*-*-pro*
2070 CPU32 EST-300 emulator m68*-*-est*
2071 PowerPC ELF powerpc-*-elf
2074 * Alpha OSF/1 support for procfs
2076 GDB now supports procfs under OSF/1-2.x and higher, which makes it
2077 possible to attach to running processes. As the mounting of the /proc
2078 filesystem is optional on the Alpha, GDB automatically determines
2079 the availability of /proc during startup. This can lead to problems
2080 if /proc is unmounted after GDB has been started.
2082 * Arguments to user-defined commands
2084 User commands may accept up to 10 arguments separated by whitespace.
2085 Arguments are accessed within the user command via $arg0..$arg9. A
2088 print $arg0 + $arg1 + $arg2
2090 To execute the command use:
2093 Defines the command "adder" which prints the sum of its three arguments.
2094 Note the arguments are text substitutions, so they may reference variables,
2095 use complex expressions, or even perform inferior function calls.
2097 * New `if' and `while' commands
2099 This makes it possible to write more sophisticated user-defined
2100 commands. Both commands take a single argument, which is the
2101 expression to evaluate, and must be followed by the commands to
2102 execute, one per line, if the expression is nonzero, the list being
2103 terminated by the word `end'. The `if' command list may include an
2104 `else' word, which causes the following commands to be executed only
2105 if the expression is zero.
2107 * Fortran source language mode
2109 GDB now includes partial support for Fortran 77. It will recognize
2110 Fortran programs and can evaluate a subset of Fortran expressions, but
2111 variables and functions may not be handled correctly. GDB will work
2112 with G77, but does not yet know much about symbols emitted by other
2115 * Better HPUX support
2117 Most debugging facilities now work on dynamic executables for HPPAs
2118 running hpux9 or later. You can attach to running dynamically linked
2119 processes, but by default the dynamic libraries will be read-only, so
2120 for instance you won't be able to put breakpoints in them. To change
2121 that behavior do the following before running the program:
2127 This will cause the libraries to be mapped private and read-write.
2128 To revert to the normal behavior, do this:
2134 You cannot set breakpoints or examine data in the library until after
2135 the library is loaded if the function/data symbols do not have
2138 GDB can now also read debug symbols produced by the HP C compiler on
2139 HPPAs (sorry, no C++, Fortran or 68k support).
2141 * Target byte order now dynamically selectable
2143 You can choose which byte order to use with a target system, via the
2144 commands "set endian big" and "set endian little", and you can see the
2145 current setting by using "show endian". You can also give the command
2146 "set endian auto", in which case GDB will use the byte order
2147 associated with the executable. Currently, only embedded MIPS
2148 configurations support dynamic selection of target byte order.
2150 * New DOS host serial code
2152 This version uses DPMI interrupts to handle buffered I/O, so you
2153 no longer need to run asynctsr when debugging boards connected to
2156 *** Changes in GDB-4.13:
2158 * New "complete" command
2160 This lists all the possible completions for the rest of the line, if it
2161 were to be given as a command itself. This is intended for use by emacs.
2163 * Trailing space optional in prompt
2165 "set prompt" no longer adds a space for you after the prompt you set. This
2166 allows you to set a prompt which ends in a space or one that does not.
2168 * Breakpoint hit counts
2170 "info break" now displays a count of the number of times the breakpoint
2171 has been hit. This is especially useful in conjunction with "ignore"; you
2172 can ignore a large number of breakpoint hits, look at the breakpoint info
2173 to see how many times the breakpoint was hit, then run again, ignoring one
2174 less than that number, and this will get you quickly to the last hit of
2177 * Ability to stop printing at NULL character
2179 "set print null-stop" will cause GDB to stop printing the characters of
2180 an array when the first NULL is encountered. This is useful when large
2181 arrays actually contain only short strings.
2183 * Shared library breakpoints
2185 In SunOS 4.x, SVR4, and Alpha OSF/1 configurations, you can now set
2186 breakpoints in shared libraries before the executable is run.
2188 * Hardware watchpoints
2190 There is a new hardware breakpoint for the watch command for sparclite
2191 targets. See gdb/sparclite/hw_breakpoint.note.
2193 Hardware watchpoints are also now supported under GNU/Linux.
2197 Annotations have been added. These are for use with graphical interfaces,
2198 and are still experimental. Currently only gdba.el uses these.
2200 * Improved Irix 5 support
2202 GDB now works properly with Irix 5.2.
2204 * Improved HPPA support
2206 GDB now works properly with the latest GCC and GAS.
2208 * New native configurations
2210 Sequent PTX4 i[34]86-sequent-ptx4
2211 HPPA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
2212 Atari TT running SVR4 m68*-*-sysv4*
2213 RS/6000 LynxOS rs6000-*-lynxos*
2217 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
2218 MIPS R4000 mips64*{,el}-*-{ecoff,elf}
2221 * Hitachi SH7000 and E7000-PC ICE support
2223 There is now support for communicating with the Hitachi E7000-PC ICE.
2224 This is available automatically when GDB is configured for the SH.
2228 As usual, a variety of small fixes and improvements, both generic
2229 and configuration-specific. See the ChangeLog for more detail.
2231 *** Changes in GDB-4.12:
2233 * Irix 5 is now supported
2237 GDB-4.12 on the HPPA has a number of changes which make it unable
2238 to debug the output from the currently released versions of GCC and
2239 GAS (GCC 2.5.8 and GAS-2.2 or PAGAS-1.36). Until the next major release
2240 of GCC and GAS, versions of these tools designed to work with GDB-4.12
2241 can be retrieved via anonymous ftp from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist.
2244 *** Changes in GDB-4.11:
2246 * User visible changes:
2250 The "set remotedebug" option is now consistent between the mips remote
2251 target, remote targets using the gdb-specific protocol, UDI (AMD's
2252 debug protocol for the 29k) and the 88k bug monitor. It is now an
2253 integer specifying a debug level (normally 0 or 1, but 2 means more
2254 debugging info for the mips target).
2256 * DEC Alpha native support
2258 GDB now works on the DEC Alpha. GCC 2.4.5 does not produce usable
2259 debug info, but GDB works fairly well with the DEC compiler and should
2260 work with a future GCC release. See the README file for a few
2261 Alpha-specific notes.
2263 * Preliminary thread implementation
2265 GDB now has preliminary thread support for both SGI/Irix and LynxOS.
2267 * LynxOS native and target support for 386
2269 This release has been hosted on LynxOS 2.2, and also can be configured
2270 to remotely debug programs running under LynxOS (see gdb/gdbserver/README
2273 * Improvements in C++ mangling/demangling.
2275 This release has much better g++ debugging, specifically in name
2276 mangling/demangling, virtual function calls, print virtual table,
2277 call methods, ...etc.
2279 *** Changes in GDB-4.10:
2281 * User visible changes:
2283 Remote debugging using the GDB-specific (`target remote') protocol now
2284 supports the `load' command. This is only useful if you have some
2285 other way of getting the stub to the target system, and you can put it
2286 somewhere in memory where it won't get clobbered by the download.
2288 Filename completion now works.
2290 When run under emacs mode, the "info line" command now causes the
2291 arrow to point to the line specified. Also, "info line" prints
2292 addresses in symbolic form (as well as hex).
2294 All vxworks based targets now support a user settable option, called
2295 vxworks-timeout. This option represents the number of seconds gdb
2296 should wait for responses to rpc's. You might want to use this if
2297 your vxworks target is, perhaps, a slow software simulator or happens
2298 to be on the far side of a thin network line.
2302 This release contains support for using a DEC alpha as a GDB host for
2303 cross debugging. Native alpha debugging is not supported yet.
2306 *** Changes in GDB-4.9:
2310 This is the first GDB release which is accompanied by a matching testsuite.
2311 The testsuite requires installation of dejagnu, which should be available
2312 via ftp from most sites that carry GNU software.
2316 'Cfront' style demangling has had its name changed to 'ARM' style, to
2317 emphasize that it was written from the specifications in the C++ Annotated
2318 Reference Manual, not necessarily to be compatible with AT&T cfront. Despite
2319 disclaimers, it still generated too much confusion with users attempting to
2320 use gdb with AT&T cfront.
2324 GDB now uses a standard remote interface to a simulator library.
2325 So far, the library contains simulators for the Zilog Z8001/2, the
2326 Hitachi H8/300, H8/500 and Super-H.
2328 * New targets supported
2330 H8/300 simulator h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
2331 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
2332 SH simulator sh-hitachi-hms or sh
2333 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
2334 IDT MIPS board over serial line mips-idt-ecoff
2336 Cross-debugging to GO32 targets is supported. It requires a custom
2337 version of the i386-stub.c module which is integrated with the
2338 GO32 memory extender.
2340 * New remote protocols
2342 MIPS remote debugging protocol.
2344 * New source languages supported
2346 This version includes preliminary support for Chill, a Pascal like language
2347 used by telecommunications companies. Chill support is also being integrated
2348 into the GNU compiler, but we don't know when it will be publically available.
2351 *** Changes in GDB-4.8:
2353 * HP Precision Architecture supported
2355 GDB now supports HP PA-RISC machines running HPUX. A preliminary
2356 version of this support was available as a set of patches from the
2357 University of Utah. GDB does not support debugging of programs
2358 compiled with the HP compiler, because HP will not document their file
2359 format. Instead, you must use GCC (version 2.3.2 or later) and PA-GAS
2360 (as available from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist/pa-gas.u4.tar.Z).
2362 Many problems in the preliminary version have been fixed.
2364 * Faster and better demangling
2366 We have improved template demangling and fixed numerous bugs in the GNU style
2367 demangler. It can now handle type modifiers such as `static' or `const'. Wide
2368 character types (wchar_t) are now supported. Demangling of each symbol is now
2369 only done once, and is cached when the symbol table for a file is read in.
2370 This results in a small increase in memory usage for C programs, a moderate
2371 increase in memory usage for C++ programs, and a fantastic speedup in
2374 `Cfront' style demangling still doesn't work with AT&T cfront. It was written
2375 from the specifications in the Annotated Reference Manual, which AT&T's
2376 compiler does not actually implement.
2378 * G++ multiple inheritance compiler problem
2380 In the 2.3.2 release of gcc/g++, how the compiler resolves multiple
2381 inheritance lattices was reworked to properly discover ambiguities. We
2382 recently found an example which causes this new algorithm to fail in a
2383 very subtle way, producing bad debug information for those classes.
2384 The file 'gcc.patch' (in this directory) can be applied to gcc to
2385 circumvent the problem. A future GCC release will contain a complete
2388 The previous G++ debug info problem (mentioned below for the gdb-4.7
2389 release) is fixed in gcc version 2.3.2.
2391 * Improved configure script
2393 The `configure' script will now attempt to guess your system type if
2394 you don't supply a host system type. The old scheme of supplying a
2395 host system triplet is preferable over using this. All the magic is
2396 done in the new `config.guess' script. Examine it for details.
2398 We have also brought our configure script much more in line with the FSF's
2399 version. It now supports the --with-xxx options. In particular,
2400 `--with-minimal-bfd' can be used to make the GDB binary image smaller.
2401 The resulting GDB will not be able to read arbitrary object file formats --
2402 only the format ``expected'' to be used on the configured target system.
2403 We hope to make this the default in a future release.
2405 * Documentation improvements
2407 There's new internal documentation on how to modify GDB, and how to
2408 produce clean changes to the code. We implore people to read it
2409 before submitting changes.
2411 The GDB manual uses new, sexy Texinfo conditionals, rather than arcane
2412 M4 macros. The new texinfo.tex is provided in this release. Pre-built
2413 `info' files are also provided. To build `info' files from scratch,
2414 you will need the latest `makeinfo' release, which will be available in
2415 a future texinfo-X.Y release.
2417 *NOTE* The new texinfo.tex can cause old versions of TeX to hang.
2418 We're not sure exactly which versions have this problem, but it has
2419 been seen in 3.0. We highly recommend upgrading to TeX version 3.141
2420 or better. If that isn't possible, there is a patch in
2421 `texinfo/tex3patch' that will modify `texinfo/texinfo.tex' to work
2422 around this problem.
2426 GDB now supports array constants that can be used in expressions typed in by
2427 the user. The syntax is `{element, element, ...}'. Ie: you can now type
2428 `print {1, 2, 3}', and it will build up an array in memory malloc'd in
2431 The new directory `gdb/sparclite' contains a program that demonstrates
2432 how the sparc-stub.c remote stub runs on a Fujitsu SPARClite processor.
2434 * New native hosts supported
2436 HP/PA-RISC under HPUX using GNU tools hppa1.1-hp-hpux
2437 386 CPUs running SCO Unix 3.2v4 i386-unknown-sco3.2v4
2439 * New targets supported
2441 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi or udi29k
2443 * New file formats supported
2445 BFD now supports reading HP/PA-RISC executables (SOM file format?),
2446 HPUX core files, and SCO 3.2v2 core files.
2450 Attaching to processes now works again; thanks for the many bug reports.
2452 We have also stomped on a bunch of core dumps caused by
2453 printf_filtered("%s") problems.
2455 We eliminated a copyright problem on the rpc and ptrace header files
2456 for VxWorks, which was discovered at the last minute during the 4.7
2457 release. You should now be able to build a VxWorks GDB.
2459 You can now interrupt gdb while an attached process is running. This
2460 will cause the attached process to stop, and give control back to GDB.
2462 We fixed problems caused by using too many file descriptors
2463 for reading symbols from object files and libraries. This was
2464 especially a problem for programs that used many (~100) shared
2467 The `step' command now only enters a subroutine if there is line number
2468 information for the subroutine. Otherwise it acts like the `next'
2469 command. Previously, `step' would enter subroutines if there was
2470 any debugging information about the routine. This avoids problems
2471 when using `cc -g1' on MIPS machines.
2473 * Internal improvements
2475 GDB's internal interfaces have been improved to make it easier to support
2476 debugging of multiple languages in the future.
2478 GDB now uses a common structure for symbol information internally.
2479 Minimal symbols (derived from linkage symbols in object files), partial
2480 symbols (from a quick scan of debug information), and full symbols
2481 contain a common subset of information, making it easier to write
2482 shared code that handles any of them.
2484 * New command line options
2486 We now accept --silent as an alias for --quiet.
2490 The memory-mapped-malloc library is now licensed under the GNU Library
2491 General Public License.
2493 *** Changes in GDB-4.7:
2495 * Host/native/target split
2497 GDB has had some major internal surgery to untangle the support for
2498 hosts and remote targets. Now, when you configure GDB for a remote
2499 target, it will no longer load in all of the support for debugging
2500 local programs on the host. When fully completed and tested, this will
2501 ensure that arbitrary host/target combinations are possible.
2503 The primary conceptual shift is to separate the non-portable code in
2504 GDB into three categories. Host specific code is required any time GDB
2505 is compiled on that host, regardless of the target. Target specific
2506 code relates to the peculiarities of the target, but can be compiled on
2507 any host. Native specific code is everything else: it can only be
2508 built when the host and target are the same system. Child process
2509 handling and core file support are two common `native' examples.
2511 GDB's use of /proc for controlling Unix child processes is now cleaner.
2512 It has been split out into a single module under the `target_ops' vector,
2513 plus two native-dependent functions for each system that uses /proc.
2515 * New hosts supported
2517 HP/Apollo 68k (under the BSD domain) m68k-apollo-bsd or apollo68bsd
2518 386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
2519 386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or i386sco
2521 * New targets supported
2523 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
2524 68030 and CPU32 m68030-*-*, m68332-*-*
2526 * New native hosts supported
2528 386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
2529 (386bsd is not well tested yet)
2530 386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or sco
2532 * New file formats supported
2534 BFD now supports COFF files for the Zilog Z8000 microprocessor. It
2535 supports reading of `a.out.adobe' object files, which are an a.out
2536 format extended with minimal information about multiple sections.
2540 `show copying' is the same as the old `info copying'.
2541 `show warranty' is the same as `info warrantee'.
2542 These were renamed for consistency. The old commands continue to work.
2544 `info handle' is a new alias for `info signals'.
2546 You can now define pre-command hooks, which attach arbitrary command
2547 scripts to any command. The commands in the hook will be executed
2548 prior to the user's command. You can also create a hook which will be
2549 executed whenever the program stops. See gdb.texinfo.
2553 We now deal with Cfront style name mangling, and can even extract type
2554 info from mangled symbols. GDB can automatically figure out which
2555 symbol mangling style your C++ compiler uses.
2557 Calling of methods and virtual functions has been improved as well.
2561 The crash that occured when debugging Sun Ansi-C compiled binaries is
2562 fixed. This was due to mishandling of the extra N_SO stabs output
2565 We also finally got Ultrix 4.2 running in house, and fixed core file
2566 support, with help from a dozen people on the net.
2568 John M. Farrell discovered that the reason that single-stepping was so
2569 slow on all of the Mips based platforms (primarily SGI and DEC) was
2570 that we were trying to demangle and lookup a symbol used for internal
2571 purposes on every instruction that was being stepped through. Changing
2572 the name of that symbol so that it couldn't be mistaken for a C++
2573 mangled symbol sped things up a great deal.
2575 Rich Pixley sped up symbol lookups in general by getting much smarter
2576 about when C++ symbol mangling is necessary. This should make symbol
2577 completion (TAB on the command line) much faster. It's not as fast as
2578 we'd like, but it's significantly faster than gdb-4.6.
2582 A new user controllable variable 'call_scratch_address' can
2583 specify the location of a scratch area to be used when GDB
2584 calls a function in the target. This is necessary because the
2585 usual method of putting the scratch area on the stack does not work
2586 in systems that have separate instruction and data spaces.
2588 We integrated changes to support the 29k UDI (Universal Debugger
2589 Interface), but discovered at the last minute that we didn't have all
2590 of the appropriate copyright paperwork. We are working with AMD to
2591 resolve this, and hope to have it available soon.
2595 We have sped up the remote serial line protocol, especially for targets
2596 with lots of registers. It now supports a new `expedited status' ('T')
2597 message which can be used in place of the existing 'S' status message.
2598 This allows the remote stub to send only the registers that GDB
2599 needs to make a quick decision about single-stepping or conditional
2600 breakpoints, eliminating the need to fetch the entire register set for
2601 each instruction being stepped through.
2603 The GDB remote serial protocol now implements a write-through cache for
2604 registers, only re-reading the registers if the target has run.
2606 There is also a new remote serial stub for SPARC processors. You can
2607 find it in gdb-4.7/gdb/sparc-stub.c. This was written to support the
2608 Fujitsu SPARClite processor, but will run on any stand-alone SPARC
2609 processor with a serial port.
2613 Configure.in files have become much easier to read and modify. A new
2614 `table driven' format makes it more obvious what configurations are
2615 supported, and what files each one uses.
2619 There is a new opcodes library which will eventually contain all of the
2620 disassembly routines and opcode tables. At present, it only contains
2621 Sparc and Z8000 routines. This will allow the assembler, debugger, and
2622 disassembler (binutils/objdump) to share these routines.
2624 The libiberty library is now copylefted under the GNU Library General
2625 Public License. This allows more liberal use, and was done so libg++
2626 can use it. This makes no difference to GDB, since the Library License
2627 grants all the rights from the General Public License.
2631 The file gdb-4.7/gdb/doc/stabs.texinfo is a (relatively) complete
2632 reference to the stabs symbol info used by the debugger. It is (as far
2633 as we know) the only published document on this fascinating topic. We
2634 encourage you to read it, compare it to the stabs information on your
2635 system, and send improvements on the document in general (to
2636 bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu).
2638 And, of course, many bugs have been fixed.
2641 *** Changes in GDB-4.6:
2643 * Better support for C++ function names
2645 GDB now accepts as input the "demangled form" of C++ overloaded function
2646 names and member function names, and can do command completion on such names
2647 (using TAB, TAB-TAB, and ESC-?). The names have to be quoted with a pair of
2648 single quotes. Examples are 'func (int, long)' and 'obj::operator==(obj&)'.
2649 Make use of command completion, it is your friend.
2651 GDB also now accepts a variety of C++ mangled symbol formats. They are
2652 the GNU g++ style, the Cfront (ARM) style, and the Lucid (lcc) style.
2653 You can tell GDB which format to use by doing a 'set demangle-style {gnu,
2654 lucid, cfront, auto}'. 'gnu' is the default. Do a 'set demangle-style foo'
2655 for the list of formats.
2657 * G++ symbol mangling problem
2659 Recent versions of gcc have a bug in how they emit debugging information for
2660 C++ methods (when using dbx-style stabs). The file 'gcc.patch' (in this
2661 directory) can be applied to gcc to fix the problem. Alternatively, if you
2662 can't fix gcc, you can #define GCC_MANGLE_BUG when compling gdb/symtab.c. The
2663 usual symptom is difficulty with setting breakpoints on methods. GDB complains
2664 about the method being non-existent. (We believe that version 2.2.2 of GCC has
2667 * New 'maintenance' command
2669 All of the commands related to hacking GDB internals have been moved out of
2670 the main command set, and now live behind the 'maintenance' command. This
2671 can also be abbreviated as 'mt'. The following changes were made:
2673 dump-me -> maintenance dump-me
2674 info all-breakpoints -> maintenance info breakpoints
2675 printmsyms -> maintenance print msyms
2676 printobjfiles -> maintenance print objfiles
2677 printpsyms -> maintenance print psymbols
2678 printsyms -> maintenance print symbols
2680 The following commands are new:
2682 maintenance demangle Call internal GDB demangler routine to
2683 demangle a C++ link name and prints the result.
2684 maintenance print type Print a type chain for a given symbol
2686 * Change to .gdbinit file processing
2688 We now read the $HOME/.gdbinit file before processing the argv arguments
2689 (e.g. reading symbol files or core files). This allows global parameters to
2690 be set, which will apply during the symbol reading. The ./.gdbinit is still
2691 read after argv processing.
2693 * New hosts supported
2695 Solaris-2.0 !!! sparc-sun-solaris2 or sun4sol2
2697 GNU/Linux support i386-unknown-linux or linux
2699 We are also including code to support the HP/PA running BSD and HPUX. This
2700 is almost guaranteed not to work, as we didn't have time to test or build it
2701 for this release. We are including it so that the more adventurous (or
2702 masochistic) of you can play with it. We also had major problems with the
2703 fact that the compiler that we got from HP doesn't support the -g option.
2706 * New targets supported
2708 Hitachi H8/300 h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
2710 * More smarts about finding #include files
2712 GDB now remembers the compilation directory for all include files, and for
2713 all files from which C is generated (like yacc and lex sources). This
2714 greatly improves GDB's ability to find yacc/lex sources, and include files,
2715 especially if you are debugging your program from a directory different from
2716 the one that contains your sources.
2718 We also fixed a bug which caused difficulty with listing and setting
2719 breakpoints in include files which contain C code. (In the past, you had to
2720 try twice in order to list an include file that you hadn't looked at before.)
2722 * Interesting infernals change
2724 GDB now deals with arbitrary numbers of sections, where the symbols for each
2725 section must be relocated relative to that section's landing place in the
2726 target's address space. This work was needed to support ELF with embedded
2727 stabs used by Solaris-2.0.
2729 * Bug fixes (of course!)
2731 There have been loads of fixes for the following things:
2732 mips, rs6000, 29k/udi, m68k, g++, type handling, elf/dwarf, m88k,
2733 i960, stabs, DOS(GO32), procfs, etc...
2735 See the ChangeLog for details.
2737 *** Changes in GDB-4.5:
2739 * New machines supported (host and target)
2741 IBM RS6000 running AIX rs6000-ibm-aix or rs6000
2743 SGI Irix-4.x mips-sgi-irix4 or iris4
2745 * New malloc package
2747 GDB now uses a new memory manager called mmalloc, based on gmalloc.
2748 Mmalloc is capable of handling mutiple heaps of memory. It is also
2749 capable of saving a heap to a file, and then mapping it back in later.
2750 This can be used to greatly speedup the startup of GDB by using a
2751 pre-parsed symbol table which lives in a mmalloc managed heap. For
2752 more details, please read mmalloc/mmalloc.texi.
2756 The 'info proc' command (SVR4 only) has been enhanced quite a bit. See
2757 'help info proc' for details.
2759 * MIPS ecoff symbol table format
2761 The code that reads MIPS symbol table format is now supported on all hosts.
2762 Thanks to MIPS for releasing the sym.h and symconst.h files to make this
2765 * File name changes for MS-DOS
2767 Many files in the config directories have been renamed to make it easier to
2768 support GDB on MS-DOSe systems (which have very restrictive file name
2769 conventions :-( ). MS-DOSe host support (under DJ Delorie's GO32
2770 environment) is close to working but has some remaining problems. Note
2771 that debugging of DOS programs is not supported, due to limitations
2772 in the ``operating system'', but it can be used to host cross-debugging.
2774 * Cross byte order fixes
2776 Many fixes have been made to support cross debugging of Sparc and MIPS
2777 targets from hosts whose byte order differs.
2779 * New -mapped and -readnow options
2781 If memory-mapped files are available on your system through the 'mmap'
2782 system call, you can use the -mapped option on the `file' or
2783 `symbol-file' commands to cause GDB to write the symbols from your
2784 program into a reusable file. If the program you are debugging is
2785 called `/path/fred', the mapped symbol file will be `./fred.syms'.
2786 Future GDB debugging sessions will notice the presence of this file,
2787 and will quickly map in symbol information from it, rather than reading
2788 the symbol table from the executable program. Using the '-mapped'
2789 option in a GDB `file' or `symbol-file' command has the same effect as
2790 starting GDB with the '-mapped' command-line option.
2792 You can cause GDB to read the entire symbol table immediately by using
2793 the '-readnow' option with any of the commands that load symbol table
2794 information (or on the GDB command line). This makes the command
2795 slower, but makes future operations faster.
2797 The -mapped and -readnow options are typically combined in order to
2798 build a `fred.syms' file that contains complete symbol information.
2799 A simple GDB invocation to do nothing but build a `.syms' file for future
2802 gdb -batch -nx -mapped -readnow programname
2804 The `.syms' file is specific to the host machine on which GDB is run.
2805 It holds an exact image of GDB's internal symbol table. It cannot be
2806 shared across multiple host platforms.
2808 * longjmp() handling
2810 GDB is now capable of stepping and nexting over longjmp(), _longjmp(), and
2811 siglongjmp() without losing control. This feature has not yet been ported to
2812 all systems. It currently works on many 386 platforms, all MIPS-based
2813 platforms (SGI, DECstation, etc), and Sun3/4.
2817 Preliminary work has been put in to support the new Solaris OS from Sun. At
2818 this time, it can control and debug processes, but it is not capable of
2823 As always, many many bug fixes. The major areas were with g++, and mipsread.
2824 People using the MIPS-based platforms should experience fewer mysterious
2825 crashes and trashed symbol tables.
2827 *** Changes in GDB-4.4:
2829 * New machines supported (host and target)
2831 SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
2833 BSD Reno on Vax vax-dec-bsd
2834 Ultrix on Vax vax-dec-ultrix
2836 * New machines supported (target)
2838 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
2842 GDB continues to improve its handling of C++. `References' work better.
2843 The demangler has also been improved, and now deals with symbols mangled as
2844 per the Annotated C++ Reference Guide.
2846 GDB also now handles `stabs' symbol information embedded in MIPS
2847 `ecoff' symbol tables. Since the ecoff format was not easily
2848 extensible to handle new languages such as C++, this appeared to be a
2849 good way to put C++ debugging info into MIPS binaries. This option
2850 will be supported in the GNU C compiler, version 2, when it is
2853 * New features for SVR4
2855 GDB now handles SVR4 shared libraries, in the same fashion as SunOS
2856 shared libraries. Debugging dynamically linked programs should present
2857 only minor differences from debugging statically linked programs.
2859 The `info proc' command will print out information about any process
2860 on an SVR4 system (including the one you are debugging). At the moment,
2861 it prints the address mappings of the process.
2863 If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please send mail to
2864 bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were reqired (if any).
2866 * Better dynamic linking support in SunOS
2868 Reading symbols from shared libraries which contain debugging symbols
2869 now works properly. However, there remain issues such as automatic
2870 skipping of `transfer vector' code during function calls, which
2871 make it harder to debug code in a shared library, than to debug the
2872 same code linked statically.
2876 GDB is now using the latest `getopt' routines from the FSF. This
2877 version accepts the -- prefix for options with long names. GDB will
2878 continue to accept the old forms (-option and +option) as well.
2879 Various single letter abbreviations for options have been explicity
2880 added to the option table so that they won't get overshadowed in the
2881 future by other options that begin with the same letter.
2885 The `cleanup_undefined_types' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
2886 Many assorted bugs have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
2887 See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
2890 *** Changes in GDB-4.3:
2892 * New machines supported (host and target)
2894 Amiga 3000 running Amix m68k-cbm-svr4 or amix
2895 NCR 3000 386 running SVR4 i386-ncr-svr4 or ncr3000
2896 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
2898 * Almost SCO Unix support
2900 We had hoped to support:
2901 SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
2902 (except for core file support), but we discovered very late in the release
2903 that it has problems with process groups that render gdb unusable. Sorry
2904 about that. I encourage people to fix it and post the fixes.
2906 * Preliminary ELF and DWARF support
2908 GDB can read ELF object files on System V Release 4, and can handle
2909 debugging records for C, in DWARF format, in ELF files. This support
2910 is preliminary. If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please
2911 send mail to bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were
2916 GDB now uses the latest `readline' library. One user-visible change
2917 is that two tabs will list possible command completions, which previously
2918 required typing M-? (meta-question mark, or ESC ?).
2922 The `stepi' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
2923 Many bugs in C++ have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
2924 See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
2926 * State of the MIPS world (in case you wondered):
2928 GDB can understand the symbol tables emitted by the compilers
2929 supplied by most vendors of MIPS-based machines, including DEC. These
2930 symbol tables are in a format that essentially nobody else uses.
2932 Some versions of gcc come with an assembler post-processor called
2933 mips-tfile. This program is required if you want to do source-level
2934 debugging of gcc-compiled programs. I believe FSF does not ship
2935 mips-tfile with gcc version 1, but it will eventually come with gcc
2938 Debugging of g++ output remains a problem. g++ version 1.xx does not
2939 really support it at all. (If you're lucky, you should be able to get
2940 line numbers and stack traces to work, but no parameters or local
2941 variables.) With some work it should be possible to improve the
2944 When gcc version 2 is released, you will have somewhat better luck.
2945 However, even then you will get confusing results for inheritance and
2948 We will eventually provide full debugging of g++ output on
2949 DECstations. This will probably involve some kind of stabs-in-ecoff
2950 encapulation, but the details have not been worked out yet.
2953 *** Changes in GDB-4.2:
2955 * Improved configuration
2957 Only one copy of `configure' exists now, and it is not self-modifying.
2958 Porting BFD is simpler.
2962 The `step' and `next' commands now only stop at the first instruction
2963 of a source line. This prevents the multiple stops that used to occur
2964 in switch statements, for-loops, etc. `Step' continues to stop if a
2965 function that has debugging information is called within the line.
2969 Lots of small bugs fixed. More remain.
2971 * New host supported (not target)
2973 Intel 386 PC clone running Mach i386-none-mach
2976 *** Changes in GDB-4.1:
2978 * Multiple source language support
2980 GDB now has internal scaffolding to handle several source languages.
2981 It determines the type of each source file from its filename extension,
2982 and will switch expression parsing and number formatting to match the
2983 language of the function in the currently selected stack frame.
2984 You can also specifically set the language to be used, with
2985 `set language c' or `set language modula-2'.
2989 GDB now has preliminary support for the GNU Modula-2 compiler,
2990 currently under development at the State University of New York at
2991 Buffalo. Development of both GDB and the GNU Modula-2 compiler will
2992 continue through the fall of 1991 and into 1992.
2994 Other Modula-2 compilers are currently not supported, and attempting to
2995 debug programs compiled with them will likely result in an error as the
2996 symbol table is read. Feel free to work on it, though!
2998 There are hooks in GDB for strict type checking and range checking,
2999 in the `Modula-2 philosophy', but they do not currently work.
3003 GDB can now write to executable and core files (e.g. patch
3004 a variable's value). You must turn this switch on, specify
3005 the file ("exec foo" or "core foo"), *then* modify it, e.g.
3006 by assigning a new value to a variable. Modifications take
3009 * Automatic SunOS shared library reading
3011 When you run your program, GDB automatically determines where its
3012 shared libraries (if any) have been loaded, and reads their symbols.
3013 The `share' command is no longer needed. This also works when
3014 examining core files.
3018 You can specify the number of lines that the `list' command shows.
3021 * New machines supported (host and target)
3023 SGI Iris (MIPS) running Irix V3: mips-sgi-irix or iris
3024 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x: m68k-sony-sysv or news
3025 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1: a29k-nyu-sym1 or ultra3
3027 * New hosts supported (not targets)
3029 IBM RT/PC: romp-ibm-aix or rtpc
3031 * New targets supported (not hosts)
3033 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
3034 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
3035 Ultracomputer remote kernel debug a29k-nyu-kern
3037 * New remote interfaces
3043 *** Changes in GDB-4.0:
3047 Wide output is wrapped at good places to make the output more readable.
3049 Gdb now supports cross-debugging from a host machine of one type to a
3050 target machine of another type. Communication with the target system
3051 is over serial lines. The ``target'' command handles connecting to the
3052 remote system; the ``load'' command will download a program into the
3053 remote system. Serial stubs for the m68k and i386 are provided. Gdb
3054 also supports debugging of realtime processes running under VxWorks,
3055 using SunRPC Remote Procedure Calls over TCP/IP to talk to a debugger
3056 stub on the target system.
3058 New CPUs supported include the AMD 29000 and Intel 960.
3060 GDB now reads object files and symbol tables via a ``binary file''
3061 library, which allows a single copy of GDB to debug programs of multiple
3062 object file types such as a.out and coff.
3064 There is now a GDB reference card in "doc/refcard.tex". (Make targets
3065 refcard.dvi and refcard.ps are available to format it).
3068 * Control-Variable user interface simplified
3070 All variables that control the operation of the debugger can be set
3071 by the ``set'' command, and displayed by the ``show'' command.
3073 For example, ``set prompt new-gdb=>'' will change your prompt to new-gdb=>.
3074 ``Show prompt'' produces the response:
3075 Gdb's prompt is new-gdb=>.
3077 What follows are the NEW set commands. The command ``help set'' will
3078 print a complete list of old and new set commands. ``help set FOO''
3079 will give a longer description of the variable FOO. ``show'' will show
3080 all of the variable descriptions and their current settings.
3082 confirm on/off: Enables warning questions for operations that are
3083 hard to recover from, e.g. rerunning the program while
3084 it is already running. Default is ON.
3086 editing on/off: Enables EMACS style command line editing
3087 of input. Previous lines can be recalled with
3088 control-P, the current line can be edited with control-B,
3089 you can search for commands with control-R, etc.
3092 history filename NAME: NAME is where the gdb command history
3093 will be stored. The default is .gdb_history,
3094 or the value of the environment variable
3097 history size N: The size, in commands, of the command history. The
3098 default is 256, or the value of the environment variable
3101 history save on/off: If this value is set to ON, the history file will
3102 be saved after exiting gdb. If set to OFF, the
3103 file will not be saved. The default is OFF.
3105 history expansion on/off: If this value is set to ON, then csh-like
3106 history expansion will be performed on
3107 command line input. The default is OFF.
3109 radix N: Sets the default radix for input and output. It can be set
3110 to 8, 10, or 16. Note that the argument to "radix" is interpreted
3111 in the current radix, so "set radix 10" is always a no-op.
3113 height N: This integer value is the number of lines on a page. Default
3114 is 24, the current `stty rows'' setting, or the ``li#''
3115 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
3118 width N: This integer value is the number of characters on a line.
3119 Default is 80, the current `stty cols'' setting, or the ``co#''
3120 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
3123 Note: ``set screensize'' is obsolete. Use ``set height'' and
3124 ``set width'' instead.
3126 print address on/off: Print memory addresses in various command displays,
3127 such as stack traces and structure values. Gdb looks
3128 more ``symbolic'' if you turn this off; it looks more
3129 ``machine level'' with it on. Default is ON.
3131 print array on/off: Prettyprint arrays. New convenient format! Default
3134 print demangle on/off: Print C++ symbols in "source" form if on,
3137 print asm-demangle on/off: Same, for assembler level printouts
3140 print vtbl on/off: Prettyprint C++ virtual function tables. Default is OFF.
3143 * Support for Epoch Environment.
3145 The epoch environment is a version of Emacs v18 with windowing. One
3146 new command, ``inspect'', is identical to ``print'', except that if you
3147 are running in the epoch environment, the value is printed in its own
3151 * Support for Shared Libraries
3153 GDB can now debug programs and core files that use SunOS shared libraries.
3154 Symbols from a shared library cannot be referenced
3155 before the shared library has been linked with the program (this
3156 happens after you type ``run'' and before the function main() is entered).
3157 At any time after this linking (including when examining core files
3158 from dynamically linked programs), gdb reads the symbols from each
3159 shared library when you type the ``sharedlibrary'' command.
3160 It can be abbreviated ``share''.
3162 sharedlibrary REGEXP: Load shared object library symbols for files
3163 matching a unix regular expression. No argument
3164 indicates to load symbols for all shared libraries.
3166 info sharedlibrary: Status of loaded shared libraries.
3171 A watchpoint stops execution of a program whenever the value of an
3172 expression changes. Checking for this slows down execution
3173 tremendously whenever you are in the scope of the expression, but is
3174 quite useful for catching tough ``bit-spreader'' or pointer misuse
3175 problems. Some machines such as the 386 have hardware for doing this
3176 more quickly, and future versions of gdb will use this hardware.
3178 watch EXP: Set a watchpoint (breakpoint) for an expression.
3180 info watchpoints: Information about your watchpoints.
3182 delete N: Deletes watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
3183 disable N: Temporarily turns off watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
3184 enable N: Re-enables watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
3187 * C++ multiple inheritance
3189 When used with a GCC version 2 compiler, GDB supports multiple inheritance
3192 * C++ exception handling
3194 Gdb now supports limited C++ exception handling. Besides the existing
3195 ability to breakpoint on an exception handler, gdb can breakpoint on
3196 the raising of an exception (before the stack is peeled back to the
3199 catch FOO: If there is a FOO exception handler in the dynamic scope,
3200 set a breakpoint to catch exceptions which may be raised there.
3201 Multiple exceptions (``catch foo bar baz'') may be caught.
3203 info catch: Lists all exceptions which may be caught in the
3204 current stack frame.
3207 * Minor command changes
3209 The command ``call func (arg, arg, ...)'' now acts like the print
3210 command, except it does not print or save a value if the function's result
3211 is void. This is similar to dbx usage.
3213 The ``up'' and ``down'' commands now always print the frame they end up
3214 at; ``up-silently'' and `down-silently'' can be used in scripts to change
3215 frames without printing.
3217 * New directory command
3219 'dir' now adds directories to the FRONT of the source search path.
3220 The path starts off empty. Source files that contain debug information
3221 about the directory in which they were compiled can be found even
3222 with an empty path; Sun CC and GCC include this information. If GDB can't
3223 find your source file in the current directory, type "dir .".
3225 * Configuring GDB for compilation
3227 For normal use, type ``./configure host''. See README or gdb.texinfo
3230 GDB now handles cross debugging. If you are remotely debugging between
3231 two different machines, type ``./configure host -target=targ''.
3232 Host is the machine where GDB will run; targ is the machine
3233 where the program that you are debugging will run.
projects / deliverable / binutils-gdb.git / blob