1 What has changed in GDB?
2 (Organized release by release)
4 *** Changes since GDB 6.3
6 * REMOVED configurations and files
8 VxWorks and the XDR protocol *-*-vxworks
9 Renesas H8/300S h8300*-*-*
10 Motorola MCORE mcore-*-*
11 Matsushita MN10300 w/simulator mn10300-*-*
12 National Semiconductor NS32000 ns32k-*-*
15 *** Changes in GDB 6.3:
17 * GDB works with GCC -feliminate-dwarf2-dups
19 GDB now supports a more compact representation of DWARF-2 debug
20 information using DW_FORM_ref_addr references. These are produced
21 by GCC with the option -feliminate-dwarf2-dups and also by some
22 proprietary compilers. With GCC, you must use GCC 3.3.4 or later
23 to use -feliminate-dwarf2-dups.
25 * Internationalization
27 When supported by the host system, GDB will be built with
28 internationalization (libintl). The task of marking up the sources is
29 continued, we're looking forward to our first translation.
33 Initial support for debugging programs compiled with the GNAT
34 implementation of the Ada programming language has been integrated
35 into GDB. In this release, support is limited to expression evaluation.
37 * New native configurations
39 GNU/Linux/m32r m32r-*-linux-gnu
43 GDB's remote protocol now includes support for the 'p' packet. This
44 packet is used to fetch individual registers from a remote inferior.
46 * END-OF-LIFE registers[] compatibility module
48 GDB's internal register infrastructure has been completely rewritten.
49 The new infrastructure making possible the implementation of key new
50 features including 32x64 (e.g., 64-bit amd64 GDB debugging a 32-bit
53 GDB 6.3 will be the last release to include the the registers[]
54 compatibility module that allowed out-of-date configurations to
55 continue to work. This change directly impacts the following
67 Unless there is activity to revive these configurations, they will be
68 made OBSOLETE in GDB 6.4, and REMOVED from GDB 6.5.
70 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
72 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
73 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
74 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
84 *** Changes in GDB 6.2.1:
86 * MIPS `break main; run' gave an heuristic-fence-post warning
88 When attempting to run even a simple program, a warning about
89 heuristic-fence-post being hit would be reported. This problem has
92 * MIPS IRIX 'long double' crashed GDB
94 When examining a long double variable, GDB would get a segmentation
95 fault. The crash has been fixed (but GDB 6.2 cannot correctly examine
96 IRIX long double values).
100 A bug in the VAX stack code was causing problems with the "next"
101 command. This problem has been fixed.
103 *** Changes in GDB 6.2:
105 * Fix for ``many threads''
107 On GNU/Linux systems that use the NPTL threads library, a program
108 rapidly creating and deleting threads would confuse GDB leading to the
111 ptrace: No such process.
112 thread_db_get_info: cannot get thread info: generic error
114 This problem has been fixed.
116 * "-async" and "-noasync" options removed.
118 Support for the broken "-noasync" option has been removed (it caused
121 * New ``start'' command.
123 This command runs the program until the begining of the main procedure.
125 * New BSD Kernel Data Access Library (libkvm) interface
127 Using ``target kvm'' it is now possible to debug kernel core dumps and
128 live kernel memory images on various FreeBSD, NetBSD and OpenBSD
129 platforms. Currently supported (native-only) configurations are:
131 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
132 FreeBSD/i386 i?86-*-freebsd*
133 NetBSD/i386 i?86-*-netbsd*
134 NetBSD/m68k m68*-*-netbsd*
135 NetBSD/sparc sparc-*-netbsd*
136 OpenBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-openbsd*
137 OpenBSD/i386 i?86-*-openbsd*
138 OpenBSD/m68k m68*-openbsd*
139 OpenBSD/sparc sparc-*-openbsd*
141 * Signal trampoline code overhauled
143 Many generic problems with GDB's signal handling code have been fixed.
144 These include: backtraces through non-contiguous stacks; recognition
145 of sa_sigaction signal trampolines; backtrace from a NULL pointer
146 call; backtrace through a signal trampoline; step into and out of
147 signal handlers; and single-stepping in the signal trampoline.
149 Please note that kernel bugs are a limiting factor here. These
150 features have been shown to work on an s390 GNU/Linux system that
151 include a 2.6.8-rc1 kernel. Ref PR breakpoints/1702.
153 * Cygwin support for DWARF 2 added.
155 * New native configurations
157 GNU/Linux/hppa hppa*-*-linux*
158 OpenBSD/hppa hppa*-*-openbsd*
159 OpenBSD/m68k m68*-*-openbsd*
160 OpenBSD/m88k m88*-*-openbsd*
161 OpenBSD/powerpc powerpc-*-openbsd*
162 NetBSD/vax vax-*-netbsd*
163 OpenBSD/vax vax-*-openbsd*
165 * END-OF-LIFE frame compatibility module
167 GDB's internal frame infrastructure has been completely rewritten.
168 The new infrastructure making it possible to support key new features
169 including DWARF 2 Call Frame Information. To aid in the task of
170 migrating old configurations to this new infrastructure, a
171 compatibility module, that allowed old configurations to continue to
172 work, was also included.
174 GDB 6.2 will be the last release to include this frame compatibility
175 module. This change directly impacts the following configurations:
185 Unless there is activity to revive these configurations, they will be
186 made OBSOLETE in GDB 6.3, and REMOVED from GDB 6.4.
188 * REMOVED configurations and files
190 Sun 3, running SunOS 3 m68*-*-sunos3*
191 Sun 3, running SunOS 4 m68*-*-sunos4*
192 Sun 2, running SunOS 3 m68000-*-sunos3*
193 Sun 2, running SunOS 4 m68000-*-sunos4*
194 Motorola 680x0 running LynxOS m68*-*-lynxos*
195 AT&T 3b1/Unix pc m68*-att-*
196 Bull DPX2 (68k, System V release 3) m68*-bull-sysv*
197 decstation mips-dec-* mips-little-*
198 riscos mips-*-riscos* mips-*-sysv*
200 sysv mips*-*-sysv4* (IRIX 5/6 not included)
202 *** Changes in GDB 6.1.1:
204 * TUI (Text-mode User Interface) built-in (also included in GDB 6.1)
206 The TUI (Text-mode User Interface) is now built as part of a default
207 GDB configuration. It is enabled by either selecting the TUI with the
208 command line option "-i=tui" or by running the separate "gdbtui"
209 program. For more information on the TUI, see the manual "Debugging
212 * Pending breakpoint support (also included in GDB 6.1)
214 Support has been added to allow you to specify breakpoints in shared
215 libraries that have not yet been loaded. If a breakpoint location
216 cannot be found, and the "breakpoint pending" option is set to auto,
217 GDB queries you if you wish to make the breakpoint pending on a future
218 shared-library load. If and when GDB resolves the breakpoint symbol,
219 the pending breakpoint is removed as one or more regular breakpoints
222 Pending breakpoints are very useful for GCJ Java debugging.
224 * Fixed ISO-C build problems
226 The files bfd/elf-bfd.h, gdb/dictionary.c and gdb/types.c contained
227 non ISO-C code that stopped them being built using a more strict ISO-C
228 compiler (e.g., IBM's C compiler).
230 * Fixed build problem on IRIX 5
232 Due to header problems with <sys/proc.h>, the file gdb/proc-api.c
233 wasn't able to compile compile on an IRIX 5 system.
235 * Added execute permission to gdb/gdbserver/configure
237 The shell script gdb/testsuite/gdb.stabs/configure lacked execute
238 permission. This bug would cause configure to fail on a number of
239 systems (Solaris, IRIX). Ref: server/519.
241 * Fixed build problem on hpux2.0w-hp-hpux11.00 using the HP ANSI C compiler
243 Older HPUX ANSI C compilers did not accept variable array sizes. somsolib.c
244 has been updated to use constant array sizes.
246 * Fixed a panic in the DWARF Call Frame Info code on Solaris 2.7
248 GCC 3.3.2, on Solaris 2.7, includes the DW_EH_PE_funcrel encoding in
249 its generated DWARF Call Frame Info. This encoding was causing GDB to
250 panic, that panic has been fixed. Ref: gdb/1628.
252 * Fixed a problem when examining parameters in shared library code.
254 When examining parameters in optimized shared library code generated
255 by a mainline GCC, GDB would incorrectly report ``Variable "..." is
256 not available''. GDB now correctly displays the variable's value.
258 *** Changes in GDB 6.1:
260 * Removed --with-mmalloc
262 Support for the mmalloc memory manager has been removed, as it
263 conflicted with the internal gdb byte cache.
265 * Changes in AMD64 configurations
267 The AMD64 target now includes the %cs and %ss registers. As a result
268 the AMD64 remote protocol has changed; this affects the floating-point
269 and SSE registers. If you rely on those registers for your debugging,
270 you should upgrade gdbserver on the remote side.
272 * Revised SPARC target
274 The SPARC target has been completely revised, incorporating the
275 FreeBSD/sparc64 support that was added for GDB 6.0. As a result
276 support for LynxOS and SunOS 4 has been dropped. Calling functions
277 from within GDB on operating systems with a non-executable stack
278 (Solaris, OpenBSD) now works.
282 GDB has a new C++ demangler which does a better job on the mangled
283 names generated by current versions of g++. It also runs faster, so
284 with this and other changes gdb should now start faster on large C++
287 * DWARF 2 Location Expressions
289 GDB support for location expressions has been extended to support function
290 arguments and frame bases. Older versions of GDB could crash when they
293 * C++ nested types and namespaces
295 GDB's support for nested types and namespaces in C++ has been
296 improved, especially if you use the DWARF 2 debugging format. (This
297 is the default for recent versions of GCC on most platforms.)
298 Specifically, if you have a class "Inner" defined within a class or
299 namespace "Outer", then GDB realizes that the class's name is
300 "Outer::Inner", not simply "Inner". This should greatly reduce the
301 frequency of complaints about not finding RTTI symbols. In addition,
302 if you are stopped at inside of a function defined within a namespace,
303 GDB modifies its name lookup accordingly.
305 * New native configurations
307 NetBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-netbsd*
308 OpenBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-openbsd*
309 OpenBSD/alpha alpha*-*-openbsd*
310 OpenBSD/sparc sparc-*-openbsd*
311 OpenBSD/sparc64 sparc64-*-openbsd*
313 * New debugging protocols
315 M32R with SDI protocol m32r-*-elf*
317 * "set prompt-escape-char" command deleted.
319 The command "set prompt-escape-char" has been deleted. This command,
320 and its very obscure effet on GDB's prompt, was never documented,
321 tested, nor mentioned in the NEWS file.
323 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
325 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
326 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
327 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
330 Sun 3, running SunOS 3 m68*-*-sunos3*
331 Sun 3, running SunOS 4 m68*-*-sunos4*
332 Sun 2, running SunOS 3 m68000-*-sunos3*
333 Sun 2, running SunOS 4 m68000-*-sunos4*
334 Motorola 680x0 running LynxOS m68*-*-lynxos*
335 AT&T 3b1/Unix pc m68*-att-*
336 Bull DPX2 (68k, System V release 3) m68*-bull-sysv*
337 decstation mips-dec-* mips-little-*
338 riscos mips-*-riscos* mips-*-sysv*
340 sysv mips*-*-sysv4* (IRIX 5/6 not included)
342 * REMOVED configurations and files
344 SGI Irix-4.x mips-sgi-irix4 or iris4
345 SGI Iris (MIPS) running Irix V3: mips-sgi-irix or iris
346 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
347 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
348 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
349 HP/PA running BSD hppa*-*-bsd*
350 HP/PA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
351 HP/PA Pro target hppa*-*-pro*
352 PMAX (MIPS) running Mach 3.0 mips*-*-mach3*
353 386BSD i[3456]86-*-bsd*
354 Sequent family i[3456]86-sequent-sysv4*
355 i[3456]86-sequent-sysv*
356 i[3456]86-sequent-bsd*
357 SPARC running LynxOS sparc-*-lynxos*
358 SPARC running SunOS 4 sparc-*-sunos4*
359 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
360 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
362 *** Changes in GDB 6.0:
366 Support for debugging the Objective-C programming language has been
369 * New backtrace mechanism (includes DWARF 2 Call Frame Information).
371 DWARF 2's Call Frame Information makes available compiler generated
372 information that more exactly describes the program's run-time stack.
373 By using this information, GDB is able to provide more robust stack
376 The i386, amd64 (nee, x86-64), Alpha, m68hc11, ia64, and m32r targets
377 have been updated to use a new backtrace mechanism which includes
382 GDB's remote protocol has been extended to include support for hosted
383 file I/O (where the remote target uses GDB's file system). See GDB's
384 remote protocol documentation for details.
386 * All targets using the new architecture framework.
388 All of GDB's targets have been updated to use the new internal
389 architecture framework. The way is now open for future GDB releases
390 to include cross-architecture native debugging support (i386 on amd64,
393 * GNU/Linux's Thread Local Storage (TLS)
395 GDB now includes support for for the GNU/Linux implementation of
396 per-thread variables.
398 * GNU/Linux's Native POSIX Thread Library (NPTL)
400 GDB's thread code has been updated to work with either the new
401 GNU/Linux NPTL thread library or the older "LinuxThreads" library.
403 * Separate debug info.
405 GDB, in conjunction with BINUTILS, now supports a mechanism for
406 automatically loading debug information from a separate file. Instead
407 of shipping full debug and non-debug versions of system libraries,
408 system integrators can now instead ship just the stripped libraries
409 and optional debug files.
411 * DWARF 2 Location Expressions
413 DWARF 2 Location Expressions allow the compiler to more completely
414 describe the location of variables (even in optimized code) to the
417 GDB now includes preliminary support for location expressions (support
418 for DW_OP_piece is still missing).
422 A number of long standing bugs that caused GDB to die while starting a
423 Java application have been fixed. GDB's Java support is now
424 considered "useable".
426 * GNU/Linux support for fork, vfork, and exec.
428 The "catch fork", "catch exec", "catch vfork", and "set follow-fork-mode"
429 commands are now implemented for GNU/Linux. They require a 2.5.x or later
432 * GDB supports logging output to a file
434 There are two new commands, "set logging" and "show logging", which can be
435 used to capture GDB's output to a file.
437 * The meaning of "detach" has changed for gdbserver
439 The "detach" command will now resume the application, as documented. To
440 disconnect from gdbserver and leave it stopped, use the new "disconnect"
443 * d10v, m68hc11 `regs' command deprecated
445 The `info registers' command has been updated so that it displays the
446 registers using a format identical to the old `regs' command.
450 A new command, "maint set profile on/off", has been added. This command can
451 be used to enable or disable profiling while running GDB, to profile a
452 session or a set of commands. In addition there is a new configure switch,
453 "--enable-profiling", which will cause GDB to be compiled with profiling
454 data, for more informative profiling results.
456 * Default MI syntax changed to "mi2".
458 The default MI (machine interface) syntax, enabled by the command line
459 option "-i=mi", has been changed to "mi2". The previous MI syntax,
460 "mi1", can be enabled by specifying the option "-i=mi1".
462 Support for the original "mi0" syntax (included in GDB 5.0) has been
465 Fix for gdb/192: removed extraneous space when displaying frame level.
466 Fix for gdb/672: update changelist is now output in mi list format.
467 Fix for gdb/702: a -var-assign that updates the value now shows up
468 in a subsequent -var-update.
470 * New native configurations.
472 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
474 * Multi-arched targets.
476 HP/PA HPUX11 hppa*-*-hpux*
477 Renesas M32R/D w/simulator m32r-*-elf*
479 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
481 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
482 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
483 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
486 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
487 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
488 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
489 HP/PA running BSD hppa*-*-bsd*
490 HP/PA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
491 HP/PA Pro target hppa*-*-pro*
492 PMAX (MIPS) running Mach 3.0 mips*-*-mach3*
493 Sequent family i[3456]86-sequent-sysv4*
494 i[3456]86-sequent-sysv*
495 i[3456]86-sequent-bsd*
496 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
497 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
499 * REMOVED configurations and files
502 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
503 IBM AIX PS/2 i[3456]86-*-aix
504 i386 running Mach 3.0 i[3456]86-*-mach3*
505 i386 running Mach i[3456]86-*-mach*
506 i386 running OSF/1 i[3456]86-*osf1mk*
507 HP/Apollo 68k Family m68*-apollo*-sysv*,
509 m68*-hp-bsd*, m68*-hp-hpux*
510 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
511 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
512 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
513 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
514 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
516 * MIPS $fp behavior changed
518 The convenience variable $fp, for the MIPS, now consistently returns
519 the address of the current frame's base. Previously, depending on the
520 context, $fp could refer to either $sp or the current frame's base
521 address. See ``8.10 Registers'' in the manual ``Debugging with GDB:
522 The GNU Source-Level Debugger''.
524 *** Changes in GDB 5.3:
526 * GNU/Linux shared library multi-threaded performance improved.
528 When debugging a multi-threaded application on GNU/Linux, GDB now uses
529 `/proc', in preference to `ptrace' for memory reads. This may result
530 in an improvement in the start-up time of multi-threaded, shared
531 library applications when run under GDB. One GDB user writes: ``loads
532 shared libs like mad''.
534 * ``gdbserver'' now supports multi-threaded applications on some targets
536 Support for debugging multi-threaded applications which use
537 the GNU/Linux LinuxThreads package has been added for
538 arm*-*-linux*-gnu*, i[3456]86-*-linux*-gnu*, mips*-*-linux*-gnu*,
539 powerpc*-*-linux*-gnu*, and sh*-*-linux*-gnu*.
541 * GDB now supports C/C++ preprocessor macros.
543 GDB now expands preprocessor macro invocations in C/C++ expressions,
544 and provides various commands for showing macro definitions and how
547 The new command `macro expand EXPRESSION' expands any macro
548 invocations in expression, and shows the result.
550 The new command `show macro MACRO-NAME' shows the definition of the
551 macro named MACRO-NAME, and where it was defined.
553 Most compilers don't include information about macros in the debugging
554 information by default. In GCC 3.1, for example, you need to compile
555 your program with the options `-gdwarf-2 -g3'. If the macro
556 information is present in the executable, GDB will read it.
558 * Multi-arched targets.
560 DEC Alpha (partial) alpha*-*-*
561 DEC VAX (partial) vax-*-*
563 National Semiconductor NS32000 (partial) ns32k-*-*
564 Motorola 68000 (partial) m68k-*-*
565 Motorola MCORE mcore-*-*
569 Fujitsu FRV architecture added by Red Hat frv*-*-*
572 * New native configurations
574 Alpha NetBSD alpha*-*-netbsd*
575 SH NetBSD sh*-*-netbsdelf*
576 MIPS NetBSD mips*-*-netbsd*
577 UltraSPARC NetBSD sparc64-*-netbsd*
579 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
581 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
582 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
583 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
586 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
587 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
588 IBM AIX PS/2 i[3456]86-*-aix
589 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
590 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
591 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
592 i386 running Mach 3.0 i[3456]86-*-mach3*
593 i386 running Mach i[3456]86-*-mach*
594 i386 running OSF/1 i[3456]86-*osf1mk*
595 HP/Apollo 68k Family m68*-apollo*-sysv*,
597 m68*-hp-bsd*, m68*-hp-hpux*
598 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
602 CHILL, a Pascal like language used by telecommunications companies.
604 * REMOVED configurations and files
606 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi, udi29k
607 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
608 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
609 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
610 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
612 testsuite/gdb.hp/gdb.threads-hp/ directory
614 * New command "set max-user-call-depth <nnn>"
616 This command allows the user to limit the call depth of user-defined
617 commands. The default is 1024.
619 * Changes in FreeBSD/i386 native debugging.
621 Support for the "generate-core-file" has been added.
623 * New commands "dump", "append", and "restore".
625 These commands allow data to be copied from target memory
626 to a bfd-format or binary file (dump and append), and back
627 from a file into memory (restore).
629 * Improved "next/step" support on multi-processor Alpha Tru64.
631 The previous single-step mechanism could cause unpredictable problems,
632 including the random appearance of SIGSEGV or SIGTRAP signals. The use
633 of a software single-step mechanism prevents this.
635 *** Changes in GDB 5.2.1:
643 gdb/182: gdb/323: gdb/237: On alpha, gdb was reporting:
644 mdebugread.c:2443: gdb-internal-error: sect_index_data not initialized
645 Fix, by Joel Brobecker imported from mainline.
647 gdb/439: gdb/291: On some ELF object files, gdb was reporting:
648 dwarf2read.c:1072: gdb-internal-error: sect_index_text not initialize
649 Fix, by Fred Fish, imported from mainline.
651 Dwarf2 .debug_frame & .eh_frame handler improved in many ways.
652 Surprisingly enough, it works now.
653 By Michal Ludvig, imported from mainline.
655 i386 hardware watchpoint support:
656 avoid misses on second run for some targets.
657 By Pierre Muller, imported from mainline.
659 *** Changes in GDB 5.2:
661 * New command "set trust-readonly-sections on[off]".
663 This command is a hint that tells gdb that read-only sections
664 really are read-only (ie. that their contents will not change).
665 In this mode, gdb will go to the object file rather than the
666 target to read memory from read-only sections (such as ".text").
667 This can be a significant performance improvement on some
668 (notably embedded) targets.
670 * New command "generate-core-file" (or "gcore").
672 This new gdb command allows the user to drop a core file of the child
673 process state at any time. So far it's been implemented only for
674 GNU/Linux and Solaris, but should be relatively easily ported to other
675 hosts. Argument is core file name (defaults to core.<pid>).
677 * New command line option
679 GDB now accepts --pid or -p followed by a process id.
681 * Change in command line behavior -- corefiles vs. process ids.
683 There is a subtle behavior in the way in which GDB handles
684 command line arguments. The first non-flag argument is always
685 a program to debug, but the second non-flag argument may either
686 be a corefile or a process id. Previously, GDB would attempt to
687 open the second argument as a corefile, and if that failed, would
688 issue a superfluous error message and then attempt to attach it as
689 a process. Now, if the second argument begins with a non-digit,
690 it will be treated as a corefile. If it begins with a digit,
691 GDB will attempt to attach it as a process, and if no such process
692 is found, will then attempt to open it as a corefile.
694 * Changes in ARM configurations.
696 Multi-arch support is enabled for all ARM configurations. The ARM/NetBSD
697 configuration is fully multi-arch.
699 * New native configurations
701 ARM NetBSD arm*-*-netbsd*
702 x86 OpenBSD i[3456]86-*-openbsd*
703 AMD x86-64 running GNU/Linux x86_64-*-linux-*
704 Sparc64 running FreeBSD sparc64-*-freebsd*
708 Sanyo XStormy16 xstormy16-elf
710 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
712 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
713 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
714 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
717 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi, udi29k
718 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
719 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
720 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
721 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
723 testsuite/gdb.hp/gdb.threads-hp/ directory
725 * REMOVED configurations and files
727 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
729 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
730 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
731 PowerPC Netware powerpc-*-netware*
732 Harris/CXUX m88k m88*-harris-cxux*
733 Most ns32k hosts and targets ns32k-*-mach3* ns32k-umax-*
734 ns32k-utek-sysv* ns32k-utek-*
735 SunOS 4.0.Xi on i386 i[3456]86-*-sunos*
736 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1 a29k-nyu-sym1 a29k-*-kern*
737 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x m68*-sony-sysv news
738 ISI Optimum V (3.05) under 4.3bsd. m68*-isi-*
739 Apple Macintosh (MPW) host and target N/A host, powerpc-*-macos*
741 * Changes to command line processing
743 The new `--args' feature can be used to specify command-line arguments
744 for the inferior from gdb's command line.
746 * Changes to key bindings
748 There is a new `operate-and-get-next' function bound to `C-o'.
750 *** Changes in GDB 5.1.1
752 Fix compile problem on DJGPP.
754 Fix a problem with floating-point registers on the i386 being
757 Fix to stop GDB crashing on .debug_str debug info.
759 Numerous documentation fixes.
761 Numerous testsuite fixes.
763 *** Changes in GDB 5.1:
765 * New native configurations
767 Alpha FreeBSD alpha*-*-freebsd*
768 x86 FreeBSD 3.x and 4.x i[3456]86*-freebsd[34]*
769 MIPS GNU/Linux mips*-*-linux*
770 MIPS SGI Irix 6.x mips*-sgi-irix6*
772 s390 and s390x GNU/Linux {s390,s390x}-*-linux*
776 Motorola 68HC11 and 68HC12 m68hc11-elf
778 UltraSparc running GNU/Linux sparc64-*-linux*
780 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
782 x86 FreeBSD before 2.2 i[3456]86*-freebsd{1,2.[01]}*,
783 Harris/CXUX m88k m88*-harris-cxux*
784 Most ns32k hosts and targets ns32k-*-mach3* ns32k-umax-*
785 ns32k-utek-sysv* ns32k-utek-*
786 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
788 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1 a29k-nyu-sym1 a29k-*-kern*
789 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
790 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
791 PowerPC Netware powerpc-*-netware*
792 SunOS 4.0.Xi on i386 i[3456]86-*-sunos*
793 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x m68*-sony-sysv news
794 ISI Optimum V (3.05) under 4.3bsd. m68*-isi-*
795 Apple Macintosh (MPW) host N/A
797 stuff.c (Program to stuff files into a specially prepared space in kdb)
798 kdb-start.c (Main loop for the standalone kernel debugger)
800 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
801 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
802 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
805 * REMOVED configurations and files
807 Altos 3068 m68*-altos-*
808 Convex c1-*-*, c2-*-*
810 ARM RISCix arm-*-* (as host)
814 * GDB has been converted to ISO C.
816 GDB's source code has been converted to ISO C. In particular, the
817 sources are fully protoized, and rely on standard headers being
822 * "info symbol" works on platforms which use COFF, ECOFF, XCOFF, and NLM.
824 * The MI enabled by default.
826 The new machine oriented interface (MI) introduced in GDB 5.0 has been
827 revised and enabled by default. Packages which use GDB as a debugging
828 engine behind a UI or another front end are encouraged to switch to
829 using the GDB/MI interface, instead of the old annotations interface
830 which is now deprecated.
832 * Support for debugging Pascal programs.
834 GDB now includes support for debugging Pascal programs. The following
835 main features are supported:
837 - Pascal-specific data types such as sets;
839 - automatic recognition of Pascal sources based on file-name
842 - Pascal-style display of data types, variables, and functions;
844 - a Pascal expression parser.
846 However, some important features are not yet supported.
848 - Pascal string operations are not supported at all;
850 - there are some problems with boolean types;
852 - Pascal type hexadecimal constants are not supported
853 because they conflict with the internal variables format;
855 - support for Pascal objects and classes is not full yet;
857 - unlike Pascal, GDB is case-sensitive for symbol names.
859 * Changes in completion.
861 Commands such as `shell', `run' and `set args', which pass arguments
862 to inferior programs, now complete on file names, similar to what
863 users expect at the shell prompt.
865 Commands which accept locations, such as `disassemble', `print',
866 `breakpoint', `until', etc. now complete on filenames as well as
867 program symbols. Thus, if you type "break foob TAB", and the source
868 files linked into the programs include `foobar.c', that file name will
869 be one of the candidates for completion. However, file names are not
870 considered for completion after you typed a colon that delimits a file
871 name from a name of a function in that file, as in "break foo.c:bar".
873 `set demangle-style' completes on available demangling styles.
875 * New platform-independent commands:
877 It is now possible to define a post-hook for a command as well as a
878 hook that runs before the command. For more details, see the
879 documentation of `hookpost' in the GDB manual.
881 * Changes in GNU/Linux native debugging.
883 Support for debugging multi-threaded programs has been completely
884 revised for all platforms except m68k and sparc. You can now debug as
885 many threads as your system allows you to have.
887 Attach/detach is supported for multi-threaded programs.
889 Support for SSE registers was added for x86. This doesn't work for
890 multi-threaded programs though.
892 * Changes in MIPS configurations.
894 Multi-arch support is enabled for all MIPS configurations.
896 GDB can now be built as native debugger on SGI Irix 6.x systems for
897 debugging n32 executables. (Debugging 64-bit executables is not yet
900 * Unified support for hardware watchpoints in all x86 configurations.
902 Most (if not all) native x86 configurations support hardware-assisted
903 breakpoints and watchpoints in a unified manner. This support
904 implements debug register sharing between watchpoints, which allows to
905 put a virtually infinite number of watchpoints on the same address,
906 and also supports watching regions up to 16 bytes with several debug
909 The new maintenance command `maintenance show-debug-regs' toggles
910 debugging print-outs in functions that insert, remove, and test
911 watchpoints and hardware breakpoints.
913 * Changes in the DJGPP native configuration.
915 New command ``info dos sysinfo'' displays assorted information about
916 the CPU, OS, memory, and DPMI server.
918 New commands ``info dos gdt'', ``info dos ldt'', and ``info dos idt''
919 display information about segment descriptors stored in GDT, LDT, and
922 New commands ``info dos pde'' and ``info dos pte'' display entries
923 from Page Directory and Page Tables (for now works with CWSDPMI only).
924 New command ``info dos address-pte'' displays the Page Table entry for
925 a given linear address.
927 GDB can now pass command lines longer than 126 characters to the
928 program being debugged (requires an update to the libdbg.a library
929 which is part of the DJGPP development kit).
931 DWARF2 debug info is now supported.
933 It is now possible to `step' and `next' through calls to `longjmp'.
935 * Changes in documentation.
937 All GDB documentation was converted to GFDL, the GNU Free
938 Documentation License.
940 Tracepoints-related commands are now fully documented in the GDB
943 TUI, the Text-mode User Interface, is now documented in the manual.
945 Tracepoints-related commands are now fully documented in the GDB
948 The "GDB Internals" manual now has an index. It also includes
949 documentation of `ui_out' functions, GDB coding standards, x86
950 hardware watchpoints, and memory region attributes.
952 * GDB's version number moved to ``version.in''
954 The Makefile variable VERSION has been replaced by the file
955 ``version.in''. People creating GDB distributions should update the
956 contents of this file.
960 GUD support is now a standard part of the EMACS distribution.
962 *** Changes in GDB 5.0:
964 * Improved support for debugging FP programs on x86 targets
966 Unified and much-improved support for debugging floating-point
967 programs on all x86 targets. In particular, ``info float'' now
968 displays the FP registers in the same format on all x86 targets, with
969 greater level of detail.
971 * Improvements and bugfixes in hardware-assisted watchpoints
973 It is now possible to watch array elements, struct members, and
974 bitfields with hardware-assisted watchpoints. Data-read watchpoints
975 on x86 targets no longer erroneously trigger when the address is
978 * Improvements in the native DJGPP version of GDB
980 The distribution now includes all the scripts and auxiliary files
981 necessary to build the native DJGPP version on MS-DOS/MS-Windows
982 machines ``out of the box''.
984 The DJGPP version can now debug programs that use signals. It is
985 possible to catch signals that happened in the debuggee, deliver
986 signals to it, interrupt it with Ctrl-C, etc. (Previously, a signal
987 would kill the program being debugged.) Programs that hook hardware
988 interrupts (keyboard, timer, etc.) can also be debugged.
990 It is now possible to debug DJGPP programs that redirect their
991 standard handles or switch them to raw (as opposed to cooked) mode, or
992 even close them. The command ``run < foo > bar'' works as expected,
993 and ``info terminal'' reports useful information about the debuggee's
994 terminal, including raw/cooked mode, redirection, etc.
996 The DJGPP version now uses termios functions for console I/O, which
997 enables debugging graphics programs. Interrupting GDB with Ctrl-C
1000 DOS-style file names with drive letters are now fully supported by
1003 It is now possible to debug DJGPP programs that switch their working
1004 directory. It is also possible to rerun the debuggee any number of
1005 times without restarting GDB; thus, you can use the same setup,
1006 breakpoints, etc. for many debugging sessions.
1008 * New native configurations
1010 ARM GNU/Linux arm*-*-linux*
1011 PowerPC GNU/Linux powerpc-*-linux*
1015 Motorola MCore mcore-*-*
1016 x86 VxWorks i[3456]86-*-vxworks*
1017 PowerPC VxWorks powerpc-*-vxworks*
1018 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
1020 * OBSOLETE configurations
1022 Altos 3068 m68*-altos-*
1023 Convex c1-*-*, c2-*-*
1025 ARM RISCix arm-*-* (as host)
1028 Configurations that have been declared obsolete will be commented out,
1029 but the code will be left in place. If there is no activity to revive
1030 these configurations before the next release of GDB, the sources will
1031 be permanently REMOVED.
1033 * Gould support removed
1035 Support for the Gould PowerNode and NP1 has been removed.
1037 * New features for SVR4
1039 On SVR4 native platforms (such as Solaris), if you attach to a process
1040 without first loading a symbol file, GDB will now attempt to locate and
1041 load symbols from the running process's executable file.
1043 * Many C++ enhancements
1045 C++ support has been greatly improved. Overload resolution now works properly
1046 in almost all cases. RTTI support is on the way.
1048 * Remote targets can connect to a sub-program
1050 A popen(3) style serial-device has been added. This device starts a
1051 sub-process (such as a stand-alone simulator) and then communicates
1052 with that. The sub-program to run is specified using the syntax
1053 ``|<program> <args>'' vis:
1055 (gdb) set remotedebug 1
1056 (gdb) target extended-remote |mn10300-elf-sim program-args
1058 * MIPS 64 remote protocol
1060 A long standing bug in the mips64 remote protocol where by GDB
1061 expected certain 32 bit registers (ex SR) to be transfered as 32
1062 instead of 64 bits has been fixed.
1064 The command ``set remote-mips64-transfers-32bit-regs on'' has been
1065 added to provide backward compatibility with older versions of GDB.
1067 * ``set remotebinarydownload'' replaced by ``set remote X-packet''
1069 The command ``set remotebinarydownload'' command has been replaced by
1070 ``set remote X-packet''. Other commands in ``set remote'' family
1071 include ``set remote P-packet''.
1073 * Breakpoint commands accept ranges.
1075 The breakpoint commands ``enable'', ``disable'', and ``delete'' now
1076 accept a range of breakpoints, e.g. ``5-7''. The tracepoint command
1077 ``tracepoint passcount'' also accepts a range of tracepoints.
1079 * ``apropos'' command added.
1081 The ``apropos'' command searches through command names and
1082 documentation strings, printing out matches, making it much easier to
1083 try to find a command that does what you are looking for.
1087 A new machine oriented interface (MI) has been added to GDB. This
1088 interface is designed for debug environments running GDB as a separate
1089 process. This is part of the long term libGDB project. See the
1090 "GDB/MI" chapter of the GDB manual for further information. It can be
1091 enabled by configuring with:
1093 .../configure --enable-gdbmi
1095 *** Changes in GDB-4.18:
1097 * New native configurations
1099 HP-UX 10.20 hppa*-*-hpux10.20
1100 HP-UX 11.x hppa*-*-hpux11.0*
1101 M68K GNU/Linux m68*-*-linux*
1105 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
1106 Intel StrongARM strongarm-*-*
1107 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
1109 * OBSOLETE configurations
1111 Gould PowerNode, NP1 np1-*-*, pn-*-*
1113 Configurations that have been declared obsolete will be commented out,
1114 but the code will be left in place. If there is no activity to revive
1115 these configurations before the next release of GDB, the sources will
1116 be permanently REMOVED.
1120 As a compatibility experiment, GDB's source files buildsym.h and
1121 buildsym.c have been converted to pure standard C, no longer
1122 containing any K&R compatibility code. We believe that all systems in
1123 use today either come with a standard C compiler, or have a GCC port
1124 available. If this is not true, please report the affected
1125 configuration to bug-gdb@gnu.org immediately. See the README file for
1126 information about getting a standard C compiler if you don't have one
1131 GDB now uses readline 2.2.
1133 * set extension-language
1135 You can now control the mapping between filename extensions and source
1136 languages by using the `set extension-language' command. For instance,
1137 you can ask GDB to treat .c files as C++ by saying
1138 set extension-language .c c++
1139 The command `info extensions' lists all of the recognized extensions
1140 and their associated languages.
1142 * Setting processor type for PowerPC and RS/6000
1144 When GDB is configured for a powerpc*-*-* or an rs6000*-*-* target,
1145 you can use the `set processor' command to specify what variant of the
1146 PowerPC family you are debugging. The command
1150 sets the PowerPC/RS6000 variant to NAME. GDB knows about the
1151 following PowerPC and RS6000 variants:
1153 ppc-uisa PowerPC UISA - a PPC processor as viewed by user-level code
1154 rs6000 IBM RS6000 ("POWER") architecture, user-level view
1156 403GC IBM PowerPC 403GC
1157 505 Motorola PowerPC 505
1158 860 Motorola PowerPC 860 or 850
1159 601 Motorola PowerPC 601
1160 602 Motorola PowerPC 602
1161 603 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 603 or 603e
1162 604 Motorola PowerPC 604 or 604e
1163 750 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 750 or 750
1165 At the moment, this command just tells GDB what to name the
1166 special-purpose processor registers. Since almost all the affected
1167 registers are inaccessible to user-level programs, this command is
1168 only useful for remote debugging in its present form.
1172 Thanks to a major code donation from Hewlett-Packard, GDB now has much
1173 more extensive support for HP-UX. Added features include shared
1174 library support, kernel threads and hardware watchpoints for 11.00,
1175 support for HP's ANSI C and C++ compilers, and a compatibility mode
1176 for xdb and dbx commands.
1180 HP's donation includes the new concept of catchpoints, which is a
1181 generalization of the old catch command. On HP-UX, it is now possible
1182 to catch exec, fork, and vfork, as well as library loading.
1184 This means that the existing catch command has changed; its first
1185 argument now specifies the type of catch to be set up. See the
1186 output of "help catch" for a list of catchpoint types.
1188 * Debugging across forks
1190 On HP-UX, you can choose which process to debug when a fork() happens
1195 HP has donated a curses-based terminal user interface (TUI). To get
1196 it, build with --enable-tui. Although this can be enabled for any
1197 configuration, at present it only works for native HP debugging.
1199 * GDB remote protocol additions
1201 A new protocol packet 'X' that writes binary data is now available.
1202 Default behavior is to try 'X', then drop back to 'M' if the stub
1203 fails to respond. The settable variable `remotebinarydownload'
1204 allows explicit control over the use of 'X'.
1206 For 64-bit targets, the memory packets ('M' and 'm') can now contain a
1207 full 64-bit address. The command
1209 set remoteaddresssize 32
1211 can be used to revert to the old behaviour. For existing remote stubs
1212 the change should not be noticed, as the additional address information
1215 In order to assist in debugging stubs, you may use the maintenance
1216 command `packet' to send any text string to the stub. For instance,
1218 maint packet heythere
1220 sends the packet "$heythere#<checksum>". Note that it is very easy to
1221 disrupt a debugging session by sending the wrong packet at the wrong
1224 The compare-sections command allows you to compare section data on the
1225 target to what is in the executable file without uploading or
1226 downloading, by comparing CRC checksums.
1228 * Tracing can collect general expressions
1230 You may now collect general expressions at tracepoints. This requires
1231 further additions to the target-side stub; see tracepoint.c and
1232 doc/agentexpr.texi for further details.
1234 * mask-address variable for Mips
1236 For Mips targets, you may control the zeroing of the upper 32 bits of
1237 a 64-bit address by entering `set mask-address on'. This is mainly
1238 of interest to users of embedded R4xxx and R5xxx processors.
1240 * Higher serial baud rates
1242 GDB's serial code now allows you to specify baud rates 57600, 115200,
1243 230400, and 460800 baud. (Note that your host system may not be able
1244 to achieve all of these rates.)
1248 The i960 configuration now includes an initial implementation of a
1249 builtin simulator, contributed by Jim Wilson.
1252 *** Changes in GDB-4.17:
1254 * New native configurations
1256 Alpha GNU/Linux alpha*-*-linux*
1257 Unixware 2.x i[3456]86-unixware2*
1258 Irix 6.x mips*-sgi-irix6*
1259 PowerPC GNU/Linux powerpc-*-linux*
1260 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
1261 Sparc GNU/Linux sparc-*-linux*
1262 Motorola sysV68 R3V7.1 m68k-motorola-sysv
1266 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
1267 Hitachi H8/300S h8300*-*-*
1268 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
1269 Matsushita MN10300 w/simulator mn10300-*-*
1270 MIPS NEC VR4100 mips64*vr4100*{,el}-*-elf*
1271 MIPS NEC VR5000 mips64*vr5000*{,el}-*-elf*
1272 MIPS Toshiba TX39 mips64*tx39*{,el}-*-elf*
1273 Mitsubishi D10V w/simulator d10v-*-*
1274 Mitsubishi M32R/D w/simulator m32r-*-elf*
1275 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
1276 NEC V850 w/simulator v850-*-*
1278 * New debugging protocols
1280 ARM with RDI protocol arm*-*-*
1281 M68K with dBUG monitor m68*-*-{aout,coff,elf}
1282 DDB and LSI variants of PMON protocol mips*-*-*
1283 PowerPC with DINK32 monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
1284 PowerPC with SDS protocol powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
1285 Macraigor OCD (Wiggler) devices powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
1289 All configurations can now understand and use the DWARF 2 debugging
1290 format. The choice is automatic, if the symbol file contains DWARF 2
1295 GDB now includes basic Java language support. This support is
1296 only useful with Java compilers that produce native machine code.
1298 * solib-absolute-prefix and solib-search-path
1300 For SunOS and SVR4 shared libraries, you may now set the prefix for
1301 loading absolute shared library symbol files, and the search path for
1302 locating non-absolute shared library symbol files.
1304 * Live range splitting
1306 GDB can now effectively debug code for which GCC has performed live
1307 range splitting as part of its optimization. See gdb/doc/LRS for
1308 more details on the expected format of the stabs information.
1312 GDB's support for the GNU Hurd, including thread debugging, has been
1313 updated to work with current versions of the Hurd.
1317 GDB's ARM target configuration now handles the ARM7T (Thumb) 16-bit
1318 instruction set. ARM GDB automatically detects when Thumb
1319 instructions are in use, and adjusts disassembly and backtracing
1324 GDB's MIPS target configurations now handle the MIP16 16-bit
1329 GDB now includes support for overlays; if an executable has been
1330 linked such that multiple sections are based at the same address, GDB
1331 will decide which section to use for symbolic info. You can choose to
1332 control the decision manually, using overlay commands, or implement
1333 additional target-side support and use "overlay load-target" to bring
1334 in the overlay mapping. Do "help overlay" for more detail.
1338 The command "info symbol <address>" displays information about
1339 the symbol at the specified address.
1343 The standard remote protocol now includes an extension that allows
1344 asynchronous collection and display of trace data. This requires
1345 extensive support in the target-side debugging stub. Tracing mode
1346 includes a new interaction mode in GDB and new commands: see the
1347 file tracepoint.c for more details.
1351 Configurations for embedded MIPS now include a simulator contributed
1352 by Cygnus Solutions. The simulator supports the instruction sets
1353 of most MIPS variants.
1357 Sparc configurations may now include the ERC32 simulator contributed
1358 by the European Space Agency. The simulator is not built into
1359 Sparc targets by default; configure with --enable-sim to include it.
1363 For target configurations that may include multiple variants of a
1364 basic architecture (such as MIPS and SH), you may now set the
1365 architecture explicitly. "set arch" sets, "info arch" lists
1366 the possible architectures.
1368 *** Changes in GDB-4.16:
1370 * New native configurations
1372 Windows 95, x86 Windows NT i[345]86-*-cygwin32
1373 M68K NetBSD m68k-*-netbsd*
1374 PowerPC AIX 4.x powerpc-*-aix*
1375 PowerPC MacOS powerpc-*-macos*
1376 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
1377 RS/6000 AIX 4.x rs6000-*-aix4*
1381 ARM with RDP protocol arm-*-*
1382 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
1383 MIPS VxWorks mips*-*-vxworks*
1384 MIPS VR4300 with PMON mips64*vr4300{,el}-*-elf*
1385 PowerPC with PPCBUG monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi*
1387 Matra Sparclet sparclet-*-*
1391 The powerpc-eabi configuration now includes the PSIM simulator,
1392 contributed by Andrew Cagney, with assistance from Mike Meissner.
1393 PSIM is a very elaborate model of the PowerPC, including not only
1394 basic instruction set execution, but also details of execution unit
1395 performance and I/O hardware. See sim/ppc/README for more details.
1399 GDB now works with Solaris 2.5.
1401 * Windows 95/NT native
1403 GDB will now work as a native debugger on Windows 95 and Windows NT.
1404 To build it from source, you must use the "gnu-win32" environment,
1405 which uses a DLL to emulate enough of Unix to run the GNU tools.
1406 Further information, binaries, and sources are available at
1407 ftp.cygnus.com, under pub/gnu-win32.
1409 * dont-repeat command
1411 If a user-defined command includes the command `dont-repeat', then the
1412 command will not be repeated if the user just types return. This is
1413 useful if the command is time-consuming to run, so that accidental
1414 extra keystrokes don't run the same command many times.
1416 * Send break instead of ^C
1418 The standard remote protocol now includes an option to send a break
1419 rather than a ^C to the target in order to interrupt it. By default,
1420 GDB will send ^C; to send a break, set the variable `remotebreak' to 1.
1422 * Remote protocol timeout
1424 The standard remote protocol includes a new variable `remotetimeout'
1425 that allows you to set the number of seconds before GDB gives up trying
1426 to read from the target. The default value is 2.
1428 * Automatic tracking of dynamic object loading (HPUX and Solaris only)
1430 By default GDB will automatically keep track of objects as they are
1431 loaded and unloaded by the dynamic linker. By using the command `set
1432 stop-on-solib-events 1' you can arrange for GDB to stop the inferior
1433 when shared library events occur, thus allowing you to set breakpoints
1434 in shared libraries which are explicitly loaded by the inferior.
1436 Note this feature does not work on hpux8. On hpux9 you must link
1437 /usr/lib/end.o into your program. This feature should work
1438 automatically on hpux10.
1440 * Irix 5.x hardware watchpoint support
1442 Irix 5 configurations now support the use of hardware watchpoints.
1444 * Mips protocol "SYN garbage limit"
1446 When debugging a Mips target using the `target mips' protocol, you
1447 may set the number of characters that GDB will ignore by setting
1448 the `syn-garbage-limit'. A value of -1 means that GDB will ignore
1449 every character. The default value is 1050.
1451 * Recording and replaying remote debug sessions
1453 If you set `remotelogfile' to the name of a file, gdb will write to it
1454 a recording of a remote debug session. This recording may then be
1455 replayed back to gdb using "gdbreplay". See gdbserver/README for
1456 details. This is useful when you have a problem with GDB while doing
1457 remote debugging; you can make a recording of the session and send it
1458 to someone else, who can then recreate the problem.
1460 * Speedups for remote debugging
1462 GDB includes speedups for downloading and stepping MIPS systems using
1463 the IDT monitor, fast downloads to the Hitachi SH E7000 emulator,
1464 and more efficient S-record downloading.
1466 * Memory use reductions and statistics collection
1468 GDB now uses less memory and reports statistics about memory usage.
1469 Try the `maint print statistics' command, for example.
1471 *** Changes in GDB-4.15:
1473 * Psymtabs for XCOFF
1475 The symbol reader for AIX GDB now uses partial symbol tables. This
1476 can greatly improve startup time, especially for large executables.
1478 * Remote targets use caching
1480 Remote targets now use a data cache to speed up communication with the
1481 remote side. The data cache could lead to incorrect results because
1482 it doesn't know about volatile variables, thus making it impossible to
1483 debug targets which use memory mapped I/O devices. `set remotecache
1484 off' turns the the data cache off.
1486 * Remote targets may have threads
1488 The standard remote protocol now includes support for multiple threads
1489 in the target system, using new protocol commands 'H' and 'T'. See
1490 gdb/remote.c for details.
1494 If GDB is configured with `--enable-netrom', then it will include
1495 support for the NetROM ROM emulator from XLNT Designs. The NetROM
1496 acts as though it is a bank of ROM on the target board, but you can
1497 write into it over the network. GDB's support consists only of
1498 support for fast loading into the emulated ROM; to debug, you must use
1499 another protocol, such as standard remote protocol. The usual
1500 sequence is something like
1502 target nrom <netrom-hostname>
1504 target remote <netrom-hostname>:1235
1508 GDB now includes support for the Apple Macintosh, as a host only. It
1509 may be run as either an MPW tool or as a standalone application, and
1510 it can debug through the serial port. All the usual GDB commands are
1511 available, but to the target command, you must supply "serial" as the
1512 device type instead of "/dev/ttyXX". See mpw-README in the main
1513 directory for more information on how to build. The MPW configuration
1514 scripts */mpw-config.in support only a few targets, and only the
1515 mips-idt-ecoff target has been tested.
1519 GDB configuration now uses autoconf. This is not user-visible,
1520 but does simplify configuration and building.
1524 GDB now supports hpux10.
1526 *** Changes in GDB-4.14:
1528 * New native configurations
1530 x86 FreeBSD i[345]86-*-freebsd
1531 x86 NetBSD i[345]86-*-netbsd
1532 NS32k NetBSD ns32k-*-netbsd
1533 Sparc NetBSD sparc-*-netbsd
1537 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
1538 HP PA PRO embedded (WinBond W89K & Oki OP50N) hppa*-*-pro*
1539 CPU32 EST-300 emulator m68*-*-est*
1540 PowerPC ELF powerpc-*-elf
1543 * Alpha OSF/1 support for procfs
1545 GDB now supports procfs under OSF/1-2.x and higher, which makes it
1546 possible to attach to running processes. As the mounting of the /proc
1547 filesystem is optional on the Alpha, GDB automatically determines
1548 the availability of /proc during startup. This can lead to problems
1549 if /proc is unmounted after GDB has been started.
1551 * Arguments to user-defined commands
1553 User commands may accept up to 10 arguments separated by whitespace.
1554 Arguments are accessed within the user command via $arg0..$arg9. A
1557 print $arg0 + $arg1 + $arg2
1559 To execute the command use:
1562 Defines the command "adder" which prints the sum of its three arguments.
1563 Note the arguments are text substitutions, so they may reference variables,
1564 use complex expressions, or even perform inferior function calls.
1566 * New `if' and `while' commands
1568 This makes it possible to write more sophisticated user-defined
1569 commands. Both commands take a single argument, which is the
1570 expression to evaluate, and must be followed by the commands to
1571 execute, one per line, if the expression is nonzero, the list being
1572 terminated by the word `end'. The `if' command list may include an
1573 `else' word, which causes the following commands to be executed only
1574 if the expression is zero.
1576 * Fortran source language mode
1578 GDB now includes partial support for Fortran 77. It will recognize
1579 Fortran programs and can evaluate a subset of Fortran expressions, but
1580 variables and functions may not be handled correctly. GDB will work
1581 with G77, but does not yet know much about symbols emitted by other
1584 * Better HPUX support
1586 Most debugging facilities now work on dynamic executables for HPPAs
1587 running hpux9 or later. You can attach to running dynamically linked
1588 processes, but by default the dynamic libraries will be read-only, so
1589 for instance you won't be able to put breakpoints in them. To change
1590 that behavior do the following before running the program:
1596 This will cause the libraries to be mapped private and read-write.
1597 To revert to the normal behavior, do this:
1603 You cannot set breakpoints or examine data in the library until after
1604 the library is loaded if the function/data symbols do not have
1607 GDB can now also read debug symbols produced by the HP C compiler on
1608 HPPAs (sorry, no C++, Fortran or 68k support).
1610 * Target byte order now dynamically selectable
1612 You can choose which byte order to use with a target system, via the
1613 commands "set endian big" and "set endian little", and you can see the
1614 current setting by using "show endian". You can also give the command
1615 "set endian auto", in which case GDB will use the byte order
1616 associated with the executable. Currently, only embedded MIPS
1617 configurations support dynamic selection of target byte order.
1619 * New DOS host serial code
1621 This version uses DPMI interrupts to handle buffered I/O, so you
1622 no longer need to run asynctsr when debugging boards connected to
1625 *** Changes in GDB-4.13:
1627 * New "complete" command
1629 This lists all the possible completions for the rest of the line, if it
1630 were to be given as a command itself. This is intended for use by emacs.
1632 * Trailing space optional in prompt
1634 "set prompt" no longer adds a space for you after the prompt you set. This
1635 allows you to set a prompt which ends in a space or one that does not.
1637 * Breakpoint hit counts
1639 "info break" now displays a count of the number of times the breakpoint
1640 has been hit. This is especially useful in conjunction with "ignore"; you
1641 can ignore a large number of breakpoint hits, look at the breakpoint info
1642 to see how many times the breakpoint was hit, then run again, ignoring one
1643 less than that number, and this will get you quickly to the last hit of
1646 * Ability to stop printing at NULL character
1648 "set print null-stop" will cause GDB to stop printing the characters of
1649 an array when the first NULL is encountered. This is useful when large
1650 arrays actually contain only short strings.
1652 * Shared library breakpoints
1654 In SunOS 4.x, SVR4, and Alpha OSF/1 configurations, you can now set
1655 breakpoints in shared libraries before the executable is run.
1657 * Hardware watchpoints
1659 There is a new hardware breakpoint for the watch command for sparclite
1660 targets. See gdb/sparclite/hw_breakpoint.note.
1662 Hardware watchpoints are also now supported under GNU/Linux.
1666 Annotations have been added. These are for use with graphical interfaces,
1667 and are still experimental. Currently only gdba.el uses these.
1669 * Improved Irix 5 support
1671 GDB now works properly with Irix 5.2.
1673 * Improved HPPA support
1675 GDB now works properly with the latest GCC and GAS.
1677 * New native configurations
1679 Sequent PTX4 i[34]86-sequent-ptx4
1680 HPPA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
1681 Atari TT running SVR4 m68*-*-sysv4*
1682 RS/6000 LynxOS rs6000-*-lynxos*
1686 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
1687 MIPS R4000 mips64*{,el}-*-{ecoff,elf}
1690 * Hitachi SH7000 and E7000-PC ICE support
1692 There is now support for communicating with the Hitachi E7000-PC ICE.
1693 This is available automatically when GDB is configured for the SH.
1697 As usual, a variety of small fixes and improvements, both generic
1698 and configuration-specific. See the ChangeLog for more detail.
1700 *** Changes in GDB-4.12:
1702 * Irix 5 is now supported
1706 GDB-4.12 on the HPPA has a number of changes which make it unable
1707 to debug the output from the currently released versions of GCC and
1708 GAS (GCC 2.5.8 and GAS-2.2 or PAGAS-1.36). Until the next major release
1709 of GCC and GAS, versions of these tools designed to work with GDB-4.12
1710 can be retrieved via anonymous ftp from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist.
1713 *** Changes in GDB-4.11:
1715 * User visible changes:
1719 The "set remotedebug" option is now consistent between the mips remote
1720 target, remote targets using the gdb-specific protocol, UDI (AMD's
1721 debug protocol for the 29k) and the 88k bug monitor. It is now an
1722 integer specifying a debug level (normally 0 or 1, but 2 means more
1723 debugging info for the mips target).
1725 * DEC Alpha native support
1727 GDB now works on the DEC Alpha. GCC 2.4.5 does not produce usable
1728 debug info, but GDB works fairly well with the DEC compiler and should
1729 work with a future GCC release. See the README file for a few
1730 Alpha-specific notes.
1732 * Preliminary thread implementation
1734 GDB now has preliminary thread support for both SGI/Irix and LynxOS.
1736 * LynxOS native and target support for 386
1738 This release has been hosted on LynxOS 2.2, and also can be configured
1739 to remotely debug programs running under LynxOS (see gdb/gdbserver/README
1742 * Improvements in C++ mangling/demangling.
1744 This release has much better g++ debugging, specifically in name
1745 mangling/demangling, virtual function calls, print virtual table,
1746 call methods, ...etc.
1748 *** Changes in GDB-4.10:
1750 * User visible changes:
1752 Remote debugging using the GDB-specific (`target remote') protocol now
1753 supports the `load' command. This is only useful if you have some
1754 other way of getting the stub to the target system, and you can put it
1755 somewhere in memory where it won't get clobbered by the download.
1757 Filename completion now works.
1759 When run under emacs mode, the "info line" command now causes the
1760 arrow to point to the line specified. Also, "info line" prints
1761 addresses in symbolic form (as well as hex).
1763 All vxworks based targets now support a user settable option, called
1764 vxworks-timeout. This option represents the number of seconds gdb
1765 should wait for responses to rpc's. You might want to use this if
1766 your vxworks target is, perhaps, a slow software simulator or happens
1767 to be on the far side of a thin network line.
1771 This release contains support for using a DEC alpha as a GDB host for
1772 cross debugging. Native alpha debugging is not supported yet.
1775 *** Changes in GDB-4.9:
1779 This is the first GDB release which is accompanied by a matching testsuite.
1780 The testsuite requires installation of dejagnu, which should be available
1781 via ftp from most sites that carry GNU software.
1785 'Cfront' style demangling has had its name changed to 'ARM' style, to
1786 emphasize that it was written from the specifications in the C++ Annotated
1787 Reference Manual, not necessarily to be compatible with AT&T cfront. Despite
1788 disclaimers, it still generated too much confusion with users attempting to
1789 use gdb with AT&T cfront.
1793 GDB now uses a standard remote interface to a simulator library.
1794 So far, the library contains simulators for the Zilog Z8001/2, the
1795 Hitachi H8/300, H8/500 and Super-H.
1797 * New targets supported
1799 H8/300 simulator h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
1800 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
1801 SH simulator sh-hitachi-hms or sh
1802 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
1803 IDT MIPS board over serial line mips-idt-ecoff
1805 Cross-debugging to GO32 targets is supported. It requires a custom
1806 version of the i386-stub.c module which is integrated with the
1807 GO32 memory extender.
1809 * New remote protocols
1811 MIPS remote debugging protocol.
1813 * New source languages supported
1815 This version includes preliminary support for Chill, a Pascal like language
1816 used by telecommunications companies. Chill support is also being integrated
1817 into the GNU compiler, but we don't know when it will be publically available.
1820 *** Changes in GDB-4.8:
1822 * HP Precision Architecture supported
1824 GDB now supports HP PA-RISC machines running HPUX. A preliminary
1825 version of this support was available as a set of patches from the
1826 University of Utah. GDB does not support debugging of programs
1827 compiled with the HP compiler, because HP will not document their file
1828 format. Instead, you must use GCC (version 2.3.2 or later) and PA-GAS
1829 (as available from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist/pa-gas.u4.tar.Z).
1831 Many problems in the preliminary version have been fixed.
1833 * Faster and better demangling
1835 We have improved template demangling and fixed numerous bugs in the GNU style
1836 demangler. It can now handle type modifiers such as `static' or `const'. Wide
1837 character types (wchar_t) are now supported. Demangling of each symbol is now
1838 only done once, and is cached when the symbol table for a file is read in.
1839 This results in a small increase in memory usage for C programs, a moderate
1840 increase in memory usage for C++ programs, and a fantastic speedup in
1843 `Cfront' style demangling still doesn't work with AT&T cfront. It was written
1844 from the specifications in the Annotated Reference Manual, which AT&T's
1845 compiler does not actually implement.
1847 * G++ multiple inheritance compiler problem
1849 In the 2.3.2 release of gcc/g++, how the compiler resolves multiple
1850 inheritance lattices was reworked to properly discover ambiguities. We
1851 recently found an example which causes this new algorithm to fail in a
1852 very subtle way, producing bad debug information for those classes.
1853 The file 'gcc.patch' (in this directory) can be applied to gcc to
1854 circumvent the problem. A future GCC release will contain a complete
1857 The previous G++ debug info problem (mentioned below for the gdb-4.7
1858 release) is fixed in gcc version 2.3.2.
1860 * Improved configure script
1862 The `configure' script will now attempt to guess your system type if
1863 you don't supply a host system type. The old scheme of supplying a
1864 host system triplet is preferable over using this. All the magic is
1865 done in the new `config.guess' script. Examine it for details.
1867 We have also brought our configure script much more in line with the FSF's
1868 version. It now supports the --with-xxx options. In particular,
1869 `--with-minimal-bfd' can be used to make the GDB binary image smaller.
1870 The resulting GDB will not be able to read arbitrary object file formats --
1871 only the format ``expected'' to be used on the configured target system.
1872 We hope to make this the default in a future release.
1874 * Documentation improvements
1876 There's new internal documentation on how to modify GDB, and how to
1877 produce clean changes to the code. We implore people to read it
1878 before submitting changes.
1880 The GDB manual uses new, sexy Texinfo conditionals, rather than arcane
1881 M4 macros. The new texinfo.tex is provided in this release. Pre-built
1882 `info' files are also provided. To build `info' files from scratch,
1883 you will need the latest `makeinfo' release, which will be available in
1884 a future texinfo-X.Y release.
1886 *NOTE* The new texinfo.tex can cause old versions of TeX to hang.
1887 We're not sure exactly which versions have this problem, but it has
1888 been seen in 3.0. We highly recommend upgrading to TeX version 3.141
1889 or better. If that isn't possible, there is a patch in
1890 `texinfo/tex3patch' that will modify `texinfo/texinfo.tex' to work
1891 around this problem.
1895 GDB now supports array constants that can be used in expressions typed in by
1896 the user. The syntax is `{element, element, ...}'. Ie: you can now type
1897 `print {1, 2, 3}', and it will build up an array in memory malloc'd in
1900 The new directory `gdb/sparclite' contains a program that demonstrates
1901 how the sparc-stub.c remote stub runs on a Fujitsu SPARClite processor.
1903 * New native hosts supported
1905 HP/PA-RISC under HPUX using GNU tools hppa1.1-hp-hpux
1906 386 CPUs running SCO Unix 3.2v4 i386-unknown-sco3.2v4
1908 * New targets supported
1910 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi or udi29k
1912 * New file formats supported
1914 BFD now supports reading HP/PA-RISC executables (SOM file format?),
1915 HPUX core files, and SCO 3.2v2 core files.
1919 Attaching to processes now works again; thanks for the many bug reports.
1921 We have also stomped on a bunch of core dumps caused by
1922 printf_filtered("%s") problems.
1924 We eliminated a copyright problem on the rpc and ptrace header files
1925 for VxWorks, which was discovered at the last minute during the 4.7
1926 release. You should now be able to build a VxWorks GDB.
1928 You can now interrupt gdb while an attached process is running. This
1929 will cause the attached process to stop, and give control back to GDB.
1931 We fixed problems caused by using too many file descriptors
1932 for reading symbols from object files and libraries. This was
1933 especially a problem for programs that used many (~100) shared
1936 The `step' command now only enters a subroutine if there is line number
1937 information for the subroutine. Otherwise it acts like the `next'
1938 command. Previously, `step' would enter subroutines if there was
1939 any debugging information about the routine. This avoids problems
1940 when using `cc -g1' on MIPS machines.
1942 * Internal improvements
1944 GDB's internal interfaces have been improved to make it easier to support
1945 debugging of multiple languages in the future.
1947 GDB now uses a common structure for symbol information internally.
1948 Minimal symbols (derived from linkage symbols in object files), partial
1949 symbols (from a quick scan of debug information), and full symbols
1950 contain a common subset of information, making it easier to write
1951 shared code that handles any of them.
1953 * New command line options
1955 We now accept --silent as an alias for --quiet.
1959 The memory-mapped-malloc library is now licensed under the GNU Library
1960 General Public License.
1962 *** Changes in GDB-4.7:
1964 * Host/native/target split
1966 GDB has had some major internal surgery to untangle the support for
1967 hosts and remote targets. Now, when you configure GDB for a remote
1968 target, it will no longer load in all of the support for debugging
1969 local programs on the host. When fully completed and tested, this will
1970 ensure that arbitrary host/target combinations are possible.
1972 The primary conceptual shift is to separate the non-portable code in
1973 GDB into three categories. Host specific code is required any time GDB
1974 is compiled on that host, regardless of the target. Target specific
1975 code relates to the peculiarities of the target, but can be compiled on
1976 any host. Native specific code is everything else: it can only be
1977 built when the host and target are the same system. Child process
1978 handling and core file support are two common `native' examples.
1980 GDB's use of /proc for controlling Unix child processes is now cleaner.
1981 It has been split out into a single module under the `target_ops' vector,
1982 plus two native-dependent functions for each system that uses /proc.
1984 * New hosts supported
1986 HP/Apollo 68k (under the BSD domain) m68k-apollo-bsd or apollo68bsd
1987 386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
1988 386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or i386sco
1990 * New targets supported
1992 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
1993 68030 and CPU32 m68030-*-*, m68332-*-*
1995 * New native hosts supported
1997 386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
1998 (386bsd is not well tested yet)
1999 386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or sco
2001 * New file formats supported
2003 BFD now supports COFF files for the Zilog Z8000 microprocessor. It
2004 supports reading of `a.out.adobe' object files, which are an a.out
2005 format extended with minimal information about multiple sections.
2009 `show copying' is the same as the old `info copying'.
2010 `show warranty' is the same as `info warrantee'.
2011 These were renamed for consistency. The old commands continue to work.
2013 `info handle' is a new alias for `info signals'.
2015 You can now define pre-command hooks, which attach arbitrary command
2016 scripts to any command. The commands in the hook will be executed
2017 prior to the user's command. You can also create a hook which will be
2018 executed whenever the program stops. See gdb.texinfo.
2022 We now deal with Cfront style name mangling, and can even extract type
2023 info from mangled symbols. GDB can automatically figure out which
2024 symbol mangling style your C++ compiler uses.
2026 Calling of methods and virtual functions has been improved as well.
2030 The crash that occured when debugging Sun Ansi-C compiled binaries is
2031 fixed. This was due to mishandling of the extra N_SO stabs output
2034 We also finally got Ultrix 4.2 running in house, and fixed core file
2035 support, with help from a dozen people on the net.
2037 John M. Farrell discovered that the reason that single-stepping was so
2038 slow on all of the Mips based platforms (primarily SGI and DEC) was
2039 that we were trying to demangle and lookup a symbol used for internal
2040 purposes on every instruction that was being stepped through. Changing
2041 the name of that symbol so that it couldn't be mistaken for a C++
2042 mangled symbol sped things up a great deal.
2044 Rich Pixley sped up symbol lookups in general by getting much smarter
2045 about when C++ symbol mangling is necessary. This should make symbol
2046 completion (TAB on the command line) much faster. It's not as fast as
2047 we'd like, but it's significantly faster than gdb-4.6.
2051 A new user controllable variable 'call_scratch_address' can
2052 specify the location of a scratch area to be used when GDB
2053 calls a function in the target. This is necessary because the
2054 usual method of putting the scratch area on the stack does not work
2055 in systems that have separate instruction and data spaces.
2057 We integrated changes to support the 29k UDI (Universal Debugger
2058 Interface), but discovered at the last minute that we didn't have all
2059 of the appropriate copyright paperwork. We are working with AMD to
2060 resolve this, and hope to have it available soon.
2064 We have sped up the remote serial line protocol, especially for targets
2065 with lots of registers. It now supports a new `expedited status' ('T')
2066 message which can be used in place of the existing 'S' status message.
2067 This allows the remote stub to send only the registers that GDB
2068 needs to make a quick decision about single-stepping or conditional
2069 breakpoints, eliminating the need to fetch the entire register set for
2070 each instruction being stepped through.
2072 The GDB remote serial protocol now implements a write-through cache for
2073 registers, only re-reading the registers if the target has run.
2075 There is also a new remote serial stub for SPARC processors. You can
2076 find it in gdb-4.7/gdb/sparc-stub.c. This was written to support the
2077 Fujitsu SPARClite processor, but will run on any stand-alone SPARC
2078 processor with a serial port.
2082 Configure.in files have become much easier to read and modify. A new
2083 `table driven' format makes it more obvious what configurations are
2084 supported, and what files each one uses.
2088 There is a new opcodes library which will eventually contain all of the
2089 disassembly routines and opcode tables. At present, it only contains
2090 Sparc and Z8000 routines. This will allow the assembler, debugger, and
2091 disassembler (binutils/objdump) to share these routines.
2093 The libiberty library is now copylefted under the GNU Library General
2094 Public License. This allows more liberal use, and was done so libg++
2095 can use it. This makes no difference to GDB, since the Library License
2096 grants all the rights from the General Public License.
2100 The file gdb-4.7/gdb/doc/stabs.texinfo is a (relatively) complete
2101 reference to the stabs symbol info used by the debugger. It is (as far
2102 as we know) the only published document on this fascinating topic. We
2103 encourage you to read it, compare it to the stabs information on your
2104 system, and send improvements on the document in general (to
2105 bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu).
2107 And, of course, many bugs have been fixed.
2110 *** Changes in GDB-4.6:
2112 * Better support for C++ function names
2114 GDB now accepts as input the "demangled form" of C++ overloaded function
2115 names and member function names, and can do command completion on such names
2116 (using TAB, TAB-TAB, and ESC-?). The names have to be quoted with a pair of
2117 single quotes. Examples are 'func (int, long)' and 'obj::operator==(obj&)'.
2118 Make use of command completion, it is your friend.
2120 GDB also now accepts a variety of C++ mangled symbol formats. They are
2121 the GNU g++ style, the Cfront (ARM) style, and the Lucid (lcc) style.
2122 You can tell GDB which format to use by doing a 'set demangle-style {gnu,
2123 lucid, cfront, auto}'. 'gnu' is the default. Do a 'set demangle-style foo'
2124 for the list of formats.
2126 * G++ symbol mangling problem
2128 Recent versions of gcc have a bug in how they emit debugging information for
2129 C++ methods (when using dbx-style stabs). The file 'gcc.patch' (in this
2130 directory) can be applied to gcc to fix the problem. Alternatively, if you
2131 can't fix gcc, you can #define GCC_MANGLE_BUG when compling gdb/symtab.c. The
2132 usual symptom is difficulty with setting breakpoints on methods. GDB complains
2133 about the method being non-existent. (We believe that version 2.2.2 of GCC has
2136 * New 'maintenance' command
2138 All of the commands related to hacking GDB internals have been moved out of
2139 the main command set, and now live behind the 'maintenance' command. This
2140 can also be abbreviated as 'mt'. The following changes were made:
2142 dump-me -> maintenance dump-me
2143 info all-breakpoints -> maintenance info breakpoints
2144 printmsyms -> maintenance print msyms
2145 printobjfiles -> maintenance print objfiles
2146 printpsyms -> maintenance print psymbols
2147 printsyms -> maintenance print symbols
2149 The following commands are new:
2151 maintenance demangle Call internal GDB demangler routine to
2152 demangle a C++ link name and prints the result.
2153 maintenance print type Print a type chain for a given symbol
2155 * Change to .gdbinit file processing
2157 We now read the $HOME/.gdbinit file before processing the argv arguments
2158 (e.g. reading symbol files or core files). This allows global parameters to
2159 be set, which will apply during the symbol reading. The ./.gdbinit is still
2160 read after argv processing.
2162 * New hosts supported
2164 Solaris-2.0 !!! sparc-sun-solaris2 or sun4sol2
2166 GNU/Linux support i386-unknown-linux or linux
2168 We are also including code to support the HP/PA running BSD and HPUX. This
2169 is almost guaranteed not to work, as we didn't have time to test or build it
2170 for this release. We are including it so that the more adventurous (or
2171 masochistic) of you can play with it. We also had major problems with the
2172 fact that the compiler that we got from HP doesn't support the -g option.
2175 * New targets supported
2177 Hitachi H8/300 h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
2179 * More smarts about finding #include files
2181 GDB now remembers the compilation directory for all include files, and for
2182 all files from which C is generated (like yacc and lex sources). This
2183 greatly improves GDB's ability to find yacc/lex sources, and include files,
2184 especially if you are debugging your program from a directory different from
2185 the one that contains your sources.
2187 We also fixed a bug which caused difficulty with listing and setting
2188 breakpoints in include files which contain C code. (In the past, you had to
2189 try twice in order to list an include file that you hadn't looked at before.)
2191 * Interesting infernals change
2193 GDB now deals with arbitrary numbers of sections, where the symbols for each
2194 section must be relocated relative to that section's landing place in the
2195 target's address space. This work was needed to support ELF with embedded
2196 stabs used by Solaris-2.0.
2198 * Bug fixes (of course!)
2200 There have been loads of fixes for the following things:
2201 mips, rs6000, 29k/udi, m68k, g++, type handling, elf/dwarf, m88k,
2202 i960, stabs, DOS(GO32), procfs, etc...
2204 See the ChangeLog for details.
2206 *** Changes in GDB-4.5:
2208 * New machines supported (host and target)
2210 IBM RS6000 running AIX rs6000-ibm-aix or rs6000
2212 SGI Irix-4.x mips-sgi-irix4 or iris4
2214 * New malloc package
2216 GDB now uses a new memory manager called mmalloc, based on gmalloc.
2217 Mmalloc is capable of handling mutiple heaps of memory. It is also
2218 capable of saving a heap to a file, and then mapping it back in later.
2219 This can be used to greatly speedup the startup of GDB by using a
2220 pre-parsed symbol table which lives in a mmalloc managed heap. For
2221 more details, please read mmalloc/mmalloc.texi.
2225 The 'info proc' command (SVR4 only) has been enhanced quite a bit. See
2226 'help info proc' for details.
2228 * MIPS ecoff symbol table format
2230 The code that reads MIPS symbol table format is now supported on all hosts.
2231 Thanks to MIPS for releasing the sym.h and symconst.h files to make this
2234 * File name changes for MS-DOS
2236 Many files in the config directories have been renamed to make it easier to
2237 support GDB on MS-DOSe systems (which have very restrictive file name
2238 conventions :-( ). MS-DOSe host support (under DJ Delorie's GO32
2239 environment) is close to working but has some remaining problems. Note
2240 that debugging of DOS programs is not supported, due to limitations
2241 in the ``operating system'', but it can be used to host cross-debugging.
2243 * Cross byte order fixes
2245 Many fixes have been made to support cross debugging of Sparc and MIPS
2246 targets from hosts whose byte order differs.
2248 * New -mapped and -readnow options
2250 If memory-mapped files are available on your system through the 'mmap'
2251 system call, you can use the -mapped option on the `file' or
2252 `symbol-file' commands to cause GDB to write the symbols from your
2253 program into a reusable file. If the program you are debugging is
2254 called `/path/fred', the mapped symbol file will be `./fred.syms'.
2255 Future GDB debugging sessions will notice the presence of this file,
2256 and will quickly map in symbol information from it, rather than reading
2257 the symbol table from the executable program. Using the '-mapped'
2258 option in a GDB `file' or `symbol-file' command has the same effect as
2259 starting GDB with the '-mapped' command-line option.
2261 You can cause GDB to read the entire symbol table immediately by using
2262 the '-readnow' option with any of the commands that load symbol table
2263 information (or on the GDB command line). This makes the command
2264 slower, but makes future operations faster.
2266 The -mapped and -readnow options are typically combined in order to
2267 build a `fred.syms' file that contains complete symbol information.
2268 A simple GDB invocation to do nothing but build a `.syms' file for future
2271 gdb -batch -nx -mapped -readnow programname
2273 The `.syms' file is specific to the host machine on which GDB is run.
2274 It holds an exact image of GDB's internal symbol table. It cannot be
2275 shared across multiple host platforms.
2277 * longjmp() handling
2279 GDB is now capable of stepping and nexting over longjmp(), _longjmp(), and
2280 siglongjmp() without losing control. This feature has not yet been ported to
2281 all systems. It currently works on many 386 platforms, all MIPS-based
2282 platforms (SGI, DECstation, etc), and Sun3/4.
2286 Preliminary work has been put in to support the new Solaris OS from Sun. At
2287 this time, it can control and debug processes, but it is not capable of
2292 As always, many many bug fixes. The major areas were with g++, and mipsread.
2293 People using the MIPS-based platforms should experience fewer mysterious
2294 crashes and trashed symbol tables.
2296 *** Changes in GDB-4.4:
2298 * New machines supported (host and target)
2300 SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
2302 BSD Reno on Vax vax-dec-bsd
2303 Ultrix on Vax vax-dec-ultrix
2305 * New machines supported (target)
2307 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
2311 GDB continues to improve its handling of C++. `References' work better.
2312 The demangler has also been improved, and now deals with symbols mangled as
2313 per the Annotated C++ Reference Guide.
2315 GDB also now handles `stabs' symbol information embedded in MIPS
2316 `ecoff' symbol tables. Since the ecoff format was not easily
2317 extensible to handle new languages such as C++, this appeared to be a
2318 good way to put C++ debugging info into MIPS binaries. This option
2319 will be supported in the GNU C compiler, version 2, when it is
2322 * New features for SVR4
2324 GDB now handles SVR4 shared libraries, in the same fashion as SunOS
2325 shared libraries. Debugging dynamically linked programs should present
2326 only minor differences from debugging statically linked programs.
2328 The `info proc' command will print out information about any process
2329 on an SVR4 system (including the one you are debugging). At the moment,
2330 it prints the address mappings of the process.
2332 If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please send mail to
2333 bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were reqired (if any).
2335 * Better dynamic linking support in SunOS
2337 Reading symbols from shared libraries which contain debugging symbols
2338 now works properly. However, there remain issues such as automatic
2339 skipping of `transfer vector' code during function calls, which
2340 make it harder to debug code in a shared library, than to debug the
2341 same code linked statically.
2345 GDB is now using the latest `getopt' routines from the FSF. This
2346 version accepts the -- prefix for options with long names. GDB will
2347 continue to accept the old forms (-option and +option) as well.
2348 Various single letter abbreviations for options have been explicity
2349 added to the option table so that they won't get overshadowed in the
2350 future by other options that begin with the same letter.
2354 The `cleanup_undefined_types' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
2355 Many assorted bugs have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
2356 See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
2359 *** Changes in GDB-4.3:
2361 * New machines supported (host and target)
2363 Amiga 3000 running Amix m68k-cbm-svr4 or amix
2364 NCR 3000 386 running SVR4 i386-ncr-svr4 or ncr3000
2365 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
2367 * Almost SCO Unix support
2369 We had hoped to support:
2370 SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
2371 (except for core file support), but we discovered very late in the release
2372 that it has problems with process groups that render gdb unusable. Sorry
2373 about that. I encourage people to fix it and post the fixes.
2375 * Preliminary ELF and DWARF support
2377 GDB can read ELF object files on System V Release 4, and can handle
2378 debugging records for C, in DWARF format, in ELF files. This support
2379 is preliminary. If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please
2380 send mail to bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were
2385 GDB now uses the latest `readline' library. One user-visible change
2386 is that two tabs will list possible command completions, which previously
2387 required typing M-? (meta-question mark, or ESC ?).
2391 The `stepi' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
2392 Many bugs in C++ have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
2393 See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
2395 * State of the MIPS world (in case you wondered):
2397 GDB can understand the symbol tables emitted by the compilers
2398 supplied by most vendors of MIPS-based machines, including DEC. These
2399 symbol tables are in a format that essentially nobody else uses.
2401 Some versions of gcc come with an assembler post-processor called
2402 mips-tfile. This program is required if you want to do source-level
2403 debugging of gcc-compiled programs. I believe FSF does not ship
2404 mips-tfile with gcc version 1, but it will eventually come with gcc
2407 Debugging of g++ output remains a problem. g++ version 1.xx does not
2408 really support it at all. (If you're lucky, you should be able to get
2409 line numbers and stack traces to work, but no parameters or local
2410 variables.) With some work it should be possible to improve the
2413 When gcc version 2 is released, you will have somewhat better luck.
2414 However, even then you will get confusing results for inheritance and
2417 We will eventually provide full debugging of g++ output on
2418 DECstations. This will probably involve some kind of stabs-in-ecoff
2419 encapulation, but the details have not been worked out yet.
2422 *** Changes in GDB-4.2:
2424 * Improved configuration
2426 Only one copy of `configure' exists now, and it is not self-modifying.
2427 Porting BFD is simpler.
2431 The `step' and `next' commands now only stop at the first instruction
2432 of a source line. This prevents the multiple stops that used to occur
2433 in switch statements, for-loops, etc. `Step' continues to stop if a
2434 function that has debugging information is called within the line.
2438 Lots of small bugs fixed. More remain.
2440 * New host supported (not target)
2442 Intel 386 PC clone running Mach i386-none-mach
2445 *** Changes in GDB-4.1:
2447 * Multiple source language support
2449 GDB now has internal scaffolding to handle several source languages.
2450 It determines the type of each source file from its filename extension,
2451 and will switch expression parsing and number formatting to match the
2452 language of the function in the currently selected stack frame.
2453 You can also specifically set the language to be used, with
2454 `set language c' or `set language modula-2'.
2458 GDB now has preliminary support for the GNU Modula-2 compiler,
2459 currently under development at the State University of New York at
2460 Buffalo. Development of both GDB and the GNU Modula-2 compiler will
2461 continue through the fall of 1991 and into 1992.
2463 Other Modula-2 compilers are currently not supported, and attempting to
2464 debug programs compiled with them will likely result in an error as the
2465 symbol table is read. Feel free to work on it, though!
2467 There are hooks in GDB for strict type checking and range checking,
2468 in the `Modula-2 philosophy', but they do not currently work.
2472 GDB can now write to executable and core files (e.g. patch
2473 a variable's value). You must turn this switch on, specify
2474 the file ("exec foo" or "core foo"), *then* modify it, e.g.
2475 by assigning a new value to a variable. Modifications take
2478 * Automatic SunOS shared library reading
2480 When you run your program, GDB automatically determines where its
2481 shared libraries (if any) have been loaded, and reads their symbols.
2482 The `share' command is no longer needed. This also works when
2483 examining core files.
2487 You can specify the number of lines that the `list' command shows.
2490 * New machines supported (host and target)
2492 SGI Iris (MIPS) running Irix V3: mips-sgi-irix or iris
2493 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x: m68k-sony-sysv or news
2494 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1: a29k-nyu-sym1 or ultra3
2496 * New hosts supported (not targets)
2498 IBM RT/PC: romp-ibm-aix or rtpc
2500 * New targets supported (not hosts)
2502 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
2503 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
2504 Ultracomputer remote kernel debug a29k-nyu-kern
2506 * New remote interfaces
2512 *** Changes in GDB-4.0:
2516 Wide output is wrapped at good places to make the output more readable.
2518 Gdb now supports cross-debugging from a host machine of one type to a
2519 target machine of another type. Communication with the target system
2520 is over serial lines. The ``target'' command handles connecting to the
2521 remote system; the ``load'' command will download a program into the
2522 remote system. Serial stubs for the m68k and i386 are provided. Gdb
2523 also supports debugging of realtime processes running under VxWorks,
2524 using SunRPC Remote Procedure Calls over TCP/IP to talk to a debugger
2525 stub on the target system.
2527 New CPUs supported include the AMD 29000 and Intel 960.
2529 GDB now reads object files and symbol tables via a ``binary file''
2530 library, which allows a single copy of GDB to debug programs of multiple
2531 object file types such as a.out and coff.
2533 There is now a GDB reference card in "doc/refcard.tex". (Make targets
2534 refcard.dvi and refcard.ps are available to format it).
2537 * Control-Variable user interface simplified
2539 All variables that control the operation of the debugger can be set
2540 by the ``set'' command, and displayed by the ``show'' command.
2542 For example, ``set prompt new-gdb=>'' will change your prompt to new-gdb=>.
2543 ``Show prompt'' produces the response:
2544 Gdb's prompt is new-gdb=>.
2546 What follows are the NEW set commands. The command ``help set'' will
2547 print a complete list of old and new set commands. ``help set FOO''
2548 will give a longer description of the variable FOO. ``show'' will show
2549 all of the variable descriptions and their current settings.
2551 confirm on/off: Enables warning questions for operations that are
2552 hard to recover from, e.g. rerunning the program while
2553 it is already running. Default is ON.
2555 editing on/off: Enables EMACS style command line editing
2556 of input. Previous lines can be recalled with
2557 control-P, the current line can be edited with control-B,
2558 you can search for commands with control-R, etc.
2561 history filename NAME: NAME is where the gdb command history
2562 will be stored. The default is .gdb_history,
2563 or the value of the environment variable
2566 history size N: The size, in commands, of the command history. The
2567 default is 256, or the value of the environment variable
2570 history save on/off: If this value is set to ON, the history file will
2571 be saved after exiting gdb. If set to OFF, the
2572 file will not be saved. The default is OFF.
2574 history expansion on/off: If this value is set to ON, then csh-like
2575 history expansion will be performed on
2576 command line input. The default is OFF.
2578 radix N: Sets the default radix for input and output. It can be set
2579 to 8, 10, or 16. Note that the argument to "radix" is interpreted
2580 in the current radix, so "set radix 10" is always a no-op.
2582 height N: This integer value is the number of lines on a page. Default
2583 is 24, the current `stty rows'' setting, or the ``li#''
2584 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
2587 width N: This integer value is the number of characters on a line.
2588 Default is 80, the current `stty cols'' setting, or the ``co#''
2589 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
2592 Note: ``set screensize'' is obsolete. Use ``set height'' and
2593 ``set width'' instead.
2595 print address on/off: Print memory addresses in various command displays,
2596 such as stack traces and structure values. Gdb looks
2597 more ``symbolic'' if you turn this off; it looks more
2598 ``machine level'' with it on. Default is ON.
2600 print array on/off: Prettyprint arrays. New convenient format! Default
2603 print demangle on/off: Print C++ symbols in "source" form if on,
2606 print asm-demangle on/off: Same, for assembler level printouts
2609 print vtbl on/off: Prettyprint C++ virtual function tables. Default is OFF.
2612 * Support for Epoch Environment.
2614 The epoch environment is a version of Emacs v18 with windowing. One
2615 new command, ``inspect'', is identical to ``print'', except that if you
2616 are running in the epoch environment, the value is printed in its own
2620 * Support for Shared Libraries
2622 GDB can now debug programs and core files that use SunOS shared libraries.
2623 Symbols from a shared library cannot be referenced
2624 before the shared library has been linked with the program (this
2625 happens after you type ``run'' and before the function main() is entered).
2626 At any time after this linking (including when examining core files
2627 from dynamically linked programs), gdb reads the symbols from each
2628 shared library when you type the ``sharedlibrary'' command.
2629 It can be abbreviated ``share''.
2631 sharedlibrary REGEXP: Load shared object library symbols for files
2632 matching a unix regular expression. No argument
2633 indicates to load symbols for all shared libraries.
2635 info sharedlibrary: Status of loaded shared libraries.
2640 A watchpoint stops execution of a program whenever the value of an
2641 expression changes. Checking for this slows down execution
2642 tremendously whenever you are in the scope of the expression, but is
2643 quite useful for catching tough ``bit-spreader'' or pointer misuse
2644 problems. Some machines such as the 386 have hardware for doing this
2645 more quickly, and future versions of gdb will use this hardware.
2647 watch EXP: Set a watchpoint (breakpoint) for an expression.
2649 info watchpoints: Information about your watchpoints.
2651 delete N: Deletes watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
2652 disable N: Temporarily turns off watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
2653 enable N: Re-enables watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
2656 * C++ multiple inheritance
2658 When used with a GCC version 2 compiler, GDB supports multiple inheritance
2661 * C++ exception handling
2663 Gdb now supports limited C++ exception handling. Besides the existing
2664 ability to breakpoint on an exception handler, gdb can breakpoint on
2665 the raising of an exception (before the stack is peeled back to the
2668 catch FOO: If there is a FOO exception handler in the dynamic scope,
2669 set a breakpoint to catch exceptions which may be raised there.
2670 Multiple exceptions (``catch foo bar baz'') may be caught.
2672 info catch: Lists all exceptions which may be caught in the
2673 current stack frame.
2676 * Minor command changes
2678 The command ``call func (arg, arg, ...)'' now acts like the print
2679 command, except it does not print or save a value if the function's result
2680 is void. This is similar to dbx usage.
2682 The ``up'' and ``down'' commands now always print the frame they end up
2683 at; ``up-silently'' and `down-silently'' can be used in scripts to change
2684 frames without printing.
2686 * New directory command
2688 'dir' now adds directories to the FRONT of the source search path.
2689 The path starts off empty. Source files that contain debug information
2690 about the directory in which they were compiled can be found even
2691 with an empty path; Sun CC and GCC include this information. If GDB can't
2692 find your source file in the current directory, type "dir .".
2694 * Configuring GDB for compilation
2696 For normal use, type ``./configure host''. See README or gdb.texinfo
2699 GDB now handles cross debugging. If you are remotely debugging between
2700 two different machines, type ``./configure host -target=targ''.
2701 Host is the machine where GDB will run; targ is the machine
2702 where the program that you are debugging will run.
projects / deliverable / binutils-gdb.git / blob