1 What has changed in GDB?
2 (Organized release by release)
4 *** Changes since GDB-4.18:
8 On SVR4 native platforms (such as Solaris), if you attach to a process
9 without first loading a symbol file, GDB will now attempt to locate and
10 load symbols from the running process's executable file.
12 * New native configurations
14 ARM GNU/Linux arm*-*-linux*
18 Motorola MCore mcore-*-*
19 x86 VxWorks i[3456]86-*-vxworks*
20 PowerPC VxWorks powerpc-*-vxworks*
21 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
23 * OBSOLETE configurations
25 Altos 3068 m68*-altos-*
28 ARM RISCix arm-*-* (as host)
31 * Remote targets can connect to a sub-program
33 A popen(3) style serial-device has been added. This device starts a
34 sub-process (such as a stand-alone simulator) and then communicates
35 with that. The sub-program to run is specified using the syntax
36 ``|<program> <args>'' vis:
38 (gdb) set remotedebug 1
39 (gdb) target extended-remote |mn10300-elf-sim program-args
41 * MIPS 64 remote protocol
43 A long standing bug in the mips64 remote protocol where by GDB
44 expected certain 32 bit registers (ex SR) to be transfered as 32
45 instead of 64 bits has been fixed.
47 The command ``set remote-mips64-transfers-32bit-regs on'' has been
48 added to provide backward compatibility with older versions of GDB.
50 * ``set remotebinarydownload'' replaced by ``set remote X-packet''
52 The command ``set remotebinarydownload'' command has been replaced by
53 ``set remote X-packet''. Other commands in ``set remote'' family
54 include ``set remote P-packet''.
56 * Breakpoint commands accept ranges.
58 The breakpoint commands ``enable'', ``disable'', and ``delete'' now
59 accept a range of breakpoints, e.g. ``5-7''. The tracepoint command
60 ``tracepoint passcount'' also accepts a range of tracepoints.
62 *** Changes in GDB-4.18:
64 * New native configurations
66 HP-UX 10.20 hppa*-*-hpux10.20
67 HP-UX 11.x hppa*-*-hpux11.0*
68 M68K Linux m68*-*-linux*
72 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
73 Intel StrongARM strongarm-*-*
74 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
76 * OBSOLETE configurations
78 Gould PowerNode, NP1 np1-*-*, pn-*-*
80 Configurations that have been declared obsolete will be commented out,
81 but the code will be left in place. If there is no activity to revive
82 these configurations before the next release of GDB, the sources will
83 be permanently REMOVED.
87 As a compatibility experiment, GDB's source files buildsym.h and
88 buildsym.c have been converted to pure standard C, no longer
89 containing any K&R compatibility code. We believe that all systems in
90 use today either come with a standard C compiler, or have a GCC port
91 available. If this is not true, please report the affected
92 configuration to bug-gdb@gnu.org immediately. See the README file for
93 information about getting a standard C compiler if you don't have one
98 GDB now uses readline 2.2.
100 * set extension-language
102 You can now control the mapping between filename extensions and source
103 languages by using the `set extension-language' command. For instance,
104 you can ask GDB to treat .c files as C++ by saying
105 set extension-language .c c++
106 The command `info extensions' lists all of the recognized extensions
107 and their associated languages.
109 * Setting processor type for PowerPC and RS/6000
111 When GDB is configured for a powerpc*-*-* or an rs6000*-*-* target,
112 you can use the `set processor' command to specify what variant of the
113 PowerPC family you are debugging. The command
117 sets the PowerPC/RS6000 variant to NAME. GDB knows about the
118 following PowerPC and RS6000 variants:
120 ppc-uisa PowerPC UISA - a PPC processor as viewed by user-level code
121 rs6000 IBM RS6000 ("POWER") architecture, user-level view
123 403GC IBM PowerPC 403GC
124 505 Motorola PowerPC 505
125 860 Motorola PowerPC 860 or 850
126 601 Motorola PowerPC 601
127 602 Motorola PowerPC 602
128 603 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 603 or 603e
129 604 Motorola PowerPC 604 or 604e
130 750 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 750 or 750
132 At the moment, this command just tells GDB what to name the
133 special-purpose processor registers. Since almost all the affected
134 registers are inaccessible to user-level programs, this command is
135 only useful for remote debugging in its present form.
139 Thanks to a major code donation from Hewlett-Packard, GDB now has much
140 more extensive support for HP-UX. Added features include shared
141 library support, kernel threads and hardware watchpoints for 11.00,
142 support for HP's ANSI C and C++ compilers, and a compatibility mode
143 for xdb and dbx commands.
147 HP's donation includes the new concept of catchpoints, which is a
148 generalization of the old catch command. On HP-UX, it is now possible
149 to catch exec, fork, and vfork, as well as library loading.
151 This means that the existing catch command has changed; its first
152 argument now specifies the type of catch to be set up. See the
153 output of "help catch" for a list of catchpoint types.
155 * Debugging across forks
157 On HP-UX, you can choose which process to debug when a fork() happens
162 HP has donated a curses-based terminal user interface (TUI). To get
163 it, build with --enable-tui. Although this can be enabled for any
164 configuration, at present it only works for native HP debugging.
166 * GDB remote protocol additions
168 A new protocol packet 'X' that writes binary data is now available.
169 Default behavior is to try 'X', then drop back to 'M' if the stub
170 fails to respond. The settable variable `remotebinarydownload'
171 allows explicit control over the use of 'X'.
173 For 64-bit targets, the memory packets ('M' and 'm') can now contain a
174 full 64-bit address. The command
176 set remoteaddresssize 32
178 can be used to revert to the old behaviour. For existing remote stubs
179 the change should not be noticed, as the additional address information
182 In order to assist in debugging stubs, you may use the maintenance
183 command `packet' to send any text string to the stub. For instance,
185 maint packet heythere
187 sends the packet "$heythere#<checksum>". Note that it is very easy to
188 disrupt a debugging session by sending the wrong packet at the wrong
191 The compare-sections command allows you to compare section data on the
192 target to what is in the executable file without uploading or
193 downloading, by comparing CRC checksums.
195 * Tracing can collect general expressions
197 You may now collect general expressions at tracepoints. This requires
198 further additions to the target-side stub; see tracepoint.c and
199 doc/agentexpr.texi for further details.
201 * mask-address variable for Mips
203 For Mips targets, you may control the zeroing of the upper 32 bits of
204 a 64-bit address by entering `set mask-address on'. This is mainly
205 of interest to users of embedded R4xxx and R5xxx processors.
207 * Higher serial baud rates
209 GDB's serial code now allows you to specify baud rates 57600, 115200,
210 230400, and 460800 baud. (Note that your host system may not be able
211 to achieve all of these rates.)
215 The i960 configuration now includes an initial implementation of a
216 builtin simulator, contributed by Jim Wilson.
219 *** Changes in GDB-4.17:
221 * New native configurations
223 Alpha GNU/Linux alpha*-*-linux*
224 Unixware 2.x i[3456]86-unixware2*
225 Irix 6.x mips*-sgi-irix6*
226 PowerPC GNU/Linux powerpc-*-linux*
227 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
228 Sparc GNU/Linux sparc-*-linux*
229 Motorola sysV68 R3V7.1 m68k-motorola-sysv
233 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
234 Hitachi H8/300S h8300*-*-*
235 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
236 Matsushita MN10300 w/simulator mn10300-*-*
237 MIPS NEC VR4100 mips64*vr4100*{,el}-*-elf*
238 MIPS NEC VR5000 mips64*vr5000*{,el}-*-elf*
239 MIPS Toshiba TX39 mips64*tx39*{,el}-*-elf*
240 Mitsubishi D10V w/simulator d10v-*-*
241 Mitsubishi M32R/D w/simulator m32r-*-elf*
242 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
243 NEC V850 w/simulator v850-*-*
245 * New debugging protocols
247 ARM with RDI protocol arm*-*-*
248 M68K with dBUG monitor m68*-*-{aout,coff,elf}
249 DDB and LSI variants of PMON protocol mips*-*-*
250 PowerPC with DINK32 monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
251 PowerPC with SDS protocol powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
252 Macraigor OCD (Wiggler) devices powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
256 All configurations can now understand and use the DWARF 2 debugging
257 format. The choice is automatic, if the symbol file contains DWARF 2
262 GDB now includes basic Java language support. This support is
263 only useful with Java compilers that produce native machine code.
265 * solib-absolute-prefix and solib-search-path
267 For SunOS and SVR4 shared libraries, you may now set the prefix for
268 loading absolute shared library symbol files, and the search path for
269 locating non-absolute shared library symbol files.
271 * Live range splitting
273 GDB can now effectively debug code for which GCC has performed live
274 range splitting as part of its optimization. See gdb/doc/LRS for
275 more details on the expected format of the stabs information.
279 GDB's support for the GNU Hurd, including thread debugging, has been
280 updated to work with current versions of the Hurd.
284 GDB's ARM target configuration now handles the ARM7T (Thumb) 16-bit
285 instruction set. ARM GDB automatically detects when Thumb
286 instructions are in use, and adjusts disassembly and backtracing
291 GDB's MIPS target configurations now handle the MIP16 16-bit
296 GDB now includes support for overlays; if an executable has been
297 linked such that multiple sections are based at the same address, GDB
298 will decide which section to use for symbolic info. You can choose to
299 control the decision manually, using overlay commands, or implement
300 additional target-side support and use "overlay load-target" to bring
301 in the overlay mapping. Do "help overlay" for more detail.
305 The command "info symbol <address>" displays information about
306 the symbol at the specified address.
310 The standard remote protocol now includes an extension that allows
311 asynchronous collection and display of trace data. This requires
312 extensive support in the target-side debugging stub. Tracing mode
313 includes a new interaction mode in GDB and new commands: see the
314 file tracepoint.c for more details.
318 Configurations for embedded MIPS now include a simulator contributed
319 by Cygnus Solutions. The simulator supports the instruction sets
320 of most MIPS variants.
324 Sparc configurations may now include the ERC32 simulator contributed
325 by the European Space Agency. The simulator is not built into
326 Sparc targets by default; configure with --enable-sim to include it.
330 For target configurations that may include multiple variants of a
331 basic architecture (such as MIPS and SH), you may now set the
332 architecture explicitly. "set arch" sets, "info arch" lists
333 the possible architectures.
335 *** Changes in GDB-4.16:
337 * New native configurations
339 Windows 95, x86 Windows NT i[345]86-*-cygwin32
340 M68K NetBSD m68k-*-netbsd*
341 PowerPC AIX 4.x powerpc-*-aix*
342 PowerPC MacOS powerpc-*-macos*
343 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
344 RS/6000 AIX 4.x rs6000-*-aix4*
348 ARM with RDP protocol arm-*-*
349 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
350 MIPS VxWorks mips*-*-vxworks*
351 MIPS VR4300 with PMON mips64*vr4300{,el}-*-elf*
352 PowerPC with PPCBUG monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi*
354 Matra Sparclet sparclet-*-*
358 The powerpc-eabi configuration now includes the PSIM simulator,
359 contributed by Andrew Cagney, with assistance from Mike Meissner.
360 PSIM is a very elaborate model of the PowerPC, including not only
361 basic instruction set execution, but also details of execution unit
362 performance and I/O hardware. See sim/ppc/README for more details.
366 GDB now works with Solaris 2.5.
368 * Windows 95/NT native
370 GDB will now work as a native debugger on Windows 95 and Windows NT.
371 To build it from source, you must use the "gnu-win32" environment,
372 which uses a DLL to emulate enough of Unix to run the GNU tools.
373 Further information, binaries, and sources are available at
374 ftp.cygnus.com, under pub/gnu-win32.
376 * dont-repeat command
378 If a user-defined command includes the command `dont-repeat', then the
379 command will not be repeated if the user just types return. This is
380 useful if the command is time-consuming to run, so that accidental
381 extra keystrokes don't run the same command many times.
383 * Send break instead of ^C
385 The standard remote protocol now includes an option to send a break
386 rather than a ^C to the target in order to interrupt it. By default,
387 GDB will send ^C; to send a break, set the variable `remotebreak' to 1.
389 * Remote protocol timeout
391 The standard remote protocol includes a new variable `remotetimeout'
392 that allows you to set the number of seconds before GDB gives up trying
393 to read from the target. The default value is 2.
395 * Automatic tracking of dynamic object loading (HPUX and Solaris only)
397 By default GDB will automatically keep track of objects as they are
398 loaded and unloaded by the dynamic linker. By using the command `set
399 stop-on-solib-events 1' you can arrange for GDB to stop the inferior
400 when shared library events occur, thus allowing you to set breakpoints
401 in shared libraries which are explicitly loaded by the inferior.
403 Note this feature does not work on hpux8. On hpux9 you must link
404 /usr/lib/end.o into your program. This feature should work
405 automatically on hpux10.
407 * Irix 5.x hardware watchpoint support
409 Irix 5 configurations now support the use of hardware watchpoints.
411 * Mips protocol "SYN garbage limit"
413 When debugging a Mips target using the `target mips' protocol, you
414 may set the number of characters that GDB will ignore by setting
415 the `syn-garbage-limit'. A value of -1 means that GDB will ignore
416 every character. The default value is 1050.
418 * Recording and replaying remote debug sessions
420 If you set `remotelogfile' to the name of a file, gdb will write to it
421 a recording of a remote debug session. This recording may then be
422 replayed back to gdb using "gdbreplay". See gdbserver/README for
423 details. This is useful when you have a problem with GDB while doing
424 remote debugging; you can make a recording of the session and send it
425 to someone else, who can then recreate the problem.
427 * Speedups for remote debugging
429 GDB includes speedups for downloading and stepping MIPS systems using
430 the IDT monitor, fast downloads to the Hitachi SH E7000 emulator,
431 and more efficient S-record downloading.
433 * Memory use reductions and statistics collection
435 GDB now uses less memory and reports statistics about memory usage.
436 Try the `maint print statistics' command, for example.
438 *** Changes in GDB-4.15:
442 The symbol reader for AIX GDB now uses partial symbol tables. This
443 can greatly improve startup time, especially for large executables.
445 * Remote targets use caching
447 Remote targets now use a data cache to speed up communication with the
448 remote side. The data cache could lead to incorrect results because
449 it doesn't know about volatile variables, thus making it impossible to
450 debug targets which use memory mapped I/O devices. `set remotecache
451 off' turns the the data cache off.
453 * Remote targets may have threads
455 The standard remote protocol now includes support for multiple threads
456 in the target system, using new protocol commands 'H' and 'T'. See
457 gdb/remote.c for details.
461 If GDB is configured with `--enable-netrom', then it will include
462 support for the NetROM ROM emulator from XLNT Designs. The NetROM
463 acts as though it is a bank of ROM on the target board, but you can
464 write into it over the network. GDB's support consists only of
465 support for fast loading into the emulated ROM; to debug, you must use
466 another protocol, such as standard remote protocol. The usual
467 sequence is something like
469 target nrom <netrom-hostname>
471 target remote <netrom-hostname>:1235
475 GDB now includes support for the Apple Macintosh, as a host only. It
476 may be run as either an MPW tool or as a standalone application, and
477 it can debug through the serial port. All the usual GDB commands are
478 available, but to the target command, you must supply "serial" as the
479 device type instead of "/dev/ttyXX". See mpw-README in the main
480 directory for more information on how to build. The MPW configuration
481 scripts */mpw-config.in support only a few targets, and only the
482 mips-idt-ecoff target has been tested.
486 GDB configuration now uses autoconf. This is not user-visible,
487 but does simplify configuration and building.
491 GDB now supports hpux10.
493 *** Changes in GDB-4.14:
495 * New native configurations
497 x86 FreeBSD i[345]86-*-freebsd
498 x86 NetBSD i[345]86-*-netbsd
499 NS32k NetBSD ns32k-*-netbsd
500 Sparc NetBSD sparc-*-netbsd
504 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
505 HP PA PRO embedded (WinBond W89K & Oki OP50N) hppa*-*-pro*
506 CPU32 EST-300 emulator m68*-*-est*
507 PowerPC ELF powerpc-*-elf
510 * Alpha OSF/1 support for procfs
512 GDB now supports procfs under OSF/1-2.x and higher, which makes it
513 possible to attach to running processes. As the mounting of the /proc
514 filesystem is optional on the Alpha, GDB automatically determines
515 the availability of /proc during startup. This can lead to problems
516 if /proc is unmounted after GDB has been started.
518 * Arguments to user-defined commands
520 User commands may accept up to 10 arguments separated by whitespace.
521 Arguments are accessed within the user command via $arg0..$arg9. A
524 print $arg0 + $arg1 + $arg2
526 To execute the command use:
529 Defines the command "adder" which prints the sum of its three arguments.
530 Note the arguments are text substitutions, so they may reference variables,
531 use complex expressions, or even perform inferior function calls.
533 * New `if' and `while' commands
535 This makes it possible to write more sophisticated user-defined
536 commands. Both commands take a single argument, which is the
537 expression to evaluate, and must be followed by the commands to
538 execute, one per line, if the expression is nonzero, the list being
539 terminated by the word `end'. The `if' command list may include an
540 `else' word, which causes the following commands to be executed only
541 if the expression is zero.
543 * Fortran source language mode
545 GDB now includes partial support for Fortran 77. It will recognize
546 Fortran programs and can evaluate a subset of Fortran expressions, but
547 variables and functions may not be handled correctly. GDB will work
548 with G77, but does not yet know much about symbols emitted by other
551 * Better HPUX support
553 Most debugging facilities now work on dynamic executables for HPPAs
554 running hpux9 or later. You can attach to running dynamically linked
555 processes, but by default the dynamic libraries will be read-only, so
556 for instance you won't be able to put breakpoints in them. To change
557 that behavior do the following before running the program:
563 This will cause the libraries to be mapped private and read-write.
564 To revert to the normal behavior, do this:
570 You cannot set breakpoints or examine data in the library until after
571 the library is loaded if the function/data symbols do not have
574 GDB can now also read debug symbols produced by the HP C compiler on
575 HPPAs (sorry, no C++, Fortran or 68k support).
577 * Target byte order now dynamically selectable
579 You can choose which byte order to use with a target system, via the
580 commands "set endian big" and "set endian little", and you can see the
581 current setting by using "show endian". You can also give the command
582 "set endian auto", in which case GDB will use the byte order
583 associated with the executable. Currently, only embedded MIPS
584 configurations support dynamic selection of target byte order.
586 * New DOS host serial code
588 This version uses DPMI interrupts to handle buffered I/O, so you
589 no longer need to run asynctsr when debugging boards connected to
592 *** Changes in GDB-4.13:
594 * New "complete" command
596 This lists all the possible completions for the rest of the line, if it
597 were to be given as a command itself. This is intended for use by emacs.
599 * Trailing space optional in prompt
601 "set prompt" no longer adds a space for you after the prompt you set. This
602 allows you to set a prompt which ends in a space or one that does not.
604 * Breakpoint hit counts
606 "info break" now displays a count of the number of times the breakpoint
607 has been hit. This is especially useful in conjunction with "ignore"; you
608 can ignore a large number of breakpoint hits, look at the breakpoint info
609 to see how many times the breakpoint was hit, then run again, ignoring one
610 less than that number, and this will get you quickly to the last hit of
613 * Ability to stop printing at NULL character
615 "set print null-stop" will cause GDB to stop printing the characters of
616 an array when the first NULL is encountered. This is useful when large
617 arrays actually contain only short strings.
619 * Shared library breakpoints
621 In SunOS 4.x, SVR4, and Alpha OSF/1 configurations, you can now set
622 breakpoints in shared libraries before the executable is run.
624 * Hardware watchpoints
626 There is a new hardware breakpoint for the watch command for sparclite
627 targets. See gdb/sparclite/hw_breakpoint.note.
629 Hardware watchpoints are also now supported under Linux.
633 Annotations have been added. These are for use with graphical interfaces,
634 and are still experimental. Currently only gdba.el uses these.
636 * Improved Irix 5 support
638 GDB now works properly with Irix 5.2.
640 * Improved HPPA support
642 GDB now works properly with the latest GCC and GAS.
644 * New native configurations
646 Sequent PTX4 i[34]86-sequent-ptx4
647 HPPA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
648 Atari TT running SVR4 m68*-*-sysv4*
649 RS/6000 LynxOS rs6000-*-lynxos*
653 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
654 MIPS R4000 mips64*{,el}-*-{ecoff,elf}
657 * Hitachi SH7000 and E7000-PC ICE support
659 There is now support for communicating with the Hitachi E7000-PC ICE.
660 This is available automatically when GDB is configured for the SH.
664 As usual, a variety of small fixes and improvements, both generic
665 and configuration-specific. See the ChangeLog for more detail.
667 *** Changes in GDB-4.12:
669 * Irix 5 is now supported
673 GDB-4.12 on the HPPA has a number of changes which make it unable
674 to debug the output from the currently released versions of GCC and
675 GAS (GCC 2.5.8 and GAS-2.2 or PAGAS-1.36). Until the next major release
676 of GCC and GAS, versions of these tools designed to work with GDB-4.12
677 can be retrieved via anonymous ftp from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist.
680 *** Changes in GDB-4.11:
682 * User visible changes:
686 The "set remotedebug" option is now consistent between the mips remote
687 target, remote targets using the gdb-specific protocol, UDI (AMD's
688 debug protocol for the 29k) and the 88k bug monitor. It is now an
689 integer specifying a debug level (normally 0 or 1, but 2 means more
690 debugging info for the mips target).
692 * DEC Alpha native support
694 GDB now works on the DEC Alpha. GCC 2.4.5 does not produce usable
695 debug info, but GDB works fairly well with the DEC compiler and should
696 work with a future GCC release. See the README file for a few
697 Alpha-specific notes.
699 * Preliminary thread implementation
701 GDB now has preliminary thread support for both SGI/Irix and LynxOS.
703 * LynxOS native and target support for 386
705 This release has been hosted on LynxOS 2.2, and also can be configured
706 to remotely debug programs running under LynxOS (see gdb/gdbserver/README
709 * Improvements in C++ mangling/demangling.
711 This release has much better g++ debugging, specifically in name
712 mangling/demangling, virtual function calls, print virtual table,
713 call methods, ...etc.
715 *** Changes in GDB-4.10:
717 * User visible changes:
719 Remote debugging using the GDB-specific (`target remote') protocol now
720 supports the `load' command. This is only useful if you have some
721 other way of getting the stub to the target system, and you can put it
722 somewhere in memory where it won't get clobbered by the download.
724 Filename completion now works.
726 When run under emacs mode, the "info line" command now causes the
727 arrow to point to the line specified. Also, "info line" prints
728 addresses in symbolic form (as well as hex).
730 All vxworks based targets now support a user settable option, called
731 vxworks-timeout. This option represents the number of seconds gdb
732 should wait for responses to rpc's. You might want to use this if
733 your vxworks target is, perhaps, a slow software simulator or happens
734 to be on the far side of a thin network line.
738 This release contains support for using a DEC alpha as a GDB host for
739 cross debugging. Native alpha debugging is not supported yet.
742 *** Changes in GDB-4.9:
746 This is the first GDB release which is accompanied by a matching testsuite.
747 The testsuite requires installation of dejagnu, which should be available
748 via ftp from most sites that carry GNU software.
752 'Cfront' style demangling has had its name changed to 'ARM' style, to
753 emphasize that it was written from the specifications in the C++ Annotated
754 Reference Manual, not necessarily to be compatible with AT&T cfront. Despite
755 disclaimers, it still generated too much confusion with users attempting to
756 use gdb with AT&T cfront.
760 GDB now uses a standard remote interface to a simulator library.
761 So far, the library contains simulators for the Zilog Z8001/2, the
762 Hitachi H8/300, H8/500 and Super-H.
764 * New targets supported
766 H8/300 simulator h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
767 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
768 SH simulator sh-hitachi-hms or sh
769 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
770 IDT MIPS board over serial line mips-idt-ecoff
772 Cross-debugging to GO32 targets is supported. It requires a custom
773 version of the i386-stub.c module which is integrated with the
774 GO32 memory extender.
776 * New remote protocols
778 MIPS remote debugging protocol.
780 * New source languages supported
782 This version includes preliminary support for Chill, a Pascal like language
783 used by telecommunications companies. Chill support is also being integrated
784 into the GNU compiler, but we don't know when it will be publically available.
787 *** Changes in GDB-4.8:
789 * HP Precision Architecture supported
791 GDB now supports HP PA-RISC machines running HPUX. A preliminary
792 version of this support was available as a set of patches from the
793 University of Utah. GDB does not support debugging of programs
794 compiled with the HP compiler, because HP will not document their file
795 format. Instead, you must use GCC (version 2.3.2 or later) and PA-GAS
796 (as available from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist/pa-gas.u4.tar.Z).
798 Many problems in the preliminary version have been fixed.
800 * Faster and better demangling
802 We have improved template demangling and fixed numerous bugs in the GNU style
803 demangler. It can now handle type modifiers such as `static' or `const'. Wide
804 character types (wchar_t) are now supported. Demangling of each symbol is now
805 only done once, and is cached when the symbol table for a file is read in.
806 This results in a small increase in memory usage for C programs, a moderate
807 increase in memory usage for C++ programs, and a fantastic speedup in
810 `Cfront' style demangling still doesn't work with AT&T cfront. It was written
811 from the specifications in the Annotated Reference Manual, which AT&T's
812 compiler does not actually implement.
814 * G++ multiple inheritance compiler problem
816 In the 2.3.2 release of gcc/g++, how the compiler resolves multiple
817 inheritance lattices was reworked to properly discover ambiguities. We
818 recently found an example which causes this new algorithm to fail in a
819 very subtle way, producing bad debug information for those classes.
820 The file 'gcc.patch' (in this directory) can be applied to gcc to
821 circumvent the problem. A future GCC release will contain a complete
824 The previous G++ debug info problem (mentioned below for the gdb-4.7
825 release) is fixed in gcc version 2.3.2.
827 * Improved configure script
829 The `configure' script will now attempt to guess your system type if
830 you don't supply a host system type. The old scheme of supplying a
831 host system triplet is preferable over using this. All the magic is
832 done in the new `config.guess' script. Examine it for details.
834 We have also brought our configure script much more in line with the FSF's
835 version. It now supports the --with-xxx options. In particular,
836 `--with-minimal-bfd' can be used to make the GDB binary image smaller.
837 The resulting GDB will not be able to read arbitrary object file formats --
838 only the format ``expected'' to be used on the configured target system.
839 We hope to make this the default in a future release.
841 * Documentation improvements
843 There's new internal documentation on how to modify GDB, and how to
844 produce clean changes to the code. We implore people to read it
845 before submitting changes.
847 The GDB manual uses new, sexy Texinfo conditionals, rather than arcane
848 M4 macros. The new texinfo.tex is provided in this release. Pre-built
849 `info' files are also provided. To build `info' files from scratch,
850 you will need the latest `makeinfo' release, which will be available in
851 a future texinfo-X.Y release.
853 *NOTE* The new texinfo.tex can cause old versions of TeX to hang.
854 We're not sure exactly which versions have this problem, but it has
855 been seen in 3.0. We highly recommend upgrading to TeX version 3.141
856 or better. If that isn't possible, there is a patch in
857 `texinfo/tex3patch' that will modify `texinfo/texinfo.tex' to work
862 GDB now supports array constants that can be used in expressions typed in by
863 the user. The syntax is `{element, element, ...}'. Ie: you can now type
864 `print {1, 2, 3}', and it will build up an array in memory malloc'd in
867 The new directory `gdb/sparclite' contains a program that demonstrates
868 how the sparc-stub.c remote stub runs on a Fujitsu SPARClite processor.
870 * New native hosts supported
872 HP/PA-RISC under HPUX using GNU tools hppa1.1-hp-hpux
873 386 CPUs running SCO Unix 3.2v4 i386-unknown-sco3.2v4
875 * New targets supported
877 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi or udi29k
879 * New file formats supported
881 BFD now supports reading HP/PA-RISC executables (SOM file format?),
882 HPUX core files, and SCO 3.2v2 core files.
886 Attaching to processes now works again; thanks for the many bug reports.
888 We have also stomped on a bunch of core dumps caused by
889 printf_filtered("%s") problems.
891 We eliminated a copyright problem on the rpc and ptrace header files
892 for VxWorks, which was discovered at the last minute during the 4.7
893 release. You should now be able to build a VxWorks GDB.
895 You can now interrupt gdb while an attached process is running. This
896 will cause the attached process to stop, and give control back to GDB.
898 We fixed problems caused by using too many file descriptors
899 for reading symbols from object files and libraries. This was
900 especially a problem for programs that used many (~100) shared
903 The `step' command now only enters a subroutine if there is line number
904 information for the subroutine. Otherwise it acts like the `next'
905 command. Previously, `step' would enter subroutines if there was
906 any debugging information about the routine. This avoids problems
907 when using `cc -g1' on MIPS machines.
909 * Internal improvements
911 GDB's internal interfaces have been improved to make it easier to support
912 debugging of multiple languages in the future.
914 GDB now uses a common structure for symbol information internally.
915 Minimal symbols (derived from linkage symbols in object files), partial
916 symbols (from a quick scan of debug information), and full symbols
917 contain a common subset of information, making it easier to write
918 shared code that handles any of them.
920 * New command line options
922 We now accept --silent as an alias for --quiet.
926 The memory-mapped-malloc library is now licensed under the GNU Library
927 General Public License.
929 *** Changes in GDB-4.7:
931 * Host/native/target split
933 GDB has had some major internal surgery to untangle the support for
934 hosts and remote targets. Now, when you configure GDB for a remote
935 target, it will no longer load in all of the support for debugging
936 local programs on the host. When fully completed and tested, this will
937 ensure that arbitrary host/target combinations are possible.
939 The primary conceptual shift is to separate the non-portable code in
940 GDB into three categories. Host specific code is required any time GDB
941 is compiled on that host, regardless of the target. Target specific
942 code relates to the peculiarities of the target, but can be compiled on
943 any host. Native specific code is everything else: it can only be
944 built when the host and target are the same system. Child process
945 handling and core file support are two common `native' examples.
947 GDB's use of /proc for controlling Unix child processes is now cleaner.
948 It has been split out into a single module under the `target_ops' vector,
949 plus two native-dependent functions for each system that uses /proc.
951 * New hosts supported
953 HP/Apollo 68k (under the BSD domain) m68k-apollo-bsd or apollo68bsd
954 386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
955 386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or i386sco
957 * New targets supported
959 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
960 68030 and CPU32 m68030-*-*, m68332-*-*
962 * New native hosts supported
964 386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
965 (386bsd is not well tested yet)
966 386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or sco
968 * New file formats supported
970 BFD now supports COFF files for the Zilog Z8000 microprocessor. It
971 supports reading of `a.out.adobe' object files, which are an a.out
972 format extended with minimal information about multiple sections.
976 `show copying' is the same as the old `info copying'.
977 `show warranty' is the same as `info warrantee'.
978 These were renamed for consistency. The old commands continue to work.
980 `info handle' is a new alias for `info signals'.
982 You can now define pre-command hooks, which attach arbitrary command
983 scripts to any command. The commands in the hook will be executed
984 prior to the user's command. You can also create a hook which will be
985 executed whenever the program stops. See gdb.texinfo.
989 We now deal with Cfront style name mangling, and can even extract type
990 info from mangled symbols. GDB can automatically figure out which
991 symbol mangling style your C++ compiler uses.
993 Calling of methods and virtual functions has been improved as well.
997 The crash that occured when debugging Sun Ansi-C compiled binaries is
998 fixed. This was due to mishandling of the extra N_SO stabs output
1001 We also finally got Ultrix 4.2 running in house, and fixed core file
1002 support, with help from a dozen people on the net.
1004 John M. Farrell discovered that the reason that single-stepping was so
1005 slow on all of the Mips based platforms (primarily SGI and DEC) was
1006 that we were trying to demangle and lookup a symbol used for internal
1007 purposes on every instruction that was being stepped through. Changing
1008 the name of that symbol so that it couldn't be mistaken for a C++
1009 mangled symbol sped things up a great deal.
1011 Rich Pixley sped up symbol lookups in general by getting much smarter
1012 about when C++ symbol mangling is necessary. This should make symbol
1013 completion (TAB on the command line) much faster. It's not as fast as
1014 we'd like, but it's significantly faster than gdb-4.6.
1018 A new user controllable variable 'call_scratch_address' can
1019 specify the location of a scratch area to be used when GDB
1020 calls a function in the target. This is necessary because the
1021 usual method of putting the scratch area on the stack does not work
1022 in systems that have separate instruction and data spaces.
1024 We integrated changes to support the 29k UDI (Universal Debugger
1025 Interface), but discovered at the last minute that we didn't have all
1026 of the appropriate copyright paperwork. We are working with AMD to
1027 resolve this, and hope to have it available soon.
1031 We have sped up the remote serial line protocol, especially for targets
1032 with lots of registers. It now supports a new `expedited status' ('T')
1033 message which can be used in place of the existing 'S' status message.
1034 This allows the remote stub to send only the registers that GDB
1035 needs to make a quick decision about single-stepping or conditional
1036 breakpoints, eliminating the need to fetch the entire register set for
1037 each instruction being stepped through.
1039 The GDB remote serial protocol now implements a write-through cache for
1040 registers, only re-reading the registers if the target has run.
1042 There is also a new remote serial stub for SPARC processors. You can
1043 find it in gdb-4.7/gdb/sparc-stub.c. This was written to support the
1044 Fujitsu SPARClite processor, but will run on any stand-alone SPARC
1045 processor with a serial port.
1049 Configure.in files have become much easier to read and modify. A new
1050 `table driven' format makes it more obvious what configurations are
1051 supported, and what files each one uses.
1055 There is a new opcodes library which will eventually contain all of the
1056 disassembly routines and opcode tables. At present, it only contains
1057 Sparc and Z8000 routines. This will allow the assembler, debugger, and
1058 disassembler (binutils/objdump) to share these routines.
1060 The libiberty library is now copylefted under the GNU Library General
1061 Public License. This allows more liberal use, and was done so libg++
1062 can use it. This makes no difference to GDB, since the Library License
1063 grants all the rights from the General Public License.
1067 The file gdb-4.7/gdb/doc/stabs.texinfo is a (relatively) complete
1068 reference to the stabs symbol info used by the debugger. It is (as far
1069 as we know) the only published document on this fascinating topic. We
1070 encourage you to read it, compare it to the stabs information on your
1071 system, and send improvements on the document in general (to
1072 bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu).
1074 And, of course, many bugs have been fixed.
1077 *** Changes in GDB-4.6:
1079 * Better support for C++ function names
1081 GDB now accepts as input the "demangled form" of C++ overloaded function
1082 names and member function names, and can do command completion on such names
1083 (using TAB, TAB-TAB, and ESC-?). The names have to be quoted with a pair of
1084 single quotes. Examples are 'func (int, long)' and 'obj::operator==(obj&)'.
1085 Make use of command completion, it is your friend.
1087 GDB also now accepts a variety of C++ mangled symbol formats. They are
1088 the GNU g++ style, the Cfront (ARM) style, and the Lucid (lcc) style.
1089 You can tell GDB which format to use by doing a 'set demangle-style {gnu,
1090 lucid, cfront, auto}'. 'gnu' is the default. Do a 'set demangle-style foo'
1091 for the list of formats.
1093 * G++ symbol mangling problem
1095 Recent versions of gcc have a bug in how they emit debugging information for
1096 C++ methods (when using dbx-style stabs). The file 'gcc.patch' (in this
1097 directory) can be applied to gcc to fix the problem. Alternatively, if you
1098 can't fix gcc, you can #define GCC_MANGLE_BUG when compling gdb/symtab.c. The
1099 usual symptom is difficulty with setting breakpoints on methods. GDB complains
1100 about the method being non-existent. (We believe that version 2.2.2 of GCC has
1103 * New 'maintenance' command
1105 All of the commands related to hacking GDB internals have been moved out of
1106 the main command set, and now live behind the 'maintenance' command. This
1107 can also be abbreviated as 'mt'. The following changes were made:
1109 dump-me -> maintenance dump-me
1110 info all-breakpoints -> maintenance info breakpoints
1111 printmsyms -> maintenance print msyms
1112 printobjfiles -> maintenance print objfiles
1113 printpsyms -> maintenance print psymbols
1114 printsyms -> maintenance print symbols
1116 The following commands are new:
1118 maintenance demangle Call internal GDB demangler routine to
1119 demangle a C++ link name and prints the result.
1120 maintenance print type Print a type chain for a given symbol
1122 * Change to .gdbinit file processing
1124 We now read the $HOME/.gdbinit file before processing the argv arguments
1125 (e.g. reading symbol files or core files). This allows global parameters to
1126 be set, which will apply during the symbol reading. The ./.gdbinit is still
1127 read after argv processing.
1129 * New hosts supported
1131 Solaris-2.0 !!! sparc-sun-solaris2 or sun4sol2
1133 Linux support i386-unknown-linux or linux
1135 We are also including code to support the HP/PA running BSD and HPUX. This
1136 is almost guaranteed not to work, as we didn't have time to test or build it
1137 for this release. We are including it so that the more adventurous (or
1138 masochistic) of you can play with it. We also had major problems with the
1139 fact that the compiler that we got from HP doesn't support the -g option.
1142 * New targets supported
1144 Hitachi H8/300 h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
1146 * More smarts about finding #include files
1148 GDB now remembers the compilation directory for all include files, and for
1149 all files from which C is generated (like yacc and lex sources). This
1150 greatly improves GDB's ability to find yacc/lex sources, and include files,
1151 especially if you are debugging your program from a directory different from
1152 the one that contains your sources.
1154 We also fixed a bug which caused difficulty with listing and setting
1155 breakpoints in include files which contain C code. (In the past, you had to
1156 try twice in order to list an include file that you hadn't looked at before.)
1158 * Interesting infernals change
1160 GDB now deals with arbitrary numbers of sections, where the symbols for each
1161 section must be relocated relative to that section's landing place in the
1162 target's address space. This work was needed to support ELF with embedded
1163 stabs used by Solaris-2.0.
1165 * Bug fixes (of course!)
1167 There have been loads of fixes for the following things:
1168 mips, rs6000, 29k/udi, m68k, g++, type handling, elf/dwarf, m88k,
1169 i960, stabs, DOS(GO32), procfs, etc...
1171 See the ChangeLog for details.
1173 *** Changes in GDB-4.5:
1175 * New machines supported (host and target)
1177 IBM RS6000 running AIX rs6000-ibm-aix or rs6000
1179 SGI Irix-4.x mips-sgi-irix4 or iris4
1181 * New malloc package
1183 GDB now uses a new memory manager called mmalloc, based on gmalloc.
1184 Mmalloc is capable of handling mutiple heaps of memory. It is also
1185 capable of saving a heap to a file, and then mapping it back in later.
1186 This can be used to greatly speedup the startup of GDB by using a
1187 pre-parsed symbol table which lives in a mmalloc managed heap. For
1188 more details, please read mmalloc/mmalloc.texi.
1192 The 'info proc' command (SVR4 only) has been enhanced quite a bit. See
1193 'help info proc' for details.
1195 * MIPS ecoff symbol table format
1197 The code that reads MIPS symbol table format is now supported on all hosts.
1198 Thanks to MIPS for releasing the sym.h and symconst.h files to make this
1201 * File name changes for MS-DOS
1203 Many files in the config directories have been renamed to make it easier to
1204 support GDB on MS-DOSe systems (which have very restrictive file name
1205 conventions :-( ). MS-DOSe host support (under DJ Delorie's GO32
1206 environment) is close to working but has some remaining problems. Note
1207 that debugging of DOS programs is not supported, due to limitations
1208 in the ``operating system'', but it can be used to host cross-debugging.
1210 * Cross byte order fixes
1212 Many fixes have been made to support cross debugging of Sparc and MIPS
1213 targets from hosts whose byte order differs.
1215 * New -mapped and -readnow options
1217 If memory-mapped files are available on your system through the 'mmap'
1218 system call, you can use the -mapped option on the `file' or
1219 `symbol-file' commands to cause GDB to write the symbols from your
1220 program into a reusable file. If the program you are debugging is
1221 called `/path/fred', the mapped symbol file will be `./fred.syms'.
1222 Future GDB debugging sessions will notice the presence of this file,
1223 and will quickly map in symbol information from it, rather than reading
1224 the symbol table from the executable program. Using the '-mapped'
1225 option in a GDB `file' or `symbol-file' command has the same effect as
1226 starting GDB with the '-mapped' command-line option.
1228 You can cause GDB to read the entire symbol table immediately by using
1229 the '-readnow' option with any of the commands that load symbol table
1230 information (or on the GDB command line). This makes the command
1231 slower, but makes future operations faster.
1233 The -mapped and -readnow options are typically combined in order to
1234 build a `fred.syms' file that contains complete symbol information.
1235 A simple GDB invocation to do nothing but build a `.syms' file for future
1238 gdb -batch -nx -mapped -readnow programname
1240 The `.syms' file is specific to the host machine on which GDB is run.
1241 It holds an exact image of GDB's internal symbol table. It cannot be
1242 shared across multiple host platforms.
1244 * longjmp() handling
1246 GDB is now capable of stepping and nexting over longjmp(), _longjmp(), and
1247 siglongjmp() without losing control. This feature has not yet been ported to
1248 all systems. It currently works on many 386 platforms, all MIPS-based
1249 platforms (SGI, DECstation, etc), and Sun3/4.
1253 Preliminary work has been put in to support the new Solaris OS from Sun. At
1254 this time, it can control and debug processes, but it is not capable of
1259 As always, many many bug fixes. The major areas were with g++, and mipsread.
1260 People using the MIPS-based platforms should experience fewer mysterious
1261 crashes and trashed symbol tables.
1263 *** Changes in GDB-4.4:
1265 * New machines supported (host and target)
1267 SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
1269 BSD Reno on Vax vax-dec-bsd
1270 Ultrix on Vax vax-dec-ultrix
1272 * New machines supported (target)
1274 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
1278 GDB continues to improve its handling of C++. `References' work better.
1279 The demangler has also been improved, and now deals with symbols mangled as
1280 per the Annotated C++ Reference Guide.
1282 GDB also now handles `stabs' symbol information embedded in MIPS
1283 `ecoff' symbol tables. Since the ecoff format was not easily
1284 extensible to handle new languages such as C++, this appeared to be a
1285 good way to put C++ debugging info into MIPS binaries. This option
1286 will be supported in the GNU C compiler, version 2, when it is
1289 * New features for SVR4
1291 GDB now handles SVR4 shared libraries, in the same fashion as SunOS
1292 shared libraries. Debugging dynamically linked programs should present
1293 only minor differences from debugging statically linked programs.
1295 The `info proc' command will print out information about any process
1296 on an SVR4 system (including the one you are debugging). At the moment,
1297 it prints the address mappings of the process.
1299 If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please send mail to
1300 bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were reqired (if any).
1302 * Better dynamic linking support in SunOS
1304 Reading symbols from shared libraries which contain debugging symbols
1305 now works properly. However, there remain issues such as automatic
1306 skipping of `transfer vector' code during function calls, which
1307 make it harder to debug code in a shared library, than to debug the
1308 same code linked statically.
1312 GDB is now using the latest `getopt' routines from the FSF. This
1313 version accepts the -- prefix for options with long names. GDB will
1314 continue to accept the old forms (-option and +option) as well.
1315 Various single letter abbreviations for options have been explicity
1316 added to the option table so that they won't get overshadowed in the
1317 future by other options that begin with the same letter.
1321 The `cleanup_undefined_types' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
1322 Many assorted bugs have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
1323 See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
1326 *** Changes in GDB-4.3:
1328 * New machines supported (host and target)
1330 Amiga 3000 running Amix m68k-cbm-svr4 or amix
1331 NCR 3000 386 running SVR4 i386-ncr-svr4 or ncr3000
1332 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
1334 * Almost SCO Unix support
1336 We had hoped to support:
1337 SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
1338 (except for core file support), but we discovered very late in the release
1339 that it has problems with process groups that render gdb unusable. Sorry
1340 about that. I encourage people to fix it and post the fixes.
1342 * Preliminary ELF and DWARF support
1344 GDB can read ELF object files on System V Release 4, and can handle
1345 debugging records for C, in DWARF format, in ELF files. This support
1346 is preliminary. If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please
1347 send mail to bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were
1352 GDB now uses the latest `readline' library. One user-visible change
1353 is that two tabs will list possible command completions, which previously
1354 required typing M-? (meta-question mark, or ESC ?).
1358 The `stepi' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
1359 Many bugs in C++ have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
1360 See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
1362 * State of the MIPS world (in case you wondered):
1364 GDB can understand the symbol tables emitted by the compilers
1365 supplied by most vendors of MIPS-based machines, including DEC. These
1366 symbol tables are in a format that essentially nobody else uses.
1368 Some versions of gcc come with an assembler post-processor called
1369 mips-tfile. This program is required if you want to do source-level
1370 debugging of gcc-compiled programs. I believe FSF does not ship
1371 mips-tfile with gcc version 1, but it will eventually come with gcc
1374 Debugging of g++ output remains a problem. g++ version 1.xx does not
1375 really support it at all. (If you're lucky, you should be able to get
1376 line numbers and stack traces to work, but no parameters or local
1377 variables.) With some work it should be possible to improve the
1380 When gcc version 2 is released, you will have somewhat better luck.
1381 However, even then you will get confusing results for inheritance and
1384 We will eventually provide full debugging of g++ output on
1385 DECstations. This will probably involve some kind of stabs-in-ecoff
1386 encapulation, but the details have not been worked out yet.
1389 *** Changes in GDB-4.2:
1391 * Improved configuration
1393 Only one copy of `configure' exists now, and it is not self-modifying.
1394 Porting BFD is simpler.
1398 The `step' and `next' commands now only stop at the first instruction
1399 of a source line. This prevents the multiple stops that used to occur
1400 in switch statements, for-loops, etc. `Step' continues to stop if a
1401 function that has debugging information is called within the line.
1405 Lots of small bugs fixed. More remain.
1407 * New host supported (not target)
1409 Intel 386 PC clone running Mach i386-none-mach
1412 *** Changes in GDB-4.1:
1414 * Multiple source language support
1416 GDB now has internal scaffolding to handle several source languages.
1417 It determines the type of each source file from its filename extension,
1418 and will switch expression parsing and number formatting to match the
1419 language of the function in the currently selected stack frame.
1420 You can also specifically set the language to be used, with
1421 `set language c' or `set language modula-2'.
1425 GDB now has preliminary support for the GNU Modula-2 compiler,
1426 currently under development at the State University of New York at
1427 Buffalo. Development of both GDB and the GNU Modula-2 compiler will
1428 continue through the fall of 1991 and into 1992.
1430 Other Modula-2 compilers are currently not supported, and attempting to
1431 debug programs compiled with them will likely result in an error as the
1432 symbol table is read. Feel free to work on it, though!
1434 There are hooks in GDB for strict type checking and range checking,
1435 in the `Modula-2 philosophy', but they do not currently work.
1439 GDB can now write to executable and core files (e.g. patch
1440 a variable's value). You must turn this switch on, specify
1441 the file ("exec foo" or "core foo"), *then* modify it, e.g.
1442 by assigning a new value to a variable. Modifications take
1445 * Automatic SunOS shared library reading
1447 When you run your program, GDB automatically determines where its
1448 shared libraries (if any) have been loaded, and reads their symbols.
1449 The `share' command is no longer needed. This also works when
1450 examining core files.
1454 You can specify the number of lines that the `list' command shows.
1457 * New machines supported (host and target)
1459 SGI Iris (MIPS) running Irix V3: mips-sgi-irix or iris
1460 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x: m68k-sony-sysv or news
1461 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1: a29k-nyu-sym1 or ultra3
1463 * New hosts supported (not targets)
1465 IBM RT/PC: romp-ibm-aix or rtpc
1467 * New targets supported (not hosts)
1469 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
1470 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
1471 Ultracomputer remote kernel debug a29k-nyu-kern
1473 * New remote interfaces
1479 *** Changes in GDB-4.0:
1483 Wide output is wrapped at good places to make the output more readable.
1485 Gdb now supports cross-debugging from a host machine of one type to a
1486 target machine of another type. Communication with the target system
1487 is over serial lines. The ``target'' command handles connecting to the
1488 remote system; the ``load'' command will download a program into the
1489 remote system. Serial stubs for the m68k and i386 are provided. Gdb
1490 also supports debugging of realtime processes running under VxWorks,
1491 using SunRPC Remote Procedure Calls over TCP/IP to talk to a debugger
1492 stub on the target system.
1494 New CPUs supported include the AMD 29000 and Intel 960.
1496 GDB now reads object files and symbol tables via a ``binary file''
1497 library, which allows a single copy of GDB to debug programs of multiple
1498 object file types such as a.out and coff.
1500 There is now a GDB reference card in "doc/refcard.tex". (Make targets
1501 refcard.dvi and refcard.ps are available to format it).
1504 * Control-Variable user interface simplified
1506 All variables that control the operation of the debugger can be set
1507 by the ``set'' command, and displayed by the ``show'' command.
1509 For example, ``set prompt new-gdb=>'' will change your prompt to new-gdb=>.
1510 ``Show prompt'' produces the response:
1511 Gdb's prompt is new-gdb=>.
1513 What follows are the NEW set commands. The command ``help set'' will
1514 print a complete list of old and new set commands. ``help set FOO''
1515 will give a longer description of the variable FOO. ``show'' will show
1516 all of the variable descriptions and their current settings.
1518 confirm on/off: Enables warning questions for operations that are
1519 hard to recover from, e.g. rerunning the program while
1520 it is already running. Default is ON.
1522 editing on/off: Enables EMACS style command line editing
1523 of input. Previous lines can be recalled with
1524 control-P, the current line can be edited with control-B,
1525 you can search for commands with control-R, etc.
1528 history filename NAME: NAME is where the gdb command history
1529 will be stored. The default is .gdb_history,
1530 or the value of the environment variable
1533 history size N: The size, in commands, of the command history. The
1534 default is 256, or the value of the environment variable
1537 history save on/off: If this value is set to ON, the history file will
1538 be saved after exiting gdb. If set to OFF, the
1539 file will not be saved. The default is OFF.
1541 history expansion on/off: If this value is set to ON, then csh-like
1542 history expansion will be performed on
1543 command line input. The default is OFF.
1545 radix N: Sets the default radix for input and output. It can be set
1546 to 8, 10, or 16. Note that the argument to "radix" is interpreted
1547 in the current radix, so "set radix 10" is always a no-op.
1549 height N: This integer value is the number of lines on a page. Default
1550 is 24, the current `stty rows'' setting, or the ``li#''
1551 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
1554 width N: This integer value is the number of characters on a line.
1555 Default is 80, the current `stty cols'' setting, or the ``co#''
1556 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
1559 Note: ``set screensize'' is obsolete. Use ``set height'' and
1560 ``set width'' instead.
1562 print address on/off: Print memory addresses in various command displays,
1563 such as stack traces and structure values. Gdb looks
1564 more ``symbolic'' if you turn this off; it looks more
1565 ``machine level'' with it on. Default is ON.
1567 print array on/off: Prettyprint arrays. New convenient format! Default
1570 print demangle on/off: Print C++ symbols in "source" form if on,
1573 print asm-demangle on/off: Same, for assembler level printouts
1576 print vtbl on/off: Prettyprint C++ virtual function tables. Default is OFF.
1579 * Support for Epoch Environment.
1581 The epoch environment is a version of Emacs v18 with windowing. One
1582 new command, ``inspect'', is identical to ``print'', except that if you
1583 are running in the epoch environment, the value is printed in its own
1587 * Support for Shared Libraries
1589 GDB can now debug programs and core files that use SunOS shared libraries.
1590 Symbols from a shared library cannot be referenced
1591 before the shared library has been linked with the program (this
1592 happens after you type ``run'' and before the function main() is entered).
1593 At any time after this linking (including when examining core files
1594 from dynamically linked programs), gdb reads the symbols from each
1595 shared library when you type the ``sharedlibrary'' command.
1596 It can be abbreviated ``share''.
1598 sharedlibrary REGEXP: Load shared object library symbols for files
1599 matching a unix regular expression. No argument
1600 indicates to load symbols for all shared libraries.
1602 info sharedlibrary: Status of loaded shared libraries.
1607 A watchpoint stops execution of a program whenever the value of an
1608 expression changes. Checking for this slows down execution
1609 tremendously whenever you are in the scope of the expression, but is
1610 quite useful for catching tough ``bit-spreader'' or pointer misuse
1611 problems. Some machines such as the 386 have hardware for doing this
1612 more quickly, and future versions of gdb will use this hardware.
1614 watch EXP: Set a watchpoint (breakpoint) for an expression.
1616 info watchpoints: Information about your watchpoints.
1618 delete N: Deletes watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
1619 disable N: Temporarily turns off watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
1620 enable N: Re-enables watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
1623 * C++ multiple inheritance
1625 When used with a GCC version 2 compiler, GDB supports multiple inheritance
1628 * C++ exception handling
1630 Gdb now supports limited C++ exception handling. Besides the existing
1631 ability to breakpoint on an exception handler, gdb can breakpoint on
1632 the raising of an exception (before the stack is peeled back to the
1635 catch FOO: If there is a FOO exception handler in the dynamic scope,
1636 set a breakpoint to catch exceptions which may be raised there.
1637 Multiple exceptions (``catch foo bar baz'') may be caught.
1639 info catch: Lists all exceptions which may be caught in the
1640 current stack frame.
1643 * Minor command changes
1645 The command ``call func (arg, arg, ...)'' now acts like the print
1646 command, except it does not print or save a value if the function's result
1647 is void. This is similar to dbx usage.
1649 The ``up'' and ``down'' commands now always print the frame they end up
1650 at; ``up-silently'' and `down-silently'' can be used in scripts to change
1651 frames without printing.
1653 * New directory command
1655 'dir' now adds directories to the FRONT of the source search path.
1656 The path starts off empty. Source files that contain debug information
1657 about the directory in which they were compiled can be found even
1658 with an empty path; Sun CC and GCC include this information. If GDB can't
1659 find your source file in the current directory, type "dir .".
1661 * Configuring GDB for compilation
1663 For normal use, type ``./configure host''. See README or gdb.texinfo
1666 GDB now handles cross debugging. If you are remotely debugging between
1667 two different machines, type ``./configure host -target=targ''.
1668 Host is the machine where GDB will run; targ is the machine
1669 where the program that you are debugging will run.
projects / deliverable / binutils-gdb.git / blob