1 What has changed in GDB?
2 (Organized release by release)
4 *** Changes since GDB 6.6
6 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now has lower overhead for high
7 frequency signals (e.g. SIGALRM) via the QPassSignals packet.
9 * GDB for MIPS targets now autodetects whether a remote target provides
10 32-bit or 64-bit register values.
14 set mem inaccessible-by-default
15 show mem inaccessible-by-default
16 If the target supplies a memory map, for instance via the remote
17 protocol's "qXfer:memory-map:read" packet, setting this variable
18 prevents GDB from accessing memory outside the memory map. This
19 is useful for targets with memory mapped registers or which react
20 badly to accesses of unmapped address space.
22 set breakpoint auto-hw
23 show breakpoint auto-hw
24 If the target supplies a memory map, for instance via the remote
25 protocol's "qXfer:memory-map:read" packet, setting this variable
26 lets GDB use hardware breakpoints automatically for memory regions
27 where it can not use software breakpoints. This covers both the
28 "break" command and internal breakpoints used for other commands
29 including "next" and "finish".
33 MIPS64 GNU/Linux (gdbserver) mips64-linux-gnu
38 Ignore the specified signals; pass them directly to the debugged program
39 without stopping other threads or reporting them to GDB.
42 *** Changes in GDB 6.6
47 Cell Broadband Engine SPU spu-elf
49 * GDB can now be configured as a cross-debugger targeting native Windows
50 (mingw32) or Cygwin. It can communicate with a remote debugging stub
51 running on a Windows system over TCP/IP to debug Windows programs.
53 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, has been updated to support Windows and
54 Cygwin debugging. Both single-threaded and multi-threaded programs are
57 * The "set trust-readonly-sections" command works again. This command was
58 broken in GDB 6.3, 6.4, and 6.5.
60 * Support for GNU/Linux Thread Local Storage (TLS, per-thread variables) no
61 longer requires symbolic debug information (e.g. DWARF-2).
68 Manage a list of substitution rules that GDB uses to rewrite the name
69 of the directories where the sources are located. This can be useful
70 for instance when the sources were moved to a different location
71 between compilation and debugging.
75 Print each CLI command as it is executed. Each command is prefixed with
76 a number of `+' symbols representing the nesting depth.
77 The source command now has a `-v' option to enable the same feature.
81 The ARM Demon monitor support (RDP protocol, "target rdp").
83 Kernel Object Display, an embedded debugging feature which only worked with
84 an obsolete version of Cisco IOS.
86 The 'set download-write-size' and 'show download-write-size' commands.
91 Tell a stub about GDB client features, and request remote target features.
92 The first feature implemented is PacketSize, which allows the target to
93 specify the size of packets it can handle - to minimize the number of
94 packets required and improve performance when connected to a remote
98 Fetch an OS auxilliary vector from the remote stub. This packet is a
99 more efficient replacement for qPart:auxv:read.
101 * Removed remote packets
104 This packet has been replaced by qXfer:auxv:read. Only GDB 6.4 and 6.5
105 used it, and only gdbserver implemented it.
107 *** Changes in GDB 6.5
111 Renesas M32C/M16C m32c-elf
113 Morpho Technologies ms1 ms1-elf
117 init-if-undefined Initialize a convenience variable, but
118 only if it doesn't already have a value.
120 The following commands are presently only implemented for native GNU/Linux:
122 checkpoint Save a snapshot of the program state.
124 restart <n> Return the program state to a
125 previously saved state.
127 info checkpoints List currently saved checkpoints.
129 delete-checkpoint <n> Delete a previously saved checkpoint.
131 set|show detach-on-fork Tell gdb whether to detach from a newly
132 forked process, or to keep debugging it.
134 info forks List forks of the user program that
135 are available to be debugged.
137 fork <n> Switch to debugging one of several
138 forks of the user program that are
139 available to be debugged.
141 delete-fork <n> Delete a fork from the list of forks
142 that are available to be debugged (and
143 kill the forked process).
145 detach-fork <n> Delete a fork from the list of forks
146 that are available to be debugged (and
147 allow the process to continue).
151 Morpho Technologies ms2 ms1-elf
153 * Improved Windows host support
155 GDB now builds as a cross debugger hosted on i686-mingw32, including
156 native console support, and remote communications using either
157 network sockets or serial ports.
159 * Improved Modula-2 language support
161 GDB can now print most types in the Modula-2 syntax. This includes:
162 basic types, set types, record types, enumerated types, range types,
163 pointer types and ARRAY types. Procedure var parameters are correctly
164 printed and hexadecimal addresses and character constants are also
165 written in the Modula-2 syntax. Best results can be obtained by using
166 GNU Modula-2 together with the -gdwarf-2 command line option.
170 The ARM rdi-share module.
172 The Netware NLM debug server.
174 *** Changes in GDB 6.4
176 * New native configurations
178 OpenBSD/arm arm*-*-openbsd*
179 OpenBSD/mips64 mips64-*-openbsd*
183 Morpho Technologies ms1 ms1-elf
185 * New command line options
187 --batch-silent As for --batch, but totally silent.
188 --return-child-result The debugger will exist with the same value
189 the child (debugged) program exited with.
190 --eval-command COMMAND, -ex COMMAND
191 Execute a single GDB CLI command. This may be
192 specified multiple times and in conjunction
193 with the --command (-x) option.
195 * Deprecated commands removed
197 The following commands, that were deprecated in 2000, have been
201 set|show arm disassembly-flavor set|show arm disassembler
202 othernames set arm disassembler
203 set|show remotedebug set|show debug remote
204 set|show archdebug set|show debug arch
205 set|show eventdebug set|show debug event
208 * New BSD user-level threads support
210 It is now possible to debug programs using the user-level threads
211 library on OpenBSD and FreeBSD. Currently supported (target)
214 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
215 FreeBSD/i386 i386-*-freebsd*
216 OpenBSD/i386 i386-*-openbsd*
218 Note that the new kernel threads libraries introduced in FreeBSD 5.x
219 are not yet supported.
221 * New support for Matsushita MN10300 w/sim added
222 (Work in progress). mn10300-elf.
224 * REMOVED configurations and files
226 VxWorks and the XDR protocol *-*-vxworks
227 Motorola MCORE mcore-*-*
228 National Semiconductor NS32000 ns32k-*-*
230 * New "set print array-indexes" command
232 After turning this setting "on", GDB prints the index of each element
233 when displaying arrays. The default is "off" to preserve the previous
236 * VAX floating point support
238 GDB now supports the not-quite-ieee VAX F and D floating point formats.
240 * User-defined command support
242 In addition to using $arg0..$arg9 for argument passing, it is now possible
243 to use $argc to determine now many arguments have been passed. See the
244 section on user-defined commands in the user manual for more information.
246 *** Changes in GDB 6.3:
248 * New command line option
250 GDB now accepts -l followed by a number to set the timeout for remote
253 * GDB works with GCC -feliminate-dwarf2-dups
255 GDB now supports a more compact representation of DWARF-2 debug
256 information using DW_FORM_ref_addr references. These are produced
257 by GCC with the option -feliminate-dwarf2-dups and also by some
258 proprietary compilers. With GCC, you must use GCC 3.3.4 or later
259 to use -feliminate-dwarf2-dups.
261 * Internationalization
263 When supported by the host system, GDB will be built with
264 internationalization (libintl). The task of marking up the sources is
265 continued, we're looking forward to our first translation.
269 Initial support for debugging programs compiled with the GNAT
270 implementation of the Ada programming language has been integrated
271 into GDB. In this release, support is limited to expression evaluation.
273 * New native configurations
275 GNU/Linux/m32r m32r-*-linux-gnu
279 GDB's remote protocol now includes support for the 'p' packet. This
280 packet is used to fetch individual registers from a remote inferior.
282 * END-OF-LIFE registers[] compatibility module
284 GDB's internal register infrastructure has been completely rewritten.
285 The new infrastructure making possible the implementation of key new
286 features including 32x64 (e.g., 64-bit amd64 GDB debugging a 32-bit
289 GDB 6.3 will be the last release to include the the registers[]
290 compatibility module that allowed out-of-date configurations to
291 continue to work. This change directly impacts the following
303 Unless there is activity to revive these configurations, they will be
304 made OBSOLETE in GDB 6.4, and REMOVED from GDB 6.5.
306 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
308 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
309 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
310 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
320 *** Changes in GDB 6.2.1:
322 * MIPS `break main; run' gave an heuristic-fence-post warning
324 When attempting to run even a simple program, a warning about
325 heuristic-fence-post being hit would be reported. This problem has
328 * MIPS IRIX 'long double' crashed GDB
330 When examining a long double variable, GDB would get a segmentation
331 fault. The crash has been fixed (but GDB 6.2 cannot correctly examine
332 IRIX long double values).
336 A bug in the VAX stack code was causing problems with the "next"
337 command. This problem has been fixed.
339 *** Changes in GDB 6.2:
341 * Fix for ``many threads''
343 On GNU/Linux systems that use the NPTL threads library, a program
344 rapidly creating and deleting threads would confuse GDB leading to the
347 ptrace: No such process.
348 thread_db_get_info: cannot get thread info: generic error
350 This problem has been fixed.
352 * "-async" and "-noasync" options removed.
354 Support for the broken "-noasync" option has been removed (it caused
357 * New ``start'' command.
359 This command runs the program until the begining of the main procedure.
361 * New BSD Kernel Data Access Library (libkvm) interface
363 Using ``target kvm'' it is now possible to debug kernel core dumps and
364 live kernel memory images on various FreeBSD, NetBSD and OpenBSD
365 platforms. Currently supported (native-only) configurations are:
367 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
368 FreeBSD/i386 i?86-*-freebsd*
369 NetBSD/i386 i?86-*-netbsd*
370 NetBSD/m68k m68*-*-netbsd*
371 NetBSD/sparc sparc-*-netbsd*
372 OpenBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-openbsd*
373 OpenBSD/i386 i?86-*-openbsd*
374 OpenBSD/m68k m68*-openbsd*
375 OpenBSD/sparc sparc-*-openbsd*
377 * Signal trampoline code overhauled
379 Many generic problems with GDB's signal handling code have been fixed.
380 These include: backtraces through non-contiguous stacks; recognition
381 of sa_sigaction signal trampolines; backtrace from a NULL pointer
382 call; backtrace through a signal trampoline; step into and out of
383 signal handlers; and single-stepping in the signal trampoline.
385 Please note that kernel bugs are a limiting factor here. These
386 features have been shown to work on an s390 GNU/Linux system that
387 include a 2.6.8-rc1 kernel. Ref PR breakpoints/1702.
389 * Cygwin support for DWARF 2 added.
391 * New native configurations
393 GNU/Linux/hppa hppa*-*-linux*
394 OpenBSD/hppa hppa*-*-openbsd*
395 OpenBSD/m68k m68*-*-openbsd*
396 OpenBSD/m88k m88*-*-openbsd*
397 OpenBSD/powerpc powerpc-*-openbsd*
398 NetBSD/vax vax-*-netbsd*
399 OpenBSD/vax vax-*-openbsd*
401 * END-OF-LIFE frame compatibility module
403 GDB's internal frame infrastructure has been completely rewritten.
404 The new infrastructure making it possible to support key new features
405 including DWARF 2 Call Frame Information. To aid in the task of
406 migrating old configurations to this new infrastructure, a
407 compatibility module, that allowed old configurations to continue to
408 work, was also included.
410 GDB 6.2 will be the last release to include this frame compatibility
411 module. This change directly impacts the following configurations:
421 Unless there is activity to revive these configurations, they will be
422 made OBSOLETE in GDB 6.3, and REMOVED from GDB 6.4.
424 * REMOVED configurations and files
426 Sun 3, running SunOS 3 m68*-*-sunos3*
427 Sun 3, running SunOS 4 m68*-*-sunos4*
428 Sun 2, running SunOS 3 m68000-*-sunos3*
429 Sun 2, running SunOS 4 m68000-*-sunos4*
430 Motorola 680x0 running LynxOS m68*-*-lynxos*
431 AT&T 3b1/Unix pc m68*-att-*
432 Bull DPX2 (68k, System V release 3) m68*-bull-sysv*
433 decstation mips-dec-* mips-little-*
434 riscos mips-*-riscos* mips-*-sysv*
436 sysv mips*-*-sysv4* (IRIX 5/6 not included)
438 *** Changes in GDB 6.1.1:
440 * TUI (Text-mode User Interface) built-in (also included in GDB 6.1)
442 The TUI (Text-mode User Interface) is now built as part of a default
443 GDB configuration. It is enabled by either selecting the TUI with the
444 command line option "-i=tui" or by running the separate "gdbtui"
445 program. For more information on the TUI, see the manual "Debugging
448 * Pending breakpoint support (also included in GDB 6.1)
450 Support has been added to allow you to specify breakpoints in shared
451 libraries that have not yet been loaded. If a breakpoint location
452 cannot be found, and the "breakpoint pending" option is set to auto,
453 GDB queries you if you wish to make the breakpoint pending on a future
454 shared-library load. If and when GDB resolves the breakpoint symbol,
455 the pending breakpoint is removed as one or more regular breakpoints
458 Pending breakpoints are very useful for GCJ Java debugging.
460 * Fixed ISO-C build problems
462 The files bfd/elf-bfd.h, gdb/dictionary.c and gdb/types.c contained
463 non ISO-C code that stopped them being built using a more strict ISO-C
464 compiler (e.g., IBM's C compiler).
466 * Fixed build problem on IRIX 5
468 Due to header problems with <sys/proc.h>, the file gdb/proc-api.c
469 wasn't able to compile compile on an IRIX 5 system.
471 * Added execute permission to gdb/gdbserver/configure
473 The shell script gdb/testsuite/gdb.stabs/configure lacked execute
474 permission. This bug would cause configure to fail on a number of
475 systems (Solaris, IRIX). Ref: server/519.
477 * Fixed build problem on hpux2.0w-hp-hpux11.00 using the HP ANSI C compiler
479 Older HPUX ANSI C compilers did not accept variable array sizes. somsolib.c
480 has been updated to use constant array sizes.
482 * Fixed a panic in the DWARF Call Frame Info code on Solaris 2.7
484 GCC 3.3.2, on Solaris 2.7, includes the DW_EH_PE_funcrel encoding in
485 its generated DWARF Call Frame Info. This encoding was causing GDB to
486 panic, that panic has been fixed. Ref: gdb/1628.
488 * Fixed a problem when examining parameters in shared library code.
490 When examining parameters in optimized shared library code generated
491 by a mainline GCC, GDB would incorrectly report ``Variable "..." is
492 not available''. GDB now correctly displays the variable's value.
494 *** Changes in GDB 6.1:
496 * Removed --with-mmalloc
498 Support for the mmalloc memory manager has been removed, as it
499 conflicted with the internal gdb byte cache.
501 * Changes in AMD64 configurations
503 The AMD64 target now includes the %cs and %ss registers. As a result
504 the AMD64 remote protocol has changed; this affects the floating-point
505 and SSE registers. If you rely on those registers for your debugging,
506 you should upgrade gdbserver on the remote side.
508 * Revised SPARC target
510 The SPARC target has been completely revised, incorporating the
511 FreeBSD/sparc64 support that was added for GDB 6.0. As a result
512 support for LynxOS and SunOS 4 has been dropped. Calling functions
513 from within GDB on operating systems with a non-executable stack
514 (Solaris, OpenBSD) now works.
518 GDB has a new C++ demangler which does a better job on the mangled
519 names generated by current versions of g++. It also runs faster, so
520 with this and other changes gdb should now start faster on large C++
523 * DWARF 2 Location Expressions
525 GDB support for location expressions has been extended to support function
526 arguments and frame bases. Older versions of GDB could crash when they
529 * C++ nested types and namespaces
531 GDB's support for nested types and namespaces in C++ has been
532 improved, especially if you use the DWARF 2 debugging format. (This
533 is the default for recent versions of GCC on most platforms.)
534 Specifically, if you have a class "Inner" defined within a class or
535 namespace "Outer", then GDB realizes that the class's name is
536 "Outer::Inner", not simply "Inner". This should greatly reduce the
537 frequency of complaints about not finding RTTI symbols. In addition,
538 if you are stopped at inside of a function defined within a namespace,
539 GDB modifies its name lookup accordingly.
541 * New native configurations
543 NetBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-netbsd*
544 OpenBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-openbsd*
545 OpenBSD/alpha alpha*-*-openbsd*
546 OpenBSD/sparc sparc-*-openbsd*
547 OpenBSD/sparc64 sparc64-*-openbsd*
549 * New debugging protocols
551 M32R with SDI protocol m32r-*-elf*
553 * "set prompt-escape-char" command deleted.
555 The command "set prompt-escape-char" has been deleted. This command,
556 and its very obscure effet on GDB's prompt, was never documented,
557 tested, nor mentioned in the NEWS file.
559 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
561 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
562 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
563 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
566 Sun 3, running SunOS 3 m68*-*-sunos3*
567 Sun 3, running SunOS 4 m68*-*-sunos4*
568 Sun 2, running SunOS 3 m68000-*-sunos3*
569 Sun 2, running SunOS 4 m68000-*-sunos4*
570 Motorola 680x0 running LynxOS m68*-*-lynxos*
571 AT&T 3b1/Unix pc m68*-att-*
572 Bull DPX2 (68k, System V release 3) m68*-bull-sysv*
573 decstation mips-dec-* mips-little-*
574 riscos mips-*-riscos* mips-*-sysv*
576 sysv mips*-*-sysv4* (IRIX 5/6 not included)
578 * REMOVED configurations and files
580 SGI Irix-4.x mips-sgi-irix4 or iris4
581 SGI Iris (MIPS) running Irix V3: mips-sgi-irix or iris
582 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
583 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
584 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
585 HP/PA running BSD hppa*-*-bsd*
586 HP/PA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
587 HP/PA Pro target hppa*-*-pro*
588 PMAX (MIPS) running Mach 3.0 mips*-*-mach3*
589 386BSD i[3456]86-*-bsd*
590 Sequent family i[3456]86-sequent-sysv4*
591 i[3456]86-sequent-sysv*
592 i[3456]86-sequent-bsd*
593 SPARC running LynxOS sparc-*-lynxos*
594 SPARC running SunOS 4 sparc-*-sunos4*
595 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
596 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
598 *** Changes in GDB 6.0:
602 Support for debugging the Objective-C programming language has been
605 * New backtrace mechanism (includes DWARF 2 Call Frame Information).
607 DWARF 2's Call Frame Information makes available compiler generated
608 information that more exactly describes the program's run-time stack.
609 By using this information, GDB is able to provide more robust stack
612 The i386, amd64 (nee, x86-64), Alpha, m68hc11, ia64, and m32r targets
613 have been updated to use a new backtrace mechanism which includes
618 GDB's remote protocol has been extended to include support for hosted
619 file I/O (where the remote target uses GDB's file system). See GDB's
620 remote protocol documentation for details.
622 * All targets using the new architecture framework.
624 All of GDB's targets have been updated to use the new internal
625 architecture framework. The way is now open for future GDB releases
626 to include cross-architecture native debugging support (i386 on amd64,
629 * GNU/Linux's Thread Local Storage (TLS)
631 GDB now includes support for for the GNU/Linux implementation of
632 per-thread variables.
634 * GNU/Linux's Native POSIX Thread Library (NPTL)
636 GDB's thread code has been updated to work with either the new
637 GNU/Linux NPTL thread library or the older "LinuxThreads" library.
639 * Separate debug info.
641 GDB, in conjunction with BINUTILS, now supports a mechanism for
642 automatically loading debug information from a separate file. Instead
643 of shipping full debug and non-debug versions of system libraries,
644 system integrators can now instead ship just the stripped libraries
645 and optional debug files.
647 * DWARF 2 Location Expressions
649 DWARF 2 Location Expressions allow the compiler to more completely
650 describe the location of variables (even in optimized code) to the
653 GDB now includes preliminary support for location expressions (support
654 for DW_OP_piece is still missing).
658 A number of long standing bugs that caused GDB to die while starting a
659 Java application have been fixed. GDB's Java support is now
660 considered "useable".
662 * GNU/Linux support for fork, vfork, and exec.
664 The "catch fork", "catch exec", "catch vfork", and "set follow-fork-mode"
665 commands are now implemented for GNU/Linux. They require a 2.5.x or later
668 * GDB supports logging output to a file
670 There are two new commands, "set logging" and "show logging", which can be
671 used to capture GDB's output to a file.
673 * The meaning of "detach" has changed for gdbserver
675 The "detach" command will now resume the application, as documented. To
676 disconnect from gdbserver and leave it stopped, use the new "disconnect"
679 * d10v, m68hc11 `regs' command deprecated
681 The `info registers' command has been updated so that it displays the
682 registers using a format identical to the old `regs' command.
686 A new command, "maint set profile on/off", has been added. This command can
687 be used to enable or disable profiling while running GDB, to profile a
688 session or a set of commands. In addition there is a new configure switch,
689 "--enable-profiling", which will cause GDB to be compiled with profiling
690 data, for more informative profiling results.
692 * Default MI syntax changed to "mi2".
694 The default MI (machine interface) syntax, enabled by the command line
695 option "-i=mi", has been changed to "mi2". The previous MI syntax,
696 "mi1", can be enabled by specifying the option "-i=mi1".
698 Support for the original "mi0" syntax (included in GDB 5.0) has been
701 Fix for gdb/192: removed extraneous space when displaying frame level.
702 Fix for gdb/672: update changelist is now output in mi list format.
703 Fix for gdb/702: a -var-assign that updates the value now shows up
704 in a subsequent -var-update.
706 * New native configurations.
708 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
710 * Multi-arched targets.
712 HP/PA HPUX11 hppa*-*-hpux*
713 Renesas M32R/D w/simulator m32r-*-elf*
715 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
717 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
718 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
719 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
722 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
723 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
724 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
725 HP/PA running BSD hppa*-*-bsd*
726 HP/PA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
727 HP/PA Pro target hppa*-*-pro*
728 PMAX (MIPS) running Mach 3.0 mips*-*-mach3*
729 Sequent family i[3456]86-sequent-sysv4*
730 i[3456]86-sequent-sysv*
731 i[3456]86-sequent-bsd*
732 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
733 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
735 * REMOVED configurations and files
738 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
739 IBM AIX PS/2 i[3456]86-*-aix
740 i386 running Mach 3.0 i[3456]86-*-mach3*
741 i386 running Mach i[3456]86-*-mach*
742 i386 running OSF/1 i[3456]86-*osf1mk*
743 HP/Apollo 68k Family m68*-apollo*-sysv*,
745 m68*-hp-bsd*, m68*-hp-hpux*
746 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
747 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
748 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
749 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
750 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
752 * MIPS $fp behavior changed
754 The convenience variable $fp, for the MIPS, now consistently returns
755 the address of the current frame's base. Previously, depending on the
756 context, $fp could refer to either $sp or the current frame's base
757 address. See ``8.10 Registers'' in the manual ``Debugging with GDB:
758 The GNU Source-Level Debugger''.
760 *** Changes in GDB 5.3:
762 * GNU/Linux shared library multi-threaded performance improved.
764 When debugging a multi-threaded application on GNU/Linux, GDB now uses
765 `/proc', in preference to `ptrace' for memory reads. This may result
766 in an improvement in the start-up time of multi-threaded, shared
767 library applications when run under GDB. One GDB user writes: ``loads
768 shared libs like mad''.
770 * ``gdbserver'' now supports multi-threaded applications on some targets
772 Support for debugging multi-threaded applications which use
773 the GNU/Linux LinuxThreads package has been added for
774 arm*-*-linux*-gnu*, i[3456]86-*-linux*-gnu*, mips*-*-linux*-gnu*,
775 powerpc*-*-linux*-gnu*, and sh*-*-linux*-gnu*.
777 * GDB now supports C/C++ preprocessor macros.
779 GDB now expands preprocessor macro invocations in C/C++ expressions,
780 and provides various commands for showing macro definitions and how
783 The new command `macro expand EXPRESSION' expands any macro
784 invocations in expression, and shows the result.
786 The new command `show macro MACRO-NAME' shows the definition of the
787 macro named MACRO-NAME, and where it was defined.
789 Most compilers don't include information about macros in the debugging
790 information by default. In GCC 3.1, for example, you need to compile
791 your program with the options `-gdwarf-2 -g3'. If the macro
792 information is present in the executable, GDB will read it.
794 * Multi-arched targets.
796 DEC Alpha (partial) alpha*-*-*
797 DEC VAX (partial) vax-*-*
799 National Semiconductor NS32000 (partial) ns32k-*-*
800 Motorola 68000 (partial) m68k-*-*
801 Motorola MCORE mcore-*-*
805 Fujitsu FRV architecture added by Red Hat frv*-*-*
808 * New native configurations
810 Alpha NetBSD alpha*-*-netbsd*
811 SH NetBSD sh*-*-netbsdelf*
812 MIPS NetBSD mips*-*-netbsd*
813 UltraSPARC NetBSD sparc64-*-netbsd*
815 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
817 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
818 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
819 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
822 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
823 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
824 IBM AIX PS/2 i[3456]86-*-aix
825 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
826 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
827 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
828 i386 running Mach 3.0 i[3456]86-*-mach3*
829 i386 running Mach i[3456]86-*-mach*
830 i386 running OSF/1 i[3456]86-*osf1mk*
831 HP/Apollo 68k Family m68*-apollo*-sysv*,
833 m68*-hp-bsd*, m68*-hp-hpux*
834 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
838 CHILL, a Pascal like language used by telecommunications companies.
840 * REMOVED configurations and files
842 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi, udi29k
843 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
844 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
845 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
846 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
848 testsuite/gdb.hp/gdb.threads-hp/ directory
850 * New command "set max-user-call-depth <nnn>"
852 This command allows the user to limit the call depth of user-defined
853 commands. The default is 1024.
855 * Changes in FreeBSD/i386 native debugging.
857 Support for the "generate-core-file" has been added.
859 * New commands "dump", "append", and "restore".
861 These commands allow data to be copied from target memory
862 to a bfd-format or binary file (dump and append), and back
863 from a file into memory (restore).
865 * Improved "next/step" support on multi-processor Alpha Tru64.
867 The previous single-step mechanism could cause unpredictable problems,
868 including the random appearance of SIGSEGV or SIGTRAP signals. The use
869 of a software single-step mechanism prevents this.
871 *** Changes in GDB 5.2.1:
879 gdb/182: gdb/323: gdb/237: On alpha, gdb was reporting:
880 mdebugread.c:2443: gdb-internal-error: sect_index_data not initialized
881 Fix, by Joel Brobecker imported from mainline.
883 gdb/439: gdb/291: On some ELF object files, gdb was reporting:
884 dwarf2read.c:1072: gdb-internal-error: sect_index_text not initialize
885 Fix, by Fred Fish, imported from mainline.
887 Dwarf2 .debug_frame & .eh_frame handler improved in many ways.
888 Surprisingly enough, it works now.
889 By Michal Ludvig, imported from mainline.
891 i386 hardware watchpoint support:
892 avoid misses on second run for some targets.
893 By Pierre Muller, imported from mainline.
895 *** Changes in GDB 5.2:
897 * New command "set trust-readonly-sections on[off]".
899 This command is a hint that tells gdb that read-only sections
900 really are read-only (ie. that their contents will not change).
901 In this mode, gdb will go to the object file rather than the
902 target to read memory from read-only sections (such as ".text").
903 This can be a significant performance improvement on some
904 (notably embedded) targets.
906 * New command "generate-core-file" (or "gcore").
908 This new gdb command allows the user to drop a core file of the child
909 process state at any time. So far it's been implemented only for
910 GNU/Linux and Solaris, but should be relatively easily ported to other
911 hosts. Argument is core file name (defaults to core.<pid>).
913 * New command line option
915 GDB now accepts --pid or -p followed by a process id.
917 * Change in command line behavior -- corefiles vs. process ids.
919 There is a subtle behavior in the way in which GDB handles
920 command line arguments. The first non-flag argument is always
921 a program to debug, but the second non-flag argument may either
922 be a corefile or a process id. Previously, GDB would attempt to
923 open the second argument as a corefile, and if that failed, would
924 issue a superfluous error message and then attempt to attach it as
925 a process. Now, if the second argument begins with a non-digit,
926 it will be treated as a corefile. If it begins with a digit,
927 GDB will attempt to attach it as a process, and if no such process
928 is found, will then attempt to open it as a corefile.
930 * Changes in ARM configurations.
932 Multi-arch support is enabled for all ARM configurations. The ARM/NetBSD
933 configuration is fully multi-arch.
935 * New native configurations
937 ARM NetBSD arm*-*-netbsd*
938 x86 OpenBSD i[3456]86-*-openbsd*
939 AMD x86-64 running GNU/Linux x86_64-*-linux-*
940 Sparc64 running FreeBSD sparc64-*-freebsd*
944 Sanyo XStormy16 xstormy16-elf
946 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
948 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
949 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
950 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
953 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi, udi29k
954 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
955 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
956 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
957 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
959 testsuite/gdb.hp/gdb.threads-hp/ directory
961 * REMOVED configurations and files
963 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
965 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
966 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
967 PowerPC Netware powerpc-*-netware*
968 Harris/CXUX m88k m88*-harris-cxux*
969 Most ns32k hosts and targets ns32k-*-mach3* ns32k-umax-*
970 ns32k-utek-sysv* ns32k-utek-*
971 SunOS 4.0.Xi on i386 i[3456]86-*-sunos*
972 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1 a29k-nyu-sym1 a29k-*-kern*
973 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x m68*-sony-sysv news
974 ISI Optimum V (3.05) under 4.3bsd. m68*-isi-*
975 Apple Macintosh (MPW) host and target N/A host, powerpc-*-macos*
977 * Changes to command line processing
979 The new `--args' feature can be used to specify command-line arguments
980 for the inferior from gdb's command line.
982 * Changes to key bindings
984 There is a new `operate-and-get-next' function bound to `C-o'.
986 *** Changes in GDB 5.1.1
988 Fix compile problem on DJGPP.
990 Fix a problem with floating-point registers on the i386 being
993 Fix to stop GDB crashing on .debug_str debug info.
995 Numerous documentation fixes.
997 Numerous testsuite fixes.
999 *** Changes in GDB 5.1:
1001 * New native configurations
1003 Alpha FreeBSD alpha*-*-freebsd*
1004 x86 FreeBSD 3.x and 4.x i[3456]86*-freebsd[34]*
1005 MIPS GNU/Linux mips*-*-linux*
1006 MIPS SGI Irix 6.x mips*-sgi-irix6*
1007 ia64 AIX ia64-*-aix*
1008 s390 and s390x GNU/Linux {s390,s390x}-*-linux*
1012 Motorola 68HC11 and 68HC12 m68hc11-elf
1014 UltraSparc running GNU/Linux sparc64-*-linux*
1016 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
1018 x86 FreeBSD before 2.2 i[3456]86*-freebsd{1,2.[01]}*,
1019 Harris/CXUX m88k m88*-harris-cxux*
1020 Most ns32k hosts and targets ns32k-*-mach3* ns32k-umax-*
1021 ns32k-utek-sysv* ns32k-utek-*
1022 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
1024 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1 a29k-nyu-sym1 a29k-*-kern*
1025 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
1026 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
1027 PowerPC Netware powerpc-*-netware*
1028 SunOS 4.0.Xi on i386 i[3456]86-*-sunos*
1029 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x m68*-sony-sysv news
1030 ISI Optimum V (3.05) under 4.3bsd. m68*-isi-*
1031 Apple Macintosh (MPW) host N/A
1033 stuff.c (Program to stuff files into a specially prepared space in kdb)
1034 kdb-start.c (Main loop for the standalone kernel debugger)
1036 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
1037 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
1038 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
1039 permanently REMOVED.
1041 * REMOVED configurations and files
1043 Altos 3068 m68*-altos-*
1044 Convex c1-*-*, c2-*-*
1046 ARM RISCix arm-*-* (as host)
1050 * GDB has been converted to ISO C.
1052 GDB's source code has been converted to ISO C. In particular, the
1053 sources are fully protoized, and rely on standard headers being
1058 * "info symbol" works on platforms which use COFF, ECOFF, XCOFF, and NLM.
1060 * The MI enabled by default.
1062 The new machine oriented interface (MI) introduced in GDB 5.0 has been
1063 revised and enabled by default. Packages which use GDB as a debugging
1064 engine behind a UI or another front end are encouraged to switch to
1065 using the GDB/MI interface, instead of the old annotations interface
1066 which is now deprecated.
1068 * Support for debugging Pascal programs.
1070 GDB now includes support for debugging Pascal programs. The following
1071 main features are supported:
1073 - Pascal-specific data types such as sets;
1075 - automatic recognition of Pascal sources based on file-name
1078 - Pascal-style display of data types, variables, and functions;
1080 - a Pascal expression parser.
1082 However, some important features are not yet supported.
1084 - Pascal string operations are not supported at all;
1086 - there are some problems with boolean types;
1088 - Pascal type hexadecimal constants are not supported
1089 because they conflict with the internal variables format;
1091 - support for Pascal objects and classes is not full yet;
1093 - unlike Pascal, GDB is case-sensitive for symbol names.
1095 * Changes in completion.
1097 Commands such as `shell', `run' and `set args', which pass arguments
1098 to inferior programs, now complete on file names, similar to what
1099 users expect at the shell prompt.
1101 Commands which accept locations, such as `disassemble', `print',
1102 `breakpoint', `until', etc. now complete on filenames as well as
1103 program symbols. Thus, if you type "break foob TAB", and the source
1104 files linked into the programs include `foobar.c', that file name will
1105 be one of the candidates for completion. However, file names are not
1106 considered for completion after you typed a colon that delimits a file
1107 name from a name of a function in that file, as in "break foo.c:bar".
1109 `set demangle-style' completes on available demangling styles.
1111 * New platform-independent commands:
1113 It is now possible to define a post-hook for a command as well as a
1114 hook that runs before the command. For more details, see the
1115 documentation of `hookpost' in the GDB manual.
1117 * Changes in GNU/Linux native debugging.
1119 Support for debugging multi-threaded programs has been completely
1120 revised for all platforms except m68k and sparc. You can now debug as
1121 many threads as your system allows you to have.
1123 Attach/detach is supported for multi-threaded programs.
1125 Support for SSE registers was added for x86. This doesn't work for
1126 multi-threaded programs though.
1128 * Changes in MIPS configurations.
1130 Multi-arch support is enabled for all MIPS configurations.
1132 GDB can now be built as native debugger on SGI Irix 6.x systems for
1133 debugging n32 executables. (Debugging 64-bit executables is not yet
1136 * Unified support for hardware watchpoints in all x86 configurations.
1138 Most (if not all) native x86 configurations support hardware-assisted
1139 breakpoints and watchpoints in a unified manner. This support
1140 implements debug register sharing between watchpoints, which allows to
1141 put a virtually infinite number of watchpoints on the same address,
1142 and also supports watching regions up to 16 bytes with several debug
1145 The new maintenance command `maintenance show-debug-regs' toggles
1146 debugging print-outs in functions that insert, remove, and test
1147 watchpoints and hardware breakpoints.
1149 * Changes in the DJGPP native configuration.
1151 New command ``info dos sysinfo'' displays assorted information about
1152 the CPU, OS, memory, and DPMI server.
1154 New commands ``info dos gdt'', ``info dos ldt'', and ``info dos idt''
1155 display information about segment descriptors stored in GDT, LDT, and
1158 New commands ``info dos pde'' and ``info dos pte'' display entries
1159 from Page Directory and Page Tables (for now works with CWSDPMI only).
1160 New command ``info dos address-pte'' displays the Page Table entry for
1161 a given linear address.
1163 GDB can now pass command lines longer than 126 characters to the
1164 program being debugged (requires an update to the libdbg.a library
1165 which is part of the DJGPP development kit).
1167 DWARF2 debug info is now supported.
1169 It is now possible to `step' and `next' through calls to `longjmp'.
1171 * Changes in documentation.
1173 All GDB documentation was converted to GFDL, the GNU Free
1174 Documentation License.
1176 Tracepoints-related commands are now fully documented in the GDB
1179 TUI, the Text-mode User Interface, is now documented in the manual.
1181 Tracepoints-related commands are now fully documented in the GDB
1184 The "GDB Internals" manual now has an index. It also includes
1185 documentation of `ui_out' functions, GDB coding standards, x86
1186 hardware watchpoints, and memory region attributes.
1188 * GDB's version number moved to ``version.in''
1190 The Makefile variable VERSION has been replaced by the file
1191 ``version.in''. People creating GDB distributions should update the
1192 contents of this file.
1196 GUD support is now a standard part of the EMACS distribution.
1198 *** Changes in GDB 5.0:
1200 * Improved support for debugging FP programs on x86 targets
1202 Unified and much-improved support for debugging floating-point
1203 programs on all x86 targets. In particular, ``info float'' now
1204 displays the FP registers in the same format on all x86 targets, with
1205 greater level of detail.
1207 * Improvements and bugfixes in hardware-assisted watchpoints
1209 It is now possible to watch array elements, struct members, and
1210 bitfields with hardware-assisted watchpoints. Data-read watchpoints
1211 on x86 targets no longer erroneously trigger when the address is
1214 * Improvements in the native DJGPP version of GDB
1216 The distribution now includes all the scripts and auxiliary files
1217 necessary to build the native DJGPP version on MS-DOS/MS-Windows
1218 machines ``out of the box''.
1220 The DJGPP version can now debug programs that use signals. It is
1221 possible to catch signals that happened in the debuggee, deliver
1222 signals to it, interrupt it with Ctrl-C, etc. (Previously, a signal
1223 would kill the program being debugged.) Programs that hook hardware
1224 interrupts (keyboard, timer, etc.) can also be debugged.
1226 It is now possible to debug DJGPP programs that redirect their
1227 standard handles or switch them to raw (as opposed to cooked) mode, or
1228 even close them. The command ``run < foo > bar'' works as expected,
1229 and ``info terminal'' reports useful information about the debuggee's
1230 terminal, including raw/cooked mode, redirection, etc.
1232 The DJGPP version now uses termios functions for console I/O, which
1233 enables debugging graphics programs. Interrupting GDB with Ctrl-C
1236 DOS-style file names with drive letters are now fully supported by
1239 It is now possible to debug DJGPP programs that switch their working
1240 directory. It is also possible to rerun the debuggee any number of
1241 times without restarting GDB; thus, you can use the same setup,
1242 breakpoints, etc. for many debugging sessions.
1244 * New native configurations
1246 ARM GNU/Linux arm*-*-linux*
1247 PowerPC GNU/Linux powerpc-*-linux*
1251 Motorola MCore mcore-*-*
1252 x86 VxWorks i[3456]86-*-vxworks*
1253 PowerPC VxWorks powerpc-*-vxworks*
1254 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
1256 * OBSOLETE configurations
1258 Altos 3068 m68*-altos-*
1259 Convex c1-*-*, c2-*-*
1261 ARM RISCix arm-*-* (as host)
1264 Configurations that have been declared obsolete will be commented out,
1265 but the code will be left in place. If there is no activity to revive
1266 these configurations before the next release of GDB, the sources will
1267 be permanently REMOVED.
1269 * Gould support removed
1271 Support for the Gould PowerNode and NP1 has been removed.
1273 * New features for SVR4
1275 On SVR4 native platforms (such as Solaris), if you attach to a process
1276 without first loading a symbol file, GDB will now attempt to locate and
1277 load symbols from the running process's executable file.
1279 * Many C++ enhancements
1281 C++ support has been greatly improved. Overload resolution now works properly
1282 in almost all cases. RTTI support is on the way.
1284 * Remote targets can connect to a sub-program
1286 A popen(3) style serial-device has been added. This device starts a
1287 sub-process (such as a stand-alone simulator) and then communicates
1288 with that. The sub-program to run is specified using the syntax
1289 ``|<program> <args>'' vis:
1291 (gdb) set remotedebug 1
1292 (gdb) target extended-remote |mn10300-elf-sim program-args
1294 * MIPS 64 remote protocol
1296 A long standing bug in the mips64 remote protocol where by GDB
1297 expected certain 32 bit registers (ex SR) to be transfered as 32
1298 instead of 64 bits has been fixed.
1300 The command ``set remote-mips64-transfers-32bit-regs on'' has been
1301 added to provide backward compatibility with older versions of GDB.
1303 * ``set remotebinarydownload'' replaced by ``set remote X-packet''
1305 The command ``set remotebinarydownload'' command has been replaced by
1306 ``set remote X-packet''. Other commands in ``set remote'' family
1307 include ``set remote P-packet''.
1309 * Breakpoint commands accept ranges.
1311 The breakpoint commands ``enable'', ``disable'', and ``delete'' now
1312 accept a range of breakpoints, e.g. ``5-7''. The tracepoint command
1313 ``tracepoint passcount'' also accepts a range of tracepoints.
1315 * ``apropos'' command added.
1317 The ``apropos'' command searches through command names and
1318 documentation strings, printing out matches, making it much easier to
1319 try to find a command that does what you are looking for.
1323 A new machine oriented interface (MI) has been added to GDB. This
1324 interface is designed for debug environments running GDB as a separate
1325 process. This is part of the long term libGDB project. See the
1326 "GDB/MI" chapter of the GDB manual for further information. It can be
1327 enabled by configuring with:
1329 .../configure --enable-gdbmi
1331 *** Changes in GDB-4.18:
1333 * New native configurations
1335 HP-UX 10.20 hppa*-*-hpux10.20
1336 HP-UX 11.x hppa*-*-hpux11.0*
1337 M68K GNU/Linux m68*-*-linux*
1341 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
1342 Intel StrongARM strongarm-*-*
1343 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
1345 * OBSOLETE configurations
1347 Gould PowerNode, NP1 np1-*-*, pn-*-*
1349 Configurations that have been declared obsolete will be commented out,
1350 but the code will be left in place. If there is no activity to revive
1351 these configurations before the next release of GDB, the sources will
1352 be permanently REMOVED.
1356 As a compatibility experiment, GDB's source files buildsym.h and
1357 buildsym.c have been converted to pure standard C, no longer
1358 containing any K&R compatibility code. We believe that all systems in
1359 use today either come with a standard C compiler, or have a GCC port
1360 available. If this is not true, please report the affected
1361 configuration to bug-gdb@gnu.org immediately. See the README file for
1362 information about getting a standard C compiler if you don't have one
1367 GDB now uses readline 2.2.
1369 * set extension-language
1371 You can now control the mapping between filename extensions and source
1372 languages by using the `set extension-language' command. For instance,
1373 you can ask GDB to treat .c files as C++ by saying
1374 set extension-language .c c++
1375 The command `info extensions' lists all of the recognized extensions
1376 and their associated languages.
1378 * Setting processor type for PowerPC and RS/6000
1380 When GDB is configured for a powerpc*-*-* or an rs6000*-*-* target,
1381 you can use the `set processor' command to specify what variant of the
1382 PowerPC family you are debugging. The command
1386 sets the PowerPC/RS6000 variant to NAME. GDB knows about the
1387 following PowerPC and RS6000 variants:
1389 ppc-uisa PowerPC UISA - a PPC processor as viewed by user-level code
1390 rs6000 IBM RS6000 ("POWER") architecture, user-level view
1392 403GC IBM PowerPC 403GC
1393 505 Motorola PowerPC 505
1394 860 Motorola PowerPC 860 or 850
1395 601 Motorola PowerPC 601
1396 602 Motorola PowerPC 602
1397 603 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 603 or 603e
1398 604 Motorola PowerPC 604 or 604e
1399 750 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 750 or 750
1401 At the moment, this command just tells GDB what to name the
1402 special-purpose processor registers. Since almost all the affected
1403 registers are inaccessible to user-level programs, this command is
1404 only useful for remote debugging in its present form.
1408 Thanks to a major code donation from Hewlett-Packard, GDB now has much
1409 more extensive support for HP-UX. Added features include shared
1410 library support, kernel threads and hardware watchpoints for 11.00,
1411 support for HP's ANSI C and C++ compilers, and a compatibility mode
1412 for xdb and dbx commands.
1416 HP's donation includes the new concept of catchpoints, which is a
1417 generalization of the old catch command. On HP-UX, it is now possible
1418 to catch exec, fork, and vfork, as well as library loading.
1420 This means that the existing catch command has changed; its first
1421 argument now specifies the type of catch to be set up. See the
1422 output of "help catch" for a list of catchpoint types.
1424 * Debugging across forks
1426 On HP-UX, you can choose which process to debug when a fork() happens
1431 HP has donated a curses-based terminal user interface (TUI). To get
1432 it, build with --enable-tui. Although this can be enabled for any
1433 configuration, at present it only works for native HP debugging.
1435 * GDB remote protocol additions
1437 A new protocol packet 'X' that writes binary data is now available.
1438 Default behavior is to try 'X', then drop back to 'M' if the stub
1439 fails to respond. The settable variable `remotebinarydownload'
1440 allows explicit control over the use of 'X'.
1442 For 64-bit targets, the memory packets ('M' and 'm') can now contain a
1443 full 64-bit address. The command
1445 set remoteaddresssize 32
1447 can be used to revert to the old behaviour. For existing remote stubs
1448 the change should not be noticed, as the additional address information
1451 In order to assist in debugging stubs, you may use the maintenance
1452 command `packet' to send any text string to the stub. For instance,
1454 maint packet heythere
1456 sends the packet "$heythere#<checksum>". Note that it is very easy to
1457 disrupt a debugging session by sending the wrong packet at the wrong
1460 The compare-sections command allows you to compare section data on the
1461 target to what is in the executable file without uploading or
1462 downloading, by comparing CRC checksums.
1464 * Tracing can collect general expressions
1466 You may now collect general expressions at tracepoints. This requires
1467 further additions to the target-side stub; see tracepoint.c and
1468 doc/agentexpr.texi for further details.
1470 * mask-address variable for Mips
1472 For Mips targets, you may control the zeroing of the upper 32 bits of
1473 a 64-bit address by entering `set mask-address on'. This is mainly
1474 of interest to users of embedded R4xxx and R5xxx processors.
1476 * Higher serial baud rates
1478 GDB's serial code now allows you to specify baud rates 57600, 115200,
1479 230400, and 460800 baud. (Note that your host system may not be able
1480 to achieve all of these rates.)
1484 The i960 configuration now includes an initial implementation of a
1485 builtin simulator, contributed by Jim Wilson.
1488 *** Changes in GDB-4.17:
1490 * New native configurations
1492 Alpha GNU/Linux alpha*-*-linux*
1493 Unixware 2.x i[3456]86-unixware2*
1494 Irix 6.x mips*-sgi-irix6*
1495 PowerPC GNU/Linux powerpc-*-linux*
1496 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
1497 Sparc GNU/Linux sparc-*-linux*
1498 Motorola sysV68 R3V7.1 m68k-motorola-sysv
1502 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
1503 Hitachi H8/300S h8300*-*-*
1504 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
1505 Matsushita MN10300 w/simulator mn10300-*-*
1506 MIPS NEC VR4100 mips64*vr4100*{,el}-*-elf*
1507 MIPS NEC VR5000 mips64*vr5000*{,el}-*-elf*
1508 MIPS Toshiba TX39 mips64*tx39*{,el}-*-elf*
1509 Mitsubishi D10V w/simulator d10v-*-*
1510 Mitsubishi M32R/D w/simulator m32r-*-elf*
1511 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
1512 NEC V850 w/simulator v850-*-*
1514 * New debugging protocols
1516 ARM with RDI protocol arm*-*-*
1517 M68K with dBUG monitor m68*-*-{aout,coff,elf}
1518 DDB and LSI variants of PMON protocol mips*-*-*
1519 PowerPC with DINK32 monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
1520 PowerPC with SDS protocol powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
1521 Macraigor OCD (Wiggler) devices powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
1525 All configurations can now understand and use the DWARF 2 debugging
1526 format. The choice is automatic, if the symbol file contains DWARF 2
1531 GDB now includes basic Java language support. This support is
1532 only useful with Java compilers that produce native machine code.
1534 * solib-absolute-prefix and solib-search-path
1536 For SunOS and SVR4 shared libraries, you may now set the prefix for
1537 loading absolute shared library symbol files, and the search path for
1538 locating non-absolute shared library symbol files.
1540 * Live range splitting
1542 GDB can now effectively debug code for which GCC has performed live
1543 range splitting as part of its optimization. See gdb/doc/LRS for
1544 more details on the expected format of the stabs information.
1548 GDB's support for the GNU Hurd, including thread debugging, has been
1549 updated to work with current versions of the Hurd.
1553 GDB's ARM target configuration now handles the ARM7T (Thumb) 16-bit
1554 instruction set. ARM GDB automatically detects when Thumb
1555 instructions are in use, and adjusts disassembly and backtracing
1560 GDB's MIPS target configurations now handle the MIP16 16-bit
1565 GDB now includes support for overlays; if an executable has been
1566 linked such that multiple sections are based at the same address, GDB
1567 will decide which section to use for symbolic info. You can choose to
1568 control the decision manually, using overlay commands, or implement
1569 additional target-side support and use "overlay load-target" to bring
1570 in the overlay mapping. Do "help overlay" for more detail.
1574 The command "info symbol <address>" displays information about
1575 the symbol at the specified address.
1579 The standard remote protocol now includes an extension that allows
1580 asynchronous collection and display of trace data. This requires
1581 extensive support in the target-side debugging stub. Tracing mode
1582 includes a new interaction mode in GDB and new commands: see the
1583 file tracepoint.c for more details.
1587 Configurations for embedded MIPS now include a simulator contributed
1588 by Cygnus Solutions. The simulator supports the instruction sets
1589 of most MIPS variants.
1593 Sparc configurations may now include the ERC32 simulator contributed
1594 by the European Space Agency. The simulator is not built into
1595 Sparc targets by default; configure with --enable-sim to include it.
1599 For target configurations that may include multiple variants of a
1600 basic architecture (such as MIPS and SH), you may now set the
1601 architecture explicitly. "set arch" sets, "info arch" lists
1602 the possible architectures.
1604 *** Changes in GDB-4.16:
1606 * New native configurations
1608 Windows 95, x86 Windows NT i[345]86-*-cygwin32
1609 M68K NetBSD m68k-*-netbsd*
1610 PowerPC AIX 4.x powerpc-*-aix*
1611 PowerPC MacOS powerpc-*-macos*
1612 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
1613 RS/6000 AIX 4.x rs6000-*-aix4*
1617 ARM with RDP protocol arm-*-*
1618 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
1619 MIPS VxWorks mips*-*-vxworks*
1620 MIPS VR4300 with PMON mips64*vr4300{,el}-*-elf*
1621 PowerPC with PPCBUG monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi*
1623 Matra Sparclet sparclet-*-*
1627 The powerpc-eabi configuration now includes the PSIM simulator,
1628 contributed by Andrew Cagney, with assistance from Mike Meissner.
1629 PSIM is a very elaborate model of the PowerPC, including not only
1630 basic instruction set execution, but also details of execution unit
1631 performance and I/O hardware. See sim/ppc/README for more details.
1635 GDB now works with Solaris 2.5.
1637 * Windows 95/NT native
1639 GDB will now work as a native debugger on Windows 95 and Windows NT.
1640 To build it from source, you must use the "gnu-win32" environment,
1641 which uses a DLL to emulate enough of Unix to run the GNU tools.
1642 Further information, binaries, and sources are available at
1643 ftp.cygnus.com, under pub/gnu-win32.
1645 * dont-repeat command
1647 If a user-defined command includes the command `dont-repeat', then the
1648 command will not be repeated if the user just types return. This is
1649 useful if the command is time-consuming to run, so that accidental
1650 extra keystrokes don't run the same command many times.
1652 * Send break instead of ^C
1654 The standard remote protocol now includes an option to send a break
1655 rather than a ^C to the target in order to interrupt it. By default,
1656 GDB will send ^C; to send a break, set the variable `remotebreak' to 1.
1658 * Remote protocol timeout
1660 The standard remote protocol includes a new variable `remotetimeout'
1661 that allows you to set the number of seconds before GDB gives up trying
1662 to read from the target. The default value is 2.
1664 * Automatic tracking of dynamic object loading (HPUX and Solaris only)
1666 By default GDB will automatically keep track of objects as they are
1667 loaded and unloaded by the dynamic linker. By using the command `set
1668 stop-on-solib-events 1' you can arrange for GDB to stop the inferior
1669 when shared library events occur, thus allowing you to set breakpoints
1670 in shared libraries which are explicitly loaded by the inferior.
1672 Note this feature does not work on hpux8. On hpux9 you must link
1673 /usr/lib/end.o into your program. This feature should work
1674 automatically on hpux10.
1676 * Irix 5.x hardware watchpoint support
1678 Irix 5 configurations now support the use of hardware watchpoints.
1680 * Mips protocol "SYN garbage limit"
1682 When debugging a Mips target using the `target mips' protocol, you
1683 may set the number of characters that GDB will ignore by setting
1684 the `syn-garbage-limit'. A value of -1 means that GDB will ignore
1685 every character. The default value is 1050.
1687 * Recording and replaying remote debug sessions
1689 If you set `remotelogfile' to the name of a file, gdb will write to it
1690 a recording of a remote debug session. This recording may then be
1691 replayed back to gdb using "gdbreplay". See gdbserver/README for
1692 details. This is useful when you have a problem with GDB while doing
1693 remote debugging; you can make a recording of the session and send it
1694 to someone else, who can then recreate the problem.
1696 * Speedups for remote debugging
1698 GDB includes speedups for downloading and stepping MIPS systems using
1699 the IDT monitor, fast downloads to the Hitachi SH E7000 emulator,
1700 and more efficient S-record downloading.
1702 * Memory use reductions and statistics collection
1704 GDB now uses less memory and reports statistics about memory usage.
1705 Try the `maint print statistics' command, for example.
1707 *** Changes in GDB-4.15:
1709 * Psymtabs for XCOFF
1711 The symbol reader for AIX GDB now uses partial symbol tables. This
1712 can greatly improve startup time, especially for large executables.
1714 * Remote targets use caching
1716 Remote targets now use a data cache to speed up communication with the
1717 remote side. The data cache could lead to incorrect results because
1718 it doesn't know about volatile variables, thus making it impossible to
1719 debug targets which use memory mapped I/O devices. `set remotecache
1720 off' turns the the data cache off.
1722 * Remote targets may have threads
1724 The standard remote protocol now includes support for multiple threads
1725 in the target system, using new protocol commands 'H' and 'T'. See
1726 gdb/remote.c for details.
1730 If GDB is configured with `--enable-netrom', then it will include
1731 support for the NetROM ROM emulator from XLNT Designs. The NetROM
1732 acts as though it is a bank of ROM on the target board, but you can
1733 write into it over the network. GDB's support consists only of
1734 support for fast loading into the emulated ROM; to debug, you must use
1735 another protocol, such as standard remote protocol. The usual
1736 sequence is something like
1738 target nrom <netrom-hostname>
1740 target remote <netrom-hostname>:1235
1744 GDB now includes support for the Apple Macintosh, as a host only. It
1745 may be run as either an MPW tool or as a standalone application, and
1746 it can debug through the serial port. All the usual GDB commands are
1747 available, but to the target command, you must supply "serial" as the
1748 device type instead of "/dev/ttyXX". See mpw-README in the main
1749 directory for more information on how to build. The MPW configuration
1750 scripts */mpw-config.in support only a few targets, and only the
1751 mips-idt-ecoff target has been tested.
1755 GDB configuration now uses autoconf. This is not user-visible,
1756 but does simplify configuration and building.
1760 GDB now supports hpux10.
1762 *** Changes in GDB-4.14:
1764 * New native configurations
1766 x86 FreeBSD i[345]86-*-freebsd
1767 x86 NetBSD i[345]86-*-netbsd
1768 NS32k NetBSD ns32k-*-netbsd
1769 Sparc NetBSD sparc-*-netbsd
1773 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
1774 HP PA PRO embedded (WinBond W89K & Oki OP50N) hppa*-*-pro*
1775 CPU32 EST-300 emulator m68*-*-est*
1776 PowerPC ELF powerpc-*-elf
1779 * Alpha OSF/1 support for procfs
1781 GDB now supports procfs under OSF/1-2.x and higher, which makes it
1782 possible to attach to running processes. As the mounting of the /proc
1783 filesystem is optional on the Alpha, GDB automatically determines
1784 the availability of /proc during startup. This can lead to problems
1785 if /proc is unmounted after GDB has been started.
1787 * Arguments to user-defined commands
1789 User commands may accept up to 10 arguments separated by whitespace.
1790 Arguments are accessed within the user command via $arg0..$arg9. A
1793 print $arg0 + $arg1 + $arg2
1795 To execute the command use:
1798 Defines the command "adder" which prints the sum of its three arguments.
1799 Note the arguments are text substitutions, so they may reference variables,
1800 use complex expressions, or even perform inferior function calls.
1802 * New `if' and `while' commands
1804 This makes it possible to write more sophisticated user-defined
1805 commands. Both commands take a single argument, which is the
1806 expression to evaluate, and must be followed by the commands to
1807 execute, one per line, if the expression is nonzero, the list being
1808 terminated by the word `end'. The `if' command list may include an
1809 `else' word, which causes the following commands to be executed only
1810 if the expression is zero.
1812 * Fortran source language mode
1814 GDB now includes partial support for Fortran 77. It will recognize
1815 Fortran programs and can evaluate a subset of Fortran expressions, but
1816 variables and functions may not be handled correctly. GDB will work
1817 with G77, but does not yet know much about symbols emitted by other
1820 * Better HPUX support
1822 Most debugging facilities now work on dynamic executables for HPPAs
1823 running hpux9 or later. You can attach to running dynamically linked
1824 processes, but by default the dynamic libraries will be read-only, so
1825 for instance you won't be able to put breakpoints in them. To change
1826 that behavior do the following before running the program:
1832 This will cause the libraries to be mapped private and read-write.
1833 To revert to the normal behavior, do this:
1839 You cannot set breakpoints or examine data in the library until after
1840 the library is loaded if the function/data symbols do not have
1843 GDB can now also read debug symbols produced by the HP C compiler on
1844 HPPAs (sorry, no C++, Fortran or 68k support).
1846 * Target byte order now dynamically selectable
1848 You can choose which byte order to use with a target system, via the
1849 commands "set endian big" and "set endian little", and you can see the
1850 current setting by using "show endian". You can also give the command
1851 "set endian auto", in which case GDB will use the byte order
1852 associated with the executable. Currently, only embedded MIPS
1853 configurations support dynamic selection of target byte order.
1855 * New DOS host serial code
1857 This version uses DPMI interrupts to handle buffered I/O, so you
1858 no longer need to run asynctsr when debugging boards connected to
1861 *** Changes in GDB-4.13:
1863 * New "complete" command
1865 This lists all the possible completions for the rest of the line, if it
1866 were to be given as a command itself. This is intended for use by emacs.
1868 * Trailing space optional in prompt
1870 "set prompt" no longer adds a space for you after the prompt you set. This
1871 allows you to set a prompt which ends in a space or one that does not.
1873 * Breakpoint hit counts
1875 "info break" now displays a count of the number of times the breakpoint
1876 has been hit. This is especially useful in conjunction with "ignore"; you
1877 can ignore a large number of breakpoint hits, look at the breakpoint info
1878 to see how many times the breakpoint was hit, then run again, ignoring one
1879 less than that number, and this will get you quickly to the last hit of
1882 * Ability to stop printing at NULL character
1884 "set print null-stop" will cause GDB to stop printing the characters of
1885 an array when the first NULL is encountered. This is useful when large
1886 arrays actually contain only short strings.
1888 * Shared library breakpoints
1890 In SunOS 4.x, SVR4, and Alpha OSF/1 configurations, you can now set
1891 breakpoints in shared libraries before the executable is run.
1893 * Hardware watchpoints
1895 There is a new hardware breakpoint for the watch command for sparclite
1896 targets. See gdb/sparclite/hw_breakpoint.note.
1898 Hardware watchpoints are also now supported under GNU/Linux.
1902 Annotations have been added. These are for use with graphical interfaces,
1903 and are still experimental. Currently only gdba.el uses these.
1905 * Improved Irix 5 support
1907 GDB now works properly with Irix 5.2.
1909 * Improved HPPA support
1911 GDB now works properly with the latest GCC and GAS.
1913 * New native configurations
1915 Sequent PTX4 i[34]86-sequent-ptx4
1916 HPPA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
1917 Atari TT running SVR4 m68*-*-sysv4*
1918 RS/6000 LynxOS rs6000-*-lynxos*
1922 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
1923 MIPS R4000 mips64*{,el}-*-{ecoff,elf}
1926 * Hitachi SH7000 and E7000-PC ICE support
1928 There is now support for communicating with the Hitachi E7000-PC ICE.
1929 This is available automatically when GDB is configured for the SH.
1933 As usual, a variety of small fixes and improvements, both generic
1934 and configuration-specific. See the ChangeLog for more detail.
1936 *** Changes in GDB-4.12:
1938 * Irix 5 is now supported
1942 GDB-4.12 on the HPPA has a number of changes which make it unable
1943 to debug the output from the currently released versions of GCC and
1944 GAS (GCC 2.5.8 and GAS-2.2 or PAGAS-1.36). Until the next major release
1945 of GCC and GAS, versions of these tools designed to work with GDB-4.12
1946 can be retrieved via anonymous ftp from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist.
1949 *** Changes in GDB-4.11:
1951 * User visible changes:
1955 The "set remotedebug" option is now consistent between the mips remote
1956 target, remote targets using the gdb-specific protocol, UDI (AMD's
1957 debug protocol for the 29k) and the 88k bug monitor. It is now an
1958 integer specifying a debug level (normally 0 or 1, but 2 means more
1959 debugging info for the mips target).
1961 * DEC Alpha native support
1963 GDB now works on the DEC Alpha. GCC 2.4.5 does not produce usable
1964 debug info, but GDB works fairly well with the DEC compiler and should
1965 work with a future GCC release. See the README file for a few
1966 Alpha-specific notes.
1968 * Preliminary thread implementation
1970 GDB now has preliminary thread support for both SGI/Irix and LynxOS.
1972 * LynxOS native and target support for 386
1974 This release has been hosted on LynxOS 2.2, and also can be configured
1975 to remotely debug programs running under LynxOS (see gdb/gdbserver/README
1978 * Improvements in C++ mangling/demangling.
1980 This release has much better g++ debugging, specifically in name
1981 mangling/demangling, virtual function calls, print virtual table,
1982 call methods, ...etc.
1984 *** Changes in GDB-4.10:
1986 * User visible changes:
1988 Remote debugging using the GDB-specific (`target remote') protocol now
1989 supports the `load' command. This is only useful if you have some
1990 other way of getting the stub to the target system, and you can put it
1991 somewhere in memory where it won't get clobbered by the download.
1993 Filename completion now works.
1995 When run under emacs mode, the "info line" command now causes the
1996 arrow to point to the line specified. Also, "info line" prints
1997 addresses in symbolic form (as well as hex).
1999 All vxworks based targets now support a user settable option, called
2000 vxworks-timeout. This option represents the number of seconds gdb
2001 should wait for responses to rpc's. You might want to use this if
2002 your vxworks target is, perhaps, a slow software simulator or happens
2003 to be on the far side of a thin network line.
2007 This release contains support for using a DEC alpha as a GDB host for
2008 cross debugging. Native alpha debugging is not supported yet.
2011 *** Changes in GDB-4.9:
2015 This is the first GDB release which is accompanied by a matching testsuite.
2016 The testsuite requires installation of dejagnu, which should be available
2017 via ftp from most sites that carry GNU software.
2021 'Cfront' style demangling has had its name changed to 'ARM' style, to
2022 emphasize that it was written from the specifications in the C++ Annotated
2023 Reference Manual, not necessarily to be compatible with AT&T cfront. Despite
2024 disclaimers, it still generated too much confusion with users attempting to
2025 use gdb with AT&T cfront.
2029 GDB now uses a standard remote interface to a simulator library.
2030 So far, the library contains simulators for the Zilog Z8001/2, the
2031 Hitachi H8/300, H8/500 and Super-H.
2033 * New targets supported
2035 H8/300 simulator h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
2036 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
2037 SH simulator sh-hitachi-hms or sh
2038 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
2039 IDT MIPS board over serial line mips-idt-ecoff
2041 Cross-debugging to GO32 targets is supported. It requires a custom
2042 version of the i386-stub.c module which is integrated with the
2043 GO32 memory extender.
2045 * New remote protocols
2047 MIPS remote debugging protocol.
2049 * New source languages supported
2051 This version includes preliminary support for Chill, a Pascal like language
2052 used by telecommunications companies. Chill support is also being integrated
2053 into the GNU compiler, but we don't know when it will be publically available.
2056 *** Changes in GDB-4.8:
2058 * HP Precision Architecture supported
2060 GDB now supports HP PA-RISC machines running HPUX. A preliminary
2061 version of this support was available as a set of patches from the
2062 University of Utah. GDB does not support debugging of programs
2063 compiled with the HP compiler, because HP will not document their file
2064 format. Instead, you must use GCC (version 2.3.2 or later) and PA-GAS
2065 (as available from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist/pa-gas.u4.tar.Z).
2067 Many problems in the preliminary version have been fixed.
2069 * Faster and better demangling
2071 We have improved template demangling and fixed numerous bugs in the GNU style
2072 demangler. It can now handle type modifiers such as `static' or `const'. Wide
2073 character types (wchar_t) are now supported. Demangling of each symbol is now
2074 only done once, and is cached when the symbol table for a file is read in.
2075 This results in a small increase in memory usage for C programs, a moderate
2076 increase in memory usage for C++ programs, and a fantastic speedup in
2079 `Cfront' style demangling still doesn't work with AT&T cfront. It was written
2080 from the specifications in the Annotated Reference Manual, which AT&T's
2081 compiler does not actually implement.
2083 * G++ multiple inheritance compiler problem
2085 In the 2.3.2 release of gcc/g++, how the compiler resolves multiple
2086 inheritance lattices was reworked to properly discover ambiguities. We
2087 recently found an example which causes this new algorithm to fail in a
2088 very subtle way, producing bad debug information for those classes.
2089 The file 'gcc.patch' (in this directory) can be applied to gcc to
2090 circumvent the problem. A future GCC release will contain a complete
2093 The previous G++ debug info problem (mentioned below for the gdb-4.7
2094 release) is fixed in gcc version 2.3.2.
2096 * Improved configure script
2098 The `configure' script will now attempt to guess your system type if
2099 you don't supply a host system type. The old scheme of supplying a
2100 host system triplet is preferable over using this. All the magic is
2101 done in the new `config.guess' script. Examine it for details.
2103 We have also brought our configure script much more in line with the FSF's
2104 version. It now supports the --with-xxx options. In particular,
2105 `--with-minimal-bfd' can be used to make the GDB binary image smaller.
2106 The resulting GDB will not be able to read arbitrary object file formats --
2107 only the format ``expected'' to be used on the configured target system.
2108 We hope to make this the default in a future release.
2110 * Documentation improvements
2112 There's new internal documentation on how to modify GDB, and how to
2113 produce clean changes to the code. We implore people to read it
2114 before submitting changes.
2116 The GDB manual uses new, sexy Texinfo conditionals, rather than arcane
2117 M4 macros. The new texinfo.tex is provided in this release. Pre-built
2118 `info' files are also provided. To build `info' files from scratch,
2119 you will need the latest `makeinfo' release, which will be available in
2120 a future texinfo-X.Y release.
2122 *NOTE* The new texinfo.tex can cause old versions of TeX to hang.
2123 We're not sure exactly which versions have this problem, but it has
2124 been seen in 3.0. We highly recommend upgrading to TeX version 3.141
2125 or better. If that isn't possible, there is a patch in
2126 `texinfo/tex3patch' that will modify `texinfo/texinfo.tex' to work
2127 around this problem.
2131 GDB now supports array constants that can be used in expressions typed in by
2132 the user. The syntax is `{element, element, ...}'. Ie: you can now type
2133 `print {1, 2, 3}', and it will build up an array in memory malloc'd in
2136 The new directory `gdb/sparclite' contains a program that demonstrates
2137 how the sparc-stub.c remote stub runs on a Fujitsu SPARClite processor.
2139 * New native hosts supported
2141 HP/PA-RISC under HPUX using GNU tools hppa1.1-hp-hpux
2142 386 CPUs running SCO Unix 3.2v4 i386-unknown-sco3.2v4
2144 * New targets supported
2146 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi or udi29k
2148 * New file formats supported
2150 BFD now supports reading HP/PA-RISC executables (SOM file format?),
2151 HPUX core files, and SCO 3.2v2 core files.
2155 Attaching to processes now works again; thanks for the many bug reports.
2157 We have also stomped on a bunch of core dumps caused by
2158 printf_filtered("%s") problems.
2160 We eliminated a copyright problem on the rpc and ptrace header files
2161 for VxWorks, which was discovered at the last minute during the 4.7
2162 release. You should now be able to build a VxWorks GDB.
2164 You can now interrupt gdb while an attached process is running. This
2165 will cause the attached process to stop, and give control back to GDB.
2167 We fixed problems caused by using too many file descriptors
2168 for reading symbols from object files and libraries. This was
2169 especially a problem for programs that used many (~100) shared
2172 The `step' command now only enters a subroutine if there is line number
2173 information for the subroutine. Otherwise it acts like the `next'
2174 command. Previously, `step' would enter subroutines if there was
2175 any debugging information about the routine. This avoids problems
2176 when using `cc -g1' on MIPS machines.
2178 * Internal improvements
2180 GDB's internal interfaces have been improved to make it easier to support
2181 debugging of multiple languages in the future.
2183 GDB now uses a common structure for symbol information internally.
2184 Minimal symbols (derived from linkage symbols in object files), partial
2185 symbols (from a quick scan of debug information), and full symbols
2186 contain a common subset of information, making it easier to write
2187 shared code that handles any of them.
2189 * New command line options
2191 We now accept --silent as an alias for --quiet.
2195 The memory-mapped-malloc library is now licensed under the GNU Library
2196 General Public License.
2198 *** Changes in GDB-4.7:
2200 * Host/native/target split
2202 GDB has had some major internal surgery to untangle the support for
2203 hosts and remote targets. Now, when you configure GDB for a remote
2204 target, it will no longer load in all of the support for debugging
2205 local programs on the host. When fully completed and tested, this will
2206 ensure that arbitrary host/target combinations are possible.
2208 The primary conceptual shift is to separate the non-portable code in
2209 GDB into three categories. Host specific code is required any time GDB
2210 is compiled on that host, regardless of the target. Target specific
2211 code relates to the peculiarities of the target, but can be compiled on
2212 any host. Native specific code is everything else: it can only be
2213 built when the host and target are the same system. Child process
2214 handling and core file support are two common `native' examples.
2216 GDB's use of /proc for controlling Unix child processes is now cleaner.
2217 It has been split out into a single module under the `target_ops' vector,
2218 plus two native-dependent functions for each system that uses /proc.
2220 * New hosts supported
2222 HP/Apollo 68k (under the BSD domain) m68k-apollo-bsd or apollo68bsd
2223 386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
2224 386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or i386sco
2226 * New targets supported
2228 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
2229 68030 and CPU32 m68030-*-*, m68332-*-*
2231 * New native hosts supported
2233 386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
2234 (386bsd is not well tested yet)
2235 386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or sco
2237 * New file formats supported
2239 BFD now supports COFF files for the Zilog Z8000 microprocessor. It
2240 supports reading of `a.out.adobe' object files, which are an a.out
2241 format extended with minimal information about multiple sections.
2245 `show copying' is the same as the old `info copying'.
2246 `show warranty' is the same as `info warrantee'.
2247 These were renamed for consistency. The old commands continue to work.
2249 `info handle' is a new alias for `info signals'.
2251 You can now define pre-command hooks, which attach arbitrary command
2252 scripts to any command. The commands in the hook will be executed
2253 prior to the user's command. You can also create a hook which will be
2254 executed whenever the program stops. See gdb.texinfo.
2258 We now deal with Cfront style name mangling, and can even extract type
2259 info from mangled symbols. GDB can automatically figure out which
2260 symbol mangling style your C++ compiler uses.
2262 Calling of methods and virtual functions has been improved as well.
2266 The crash that occured when debugging Sun Ansi-C compiled binaries is
2267 fixed. This was due to mishandling of the extra N_SO stabs output
2270 We also finally got Ultrix 4.2 running in house, and fixed core file
2271 support, with help from a dozen people on the net.
2273 John M. Farrell discovered that the reason that single-stepping was so
2274 slow on all of the Mips based platforms (primarily SGI and DEC) was
2275 that we were trying to demangle and lookup a symbol used for internal
2276 purposes on every instruction that was being stepped through. Changing
2277 the name of that symbol so that it couldn't be mistaken for a C++
2278 mangled symbol sped things up a great deal.
2280 Rich Pixley sped up symbol lookups in general by getting much smarter
2281 about when C++ symbol mangling is necessary. This should make symbol
2282 completion (TAB on the command line) much faster. It's not as fast as
2283 we'd like, but it's significantly faster than gdb-4.6.
2287 A new user controllable variable 'call_scratch_address' can
2288 specify the location of a scratch area to be used when GDB
2289 calls a function in the target. This is necessary because the
2290 usual method of putting the scratch area on the stack does not work
2291 in systems that have separate instruction and data spaces.
2293 We integrated changes to support the 29k UDI (Universal Debugger
2294 Interface), but discovered at the last minute that we didn't have all
2295 of the appropriate copyright paperwork. We are working with AMD to
2296 resolve this, and hope to have it available soon.
2300 We have sped up the remote serial line protocol, especially for targets
2301 with lots of registers. It now supports a new `expedited status' ('T')
2302 message which can be used in place of the existing 'S' status message.
2303 This allows the remote stub to send only the registers that GDB
2304 needs to make a quick decision about single-stepping or conditional
2305 breakpoints, eliminating the need to fetch the entire register set for
2306 each instruction being stepped through.
2308 The GDB remote serial protocol now implements a write-through cache for
2309 registers, only re-reading the registers if the target has run.
2311 There is also a new remote serial stub for SPARC processors. You can
2312 find it in gdb-4.7/gdb/sparc-stub.c. This was written to support the
2313 Fujitsu SPARClite processor, but will run on any stand-alone SPARC
2314 processor with a serial port.
2318 Configure.in files have become much easier to read and modify. A new
2319 `table driven' format makes it more obvious what configurations are
2320 supported, and what files each one uses.
2324 There is a new opcodes library which will eventually contain all of the
2325 disassembly routines and opcode tables. At present, it only contains
2326 Sparc and Z8000 routines. This will allow the assembler, debugger, and
2327 disassembler (binutils/objdump) to share these routines.
2329 The libiberty library is now copylefted under the GNU Library General
2330 Public License. This allows more liberal use, and was done so libg++
2331 can use it. This makes no difference to GDB, since the Library License
2332 grants all the rights from the General Public License.
2336 The file gdb-4.7/gdb/doc/stabs.texinfo is a (relatively) complete
2337 reference to the stabs symbol info used by the debugger. It is (as far
2338 as we know) the only published document on this fascinating topic. We
2339 encourage you to read it, compare it to the stabs information on your
2340 system, and send improvements on the document in general (to
2341 bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu).
2343 And, of course, many bugs have been fixed.
2346 *** Changes in GDB-4.6:
2348 * Better support for C++ function names
2350 GDB now accepts as input the "demangled form" of C++ overloaded function
2351 names and member function names, and can do command completion on such names
2352 (using TAB, TAB-TAB, and ESC-?). The names have to be quoted with a pair of
2353 single quotes. Examples are 'func (int, long)' and 'obj::operator==(obj&)'.
2354 Make use of command completion, it is your friend.
2356 GDB also now accepts a variety of C++ mangled symbol formats. They are
2357 the GNU g++ style, the Cfront (ARM) style, and the Lucid (lcc) style.
2358 You can tell GDB which format to use by doing a 'set demangle-style {gnu,
2359 lucid, cfront, auto}'. 'gnu' is the default. Do a 'set demangle-style foo'
2360 for the list of formats.
2362 * G++ symbol mangling problem
2364 Recent versions of gcc have a bug in how they emit debugging information for
2365 C++ methods (when using dbx-style stabs). The file 'gcc.patch' (in this
2366 directory) can be applied to gcc to fix the problem. Alternatively, if you
2367 can't fix gcc, you can #define GCC_MANGLE_BUG when compling gdb/symtab.c. The
2368 usual symptom is difficulty with setting breakpoints on methods. GDB complains
2369 about the method being non-existent. (We believe that version 2.2.2 of GCC has
2372 * New 'maintenance' command
2374 All of the commands related to hacking GDB internals have been moved out of
2375 the main command set, and now live behind the 'maintenance' command. This
2376 can also be abbreviated as 'mt'. The following changes were made:
2378 dump-me -> maintenance dump-me
2379 info all-breakpoints -> maintenance info breakpoints
2380 printmsyms -> maintenance print msyms
2381 printobjfiles -> maintenance print objfiles
2382 printpsyms -> maintenance print psymbols
2383 printsyms -> maintenance print symbols
2385 The following commands are new:
2387 maintenance demangle Call internal GDB demangler routine to
2388 demangle a C++ link name and prints the result.
2389 maintenance print type Print a type chain for a given symbol
2391 * Change to .gdbinit file processing
2393 We now read the $HOME/.gdbinit file before processing the argv arguments
2394 (e.g. reading symbol files or core files). This allows global parameters to
2395 be set, which will apply during the symbol reading. The ./.gdbinit is still
2396 read after argv processing.
2398 * New hosts supported
2400 Solaris-2.0 !!! sparc-sun-solaris2 or sun4sol2
2402 GNU/Linux support i386-unknown-linux or linux
2404 We are also including code to support the HP/PA running BSD and HPUX. This
2405 is almost guaranteed not to work, as we didn't have time to test or build it
2406 for this release. We are including it so that the more adventurous (or
2407 masochistic) of you can play with it. We also had major problems with the
2408 fact that the compiler that we got from HP doesn't support the -g option.
2411 * New targets supported
2413 Hitachi H8/300 h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
2415 * More smarts about finding #include files
2417 GDB now remembers the compilation directory for all include files, and for
2418 all files from which C is generated (like yacc and lex sources). This
2419 greatly improves GDB's ability to find yacc/lex sources, and include files,
2420 especially if you are debugging your program from a directory different from
2421 the one that contains your sources.
2423 We also fixed a bug which caused difficulty with listing and setting
2424 breakpoints in include files which contain C code. (In the past, you had to
2425 try twice in order to list an include file that you hadn't looked at before.)
2427 * Interesting infernals change
2429 GDB now deals with arbitrary numbers of sections, where the symbols for each
2430 section must be relocated relative to that section's landing place in the
2431 target's address space. This work was needed to support ELF with embedded
2432 stabs used by Solaris-2.0.
2434 * Bug fixes (of course!)
2436 There have been loads of fixes for the following things:
2437 mips, rs6000, 29k/udi, m68k, g++, type handling, elf/dwarf, m88k,
2438 i960, stabs, DOS(GO32), procfs, etc...
2440 See the ChangeLog for details.
2442 *** Changes in GDB-4.5:
2444 * New machines supported (host and target)
2446 IBM RS6000 running AIX rs6000-ibm-aix or rs6000
2448 SGI Irix-4.x mips-sgi-irix4 or iris4
2450 * New malloc package
2452 GDB now uses a new memory manager called mmalloc, based on gmalloc.
2453 Mmalloc is capable of handling mutiple heaps of memory. It is also
2454 capable of saving a heap to a file, and then mapping it back in later.
2455 This can be used to greatly speedup the startup of GDB by using a
2456 pre-parsed symbol table which lives in a mmalloc managed heap. For
2457 more details, please read mmalloc/mmalloc.texi.
2461 The 'info proc' command (SVR4 only) has been enhanced quite a bit. See
2462 'help info proc' for details.
2464 * MIPS ecoff symbol table format
2466 The code that reads MIPS symbol table format is now supported on all hosts.
2467 Thanks to MIPS for releasing the sym.h and symconst.h files to make this
2470 * File name changes for MS-DOS
2472 Many files in the config directories have been renamed to make it easier to
2473 support GDB on MS-DOSe systems (which have very restrictive file name
2474 conventions :-( ). MS-DOSe host support (under DJ Delorie's GO32
2475 environment) is close to working but has some remaining problems. Note
2476 that debugging of DOS programs is not supported, due to limitations
2477 in the ``operating system'', but it can be used to host cross-debugging.
2479 * Cross byte order fixes
2481 Many fixes have been made to support cross debugging of Sparc and MIPS
2482 targets from hosts whose byte order differs.
2484 * New -mapped and -readnow options
2486 If memory-mapped files are available on your system through the 'mmap'
2487 system call, you can use the -mapped option on the `file' or
2488 `symbol-file' commands to cause GDB to write the symbols from your
2489 program into a reusable file. If the program you are debugging is
2490 called `/path/fred', the mapped symbol file will be `./fred.syms'.
2491 Future GDB debugging sessions will notice the presence of this file,
2492 and will quickly map in symbol information from it, rather than reading
2493 the symbol table from the executable program. Using the '-mapped'
2494 option in a GDB `file' or `symbol-file' command has the same effect as
2495 starting GDB with the '-mapped' command-line option.
2497 You can cause GDB to read the entire symbol table immediately by using
2498 the '-readnow' option with any of the commands that load symbol table
2499 information (or on the GDB command line). This makes the command
2500 slower, but makes future operations faster.
2502 The -mapped and -readnow options are typically combined in order to
2503 build a `fred.syms' file that contains complete symbol information.
2504 A simple GDB invocation to do nothing but build a `.syms' file for future
2507 gdb -batch -nx -mapped -readnow programname
2509 The `.syms' file is specific to the host machine on which GDB is run.
2510 It holds an exact image of GDB's internal symbol table. It cannot be
2511 shared across multiple host platforms.
2513 * longjmp() handling
2515 GDB is now capable of stepping and nexting over longjmp(), _longjmp(), and
2516 siglongjmp() without losing control. This feature has not yet been ported to
2517 all systems. It currently works on many 386 platforms, all MIPS-based
2518 platforms (SGI, DECstation, etc), and Sun3/4.
2522 Preliminary work has been put in to support the new Solaris OS from Sun. At
2523 this time, it can control and debug processes, but it is not capable of
2528 As always, many many bug fixes. The major areas were with g++, and mipsread.
2529 People using the MIPS-based platforms should experience fewer mysterious
2530 crashes and trashed symbol tables.
2532 *** Changes in GDB-4.4:
2534 * New machines supported (host and target)
2536 SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
2538 BSD Reno on Vax vax-dec-bsd
2539 Ultrix on Vax vax-dec-ultrix
2541 * New machines supported (target)
2543 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
2547 GDB continues to improve its handling of C++. `References' work better.
2548 The demangler has also been improved, and now deals with symbols mangled as
2549 per the Annotated C++ Reference Guide.
2551 GDB also now handles `stabs' symbol information embedded in MIPS
2552 `ecoff' symbol tables. Since the ecoff format was not easily
2553 extensible to handle new languages such as C++, this appeared to be a
2554 good way to put C++ debugging info into MIPS binaries. This option
2555 will be supported in the GNU C compiler, version 2, when it is
2558 * New features for SVR4
2560 GDB now handles SVR4 shared libraries, in the same fashion as SunOS
2561 shared libraries. Debugging dynamically linked programs should present
2562 only minor differences from debugging statically linked programs.
2564 The `info proc' command will print out information about any process
2565 on an SVR4 system (including the one you are debugging). At the moment,
2566 it prints the address mappings of the process.
2568 If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please send mail to
2569 bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were reqired (if any).
2571 * Better dynamic linking support in SunOS
2573 Reading symbols from shared libraries which contain debugging symbols
2574 now works properly. However, there remain issues such as automatic
2575 skipping of `transfer vector' code during function calls, which
2576 make it harder to debug code in a shared library, than to debug the
2577 same code linked statically.
2581 GDB is now using the latest `getopt' routines from the FSF. This
2582 version accepts the -- prefix for options with long names. GDB will
2583 continue to accept the old forms (-option and +option) as well.
2584 Various single letter abbreviations for options have been explicity
2585 added to the option table so that they won't get overshadowed in the
2586 future by other options that begin with the same letter.
2590 The `cleanup_undefined_types' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
2591 Many assorted bugs have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
2592 See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
2595 *** Changes in GDB-4.3:
2597 * New machines supported (host and target)
2599 Amiga 3000 running Amix m68k-cbm-svr4 or amix
2600 NCR 3000 386 running SVR4 i386-ncr-svr4 or ncr3000
2601 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
2603 * Almost SCO Unix support
2605 We had hoped to support:
2606 SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
2607 (except for core file support), but we discovered very late in the release
2608 that it has problems with process groups that render gdb unusable. Sorry
2609 about that. I encourage people to fix it and post the fixes.
2611 * Preliminary ELF and DWARF support
2613 GDB can read ELF object files on System V Release 4, and can handle
2614 debugging records for C, in DWARF format, in ELF files. This support
2615 is preliminary. If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please
2616 send mail to bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were
2621 GDB now uses the latest `readline' library. One user-visible change
2622 is that two tabs will list possible command completions, which previously
2623 required typing M-? (meta-question mark, or ESC ?).
2627 The `stepi' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
2628 Many bugs in C++ have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
2629 See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
2631 * State of the MIPS world (in case you wondered):
2633 GDB can understand the symbol tables emitted by the compilers
2634 supplied by most vendors of MIPS-based machines, including DEC. These
2635 symbol tables are in a format that essentially nobody else uses.
2637 Some versions of gcc come with an assembler post-processor called
2638 mips-tfile. This program is required if you want to do source-level
2639 debugging of gcc-compiled programs. I believe FSF does not ship
2640 mips-tfile with gcc version 1, but it will eventually come with gcc
2643 Debugging of g++ output remains a problem. g++ version 1.xx does not
2644 really support it at all. (If you're lucky, you should be able to get
2645 line numbers and stack traces to work, but no parameters or local
2646 variables.) With some work it should be possible to improve the
2649 When gcc version 2 is released, you will have somewhat better luck.
2650 However, even then you will get confusing results for inheritance and
2653 We will eventually provide full debugging of g++ output on
2654 DECstations. This will probably involve some kind of stabs-in-ecoff
2655 encapulation, but the details have not been worked out yet.
2658 *** Changes in GDB-4.2:
2660 * Improved configuration
2662 Only one copy of `configure' exists now, and it is not self-modifying.
2663 Porting BFD is simpler.
2667 The `step' and `next' commands now only stop at the first instruction
2668 of a source line. This prevents the multiple stops that used to occur
2669 in switch statements, for-loops, etc. `Step' continues to stop if a
2670 function that has debugging information is called within the line.
2674 Lots of small bugs fixed. More remain.
2676 * New host supported (not target)
2678 Intel 386 PC clone running Mach i386-none-mach
2681 *** Changes in GDB-4.1:
2683 * Multiple source language support
2685 GDB now has internal scaffolding to handle several source languages.
2686 It determines the type of each source file from its filename extension,
2687 and will switch expression parsing and number formatting to match the
2688 language of the function in the currently selected stack frame.
2689 You can also specifically set the language to be used, with
2690 `set language c' or `set language modula-2'.
2694 GDB now has preliminary support for the GNU Modula-2 compiler,
2695 currently under development at the State University of New York at
2696 Buffalo. Development of both GDB and the GNU Modula-2 compiler will
2697 continue through the fall of 1991 and into 1992.
2699 Other Modula-2 compilers are currently not supported, and attempting to
2700 debug programs compiled with them will likely result in an error as the
2701 symbol table is read. Feel free to work on it, though!
2703 There are hooks in GDB for strict type checking and range checking,
2704 in the `Modula-2 philosophy', but they do not currently work.
2708 GDB can now write to executable and core files (e.g. patch
2709 a variable's value). You must turn this switch on, specify
2710 the file ("exec foo" or "core foo"), *then* modify it, e.g.
2711 by assigning a new value to a variable. Modifications take
2714 * Automatic SunOS shared library reading
2716 When you run your program, GDB automatically determines where its
2717 shared libraries (if any) have been loaded, and reads their symbols.
2718 The `share' command is no longer needed. This also works when
2719 examining core files.
2723 You can specify the number of lines that the `list' command shows.
2726 * New machines supported (host and target)
2728 SGI Iris (MIPS) running Irix V3: mips-sgi-irix or iris
2729 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x: m68k-sony-sysv or news
2730 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1: a29k-nyu-sym1 or ultra3
2732 * New hosts supported (not targets)
2734 IBM RT/PC: romp-ibm-aix or rtpc
2736 * New targets supported (not hosts)
2738 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
2739 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
2740 Ultracomputer remote kernel debug a29k-nyu-kern
2742 * New remote interfaces
2748 *** Changes in GDB-4.0:
2752 Wide output is wrapped at good places to make the output more readable.
2754 Gdb now supports cross-debugging from a host machine of one type to a
2755 target machine of another type. Communication with the target system
2756 is over serial lines. The ``target'' command handles connecting to the
2757 remote system; the ``load'' command will download a program into the
2758 remote system. Serial stubs for the m68k and i386 are provided. Gdb
2759 also supports debugging of realtime processes running under VxWorks,
2760 using SunRPC Remote Procedure Calls over TCP/IP to talk to a debugger
2761 stub on the target system.
2763 New CPUs supported include the AMD 29000 and Intel 960.
2765 GDB now reads object files and symbol tables via a ``binary file''
2766 library, which allows a single copy of GDB to debug programs of multiple
2767 object file types such as a.out and coff.
2769 There is now a GDB reference card in "doc/refcard.tex". (Make targets
2770 refcard.dvi and refcard.ps are available to format it).
2773 * Control-Variable user interface simplified
2775 All variables that control the operation of the debugger can be set
2776 by the ``set'' command, and displayed by the ``show'' command.
2778 For example, ``set prompt new-gdb=>'' will change your prompt to new-gdb=>.
2779 ``Show prompt'' produces the response:
2780 Gdb's prompt is new-gdb=>.
2782 What follows are the NEW set commands. The command ``help set'' will
2783 print a complete list of old and new set commands. ``help set FOO''
2784 will give a longer description of the variable FOO. ``show'' will show
2785 all of the variable descriptions and their current settings.
2787 confirm on/off: Enables warning questions for operations that are
2788 hard to recover from, e.g. rerunning the program while
2789 it is already running. Default is ON.
2791 editing on/off: Enables EMACS style command line editing
2792 of input. Previous lines can be recalled with
2793 control-P, the current line can be edited with control-B,
2794 you can search for commands with control-R, etc.
2797 history filename NAME: NAME is where the gdb command history
2798 will be stored. The default is .gdb_history,
2799 or the value of the environment variable
2802 history size N: The size, in commands, of the command history. The
2803 default is 256, or the value of the environment variable
2806 history save on/off: If this value is set to ON, the history file will
2807 be saved after exiting gdb. If set to OFF, the
2808 file will not be saved. The default is OFF.
2810 history expansion on/off: If this value is set to ON, then csh-like
2811 history expansion will be performed on
2812 command line input. The default is OFF.
2814 radix N: Sets the default radix for input and output. It can be set
2815 to 8, 10, or 16. Note that the argument to "radix" is interpreted
2816 in the current radix, so "set radix 10" is always a no-op.
2818 height N: This integer value is the number of lines on a page. Default
2819 is 24, the current `stty rows'' setting, or the ``li#''
2820 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
2823 width N: This integer value is the number of characters on a line.
2824 Default is 80, the current `stty cols'' setting, or the ``co#''
2825 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
2828 Note: ``set screensize'' is obsolete. Use ``set height'' and
2829 ``set width'' instead.
2831 print address on/off: Print memory addresses in various command displays,
2832 such as stack traces and structure values. Gdb looks
2833 more ``symbolic'' if you turn this off; it looks more
2834 ``machine level'' with it on. Default is ON.
2836 print array on/off: Prettyprint arrays. New convenient format! Default
2839 print demangle on/off: Print C++ symbols in "source" form if on,
2842 print asm-demangle on/off: Same, for assembler level printouts
2845 print vtbl on/off: Prettyprint C++ virtual function tables. Default is OFF.
2848 * Support for Epoch Environment.
2850 The epoch environment is a version of Emacs v18 with windowing. One
2851 new command, ``inspect'', is identical to ``print'', except that if you
2852 are running in the epoch environment, the value is printed in its own
2856 * Support for Shared Libraries
2858 GDB can now debug programs and core files that use SunOS shared libraries.
2859 Symbols from a shared library cannot be referenced
2860 before the shared library has been linked with the program (this
2861 happens after you type ``run'' and before the function main() is entered).
2862 At any time after this linking (including when examining core files
2863 from dynamically linked programs), gdb reads the symbols from each
2864 shared library when you type the ``sharedlibrary'' command.
2865 It can be abbreviated ``share''.
2867 sharedlibrary REGEXP: Load shared object library symbols for files
2868 matching a unix regular expression. No argument
2869 indicates to load symbols for all shared libraries.
2871 info sharedlibrary: Status of loaded shared libraries.
2876 A watchpoint stops execution of a program whenever the value of an
2877 expression changes. Checking for this slows down execution
2878 tremendously whenever you are in the scope of the expression, but is
2879 quite useful for catching tough ``bit-spreader'' or pointer misuse
2880 problems. Some machines such as the 386 have hardware for doing this
2881 more quickly, and future versions of gdb will use this hardware.
2883 watch EXP: Set a watchpoint (breakpoint) for an expression.
2885 info watchpoints: Information about your watchpoints.
2887 delete N: Deletes watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
2888 disable N: Temporarily turns off watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
2889 enable N: Re-enables watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
2892 * C++ multiple inheritance
2894 When used with a GCC version 2 compiler, GDB supports multiple inheritance
2897 * C++ exception handling
2899 Gdb now supports limited C++ exception handling. Besides the existing
2900 ability to breakpoint on an exception handler, gdb can breakpoint on
2901 the raising of an exception (before the stack is peeled back to the
2904 catch FOO: If there is a FOO exception handler in the dynamic scope,
2905 set a breakpoint to catch exceptions which may be raised there.
2906 Multiple exceptions (``catch foo bar baz'') may be caught.
2908 info catch: Lists all exceptions which may be caught in the
2909 current stack frame.
2912 * Minor command changes
2914 The command ``call func (arg, arg, ...)'' now acts like the print
2915 command, except it does not print or save a value if the function's result
2916 is void. This is similar to dbx usage.
2918 The ``up'' and ``down'' commands now always print the frame they end up
2919 at; ``up-silently'' and `down-silently'' can be used in scripts to change
2920 frames without printing.
2922 * New directory command
2924 'dir' now adds directories to the FRONT of the source search path.
2925 The path starts off empty. Source files that contain debug information
2926 about the directory in which they were compiled can be found even
2927 with an empty path; Sun CC and GCC include this information. If GDB can't
2928 find your source file in the current directory, type "dir .".
2930 * Configuring GDB for compilation
2932 For normal use, type ``./configure host''. See README or gdb.texinfo
2935 GDB now handles cross debugging. If you are remotely debugging between
2936 two different machines, type ``./configure host -target=targ''.
2937 Host is the machine where GDB will run; targ is the machine
2938 where the program that you are debugging will run.
projects / deliverable / binutils-gdb.git / blob