- What has changed since GDB-3.5?
- (Organized release by release)
+ What has changed in GDB?
+ (Organized release by release)
-* New "if" and "while" commands. This makes it possible to write
-somewhat more sophisticated user-defined commands.
+*** Changes since GDB-4.15:
-* Most debugging facilities now work on dynamic executables for HPPAs
-running hpux9 or later. See the GDB manual for the few minor problems
-and potential workarounds.
+* New native configurations
+
+Microsoft NT and Microsoft Windows95 i[345]86-*-win32
+
+* New Targets
+
+ARM via RDP protocol arm-*-*
+
+*** Changes in GDB-4.15:
+
+* Psymtabs for XCOFF
+
+The symbol reader for AIX GDB now uses partial symbol tables. This
+can greatly improve startup time, especially for large executables.
+
+* Remote targets use caching
+
+Remote targets now use a data cache to speed up communication with the
+remote side. The data cache could lead to incorrect results because
+it doesn't know about volatile variables, thus making it impossible to
+debug targets which use memory mapped I/O devices. `set remotecache
+off' turns the the data cache off.
+
+* Remote targets may have threads
+
+The standard remote protocol now includes support for multiple threads
+in the target system, using new protocol commands 'H' and 'T'. See
+gdb/remote.c for details.
+
+* NetROM support
+
+If GDB is configured with `--enable-netrom', then it will include
+support for the NetROM ROM emulator from XLNT Designs. The NetROM
+acts as though it is a bank of ROM on the target board, but you can
+write into it over the network. GDB's support consists only of
+support for fast loading into the emulated ROM; to debug, you must use
+another protocol, such as standard remote protocol. The usual
+sequence is something like
+
+ target nrom <netrom-hostname>
+ load <prog>
+ target remote <netrom-hostname>:1235
+
+* Macintosh host
+
+GDB now includes support for the Apple Macintosh, as a host only. It
+may be run as either an MPW tool or as a standalone application, and
+it can debug through the serial port. All the usual GDB commands are
+available, but to the target command, you must supply "serial" as the
+device type instead of "/dev/ttyXX". See mpw-README in the main
+directory for more information on how to build. The MPW configuration
+scripts */mpw-config.in support only a few targets, and only the
+mips-idt-ecoff target has been tested.
+
+* Autoconf
+
+GDB configuration now uses autoconf. This is not user-visible,
+but does simplify configuration and building.
+
+* hpux10
+
+GDB now supports hpux10.
+
+*** Changes in GDB-4.14:
+
+* New native configurations
+
+x86 FreeBSD i[345]86-*-freebsd
+x86 NetBSD i[345]86-*-netbsd
+NS32k NetBSD ns32k-*-netbsd
+Sparc NetBSD sparc-*-netbsd
+
+* New targets
+
+A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
+HP PA PRO embedded (WinBond W89K & Oki OP50N) hppa*-*-pro*
+CPU32 EST-300 emulator m68*-*-est*
+PowerPC ELF powerpc-*-elf
+WDC 65816 w65-*-*
+
+* Alpha OSF/1 support for procfs
+
+GDB now supports procfs under OSF/1-2.x and higher, which makes it
+possible to attach to running processes. As the mounting of the /proc
+filesystem is optional on the Alpha, GDB automatically determines
+the availability of /proc during startup. This can lead to problems
+if /proc is unmounted after GDB has been started.
+
+* Arguments to user-defined commands
+
+User commands may accept up to 10 arguments separated by whitespace.
+Arguments are accessed within the user command via $arg0..$arg9. A
+trivial example:
+define adder
+ print $arg0 + $arg1 + $arg2
+
+To execute the command use:
+adder 1 2 3
+
+Defines the command "adder" which prints the sum of its three arguments.
+Note the arguments are text substitutions, so they may reference variables,
+use complex expressions, or even perform inferior function calls.
+
+* New `if' and `while' commands
+
+This makes it possible to write more sophisticated user-defined
+commands. Both commands take a single argument, which is the
+expression to evaluate, and must be followed by the commands to
+execute, one per line, if the expression is nonzero, the list being
+terminated by the word `end'. The `if' command list may include an
+`else' word, which causes the following commands to be executed only
+if the expression is zero.
+
+* Fortran source language mode
+
+GDB now includes partial support for Fortran 77. It will recognize
+Fortran programs and can evaluate a subset of Fortran expressions, but
+variables and functions may not be handled correctly. GDB will work
+with G77, but does not yet know much about symbols emitted by other
+Fortran compilers.
+
+* Better HPUX support
+
+Most debugging facilities now work on dynamic executables for HPPAs
+running hpux9 or later. You can attach to running dynamically linked
+processes, but by default the dynamic libraries will be read-only, so
+for instance you won't be able to put breakpoints in them. To change
+that behavior do the following before running the program:
+
+ adb -w a.out
+ __dld_flags?W 0x5
+ control-d
+
+This will cause the libraries to be mapped private and read-write.
+To revert to the normal behavior, do this:
+
+ adb -w a.out
+ __dld_flags?W 0x4
+ control-d
+
+You cannot set breakpoints or examine data in the library until after
+the library is loaded if the function/data symbols do not have
+external linkage.
+
+GDB can now also read debug symbols produced by the HP C compiler on
+HPPAs (sorry, no C++, Fortran or 68k support).
+
+* Target byte order now dynamically selectable
+
+You can choose which byte order to use with a target system, via the
+commands "set endian big" and "set endian little", and you can see the
+current setting by using "show endian". You can also give the command
+"set endian auto", in which case GDB will use the byte order
+associated with the executable. Currently, only embedded MIPS
+configurations support dynamic selection of target byte order.
+
+* New DOS host serial code
+
+This version uses DPMI interrupts to handle buffered I/O, so you
+no longer need to run asynctsr when debugging boards connected to
+a PC's serial port.
*** Changes in GDB-4.13:
projects / deliverable / binutils-gdb.git / blobdiff