What has changed in GDB?
(Organized release by release)
-*** Changes since GDB 9
+*** Changes since GDB 10
+
+* MI changes
+
+ ** '-break-insert --qualified' and '-dprintf-insert --qualified'
+
+ The MI -break-insert and -dprintf-insert commands now support a
+ new "--qualified" option that makes GDB interpret a specified
+ function name as a complete fully-qualified name. This is the
+ equivalent of the CLI's "break -qualified" and "dprintf
+ -qualified".
+
+* GDB now supports core file debugging for x86_64 Cygwin programs.
+
+* GDB will now look for the .gdbinit file in a config directory before
+ looking for ~/.gdbinit. The file is searched for in the following
+ locations: $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/gdb/gdbinit, $HOME/.config/gdb/gdbinit,
+ $HOME/.gdbinit. On Apple hosts the search order is instead:
+ $HOME/Library/Preferences/gdb/gdbinit, $HOME/.gdbinit.
+
+* New commands
+
+set debug event-loop
+show debug event-loop
+ Control the display of debug output about GDB's event loop.
+
+* Changed commands
+
+break [PROBE_MODIFIER] [LOCATION] [thread THREADNUM]
+ [-force-condition] [if CONDITION]
+ This command would previously refuse setting a breakpoint if the
+ CONDITION expression is invalid at a location. It now accepts and
+ defines the breakpoint if there is at least one location at which
+ the CONDITION is valid. The locations for which the CONDITION is
+ invalid, are automatically disabled. If CONDITION is invalid at all
+ of the locations, setting the breakpoint is still rejected. However,
+ the '-force-condition' flag can be used in this case for forcing GDB to
+ define the breakpoint, making all the current locations automatically
+ disabled. This may be useful if the user knows the condition will
+ become meaningful at a future location, e.g. due to a shared library
+ load.
+
+condition [-force] N COND
+ The behavior of this command is changed the same way for the 'break'
+ command as explained above. The '-force' flag can be used to force
+ GDB into defining the condition even when COND is invalid for all the
+ current locations of breakpoint N.
+
+*** Changes in GDB 10
+
+* There are new feature names for ARC targets: "org.gnu.gdb.arc.core"
+ and "org.gnu.gdb.arc.aux". The old names are still supported but
+ must be considered obsolete. They will be deprecated after some
+ grace period.
+
+* Help and apropos commands will now show the documentation of a
+ command only once, even if that command has one or more aliases.
+ These commands now show the command name, then all of its aliases,
+ and finally the description of the command.
+
+* 'help aliases' now shows only the user defined aliases. GDB predefined
+ aliases are shown together with their aliased command.
+
+* GDB now supports debuginfod, an HTTP server for distributing ELF/DWARF
+ debugging information as well as source code.
+
+ When built with debuginfod, GDB can automatically query debuginfod
+ servers for the separate debug files and source code of the executable
+ being debugged.
+
+ To build GDB with debuginfod, pass --with-debuginfod to configure (this
+ requires libdebuginfod, the debuginfod client library).
+
+ debuginfod is distributed with elfutils, starting with version 0.178.
+
+ You can get the latest version from https://sourceware.org/elfutils.
+
+* Multi-target debugging support
+
+ GDB now supports debugging multiple target connections
+ simultaneously. For example, you can now have each inferior
+ connected to different remote servers running in different machines,
+ or have one inferior debugging a local native process, an inferior
+ debugging a core dump, etc.
+
+ This support is experimental and comes with some limitations -- you
+ can only resume multiple targets simultaneously if all targets
+ support non-stop mode, and all remote stubs or servers must support
+ the same set of remote protocol features exactly. See also "info
+ connections" and "add-inferior -no-connection" below, and "maint set
+ target-non-stop" in the user manual.
+
+* New features in the GDB remote stub, GDBserver
+
+ ** GDBserver is now supported on ARC GNU/Linux.
+
+ ** GDBserver is now supported on RISC-V GNU/Linux.
+
+ ** GDBserver no longer supports these host triplets:
+
+ i[34567]86-*-lynxos*
+ powerpc-*-lynxos*
+ i[34567]86-*-nto*
+ bfin-*-*linux*
+ crisv32-*-linux*
+ cris-*-linux*
+ m32r*-*-linux*
+ tilegx-*-linux*
+ arm*-*-mingw32ce*
+ i[34567]86-*-mingw32ce*
* Debugging MS-Windows processes now sets $_exitsignal when the
inferior is terminated by a signal, instead of setting $_exitcode.
that support it (see entry for GDB 9, below), providing faster
performance for programs with many symbols.
+* The $_siginfo convenience variable now also works on Windows targets,
+ and will display the EXCEPTION_RECORD of the last handled exception.
+
+* TUI windows can now be arranged horizontally.
+
+* The command history filename can now be set to the empty string
+ either using 'set history filename' or by setting 'GDBHISTFILE=' in
+ the environment. The effect of setting this filename to the empty
+ string is that GDB will not try to load any previous command
+ history.
+
+* On Windows targets, it is now possible to debug 32-bit programs with a
+ 64-bit GDB.
+
+* New commands
+
+set exec-file-mismatch -- Set exec-file-mismatch handling (ask|warn|off).
+show exec-file-mismatch -- Show exec-file-mismatch handling (ask|warn|off).
+ Set or show the option 'exec-file-mismatch'. When GDB attaches to a
+ running process, this new option indicates whether to detect
+ a mismatch between the current executable file loaded by GDB and the
+ executable file used to start the process. If 'ask', the default,
+ display a warning and ask the user whether to load the process
+ executable file; if 'warn', just display a warning; if 'off', don't
+ attempt to detect a mismatch.
+
+tui new-layout NAME WINDOW WEIGHT [WINDOW WEIGHT]...
+ Define a new TUI layout, specifying its name and the windows that
+ will be displayed.
+
+maintenance print xml-tdesc [FILE]
+ Prints the current target description as an XML document. If the
+ optional FILE is provided (which is an XML target description) then
+ the target description is read from FILE into GDB, and then
+ reprinted.
+
+maintenance print core-file-backed-mappings
+ Prints file-backed mappings loaded from a core file's note section.
+ Output is expected to be similar to that of "info proc mappings".
+
+set debug fortran-array-slicing on|off
+show debug fortran-array-slicing
+ Print debugging when taking slices of Fortran arrays.
+
+set fortran repack-array-slices on|off
+show fortran repack-array-slices
+ When taking slices from Fortran arrays and strings, if the slice is
+ non-contiguous within the original value then, when this option is
+ on, the new value will be repacked into a single contiguous value.
+ When this option is off, then the value returned will consist of a
+ descriptor that describes the slice within the memory of the
+ original parent value.
+
+* Changed commands
+
+alias [-a] [--] ALIAS = COMMAND [DEFAULT-ARGS...]
+ The alias command can now specify default args for an alias.
+ GDB automatically prepends the alias default args to the argument list
+ provided explicitly by the user.
+ For example, to have a backtrace with full details, you can define
+ an alias 'bt_ALL' as
+ 'alias bt_ALL = backtrace -entry-values both -frame-arg all
+ -past-main -past-entry -full'.
+ Alias default arguments can also use a set of nested 'with' commands,
+ e.g. 'alias pp10 = with print pretty -- with print elem 10 -- print'
+ defines the alias pp10 that will pretty print a maximum of 10 elements
+ of the given expression (if the expression is an array).
+
+* New targets
+
+GNU/Linux/RISC-V (gdbserver) riscv*-*-linux*
+BPF bpf-unknown-none
+
+* Python API
+
+ ** gdb.register_window_type can be used to implement new TUI windows
+ in Python.
+
+ ** Dynamic types can now be queried. gdb.Type has a new attribute,
+ "dynamic", and gdb.Type.sizeof can be None for a dynamic type. A
+ field of a dynamic type may have None for its "bitpos" attribute
+ as well.
+
+ ** Commands written in Python can be in the "TUI" help class by
+ registering with the new constant gdb.COMMAND_TUI.
+
+ ** New method gdb.PendingFrame.architecture () to retrieve the
+ architecture of the pending frame.
+
+ ** New gdb.Architecture.registers method that returns a
+ gdb.RegisterDescriptorIterator object, an iterator that returns
+ gdb.RegisterDescriptor objects. The new RegisterDescriptor is a
+ way to query the registers available for an architecture.
+
+ ** New gdb.Architecture.register_groups method that returns a
+ gdb.RegisterGroupIterator object, an iterator that returns
+ gdb.RegisterGroup objects. The new RegisterGroup is a way to
+ discover the available register groups.
+
+* Guile API
+
+ ** GDB can now be built with GNU Guile 3.0 and 2.2 in addition to 2.0.
+
+ ** Procedures 'memory-port-read-buffer-size',
+ 'set-memory-port-read-buffer-size!', 'memory-port-write-buffer-size',
+ and 'set-memory-port-write-buffer-size!' are deprecated. When
+ using Guile 2.2 and later, users who need to control the size of
+ a memory port's internal buffer can use the 'setvbuf' procedure.
+
*** Changes in GDB 9
* 'thread-exited' event is now available in the annotations interface.
"set debug remote".
The default is 512 bytes.
+info connections
+ Lists the target connections currently in use.
+
* Changed commands
help
old commands are now deprecated and may be removed in a future
release.
+add-inferior [-no-connection]
+ The add-inferior command now supports a "-no-connection" flag that
+ makes the new inferior start with no target connection associated.
+ By default, the new inferior inherits the target connection of the
+ current inferior. See also "info connections".
+
+info inferior
+ This command's output now includes a new "Connection" column
+ indicating which target connection an inferior is bound to. See
+ "info connections" above.
+
maint test-options require-delimiter
maint test-options unknown-is-error
maint test-options unknown-is-operand
set debug compile-cplus-types
show debug compile-cplus-types
Control the display of debug output about type conversion in the
- C++ compile feature. Commands have no effect while compiliong
+ C++ compile feature. Commands have no effect while compiling
for other languages.
set debug skip
Additionally, a file spec and a function spec may now be combined.
maint info line-table REGEXP
- Display the contents of GDB's internal line table data struture.
+ Display the contents of GDB's internal line table data structure.
maint selftest
Run any GDB unit tests that were compiled in.
set ada print-signatures on|off
show ada print-signatures"
Control whether parameter types and return types are displayed in overloads
- selection menus. It is activaled (@code{on}) by default.
+ selection menus. It is activated (@code{on}) by default.
set max-value-size
show max-value-size
Set the requested ring buffer size for branch tracing in BTS format.
Qbtrace:pt
- Enable Intel Procesor Trace-based branch tracing for the current
+ Enable Intel Processor Trace-based branch tracing for the current
process. The remote stub reports support for this packet to GDB's
qSupported query.
* Newly installed $prefix/bin/gcore acts as a shell interface for the
GDB command gcore.
-* GDB now implements the the C++ 'typeid' operator.
+* GDB now implements the C++ 'typeid' operator.
* The new convenience variable $_exception holds the exception being
thrown or caught at an exception-related catchpoint.
* Removed remote protocol undocumented extension
An undocumented extension to the remote protocol's `S' stop reply
- packet that permited the stub to pass a process id was removed.
+ packet that permitted the stub to pass a process id was removed.
Remote servers should use the `T' stop reply packet instead.
* GDB now supports multiple function calling conventions according to the
* Watchpoints can now be set on unreadable memory locations, e.g. addresses
which will be allocated using malloc later in program execution.
-* The qXfer:libraries:read remote procotol packet now allows passing a
+* The qXfer:libraries:read remote protocol packet now allows passing a
list of section offsets.
* On GNU/Linux, GDB can now attach to stopped processes. Several race
* New targets
NetBSD/hppa hppa*-*-netbsd*
-Xtensa GNU/Lunux xtensa*-*-linux*
+Xtensa GNU/Linux xtensa*-*-linux*
* Change in command line behavior -- corefiles vs. process ids.
features including 32x64 (e.g., 64-bit amd64 GDB debugging a 32-bit
i386 application).
-GDB 6.3 will be the last release to include the the registers[]
+GDB 6.3 will be the last release to include the registers[]
compatibility module that allowed out-of-date configurations to
continue to work. This change directly impacts the following
configurations:
* New ``start'' command.
-This command runs the program until the begining of the main procedure.
+This command runs the program until the beginning of the main procedure.
* New BSD Kernel Data Access Library (libkvm) interface
* "set prompt-escape-char" command deleted.
The command "set prompt-escape-char" has been deleted. This command,
-and its very obscure effet on GDB's prompt, was never documented,
+and its very obscure effect on GDB's prompt, was never documented,
tested, nor mentioned in the NEWS file.
* OBSOLETE configurations and files
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.
+off' turns the data cache off.
* Remote targets may have threads
* Major bug fixes
-The crash that occured when debugging Sun Ansi-C compiled binaries is
+The crash that occurred when debugging Sun Ansi-C compiled binaries is
fixed. This was due to mishandling of the extra N_SO stabs output
by the compiler.
Recent versions of gcc have a bug in how they emit debugging information for
C++ methods (when using dbx-style stabs). The file 'gcc.patch' (in this
directory) can be applied to gcc to fix the problem. Alternatively, if you
-can't fix gcc, you can #define GCC_MANGLE_BUG when compling gdb/symtab.c. The
+can't fix gcc, you can #define GCC_MANGLE_BUG when compiling gdb/symtab.c. The
usual symptom is difficulty with setting breakpoints on methods. GDB complains
about the method being non-existent. (We believe that version 2.2.2 of GCC has
this problem.)
* New malloc package
GDB now uses a new memory manager called mmalloc, based on gmalloc.
-Mmalloc is capable of handling mutiple heaps of memory. It is also
+Mmalloc is capable of handling multiple heaps of memory. It is also
capable of saving a heap to a file, and then mapping it back in later.
This can be used to greatly speedup the startup of GDB by using a
pre-parsed symbol table which lives in a mmalloc managed heap. For