- README for gdb-4.13 release
- Updated 8-Aug-94 by Fred Fish
+ README for gdb-4.18 release
+ Updated 4 Apr 1999 by Jim Blandy
-This is GDB, the GNU source-level debugger, presently running under un*x.
+This is GDB, the GNU source-level debugger.
A summary of new features is in the file `NEWS'.
+See the GDB home page at http://sourceware.cygnus.com/gdb/ for up to
+date release information, mailing list links and archives, etc.
+
Unpacking and Installation -- quick overview
==========================
In this release, the GDB debugger sources, the generic GNU include
files, the BFD ("binary file description") library, the readline
library, and other libraries all have directories of their own
-underneath the gdb-4.13 directory. The idea is that a variety of GNU
+underneath the gdb-4.18 directory. The idea is that a variety of GNU
tools can share a common copy of these things. Be aware of variation
over time--for example don't try to build gdb with a copy of bfd from
a release other than the gdb release (such as a binutils or gas
directory tree and automatically build all the pieces in the right
order.
-When you unpack the gdb-4.13.tar.gz file, you'll find a directory
-called `gdb-4.13', which contains:
+When you unpack the gdb-4.18.tar.gz file, you'll find a directory
+called `gdb-4.18', which contains:
- Makefile.in config.sub* glob/ opcodes/
- README configure* include/ readline/
- bfd/ configure.in libiberty/ texinfo/
- config/ etc/ mmalloc/
- config.guess* gdb/ move-if-change*
+ COPYING config.sub* libiberty/ opcodes/
+ COPYING.LIB configure* mmalloc/ readline/
+ Makefile.in configure.in move-if-change* sim/
+ README etc/ mpw-README texinfo/
+ bfd/ gdb/ mpw-build.in utils/
+ config/ include/ mpw-config.in
+ config.guess* install.sh* mpw-configure
To build GDB, you can just do:
- cd gdb-4.13
+ cd gdb-4.18
./configure
make
cp gdb/gdb /usr/local/bin/gdb (or wherever you want)
This will configure and build all the libraries as well as GDB.
If `configure' can't determine your system type, specify one as its
-argument, e.g. sun4 or decstation.
+argument, e.g., sun4 or decstation.
If you get compiler warnings during this stage, see the `Reporting Bugs'
section below; there are a few known problems.
+GDB requires an ANSI C compiler. If you do not have an ANSI C
+compiler for your system, you may be able to download and install the
+GNU CC compiler. It is available via anonymous FTP from ftp.gnu.org,
+in /pub/gnu/gcc (as a URL, that's ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/gcc).
+
GDB can be used as a cross-debugger, running on a machine of one type
while debugging a program running on a machine of another type. See below.
More Documentation
******************
- The GDB 4 release includes an already-formatted reference card,
-ready for printing with PostScript or Ghostscript, in the `gdb'
-subdirectory of the main source directory. (In `gdb-4.13/gdb/refcard.ps'.)
-If you can use PostScript or Ghostscript with your printer, you can
-print the reference card immediately with `refcard.ps'.
-
- The release also includes the source for the reference card. You
-can format it, using TeX, by typing:
-
- make refcard.dvi
-
- The GDB reference card is designed to print in landscape mode on US
-"letter" size paper; that is, on a sheet 11 inches wide by 8.5 inches
-high. You will need to specify this form of printing as an option to
-your DVI output program.
-
All the documentation for GDB comes as part of the machine-readable
distribution. The documentation is written in Texinfo format, which is
a documentation system that uses a single source file to produce both
and TeX (or `texi2roff') to typeset the printed version.
GDB includes an already formatted copy of the on-line Info version of
-this manual in the `gdb' subdirectory. The main Info file is
-`gdb-VERSION-NUMBER/gdb/gdb.info', and it refers to subordinate files
-matching `gdb.info*' in the same directory. If necessary, you can
-print out these files, or read them with any editor; but they are
-easier to read using the `info' subsystem in GNU Emacs or the
-standalone `info' program, available as part of the GNU Texinfo
-distribution.
+this manual in the `gdb/doc' subdirectory. The main Info file is
+`gdb-4.18/gdb/doc/gdb.info', and it refers to subordinate files matching
+`gdb.info*' in the same directory. If necessary, you can print out
+these files, or read them with any editor; but they are easier to read
+using the `info' subsystem in GNU Emacs or the standalone `info' program,
+available as part of the GNU Texinfo distribution.
If you want to format these Info files yourself, you need one of the
-Info formatting programs, such as `texinfo-format-buffer' or `makeinfo'.
+Info formatting programs, such as `texinfo-format-buffer' or
+`makeinfo'.
If you have `makeinfo' installed, and are in the top level GDB
-source directory (`gdb-4.13', in the case of version 4.13), you can make
+source directory (`gdb-4.18', in the case of version 4.18), you can make
the Info file by typing:
- cd gdb
- make gdb.info
+ cd gdb/doc
+ make info
- If you want to typeset and print copies of this manual, you need TeX,
-a program to print its DVI output files, and `texinfo.tex', the Texinfo
-definitions file.
+ If you want to typeset and print copies of this manual, you need
+TeX, a program to print its DVI output files, and `texinfo.tex', the
+Texinfo definitions file. This file is included in the GDB
+distribution, in the directory `gdb-4.18/texinfo'.
TeX is a typesetting program; it does not print files directly, but
produces output files called DVI files. To print a typeset document,
This file tells TeX how to typeset a document written in Texinfo
format. On its own, TeX cannot read, much less typeset a Texinfo file.
`texinfo.tex' is distributed with GDB and is located in the
-`gdb-VERSION-NUMBER/texinfo' directory.
+`gdb-4.18/texinfo' directory.
If you have TeX and a DVI printer program installed, you can typeset
and print this manual. First switch to the the `gdb' subdirectory of
-the main source directory (for example, to `gdb-4.13/gdb') and then type:
+the main source directory (for example, to `gdb-4.18/gdb') and then type:
make gdb.dvi
a single directory, whose name is usually composed by appending the
version number to `gdb'.
- For example, the GDB version 4.13 distribution is in the `gdb-4.13'
+ For example, the GDB version 4.18 distribution is in the `gdb-4.18'
directory. That directory contains:
-`gdb-4.13/configure (and supporting files)'
- script for configuring GDB and all its supporting libraries.
-
-`gdb-4.13/gdb'
- the source specific to GDB itself
+`gdb-4.18/{COPYING,COPYING.LIB}'
+ Standard GNU license files. Please read them.
-`gdb-4.13/bfd'
+`gdb-4.18/bfd'
source for the Binary File Descriptor library
-`gdb-4.13/include'
+`gdb-4.18/config*'
+ script for configuring GDB, along with other support files
+
+`gdb-4.18/gdb'
+ the source specific to GDB itself
+
+`gdb-4.18/include'
GNU include files
-`gdb-4.13/libiberty'
+`gdb-4.18/libiberty'
source for the `-liberty' free software library
-`gdb-4.13/opcodes'
+`gdb-4.18/mmalloc'
+ source for the GNU memory-mapped malloc package
+
+`gdb-4.18/opcodes'
source for the library of opcode tables and disassemblers
-`gdb-4.13/readline'
+`gdb-4.18/readline'
source for the GNU command-line interface
+ NOTE: The readline library is compiled for use by GDB, but will
+ not be installed on your system when "make install" is issued.
-`gdb-4.13/glob'
- source for the GNU filename pattern-matching subroutine
+`gdb-4.18/sim'
+ source for some simulators (ARM, D10V, SPARC, M32R, MIPS, PPC, V850, etc)
-`gdb-4.13/mmalloc'
- source for the GNU memory-mapped malloc package
+`gdb-4.18/intl'
+ source for the GNU gettext library, for internationalization.
+ This is slightly modified from the standalone gettext
+ distribution you can get from GNU.
+
+`gdb-4.18/texinfo'
+ The `texinfo.tex' file, which you need in order to make a printed
+ manual using TeX.
+
+`gdb-4.18/etc'
+ Coding standards, useful files for editing GDB, and other
+ miscellanea.
+
+`gdb-4.18/utils'
+ A grab bag of random utilities.
-'gdb-4.13/sim'
- source for some simulators (z8000, H8/300, H8/500, etc)
The simplest way to configure and build GDB is to run `configure'
from the `gdb-VERSION-NUMBER' source directory, which in this example
-is the `gdb-4.13' directory.
+is the `gdb-4.18' directory.
First switch to the `gdb-VERSION-NUMBER' source directory if you are
-not already in it; then run `configure'. Pass the identifier for the
-platform on which GDB will run as an argument.
+not already in it; then run `configure'.
For example:
- cd gdb-4.13
- ./configure HOST
+ cd gdb-4.18
+ ./configure
make
-where HOST is an identifier such as `sun4' or `decstation', that
-identifies the platform where GDB will run.
-
- Running `configure HOST' followed by `make' builds the `bfd',
-`readline', `mmalloc', and `libiberty' libraries, then `gdb' itself.
+ Running `configure' followed by `make' builds the `bfd',
+`readline', `mmalloc', and `libiberty' libraries, then `gdb' itself.
The configured source files, and the binaries, are left in the
corresponding source directories.
does not recognize this automatically when you run a different shell,
you may need to run `sh' on it explicitly:
- sh configure HOST
+ sh configure
If you run `configure' from a directory that contains source
-directories for multiple libraries or programs, such as the `gdb-4.13'
-source directory for version 4.13, `configure' creates configuration
+directories for multiple libraries or programs, such as the `gdb-4.18'
+source directory for version 4.18, `configure' creates configuration
files for every directory level underneath (unless you tell it not to,
with the `--norecursion' option).
directories in the GDB distribution, if you only want to configure that
subdirectory; but be sure to specify a path to it.
- For example, with version 4.13, type the following to configure only
+ For example, with version 4.18, type the following to configure only
the `bfd' subdirectory:
- cd gdb-4.13/bfd
- ../configure HOST
+ cd gdb-4.18/bfd
+ ../configure
You can install `gdb' anywhere; it has no hardwired paths. However,
you should make sure that the shell on your path (named by the `SHELL'
argument to `--srcdir', you can leave out the `--srcdir' option; it
will be assumed.)
- For example, with version 4.13, you can build GDB in a separate
+ For example, with version 4.18, you can build GDB in a separate
directory for a Sun 4 like this:
- cd gdb-4.13
+ cd gdb-4.18
mkdir ../gdb-sun4
cd ../gdb-sun4
- ../gdb-4.13/configure sun4
+ ../gdb-4.18/configure sun4
make
When `configure' builds a configuration using a remote source
The `Makefile' that `configure' generates in each source directory
also runs recursively. If you type `make' in a source directory such
-as `gdb-4.13' (or in a separate configured directory configured with
-`--srcdir=PATH/gdb-4.13'), you will build all the required libraries,
+as `gdb-4.18' (or in a separate configured directory configured with
+`--srcdir=PATH/gdb-4.18'), you will build all the required libraries,
and then build GDB.
When you have multiple hosts or targets configured in separate
you can use it to test your guesses on abbreviations--for example:
% sh config.sub sun4
- sparc-sun-sunos411
+ sparc-sun-sunos4.1.1
% sh config.sub sun3
- m68k-sun-sunos411
+ m68k-sun-sunos4.1.1
% sh config.sub decstation
- mips-dec-ultrix42
+ mips-dec-ultrix4.2
% sh config.sub hp300bsd
m68k-hp-bsd
% sh config.sub i386v
- i386-unknown-sysv
+ i386-pc-sysv
% sh config.sub i786v
Invalid configuration `i786v': machine `i786v' not recognized
`config.sub' is also distributed in the GDB source directory
-(`gdb-4.13', for version 4.13).
+(`gdb-4.18', for version 4.18).
`configure' options
[--prefix=DIR]
[--srcdir=PATH]
[--norecursion] [--rm]
- [--target=TARGET] HOST
+ [--enable-build-warnings]
+ [--target=TARGET]
+ [--host=HOST]
+ [HOST]
You may introduce options with a single `-' rather than `--' if you
prefer; but you may abbreviate option names if you use `--'.
`--rm'
Remove the configuration that the other arguments specify.
+`--enable-build-warnings'
+ When building the GDB sources, ask the compiler to warn about any
+ code which looks even vaguely suspicious. You should only using
+ this feature if you're compiling with GNU CC. It passes the
+ following flags:
+ -Wall
+ -Wpointer-arith
+ -Wstrict-prototypes
+ -Wmissing-prototypes
+ -Wmissing-declarations
+
`--target=TARGET'
Configure GDB for cross-debugging programs running on the specified
TARGET. Without this option, GDB is configured to debug programs
There is no convenient way to generate a list of all available
targets.
-`HOST ...'
+`--host=HOST'
Configure GDB to run on the specified HOST.
There is no convenient way to generate a list of all available
hosts.
+`HOST ...'
+ Same as `--host=HOST'. If you omit this, GDB will guess; it's
+ quite accurate.
+
`configure' accepts other options, for compatibility with configuring
other GNU tools recursively; but these are the only options that affect
GDB or its supporting libraries.
Languages other than C
=======================
-See the GDB manual (doc/gdb.texinfo) for information on this.
+See the GDB manual (gdb/doc/gdb.texinfo) for information on this.
+
Kernel debugging
=================
standalone on an m68k, i386, or SPARC cpu and communicate properly with
the remote.c stub over a serial line.
-The file rem-multi.shar contains a general stub that can probably
-run on various different flavors of unix to allow debugging over a
-serial line from one machine to another.
+The directory gdb/gdbserver/ contains `gdbserver', a program that
+allows remote debugging for Unix applications. gdbserver is only
+supported for some native configurations, including Sun 3, Sun 4,
+and Linux.
+
+There are a number of remote interfaces for talking to existing ROM
+monitors and other hardware:
-Some working remote interfaces for talking to existing ROM monitors
-are:
remote-adapt.c AMD 29000 "Adapt"
+ remote-array.c Array Tech RAID controller
+ remote-bug.c Motorola BUG monitor
+ remote-d10v.c GDB protocol, talking to a d10v chip
+ remote-e7000.c Hitachi E7000 ICE
remote-eb.c AMD 29000 "EBMON"
- remote-es1800.c Ericsson 1800 monitor
+ remote-es.c Ericsson 1800 monitor
+ remote-est.c EST emulator
remote-hms.c Hitachi Micro Systems H8/300 monitor
remote-mips.c MIPS remote debugging protocol
remote-mm.c AMD 29000 "minimon"
remote-nindy.c Intel 960 "Nindy"
+ remote-nrom.c NetROM ROM emulator
+ remote-os9k.c PC running OS/9000
+ remote-rdi.c ARM with Angel monitor
+ remote-rdp.c ARM with Demon monitor
+ remote-sds.c PowerPC SDS monitor
remote-sim.c Generalized simulator protocol
- remote-st2000.c Tandem ST-2000 monitor
+ remote-st.c Tandem ST-2000 monitor
remote-udi.c AMD 29000 using the AMD "Universal Debug Interface"
remote-vx.c VxWorks realtime kernel
- remote-z8k.c Zilog Z8000 simulator
Remote-vx.c and the vx-share subdirectory contain a remote interface for the
VxWorks realtime kernel, which communicates over TCP using the Sun
===============
The correct address for reporting bugs found in gdb is
-"bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu". Please email all bugs, and all requests for
+"bug-gdb@gnu.org". Please email all bugs, and all requests for
help with GDB, to that address. Please include the GDB version number
-(e.g. gdb-4.13), and how you configured it (e.g. "sun4" or "mach386
-host, i586-intel-synopsys target"). If you include the banner that GDB
-prints when it starts up, that will give us enough information.
+(e.g., gdb-4.18), and how you configured it (e.g., "sun4" or "mach386
+host, i586-intel-synopsys target"). Since GDB now supports so many
+different configurations, it is important that you be precise about this.
+If at all possible, you should include the actual banner that GDB prints
+when it starts up, or failing that, the actual configure command that
+you used when configuring GDB.
For more information on how/whether to report bugs, see the GDB Bugs
section of the GDB manual (gdb/doc/gdb.texinfo).
30). As far as we can tell, this is a kernel problem. Any help
with this would be greatly appreciated.
+ * Under Ultrix 4.4 (DECstation-3100), setting the TERMCAP environment
+ variable to a string without a trailing ':' can cause GDB to dump
+ core upon startup. Although the core file makes it look as though
+ GDB code failed, the crash actually occurs within a call to the
+ termcap library function tgetent(). The problem can be solved by
+ using the GNU Termcap library.
+
+ Alphas running OSF/1 (versions 1.0 through 2.1) have the same buggy
+ termcap code, but GDB behaves strangely rather than crashing.
+
* On DECstations there are warnings about shift counts out of range in
various BFD modules. None of them is a cause for alarm, they are actually
a result of bugs in the DECstation compiler.
dbx has the same problems with those executables. A workaround is to
specify -Wl,-b when linking, but that will increase the executable size
considerably.
- If a structure has incomplete type in one file (e.g. "struct foo *"
+ If a structure has incomplete type in one file (e.g., "struct foo *"
without a definition for "struct foo"), gdb will be unable to find the
structure definition from another file.
It has been reported that the Ultrix 4.3A compiler on decstations has the
same problems.
- Under some circumstances OSF/1 shared libraries do get relocated to a
- different address, but gdb cannot handle these relocations yet. If you
- encounter problems while debugging executables which use shared libraries,
- try to relink your executable with the -non_shared option when using cc
- or with the -static option when using gcc.
-
* Notes for Solaris 2.x, using the SPARCworks cc compiler:
You have to compile your program with the -xs option of the SPARCworks
compiler to be able to debug your program with gdb.
Under Solaris 2.2, if you have patch 101052 installed, make sure
that it is at least at revision 101052-06.
+ * Under Irix 5 for SGIs, you must have installed the `compiler_dev.hdr'
+ subsystem that is on the IDO CD, otherwise you will get complaints
+ that certain files such as `/usr/include/syms.h' cannot be found.
+
* Notes for BSD/386:
- To compile gdb-4.13 on BSD/386, you must run the configure script and
+ To compile gdb-4.18 on BSD/386, you must run the configure script and
its subscripts with bash. Here is an easy way to do this:
bash -c 'CONFIG_SHELL=/bin/bash ./configure'
default, these warnings are disabled. You can enable them by executing
`set complaint 10' (which you can put in your ~/.gdbinit if you like).
I recommend doing this if you are working on a compiler, assembler,
-linker, or gdb, since it will point out problems that you may be able
+linker, or GDB, since it will point out problems that you may be able
to fix. Warnings produced during symbol reading indicate some mismatch
between the object file and GDB's symbol reading code. In many cases,
it's a mismatch between the specs for the object file format, and what
X Windows versus GDB
=====================
-There is an "xxgdb", which seems to work for simple operations,
-which was posted to comp.sources.x.
+You should check out DDD, the Data Display Debugger. Here's the blurb
+from the DDD web site, http://www.cs.tu-bs.de/softech/ddd:
-For those interested in auto display of source and the availability of
-an editor while debugging I suggest trying gdb-mode in gnu-emacs
-(Try typing M-x gdb RETURN). Comments on this mode are welcome.
+ The Data Display Debugger (DDD) is a popular graphical user
+ interface for command-line debuggers such as GDB, DBX, JDB, WDB,
+ XDB, the Perl debugger, and the Python debugger. Besides ``usual''
+ front-end features such as viewing source texts, DDD has become
+ famous through its interactive graphical data display, where data
+ structures are displayed as graphs. A simple mouse click
+ dereferences pointers or views structure contents, updated each
+ time the program stops. Using DDD, you can reason about your
+ application by watching its data, not just by viewing it execute
+ lines of source code.
+
+Emacs users will very likely enjoy the Grand Unified Debugger mode;
+try typing `M-x gdb RET'.
+
+Those interested in experimenting with a new kind of gdb-mode
+should load gdb/gdba.el into GNU Emacs 19.25 or later. Comments
+on this mode are also welcome.
Writing Code for GDB
internals manual, distributed with GDB in gdb/doc/gdbint.texinfo. You
can read it by hand, print it by using TeX and texinfo, or process it
into an `info' file for use with Emacs' info mode or the standalone
-`info' program. In particular, see the nodes Getting Started,
-Debugging GDB, New Architectures, Coding Style, Clean Design, and
-Submitting Patches.
+`info' program.
If you are pondering writing anything but a short patch, especially
take note of the information about copyrights in the node Submitting
GDB Testsuite
=============
-There is a dejagnu based testsuite available for testing your newly
+There is a DejaGNU based testsuite available for testing your newly
built GDB, or for regression testing GDBs with local modifications.
-The testsuite is distributed separately from the base GDB distribution
-for the convenience of people that wish to get either GDB or the testsuite
-separately.
-
-The name of the testsuite is gdb-4.13-testsuite.tar.gz. You unpack it in the
-same directory in which you unpacked the base GDB distribution, and it
-will create and populate the directory gdb-4.13/gdb/testsuite.
-Running the testsuite requires the prior installation of dejagnu, which
-should be available via ftp. Once dejagnu is installed, you can run
-the tests in one of two ways:
+Running the testsuite requires the prior installation of DejaGNU,
+which is generally available via ftp; you'll need a pretty recent
+release. Once DejaGNU is installed, you can run the tests in one of
+two ways:
- (1) cd gdb-4.13/gdb (assuming you also unpacked gdb)
+ (1) cd gdb-4.18/gdb (assuming you also unpacked gdb)
make check
or
- (2) cd gdb-4.13/gdb/testsuite
- make (builds the test executables)
+ (2) cd gdb-4.18/gdb/testsuite
make site.exp (builds the site specific file)
runtest -tool gdb GDB=../gdb (or GDB=<somepath> as appropriate)
The second method gives you slightly more control in case of problems with
-building one or more test executables, in case you wish to remove some
-test executables before running the tests, or if you are using the testsuite
+building one or more test executables or if you are using the testsuite
'standalone', without it being part of the GDB source tree.
-See the dejagnu documentation for further details.
+See the DejaGNU documentation for further details.
\f
(this is for editing this file with GNU emacs)
projects / deliverable / binutils-gdb.git / blobdiff