0cf51e1858b526d21e1ecfac812e9dba26ae86a8
[binutils-gdb.git] / gdb / NEWS
1 What has changed in GDB?
2 (Organized release by release)
3
4 *** Changes since GDB 7.10
5
6 * Support for tracepoints on aarch64-linux was added in GDBserver.
7
8 * The 'record instruction-history' command now indicates speculative execution
9 when using the Intel(R) Processor Trace recording format.
10
11 * GDB now allows users to specify explicit locations, bypassing
12 the linespec parser. This feature is also available to GDB/MI
13 clients.
14
15 * Multi-architecture debugging is supported on AArch64 GNU/Linux.
16 GDB now is able to debug both AArch64 applications and ARM applications
17 at the same time.
18
19 * New commands
20
21 maint set target-non-stop (on|off|auto)
22 maint show target-non-stop
23 Control whether GDB targets always operate in non-stop mode even if
24 "set non-stop" is "off". The default is "auto", meaning non-stop
25 mode is enabled if supported by the target.
26
27 maint set bfd-sharing
28 maint show bfd-sharing
29 Control the reuse of bfd objects.
30
31 set debug bfd-cache
32 show debug bfd-cache
33 Control display of debugging info regarding bfd caching.
34
35 set remote multiprocess-extensions-packet
36 show remote multiprocess-extensions-packet
37 Set/show the use of the remote protocol multiprocess extensions.
38
39 * The "disassemble" command accepts a new modifier: /s.
40 It prints mixed source+disassembly like /m with two differences:
41 - disassembled instructions are now printed in program order, and
42 - and source for all relevant files is now printed.
43 The "/m" option is now considered deprecated: its "source-centric"
44 output hasn't proved useful in practice.
45
46 * Support for various ROM monitors has been removed:
47
48 target dbug dBUG ROM monitor for Motorola ColdFire
49 target picobug Motorola picobug monitor
50 target dink32 DINK32 ROM monitor for PowerPC
51 target m32r Renesas M32R/D ROM monitor
52 target mon2000 mon2000 ROM monitor
53 target ppcbug PPCBUG ROM monitor for PowerPC
54
55 * Support for reading/writing memory and extracting values on architectures
56 whose memory is addressable in units of any integral multiple of 8 bits.
57
58 *** Changes in GDB 7.10
59
60 * Support for process record-replay and reverse debugging on aarch64*-linux*
61 targets has been added. GDB now supports recording of A64 instruction set
62 including advance SIMD instructions.
63
64 * Support for Sun's version of the "stabs" debug file format has been removed.
65
66 * GDB now honors the content of the file /proc/PID/coredump_filter
67 (PID is the process ID) on GNU/Linux systems. This file can be used
68 to specify the types of memory mappings that will be included in a
69 corefile. For more information, please refer to the manual page of
70 "core(5)". GDB also has a new command: "set use-coredump-filter
71 on|off". It allows to set whether GDB will read the content of the
72 /proc/PID/coredump_filter file when generating a corefile.
73
74 * The "info os" command on GNU/Linux can now display information on
75 cpu information :
76 "info os cpus" Listing of all cpus/cores on the system
77
78 * GDB has two new commands: "set serial parity odd|even|none" and
79 "show serial parity". These allows to set or show parity for the
80 remote serial I/O.
81
82 * The "info source" command now displays the producer string if it was
83 present in the debug info. This typically includes the compiler version
84 and may include things like its command line arguments.
85
86 * The "info dll", an alias of the "info sharedlibrary" command,
87 is now available on all platforms.
88
89 * Directory names supplied to the "set sysroot" commands may be
90 prefixed with "target:" to tell GDB to access shared libraries from
91 the target system, be it local or remote. This replaces the prefix
92 "remote:". The default sysroot has been changed from "" to
93 "target:". "remote:" is automatically converted to "target:" for
94 backward compatibility.
95
96 * The system root specified by "set sysroot" will be prepended to the
97 filename of the main executable (if reported to GDB as absolute by
98 the operating system) when starting processes remotely, and when
99 attaching to already-running local or remote processes.
100
101 * GDB now supports automatic location and retrieval of executable
102 files from remote targets. Remote debugging can now be initiated
103 using only a "target remote" or "target extended-remote" command
104 (no "set sysroot" or "file" commands are required). See "New remote
105 packets" below.
106
107 * The "dump" command now supports verilog hex format.
108
109 * GDB now supports the vector ABI on S/390 GNU/Linux targets.
110
111 * On GNU/Linux, GDB and gdbserver are now able to access executable
112 and shared library files without a "set sysroot" command when
113 attaching to processes running in different mount namespaces from
114 the debugger. This makes it possible to attach to processes in
115 containers as simply as "gdb -p PID" or "gdbserver --attach PID".
116 See "New remote packets" below.
117
118 * The "tui reg" command now provides completion for all of the
119 available register groups, including target specific groups.
120
121 * The HISTSIZE environment variable is no longer read when determining
122 the size of GDB's command history. GDB now instead reads the dedicated
123 GDBHISTSIZE environment variable. Setting GDBHISTSIZE to "-1" or to "" now
124 disables truncation of command history. Non-numeric values of GDBHISTSIZE
125 are ignored.
126
127 * Guile Scripting
128
129 ** Memory ports can now be unbuffered.
130
131 * Python Scripting
132
133 ** gdb.Objfile objects have a new attribute "username",
134 which is the name of the objfile as specified by the user,
135 without, for example, resolving symlinks.
136 ** You can now write frame unwinders in Python.
137 ** gdb.Type objects have a new method "optimized_out",
138 returning optimized out gdb.Value instance of this type.
139 ** gdb.Value objects have new methods "reference_value" and
140 "const_value" which return a reference to the value and a
141 "const" version of the value respectively.
142
143 * New commands
144
145 maint print symbol-cache
146 Print the contents of the symbol cache.
147
148 maint print symbol-cache-statistics
149 Print statistics of symbol cache usage.
150
151 maint flush-symbol-cache
152 Flush the contents of the symbol cache.
153
154 maint set target-non-stop (on|off|auto)
155 maint show target-non-stop
156 Control whether GDB targets always operate in non-stop mode even if
157 "set non-stop" is "off". The default is "auto", meaning non-stop
158 mode is enabled if supported by the target.
159
160 record btrace bts
161 record bts
162 Start branch trace recording using Branch Trace Store (BTS) format.
163
164 compile print
165 Evaluate expression by using the compiler and print result.
166
167 tui enable
168 tui disable
169 Explicit commands for enabling and disabling tui mode.
170
171 show mpx bound
172 set mpx bound on i386 and amd64
173 Support for bound table investigation on Intel(R) MPX enabled applications.
174
175 record btrace pt
176 record pt
177 Start branch trace recording using Intel(R) Processor Trace format.
178
179 maint info btrace
180 Print information about branch tracing internals.
181
182 maint btrace packet-history
183 Print the raw branch tracing data.
184
185 maint btrace clear-packet-history
186 Discard the stored raw branch tracing data.
187
188 maint btrace clear
189 Discard all branch tracing data. It will be fetched and processed
190 anew by the next "record" command.
191
192 * New options
193
194 set debug dwarf-die
195 Renamed from "set debug dwarf2-die".
196 show debug dwarf-die
197 Renamed from "show debug dwarf2-die".
198
199 set debug dwarf-read
200 Renamed from "set debug dwarf2-read".
201 show debug dwarf-read
202 Renamed from "show debug dwarf2-read".
203
204 maint set dwarf always-disassemble
205 Renamed from "maint set dwarf2 always-disassemble".
206 maint show dwarf always-disassemble
207 Renamed from "maint show dwarf2 always-disassemble".
208
209 maint set dwarf max-cache-age
210 Renamed from "maint set dwarf2 max-cache-age".
211 maint show dwarf max-cache-age
212 Renamed from "maint show dwarf2 max-cache-age".
213
214 set debug dwarf-line
215 show debug dwarf-line
216 Control display of debugging info regarding DWARF line processing.
217
218 set max-completions
219 show max-completions
220 Set the maximum number of candidates to be considered during
221 completion. The default value is 200. This limit allows GDB
222 to avoid generating large completion lists, the computation of
223 which can cause the debugger to become temporarily unresponsive.
224
225 set history remove-duplicates
226 show history remove-duplicates
227 Control the removal of duplicate history entries.
228
229 maint set symbol-cache-size
230 maint show symbol-cache-size
231 Control the size of the symbol cache.
232
233 set|show record btrace bts buffer-size
234 Set and show the size of the ring buffer used for branch tracing in
235 BTS format.
236 The obtained size may differ from the requested size. Use "info
237 record" to see the obtained buffer size.
238
239 set debug linux-namespaces
240 show debug linux-namespaces
241 Control display of debugging info regarding Linux namespaces.
242
243 set|show record btrace pt buffer-size
244 Set and show the size of the ring buffer used for branch tracing in
245 Intel(R) Processor Trace format.
246 The obtained size may differ from the requested size. Use "info
247 record" to see the obtained buffer size.
248
249 maint set|show btrace pt skip-pad
250 Set and show whether PAD packets are skipped when computing the
251 packet history.
252
253 * The command 'thread apply all' can now support new option '-ascending'
254 to call its specified command for all threads in ascending order.
255
256 * Python/Guile scripting
257
258 ** GDB now supports auto-loading of Python/Guile scripts contained in the
259 special section named `.debug_gdb_scripts'.
260
261 * New remote packets
262
263 qXfer:btrace-conf:read
264 Return the branch trace configuration for the current thread.
265
266 Qbtrace-conf:bts:size
267 Set the requested ring buffer size for branch tracing in BTS format.
268
269 Qbtrace:pt
270 Enable Intel(R) Procesor Trace-based branch tracing for the current
271 process. The remote stub reports support for this packet to GDB's
272 qSupported query.
273
274 Qbtrace-conf:pt:size
275 Set the requested ring buffer size for branch tracing in Intel(R) Processor
276 Trace format.
277
278 swbreak stop reason
279 Indicates a memory breakpoint instruction was executed, irrespective
280 of whether it was GDB that planted the breakpoint or the breakpoint
281 is hardcoded in the program. This is required for correct non-stop
282 mode operation.
283
284 hwbreak stop reason
285 Indicates the target stopped for a hardware breakpoint. This is
286 required for correct non-stop mode operation.
287
288 vFile:fstat:
289 Return information about files on the remote system.
290
291 qXfer:exec-file:read
292 Return the full absolute name of the file that was executed to
293 create a process running on the remote system.
294
295 vFile:setfs:
296 Select the filesystem on which vFile: operations with filename
297 arguments will operate. This is required for GDB to be able to
298 access files on remote targets where the remote stub does not
299 share a common filesystem with the inferior(s).
300
301 fork stop reason
302 Indicates that a fork system call was executed.
303
304 vfork stop reason
305 Indicates that a vfork system call was executed.
306
307 vforkdone stop reason
308 Indicates that a vfork child of the specified process has executed
309 an exec or exit, allowing the vfork parent to resume execution.
310
311 fork-events and vfork-events features in qSupported
312 The qSupported packet allows GDB to request support for fork and
313 vfork events using new 'gdbfeatures' fork-events and vfork-events,
314 and the qSupported response can contain the corresponding
315 'stubfeatures'. Set and show commands can be used to display
316 whether these features are enabled.
317
318 * Extended-remote fork events
319
320 ** GDB now has support for fork events on extended-remote Linux
321 targets. For targets with Linux kernels 2.5.60 and later, this
322 enables follow-fork-mode and detach-on-fork for both fork and
323 vfork, as well as fork and vfork catchpoints.
324
325 * The info record command now shows the recording format and the
326 branch tracing configuration for the current thread when using
327 the btrace record target.
328 For the BTS format, it shows the ring buffer size.
329
330 * GDB now has support for DTrace USDT (Userland Static Defined
331 Tracing) probes. The supported targets are x86_64-*-linux-gnu.
332
333 * GDB now supports access to vector registers on S/390 GNU/Linux
334 targets.
335
336 * Removed command line options
337
338 -xdb HP-UX XDB compatibility mode.
339
340 * Removed targets and native configurations
341
342 HP/PA running HP-UX hppa*-*-hpux*
343 Itanium running HP-UX ia64-*-hpux*
344
345 * New configure options
346
347 --with-intel-pt
348 This configure option allows the user to build GDB with support for
349 Intel(R) Processor Trace (default: auto). This requires libipt.
350
351 --with-libipt-prefix=PATH
352 Specify the path to the version of libipt that GDB should use.
353 $PATH/include should contain the intel-pt.h header and
354 $PATH/lib should contain the libipt.so library.
355
356 *** Changes in GDB 7.9.1
357
358 * Python Scripting
359
360 ** Xmethods can now specify a result type.
361
362 *** Changes in GDB 7.9
363
364 * GDB now supports hardware watchpoints on x86 GNU Hurd.
365
366 * Python Scripting
367
368 ** You can now access frame registers from Python scripts.
369 ** New attribute 'producer' for gdb.Symtab objects.
370 ** gdb.Objfile objects have a new attribute "progspace",
371 which is the gdb.Progspace object of the containing program space.
372 ** gdb.Objfile objects have a new attribute "owner".
373 ** gdb.Objfile objects have a new attribute "build_id",
374 which is the build ID generated when the file was built.
375 ** gdb.Objfile objects have a new method "add_separate_debug_file".
376 ** A new event "gdb.clear_objfiles" has been added, triggered when
377 selecting a new file to debug.
378 ** You can now add attributes to gdb.Objfile and gdb.Progspace objects.
379 ** New function gdb.lookup_objfile.
380
381 New events which are triggered when GDB modifies the state of the
382 inferior.
383
384 ** gdb.events.inferior_call_pre: Function call is about to be made.
385 ** gdb.events.inferior_call_post: Function call has just been made.
386 ** gdb.events.memory_changed: A memory location has been altered.
387 ** gdb.events.register_changed: A register has been altered.
388
389 * New Python-based convenience functions:
390
391 ** $_caller_is(name [, number_of_frames])
392 ** $_caller_matches(regexp [, number_of_frames])
393 ** $_any_caller_is(name [, number_of_frames])
394 ** $_any_caller_matches(regexp [, number_of_frames])
395
396 * GDB now supports the compilation and injection of source code into
397 the inferior. GDB will use GCC 5.0 or higher built with libcc1.so
398 to compile the source code to object code, and if successful, inject
399 and execute that code within the current context of the inferior.
400 Currently the C language is supported. The commands used to
401 interface with this new feature are:
402
403 compile code [-raw|-r] [--] [source code]
404 compile file [-raw|-r] filename
405
406 * New commands
407
408 demangle [-l language] [--] name
409 Demangle "name" in the specified language, or the current language
410 if elided. This command is renamed from the "maint demangle" command.
411 The latter is kept as a no-op to avoid "maint demangle" being interpreted
412 as "maint demangler-warning".
413
414 queue-signal signal-name-or-number
415 Queue a signal to be delivered to the thread when it is resumed.
416
417 add-auto-load-scripts-directory directory
418 Add entries to the list of directories from which to load auto-loaded
419 scripts.
420
421 maint print user-registers
422 List all currently available "user" registers.
423
424 compile code [-r|-raw] [--] [source code]
425 Compile, inject, and execute in the inferior the executable object
426 code produced by compiling the provided source code.
427
428 compile file [-r|-raw] filename
429 Compile and inject into the inferior the executable object code
430 produced by compiling the source code stored in the filename
431 provided.
432
433 * On resume, GDB now always passes the signal the program had stopped
434 for to the thread the signal was sent to, even if the user changed
435 threads before resuming. Previously GDB would often (but not
436 always) deliver the signal to the thread that happens to be current
437 at resume time.
438
439 * Conversely, the "signal" command now consistently delivers the
440 requested signal to the current thread. GDB now asks for
441 confirmation if the program had stopped for a signal and the user
442 switched threads meanwhile.
443
444 * "breakpoint always-inserted" modes "off" and "auto" merged.
445
446 Now, when 'breakpoint always-inserted mode' is set to "off", GDB
447 won't remove breakpoints from the target until all threads stop,
448 even in non-stop mode. The "auto" mode has been removed, and "off"
449 is now the default mode.
450
451 * New options
452
453 set debug symbol-lookup
454 show debug symbol-lookup
455 Control display of debugging info regarding symbol lookup.
456
457 * MI changes
458
459 ** The -list-thread-groups command outputs an exit-code field for
460 inferiors that have exited.
461
462 * New targets
463
464 MIPS SDE mips*-sde*-elf*
465
466 * Removed targets
467
468 Support for these obsolete configurations has been removed.
469
470 Alpha running OSF/1 (or Tru64) alpha*-*-osf*
471 SGI Irix-5.x mips-*-irix5*
472 SGI Irix-6.x mips-*-irix6*
473 VAX running (4.2 - 4.3 Reno) BSD vax-*-bsd*
474 VAX running Ultrix vax-*-ultrix*
475
476 * The "dll-symbols" command, and its two aliases ("add-shared-symbol-files"
477 and "assf"), have been removed. Use the "sharedlibrary" command, or
478 its alias "share", instead.
479
480 *** Changes in GDB 7.8
481
482 * New command line options
483
484 -D data-directory
485 This is an alias for the --data-directory option.
486
487 * GDB supports printing and modifying of variable length automatic arrays
488 as specified in ISO C99.
489
490 * The ARM simulator now supports instruction level tracing
491 with or without disassembly.
492
493 * Guile scripting
494
495 GDB now has support for scripting using Guile. Whether this is
496 available is determined at configure time.
497 Guile version 2.0 or greater is required.
498 Guile version 2.0.9 is well tested, earlier 2.0 versions are not.
499
500 * New commands (for set/show, see "New options" below)
501
502 guile [code]
503 gu [code]
504 Invoke CODE by passing it to the Guile interpreter.
505
506 guile-repl
507 gr
508 Start a Guile interactive prompt (or "repl" for "read-eval-print loop").
509
510 info auto-load guile-scripts [regexp]
511 Print the list of automatically loaded Guile scripts.
512
513 * The source command is now capable of sourcing Guile scripts.
514 This feature is dependent on the debugger being built with Guile support.
515
516 * New options
517
518 set print symbol-loading (off|brief|full)
519 show print symbol-loading
520 Control whether to print informational messages when loading symbol
521 information for a file. The default is "full", but when debugging
522 programs with large numbers of shared libraries the amount of output
523 becomes less useful.
524
525 set guile print-stack (none|message|full)
526 show guile print-stack
527 Show a stack trace when an error is encountered in a Guile script.
528
529 set auto-load guile-scripts (on|off)
530 show auto-load guile-scripts
531 Control auto-loading of Guile script files.
532
533 maint ada set ignore-descriptive-types (on|off)
534 maint ada show ignore-descriptive-types
535 Control whether the debugger should ignore descriptive types in Ada
536 programs. The default is not to ignore the descriptive types. See
537 the user manual for more details on descriptive types and the intended
538 usage of this option.
539
540 set auto-connect-native-target
541
542 Control whether GDB is allowed to automatically connect to the
543 native target for the run, attach, etc. commands when not connected
544 to any target yet. See also "target native" below.
545
546 set record btrace replay-memory-access (read-only|read-write)
547 show record btrace replay-memory-access
548 Control what memory accesses are allowed during replay.
549
550 maint set target-async (on|off)
551 maint show target-async
552 This controls whether GDB targets operate in synchronous or
553 asynchronous mode. Normally the default is asynchronous, if it is
554 available; but this can be changed to more easily debug problems
555 occurring only in synchronous mode.
556
557 set mi-async (on|off)
558 show mi-async
559 Control whether MI asynchronous mode is preferred. This supersedes
560 "set target-async" of previous GDB versions.
561
562 * "set target-async" is deprecated as a CLI option and is now an alias
563 for "set mi-async" (only puts MI into async mode).
564
565 * Background execution commands (e.g., "c&", "s&", etc.) are now
566 possible ``out of the box'' if the target supports them. Previously
567 the user would need to explicitly enable the possibility with the
568 "set target-async on" command.
569
570 * New features in the GDB remote stub, GDBserver
571
572 ** New option --debug-format=option1[,option2,...] allows one to add
573 additional text to each output. At present only timestamps
574 are supported: --debug-format=timestamps.
575 Timestamps can also be turned on with the
576 "monitor set debug-format timestamps" command from GDB.
577
578 * The 'record instruction-history' command now starts counting instructions
579 at one. This also affects the instruction ranges reported by the
580 'record function-call-history' command when given the /i modifier.
581
582 * The command 'record function-call-history' supports a new modifier '/c' to
583 indent the function names based on their call stack depth.
584 The fields for the '/i' and '/l' modifier have been reordered.
585 The source line range is now prefixed with 'at'.
586 The instruction range is now prefixed with 'inst'.
587 Both ranges are now printed as '<from>, <to>' to allow copy&paste to the
588 "record instruction-history" and "list" commands.
589
590 * The ranges given as arguments to the 'record function-call-history' and
591 'record instruction-history' commands are now inclusive.
592
593 * The btrace record target now supports the 'record goto' command.
594 For locations inside the execution trace, the back trace is computed
595 based on the information stored in the execution trace.
596
597 * The btrace record target supports limited reverse execution and replay.
598 The target does not record data and therefore does not allow reading
599 memory or registers.
600
601 * The "catch syscall" command now works on s390*-linux* targets.
602
603 * The "compare-sections" command is no longer specific to target
604 remote. It now works with all targets.
605
606 * All native targets are now consistently called "native".
607 Consequently, the "target child", "target GNU", "target djgpp",
608 "target procfs" (Solaris/Irix/OSF/AIX) and "target darwin-child"
609 commands have been replaced with "target native". The QNX/NTO port
610 leaves the "procfs" target in place and adds a "native" target for
611 consistency with other ports. The impact on users should be minimal
612 as these commands previously either throwed an error, or were
613 no-ops. The target's name is visible in the output of the following
614 commands: "help target", "info target", "info files", "maint print
615 target-stack".
616
617 * The "target native" command now connects to the native target. This
618 can be used to launch native programs even when "set
619 auto-connect-native-target" is set to off.
620
621 * GDB now supports access to Intel(R) MPX registers on GNU/Linux.
622
623 * Support for Intel(R) AVX-512 registers on GNU/Linux.
624 Support displaying and modifying Intel(R) AVX-512 registers
625 $zmm0 - $zmm31 and $k0 - $k7 on GNU/Linux.
626
627 * New remote packets
628
629 qXfer:btrace:read's annex
630 The qXfer:btrace:read packet supports a new annex 'delta' to read
631 branch trace incrementally.
632
633 * Python Scripting
634
635 ** Valid Python operations on gdb.Value objects representing
636 structs/classes invoke the corresponding overloaded operators if
637 available.
638 ** New `Xmethods' feature in the Python API. Xmethods are
639 additional methods or replacements for existing methods of a C++
640 class. This feature is useful for those cases where a method
641 defined in C++ source code could be inlined or optimized out by
642 the compiler, making it unavailable to GDB.
643
644 * New targets
645 PowerPC64 GNU/Linux little-endian powerpc64le-*-linux*
646
647 * The "dll-symbols" command, and its two aliases ("add-shared-symbol-files"
648 and "assf"), have been deprecated. Use the "sharedlibrary" command, or
649 its alias "share", instead.
650
651 * The commands "set remotebaud" and "show remotebaud" are no longer
652 supported. Use "set serial baud" and "show serial baud" (respectively)
653 instead.
654
655 * MI changes
656
657 ** A new option "-gdb-set mi-async" replaces "-gdb-set
658 target-async". The latter is left as a deprecated alias of the
659 former for backward compatibility. If the target supports it,
660 CLI background execution commands are now always possible by
661 default, independently of whether the frontend stated a
662 preference for asynchronous execution with "-gdb-set mi-async".
663 Previously "-gdb-set target-async off" affected both MI execution
664 commands and CLI execution commands.
665
666 *** Changes in GDB 7.7
667
668 * Improved support for process record-replay and reverse debugging on
669 arm*-linux* targets. Support for thumb32 and syscall instruction
670 recording has been added.
671
672 * GDB now supports SystemTap SDT probes on AArch64 GNU/Linux.
673
674 * GDB now supports Fission DWP file format version 2.
675 http://gcc.gnu.org/wiki/DebugFission
676
677 * New convenience function "$_isvoid", to check whether an expression
678 is void. A void expression is an expression where the type of the
679 result is "void". For example, some convenience variables may be
680 "void" when evaluated (e.g., "$_exitcode" before the execution of
681 the program being debugged; or an undefined convenience variable).
682 Another example, when calling a function whose return type is
683 "void".
684
685 * The "maintenance print objfiles" command now takes an optional regexp.
686
687 * The "catch syscall" command now works on arm*-linux* targets.
688
689 * GDB now consistently shows "<not saved>" when printing values of
690 registers the debug info indicates have not been saved in the frame
691 and there's nowhere to retrieve them from
692 (callee-saved/call-clobbered registers):
693
694 (gdb) p $rax
695 $1 = <not saved>
696
697 (gdb) info registers rax
698 rax <not saved>
699
700 Before, the former would print "<optimized out>", and the latter
701 "*value not available*".
702
703 * New script contrib/gdb-add-index.sh for adding .gdb_index sections
704 to binaries.
705
706 * Python scripting
707
708 ** Frame filters and frame decorators have been added.
709 ** Temporary breakpoints are now supported.
710 ** Line tables representation has been added.
711 ** New attribute 'parent_type' for gdb.Field objects.
712 ** gdb.Field objects can be used as subscripts on gdb.Value objects.
713 ** New attribute 'name' for gdb.Type objects.
714
715 * New targets
716
717 Nios II ELF nios2*-*-elf
718 Nios II GNU/Linux nios2*-*-linux
719 Texas Instruments MSP430 msp430*-*-elf
720
721 * Removed native configurations
722
723 Support for these a.out NetBSD and OpenBSD obsolete configurations has
724 been removed. ELF variants of these configurations are kept supported.
725
726 arm*-*-netbsd* but arm*-*-netbsdelf* is kept supported.
727 i[34567]86-*-netbsd* but i[34567]86-*-netbsdelf* is kept supported.
728 i[34567]86-*-openbsd[0-2].* but i[34567]86-*-openbsd* is kept supported.
729 i[34567]86-*-openbsd3.[0-3]
730 m68*-*-netbsd* but m68*-*-netbsdelf* is kept supported.
731 sparc-*-netbsd* but sparc-*-netbsdelf* is kept supported.
732 vax-*-netbsd* but vax-*-netbsdelf* is kept supported.
733
734 * New commands:
735 catch rethrow
736 Like "catch throw", but catches a re-thrown exception.
737 maint check-psymtabs
738 Renamed from old "maint check-symtabs".
739 maint check-symtabs
740 Perform consistency checks on symtabs.
741 maint expand-symtabs
742 Expand symtabs matching an optional regexp.
743
744 show configuration
745 Display the details of GDB configure-time options.
746
747 maint set|show per-command
748 maint set|show per-command space
749 maint set|show per-command time
750 maint set|show per-command symtab
751 Enable display of per-command gdb resource usage.
752
753 remove-symbol-file FILENAME
754 remove-symbol-file -a ADDRESS
755 Remove a symbol file added via add-symbol-file. The file to remove
756 can be identified by its filename or by an address that lies within
757 the boundaries of this symbol file in memory.
758
759 info exceptions
760 info exceptions REGEXP
761 Display the list of Ada exceptions defined in the program being
762 debugged. If provided, only the exceptions whose names match REGEXP
763 are listed.
764
765 * New options
766
767 set debug symfile off|on
768 show debug symfile
769 Control display of debugging info regarding reading symbol files and
770 symbol tables within those files
771
772 set print raw frame-arguments
773 show print raw frame-arguments
774 Set/show whether to print frame arguments in raw mode,
775 disregarding any defined pretty-printers.
776
777 set remote trace-status-packet
778 show remote trace-status-packet
779 Set/show the use of remote protocol qTStatus packet.
780
781 set debug nios2
782 show debug nios2
783 Control display of debugging messages related to Nios II targets.
784
785 set range-stepping
786 show range-stepping
787 Control whether target-assisted range stepping is enabled.
788
789 set startup-with-shell
790 show startup-with-shell
791 Specifies whether Unix child processes are started via a shell or
792 directly.
793
794 set code-cache
795 show code-cache
796 Use the target memory cache for accesses to the code segment. This
797 improves performance of remote debugging (particularly disassembly).
798
799 * You can now use a literal value 'unlimited' for options that
800 interpret 0 or -1 as meaning "unlimited". E.g., "set
801 trace-buffer-size unlimited" is now an alias for "set
802 trace-buffer-size -1" and "set height unlimited" is now an alias for
803 "set height 0".
804
805 * The "set debug symtab-create" debugging option of GDB has been changed to
806 accept a verbosity level. 0 means "off", 1 provides basic debugging
807 output, and values of 2 or greater provides more verbose output.
808
809 * New command-line options
810 --configuration
811 Display the details of GDB configure-time options.
812
813 * The command 'tsave' can now support new option '-ctf' to save trace
814 buffer in Common Trace Format.
815
816 * Newly installed $prefix/bin/gcore acts as a shell interface for the
817 GDB command gcore.
818
819 * GDB now implements the the C++ 'typeid' operator.
820
821 * The new convenience variable $_exception holds the exception being
822 thrown or caught at an exception-related catchpoint.
823
824 * The exception-related catchpoints, like "catch throw", now accept a
825 regular expression which can be used to filter exceptions by type.
826
827 * The new convenience variable $_exitsignal is automatically set to
828 the terminating signal number when the program being debugged dies
829 due to an uncaught signal.
830
831 * MI changes
832
833 ** All MI commands now accept an optional "--language" option.
834 Support for this feature can be verified by using the "-list-features"
835 command, which should contain "language-option".
836
837 ** The new command -info-gdb-mi-command allows the user to determine
838 whether a GDB/MI command is supported or not.
839
840 ** The "^error" result record returned when trying to execute an undefined
841 GDB/MI command now provides a variable named "code" whose content is the
842 "undefined-command" error code. Support for this feature can be verified
843 by using the "-list-features" command, which should contain
844 "undefined-command-error-code".
845
846 ** The -trace-save MI command can optionally save trace buffer in Common
847 Trace Format now.
848
849 ** The new command -dprintf-insert sets a dynamic printf breakpoint.
850
851 ** The command -data-list-register-values now accepts an optional
852 "--skip-unavailable" option. When used, only the available registers
853 are displayed.
854
855 ** The new command -trace-frame-collected dumps collected variables,
856 computed expressions, tvars, memory and registers in a traceframe.
857
858 ** The commands -stack-list-locals, -stack-list-arguments and
859 -stack-list-variables now accept an option "--skip-unavailable".
860 When used, only the available locals or arguments are displayed.
861
862 ** The -exec-run command now accepts an optional "--start" option.
863 When used, the command follows the same semantics as the "start"
864 command, stopping the program's execution at the start of its
865 main subprogram. Support for this feature can be verified using
866 the "-list-features" command, which should contain
867 "exec-run-start-option".
868
869 ** The new commands -catch-assert and -catch-exceptions insert
870 catchpoints stopping the program when Ada exceptions are raised.
871
872 ** The new command -info-ada-exceptions provides the equivalent of
873 the new "info exceptions" command.
874
875 * New system-wide configuration scripts
876 A GDB installation now provides scripts suitable for use as system-wide
877 configuration scripts for the following systems:
878 ** ElinOS
879 ** Wind River Linux
880
881 * GDB now supports target-assigned range stepping with remote targets.
882 This improves the performance of stepping source lines by reducing
883 the number of control packets from/to GDB. See "New remote packets"
884 below.
885
886 * GDB now understands the element 'tvar' in the XML traceframe info.
887 It has the id of the collected trace state variables.
888
889 * On S/390 targets that provide the transactional-execution feature,
890 the program interruption transaction diagnostic block (TDB) is now
891 represented as a number of additional "registers" in GDB.
892
893 * New remote packets
894
895 vCont;r
896
897 The vCont packet supports a new 'r' action, that tells the remote
898 stub to step through an address range itself, without GDB
899 involvemement at each single-step.
900
901 qXfer:libraries-svr4:read's annex
902 The previously unused annex of the qXfer:libraries-svr4:read packet
903 is now used to support passing an argument list. The remote stub
904 reports support for this argument list to GDB's qSupported query.
905 The defined arguments are "start" and "prev", used to reduce work
906 necessary for library list updating, resulting in significant
907 speedup.
908
909 * New features in the GDB remote stub, GDBserver
910
911 ** GDBserver now supports target-assisted range stepping. Currently
912 enabled on x86/x86_64 GNU/Linux targets.
913
914 ** GDBserver now adds element 'tvar' in the XML in the reply to
915 'qXfer:traceframe-info:read'. It has the id of the collected
916 trace state variables.
917
918 ** GDBserver now supports hardware watchpoints on the MIPS GNU/Linux
919 target.
920
921 * New 'z' formatter for printing and examining memory, this displays the
922 value as hexadecimal zero padded on the left to the size of the type.
923
924 * GDB can now use Windows x64 unwinding data.
925
926 * The "set remotebaud" command has been replaced by "set serial baud".
927 Similarly, "show remotebaud" has been replaced by "show serial baud".
928 The "set remotebaud" and "show remotebaud" commands are still available
929 to provide backward compatibility with older versions of GDB.
930
931 *** Changes in GDB 7.6
932
933 * Target record has been renamed to record-full.
934 Record/replay is now enabled with the "record full" command.
935 This also affects settings that are associated with full record/replay
936 that have been moved from "set/show record" to "set/show record full":
937
938 set|show record full insn-number-max
939 set|show record full stop-at-limit
940 set|show record full memory-query
941
942 * A new record target "record-btrace" has been added. The new target
943 uses hardware support to record the control-flow of a process. It
944 does not support replaying the execution, but it implements the
945 below new commands for investigating the recorded execution log.
946 This new recording method can be enabled using:
947
948 record btrace
949
950 The "record-btrace" target is only available on Intel Atom processors
951 and requires a Linux kernel 2.6.32 or later.
952
953 * Two new commands have been added for record/replay to give information
954 about the recorded execution without having to replay the execution.
955 The commands are only supported by "record btrace".
956
957 record instruction-history prints the execution history at
958 instruction granularity
959
960 record function-call-history prints the execution history at
961 function granularity
962
963 * New native configurations
964
965 ARM AArch64 GNU/Linux aarch64*-*-linux-gnu
966 FreeBSD/powerpc powerpc*-*-freebsd
967 x86_64/Cygwin x86_64-*-cygwin*
968 Tilera TILE-Gx GNU/Linux tilegx*-*-linux-gnu
969
970 * New targets
971
972 ARM AArch64 aarch64*-*-elf
973 ARM AArch64 GNU/Linux aarch64*-*-linux
974 Lynx 178 PowerPC powerpc-*-lynx*178
975 x86_64/Cygwin x86_64-*-cygwin*
976 Tilera TILE-Gx GNU/Linux tilegx*-*-linux
977
978 * If the configured location of system.gdbinit file (as given by the
979 --with-system-gdbinit option at configure time) is in the
980 data-directory (as specified by --with-gdb-datadir at configure
981 time) or in one of its subdirectories, then GDB will look for the
982 system-wide init file in the directory specified by the
983 --data-directory command-line option.
984
985 * New command line options:
986
987 -nh Disables auto-loading of ~/.gdbinit, but still executes all the
988 other initialization files, unlike -nx which disables all of them.
989
990 * Removed command line options
991
992 -epoch This was used by the gdb mode in Epoch, an ancient fork of
993 Emacs.
994
995 * The 'ptype' and 'whatis' commands now accept an argument to control
996 type formatting.
997
998 * 'info proc' now works on some core files.
999
1000 * Python scripting
1001
1002 ** Vectors can be created with gdb.Type.vector.
1003
1004 ** Python's atexit.register now works in GDB.
1005
1006 ** Types can be pretty-printed via a Python API.
1007
1008 ** Python 3 is now supported (in addition to Python 2.4 or later)
1009
1010 ** New class gdb.Architecture exposes GDB's internal representation
1011 of architecture in the Python API.
1012
1013 ** New method Frame.architecture returns the gdb.Architecture object
1014 corresponding to the frame's architecture.
1015
1016 * New Python-based convenience functions:
1017
1018 ** $_memeq(buf1, buf2, length)
1019 ** $_streq(str1, str2)
1020 ** $_strlen(str)
1021 ** $_regex(str, regex)
1022
1023 * The 'cd' command now defaults to using '~' (the home directory) if not
1024 given an argument.
1025
1026 * The C++ ABI now defaults to the GNU v3 ABI. This has been the
1027 default for GCC since November 2000.
1028
1029 * The command 'forward-search' can now be abbreviated as 'fo'.
1030
1031 * The command 'info tracepoints' can now display 'installed on target'
1032 or 'not installed on target' for each non-pending location of tracepoint.
1033
1034 * New configure options
1035
1036 --enable-libmcheck/--disable-libmcheck
1037 By default, development versions are built with -lmcheck on hosts
1038 that support it, in order to help track memory corruption issues.
1039 Release versions, on the other hand, are built without -lmcheck
1040 by default. The --enable-libmcheck/--disable-libmcheck configure
1041 options allow the user to override that default.
1042 --with-babeltrace/--with-babeltrace-include/--with-babeltrace-lib
1043 This configure option allows the user to build GDB with
1044 libbabeltrace using which GDB can read Common Trace Format data.
1045
1046 * New commands (for set/show, see "New options" below)
1047
1048 catch signal
1049 Catch signals. This is similar to "handle", but allows commands and
1050 conditions to be attached.
1051
1052 maint info bfds
1053 List the BFDs known to GDB.
1054
1055 python-interactive [command]
1056 pi [command]
1057 Start a Python interactive prompt, or evaluate the optional command
1058 and print the result of expressions.
1059
1060 py [command]
1061 "py" is a new alias for "python".
1062
1063 enable type-printer [name]...
1064 disable type-printer [name]...
1065 Enable or disable type printers.
1066
1067 * Removed commands
1068
1069 ** For the Renesas Super-H architecture, the "regs" command has been removed
1070 (has been deprecated in GDB 7.5), and "info all-registers" should be used
1071 instead.
1072
1073 * New options
1074
1075 set print type methods (on|off)
1076 show print type methods
1077 Control whether method declarations are displayed by "ptype".
1078 The default is to show them.
1079
1080 set print type typedefs (on|off)
1081 show print type typedefs
1082 Control whether typedef definitions are displayed by "ptype".
1083 The default is to show them.
1084
1085 set filename-display basename|relative|absolute
1086 show filename-display
1087 Control the way in which filenames is displayed.
1088 The default is "relative", which preserves previous behavior.
1089
1090 set trace-buffer-size
1091 show trace-buffer-size
1092 Request target to change the size of trace buffer.
1093
1094 set remote trace-buffer-size-packet auto|on|off
1095 show remote trace-buffer-size-packet
1096 Control the use of the remote protocol `QTBuffer:size' packet.
1097
1098 set debug aarch64
1099 show debug aarch64
1100 Control display of debugging messages related to ARM AArch64.
1101 The default is off.
1102
1103 set debug coff-pe-read
1104 show debug coff-pe-read
1105 Control display of debugging messages related to reading of COFF/PE
1106 exported symbols.
1107
1108 set debug mach-o
1109 show debug mach-o
1110 Control display of debugging messages related to Mach-O symbols
1111 processing.
1112
1113 set debug notification
1114 show debug notification
1115 Control display of debugging info for async remote notification.
1116
1117 * MI changes
1118
1119 ** Command parameter changes are now notified using new async record
1120 "=cmd-param-changed".
1121 ** Trace frame changes caused by command "tfind" are now notified using
1122 new async record "=traceframe-changed".
1123 ** The creation, deletion and modification of trace state variables
1124 are now notified using new async records "=tsv-created",
1125 "=tsv-deleted" and "=tsv-modified".
1126 ** The start and stop of process record are now notified using new
1127 async record "=record-started" and "=record-stopped".
1128 ** Memory changes are now notified using new async record
1129 "=memory-changed".
1130 ** The data-disassemble command response will include a "fullname" field
1131 containing the absolute file name when source has been requested.
1132 ** New optional parameter COUNT added to the "-data-write-memory-bytes"
1133 command, to allow pattern filling of memory areas.
1134 ** New commands "-catch-load"/"-catch-unload" added for intercepting
1135 library load/unload events.
1136 ** The response to breakpoint commands and breakpoint async records
1137 includes an "installed" field containing a boolean state about each
1138 non-pending tracepoint location is whether installed on target or not.
1139 ** Output of the "-trace-status" command includes a "trace-file" field
1140 containing the name of the trace file being examined. This field is
1141 optional, and only present when examining a trace file.
1142 ** The "fullname" field is now always present along with the "file" field,
1143 even if the file cannot be found by GDB.
1144
1145 * GDB now supports the "mini debuginfo" section, .gnu_debugdata.
1146 You must have the LZMA library available when configuring GDB for this
1147 feature to be enabled. For more information, see:
1148 http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features/MiniDebugInfo
1149
1150 * New remote packets
1151
1152 QTBuffer:size
1153 Set the size of trace buffer. The remote stub reports support for this
1154 packet to gdb's qSupported query.
1155
1156 Qbtrace:bts
1157 Enable Branch Trace Store (BTS)-based branch tracing for the current
1158 thread. The remote stub reports support for this packet to gdb's
1159 qSupported query.
1160
1161 Qbtrace:off
1162 Disable branch tracing for the current thread. The remote stub reports
1163 support for this packet to gdb's qSupported query.
1164
1165 qXfer:btrace:read
1166 Read the traced branches for the current thread. The remote stub
1167 reports support for this packet to gdb's qSupported query.
1168
1169 *** Changes in GDB 7.5
1170
1171 * GDB now supports x32 ABI. Visit <http://sites.google.com/site/x32abi/>
1172 for more x32 ABI info.
1173
1174 * GDB now supports access to MIPS DSP registers on Linux targets.
1175
1176 * GDB now supports debugging microMIPS binaries.
1177
1178 * The "info os" command on GNU/Linux can now display information on
1179 several new classes of objects managed by the operating system:
1180 "info os procgroups" lists process groups
1181 "info os files" lists file descriptors
1182 "info os sockets" lists internet-domain sockets
1183 "info os shm" lists shared-memory regions
1184 "info os semaphores" lists semaphores
1185 "info os msg" lists message queues
1186 "info os modules" lists loaded kernel modules
1187
1188 * GDB now has support for SDT (Static Defined Tracing) probes. Currently,
1189 the only implemented backend is for SystemTap probes (<sys/sdt.h>). You
1190 can set a breakpoint using the new "-probe, "-pstap" or "-probe-stap"
1191 options and inspect the probe arguments using the new $_probe_arg family
1192 of convenience variables. You can obtain more information about SystemTap
1193 in <http://sourceware.org/systemtap/>.
1194
1195 * GDB now supports reversible debugging on ARM, it allows you to
1196 debug basic ARM and THUMB instructions, and provides
1197 record/replay support.
1198
1199 * The option "symbol-reloading" has been deleted as it is no longer used.
1200
1201 * Python scripting
1202
1203 ** GDB commands implemented in Python can now be put in command class
1204 "gdb.COMMAND_USER".
1205
1206 ** The "maint set python print-stack on|off" is now deleted.
1207
1208 ** A new class, gdb.printing.FlagEnumerationPrinter, can be used to
1209 apply "flag enum"-style pretty-printing to any enum.
1210
1211 ** gdb.lookup_symbol can now work when there is no current frame.
1212
1213 ** gdb.Symbol now has a 'line' attribute, holding the line number in
1214 the source at which the symbol was defined.
1215
1216 ** gdb.Symbol now has the new attribute 'needs_frame' and the new
1217 method 'value'. The former indicates whether the symbol needs a
1218 frame in order to compute its value, and the latter computes the
1219 symbol's value.
1220
1221 ** A new method 'referenced_value' on gdb.Value objects which can
1222 dereference pointer as well as C++ reference values.
1223
1224 ** New methods 'global_block' and 'static_block' on gdb.Symtab objects
1225 which return the global and static blocks (as gdb.Block objects),
1226 of the underlying symbol table, respectively.
1227
1228 ** New function gdb.find_pc_line which returns the gdb.Symtab_and_line
1229 object associated with a PC value.
1230
1231 ** gdb.Symtab_and_line has new attribute 'last' which holds the end
1232 of the address range occupied by code for the current source line.
1233
1234 * Go language support.
1235 GDB now supports debugging programs written in the Go programming
1236 language.
1237
1238 * GDBserver now supports stdio connections.
1239 E.g. (gdb) target remote | ssh myhost gdbserver - hello
1240
1241 * The binary "gdbtui" can no longer be built or installed.
1242 Use "gdb -tui" instead.
1243
1244 * GDB will now print "flag" enums specially. A flag enum is one where
1245 all the enumerator values have no bits in common when pairwise
1246 "and"ed. When printing a value whose type is a flag enum, GDB will
1247 show all the constants, e.g., for enum E { ONE = 1, TWO = 2}:
1248 (gdb) print (enum E) 3
1249 $1 = (ONE | TWO)
1250
1251 * The filename part of a linespec will now match trailing components
1252 of a source file name. For example, "break gcc/expr.c:1000" will
1253 now set a breakpoint in build/gcc/expr.c, but not
1254 build/libcpp/expr.c.
1255
1256 * The "info proc" and "generate-core-file" commands will now also
1257 work on remote targets connected to GDBserver on Linux.
1258
1259 * The command "info catch" has been removed. It has been disabled
1260 since December 2007.
1261
1262 * The "catch exception" and "catch assert" commands now accept
1263 a condition at the end of the command, much like the "break"
1264 command does. For instance:
1265
1266 (gdb) catch exception Constraint_Error if Barrier = True
1267
1268 Previously, it was possible to add a condition to such catchpoints,
1269 but it had to be done as a second step, after the catchpoint had been
1270 created, using the "condition" command.
1271
1272 * The "info static-tracepoint-marker" command will now also work on
1273 native Linux targets with in-process agent.
1274
1275 * GDB can now set breakpoints on inlined functions.
1276
1277 * The .gdb_index section has been updated to include symbols for
1278 inlined functions. GDB will ignore older .gdb_index sections by
1279 default, which could cause symbol files to be loaded more slowly
1280 until their .gdb_index sections can be recreated. The new command
1281 "set use-deprecated-index-sections on" will cause GDB to use any older
1282 .gdb_index sections it finds. This will restore performance, but the
1283 ability to set breakpoints on inlined functions will be lost in symbol
1284 files with older .gdb_index sections.
1285
1286 The .gdb_index section has also been updated to record more information
1287 about each symbol. This speeds up the "info variables", "info functions"
1288 and "info types" commands when used with programs having the .gdb_index
1289 section, as well as speeding up debugging with shared libraries using
1290 the .gdb_index section.
1291
1292 * Ada support for GDB/MI Variable Objects has been added.
1293
1294 * GDB can now support 'breakpoint always-inserted mode' in 'record'
1295 target.
1296
1297 * MI changes
1298
1299 ** New command -info-os is the MI equivalent of "info os".
1300
1301 ** Output logs ("set logging" and related) now include MI output.
1302
1303 * New commands
1304
1305 ** "set use-deprecated-index-sections on|off"
1306 "show use-deprecated-index-sections on|off"
1307 Controls the use of deprecated .gdb_index sections.
1308
1309 ** "catch load" and "catch unload" can be used to stop when a shared
1310 library is loaded or unloaded, respectively.
1311
1312 ** "enable count" can be used to auto-disable a breakpoint after
1313 several hits.
1314
1315 ** "info vtbl" can be used to show the virtual method tables for
1316 C++ and Java objects.
1317
1318 ** "explore" and its sub commands "explore value" and "explore type"
1319 can be used to recursively explore values and types of
1320 expressions. These commands are available only if GDB is
1321 configured with '--with-python'.
1322
1323 ** "info auto-load" shows status of all kinds of auto-loaded files,
1324 "info auto-load gdb-scripts" shows status of auto-loading GDB canned
1325 sequences of commands files, "info auto-load python-scripts"
1326 shows status of auto-loading Python script files,
1327 "info auto-load local-gdbinit" shows status of loading init file
1328 (.gdbinit) from current directory and "info auto-load libthread-db" shows
1329 status of inferior specific thread debugging shared library loading.
1330
1331 ** "info auto-load-scripts", "set auto-load-scripts on|off"
1332 and "show auto-load-scripts" commands have been deprecated, use their
1333 "info auto-load python-scripts", "set auto-load python-scripts on|off"
1334 and "show auto-load python-scripts" counterparts instead.
1335
1336 ** "dprintf location,format,args..." creates a dynamic printf, which
1337 is basically a breakpoint that does a printf and immediately
1338 resumes your program's execution, so it is like a printf that you
1339 can insert dynamically at runtime instead of at compiletime.
1340
1341 ** "set print symbol"
1342 "show print symbol"
1343 Controls whether GDB attempts to display the symbol, if any,
1344 corresponding to addresses it prints. This defaults to "on", but
1345 you can set it to "off" to restore GDB's previous behavior.
1346
1347 * Deprecated commands
1348
1349 ** For the Renesas Super-H architecture, the "regs" command has been
1350 deprecated, and "info all-registers" should be used instead.
1351
1352 * New targets
1353
1354 Renesas RL78 rl78-*-elf
1355 HP OpenVMS ia64 ia64-hp-openvms*
1356
1357 * GDBserver supports evaluation of breakpoint conditions. When
1358 support is advertised by GDBserver, GDB may be told to send the
1359 breakpoint conditions in bytecode form to GDBserver. GDBserver
1360 will only report the breakpoint trigger to GDB when its condition
1361 evaluates to true.
1362
1363 * New options
1364
1365 set mips compression
1366 show mips compression
1367 Select the compressed ISA encoding used in functions that have no symbol
1368 information available. The encoding can be set to either of:
1369 mips16
1370 micromips
1371 and is updated automatically from ELF file flags if available.
1372
1373 set breakpoint condition-evaluation
1374 show breakpoint condition-evaluation
1375 Control whether breakpoint conditions are evaluated by GDB ("host") or by
1376 GDBserver ("target"). Default option "auto" chooses the most efficient
1377 available mode.
1378 This option can improve debugger efficiency depending on the speed of the
1379 target.
1380
1381 set auto-load off
1382 Disable auto-loading globally.
1383
1384 show auto-load
1385 Show auto-loading setting of all kinds of auto-loaded files.
1386
1387 set auto-load gdb-scripts on|off
1388 show auto-load gdb-scripts
1389 Control auto-loading of GDB canned sequences of commands files.
1390
1391 set auto-load python-scripts on|off
1392 show auto-load python-scripts
1393 Control auto-loading of Python script files.
1394
1395 set auto-load local-gdbinit on|off
1396 show auto-load local-gdbinit
1397 Control loading of init file (.gdbinit) from current directory.
1398
1399 set auto-load libthread-db on|off
1400 show auto-load libthread-db
1401 Control auto-loading of inferior specific thread debugging shared library.
1402
1403 set auto-load scripts-directory <dir1>[:<dir2>...]
1404 show auto-load scripts-directory
1405 Set a list of directories from which to load auto-loaded scripts.
1406 Automatically loaded Python scripts and GDB scripts are located in one
1407 of the directories listed by this option.
1408 The delimiter (':' above) may differ according to the host platform.
1409
1410 set auto-load safe-path <dir1>[:<dir2>...]
1411 show auto-load safe-path
1412 Set a list of directories from which it is safe to auto-load files.
1413 The delimiter (':' above) may differ according to the host platform.
1414
1415 set debug auto-load on|off
1416 show debug auto-load
1417 Control display of debugging info for auto-loading the files above.
1418
1419 set dprintf-style gdb|call|agent
1420 show dprintf-style
1421 Control the way in which a dynamic printf is performed; "gdb"
1422 requests a GDB printf command, while "call" causes dprintf to call a
1423 function in the inferior. "agent" requests that the target agent
1424 (such as GDBserver) do the printing.
1425
1426 set dprintf-function <expr>
1427 show dprintf-function
1428 set dprintf-channel <expr>
1429 show dprintf-channel
1430 Set the function and optional first argument to the call when using
1431 the "call" style of dynamic printf.
1432
1433 set disconnected-dprintf on|off
1434 show disconnected-dprintf
1435 Control whether agent-style dynamic printfs continue to be in effect
1436 after GDB disconnects.
1437
1438 * New configure options
1439
1440 --with-auto-load-dir
1441 Configure default value for the 'set auto-load scripts-directory'
1442 setting above. It defaults to '$debugdir:$datadir/auto-load',
1443 $debugdir representing global debugging info directories (available
1444 via 'show debug-file-directory') and $datadir representing GDB's data
1445 directory (available via 'show data-directory').
1446
1447 --with-auto-load-safe-path
1448 Configure default value for the 'set auto-load safe-path' setting
1449 above. It defaults to the --with-auto-load-dir setting.
1450
1451 --without-auto-load-safe-path
1452 Set 'set auto-load safe-path' to '/', effectively disabling this
1453 security feature.
1454
1455 * New remote packets
1456
1457 z0/z1 conditional breakpoints extension
1458
1459 The z0/z1 breakpoint insertion packets have been extended to carry
1460 a list of conditional expressions over to the remote stub depending on the
1461 condition evaluation mode. The use of this extension can be controlled
1462 via the "set remote conditional-breakpoints-packet" command.
1463
1464 QProgramSignals:
1465
1466 Specify the signals which the remote stub may pass to the debugged
1467 program without GDB involvement.
1468
1469 * New command line options
1470
1471 --init-command=FILE, -ix Like --command, -x but execute it
1472 before loading inferior.
1473 --init-eval-command=COMMAND, -iex Like --eval-command=COMMAND, -ex but
1474 execute it before loading inferior.
1475
1476 *** Changes in GDB 7.4
1477
1478 * GDB now handles ambiguous linespecs more consistently; the existing
1479 FILE:LINE support has been expanded to other types of linespecs. A
1480 breakpoint will now be set on all matching locations in all
1481 inferiors, and locations will be added or removed according to
1482 inferior changes.
1483
1484 * GDB now allows you to skip uninteresting functions and files when
1485 stepping with the "skip function" and "skip file" commands.
1486
1487 * GDB has two new commands: "set remote hardware-watchpoint-length-limit"
1488 and "show remote hardware-watchpoint-length-limit". These allows to
1489 set or show the maximum length limit (in bytes) of a remote
1490 target hardware watchpoint.
1491
1492 This allows e.g. to use "unlimited" hardware watchpoints with the
1493 gdbserver integrated in Valgrind version >= 3.7.0. Such Valgrind
1494 watchpoints are slower than real hardware watchpoints but are
1495 significantly faster than gdb software watchpoints.
1496
1497 * Python scripting
1498
1499 ** The register_pretty_printer function in module gdb.printing now takes
1500 an optional `replace' argument. If True, the new printer replaces any
1501 existing one.
1502
1503 ** The "maint set python print-stack on|off" command has been
1504 deprecated and will be deleted in GDB 7.5.
1505 A new command: "set python print-stack none|full|message" has
1506 replaced it. Additionally, the default for "print-stack" is
1507 now "message", which just prints the error message without
1508 the stack trace.
1509
1510 ** A prompt substitution hook (prompt_hook) is now available to the
1511 Python API.
1512
1513 ** A new Python module, gdb.prompt has been added to the GDB Python
1514 modules library. This module provides functionality for
1515 escape sequences in prompts (used by set/show
1516 extended-prompt). These escape sequences are replaced by their
1517 corresponding value.
1518
1519 ** Python commands and convenience-functions located in
1520 'data-directory'/python/gdb/command and
1521 'data-directory'/python/gdb/function are now automatically loaded
1522 on GDB start-up.
1523
1524 ** Blocks now provide four new attributes. global_block and
1525 static_block will return the global and static blocks
1526 respectively. is_static and is_global are boolean attributes
1527 that indicate if the block is one of those two types.
1528
1529 ** Symbols now provide the "type" attribute, the type of the symbol.
1530
1531 ** The "gdb.breakpoint" function has been deprecated in favor of
1532 "gdb.breakpoints".
1533
1534 ** A new class "gdb.FinishBreakpoint" is provided to catch the return
1535 of a function. This class is based on the "finish" command
1536 available in the CLI.
1537
1538 ** Type objects for struct and union types now allow access to
1539 the fields using standard Python dictionary (mapping) methods.
1540 For example, "some_type['myfield']" now works, as does
1541 "some_type.items()".
1542
1543 ** A new event "gdb.new_objfile" has been added, triggered by loading a
1544 new object file.
1545
1546 ** A new function, "deep_items" has been added to the gdb.types
1547 module in the GDB Python modules library. This function returns
1548 an iterator over the fields of a struct or union type. Unlike
1549 the standard Python "iteritems" method, it will recursively traverse
1550 any anonymous fields.
1551
1552 * MI changes
1553
1554 ** "*stopped" events can report several new "reason"s, such as
1555 "solib-event".
1556
1557 ** Breakpoint changes are now notified using new async records, like
1558 "=breakpoint-modified".
1559
1560 ** New command -ada-task-info.
1561
1562 * libthread-db-search-path now supports two special values: $sdir and $pdir.
1563 $sdir specifies the default system locations of shared libraries.
1564 $pdir specifies the directory where the libpthread used by the application
1565 lives.
1566
1567 GDB no longer looks in $sdir and $pdir after it has searched the directories
1568 mentioned in libthread-db-search-path. If you want to search those
1569 directories, they must be specified in libthread-db-search-path.
1570 The default value of libthread-db-search-path on GNU/Linux and Solaris
1571 systems is now "$sdir:$pdir".
1572
1573 $pdir is not supported by gdbserver, it is currently ignored.
1574 $sdir is supported by gdbserver.
1575
1576 * New configure option --with-iconv-bin.
1577 When using the internationalization support like the one in the GNU C
1578 library, GDB will invoke the "iconv" program to get a list of supported
1579 character sets. If this program lives in a non-standard location, one can
1580 use this option to specify where to find it.
1581
1582 * When natively debugging programs on PowerPC BookE processors running
1583 a Linux kernel version 2.6.34 or later, GDB supports masked hardware
1584 watchpoints, which specify a mask in addition to an address to watch.
1585 The mask specifies that some bits of an address (the bits which are
1586 reset in the mask) should be ignored when matching the address accessed
1587 by the inferior against the watchpoint address. See the "PowerPC Embedded"
1588 section in the user manual for more details.
1589
1590 * The new option --once causes GDBserver to stop listening for connections once
1591 the first connection is made. The listening port used by GDBserver will
1592 become available after that.
1593
1594 * New commands "info macros" and "alias" have been added.
1595
1596 * New function parameters suffix @entry specifies value of function parameter
1597 at the time the function got called. Entry values are available only since
1598 gcc version 4.7.
1599
1600 * New commands
1601
1602 !SHELL COMMAND
1603 "!" is now an alias of the "shell" command.
1604 Note that no space is needed between "!" and SHELL COMMAND.
1605
1606 * Changed commands
1607
1608 watch EXPRESSION mask MASK_VALUE
1609 The watch command now supports the mask argument which allows creation
1610 of masked watchpoints, if the current architecture supports this feature.
1611
1612 info auto-load-scripts [REGEXP]
1613 This command was formerly named "maintenance print section-scripts".
1614 It is now generally useful and is no longer a maintenance-only command.
1615
1616 info macro [-all] [--] MACRO
1617 The info macro command has new options `-all' and `--'. The first for
1618 printing all definitions of a macro. The second for explicitly specifying
1619 the end of arguments and the beginning of the macro name in case the macro
1620 name starts with a hyphen.
1621
1622 collect[/s] EXPRESSIONS
1623 The tracepoint collect command now takes an optional modifier "/s"
1624 that directs it to dereference pointer-to-character types and
1625 collect the bytes of memory up to a zero byte. The behavior is
1626 similar to what you see when you use the regular print command on a
1627 string. An optional integer following the "/s" sets a bound on the
1628 number of bytes that will be collected.
1629
1630 tstart [NOTES]
1631 The trace start command now interprets any supplied arguments as a
1632 note to be recorded with the trace run, with an effect similar to
1633 setting the variable trace-notes.
1634
1635 tstop [NOTES]
1636 The trace stop command now interprets any arguments as a note to be
1637 mentioned along with the tstatus report that the trace was stopped
1638 with a command. The effect is similar to setting the variable
1639 trace-stop-notes.
1640
1641 * Tracepoints can now be enabled and disabled at any time after a trace
1642 experiment has been started using the standard "enable" and "disable"
1643 commands. It is now possible to start a trace experiment with no enabled
1644 tracepoints; GDB will display a warning, but will allow the experiment to
1645 begin, assuming that tracepoints will be enabled as needed while the trace
1646 is running.
1647
1648 * Fast tracepoints on 32-bit x86-architectures can now be placed at
1649 locations with 4-byte instructions, when they were previously
1650 limited to locations with instructions of 5 bytes or longer.
1651
1652 * New options
1653
1654 set debug dwarf2-read
1655 show debug dwarf2-read
1656 Turns on or off display of debugging messages related to reading
1657 DWARF debug info. The default is off.
1658
1659 set debug symtab-create
1660 show debug symtab-create
1661 Turns on or off display of debugging messages related to symbol table
1662 creation. The default is off.
1663
1664 set extended-prompt
1665 show extended-prompt
1666 Set the GDB prompt, and allow escape sequences to be inserted to
1667 display miscellaneous information (see 'help set extended-prompt'
1668 for the list of sequences). This prompt (and any information
1669 accessed through the escape sequences) is updated every time the
1670 prompt is displayed.
1671
1672 set print entry-values (both|compact|default|if-needed|no|only|preferred)
1673 show print entry-values
1674 Set printing of frame argument values at function entry. In some cases
1675 GDB can determine the value of function argument which was passed by the
1676 function caller, even if the value was modified inside the called function.
1677
1678 set debug entry-values
1679 show debug entry-values
1680 Control display of debugging info for determining frame argument values at
1681 function entry and virtual tail call frames.
1682
1683 set basenames-may-differ
1684 show basenames-may-differ
1685 Set whether a source file may have multiple base names.
1686 (A "base name" is the name of a file with the directory part removed.
1687 Example: The base name of "/home/user/hello.c" is "hello.c".)
1688 If set, GDB will canonicalize file names (e.g., expand symlinks)
1689 before comparing them. Canonicalization is an expensive operation,
1690 but it allows the same file be known by more than one base name.
1691 If not set (the default), all source files are assumed to have just
1692 one base name, and gdb will do file name comparisons more efficiently.
1693
1694 set trace-user
1695 show trace-user
1696 set trace-notes
1697 show trace-notes
1698 Set a user name and notes for the current and any future trace runs.
1699 This is useful for long-running and/or disconnected traces, to
1700 inform others (or yourself) as to who is running the trace, supply
1701 contact information, or otherwise explain what is going on.
1702
1703 set trace-stop-notes
1704 show trace-stop-notes
1705 Set a note attached to the trace run, that is displayed when the
1706 trace has been stopped by a tstop command. This is useful for
1707 instance as an explanation, if you are stopping a trace run that was
1708 started by someone else.
1709
1710 * New remote packets
1711
1712 QTEnable
1713
1714 Dynamically enable a tracepoint in a started trace experiment.
1715
1716 QTDisable
1717
1718 Dynamically disable a tracepoint in a started trace experiment.
1719
1720 QTNotes
1721
1722 Set the user and notes of the trace run.
1723
1724 qTP
1725
1726 Query the current status of a tracepoint.
1727
1728 qTMinFTPILen
1729
1730 Query the minimum length of instruction at which a fast tracepoint may
1731 be placed.
1732
1733 * Dcache size (number of lines) and line-size are now runtime-configurable
1734 via "set dcache line" and "set dcache line-size" commands.
1735
1736 * New targets
1737
1738 Texas Instruments TMS320C6x tic6x-*-*
1739
1740 * New Simulators
1741
1742 Renesas RL78 rl78-*-elf
1743
1744 *** Changes in GDB 7.3.1
1745
1746 * The build failure for NetBSD and OpenBSD targets have now been fixed.
1747
1748 *** Changes in GDB 7.3
1749
1750 * GDB has a new command: "thread find [REGEXP]".
1751 It finds the thread id whose name, target id, or thread extra info
1752 matches the given regular expression.
1753
1754 * The "catch syscall" command now works on mips*-linux* targets.
1755
1756 * The -data-disassemble MI command now supports modes 2 and 3 for
1757 dumping the instruction opcodes.
1758
1759 * New command line options
1760
1761 -data-directory DIR Specify DIR as the "data-directory".
1762 This is mostly for testing purposes.
1763
1764 * The "maint set python auto-load on|off" command has been renamed to
1765 "set auto-load-scripts on|off".
1766
1767 * GDB has a new command: "set directories".
1768 It is like the "dir" command except that it replaces the
1769 source path list instead of augmenting it.
1770
1771 * GDB now understands thread names.
1772
1773 On GNU/Linux, "info threads" will display the thread name as set by
1774 prctl or pthread_setname_np.
1775
1776 There is also a new command, "thread name", which can be used to
1777 assign a name internally for GDB to display.
1778
1779 * OpenCL C
1780 Initial support for the OpenCL C language (http://www.khronos.org/opencl)
1781 has been integrated into GDB.
1782
1783 * Python scripting
1784
1785 ** The function gdb.Write now accepts an optional keyword 'stream'.
1786 This keyword, when provided, will direct the output to either
1787 stdout, stderr, or GDB's logging output.
1788
1789 ** Parameters can now be be sub-classed in Python, and in particular
1790 you may implement the get_set_doc and get_show_doc functions.
1791 This improves how Parameter set/show documentation is processed
1792 and allows for more dynamic content.
1793
1794 ** Symbols, Symbol Table, Symbol Table and Line, Object Files,
1795 Inferior, Inferior Thread, Blocks, and Block Iterator APIs now
1796 have an is_valid method.
1797
1798 ** Breakpoints can now be sub-classed in Python, and in particular
1799 you may implement a 'stop' function that is executed each time
1800 the inferior reaches that breakpoint.
1801
1802 ** New function gdb.lookup_global_symbol looks up a global symbol.
1803
1804 ** GDB values in Python are now callable if the value represents a
1805 function. For example, if 'some_value' represents a function that
1806 takes two integer parameters and returns a value, you can call
1807 that function like so:
1808
1809 result = some_value (10,20)
1810
1811 ** Module gdb.types has been added.
1812 It contains a collection of utilities for working with gdb.Types objects:
1813 get_basic_type, has_field, make_enum_dict.
1814
1815 ** Module gdb.printing has been added.
1816 It contains utilities for writing and registering pretty-printers.
1817 New classes: PrettyPrinter, SubPrettyPrinter,
1818 RegexpCollectionPrettyPrinter.
1819 New function: register_pretty_printer.
1820
1821 ** New commands "info pretty-printers", "enable pretty-printer" and
1822 "disable pretty-printer" have been added.
1823
1824 ** gdb.parameter("directories") is now available.
1825
1826 ** New function gdb.newest_frame returns the newest frame in the
1827 selected thread.
1828
1829 ** The gdb.InferiorThread class has a new "name" attribute. This
1830 holds the thread's name.
1831
1832 ** Python Support for Inferior events.
1833 Python scripts can add observers to be notified of events
1834 occurring in the process being debugged.
1835 The following events are currently supported:
1836 - gdb.events.cont Continue event.
1837 - gdb.events.exited Inferior exited event.
1838 - gdb.events.stop Signal received, and Breakpoint hit events.
1839
1840 * C++ Improvements:
1841
1842 ** GDB now puts template parameters in scope when debugging in an
1843 instantiation. For example, if you have:
1844
1845 template<int X> int func (void) { return X; }
1846
1847 then if you step into func<5>, "print X" will show "5". This
1848 feature requires proper debuginfo support from the compiler; it
1849 was added to GCC 4.5.
1850
1851 ** The motion commands "next", "finish", "until", and "advance" now
1852 work better when exceptions are thrown. In particular, GDB will
1853 no longer lose control of the inferior; instead, the GDB will
1854 stop the inferior at the point at which the exception is caught.
1855 This functionality requires a change in the exception handling
1856 code that was introduced in GCC 4.5.
1857
1858 * GDB now follows GCC's rules on accessing volatile objects when
1859 reading or writing target state during expression evaluation.
1860 One notable difference to prior behavior is that "print x = 0"
1861 no longer generates a read of x; the value of the assignment is
1862 now always taken directly from the value being assigned.
1863
1864 * GDB now has some support for using labels in the program's source in
1865 linespecs. For instance, you can use "advance label" to continue
1866 execution to a label.
1867
1868 * GDB now has support for reading and writing a new .gdb_index
1869 section. This section holds a fast index of DWARF debugging
1870 information and can be used to greatly speed up GDB startup and
1871 operation. See the documentation for `save gdb-index' for details.
1872
1873 * The "watch" command now accepts an optional "-location" argument.
1874 When used, this causes GDB to watch the memory referred to by the
1875 expression. Such a watchpoint is never deleted due to it going out
1876 of scope.
1877
1878 * GDB now supports thread debugging of core dumps on GNU/Linux.
1879
1880 GDB now activates thread debugging using the libthread_db library
1881 when debugging GNU/Linux core dumps, similarly to when debugging
1882 live processes. As a result, when debugging a core dump file, GDB
1883 is now able to display pthread_t ids of threads. For example, "info
1884 threads" shows the same output as when debugging the process when it
1885 was live. In earlier releases, you'd see something like this:
1886
1887 (gdb) info threads
1888 * 1 LWP 6780 main () at main.c:10
1889
1890 While now you see this:
1891
1892 (gdb) info threads
1893 * 1 Thread 0x7f0f5712a700 (LWP 6780) main () at main.c:10
1894
1895 It is also now possible to inspect TLS variables when debugging core
1896 dumps.
1897
1898 When debugging a core dump generated on a machine other than the one
1899 used to run GDB, you may need to point GDB at the correct
1900 libthread_db library with the "set libthread-db-search-path"
1901 command. See the user manual for more details on this command.
1902
1903 * When natively debugging programs on PowerPC BookE processors running
1904 a Linux kernel version 2.6.34 or later, GDB supports ranged breakpoints,
1905 which stop execution of the inferior whenever it executes an instruction
1906 at any address within the specified range. See the "PowerPC Embedded"
1907 section in the user manual for more details.
1908
1909 * New features in the GDB remote stub, GDBserver
1910
1911 ** GDBserver is now supported on PowerPC LynxOS (versions 4.x and 5.x),
1912 and i686 LynxOS (version 5.x).
1913
1914 ** GDBserver is now supported on Blackfin Linux.
1915
1916 * New native configurations
1917
1918 ia64 HP-UX ia64-*-hpux*
1919
1920 * New targets:
1921
1922 Analog Devices, Inc. Blackfin Processor bfin-*
1923
1924 * Ada task switching is now supported on sparc-elf targets when
1925 debugging a program using the Ravenscar Profile. For more information,
1926 see the "Tasking Support when using the Ravenscar Profile" section
1927 in the GDB user manual.
1928
1929 * Guile support was removed.
1930
1931 * New features in the GNU simulator
1932
1933 ** The --map-info flag lists all known core mappings.
1934
1935 ** CFI flashes may be simulated via the "cfi" device.
1936
1937 *** Changes in GDB 7.2
1938
1939 * Shared library support for remote targets by default
1940
1941 When GDB is configured for a generic, non-OS specific target, like
1942 for example, --target=arm-eabi or one of the many *-*-elf targets,
1943 GDB now queries remote stubs for loaded shared libraries using the
1944 `qXfer:libraries:read' packet. Previously, shared library support
1945 was always disabled for such configurations.
1946
1947 * C++ Improvements:
1948
1949 ** Argument Dependent Lookup (ADL)
1950
1951 In C++ ADL lookup directs function search to the namespaces of its
1952 arguments even if the namespace has not been imported.
1953 For example:
1954 namespace A
1955 {
1956 class B { };
1957 void foo (B) { }
1958 }
1959 ...
1960 A::B b
1961 foo(b)
1962 Here the compiler will search for `foo' in the namespace of 'b'
1963 and find A::foo. GDB now supports this. This construct is commonly
1964 used in the Standard Template Library for operators.
1965
1966 ** Improved User Defined Operator Support
1967
1968 In addition to member operators, GDB now supports lookup of operators
1969 defined in a namespace and imported with a `using' directive, operators
1970 defined in the global scope, operators imported implicitly from an
1971 anonymous namespace, and the ADL operators mentioned in the previous
1972 entry.
1973 GDB now also supports proper overload resolution for all the previously
1974 mentioned flavors of operators.
1975
1976 ** static const class members
1977
1978 Printing of static const class members that are initialized in the
1979 class definition has been fixed.
1980
1981 * Windows Thread Information Block access.
1982
1983 On Windows targets, GDB now supports displaying the Windows Thread
1984 Information Block (TIB) structure. This structure is visible either
1985 by using the new command `info w32 thread-information-block' or, by
1986 dereferencing the new convenience variable named `$_tlb', a
1987 thread-specific pointer to the TIB. This feature is also supported
1988 when remote debugging using GDBserver.
1989
1990 * Static tracepoints
1991
1992 Static tracepoints are calls in the user program into a tracing
1993 library. One such library is a port of the LTTng kernel tracer to
1994 userspace --- UST (LTTng Userspace Tracer, http://lttng.org/ust).
1995 When debugging with GDBserver, GDB now supports combining the GDB
1996 tracepoint machinery with such libraries. For example: the user can
1997 use GDB to probe a static tracepoint marker (a call from the user
1998 program into the tracing library) with the new "strace" command (see
1999 "New commands" below). This creates a "static tracepoint" in the
2000 breakpoint list, that can be manipulated with the same feature set
2001 as fast and regular tracepoints. E.g., collect registers, local and
2002 global variables, collect trace state variables, and define
2003 tracepoint conditions. In addition, the user can collect extra
2004 static tracepoint marker specific data, by collecting the new
2005 $_sdata internal variable. When analyzing the trace buffer, you can
2006 inspect $_sdata like any other variable available to GDB. For more
2007 information, see the "Tracepoints" chapter in GDB user manual. New
2008 remote packets have been defined to support static tracepoints, see
2009 the "New remote packets" section below.
2010
2011 * Better reconstruction of tracepoints after disconnected tracing
2012
2013 GDB will attempt to download the original source form of tracepoint
2014 definitions when starting a trace run, and then will upload these
2015 upon reconnection to the target, resulting in a more accurate
2016 reconstruction of the tracepoints that are in use on the target.
2017
2018 * Observer mode
2019
2020 You can now exercise direct control over the ways that GDB can
2021 affect your program. For instance, you can disallow the setting of
2022 breakpoints, so that the program can run continuously (assuming
2023 non-stop mode). In addition, the "observer" variable is available
2024 to switch all of the different controls; in observer mode, GDB
2025 cannot affect the target's behavior at all, which is useful for
2026 tasks like diagnosing live systems in the field.
2027
2028 * The new convenience variable $_thread holds the number of the
2029 current thread.
2030
2031 * New remote packets
2032
2033 qGetTIBAddr
2034
2035 Return the address of the Windows Thread Information Block of a given thread.
2036
2037 qRelocInsn
2038
2039 In response to several of the tracepoint packets, the target may now
2040 also respond with a number of intermediate `qRelocInsn' request
2041 packets before the final result packet, to have GDB handle
2042 relocating an instruction to execute at a different address. This
2043 is particularly useful for stubs that support fast tracepoints. GDB
2044 reports support for this feature in the qSupported packet.
2045
2046 qTfSTM, qTsSTM
2047
2048 List static tracepoint markers in the target program.
2049
2050 qTSTMat
2051
2052 List static tracepoint markers at a given address in the target
2053 program.
2054
2055 qXfer:statictrace:read
2056
2057 Read the static trace data collected (by a `collect $_sdata'
2058 tracepoint action). The remote stub reports support for this packet
2059 to gdb's qSupported query.
2060
2061 QAllow
2062
2063 Send the current settings of GDB's permission flags.
2064
2065 QTDPsrc
2066
2067 Send part of the source (textual) form of a tracepoint definition,
2068 which includes location, conditional, and action list.
2069
2070 * The source command now accepts a -s option to force searching for the
2071 script in the source search path even if the script name specifies
2072 a directory.
2073
2074 * New features in the GDB remote stub, GDBserver
2075
2076 - GDBserver now support tracepoints (including fast tracepoints, and
2077 static tracepoints). The feature is currently supported by the
2078 i386-linux and amd64-linux builds. See the "Tracepoints support
2079 in gdbserver" section in the manual for more information.
2080
2081 GDBserver JIT compiles the tracepoint's conditional agent
2082 expression bytecode into native code whenever possible for low
2083 overhead dynamic tracepoints conditionals. For such tracepoints,
2084 an expression that examines program state is evaluated when the
2085 tracepoint is reached, in order to determine whether to capture
2086 trace data. If the condition is simple and false, processing the
2087 tracepoint finishes very quickly and no data is gathered.
2088
2089 GDBserver interfaces with the UST (LTTng Userspace Tracer) library
2090 for static tracepoints support.
2091
2092 - GDBserver now supports x86_64 Windows 64-bit debugging.
2093
2094 * GDB now sends xmlRegisters= in qSupported packet to indicate that
2095 it understands register description.
2096
2097 * The --batch flag now disables pagination and queries.
2098
2099 * X86 general purpose registers
2100
2101 GDB now supports reading/writing byte, word and double-word x86
2102 general purpose registers directly. This means you can use, say,
2103 $ah or $ax to refer, respectively, to the byte register AH and
2104 16-bit word register AX that are actually portions of the 32-bit
2105 register EAX or 64-bit register RAX.
2106
2107 * The `commands' command now accepts a range of breakpoints to modify.
2108 A plain `commands' following a command that creates multiple
2109 breakpoints affects all the breakpoints set by that command. This
2110 applies to breakpoints set by `rbreak', and also applies when a
2111 single `break' command creates multiple breakpoints (e.g.,
2112 breakpoints on overloaded c++ functions).
2113
2114 * The `rbreak' command now accepts a filename specification as part of
2115 its argument, limiting the functions selected by the regex to those
2116 in the specified file.
2117
2118 * Support for remote debugging Windows and SymbianOS shared libraries
2119 from Unix hosts has been improved. Non Windows GDB builds now can
2120 understand target reported file names that follow MS-DOS based file
2121 system semantics, such as file names that include drive letters and
2122 use the backslash character as directory separator. This makes it
2123 possible to transparently use the "set sysroot" and "set
2124 solib-search-path" on Unix hosts to point as host copies of the
2125 target's shared libraries. See the new command "set
2126 target-file-system-kind" described below, and the "Commands to
2127 specify files" section in the user manual for more information.
2128
2129 * New commands
2130
2131 eval template, expressions...
2132 Convert the values of one or more expressions under the control
2133 of the string template to a command line, and call it.
2134
2135 set target-file-system-kind unix|dos-based|auto
2136 show target-file-system-kind
2137 Set or show the assumed file system kind for target reported file
2138 names.
2139
2140 save breakpoints <filename>
2141 Save all current breakpoint definitions to a file suitable for use
2142 in a later debugging session. To read the saved breakpoint
2143 definitions, use the `source' command.
2144
2145 `save tracepoints' is a new alias for `save-tracepoints'. The latter
2146 is now deprecated.
2147
2148 info static-tracepoint-markers
2149 Display information about static tracepoint markers in the target.
2150
2151 strace FN | FILE:LINE | *ADDR | -m MARKER_ID
2152 Define a static tracepoint by probing a marker at the given
2153 function, line, address, or marker ID.
2154
2155 set observer on|off
2156 show observer
2157 Enable and disable observer mode.
2158
2159 set may-write-registers on|off
2160 set may-write-memory on|off
2161 set may-insert-breakpoints on|off
2162 set may-insert-tracepoints on|off
2163 set may-insert-fast-tracepoints on|off
2164 set may-interrupt on|off
2165 Set individual permissions for GDB effects on the target. Note that
2166 some of these settings can have undesirable or surprising
2167 consequences, particularly when changed in the middle of a session.
2168 For instance, disabling the writing of memory can prevent
2169 breakpoints from being inserted, cause single-stepping to fail, or
2170 even crash your program, if you disable after breakpoints have been
2171 inserted. However, GDB should not crash.
2172
2173 set record memory-query on|off
2174 show record memory-query
2175 Control whether to stop the inferior if memory changes caused
2176 by an instruction cannot be recorded.
2177
2178 * Changed commands
2179
2180 disassemble
2181 The disassemble command now supports "start,+length" form of two arguments.
2182
2183 * Python scripting
2184
2185 ** GDB now provides a new directory location, called the python directory,
2186 where Python scripts written for GDB can be installed. The location
2187 of that directory is <data-directory>/python, where <data-directory>
2188 is the GDB data directory. For more details, see section `Scripting
2189 GDB using Python' in the manual.
2190
2191 ** The GDB Python API now has access to breakpoints, symbols, symbol
2192 tables, program spaces, inferiors, threads and frame's code blocks.
2193 Additionally, GDB Parameters can now be created from the API, and
2194 manipulated via set/show in the CLI.
2195
2196 ** New functions gdb.target_charset, gdb.target_wide_charset,
2197 gdb.progspaces, gdb.current_progspace, and gdb.string_to_argv.
2198
2199 ** New exception gdb.GdbError.
2200
2201 ** Pretty-printers are now also looked up in the current program space.
2202
2203 ** Pretty-printers can now be individually enabled and disabled.
2204
2205 ** GDB now looks for names of Python scripts to auto-load in a
2206 special section named `.debug_gdb_scripts', in addition to looking
2207 for a OBJFILE-gdb.py script when OBJFILE is read by the debugger.
2208
2209 * Tracepoint actions were unified with breakpoint commands. In particular,
2210 there are no longer differences in "info break" output for breakpoints and
2211 tracepoints and the "commands" command can be used for both tracepoints and
2212 regular breakpoints.
2213
2214 * New targets
2215
2216 ARM Symbian arm*-*-symbianelf*
2217
2218 * D language support.
2219 GDB now supports debugging programs written in the D programming
2220 language.
2221
2222 * GDB now supports the extended ptrace interface for PowerPC which is
2223 available since Linux kernel version 2.6.34. This automatically enables
2224 any hardware breakpoints and additional hardware watchpoints available in
2225 the processor. The old ptrace interface exposes just one hardware
2226 watchpoint and no hardware breakpoints.
2227
2228 * GDB is now able to use the Data Value Compare (DVC) register available on
2229 embedded PowerPC processors to implement in hardware simple watchpoint
2230 conditions of the form:
2231
2232 watch ADDRESS|VARIABLE if ADDRESS|VARIABLE == CONSTANT EXPRESSION
2233
2234 This works in native GDB running on Linux kernels with the extended ptrace
2235 interface mentioned above.
2236
2237 *** Changes in GDB 7.1
2238
2239 * C++ Improvements
2240
2241 ** Namespace Support
2242
2243 GDB now supports importing of namespaces in C++. This enables the
2244 user to inspect variables from imported namespaces. Support for
2245 namepace aliasing has also been added. So, if a namespace is
2246 aliased in the current scope (e.g. namepace C=A; ) the user can
2247 print variables using the alias (e.g. (gdb) print C::x).
2248
2249 ** Bug Fixes
2250
2251 All known bugs relating to the printing of virtual base class were
2252 fixed. It is now possible to call overloaded static methods using a
2253 qualified name.
2254
2255 ** Cast Operators
2256
2257 The C++ cast operators static_cast<>, dynamic_cast<>, const_cast<>,
2258 and reinterpret_cast<> are now handled by the C++ expression parser.
2259
2260 * New targets
2261
2262 Xilinx MicroBlaze microblaze-*-*
2263 Renesas RX rx-*-elf
2264
2265 * New Simulators
2266
2267 Xilinx MicroBlaze microblaze
2268 Renesas RX rx
2269
2270 * Multi-program debugging.
2271
2272 GDB now has support for multi-program (a.k.a. multi-executable or
2273 multi-exec) debugging. This allows for debugging multiple inferiors
2274 simultaneously each running a different program under the same GDB
2275 session. See "Debugging Multiple Inferiors and Programs" in the
2276 manual for more information. This implied some user visible changes
2277 in the multi-inferior support. For example, "info inferiors" now
2278 lists inferiors that are not running yet or that have exited
2279 already. See also "New commands" and "New options" below.
2280
2281 * New tracing features
2282
2283 GDB's tracepoint facility now includes several new features:
2284
2285 ** Trace state variables
2286
2287 GDB tracepoints now include support for trace state variables, which
2288 are variables managed by the target agent during a tracing
2289 experiment. They are useful for tracepoints that trigger each
2290 other, so for instance one tracepoint can count hits in a variable,
2291 and then a second tracepoint has a condition that is true when the
2292 count reaches a particular value. Trace state variables share the
2293 $-syntax of GDB convenience variables, and can appear in both
2294 tracepoint actions and condition expressions. Use the "tvariable"
2295 command to create, and "info tvariables" to view; see "Trace State
2296 Variables" in the manual for more detail.
2297
2298 ** Fast tracepoints
2299
2300 GDB now includes an option for defining fast tracepoints, which
2301 targets may implement more efficiently, such as by installing a jump
2302 into the target agent rather than a trap instruction. The resulting
2303 speedup can be by two orders of magnitude or more, although the
2304 tradeoff is that some program locations on some target architectures
2305 might not allow fast tracepoint installation, for instance if the
2306 instruction to be replaced is shorter than the jump. To request a
2307 fast tracepoint, use the "ftrace" command, with syntax identical to
2308 the regular trace command.
2309
2310 ** Disconnected tracing
2311
2312 It is now possible to detach GDB from the target while it is running
2313 a trace experiment, then reconnect later to see how the experiment
2314 is going. In addition, a new variable disconnected-tracing lets you
2315 tell the target agent whether to continue running a trace if the
2316 connection is lost unexpectedly.
2317
2318 ** Trace files
2319
2320 GDB now has the ability to save the trace buffer into a file, and
2321 then use that file as a target, similarly to you can do with
2322 corefiles. You can select trace frames, print data that was
2323 collected in them, and use tstatus to display the state of the
2324 tracing run at the moment that it was saved. To create a trace
2325 file, use "tsave <filename>", and to use it, do "target tfile
2326 <name>".
2327
2328 ** Circular trace buffer
2329
2330 You can ask the target agent to handle the trace buffer as a
2331 circular buffer, discarding the oldest trace frames to make room for
2332 newer ones, by setting circular-trace-buffer to on. This feature may
2333 not be available for all target agents.
2334
2335 * Changed commands
2336
2337 disassemble
2338 The disassemble command, when invoked with two arguments, now requires
2339 the arguments to be comma-separated.
2340
2341 info variables
2342 The info variables command now displays variable definitions. Files
2343 which only declare a variable are not shown.
2344
2345 source
2346 The source command is now capable of sourcing Python scripts.
2347 This feature is dependent on the debugger being build with Python
2348 support.
2349
2350 Related to this enhancement is also the introduction of a new command
2351 "set script-extension" (see below).
2352
2353 * New commands (for set/show, see "New options" below)
2354
2355 record save [<FILENAME>]
2356 Save a file (in core file format) containing the process record
2357 execution log for replay debugging at a later time.
2358
2359 record restore <FILENAME>
2360 Restore the process record execution log that was saved at an
2361 earlier time, for replay debugging.
2362
2363 add-inferior [-copies <N>] [-exec <FILENAME>]
2364 Add a new inferior.
2365
2366 clone-inferior [-copies <N>] [ID]
2367 Make a new inferior ready to execute the same program another
2368 inferior has loaded.
2369
2370 remove-inferior ID
2371 Remove an inferior.
2372
2373 maint info program-spaces
2374 List the program spaces loaded into GDB.
2375
2376 set remote interrupt-sequence [Ctrl-C | BREAK | BREAK-g]
2377 show remote interrupt-sequence
2378 Allow the user to select one of ^C, a BREAK signal or BREAK-g
2379 as the sequence to the remote target in order to interrupt the execution.
2380 Ctrl-C is a default. Some system prefers BREAK which is high level of
2381 serial line for some certain time. Linux kernel prefers BREAK-g, a.k.a
2382 Magic SysRq g. It is BREAK signal and character 'g'.
2383
2384 set remote interrupt-on-connect [on | off]
2385 show remote interrupt-on-connect
2386 When interrupt-on-connect is ON, gdb sends interrupt-sequence to
2387 remote target when gdb connects to it. This is needed when you debug
2388 Linux kernel.
2389
2390 set remotebreak [on | off]
2391 show remotebreak
2392 Deprecated. Use "set/show remote interrupt-sequence" instead.
2393
2394 tvariable $NAME [ = EXP ]
2395 Create or modify a trace state variable.
2396
2397 info tvariables
2398 List trace state variables and their values.
2399
2400 delete tvariable $NAME ...
2401 Delete one or more trace state variables.
2402
2403 teval EXPR, ...
2404 Evaluate the given expressions without collecting anything into the
2405 trace buffer. (Valid in tracepoint actions only.)
2406
2407 ftrace FN / FILE:LINE / *ADDR
2408 Define a fast tracepoint at the given function, line, or address.
2409
2410 * New expression syntax
2411
2412 GDB now parses the 0b prefix of binary numbers the same way as GCC does.
2413 GDB now parses 0b101010 identically with 42.
2414
2415 * New options
2416
2417 set follow-exec-mode new|same
2418 show follow-exec-mode
2419 Control whether GDB reuses the same inferior across an exec call or
2420 creates a new one. This is useful to be able to restart the old
2421 executable after the inferior having done an exec call.
2422
2423 set default-collect EXPR, ...
2424 show default-collect
2425 Define a list of expressions to be collected at each tracepoint.
2426 This is a useful way to ensure essential items are not overlooked,
2427 such as registers or a critical global variable.
2428
2429 set disconnected-tracing
2430 show disconnected-tracing
2431 If set to 1, the target is instructed to continue tracing if it
2432 loses its connection to GDB. If 0, the target is to stop tracing
2433 upon disconnection.
2434
2435 set circular-trace-buffer
2436 show circular-trace-buffer
2437 If set to on, the target is instructed to use a circular trace buffer
2438 and discard the oldest trace frames instead of stopping the trace due
2439 to a full trace buffer. If set to off, the trace stops when the buffer
2440 fills up. Some targets may not support this.
2441
2442 set script-extension off|soft|strict
2443 show script-extension
2444 If set to "off", the debugger does not perform any script language
2445 recognition, and all sourced files are assumed to be GDB scripts.
2446 If set to "soft" (the default), files are sourced according to
2447 filename extension, falling back to GDB scripts if the first
2448 evaluation failed.
2449 If set to "strict", files are sourced according to filename extension.
2450
2451 set ada trust-PAD-over-XVS on|off
2452 show ada trust-PAD-over-XVS
2453 If off, activate a workaround against a bug in the debugging information
2454 generated by the compiler for PAD types (see gcc/exp_dbug.ads in
2455 the GCC sources for more information about the GNAT encoding and
2456 PAD types in particular). It is always safe to set this option to
2457 off, but this introduces a slight performance penalty. The default
2458 is on.
2459
2460 * Python API Improvements
2461
2462 ** GDB provides the new class gdb.LazyString. This is useful in
2463 some pretty-printing cases. The new method gdb.Value.lazy_string
2464 provides a simple way to create objects of this type.
2465
2466 ** The fields returned by gdb.Type.fields now have an
2467 `is_base_class' attribute.
2468
2469 ** The new method gdb.Type.range returns the range of an array type.
2470
2471 ** The new method gdb.parse_and_eval can be used to parse and
2472 evaluate an expression.
2473
2474 * New remote packets
2475
2476 QTDV
2477 Define a trace state variable.
2478
2479 qTV
2480 Get the current value of a trace state variable.
2481
2482 QTDisconnected
2483 Set desired tracing behavior upon disconnection.
2484
2485 QTBuffer:circular
2486 Set the trace buffer to be linear or circular.
2487
2488 qTfP, qTsP
2489 Get data about the tracepoints currently in use.
2490
2491 * Bug fixes
2492
2493 Process record now works correctly with hardware watchpoints.
2494
2495 Multiple bug fixes have been made to the mips-irix port, making it
2496 much more reliable. In particular:
2497 - Debugging threaded applications is now possible again. Previously,
2498 GDB would hang while starting the program, or while waiting for
2499 the program to stop at a breakpoint.
2500 - Attaching to a running process no longer hangs.
2501 - An error occurring while loading a core file has been fixed.
2502 - Changing the value of the PC register now works again. This fixes
2503 problems observed when using the "jump" command, or when calling
2504 a function from GDB, or even when assigning a new value to $pc.
2505 - With the "finish" and "return" commands, the return value for functions
2506 returning a small array is now correctly printed.
2507 - It is now possible to break on shared library code which gets executed
2508 during a shared library init phase (code executed while executing
2509 their .init section). Previously, the breakpoint would have no effect.
2510 - GDB is now able to backtrace through the signal handler for
2511 non-threaded programs.
2512
2513 PIE (Position Independent Executable) programs debugging is now supported.
2514 This includes debugging execution of PIC (Position Independent Code) shared
2515 libraries although for that, it should be possible to run such libraries as an
2516 executable program.
2517
2518 *** Changes in GDB 7.0
2519
2520 * GDB now has an interface for JIT compilation. Applications that
2521 dynamically generate code can create symbol files in memory and register
2522 them with GDB. For users, the feature should work transparently, and
2523 for JIT developers, the interface is documented in the GDB manual in the
2524 "JIT Compilation Interface" chapter.
2525
2526 * Tracepoints may now be conditional. The syntax is as for
2527 breakpoints; either an "if" clause appended to the "trace" command,
2528 or the "condition" command is available. GDB sends the condition to
2529 the target for evaluation using the same bytecode format as is used
2530 for tracepoint actions.
2531
2532 * The disassemble command now supports: an optional /r modifier, print the
2533 raw instructions in hex as well as in symbolic form, and an optional /m
2534 modifier to print mixed source+assembly.
2535
2536 * Process record and replay
2537
2538 In a architecture environment that supports ``process record and
2539 replay'', ``process record and replay'' target can record a log of
2540 the process execution, and replay it with both forward and reverse
2541 execute commands.
2542
2543 * Reverse debugging: GDB now has new commands reverse-continue, reverse-
2544 step, reverse-next, reverse-finish, reverse-stepi, reverse-nexti, and
2545 set execution-direction {forward|reverse}, for targets that support
2546 reverse execution.
2547
2548 * GDB now supports hardware watchpoints on MIPS/Linux systems. This
2549 feature is available with a native GDB running on kernel version
2550 2.6.28 or later.
2551
2552 * GDB now has support for multi-byte and wide character sets on the
2553 target. Strings whose character type is wchar_t, char16_t, or
2554 char32_t are now correctly printed. GDB supports wide- and unicode-
2555 literals in C, that is, L'x', L"string", u'x', u"string", U'x', and
2556 U"string" syntax. And, GDB allows the "%ls" and "%lc" formats in
2557 `printf'. This feature requires iconv to work properly; if your
2558 system does not have a working iconv, GDB can use GNU libiconv. See
2559 the installation instructions for more information.
2560
2561 * GDB now supports automatic retrieval of shared library files from
2562 remote targets. To use this feature, specify a system root that begins
2563 with the `remote:' prefix, either via the `set sysroot' command or via
2564 the `--with-sysroot' configure-time option.
2565
2566 * "info sharedlibrary" now takes an optional regex of libraries to show,
2567 and it now reports if a shared library has no debugging information.
2568
2569 * Commands `set debug-file-directory', `set solib-search-path' and `set args'
2570 now complete on file names.
2571
2572 * When completing in expressions, gdb will attempt to limit
2573 completions to allowable structure or union fields, where appropriate.
2574 For instance, consider:
2575
2576 # struct example { int f1; double f2; };
2577 # struct example variable;
2578 (gdb) p variable.
2579
2580 If the user types TAB at the end of this command line, the available
2581 completions will be "f1" and "f2".
2582
2583 * Inlined functions are now supported. They show up in backtraces, and
2584 the "step", "next", and "finish" commands handle them automatically.
2585
2586 * GDB now supports the token-splicing (##) and stringification (#)
2587 operators when expanding macros. It also supports variable-arity
2588 macros.
2589
2590 * GDB now supports inspecting extra signal information, exported by
2591 the new $_siginfo convenience variable. The feature is currently
2592 implemented on linux ARM, i386 and amd64.
2593
2594 * GDB can now display the VFP floating point registers and NEON vector
2595 registers on ARM targets. Both ARM GNU/Linux native GDB and gdbserver
2596 can provide these registers (requires Linux 2.6.30 or later). Remote
2597 and simulator targets may also provide them.
2598
2599 * New remote packets
2600
2601 qSearch:memory:
2602 Search memory for a sequence of bytes.
2603
2604 QStartNoAckMode
2605 Turn off `+'/`-' protocol acknowledgments to permit more efficient
2606 operation over reliable transport links. Use of this packet is
2607 controlled by the `set remote noack-packet' command.
2608
2609 vKill
2610 Kill the process with the specified process ID. Use this in preference
2611 to `k' when multiprocess protocol extensions are supported.
2612
2613 qXfer:osdata:read
2614 Obtains additional operating system information
2615
2616 qXfer:siginfo:read
2617 qXfer:siginfo:write
2618 Read or write additional signal information.
2619
2620 * Removed remote protocol undocumented extension
2621
2622 An undocumented extension to the remote protocol's `S' stop reply
2623 packet that permited the stub to pass a process id was removed.
2624 Remote servers should use the `T' stop reply packet instead.
2625
2626 * GDB now supports multiple function calling conventions according to the
2627 DWARF-2 DW_AT_calling_convention function attribute.
2628
2629 * The SH target utilizes the aforementioned change to distinguish between gcc
2630 and Renesas calling convention. It also adds the new CLI commands
2631 `set/show sh calling-convention'.
2632
2633 * GDB can now read compressed debug sections, as produced by GNU gold
2634 with the --compress-debug-sections=zlib flag.
2635
2636 * 64-bit core files are now supported on AIX.
2637
2638 * Thread switching is now supported on Tru64.
2639
2640 * Watchpoints can now be set on unreadable memory locations, e.g. addresses
2641 which will be allocated using malloc later in program execution.
2642
2643 * The qXfer:libraries:read remote procotol packet now allows passing a
2644 list of section offsets.
2645
2646 * On GNU/Linux, GDB can now attach to stopped processes. Several race
2647 conditions handling signals delivered during attach or thread creation
2648 have also been fixed.
2649
2650 * GDB now supports the use of DWARF boolean types for Ada's type Boolean.
2651 From the user's standpoint, all unqualified instances of True and False
2652 are treated as the standard definitions, regardless of context.
2653
2654 * GDB now parses C++ symbol and type names more flexibly. For
2655 example, given:
2656
2657 template<typename T> class C { };
2658 C<char const *> c;
2659
2660 GDB will now correctly handle all of:
2661
2662 ptype C<char const *>
2663 ptype C<char const*>
2664 ptype C<const char *>
2665 ptype C<const char*>
2666
2667 * New features in the GDB remote stub, gdbserver
2668
2669 - The "--wrapper" command-line argument tells gdbserver to use a
2670 wrapper program to launch programs for debugging.
2671
2672 - On PowerPC and S/390 targets, it is now possible to use a single
2673 gdbserver executable to debug both 32-bit and 64-bit programs.
2674 (This requires gdbserver itself to be built as a 64-bit executable.)
2675
2676 - gdbserver uses the new noack protocol mode for TCP connections to
2677 reduce communications latency, if also supported and enabled in GDB.
2678
2679 - Support for the sparc64-linux-gnu target is now included in
2680 gdbserver.
2681
2682 - The amd64-linux build of gdbserver now supports debugging both
2683 32-bit and 64-bit programs.
2684
2685 - The i386-linux, amd64-linux, and i386-win32 builds of gdbserver
2686 now support hardware watchpoints, and will use them automatically
2687 as appropriate.
2688
2689 * Python scripting
2690
2691 GDB now has support for scripting using Python. Whether this is
2692 available is determined at configure time.
2693
2694 New GDB commands can now be written in Python.
2695
2696 * Ada tasking support
2697
2698 Ada tasks can now be inspected in GDB. The following commands have
2699 been introduced:
2700
2701 info tasks
2702 Print the list of Ada tasks.
2703 info task N
2704 Print detailed information about task number N.
2705 task
2706 Print the task number of the current task.
2707 task N
2708 Switch the context of debugging to task number N.
2709
2710 * Support for user-defined prefixed commands. The "define" command can
2711 add new commands to existing prefixes, e.g. "target".
2712
2713 * Multi-inferior, multi-process debugging.
2714
2715 GDB now has generalized support for multi-inferior debugging. See
2716 "Debugging Multiple Inferiors" in the manual for more information.
2717 Although availability still depends on target support, the command
2718 set is more uniform now. The GNU/Linux specific multi-forks support
2719 has been migrated to this new framework. This implied some user
2720 visible changes; see "New commands" and also "Removed commands"
2721 below.
2722
2723 * Target descriptions can now describe the target OS ABI. See the
2724 "Target Description Format" section in the user manual for more
2725 information.
2726
2727 * Target descriptions can now describe "compatible" architectures
2728 to indicate that the target can execute applications for a different
2729 architecture in addition to those for the main target architecture.
2730 See the "Target Description Format" section in the user manual for
2731 more information.
2732
2733 * Multi-architecture debugging.
2734
2735 GDB now includes general supports for debugging applications on
2736 hybrid systems that use more than one single processor architecture
2737 at the same time. Each such hybrid architecture still requires
2738 specific support to be added. The only hybrid architecture supported
2739 in this version of GDB is the Cell Broadband Engine.
2740
2741 * GDB now supports integrated debugging of Cell/B.E. applications that
2742 use both the PPU and SPU architectures. To enable support for hybrid
2743 Cell/B.E. debugging, you need to configure GDB to support both the
2744 powerpc-linux or powerpc64-linux and the spu-elf targets, using the
2745 --enable-targets configure option.
2746
2747 * Non-stop mode debugging.
2748
2749 For some targets, GDB now supports an optional mode of operation in
2750 which you can examine stopped threads while other threads continue
2751 to execute freely. This is referred to as non-stop mode, with the
2752 old mode referred to as all-stop mode. See the "Non-Stop Mode"
2753 section in the user manual for more information.
2754
2755 To be able to support remote non-stop debugging, a remote stub needs
2756 to implement the non-stop mode remote protocol extensions, as
2757 described in the "Remote Non-Stop" section of the user manual. The
2758 GDB remote stub, gdbserver, has been adjusted to support these
2759 extensions on linux targets.
2760
2761 * New commands (for set/show, see "New options" below)
2762
2763 catch syscall [NAME(S) | NUMBER(S)]
2764 Catch system calls. Arguments, which should be names of system
2765 calls or their numbers, mean catch only those syscalls. Without
2766 arguments, every syscall will be caught. When the inferior issues
2767 any of the specified syscalls, GDB will stop and announce the system
2768 call, both when it is called and when its call returns. This
2769 feature is currently available with a native GDB running on the
2770 Linux Kernel, under the following architectures: x86, x86_64,
2771 PowerPC and PowerPC64.
2772
2773 find [/size-char] [/max-count] start-address, end-address|+search-space-size,
2774 val1 [, val2, ...]
2775 Search memory for a sequence of bytes.
2776
2777 maint set python print-stack
2778 maint show python print-stack
2779 Show a stack trace when an error is encountered in a Python script.
2780
2781 python [CODE]
2782 Invoke CODE by passing it to the Python interpreter.
2783
2784 macro define
2785 macro list
2786 macro undef
2787 These allow macros to be defined, undefined, and listed
2788 interactively.
2789
2790 info os processes
2791 Show operating system information about processes.
2792
2793 info inferiors
2794 List the inferiors currently under GDB's control.
2795
2796 inferior NUM
2797 Switch focus to inferior number NUM.
2798
2799 detach inferior NUM
2800 Detach from inferior number NUM.
2801
2802 kill inferior NUM
2803 Kill inferior number NUM.
2804
2805 * New options
2806
2807 set spu stop-on-load
2808 show spu stop-on-load
2809 Control whether to stop for new SPE threads during Cell/B.E. debugging.
2810
2811 set spu auto-flush-cache
2812 show spu auto-flush-cache
2813 Control whether to automatically flush the software-managed cache
2814 during Cell/B.E. debugging.
2815
2816 set sh calling-convention
2817 show sh calling-convention
2818 Control the calling convention used when calling SH target functions.
2819
2820 set debug timestamp
2821 show debug timestamp
2822 Control display of timestamps with GDB debugging output.
2823
2824 set disassemble-next-line
2825 show disassemble-next-line
2826 Control display of disassembled source lines or instructions when
2827 the debuggee stops.
2828
2829 set remote noack-packet
2830 show remote noack-packet
2831 Set/show the use of remote protocol QStartNoAckMode packet. See above
2832 under "New remote packets."
2833
2834 set remote query-attached-packet
2835 show remote query-attached-packet
2836 Control use of remote protocol `qAttached' (query-attached) packet.
2837
2838 set remote read-siginfo-object
2839 show remote read-siginfo-object
2840 Control use of remote protocol `qXfer:siginfo:read' (read-siginfo-object)
2841 packet.
2842
2843 set remote write-siginfo-object
2844 show remote write-siginfo-object
2845 Control use of remote protocol `qXfer:siginfo:write' (write-siginfo-object)
2846 packet.
2847
2848 set remote reverse-continue
2849 show remote reverse-continue
2850 Control use of remote protocol 'bc' (reverse-continue) packet.
2851
2852 set remote reverse-step
2853 show remote reverse-step
2854 Control use of remote protocol 'bs' (reverse-step) packet.
2855
2856 set displaced-stepping
2857 show displaced-stepping
2858 Control displaced stepping mode. Displaced stepping is a way to
2859 single-step over breakpoints without removing them from the debuggee.
2860 Also known as "out-of-line single-stepping".
2861
2862 set debug displaced
2863 show debug displaced
2864 Control display of debugging info for displaced stepping.
2865
2866 maint set internal-error
2867 maint show internal-error
2868 Control what GDB does when an internal error is detected.
2869
2870 maint set internal-warning
2871 maint show internal-warning
2872 Control what GDB does when an internal warning is detected.
2873
2874 set exec-wrapper
2875 show exec-wrapper
2876 unset exec-wrapper
2877 Use a wrapper program to launch programs for debugging.
2878
2879 set multiple-symbols (all|ask|cancel)
2880 show multiple-symbols
2881 The value of this variable can be changed to adjust the debugger behavior
2882 when an expression or a breakpoint location contains an ambiguous symbol
2883 name (an overloaded function name, for instance).
2884
2885 set breakpoint always-inserted
2886 show breakpoint always-inserted
2887 Keep breakpoints always inserted in the target, as opposed to inserting
2888 them when resuming the target, and removing them when the target stops.
2889 This option can improve debugger performance on slow remote targets.
2890
2891 set arm fallback-mode (arm|thumb|auto)
2892 show arm fallback-mode
2893 set arm force-mode (arm|thumb|auto)
2894 show arm force-mode
2895 These commands control how ARM GDB determines whether instructions
2896 are ARM or Thumb. The default for both settings is auto, which uses
2897 the current CPSR value for instructions without symbols; previous
2898 versions of GDB behaved as if "set arm fallback-mode arm".
2899
2900 set disable-randomization
2901 show disable-randomization
2902 Standalone programs run with the virtual address space randomization enabled
2903 by default on some platforms. This option keeps the addresses stable across
2904 multiple debugging sessions.
2905
2906 set non-stop
2907 show non-stop
2908 Control whether other threads are stopped or not when some thread hits
2909 a breakpoint.
2910
2911 set target-async
2912 show target-async
2913 Requests that asynchronous execution is enabled in the target, if available.
2914 In this case, it's possible to resume target in the background, and interact
2915 with GDB while the target is running. "show target-async" displays the
2916 current state of asynchronous execution of the target.
2917
2918 set target-wide-charset
2919 show target-wide-charset
2920 The target-wide-charset is the name of the character set that GDB
2921 uses when printing characters whose type is wchar_t.
2922
2923 set tcp auto-retry (on|off)
2924 show tcp auto-retry
2925 set tcp connect-timeout
2926 show tcp connect-timeout
2927 These commands allow GDB to retry failed TCP connections to a remote stub
2928 with a specified timeout period; this is useful if the stub is launched
2929 in parallel with GDB but may not be ready to accept connections immediately.
2930
2931 set libthread-db-search-path
2932 show libthread-db-search-path
2933 Control list of directories which GDB will search for appropriate
2934 libthread_db.
2935
2936 set schedule-multiple (on|off)
2937 show schedule-multiple
2938 Allow GDB to resume all threads of all processes or only threads of
2939 the current process.
2940
2941 set stack-cache
2942 show stack-cache
2943 Use more aggressive caching for accesses to the stack. This improves
2944 performance of remote debugging (particularly backtraces) without
2945 affecting correctness.
2946
2947 set interactive-mode (on|off|auto)
2948 show interactive-mode
2949 Control whether GDB runs in interactive mode (on) or not (off).
2950 When in interactive mode, GDB waits for the user to answer all
2951 queries. Otherwise, GDB does not wait and assumes the default
2952 answer. When set to auto (the default), GDB determines which
2953 mode to use based on the stdin settings.
2954
2955 * Removed commands
2956
2957 info forks
2958 For program forks, this is replaced by the new more generic `info
2959 inferiors' command. To list checkpoints, you can still use the
2960 `info checkpoints' command, which was an alias for the `info forks'
2961 command.
2962
2963 fork NUM
2964 Replaced by the new `inferior' command. To switch between
2965 checkpoints, you can still use the `restart' command, which was an
2966 alias for the `fork' command.
2967
2968 process PID
2969 This is removed, since some targets don't have a notion of
2970 processes. To switch between processes, you can still use the
2971 `inferior' command using GDB's own inferior number.
2972
2973 delete fork NUM
2974 For program forks, this is replaced by the new more generic `kill
2975 inferior' command. To delete a checkpoint, you can still use the
2976 `delete checkpoint' command, which was an alias for the `delete
2977 fork' command.
2978
2979 detach fork NUM
2980 For program forks, this is replaced by the new more generic `detach
2981 inferior' command. To detach a checkpoint, you can still use the
2982 `detach checkpoint' command, which was an alias for the `detach
2983 fork' command.
2984
2985 * New native configurations
2986
2987 x86/x86_64 Darwin i[34567]86-*-darwin*
2988
2989 x86_64 MinGW x86_64-*-mingw*
2990
2991 * New targets
2992
2993 Lattice Mico32 lm32-*
2994 x86 DICOS i[34567]86-*-dicos*
2995 x86_64 DICOS x86_64-*-dicos*
2996 S+core 3 score-*-*
2997
2998 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports x86 Windows CE
2999 (mingw32ce) debugging.
3000
3001 * Removed commands
3002
3003 catch load
3004 catch unload
3005 These commands were actually not implemented on any target.
3006
3007 *** Changes in GDB 6.8
3008
3009 * New native configurations
3010
3011 NetBSD/hppa hppa*-*netbsd*
3012 Xtensa GNU/Linux xtensa*-*-linux*
3013
3014 * New targets
3015
3016 NetBSD/hppa hppa*-*-netbsd*
3017 Xtensa GNU/Lunux xtensa*-*-linux*
3018
3019 * Change in command line behavior -- corefiles vs. process ids.
3020
3021 When the '-p NUMBER' or '--pid NUMBER' options are used, and
3022 attaching to process NUMBER fails, GDB no longer attempts to open a
3023 core file named NUMBER. Attaching to a program using the -c option
3024 is no longer supported. Instead, use the '-p' or '--pid' options.
3025
3026 * GDB can now be built as a native debugger for debugging Windows x86
3027 (mingw32) Portable Executable (PE) programs.
3028
3029 * Pending breakpoints no longer change their number when their address
3030 is resolved.
3031
3032 * GDB now supports breakpoints with multiple locations,
3033 including breakpoints on C++ constructors, inside C++ templates,
3034 and in inlined functions.
3035
3036 * GDB's ability to debug optimized code has been improved. GDB more
3037 accurately identifies function bodies and lexical blocks that occupy
3038 more than one contiguous range of addresses.
3039
3040 * Target descriptions can now describe registers for PowerPC.
3041
3042 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports the AltiVec and SPE
3043 registers on PowerPC targets.
3044
3045 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports thread debugging on GNU/Linux
3046 targets even when the libthread_db library is not available.
3047
3048 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports the new file transfer
3049 commands (remote put, remote get, and remote delete).
3050
3051 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports run and attach in
3052 extended-remote mode.
3053
3054 * hppa*64*-*-hpux11* target broken
3055 The debugger is unable to start a program and fails with the following
3056 error: "Error trying to get information about dynamic linker".
3057 The gdb-6.7 release is also affected.
3058
3059 * GDB now supports the --enable-targets= configure option to allow
3060 building a single GDB executable that supports multiple remote
3061 target architectures.
3062
3063 * GDB now supports debugging C and C++ programs which use the
3064 Decimal Floating Point extension. In addition, the PowerPC target
3065 now has a set of pseudo-registers to inspect decimal float values
3066 stored in two consecutive float registers.
3067
3068 * The -break-insert MI command can optionally create pending
3069 breakpoints now.
3070
3071 * Improved support for debugging Ada
3072 Many improvements to the Ada language support have been made. These
3073 include:
3074 - Better support for Ada2005 interface types
3075 - Improved handling of arrays and slices in general
3076 - Better support for Taft-amendment types
3077 - The '{type} ADDRESS' expression is now allowed on the left hand-side
3078 of an assignment
3079 - Improved command completion in Ada
3080 - Several bug fixes
3081
3082 * GDB on GNU/Linux and HP/UX can now debug through "exec" of a new
3083 process.
3084
3085 * New commands
3086
3087 set print frame-arguments (all|scalars|none)
3088 show print frame-arguments
3089 The value of this variable can be changed to control which argument
3090 values should be printed by the debugger when displaying a frame.
3091
3092 remote put
3093 remote get
3094 remote delete
3095 Transfer files to and from a remote target, and delete remote files.
3096
3097 * New MI commands
3098
3099 -target-file-put
3100 -target-file-get
3101 -target-file-delete
3102 Transfer files to and from a remote target, and delete remote files.
3103
3104 * New remote packets
3105
3106 vFile:open:
3107 vFile:close:
3108 vFile:pread:
3109 vFile:pwrite:
3110 vFile:unlink:
3111 Open, close, read, write, and delete files on the remote system.
3112
3113 vAttach
3114 Attach to an existing process on the remote system, in extended-remote
3115 mode.
3116
3117 vRun
3118 Run a new process on the remote system, in extended-remote mode.
3119
3120 *** Changes in GDB 6.7
3121
3122 * Resolved 101 resource leaks, null pointer dereferences, etc. in gdb,
3123 bfd, libiberty and opcodes, as revealed by static analysis donated by
3124 Coverity, Inc. (http://scan.coverity.com).
3125
3126 * When looking up multiply-defined global symbols, GDB will now prefer the
3127 symbol definition in the current shared library if it was built using the
3128 -Bsymbolic linker option.
3129
3130 * When the Text User Interface (TUI) is not configured, GDB will now
3131 recognize the -tui command-line option and print a message that the TUI
3132 is not supported.
3133
3134 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now has lower overhead for high
3135 frequency signals (e.g. SIGALRM) via the QPassSignals packet.
3136
3137 * GDB for MIPS targets now autodetects whether a remote target provides
3138 32-bit or 64-bit register values.
3139
3140 * Support for C++ member pointers has been improved.
3141
3142 * GDB now understands XML target descriptions, which specify the
3143 target's overall architecture. GDB can read a description from
3144 a local file or over the remote serial protocol.
3145
3146 * Vectors of single-byte data use a new integer type which is not
3147 automatically displayed as character or string data.
3148
3149 * The /s format now works with the print command. It displays
3150 arrays of single-byte integers and pointers to single-byte integers
3151 as strings.
3152
3153 * Target descriptions can now describe target-specific registers,
3154 for architectures which have implemented the support (currently
3155 only ARM, M68K, and MIPS).
3156
3157 * GDB and the GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now support the XScale
3158 iWMMXt coprocessor.
3159
3160 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, has been updated to support
3161 ARM Windows CE (mingw32ce) debugging, and GDB Windows CE support
3162 has been rewritten to use the standard GDB remote protocol.
3163
3164 * GDB can now step into C++ functions which are called through thunks.
3165
3166 * GDB for the Cell/B.E. SPU now supports overlay debugging.
3167
3168 * The GDB remote protocol "qOffsets" packet can now honor ELF segment
3169 layout. It also supports a TextSeg= and DataSeg= response when only
3170 segment base addresses (rather than offsets) are available.
3171
3172 * The /i format now outputs any trailing branch delay slot instructions
3173 immediately following the last instruction within the count specified.
3174
3175 * The GDB remote protocol "T" stop reply packet now supports a
3176 "library" response. Combined with the new "qXfer:libraries:read"
3177 packet, this response allows GDB to debug shared libraries on targets
3178 where the operating system manages the list of loaded libraries (e.g.
3179 Windows and SymbianOS).
3180
3181 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports dynamic link libraries
3182 (DLLs) on Windows and Windows CE targets.
3183
3184 * GDB now supports a faster verification that a .debug file matches its binary
3185 according to its build-id signature, if the signature is present.
3186
3187 * New commands
3188
3189 set remoteflow
3190 show remoteflow
3191 Enable or disable hardware flow control (RTS/CTS) on the serial port
3192 when debugging using remote targets.
3193
3194 set mem inaccessible-by-default
3195 show mem inaccessible-by-default
3196 If the target supplies a memory map, for instance via the remote
3197 protocol's "qXfer:memory-map:read" packet, setting this variable
3198 prevents GDB from accessing memory outside the memory map. This
3199 is useful for targets with memory mapped registers or which react
3200 badly to accesses of unmapped address space.
3201
3202 set breakpoint auto-hw
3203 show breakpoint auto-hw
3204 If the target supplies a memory map, for instance via the remote
3205 protocol's "qXfer:memory-map:read" packet, setting this variable
3206 lets GDB use hardware breakpoints automatically for memory regions
3207 where it can not use software breakpoints. This covers both the
3208 "break" command and internal breakpoints used for other commands
3209 including "next" and "finish".
3210
3211 catch exception
3212 catch exception unhandled
3213 Stop the program execution when Ada exceptions are raised.
3214
3215 catch assert
3216 Stop the program execution when an Ada assertion failed.
3217
3218 set sysroot
3219 show sysroot
3220 Set an alternate system root for target files. This is a more
3221 general version of "set solib-absolute-prefix", which is now
3222 an alias to "set sysroot".
3223
3224 info spu
3225 Provide extended SPU facility status information. This set of
3226 commands is available only when debugging the Cell/B.E. SPU
3227 architecture.
3228
3229 * New native configurations
3230
3231 OpenBSD/sh sh*-*openbsd*
3232
3233 set tdesc filename
3234 unset tdesc filename
3235 show tdesc filename
3236 Use the specified local file as an XML target description, and do
3237 not query the target for its built-in description.
3238
3239 * New targets
3240
3241 OpenBSD/sh sh*-*-openbsd*
3242 MIPS64 GNU/Linux (gdbserver) mips64-linux-gnu
3243 Toshiba Media Processor mep-elf
3244
3245 * New remote packets
3246
3247 QPassSignals:
3248 Ignore the specified signals; pass them directly to the debugged program
3249 without stopping other threads or reporting them to GDB.
3250
3251 qXfer:features:read:
3252 Read an XML target description from the target, which describes its
3253 features.
3254
3255 qXfer:spu:read:
3256 qXfer:spu:write:
3257 Read or write contents of an spufs file on the target system. These
3258 packets are available only on the Cell/B.E. SPU architecture.
3259
3260 qXfer:libraries:read:
3261 Report the loaded shared libraries. Combined with new "T" packet
3262 response, this packet allows GDB to debug shared libraries on
3263 targets where the operating system manages the list of loaded
3264 libraries (e.g. Windows and SymbianOS).
3265
3266 * Removed targets
3267
3268 Support for these obsolete configurations has been removed.
3269
3270 alpha*-*-osf1*
3271 alpha*-*-osf2*
3272 d10v-*-*
3273 hppa*-*-hiux*
3274 i[34567]86-ncr-*
3275 i[34567]86-*-dgux*
3276 i[34567]86-*-lynxos*
3277 i[34567]86-*-netware*
3278 i[34567]86-*-sco3.2v5*
3279 i[34567]86-*-sco3.2v4*
3280 i[34567]86-*-sco*
3281 i[34567]86-*-sysv4.2*
3282 i[34567]86-*-sysv4*
3283 i[34567]86-*-sysv5*
3284 i[34567]86-*-unixware2*
3285 i[34567]86-*-unixware*
3286 i[34567]86-*-sysv*
3287 i[34567]86-*-isc*
3288 m68*-cisco*-*
3289 m68*-tandem-*
3290 mips*-*-pe
3291 rs6000-*-lynxos*
3292 sh*-*-pe
3293
3294 * Other removed features
3295
3296 target abug
3297 target cpu32bug
3298 target est
3299 target rom68k
3300
3301 Various m68k-only ROM monitors.
3302
3303 target hms
3304 target e7000
3305 target sh3
3306 target sh3e
3307
3308 Various Renesas ROM monitors and debugging interfaces for SH and
3309 H8/300.
3310
3311 target ocd
3312
3313 Support for a Macraigor serial interface to on-chip debugging.
3314 GDB does not directly support the newer parallel or USB
3315 interfaces.
3316
3317 DWARF 1 support
3318
3319 A debug information format. The predecessor to DWARF 2 and
3320 DWARF 3, which are still supported.
3321
3322 Support for the HP aCC compiler on HP-UX/PA-RISC
3323
3324 SOM-encapsulated symbolic debugging information, automatic
3325 invocation of pxdb, and the aCC custom C++ ABI. This does not
3326 affect HP-UX for Itanium or GCC for HP-UX/PA-RISC. Code compiled
3327 with aCC can still be debugged on an assembly level.
3328
3329 MIPS ".pdr" sections
3330
3331 A MIPS-specific format used to describe stack frame layout
3332 in debugging information.
3333
3334 Scheme support
3335
3336 GDB could work with an older version of Guile to debug
3337 the interpreter and Scheme programs running in it.
3338
3339 set mips stack-arg-size
3340 set mips saved-gpreg-size
3341
3342 Use "set mips abi" to control parameter passing for MIPS.
3343
3344 *** Changes in GDB 6.6
3345
3346 * New targets
3347
3348 Xtensa xtensa-elf
3349 Cell Broadband Engine SPU spu-elf
3350
3351 * GDB can now be configured as a cross-debugger targeting native Windows
3352 (mingw32) or Cygwin. It can communicate with a remote debugging stub
3353 running on a Windows system over TCP/IP to debug Windows programs.
3354
3355 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, has been updated to support Windows and
3356 Cygwin debugging. Both single-threaded and multi-threaded programs are
3357 supported.
3358
3359 * The "set trust-readonly-sections" command works again. This command was
3360 broken in GDB 6.3, 6.4, and 6.5.
3361
3362 * The "load" command now supports writing to flash memory, if the remote
3363 stub provides the required support.
3364
3365 * Support for GNU/Linux Thread Local Storage (TLS, per-thread variables) no
3366 longer requires symbolic debug information (e.g. DWARF-2).
3367
3368 * New commands
3369
3370 set substitute-path
3371 unset substitute-path
3372 show substitute-path
3373 Manage a list of substitution rules that GDB uses to rewrite the name
3374 of the directories where the sources are located. This can be useful
3375 for instance when the sources were moved to a different location
3376 between compilation and debugging.
3377
3378 set trace-commands
3379 show trace-commands
3380 Print each CLI command as it is executed. Each command is prefixed with
3381 a number of `+' symbols representing the nesting depth.
3382 The source command now has a `-v' option to enable the same feature.
3383
3384 * REMOVED features
3385
3386 The ARM Demon monitor support (RDP protocol, "target rdp").
3387
3388 Kernel Object Display, an embedded debugging feature which only worked with
3389 an obsolete version of Cisco IOS.
3390
3391 The 'set download-write-size' and 'show download-write-size' commands.
3392
3393 * New remote packets
3394
3395 qSupported:
3396 Tell a stub about GDB client features, and request remote target features.
3397 The first feature implemented is PacketSize, which allows the target to
3398 specify the size of packets it can handle - to minimize the number of
3399 packets required and improve performance when connected to a remote
3400 target.
3401
3402 qXfer:auxv:read:
3403 Fetch an OS auxilliary vector from the remote stub. This packet is a
3404 more efficient replacement for qPart:auxv:read.
3405
3406 qXfer:memory-map:read:
3407 Fetch a memory map from the remote stub, including information about
3408 RAM, ROM, and flash memory devices.
3409
3410 vFlashErase:
3411 vFlashWrite:
3412 vFlashDone:
3413 Erase and program a flash memory device.
3414
3415 * Removed remote packets
3416
3417 qPart:auxv:read:
3418 This packet has been replaced by qXfer:auxv:read. Only GDB 6.4 and 6.5
3419 used it, and only gdbserver implemented it.
3420
3421 *** Changes in GDB 6.5
3422
3423 * New targets
3424
3425 Renesas M32C/M16C m32c-elf
3426
3427 Morpho Technologies ms1 ms1-elf
3428
3429 * New commands
3430
3431 init-if-undefined Initialize a convenience variable, but
3432 only if it doesn't already have a value.
3433
3434 The following commands are presently only implemented for native GNU/Linux:
3435
3436 checkpoint Save a snapshot of the program state.
3437
3438 restart <n> Return the program state to a
3439 previously saved state.
3440
3441 info checkpoints List currently saved checkpoints.
3442
3443 delete-checkpoint <n> Delete a previously saved checkpoint.
3444
3445 set|show detach-on-fork Tell gdb whether to detach from a newly
3446 forked process, or to keep debugging it.
3447
3448 info forks List forks of the user program that
3449 are available to be debugged.
3450
3451 fork <n> Switch to debugging one of several
3452 forks of the user program that are
3453 available to be debugged.
3454
3455 delete-fork <n> Delete a fork from the list of forks
3456 that are available to be debugged (and
3457 kill the forked process).
3458
3459 detach-fork <n> Delete a fork from the list of forks
3460 that are available to be debugged (and
3461 allow the process to continue).
3462
3463 * New architecture
3464
3465 Morpho Technologies ms2 ms1-elf
3466
3467 * Improved Windows host support
3468
3469 GDB now builds as a cross debugger hosted on i686-mingw32, including
3470 native console support, and remote communications using either
3471 network sockets or serial ports.
3472
3473 * Improved Modula-2 language support
3474
3475 GDB can now print most types in the Modula-2 syntax. This includes:
3476 basic types, set types, record types, enumerated types, range types,
3477 pointer types and ARRAY types. Procedure var parameters are correctly
3478 printed and hexadecimal addresses and character constants are also
3479 written in the Modula-2 syntax. Best results can be obtained by using
3480 GNU Modula-2 together with the -gdwarf-2 command line option.
3481
3482 * REMOVED features
3483
3484 The ARM rdi-share module.
3485
3486 The Netware NLM debug server.
3487
3488 *** Changes in GDB 6.4
3489
3490 * New native configurations
3491
3492 OpenBSD/arm arm*-*-openbsd*
3493 OpenBSD/mips64 mips64-*-openbsd*
3494
3495 * New targets
3496
3497 Morpho Technologies ms1 ms1-elf
3498
3499 * New command line options
3500
3501 --batch-silent As for --batch, but totally silent.
3502 --return-child-result The debugger will exist with the same value
3503 the child (debugged) program exited with.
3504 --eval-command COMMAND, -ex COMMAND
3505 Execute a single GDB CLI command. This may be
3506 specified multiple times and in conjunction
3507 with the --command (-x) option.
3508
3509 * Deprecated commands removed
3510
3511 The following commands, that were deprecated in 2000, have been
3512 removed:
3513
3514 Command Replacement
3515 set|show arm disassembly-flavor set|show arm disassembler
3516 othernames set arm disassembler
3517 set|show remotedebug set|show debug remote
3518 set|show archdebug set|show debug arch
3519 set|show eventdebug set|show debug event
3520 regs info registers
3521
3522 * New BSD user-level threads support
3523
3524 It is now possible to debug programs using the user-level threads
3525 library on OpenBSD and FreeBSD. Currently supported (target)
3526 configurations are:
3527
3528 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
3529 FreeBSD/i386 i386-*-freebsd*
3530 OpenBSD/i386 i386-*-openbsd*
3531
3532 Note that the new kernel threads libraries introduced in FreeBSD 5.x
3533 are not yet supported.
3534
3535 * New support for Matsushita MN10300 w/sim added
3536 (Work in progress). mn10300-elf.
3537
3538 * REMOVED configurations and files
3539
3540 VxWorks and the XDR protocol *-*-vxworks
3541 Motorola MCORE mcore-*-*
3542 National Semiconductor NS32000 ns32k-*-*
3543
3544 * New "set print array-indexes" command
3545
3546 After turning this setting "on", GDB prints the index of each element
3547 when displaying arrays. The default is "off" to preserve the previous
3548 behavior.
3549
3550 * VAX floating point support
3551
3552 GDB now supports the not-quite-ieee VAX F and D floating point formats.
3553
3554 * User-defined command support
3555
3556 In addition to using $arg0..$arg9 for argument passing, it is now possible
3557 to use $argc to determine now many arguments have been passed. See the
3558 section on user-defined commands in the user manual for more information.
3559
3560 *** Changes in GDB 6.3:
3561
3562 * New command line option
3563
3564 GDB now accepts -l followed by a number to set the timeout for remote
3565 debugging.
3566
3567 * GDB works with GCC -feliminate-dwarf2-dups
3568
3569 GDB now supports a more compact representation of DWARF-2 debug
3570 information using DW_FORM_ref_addr references. These are produced
3571 by GCC with the option -feliminate-dwarf2-dups and also by some
3572 proprietary compilers. With GCC, you must use GCC 3.3.4 or later
3573 to use -feliminate-dwarf2-dups.
3574
3575 * Internationalization
3576
3577 When supported by the host system, GDB will be built with
3578 internationalization (libintl). The task of marking up the sources is
3579 continued, we're looking forward to our first translation.
3580
3581 * Ada
3582
3583 Initial support for debugging programs compiled with the GNAT
3584 implementation of the Ada programming language has been integrated
3585 into GDB. In this release, support is limited to expression evaluation.
3586
3587 * New native configurations
3588
3589 GNU/Linux/m32r m32r-*-linux-gnu
3590
3591 * Remote 'p' packet
3592
3593 GDB's remote protocol now includes support for the 'p' packet. This
3594 packet is used to fetch individual registers from a remote inferior.
3595
3596 * END-OF-LIFE registers[] compatibility module
3597
3598 GDB's internal register infrastructure has been completely rewritten.
3599 The new infrastructure making possible the implementation of key new
3600 features including 32x64 (e.g., 64-bit amd64 GDB debugging a 32-bit
3601 i386 application).
3602
3603 GDB 6.3 will be the last release to include the the registers[]
3604 compatibility module that allowed out-of-date configurations to
3605 continue to work. This change directly impacts the following
3606 configurations:
3607
3608 hppa-*-hpux
3609 ia64-*-aix
3610 mips-*-irix*
3611 *-*-lynx
3612 mips-*-linux-gnu
3613 sds protocol
3614 xdr protocol
3615 powerpc bdm protocol
3616
3617 Unless there is activity to revive these configurations, they will be
3618 made OBSOLETE in GDB 6.4, and REMOVED from GDB 6.5.
3619
3620 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
3621
3622 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
3623 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
3624 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
3625 permanently REMOVED.
3626
3627 h8300-*-*
3628 mcore-*-*
3629 mn10300-*-*
3630 ns32k-*-*
3631 sh64-*-*
3632 v850-*-*
3633
3634 *** Changes in GDB 6.2.1:
3635
3636 * MIPS `break main; run' gave an heuristic-fence-post warning
3637
3638 When attempting to run even a simple program, a warning about
3639 heuristic-fence-post being hit would be reported. This problem has
3640 been fixed.
3641
3642 * MIPS IRIX 'long double' crashed GDB
3643
3644 When examining a long double variable, GDB would get a segmentation
3645 fault. The crash has been fixed (but GDB 6.2 cannot correctly examine
3646 IRIX long double values).
3647
3648 * VAX and "next"
3649
3650 A bug in the VAX stack code was causing problems with the "next"
3651 command. This problem has been fixed.
3652
3653 *** Changes in GDB 6.2:
3654
3655 * Fix for ``many threads''
3656
3657 On GNU/Linux systems that use the NPTL threads library, a program
3658 rapidly creating and deleting threads would confuse GDB leading to the
3659 error message:
3660
3661 ptrace: No such process.
3662 thread_db_get_info: cannot get thread info: generic error
3663
3664 This problem has been fixed.
3665
3666 * "-async" and "-noasync" options removed.
3667
3668 Support for the broken "-noasync" option has been removed (it caused
3669 GDB to dump core).
3670
3671 * New ``start'' command.
3672
3673 This command runs the program until the begining of the main procedure.
3674
3675 * New BSD Kernel Data Access Library (libkvm) interface
3676
3677 Using ``target kvm'' it is now possible to debug kernel core dumps and
3678 live kernel memory images on various FreeBSD, NetBSD and OpenBSD
3679 platforms. Currently supported (native-only) configurations are:
3680
3681 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
3682 FreeBSD/i386 i?86-*-freebsd*
3683 NetBSD/i386 i?86-*-netbsd*
3684 NetBSD/m68k m68*-*-netbsd*
3685 NetBSD/sparc sparc-*-netbsd*
3686 OpenBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-openbsd*
3687 OpenBSD/i386 i?86-*-openbsd*
3688 OpenBSD/m68k m68*-openbsd*
3689 OpenBSD/sparc sparc-*-openbsd*
3690
3691 * Signal trampoline code overhauled
3692
3693 Many generic problems with GDB's signal handling code have been fixed.
3694 These include: backtraces through non-contiguous stacks; recognition
3695 of sa_sigaction signal trampolines; backtrace from a NULL pointer
3696 call; backtrace through a signal trampoline; step into and out of
3697 signal handlers; and single-stepping in the signal trampoline.
3698
3699 Please note that kernel bugs are a limiting factor here. These
3700 features have been shown to work on an s390 GNU/Linux system that
3701 include a 2.6.8-rc1 kernel. Ref PR breakpoints/1702.
3702
3703 * Cygwin support for DWARF 2 added.
3704
3705 * New native configurations
3706
3707 GNU/Linux/hppa hppa*-*-linux*
3708 OpenBSD/hppa hppa*-*-openbsd*
3709 OpenBSD/m68k m68*-*-openbsd*
3710 OpenBSD/m88k m88*-*-openbsd*
3711 OpenBSD/powerpc powerpc-*-openbsd*
3712 NetBSD/vax vax-*-netbsd*
3713 OpenBSD/vax vax-*-openbsd*
3714
3715 * END-OF-LIFE frame compatibility module
3716
3717 GDB's internal frame infrastructure has been completely rewritten.
3718 The new infrastructure making it possible to support key new features
3719 including DWARF 2 Call Frame Information. To aid in the task of
3720 migrating old configurations to this new infrastructure, a
3721 compatibility module, that allowed old configurations to continue to
3722 work, was also included.
3723
3724 GDB 6.2 will be the last release to include this frame compatibility
3725 module. This change directly impacts the following configurations:
3726
3727 h8300-*-*
3728 mcore-*-*
3729 mn10300-*-*
3730 ns32k-*-*
3731 sh64-*-*
3732 v850-*-*
3733 xstormy16-*-*
3734
3735 Unless there is activity to revive these configurations, they will be
3736 made OBSOLETE in GDB 6.3, and REMOVED from GDB 6.4.
3737
3738 * REMOVED configurations and files
3739
3740 Sun 3, running SunOS 3 m68*-*-sunos3*
3741 Sun 3, running SunOS 4 m68*-*-sunos4*
3742 Sun 2, running SunOS 3 m68000-*-sunos3*
3743 Sun 2, running SunOS 4 m68000-*-sunos4*
3744 Motorola 680x0 running LynxOS m68*-*-lynxos*
3745 AT&T 3b1/Unix pc m68*-att-*
3746 Bull DPX2 (68k, System V release 3) m68*-bull-sysv*
3747 decstation mips-dec-* mips-little-*
3748 riscos mips-*-riscos* mips-*-sysv*
3749 sonymips mips-sony-*
3750 sysv mips*-*-sysv4* (IRIX 5/6 not included)
3751
3752 *** Changes in GDB 6.1.1:
3753
3754 * TUI (Text-mode User Interface) built-in (also included in GDB 6.1)
3755
3756 The TUI (Text-mode User Interface) is now built as part of a default
3757 GDB configuration. It is enabled by either selecting the TUI with the
3758 command line option "-i=tui" or by running the separate "gdbtui"
3759 program. For more information on the TUI, see the manual "Debugging
3760 with GDB".
3761
3762 * Pending breakpoint support (also included in GDB 6.1)
3763
3764 Support has been added to allow you to specify breakpoints in shared
3765 libraries that have not yet been loaded. If a breakpoint location
3766 cannot be found, and the "breakpoint pending" option is set to auto,
3767 GDB queries you if you wish to make the breakpoint pending on a future
3768 shared-library load. If and when GDB resolves the breakpoint symbol,
3769 the pending breakpoint is removed as one or more regular breakpoints
3770 are created.
3771
3772 Pending breakpoints are very useful for GCJ Java debugging.
3773
3774 * Fixed ISO-C build problems
3775
3776 The files bfd/elf-bfd.h, gdb/dictionary.c and gdb/types.c contained
3777 non ISO-C code that stopped them being built using a more strict ISO-C
3778 compiler (e.g., IBM's C compiler).
3779
3780 * Fixed build problem on IRIX 5
3781
3782 Due to header problems with <sys/proc.h>, the file gdb/proc-api.c
3783 wasn't able to compile compile on an IRIX 5 system.
3784
3785 * Added execute permission to gdb/gdbserver/configure
3786
3787 The shell script gdb/testsuite/gdb.stabs/configure lacked execute
3788 permission. This bug would cause configure to fail on a number of
3789 systems (Solaris, IRIX). Ref: server/519.
3790
3791 * Fixed build problem on hpux2.0w-hp-hpux11.00 using the HP ANSI C compiler
3792
3793 Older HPUX ANSI C compilers did not accept variable array sizes. somsolib.c
3794 has been updated to use constant array sizes.
3795
3796 * Fixed a panic in the DWARF Call Frame Info code on Solaris 2.7
3797
3798 GCC 3.3.2, on Solaris 2.7, includes the DW_EH_PE_funcrel encoding in
3799 its generated DWARF Call Frame Info. This encoding was causing GDB to
3800 panic, that panic has been fixed. Ref: gdb/1628.
3801
3802 * Fixed a problem when examining parameters in shared library code.
3803
3804 When examining parameters in optimized shared library code generated
3805 by a mainline GCC, GDB would incorrectly report ``Variable "..." is
3806 not available''. GDB now correctly displays the variable's value.
3807
3808 *** Changes in GDB 6.1:
3809
3810 * Removed --with-mmalloc
3811
3812 Support for the mmalloc memory manager has been removed, as it
3813 conflicted with the internal gdb byte cache.
3814
3815 * Changes in AMD64 configurations
3816
3817 The AMD64 target now includes the %cs and %ss registers. As a result
3818 the AMD64 remote protocol has changed; this affects the floating-point
3819 and SSE registers. If you rely on those registers for your debugging,
3820 you should upgrade gdbserver on the remote side.
3821
3822 * Revised SPARC target
3823
3824 The SPARC target has been completely revised, incorporating the
3825 FreeBSD/sparc64 support that was added for GDB 6.0. As a result
3826 support for LynxOS and SunOS 4 has been dropped. Calling functions
3827 from within GDB on operating systems with a non-executable stack
3828 (Solaris, OpenBSD) now works.
3829
3830 * New C++ demangler
3831
3832 GDB has a new C++ demangler which does a better job on the mangled
3833 names generated by current versions of g++. It also runs faster, so
3834 with this and other changes gdb should now start faster on large C++
3835 programs.
3836
3837 * DWARF 2 Location Expressions
3838
3839 GDB support for location expressions has been extended to support function
3840 arguments and frame bases. Older versions of GDB could crash when they
3841 encountered these.
3842
3843 * C++ nested types and namespaces
3844
3845 GDB's support for nested types and namespaces in C++ has been
3846 improved, especially if you use the DWARF 2 debugging format. (This
3847 is the default for recent versions of GCC on most platforms.)
3848 Specifically, if you have a class "Inner" defined within a class or
3849 namespace "Outer", then GDB realizes that the class's name is
3850 "Outer::Inner", not simply "Inner". This should greatly reduce the
3851 frequency of complaints about not finding RTTI symbols. In addition,
3852 if you are stopped at inside of a function defined within a namespace,
3853 GDB modifies its name lookup accordingly.
3854
3855 * New native configurations
3856
3857 NetBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-netbsd*
3858 OpenBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-openbsd*
3859 OpenBSD/alpha alpha*-*-openbsd*
3860 OpenBSD/sparc sparc-*-openbsd*
3861 OpenBSD/sparc64 sparc64-*-openbsd*
3862
3863 * New debugging protocols
3864
3865 M32R with SDI protocol m32r-*-elf*
3866
3867 * "set prompt-escape-char" command deleted.
3868
3869 The command "set prompt-escape-char" has been deleted. This command,
3870 and its very obscure effet on GDB's prompt, was never documented,
3871 tested, nor mentioned in the NEWS file.
3872
3873 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
3874
3875 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
3876 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
3877 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
3878 permanently REMOVED.
3879
3880 Sun 3, running SunOS 3 m68*-*-sunos3*
3881 Sun 3, running SunOS 4 m68*-*-sunos4*
3882 Sun 2, running SunOS 3 m68000-*-sunos3*
3883 Sun 2, running SunOS 4 m68000-*-sunos4*
3884 Motorola 680x0 running LynxOS m68*-*-lynxos*
3885 AT&T 3b1/Unix pc m68*-att-*
3886 Bull DPX2 (68k, System V release 3) m68*-bull-sysv*
3887 decstation mips-dec-* mips-little-*
3888 riscos mips-*-riscos* mips-*-sysv*
3889 sonymips mips-sony-*
3890 sysv mips*-*-sysv4* (IRIX 5/6 not included)
3891
3892 * REMOVED configurations and files
3893
3894 SGI Irix-4.x mips-sgi-irix4 or iris4
3895 SGI Iris (MIPS) running Irix V3: mips-sgi-irix or iris
3896 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
3897 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
3898 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
3899 HP/PA running BSD hppa*-*-bsd*
3900 HP/PA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
3901 HP/PA Pro target hppa*-*-pro*
3902 PMAX (MIPS) running Mach 3.0 mips*-*-mach3*
3903 386BSD i[3456]86-*-bsd*
3904 Sequent family i[3456]86-sequent-sysv4*
3905 i[3456]86-sequent-sysv*
3906 i[3456]86-sequent-bsd*
3907 SPARC running LynxOS sparc-*-lynxos*
3908 SPARC running SunOS 4 sparc-*-sunos4*
3909 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
3910 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
3911
3912 *** Changes in GDB 6.0:
3913
3914 * Objective-C
3915
3916 Support for debugging the Objective-C programming language has been
3917 integrated into GDB.
3918
3919 * New backtrace mechanism (includes DWARF 2 Call Frame Information).
3920
3921 DWARF 2's Call Frame Information makes available compiler generated
3922 information that more exactly describes the program's run-time stack.
3923 By using this information, GDB is able to provide more robust stack
3924 backtraces.
3925
3926 The i386, amd64 (nee, x86-64), Alpha, m68hc11, ia64, and m32r targets
3927 have been updated to use a new backtrace mechanism which includes
3928 DWARF 2 CFI support.
3929
3930 * Hosted file I/O.
3931
3932 GDB's remote protocol has been extended to include support for hosted
3933 file I/O (where the remote target uses GDB's file system). See GDB's
3934 remote protocol documentation for details.
3935
3936 * All targets using the new architecture framework.
3937
3938 All of GDB's targets have been updated to use the new internal
3939 architecture framework. The way is now open for future GDB releases
3940 to include cross-architecture native debugging support (i386 on amd64,
3941 ppc32 on ppc64).
3942
3943 * GNU/Linux's Thread Local Storage (TLS)
3944
3945 GDB now includes support for for the GNU/Linux implementation of
3946 per-thread variables.
3947
3948 * GNU/Linux's Native POSIX Thread Library (NPTL)
3949
3950 GDB's thread code has been updated to work with either the new
3951 GNU/Linux NPTL thread library or the older "LinuxThreads" library.
3952
3953 * Separate debug info.
3954
3955 GDB, in conjunction with BINUTILS, now supports a mechanism for
3956 automatically loading debug information from a separate file. Instead
3957 of shipping full debug and non-debug versions of system libraries,
3958 system integrators can now instead ship just the stripped libraries
3959 and optional debug files.
3960
3961 * DWARF 2 Location Expressions
3962
3963 DWARF 2 Location Expressions allow the compiler to more completely
3964 describe the location of variables (even in optimized code) to the
3965 debugger.
3966
3967 GDB now includes preliminary support for location expressions (support
3968 for DW_OP_piece is still missing).
3969
3970 * Java
3971
3972 A number of long standing bugs that caused GDB to die while starting a
3973 Java application have been fixed. GDB's Java support is now
3974 considered "useable".
3975
3976 * GNU/Linux support for fork, vfork, and exec.
3977
3978 The "catch fork", "catch exec", "catch vfork", and "set follow-fork-mode"
3979 commands are now implemented for GNU/Linux. They require a 2.5.x or later
3980 kernel.
3981
3982 * GDB supports logging output to a file
3983
3984 There are two new commands, "set logging" and "show logging", which can be
3985 used to capture GDB's output to a file.
3986
3987 * The meaning of "detach" has changed for gdbserver
3988
3989 The "detach" command will now resume the application, as documented. To
3990 disconnect from gdbserver and leave it stopped, use the new "disconnect"
3991 command.
3992
3993 * d10v, m68hc11 `regs' command deprecated
3994
3995 The `info registers' command has been updated so that it displays the
3996 registers using a format identical to the old `regs' command.
3997
3998 * Profiling support
3999
4000 A new command, "maint set profile on/off", has been added. This command can
4001 be used to enable or disable profiling while running GDB, to profile a
4002 session or a set of commands. In addition there is a new configure switch,
4003 "--enable-profiling", which will cause GDB to be compiled with profiling
4004 data, for more informative profiling results.
4005
4006 * Default MI syntax changed to "mi2".
4007
4008 The default MI (machine interface) syntax, enabled by the command line
4009 option "-i=mi", has been changed to "mi2". The previous MI syntax,
4010 "mi1", can be enabled by specifying the option "-i=mi1".
4011
4012 Support for the original "mi0" syntax (included in GDB 5.0) has been
4013 removed.
4014
4015 Fix for gdb/192: removed extraneous space when displaying frame level.
4016 Fix for gdb/672: update changelist is now output in mi list format.
4017 Fix for gdb/702: a -var-assign that updates the value now shows up
4018 in a subsequent -var-update.
4019
4020 * New native configurations.
4021
4022 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
4023
4024 * Multi-arched targets.
4025
4026 HP/PA HPUX11 hppa*-*-hpux*
4027 Renesas M32R/D w/simulator m32r-*-elf*
4028
4029 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
4030
4031 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
4032 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
4033 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
4034 permanently REMOVED.
4035
4036 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
4037 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
4038 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
4039 HP/PA running BSD hppa*-*-bsd*
4040 HP/PA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
4041 HP/PA Pro target hppa*-*-pro*
4042 PMAX (MIPS) running Mach 3.0 mips*-*-mach3*
4043 Sequent family i[3456]86-sequent-sysv4*
4044 i[3456]86-sequent-sysv*
4045 i[3456]86-sequent-bsd*
4046 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
4047 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
4048
4049 * REMOVED configurations and files
4050
4051 V850EA ISA
4052 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
4053 IBM AIX PS/2 i[3456]86-*-aix
4054 i386 running Mach 3.0 i[3456]86-*-mach3*
4055 i386 running Mach i[3456]86-*-mach*
4056 i386 running OSF/1 i[3456]86-*osf1mk*
4057 HP/Apollo 68k Family m68*-apollo*-sysv*,
4058 m68*-apollo*-bsd*,
4059 m68*-hp-bsd*, m68*-hp-hpux*
4060 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
4061 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
4062 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
4063 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
4064 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
4065
4066 * MIPS $fp behavior changed
4067
4068 The convenience variable $fp, for the MIPS, now consistently returns
4069 the address of the current frame's base. Previously, depending on the
4070 context, $fp could refer to either $sp or the current frame's base
4071 address. See ``8.10 Registers'' in the manual ``Debugging with GDB:
4072 The GNU Source-Level Debugger''.
4073
4074 *** Changes in GDB 5.3:
4075
4076 * GNU/Linux shared library multi-threaded performance improved.
4077
4078 When debugging a multi-threaded application on GNU/Linux, GDB now uses
4079 `/proc', in preference to `ptrace' for memory reads. This may result
4080 in an improvement in the start-up time of multi-threaded, shared
4081 library applications when run under GDB. One GDB user writes: ``loads
4082 shared libs like mad''.
4083
4084 * ``gdbserver'' now supports multi-threaded applications on some targets
4085
4086 Support for debugging multi-threaded applications which use
4087 the GNU/Linux LinuxThreads package has been added for
4088 arm*-*-linux*-gnu*, i[3456]86-*-linux*-gnu*, mips*-*-linux*-gnu*,
4089 powerpc*-*-linux*-gnu*, and sh*-*-linux*-gnu*.
4090
4091 * GDB now supports C/C++ preprocessor macros.
4092
4093 GDB now expands preprocessor macro invocations in C/C++ expressions,
4094 and provides various commands for showing macro definitions and how
4095 they expand.
4096
4097 The new command `macro expand EXPRESSION' expands any macro
4098 invocations in expression, and shows the result.
4099
4100 The new command `show macro MACRO-NAME' shows the definition of the
4101 macro named MACRO-NAME, and where it was defined.
4102
4103 Most compilers don't include information about macros in the debugging
4104 information by default. In GCC 3.1, for example, you need to compile
4105 your program with the options `-gdwarf-2 -g3'. If the macro
4106 information is present in the executable, GDB will read it.
4107
4108 * Multi-arched targets.
4109
4110 DEC Alpha (partial) alpha*-*-*
4111 DEC VAX (partial) vax-*-*
4112 NEC V850 v850-*-*
4113 National Semiconductor NS32000 (partial) ns32k-*-*
4114 Motorola 68000 (partial) m68k-*-*
4115 Motorola MCORE mcore-*-*
4116
4117 * New targets.
4118
4119 Fujitsu FRV architecture added by Red Hat frv*-*-*
4120
4121
4122 * New native configurations
4123
4124 Alpha NetBSD alpha*-*-netbsd*
4125 SH NetBSD sh*-*-netbsdelf*
4126 MIPS NetBSD mips*-*-netbsd*
4127 UltraSPARC NetBSD sparc64-*-netbsd*
4128
4129 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
4130
4131 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
4132 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
4133 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
4134 permanently REMOVED.
4135
4136 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
4137 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
4138 IBM AIX PS/2 i[3456]86-*-aix
4139 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
4140 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
4141 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
4142 i386 running Mach 3.0 i[3456]86-*-mach3*
4143 i386 running Mach i[3456]86-*-mach*
4144 i386 running OSF/1 i[3456]86-*osf1mk*
4145 HP/Apollo 68k Family m68*-apollo*-sysv*,
4146 m68*-apollo*-bsd*,
4147 m68*-hp-bsd*, m68*-hp-hpux*
4148 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
4149
4150 * OBSOLETE languages
4151
4152 CHILL, a Pascal like language used by telecommunications companies.
4153
4154 * REMOVED configurations and files
4155
4156 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi, udi29k
4157 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
4158 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
4159 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
4160 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
4161
4162 testsuite/gdb.hp/gdb.threads-hp/ directory
4163
4164 * New command "set max-user-call-depth <nnn>"
4165
4166 This command allows the user to limit the call depth of user-defined
4167 commands. The default is 1024.
4168
4169 * Changes in FreeBSD/i386 native debugging.
4170
4171 Support for the "generate-core-file" has been added.
4172
4173 * New commands "dump", "append", and "restore".
4174
4175 These commands allow data to be copied from target memory
4176 to a bfd-format or binary file (dump and append), and back
4177 from a file into memory (restore).
4178
4179 * Improved "next/step" support on multi-processor Alpha Tru64.
4180
4181 The previous single-step mechanism could cause unpredictable problems,
4182 including the random appearance of SIGSEGV or SIGTRAP signals. The use
4183 of a software single-step mechanism prevents this.
4184
4185 *** Changes in GDB 5.2.1:
4186
4187 * New targets.
4188
4189 Atmel AVR avr*-*-*
4190
4191 * Bug fixes
4192
4193 gdb/182: gdb/323: gdb/237: On alpha, gdb was reporting:
4194 mdebugread.c:2443: gdb-internal-error: sect_index_data not initialized
4195 Fix, by Joel Brobecker imported from mainline.
4196
4197 gdb/439: gdb/291: On some ELF object files, gdb was reporting:
4198 dwarf2read.c:1072: gdb-internal-error: sect_index_text not initialize
4199 Fix, by Fred Fish, imported from mainline.
4200
4201 Dwarf2 .debug_frame & .eh_frame handler improved in many ways.
4202 Surprisingly enough, it works now.
4203 By Michal Ludvig, imported from mainline.
4204
4205 i386 hardware watchpoint support:
4206 avoid misses on second run for some targets.
4207 By Pierre Muller, imported from mainline.
4208
4209 *** Changes in GDB 5.2:
4210
4211 * New command "set trust-readonly-sections on[off]".
4212
4213 This command is a hint that tells gdb that read-only sections
4214 really are read-only (ie. that their contents will not change).
4215 In this mode, gdb will go to the object file rather than the
4216 target to read memory from read-only sections (such as ".text").
4217 This can be a significant performance improvement on some
4218 (notably embedded) targets.
4219
4220 * New command "generate-core-file" (or "gcore").
4221
4222 This new gdb command allows the user to drop a core file of the child
4223 process state at any time. So far it's been implemented only for
4224 GNU/Linux and Solaris, but should be relatively easily ported to other
4225 hosts. Argument is core file name (defaults to core.<pid>).
4226
4227 * New command line option
4228
4229 GDB now accepts --pid or -p followed by a process id.
4230
4231 * Change in command line behavior -- corefiles vs. process ids.
4232
4233 There is a subtle behavior in the way in which GDB handles
4234 command line arguments. The first non-flag argument is always
4235 a program to debug, but the second non-flag argument may either
4236 be a corefile or a process id. Previously, GDB would attempt to
4237 open the second argument as a corefile, and if that failed, would
4238 issue a superfluous error message and then attempt to attach it as
4239 a process. Now, if the second argument begins with a non-digit,
4240 it will be treated as a corefile. If it begins with a digit,
4241 GDB will attempt to attach it as a process, and if no such process
4242 is found, will then attempt to open it as a corefile.
4243
4244 * Changes in ARM configurations.
4245
4246 Multi-arch support is enabled for all ARM configurations. The ARM/NetBSD
4247 configuration is fully multi-arch.
4248
4249 * New native configurations
4250
4251 ARM NetBSD arm*-*-netbsd*
4252 x86 OpenBSD i[3456]86-*-openbsd*
4253 AMD x86-64 running GNU/Linux x86_64-*-linux-*
4254 Sparc64 running FreeBSD sparc64-*-freebsd*
4255
4256 * New targets
4257
4258 Sanyo XStormy16 xstormy16-elf
4259
4260 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
4261
4262 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
4263 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
4264 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
4265 permanently REMOVED.
4266
4267 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi, udi29k
4268 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
4269 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
4270 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
4271 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
4272
4273 testsuite/gdb.hp/gdb.threads-hp/ directory
4274
4275 * REMOVED configurations and files
4276
4277 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
4278 WDC 65816 w65-*-*
4279 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
4280 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
4281 PowerPC Netware powerpc-*-netware*
4282 Harris/CXUX m88k m88*-harris-cxux*
4283 Most ns32k hosts and targets ns32k-*-mach3* ns32k-umax-*
4284 ns32k-utek-sysv* ns32k-utek-*
4285 SunOS 4.0.Xi on i386 i[3456]86-*-sunos*
4286 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1 a29k-nyu-sym1 a29k-*-kern*
4287 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x m68*-sony-sysv news
4288 ISI Optimum V (3.05) under 4.3bsd. m68*-isi-*
4289 Apple Macintosh (MPW) host and target N/A host, powerpc-*-macos*
4290
4291 * Changes to command line processing
4292
4293 The new `--args' feature can be used to specify command-line arguments
4294 for the inferior from gdb's command line.
4295
4296 * Changes to key bindings
4297
4298 There is a new `operate-and-get-next' function bound to `C-o'.
4299
4300 *** Changes in GDB 5.1.1
4301
4302 Fix compile problem on DJGPP.
4303
4304 Fix a problem with floating-point registers on the i386 being
4305 corrupted.
4306
4307 Fix to stop GDB crashing on .debug_str debug info.
4308
4309 Numerous documentation fixes.
4310
4311 Numerous testsuite fixes.
4312
4313 *** Changes in GDB 5.1:
4314
4315 * New native configurations
4316
4317 Alpha FreeBSD alpha*-*-freebsd*
4318 x86 FreeBSD 3.x and 4.x i[3456]86*-freebsd[34]*
4319 MIPS GNU/Linux mips*-*-linux*
4320 MIPS SGI Irix 6.x mips*-sgi-irix6*
4321 ia64 AIX ia64-*-aix*
4322 s390 and s390x GNU/Linux {s390,s390x}-*-linux*
4323
4324 * New targets
4325
4326 Motorola 68HC11 and 68HC12 m68hc11-elf
4327 CRIS cris-axis
4328 UltraSparc running GNU/Linux sparc64-*-linux*
4329
4330 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
4331
4332 x86 FreeBSD before 2.2 i[3456]86*-freebsd{1,2.[01]}*,
4333 Harris/CXUX m88k m88*-harris-cxux*
4334 Most ns32k hosts and targets ns32k-*-mach3* ns32k-umax-*
4335 ns32k-utek-sysv* ns32k-utek-*
4336 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
4337 WDC 65816 w65-*-*
4338 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1 a29k-nyu-sym1 a29k-*-kern*
4339 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
4340 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
4341 PowerPC Netware powerpc-*-netware*
4342 SunOS 4.0.Xi on i386 i[3456]86-*-sunos*
4343 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x m68*-sony-sysv news
4344 ISI Optimum V (3.05) under 4.3bsd. m68*-isi-*
4345 Apple Macintosh (MPW) host N/A
4346
4347 stuff.c (Program to stuff files into a specially prepared space in kdb)
4348 kdb-start.c (Main loop for the standalone kernel debugger)
4349
4350 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
4351 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
4352 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
4353 permanently REMOVED.
4354
4355 * REMOVED configurations and files
4356
4357 Altos 3068 m68*-altos-*
4358 Convex c1-*-*, c2-*-*
4359 Pyramid pyramid-*-*
4360 ARM RISCix arm-*-* (as host)
4361 Tahoe tahoe-*-*
4362 ser-ocd.c *-*-*
4363
4364 * GDB has been converted to ISO C.
4365
4366 GDB's source code has been converted to ISO C. In particular, the
4367 sources are fully protoized, and rely on standard headers being
4368 present.
4369
4370 * Other news:
4371
4372 * "info symbol" works on platforms which use COFF, ECOFF, XCOFF, and NLM.
4373
4374 * The MI enabled by default.
4375
4376 The new machine oriented interface (MI) introduced in GDB 5.0 has been
4377 revised and enabled by default. Packages which use GDB as a debugging
4378 engine behind a UI or another front end are encouraged to switch to
4379 using the GDB/MI interface, instead of the old annotations interface
4380 which is now deprecated.
4381
4382 * Support for debugging Pascal programs.
4383
4384 GDB now includes support for debugging Pascal programs. The following
4385 main features are supported:
4386
4387 - Pascal-specific data types such as sets;
4388
4389 - automatic recognition of Pascal sources based on file-name
4390 extension;
4391
4392 - Pascal-style display of data types, variables, and functions;
4393
4394 - a Pascal expression parser.
4395
4396 However, some important features are not yet supported.
4397
4398 - Pascal string operations are not supported at all;
4399
4400 - there are some problems with boolean types;
4401
4402 - Pascal type hexadecimal constants are not supported
4403 because they conflict with the internal variables format;
4404
4405 - support for Pascal objects and classes is not full yet;
4406
4407 - unlike Pascal, GDB is case-sensitive for symbol names.
4408
4409 * Changes in completion.
4410
4411 Commands such as `shell', `run' and `set args', which pass arguments
4412 to inferior programs, now complete on file names, similar to what
4413 users expect at the shell prompt.
4414
4415 Commands which accept locations, such as `disassemble', `print',
4416 `breakpoint', `until', etc. now complete on filenames as well as
4417 program symbols. Thus, if you type "break foob TAB", and the source
4418 files linked into the programs include `foobar.c', that file name will
4419 be one of the candidates for completion. However, file names are not
4420 considered for completion after you typed a colon that delimits a file
4421 name from a name of a function in that file, as in "break foo.c:bar".
4422
4423 `set demangle-style' completes on available demangling styles.
4424
4425 * New platform-independent commands:
4426
4427 It is now possible to define a post-hook for a command as well as a
4428 hook that runs before the command. For more details, see the
4429 documentation of `hookpost' in the GDB manual.
4430
4431 * Changes in GNU/Linux native debugging.
4432
4433 Support for debugging multi-threaded programs has been completely
4434 revised for all platforms except m68k and sparc. You can now debug as
4435 many threads as your system allows you to have.
4436
4437 Attach/detach is supported for multi-threaded programs.
4438
4439 Support for SSE registers was added for x86. This doesn't work for
4440 multi-threaded programs though.
4441
4442 * Changes in MIPS configurations.
4443
4444 Multi-arch support is enabled for all MIPS configurations.
4445
4446 GDB can now be built as native debugger on SGI Irix 6.x systems for
4447 debugging n32 executables. (Debugging 64-bit executables is not yet
4448 supported.)
4449
4450 * Unified support for hardware watchpoints in all x86 configurations.
4451
4452 Most (if not all) native x86 configurations support hardware-assisted
4453 breakpoints and watchpoints in a unified manner. This support
4454 implements debug register sharing between watchpoints, which allows to
4455 put a virtually infinite number of watchpoints on the same address,
4456 and also supports watching regions up to 16 bytes with several debug
4457 registers.
4458
4459 The new maintenance command `maintenance show-debug-regs' toggles
4460 debugging print-outs in functions that insert, remove, and test
4461 watchpoints and hardware breakpoints.
4462
4463 * Changes in the DJGPP native configuration.
4464
4465 New command ``info dos sysinfo'' displays assorted information about
4466 the CPU, OS, memory, and DPMI server.
4467
4468 New commands ``info dos gdt'', ``info dos ldt'', and ``info dos idt''
4469 display information about segment descriptors stored in GDT, LDT, and
4470 IDT.
4471
4472 New commands ``info dos pde'' and ``info dos pte'' display entries
4473 from Page Directory and Page Tables (for now works with CWSDPMI only).
4474 New command ``info dos address-pte'' displays the Page Table entry for
4475 a given linear address.
4476
4477 GDB can now pass command lines longer than 126 characters to the
4478 program being debugged (requires an update to the libdbg.a library
4479 which is part of the DJGPP development kit).
4480
4481 DWARF2 debug info is now supported.
4482
4483 It is now possible to `step' and `next' through calls to `longjmp'.
4484
4485 * Changes in documentation.
4486
4487 All GDB documentation was converted to GFDL, the GNU Free
4488 Documentation License.
4489
4490 Tracepoints-related commands are now fully documented in the GDB
4491 manual.
4492
4493 TUI, the Text-mode User Interface, is now documented in the manual.
4494
4495 Tracepoints-related commands are now fully documented in the GDB
4496 manual.
4497
4498 The "GDB Internals" manual now has an index. It also includes
4499 documentation of `ui_out' functions, GDB coding standards, x86
4500 hardware watchpoints, and memory region attributes.
4501
4502 * GDB's version number moved to ``version.in''
4503
4504 The Makefile variable VERSION has been replaced by the file
4505 ``version.in''. People creating GDB distributions should update the
4506 contents of this file.
4507
4508 * gdba.el deleted
4509
4510 GUD support is now a standard part of the EMACS distribution.
4511
4512 *** Changes in GDB 5.0:
4513
4514 * Improved support for debugging FP programs on x86 targets
4515
4516 Unified and much-improved support for debugging floating-point
4517 programs on all x86 targets. In particular, ``info float'' now
4518 displays the FP registers in the same format on all x86 targets, with
4519 greater level of detail.
4520
4521 * Improvements and bugfixes in hardware-assisted watchpoints
4522
4523 It is now possible to watch array elements, struct members, and
4524 bitfields with hardware-assisted watchpoints. Data-read watchpoints
4525 on x86 targets no longer erroneously trigger when the address is
4526 written.
4527
4528 * Improvements in the native DJGPP version of GDB
4529
4530 The distribution now includes all the scripts and auxiliary files
4531 necessary to build the native DJGPP version on MS-DOS/MS-Windows
4532 machines ``out of the box''.
4533
4534 The DJGPP version can now debug programs that use signals. It is
4535 possible to catch signals that happened in the debuggee, deliver
4536 signals to it, interrupt it with Ctrl-C, etc. (Previously, a signal
4537 would kill the program being debugged.) Programs that hook hardware
4538 interrupts (keyboard, timer, etc.) can also be debugged.
4539
4540 It is now possible to debug DJGPP programs that redirect their
4541 standard handles or switch them to raw (as opposed to cooked) mode, or
4542 even close them. The command ``run < foo > bar'' works as expected,
4543 and ``info terminal'' reports useful information about the debuggee's
4544 terminal, including raw/cooked mode, redirection, etc.
4545
4546 The DJGPP version now uses termios functions for console I/O, which
4547 enables debugging graphics programs. Interrupting GDB with Ctrl-C
4548 also works.
4549
4550 DOS-style file names with drive letters are now fully supported by
4551 GDB.
4552
4553 It is now possible to debug DJGPP programs that switch their working
4554 directory. It is also possible to rerun the debuggee any number of
4555 times without restarting GDB; thus, you can use the same setup,
4556 breakpoints, etc. for many debugging sessions.
4557
4558 * New native configurations
4559
4560 ARM GNU/Linux arm*-*-linux*
4561 PowerPC GNU/Linux powerpc-*-linux*
4562
4563 * New targets
4564
4565 Motorola MCore mcore-*-*
4566 x86 VxWorks i[3456]86-*-vxworks*
4567 PowerPC VxWorks powerpc-*-vxworks*
4568 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
4569
4570 * OBSOLETE configurations
4571
4572 Altos 3068 m68*-altos-*
4573 Convex c1-*-*, c2-*-*
4574 Pyramid pyramid-*-*
4575 ARM RISCix arm-*-* (as host)
4576 Tahoe tahoe-*-*
4577
4578 Configurations that have been declared obsolete will be commented out,
4579 but the code will be left in place. If there is no activity to revive
4580 these configurations before the next release of GDB, the sources will
4581 be permanently REMOVED.
4582
4583 * Gould support removed
4584
4585 Support for the Gould PowerNode and NP1 has been removed.
4586
4587 * New features for SVR4
4588
4589 On SVR4 native platforms (such as Solaris), if you attach to a process
4590 without first loading a symbol file, GDB will now attempt to locate and
4591 load symbols from the running process's executable file.
4592
4593 * Many C++ enhancements
4594
4595 C++ support has been greatly improved. Overload resolution now works properly
4596 in almost all cases. RTTI support is on the way.
4597
4598 * Remote targets can connect to a sub-program
4599
4600 A popen(3) style serial-device has been added. This device starts a
4601 sub-process (such as a stand-alone simulator) and then communicates
4602 with that. The sub-program to run is specified using the syntax
4603 ``|<program> <args>'' vis:
4604
4605 (gdb) set remotedebug 1
4606 (gdb) target extended-remote |mn10300-elf-sim program-args
4607
4608 * MIPS 64 remote protocol
4609
4610 A long standing bug in the mips64 remote protocol where by GDB
4611 expected certain 32 bit registers (ex SR) to be transfered as 32
4612 instead of 64 bits has been fixed.
4613
4614 The command ``set remote-mips64-transfers-32bit-regs on'' has been
4615 added to provide backward compatibility with older versions of GDB.
4616
4617 * ``set remotebinarydownload'' replaced by ``set remote X-packet''
4618
4619 The command ``set remotebinarydownload'' command has been replaced by
4620 ``set remote X-packet''. Other commands in ``set remote'' family
4621 include ``set remote P-packet''.
4622
4623 * Breakpoint commands accept ranges.
4624
4625 The breakpoint commands ``enable'', ``disable'', and ``delete'' now
4626 accept a range of breakpoints, e.g. ``5-7''. The tracepoint command
4627 ``tracepoint passcount'' also accepts a range of tracepoints.
4628
4629 * ``apropos'' command added.
4630
4631 The ``apropos'' command searches through command names and
4632 documentation strings, printing out matches, making it much easier to
4633 try to find a command that does what you are looking for.
4634
4635 * New MI interface
4636
4637 A new machine oriented interface (MI) has been added to GDB. This
4638 interface is designed for debug environments running GDB as a separate
4639 process. This is part of the long term libGDB project. See the
4640 "GDB/MI" chapter of the GDB manual for further information. It can be
4641 enabled by configuring with:
4642
4643 .../configure --enable-gdbmi
4644
4645 *** Changes in GDB-4.18:
4646
4647 * New native configurations
4648
4649 HP-UX 10.20 hppa*-*-hpux10.20
4650 HP-UX 11.x hppa*-*-hpux11.0*
4651 M68K GNU/Linux m68*-*-linux*
4652
4653 * New targets
4654
4655 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
4656 Intel StrongARM strongarm-*-*
4657 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
4658
4659 * OBSOLETE configurations
4660
4661 Gould PowerNode, NP1 np1-*-*, pn-*-*
4662
4663 Configurations that have been declared obsolete will be commented out,
4664 but the code will be left in place. If there is no activity to revive
4665 these configurations before the next release of GDB, the sources will
4666 be permanently REMOVED.
4667
4668 * ANSI/ISO C
4669
4670 As a compatibility experiment, GDB's source files buildsym.h and
4671 buildsym.c have been converted to pure standard C, no longer
4672 containing any K&R compatibility code. We believe that all systems in
4673 use today either come with a standard C compiler, or have a GCC port
4674 available. If this is not true, please report the affected
4675 configuration to bug-gdb@gnu.org immediately. See the README file for
4676 information about getting a standard C compiler if you don't have one
4677 already.
4678
4679 * Readline 2.2
4680
4681 GDB now uses readline 2.2.
4682
4683 * set extension-language
4684
4685 You can now control the mapping between filename extensions and source
4686 languages by using the `set extension-language' command. For instance,
4687 you can ask GDB to treat .c files as C++ by saying
4688 set extension-language .c c++
4689 The command `info extensions' lists all of the recognized extensions
4690 and their associated languages.
4691
4692 * Setting processor type for PowerPC and RS/6000
4693
4694 When GDB is configured for a powerpc*-*-* or an rs6000*-*-* target,
4695 you can use the `set processor' command to specify what variant of the
4696 PowerPC family you are debugging. The command
4697
4698 set processor NAME
4699
4700 sets the PowerPC/RS6000 variant to NAME. GDB knows about the
4701 following PowerPC and RS6000 variants:
4702
4703 ppc-uisa PowerPC UISA - a PPC processor as viewed by user-level code
4704 rs6000 IBM RS6000 ("POWER") architecture, user-level view
4705 403 IBM PowerPC 403
4706 403GC IBM PowerPC 403GC
4707 505 Motorola PowerPC 505
4708 860 Motorola PowerPC 860 or 850
4709 601 Motorola PowerPC 601
4710 602 Motorola PowerPC 602
4711 603 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 603 or 603e
4712 604 Motorola PowerPC 604 or 604e
4713 750 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 750 or 750
4714
4715 At the moment, this command just tells GDB what to name the
4716 special-purpose processor registers. Since almost all the affected
4717 registers are inaccessible to user-level programs, this command is
4718 only useful for remote debugging in its present form.
4719
4720 * HP-UX support
4721
4722 Thanks to a major code donation from Hewlett-Packard, GDB now has much
4723 more extensive support for HP-UX. Added features include shared
4724 library support, kernel threads and hardware watchpoints for 11.00,
4725 support for HP's ANSI C and C++ compilers, and a compatibility mode
4726 for xdb and dbx commands.
4727
4728 * Catchpoints
4729
4730 HP's donation includes the new concept of catchpoints, which is a
4731 generalization of the old catch command. On HP-UX, it is now possible
4732 to catch exec, fork, and vfork, as well as library loading.
4733
4734 This means that the existing catch command has changed; its first
4735 argument now specifies the type of catch to be set up. See the
4736 output of "help catch" for a list of catchpoint types.
4737
4738 * Debugging across forks
4739
4740 On HP-UX, you can choose which process to debug when a fork() happens
4741 in the inferior.
4742
4743 * TUI
4744
4745 HP has donated a curses-based terminal user interface (TUI). To get
4746 it, build with --enable-tui. Although this can be enabled for any
4747 configuration, at present it only works for native HP debugging.
4748
4749 * GDB remote protocol additions
4750
4751 A new protocol packet 'X' that writes binary data is now available.
4752 Default behavior is to try 'X', then drop back to 'M' if the stub
4753 fails to respond. The settable variable `remotebinarydownload'
4754 allows explicit control over the use of 'X'.
4755
4756 For 64-bit targets, the memory packets ('M' and 'm') can now contain a
4757 full 64-bit address. The command
4758
4759 set remoteaddresssize 32
4760
4761 can be used to revert to the old behaviour. For existing remote stubs
4762 the change should not be noticed, as the additional address information
4763 will be discarded.
4764
4765 In order to assist in debugging stubs, you may use the maintenance
4766 command `packet' to send any text string to the stub. For instance,
4767
4768 maint packet heythere
4769
4770 sends the packet "$heythere#<checksum>". Note that it is very easy to
4771 disrupt a debugging session by sending the wrong packet at the wrong
4772 time.
4773
4774 The compare-sections command allows you to compare section data on the
4775 target to what is in the executable file without uploading or
4776 downloading, by comparing CRC checksums.
4777
4778 * Tracing can collect general expressions
4779
4780 You may now collect general expressions at tracepoints. This requires
4781 further additions to the target-side stub; see tracepoint.c and
4782 doc/agentexpr.texi for further details.
4783
4784 * mask-address variable for Mips
4785
4786 For Mips targets, you may control the zeroing of the upper 32 bits of
4787 a 64-bit address by entering `set mask-address on'. This is mainly
4788 of interest to users of embedded R4xxx and R5xxx processors.
4789
4790 * Higher serial baud rates
4791
4792 GDB's serial code now allows you to specify baud rates 57600, 115200,
4793 230400, and 460800 baud. (Note that your host system may not be able
4794 to achieve all of these rates.)
4795
4796 * i960 simulator
4797
4798 The i960 configuration now includes an initial implementation of a
4799 builtin simulator, contributed by Jim Wilson.
4800
4801
4802 *** Changes in GDB-4.17:
4803
4804 * New native configurations
4805
4806 Alpha GNU/Linux alpha*-*-linux*
4807 Unixware 2.x i[3456]86-unixware2*
4808 Irix 6.x mips*-sgi-irix6*
4809 PowerPC GNU/Linux powerpc-*-linux*
4810 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
4811 Sparc GNU/Linux sparc-*-linux*
4812 Motorola sysV68 R3V7.1 m68k-motorola-sysv
4813
4814 * New targets
4815
4816 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
4817 Hitachi H8/300S h8300*-*-*
4818 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
4819 Matsushita MN10300 w/simulator mn10300-*-*
4820 MIPS NEC VR4100 mips64*vr4100*{,el}-*-elf*
4821 MIPS NEC VR5000 mips64*vr5000*{,el}-*-elf*
4822 MIPS Toshiba TX39 mips64*tx39*{,el}-*-elf*
4823 Mitsubishi D10V w/simulator d10v-*-*
4824 Mitsubishi M32R/D w/simulator m32r-*-elf*
4825 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
4826 NEC V850 w/simulator v850-*-*
4827
4828 * New debugging protocols
4829
4830 ARM with RDI protocol arm*-*-*
4831 M68K with dBUG monitor m68*-*-{aout,coff,elf}
4832 DDB and LSI variants of PMON protocol mips*-*-*
4833 PowerPC with DINK32 monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
4834 PowerPC with SDS protocol powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
4835 Macraigor OCD (Wiggler) devices powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
4836
4837 * DWARF 2
4838
4839 All configurations can now understand and use the DWARF 2 debugging
4840 format. The choice is automatic, if the symbol file contains DWARF 2
4841 information.
4842
4843 * Java frontend
4844
4845 GDB now includes basic Java language support. This support is
4846 only useful with Java compilers that produce native machine code.
4847
4848 * solib-absolute-prefix and solib-search-path
4849
4850 For SunOS and SVR4 shared libraries, you may now set the prefix for
4851 loading absolute shared library symbol files, and the search path for
4852 locating non-absolute shared library symbol files.
4853
4854 * Live range splitting
4855
4856 GDB can now effectively debug code for which GCC has performed live
4857 range splitting as part of its optimization. See gdb/doc/LRS for
4858 more details on the expected format of the stabs information.
4859
4860 * Hurd support
4861
4862 GDB's support for the GNU Hurd, including thread debugging, has been
4863 updated to work with current versions of the Hurd.
4864
4865 * ARM Thumb support
4866
4867 GDB's ARM target configuration now handles the ARM7T (Thumb) 16-bit
4868 instruction set. ARM GDB automatically detects when Thumb
4869 instructions are in use, and adjusts disassembly and backtracing
4870 accordingly.
4871
4872 * MIPS16 support
4873
4874 GDB's MIPS target configurations now handle the MIP16 16-bit
4875 instruction set.
4876
4877 * Overlay support
4878
4879 GDB now includes support for overlays; if an executable has been
4880 linked such that multiple sections are based at the same address, GDB
4881 will decide which section to use for symbolic info. You can choose to
4882 control the decision manually, using overlay commands, or implement
4883 additional target-side support and use "overlay load-target" to bring
4884 in the overlay mapping. Do "help overlay" for more detail.
4885
4886 * info symbol
4887
4888 The command "info symbol <address>" displays information about
4889 the symbol at the specified address.
4890
4891 * Trace support
4892
4893 The standard remote protocol now includes an extension that allows
4894 asynchronous collection and display of trace data. This requires
4895 extensive support in the target-side debugging stub. Tracing mode
4896 includes a new interaction mode in GDB and new commands: see the
4897 file tracepoint.c for more details.
4898
4899 * MIPS simulator
4900
4901 Configurations for embedded MIPS now include a simulator contributed
4902 by Cygnus Solutions. The simulator supports the instruction sets
4903 of most MIPS variants.
4904
4905 * Sparc simulator
4906
4907 Sparc configurations may now include the ERC32 simulator contributed
4908 by the European Space Agency. The simulator is not built into
4909 Sparc targets by default; configure with --enable-sim to include it.
4910
4911 * set architecture
4912
4913 For target configurations that may include multiple variants of a
4914 basic architecture (such as MIPS and SH), you may now set the
4915 architecture explicitly. "set arch" sets, "info arch" lists
4916 the possible architectures.
4917
4918 *** Changes in GDB-4.16:
4919
4920 * New native configurations
4921
4922 Windows 95, x86 Windows NT i[345]86-*-cygwin32
4923 M68K NetBSD m68k-*-netbsd*
4924 PowerPC AIX 4.x powerpc-*-aix*
4925 PowerPC MacOS powerpc-*-macos*
4926 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
4927 RS/6000 AIX 4.x rs6000-*-aix4*
4928
4929 * New targets
4930
4931 ARM with RDP protocol arm-*-*
4932 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
4933 MIPS VxWorks mips*-*-vxworks*
4934 MIPS VR4300 with PMON mips64*vr4300{,el}-*-elf*
4935 PowerPC with PPCBUG monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi*
4936 Hitachi SH3 sh-*-*
4937 Matra Sparclet sparclet-*-*
4938
4939 * PowerPC simulator
4940
4941 The powerpc-eabi configuration now includes the PSIM simulator,
4942 contributed by Andrew Cagney, with assistance from Mike Meissner.
4943 PSIM is a very elaborate model of the PowerPC, including not only
4944 basic instruction set execution, but also details of execution unit
4945 performance and I/O hardware. See sim/ppc/README for more details.
4946
4947 * Solaris 2.5
4948
4949 GDB now works with Solaris 2.5.
4950
4951 * Windows 95/NT native
4952
4953 GDB will now work as a native debugger on Windows 95 and Windows NT.
4954 To build it from source, you must use the "gnu-win32" environment,
4955 which uses a DLL to emulate enough of Unix to run the GNU tools.
4956 Further information, binaries, and sources are available at
4957 ftp.cygnus.com, under pub/gnu-win32.
4958
4959 * dont-repeat command
4960
4961 If a user-defined command includes the command `dont-repeat', then the
4962 command will not be repeated if the user just types return. This is
4963 useful if the command is time-consuming to run, so that accidental
4964 extra keystrokes don't run the same command many times.
4965
4966 * Send break instead of ^C
4967
4968 The standard remote protocol now includes an option to send a break
4969 rather than a ^C to the target in order to interrupt it. By default,
4970 GDB will send ^C; to send a break, set the variable `remotebreak' to 1.
4971
4972 * Remote protocol timeout
4973
4974 The standard remote protocol includes a new variable `remotetimeout'
4975 that allows you to set the number of seconds before GDB gives up trying
4976 to read from the target. The default value is 2.
4977
4978 * Automatic tracking of dynamic object loading (HPUX and Solaris only)
4979
4980 By default GDB will automatically keep track of objects as they are
4981 loaded and unloaded by the dynamic linker. By using the command `set
4982 stop-on-solib-events 1' you can arrange for GDB to stop the inferior
4983 when shared library events occur, thus allowing you to set breakpoints
4984 in shared libraries which are explicitly loaded by the inferior.
4985
4986 Note this feature does not work on hpux8. On hpux9 you must link
4987 /usr/lib/end.o into your program. This feature should work
4988 automatically on hpux10.
4989
4990 * Irix 5.x hardware watchpoint support
4991
4992 Irix 5 configurations now support the use of hardware watchpoints.
4993
4994 * Mips protocol "SYN garbage limit"
4995
4996 When debugging a Mips target using the `target mips' protocol, you
4997 may set the number of characters that GDB will ignore by setting
4998 the `syn-garbage-limit'. A value of -1 means that GDB will ignore
4999 every character. The default value is 1050.
5000
5001 * Recording and replaying remote debug sessions
5002
5003 If you set `remotelogfile' to the name of a file, gdb will write to it
5004 a recording of a remote debug session. This recording may then be
5005 replayed back to gdb using "gdbreplay". See gdbserver/README for
5006 details. This is useful when you have a problem with GDB while doing
5007 remote debugging; you can make a recording of the session and send it
5008 to someone else, who can then recreate the problem.
5009
5010 * Speedups for remote debugging
5011
5012 GDB includes speedups for downloading and stepping MIPS systems using
5013 the IDT monitor, fast downloads to the Hitachi SH E7000 emulator,
5014 and more efficient S-record downloading.
5015
5016 * Memory use reductions and statistics collection
5017
5018 GDB now uses less memory and reports statistics about memory usage.
5019 Try the `maint print statistics' command, for example.
5020
5021 *** Changes in GDB-4.15:
5022
5023 * Psymtabs for XCOFF
5024
5025 The symbol reader for AIX GDB now uses partial symbol tables. This
5026 can greatly improve startup time, especially for large executables.
5027
5028 * Remote targets use caching
5029
5030 Remote targets now use a data cache to speed up communication with the
5031 remote side. The data cache could lead to incorrect results because
5032 it doesn't know about volatile variables, thus making it impossible to
5033 debug targets which use memory mapped I/O devices. `set remotecache
5034 off' turns the the data cache off.
5035
5036 * Remote targets may have threads
5037
5038 The standard remote protocol now includes support for multiple threads
5039 in the target system, using new protocol commands 'H' and 'T'. See
5040 gdb/remote.c for details.
5041
5042 * NetROM support
5043
5044 If GDB is configured with `--enable-netrom', then it will include
5045 support for the NetROM ROM emulator from XLNT Designs. The NetROM
5046 acts as though it is a bank of ROM on the target board, but you can
5047 write into it over the network. GDB's support consists only of
5048 support for fast loading into the emulated ROM; to debug, you must use
5049 another protocol, such as standard remote protocol. The usual
5050 sequence is something like
5051
5052 target nrom <netrom-hostname>
5053 load <prog>
5054 target remote <netrom-hostname>:1235
5055
5056 * Macintosh host
5057
5058 GDB now includes support for the Apple Macintosh, as a host only. It
5059 may be run as either an MPW tool or as a standalone application, and
5060 it can debug through the serial port. All the usual GDB commands are
5061 available, but to the target command, you must supply "serial" as the
5062 device type instead of "/dev/ttyXX". See mpw-README in the main
5063 directory for more information on how to build. The MPW configuration
5064 scripts */mpw-config.in support only a few targets, and only the
5065 mips-idt-ecoff target has been tested.
5066
5067 * Autoconf
5068
5069 GDB configuration now uses autoconf. This is not user-visible,
5070 but does simplify configuration and building.
5071
5072 * hpux10
5073
5074 GDB now supports hpux10.
5075
5076 *** Changes in GDB-4.14:
5077
5078 * New native configurations
5079
5080 x86 FreeBSD i[345]86-*-freebsd
5081 x86 NetBSD i[345]86-*-netbsd
5082 NS32k NetBSD ns32k-*-netbsd
5083 Sparc NetBSD sparc-*-netbsd
5084
5085 * New targets
5086
5087 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
5088 HP PA PRO embedded (WinBond W89K & Oki OP50N) hppa*-*-pro*
5089 CPU32 EST-300 emulator m68*-*-est*
5090 PowerPC ELF powerpc-*-elf
5091 WDC 65816 w65-*-*
5092
5093 * Alpha OSF/1 support for procfs
5094
5095 GDB now supports procfs under OSF/1-2.x and higher, which makes it
5096 possible to attach to running processes. As the mounting of the /proc
5097 filesystem is optional on the Alpha, GDB automatically determines
5098 the availability of /proc during startup. This can lead to problems
5099 if /proc is unmounted after GDB has been started.
5100
5101 * Arguments to user-defined commands
5102
5103 User commands may accept up to 10 arguments separated by whitespace.
5104 Arguments are accessed within the user command via $arg0..$arg9. A
5105 trivial example:
5106 define adder
5107 print $arg0 + $arg1 + $arg2
5108
5109 To execute the command use:
5110 adder 1 2 3
5111
5112 Defines the command "adder" which prints the sum of its three arguments.
5113 Note the arguments are text substitutions, so they may reference variables,
5114 use complex expressions, or even perform inferior function calls.
5115
5116 * New `if' and `while' commands
5117
5118 This makes it possible to write more sophisticated user-defined
5119 commands. Both commands take a single argument, which is the
5120 expression to evaluate, and must be followed by the commands to
5121 execute, one per line, if the expression is nonzero, the list being
5122 terminated by the word `end'. The `if' command list may include an
5123 `else' word, which causes the following commands to be executed only
5124 if the expression is zero.
5125
5126 * Fortran source language mode
5127
5128 GDB now includes partial support for Fortran 77. It will recognize
5129 Fortran programs and can evaluate a subset of Fortran expressions, but
5130 variables and functions may not be handled correctly. GDB will work
5131 with G77, but does not yet know much about symbols emitted by other
5132 Fortran compilers.
5133
5134 * Better HPUX support
5135
5136 Most debugging facilities now work on dynamic executables for HPPAs
5137 running hpux9 or later. You can attach to running dynamically linked
5138 processes, but by default the dynamic libraries will be read-only, so
5139 for instance you won't be able to put breakpoints in them. To change
5140 that behavior do the following before running the program:
5141
5142 adb -w a.out
5143 __dld_flags?W 0x5
5144 control-d
5145
5146 This will cause the libraries to be mapped private and read-write.
5147 To revert to the normal behavior, do this:
5148
5149 adb -w a.out
5150 __dld_flags?W 0x4
5151 control-d
5152
5153 You cannot set breakpoints or examine data in the library until after
5154 the library is loaded if the function/data symbols do not have
5155 external linkage.
5156
5157 GDB can now also read debug symbols produced by the HP C compiler on
5158 HPPAs (sorry, no C++, Fortran or 68k support).
5159
5160 * Target byte order now dynamically selectable
5161
5162 You can choose which byte order to use with a target system, via the
5163 commands "set endian big" and "set endian little", and you can see the
5164 current setting by using "show endian". You can also give the command
5165 "set endian auto", in which case GDB will use the byte order
5166 associated with the executable. Currently, only embedded MIPS
5167 configurations support dynamic selection of target byte order.
5168
5169 * New DOS host serial code
5170
5171 This version uses DPMI interrupts to handle buffered I/O, so you
5172 no longer need to run asynctsr when debugging boards connected to
5173 a PC's serial port.
5174
5175 *** Changes in GDB-4.13:
5176
5177 * New "complete" command
5178
5179 This lists all the possible completions for the rest of the line, if it
5180 were to be given as a command itself. This is intended for use by emacs.
5181
5182 * Trailing space optional in prompt
5183
5184 "set prompt" no longer adds a space for you after the prompt you set. This
5185 allows you to set a prompt which ends in a space or one that does not.
5186
5187 * Breakpoint hit counts
5188
5189 "info break" now displays a count of the number of times the breakpoint
5190 has been hit. This is especially useful in conjunction with "ignore"; you
5191 can ignore a large number of breakpoint hits, look at the breakpoint info
5192 to see how many times the breakpoint was hit, then run again, ignoring one
5193 less than that number, and this will get you quickly to the last hit of
5194 that breakpoint.
5195
5196 * Ability to stop printing at NULL character
5197
5198 "set print null-stop" will cause GDB to stop printing the characters of
5199 an array when the first NULL is encountered. This is useful when large
5200 arrays actually contain only short strings.
5201
5202 * Shared library breakpoints
5203
5204 In SunOS 4.x, SVR4, and Alpha OSF/1 configurations, you can now set
5205 breakpoints in shared libraries before the executable is run.
5206
5207 * Hardware watchpoints
5208
5209 There is a new hardware breakpoint for the watch command for sparclite
5210 targets. See gdb/sparclite/hw_breakpoint.note.
5211
5212 Hardware watchpoints are also now supported under GNU/Linux.
5213
5214 * Annotations
5215
5216 Annotations have been added. These are for use with graphical interfaces,
5217 and are still experimental. Currently only gdba.el uses these.
5218
5219 * Improved Irix 5 support
5220
5221 GDB now works properly with Irix 5.2.
5222
5223 * Improved HPPA support
5224
5225 GDB now works properly with the latest GCC and GAS.
5226
5227 * New native configurations
5228
5229 Sequent PTX4 i[34]86-sequent-ptx4
5230 HPPA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
5231 Atari TT running SVR4 m68*-*-sysv4*
5232 RS/6000 LynxOS rs6000-*-lynxos*
5233
5234 * New targets
5235
5236 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
5237 MIPS R4000 mips64*{,el}-*-{ecoff,elf}
5238 Sparc64 sparc64-*-*
5239
5240 * Hitachi SH7000 and E7000-PC ICE support
5241
5242 There is now support for communicating with the Hitachi E7000-PC ICE.
5243 This is available automatically when GDB is configured for the SH.
5244
5245 * Fixes
5246
5247 As usual, a variety of small fixes and improvements, both generic
5248 and configuration-specific. See the ChangeLog for more detail.
5249
5250 *** Changes in GDB-4.12:
5251
5252 * Irix 5 is now supported
5253
5254 * HPPA support
5255
5256 GDB-4.12 on the HPPA has a number of changes which make it unable
5257 to debug the output from the currently released versions of GCC and
5258 GAS (GCC 2.5.8 and GAS-2.2 or PAGAS-1.36). Until the next major release
5259 of GCC and GAS, versions of these tools designed to work with GDB-4.12
5260 can be retrieved via anonymous ftp from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist.
5261
5262
5263 *** Changes in GDB-4.11:
5264
5265 * User visible changes:
5266
5267 * Remote Debugging
5268
5269 The "set remotedebug" option is now consistent between the mips remote
5270 target, remote targets using the gdb-specific protocol, UDI (AMD's
5271 debug protocol for the 29k) and the 88k bug monitor. It is now an
5272 integer specifying a debug level (normally 0 or 1, but 2 means more
5273 debugging info for the mips target).
5274
5275 * DEC Alpha native support
5276
5277 GDB now works on the DEC Alpha. GCC 2.4.5 does not produce usable
5278 debug info, but GDB works fairly well with the DEC compiler and should
5279 work with a future GCC release. See the README file for a few
5280 Alpha-specific notes.
5281
5282 * Preliminary thread implementation
5283
5284 GDB now has preliminary thread support for both SGI/Irix and LynxOS.
5285
5286 * LynxOS native and target support for 386
5287
5288 This release has been hosted on LynxOS 2.2, and also can be configured
5289 to remotely debug programs running under LynxOS (see gdb/gdbserver/README
5290 for details).
5291
5292 * Improvements in C++ mangling/demangling.
5293
5294 This release has much better g++ debugging, specifically in name
5295 mangling/demangling, virtual function calls, print virtual table,
5296 call methods, ...etc.
5297
5298 *** Changes in GDB-4.10:
5299
5300 * User visible changes:
5301
5302 Remote debugging using the GDB-specific (`target remote') protocol now
5303 supports the `load' command. This is only useful if you have some
5304 other way of getting the stub to the target system, and you can put it
5305 somewhere in memory where it won't get clobbered by the download.
5306
5307 Filename completion now works.
5308
5309 When run under emacs mode, the "info line" command now causes the
5310 arrow to point to the line specified. Also, "info line" prints
5311 addresses in symbolic form (as well as hex).
5312
5313 All vxworks based targets now support a user settable option, called
5314 vxworks-timeout. This option represents the number of seconds gdb
5315 should wait for responses to rpc's. You might want to use this if
5316 your vxworks target is, perhaps, a slow software simulator or happens
5317 to be on the far side of a thin network line.
5318
5319 * DEC alpha support
5320
5321 This release contains support for using a DEC alpha as a GDB host for
5322 cross debugging. Native alpha debugging is not supported yet.
5323
5324
5325 *** Changes in GDB-4.9:
5326
5327 * Testsuite
5328
5329 This is the first GDB release which is accompanied by a matching testsuite.
5330 The testsuite requires installation of dejagnu, which should be available
5331 via ftp from most sites that carry GNU software.
5332
5333 * C++ demangling
5334
5335 'Cfront' style demangling has had its name changed to 'ARM' style, to
5336 emphasize that it was written from the specifications in the C++ Annotated
5337 Reference Manual, not necessarily to be compatible with AT&T cfront. Despite
5338 disclaimers, it still generated too much confusion with users attempting to
5339 use gdb with AT&T cfront.
5340
5341 * Simulators
5342
5343 GDB now uses a standard remote interface to a simulator library.
5344 So far, the library contains simulators for the Zilog Z8001/2, the
5345 Hitachi H8/300, H8/500 and Super-H.
5346
5347 * New targets supported
5348
5349 H8/300 simulator h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
5350 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
5351 SH simulator sh-hitachi-hms or sh
5352 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
5353 IDT MIPS board over serial line mips-idt-ecoff
5354
5355 Cross-debugging to GO32 targets is supported. It requires a custom
5356 version of the i386-stub.c module which is integrated with the
5357 GO32 memory extender.
5358
5359 * New remote protocols
5360
5361 MIPS remote debugging protocol.
5362
5363 * New source languages supported
5364
5365 This version includes preliminary support for Chill, a Pascal like language
5366 used by telecommunications companies. Chill support is also being integrated
5367 into the GNU compiler, but we don't know when it will be publically available.
5368
5369
5370 *** Changes in GDB-4.8:
5371
5372 * HP Precision Architecture supported
5373
5374 GDB now supports HP PA-RISC machines running HPUX. A preliminary
5375 version of this support was available as a set of patches from the
5376 University of Utah. GDB does not support debugging of programs
5377 compiled with the HP compiler, because HP will not document their file
5378 format. Instead, you must use GCC (version 2.3.2 or later) and PA-GAS
5379 (as available from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist/pa-gas.u4.tar.Z).
5380
5381 Many problems in the preliminary version have been fixed.
5382
5383 * Faster and better demangling
5384
5385 We have improved template demangling and fixed numerous bugs in the GNU style
5386 demangler. It can now handle type modifiers such as `static' or `const'. Wide
5387 character types (wchar_t) are now supported. Demangling of each symbol is now
5388 only done once, and is cached when the symbol table for a file is read in.
5389 This results in a small increase in memory usage for C programs, a moderate
5390 increase in memory usage for C++ programs, and a fantastic speedup in
5391 symbol lookups.
5392
5393 `Cfront' style demangling still doesn't work with AT&T cfront. It was written
5394 from the specifications in the Annotated Reference Manual, which AT&T's
5395 compiler does not actually implement.
5396
5397 * G++ multiple inheritance compiler problem
5398
5399 In the 2.3.2 release of gcc/g++, how the compiler resolves multiple
5400 inheritance lattices was reworked to properly discover ambiguities. We
5401 recently found an example which causes this new algorithm to fail in a
5402 very subtle way, producing bad debug information for those classes.
5403 The file 'gcc.patch' (in this directory) can be applied to gcc to
5404 circumvent the problem. A future GCC release will contain a complete
5405 fix.
5406
5407 The previous G++ debug info problem (mentioned below for the gdb-4.7
5408 release) is fixed in gcc version 2.3.2.
5409
5410 * Improved configure script
5411
5412 The `configure' script will now attempt to guess your system type if
5413 you don't supply a host system type. The old scheme of supplying a
5414 host system triplet is preferable over using this. All the magic is
5415 done in the new `config.guess' script. Examine it for details.
5416
5417 We have also brought our configure script much more in line with the FSF's
5418 version. It now supports the --with-xxx options. In particular,
5419 `--with-minimal-bfd' can be used to make the GDB binary image smaller.
5420 The resulting GDB will not be able to read arbitrary object file formats --
5421 only the format ``expected'' to be used on the configured target system.
5422 We hope to make this the default in a future release.
5423
5424 * Documentation improvements
5425
5426 There's new internal documentation on how to modify GDB, and how to
5427 produce clean changes to the code. We implore people to read it
5428 before submitting changes.
5429
5430 The GDB manual uses new, sexy Texinfo conditionals, rather than arcane
5431 M4 macros. The new texinfo.tex is provided in this release. Pre-built
5432 `info' files are also provided. To build `info' files from scratch,
5433 you will need the latest `makeinfo' release, which will be available in
5434 a future texinfo-X.Y release.
5435
5436 *NOTE* The new texinfo.tex can cause old versions of TeX to hang.
5437 We're not sure exactly which versions have this problem, but it has
5438 been seen in 3.0. We highly recommend upgrading to TeX version 3.141
5439 or better. If that isn't possible, there is a patch in
5440 `texinfo/tex3patch' that will modify `texinfo/texinfo.tex' to work
5441 around this problem.
5442
5443 * New features
5444
5445 GDB now supports array constants that can be used in expressions typed in by
5446 the user. The syntax is `{element, element, ...}'. Ie: you can now type
5447 `print {1, 2, 3}', and it will build up an array in memory malloc'd in
5448 the target program.
5449
5450 The new directory `gdb/sparclite' contains a program that demonstrates
5451 how the sparc-stub.c remote stub runs on a Fujitsu SPARClite processor.
5452
5453 * New native hosts supported
5454
5455 HP/PA-RISC under HPUX using GNU tools hppa1.1-hp-hpux
5456 386 CPUs running SCO Unix 3.2v4 i386-unknown-sco3.2v4
5457
5458 * New targets supported
5459
5460 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi or udi29k
5461
5462 * New file formats supported
5463
5464 BFD now supports reading HP/PA-RISC executables (SOM file format?),
5465 HPUX core files, and SCO 3.2v2 core files.
5466
5467 * Major bug fixes
5468
5469 Attaching to processes now works again; thanks for the many bug reports.
5470
5471 We have also stomped on a bunch of core dumps caused by
5472 printf_filtered("%s") problems.
5473
5474 We eliminated a copyright problem on the rpc and ptrace header files
5475 for VxWorks, which was discovered at the last minute during the 4.7
5476 release. You should now be able to build a VxWorks GDB.
5477
5478 You can now interrupt gdb while an attached process is running. This
5479 will cause the attached process to stop, and give control back to GDB.
5480
5481 We fixed problems caused by using too many file descriptors
5482 for reading symbols from object files and libraries. This was
5483 especially a problem for programs that used many (~100) shared
5484 libraries.
5485
5486 The `step' command now only enters a subroutine if there is line number
5487 information for the subroutine. Otherwise it acts like the `next'
5488 command. Previously, `step' would enter subroutines if there was
5489 any debugging information about the routine. This avoids problems
5490 when using `cc -g1' on MIPS machines.
5491
5492 * Internal improvements
5493
5494 GDB's internal interfaces have been improved to make it easier to support
5495 debugging of multiple languages in the future.
5496
5497 GDB now uses a common structure for symbol information internally.
5498 Minimal symbols (derived from linkage symbols in object files), partial
5499 symbols (from a quick scan of debug information), and full symbols
5500 contain a common subset of information, making it easier to write
5501 shared code that handles any of them.
5502
5503 * New command line options
5504
5505 We now accept --silent as an alias for --quiet.
5506
5507 * Mmalloc licensing
5508
5509 The memory-mapped-malloc library is now licensed under the GNU Library
5510 General Public License.
5511
5512 *** Changes in GDB-4.7:
5513
5514 * Host/native/target split
5515
5516 GDB has had some major internal surgery to untangle the support for
5517 hosts and remote targets. Now, when you configure GDB for a remote
5518 target, it will no longer load in all of the support for debugging
5519 local programs on the host. When fully completed and tested, this will
5520 ensure that arbitrary host/target combinations are possible.
5521
5522 The primary conceptual shift is to separate the non-portable code in
5523 GDB into three categories. Host specific code is required any time GDB
5524 is compiled on that host, regardless of the target. Target specific
5525 code relates to the peculiarities of the target, but can be compiled on
5526 any host. Native specific code is everything else: it can only be
5527 built when the host and target are the same system. Child process
5528 handling and core file support are two common `native' examples.
5529
5530 GDB's use of /proc for controlling Unix child processes is now cleaner.
5531 It has been split out into a single module under the `target_ops' vector,
5532 plus two native-dependent functions for each system that uses /proc.
5533
5534 * New hosts supported
5535
5536 HP/Apollo 68k (under the BSD domain) m68k-apollo-bsd or apollo68bsd
5537 386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
5538 386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or i386sco
5539
5540 * New targets supported
5541
5542 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
5543 68030 and CPU32 m68030-*-*, m68332-*-*
5544
5545 * New native hosts supported
5546
5547 386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
5548 (386bsd is not well tested yet)
5549 386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or sco
5550
5551 * New file formats supported
5552
5553 BFD now supports COFF files for the Zilog Z8000 microprocessor. It
5554 supports reading of `a.out.adobe' object files, which are an a.out
5555 format extended with minimal information about multiple sections.
5556
5557 * New commands
5558
5559 `show copying' is the same as the old `info copying'.
5560 `show warranty' is the same as `info warrantee'.
5561 These were renamed for consistency. The old commands continue to work.
5562
5563 `info handle' is a new alias for `info signals'.
5564
5565 You can now define pre-command hooks, which attach arbitrary command
5566 scripts to any command. The commands in the hook will be executed
5567 prior to the user's command. You can also create a hook which will be
5568 executed whenever the program stops. See gdb.texinfo.
5569
5570 * C++ improvements
5571
5572 We now deal with Cfront style name mangling, and can even extract type
5573 info from mangled symbols. GDB can automatically figure out which
5574 symbol mangling style your C++ compiler uses.
5575
5576 Calling of methods and virtual functions has been improved as well.
5577
5578 * Major bug fixes
5579
5580 The crash that occured when debugging Sun Ansi-C compiled binaries is
5581 fixed. This was due to mishandling of the extra N_SO stabs output
5582 by the compiler.
5583
5584 We also finally got Ultrix 4.2 running in house, and fixed core file
5585 support, with help from a dozen people on the net.
5586
5587 John M. Farrell discovered that the reason that single-stepping was so
5588 slow on all of the Mips based platforms (primarily SGI and DEC) was
5589 that we were trying to demangle and lookup a symbol used for internal
5590 purposes on every instruction that was being stepped through. Changing
5591 the name of that symbol so that it couldn't be mistaken for a C++
5592 mangled symbol sped things up a great deal.
5593
5594 Rich Pixley sped up symbol lookups in general by getting much smarter
5595 about when C++ symbol mangling is necessary. This should make symbol
5596 completion (TAB on the command line) much faster. It's not as fast as
5597 we'd like, but it's significantly faster than gdb-4.6.
5598
5599 * AMD 29k support
5600
5601 A new user controllable variable 'call_scratch_address' can
5602 specify the location of a scratch area to be used when GDB
5603 calls a function in the target. This is necessary because the
5604 usual method of putting the scratch area on the stack does not work
5605 in systems that have separate instruction and data spaces.
5606
5607 We integrated changes to support the 29k UDI (Universal Debugger
5608 Interface), but discovered at the last minute that we didn't have all
5609 of the appropriate copyright paperwork. We are working with AMD to
5610 resolve this, and hope to have it available soon.
5611
5612 * Remote interfaces
5613
5614 We have sped up the remote serial line protocol, especially for targets
5615 with lots of registers. It now supports a new `expedited status' ('T')
5616 message which can be used in place of the existing 'S' status message.
5617 This allows the remote stub to send only the registers that GDB
5618 needs to make a quick decision about single-stepping or conditional
5619 breakpoints, eliminating the need to fetch the entire register set for
5620 each instruction being stepped through.
5621
5622 The GDB remote serial protocol now implements a write-through cache for
5623 registers, only re-reading the registers if the target has run.
5624
5625 There is also a new remote serial stub for SPARC processors. You can
5626 find it in gdb-4.7/gdb/sparc-stub.c. This was written to support the
5627 Fujitsu SPARClite processor, but will run on any stand-alone SPARC
5628 processor with a serial port.
5629
5630 * Configuration
5631
5632 Configure.in files have become much easier to read and modify. A new
5633 `table driven' format makes it more obvious what configurations are
5634 supported, and what files each one uses.
5635
5636 * Library changes
5637
5638 There is a new opcodes library which will eventually contain all of the
5639 disassembly routines and opcode tables. At present, it only contains
5640 Sparc and Z8000 routines. This will allow the assembler, debugger, and
5641 disassembler (binutils/objdump) to share these routines.
5642
5643 The libiberty library is now copylefted under the GNU Library General
5644 Public License. This allows more liberal use, and was done so libg++
5645 can use it. This makes no difference to GDB, since the Library License
5646 grants all the rights from the General Public License.
5647
5648 * Documentation
5649
5650 The file gdb-4.7/gdb/doc/stabs.texinfo is a (relatively) complete
5651 reference to the stabs symbol info used by the debugger. It is (as far
5652 as we know) the only published document on this fascinating topic. We
5653 encourage you to read it, compare it to the stabs information on your
5654 system, and send improvements on the document in general (to
5655 bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu).
5656
5657 And, of course, many bugs have been fixed.
5658
5659
5660 *** Changes in GDB-4.6:
5661
5662 * Better support for C++ function names
5663
5664 GDB now accepts as input the "demangled form" of C++ overloaded function
5665 names and member function names, and can do command completion on such names
5666 (using TAB, TAB-TAB, and ESC-?). The names have to be quoted with a pair of
5667 single quotes. Examples are 'func (int, long)' and 'obj::operator==(obj&)'.
5668 Make use of command completion, it is your friend.
5669
5670 GDB also now accepts a variety of C++ mangled symbol formats. They are
5671 the GNU g++ style, the Cfront (ARM) style, and the Lucid (lcc) style.
5672 You can tell GDB which format to use by doing a 'set demangle-style {gnu,
5673 lucid, cfront, auto}'. 'gnu' is the default. Do a 'set demangle-style foo'
5674 for the list of formats.
5675
5676 * G++ symbol mangling problem
5677
5678 Recent versions of gcc have a bug in how they emit debugging information for
5679 C++ methods (when using dbx-style stabs). The file 'gcc.patch' (in this
5680 directory) can be applied to gcc to fix the problem. Alternatively, if you
5681 can't fix gcc, you can #define GCC_MANGLE_BUG when compling gdb/symtab.c. The
5682 usual symptom is difficulty with setting breakpoints on methods. GDB complains
5683 about the method being non-existent. (We believe that version 2.2.2 of GCC has
5684 this problem.)
5685
5686 * New 'maintenance' command
5687
5688 All of the commands related to hacking GDB internals have been moved out of
5689 the main command set, and now live behind the 'maintenance' command. This
5690 can also be abbreviated as 'mt'. The following changes were made:
5691
5692 dump-me -> maintenance dump-me
5693 info all-breakpoints -> maintenance info breakpoints
5694 printmsyms -> maintenance print msyms
5695 printobjfiles -> maintenance print objfiles
5696 printpsyms -> maintenance print psymbols
5697 printsyms -> maintenance print symbols
5698
5699 The following commands are new:
5700
5701 maintenance demangle Call internal GDB demangler routine to
5702 demangle a C++ link name and prints the result.
5703 maintenance print type Print a type chain for a given symbol
5704
5705 * Change to .gdbinit file processing
5706
5707 We now read the $HOME/.gdbinit file before processing the argv arguments
5708 (e.g. reading symbol files or core files). This allows global parameters to
5709 be set, which will apply during the symbol reading. The ./.gdbinit is still
5710 read after argv processing.
5711
5712 * New hosts supported
5713
5714 Solaris-2.0 !!! sparc-sun-solaris2 or sun4sol2
5715
5716 GNU/Linux support i386-unknown-linux or linux
5717
5718 We are also including code to support the HP/PA running BSD and HPUX. This
5719 is almost guaranteed not to work, as we didn't have time to test or build it
5720 for this release. We are including it so that the more adventurous (or
5721 masochistic) of you can play with it. We also had major problems with the
5722 fact that the compiler that we got from HP doesn't support the -g option.
5723 It costs extra.
5724
5725 * New targets supported
5726
5727 Hitachi H8/300 h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
5728
5729 * More smarts about finding #include files
5730
5731 GDB now remembers the compilation directory for all include files, and for
5732 all files from which C is generated (like yacc and lex sources). This
5733 greatly improves GDB's ability to find yacc/lex sources, and include files,
5734 especially if you are debugging your program from a directory different from
5735 the one that contains your sources.
5736
5737 We also fixed a bug which caused difficulty with listing and setting
5738 breakpoints in include files which contain C code. (In the past, you had to
5739 try twice in order to list an include file that you hadn't looked at before.)
5740
5741 * Interesting infernals change
5742
5743 GDB now deals with arbitrary numbers of sections, where the symbols for each
5744 section must be relocated relative to that section's landing place in the
5745 target's address space. This work was needed to support ELF with embedded
5746 stabs used by Solaris-2.0.
5747
5748 * Bug fixes (of course!)
5749
5750 There have been loads of fixes for the following things:
5751 mips, rs6000, 29k/udi, m68k, g++, type handling, elf/dwarf, m88k,
5752 i960, stabs, DOS(GO32), procfs, etc...
5753
5754 See the ChangeLog for details.
5755
5756 *** Changes in GDB-4.5:
5757
5758 * New machines supported (host and target)
5759
5760 IBM RS6000 running AIX rs6000-ibm-aix or rs6000
5761
5762 SGI Irix-4.x mips-sgi-irix4 or iris4
5763
5764 * New malloc package
5765
5766 GDB now uses a new memory manager called mmalloc, based on gmalloc.
5767 Mmalloc is capable of handling mutiple heaps of memory. It is also
5768 capable of saving a heap to a file, and then mapping it back in later.
5769 This can be used to greatly speedup the startup of GDB by using a
5770 pre-parsed symbol table which lives in a mmalloc managed heap. For
5771 more details, please read mmalloc/mmalloc.texi.
5772
5773 * info proc
5774
5775 The 'info proc' command (SVR4 only) has been enhanced quite a bit. See
5776 'help info proc' for details.
5777
5778 * MIPS ecoff symbol table format
5779
5780 The code that reads MIPS symbol table format is now supported on all hosts.
5781 Thanks to MIPS for releasing the sym.h and symconst.h files to make this
5782 possible.
5783
5784 * File name changes for MS-DOS
5785
5786 Many files in the config directories have been renamed to make it easier to
5787 support GDB on MS-DOSe systems (which have very restrictive file name
5788 conventions :-( ). MS-DOSe host support (under DJ Delorie's GO32
5789 environment) is close to working but has some remaining problems. Note
5790 that debugging of DOS programs is not supported, due to limitations
5791 in the ``operating system'', but it can be used to host cross-debugging.
5792
5793 * Cross byte order fixes
5794
5795 Many fixes have been made to support cross debugging of Sparc and MIPS
5796 targets from hosts whose byte order differs.
5797
5798 * New -mapped and -readnow options
5799
5800 If memory-mapped files are available on your system through the 'mmap'
5801 system call, you can use the -mapped option on the `file' or
5802 `symbol-file' commands to cause GDB to write the symbols from your
5803 program into a reusable file. If the program you are debugging is
5804 called `/path/fred', the mapped symbol file will be `./fred.syms'.
5805 Future GDB debugging sessions will notice the presence of this file,
5806 and will quickly map in symbol information from it, rather than reading
5807 the symbol table from the executable program. Using the '-mapped'
5808 option in a GDB `file' or `symbol-file' command has the same effect as
5809 starting GDB with the '-mapped' command-line option.
5810
5811 You can cause GDB to read the entire symbol table immediately by using
5812 the '-readnow' option with any of the commands that load symbol table
5813 information (or on the GDB command line). This makes the command
5814 slower, but makes future operations faster.
5815
5816 The -mapped and -readnow options are typically combined in order to
5817 build a `fred.syms' file that contains complete symbol information.
5818 A simple GDB invocation to do nothing but build a `.syms' file for future
5819 use is:
5820
5821 gdb -batch -nx -mapped -readnow programname
5822
5823 The `.syms' file is specific to the host machine on which GDB is run.
5824 It holds an exact image of GDB's internal symbol table. It cannot be
5825 shared across multiple host platforms.
5826
5827 * longjmp() handling
5828
5829 GDB is now capable of stepping and nexting over longjmp(), _longjmp(), and
5830 siglongjmp() without losing control. This feature has not yet been ported to
5831 all systems. It currently works on many 386 platforms, all MIPS-based
5832 platforms (SGI, DECstation, etc), and Sun3/4.
5833
5834 * Solaris 2.0
5835
5836 Preliminary work has been put in to support the new Solaris OS from Sun. At
5837 this time, it can control and debug processes, but it is not capable of
5838 reading symbols.
5839
5840 * Bug fixes
5841
5842 As always, many many bug fixes. The major areas were with g++, and mipsread.
5843 People using the MIPS-based platforms should experience fewer mysterious
5844 crashes and trashed symbol tables.
5845
5846 *** Changes in GDB-4.4:
5847
5848 * New machines supported (host and target)
5849
5850 SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
5851 (except core files)
5852 BSD Reno on Vax vax-dec-bsd
5853 Ultrix on Vax vax-dec-ultrix
5854
5855 * New machines supported (target)
5856
5857 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
5858
5859 * C++ support
5860
5861 GDB continues to improve its handling of C++. `References' work better.
5862 The demangler has also been improved, and now deals with symbols mangled as
5863 per the Annotated C++ Reference Guide.
5864
5865 GDB also now handles `stabs' symbol information embedded in MIPS
5866 `ecoff' symbol tables. Since the ecoff format was not easily
5867 extensible to handle new languages such as C++, this appeared to be a
5868 good way to put C++ debugging info into MIPS binaries. This option
5869 will be supported in the GNU C compiler, version 2, when it is
5870 released.
5871
5872 * New features for SVR4
5873
5874 GDB now handles SVR4 shared libraries, in the same fashion as SunOS
5875 shared libraries. Debugging dynamically linked programs should present
5876 only minor differences from debugging statically linked programs.
5877
5878 The `info proc' command will print out information about any process
5879 on an SVR4 system (including the one you are debugging). At the moment,
5880 it prints the address mappings of the process.
5881
5882 If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please send mail to
5883 bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were reqired (if any).
5884
5885 * Better dynamic linking support in SunOS
5886
5887 Reading symbols from shared libraries which contain debugging symbols
5888 now works properly. However, there remain issues such as automatic
5889 skipping of `transfer vector' code during function calls, which
5890 make it harder to debug code in a shared library, than to debug the
5891 same code linked statically.
5892
5893 * New Getopt
5894
5895 GDB is now using the latest `getopt' routines from the FSF. This
5896 version accepts the -- prefix for options with long names. GDB will
5897 continue to accept the old forms (-option and +option) as well.
5898 Various single letter abbreviations for options have been explicity
5899 added to the option table so that they won't get overshadowed in the
5900 future by other options that begin with the same letter.
5901
5902 * Bugs fixed
5903
5904 The `cleanup_undefined_types' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
5905 Many assorted bugs have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
5906 See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
5907
5908
5909 *** Changes in GDB-4.3:
5910
5911 * New machines supported (host and target)
5912
5913 Amiga 3000 running Amix m68k-cbm-svr4 or amix
5914 NCR 3000 386 running SVR4 i386-ncr-svr4 or ncr3000
5915 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
5916
5917 * Almost SCO Unix support
5918
5919 We had hoped to support:
5920 SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
5921 (except for core file support), but we discovered very late in the release
5922 that it has problems with process groups that render gdb unusable. Sorry
5923 about that. I encourage people to fix it and post the fixes.
5924
5925 * Preliminary ELF and DWARF support
5926
5927 GDB can read ELF object files on System V Release 4, and can handle
5928 debugging records for C, in DWARF format, in ELF files. This support
5929 is preliminary. If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please
5930 send mail to bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were
5931 reqired (if any).
5932
5933 * New Readline
5934
5935 GDB now uses the latest `readline' library. One user-visible change
5936 is that two tabs will list possible command completions, which previously
5937 required typing M-? (meta-question mark, or ESC ?).
5938
5939 * Bugs fixed
5940
5941 The `stepi' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
5942 Many bugs in C++ have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
5943 See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
5944
5945 * State of the MIPS world (in case you wondered):
5946
5947 GDB can understand the symbol tables emitted by the compilers
5948 supplied by most vendors of MIPS-based machines, including DEC. These
5949 symbol tables are in a format that essentially nobody else uses.
5950
5951 Some versions of gcc come with an assembler post-processor called
5952 mips-tfile. This program is required if you want to do source-level
5953 debugging of gcc-compiled programs. I believe FSF does not ship
5954 mips-tfile with gcc version 1, but it will eventually come with gcc
5955 version 2.
5956
5957 Debugging of g++ output remains a problem. g++ version 1.xx does not
5958 really support it at all. (If you're lucky, you should be able to get
5959 line numbers and stack traces to work, but no parameters or local
5960 variables.) With some work it should be possible to improve the
5961 situation somewhat.
5962
5963 When gcc version 2 is released, you will have somewhat better luck.
5964 However, even then you will get confusing results for inheritance and
5965 methods.
5966
5967 We will eventually provide full debugging of g++ output on
5968 DECstations. This will probably involve some kind of stabs-in-ecoff
5969 encapulation, but the details have not been worked out yet.
5970
5971
5972 *** Changes in GDB-4.2:
5973
5974 * Improved configuration
5975
5976 Only one copy of `configure' exists now, and it is not self-modifying.
5977 Porting BFD is simpler.
5978
5979 * Stepping improved
5980
5981 The `step' and `next' commands now only stop at the first instruction
5982 of a source line. This prevents the multiple stops that used to occur
5983 in switch statements, for-loops, etc. `Step' continues to stop if a
5984 function that has debugging information is called within the line.
5985
5986 * Bug fixing
5987
5988 Lots of small bugs fixed. More remain.
5989
5990 * New host supported (not target)
5991
5992 Intel 386 PC clone running Mach i386-none-mach
5993
5994
5995 *** Changes in GDB-4.1:
5996
5997 * Multiple source language support
5998
5999 GDB now has internal scaffolding to handle several source languages.
6000 It determines the type of each source file from its filename extension,
6001 and will switch expression parsing and number formatting to match the
6002 language of the function in the currently selected stack frame.
6003 You can also specifically set the language to be used, with
6004 `set language c' or `set language modula-2'.
6005
6006 * GDB and Modula-2
6007
6008 GDB now has preliminary support for the GNU Modula-2 compiler,
6009 currently under development at the State University of New York at
6010 Buffalo. Development of both GDB and the GNU Modula-2 compiler will
6011 continue through the fall of 1991 and into 1992.
6012
6013 Other Modula-2 compilers are currently not supported, and attempting to
6014 debug programs compiled with them will likely result in an error as the
6015 symbol table is read. Feel free to work on it, though!
6016
6017 There are hooks in GDB for strict type checking and range checking,
6018 in the `Modula-2 philosophy', but they do not currently work.
6019
6020 * set write on/off
6021
6022 GDB can now write to executable and core files (e.g. patch
6023 a variable's value). You must turn this switch on, specify
6024 the file ("exec foo" or "core foo"), *then* modify it, e.g.
6025 by assigning a new value to a variable. Modifications take
6026 effect immediately.
6027
6028 * Automatic SunOS shared library reading
6029
6030 When you run your program, GDB automatically determines where its
6031 shared libraries (if any) have been loaded, and reads their symbols.
6032 The `share' command is no longer needed. This also works when
6033 examining core files.
6034
6035 * set listsize
6036
6037 You can specify the number of lines that the `list' command shows.
6038 The default is 10.
6039
6040 * New machines supported (host and target)
6041
6042 SGI Iris (MIPS) running Irix V3: mips-sgi-irix or iris
6043 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x: m68k-sony-sysv or news
6044 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1: a29k-nyu-sym1 or ultra3
6045
6046 * New hosts supported (not targets)
6047
6048 IBM RT/PC: romp-ibm-aix or rtpc
6049
6050 * New targets supported (not hosts)
6051
6052 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
6053 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
6054 Ultracomputer remote kernel debug a29k-nyu-kern
6055
6056 * New remote interfaces
6057
6058 AMD 29000 Adapt
6059 AMD 29000 Minimon
6060
6061
6062 *** Changes in GDB-4.0:
6063
6064 * New Facilities
6065
6066 Wide output is wrapped at good places to make the output more readable.
6067
6068 Gdb now supports cross-debugging from a host machine of one type to a
6069 target machine of another type. Communication with the target system
6070 is over serial lines. The ``target'' command handles connecting to the
6071 remote system; the ``load'' command will download a program into the
6072 remote system. Serial stubs for the m68k and i386 are provided. Gdb
6073 also supports debugging of realtime processes running under VxWorks,
6074 using SunRPC Remote Procedure Calls over TCP/IP to talk to a debugger
6075 stub on the target system.
6076
6077 New CPUs supported include the AMD 29000 and Intel 960.
6078
6079 GDB now reads object files and symbol tables via a ``binary file''
6080 library, which allows a single copy of GDB to debug programs of multiple
6081 object file types such as a.out and coff.
6082
6083 There is now a GDB reference card in "doc/refcard.tex". (Make targets
6084 refcard.dvi and refcard.ps are available to format it).
6085
6086
6087 * Control-Variable user interface simplified
6088
6089 All variables that control the operation of the debugger can be set
6090 by the ``set'' command, and displayed by the ``show'' command.
6091
6092 For example, ``set prompt new-gdb=>'' will change your prompt to new-gdb=>.
6093 ``Show prompt'' produces the response:
6094 Gdb's prompt is new-gdb=>.
6095
6096 What follows are the NEW set commands. The command ``help set'' will
6097 print a complete list of old and new set commands. ``help set FOO''
6098 will give a longer description of the variable FOO. ``show'' will show
6099 all of the variable descriptions and their current settings.
6100
6101 confirm on/off: Enables warning questions for operations that are
6102 hard to recover from, e.g. rerunning the program while
6103 it is already running. Default is ON.
6104
6105 editing on/off: Enables EMACS style command line editing
6106 of input. Previous lines can be recalled with
6107 control-P, the current line can be edited with control-B,
6108 you can search for commands with control-R, etc.
6109 Default is ON.
6110
6111 history filename NAME: NAME is where the gdb command history
6112 will be stored. The default is .gdb_history,
6113 or the value of the environment variable
6114 GDBHISTFILE.
6115
6116 history size N: The size, in commands, of the command history. The
6117 default is 256, or the value of the environment variable
6118 HISTSIZE.
6119
6120 history save on/off: If this value is set to ON, the history file will
6121 be saved after exiting gdb. If set to OFF, the
6122 file will not be saved. The default is OFF.
6123
6124 history expansion on/off: If this value is set to ON, then csh-like
6125 history expansion will be performed on
6126 command line input. The default is OFF.
6127
6128 radix N: Sets the default radix for input and output. It can be set
6129 to 8, 10, or 16. Note that the argument to "radix" is interpreted
6130 in the current radix, so "set radix 10" is always a no-op.
6131
6132 height N: This integer value is the number of lines on a page. Default
6133 is 24, the current `stty rows'' setting, or the ``li#''
6134 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
6135 variable TERM.
6136
6137 width N: This integer value is the number of characters on a line.
6138 Default is 80, the current `stty cols'' setting, or the ``co#''
6139 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
6140 variable TERM.
6141
6142 Note: ``set screensize'' is obsolete. Use ``set height'' and
6143 ``set width'' instead.
6144
6145 print address on/off: Print memory addresses in various command displays,
6146 such as stack traces and structure values. Gdb looks
6147 more ``symbolic'' if you turn this off; it looks more
6148 ``machine level'' with it on. Default is ON.
6149
6150 print array on/off: Prettyprint arrays. New convenient format! Default
6151 is OFF.
6152
6153 print demangle on/off: Print C++ symbols in "source" form if on,
6154 "raw" form if off.
6155
6156 print asm-demangle on/off: Same, for assembler level printouts
6157 like instructions.
6158
6159 print vtbl on/off: Prettyprint C++ virtual function tables. Default is OFF.
6160
6161
6162 * Support for Epoch Environment.
6163
6164 The epoch environment is a version of Emacs v18 with windowing. One
6165 new command, ``inspect'', is identical to ``print'', except that if you
6166 are running in the epoch environment, the value is printed in its own
6167 window.
6168
6169
6170 * Support for Shared Libraries
6171
6172 GDB can now debug programs and core files that use SunOS shared libraries.
6173 Symbols from a shared library cannot be referenced
6174 before the shared library has been linked with the program (this
6175 happens after you type ``run'' and before the function main() is entered).
6176 At any time after this linking (including when examining core files
6177 from dynamically linked programs), gdb reads the symbols from each
6178 shared library when you type the ``sharedlibrary'' command.
6179 It can be abbreviated ``share''.
6180
6181 sharedlibrary REGEXP: Load shared object library symbols for files
6182 matching a unix regular expression. No argument
6183 indicates to load symbols for all shared libraries.
6184
6185 info sharedlibrary: Status of loaded shared libraries.
6186
6187
6188 * Watchpoints
6189
6190 A watchpoint stops execution of a program whenever the value of an
6191 expression changes. Checking for this slows down execution
6192 tremendously whenever you are in the scope of the expression, but is
6193 quite useful for catching tough ``bit-spreader'' or pointer misuse
6194 problems. Some machines such as the 386 have hardware for doing this
6195 more quickly, and future versions of gdb will use this hardware.
6196
6197 watch EXP: Set a watchpoint (breakpoint) for an expression.
6198
6199 info watchpoints: Information about your watchpoints.
6200
6201 delete N: Deletes watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
6202 disable N: Temporarily turns off watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
6203 enable N: Re-enables watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
6204
6205
6206 * C++ multiple inheritance
6207
6208 When used with a GCC version 2 compiler, GDB supports multiple inheritance
6209 for C++ programs.
6210
6211 * C++ exception handling
6212
6213 Gdb now supports limited C++ exception handling. Besides the existing
6214 ability to breakpoint on an exception handler, gdb can breakpoint on
6215 the raising of an exception (before the stack is peeled back to the
6216 handler's context).
6217
6218 catch FOO: If there is a FOO exception handler in the dynamic scope,
6219 set a breakpoint to catch exceptions which may be raised there.
6220 Multiple exceptions (``catch foo bar baz'') may be caught.
6221
6222 info catch: Lists all exceptions which may be caught in the
6223 current stack frame.
6224
6225
6226 * Minor command changes
6227
6228 The command ``call func (arg, arg, ...)'' now acts like the print
6229 command, except it does not print or save a value if the function's result
6230 is void. This is similar to dbx usage.
6231
6232 The ``up'' and ``down'' commands now always print the frame they end up
6233 at; ``up-silently'' and `down-silently'' can be used in scripts to change
6234 frames without printing.
6235
6236 * New directory command
6237
6238 'dir' now adds directories to the FRONT of the source search path.
6239 The path starts off empty. Source files that contain debug information
6240 about the directory in which they were compiled can be found even
6241 with an empty path; Sun CC and GCC include this information. If GDB can't
6242 find your source file in the current directory, type "dir .".
6243
6244 * Configuring GDB for compilation
6245
6246 For normal use, type ``./configure host''. See README or gdb.texinfo
6247 for more details.
6248
6249 GDB now handles cross debugging. If you are remotely debugging between
6250 two different machines, type ``./configure host -target=targ''.
6251 Host is the machine where GDB will run; targ is the machine
6252 where the program that you are debugging will run.