377ebee0e7d2e186de68a4109e139fbb5636abbb
[binutils-gdb.git] / gdb / NEWS
1 What has changed since GDB-3.5?
2 (Organized release by release)
3
4 *** Changes in GDB-4.7:
5
6 * Host/native/target split
7
8 GDB has had some major internal surgery to untangle the support for
9 hosts and remote targets. Now, when you configure GDB for a remote
10 target, it will no longer load in all of the support for debugging
11 local programs on the host. When fully completed and tested, this will
12 ensure that arbitrary host/target combinations are possible.
13
14 The primary conceptual shift is to separate the non-portable code in
15 GDB into three categories. Host specific code is required any time GDB
16 is compiled on that host, regardless of the target. Target specific
17 code relates to the peculiarities of the target, but can be compiled on
18 any host. Native specific code is everything else: it can only be
19 built when the host and target are the same system. Child process
20 handling and core file support are two common `native' examples.
21
22 GDB's use of /proc for controlling Unix child processes is now cleaner.
23 It has been split out into a single module under the `target_ops' vector,
24 plus two native-dependent functions for each system that uses /proc.
25
26 * New hosts supported
27
28 HP/Apollo 68k (under the BSD domain) m68k-apollo-bsd or apollo68bsd
29 386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
30 386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or i386sco
31
32 * New targets supported
33
34 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
35 68030 and CPU32 m68030-*-*, m68332-*-*
36
37 * New native hosts supported
38
39 386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
40 (386bsd is not well tested yet)
41 386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or sco
42
43 * New file formats supported
44
45 BFD now supports COFF files for the Zilog Z8000 microprocessor. It
46 supports reading of `a.out.adobe' object files, which are an a.out
47 format extended with minimal information about multiple sections.
48
49 * New commands
50
51 `show copying' is the same as the old `info copying'.
52 `show warranty' is the same as `info warrantee'.
53 These were renamed for consistency. The old commands continue to work.
54
55 `info handle' is a new alias for `info signals'.
56
57 You can now define pre-command hooks, which attach arbitrary command
58 scripts to any command. The commands in the hook will be executed
59 prior to the user's command. You can also create a hook which will be
60 executed whenever the program stops. See gdb.texinfo.
61
62 * C++ improvements
63
64 We now deal with Cfront style name mangling, and can even extract type
65 info from mangled symbols. GDB can automatically figure out which
66 symbol mangling style your C++ compiler uses.
67
68 Calling of methods and virtual functions has been improved as well.
69
70 * Major bug fixes
71
72 The crash that occured when debugging Sun Ansi-C compiled binaries is
73 fixed. This was due to mishandling of the extra N_SO stabs output
74 by the compiler.
75
76 We also finally got Ultrix 4.2 running in house, and fixed core file
77 support, with help from a dozen people on the net.
78
79 John M. Farrell discovered that the reason that single-stepping was so
80 slow on all of the Mips based platforms (primarily SGI and DEC) was
81 that we were trying to demangle and lookup a symbol used for internal
82 purposes on every instruction that was being stepped through. Changing
83 the name of that symbol so that it couldn't be mistaken for a C++
84 mangled symbol sped things up a great deal.
85
86 Rich Pixley sped up symbol lookups in general by getting much smarter
87 about when C++ symbol mangling is necessary. This should make symbol
88 completion (TAB on the command line) much faster. It's not as fast as
89 we'd like, but it's significantly faster than gdb-4.6.
90
91 * AMD 29k support
92
93 A new user controllable variable 'call_scratch_address' can
94 specify the location of a scratch area to be used when GDB
95 calls a function in the target. This is necessary because the
96 usual method of putting the scratch area on the stack does not work
97 in systems that have separate instruction and data spaces.
98
99 We integrated changes to support the 29k UDI (Universal Debugger
100 Interface), but discovered at the last minute that we didn't have all
101 of the appropriate copyright paperwork. We are working with AMD to
102 resolve this, and hope to have it available soon.
103
104 * Remote interfaces
105
106 We have sped up the remote serial line protocol, especially for targets
107 with lots of registers. It now supports a new `expedited status' ('T')
108 message which can be used in place of the existing 'S' status message.
109 This allows the remote stub to send only the registers that GDB
110 needs to make a quick decision about single-stepping or conditional
111 breakpoints, eliminating the need to fetch the entire register set for
112 each instruction being stepped through.
113
114 The GDB remote serial protocol now implements a write-through cache for
115 registers, only re-reading the registers if the target has run.
116
117 There is also a new remote serial stub for SPARC processors. You can
118 find it in gdb-4.7/gdb/sparc-stub.c. This was written to support the
119 Fujitsu SPARClite processor, but will run on any stand-alone SPARC
120 processor with a serial port.
121
122 * Configuration
123
124 Configure.in files have become much easier to read and modify. A new
125 `table driven' format makes it more obvious what configurations are
126 supported, and what files each one uses.
127
128 * Library changes
129
130 There is a new opcodes library which will eventually contain all of the
131 disassembly routines and opcode tables. At present, it only contains
132 Sparc and Z8000 routines. This will allow the assembler, debugger, and
133 disassembler (binutils/objdump) to share these routines.
134
135 The libiberty library is now copylefted under the GNU Library General
136 Public License. This allows more liberal use, and was done so libg++
137 can use it. This makes no difference to GDB, since the Library License
138 grants all the rights from the General Public License.
139
140 * Documentation
141
142 The file gdb-4.7/gdb/doc/stabs.texinfo is a (relatively) complete
143 reference to the stabs symbol info used by the debugger. It is (as far
144 as we know) the only published document on this fascinating topic. We
145 encourage you to read it, compare it to the stabs information on your
146 system, and send improvements on the document in general (to
147 bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu).
148
149 And, of course, many bugs have been fixed.
150
151
152 *** Changes in GDB-4.6:
153
154 * Better support for C++ function names
155
156 GDB now accepts as input the "demangled form" of C++ overloaded function
157 names and member function names, and can do command completion on such names
158 (using TAB, TAB-TAB, and ESC-?). The names have to be quoted with a pair of
159 single quotes. Examples are 'func (int, long)' and 'obj::operator==(obj&)'.
160 Make use of command completion, it is your friend.
161
162 GDB also now accepts a variety of C++ mangled symbol formats. They are
163 the GNU g++ style, the Cfront (ARM) style, and the Lucid (lcc) style.
164 You can tell GDB which format to use by doing a 'set demangle-style {gnu,
165 lucid, cfront, auto}'. 'gnu' is the default. Do a 'set demangle-style foo'
166 for the list of formats.
167
168 * G++ symbol mangling problem
169
170 Recent versions of gcc have a bug in how they emit debugging information for
171 C++ methods (when using dbx-style stabs). The file 'gcc.patch' (in this
172 directory) can be applied to gcc to fix the problem. Alternatively, if you
173 can't fix gcc, you can #define GCC_MANGLE_BUG when compling gdb/symtab.c. The
174 usual symptom is difficulty with setting breakpoints on methods. GDB complains
175 about the method being non-existent. (We believe that version 2.2.2 of GCC has
176 this problem.)
177
178 * New 'maintenance' command
179
180 All of the commands related to hacking GDB internals have been moved out of
181 the main command set, and now live behind the 'maintenance' command. This
182 can also be abbreviated as 'mt'. The following changes were made:
183
184 dump-me -> maintenance dump-me
185 info all-breakpoints -> maintenance info breakpoints
186 printmsyms -> maintenance print msyms
187 printobjfiles -> maintenance print objfiles
188 printpsyms -> maintenance print psymbols
189 printsyms -> maintenance print symbols
190
191 The following commands are new:
192
193 maintenance demangle Call internal GDB demangler routine to
194 demangle a C++ link name and prints the result.
195 maintenance print type Print a type chain for a given symbol
196
197 * Change to .gdbinit file processing
198
199 We now read the $HOME/.gdbinit file before processing the argv arguments
200 (e.g. reading symbol files or core files). This allows global parameters to
201 be set, which will apply during the symbol reading. The ./.gdbinit is still
202 read after argv processing.
203
204 * New hosts supported
205
206 Solaris-2.0 !!! sparc-sun-solaris2 or sun4sol2
207
208 Linux support i386-unknown-linux or linux
209
210 We are also including code to support the HP/PA running BSD and HPUX. This
211 is almost guaranteed not to work, as we didn't have time to test or build it
212 for this release. We are including it so that the more adventurous (or
213 masochistic) of you can play with it. We also had major problems with the
214 fact that the compiler that we got from HP doesn't support the -g option.
215 It costs extra.
216
217 * New targets supported
218
219 Hitachi H8/300 h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
220
221 * More smarts about finding #include files
222
223 GDB now remembers the compilation directory for all include files, and for
224 all files from which C is generated (like yacc and lex sources). This
225 greatly improves GDB's ability to find yacc/lex sources, and include files,
226 especially if you are debugging your program from a directory different from
227 the one that contains your sources.
228
229 We also fixed a bug which caused difficulty with listing and setting
230 breakpoints in include files which contain C code. (In the past, you had to
231 try twice in order to list an include file that you hadn't looked at before.)
232
233 * Interesting infernals change
234
235 GDB now deals with arbitrary numbers of sections, where the symbols for each
236 section must be relocated relative to that section's landing place in the
237 target's address space. This work was needed to support ELF with embedded
238 stabs used by Solaris-2.0.
239
240 * Bug fixes (of course!)
241
242 There have been loads of fixes for the following things:
243 mips, rs6000, 29k/udi, m68k, g++, type handling, elf/dwarf, m88k,
244 i960, stabs, DOS(GO32), procfs, etc...
245
246 See the ChangeLog for details.
247
248 *** Changes in GDB-4.5:
249
250 * New machines supported (host and target)
251
252 IBM RS6000 running AIX rs6000-ibm-aix or rs6000
253
254 SGI Irix-4.x mips-sgi-irix4 or iris4
255
256 * New malloc package
257
258 GDB now uses a new memory manager called mmalloc, based on gmalloc.
259 Mmalloc is capable of handling mutiple heaps of memory. It is also
260 capable of saving a heap to a file, and then mapping it back in later.
261 This can be used to greatly speedup the startup of GDB by using a
262 pre-parsed symbol table which lives in a mmalloc managed heap. For
263 more details, please read mmalloc/mmalloc.texi.
264
265 * info proc
266
267 The 'info proc' command (SVR4 only) has been enhanced quite a bit. See
268 'help info proc' for details.
269
270 * MIPS ecoff symbol table format
271
272 The code that reads MIPS symbol table format is now supported on all hosts.
273 Thanks to MIPS for releasing the sym.h and symconst.h files to make this
274 possible.
275
276 * File name changes for MS-DOS
277
278 Many files in the config directories have been renamed to make it easier to
279 support GDB on MS-DOSe systems (which have very restrictive file name
280 conventions :-( ). MS-DOSe host support (under DJ Delorie's GO32
281 environment) is close to working but has some remaining problems. Note
282 that debugging of DOS programs is not supported, due to limitations
283 in the ``operating system'', but it can be used to host cross-debugging.
284
285 * Cross byte order fixes
286
287 Many fixes have been made to support cross debugging of Sparc and MIPS
288 targets from hosts whose byte order differs.
289
290 * New -mapped and -readnow options
291
292 If memory-mapped files are available on your system through the 'mmap'
293 system call, you can use the -mapped option on the `file' or
294 `symbol-file' commands to cause GDB to write the symbols from your
295 program into a reusable file. If the program you are debugging is
296 called `/path/fred', the mapped symbol file will be `./fred.syms'.
297 Future GDB debugging sessions will notice the presence of this file,
298 and will quickly map in symbol information from it, rather than reading
299 the symbol table from the executable program. Using the '-mapped'
300 option in a GDB `file' or `symbol-file' command has the same effect as
301 starting GDB with the '-mapped' command-line option.
302
303 You can cause GDB to read the entire symbol table immediately by using
304 the '-readnow' option with any of the commands that load symbol table
305 information (or on the GDB command line). This makes the command
306 slower, but makes future operations faster.
307
308 The -mapped and -readnow options are typically combined in order to
309 build a `fred.syms' file that contains complete symbol information.
310 A simple GDB invocation to do nothing but build a `.syms' file for future
311 use is:
312
313 gdb -batch -nx -mapped -readnow programname
314
315 The `.syms' file is specific to the host machine on which GDB is run.
316 It holds an exact image of GDB's internal symbol table. It cannot be
317 shared across multiple host platforms.
318
319 * longjmp() handling
320
321 GDB is now capable of stepping and nexting over longjmp(), _longjmp(), and
322 siglongjmp() without losing control. This feature has not yet been ported to
323 all systems. It currently works on many 386 platforms, all MIPS-based
324 platforms (SGI, DECstation, etc), and Sun3/4.
325
326 * Solaris 2.0
327
328 Preliminary work has been put in to support the new Solaris OS from Sun. At
329 this time, it can control and debug processes, but it is not capable of
330 reading symbols.
331
332 * Bug fixes
333
334 As always, many many bug fixes. The major areas were with g++, and mipsread.
335 People using the MIPS-based platforms should experience fewer mysterious
336 crashes and trashed symbol tables.
337
338 *** Changes in GDB-4.4:
339
340 * New machines supported (host and target)
341
342 SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
343 (except core files)
344 BSD Reno on Vax vax-dec-bsd
345 Ultrix on Vax vax-dec-ultrix
346
347 * New machines supported (target)
348
349 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
350
351 * C++ support
352
353 GDB continues to improve its handling of C++. `References' work better.
354 The demangler has also been improved, and now deals with symbols mangled as
355 per the Annotated C++ Reference Guide.
356
357 GDB also now handles `stabs' symbol information embedded in MIPS
358 `ecoff' symbol tables. Since the ecoff format was not easily
359 extensible to handle new languages such as C++, this appeared to be a
360 good way to put C++ debugging info into MIPS binaries. This option
361 will be supported in the GNU C compiler, version 2, when it is
362 released.
363
364 * New features for SVR4
365
366 GDB now handles SVR4 shared libraries, in the same fashion as SunOS
367 shared libraries. Debugging dynamically linked programs should present
368 only minor differences from debugging statically linked programs.
369
370 The `info proc' command will print out information about any process
371 on an SVR4 system (including the one you are debugging). At the moment,
372 it prints the address mappings of the process.
373
374 If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please send mail to
375 bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were reqired (if any).
376
377 * Better dynamic linking support in SunOS
378
379 Reading symbols from shared libraries which contain debugging symbols
380 now works properly. However, there remain issues such as automatic
381 skipping of `transfer vector' code during function calls, which
382 make it harder to debug code in a shared library, than to debug the
383 same code linked statically.
384
385 * New Getopt
386
387 GDB is now using the latest `getopt' routines from the FSF. This
388 version accepts the -- prefix for options with long names. GDB will
389 continue to accept the old forms (-option and +option) as well.
390 Various single letter abbreviations for options have been explicity
391 added to the option table so that they won't get overshadowed in the
392 future by other options that begin with the same letter.
393
394 * Bugs fixed
395
396 The `cleanup_undefined_types' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
397 Many assorted bugs have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
398 See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
399
400
401 *** Changes in GDB-4.3:
402
403 * New machines supported (host and target)
404
405 Amiga 3000 running Amix m68k-cbm-svr4 or amix
406 NCR 3000 386 running SVR4 i386-ncr-svr4 or ncr3000
407 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
408
409 * Almost SCO Unix support
410
411 We had hoped to support:
412 SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
413 (except for core file support), but we discovered very late in the release
414 that it has problems with process groups that render gdb unusable. Sorry
415 about that. I encourage people to fix it and post the fixes.
416
417 * Preliminary ELF and DWARF support
418
419 GDB can read ELF object files on System V Release 4, and can handle
420 debugging records for C, in DWARF format, in ELF files. This support
421 is preliminary. If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please
422 send mail to bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were
423 reqired (if any).
424
425 * New Readline
426
427 GDB now uses the latest `readline' library. One user-visible change
428 is that two tabs will list possible command completions, which previously
429 required typing M-? (meta-question mark, or ESC ?).
430
431 * Bugs fixed
432
433 The `stepi' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
434 Many bugs in C++ have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
435 See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
436
437 * State of the MIPS world (in case you wondered):
438
439 GDB can understand the symbol tables emitted by the compilers
440 supplied by most vendors of MIPS-based machines, including DEC. These
441 symbol tables are in a format that essentially nobody else uses.
442
443 Some versions of gcc come with an assembler post-processor called
444 mips-tfile. This program is required if you want to do source-level
445 debugging of gcc-compiled programs. I believe FSF does not ship
446 mips-tfile with gcc version 1, but it will eventually come with gcc
447 version 2.
448
449 Debugging of g++ output remains a problem. g++ version 1.xx does not
450 really support it at all. (If you're lucky, you should be able to get
451 line numbers and stack traces to work, but no parameters or local
452 variables.) With some work it should be possible to improve the
453 situation somewhat.
454
455 When gcc version 2 is released, you will have somewhat better luck.
456 However, even then you will get confusing results for inheritance and
457 methods.
458
459 We will eventually provide full debugging of g++ output on
460 DECstations. This will probably involve some kind of stabs-in-ecoff
461 encapulation, but the details have not been worked out yet.
462
463
464 *** Changes in GDB-4.2:
465
466 * Improved configuration
467
468 Only one copy of `configure' exists now, and it is not self-modifying.
469 Porting BFD is simpler.
470
471 * Stepping improved
472
473 The `step' and `next' commands now only stop at the first instruction
474 of a source line. This prevents the multiple stops that used to occur
475 in switch statements, for-loops, etc. `Step' continues to stop if a
476 function that has debugging information is called within the line.
477
478 * Bug fixing
479
480 Lots of small bugs fixed. More remain.
481
482 * New host supported (not target)
483
484 Intel 386 PC clone running Mach i386-none-mach
485
486
487 *** Changes in GDB-4.1:
488
489 * Multiple source language support
490
491 GDB now has internal scaffolding to handle several source languages.
492 It determines the type of each source file from its filename extension,
493 and will switch expression parsing and number formatting to match the
494 language of the function in the currently selected stack frame.
495 You can also specifically set the language to be used, with
496 `set language c' or `set language modula-2'.
497
498 * GDB and Modula-2
499
500 GDB now has preliminary support for the GNU Modula-2 compiler,
501 currently under development at the State University of New York at
502 Buffalo. Development of both GDB and the GNU Modula-2 compiler will
503 continue through the fall of 1991 and into 1992.
504
505 Other Modula-2 compilers are currently not supported, and attempting to
506 debug programs compiled with them will likely result in an error as the
507 symbol table is read. Feel free to work on it, though!
508
509 There are hooks in GDB for strict type checking and range checking,
510 in the `Modula-2 philosophy', but they do not currently work.
511
512 * set write on/off
513
514 GDB can now write to executable and core files (e.g. patch
515 a variable's value). You must turn this switch on, specify
516 the file ("exec foo" or "core foo"), *then* modify it, e.g.
517 by assigning a new value to a variable. Modifications take
518 effect immediately.
519
520 * Automatic SunOS shared library reading
521
522 When you run your program, GDB automatically determines where its
523 shared libraries (if any) have been loaded, and reads their symbols.
524 The `share' command is no longer needed. This also works when
525 examining core files.
526
527 * set listsize
528
529 You can specify the number of lines that the `list' command shows.
530 The default is 10.
531
532 * New machines supported (host and target)
533
534 SGI Iris (MIPS) running Irix V3: mips-sgi-irix or iris
535 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x: m68k-sony-sysv or news
536 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1: a29k-nyu-sym1 or ultra3
537
538 * New hosts supported (not targets)
539
540 IBM RT/PC: romp-ibm-aix or rtpc
541
542 * New targets supported (not hosts)
543
544 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
545 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
546 Ultracomputer remote kernel debug a29k-nyu-kern
547
548 * New remote interfaces
549
550 AMD 29000 Adapt
551 AMD 29000 Minimon
552
553
554 *** Changes in GDB-4.0:
555
556 * New Facilities
557
558 Wide output is wrapped at good places to make the output more readable.
559
560 Gdb now supports cross-debugging from a host machine of one type to a
561 target machine of another type. Communication with the target system
562 is over serial lines. The ``target'' command handles connecting to the
563 remote system; the ``load'' command will download a program into the
564 remote system. Serial stubs for the m68k and i386 are provided. Gdb
565 also supports debugging of realtime processes running under VxWorks,
566 using SunRPC Remote Procedure Calls over TCP/IP to talk to a debugger
567 stub on the target system.
568
569 New CPUs supported include the AMD 29000 and Intel 960.
570
571 GDB now reads object files and symbol tables via a ``binary file''
572 library, which allows a single copy of GDB to debug programs of multiple
573 object file types such as a.out and coff.
574
575 There is now a GDB reference card in "doc/refcard.tex". (Make targets
576 refcard.dvi and refcard.ps are available to format it).
577
578
579 * Control-Variable user interface simplified
580
581 All variables that control the operation of the debugger can be set
582 by the ``set'' command, and displayed by the ``show'' command.
583
584 For example, ``set prompt new-gdb=>'' will change your prompt to new-gdb=>.
585 ``Show prompt'' produces the response:
586 Gdb's prompt is new-gdb=>.
587
588 What follows are the NEW set commands. The command ``help set'' will
589 print a complete list of old and new set commands. ``help set FOO''
590 will give a longer description of the variable FOO. ``show'' will show
591 all of the variable descriptions and their current settings.
592
593 confirm on/off: Enables warning questions for operations that are
594 hard to recover from, e.g. rerunning the program while
595 it is already running. Default is ON.
596
597 editing on/off: Enables EMACS style command line editing
598 of input. Previous lines can be recalled with
599 control-P, the current line can be edited with control-B,
600 you can search for commands with control-R, etc.
601 Default is ON.
602
603 history filename NAME: NAME is where the gdb command history
604 will be stored. The default is .gdb_history,
605 or the value of the environment variable
606 GDBHISTFILE.
607
608 history size N: The size, in commands, of the command history. The
609 default is 256, or the value of the environment variable
610 HISTSIZE.
611
612 history save on/off: If this value is set to ON, the history file will
613 be saved after exiting gdb. If set to OFF, the
614 file will not be saved. The default is OFF.
615
616 history expansion on/off: If this value is set to ON, then csh-like
617 history expansion will be performed on
618 command line input. The default is OFF.
619
620 radix N: Sets the default radix for input and output. It can be set
621 to 8, 10, or 16. Note that the argument to "radix" is interpreted
622 in the current radix, so "set radix 10" is always a no-op.
623
624 height N: This integer value is the number of lines on a page. Default
625 is 24, the current `stty rows'' setting, or the ``li#''
626 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
627 variable TERM.
628
629 width N: This integer value is the number of characters on a line.
630 Default is 80, the current `stty cols'' setting, or the ``co#''
631 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
632 variable TERM.
633
634 Note: ``set screensize'' is obsolete. Use ``set height'' and
635 ``set width'' instead.
636
637 print address on/off: Print memory addresses in various command displays,
638 such as stack traces and structure values. Gdb looks
639 more ``symbolic'' if you turn this off; it looks more
640 ``machine level'' with it on. Default is ON.
641
642 print array on/off: Prettyprint arrays. New convenient format! Default
643 is OFF.
644
645 print demangle on/off: Print C++ symbols in "source" form if on,
646 "raw" form if off.
647
648 print asm-demangle on/off: Same, for assembler level printouts
649 like instructions.
650
651 print vtbl on/off: Prettyprint C++ virtual function tables. Default is OFF.
652
653
654 * Support for Epoch Environment.
655
656 The epoch environment is a version of Emacs v18 with windowing. One
657 new command, ``inspect'', is identical to ``print'', except that if you
658 are running in the epoch environment, the value is printed in its own
659 window.
660
661
662 * Support for Shared Libraries
663
664 GDB can now debug programs and core files that use SunOS shared libraries.
665 Symbols from a shared library cannot be referenced
666 before the shared library has been linked with the program (this
667 happens after you type ``run'' and before the function main() is entered).
668 At any time after this linking (including when examining core files
669 from dynamically linked programs), gdb reads the symbols from each
670 shared library when you type the ``sharedlibrary'' command.
671 It can be abbreviated ``share''.
672
673 sharedlibrary REGEXP: Load shared object library symbols for files
674 matching a unix regular expression. No argument
675 indicates to load symbols for all shared libraries.
676
677 info sharedlibrary: Status of loaded shared libraries.
678
679
680 * Watchpoints
681
682 A watchpoint stops execution of a program whenever the value of an
683 expression changes. Checking for this slows down execution
684 tremendously whenever you are in the scope of the expression, but is
685 quite useful for catching tough ``bit-spreader'' or pointer misuse
686 problems. Some machines such as the 386 have hardware for doing this
687 more quickly, and future versions of gdb will use this hardware.
688
689 watch EXP: Set a watchpoint (breakpoint) for an expression.
690
691 info watchpoints: Information about your watchpoints.
692
693 delete N: Deletes watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
694 disable N: Temporarily turns off watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
695 enable N: Re-enables watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
696
697
698 * C++ multiple inheritance
699
700 When used with a GCC version 2 compiler, GDB supports multiple inheritance
701 for C++ programs.
702
703 * C++ exception handling
704
705 Gdb now supports limited C++ exception handling. Besides the existing
706 ability to breakpoint on an exception handler, gdb can breakpoint on
707 the raising of an exception (before the stack is peeled back to the
708 handler's context).
709
710 catch FOO: If there is a FOO exception handler in the dynamic scope,
711 set a breakpoint to catch exceptions which may be raised there.
712 Multiple exceptions (``catch foo bar baz'') may be caught.
713
714 info catch: Lists all exceptions which may be caught in the
715 current stack frame.
716
717
718 * Minor command changes
719
720 The command ``call func (arg, arg, ...)'' now acts like the print
721 command, except it does not print or save a value if the function's result
722 is void. This is similar to dbx usage.
723
724 The ``up'' and ``down'' commands now always print the frame they end up
725 at; ``up-silently'' and `down-silently'' can be used in scripts to change
726 frames without printing.
727
728 * New directory command
729
730 'dir' now adds directories to the FRONT of the source search path.
731 The path starts off empty. Source files that contain debug information
732 about the directory in which they were compiled can be found even
733 with an empty path; Sun CC and GCC include this information. If GDB can't
734 find your source file in the current directory, type "dir .".
735
736 * Configuring GDB for compilation
737
738 For normal use, type ``./configure host''. See README or gdb.texinfo
739 for more details.
740
741 GDB now handles cross debugging. If you are remotely debugging between
742 two different machines, type ``./configure host -target=targ''.
743 Host is the machine where GDB will run; targ is the machine
744 where the program that you are debugging will run.