* remote.c (minitelnet): Don't redeclare escape_count, echo_check.
[binutils-gdb.git] / gdb / NEWS
1 What has changed in GDB?
2 (Organized release by release)
3
4 *** Changes since GDB 5.3:
5
6 * d10v `regs' command deprecated
7
8 The `info registers' command has been updated so that it displays the
9 registers using a format identical to the old `regs' command.
10
11 * Profiling support
12
13 A new command, "maint set profile on/off", has been added. This command can
14 be used to enable or disable profiling while running GDB, to profile a
15 session or a set of commands. In addition there is a new configure switch,
16 "--enable-profiling", which will cause GDB to be compiled with profiling
17 data, for more informative profiling results.
18
19 * Default MI syntax changed to "mi2".
20
21 The default MI (machine interface) syntax, enabled by the command line
22 option "-i=mi", has been changed to "mi2". The previous MI syntax,
23 "mi1", can be enabled by specifying the option "-i=mi1".
24
25 Support for the original "mi0" syntax (included in GDB 5.0) has been
26 removed.
27
28 Fix for gdb/192: removed extraneous space when displaying frame level.
29 Fix for gdb/672: update changelist is now output in mi list format.
30 Fix for gdb/702: a -var-assign that updates the value now shows up
31 in a subsequent -var-update.
32
33 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
34
35 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
36 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
37 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
38 permanently REMOVED.
39
40 Mitsubishi M32R/D w/simulator m32r-*-elf*
41 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
42 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
43 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
44 HP/PA running BSD hppa*-*-bsd*
45 HP/PA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
46 HP/PA Pro target hppa*-*-pro*
47 PMAX (MIPS) running Mach 3.0 mips*-*-mach3*
48 Sequent family i[3456]86-sequent-sysv4*
49 i[3456]86-sequent-sysv*
50 i[3456]86-sequent-bsd*
51 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
52 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
53
54 * REMOVED configurations and files
55
56 V850EA ISA
57 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
58 IBM AIX PS/2 i[3456]86-*-aix
59 i386 running Mach 3.0 i[3456]86-*-mach3*
60 i386 running Mach i[3456]86-*-mach*
61 i386 running OSF/1 i[3456]86-*osf1mk*
62 HP/Apollo 68k Family m68*-apollo*-sysv*,
63 m68*-apollo*-bsd*,
64 m68*-hp-bsd*, m68*-hp-hpux*
65 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
66 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
67 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
68 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
69 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
70
71 * MIPS $fp behavior changed
72
73 The convenience variable $fp, for the MIPS, now consistently returns
74 the address of the current frame's base. Previously, depending on the
75 context, $fp could refer to either $sp or the current frame's base
76 address. See ``8.10 Registers'' in the manual ``Debugging with GDB:
77 The GNU Source-Level Debugger''.
78
79 *** Changes in GDB 5.3:
80
81 * GNU/Linux shared library multi-threaded performance improved.
82
83 When debugging a multi-threaded application on GNU/Linux, GDB now uses
84 `/proc', in preference to `ptrace' for memory reads. This may result
85 in an improvement in the start-up time of multi-threaded, shared
86 library applications when run under GDB. One GDB user writes: ``loads
87 shared libs like mad''.
88
89 * ``gdbserver'' now supports multi-threaded applications on some targets
90
91 Support for debugging multi-threaded applications which use
92 the GNU/Linux LinuxThreads package has been added for
93 arm*-*-linux*-gnu*, i[3456]86-*-linux*-gnu*, mips*-*-linux*-gnu*,
94 powerpc*-*-linux*-gnu*, and sh*-*-linux*-gnu*.
95
96 * GDB now supports C/C++ preprocessor macros.
97
98 GDB now expands preprocessor macro invocations in C/C++ expressions,
99 and provides various commands for showing macro definitions and how
100 they expand.
101
102 The new command `macro expand EXPRESSION' expands any macro
103 invocations in expression, and shows the result.
104
105 The new command `show macro MACRO-NAME' shows the definition of the
106 macro named MACRO-NAME, and where it was defined.
107
108 Most compilers don't include information about macros in the debugging
109 information by default. In GCC 3.1, for example, you need to compile
110 your program with the options `-gdwarf-2 -g3'. If the macro
111 information is present in the executable, GDB will read it.
112
113 * Multi-arched targets.
114
115 DEC Alpha (partial) alpha*-*-*
116 DEC VAX (partial) vax-*-*
117 NEC V850 v850-*-*
118 National Semiconductor NS32000 (partial) ns32k-*-*
119 Motorola 68000 (partial) m68k-*-*
120 Motorola MCORE mcore-*-*
121
122 * New targets.
123
124 Fujitsu FRV architecture added by Red Hat frv*-*-*
125
126
127 * New native configurations
128
129 Alpha NetBSD alpha*-*-netbsd*
130 SH NetBSD sh*-*-netbsdelf*
131 MIPS NetBSD mips*-*-netbsd*
132 UltraSPARC NetBSD sparc64-*-netbsd*
133
134 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
135
136 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
137 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
138 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
139 permanently REMOVED.
140
141 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
142 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
143 IBM AIX PS/2 i[3456]86-*-aix
144 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
145 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
146 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
147 i386 running Mach 3.0 i[3456]86-*-mach3*
148 i386 running Mach i[3456]86-*-mach*
149 i386 running OSF/1 i[3456]86-*osf1mk*
150 HP/Apollo 68k Family m68*-apollo*-sysv*,
151 m68*-apollo*-bsd*,
152 m68*-hp-bsd*, m68*-hp-hpux*
153 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
154
155 * OBSOLETE languages
156
157 CHILL, a Pascal like language used by telecommunications companies.
158
159 * REMOVED configurations and files
160
161 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi, udi29k
162 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
163 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
164 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
165 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
166
167 testsuite/gdb.hp/gdb.threads-hp/ directory
168
169 * New command "set max-user-call-depth <nnn>"
170
171 This command allows the user to limit the call depth of user-defined
172 commands. The default is 1024.
173
174 * Changes in FreeBSD/i386 native debugging.
175
176 Support for the "generate-core-file" has been added.
177
178 * New commands "dump", "append", and "restore".
179
180 These commands allow data to be copied from target memory
181 to a bfd-format or binary file (dump and append), and back
182 from a file into memory (restore).
183
184 * Improved "next/step" support on multi-processor Alpha Tru64.
185
186 The previous single-step mechanism could cause unpredictable problems,
187 including the random appearance of SIGSEGV or SIGTRAP signals. The use
188 of a software single-step mechanism prevents this.
189
190 *** Changes in GDB 5.2.1:
191
192 * New targets.
193
194 Atmel AVR avr*-*-*
195
196 * Bug fixes
197
198 gdb/182: gdb/323: gdb/237: On alpha, gdb was reporting:
199 mdebugread.c:2443: gdb-internal-error: sect_index_data not initialized
200 Fix, by Joel Brobecker imported from mainline.
201
202 gdb/439: gdb/291: On some ELF object files, gdb was reporting:
203 dwarf2read.c:1072: gdb-internal-error: sect_index_text not initialize
204 Fix, by Fred Fish, imported from mainline.
205
206 Dwarf2 .debug_frame & .eh_frame handler improved in many ways.
207 Surprisingly enough, it works now.
208 By Michal Ludvig, imported from mainline.
209
210 i386 hardware watchpoint support:
211 avoid misses on second run for some targets.
212 By Pierre Muller, imported from mainline.
213
214 *** Changes in GDB 5.2:
215
216 * New command "set trust-readonly-sections on[off]".
217
218 This command is a hint that tells gdb that read-only sections
219 really are read-only (ie. that their contents will not change).
220 In this mode, gdb will go to the object file rather than the
221 target to read memory from read-only sections (such as ".text").
222 This can be a significant performance improvement on some
223 (notably embedded) targets.
224
225 * New command "generate-core-file" (or "gcore").
226
227 This new gdb command allows the user to drop a core file of the child
228 process state at any time. So far it's been implemented only for
229 GNU/Linux and Solaris, but should be relatively easily ported to other
230 hosts. Argument is core file name (defaults to core.<pid>).
231
232 * New command line option
233
234 GDB now accepts --pid or -p followed by a process id.
235
236 * Change in command line behavior -- corefiles vs. process ids.
237
238 There is a subtle behavior in the way in which GDB handles
239 command line arguments. The first non-flag argument is always
240 a program to debug, but the second non-flag argument may either
241 be a corefile or a process id. Previously, GDB would attempt to
242 open the second argument as a corefile, and if that failed, would
243 issue a superfluous error message and then attempt to attach it as
244 a process. Now, if the second argument begins with a non-digit,
245 it will be treated as a corefile. If it begins with a digit,
246 GDB will attempt to attach it as a process, and if no such process
247 is found, will then attempt to open it as a corefile.
248
249 * Changes in ARM configurations.
250
251 Multi-arch support is enabled for all ARM configurations. The ARM/NetBSD
252 configuration is fully multi-arch.
253
254 * New native configurations
255
256 ARM NetBSD arm*-*-netbsd*
257 x86 OpenBSD i[3456]86-*-openbsd*
258 AMD x86-64 running GNU/Linux x86_64-*-linux-*
259 Sparc64 running FreeBSD sparc64-*-freebsd*
260
261 * New targets
262
263 Sanyo XStormy16 xstormy16-elf
264
265 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
266
267 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
268 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
269 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
270 permanently REMOVED.
271
272 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi, udi29k
273 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
274 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
275 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
276 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
277
278 testsuite/gdb.hp/gdb.threads-hp/ directory
279
280 * REMOVED configurations and files
281
282 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
283 WDC 65816 w65-*-*
284 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
285 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
286 PowerPC Netware powerpc-*-netware*
287 Harris/CXUX m88k m88*-harris-cxux*
288 Most ns32k hosts and targets ns32k-*-mach3* ns32k-umax-*
289 ns32k-utek-sysv* ns32k-utek-*
290 SunOS 4.0.Xi on i386 i[3456]86-*-sunos*
291 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1 a29k-nyu-sym1 a29k-*-kern*
292 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x m68*-sony-sysv news
293 ISI Optimum V (3.05) under 4.3bsd. m68*-isi-*
294 Apple Macintosh (MPW) host and target N/A host, powerpc-*-macos*
295
296 * Changes to command line processing
297
298 The new `--args' feature can be used to specify command-line arguments
299 for the inferior from gdb's command line.
300
301 * Changes to key bindings
302
303 There is a new `operate-and-get-next' function bound to `C-o'.
304
305 *** Changes in GDB 5.1.1
306
307 Fix compile problem on DJGPP.
308
309 Fix a problem with floating-point registers on the i386 being
310 corrupted.
311
312 Fix to stop GDB crashing on .debug_str debug info.
313
314 Numerous documentation fixes.
315
316 Numerous testsuite fixes.
317
318 *** Changes in GDB 5.1:
319
320 * New native configurations
321
322 Alpha FreeBSD alpha*-*-freebsd*
323 x86 FreeBSD 3.x and 4.x i[3456]86*-freebsd[34]*
324 MIPS GNU/Linux mips*-*-linux*
325 MIPS SGI Irix 6.x mips*-sgi-irix6*
326 ia64 AIX ia64-*-aix*
327 s390 and s390x GNU/Linux {s390,s390x}-*-linux*
328
329 * New targets
330
331 Motorola 68HC11 and 68HC12 m68hc11-elf
332 CRIS cris-axis
333 UltraSparc running GNU/Linux sparc64-*-linux*
334
335 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
336
337 x86 FreeBSD before 2.2 i[3456]86*-freebsd{1,2.[01]}*,
338 Harris/CXUX m88k m88*-harris-cxux*
339 Most ns32k hosts and targets ns32k-*-mach3* ns32k-umax-*
340 ns32k-utek-sysv* ns32k-utek-*
341 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
342 WDC 65816 w65-*-*
343 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1 a29k-nyu-sym1 a29k-*-kern*
344 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
345 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
346 PowerPC Netware powerpc-*-netware*
347 SunOS 4.0.Xi on i386 i[3456]86-*-sunos*
348 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x m68*-sony-sysv news
349 ISI Optimum V (3.05) under 4.3bsd. m68*-isi-*
350 Apple Macintosh (MPW) host N/A
351
352 stuff.c (Program to stuff files into a specially prepared space in kdb)
353 kdb-start.c (Main loop for the standalone kernel debugger)
354
355 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
356 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
357 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
358 permanently REMOVED.
359
360 * REMOVED configurations and files
361
362 Altos 3068 m68*-altos-*
363 Convex c1-*-*, c2-*-*
364 Pyramid pyramid-*-*
365 ARM RISCix arm-*-* (as host)
366 Tahoe tahoe-*-*
367 ser-ocd.c *-*-*
368
369 * GDB has been converted to ISO C.
370
371 GDB's source code has been converted to ISO C. In particular, the
372 sources are fully protoized, and rely on standard headers being
373 present.
374
375 * Other news:
376
377 * "info symbol" works on platforms which use COFF, ECOFF, XCOFF, and NLM.
378
379 * The MI enabled by default.
380
381 The new machine oriented interface (MI) introduced in GDB 5.0 has been
382 revised and enabled by default. Packages which use GDB as a debugging
383 engine behind a UI or another front end are encouraged to switch to
384 using the GDB/MI interface, instead of the old annotations interface
385 which is now deprecated.
386
387 * Support for debugging Pascal programs.
388
389 GDB now includes support for debugging Pascal programs. The following
390 main features are supported:
391
392 - Pascal-specific data types such as sets;
393
394 - automatic recognition of Pascal sources based on file-name
395 extension;
396
397 - Pascal-style display of data types, variables, and functions;
398
399 - a Pascal expression parser.
400
401 However, some important features are not yet supported.
402
403 - Pascal string operations are not supported at all;
404
405 - there are some problems with boolean types;
406
407 - Pascal type hexadecimal constants are not supported
408 because they conflict with the internal variables format;
409
410 - support for Pascal objects and classes is not full yet;
411
412 - unlike Pascal, GDB is case-sensitive for symbol names.
413
414 * Changes in completion.
415
416 Commands such as `shell', `run' and `set args', which pass arguments
417 to inferior programs, now complete on file names, similar to what
418 users expect at the shell prompt.
419
420 Commands which accept locations, such as `disassemble', `print',
421 `breakpoint', `until', etc. now complete on filenames as well as
422 program symbols. Thus, if you type "break foob TAB", and the source
423 files linked into the programs include `foobar.c', that file name will
424 be one of the candidates for completion. However, file names are not
425 considered for completion after you typed a colon that delimits a file
426 name from a name of a function in that file, as in "break foo.c:bar".
427
428 `set demangle-style' completes on available demangling styles.
429
430 * New platform-independent commands:
431
432 It is now possible to define a post-hook for a command as well as a
433 hook that runs before the command. For more details, see the
434 documentation of `hookpost' in the GDB manual.
435
436 * Changes in GNU/Linux native debugging.
437
438 Support for debugging multi-threaded programs has been completely
439 revised for all platforms except m68k and sparc. You can now debug as
440 many threads as your system allows you to have.
441
442 Attach/detach is supported for multi-threaded programs.
443
444 Support for SSE registers was added for x86. This doesn't work for
445 multi-threaded programs though.
446
447 * Changes in MIPS configurations.
448
449 Multi-arch support is enabled for all MIPS configurations.
450
451 GDB can now be built as native debugger on SGI Irix 6.x systems for
452 debugging n32 executables. (Debugging 64-bit executables is not yet
453 supported.)
454
455 * Unified support for hardware watchpoints in all x86 configurations.
456
457 Most (if not all) native x86 configurations support hardware-assisted
458 breakpoints and watchpoints in a unified manner. This support
459 implements debug register sharing between watchpoints, which allows to
460 put a virtually infinite number of watchpoints on the same address,
461 and also supports watching regions up to 16 bytes with several debug
462 registers.
463
464 The new maintenance command `maintenance show-debug-regs' toggles
465 debugging print-outs in functions that insert, remove, and test
466 watchpoints and hardware breakpoints.
467
468 * Changes in the DJGPP native configuration.
469
470 New command ``info dos sysinfo'' displays assorted information about
471 the CPU, OS, memory, and DPMI server.
472
473 New commands ``info dos gdt'', ``info dos ldt'', and ``info dos idt''
474 display information about segment descriptors stored in GDT, LDT, and
475 IDT.
476
477 New commands ``info dos pde'' and ``info dos pte'' display entries
478 from Page Directory and Page Tables (for now works with CWSDPMI only).
479 New command ``info dos address-pte'' displays the Page Table entry for
480 a given linear address.
481
482 GDB can now pass command lines longer than 126 characters to the
483 program being debugged (requires an update to the libdbg.a library
484 which is part of the DJGPP development kit).
485
486 DWARF2 debug info is now supported.
487
488 It is now possible to `step' and `next' through calls to `longjmp'.
489
490 * Changes in documentation.
491
492 All GDB documentation was converted to GFDL, the GNU Free
493 Documentation License.
494
495 Tracepoints-related commands are now fully documented in the GDB
496 manual.
497
498 TUI, the Text-mode User Interface, is now documented in the manual.
499
500 Tracepoints-related commands are now fully documented in the GDB
501 manual.
502
503 The "GDB Internals" manual now has an index. It also includes
504 documentation of `ui_out' functions, GDB coding standards, x86
505 hardware watchpoints, and memory region attributes.
506
507 * GDB's version number moved to ``version.in''
508
509 The Makefile variable VERSION has been replaced by the file
510 ``version.in''. People creating GDB distributions should update the
511 contents of this file.
512
513 * gdba.el deleted
514
515 GUD support is now a standard part of the EMACS distribution.
516
517 *** Changes in GDB 5.0:
518
519 * Improved support for debugging FP programs on x86 targets
520
521 Unified and much-improved support for debugging floating-point
522 programs on all x86 targets. In particular, ``info float'' now
523 displays the FP registers in the same format on all x86 targets, with
524 greater level of detail.
525
526 * Improvements and bugfixes in hardware-assisted watchpoints
527
528 It is now possible to watch array elements, struct members, and
529 bitfields with hardware-assisted watchpoints. Data-read watchpoints
530 on x86 targets no longer erroneously trigger when the address is
531 written.
532
533 * Improvements in the native DJGPP version of GDB
534
535 The distribution now includes all the scripts and auxiliary files
536 necessary to build the native DJGPP version on MS-DOS/MS-Windows
537 machines ``out of the box''.
538
539 The DJGPP version can now debug programs that use signals. It is
540 possible to catch signals that happened in the debuggee, deliver
541 signals to it, interrupt it with Ctrl-C, etc. (Previously, a signal
542 would kill the program being debugged.) Programs that hook hardware
543 interrupts (keyboard, timer, etc.) can also be debugged.
544
545 It is now possible to debug DJGPP programs that redirect their
546 standard handles or switch them to raw (as opposed to cooked) mode, or
547 even close them. The command ``run < foo > bar'' works as expected,
548 and ``info terminal'' reports useful information about the debuggee's
549 terminal, including raw/cooked mode, redirection, etc.
550
551 The DJGPP version now uses termios functions for console I/O, which
552 enables debugging graphics programs. Interrupting GDB with Ctrl-C
553 also works.
554
555 DOS-style file names with drive letters are now fully supported by
556 GDB.
557
558 It is now possible to debug DJGPP programs that switch their working
559 directory. It is also possible to rerun the debuggee any number of
560 times without restarting GDB; thus, you can use the same setup,
561 breakpoints, etc. for many debugging sessions.
562
563 * New native configurations
564
565 ARM GNU/Linux arm*-*-linux*
566 PowerPC GNU/Linux powerpc-*-linux*
567
568 * New targets
569
570 Motorola MCore mcore-*-*
571 x86 VxWorks i[3456]86-*-vxworks*
572 PowerPC VxWorks powerpc-*-vxworks*
573 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
574
575 * OBSOLETE configurations
576
577 Altos 3068 m68*-altos-*
578 Convex c1-*-*, c2-*-*
579 Pyramid pyramid-*-*
580 ARM RISCix arm-*-* (as host)
581 Tahoe tahoe-*-*
582
583 Configurations that have been declared obsolete will be commented out,
584 but the code will be left in place. If there is no activity to revive
585 these configurations before the next release of GDB, the sources will
586 be permanently REMOVED.
587
588 * Gould support removed
589
590 Support for the Gould PowerNode and NP1 has been removed.
591
592 * New features for SVR4
593
594 On SVR4 native platforms (such as Solaris), if you attach to a process
595 without first loading a symbol file, GDB will now attempt to locate and
596 load symbols from the running process's executable file.
597
598 * Many C++ enhancements
599
600 C++ support has been greatly improved. Overload resolution now works properly
601 in almost all cases. RTTI support is on the way.
602
603 * Remote targets can connect to a sub-program
604
605 A popen(3) style serial-device has been added. This device starts a
606 sub-process (such as a stand-alone simulator) and then communicates
607 with that. The sub-program to run is specified using the syntax
608 ``|<program> <args>'' vis:
609
610 (gdb) set remotedebug 1
611 (gdb) target extended-remote |mn10300-elf-sim program-args
612
613 * MIPS 64 remote protocol
614
615 A long standing bug in the mips64 remote protocol where by GDB
616 expected certain 32 bit registers (ex SR) to be transfered as 32
617 instead of 64 bits has been fixed.
618
619 The command ``set remote-mips64-transfers-32bit-regs on'' has been
620 added to provide backward compatibility with older versions of GDB.
621
622 * ``set remotebinarydownload'' replaced by ``set remote X-packet''
623
624 The command ``set remotebinarydownload'' command has been replaced by
625 ``set remote X-packet''. Other commands in ``set remote'' family
626 include ``set remote P-packet''.
627
628 * Breakpoint commands accept ranges.
629
630 The breakpoint commands ``enable'', ``disable'', and ``delete'' now
631 accept a range of breakpoints, e.g. ``5-7''. The tracepoint command
632 ``tracepoint passcount'' also accepts a range of tracepoints.
633
634 * ``apropos'' command added.
635
636 The ``apropos'' command searches through command names and
637 documentation strings, printing out matches, making it much easier to
638 try to find a command that does what you are looking for.
639
640 * New MI interface
641
642 A new machine oriented interface (MI) has been added to GDB. This
643 interface is designed for debug environments running GDB as a separate
644 process. This is part of the long term libGDB project. See the
645 "GDB/MI" chapter of the GDB manual for further information. It can be
646 enabled by configuring with:
647
648 .../configure --enable-gdbmi
649
650 *** Changes in GDB-4.18:
651
652 * New native configurations
653
654 HP-UX 10.20 hppa*-*-hpux10.20
655 HP-UX 11.x hppa*-*-hpux11.0*
656 M68K GNU/Linux m68*-*-linux*
657
658 * New targets
659
660 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
661 Intel StrongARM strongarm-*-*
662 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
663
664 * OBSOLETE configurations
665
666 Gould PowerNode, NP1 np1-*-*, pn-*-*
667
668 Configurations that have been declared obsolete will be commented out,
669 but the code will be left in place. If there is no activity to revive
670 these configurations before the next release of GDB, the sources will
671 be permanently REMOVED.
672
673 * ANSI/ISO C
674
675 As a compatibility experiment, GDB's source files buildsym.h and
676 buildsym.c have been converted to pure standard C, no longer
677 containing any K&R compatibility code. We believe that all systems in
678 use today either come with a standard C compiler, or have a GCC port
679 available. If this is not true, please report the affected
680 configuration to bug-gdb@gnu.org immediately. See the README file for
681 information about getting a standard C compiler if you don't have one
682 already.
683
684 * Readline 2.2
685
686 GDB now uses readline 2.2.
687
688 * set extension-language
689
690 You can now control the mapping between filename extensions and source
691 languages by using the `set extension-language' command. For instance,
692 you can ask GDB to treat .c files as C++ by saying
693 set extension-language .c c++
694 The command `info extensions' lists all of the recognized extensions
695 and their associated languages.
696
697 * Setting processor type for PowerPC and RS/6000
698
699 When GDB is configured for a powerpc*-*-* or an rs6000*-*-* target,
700 you can use the `set processor' command to specify what variant of the
701 PowerPC family you are debugging. The command
702
703 set processor NAME
704
705 sets the PowerPC/RS6000 variant to NAME. GDB knows about the
706 following PowerPC and RS6000 variants:
707
708 ppc-uisa PowerPC UISA - a PPC processor as viewed by user-level code
709 rs6000 IBM RS6000 ("POWER") architecture, user-level view
710 403 IBM PowerPC 403
711 403GC IBM PowerPC 403GC
712 505 Motorola PowerPC 505
713 860 Motorola PowerPC 860 or 850
714 601 Motorola PowerPC 601
715 602 Motorola PowerPC 602
716 603 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 603 or 603e
717 604 Motorola PowerPC 604 or 604e
718 750 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 750 or 750
719
720 At the moment, this command just tells GDB what to name the
721 special-purpose processor registers. Since almost all the affected
722 registers are inaccessible to user-level programs, this command is
723 only useful for remote debugging in its present form.
724
725 * HP-UX support
726
727 Thanks to a major code donation from Hewlett-Packard, GDB now has much
728 more extensive support for HP-UX. Added features include shared
729 library support, kernel threads and hardware watchpoints for 11.00,
730 support for HP's ANSI C and C++ compilers, and a compatibility mode
731 for xdb and dbx commands.
732
733 * Catchpoints
734
735 HP's donation includes the new concept of catchpoints, which is a
736 generalization of the old catch command. On HP-UX, it is now possible
737 to catch exec, fork, and vfork, as well as library loading.
738
739 This means that the existing catch command has changed; its first
740 argument now specifies the type of catch to be set up. See the
741 output of "help catch" for a list of catchpoint types.
742
743 * Debugging across forks
744
745 On HP-UX, you can choose which process to debug when a fork() happens
746 in the inferior.
747
748 * TUI
749
750 HP has donated a curses-based terminal user interface (TUI). To get
751 it, build with --enable-tui. Although this can be enabled for any
752 configuration, at present it only works for native HP debugging.
753
754 * GDB remote protocol additions
755
756 A new protocol packet 'X' that writes binary data is now available.
757 Default behavior is to try 'X', then drop back to 'M' if the stub
758 fails to respond. The settable variable `remotebinarydownload'
759 allows explicit control over the use of 'X'.
760
761 For 64-bit targets, the memory packets ('M' and 'm') can now contain a
762 full 64-bit address. The command
763
764 set remoteaddresssize 32
765
766 can be used to revert to the old behaviour. For existing remote stubs
767 the change should not be noticed, as the additional address information
768 will be discarded.
769
770 In order to assist in debugging stubs, you may use the maintenance
771 command `packet' to send any text string to the stub. For instance,
772
773 maint packet heythere
774
775 sends the packet "$heythere#<checksum>". Note that it is very easy to
776 disrupt a debugging session by sending the wrong packet at the wrong
777 time.
778
779 The compare-sections command allows you to compare section data on the
780 target to what is in the executable file without uploading or
781 downloading, by comparing CRC checksums.
782
783 * Tracing can collect general expressions
784
785 You may now collect general expressions at tracepoints. This requires
786 further additions to the target-side stub; see tracepoint.c and
787 doc/agentexpr.texi for further details.
788
789 * mask-address variable for Mips
790
791 For Mips targets, you may control the zeroing of the upper 32 bits of
792 a 64-bit address by entering `set mask-address on'. This is mainly
793 of interest to users of embedded R4xxx and R5xxx processors.
794
795 * Higher serial baud rates
796
797 GDB's serial code now allows you to specify baud rates 57600, 115200,
798 230400, and 460800 baud. (Note that your host system may not be able
799 to achieve all of these rates.)
800
801 * i960 simulator
802
803 The i960 configuration now includes an initial implementation of a
804 builtin simulator, contributed by Jim Wilson.
805
806
807 *** Changes in GDB-4.17:
808
809 * New native configurations
810
811 Alpha GNU/Linux alpha*-*-linux*
812 Unixware 2.x i[3456]86-unixware2*
813 Irix 6.x mips*-sgi-irix6*
814 PowerPC GNU/Linux powerpc-*-linux*
815 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
816 Sparc GNU/Linux sparc-*-linux*
817 Motorola sysV68 R3V7.1 m68k-motorola-sysv
818
819 * New targets
820
821 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
822 Hitachi H8/300S h8300*-*-*
823 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
824 Matsushita MN10300 w/simulator mn10300-*-*
825 MIPS NEC VR4100 mips64*vr4100*{,el}-*-elf*
826 MIPS NEC VR5000 mips64*vr5000*{,el}-*-elf*
827 MIPS Toshiba TX39 mips64*tx39*{,el}-*-elf*
828 Mitsubishi D10V w/simulator d10v-*-*
829 Mitsubishi M32R/D w/simulator m32r-*-elf*
830 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
831 NEC V850 w/simulator v850-*-*
832
833 * New debugging protocols
834
835 ARM with RDI protocol arm*-*-*
836 M68K with dBUG monitor m68*-*-{aout,coff,elf}
837 DDB and LSI variants of PMON protocol mips*-*-*
838 PowerPC with DINK32 monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
839 PowerPC with SDS protocol powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
840 Macraigor OCD (Wiggler) devices powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
841
842 * DWARF 2
843
844 All configurations can now understand and use the DWARF 2 debugging
845 format. The choice is automatic, if the symbol file contains DWARF 2
846 information.
847
848 * Java frontend
849
850 GDB now includes basic Java language support. This support is
851 only useful with Java compilers that produce native machine code.
852
853 * solib-absolute-prefix and solib-search-path
854
855 For SunOS and SVR4 shared libraries, you may now set the prefix for
856 loading absolute shared library symbol files, and the search path for
857 locating non-absolute shared library symbol files.
858
859 * Live range splitting
860
861 GDB can now effectively debug code for which GCC has performed live
862 range splitting as part of its optimization. See gdb/doc/LRS for
863 more details on the expected format of the stabs information.
864
865 * Hurd support
866
867 GDB's support for the GNU Hurd, including thread debugging, has been
868 updated to work with current versions of the Hurd.
869
870 * ARM Thumb support
871
872 GDB's ARM target configuration now handles the ARM7T (Thumb) 16-bit
873 instruction set. ARM GDB automatically detects when Thumb
874 instructions are in use, and adjusts disassembly and backtracing
875 accordingly.
876
877 * MIPS16 support
878
879 GDB's MIPS target configurations now handle the MIP16 16-bit
880 instruction set.
881
882 * Overlay support
883
884 GDB now includes support for overlays; if an executable has been
885 linked such that multiple sections are based at the same address, GDB
886 will decide which section to use for symbolic info. You can choose to
887 control the decision manually, using overlay commands, or implement
888 additional target-side support and use "overlay load-target" to bring
889 in the overlay mapping. Do "help overlay" for more detail.
890
891 * info symbol
892
893 The command "info symbol <address>" displays information about
894 the symbol at the specified address.
895
896 * Trace support
897
898 The standard remote protocol now includes an extension that allows
899 asynchronous collection and display of trace data. This requires
900 extensive support in the target-side debugging stub. Tracing mode
901 includes a new interaction mode in GDB and new commands: see the
902 file tracepoint.c for more details.
903
904 * MIPS simulator
905
906 Configurations for embedded MIPS now include a simulator contributed
907 by Cygnus Solutions. The simulator supports the instruction sets
908 of most MIPS variants.
909
910 * Sparc simulator
911
912 Sparc configurations may now include the ERC32 simulator contributed
913 by the European Space Agency. The simulator is not built into
914 Sparc targets by default; configure with --enable-sim to include it.
915
916 * set architecture
917
918 For target configurations that may include multiple variants of a
919 basic architecture (such as MIPS and SH), you may now set the
920 architecture explicitly. "set arch" sets, "info arch" lists
921 the possible architectures.
922
923 *** Changes in GDB-4.16:
924
925 * New native configurations
926
927 Windows 95, x86 Windows NT i[345]86-*-cygwin32
928 M68K NetBSD m68k-*-netbsd*
929 PowerPC AIX 4.x powerpc-*-aix*
930 PowerPC MacOS powerpc-*-macos*
931 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
932 RS/6000 AIX 4.x rs6000-*-aix4*
933
934 * New targets
935
936 ARM with RDP protocol arm-*-*
937 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
938 MIPS VxWorks mips*-*-vxworks*
939 MIPS VR4300 with PMON mips64*vr4300{,el}-*-elf*
940 PowerPC with PPCBUG monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi*
941 Hitachi SH3 sh-*-*
942 Matra Sparclet sparclet-*-*
943
944 * PowerPC simulator
945
946 The powerpc-eabi configuration now includes the PSIM simulator,
947 contributed by Andrew Cagney, with assistance from Mike Meissner.
948 PSIM is a very elaborate model of the PowerPC, including not only
949 basic instruction set execution, but also details of execution unit
950 performance and I/O hardware. See sim/ppc/README for more details.
951
952 * Solaris 2.5
953
954 GDB now works with Solaris 2.5.
955
956 * Windows 95/NT native
957
958 GDB will now work as a native debugger on Windows 95 and Windows NT.
959 To build it from source, you must use the "gnu-win32" environment,
960 which uses a DLL to emulate enough of Unix to run the GNU tools.
961 Further information, binaries, and sources are available at
962 ftp.cygnus.com, under pub/gnu-win32.
963
964 * dont-repeat command
965
966 If a user-defined command includes the command `dont-repeat', then the
967 command will not be repeated if the user just types return. This is
968 useful if the command is time-consuming to run, so that accidental
969 extra keystrokes don't run the same command many times.
970
971 * Send break instead of ^C
972
973 The standard remote protocol now includes an option to send a break
974 rather than a ^C to the target in order to interrupt it. By default,
975 GDB will send ^C; to send a break, set the variable `remotebreak' to 1.
976
977 * Remote protocol timeout
978
979 The standard remote protocol includes a new variable `remotetimeout'
980 that allows you to set the number of seconds before GDB gives up trying
981 to read from the target. The default value is 2.
982
983 * Automatic tracking of dynamic object loading (HPUX and Solaris only)
984
985 By default GDB will automatically keep track of objects as they are
986 loaded and unloaded by the dynamic linker. By using the command `set
987 stop-on-solib-events 1' you can arrange for GDB to stop the inferior
988 when shared library events occur, thus allowing you to set breakpoints
989 in shared libraries which are explicitly loaded by the inferior.
990
991 Note this feature does not work on hpux8. On hpux9 you must link
992 /usr/lib/end.o into your program. This feature should work
993 automatically on hpux10.
994
995 * Irix 5.x hardware watchpoint support
996
997 Irix 5 configurations now support the use of hardware watchpoints.
998
999 * Mips protocol "SYN garbage limit"
1000
1001 When debugging a Mips target using the `target mips' protocol, you
1002 may set the number of characters that GDB will ignore by setting
1003 the `syn-garbage-limit'. A value of -1 means that GDB will ignore
1004 every character. The default value is 1050.
1005
1006 * Recording and replaying remote debug sessions
1007
1008 If you set `remotelogfile' to the name of a file, gdb will write to it
1009 a recording of a remote debug session. This recording may then be
1010 replayed back to gdb using "gdbreplay". See gdbserver/README for
1011 details. This is useful when you have a problem with GDB while doing
1012 remote debugging; you can make a recording of the session and send it
1013 to someone else, who can then recreate the problem.
1014
1015 * Speedups for remote debugging
1016
1017 GDB includes speedups for downloading and stepping MIPS systems using
1018 the IDT monitor, fast downloads to the Hitachi SH E7000 emulator,
1019 and more efficient S-record downloading.
1020
1021 * Memory use reductions and statistics collection
1022
1023 GDB now uses less memory and reports statistics about memory usage.
1024 Try the `maint print statistics' command, for example.
1025
1026 *** Changes in GDB-4.15:
1027
1028 * Psymtabs for XCOFF
1029
1030 The symbol reader for AIX GDB now uses partial symbol tables. This
1031 can greatly improve startup time, especially for large executables.
1032
1033 * Remote targets use caching
1034
1035 Remote targets now use a data cache to speed up communication with the
1036 remote side. The data cache could lead to incorrect results because
1037 it doesn't know about volatile variables, thus making it impossible to
1038 debug targets which use memory mapped I/O devices. `set remotecache
1039 off' turns the the data cache off.
1040
1041 * Remote targets may have threads
1042
1043 The standard remote protocol now includes support for multiple threads
1044 in the target system, using new protocol commands 'H' and 'T'. See
1045 gdb/remote.c for details.
1046
1047 * NetROM support
1048
1049 If GDB is configured with `--enable-netrom', then it will include
1050 support for the NetROM ROM emulator from XLNT Designs. The NetROM
1051 acts as though it is a bank of ROM on the target board, but you can
1052 write into it over the network. GDB's support consists only of
1053 support for fast loading into the emulated ROM; to debug, you must use
1054 another protocol, such as standard remote protocol. The usual
1055 sequence is something like
1056
1057 target nrom <netrom-hostname>
1058 load <prog>
1059 target remote <netrom-hostname>:1235
1060
1061 * Macintosh host
1062
1063 GDB now includes support for the Apple Macintosh, as a host only. It
1064 may be run as either an MPW tool or as a standalone application, and
1065 it can debug through the serial port. All the usual GDB commands are
1066 available, but to the target command, you must supply "serial" as the
1067 device type instead of "/dev/ttyXX". See mpw-README in the main
1068 directory for more information on how to build. The MPW configuration
1069 scripts */mpw-config.in support only a few targets, and only the
1070 mips-idt-ecoff target has been tested.
1071
1072 * Autoconf
1073
1074 GDB configuration now uses autoconf. This is not user-visible,
1075 but does simplify configuration and building.
1076
1077 * hpux10
1078
1079 GDB now supports hpux10.
1080
1081 *** Changes in GDB-4.14:
1082
1083 * New native configurations
1084
1085 x86 FreeBSD i[345]86-*-freebsd
1086 x86 NetBSD i[345]86-*-netbsd
1087 NS32k NetBSD ns32k-*-netbsd
1088 Sparc NetBSD sparc-*-netbsd
1089
1090 * New targets
1091
1092 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
1093 HP PA PRO embedded (WinBond W89K & Oki OP50N) hppa*-*-pro*
1094 CPU32 EST-300 emulator m68*-*-est*
1095 PowerPC ELF powerpc-*-elf
1096 WDC 65816 w65-*-*
1097
1098 * Alpha OSF/1 support for procfs
1099
1100 GDB now supports procfs under OSF/1-2.x and higher, which makes it
1101 possible to attach to running processes. As the mounting of the /proc
1102 filesystem is optional on the Alpha, GDB automatically determines
1103 the availability of /proc during startup. This can lead to problems
1104 if /proc is unmounted after GDB has been started.
1105
1106 * Arguments to user-defined commands
1107
1108 User commands may accept up to 10 arguments separated by whitespace.
1109 Arguments are accessed within the user command via $arg0..$arg9. A
1110 trivial example:
1111 define adder
1112 print $arg0 + $arg1 + $arg2
1113
1114 To execute the command use:
1115 adder 1 2 3
1116
1117 Defines the command "adder" which prints the sum of its three arguments.
1118 Note the arguments are text substitutions, so they may reference variables,
1119 use complex expressions, or even perform inferior function calls.
1120
1121 * New `if' and `while' commands
1122
1123 This makes it possible to write more sophisticated user-defined
1124 commands. Both commands take a single argument, which is the
1125 expression to evaluate, and must be followed by the commands to
1126 execute, one per line, if the expression is nonzero, the list being
1127 terminated by the word `end'. The `if' command list may include an
1128 `else' word, which causes the following commands to be executed only
1129 if the expression is zero.
1130
1131 * Fortran source language mode
1132
1133 GDB now includes partial support for Fortran 77. It will recognize
1134 Fortran programs and can evaluate a subset of Fortran expressions, but
1135 variables and functions may not be handled correctly. GDB will work
1136 with G77, but does not yet know much about symbols emitted by other
1137 Fortran compilers.
1138
1139 * Better HPUX support
1140
1141 Most debugging facilities now work on dynamic executables for HPPAs
1142 running hpux9 or later. You can attach to running dynamically linked
1143 processes, but by default the dynamic libraries will be read-only, so
1144 for instance you won't be able to put breakpoints in them. To change
1145 that behavior do the following before running the program:
1146
1147 adb -w a.out
1148 __dld_flags?W 0x5
1149 control-d
1150
1151 This will cause the libraries to be mapped private and read-write.
1152 To revert to the normal behavior, do this:
1153
1154 adb -w a.out
1155 __dld_flags?W 0x4
1156 control-d
1157
1158 You cannot set breakpoints or examine data in the library until after
1159 the library is loaded if the function/data symbols do not have
1160 external linkage.
1161
1162 GDB can now also read debug symbols produced by the HP C compiler on
1163 HPPAs (sorry, no C++, Fortran or 68k support).
1164
1165 * Target byte order now dynamically selectable
1166
1167 You can choose which byte order to use with a target system, via the
1168 commands "set endian big" and "set endian little", and you can see the
1169 current setting by using "show endian". You can also give the command
1170 "set endian auto", in which case GDB will use the byte order
1171 associated with the executable. Currently, only embedded MIPS
1172 configurations support dynamic selection of target byte order.
1173
1174 * New DOS host serial code
1175
1176 This version uses DPMI interrupts to handle buffered I/O, so you
1177 no longer need to run asynctsr when debugging boards connected to
1178 a PC's serial port.
1179
1180 *** Changes in GDB-4.13:
1181
1182 * New "complete" command
1183
1184 This lists all the possible completions for the rest of the line, if it
1185 were to be given as a command itself. This is intended for use by emacs.
1186
1187 * Trailing space optional in prompt
1188
1189 "set prompt" no longer adds a space for you after the prompt you set. This
1190 allows you to set a prompt which ends in a space or one that does not.
1191
1192 * Breakpoint hit counts
1193
1194 "info break" now displays a count of the number of times the breakpoint
1195 has been hit. This is especially useful in conjunction with "ignore"; you
1196 can ignore a large number of breakpoint hits, look at the breakpoint info
1197 to see how many times the breakpoint was hit, then run again, ignoring one
1198 less than that number, and this will get you quickly to the last hit of
1199 that breakpoint.
1200
1201 * Ability to stop printing at NULL character
1202
1203 "set print null-stop" will cause GDB to stop printing the characters of
1204 an array when the first NULL is encountered. This is useful when large
1205 arrays actually contain only short strings.
1206
1207 * Shared library breakpoints
1208
1209 In SunOS 4.x, SVR4, and Alpha OSF/1 configurations, you can now set
1210 breakpoints in shared libraries before the executable is run.
1211
1212 * Hardware watchpoints
1213
1214 There is a new hardware breakpoint for the watch command for sparclite
1215 targets. See gdb/sparclite/hw_breakpoint.note.
1216
1217 Hardware watchpoints are also now supported under GNU/Linux.
1218
1219 * Annotations
1220
1221 Annotations have been added. These are for use with graphical interfaces,
1222 and are still experimental. Currently only gdba.el uses these.
1223
1224 * Improved Irix 5 support
1225
1226 GDB now works properly with Irix 5.2.
1227
1228 * Improved HPPA support
1229
1230 GDB now works properly with the latest GCC and GAS.
1231
1232 * New native configurations
1233
1234 Sequent PTX4 i[34]86-sequent-ptx4
1235 HPPA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
1236 Atari TT running SVR4 m68*-*-sysv4*
1237 RS/6000 LynxOS rs6000-*-lynxos*
1238
1239 * New targets
1240
1241 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
1242 MIPS R4000 mips64*{,el}-*-{ecoff,elf}
1243 Sparc64 sparc64-*-*
1244
1245 * Hitachi SH7000 and E7000-PC ICE support
1246
1247 There is now support for communicating with the Hitachi E7000-PC ICE.
1248 This is available automatically when GDB is configured for the SH.
1249
1250 * Fixes
1251
1252 As usual, a variety of small fixes and improvements, both generic
1253 and configuration-specific. See the ChangeLog for more detail.
1254
1255 *** Changes in GDB-4.12:
1256
1257 * Irix 5 is now supported
1258
1259 * HPPA support
1260
1261 GDB-4.12 on the HPPA has a number of changes which make it unable
1262 to debug the output from the currently released versions of GCC and
1263 GAS (GCC 2.5.8 and GAS-2.2 or PAGAS-1.36). Until the next major release
1264 of GCC and GAS, versions of these tools designed to work with GDB-4.12
1265 can be retrieved via anonymous ftp from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist.
1266
1267
1268 *** Changes in GDB-4.11:
1269
1270 * User visible changes:
1271
1272 * Remote Debugging
1273
1274 The "set remotedebug" option is now consistent between the mips remote
1275 target, remote targets using the gdb-specific protocol, UDI (AMD's
1276 debug protocol for the 29k) and the 88k bug monitor. It is now an
1277 integer specifying a debug level (normally 0 or 1, but 2 means more
1278 debugging info for the mips target).
1279
1280 * DEC Alpha native support
1281
1282 GDB now works on the DEC Alpha. GCC 2.4.5 does not produce usable
1283 debug info, but GDB works fairly well with the DEC compiler and should
1284 work with a future GCC release. See the README file for a few
1285 Alpha-specific notes.
1286
1287 * Preliminary thread implementation
1288
1289 GDB now has preliminary thread support for both SGI/Irix and LynxOS.
1290
1291 * LynxOS native and target support for 386
1292
1293 This release has been hosted on LynxOS 2.2, and also can be configured
1294 to remotely debug programs running under LynxOS (see gdb/gdbserver/README
1295 for details).
1296
1297 * Improvements in C++ mangling/demangling.
1298
1299 This release has much better g++ debugging, specifically in name
1300 mangling/demangling, virtual function calls, print virtual table,
1301 call methods, ...etc.
1302
1303 *** Changes in GDB-4.10:
1304
1305 * User visible changes:
1306
1307 Remote debugging using the GDB-specific (`target remote') protocol now
1308 supports the `load' command. This is only useful if you have some
1309 other way of getting the stub to the target system, and you can put it
1310 somewhere in memory where it won't get clobbered by the download.
1311
1312 Filename completion now works.
1313
1314 When run under emacs mode, the "info line" command now causes the
1315 arrow to point to the line specified. Also, "info line" prints
1316 addresses in symbolic form (as well as hex).
1317
1318 All vxworks based targets now support a user settable option, called
1319 vxworks-timeout. This option represents the number of seconds gdb
1320 should wait for responses to rpc's. You might want to use this if
1321 your vxworks target is, perhaps, a slow software simulator or happens
1322 to be on the far side of a thin network line.
1323
1324 * DEC alpha support
1325
1326 This release contains support for using a DEC alpha as a GDB host for
1327 cross debugging. Native alpha debugging is not supported yet.
1328
1329
1330 *** Changes in GDB-4.9:
1331
1332 * Testsuite
1333
1334 This is the first GDB release which is accompanied by a matching testsuite.
1335 The testsuite requires installation of dejagnu, which should be available
1336 via ftp from most sites that carry GNU software.
1337
1338 * C++ demangling
1339
1340 'Cfront' style demangling has had its name changed to 'ARM' style, to
1341 emphasize that it was written from the specifications in the C++ Annotated
1342 Reference Manual, not necessarily to be compatible with AT&T cfront. Despite
1343 disclaimers, it still generated too much confusion with users attempting to
1344 use gdb with AT&T cfront.
1345
1346 * Simulators
1347
1348 GDB now uses a standard remote interface to a simulator library.
1349 So far, the library contains simulators for the Zilog Z8001/2, the
1350 Hitachi H8/300, H8/500 and Super-H.
1351
1352 * New targets supported
1353
1354 H8/300 simulator h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
1355 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
1356 SH simulator sh-hitachi-hms or sh
1357 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
1358 IDT MIPS board over serial line mips-idt-ecoff
1359
1360 Cross-debugging to GO32 targets is supported. It requires a custom
1361 version of the i386-stub.c module which is integrated with the
1362 GO32 memory extender.
1363
1364 * New remote protocols
1365
1366 MIPS remote debugging protocol.
1367
1368 * New source languages supported
1369
1370 This version includes preliminary support for Chill, a Pascal like language
1371 used by telecommunications companies. Chill support is also being integrated
1372 into the GNU compiler, but we don't know when it will be publically available.
1373
1374
1375 *** Changes in GDB-4.8:
1376
1377 * HP Precision Architecture supported
1378
1379 GDB now supports HP PA-RISC machines running HPUX. A preliminary
1380 version of this support was available as a set of patches from the
1381 University of Utah. GDB does not support debugging of programs
1382 compiled with the HP compiler, because HP will not document their file
1383 format. Instead, you must use GCC (version 2.3.2 or later) and PA-GAS
1384 (as available from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist/pa-gas.u4.tar.Z).
1385
1386 Many problems in the preliminary version have been fixed.
1387
1388 * Faster and better demangling
1389
1390 We have improved template demangling and fixed numerous bugs in the GNU style
1391 demangler. It can now handle type modifiers such as `static' or `const'. Wide
1392 character types (wchar_t) are now supported. Demangling of each symbol is now
1393 only done once, and is cached when the symbol table for a file is read in.
1394 This results in a small increase in memory usage for C programs, a moderate
1395 increase in memory usage for C++ programs, and a fantastic speedup in
1396 symbol lookups.
1397
1398 `Cfront' style demangling still doesn't work with AT&T cfront. It was written
1399 from the specifications in the Annotated Reference Manual, which AT&T's
1400 compiler does not actually implement.
1401
1402 * G++ multiple inheritance compiler problem
1403
1404 In the 2.3.2 release of gcc/g++, how the compiler resolves multiple
1405 inheritance lattices was reworked to properly discover ambiguities. We
1406 recently found an example which causes this new algorithm to fail in a
1407 very subtle way, producing bad debug information for those classes.
1408 The file 'gcc.patch' (in this directory) can be applied to gcc to
1409 circumvent the problem. A future GCC release will contain a complete
1410 fix.
1411
1412 The previous G++ debug info problem (mentioned below for the gdb-4.7
1413 release) is fixed in gcc version 2.3.2.
1414
1415 * Improved configure script
1416
1417 The `configure' script will now attempt to guess your system type if
1418 you don't supply a host system type. The old scheme of supplying a
1419 host system triplet is preferable over using this. All the magic is
1420 done in the new `config.guess' script. Examine it for details.
1421
1422 We have also brought our configure script much more in line with the FSF's
1423 version. It now supports the --with-xxx options. In particular,
1424 `--with-minimal-bfd' can be used to make the GDB binary image smaller.
1425 The resulting GDB will not be able to read arbitrary object file formats --
1426 only the format ``expected'' to be used on the configured target system.
1427 We hope to make this the default in a future release.
1428
1429 * Documentation improvements
1430
1431 There's new internal documentation on how to modify GDB, and how to
1432 produce clean changes to the code. We implore people to read it
1433 before submitting changes.
1434
1435 The GDB manual uses new, sexy Texinfo conditionals, rather than arcane
1436 M4 macros. The new texinfo.tex is provided in this release. Pre-built
1437 `info' files are also provided. To build `info' files from scratch,
1438 you will need the latest `makeinfo' release, which will be available in
1439 a future texinfo-X.Y release.
1440
1441 *NOTE* The new texinfo.tex can cause old versions of TeX to hang.
1442 We're not sure exactly which versions have this problem, but it has
1443 been seen in 3.0. We highly recommend upgrading to TeX version 3.141
1444 or better. If that isn't possible, there is a patch in
1445 `texinfo/tex3patch' that will modify `texinfo/texinfo.tex' to work
1446 around this problem.
1447
1448 * New features
1449
1450 GDB now supports array constants that can be used in expressions typed in by
1451 the user. The syntax is `{element, element, ...}'. Ie: you can now type
1452 `print {1, 2, 3}', and it will build up an array in memory malloc'd in
1453 the target program.
1454
1455 The new directory `gdb/sparclite' contains a program that demonstrates
1456 how the sparc-stub.c remote stub runs on a Fujitsu SPARClite processor.
1457
1458 * New native hosts supported
1459
1460 HP/PA-RISC under HPUX using GNU tools hppa1.1-hp-hpux
1461 386 CPUs running SCO Unix 3.2v4 i386-unknown-sco3.2v4
1462
1463 * New targets supported
1464
1465 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi or udi29k
1466
1467 * New file formats supported
1468
1469 BFD now supports reading HP/PA-RISC executables (SOM file format?),
1470 HPUX core files, and SCO 3.2v2 core files.
1471
1472 * Major bug fixes
1473
1474 Attaching to processes now works again; thanks for the many bug reports.
1475
1476 We have also stomped on a bunch of core dumps caused by
1477 printf_filtered("%s") problems.
1478
1479 We eliminated a copyright problem on the rpc and ptrace header files
1480 for VxWorks, which was discovered at the last minute during the 4.7
1481 release. You should now be able to build a VxWorks GDB.
1482
1483 You can now interrupt gdb while an attached process is running. This
1484 will cause the attached process to stop, and give control back to GDB.
1485
1486 We fixed problems caused by using too many file descriptors
1487 for reading symbols from object files and libraries. This was
1488 especially a problem for programs that used many (~100) shared
1489 libraries.
1490
1491 The `step' command now only enters a subroutine if there is line number
1492 information for the subroutine. Otherwise it acts like the `next'
1493 command. Previously, `step' would enter subroutines if there was
1494 any debugging information about the routine. This avoids problems
1495 when using `cc -g1' on MIPS machines.
1496
1497 * Internal improvements
1498
1499 GDB's internal interfaces have been improved to make it easier to support
1500 debugging of multiple languages in the future.
1501
1502 GDB now uses a common structure for symbol information internally.
1503 Minimal symbols (derived from linkage symbols in object files), partial
1504 symbols (from a quick scan of debug information), and full symbols
1505 contain a common subset of information, making it easier to write
1506 shared code that handles any of them.
1507
1508 * New command line options
1509
1510 We now accept --silent as an alias for --quiet.
1511
1512 * Mmalloc licensing
1513
1514 The memory-mapped-malloc library is now licensed under the GNU Library
1515 General Public License.
1516
1517 *** Changes in GDB-4.7:
1518
1519 * Host/native/target split
1520
1521 GDB has had some major internal surgery to untangle the support for
1522 hosts and remote targets. Now, when you configure GDB for a remote
1523 target, it will no longer load in all of the support for debugging
1524 local programs on the host. When fully completed and tested, this will
1525 ensure that arbitrary host/target combinations are possible.
1526
1527 The primary conceptual shift is to separate the non-portable code in
1528 GDB into three categories. Host specific code is required any time GDB
1529 is compiled on that host, regardless of the target. Target specific
1530 code relates to the peculiarities of the target, but can be compiled on
1531 any host. Native specific code is everything else: it can only be
1532 built when the host and target are the same system. Child process
1533 handling and core file support are two common `native' examples.
1534
1535 GDB's use of /proc for controlling Unix child processes is now cleaner.
1536 It has been split out into a single module under the `target_ops' vector,
1537 plus two native-dependent functions for each system that uses /proc.
1538
1539 * New hosts supported
1540
1541 HP/Apollo 68k (under the BSD domain) m68k-apollo-bsd or apollo68bsd
1542 386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
1543 386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or i386sco
1544
1545 * New targets supported
1546
1547 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
1548 68030 and CPU32 m68030-*-*, m68332-*-*
1549
1550 * New native hosts supported
1551
1552 386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
1553 (386bsd is not well tested yet)
1554 386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or sco
1555
1556 * New file formats supported
1557
1558 BFD now supports COFF files for the Zilog Z8000 microprocessor. It
1559 supports reading of `a.out.adobe' object files, which are an a.out
1560 format extended with minimal information about multiple sections.
1561
1562 * New commands
1563
1564 `show copying' is the same as the old `info copying'.
1565 `show warranty' is the same as `info warrantee'.
1566 These were renamed for consistency. The old commands continue to work.
1567
1568 `info handle' is a new alias for `info signals'.
1569
1570 You can now define pre-command hooks, which attach arbitrary command
1571 scripts to any command. The commands in the hook will be executed
1572 prior to the user's command. You can also create a hook which will be
1573 executed whenever the program stops. See gdb.texinfo.
1574
1575 * C++ improvements
1576
1577 We now deal with Cfront style name mangling, and can even extract type
1578 info from mangled symbols. GDB can automatically figure out which
1579 symbol mangling style your C++ compiler uses.
1580
1581 Calling of methods and virtual functions has been improved as well.
1582
1583 * Major bug fixes
1584
1585 The crash that occured when debugging Sun Ansi-C compiled binaries is
1586 fixed. This was due to mishandling of the extra N_SO stabs output
1587 by the compiler.
1588
1589 We also finally got Ultrix 4.2 running in house, and fixed core file
1590 support, with help from a dozen people on the net.
1591
1592 John M. Farrell discovered that the reason that single-stepping was so
1593 slow on all of the Mips based platforms (primarily SGI and DEC) was
1594 that we were trying to demangle and lookup a symbol used for internal
1595 purposes on every instruction that was being stepped through. Changing
1596 the name of that symbol so that it couldn't be mistaken for a C++
1597 mangled symbol sped things up a great deal.
1598
1599 Rich Pixley sped up symbol lookups in general by getting much smarter
1600 about when C++ symbol mangling is necessary. This should make symbol
1601 completion (TAB on the command line) much faster. It's not as fast as
1602 we'd like, but it's significantly faster than gdb-4.6.
1603
1604 * AMD 29k support
1605
1606 A new user controllable variable 'call_scratch_address' can
1607 specify the location of a scratch area to be used when GDB
1608 calls a function in the target. This is necessary because the
1609 usual method of putting the scratch area on the stack does not work
1610 in systems that have separate instruction and data spaces.
1611
1612 We integrated changes to support the 29k UDI (Universal Debugger
1613 Interface), but discovered at the last minute that we didn't have all
1614 of the appropriate copyright paperwork. We are working with AMD to
1615 resolve this, and hope to have it available soon.
1616
1617 * Remote interfaces
1618
1619 We have sped up the remote serial line protocol, especially for targets
1620 with lots of registers. It now supports a new `expedited status' ('T')
1621 message which can be used in place of the existing 'S' status message.
1622 This allows the remote stub to send only the registers that GDB
1623 needs to make a quick decision about single-stepping or conditional
1624 breakpoints, eliminating the need to fetch the entire register set for
1625 each instruction being stepped through.
1626
1627 The GDB remote serial protocol now implements a write-through cache for
1628 registers, only re-reading the registers if the target has run.
1629
1630 There is also a new remote serial stub for SPARC processors. You can
1631 find it in gdb-4.7/gdb/sparc-stub.c. This was written to support the
1632 Fujitsu SPARClite processor, but will run on any stand-alone SPARC
1633 processor with a serial port.
1634
1635 * Configuration
1636
1637 Configure.in files have become much easier to read and modify. A new
1638 `table driven' format makes it more obvious what configurations are
1639 supported, and what files each one uses.
1640
1641 * Library changes
1642
1643 There is a new opcodes library which will eventually contain all of the
1644 disassembly routines and opcode tables. At present, it only contains
1645 Sparc and Z8000 routines. This will allow the assembler, debugger, and
1646 disassembler (binutils/objdump) to share these routines.
1647
1648 The libiberty library is now copylefted under the GNU Library General
1649 Public License. This allows more liberal use, and was done so libg++
1650 can use it. This makes no difference to GDB, since the Library License
1651 grants all the rights from the General Public License.
1652
1653 * Documentation
1654
1655 The file gdb-4.7/gdb/doc/stabs.texinfo is a (relatively) complete
1656 reference to the stabs symbol info used by the debugger. It is (as far
1657 as we know) the only published document on this fascinating topic. We
1658 encourage you to read it, compare it to the stabs information on your
1659 system, and send improvements on the document in general (to
1660 bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu).
1661
1662 And, of course, many bugs have been fixed.
1663
1664
1665 *** Changes in GDB-4.6:
1666
1667 * Better support for C++ function names
1668
1669 GDB now accepts as input the "demangled form" of C++ overloaded function
1670 names and member function names, and can do command completion on such names
1671 (using TAB, TAB-TAB, and ESC-?). The names have to be quoted with a pair of
1672 single quotes. Examples are 'func (int, long)' and 'obj::operator==(obj&)'.
1673 Make use of command completion, it is your friend.
1674
1675 GDB also now accepts a variety of C++ mangled symbol formats. They are
1676 the GNU g++ style, the Cfront (ARM) style, and the Lucid (lcc) style.
1677 You can tell GDB which format to use by doing a 'set demangle-style {gnu,
1678 lucid, cfront, auto}'. 'gnu' is the default. Do a 'set demangle-style foo'
1679 for the list of formats.
1680
1681 * G++ symbol mangling problem
1682
1683 Recent versions of gcc have a bug in how they emit debugging information for
1684 C++ methods (when using dbx-style stabs). The file 'gcc.patch' (in this
1685 directory) can be applied to gcc to fix the problem. Alternatively, if you
1686 can't fix gcc, you can #define GCC_MANGLE_BUG when compling gdb/symtab.c. The
1687 usual symptom is difficulty with setting breakpoints on methods. GDB complains
1688 about the method being non-existent. (We believe that version 2.2.2 of GCC has
1689 this problem.)
1690
1691 * New 'maintenance' command
1692
1693 All of the commands related to hacking GDB internals have been moved out of
1694 the main command set, and now live behind the 'maintenance' command. This
1695 can also be abbreviated as 'mt'. The following changes were made:
1696
1697 dump-me -> maintenance dump-me
1698 info all-breakpoints -> maintenance info breakpoints
1699 printmsyms -> maintenance print msyms
1700 printobjfiles -> maintenance print objfiles
1701 printpsyms -> maintenance print psymbols
1702 printsyms -> maintenance print symbols
1703
1704 The following commands are new:
1705
1706 maintenance demangle Call internal GDB demangler routine to
1707 demangle a C++ link name and prints the result.
1708 maintenance print type Print a type chain for a given symbol
1709
1710 * Change to .gdbinit file processing
1711
1712 We now read the $HOME/.gdbinit file before processing the argv arguments
1713 (e.g. reading symbol files or core files). This allows global parameters to
1714 be set, which will apply during the symbol reading. The ./.gdbinit is still
1715 read after argv processing.
1716
1717 * New hosts supported
1718
1719 Solaris-2.0 !!! sparc-sun-solaris2 or sun4sol2
1720
1721 GNU/Linux support i386-unknown-linux or linux
1722
1723 We are also including code to support the HP/PA running BSD and HPUX. This
1724 is almost guaranteed not to work, as we didn't have time to test or build it
1725 for this release. We are including it so that the more adventurous (or
1726 masochistic) of you can play with it. We also had major problems with the
1727 fact that the compiler that we got from HP doesn't support the -g option.
1728 It costs extra.
1729
1730 * New targets supported
1731
1732 Hitachi H8/300 h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
1733
1734 * More smarts about finding #include files
1735
1736 GDB now remembers the compilation directory for all include files, and for
1737 all files from which C is generated (like yacc and lex sources). This
1738 greatly improves GDB's ability to find yacc/lex sources, and include files,
1739 especially if you are debugging your program from a directory different from
1740 the one that contains your sources.
1741
1742 We also fixed a bug which caused difficulty with listing and setting
1743 breakpoints in include files which contain C code. (In the past, you had to
1744 try twice in order to list an include file that you hadn't looked at before.)
1745
1746 * Interesting infernals change
1747
1748 GDB now deals with arbitrary numbers of sections, where the symbols for each
1749 section must be relocated relative to that section's landing place in the
1750 target's address space. This work was needed to support ELF with embedded
1751 stabs used by Solaris-2.0.
1752
1753 * Bug fixes (of course!)
1754
1755 There have been loads of fixes for the following things:
1756 mips, rs6000, 29k/udi, m68k, g++, type handling, elf/dwarf, m88k,
1757 i960, stabs, DOS(GO32), procfs, etc...
1758
1759 See the ChangeLog for details.
1760
1761 *** Changes in GDB-4.5:
1762
1763 * New machines supported (host and target)
1764
1765 IBM RS6000 running AIX rs6000-ibm-aix or rs6000
1766
1767 SGI Irix-4.x mips-sgi-irix4 or iris4
1768
1769 * New malloc package
1770
1771 GDB now uses a new memory manager called mmalloc, based on gmalloc.
1772 Mmalloc is capable of handling mutiple heaps of memory. It is also
1773 capable of saving a heap to a file, and then mapping it back in later.
1774 This can be used to greatly speedup the startup of GDB by using a
1775 pre-parsed symbol table which lives in a mmalloc managed heap. For
1776 more details, please read mmalloc/mmalloc.texi.
1777
1778 * info proc
1779
1780 The 'info proc' command (SVR4 only) has been enhanced quite a bit. See
1781 'help info proc' for details.
1782
1783 * MIPS ecoff symbol table format
1784
1785 The code that reads MIPS symbol table format is now supported on all hosts.
1786 Thanks to MIPS for releasing the sym.h and symconst.h files to make this
1787 possible.
1788
1789 * File name changes for MS-DOS
1790
1791 Many files in the config directories have been renamed to make it easier to
1792 support GDB on MS-DOSe systems (which have very restrictive file name
1793 conventions :-( ). MS-DOSe host support (under DJ Delorie's GO32
1794 environment) is close to working but has some remaining problems. Note
1795 that debugging of DOS programs is not supported, due to limitations
1796 in the ``operating system'', but it can be used to host cross-debugging.
1797
1798 * Cross byte order fixes
1799
1800 Many fixes have been made to support cross debugging of Sparc and MIPS
1801 targets from hosts whose byte order differs.
1802
1803 * New -mapped and -readnow options
1804
1805 If memory-mapped files are available on your system through the 'mmap'
1806 system call, you can use the -mapped option on the `file' or
1807 `symbol-file' commands to cause GDB to write the symbols from your
1808 program into a reusable file. If the program you are debugging is
1809 called `/path/fred', the mapped symbol file will be `./fred.syms'.
1810 Future GDB debugging sessions will notice the presence of this file,
1811 and will quickly map in symbol information from it, rather than reading
1812 the symbol table from the executable program. Using the '-mapped'
1813 option in a GDB `file' or `symbol-file' command has the same effect as
1814 starting GDB with the '-mapped' command-line option.
1815
1816 You can cause GDB to read the entire symbol table immediately by using
1817 the '-readnow' option with any of the commands that load symbol table
1818 information (or on the GDB command line). This makes the command
1819 slower, but makes future operations faster.
1820
1821 The -mapped and -readnow options are typically combined in order to
1822 build a `fred.syms' file that contains complete symbol information.
1823 A simple GDB invocation to do nothing but build a `.syms' file for future
1824 use is:
1825
1826 gdb -batch -nx -mapped -readnow programname
1827
1828 The `.syms' file is specific to the host machine on which GDB is run.
1829 It holds an exact image of GDB's internal symbol table. It cannot be
1830 shared across multiple host platforms.
1831
1832 * longjmp() handling
1833
1834 GDB is now capable of stepping and nexting over longjmp(), _longjmp(), and
1835 siglongjmp() without losing control. This feature has not yet been ported to
1836 all systems. It currently works on many 386 platforms, all MIPS-based
1837 platforms (SGI, DECstation, etc), and Sun3/4.
1838
1839 * Solaris 2.0
1840
1841 Preliminary work has been put in to support the new Solaris OS from Sun. At
1842 this time, it can control and debug processes, but it is not capable of
1843 reading symbols.
1844
1845 * Bug fixes
1846
1847 As always, many many bug fixes. The major areas were with g++, and mipsread.
1848 People using the MIPS-based platforms should experience fewer mysterious
1849 crashes and trashed symbol tables.
1850
1851 *** Changes in GDB-4.4:
1852
1853 * New machines supported (host and target)
1854
1855 SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
1856 (except core files)
1857 BSD Reno on Vax vax-dec-bsd
1858 Ultrix on Vax vax-dec-ultrix
1859
1860 * New machines supported (target)
1861
1862 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
1863
1864 * C++ support
1865
1866 GDB continues to improve its handling of C++. `References' work better.
1867 The demangler has also been improved, and now deals with symbols mangled as
1868 per the Annotated C++ Reference Guide.
1869
1870 GDB also now handles `stabs' symbol information embedded in MIPS
1871 `ecoff' symbol tables. Since the ecoff format was not easily
1872 extensible to handle new languages such as C++, this appeared to be a
1873 good way to put C++ debugging info into MIPS binaries. This option
1874 will be supported in the GNU C compiler, version 2, when it is
1875 released.
1876
1877 * New features for SVR4
1878
1879 GDB now handles SVR4 shared libraries, in the same fashion as SunOS
1880 shared libraries. Debugging dynamically linked programs should present
1881 only minor differences from debugging statically linked programs.
1882
1883 The `info proc' command will print out information about any process
1884 on an SVR4 system (including the one you are debugging). At the moment,
1885 it prints the address mappings of the process.
1886
1887 If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please send mail to
1888 bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were reqired (if any).
1889
1890 * Better dynamic linking support in SunOS
1891
1892 Reading symbols from shared libraries which contain debugging symbols
1893 now works properly. However, there remain issues such as automatic
1894 skipping of `transfer vector' code during function calls, which
1895 make it harder to debug code in a shared library, than to debug the
1896 same code linked statically.
1897
1898 * New Getopt
1899
1900 GDB is now using the latest `getopt' routines from the FSF. This
1901 version accepts the -- prefix for options with long names. GDB will
1902 continue to accept the old forms (-option and +option) as well.
1903 Various single letter abbreviations for options have been explicity
1904 added to the option table so that they won't get overshadowed in the
1905 future by other options that begin with the same letter.
1906
1907 * Bugs fixed
1908
1909 The `cleanup_undefined_types' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
1910 Many assorted bugs have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
1911 See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
1912
1913
1914 *** Changes in GDB-4.3:
1915
1916 * New machines supported (host and target)
1917
1918 Amiga 3000 running Amix m68k-cbm-svr4 or amix
1919 NCR 3000 386 running SVR4 i386-ncr-svr4 or ncr3000
1920 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
1921
1922 * Almost SCO Unix support
1923
1924 We had hoped to support:
1925 SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
1926 (except for core file support), but we discovered very late in the release
1927 that it has problems with process groups that render gdb unusable. Sorry
1928 about that. I encourage people to fix it and post the fixes.
1929
1930 * Preliminary ELF and DWARF support
1931
1932 GDB can read ELF object files on System V Release 4, and can handle
1933 debugging records for C, in DWARF format, in ELF files. This support
1934 is preliminary. If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please
1935 send mail to bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were
1936 reqired (if any).
1937
1938 * New Readline
1939
1940 GDB now uses the latest `readline' library. One user-visible change
1941 is that two tabs will list possible command completions, which previously
1942 required typing M-? (meta-question mark, or ESC ?).
1943
1944 * Bugs fixed
1945
1946 The `stepi' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
1947 Many bugs in C++ have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
1948 See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
1949
1950 * State of the MIPS world (in case you wondered):
1951
1952 GDB can understand the symbol tables emitted by the compilers
1953 supplied by most vendors of MIPS-based machines, including DEC. These
1954 symbol tables are in a format that essentially nobody else uses.
1955
1956 Some versions of gcc come with an assembler post-processor called
1957 mips-tfile. This program is required if you want to do source-level
1958 debugging of gcc-compiled programs. I believe FSF does not ship
1959 mips-tfile with gcc version 1, but it will eventually come with gcc
1960 version 2.
1961
1962 Debugging of g++ output remains a problem. g++ version 1.xx does not
1963 really support it at all. (If you're lucky, you should be able to get
1964 line numbers and stack traces to work, but no parameters or local
1965 variables.) With some work it should be possible to improve the
1966 situation somewhat.
1967
1968 When gcc version 2 is released, you will have somewhat better luck.
1969 However, even then you will get confusing results for inheritance and
1970 methods.
1971
1972 We will eventually provide full debugging of g++ output on
1973 DECstations. This will probably involve some kind of stabs-in-ecoff
1974 encapulation, but the details have not been worked out yet.
1975
1976
1977 *** Changes in GDB-4.2:
1978
1979 * Improved configuration
1980
1981 Only one copy of `configure' exists now, and it is not self-modifying.
1982 Porting BFD is simpler.
1983
1984 * Stepping improved
1985
1986 The `step' and `next' commands now only stop at the first instruction
1987 of a source line. This prevents the multiple stops that used to occur
1988 in switch statements, for-loops, etc. `Step' continues to stop if a
1989 function that has debugging information is called within the line.
1990
1991 * Bug fixing
1992
1993 Lots of small bugs fixed. More remain.
1994
1995 * New host supported (not target)
1996
1997 Intel 386 PC clone running Mach i386-none-mach
1998
1999
2000 *** Changes in GDB-4.1:
2001
2002 * Multiple source language support
2003
2004 GDB now has internal scaffolding to handle several source languages.
2005 It determines the type of each source file from its filename extension,
2006 and will switch expression parsing and number formatting to match the
2007 language of the function in the currently selected stack frame.
2008 You can also specifically set the language to be used, with
2009 `set language c' or `set language modula-2'.
2010
2011 * GDB and Modula-2
2012
2013 GDB now has preliminary support for the GNU Modula-2 compiler,
2014 currently under development at the State University of New York at
2015 Buffalo. Development of both GDB and the GNU Modula-2 compiler will
2016 continue through the fall of 1991 and into 1992.
2017
2018 Other Modula-2 compilers are currently not supported, and attempting to
2019 debug programs compiled with them will likely result in an error as the
2020 symbol table is read. Feel free to work on it, though!
2021
2022 There are hooks in GDB for strict type checking and range checking,
2023 in the `Modula-2 philosophy', but they do not currently work.
2024
2025 * set write on/off
2026
2027 GDB can now write to executable and core files (e.g. patch
2028 a variable's value). You must turn this switch on, specify
2029 the file ("exec foo" or "core foo"), *then* modify it, e.g.
2030 by assigning a new value to a variable. Modifications take
2031 effect immediately.
2032
2033 * Automatic SunOS shared library reading
2034
2035 When you run your program, GDB automatically determines where its
2036 shared libraries (if any) have been loaded, and reads their symbols.
2037 The `share' command is no longer needed. This also works when
2038 examining core files.
2039
2040 * set listsize
2041
2042 You can specify the number of lines that the `list' command shows.
2043 The default is 10.
2044
2045 * New machines supported (host and target)
2046
2047 SGI Iris (MIPS) running Irix V3: mips-sgi-irix or iris
2048 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x: m68k-sony-sysv or news
2049 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1: a29k-nyu-sym1 or ultra3
2050
2051 * New hosts supported (not targets)
2052
2053 IBM RT/PC: romp-ibm-aix or rtpc
2054
2055 * New targets supported (not hosts)
2056
2057 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
2058 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
2059 Ultracomputer remote kernel debug a29k-nyu-kern
2060
2061 * New remote interfaces
2062
2063 AMD 29000 Adapt
2064 AMD 29000 Minimon
2065
2066
2067 *** Changes in GDB-4.0:
2068
2069 * New Facilities
2070
2071 Wide output is wrapped at good places to make the output more readable.
2072
2073 Gdb now supports cross-debugging from a host machine of one type to a
2074 target machine of another type. Communication with the target system
2075 is over serial lines. The ``target'' command handles connecting to the
2076 remote system; the ``load'' command will download a program into the
2077 remote system. Serial stubs for the m68k and i386 are provided. Gdb
2078 also supports debugging of realtime processes running under VxWorks,
2079 using SunRPC Remote Procedure Calls over TCP/IP to talk to a debugger
2080 stub on the target system.
2081
2082 New CPUs supported include the AMD 29000 and Intel 960.
2083
2084 GDB now reads object files and symbol tables via a ``binary file''
2085 library, which allows a single copy of GDB to debug programs of multiple
2086 object file types such as a.out and coff.
2087
2088 There is now a GDB reference card in "doc/refcard.tex". (Make targets
2089 refcard.dvi and refcard.ps are available to format it).
2090
2091
2092 * Control-Variable user interface simplified
2093
2094 All variables that control the operation of the debugger can be set
2095 by the ``set'' command, and displayed by the ``show'' command.
2096
2097 For example, ``set prompt new-gdb=>'' will change your prompt to new-gdb=>.
2098 ``Show prompt'' produces the response:
2099 Gdb's prompt is new-gdb=>.
2100
2101 What follows are the NEW set commands. The command ``help set'' will
2102 print a complete list of old and new set commands. ``help set FOO''
2103 will give a longer description of the variable FOO. ``show'' will show
2104 all of the variable descriptions and their current settings.
2105
2106 confirm on/off: Enables warning questions for operations that are
2107 hard to recover from, e.g. rerunning the program while
2108 it is already running. Default is ON.
2109
2110 editing on/off: Enables EMACS style command line editing
2111 of input. Previous lines can be recalled with
2112 control-P, the current line can be edited with control-B,
2113 you can search for commands with control-R, etc.
2114 Default is ON.
2115
2116 history filename NAME: NAME is where the gdb command history
2117 will be stored. The default is .gdb_history,
2118 or the value of the environment variable
2119 GDBHISTFILE.
2120
2121 history size N: The size, in commands, of the command history. The
2122 default is 256, or the value of the environment variable
2123 HISTSIZE.
2124
2125 history save on/off: If this value is set to ON, the history file will
2126 be saved after exiting gdb. If set to OFF, the
2127 file will not be saved. The default is OFF.
2128
2129 history expansion on/off: If this value is set to ON, then csh-like
2130 history expansion will be performed on
2131 command line input. The default is OFF.
2132
2133 radix N: Sets the default radix for input and output. It can be set
2134 to 8, 10, or 16. Note that the argument to "radix" is interpreted
2135 in the current radix, so "set radix 10" is always a no-op.
2136
2137 height N: This integer value is the number of lines on a page. Default
2138 is 24, the current `stty rows'' setting, or the ``li#''
2139 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
2140 variable TERM.
2141
2142 width N: This integer value is the number of characters on a line.
2143 Default is 80, the current `stty cols'' setting, or the ``co#''
2144 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
2145 variable TERM.
2146
2147 Note: ``set screensize'' is obsolete. Use ``set height'' and
2148 ``set width'' instead.
2149
2150 print address on/off: Print memory addresses in various command displays,
2151 such as stack traces and structure values. Gdb looks
2152 more ``symbolic'' if you turn this off; it looks more
2153 ``machine level'' with it on. Default is ON.
2154
2155 print array on/off: Prettyprint arrays. New convenient format! Default
2156 is OFF.
2157
2158 print demangle on/off: Print C++ symbols in "source" form if on,
2159 "raw" form if off.
2160
2161 print asm-demangle on/off: Same, for assembler level printouts
2162 like instructions.
2163
2164 print vtbl on/off: Prettyprint C++ virtual function tables. Default is OFF.
2165
2166
2167 * Support for Epoch Environment.
2168
2169 The epoch environment is a version of Emacs v18 with windowing. One
2170 new command, ``inspect'', is identical to ``print'', except that if you
2171 are running in the epoch environment, the value is printed in its own
2172 window.
2173
2174
2175 * Support for Shared Libraries
2176
2177 GDB can now debug programs and core files that use SunOS shared libraries.
2178 Symbols from a shared library cannot be referenced
2179 before the shared library has been linked with the program (this
2180 happens after you type ``run'' and before the function main() is entered).
2181 At any time after this linking (including when examining core files
2182 from dynamically linked programs), gdb reads the symbols from each
2183 shared library when you type the ``sharedlibrary'' command.
2184 It can be abbreviated ``share''.
2185
2186 sharedlibrary REGEXP: Load shared object library symbols for files
2187 matching a unix regular expression. No argument
2188 indicates to load symbols for all shared libraries.
2189
2190 info sharedlibrary: Status of loaded shared libraries.
2191
2192
2193 * Watchpoints
2194
2195 A watchpoint stops execution of a program whenever the value of an
2196 expression changes. Checking for this slows down execution
2197 tremendously whenever you are in the scope of the expression, but is
2198 quite useful for catching tough ``bit-spreader'' or pointer misuse
2199 problems. Some machines such as the 386 have hardware for doing this
2200 more quickly, and future versions of gdb will use this hardware.
2201
2202 watch EXP: Set a watchpoint (breakpoint) for an expression.
2203
2204 info watchpoints: Information about your watchpoints.
2205
2206 delete N: Deletes watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
2207 disable N: Temporarily turns off watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
2208 enable N: Re-enables watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
2209
2210
2211 * C++ multiple inheritance
2212
2213 When used with a GCC version 2 compiler, GDB supports multiple inheritance
2214 for C++ programs.
2215
2216 * C++ exception handling
2217
2218 Gdb now supports limited C++ exception handling. Besides the existing
2219 ability to breakpoint on an exception handler, gdb can breakpoint on
2220 the raising of an exception (before the stack is peeled back to the
2221 handler's context).
2222
2223 catch FOO: If there is a FOO exception handler in the dynamic scope,
2224 set a breakpoint to catch exceptions which may be raised there.
2225 Multiple exceptions (``catch foo bar baz'') may be caught.
2226
2227 info catch: Lists all exceptions which may be caught in the
2228 current stack frame.
2229
2230
2231 * Minor command changes
2232
2233 The command ``call func (arg, arg, ...)'' now acts like the print
2234 command, except it does not print or save a value if the function's result
2235 is void. This is similar to dbx usage.
2236
2237 The ``up'' and ``down'' commands now always print the frame they end up
2238 at; ``up-silently'' and `down-silently'' can be used in scripts to change
2239 frames without printing.
2240
2241 * New directory command
2242
2243 'dir' now adds directories to the FRONT of the source search path.
2244 The path starts off empty. Source files that contain debug information
2245 about the directory in which they were compiled can be found even
2246 with an empty path; Sun CC and GCC include this information. If GDB can't
2247 find your source file in the current directory, type "dir .".
2248
2249 * Configuring GDB for compilation
2250
2251 For normal use, type ``./configure host''. See README or gdb.texinfo
2252 for more details.
2253
2254 GDB now handles cross debugging. If you are remotely debugging between
2255 two different machines, type ``./configure host -target=targ''.
2256 Host is the machine where GDB will run; targ is the machine
2257 where the program that you are debugging will run.