Fix a couple vStopped pending ack bugs
[binutils-gdb.git] / gdb / NEWS
1 What has changed in GDB?
2 (Organized release by release)
3
4 *** Changes since GDB 10
5
6 * Building GDB now requires GMP (The GNU Multiple Precision Arithmetic
7 Library).
8
9 * MI changes
10
11 ** '-break-insert --qualified' and '-dprintf-insert --qualified'
12
13 The MI -break-insert and -dprintf-insert commands now support a
14 new "--qualified" option that makes GDB interpret a specified
15 function name as a complete fully-qualified name. This is the
16 equivalent of the CLI's "break -qualified" and "dprintf
17 -qualified".
18
19 * GDB now supports core file debugging for x86_64 Cygwin programs.
20
21 * GDB will now look for the .gdbinit file in a config directory before
22 looking for ~/.gdbinit. The file is searched for in the following
23 locations: $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/gdb/gdbinit, $HOME/.config/gdb/gdbinit,
24 $HOME/.gdbinit. On Apple hosts the search order is instead:
25 $HOME/Library/Preferences/gdb/gdbinit, $HOME/.gdbinit.
26
27 * GDB now supports fixed point types which are described in DWARF
28 as base types with a fixed-point encoding. Additionally, support
29 for the DW_AT_GNU_numerator and DW_AT_GNU_denominator has also
30 been added.
31
32 For Ada, this allows support for fixed point types without requiring
33 the use of the GNAT encoding (based on information added to the type's
34 name following a GNAT-specific format).
35
36 * New commands
37
38 set debug event-loop
39 show debug event-loop
40 Control the display of debug output about GDB's event loop.
41
42 maintenance flush symbol-cache
43 maintenance flush register-cache
44 These new commands are equivalent to the already existing commands
45 'maintenance flush-symbol-cache' and 'flushregs' respectively.
46
47 maintenance flush dcache
48 A new command to flush the dcache.
49
50 * Changed commands
51
52 break [PROBE_MODIFIER] [LOCATION] [thread THREADNUM]
53 [-force-condition] [if CONDITION]
54 This command would previously refuse setting a breakpoint if the
55 CONDITION expression is invalid at a location. It now accepts and
56 defines the breakpoint if there is at least one location at which
57 the CONDITION is valid. The locations for which the CONDITION is
58 invalid, are automatically disabled. If CONDITION is invalid at all
59 of the locations, setting the breakpoint is still rejected. However,
60 the '-force-condition' flag can be used in this case for forcing GDB to
61 define the breakpoint, making all the current locations automatically
62 disabled. This may be useful if the user knows the condition will
63 become meaningful at a future location, e.g. due to a shared library
64 load.
65
66 condition [-force] N COND
67 The behavior of this command is changed the same way for the 'break'
68 command as explained above. The '-force' flag can be used to force
69 GDB into defining the condition even when COND is invalid for all the
70 current locations of breakpoint N.
71
72 flushregs
73 maintenance flush-symbol-cache
74 These commands are deprecated in favor of the new commands
75 'maintenance flush register-cache' and 'maintenance flush
76 symbol-cache' respectively.
77
78 set style version foreground COLOR
79 set style version background COLOR
80 set style version intensity VALUE
81 Control the styling of GDB's version number text.
82
83 inferior [ID]
84 When the ID parameter is omitted, then this command prints information
85 about the current inferior. When the ID parameter is present, the
86 behavior of the command is unchanged and have the inferior ID become
87 the current inferior.
88
89 *** Changes in GDB 10
90
91 * There are new feature names for ARC targets: "org.gnu.gdb.arc.core"
92 and "org.gnu.gdb.arc.aux". The old names are still supported but
93 must be considered obsolete. They will be deprecated after some
94 grace period.
95
96 * Help and apropos commands will now show the documentation of a
97 command only once, even if that command has one or more aliases.
98 These commands now show the command name, then all of its aliases,
99 and finally the description of the command.
100
101 * 'help aliases' now shows only the user defined aliases. GDB predefined
102 aliases are shown together with their aliased command.
103
104 * GDB now supports debuginfod, an HTTP server for distributing ELF/DWARF
105 debugging information as well as source code.
106
107 When built with debuginfod, GDB can automatically query debuginfod
108 servers for the separate debug files and source code of the executable
109 being debugged.
110
111 To build GDB with debuginfod, pass --with-debuginfod to configure (this
112 requires libdebuginfod, the debuginfod client library).
113
114 debuginfod is distributed with elfutils, starting with version 0.178.
115
116 You can get the latest version from https://sourceware.org/elfutils.
117
118 * Multi-target debugging support
119
120 GDB now supports debugging multiple target connections
121 simultaneously. For example, you can now have each inferior
122 connected to different remote servers running in different machines,
123 or have one inferior debugging a local native process, an inferior
124 debugging a core dump, etc.
125
126 This support is experimental and comes with some limitations -- you
127 can only resume multiple targets simultaneously if all targets
128 support non-stop mode, and all remote stubs or servers must support
129 the same set of remote protocol features exactly. See also "info
130 connections" and "add-inferior -no-connection" below, and "maint set
131 target-non-stop" in the user manual.
132
133 * New features in the GDB remote stub, GDBserver
134
135 ** GDBserver is now supported on ARC GNU/Linux.
136
137 ** GDBserver is now supported on RISC-V GNU/Linux.
138
139 ** GDBserver no longer supports these host triplets:
140
141 i[34567]86-*-lynxos*
142 powerpc-*-lynxos*
143 i[34567]86-*-nto*
144 bfin-*-*linux*
145 crisv32-*-linux*
146 cris-*-linux*
147 m32r*-*-linux*
148 tilegx-*-linux*
149 arm*-*-mingw32ce*
150 i[34567]86-*-mingw32ce*
151
152 * Debugging MS-Windows processes now sets $_exitsignal when the
153 inferior is terminated by a signal, instead of setting $_exitcode.
154
155 * Multithreaded symbol loading has now been enabled by default on systems
156 that support it (see entry for GDB 9, below), providing faster
157 performance for programs with many symbols.
158
159 * The $_siginfo convenience variable now also works on Windows targets,
160 and will display the EXCEPTION_RECORD of the last handled exception.
161
162 * TUI windows can now be arranged horizontally.
163
164 * The command history filename can now be set to the empty string
165 either using 'set history filename' or by setting 'GDBHISTFILE=' in
166 the environment. The effect of setting this filename to the empty
167 string is that GDB will not try to load any previous command
168 history.
169
170 * On Windows targets, it is now possible to debug 32-bit programs with a
171 64-bit GDB.
172
173 * New commands
174
175 set exec-file-mismatch -- Set exec-file-mismatch handling (ask|warn|off).
176 show exec-file-mismatch -- Show exec-file-mismatch handling (ask|warn|off).
177 Set or show the option 'exec-file-mismatch'. When GDB attaches to a
178 running process, this new option indicates whether to detect
179 a mismatch between the current executable file loaded by GDB and the
180 executable file used to start the process. If 'ask', the default,
181 display a warning and ask the user whether to load the process
182 executable file; if 'warn', just display a warning; if 'off', don't
183 attempt to detect a mismatch.
184
185 tui new-layout NAME WINDOW WEIGHT [WINDOW WEIGHT]...
186 Define a new TUI layout, specifying its name and the windows that
187 will be displayed.
188
189 maintenance print xml-tdesc [FILE]
190 Prints the current target description as an XML document. If the
191 optional FILE is provided (which is an XML target description) then
192 the target description is read from FILE into GDB, and then
193 reprinted.
194
195 maintenance print core-file-backed-mappings
196 Prints file-backed mappings loaded from a core file's note section.
197 Output is expected to be similar to that of "info proc mappings".
198
199 set debug fortran-array-slicing on|off
200 show debug fortran-array-slicing
201 Print debugging when taking slices of Fortran arrays.
202
203 set fortran repack-array-slices on|off
204 show fortran repack-array-slices
205 When taking slices from Fortran arrays and strings, if the slice is
206 non-contiguous within the original value then, when this option is
207 on, the new value will be repacked into a single contiguous value.
208 When this option is off, then the value returned will consist of a
209 descriptor that describes the slice within the memory of the
210 original parent value.
211
212 * Changed commands
213
214 alias [-a] [--] ALIAS = COMMAND [DEFAULT-ARGS...]
215 The alias command can now specify default args for an alias.
216 GDB automatically prepends the alias default args to the argument list
217 provided explicitly by the user.
218 For example, to have a backtrace with full details, you can define
219 an alias 'bt_ALL' as
220 'alias bt_ALL = backtrace -entry-values both -frame-arg all
221 -past-main -past-entry -full'.
222 Alias default arguments can also use a set of nested 'with' commands,
223 e.g. 'alias pp10 = with print pretty -- with print elem 10 -- print'
224 defines the alias pp10 that will pretty print a maximum of 10 elements
225 of the given expression (if the expression is an array).
226
227 * New targets
228
229 GNU/Linux/RISC-V (gdbserver) riscv*-*-linux*
230 BPF bpf-unknown-none
231
232 * Python API
233
234 ** gdb.register_window_type can be used to implement new TUI windows
235 in Python.
236
237 ** Dynamic types can now be queried. gdb.Type has a new attribute,
238 "dynamic", and gdb.Type.sizeof can be None for a dynamic type. A
239 field of a dynamic type may have None for its "bitpos" attribute
240 as well.
241
242 ** Commands written in Python can be in the "TUI" help class by
243 registering with the new constant gdb.COMMAND_TUI.
244
245 ** New method gdb.PendingFrame.architecture () to retrieve the
246 architecture of the pending frame.
247
248 ** New gdb.Architecture.registers method that returns a
249 gdb.RegisterDescriptorIterator object, an iterator that returns
250 gdb.RegisterDescriptor objects. The new RegisterDescriptor is a
251 way to query the registers available for an architecture.
252
253 ** New gdb.Architecture.register_groups method that returns a
254 gdb.RegisterGroupIterator object, an iterator that returns
255 gdb.RegisterGroup objects. The new RegisterGroup is a way to
256 discover the available register groups.
257
258 * Guile API
259
260 ** GDB can now be built with GNU Guile 3.0 and 2.2 in addition to 2.0.
261
262 ** Procedures 'memory-port-read-buffer-size',
263 'set-memory-port-read-buffer-size!', 'memory-port-write-buffer-size',
264 and 'set-memory-port-write-buffer-size!' are deprecated. When
265 using Guile 2.2 and later, users who need to control the size of
266 a memory port's internal buffer can use the 'setvbuf' procedure.
267
268 *** Changes in GDB 9
269
270 * 'thread-exited' event is now available in the annotations interface.
271
272 * New built-in convenience variables $_gdb_major and $_gdb_minor
273 provide the GDB version. They are handy for conditionally using
274 features available only in or since specific GDB versions, in
275 scripts that should work error-free with many different versions,
276 such as in system-wide init files.
277
278 * New built-in convenience functions $_gdb_setting, $_gdb_setting_str,
279 $_gdb_maint_setting and $_gdb_maint_setting_str provide access to values
280 of the GDB settings and the GDB maintenance settings. They are handy
281 for changing the logic of user defined commands depending on the
282 current GDB settings.
283
284 * GDB now supports Thread Local Storage (TLS) variables on several
285 FreeBSD architectures (amd64, i386, powerpc, riscv). Other
286 architectures require kernel changes. TLS is not yet supported for
287 amd64 and i386 process core dumps.
288
289 * Support for Pointer Authentication (PAC) on AArch64 Linux. Return
290 addresses that required unmasking are shown in the backtrace with the
291 postfix [PAC].
292
293 * Two new convenience functions $_cimag and $_creal that extract the
294 imaginary and real parts respectively from complex numbers.
295
296 * New built-in convenience variables $_shell_exitcode and $_shell_exitsignal
297 provide the exitcode or exit status of the shell commands launched by
298 GDB commands such as "shell", "pipe" and "make".
299
300 * The command define-prefix can now define user defined prefix commands.
301 User defined commands can now be defined using these user defined prefix
302 commands.
303
304 * Command names can now use the . character.
305
306 * The RX port now supports XML target descriptions.
307
308 * GDB now shows the Ada task names at more places, e.g. in task switching
309 messages.
310
311 * GDB can now be compiled with Python 3 on Windows.
312
313 * New convenience variable $_ada_exception holds the address of the
314 Ada exception being thrown. This is set by Ada-related catchpoints.
315
316 * GDB can now place breakpoints on nested functions and subroutines in
317 Fortran code. The '::' operator can be used between parent and
318 child scopes when placing breakpoints, for example:
319
320 (gdb) break outer_function::inner_function
321
322 The 'outer_function::' prefix is only needed if 'inner_function' is
323 not visible in the current scope.
324
325 * In addition to the system-wide gdbinit file, if configured with
326 --with-system-gdbinit-dir, GDB will now also load files in that directory
327 as system gdbinit files, unless the -nx or -n flag is provided. Files
328 with extensions .gdb, .py and .scm are supported as long as GDB was
329 compiled with support for that language.
330
331 * GDB now supports multithreaded symbol loading for higher performance.
332 This feature is still in testing, so it is disabled by default. You
333 can turn it on using 'maint set worker-threads unlimited'.
334
335 * Python API
336
337 ** The gdb.Value type has a new method 'format_string' which returns a
338 string representing the value. The formatting is controlled by the
339 optional keyword arguments: 'raw', 'pretty_arrays', 'pretty_structs',
340 'array_indexes', 'symbols', 'unions', 'deref_refs', 'actual_objects',
341 'static_members', 'max_elements', 'repeat_threshold', and 'format'.
342
343 ** gdb.Type has a new property 'objfile' which returns the objfile the
344 type was defined in.
345
346 ** The frame information printed by the python frame filtering code
347 is now consistent with what the 'backtrace' command prints when
348 there are no filters, or when the 'backtrace' '-no-filters' option
349 is given.
350
351 ** The new function gdb.lookup_static_symbol can be used to look up
352 symbols with static linkage.
353
354 ** The new function gdb.lookup_static_symbols can be used to look up
355 all static symbols with static linkage.
356
357 ** gdb.Objfile has new methods 'lookup_global_symbol' and
358 'lookup_static_symbol' to lookup a symbol from this objfile only.
359
360 ** gdb.Block now supports the dictionary syntax for accessing symbols in
361 this block (e.g. block['local_variable']).
362
363 * New commands
364
365 | [COMMAND] | SHELL_COMMAND
366 | -d DELIM COMMAND DELIM SHELL_COMMAND
367 pipe [COMMAND] | SHELL_COMMAND
368 pipe -d DELIM COMMAND DELIM SHELL_COMMAND
369 Executes COMMAND and sends its output to SHELL_COMMAND.
370 With no COMMAND, repeat the last executed command
371 and send its output to SHELL_COMMAND.
372
373 define-prefix COMMAND
374 Define or mark a command as a user-defined prefix command.
375
376 with SETTING [VALUE] [-- COMMAND]
377 w SETTING [VALUE] [-- COMMAND]
378 Temporarily set SETTING, run COMMAND, and restore SETTING.
379 Usage: with SETTING -- COMMAND
380 With no COMMAND, repeats the last executed command.
381 SETTING is any GDB setting you can change with the "set"
382 subcommands. For example, 'with language c -- print someobj'
383 temporarily switches to the C language in order to print someobj.
384 Settings can be combined: 'w lang c -- w print elements unlimited --
385 usercmd' switches to the C language and runs usercmd with no limit
386 of array elements to print.
387
388 maint with SETTING [VALUE] [-- COMMAND]
389 Like "with", but works with "maintenance set" settings.
390
391 set may-call-functions [on|off]
392 show may-call-functions
393 This controls whether GDB will attempt to call functions in
394 the program, such as with expressions in the print command. It
395 defaults to on. Calling functions in the program being debugged
396 can have undesired side effects. It is now possible to forbid
397 such function calls. If function calls are forbidden, GDB will throw
398 an error when a command (such as print expression) calls a function
399 in the program.
400
401 set print finish [on|off]
402 show print finish
403 This controls whether the `finish' command will display the value
404 that is returned by the current function. When `off', the value is
405 still entered into the value history, but it is not printed. The
406 default is `on'.
407
408 set print max-depth
409 show print max-depth
410 Allows deeply nested structures to be simplified when printing by
411 replacing deeply nested parts (beyond the max-depth) with ellipses.
412 The default max-depth is 20, but this can be set to unlimited to get
413 the old behavior back.
414
415 set print raw-values [on|off]
416 show print raw-values
417 By default, GDB applies the enabled pretty printers when printing a
418 value. This allows to ignore the enabled pretty printers for a series
419 of commands. The default is 'off'.
420
421 set logging debugredirect [on|off]
422 By default, GDB debug output will go to both the terminal and the logfile.
423 Set if you want debug output to go only to the log file.
424
425 set style title foreground COLOR
426 set style title background COLOR
427 set style title intensity VALUE
428 Control the styling of titles.
429
430 set style highlight foreground COLOR
431 set style highlight background COLOR
432 set style highlight intensity VALUE
433 Control the styling of highlightings.
434
435 maint set worker-threads
436 maint show worker-threads
437 Control the number of worker threads that can be used by GDB. The
438 default is 0. "unlimited" lets GDB choose a number that is
439 reasonable. Currently worker threads are only used when demangling
440 the names of linker symbols.
441
442 set style tui-border foreground COLOR
443 set style tui-border background COLOR
444 Control the styling of TUI borders.
445
446 set style tui-active-border foreground COLOR
447 set style tui-active-border background COLOR
448 Control the styling of the active TUI border.
449
450 maint set test-settings KIND
451 maint show test-settings KIND
452 A set of commands used by the testsuite for exercising the settings
453 infrastructure.
454
455 maint set tui-resize-message [on|off]
456 maint show tui-resize-message
457 Control whether GDB prints a message each time the terminal is
458 resized when in TUI mode. This is primarily useful for testing the
459 TUI.
460
461 set print frame-info [short-location|location|location-and-address
462 |source-and-location|source-line|auto]
463 show print frame-info
464 This controls what frame information is printed by the commands printing
465 a frame. This setting will e.g. influence the behaviour of 'backtrace',
466 'frame', 'stepi'. The python frame filtering also respect this setting.
467 The 'backtrace' '-frame-info' option can override this global setting.
468
469 set tui compact-source
470 show tui compact-source
471
472 Enable the "compact" display mode for the TUI source window. The
473 compact display uses only as much space as is needed for the line
474 numbers in the current file, and only a single space to separate the
475 line numbers from the source.
476
477 info modules [-q] [REGEXP]
478 Return a list of Fortran modules matching REGEXP, or all modules if
479 no REGEXP is given.
480
481 info module functions [-q] [-m MODULE_REGEXP] [-t TYPE_REGEXP] [REGEXP]
482 Return a list of functions within all modules, grouped by module.
483 The list of functions can be restricted with the optional regular
484 expressions. MODULE_REGEXP matches against the module name,
485 TYPE_REGEXP matches against the function type signature, and REGEXP
486 matches against the function name.
487
488 info module variables [-q] [-m MODULE_REGEXP] [-t TYPE_REGEXP] [REGEXP]
489 Return a list of variables within all modules, grouped by module.
490 The list of variables can be restricted with the optional regular
491 expressions. MODULE_REGEXP matches against the module name,
492 TYPE_REGEXP matches against the variable type, and REGEXP matches
493 against the variable name.
494
495 set debug remote-packet-max-chars
496 show debug remote-packet-max-chars
497 Controls the number of characters to output in a remote packet when using
498 "set debug remote".
499 The default is 512 bytes.
500
501 info connections
502 Lists the target connections currently in use.
503
504 * Changed commands
505
506 help
507 The "help" command uses the title style to enhance the
508 readibility of its output by styling the classes and
509 command names.
510
511 apropos [-v] REGEXP
512 Similarly to "help", the "apropos" command also uses the
513 title style for the command names. "apropos" accepts now
514 a flag "-v" (verbose) to show the full documentation
515 of matching commands and to use the highlight style to mark
516 the documentation parts matching REGEXP.
517
518 printf
519 eval
520 The GDB printf and eval commands can now print C-style and Ada-style
521 string convenience variables without calling functions in the program.
522 This allows to do formatted printing of strings without having
523 a running inferior, or when debugging a core dump.
524
525 info sources [-dirname | -basename] [--] [REGEXP]
526 This command has now optional arguments to only print the files
527 whose names match REGEXP. The arguments -dirname and -basename
528 allow to restrict matching respectively to the dirname and basename
529 parts of the files.
530
531 show style
532 The "show style" and its subcommands are now styling
533 a style name in their output using its own style, to help
534 the user visualize the different styles.
535
536 set print frame-arguments
537 The new value 'presence' indicates to only indicate the presence of
538 arguments using ..., instead of printing argument names and values.
539
540 set print raw-frame-arguments
541 show print raw-frame-arguments
542
543 These commands replace the similarly-named "set/show print raw
544 frame-arguments" commands (now with a dash instead of a space). The
545 old commands are now deprecated and may be removed in a future
546 release.
547
548 add-inferior [-no-connection]
549 The add-inferior command now supports a "-no-connection" flag that
550 makes the new inferior start with no target connection associated.
551 By default, the new inferior inherits the target connection of the
552 current inferior. See also "info connections".
553
554 info inferior
555 This command's output now includes a new "Connection" column
556 indicating which target connection an inferior is bound to. See
557 "info connections" above.
558
559 maint test-options require-delimiter
560 maint test-options unknown-is-error
561 maint test-options unknown-is-operand
562 maint show test-options-completion-result
563 Commands used by the testsuite to validate the command options
564 framework.
565
566 focus, winheight, +, -, >, <
567 These commands are now case-sensitive.
568
569 * New command options, command completion
570
571 GDB now has a standard infrastructure to support dash-style command
572 options ('-OPT'). One benefit is that commands that use it can
573 easily support completion of command line arguments. Try "CMD
574 -[TAB]" or "help CMD" to find options supported by a command. Over
575 time, we intend to migrate most commands to this infrastructure. A
576 number of commands got support for new command options in this
577 release:
578
579 ** The "print" and "compile print" commands now support a number of
580 options that allow overriding relevant global print settings as
581 set by "set print" subcommands:
582
583 -address [on|off]
584 -array [on|off]
585 -array-indexes [on|off]
586 -elements NUMBER|unlimited
587 -null-stop [on|off]
588 -object [on|off]
589 -pretty [on|off]
590 -raw-values [on|off]
591 -repeats NUMBER|unlimited
592 -static-members [on|off]
593 -symbol [on|off]
594 -union [on|off]
595 -vtbl [on|off]
596
597 Note that because the "print"/"compile print" commands accept
598 arbitrary expressions which may look like options (including
599 abbreviations), if you specify any command option, then you must
600 use a double dash ("--") to mark the end of argument processing.
601
602 ** The "backtrace" command now supports a number of options that
603 allow overriding relevant global print settings as set by "set
604 backtrace" and "set print" subcommands:
605
606 -entry-values no|only|preferred|if-needed|both|compact|default
607 -frame-arguments all|scalars|none
608 -raw-frame-arguments [on|off]
609 -frame-info auto|source-line|location|source-and-location
610 |location-and-address|short-location
611 -past-main [on|off]
612 -past-entry [on|off]
613
614 In addition, the full/no-filters/hide qualifiers are now also
615 exposed as command options too:
616
617 -full
618 -no-filters
619 -hide
620
621 ** The "frame apply", "tfaas" and "faas" commands similarly now
622 support the following options:
623
624 -past-main [on|off]
625 -past-entry [on|off]
626
627 ** The new "info sources" options -dirname and -basename options
628 are using the standard '-OPT' infrastructure.
629
630 All options above can also be abbreviated. The argument of boolean
631 (on/off) options can be 0/1 too, and also the argument is assumed
632 "on" if omitted. This allows writing compact command invocations,
633 like for example:
634
635 (gdb) p -ra -p -o 0 -- *myptr
636
637 The above is equivalent to:
638
639 (gdb) print -raw-values -pretty -object off -- *myptr
640
641 ** The "info types" command now supports the '-q' flag to disable
642 printing of some header information in a similar fashion to "info
643 variables" and "info functions".
644
645 ** The "info variables", "info functions", and "whereis" commands
646 now take a '-n' flag that excludes non-debug symbols (symbols
647 from the symbol table, not from the debug info such as DWARF)
648 from the results.
649
650 * Completion improvements
651
652 ** GDB can now complete the options of the "thread apply all" and
653 "taas" commands, and their "-ascending" option can now be
654 abbreviated.
655
656 ** GDB can now complete the options of the "info threads", "info
657 functions", "info variables", "info locals", and "info args"
658 commands.
659
660 ** GDB can now complete the options of the "compile file" and
661 "compile code" commands. The "compile file" command now
662 completes on filenames.
663
664 ** GDB can now complete the backtrace command's
665 "full/no-filters/hide" qualifiers.
666
667 * In settings, you can now abbreviate "unlimited".
668
669 E.g., "set print elements u" is now equivalent to "set print
670 elements unlimited".
671
672 * New MI commands
673
674 -complete
675 This lists all the possible completions for the rest of the line, if it
676 were to be given as a command itself. This is intended for use by MI
677 frontends in cases when separate CLI and MI channels cannot be used.
678
679 -catch-throw, -catch-rethrow, and -catch-catch
680 These can be used to catch C++ exceptions in a similar fashion to
681 the CLI commands 'catch throw', 'catch rethrow', and 'catch catch'.
682
683 -symbol-info-functions, -symbol-info-types, and -symbol-info-variables
684 These commands are the MI equivalent of the CLI commands 'info
685 functions', 'info types', and 'info variables' respectively.
686
687 -symbol-info-modules, this is the MI equivalent of the CLI 'info
688 modules' command.
689
690 -symbol-info-module-functions and -symbol-info-module-variables.
691 These commands are the MI equivalent of the CLI commands 'info
692 module functions' and 'info module variables'.
693
694 * Other MI changes
695
696 ** The default version of the MI interpreter is now 3 (-i=mi3).
697
698 ** The output of information about multi-location breakpoints (which is
699 syntactically incorrect in MI 2) has changed in MI 3. This affects
700 the following commands and events:
701
702 - -break-insert
703 - -break-info
704 - =breakpoint-created
705 - =breakpoint-modified
706
707 The -fix-multi-location-breakpoint-output command can be used to enable
708 this behavior with previous MI versions.
709
710 ** Backtraces and frames include a new optional field addr_flags which is
711 given after the addr field. On AArch64 this contains PAC if the address
712 has been masked in the frame. On all other targets the field is not
713 present.
714
715 * Testsuite
716
717 The testsuite now creates the files gdb.cmd (containing the arguments
718 used to launch GDB) and gdb.in (containing all the commands sent to
719 GDB) in the output directory for each test script. Multiple invocations
720 are appended with .1, .2, .3 etc.
721
722 * Building GDB and GDBserver now requires GNU make >= 3.82.
723
724 Using another implementation of the make program or an earlier version of
725 GNU make to build GDB or GDBserver is not supported.
726
727 * Building GDB now requires GNU readline >= 7.0.
728
729 GDB now bundles GNU readline 8.0, but if you choose to use
730 --with-system-readline, only readline >= 7.0 can be used.
731
732 * The TUI SingleKey keymap is now named "SingleKey". This can be used
733 from .inputrc to bind keys in this keymap. This feature is only
734 available when gdb is built against GNU readline 8.0 or later.
735
736 * Removed targets and native configurations
737
738 GDB no longer supports debugging the Cell Broadband Engine. This includes
739 both debugging standalone Cell/B.E. SPU applications and integrated debugging
740 of Cell/B.E. applications that use both the PPU and SPU architectures.
741
742 * New Simulators
743
744 TI PRU pru-*-elf
745
746 * Removed targets and native configurations
747
748 Solaris 10 i?86-*-solaris2.10, x86_64-*-solaris2.10,
749 sparc*-*-solaris2.10
750
751 *** Changes in GDB 8.3
752
753 * GDB and GDBserver now support access to additional registers on
754 PowerPC GNU/Linux targets: PPR, DSCR, TAR, EBB/PMU registers, and
755 HTM registers.
756
757 * GDB now has experimental support for the compilation and injection of
758 C++ source code into the inferior. This beta release does not include
759 support for several language features, such as templates, constructors,
760 and operators.
761
762 This feature requires GCC 7.1 or higher built with libcp1.so
763 (the C++ plug-in).
764
765 * GDB and GDBserver now support IPv6 connections. IPv6 addresses
766 can be passed using the '[ADDRESS]:PORT' notation, or the regular
767 'ADDRESS:PORT' method.
768
769 * DWARF index cache: GDB can now automatically save indices of DWARF
770 symbols on disk to speed up further loading of the same binaries.
771
772 * Ada task switching is now supported on aarch64-elf targets when
773 debugging a program using the Ravenscar Profile. For more information,
774 see the "Tasking Support when using the Ravenscar Profile" section
775 in the GDB user manual.
776
777 * GDB in batch mode now exits with status 1 if the last command to be
778 executed failed.
779
780 * The RISC-V target now supports target descriptions.
781
782 * System call catchpoints now support system call aliases on FreeBSD.
783 When the ABI of a system call changes in FreeBSD, this is
784 implemented by leaving a compatibility system call using the old ABI
785 at the existing number and allocating a new system call number for
786 the new ABI. For example, FreeBSD 12 altered the layout of 'struct
787 kevent' used by the 'kevent' system call. As a result, FreeBSD 12
788 kernels ship with both 'kevent' and 'freebsd11_kevent' system calls.
789 The 'freebsd11_kevent' system call is assigned an alias of 'kevent'
790 so that a system call catchpoint for the 'kevent' system call will
791 catch invocations of both the 'kevent' and 'freebsd11_kevent'
792 binaries. This ensures that 'kevent' system calls are caught for
793 binaries using either the old or new ABIs.
794
795 * Terminal styling is now available for the CLI and the TUI. GNU
796 Source Highlight can additionally be used to provide styling of
797 source code snippets. See the "set style" commands, below, for more
798 information.
799
800 * Removed support for old demangling styles arm, edg, gnu, hp and
801 lucid.
802
803 * New commands
804
805 set debug compile-cplus-types
806 show debug compile-cplus-types
807 Control the display of debug output about type conversion in the
808 C++ compile feature. Commands have no effect while compiling
809 for other languages.
810
811 set debug skip
812 show debug skip
813 Control whether debug output about files/functions skipping is
814 displayed.
815
816 frame apply [all | COUNT | -COUNT | level LEVEL...] [FLAG]... COMMAND
817 Apply a command to some frames.
818 FLAG arguments allow to control what output to produce and how to handle
819 errors raised when applying COMMAND to a frame.
820
821 taas COMMAND
822 Apply a command to all threads (ignoring errors and empty output).
823 Shortcut for 'thread apply all -s COMMAND'.
824
825 faas COMMAND
826 Apply a command to all frames (ignoring errors and empty output).
827 Shortcut for 'frame apply all -s COMMAND'.
828
829 tfaas COMMAND
830 Apply a command to all frames of all threads (ignoring errors and empty
831 output).
832 Shortcut for 'thread apply all -s frame apply all -s COMMAND'.
833
834 maint set dwarf unwinders (on|off)
835 maint show dwarf unwinders
836 Control whether DWARF unwinders can be used.
837
838 info proc files
839 Display a list of open files for a process.
840
841 * Changed commands
842
843 Changes to the "frame", "select-frame", and "info frame" CLI commands.
844 These commands all now take a frame specification which
845 is either a frame level, or one of the keywords 'level', 'address',
846 'function', or 'view' followed by a parameter. Selecting a frame by
847 address, or viewing a frame outside the current backtrace now
848 requires the use of a keyword. Selecting a frame by level is
849 unchanged. The MI comment "-stack-select-frame" is unchanged.
850
851 target remote FILENAME
852 target extended-remote FILENAME
853 If FILENAME is a Unix domain socket, GDB will attempt to connect
854 to this socket instead of opening FILENAME as a character device.
855
856 info args [-q] [-t TYPEREGEXP] [NAMEREGEXP]
857 info functions [-q] [-t TYPEREGEXP] [NAMEREGEXP]
858 info locals [-q] [-t TYPEREGEXP] [NAMEREGEXP]
859 info variables [-q] [-t TYPEREGEXP] [NAMEREGEXP]
860 These commands can now print only the searched entities
861 matching the provided regexp(s), giving a condition
862 on the entity names or entity types. The flag -q disables
863 printing headers or informations messages.
864
865 info functions
866 info types
867 info variables
868 rbreak
869 These commands now determine the syntax for the shown entities
870 according to the language chosen by `set language'. In particular,
871 `set language auto' means to automatically choose the language of
872 the shown entities.
873
874 thread apply [all | COUNT | -COUNT] [FLAG]... COMMAND
875 The 'thread apply' command accepts new FLAG arguments.
876 FLAG arguments allow to control what output to produce and how to handle
877 errors raised when applying COMMAND to a thread.
878
879 set tui tab-width NCHARS
880 show tui tab-width NCHARS
881 "set tui tab-width" replaces the "tabset" command, which has been deprecated.
882
883 set style enabled [on|off]
884 show style enabled
885 Enable or disable terminal styling. Styling is enabled by default
886 on most hosts, but disabled by default when in batch mode.
887
888 set style sources [on|off]
889 show style sources
890 Enable or disable source code styling. Source code styling is
891 enabled by default, but only takes effect if styling in general is
892 enabled, and if GDB was linked with GNU Source Highlight.
893
894 set style filename foreground COLOR
895 set style filename background COLOR
896 set style filename intensity VALUE
897 Control the styling of file names.
898
899 set style function foreground COLOR
900 set style function background COLOR
901 set style function intensity VALUE
902 Control the styling of function names.
903
904 set style variable foreground COLOR
905 set style variable background COLOR
906 set style variable intensity VALUE
907 Control the styling of variable names.
908
909 set style address foreground COLOR
910 set style address background COLOR
911 set style address intensity VALUE
912 Control the styling of addresses.
913
914 * MI changes
915
916 ** The '-data-disassemble' MI command now accepts an '-a' option to
917 disassemble the whole function surrounding the given program
918 counter value or function name. Support for this feature can be
919 verified by using the "-list-features" command, which should
920 contain "data-disassemble-a-option".
921
922 ** Command responses and notifications that include a frame now include
923 the frame's architecture in a new "arch" attribute.
924
925 * New native configurations
926
927 GNU/Linux/RISC-V riscv*-*-linux*
928 FreeBSD/riscv riscv*-*-freebsd*
929
930 * New targets
931
932 GNU/Linux/RISC-V riscv*-*-linux*
933 CSKY ELF csky*-*-elf
934 CSKY GNU/LINUX csky*-*-linux
935 FreeBSD/riscv riscv*-*-freebsd*
936 NXP S12Z s12z-*-elf
937 GNU/Linux/OpenRISC or1k*-*-linux*
938
939 * Removed targets
940
941 GDB no longer supports native debugging on versions of MS-Windows
942 before Windows XP.
943
944 * Python API
945
946 ** GDB no longer supports Python versions less than 2.6.
947
948 ** The gdb.Inferior type has a new 'progspace' property, which is the program
949 space associated to that inferior.
950
951 ** The gdb.Progspace type has a new 'objfiles' method, which returns the list
952 of objfiles associated to that program space.
953
954 ** gdb.SYMBOL_LOC_COMMON_BLOCK, gdb.SYMBOL_MODULE_DOMAIN, and
955 gdb.SYMBOL_COMMON_BLOCK_DOMAIN were added to reflect changes to
956 the gdb core.
957
958 ** gdb.SYMBOL_VARIABLES_DOMAIN, gdb.SYMBOL_FUNCTIONS_DOMAIN, and
959 gdb.SYMBOL_TYPES_DOMAIN are now deprecated. These were never
960 correct and did not work properly.
961
962 ** The gdb.Value type has a new constructor, which is used to construct a
963 gdb.Value from a Python buffer object and a gdb.Type.
964
965 * Configure changes
966
967 --enable-ubsan
968
969 Enable or disable the undefined behavior sanitizer. This is
970 disabled by default, but passing --enable-ubsan=yes or
971 --enable-ubsan=auto to configure will enable it. Enabling this can
972 cause a performance penalty. The undefined behavior sanitizer was
973 first introduced in GCC 4.9.
974
975 *** Changes in GDB 8.2
976
977 * The 'set disassembler-options' command now supports specifying options
978 for the MIPS target.
979
980 * The 'symbol-file' command now accepts an '-o' option to add a relative
981 offset to all sections.
982
983 * Similarly, the 'add-symbol-file' command also accepts an '-o' option to add
984 a relative offset to all sections, but it allows to override the load
985 address of individual sections using '-s'.
986
987 * The 'add-symbol-file' command no longer requires the second argument
988 (address of the text section).
989
990 * The endianness used with the 'set endian auto' mode in the absence of
991 an executable selected for debugging is now the last endianness chosen
992 either by one of the 'set endian big' and 'set endian little' commands
993 or by inferring from the last executable used, rather than the startup
994 default.
995
996 * The pager now allows a "c" response, meaning to disable the pager
997 for the rest of the current command.
998
999 * The commands 'info variables/functions/types' now show the source line
1000 numbers of symbol definitions when available.
1001
1002 * 'info proc' now works on running processes on FreeBSD systems and core
1003 files created on FreeBSD systems.
1004
1005 * C expressions can now use _Alignof, and C++ expressions can now use
1006 alignof.
1007
1008 * Support for SVE on AArch64 Linux. Note that GDB does not detect changes to
1009 the vector length while the process is running.
1010
1011 * New commands
1012
1013 set debug fbsd-nat
1014 show debug fbsd-nat
1015 Control display of debugging info regarding the FreeBSD native target.
1016
1017 set|show varsize-limit
1018 This new setting allows the user to control the maximum size of Ada
1019 objects being printed when those objects have a variable type,
1020 instead of that maximum size being hardcoded to 65536 bytes.
1021
1022 set|show record btrace cpu
1023 Controls the processor to be used for enabling errata workarounds for
1024 branch trace decode.
1025
1026 maint check libthread-db
1027 Run integrity checks on the current inferior's thread debugging
1028 library
1029
1030 maint set check-libthread-db (on|off)
1031 maint show check-libthread-db
1032 Control whether to run integrity checks on inferior specific thread
1033 debugging libraries as they are loaded. The default is not to
1034 perform such checks.
1035
1036 * Python API
1037
1038 ** Type alignment is now exposed via the "align" attribute of a gdb.Type.
1039
1040 ** The commands attached to a breakpoint can be set by assigning to
1041 the breakpoint's "commands" field.
1042
1043 ** gdb.execute can now execute multi-line gdb commands.
1044
1045 ** The new functions gdb.convenience_variable and
1046 gdb.set_convenience_variable can be used to get and set the value
1047 of convenience variables.
1048
1049 ** A gdb.Parameter will no longer print the "set" help text on an
1050 ordinary "set"; instead by default a "set" will be silent unless
1051 the get_set_string method returns a non-empty string.
1052
1053 * New targets
1054
1055 RiscV ELF riscv*-*-elf
1056
1057 * Removed targets and native configurations
1058
1059 m88k running OpenBSD m88*-*-openbsd*
1060 SH-5/SH64 ELF sh64-*-elf*, SH-5/SH64 support in sh*
1061 SH-5/SH64 running GNU/Linux SH-5/SH64 support in sh*-*-linux*
1062 SH-5/SH64 running OpenBSD SH-5/SH64 support in sh*-*-openbsd*
1063
1064 * Aarch64/Linux hardware watchpoints improvements
1065
1066 Hardware watchpoints on unaligned addresses are now properly
1067 supported when running Linux kernel 4.10 or higher: read and access
1068 watchpoints are no longer spuriously missed, and all watchpoints
1069 lengths between 1 and 8 bytes are supported. On older kernels,
1070 watchpoints set on unaligned addresses are no longer missed, with
1071 the tradeoff that there is a possibility of false hits being
1072 reported.
1073
1074 * Configure changes
1075
1076 --enable-codesign=CERT
1077 This can be used to invoke "codesign -s CERT" after building gdb.
1078 This option is useful on macOS, where code signing is required for
1079 gdb to work properly.
1080
1081 --disable-gdbcli has been removed
1082 This is now silently accepted, but does nothing.
1083
1084 *** Changes in GDB 8.1
1085
1086 * GDB now supports dynamically creating arbitrary register groups specified
1087 in XML target descriptions. This allows for finer grain grouping of
1088 registers on systems with a large amount of registers.
1089
1090 * The 'ptype' command now accepts a '/o' flag, which prints the
1091 offsets and sizes of fields in a struct, like the pahole(1) tool.
1092
1093 * New "--readnever" command line option instructs GDB to not read each
1094 symbol file's symbolic debug information. This makes startup faster
1095 but at the expense of not being able to perform symbolic debugging.
1096 This option is intended for use cases where symbolic debugging will
1097 not be used, e.g., when you only need to dump the debuggee's core.
1098
1099 * GDB now uses the GNU MPFR library, if available, to emulate target
1100 floating-point arithmetic during expression evaluation when the target
1101 uses different floating-point formats than the host. At least version
1102 3.1 of GNU MPFR is required.
1103
1104 * GDB now supports access to the guarded-storage-control registers and the
1105 software-based guarded-storage broadcast control registers on IBM z14.
1106
1107 * On Unix systems, GDB now supports transmitting environment variables
1108 that are to be set or unset to GDBserver. These variables will
1109 affect the environment to be passed to the remote inferior.
1110
1111 To inform GDB of environment variables that are to be transmitted to
1112 GDBserver, use the "set environment" command. Only user set
1113 environment variables are sent to GDBserver.
1114
1115 To inform GDB of environment variables that are to be unset before
1116 the remote inferior is started by the GDBserver, use the "unset
1117 environment" command.
1118
1119 * Completion improvements
1120
1121 ** GDB can now complete function parameters in linespecs and
1122 explicit locations without quoting. When setting breakpoints,
1123 quoting around functions names to help with TAB-completion is
1124 generally no longer necessary. For example, this now completes
1125 correctly:
1126
1127 (gdb) b function(in[TAB]
1128 (gdb) b function(int)
1129
1130 Related, GDB is no longer confused with completing functions in
1131 C++ anonymous namespaces:
1132
1133 (gdb) b (anon[TAB]
1134 (gdb) b (anonymous namespace)::[TAB][TAB]
1135 (anonymous namespace)::a_function()
1136 (anonymous namespace)::b_function()
1137
1138 ** GDB now has much improved linespec and explicit locations TAB
1139 completion support, that better understands what you're
1140 completing and offers better suggestions. For example, GDB no
1141 longer offers data symbols as possible completions when you're
1142 setting a breakpoint.
1143
1144 ** GDB now TAB-completes label symbol names.
1145
1146 ** The "complete" command now mimics TAB completion accurately.
1147
1148 * New command line options (gcore)
1149
1150 -a
1151 Dump all memory mappings.
1152
1153 * Breakpoints on C++ functions are now set on all scopes by default
1154
1155 By default, breakpoints on functions/methods are now interpreted as
1156 specifying all functions with the given name ignoring missing
1157 leading scopes (namespaces and classes).
1158
1159 For example, assuming a C++ program with symbols named:
1160
1161 A::B::func()
1162 B::func()
1163
1164 both commands "break func()" and "break B::func()" set a breakpoint
1165 on both symbols.
1166
1167 You can use the new flag "-qualified" to override this. This makes
1168 GDB interpret the specified function name as a complete
1169 fully-qualified name instead. For example, using the same C++
1170 program, the "break -q B::func" command sets a breakpoint on
1171 "B::func", only. A parameter has been added to the Python
1172 gdb.Breakpoint constructor to achieve the same result when creating
1173 a breakpoint from Python.
1174
1175 * Breakpoints on functions marked with C++ ABI tags
1176
1177 GDB can now set breakpoints on functions marked with C++ ABI tags
1178 (e.g., [abi:cxx11]). See here for a description of ABI tags:
1179 https://developers.redhat.com/blog/2015/02/05/gcc5-and-the-c11-abi/
1180
1181 Functions with a C++11 abi tag are demangled/displayed like this:
1182
1183 function[abi:cxx11](int)
1184 ^^^^^^^^^^^
1185
1186 You can now set a breakpoint on such functions simply as if they had
1187 no tag, like:
1188
1189 (gdb) b function(int)
1190
1191 Or if you need to disambiguate between tags, like:
1192
1193 (gdb) b function[abi:other_tag](int)
1194
1195 Tab completion was adjusted accordingly as well.
1196
1197 * Python Scripting
1198
1199 ** New events gdb.new_inferior, gdb.inferior_deleted, and
1200 gdb.new_thread are emitted. See the manual for further
1201 description of these.
1202
1203 ** A new function, "gdb.rbreak" has been added to the Python API.
1204 This function allows the setting of a large number of breakpoints
1205 via a regex pattern in Python. See the manual for further details.
1206
1207 ** Python breakpoints can now accept explicit locations. See the
1208 manual for a further description of this feature.
1209
1210
1211 * New features in the GDB remote stub, GDBserver
1212
1213 ** GDBserver is now able to start inferior processes with a
1214 specified initial working directory.
1215
1216 The user can set the desired working directory to be used from
1217 GDB using the new "set cwd" command.
1218
1219 ** New "--selftest" command line option runs some GDBserver self
1220 tests. These self tests are disabled in releases.
1221
1222 ** On Unix systems, GDBserver now does globbing expansion and variable
1223 substitution in inferior command line arguments.
1224
1225 This is done by starting inferiors using a shell, like GDB does.
1226 See "set startup-with-shell" in the user manual for how to disable
1227 this from GDB when using "target extended-remote". When using
1228 "target remote", you can disable the startup with shell by using the
1229 new "--no-startup-with-shell" GDBserver command line option.
1230
1231 ** On Unix systems, GDBserver now supports receiving environment
1232 variables that are to be set or unset from GDB. These variables
1233 will affect the environment to be passed to the inferior.
1234
1235 * When catching an Ada exception raised with a message, GDB now prints
1236 the message in the catchpoint hit notification. In GDB/MI mode, that
1237 information is provided as an extra field named "exception-message"
1238 in the *stopped notification.
1239
1240 * Trait objects can now be inspected When debugging Rust code. This
1241 requires compiler support which will appear in Rust 1.24.
1242
1243 * New remote packets
1244
1245 QEnvironmentHexEncoded
1246 Inform GDBserver of an environment variable that is to be passed to
1247 the inferior when starting it.
1248
1249 QEnvironmentUnset
1250 Inform GDBserver of an environment variable that is to be unset
1251 before starting the remote inferior.
1252
1253 QEnvironmentReset
1254 Inform GDBserver that the environment should be reset (i.e.,
1255 user-set environment variables should be unset).
1256
1257 QStartupWithShell
1258 Indicates whether the inferior must be started with a shell or not.
1259
1260 QSetWorkingDir
1261 Tell GDBserver that the inferior to be started should use a specific
1262 working directory.
1263
1264 * The "maintenance print c-tdesc" command now takes an optional
1265 argument which is the file name of XML target description.
1266
1267 * The "maintenance selftest" command now takes an optional argument to
1268 filter the tests to be run.
1269
1270 * The "enable", and "disable" commands now accept a range of
1271 breakpoint locations, e.g. "enable 1.3-5".
1272
1273 * New commands
1274
1275 set|show cwd
1276 Set and show the current working directory for the inferior.
1277
1278 set|show compile-gcc
1279 Set and show compilation command used for compiling and injecting code
1280 with the 'compile' commands.
1281
1282 set debug separate-debug-file
1283 show debug separate-debug-file
1284 Control the display of debug output about separate debug file search.
1285
1286 set dump-excluded-mappings
1287 show dump-excluded-mappings
1288 Control whether mappings marked with the VM_DONTDUMP flag should be
1289 dumped when generating a core file.
1290
1291 maint info selftests
1292 List the registered selftests.
1293
1294 starti
1295 Start the debugged program stopping at the first instruction.
1296
1297 set|show debug or1k
1298 Control display of debugging messages related to OpenRISC targets.
1299
1300 set|show print type nested-type-limit
1301 Set and show the limit of nesting level for nested types that the
1302 type printer will show.
1303
1304 * TUI Single-Key mode now supports two new shortcut keys: `i' for stepi and
1305 `o' for nexti.
1306
1307 * Safer/improved support for debugging with no debug info
1308
1309 GDB no longer assumes functions with no debug information return
1310 'int'.
1311
1312 This means that GDB now refuses to call such functions unless you
1313 tell it the function's type, by either casting the call to the
1314 declared return type, or by casting the function to a function
1315 pointer of the right type, and calling that:
1316
1317 (gdb) p getenv ("PATH")
1318 'getenv' has unknown return type; cast the call to its declared return type
1319 (gdb) p (char *) getenv ("PATH")
1320 $1 = 0x7fffffffe "/usr/local/bin:/"...
1321 (gdb) p ((char * (*) (const char *)) getenv) ("PATH")
1322 $2 = 0x7fffffffe "/usr/local/bin:/"...
1323
1324 Similarly, GDB no longer assumes that global variables with no debug
1325 info have type 'int', and refuses to print the variable's value
1326 unless you tell it the variable's type:
1327
1328 (gdb) p var
1329 'var' has unknown type; cast it to its declared type
1330 (gdb) p (float) var
1331 $3 = 3.14
1332
1333 * New native configurations
1334
1335 FreeBSD/aarch64 aarch64*-*-freebsd*
1336 FreeBSD/arm arm*-*-freebsd*
1337
1338 * New targets
1339
1340 FreeBSD/aarch64 aarch64*-*-freebsd*
1341 FreeBSD/arm arm*-*-freebsd*
1342 OpenRISC ELF or1k*-*-elf
1343
1344 * Removed targets and native configurations
1345
1346 Solaris 2.0-9 i?86-*-solaris2.[0-9], sparc*-*-solaris2.[0-9]
1347
1348 *** Changes in GDB 8.0
1349
1350 * GDB now supports access to the PKU register on GNU/Linux. The register is
1351 added by the Memory Protection Keys for Userspace feature which will be
1352 available in future Intel CPUs.
1353
1354 * GDB now supports C++11 rvalue references.
1355
1356 * Python Scripting
1357
1358 ** New functions to start, stop and access a running btrace recording.
1359 ** Rvalue references are now supported in gdb.Type.
1360
1361 * GDB now supports recording and replaying rdrand and rdseed Intel 64
1362 instructions.
1363
1364 * Building GDB and GDBserver now requires a C++11 compiler.
1365
1366 For example, GCC 4.8 or later.
1367
1368 It is no longer possible to build GDB or GDBserver with a C
1369 compiler. The --disable-build-with-cxx configure option has been
1370 removed.
1371
1372 * Building GDB and GDBserver now requires GNU make >= 3.81.
1373
1374 It is no longer supported to build GDB or GDBserver with another
1375 implementation of the make program or an earlier version of GNU make.
1376
1377 * Native debugging on MS-Windows supports command-line redirection
1378
1379 Command-line arguments used for starting programs on MS-Windows can
1380 now include redirection symbols supported by native Windows shells,
1381 such as '<', '>', '>>', '2>&1', etc. This affects GDB commands such
1382 as "run", "start", and "set args", as well as the corresponding MI
1383 features.
1384
1385 * Support for thread names on MS-Windows.
1386
1387 GDB now catches and handles the special exception that programs
1388 running on MS-Windows use to assign names to threads in the
1389 debugger.
1390
1391 * Support for Java programs compiled with gcj has been removed.
1392
1393 * User commands now accept an unlimited number of arguments.
1394 Previously, only up to 10 was accepted.
1395
1396 * The "eval" command now expands user-defined command arguments.
1397
1398 This makes it easier to process a variable number of arguments:
1399
1400 define mycommand
1401 set $i = 0
1402 while $i < $argc
1403 eval "print $arg%d", $i
1404 set $i = $i + 1
1405 end
1406 end
1407
1408 * Target descriptions can now describe registers for sparc32 and sparc64.
1409
1410 * GDB now supports DWARF version 5 (debug information format).
1411 Its .debug_names index is not yet supported.
1412
1413 * New native configurations
1414
1415 FreeBSD/mips mips*-*-freebsd
1416
1417 * New targets
1418
1419 Synopsys ARC arc*-*-elf32
1420 FreeBSD/mips mips*-*-freebsd
1421
1422 * Removed targets and native configurations
1423
1424 Alpha running FreeBSD alpha*-*-freebsd*
1425 Alpha running GNU/kFreeBSD alpha*-*-kfreebsd*-gnu
1426
1427 * New commands
1428
1429 flash-erase
1430 Erases all the flash memory regions reported by the target.
1431
1432 maint print arc arc-instruction address
1433 Print internal disassembler information about instruction at a given address.
1434
1435 * New options
1436
1437 set disassembler-options
1438 show disassembler-options
1439 Controls the passing of target specific information to the disassembler.
1440 If it is necessary to specify more than one disassembler option then
1441 multiple options can be placed together into a comma separated list.
1442 The default value is the empty string. Currently, the only supported
1443 targets are ARM, PowerPC and S/390.
1444
1445 * New MI commands
1446
1447 -target-flash-erase
1448 Erases all the flash memory regions reported by the target. This is
1449 equivalent to the CLI command flash-erase.
1450
1451 -file-list-shared-libraries
1452 List the shared libraries in the program. This is
1453 equivalent to the CLI command "info shared".
1454
1455 -catch-handlers
1456 Catchpoints stopping the program when Ada exceptions are
1457 handled. This is equivalent to the CLI command "catch handlers".
1458
1459 *** Changes in GDB 7.12
1460
1461 * GDB and GDBserver now build with a C++ compiler by default.
1462
1463 The --enable-build-with-cxx configure option is now enabled by
1464 default. One must now explicitly configure with
1465 --disable-build-with-cxx in order to build with a C compiler. This
1466 option will be removed in a future release.
1467
1468 * GDBserver now supports recording btrace without maintaining an active
1469 GDB connection.
1470
1471 * GDB now supports a negative repeat count in the 'x' command to examine
1472 memory backward from the given address. For example:
1473
1474 (gdb) bt
1475 #0 Func1 (n=42, p=0x40061c "hogehoge") at main.cpp:4
1476 #1 0x400580 in main (argc=1, argv=0x7fffffffe5c8) at main.cpp:8
1477 (gdb) x/-5i 0x0000000000400580
1478 0x40056a <main(int, char**)+8>: mov %edi,-0x4(%rbp)
1479 0x40056d <main(int, char**)+11>: mov %rsi,-0x10(%rbp)
1480 0x400571 <main(int, char**)+15>: mov $0x40061c,%esi
1481 0x400576 <main(int, char**)+20>: mov $0x2a,%edi
1482 0x40057b <main(int, char**)+25>:
1483 callq 0x400536 <Func1(int, char const*)>
1484
1485 * Fortran: Support structures with fields of dynamic types and
1486 arrays of dynamic types.
1487
1488 * The symbol dumping maintenance commands have new syntax.
1489 maint print symbols [-pc address] [--] [filename]
1490 maint print symbols [-objfile objfile] [-source source] [--] [filename]
1491 maint print psymbols [-objfile objfile] [-pc address] [--] [filename]
1492 maint print psymbols [-objfile objfile] [-source source] [--] [filename]
1493 maint print msymbols [-objfile objfile] [--] [filename]
1494
1495 * GDB now supports multibit bitfields and enums in target register
1496 descriptions.
1497
1498 * New Python-based convenience function $_as_string(val), which returns
1499 the textual representation of a value. This function is especially
1500 useful to obtain the text label of an enum value.
1501
1502 * Intel MPX bound violation handling.
1503
1504 Segmentation faults caused by a Intel MPX boundary violation
1505 now display the kind of violation (upper or lower), the memory
1506 address accessed and the memory bounds, along with the usual
1507 signal received and code location.
1508
1509 For example:
1510
1511 Program received signal SIGSEGV, Segmentation fault
1512 Upper bound violation while accessing address 0x7fffffffc3b3
1513 Bounds: [lower = 0x7fffffffc390, upper = 0x7fffffffc3a3]
1514 0x0000000000400d7c in upper () at i386-mpx-sigsegv.c:68
1515
1516 * Rust language support.
1517 GDB now supports debugging programs written in the Rust programming
1518 language. See https://www.rust-lang.org/ for more information about
1519 Rust.
1520
1521 * Support for running interpreters on specified input/output devices
1522
1523 GDB now supports a new mechanism that allows frontends to provide
1524 fully featured GDB console views, as a better alternative to
1525 building such views on top of the "-interpreter-exec console"
1526 command. See the new "new-ui" command below. With that command,
1527 frontends can now start GDB in the traditional command-line mode
1528 running in an embedded terminal emulator widget, and create a
1529 separate MI interpreter running on a specified i/o device. In this
1530 way, GDB handles line editing, history, tab completion, etc. in the
1531 console all by itself, and the GUI uses the separate MI interpreter
1532 for its own control and synchronization, invisible to the command
1533 line.
1534
1535 * The "catch syscall" command catches groups of related syscalls.
1536
1537 The "catch syscall" command now supports catching a group of related
1538 syscalls using the 'group:' or 'g:' prefix.
1539
1540 * New commands
1541
1542 skip -file file
1543 skip -gfile file-glob-pattern
1544 skip -function function
1545 skip -rfunction regular-expression
1546 A generalized form of the skip command, with new support for
1547 glob-style file names and regular expressions for function names.
1548 Additionally, a file spec and a function spec may now be combined.
1549
1550 maint info line-table REGEXP
1551 Display the contents of GDB's internal line table data structure.
1552
1553 maint selftest
1554 Run any GDB unit tests that were compiled in.
1555
1556 new-ui INTERP TTY
1557 Start a new user interface instance running INTERP as interpreter,
1558 using the TTY file for input/output.
1559
1560 * Python Scripting
1561
1562 ** gdb.Breakpoint objects have a new attribute "pending", which
1563 indicates whether the breakpoint is pending.
1564 ** Three new breakpoint-related events have been added:
1565 gdb.breakpoint_created, gdb.breakpoint_modified, and
1566 gdb.breakpoint_deleted.
1567
1568 signal-event EVENTID
1569 Signal ("set") the given MS-Windows event object. This is used in
1570 conjunction with the Windows JIT debugging (AeDebug) support, where
1571 the OS suspends a crashing process until a debugger can attach to
1572 it. Resuming the crashing process, in order to debug it, is done by
1573 signalling an event.
1574
1575 * Support for tracepoints and fast tracepoints on s390-linux and s390x-linux
1576 was added in GDBserver, including JIT compiling fast tracepoint's
1577 conditional expression bytecode into native code.
1578
1579 * Support for various remote target protocols and ROM monitors has
1580 been removed:
1581
1582 target m32rsdi Remote M32R debugging over SDI
1583 target mips MIPS remote debugging protocol
1584 target pmon PMON ROM monitor
1585 target ddb NEC's DDB variant of PMON for Vr4300
1586 target rockhopper NEC RockHopper variant of PMON
1587 target lsi LSI variant of PMO
1588
1589 * Support for tracepoints and fast tracepoints on powerpc-linux,
1590 powerpc64-linux, and powerpc64le-linux was added in GDBserver,
1591 including JIT compiling fast tracepoint's conditional expression
1592 bytecode into native code.
1593
1594 * MI async record =record-started now includes the method and format used for
1595 recording. For example:
1596
1597 =record-started,thread-group="i1",method="btrace",format="bts"
1598
1599 * MI async record =thread-selected now includes the frame field. For example:
1600
1601 =thread-selected,id="3",frame={level="0",addr="0x00000000004007c0"}
1602
1603 * New targets
1604
1605 Andes NDS32 nds32*-*-elf
1606
1607 *** Changes in GDB 7.11
1608
1609 * GDB now supports debugging kernel-based threads on FreeBSD.
1610
1611 * Per-inferior thread numbers
1612
1613 Thread numbers are now per inferior instead of global. If you're
1614 debugging multiple inferiors, GDB displays thread IDs using a
1615 qualified INF_NUM.THR_NUM form. For example:
1616
1617 (gdb) info threads
1618 Id Target Id Frame
1619 1.1 Thread 0x7ffff7fc2740 (LWP 8155) (running)
1620 1.2 Thread 0x7ffff7fc1700 (LWP 8168) (running)
1621 * 2.1 Thread 0x7ffff7fc2740 (LWP 8157) (running)
1622 2.2 Thread 0x7ffff7fc1700 (LWP 8190) (running)
1623
1624 As consequence, thread numbers as visible in the $_thread
1625 convenience variable and in Python's InferiorThread.num attribute
1626 are no longer unique between inferiors.
1627
1628 GDB now maintains a second thread ID per thread, referred to as the
1629 global thread ID, which is the new equivalent of thread numbers in
1630 previous releases. See also $_gthread below.
1631
1632 For backwards compatibility, MI's thread IDs always refer to global
1633 IDs.
1634
1635 * Commands that accept thread IDs now accept the qualified
1636 INF_NUM.THR_NUM form as well. For example:
1637
1638 (gdb) thread 2.1
1639 [Switching to thread 2.1 (Thread 0x7ffff7fc2740 (LWP 8157))] (running)
1640 (gdb)
1641
1642 * In commands that accept a list of thread IDs, you can now refer to
1643 all threads of an inferior using a star wildcard. GDB accepts
1644 "INF_NUM.*", to refer to all threads of inferior INF_NUM, and "*" to
1645 refer to all threads of the current inferior. For example, "info
1646 threads 2.*".
1647
1648 * You can use "info threads -gid" to display the global thread ID of
1649 all threads.
1650
1651 * The new convenience variable $_gthread holds the global number of
1652 the current thread.
1653
1654 * The new convenience variable $_inferior holds the number of the
1655 current inferior.
1656
1657 * GDB now displays the ID and name of the thread that hit a breakpoint
1658 or received a signal, if your program is multi-threaded. For
1659 example:
1660
1661 Thread 3 "bar" hit Breakpoint 1 at 0x40087a: file program.c, line 20.
1662 Thread 1 "main" received signal SIGINT, Interrupt.
1663
1664 * Record btrace now supports non-stop mode.
1665
1666 * Support for tracepoints on aarch64-linux was added in GDBserver.
1667
1668 * The 'record instruction-history' command now indicates speculative execution
1669 when using the Intel Processor Trace recording format.
1670
1671 * GDB now allows users to specify explicit locations, bypassing
1672 the linespec parser. This feature is also available to GDB/MI
1673 clients.
1674
1675 * Multi-architecture debugging is supported on AArch64 GNU/Linux.
1676 GDB now is able to debug both AArch64 applications and ARM applications
1677 at the same time.
1678
1679 * Support for fast tracepoints on aarch64-linux was added in GDBserver,
1680 including JIT compiling fast tracepoint's conditional expression bytecode
1681 into native code.
1682
1683 * GDB now supports displaced stepping on AArch64 GNU/Linux.
1684
1685 * "info threads", "info inferiors", "info display", "info checkpoints"
1686 and "maint info program-spaces" now list the corresponding items in
1687 ascending ID order, for consistency with all other "info" commands.
1688
1689 * In Ada, the overloads selection menu has been enhanced to display the
1690 parameter types and the return types for the matching overloaded subprograms.
1691
1692 * New commands
1693
1694 maint set target-non-stop (on|off|auto)
1695 maint show target-non-stop
1696 Control whether GDB targets always operate in non-stop mode even if
1697 "set non-stop" is "off". The default is "auto", meaning non-stop
1698 mode is enabled if supported by the target.
1699
1700 maint set bfd-sharing
1701 maint show bfd-sharing
1702 Control the reuse of bfd objects.
1703
1704 set debug bfd-cache
1705 show debug bfd-cache
1706 Control display of debugging info regarding bfd caching.
1707
1708 set debug fbsd-lwp
1709 show debug fbsd-lwp
1710 Control display of debugging info regarding FreeBSD threads.
1711
1712 set remote multiprocess-extensions-packet
1713 show remote multiprocess-extensions-packet
1714 Set/show the use of the remote protocol multiprocess extensions.
1715
1716 set remote thread-events
1717 show remote thread-events
1718 Set/show the use of thread create/exit events.
1719
1720 set ada print-signatures on|off
1721 show ada print-signatures"
1722 Control whether parameter types and return types are displayed in overloads
1723 selection menus. It is activated (@code{on}) by default.
1724
1725 set max-value-size
1726 show max-value-size
1727 Controls the maximum size of memory, in bytes, that GDB will
1728 allocate for value contents. Prevents incorrect programs from
1729 causing GDB to allocate overly large buffers. Default is 64k.
1730
1731 * The "disassemble" command accepts a new modifier: /s.
1732 It prints mixed source+disassembly like /m with two differences:
1733 - disassembled instructions are now printed in program order, and
1734 - and source for all relevant files is now printed.
1735 The "/m" option is now considered deprecated: its "source-centric"
1736 output hasn't proved useful in practice.
1737
1738 * The "record instruction-history" command accepts a new modifier: /s.
1739 It behaves exactly like /m and prints mixed source+disassembly.
1740
1741 * The "set scheduler-locking" command supports a new mode "replay".
1742 It behaves like "off" in record mode and like "on" in replay mode.
1743
1744 * Support for various ROM monitors has been removed:
1745
1746 target dbug dBUG ROM monitor for Motorola ColdFire
1747 target picobug Motorola picobug monitor
1748 target dink32 DINK32 ROM monitor for PowerPC
1749 target m32r Renesas M32R/D ROM monitor
1750 target mon2000 mon2000 ROM monitor
1751 target ppcbug PPCBUG ROM monitor for PowerPC
1752
1753 * Support for reading/writing memory and extracting values on architectures
1754 whose memory is addressable in units of any integral multiple of 8 bits.
1755
1756 catch handlers
1757 Allows to break when an Ada exception is handled.
1758
1759 * New remote packets
1760
1761 exec stop reason
1762 Indicates that an exec system call was executed.
1763
1764 exec-events feature in qSupported
1765 The qSupported packet allows GDB to request support for exec
1766 events using the new 'gdbfeature' exec-event, and the qSupported
1767 response can contain the corresponding 'stubfeature'. Set and
1768 show commands can be used to display whether these features are enabled.
1769
1770 vCtrlC
1771 Equivalent to interrupting with the ^C character, but works in
1772 non-stop mode.
1773
1774 thread created stop reason (T05 create:...)
1775 Indicates that the thread was just created and is stopped at entry.
1776
1777 thread exit stop reply (w exitcode;tid)
1778 Indicates that the thread has terminated.
1779
1780 QThreadEvents
1781 Enables/disables thread create and exit event reporting. For
1782 example, this is used in non-stop mode when GDB stops a set of
1783 threads and synchronously waits for the their corresponding stop
1784 replies. Without exit events, if one of the threads exits, GDB
1785 would hang forever not knowing that it should no longer expect a
1786 stop for that same thread.
1787
1788 N stop reply
1789 Indicates that there are no resumed threads left in the target (all
1790 threads are stopped). The remote stub reports support for this stop
1791 reply to GDB's qSupported query.
1792
1793 QCatchSyscalls
1794 Enables/disables catching syscalls from the inferior process.
1795 The remote stub reports support for this packet to GDB's qSupported query.
1796
1797 syscall_entry stop reason
1798 Indicates that a syscall was just called.
1799
1800 syscall_return stop reason
1801 Indicates that a syscall just returned.
1802
1803 * Extended-remote exec events
1804
1805 ** GDB now has support for exec events on extended-remote Linux targets.
1806 For such targets with Linux kernels 2.5.46 and later, this enables
1807 follow-exec-mode and exec catchpoints.
1808
1809 set remote exec-event-feature-packet
1810 show remote exec-event-feature-packet
1811 Set/show the use of the remote exec event feature.
1812
1813 * Thread names in remote protocol
1814
1815 The reply to qXfer:threads:read may now include a name attribute for each
1816 thread.
1817
1818 * Target remote mode fork and exec events
1819
1820 ** GDB now has support for fork and exec events on target remote mode
1821 Linux targets. For such targets with Linux kernels 2.5.46 and later,
1822 this enables follow-fork-mode, detach-on-fork, follow-exec-mode, and
1823 fork and exec catchpoints.
1824
1825 * Remote syscall events
1826
1827 ** GDB now has support for catch syscall on remote Linux targets,
1828 currently enabled on x86/x86_64 architectures.
1829
1830 set remote catch-syscall-packet
1831 show remote catch-syscall-packet
1832 Set/show the use of the remote catch syscall feature.
1833
1834 * MI changes
1835
1836 ** The -var-set-format command now accepts the zero-hexadecimal
1837 format. It outputs data in hexadecimal format with zero-padding on the
1838 left.
1839
1840 * Python Scripting
1841
1842 ** gdb.InferiorThread objects have a new attribute "global_num",
1843 which refers to the thread's global thread ID. The existing
1844 "num" attribute now refers to the thread's per-inferior number.
1845 See "Per-inferior thread numbers" above.
1846 ** gdb.InferiorThread objects have a new attribute "inferior", which
1847 is the Inferior object the thread belongs to.
1848
1849 *** Changes in GDB 7.10
1850
1851 * Support for process record-replay and reverse debugging on aarch64*-linux*
1852 targets has been added. GDB now supports recording of A64 instruction set
1853 including advance SIMD instructions.
1854
1855 * Support for Sun's version of the "stabs" debug file format has been removed.
1856
1857 * GDB now honors the content of the file /proc/PID/coredump_filter
1858 (PID is the process ID) on GNU/Linux systems. This file can be used
1859 to specify the types of memory mappings that will be included in a
1860 corefile. For more information, please refer to the manual page of
1861 "core(5)". GDB also has a new command: "set use-coredump-filter
1862 on|off". It allows to set whether GDB will read the content of the
1863 /proc/PID/coredump_filter file when generating a corefile.
1864
1865 * The "info os" command on GNU/Linux can now display information on
1866 cpu information :
1867 "info os cpus" Listing of all cpus/cores on the system
1868
1869 * GDB has two new commands: "set serial parity odd|even|none" and
1870 "show serial parity". These allows to set or show parity for the
1871 remote serial I/O.
1872
1873 * The "info source" command now displays the producer string if it was
1874 present in the debug info. This typically includes the compiler version
1875 and may include things like its command line arguments.
1876
1877 * The "info dll", an alias of the "info sharedlibrary" command,
1878 is now available on all platforms.
1879
1880 * Directory names supplied to the "set sysroot" commands may be
1881 prefixed with "target:" to tell GDB to access shared libraries from
1882 the target system, be it local or remote. This replaces the prefix
1883 "remote:". The default sysroot has been changed from "" to
1884 "target:". "remote:" is automatically converted to "target:" for
1885 backward compatibility.
1886
1887 * The system root specified by "set sysroot" will be prepended to the
1888 filename of the main executable (if reported to GDB as absolute by
1889 the operating system) when starting processes remotely, and when
1890 attaching to already-running local or remote processes.
1891
1892 * GDB now supports automatic location and retrieval of executable
1893 files from remote targets. Remote debugging can now be initiated
1894 using only a "target remote" or "target extended-remote" command
1895 (no "set sysroot" or "file" commands are required). See "New remote
1896 packets" below.
1897
1898 * The "dump" command now supports verilog hex format.
1899
1900 * GDB now supports the vector ABI on S/390 GNU/Linux targets.
1901
1902 * On GNU/Linux, GDB and gdbserver are now able to access executable
1903 and shared library files without a "set sysroot" command when
1904 attaching to processes running in different mount namespaces from
1905 the debugger. This makes it possible to attach to processes in
1906 containers as simply as "gdb -p PID" or "gdbserver --attach PID".
1907 See "New remote packets" below.
1908
1909 * The "tui reg" command now provides completion for all of the
1910 available register groups, including target specific groups.
1911
1912 * The HISTSIZE environment variable is no longer read when determining
1913 the size of GDB's command history. GDB now instead reads the dedicated
1914 GDBHISTSIZE environment variable. Setting GDBHISTSIZE to "-1" or to "" now
1915 disables truncation of command history. Non-numeric values of GDBHISTSIZE
1916 are ignored.
1917
1918 * Guile Scripting
1919
1920 ** Memory ports can now be unbuffered.
1921
1922 * Python Scripting
1923
1924 ** gdb.Objfile objects have a new attribute "username",
1925 which is the name of the objfile as specified by the user,
1926 without, for example, resolving symlinks.
1927 ** You can now write frame unwinders in Python.
1928 ** gdb.Type objects have a new method "optimized_out",
1929 returning optimized out gdb.Value instance of this type.
1930 ** gdb.Value objects have new methods "reference_value" and
1931 "const_value" which return a reference to the value and a
1932 "const" version of the value respectively.
1933
1934 * New commands
1935
1936 maint print symbol-cache
1937 Print the contents of the symbol cache.
1938
1939 maint print symbol-cache-statistics
1940 Print statistics of symbol cache usage.
1941
1942 maint flush-symbol-cache
1943 Flush the contents of the symbol cache.
1944
1945 record btrace bts
1946 record bts
1947 Start branch trace recording using Branch Trace Store (BTS) format.
1948
1949 compile print
1950 Evaluate expression by using the compiler and print result.
1951
1952 tui enable
1953 tui disable
1954 Explicit commands for enabling and disabling tui mode.
1955
1956 show mpx bound
1957 set mpx bound on i386 and amd64
1958 Support for bound table investigation on Intel MPX enabled applications.
1959
1960 record btrace pt
1961 record pt
1962 Start branch trace recording using Intel Processor Trace format.
1963
1964 maint info btrace
1965 Print information about branch tracing internals.
1966
1967 maint btrace packet-history
1968 Print the raw branch tracing data.
1969
1970 maint btrace clear-packet-history
1971 Discard the stored raw branch tracing data.
1972
1973 maint btrace clear
1974 Discard all branch tracing data. It will be fetched and processed
1975 anew by the next "record" command.
1976
1977 * New options
1978
1979 set debug dwarf-die
1980 Renamed from "set debug dwarf2-die".
1981 show debug dwarf-die
1982 Renamed from "show debug dwarf2-die".
1983
1984 set debug dwarf-read
1985 Renamed from "set debug dwarf2-read".
1986 show debug dwarf-read
1987 Renamed from "show debug dwarf2-read".
1988
1989 maint set dwarf always-disassemble
1990 Renamed from "maint set dwarf2 always-disassemble".
1991 maint show dwarf always-disassemble
1992 Renamed from "maint show dwarf2 always-disassemble".
1993
1994 maint set dwarf max-cache-age
1995 Renamed from "maint set dwarf2 max-cache-age".
1996 maint show dwarf max-cache-age
1997 Renamed from "maint show dwarf2 max-cache-age".
1998
1999 set debug dwarf-line
2000 show debug dwarf-line
2001 Control display of debugging info regarding DWARF line processing.
2002
2003 set max-completions
2004 show max-completions
2005 Set the maximum number of candidates to be considered during
2006 completion. The default value is 200. This limit allows GDB
2007 to avoid generating large completion lists, the computation of
2008 which can cause the debugger to become temporarily unresponsive.
2009
2010 set history remove-duplicates
2011 show history remove-duplicates
2012 Control the removal of duplicate history entries.
2013
2014 maint set symbol-cache-size
2015 maint show symbol-cache-size
2016 Control the size of the symbol cache.
2017
2018 set|show record btrace bts buffer-size
2019 Set and show the size of the ring buffer used for branch tracing in
2020 BTS format.
2021 The obtained size may differ from the requested size. Use "info
2022 record" to see the obtained buffer size.
2023
2024 set debug linux-namespaces
2025 show debug linux-namespaces
2026 Control display of debugging info regarding Linux namespaces.
2027
2028 set|show record btrace pt buffer-size
2029 Set and show the size of the ring buffer used for branch tracing in
2030 Intel Processor Trace format.
2031 The obtained size may differ from the requested size. Use "info
2032 record" to see the obtained buffer size.
2033
2034 maint set|show btrace pt skip-pad
2035 Set and show whether PAD packets are skipped when computing the
2036 packet history.
2037
2038 * The command 'thread apply all' can now support new option '-ascending'
2039 to call its specified command for all threads in ascending order.
2040
2041 * Python/Guile scripting
2042
2043 ** GDB now supports auto-loading of Python/Guile scripts contained in the
2044 special section named `.debug_gdb_scripts'.
2045
2046 * New remote packets
2047
2048 qXfer:btrace-conf:read
2049 Return the branch trace configuration for the current thread.
2050
2051 Qbtrace-conf:bts:size
2052 Set the requested ring buffer size for branch tracing in BTS format.
2053
2054 Qbtrace:pt
2055 Enable Intel Processor Trace-based branch tracing for the current
2056 process. The remote stub reports support for this packet to GDB's
2057 qSupported query.
2058
2059 Qbtrace-conf:pt:size
2060 Set the requested ring buffer size for branch tracing in Intel Processor
2061 Trace format.
2062
2063 swbreak stop reason
2064 Indicates a memory breakpoint instruction was executed, irrespective
2065 of whether it was GDB that planted the breakpoint or the breakpoint
2066 is hardcoded in the program. This is required for correct non-stop
2067 mode operation.
2068
2069 hwbreak stop reason
2070 Indicates the target stopped for a hardware breakpoint. This is
2071 required for correct non-stop mode operation.
2072
2073 vFile:fstat:
2074 Return information about files on the remote system.
2075
2076 qXfer:exec-file:read
2077 Return the full absolute name of the file that was executed to
2078 create a process running on the remote system.
2079
2080 vFile:setfs:
2081 Select the filesystem on which vFile: operations with filename
2082 arguments will operate. This is required for GDB to be able to
2083 access files on remote targets where the remote stub does not
2084 share a common filesystem with the inferior(s).
2085
2086 fork stop reason
2087 Indicates that a fork system call was executed.
2088
2089 vfork stop reason
2090 Indicates that a vfork system call was executed.
2091
2092 vforkdone stop reason
2093 Indicates that a vfork child of the specified process has executed
2094 an exec or exit, allowing the vfork parent to resume execution.
2095
2096 fork-events and vfork-events features in qSupported
2097 The qSupported packet allows GDB to request support for fork and
2098 vfork events using new 'gdbfeatures' fork-events and vfork-events,
2099 and the qSupported response can contain the corresponding
2100 'stubfeatures'. Set and show commands can be used to display
2101 whether these features are enabled.
2102
2103 * Extended-remote fork events
2104
2105 ** GDB now has support for fork events on extended-remote Linux
2106 targets. For targets with Linux kernels 2.5.60 and later, this
2107 enables follow-fork-mode and detach-on-fork for both fork and
2108 vfork, as well as fork and vfork catchpoints.
2109
2110 * The info record command now shows the recording format and the
2111 branch tracing configuration for the current thread when using
2112 the btrace record target.
2113 For the BTS format, it shows the ring buffer size.
2114
2115 * GDB now has support for DTrace USDT (Userland Static Defined
2116 Tracing) probes. The supported targets are x86_64-*-linux-gnu.
2117
2118 * GDB now supports access to vector registers on S/390 GNU/Linux
2119 targets.
2120
2121 * Removed command line options
2122
2123 -xdb HP-UX XDB compatibility mode.
2124
2125 * Removed targets and native configurations
2126
2127 HP/PA running HP-UX hppa*-*-hpux*
2128 Itanium running HP-UX ia64-*-hpux*
2129
2130 * New configure options
2131
2132 --with-intel-pt
2133 This configure option allows the user to build GDB with support for
2134 Intel Processor Trace (default: auto). This requires libipt.
2135
2136 --with-libipt-prefix=PATH
2137 Specify the path to the version of libipt that GDB should use.
2138 $PATH/include should contain the intel-pt.h header and
2139 $PATH/lib should contain the libipt.so library.
2140
2141 *** Changes in GDB 7.9.1
2142
2143 * Python Scripting
2144
2145 ** Xmethods can now specify a result type.
2146
2147 *** Changes in GDB 7.9
2148
2149 * GDB now supports hardware watchpoints on x86 GNU Hurd.
2150
2151 * Python Scripting
2152
2153 ** You can now access frame registers from Python scripts.
2154 ** New attribute 'producer' for gdb.Symtab objects.
2155 ** gdb.Objfile objects have a new attribute "progspace",
2156 which is the gdb.Progspace object of the containing program space.
2157 ** gdb.Objfile objects have a new attribute "owner".
2158 ** gdb.Objfile objects have a new attribute "build_id",
2159 which is the build ID generated when the file was built.
2160 ** gdb.Objfile objects have a new method "add_separate_debug_file".
2161 ** A new event "gdb.clear_objfiles" has been added, triggered when
2162 selecting a new file to debug.
2163 ** You can now add attributes to gdb.Objfile and gdb.Progspace objects.
2164 ** New function gdb.lookup_objfile.
2165
2166 New events which are triggered when GDB modifies the state of the
2167 inferior.
2168
2169 ** gdb.events.inferior_call_pre: Function call is about to be made.
2170 ** gdb.events.inferior_call_post: Function call has just been made.
2171 ** gdb.events.memory_changed: A memory location has been altered.
2172 ** gdb.events.register_changed: A register has been altered.
2173
2174 * New Python-based convenience functions:
2175
2176 ** $_caller_is(name [, number_of_frames])
2177 ** $_caller_matches(regexp [, number_of_frames])
2178 ** $_any_caller_is(name [, number_of_frames])
2179 ** $_any_caller_matches(regexp [, number_of_frames])
2180
2181 * GDB now supports the compilation and injection of source code into
2182 the inferior. GDB will use GCC 5.0 or higher built with libcc1.so
2183 to compile the source code to object code, and if successful, inject
2184 and execute that code within the current context of the inferior.
2185 Currently the C language is supported. The commands used to
2186 interface with this new feature are:
2187
2188 compile code [-raw|-r] [--] [source code]
2189 compile file [-raw|-r] filename
2190
2191 * New commands
2192
2193 demangle [-l language] [--] name
2194 Demangle "name" in the specified language, or the current language
2195 if elided. This command is renamed from the "maint demangle" command.
2196 The latter is kept as a no-op to avoid "maint demangle" being interpreted
2197 as "maint demangler-warning".
2198
2199 queue-signal signal-name-or-number
2200 Queue a signal to be delivered to the thread when it is resumed.
2201
2202 add-auto-load-scripts-directory directory
2203 Add entries to the list of directories from which to load auto-loaded
2204 scripts.
2205
2206 maint print user-registers
2207 List all currently available "user" registers.
2208
2209 compile code [-r|-raw] [--] [source code]
2210 Compile, inject, and execute in the inferior the executable object
2211 code produced by compiling the provided source code.
2212
2213 compile file [-r|-raw] filename
2214 Compile and inject into the inferior the executable object code
2215 produced by compiling the source code stored in the filename
2216 provided.
2217
2218 * On resume, GDB now always passes the signal the program had stopped
2219 for to the thread the signal was sent to, even if the user changed
2220 threads before resuming. Previously GDB would often (but not
2221 always) deliver the signal to the thread that happens to be current
2222 at resume time.
2223
2224 * Conversely, the "signal" command now consistently delivers the
2225 requested signal to the current thread. GDB now asks for
2226 confirmation if the program had stopped for a signal and the user
2227 switched threads meanwhile.
2228
2229 * "breakpoint always-inserted" modes "off" and "auto" merged.
2230
2231 Now, when 'breakpoint always-inserted mode' is set to "off", GDB
2232 won't remove breakpoints from the target until all threads stop,
2233 even in non-stop mode. The "auto" mode has been removed, and "off"
2234 is now the default mode.
2235
2236 * New options
2237
2238 set debug symbol-lookup
2239 show debug symbol-lookup
2240 Control display of debugging info regarding symbol lookup.
2241
2242 * MI changes
2243
2244 ** The -list-thread-groups command outputs an exit-code field for
2245 inferiors that have exited.
2246
2247 * New targets
2248
2249 MIPS SDE mips*-sde*-elf*
2250
2251 * Removed targets
2252
2253 Support for these obsolete configurations has been removed.
2254
2255 Alpha running OSF/1 (or Tru64) alpha*-*-osf*
2256 SGI Irix-5.x mips-*-irix5*
2257 SGI Irix-6.x mips-*-irix6*
2258 VAX running (4.2 - 4.3 Reno) BSD vax-*-bsd*
2259 VAX running Ultrix vax-*-ultrix*
2260
2261 * The "dll-symbols" command, and its two aliases ("add-shared-symbol-files"
2262 and "assf"), have been removed. Use the "sharedlibrary" command, or
2263 its alias "share", instead.
2264
2265 *** Changes in GDB 7.8
2266
2267 * New command line options
2268
2269 -D data-directory
2270 This is an alias for the --data-directory option.
2271
2272 * GDB supports printing and modifying of variable length automatic arrays
2273 as specified in ISO C99.
2274
2275 * The ARM simulator now supports instruction level tracing
2276 with or without disassembly.
2277
2278 * Guile scripting
2279
2280 GDB now has support for scripting using Guile. Whether this is
2281 available is determined at configure time.
2282 Guile version 2.0 or greater is required.
2283 Guile version 2.0.9 is well tested, earlier 2.0 versions are not.
2284
2285 * New commands (for set/show, see "New options" below)
2286
2287 guile [code]
2288 gu [code]
2289 Invoke CODE by passing it to the Guile interpreter.
2290
2291 guile-repl
2292 gr
2293 Start a Guile interactive prompt (or "repl" for "read-eval-print loop").
2294
2295 info auto-load guile-scripts [regexp]
2296 Print the list of automatically loaded Guile scripts.
2297
2298 * The source command is now capable of sourcing Guile scripts.
2299 This feature is dependent on the debugger being built with Guile support.
2300
2301 * New options
2302
2303 set print symbol-loading (off|brief|full)
2304 show print symbol-loading
2305 Control whether to print informational messages when loading symbol
2306 information for a file. The default is "full", but when debugging
2307 programs with large numbers of shared libraries the amount of output
2308 becomes less useful.
2309
2310 set guile print-stack (none|message|full)
2311 show guile print-stack
2312 Show a stack trace when an error is encountered in a Guile script.
2313
2314 set auto-load guile-scripts (on|off)
2315 show auto-load guile-scripts
2316 Control auto-loading of Guile script files.
2317
2318 maint ada set ignore-descriptive-types (on|off)
2319 maint ada show ignore-descriptive-types
2320 Control whether the debugger should ignore descriptive types in Ada
2321 programs. The default is not to ignore the descriptive types. See
2322 the user manual for more details on descriptive types and the intended
2323 usage of this option.
2324
2325 set auto-connect-native-target
2326
2327 Control whether GDB is allowed to automatically connect to the
2328 native target for the run, attach, etc. commands when not connected
2329 to any target yet. See also "target native" below.
2330
2331 set record btrace replay-memory-access (read-only|read-write)
2332 show record btrace replay-memory-access
2333 Control what memory accesses are allowed during replay.
2334
2335 maint set target-async (on|off)
2336 maint show target-async
2337 This controls whether GDB targets operate in synchronous or
2338 asynchronous mode. Normally the default is asynchronous, if it is
2339 available; but this can be changed to more easily debug problems
2340 occurring only in synchronous mode.
2341
2342 set mi-async (on|off)
2343 show mi-async
2344 Control whether MI asynchronous mode is preferred. This supersedes
2345 "set target-async" of previous GDB versions.
2346
2347 * "set target-async" is deprecated as a CLI option and is now an alias
2348 for "set mi-async" (only puts MI into async mode).
2349
2350 * Background execution commands (e.g., "c&", "s&", etc.) are now
2351 possible ``out of the box'' if the target supports them. Previously
2352 the user would need to explicitly enable the possibility with the
2353 "set target-async on" command.
2354
2355 * New features in the GDB remote stub, GDBserver
2356
2357 ** New option --debug-format=option1[,option2,...] allows one to add
2358 additional text to each output. At present only timestamps
2359 are supported: --debug-format=timestamps.
2360 Timestamps can also be turned on with the
2361 "monitor set debug-format timestamps" command from GDB.
2362
2363 * The 'record instruction-history' command now starts counting instructions
2364 at one. This also affects the instruction ranges reported by the
2365 'record function-call-history' command when given the /i modifier.
2366
2367 * The command 'record function-call-history' supports a new modifier '/c' to
2368 indent the function names based on their call stack depth.
2369 The fields for the '/i' and '/l' modifier have been reordered.
2370 The source line range is now prefixed with 'at'.
2371 The instruction range is now prefixed with 'inst'.
2372 Both ranges are now printed as '<from>, <to>' to allow copy&paste to the
2373 "record instruction-history" and "list" commands.
2374
2375 * The ranges given as arguments to the 'record function-call-history' and
2376 'record instruction-history' commands are now inclusive.
2377
2378 * The btrace record target now supports the 'record goto' command.
2379 For locations inside the execution trace, the back trace is computed
2380 based on the information stored in the execution trace.
2381
2382 * The btrace record target supports limited reverse execution and replay.
2383 The target does not record data and therefore does not allow reading
2384 memory or registers.
2385
2386 * The "catch syscall" command now works on s390*-linux* targets.
2387
2388 * The "compare-sections" command is no longer specific to target
2389 remote. It now works with all targets.
2390
2391 * All native targets are now consistently called "native".
2392 Consequently, the "target child", "target GNU", "target djgpp",
2393 "target procfs" (Solaris/Irix/OSF/AIX) and "target darwin-child"
2394 commands have been replaced with "target native". The QNX/NTO port
2395 leaves the "procfs" target in place and adds a "native" target for
2396 consistency with other ports. The impact on users should be minimal
2397 as these commands previously either throwed an error, or were
2398 no-ops. The target's name is visible in the output of the following
2399 commands: "help target", "info target", "info files", "maint print
2400 target-stack".
2401
2402 * The "target native" command now connects to the native target. This
2403 can be used to launch native programs even when "set
2404 auto-connect-native-target" is set to off.
2405
2406 * GDB now supports access to Intel MPX registers on GNU/Linux.
2407
2408 * Support for Intel AVX-512 registers on GNU/Linux.
2409 Support displaying and modifying Intel AVX-512 registers
2410 $zmm0 - $zmm31 and $k0 - $k7 on GNU/Linux.
2411
2412 * New remote packets
2413
2414 qXfer:btrace:read's annex
2415 The qXfer:btrace:read packet supports a new annex 'delta' to read
2416 branch trace incrementally.
2417
2418 * Python Scripting
2419
2420 ** Valid Python operations on gdb.Value objects representing
2421 structs/classes invoke the corresponding overloaded operators if
2422 available.
2423 ** New `Xmethods' feature in the Python API. Xmethods are
2424 additional methods or replacements for existing methods of a C++
2425 class. This feature is useful for those cases where a method
2426 defined in C++ source code could be inlined or optimized out by
2427 the compiler, making it unavailable to GDB.
2428
2429 * New targets
2430 PowerPC64 GNU/Linux little-endian powerpc64le-*-linux*
2431
2432 * The "dll-symbols" command, and its two aliases ("add-shared-symbol-files"
2433 and "assf"), have been deprecated. Use the "sharedlibrary" command, or
2434 its alias "share", instead.
2435
2436 * The commands "set remotebaud" and "show remotebaud" are no longer
2437 supported. Use "set serial baud" and "show serial baud" (respectively)
2438 instead.
2439
2440 * MI changes
2441
2442 ** A new option "-gdb-set mi-async" replaces "-gdb-set
2443 target-async". The latter is left as a deprecated alias of the
2444 former for backward compatibility. If the target supports it,
2445 CLI background execution commands are now always possible by
2446 default, independently of whether the frontend stated a
2447 preference for asynchronous execution with "-gdb-set mi-async".
2448 Previously "-gdb-set target-async off" affected both MI execution
2449 commands and CLI execution commands.
2450
2451 *** Changes in GDB 7.7
2452
2453 * Improved support for process record-replay and reverse debugging on
2454 arm*-linux* targets. Support for thumb32 and syscall instruction
2455 recording has been added.
2456
2457 * GDB now supports SystemTap SDT probes on AArch64 GNU/Linux.
2458
2459 * GDB now supports Fission DWP file format version 2.
2460 http://gcc.gnu.org/wiki/DebugFission
2461
2462 * New convenience function "$_isvoid", to check whether an expression
2463 is void. A void expression is an expression where the type of the
2464 result is "void". For example, some convenience variables may be
2465 "void" when evaluated (e.g., "$_exitcode" before the execution of
2466 the program being debugged; or an undefined convenience variable).
2467 Another example, when calling a function whose return type is
2468 "void".
2469
2470 * The "maintenance print objfiles" command now takes an optional regexp.
2471
2472 * The "catch syscall" command now works on arm*-linux* targets.
2473
2474 * GDB now consistently shows "<not saved>" when printing values of
2475 registers the debug info indicates have not been saved in the frame
2476 and there's nowhere to retrieve them from
2477 (callee-saved/call-clobbered registers):
2478
2479 (gdb) p $rax
2480 $1 = <not saved>
2481
2482 (gdb) info registers rax
2483 rax <not saved>
2484
2485 Before, the former would print "<optimized out>", and the latter
2486 "*value not available*".
2487
2488 * New script contrib/gdb-add-index.sh for adding .gdb_index sections
2489 to binaries.
2490
2491 * Python scripting
2492
2493 ** Frame filters and frame decorators have been added.
2494 ** Temporary breakpoints are now supported.
2495 ** Line tables representation has been added.
2496 ** New attribute 'parent_type' for gdb.Field objects.
2497 ** gdb.Field objects can be used as subscripts on gdb.Value objects.
2498 ** New attribute 'name' for gdb.Type objects.
2499
2500 * New targets
2501
2502 Nios II ELF nios2*-*-elf
2503 Nios II GNU/Linux nios2*-*-linux
2504 Texas Instruments MSP430 msp430*-*-elf
2505
2506 * Removed native configurations
2507
2508 Support for these a.out NetBSD and OpenBSD obsolete configurations has
2509 been removed. ELF variants of these configurations are kept supported.
2510
2511 arm*-*-netbsd* but arm*-*-netbsdelf* is kept supported.
2512 i[34567]86-*-netbsd* but i[34567]86-*-netbsdelf* is kept supported.
2513 i[34567]86-*-openbsd[0-2].* but i[34567]86-*-openbsd* is kept supported.
2514 i[34567]86-*-openbsd3.[0-3]
2515 m68*-*-netbsd* but m68*-*-netbsdelf* is kept supported.
2516 sparc-*-netbsd* but sparc-*-netbsdelf* is kept supported.
2517 vax-*-netbsd* but vax-*-netbsdelf* is kept supported.
2518
2519 * New commands:
2520 catch rethrow
2521 Like "catch throw", but catches a re-thrown exception.
2522 maint check-psymtabs
2523 Renamed from old "maint check-symtabs".
2524 maint check-symtabs
2525 Perform consistency checks on symtabs.
2526 maint expand-symtabs
2527 Expand symtabs matching an optional regexp.
2528
2529 show configuration
2530 Display the details of GDB configure-time options.
2531
2532 maint set|show per-command
2533 maint set|show per-command space
2534 maint set|show per-command time
2535 maint set|show per-command symtab
2536 Enable display of per-command gdb resource usage.
2537
2538 remove-symbol-file FILENAME
2539 remove-symbol-file -a ADDRESS
2540 Remove a symbol file added via add-symbol-file. The file to remove
2541 can be identified by its filename or by an address that lies within
2542 the boundaries of this symbol file in memory.
2543
2544 info exceptions
2545 info exceptions REGEXP
2546 Display the list of Ada exceptions defined in the program being
2547 debugged. If provided, only the exceptions whose names match REGEXP
2548 are listed.
2549
2550 * New options
2551
2552 set debug symfile off|on
2553 show debug symfile
2554 Control display of debugging info regarding reading symbol files and
2555 symbol tables within those files
2556
2557 set print raw frame-arguments
2558 show print raw frame-arguments
2559 Set/show whether to print frame arguments in raw mode,
2560 disregarding any defined pretty-printers.
2561
2562 set remote trace-status-packet
2563 show remote trace-status-packet
2564 Set/show the use of remote protocol qTStatus packet.
2565
2566 set debug nios2
2567 show debug nios2
2568 Control display of debugging messages related to Nios II targets.
2569
2570 set range-stepping
2571 show range-stepping
2572 Control whether target-assisted range stepping is enabled.
2573
2574 set startup-with-shell
2575 show startup-with-shell
2576 Specifies whether Unix child processes are started via a shell or
2577 directly.
2578
2579 set code-cache
2580 show code-cache
2581 Use the target memory cache for accesses to the code segment. This
2582 improves performance of remote debugging (particularly disassembly).
2583
2584 * You can now use a literal value 'unlimited' for options that
2585 interpret 0 or -1 as meaning "unlimited". E.g., "set
2586 trace-buffer-size unlimited" is now an alias for "set
2587 trace-buffer-size -1" and "set height unlimited" is now an alias for
2588 "set height 0".
2589
2590 * The "set debug symtab-create" debugging option of GDB has been changed to
2591 accept a verbosity level. 0 means "off", 1 provides basic debugging
2592 output, and values of 2 or greater provides more verbose output.
2593
2594 * New command-line options
2595 --configuration
2596 Display the details of GDB configure-time options.
2597
2598 * The command 'tsave' can now support new option '-ctf' to save trace
2599 buffer in Common Trace Format.
2600
2601 * Newly installed $prefix/bin/gcore acts as a shell interface for the
2602 GDB command gcore.
2603
2604 * GDB now implements the C++ 'typeid' operator.
2605
2606 * The new convenience variable $_exception holds the exception being
2607 thrown or caught at an exception-related catchpoint.
2608
2609 * The exception-related catchpoints, like "catch throw", now accept a
2610 regular expression which can be used to filter exceptions by type.
2611
2612 * The new convenience variable $_exitsignal is automatically set to
2613 the terminating signal number when the program being debugged dies
2614 due to an uncaught signal.
2615
2616 * MI changes
2617
2618 ** All MI commands now accept an optional "--language" option.
2619 Support for this feature can be verified by using the "-list-features"
2620 command, which should contain "language-option".
2621
2622 ** The new command -info-gdb-mi-command allows the user to determine
2623 whether a GDB/MI command is supported or not.
2624
2625 ** The "^error" result record returned when trying to execute an undefined
2626 GDB/MI command now provides a variable named "code" whose content is the
2627 "undefined-command" error code. Support for this feature can be verified
2628 by using the "-list-features" command, which should contain
2629 "undefined-command-error-code".
2630
2631 ** The -trace-save MI command can optionally save trace buffer in Common
2632 Trace Format now.
2633
2634 ** The new command -dprintf-insert sets a dynamic printf breakpoint.
2635
2636 ** The command -data-list-register-values now accepts an optional
2637 "--skip-unavailable" option. When used, only the available registers
2638 are displayed.
2639
2640 ** The new command -trace-frame-collected dumps collected variables,
2641 computed expressions, tvars, memory and registers in a traceframe.
2642
2643 ** The commands -stack-list-locals, -stack-list-arguments and
2644 -stack-list-variables now accept an option "--skip-unavailable".
2645 When used, only the available locals or arguments are displayed.
2646
2647 ** The -exec-run command now accepts an optional "--start" option.
2648 When used, the command follows the same semantics as the "start"
2649 command, stopping the program's execution at the start of its
2650 main subprogram. Support for this feature can be verified using
2651 the "-list-features" command, which should contain
2652 "exec-run-start-option".
2653
2654 ** The new commands -catch-assert and -catch-exceptions insert
2655 catchpoints stopping the program when Ada exceptions are raised.
2656
2657 ** The new command -info-ada-exceptions provides the equivalent of
2658 the new "info exceptions" command.
2659
2660 * New system-wide configuration scripts
2661 A GDB installation now provides scripts suitable for use as system-wide
2662 configuration scripts for the following systems:
2663 ** ElinOS
2664 ** Wind River Linux
2665
2666 * GDB now supports target-assigned range stepping with remote targets.
2667 This improves the performance of stepping source lines by reducing
2668 the number of control packets from/to GDB. See "New remote packets"
2669 below.
2670
2671 * GDB now understands the element 'tvar' in the XML traceframe info.
2672 It has the id of the collected trace state variables.
2673
2674 * On S/390 targets that provide the transactional-execution feature,
2675 the program interruption transaction diagnostic block (TDB) is now
2676 represented as a number of additional "registers" in GDB.
2677
2678 * New remote packets
2679
2680 vCont;r
2681
2682 The vCont packet supports a new 'r' action, that tells the remote
2683 stub to step through an address range itself, without GDB
2684 involvemement at each single-step.
2685
2686 qXfer:libraries-svr4:read's annex
2687 The previously unused annex of the qXfer:libraries-svr4:read packet
2688 is now used to support passing an argument list. The remote stub
2689 reports support for this argument list to GDB's qSupported query.
2690 The defined arguments are "start" and "prev", used to reduce work
2691 necessary for library list updating, resulting in significant
2692 speedup.
2693
2694 * New features in the GDB remote stub, GDBserver
2695
2696 ** GDBserver now supports target-assisted range stepping. Currently
2697 enabled on x86/x86_64 GNU/Linux targets.
2698
2699 ** GDBserver now adds element 'tvar' in the XML in the reply to
2700 'qXfer:traceframe-info:read'. It has the id of the collected
2701 trace state variables.
2702
2703 ** GDBserver now supports hardware watchpoints on the MIPS GNU/Linux
2704 target.
2705
2706 * New 'z' formatter for printing and examining memory, this displays the
2707 value as hexadecimal zero padded on the left to the size of the type.
2708
2709 * GDB can now use Windows x64 unwinding data.
2710
2711 * The "set remotebaud" command has been replaced by "set serial baud".
2712 Similarly, "show remotebaud" has been replaced by "show serial baud".
2713 The "set remotebaud" and "show remotebaud" commands are still available
2714 to provide backward compatibility with older versions of GDB.
2715
2716 *** Changes in GDB 7.6
2717
2718 * Target record has been renamed to record-full.
2719 Record/replay is now enabled with the "record full" command.
2720 This also affects settings that are associated with full record/replay
2721 that have been moved from "set/show record" to "set/show record full":
2722
2723 set|show record full insn-number-max
2724 set|show record full stop-at-limit
2725 set|show record full memory-query
2726
2727 * A new record target "record-btrace" has been added. The new target
2728 uses hardware support to record the control-flow of a process. It
2729 does not support replaying the execution, but it implements the
2730 below new commands for investigating the recorded execution log.
2731 This new recording method can be enabled using:
2732
2733 record btrace
2734
2735 The "record-btrace" target is only available on Intel Atom processors
2736 and requires a Linux kernel 2.6.32 or later.
2737
2738 * Two new commands have been added for record/replay to give information
2739 about the recorded execution without having to replay the execution.
2740 The commands are only supported by "record btrace".
2741
2742 record instruction-history prints the execution history at
2743 instruction granularity
2744
2745 record function-call-history prints the execution history at
2746 function granularity
2747
2748 * New native configurations
2749
2750 ARM AArch64 GNU/Linux aarch64*-*-linux-gnu
2751 FreeBSD/powerpc powerpc*-*-freebsd
2752 x86_64/Cygwin x86_64-*-cygwin*
2753 Tilera TILE-Gx GNU/Linux tilegx*-*-linux-gnu
2754
2755 * New targets
2756
2757 ARM AArch64 aarch64*-*-elf
2758 ARM AArch64 GNU/Linux aarch64*-*-linux
2759 Lynx 178 PowerPC powerpc-*-lynx*178
2760 x86_64/Cygwin x86_64-*-cygwin*
2761 Tilera TILE-Gx GNU/Linux tilegx*-*-linux
2762
2763 * If the configured location of system.gdbinit file (as given by the
2764 --with-system-gdbinit option at configure time) is in the
2765 data-directory (as specified by --with-gdb-datadir at configure
2766 time) or in one of its subdirectories, then GDB will look for the
2767 system-wide init file in the directory specified by the
2768 --data-directory command-line option.
2769
2770 * New command line options:
2771
2772 -nh Disables auto-loading of ~/.gdbinit, but still executes all the
2773 other initialization files, unlike -nx which disables all of them.
2774
2775 * Removed command line options
2776
2777 -epoch This was used by the gdb mode in Epoch, an ancient fork of
2778 Emacs.
2779
2780 * The 'ptype' and 'whatis' commands now accept an argument to control
2781 type formatting.
2782
2783 * 'info proc' now works on some core files.
2784
2785 * Python scripting
2786
2787 ** Vectors can be created with gdb.Type.vector.
2788
2789 ** Python's atexit.register now works in GDB.
2790
2791 ** Types can be pretty-printed via a Python API.
2792
2793 ** Python 3 is now supported (in addition to Python 2.4 or later)
2794
2795 ** New class gdb.Architecture exposes GDB's internal representation
2796 of architecture in the Python API.
2797
2798 ** New method Frame.architecture returns the gdb.Architecture object
2799 corresponding to the frame's architecture.
2800
2801 * New Python-based convenience functions:
2802
2803 ** $_memeq(buf1, buf2, length)
2804 ** $_streq(str1, str2)
2805 ** $_strlen(str)
2806 ** $_regex(str, regex)
2807
2808 * The 'cd' command now defaults to using '~' (the home directory) if not
2809 given an argument.
2810
2811 * The C++ ABI now defaults to the GNU v3 ABI. This has been the
2812 default for GCC since November 2000.
2813
2814 * The command 'forward-search' can now be abbreviated as 'fo'.
2815
2816 * The command 'info tracepoints' can now display 'installed on target'
2817 or 'not installed on target' for each non-pending location of tracepoint.
2818
2819 * New configure options
2820
2821 --enable-libmcheck/--disable-libmcheck
2822 By default, development versions are built with -lmcheck on hosts
2823 that support it, in order to help track memory corruption issues.
2824 Release versions, on the other hand, are built without -lmcheck
2825 by default. The --enable-libmcheck/--disable-libmcheck configure
2826 options allow the user to override that default.
2827 --with-babeltrace/--with-babeltrace-include/--with-babeltrace-lib
2828 This configure option allows the user to build GDB with
2829 libbabeltrace using which GDB can read Common Trace Format data.
2830
2831 * New commands (for set/show, see "New options" below)
2832
2833 catch signal
2834 Catch signals. This is similar to "handle", but allows commands and
2835 conditions to be attached.
2836
2837 maint info bfds
2838 List the BFDs known to GDB.
2839
2840 python-interactive [command]
2841 pi [command]
2842 Start a Python interactive prompt, or evaluate the optional command
2843 and print the result of expressions.
2844
2845 py [command]
2846 "py" is a new alias for "python".
2847
2848 enable type-printer [name]...
2849 disable type-printer [name]...
2850 Enable or disable type printers.
2851
2852 * Removed commands
2853
2854 ** For the Renesas Super-H architecture, the "regs" command has been removed
2855 (has been deprecated in GDB 7.5), and "info all-registers" should be used
2856 instead.
2857
2858 * New options
2859
2860 set print type methods (on|off)
2861 show print type methods
2862 Control whether method declarations are displayed by "ptype".
2863 The default is to show them.
2864
2865 set print type typedefs (on|off)
2866 show print type typedefs
2867 Control whether typedef definitions are displayed by "ptype".
2868 The default is to show them.
2869
2870 set filename-display basename|relative|absolute
2871 show filename-display
2872 Control the way in which filenames is displayed.
2873 The default is "relative", which preserves previous behavior.
2874
2875 set trace-buffer-size
2876 show trace-buffer-size
2877 Request target to change the size of trace buffer.
2878
2879 set remote trace-buffer-size-packet auto|on|off
2880 show remote trace-buffer-size-packet
2881 Control the use of the remote protocol `QTBuffer:size' packet.
2882
2883 set debug aarch64
2884 show debug aarch64
2885 Control display of debugging messages related to ARM AArch64.
2886 The default is off.
2887
2888 set debug coff-pe-read
2889 show debug coff-pe-read
2890 Control display of debugging messages related to reading of COFF/PE
2891 exported symbols.
2892
2893 set debug mach-o
2894 show debug mach-o
2895 Control display of debugging messages related to Mach-O symbols
2896 processing.
2897
2898 set debug notification
2899 show debug notification
2900 Control display of debugging info for async remote notification.
2901
2902 * MI changes
2903
2904 ** Command parameter changes are now notified using new async record
2905 "=cmd-param-changed".
2906 ** Trace frame changes caused by command "tfind" are now notified using
2907 new async record "=traceframe-changed".
2908 ** The creation, deletion and modification of trace state variables
2909 are now notified using new async records "=tsv-created",
2910 "=tsv-deleted" and "=tsv-modified".
2911 ** The start and stop of process record are now notified using new
2912 async record "=record-started" and "=record-stopped".
2913 ** Memory changes are now notified using new async record
2914 "=memory-changed".
2915 ** The data-disassemble command response will include a "fullname" field
2916 containing the absolute file name when source has been requested.
2917 ** New optional parameter COUNT added to the "-data-write-memory-bytes"
2918 command, to allow pattern filling of memory areas.
2919 ** New commands "-catch-load"/"-catch-unload" added for intercepting
2920 library load/unload events.
2921 ** The response to breakpoint commands and breakpoint async records
2922 includes an "installed" field containing a boolean state about each
2923 non-pending tracepoint location is whether installed on target or not.
2924 ** Output of the "-trace-status" command includes a "trace-file" field
2925 containing the name of the trace file being examined. This field is
2926 optional, and only present when examining a trace file.
2927 ** The "fullname" field is now always present along with the "file" field,
2928 even if the file cannot be found by GDB.
2929
2930 * GDB now supports the "mini debuginfo" section, .gnu_debugdata.
2931 You must have the LZMA library available when configuring GDB for this
2932 feature to be enabled. For more information, see:
2933 http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features/MiniDebugInfo
2934
2935 * New remote packets
2936
2937 QTBuffer:size
2938 Set the size of trace buffer. The remote stub reports support for this
2939 packet to gdb's qSupported query.
2940
2941 Qbtrace:bts
2942 Enable Branch Trace Store (BTS)-based branch tracing for the current
2943 thread. The remote stub reports support for this packet to gdb's
2944 qSupported query.
2945
2946 Qbtrace:off
2947 Disable branch tracing for the current thread. The remote stub reports
2948 support for this packet to gdb's qSupported query.
2949
2950 qXfer:btrace:read
2951 Read the traced branches for the current thread. The remote stub
2952 reports support for this packet to gdb's qSupported query.
2953
2954 *** Changes in GDB 7.5
2955
2956 * GDB now supports x32 ABI. Visit <http://sites.google.com/site/x32abi/>
2957 for more x32 ABI info.
2958
2959 * GDB now supports access to MIPS DSP registers on Linux targets.
2960
2961 * GDB now supports debugging microMIPS binaries.
2962
2963 * The "info os" command on GNU/Linux can now display information on
2964 several new classes of objects managed by the operating system:
2965 "info os procgroups" lists process groups
2966 "info os files" lists file descriptors
2967 "info os sockets" lists internet-domain sockets
2968 "info os shm" lists shared-memory regions
2969 "info os semaphores" lists semaphores
2970 "info os msg" lists message queues
2971 "info os modules" lists loaded kernel modules
2972
2973 * GDB now has support for SDT (Static Defined Tracing) probes. Currently,
2974 the only implemented backend is for SystemTap probes (<sys/sdt.h>). You
2975 can set a breakpoint using the new "-probe, "-pstap" or "-probe-stap"
2976 options and inspect the probe arguments using the new $_probe_arg family
2977 of convenience variables. You can obtain more information about SystemTap
2978 in <http://sourceware.org/systemtap/>.
2979
2980 * GDB now supports reversible debugging on ARM, it allows you to
2981 debug basic ARM and THUMB instructions, and provides
2982 record/replay support.
2983
2984 * The option "symbol-reloading" has been deleted as it is no longer used.
2985
2986 * Python scripting
2987
2988 ** GDB commands implemented in Python can now be put in command class
2989 "gdb.COMMAND_USER".
2990
2991 ** The "maint set python print-stack on|off" is now deleted.
2992
2993 ** A new class, gdb.printing.FlagEnumerationPrinter, can be used to
2994 apply "flag enum"-style pretty-printing to any enum.
2995
2996 ** gdb.lookup_symbol can now work when there is no current frame.
2997
2998 ** gdb.Symbol now has a 'line' attribute, holding the line number in
2999 the source at which the symbol was defined.
3000
3001 ** gdb.Symbol now has the new attribute 'needs_frame' and the new
3002 method 'value'. The former indicates whether the symbol needs a
3003 frame in order to compute its value, and the latter computes the
3004 symbol's value.
3005
3006 ** A new method 'referenced_value' on gdb.Value objects which can
3007 dereference pointer as well as C++ reference values.
3008
3009 ** New methods 'global_block' and 'static_block' on gdb.Symtab objects
3010 which return the global and static blocks (as gdb.Block objects),
3011 of the underlying symbol table, respectively.
3012
3013 ** New function gdb.find_pc_line which returns the gdb.Symtab_and_line
3014 object associated with a PC value.
3015
3016 ** gdb.Symtab_and_line has new attribute 'last' which holds the end
3017 of the address range occupied by code for the current source line.
3018
3019 * Go language support.
3020 GDB now supports debugging programs written in the Go programming
3021 language.
3022
3023 * GDBserver now supports stdio connections.
3024 E.g. (gdb) target remote | ssh myhost gdbserver - hello
3025
3026 * The binary "gdbtui" can no longer be built or installed.
3027 Use "gdb -tui" instead.
3028
3029 * GDB will now print "flag" enums specially. A flag enum is one where
3030 all the enumerator values have no bits in common when pairwise
3031 "and"ed. When printing a value whose type is a flag enum, GDB will
3032 show all the constants, e.g., for enum E { ONE = 1, TWO = 2}:
3033 (gdb) print (enum E) 3
3034 $1 = (ONE | TWO)
3035
3036 * The filename part of a linespec will now match trailing components
3037 of a source file name. For example, "break gcc/expr.c:1000" will
3038 now set a breakpoint in build/gcc/expr.c, but not
3039 build/libcpp/expr.c.
3040
3041 * The "info proc" and "generate-core-file" commands will now also
3042 work on remote targets connected to GDBserver on Linux.
3043
3044 * The command "info catch" has been removed. It has been disabled
3045 since December 2007.
3046
3047 * The "catch exception" and "catch assert" commands now accept
3048 a condition at the end of the command, much like the "break"
3049 command does. For instance:
3050
3051 (gdb) catch exception Constraint_Error if Barrier = True
3052
3053 Previously, it was possible to add a condition to such catchpoints,
3054 but it had to be done as a second step, after the catchpoint had been
3055 created, using the "condition" command.
3056
3057 * The "info static-tracepoint-marker" command will now also work on
3058 native Linux targets with in-process agent.
3059
3060 * GDB can now set breakpoints on inlined functions.
3061
3062 * The .gdb_index section has been updated to include symbols for
3063 inlined functions. GDB will ignore older .gdb_index sections by
3064 default, which could cause symbol files to be loaded more slowly
3065 until their .gdb_index sections can be recreated. The new command
3066 "set use-deprecated-index-sections on" will cause GDB to use any older
3067 .gdb_index sections it finds. This will restore performance, but the
3068 ability to set breakpoints on inlined functions will be lost in symbol
3069 files with older .gdb_index sections.
3070
3071 The .gdb_index section has also been updated to record more information
3072 about each symbol. This speeds up the "info variables", "info functions"
3073 and "info types" commands when used with programs having the .gdb_index
3074 section, as well as speeding up debugging with shared libraries using
3075 the .gdb_index section.
3076
3077 * Ada support for GDB/MI Variable Objects has been added.
3078
3079 * GDB can now support 'breakpoint always-inserted mode' in 'record'
3080 target.
3081
3082 * MI changes
3083
3084 ** New command -info-os is the MI equivalent of "info os".
3085
3086 ** Output logs ("set logging" and related) now include MI output.
3087
3088 * New commands
3089
3090 ** "set use-deprecated-index-sections on|off"
3091 "show use-deprecated-index-sections on|off"
3092 Controls the use of deprecated .gdb_index sections.
3093
3094 ** "catch load" and "catch unload" can be used to stop when a shared
3095 library is loaded or unloaded, respectively.
3096
3097 ** "enable count" can be used to auto-disable a breakpoint after
3098 several hits.
3099
3100 ** "info vtbl" can be used to show the virtual method tables for
3101 C++ and Java objects.
3102
3103 ** "explore" and its sub commands "explore value" and "explore type"
3104 can be used to recursively explore values and types of
3105 expressions. These commands are available only if GDB is
3106 configured with '--with-python'.
3107
3108 ** "info auto-load" shows status of all kinds of auto-loaded files,
3109 "info auto-load gdb-scripts" shows status of auto-loading GDB canned
3110 sequences of commands files, "info auto-load python-scripts"
3111 shows status of auto-loading Python script files,
3112 "info auto-load local-gdbinit" shows status of loading init file
3113 (.gdbinit) from current directory and "info auto-load libthread-db" shows
3114 status of inferior specific thread debugging shared library loading.
3115
3116 ** "info auto-load-scripts", "set auto-load-scripts on|off"
3117 and "show auto-load-scripts" commands have been deprecated, use their
3118 "info auto-load python-scripts", "set auto-load python-scripts on|off"
3119 and "show auto-load python-scripts" counterparts instead.
3120
3121 ** "dprintf location,format,args..." creates a dynamic printf, which
3122 is basically a breakpoint that does a printf and immediately
3123 resumes your program's execution, so it is like a printf that you
3124 can insert dynamically at runtime instead of at compiletime.
3125
3126 ** "set print symbol"
3127 "show print symbol"
3128 Controls whether GDB attempts to display the symbol, if any,
3129 corresponding to addresses it prints. This defaults to "on", but
3130 you can set it to "off" to restore GDB's previous behavior.
3131
3132 * Deprecated commands
3133
3134 ** For the Renesas Super-H architecture, the "regs" command has been
3135 deprecated, and "info all-registers" should be used instead.
3136
3137 * New targets
3138
3139 Renesas RL78 rl78-*-elf
3140 HP OpenVMS ia64 ia64-hp-openvms*
3141
3142 * GDBserver supports evaluation of breakpoint conditions. When
3143 support is advertised by GDBserver, GDB may be told to send the
3144 breakpoint conditions in bytecode form to GDBserver. GDBserver
3145 will only report the breakpoint trigger to GDB when its condition
3146 evaluates to true.
3147
3148 * New options
3149
3150 set mips compression
3151 show mips compression
3152 Select the compressed ISA encoding used in functions that have no symbol
3153 information available. The encoding can be set to either of:
3154 mips16
3155 micromips
3156 and is updated automatically from ELF file flags if available.
3157
3158 set breakpoint condition-evaluation
3159 show breakpoint condition-evaluation
3160 Control whether breakpoint conditions are evaluated by GDB ("host") or by
3161 GDBserver ("target"). Default option "auto" chooses the most efficient
3162 available mode.
3163 This option can improve debugger efficiency depending on the speed of the
3164 target.
3165
3166 set auto-load off
3167 Disable auto-loading globally.
3168
3169 show auto-load
3170 Show auto-loading setting of all kinds of auto-loaded files.
3171
3172 set auto-load gdb-scripts on|off
3173 show auto-load gdb-scripts
3174 Control auto-loading of GDB canned sequences of commands files.
3175
3176 set auto-load python-scripts on|off
3177 show auto-load python-scripts
3178 Control auto-loading of Python script files.
3179
3180 set auto-load local-gdbinit on|off
3181 show auto-load local-gdbinit
3182 Control loading of init file (.gdbinit) from current directory.
3183
3184 set auto-load libthread-db on|off
3185 show auto-load libthread-db
3186 Control auto-loading of inferior specific thread debugging shared library.
3187
3188 set auto-load scripts-directory <dir1>[:<dir2>...]
3189 show auto-load scripts-directory
3190 Set a list of directories from which to load auto-loaded scripts.
3191 Automatically loaded Python scripts and GDB scripts are located in one
3192 of the directories listed by this option.
3193 The delimiter (':' above) may differ according to the host platform.
3194
3195 set auto-load safe-path <dir1>[:<dir2>...]
3196 show auto-load safe-path
3197 Set a list of directories from which it is safe to auto-load files.
3198 The delimiter (':' above) may differ according to the host platform.
3199
3200 set debug auto-load on|off
3201 show debug auto-load
3202 Control display of debugging info for auto-loading the files above.
3203
3204 set dprintf-style gdb|call|agent
3205 show dprintf-style
3206 Control the way in which a dynamic printf is performed; "gdb"
3207 requests a GDB printf command, while "call" causes dprintf to call a
3208 function in the inferior. "agent" requests that the target agent
3209 (such as GDBserver) do the printing.
3210
3211 set dprintf-function <expr>
3212 show dprintf-function
3213 set dprintf-channel <expr>
3214 show dprintf-channel
3215 Set the function and optional first argument to the call when using
3216 the "call" style of dynamic printf.
3217
3218 set disconnected-dprintf on|off
3219 show disconnected-dprintf
3220 Control whether agent-style dynamic printfs continue to be in effect
3221 after GDB disconnects.
3222
3223 * New configure options
3224
3225 --with-auto-load-dir
3226 Configure default value for the 'set auto-load scripts-directory'
3227 setting above. It defaults to '$debugdir:$datadir/auto-load',
3228 $debugdir representing global debugging info directories (available
3229 via 'show debug-file-directory') and $datadir representing GDB's data
3230 directory (available via 'show data-directory').
3231
3232 --with-auto-load-safe-path
3233 Configure default value for the 'set auto-load safe-path' setting
3234 above. It defaults to the --with-auto-load-dir setting.
3235
3236 --without-auto-load-safe-path
3237 Set 'set auto-load safe-path' to '/', effectively disabling this
3238 security feature.
3239
3240 * New remote packets
3241
3242 z0/z1 conditional breakpoints extension
3243
3244 The z0/z1 breakpoint insertion packets have been extended to carry
3245 a list of conditional expressions over to the remote stub depending on the
3246 condition evaluation mode. The use of this extension can be controlled
3247 via the "set remote conditional-breakpoints-packet" command.
3248
3249 QProgramSignals:
3250
3251 Specify the signals which the remote stub may pass to the debugged
3252 program without GDB involvement.
3253
3254 * New command line options
3255
3256 --init-command=FILE, -ix Like --command, -x but execute it
3257 before loading inferior.
3258 --init-eval-command=COMMAND, -iex Like --eval-command=COMMAND, -ex but
3259 execute it before loading inferior.
3260
3261 *** Changes in GDB 7.4
3262
3263 * GDB now handles ambiguous linespecs more consistently; the existing
3264 FILE:LINE support has been expanded to other types of linespecs. A
3265 breakpoint will now be set on all matching locations in all
3266 inferiors, and locations will be added or removed according to
3267 inferior changes.
3268
3269 * GDB now allows you to skip uninteresting functions and files when
3270 stepping with the "skip function" and "skip file" commands.
3271
3272 * GDB has two new commands: "set remote hardware-watchpoint-length-limit"
3273 and "show remote hardware-watchpoint-length-limit". These allows to
3274 set or show the maximum length limit (in bytes) of a remote
3275 target hardware watchpoint.
3276
3277 This allows e.g. to use "unlimited" hardware watchpoints with the
3278 gdbserver integrated in Valgrind version >= 3.7.0. Such Valgrind
3279 watchpoints are slower than real hardware watchpoints but are
3280 significantly faster than gdb software watchpoints.
3281
3282 * Python scripting
3283
3284 ** The register_pretty_printer function in module gdb.printing now takes
3285 an optional `replace' argument. If True, the new printer replaces any
3286 existing one.
3287
3288 ** The "maint set python print-stack on|off" command has been
3289 deprecated and will be deleted in GDB 7.5.
3290 A new command: "set python print-stack none|full|message" has
3291 replaced it. Additionally, the default for "print-stack" is
3292 now "message", which just prints the error message without
3293 the stack trace.
3294
3295 ** A prompt substitution hook (prompt_hook) is now available to the
3296 Python API.
3297
3298 ** A new Python module, gdb.prompt has been added to the GDB Python
3299 modules library. This module provides functionality for
3300 escape sequences in prompts (used by set/show
3301 extended-prompt). These escape sequences are replaced by their
3302 corresponding value.
3303
3304 ** Python commands and convenience-functions located in
3305 'data-directory'/python/gdb/command and
3306 'data-directory'/python/gdb/function are now automatically loaded
3307 on GDB start-up.
3308
3309 ** Blocks now provide four new attributes. global_block and
3310 static_block will return the global and static blocks
3311 respectively. is_static and is_global are boolean attributes
3312 that indicate if the block is one of those two types.
3313
3314 ** Symbols now provide the "type" attribute, the type of the symbol.
3315
3316 ** The "gdb.breakpoint" function has been deprecated in favor of
3317 "gdb.breakpoints".
3318
3319 ** A new class "gdb.FinishBreakpoint" is provided to catch the return
3320 of a function. This class is based on the "finish" command
3321 available in the CLI.
3322
3323 ** Type objects for struct and union types now allow access to
3324 the fields using standard Python dictionary (mapping) methods.
3325 For example, "some_type['myfield']" now works, as does
3326 "some_type.items()".
3327
3328 ** A new event "gdb.new_objfile" has been added, triggered by loading a
3329 new object file.
3330
3331 ** A new function, "deep_items" has been added to the gdb.types
3332 module in the GDB Python modules library. This function returns
3333 an iterator over the fields of a struct or union type. Unlike
3334 the standard Python "iteritems" method, it will recursively traverse
3335 any anonymous fields.
3336
3337 * MI changes
3338
3339 ** "*stopped" events can report several new "reason"s, such as
3340 "solib-event".
3341
3342 ** Breakpoint changes are now notified using new async records, like
3343 "=breakpoint-modified".
3344
3345 ** New command -ada-task-info.
3346
3347 * libthread-db-search-path now supports two special values: $sdir and $pdir.
3348 $sdir specifies the default system locations of shared libraries.
3349 $pdir specifies the directory where the libpthread used by the application
3350 lives.
3351
3352 GDB no longer looks in $sdir and $pdir after it has searched the directories
3353 mentioned in libthread-db-search-path. If you want to search those
3354 directories, they must be specified in libthread-db-search-path.
3355 The default value of libthread-db-search-path on GNU/Linux and Solaris
3356 systems is now "$sdir:$pdir".
3357
3358 $pdir is not supported by gdbserver, it is currently ignored.
3359 $sdir is supported by gdbserver.
3360
3361 * New configure option --with-iconv-bin.
3362 When using the internationalization support like the one in the GNU C
3363 library, GDB will invoke the "iconv" program to get a list of supported
3364 character sets. If this program lives in a non-standard location, one can
3365 use this option to specify where to find it.
3366
3367 * When natively debugging programs on PowerPC BookE processors running
3368 a Linux kernel version 2.6.34 or later, GDB supports masked hardware
3369 watchpoints, which specify a mask in addition to an address to watch.
3370 The mask specifies that some bits of an address (the bits which are
3371 reset in the mask) should be ignored when matching the address accessed
3372 by the inferior against the watchpoint address. See the "PowerPC Embedded"
3373 section in the user manual for more details.
3374
3375 * The new option --once causes GDBserver to stop listening for connections once
3376 the first connection is made. The listening port used by GDBserver will
3377 become available after that.
3378
3379 * New commands "info macros" and "alias" have been added.
3380
3381 * New function parameters suffix @entry specifies value of function parameter
3382 at the time the function got called. Entry values are available only since
3383 gcc version 4.7.
3384
3385 * New commands
3386
3387 !SHELL COMMAND
3388 "!" is now an alias of the "shell" command.
3389 Note that no space is needed between "!" and SHELL COMMAND.
3390
3391 * Changed commands
3392
3393 watch EXPRESSION mask MASK_VALUE
3394 The watch command now supports the mask argument which allows creation
3395 of masked watchpoints, if the current architecture supports this feature.
3396
3397 info auto-load-scripts [REGEXP]
3398 This command was formerly named "maintenance print section-scripts".
3399 It is now generally useful and is no longer a maintenance-only command.
3400
3401 info macro [-all] [--] MACRO
3402 The info macro command has new options `-all' and `--'. The first for
3403 printing all definitions of a macro. The second for explicitly specifying
3404 the end of arguments and the beginning of the macro name in case the macro
3405 name starts with a hyphen.
3406
3407 collect[/s] EXPRESSIONS
3408 The tracepoint collect command now takes an optional modifier "/s"
3409 that directs it to dereference pointer-to-character types and
3410 collect the bytes of memory up to a zero byte. The behavior is
3411 similar to what you see when you use the regular print command on a
3412 string. An optional integer following the "/s" sets a bound on the
3413 number of bytes that will be collected.
3414
3415 tstart [NOTES]
3416 The trace start command now interprets any supplied arguments as a
3417 note to be recorded with the trace run, with an effect similar to
3418 setting the variable trace-notes.
3419
3420 tstop [NOTES]
3421 The trace stop command now interprets any arguments as a note to be
3422 mentioned along with the tstatus report that the trace was stopped
3423 with a command. The effect is similar to setting the variable
3424 trace-stop-notes.
3425
3426 * Tracepoints can now be enabled and disabled at any time after a trace
3427 experiment has been started using the standard "enable" and "disable"
3428 commands. It is now possible to start a trace experiment with no enabled
3429 tracepoints; GDB will display a warning, but will allow the experiment to
3430 begin, assuming that tracepoints will be enabled as needed while the trace
3431 is running.
3432
3433 * Fast tracepoints on 32-bit x86-architectures can now be placed at
3434 locations with 4-byte instructions, when they were previously
3435 limited to locations with instructions of 5 bytes or longer.
3436
3437 * New options
3438
3439 set debug dwarf2-read
3440 show debug dwarf2-read
3441 Turns on or off display of debugging messages related to reading
3442 DWARF debug info. The default is off.
3443
3444 set debug symtab-create
3445 show debug symtab-create
3446 Turns on or off display of debugging messages related to symbol table
3447 creation. The default is off.
3448
3449 set extended-prompt
3450 show extended-prompt
3451 Set the GDB prompt, and allow escape sequences to be inserted to
3452 display miscellaneous information (see 'help set extended-prompt'
3453 for the list of sequences). This prompt (and any information
3454 accessed through the escape sequences) is updated every time the
3455 prompt is displayed.
3456
3457 set print entry-values (both|compact|default|if-needed|no|only|preferred)
3458 show print entry-values
3459 Set printing of frame argument values at function entry. In some cases
3460 GDB can determine the value of function argument which was passed by the
3461 function caller, even if the value was modified inside the called function.
3462
3463 set debug entry-values
3464 show debug entry-values
3465 Control display of debugging info for determining frame argument values at
3466 function entry and virtual tail call frames.
3467
3468 set basenames-may-differ
3469 show basenames-may-differ
3470 Set whether a source file may have multiple base names.
3471 (A "base name" is the name of a file with the directory part removed.
3472 Example: The base name of "/home/user/hello.c" is "hello.c".)
3473 If set, GDB will canonicalize file names (e.g., expand symlinks)
3474 before comparing them. Canonicalization is an expensive operation,
3475 but it allows the same file be known by more than one base name.
3476 If not set (the default), all source files are assumed to have just
3477 one base name, and gdb will do file name comparisons more efficiently.
3478
3479 set trace-user
3480 show trace-user
3481 set trace-notes
3482 show trace-notes
3483 Set a user name and notes for the current and any future trace runs.
3484 This is useful for long-running and/or disconnected traces, to
3485 inform others (or yourself) as to who is running the trace, supply
3486 contact information, or otherwise explain what is going on.
3487
3488 set trace-stop-notes
3489 show trace-stop-notes
3490 Set a note attached to the trace run, that is displayed when the
3491 trace has been stopped by a tstop command. This is useful for
3492 instance as an explanation, if you are stopping a trace run that was
3493 started by someone else.
3494
3495 * New remote packets
3496
3497 QTEnable
3498
3499 Dynamically enable a tracepoint in a started trace experiment.
3500
3501 QTDisable
3502
3503 Dynamically disable a tracepoint in a started trace experiment.
3504
3505 QTNotes
3506
3507 Set the user and notes of the trace run.
3508
3509 qTP
3510
3511 Query the current status of a tracepoint.
3512
3513 qTMinFTPILen
3514
3515 Query the minimum length of instruction at which a fast tracepoint may
3516 be placed.
3517
3518 * Dcache size (number of lines) and line-size are now runtime-configurable
3519 via "set dcache line" and "set dcache line-size" commands.
3520
3521 * New targets
3522
3523 Texas Instruments TMS320C6x tic6x-*-*
3524
3525 * New Simulators
3526
3527 Renesas RL78 rl78-*-elf
3528
3529 *** Changes in GDB 7.3.1
3530
3531 * The build failure for NetBSD and OpenBSD targets have now been fixed.
3532
3533 *** Changes in GDB 7.3
3534
3535 * GDB has a new command: "thread find [REGEXP]".
3536 It finds the thread id whose name, target id, or thread extra info
3537 matches the given regular expression.
3538
3539 * The "catch syscall" command now works on mips*-linux* targets.
3540
3541 * The -data-disassemble MI command now supports modes 2 and 3 for
3542 dumping the instruction opcodes.
3543
3544 * New command line options
3545
3546 -data-directory DIR Specify DIR as the "data-directory".
3547 This is mostly for testing purposes.
3548
3549 * The "maint set python auto-load on|off" command has been renamed to
3550 "set auto-load-scripts on|off".
3551
3552 * GDB has a new command: "set directories".
3553 It is like the "dir" command except that it replaces the
3554 source path list instead of augmenting it.
3555
3556 * GDB now understands thread names.
3557
3558 On GNU/Linux, "info threads" will display the thread name as set by
3559 prctl or pthread_setname_np.
3560
3561 There is also a new command, "thread name", which can be used to
3562 assign a name internally for GDB to display.
3563
3564 * OpenCL C
3565 Initial support for the OpenCL C language (http://www.khronos.org/opencl)
3566 has been integrated into GDB.
3567
3568 * Python scripting
3569
3570 ** The function gdb.Write now accepts an optional keyword 'stream'.
3571 This keyword, when provided, will direct the output to either
3572 stdout, stderr, or GDB's logging output.
3573
3574 ** Parameters can now be be sub-classed in Python, and in particular
3575 you may implement the get_set_doc and get_show_doc functions.
3576 This improves how Parameter set/show documentation is processed
3577 and allows for more dynamic content.
3578
3579 ** Symbols, Symbol Table, Symbol Table and Line, Object Files,
3580 Inferior, Inferior Thread, Blocks, and Block Iterator APIs now
3581 have an is_valid method.
3582
3583 ** Breakpoints can now be sub-classed in Python, and in particular
3584 you may implement a 'stop' function that is executed each time
3585 the inferior reaches that breakpoint.
3586
3587 ** New function gdb.lookup_global_symbol looks up a global symbol.
3588
3589 ** GDB values in Python are now callable if the value represents a
3590 function. For example, if 'some_value' represents a function that
3591 takes two integer parameters and returns a value, you can call
3592 that function like so:
3593
3594 result = some_value (10,20)
3595
3596 ** Module gdb.types has been added.
3597 It contains a collection of utilities for working with gdb.Types objects:
3598 get_basic_type, has_field, make_enum_dict.
3599
3600 ** Module gdb.printing has been added.
3601 It contains utilities for writing and registering pretty-printers.
3602 New classes: PrettyPrinter, SubPrettyPrinter,
3603 RegexpCollectionPrettyPrinter.
3604 New function: register_pretty_printer.
3605
3606 ** New commands "info pretty-printers", "enable pretty-printer" and
3607 "disable pretty-printer" have been added.
3608
3609 ** gdb.parameter("directories") is now available.
3610
3611 ** New function gdb.newest_frame returns the newest frame in the
3612 selected thread.
3613
3614 ** The gdb.InferiorThread class has a new "name" attribute. This
3615 holds the thread's name.
3616
3617 ** Python Support for Inferior events.
3618 Python scripts can add observers to be notified of events
3619 occurring in the process being debugged.
3620 The following events are currently supported:
3621 - gdb.events.cont Continue event.
3622 - gdb.events.exited Inferior exited event.
3623 - gdb.events.stop Signal received, and Breakpoint hit events.
3624
3625 * C++ Improvements:
3626
3627 ** GDB now puts template parameters in scope when debugging in an
3628 instantiation. For example, if you have:
3629
3630 template<int X> int func (void) { return X; }
3631
3632 then if you step into func<5>, "print X" will show "5". This
3633 feature requires proper debuginfo support from the compiler; it
3634 was added to GCC 4.5.
3635
3636 ** The motion commands "next", "finish", "until", and "advance" now
3637 work better when exceptions are thrown. In particular, GDB will
3638 no longer lose control of the inferior; instead, the GDB will
3639 stop the inferior at the point at which the exception is caught.
3640 This functionality requires a change in the exception handling
3641 code that was introduced in GCC 4.5.
3642
3643 * GDB now follows GCC's rules on accessing volatile objects when
3644 reading or writing target state during expression evaluation.
3645 One notable difference to prior behavior is that "print x = 0"
3646 no longer generates a read of x; the value of the assignment is
3647 now always taken directly from the value being assigned.
3648
3649 * GDB now has some support for using labels in the program's source in
3650 linespecs. For instance, you can use "advance label" to continue
3651 execution to a label.
3652
3653 * GDB now has support for reading and writing a new .gdb_index
3654 section. This section holds a fast index of DWARF debugging
3655 information and can be used to greatly speed up GDB startup and
3656 operation. See the documentation for `save gdb-index' for details.
3657
3658 * The "watch" command now accepts an optional "-location" argument.
3659 When used, this causes GDB to watch the memory referred to by the
3660 expression. Such a watchpoint is never deleted due to it going out
3661 of scope.
3662
3663 * GDB now supports thread debugging of core dumps on GNU/Linux.
3664
3665 GDB now activates thread debugging using the libthread_db library
3666 when debugging GNU/Linux core dumps, similarly to when debugging
3667 live processes. As a result, when debugging a core dump file, GDB
3668 is now able to display pthread_t ids of threads. For example, "info
3669 threads" shows the same output as when debugging the process when it
3670 was live. In earlier releases, you'd see something like this:
3671
3672 (gdb) info threads
3673 * 1 LWP 6780 main () at main.c:10
3674
3675 While now you see this:
3676
3677 (gdb) info threads
3678 * 1 Thread 0x7f0f5712a700 (LWP 6780) main () at main.c:10
3679
3680 It is also now possible to inspect TLS variables when debugging core
3681 dumps.
3682
3683 When debugging a core dump generated on a machine other than the one
3684 used to run GDB, you may need to point GDB at the correct
3685 libthread_db library with the "set libthread-db-search-path"
3686 command. See the user manual for more details on this command.
3687
3688 * When natively debugging programs on PowerPC BookE processors running
3689 a Linux kernel version 2.6.34 or later, GDB supports ranged breakpoints,
3690 which stop execution of the inferior whenever it executes an instruction
3691 at any address within the specified range. See the "PowerPC Embedded"
3692 section in the user manual for more details.
3693
3694 * New features in the GDB remote stub, GDBserver
3695
3696 ** GDBserver is now supported on PowerPC LynxOS (versions 4.x and 5.x),
3697 and i686 LynxOS (version 5.x).
3698
3699 ** GDBserver is now supported on Blackfin Linux.
3700
3701 * New native configurations
3702
3703 ia64 HP-UX ia64-*-hpux*
3704
3705 * New targets:
3706
3707 Analog Devices, Inc. Blackfin Processor bfin-*
3708
3709 * Ada task switching is now supported on sparc-elf targets when
3710 debugging a program using the Ravenscar Profile. For more information,
3711 see the "Tasking Support when using the Ravenscar Profile" section
3712 in the GDB user manual.
3713
3714 * Guile support was removed.
3715
3716 * New features in the GNU simulator
3717
3718 ** The --map-info flag lists all known core mappings.
3719
3720 ** CFI flashes may be simulated via the "cfi" device.
3721
3722 *** Changes in GDB 7.2
3723
3724 * Shared library support for remote targets by default
3725
3726 When GDB is configured for a generic, non-OS specific target, like
3727 for example, --target=arm-eabi or one of the many *-*-elf targets,
3728 GDB now queries remote stubs for loaded shared libraries using the
3729 `qXfer:libraries:read' packet. Previously, shared library support
3730 was always disabled for such configurations.
3731
3732 * C++ Improvements:
3733
3734 ** Argument Dependent Lookup (ADL)
3735
3736 In C++ ADL lookup directs function search to the namespaces of its
3737 arguments even if the namespace has not been imported.
3738 For example:
3739 namespace A
3740 {
3741 class B { };
3742 void foo (B) { }
3743 }
3744 ...
3745 A::B b
3746 foo(b)
3747 Here the compiler will search for `foo' in the namespace of 'b'
3748 and find A::foo. GDB now supports this. This construct is commonly
3749 used in the Standard Template Library for operators.
3750
3751 ** Improved User Defined Operator Support
3752
3753 In addition to member operators, GDB now supports lookup of operators
3754 defined in a namespace and imported with a `using' directive, operators
3755 defined in the global scope, operators imported implicitly from an
3756 anonymous namespace, and the ADL operators mentioned in the previous
3757 entry.
3758 GDB now also supports proper overload resolution for all the previously
3759 mentioned flavors of operators.
3760
3761 ** static const class members
3762
3763 Printing of static const class members that are initialized in the
3764 class definition has been fixed.
3765
3766 * Windows Thread Information Block access.
3767
3768 On Windows targets, GDB now supports displaying the Windows Thread
3769 Information Block (TIB) structure. This structure is visible either
3770 by using the new command `info w32 thread-information-block' or, by
3771 dereferencing the new convenience variable named `$_tlb', a
3772 thread-specific pointer to the TIB. This feature is also supported
3773 when remote debugging using GDBserver.
3774
3775 * Static tracepoints
3776
3777 Static tracepoints are calls in the user program into a tracing
3778 library. One such library is a port of the LTTng kernel tracer to
3779 userspace --- UST (LTTng Userspace Tracer, http://lttng.org/ust).
3780 When debugging with GDBserver, GDB now supports combining the GDB
3781 tracepoint machinery with such libraries. For example: the user can
3782 use GDB to probe a static tracepoint marker (a call from the user
3783 program into the tracing library) with the new "strace" command (see
3784 "New commands" below). This creates a "static tracepoint" in the
3785 breakpoint list, that can be manipulated with the same feature set
3786 as fast and regular tracepoints. E.g., collect registers, local and
3787 global variables, collect trace state variables, and define
3788 tracepoint conditions. In addition, the user can collect extra
3789 static tracepoint marker specific data, by collecting the new
3790 $_sdata internal variable. When analyzing the trace buffer, you can
3791 inspect $_sdata like any other variable available to GDB. For more
3792 information, see the "Tracepoints" chapter in GDB user manual. New
3793 remote packets have been defined to support static tracepoints, see
3794 the "New remote packets" section below.
3795
3796 * Better reconstruction of tracepoints after disconnected tracing
3797
3798 GDB will attempt to download the original source form of tracepoint
3799 definitions when starting a trace run, and then will upload these
3800 upon reconnection to the target, resulting in a more accurate
3801 reconstruction of the tracepoints that are in use on the target.
3802
3803 * Observer mode
3804
3805 You can now exercise direct control over the ways that GDB can
3806 affect your program. For instance, you can disallow the setting of
3807 breakpoints, so that the program can run continuously (assuming
3808 non-stop mode). In addition, the "observer" variable is available
3809 to switch all of the different controls; in observer mode, GDB
3810 cannot affect the target's behavior at all, which is useful for
3811 tasks like diagnosing live systems in the field.
3812
3813 * The new convenience variable $_thread holds the number of the
3814 current thread.
3815
3816 * New remote packets
3817
3818 qGetTIBAddr
3819
3820 Return the address of the Windows Thread Information Block of a given thread.
3821
3822 qRelocInsn
3823
3824 In response to several of the tracepoint packets, the target may now
3825 also respond with a number of intermediate `qRelocInsn' request
3826 packets before the final result packet, to have GDB handle
3827 relocating an instruction to execute at a different address. This
3828 is particularly useful for stubs that support fast tracepoints. GDB
3829 reports support for this feature in the qSupported packet.
3830
3831 qTfSTM, qTsSTM
3832
3833 List static tracepoint markers in the target program.
3834
3835 qTSTMat
3836
3837 List static tracepoint markers at a given address in the target
3838 program.
3839
3840 qXfer:statictrace:read
3841
3842 Read the static trace data collected (by a `collect $_sdata'
3843 tracepoint action). The remote stub reports support for this packet
3844 to gdb's qSupported query.
3845
3846 QAllow
3847
3848 Send the current settings of GDB's permission flags.
3849
3850 QTDPsrc
3851
3852 Send part of the source (textual) form of a tracepoint definition,
3853 which includes location, conditional, and action list.
3854
3855 * The source command now accepts a -s option to force searching for the
3856 script in the source search path even if the script name specifies
3857 a directory.
3858
3859 * New features in the GDB remote stub, GDBserver
3860
3861 - GDBserver now support tracepoints (including fast tracepoints, and
3862 static tracepoints). The feature is currently supported by the
3863 i386-linux and amd64-linux builds. See the "Tracepoints support
3864 in gdbserver" section in the manual for more information.
3865
3866 GDBserver JIT compiles the tracepoint's conditional agent
3867 expression bytecode into native code whenever possible for low
3868 overhead dynamic tracepoints conditionals. For such tracepoints,
3869 an expression that examines program state is evaluated when the
3870 tracepoint is reached, in order to determine whether to capture
3871 trace data. If the condition is simple and false, processing the
3872 tracepoint finishes very quickly and no data is gathered.
3873
3874 GDBserver interfaces with the UST (LTTng Userspace Tracer) library
3875 for static tracepoints support.
3876
3877 - GDBserver now supports x86_64 Windows 64-bit debugging.
3878
3879 * GDB now sends xmlRegisters= in qSupported packet to indicate that
3880 it understands register description.
3881
3882 * The --batch flag now disables pagination and queries.
3883
3884 * X86 general purpose registers
3885
3886 GDB now supports reading/writing byte, word and double-word x86
3887 general purpose registers directly. This means you can use, say,
3888 $ah or $ax to refer, respectively, to the byte register AH and
3889 16-bit word register AX that are actually portions of the 32-bit
3890 register EAX or 64-bit register RAX.
3891
3892 * The `commands' command now accepts a range of breakpoints to modify.
3893 A plain `commands' following a command that creates multiple
3894 breakpoints affects all the breakpoints set by that command. This
3895 applies to breakpoints set by `rbreak', and also applies when a
3896 single `break' command creates multiple breakpoints (e.g.,
3897 breakpoints on overloaded c++ functions).
3898
3899 * The `rbreak' command now accepts a filename specification as part of
3900 its argument, limiting the functions selected by the regex to those
3901 in the specified file.
3902
3903 * Support for remote debugging Windows and SymbianOS shared libraries
3904 from Unix hosts has been improved. Non Windows GDB builds now can
3905 understand target reported file names that follow MS-DOS based file
3906 system semantics, such as file names that include drive letters and
3907 use the backslash character as directory separator. This makes it
3908 possible to transparently use the "set sysroot" and "set
3909 solib-search-path" on Unix hosts to point as host copies of the
3910 target's shared libraries. See the new command "set
3911 target-file-system-kind" described below, and the "Commands to
3912 specify files" section in the user manual for more information.
3913
3914 * New commands
3915
3916 eval template, expressions...
3917 Convert the values of one or more expressions under the control
3918 of the string template to a command line, and call it.
3919
3920 set target-file-system-kind unix|dos-based|auto
3921 show target-file-system-kind
3922 Set or show the assumed file system kind for target reported file
3923 names.
3924
3925 save breakpoints <filename>
3926 Save all current breakpoint definitions to a file suitable for use
3927 in a later debugging session. To read the saved breakpoint
3928 definitions, use the `source' command.
3929
3930 `save tracepoints' is a new alias for `save-tracepoints'. The latter
3931 is now deprecated.
3932
3933 info static-tracepoint-markers
3934 Display information about static tracepoint markers in the target.
3935
3936 strace FN | FILE:LINE | *ADDR | -m MARKER_ID
3937 Define a static tracepoint by probing a marker at the given
3938 function, line, address, or marker ID.
3939
3940 set observer on|off
3941 show observer
3942 Enable and disable observer mode.
3943
3944 set may-write-registers on|off
3945 set may-write-memory on|off
3946 set may-insert-breakpoints on|off
3947 set may-insert-tracepoints on|off
3948 set may-insert-fast-tracepoints on|off
3949 set may-interrupt on|off
3950 Set individual permissions for GDB effects on the target. Note that
3951 some of these settings can have undesirable or surprising
3952 consequences, particularly when changed in the middle of a session.
3953 For instance, disabling the writing of memory can prevent
3954 breakpoints from being inserted, cause single-stepping to fail, or
3955 even crash your program, if you disable after breakpoints have been
3956 inserted. However, GDB should not crash.
3957
3958 set record memory-query on|off
3959 show record memory-query
3960 Control whether to stop the inferior if memory changes caused
3961 by an instruction cannot be recorded.
3962
3963 * Changed commands
3964
3965 disassemble
3966 The disassemble command now supports "start,+length" form of two arguments.
3967
3968 * Python scripting
3969
3970 ** GDB now provides a new directory location, called the python directory,
3971 where Python scripts written for GDB can be installed. The location
3972 of that directory is <data-directory>/python, where <data-directory>
3973 is the GDB data directory. For more details, see section `Scripting
3974 GDB using Python' in the manual.
3975
3976 ** The GDB Python API now has access to breakpoints, symbols, symbol
3977 tables, program spaces, inferiors, threads and frame's code blocks.
3978 Additionally, GDB Parameters can now be created from the API, and
3979 manipulated via set/show in the CLI.
3980
3981 ** New functions gdb.target_charset, gdb.target_wide_charset,
3982 gdb.progspaces, gdb.current_progspace, and gdb.string_to_argv.
3983
3984 ** New exception gdb.GdbError.
3985
3986 ** Pretty-printers are now also looked up in the current program space.
3987
3988 ** Pretty-printers can now be individually enabled and disabled.
3989
3990 ** GDB now looks for names of Python scripts to auto-load in a
3991 special section named `.debug_gdb_scripts', in addition to looking
3992 for a OBJFILE-gdb.py script when OBJFILE is read by the debugger.
3993
3994 * Tracepoint actions were unified with breakpoint commands. In particular,
3995 there are no longer differences in "info break" output for breakpoints and
3996 tracepoints and the "commands" command can be used for both tracepoints and
3997 regular breakpoints.
3998
3999 * New targets
4000
4001 ARM Symbian arm*-*-symbianelf*
4002
4003 * D language support.
4004 GDB now supports debugging programs written in the D programming
4005 language.
4006
4007 * GDB now supports the extended ptrace interface for PowerPC which is
4008 available since Linux kernel version 2.6.34. This automatically enables
4009 any hardware breakpoints and additional hardware watchpoints available in
4010 the processor. The old ptrace interface exposes just one hardware
4011 watchpoint and no hardware breakpoints.
4012
4013 * GDB is now able to use the Data Value Compare (DVC) register available on
4014 embedded PowerPC processors to implement in hardware simple watchpoint
4015 conditions of the form:
4016
4017 watch ADDRESS|VARIABLE if ADDRESS|VARIABLE == CONSTANT EXPRESSION
4018
4019 This works in native GDB running on Linux kernels with the extended ptrace
4020 interface mentioned above.
4021
4022 *** Changes in GDB 7.1
4023
4024 * C++ Improvements
4025
4026 ** Namespace Support
4027
4028 GDB now supports importing of namespaces in C++. This enables the
4029 user to inspect variables from imported namespaces. Support for
4030 namepace aliasing has also been added. So, if a namespace is
4031 aliased in the current scope (e.g. namepace C=A; ) the user can
4032 print variables using the alias (e.g. (gdb) print C::x).
4033
4034 ** Bug Fixes
4035
4036 All known bugs relating to the printing of virtual base class were
4037 fixed. It is now possible to call overloaded static methods using a
4038 qualified name.
4039
4040 ** Cast Operators
4041
4042 The C++ cast operators static_cast<>, dynamic_cast<>, const_cast<>,
4043 and reinterpret_cast<> are now handled by the C++ expression parser.
4044
4045 * New targets
4046
4047 Xilinx MicroBlaze microblaze-*-*
4048 Renesas RX rx-*-elf
4049
4050 * New Simulators
4051
4052 Xilinx MicroBlaze microblaze
4053 Renesas RX rx
4054
4055 * Multi-program debugging.
4056
4057 GDB now has support for multi-program (a.k.a. multi-executable or
4058 multi-exec) debugging. This allows for debugging multiple inferiors
4059 simultaneously each running a different program under the same GDB
4060 session. See "Debugging Multiple Inferiors and Programs" in the
4061 manual for more information. This implied some user visible changes
4062 in the multi-inferior support. For example, "info inferiors" now
4063 lists inferiors that are not running yet or that have exited
4064 already. See also "New commands" and "New options" below.
4065
4066 * New tracing features
4067
4068 GDB's tracepoint facility now includes several new features:
4069
4070 ** Trace state variables
4071
4072 GDB tracepoints now include support for trace state variables, which
4073 are variables managed by the target agent during a tracing
4074 experiment. They are useful for tracepoints that trigger each
4075 other, so for instance one tracepoint can count hits in a variable,
4076 and then a second tracepoint has a condition that is true when the
4077 count reaches a particular value. Trace state variables share the
4078 $-syntax of GDB convenience variables, and can appear in both
4079 tracepoint actions and condition expressions. Use the "tvariable"
4080 command to create, and "info tvariables" to view; see "Trace State
4081 Variables" in the manual for more detail.
4082
4083 ** Fast tracepoints
4084
4085 GDB now includes an option for defining fast tracepoints, which
4086 targets may implement more efficiently, such as by installing a jump
4087 into the target agent rather than a trap instruction. The resulting
4088 speedup can be by two orders of magnitude or more, although the
4089 tradeoff is that some program locations on some target architectures
4090 might not allow fast tracepoint installation, for instance if the
4091 instruction to be replaced is shorter than the jump. To request a
4092 fast tracepoint, use the "ftrace" command, with syntax identical to
4093 the regular trace command.
4094
4095 ** Disconnected tracing
4096
4097 It is now possible to detach GDB from the target while it is running
4098 a trace experiment, then reconnect later to see how the experiment
4099 is going. In addition, a new variable disconnected-tracing lets you
4100 tell the target agent whether to continue running a trace if the
4101 connection is lost unexpectedly.
4102
4103 ** Trace files
4104
4105 GDB now has the ability to save the trace buffer into a file, and
4106 then use that file as a target, similarly to you can do with
4107 corefiles. You can select trace frames, print data that was
4108 collected in them, and use tstatus to display the state of the
4109 tracing run at the moment that it was saved. To create a trace
4110 file, use "tsave <filename>", and to use it, do "target tfile
4111 <name>".
4112
4113 ** Circular trace buffer
4114
4115 You can ask the target agent to handle the trace buffer as a
4116 circular buffer, discarding the oldest trace frames to make room for
4117 newer ones, by setting circular-trace-buffer to on. This feature may
4118 not be available for all target agents.
4119
4120 * Changed commands
4121
4122 disassemble
4123 The disassemble command, when invoked with two arguments, now requires
4124 the arguments to be comma-separated.
4125
4126 info variables
4127 The info variables command now displays variable definitions. Files
4128 which only declare a variable are not shown.
4129
4130 source
4131 The source command is now capable of sourcing Python scripts.
4132 This feature is dependent on the debugger being build with Python
4133 support.
4134
4135 Related to this enhancement is also the introduction of a new command
4136 "set script-extension" (see below).
4137
4138 * New commands (for set/show, see "New options" below)
4139
4140 record save [<FILENAME>]
4141 Save a file (in core file format) containing the process record
4142 execution log for replay debugging at a later time.
4143
4144 record restore <FILENAME>
4145 Restore the process record execution log that was saved at an
4146 earlier time, for replay debugging.
4147
4148 add-inferior [-copies <N>] [-exec <FILENAME>]
4149 Add a new inferior.
4150
4151 clone-inferior [-copies <N>] [ID]
4152 Make a new inferior ready to execute the same program another
4153 inferior has loaded.
4154
4155 remove-inferior ID
4156 Remove an inferior.
4157
4158 maint info program-spaces
4159 List the program spaces loaded into GDB.
4160
4161 set remote interrupt-sequence [Ctrl-C | BREAK | BREAK-g]
4162 show remote interrupt-sequence
4163 Allow the user to select one of ^C, a BREAK signal or BREAK-g
4164 as the sequence to the remote target in order to interrupt the execution.
4165 Ctrl-C is a default. Some system prefers BREAK which is high level of
4166 serial line for some certain time. Linux kernel prefers BREAK-g, a.k.a
4167 Magic SysRq g. It is BREAK signal and character 'g'.
4168
4169 set remote interrupt-on-connect [on | off]
4170 show remote interrupt-on-connect
4171 When interrupt-on-connect is ON, gdb sends interrupt-sequence to
4172 remote target when gdb connects to it. This is needed when you debug
4173 Linux kernel.
4174
4175 set remotebreak [on | off]
4176 show remotebreak
4177 Deprecated. Use "set/show remote interrupt-sequence" instead.
4178
4179 tvariable $NAME [ = EXP ]
4180 Create or modify a trace state variable.
4181
4182 info tvariables
4183 List trace state variables and their values.
4184
4185 delete tvariable $NAME ...
4186 Delete one or more trace state variables.
4187
4188 teval EXPR, ...
4189 Evaluate the given expressions without collecting anything into the
4190 trace buffer. (Valid in tracepoint actions only.)
4191
4192 ftrace FN / FILE:LINE / *ADDR
4193 Define a fast tracepoint at the given function, line, or address.
4194
4195 * New expression syntax
4196
4197 GDB now parses the 0b prefix of binary numbers the same way as GCC does.
4198 GDB now parses 0b101010 identically with 42.
4199
4200 * New options
4201
4202 set follow-exec-mode new|same
4203 show follow-exec-mode
4204 Control whether GDB reuses the same inferior across an exec call or
4205 creates a new one. This is useful to be able to restart the old
4206 executable after the inferior having done an exec call.
4207
4208 set default-collect EXPR, ...
4209 show default-collect
4210 Define a list of expressions to be collected at each tracepoint.
4211 This is a useful way to ensure essential items are not overlooked,
4212 such as registers or a critical global variable.
4213
4214 set disconnected-tracing
4215 show disconnected-tracing
4216 If set to 1, the target is instructed to continue tracing if it
4217 loses its connection to GDB. If 0, the target is to stop tracing
4218 upon disconnection.
4219
4220 set circular-trace-buffer
4221 show circular-trace-buffer
4222 If set to on, the target is instructed to use a circular trace buffer
4223 and discard the oldest trace frames instead of stopping the trace due
4224 to a full trace buffer. If set to off, the trace stops when the buffer
4225 fills up. Some targets may not support this.
4226
4227 set script-extension off|soft|strict
4228 show script-extension
4229 If set to "off", the debugger does not perform any script language
4230 recognition, and all sourced files are assumed to be GDB scripts.
4231 If set to "soft" (the default), files are sourced according to
4232 filename extension, falling back to GDB scripts if the first
4233 evaluation failed.
4234 If set to "strict", files are sourced according to filename extension.
4235
4236 set ada trust-PAD-over-XVS on|off
4237 show ada trust-PAD-over-XVS
4238 If off, activate a workaround against a bug in the debugging information
4239 generated by the compiler for PAD types (see gcc/exp_dbug.ads in
4240 the GCC sources for more information about the GNAT encoding and
4241 PAD types in particular). It is always safe to set this option to
4242 off, but this introduces a slight performance penalty. The default
4243 is on.
4244
4245 * Python API Improvements
4246
4247 ** GDB provides the new class gdb.LazyString. This is useful in
4248 some pretty-printing cases. The new method gdb.Value.lazy_string
4249 provides a simple way to create objects of this type.
4250
4251 ** The fields returned by gdb.Type.fields now have an
4252 `is_base_class' attribute.
4253
4254 ** The new method gdb.Type.range returns the range of an array type.
4255
4256 ** The new method gdb.parse_and_eval can be used to parse and
4257 evaluate an expression.
4258
4259 * New remote packets
4260
4261 QTDV
4262 Define a trace state variable.
4263
4264 qTV
4265 Get the current value of a trace state variable.
4266
4267 QTDisconnected
4268 Set desired tracing behavior upon disconnection.
4269
4270 QTBuffer:circular
4271 Set the trace buffer to be linear or circular.
4272
4273 qTfP, qTsP
4274 Get data about the tracepoints currently in use.
4275
4276 * Bug fixes
4277
4278 Process record now works correctly with hardware watchpoints.
4279
4280 Multiple bug fixes have been made to the mips-irix port, making it
4281 much more reliable. In particular:
4282 - Debugging threaded applications is now possible again. Previously,
4283 GDB would hang while starting the program, or while waiting for
4284 the program to stop at a breakpoint.
4285 - Attaching to a running process no longer hangs.
4286 - An error occurring while loading a core file has been fixed.
4287 - Changing the value of the PC register now works again. This fixes
4288 problems observed when using the "jump" command, or when calling
4289 a function from GDB, or even when assigning a new value to $pc.
4290 - With the "finish" and "return" commands, the return value for functions
4291 returning a small array is now correctly printed.
4292 - It is now possible to break on shared library code which gets executed
4293 during a shared library init phase (code executed while executing
4294 their .init section). Previously, the breakpoint would have no effect.
4295 - GDB is now able to backtrace through the signal handler for
4296 non-threaded programs.
4297
4298 PIE (Position Independent Executable) programs debugging is now supported.
4299 This includes debugging execution of PIC (Position Independent Code) shared
4300 libraries although for that, it should be possible to run such libraries as an
4301 executable program.
4302
4303 *** Changes in GDB 7.0
4304
4305 * GDB now has an interface for JIT compilation. Applications that
4306 dynamically generate code can create symbol files in memory and register
4307 them with GDB. For users, the feature should work transparently, and
4308 for JIT developers, the interface is documented in the GDB manual in the
4309 "JIT Compilation Interface" chapter.
4310
4311 * Tracepoints may now be conditional. The syntax is as for
4312 breakpoints; either an "if" clause appended to the "trace" command,
4313 or the "condition" command is available. GDB sends the condition to
4314 the target for evaluation using the same bytecode format as is used
4315 for tracepoint actions.
4316
4317 * The disassemble command now supports: an optional /r modifier, print the
4318 raw instructions in hex as well as in symbolic form, and an optional /m
4319 modifier to print mixed source+assembly.
4320
4321 * Process record and replay
4322
4323 In a architecture environment that supports ``process record and
4324 replay'', ``process record and replay'' target can record a log of
4325 the process execution, and replay it with both forward and reverse
4326 execute commands.
4327
4328 * Reverse debugging: GDB now has new commands reverse-continue, reverse-
4329 step, reverse-next, reverse-finish, reverse-stepi, reverse-nexti, and
4330 set execution-direction {forward|reverse}, for targets that support
4331 reverse execution.
4332
4333 * GDB now supports hardware watchpoints on MIPS/Linux systems. This
4334 feature is available with a native GDB running on kernel version
4335 2.6.28 or later.
4336
4337 * GDB now has support for multi-byte and wide character sets on the
4338 target. Strings whose character type is wchar_t, char16_t, or
4339 char32_t are now correctly printed. GDB supports wide- and unicode-
4340 literals in C, that is, L'x', L"string", u'x', u"string", U'x', and
4341 U"string" syntax. And, GDB allows the "%ls" and "%lc" formats in
4342 `printf'. This feature requires iconv to work properly; if your
4343 system does not have a working iconv, GDB can use GNU libiconv. See
4344 the installation instructions for more information.
4345
4346 * GDB now supports automatic retrieval of shared library files from
4347 remote targets. To use this feature, specify a system root that begins
4348 with the `remote:' prefix, either via the `set sysroot' command or via
4349 the `--with-sysroot' configure-time option.
4350
4351 * "info sharedlibrary" now takes an optional regex of libraries to show,
4352 and it now reports if a shared library has no debugging information.
4353
4354 * Commands `set debug-file-directory', `set solib-search-path' and `set args'
4355 now complete on file names.
4356
4357 * When completing in expressions, gdb will attempt to limit
4358 completions to allowable structure or union fields, where appropriate.
4359 For instance, consider:
4360
4361 # struct example { int f1; double f2; };
4362 # struct example variable;
4363 (gdb) p variable.
4364
4365 If the user types TAB at the end of this command line, the available
4366 completions will be "f1" and "f2".
4367
4368 * Inlined functions are now supported. They show up in backtraces, and
4369 the "step", "next", and "finish" commands handle them automatically.
4370
4371 * GDB now supports the token-splicing (##) and stringification (#)
4372 operators when expanding macros. It also supports variable-arity
4373 macros.
4374
4375 * GDB now supports inspecting extra signal information, exported by
4376 the new $_siginfo convenience variable. The feature is currently
4377 implemented on linux ARM, i386 and amd64.
4378
4379 * GDB can now display the VFP floating point registers and NEON vector
4380 registers on ARM targets. Both ARM GNU/Linux native GDB and gdbserver
4381 can provide these registers (requires Linux 2.6.30 or later). Remote
4382 and simulator targets may also provide them.
4383
4384 * New remote packets
4385
4386 qSearch:memory:
4387 Search memory for a sequence of bytes.
4388
4389 QStartNoAckMode
4390 Turn off `+'/`-' protocol acknowledgments to permit more efficient
4391 operation over reliable transport links. Use of this packet is
4392 controlled by the `set remote noack-packet' command.
4393
4394 vKill
4395 Kill the process with the specified process ID. Use this in preference
4396 to `k' when multiprocess protocol extensions are supported.
4397
4398 qXfer:osdata:read
4399 Obtains additional operating system information
4400
4401 qXfer:siginfo:read
4402 qXfer:siginfo:write
4403 Read or write additional signal information.
4404
4405 * Removed remote protocol undocumented extension
4406
4407 An undocumented extension to the remote protocol's `S' stop reply
4408 packet that permitted the stub to pass a process id was removed.
4409 Remote servers should use the `T' stop reply packet instead.
4410
4411 * GDB now supports multiple function calling conventions according to the
4412 DWARF-2 DW_AT_calling_convention function attribute.
4413
4414 * The SH target utilizes the aforementioned change to distinguish between gcc
4415 and Renesas calling convention. It also adds the new CLI commands
4416 `set/show sh calling-convention'.
4417
4418 * GDB can now read compressed debug sections, as produced by GNU gold
4419 with the --compress-debug-sections=zlib flag.
4420
4421 * 64-bit core files are now supported on AIX.
4422
4423 * Thread switching is now supported on Tru64.
4424
4425 * Watchpoints can now be set on unreadable memory locations, e.g. addresses
4426 which will be allocated using malloc later in program execution.
4427
4428 * The qXfer:libraries:read remote protocol packet now allows passing a
4429 list of section offsets.
4430
4431 * On GNU/Linux, GDB can now attach to stopped processes. Several race
4432 conditions handling signals delivered during attach or thread creation
4433 have also been fixed.
4434
4435 * GDB now supports the use of DWARF boolean types for Ada's type Boolean.
4436 From the user's standpoint, all unqualified instances of True and False
4437 are treated as the standard definitions, regardless of context.
4438
4439 * GDB now parses C++ symbol and type names more flexibly. For
4440 example, given:
4441
4442 template<typename T> class C { };
4443 C<char const *> c;
4444
4445 GDB will now correctly handle all of:
4446
4447 ptype C<char const *>
4448 ptype C<char const*>
4449 ptype C<const char *>
4450 ptype C<const char*>
4451
4452 * New features in the GDB remote stub, gdbserver
4453
4454 - The "--wrapper" command-line argument tells gdbserver to use a
4455 wrapper program to launch programs for debugging.
4456
4457 - On PowerPC and S/390 targets, it is now possible to use a single
4458 gdbserver executable to debug both 32-bit and 64-bit programs.
4459 (This requires gdbserver itself to be built as a 64-bit executable.)
4460
4461 - gdbserver uses the new noack protocol mode for TCP connections to
4462 reduce communications latency, if also supported and enabled in GDB.
4463
4464 - Support for the sparc64-linux-gnu target is now included in
4465 gdbserver.
4466
4467 - The amd64-linux build of gdbserver now supports debugging both
4468 32-bit and 64-bit programs.
4469
4470 - The i386-linux, amd64-linux, and i386-win32 builds of gdbserver
4471 now support hardware watchpoints, and will use them automatically
4472 as appropriate.
4473
4474 * Python scripting
4475
4476 GDB now has support for scripting using Python. Whether this is
4477 available is determined at configure time.
4478
4479 New GDB commands can now be written in Python.
4480
4481 * Ada tasking support
4482
4483 Ada tasks can now be inspected in GDB. The following commands have
4484 been introduced:
4485
4486 info tasks
4487 Print the list of Ada tasks.
4488 info task N
4489 Print detailed information about task number N.
4490 task
4491 Print the task number of the current task.
4492 task N
4493 Switch the context of debugging to task number N.
4494
4495 * Support for user-defined prefixed commands. The "define" command can
4496 add new commands to existing prefixes, e.g. "target".
4497
4498 * Multi-inferior, multi-process debugging.
4499
4500 GDB now has generalized support for multi-inferior debugging. See
4501 "Debugging Multiple Inferiors" in the manual for more information.
4502 Although availability still depends on target support, the command
4503 set is more uniform now. The GNU/Linux specific multi-forks support
4504 has been migrated to this new framework. This implied some user
4505 visible changes; see "New commands" and also "Removed commands"
4506 below.
4507
4508 * Target descriptions can now describe the target OS ABI. See the
4509 "Target Description Format" section in the user manual for more
4510 information.
4511
4512 * Target descriptions can now describe "compatible" architectures
4513 to indicate that the target can execute applications for a different
4514 architecture in addition to those for the main target architecture.
4515 See the "Target Description Format" section in the user manual for
4516 more information.
4517
4518 * Multi-architecture debugging.
4519
4520 GDB now includes general supports for debugging applications on
4521 hybrid systems that use more than one single processor architecture
4522 at the same time. Each such hybrid architecture still requires
4523 specific support to be added. The only hybrid architecture supported
4524 in this version of GDB is the Cell Broadband Engine.
4525
4526 * GDB now supports integrated debugging of Cell/B.E. applications that
4527 use both the PPU and SPU architectures. To enable support for hybrid
4528 Cell/B.E. debugging, you need to configure GDB to support both the
4529 powerpc-linux or powerpc64-linux and the spu-elf targets, using the
4530 --enable-targets configure option.
4531
4532 * Non-stop mode debugging.
4533
4534 For some targets, GDB now supports an optional mode of operation in
4535 which you can examine stopped threads while other threads continue
4536 to execute freely. This is referred to as non-stop mode, with the
4537 old mode referred to as all-stop mode. See the "Non-Stop Mode"
4538 section in the user manual for more information.
4539
4540 To be able to support remote non-stop debugging, a remote stub needs
4541 to implement the non-stop mode remote protocol extensions, as
4542 described in the "Remote Non-Stop" section of the user manual. The
4543 GDB remote stub, gdbserver, has been adjusted to support these
4544 extensions on linux targets.
4545
4546 * New commands (for set/show, see "New options" below)
4547
4548 catch syscall [NAME(S) | NUMBER(S)]
4549 Catch system calls. Arguments, which should be names of system
4550 calls or their numbers, mean catch only those syscalls. Without
4551 arguments, every syscall will be caught. When the inferior issues
4552 any of the specified syscalls, GDB will stop and announce the system
4553 call, both when it is called and when its call returns. This
4554 feature is currently available with a native GDB running on the
4555 Linux Kernel, under the following architectures: x86, x86_64,
4556 PowerPC and PowerPC64.
4557
4558 find [/size-char] [/max-count] start-address, end-address|+search-space-size,
4559 val1 [, val2, ...]
4560 Search memory for a sequence of bytes.
4561
4562 maint set python print-stack
4563 maint show python print-stack
4564 Show a stack trace when an error is encountered in a Python script.
4565
4566 python [CODE]
4567 Invoke CODE by passing it to the Python interpreter.
4568
4569 macro define
4570 macro list
4571 macro undef
4572 These allow macros to be defined, undefined, and listed
4573 interactively.
4574
4575 info os processes
4576 Show operating system information about processes.
4577
4578 info inferiors
4579 List the inferiors currently under GDB's control.
4580
4581 inferior NUM
4582 Switch focus to inferior number NUM.
4583
4584 detach inferior NUM
4585 Detach from inferior number NUM.
4586
4587 kill inferior NUM
4588 Kill inferior number NUM.
4589
4590 * New options
4591
4592 set spu stop-on-load
4593 show spu stop-on-load
4594 Control whether to stop for new SPE threads during Cell/B.E. debugging.
4595
4596 set spu auto-flush-cache
4597 show spu auto-flush-cache
4598 Control whether to automatically flush the software-managed cache
4599 during Cell/B.E. debugging.
4600
4601 set sh calling-convention
4602 show sh calling-convention
4603 Control the calling convention used when calling SH target functions.
4604
4605 set debug timestamp
4606 show debug timestamp
4607 Control display of timestamps with GDB debugging output.
4608
4609 set disassemble-next-line
4610 show disassemble-next-line
4611 Control display of disassembled source lines or instructions when
4612 the debuggee stops.
4613
4614 set remote noack-packet
4615 show remote noack-packet
4616 Set/show the use of remote protocol QStartNoAckMode packet. See above
4617 under "New remote packets."
4618
4619 set remote query-attached-packet
4620 show remote query-attached-packet
4621 Control use of remote protocol `qAttached' (query-attached) packet.
4622
4623 set remote read-siginfo-object
4624 show remote read-siginfo-object
4625 Control use of remote protocol `qXfer:siginfo:read' (read-siginfo-object)
4626 packet.
4627
4628 set remote write-siginfo-object
4629 show remote write-siginfo-object
4630 Control use of remote protocol `qXfer:siginfo:write' (write-siginfo-object)
4631 packet.
4632
4633 set remote reverse-continue
4634 show remote reverse-continue
4635 Control use of remote protocol 'bc' (reverse-continue) packet.
4636
4637 set remote reverse-step
4638 show remote reverse-step
4639 Control use of remote protocol 'bs' (reverse-step) packet.
4640
4641 set displaced-stepping
4642 show displaced-stepping
4643 Control displaced stepping mode. Displaced stepping is a way to
4644 single-step over breakpoints without removing them from the debuggee.
4645 Also known as "out-of-line single-stepping".
4646
4647 set debug displaced
4648 show debug displaced
4649 Control display of debugging info for displaced stepping.
4650
4651 maint set internal-error
4652 maint show internal-error
4653 Control what GDB does when an internal error is detected.
4654
4655 maint set internal-warning
4656 maint show internal-warning
4657 Control what GDB does when an internal warning is detected.
4658
4659 set exec-wrapper
4660 show exec-wrapper
4661 unset exec-wrapper
4662 Use a wrapper program to launch programs for debugging.
4663
4664 set multiple-symbols (all|ask|cancel)
4665 show multiple-symbols
4666 The value of this variable can be changed to adjust the debugger behavior
4667 when an expression or a breakpoint location contains an ambiguous symbol
4668 name (an overloaded function name, for instance).
4669
4670 set breakpoint always-inserted
4671 show breakpoint always-inserted
4672 Keep breakpoints always inserted in the target, as opposed to inserting
4673 them when resuming the target, and removing them when the target stops.
4674 This option can improve debugger performance on slow remote targets.
4675
4676 set arm fallback-mode (arm|thumb|auto)
4677 show arm fallback-mode
4678 set arm force-mode (arm|thumb|auto)
4679 show arm force-mode
4680 These commands control how ARM GDB determines whether instructions
4681 are ARM or Thumb. The default for both settings is auto, which uses
4682 the current CPSR value for instructions without symbols; previous
4683 versions of GDB behaved as if "set arm fallback-mode arm".
4684
4685 set disable-randomization
4686 show disable-randomization
4687 Standalone programs run with the virtual address space randomization enabled
4688 by default on some platforms. This option keeps the addresses stable across
4689 multiple debugging sessions.
4690
4691 set non-stop
4692 show non-stop
4693 Control whether other threads are stopped or not when some thread hits
4694 a breakpoint.
4695
4696 set target-async
4697 show target-async
4698 Requests that asynchronous execution is enabled in the target, if available.
4699 In this case, it's possible to resume target in the background, and interact
4700 with GDB while the target is running. "show target-async" displays the
4701 current state of asynchronous execution of the target.
4702
4703 set target-wide-charset
4704 show target-wide-charset
4705 The target-wide-charset is the name of the character set that GDB
4706 uses when printing characters whose type is wchar_t.
4707
4708 set tcp auto-retry (on|off)
4709 show tcp auto-retry
4710 set tcp connect-timeout
4711 show tcp connect-timeout
4712 These commands allow GDB to retry failed TCP connections to a remote stub
4713 with a specified timeout period; this is useful if the stub is launched
4714 in parallel with GDB but may not be ready to accept connections immediately.
4715
4716 set libthread-db-search-path
4717 show libthread-db-search-path
4718 Control list of directories which GDB will search for appropriate
4719 libthread_db.
4720
4721 set schedule-multiple (on|off)
4722 show schedule-multiple
4723 Allow GDB to resume all threads of all processes or only threads of
4724 the current process.
4725
4726 set stack-cache
4727 show stack-cache
4728 Use more aggressive caching for accesses to the stack. This improves
4729 performance of remote debugging (particularly backtraces) without
4730 affecting correctness.
4731
4732 set interactive-mode (on|off|auto)
4733 show interactive-mode
4734 Control whether GDB runs in interactive mode (on) or not (off).
4735 When in interactive mode, GDB waits for the user to answer all
4736 queries. Otherwise, GDB does not wait and assumes the default
4737 answer. When set to auto (the default), GDB determines which
4738 mode to use based on the stdin settings.
4739
4740 * Removed commands
4741
4742 info forks
4743 For program forks, this is replaced by the new more generic `info
4744 inferiors' command. To list checkpoints, you can still use the
4745 `info checkpoints' command, which was an alias for the `info forks'
4746 command.
4747
4748 fork NUM
4749 Replaced by the new `inferior' command. To switch between
4750 checkpoints, you can still use the `restart' command, which was an
4751 alias for the `fork' command.
4752
4753 process PID
4754 This is removed, since some targets don't have a notion of
4755 processes. To switch between processes, you can still use the
4756 `inferior' command using GDB's own inferior number.
4757
4758 delete fork NUM
4759 For program forks, this is replaced by the new more generic `kill
4760 inferior' command. To delete a checkpoint, you can still use the
4761 `delete checkpoint' command, which was an alias for the `delete
4762 fork' command.
4763
4764 detach fork NUM
4765 For program forks, this is replaced by the new more generic `detach
4766 inferior' command. To detach a checkpoint, you can still use the
4767 `detach checkpoint' command, which was an alias for the `detach
4768 fork' command.
4769
4770 * New native configurations
4771
4772 x86/x86_64 Darwin i[34567]86-*-darwin*
4773
4774 x86_64 MinGW x86_64-*-mingw*
4775
4776 * New targets
4777
4778 Lattice Mico32 lm32-*
4779 x86 DICOS i[34567]86-*-dicos*
4780 x86_64 DICOS x86_64-*-dicos*
4781 S+core 3 score-*-*
4782
4783 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports x86 Windows CE
4784 (mingw32ce) debugging.
4785
4786 * Removed commands
4787
4788 catch load
4789 catch unload
4790 These commands were actually not implemented on any target.
4791
4792 *** Changes in GDB 6.8
4793
4794 * New native configurations
4795
4796 NetBSD/hppa hppa*-*netbsd*
4797 Xtensa GNU/Linux xtensa*-*-linux*
4798
4799 * New targets
4800
4801 NetBSD/hppa hppa*-*-netbsd*
4802 Xtensa GNU/Linux xtensa*-*-linux*
4803
4804 * Change in command line behavior -- corefiles vs. process ids.
4805
4806 When the '-p NUMBER' or '--pid NUMBER' options are used, and
4807 attaching to process NUMBER fails, GDB no longer attempts to open a
4808 core file named NUMBER. Attaching to a program using the -c option
4809 is no longer supported. Instead, use the '-p' or '--pid' options.
4810
4811 * GDB can now be built as a native debugger for debugging Windows x86
4812 (mingw32) Portable Executable (PE) programs.
4813
4814 * Pending breakpoints no longer change their number when their address
4815 is resolved.
4816
4817 * GDB now supports breakpoints with multiple locations,
4818 including breakpoints on C++ constructors, inside C++ templates,
4819 and in inlined functions.
4820
4821 * GDB's ability to debug optimized code has been improved. GDB more
4822 accurately identifies function bodies and lexical blocks that occupy
4823 more than one contiguous range of addresses.
4824
4825 * Target descriptions can now describe registers for PowerPC.
4826
4827 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports the AltiVec and SPE
4828 registers on PowerPC targets.
4829
4830 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports thread debugging on GNU/Linux
4831 targets even when the libthread_db library is not available.
4832
4833 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports the new file transfer
4834 commands (remote put, remote get, and remote delete).
4835
4836 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports run and attach in
4837 extended-remote mode.
4838
4839 * hppa*64*-*-hpux11* target broken
4840 The debugger is unable to start a program and fails with the following
4841 error: "Error trying to get information about dynamic linker".
4842 The gdb-6.7 release is also affected.
4843
4844 * GDB now supports the --enable-targets= configure option to allow
4845 building a single GDB executable that supports multiple remote
4846 target architectures.
4847
4848 * GDB now supports debugging C and C++ programs which use the
4849 Decimal Floating Point extension. In addition, the PowerPC target
4850 now has a set of pseudo-registers to inspect decimal float values
4851 stored in two consecutive float registers.
4852
4853 * The -break-insert MI command can optionally create pending
4854 breakpoints now.
4855
4856 * Improved support for debugging Ada
4857 Many improvements to the Ada language support have been made. These
4858 include:
4859 - Better support for Ada2005 interface types
4860 - Improved handling of arrays and slices in general
4861 - Better support for Taft-amendment types
4862 - The '{type} ADDRESS' expression is now allowed on the left hand-side
4863 of an assignment
4864 - Improved command completion in Ada
4865 - Several bug fixes
4866
4867 * GDB on GNU/Linux and HP/UX can now debug through "exec" of a new
4868 process.
4869
4870 * New commands
4871
4872 set print frame-arguments (all|scalars|none)
4873 show print frame-arguments
4874 The value of this variable can be changed to control which argument
4875 values should be printed by the debugger when displaying a frame.
4876
4877 remote put
4878 remote get
4879 remote delete
4880 Transfer files to and from a remote target, and delete remote files.
4881
4882 * New MI commands
4883
4884 -target-file-put
4885 -target-file-get
4886 -target-file-delete
4887 Transfer files to and from a remote target, and delete remote files.
4888
4889 * New remote packets
4890
4891 vFile:open:
4892 vFile:close:
4893 vFile:pread:
4894 vFile:pwrite:
4895 vFile:unlink:
4896 Open, close, read, write, and delete files on the remote system.
4897
4898 vAttach
4899 Attach to an existing process on the remote system, in extended-remote
4900 mode.
4901
4902 vRun
4903 Run a new process on the remote system, in extended-remote mode.
4904
4905 *** Changes in GDB 6.7
4906
4907 * Resolved 101 resource leaks, null pointer dereferences, etc. in gdb,
4908 bfd, libiberty and opcodes, as revealed by static analysis donated by
4909 Coverity, Inc. (http://scan.coverity.com).
4910
4911 * When looking up multiply-defined global symbols, GDB will now prefer the
4912 symbol definition in the current shared library if it was built using the
4913 -Bsymbolic linker option.
4914
4915 * When the Text User Interface (TUI) is not configured, GDB will now
4916 recognize the -tui command-line option and print a message that the TUI
4917 is not supported.
4918
4919 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now has lower overhead for high
4920 frequency signals (e.g. SIGALRM) via the QPassSignals packet.
4921
4922 * GDB for MIPS targets now autodetects whether a remote target provides
4923 32-bit or 64-bit register values.
4924
4925 * Support for C++ member pointers has been improved.
4926
4927 * GDB now understands XML target descriptions, which specify the
4928 target's overall architecture. GDB can read a description from
4929 a local file or over the remote serial protocol.
4930
4931 * Vectors of single-byte data use a new integer type which is not
4932 automatically displayed as character or string data.
4933
4934 * The /s format now works with the print command. It displays
4935 arrays of single-byte integers and pointers to single-byte integers
4936 as strings.
4937
4938 * Target descriptions can now describe target-specific registers,
4939 for architectures which have implemented the support (currently
4940 only ARM, M68K, and MIPS).
4941
4942 * GDB and the GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now support the XScale
4943 iWMMXt coprocessor.
4944
4945 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, has been updated to support
4946 ARM Windows CE (mingw32ce) debugging, and GDB Windows CE support
4947 has been rewritten to use the standard GDB remote protocol.
4948
4949 * GDB can now step into C++ functions which are called through thunks.
4950
4951 * GDB for the Cell/B.E. SPU now supports overlay debugging.
4952
4953 * The GDB remote protocol "qOffsets" packet can now honor ELF segment
4954 layout. It also supports a TextSeg= and DataSeg= response when only
4955 segment base addresses (rather than offsets) are available.
4956
4957 * The /i format now outputs any trailing branch delay slot instructions
4958 immediately following the last instruction within the count specified.
4959
4960 * The GDB remote protocol "T" stop reply packet now supports a
4961 "library" response. Combined with the new "qXfer:libraries:read"
4962 packet, this response allows GDB to debug shared libraries on targets
4963 where the operating system manages the list of loaded libraries (e.g.
4964 Windows and SymbianOS).
4965
4966 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports dynamic link libraries
4967 (DLLs) on Windows and Windows CE targets.
4968
4969 * GDB now supports a faster verification that a .debug file matches its binary
4970 according to its build-id signature, if the signature is present.
4971
4972 * New commands
4973
4974 set remoteflow
4975 show remoteflow
4976 Enable or disable hardware flow control (RTS/CTS) on the serial port
4977 when debugging using remote targets.
4978
4979 set mem inaccessible-by-default
4980 show mem inaccessible-by-default
4981 If the target supplies a memory map, for instance via the remote
4982 protocol's "qXfer:memory-map:read" packet, setting this variable
4983 prevents GDB from accessing memory outside the memory map. This
4984 is useful for targets with memory mapped registers or which react
4985 badly to accesses of unmapped address space.
4986
4987 set breakpoint auto-hw
4988 show breakpoint auto-hw
4989 If the target supplies a memory map, for instance via the remote
4990 protocol's "qXfer:memory-map:read" packet, setting this variable
4991 lets GDB use hardware breakpoints automatically for memory regions
4992 where it can not use software breakpoints. This covers both the
4993 "break" command and internal breakpoints used for other commands
4994 including "next" and "finish".
4995
4996 catch exception
4997 catch exception unhandled
4998 Stop the program execution when Ada exceptions are raised.
4999
5000 catch assert
5001 Stop the program execution when an Ada assertion failed.
5002
5003 set sysroot
5004 show sysroot
5005 Set an alternate system root for target files. This is a more
5006 general version of "set solib-absolute-prefix", which is now
5007 an alias to "set sysroot".
5008
5009 info spu
5010 Provide extended SPU facility status information. This set of
5011 commands is available only when debugging the Cell/B.E. SPU
5012 architecture.
5013
5014 * New native configurations
5015
5016 OpenBSD/sh sh*-*openbsd*
5017
5018 set tdesc filename
5019 unset tdesc filename
5020 show tdesc filename
5021 Use the specified local file as an XML target description, and do
5022 not query the target for its built-in description.
5023
5024 * New targets
5025
5026 OpenBSD/sh sh*-*-openbsd*
5027 MIPS64 GNU/Linux (gdbserver) mips64-linux-gnu
5028 Toshiba Media Processor mep-elf
5029
5030 * New remote packets
5031
5032 QPassSignals:
5033 Ignore the specified signals; pass them directly to the debugged program
5034 without stopping other threads or reporting them to GDB.
5035
5036 qXfer:features:read:
5037 Read an XML target description from the target, which describes its
5038 features.
5039
5040 qXfer:spu:read:
5041 qXfer:spu:write:
5042 Read or write contents of an spufs file on the target system. These
5043 packets are available only on the Cell/B.E. SPU architecture.
5044
5045 qXfer:libraries:read:
5046 Report the loaded shared libraries. Combined with new "T" packet
5047 response, this packet allows GDB to debug shared libraries on
5048 targets where the operating system manages the list of loaded
5049 libraries (e.g. Windows and SymbianOS).
5050
5051 * Removed targets
5052
5053 Support for these obsolete configurations has been removed.
5054
5055 alpha*-*-osf1*
5056 alpha*-*-osf2*
5057 d10v-*-*
5058 hppa*-*-hiux*
5059 i[34567]86-ncr-*
5060 i[34567]86-*-dgux*
5061 i[34567]86-*-lynxos*
5062 i[34567]86-*-netware*
5063 i[34567]86-*-sco3.2v5*
5064 i[34567]86-*-sco3.2v4*
5065 i[34567]86-*-sco*
5066 i[34567]86-*-sysv4.2*
5067 i[34567]86-*-sysv4*
5068 i[34567]86-*-sysv5*
5069 i[34567]86-*-unixware2*
5070 i[34567]86-*-unixware*
5071 i[34567]86-*-sysv*
5072 i[34567]86-*-isc*
5073 m68*-cisco*-*
5074 m68*-tandem-*
5075 mips*-*-pe
5076 rs6000-*-lynxos*
5077 sh*-*-pe
5078
5079 * Other removed features
5080
5081 target abug
5082 target cpu32bug
5083 target est
5084 target rom68k
5085
5086 Various m68k-only ROM monitors.
5087
5088 target hms
5089 target e7000
5090 target sh3
5091 target sh3e
5092
5093 Various Renesas ROM monitors and debugging interfaces for SH and
5094 H8/300.
5095
5096 target ocd
5097
5098 Support for a Macraigor serial interface to on-chip debugging.
5099 GDB does not directly support the newer parallel or USB
5100 interfaces.
5101
5102 DWARF 1 support
5103
5104 A debug information format. The predecessor to DWARF 2 and
5105 DWARF 3, which are still supported.
5106
5107 Support for the HP aCC compiler on HP-UX/PA-RISC
5108
5109 SOM-encapsulated symbolic debugging information, automatic
5110 invocation of pxdb, and the aCC custom C++ ABI. This does not
5111 affect HP-UX for Itanium or GCC for HP-UX/PA-RISC. Code compiled
5112 with aCC can still be debugged on an assembly level.
5113
5114 MIPS ".pdr" sections
5115
5116 A MIPS-specific format used to describe stack frame layout
5117 in debugging information.
5118
5119 Scheme support
5120
5121 GDB could work with an older version of Guile to debug
5122 the interpreter and Scheme programs running in it.
5123
5124 set mips stack-arg-size
5125 set mips saved-gpreg-size
5126
5127 Use "set mips abi" to control parameter passing for MIPS.
5128
5129 *** Changes in GDB 6.6
5130
5131 * New targets
5132
5133 Xtensa xtensa-elf
5134 Cell Broadband Engine SPU spu-elf
5135
5136 * GDB can now be configured as a cross-debugger targeting native Windows
5137 (mingw32) or Cygwin. It can communicate with a remote debugging stub
5138 running on a Windows system over TCP/IP to debug Windows programs.
5139
5140 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, has been updated to support Windows and
5141 Cygwin debugging. Both single-threaded and multi-threaded programs are
5142 supported.
5143
5144 * The "set trust-readonly-sections" command works again. This command was
5145 broken in GDB 6.3, 6.4, and 6.5.
5146
5147 * The "load" command now supports writing to flash memory, if the remote
5148 stub provides the required support.
5149
5150 * Support for GNU/Linux Thread Local Storage (TLS, per-thread variables) no
5151 longer requires symbolic debug information (e.g. DWARF-2).
5152
5153 * New commands
5154
5155 set substitute-path
5156 unset substitute-path
5157 show substitute-path
5158 Manage a list of substitution rules that GDB uses to rewrite the name
5159 of the directories where the sources are located. This can be useful
5160 for instance when the sources were moved to a different location
5161 between compilation and debugging.
5162
5163 set trace-commands
5164 show trace-commands
5165 Print each CLI command as it is executed. Each command is prefixed with
5166 a number of `+' symbols representing the nesting depth.
5167 The source command now has a `-v' option to enable the same feature.
5168
5169 * REMOVED features
5170
5171 The ARM Demon monitor support (RDP protocol, "target rdp").
5172
5173 Kernel Object Display, an embedded debugging feature which only worked with
5174 an obsolete version of Cisco IOS.
5175
5176 The 'set download-write-size' and 'show download-write-size' commands.
5177
5178 * New remote packets
5179
5180 qSupported:
5181 Tell a stub about GDB client features, and request remote target features.
5182 The first feature implemented is PacketSize, which allows the target to
5183 specify the size of packets it can handle - to minimize the number of
5184 packets required and improve performance when connected to a remote
5185 target.
5186
5187 qXfer:auxv:read:
5188 Fetch an OS auxilliary vector from the remote stub. This packet is a
5189 more efficient replacement for qPart:auxv:read.
5190
5191 qXfer:memory-map:read:
5192 Fetch a memory map from the remote stub, including information about
5193 RAM, ROM, and flash memory devices.
5194
5195 vFlashErase:
5196 vFlashWrite:
5197 vFlashDone:
5198 Erase and program a flash memory device.
5199
5200 * Removed remote packets
5201
5202 qPart:auxv:read:
5203 This packet has been replaced by qXfer:auxv:read. Only GDB 6.4 and 6.5
5204 used it, and only gdbserver implemented it.
5205
5206 *** Changes in GDB 6.5
5207
5208 * New targets
5209
5210 Renesas M32C/M16C m32c-elf
5211
5212 Morpho Technologies ms1 ms1-elf
5213
5214 * New commands
5215
5216 init-if-undefined Initialize a convenience variable, but
5217 only if it doesn't already have a value.
5218
5219 The following commands are presently only implemented for native GNU/Linux:
5220
5221 checkpoint Save a snapshot of the program state.
5222
5223 restart <n> Return the program state to a
5224 previously saved state.
5225
5226 info checkpoints List currently saved checkpoints.
5227
5228 delete-checkpoint <n> Delete a previously saved checkpoint.
5229
5230 set|show detach-on-fork Tell gdb whether to detach from a newly
5231 forked process, or to keep debugging it.
5232
5233 info forks List forks of the user program that
5234 are available to be debugged.
5235
5236 fork <n> Switch to debugging one of several
5237 forks of the user program that are
5238 available to be debugged.
5239
5240 delete-fork <n> Delete a fork from the list of forks
5241 that are available to be debugged (and
5242 kill the forked process).
5243
5244 detach-fork <n> Delete a fork from the list of forks
5245 that are available to be debugged (and
5246 allow the process to continue).
5247
5248 * New architecture
5249
5250 Morpho Technologies ms2 ms1-elf
5251
5252 * Improved Windows host support
5253
5254 GDB now builds as a cross debugger hosted on i686-mingw32, including
5255 native console support, and remote communications using either
5256 network sockets or serial ports.
5257
5258 * Improved Modula-2 language support
5259
5260 GDB can now print most types in the Modula-2 syntax. This includes:
5261 basic types, set types, record types, enumerated types, range types,
5262 pointer types and ARRAY types. Procedure var parameters are correctly
5263 printed and hexadecimal addresses and character constants are also
5264 written in the Modula-2 syntax. Best results can be obtained by using
5265 GNU Modula-2 together with the -gdwarf-2 command line option.
5266
5267 * REMOVED features
5268
5269 The ARM rdi-share module.
5270
5271 The Netware NLM debug server.
5272
5273 *** Changes in GDB 6.4
5274
5275 * New native configurations
5276
5277 OpenBSD/arm arm*-*-openbsd*
5278 OpenBSD/mips64 mips64-*-openbsd*
5279
5280 * New targets
5281
5282 Morpho Technologies ms1 ms1-elf
5283
5284 * New command line options
5285
5286 --batch-silent As for --batch, but totally silent.
5287 --return-child-result The debugger will exist with the same value
5288 the child (debugged) program exited with.
5289 --eval-command COMMAND, -ex COMMAND
5290 Execute a single GDB CLI command. This may be
5291 specified multiple times and in conjunction
5292 with the --command (-x) option.
5293
5294 * Deprecated commands removed
5295
5296 The following commands, that were deprecated in 2000, have been
5297 removed:
5298
5299 Command Replacement
5300 set|show arm disassembly-flavor set|show arm disassembler
5301 othernames set arm disassembler
5302 set|show remotedebug set|show debug remote
5303 set|show archdebug set|show debug arch
5304 set|show eventdebug set|show debug event
5305 regs info registers
5306
5307 * New BSD user-level threads support
5308
5309 It is now possible to debug programs using the user-level threads
5310 library on OpenBSD and FreeBSD. Currently supported (target)
5311 configurations are:
5312
5313 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
5314 FreeBSD/i386 i386-*-freebsd*
5315 OpenBSD/i386 i386-*-openbsd*
5316
5317 Note that the new kernel threads libraries introduced in FreeBSD 5.x
5318 are not yet supported.
5319
5320 * New support for Matsushita MN10300 w/sim added
5321 (Work in progress). mn10300-elf.
5322
5323 * REMOVED configurations and files
5324
5325 VxWorks and the XDR protocol *-*-vxworks
5326 Motorola MCORE mcore-*-*
5327 National Semiconductor NS32000 ns32k-*-*
5328
5329 * New "set print array-indexes" command
5330
5331 After turning this setting "on", GDB prints the index of each element
5332 when displaying arrays. The default is "off" to preserve the previous
5333 behavior.
5334
5335 * VAX floating point support
5336
5337 GDB now supports the not-quite-ieee VAX F and D floating point formats.
5338
5339 * User-defined command support
5340
5341 In addition to using $arg0..$arg9 for argument passing, it is now possible
5342 to use $argc to determine now many arguments have been passed. See the
5343 section on user-defined commands in the user manual for more information.
5344
5345 *** Changes in GDB 6.3:
5346
5347 * New command line option
5348
5349 GDB now accepts -l followed by a number to set the timeout for remote
5350 debugging.
5351
5352 * GDB works with GCC -feliminate-dwarf2-dups
5353
5354 GDB now supports a more compact representation of DWARF-2 debug
5355 information using DW_FORM_ref_addr references. These are produced
5356 by GCC with the option -feliminate-dwarf2-dups and also by some
5357 proprietary compilers. With GCC, you must use GCC 3.3.4 or later
5358 to use -feliminate-dwarf2-dups.
5359
5360 * Internationalization
5361
5362 When supported by the host system, GDB will be built with
5363 internationalization (libintl). The task of marking up the sources is
5364 continued, we're looking forward to our first translation.
5365
5366 * Ada
5367
5368 Initial support for debugging programs compiled with the GNAT
5369 implementation of the Ada programming language has been integrated
5370 into GDB. In this release, support is limited to expression evaluation.
5371
5372 * New native configurations
5373
5374 GNU/Linux/m32r m32r-*-linux-gnu
5375
5376 * Remote 'p' packet
5377
5378 GDB's remote protocol now includes support for the 'p' packet. This
5379 packet is used to fetch individual registers from a remote inferior.
5380
5381 * END-OF-LIFE registers[] compatibility module
5382
5383 GDB's internal register infrastructure has been completely rewritten.
5384 The new infrastructure making possible the implementation of key new
5385 features including 32x64 (e.g., 64-bit amd64 GDB debugging a 32-bit
5386 i386 application).
5387
5388 GDB 6.3 will be the last release to include the registers[]
5389 compatibility module that allowed out-of-date configurations to
5390 continue to work. This change directly impacts the following
5391 configurations:
5392
5393 hppa-*-hpux
5394 ia64-*-aix
5395 mips-*-irix*
5396 *-*-lynx
5397 mips-*-linux-gnu
5398 sds protocol
5399 xdr protocol
5400 powerpc bdm protocol
5401
5402 Unless there is activity to revive these configurations, they will be
5403 made OBSOLETE in GDB 6.4, and REMOVED from GDB 6.5.
5404
5405 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
5406
5407 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
5408 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
5409 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
5410 permanently REMOVED.
5411
5412 h8300-*-*
5413 mcore-*-*
5414 mn10300-*-*
5415 ns32k-*-*
5416 sh64-*-*
5417 v850-*-*
5418
5419 *** Changes in GDB 6.2.1:
5420
5421 * MIPS `break main; run' gave an heuristic-fence-post warning
5422
5423 When attempting to run even a simple program, a warning about
5424 heuristic-fence-post being hit would be reported. This problem has
5425 been fixed.
5426
5427 * MIPS IRIX 'long double' crashed GDB
5428
5429 When examining a long double variable, GDB would get a segmentation
5430 fault. The crash has been fixed (but GDB 6.2 cannot correctly examine
5431 IRIX long double values).
5432
5433 * VAX and "next"
5434
5435 A bug in the VAX stack code was causing problems with the "next"
5436 command. This problem has been fixed.
5437
5438 *** Changes in GDB 6.2:
5439
5440 * Fix for ``many threads''
5441
5442 On GNU/Linux systems that use the NPTL threads library, a program
5443 rapidly creating and deleting threads would confuse GDB leading to the
5444 error message:
5445
5446 ptrace: No such process.
5447 thread_db_get_info: cannot get thread info: generic error
5448
5449 This problem has been fixed.
5450
5451 * "-async" and "-noasync" options removed.
5452
5453 Support for the broken "-noasync" option has been removed (it caused
5454 GDB to dump core).
5455
5456 * New ``start'' command.
5457
5458 This command runs the program until the beginning of the main procedure.
5459
5460 * New BSD Kernel Data Access Library (libkvm) interface
5461
5462 Using ``target kvm'' it is now possible to debug kernel core dumps and
5463 live kernel memory images on various FreeBSD, NetBSD and OpenBSD
5464 platforms. Currently supported (native-only) configurations are:
5465
5466 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
5467 FreeBSD/i386 i?86-*-freebsd*
5468 NetBSD/i386 i?86-*-netbsd*
5469 NetBSD/m68k m68*-*-netbsd*
5470 NetBSD/sparc sparc-*-netbsd*
5471 OpenBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-openbsd*
5472 OpenBSD/i386 i?86-*-openbsd*
5473 OpenBSD/m68k m68*-openbsd*
5474 OpenBSD/sparc sparc-*-openbsd*
5475
5476 * Signal trampoline code overhauled
5477
5478 Many generic problems with GDB's signal handling code have been fixed.
5479 These include: backtraces through non-contiguous stacks; recognition
5480 of sa_sigaction signal trampolines; backtrace from a NULL pointer
5481 call; backtrace through a signal trampoline; step into and out of
5482 signal handlers; and single-stepping in the signal trampoline.
5483
5484 Please note that kernel bugs are a limiting factor here. These
5485 features have been shown to work on an s390 GNU/Linux system that
5486 include a 2.6.8-rc1 kernel. Ref PR breakpoints/1702.
5487
5488 * Cygwin support for DWARF 2 added.
5489
5490 * New native configurations
5491
5492 GNU/Linux/hppa hppa*-*-linux*
5493 OpenBSD/hppa hppa*-*-openbsd*
5494 OpenBSD/m68k m68*-*-openbsd*
5495 OpenBSD/m88k m88*-*-openbsd*
5496 OpenBSD/powerpc powerpc-*-openbsd*
5497 NetBSD/vax vax-*-netbsd*
5498 OpenBSD/vax vax-*-openbsd*
5499
5500 * END-OF-LIFE frame compatibility module
5501
5502 GDB's internal frame infrastructure has been completely rewritten.
5503 The new infrastructure making it possible to support key new features
5504 including DWARF 2 Call Frame Information. To aid in the task of
5505 migrating old configurations to this new infrastructure, a
5506 compatibility module, that allowed old configurations to continue to
5507 work, was also included.
5508
5509 GDB 6.2 will be the last release to include this frame compatibility
5510 module. This change directly impacts the following configurations:
5511
5512 h8300-*-*
5513 mcore-*-*
5514 mn10300-*-*
5515 ns32k-*-*
5516 sh64-*-*
5517 v850-*-*
5518 xstormy16-*-*
5519
5520 Unless there is activity to revive these configurations, they will be
5521 made OBSOLETE in GDB 6.3, and REMOVED from GDB 6.4.
5522
5523 * REMOVED configurations and files
5524
5525 Sun 3, running SunOS 3 m68*-*-sunos3*
5526 Sun 3, running SunOS 4 m68*-*-sunos4*
5527 Sun 2, running SunOS 3 m68000-*-sunos3*
5528 Sun 2, running SunOS 4 m68000-*-sunos4*
5529 Motorola 680x0 running LynxOS m68*-*-lynxos*
5530 AT&T 3b1/Unix pc m68*-att-*
5531 Bull DPX2 (68k, System V release 3) m68*-bull-sysv*
5532 decstation mips-dec-* mips-little-*
5533 riscos mips-*-riscos* mips-*-sysv*
5534 sonymips mips-sony-*
5535 sysv mips*-*-sysv4* (IRIX 5/6 not included)
5536
5537 *** Changes in GDB 6.1.1:
5538
5539 * TUI (Text-mode User Interface) built-in (also included in GDB 6.1)
5540
5541 The TUI (Text-mode User Interface) is now built as part of a default
5542 GDB configuration. It is enabled by either selecting the TUI with the
5543 command line option "-i=tui" or by running the separate "gdbtui"
5544 program. For more information on the TUI, see the manual "Debugging
5545 with GDB".
5546
5547 * Pending breakpoint support (also included in GDB 6.1)
5548
5549 Support has been added to allow you to specify breakpoints in shared
5550 libraries that have not yet been loaded. If a breakpoint location
5551 cannot be found, and the "breakpoint pending" option is set to auto,
5552 GDB queries you if you wish to make the breakpoint pending on a future
5553 shared-library load. If and when GDB resolves the breakpoint symbol,
5554 the pending breakpoint is removed as one or more regular breakpoints
5555 are created.
5556
5557 Pending breakpoints are very useful for GCJ Java debugging.
5558
5559 * Fixed ISO-C build problems
5560
5561 The files bfd/elf-bfd.h, gdb/dictionary.c and gdb/types.c contained
5562 non ISO-C code that stopped them being built using a more strict ISO-C
5563 compiler (e.g., IBM's C compiler).
5564
5565 * Fixed build problem on IRIX 5
5566
5567 Due to header problems with <sys/proc.h>, the file gdb/proc-api.c
5568 wasn't able to compile compile on an IRIX 5 system.
5569
5570 * Added execute permission to gdb/gdbserver/configure
5571
5572 The shell script gdb/testsuite/gdb.stabs/configure lacked execute
5573 permission. This bug would cause configure to fail on a number of
5574 systems (Solaris, IRIX). Ref: server/519.
5575
5576 * Fixed build problem on hpux2.0w-hp-hpux11.00 using the HP ANSI C compiler
5577
5578 Older HPUX ANSI C compilers did not accept variable array sizes. somsolib.c
5579 has been updated to use constant array sizes.
5580
5581 * Fixed a panic in the DWARF Call Frame Info code on Solaris 2.7
5582
5583 GCC 3.3.2, on Solaris 2.7, includes the DW_EH_PE_funcrel encoding in
5584 its generated DWARF Call Frame Info. This encoding was causing GDB to
5585 panic, that panic has been fixed. Ref: gdb/1628.
5586
5587 * Fixed a problem when examining parameters in shared library code.
5588
5589 When examining parameters in optimized shared library code generated
5590 by a mainline GCC, GDB would incorrectly report ``Variable "..." is
5591 not available''. GDB now correctly displays the variable's value.
5592
5593 *** Changes in GDB 6.1:
5594
5595 * Removed --with-mmalloc
5596
5597 Support for the mmalloc memory manager has been removed, as it
5598 conflicted with the internal gdb byte cache.
5599
5600 * Changes in AMD64 configurations
5601
5602 The AMD64 target now includes the %cs and %ss registers. As a result
5603 the AMD64 remote protocol has changed; this affects the floating-point
5604 and SSE registers. If you rely on those registers for your debugging,
5605 you should upgrade gdbserver on the remote side.
5606
5607 * Revised SPARC target
5608
5609 The SPARC target has been completely revised, incorporating the
5610 FreeBSD/sparc64 support that was added for GDB 6.0. As a result
5611 support for LynxOS and SunOS 4 has been dropped. Calling functions
5612 from within GDB on operating systems with a non-executable stack
5613 (Solaris, OpenBSD) now works.
5614
5615 * New C++ demangler
5616
5617 GDB has a new C++ demangler which does a better job on the mangled
5618 names generated by current versions of g++. It also runs faster, so
5619 with this and other changes gdb should now start faster on large C++
5620 programs.
5621
5622 * DWARF 2 Location Expressions
5623
5624 GDB support for location expressions has been extended to support function
5625 arguments and frame bases. Older versions of GDB could crash when they
5626 encountered these.
5627
5628 * C++ nested types and namespaces
5629
5630 GDB's support for nested types and namespaces in C++ has been
5631 improved, especially if you use the DWARF 2 debugging format. (This
5632 is the default for recent versions of GCC on most platforms.)
5633 Specifically, if you have a class "Inner" defined within a class or
5634 namespace "Outer", then GDB realizes that the class's name is
5635 "Outer::Inner", not simply "Inner". This should greatly reduce the
5636 frequency of complaints about not finding RTTI symbols. In addition,
5637 if you are stopped at inside of a function defined within a namespace,
5638 GDB modifies its name lookup accordingly.
5639
5640 * New native configurations
5641
5642 NetBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-netbsd*
5643 OpenBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-openbsd*
5644 OpenBSD/alpha alpha*-*-openbsd*
5645 OpenBSD/sparc sparc-*-openbsd*
5646 OpenBSD/sparc64 sparc64-*-openbsd*
5647
5648 * New debugging protocols
5649
5650 M32R with SDI protocol m32r-*-elf*
5651
5652 * "set prompt-escape-char" command deleted.
5653
5654 The command "set prompt-escape-char" has been deleted. This command,
5655 and its very obscure effect on GDB's prompt, was never documented,
5656 tested, nor mentioned in the NEWS file.
5657
5658 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
5659
5660 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
5661 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
5662 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
5663 permanently REMOVED.
5664
5665 Sun 3, running SunOS 3 m68*-*-sunos3*
5666 Sun 3, running SunOS 4 m68*-*-sunos4*
5667 Sun 2, running SunOS 3 m68000-*-sunos3*
5668 Sun 2, running SunOS 4 m68000-*-sunos4*
5669 Motorola 680x0 running LynxOS m68*-*-lynxos*
5670 AT&T 3b1/Unix pc m68*-att-*
5671 Bull DPX2 (68k, System V release 3) m68*-bull-sysv*
5672 decstation mips-dec-* mips-little-*
5673 riscos mips-*-riscos* mips-*-sysv*
5674 sonymips mips-sony-*
5675 sysv mips*-*-sysv4* (IRIX 5/6 not included)
5676
5677 * REMOVED configurations and files
5678
5679 SGI Irix-4.x mips-sgi-irix4 or iris4
5680 SGI Iris (MIPS) running Irix V3: mips-sgi-irix or iris
5681 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
5682 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
5683 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
5684 HP/PA running BSD hppa*-*-bsd*
5685 HP/PA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
5686 HP/PA Pro target hppa*-*-pro*
5687 PMAX (MIPS) running Mach 3.0 mips*-*-mach3*
5688 386BSD i[3456]86-*-bsd*
5689 Sequent family i[3456]86-sequent-sysv4*
5690 i[3456]86-sequent-sysv*
5691 i[3456]86-sequent-bsd*
5692 SPARC running LynxOS sparc-*-lynxos*
5693 SPARC running SunOS 4 sparc-*-sunos4*
5694 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
5695 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
5696
5697 *** Changes in GDB 6.0:
5698
5699 * Objective-C
5700
5701 Support for debugging the Objective-C programming language has been
5702 integrated into GDB.
5703
5704 * New backtrace mechanism (includes DWARF 2 Call Frame Information).
5705
5706 DWARF 2's Call Frame Information makes available compiler generated
5707 information that more exactly describes the program's run-time stack.
5708 By using this information, GDB is able to provide more robust stack
5709 backtraces.
5710
5711 The i386, amd64 (nee, x86-64), Alpha, m68hc11, ia64, and m32r targets
5712 have been updated to use a new backtrace mechanism which includes
5713 DWARF 2 CFI support.
5714
5715 * Hosted file I/O.
5716
5717 GDB's remote protocol has been extended to include support for hosted
5718 file I/O (where the remote target uses GDB's file system). See GDB's
5719 remote protocol documentation for details.
5720
5721 * All targets using the new architecture framework.
5722
5723 All of GDB's targets have been updated to use the new internal
5724 architecture framework. The way is now open for future GDB releases
5725 to include cross-architecture native debugging support (i386 on amd64,
5726 ppc32 on ppc64).
5727
5728 * GNU/Linux's Thread Local Storage (TLS)
5729
5730 GDB now includes support for for the GNU/Linux implementation of
5731 per-thread variables.
5732
5733 * GNU/Linux's Native POSIX Thread Library (NPTL)
5734
5735 GDB's thread code has been updated to work with either the new
5736 GNU/Linux NPTL thread library or the older "LinuxThreads" library.
5737
5738 * Separate debug info.
5739
5740 GDB, in conjunction with BINUTILS, now supports a mechanism for
5741 automatically loading debug information from a separate file. Instead
5742 of shipping full debug and non-debug versions of system libraries,
5743 system integrators can now instead ship just the stripped libraries
5744 and optional debug files.
5745
5746 * DWARF 2 Location Expressions
5747
5748 DWARF 2 Location Expressions allow the compiler to more completely
5749 describe the location of variables (even in optimized code) to the
5750 debugger.
5751
5752 GDB now includes preliminary support for location expressions (support
5753 for DW_OP_piece is still missing).
5754
5755 * Java
5756
5757 A number of long standing bugs that caused GDB to die while starting a
5758 Java application have been fixed. GDB's Java support is now
5759 considered "useable".
5760
5761 * GNU/Linux support for fork, vfork, and exec.
5762
5763 The "catch fork", "catch exec", "catch vfork", and "set follow-fork-mode"
5764 commands are now implemented for GNU/Linux. They require a 2.5.x or later
5765 kernel.
5766
5767 * GDB supports logging output to a file
5768
5769 There are two new commands, "set logging" and "show logging", which can be
5770 used to capture GDB's output to a file.
5771
5772 * The meaning of "detach" has changed for gdbserver
5773
5774 The "detach" command will now resume the application, as documented. To
5775 disconnect from gdbserver and leave it stopped, use the new "disconnect"
5776 command.
5777
5778 * d10v, m68hc11 `regs' command deprecated
5779
5780 The `info registers' command has been updated so that it displays the
5781 registers using a format identical to the old `regs' command.
5782
5783 * Profiling support
5784
5785 A new command, "maint set profile on/off", has been added. This command can
5786 be used to enable or disable profiling while running GDB, to profile a
5787 session or a set of commands. In addition there is a new configure switch,
5788 "--enable-profiling", which will cause GDB to be compiled with profiling
5789 data, for more informative profiling results.
5790
5791 * Default MI syntax changed to "mi2".
5792
5793 The default MI (machine interface) syntax, enabled by the command line
5794 option "-i=mi", has been changed to "mi2". The previous MI syntax,
5795 "mi1", can be enabled by specifying the option "-i=mi1".
5796
5797 Support for the original "mi0" syntax (included in GDB 5.0) has been
5798 removed.
5799
5800 Fix for gdb/192: removed extraneous space when displaying frame level.
5801 Fix for gdb/672: update changelist is now output in mi list format.
5802 Fix for gdb/702: a -var-assign that updates the value now shows up
5803 in a subsequent -var-update.
5804
5805 * New native configurations.
5806
5807 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
5808
5809 * Multi-arched targets.
5810
5811 HP/PA HPUX11 hppa*-*-hpux*
5812 Renesas M32R/D w/simulator m32r-*-elf*
5813
5814 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
5815
5816 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
5817 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
5818 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
5819 permanently REMOVED.
5820
5821 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
5822 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
5823 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
5824 HP/PA running BSD hppa*-*-bsd*
5825 HP/PA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
5826 HP/PA Pro target hppa*-*-pro*
5827 PMAX (MIPS) running Mach 3.0 mips*-*-mach3*
5828 Sequent family i[3456]86-sequent-sysv4*
5829 i[3456]86-sequent-sysv*
5830 i[3456]86-sequent-bsd*
5831 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
5832 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
5833
5834 * REMOVED configurations and files
5835
5836 V850EA ISA
5837 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
5838 IBM AIX PS/2 i[3456]86-*-aix
5839 i386 running Mach 3.0 i[3456]86-*-mach3*
5840 i386 running Mach i[3456]86-*-mach*
5841 i386 running OSF/1 i[3456]86-*osf1mk*
5842 HP/Apollo 68k Family m68*-apollo*-sysv*,
5843 m68*-apollo*-bsd*,
5844 m68*-hp-bsd*, m68*-hp-hpux*
5845 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
5846 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
5847 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
5848 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
5849 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
5850
5851 * MIPS $fp behavior changed
5852
5853 The convenience variable $fp, for the MIPS, now consistently returns
5854 the address of the current frame's base. Previously, depending on the
5855 context, $fp could refer to either $sp or the current frame's base
5856 address. See ``8.10 Registers'' in the manual ``Debugging with GDB:
5857 The GNU Source-Level Debugger''.
5858
5859 *** Changes in GDB 5.3:
5860
5861 * GNU/Linux shared library multi-threaded performance improved.
5862
5863 When debugging a multi-threaded application on GNU/Linux, GDB now uses
5864 `/proc', in preference to `ptrace' for memory reads. This may result
5865 in an improvement in the start-up time of multi-threaded, shared
5866 library applications when run under GDB. One GDB user writes: ``loads
5867 shared libs like mad''.
5868
5869 * ``gdbserver'' now supports multi-threaded applications on some targets
5870
5871 Support for debugging multi-threaded applications which use
5872 the GNU/Linux LinuxThreads package has been added for
5873 arm*-*-linux*-gnu*, i[3456]86-*-linux*-gnu*, mips*-*-linux*-gnu*,
5874 powerpc*-*-linux*-gnu*, and sh*-*-linux*-gnu*.
5875
5876 * GDB now supports C/C++ preprocessor macros.
5877
5878 GDB now expands preprocessor macro invocations in C/C++ expressions,
5879 and provides various commands for showing macro definitions and how
5880 they expand.
5881
5882 The new command `macro expand EXPRESSION' expands any macro
5883 invocations in expression, and shows the result.
5884
5885 The new command `show macro MACRO-NAME' shows the definition of the
5886 macro named MACRO-NAME, and where it was defined.
5887
5888 Most compilers don't include information about macros in the debugging
5889 information by default. In GCC 3.1, for example, you need to compile
5890 your program with the options `-gdwarf-2 -g3'. If the macro
5891 information is present in the executable, GDB will read it.
5892
5893 * Multi-arched targets.
5894
5895 DEC Alpha (partial) alpha*-*-*
5896 DEC VAX (partial) vax-*-*
5897 NEC V850 v850-*-*
5898 National Semiconductor NS32000 (partial) ns32k-*-*
5899 Motorola 68000 (partial) m68k-*-*
5900 Motorola MCORE mcore-*-*
5901
5902 * New targets.
5903
5904 Fujitsu FRV architecture added by Red Hat frv*-*-*
5905
5906
5907 * New native configurations
5908
5909 Alpha NetBSD alpha*-*-netbsd*
5910 SH NetBSD sh*-*-netbsdelf*
5911 MIPS NetBSD mips*-*-netbsd*
5912 UltraSPARC NetBSD sparc64-*-netbsd*
5913
5914 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
5915
5916 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
5917 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
5918 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
5919 permanently REMOVED.
5920
5921 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
5922 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
5923 IBM AIX PS/2 i[3456]86-*-aix
5924 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
5925 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
5926 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
5927 i386 running Mach 3.0 i[3456]86-*-mach3*
5928 i386 running Mach i[3456]86-*-mach*
5929 i386 running OSF/1 i[3456]86-*osf1mk*
5930 HP/Apollo 68k Family m68*-apollo*-sysv*,
5931 m68*-apollo*-bsd*,
5932 m68*-hp-bsd*, m68*-hp-hpux*
5933 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
5934
5935 * OBSOLETE languages
5936
5937 CHILL, a Pascal like language used by telecommunications companies.
5938
5939 * REMOVED configurations and files
5940
5941 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi, udi29k
5942 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
5943 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
5944 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
5945 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
5946
5947 testsuite/gdb.hp/gdb.threads-hp/ directory
5948
5949 * New command "set max-user-call-depth <nnn>"
5950
5951 This command allows the user to limit the call depth of user-defined
5952 commands. The default is 1024.
5953
5954 * Changes in FreeBSD/i386 native debugging.
5955
5956 Support for the "generate-core-file" has been added.
5957
5958 * New commands "dump", "append", and "restore".
5959
5960 These commands allow data to be copied from target memory
5961 to a bfd-format or binary file (dump and append), and back
5962 from a file into memory (restore).
5963
5964 * Improved "next/step" support on multi-processor Alpha Tru64.
5965
5966 The previous single-step mechanism could cause unpredictable problems,
5967 including the random appearance of SIGSEGV or SIGTRAP signals. The use
5968 of a software single-step mechanism prevents this.
5969
5970 *** Changes in GDB 5.2.1:
5971
5972 * New targets.
5973
5974 Atmel AVR avr*-*-*
5975
5976 * Bug fixes
5977
5978 gdb/182: gdb/323: gdb/237: On alpha, gdb was reporting:
5979 mdebugread.c:2443: gdb-internal-error: sect_index_data not initialized
5980 Fix, by Joel Brobecker imported from mainline.
5981
5982 gdb/439: gdb/291: On some ELF object files, gdb was reporting:
5983 dwarf2read.c:1072: gdb-internal-error: sect_index_text not initialize
5984 Fix, by Fred Fish, imported from mainline.
5985
5986 Dwarf2 .debug_frame & .eh_frame handler improved in many ways.
5987 Surprisingly enough, it works now.
5988 By Michal Ludvig, imported from mainline.
5989
5990 i386 hardware watchpoint support:
5991 avoid misses on second run for some targets.
5992 By Pierre Muller, imported from mainline.
5993
5994 *** Changes in GDB 5.2:
5995
5996 * New command "set trust-readonly-sections on[off]".
5997
5998 This command is a hint that tells gdb that read-only sections
5999 really are read-only (ie. that their contents will not change).
6000 In this mode, gdb will go to the object file rather than the
6001 target to read memory from read-only sections (such as ".text").
6002 This can be a significant performance improvement on some
6003 (notably embedded) targets.
6004
6005 * New command "generate-core-file" (or "gcore").
6006
6007 This new gdb command allows the user to drop a core file of the child
6008 process state at any time. So far it's been implemented only for
6009 GNU/Linux and Solaris, but should be relatively easily ported to other
6010 hosts. Argument is core file name (defaults to core.<pid>).
6011
6012 * New command line option
6013
6014 GDB now accepts --pid or -p followed by a process id.
6015
6016 * Change in command line behavior -- corefiles vs. process ids.
6017
6018 There is a subtle behavior in the way in which GDB handles
6019 command line arguments. The first non-flag argument is always
6020 a program to debug, but the second non-flag argument may either
6021 be a corefile or a process id. Previously, GDB would attempt to
6022 open the second argument as a corefile, and if that failed, would
6023 issue a superfluous error message and then attempt to attach it as
6024 a process. Now, if the second argument begins with a non-digit,
6025 it will be treated as a corefile. If it begins with a digit,
6026 GDB will attempt to attach it as a process, and if no such process
6027 is found, will then attempt to open it as a corefile.
6028
6029 * Changes in ARM configurations.
6030
6031 Multi-arch support is enabled for all ARM configurations. The ARM/NetBSD
6032 configuration is fully multi-arch.
6033
6034 * New native configurations
6035
6036 ARM NetBSD arm*-*-netbsd*
6037 x86 OpenBSD i[3456]86-*-openbsd*
6038 AMD x86-64 running GNU/Linux x86_64-*-linux-*
6039 Sparc64 running FreeBSD sparc64-*-freebsd*
6040
6041 * New targets
6042
6043 Sanyo XStormy16 xstormy16-elf
6044
6045 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
6046
6047 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
6048 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
6049 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
6050 permanently REMOVED.
6051
6052 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi, udi29k
6053 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
6054 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
6055 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
6056 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
6057
6058 testsuite/gdb.hp/gdb.threads-hp/ directory
6059
6060 * REMOVED configurations and files
6061
6062 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
6063 WDC 65816 w65-*-*
6064 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
6065 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
6066 PowerPC Netware powerpc-*-netware*
6067 Harris/CXUX m88k m88*-harris-cxux*
6068 Most ns32k hosts and targets ns32k-*-mach3* ns32k-umax-*
6069 ns32k-utek-sysv* ns32k-utek-*
6070 SunOS 4.0.Xi on i386 i[3456]86-*-sunos*
6071 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1 a29k-nyu-sym1 a29k-*-kern*
6072 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x m68*-sony-sysv news
6073 ISI Optimum V (3.05) under 4.3bsd. m68*-isi-*
6074 Apple Macintosh (MPW) host and target N/A host, powerpc-*-macos*
6075
6076 * Changes to command line processing
6077
6078 The new `--args' feature can be used to specify command-line arguments
6079 for the inferior from gdb's command line.
6080
6081 * Changes to key bindings
6082
6083 There is a new `operate-and-get-next' function bound to `C-o'.
6084
6085 *** Changes in GDB 5.1.1
6086
6087 Fix compile problem on DJGPP.
6088
6089 Fix a problem with floating-point registers on the i386 being
6090 corrupted.
6091
6092 Fix to stop GDB crashing on .debug_str debug info.
6093
6094 Numerous documentation fixes.
6095
6096 Numerous testsuite fixes.
6097
6098 *** Changes in GDB 5.1:
6099
6100 * New native configurations
6101
6102 Alpha FreeBSD alpha*-*-freebsd*
6103 x86 FreeBSD 3.x and 4.x i[3456]86*-freebsd[34]*
6104 MIPS GNU/Linux mips*-*-linux*
6105 MIPS SGI Irix 6.x mips*-sgi-irix6*
6106 ia64 AIX ia64-*-aix*
6107 s390 and s390x GNU/Linux {s390,s390x}-*-linux*
6108
6109 * New targets
6110
6111 Motorola 68HC11 and 68HC12 m68hc11-elf
6112 CRIS cris-axis
6113 UltraSparc running GNU/Linux sparc64-*-linux*
6114
6115 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
6116
6117 x86 FreeBSD before 2.2 i[3456]86*-freebsd{1,2.[01]}*,
6118 Harris/CXUX m88k m88*-harris-cxux*
6119 Most ns32k hosts and targets ns32k-*-mach3* ns32k-umax-*
6120 ns32k-utek-sysv* ns32k-utek-*
6121 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
6122 WDC 65816 w65-*-*
6123 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1 a29k-nyu-sym1 a29k-*-kern*
6124 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
6125 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
6126 PowerPC Netware powerpc-*-netware*
6127 SunOS 4.0.Xi on i386 i[3456]86-*-sunos*
6128 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x m68*-sony-sysv news
6129 ISI Optimum V (3.05) under 4.3bsd. m68*-isi-*
6130 Apple Macintosh (MPW) host N/A
6131
6132 stuff.c (Program to stuff files into a specially prepared space in kdb)
6133 kdb-start.c (Main loop for the standalone kernel debugger)
6134
6135 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
6136 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
6137 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
6138 permanently REMOVED.
6139
6140 * REMOVED configurations and files
6141
6142 Altos 3068 m68*-altos-*
6143 Convex c1-*-*, c2-*-*
6144 Pyramid pyramid-*-*
6145 ARM RISCix arm-*-* (as host)
6146 Tahoe tahoe-*-*
6147 ser-ocd.c *-*-*
6148
6149 * GDB has been converted to ISO C.
6150
6151 GDB's source code has been converted to ISO C. In particular, the
6152 sources are fully protoized, and rely on standard headers being
6153 present.
6154
6155 * Other news:
6156
6157 * "info symbol" works on platforms which use COFF, ECOFF, XCOFF, and NLM.
6158
6159 * The MI enabled by default.
6160
6161 The new machine oriented interface (MI) introduced in GDB 5.0 has been
6162 revised and enabled by default. Packages which use GDB as a debugging
6163 engine behind a UI or another front end are encouraged to switch to
6164 using the GDB/MI interface, instead of the old annotations interface
6165 which is now deprecated.
6166
6167 * Support for debugging Pascal programs.
6168
6169 GDB now includes support for debugging Pascal programs. The following
6170 main features are supported:
6171
6172 - Pascal-specific data types such as sets;
6173
6174 - automatic recognition of Pascal sources based on file-name
6175 extension;
6176
6177 - Pascal-style display of data types, variables, and functions;
6178
6179 - a Pascal expression parser.
6180
6181 However, some important features are not yet supported.
6182
6183 - Pascal string operations are not supported at all;
6184
6185 - there are some problems with boolean types;
6186
6187 - Pascal type hexadecimal constants are not supported
6188 because they conflict with the internal variables format;
6189
6190 - support for Pascal objects and classes is not full yet;
6191
6192 - unlike Pascal, GDB is case-sensitive for symbol names.
6193
6194 * Changes in completion.
6195
6196 Commands such as `shell', `run' and `set args', which pass arguments
6197 to inferior programs, now complete on file names, similar to what
6198 users expect at the shell prompt.
6199
6200 Commands which accept locations, such as `disassemble', `print',
6201 `breakpoint', `until', etc. now complete on filenames as well as
6202 program symbols. Thus, if you type "break foob TAB", and the source
6203 files linked into the programs include `foobar.c', that file name will
6204 be one of the candidates for completion. However, file names are not
6205 considered for completion after you typed a colon that delimits a file
6206 name from a name of a function in that file, as in "break foo.c:bar".
6207
6208 `set demangle-style' completes on available demangling styles.
6209
6210 * New platform-independent commands:
6211
6212 It is now possible to define a post-hook for a command as well as a
6213 hook that runs before the command. For more details, see the
6214 documentation of `hookpost' in the GDB manual.
6215
6216 * Changes in GNU/Linux native debugging.
6217
6218 Support for debugging multi-threaded programs has been completely
6219 revised for all platforms except m68k and sparc. You can now debug as
6220 many threads as your system allows you to have.
6221
6222 Attach/detach is supported for multi-threaded programs.
6223
6224 Support for SSE registers was added for x86. This doesn't work for
6225 multi-threaded programs though.
6226
6227 * Changes in MIPS configurations.
6228
6229 Multi-arch support is enabled for all MIPS configurations.
6230
6231 GDB can now be built as native debugger on SGI Irix 6.x systems for
6232 debugging n32 executables. (Debugging 64-bit executables is not yet
6233 supported.)
6234
6235 * Unified support for hardware watchpoints in all x86 configurations.
6236
6237 Most (if not all) native x86 configurations support hardware-assisted
6238 breakpoints and watchpoints in a unified manner. This support
6239 implements debug register sharing between watchpoints, which allows to
6240 put a virtually infinite number of watchpoints on the same address,
6241 and also supports watching regions up to 16 bytes with several debug
6242 registers.
6243
6244 The new maintenance command `maintenance show-debug-regs' toggles
6245 debugging print-outs in functions that insert, remove, and test
6246 watchpoints and hardware breakpoints.
6247
6248 * Changes in the DJGPP native configuration.
6249
6250 New command ``info dos sysinfo'' displays assorted information about
6251 the CPU, OS, memory, and DPMI server.
6252
6253 New commands ``info dos gdt'', ``info dos ldt'', and ``info dos idt''
6254 display information about segment descriptors stored in GDT, LDT, and
6255 IDT.
6256
6257 New commands ``info dos pde'' and ``info dos pte'' display entries
6258 from Page Directory and Page Tables (for now works with CWSDPMI only).
6259 New command ``info dos address-pte'' displays the Page Table entry for
6260 a given linear address.
6261
6262 GDB can now pass command lines longer than 126 characters to the
6263 program being debugged (requires an update to the libdbg.a library
6264 which is part of the DJGPP development kit).
6265
6266 DWARF2 debug info is now supported.
6267
6268 It is now possible to `step' and `next' through calls to `longjmp'.
6269
6270 * Changes in documentation.
6271
6272 All GDB documentation was converted to GFDL, the GNU Free
6273 Documentation License.
6274
6275 Tracepoints-related commands are now fully documented in the GDB
6276 manual.
6277
6278 TUI, the Text-mode User Interface, is now documented in the manual.
6279
6280 Tracepoints-related commands are now fully documented in the GDB
6281 manual.
6282
6283 The "GDB Internals" manual now has an index. It also includes
6284 documentation of `ui_out' functions, GDB coding standards, x86
6285 hardware watchpoints, and memory region attributes.
6286
6287 * GDB's version number moved to ``version.in''
6288
6289 The Makefile variable VERSION has been replaced by the file
6290 ``version.in''. People creating GDB distributions should update the
6291 contents of this file.
6292
6293 * gdba.el deleted
6294
6295 GUD support is now a standard part of the EMACS distribution.
6296
6297 *** Changes in GDB 5.0:
6298
6299 * Improved support for debugging FP programs on x86 targets
6300
6301 Unified and much-improved support for debugging floating-point
6302 programs on all x86 targets. In particular, ``info float'' now
6303 displays the FP registers in the same format on all x86 targets, with
6304 greater level of detail.
6305
6306 * Improvements and bugfixes in hardware-assisted watchpoints
6307
6308 It is now possible to watch array elements, struct members, and
6309 bitfields with hardware-assisted watchpoints. Data-read watchpoints
6310 on x86 targets no longer erroneously trigger when the address is
6311 written.
6312
6313 * Improvements in the native DJGPP version of GDB
6314
6315 The distribution now includes all the scripts and auxiliary files
6316 necessary to build the native DJGPP version on MS-DOS/MS-Windows
6317 machines ``out of the box''.
6318
6319 The DJGPP version can now debug programs that use signals. It is
6320 possible to catch signals that happened in the debuggee, deliver
6321 signals to it, interrupt it with Ctrl-C, etc. (Previously, a signal
6322 would kill the program being debugged.) Programs that hook hardware
6323 interrupts (keyboard, timer, etc.) can also be debugged.
6324
6325 It is now possible to debug DJGPP programs that redirect their
6326 standard handles or switch them to raw (as opposed to cooked) mode, or
6327 even close them. The command ``run < foo > bar'' works as expected,
6328 and ``info terminal'' reports useful information about the debuggee's
6329 terminal, including raw/cooked mode, redirection, etc.
6330
6331 The DJGPP version now uses termios functions for console I/O, which
6332 enables debugging graphics programs. Interrupting GDB with Ctrl-C
6333 also works.
6334
6335 DOS-style file names with drive letters are now fully supported by
6336 GDB.
6337
6338 It is now possible to debug DJGPP programs that switch their working
6339 directory. It is also possible to rerun the debuggee any number of
6340 times without restarting GDB; thus, you can use the same setup,
6341 breakpoints, etc. for many debugging sessions.
6342
6343 * New native configurations
6344
6345 ARM GNU/Linux arm*-*-linux*
6346 PowerPC GNU/Linux powerpc-*-linux*
6347
6348 * New targets
6349
6350 Motorola MCore mcore-*-*
6351 x86 VxWorks i[3456]86-*-vxworks*
6352 PowerPC VxWorks powerpc-*-vxworks*
6353 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
6354
6355 * OBSOLETE configurations
6356
6357 Altos 3068 m68*-altos-*
6358 Convex c1-*-*, c2-*-*
6359 Pyramid pyramid-*-*
6360 ARM RISCix arm-*-* (as host)
6361 Tahoe tahoe-*-*
6362
6363 Configurations that have been declared obsolete will be commented out,
6364 but the code will be left in place. If there is no activity to revive
6365 these configurations before the next release of GDB, the sources will
6366 be permanently REMOVED.
6367
6368 * Gould support removed
6369
6370 Support for the Gould PowerNode and NP1 has been removed.
6371
6372 * New features for SVR4
6373
6374 On SVR4 native platforms (such as Solaris), if you attach to a process
6375 without first loading a symbol file, GDB will now attempt to locate and
6376 load symbols from the running process's executable file.
6377
6378 * Many C++ enhancements
6379
6380 C++ support has been greatly improved. Overload resolution now works properly
6381 in almost all cases. RTTI support is on the way.
6382
6383 * Remote targets can connect to a sub-program
6384
6385 A popen(3) style serial-device has been added. This device starts a
6386 sub-process (such as a stand-alone simulator) and then communicates
6387 with that. The sub-program to run is specified using the syntax
6388 ``|<program> <args>'' vis:
6389
6390 (gdb) set remotedebug 1
6391 (gdb) target extended-remote |mn10300-elf-sim program-args
6392
6393 * MIPS 64 remote protocol
6394
6395 A long standing bug in the mips64 remote protocol where by GDB
6396 expected certain 32 bit registers (ex SR) to be transfered as 32
6397 instead of 64 bits has been fixed.
6398
6399 The command ``set remote-mips64-transfers-32bit-regs on'' has been
6400 added to provide backward compatibility with older versions of GDB.
6401
6402 * ``set remotebinarydownload'' replaced by ``set remote X-packet''
6403
6404 The command ``set remotebinarydownload'' command has been replaced by
6405 ``set remote X-packet''. Other commands in ``set remote'' family
6406 include ``set remote P-packet''.
6407
6408 * Breakpoint commands accept ranges.
6409
6410 The breakpoint commands ``enable'', ``disable'', and ``delete'' now
6411 accept a range of breakpoints, e.g. ``5-7''. The tracepoint command
6412 ``tracepoint passcount'' also accepts a range of tracepoints.
6413
6414 * ``apropos'' command added.
6415
6416 The ``apropos'' command searches through command names and
6417 documentation strings, printing out matches, making it much easier to
6418 try to find a command that does what you are looking for.
6419
6420 * New MI interface
6421
6422 A new machine oriented interface (MI) has been added to GDB. This
6423 interface is designed for debug environments running GDB as a separate
6424 process. This is part of the long term libGDB project. See the
6425 "GDB/MI" chapter of the GDB manual for further information. It can be
6426 enabled by configuring with:
6427
6428 .../configure --enable-gdbmi
6429
6430 *** Changes in GDB-4.18:
6431
6432 * New native configurations
6433
6434 HP-UX 10.20 hppa*-*-hpux10.20
6435 HP-UX 11.x hppa*-*-hpux11.0*
6436 M68K GNU/Linux m68*-*-linux*
6437
6438 * New targets
6439
6440 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
6441 Intel StrongARM strongarm-*-*
6442 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
6443
6444 * OBSOLETE configurations
6445
6446 Gould PowerNode, NP1 np1-*-*, pn-*-*
6447
6448 Configurations that have been declared obsolete will be commented out,
6449 but the code will be left in place. If there is no activity to revive
6450 these configurations before the next release of GDB, the sources will
6451 be permanently REMOVED.
6452
6453 * ANSI/ISO C
6454
6455 As a compatibility experiment, GDB's source files buildsym.h and
6456 buildsym.c have been converted to pure standard C, no longer
6457 containing any K&R compatibility code. We believe that all systems in
6458 use today either come with a standard C compiler, or have a GCC port
6459 available. If this is not true, please report the affected
6460 configuration to bug-gdb@gnu.org immediately. See the README file for
6461 information about getting a standard C compiler if you don't have one
6462 already.
6463
6464 * Readline 2.2
6465
6466 GDB now uses readline 2.2.
6467
6468 * set extension-language
6469
6470 You can now control the mapping between filename extensions and source
6471 languages by using the `set extension-language' command. For instance,
6472 you can ask GDB to treat .c files as C++ by saying
6473 set extension-language .c c++
6474 The command `info extensions' lists all of the recognized extensions
6475 and their associated languages.
6476
6477 * Setting processor type for PowerPC and RS/6000
6478
6479 When GDB is configured for a powerpc*-*-* or an rs6000*-*-* target,
6480 you can use the `set processor' command to specify what variant of the
6481 PowerPC family you are debugging. The command
6482
6483 set processor NAME
6484
6485 sets the PowerPC/RS6000 variant to NAME. GDB knows about the
6486 following PowerPC and RS6000 variants:
6487
6488 ppc-uisa PowerPC UISA - a PPC processor as viewed by user-level code
6489 rs6000 IBM RS6000 ("POWER") architecture, user-level view
6490 403 IBM PowerPC 403
6491 403GC IBM PowerPC 403GC
6492 505 Motorola PowerPC 505
6493 860 Motorola PowerPC 860 or 850
6494 601 Motorola PowerPC 601
6495 602 Motorola PowerPC 602
6496 603 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 603 or 603e
6497 604 Motorola PowerPC 604 or 604e
6498 750 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 750 or 750
6499
6500 At the moment, this command just tells GDB what to name the
6501 special-purpose processor registers. Since almost all the affected
6502 registers are inaccessible to user-level programs, this command is
6503 only useful for remote debugging in its present form.
6504
6505 * HP-UX support
6506
6507 Thanks to a major code donation from Hewlett-Packard, GDB now has much
6508 more extensive support for HP-UX. Added features include shared
6509 library support, kernel threads and hardware watchpoints for 11.00,
6510 support for HP's ANSI C and C++ compilers, and a compatibility mode
6511 for xdb and dbx commands.
6512
6513 * Catchpoints
6514
6515 HP's donation includes the new concept of catchpoints, which is a
6516 generalization of the old catch command. On HP-UX, it is now possible
6517 to catch exec, fork, and vfork, as well as library loading.
6518
6519 This means that the existing catch command has changed; its first
6520 argument now specifies the type of catch to be set up. See the
6521 output of "help catch" for a list of catchpoint types.
6522
6523 * Debugging across forks
6524
6525 On HP-UX, you can choose which process to debug when a fork() happens
6526 in the inferior.
6527
6528 * TUI
6529
6530 HP has donated a curses-based terminal user interface (TUI). To get
6531 it, build with --enable-tui. Although this can be enabled for any
6532 configuration, at present it only works for native HP debugging.
6533
6534 * GDB remote protocol additions
6535
6536 A new protocol packet 'X' that writes binary data is now available.
6537 Default behavior is to try 'X', then drop back to 'M' if the stub
6538 fails to respond. The settable variable `remotebinarydownload'
6539 allows explicit control over the use of 'X'.
6540
6541 For 64-bit targets, the memory packets ('M' and 'm') can now contain a
6542 full 64-bit address. The command
6543
6544 set remoteaddresssize 32
6545
6546 can be used to revert to the old behaviour. For existing remote stubs
6547 the change should not be noticed, as the additional address information
6548 will be discarded.
6549
6550 In order to assist in debugging stubs, you may use the maintenance
6551 command `packet' to send any text string to the stub. For instance,
6552
6553 maint packet heythere
6554
6555 sends the packet "$heythere#<checksum>". Note that it is very easy to
6556 disrupt a debugging session by sending the wrong packet at the wrong
6557 time.
6558
6559 The compare-sections command allows you to compare section data on the
6560 target to what is in the executable file without uploading or
6561 downloading, by comparing CRC checksums.
6562
6563 * Tracing can collect general expressions
6564
6565 You may now collect general expressions at tracepoints. This requires
6566 further additions to the target-side stub; see tracepoint.c and
6567 doc/agentexpr.texi for further details.
6568
6569 * mask-address variable for Mips
6570
6571 For Mips targets, you may control the zeroing of the upper 32 bits of
6572 a 64-bit address by entering `set mask-address on'. This is mainly
6573 of interest to users of embedded R4xxx and R5xxx processors.
6574
6575 * Higher serial baud rates
6576
6577 GDB's serial code now allows you to specify baud rates 57600, 115200,
6578 230400, and 460800 baud. (Note that your host system may not be able
6579 to achieve all of these rates.)
6580
6581 * i960 simulator
6582
6583 The i960 configuration now includes an initial implementation of a
6584 builtin simulator, contributed by Jim Wilson.
6585
6586
6587 *** Changes in GDB-4.17:
6588
6589 * New native configurations
6590
6591 Alpha GNU/Linux alpha*-*-linux*
6592 Unixware 2.x i[3456]86-unixware2*
6593 Irix 6.x mips*-sgi-irix6*
6594 PowerPC GNU/Linux powerpc-*-linux*
6595 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
6596 Sparc GNU/Linux sparc-*-linux*
6597 Motorola sysV68 R3V7.1 m68k-motorola-sysv
6598
6599 * New targets
6600
6601 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
6602 Hitachi H8/300S h8300*-*-*
6603 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
6604 Matsushita MN10300 w/simulator mn10300-*-*
6605 MIPS NEC VR4100 mips64*vr4100*{,el}-*-elf*
6606 MIPS NEC VR5000 mips64*vr5000*{,el}-*-elf*
6607 MIPS Toshiba TX39 mips64*tx39*{,el}-*-elf*
6608 Mitsubishi D10V w/simulator d10v-*-*
6609 Mitsubishi M32R/D w/simulator m32r-*-elf*
6610 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
6611 NEC V850 w/simulator v850-*-*
6612
6613 * New debugging protocols
6614
6615 ARM with RDI protocol arm*-*-*
6616 M68K with dBUG monitor m68*-*-{aout,coff,elf}
6617 DDB and LSI variants of PMON protocol mips*-*-*
6618 PowerPC with DINK32 monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
6619 PowerPC with SDS protocol powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
6620 Macraigor OCD (Wiggler) devices powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
6621
6622 * DWARF 2
6623
6624 All configurations can now understand and use the DWARF 2 debugging
6625 format. The choice is automatic, if the symbol file contains DWARF 2
6626 information.
6627
6628 * Java frontend
6629
6630 GDB now includes basic Java language support. This support is
6631 only useful with Java compilers that produce native machine code.
6632
6633 * solib-absolute-prefix and solib-search-path
6634
6635 For SunOS and SVR4 shared libraries, you may now set the prefix for
6636 loading absolute shared library symbol files, and the search path for
6637 locating non-absolute shared library symbol files.
6638
6639 * Live range splitting
6640
6641 GDB can now effectively debug code for which GCC has performed live
6642 range splitting as part of its optimization. See gdb/doc/LRS for
6643 more details on the expected format of the stabs information.
6644
6645 * Hurd support
6646
6647 GDB's support for the GNU Hurd, including thread debugging, has been
6648 updated to work with current versions of the Hurd.
6649
6650 * ARM Thumb support
6651
6652 GDB's ARM target configuration now handles the ARM7T (Thumb) 16-bit
6653 instruction set. ARM GDB automatically detects when Thumb
6654 instructions are in use, and adjusts disassembly and backtracing
6655 accordingly.
6656
6657 * MIPS16 support
6658
6659 GDB's MIPS target configurations now handle the MIP16 16-bit
6660 instruction set.
6661
6662 * Overlay support
6663
6664 GDB now includes support for overlays; if an executable has been
6665 linked such that multiple sections are based at the same address, GDB
6666 will decide which section to use for symbolic info. You can choose to
6667 control the decision manually, using overlay commands, or implement
6668 additional target-side support and use "overlay load-target" to bring
6669 in the overlay mapping. Do "help overlay" for more detail.
6670
6671 * info symbol
6672
6673 The command "info symbol <address>" displays information about
6674 the symbol at the specified address.
6675
6676 * Trace support
6677
6678 The standard remote protocol now includes an extension that allows
6679 asynchronous collection and display of trace data. This requires
6680 extensive support in the target-side debugging stub. Tracing mode
6681 includes a new interaction mode in GDB and new commands: see the
6682 file tracepoint.c for more details.
6683
6684 * MIPS simulator
6685
6686 Configurations for embedded MIPS now include a simulator contributed
6687 by Cygnus Solutions. The simulator supports the instruction sets
6688 of most MIPS variants.
6689
6690 * Sparc simulator
6691
6692 Sparc configurations may now include the ERC32 simulator contributed
6693 by the European Space Agency. The simulator is not built into
6694 Sparc targets by default; configure with --enable-sim to include it.
6695
6696 * set architecture
6697
6698 For target configurations that may include multiple variants of a
6699 basic architecture (such as MIPS and SH), you may now set the
6700 architecture explicitly. "set arch" sets, "info arch" lists
6701 the possible architectures.
6702
6703 *** Changes in GDB-4.16:
6704
6705 * New native configurations
6706
6707 Windows 95, x86 Windows NT i[345]86-*-cygwin32
6708 M68K NetBSD m68k-*-netbsd*
6709 PowerPC AIX 4.x powerpc-*-aix*
6710 PowerPC MacOS powerpc-*-macos*
6711 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
6712 RS/6000 AIX 4.x rs6000-*-aix4*
6713
6714 * New targets
6715
6716 ARM with RDP protocol arm-*-*
6717 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
6718 MIPS VxWorks mips*-*-vxworks*
6719 MIPS VR4300 with PMON mips64*vr4300{,el}-*-elf*
6720 PowerPC with PPCBUG monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi*
6721 Hitachi SH3 sh-*-*
6722 Matra Sparclet sparclet-*-*
6723
6724 * PowerPC simulator
6725
6726 The powerpc-eabi configuration now includes the PSIM simulator,
6727 contributed by Andrew Cagney, with assistance from Mike Meissner.
6728 PSIM is a very elaborate model of the PowerPC, including not only
6729 basic instruction set execution, but also details of execution unit
6730 performance and I/O hardware. See sim/ppc/README for more details.
6731
6732 * Solaris 2.5
6733
6734 GDB now works with Solaris 2.5.
6735
6736 * Windows 95/NT native
6737
6738 GDB will now work as a native debugger on Windows 95 and Windows NT.
6739 To build it from source, you must use the "gnu-win32" environment,
6740 which uses a DLL to emulate enough of Unix to run the GNU tools.
6741 Further information, binaries, and sources are available at
6742 ftp.cygnus.com, under pub/gnu-win32.
6743
6744 * dont-repeat command
6745
6746 If a user-defined command includes the command `dont-repeat', then the
6747 command will not be repeated if the user just types return. This is
6748 useful if the command is time-consuming to run, so that accidental
6749 extra keystrokes don't run the same command many times.
6750
6751 * Send break instead of ^C
6752
6753 The standard remote protocol now includes an option to send a break
6754 rather than a ^C to the target in order to interrupt it. By default,
6755 GDB will send ^C; to send a break, set the variable `remotebreak' to 1.
6756
6757 * Remote protocol timeout
6758
6759 The standard remote protocol includes a new variable `remotetimeout'
6760 that allows you to set the number of seconds before GDB gives up trying
6761 to read from the target. The default value is 2.
6762
6763 * Automatic tracking of dynamic object loading (HPUX and Solaris only)
6764
6765 By default GDB will automatically keep track of objects as they are
6766 loaded and unloaded by the dynamic linker. By using the command `set
6767 stop-on-solib-events 1' you can arrange for GDB to stop the inferior
6768 when shared library events occur, thus allowing you to set breakpoints
6769 in shared libraries which are explicitly loaded by the inferior.
6770
6771 Note this feature does not work on hpux8. On hpux9 you must link
6772 /usr/lib/end.o into your program. This feature should work
6773 automatically on hpux10.
6774
6775 * Irix 5.x hardware watchpoint support
6776
6777 Irix 5 configurations now support the use of hardware watchpoints.
6778
6779 * Mips protocol "SYN garbage limit"
6780
6781 When debugging a Mips target using the `target mips' protocol, you
6782 may set the number of characters that GDB will ignore by setting
6783 the `syn-garbage-limit'. A value of -1 means that GDB will ignore
6784 every character. The default value is 1050.
6785
6786 * Recording and replaying remote debug sessions
6787
6788 If you set `remotelogfile' to the name of a file, gdb will write to it
6789 a recording of a remote debug session. This recording may then be
6790 replayed back to gdb using "gdbreplay". See gdbserver/README for
6791 details. This is useful when you have a problem with GDB while doing
6792 remote debugging; you can make a recording of the session and send it
6793 to someone else, who can then recreate the problem.
6794
6795 * Speedups for remote debugging
6796
6797 GDB includes speedups for downloading and stepping MIPS systems using
6798 the IDT monitor, fast downloads to the Hitachi SH E7000 emulator,
6799 and more efficient S-record downloading.
6800
6801 * Memory use reductions and statistics collection
6802
6803 GDB now uses less memory and reports statistics about memory usage.
6804 Try the `maint print statistics' command, for example.
6805
6806 *** Changes in GDB-4.15:
6807
6808 * Psymtabs for XCOFF
6809
6810 The symbol reader for AIX GDB now uses partial symbol tables. This
6811 can greatly improve startup time, especially for large executables.
6812
6813 * Remote targets use caching
6814
6815 Remote targets now use a data cache to speed up communication with the
6816 remote side. The data cache could lead to incorrect results because
6817 it doesn't know about volatile variables, thus making it impossible to
6818 debug targets which use memory mapped I/O devices. `set remotecache
6819 off' turns the data cache off.
6820
6821 * Remote targets may have threads
6822
6823 The standard remote protocol now includes support for multiple threads
6824 in the target system, using new protocol commands 'H' and 'T'. See
6825 gdb/remote.c for details.
6826
6827 * NetROM support
6828
6829 If GDB is configured with `--enable-netrom', then it will include
6830 support for the NetROM ROM emulator from XLNT Designs. The NetROM
6831 acts as though it is a bank of ROM on the target board, but you can
6832 write into it over the network. GDB's support consists only of
6833 support for fast loading into the emulated ROM; to debug, you must use
6834 another protocol, such as standard remote protocol. The usual
6835 sequence is something like
6836
6837 target nrom <netrom-hostname>
6838 load <prog>
6839 target remote <netrom-hostname>:1235
6840
6841 * Macintosh host
6842
6843 GDB now includes support for the Apple Macintosh, as a host only. It
6844 may be run as either an MPW tool or as a standalone application, and
6845 it can debug through the serial port. All the usual GDB commands are
6846 available, but to the target command, you must supply "serial" as the
6847 device type instead of "/dev/ttyXX". See mpw-README in the main
6848 directory for more information on how to build. The MPW configuration
6849 scripts */mpw-config.in support only a few targets, and only the
6850 mips-idt-ecoff target has been tested.
6851
6852 * Autoconf
6853
6854 GDB configuration now uses autoconf. This is not user-visible,
6855 but does simplify configuration and building.
6856
6857 * hpux10
6858
6859 GDB now supports hpux10.
6860
6861 *** Changes in GDB-4.14:
6862
6863 * New native configurations
6864
6865 x86 FreeBSD i[345]86-*-freebsd
6866 x86 NetBSD i[345]86-*-netbsd
6867 NS32k NetBSD ns32k-*-netbsd
6868 Sparc NetBSD sparc-*-netbsd
6869
6870 * New targets
6871
6872 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
6873 HP PA PRO embedded (WinBond W89K & Oki OP50N) hppa*-*-pro*
6874 CPU32 EST-300 emulator m68*-*-est*
6875 PowerPC ELF powerpc-*-elf
6876 WDC 65816 w65-*-*
6877
6878 * Alpha OSF/1 support for procfs
6879
6880 GDB now supports procfs under OSF/1-2.x and higher, which makes it
6881 possible to attach to running processes. As the mounting of the /proc
6882 filesystem is optional on the Alpha, GDB automatically determines
6883 the availability of /proc during startup. This can lead to problems
6884 if /proc is unmounted after GDB has been started.
6885
6886 * Arguments to user-defined commands
6887
6888 User commands may accept up to 10 arguments separated by whitespace.
6889 Arguments are accessed within the user command via $arg0..$arg9. A
6890 trivial example:
6891 define adder
6892 print $arg0 + $arg1 + $arg2
6893
6894 To execute the command use:
6895 adder 1 2 3
6896
6897 Defines the command "adder" which prints the sum of its three arguments.
6898 Note the arguments are text substitutions, so they may reference variables,
6899 use complex expressions, or even perform inferior function calls.
6900
6901 * New `if' and `while' commands
6902
6903 This makes it possible to write more sophisticated user-defined
6904 commands. Both commands take a single argument, which is the
6905 expression to evaluate, and must be followed by the commands to
6906 execute, one per line, if the expression is nonzero, the list being
6907 terminated by the word `end'. The `if' command list may include an
6908 `else' word, which causes the following commands to be executed only
6909 if the expression is zero.
6910
6911 * Fortran source language mode
6912
6913 GDB now includes partial support for Fortran 77. It will recognize
6914 Fortran programs and can evaluate a subset of Fortran expressions, but
6915 variables and functions may not be handled correctly. GDB will work
6916 with G77, but does not yet know much about symbols emitted by other
6917 Fortran compilers.
6918
6919 * Better HPUX support
6920
6921 Most debugging facilities now work on dynamic executables for HPPAs
6922 running hpux9 or later. You can attach to running dynamically linked
6923 processes, but by default the dynamic libraries will be read-only, so
6924 for instance you won't be able to put breakpoints in them. To change
6925 that behavior do the following before running the program:
6926
6927 adb -w a.out
6928 __dld_flags?W 0x5
6929 control-d
6930
6931 This will cause the libraries to be mapped private and read-write.
6932 To revert to the normal behavior, do this:
6933
6934 adb -w a.out
6935 __dld_flags?W 0x4
6936 control-d
6937
6938 You cannot set breakpoints or examine data in the library until after
6939 the library is loaded if the function/data symbols do not have
6940 external linkage.
6941
6942 GDB can now also read debug symbols produced by the HP C compiler on
6943 HPPAs (sorry, no C++, Fortran or 68k support).
6944
6945 * Target byte order now dynamically selectable
6946
6947 You can choose which byte order to use with a target system, via the
6948 commands "set endian big" and "set endian little", and you can see the
6949 current setting by using "show endian". You can also give the command
6950 "set endian auto", in which case GDB will use the byte order
6951 associated with the executable. Currently, only embedded MIPS
6952 configurations support dynamic selection of target byte order.
6953
6954 * New DOS host serial code
6955
6956 This version uses DPMI interrupts to handle buffered I/O, so you
6957 no longer need to run asynctsr when debugging boards connected to
6958 a PC's serial port.
6959
6960 *** Changes in GDB-4.13:
6961
6962 * New "complete" command
6963
6964 This lists all the possible completions for the rest of the line, if it
6965 were to be given as a command itself. This is intended for use by emacs.
6966
6967 * Trailing space optional in prompt
6968
6969 "set prompt" no longer adds a space for you after the prompt you set. This
6970 allows you to set a prompt which ends in a space or one that does not.
6971
6972 * Breakpoint hit counts
6973
6974 "info break" now displays a count of the number of times the breakpoint
6975 has been hit. This is especially useful in conjunction with "ignore"; you
6976 can ignore a large number of breakpoint hits, look at the breakpoint info
6977 to see how many times the breakpoint was hit, then run again, ignoring one
6978 less than that number, and this will get you quickly to the last hit of
6979 that breakpoint.
6980
6981 * Ability to stop printing at NULL character
6982
6983 "set print null-stop" will cause GDB to stop printing the characters of
6984 an array when the first NULL is encountered. This is useful when large
6985 arrays actually contain only short strings.
6986
6987 * Shared library breakpoints
6988
6989 In SunOS 4.x, SVR4, and Alpha OSF/1 configurations, you can now set
6990 breakpoints in shared libraries before the executable is run.
6991
6992 * Hardware watchpoints
6993
6994 There is a new hardware breakpoint for the watch command for sparclite
6995 targets. See gdb/sparclite/hw_breakpoint.note.
6996
6997 Hardware watchpoints are also now supported under GNU/Linux.
6998
6999 * Annotations
7000
7001 Annotations have been added. These are for use with graphical interfaces,
7002 and are still experimental. Currently only gdba.el uses these.
7003
7004 * Improved Irix 5 support
7005
7006 GDB now works properly with Irix 5.2.
7007
7008 * Improved HPPA support
7009
7010 GDB now works properly with the latest GCC and GAS.
7011
7012 * New native configurations
7013
7014 Sequent PTX4 i[34]86-sequent-ptx4
7015 HPPA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
7016 Atari TT running SVR4 m68*-*-sysv4*
7017 RS/6000 LynxOS rs6000-*-lynxos*
7018
7019 * New targets
7020
7021 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
7022 MIPS R4000 mips64*{,el}-*-{ecoff,elf}
7023 Sparc64 sparc64-*-*
7024
7025 * Hitachi SH7000 and E7000-PC ICE support
7026
7027 There is now support for communicating with the Hitachi E7000-PC ICE.
7028 This is available automatically when GDB is configured for the SH.
7029
7030 * Fixes
7031
7032 As usual, a variety of small fixes and improvements, both generic
7033 and configuration-specific. See the ChangeLog for more detail.
7034
7035 *** Changes in GDB-4.12:
7036
7037 * Irix 5 is now supported
7038
7039 * HPPA support
7040
7041 GDB-4.12 on the HPPA has a number of changes which make it unable
7042 to debug the output from the currently released versions of GCC and
7043 GAS (GCC 2.5.8 and GAS-2.2 or PAGAS-1.36). Until the next major release
7044 of GCC and GAS, versions of these tools designed to work with GDB-4.12
7045 can be retrieved via anonymous ftp from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist.
7046
7047
7048 *** Changes in GDB-4.11:
7049
7050 * User visible changes:
7051
7052 * Remote Debugging
7053
7054 The "set remotedebug" option is now consistent between the mips remote
7055 target, remote targets using the gdb-specific protocol, UDI (AMD's
7056 debug protocol for the 29k) and the 88k bug monitor. It is now an
7057 integer specifying a debug level (normally 0 or 1, but 2 means more
7058 debugging info for the mips target).
7059
7060 * DEC Alpha native support
7061
7062 GDB now works on the DEC Alpha. GCC 2.4.5 does not produce usable
7063 debug info, but GDB works fairly well with the DEC compiler and should
7064 work with a future GCC release. See the README file for a few
7065 Alpha-specific notes.
7066
7067 * Preliminary thread implementation
7068
7069 GDB now has preliminary thread support for both SGI/Irix and LynxOS.
7070
7071 * LynxOS native and target support for 386
7072
7073 This release has been hosted on LynxOS 2.2, and also can be configured
7074 to remotely debug programs running under LynxOS (see gdb/gdbserver/README
7075 for details).
7076
7077 * Improvements in C++ mangling/demangling.
7078
7079 This release has much better g++ debugging, specifically in name
7080 mangling/demangling, virtual function calls, print virtual table,
7081 call methods, ...etc.
7082
7083 *** Changes in GDB-4.10:
7084
7085 * User visible changes:
7086
7087 Remote debugging using the GDB-specific (`target remote') protocol now
7088 supports the `load' command. This is only useful if you have some
7089 other way of getting the stub to the target system, and you can put it
7090 somewhere in memory where it won't get clobbered by the download.
7091
7092 Filename completion now works.
7093
7094 When run under emacs mode, the "info line" command now causes the
7095 arrow to point to the line specified. Also, "info line" prints
7096 addresses in symbolic form (as well as hex).
7097
7098 All vxworks based targets now support a user settable option, called
7099 vxworks-timeout. This option represents the number of seconds gdb
7100 should wait for responses to rpc's. You might want to use this if
7101 your vxworks target is, perhaps, a slow software simulator or happens
7102 to be on the far side of a thin network line.
7103
7104 * DEC alpha support
7105
7106 This release contains support for using a DEC alpha as a GDB host for
7107 cross debugging. Native alpha debugging is not supported yet.
7108
7109
7110 *** Changes in GDB-4.9:
7111
7112 * Testsuite
7113
7114 This is the first GDB release which is accompanied by a matching testsuite.
7115 The testsuite requires installation of dejagnu, which should be available
7116 via ftp from most sites that carry GNU software.
7117
7118 * C++ demangling
7119
7120 'Cfront' style demangling has had its name changed to 'ARM' style, to
7121 emphasize that it was written from the specifications in the C++ Annotated
7122 Reference Manual, not necessarily to be compatible with AT&T cfront. Despite
7123 disclaimers, it still generated too much confusion with users attempting to
7124 use gdb with AT&T cfront.
7125
7126 * Simulators
7127
7128 GDB now uses a standard remote interface to a simulator library.
7129 So far, the library contains simulators for the Zilog Z8001/2, the
7130 Hitachi H8/300, H8/500 and Super-H.
7131
7132 * New targets supported
7133
7134 H8/300 simulator h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
7135 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
7136 SH simulator sh-hitachi-hms or sh
7137 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
7138 IDT MIPS board over serial line mips-idt-ecoff
7139
7140 Cross-debugging to GO32 targets is supported. It requires a custom
7141 version of the i386-stub.c module which is integrated with the
7142 GO32 memory extender.
7143
7144 * New remote protocols
7145
7146 MIPS remote debugging protocol.
7147
7148 * New source languages supported
7149
7150 This version includes preliminary support for Chill, a Pascal like language
7151 used by telecommunications companies. Chill support is also being integrated
7152 into the GNU compiler, but we don't know when it will be publically available.
7153
7154
7155 *** Changes in GDB-4.8:
7156
7157 * HP Precision Architecture supported
7158
7159 GDB now supports HP PA-RISC machines running HPUX. A preliminary
7160 version of this support was available as a set of patches from the
7161 University of Utah. GDB does not support debugging of programs
7162 compiled with the HP compiler, because HP will not document their file
7163 format. Instead, you must use GCC (version 2.3.2 or later) and PA-GAS
7164 (as available from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist/pa-gas.u4.tar.Z).
7165
7166 Many problems in the preliminary version have been fixed.
7167
7168 * Faster and better demangling
7169
7170 We have improved template demangling and fixed numerous bugs in the GNU style
7171 demangler. It can now handle type modifiers such as `static' or `const'. Wide
7172 character types (wchar_t) are now supported. Demangling of each symbol is now
7173 only done once, and is cached when the symbol table for a file is read in.
7174 This results in a small increase in memory usage for C programs, a moderate
7175 increase in memory usage for C++ programs, and a fantastic speedup in
7176 symbol lookups.
7177
7178 `Cfront' style demangling still doesn't work with AT&T cfront. It was written
7179 from the specifications in the Annotated Reference Manual, which AT&T's
7180 compiler does not actually implement.
7181
7182 * G++ multiple inheritance compiler problem
7183
7184 In the 2.3.2 release of gcc/g++, how the compiler resolves multiple
7185 inheritance lattices was reworked to properly discover ambiguities. We
7186 recently found an example which causes this new algorithm to fail in a
7187 very subtle way, producing bad debug information for those classes.
7188 The file 'gcc.patch' (in this directory) can be applied to gcc to
7189 circumvent the problem. A future GCC release will contain a complete
7190 fix.
7191
7192 The previous G++ debug info problem (mentioned below for the gdb-4.7
7193 release) is fixed in gcc version 2.3.2.
7194
7195 * Improved configure script
7196
7197 The `configure' script will now attempt to guess your system type if
7198 you don't supply a host system type. The old scheme of supplying a
7199 host system triplet is preferable over using this. All the magic is
7200 done in the new `config.guess' script. Examine it for details.
7201
7202 We have also brought our configure script much more in line with the FSF's
7203 version. It now supports the --with-xxx options. In particular,
7204 `--with-minimal-bfd' can be used to make the GDB binary image smaller.
7205 The resulting GDB will not be able to read arbitrary object file formats --
7206 only the format ``expected'' to be used on the configured target system.
7207 We hope to make this the default in a future release.
7208
7209 * Documentation improvements
7210
7211 There's new internal documentation on how to modify GDB, and how to
7212 produce clean changes to the code. We implore people to read it
7213 before submitting changes.
7214
7215 The GDB manual uses new, sexy Texinfo conditionals, rather than arcane
7216 M4 macros. The new texinfo.tex is provided in this release. Pre-built
7217 `info' files are also provided. To build `info' files from scratch,
7218 you will need the latest `makeinfo' release, which will be available in
7219 a future texinfo-X.Y release.
7220
7221 *NOTE* The new texinfo.tex can cause old versions of TeX to hang.
7222 We're not sure exactly which versions have this problem, but it has
7223 been seen in 3.0. We highly recommend upgrading to TeX version 3.141
7224 or better. If that isn't possible, there is a patch in
7225 `texinfo/tex3patch' that will modify `texinfo/texinfo.tex' to work
7226 around this problem.
7227
7228 * New features
7229
7230 GDB now supports array constants that can be used in expressions typed in by
7231 the user. The syntax is `{element, element, ...}'. Ie: you can now type
7232 `print {1, 2, 3}', and it will build up an array in memory malloc'd in
7233 the target program.
7234
7235 The new directory `gdb/sparclite' contains a program that demonstrates
7236 how the sparc-stub.c remote stub runs on a Fujitsu SPARClite processor.
7237
7238 * New native hosts supported
7239
7240 HP/PA-RISC under HPUX using GNU tools hppa1.1-hp-hpux
7241 386 CPUs running SCO Unix 3.2v4 i386-unknown-sco3.2v4
7242
7243 * New targets supported
7244
7245 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi or udi29k
7246
7247 * New file formats supported
7248
7249 BFD now supports reading HP/PA-RISC executables (SOM file format?),
7250 HPUX core files, and SCO 3.2v2 core files.
7251
7252 * Major bug fixes
7253
7254 Attaching to processes now works again; thanks for the many bug reports.
7255
7256 We have also stomped on a bunch of core dumps caused by
7257 printf_filtered("%s") problems.
7258
7259 We eliminated a copyright problem on the rpc and ptrace header files
7260 for VxWorks, which was discovered at the last minute during the 4.7
7261 release. You should now be able to build a VxWorks GDB.
7262
7263 You can now interrupt gdb while an attached process is running. This
7264 will cause the attached process to stop, and give control back to GDB.
7265
7266 We fixed problems caused by using too many file descriptors
7267 for reading symbols from object files and libraries. This was
7268 especially a problem for programs that used many (~100) shared
7269 libraries.
7270
7271 The `step' command now only enters a subroutine if there is line number
7272 information for the subroutine. Otherwise it acts like the `next'
7273 command. Previously, `step' would enter subroutines if there was
7274 any debugging information about the routine. This avoids problems
7275 when using `cc -g1' on MIPS machines.
7276
7277 * Internal improvements
7278
7279 GDB's internal interfaces have been improved to make it easier to support
7280 debugging of multiple languages in the future.
7281
7282 GDB now uses a common structure for symbol information internally.
7283 Minimal symbols (derived from linkage symbols in object files), partial
7284 symbols (from a quick scan of debug information), and full symbols
7285 contain a common subset of information, making it easier to write
7286 shared code that handles any of them.
7287
7288 * New command line options
7289
7290 We now accept --silent as an alias for --quiet.
7291
7292 * Mmalloc licensing
7293
7294 The memory-mapped-malloc library is now licensed under the GNU Library
7295 General Public License.
7296
7297 *** Changes in GDB-4.7:
7298
7299 * Host/native/target split
7300
7301 GDB has had some major internal surgery to untangle the support for
7302 hosts and remote targets. Now, when you configure GDB for a remote
7303 target, it will no longer load in all of the support for debugging
7304 local programs on the host. When fully completed and tested, this will
7305 ensure that arbitrary host/target combinations are possible.
7306
7307 The primary conceptual shift is to separate the non-portable code in
7308 GDB into three categories. Host specific code is required any time GDB
7309 is compiled on that host, regardless of the target. Target specific
7310 code relates to the peculiarities of the target, but can be compiled on
7311 any host. Native specific code is everything else: it can only be
7312 built when the host and target are the same system. Child process
7313 handling and core file support are two common `native' examples.
7314
7315 GDB's use of /proc for controlling Unix child processes is now cleaner.
7316 It has been split out into a single module under the `target_ops' vector,
7317 plus two native-dependent functions for each system that uses /proc.
7318
7319 * New hosts supported
7320
7321 HP/Apollo 68k (under the BSD domain) m68k-apollo-bsd or apollo68bsd
7322 386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
7323 386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or i386sco
7324
7325 * New targets supported
7326
7327 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
7328 68030 and CPU32 m68030-*-*, m68332-*-*
7329
7330 * New native hosts supported
7331
7332 386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
7333 (386bsd is not well tested yet)
7334 386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or sco
7335
7336 * New file formats supported
7337
7338 BFD now supports COFF files for the Zilog Z8000 microprocessor. It
7339 supports reading of `a.out.adobe' object files, which are an a.out
7340 format extended with minimal information about multiple sections.
7341
7342 * New commands
7343
7344 `show copying' is the same as the old `info copying'.
7345 `show warranty' is the same as `info warrantee'.
7346 These were renamed for consistency. The old commands continue to work.
7347
7348 `info handle' is a new alias for `info signals'.
7349
7350 You can now define pre-command hooks, which attach arbitrary command
7351 scripts to any command. The commands in the hook will be executed
7352 prior to the user's command. You can also create a hook which will be
7353 executed whenever the program stops. See gdb.texinfo.
7354
7355 * C++ improvements
7356
7357 We now deal with Cfront style name mangling, and can even extract type
7358 info from mangled symbols. GDB can automatically figure out which
7359 symbol mangling style your C++ compiler uses.
7360
7361 Calling of methods and virtual functions has been improved as well.
7362
7363 * Major bug fixes
7364
7365 The crash that occurred when debugging Sun Ansi-C compiled binaries is
7366 fixed. This was due to mishandling of the extra N_SO stabs output
7367 by the compiler.
7368
7369 We also finally got Ultrix 4.2 running in house, and fixed core file
7370 support, with help from a dozen people on the net.
7371
7372 John M. Farrell discovered that the reason that single-stepping was so
7373 slow on all of the Mips based platforms (primarily SGI and DEC) was
7374 that we were trying to demangle and lookup a symbol used for internal
7375 purposes on every instruction that was being stepped through. Changing
7376 the name of that symbol so that it couldn't be mistaken for a C++
7377 mangled symbol sped things up a great deal.
7378
7379 Rich Pixley sped up symbol lookups in general by getting much smarter
7380 about when C++ symbol mangling is necessary. This should make symbol
7381 completion (TAB on the command line) much faster. It's not as fast as
7382 we'd like, but it's significantly faster than gdb-4.6.
7383
7384 * AMD 29k support
7385
7386 A new user controllable variable 'call_scratch_address' can
7387 specify the location of a scratch area to be used when GDB
7388 calls a function in the target. This is necessary because the
7389 usual method of putting the scratch area on the stack does not work
7390 in systems that have separate instruction and data spaces.
7391
7392 We integrated changes to support the 29k UDI (Universal Debugger
7393 Interface), but discovered at the last minute that we didn't have all
7394 of the appropriate copyright paperwork. We are working with AMD to
7395 resolve this, and hope to have it available soon.
7396
7397 * Remote interfaces
7398
7399 We have sped up the remote serial line protocol, especially for targets
7400 with lots of registers. It now supports a new `expedited status' ('T')
7401 message which can be used in place of the existing 'S' status message.
7402 This allows the remote stub to send only the registers that GDB
7403 needs to make a quick decision about single-stepping or conditional
7404 breakpoints, eliminating the need to fetch the entire register set for
7405 each instruction being stepped through.
7406
7407 The GDB remote serial protocol now implements a write-through cache for
7408 registers, only re-reading the registers if the target has run.
7409
7410 There is also a new remote serial stub for SPARC processors. You can
7411 find it in gdb-4.7/gdb/sparc-stub.c. This was written to support the
7412 Fujitsu SPARClite processor, but will run on any stand-alone SPARC
7413 processor with a serial port.
7414
7415 * Configuration
7416
7417 Configure.in files have become much easier to read and modify. A new
7418 `table driven' format makes it more obvious what configurations are
7419 supported, and what files each one uses.
7420
7421 * Library changes
7422
7423 There is a new opcodes library which will eventually contain all of the
7424 disassembly routines and opcode tables. At present, it only contains
7425 Sparc and Z8000 routines. This will allow the assembler, debugger, and
7426 disassembler (binutils/objdump) to share these routines.
7427
7428 The libiberty library is now copylefted under the GNU Library General
7429 Public License. This allows more liberal use, and was done so libg++
7430 can use it. This makes no difference to GDB, since the Library License
7431 grants all the rights from the General Public License.
7432
7433 * Documentation
7434
7435 The file gdb-4.7/gdb/doc/stabs.texinfo is a (relatively) complete
7436 reference to the stabs symbol info used by the debugger. It is (as far
7437 as we know) the only published document on this fascinating topic. We
7438 encourage you to read it, compare it to the stabs information on your
7439 system, and send improvements on the document in general (to
7440 bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu).
7441
7442 And, of course, many bugs have been fixed.
7443
7444
7445 *** Changes in GDB-4.6:
7446
7447 * Better support for C++ function names
7448
7449 GDB now accepts as input the "demangled form" of C++ overloaded function
7450 names and member function names, and can do command completion on such names
7451 (using TAB, TAB-TAB, and ESC-?). The names have to be quoted with a pair of
7452 single quotes. Examples are 'func (int, long)' and 'obj::operator==(obj&)'.
7453 Make use of command completion, it is your friend.
7454
7455 GDB also now accepts a variety of C++ mangled symbol formats. They are
7456 the GNU g++ style, the Cfront (ARM) style, and the Lucid (lcc) style.
7457 You can tell GDB which format to use by doing a 'set demangle-style {gnu,
7458 lucid, cfront, auto}'. 'gnu' is the default. Do a 'set demangle-style foo'
7459 for the list of formats.
7460
7461 * G++ symbol mangling problem
7462
7463 Recent versions of gcc have a bug in how they emit debugging information for
7464 C++ methods (when using dbx-style stabs). The file 'gcc.patch' (in this
7465 directory) can be applied to gcc to fix the problem. Alternatively, if you
7466 can't fix gcc, you can #define GCC_MANGLE_BUG when compiling gdb/symtab.c. The
7467 usual symptom is difficulty with setting breakpoints on methods. GDB complains
7468 about the method being non-existent. (We believe that version 2.2.2 of GCC has
7469 this problem.)
7470
7471 * New 'maintenance' command
7472
7473 All of the commands related to hacking GDB internals have been moved out of
7474 the main command set, and now live behind the 'maintenance' command. This
7475 can also be abbreviated as 'mt'. The following changes were made:
7476
7477 dump-me -> maintenance dump-me
7478 info all-breakpoints -> maintenance info breakpoints
7479 printmsyms -> maintenance print msyms
7480 printobjfiles -> maintenance print objfiles
7481 printpsyms -> maintenance print psymbols
7482 printsyms -> maintenance print symbols
7483
7484 The following commands are new:
7485
7486 maintenance demangle Call internal GDB demangler routine to
7487 demangle a C++ link name and prints the result.
7488 maintenance print type Print a type chain for a given symbol
7489
7490 * Change to .gdbinit file processing
7491
7492 We now read the $HOME/.gdbinit file before processing the argv arguments
7493 (e.g. reading symbol files or core files). This allows global parameters to
7494 be set, which will apply during the symbol reading. The ./.gdbinit is still
7495 read after argv processing.
7496
7497 * New hosts supported
7498
7499 Solaris-2.0 !!! sparc-sun-solaris2 or sun4sol2
7500
7501 GNU/Linux support i386-unknown-linux or linux
7502
7503 We are also including code to support the HP/PA running BSD and HPUX. This
7504 is almost guaranteed not to work, as we didn't have time to test or build it
7505 for this release. We are including it so that the more adventurous (or
7506 masochistic) of you can play with it. We also had major problems with the
7507 fact that the compiler that we got from HP doesn't support the -g option.
7508 It costs extra.
7509
7510 * New targets supported
7511
7512 Hitachi H8/300 h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
7513
7514 * More smarts about finding #include files
7515
7516 GDB now remembers the compilation directory for all include files, and for
7517 all files from which C is generated (like yacc and lex sources). This
7518 greatly improves GDB's ability to find yacc/lex sources, and include files,
7519 especially if you are debugging your program from a directory different from
7520 the one that contains your sources.
7521
7522 We also fixed a bug which caused difficulty with listing and setting
7523 breakpoints in include files which contain C code. (In the past, you had to
7524 try twice in order to list an include file that you hadn't looked at before.)
7525
7526 * Interesting infernals change
7527
7528 GDB now deals with arbitrary numbers of sections, where the symbols for each
7529 section must be relocated relative to that section's landing place in the
7530 target's address space. This work was needed to support ELF with embedded
7531 stabs used by Solaris-2.0.
7532
7533 * Bug fixes (of course!)
7534
7535 There have been loads of fixes for the following things:
7536 mips, rs6000, 29k/udi, m68k, g++, type handling, elf/dwarf, m88k,
7537 i960, stabs, DOS(GO32), procfs, etc...
7538
7539 See the ChangeLog for details.
7540
7541 *** Changes in GDB-4.5:
7542
7543 * New machines supported (host and target)
7544
7545 IBM RS6000 running AIX rs6000-ibm-aix or rs6000
7546
7547 SGI Irix-4.x mips-sgi-irix4 or iris4
7548
7549 * New malloc package
7550
7551 GDB now uses a new memory manager called mmalloc, based on gmalloc.
7552 Mmalloc is capable of handling multiple heaps of memory. It is also
7553 capable of saving a heap to a file, and then mapping it back in later.
7554 This can be used to greatly speedup the startup of GDB by using a
7555 pre-parsed symbol table which lives in a mmalloc managed heap. For
7556 more details, please read mmalloc/mmalloc.texi.
7557
7558 * info proc
7559
7560 The 'info proc' command (SVR4 only) has been enhanced quite a bit. See
7561 'help info proc' for details.
7562
7563 * MIPS ecoff symbol table format
7564
7565 The code that reads MIPS symbol table format is now supported on all hosts.
7566 Thanks to MIPS for releasing the sym.h and symconst.h files to make this
7567 possible.
7568
7569 * File name changes for MS-DOS
7570
7571 Many files in the config directories have been renamed to make it easier to
7572 support GDB on MS-DOSe systems (which have very restrictive file name
7573 conventions :-( ). MS-DOSe host support (under DJ Delorie's GO32
7574 environment) is close to working but has some remaining problems. Note
7575 that debugging of DOS programs is not supported, due to limitations
7576 in the ``operating system'', but it can be used to host cross-debugging.
7577
7578 * Cross byte order fixes
7579
7580 Many fixes have been made to support cross debugging of Sparc and MIPS
7581 targets from hosts whose byte order differs.
7582
7583 * New -mapped and -readnow options
7584
7585 If memory-mapped files are available on your system through the 'mmap'
7586 system call, you can use the -mapped option on the `file' or
7587 `symbol-file' commands to cause GDB to write the symbols from your
7588 program into a reusable file. If the program you are debugging is
7589 called `/path/fred', the mapped symbol file will be `./fred.syms'.
7590 Future GDB debugging sessions will notice the presence of this file,
7591 and will quickly map in symbol information from it, rather than reading
7592 the symbol table from the executable program. Using the '-mapped'
7593 option in a GDB `file' or `symbol-file' command has the same effect as
7594 starting GDB with the '-mapped' command-line option.
7595
7596 You can cause GDB to read the entire symbol table immediately by using
7597 the '-readnow' option with any of the commands that load symbol table
7598 information (or on the GDB command line). This makes the command
7599 slower, but makes future operations faster.
7600
7601 The -mapped and -readnow options are typically combined in order to
7602 build a `fred.syms' file that contains complete symbol information.
7603 A simple GDB invocation to do nothing but build a `.syms' file for future
7604 use is:
7605
7606 gdb -batch -nx -mapped -readnow programname
7607
7608 The `.syms' file is specific to the host machine on which GDB is run.
7609 It holds an exact image of GDB's internal symbol table. It cannot be
7610 shared across multiple host platforms.
7611
7612 * longjmp() handling
7613
7614 GDB is now capable of stepping and nexting over longjmp(), _longjmp(), and
7615 siglongjmp() without losing control. This feature has not yet been ported to
7616 all systems. It currently works on many 386 platforms, all MIPS-based
7617 platforms (SGI, DECstation, etc), and Sun3/4.
7618
7619 * Solaris 2.0
7620
7621 Preliminary work has been put in to support the new Solaris OS from Sun. At
7622 this time, it can control and debug processes, but it is not capable of
7623 reading symbols.
7624
7625 * Bug fixes
7626
7627 As always, many many bug fixes. The major areas were with g++, and mipsread.
7628 People using the MIPS-based platforms should experience fewer mysterious
7629 crashes and trashed symbol tables.
7630
7631 *** Changes in GDB-4.4:
7632
7633 * New machines supported (host and target)
7634
7635 SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
7636 (except core files)
7637 BSD Reno on Vax vax-dec-bsd
7638 Ultrix on Vax vax-dec-ultrix
7639
7640 * New machines supported (target)
7641
7642 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
7643
7644 * C++ support
7645
7646 GDB continues to improve its handling of C++. `References' work better.
7647 The demangler has also been improved, and now deals with symbols mangled as
7648 per the Annotated C++ Reference Guide.
7649
7650 GDB also now handles `stabs' symbol information embedded in MIPS
7651 `ecoff' symbol tables. Since the ecoff format was not easily
7652 extensible to handle new languages such as C++, this appeared to be a
7653 good way to put C++ debugging info into MIPS binaries. This option
7654 will be supported in the GNU C compiler, version 2, when it is
7655 released.
7656
7657 * New features for SVR4
7658
7659 GDB now handles SVR4 shared libraries, in the same fashion as SunOS
7660 shared libraries. Debugging dynamically linked programs should present
7661 only minor differences from debugging statically linked programs.
7662
7663 The `info proc' command will print out information about any process
7664 on an SVR4 system (including the one you are debugging). At the moment,
7665 it prints the address mappings of the process.
7666
7667 If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please send mail to
7668 bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were reqired (if any).
7669
7670 * Better dynamic linking support in SunOS
7671
7672 Reading symbols from shared libraries which contain debugging symbols
7673 now works properly. However, there remain issues such as automatic
7674 skipping of `transfer vector' code during function calls, which
7675 make it harder to debug code in a shared library, than to debug the
7676 same code linked statically.
7677
7678 * New Getopt
7679
7680 GDB is now using the latest `getopt' routines from the FSF. This
7681 version accepts the -- prefix for options with long names. GDB will
7682 continue to accept the old forms (-option and +option) as well.
7683 Various single letter abbreviations for options have been explicity
7684 added to the option table so that they won't get overshadowed in the
7685 future by other options that begin with the same letter.
7686
7687 * Bugs fixed
7688
7689 The `cleanup_undefined_types' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
7690 Many assorted bugs have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
7691 See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
7692
7693
7694 *** Changes in GDB-4.3:
7695
7696 * New machines supported (host and target)
7697
7698 Amiga 3000 running Amix m68k-cbm-svr4 or amix
7699 NCR 3000 386 running SVR4 i386-ncr-svr4 or ncr3000
7700 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
7701
7702 * Almost SCO Unix support
7703
7704 We had hoped to support:
7705 SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
7706 (except for core file support), but we discovered very late in the release
7707 that it has problems with process groups that render gdb unusable. Sorry
7708 about that. I encourage people to fix it and post the fixes.
7709
7710 * Preliminary ELF and DWARF support
7711
7712 GDB can read ELF object files on System V Release 4, and can handle
7713 debugging records for C, in DWARF format, in ELF files. This support
7714 is preliminary. If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please
7715 send mail to bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were
7716 reqired (if any).
7717
7718 * New Readline
7719
7720 GDB now uses the latest `readline' library. One user-visible change
7721 is that two tabs will list possible command completions, which previously
7722 required typing M-? (meta-question mark, or ESC ?).
7723
7724 * Bugs fixed
7725
7726 The `stepi' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
7727 Many bugs in C++ have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
7728 See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
7729
7730 * State of the MIPS world (in case you wondered):
7731
7732 GDB can understand the symbol tables emitted by the compilers
7733 supplied by most vendors of MIPS-based machines, including DEC. These
7734 symbol tables are in a format that essentially nobody else uses.
7735
7736 Some versions of gcc come with an assembler post-processor called
7737 mips-tfile. This program is required if you want to do source-level
7738 debugging of gcc-compiled programs. I believe FSF does not ship
7739 mips-tfile with gcc version 1, but it will eventually come with gcc
7740 version 2.
7741
7742 Debugging of g++ output remains a problem. g++ version 1.xx does not
7743 really support it at all. (If you're lucky, you should be able to get
7744 line numbers and stack traces to work, but no parameters or local
7745 variables.) With some work it should be possible to improve the
7746 situation somewhat.
7747
7748 When gcc version 2 is released, you will have somewhat better luck.
7749 However, even then you will get confusing results for inheritance and
7750 methods.
7751
7752 We will eventually provide full debugging of g++ output on
7753 DECstations. This will probably involve some kind of stabs-in-ecoff
7754 encapulation, but the details have not been worked out yet.
7755
7756
7757 *** Changes in GDB-4.2:
7758
7759 * Improved configuration
7760
7761 Only one copy of `configure' exists now, and it is not self-modifying.
7762 Porting BFD is simpler.
7763
7764 * Stepping improved
7765
7766 The `step' and `next' commands now only stop at the first instruction
7767 of a source line. This prevents the multiple stops that used to occur
7768 in switch statements, for-loops, etc. `Step' continues to stop if a
7769 function that has debugging information is called within the line.
7770
7771 * Bug fixing
7772
7773 Lots of small bugs fixed. More remain.
7774
7775 * New host supported (not target)
7776
7777 Intel 386 PC clone running Mach i386-none-mach
7778
7779
7780 *** Changes in GDB-4.1:
7781
7782 * Multiple source language support
7783
7784 GDB now has internal scaffolding to handle several source languages.
7785 It determines the type of each source file from its filename extension,
7786 and will switch expression parsing and number formatting to match the
7787 language of the function in the currently selected stack frame.
7788 You can also specifically set the language to be used, with
7789 `set language c' or `set language modula-2'.
7790
7791 * GDB and Modula-2
7792
7793 GDB now has preliminary support for the GNU Modula-2 compiler,
7794 currently under development at the State University of New York at
7795 Buffalo. Development of both GDB and the GNU Modula-2 compiler will
7796 continue through the fall of 1991 and into 1992.
7797
7798 Other Modula-2 compilers are currently not supported, and attempting to
7799 debug programs compiled with them will likely result in an error as the
7800 symbol table is read. Feel free to work on it, though!
7801
7802 There are hooks in GDB for strict type checking and range checking,
7803 in the `Modula-2 philosophy', but they do not currently work.
7804
7805 * set write on/off
7806
7807 GDB can now write to executable and core files (e.g. patch
7808 a variable's value). You must turn this switch on, specify
7809 the file ("exec foo" or "core foo"), *then* modify it, e.g.
7810 by assigning a new value to a variable. Modifications take
7811 effect immediately.
7812
7813 * Automatic SunOS shared library reading
7814
7815 When you run your program, GDB automatically determines where its
7816 shared libraries (if any) have been loaded, and reads their symbols.
7817 The `share' command is no longer needed. This also works when
7818 examining core files.
7819
7820 * set listsize
7821
7822 You can specify the number of lines that the `list' command shows.
7823 The default is 10.
7824
7825 * New machines supported (host and target)
7826
7827 SGI Iris (MIPS) running Irix V3: mips-sgi-irix or iris
7828 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x: m68k-sony-sysv or news
7829 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1: a29k-nyu-sym1 or ultra3
7830
7831 * New hosts supported (not targets)
7832
7833 IBM RT/PC: romp-ibm-aix or rtpc
7834
7835 * New targets supported (not hosts)
7836
7837 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
7838 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
7839 Ultracomputer remote kernel debug a29k-nyu-kern
7840
7841 * New remote interfaces
7842
7843 AMD 29000 Adapt
7844 AMD 29000 Minimon
7845
7846
7847 *** Changes in GDB-4.0:
7848
7849 * New Facilities
7850
7851 Wide output is wrapped at good places to make the output more readable.
7852
7853 Gdb now supports cross-debugging from a host machine of one type to a
7854 target machine of another type. Communication with the target system
7855 is over serial lines. The ``target'' command handles connecting to the
7856 remote system; the ``load'' command will download a program into the
7857 remote system. Serial stubs for the m68k and i386 are provided. Gdb
7858 also supports debugging of realtime processes running under VxWorks,
7859 using SunRPC Remote Procedure Calls over TCP/IP to talk to a debugger
7860 stub on the target system.
7861
7862 New CPUs supported include the AMD 29000 and Intel 960.
7863
7864 GDB now reads object files and symbol tables via a ``binary file''
7865 library, which allows a single copy of GDB to debug programs of multiple
7866 object file types such as a.out and coff.
7867
7868 There is now a GDB reference card in "doc/refcard.tex". (Make targets
7869 refcard.dvi and refcard.ps are available to format it).
7870
7871
7872 * Control-Variable user interface simplified
7873
7874 All variables that control the operation of the debugger can be set
7875 by the ``set'' command, and displayed by the ``show'' command.
7876
7877 For example, ``set prompt new-gdb=>'' will change your prompt to new-gdb=>.
7878 ``Show prompt'' produces the response:
7879 Gdb's prompt is new-gdb=>.
7880
7881 What follows are the NEW set commands. The command ``help set'' will
7882 print a complete list of old and new set commands. ``help set FOO''
7883 will give a longer description of the variable FOO. ``show'' will show
7884 all of the variable descriptions and their current settings.
7885
7886 confirm on/off: Enables warning questions for operations that are
7887 hard to recover from, e.g. rerunning the program while
7888 it is already running. Default is ON.
7889
7890 editing on/off: Enables EMACS style command line editing
7891 of input. Previous lines can be recalled with
7892 control-P, the current line can be edited with control-B,
7893 you can search for commands with control-R, etc.
7894 Default is ON.
7895
7896 history filename NAME: NAME is where the gdb command history
7897 will be stored. The default is .gdb_history,
7898 or the value of the environment variable
7899 GDBHISTFILE.
7900
7901 history size N: The size, in commands, of the command history. The
7902 default is 256, or the value of the environment variable
7903 HISTSIZE.
7904
7905 history save on/off: If this value is set to ON, the history file will
7906 be saved after exiting gdb. If set to OFF, the
7907 file will not be saved. The default is OFF.
7908
7909 history expansion on/off: If this value is set to ON, then csh-like
7910 history expansion will be performed on
7911 command line input. The default is OFF.
7912
7913 radix N: Sets the default radix for input and output. It can be set
7914 to 8, 10, or 16. Note that the argument to "radix" is interpreted
7915 in the current radix, so "set radix 10" is always a no-op.
7916
7917 height N: This integer value is the number of lines on a page. Default
7918 is 24, the current `stty rows'' setting, or the ``li#''
7919 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
7920 variable TERM.
7921
7922 width N: This integer value is the number of characters on a line.
7923 Default is 80, the current `stty cols'' setting, or the ``co#''
7924 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
7925 variable TERM.
7926
7927 Note: ``set screensize'' is obsolete. Use ``set height'' and
7928 ``set width'' instead.
7929
7930 print address on/off: Print memory addresses in various command displays,
7931 such as stack traces and structure values. Gdb looks
7932 more ``symbolic'' if you turn this off; it looks more
7933 ``machine level'' with it on. Default is ON.
7934
7935 print array on/off: Prettyprint arrays. New convenient format! Default
7936 is OFF.
7937
7938 print demangle on/off: Print C++ symbols in "source" form if on,
7939 "raw" form if off.
7940
7941 print asm-demangle on/off: Same, for assembler level printouts
7942 like instructions.
7943
7944 print vtbl on/off: Prettyprint C++ virtual function tables. Default is OFF.
7945
7946
7947 * Support for Epoch Environment.
7948
7949 The epoch environment is a version of Emacs v18 with windowing. One
7950 new command, ``inspect'', is identical to ``print'', except that if you
7951 are running in the epoch environment, the value is printed in its own
7952 window.
7953
7954
7955 * Support for Shared Libraries
7956
7957 GDB can now debug programs and core files that use SunOS shared libraries.
7958 Symbols from a shared library cannot be referenced
7959 before the shared library has been linked with the program (this
7960 happens after you type ``run'' and before the function main() is entered).
7961 At any time after this linking (including when examining core files
7962 from dynamically linked programs), gdb reads the symbols from each
7963 shared library when you type the ``sharedlibrary'' command.
7964 It can be abbreviated ``share''.
7965
7966 sharedlibrary REGEXP: Load shared object library symbols for files
7967 matching a unix regular expression. No argument
7968 indicates to load symbols for all shared libraries.
7969
7970 info sharedlibrary: Status of loaded shared libraries.
7971
7972
7973 * Watchpoints
7974
7975 A watchpoint stops execution of a program whenever the value of an
7976 expression changes. Checking for this slows down execution
7977 tremendously whenever you are in the scope of the expression, but is
7978 quite useful for catching tough ``bit-spreader'' or pointer misuse
7979 problems. Some machines such as the 386 have hardware for doing this
7980 more quickly, and future versions of gdb will use this hardware.
7981
7982 watch EXP: Set a watchpoint (breakpoint) for an expression.
7983
7984 info watchpoints: Information about your watchpoints.
7985
7986 delete N: Deletes watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
7987 disable N: Temporarily turns off watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
7988 enable N: Re-enables watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
7989
7990
7991 * C++ multiple inheritance
7992
7993 When used with a GCC version 2 compiler, GDB supports multiple inheritance
7994 for C++ programs.
7995
7996 * C++ exception handling
7997
7998 Gdb now supports limited C++ exception handling. Besides the existing
7999 ability to breakpoint on an exception handler, gdb can breakpoint on
8000 the raising of an exception (before the stack is peeled back to the
8001 handler's context).
8002
8003 catch FOO: If there is a FOO exception handler in the dynamic scope,
8004 set a breakpoint to catch exceptions which may be raised there.
8005 Multiple exceptions (``catch foo bar baz'') may be caught.
8006
8007 info catch: Lists all exceptions which may be caught in the
8008 current stack frame.
8009
8010
8011 * Minor command changes
8012
8013 The command ``call func (arg, arg, ...)'' now acts like the print
8014 command, except it does not print or save a value if the function's result
8015 is void. This is similar to dbx usage.
8016
8017 The ``up'' and ``down'' commands now always print the frame they end up
8018 at; ``up-silently'' and `down-silently'' can be used in scripts to change
8019 frames without printing.
8020
8021 * New directory command
8022
8023 'dir' now adds directories to the FRONT of the source search path.
8024 The path starts off empty. Source files that contain debug information
8025 about the directory in which they were compiled can be found even
8026 with an empty path; Sun CC and GCC include this information. If GDB can't
8027 find your source file in the current directory, type "dir .".
8028
8029 * Configuring GDB for compilation
8030
8031 For normal use, type ``./configure host''. See README or gdb.texinfo
8032 for more details.
8033
8034 GDB now handles cross debugging. If you are remotely debugging between
8035 two different machines, type ``./configure host -target=targ''.
8036 Host is the machine where GDB will run; targ is the machine
8037 where the program that you are debugging will run.