1 What has changed in GDB?
2 (Organized release by release)
4 *** Changes since GDB 6.8
6 * GDB can now read compressed debug sections, as produced by GNU gold
7 with the --compress-debug-sections=zlib flag.
9 * Watchpoints can now be set on unreadable memory locations, e.g. addresses
10 which will be allocated using malloc later in program execution.
12 * The qXfer:libraries:read remote procotol packet now allows passing a
13 list of section offsets.
15 * New features in the GDB remote stub, gdbserver
17 - The "--wrapper" command-line argument tells gdbserver to use a
18 wrapper program to launch programs for debugging.
24 Display timestamps with GDB debugging output.
29 Use a wrapper program to launch programs for debugging.
31 set multiple-symbols (all|ask|cancel)
33 The value of this variable can be changed to adjust the debugger behavior
34 when an expression or a breakpoint location contains an ambiguous symbol
35 name (an overloaded function name, for instance).
37 *** Changes in GDB 6.8
39 * New native configurations
41 NetBSD/hppa hppa*-*netbsd*
42 Xtensa GNU/Linux xtensa*-*-linux*
46 NetBSD/hppa hppa*-*-netbsd*
47 Xtensa GNU/Lunux xtensa*-*-linux*
49 * Change in command line behavior -- corefiles vs. process ids.
51 When the '-p NUMBER' or '--pid NUMBER' options are used, and
52 attaching to process NUMBER fails, GDB no longer attempts to open a
53 core file named NUMBER. Attaching to a program using the -c option
54 is no longer supported. Instead, use the '-p' or '--pid' options.
56 * GDB can now be built as a native debugger for debugging Windows x86
57 (mingw32) Portable Executable (PE) programs.
59 * Pending breakpoints no longer change their number when their address
62 * GDB now supports breakpoints with multiple locations,
63 including breakpoints on C++ constructors, inside C++ templates,
64 and in inlined functions.
66 * GDB's ability to debug optimized code has been improved. GDB more
67 accurately identifies function bodies and lexical blocks that occupy
68 more than one contiguous range of addresses.
70 * Target descriptions can now describe registers for PowerPC.
72 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports the AltiVec and SPE
73 registers on PowerPC targets.
75 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports thread debugging on GNU/Linux
76 targets even when the libthread_db library is not available.
78 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports the new file transfer
79 commands (remote put, remote get, and remote delete).
81 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports run and attach in
84 * hppa*64*-*-hpux11* target broken
85 The debugger is unable to start a program and fails with the following
86 error: "Error trying to get information about dynamic linker".
87 The gdb-6.7 release is also affected.
89 * GDB now supports the --enable-targets= configure option to allow
90 building a single GDB executable that supports multiple remote
93 * GDB now supports debugging C and C++ programs which use the
94 Decimal Floating Point extension. In addition, the PowerPC target
95 now has a set of pseudo-registers to inspect decimal float values
96 stored in two consecutive float registers.
98 * The -break-insert MI command can optionally create pending
101 * Improved support for debugging Ada
102 Many improvements to the Ada language support have been made. These
104 - Better support for Ada2005 interface types
105 - Improved handling of arrays and slices in general
106 - Better support for Taft-amendment types
107 - The '{type} ADDRESS' expression is now allowed on the left hand-side
109 - Improved command completion in Ada
114 set print frame-arguments (all|scalars|none)
115 show print frame-arguments
116 The value of this variable can be changed to control which argument
117 values should be printed by the debugger when displaying a frame.
122 Transfer files to and from a remote target, and delete remote files.
129 Transfer files to and from a remote target, and delete remote files.
138 Open, close, read, write, and delete files on the remote system.
140 * GDB on GNU/Linux and HP/UX can now debug through "exec" of a new
144 Attach to an existing process on the remote system, in extended-remote
148 Run a new process on the remote system, in extended-remote mode.
150 *** Changes in GDB 6.7
152 * Resolved 101 resource leaks, null pointer dereferences, etc. in gdb,
153 bfd, libiberty and opcodes, as revealed by static analysis donated by
154 Coverity, Inc. (http://scan.coverity.com).
156 * When looking up multiply-defined global symbols, GDB will now prefer the
157 symbol definition in the current shared library if it was built using the
158 -Bsymbolic linker option.
160 * When the Text User Interface (TUI) is not configured, GDB will now
161 recognize the -tui command-line option and print a message that the TUI
164 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now has lower overhead for high
165 frequency signals (e.g. SIGALRM) via the QPassSignals packet.
167 * GDB for MIPS targets now autodetects whether a remote target provides
168 32-bit or 64-bit register values.
170 * Support for C++ member pointers has been improved.
172 * GDB now understands XML target descriptions, which specify the
173 target's overall architecture. GDB can read a description from
174 a local file or over the remote serial protocol.
176 * Vectors of single-byte data use a new integer type which is not
177 automatically displayed as character or string data.
179 * The /s format now works with the print command. It displays
180 arrays of single-byte integers and pointers to single-byte integers
183 * Target descriptions can now describe target-specific registers,
184 for architectures which have implemented the support (currently
185 only ARM, M68K, and MIPS).
187 * GDB and the GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now support the XScale
190 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, has been updated to support
191 ARM Windows CE (mingw32ce) debugging, and GDB Windows CE support
192 has been rewritten to use the standard GDB remote protocol.
194 * GDB can now step into C++ functions which are called through thunks.
196 * GDB for the Cell/B.E. SPU now supports overlay debugging.
198 * The GDB remote protocol "qOffsets" packet can now honor ELF segment
199 layout. It also supports a TextSeg= and DataSeg= response when only
200 segment base addresses (rather than offsets) are available.
202 * The /i format now outputs any trailing branch delay slot instructions
203 immediately following the last instruction within the count specified.
205 * The GDB remote protocol "T" stop reply packet now supports a
206 "library" response. Combined with the new "qXfer:libraries:read"
207 packet, this response allows GDB to debug shared libraries on targets
208 where the operating system manages the list of loaded libraries (e.g.
209 Windows and SymbianOS).
211 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports dynamic link libraries
212 (DLLs) on Windows and Windows CE targets.
214 * GDB now supports a faster verification that a .debug file matches its binary
215 according to its build-id signature, if the signature is present.
221 Enable or disable hardware flow control (RTS/CTS) on the serial port
222 when debugging using remote targets.
224 set mem inaccessible-by-default
225 show mem inaccessible-by-default
226 If the target supplies a memory map, for instance via the remote
227 protocol's "qXfer:memory-map:read" packet, setting this variable
228 prevents GDB from accessing memory outside the memory map. This
229 is useful for targets with memory mapped registers or which react
230 badly to accesses of unmapped address space.
232 set breakpoint auto-hw
233 show breakpoint auto-hw
234 If the target supplies a memory map, for instance via the remote
235 protocol's "qXfer:memory-map:read" packet, setting this variable
236 lets GDB use hardware breakpoints automatically for memory regions
237 where it can not use software breakpoints. This covers both the
238 "break" command and internal breakpoints used for other commands
239 including "next" and "finish".
242 catch exception unhandled
243 Stop the program execution when Ada exceptions are raised.
246 Stop the program execution when an Ada assertion failed.
250 Set an alternate system root for target files. This is a more
251 general version of "set solib-absolute-prefix", which is now
252 an alias to "set sysroot".
255 Provide extended SPU facility status information. This set of
256 commands is available only when debugging the Cell/B.E. SPU
259 * New native configurations
261 OpenBSD/sh sh*-*openbsd*
266 Use the specified local file as an XML target description, and do
267 not query the target for its built-in description.
271 OpenBSD/sh sh*-*-openbsd*
272 MIPS64 GNU/Linux (gdbserver) mips64-linux-gnu
273 Toshiba Media Processor mep-elf
278 Ignore the specified signals; pass them directly to the debugged program
279 without stopping other threads or reporting them to GDB.
282 Read an XML target description from the target, which describes its
287 Read or write contents of an spufs file on the target system. These
288 packets are available only on the Cell/B.E. SPU architecture.
290 qXfer:libraries:read:
291 Report the loaded shared libraries. Combined with new "T" packet
292 response, this packet allows GDB to debug shared libraries on
293 targets where the operating system manages the list of loaded
294 libraries (e.g. Windows and SymbianOS).
298 Support for these obsolete configurations has been removed.
307 i[34567]86-*-netware*
308 i[34567]86-*-sco3.2v5*
309 i[34567]86-*-sco3.2v4*
311 i[34567]86-*-sysv4.2*
314 i[34567]86-*-unixware2*
315 i[34567]86-*-unixware*
324 * Other removed features
331 Various m68k-only ROM monitors.
338 Various Renesas ROM monitors and debugging interfaces for SH and
343 Support for a Macraigor serial interface to on-chip debugging.
344 GDB does not directly support the newer parallel or USB
349 A debug information format. The predecessor to DWARF 2 and
350 DWARF 3, which are still supported.
352 Support for the HP aCC compiler on HP-UX/PA-RISC
354 SOM-encapsulated symbolic debugging information, automatic
355 invocation of pxdb, and the aCC custom C++ ABI. This does not
356 affect HP-UX for Itanium or GCC for HP-UX/PA-RISC. Code compiled
357 with aCC can still be debugged on an assembly level.
361 A MIPS-specific format used to describe stack frame layout
362 in debugging information.
366 GDB could work with an older version of Guile to debug
367 the interpreter and Scheme programs running in it.
369 set mips stack-arg-size
370 set mips saved-gpreg-size
372 Use "set mips abi" to control parameter passing for MIPS.
374 *** Changes in GDB 6.6
379 Cell Broadband Engine SPU spu-elf
381 * GDB can now be configured as a cross-debugger targeting native Windows
382 (mingw32) or Cygwin. It can communicate with a remote debugging stub
383 running on a Windows system over TCP/IP to debug Windows programs.
385 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, has been updated to support Windows and
386 Cygwin debugging. Both single-threaded and multi-threaded programs are
389 * The "set trust-readonly-sections" command works again. This command was
390 broken in GDB 6.3, 6.4, and 6.5.
392 * The "load" command now supports writing to flash memory, if the remote
393 stub provides the required support.
395 * Support for GNU/Linux Thread Local Storage (TLS, per-thread variables) no
396 longer requires symbolic debug information (e.g. DWARF-2).
401 unset substitute-path
403 Manage a list of substitution rules that GDB uses to rewrite the name
404 of the directories where the sources are located. This can be useful
405 for instance when the sources were moved to a different location
406 between compilation and debugging.
410 Print each CLI command as it is executed. Each command is prefixed with
411 a number of `+' symbols representing the nesting depth.
412 The source command now has a `-v' option to enable the same feature.
416 The ARM Demon monitor support (RDP protocol, "target rdp").
418 Kernel Object Display, an embedded debugging feature which only worked with
419 an obsolete version of Cisco IOS.
421 The 'set download-write-size' and 'show download-write-size' commands.
426 Tell a stub about GDB client features, and request remote target features.
427 The first feature implemented is PacketSize, which allows the target to
428 specify the size of packets it can handle - to minimize the number of
429 packets required and improve performance when connected to a remote
433 Fetch an OS auxilliary vector from the remote stub. This packet is a
434 more efficient replacement for qPart:auxv:read.
436 qXfer:memory-map:read:
437 Fetch a memory map from the remote stub, including information about
438 RAM, ROM, and flash memory devices.
443 Erase and program a flash memory device.
445 * Removed remote packets
448 This packet has been replaced by qXfer:auxv:read. Only GDB 6.4 and 6.5
449 used it, and only gdbserver implemented it.
451 *** Changes in GDB 6.5
455 Renesas M32C/M16C m32c-elf
457 Morpho Technologies ms1 ms1-elf
461 init-if-undefined Initialize a convenience variable, but
462 only if it doesn't already have a value.
464 The following commands are presently only implemented for native GNU/Linux:
466 checkpoint Save a snapshot of the program state.
468 restart <n> Return the program state to a
469 previously saved state.
471 info checkpoints List currently saved checkpoints.
473 delete-checkpoint <n> Delete a previously saved checkpoint.
475 set|show detach-on-fork Tell gdb whether to detach from a newly
476 forked process, or to keep debugging it.
478 info forks List forks of the user program that
479 are available to be debugged.
481 fork <n> Switch to debugging one of several
482 forks of the user program that are
483 available to be debugged.
485 delete-fork <n> Delete a fork from the list of forks
486 that are available to be debugged (and
487 kill the forked process).
489 detach-fork <n> Delete a fork from the list of forks
490 that are available to be debugged (and
491 allow the process to continue).
495 Morpho Technologies ms2 ms1-elf
497 * Improved Windows host support
499 GDB now builds as a cross debugger hosted on i686-mingw32, including
500 native console support, and remote communications using either
501 network sockets or serial ports.
503 * Improved Modula-2 language support
505 GDB can now print most types in the Modula-2 syntax. This includes:
506 basic types, set types, record types, enumerated types, range types,
507 pointer types and ARRAY types. Procedure var parameters are correctly
508 printed and hexadecimal addresses and character constants are also
509 written in the Modula-2 syntax. Best results can be obtained by using
510 GNU Modula-2 together with the -gdwarf-2 command line option.
514 The ARM rdi-share module.
516 The Netware NLM debug server.
518 *** Changes in GDB 6.4
520 * New native configurations
522 OpenBSD/arm arm*-*-openbsd*
523 OpenBSD/mips64 mips64-*-openbsd*
527 Morpho Technologies ms1 ms1-elf
529 * New command line options
531 --batch-silent As for --batch, but totally silent.
532 --return-child-result The debugger will exist with the same value
533 the child (debugged) program exited with.
534 --eval-command COMMAND, -ex COMMAND
535 Execute a single GDB CLI command. This may be
536 specified multiple times and in conjunction
537 with the --command (-x) option.
539 * Deprecated commands removed
541 The following commands, that were deprecated in 2000, have been
545 set|show arm disassembly-flavor set|show arm disassembler
546 othernames set arm disassembler
547 set|show remotedebug set|show debug remote
548 set|show archdebug set|show debug arch
549 set|show eventdebug set|show debug event
552 * New BSD user-level threads support
554 It is now possible to debug programs using the user-level threads
555 library on OpenBSD and FreeBSD. Currently supported (target)
558 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
559 FreeBSD/i386 i386-*-freebsd*
560 OpenBSD/i386 i386-*-openbsd*
562 Note that the new kernel threads libraries introduced in FreeBSD 5.x
563 are not yet supported.
565 * New support for Matsushita MN10300 w/sim added
566 (Work in progress). mn10300-elf.
568 * REMOVED configurations and files
570 VxWorks and the XDR protocol *-*-vxworks
571 Motorola MCORE mcore-*-*
572 National Semiconductor NS32000 ns32k-*-*
574 * New "set print array-indexes" command
576 After turning this setting "on", GDB prints the index of each element
577 when displaying arrays. The default is "off" to preserve the previous
580 * VAX floating point support
582 GDB now supports the not-quite-ieee VAX F and D floating point formats.
584 * User-defined command support
586 In addition to using $arg0..$arg9 for argument passing, it is now possible
587 to use $argc to determine now many arguments have been passed. See the
588 section on user-defined commands in the user manual for more information.
590 *** Changes in GDB 6.3:
592 * New command line option
594 GDB now accepts -l followed by a number to set the timeout for remote
597 * GDB works with GCC -feliminate-dwarf2-dups
599 GDB now supports a more compact representation of DWARF-2 debug
600 information using DW_FORM_ref_addr references. These are produced
601 by GCC with the option -feliminate-dwarf2-dups and also by some
602 proprietary compilers. With GCC, you must use GCC 3.3.4 or later
603 to use -feliminate-dwarf2-dups.
605 * Internationalization
607 When supported by the host system, GDB will be built with
608 internationalization (libintl). The task of marking up the sources is
609 continued, we're looking forward to our first translation.
613 Initial support for debugging programs compiled with the GNAT
614 implementation of the Ada programming language has been integrated
615 into GDB. In this release, support is limited to expression evaluation.
617 * New native configurations
619 GNU/Linux/m32r m32r-*-linux-gnu
623 GDB's remote protocol now includes support for the 'p' packet. This
624 packet is used to fetch individual registers from a remote inferior.
626 * END-OF-LIFE registers[] compatibility module
628 GDB's internal register infrastructure has been completely rewritten.
629 The new infrastructure making possible the implementation of key new
630 features including 32x64 (e.g., 64-bit amd64 GDB debugging a 32-bit
633 GDB 6.3 will be the last release to include the the registers[]
634 compatibility module that allowed out-of-date configurations to
635 continue to work. This change directly impacts the following
647 Unless there is activity to revive these configurations, they will be
648 made OBSOLETE in GDB 6.4, and REMOVED from GDB 6.5.
650 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
652 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
653 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
654 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
664 *** Changes in GDB 6.2.1:
666 * MIPS `break main; run' gave an heuristic-fence-post warning
668 When attempting to run even a simple program, a warning about
669 heuristic-fence-post being hit would be reported. This problem has
672 * MIPS IRIX 'long double' crashed GDB
674 When examining a long double variable, GDB would get a segmentation
675 fault. The crash has been fixed (but GDB 6.2 cannot correctly examine
676 IRIX long double values).
680 A bug in the VAX stack code was causing problems with the "next"
681 command. This problem has been fixed.
683 *** Changes in GDB 6.2:
685 * Fix for ``many threads''
687 On GNU/Linux systems that use the NPTL threads library, a program
688 rapidly creating and deleting threads would confuse GDB leading to the
691 ptrace: No such process.
692 thread_db_get_info: cannot get thread info: generic error
694 This problem has been fixed.
696 * "-async" and "-noasync" options removed.
698 Support for the broken "-noasync" option has been removed (it caused
701 * New ``start'' command.
703 This command runs the program until the begining of the main procedure.
705 * New BSD Kernel Data Access Library (libkvm) interface
707 Using ``target kvm'' it is now possible to debug kernel core dumps and
708 live kernel memory images on various FreeBSD, NetBSD and OpenBSD
709 platforms. Currently supported (native-only) configurations are:
711 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
712 FreeBSD/i386 i?86-*-freebsd*
713 NetBSD/i386 i?86-*-netbsd*
714 NetBSD/m68k m68*-*-netbsd*
715 NetBSD/sparc sparc-*-netbsd*
716 OpenBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-openbsd*
717 OpenBSD/i386 i?86-*-openbsd*
718 OpenBSD/m68k m68*-openbsd*
719 OpenBSD/sparc sparc-*-openbsd*
721 * Signal trampoline code overhauled
723 Many generic problems with GDB's signal handling code have been fixed.
724 These include: backtraces through non-contiguous stacks; recognition
725 of sa_sigaction signal trampolines; backtrace from a NULL pointer
726 call; backtrace through a signal trampoline; step into and out of
727 signal handlers; and single-stepping in the signal trampoline.
729 Please note that kernel bugs are a limiting factor here. These
730 features have been shown to work on an s390 GNU/Linux system that
731 include a 2.6.8-rc1 kernel. Ref PR breakpoints/1702.
733 * Cygwin support for DWARF 2 added.
735 * New native configurations
737 GNU/Linux/hppa hppa*-*-linux*
738 OpenBSD/hppa hppa*-*-openbsd*
739 OpenBSD/m68k m68*-*-openbsd*
740 OpenBSD/m88k m88*-*-openbsd*
741 OpenBSD/powerpc powerpc-*-openbsd*
742 NetBSD/vax vax-*-netbsd*
743 OpenBSD/vax vax-*-openbsd*
745 * END-OF-LIFE frame compatibility module
747 GDB's internal frame infrastructure has been completely rewritten.
748 The new infrastructure making it possible to support key new features
749 including DWARF 2 Call Frame Information. To aid in the task of
750 migrating old configurations to this new infrastructure, a
751 compatibility module, that allowed old configurations to continue to
752 work, was also included.
754 GDB 6.2 will be the last release to include this frame compatibility
755 module. This change directly impacts the following configurations:
765 Unless there is activity to revive these configurations, they will be
766 made OBSOLETE in GDB 6.3, and REMOVED from GDB 6.4.
768 * REMOVED configurations and files
770 Sun 3, running SunOS 3 m68*-*-sunos3*
771 Sun 3, running SunOS 4 m68*-*-sunos4*
772 Sun 2, running SunOS 3 m68000-*-sunos3*
773 Sun 2, running SunOS 4 m68000-*-sunos4*
774 Motorola 680x0 running LynxOS m68*-*-lynxos*
775 AT&T 3b1/Unix pc m68*-att-*
776 Bull DPX2 (68k, System V release 3) m68*-bull-sysv*
777 decstation mips-dec-* mips-little-*
778 riscos mips-*-riscos* mips-*-sysv*
780 sysv mips*-*-sysv4* (IRIX 5/6 not included)
782 *** Changes in GDB 6.1.1:
784 * TUI (Text-mode User Interface) built-in (also included in GDB 6.1)
786 The TUI (Text-mode User Interface) is now built as part of a default
787 GDB configuration. It is enabled by either selecting the TUI with the
788 command line option "-i=tui" or by running the separate "gdbtui"
789 program. For more information on the TUI, see the manual "Debugging
792 * Pending breakpoint support (also included in GDB 6.1)
794 Support has been added to allow you to specify breakpoints in shared
795 libraries that have not yet been loaded. If a breakpoint location
796 cannot be found, and the "breakpoint pending" option is set to auto,
797 GDB queries you if you wish to make the breakpoint pending on a future
798 shared-library load. If and when GDB resolves the breakpoint symbol,
799 the pending breakpoint is removed as one or more regular breakpoints
802 Pending breakpoints are very useful for GCJ Java debugging.
804 * Fixed ISO-C build problems
806 The files bfd/elf-bfd.h, gdb/dictionary.c and gdb/types.c contained
807 non ISO-C code that stopped them being built using a more strict ISO-C
808 compiler (e.g., IBM's C compiler).
810 * Fixed build problem on IRIX 5
812 Due to header problems with <sys/proc.h>, the file gdb/proc-api.c
813 wasn't able to compile compile on an IRIX 5 system.
815 * Added execute permission to gdb/gdbserver/configure
817 The shell script gdb/testsuite/gdb.stabs/configure lacked execute
818 permission. This bug would cause configure to fail on a number of
819 systems (Solaris, IRIX). Ref: server/519.
821 * Fixed build problem on hpux2.0w-hp-hpux11.00 using the HP ANSI C compiler
823 Older HPUX ANSI C compilers did not accept variable array sizes. somsolib.c
824 has been updated to use constant array sizes.
826 * Fixed a panic in the DWARF Call Frame Info code on Solaris 2.7
828 GCC 3.3.2, on Solaris 2.7, includes the DW_EH_PE_funcrel encoding in
829 its generated DWARF Call Frame Info. This encoding was causing GDB to
830 panic, that panic has been fixed. Ref: gdb/1628.
832 * Fixed a problem when examining parameters in shared library code.
834 When examining parameters in optimized shared library code generated
835 by a mainline GCC, GDB would incorrectly report ``Variable "..." is
836 not available''. GDB now correctly displays the variable's value.
838 *** Changes in GDB 6.1:
840 * Removed --with-mmalloc
842 Support for the mmalloc memory manager has been removed, as it
843 conflicted with the internal gdb byte cache.
845 * Changes in AMD64 configurations
847 The AMD64 target now includes the %cs and %ss registers. As a result
848 the AMD64 remote protocol has changed; this affects the floating-point
849 and SSE registers. If you rely on those registers for your debugging,
850 you should upgrade gdbserver on the remote side.
852 * Revised SPARC target
854 The SPARC target has been completely revised, incorporating the
855 FreeBSD/sparc64 support that was added for GDB 6.0. As a result
856 support for LynxOS and SunOS 4 has been dropped. Calling functions
857 from within GDB on operating systems with a non-executable stack
858 (Solaris, OpenBSD) now works.
862 GDB has a new C++ demangler which does a better job on the mangled
863 names generated by current versions of g++. It also runs faster, so
864 with this and other changes gdb should now start faster on large C++
867 * DWARF 2 Location Expressions
869 GDB support for location expressions has been extended to support function
870 arguments and frame bases. Older versions of GDB could crash when they
873 * C++ nested types and namespaces
875 GDB's support for nested types and namespaces in C++ has been
876 improved, especially if you use the DWARF 2 debugging format. (This
877 is the default for recent versions of GCC on most platforms.)
878 Specifically, if you have a class "Inner" defined within a class or
879 namespace "Outer", then GDB realizes that the class's name is
880 "Outer::Inner", not simply "Inner". This should greatly reduce the
881 frequency of complaints about not finding RTTI symbols. In addition,
882 if you are stopped at inside of a function defined within a namespace,
883 GDB modifies its name lookup accordingly.
885 * New native configurations
887 NetBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-netbsd*
888 OpenBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-openbsd*
889 OpenBSD/alpha alpha*-*-openbsd*
890 OpenBSD/sparc sparc-*-openbsd*
891 OpenBSD/sparc64 sparc64-*-openbsd*
893 * New debugging protocols
895 M32R with SDI protocol m32r-*-elf*
897 * "set prompt-escape-char" command deleted.
899 The command "set prompt-escape-char" has been deleted. This command,
900 and its very obscure effet on GDB's prompt, was never documented,
901 tested, nor mentioned in the NEWS file.
903 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
905 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
906 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
907 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
910 Sun 3, running SunOS 3 m68*-*-sunos3*
911 Sun 3, running SunOS 4 m68*-*-sunos4*
912 Sun 2, running SunOS 3 m68000-*-sunos3*
913 Sun 2, running SunOS 4 m68000-*-sunos4*
914 Motorola 680x0 running LynxOS m68*-*-lynxos*
915 AT&T 3b1/Unix pc m68*-att-*
916 Bull DPX2 (68k, System V release 3) m68*-bull-sysv*
917 decstation mips-dec-* mips-little-*
918 riscos mips-*-riscos* mips-*-sysv*
920 sysv mips*-*-sysv4* (IRIX 5/6 not included)
922 * REMOVED configurations and files
924 SGI Irix-4.x mips-sgi-irix4 or iris4
925 SGI Iris (MIPS) running Irix V3: mips-sgi-irix or iris
926 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
927 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
928 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
929 HP/PA running BSD hppa*-*-bsd*
930 HP/PA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
931 HP/PA Pro target hppa*-*-pro*
932 PMAX (MIPS) running Mach 3.0 mips*-*-mach3*
933 386BSD i[3456]86-*-bsd*
934 Sequent family i[3456]86-sequent-sysv4*
935 i[3456]86-sequent-sysv*
936 i[3456]86-sequent-bsd*
937 SPARC running LynxOS sparc-*-lynxos*
938 SPARC running SunOS 4 sparc-*-sunos4*
939 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
940 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
942 *** Changes in GDB 6.0:
946 Support for debugging the Objective-C programming language has been
949 * New backtrace mechanism (includes DWARF 2 Call Frame Information).
951 DWARF 2's Call Frame Information makes available compiler generated
952 information that more exactly describes the program's run-time stack.
953 By using this information, GDB is able to provide more robust stack
956 The i386, amd64 (nee, x86-64), Alpha, m68hc11, ia64, and m32r targets
957 have been updated to use a new backtrace mechanism which includes
962 GDB's remote protocol has been extended to include support for hosted
963 file I/O (where the remote target uses GDB's file system). See GDB's
964 remote protocol documentation for details.
966 * All targets using the new architecture framework.
968 All of GDB's targets have been updated to use the new internal
969 architecture framework. The way is now open for future GDB releases
970 to include cross-architecture native debugging support (i386 on amd64,
973 * GNU/Linux's Thread Local Storage (TLS)
975 GDB now includes support for for the GNU/Linux implementation of
976 per-thread variables.
978 * GNU/Linux's Native POSIX Thread Library (NPTL)
980 GDB's thread code has been updated to work with either the new
981 GNU/Linux NPTL thread library or the older "LinuxThreads" library.
983 * Separate debug info.
985 GDB, in conjunction with BINUTILS, now supports a mechanism for
986 automatically loading debug information from a separate file. Instead
987 of shipping full debug and non-debug versions of system libraries,
988 system integrators can now instead ship just the stripped libraries
989 and optional debug files.
991 * DWARF 2 Location Expressions
993 DWARF 2 Location Expressions allow the compiler to more completely
994 describe the location of variables (even in optimized code) to the
997 GDB now includes preliminary support for location expressions (support
998 for DW_OP_piece is still missing).
1002 A number of long standing bugs that caused GDB to die while starting a
1003 Java application have been fixed. GDB's Java support is now
1004 considered "useable".
1006 * GNU/Linux support for fork, vfork, and exec.
1008 The "catch fork", "catch exec", "catch vfork", and "set follow-fork-mode"
1009 commands are now implemented for GNU/Linux. They require a 2.5.x or later
1012 * GDB supports logging output to a file
1014 There are two new commands, "set logging" and "show logging", which can be
1015 used to capture GDB's output to a file.
1017 * The meaning of "detach" has changed for gdbserver
1019 The "detach" command will now resume the application, as documented. To
1020 disconnect from gdbserver and leave it stopped, use the new "disconnect"
1023 * d10v, m68hc11 `regs' command deprecated
1025 The `info registers' command has been updated so that it displays the
1026 registers using a format identical to the old `regs' command.
1030 A new command, "maint set profile on/off", has been added. This command can
1031 be used to enable or disable profiling while running GDB, to profile a
1032 session or a set of commands. In addition there is a new configure switch,
1033 "--enable-profiling", which will cause GDB to be compiled with profiling
1034 data, for more informative profiling results.
1036 * Default MI syntax changed to "mi2".
1038 The default MI (machine interface) syntax, enabled by the command line
1039 option "-i=mi", has been changed to "mi2". The previous MI syntax,
1040 "mi1", can be enabled by specifying the option "-i=mi1".
1042 Support for the original "mi0" syntax (included in GDB 5.0) has been
1045 Fix for gdb/192: removed extraneous space when displaying frame level.
1046 Fix for gdb/672: update changelist is now output in mi list format.
1047 Fix for gdb/702: a -var-assign that updates the value now shows up
1048 in a subsequent -var-update.
1050 * New native configurations.
1052 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
1054 * Multi-arched targets.
1056 HP/PA HPUX11 hppa*-*-hpux*
1057 Renesas M32R/D w/simulator m32r-*-elf*
1059 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
1061 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
1062 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
1063 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
1064 permanently REMOVED.
1066 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
1067 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
1068 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
1069 HP/PA running BSD hppa*-*-bsd*
1070 HP/PA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
1071 HP/PA Pro target hppa*-*-pro*
1072 PMAX (MIPS) running Mach 3.0 mips*-*-mach3*
1073 Sequent family i[3456]86-sequent-sysv4*
1074 i[3456]86-sequent-sysv*
1075 i[3456]86-sequent-bsd*
1076 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
1077 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
1079 * REMOVED configurations and files
1082 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
1083 IBM AIX PS/2 i[3456]86-*-aix
1084 i386 running Mach 3.0 i[3456]86-*-mach3*
1085 i386 running Mach i[3456]86-*-mach*
1086 i386 running OSF/1 i[3456]86-*osf1mk*
1087 HP/Apollo 68k Family m68*-apollo*-sysv*,
1089 m68*-hp-bsd*, m68*-hp-hpux*
1090 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
1091 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
1092 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
1093 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
1094 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
1096 * MIPS $fp behavior changed
1098 The convenience variable $fp, for the MIPS, now consistently returns
1099 the address of the current frame's base. Previously, depending on the
1100 context, $fp could refer to either $sp or the current frame's base
1101 address. See ``8.10 Registers'' in the manual ``Debugging with GDB:
1102 The GNU Source-Level Debugger''.
1104 *** Changes in GDB 5.3:
1106 * GNU/Linux shared library multi-threaded performance improved.
1108 When debugging a multi-threaded application on GNU/Linux, GDB now uses
1109 `/proc', in preference to `ptrace' for memory reads. This may result
1110 in an improvement in the start-up time of multi-threaded, shared
1111 library applications when run under GDB. One GDB user writes: ``loads
1112 shared libs like mad''.
1114 * ``gdbserver'' now supports multi-threaded applications on some targets
1116 Support for debugging multi-threaded applications which use
1117 the GNU/Linux LinuxThreads package has been added for
1118 arm*-*-linux*-gnu*, i[3456]86-*-linux*-gnu*, mips*-*-linux*-gnu*,
1119 powerpc*-*-linux*-gnu*, and sh*-*-linux*-gnu*.
1121 * GDB now supports C/C++ preprocessor macros.
1123 GDB now expands preprocessor macro invocations in C/C++ expressions,
1124 and provides various commands for showing macro definitions and how
1127 The new command `macro expand EXPRESSION' expands any macro
1128 invocations in expression, and shows the result.
1130 The new command `show macro MACRO-NAME' shows the definition of the
1131 macro named MACRO-NAME, and where it was defined.
1133 Most compilers don't include information about macros in the debugging
1134 information by default. In GCC 3.1, for example, you need to compile
1135 your program with the options `-gdwarf-2 -g3'. If the macro
1136 information is present in the executable, GDB will read it.
1138 * Multi-arched targets.
1140 DEC Alpha (partial) alpha*-*-*
1141 DEC VAX (partial) vax-*-*
1143 National Semiconductor NS32000 (partial) ns32k-*-*
1144 Motorola 68000 (partial) m68k-*-*
1145 Motorola MCORE mcore-*-*
1149 Fujitsu FRV architecture added by Red Hat frv*-*-*
1152 * New native configurations
1154 Alpha NetBSD alpha*-*-netbsd*
1155 SH NetBSD sh*-*-netbsdelf*
1156 MIPS NetBSD mips*-*-netbsd*
1157 UltraSPARC NetBSD sparc64-*-netbsd*
1159 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
1161 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
1162 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
1163 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
1164 permanently REMOVED.
1166 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
1167 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
1168 IBM AIX PS/2 i[3456]86-*-aix
1169 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
1170 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
1171 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
1172 i386 running Mach 3.0 i[3456]86-*-mach3*
1173 i386 running Mach i[3456]86-*-mach*
1174 i386 running OSF/1 i[3456]86-*osf1mk*
1175 HP/Apollo 68k Family m68*-apollo*-sysv*,
1177 m68*-hp-bsd*, m68*-hp-hpux*
1178 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
1180 * OBSOLETE languages
1182 CHILL, a Pascal like language used by telecommunications companies.
1184 * REMOVED configurations and files
1186 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi, udi29k
1187 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
1188 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
1189 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
1190 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
1192 testsuite/gdb.hp/gdb.threads-hp/ directory
1194 * New command "set max-user-call-depth <nnn>"
1196 This command allows the user to limit the call depth of user-defined
1197 commands. The default is 1024.
1199 * Changes in FreeBSD/i386 native debugging.
1201 Support for the "generate-core-file" has been added.
1203 * New commands "dump", "append", and "restore".
1205 These commands allow data to be copied from target memory
1206 to a bfd-format or binary file (dump and append), and back
1207 from a file into memory (restore).
1209 * Improved "next/step" support on multi-processor Alpha Tru64.
1211 The previous single-step mechanism could cause unpredictable problems,
1212 including the random appearance of SIGSEGV or SIGTRAP signals. The use
1213 of a software single-step mechanism prevents this.
1215 *** Changes in GDB 5.2.1:
1223 gdb/182: gdb/323: gdb/237: On alpha, gdb was reporting:
1224 mdebugread.c:2443: gdb-internal-error: sect_index_data not initialized
1225 Fix, by Joel Brobecker imported from mainline.
1227 gdb/439: gdb/291: On some ELF object files, gdb was reporting:
1228 dwarf2read.c:1072: gdb-internal-error: sect_index_text not initialize
1229 Fix, by Fred Fish, imported from mainline.
1231 Dwarf2 .debug_frame & .eh_frame handler improved in many ways.
1232 Surprisingly enough, it works now.
1233 By Michal Ludvig, imported from mainline.
1235 i386 hardware watchpoint support:
1236 avoid misses on second run for some targets.
1237 By Pierre Muller, imported from mainline.
1239 *** Changes in GDB 5.2:
1241 * New command "set trust-readonly-sections on[off]".
1243 This command is a hint that tells gdb that read-only sections
1244 really are read-only (ie. that their contents will not change).
1245 In this mode, gdb will go to the object file rather than the
1246 target to read memory from read-only sections (such as ".text").
1247 This can be a significant performance improvement on some
1248 (notably embedded) targets.
1250 * New command "generate-core-file" (or "gcore").
1252 This new gdb command allows the user to drop a core file of the child
1253 process state at any time. So far it's been implemented only for
1254 GNU/Linux and Solaris, but should be relatively easily ported to other
1255 hosts. Argument is core file name (defaults to core.<pid>).
1257 * New command line option
1259 GDB now accepts --pid or -p followed by a process id.
1261 * Change in command line behavior -- corefiles vs. process ids.
1263 There is a subtle behavior in the way in which GDB handles
1264 command line arguments. The first non-flag argument is always
1265 a program to debug, but the second non-flag argument may either
1266 be a corefile or a process id. Previously, GDB would attempt to
1267 open the second argument as a corefile, and if that failed, would
1268 issue a superfluous error message and then attempt to attach it as
1269 a process. Now, if the second argument begins with a non-digit,
1270 it will be treated as a corefile. If it begins with a digit,
1271 GDB will attempt to attach it as a process, and if no such process
1272 is found, will then attempt to open it as a corefile.
1274 * Changes in ARM configurations.
1276 Multi-arch support is enabled for all ARM configurations. The ARM/NetBSD
1277 configuration is fully multi-arch.
1279 * New native configurations
1281 ARM NetBSD arm*-*-netbsd*
1282 x86 OpenBSD i[3456]86-*-openbsd*
1283 AMD x86-64 running GNU/Linux x86_64-*-linux-*
1284 Sparc64 running FreeBSD sparc64-*-freebsd*
1288 Sanyo XStormy16 xstormy16-elf
1290 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
1292 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
1293 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
1294 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
1295 permanently REMOVED.
1297 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi, udi29k
1298 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
1299 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
1300 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
1301 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
1303 testsuite/gdb.hp/gdb.threads-hp/ directory
1305 * REMOVED configurations and files
1307 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
1309 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
1310 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
1311 PowerPC Netware powerpc-*-netware*
1312 Harris/CXUX m88k m88*-harris-cxux*
1313 Most ns32k hosts and targets ns32k-*-mach3* ns32k-umax-*
1314 ns32k-utek-sysv* ns32k-utek-*
1315 SunOS 4.0.Xi on i386 i[3456]86-*-sunos*
1316 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1 a29k-nyu-sym1 a29k-*-kern*
1317 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x m68*-sony-sysv news
1318 ISI Optimum V (3.05) under 4.3bsd. m68*-isi-*
1319 Apple Macintosh (MPW) host and target N/A host, powerpc-*-macos*
1321 * Changes to command line processing
1323 The new `--args' feature can be used to specify command-line arguments
1324 for the inferior from gdb's command line.
1326 * Changes to key bindings
1328 There is a new `operate-and-get-next' function bound to `C-o'.
1330 *** Changes in GDB 5.1.1
1332 Fix compile problem on DJGPP.
1334 Fix a problem with floating-point registers on the i386 being
1337 Fix to stop GDB crashing on .debug_str debug info.
1339 Numerous documentation fixes.
1341 Numerous testsuite fixes.
1343 *** Changes in GDB 5.1:
1345 * New native configurations
1347 Alpha FreeBSD alpha*-*-freebsd*
1348 x86 FreeBSD 3.x and 4.x i[3456]86*-freebsd[34]*
1349 MIPS GNU/Linux mips*-*-linux*
1350 MIPS SGI Irix 6.x mips*-sgi-irix6*
1351 ia64 AIX ia64-*-aix*
1352 s390 and s390x GNU/Linux {s390,s390x}-*-linux*
1356 Motorola 68HC11 and 68HC12 m68hc11-elf
1358 UltraSparc running GNU/Linux sparc64-*-linux*
1360 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
1362 x86 FreeBSD before 2.2 i[3456]86*-freebsd{1,2.[01]}*,
1363 Harris/CXUX m88k m88*-harris-cxux*
1364 Most ns32k hosts and targets ns32k-*-mach3* ns32k-umax-*
1365 ns32k-utek-sysv* ns32k-utek-*
1366 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
1368 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1 a29k-nyu-sym1 a29k-*-kern*
1369 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
1370 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
1371 PowerPC Netware powerpc-*-netware*
1372 SunOS 4.0.Xi on i386 i[3456]86-*-sunos*
1373 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x m68*-sony-sysv news
1374 ISI Optimum V (3.05) under 4.3bsd. m68*-isi-*
1375 Apple Macintosh (MPW) host N/A
1377 stuff.c (Program to stuff files into a specially prepared space in kdb)
1378 kdb-start.c (Main loop for the standalone kernel debugger)
1380 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
1381 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
1382 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
1383 permanently REMOVED.
1385 * REMOVED configurations and files
1387 Altos 3068 m68*-altos-*
1388 Convex c1-*-*, c2-*-*
1390 ARM RISCix arm-*-* (as host)
1394 * GDB has been converted to ISO C.
1396 GDB's source code has been converted to ISO C. In particular, the
1397 sources are fully protoized, and rely on standard headers being
1402 * "info symbol" works on platforms which use COFF, ECOFF, XCOFF, and NLM.
1404 * The MI enabled by default.
1406 The new machine oriented interface (MI) introduced in GDB 5.0 has been
1407 revised and enabled by default. Packages which use GDB as a debugging
1408 engine behind a UI or another front end are encouraged to switch to
1409 using the GDB/MI interface, instead of the old annotations interface
1410 which is now deprecated.
1412 * Support for debugging Pascal programs.
1414 GDB now includes support for debugging Pascal programs. The following
1415 main features are supported:
1417 - Pascal-specific data types such as sets;
1419 - automatic recognition of Pascal sources based on file-name
1422 - Pascal-style display of data types, variables, and functions;
1424 - a Pascal expression parser.
1426 However, some important features are not yet supported.
1428 - Pascal string operations are not supported at all;
1430 - there are some problems with boolean types;
1432 - Pascal type hexadecimal constants are not supported
1433 because they conflict with the internal variables format;
1435 - support for Pascal objects and classes is not full yet;
1437 - unlike Pascal, GDB is case-sensitive for symbol names.
1439 * Changes in completion.
1441 Commands such as `shell', `run' and `set args', which pass arguments
1442 to inferior programs, now complete on file names, similar to what
1443 users expect at the shell prompt.
1445 Commands which accept locations, such as `disassemble', `print',
1446 `breakpoint', `until', etc. now complete on filenames as well as
1447 program symbols. Thus, if you type "break foob TAB", and the source
1448 files linked into the programs include `foobar.c', that file name will
1449 be one of the candidates for completion. However, file names are not
1450 considered for completion after you typed a colon that delimits a file
1451 name from a name of a function in that file, as in "break foo.c:bar".
1453 `set demangle-style' completes on available demangling styles.
1455 * New platform-independent commands:
1457 It is now possible to define a post-hook for a command as well as a
1458 hook that runs before the command. For more details, see the
1459 documentation of `hookpost' in the GDB manual.
1461 * Changes in GNU/Linux native debugging.
1463 Support for debugging multi-threaded programs has been completely
1464 revised for all platforms except m68k and sparc. You can now debug as
1465 many threads as your system allows you to have.
1467 Attach/detach is supported for multi-threaded programs.
1469 Support for SSE registers was added for x86. This doesn't work for
1470 multi-threaded programs though.
1472 * Changes in MIPS configurations.
1474 Multi-arch support is enabled for all MIPS configurations.
1476 GDB can now be built as native debugger on SGI Irix 6.x systems for
1477 debugging n32 executables. (Debugging 64-bit executables is not yet
1480 * Unified support for hardware watchpoints in all x86 configurations.
1482 Most (if not all) native x86 configurations support hardware-assisted
1483 breakpoints and watchpoints in a unified manner. This support
1484 implements debug register sharing between watchpoints, which allows to
1485 put a virtually infinite number of watchpoints on the same address,
1486 and also supports watching regions up to 16 bytes with several debug
1489 The new maintenance command `maintenance show-debug-regs' toggles
1490 debugging print-outs in functions that insert, remove, and test
1491 watchpoints and hardware breakpoints.
1493 * Changes in the DJGPP native configuration.
1495 New command ``info dos sysinfo'' displays assorted information about
1496 the CPU, OS, memory, and DPMI server.
1498 New commands ``info dos gdt'', ``info dos ldt'', and ``info dos idt''
1499 display information about segment descriptors stored in GDT, LDT, and
1502 New commands ``info dos pde'' and ``info dos pte'' display entries
1503 from Page Directory and Page Tables (for now works with CWSDPMI only).
1504 New command ``info dos address-pte'' displays the Page Table entry for
1505 a given linear address.
1507 GDB can now pass command lines longer than 126 characters to the
1508 program being debugged (requires an update to the libdbg.a library
1509 which is part of the DJGPP development kit).
1511 DWARF2 debug info is now supported.
1513 It is now possible to `step' and `next' through calls to `longjmp'.
1515 * Changes in documentation.
1517 All GDB documentation was converted to GFDL, the GNU Free
1518 Documentation License.
1520 Tracepoints-related commands are now fully documented in the GDB
1523 TUI, the Text-mode User Interface, is now documented in the manual.
1525 Tracepoints-related commands are now fully documented in the GDB
1528 The "GDB Internals" manual now has an index. It also includes
1529 documentation of `ui_out' functions, GDB coding standards, x86
1530 hardware watchpoints, and memory region attributes.
1532 * GDB's version number moved to ``version.in''
1534 The Makefile variable VERSION has been replaced by the file
1535 ``version.in''. People creating GDB distributions should update the
1536 contents of this file.
1540 GUD support is now a standard part of the EMACS distribution.
1542 *** Changes in GDB 5.0:
1544 * Improved support for debugging FP programs on x86 targets
1546 Unified and much-improved support for debugging floating-point
1547 programs on all x86 targets. In particular, ``info float'' now
1548 displays the FP registers in the same format on all x86 targets, with
1549 greater level of detail.
1551 * Improvements and bugfixes in hardware-assisted watchpoints
1553 It is now possible to watch array elements, struct members, and
1554 bitfields with hardware-assisted watchpoints. Data-read watchpoints
1555 on x86 targets no longer erroneously trigger when the address is
1558 * Improvements in the native DJGPP version of GDB
1560 The distribution now includes all the scripts and auxiliary files
1561 necessary to build the native DJGPP version on MS-DOS/MS-Windows
1562 machines ``out of the box''.
1564 The DJGPP version can now debug programs that use signals. It is
1565 possible to catch signals that happened in the debuggee, deliver
1566 signals to it, interrupt it with Ctrl-C, etc. (Previously, a signal
1567 would kill the program being debugged.) Programs that hook hardware
1568 interrupts (keyboard, timer, etc.) can also be debugged.
1570 It is now possible to debug DJGPP programs that redirect their
1571 standard handles or switch them to raw (as opposed to cooked) mode, or
1572 even close them. The command ``run < foo > bar'' works as expected,
1573 and ``info terminal'' reports useful information about the debuggee's
1574 terminal, including raw/cooked mode, redirection, etc.
1576 The DJGPP version now uses termios functions for console I/O, which
1577 enables debugging graphics programs. Interrupting GDB with Ctrl-C
1580 DOS-style file names with drive letters are now fully supported by
1583 It is now possible to debug DJGPP programs that switch their working
1584 directory. It is also possible to rerun the debuggee any number of
1585 times without restarting GDB; thus, you can use the same setup,
1586 breakpoints, etc. for many debugging sessions.
1588 * New native configurations
1590 ARM GNU/Linux arm*-*-linux*
1591 PowerPC GNU/Linux powerpc-*-linux*
1595 Motorola MCore mcore-*-*
1596 x86 VxWorks i[3456]86-*-vxworks*
1597 PowerPC VxWorks powerpc-*-vxworks*
1598 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
1600 * OBSOLETE configurations
1602 Altos 3068 m68*-altos-*
1603 Convex c1-*-*, c2-*-*
1605 ARM RISCix arm-*-* (as host)
1608 Configurations that have been declared obsolete will be commented out,
1609 but the code will be left in place. If there is no activity to revive
1610 these configurations before the next release of GDB, the sources will
1611 be permanently REMOVED.
1613 * Gould support removed
1615 Support for the Gould PowerNode and NP1 has been removed.
1617 * New features for SVR4
1619 On SVR4 native platforms (such as Solaris), if you attach to a process
1620 without first loading a symbol file, GDB will now attempt to locate and
1621 load symbols from the running process's executable file.
1623 * Many C++ enhancements
1625 C++ support has been greatly improved. Overload resolution now works properly
1626 in almost all cases. RTTI support is on the way.
1628 * Remote targets can connect to a sub-program
1630 A popen(3) style serial-device has been added. This device starts a
1631 sub-process (such as a stand-alone simulator) and then communicates
1632 with that. The sub-program to run is specified using the syntax
1633 ``|<program> <args>'' vis:
1635 (gdb) set remotedebug 1
1636 (gdb) target extended-remote |mn10300-elf-sim program-args
1638 * MIPS 64 remote protocol
1640 A long standing bug in the mips64 remote protocol where by GDB
1641 expected certain 32 bit registers (ex SR) to be transfered as 32
1642 instead of 64 bits has been fixed.
1644 The command ``set remote-mips64-transfers-32bit-regs on'' has been
1645 added to provide backward compatibility with older versions of GDB.
1647 * ``set remotebinarydownload'' replaced by ``set remote X-packet''
1649 The command ``set remotebinarydownload'' command has been replaced by
1650 ``set remote X-packet''. Other commands in ``set remote'' family
1651 include ``set remote P-packet''.
1653 * Breakpoint commands accept ranges.
1655 The breakpoint commands ``enable'', ``disable'', and ``delete'' now
1656 accept a range of breakpoints, e.g. ``5-7''. The tracepoint command
1657 ``tracepoint passcount'' also accepts a range of tracepoints.
1659 * ``apropos'' command added.
1661 The ``apropos'' command searches through command names and
1662 documentation strings, printing out matches, making it much easier to
1663 try to find a command that does what you are looking for.
1667 A new machine oriented interface (MI) has been added to GDB. This
1668 interface is designed for debug environments running GDB as a separate
1669 process. This is part of the long term libGDB project. See the
1670 "GDB/MI" chapter of the GDB manual for further information. It can be
1671 enabled by configuring with:
1673 .../configure --enable-gdbmi
1675 *** Changes in GDB-4.18:
1677 * New native configurations
1679 HP-UX 10.20 hppa*-*-hpux10.20
1680 HP-UX 11.x hppa*-*-hpux11.0*
1681 M68K GNU/Linux m68*-*-linux*
1685 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
1686 Intel StrongARM strongarm-*-*
1687 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
1689 * OBSOLETE configurations
1691 Gould PowerNode, NP1 np1-*-*, pn-*-*
1693 Configurations that have been declared obsolete will be commented out,
1694 but the code will be left in place. If there is no activity to revive
1695 these configurations before the next release of GDB, the sources will
1696 be permanently REMOVED.
1700 As a compatibility experiment, GDB's source files buildsym.h and
1701 buildsym.c have been converted to pure standard C, no longer
1702 containing any K&R compatibility code. We believe that all systems in
1703 use today either come with a standard C compiler, or have a GCC port
1704 available. If this is not true, please report the affected
1705 configuration to bug-gdb@gnu.org immediately. See the README file for
1706 information about getting a standard C compiler if you don't have one
1711 GDB now uses readline 2.2.
1713 * set extension-language
1715 You can now control the mapping between filename extensions and source
1716 languages by using the `set extension-language' command. For instance,
1717 you can ask GDB to treat .c files as C++ by saying
1718 set extension-language .c c++
1719 The command `info extensions' lists all of the recognized extensions
1720 and their associated languages.
1722 * Setting processor type for PowerPC and RS/6000
1724 When GDB is configured for a powerpc*-*-* or an rs6000*-*-* target,
1725 you can use the `set processor' command to specify what variant of the
1726 PowerPC family you are debugging. The command
1730 sets the PowerPC/RS6000 variant to NAME. GDB knows about the
1731 following PowerPC and RS6000 variants:
1733 ppc-uisa PowerPC UISA - a PPC processor as viewed by user-level code
1734 rs6000 IBM RS6000 ("POWER") architecture, user-level view
1736 403GC IBM PowerPC 403GC
1737 505 Motorola PowerPC 505
1738 860 Motorola PowerPC 860 or 850
1739 601 Motorola PowerPC 601
1740 602 Motorola PowerPC 602
1741 603 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 603 or 603e
1742 604 Motorola PowerPC 604 or 604e
1743 750 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 750 or 750
1745 At the moment, this command just tells GDB what to name the
1746 special-purpose processor registers. Since almost all the affected
1747 registers are inaccessible to user-level programs, this command is
1748 only useful for remote debugging in its present form.
1752 Thanks to a major code donation from Hewlett-Packard, GDB now has much
1753 more extensive support for HP-UX. Added features include shared
1754 library support, kernel threads and hardware watchpoints for 11.00,
1755 support for HP's ANSI C and C++ compilers, and a compatibility mode
1756 for xdb and dbx commands.
1760 HP's donation includes the new concept of catchpoints, which is a
1761 generalization of the old catch command. On HP-UX, it is now possible
1762 to catch exec, fork, and vfork, as well as library loading.
1764 This means that the existing catch command has changed; its first
1765 argument now specifies the type of catch to be set up. See the
1766 output of "help catch" for a list of catchpoint types.
1768 * Debugging across forks
1770 On HP-UX, you can choose which process to debug when a fork() happens
1775 HP has donated a curses-based terminal user interface (TUI). To get
1776 it, build with --enable-tui. Although this can be enabled for any
1777 configuration, at present it only works for native HP debugging.
1779 * GDB remote protocol additions
1781 A new protocol packet 'X' that writes binary data is now available.
1782 Default behavior is to try 'X', then drop back to 'M' if the stub
1783 fails to respond. The settable variable `remotebinarydownload'
1784 allows explicit control over the use of 'X'.
1786 For 64-bit targets, the memory packets ('M' and 'm') can now contain a
1787 full 64-bit address. The command
1789 set remoteaddresssize 32
1791 can be used to revert to the old behaviour. For existing remote stubs
1792 the change should not be noticed, as the additional address information
1795 In order to assist in debugging stubs, you may use the maintenance
1796 command `packet' to send any text string to the stub. For instance,
1798 maint packet heythere
1800 sends the packet "$heythere#<checksum>". Note that it is very easy to
1801 disrupt a debugging session by sending the wrong packet at the wrong
1804 The compare-sections command allows you to compare section data on the
1805 target to what is in the executable file without uploading or
1806 downloading, by comparing CRC checksums.
1808 * Tracing can collect general expressions
1810 You may now collect general expressions at tracepoints. This requires
1811 further additions to the target-side stub; see tracepoint.c and
1812 doc/agentexpr.texi for further details.
1814 * mask-address variable for Mips
1816 For Mips targets, you may control the zeroing of the upper 32 bits of
1817 a 64-bit address by entering `set mask-address on'. This is mainly
1818 of interest to users of embedded R4xxx and R5xxx processors.
1820 * Higher serial baud rates
1822 GDB's serial code now allows you to specify baud rates 57600, 115200,
1823 230400, and 460800 baud. (Note that your host system may not be able
1824 to achieve all of these rates.)
1828 The i960 configuration now includes an initial implementation of a
1829 builtin simulator, contributed by Jim Wilson.
1832 *** Changes in GDB-4.17:
1834 * New native configurations
1836 Alpha GNU/Linux alpha*-*-linux*
1837 Unixware 2.x i[3456]86-unixware2*
1838 Irix 6.x mips*-sgi-irix6*
1839 PowerPC GNU/Linux powerpc-*-linux*
1840 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
1841 Sparc GNU/Linux sparc-*-linux*
1842 Motorola sysV68 R3V7.1 m68k-motorola-sysv
1846 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
1847 Hitachi H8/300S h8300*-*-*
1848 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
1849 Matsushita MN10300 w/simulator mn10300-*-*
1850 MIPS NEC VR4100 mips64*vr4100*{,el}-*-elf*
1851 MIPS NEC VR5000 mips64*vr5000*{,el}-*-elf*
1852 MIPS Toshiba TX39 mips64*tx39*{,el}-*-elf*
1853 Mitsubishi D10V w/simulator d10v-*-*
1854 Mitsubishi M32R/D w/simulator m32r-*-elf*
1855 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
1856 NEC V850 w/simulator v850-*-*
1858 * New debugging protocols
1860 ARM with RDI protocol arm*-*-*
1861 M68K with dBUG monitor m68*-*-{aout,coff,elf}
1862 DDB and LSI variants of PMON protocol mips*-*-*
1863 PowerPC with DINK32 monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
1864 PowerPC with SDS protocol powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
1865 Macraigor OCD (Wiggler) devices powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
1869 All configurations can now understand and use the DWARF 2 debugging
1870 format. The choice is automatic, if the symbol file contains DWARF 2
1875 GDB now includes basic Java language support. This support is
1876 only useful with Java compilers that produce native machine code.
1878 * solib-absolute-prefix and solib-search-path
1880 For SunOS and SVR4 shared libraries, you may now set the prefix for
1881 loading absolute shared library symbol files, and the search path for
1882 locating non-absolute shared library symbol files.
1884 * Live range splitting
1886 GDB can now effectively debug code for which GCC has performed live
1887 range splitting as part of its optimization. See gdb/doc/LRS for
1888 more details on the expected format of the stabs information.
1892 GDB's support for the GNU Hurd, including thread debugging, has been
1893 updated to work with current versions of the Hurd.
1897 GDB's ARM target configuration now handles the ARM7T (Thumb) 16-bit
1898 instruction set. ARM GDB automatically detects when Thumb
1899 instructions are in use, and adjusts disassembly and backtracing
1904 GDB's MIPS target configurations now handle the MIP16 16-bit
1909 GDB now includes support for overlays; if an executable has been
1910 linked such that multiple sections are based at the same address, GDB
1911 will decide which section to use for symbolic info. You can choose to
1912 control the decision manually, using overlay commands, or implement
1913 additional target-side support and use "overlay load-target" to bring
1914 in the overlay mapping. Do "help overlay" for more detail.
1918 The command "info symbol <address>" displays information about
1919 the symbol at the specified address.
1923 The standard remote protocol now includes an extension that allows
1924 asynchronous collection and display of trace data. This requires
1925 extensive support in the target-side debugging stub. Tracing mode
1926 includes a new interaction mode in GDB and new commands: see the
1927 file tracepoint.c for more details.
1931 Configurations for embedded MIPS now include a simulator contributed
1932 by Cygnus Solutions. The simulator supports the instruction sets
1933 of most MIPS variants.
1937 Sparc configurations may now include the ERC32 simulator contributed
1938 by the European Space Agency. The simulator is not built into
1939 Sparc targets by default; configure with --enable-sim to include it.
1943 For target configurations that may include multiple variants of a
1944 basic architecture (such as MIPS and SH), you may now set the
1945 architecture explicitly. "set arch" sets, "info arch" lists
1946 the possible architectures.
1948 *** Changes in GDB-4.16:
1950 * New native configurations
1952 Windows 95, x86 Windows NT i[345]86-*-cygwin32
1953 M68K NetBSD m68k-*-netbsd*
1954 PowerPC AIX 4.x powerpc-*-aix*
1955 PowerPC MacOS powerpc-*-macos*
1956 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
1957 RS/6000 AIX 4.x rs6000-*-aix4*
1961 ARM with RDP protocol arm-*-*
1962 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
1963 MIPS VxWorks mips*-*-vxworks*
1964 MIPS VR4300 with PMON mips64*vr4300{,el}-*-elf*
1965 PowerPC with PPCBUG monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi*
1967 Matra Sparclet sparclet-*-*
1971 The powerpc-eabi configuration now includes the PSIM simulator,
1972 contributed by Andrew Cagney, with assistance from Mike Meissner.
1973 PSIM is a very elaborate model of the PowerPC, including not only
1974 basic instruction set execution, but also details of execution unit
1975 performance and I/O hardware. See sim/ppc/README for more details.
1979 GDB now works with Solaris 2.5.
1981 * Windows 95/NT native
1983 GDB will now work as a native debugger on Windows 95 and Windows NT.
1984 To build it from source, you must use the "gnu-win32" environment,
1985 which uses a DLL to emulate enough of Unix to run the GNU tools.
1986 Further information, binaries, and sources are available at
1987 ftp.cygnus.com, under pub/gnu-win32.
1989 * dont-repeat command
1991 If a user-defined command includes the command `dont-repeat', then the
1992 command will not be repeated if the user just types return. This is
1993 useful if the command is time-consuming to run, so that accidental
1994 extra keystrokes don't run the same command many times.
1996 * Send break instead of ^C
1998 The standard remote protocol now includes an option to send a break
1999 rather than a ^C to the target in order to interrupt it. By default,
2000 GDB will send ^C; to send a break, set the variable `remotebreak' to 1.
2002 * Remote protocol timeout
2004 The standard remote protocol includes a new variable `remotetimeout'
2005 that allows you to set the number of seconds before GDB gives up trying
2006 to read from the target. The default value is 2.
2008 * Automatic tracking of dynamic object loading (HPUX and Solaris only)
2010 By default GDB will automatically keep track of objects as they are
2011 loaded and unloaded by the dynamic linker. By using the command `set
2012 stop-on-solib-events 1' you can arrange for GDB to stop the inferior
2013 when shared library events occur, thus allowing you to set breakpoints
2014 in shared libraries which are explicitly loaded by the inferior.
2016 Note this feature does not work on hpux8. On hpux9 you must link
2017 /usr/lib/end.o into your program. This feature should work
2018 automatically on hpux10.
2020 * Irix 5.x hardware watchpoint support
2022 Irix 5 configurations now support the use of hardware watchpoints.
2024 * Mips protocol "SYN garbage limit"
2026 When debugging a Mips target using the `target mips' protocol, you
2027 may set the number of characters that GDB will ignore by setting
2028 the `syn-garbage-limit'. A value of -1 means that GDB will ignore
2029 every character. The default value is 1050.
2031 * Recording and replaying remote debug sessions
2033 If you set `remotelogfile' to the name of a file, gdb will write to it
2034 a recording of a remote debug session. This recording may then be
2035 replayed back to gdb using "gdbreplay". See gdbserver/README for
2036 details. This is useful when you have a problem with GDB while doing
2037 remote debugging; you can make a recording of the session and send it
2038 to someone else, who can then recreate the problem.
2040 * Speedups for remote debugging
2042 GDB includes speedups for downloading and stepping MIPS systems using
2043 the IDT monitor, fast downloads to the Hitachi SH E7000 emulator,
2044 and more efficient S-record downloading.
2046 * Memory use reductions and statistics collection
2048 GDB now uses less memory and reports statistics about memory usage.
2049 Try the `maint print statistics' command, for example.
2051 *** Changes in GDB-4.15:
2053 * Psymtabs for XCOFF
2055 The symbol reader for AIX GDB now uses partial symbol tables. This
2056 can greatly improve startup time, especially for large executables.
2058 * Remote targets use caching
2060 Remote targets now use a data cache to speed up communication with the
2061 remote side. The data cache could lead to incorrect results because
2062 it doesn't know about volatile variables, thus making it impossible to
2063 debug targets which use memory mapped I/O devices. `set remotecache
2064 off' turns the the data cache off.
2066 * Remote targets may have threads
2068 The standard remote protocol now includes support for multiple threads
2069 in the target system, using new protocol commands 'H' and 'T'. See
2070 gdb/remote.c for details.
2074 If GDB is configured with `--enable-netrom', then it will include
2075 support for the NetROM ROM emulator from XLNT Designs. The NetROM
2076 acts as though it is a bank of ROM on the target board, but you can
2077 write into it over the network. GDB's support consists only of
2078 support for fast loading into the emulated ROM; to debug, you must use
2079 another protocol, such as standard remote protocol. The usual
2080 sequence is something like
2082 target nrom <netrom-hostname>
2084 target remote <netrom-hostname>:1235
2088 GDB now includes support for the Apple Macintosh, as a host only. It
2089 may be run as either an MPW tool or as a standalone application, and
2090 it can debug through the serial port. All the usual GDB commands are
2091 available, but to the target command, you must supply "serial" as the
2092 device type instead of "/dev/ttyXX". See mpw-README in the main
2093 directory for more information on how to build. The MPW configuration
2094 scripts */mpw-config.in support only a few targets, and only the
2095 mips-idt-ecoff target has been tested.
2099 GDB configuration now uses autoconf. This is not user-visible,
2100 but does simplify configuration and building.
2104 GDB now supports hpux10.
2106 *** Changes in GDB-4.14:
2108 * New native configurations
2110 x86 FreeBSD i[345]86-*-freebsd
2111 x86 NetBSD i[345]86-*-netbsd
2112 NS32k NetBSD ns32k-*-netbsd
2113 Sparc NetBSD sparc-*-netbsd
2117 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
2118 HP PA PRO embedded (WinBond W89K & Oki OP50N) hppa*-*-pro*
2119 CPU32 EST-300 emulator m68*-*-est*
2120 PowerPC ELF powerpc-*-elf
2123 * Alpha OSF/1 support for procfs
2125 GDB now supports procfs under OSF/1-2.x and higher, which makes it
2126 possible to attach to running processes. As the mounting of the /proc
2127 filesystem is optional on the Alpha, GDB automatically determines
2128 the availability of /proc during startup. This can lead to problems
2129 if /proc is unmounted after GDB has been started.
2131 * Arguments to user-defined commands
2133 User commands may accept up to 10 arguments separated by whitespace.
2134 Arguments are accessed within the user command via $arg0..$arg9. A
2137 print $arg0 + $arg1 + $arg2
2139 To execute the command use:
2142 Defines the command "adder" which prints the sum of its three arguments.
2143 Note the arguments are text substitutions, so they may reference variables,
2144 use complex expressions, or even perform inferior function calls.
2146 * New `if' and `while' commands
2148 This makes it possible to write more sophisticated user-defined
2149 commands. Both commands take a single argument, which is the
2150 expression to evaluate, and must be followed by the commands to
2151 execute, one per line, if the expression is nonzero, the list being
2152 terminated by the word `end'. The `if' command list may include an
2153 `else' word, which causes the following commands to be executed only
2154 if the expression is zero.
2156 * Fortran source language mode
2158 GDB now includes partial support for Fortran 77. It will recognize
2159 Fortran programs and can evaluate a subset of Fortran expressions, but
2160 variables and functions may not be handled correctly. GDB will work
2161 with G77, but does not yet know much about symbols emitted by other
2164 * Better HPUX support
2166 Most debugging facilities now work on dynamic executables for HPPAs
2167 running hpux9 or later. You can attach to running dynamically linked
2168 processes, but by default the dynamic libraries will be read-only, so
2169 for instance you won't be able to put breakpoints in them. To change
2170 that behavior do the following before running the program:
2176 This will cause the libraries to be mapped private and read-write.
2177 To revert to the normal behavior, do this:
2183 You cannot set breakpoints or examine data in the library until after
2184 the library is loaded if the function/data symbols do not have
2187 GDB can now also read debug symbols produced by the HP C compiler on
2188 HPPAs (sorry, no C++, Fortran or 68k support).
2190 * Target byte order now dynamically selectable
2192 You can choose which byte order to use with a target system, via the
2193 commands "set endian big" and "set endian little", and you can see the
2194 current setting by using "show endian". You can also give the command
2195 "set endian auto", in which case GDB will use the byte order
2196 associated with the executable. Currently, only embedded MIPS
2197 configurations support dynamic selection of target byte order.
2199 * New DOS host serial code
2201 This version uses DPMI interrupts to handle buffered I/O, so you
2202 no longer need to run asynctsr when debugging boards connected to
2205 *** Changes in GDB-4.13:
2207 * New "complete" command
2209 This lists all the possible completions for the rest of the line, if it
2210 were to be given as a command itself. This is intended for use by emacs.
2212 * Trailing space optional in prompt
2214 "set prompt" no longer adds a space for you after the prompt you set. This
2215 allows you to set a prompt which ends in a space or one that does not.
2217 * Breakpoint hit counts
2219 "info break" now displays a count of the number of times the breakpoint
2220 has been hit. This is especially useful in conjunction with "ignore"; you
2221 can ignore a large number of breakpoint hits, look at the breakpoint info
2222 to see how many times the breakpoint was hit, then run again, ignoring one
2223 less than that number, and this will get you quickly to the last hit of
2226 * Ability to stop printing at NULL character
2228 "set print null-stop" will cause GDB to stop printing the characters of
2229 an array when the first NULL is encountered. This is useful when large
2230 arrays actually contain only short strings.
2232 * Shared library breakpoints
2234 In SunOS 4.x, SVR4, and Alpha OSF/1 configurations, you can now set
2235 breakpoints in shared libraries before the executable is run.
2237 * Hardware watchpoints
2239 There is a new hardware breakpoint for the watch command for sparclite
2240 targets. See gdb/sparclite/hw_breakpoint.note.
2242 Hardware watchpoints are also now supported under GNU/Linux.
2246 Annotations have been added. These are for use with graphical interfaces,
2247 and are still experimental. Currently only gdba.el uses these.
2249 * Improved Irix 5 support
2251 GDB now works properly with Irix 5.2.
2253 * Improved HPPA support
2255 GDB now works properly with the latest GCC and GAS.
2257 * New native configurations
2259 Sequent PTX4 i[34]86-sequent-ptx4
2260 HPPA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
2261 Atari TT running SVR4 m68*-*-sysv4*
2262 RS/6000 LynxOS rs6000-*-lynxos*
2266 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
2267 MIPS R4000 mips64*{,el}-*-{ecoff,elf}
2270 * Hitachi SH7000 and E7000-PC ICE support
2272 There is now support for communicating with the Hitachi E7000-PC ICE.
2273 This is available automatically when GDB is configured for the SH.
2277 As usual, a variety of small fixes and improvements, both generic
2278 and configuration-specific. See the ChangeLog for more detail.
2280 *** Changes in GDB-4.12:
2282 * Irix 5 is now supported
2286 GDB-4.12 on the HPPA has a number of changes which make it unable
2287 to debug the output from the currently released versions of GCC and
2288 GAS (GCC 2.5.8 and GAS-2.2 or PAGAS-1.36). Until the next major release
2289 of GCC and GAS, versions of these tools designed to work with GDB-4.12
2290 can be retrieved via anonymous ftp from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist.
2293 *** Changes in GDB-4.11:
2295 * User visible changes:
2299 The "set remotedebug" option is now consistent between the mips remote
2300 target, remote targets using the gdb-specific protocol, UDI (AMD's
2301 debug protocol for the 29k) and the 88k bug monitor. It is now an
2302 integer specifying a debug level (normally 0 or 1, but 2 means more
2303 debugging info for the mips target).
2305 * DEC Alpha native support
2307 GDB now works on the DEC Alpha. GCC 2.4.5 does not produce usable
2308 debug info, but GDB works fairly well with the DEC compiler and should
2309 work with a future GCC release. See the README file for a few
2310 Alpha-specific notes.
2312 * Preliminary thread implementation
2314 GDB now has preliminary thread support for both SGI/Irix and LynxOS.
2316 * LynxOS native and target support for 386
2318 This release has been hosted on LynxOS 2.2, and also can be configured
2319 to remotely debug programs running under LynxOS (see gdb/gdbserver/README
2322 * Improvements in C++ mangling/demangling.
2324 This release has much better g++ debugging, specifically in name
2325 mangling/demangling, virtual function calls, print virtual table,
2326 call methods, ...etc.
2328 *** Changes in GDB-4.10:
2330 * User visible changes:
2332 Remote debugging using the GDB-specific (`target remote') protocol now
2333 supports the `load' command. This is only useful if you have some
2334 other way of getting the stub to the target system, and you can put it
2335 somewhere in memory where it won't get clobbered by the download.
2337 Filename completion now works.
2339 When run under emacs mode, the "info line" command now causes the
2340 arrow to point to the line specified. Also, "info line" prints
2341 addresses in symbolic form (as well as hex).
2343 All vxworks based targets now support a user settable option, called
2344 vxworks-timeout. This option represents the number of seconds gdb
2345 should wait for responses to rpc's. You might want to use this if
2346 your vxworks target is, perhaps, a slow software simulator or happens
2347 to be on the far side of a thin network line.
2351 This release contains support for using a DEC alpha as a GDB host for
2352 cross debugging. Native alpha debugging is not supported yet.
2355 *** Changes in GDB-4.9:
2359 This is the first GDB release which is accompanied by a matching testsuite.
2360 The testsuite requires installation of dejagnu, which should be available
2361 via ftp from most sites that carry GNU software.
2365 'Cfront' style demangling has had its name changed to 'ARM' style, to
2366 emphasize that it was written from the specifications in the C++ Annotated
2367 Reference Manual, not necessarily to be compatible with AT&T cfront. Despite
2368 disclaimers, it still generated too much confusion with users attempting to
2369 use gdb with AT&T cfront.
2373 GDB now uses a standard remote interface to a simulator library.
2374 So far, the library contains simulators for the Zilog Z8001/2, the
2375 Hitachi H8/300, H8/500 and Super-H.
2377 * New targets supported
2379 H8/300 simulator h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
2380 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
2381 SH simulator sh-hitachi-hms or sh
2382 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
2383 IDT MIPS board over serial line mips-idt-ecoff
2385 Cross-debugging to GO32 targets is supported. It requires a custom
2386 version of the i386-stub.c module which is integrated with the
2387 GO32 memory extender.
2389 * New remote protocols
2391 MIPS remote debugging protocol.
2393 * New source languages supported
2395 This version includes preliminary support for Chill, a Pascal like language
2396 used by telecommunications companies. Chill support is also being integrated
2397 into the GNU compiler, but we don't know when it will be publically available.
2400 *** Changes in GDB-4.8:
2402 * HP Precision Architecture supported
2404 GDB now supports HP PA-RISC machines running HPUX. A preliminary
2405 version of this support was available as a set of patches from the
2406 University of Utah. GDB does not support debugging of programs
2407 compiled with the HP compiler, because HP will not document their file
2408 format. Instead, you must use GCC (version 2.3.2 or later) and PA-GAS
2409 (as available from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist/pa-gas.u4.tar.Z).
2411 Many problems in the preliminary version have been fixed.
2413 * Faster and better demangling
2415 We have improved template demangling and fixed numerous bugs in the GNU style
2416 demangler. It can now handle type modifiers such as `static' or `const'. Wide
2417 character types (wchar_t) are now supported. Demangling of each symbol is now
2418 only done once, and is cached when the symbol table for a file is read in.
2419 This results in a small increase in memory usage for C programs, a moderate
2420 increase in memory usage for C++ programs, and a fantastic speedup in
2423 `Cfront' style demangling still doesn't work with AT&T cfront. It was written
2424 from the specifications in the Annotated Reference Manual, which AT&T's
2425 compiler does not actually implement.
2427 * G++ multiple inheritance compiler problem
2429 In the 2.3.2 release of gcc/g++, how the compiler resolves multiple
2430 inheritance lattices was reworked to properly discover ambiguities. We
2431 recently found an example which causes this new algorithm to fail in a
2432 very subtle way, producing bad debug information for those classes.
2433 The file 'gcc.patch' (in this directory) can be applied to gcc to
2434 circumvent the problem. A future GCC release will contain a complete
2437 The previous G++ debug info problem (mentioned below for the gdb-4.7
2438 release) is fixed in gcc version 2.3.2.
2440 * Improved configure script
2442 The `configure' script will now attempt to guess your system type if
2443 you don't supply a host system type. The old scheme of supplying a
2444 host system triplet is preferable over using this. All the magic is
2445 done in the new `config.guess' script. Examine it for details.
2447 We have also brought our configure script much more in line with the FSF's
2448 version. It now supports the --with-xxx options. In particular,
2449 `--with-minimal-bfd' can be used to make the GDB binary image smaller.
2450 The resulting GDB will not be able to read arbitrary object file formats --
2451 only the format ``expected'' to be used on the configured target system.
2452 We hope to make this the default in a future release.
2454 * Documentation improvements
2456 There's new internal documentation on how to modify GDB, and how to
2457 produce clean changes to the code. We implore people to read it
2458 before submitting changes.
2460 The GDB manual uses new, sexy Texinfo conditionals, rather than arcane
2461 M4 macros. The new texinfo.tex is provided in this release. Pre-built
2462 `info' files are also provided. To build `info' files from scratch,
2463 you will need the latest `makeinfo' release, which will be available in
2464 a future texinfo-X.Y release.
2466 *NOTE* The new texinfo.tex can cause old versions of TeX to hang.
2467 We're not sure exactly which versions have this problem, but it has
2468 been seen in 3.0. We highly recommend upgrading to TeX version 3.141
2469 or better. If that isn't possible, there is a patch in
2470 `texinfo/tex3patch' that will modify `texinfo/texinfo.tex' to work
2471 around this problem.
2475 GDB now supports array constants that can be used in expressions typed in by
2476 the user. The syntax is `{element, element, ...}'. Ie: you can now type
2477 `print {1, 2, 3}', and it will build up an array in memory malloc'd in
2480 The new directory `gdb/sparclite' contains a program that demonstrates
2481 how the sparc-stub.c remote stub runs on a Fujitsu SPARClite processor.
2483 * New native hosts supported
2485 HP/PA-RISC under HPUX using GNU tools hppa1.1-hp-hpux
2486 386 CPUs running SCO Unix 3.2v4 i386-unknown-sco3.2v4
2488 * New targets supported
2490 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi or udi29k
2492 * New file formats supported
2494 BFD now supports reading HP/PA-RISC executables (SOM file format?),
2495 HPUX core files, and SCO 3.2v2 core files.
2499 Attaching to processes now works again; thanks for the many bug reports.
2501 We have also stomped on a bunch of core dumps caused by
2502 printf_filtered("%s") problems.
2504 We eliminated a copyright problem on the rpc and ptrace header files
2505 for VxWorks, which was discovered at the last minute during the 4.7
2506 release. You should now be able to build a VxWorks GDB.
2508 You can now interrupt gdb while an attached process is running. This
2509 will cause the attached process to stop, and give control back to GDB.
2511 We fixed problems caused by using too many file descriptors
2512 for reading symbols from object files and libraries. This was
2513 especially a problem for programs that used many (~100) shared
2516 The `step' command now only enters a subroutine if there is line number
2517 information for the subroutine. Otherwise it acts like the `next'
2518 command. Previously, `step' would enter subroutines if there was
2519 any debugging information about the routine. This avoids problems
2520 when using `cc -g1' on MIPS machines.
2522 * Internal improvements
2524 GDB's internal interfaces have been improved to make it easier to support
2525 debugging of multiple languages in the future.
2527 GDB now uses a common structure for symbol information internally.
2528 Minimal symbols (derived from linkage symbols in object files), partial
2529 symbols (from a quick scan of debug information), and full symbols
2530 contain a common subset of information, making it easier to write
2531 shared code that handles any of them.
2533 * New command line options
2535 We now accept --silent as an alias for --quiet.
2539 The memory-mapped-malloc library is now licensed under the GNU Library
2540 General Public License.
2542 *** Changes in GDB-4.7:
2544 * Host/native/target split
2546 GDB has had some major internal surgery to untangle the support for
2547 hosts and remote targets. Now, when you configure GDB for a remote
2548 target, it will no longer load in all of the support for debugging
2549 local programs on the host. When fully completed and tested, this will
2550 ensure that arbitrary host/target combinations are possible.
2552 The primary conceptual shift is to separate the non-portable code in
2553 GDB into three categories. Host specific code is required any time GDB
2554 is compiled on that host, regardless of the target. Target specific
2555 code relates to the peculiarities of the target, but can be compiled on
2556 any host. Native specific code is everything else: it can only be
2557 built when the host and target are the same system. Child process
2558 handling and core file support are two common `native' examples.
2560 GDB's use of /proc for controlling Unix child processes is now cleaner.
2561 It has been split out into a single module under the `target_ops' vector,
2562 plus two native-dependent functions for each system that uses /proc.
2564 * New hosts supported
2566 HP/Apollo 68k (under the BSD domain) m68k-apollo-bsd or apollo68bsd
2567 386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
2568 386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or i386sco
2570 * New targets supported
2572 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
2573 68030 and CPU32 m68030-*-*, m68332-*-*
2575 * New native hosts supported
2577 386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
2578 (386bsd is not well tested yet)
2579 386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or sco
2581 * New file formats supported
2583 BFD now supports COFF files for the Zilog Z8000 microprocessor. It
2584 supports reading of `a.out.adobe' object files, which are an a.out
2585 format extended with minimal information about multiple sections.
2589 `show copying' is the same as the old `info copying'.
2590 `show warranty' is the same as `info warrantee'.
2591 These were renamed for consistency. The old commands continue to work.
2593 `info handle' is a new alias for `info signals'.
2595 You can now define pre-command hooks, which attach arbitrary command
2596 scripts to any command. The commands in the hook will be executed
2597 prior to the user's command. You can also create a hook which will be
2598 executed whenever the program stops. See gdb.texinfo.
2602 We now deal with Cfront style name mangling, and can even extract type
2603 info from mangled symbols. GDB can automatically figure out which
2604 symbol mangling style your C++ compiler uses.
2606 Calling of methods and virtual functions has been improved as well.
2610 The crash that occured when debugging Sun Ansi-C compiled binaries is
2611 fixed. This was due to mishandling of the extra N_SO stabs output
2614 We also finally got Ultrix 4.2 running in house, and fixed core file
2615 support, with help from a dozen people on the net.
2617 John M. Farrell discovered that the reason that single-stepping was so
2618 slow on all of the Mips based platforms (primarily SGI and DEC) was
2619 that we were trying to demangle and lookup a symbol used for internal
2620 purposes on every instruction that was being stepped through. Changing
2621 the name of that symbol so that it couldn't be mistaken for a C++
2622 mangled symbol sped things up a great deal.
2624 Rich Pixley sped up symbol lookups in general by getting much smarter
2625 about when C++ symbol mangling is necessary. This should make symbol
2626 completion (TAB on the command line) much faster. It's not as fast as
2627 we'd like, but it's significantly faster than gdb-4.6.
2631 A new user controllable variable 'call_scratch_address' can
2632 specify the location of a scratch area to be used when GDB
2633 calls a function in the target. This is necessary because the
2634 usual method of putting the scratch area on the stack does not work
2635 in systems that have separate instruction and data spaces.
2637 We integrated changes to support the 29k UDI (Universal Debugger
2638 Interface), but discovered at the last minute that we didn't have all
2639 of the appropriate copyright paperwork. We are working with AMD to
2640 resolve this, and hope to have it available soon.
2644 We have sped up the remote serial line protocol, especially for targets
2645 with lots of registers. It now supports a new `expedited status' ('T')
2646 message which can be used in place of the existing 'S' status message.
2647 This allows the remote stub to send only the registers that GDB
2648 needs to make a quick decision about single-stepping or conditional
2649 breakpoints, eliminating the need to fetch the entire register set for
2650 each instruction being stepped through.
2652 The GDB remote serial protocol now implements a write-through cache for
2653 registers, only re-reading the registers if the target has run.
2655 There is also a new remote serial stub for SPARC processors. You can
2656 find it in gdb-4.7/gdb/sparc-stub.c. This was written to support the
2657 Fujitsu SPARClite processor, but will run on any stand-alone SPARC
2658 processor with a serial port.
2662 Configure.in files have become much easier to read and modify. A new
2663 `table driven' format makes it more obvious what configurations are
2664 supported, and what files each one uses.
2668 There is a new opcodes library which will eventually contain all of the
2669 disassembly routines and opcode tables. At present, it only contains
2670 Sparc and Z8000 routines. This will allow the assembler, debugger, and
2671 disassembler (binutils/objdump) to share these routines.
2673 The libiberty library is now copylefted under the GNU Library General
2674 Public License. This allows more liberal use, and was done so libg++
2675 can use it. This makes no difference to GDB, since the Library License
2676 grants all the rights from the General Public License.
2680 The file gdb-4.7/gdb/doc/stabs.texinfo is a (relatively) complete
2681 reference to the stabs symbol info used by the debugger. It is (as far
2682 as we know) the only published document on this fascinating topic. We
2683 encourage you to read it, compare it to the stabs information on your
2684 system, and send improvements on the document in general (to
2685 bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu).
2687 And, of course, many bugs have been fixed.
2690 *** Changes in GDB-4.6:
2692 * Better support for C++ function names
2694 GDB now accepts as input the "demangled form" of C++ overloaded function
2695 names and member function names, and can do command completion on such names
2696 (using TAB, TAB-TAB, and ESC-?). The names have to be quoted with a pair of
2697 single quotes. Examples are 'func (int, long)' and 'obj::operator==(obj&)'.
2698 Make use of command completion, it is your friend.
2700 GDB also now accepts a variety of C++ mangled symbol formats. They are
2701 the GNU g++ style, the Cfront (ARM) style, and the Lucid (lcc) style.
2702 You can tell GDB which format to use by doing a 'set demangle-style {gnu,
2703 lucid, cfront, auto}'. 'gnu' is the default. Do a 'set demangle-style foo'
2704 for the list of formats.
2706 * G++ symbol mangling problem
2708 Recent versions of gcc have a bug in how they emit debugging information for
2709 C++ methods (when using dbx-style stabs). The file 'gcc.patch' (in this
2710 directory) can be applied to gcc to fix the problem. Alternatively, if you
2711 can't fix gcc, you can #define GCC_MANGLE_BUG when compling gdb/symtab.c. The
2712 usual symptom is difficulty with setting breakpoints on methods. GDB complains
2713 about the method being non-existent. (We believe that version 2.2.2 of GCC has
2716 * New 'maintenance' command
2718 All of the commands related to hacking GDB internals have been moved out of
2719 the main command set, and now live behind the 'maintenance' command. This
2720 can also be abbreviated as 'mt'. The following changes were made:
2722 dump-me -> maintenance dump-me
2723 info all-breakpoints -> maintenance info breakpoints
2724 printmsyms -> maintenance print msyms
2725 printobjfiles -> maintenance print objfiles
2726 printpsyms -> maintenance print psymbols
2727 printsyms -> maintenance print symbols
2729 The following commands are new:
2731 maintenance demangle Call internal GDB demangler routine to
2732 demangle a C++ link name and prints the result.
2733 maintenance print type Print a type chain for a given symbol
2735 * Change to .gdbinit file processing
2737 We now read the $HOME/.gdbinit file before processing the argv arguments
2738 (e.g. reading symbol files or core files). This allows global parameters to
2739 be set, which will apply during the symbol reading. The ./.gdbinit is still
2740 read after argv processing.
2742 * New hosts supported
2744 Solaris-2.0 !!! sparc-sun-solaris2 or sun4sol2
2746 GNU/Linux support i386-unknown-linux or linux
2748 We are also including code to support the HP/PA running BSD and HPUX. This
2749 is almost guaranteed not to work, as we didn't have time to test or build it
2750 for this release. We are including it so that the more adventurous (or
2751 masochistic) of you can play with it. We also had major problems with the
2752 fact that the compiler that we got from HP doesn't support the -g option.
2755 * New targets supported
2757 Hitachi H8/300 h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
2759 * More smarts about finding #include files
2761 GDB now remembers the compilation directory for all include files, and for
2762 all files from which C is generated (like yacc and lex sources). This
2763 greatly improves GDB's ability to find yacc/lex sources, and include files,
2764 especially if you are debugging your program from a directory different from
2765 the one that contains your sources.
2767 We also fixed a bug which caused difficulty with listing and setting
2768 breakpoints in include files which contain C code. (In the past, you had to
2769 try twice in order to list an include file that you hadn't looked at before.)
2771 * Interesting infernals change
2773 GDB now deals with arbitrary numbers of sections, where the symbols for each
2774 section must be relocated relative to that section's landing place in the
2775 target's address space. This work was needed to support ELF with embedded
2776 stabs used by Solaris-2.0.
2778 * Bug fixes (of course!)
2780 There have been loads of fixes for the following things:
2781 mips, rs6000, 29k/udi, m68k, g++, type handling, elf/dwarf, m88k,
2782 i960, stabs, DOS(GO32), procfs, etc...
2784 See the ChangeLog for details.
2786 *** Changes in GDB-4.5:
2788 * New machines supported (host and target)
2790 IBM RS6000 running AIX rs6000-ibm-aix or rs6000
2792 SGI Irix-4.x mips-sgi-irix4 or iris4
2794 * New malloc package
2796 GDB now uses a new memory manager called mmalloc, based on gmalloc.
2797 Mmalloc is capable of handling mutiple heaps of memory. It is also
2798 capable of saving a heap to a file, and then mapping it back in later.
2799 This can be used to greatly speedup the startup of GDB by using a
2800 pre-parsed symbol table which lives in a mmalloc managed heap. For
2801 more details, please read mmalloc/mmalloc.texi.
2805 The 'info proc' command (SVR4 only) has been enhanced quite a bit. See
2806 'help info proc' for details.
2808 * MIPS ecoff symbol table format
2810 The code that reads MIPS symbol table format is now supported on all hosts.
2811 Thanks to MIPS for releasing the sym.h and symconst.h files to make this
2814 * File name changes for MS-DOS
2816 Many files in the config directories have been renamed to make it easier to
2817 support GDB on MS-DOSe systems (which have very restrictive file name
2818 conventions :-( ). MS-DOSe host support (under DJ Delorie's GO32
2819 environment) is close to working but has some remaining problems. Note
2820 that debugging of DOS programs is not supported, due to limitations
2821 in the ``operating system'', but it can be used to host cross-debugging.
2823 * Cross byte order fixes
2825 Many fixes have been made to support cross debugging of Sparc and MIPS
2826 targets from hosts whose byte order differs.
2828 * New -mapped and -readnow options
2830 If memory-mapped files are available on your system through the 'mmap'
2831 system call, you can use the -mapped option on the `file' or
2832 `symbol-file' commands to cause GDB to write the symbols from your
2833 program into a reusable file. If the program you are debugging is
2834 called `/path/fred', the mapped symbol file will be `./fred.syms'.
2835 Future GDB debugging sessions will notice the presence of this file,
2836 and will quickly map in symbol information from it, rather than reading
2837 the symbol table from the executable program. Using the '-mapped'
2838 option in a GDB `file' or `symbol-file' command has the same effect as
2839 starting GDB with the '-mapped' command-line option.
2841 You can cause GDB to read the entire symbol table immediately by using
2842 the '-readnow' option with any of the commands that load symbol table
2843 information (or on the GDB command line). This makes the command
2844 slower, but makes future operations faster.
2846 The -mapped and -readnow options are typically combined in order to
2847 build a `fred.syms' file that contains complete symbol information.
2848 A simple GDB invocation to do nothing but build a `.syms' file for future
2851 gdb -batch -nx -mapped -readnow programname
2853 The `.syms' file is specific to the host machine on which GDB is run.
2854 It holds an exact image of GDB's internal symbol table. It cannot be
2855 shared across multiple host platforms.
2857 * longjmp() handling
2859 GDB is now capable of stepping and nexting over longjmp(), _longjmp(), and
2860 siglongjmp() without losing control. This feature has not yet been ported to
2861 all systems. It currently works on many 386 platforms, all MIPS-based
2862 platforms (SGI, DECstation, etc), and Sun3/4.
2866 Preliminary work has been put in to support the new Solaris OS from Sun. At
2867 this time, it can control and debug processes, but it is not capable of
2872 As always, many many bug fixes. The major areas were with g++, and mipsread.
2873 People using the MIPS-based platforms should experience fewer mysterious
2874 crashes and trashed symbol tables.
2876 *** Changes in GDB-4.4:
2878 * New machines supported (host and target)
2880 SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
2882 BSD Reno on Vax vax-dec-bsd
2883 Ultrix on Vax vax-dec-ultrix
2885 * New machines supported (target)
2887 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
2891 GDB continues to improve its handling of C++. `References' work better.
2892 The demangler has also been improved, and now deals with symbols mangled as
2893 per the Annotated C++ Reference Guide.
2895 GDB also now handles `stabs' symbol information embedded in MIPS
2896 `ecoff' symbol tables. Since the ecoff format was not easily
2897 extensible to handle new languages such as C++, this appeared to be a
2898 good way to put C++ debugging info into MIPS binaries. This option
2899 will be supported in the GNU C compiler, version 2, when it is
2902 * New features for SVR4
2904 GDB now handles SVR4 shared libraries, in the same fashion as SunOS
2905 shared libraries. Debugging dynamically linked programs should present
2906 only minor differences from debugging statically linked programs.
2908 The `info proc' command will print out information about any process
2909 on an SVR4 system (including the one you are debugging). At the moment,
2910 it prints the address mappings of the process.
2912 If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please send mail to
2913 bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were reqired (if any).
2915 * Better dynamic linking support in SunOS
2917 Reading symbols from shared libraries which contain debugging symbols
2918 now works properly. However, there remain issues such as automatic
2919 skipping of `transfer vector' code during function calls, which
2920 make it harder to debug code in a shared library, than to debug the
2921 same code linked statically.
2925 GDB is now using the latest `getopt' routines from the FSF. This
2926 version accepts the -- prefix for options with long names. GDB will
2927 continue to accept the old forms (-option and +option) as well.
2928 Various single letter abbreviations for options have been explicity
2929 added to the option table so that they won't get overshadowed in the
2930 future by other options that begin with the same letter.
2934 The `cleanup_undefined_types' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
2935 Many assorted bugs have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
2936 See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
2939 *** Changes in GDB-4.3:
2941 * New machines supported (host and target)
2943 Amiga 3000 running Amix m68k-cbm-svr4 or amix
2944 NCR 3000 386 running SVR4 i386-ncr-svr4 or ncr3000
2945 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
2947 * Almost SCO Unix support
2949 We had hoped to support:
2950 SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
2951 (except for core file support), but we discovered very late in the release
2952 that it has problems with process groups that render gdb unusable. Sorry
2953 about that. I encourage people to fix it and post the fixes.
2955 * Preliminary ELF and DWARF support
2957 GDB can read ELF object files on System V Release 4, and can handle
2958 debugging records for C, in DWARF format, in ELF files. This support
2959 is preliminary. If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please
2960 send mail to bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were
2965 GDB now uses the latest `readline' library. One user-visible change
2966 is that two tabs will list possible command completions, which previously
2967 required typing M-? (meta-question mark, or ESC ?).
2971 The `stepi' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
2972 Many bugs in C++ have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
2973 See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
2975 * State of the MIPS world (in case you wondered):
2977 GDB can understand the symbol tables emitted by the compilers
2978 supplied by most vendors of MIPS-based machines, including DEC. These
2979 symbol tables are in a format that essentially nobody else uses.
2981 Some versions of gcc come with an assembler post-processor called
2982 mips-tfile. This program is required if you want to do source-level
2983 debugging of gcc-compiled programs. I believe FSF does not ship
2984 mips-tfile with gcc version 1, but it will eventually come with gcc
2987 Debugging of g++ output remains a problem. g++ version 1.xx does not
2988 really support it at all. (If you're lucky, you should be able to get
2989 line numbers and stack traces to work, but no parameters or local
2990 variables.) With some work it should be possible to improve the
2993 When gcc version 2 is released, you will have somewhat better luck.
2994 However, even then you will get confusing results for inheritance and
2997 We will eventually provide full debugging of g++ output on
2998 DECstations. This will probably involve some kind of stabs-in-ecoff
2999 encapulation, but the details have not been worked out yet.
3002 *** Changes in GDB-4.2:
3004 * Improved configuration
3006 Only one copy of `configure' exists now, and it is not self-modifying.
3007 Porting BFD is simpler.
3011 The `step' and `next' commands now only stop at the first instruction
3012 of a source line. This prevents the multiple stops that used to occur
3013 in switch statements, for-loops, etc. `Step' continues to stop if a
3014 function that has debugging information is called within the line.
3018 Lots of small bugs fixed. More remain.
3020 * New host supported (not target)
3022 Intel 386 PC clone running Mach i386-none-mach
3025 *** Changes in GDB-4.1:
3027 * Multiple source language support
3029 GDB now has internal scaffolding to handle several source languages.
3030 It determines the type of each source file from its filename extension,
3031 and will switch expression parsing and number formatting to match the
3032 language of the function in the currently selected stack frame.
3033 You can also specifically set the language to be used, with
3034 `set language c' or `set language modula-2'.
3038 GDB now has preliminary support for the GNU Modula-2 compiler,
3039 currently under development at the State University of New York at
3040 Buffalo. Development of both GDB and the GNU Modula-2 compiler will
3041 continue through the fall of 1991 and into 1992.
3043 Other Modula-2 compilers are currently not supported, and attempting to
3044 debug programs compiled with them will likely result in an error as the
3045 symbol table is read. Feel free to work on it, though!
3047 There are hooks in GDB for strict type checking and range checking,
3048 in the `Modula-2 philosophy', but they do not currently work.
3052 GDB can now write to executable and core files (e.g. patch
3053 a variable's value). You must turn this switch on, specify
3054 the file ("exec foo" or "core foo"), *then* modify it, e.g.
3055 by assigning a new value to a variable. Modifications take
3058 * Automatic SunOS shared library reading
3060 When you run your program, GDB automatically determines where its
3061 shared libraries (if any) have been loaded, and reads their symbols.
3062 The `share' command is no longer needed. This also works when
3063 examining core files.
3067 You can specify the number of lines that the `list' command shows.
3070 * New machines supported (host and target)
3072 SGI Iris (MIPS) running Irix V3: mips-sgi-irix or iris
3073 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x: m68k-sony-sysv or news
3074 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1: a29k-nyu-sym1 or ultra3
3076 * New hosts supported (not targets)
3078 IBM RT/PC: romp-ibm-aix or rtpc
3080 * New targets supported (not hosts)
3082 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
3083 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
3084 Ultracomputer remote kernel debug a29k-nyu-kern
3086 * New remote interfaces
3092 *** Changes in GDB-4.0:
3096 Wide output is wrapped at good places to make the output more readable.
3098 Gdb now supports cross-debugging from a host machine of one type to a
3099 target machine of another type. Communication with the target system
3100 is over serial lines. The ``target'' command handles connecting to the
3101 remote system; the ``load'' command will download a program into the
3102 remote system. Serial stubs for the m68k and i386 are provided. Gdb
3103 also supports debugging of realtime processes running under VxWorks,
3104 using SunRPC Remote Procedure Calls over TCP/IP to talk to a debugger
3105 stub on the target system.
3107 New CPUs supported include the AMD 29000 and Intel 960.
3109 GDB now reads object files and symbol tables via a ``binary file''
3110 library, which allows a single copy of GDB to debug programs of multiple
3111 object file types such as a.out and coff.
3113 There is now a GDB reference card in "doc/refcard.tex". (Make targets
3114 refcard.dvi and refcard.ps are available to format it).
3117 * Control-Variable user interface simplified
3119 All variables that control the operation of the debugger can be set
3120 by the ``set'' command, and displayed by the ``show'' command.
3122 For example, ``set prompt new-gdb=>'' will change your prompt to new-gdb=>.
3123 ``Show prompt'' produces the response:
3124 Gdb's prompt is new-gdb=>.
3126 What follows are the NEW set commands. The command ``help set'' will
3127 print a complete list of old and new set commands. ``help set FOO''
3128 will give a longer description of the variable FOO. ``show'' will show
3129 all of the variable descriptions and their current settings.
3131 confirm on/off: Enables warning questions for operations that are
3132 hard to recover from, e.g. rerunning the program while
3133 it is already running. Default is ON.
3135 editing on/off: Enables EMACS style command line editing
3136 of input. Previous lines can be recalled with
3137 control-P, the current line can be edited with control-B,
3138 you can search for commands with control-R, etc.
3141 history filename NAME: NAME is where the gdb command history
3142 will be stored. The default is .gdb_history,
3143 or the value of the environment variable
3146 history size N: The size, in commands, of the command history. The
3147 default is 256, or the value of the environment variable
3150 history save on/off: If this value is set to ON, the history file will
3151 be saved after exiting gdb. If set to OFF, the
3152 file will not be saved. The default is OFF.
3154 history expansion on/off: If this value is set to ON, then csh-like
3155 history expansion will be performed on
3156 command line input. The default is OFF.
3158 radix N: Sets the default radix for input and output. It can be set
3159 to 8, 10, or 16. Note that the argument to "radix" is interpreted
3160 in the current radix, so "set radix 10" is always a no-op.
3162 height N: This integer value is the number of lines on a page. Default
3163 is 24, the current `stty rows'' setting, or the ``li#''
3164 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
3167 width N: This integer value is the number of characters on a line.
3168 Default is 80, the current `stty cols'' setting, or the ``co#''
3169 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
3172 Note: ``set screensize'' is obsolete. Use ``set height'' and
3173 ``set width'' instead.
3175 print address on/off: Print memory addresses in various command displays,
3176 such as stack traces and structure values. Gdb looks
3177 more ``symbolic'' if you turn this off; it looks more
3178 ``machine level'' with it on. Default is ON.
3180 print array on/off: Prettyprint arrays. New convenient format! Default
3183 print demangle on/off: Print C++ symbols in "source" form if on,
3186 print asm-demangle on/off: Same, for assembler level printouts
3189 print vtbl on/off: Prettyprint C++ virtual function tables. Default is OFF.
3192 * Support for Epoch Environment.
3194 The epoch environment is a version of Emacs v18 with windowing. One
3195 new command, ``inspect'', is identical to ``print'', except that if you
3196 are running in the epoch environment, the value is printed in its own
3200 * Support for Shared Libraries
3202 GDB can now debug programs and core files that use SunOS shared libraries.
3203 Symbols from a shared library cannot be referenced
3204 before the shared library has been linked with the program (this
3205 happens after you type ``run'' and before the function main() is entered).
3206 At any time after this linking (including when examining core files
3207 from dynamically linked programs), gdb reads the symbols from each
3208 shared library when you type the ``sharedlibrary'' command.
3209 It can be abbreviated ``share''.
3211 sharedlibrary REGEXP: Load shared object library symbols for files
3212 matching a unix regular expression. No argument
3213 indicates to load symbols for all shared libraries.
3215 info sharedlibrary: Status of loaded shared libraries.
3220 A watchpoint stops execution of a program whenever the value of an
3221 expression changes. Checking for this slows down execution
3222 tremendously whenever you are in the scope of the expression, but is
3223 quite useful for catching tough ``bit-spreader'' or pointer misuse
3224 problems. Some machines such as the 386 have hardware for doing this
3225 more quickly, and future versions of gdb will use this hardware.
3227 watch EXP: Set a watchpoint (breakpoint) for an expression.
3229 info watchpoints: Information about your watchpoints.
3231 delete N: Deletes watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
3232 disable N: Temporarily turns off watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
3233 enable N: Re-enables watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
3236 * C++ multiple inheritance
3238 When used with a GCC version 2 compiler, GDB supports multiple inheritance
3241 * C++ exception handling
3243 Gdb now supports limited C++ exception handling. Besides the existing
3244 ability to breakpoint on an exception handler, gdb can breakpoint on
3245 the raising of an exception (before the stack is peeled back to the
3248 catch FOO: If there is a FOO exception handler in the dynamic scope,
3249 set a breakpoint to catch exceptions which may be raised there.
3250 Multiple exceptions (``catch foo bar baz'') may be caught.
3252 info catch: Lists all exceptions which may be caught in the
3253 current stack frame.
3256 * Minor command changes
3258 The command ``call func (arg, arg, ...)'' now acts like the print
3259 command, except it does not print or save a value if the function's result
3260 is void. This is similar to dbx usage.
3262 The ``up'' and ``down'' commands now always print the frame they end up
3263 at; ``up-silently'' and `down-silently'' can be used in scripts to change
3264 frames without printing.
3266 * New directory command
3268 'dir' now adds directories to the FRONT of the source search path.
3269 The path starts off empty. Source files that contain debug information
3270 about the directory in which they were compiled can be found even
3271 with an empty path; Sun CC and GCC include this information. If GDB can't
3272 find your source file in the current directory, type "dir .".
3274 * Configuring GDB for compilation
3276 For normal use, type ``./configure host''. See README or gdb.texinfo
3279 GDB now handles cross debugging. If you are remotely debugging between
3280 two different machines, type ``./configure host -target=targ''.
3281 Host is the machine where GDB will run; targ is the machine
3282 where the program that you are debugging will run.
projects / binutils-gdb.git / blob