gdb/
[binutils-gdb.git] / gdb / NEWS
1 What has changed in GDB?
2 (Organized release by release)
3
4 *** Changes since GDB 7.0
5
6 * New targets
7
8 Xilinx MicroBlaze microblaze-*-*
9 Renesas RX rx-*-elf
10
11 * New Simulators
12
13 Xilinx MicroBlaze microblaze
14 Renesas RX rx
15
16 * Multi-program debugging.
17
18 GDB now has support for multi-program (a.k.a. multi-executable or
19 multi-exec) debugging. This allows for debugging multiple inferiors
20 simultaneously each running a different program under the same GDB
21 session. See "Debugging Multiple Inferiors and Programs" in the
22 manual for more information. This implied some user visible changes
23 in the multi-inferior support. For example, "info inferiors" now
24 lists inferiors that are not running yet or that have exited
25 already. See also "New commands" and "New options" below.
26
27 * New tracing features
28
29 GDB's tracepoint facility now includes several new features:
30
31 ** Trace state variables
32
33 GDB tracepoints now include support for trace state variables, which
34 are variables managed by the target agent during a tracing
35 experiment. They are useful for tracepoints that trigger each
36 other, so for instance one tracepoint can count hits in a variable,
37 and then a second tracepoint has a condition that is true when the
38 count reaches a particular value. Trace state variables share the
39 $-syntax of GDB convenience variables, and can appear in both
40 tracepoint actions and condition expressions. Use the "tvariable"
41 command to create, and "info tvariables" to view; see "Trace State
42 Variables" in the manual for more detail.
43
44 ** Fast tracepoints
45
46 GDB now includes an option for defining fast tracepoints, which
47 targets may implement more efficiently, such as by installing a jump
48 into the target agent rather than a trap instruction. The resulting
49 speedup can be by two orders of magnitude or more, although the
50 tradeoff is that some program locations on some target architectures
51 might not allow fast tracepoint installation, for instance if the
52 instruction to be replaced is shorter than the jump. To request a
53 fast tracepoint, use the "ftrace" command, with syntax identical to
54 the regular trace command.
55
56 ** Disconnected tracing
57
58 It is now possible to detach GDB from the target while it is running
59 a trace experiment, then reconnect later to see how the experiment
60 is going. In addition, a new variable disconnected-tracing lets you
61 tell the target agent whether to continue running a trace if the
62 connection is lost unexpectedly.
63
64 * Changed commands
65
66 disassemble
67 The disassemble command, when invoked with two arguments, now requires
68 the arguments to be comma-separated.
69
70 info variables
71 The info variables command now displays variable definitions. Files
72 which only declare a variable are not shown.
73
74 * New commands (for set/show, see "New options" below)
75
76 record save [<FILENAME>]
77 Save a file (in core file format) containing the process record
78 execution log for replay debugging at a later time.
79
80 record restore <FILENAME>
81 Restore the process record execution log that was saved at an
82 earlier time, for replay debugging.
83
84 add-inferior [-copies <N>] [-exec <FILENAME>]
85 Add a new inferior.
86
87 clone-inferior [-copies <N>] [ID]
88 Make a new inferior ready to execute the same program another
89 inferior has loaded.
90
91 remove-inferior ID
92 Remove an inferior.
93
94 maint info program-spaces
95 List the program spaces loaded into GDB.
96
97 set remote interrupt-sequence [Ctrl-C | BREAK | BREAK-g]
98 show remote interrupt-sequence
99 Allow the user to select one of ^C, a BREAK signal or BREAK-g
100 as the sequence to the remote target in order to interrupt the execution.
101 Ctrl-C is a default. Some system prefers BREAK which is high level of
102 serial line for some certain time. Linux kernel prefers BREAK-g, a.k.a
103 Magic SysRq g. It is BREAK signal and character 'g'.
104
105 set remote interrupt-on-connect [on | off]
106 show remote interrupt-on-connect
107 When interrupt-on-connect is ON, gdb sends interrupt-sequence to
108 remote target when gdb connects to it. This is needed when you debug
109 Linux kernel.
110
111 set remotebreak [on | off]
112 show remotebreak
113 Deprecated. Use "set/show remote interrupt-sequence" instead.
114
115 tvariable $NAME [ = EXP ]
116 Create or modify a trace state variable.
117
118 info tvariables
119 List trace state variables and their values.
120
121 delete tvariable $NAME ...
122 Delete one or more trace state variables.
123
124 teval EXPR, ...
125 Evaluate the given expressions without collecting anything into the
126 trace buffer. (Valid in tracepoint actions only.)
127
128 ftrace FN / FILE:LINE / *ADDR
129 Define a fast tracepoint at the given function, line, or address.
130
131 * New expression syntax
132
133 GDB now parses the 0b prefix of binary numbers the same way as GCC does.
134 GDB now parses 0b101010 identically with 42.
135
136 * New options
137
138 set follow-exec-mode new|same
139 show follow-exec-mode
140 Control whether GDB reuses the same inferior across an exec call or
141 creates a new one. This is useful to be able to restart the old
142 executable after the inferior having done an exec call.
143
144 set default-collect EXPR, ...
145 show default-collect
146 Define a list of expressions to be collected at each tracepoint.
147 This is a useful way to ensure essential items are not overlooked,
148 such as registers or a critical global variable.
149
150 set disconnected-tracing
151 show disconnected-tracing
152 If set to 1, the target is instructed to continue tracing if it
153 loses its connection to GDB. If 0, the target is to stop tracing
154 upon disconnection.
155
156 * New remote packets
157
158 QTDV
159 Define a trace state variable.
160
161 qTV
162 Get the current value of a trace state variable.
163
164 QTDisconnected
165 Set desired tracing behavior upon disconnection.
166
167 qTfP, qTsP
168 Get data about the tracepoints currently in use.
169
170 * Bug fixes
171
172 Process record now works correctly with hardware watchpoints.
173
174 Multiple bug fixes have been made to the mips-irix port, making it
175 much more reliable. In particular:
176 - Debugging threaded applications is now possible again. Previously,
177 GDB would hang while starting the program, or while waiting for
178 the program to stop at a breakpoint.
179 - Attaching to a running process no longer hangs.
180 - An error occurring while loading a core file has been fixed.
181 - Changing the value of the PC register now works again. This fixes
182 problems observed when using the "jump" command, or when calling
183 a function from GDB, or even when assigning a new value to $pc.
184 - With the "finish" and "return" commands, the return value for functions
185 returning a small array is now correctly printed.
186 - It is now possible to break on shared library code which gets executed
187 during a shared library init phase (code executed while executing
188 their .init section). Previously, the breakpoint would have no effect.
189 - GDB is now able to backtrace through the signal handler for
190 non-threaded programs.
191
192 PIE (Position Independent Executable) programs debugging is now supported.
193 This includes debugging execution of PIC (Position Independent Code) shared
194 libraries although for that, it should be possible to run such libraries as an
195 executable program.
196
197 *** Changes in GDB 7.0
198
199 * GDB now has an interface for JIT compilation. Applications that
200 dynamically generate code can create symbol files in memory and register
201 them with GDB. For users, the feature should work transparently, and
202 for JIT developers, the interface is documented in the GDB manual in the
203 "JIT Compilation Interface" chapter.
204
205 * Tracepoints may now be conditional. The syntax is as for
206 breakpoints; either an "if" clause appended to the "trace" command,
207 or the "condition" command is available. GDB sends the condition to
208 the target for evaluation using the same bytecode format as is used
209 for tracepoint actions.
210
211 * "disassemble" command with a /r modifier, print the raw instructions
212 in hex as well as in symbolic form."
213
214 * Process record and replay
215
216 In a architecture environment that supports ``process record and
217 replay'', ``process record and replay'' target can record a log of
218 the process execution, and replay it with both forward and reverse
219 execute commands.
220
221 * Reverse debugging: GDB now has new commands reverse-continue, reverse-
222 step, reverse-next, reverse-finish, reverse-stepi, reverse-nexti, and
223 set execution-direction {forward|reverse}, for targets that support
224 reverse execution.
225
226 * GDB now supports hardware watchpoints on MIPS/Linux systems. This
227 feature is available with a native GDB running on kernel version
228 2.6.28 or later.
229
230 * GDB now has support for multi-byte and wide character sets on the
231 target. Strings whose character type is wchar_t, char16_t, or
232 char32_t are now correctly printed. GDB supports wide- and unicode-
233 literals in C, that is, L'x', L"string", u'x', u"string", U'x', and
234 U"string" syntax. And, GDB allows the "%ls" and "%lc" formats in
235 `printf'. This feature requires iconv to work properly; if your
236 system does not have a working iconv, GDB can use GNU libiconv. See
237 the installation instructions for more information.
238
239 * GDB now supports automatic retrieval of shared library files from
240 remote targets. To use this feature, specify a system root that begins
241 with the `remote:' prefix, either via the `set sysroot' command or via
242 the `--with-sysroot' configure-time option.
243
244 * "info sharedlibrary" now takes an optional regex of libraries to show,
245 and it now reports if a shared library has no debugging information.
246
247 * Commands `set debug-file-directory', `set solib-search-path' and `set args'
248 now complete on file names.
249
250 * When completing in expressions, gdb will attempt to limit
251 completions to allowable structure or union fields, where appropriate.
252 For instance, consider:
253
254 # struct example { int f1; double f2; };
255 # struct example variable;
256 (gdb) p variable.
257
258 If the user types TAB at the end of this command line, the available
259 completions will be "f1" and "f2".
260
261 * Inlined functions are now supported. They show up in backtraces, and
262 the "step", "next", and "finish" commands handle them automatically.
263
264 * GDB now supports the token-splicing (##) and stringification (#)
265 operators when expanding macros. It also supports variable-arity
266 macros.
267
268 * GDB now supports inspecting extra signal information, exported by
269 the new $_siginfo convenience variable. The feature is currently
270 implemented on linux ARM, i386 and amd64.
271
272 * GDB can now display the VFP floating point registers and NEON vector
273 registers on ARM targets. Both ARM GNU/Linux native GDB and gdbserver
274 can provide these registers (requires Linux 2.6.30 or later). Remote
275 and simulator targets may also provide them.
276
277 * New remote packets
278
279 qSearch:memory:
280 Search memory for a sequence of bytes.
281
282 QStartNoAckMode
283 Turn off `+'/`-' protocol acknowledgments to permit more efficient
284 operation over reliable transport links. Use of this packet is
285 controlled by the `set remote noack-packet' command.
286
287 vKill
288 Kill the process with the specified process ID. Use this in preference
289 to `k' when multiprocess protocol extensions are supported.
290
291 qXfer:osdata:read
292 Obtains additional operating system information
293
294 qXfer:siginfo:read
295 qXfer:siginfo:write
296 Read or write additional signal information.
297
298 * Removed remote protocol undocumented extension
299
300 An undocumented extension to the remote protocol's `S' stop reply
301 packet that permited the stub to pass a process id was removed.
302 Remote servers should use the `T' stop reply packet instead.
303
304 * The "disassemble" command now supports an optional /m modifier to print mixed
305 source+assembly.
306
307 * GDB now supports multiple function calling conventions according to the
308 DWARF-2 DW_AT_calling_convention function attribute.
309
310 * The SH target utilizes the aforementioned change to distinguish between gcc
311 and Renesas calling convention. It also adds the new CLI commands
312 `set/show sh calling-convention'.
313
314 * GDB can now read compressed debug sections, as produced by GNU gold
315 with the --compress-debug-sections=zlib flag.
316
317 * 64-bit core files are now supported on AIX.
318
319 * Thread switching is now supported on Tru64.
320
321 * Watchpoints can now be set on unreadable memory locations, e.g. addresses
322 which will be allocated using malloc later in program execution.
323
324 * The qXfer:libraries:read remote procotol packet now allows passing a
325 list of section offsets.
326
327 * On GNU/Linux, GDB can now attach to stopped processes. Several race
328 conditions handling signals delivered during attach or thread creation
329 have also been fixed.
330
331 * GDB now supports the use of DWARF boolean types for Ada's type Boolean.
332 From the user's standpoint, all unqualified instances of True and False
333 are treated as the standard definitions, regardless of context.
334
335 * GDB now parses C++ symbol and type names more flexibly. For
336 example, given:
337
338 template<typename T> class C { };
339 C<char const *> c;
340
341 GDB will now correctly handle all of:
342
343 ptype C<char const *>
344 ptype C<char const*>
345 ptype C<const char *>
346 ptype C<const char*>
347
348 * New features in the GDB remote stub, gdbserver
349
350 - The "--wrapper" command-line argument tells gdbserver to use a
351 wrapper program to launch programs for debugging.
352
353 - On PowerPC and S/390 targets, it is now possible to use a single
354 gdbserver executable to debug both 32-bit and 64-bit programs.
355 (This requires gdbserver itself to be built as a 64-bit executable.)
356
357 - gdbserver uses the new noack protocol mode for TCP connections to
358 reduce communications latency, if also supported and enabled in GDB.
359
360 - Support for the sparc64-linux-gnu target is now included in
361 gdbserver.
362
363 - The amd64-linux build of gdbserver now supports debugging both
364 32-bit and 64-bit programs.
365
366 - The i386-linux, amd64-linux, and i386-win32 builds of gdbserver
367 now support hardware watchpoints, and will use them automatically
368 as appropriate.
369
370 * Python scripting
371
372 GDB now has support for scripting using Python. Whether this is
373 available is determined at configure time.
374
375 New GDB commands can now be written in Python.
376
377 * Ada tasking support
378
379 Ada tasks can now be inspected in GDB. The following commands have
380 been introduced:
381
382 info tasks
383 Print the list of Ada tasks.
384 info task N
385 Print detailed information about task number N.
386 task
387 Print the task number of the current task.
388 task N
389 Switch the context of debugging to task number N.
390
391 * Support for user-defined prefixed commands. The "define" command can
392 add new commands to existing prefixes, e.g. "target".
393
394 * Multi-inferior, multi-process debugging.
395
396 GDB now has generalized support for multi-inferior debugging. See
397 "Debugging Multiple Inferiors" in the manual for more information.
398 Although availability still depends on target support, the command
399 set is more uniform now. The GNU/Linux specific multi-forks support
400 has been migrated to this new framework. This implied some user
401 visible changes; see "New commands" and also "Removed commands"
402 below.
403
404 * Target descriptions can now describe the target OS ABI. See the
405 "Target Description Format" section in the user manual for more
406 information.
407
408 * Target descriptions can now describe "compatible" architectures
409 to indicate that the target can execute applications for a different
410 architecture in addition to those for the main target architecture.
411 See the "Target Description Format" section in the user manual for
412 more information.
413
414 * Multi-architecture debugging.
415
416 GDB now includes general supports for debugging applications on
417 hybrid systems that use more than one single processor architecture
418 at the same time. Each such hybrid architecture still requires
419 specific support to be added. The only hybrid architecture supported
420 in this version of GDB is the Cell Broadband Engine.
421
422 * GDB now supports integrated debugging of Cell/B.E. applications that
423 use both the PPU and SPU architectures. To enable support for hybrid
424 Cell/B.E. debugging, you need to configure GDB to support both the
425 powerpc-linux or powerpc64-linux and the spu-elf targets, using the
426 --enable-targets configure option.
427
428 * Non-stop mode debugging.
429
430 For some targets, GDB now supports an optional mode of operation in
431 which you can examine stopped threads while other threads continue
432 to execute freely. This is referred to as non-stop mode, with the
433 old mode referred to as all-stop mode. See the "Non-Stop Mode"
434 section in the user manual for more information.
435
436 To be able to support remote non-stop debugging, a remote stub needs
437 to implement the non-stop mode remote protocol extensions, as
438 described in the "Remote Non-Stop" section of the user manual. The
439 GDB remote stub, gdbserver, has been adjusted to support these
440 extensions on linux targets.
441
442 * New commands (for set/show, see "New options" below)
443
444 catch syscall [NAME(S) | NUMBER(S)]
445 Catch system calls. Arguments, which should be names of system
446 calls or their numbers, mean catch only those syscalls. Without
447 arguments, every syscall will be caught. When the inferior issues
448 any of the specified syscalls, GDB will stop and announce the system
449 call, both when it is called and when its call returns. This
450 feature is currently available with a native GDB running on the
451 Linux Kernel, under the following architectures: x86, x86_64,
452 PowerPC and PowerPC64.
453
454 find [/size-char] [/max-count] start-address, end-address|+search-space-size,
455 val1 [, val2, ...]
456 Search memory for a sequence of bytes.
457
458 maint set python print-stack
459 maint show python print-stack
460 Show a stack trace when an error is encountered in a Python script.
461
462 python [CODE]
463 Invoke CODE by passing it to the Python interpreter.
464
465 macro define
466 macro list
467 macro undef
468 These allow macros to be defined, undefined, and listed
469 interactively.
470
471 info os processes
472 Show operating system information about processes.
473
474 info inferiors
475 List the inferiors currently under GDB's control.
476
477 inferior NUM
478 Switch focus to inferior number NUM.
479
480 detach inferior NUM
481 Detach from inferior number NUM.
482
483 kill inferior NUM
484 Kill inferior number NUM.
485
486 * New options
487
488 set spu stop-on-load
489 show spu stop-on-load
490 Control whether to stop for new SPE threads during Cell/B.E. debugging.
491
492 set spu auto-flush-cache
493 show spu auto-flush-cache
494 Control whether to automatically flush the software-managed cache
495 during Cell/B.E. debugging.
496
497 set sh calling-convention
498 show sh calling-convention
499 Control the calling convention used when calling SH target functions.
500
501 set debug timestamp
502 show debug timestamp
503 Control display of timestamps with GDB debugging output.
504
505 set disassemble-next-line
506 show disassemble-next-line
507 Control display of disassembled source lines or instructions when
508 the debuggee stops.
509
510 set remote noack-packet
511 show remote noack-packet
512 Set/show the use of remote protocol QStartNoAckMode packet. See above
513 under "New remote packets."
514
515 set remote query-attached-packet
516 show remote query-attached-packet
517 Control use of remote protocol `qAttached' (query-attached) packet.
518
519 set remote read-siginfo-object
520 show remote read-siginfo-object
521 Control use of remote protocol `qXfer:siginfo:read' (read-siginfo-object)
522 packet.
523
524 set remote write-siginfo-object
525 show remote write-siginfo-object
526 Control use of remote protocol `qXfer:siginfo:write' (write-siginfo-object)
527 packet.
528
529 set remote reverse-continue
530 show remote reverse-continue
531 Control use of remote protocol 'bc' (reverse-continue) packet.
532
533 set remote reverse-step
534 show remote reverse-step
535 Control use of remote protocol 'bs' (reverse-step) packet.
536
537 set displaced-stepping
538 show displaced-stepping
539 Control displaced stepping mode. Displaced stepping is a way to
540 single-step over breakpoints without removing them from the debuggee.
541 Also known as "out-of-line single-stepping".
542
543 set debug displaced
544 show debug displaced
545 Control display of debugging info for displaced stepping.
546
547 maint set internal-error
548 maint show internal-error
549 Control what GDB does when an internal error is detected.
550
551 maint set internal-warning
552 maint show internal-warning
553 Control what GDB does when an internal warning is detected.
554
555 set exec-wrapper
556 show exec-wrapper
557 unset exec-wrapper
558 Use a wrapper program to launch programs for debugging.
559
560 set multiple-symbols (all|ask|cancel)
561 show multiple-symbols
562 The value of this variable can be changed to adjust the debugger behavior
563 when an expression or a breakpoint location contains an ambiguous symbol
564 name (an overloaded function name, for instance).
565
566 set breakpoint always-inserted
567 show breakpoint always-inserted
568 Keep breakpoints always inserted in the target, as opposed to inserting
569 them when resuming the target, and removing them when the target stops.
570 This option can improve debugger performance on slow remote targets.
571
572 set arm fallback-mode (arm|thumb|auto)
573 show arm fallback-mode
574 set arm force-mode (arm|thumb|auto)
575 show arm force-mode
576 These commands control how ARM GDB determines whether instructions
577 are ARM or Thumb. The default for both settings is auto, which uses
578 the current CPSR value for instructions without symbols; previous
579 versions of GDB behaved as if "set arm fallback-mode arm".
580
581 set disable-randomization
582 show disable-randomization
583 Standalone programs run with the virtual address space randomization enabled
584 by default on some platforms. This option keeps the addresses stable across
585 multiple debugging sessions.
586
587 set non-stop
588 show non-stop
589 Control whether other threads are stopped or not when some thread hits
590 a breakpoint.
591
592 set target-async
593 show target-async
594 Requests that asynchronous execution is enabled in the target, if available.
595 In this case, it's possible to resume target in the background, and interact
596 with GDB while the target is running. "show target-async" displays the
597 current state of asynchronous execution of the target.
598
599 set target-wide-charset
600 show target-wide-charset
601 The target-wide-charset is the name of the character set that GDB
602 uses when printing characters whose type is wchar_t.
603
604 set tcp auto-retry (on|off)
605 show tcp auto-retry
606 set tcp connect-timeout
607 show tcp connect-timeout
608 These commands allow GDB to retry failed TCP connections to a remote stub
609 with a specified timeout period; this is useful if the stub is launched
610 in parallel with GDB but may not be ready to accept connections immediately.
611
612 set libthread-db-search-path
613 show libthread-db-search-path
614 Control list of directories which GDB will search for appropriate
615 libthread_db.
616
617 set schedule-multiple (on|off)
618 show schedule-multiple
619 Allow GDB to resume all threads of all processes or only threads of
620 the current process.
621
622 set stack-cache
623 show stack-cache
624 Use more aggressive caching for accesses to the stack. This improves
625 performance of remote debugging (particularly backtraces) without
626 affecting correctness.
627
628 set interactive-mode (on|off|auto)
629 show interactive-mode
630 Control whether GDB runs in interactive mode (on) or not (off).
631 When in interactive mode, GDB waits for the user to answer all
632 queries. Otherwise, GDB does not wait and assumes the default
633 answer. When set to auto (the default), GDB determines which
634 mode to use based on the stdin settings.
635
636 * Removed commands
637
638 info forks
639 For program forks, this is replaced by the new more generic `info
640 inferiors' command. To list checkpoints, you can still use the
641 `info checkpoints' command, which was an alias for the `info forks'
642 command.
643
644 fork NUM
645 Replaced by the new `inferior' command. To switch between
646 checkpoints, you can still use the `restart' command, which was an
647 alias for the `fork' command.
648
649 process PID
650 This is removed, since some targets don't have a notion of
651 processes. To switch between processes, you can still use the
652 `inferior' command using GDB's own inferior number.
653
654 delete fork NUM
655 For program forks, this is replaced by the new more generic `kill
656 inferior' command. To delete a checkpoint, you can still use the
657 `delete checkpoint' command, which was an alias for the `delete
658 fork' command.
659
660 detach fork NUM
661 For program forks, this is replaced by the new more generic `detach
662 inferior' command. To detach a checkpoint, you can still use the
663 `detach checkpoint' command, which was an alias for the `detach
664 fork' command.
665
666 * New native configurations
667
668 x86/x86_64 Darwin i[34567]86-*-darwin*
669
670 x86_64 MinGW x86_64-*-mingw*
671
672 * New targets
673
674 Lattice Mico32 lm32-*
675 x86 DICOS i[34567]86-*-dicos*
676 x86_64 DICOS x86_64-*-dicos*
677 S+core 3 score-*-*
678
679 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports x86 Windows CE
680 (mingw32ce) debugging.
681
682 * Removed commands
683
684 catch load
685 catch unload
686 These commands were actually not implemented on any target.
687
688 *** Changes in GDB 6.8
689
690 * New native configurations
691
692 NetBSD/hppa hppa*-*netbsd*
693 Xtensa GNU/Linux xtensa*-*-linux*
694
695 * New targets
696
697 NetBSD/hppa hppa*-*-netbsd*
698 Xtensa GNU/Lunux xtensa*-*-linux*
699
700 * Change in command line behavior -- corefiles vs. process ids.
701
702 When the '-p NUMBER' or '--pid NUMBER' options are used, and
703 attaching to process NUMBER fails, GDB no longer attempts to open a
704 core file named NUMBER. Attaching to a program using the -c option
705 is no longer supported. Instead, use the '-p' or '--pid' options.
706
707 * GDB can now be built as a native debugger for debugging Windows x86
708 (mingw32) Portable Executable (PE) programs.
709
710 * Pending breakpoints no longer change their number when their address
711 is resolved.
712
713 * GDB now supports breakpoints with multiple locations,
714 including breakpoints on C++ constructors, inside C++ templates,
715 and in inlined functions.
716
717 * GDB's ability to debug optimized code has been improved. GDB more
718 accurately identifies function bodies and lexical blocks that occupy
719 more than one contiguous range of addresses.
720
721 * Target descriptions can now describe registers for PowerPC.
722
723 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports the AltiVec and SPE
724 registers on PowerPC targets.
725
726 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports thread debugging on GNU/Linux
727 targets even when the libthread_db library is not available.
728
729 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports the new file transfer
730 commands (remote put, remote get, and remote delete).
731
732 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports run and attach in
733 extended-remote mode.
734
735 * hppa*64*-*-hpux11* target broken
736 The debugger is unable to start a program and fails with the following
737 error: "Error trying to get information about dynamic linker".
738 The gdb-6.7 release is also affected.
739
740 * GDB now supports the --enable-targets= configure option to allow
741 building a single GDB executable that supports multiple remote
742 target architectures.
743
744 * GDB now supports debugging C and C++ programs which use the
745 Decimal Floating Point extension. In addition, the PowerPC target
746 now has a set of pseudo-registers to inspect decimal float values
747 stored in two consecutive float registers.
748
749 * The -break-insert MI command can optionally create pending
750 breakpoints now.
751
752 * Improved support for debugging Ada
753 Many improvements to the Ada language support have been made. These
754 include:
755 - Better support for Ada2005 interface types
756 - Improved handling of arrays and slices in general
757 - Better support for Taft-amendment types
758 - The '{type} ADDRESS' expression is now allowed on the left hand-side
759 of an assignment
760 - Improved command completion in Ada
761 - Several bug fixes
762
763 * GDB on GNU/Linux and HP/UX can now debug through "exec" of a new
764 process.
765
766 * New commands
767
768 set print frame-arguments (all|scalars|none)
769 show print frame-arguments
770 The value of this variable can be changed to control which argument
771 values should be printed by the debugger when displaying a frame.
772
773 remote put
774 remote get
775 remote delete
776 Transfer files to and from a remote target, and delete remote files.
777
778 * New MI commands
779
780 -target-file-put
781 -target-file-get
782 -target-file-delete
783 Transfer files to and from a remote target, and delete remote files.
784
785 * New remote packets
786
787 vFile:open:
788 vFile:close:
789 vFile:pread:
790 vFile:pwrite:
791 vFile:unlink:
792 Open, close, read, write, and delete files on the remote system.
793
794 vAttach
795 Attach to an existing process on the remote system, in extended-remote
796 mode.
797
798 vRun
799 Run a new process on the remote system, in extended-remote mode.
800
801 *** Changes in GDB 6.7
802
803 * Resolved 101 resource leaks, null pointer dereferences, etc. in gdb,
804 bfd, libiberty and opcodes, as revealed by static analysis donated by
805 Coverity, Inc. (http://scan.coverity.com).
806
807 * When looking up multiply-defined global symbols, GDB will now prefer the
808 symbol definition in the current shared library if it was built using the
809 -Bsymbolic linker option.
810
811 * When the Text User Interface (TUI) is not configured, GDB will now
812 recognize the -tui command-line option and print a message that the TUI
813 is not supported.
814
815 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now has lower overhead for high
816 frequency signals (e.g. SIGALRM) via the QPassSignals packet.
817
818 * GDB for MIPS targets now autodetects whether a remote target provides
819 32-bit or 64-bit register values.
820
821 * Support for C++ member pointers has been improved.
822
823 * GDB now understands XML target descriptions, which specify the
824 target's overall architecture. GDB can read a description from
825 a local file or over the remote serial protocol.
826
827 * Vectors of single-byte data use a new integer type which is not
828 automatically displayed as character or string data.
829
830 * The /s format now works with the print command. It displays
831 arrays of single-byte integers and pointers to single-byte integers
832 as strings.
833
834 * Target descriptions can now describe target-specific registers,
835 for architectures which have implemented the support (currently
836 only ARM, M68K, and MIPS).
837
838 * GDB and the GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now support the XScale
839 iWMMXt coprocessor.
840
841 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, has been updated to support
842 ARM Windows CE (mingw32ce) debugging, and GDB Windows CE support
843 has been rewritten to use the standard GDB remote protocol.
844
845 * GDB can now step into C++ functions which are called through thunks.
846
847 * GDB for the Cell/B.E. SPU now supports overlay debugging.
848
849 * The GDB remote protocol "qOffsets" packet can now honor ELF segment
850 layout. It also supports a TextSeg= and DataSeg= response when only
851 segment base addresses (rather than offsets) are available.
852
853 * The /i format now outputs any trailing branch delay slot instructions
854 immediately following the last instruction within the count specified.
855
856 * The GDB remote protocol "T" stop reply packet now supports a
857 "library" response. Combined with the new "qXfer:libraries:read"
858 packet, this response allows GDB to debug shared libraries on targets
859 where the operating system manages the list of loaded libraries (e.g.
860 Windows and SymbianOS).
861
862 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports dynamic link libraries
863 (DLLs) on Windows and Windows CE targets.
864
865 * GDB now supports a faster verification that a .debug file matches its binary
866 according to its build-id signature, if the signature is present.
867
868 * New commands
869
870 set remoteflow
871 show remoteflow
872 Enable or disable hardware flow control (RTS/CTS) on the serial port
873 when debugging using remote targets.
874
875 set mem inaccessible-by-default
876 show mem inaccessible-by-default
877 If the target supplies a memory map, for instance via the remote
878 protocol's "qXfer:memory-map:read" packet, setting this variable
879 prevents GDB from accessing memory outside the memory map. This
880 is useful for targets with memory mapped registers or which react
881 badly to accesses of unmapped address space.
882
883 set breakpoint auto-hw
884 show breakpoint auto-hw
885 If the target supplies a memory map, for instance via the remote
886 protocol's "qXfer:memory-map:read" packet, setting this variable
887 lets GDB use hardware breakpoints automatically for memory regions
888 where it can not use software breakpoints. This covers both the
889 "break" command and internal breakpoints used for other commands
890 including "next" and "finish".
891
892 catch exception
893 catch exception unhandled
894 Stop the program execution when Ada exceptions are raised.
895
896 catch assert
897 Stop the program execution when an Ada assertion failed.
898
899 set sysroot
900 show sysroot
901 Set an alternate system root for target files. This is a more
902 general version of "set solib-absolute-prefix", which is now
903 an alias to "set sysroot".
904
905 info spu
906 Provide extended SPU facility status information. This set of
907 commands is available only when debugging the Cell/B.E. SPU
908 architecture.
909
910 * New native configurations
911
912 OpenBSD/sh sh*-*openbsd*
913
914 set tdesc filename
915 unset tdesc filename
916 show tdesc filename
917 Use the specified local file as an XML target description, and do
918 not query the target for its built-in description.
919
920 * New targets
921
922 OpenBSD/sh sh*-*-openbsd*
923 MIPS64 GNU/Linux (gdbserver) mips64-linux-gnu
924 Toshiba Media Processor mep-elf
925
926 * New remote packets
927
928 QPassSignals:
929 Ignore the specified signals; pass them directly to the debugged program
930 without stopping other threads or reporting them to GDB.
931
932 qXfer:features:read:
933 Read an XML target description from the target, which describes its
934 features.
935
936 qXfer:spu:read:
937 qXfer:spu:write:
938 Read or write contents of an spufs file on the target system. These
939 packets are available only on the Cell/B.E. SPU architecture.
940
941 qXfer:libraries:read:
942 Report the loaded shared libraries. Combined with new "T" packet
943 response, this packet allows GDB to debug shared libraries on
944 targets where the operating system manages the list of loaded
945 libraries (e.g. Windows and SymbianOS).
946
947 * Removed targets
948
949 Support for these obsolete configurations has been removed.
950
951 alpha*-*-osf1*
952 alpha*-*-osf2*
953 d10v-*-*
954 hppa*-*-hiux*
955 i[34567]86-ncr-*
956 i[34567]86-*-dgux*
957 i[34567]86-*-lynxos*
958 i[34567]86-*-netware*
959 i[34567]86-*-sco3.2v5*
960 i[34567]86-*-sco3.2v4*
961 i[34567]86-*-sco*
962 i[34567]86-*-sysv4.2*
963 i[34567]86-*-sysv4*
964 i[34567]86-*-sysv5*
965 i[34567]86-*-unixware2*
966 i[34567]86-*-unixware*
967 i[34567]86-*-sysv*
968 i[34567]86-*-isc*
969 m68*-cisco*-*
970 m68*-tandem-*
971 mips*-*-pe
972 rs6000-*-lynxos*
973 sh*-*-pe
974
975 * Other removed features
976
977 target abug
978 target cpu32bug
979 target est
980 target rom68k
981
982 Various m68k-only ROM monitors.
983
984 target hms
985 target e7000
986 target sh3
987 target sh3e
988
989 Various Renesas ROM monitors and debugging interfaces for SH and
990 H8/300.
991
992 target ocd
993
994 Support for a Macraigor serial interface to on-chip debugging.
995 GDB does not directly support the newer parallel or USB
996 interfaces.
997
998 DWARF 1 support
999
1000 A debug information format. The predecessor to DWARF 2 and
1001 DWARF 3, which are still supported.
1002
1003 Support for the HP aCC compiler on HP-UX/PA-RISC
1004
1005 SOM-encapsulated symbolic debugging information, automatic
1006 invocation of pxdb, and the aCC custom C++ ABI. This does not
1007 affect HP-UX for Itanium or GCC for HP-UX/PA-RISC. Code compiled
1008 with aCC can still be debugged on an assembly level.
1009
1010 MIPS ".pdr" sections
1011
1012 A MIPS-specific format used to describe stack frame layout
1013 in debugging information.
1014
1015 Scheme support
1016
1017 GDB could work with an older version of Guile to debug
1018 the interpreter and Scheme programs running in it.
1019
1020 set mips stack-arg-size
1021 set mips saved-gpreg-size
1022
1023 Use "set mips abi" to control parameter passing for MIPS.
1024
1025 *** Changes in GDB 6.6
1026
1027 * New targets
1028
1029 Xtensa xtensa-elf
1030 Cell Broadband Engine SPU spu-elf
1031
1032 * GDB can now be configured as a cross-debugger targeting native Windows
1033 (mingw32) or Cygwin. It can communicate with a remote debugging stub
1034 running on a Windows system over TCP/IP to debug Windows programs.
1035
1036 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, has been updated to support Windows and
1037 Cygwin debugging. Both single-threaded and multi-threaded programs are
1038 supported.
1039
1040 * The "set trust-readonly-sections" command works again. This command was
1041 broken in GDB 6.3, 6.4, and 6.5.
1042
1043 * The "load" command now supports writing to flash memory, if the remote
1044 stub provides the required support.
1045
1046 * Support for GNU/Linux Thread Local Storage (TLS, per-thread variables) no
1047 longer requires symbolic debug information (e.g. DWARF-2).
1048
1049 * New commands
1050
1051 set substitute-path
1052 unset substitute-path
1053 show substitute-path
1054 Manage a list of substitution rules that GDB uses to rewrite the name
1055 of the directories where the sources are located. This can be useful
1056 for instance when the sources were moved to a different location
1057 between compilation and debugging.
1058
1059 set trace-commands
1060 show trace-commands
1061 Print each CLI command as it is executed. Each command is prefixed with
1062 a number of `+' symbols representing the nesting depth.
1063 The source command now has a `-v' option to enable the same feature.
1064
1065 * REMOVED features
1066
1067 The ARM Demon monitor support (RDP protocol, "target rdp").
1068
1069 Kernel Object Display, an embedded debugging feature which only worked with
1070 an obsolete version of Cisco IOS.
1071
1072 The 'set download-write-size' and 'show download-write-size' commands.
1073
1074 * New remote packets
1075
1076 qSupported:
1077 Tell a stub about GDB client features, and request remote target features.
1078 The first feature implemented is PacketSize, which allows the target to
1079 specify the size of packets it can handle - to minimize the number of
1080 packets required and improve performance when connected to a remote
1081 target.
1082
1083 qXfer:auxv:read:
1084 Fetch an OS auxilliary vector from the remote stub. This packet is a
1085 more efficient replacement for qPart:auxv:read.
1086
1087 qXfer:memory-map:read:
1088 Fetch a memory map from the remote stub, including information about
1089 RAM, ROM, and flash memory devices.
1090
1091 vFlashErase:
1092 vFlashWrite:
1093 vFlashDone:
1094 Erase and program a flash memory device.
1095
1096 * Removed remote packets
1097
1098 qPart:auxv:read:
1099 This packet has been replaced by qXfer:auxv:read. Only GDB 6.4 and 6.5
1100 used it, and only gdbserver implemented it.
1101
1102 *** Changes in GDB 6.5
1103
1104 * New targets
1105
1106 Renesas M32C/M16C m32c-elf
1107
1108 Morpho Technologies ms1 ms1-elf
1109
1110 * New commands
1111
1112 init-if-undefined Initialize a convenience variable, but
1113 only if it doesn't already have a value.
1114
1115 The following commands are presently only implemented for native GNU/Linux:
1116
1117 checkpoint Save a snapshot of the program state.
1118
1119 restart <n> Return the program state to a
1120 previously saved state.
1121
1122 info checkpoints List currently saved checkpoints.
1123
1124 delete-checkpoint <n> Delete a previously saved checkpoint.
1125
1126 set|show detach-on-fork Tell gdb whether to detach from a newly
1127 forked process, or to keep debugging it.
1128
1129 info forks List forks of the user program that
1130 are available to be debugged.
1131
1132 fork <n> Switch to debugging one of several
1133 forks of the user program that are
1134 available to be debugged.
1135
1136 delete-fork <n> Delete a fork from the list of forks
1137 that are available to be debugged (and
1138 kill the forked process).
1139
1140 detach-fork <n> Delete a fork from the list of forks
1141 that are available to be debugged (and
1142 allow the process to continue).
1143
1144 * New architecture
1145
1146 Morpho Technologies ms2 ms1-elf
1147
1148 * Improved Windows host support
1149
1150 GDB now builds as a cross debugger hosted on i686-mingw32, including
1151 native console support, and remote communications using either
1152 network sockets or serial ports.
1153
1154 * Improved Modula-2 language support
1155
1156 GDB can now print most types in the Modula-2 syntax. This includes:
1157 basic types, set types, record types, enumerated types, range types,
1158 pointer types and ARRAY types. Procedure var parameters are correctly
1159 printed and hexadecimal addresses and character constants are also
1160 written in the Modula-2 syntax. Best results can be obtained by using
1161 GNU Modula-2 together with the -gdwarf-2 command line option.
1162
1163 * REMOVED features
1164
1165 The ARM rdi-share module.
1166
1167 The Netware NLM debug server.
1168
1169 *** Changes in GDB 6.4
1170
1171 * New native configurations
1172
1173 OpenBSD/arm arm*-*-openbsd*
1174 OpenBSD/mips64 mips64-*-openbsd*
1175
1176 * New targets
1177
1178 Morpho Technologies ms1 ms1-elf
1179
1180 * New command line options
1181
1182 --batch-silent As for --batch, but totally silent.
1183 --return-child-result The debugger will exist with the same value
1184 the child (debugged) program exited with.
1185 --eval-command COMMAND, -ex COMMAND
1186 Execute a single GDB CLI command. This may be
1187 specified multiple times and in conjunction
1188 with the --command (-x) option.
1189
1190 * Deprecated commands removed
1191
1192 The following commands, that were deprecated in 2000, have been
1193 removed:
1194
1195 Command Replacement
1196 set|show arm disassembly-flavor set|show arm disassembler
1197 othernames set arm disassembler
1198 set|show remotedebug set|show debug remote
1199 set|show archdebug set|show debug arch
1200 set|show eventdebug set|show debug event
1201 regs info registers
1202
1203 * New BSD user-level threads support
1204
1205 It is now possible to debug programs using the user-level threads
1206 library on OpenBSD and FreeBSD. Currently supported (target)
1207 configurations are:
1208
1209 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
1210 FreeBSD/i386 i386-*-freebsd*
1211 OpenBSD/i386 i386-*-openbsd*
1212
1213 Note that the new kernel threads libraries introduced in FreeBSD 5.x
1214 are not yet supported.
1215
1216 * New support for Matsushita MN10300 w/sim added
1217 (Work in progress). mn10300-elf.
1218
1219 * REMOVED configurations and files
1220
1221 VxWorks and the XDR protocol *-*-vxworks
1222 Motorola MCORE mcore-*-*
1223 National Semiconductor NS32000 ns32k-*-*
1224
1225 * New "set print array-indexes" command
1226
1227 After turning this setting "on", GDB prints the index of each element
1228 when displaying arrays. The default is "off" to preserve the previous
1229 behavior.
1230
1231 * VAX floating point support
1232
1233 GDB now supports the not-quite-ieee VAX F and D floating point formats.
1234
1235 * User-defined command support
1236
1237 In addition to using $arg0..$arg9 for argument passing, it is now possible
1238 to use $argc to determine now many arguments have been passed. See the
1239 section on user-defined commands in the user manual for more information.
1240
1241 *** Changes in GDB 6.3:
1242
1243 * New command line option
1244
1245 GDB now accepts -l followed by a number to set the timeout for remote
1246 debugging.
1247
1248 * GDB works with GCC -feliminate-dwarf2-dups
1249
1250 GDB now supports a more compact representation of DWARF-2 debug
1251 information using DW_FORM_ref_addr references. These are produced
1252 by GCC with the option -feliminate-dwarf2-dups and also by some
1253 proprietary compilers. With GCC, you must use GCC 3.3.4 or later
1254 to use -feliminate-dwarf2-dups.
1255
1256 * Internationalization
1257
1258 When supported by the host system, GDB will be built with
1259 internationalization (libintl). The task of marking up the sources is
1260 continued, we're looking forward to our first translation.
1261
1262 * Ada
1263
1264 Initial support for debugging programs compiled with the GNAT
1265 implementation of the Ada programming language has been integrated
1266 into GDB. In this release, support is limited to expression evaluation.
1267
1268 * New native configurations
1269
1270 GNU/Linux/m32r m32r-*-linux-gnu
1271
1272 * Remote 'p' packet
1273
1274 GDB's remote protocol now includes support for the 'p' packet. This
1275 packet is used to fetch individual registers from a remote inferior.
1276
1277 * END-OF-LIFE registers[] compatibility module
1278
1279 GDB's internal register infrastructure has been completely rewritten.
1280 The new infrastructure making possible the implementation of key new
1281 features including 32x64 (e.g., 64-bit amd64 GDB debugging a 32-bit
1282 i386 application).
1283
1284 GDB 6.3 will be the last release to include the the registers[]
1285 compatibility module that allowed out-of-date configurations to
1286 continue to work. This change directly impacts the following
1287 configurations:
1288
1289 hppa-*-hpux
1290 ia64-*-aix
1291 mips-*-irix*
1292 *-*-lynx
1293 mips-*-linux-gnu
1294 sds protocol
1295 xdr protocol
1296 powerpc bdm protocol
1297
1298 Unless there is activity to revive these configurations, they will be
1299 made OBSOLETE in GDB 6.4, and REMOVED from GDB 6.5.
1300
1301 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
1302
1303 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
1304 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
1305 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
1306 permanently REMOVED.
1307
1308 h8300-*-*
1309 mcore-*-*
1310 mn10300-*-*
1311 ns32k-*-*
1312 sh64-*-*
1313 v850-*-*
1314
1315 *** Changes in GDB 6.2.1:
1316
1317 * MIPS `break main; run' gave an heuristic-fence-post warning
1318
1319 When attempting to run even a simple program, a warning about
1320 heuristic-fence-post being hit would be reported. This problem has
1321 been fixed.
1322
1323 * MIPS IRIX 'long double' crashed GDB
1324
1325 When examining a long double variable, GDB would get a segmentation
1326 fault. The crash has been fixed (but GDB 6.2 cannot correctly examine
1327 IRIX long double values).
1328
1329 * VAX and "next"
1330
1331 A bug in the VAX stack code was causing problems with the "next"
1332 command. This problem has been fixed.
1333
1334 *** Changes in GDB 6.2:
1335
1336 * Fix for ``many threads''
1337
1338 On GNU/Linux systems that use the NPTL threads library, a program
1339 rapidly creating and deleting threads would confuse GDB leading to the
1340 error message:
1341
1342 ptrace: No such process.
1343 thread_db_get_info: cannot get thread info: generic error
1344
1345 This problem has been fixed.
1346
1347 * "-async" and "-noasync" options removed.
1348
1349 Support for the broken "-noasync" option has been removed (it caused
1350 GDB to dump core).
1351
1352 * New ``start'' command.
1353
1354 This command runs the program until the begining of the main procedure.
1355
1356 * New BSD Kernel Data Access Library (libkvm) interface
1357
1358 Using ``target kvm'' it is now possible to debug kernel core dumps and
1359 live kernel memory images on various FreeBSD, NetBSD and OpenBSD
1360 platforms. Currently supported (native-only) configurations are:
1361
1362 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
1363 FreeBSD/i386 i?86-*-freebsd*
1364 NetBSD/i386 i?86-*-netbsd*
1365 NetBSD/m68k m68*-*-netbsd*
1366 NetBSD/sparc sparc-*-netbsd*
1367 OpenBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-openbsd*
1368 OpenBSD/i386 i?86-*-openbsd*
1369 OpenBSD/m68k m68*-openbsd*
1370 OpenBSD/sparc sparc-*-openbsd*
1371
1372 * Signal trampoline code overhauled
1373
1374 Many generic problems with GDB's signal handling code have been fixed.
1375 These include: backtraces through non-contiguous stacks; recognition
1376 of sa_sigaction signal trampolines; backtrace from a NULL pointer
1377 call; backtrace through a signal trampoline; step into and out of
1378 signal handlers; and single-stepping in the signal trampoline.
1379
1380 Please note that kernel bugs are a limiting factor here. These
1381 features have been shown to work on an s390 GNU/Linux system that
1382 include a 2.6.8-rc1 kernel. Ref PR breakpoints/1702.
1383
1384 * Cygwin support for DWARF 2 added.
1385
1386 * New native configurations
1387
1388 GNU/Linux/hppa hppa*-*-linux*
1389 OpenBSD/hppa hppa*-*-openbsd*
1390 OpenBSD/m68k m68*-*-openbsd*
1391 OpenBSD/m88k m88*-*-openbsd*
1392 OpenBSD/powerpc powerpc-*-openbsd*
1393 NetBSD/vax vax-*-netbsd*
1394 OpenBSD/vax vax-*-openbsd*
1395
1396 * END-OF-LIFE frame compatibility module
1397
1398 GDB's internal frame infrastructure has been completely rewritten.
1399 The new infrastructure making it possible to support key new features
1400 including DWARF 2 Call Frame Information. To aid in the task of
1401 migrating old configurations to this new infrastructure, a
1402 compatibility module, that allowed old configurations to continue to
1403 work, was also included.
1404
1405 GDB 6.2 will be the last release to include this frame compatibility
1406 module. This change directly impacts the following configurations:
1407
1408 h8300-*-*
1409 mcore-*-*
1410 mn10300-*-*
1411 ns32k-*-*
1412 sh64-*-*
1413 v850-*-*
1414 xstormy16-*-*
1415
1416 Unless there is activity to revive these configurations, they will be
1417 made OBSOLETE in GDB 6.3, and REMOVED from GDB 6.4.
1418
1419 * REMOVED configurations and files
1420
1421 Sun 3, running SunOS 3 m68*-*-sunos3*
1422 Sun 3, running SunOS 4 m68*-*-sunos4*
1423 Sun 2, running SunOS 3 m68000-*-sunos3*
1424 Sun 2, running SunOS 4 m68000-*-sunos4*
1425 Motorola 680x0 running LynxOS m68*-*-lynxos*
1426 AT&T 3b1/Unix pc m68*-att-*
1427 Bull DPX2 (68k, System V release 3) m68*-bull-sysv*
1428 decstation mips-dec-* mips-little-*
1429 riscos mips-*-riscos* mips-*-sysv*
1430 sonymips mips-sony-*
1431 sysv mips*-*-sysv4* (IRIX 5/6 not included)
1432
1433 *** Changes in GDB 6.1.1:
1434
1435 * TUI (Text-mode User Interface) built-in (also included in GDB 6.1)
1436
1437 The TUI (Text-mode User Interface) is now built as part of a default
1438 GDB configuration. It is enabled by either selecting the TUI with the
1439 command line option "-i=tui" or by running the separate "gdbtui"
1440 program. For more information on the TUI, see the manual "Debugging
1441 with GDB".
1442
1443 * Pending breakpoint support (also included in GDB 6.1)
1444
1445 Support has been added to allow you to specify breakpoints in shared
1446 libraries that have not yet been loaded. If a breakpoint location
1447 cannot be found, and the "breakpoint pending" option is set to auto,
1448 GDB queries you if you wish to make the breakpoint pending on a future
1449 shared-library load. If and when GDB resolves the breakpoint symbol,
1450 the pending breakpoint is removed as one or more regular breakpoints
1451 are created.
1452
1453 Pending breakpoints are very useful for GCJ Java debugging.
1454
1455 * Fixed ISO-C build problems
1456
1457 The files bfd/elf-bfd.h, gdb/dictionary.c and gdb/types.c contained
1458 non ISO-C code that stopped them being built using a more strict ISO-C
1459 compiler (e.g., IBM's C compiler).
1460
1461 * Fixed build problem on IRIX 5
1462
1463 Due to header problems with <sys/proc.h>, the file gdb/proc-api.c
1464 wasn't able to compile compile on an IRIX 5 system.
1465
1466 * Added execute permission to gdb/gdbserver/configure
1467
1468 The shell script gdb/testsuite/gdb.stabs/configure lacked execute
1469 permission. This bug would cause configure to fail on a number of
1470 systems (Solaris, IRIX). Ref: server/519.
1471
1472 * Fixed build problem on hpux2.0w-hp-hpux11.00 using the HP ANSI C compiler
1473
1474 Older HPUX ANSI C compilers did not accept variable array sizes. somsolib.c
1475 has been updated to use constant array sizes.
1476
1477 * Fixed a panic in the DWARF Call Frame Info code on Solaris 2.7
1478
1479 GCC 3.3.2, on Solaris 2.7, includes the DW_EH_PE_funcrel encoding in
1480 its generated DWARF Call Frame Info. This encoding was causing GDB to
1481 panic, that panic has been fixed. Ref: gdb/1628.
1482
1483 * Fixed a problem when examining parameters in shared library code.
1484
1485 When examining parameters in optimized shared library code generated
1486 by a mainline GCC, GDB would incorrectly report ``Variable "..." is
1487 not available''. GDB now correctly displays the variable's value.
1488
1489 *** Changes in GDB 6.1:
1490
1491 * Removed --with-mmalloc
1492
1493 Support for the mmalloc memory manager has been removed, as it
1494 conflicted with the internal gdb byte cache.
1495
1496 * Changes in AMD64 configurations
1497
1498 The AMD64 target now includes the %cs and %ss registers. As a result
1499 the AMD64 remote protocol has changed; this affects the floating-point
1500 and SSE registers. If you rely on those registers for your debugging,
1501 you should upgrade gdbserver on the remote side.
1502
1503 * Revised SPARC target
1504
1505 The SPARC target has been completely revised, incorporating the
1506 FreeBSD/sparc64 support that was added for GDB 6.0. As a result
1507 support for LynxOS and SunOS 4 has been dropped. Calling functions
1508 from within GDB on operating systems with a non-executable stack
1509 (Solaris, OpenBSD) now works.
1510
1511 * New C++ demangler
1512
1513 GDB has a new C++ demangler which does a better job on the mangled
1514 names generated by current versions of g++. It also runs faster, so
1515 with this and other changes gdb should now start faster on large C++
1516 programs.
1517
1518 * DWARF 2 Location Expressions
1519
1520 GDB support for location expressions has been extended to support function
1521 arguments and frame bases. Older versions of GDB could crash when they
1522 encountered these.
1523
1524 * C++ nested types and namespaces
1525
1526 GDB's support for nested types and namespaces in C++ has been
1527 improved, especially if you use the DWARF 2 debugging format. (This
1528 is the default for recent versions of GCC on most platforms.)
1529 Specifically, if you have a class "Inner" defined within a class or
1530 namespace "Outer", then GDB realizes that the class's name is
1531 "Outer::Inner", not simply "Inner". This should greatly reduce the
1532 frequency of complaints about not finding RTTI symbols. In addition,
1533 if you are stopped at inside of a function defined within a namespace,
1534 GDB modifies its name lookup accordingly.
1535
1536 * New native configurations
1537
1538 NetBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-netbsd*
1539 OpenBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-openbsd*
1540 OpenBSD/alpha alpha*-*-openbsd*
1541 OpenBSD/sparc sparc-*-openbsd*
1542 OpenBSD/sparc64 sparc64-*-openbsd*
1543
1544 * New debugging protocols
1545
1546 M32R with SDI protocol m32r-*-elf*
1547
1548 * "set prompt-escape-char" command deleted.
1549
1550 The command "set prompt-escape-char" has been deleted. This command,
1551 and its very obscure effet on GDB's prompt, was never documented,
1552 tested, nor mentioned in the NEWS file.
1553
1554 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
1555
1556 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
1557 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
1558 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
1559 permanently REMOVED.
1560
1561 Sun 3, running SunOS 3 m68*-*-sunos3*
1562 Sun 3, running SunOS 4 m68*-*-sunos4*
1563 Sun 2, running SunOS 3 m68000-*-sunos3*
1564 Sun 2, running SunOS 4 m68000-*-sunos4*
1565 Motorola 680x0 running LynxOS m68*-*-lynxos*
1566 AT&T 3b1/Unix pc m68*-att-*
1567 Bull DPX2 (68k, System V release 3) m68*-bull-sysv*
1568 decstation mips-dec-* mips-little-*
1569 riscos mips-*-riscos* mips-*-sysv*
1570 sonymips mips-sony-*
1571 sysv mips*-*-sysv4* (IRIX 5/6 not included)
1572
1573 * REMOVED configurations and files
1574
1575 SGI Irix-4.x mips-sgi-irix4 or iris4
1576 SGI Iris (MIPS) running Irix V3: mips-sgi-irix or iris
1577 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
1578 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
1579 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
1580 HP/PA running BSD hppa*-*-bsd*
1581 HP/PA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
1582 HP/PA Pro target hppa*-*-pro*
1583 PMAX (MIPS) running Mach 3.0 mips*-*-mach3*
1584 386BSD i[3456]86-*-bsd*
1585 Sequent family i[3456]86-sequent-sysv4*
1586 i[3456]86-sequent-sysv*
1587 i[3456]86-sequent-bsd*
1588 SPARC running LynxOS sparc-*-lynxos*
1589 SPARC running SunOS 4 sparc-*-sunos4*
1590 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
1591 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
1592
1593 *** Changes in GDB 6.0:
1594
1595 * Objective-C
1596
1597 Support for debugging the Objective-C programming language has been
1598 integrated into GDB.
1599
1600 * New backtrace mechanism (includes DWARF 2 Call Frame Information).
1601
1602 DWARF 2's Call Frame Information makes available compiler generated
1603 information that more exactly describes the program's run-time stack.
1604 By using this information, GDB is able to provide more robust stack
1605 backtraces.
1606
1607 The i386, amd64 (nee, x86-64), Alpha, m68hc11, ia64, and m32r targets
1608 have been updated to use a new backtrace mechanism which includes
1609 DWARF 2 CFI support.
1610
1611 * Hosted file I/O.
1612
1613 GDB's remote protocol has been extended to include support for hosted
1614 file I/O (where the remote target uses GDB's file system). See GDB's
1615 remote protocol documentation for details.
1616
1617 * All targets using the new architecture framework.
1618
1619 All of GDB's targets have been updated to use the new internal
1620 architecture framework. The way is now open for future GDB releases
1621 to include cross-architecture native debugging support (i386 on amd64,
1622 ppc32 on ppc64).
1623
1624 * GNU/Linux's Thread Local Storage (TLS)
1625
1626 GDB now includes support for for the GNU/Linux implementation of
1627 per-thread variables.
1628
1629 * GNU/Linux's Native POSIX Thread Library (NPTL)
1630
1631 GDB's thread code has been updated to work with either the new
1632 GNU/Linux NPTL thread library or the older "LinuxThreads" library.
1633
1634 * Separate debug info.
1635
1636 GDB, in conjunction with BINUTILS, now supports a mechanism for
1637 automatically loading debug information from a separate file. Instead
1638 of shipping full debug and non-debug versions of system libraries,
1639 system integrators can now instead ship just the stripped libraries
1640 and optional debug files.
1641
1642 * DWARF 2 Location Expressions
1643
1644 DWARF 2 Location Expressions allow the compiler to more completely
1645 describe the location of variables (even in optimized code) to the
1646 debugger.
1647
1648 GDB now includes preliminary support for location expressions (support
1649 for DW_OP_piece is still missing).
1650
1651 * Java
1652
1653 A number of long standing bugs that caused GDB to die while starting a
1654 Java application have been fixed. GDB's Java support is now
1655 considered "useable".
1656
1657 * GNU/Linux support for fork, vfork, and exec.
1658
1659 The "catch fork", "catch exec", "catch vfork", and "set follow-fork-mode"
1660 commands are now implemented for GNU/Linux. They require a 2.5.x or later
1661 kernel.
1662
1663 * GDB supports logging output to a file
1664
1665 There are two new commands, "set logging" and "show logging", which can be
1666 used to capture GDB's output to a file.
1667
1668 * The meaning of "detach" has changed for gdbserver
1669
1670 The "detach" command will now resume the application, as documented. To
1671 disconnect from gdbserver and leave it stopped, use the new "disconnect"
1672 command.
1673
1674 * d10v, m68hc11 `regs' command deprecated
1675
1676 The `info registers' command has been updated so that it displays the
1677 registers using a format identical to the old `regs' command.
1678
1679 * Profiling support
1680
1681 A new command, "maint set profile on/off", has been added. This command can
1682 be used to enable or disable profiling while running GDB, to profile a
1683 session or a set of commands. In addition there is a new configure switch,
1684 "--enable-profiling", which will cause GDB to be compiled with profiling
1685 data, for more informative profiling results.
1686
1687 * Default MI syntax changed to "mi2".
1688
1689 The default MI (machine interface) syntax, enabled by the command line
1690 option "-i=mi", has been changed to "mi2". The previous MI syntax,
1691 "mi1", can be enabled by specifying the option "-i=mi1".
1692
1693 Support for the original "mi0" syntax (included in GDB 5.0) has been
1694 removed.
1695
1696 Fix for gdb/192: removed extraneous space when displaying frame level.
1697 Fix for gdb/672: update changelist is now output in mi list format.
1698 Fix for gdb/702: a -var-assign that updates the value now shows up
1699 in a subsequent -var-update.
1700
1701 * New native configurations.
1702
1703 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
1704
1705 * Multi-arched targets.
1706
1707 HP/PA HPUX11 hppa*-*-hpux*
1708 Renesas M32R/D w/simulator m32r-*-elf*
1709
1710 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
1711
1712 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
1713 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
1714 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
1715 permanently REMOVED.
1716
1717 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
1718 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
1719 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
1720 HP/PA running BSD hppa*-*-bsd*
1721 HP/PA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
1722 HP/PA Pro target hppa*-*-pro*
1723 PMAX (MIPS) running Mach 3.0 mips*-*-mach3*
1724 Sequent family i[3456]86-sequent-sysv4*
1725 i[3456]86-sequent-sysv*
1726 i[3456]86-sequent-bsd*
1727 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
1728 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
1729
1730 * REMOVED configurations and files
1731
1732 V850EA ISA
1733 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
1734 IBM AIX PS/2 i[3456]86-*-aix
1735 i386 running Mach 3.0 i[3456]86-*-mach3*
1736 i386 running Mach i[3456]86-*-mach*
1737 i386 running OSF/1 i[3456]86-*osf1mk*
1738 HP/Apollo 68k Family m68*-apollo*-sysv*,
1739 m68*-apollo*-bsd*,
1740 m68*-hp-bsd*, m68*-hp-hpux*
1741 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
1742 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
1743 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
1744 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
1745 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
1746
1747 * MIPS $fp behavior changed
1748
1749 The convenience variable $fp, for the MIPS, now consistently returns
1750 the address of the current frame's base. Previously, depending on the
1751 context, $fp could refer to either $sp or the current frame's base
1752 address. See ``8.10 Registers'' in the manual ``Debugging with GDB:
1753 The GNU Source-Level Debugger''.
1754
1755 *** Changes in GDB 5.3:
1756
1757 * GNU/Linux shared library multi-threaded performance improved.
1758
1759 When debugging a multi-threaded application on GNU/Linux, GDB now uses
1760 `/proc', in preference to `ptrace' for memory reads. This may result
1761 in an improvement in the start-up time of multi-threaded, shared
1762 library applications when run under GDB. One GDB user writes: ``loads
1763 shared libs like mad''.
1764
1765 * ``gdbserver'' now supports multi-threaded applications on some targets
1766
1767 Support for debugging multi-threaded applications which use
1768 the GNU/Linux LinuxThreads package has been added for
1769 arm*-*-linux*-gnu*, i[3456]86-*-linux*-gnu*, mips*-*-linux*-gnu*,
1770 powerpc*-*-linux*-gnu*, and sh*-*-linux*-gnu*.
1771
1772 * GDB now supports C/C++ preprocessor macros.
1773
1774 GDB now expands preprocessor macro invocations in C/C++ expressions,
1775 and provides various commands for showing macro definitions and how
1776 they expand.
1777
1778 The new command `macro expand EXPRESSION' expands any macro
1779 invocations in expression, and shows the result.
1780
1781 The new command `show macro MACRO-NAME' shows the definition of the
1782 macro named MACRO-NAME, and where it was defined.
1783
1784 Most compilers don't include information about macros in the debugging
1785 information by default. In GCC 3.1, for example, you need to compile
1786 your program with the options `-gdwarf-2 -g3'. If the macro
1787 information is present in the executable, GDB will read it.
1788
1789 * Multi-arched targets.
1790
1791 DEC Alpha (partial) alpha*-*-*
1792 DEC VAX (partial) vax-*-*
1793 NEC V850 v850-*-*
1794 National Semiconductor NS32000 (partial) ns32k-*-*
1795 Motorola 68000 (partial) m68k-*-*
1796 Motorola MCORE mcore-*-*
1797
1798 * New targets.
1799
1800 Fujitsu FRV architecture added by Red Hat frv*-*-*
1801
1802
1803 * New native configurations
1804
1805 Alpha NetBSD alpha*-*-netbsd*
1806 SH NetBSD sh*-*-netbsdelf*
1807 MIPS NetBSD mips*-*-netbsd*
1808 UltraSPARC NetBSD sparc64-*-netbsd*
1809
1810 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
1811
1812 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
1813 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
1814 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
1815 permanently REMOVED.
1816
1817 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
1818 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
1819 IBM AIX PS/2 i[3456]86-*-aix
1820 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
1821 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
1822 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
1823 i386 running Mach 3.0 i[3456]86-*-mach3*
1824 i386 running Mach i[3456]86-*-mach*
1825 i386 running OSF/1 i[3456]86-*osf1mk*
1826 HP/Apollo 68k Family m68*-apollo*-sysv*,
1827 m68*-apollo*-bsd*,
1828 m68*-hp-bsd*, m68*-hp-hpux*
1829 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
1830
1831 * OBSOLETE languages
1832
1833 CHILL, a Pascal like language used by telecommunications companies.
1834
1835 * REMOVED configurations and files
1836
1837 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi, udi29k
1838 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
1839 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
1840 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
1841 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
1842
1843 testsuite/gdb.hp/gdb.threads-hp/ directory
1844
1845 * New command "set max-user-call-depth <nnn>"
1846
1847 This command allows the user to limit the call depth of user-defined
1848 commands. The default is 1024.
1849
1850 * Changes in FreeBSD/i386 native debugging.
1851
1852 Support for the "generate-core-file" has been added.
1853
1854 * New commands "dump", "append", and "restore".
1855
1856 These commands allow data to be copied from target memory
1857 to a bfd-format or binary file (dump and append), and back
1858 from a file into memory (restore).
1859
1860 * Improved "next/step" support on multi-processor Alpha Tru64.
1861
1862 The previous single-step mechanism could cause unpredictable problems,
1863 including the random appearance of SIGSEGV or SIGTRAP signals. The use
1864 of a software single-step mechanism prevents this.
1865
1866 *** Changes in GDB 5.2.1:
1867
1868 * New targets.
1869
1870 Atmel AVR avr*-*-*
1871
1872 * Bug fixes
1873
1874 gdb/182: gdb/323: gdb/237: On alpha, gdb was reporting:
1875 mdebugread.c:2443: gdb-internal-error: sect_index_data not initialized
1876 Fix, by Joel Brobecker imported from mainline.
1877
1878 gdb/439: gdb/291: On some ELF object files, gdb was reporting:
1879 dwarf2read.c:1072: gdb-internal-error: sect_index_text not initialize
1880 Fix, by Fred Fish, imported from mainline.
1881
1882 Dwarf2 .debug_frame & .eh_frame handler improved in many ways.
1883 Surprisingly enough, it works now.
1884 By Michal Ludvig, imported from mainline.
1885
1886 i386 hardware watchpoint support:
1887 avoid misses on second run for some targets.
1888 By Pierre Muller, imported from mainline.
1889
1890 *** Changes in GDB 5.2:
1891
1892 * New command "set trust-readonly-sections on[off]".
1893
1894 This command is a hint that tells gdb that read-only sections
1895 really are read-only (ie. that their contents will not change).
1896 In this mode, gdb will go to the object file rather than the
1897 target to read memory from read-only sections (such as ".text").
1898 This can be a significant performance improvement on some
1899 (notably embedded) targets.
1900
1901 * New command "generate-core-file" (or "gcore").
1902
1903 This new gdb command allows the user to drop a core file of the child
1904 process state at any time. So far it's been implemented only for
1905 GNU/Linux and Solaris, but should be relatively easily ported to other
1906 hosts. Argument is core file name (defaults to core.<pid>).
1907
1908 * New command line option
1909
1910 GDB now accepts --pid or -p followed by a process id.
1911
1912 * Change in command line behavior -- corefiles vs. process ids.
1913
1914 There is a subtle behavior in the way in which GDB handles
1915 command line arguments. The first non-flag argument is always
1916 a program to debug, but the second non-flag argument may either
1917 be a corefile or a process id. Previously, GDB would attempt to
1918 open the second argument as a corefile, and if that failed, would
1919 issue a superfluous error message and then attempt to attach it as
1920 a process. Now, if the second argument begins with a non-digit,
1921 it will be treated as a corefile. If it begins with a digit,
1922 GDB will attempt to attach it as a process, and if no such process
1923 is found, will then attempt to open it as a corefile.
1924
1925 * Changes in ARM configurations.
1926
1927 Multi-arch support is enabled for all ARM configurations. The ARM/NetBSD
1928 configuration is fully multi-arch.
1929
1930 * New native configurations
1931
1932 ARM NetBSD arm*-*-netbsd*
1933 x86 OpenBSD i[3456]86-*-openbsd*
1934 AMD x86-64 running GNU/Linux x86_64-*-linux-*
1935 Sparc64 running FreeBSD sparc64-*-freebsd*
1936
1937 * New targets
1938
1939 Sanyo XStormy16 xstormy16-elf
1940
1941 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
1942
1943 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
1944 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
1945 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
1946 permanently REMOVED.
1947
1948 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi, udi29k
1949 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
1950 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
1951 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
1952 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
1953
1954 testsuite/gdb.hp/gdb.threads-hp/ directory
1955
1956 * REMOVED configurations and files
1957
1958 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
1959 WDC 65816 w65-*-*
1960 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
1961 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
1962 PowerPC Netware powerpc-*-netware*
1963 Harris/CXUX m88k m88*-harris-cxux*
1964 Most ns32k hosts and targets ns32k-*-mach3* ns32k-umax-*
1965 ns32k-utek-sysv* ns32k-utek-*
1966 SunOS 4.0.Xi on i386 i[3456]86-*-sunos*
1967 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1 a29k-nyu-sym1 a29k-*-kern*
1968 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x m68*-sony-sysv news
1969 ISI Optimum V (3.05) under 4.3bsd. m68*-isi-*
1970 Apple Macintosh (MPW) host and target N/A host, powerpc-*-macos*
1971
1972 * Changes to command line processing
1973
1974 The new `--args' feature can be used to specify command-line arguments
1975 for the inferior from gdb's command line.
1976
1977 * Changes to key bindings
1978
1979 There is a new `operate-and-get-next' function bound to `C-o'.
1980
1981 *** Changes in GDB 5.1.1
1982
1983 Fix compile problem on DJGPP.
1984
1985 Fix a problem with floating-point registers on the i386 being
1986 corrupted.
1987
1988 Fix to stop GDB crashing on .debug_str debug info.
1989
1990 Numerous documentation fixes.
1991
1992 Numerous testsuite fixes.
1993
1994 *** Changes in GDB 5.1:
1995
1996 * New native configurations
1997
1998 Alpha FreeBSD alpha*-*-freebsd*
1999 x86 FreeBSD 3.x and 4.x i[3456]86*-freebsd[34]*
2000 MIPS GNU/Linux mips*-*-linux*
2001 MIPS SGI Irix 6.x mips*-sgi-irix6*
2002 ia64 AIX ia64-*-aix*
2003 s390 and s390x GNU/Linux {s390,s390x}-*-linux*
2004
2005 * New targets
2006
2007 Motorola 68HC11 and 68HC12 m68hc11-elf
2008 CRIS cris-axis
2009 UltraSparc running GNU/Linux sparc64-*-linux*
2010
2011 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
2012
2013 x86 FreeBSD before 2.2 i[3456]86*-freebsd{1,2.[01]}*,
2014 Harris/CXUX m88k m88*-harris-cxux*
2015 Most ns32k hosts and targets ns32k-*-mach3* ns32k-umax-*
2016 ns32k-utek-sysv* ns32k-utek-*
2017 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
2018 WDC 65816 w65-*-*
2019 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1 a29k-nyu-sym1 a29k-*-kern*
2020 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
2021 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
2022 PowerPC Netware powerpc-*-netware*
2023 SunOS 4.0.Xi on i386 i[3456]86-*-sunos*
2024 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x m68*-sony-sysv news
2025 ISI Optimum V (3.05) under 4.3bsd. m68*-isi-*
2026 Apple Macintosh (MPW) host N/A
2027
2028 stuff.c (Program to stuff files into a specially prepared space in kdb)
2029 kdb-start.c (Main loop for the standalone kernel debugger)
2030
2031 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
2032 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
2033 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
2034 permanently REMOVED.
2035
2036 * REMOVED configurations and files
2037
2038 Altos 3068 m68*-altos-*
2039 Convex c1-*-*, c2-*-*
2040 Pyramid pyramid-*-*
2041 ARM RISCix arm-*-* (as host)
2042 Tahoe tahoe-*-*
2043 ser-ocd.c *-*-*
2044
2045 * GDB has been converted to ISO C.
2046
2047 GDB's source code has been converted to ISO C. In particular, the
2048 sources are fully protoized, and rely on standard headers being
2049 present.
2050
2051 * Other news:
2052
2053 * "info symbol" works on platforms which use COFF, ECOFF, XCOFF, and NLM.
2054
2055 * The MI enabled by default.
2056
2057 The new machine oriented interface (MI) introduced in GDB 5.0 has been
2058 revised and enabled by default. Packages which use GDB as a debugging
2059 engine behind a UI or another front end are encouraged to switch to
2060 using the GDB/MI interface, instead of the old annotations interface
2061 which is now deprecated.
2062
2063 * Support for debugging Pascal programs.
2064
2065 GDB now includes support for debugging Pascal programs. The following
2066 main features are supported:
2067
2068 - Pascal-specific data types such as sets;
2069
2070 - automatic recognition of Pascal sources based on file-name
2071 extension;
2072
2073 - Pascal-style display of data types, variables, and functions;
2074
2075 - a Pascal expression parser.
2076
2077 However, some important features are not yet supported.
2078
2079 - Pascal string operations are not supported at all;
2080
2081 - there are some problems with boolean types;
2082
2083 - Pascal type hexadecimal constants are not supported
2084 because they conflict with the internal variables format;
2085
2086 - support for Pascal objects and classes is not full yet;
2087
2088 - unlike Pascal, GDB is case-sensitive for symbol names.
2089
2090 * Changes in completion.
2091
2092 Commands such as `shell', `run' and `set args', which pass arguments
2093 to inferior programs, now complete on file names, similar to what
2094 users expect at the shell prompt.
2095
2096 Commands which accept locations, such as `disassemble', `print',
2097 `breakpoint', `until', etc. now complete on filenames as well as
2098 program symbols. Thus, if you type "break foob TAB", and the source
2099 files linked into the programs include `foobar.c', that file name will
2100 be one of the candidates for completion. However, file names are not
2101 considered for completion after you typed a colon that delimits a file
2102 name from a name of a function in that file, as in "break foo.c:bar".
2103
2104 `set demangle-style' completes on available demangling styles.
2105
2106 * New platform-independent commands:
2107
2108 It is now possible to define a post-hook for a command as well as a
2109 hook that runs before the command. For more details, see the
2110 documentation of `hookpost' in the GDB manual.
2111
2112 * Changes in GNU/Linux native debugging.
2113
2114 Support for debugging multi-threaded programs has been completely
2115 revised for all platforms except m68k and sparc. You can now debug as
2116 many threads as your system allows you to have.
2117
2118 Attach/detach is supported for multi-threaded programs.
2119
2120 Support for SSE registers was added for x86. This doesn't work for
2121 multi-threaded programs though.
2122
2123 * Changes in MIPS configurations.
2124
2125 Multi-arch support is enabled for all MIPS configurations.
2126
2127 GDB can now be built as native debugger on SGI Irix 6.x systems for
2128 debugging n32 executables. (Debugging 64-bit executables is not yet
2129 supported.)
2130
2131 * Unified support for hardware watchpoints in all x86 configurations.
2132
2133 Most (if not all) native x86 configurations support hardware-assisted
2134 breakpoints and watchpoints in a unified manner. This support
2135 implements debug register sharing between watchpoints, which allows to
2136 put a virtually infinite number of watchpoints on the same address,
2137 and also supports watching regions up to 16 bytes with several debug
2138 registers.
2139
2140 The new maintenance command `maintenance show-debug-regs' toggles
2141 debugging print-outs in functions that insert, remove, and test
2142 watchpoints and hardware breakpoints.
2143
2144 * Changes in the DJGPP native configuration.
2145
2146 New command ``info dos sysinfo'' displays assorted information about
2147 the CPU, OS, memory, and DPMI server.
2148
2149 New commands ``info dos gdt'', ``info dos ldt'', and ``info dos idt''
2150 display information about segment descriptors stored in GDT, LDT, and
2151 IDT.
2152
2153 New commands ``info dos pde'' and ``info dos pte'' display entries
2154 from Page Directory and Page Tables (for now works with CWSDPMI only).
2155 New command ``info dos address-pte'' displays the Page Table entry for
2156 a given linear address.
2157
2158 GDB can now pass command lines longer than 126 characters to the
2159 program being debugged (requires an update to the libdbg.a library
2160 which is part of the DJGPP development kit).
2161
2162 DWARF2 debug info is now supported.
2163
2164 It is now possible to `step' and `next' through calls to `longjmp'.
2165
2166 * Changes in documentation.
2167
2168 All GDB documentation was converted to GFDL, the GNU Free
2169 Documentation License.
2170
2171 Tracepoints-related commands are now fully documented in the GDB
2172 manual.
2173
2174 TUI, the Text-mode User Interface, is now documented in the manual.
2175
2176 Tracepoints-related commands are now fully documented in the GDB
2177 manual.
2178
2179 The "GDB Internals" manual now has an index. It also includes
2180 documentation of `ui_out' functions, GDB coding standards, x86
2181 hardware watchpoints, and memory region attributes.
2182
2183 * GDB's version number moved to ``version.in''
2184
2185 The Makefile variable VERSION has been replaced by the file
2186 ``version.in''. People creating GDB distributions should update the
2187 contents of this file.
2188
2189 * gdba.el deleted
2190
2191 GUD support is now a standard part of the EMACS distribution.
2192
2193 *** Changes in GDB 5.0:
2194
2195 * Improved support for debugging FP programs on x86 targets
2196
2197 Unified and much-improved support for debugging floating-point
2198 programs on all x86 targets. In particular, ``info float'' now
2199 displays the FP registers in the same format on all x86 targets, with
2200 greater level of detail.
2201
2202 * Improvements and bugfixes in hardware-assisted watchpoints
2203
2204 It is now possible to watch array elements, struct members, and
2205 bitfields with hardware-assisted watchpoints. Data-read watchpoints
2206 on x86 targets no longer erroneously trigger when the address is
2207 written.
2208
2209 * Improvements in the native DJGPP version of GDB
2210
2211 The distribution now includes all the scripts and auxiliary files
2212 necessary to build the native DJGPP version on MS-DOS/MS-Windows
2213 machines ``out of the box''.
2214
2215 The DJGPP version can now debug programs that use signals. It is
2216 possible to catch signals that happened in the debuggee, deliver
2217 signals to it, interrupt it with Ctrl-C, etc. (Previously, a signal
2218 would kill the program being debugged.) Programs that hook hardware
2219 interrupts (keyboard, timer, etc.) can also be debugged.
2220
2221 It is now possible to debug DJGPP programs that redirect their
2222 standard handles or switch them to raw (as opposed to cooked) mode, or
2223 even close them. The command ``run < foo > bar'' works as expected,
2224 and ``info terminal'' reports useful information about the debuggee's
2225 terminal, including raw/cooked mode, redirection, etc.
2226
2227 The DJGPP version now uses termios functions for console I/O, which
2228 enables debugging graphics programs. Interrupting GDB with Ctrl-C
2229 also works.
2230
2231 DOS-style file names with drive letters are now fully supported by
2232 GDB.
2233
2234 It is now possible to debug DJGPP programs that switch their working
2235 directory. It is also possible to rerun the debuggee any number of
2236 times without restarting GDB; thus, you can use the same setup,
2237 breakpoints, etc. for many debugging sessions.
2238
2239 * New native configurations
2240
2241 ARM GNU/Linux arm*-*-linux*
2242 PowerPC GNU/Linux powerpc-*-linux*
2243
2244 * New targets
2245
2246 Motorola MCore mcore-*-*
2247 x86 VxWorks i[3456]86-*-vxworks*
2248 PowerPC VxWorks powerpc-*-vxworks*
2249 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
2250
2251 * OBSOLETE configurations
2252
2253 Altos 3068 m68*-altos-*
2254 Convex c1-*-*, c2-*-*
2255 Pyramid pyramid-*-*
2256 ARM RISCix arm-*-* (as host)
2257 Tahoe tahoe-*-*
2258
2259 Configurations that have been declared obsolete will be commented out,
2260 but the code will be left in place. If there is no activity to revive
2261 these configurations before the next release of GDB, the sources will
2262 be permanently REMOVED.
2263
2264 * Gould support removed
2265
2266 Support for the Gould PowerNode and NP1 has been removed.
2267
2268 * New features for SVR4
2269
2270 On SVR4 native platforms (such as Solaris), if you attach to a process
2271 without first loading a symbol file, GDB will now attempt to locate and
2272 load symbols from the running process's executable file.
2273
2274 * Many C++ enhancements
2275
2276 C++ support has been greatly improved. Overload resolution now works properly
2277 in almost all cases. RTTI support is on the way.
2278
2279 * Remote targets can connect to a sub-program
2280
2281 A popen(3) style serial-device has been added. This device starts a
2282 sub-process (such as a stand-alone simulator) and then communicates
2283 with that. The sub-program to run is specified using the syntax
2284 ``|<program> <args>'' vis:
2285
2286 (gdb) set remotedebug 1
2287 (gdb) target extended-remote |mn10300-elf-sim program-args
2288
2289 * MIPS 64 remote protocol
2290
2291 A long standing bug in the mips64 remote protocol where by GDB
2292 expected certain 32 bit registers (ex SR) to be transfered as 32
2293 instead of 64 bits has been fixed.
2294
2295 The command ``set remote-mips64-transfers-32bit-regs on'' has been
2296 added to provide backward compatibility with older versions of GDB.
2297
2298 * ``set remotebinarydownload'' replaced by ``set remote X-packet''
2299
2300 The command ``set remotebinarydownload'' command has been replaced by
2301 ``set remote X-packet''. Other commands in ``set remote'' family
2302 include ``set remote P-packet''.
2303
2304 * Breakpoint commands accept ranges.
2305
2306 The breakpoint commands ``enable'', ``disable'', and ``delete'' now
2307 accept a range of breakpoints, e.g. ``5-7''. The tracepoint command
2308 ``tracepoint passcount'' also accepts a range of tracepoints.
2309
2310 * ``apropos'' command added.
2311
2312 The ``apropos'' command searches through command names and
2313 documentation strings, printing out matches, making it much easier to
2314 try to find a command that does what you are looking for.
2315
2316 * New MI interface
2317
2318 A new machine oriented interface (MI) has been added to GDB. This
2319 interface is designed for debug environments running GDB as a separate
2320 process. This is part of the long term libGDB project. See the
2321 "GDB/MI" chapter of the GDB manual for further information. It can be
2322 enabled by configuring with:
2323
2324 .../configure --enable-gdbmi
2325
2326 *** Changes in GDB-4.18:
2327
2328 * New native configurations
2329
2330 HP-UX 10.20 hppa*-*-hpux10.20
2331 HP-UX 11.x hppa*-*-hpux11.0*
2332 M68K GNU/Linux m68*-*-linux*
2333
2334 * New targets
2335
2336 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
2337 Intel StrongARM strongarm-*-*
2338 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
2339
2340 * OBSOLETE configurations
2341
2342 Gould PowerNode, NP1 np1-*-*, pn-*-*
2343
2344 Configurations that have been declared obsolete will be commented out,
2345 but the code will be left in place. If there is no activity to revive
2346 these configurations before the next release of GDB, the sources will
2347 be permanently REMOVED.
2348
2349 * ANSI/ISO C
2350
2351 As a compatibility experiment, GDB's source files buildsym.h and
2352 buildsym.c have been converted to pure standard C, no longer
2353 containing any K&R compatibility code. We believe that all systems in
2354 use today either come with a standard C compiler, or have a GCC port
2355 available. If this is not true, please report the affected
2356 configuration to bug-gdb@gnu.org immediately. See the README file for
2357 information about getting a standard C compiler if you don't have one
2358 already.
2359
2360 * Readline 2.2
2361
2362 GDB now uses readline 2.2.
2363
2364 * set extension-language
2365
2366 You can now control the mapping between filename extensions and source
2367 languages by using the `set extension-language' command. For instance,
2368 you can ask GDB to treat .c files as C++ by saying
2369 set extension-language .c c++
2370 The command `info extensions' lists all of the recognized extensions
2371 and their associated languages.
2372
2373 * Setting processor type for PowerPC and RS/6000
2374
2375 When GDB is configured for a powerpc*-*-* or an rs6000*-*-* target,
2376 you can use the `set processor' command to specify what variant of the
2377 PowerPC family you are debugging. The command
2378
2379 set processor NAME
2380
2381 sets the PowerPC/RS6000 variant to NAME. GDB knows about the
2382 following PowerPC and RS6000 variants:
2383
2384 ppc-uisa PowerPC UISA - a PPC processor as viewed by user-level code
2385 rs6000 IBM RS6000 ("POWER") architecture, user-level view
2386 403 IBM PowerPC 403
2387 403GC IBM PowerPC 403GC
2388 505 Motorola PowerPC 505
2389 860 Motorola PowerPC 860 or 850
2390 601 Motorola PowerPC 601
2391 602 Motorola PowerPC 602
2392 603 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 603 or 603e
2393 604 Motorola PowerPC 604 or 604e
2394 750 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 750 or 750
2395
2396 At the moment, this command just tells GDB what to name the
2397 special-purpose processor registers. Since almost all the affected
2398 registers are inaccessible to user-level programs, this command is
2399 only useful for remote debugging in its present form.
2400
2401 * HP-UX support
2402
2403 Thanks to a major code donation from Hewlett-Packard, GDB now has much
2404 more extensive support for HP-UX. Added features include shared
2405 library support, kernel threads and hardware watchpoints for 11.00,
2406 support for HP's ANSI C and C++ compilers, and a compatibility mode
2407 for xdb and dbx commands.
2408
2409 * Catchpoints
2410
2411 HP's donation includes the new concept of catchpoints, which is a
2412 generalization of the old catch command. On HP-UX, it is now possible
2413 to catch exec, fork, and vfork, as well as library loading.
2414
2415 This means that the existing catch command has changed; its first
2416 argument now specifies the type of catch to be set up. See the
2417 output of "help catch" for a list of catchpoint types.
2418
2419 * Debugging across forks
2420
2421 On HP-UX, you can choose which process to debug when a fork() happens
2422 in the inferior.
2423
2424 * TUI
2425
2426 HP has donated a curses-based terminal user interface (TUI). To get
2427 it, build with --enable-tui. Although this can be enabled for any
2428 configuration, at present it only works for native HP debugging.
2429
2430 * GDB remote protocol additions
2431
2432 A new protocol packet 'X' that writes binary data is now available.
2433 Default behavior is to try 'X', then drop back to 'M' if the stub
2434 fails to respond. The settable variable `remotebinarydownload'
2435 allows explicit control over the use of 'X'.
2436
2437 For 64-bit targets, the memory packets ('M' and 'm') can now contain a
2438 full 64-bit address. The command
2439
2440 set remoteaddresssize 32
2441
2442 can be used to revert to the old behaviour. For existing remote stubs
2443 the change should not be noticed, as the additional address information
2444 will be discarded.
2445
2446 In order to assist in debugging stubs, you may use the maintenance
2447 command `packet' to send any text string to the stub. For instance,
2448
2449 maint packet heythere
2450
2451 sends the packet "$heythere#<checksum>". Note that it is very easy to
2452 disrupt a debugging session by sending the wrong packet at the wrong
2453 time.
2454
2455 The compare-sections command allows you to compare section data on the
2456 target to what is in the executable file without uploading or
2457 downloading, by comparing CRC checksums.
2458
2459 * Tracing can collect general expressions
2460
2461 You may now collect general expressions at tracepoints. This requires
2462 further additions to the target-side stub; see tracepoint.c and
2463 doc/agentexpr.texi for further details.
2464
2465 * mask-address variable for Mips
2466
2467 For Mips targets, you may control the zeroing of the upper 32 bits of
2468 a 64-bit address by entering `set mask-address on'. This is mainly
2469 of interest to users of embedded R4xxx and R5xxx processors.
2470
2471 * Higher serial baud rates
2472
2473 GDB's serial code now allows you to specify baud rates 57600, 115200,
2474 230400, and 460800 baud. (Note that your host system may not be able
2475 to achieve all of these rates.)
2476
2477 * i960 simulator
2478
2479 The i960 configuration now includes an initial implementation of a
2480 builtin simulator, contributed by Jim Wilson.
2481
2482
2483 *** Changes in GDB-4.17:
2484
2485 * New native configurations
2486
2487 Alpha GNU/Linux alpha*-*-linux*
2488 Unixware 2.x i[3456]86-unixware2*
2489 Irix 6.x mips*-sgi-irix6*
2490 PowerPC GNU/Linux powerpc-*-linux*
2491 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
2492 Sparc GNU/Linux sparc-*-linux*
2493 Motorola sysV68 R3V7.1 m68k-motorola-sysv
2494
2495 * New targets
2496
2497 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
2498 Hitachi H8/300S h8300*-*-*
2499 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
2500 Matsushita MN10300 w/simulator mn10300-*-*
2501 MIPS NEC VR4100 mips64*vr4100*{,el}-*-elf*
2502 MIPS NEC VR5000 mips64*vr5000*{,el}-*-elf*
2503 MIPS Toshiba TX39 mips64*tx39*{,el}-*-elf*
2504 Mitsubishi D10V w/simulator d10v-*-*
2505 Mitsubishi M32R/D w/simulator m32r-*-elf*
2506 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
2507 NEC V850 w/simulator v850-*-*
2508
2509 * New debugging protocols
2510
2511 ARM with RDI protocol arm*-*-*
2512 M68K with dBUG monitor m68*-*-{aout,coff,elf}
2513 DDB and LSI variants of PMON protocol mips*-*-*
2514 PowerPC with DINK32 monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
2515 PowerPC with SDS protocol powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
2516 Macraigor OCD (Wiggler) devices powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
2517
2518 * DWARF 2
2519
2520 All configurations can now understand and use the DWARF 2 debugging
2521 format. The choice is automatic, if the symbol file contains DWARF 2
2522 information.
2523
2524 * Java frontend
2525
2526 GDB now includes basic Java language support. This support is
2527 only useful with Java compilers that produce native machine code.
2528
2529 * solib-absolute-prefix and solib-search-path
2530
2531 For SunOS and SVR4 shared libraries, you may now set the prefix for
2532 loading absolute shared library symbol files, and the search path for
2533 locating non-absolute shared library symbol files.
2534
2535 * Live range splitting
2536
2537 GDB can now effectively debug code for which GCC has performed live
2538 range splitting as part of its optimization. See gdb/doc/LRS for
2539 more details on the expected format of the stabs information.
2540
2541 * Hurd support
2542
2543 GDB's support for the GNU Hurd, including thread debugging, has been
2544 updated to work with current versions of the Hurd.
2545
2546 * ARM Thumb support
2547
2548 GDB's ARM target configuration now handles the ARM7T (Thumb) 16-bit
2549 instruction set. ARM GDB automatically detects when Thumb
2550 instructions are in use, and adjusts disassembly and backtracing
2551 accordingly.
2552
2553 * MIPS16 support
2554
2555 GDB's MIPS target configurations now handle the MIP16 16-bit
2556 instruction set.
2557
2558 * Overlay support
2559
2560 GDB now includes support for overlays; if an executable has been
2561 linked such that multiple sections are based at the same address, GDB
2562 will decide which section to use for symbolic info. You can choose to
2563 control the decision manually, using overlay commands, or implement
2564 additional target-side support and use "overlay load-target" to bring
2565 in the overlay mapping. Do "help overlay" for more detail.
2566
2567 * info symbol
2568
2569 The command "info symbol <address>" displays information about
2570 the symbol at the specified address.
2571
2572 * Trace support
2573
2574 The standard remote protocol now includes an extension that allows
2575 asynchronous collection and display of trace data. This requires
2576 extensive support in the target-side debugging stub. Tracing mode
2577 includes a new interaction mode in GDB and new commands: see the
2578 file tracepoint.c for more details.
2579
2580 * MIPS simulator
2581
2582 Configurations for embedded MIPS now include a simulator contributed
2583 by Cygnus Solutions. The simulator supports the instruction sets
2584 of most MIPS variants.
2585
2586 * Sparc simulator
2587
2588 Sparc configurations may now include the ERC32 simulator contributed
2589 by the European Space Agency. The simulator is not built into
2590 Sparc targets by default; configure with --enable-sim to include it.
2591
2592 * set architecture
2593
2594 For target configurations that may include multiple variants of a
2595 basic architecture (such as MIPS and SH), you may now set the
2596 architecture explicitly. "set arch" sets, "info arch" lists
2597 the possible architectures.
2598
2599 *** Changes in GDB-4.16:
2600
2601 * New native configurations
2602
2603 Windows 95, x86 Windows NT i[345]86-*-cygwin32
2604 M68K NetBSD m68k-*-netbsd*
2605 PowerPC AIX 4.x powerpc-*-aix*
2606 PowerPC MacOS powerpc-*-macos*
2607 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
2608 RS/6000 AIX 4.x rs6000-*-aix4*
2609
2610 * New targets
2611
2612 ARM with RDP protocol arm-*-*
2613 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
2614 MIPS VxWorks mips*-*-vxworks*
2615 MIPS VR4300 with PMON mips64*vr4300{,el}-*-elf*
2616 PowerPC with PPCBUG monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi*
2617 Hitachi SH3 sh-*-*
2618 Matra Sparclet sparclet-*-*
2619
2620 * PowerPC simulator
2621
2622 The powerpc-eabi configuration now includes the PSIM simulator,
2623 contributed by Andrew Cagney, with assistance from Mike Meissner.
2624 PSIM is a very elaborate model of the PowerPC, including not only
2625 basic instruction set execution, but also details of execution unit
2626 performance and I/O hardware. See sim/ppc/README for more details.
2627
2628 * Solaris 2.5
2629
2630 GDB now works with Solaris 2.5.
2631
2632 * Windows 95/NT native
2633
2634 GDB will now work as a native debugger on Windows 95 and Windows NT.
2635 To build it from source, you must use the "gnu-win32" environment,
2636 which uses a DLL to emulate enough of Unix to run the GNU tools.
2637 Further information, binaries, and sources are available at
2638 ftp.cygnus.com, under pub/gnu-win32.
2639
2640 * dont-repeat command
2641
2642 If a user-defined command includes the command `dont-repeat', then the
2643 command will not be repeated if the user just types return. This is
2644 useful if the command is time-consuming to run, so that accidental
2645 extra keystrokes don't run the same command many times.
2646
2647 * Send break instead of ^C
2648
2649 The standard remote protocol now includes an option to send a break
2650 rather than a ^C to the target in order to interrupt it. By default,
2651 GDB will send ^C; to send a break, set the variable `remotebreak' to 1.
2652
2653 * Remote protocol timeout
2654
2655 The standard remote protocol includes a new variable `remotetimeout'
2656 that allows you to set the number of seconds before GDB gives up trying
2657 to read from the target. The default value is 2.
2658
2659 * Automatic tracking of dynamic object loading (HPUX and Solaris only)
2660
2661 By default GDB will automatically keep track of objects as they are
2662 loaded and unloaded by the dynamic linker. By using the command `set
2663 stop-on-solib-events 1' you can arrange for GDB to stop the inferior
2664 when shared library events occur, thus allowing you to set breakpoints
2665 in shared libraries which are explicitly loaded by the inferior.
2666
2667 Note this feature does not work on hpux8. On hpux9 you must link
2668 /usr/lib/end.o into your program. This feature should work
2669 automatically on hpux10.
2670
2671 * Irix 5.x hardware watchpoint support
2672
2673 Irix 5 configurations now support the use of hardware watchpoints.
2674
2675 * Mips protocol "SYN garbage limit"
2676
2677 When debugging a Mips target using the `target mips' protocol, you
2678 may set the number of characters that GDB will ignore by setting
2679 the `syn-garbage-limit'. A value of -1 means that GDB will ignore
2680 every character. The default value is 1050.
2681
2682 * Recording and replaying remote debug sessions
2683
2684 If you set `remotelogfile' to the name of a file, gdb will write to it
2685 a recording of a remote debug session. This recording may then be
2686 replayed back to gdb using "gdbreplay". See gdbserver/README for
2687 details. This is useful when you have a problem with GDB while doing
2688 remote debugging; you can make a recording of the session and send it
2689 to someone else, who can then recreate the problem.
2690
2691 * Speedups for remote debugging
2692
2693 GDB includes speedups for downloading and stepping MIPS systems using
2694 the IDT monitor, fast downloads to the Hitachi SH E7000 emulator,
2695 and more efficient S-record downloading.
2696
2697 * Memory use reductions and statistics collection
2698
2699 GDB now uses less memory and reports statistics about memory usage.
2700 Try the `maint print statistics' command, for example.
2701
2702 *** Changes in GDB-4.15:
2703
2704 * Psymtabs for XCOFF
2705
2706 The symbol reader for AIX GDB now uses partial symbol tables. This
2707 can greatly improve startup time, especially for large executables.
2708
2709 * Remote targets use caching
2710
2711 Remote targets now use a data cache to speed up communication with the
2712 remote side. The data cache could lead to incorrect results because
2713 it doesn't know about volatile variables, thus making it impossible to
2714 debug targets which use memory mapped I/O devices. `set remotecache
2715 off' turns the the data cache off.
2716
2717 * Remote targets may have threads
2718
2719 The standard remote protocol now includes support for multiple threads
2720 in the target system, using new protocol commands 'H' and 'T'. See
2721 gdb/remote.c for details.
2722
2723 * NetROM support
2724
2725 If GDB is configured with `--enable-netrom', then it will include
2726 support for the NetROM ROM emulator from XLNT Designs. The NetROM
2727 acts as though it is a bank of ROM on the target board, but you can
2728 write into it over the network. GDB's support consists only of
2729 support for fast loading into the emulated ROM; to debug, you must use
2730 another protocol, such as standard remote protocol. The usual
2731 sequence is something like
2732
2733 target nrom <netrom-hostname>
2734 load <prog>
2735 target remote <netrom-hostname>:1235
2736
2737 * Macintosh host
2738
2739 GDB now includes support for the Apple Macintosh, as a host only. It
2740 may be run as either an MPW tool or as a standalone application, and
2741 it can debug through the serial port. All the usual GDB commands are
2742 available, but to the target command, you must supply "serial" as the
2743 device type instead of "/dev/ttyXX". See mpw-README in the main
2744 directory for more information on how to build. The MPW configuration
2745 scripts */mpw-config.in support only a few targets, and only the
2746 mips-idt-ecoff target has been tested.
2747
2748 * Autoconf
2749
2750 GDB configuration now uses autoconf. This is not user-visible,
2751 but does simplify configuration and building.
2752
2753 * hpux10
2754
2755 GDB now supports hpux10.
2756
2757 *** Changes in GDB-4.14:
2758
2759 * New native configurations
2760
2761 x86 FreeBSD i[345]86-*-freebsd
2762 x86 NetBSD i[345]86-*-netbsd
2763 NS32k NetBSD ns32k-*-netbsd
2764 Sparc NetBSD sparc-*-netbsd
2765
2766 * New targets
2767
2768 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
2769 HP PA PRO embedded (WinBond W89K & Oki OP50N) hppa*-*-pro*
2770 CPU32 EST-300 emulator m68*-*-est*
2771 PowerPC ELF powerpc-*-elf
2772 WDC 65816 w65-*-*
2773
2774 * Alpha OSF/1 support for procfs
2775
2776 GDB now supports procfs under OSF/1-2.x and higher, which makes it
2777 possible to attach to running processes. As the mounting of the /proc
2778 filesystem is optional on the Alpha, GDB automatically determines
2779 the availability of /proc during startup. This can lead to problems
2780 if /proc is unmounted after GDB has been started.
2781
2782 * Arguments to user-defined commands
2783
2784 User commands may accept up to 10 arguments separated by whitespace.
2785 Arguments are accessed within the user command via $arg0..$arg9. A
2786 trivial example:
2787 define adder
2788 print $arg0 + $arg1 + $arg2
2789
2790 To execute the command use:
2791 adder 1 2 3
2792
2793 Defines the command "adder" which prints the sum of its three arguments.
2794 Note the arguments are text substitutions, so they may reference variables,
2795 use complex expressions, or even perform inferior function calls.
2796
2797 * New `if' and `while' commands
2798
2799 This makes it possible to write more sophisticated user-defined
2800 commands. Both commands take a single argument, which is the
2801 expression to evaluate, and must be followed by the commands to
2802 execute, one per line, if the expression is nonzero, the list being
2803 terminated by the word `end'. The `if' command list may include an
2804 `else' word, which causes the following commands to be executed only
2805 if the expression is zero.
2806
2807 * Fortran source language mode
2808
2809 GDB now includes partial support for Fortran 77. It will recognize
2810 Fortran programs and can evaluate a subset of Fortran expressions, but
2811 variables and functions may not be handled correctly. GDB will work
2812 with G77, but does not yet know much about symbols emitted by other
2813 Fortran compilers.
2814
2815 * Better HPUX support
2816
2817 Most debugging facilities now work on dynamic executables for HPPAs
2818 running hpux9 or later. You can attach to running dynamically linked
2819 processes, but by default the dynamic libraries will be read-only, so
2820 for instance you won't be able to put breakpoints in them. To change
2821 that behavior do the following before running the program:
2822
2823 adb -w a.out
2824 __dld_flags?W 0x5
2825 control-d
2826
2827 This will cause the libraries to be mapped private and read-write.
2828 To revert to the normal behavior, do this:
2829
2830 adb -w a.out
2831 __dld_flags?W 0x4
2832 control-d
2833
2834 You cannot set breakpoints or examine data in the library until after
2835 the library is loaded if the function/data symbols do not have
2836 external linkage.
2837
2838 GDB can now also read debug symbols produced by the HP C compiler on
2839 HPPAs (sorry, no C++, Fortran or 68k support).
2840
2841 * Target byte order now dynamically selectable
2842
2843 You can choose which byte order to use with a target system, via the
2844 commands "set endian big" and "set endian little", and you can see the
2845 current setting by using "show endian". You can also give the command
2846 "set endian auto", in which case GDB will use the byte order
2847 associated with the executable. Currently, only embedded MIPS
2848 configurations support dynamic selection of target byte order.
2849
2850 * New DOS host serial code
2851
2852 This version uses DPMI interrupts to handle buffered I/O, so you
2853 no longer need to run asynctsr when debugging boards connected to
2854 a PC's serial port.
2855
2856 *** Changes in GDB-4.13:
2857
2858 * New "complete" command
2859
2860 This lists all the possible completions for the rest of the line, if it
2861 were to be given as a command itself. This is intended for use by emacs.
2862
2863 * Trailing space optional in prompt
2864
2865 "set prompt" no longer adds a space for you after the prompt you set. This
2866 allows you to set a prompt which ends in a space or one that does not.
2867
2868 * Breakpoint hit counts
2869
2870 "info break" now displays a count of the number of times the breakpoint
2871 has been hit. This is especially useful in conjunction with "ignore"; you
2872 can ignore a large number of breakpoint hits, look at the breakpoint info
2873 to see how many times the breakpoint was hit, then run again, ignoring one
2874 less than that number, and this will get you quickly to the last hit of
2875 that breakpoint.
2876
2877 * Ability to stop printing at NULL character
2878
2879 "set print null-stop" will cause GDB to stop printing the characters of
2880 an array when the first NULL is encountered. This is useful when large
2881 arrays actually contain only short strings.
2882
2883 * Shared library breakpoints
2884
2885 In SunOS 4.x, SVR4, and Alpha OSF/1 configurations, you can now set
2886 breakpoints in shared libraries before the executable is run.
2887
2888 * Hardware watchpoints
2889
2890 There is a new hardware breakpoint for the watch command for sparclite
2891 targets. See gdb/sparclite/hw_breakpoint.note.
2892
2893 Hardware watchpoints are also now supported under GNU/Linux.
2894
2895 * Annotations
2896
2897 Annotations have been added. These are for use with graphical interfaces,
2898 and are still experimental. Currently only gdba.el uses these.
2899
2900 * Improved Irix 5 support
2901
2902 GDB now works properly with Irix 5.2.
2903
2904 * Improved HPPA support
2905
2906 GDB now works properly with the latest GCC and GAS.
2907
2908 * New native configurations
2909
2910 Sequent PTX4 i[34]86-sequent-ptx4
2911 HPPA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
2912 Atari TT running SVR4 m68*-*-sysv4*
2913 RS/6000 LynxOS rs6000-*-lynxos*
2914
2915 * New targets
2916
2917 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
2918 MIPS R4000 mips64*{,el}-*-{ecoff,elf}
2919 Sparc64 sparc64-*-*
2920
2921 * Hitachi SH7000 and E7000-PC ICE support
2922
2923 There is now support for communicating with the Hitachi E7000-PC ICE.
2924 This is available automatically when GDB is configured for the SH.
2925
2926 * Fixes
2927
2928 As usual, a variety of small fixes and improvements, both generic
2929 and configuration-specific. See the ChangeLog for more detail.
2930
2931 *** Changes in GDB-4.12:
2932
2933 * Irix 5 is now supported
2934
2935 * HPPA support
2936
2937 GDB-4.12 on the HPPA has a number of changes which make it unable
2938 to debug the output from the currently released versions of GCC and
2939 GAS (GCC 2.5.8 and GAS-2.2 or PAGAS-1.36). Until the next major release
2940 of GCC and GAS, versions of these tools designed to work with GDB-4.12
2941 can be retrieved via anonymous ftp from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist.
2942
2943
2944 *** Changes in GDB-4.11:
2945
2946 * User visible changes:
2947
2948 * Remote Debugging
2949
2950 The "set remotedebug" option is now consistent between the mips remote
2951 target, remote targets using the gdb-specific protocol, UDI (AMD's
2952 debug protocol for the 29k) and the 88k bug monitor. It is now an
2953 integer specifying a debug level (normally 0 or 1, but 2 means more
2954 debugging info for the mips target).
2955
2956 * DEC Alpha native support
2957
2958 GDB now works on the DEC Alpha. GCC 2.4.5 does not produce usable
2959 debug info, but GDB works fairly well with the DEC compiler and should
2960 work with a future GCC release. See the README file for a few
2961 Alpha-specific notes.
2962
2963 * Preliminary thread implementation
2964
2965 GDB now has preliminary thread support for both SGI/Irix and LynxOS.
2966
2967 * LynxOS native and target support for 386
2968
2969 This release has been hosted on LynxOS 2.2, and also can be configured
2970 to remotely debug programs running under LynxOS (see gdb/gdbserver/README
2971 for details).
2972
2973 * Improvements in C++ mangling/demangling.
2974
2975 This release has much better g++ debugging, specifically in name
2976 mangling/demangling, virtual function calls, print virtual table,
2977 call methods, ...etc.
2978
2979 *** Changes in GDB-4.10:
2980
2981 * User visible changes:
2982
2983 Remote debugging using the GDB-specific (`target remote') protocol now
2984 supports the `load' command. This is only useful if you have some
2985 other way of getting the stub to the target system, and you can put it
2986 somewhere in memory where it won't get clobbered by the download.
2987
2988 Filename completion now works.
2989
2990 When run under emacs mode, the "info line" command now causes the
2991 arrow to point to the line specified. Also, "info line" prints
2992 addresses in symbolic form (as well as hex).
2993
2994 All vxworks based targets now support a user settable option, called
2995 vxworks-timeout. This option represents the number of seconds gdb
2996 should wait for responses to rpc's. You might want to use this if
2997 your vxworks target is, perhaps, a slow software simulator or happens
2998 to be on the far side of a thin network line.
2999
3000 * DEC alpha support
3001
3002 This release contains support for using a DEC alpha as a GDB host for
3003 cross debugging. Native alpha debugging is not supported yet.
3004
3005
3006 *** Changes in GDB-4.9:
3007
3008 * Testsuite
3009
3010 This is the first GDB release which is accompanied by a matching testsuite.
3011 The testsuite requires installation of dejagnu, which should be available
3012 via ftp from most sites that carry GNU software.
3013
3014 * C++ demangling
3015
3016 'Cfront' style demangling has had its name changed to 'ARM' style, to
3017 emphasize that it was written from the specifications in the C++ Annotated
3018 Reference Manual, not necessarily to be compatible with AT&T cfront. Despite
3019 disclaimers, it still generated too much confusion with users attempting to
3020 use gdb with AT&T cfront.
3021
3022 * Simulators
3023
3024 GDB now uses a standard remote interface to a simulator library.
3025 So far, the library contains simulators for the Zilog Z8001/2, the
3026 Hitachi H8/300, H8/500 and Super-H.
3027
3028 * New targets supported
3029
3030 H8/300 simulator h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
3031 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
3032 SH simulator sh-hitachi-hms or sh
3033 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
3034 IDT MIPS board over serial line mips-idt-ecoff
3035
3036 Cross-debugging to GO32 targets is supported. It requires a custom
3037 version of the i386-stub.c module which is integrated with the
3038 GO32 memory extender.
3039
3040 * New remote protocols
3041
3042 MIPS remote debugging protocol.
3043
3044 * New source languages supported
3045
3046 This version includes preliminary support for Chill, a Pascal like language
3047 used by telecommunications companies. Chill support is also being integrated
3048 into the GNU compiler, but we don't know when it will be publically available.
3049
3050
3051 *** Changes in GDB-4.8:
3052
3053 * HP Precision Architecture supported
3054
3055 GDB now supports HP PA-RISC machines running HPUX. A preliminary
3056 version of this support was available as a set of patches from the
3057 University of Utah. GDB does not support debugging of programs
3058 compiled with the HP compiler, because HP will not document their file
3059 format. Instead, you must use GCC (version 2.3.2 or later) and PA-GAS
3060 (as available from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist/pa-gas.u4.tar.Z).
3061
3062 Many problems in the preliminary version have been fixed.
3063
3064 * Faster and better demangling
3065
3066 We have improved template demangling and fixed numerous bugs in the GNU style
3067 demangler. It can now handle type modifiers such as `static' or `const'. Wide
3068 character types (wchar_t) are now supported. Demangling of each symbol is now
3069 only done once, and is cached when the symbol table for a file is read in.
3070 This results in a small increase in memory usage for C programs, a moderate
3071 increase in memory usage for C++ programs, and a fantastic speedup in
3072 symbol lookups.
3073
3074 `Cfront' style demangling still doesn't work with AT&T cfront. It was written
3075 from the specifications in the Annotated Reference Manual, which AT&T's
3076 compiler does not actually implement.
3077
3078 * G++ multiple inheritance compiler problem
3079
3080 In the 2.3.2 release of gcc/g++, how the compiler resolves multiple
3081 inheritance lattices was reworked to properly discover ambiguities. We
3082 recently found an example which causes this new algorithm to fail in a
3083 very subtle way, producing bad debug information for those classes.
3084 The file 'gcc.patch' (in this directory) can be applied to gcc to
3085 circumvent the problem. A future GCC release will contain a complete
3086 fix.
3087
3088 The previous G++ debug info problem (mentioned below for the gdb-4.7
3089 release) is fixed in gcc version 2.3.2.
3090
3091 * Improved configure script
3092
3093 The `configure' script will now attempt to guess your system type if
3094 you don't supply a host system type. The old scheme of supplying a
3095 host system triplet is preferable over using this. All the magic is
3096 done in the new `config.guess' script. Examine it for details.
3097
3098 We have also brought our configure script much more in line with the FSF's
3099 version. It now supports the --with-xxx options. In particular,
3100 `--with-minimal-bfd' can be used to make the GDB binary image smaller.
3101 The resulting GDB will not be able to read arbitrary object file formats --
3102 only the format ``expected'' to be used on the configured target system.
3103 We hope to make this the default in a future release.
3104
3105 * Documentation improvements
3106
3107 There's new internal documentation on how to modify GDB, and how to
3108 produce clean changes to the code. We implore people to read it
3109 before submitting changes.
3110
3111 The GDB manual uses new, sexy Texinfo conditionals, rather than arcane
3112 M4 macros. The new texinfo.tex is provided in this release. Pre-built
3113 `info' files are also provided. To build `info' files from scratch,
3114 you will need the latest `makeinfo' release, which will be available in
3115 a future texinfo-X.Y release.
3116
3117 *NOTE* The new texinfo.tex can cause old versions of TeX to hang.
3118 We're not sure exactly which versions have this problem, but it has
3119 been seen in 3.0. We highly recommend upgrading to TeX version 3.141
3120 or better. If that isn't possible, there is a patch in
3121 `texinfo/tex3patch' that will modify `texinfo/texinfo.tex' to work
3122 around this problem.
3123
3124 * New features
3125
3126 GDB now supports array constants that can be used in expressions typed in by
3127 the user. The syntax is `{element, element, ...}'. Ie: you can now type
3128 `print {1, 2, 3}', and it will build up an array in memory malloc'd in
3129 the target program.
3130
3131 The new directory `gdb/sparclite' contains a program that demonstrates
3132 how the sparc-stub.c remote stub runs on a Fujitsu SPARClite processor.
3133
3134 * New native hosts supported
3135
3136 HP/PA-RISC under HPUX using GNU tools hppa1.1-hp-hpux
3137 386 CPUs running SCO Unix 3.2v4 i386-unknown-sco3.2v4
3138
3139 * New targets supported
3140
3141 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi or udi29k
3142
3143 * New file formats supported
3144
3145 BFD now supports reading HP/PA-RISC executables (SOM file format?),
3146 HPUX core files, and SCO 3.2v2 core files.
3147
3148 * Major bug fixes
3149
3150 Attaching to processes now works again; thanks for the many bug reports.
3151
3152 We have also stomped on a bunch of core dumps caused by
3153 printf_filtered("%s") problems.
3154
3155 We eliminated a copyright problem on the rpc and ptrace header files
3156 for VxWorks, which was discovered at the last minute during the 4.7
3157 release. You should now be able to build a VxWorks GDB.
3158
3159 You can now interrupt gdb while an attached process is running. This
3160 will cause the attached process to stop, and give control back to GDB.
3161
3162 We fixed problems caused by using too many file descriptors
3163 for reading symbols from object files and libraries. This was
3164 especially a problem for programs that used many (~100) shared
3165 libraries.
3166
3167 The `step' command now only enters a subroutine if there is line number
3168 information for the subroutine. Otherwise it acts like the `next'
3169 command. Previously, `step' would enter subroutines if there was
3170 any debugging information about the routine. This avoids problems
3171 when using `cc -g1' on MIPS machines.
3172
3173 * Internal improvements
3174
3175 GDB's internal interfaces have been improved to make it easier to support
3176 debugging of multiple languages in the future.
3177
3178 GDB now uses a common structure for symbol information internally.
3179 Minimal symbols (derived from linkage symbols in object files), partial
3180 symbols (from a quick scan of debug information), and full symbols
3181 contain a common subset of information, making it easier to write
3182 shared code that handles any of them.
3183
3184 * New command line options
3185
3186 We now accept --silent as an alias for --quiet.
3187
3188 * Mmalloc licensing
3189
3190 The memory-mapped-malloc library is now licensed under the GNU Library
3191 General Public License.
3192
3193 *** Changes in GDB-4.7:
3194
3195 * Host/native/target split
3196
3197 GDB has had some major internal surgery to untangle the support for
3198 hosts and remote targets. Now, when you configure GDB for a remote
3199 target, it will no longer load in all of the support for debugging
3200 local programs on the host. When fully completed and tested, this will
3201 ensure that arbitrary host/target combinations are possible.
3202
3203 The primary conceptual shift is to separate the non-portable code in
3204 GDB into three categories. Host specific code is required any time GDB
3205 is compiled on that host, regardless of the target. Target specific
3206 code relates to the peculiarities of the target, but can be compiled on
3207 any host. Native specific code is everything else: it can only be
3208 built when the host and target are the same system. Child process
3209 handling and core file support are two common `native' examples.
3210
3211 GDB's use of /proc for controlling Unix child processes is now cleaner.
3212 It has been split out into a single module under the `target_ops' vector,
3213 plus two native-dependent functions for each system that uses /proc.
3214
3215 * New hosts supported
3216
3217 HP/Apollo 68k (under the BSD domain) m68k-apollo-bsd or apollo68bsd
3218 386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
3219 386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or i386sco
3220
3221 * New targets supported
3222
3223 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
3224 68030 and CPU32 m68030-*-*, m68332-*-*
3225
3226 * New native hosts supported
3227
3228 386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
3229 (386bsd is not well tested yet)
3230 386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or sco
3231
3232 * New file formats supported
3233
3234 BFD now supports COFF files for the Zilog Z8000 microprocessor. It
3235 supports reading of `a.out.adobe' object files, which are an a.out
3236 format extended with minimal information about multiple sections.
3237
3238 * New commands
3239
3240 `show copying' is the same as the old `info copying'.
3241 `show warranty' is the same as `info warrantee'.
3242 These were renamed for consistency. The old commands continue to work.
3243
3244 `info handle' is a new alias for `info signals'.
3245
3246 You can now define pre-command hooks, which attach arbitrary command
3247 scripts to any command. The commands in the hook will be executed
3248 prior to the user's command. You can also create a hook which will be
3249 executed whenever the program stops. See gdb.texinfo.
3250
3251 * C++ improvements
3252
3253 We now deal with Cfront style name mangling, and can even extract type
3254 info from mangled symbols. GDB can automatically figure out which
3255 symbol mangling style your C++ compiler uses.
3256
3257 Calling of methods and virtual functions has been improved as well.
3258
3259 * Major bug fixes
3260
3261 The crash that occured when debugging Sun Ansi-C compiled binaries is
3262 fixed. This was due to mishandling of the extra N_SO stabs output
3263 by the compiler.
3264
3265 We also finally got Ultrix 4.2 running in house, and fixed core file
3266 support, with help from a dozen people on the net.
3267
3268 John M. Farrell discovered that the reason that single-stepping was so
3269 slow on all of the Mips based platforms (primarily SGI and DEC) was
3270 that we were trying to demangle and lookup a symbol used for internal
3271 purposes on every instruction that was being stepped through. Changing
3272 the name of that symbol so that it couldn't be mistaken for a C++
3273 mangled symbol sped things up a great deal.
3274
3275 Rich Pixley sped up symbol lookups in general by getting much smarter
3276 about when C++ symbol mangling is necessary. This should make symbol
3277 completion (TAB on the command line) much faster. It's not as fast as
3278 we'd like, but it's significantly faster than gdb-4.6.
3279
3280 * AMD 29k support
3281
3282 A new user controllable variable 'call_scratch_address' can
3283 specify the location of a scratch area to be used when GDB
3284 calls a function in the target. This is necessary because the
3285 usual method of putting the scratch area on the stack does not work
3286 in systems that have separate instruction and data spaces.
3287
3288 We integrated changes to support the 29k UDI (Universal Debugger
3289 Interface), but discovered at the last minute that we didn't have all
3290 of the appropriate copyright paperwork. We are working with AMD to
3291 resolve this, and hope to have it available soon.
3292
3293 * Remote interfaces
3294
3295 We have sped up the remote serial line protocol, especially for targets
3296 with lots of registers. It now supports a new `expedited status' ('T')
3297 message which can be used in place of the existing 'S' status message.
3298 This allows the remote stub to send only the registers that GDB
3299 needs to make a quick decision about single-stepping or conditional
3300 breakpoints, eliminating the need to fetch the entire register set for
3301 each instruction being stepped through.
3302
3303 The GDB remote serial protocol now implements a write-through cache for
3304 registers, only re-reading the registers if the target has run.
3305
3306 There is also a new remote serial stub for SPARC processors. You can
3307 find it in gdb-4.7/gdb/sparc-stub.c. This was written to support the
3308 Fujitsu SPARClite processor, but will run on any stand-alone SPARC
3309 processor with a serial port.
3310
3311 * Configuration
3312
3313 Configure.in files have become much easier to read and modify. A new
3314 `table driven' format makes it more obvious what configurations are
3315 supported, and what files each one uses.
3316
3317 * Library changes
3318
3319 There is a new opcodes library which will eventually contain all of the
3320 disassembly routines and opcode tables. At present, it only contains
3321 Sparc and Z8000 routines. This will allow the assembler, debugger, and
3322 disassembler (binutils/objdump) to share these routines.
3323
3324 The libiberty library is now copylefted under the GNU Library General
3325 Public License. This allows more liberal use, and was done so libg++
3326 can use it. This makes no difference to GDB, since the Library License
3327 grants all the rights from the General Public License.
3328
3329 * Documentation
3330
3331 The file gdb-4.7/gdb/doc/stabs.texinfo is a (relatively) complete
3332 reference to the stabs symbol info used by the debugger. It is (as far
3333 as we know) the only published document on this fascinating topic. We
3334 encourage you to read it, compare it to the stabs information on your
3335 system, and send improvements on the document in general (to
3336 bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu).
3337
3338 And, of course, many bugs have been fixed.
3339
3340
3341 *** Changes in GDB-4.6:
3342
3343 * Better support for C++ function names
3344
3345 GDB now accepts as input the "demangled form" of C++ overloaded function
3346 names and member function names, and can do command completion on such names
3347 (using TAB, TAB-TAB, and ESC-?). The names have to be quoted with a pair of
3348 single quotes. Examples are 'func (int, long)' and 'obj::operator==(obj&)'.
3349 Make use of command completion, it is your friend.
3350
3351 GDB also now accepts a variety of C++ mangled symbol formats. They are
3352 the GNU g++ style, the Cfront (ARM) style, and the Lucid (lcc) style.
3353 You can tell GDB which format to use by doing a 'set demangle-style {gnu,
3354 lucid, cfront, auto}'. 'gnu' is the default. Do a 'set demangle-style foo'
3355 for the list of formats.
3356
3357 * G++ symbol mangling problem
3358
3359 Recent versions of gcc have a bug in how they emit debugging information for
3360 C++ methods (when using dbx-style stabs). The file 'gcc.patch' (in this
3361 directory) can be applied to gcc to fix the problem. Alternatively, if you
3362 can't fix gcc, you can #define GCC_MANGLE_BUG when compling gdb/symtab.c. The
3363 usual symptom is difficulty with setting breakpoints on methods. GDB complains
3364 about the method being non-existent. (We believe that version 2.2.2 of GCC has
3365 this problem.)
3366
3367 * New 'maintenance' command
3368
3369 All of the commands related to hacking GDB internals have been moved out of
3370 the main command set, and now live behind the 'maintenance' command. This
3371 can also be abbreviated as 'mt'. The following changes were made:
3372
3373 dump-me -> maintenance dump-me
3374 info all-breakpoints -> maintenance info breakpoints
3375 printmsyms -> maintenance print msyms
3376 printobjfiles -> maintenance print objfiles
3377 printpsyms -> maintenance print psymbols
3378 printsyms -> maintenance print symbols
3379
3380 The following commands are new:
3381
3382 maintenance demangle Call internal GDB demangler routine to
3383 demangle a C++ link name and prints the result.
3384 maintenance print type Print a type chain for a given symbol
3385
3386 * Change to .gdbinit file processing
3387
3388 We now read the $HOME/.gdbinit file before processing the argv arguments
3389 (e.g. reading symbol files or core files). This allows global parameters to
3390 be set, which will apply during the symbol reading. The ./.gdbinit is still
3391 read after argv processing.
3392
3393 * New hosts supported
3394
3395 Solaris-2.0 !!! sparc-sun-solaris2 or sun4sol2
3396
3397 GNU/Linux support i386-unknown-linux or linux
3398
3399 We are also including code to support the HP/PA running BSD and HPUX. This
3400 is almost guaranteed not to work, as we didn't have time to test or build it
3401 for this release. We are including it so that the more adventurous (or
3402 masochistic) of you can play with it. We also had major problems with the
3403 fact that the compiler that we got from HP doesn't support the -g option.
3404 It costs extra.
3405
3406 * New targets supported
3407
3408 Hitachi H8/300 h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
3409
3410 * More smarts about finding #include files
3411
3412 GDB now remembers the compilation directory for all include files, and for
3413 all files from which C is generated (like yacc and lex sources). This
3414 greatly improves GDB's ability to find yacc/lex sources, and include files,
3415 especially if you are debugging your program from a directory different from
3416 the one that contains your sources.
3417
3418 We also fixed a bug which caused difficulty with listing and setting
3419 breakpoints in include files which contain C code. (In the past, you had to
3420 try twice in order to list an include file that you hadn't looked at before.)
3421
3422 * Interesting infernals change
3423
3424 GDB now deals with arbitrary numbers of sections, where the symbols for each
3425 section must be relocated relative to that section's landing place in the
3426 target's address space. This work was needed to support ELF with embedded
3427 stabs used by Solaris-2.0.
3428
3429 * Bug fixes (of course!)
3430
3431 There have been loads of fixes for the following things:
3432 mips, rs6000, 29k/udi, m68k, g++, type handling, elf/dwarf, m88k,
3433 i960, stabs, DOS(GO32), procfs, etc...
3434
3435 See the ChangeLog for details.
3436
3437 *** Changes in GDB-4.5:
3438
3439 * New machines supported (host and target)
3440
3441 IBM RS6000 running AIX rs6000-ibm-aix or rs6000
3442
3443 SGI Irix-4.x mips-sgi-irix4 or iris4
3444
3445 * New malloc package
3446
3447 GDB now uses a new memory manager called mmalloc, based on gmalloc.
3448 Mmalloc is capable of handling mutiple heaps of memory. It is also
3449 capable of saving a heap to a file, and then mapping it back in later.
3450 This can be used to greatly speedup the startup of GDB by using a
3451 pre-parsed symbol table which lives in a mmalloc managed heap. For
3452 more details, please read mmalloc/mmalloc.texi.
3453
3454 * info proc
3455
3456 The 'info proc' command (SVR4 only) has been enhanced quite a bit. See
3457 'help info proc' for details.
3458
3459 * MIPS ecoff symbol table format
3460
3461 The code that reads MIPS symbol table format is now supported on all hosts.
3462 Thanks to MIPS for releasing the sym.h and symconst.h files to make this
3463 possible.
3464
3465 * File name changes for MS-DOS
3466
3467 Many files in the config directories have been renamed to make it easier to
3468 support GDB on MS-DOSe systems (which have very restrictive file name
3469 conventions :-( ). MS-DOSe host support (under DJ Delorie's GO32
3470 environment) is close to working but has some remaining problems. Note
3471 that debugging of DOS programs is not supported, due to limitations
3472 in the ``operating system'', but it can be used to host cross-debugging.
3473
3474 * Cross byte order fixes
3475
3476 Many fixes have been made to support cross debugging of Sparc and MIPS
3477 targets from hosts whose byte order differs.
3478
3479 * New -mapped and -readnow options
3480
3481 If memory-mapped files are available on your system through the 'mmap'
3482 system call, you can use the -mapped option on the `file' or
3483 `symbol-file' commands to cause GDB to write the symbols from your
3484 program into a reusable file. If the program you are debugging is
3485 called `/path/fred', the mapped symbol file will be `./fred.syms'.
3486 Future GDB debugging sessions will notice the presence of this file,
3487 and will quickly map in symbol information from it, rather than reading
3488 the symbol table from the executable program. Using the '-mapped'
3489 option in a GDB `file' or `symbol-file' command has the same effect as
3490 starting GDB with the '-mapped' command-line option.
3491
3492 You can cause GDB to read the entire symbol table immediately by using
3493 the '-readnow' option with any of the commands that load symbol table
3494 information (or on the GDB command line). This makes the command
3495 slower, but makes future operations faster.
3496
3497 The -mapped and -readnow options are typically combined in order to
3498 build a `fred.syms' file that contains complete symbol information.
3499 A simple GDB invocation to do nothing but build a `.syms' file for future
3500 use is:
3501
3502 gdb -batch -nx -mapped -readnow programname
3503
3504 The `.syms' file is specific to the host machine on which GDB is run.
3505 It holds an exact image of GDB's internal symbol table. It cannot be
3506 shared across multiple host platforms.
3507
3508 * longjmp() handling
3509
3510 GDB is now capable of stepping and nexting over longjmp(), _longjmp(), and
3511 siglongjmp() without losing control. This feature has not yet been ported to
3512 all systems. It currently works on many 386 platforms, all MIPS-based
3513 platforms (SGI, DECstation, etc), and Sun3/4.
3514
3515 * Solaris 2.0
3516
3517 Preliminary work has been put in to support the new Solaris OS from Sun. At
3518 this time, it can control and debug processes, but it is not capable of
3519 reading symbols.
3520
3521 * Bug fixes
3522
3523 As always, many many bug fixes. The major areas were with g++, and mipsread.
3524 People using the MIPS-based platforms should experience fewer mysterious
3525 crashes and trashed symbol tables.
3526
3527 *** Changes in GDB-4.4:
3528
3529 * New machines supported (host and target)
3530
3531 SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
3532 (except core files)
3533 BSD Reno on Vax vax-dec-bsd
3534 Ultrix on Vax vax-dec-ultrix
3535
3536 * New machines supported (target)
3537
3538 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
3539
3540 * C++ support
3541
3542 GDB continues to improve its handling of C++. `References' work better.
3543 The demangler has also been improved, and now deals with symbols mangled as
3544 per the Annotated C++ Reference Guide.
3545
3546 GDB also now handles `stabs' symbol information embedded in MIPS
3547 `ecoff' symbol tables. Since the ecoff format was not easily
3548 extensible to handle new languages such as C++, this appeared to be a
3549 good way to put C++ debugging info into MIPS binaries. This option
3550 will be supported in the GNU C compiler, version 2, when it is
3551 released.
3552
3553 * New features for SVR4
3554
3555 GDB now handles SVR4 shared libraries, in the same fashion as SunOS
3556 shared libraries. Debugging dynamically linked programs should present
3557 only minor differences from debugging statically linked programs.
3558
3559 The `info proc' command will print out information about any process
3560 on an SVR4 system (including the one you are debugging). At the moment,
3561 it prints the address mappings of the process.
3562
3563 If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please send mail to
3564 bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were reqired (if any).
3565
3566 * Better dynamic linking support in SunOS
3567
3568 Reading symbols from shared libraries which contain debugging symbols
3569 now works properly. However, there remain issues such as automatic
3570 skipping of `transfer vector' code during function calls, which
3571 make it harder to debug code in a shared library, than to debug the
3572 same code linked statically.
3573
3574 * New Getopt
3575
3576 GDB is now using the latest `getopt' routines from the FSF. This
3577 version accepts the -- prefix for options with long names. GDB will
3578 continue to accept the old forms (-option and +option) as well.
3579 Various single letter abbreviations for options have been explicity
3580 added to the option table so that they won't get overshadowed in the
3581 future by other options that begin with the same letter.
3582
3583 * Bugs fixed
3584
3585 The `cleanup_undefined_types' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
3586 Many assorted bugs have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
3587 See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
3588
3589
3590 *** Changes in GDB-4.3:
3591
3592 * New machines supported (host and target)
3593
3594 Amiga 3000 running Amix m68k-cbm-svr4 or amix
3595 NCR 3000 386 running SVR4 i386-ncr-svr4 or ncr3000
3596 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
3597
3598 * Almost SCO Unix support
3599
3600 We had hoped to support:
3601 SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
3602 (except for core file support), but we discovered very late in the release
3603 that it has problems with process groups that render gdb unusable. Sorry
3604 about that. I encourage people to fix it and post the fixes.
3605
3606 * Preliminary ELF and DWARF support
3607
3608 GDB can read ELF object files on System V Release 4, and can handle
3609 debugging records for C, in DWARF format, in ELF files. This support
3610 is preliminary. If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please
3611 send mail to bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were
3612 reqired (if any).
3613
3614 * New Readline
3615
3616 GDB now uses the latest `readline' library. One user-visible change
3617 is that two tabs will list possible command completions, which previously
3618 required typing M-? (meta-question mark, or ESC ?).
3619
3620 * Bugs fixed
3621
3622 The `stepi' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
3623 Many bugs in C++ have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
3624 See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
3625
3626 * State of the MIPS world (in case you wondered):
3627
3628 GDB can understand the symbol tables emitted by the compilers
3629 supplied by most vendors of MIPS-based machines, including DEC. These
3630 symbol tables are in a format that essentially nobody else uses.
3631
3632 Some versions of gcc come with an assembler post-processor called
3633 mips-tfile. This program is required if you want to do source-level
3634 debugging of gcc-compiled programs. I believe FSF does not ship
3635 mips-tfile with gcc version 1, but it will eventually come with gcc
3636 version 2.
3637
3638 Debugging of g++ output remains a problem. g++ version 1.xx does not
3639 really support it at all. (If you're lucky, you should be able to get
3640 line numbers and stack traces to work, but no parameters or local
3641 variables.) With some work it should be possible to improve the
3642 situation somewhat.
3643
3644 When gcc version 2 is released, you will have somewhat better luck.
3645 However, even then you will get confusing results for inheritance and
3646 methods.
3647
3648 We will eventually provide full debugging of g++ output on
3649 DECstations. This will probably involve some kind of stabs-in-ecoff
3650 encapulation, but the details have not been worked out yet.
3651
3652
3653 *** Changes in GDB-4.2:
3654
3655 * Improved configuration
3656
3657 Only one copy of `configure' exists now, and it is not self-modifying.
3658 Porting BFD is simpler.
3659
3660 * Stepping improved
3661
3662 The `step' and `next' commands now only stop at the first instruction
3663 of a source line. This prevents the multiple stops that used to occur
3664 in switch statements, for-loops, etc. `Step' continues to stop if a
3665 function that has debugging information is called within the line.
3666
3667 * Bug fixing
3668
3669 Lots of small bugs fixed. More remain.
3670
3671 * New host supported (not target)
3672
3673 Intel 386 PC clone running Mach i386-none-mach
3674
3675
3676 *** Changes in GDB-4.1:
3677
3678 * Multiple source language support
3679
3680 GDB now has internal scaffolding to handle several source languages.
3681 It determines the type of each source file from its filename extension,
3682 and will switch expression parsing and number formatting to match the
3683 language of the function in the currently selected stack frame.
3684 You can also specifically set the language to be used, with
3685 `set language c' or `set language modula-2'.
3686
3687 * GDB and Modula-2
3688
3689 GDB now has preliminary support for the GNU Modula-2 compiler,
3690 currently under development at the State University of New York at
3691 Buffalo. Development of both GDB and the GNU Modula-2 compiler will
3692 continue through the fall of 1991 and into 1992.
3693
3694 Other Modula-2 compilers are currently not supported, and attempting to
3695 debug programs compiled with them will likely result in an error as the
3696 symbol table is read. Feel free to work on it, though!
3697
3698 There are hooks in GDB for strict type checking and range checking,
3699 in the `Modula-2 philosophy', but they do not currently work.
3700
3701 * set write on/off
3702
3703 GDB can now write to executable and core files (e.g. patch
3704 a variable's value). You must turn this switch on, specify
3705 the file ("exec foo" or "core foo"), *then* modify it, e.g.
3706 by assigning a new value to a variable. Modifications take
3707 effect immediately.
3708
3709 * Automatic SunOS shared library reading
3710
3711 When you run your program, GDB automatically determines where its
3712 shared libraries (if any) have been loaded, and reads their symbols.
3713 The `share' command is no longer needed. This also works when
3714 examining core files.
3715
3716 * set listsize
3717
3718 You can specify the number of lines that the `list' command shows.
3719 The default is 10.
3720
3721 * New machines supported (host and target)
3722
3723 SGI Iris (MIPS) running Irix V3: mips-sgi-irix or iris
3724 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x: m68k-sony-sysv or news
3725 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1: a29k-nyu-sym1 or ultra3
3726
3727 * New hosts supported (not targets)
3728
3729 IBM RT/PC: romp-ibm-aix or rtpc
3730
3731 * New targets supported (not hosts)
3732
3733 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
3734 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
3735 Ultracomputer remote kernel debug a29k-nyu-kern
3736
3737 * New remote interfaces
3738
3739 AMD 29000 Adapt
3740 AMD 29000 Minimon
3741
3742
3743 *** Changes in GDB-4.0:
3744
3745 * New Facilities
3746
3747 Wide output is wrapped at good places to make the output more readable.
3748
3749 Gdb now supports cross-debugging from a host machine of one type to a
3750 target machine of another type. Communication with the target system
3751 is over serial lines. The ``target'' command handles connecting to the
3752 remote system; the ``load'' command will download a program into the
3753 remote system. Serial stubs for the m68k and i386 are provided. Gdb
3754 also supports debugging of realtime processes running under VxWorks,
3755 using SunRPC Remote Procedure Calls over TCP/IP to talk to a debugger
3756 stub on the target system.
3757
3758 New CPUs supported include the AMD 29000 and Intel 960.
3759
3760 GDB now reads object files and symbol tables via a ``binary file''
3761 library, which allows a single copy of GDB to debug programs of multiple
3762 object file types such as a.out and coff.
3763
3764 There is now a GDB reference card in "doc/refcard.tex". (Make targets
3765 refcard.dvi and refcard.ps are available to format it).
3766
3767
3768 * Control-Variable user interface simplified
3769
3770 All variables that control the operation of the debugger can be set
3771 by the ``set'' command, and displayed by the ``show'' command.
3772
3773 For example, ``set prompt new-gdb=>'' will change your prompt to new-gdb=>.
3774 ``Show prompt'' produces the response:
3775 Gdb's prompt is new-gdb=>.
3776
3777 What follows are the NEW set commands. The command ``help set'' will
3778 print a complete list of old and new set commands. ``help set FOO''
3779 will give a longer description of the variable FOO. ``show'' will show
3780 all of the variable descriptions and their current settings.
3781
3782 confirm on/off: Enables warning questions for operations that are
3783 hard to recover from, e.g. rerunning the program while
3784 it is already running. Default is ON.
3785
3786 editing on/off: Enables EMACS style command line editing
3787 of input. Previous lines can be recalled with
3788 control-P, the current line can be edited with control-B,
3789 you can search for commands with control-R, etc.
3790 Default is ON.
3791
3792 history filename NAME: NAME is where the gdb command history
3793 will be stored. The default is .gdb_history,
3794 or the value of the environment variable
3795 GDBHISTFILE.
3796
3797 history size N: The size, in commands, of the command history. The
3798 default is 256, or the value of the environment variable
3799 HISTSIZE.
3800
3801 history save on/off: If this value is set to ON, the history file will
3802 be saved after exiting gdb. If set to OFF, the
3803 file will not be saved. The default is OFF.
3804
3805 history expansion on/off: If this value is set to ON, then csh-like
3806 history expansion will be performed on
3807 command line input. The default is OFF.
3808
3809 radix N: Sets the default radix for input and output. It can be set
3810 to 8, 10, or 16. Note that the argument to "radix" is interpreted
3811 in the current radix, so "set radix 10" is always a no-op.
3812
3813 height N: This integer value is the number of lines on a page. Default
3814 is 24, the current `stty rows'' setting, or the ``li#''
3815 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
3816 variable TERM.
3817
3818 width N: This integer value is the number of characters on a line.
3819 Default is 80, the current `stty cols'' setting, or the ``co#''
3820 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
3821 variable TERM.
3822
3823 Note: ``set screensize'' is obsolete. Use ``set height'' and
3824 ``set width'' instead.
3825
3826 print address on/off: Print memory addresses in various command displays,
3827 such as stack traces and structure values. Gdb looks
3828 more ``symbolic'' if you turn this off; it looks more
3829 ``machine level'' with it on. Default is ON.
3830
3831 print array on/off: Prettyprint arrays. New convenient format! Default
3832 is OFF.
3833
3834 print demangle on/off: Print C++ symbols in "source" form if on,
3835 "raw" form if off.
3836
3837 print asm-demangle on/off: Same, for assembler level printouts
3838 like instructions.
3839
3840 print vtbl on/off: Prettyprint C++ virtual function tables. Default is OFF.
3841
3842
3843 * Support for Epoch Environment.
3844
3845 The epoch environment is a version of Emacs v18 with windowing. One
3846 new command, ``inspect'', is identical to ``print'', except that if you
3847 are running in the epoch environment, the value is printed in its own
3848 window.
3849
3850
3851 * Support for Shared Libraries
3852
3853 GDB can now debug programs and core files that use SunOS shared libraries.
3854 Symbols from a shared library cannot be referenced
3855 before the shared library has been linked with the program (this
3856 happens after you type ``run'' and before the function main() is entered).
3857 At any time after this linking (including when examining core files
3858 from dynamically linked programs), gdb reads the symbols from each
3859 shared library when you type the ``sharedlibrary'' command.
3860 It can be abbreviated ``share''.
3861
3862 sharedlibrary REGEXP: Load shared object library symbols for files
3863 matching a unix regular expression. No argument
3864 indicates to load symbols for all shared libraries.
3865
3866 info sharedlibrary: Status of loaded shared libraries.
3867
3868
3869 * Watchpoints
3870
3871 A watchpoint stops execution of a program whenever the value of an
3872 expression changes. Checking for this slows down execution
3873 tremendously whenever you are in the scope of the expression, but is
3874 quite useful for catching tough ``bit-spreader'' or pointer misuse
3875 problems. Some machines such as the 386 have hardware for doing this
3876 more quickly, and future versions of gdb will use this hardware.
3877
3878 watch EXP: Set a watchpoint (breakpoint) for an expression.
3879
3880 info watchpoints: Information about your watchpoints.
3881
3882 delete N: Deletes watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
3883 disable N: Temporarily turns off watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
3884 enable N: Re-enables watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
3885
3886
3887 * C++ multiple inheritance
3888
3889 When used with a GCC version 2 compiler, GDB supports multiple inheritance
3890 for C++ programs.
3891
3892 * C++ exception handling
3893
3894 Gdb now supports limited C++ exception handling. Besides the existing
3895 ability to breakpoint on an exception handler, gdb can breakpoint on
3896 the raising of an exception (before the stack is peeled back to the
3897 handler's context).
3898
3899 catch FOO: If there is a FOO exception handler in the dynamic scope,
3900 set a breakpoint to catch exceptions which may be raised there.
3901 Multiple exceptions (``catch foo bar baz'') may be caught.
3902
3903 info catch: Lists all exceptions which may be caught in the
3904 current stack frame.
3905
3906
3907 * Minor command changes
3908
3909 The command ``call func (arg, arg, ...)'' now acts like the print
3910 command, except it does not print or save a value if the function's result
3911 is void. This is similar to dbx usage.
3912
3913 The ``up'' and ``down'' commands now always print the frame they end up
3914 at; ``up-silently'' and `down-silently'' can be used in scripts to change
3915 frames without printing.
3916
3917 * New directory command
3918
3919 'dir' now adds directories to the FRONT of the source search path.
3920 The path starts off empty. Source files that contain debug information
3921 about the directory in which they were compiled can be found even
3922 with an empty path; Sun CC and GCC include this information. If GDB can't
3923 find your source file in the current directory, type "dir .".
3924
3925 * Configuring GDB for compilation
3926
3927 For normal use, type ``./configure host''. See README or gdb.texinfo
3928 for more details.
3929
3930 GDB now handles cross debugging. If you are remotely debugging between
3931 two different machines, type ``./configure host -target=targ''.
3932 Host is the machine where GDB will run; targ is the machine
3933 where the program that you are debugging will run.