1 What has changed in GDB?
2 (Organized release by release)
4 *** Changes since GDB 6.8
6 * Process record and replay
8 In a architecture environment that supports ``process record and
9 replay'', ``process record and replay'' target can record a log of
10 the process execution, and replay it with both forward and reverse
13 * Reverse debugging: GDB now has new commands reverse-continue, reverse-
14 step, reverse-next, reverse-finish, reverse-stepi, reverse-nexti, and
15 set execution-direction {forward|reverse}, for targets that support
18 * GDB now supports hardware watchpoints on MIPS/Linux systems. This
19 feature is available with a native GDB running on kernel version
22 * GDB now has support for multi-byte and wide character sets on the
23 target. Strings whose character type is wchar_t, char16_t, or
24 char32_t are now correctly printed. GDB supports wide- and unicode-
25 literals in C, that is, L'x', L"string", u'x', u"string", U'x', and
26 U"string" syntax. And, GDB allows the "%ls" and "%lc" formats in
27 `printf'. This feature requires iconv to work properly; if your
28 system does not have a working iconv, GDB can use GNU libiconv. See
29 the installation instructions for more information.
31 * GDB now supports automatic retrieval of shared library files from
32 remote targets. To use this feature, specify a system root that begins
33 with the `remote:' prefix, either via the `set sysroot' command or via
34 the `--with-sysroot' configure-time option.
36 * Commands `set debug-file-directory', `set solib-search-path' and `set args'
37 now complete on file names.
39 * When completing in expressions, gdb will attempt to limit
40 completions to allowable structure or union fields, where appropriate.
41 For instance, consider:
43 # struct example { int f1; double f2; };
44 # struct example variable;
47 If the user types TAB at the end of this command line, the available
48 completions will be "f1" and "f2".
50 * GDB now supports the token-splicing (##) and stringification (#)
51 operators when expanding macros. It also supports variable-arity
54 * GDB now supports inspecting extra signal information, exported by
55 the new $_siginfo convenience variable. The feature is currently
56 implemented on linux ARM, i386 and amd64.
61 Search memory for a sequence of bytes.
64 Turn off `+'/`-' protocol acknowledgments to permit more efficient
65 operation over reliable transport links. Use of this packet is
66 controlled by the `set remote noack-packet' command.
69 Kill the process with the specified process ID. Use this in preference
70 to `k' when multiprocess protocol extensions are supported.
73 Obtains additional operating system information
77 Read or write additional signal information.
79 * Removed remote protocol undocumented extension
81 An undocumented extension to the remote protocol's `S' stop reply
82 packet that permited the stub to pass a process id was removed.
83 Remote servers should use the `T' stop reply packet instead.
85 * The "disassemble" command now supports an optional /m modifier to print mixed
88 * GDB now supports multiple function calling conventions according to the
89 DWARF-2 DW_AT_calling_convention function attribute.
91 * The SH target utilizes the aforementioned change to distinguish between gcc
92 and Renesas calling convention. It also adds the new CLI commands
93 `set/show sh calling-convention'.
95 * GDB can now read compressed debug sections, as produced by GNU gold
96 with the --compress-debug-sections=zlib flag.
98 * 64-bit core files are now supported on AIX.
100 * Thread switching is now supported on Tru64.
102 * Watchpoints can now be set on unreadable memory locations, e.g. addresses
103 which will be allocated using malloc later in program execution.
105 * The qXfer:libraries:read remote procotol packet now allows passing a
106 list of section offsets.
108 * On GNU/Linux, GDB can now attach to stopped processes. Several race
109 conditions handling signals delivered during attach or thread creation
110 have also been fixed.
112 * GDB now supports the use of DWARF boolean types for Ada's type Boolean.
113 From the user's standpoint, all unqualified instances of True and False
114 are treated as the standard definitions, regardless of context.
116 * GDB now parses C++ symbol and type names more flexibly. For
119 template<typename T> class C { };
122 GDB will now correctly handle all of:
124 ptype C<char const *>
126 ptype C<const char *>
129 * New features in the GDB remote stub, gdbserver
131 - The "--wrapper" command-line argument tells gdbserver to use a
132 wrapper program to launch programs for debugging.
134 - On PowerPC and S/390 targets, it is now possible to use a single
135 gdbserver executable to debug both 32-bit and 64-bit programs.
136 (This requires gdbserver itself to be built as a 64-bit executable.)
138 - gdbserver uses the new noack protocol mode for TCP connections to
139 reduce communications latency, if also supported and enabled in GDB.
141 - Support for the sparc64-linux-gnu target is now included in
146 GDB now has support for scripting using Python. Whether this is
147 available is determined at configure time.
149 New GDB commands can now be written in Python.
151 * Ada tasking support
153 Ada tasks can now be inspected in GDB. The following commands have
157 Print the list of Ada tasks.
159 Print detailed information about task number N.
161 Print the task number of the current task.
163 Switch the context of debugging to task number N.
165 * Support for user-defined prefixed commands. The "define" command can
166 add new commands to existing prefixes, e.g. "target".
168 * New commands (for set/show, see "New options" below)
170 find [/size-char] [/max-count] start-address, end-address|+search-space-size,
172 Search memory for a sequence of bytes.
174 maint set python print-stack
175 maint show python print-stack
176 Show a stack trace when an error is encountered in a Python script.
179 Invoke CODE by passing it to the Python interpreter.
184 These allow macros to be defined, undefined, and listed
188 Show operating system information about processes.
192 set sh calling-convention
193 show sh calling-convention
194 Control the calling convention used when calling SH target functions.
196 set print symbol-loading
197 show print symbol-loading
198 Control printing of symbol loading messages.
202 Control display of timestamps with GDB debugging output.
204 set disassemble-next-line
205 show disassemble-next-line
206 Control display of disassembled source lines or instructions when
209 set remote noack-packet
210 show remote noack-packet
211 Set/show the use of remote protocol QStartNoAckMode packet. See above
212 under "New remote packets."
214 set remote query-attached-packet
215 show remote query-attached-packet
216 Control use of remote protocol `qAttached' (query-attached) packet.
218 set remote read-siginfo-object
219 show remote read-siginfo-object
220 Control use of remote protocol `qXfer:siginfo:read' (read-siginfo-object)
223 set remote write-siginfo-object
224 show remote write-siginfo-object
225 Control use of remote protocol `qXfer:siginfo:write' (write-siginfo-object)
228 set displaced-stepping
229 show displaced-stepping
230 Control displaced stepping mode. Displaced stepping is a way to
231 single-step over breakpoints without removing them from the debuggee.
232 Also known as "out-of-line single-stepping".
236 Control display of debugging info for displaced stepping.
238 maint set internal-error
239 maint show internal-error
240 Control what GDB does when an internal error is detected.
242 maint set internal-warning
243 maint show internal-warning
244 Control what GDB does when an internal warning is detected.
249 Use a wrapper program to launch programs for debugging.
251 set multiple-symbols (all|ask|cancel)
252 show multiple-symbols
253 The value of this variable can be changed to adjust the debugger behavior
254 when an expression or a breakpoint location contains an ambiguous symbol
255 name (an overloaded function name, for instance).
257 set breakpoint always-inserted
258 show breakpoint always-inserted
259 Keep breakpoints always inserted in the target, as opposed to inserting
260 them when resuming the target, and removing them when the target stops.
261 This option can improve debugger performance on slow remote targets.
263 set arm fallback-mode (arm|thumb|auto)
264 show arm fallback-mode
265 set arm force-mode (arm|thumb|auto)
267 These commands control how ARM GDB determines whether instructions
268 are ARM or Thumb. The default for both settings is auto, which uses
269 the current CPSR value for instructions without symbols; previous
270 versions of GDB behaved as if "set arm fallback-mode arm".
272 set disable-randomization
273 show disable-randomization
274 Standalone programs run with the virtual address space randomization enabled
275 by default on some platforms. This option keeps the addresses stable across
276 multiple debugging sessions.
280 Control whether other threads are stopped or not when some thread hits
285 Requests that asynchronous execution is enabled in the target, if available.
286 In this case, it's possible to resume target in the background, and interact
287 with GDB while the target is running. "show target-async" displays the
288 current state of asynchronous execution of the target.
290 set target-wide-charset
291 show target-wide-charset
292 The target-wide-charset is the name of the character set that GDB
293 uses when printing characters whose type is wchar_t.
295 set tcp auto-retry (on|off)
297 set tcp connect-timeout
298 show tcp connect-timeout
299 These commands allow GDB to retry failed TCP connections to a remote stub
300 with a specified timeout period; this is useful if the stub is launched
301 in parallel with GDB but may not be ready to accept connections immediately.
303 * New native configurations
305 x86/x86_64 Darwin i[34567]86-*-darwin*
307 x86_64 MinGW x86_64-*-mingw*
311 x86 DICOS i[34567]86-*-dicos*
312 x86_64 DICOS x86_64-*-dicos*
314 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports x86 Windows CE
315 (mingw32ce) debugging.
321 These commands were actually not implemented on any target.
323 *** Changes in GDB 6.8
325 * New native configurations
327 NetBSD/hppa hppa*-*netbsd*
328 Xtensa GNU/Linux xtensa*-*-linux*
332 NetBSD/hppa hppa*-*-netbsd*
333 Xtensa GNU/Lunux xtensa*-*-linux*
335 * Change in command line behavior -- corefiles vs. process ids.
337 When the '-p NUMBER' or '--pid NUMBER' options are used, and
338 attaching to process NUMBER fails, GDB no longer attempts to open a
339 core file named NUMBER. Attaching to a program using the -c option
340 is no longer supported. Instead, use the '-p' or '--pid' options.
342 * GDB can now be built as a native debugger for debugging Windows x86
343 (mingw32) Portable Executable (PE) programs.
345 * Pending breakpoints no longer change their number when their address
348 * GDB now supports breakpoints with multiple locations,
349 including breakpoints on C++ constructors, inside C++ templates,
350 and in inlined functions.
352 * GDB's ability to debug optimized code has been improved. GDB more
353 accurately identifies function bodies and lexical blocks that occupy
354 more than one contiguous range of addresses.
356 * Target descriptions can now describe registers for PowerPC.
358 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports the AltiVec and SPE
359 registers on PowerPC targets.
361 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports thread debugging on GNU/Linux
362 targets even when the libthread_db library is not available.
364 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports the new file transfer
365 commands (remote put, remote get, and remote delete).
367 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports run and attach in
368 extended-remote mode.
370 * hppa*64*-*-hpux11* target broken
371 The debugger is unable to start a program and fails with the following
372 error: "Error trying to get information about dynamic linker".
373 The gdb-6.7 release is also affected.
375 * GDB now supports the --enable-targets= configure option to allow
376 building a single GDB executable that supports multiple remote
377 target architectures.
379 * GDB now supports debugging C and C++ programs which use the
380 Decimal Floating Point extension. In addition, the PowerPC target
381 now has a set of pseudo-registers to inspect decimal float values
382 stored in two consecutive float registers.
384 * The -break-insert MI command can optionally create pending
387 * Improved support for debugging Ada
388 Many improvements to the Ada language support have been made. These
390 - Better support for Ada2005 interface types
391 - Improved handling of arrays and slices in general
392 - Better support for Taft-amendment types
393 - The '{type} ADDRESS' expression is now allowed on the left hand-side
395 - Improved command completion in Ada
398 * GDB on GNU/Linux and HP/UX can now debug through "exec" of a new
403 set print frame-arguments (all|scalars|none)
404 show print frame-arguments
405 The value of this variable can be changed to control which argument
406 values should be printed by the debugger when displaying a frame.
411 Transfer files to and from a remote target, and delete remote files.
418 Transfer files to and from a remote target, and delete remote files.
427 Open, close, read, write, and delete files on the remote system.
430 Attach to an existing process on the remote system, in extended-remote
434 Run a new process on the remote system, in extended-remote mode.
436 *** Changes in GDB 6.7
438 * Resolved 101 resource leaks, null pointer dereferences, etc. in gdb,
439 bfd, libiberty and opcodes, as revealed by static analysis donated by
440 Coverity, Inc. (http://scan.coverity.com).
442 * When looking up multiply-defined global symbols, GDB will now prefer the
443 symbol definition in the current shared library if it was built using the
444 -Bsymbolic linker option.
446 * When the Text User Interface (TUI) is not configured, GDB will now
447 recognize the -tui command-line option and print a message that the TUI
450 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now has lower overhead for high
451 frequency signals (e.g. SIGALRM) via the QPassSignals packet.
453 * GDB for MIPS targets now autodetects whether a remote target provides
454 32-bit or 64-bit register values.
456 * Support for C++ member pointers has been improved.
458 * GDB now understands XML target descriptions, which specify the
459 target's overall architecture. GDB can read a description from
460 a local file or over the remote serial protocol.
462 * Vectors of single-byte data use a new integer type which is not
463 automatically displayed as character or string data.
465 * The /s format now works with the print command. It displays
466 arrays of single-byte integers and pointers to single-byte integers
469 * Target descriptions can now describe target-specific registers,
470 for architectures which have implemented the support (currently
471 only ARM, M68K, and MIPS).
473 * GDB and the GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now support the XScale
476 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, has been updated to support
477 ARM Windows CE (mingw32ce) debugging, and GDB Windows CE support
478 has been rewritten to use the standard GDB remote protocol.
480 * GDB can now step into C++ functions which are called through thunks.
482 * GDB for the Cell/B.E. SPU now supports overlay debugging.
484 * The GDB remote protocol "qOffsets" packet can now honor ELF segment
485 layout. It also supports a TextSeg= and DataSeg= response when only
486 segment base addresses (rather than offsets) are available.
488 * The /i format now outputs any trailing branch delay slot instructions
489 immediately following the last instruction within the count specified.
491 * The GDB remote protocol "T" stop reply packet now supports a
492 "library" response. Combined with the new "qXfer:libraries:read"
493 packet, this response allows GDB to debug shared libraries on targets
494 where the operating system manages the list of loaded libraries (e.g.
495 Windows and SymbianOS).
497 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports dynamic link libraries
498 (DLLs) on Windows and Windows CE targets.
500 * GDB now supports a faster verification that a .debug file matches its binary
501 according to its build-id signature, if the signature is present.
507 Enable or disable hardware flow control (RTS/CTS) on the serial port
508 when debugging using remote targets.
510 set mem inaccessible-by-default
511 show mem inaccessible-by-default
512 If the target supplies a memory map, for instance via the remote
513 protocol's "qXfer:memory-map:read" packet, setting this variable
514 prevents GDB from accessing memory outside the memory map. This
515 is useful for targets with memory mapped registers or which react
516 badly to accesses of unmapped address space.
518 set breakpoint auto-hw
519 show breakpoint auto-hw
520 If the target supplies a memory map, for instance via the remote
521 protocol's "qXfer:memory-map:read" packet, setting this variable
522 lets GDB use hardware breakpoints automatically for memory regions
523 where it can not use software breakpoints. This covers both the
524 "break" command and internal breakpoints used for other commands
525 including "next" and "finish".
528 catch exception unhandled
529 Stop the program execution when Ada exceptions are raised.
532 Stop the program execution when an Ada assertion failed.
536 Set an alternate system root for target files. This is a more
537 general version of "set solib-absolute-prefix", which is now
538 an alias to "set sysroot".
541 Provide extended SPU facility status information. This set of
542 commands is available only when debugging the Cell/B.E. SPU
545 * New native configurations
547 OpenBSD/sh sh*-*openbsd*
552 Use the specified local file as an XML target description, and do
553 not query the target for its built-in description.
557 OpenBSD/sh sh*-*-openbsd*
558 MIPS64 GNU/Linux (gdbserver) mips64-linux-gnu
559 Toshiba Media Processor mep-elf
564 Ignore the specified signals; pass them directly to the debugged program
565 without stopping other threads or reporting them to GDB.
568 Read an XML target description from the target, which describes its
573 Read or write contents of an spufs file on the target system. These
574 packets are available only on the Cell/B.E. SPU architecture.
576 qXfer:libraries:read:
577 Report the loaded shared libraries. Combined with new "T" packet
578 response, this packet allows GDB to debug shared libraries on
579 targets where the operating system manages the list of loaded
580 libraries (e.g. Windows and SymbianOS).
584 Support for these obsolete configurations has been removed.
593 i[34567]86-*-netware*
594 i[34567]86-*-sco3.2v5*
595 i[34567]86-*-sco3.2v4*
597 i[34567]86-*-sysv4.2*
600 i[34567]86-*-unixware2*
601 i[34567]86-*-unixware*
610 * Other removed features
617 Various m68k-only ROM monitors.
624 Various Renesas ROM monitors and debugging interfaces for SH and
629 Support for a Macraigor serial interface to on-chip debugging.
630 GDB does not directly support the newer parallel or USB
635 A debug information format. The predecessor to DWARF 2 and
636 DWARF 3, which are still supported.
638 Support for the HP aCC compiler on HP-UX/PA-RISC
640 SOM-encapsulated symbolic debugging information, automatic
641 invocation of pxdb, and the aCC custom C++ ABI. This does not
642 affect HP-UX for Itanium or GCC for HP-UX/PA-RISC. Code compiled
643 with aCC can still be debugged on an assembly level.
647 A MIPS-specific format used to describe stack frame layout
648 in debugging information.
652 GDB could work with an older version of Guile to debug
653 the interpreter and Scheme programs running in it.
655 set mips stack-arg-size
656 set mips saved-gpreg-size
658 Use "set mips abi" to control parameter passing for MIPS.
660 *** Changes in GDB 6.6
665 Cell Broadband Engine SPU spu-elf
667 * GDB can now be configured as a cross-debugger targeting native Windows
668 (mingw32) or Cygwin. It can communicate with a remote debugging stub
669 running on a Windows system over TCP/IP to debug Windows programs.
671 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, has been updated to support Windows and
672 Cygwin debugging. Both single-threaded and multi-threaded programs are
675 * The "set trust-readonly-sections" command works again. This command was
676 broken in GDB 6.3, 6.4, and 6.5.
678 * The "load" command now supports writing to flash memory, if the remote
679 stub provides the required support.
681 * Support for GNU/Linux Thread Local Storage (TLS, per-thread variables) no
682 longer requires symbolic debug information (e.g. DWARF-2).
687 unset substitute-path
689 Manage a list of substitution rules that GDB uses to rewrite the name
690 of the directories where the sources are located. This can be useful
691 for instance when the sources were moved to a different location
692 between compilation and debugging.
696 Print each CLI command as it is executed. Each command is prefixed with
697 a number of `+' symbols representing the nesting depth.
698 The source command now has a `-v' option to enable the same feature.
702 The ARM Demon monitor support (RDP protocol, "target rdp").
704 Kernel Object Display, an embedded debugging feature which only worked with
705 an obsolete version of Cisco IOS.
707 The 'set download-write-size' and 'show download-write-size' commands.
712 Tell a stub about GDB client features, and request remote target features.
713 The first feature implemented is PacketSize, which allows the target to
714 specify the size of packets it can handle - to minimize the number of
715 packets required and improve performance when connected to a remote
719 Fetch an OS auxilliary vector from the remote stub. This packet is a
720 more efficient replacement for qPart:auxv:read.
722 qXfer:memory-map:read:
723 Fetch a memory map from the remote stub, including information about
724 RAM, ROM, and flash memory devices.
729 Erase and program a flash memory device.
731 * Removed remote packets
734 This packet has been replaced by qXfer:auxv:read. Only GDB 6.4 and 6.5
735 used it, and only gdbserver implemented it.
737 *** Changes in GDB 6.5
741 Renesas M32C/M16C m32c-elf
743 Morpho Technologies ms1 ms1-elf
747 init-if-undefined Initialize a convenience variable, but
748 only if it doesn't already have a value.
750 The following commands are presently only implemented for native GNU/Linux:
752 checkpoint Save a snapshot of the program state.
754 restart <n> Return the program state to a
755 previously saved state.
757 info checkpoints List currently saved checkpoints.
759 delete-checkpoint <n> Delete a previously saved checkpoint.
761 set|show detach-on-fork Tell gdb whether to detach from a newly
762 forked process, or to keep debugging it.
764 info forks List forks of the user program that
765 are available to be debugged.
767 fork <n> Switch to debugging one of several
768 forks of the user program that are
769 available to be debugged.
771 delete-fork <n> Delete a fork from the list of forks
772 that are available to be debugged (and
773 kill the forked process).
775 detach-fork <n> Delete a fork from the list of forks
776 that are available to be debugged (and
777 allow the process to continue).
781 Morpho Technologies ms2 ms1-elf
783 * Improved Windows host support
785 GDB now builds as a cross debugger hosted on i686-mingw32, including
786 native console support, and remote communications using either
787 network sockets or serial ports.
789 * Improved Modula-2 language support
791 GDB can now print most types in the Modula-2 syntax. This includes:
792 basic types, set types, record types, enumerated types, range types,
793 pointer types and ARRAY types. Procedure var parameters are correctly
794 printed and hexadecimal addresses and character constants are also
795 written in the Modula-2 syntax. Best results can be obtained by using
796 GNU Modula-2 together with the -gdwarf-2 command line option.
800 The ARM rdi-share module.
802 The Netware NLM debug server.
804 *** Changes in GDB 6.4
806 * New native configurations
808 OpenBSD/arm arm*-*-openbsd*
809 OpenBSD/mips64 mips64-*-openbsd*
813 Morpho Technologies ms1 ms1-elf
815 * New command line options
817 --batch-silent As for --batch, but totally silent.
818 --return-child-result The debugger will exist with the same value
819 the child (debugged) program exited with.
820 --eval-command COMMAND, -ex COMMAND
821 Execute a single GDB CLI command. This may be
822 specified multiple times and in conjunction
823 with the --command (-x) option.
825 * Deprecated commands removed
827 The following commands, that were deprecated in 2000, have been
831 set|show arm disassembly-flavor set|show arm disassembler
832 othernames set arm disassembler
833 set|show remotedebug set|show debug remote
834 set|show archdebug set|show debug arch
835 set|show eventdebug set|show debug event
838 * New BSD user-level threads support
840 It is now possible to debug programs using the user-level threads
841 library on OpenBSD and FreeBSD. Currently supported (target)
844 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
845 FreeBSD/i386 i386-*-freebsd*
846 OpenBSD/i386 i386-*-openbsd*
848 Note that the new kernel threads libraries introduced in FreeBSD 5.x
849 are not yet supported.
851 * New support for Matsushita MN10300 w/sim added
852 (Work in progress). mn10300-elf.
854 * REMOVED configurations and files
856 VxWorks and the XDR protocol *-*-vxworks
857 Motorola MCORE mcore-*-*
858 National Semiconductor NS32000 ns32k-*-*
860 * New "set print array-indexes" command
862 After turning this setting "on", GDB prints the index of each element
863 when displaying arrays. The default is "off" to preserve the previous
866 * VAX floating point support
868 GDB now supports the not-quite-ieee VAX F and D floating point formats.
870 * User-defined command support
872 In addition to using $arg0..$arg9 for argument passing, it is now possible
873 to use $argc to determine now many arguments have been passed. See the
874 section on user-defined commands in the user manual for more information.
876 *** Changes in GDB 6.3:
878 * New command line option
880 GDB now accepts -l followed by a number to set the timeout for remote
883 * GDB works with GCC -feliminate-dwarf2-dups
885 GDB now supports a more compact representation of DWARF-2 debug
886 information using DW_FORM_ref_addr references. These are produced
887 by GCC with the option -feliminate-dwarf2-dups and also by some
888 proprietary compilers. With GCC, you must use GCC 3.3.4 or later
889 to use -feliminate-dwarf2-dups.
891 * Internationalization
893 When supported by the host system, GDB will be built with
894 internationalization (libintl). The task of marking up the sources is
895 continued, we're looking forward to our first translation.
899 Initial support for debugging programs compiled with the GNAT
900 implementation of the Ada programming language has been integrated
901 into GDB. In this release, support is limited to expression evaluation.
903 * New native configurations
905 GNU/Linux/m32r m32r-*-linux-gnu
909 GDB's remote protocol now includes support for the 'p' packet. This
910 packet is used to fetch individual registers from a remote inferior.
912 * END-OF-LIFE registers[] compatibility module
914 GDB's internal register infrastructure has been completely rewritten.
915 The new infrastructure making possible the implementation of key new
916 features including 32x64 (e.g., 64-bit amd64 GDB debugging a 32-bit
919 GDB 6.3 will be the last release to include the the registers[]
920 compatibility module that allowed out-of-date configurations to
921 continue to work. This change directly impacts the following
933 Unless there is activity to revive these configurations, they will be
934 made OBSOLETE in GDB 6.4, and REMOVED from GDB 6.5.
936 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
938 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
939 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
940 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
950 *** Changes in GDB 6.2.1:
952 * MIPS `break main; run' gave an heuristic-fence-post warning
954 When attempting to run even a simple program, a warning about
955 heuristic-fence-post being hit would be reported. This problem has
958 * MIPS IRIX 'long double' crashed GDB
960 When examining a long double variable, GDB would get a segmentation
961 fault. The crash has been fixed (but GDB 6.2 cannot correctly examine
962 IRIX long double values).
966 A bug in the VAX stack code was causing problems with the "next"
967 command. This problem has been fixed.
969 *** Changes in GDB 6.2:
971 * Fix for ``many threads''
973 On GNU/Linux systems that use the NPTL threads library, a program
974 rapidly creating and deleting threads would confuse GDB leading to the
977 ptrace: No such process.
978 thread_db_get_info: cannot get thread info: generic error
980 This problem has been fixed.
982 * "-async" and "-noasync" options removed.
984 Support for the broken "-noasync" option has been removed (it caused
987 * New ``start'' command.
989 This command runs the program until the begining of the main procedure.
991 * New BSD Kernel Data Access Library (libkvm) interface
993 Using ``target kvm'' it is now possible to debug kernel core dumps and
994 live kernel memory images on various FreeBSD, NetBSD and OpenBSD
995 platforms. Currently supported (native-only) configurations are:
997 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
998 FreeBSD/i386 i?86-*-freebsd*
999 NetBSD/i386 i?86-*-netbsd*
1000 NetBSD/m68k m68*-*-netbsd*
1001 NetBSD/sparc sparc-*-netbsd*
1002 OpenBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-openbsd*
1003 OpenBSD/i386 i?86-*-openbsd*
1004 OpenBSD/m68k m68*-openbsd*
1005 OpenBSD/sparc sparc-*-openbsd*
1007 * Signal trampoline code overhauled
1009 Many generic problems with GDB's signal handling code have been fixed.
1010 These include: backtraces through non-contiguous stacks; recognition
1011 of sa_sigaction signal trampolines; backtrace from a NULL pointer
1012 call; backtrace through a signal trampoline; step into and out of
1013 signal handlers; and single-stepping in the signal trampoline.
1015 Please note that kernel bugs are a limiting factor here. These
1016 features have been shown to work on an s390 GNU/Linux system that
1017 include a 2.6.8-rc1 kernel. Ref PR breakpoints/1702.
1019 * Cygwin support for DWARF 2 added.
1021 * New native configurations
1023 GNU/Linux/hppa hppa*-*-linux*
1024 OpenBSD/hppa hppa*-*-openbsd*
1025 OpenBSD/m68k m68*-*-openbsd*
1026 OpenBSD/m88k m88*-*-openbsd*
1027 OpenBSD/powerpc powerpc-*-openbsd*
1028 NetBSD/vax vax-*-netbsd*
1029 OpenBSD/vax vax-*-openbsd*
1031 * END-OF-LIFE frame compatibility module
1033 GDB's internal frame infrastructure has been completely rewritten.
1034 The new infrastructure making it possible to support key new features
1035 including DWARF 2 Call Frame Information. To aid in the task of
1036 migrating old configurations to this new infrastructure, a
1037 compatibility module, that allowed old configurations to continue to
1038 work, was also included.
1040 GDB 6.2 will be the last release to include this frame compatibility
1041 module. This change directly impacts the following configurations:
1051 Unless there is activity to revive these configurations, they will be
1052 made OBSOLETE in GDB 6.3, and REMOVED from GDB 6.4.
1054 * REMOVED configurations and files
1056 Sun 3, running SunOS 3 m68*-*-sunos3*
1057 Sun 3, running SunOS 4 m68*-*-sunos4*
1058 Sun 2, running SunOS 3 m68000-*-sunos3*
1059 Sun 2, running SunOS 4 m68000-*-sunos4*
1060 Motorola 680x0 running LynxOS m68*-*-lynxos*
1061 AT&T 3b1/Unix pc m68*-att-*
1062 Bull DPX2 (68k, System V release 3) m68*-bull-sysv*
1063 decstation mips-dec-* mips-little-*
1064 riscos mips-*-riscos* mips-*-sysv*
1065 sonymips mips-sony-*
1066 sysv mips*-*-sysv4* (IRIX 5/6 not included)
1068 *** Changes in GDB 6.1.1:
1070 * TUI (Text-mode User Interface) built-in (also included in GDB 6.1)
1072 The TUI (Text-mode User Interface) is now built as part of a default
1073 GDB configuration. It is enabled by either selecting the TUI with the
1074 command line option "-i=tui" or by running the separate "gdbtui"
1075 program. For more information on the TUI, see the manual "Debugging
1078 * Pending breakpoint support (also included in GDB 6.1)
1080 Support has been added to allow you to specify breakpoints in shared
1081 libraries that have not yet been loaded. If a breakpoint location
1082 cannot be found, and the "breakpoint pending" option is set to auto,
1083 GDB queries you if you wish to make the breakpoint pending on a future
1084 shared-library load. If and when GDB resolves the breakpoint symbol,
1085 the pending breakpoint is removed as one or more regular breakpoints
1088 Pending breakpoints are very useful for GCJ Java debugging.
1090 * Fixed ISO-C build problems
1092 The files bfd/elf-bfd.h, gdb/dictionary.c and gdb/types.c contained
1093 non ISO-C code that stopped them being built using a more strict ISO-C
1094 compiler (e.g., IBM's C compiler).
1096 * Fixed build problem on IRIX 5
1098 Due to header problems with <sys/proc.h>, the file gdb/proc-api.c
1099 wasn't able to compile compile on an IRIX 5 system.
1101 * Added execute permission to gdb/gdbserver/configure
1103 The shell script gdb/testsuite/gdb.stabs/configure lacked execute
1104 permission. This bug would cause configure to fail on a number of
1105 systems (Solaris, IRIX). Ref: server/519.
1107 * Fixed build problem on hpux2.0w-hp-hpux11.00 using the HP ANSI C compiler
1109 Older HPUX ANSI C compilers did not accept variable array sizes. somsolib.c
1110 has been updated to use constant array sizes.
1112 * Fixed a panic in the DWARF Call Frame Info code on Solaris 2.7
1114 GCC 3.3.2, on Solaris 2.7, includes the DW_EH_PE_funcrel encoding in
1115 its generated DWARF Call Frame Info. This encoding was causing GDB to
1116 panic, that panic has been fixed. Ref: gdb/1628.
1118 * Fixed a problem when examining parameters in shared library code.
1120 When examining parameters in optimized shared library code generated
1121 by a mainline GCC, GDB would incorrectly report ``Variable "..." is
1122 not available''. GDB now correctly displays the variable's value.
1124 *** Changes in GDB 6.1:
1126 * Removed --with-mmalloc
1128 Support for the mmalloc memory manager has been removed, as it
1129 conflicted with the internal gdb byte cache.
1131 * Changes in AMD64 configurations
1133 The AMD64 target now includes the %cs and %ss registers. As a result
1134 the AMD64 remote protocol has changed; this affects the floating-point
1135 and SSE registers. If you rely on those registers for your debugging,
1136 you should upgrade gdbserver on the remote side.
1138 * Revised SPARC target
1140 The SPARC target has been completely revised, incorporating the
1141 FreeBSD/sparc64 support that was added for GDB 6.0. As a result
1142 support for LynxOS and SunOS 4 has been dropped. Calling functions
1143 from within GDB on operating systems with a non-executable stack
1144 (Solaris, OpenBSD) now works.
1148 GDB has a new C++ demangler which does a better job on the mangled
1149 names generated by current versions of g++. It also runs faster, so
1150 with this and other changes gdb should now start faster on large C++
1153 * DWARF 2 Location Expressions
1155 GDB support for location expressions has been extended to support function
1156 arguments and frame bases. Older versions of GDB could crash when they
1159 * C++ nested types and namespaces
1161 GDB's support for nested types and namespaces in C++ has been
1162 improved, especially if you use the DWARF 2 debugging format. (This
1163 is the default for recent versions of GCC on most platforms.)
1164 Specifically, if you have a class "Inner" defined within a class or
1165 namespace "Outer", then GDB realizes that the class's name is
1166 "Outer::Inner", not simply "Inner". This should greatly reduce the
1167 frequency of complaints about not finding RTTI symbols. In addition,
1168 if you are stopped at inside of a function defined within a namespace,
1169 GDB modifies its name lookup accordingly.
1171 * New native configurations
1173 NetBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-netbsd*
1174 OpenBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-openbsd*
1175 OpenBSD/alpha alpha*-*-openbsd*
1176 OpenBSD/sparc sparc-*-openbsd*
1177 OpenBSD/sparc64 sparc64-*-openbsd*
1179 * New debugging protocols
1181 M32R with SDI protocol m32r-*-elf*
1183 * "set prompt-escape-char" command deleted.
1185 The command "set prompt-escape-char" has been deleted. This command,
1186 and its very obscure effet on GDB's prompt, was never documented,
1187 tested, nor mentioned in the NEWS file.
1189 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
1191 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
1192 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
1193 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
1194 permanently REMOVED.
1196 Sun 3, running SunOS 3 m68*-*-sunos3*
1197 Sun 3, running SunOS 4 m68*-*-sunos4*
1198 Sun 2, running SunOS 3 m68000-*-sunos3*
1199 Sun 2, running SunOS 4 m68000-*-sunos4*
1200 Motorola 680x0 running LynxOS m68*-*-lynxos*
1201 AT&T 3b1/Unix pc m68*-att-*
1202 Bull DPX2 (68k, System V release 3) m68*-bull-sysv*
1203 decstation mips-dec-* mips-little-*
1204 riscos mips-*-riscos* mips-*-sysv*
1205 sonymips mips-sony-*
1206 sysv mips*-*-sysv4* (IRIX 5/6 not included)
1208 * REMOVED configurations and files
1210 SGI Irix-4.x mips-sgi-irix4 or iris4
1211 SGI Iris (MIPS) running Irix V3: mips-sgi-irix or iris
1212 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
1213 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
1214 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
1215 HP/PA running BSD hppa*-*-bsd*
1216 HP/PA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
1217 HP/PA Pro target hppa*-*-pro*
1218 PMAX (MIPS) running Mach 3.0 mips*-*-mach3*
1219 386BSD i[3456]86-*-bsd*
1220 Sequent family i[3456]86-sequent-sysv4*
1221 i[3456]86-sequent-sysv*
1222 i[3456]86-sequent-bsd*
1223 SPARC running LynxOS sparc-*-lynxos*
1224 SPARC running SunOS 4 sparc-*-sunos4*
1225 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
1226 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
1228 *** Changes in GDB 6.0:
1232 Support for debugging the Objective-C programming language has been
1233 integrated into GDB.
1235 * New backtrace mechanism (includes DWARF 2 Call Frame Information).
1237 DWARF 2's Call Frame Information makes available compiler generated
1238 information that more exactly describes the program's run-time stack.
1239 By using this information, GDB is able to provide more robust stack
1242 The i386, amd64 (nee, x86-64), Alpha, m68hc11, ia64, and m32r targets
1243 have been updated to use a new backtrace mechanism which includes
1244 DWARF 2 CFI support.
1248 GDB's remote protocol has been extended to include support for hosted
1249 file I/O (where the remote target uses GDB's file system). See GDB's
1250 remote protocol documentation for details.
1252 * All targets using the new architecture framework.
1254 All of GDB's targets have been updated to use the new internal
1255 architecture framework. The way is now open for future GDB releases
1256 to include cross-architecture native debugging support (i386 on amd64,
1259 * GNU/Linux's Thread Local Storage (TLS)
1261 GDB now includes support for for the GNU/Linux implementation of
1262 per-thread variables.
1264 * GNU/Linux's Native POSIX Thread Library (NPTL)
1266 GDB's thread code has been updated to work with either the new
1267 GNU/Linux NPTL thread library or the older "LinuxThreads" library.
1269 * Separate debug info.
1271 GDB, in conjunction with BINUTILS, now supports a mechanism for
1272 automatically loading debug information from a separate file. Instead
1273 of shipping full debug and non-debug versions of system libraries,
1274 system integrators can now instead ship just the stripped libraries
1275 and optional debug files.
1277 * DWARF 2 Location Expressions
1279 DWARF 2 Location Expressions allow the compiler to more completely
1280 describe the location of variables (even in optimized code) to the
1283 GDB now includes preliminary support for location expressions (support
1284 for DW_OP_piece is still missing).
1288 A number of long standing bugs that caused GDB to die while starting a
1289 Java application have been fixed. GDB's Java support is now
1290 considered "useable".
1292 * GNU/Linux support for fork, vfork, and exec.
1294 The "catch fork", "catch exec", "catch vfork", and "set follow-fork-mode"
1295 commands are now implemented for GNU/Linux. They require a 2.5.x or later
1298 * GDB supports logging output to a file
1300 There are two new commands, "set logging" and "show logging", which can be
1301 used to capture GDB's output to a file.
1303 * The meaning of "detach" has changed for gdbserver
1305 The "detach" command will now resume the application, as documented. To
1306 disconnect from gdbserver and leave it stopped, use the new "disconnect"
1309 * d10v, m68hc11 `regs' command deprecated
1311 The `info registers' command has been updated so that it displays the
1312 registers using a format identical to the old `regs' command.
1316 A new command, "maint set profile on/off", has been added. This command can
1317 be used to enable or disable profiling while running GDB, to profile a
1318 session or a set of commands. In addition there is a new configure switch,
1319 "--enable-profiling", which will cause GDB to be compiled with profiling
1320 data, for more informative profiling results.
1322 * Default MI syntax changed to "mi2".
1324 The default MI (machine interface) syntax, enabled by the command line
1325 option "-i=mi", has been changed to "mi2". The previous MI syntax,
1326 "mi1", can be enabled by specifying the option "-i=mi1".
1328 Support for the original "mi0" syntax (included in GDB 5.0) has been
1331 Fix for gdb/192: removed extraneous space when displaying frame level.
1332 Fix for gdb/672: update changelist is now output in mi list format.
1333 Fix for gdb/702: a -var-assign that updates the value now shows up
1334 in a subsequent -var-update.
1336 * New native configurations.
1338 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
1340 * Multi-arched targets.
1342 HP/PA HPUX11 hppa*-*-hpux*
1343 Renesas M32R/D w/simulator m32r-*-elf*
1345 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
1347 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
1348 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
1349 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
1350 permanently REMOVED.
1352 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
1353 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
1354 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
1355 HP/PA running BSD hppa*-*-bsd*
1356 HP/PA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
1357 HP/PA Pro target hppa*-*-pro*
1358 PMAX (MIPS) running Mach 3.0 mips*-*-mach3*
1359 Sequent family i[3456]86-sequent-sysv4*
1360 i[3456]86-sequent-sysv*
1361 i[3456]86-sequent-bsd*
1362 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
1363 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
1365 * REMOVED configurations and files
1368 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
1369 IBM AIX PS/2 i[3456]86-*-aix
1370 i386 running Mach 3.0 i[3456]86-*-mach3*
1371 i386 running Mach i[3456]86-*-mach*
1372 i386 running OSF/1 i[3456]86-*osf1mk*
1373 HP/Apollo 68k Family m68*-apollo*-sysv*,
1375 m68*-hp-bsd*, m68*-hp-hpux*
1376 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
1377 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
1378 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
1379 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
1380 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
1382 * MIPS $fp behavior changed
1384 The convenience variable $fp, for the MIPS, now consistently returns
1385 the address of the current frame's base. Previously, depending on the
1386 context, $fp could refer to either $sp or the current frame's base
1387 address. See ``8.10 Registers'' in the manual ``Debugging with GDB:
1388 The GNU Source-Level Debugger''.
1390 *** Changes in GDB 5.3:
1392 * GNU/Linux shared library multi-threaded performance improved.
1394 When debugging a multi-threaded application on GNU/Linux, GDB now uses
1395 `/proc', in preference to `ptrace' for memory reads. This may result
1396 in an improvement in the start-up time of multi-threaded, shared
1397 library applications when run under GDB. One GDB user writes: ``loads
1398 shared libs like mad''.
1400 * ``gdbserver'' now supports multi-threaded applications on some targets
1402 Support for debugging multi-threaded applications which use
1403 the GNU/Linux LinuxThreads package has been added for
1404 arm*-*-linux*-gnu*, i[3456]86-*-linux*-gnu*, mips*-*-linux*-gnu*,
1405 powerpc*-*-linux*-gnu*, and sh*-*-linux*-gnu*.
1407 * GDB now supports C/C++ preprocessor macros.
1409 GDB now expands preprocessor macro invocations in C/C++ expressions,
1410 and provides various commands for showing macro definitions and how
1413 The new command `macro expand EXPRESSION' expands any macro
1414 invocations in expression, and shows the result.
1416 The new command `show macro MACRO-NAME' shows the definition of the
1417 macro named MACRO-NAME, and where it was defined.
1419 Most compilers don't include information about macros in the debugging
1420 information by default. In GCC 3.1, for example, you need to compile
1421 your program with the options `-gdwarf-2 -g3'. If the macro
1422 information is present in the executable, GDB will read it.
1424 * Multi-arched targets.
1426 DEC Alpha (partial) alpha*-*-*
1427 DEC VAX (partial) vax-*-*
1429 National Semiconductor NS32000 (partial) ns32k-*-*
1430 Motorola 68000 (partial) m68k-*-*
1431 Motorola MCORE mcore-*-*
1435 Fujitsu FRV architecture added by Red Hat frv*-*-*
1438 * New native configurations
1440 Alpha NetBSD alpha*-*-netbsd*
1441 SH NetBSD sh*-*-netbsdelf*
1442 MIPS NetBSD mips*-*-netbsd*
1443 UltraSPARC NetBSD sparc64-*-netbsd*
1445 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
1447 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
1448 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
1449 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
1450 permanently REMOVED.
1452 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
1453 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
1454 IBM AIX PS/2 i[3456]86-*-aix
1455 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
1456 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
1457 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
1458 i386 running Mach 3.0 i[3456]86-*-mach3*
1459 i386 running Mach i[3456]86-*-mach*
1460 i386 running OSF/1 i[3456]86-*osf1mk*
1461 HP/Apollo 68k Family m68*-apollo*-sysv*,
1463 m68*-hp-bsd*, m68*-hp-hpux*
1464 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
1466 * OBSOLETE languages
1468 CHILL, a Pascal like language used by telecommunications companies.
1470 * REMOVED configurations and files
1472 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi, udi29k
1473 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
1474 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
1475 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
1476 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
1478 testsuite/gdb.hp/gdb.threads-hp/ directory
1480 * New command "set max-user-call-depth <nnn>"
1482 This command allows the user to limit the call depth of user-defined
1483 commands. The default is 1024.
1485 * Changes in FreeBSD/i386 native debugging.
1487 Support for the "generate-core-file" has been added.
1489 * New commands "dump", "append", and "restore".
1491 These commands allow data to be copied from target memory
1492 to a bfd-format or binary file (dump and append), and back
1493 from a file into memory (restore).
1495 * Improved "next/step" support on multi-processor Alpha Tru64.
1497 The previous single-step mechanism could cause unpredictable problems,
1498 including the random appearance of SIGSEGV or SIGTRAP signals. The use
1499 of a software single-step mechanism prevents this.
1501 *** Changes in GDB 5.2.1:
1509 gdb/182: gdb/323: gdb/237: On alpha, gdb was reporting:
1510 mdebugread.c:2443: gdb-internal-error: sect_index_data not initialized
1511 Fix, by Joel Brobecker imported from mainline.
1513 gdb/439: gdb/291: On some ELF object files, gdb was reporting:
1514 dwarf2read.c:1072: gdb-internal-error: sect_index_text not initialize
1515 Fix, by Fred Fish, imported from mainline.
1517 Dwarf2 .debug_frame & .eh_frame handler improved in many ways.
1518 Surprisingly enough, it works now.
1519 By Michal Ludvig, imported from mainline.
1521 i386 hardware watchpoint support:
1522 avoid misses on second run for some targets.
1523 By Pierre Muller, imported from mainline.
1525 *** Changes in GDB 5.2:
1527 * New command "set trust-readonly-sections on[off]".
1529 This command is a hint that tells gdb that read-only sections
1530 really are read-only (ie. that their contents will not change).
1531 In this mode, gdb will go to the object file rather than the
1532 target to read memory from read-only sections (such as ".text").
1533 This can be a significant performance improvement on some
1534 (notably embedded) targets.
1536 * New command "generate-core-file" (or "gcore").
1538 This new gdb command allows the user to drop a core file of the child
1539 process state at any time. So far it's been implemented only for
1540 GNU/Linux and Solaris, but should be relatively easily ported to other
1541 hosts. Argument is core file name (defaults to core.<pid>).
1543 * New command line option
1545 GDB now accepts --pid or -p followed by a process id.
1547 * Change in command line behavior -- corefiles vs. process ids.
1549 There is a subtle behavior in the way in which GDB handles
1550 command line arguments. The first non-flag argument is always
1551 a program to debug, but the second non-flag argument may either
1552 be a corefile or a process id. Previously, GDB would attempt to
1553 open the second argument as a corefile, and if that failed, would
1554 issue a superfluous error message and then attempt to attach it as
1555 a process. Now, if the second argument begins with a non-digit,
1556 it will be treated as a corefile. If it begins with a digit,
1557 GDB will attempt to attach it as a process, and if no such process
1558 is found, will then attempt to open it as a corefile.
1560 * Changes in ARM configurations.
1562 Multi-arch support is enabled for all ARM configurations. The ARM/NetBSD
1563 configuration is fully multi-arch.
1565 * New native configurations
1567 ARM NetBSD arm*-*-netbsd*
1568 x86 OpenBSD i[3456]86-*-openbsd*
1569 AMD x86-64 running GNU/Linux x86_64-*-linux-*
1570 Sparc64 running FreeBSD sparc64-*-freebsd*
1574 Sanyo XStormy16 xstormy16-elf
1576 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
1578 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
1579 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
1580 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
1581 permanently REMOVED.
1583 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi, udi29k
1584 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
1585 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
1586 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
1587 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
1589 testsuite/gdb.hp/gdb.threads-hp/ directory
1591 * REMOVED configurations and files
1593 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
1595 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
1596 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
1597 PowerPC Netware powerpc-*-netware*
1598 Harris/CXUX m88k m88*-harris-cxux*
1599 Most ns32k hosts and targets ns32k-*-mach3* ns32k-umax-*
1600 ns32k-utek-sysv* ns32k-utek-*
1601 SunOS 4.0.Xi on i386 i[3456]86-*-sunos*
1602 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1 a29k-nyu-sym1 a29k-*-kern*
1603 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x m68*-sony-sysv news
1604 ISI Optimum V (3.05) under 4.3bsd. m68*-isi-*
1605 Apple Macintosh (MPW) host and target N/A host, powerpc-*-macos*
1607 * Changes to command line processing
1609 The new `--args' feature can be used to specify command-line arguments
1610 for the inferior from gdb's command line.
1612 * Changes to key bindings
1614 There is a new `operate-and-get-next' function bound to `C-o'.
1616 *** Changes in GDB 5.1.1
1618 Fix compile problem on DJGPP.
1620 Fix a problem with floating-point registers on the i386 being
1623 Fix to stop GDB crashing on .debug_str debug info.
1625 Numerous documentation fixes.
1627 Numerous testsuite fixes.
1629 *** Changes in GDB 5.1:
1631 * New native configurations
1633 Alpha FreeBSD alpha*-*-freebsd*
1634 x86 FreeBSD 3.x and 4.x i[3456]86*-freebsd[34]*
1635 MIPS GNU/Linux mips*-*-linux*
1636 MIPS SGI Irix 6.x mips*-sgi-irix6*
1637 ia64 AIX ia64-*-aix*
1638 s390 and s390x GNU/Linux {s390,s390x}-*-linux*
1642 Motorola 68HC11 and 68HC12 m68hc11-elf
1644 UltraSparc running GNU/Linux sparc64-*-linux*
1646 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
1648 x86 FreeBSD before 2.2 i[3456]86*-freebsd{1,2.[01]}*,
1649 Harris/CXUX m88k m88*-harris-cxux*
1650 Most ns32k hosts and targets ns32k-*-mach3* ns32k-umax-*
1651 ns32k-utek-sysv* ns32k-utek-*
1652 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
1654 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1 a29k-nyu-sym1 a29k-*-kern*
1655 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
1656 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
1657 PowerPC Netware powerpc-*-netware*
1658 SunOS 4.0.Xi on i386 i[3456]86-*-sunos*
1659 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x m68*-sony-sysv news
1660 ISI Optimum V (3.05) under 4.3bsd. m68*-isi-*
1661 Apple Macintosh (MPW) host N/A
1663 stuff.c (Program to stuff files into a specially prepared space in kdb)
1664 kdb-start.c (Main loop for the standalone kernel debugger)
1666 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
1667 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
1668 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
1669 permanently REMOVED.
1671 * REMOVED configurations and files
1673 Altos 3068 m68*-altos-*
1674 Convex c1-*-*, c2-*-*
1676 ARM RISCix arm-*-* (as host)
1680 * GDB has been converted to ISO C.
1682 GDB's source code has been converted to ISO C. In particular, the
1683 sources are fully protoized, and rely on standard headers being
1688 * "info symbol" works on platforms which use COFF, ECOFF, XCOFF, and NLM.
1690 * The MI enabled by default.
1692 The new machine oriented interface (MI) introduced in GDB 5.0 has been
1693 revised and enabled by default. Packages which use GDB as a debugging
1694 engine behind a UI or another front end are encouraged to switch to
1695 using the GDB/MI interface, instead of the old annotations interface
1696 which is now deprecated.
1698 * Support for debugging Pascal programs.
1700 GDB now includes support for debugging Pascal programs. The following
1701 main features are supported:
1703 - Pascal-specific data types such as sets;
1705 - automatic recognition of Pascal sources based on file-name
1708 - Pascal-style display of data types, variables, and functions;
1710 - a Pascal expression parser.
1712 However, some important features are not yet supported.
1714 - Pascal string operations are not supported at all;
1716 - there are some problems with boolean types;
1718 - Pascal type hexadecimal constants are not supported
1719 because they conflict with the internal variables format;
1721 - support for Pascal objects and classes is not full yet;
1723 - unlike Pascal, GDB is case-sensitive for symbol names.
1725 * Changes in completion.
1727 Commands such as `shell', `run' and `set args', which pass arguments
1728 to inferior programs, now complete on file names, similar to what
1729 users expect at the shell prompt.
1731 Commands which accept locations, such as `disassemble', `print',
1732 `breakpoint', `until', etc. now complete on filenames as well as
1733 program symbols. Thus, if you type "break foob TAB", and the source
1734 files linked into the programs include `foobar.c', that file name will
1735 be one of the candidates for completion. However, file names are not
1736 considered for completion after you typed a colon that delimits a file
1737 name from a name of a function in that file, as in "break foo.c:bar".
1739 `set demangle-style' completes on available demangling styles.
1741 * New platform-independent commands:
1743 It is now possible to define a post-hook for a command as well as a
1744 hook that runs before the command. For more details, see the
1745 documentation of `hookpost' in the GDB manual.
1747 * Changes in GNU/Linux native debugging.
1749 Support for debugging multi-threaded programs has been completely
1750 revised for all platforms except m68k and sparc. You can now debug as
1751 many threads as your system allows you to have.
1753 Attach/detach is supported for multi-threaded programs.
1755 Support for SSE registers was added for x86. This doesn't work for
1756 multi-threaded programs though.
1758 * Changes in MIPS configurations.
1760 Multi-arch support is enabled for all MIPS configurations.
1762 GDB can now be built as native debugger on SGI Irix 6.x systems for
1763 debugging n32 executables. (Debugging 64-bit executables is not yet
1766 * Unified support for hardware watchpoints in all x86 configurations.
1768 Most (if not all) native x86 configurations support hardware-assisted
1769 breakpoints and watchpoints in a unified manner. This support
1770 implements debug register sharing between watchpoints, which allows to
1771 put a virtually infinite number of watchpoints on the same address,
1772 and also supports watching regions up to 16 bytes with several debug
1775 The new maintenance command `maintenance show-debug-regs' toggles
1776 debugging print-outs in functions that insert, remove, and test
1777 watchpoints and hardware breakpoints.
1779 * Changes in the DJGPP native configuration.
1781 New command ``info dos sysinfo'' displays assorted information about
1782 the CPU, OS, memory, and DPMI server.
1784 New commands ``info dos gdt'', ``info dos ldt'', and ``info dos idt''
1785 display information about segment descriptors stored in GDT, LDT, and
1788 New commands ``info dos pde'' and ``info dos pte'' display entries
1789 from Page Directory and Page Tables (for now works with CWSDPMI only).
1790 New command ``info dos address-pte'' displays the Page Table entry for
1791 a given linear address.
1793 GDB can now pass command lines longer than 126 characters to the
1794 program being debugged (requires an update to the libdbg.a library
1795 which is part of the DJGPP development kit).
1797 DWARF2 debug info is now supported.
1799 It is now possible to `step' and `next' through calls to `longjmp'.
1801 * Changes in documentation.
1803 All GDB documentation was converted to GFDL, the GNU Free
1804 Documentation License.
1806 Tracepoints-related commands are now fully documented in the GDB
1809 TUI, the Text-mode User Interface, is now documented in the manual.
1811 Tracepoints-related commands are now fully documented in the GDB
1814 The "GDB Internals" manual now has an index. It also includes
1815 documentation of `ui_out' functions, GDB coding standards, x86
1816 hardware watchpoints, and memory region attributes.
1818 * GDB's version number moved to ``version.in''
1820 The Makefile variable VERSION has been replaced by the file
1821 ``version.in''. People creating GDB distributions should update the
1822 contents of this file.
1826 GUD support is now a standard part of the EMACS distribution.
1828 *** Changes in GDB 5.0:
1830 * Improved support for debugging FP programs on x86 targets
1832 Unified and much-improved support for debugging floating-point
1833 programs on all x86 targets. In particular, ``info float'' now
1834 displays the FP registers in the same format on all x86 targets, with
1835 greater level of detail.
1837 * Improvements and bugfixes in hardware-assisted watchpoints
1839 It is now possible to watch array elements, struct members, and
1840 bitfields with hardware-assisted watchpoints. Data-read watchpoints
1841 on x86 targets no longer erroneously trigger when the address is
1844 * Improvements in the native DJGPP version of GDB
1846 The distribution now includes all the scripts and auxiliary files
1847 necessary to build the native DJGPP version on MS-DOS/MS-Windows
1848 machines ``out of the box''.
1850 The DJGPP version can now debug programs that use signals. It is
1851 possible to catch signals that happened in the debuggee, deliver
1852 signals to it, interrupt it with Ctrl-C, etc. (Previously, a signal
1853 would kill the program being debugged.) Programs that hook hardware
1854 interrupts (keyboard, timer, etc.) can also be debugged.
1856 It is now possible to debug DJGPP programs that redirect their
1857 standard handles or switch them to raw (as opposed to cooked) mode, or
1858 even close them. The command ``run < foo > bar'' works as expected,
1859 and ``info terminal'' reports useful information about the debuggee's
1860 terminal, including raw/cooked mode, redirection, etc.
1862 The DJGPP version now uses termios functions for console I/O, which
1863 enables debugging graphics programs. Interrupting GDB with Ctrl-C
1866 DOS-style file names with drive letters are now fully supported by
1869 It is now possible to debug DJGPP programs that switch their working
1870 directory. It is also possible to rerun the debuggee any number of
1871 times without restarting GDB; thus, you can use the same setup,
1872 breakpoints, etc. for many debugging sessions.
1874 * New native configurations
1876 ARM GNU/Linux arm*-*-linux*
1877 PowerPC GNU/Linux powerpc-*-linux*
1881 Motorola MCore mcore-*-*
1882 x86 VxWorks i[3456]86-*-vxworks*
1883 PowerPC VxWorks powerpc-*-vxworks*
1884 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
1886 * OBSOLETE configurations
1888 Altos 3068 m68*-altos-*
1889 Convex c1-*-*, c2-*-*
1891 ARM RISCix arm-*-* (as host)
1894 Configurations that have been declared obsolete will be commented out,
1895 but the code will be left in place. If there is no activity to revive
1896 these configurations before the next release of GDB, the sources will
1897 be permanently REMOVED.
1899 * Gould support removed
1901 Support for the Gould PowerNode and NP1 has been removed.
1903 * New features for SVR4
1905 On SVR4 native platforms (such as Solaris), if you attach to a process
1906 without first loading a symbol file, GDB will now attempt to locate and
1907 load symbols from the running process's executable file.
1909 * Many C++ enhancements
1911 C++ support has been greatly improved. Overload resolution now works properly
1912 in almost all cases. RTTI support is on the way.
1914 * Remote targets can connect to a sub-program
1916 A popen(3) style serial-device has been added. This device starts a
1917 sub-process (such as a stand-alone simulator) and then communicates
1918 with that. The sub-program to run is specified using the syntax
1919 ``|<program> <args>'' vis:
1921 (gdb) set remotedebug 1
1922 (gdb) target extended-remote |mn10300-elf-sim program-args
1924 * MIPS 64 remote protocol
1926 A long standing bug in the mips64 remote protocol where by GDB
1927 expected certain 32 bit registers (ex SR) to be transfered as 32
1928 instead of 64 bits has been fixed.
1930 The command ``set remote-mips64-transfers-32bit-regs on'' has been
1931 added to provide backward compatibility with older versions of GDB.
1933 * ``set remotebinarydownload'' replaced by ``set remote X-packet''
1935 The command ``set remotebinarydownload'' command has been replaced by
1936 ``set remote X-packet''. Other commands in ``set remote'' family
1937 include ``set remote P-packet''.
1939 * Breakpoint commands accept ranges.
1941 The breakpoint commands ``enable'', ``disable'', and ``delete'' now
1942 accept a range of breakpoints, e.g. ``5-7''. The tracepoint command
1943 ``tracepoint passcount'' also accepts a range of tracepoints.
1945 * ``apropos'' command added.
1947 The ``apropos'' command searches through command names and
1948 documentation strings, printing out matches, making it much easier to
1949 try to find a command that does what you are looking for.
1953 A new machine oriented interface (MI) has been added to GDB. This
1954 interface is designed for debug environments running GDB as a separate
1955 process. This is part of the long term libGDB project. See the
1956 "GDB/MI" chapter of the GDB manual for further information. It can be
1957 enabled by configuring with:
1959 .../configure --enable-gdbmi
1961 *** Changes in GDB-4.18:
1963 * New native configurations
1965 HP-UX 10.20 hppa*-*-hpux10.20
1966 HP-UX 11.x hppa*-*-hpux11.0*
1967 M68K GNU/Linux m68*-*-linux*
1971 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
1972 Intel StrongARM strongarm-*-*
1973 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
1975 * OBSOLETE configurations
1977 Gould PowerNode, NP1 np1-*-*, pn-*-*
1979 Configurations that have been declared obsolete will be commented out,
1980 but the code will be left in place. If there is no activity to revive
1981 these configurations before the next release of GDB, the sources will
1982 be permanently REMOVED.
1986 As a compatibility experiment, GDB's source files buildsym.h and
1987 buildsym.c have been converted to pure standard C, no longer
1988 containing any K&R compatibility code. We believe that all systems in
1989 use today either come with a standard C compiler, or have a GCC port
1990 available. If this is not true, please report the affected
1991 configuration to bug-gdb@gnu.org immediately. See the README file for
1992 information about getting a standard C compiler if you don't have one
1997 GDB now uses readline 2.2.
1999 * set extension-language
2001 You can now control the mapping between filename extensions and source
2002 languages by using the `set extension-language' command. For instance,
2003 you can ask GDB to treat .c files as C++ by saying
2004 set extension-language .c c++
2005 The command `info extensions' lists all of the recognized extensions
2006 and their associated languages.
2008 * Setting processor type for PowerPC and RS/6000
2010 When GDB is configured for a powerpc*-*-* or an rs6000*-*-* target,
2011 you can use the `set processor' command to specify what variant of the
2012 PowerPC family you are debugging. The command
2016 sets the PowerPC/RS6000 variant to NAME. GDB knows about the
2017 following PowerPC and RS6000 variants:
2019 ppc-uisa PowerPC UISA - a PPC processor as viewed by user-level code
2020 rs6000 IBM RS6000 ("POWER") architecture, user-level view
2022 403GC IBM PowerPC 403GC
2023 505 Motorola PowerPC 505
2024 860 Motorola PowerPC 860 or 850
2025 601 Motorola PowerPC 601
2026 602 Motorola PowerPC 602
2027 603 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 603 or 603e
2028 604 Motorola PowerPC 604 or 604e
2029 750 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 750 or 750
2031 At the moment, this command just tells GDB what to name the
2032 special-purpose processor registers. Since almost all the affected
2033 registers are inaccessible to user-level programs, this command is
2034 only useful for remote debugging in its present form.
2038 Thanks to a major code donation from Hewlett-Packard, GDB now has much
2039 more extensive support for HP-UX. Added features include shared
2040 library support, kernel threads and hardware watchpoints for 11.00,
2041 support for HP's ANSI C and C++ compilers, and a compatibility mode
2042 for xdb and dbx commands.
2046 HP's donation includes the new concept of catchpoints, which is a
2047 generalization of the old catch command. On HP-UX, it is now possible
2048 to catch exec, fork, and vfork, as well as library loading.
2050 This means that the existing catch command has changed; its first
2051 argument now specifies the type of catch to be set up. See the
2052 output of "help catch" for a list of catchpoint types.
2054 * Debugging across forks
2056 On HP-UX, you can choose which process to debug when a fork() happens
2061 HP has donated a curses-based terminal user interface (TUI). To get
2062 it, build with --enable-tui. Although this can be enabled for any
2063 configuration, at present it only works for native HP debugging.
2065 * GDB remote protocol additions
2067 A new protocol packet 'X' that writes binary data is now available.
2068 Default behavior is to try 'X', then drop back to 'M' if the stub
2069 fails to respond. The settable variable `remotebinarydownload'
2070 allows explicit control over the use of 'X'.
2072 For 64-bit targets, the memory packets ('M' and 'm') can now contain a
2073 full 64-bit address. The command
2075 set remoteaddresssize 32
2077 can be used to revert to the old behaviour. For existing remote stubs
2078 the change should not be noticed, as the additional address information
2081 In order to assist in debugging stubs, you may use the maintenance
2082 command `packet' to send any text string to the stub. For instance,
2084 maint packet heythere
2086 sends the packet "$heythere#<checksum>". Note that it is very easy to
2087 disrupt a debugging session by sending the wrong packet at the wrong
2090 The compare-sections command allows you to compare section data on the
2091 target to what is in the executable file without uploading or
2092 downloading, by comparing CRC checksums.
2094 * Tracing can collect general expressions
2096 You may now collect general expressions at tracepoints. This requires
2097 further additions to the target-side stub; see tracepoint.c and
2098 doc/agentexpr.texi for further details.
2100 * mask-address variable for Mips
2102 For Mips targets, you may control the zeroing of the upper 32 bits of
2103 a 64-bit address by entering `set mask-address on'. This is mainly
2104 of interest to users of embedded R4xxx and R5xxx processors.
2106 * Higher serial baud rates
2108 GDB's serial code now allows you to specify baud rates 57600, 115200,
2109 230400, and 460800 baud. (Note that your host system may not be able
2110 to achieve all of these rates.)
2114 The i960 configuration now includes an initial implementation of a
2115 builtin simulator, contributed by Jim Wilson.
2118 *** Changes in GDB-4.17:
2120 * New native configurations
2122 Alpha GNU/Linux alpha*-*-linux*
2123 Unixware 2.x i[3456]86-unixware2*
2124 Irix 6.x mips*-sgi-irix6*
2125 PowerPC GNU/Linux powerpc-*-linux*
2126 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
2127 Sparc GNU/Linux sparc-*-linux*
2128 Motorola sysV68 R3V7.1 m68k-motorola-sysv
2132 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
2133 Hitachi H8/300S h8300*-*-*
2134 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
2135 Matsushita MN10300 w/simulator mn10300-*-*
2136 MIPS NEC VR4100 mips64*vr4100*{,el}-*-elf*
2137 MIPS NEC VR5000 mips64*vr5000*{,el}-*-elf*
2138 MIPS Toshiba TX39 mips64*tx39*{,el}-*-elf*
2139 Mitsubishi D10V w/simulator d10v-*-*
2140 Mitsubishi M32R/D w/simulator m32r-*-elf*
2141 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
2142 NEC V850 w/simulator v850-*-*
2144 * New debugging protocols
2146 ARM with RDI protocol arm*-*-*
2147 M68K with dBUG monitor m68*-*-{aout,coff,elf}
2148 DDB and LSI variants of PMON protocol mips*-*-*
2149 PowerPC with DINK32 monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
2150 PowerPC with SDS protocol powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
2151 Macraigor OCD (Wiggler) devices powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
2155 All configurations can now understand and use the DWARF 2 debugging
2156 format. The choice is automatic, if the symbol file contains DWARF 2
2161 GDB now includes basic Java language support. This support is
2162 only useful with Java compilers that produce native machine code.
2164 * solib-absolute-prefix and solib-search-path
2166 For SunOS and SVR4 shared libraries, you may now set the prefix for
2167 loading absolute shared library symbol files, and the search path for
2168 locating non-absolute shared library symbol files.
2170 * Live range splitting
2172 GDB can now effectively debug code for which GCC has performed live
2173 range splitting as part of its optimization. See gdb/doc/LRS for
2174 more details on the expected format of the stabs information.
2178 GDB's support for the GNU Hurd, including thread debugging, has been
2179 updated to work with current versions of the Hurd.
2183 GDB's ARM target configuration now handles the ARM7T (Thumb) 16-bit
2184 instruction set. ARM GDB automatically detects when Thumb
2185 instructions are in use, and adjusts disassembly and backtracing
2190 GDB's MIPS target configurations now handle the MIP16 16-bit
2195 GDB now includes support for overlays; if an executable has been
2196 linked such that multiple sections are based at the same address, GDB
2197 will decide which section to use for symbolic info. You can choose to
2198 control the decision manually, using overlay commands, or implement
2199 additional target-side support and use "overlay load-target" to bring
2200 in the overlay mapping. Do "help overlay" for more detail.
2204 The command "info symbol <address>" displays information about
2205 the symbol at the specified address.
2209 The standard remote protocol now includes an extension that allows
2210 asynchronous collection and display of trace data. This requires
2211 extensive support in the target-side debugging stub. Tracing mode
2212 includes a new interaction mode in GDB and new commands: see the
2213 file tracepoint.c for more details.
2217 Configurations for embedded MIPS now include a simulator contributed
2218 by Cygnus Solutions. The simulator supports the instruction sets
2219 of most MIPS variants.
2223 Sparc configurations may now include the ERC32 simulator contributed
2224 by the European Space Agency. The simulator is not built into
2225 Sparc targets by default; configure with --enable-sim to include it.
2229 For target configurations that may include multiple variants of a
2230 basic architecture (such as MIPS and SH), you may now set the
2231 architecture explicitly. "set arch" sets, "info arch" lists
2232 the possible architectures.
2234 *** Changes in GDB-4.16:
2236 * New native configurations
2238 Windows 95, x86 Windows NT i[345]86-*-cygwin32
2239 M68K NetBSD m68k-*-netbsd*
2240 PowerPC AIX 4.x powerpc-*-aix*
2241 PowerPC MacOS powerpc-*-macos*
2242 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
2243 RS/6000 AIX 4.x rs6000-*-aix4*
2247 ARM with RDP protocol arm-*-*
2248 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
2249 MIPS VxWorks mips*-*-vxworks*
2250 MIPS VR4300 with PMON mips64*vr4300{,el}-*-elf*
2251 PowerPC with PPCBUG monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi*
2253 Matra Sparclet sparclet-*-*
2257 The powerpc-eabi configuration now includes the PSIM simulator,
2258 contributed by Andrew Cagney, with assistance from Mike Meissner.
2259 PSIM is a very elaborate model of the PowerPC, including not only
2260 basic instruction set execution, but also details of execution unit
2261 performance and I/O hardware. See sim/ppc/README for more details.
2265 GDB now works with Solaris 2.5.
2267 * Windows 95/NT native
2269 GDB will now work as a native debugger on Windows 95 and Windows NT.
2270 To build it from source, you must use the "gnu-win32" environment,
2271 which uses a DLL to emulate enough of Unix to run the GNU tools.
2272 Further information, binaries, and sources are available at
2273 ftp.cygnus.com, under pub/gnu-win32.
2275 * dont-repeat command
2277 If a user-defined command includes the command `dont-repeat', then the
2278 command will not be repeated if the user just types return. This is
2279 useful if the command is time-consuming to run, so that accidental
2280 extra keystrokes don't run the same command many times.
2282 * Send break instead of ^C
2284 The standard remote protocol now includes an option to send a break
2285 rather than a ^C to the target in order to interrupt it. By default,
2286 GDB will send ^C; to send a break, set the variable `remotebreak' to 1.
2288 * Remote protocol timeout
2290 The standard remote protocol includes a new variable `remotetimeout'
2291 that allows you to set the number of seconds before GDB gives up trying
2292 to read from the target. The default value is 2.
2294 * Automatic tracking of dynamic object loading (HPUX and Solaris only)
2296 By default GDB will automatically keep track of objects as they are
2297 loaded and unloaded by the dynamic linker. By using the command `set
2298 stop-on-solib-events 1' you can arrange for GDB to stop the inferior
2299 when shared library events occur, thus allowing you to set breakpoints
2300 in shared libraries which are explicitly loaded by the inferior.
2302 Note this feature does not work on hpux8. On hpux9 you must link
2303 /usr/lib/end.o into your program. This feature should work
2304 automatically on hpux10.
2306 * Irix 5.x hardware watchpoint support
2308 Irix 5 configurations now support the use of hardware watchpoints.
2310 * Mips protocol "SYN garbage limit"
2312 When debugging a Mips target using the `target mips' protocol, you
2313 may set the number of characters that GDB will ignore by setting
2314 the `syn-garbage-limit'. A value of -1 means that GDB will ignore
2315 every character. The default value is 1050.
2317 * Recording and replaying remote debug sessions
2319 If you set `remotelogfile' to the name of a file, gdb will write to it
2320 a recording of a remote debug session. This recording may then be
2321 replayed back to gdb using "gdbreplay". See gdbserver/README for
2322 details. This is useful when you have a problem with GDB while doing
2323 remote debugging; you can make a recording of the session and send it
2324 to someone else, who can then recreate the problem.
2326 * Speedups for remote debugging
2328 GDB includes speedups for downloading and stepping MIPS systems using
2329 the IDT monitor, fast downloads to the Hitachi SH E7000 emulator,
2330 and more efficient S-record downloading.
2332 * Memory use reductions and statistics collection
2334 GDB now uses less memory and reports statistics about memory usage.
2335 Try the `maint print statistics' command, for example.
2337 *** Changes in GDB-4.15:
2339 * Psymtabs for XCOFF
2341 The symbol reader for AIX GDB now uses partial symbol tables. This
2342 can greatly improve startup time, especially for large executables.
2344 * Remote targets use caching
2346 Remote targets now use a data cache to speed up communication with the
2347 remote side. The data cache could lead to incorrect results because
2348 it doesn't know about volatile variables, thus making it impossible to
2349 debug targets which use memory mapped I/O devices. `set remotecache
2350 off' turns the the data cache off.
2352 * Remote targets may have threads
2354 The standard remote protocol now includes support for multiple threads
2355 in the target system, using new protocol commands 'H' and 'T'. See
2356 gdb/remote.c for details.
2360 If GDB is configured with `--enable-netrom', then it will include
2361 support for the NetROM ROM emulator from XLNT Designs. The NetROM
2362 acts as though it is a bank of ROM on the target board, but you can
2363 write into it over the network. GDB's support consists only of
2364 support for fast loading into the emulated ROM; to debug, you must use
2365 another protocol, such as standard remote protocol. The usual
2366 sequence is something like
2368 target nrom <netrom-hostname>
2370 target remote <netrom-hostname>:1235
2374 GDB now includes support for the Apple Macintosh, as a host only. It
2375 may be run as either an MPW tool or as a standalone application, and
2376 it can debug through the serial port. All the usual GDB commands are
2377 available, but to the target command, you must supply "serial" as the
2378 device type instead of "/dev/ttyXX". See mpw-README in the main
2379 directory for more information on how to build. The MPW configuration
2380 scripts */mpw-config.in support only a few targets, and only the
2381 mips-idt-ecoff target has been tested.
2385 GDB configuration now uses autoconf. This is not user-visible,
2386 but does simplify configuration and building.
2390 GDB now supports hpux10.
2392 *** Changes in GDB-4.14:
2394 * New native configurations
2396 x86 FreeBSD i[345]86-*-freebsd
2397 x86 NetBSD i[345]86-*-netbsd
2398 NS32k NetBSD ns32k-*-netbsd
2399 Sparc NetBSD sparc-*-netbsd
2403 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
2404 HP PA PRO embedded (WinBond W89K & Oki OP50N) hppa*-*-pro*
2405 CPU32 EST-300 emulator m68*-*-est*
2406 PowerPC ELF powerpc-*-elf
2409 * Alpha OSF/1 support for procfs
2411 GDB now supports procfs under OSF/1-2.x and higher, which makes it
2412 possible to attach to running processes. As the mounting of the /proc
2413 filesystem is optional on the Alpha, GDB automatically determines
2414 the availability of /proc during startup. This can lead to problems
2415 if /proc is unmounted after GDB has been started.
2417 * Arguments to user-defined commands
2419 User commands may accept up to 10 arguments separated by whitespace.
2420 Arguments are accessed within the user command via $arg0..$arg9. A
2423 print $arg0 + $arg1 + $arg2
2425 To execute the command use:
2428 Defines the command "adder" which prints the sum of its three arguments.
2429 Note the arguments are text substitutions, so they may reference variables,
2430 use complex expressions, or even perform inferior function calls.
2432 * New `if' and `while' commands
2434 This makes it possible to write more sophisticated user-defined
2435 commands. Both commands take a single argument, which is the
2436 expression to evaluate, and must be followed by the commands to
2437 execute, one per line, if the expression is nonzero, the list being
2438 terminated by the word `end'. The `if' command list may include an
2439 `else' word, which causes the following commands to be executed only
2440 if the expression is zero.
2442 * Fortran source language mode
2444 GDB now includes partial support for Fortran 77. It will recognize
2445 Fortran programs and can evaluate a subset of Fortran expressions, but
2446 variables and functions may not be handled correctly. GDB will work
2447 with G77, but does not yet know much about symbols emitted by other
2450 * Better HPUX support
2452 Most debugging facilities now work on dynamic executables for HPPAs
2453 running hpux9 or later. You can attach to running dynamically linked
2454 processes, but by default the dynamic libraries will be read-only, so
2455 for instance you won't be able to put breakpoints in them. To change
2456 that behavior do the following before running the program:
2462 This will cause the libraries to be mapped private and read-write.
2463 To revert to the normal behavior, do this:
2469 You cannot set breakpoints or examine data in the library until after
2470 the library is loaded if the function/data symbols do not have
2473 GDB can now also read debug symbols produced by the HP C compiler on
2474 HPPAs (sorry, no C++, Fortran or 68k support).
2476 * Target byte order now dynamically selectable
2478 You can choose which byte order to use with a target system, via the
2479 commands "set endian big" and "set endian little", and you can see the
2480 current setting by using "show endian". You can also give the command
2481 "set endian auto", in which case GDB will use the byte order
2482 associated with the executable. Currently, only embedded MIPS
2483 configurations support dynamic selection of target byte order.
2485 * New DOS host serial code
2487 This version uses DPMI interrupts to handle buffered I/O, so you
2488 no longer need to run asynctsr when debugging boards connected to
2491 *** Changes in GDB-4.13:
2493 * New "complete" command
2495 This lists all the possible completions for the rest of the line, if it
2496 were to be given as a command itself. This is intended for use by emacs.
2498 * Trailing space optional in prompt
2500 "set prompt" no longer adds a space for you after the prompt you set. This
2501 allows you to set a prompt which ends in a space or one that does not.
2503 * Breakpoint hit counts
2505 "info break" now displays a count of the number of times the breakpoint
2506 has been hit. This is especially useful in conjunction with "ignore"; you
2507 can ignore a large number of breakpoint hits, look at the breakpoint info
2508 to see how many times the breakpoint was hit, then run again, ignoring one
2509 less than that number, and this will get you quickly to the last hit of
2512 * Ability to stop printing at NULL character
2514 "set print null-stop" will cause GDB to stop printing the characters of
2515 an array when the first NULL is encountered. This is useful when large
2516 arrays actually contain only short strings.
2518 * Shared library breakpoints
2520 In SunOS 4.x, SVR4, and Alpha OSF/1 configurations, you can now set
2521 breakpoints in shared libraries before the executable is run.
2523 * Hardware watchpoints
2525 There is a new hardware breakpoint for the watch command for sparclite
2526 targets. See gdb/sparclite/hw_breakpoint.note.
2528 Hardware watchpoints are also now supported under GNU/Linux.
2532 Annotations have been added. These are for use with graphical interfaces,
2533 and are still experimental. Currently only gdba.el uses these.
2535 * Improved Irix 5 support
2537 GDB now works properly with Irix 5.2.
2539 * Improved HPPA support
2541 GDB now works properly with the latest GCC and GAS.
2543 * New native configurations
2545 Sequent PTX4 i[34]86-sequent-ptx4
2546 HPPA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
2547 Atari TT running SVR4 m68*-*-sysv4*
2548 RS/6000 LynxOS rs6000-*-lynxos*
2552 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
2553 MIPS R4000 mips64*{,el}-*-{ecoff,elf}
2556 * Hitachi SH7000 and E7000-PC ICE support
2558 There is now support for communicating with the Hitachi E7000-PC ICE.
2559 This is available automatically when GDB is configured for the SH.
2563 As usual, a variety of small fixes and improvements, both generic
2564 and configuration-specific. See the ChangeLog for more detail.
2566 *** Changes in GDB-4.12:
2568 * Irix 5 is now supported
2572 GDB-4.12 on the HPPA has a number of changes which make it unable
2573 to debug the output from the currently released versions of GCC and
2574 GAS (GCC 2.5.8 and GAS-2.2 or PAGAS-1.36). Until the next major release
2575 of GCC and GAS, versions of these tools designed to work with GDB-4.12
2576 can be retrieved via anonymous ftp from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist.
2579 *** Changes in GDB-4.11:
2581 * User visible changes:
2585 The "set remotedebug" option is now consistent between the mips remote
2586 target, remote targets using the gdb-specific protocol, UDI (AMD's
2587 debug protocol for the 29k) and the 88k bug monitor. It is now an
2588 integer specifying a debug level (normally 0 or 1, but 2 means more
2589 debugging info for the mips target).
2591 * DEC Alpha native support
2593 GDB now works on the DEC Alpha. GCC 2.4.5 does not produce usable
2594 debug info, but GDB works fairly well with the DEC compiler and should
2595 work with a future GCC release. See the README file for a few
2596 Alpha-specific notes.
2598 * Preliminary thread implementation
2600 GDB now has preliminary thread support for both SGI/Irix and LynxOS.
2602 * LynxOS native and target support for 386
2604 This release has been hosted on LynxOS 2.2, and also can be configured
2605 to remotely debug programs running under LynxOS (see gdb/gdbserver/README
2608 * Improvements in C++ mangling/demangling.
2610 This release has much better g++ debugging, specifically in name
2611 mangling/demangling, virtual function calls, print virtual table,
2612 call methods, ...etc.
2614 *** Changes in GDB-4.10:
2616 * User visible changes:
2618 Remote debugging using the GDB-specific (`target remote') protocol now
2619 supports the `load' command. This is only useful if you have some
2620 other way of getting the stub to the target system, and you can put it
2621 somewhere in memory where it won't get clobbered by the download.
2623 Filename completion now works.
2625 When run under emacs mode, the "info line" command now causes the
2626 arrow to point to the line specified. Also, "info line" prints
2627 addresses in symbolic form (as well as hex).
2629 All vxworks based targets now support a user settable option, called
2630 vxworks-timeout. This option represents the number of seconds gdb
2631 should wait for responses to rpc's. You might want to use this if
2632 your vxworks target is, perhaps, a slow software simulator or happens
2633 to be on the far side of a thin network line.
2637 This release contains support for using a DEC alpha as a GDB host for
2638 cross debugging. Native alpha debugging is not supported yet.
2641 *** Changes in GDB-4.9:
2645 This is the first GDB release which is accompanied by a matching testsuite.
2646 The testsuite requires installation of dejagnu, which should be available
2647 via ftp from most sites that carry GNU software.
2651 'Cfront' style demangling has had its name changed to 'ARM' style, to
2652 emphasize that it was written from the specifications in the C++ Annotated
2653 Reference Manual, not necessarily to be compatible with AT&T cfront. Despite
2654 disclaimers, it still generated too much confusion with users attempting to
2655 use gdb with AT&T cfront.
2659 GDB now uses a standard remote interface to a simulator library.
2660 So far, the library contains simulators for the Zilog Z8001/2, the
2661 Hitachi H8/300, H8/500 and Super-H.
2663 * New targets supported
2665 H8/300 simulator h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
2666 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
2667 SH simulator sh-hitachi-hms or sh
2668 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
2669 IDT MIPS board over serial line mips-idt-ecoff
2671 Cross-debugging to GO32 targets is supported. It requires a custom
2672 version of the i386-stub.c module which is integrated with the
2673 GO32 memory extender.
2675 * New remote protocols
2677 MIPS remote debugging protocol.
2679 * New source languages supported
2681 This version includes preliminary support for Chill, a Pascal like language
2682 used by telecommunications companies. Chill support is also being integrated
2683 into the GNU compiler, but we don't know when it will be publically available.
2686 *** Changes in GDB-4.8:
2688 * HP Precision Architecture supported
2690 GDB now supports HP PA-RISC machines running HPUX. A preliminary
2691 version of this support was available as a set of patches from the
2692 University of Utah. GDB does not support debugging of programs
2693 compiled with the HP compiler, because HP will not document their file
2694 format. Instead, you must use GCC (version 2.3.2 or later) and PA-GAS
2695 (as available from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist/pa-gas.u4.tar.Z).
2697 Many problems in the preliminary version have been fixed.
2699 * Faster and better demangling
2701 We have improved template demangling and fixed numerous bugs in the GNU style
2702 demangler. It can now handle type modifiers such as `static' or `const'. Wide
2703 character types (wchar_t) are now supported. Demangling of each symbol is now
2704 only done once, and is cached when the symbol table for a file is read in.
2705 This results in a small increase in memory usage for C programs, a moderate
2706 increase in memory usage for C++ programs, and a fantastic speedup in
2709 `Cfront' style demangling still doesn't work with AT&T cfront. It was written
2710 from the specifications in the Annotated Reference Manual, which AT&T's
2711 compiler does not actually implement.
2713 * G++ multiple inheritance compiler problem
2715 In the 2.3.2 release of gcc/g++, how the compiler resolves multiple
2716 inheritance lattices was reworked to properly discover ambiguities. We
2717 recently found an example which causes this new algorithm to fail in a
2718 very subtle way, producing bad debug information for those classes.
2719 The file 'gcc.patch' (in this directory) can be applied to gcc to
2720 circumvent the problem. A future GCC release will contain a complete
2723 The previous G++ debug info problem (mentioned below for the gdb-4.7
2724 release) is fixed in gcc version 2.3.2.
2726 * Improved configure script
2728 The `configure' script will now attempt to guess your system type if
2729 you don't supply a host system type. The old scheme of supplying a
2730 host system triplet is preferable over using this. All the magic is
2731 done in the new `config.guess' script. Examine it for details.
2733 We have also brought our configure script much more in line with the FSF's
2734 version. It now supports the --with-xxx options. In particular,
2735 `--with-minimal-bfd' can be used to make the GDB binary image smaller.
2736 The resulting GDB will not be able to read arbitrary object file formats --
2737 only the format ``expected'' to be used on the configured target system.
2738 We hope to make this the default in a future release.
2740 * Documentation improvements
2742 There's new internal documentation on how to modify GDB, and how to
2743 produce clean changes to the code. We implore people to read it
2744 before submitting changes.
2746 The GDB manual uses new, sexy Texinfo conditionals, rather than arcane
2747 M4 macros. The new texinfo.tex is provided in this release. Pre-built
2748 `info' files are also provided. To build `info' files from scratch,
2749 you will need the latest `makeinfo' release, which will be available in
2750 a future texinfo-X.Y release.
2752 *NOTE* The new texinfo.tex can cause old versions of TeX to hang.
2753 We're not sure exactly which versions have this problem, but it has
2754 been seen in 3.0. We highly recommend upgrading to TeX version 3.141
2755 or better. If that isn't possible, there is a patch in
2756 `texinfo/tex3patch' that will modify `texinfo/texinfo.tex' to work
2757 around this problem.
2761 GDB now supports array constants that can be used in expressions typed in by
2762 the user. The syntax is `{element, element, ...}'. Ie: you can now type
2763 `print {1, 2, 3}', and it will build up an array in memory malloc'd in
2766 The new directory `gdb/sparclite' contains a program that demonstrates
2767 how the sparc-stub.c remote stub runs on a Fujitsu SPARClite processor.
2769 * New native hosts supported
2771 HP/PA-RISC under HPUX using GNU tools hppa1.1-hp-hpux
2772 386 CPUs running SCO Unix 3.2v4 i386-unknown-sco3.2v4
2774 * New targets supported
2776 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi or udi29k
2778 * New file formats supported
2780 BFD now supports reading HP/PA-RISC executables (SOM file format?),
2781 HPUX core files, and SCO 3.2v2 core files.
2785 Attaching to processes now works again; thanks for the many bug reports.
2787 We have also stomped on a bunch of core dumps caused by
2788 printf_filtered("%s") problems.
2790 We eliminated a copyright problem on the rpc and ptrace header files
2791 for VxWorks, which was discovered at the last minute during the 4.7
2792 release. You should now be able to build a VxWorks GDB.
2794 You can now interrupt gdb while an attached process is running. This
2795 will cause the attached process to stop, and give control back to GDB.
2797 We fixed problems caused by using too many file descriptors
2798 for reading symbols from object files and libraries. This was
2799 especially a problem for programs that used many (~100) shared
2802 The `step' command now only enters a subroutine if there is line number
2803 information for the subroutine. Otherwise it acts like the `next'
2804 command. Previously, `step' would enter subroutines if there was
2805 any debugging information about the routine. This avoids problems
2806 when using `cc -g1' on MIPS machines.
2808 * Internal improvements
2810 GDB's internal interfaces have been improved to make it easier to support
2811 debugging of multiple languages in the future.
2813 GDB now uses a common structure for symbol information internally.
2814 Minimal symbols (derived from linkage symbols in object files), partial
2815 symbols (from a quick scan of debug information), and full symbols
2816 contain a common subset of information, making it easier to write
2817 shared code that handles any of them.
2819 * New command line options
2821 We now accept --silent as an alias for --quiet.
2825 The memory-mapped-malloc library is now licensed under the GNU Library
2826 General Public License.
2828 *** Changes in GDB-4.7:
2830 * Host/native/target split
2832 GDB has had some major internal surgery to untangle the support for
2833 hosts and remote targets. Now, when you configure GDB for a remote
2834 target, it will no longer load in all of the support for debugging
2835 local programs on the host. When fully completed and tested, this will
2836 ensure that arbitrary host/target combinations are possible.
2838 The primary conceptual shift is to separate the non-portable code in
2839 GDB into three categories. Host specific code is required any time GDB
2840 is compiled on that host, regardless of the target. Target specific
2841 code relates to the peculiarities of the target, but can be compiled on
2842 any host. Native specific code is everything else: it can only be
2843 built when the host and target are the same system. Child process
2844 handling and core file support are two common `native' examples.
2846 GDB's use of /proc for controlling Unix child processes is now cleaner.
2847 It has been split out into a single module under the `target_ops' vector,
2848 plus two native-dependent functions for each system that uses /proc.
2850 * New hosts supported
2852 HP/Apollo 68k (under the BSD domain) m68k-apollo-bsd or apollo68bsd
2853 386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
2854 386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or i386sco
2856 * New targets supported
2858 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
2859 68030 and CPU32 m68030-*-*, m68332-*-*
2861 * New native hosts supported
2863 386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
2864 (386bsd is not well tested yet)
2865 386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or sco
2867 * New file formats supported
2869 BFD now supports COFF files for the Zilog Z8000 microprocessor. It
2870 supports reading of `a.out.adobe' object files, which are an a.out
2871 format extended with minimal information about multiple sections.
2875 `show copying' is the same as the old `info copying'.
2876 `show warranty' is the same as `info warrantee'.
2877 These were renamed for consistency. The old commands continue to work.
2879 `info handle' is a new alias for `info signals'.
2881 You can now define pre-command hooks, which attach arbitrary command
2882 scripts to any command. The commands in the hook will be executed
2883 prior to the user's command. You can also create a hook which will be
2884 executed whenever the program stops. See gdb.texinfo.
2888 We now deal with Cfront style name mangling, and can even extract type
2889 info from mangled symbols. GDB can automatically figure out which
2890 symbol mangling style your C++ compiler uses.
2892 Calling of methods and virtual functions has been improved as well.
2896 The crash that occured when debugging Sun Ansi-C compiled binaries is
2897 fixed. This was due to mishandling of the extra N_SO stabs output
2900 We also finally got Ultrix 4.2 running in house, and fixed core file
2901 support, with help from a dozen people on the net.
2903 John M. Farrell discovered that the reason that single-stepping was so
2904 slow on all of the Mips based platforms (primarily SGI and DEC) was
2905 that we were trying to demangle and lookup a symbol used for internal
2906 purposes on every instruction that was being stepped through. Changing
2907 the name of that symbol so that it couldn't be mistaken for a C++
2908 mangled symbol sped things up a great deal.
2910 Rich Pixley sped up symbol lookups in general by getting much smarter
2911 about when C++ symbol mangling is necessary. This should make symbol
2912 completion (TAB on the command line) much faster. It's not as fast as
2913 we'd like, but it's significantly faster than gdb-4.6.
2917 A new user controllable variable 'call_scratch_address' can
2918 specify the location of a scratch area to be used when GDB
2919 calls a function in the target. This is necessary because the
2920 usual method of putting the scratch area on the stack does not work
2921 in systems that have separate instruction and data spaces.
2923 We integrated changes to support the 29k UDI (Universal Debugger
2924 Interface), but discovered at the last minute that we didn't have all
2925 of the appropriate copyright paperwork. We are working with AMD to
2926 resolve this, and hope to have it available soon.
2930 We have sped up the remote serial line protocol, especially for targets
2931 with lots of registers. It now supports a new `expedited status' ('T')
2932 message which can be used in place of the existing 'S' status message.
2933 This allows the remote stub to send only the registers that GDB
2934 needs to make a quick decision about single-stepping or conditional
2935 breakpoints, eliminating the need to fetch the entire register set for
2936 each instruction being stepped through.
2938 The GDB remote serial protocol now implements a write-through cache for
2939 registers, only re-reading the registers if the target has run.
2941 There is also a new remote serial stub for SPARC processors. You can
2942 find it in gdb-4.7/gdb/sparc-stub.c. This was written to support the
2943 Fujitsu SPARClite processor, but will run on any stand-alone SPARC
2944 processor with a serial port.
2948 Configure.in files have become much easier to read and modify. A new
2949 `table driven' format makes it more obvious what configurations are
2950 supported, and what files each one uses.
2954 There is a new opcodes library which will eventually contain all of the
2955 disassembly routines and opcode tables. At present, it only contains
2956 Sparc and Z8000 routines. This will allow the assembler, debugger, and
2957 disassembler (binutils/objdump) to share these routines.
2959 The libiberty library is now copylefted under the GNU Library General
2960 Public License. This allows more liberal use, and was done so libg++
2961 can use it. This makes no difference to GDB, since the Library License
2962 grants all the rights from the General Public License.
2966 The file gdb-4.7/gdb/doc/stabs.texinfo is a (relatively) complete
2967 reference to the stabs symbol info used by the debugger. It is (as far
2968 as we know) the only published document on this fascinating topic. We
2969 encourage you to read it, compare it to the stabs information on your
2970 system, and send improvements on the document in general (to
2971 bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu).
2973 And, of course, many bugs have been fixed.
2976 *** Changes in GDB-4.6:
2978 * Better support for C++ function names
2980 GDB now accepts as input the "demangled form" of C++ overloaded function
2981 names and member function names, and can do command completion on such names
2982 (using TAB, TAB-TAB, and ESC-?). The names have to be quoted with a pair of
2983 single quotes. Examples are 'func (int, long)' and 'obj::operator==(obj&)'.
2984 Make use of command completion, it is your friend.
2986 GDB also now accepts a variety of C++ mangled symbol formats. They are
2987 the GNU g++ style, the Cfront (ARM) style, and the Lucid (lcc) style.
2988 You can tell GDB which format to use by doing a 'set demangle-style {gnu,
2989 lucid, cfront, auto}'. 'gnu' is the default. Do a 'set demangle-style foo'
2990 for the list of formats.
2992 * G++ symbol mangling problem
2994 Recent versions of gcc have a bug in how they emit debugging information for
2995 C++ methods (when using dbx-style stabs). The file 'gcc.patch' (in this
2996 directory) can be applied to gcc to fix the problem. Alternatively, if you
2997 can't fix gcc, you can #define GCC_MANGLE_BUG when compling gdb/symtab.c. The
2998 usual symptom is difficulty with setting breakpoints on methods. GDB complains
2999 about the method being non-existent. (We believe that version 2.2.2 of GCC has
3002 * New 'maintenance' command
3004 All of the commands related to hacking GDB internals have been moved out of
3005 the main command set, and now live behind the 'maintenance' command. This
3006 can also be abbreviated as 'mt'. The following changes were made:
3008 dump-me -> maintenance dump-me
3009 info all-breakpoints -> maintenance info breakpoints
3010 printmsyms -> maintenance print msyms
3011 printobjfiles -> maintenance print objfiles
3012 printpsyms -> maintenance print psymbols
3013 printsyms -> maintenance print symbols
3015 The following commands are new:
3017 maintenance demangle Call internal GDB demangler routine to
3018 demangle a C++ link name and prints the result.
3019 maintenance print type Print a type chain for a given symbol
3021 * Change to .gdbinit file processing
3023 We now read the $HOME/.gdbinit file before processing the argv arguments
3024 (e.g. reading symbol files or core files). This allows global parameters to
3025 be set, which will apply during the symbol reading. The ./.gdbinit is still
3026 read after argv processing.
3028 * New hosts supported
3030 Solaris-2.0 !!! sparc-sun-solaris2 or sun4sol2
3032 GNU/Linux support i386-unknown-linux or linux
3034 We are also including code to support the HP/PA running BSD and HPUX. This
3035 is almost guaranteed not to work, as we didn't have time to test or build it
3036 for this release. We are including it so that the more adventurous (or
3037 masochistic) of you can play with it. We also had major problems with the
3038 fact that the compiler that we got from HP doesn't support the -g option.
3041 * New targets supported
3043 Hitachi H8/300 h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
3045 * More smarts about finding #include files
3047 GDB now remembers the compilation directory for all include files, and for
3048 all files from which C is generated (like yacc and lex sources). This
3049 greatly improves GDB's ability to find yacc/lex sources, and include files,
3050 especially if you are debugging your program from a directory different from
3051 the one that contains your sources.
3053 We also fixed a bug which caused difficulty with listing and setting
3054 breakpoints in include files which contain C code. (In the past, you had to
3055 try twice in order to list an include file that you hadn't looked at before.)
3057 * Interesting infernals change
3059 GDB now deals with arbitrary numbers of sections, where the symbols for each
3060 section must be relocated relative to that section's landing place in the
3061 target's address space. This work was needed to support ELF with embedded
3062 stabs used by Solaris-2.0.
3064 * Bug fixes (of course!)
3066 There have been loads of fixes for the following things:
3067 mips, rs6000, 29k/udi, m68k, g++, type handling, elf/dwarf, m88k,
3068 i960, stabs, DOS(GO32), procfs, etc...
3070 See the ChangeLog for details.
3072 *** Changes in GDB-4.5:
3074 * New machines supported (host and target)
3076 IBM RS6000 running AIX rs6000-ibm-aix or rs6000
3078 SGI Irix-4.x mips-sgi-irix4 or iris4
3080 * New malloc package
3082 GDB now uses a new memory manager called mmalloc, based on gmalloc.
3083 Mmalloc is capable of handling mutiple heaps of memory. It is also
3084 capable of saving a heap to a file, and then mapping it back in later.
3085 This can be used to greatly speedup the startup of GDB by using a
3086 pre-parsed symbol table which lives in a mmalloc managed heap. For
3087 more details, please read mmalloc/mmalloc.texi.
3091 The 'info proc' command (SVR4 only) has been enhanced quite a bit. See
3092 'help info proc' for details.
3094 * MIPS ecoff symbol table format
3096 The code that reads MIPS symbol table format is now supported on all hosts.
3097 Thanks to MIPS for releasing the sym.h and symconst.h files to make this
3100 * File name changes for MS-DOS
3102 Many files in the config directories have been renamed to make it easier to
3103 support GDB on MS-DOSe systems (which have very restrictive file name
3104 conventions :-( ). MS-DOSe host support (under DJ Delorie's GO32
3105 environment) is close to working but has some remaining problems. Note
3106 that debugging of DOS programs is not supported, due to limitations
3107 in the ``operating system'', but it can be used to host cross-debugging.
3109 * Cross byte order fixes
3111 Many fixes have been made to support cross debugging of Sparc and MIPS
3112 targets from hosts whose byte order differs.
3114 * New -mapped and -readnow options
3116 If memory-mapped files are available on your system through the 'mmap'
3117 system call, you can use the -mapped option on the `file' or
3118 `symbol-file' commands to cause GDB to write the symbols from your
3119 program into a reusable file. If the program you are debugging is
3120 called `/path/fred', the mapped symbol file will be `./fred.syms'.
3121 Future GDB debugging sessions will notice the presence of this file,
3122 and will quickly map in symbol information from it, rather than reading
3123 the symbol table from the executable program. Using the '-mapped'
3124 option in a GDB `file' or `symbol-file' command has the same effect as
3125 starting GDB with the '-mapped' command-line option.
3127 You can cause GDB to read the entire symbol table immediately by using
3128 the '-readnow' option with any of the commands that load symbol table
3129 information (or on the GDB command line). This makes the command
3130 slower, but makes future operations faster.
3132 The -mapped and -readnow options are typically combined in order to
3133 build a `fred.syms' file that contains complete symbol information.
3134 A simple GDB invocation to do nothing but build a `.syms' file for future
3137 gdb -batch -nx -mapped -readnow programname
3139 The `.syms' file is specific to the host machine on which GDB is run.
3140 It holds an exact image of GDB's internal symbol table. It cannot be
3141 shared across multiple host platforms.
3143 * longjmp() handling
3145 GDB is now capable of stepping and nexting over longjmp(), _longjmp(), and
3146 siglongjmp() without losing control. This feature has not yet been ported to
3147 all systems. It currently works on many 386 platforms, all MIPS-based
3148 platforms (SGI, DECstation, etc), and Sun3/4.
3152 Preliminary work has been put in to support the new Solaris OS from Sun. At
3153 this time, it can control and debug processes, but it is not capable of
3158 As always, many many bug fixes. The major areas were with g++, and mipsread.
3159 People using the MIPS-based platforms should experience fewer mysterious
3160 crashes and trashed symbol tables.
3162 *** Changes in GDB-4.4:
3164 * New machines supported (host and target)
3166 SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
3168 BSD Reno on Vax vax-dec-bsd
3169 Ultrix on Vax vax-dec-ultrix
3171 * New machines supported (target)
3173 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
3177 GDB continues to improve its handling of C++. `References' work better.
3178 The demangler has also been improved, and now deals with symbols mangled as
3179 per the Annotated C++ Reference Guide.
3181 GDB also now handles `stabs' symbol information embedded in MIPS
3182 `ecoff' symbol tables. Since the ecoff format was not easily
3183 extensible to handle new languages such as C++, this appeared to be a
3184 good way to put C++ debugging info into MIPS binaries. This option
3185 will be supported in the GNU C compiler, version 2, when it is
3188 * New features for SVR4
3190 GDB now handles SVR4 shared libraries, in the same fashion as SunOS
3191 shared libraries. Debugging dynamically linked programs should present
3192 only minor differences from debugging statically linked programs.
3194 The `info proc' command will print out information about any process
3195 on an SVR4 system (including the one you are debugging). At the moment,
3196 it prints the address mappings of the process.
3198 If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please send mail to
3199 bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were reqired (if any).
3201 * Better dynamic linking support in SunOS
3203 Reading symbols from shared libraries which contain debugging symbols
3204 now works properly. However, there remain issues such as automatic
3205 skipping of `transfer vector' code during function calls, which
3206 make it harder to debug code in a shared library, than to debug the
3207 same code linked statically.
3211 GDB is now using the latest `getopt' routines from the FSF. This
3212 version accepts the -- prefix for options with long names. GDB will
3213 continue to accept the old forms (-option and +option) as well.
3214 Various single letter abbreviations for options have been explicity
3215 added to the option table so that they won't get overshadowed in the
3216 future by other options that begin with the same letter.
3220 The `cleanup_undefined_types' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
3221 Many assorted bugs have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
3222 See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
3225 *** Changes in GDB-4.3:
3227 * New machines supported (host and target)
3229 Amiga 3000 running Amix m68k-cbm-svr4 or amix
3230 NCR 3000 386 running SVR4 i386-ncr-svr4 or ncr3000
3231 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
3233 * Almost SCO Unix support
3235 We had hoped to support:
3236 SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
3237 (except for core file support), but we discovered very late in the release
3238 that it has problems with process groups that render gdb unusable. Sorry
3239 about that. I encourage people to fix it and post the fixes.
3241 * Preliminary ELF and DWARF support
3243 GDB can read ELF object files on System V Release 4, and can handle
3244 debugging records for C, in DWARF format, in ELF files. This support
3245 is preliminary. If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please
3246 send mail to bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were
3251 GDB now uses the latest `readline' library. One user-visible change
3252 is that two tabs will list possible command completions, which previously
3253 required typing M-? (meta-question mark, or ESC ?).
3257 The `stepi' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
3258 Many bugs in C++ have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
3259 See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
3261 * State of the MIPS world (in case you wondered):
3263 GDB can understand the symbol tables emitted by the compilers
3264 supplied by most vendors of MIPS-based machines, including DEC. These
3265 symbol tables are in a format that essentially nobody else uses.
3267 Some versions of gcc come with an assembler post-processor called
3268 mips-tfile. This program is required if you want to do source-level
3269 debugging of gcc-compiled programs. I believe FSF does not ship
3270 mips-tfile with gcc version 1, but it will eventually come with gcc
3273 Debugging of g++ output remains a problem. g++ version 1.xx does not
3274 really support it at all. (If you're lucky, you should be able to get
3275 line numbers and stack traces to work, but no parameters or local
3276 variables.) With some work it should be possible to improve the
3279 When gcc version 2 is released, you will have somewhat better luck.
3280 However, even then you will get confusing results for inheritance and
3283 We will eventually provide full debugging of g++ output on
3284 DECstations. This will probably involve some kind of stabs-in-ecoff
3285 encapulation, but the details have not been worked out yet.
3288 *** Changes in GDB-4.2:
3290 * Improved configuration
3292 Only one copy of `configure' exists now, and it is not self-modifying.
3293 Porting BFD is simpler.
3297 The `step' and `next' commands now only stop at the first instruction
3298 of a source line. This prevents the multiple stops that used to occur
3299 in switch statements, for-loops, etc. `Step' continues to stop if a
3300 function that has debugging information is called within the line.
3304 Lots of small bugs fixed. More remain.
3306 * New host supported (not target)
3308 Intel 386 PC clone running Mach i386-none-mach
3311 *** Changes in GDB-4.1:
3313 * Multiple source language support
3315 GDB now has internal scaffolding to handle several source languages.
3316 It determines the type of each source file from its filename extension,
3317 and will switch expression parsing and number formatting to match the
3318 language of the function in the currently selected stack frame.
3319 You can also specifically set the language to be used, with
3320 `set language c' or `set language modula-2'.
3324 GDB now has preliminary support for the GNU Modula-2 compiler,
3325 currently under development at the State University of New York at
3326 Buffalo. Development of both GDB and the GNU Modula-2 compiler will
3327 continue through the fall of 1991 and into 1992.
3329 Other Modula-2 compilers are currently not supported, and attempting to
3330 debug programs compiled with them will likely result in an error as the
3331 symbol table is read. Feel free to work on it, though!
3333 There are hooks in GDB for strict type checking and range checking,
3334 in the `Modula-2 philosophy', but they do not currently work.
3338 GDB can now write to executable and core files (e.g. patch
3339 a variable's value). You must turn this switch on, specify
3340 the file ("exec foo" or "core foo"), *then* modify it, e.g.
3341 by assigning a new value to a variable. Modifications take
3344 * Automatic SunOS shared library reading
3346 When you run your program, GDB automatically determines where its
3347 shared libraries (if any) have been loaded, and reads their symbols.
3348 The `share' command is no longer needed. This also works when
3349 examining core files.
3353 You can specify the number of lines that the `list' command shows.
3356 * New machines supported (host and target)
3358 SGI Iris (MIPS) running Irix V3: mips-sgi-irix or iris
3359 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x: m68k-sony-sysv or news
3360 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1: a29k-nyu-sym1 or ultra3
3362 * New hosts supported (not targets)
3364 IBM RT/PC: romp-ibm-aix or rtpc
3366 * New targets supported (not hosts)
3368 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
3369 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
3370 Ultracomputer remote kernel debug a29k-nyu-kern
3372 * New remote interfaces
3378 *** Changes in GDB-4.0:
3382 Wide output is wrapped at good places to make the output more readable.
3384 Gdb now supports cross-debugging from a host machine of one type to a
3385 target machine of another type. Communication with the target system
3386 is over serial lines. The ``target'' command handles connecting to the
3387 remote system; the ``load'' command will download a program into the
3388 remote system. Serial stubs for the m68k and i386 are provided. Gdb
3389 also supports debugging of realtime processes running under VxWorks,
3390 using SunRPC Remote Procedure Calls over TCP/IP to talk to a debugger
3391 stub on the target system.
3393 New CPUs supported include the AMD 29000 and Intel 960.
3395 GDB now reads object files and symbol tables via a ``binary file''
3396 library, which allows a single copy of GDB to debug programs of multiple
3397 object file types such as a.out and coff.
3399 There is now a GDB reference card in "doc/refcard.tex". (Make targets
3400 refcard.dvi and refcard.ps are available to format it).
3403 * Control-Variable user interface simplified
3405 All variables that control the operation of the debugger can be set
3406 by the ``set'' command, and displayed by the ``show'' command.
3408 For example, ``set prompt new-gdb=>'' will change your prompt to new-gdb=>.
3409 ``Show prompt'' produces the response:
3410 Gdb's prompt is new-gdb=>.
3412 What follows are the NEW set commands. The command ``help set'' will
3413 print a complete list of old and new set commands. ``help set FOO''
3414 will give a longer description of the variable FOO. ``show'' will show
3415 all of the variable descriptions and their current settings.
3417 confirm on/off: Enables warning questions for operations that are
3418 hard to recover from, e.g. rerunning the program while
3419 it is already running. Default is ON.
3421 editing on/off: Enables EMACS style command line editing
3422 of input. Previous lines can be recalled with
3423 control-P, the current line can be edited with control-B,
3424 you can search for commands with control-R, etc.
3427 history filename NAME: NAME is where the gdb command history
3428 will be stored. The default is .gdb_history,
3429 or the value of the environment variable
3432 history size N: The size, in commands, of the command history. The
3433 default is 256, or the value of the environment variable
3436 history save on/off: If this value is set to ON, the history file will
3437 be saved after exiting gdb. If set to OFF, the
3438 file will not be saved. The default is OFF.
3440 history expansion on/off: If this value is set to ON, then csh-like
3441 history expansion will be performed on
3442 command line input. The default is OFF.
3444 radix N: Sets the default radix for input and output. It can be set
3445 to 8, 10, or 16. Note that the argument to "radix" is interpreted
3446 in the current radix, so "set radix 10" is always a no-op.
3448 height N: This integer value is the number of lines on a page. Default
3449 is 24, the current `stty rows'' setting, or the ``li#''
3450 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
3453 width N: This integer value is the number of characters on a line.
3454 Default is 80, the current `stty cols'' setting, or the ``co#''
3455 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
3458 Note: ``set screensize'' is obsolete. Use ``set height'' and
3459 ``set width'' instead.
3461 print address on/off: Print memory addresses in various command displays,
3462 such as stack traces and structure values. Gdb looks
3463 more ``symbolic'' if you turn this off; it looks more
3464 ``machine level'' with it on. Default is ON.
3466 print array on/off: Prettyprint arrays. New convenient format! Default
3469 print demangle on/off: Print C++ symbols in "source" form if on,
3472 print asm-demangle on/off: Same, for assembler level printouts
3475 print vtbl on/off: Prettyprint C++ virtual function tables. Default is OFF.
3478 * Support for Epoch Environment.
3480 The epoch environment is a version of Emacs v18 with windowing. One
3481 new command, ``inspect'', is identical to ``print'', except that if you
3482 are running in the epoch environment, the value is printed in its own
3486 * Support for Shared Libraries
3488 GDB can now debug programs and core files that use SunOS shared libraries.
3489 Symbols from a shared library cannot be referenced
3490 before the shared library has been linked with the program (this
3491 happens after you type ``run'' and before the function main() is entered).
3492 At any time after this linking (including when examining core files
3493 from dynamically linked programs), gdb reads the symbols from each
3494 shared library when you type the ``sharedlibrary'' command.
3495 It can be abbreviated ``share''.
3497 sharedlibrary REGEXP: Load shared object library symbols for files
3498 matching a unix regular expression. No argument
3499 indicates to load symbols for all shared libraries.
3501 info sharedlibrary: Status of loaded shared libraries.
3506 A watchpoint stops execution of a program whenever the value of an
3507 expression changes. Checking for this slows down execution
3508 tremendously whenever you are in the scope of the expression, but is
3509 quite useful for catching tough ``bit-spreader'' or pointer misuse
3510 problems. Some machines such as the 386 have hardware for doing this
3511 more quickly, and future versions of gdb will use this hardware.
3513 watch EXP: Set a watchpoint (breakpoint) for an expression.
3515 info watchpoints: Information about your watchpoints.
3517 delete N: Deletes watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
3518 disable N: Temporarily turns off watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
3519 enable N: Re-enables watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
3522 * C++ multiple inheritance
3524 When used with a GCC version 2 compiler, GDB supports multiple inheritance
3527 * C++ exception handling
3529 Gdb now supports limited C++ exception handling. Besides the existing
3530 ability to breakpoint on an exception handler, gdb can breakpoint on
3531 the raising of an exception (before the stack is peeled back to the
3534 catch FOO: If there is a FOO exception handler in the dynamic scope,
3535 set a breakpoint to catch exceptions which may be raised there.
3536 Multiple exceptions (``catch foo bar baz'') may be caught.
3538 info catch: Lists all exceptions which may be caught in the
3539 current stack frame.
3542 * Minor command changes
3544 The command ``call func (arg, arg, ...)'' now acts like the print
3545 command, except it does not print or save a value if the function's result
3546 is void. This is similar to dbx usage.
3548 The ``up'' and ``down'' commands now always print the frame they end up
3549 at; ``up-silently'' and `down-silently'' can be used in scripts to change
3550 frames without printing.
3552 * New directory command
3554 'dir' now adds directories to the FRONT of the source search path.
3555 The path starts off empty. Source files that contain debug information
3556 about the directory in which they were compiled can be found even
3557 with an empty path; Sun CC and GCC include this information. If GDB can't
3558 find your source file in the current directory, type "dir .".
3560 * Configuring GDB for compilation
3562 For normal use, type ``./configure host''. See README or gdb.texinfo
3565 GDB now handles cross debugging. If you are remotely debugging between
3566 two different machines, type ``./configure host -target=targ''.
3567 Host is the machine where GDB will run; targ is the machine
3568 where the program that you are debugging will run.