@ifinfo
This file documents the GNU debugger GDB.
-Copyright (C) 1988, 1989 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
+Copyright (C) 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of
this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice
@end tex
@vskip 0pt plus 1filll
-Copyright @copyright{} 1988, 1989, 1990 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
+Copyright @copyright{} 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of
this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice
The utility @samp{make} is often needed in development environments.
You don't have to use the @samp{shell} command for this purpose in GDB:
+
@table @code
@item make @dots{}
@kindex make
Displays whether @samp{set verbose} is on or off.
@end table
+By default, if GDB encounters bugs in the symbol table of an object file,
+it prints a single message about each type of problem it finds, then
+shuts up. You can suppress these messages, or allow more than one such
+message to be printed if you want to see how frequent the problems are.
+@xref{File Commands}.
+
+@table @code
+@kindex set complaints
+@item set complaints @var{howmany}
+Permits GDB to output @var{howmany} complaints about each type of unusual
+symbols before becoming silent about the problem. Set @var{howmany} to
+zero to suppress all complaints; set it to a large number to prevent
+complaints from being suppressed.
+
+@kindex show complaints
+@item show complaints
+Displays how many symbol complaints GDB is permitted to produce.
+@end table
+
By default, GDB is cautious, and asks what sometimes seem to be a lot of
stupid questions. For example, if you try to run a program which is
already running:
The @samp{symbol-file} command causes GDB to forget the contents of its
convenience variables, the value history, and all breakpoints and
-auto-display expressions. This is because they may contain pointers to the
-internal data recording symbols and data types, which are part of the old
-symbol table data being discarded inside GDB.
+auto-display expressions. This is because they may contain pointers to
+the internal data recording symbols and data types, which are part of
+the old symbol table data being discarded inside GDB.
-On some systems, the @samp{symbol-file} command does not actually read
-the symbol table in full right away. Instead, it scans the symbol table
-quickly to find which source files and which symbols are present. The
-details are read later, one source file at a time, when they are needed.
+On some kinds of object files, the @samp{symbol-file} command does not
+actually read the symbol table in full right away. Instead, it scans
+the symbol table quickly to find which source files and which symbols
+are present. The details are read later, one source file at a time,
+when they are needed.
The purpose of this two-stage reading strategy is to make GDB start up
faster. For the most part, it is invisible except for occasional pauses
read the symbol table data in full right away. We haven't implemented
the two-stage strategy for COFF yet.
+While the symbol file is being read, GDB will occasionally encounter
+problems, such as symbol types it does not recognize, or known bugs in
+compiler output. By default, it prints one message about each such
+type of problem, no matter how many times the problem occurs. You can
+ask it to print more messages, to see how many times the problems occur,
+or can shut the messages off entirely, with the @samp{set
+complaints} command (@xref{User Interface}).
+
+The messages currently printed, and their meanings, are:
+
+@table @code
+@item inner block not inside outer block in @var{symbol}
+
+The symbol information shows where symbol scopes begin and end
+(such as at the start of a function or a block of statements). This
+error indicates that an inner scope block is not fully contained
+in its outer scope blocks. GDB circumvents the problem by treating
+the inner block as if it had the same scope as the outer block.
+@var{symbol} may be ``(don't know)'' if the outer block is not
+a function.
+
+@item block at @var{address} out of order
+
+The symbol information for symbol scope blocks should occur in
+order of increasing addresses. This error indicates that it does not
+do so. GDB does not circumvent this problem, and will have trouble
+locating symbols in the source file whose symbols being read. (You
+can often determine what source file is affected by turning on
+@samp{info verbose}. @xref{User Interface}.)
+
+@item bad block start address patched
+
+The symbol information for a symbol scope block has a start address
+smaller than the address of the preceding source line. This is known
+to occur in the SunOS 4.1.1 (and earlier) C compiler. GDB circumvents
+the problem by treating the symbol scope block as starting on the
+previous source line.
+
+@comment @item{encountered DBX-style class variable debugging information.
+@comment You seem to have compiled your program with "g++ -g0" instead of "g++ -g".
+@comment Therefore GDB will not know about your class variables}
+@comment
+@comment This error indicates that the symbol information produced for a C++
+@comment program includes zero-size fields, which indicated static fields in
+@comment a previous release of the G++ compiler. This message is probably
+@comment obsolete.
+@comment
+@item bad string table offset in symbol @var{n}
+
+Symbol number @var{n} contains a pointer into the string table which is
+larger than the size of the string table. GDB circumvents the problem
+by considering the symbol to have the name @code{foo}, which may cause
+other problems if many symbols end up with this name. @index{foo}
+
+@item unknown symbol type @code{0xNN}
+
+The symbol information contains new data types that GDB does not yet
+know how to read. @code{0xNN} is the symbol type of the misunderstood
+information, in hexadecimal. GDB circumvents the error by ignoring
+this symbol information. This will usually allow the program to be
+debugged, though certain symbols will not be accessible. If you
+encounter such a problem and feel like debugging it, you can debug gdb
+with itself, breakpoint on "complain", then go "up" to
+read_dbx_symtab() and examine *bufp to see the symbol.
+
+@item stub type has NULL name
+
+FIXME, Mike Tiemann needs to write about what this means.
+
+@item const/volatile indicator missing, got 'X'
+
+The symbol information for a C++ type is missing some information that
+the compiler should have output for it.
+
+@item C++ type mismatch between compiler and debugger
+
+The debugger could not parse a type specification output by the compiler
+for some C++ object.
+
+@end table
+
@item core-file @var{filename}
@itemx core @var{filename}
@kindex core
Files}.
@item -q
-``Quiet''. Do not print the usual introductory messages.
+``Quiet''. Do not print the introductory and copyright messages. These
+messages are also suppressed in batch mode, or if an executable file name is
+specified on the GDB command line.
@item -batch
Run in batch mode. Exit with code 0 after processing all the command
and character position separated by colons, and a newline. The
Emacs-to-GDB interface program uses the two @samp{\032} characters as
a signal to display the source code for the frame.
+
+@item -b @samp{baudrate}
+Set the baud rate of any serial interface used by GDB (e.g. for remote
+debugging).
+
+@item -r @samp{port}
+Specify the serial port name of a serial interface to be used to connect
+to the target system's Nindy monitor. (Nindy is the name of a ROM Monitor
+program for Intel 960 target systems.) This option is only available when
+GDB is configured for the Intel 960 target architecture.
+
+@item -O
+Specify that GDB should use the ``old'' Nindy monitor protocol to connect
+to the target system. This option is only available when GDB is configured
+for the Intel 960 target architecture.
+
+@item -brk
+Specify that GDB should first send a @samp{BREAK} signal to the target
+system, in an attempt to reset it, before connecting to a Nindy target.
+This option is only available when GDB is configured for the Intel 960
+target architecture.
+
@end table
@node File Options, Other Arguments, Mode Options, Options
projects / binutils-gdb.git / commitdiff