1 What has changed in GDB?
2 (Organized release by release)
4 *** Changes since GDB 6.4
8 init-if-undefined Initialize a convenience variable, but
9 only if it doesn't already have a value.
13 Morpho Technologies ms2 ms1-elf
15 *** Changes in GDB 6.4
17 * New native configurations
19 OpenBSD/arm arm*-*-openbsd*
20 OpenBSD/mips64 mips64-*-openbsd*
24 Morpho Technologies ms1 ms1-elf
26 * New command line options
28 --batch-silent As for --batch, but totally silent.
29 --return-child-result The debugger will exist with the same value
30 the child (debugged) program exited with.
31 --eval-command COMMAND, -ex COMMAND
32 Execute a single GDB CLI command. This may be
33 specified multiple times and in conjunction
34 with the --command (-x) option.
36 * Deprecated commands removed
38 The following commands, that were deprecated in 2000, have been
42 set|show arm disassembly-flavor set|show arm disassembler
43 othernames set arm disassembler
44 set|show remotedebug set|show debug remote
45 set|show archdebug set|show debug arch
46 set|show eventdebug set|show debug event
49 * New BSD user-level threads support
51 It is now possible to debug programs using the user-level threads
52 library on OpenBSD and FreeBSD. Currently supported (target)
55 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
56 FreeBSD/i386 i386-*-freebsd*
57 OpenBSD/i386 i386-*-openbsd*
59 Note that the new kernel threads libraries introduced in FreeBSD 5.x
60 are not yet supported.
62 * New support for Matsushita MN10300 w/sim added
63 (Work in progress). mn10300-elf.
65 * REMOVED configurations and files
67 VxWorks and the XDR protocol *-*-vxworks
68 Renesas H8/300S h8300*-*-*
69 Motorola MCORE mcore-*-*
70 Matsushita MN10300 w/simulator mn10300-*-*
71 National Semiconductor NS32000 ns32k-*-*
74 * New "set print array-indexes" command
76 After turning this setting "on", GDB prints the index of each element
77 when displaying arrays. The default is "off" to preserve the previous
80 * VAX floating point support
82 GDB now supports the not-quite-ieee VAX F and D floating point formats.
84 * User-defined command support
86 In addition to using $arg0..$arg9 for argument passing, it is now possible
87 to use $argc to determine now many arguments have been passed. See the
88 section on user-defined commands in the user manual for more information.
90 *** Changes in GDB 6.3:
92 * New command line option
94 GDB now accepts -l followed by a number to set the timeout for remote
97 * GDB works with GCC -feliminate-dwarf2-dups
99 GDB now supports a more compact representation of DWARF-2 debug
100 information using DW_FORM_ref_addr references. These are produced
101 by GCC with the option -feliminate-dwarf2-dups and also by some
102 proprietary compilers. With GCC, you must use GCC 3.3.4 or later
103 to use -feliminate-dwarf2-dups.
105 * Internationalization
107 When supported by the host system, GDB will be built with
108 internationalization (libintl). The task of marking up the sources is
109 continued, we're looking forward to our first translation.
113 Initial support for debugging programs compiled with the GNAT
114 implementation of the Ada programming language has been integrated
115 into GDB. In this release, support is limited to expression evaluation.
117 * New native configurations
119 GNU/Linux/m32r m32r-*-linux-gnu
123 GDB's remote protocol now includes support for the 'p' packet. This
124 packet is used to fetch individual registers from a remote inferior.
126 * END-OF-LIFE registers[] compatibility module
128 GDB's internal register infrastructure has been completely rewritten.
129 The new infrastructure making possible the implementation of key new
130 features including 32x64 (e.g., 64-bit amd64 GDB debugging a 32-bit
133 GDB 6.3 will be the last release to include the the registers[]
134 compatibility module that allowed out-of-date configurations to
135 continue to work. This change directly impacts the following
147 Unless there is activity to revive these configurations, they will be
148 made OBSOLETE in GDB 6.4, and REMOVED from GDB 6.5.
150 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
152 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
153 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
154 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
164 *** Changes in GDB 6.2.1:
166 * MIPS `break main; run' gave an heuristic-fence-post warning
168 When attempting to run even a simple program, a warning about
169 heuristic-fence-post being hit would be reported. This problem has
172 * MIPS IRIX 'long double' crashed GDB
174 When examining a long double variable, GDB would get a segmentation
175 fault. The crash has been fixed (but GDB 6.2 cannot correctly examine
176 IRIX long double values).
180 A bug in the VAX stack code was causing problems with the "next"
181 command. This problem has been fixed.
183 *** Changes in GDB 6.2:
185 * Fix for ``many threads''
187 On GNU/Linux systems that use the NPTL threads library, a program
188 rapidly creating and deleting threads would confuse GDB leading to the
191 ptrace: No such process.
192 thread_db_get_info: cannot get thread info: generic error
194 This problem has been fixed.
196 * "-async" and "-noasync" options removed.
198 Support for the broken "-noasync" option has been removed (it caused
201 * New ``start'' command.
203 This command runs the program until the begining of the main procedure.
205 * New BSD Kernel Data Access Library (libkvm) interface
207 Using ``target kvm'' it is now possible to debug kernel core dumps and
208 live kernel memory images on various FreeBSD, NetBSD and OpenBSD
209 platforms. Currently supported (native-only) configurations are:
211 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
212 FreeBSD/i386 i?86-*-freebsd*
213 NetBSD/i386 i?86-*-netbsd*
214 NetBSD/m68k m68*-*-netbsd*
215 NetBSD/sparc sparc-*-netbsd*
216 OpenBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-openbsd*
217 OpenBSD/i386 i?86-*-openbsd*
218 OpenBSD/m68k m68*-openbsd*
219 OpenBSD/sparc sparc-*-openbsd*
221 * Signal trampoline code overhauled
223 Many generic problems with GDB's signal handling code have been fixed.
224 These include: backtraces through non-contiguous stacks; recognition
225 of sa_sigaction signal trampolines; backtrace from a NULL pointer
226 call; backtrace through a signal trampoline; step into and out of
227 signal handlers; and single-stepping in the signal trampoline.
229 Please note that kernel bugs are a limiting factor here. These
230 features have been shown to work on an s390 GNU/Linux system that
231 include a 2.6.8-rc1 kernel. Ref PR breakpoints/1702.
233 * Cygwin support for DWARF 2 added.
235 * New native configurations
237 GNU/Linux/hppa hppa*-*-linux*
238 OpenBSD/hppa hppa*-*-openbsd*
239 OpenBSD/m68k m68*-*-openbsd*
240 OpenBSD/m88k m88*-*-openbsd*
241 OpenBSD/powerpc powerpc-*-openbsd*
242 NetBSD/vax vax-*-netbsd*
243 OpenBSD/vax vax-*-openbsd*
245 * END-OF-LIFE frame compatibility module
247 GDB's internal frame infrastructure has been completely rewritten.
248 The new infrastructure making it possible to support key new features
249 including DWARF 2 Call Frame Information. To aid in the task of
250 migrating old configurations to this new infrastructure, a
251 compatibility module, that allowed old configurations to continue to
252 work, was also included.
254 GDB 6.2 will be the last release to include this frame compatibility
255 module. This change directly impacts the following configurations:
265 Unless there is activity to revive these configurations, they will be
266 made OBSOLETE in GDB 6.3, and REMOVED from GDB 6.4.
268 * REMOVED configurations and files
270 Sun 3, running SunOS 3 m68*-*-sunos3*
271 Sun 3, running SunOS 4 m68*-*-sunos4*
272 Sun 2, running SunOS 3 m68000-*-sunos3*
273 Sun 2, running SunOS 4 m68000-*-sunos4*
274 Motorola 680x0 running LynxOS m68*-*-lynxos*
275 AT&T 3b1/Unix pc m68*-att-*
276 Bull DPX2 (68k, System V release 3) m68*-bull-sysv*
277 decstation mips-dec-* mips-little-*
278 riscos mips-*-riscos* mips-*-sysv*
280 sysv mips*-*-sysv4* (IRIX 5/6 not included)
282 *** Changes in GDB 6.1.1:
284 * TUI (Text-mode User Interface) built-in (also included in GDB 6.1)
286 The TUI (Text-mode User Interface) is now built as part of a default
287 GDB configuration. It is enabled by either selecting the TUI with the
288 command line option "-i=tui" or by running the separate "gdbtui"
289 program. For more information on the TUI, see the manual "Debugging
292 * Pending breakpoint support (also included in GDB 6.1)
294 Support has been added to allow you to specify breakpoints in shared
295 libraries that have not yet been loaded. If a breakpoint location
296 cannot be found, and the "breakpoint pending" option is set to auto,
297 GDB queries you if you wish to make the breakpoint pending on a future
298 shared-library load. If and when GDB resolves the breakpoint symbol,
299 the pending breakpoint is removed as one or more regular breakpoints
302 Pending breakpoints are very useful for GCJ Java debugging.
304 * Fixed ISO-C build problems
306 The files bfd/elf-bfd.h, gdb/dictionary.c and gdb/types.c contained
307 non ISO-C code that stopped them being built using a more strict ISO-C
308 compiler (e.g., IBM's C compiler).
310 * Fixed build problem on IRIX 5
312 Due to header problems with <sys/proc.h>, the file gdb/proc-api.c
313 wasn't able to compile compile on an IRIX 5 system.
315 * Added execute permission to gdb/gdbserver/configure
317 The shell script gdb/testsuite/gdb.stabs/configure lacked execute
318 permission. This bug would cause configure to fail on a number of
319 systems (Solaris, IRIX). Ref: server/519.
321 * Fixed build problem on hpux2.0w-hp-hpux11.00 using the HP ANSI C compiler
323 Older HPUX ANSI C compilers did not accept variable array sizes. somsolib.c
324 has been updated to use constant array sizes.
326 * Fixed a panic in the DWARF Call Frame Info code on Solaris 2.7
328 GCC 3.3.2, on Solaris 2.7, includes the DW_EH_PE_funcrel encoding in
329 its generated DWARF Call Frame Info. This encoding was causing GDB to
330 panic, that panic has been fixed. Ref: gdb/1628.
332 * Fixed a problem when examining parameters in shared library code.
334 When examining parameters in optimized shared library code generated
335 by a mainline GCC, GDB would incorrectly report ``Variable "..." is
336 not available''. GDB now correctly displays the variable's value.
338 *** Changes in GDB 6.1:
340 * Removed --with-mmalloc
342 Support for the mmalloc memory manager has been removed, as it
343 conflicted with the internal gdb byte cache.
345 * Changes in AMD64 configurations
347 The AMD64 target now includes the %cs and %ss registers. As a result
348 the AMD64 remote protocol has changed; this affects the floating-point
349 and SSE registers. If you rely on those registers for your debugging,
350 you should upgrade gdbserver on the remote side.
352 * Revised SPARC target
354 The SPARC target has been completely revised, incorporating the
355 FreeBSD/sparc64 support that was added for GDB 6.0. As a result
356 support for LynxOS and SunOS 4 has been dropped. Calling functions
357 from within GDB on operating systems with a non-executable stack
358 (Solaris, OpenBSD) now works.
362 GDB has a new C++ demangler which does a better job on the mangled
363 names generated by current versions of g++. It also runs faster, so
364 with this and other changes gdb should now start faster on large C++
367 * DWARF 2 Location Expressions
369 GDB support for location expressions has been extended to support function
370 arguments and frame bases. Older versions of GDB could crash when they
373 * C++ nested types and namespaces
375 GDB's support for nested types and namespaces in C++ has been
376 improved, especially if you use the DWARF 2 debugging format. (This
377 is the default for recent versions of GCC on most platforms.)
378 Specifically, if you have a class "Inner" defined within a class or
379 namespace "Outer", then GDB realizes that the class's name is
380 "Outer::Inner", not simply "Inner". This should greatly reduce the
381 frequency of complaints about not finding RTTI symbols. In addition,
382 if you are stopped at inside of a function defined within a namespace,
383 GDB modifies its name lookup accordingly.
385 * New native configurations
387 NetBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-netbsd*
388 OpenBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-openbsd*
389 OpenBSD/alpha alpha*-*-openbsd*
390 OpenBSD/sparc sparc-*-openbsd*
391 OpenBSD/sparc64 sparc64-*-openbsd*
393 * New debugging protocols
395 M32R with SDI protocol m32r-*-elf*
397 * "set prompt-escape-char" command deleted.
399 The command "set prompt-escape-char" has been deleted. This command,
400 and its very obscure effet on GDB's prompt, was never documented,
401 tested, nor mentioned in the NEWS file.
403 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
405 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
406 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
407 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
410 Sun 3, running SunOS 3 m68*-*-sunos3*
411 Sun 3, running SunOS 4 m68*-*-sunos4*
412 Sun 2, running SunOS 3 m68000-*-sunos3*
413 Sun 2, running SunOS 4 m68000-*-sunos4*
414 Motorola 680x0 running LynxOS m68*-*-lynxos*
415 AT&T 3b1/Unix pc m68*-att-*
416 Bull DPX2 (68k, System V release 3) m68*-bull-sysv*
417 decstation mips-dec-* mips-little-*
418 riscos mips-*-riscos* mips-*-sysv*
420 sysv mips*-*-sysv4* (IRIX 5/6 not included)
422 * REMOVED configurations and files
424 SGI Irix-4.x mips-sgi-irix4 or iris4
425 SGI Iris (MIPS) running Irix V3: mips-sgi-irix or iris
426 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
427 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
428 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
429 HP/PA running BSD hppa*-*-bsd*
430 HP/PA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
431 HP/PA Pro target hppa*-*-pro*
432 PMAX (MIPS) running Mach 3.0 mips*-*-mach3*
433 386BSD i[3456]86-*-bsd*
434 Sequent family i[3456]86-sequent-sysv4*
435 i[3456]86-sequent-sysv*
436 i[3456]86-sequent-bsd*
437 SPARC running LynxOS sparc-*-lynxos*
438 SPARC running SunOS 4 sparc-*-sunos4*
439 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
440 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
442 *** Changes in GDB 6.0:
446 Support for debugging the Objective-C programming language has been
449 * New backtrace mechanism (includes DWARF 2 Call Frame Information).
451 DWARF 2's Call Frame Information makes available compiler generated
452 information that more exactly describes the program's run-time stack.
453 By using this information, GDB is able to provide more robust stack
456 The i386, amd64 (nee, x86-64), Alpha, m68hc11, ia64, and m32r targets
457 have been updated to use a new backtrace mechanism which includes
462 GDB's remote protocol has been extended to include support for hosted
463 file I/O (where the remote target uses GDB's file system). See GDB's
464 remote protocol documentation for details.
466 * All targets using the new architecture framework.
468 All of GDB's targets have been updated to use the new internal
469 architecture framework. The way is now open for future GDB releases
470 to include cross-architecture native debugging support (i386 on amd64,
473 * GNU/Linux's Thread Local Storage (TLS)
475 GDB now includes support for for the GNU/Linux implementation of
476 per-thread variables.
478 * GNU/Linux's Native POSIX Thread Library (NPTL)
480 GDB's thread code has been updated to work with either the new
481 GNU/Linux NPTL thread library or the older "LinuxThreads" library.
483 * Separate debug info.
485 GDB, in conjunction with BINUTILS, now supports a mechanism for
486 automatically loading debug information from a separate file. Instead
487 of shipping full debug and non-debug versions of system libraries,
488 system integrators can now instead ship just the stripped libraries
489 and optional debug files.
491 * DWARF 2 Location Expressions
493 DWARF 2 Location Expressions allow the compiler to more completely
494 describe the location of variables (even in optimized code) to the
497 GDB now includes preliminary support for location expressions (support
498 for DW_OP_piece is still missing).
502 A number of long standing bugs that caused GDB to die while starting a
503 Java application have been fixed. GDB's Java support is now
504 considered "useable".
506 * GNU/Linux support for fork, vfork, and exec.
508 The "catch fork", "catch exec", "catch vfork", and "set follow-fork-mode"
509 commands are now implemented for GNU/Linux. They require a 2.5.x or later
512 * GDB supports logging output to a file
514 There are two new commands, "set logging" and "show logging", which can be
515 used to capture GDB's output to a file.
517 * The meaning of "detach" has changed for gdbserver
519 The "detach" command will now resume the application, as documented. To
520 disconnect from gdbserver and leave it stopped, use the new "disconnect"
523 * d10v, m68hc11 `regs' command deprecated
525 The `info registers' command has been updated so that it displays the
526 registers using a format identical to the old `regs' command.
530 A new command, "maint set profile on/off", has been added. This command can
531 be used to enable or disable profiling while running GDB, to profile a
532 session or a set of commands. In addition there is a new configure switch,
533 "--enable-profiling", which will cause GDB to be compiled with profiling
534 data, for more informative profiling results.
536 * Default MI syntax changed to "mi2".
538 The default MI (machine interface) syntax, enabled by the command line
539 option "-i=mi", has been changed to "mi2". The previous MI syntax,
540 "mi1", can be enabled by specifying the option "-i=mi1".
542 Support for the original "mi0" syntax (included in GDB 5.0) has been
545 Fix for gdb/192: removed extraneous space when displaying frame level.
546 Fix for gdb/672: update changelist is now output in mi list format.
547 Fix for gdb/702: a -var-assign that updates the value now shows up
548 in a subsequent -var-update.
550 * New native configurations.
552 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
554 * Multi-arched targets.
556 HP/PA HPUX11 hppa*-*-hpux*
557 Renesas M32R/D w/simulator m32r-*-elf*
559 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
561 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
562 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
563 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
566 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
567 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
568 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
569 HP/PA running BSD hppa*-*-bsd*
570 HP/PA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
571 HP/PA Pro target hppa*-*-pro*
572 PMAX (MIPS) running Mach 3.0 mips*-*-mach3*
573 Sequent family i[3456]86-sequent-sysv4*
574 i[3456]86-sequent-sysv*
575 i[3456]86-sequent-bsd*
576 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
577 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
579 * REMOVED configurations and files
582 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
583 IBM AIX PS/2 i[3456]86-*-aix
584 i386 running Mach 3.0 i[3456]86-*-mach3*
585 i386 running Mach i[3456]86-*-mach*
586 i386 running OSF/1 i[3456]86-*osf1mk*
587 HP/Apollo 68k Family m68*-apollo*-sysv*,
589 m68*-hp-bsd*, m68*-hp-hpux*
590 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
591 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
592 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
593 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
594 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
596 * MIPS $fp behavior changed
598 The convenience variable $fp, for the MIPS, now consistently returns
599 the address of the current frame's base. Previously, depending on the
600 context, $fp could refer to either $sp or the current frame's base
601 address. See ``8.10 Registers'' in the manual ``Debugging with GDB:
602 The GNU Source-Level Debugger''.
604 *** Changes in GDB 5.3:
606 * GNU/Linux shared library multi-threaded performance improved.
608 When debugging a multi-threaded application on GNU/Linux, GDB now uses
609 `/proc', in preference to `ptrace' for memory reads. This may result
610 in an improvement in the start-up time of multi-threaded, shared
611 library applications when run under GDB. One GDB user writes: ``loads
612 shared libs like mad''.
614 * ``gdbserver'' now supports multi-threaded applications on some targets
616 Support for debugging multi-threaded applications which use
617 the GNU/Linux LinuxThreads package has been added for
618 arm*-*-linux*-gnu*, i[3456]86-*-linux*-gnu*, mips*-*-linux*-gnu*,
619 powerpc*-*-linux*-gnu*, and sh*-*-linux*-gnu*.
621 * GDB now supports C/C++ preprocessor macros.
623 GDB now expands preprocessor macro invocations in C/C++ expressions,
624 and provides various commands for showing macro definitions and how
627 The new command `macro expand EXPRESSION' expands any macro
628 invocations in expression, and shows the result.
630 The new command `show macro MACRO-NAME' shows the definition of the
631 macro named MACRO-NAME, and where it was defined.
633 Most compilers don't include information about macros in the debugging
634 information by default. In GCC 3.1, for example, you need to compile
635 your program with the options `-gdwarf-2 -g3'. If the macro
636 information is present in the executable, GDB will read it.
638 * Multi-arched targets.
640 DEC Alpha (partial) alpha*-*-*
641 DEC VAX (partial) vax-*-*
643 National Semiconductor NS32000 (partial) ns32k-*-*
644 Motorola 68000 (partial) m68k-*-*
645 Motorola MCORE mcore-*-*
649 Fujitsu FRV architecture added by Red Hat frv*-*-*
652 * New native configurations
654 Alpha NetBSD alpha*-*-netbsd*
655 SH NetBSD sh*-*-netbsdelf*
656 MIPS NetBSD mips*-*-netbsd*
657 UltraSPARC NetBSD sparc64-*-netbsd*
659 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
661 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
662 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
663 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
666 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
667 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
668 IBM AIX PS/2 i[3456]86-*-aix
669 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
670 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
671 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
672 i386 running Mach 3.0 i[3456]86-*-mach3*
673 i386 running Mach i[3456]86-*-mach*
674 i386 running OSF/1 i[3456]86-*osf1mk*
675 HP/Apollo 68k Family m68*-apollo*-sysv*,
677 m68*-hp-bsd*, m68*-hp-hpux*
678 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
682 CHILL, a Pascal like language used by telecommunications companies.
684 * REMOVED configurations and files
686 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi, udi29k
687 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
688 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
689 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
690 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
692 testsuite/gdb.hp/gdb.threads-hp/ directory
694 * New command "set max-user-call-depth <nnn>"
696 This command allows the user to limit the call depth of user-defined
697 commands. The default is 1024.
699 * Changes in FreeBSD/i386 native debugging.
701 Support for the "generate-core-file" has been added.
703 * New commands "dump", "append", and "restore".
705 These commands allow data to be copied from target memory
706 to a bfd-format or binary file (dump and append), and back
707 from a file into memory (restore).
709 * Improved "next/step" support on multi-processor Alpha Tru64.
711 The previous single-step mechanism could cause unpredictable problems,
712 including the random appearance of SIGSEGV or SIGTRAP signals. The use
713 of a software single-step mechanism prevents this.
715 *** Changes in GDB 5.2.1:
723 gdb/182: gdb/323: gdb/237: On alpha, gdb was reporting:
724 mdebugread.c:2443: gdb-internal-error: sect_index_data not initialized
725 Fix, by Joel Brobecker imported from mainline.
727 gdb/439: gdb/291: On some ELF object files, gdb was reporting:
728 dwarf2read.c:1072: gdb-internal-error: sect_index_text not initialize
729 Fix, by Fred Fish, imported from mainline.
731 Dwarf2 .debug_frame & .eh_frame handler improved in many ways.
732 Surprisingly enough, it works now.
733 By Michal Ludvig, imported from mainline.
735 i386 hardware watchpoint support:
736 avoid misses on second run for some targets.
737 By Pierre Muller, imported from mainline.
739 *** Changes in GDB 5.2:
741 * New command "set trust-readonly-sections on[off]".
743 This command is a hint that tells gdb that read-only sections
744 really are read-only (ie. that their contents will not change).
745 In this mode, gdb will go to the object file rather than the
746 target to read memory from read-only sections (such as ".text").
747 This can be a significant performance improvement on some
748 (notably embedded) targets.
750 * New command "generate-core-file" (or "gcore").
752 This new gdb command allows the user to drop a core file of the child
753 process state at any time. So far it's been implemented only for
754 GNU/Linux and Solaris, but should be relatively easily ported to other
755 hosts. Argument is core file name (defaults to core.<pid>).
757 * New command line option
759 GDB now accepts --pid or -p followed by a process id.
761 * Change in command line behavior -- corefiles vs. process ids.
763 There is a subtle behavior in the way in which GDB handles
764 command line arguments. The first non-flag argument is always
765 a program to debug, but the second non-flag argument may either
766 be a corefile or a process id. Previously, GDB would attempt to
767 open the second argument as a corefile, and if that failed, would
768 issue a superfluous error message and then attempt to attach it as
769 a process. Now, if the second argument begins with a non-digit,
770 it will be treated as a corefile. If it begins with a digit,
771 GDB will attempt to attach it as a process, and if no such process
772 is found, will then attempt to open it as a corefile.
774 * Changes in ARM configurations.
776 Multi-arch support is enabled for all ARM configurations. The ARM/NetBSD
777 configuration is fully multi-arch.
779 * New native configurations
781 ARM NetBSD arm*-*-netbsd*
782 x86 OpenBSD i[3456]86-*-openbsd*
783 AMD x86-64 running GNU/Linux x86_64-*-linux-*
784 Sparc64 running FreeBSD sparc64-*-freebsd*
788 Sanyo XStormy16 xstormy16-elf
790 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
792 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
793 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
794 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
797 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi, udi29k
798 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
799 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
800 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
801 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
803 testsuite/gdb.hp/gdb.threads-hp/ directory
805 * REMOVED configurations and files
807 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
809 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
810 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
811 PowerPC Netware powerpc-*-netware*
812 Harris/CXUX m88k m88*-harris-cxux*
813 Most ns32k hosts and targets ns32k-*-mach3* ns32k-umax-*
814 ns32k-utek-sysv* ns32k-utek-*
815 SunOS 4.0.Xi on i386 i[3456]86-*-sunos*
816 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1 a29k-nyu-sym1 a29k-*-kern*
817 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x m68*-sony-sysv news
818 ISI Optimum V (3.05) under 4.3bsd. m68*-isi-*
819 Apple Macintosh (MPW) host and target N/A host, powerpc-*-macos*
821 * Changes to command line processing
823 The new `--args' feature can be used to specify command-line arguments
824 for the inferior from gdb's command line.
826 * Changes to key bindings
828 There is a new `operate-and-get-next' function bound to `C-o'.
830 *** Changes in GDB 5.1.1
832 Fix compile problem on DJGPP.
834 Fix a problem with floating-point registers on the i386 being
837 Fix to stop GDB crashing on .debug_str debug info.
839 Numerous documentation fixes.
841 Numerous testsuite fixes.
843 *** Changes in GDB 5.1:
845 * New native configurations
847 Alpha FreeBSD alpha*-*-freebsd*
848 x86 FreeBSD 3.x and 4.x i[3456]86*-freebsd[34]*
849 MIPS GNU/Linux mips*-*-linux*
850 MIPS SGI Irix 6.x mips*-sgi-irix6*
852 s390 and s390x GNU/Linux {s390,s390x}-*-linux*
856 Motorola 68HC11 and 68HC12 m68hc11-elf
858 UltraSparc running GNU/Linux sparc64-*-linux*
860 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
862 x86 FreeBSD before 2.2 i[3456]86*-freebsd{1,2.[01]}*,
863 Harris/CXUX m88k m88*-harris-cxux*
864 Most ns32k hosts and targets ns32k-*-mach3* ns32k-umax-*
865 ns32k-utek-sysv* ns32k-utek-*
866 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
868 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1 a29k-nyu-sym1 a29k-*-kern*
869 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
870 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
871 PowerPC Netware powerpc-*-netware*
872 SunOS 4.0.Xi on i386 i[3456]86-*-sunos*
873 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x m68*-sony-sysv news
874 ISI Optimum V (3.05) under 4.3bsd. m68*-isi-*
875 Apple Macintosh (MPW) host N/A
877 stuff.c (Program to stuff files into a specially prepared space in kdb)
878 kdb-start.c (Main loop for the standalone kernel debugger)
880 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
881 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
882 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
885 * REMOVED configurations and files
887 Altos 3068 m68*-altos-*
888 Convex c1-*-*, c2-*-*
890 ARM RISCix arm-*-* (as host)
894 * GDB has been converted to ISO C.
896 GDB's source code has been converted to ISO C. In particular, the
897 sources are fully protoized, and rely on standard headers being
902 * "info symbol" works on platforms which use COFF, ECOFF, XCOFF, and NLM.
904 * The MI enabled by default.
906 The new machine oriented interface (MI) introduced in GDB 5.0 has been
907 revised and enabled by default. Packages which use GDB as a debugging
908 engine behind a UI or another front end are encouraged to switch to
909 using the GDB/MI interface, instead of the old annotations interface
910 which is now deprecated.
912 * Support for debugging Pascal programs.
914 GDB now includes support for debugging Pascal programs. The following
915 main features are supported:
917 - Pascal-specific data types such as sets;
919 - automatic recognition of Pascal sources based on file-name
922 - Pascal-style display of data types, variables, and functions;
924 - a Pascal expression parser.
926 However, some important features are not yet supported.
928 - Pascal string operations are not supported at all;
930 - there are some problems with boolean types;
932 - Pascal type hexadecimal constants are not supported
933 because they conflict with the internal variables format;
935 - support for Pascal objects and classes is not full yet;
937 - unlike Pascal, GDB is case-sensitive for symbol names.
939 * Changes in completion.
941 Commands such as `shell', `run' and `set args', which pass arguments
942 to inferior programs, now complete on file names, similar to what
943 users expect at the shell prompt.
945 Commands which accept locations, such as `disassemble', `print',
946 `breakpoint', `until', etc. now complete on filenames as well as
947 program symbols. Thus, if you type "break foob TAB", and the source
948 files linked into the programs include `foobar.c', that file name will
949 be one of the candidates for completion. However, file names are not
950 considered for completion after you typed a colon that delimits a file
951 name from a name of a function in that file, as in "break foo.c:bar".
953 `set demangle-style' completes on available demangling styles.
955 * New platform-independent commands:
957 It is now possible to define a post-hook for a command as well as a
958 hook that runs before the command. For more details, see the
959 documentation of `hookpost' in the GDB manual.
961 * Changes in GNU/Linux native debugging.
963 Support for debugging multi-threaded programs has been completely
964 revised for all platforms except m68k and sparc. You can now debug as
965 many threads as your system allows you to have.
967 Attach/detach is supported for multi-threaded programs.
969 Support for SSE registers was added for x86. This doesn't work for
970 multi-threaded programs though.
972 * Changes in MIPS configurations.
974 Multi-arch support is enabled for all MIPS configurations.
976 GDB can now be built as native debugger on SGI Irix 6.x systems for
977 debugging n32 executables. (Debugging 64-bit executables is not yet
980 * Unified support for hardware watchpoints in all x86 configurations.
982 Most (if not all) native x86 configurations support hardware-assisted
983 breakpoints and watchpoints in a unified manner. This support
984 implements debug register sharing between watchpoints, which allows to
985 put a virtually infinite number of watchpoints on the same address,
986 and also supports watching regions up to 16 bytes with several debug
989 The new maintenance command `maintenance show-debug-regs' toggles
990 debugging print-outs in functions that insert, remove, and test
991 watchpoints and hardware breakpoints.
993 * Changes in the DJGPP native configuration.
995 New command ``info dos sysinfo'' displays assorted information about
996 the CPU, OS, memory, and DPMI server.
998 New commands ``info dos gdt'', ``info dos ldt'', and ``info dos idt''
999 display information about segment descriptors stored in GDT, LDT, and
1002 New commands ``info dos pde'' and ``info dos pte'' display entries
1003 from Page Directory and Page Tables (for now works with CWSDPMI only).
1004 New command ``info dos address-pte'' displays the Page Table entry for
1005 a given linear address.
1007 GDB can now pass command lines longer than 126 characters to the
1008 program being debugged (requires an update to the libdbg.a library
1009 which is part of the DJGPP development kit).
1011 DWARF2 debug info is now supported.
1013 It is now possible to `step' and `next' through calls to `longjmp'.
1015 * Changes in documentation.
1017 All GDB documentation was converted to GFDL, the GNU Free
1018 Documentation License.
1020 Tracepoints-related commands are now fully documented in the GDB
1023 TUI, the Text-mode User Interface, is now documented in the manual.
1025 Tracepoints-related commands are now fully documented in the GDB
1028 The "GDB Internals" manual now has an index. It also includes
1029 documentation of `ui_out' functions, GDB coding standards, x86
1030 hardware watchpoints, and memory region attributes.
1032 * GDB's version number moved to ``version.in''
1034 The Makefile variable VERSION has been replaced by the file
1035 ``version.in''. People creating GDB distributions should update the
1036 contents of this file.
1040 GUD support is now a standard part of the EMACS distribution.
1042 *** Changes in GDB 5.0:
1044 * Improved support for debugging FP programs on x86 targets
1046 Unified and much-improved support for debugging floating-point
1047 programs on all x86 targets. In particular, ``info float'' now
1048 displays the FP registers in the same format on all x86 targets, with
1049 greater level of detail.
1051 * Improvements and bugfixes in hardware-assisted watchpoints
1053 It is now possible to watch array elements, struct members, and
1054 bitfields with hardware-assisted watchpoints. Data-read watchpoints
1055 on x86 targets no longer erroneously trigger when the address is
1058 * Improvements in the native DJGPP version of GDB
1060 The distribution now includes all the scripts and auxiliary files
1061 necessary to build the native DJGPP version on MS-DOS/MS-Windows
1062 machines ``out of the box''.
1064 The DJGPP version can now debug programs that use signals. It is
1065 possible to catch signals that happened in the debuggee, deliver
1066 signals to it, interrupt it with Ctrl-C, etc. (Previously, a signal
1067 would kill the program being debugged.) Programs that hook hardware
1068 interrupts (keyboard, timer, etc.) can also be debugged.
1070 It is now possible to debug DJGPP programs that redirect their
1071 standard handles or switch them to raw (as opposed to cooked) mode, or
1072 even close them. The command ``run < foo > bar'' works as expected,
1073 and ``info terminal'' reports useful information about the debuggee's
1074 terminal, including raw/cooked mode, redirection, etc.
1076 The DJGPP version now uses termios functions for console I/O, which
1077 enables debugging graphics programs. Interrupting GDB with Ctrl-C
1080 DOS-style file names with drive letters are now fully supported by
1083 It is now possible to debug DJGPP programs that switch their working
1084 directory. It is also possible to rerun the debuggee any number of
1085 times without restarting GDB; thus, you can use the same setup,
1086 breakpoints, etc. for many debugging sessions.
1088 * New native configurations
1090 ARM GNU/Linux arm*-*-linux*
1091 PowerPC GNU/Linux powerpc-*-linux*
1095 Motorola MCore mcore-*-*
1096 x86 VxWorks i[3456]86-*-vxworks*
1097 PowerPC VxWorks powerpc-*-vxworks*
1098 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
1100 * OBSOLETE configurations
1102 Altos 3068 m68*-altos-*
1103 Convex c1-*-*, c2-*-*
1105 ARM RISCix arm-*-* (as host)
1108 Configurations that have been declared obsolete will be commented out,
1109 but the code will be left in place. If there is no activity to revive
1110 these configurations before the next release of GDB, the sources will
1111 be permanently REMOVED.
1113 * Gould support removed
1115 Support for the Gould PowerNode and NP1 has been removed.
1117 * New features for SVR4
1119 On SVR4 native platforms (such as Solaris), if you attach to a process
1120 without first loading a symbol file, GDB will now attempt to locate and
1121 load symbols from the running process's executable file.
1123 * Many C++ enhancements
1125 C++ support has been greatly improved. Overload resolution now works properly
1126 in almost all cases. RTTI support is on the way.
1128 * Remote targets can connect to a sub-program
1130 A popen(3) style serial-device has been added. This device starts a
1131 sub-process (such as a stand-alone simulator) and then communicates
1132 with that. The sub-program to run is specified using the syntax
1133 ``|<program> <args>'' vis:
1135 (gdb) set remotedebug 1
1136 (gdb) target extended-remote |mn10300-elf-sim program-args
1138 * MIPS 64 remote protocol
1140 A long standing bug in the mips64 remote protocol where by GDB
1141 expected certain 32 bit registers (ex SR) to be transfered as 32
1142 instead of 64 bits has been fixed.
1144 The command ``set remote-mips64-transfers-32bit-regs on'' has been
1145 added to provide backward compatibility with older versions of GDB.
1147 * ``set remotebinarydownload'' replaced by ``set remote X-packet''
1149 The command ``set remotebinarydownload'' command has been replaced by
1150 ``set remote X-packet''. Other commands in ``set remote'' family
1151 include ``set remote P-packet''.
1153 * Breakpoint commands accept ranges.
1155 The breakpoint commands ``enable'', ``disable'', and ``delete'' now
1156 accept a range of breakpoints, e.g. ``5-7''. The tracepoint command
1157 ``tracepoint passcount'' also accepts a range of tracepoints.
1159 * ``apropos'' command added.
1161 The ``apropos'' command searches through command names and
1162 documentation strings, printing out matches, making it much easier to
1163 try to find a command that does what you are looking for.
1167 A new machine oriented interface (MI) has been added to GDB. This
1168 interface is designed for debug environments running GDB as a separate
1169 process. This is part of the long term libGDB project. See the
1170 "GDB/MI" chapter of the GDB manual for further information. It can be
1171 enabled by configuring with:
1173 .../configure --enable-gdbmi
1175 *** Changes in GDB-4.18:
1177 * New native configurations
1179 HP-UX 10.20 hppa*-*-hpux10.20
1180 HP-UX 11.x hppa*-*-hpux11.0*
1181 M68K GNU/Linux m68*-*-linux*
1185 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
1186 Intel StrongARM strongarm-*-*
1187 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
1189 * OBSOLETE configurations
1191 Gould PowerNode, NP1 np1-*-*, pn-*-*
1193 Configurations that have been declared obsolete will be commented out,
1194 but the code will be left in place. If there is no activity to revive
1195 these configurations before the next release of GDB, the sources will
1196 be permanently REMOVED.
1200 As a compatibility experiment, GDB's source files buildsym.h and
1201 buildsym.c have been converted to pure standard C, no longer
1202 containing any K&R compatibility code. We believe that all systems in
1203 use today either come with a standard C compiler, or have a GCC port
1204 available. If this is not true, please report the affected
1206 information about getting a standard C compiler if you don't have one
1211 GDB now uses readline 2.2.
1213 * set extension-language
1215 You can now control the mapping between filename extensions and source
1216 languages by using the `set extension-language' command. For instance,
1217 you can ask GDB to treat .c files as C++ by saying
1218 set extension-language .c c++
1219 The command `info extensions' lists all of the recognized extensions
1220 and their associated languages.
1222 * Setting processor type for PowerPC and RS/6000
1224 When GDB is configured for a powerpc*-*-* or an rs6000*-*-* target,
1225 you can use the `set processor' command to specify what variant of the
1226 PowerPC family you are debugging. The command
1230 sets the PowerPC/RS6000 variant to NAME. GDB knows about the
1231 following PowerPC and RS6000 variants:
1233 ppc-uisa PowerPC UISA - a PPC processor as viewed by user-level code
1234 rs6000 IBM RS6000 ("POWER") architecture, user-level view
1236 403GC IBM PowerPC 403GC
1237 505 Motorola PowerPC 505
1238 860 Motorola PowerPC 860 or 850
1239 601 Motorola PowerPC 601
1240 602 Motorola PowerPC 602
1241 603 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 603 or 603e
1242 604 Motorola PowerPC 604 or 604e
1243 750 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 750 or 750
1245 At the moment, this command just tells GDB what to name the
1246 special-purpose processor registers. Since almost all the affected
1247 registers are inaccessible to user-level programs, this command is
1248 only useful for remote debugging in its present form.
1252 Thanks to a major code donation from Hewlett-Packard, GDB now has much
1253 more extensive support for HP-UX. Added features include shared
1254 library support, kernel threads and hardware watchpoints for 11.00,
1255 support for HP's ANSI C and C++ compilers, and a compatibility mode
1256 for xdb and dbx commands.
1260 HP's donation includes the new concept of catchpoints, which is a
1261 generalization of the old catch command. On HP-UX, it is now possible
1262 to catch exec, fork, and vfork, as well as library loading.
1264 This means that the existing catch command has changed; its first
1265 argument now specifies the type of catch to be set up. See the
1266 output of "help catch" for a list of catchpoint types.
1268 * Debugging across forks
1270 On HP-UX, you can choose which process to debug when a fork() happens
1275 HP has donated a curses-based terminal user interface (TUI). To get
1276 it, build with --enable-tui. Although this can be enabled for any
1277 configuration, at present it only works for native HP debugging.
1279 * GDB remote protocol additions
1281 A new protocol packet 'X' that writes binary data is now available.
1282 Default behavior is to try 'X', then drop back to 'M' if the stub
1283 fails to respond. The settable variable `remotebinarydownload'
1284 allows explicit control over the use of 'X'.
1286 For 64-bit targets, the memory packets ('M' and 'm') can now contain a
1287 full 64-bit address. The command
1289 set remoteaddresssize 32
1291 can be used to revert to the old behaviour. For existing remote stubs
1292 the change should not be noticed, as the additional address information
1295 In order to assist in debugging stubs, you may use the maintenance
1296 command `packet' to send any text string to the stub. For instance,
1298 maint packet heythere
1300 sends the packet "$heythere#<checksum>". Note that it is very easy to
1301 disrupt a debugging session by sending the wrong packet at the wrong
1304 The compare-sections command allows you to compare section data on the
1305 target to what is in the executable file without uploading or
1306 downloading, by comparing CRC checksums.
1308 * Tracing can collect general expressions
1310 You may now collect general expressions at tracepoints. This requires
1311 further additions to the target-side stub; see tracepoint.c and
1312 doc/agentexpr.texi for further details.
1314 * mask-address variable for Mips
1316 For Mips targets, you may control the zeroing of the upper 32 bits of
1317 a 64-bit address by entering `set mask-address on'. This is mainly
1318 of interest to users of embedded R4xxx and R5xxx processors.
1320 * Higher serial baud rates
1322 GDB's serial code now allows you to specify baud rates 57600, 115200,
1323 230400, and 460800 baud. (Note that your host system may not be able
1324 to achieve all of these rates.)
1328 The i960 configuration now includes an initial implementation of a
1329 builtin simulator, contributed by Jim Wilson.
1332 *** Changes in GDB-4.17:
1334 * New native configurations
1336 Alpha GNU/Linux alpha*-*-linux*
1337 Unixware 2.x i[3456]86-unixware2*
1338 Irix 6.x mips*-sgi-irix6*
1339 PowerPC GNU/Linux powerpc-*-linux*
1340 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
1341 Sparc GNU/Linux sparc-*-linux*
1342 Motorola sysV68 R3V7.1 m68k-motorola-sysv
1346 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
1347 Hitachi H8/300S h8300*-*-*
1348 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
1349 Matsushita MN10300 w/simulator mn10300-*-*
1350 MIPS NEC VR4100 mips64*vr4100*{,el}-*-elf*
1351 MIPS NEC VR5000 mips64*vr5000*{,el}-*-elf*
1352 MIPS Toshiba TX39 mips64*tx39*{,el}-*-elf*
1353 Mitsubishi D10V w/simulator d10v-*-*
1354 Mitsubishi M32R/D w/simulator m32r-*-elf*
1355 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
1356 NEC V850 w/simulator v850-*-*
1358 * New debugging protocols
1360 ARM with RDI protocol arm*-*-*
1361 M68K with dBUG monitor m68*-*-{aout,coff,elf}
1362 DDB and LSI variants of PMON protocol mips*-*-*
1363 PowerPC with DINK32 monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
1364 PowerPC with SDS protocol powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
1365 Macraigor OCD (Wiggler) devices powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
1369 All configurations can now understand and use the DWARF 2 debugging
1370 format. The choice is automatic, if the symbol file contains DWARF 2
1375 GDB now includes basic Java language support. This support is
1376 only useful with Java compilers that produce native machine code.
1378 * solib-absolute-prefix and solib-search-path
1380 For SunOS and SVR4 shared libraries, you may now set the prefix for
1381 loading absolute shared library symbol files, and the search path for
1382 locating non-absolute shared library symbol files.
1384 * Live range splitting
1386 GDB can now effectively debug code for which GCC has performed live
1387 range splitting as part of its optimization. See gdb/doc/LRS for
1388 more details on the expected format of the stabs information.
1392 GDB's support for the GNU Hurd, including thread debugging, has been
1393 updated to work with current versions of the Hurd.
1397 GDB's ARM target configuration now handles the ARM7T (Thumb) 16-bit
1398 instruction set. ARM GDB automatically detects when Thumb
1399 instructions are in use, and adjusts disassembly and backtracing
1404 GDB's MIPS target configurations now handle the MIP16 16-bit
1409 GDB now includes support for overlays; if an executable has been
1410 linked such that multiple sections are based at the same address, GDB
1411 will decide which section to use for symbolic info. You can choose to
1412 control the decision manually, using overlay commands, or implement
1413 additional target-side support and use "overlay load-target" to bring
1414 in the overlay mapping. Do "help overlay" for more detail.
1418 The command "info symbol <address>" displays information about
1419 the symbol at the specified address.
1423 The standard remote protocol now includes an extension that allows
1424 asynchronous collection and display of trace data. This requires
1425 extensive support in the target-side debugging stub. Tracing mode
1426 includes a new interaction mode in GDB and new commands: see the
1427 file tracepoint.c for more details.
1431 Configurations for embedded MIPS now include a simulator contributed
1432 by Cygnus Solutions. The simulator supports the instruction sets
1433 of most MIPS variants.
1437 Sparc configurations may now include the ERC32 simulator contributed
1438 by the European Space Agency. The simulator is not built into
1439 Sparc targets by default; configure with --enable-sim to include it.
1443 For target configurations that may include multiple variants of a
1444 basic architecture (such as MIPS and SH), you may now set the
1445 architecture explicitly. "set arch" sets, "info arch" lists
1446 the possible architectures.
1448 *** Changes in GDB-4.16:
1450 * New native configurations
1452 Windows 95, x86 Windows NT i[345]86-*-cygwin32
1453 M68K NetBSD m68k-*-netbsd*
1454 PowerPC AIX 4.x powerpc-*-aix*
1455 PowerPC MacOS powerpc-*-macos*
1456 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
1457 RS/6000 AIX 4.x rs6000-*-aix4*
1461 ARM with RDP protocol arm-*-*
1462 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
1463 MIPS VxWorks mips*-*-vxworks*
1464 MIPS VR4300 with PMON mips64*vr4300{,el}-*-elf*
1465 PowerPC with PPCBUG monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi*
1467 Matra Sparclet sparclet-*-*
1471 The powerpc-eabi configuration now includes the PSIM simulator,
1472 contributed by Andrew Cagney, with assistance from Mike Meissner.
1473 PSIM is a very elaborate model of the PowerPC, including not only
1474 basic instruction set execution, but also details of execution unit
1475 performance and I/O hardware. See sim/ppc/README for more details.
1479 GDB now works with Solaris 2.5.
1481 * Windows 95/NT native
1483 GDB will now work as a native debugger on Windows 95 and Windows NT.
1484 To build it from source, you must use the "gnu-win32" environment,
1485 which uses a DLL to emulate enough of Unix to run the GNU tools.
1486 Further information, binaries, and sources are available at
1487 ftp.cygnus.com, under pub/gnu-win32.
1489 * dont-repeat command
1491 If a user-defined command includes the command `dont-repeat', then the
1492 command will not be repeated if the user just types return. This is
1493 useful if the command is time-consuming to run, so that accidental
1494 extra keystrokes don't run the same command many times.
1496 * Send break instead of ^C
1498 The standard remote protocol now includes an option to send a break
1499 rather than a ^C to the target in order to interrupt it. By default,
1500 GDB will send ^C; to send a break, set the variable `remotebreak' to 1.
1502 * Remote protocol timeout
1504 The standard remote protocol includes a new variable `remotetimeout'
1505 that allows you to set the number of seconds before GDB gives up trying
1506 to read from the target. The default value is 2.
1508 * Automatic tracking of dynamic object loading (HPUX and Solaris only)
1510 By default GDB will automatically keep track of objects as they are
1511 loaded and unloaded by the dynamic linker. By using the command `set
1512 stop-on-solib-events 1' you can arrange for GDB to stop the inferior
1513 when shared library events occur, thus allowing you to set breakpoints
1514 in shared libraries which are explicitly loaded by the inferior.
1516 Note this feature does not work on hpux8. On hpux9 you must link
1517 /usr/lib/end.o into your program. This feature should work
1518 automatically on hpux10.
1520 * Irix 5.x hardware watchpoint support
1522 Irix 5 configurations now support the use of hardware watchpoints.
1524 * Mips protocol "SYN garbage limit"
1526 When debugging a Mips target using the `target mips' protocol, you
1527 may set the number of characters that GDB will ignore by setting
1528 the `syn-garbage-limit'. A value of -1 means that GDB will ignore
1529 every character. The default value is 1050.
1531 * Recording and replaying remote debug sessions
1533 If you set `remotelogfile' to the name of a file, gdb will write to it
1534 a recording of a remote debug session. This recording may then be
1535 replayed back to gdb using "gdbreplay". See gdbserver/README for
1536 details. This is useful when you have a problem with GDB while doing
1537 remote debugging; you can make a recording of the session and send it
1538 to someone else, who can then recreate the problem.
1540 * Speedups for remote debugging
1542 GDB includes speedups for downloading and stepping MIPS systems using
1543 the IDT monitor, fast downloads to the Hitachi SH E7000 emulator,
1544 and more efficient S-record downloading.
1546 * Memory use reductions and statistics collection
1548 GDB now uses less memory and reports statistics about memory usage.
1549 Try the `maint print statistics' command, for example.
1551 *** Changes in GDB-4.15:
1553 * Psymtabs for XCOFF
1555 The symbol reader for AIX GDB now uses partial symbol tables. This
1556 can greatly improve startup time, especially for large executables.
1558 * Remote targets use caching
1560 Remote targets now use a data cache to speed up communication with the
1561 remote side. The data cache could lead to incorrect results because
1562 it doesn't know about volatile variables, thus making it impossible to
1563 debug targets which use memory mapped I/O devices. `set remotecache
1564 off' turns the the data cache off.
1566 * Remote targets may have threads
1568 The standard remote protocol now includes support for multiple threads
1569 in the target system, using new protocol commands 'H' and 'T'. See
1570 gdb/remote.c for details.
1574 If GDB is configured with `--enable-netrom', then it will include
1575 support for the NetROM ROM emulator from XLNT Designs. The NetROM
1576 acts as though it is a bank of ROM on the target board, but you can
1577 write into it over the network. GDB's support consists only of
1578 support for fast loading into the emulated ROM; to debug, you must use
1579 another protocol, such as standard remote protocol. The usual
1580 sequence is something like
1582 target nrom <netrom-hostname>
1584 target remote <netrom-hostname>:1235
1588 GDB now includes support for the Apple Macintosh, as a host only. It
1589 may be run as either an MPW tool or as a standalone application, and
1590 it can debug through the serial port. All the usual GDB commands are
1591 available, but to the target command, you must supply "serial" as the
1592 device type instead of "/dev/ttyXX". See mpw-README in the main
1593 directory for more information on how to build. The MPW configuration
1594 scripts */mpw-config.in support only a few targets, and only the
1595 mips-idt-ecoff target has been tested.
1599 GDB configuration now uses autoconf. This is not user-visible,
1600 but does simplify configuration and building.
1604 GDB now supports hpux10.
1606 *** Changes in GDB-4.14:
1608 * New native configurations
1610 x86 FreeBSD i[345]86-*-freebsd
1611 x86 NetBSD i[345]86-*-netbsd
1612 NS32k NetBSD ns32k-*-netbsd
1613 Sparc NetBSD sparc-*-netbsd
1617 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
1618 HP PA PRO embedded (WinBond W89K & Oki OP50N) hppa*-*-pro*
1619 CPU32 EST-300 emulator m68*-*-est*
1620 PowerPC ELF powerpc-*-elf
1623 * Alpha OSF/1 support for procfs
1625 GDB now supports procfs under OSF/1-2.x and higher, which makes it
1626 possible to attach to running processes. As the mounting of the /proc
1627 filesystem is optional on the Alpha, GDB automatically determines
1628 the availability of /proc during startup. This can lead to problems
1629 if /proc is unmounted after GDB has been started.
1631 * Arguments to user-defined commands
1633 User commands may accept up to 10 arguments separated by whitespace.
1634 Arguments are accessed within the user command via $arg0..$arg9. A
1637 print $arg0 + $arg1 + $arg2
1639 To execute the command use:
1642 Defines the command "adder" which prints the sum of its three arguments.
1643 Note the arguments are text substitutions, so they may reference variables,
1644 use complex expressions, or even perform inferior function calls.
1646 * New `if' and `while' commands
1648 This makes it possible to write more sophisticated user-defined
1649 commands. Both commands take a single argument, which is the
1650 expression to evaluate, and must be followed by the commands to
1651 execute, one per line, if the expression is nonzero, the list being
1652 terminated by the word `end'. The `if' command list may include an
1653 `else' word, which causes the following commands to be executed only
1654 if the expression is zero.
1656 * Fortran source language mode
1658 GDB now includes partial support for Fortran 77. It will recognize
1659 Fortran programs and can evaluate a subset of Fortran expressions, but
1660 variables and functions may not be handled correctly. GDB will work
1661 with G77, but does not yet know much about symbols emitted by other
1664 * Better HPUX support
1666 Most debugging facilities now work on dynamic executables for HPPAs
1667 running hpux9 or later. You can attach to running dynamically linked
1668 processes, but by default the dynamic libraries will be read-only, so
1669 for instance you won't be able to put breakpoints in them. To change
1670 that behavior do the following before running the program:
1676 This will cause the libraries to be mapped private and read-write.
1677 To revert to the normal behavior, do this:
1683 You cannot set breakpoints or examine data in the library until after
1684 the library is loaded if the function/data symbols do not have
1687 GDB can now also read debug symbols produced by the HP C compiler on
1688 HPPAs (sorry, no C++, Fortran or 68k support).
1690 * Target byte order now dynamically selectable
1692 You can choose which byte order to use with a target system, via the
1693 commands "set endian big" and "set endian little", and you can see the
1694 current setting by using "show endian". You can also give the command
1695 "set endian auto", in which case GDB will use the byte order
1696 associated with the executable. Currently, only embedded MIPS
1697 configurations support dynamic selection of target byte order.
1699 * New DOS host serial code
1701 This version uses DPMI interrupts to handle buffered I/O, so you
1702 no longer need to run asynctsr when debugging boards connected to
1705 *** Changes in GDB-4.13:
1707 * New "complete" command
1709 This lists all the possible completions for the rest of the line, if it
1710 were to be given as a command itself. This is intended for use by emacs.
1712 * Trailing space optional in prompt
1714 "set prompt" no longer adds a space for you after the prompt you set. This
1715 allows you to set a prompt which ends in a space or one that does not.
1717 * Breakpoint hit counts
1719 "info break" now displays a count of the number of times the breakpoint
1720 has been hit. This is especially useful in conjunction with "ignore"; you
1721 can ignore a large number of breakpoint hits, look at the breakpoint info
1722 to see how many times the breakpoint was hit, then run again, ignoring one
1723 less than that number, and this will get you quickly to the last hit of
1726 * Ability to stop printing at NULL character
1728 "set print null-stop" will cause GDB to stop printing the characters of
1729 an array when the first NULL is encountered. This is useful when large
1730 arrays actually contain only short strings.
1732 * Shared library breakpoints
1734 In SunOS 4.x, SVR4, and Alpha OSF/1 configurations, you can now set
1735 breakpoints in shared libraries before the executable is run.
1737 * Hardware watchpoints
1739 There is a new hardware breakpoint for the watch command for sparclite
1740 targets. See gdb/sparclite/hw_breakpoint.note.
1742 Hardware watchpoints are also now supported under GNU/Linux.
1746 Annotations have been added. These are for use with graphical interfaces,
1747 and are still experimental. Currently only gdba.el uses these.
1749 * Improved Irix 5 support
1751 GDB now works properly with Irix 5.2.
1753 * Improved HPPA support
1755 GDB now works properly with the latest GCC and GAS.
1757 * New native configurations
1759 Sequent PTX4 i[34]86-sequent-ptx4
1760 HPPA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
1761 Atari TT running SVR4 m68*-*-sysv4*
1762 RS/6000 LynxOS rs6000-*-lynxos*
1766 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
1767 MIPS R4000 mips64*{,el}-*-{ecoff,elf}
1770 * Hitachi SH7000 and E7000-PC ICE support
1772 There is now support for communicating with the Hitachi E7000-PC ICE.
1773 This is available automatically when GDB is configured for the SH.
1777 As usual, a variety of small fixes and improvements, both generic
1778 and configuration-specific. See the ChangeLog for more detail.
1780 *** Changes in GDB-4.12:
1782 * Irix 5 is now supported
1786 GDB-4.12 on the HPPA has a number of changes which make it unable
1787 to debug the output from the currently released versions of GCC and
1788 GAS (GCC 2.5.8 and GAS-2.2 or PAGAS-1.36). Until the next major release
1789 of GCC and GAS, versions of these tools designed to work with GDB-4.12
1790 can be retrieved via anonymous ftp from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist.
1793 *** Changes in GDB-4.11:
1795 * User visible changes:
1799 The "set remotedebug" option is now consistent between the mips remote
1800 target, remote targets using the gdb-specific protocol, UDI (AMD's
1801 debug protocol for the 29k) and the 88k bug monitor. It is now an
1802 integer specifying a debug level (normally 0 or 1, but 2 means more
1803 debugging info for the mips target).
1805 * DEC Alpha native support
1807 GDB now works on the DEC Alpha. GCC 2.4.5 does not produce usable
1808 debug info, but GDB works fairly well with the DEC compiler and should
1809 work with a future GCC release. See the README file for a few
1810 Alpha-specific notes.
1812 * Preliminary thread implementation
1814 GDB now has preliminary thread support for both SGI/Irix and LynxOS.
1816 * LynxOS native and target support for 386
1818 This release has been hosted on LynxOS 2.2, and also can be configured
1819 to remotely debug programs running under LynxOS (see gdb/gdbserver/README
1822 * Improvements in C++ mangling/demangling.
1824 This release has much better g++ debugging, specifically in name
1825 mangling/demangling, virtual function calls, print virtual table,
1826 call methods, ...etc.
1828 *** Changes in GDB-4.10:
1830 * User visible changes:
1832 Remote debugging using the GDB-specific (`target remote') protocol now
1833 supports the `load' command. This is only useful if you have some
1834 other way of getting the stub to the target system, and you can put it
1835 somewhere in memory where it won't get clobbered by the download.
1837 Filename completion now works.
1839 When run under emacs mode, the "info line" command now causes the
1840 arrow to point to the line specified. Also, "info line" prints
1841 addresses in symbolic form (as well as hex).
1843 All vxworks based targets now support a user settable option, called
1844 vxworks-timeout. This option represents the number of seconds gdb
1845 should wait for responses to rpc's. You might want to use this if
1846 your vxworks target is, perhaps, a slow software simulator or happens
1847 to be on the far side of a thin network line.
1851 This release contains support for using a DEC alpha as a GDB host for
1852 cross debugging. Native alpha debugging is not supported yet.
1855 *** Changes in GDB-4.9:
1859 This is the first GDB release which is accompanied by a matching testsuite.
1860 The testsuite requires installation of dejagnu, which should be available
1861 via ftp from most sites that carry GNU software.
1865 'Cfront' style demangling has had its name changed to 'ARM' style, to
1866 emphasize that it was written from the specifications in the C++ Annotated
1867 Reference Manual, not necessarily to be compatible with AT&T cfront. Despite
1868 disclaimers, it still generated too much confusion with users attempting to
1869 use gdb with AT&T cfront.
1873 GDB now uses a standard remote interface to a simulator library.
1874 So far, the library contains simulators for the Zilog Z8001/2, the
1875 Hitachi H8/300, H8/500 and Super-H.
1877 * New targets supported
1879 H8/300 simulator h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
1880 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
1881 SH simulator sh-hitachi-hms or sh
1882 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
1883 IDT MIPS board over serial line mips-idt-ecoff
1885 Cross-debugging to GO32 targets is supported. It requires a custom
1886 version of the i386-stub.c module which is integrated with the
1887 GO32 memory extender.
1889 * New remote protocols
1891 MIPS remote debugging protocol.
1893 * New source languages supported
1895 This version includes preliminary support for Chill, a Pascal like language
1896 used by telecommunications companies. Chill support is also being integrated
1897 into the GNU compiler, but we don't know when it will be publically available.
1900 *** Changes in GDB-4.8:
1902 * HP Precision Architecture supported
1904 GDB now supports HP PA-RISC machines running HPUX. A preliminary
1905 version of this support was available as a set of patches from the
1906 University of Utah. GDB does not support debugging of programs
1907 compiled with the HP compiler, because HP will not document their file
1908 format. Instead, you must use GCC (version 2.3.2 or later) and PA-GAS
1909 (as available from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist/pa-gas.u4.tar.Z).
1911 Many problems in the preliminary version have been fixed.
1913 * Faster and better demangling
1915 We have improved template demangling and fixed numerous bugs in the GNU style
1916 demangler. It can now handle type modifiers such as `static' or `const'. Wide
1917 character types (wchar_t) are now supported. Demangling of each symbol is now
1918 only done once, and is cached when the symbol table for a file is read in.
1919 This results in a small increase in memory usage for C programs, a moderate
1920 increase in memory usage for C++ programs, and a fantastic speedup in
1923 `Cfront' style demangling still doesn't work with AT&T cfront. It was written
1924 from the specifications in the Annotated Reference Manual, which AT&T's
1925 compiler does not actually implement.
1927 * G++ multiple inheritance compiler problem
1929 In the 2.3.2 release of gcc/g++, how the compiler resolves multiple
1930 inheritance lattices was reworked to properly discover ambiguities. We
1931 recently found an example which causes this new algorithm to fail in a
1932 very subtle way, producing bad debug information for those classes.
1933 The file 'gcc.patch' (in this directory) can be applied to gcc to
1934 circumvent the problem. A future GCC release will contain a complete
1937 The previous G++ debug info problem (mentioned below for the gdb-4.7
1938 release) is fixed in gcc version 2.3.2.
1940 * Improved configure script
1942 The `configure' script will now attempt to guess your system type if
1943 you don't supply a host system type. The old scheme of supplying a
1944 host system triplet is preferable over using this. All the magic is
1945 done in the new `config.guess' script. Examine it for details.
1947 We have also brought our configure script much more in line with the FSF's
1948 version. It now supports the --with-xxx options. In particular,
1949 `--with-minimal-bfd' can be used to make the GDB binary image smaller.
1950 The resulting GDB will not be able to read arbitrary object file formats --
1951 only the format ``expected'' to be used on the configured target system.
1952 We hope to make this the default in a future release.
1954 * Documentation improvements
1956 There's new internal documentation on how to modify GDB, and how to
1957 produce clean changes to the code. We implore people to read it
1958 before submitting changes.
1960 The GDB manual uses new, sexy Texinfo conditionals, rather than arcane
1961 M4 macros. The new texinfo.tex is provided in this release. Pre-built
1962 `info' files are also provided. To build `info' files from scratch,
1963 you will need the latest `makeinfo' release, which will be available in
1964 a future texinfo-X.Y release.
1966 *NOTE* The new texinfo.tex can cause old versions of TeX to hang.
1967 We're not sure exactly which versions have this problem, but it has
1968 been seen in 3.0. We highly recommend upgrading to TeX version 3.141
1969 or better. If that isn't possible, there is a patch in
1970 `texinfo/tex3patch' that will modify `texinfo/texinfo.tex' to work
1971 around this problem.
1975 GDB now supports array constants that can be used in expressions typed in by
1976 the user. The syntax is `{element, element, ...}'. Ie: you can now type
1977 `print {1, 2, 3}', and it will build up an array in memory malloc'd in
1980 The new directory `gdb/sparclite' contains a program that demonstrates
1981 how the sparc-stub.c remote stub runs on a Fujitsu SPARClite processor.
1983 * New native hosts supported
1985 HP/PA-RISC under HPUX using GNU tools hppa1.1-hp-hpux
1986 386 CPUs running SCO Unix 3.2v4 i386-unknown-sco3.2v4
1988 * New targets supported
1990 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi or udi29k
1992 * New file formats supported
1994 BFD now supports reading HP/PA-RISC executables (SOM file format?),
1995 HPUX core files, and SCO 3.2v2 core files.
1999 Attaching to processes now works again; thanks for the many bug reports.
2001 We have also stomped on a bunch of core dumps caused by
2002 printf_filtered("%s") problems.
2004 We eliminated a copyright problem on the rpc and ptrace header files
2005 for VxWorks, which was discovered at the last minute during the 4.7
2006 release. You should now be able to build a VxWorks GDB.
2008 You can now interrupt gdb while an attached process is running. This
2009 will cause the attached process to stop, and give control back to GDB.
2011 We fixed problems caused by using too many file descriptors
2012 for reading symbols from object files and libraries. This was
2013 especially a problem for programs that used many (~100) shared
2016 The `step' command now only enters a subroutine if there is line number
2017 information for the subroutine. Otherwise it acts like the `next'
2018 command. Previously, `step' would enter subroutines if there was
2019 any debugging information about the routine. This avoids problems
2020 when using `cc -g1' on MIPS machines.
2022 * Internal improvements
2024 GDB's internal interfaces have been improved to make it easier to support
2025 debugging of multiple languages in the future.
2027 GDB now uses a common structure for symbol information internally.
2028 Minimal symbols (derived from linkage symbols in object files), partial
2029 symbols (from a quick scan of debug information), and full symbols
2030 contain a common subset of information, making it easier to write
2031 shared code that handles any of them.
2033 * New command line options
2035 We now accept --silent as an alias for --quiet.
2039 The memory-mapped-malloc library is now licensed under the GNU Library
2040 General Public License.
2042 *** Changes in GDB-4.7:
2044 * Host/native/target split
2046 GDB has had some major internal surgery to untangle the support for
2047 hosts and remote targets. Now, when you configure GDB for a remote
2048 target, it will no longer load in all of the support for debugging
2049 local programs on the host. When fully completed and tested, this will
2050 ensure that arbitrary host/target combinations are possible.
2052 The primary conceptual shift is to separate the non-portable code in
2053 GDB into three categories. Host specific code is required any time GDB
2054 is compiled on that host, regardless of the target. Target specific
2055 code relates to the peculiarities of the target, but can be compiled on
2056 any host. Native specific code is everything else: it can only be
2057 built when the host and target are the same system. Child process
2058 handling and core file support are two common `native' examples.
2060 GDB's use of /proc for controlling Unix child processes is now cleaner.
2061 It has been split out into a single module under the `target_ops' vector,
2062 plus two native-dependent functions for each system that uses /proc.
2064 * New hosts supported
2066 HP/Apollo 68k (under the BSD domain) m68k-apollo-bsd or apollo68bsd
2067 386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
2068 386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or i386sco
2070 * New targets supported
2072 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
2073 68030 and CPU32 m68030-*-*, m68332-*-*
2075 * New native hosts supported
2077 386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
2078 (386bsd is not well tested yet)
2079 386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or sco
2081 * New file formats supported
2083 BFD now supports COFF files for the Zilog Z8000 microprocessor. It
2084 supports reading of `a.out.adobe' object files, which are an a.out
2085 format extended with minimal information about multiple sections.
2089 `show copying' is the same as the old `info copying'.
2090 `show warranty' is the same as `info warrantee'.
2091 These were renamed for consistency. The old commands continue to work.
2093 `info handle' is a new alias for `info signals'.
2095 You can now define pre-command hooks, which attach arbitrary command
2096 scripts to any command. The commands in the hook will be executed
2097 prior to the user's command. You can also create a hook which will be
2098 executed whenever the program stops. See gdb.texinfo.
2102 We now deal with Cfront style name mangling, and can even extract type
2103 info from mangled symbols. GDB can automatically figure out which
2104 symbol mangling style your C++ compiler uses.
2106 Calling of methods and virtual functions has been improved as well.
2110 The crash that occured when debugging Sun Ansi-C compiled binaries is
2111 fixed. This was due to mishandling of the extra N_SO stabs output
2114 We also finally got Ultrix 4.2 running in house, and fixed core file
2115 support, with help from a dozen people on the net.
2117 John M. Farrell discovered that the reason that single-stepping was so
2118 slow on all of the Mips based platforms (primarily SGI and DEC) was
2119 that we were trying to demangle and lookup a symbol used for internal
2120 purposes on every instruction that was being stepped through. Changing
2121 the name of that symbol so that it couldn't be mistaken for a C++
2122 mangled symbol sped things up a great deal.
2124 Rich Pixley sped up symbol lookups in general by getting much smarter
2125 about when C++ symbol mangling is necessary. This should make symbol
2126 completion (TAB on the command line) much faster. It's not as fast as
2127 we'd like, but it's significantly faster than gdb-4.6.
2131 A new user controllable variable 'call_scratch_address' can
2132 specify the location of a scratch area to be used when GDB
2133 calls a function in the target. This is necessary because the
2134 usual method of putting the scratch area on the stack does not work
2135 in systems that have separate instruction and data spaces.
2137 We integrated changes to support the 29k UDI (Universal Debugger
2138 Interface), but discovered at the last minute that we didn't have all
2139 of the appropriate copyright paperwork. We are working with AMD to
2140 resolve this, and hope to have it available soon.
2144 We have sped up the remote serial line protocol, especially for targets
2145 with lots of registers. It now supports a new `expedited status' ('T')
2146 message which can be used in place of the existing 'S' status message.
2147 This allows the remote stub to send only the registers that GDB
2148 needs to make a quick decision about single-stepping or conditional
2149 breakpoints, eliminating the need to fetch the entire register set for
2150 each instruction being stepped through.
2152 The GDB remote serial protocol now implements a write-through cache for
2153 registers, only re-reading the registers if the target has run.
2155 There is also a new remote serial stub for SPARC processors. You can
2156 find it in gdb-4.7/gdb/sparc-stub.c. This was written to support the
2157 Fujitsu SPARClite processor, but will run on any stand-alone SPARC
2158 processor with a serial port.
2162 Configure.in files have become much easier to read and modify. A new
2163 `table driven' format makes it more obvious what configurations are
2164 supported, and what files each one uses.
2168 There is a new opcodes library which will eventually contain all of the
2169 disassembly routines and opcode tables. At present, it only contains
2170 Sparc and Z8000 routines. This will allow the assembler, debugger, and
2171 disassembler (binutils/objdump) to share these routines.
2173 The libiberty library is now copylefted under the GNU Library General
2174 Public License. This allows more liberal use, and was done so libg++
2175 can use it. This makes no difference to GDB, since the Library License
2176 grants all the rights from the General Public License.
2180 The file gdb-4.7/gdb/doc/stabs.texinfo is a (relatively) complete
2181 reference to the stabs symbol info used by the debugger. It is (as far
2182 as we know) the only published document on this fascinating topic. We
2183 encourage you to read it, compare it to the stabs information on your
2184 system, and send improvements on the document in general (to
2187 And, of course, many bugs have been fixed.
2190 *** Changes in GDB-4.6:
2192 * Better support for C++ function names
2194 GDB now accepts as input the "demangled form" of C++ overloaded function
2195 names and member function names, and can do command completion on such names
2196 (using TAB, TAB-TAB, and ESC-?). The names have to be quoted with a pair of
2197 single quotes. Examples are 'func (int, long)' and 'obj::operator==(obj&)'.
2198 Make use of command completion, it is your friend.
2200 GDB also now accepts a variety of C++ mangled symbol formats. They are
2201 the GNU g++ style, the Cfront (ARM) style, and the Lucid (lcc) style.
2202 You can tell GDB which format to use by doing a 'set demangle-style {gnu,
2203 lucid, cfront, auto}'. 'gnu' is the default. Do a 'set demangle-style foo'
2204 for the list of formats.
2206 * G++ symbol mangling problem
2208 Recent versions of gcc have a bug in how they emit debugging information for
2209 C++ methods (when using dbx-style stabs). The file 'gcc.patch' (in this
2210 directory) can be applied to gcc to fix the problem. Alternatively, if you
2211 can't fix gcc, you can #define GCC_MANGLE_BUG when compling gdb/symtab.c. The
2212 usual symptom is difficulty with setting breakpoints on methods. GDB complains
2213 about the method being non-existent. (We believe that version 2.2.2 of GCC has
2216 * New 'maintenance' command
2218 All of the commands related to hacking GDB internals have been moved out of
2219 the main command set, and now live behind the 'maintenance' command. This
2220 can also be abbreviated as 'mt'. The following changes were made:
2222 dump-me -> maintenance dump-me
2223 info all-breakpoints -> maintenance info breakpoints
2224 printmsyms -> maintenance print msyms
2225 printobjfiles -> maintenance print objfiles
2226 printpsyms -> maintenance print psymbols
2227 printsyms -> maintenance print symbols
2229 The following commands are new:
2231 maintenance demangle Call internal GDB demangler routine to
2232 demangle a C++ link name and prints the result.
2233 maintenance print type Print a type chain for a given symbol
2235 * Change to .gdbinit file processing
2237 We now read the $HOME/.gdbinit file before processing the argv arguments
2238 (e.g. reading symbol files or core files). This allows global parameters to
2239 be set, which will apply during the symbol reading. The ./.gdbinit is still
2240 read after argv processing.
2242 * New hosts supported
2244 Solaris-2.0 !!! sparc-sun-solaris2 or sun4sol2
2246 GNU/Linux support i386-unknown-linux or linux
2248 We are also including code to support the HP/PA running BSD and HPUX. This
2249 is almost guaranteed not to work, as we didn't have time to test or build it
2250 for this release. We are including it so that the more adventurous (or
2251 masochistic) of you can play with it. We also had major problems with the
2252 fact that the compiler that we got from HP doesn't support the -g option.
2255 * New targets supported
2257 Hitachi H8/300 h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
2259 * More smarts about finding #include files
2261 GDB now remembers the compilation directory for all include files, and for
2262 all files from which C is generated (like yacc and lex sources). This
2263 greatly improves GDB's ability to find yacc/lex sources, and include files,
2264 especially if you are debugging your program from a directory different from
2265 the one that contains your sources.
2267 We also fixed a bug which caused difficulty with listing and setting
2268 breakpoints in include files which contain C code. (In the past, you had to
2269 try twice in order to list an include file that you hadn't looked at before.)
2271 * Interesting infernals change
2273 GDB now deals with arbitrary numbers of sections, where the symbols for each
2274 section must be relocated relative to that section's landing place in the
2275 target's address space. This work was needed to support ELF with embedded
2276 stabs used by Solaris-2.0.
2278 * Bug fixes (of course!)
2280 There have been loads of fixes for the following things:
2281 mips, rs6000, 29k/udi, m68k, g++, type handling, elf/dwarf, m88k,
2282 i960, stabs, DOS(GO32), procfs, etc...
2284 See the ChangeLog for details.
2286 *** Changes in GDB-4.5:
2288 * New machines supported (host and target)
2290 IBM RS6000 running AIX rs6000-ibm-aix or rs6000
2292 SGI Irix-4.x mips-sgi-irix4 or iris4
2294 * New malloc package
2296 GDB now uses a new memory manager called mmalloc, based on gmalloc.
2297 Mmalloc is capable of handling mutiple heaps of memory. It is also
2298 capable of saving a heap to a file, and then mapping it back in later.
2299 This can be used to greatly speedup the startup of GDB by using a
2300 pre-parsed symbol table which lives in a mmalloc managed heap. For
2301 more details, please read mmalloc/mmalloc.texi.
2305 The 'info proc' command (SVR4 only) has been enhanced quite a bit. See
2306 'help info proc' for details.
2308 * MIPS ecoff symbol table format
2310 The code that reads MIPS symbol table format is now supported on all hosts.
2311 Thanks to MIPS for releasing the sym.h and symconst.h files to make this
2314 * File name changes for MS-DOS
2316 Many files in the config directories have been renamed to make it easier to
2317 support GDB on MS-DOSe systems (which have very restrictive file name
2318 conventions :-( ). MS-DOSe host support (under DJ Delorie's GO32
2319 environment) is close to working but has some remaining problems. Note
2320 that debugging of DOS programs is not supported, due to limitations
2321 in the ``operating system'', but it can be used to host cross-debugging.
2323 * Cross byte order fixes
2325 Many fixes have been made to support cross debugging of Sparc and MIPS
2326 targets from hosts whose byte order differs.
2328 * New -mapped and -readnow options
2330 If memory-mapped files are available on your system through the 'mmap'
2331 system call, you can use the -mapped option on the `file' or
2332 `symbol-file' commands to cause GDB to write the symbols from your
2333 program into a reusable file. If the program you are debugging is
2334 called `/path/fred', the mapped symbol file will be `./fred.syms'.
2335 Future GDB debugging sessions will notice the presence of this file,
2336 and will quickly map in symbol information from it, rather than reading
2337 the symbol table from the executable program. Using the '-mapped'
2338 option in a GDB `file' or `symbol-file' command has the same effect as
2339 starting GDB with the '-mapped' command-line option.
2341 You can cause GDB to read the entire symbol table immediately by using
2342 the '-readnow' option with any of the commands that load symbol table
2343 information (or on the GDB command line). This makes the command
2344 slower, but makes future operations faster.
2346 The -mapped and -readnow options are typically combined in order to
2347 build a `fred.syms' file that contains complete symbol information.
2348 A simple GDB invocation to do nothing but build a `.syms' file for future
2351 gdb -batch -nx -mapped -readnow programname
2353 The `.syms' file is specific to the host machine on which GDB is run.
2354 It holds an exact image of GDB's internal symbol table. It cannot be
2355 shared across multiple host platforms.
2357 * longjmp() handling
2359 GDB is now capable of stepping and nexting over longjmp(), _longjmp(), and
2360 siglongjmp() without losing control. This feature has not yet been ported to
2361 all systems. It currently works on many 386 platforms, all MIPS-based
2362 platforms (SGI, DECstation, etc), and Sun3/4.
2366 Preliminary work has been put in to support the new Solaris OS from Sun. At
2367 this time, it can control and debug processes, but it is not capable of
2372 As always, many many bug fixes. The major areas were with g++, and mipsread.
2373 People using the MIPS-based platforms should experience fewer mysterious
2374 crashes and trashed symbol tables.
2376 *** Changes in GDB-4.4:
2378 * New machines supported (host and target)
2380 SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
2382 BSD Reno on Vax vax-dec-bsd
2383 Ultrix on Vax vax-dec-ultrix
2385 * New machines supported (target)
2387 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
2391 GDB continues to improve its handling of C++. `References' work better.
2392 The demangler has also been improved, and now deals with symbols mangled as
2393 per the Annotated C++ Reference Guide.
2395 GDB also now handles `stabs' symbol information embedded in MIPS
2396 `ecoff' symbol tables. Since the ecoff format was not easily
2397 extensible to handle new languages such as C++, this appeared to be a
2398 good way to put C++ debugging info into MIPS binaries. This option
2399 will be supported in the GNU C compiler, version 2, when it is
2402 * New features for SVR4
2404 GDB now handles SVR4 shared libraries, in the same fashion as SunOS
2405 shared libraries. Debugging dynamically linked programs should present
2406 only minor differences from debugging statically linked programs.
2408 The `info proc' command will print out information about any process
2409 on an SVR4 system (including the one you are debugging). At the moment,
2410 it prints the address mappings of the process.
2412 If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please send mail to
2415 * Better dynamic linking support in SunOS
2417 Reading symbols from shared libraries which contain debugging symbols
2418 now works properly. However, there remain issues such as automatic
2419 skipping of `transfer vector' code during function calls, which
2420 make it harder to debug code in a shared library, than to debug the
2421 same code linked statically.
2425 GDB is now using the latest `getopt' routines from the FSF. This
2426 version accepts the -- prefix for options with long names. GDB will
2427 continue to accept the old forms (-option and +option) as well.
2428 Various single letter abbreviations for options have been explicity
2429 added to the option table so that they won't get overshadowed in the
2430 future by other options that begin with the same letter.
2434 The `cleanup_undefined_types' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
2435 Many assorted bugs have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
2436 See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
2439 *** Changes in GDB-4.3:
2441 * New machines supported (host and target)
2443 Amiga 3000 running Amix m68k-cbm-svr4 or amix
2444 NCR 3000 386 running SVR4 i386-ncr-svr4 or ncr3000
2445 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
2447 * Almost SCO Unix support
2449 We had hoped to support:
2450 SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
2451 (except for core file support), but we discovered very late in the release
2452 that it has problems with process groups that render gdb unusable. Sorry
2453 about that. I encourage people to fix it and post the fixes.
2455 * Preliminary ELF and DWARF support
2457 GDB can read ELF object files on System V Release 4, and can handle
2458 debugging records for C, in DWARF format, in ELF files. This support
2459 is preliminary. If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please
2465 GDB now uses the latest `readline' library. One user-visible change
2466 is that two tabs will list possible command completions, which previously
2467 required typing M-? (meta-question mark, or ESC ?).
2471 The `stepi' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
2472 Many bugs in C++ have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
2473 See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
2475 * State of the MIPS world (in case you wondered):
2477 GDB can understand the symbol tables emitted by the compilers
2478 supplied by most vendors of MIPS-based machines, including DEC. These
2479 symbol tables are in a format that essentially nobody else uses.
2481 Some versions of gcc come with an assembler post-processor called
2482 mips-tfile. This program is required if you want to do source-level
2483 debugging of gcc-compiled programs. I believe FSF does not ship
2484 mips-tfile with gcc version 1, but it will eventually come with gcc
2487 Debugging of g++ output remains a problem. g++ version 1.xx does not
2488 really support it at all. (If you're lucky, you should be able to get
2489 line numbers and stack traces to work, but no parameters or local
2490 variables.) With some work it should be possible to improve the
2493 When gcc version 2 is released, you will have somewhat better luck.
2494 However, even then you will get confusing results for inheritance and
2497 We will eventually provide full debugging of g++ output on
2498 DECstations. This will probably involve some kind of stabs-in-ecoff
2499 encapulation, but the details have not been worked out yet.
2502 *** Changes in GDB-4.2:
2504 * Improved configuration
2506 Only one copy of `configure' exists now, and it is not self-modifying.
2507 Porting BFD is simpler.
2511 The `step' and `next' commands now only stop at the first instruction
2512 of a source line. This prevents the multiple stops that used to occur
2513 in switch statements, for-loops, etc. `Step' continues to stop if a
2514 function that has debugging information is called within the line.
2518 Lots of small bugs fixed. More remain.
2520 * New host supported (not target)
2522 Intel 386 PC clone running Mach i386-none-mach
2525 *** Changes in GDB-4.1:
2527 * Multiple source language support
2529 GDB now has internal scaffolding to handle several source languages.
2530 It determines the type of each source file from its filename extension,
2531 and will switch expression parsing and number formatting to match the
2532 language of the function in the currently selected stack frame.
2533 You can also specifically set the language to be used, with
2534 `set language c' or `set language modula-2'.
2538 GDB now has preliminary support for the GNU Modula-2 compiler,
2539 currently under development at the State University of New York at
2540 Buffalo. Development of both GDB and the GNU Modula-2 compiler will
2541 continue through the fall of 1991 and into 1992.
2543 Other Modula-2 compilers are currently not supported, and attempting to
2544 debug programs compiled with them will likely result in an error as the
2545 symbol table is read. Feel free to work on it, though!
2547 There are hooks in GDB for strict type checking and range checking,
2548 in the `Modula-2 philosophy', but they do not currently work.
2552 GDB can now write to executable and core files (e.g. patch
2553 a variable's value). You must turn this switch on, specify
2554 the file ("exec foo" or "core foo"), *then* modify it, e.g.
2555 by assigning a new value to a variable. Modifications take
2558 * Automatic SunOS shared library reading
2560 When you run your program, GDB automatically determines where its
2561 shared libraries (if any) have been loaded, and reads their symbols.
2562 The `share' command is no longer needed. This also works when
2563 examining core files.
2567 You can specify the number of lines that the `list' command shows.
2570 * New machines supported (host and target)
2572 SGI Iris (MIPS) running Irix V3: mips-sgi-irix or iris
2573 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x: m68k-sony-sysv or news
2574 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1: a29k-nyu-sym1 or ultra3
2576 * New hosts supported (not targets)
2578 IBM RT/PC: romp-ibm-aix or rtpc
2580 * New targets supported (not hosts)
2582 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
2583 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
2584 Ultracomputer remote kernel debug a29k-nyu-kern
2586 * New remote interfaces
2592 *** Changes in GDB-4.0:
2596 Wide output is wrapped at good places to make the output more readable.
2598 Gdb now supports cross-debugging from a host machine of one type to a
2599 target machine of another type. Communication with the target system
2600 is over serial lines. The ``target'' command handles connecting to the
2601 remote system; the ``load'' command will download a program into the
2602 remote system. Serial stubs for the m68k and i386 are provided. Gdb
2603 also supports debugging of realtime processes running under VxWorks,
2604 using SunRPC Remote Procedure Calls over TCP/IP to talk to a debugger
2605 stub on the target system.
2607 New CPUs supported include the AMD 29000 and Intel 960.
2609 GDB now reads object files and symbol tables via a ``binary file''
2610 library, which allows a single copy of GDB to debug programs of multiple
2611 object file types such as a.out and coff.
2613 There is now a GDB reference card in "doc/refcard.tex". (Make targets
2614 refcard.dvi and refcard.ps are available to format it).
2617 * Control-Variable user interface simplified
2619 All variables that control the operation of the debugger can be set
2620 by the ``set'' command, and displayed by the ``show'' command.
2622 For example, ``set prompt new-gdb=>'' will change your prompt to new-gdb=>.
2623 ``Show prompt'' produces the response:
2624 Gdb's prompt is new-gdb=>.
2626 What follows are the NEW set commands. The command ``help set'' will
2627 print a complete list of old and new set commands. ``help set FOO''
2628 will give a longer description of the variable FOO. ``show'' will show
2629 all of the variable descriptions and their current settings.
2631 confirm on/off: Enables warning questions for operations that are
2632 hard to recover from, e.g. rerunning the program while
2633 it is already running. Default is ON.
2635 editing on/off: Enables EMACS style command line editing
2636 of input. Previous lines can be recalled with
2637 control-P, the current line can be edited with control-B,
2638 you can search for commands with control-R, etc.
2641 history filename NAME: NAME is where the gdb command history
2642 will be stored. The default is .gdb_history,
2643 or the value of the environment variable
2646 history size N: The size, in commands, of the command history. The
2647 default is 256, or the value of the environment variable
2650 history save on/off: If this value is set to ON, the history file will
2651 be saved after exiting gdb. If set to OFF, the
2652 file will not be saved. The default is OFF.
2654 history expansion on/off: If this value is set to ON, then csh-like
2655 history expansion will be performed on
2656 command line input. The default is OFF.
2658 radix N: Sets the default radix for input and output. It can be set
2659 to 8, 10, or 16. Note that the argument to "radix" is interpreted
2660 in the current radix, so "set radix 10" is always a no-op.
2662 height N: This integer value is the number of lines on a page. Default
2663 is 24, the current `stty rows'' setting, or the ``li#''
2664 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
2667 width N: This integer value is the number of characters on a line.
2668 Default is 80, the current `stty cols'' setting, or the ``co#''
2669 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
2672 Note: ``set screensize'' is obsolete. Use ``set height'' and
2673 ``set width'' instead.
2675 print address on/off: Print memory addresses in various command displays,
2676 such as stack traces and structure values. Gdb looks
2677 more ``symbolic'' if you turn this off; it looks more
2678 ``machine level'' with it on. Default is ON.
2680 print array on/off: Prettyprint arrays. New convenient format! Default
2683 print demangle on/off: Print C++ symbols in "source" form if on,
2686 print asm-demangle on/off: Same, for assembler level printouts
2689 print vtbl on/off: Prettyprint C++ virtual function tables. Default is OFF.
2692 * Support for Epoch Environment.
2694 The epoch environment is a version of Emacs v18 with windowing. One
2695 new command, ``inspect'', is identical to ``print'', except that if you
2696 are running in the epoch environment, the value is printed in its own
2700 * Support for Shared Libraries
2702 GDB can now debug programs and core files that use SunOS shared libraries.
2703 Symbols from a shared library cannot be referenced
2704 before the shared library has been linked with the program (this
2705 happens after you type ``run'' and before the function main() is entered).
2706 At any time after this linking (including when examining core files
2707 from dynamically linked programs), gdb reads the symbols from each
2708 shared library when you type the ``sharedlibrary'' command.
2709 It can be abbreviated ``share''.
2711 sharedlibrary REGEXP: Load shared object library symbols for files
2712 matching a unix regular expression. No argument
2713 indicates to load symbols for all shared libraries.
2715 info sharedlibrary: Status of loaded shared libraries.
2720 A watchpoint stops execution of a program whenever the value of an
2721 expression changes. Checking for this slows down execution
2722 tremendously whenever you are in the scope of the expression, but is
2723 quite useful for catching tough ``bit-spreader'' or pointer misuse
2724 problems. Some machines such as the 386 have hardware for doing this
2725 more quickly, and future versions of gdb will use this hardware.
2727 watch EXP: Set a watchpoint (breakpoint) for an expression.
2729 info watchpoints: Information about your watchpoints.
2731 delete N: Deletes watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
2732 disable N: Temporarily turns off watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
2733 enable N: Re-enables watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
2736 * C++ multiple inheritance
2738 When used with a GCC version 2 compiler, GDB supports multiple inheritance
2741 * C++ exception handling
2743 Gdb now supports limited C++ exception handling. Besides the existing
2744 ability to breakpoint on an exception handler, gdb can breakpoint on
2745 the raising of an exception (before the stack is peeled back to the
2748 catch FOO: If there is a FOO exception handler in the dynamic scope,
2749 set a breakpoint to catch exceptions which may be raised there.
2750 Multiple exceptions (``catch foo bar baz'') may be caught.
2752 info catch: Lists all exceptions which may be caught in the
2753 current stack frame.
2756 * Minor command changes
2758 The command ``call func (arg, arg, ...)'' now acts like the print
2759 command, except it does not print or save a value if the function's result
2760 is void. This is similar to dbx usage.
2762 The ``up'' and ``down'' commands now always print the frame they end up
2763 at; ``up-silently'' and `down-silently'' can be used in scripts to change
2764 frames without printing.
2766 * New directory command
2768 'dir' now adds directories to the FRONT of the source search path.
2769 The path starts off empty. Source files that contain debug information
2770 about the directory in which they were compiled can be found even
2771 with an empty path; Sun CC and GCC include this information. If GDB can't
2772 find your source file in the current directory, type "dir .".
2774 * Configuring GDB for compilation
2776 For normal use, type ``./configure host''. See README or gdb.texinfo
2779 GDB now handles cross debugging. If you are remotely debugging between
2780 two different machines, type ``./configure host -target=targ''.
2781 Host is the machine where GDB will run; targ is the machine
2782 where the program that you are debugging will run.
projects / binutils.git / blob