1 What has changed in GDB?
2 (Organized release by release)
4 *** Changes since GDB 6.8
6 * GDB now supports multiple function calling conventions according to the
7 DWARF-2 DW_AT_calling_convention function attribute.
9 * The SH target utilizes the aforementioned change to distinguish between gcc
10 and Renesas calling convention. It also adds the new CLI commands
11 `set/show sh calling-convention'.
13 * GDB can now read compressed debug sections, as produced by GNU gold
14 with the --compress-debug-sections=zlib flag.
16 * 64-bit core files are now supported on AIX.
18 * Watchpoints can now be set on unreadable memory locations, e.g. addresses
19 which will be allocated using malloc later in program execution.
21 * The qXfer:libraries:read remote procotol packet now allows passing a
22 list of section offsets.
24 * On GNU/Linux, GDB can now attach to stopped processes. Several race
25 conditions handling signals delivered during attach or thread creation
28 * New features in the GDB remote stub, gdbserver
30 - The "--wrapper" command-line argument tells gdbserver to use a
31 wrapper program to launch programs for debugging.
37 Display timestamps with GDB debugging output.
42 Use a wrapper program to launch programs for debugging.
44 set multiple-symbols (all|ask|cancel)
46 The value of this variable can be changed to adjust the debugger behavior
47 when an expression or a breakpoint location contains an ambiguous symbol
48 name (an overloaded function name, for instance).
50 set breakpoint always-inserted
51 show breakpoint always-inserted
52 Keep breakpoints always inserted in the target, as opposed to inserting
53 them when resuming the target, and removing them when the target stops.
54 This option can improve debugger performance on slow remote targets.
56 *** Changes in GDB 6.8
58 * New native configurations
60 NetBSD/hppa hppa*-*netbsd*
61 Xtensa GNU/Linux xtensa*-*-linux*
65 NetBSD/hppa hppa*-*-netbsd*
66 Xtensa GNU/Lunux xtensa*-*-linux*
68 * Change in command line behavior -- corefiles vs. process ids.
70 When the '-p NUMBER' or '--pid NUMBER' options are used, and
71 attaching to process NUMBER fails, GDB no longer attempts to open a
72 core file named NUMBER. Attaching to a program using the -c option
73 is no longer supported. Instead, use the '-p' or '--pid' options.
75 * GDB can now be built as a native debugger for debugging Windows x86
76 (mingw32) Portable Executable (PE) programs.
78 * Pending breakpoints no longer change their number when their address
81 * GDB now supports breakpoints with multiple locations,
82 including breakpoints on C++ constructors, inside C++ templates,
83 and in inlined functions.
85 * GDB's ability to debug optimized code has been improved. GDB more
86 accurately identifies function bodies and lexical blocks that occupy
87 more than one contiguous range of addresses.
89 * Target descriptions can now describe registers for PowerPC.
91 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports the AltiVec and SPE
92 registers on PowerPC targets.
94 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports thread debugging on GNU/Linux
95 targets even when the libthread_db library is not available.
97 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports the new file transfer
98 commands (remote put, remote get, and remote delete).
100 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports run and attach in
101 extended-remote mode.
103 * hppa*64*-*-hpux11* target broken
104 The debugger is unable to start a program and fails with the following
105 error: "Error trying to get information about dynamic linker".
106 The gdb-6.7 release is also affected.
108 * GDB now supports the --enable-targets= configure option to allow
109 building a single GDB executable that supports multiple remote
110 target architectures.
112 * GDB now supports debugging C and C++ programs which use the
113 Decimal Floating Point extension. In addition, the PowerPC target
114 now has a set of pseudo-registers to inspect decimal float values
115 stored in two consecutive float registers.
117 * The -break-insert MI command can optionally create pending
120 * Improved support for debugging Ada
121 Many improvements to the Ada language support have been made. These
123 - Better support for Ada2005 interface types
124 - Improved handling of arrays and slices in general
125 - Better support for Taft-amendment types
126 - The '{type} ADDRESS' expression is now allowed on the left hand-side
128 - Improved command completion in Ada
133 set print frame-arguments (all|scalars|none)
134 show print frame-arguments
135 The value of this variable can be changed to control which argument
136 values should be printed by the debugger when displaying a frame.
141 Transfer files to and from a remote target, and delete remote files.
148 Transfer files to and from a remote target, and delete remote files.
157 Open, close, read, write, and delete files on the remote system.
159 * GDB on GNU/Linux and HP/UX can now debug through "exec" of a new
163 Attach to an existing process on the remote system, in extended-remote
167 Run a new process on the remote system, in extended-remote mode.
169 *** Changes in GDB 6.7
171 * Resolved 101 resource leaks, null pointer dereferences, etc. in gdb,
172 bfd, libiberty and opcodes, as revealed by static analysis donated by
173 Coverity, Inc. (http://scan.coverity.com).
175 * When looking up multiply-defined global symbols, GDB will now prefer the
176 symbol definition in the current shared library if it was built using the
177 -Bsymbolic linker option.
179 * When the Text User Interface (TUI) is not configured, GDB will now
180 recognize the -tui command-line option and print a message that the TUI
183 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now has lower overhead for high
184 frequency signals (e.g. SIGALRM) via the QPassSignals packet.
186 * GDB for MIPS targets now autodetects whether a remote target provides
187 32-bit or 64-bit register values.
189 * Support for C++ member pointers has been improved.
191 * GDB now understands XML target descriptions, which specify the
192 target's overall architecture. GDB can read a description from
193 a local file or over the remote serial protocol.
195 * Vectors of single-byte data use a new integer type which is not
196 automatically displayed as character or string data.
198 * The /s format now works with the print command. It displays
199 arrays of single-byte integers and pointers to single-byte integers
202 * Target descriptions can now describe target-specific registers,
203 for architectures which have implemented the support (currently
204 only ARM, M68K, and MIPS).
206 * GDB and the GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now support the XScale
209 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, has been updated to support
210 ARM Windows CE (mingw32ce) debugging, and GDB Windows CE support
211 has been rewritten to use the standard GDB remote protocol.
213 * GDB can now step into C++ functions which are called through thunks.
215 * GDB for the Cell/B.E. SPU now supports overlay debugging.
217 * The GDB remote protocol "qOffsets" packet can now honor ELF segment
218 layout. It also supports a TextSeg= and DataSeg= response when only
219 segment base addresses (rather than offsets) are available.
221 * The /i format now outputs any trailing branch delay slot instructions
222 immediately following the last instruction within the count specified.
224 * The GDB remote protocol "T" stop reply packet now supports a
225 "library" response. Combined with the new "qXfer:libraries:read"
226 packet, this response allows GDB to debug shared libraries on targets
227 where the operating system manages the list of loaded libraries (e.g.
228 Windows and SymbianOS).
230 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports dynamic link libraries
231 (DLLs) on Windows and Windows CE targets.
233 * GDB now supports a faster verification that a .debug file matches its binary
234 according to its build-id signature, if the signature is present.
240 Enable or disable hardware flow control (RTS/CTS) on the serial port
241 when debugging using remote targets.
243 set mem inaccessible-by-default
244 show mem inaccessible-by-default
245 If the target supplies a memory map, for instance via the remote
246 protocol's "qXfer:memory-map:read" packet, setting this variable
247 prevents GDB from accessing memory outside the memory map. This
248 is useful for targets with memory mapped registers or which react
249 badly to accesses of unmapped address space.
251 set breakpoint auto-hw
252 show breakpoint auto-hw
253 If the target supplies a memory map, for instance via the remote
254 protocol's "qXfer:memory-map:read" packet, setting this variable
255 lets GDB use hardware breakpoints automatically for memory regions
256 where it can not use software breakpoints. This covers both the
257 "break" command and internal breakpoints used for other commands
258 including "next" and "finish".
261 catch exception unhandled
262 Stop the program execution when Ada exceptions are raised.
265 Stop the program execution when an Ada assertion failed.
269 Set an alternate system root for target files. This is a more
270 general version of "set solib-absolute-prefix", which is now
271 an alias to "set sysroot".
274 Provide extended SPU facility status information. This set of
275 commands is available only when debugging the Cell/B.E. SPU
278 * New native configurations
280 OpenBSD/sh sh*-*openbsd*
285 Use the specified local file as an XML target description, and do
286 not query the target for its built-in description.
290 OpenBSD/sh sh*-*-openbsd*
291 MIPS64 GNU/Linux (gdbserver) mips64-linux-gnu
292 Toshiba Media Processor mep-elf
297 Ignore the specified signals; pass them directly to the debugged program
298 without stopping other threads or reporting them to GDB.
301 Read an XML target description from the target, which describes its
306 Read or write contents of an spufs file on the target system. These
307 packets are available only on the Cell/B.E. SPU architecture.
309 qXfer:libraries:read:
310 Report the loaded shared libraries. Combined with new "T" packet
311 response, this packet allows GDB to debug shared libraries on
312 targets where the operating system manages the list of loaded
313 libraries (e.g. Windows and SymbianOS).
317 Support for these obsolete configurations has been removed.
326 i[34567]86-*-netware*
327 i[34567]86-*-sco3.2v5*
328 i[34567]86-*-sco3.2v4*
330 i[34567]86-*-sysv4.2*
333 i[34567]86-*-unixware2*
334 i[34567]86-*-unixware*
343 * Other removed features
350 Various m68k-only ROM monitors.
357 Various Renesas ROM monitors and debugging interfaces for SH and
362 Support for a Macraigor serial interface to on-chip debugging.
363 GDB does not directly support the newer parallel or USB
368 A debug information format. The predecessor to DWARF 2 and
369 DWARF 3, which are still supported.
371 Support for the HP aCC compiler on HP-UX/PA-RISC
373 SOM-encapsulated symbolic debugging information, automatic
374 invocation of pxdb, and the aCC custom C++ ABI. This does not
375 affect HP-UX for Itanium or GCC for HP-UX/PA-RISC. Code compiled
376 with aCC can still be debugged on an assembly level.
380 A MIPS-specific format used to describe stack frame layout
381 in debugging information.
385 GDB could work with an older version of Guile to debug
386 the interpreter and Scheme programs running in it.
388 set mips stack-arg-size
389 set mips saved-gpreg-size
391 Use "set mips abi" to control parameter passing for MIPS.
393 *** Changes in GDB 6.6
398 Cell Broadband Engine SPU spu-elf
400 * GDB can now be configured as a cross-debugger targeting native Windows
401 (mingw32) or Cygwin. It can communicate with a remote debugging stub
402 running on a Windows system over TCP/IP to debug Windows programs.
404 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, has been updated to support Windows and
405 Cygwin debugging. Both single-threaded and multi-threaded programs are
408 * The "set trust-readonly-sections" command works again. This command was
409 broken in GDB 6.3, 6.4, and 6.5.
411 * The "load" command now supports writing to flash memory, if the remote
412 stub provides the required support.
414 * Support for GNU/Linux Thread Local Storage (TLS, per-thread variables) no
415 longer requires symbolic debug information (e.g. DWARF-2).
420 unset substitute-path
422 Manage a list of substitution rules that GDB uses to rewrite the name
423 of the directories where the sources are located. This can be useful
424 for instance when the sources were moved to a different location
425 between compilation and debugging.
429 Print each CLI command as it is executed. Each command is prefixed with
430 a number of `+' symbols representing the nesting depth.
431 The source command now has a `-v' option to enable the same feature.
435 The ARM Demon monitor support (RDP protocol, "target rdp").
437 Kernel Object Display, an embedded debugging feature which only worked with
438 an obsolete version of Cisco IOS.
440 The 'set download-write-size' and 'show download-write-size' commands.
445 Tell a stub about GDB client features, and request remote target features.
446 The first feature implemented is PacketSize, which allows the target to
447 specify the size of packets it can handle - to minimize the number of
448 packets required and improve performance when connected to a remote
452 Fetch an OS auxilliary vector from the remote stub. This packet is a
453 more efficient replacement for qPart:auxv:read.
455 qXfer:memory-map:read:
456 Fetch a memory map from the remote stub, including information about
457 RAM, ROM, and flash memory devices.
462 Erase and program a flash memory device.
464 * Removed remote packets
467 This packet has been replaced by qXfer:auxv:read. Only GDB 6.4 and 6.5
468 used it, and only gdbserver implemented it.
470 *** Changes in GDB 6.5
474 Renesas M32C/M16C m32c-elf
476 Morpho Technologies ms1 ms1-elf
480 init-if-undefined Initialize a convenience variable, but
481 only if it doesn't already have a value.
483 The following commands are presently only implemented for native GNU/Linux:
485 checkpoint Save a snapshot of the program state.
487 restart <n> Return the program state to a
488 previously saved state.
490 info checkpoints List currently saved checkpoints.
492 delete-checkpoint <n> Delete a previously saved checkpoint.
494 set|show detach-on-fork Tell gdb whether to detach from a newly
495 forked process, or to keep debugging it.
497 info forks List forks of the user program that
498 are available to be debugged.
500 fork <n> Switch to debugging one of several
501 forks of the user program that are
502 available to be debugged.
504 delete-fork <n> Delete a fork from the list of forks
505 that are available to be debugged (and
506 kill the forked process).
508 detach-fork <n> Delete a fork from the list of forks
509 that are available to be debugged (and
510 allow the process to continue).
514 Morpho Technologies ms2 ms1-elf
516 * Improved Windows host support
518 GDB now builds as a cross debugger hosted on i686-mingw32, including
519 native console support, and remote communications using either
520 network sockets or serial ports.
522 * Improved Modula-2 language support
524 GDB can now print most types in the Modula-2 syntax. This includes:
525 basic types, set types, record types, enumerated types, range types,
526 pointer types and ARRAY types. Procedure var parameters are correctly
527 printed and hexadecimal addresses and character constants are also
528 written in the Modula-2 syntax. Best results can be obtained by using
529 GNU Modula-2 together with the -gdwarf-2 command line option.
533 The ARM rdi-share module.
535 The Netware NLM debug server.
537 *** Changes in GDB 6.4
539 * New native configurations
541 OpenBSD/arm arm*-*-openbsd*
542 OpenBSD/mips64 mips64-*-openbsd*
546 Morpho Technologies ms1 ms1-elf
548 * New command line options
550 --batch-silent As for --batch, but totally silent.
551 --return-child-result The debugger will exist with the same value
552 the child (debugged) program exited with.
553 --eval-command COMMAND, -ex COMMAND
554 Execute a single GDB CLI command. This may be
555 specified multiple times and in conjunction
556 with the --command (-x) option.
558 * Deprecated commands removed
560 The following commands, that were deprecated in 2000, have been
564 set|show arm disassembly-flavor set|show arm disassembler
565 othernames set arm disassembler
566 set|show remotedebug set|show debug remote
567 set|show archdebug set|show debug arch
568 set|show eventdebug set|show debug event
571 * New BSD user-level threads support
573 It is now possible to debug programs using the user-level threads
574 library on OpenBSD and FreeBSD. Currently supported (target)
577 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
578 FreeBSD/i386 i386-*-freebsd*
579 OpenBSD/i386 i386-*-openbsd*
581 Note that the new kernel threads libraries introduced in FreeBSD 5.x
582 are not yet supported.
584 * New support for Matsushita MN10300 w/sim added
585 (Work in progress). mn10300-elf.
587 * REMOVED configurations and files
589 VxWorks and the XDR protocol *-*-vxworks
590 Motorola MCORE mcore-*-*
591 National Semiconductor NS32000 ns32k-*-*
593 * New "set print array-indexes" command
595 After turning this setting "on", GDB prints the index of each element
596 when displaying arrays. The default is "off" to preserve the previous
599 * VAX floating point support
601 GDB now supports the not-quite-ieee VAX F and D floating point formats.
603 * User-defined command support
605 In addition to using $arg0..$arg9 for argument passing, it is now possible
606 to use $argc to determine now many arguments have been passed. See the
607 section on user-defined commands in the user manual for more information.
609 *** Changes in GDB 6.3:
611 * New command line option
613 GDB now accepts -l followed by a number to set the timeout for remote
616 * GDB works with GCC -feliminate-dwarf2-dups
618 GDB now supports a more compact representation of DWARF-2 debug
619 information using DW_FORM_ref_addr references. These are produced
620 by GCC with the option -feliminate-dwarf2-dups and also by some
621 proprietary compilers. With GCC, you must use GCC 3.3.4 or later
622 to use -feliminate-dwarf2-dups.
624 * Internationalization
626 When supported by the host system, GDB will be built with
627 internationalization (libintl). The task of marking up the sources is
628 continued, we're looking forward to our first translation.
632 Initial support for debugging programs compiled with the GNAT
633 implementation of the Ada programming language has been integrated
634 into GDB. In this release, support is limited to expression evaluation.
636 * New native configurations
638 GNU/Linux/m32r m32r-*-linux-gnu
642 GDB's remote protocol now includes support for the 'p' packet. This
643 packet is used to fetch individual registers from a remote inferior.
645 * END-OF-LIFE registers[] compatibility module
647 GDB's internal register infrastructure has been completely rewritten.
648 The new infrastructure making possible the implementation of key new
649 features including 32x64 (e.g., 64-bit amd64 GDB debugging a 32-bit
652 GDB 6.3 will be the last release to include the the registers[]
653 compatibility module that allowed out-of-date configurations to
654 continue to work. This change directly impacts the following
666 Unless there is activity to revive these configurations, they will be
667 made OBSOLETE in GDB 6.4, and REMOVED from GDB 6.5.
669 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
671 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
672 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
673 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
683 *** Changes in GDB 6.2.1:
685 * MIPS `break main; run' gave an heuristic-fence-post warning
687 When attempting to run even a simple program, a warning about
688 heuristic-fence-post being hit would be reported. This problem has
691 * MIPS IRIX 'long double' crashed GDB
693 When examining a long double variable, GDB would get a segmentation
694 fault. The crash has been fixed (but GDB 6.2 cannot correctly examine
695 IRIX long double values).
699 A bug in the VAX stack code was causing problems with the "next"
700 command. This problem has been fixed.
702 *** Changes in GDB 6.2:
704 * Fix for ``many threads''
706 On GNU/Linux systems that use the NPTL threads library, a program
707 rapidly creating and deleting threads would confuse GDB leading to the
710 ptrace: No such process.
711 thread_db_get_info: cannot get thread info: generic error
713 This problem has been fixed.
715 * "-async" and "-noasync" options removed.
717 Support for the broken "-noasync" option has been removed (it caused
720 * New ``start'' command.
722 This command runs the program until the begining of the main procedure.
724 * New BSD Kernel Data Access Library (libkvm) interface
726 Using ``target kvm'' it is now possible to debug kernel core dumps and
727 live kernel memory images on various FreeBSD, NetBSD and OpenBSD
728 platforms. Currently supported (native-only) configurations are:
730 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
731 FreeBSD/i386 i?86-*-freebsd*
732 NetBSD/i386 i?86-*-netbsd*
733 NetBSD/m68k m68*-*-netbsd*
734 NetBSD/sparc sparc-*-netbsd*
735 OpenBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-openbsd*
736 OpenBSD/i386 i?86-*-openbsd*
737 OpenBSD/m68k m68*-openbsd*
738 OpenBSD/sparc sparc-*-openbsd*
740 * Signal trampoline code overhauled
742 Many generic problems with GDB's signal handling code have been fixed.
743 These include: backtraces through non-contiguous stacks; recognition
744 of sa_sigaction signal trampolines; backtrace from a NULL pointer
745 call; backtrace through a signal trampoline; step into and out of
746 signal handlers; and single-stepping in the signal trampoline.
748 Please note that kernel bugs are a limiting factor here. These
749 features have been shown to work on an s390 GNU/Linux system that
750 include a 2.6.8-rc1 kernel. Ref PR breakpoints/1702.
752 * Cygwin support for DWARF 2 added.
754 * New native configurations
756 GNU/Linux/hppa hppa*-*-linux*
757 OpenBSD/hppa hppa*-*-openbsd*
758 OpenBSD/m68k m68*-*-openbsd*
759 OpenBSD/m88k m88*-*-openbsd*
760 OpenBSD/powerpc powerpc-*-openbsd*
761 NetBSD/vax vax-*-netbsd*
762 OpenBSD/vax vax-*-openbsd*
764 * END-OF-LIFE frame compatibility module
766 GDB's internal frame infrastructure has been completely rewritten.
767 The new infrastructure making it possible to support key new features
768 including DWARF 2 Call Frame Information. To aid in the task of
769 migrating old configurations to this new infrastructure, a
770 compatibility module, that allowed old configurations to continue to
771 work, was also included.
773 GDB 6.2 will be the last release to include this frame compatibility
774 module. This change directly impacts the following configurations:
784 Unless there is activity to revive these configurations, they will be
785 made OBSOLETE in GDB 6.3, and REMOVED from GDB 6.4.
787 * REMOVED configurations and files
789 Sun 3, running SunOS 3 m68*-*-sunos3*
790 Sun 3, running SunOS 4 m68*-*-sunos4*
791 Sun 2, running SunOS 3 m68000-*-sunos3*
792 Sun 2, running SunOS 4 m68000-*-sunos4*
793 Motorola 680x0 running LynxOS m68*-*-lynxos*
794 AT&T 3b1/Unix pc m68*-att-*
795 Bull DPX2 (68k, System V release 3) m68*-bull-sysv*
796 decstation mips-dec-* mips-little-*
797 riscos mips-*-riscos* mips-*-sysv*
799 sysv mips*-*-sysv4* (IRIX 5/6 not included)
801 *** Changes in GDB 6.1.1:
803 * TUI (Text-mode User Interface) built-in (also included in GDB 6.1)
805 The TUI (Text-mode User Interface) is now built as part of a default
806 GDB configuration. It is enabled by either selecting the TUI with the
807 command line option "-i=tui" or by running the separate "gdbtui"
808 program. For more information on the TUI, see the manual "Debugging
811 * Pending breakpoint support (also included in GDB 6.1)
813 Support has been added to allow you to specify breakpoints in shared
814 libraries that have not yet been loaded. If a breakpoint location
815 cannot be found, and the "breakpoint pending" option is set to auto,
816 GDB queries you if you wish to make the breakpoint pending on a future
817 shared-library load. If and when GDB resolves the breakpoint symbol,
818 the pending breakpoint is removed as one or more regular breakpoints
821 Pending breakpoints are very useful for GCJ Java debugging.
823 * Fixed ISO-C build problems
825 The files bfd/elf-bfd.h, gdb/dictionary.c and gdb/types.c contained
826 non ISO-C code that stopped them being built using a more strict ISO-C
827 compiler (e.g., IBM's C compiler).
829 * Fixed build problem on IRIX 5
831 Due to header problems with <sys/proc.h>, the file gdb/proc-api.c
832 wasn't able to compile compile on an IRIX 5 system.
834 * Added execute permission to gdb/gdbserver/configure
836 The shell script gdb/testsuite/gdb.stabs/configure lacked execute
837 permission. This bug would cause configure to fail on a number of
838 systems (Solaris, IRIX). Ref: server/519.
840 * Fixed build problem on hpux2.0w-hp-hpux11.00 using the HP ANSI C compiler
842 Older HPUX ANSI C compilers did not accept variable array sizes. somsolib.c
843 has been updated to use constant array sizes.
845 * Fixed a panic in the DWARF Call Frame Info code on Solaris 2.7
847 GCC 3.3.2, on Solaris 2.7, includes the DW_EH_PE_funcrel encoding in
848 its generated DWARF Call Frame Info. This encoding was causing GDB to
849 panic, that panic has been fixed. Ref: gdb/1628.
851 * Fixed a problem when examining parameters in shared library code.
853 When examining parameters in optimized shared library code generated
854 by a mainline GCC, GDB would incorrectly report ``Variable "..." is
855 not available''. GDB now correctly displays the variable's value.
857 *** Changes in GDB 6.1:
859 * Removed --with-mmalloc
861 Support for the mmalloc memory manager has been removed, as it
862 conflicted with the internal gdb byte cache.
864 * Changes in AMD64 configurations
866 The AMD64 target now includes the %cs and %ss registers. As a result
867 the AMD64 remote protocol has changed; this affects the floating-point
868 and SSE registers. If you rely on those registers for your debugging,
869 you should upgrade gdbserver on the remote side.
871 * Revised SPARC target
873 The SPARC target has been completely revised, incorporating the
874 FreeBSD/sparc64 support that was added for GDB 6.0. As a result
875 support for LynxOS and SunOS 4 has been dropped. Calling functions
876 from within GDB on operating systems with a non-executable stack
877 (Solaris, OpenBSD) now works.
881 GDB has a new C++ demangler which does a better job on the mangled
882 names generated by current versions of g++. It also runs faster, so
883 with this and other changes gdb should now start faster on large C++
886 * DWARF 2 Location Expressions
888 GDB support for location expressions has been extended to support function
889 arguments and frame bases. Older versions of GDB could crash when they
892 * C++ nested types and namespaces
894 GDB's support for nested types and namespaces in C++ has been
895 improved, especially if you use the DWARF 2 debugging format. (This
896 is the default for recent versions of GCC on most platforms.)
897 Specifically, if you have a class "Inner" defined within a class or
898 namespace "Outer", then GDB realizes that the class's name is
899 "Outer::Inner", not simply "Inner". This should greatly reduce the
900 frequency of complaints about not finding RTTI symbols. In addition,
901 if you are stopped at inside of a function defined within a namespace,
902 GDB modifies its name lookup accordingly.
904 * New native configurations
906 NetBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-netbsd*
907 OpenBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-openbsd*
908 OpenBSD/alpha alpha*-*-openbsd*
909 OpenBSD/sparc sparc-*-openbsd*
910 OpenBSD/sparc64 sparc64-*-openbsd*
912 * New debugging protocols
914 M32R with SDI protocol m32r-*-elf*
916 * "set prompt-escape-char" command deleted.
918 The command "set prompt-escape-char" has been deleted. This command,
919 and its very obscure effet on GDB's prompt, was never documented,
920 tested, nor mentioned in the NEWS file.
922 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
924 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
925 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
926 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
929 Sun 3, running SunOS 3 m68*-*-sunos3*
930 Sun 3, running SunOS 4 m68*-*-sunos4*
931 Sun 2, running SunOS 3 m68000-*-sunos3*
932 Sun 2, running SunOS 4 m68000-*-sunos4*
933 Motorola 680x0 running LynxOS m68*-*-lynxos*
934 AT&T 3b1/Unix pc m68*-att-*
935 Bull DPX2 (68k, System V release 3) m68*-bull-sysv*
936 decstation mips-dec-* mips-little-*
937 riscos mips-*-riscos* mips-*-sysv*
939 sysv mips*-*-sysv4* (IRIX 5/6 not included)
941 * REMOVED configurations and files
943 SGI Irix-4.x mips-sgi-irix4 or iris4
944 SGI Iris (MIPS) running Irix V3: mips-sgi-irix or iris
945 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
946 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
947 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
948 HP/PA running BSD hppa*-*-bsd*
949 HP/PA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
950 HP/PA Pro target hppa*-*-pro*
951 PMAX (MIPS) running Mach 3.0 mips*-*-mach3*
952 386BSD i[3456]86-*-bsd*
953 Sequent family i[3456]86-sequent-sysv4*
954 i[3456]86-sequent-sysv*
955 i[3456]86-sequent-bsd*
956 SPARC running LynxOS sparc-*-lynxos*
957 SPARC running SunOS 4 sparc-*-sunos4*
958 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
959 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
961 *** Changes in GDB 6.0:
965 Support for debugging the Objective-C programming language has been
968 * New backtrace mechanism (includes DWARF 2 Call Frame Information).
970 DWARF 2's Call Frame Information makes available compiler generated
971 information that more exactly describes the program's run-time stack.
972 By using this information, GDB is able to provide more robust stack
975 The i386, amd64 (nee, x86-64), Alpha, m68hc11, ia64, and m32r targets
976 have been updated to use a new backtrace mechanism which includes
981 GDB's remote protocol has been extended to include support for hosted
982 file I/O (where the remote target uses GDB's file system). See GDB's
983 remote protocol documentation for details.
985 * All targets using the new architecture framework.
987 All of GDB's targets have been updated to use the new internal
988 architecture framework. The way is now open for future GDB releases
989 to include cross-architecture native debugging support (i386 on amd64,
992 * GNU/Linux's Thread Local Storage (TLS)
994 GDB now includes support for for the GNU/Linux implementation of
995 per-thread variables.
997 * GNU/Linux's Native POSIX Thread Library (NPTL)
999 GDB's thread code has been updated to work with either the new
1000 GNU/Linux NPTL thread library or the older "LinuxThreads" library.
1002 * Separate debug info.
1004 GDB, in conjunction with BINUTILS, now supports a mechanism for
1005 automatically loading debug information from a separate file. Instead
1006 of shipping full debug and non-debug versions of system libraries,
1007 system integrators can now instead ship just the stripped libraries
1008 and optional debug files.
1010 * DWARF 2 Location Expressions
1012 DWARF 2 Location Expressions allow the compiler to more completely
1013 describe the location of variables (even in optimized code) to the
1016 GDB now includes preliminary support for location expressions (support
1017 for DW_OP_piece is still missing).
1021 A number of long standing bugs that caused GDB to die while starting a
1022 Java application have been fixed. GDB's Java support is now
1023 considered "useable".
1025 * GNU/Linux support for fork, vfork, and exec.
1027 The "catch fork", "catch exec", "catch vfork", and "set follow-fork-mode"
1028 commands are now implemented for GNU/Linux. They require a 2.5.x or later
1031 * GDB supports logging output to a file
1033 There are two new commands, "set logging" and "show logging", which can be
1034 used to capture GDB's output to a file.
1036 * The meaning of "detach" has changed for gdbserver
1038 The "detach" command will now resume the application, as documented. To
1039 disconnect from gdbserver and leave it stopped, use the new "disconnect"
1042 * d10v, m68hc11 `regs' command deprecated
1044 The `info registers' command has been updated so that it displays the
1045 registers using a format identical to the old `regs' command.
1049 A new command, "maint set profile on/off", has been added. This command can
1050 be used to enable or disable profiling while running GDB, to profile a
1051 session or a set of commands. In addition there is a new configure switch,
1052 "--enable-profiling", which will cause GDB to be compiled with profiling
1053 data, for more informative profiling results.
1055 * Default MI syntax changed to "mi2".
1057 The default MI (machine interface) syntax, enabled by the command line
1058 option "-i=mi", has been changed to "mi2". The previous MI syntax,
1059 "mi1", can be enabled by specifying the option "-i=mi1".
1061 Support for the original "mi0" syntax (included in GDB 5.0) has been
1064 Fix for gdb/192: removed extraneous space when displaying frame level.
1065 Fix for gdb/672: update changelist is now output in mi list format.
1066 Fix for gdb/702: a -var-assign that updates the value now shows up
1067 in a subsequent -var-update.
1069 * New native configurations.
1071 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
1073 * Multi-arched targets.
1075 HP/PA HPUX11 hppa*-*-hpux*
1076 Renesas M32R/D w/simulator m32r-*-elf*
1078 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
1080 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
1081 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
1082 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
1083 permanently REMOVED.
1085 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
1086 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
1087 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
1088 HP/PA running BSD hppa*-*-bsd*
1089 HP/PA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
1090 HP/PA Pro target hppa*-*-pro*
1091 PMAX (MIPS) running Mach 3.0 mips*-*-mach3*
1092 Sequent family i[3456]86-sequent-sysv4*
1093 i[3456]86-sequent-sysv*
1094 i[3456]86-sequent-bsd*
1095 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
1096 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
1098 * REMOVED configurations and files
1101 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
1102 IBM AIX PS/2 i[3456]86-*-aix
1103 i386 running Mach 3.0 i[3456]86-*-mach3*
1104 i386 running Mach i[3456]86-*-mach*
1105 i386 running OSF/1 i[3456]86-*osf1mk*
1106 HP/Apollo 68k Family m68*-apollo*-sysv*,
1108 m68*-hp-bsd*, m68*-hp-hpux*
1109 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
1110 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
1111 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
1112 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
1113 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
1115 * MIPS $fp behavior changed
1117 The convenience variable $fp, for the MIPS, now consistently returns
1118 the address of the current frame's base. Previously, depending on the
1119 context, $fp could refer to either $sp or the current frame's base
1120 address. See ``8.10 Registers'' in the manual ``Debugging with GDB:
1121 The GNU Source-Level Debugger''.
1123 *** Changes in GDB 5.3:
1125 * GNU/Linux shared library multi-threaded performance improved.
1127 When debugging a multi-threaded application on GNU/Linux, GDB now uses
1128 `/proc', in preference to `ptrace' for memory reads. This may result
1129 in an improvement in the start-up time of multi-threaded, shared
1130 library applications when run under GDB. One GDB user writes: ``loads
1131 shared libs like mad''.
1133 * ``gdbserver'' now supports multi-threaded applications on some targets
1135 Support for debugging multi-threaded applications which use
1136 the GNU/Linux LinuxThreads package has been added for
1137 arm*-*-linux*-gnu*, i[3456]86-*-linux*-gnu*, mips*-*-linux*-gnu*,
1138 powerpc*-*-linux*-gnu*, and sh*-*-linux*-gnu*.
1140 * GDB now supports C/C++ preprocessor macros.
1142 GDB now expands preprocessor macro invocations in C/C++ expressions,
1143 and provides various commands for showing macro definitions and how
1146 The new command `macro expand EXPRESSION' expands any macro
1147 invocations in expression, and shows the result.
1149 The new command `show macro MACRO-NAME' shows the definition of the
1150 macro named MACRO-NAME, and where it was defined.
1152 Most compilers don't include information about macros in the debugging
1153 information by default. In GCC 3.1, for example, you need to compile
1154 your program with the options `-gdwarf-2 -g3'. If the macro
1155 information is present in the executable, GDB will read it.
1157 * Multi-arched targets.
1159 DEC Alpha (partial) alpha*-*-*
1160 DEC VAX (partial) vax-*-*
1162 National Semiconductor NS32000 (partial) ns32k-*-*
1163 Motorola 68000 (partial) m68k-*-*
1164 Motorola MCORE mcore-*-*
1168 Fujitsu FRV architecture added by Red Hat frv*-*-*
1171 * New native configurations
1173 Alpha NetBSD alpha*-*-netbsd*
1174 SH NetBSD sh*-*-netbsdelf*
1175 MIPS NetBSD mips*-*-netbsd*
1176 UltraSPARC NetBSD sparc64-*-netbsd*
1178 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
1180 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
1181 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
1182 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
1183 permanently REMOVED.
1185 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
1186 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
1187 IBM AIX PS/2 i[3456]86-*-aix
1188 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
1189 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
1190 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
1191 i386 running Mach 3.0 i[3456]86-*-mach3*
1192 i386 running Mach i[3456]86-*-mach*
1193 i386 running OSF/1 i[3456]86-*osf1mk*
1194 HP/Apollo 68k Family m68*-apollo*-sysv*,
1196 m68*-hp-bsd*, m68*-hp-hpux*
1197 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
1199 * OBSOLETE languages
1201 CHILL, a Pascal like language used by telecommunications companies.
1203 * REMOVED configurations and files
1205 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi, udi29k
1206 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
1207 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
1208 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
1209 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
1211 testsuite/gdb.hp/gdb.threads-hp/ directory
1213 * New command "set max-user-call-depth <nnn>"
1215 This command allows the user to limit the call depth of user-defined
1216 commands. The default is 1024.
1218 * Changes in FreeBSD/i386 native debugging.
1220 Support for the "generate-core-file" has been added.
1222 * New commands "dump", "append", and "restore".
1224 These commands allow data to be copied from target memory
1225 to a bfd-format or binary file (dump and append), and back
1226 from a file into memory (restore).
1228 * Improved "next/step" support on multi-processor Alpha Tru64.
1230 The previous single-step mechanism could cause unpredictable problems,
1231 including the random appearance of SIGSEGV or SIGTRAP signals. The use
1232 of a software single-step mechanism prevents this.
1234 *** Changes in GDB 5.2.1:
1242 gdb/182: gdb/323: gdb/237: On alpha, gdb was reporting:
1243 mdebugread.c:2443: gdb-internal-error: sect_index_data not initialized
1244 Fix, by Joel Brobecker imported from mainline.
1246 gdb/439: gdb/291: On some ELF object files, gdb was reporting:
1247 dwarf2read.c:1072: gdb-internal-error: sect_index_text not initialize
1248 Fix, by Fred Fish, imported from mainline.
1250 Dwarf2 .debug_frame & .eh_frame handler improved in many ways.
1251 Surprisingly enough, it works now.
1252 By Michal Ludvig, imported from mainline.
1254 i386 hardware watchpoint support:
1255 avoid misses on second run for some targets.
1256 By Pierre Muller, imported from mainline.
1258 *** Changes in GDB 5.2:
1260 * New command "set trust-readonly-sections on[off]".
1262 This command is a hint that tells gdb that read-only sections
1263 really are read-only (ie. that their contents will not change).
1264 In this mode, gdb will go to the object file rather than the
1265 target to read memory from read-only sections (such as ".text").
1266 This can be a significant performance improvement on some
1267 (notably embedded) targets.
1269 * New command "generate-core-file" (or "gcore").
1271 This new gdb command allows the user to drop a core file of the child
1272 process state at any time. So far it's been implemented only for
1273 GNU/Linux and Solaris, but should be relatively easily ported to other
1274 hosts. Argument is core file name (defaults to core.<pid>).
1276 * New command line option
1278 GDB now accepts --pid or -p followed by a process id.
1280 * Change in command line behavior -- corefiles vs. process ids.
1282 There is a subtle behavior in the way in which GDB handles
1283 command line arguments. The first non-flag argument is always
1284 a program to debug, but the second non-flag argument may either
1285 be a corefile or a process id. Previously, GDB would attempt to
1286 open the second argument as a corefile, and if that failed, would
1287 issue a superfluous error message and then attempt to attach it as
1288 a process. Now, if the second argument begins with a non-digit,
1289 it will be treated as a corefile. If it begins with a digit,
1290 GDB will attempt to attach it as a process, and if no such process
1291 is found, will then attempt to open it as a corefile.
1293 * Changes in ARM configurations.
1295 Multi-arch support is enabled for all ARM configurations. The ARM/NetBSD
1296 configuration is fully multi-arch.
1298 * New native configurations
1300 ARM NetBSD arm*-*-netbsd*
1301 x86 OpenBSD i[3456]86-*-openbsd*
1302 AMD x86-64 running GNU/Linux x86_64-*-linux-*
1303 Sparc64 running FreeBSD sparc64-*-freebsd*
1307 Sanyo XStormy16 xstormy16-elf
1309 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
1311 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
1312 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
1313 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
1314 permanently REMOVED.
1316 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi, udi29k
1317 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
1318 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
1319 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
1320 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
1322 testsuite/gdb.hp/gdb.threads-hp/ directory
1324 * REMOVED configurations and files
1326 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
1328 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
1329 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
1330 PowerPC Netware powerpc-*-netware*
1331 Harris/CXUX m88k m88*-harris-cxux*
1332 Most ns32k hosts and targets ns32k-*-mach3* ns32k-umax-*
1333 ns32k-utek-sysv* ns32k-utek-*
1334 SunOS 4.0.Xi on i386 i[3456]86-*-sunos*
1335 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1 a29k-nyu-sym1 a29k-*-kern*
1336 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x m68*-sony-sysv news
1337 ISI Optimum V (3.05) under 4.3bsd. m68*-isi-*
1338 Apple Macintosh (MPW) host and target N/A host, powerpc-*-macos*
1340 * Changes to command line processing
1342 The new `--args' feature can be used to specify command-line arguments
1343 for the inferior from gdb's command line.
1345 * Changes to key bindings
1347 There is a new `operate-and-get-next' function bound to `C-o'.
1349 *** Changes in GDB 5.1.1
1351 Fix compile problem on DJGPP.
1353 Fix a problem with floating-point registers on the i386 being
1356 Fix to stop GDB crashing on .debug_str debug info.
1358 Numerous documentation fixes.
1360 Numerous testsuite fixes.
1362 *** Changes in GDB 5.1:
1364 * New native configurations
1366 Alpha FreeBSD alpha*-*-freebsd*
1367 x86 FreeBSD 3.x and 4.x i[3456]86*-freebsd[34]*
1368 MIPS GNU/Linux mips*-*-linux*
1369 MIPS SGI Irix 6.x mips*-sgi-irix6*
1370 ia64 AIX ia64-*-aix*
1371 s390 and s390x GNU/Linux {s390,s390x}-*-linux*
1375 Motorola 68HC11 and 68HC12 m68hc11-elf
1377 UltraSparc running GNU/Linux sparc64-*-linux*
1379 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
1381 x86 FreeBSD before 2.2 i[3456]86*-freebsd{1,2.[01]}*,
1382 Harris/CXUX m88k m88*-harris-cxux*
1383 Most ns32k hosts and targets ns32k-*-mach3* ns32k-umax-*
1384 ns32k-utek-sysv* ns32k-utek-*
1385 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
1387 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1 a29k-nyu-sym1 a29k-*-kern*
1388 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
1389 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
1390 PowerPC Netware powerpc-*-netware*
1391 SunOS 4.0.Xi on i386 i[3456]86-*-sunos*
1392 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x m68*-sony-sysv news
1393 ISI Optimum V (3.05) under 4.3bsd. m68*-isi-*
1394 Apple Macintosh (MPW) host N/A
1396 stuff.c (Program to stuff files into a specially prepared space in kdb)
1397 kdb-start.c (Main loop for the standalone kernel debugger)
1399 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
1400 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
1401 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
1402 permanently REMOVED.
1404 * REMOVED configurations and files
1406 Altos 3068 m68*-altos-*
1407 Convex c1-*-*, c2-*-*
1409 ARM RISCix arm-*-* (as host)
1413 * GDB has been converted to ISO C.
1415 GDB's source code has been converted to ISO C. In particular, the
1416 sources are fully protoized, and rely on standard headers being
1421 * "info symbol" works on platforms which use COFF, ECOFF, XCOFF, and NLM.
1423 * The MI enabled by default.
1425 The new machine oriented interface (MI) introduced in GDB 5.0 has been
1426 revised and enabled by default. Packages which use GDB as a debugging
1427 engine behind a UI or another front end are encouraged to switch to
1428 using the GDB/MI interface, instead of the old annotations interface
1429 which is now deprecated.
1431 * Support for debugging Pascal programs.
1433 GDB now includes support for debugging Pascal programs. The following
1434 main features are supported:
1436 - Pascal-specific data types such as sets;
1438 - automatic recognition of Pascal sources based on file-name
1441 - Pascal-style display of data types, variables, and functions;
1443 - a Pascal expression parser.
1445 However, some important features are not yet supported.
1447 - Pascal string operations are not supported at all;
1449 - there are some problems with boolean types;
1451 - Pascal type hexadecimal constants are not supported
1452 because they conflict with the internal variables format;
1454 - support for Pascal objects and classes is not full yet;
1456 - unlike Pascal, GDB is case-sensitive for symbol names.
1458 * Changes in completion.
1460 Commands such as `shell', `run' and `set args', which pass arguments
1461 to inferior programs, now complete on file names, similar to what
1462 users expect at the shell prompt.
1464 Commands which accept locations, such as `disassemble', `print',
1465 `breakpoint', `until', etc. now complete on filenames as well as
1466 program symbols. Thus, if you type "break foob TAB", and the source
1467 files linked into the programs include `foobar.c', that file name will
1468 be one of the candidates for completion. However, file names are not
1469 considered for completion after you typed a colon that delimits a file
1470 name from a name of a function in that file, as in "break foo.c:bar".
1472 `set demangle-style' completes on available demangling styles.
1474 * New platform-independent commands:
1476 It is now possible to define a post-hook for a command as well as a
1477 hook that runs before the command. For more details, see the
1478 documentation of `hookpost' in the GDB manual.
1480 * Changes in GNU/Linux native debugging.
1482 Support for debugging multi-threaded programs has been completely
1483 revised for all platforms except m68k and sparc. You can now debug as
1484 many threads as your system allows you to have.
1486 Attach/detach is supported for multi-threaded programs.
1488 Support for SSE registers was added for x86. This doesn't work for
1489 multi-threaded programs though.
1491 * Changes in MIPS configurations.
1493 Multi-arch support is enabled for all MIPS configurations.
1495 GDB can now be built as native debugger on SGI Irix 6.x systems for
1496 debugging n32 executables. (Debugging 64-bit executables is not yet
1499 * Unified support for hardware watchpoints in all x86 configurations.
1501 Most (if not all) native x86 configurations support hardware-assisted
1502 breakpoints and watchpoints in a unified manner. This support
1503 implements debug register sharing between watchpoints, which allows to
1504 put a virtually infinite number of watchpoints on the same address,
1505 and also supports watching regions up to 16 bytes with several debug
1508 The new maintenance command `maintenance show-debug-regs' toggles
1509 debugging print-outs in functions that insert, remove, and test
1510 watchpoints and hardware breakpoints.
1512 * Changes in the DJGPP native configuration.
1514 New command ``info dos sysinfo'' displays assorted information about
1515 the CPU, OS, memory, and DPMI server.
1517 New commands ``info dos gdt'', ``info dos ldt'', and ``info dos idt''
1518 display information about segment descriptors stored in GDT, LDT, and
1521 New commands ``info dos pde'' and ``info dos pte'' display entries
1522 from Page Directory and Page Tables (for now works with CWSDPMI only).
1523 New command ``info dos address-pte'' displays the Page Table entry for
1524 a given linear address.
1526 GDB can now pass command lines longer than 126 characters to the
1527 program being debugged (requires an update to the libdbg.a library
1528 which is part of the DJGPP development kit).
1530 DWARF2 debug info is now supported.
1532 It is now possible to `step' and `next' through calls to `longjmp'.
1534 * Changes in documentation.
1536 All GDB documentation was converted to GFDL, the GNU Free
1537 Documentation License.
1539 Tracepoints-related commands are now fully documented in the GDB
1542 TUI, the Text-mode User Interface, is now documented in the manual.
1544 Tracepoints-related commands are now fully documented in the GDB
1547 The "GDB Internals" manual now has an index. It also includes
1548 documentation of `ui_out' functions, GDB coding standards, x86
1549 hardware watchpoints, and memory region attributes.
1551 * GDB's version number moved to ``version.in''
1553 The Makefile variable VERSION has been replaced by the file
1554 ``version.in''. People creating GDB distributions should update the
1555 contents of this file.
1559 GUD support is now a standard part of the EMACS distribution.
1561 *** Changes in GDB 5.0:
1563 * Improved support for debugging FP programs on x86 targets
1565 Unified and much-improved support for debugging floating-point
1566 programs on all x86 targets. In particular, ``info float'' now
1567 displays the FP registers in the same format on all x86 targets, with
1568 greater level of detail.
1570 * Improvements and bugfixes in hardware-assisted watchpoints
1572 It is now possible to watch array elements, struct members, and
1573 bitfields with hardware-assisted watchpoints. Data-read watchpoints
1574 on x86 targets no longer erroneously trigger when the address is
1577 * Improvements in the native DJGPP version of GDB
1579 The distribution now includes all the scripts and auxiliary files
1580 necessary to build the native DJGPP version on MS-DOS/MS-Windows
1581 machines ``out of the box''.
1583 The DJGPP version can now debug programs that use signals. It is
1584 possible to catch signals that happened in the debuggee, deliver
1585 signals to it, interrupt it with Ctrl-C, etc. (Previously, a signal
1586 would kill the program being debugged.) Programs that hook hardware
1587 interrupts (keyboard, timer, etc.) can also be debugged.
1589 It is now possible to debug DJGPP programs that redirect their
1590 standard handles or switch them to raw (as opposed to cooked) mode, or
1591 even close them. The command ``run < foo > bar'' works as expected,
1592 and ``info terminal'' reports useful information about the debuggee's
1593 terminal, including raw/cooked mode, redirection, etc.
1595 The DJGPP version now uses termios functions for console I/O, which
1596 enables debugging graphics programs. Interrupting GDB with Ctrl-C
1599 DOS-style file names with drive letters are now fully supported by
1602 It is now possible to debug DJGPP programs that switch their working
1603 directory. It is also possible to rerun the debuggee any number of
1604 times without restarting GDB; thus, you can use the same setup,
1605 breakpoints, etc. for many debugging sessions.
1607 * New native configurations
1609 ARM GNU/Linux arm*-*-linux*
1610 PowerPC GNU/Linux powerpc-*-linux*
1614 Motorola MCore mcore-*-*
1615 x86 VxWorks i[3456]86-*-vxworks*
1616 PowerPC VxWorks powerpc-*-vxworks*
1617 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
1619 * OBSOLETE configurations
1621 Altos 3068 m68*-altos-*
1622 Convex c1-*-*, c2-*-*
1624 ARM RISCix arm-*-* (as host)
1627 Configurations that have been declared obsolete will be commented out,
1628 but the code will be left in place. If there is no activity to revive
1629 these configurations before the next release of GDB, the sources will
1630 be permanently REMOVED.
1632 * Gould support removed
1634 Support for the Gould PowerNode and NP1 has been removed.
1636 * New features for SVR4
1638 On SVR4 native platforms (such as Solaris), if you attach to a process
1639 without first loading a symbol file, GDB will now attempt to locate and
1640 load symbols from the running process's executable file.
1642 * Many C++ enhancements
1644 C++ support has been greatly improved. Overload resolution now works properly
1645 in almost all cases. RTTI support is on the way.
1647 * Remote targets can connect to a sub-program
1649 A popen(3) style serial-device has been added. This device starts a
1650 sub-process (such as a stand-alone simulator) and then communicates
1651 with that. The sub-program to run is specified using the syntax
1652 ``|<program> <args>'' vis:
1654 (gdb) set remotedebug 1
1655 (gdb) target extended-remote |mn10300-elf-sim program-args
1657 * MIPS 64 remote protocol
1659 A long standing bug in the mips64 remote protocol where by GDB
1660 expected certain 32 bit registers (ex SR) to be transfered as 32
1661 instead of 64 bits has been fixed.
1663 The command ``set remote-mips64-transfers-32bit-regs on'' has been
1664 added to provide backward compatibility with older versions of GDB.
1666 * ``set remotebinarydownload'' replaced by ``set remote X-packet''
1668 The command ``set remotebinarydownload'' command has been replaced by
1669 ``set remote X-packet''. Other commands in ``set remote'' family
1670 include ``set remote P-packet''.
1672 * Breakpoint commands accept ranges.
1674 The breakpoint commands ``enable'', ``disable'', and ``delete'' now
1675 accept a range of breakpoints, e.g. ``5-7''. The tracepoint command
1676 ``tracepoint passcount'' also accepts a range of tracepoints.
1678 * ``apropos'' command added.
1680 The ``apropos'' command searches through command names and
1681 documentation strings, printing out matches, making it much easier to
1682 try to find a command that does what you are looking for.
1686 A new machine oriented interface (MI) has been added to GDB. This
1687 interface is designed for debug environments running GDB as a separate
1688 process. This is part of the long term libGDB project. See the
1689 "GDB/MI" chapter of the GDB manual for further information. It can be
1690 enabled by configuring with:
1692 .../configure --enable-gdbmi
1694 *** Changes in GDB-4.18:
1696 * New native configurations
1698 HP-UX 10.20 hppa*-*-hpux10.20
1699 HP-UX 11.x hppa*-*-hpux11.0*
1700 M68K GNU/Linux m68*-*-linux*
1704 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
1705 Intel StrongARM strongarm-*-*
1706 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
1708 * OBSOLETE configurations
1710 Gould PowerNode, NP1 np1-*-*, pn-*-*
1712 Configurations that have been declared obsolete will be commented out,
1713 but the code will be left in place. If there is no activity to revive
1714 these configurations before the next release of GDB, the sources will
1715 be permanently REMOVED.
1719 As a compatibility experiment, GDB's source files buildsym.h and
1720 buildsym.c have been converted to pure standard C, no longer
1721 containing any K&R compatibility code. We believe that all systems in
1722 use today either come with a standard C compiler, or have a GCC port
1723 available. If this is not true, please report the affected
1725 information about getting a standard C compiler if you don't have one
1730 GDB now uses readline 2.2.
1732 * set extension-language
1734 You can now control the mapping between filename extensions and source
1735 languages by using the `set extension-language' command. For instance,
1736 you can ask GDB to treat .c files as C++ by saying
1737 set extension-language .c c++
1738 The command `info extensions' lists all of the recognized extensions
1739 and their associated languages.
1741 * Setting processor type for PowerPC and RS/6000
1743 When GDB is configured for a powerpc*-*-* or an rs6000*-*-* target,
1744 you can use the `set processor' command to specify what variant of the
1745 PowerPC family you are debugging. The command
1749 sets the PowerPC/RS6000 variant to NAME. GDB knows about the
1750 following PowerPC and RS6000 variants:
1752 ppc-uisa PowerPC UISA - a PPC processor as viewed by user-level code
1753 rs6000 IBM RS6000 ("POWER") architecture, user-level view
1755 403GC IBM PowerPC 403GC
1756 505 Motorola PowerPC 505
1757 860 Motorola PowerPC 860 or 850
1758 601 Motorola PowerPC 601
1759 602 Motorola PowerPC 602
1760 603 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 603 or 603e
1761 604 Motorola PowerPC 604 or 604e
1762 750 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 750 or 750
1764 At the moment, this command just tells GDB what to name the
1765 special-purpose processor registers. Since almost all the affected
1766 registers are inaccessible to user-level programs, this command is
1767 only useful for remote debugging in its present form.
1771 Thanks to a major code donation from Hewlett-Packard, GDB now has much
1772 more extensive support for HP-UX. Added features include shared
1773 library support, kernel threads and hardware watchpoints for 11.00,
1774 support for HP's ANSI C and C++ compilers, and a compatibility mode
1775 for xdb and dbx commands.
1779 HP's donation includes the new concept of catchpoints, which is a
1780 generalization of the old catch command. On HP-UX, it is now possible
1781 to catch exec, fork, and vfork, as well as library loading.
1783 This means that the existing catch command has changed; its first
1784 argument now specifies the type of catch to be set up. See the
1785 output of "help catch" for a list of catchpoint types.
1787 * Debugging across forks
1789 On HP-UX, you can choose which process to debug when a fork() happens
1794 HP has donated a curses-based terminal user interface (TUI). To get
1795 it, build with --enable-tui. Although this can be enabled for any
1796 configuration, at present it only works for native HP debugging.
1798 * GDB remote protocol additions
1800 A new protocol packet 'X' that writes binary data is now available.
1801 Default behavior is to try 'X', then drop back to 'M' if the stub
1802 fails to respond. The settable variable `remotebinarydownload'
1803 allows explicit control over the use of 'X'.
1805 For 64-bit targets, the memory packets ('M' and 'm') can now contain a
1806 full 64-bit address. The command
1808 set remoteaddresssize 32
1810 can be used to revert to the old behaviour. For existing remote stubs
1811 the change should not be noticed, as the additional address information
1814 In order to assist in debugging stubs, you may use the maintenance
1815 command `packet' to send any text string to the stub. For instance,
1817 maint packet heythere
1819 sends the packet "$heythere#<checksum>". Note that it is very easy to
1820 disrupt a debugging session by sending the wrong packet at the wrong
1823 The compare-sections command allows you to compare section data on the
1824 target to what is in the executable file without uploading or
1825 downloading, by comparing CRC checksums.
1827 * Tracing can collect general expressions
1829 You may now collect general expressions at tracepoints. This requires
1830 further additions to the target-side stub; see tracepoint.c and
1831 doc/agentexpr.texi for further details.
1833 * mask-address variable for Mips
1835 For Mips targets, you may control the zeroing of the upper 32 bits of
1836 a 64-bit address by entering `set mask-address on'. This is mainly
1837 of interest to users of embedded R4xxx and R5xxx processors.
1839 * Higher serial baud rates
1841 GDB's serial code now allows you to specify baud rates 57600, 115200,
1842 230400, and 460800 baud. (Note that your host system may not be able
1843 to achieve all of these rates.)
1847 The i960 configuration now includes an initial implementation of a
1848 builtin simulator, contributed by Jim Wilson.
1851 *** Changes in GDB-4.17:
1853 * New native configurations
1855 Alpha GNU/Linux alpha*-*-linux*
1856 Unixware 2.x i[3456]86-unixware2*
1857 Irix 6.x mips*-sgi-irix6*
1858 PowerPC GNU/Linux powerpc-*-linux*
1859 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
1860 Sparc GNU/Linux sparc-*-linux*
1861 Motorola sysV68 R3V7.1 m68k-motorola-sysv
1865 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
1866 Hitachi H8/300S h8300*-*-*
1867 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
1868 Matsushita MN10300 w/simulator mn10300-*-*
1869 MIPS NEC VR4100 mips64*vr4100*{,el}-*-elf*
1870 MIPS NEC VR5000 mips64*vr5000*{,el}-*-elf*
1871 MIPS Toshiba TX39 mips64*tx39*{,el}-*-elf*
1872 Mitsubishi D10V w/simulator d10v-*-*
1873 Mitsubishi M32R/D w/simulator m32r-*-elf*
1874 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
1875 NEC V850 w/simulator v850-*-*
1877 * New debugging protocols
1879 ARM with RDI protocol arm*-*-*
1880 M68K with dBUG monitor m68*-*-{aout,coff,elf}
1881 DDB and LSI variants of PMON protocol mips*-*-*
1882 PowerPC with DINK32 monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
1883 PowerPC with SDS protocol powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
1884 Macraigor OCD (Wiggler) devices powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
1888 All configurations can now understand and use the DWARF 2 debugging
1889 format. The choice is automatic, if the symbol file contains DWARF 2
1894 GDB now includes basic Java language support. This support is
1895 only useful with Java compilers that produce native machine code.
1897 * solib-absolute-prefix and solib-search-path
1899 For SunOS and SVR4 shared libraries, you may now set the prefix for
1900 loading absolute shared library symbol files, and the search path for
1901 locating non-absolute shared library symbol files.
1903 * Live range splitting
1905 GDB can now effectively debug code for which GCC has performed live
1906 range splitting as part of its optimization. See gdb/doc/LRS for
1907 more details on the expected format of the stabs information.
1911 GDB's support for the GNU Hurd, including thread debugging, has been
1912 updated to work with current versions of the Hurd.
1916 GDB's ARM target configuration now handles the ARM7T (Thumb) 16-bit
1917 instruction set. ARM GDB automatically detects when Thumb
1918 instructions are in use, and adjusts disassembly and backtracing
1923 GDB's MIPS target configurations now handle the MIP16 16-bit
1928 GDB now includes support for overlays; if an executable has been
1929 linked such that multiple sections are based at the same address, GDB
1930 will decide which section to use for symbolic info. You can choose to
1931 control the decision manually, using overlay commands, or implement
1932 additional target-side support and use "overlay load-target" to bring
1933 in the overlay mapping. Do "help overlay" for more detail.
1937 The command "info symbol <address>" displays information about
1938 the symbol at the specified address.
1942 The standard remote protocol now includes an extension that allows
1943 asynchronous collection and display of trace data. This requires
1944 extensive support in the target-side debugging stub. Tracing mode
1945 includes a new interaction mode in GDB and new commands: see the
1946 file tracepoint.c for more details.
1950 Configurations for embedded MIPS now include a simulator contributed
1951 by Cygnus Solutions. The simulator supports the instruction sets
1952 of most MIPS variants.
1956 Sparc configurations may now include the ERC32 simulator contributed
1957 by the European Space Agency. The simulator is not built into
1958 Sparc targets by default; configure with --enable-sim to include it.
1962 For target configurations that may include multiple variants of a
1963 basic architecture (such as MIPS and SH), you may now set the
1964 architecture explicitly. "set arch" sets, "info arch" lists
1965 the possible architectures.
1967 *** Changes in GDB-4.16:
1969 * New native configurations
1971 Windows 95, x86 Windows NT i[345]86-*-cygwin32
1972 M68K NetBSD m68k-*-netbsd*
1973 PowerPC AIX 4.x powerpc-*-aix*
1974 PowerPC MacOS powerpc-*-macos*
1975 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
1976 RS/6000 AIX 4.x rs6000-*-aix4*
1980 ARM with RDP protocol arm-*-*
1981 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
1982 MIPS VxWorks mips*-*-vxworks*
1983 MIPS VR4300 with PMON mips64*vr4300{,el}-*-elf*
1984 PowerPC with PPCBUG monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi*
1986 Matra Sparclet sparclet-*-*
1990 The powerpc-eabi configuration now includes the PSIM simulator,
1991 contributed by Andrew Cagney, with assistance from Mike Meissner.
1992 PSIM is a very elaborate model of the PowerPC, including not only
1993 basic instruction set execution, but also details of execution unit
1994 performance and I/O hardware. See sim/ppc/README for more details.
1998 GDB now works with Solaris 2.5.
2000 * Windows 95/NT native
2002 GDB will now work as a native debugger on Windows 95 and Windows NT.
2003 To build it from source, you must use the "gnu-win32" environment,
2004 which uses a DLL to emulate enough of Unix to run the GNU tools.
2005 Further information, binaries, and sources are available at
2006 ftp.cygnus.com, under pub/gnu-win32.
2008 * dont-repeat command
2010 If a user-defined command includes the command `dont-repeat', then the
2011 command will not be repeated if the user just types return. This is
2012 useful if the command is time-consuming to run, so that accidental
2013 extra keystrokes don't run the same command many times.
2015 * Send break instead of ^C
2017 The standard remote protocol now includes an option to send a break
2018 rather than a ^C to the target in order to interrupt it. By default,
2019 GDB will send ^C; to send a break, set the variable `remotebreak' to 1.
2021 * Remote protocol timeout
2023 The standard remote protocol includes a new variable `remotetimeout'
2024 that allows you to set the number of seconds before GDB gives up trying
2025 to read from the target. The default value is 2.
2027 * Automatic tracking of dynamic object loading (HPUX and Solaris only)
2029 By default GDB will automatically keep track of objects as they are
2030 loaded and unloaded by the dynamic linker. By using the command `set
2031 stop-on-solib-events 1' you can arrange for GDB to stop the inferior
2032 when shared library events occur, thus allowing you to set breakpoints
2033 in shared libraries which are explicitly loaded by the inferior.
2035 Note this feature does not work on hpux8. On hpux9 you must link
2036 /usr/lib/end.o into your program. This feature should work
2037 automatically on hpux10.
2039 * Irix 5.x hardware watchpoint support
2041 Irix 5 configurations now support the use of hardware watchpoints.
2043 * Mips protocol "SYN garbage limit"
2045 When debugging a Mips target using the `target mips' protocol, you
2046 may set the number of characters that GDB will ignore by setting
2047 the `syn-garbage-limit'. A value of -1 means that GDB will ignore
2048 every character. The default value is 1050.
2050 * Recording and replaying remote debug sessions
2052 If you set `remotelogfile' to the name of a file, gdb will write to it
2053 a recording of a remote debug session. This recording may then be
2054 replayed back to gdb using "gdbreplay". See gdbserver/README for
2055 details. This is useful when you have a problem with GDB while doing
2056 remote debugging; you can make a recording of the session and send it
2057 to someone else, who can then recreate the problem.
2059 * Speedups for remote debugging
2061 GDB includes speedups for downloading and stepping MIPS systems using
2062 the IDT monitor, fast downloads to the Hitachi SH E7000 emulator,
2063 and more efficient S-record downloading.
2065 * Memory use reductions and statistics collection
2067 GDB now uses less memory and reports statistics about memory usage.
2068 Try the `maint print statistics' command, for example.
2070 *** Changes in GDB-4.15:
2072 * Psymtabs for XCOFF
2074 The symbol reader for AIX GDB now uses partial symbol tables. This
2075 can greatly improve startup time, especially for large executables.
2077 * Remote targets use caching
2079 Remote targets now use a data cache to speed up communication with the
2080 remote side. The data cache could lead to incorrect results because
2081 it doesn't know about volatile variables, thus making it impossible to
2082 debug targets which use memory mapped I/O devices. `set remotecache
2083 off' turns the the data cache off.
2085 * Remote targets may have threads
2087 The standard remote protocol now includes support for multiple threads
2088 in the target system, using new protocol commands 'H' and 'T'. See
2089 gdb/remote.c for details.
2093 If GDB is configured with `--enable-netrom', then it will include
2094 support for the NetROM ROM emulator from XLNT Designs. The NetROM
2095 acts as though it is a bank of ROM on the target board, but you can
2096 write into it over the network. GDB's support consists only of
2097 support for fast loading into the emulated ROM; to debug, you must use
2098 another protocol, such as standard remote protocol. The usual
2099 sequence is something like
2101 target nrom <netrom-hostname>
2103 target remote <netrom-hostname>:1235
2107 GDB now includes support for the Apple Macintosh, as a host only. It
2108 may be run as either an MPW tool or as a standalone application, and
2109 it can debug through the serial port. All the usual GDB commands are
2110 available, but to the target command, you must supply "serial" as the
2111 device type instead of "/dev/ttyXX". See mpw-README in the main
2112 directory for more information on how to build. The MPW configuration
2113 scripts */mpw-config.in support only a few targets, and only the
2114 mips-idt-ecoff target has been tested.
2118 GDB configuration now uses autoconf. This is not user-visible,
2119 but does simplify configuration and building.
2123 GDB now supports hpux10.
2125 *** Changes in GDB-4.14:
2127 * New native configurations
2129 x86 FreeBSD i[345]86-*-freebsd
2130 x86 NetBSD i[345]86-*-netbsd
2131 NS32k NetBSD ns32k-*-netbsd
2132 Sparc NetBSD sparc-*-netbsd
2136 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
2137 HP PA PRO embedded (WinBond W89K & Oki OP50N) hppa*-*-pro*
2138 CPU32 EST-300 emulator m68*-*-est*
2139 PowerPC ELF powerpc-*-elf
2142 * Alpha OSF/1 support for procfs
2144 GDB now supports procfs under OSF/1-2.x and higher, which makes it
2145 possible to attach to running processes. As the mounting of the /proc
2146 filesystem is optional on the Alpha, GDB automatically determines
2147 the availability of /proc during startup. This can lead to problems
2148 if /proc is unmounted after GDB has been started.
2150 * Arguments to user-defined commands
2152 User commands may accept up to 10 arguments separated by whitespace.
2153 Arguments are accessed within the user command via $arg0..$arg9. A
2156 print $arg0 + $arg1 + $arg2
2158 To execute the command use:
2161 Defines the command "adder" which prints the sum of its three arguments.
2162 Note the arguments are text substitutions, so they may reference variables,
2163 use complex expressions, or even perform inferior function calls.
2165 * New `if' and `while' commands
2167 This makes it possible to write more sophisticated user-defined
2168 commands. Both commands take a single argument, which is the
2169 expression to evaluate, and must be followed by the commands to
2170 execute, one per line, if the expression is nonzero, the list being
2171 terminated by the word `end'. The `if' command list may include an
2172 `else' word, which causes the following commands to be executed only
2173 if the expression is zero.
2175 * Fortran source language mode
2177 GDB now includes partial support for Fortran 77. It will recognize
2178 Fortran programs and can evaluate a subset of Fortran expressions, but
2179 variables and functions may not be handled correctly. GDB will work
2180 with G77, but does not yet know much about symbols emitted by other
2183 * Better HPUX support
2185 Most debugging facilities now work on dynamic executables for HPPAs
2186 running hpux9 or later. You can attach to running dynamically linked
2187 processes, but by default the dynamic libraries will be read-only, so
2188 for instance you won't be able to put breakpoints in them. To change
2189 that behavior do the following before running the program:
2195 This will cause the libraries to be mapped private and read-write.
2196 To revert to the normal behavior, do this:
2202 You cannot set breakpoints or examine data in the library until after
2203 the library is loaded if the function/data symbols do not have
2206 GDB can now also read debug symbols produced by the HP C compiler on
2207 HPPAs (sorry, no C++, Fortran or 68k support).
2209 * Target byte order now dynamically selectable
2211 You can choose which byte order to use with a target system, via the
2212 commands "set endian big" and "set endian little", and you can see the
2213 current setting by using "show endian". You can also give the command
2214 "set endian auto", in which case GDB will use the byte order
2215 associated with the executable. Currently, only embedded MIPS
2216 configurations support dynamic selection of target byte order.
2218 * New DOS host serial code
2220 This version uses DPMI interrupts to handle buffered I/O, so you
2221 no longer need to run asynctsr when debugging boards connected to
2224 *** Changes in GDB-4.13:
2226 * New "complete" command
2228 This lists all the possible completions for the rest of the line, if it
2229 were to be given as a command itself. This is intended for use by emacs.
2231 * Trailing space optional in prompt
2233 "set prompt" no longer adds a space for you after the prompt you set. This
2234 allows you to set a prompt which ends in a space or one that does not.
2236 * Breakpoint hit counts
2238 "info break" now displays a count of the number of times the breakpoint
2239 has been hit. This is especially useful in conjunction with "ignore"; you
2240 can ignore a large number of breakpoint hits, look at the breakpoint info
2241 to see how many times the breakpoint was hit, then run again, ignoring one
2242 less than that number, and this will get you quickly to the last hit of
2245 * Ability to stop printing at NULL character
2247 "set print null-stop" will cause GDB to stop printing the characters of
2248 an array when the first NULL is encountered. This is useful when large
2249 arrays actually contain only short strings.
2251 * Shared library breakpoints
2253 In SunOS 4.x, SVR4, and Alpha OSF/1 configurations, you can now set
2254 breakpoints in shared libraries before the executable is run.
2256 * Hardware watchpoints
2258 There is a new hardware breakpoint for the watch command for sparclite
2259 targets. See gdb/sparclite/hw_breakpoint.note.
2261 Hardware watchpoints are also now supported under GNU/Linux.
2265 Annotations have been added. These are for use with graphical interfaces,
2266 and are still experimental. Currently only gdba.el uses these.
2268 * Improved Irix 5 support
2270 GDB now works properly with Irix 5.2.
2272 * Improved HPPA support
2274 GDB now works properly with the latest GCC and GAS.
2276 * New native configurations
2278 Sequent PTX4 i[34]86-sequent-ptx4
2279 HPPA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
2280 Atari TT running SVR4 m68*-*-sysv4*
2281 RS/6000 LynxOS rs6000-*-lynxos*
2285 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
2286 MIPS R4000 mips64*{,el}-*-{ecoff,elf}
2289 * Hitachi SH7000 and E7000-PC ICE support
2291 There is now support for communicating with the Hitachi E7000-PC ICE.
2292 This is available automatically when GDB is configured for the SH.
2296 As usual, a variety of small fixes and improvements, both generic
2297 and configuration-specific. See the ChangeLog for more detail.
2299 *** Changes in GDB-4.12:
2301 * Irix 5 is now supported
2305 GDB-4.12 on the HPPA has a number of changes which make it unable
2306 to debug the output from the currently released versions of GCC and
2307 GAS (GCC 2.5.8 and GAS-2.2 or PAGAS-1.36). Until the next major release
2308 of GCC and GAS, versions of these tools designed to work with GDB-4.12
2309 can be retrieved via anonymous ftp from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist.
2312 *** Changes in GDB-4.11:
2314 * User visible changes:
2318 The "set remotedebug" option is now consistent between the mips remote
2319 target, remote targets using the gdb-specific protocol, UDI (AMD's
2320 debug protocol for the 29k) and the 88k bug monitor. It is now an
2321 integer specifying a debug level (normally 0 or 1, but 2 means more
2322 debugging info for the mips target).
2324 * DEC Alpha native support
2326 GDB now works on the DEC Alpha. GCC 2.4.5 does not produce usable
2327 debug info, but GDB works fairly well with the DEC compiler and should
2328 work with a future GCC release. See the README file for a few
2329 Alpha-specific notes.
2331 * Preliminary thread implementation
2333 GDB now has preliminary thread support for both SGI/Irix and LynxOS.
2335 * LynxOS native and target support for 386
2337 This release has been hosted on LynxOS 2.2, and also can be configured
2338 to remotely debug programs running under LynxOS (see gdb/gdbserver/README
2341 * Improvements in C++ mangling/demangling.
2343 This release has much better g++ debugging, specifically in name
2344 mangling/demangling, virtual function calls, print virtual table,
2345 call methods, ...etc.
2347 *** Changes in GDB-4.10:
2349 * User visible changes:
2351 Remote debugging using the GDB-specific (`target remote') protocol now
2352 supports the `load' command. This is only useful if you have some
2353 other way of getting the stub to the target system, and you can put it
2354 somewhere in memory where it won't get clobbered by the download.
2356 Filename completion now works.
2358 When run under emacs mode, the "info line" command now causes the
2359 arrow to point to the line specified. Also, "info line" prints
2360 addresses in symbolic form (as well as hex).
2362 All vxworks based targets now support a user settable option, called
2363 vxworks-timeout. This option represents the number of seconds gdb
2364 should wait for responses to rpc's. You might want to use this if
2365 your vxworks target is, perhaps, a slow software simulator or happens
2366 to be on the far side of a thin network line.
2370 This release contains support for using a DEC alpha as a GDB host for
2371 cross debugging. Native alpha debugging is not supported yet.
2374 *** Changes in GDB-4.9:
2378 This is the first GDB release which is accompanied by a matching testsuite.
2379 The testsuite requires installation of dejagnu, which should be available
2380 via ftp from most sites that carry GNU software.
2384 'Cfront' style demangling has had its name changed to 'ARM' style, to
2385 emphasize that it was written from the specifications in the C++ Annotated
2386 Reference Manual, not necessarily to be compatible with AT&T cfront. Despite
2387 disclaimers, it still generated too much confusion with users attempting to
2388 use gdb with AT&T cfront.
2392 GDB now uses a standard remote interface to a simulator library.
2393 So far, the library contains simulators for the Zilog Z8001/2, the
2394 Hitachi H8/300, H8/500 and Super-H.
2396 * New targets supported
2398 H8/300 simulator h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
2399 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
2400 SH simulator sh-hitachi-hms or sh
2401 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
2402 IDT MIPS board over serial line mips-idt-ecoff
2404 Cross-debugging to GO32 targets is supported. It requires a custom
2405 version of the i386-stub.c module which is integrated with the
2406 GO32 memory extender.
2408 * New remote protocols
2410 MIPS remote debugging protocol.
2412 * New source languages supported
2414 This version includes preliminary support for Chill, a Pascal like language
2415 used by telecommunications companies. Chill support is also being integrated
2416 into the GNU compiler, but we don't know when it will be publically available.
2419 *** Changes in GDB-4.8:
2421 * HP Precision Architecture supported
2423 GDB now supports HP PA-RISC machines running HPUX. A preliminary
2424 version of this support was available as a set of patches from the
2425 University of Utah. GDB does not support debugging of programs
2426 compiled with the HP compiler, because HP will not document their file
2427 format. Instead, you must use GCC (version 2.3.2 or later) and PA-GAS
2428 (as available from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist/pa-gas.u4.tar.Z).
2430 Many problems in the preliminary version have been fixed.
2432 * Faster and better demangling
2434 We have improved template demangling and fixed numerous bugs in the GNU style
2435 demangler. It can now handle type modifiers such as `static' or `const'. Wide
2436 character types (wchar_t) are now supported. Demangling of each symbol is now
2437 only done once, and is cached when the symbol table for a file is read in.
2438 This results in a small increase in memory usage for C programs, a moderate
2439 increase in memory usage for C++ programs, and a fantastic speedup in
2442 `Cfront' style demangling still doesn't work with AT&T cfront. It was written
2443 from the specifications in the Annotated Reference Manual, which AT&T's
2444 compiler does not actually implement.
2446 * G++ multiple inheritance compiler problem
2448 In the 2.3.2 release of gcc/g++, how the compiler resolves multiple
2449 inheritance lattices was reworked to properly discover ambiguities. We
2450 recently found an example which causes this new algorithm to fail in a
2451 very subtle way, producing bad debug information for those classes.
2452 The file 'gcc.patch' (in this directory) can be applied to gcc to
2453 circumvent the problem. A future GCC release will contain a complete
2456 The previous G++ debug info problem (mentioned below for the gdb-4.7
2457 release) is fixed in gcc version 2.3.2.
2459 * Improved configure script
2461 The `configure' script will now attempt to guess your system type if
2462 you don't supply a host system type. The old scheme of supplying a
2463 host system triplet is preferable over using this. All the magic is
2464 done in the new `config.guess' script. Examine it for details.
2466 We have also brought our configure script much more in line with the FSF's
2467 version. It now supports the --with-xxx options. In particular,
2468 `--with-minimal-bfd' can be used to make the GDB binary image smaller.
2469 The resulting GDB will not be able to read arbitrary object file formats --
2470 only the format ``expected'' to be used on the configured target system.
2471 We hope to make this the default in a future release.
2473 * Documentation improvements
2475 There's new internal documentation on how to modify GDB, and how to
2476 produce clean changes to the code. We implore people to read it
2477 before submitting changes.
2479 The GDB manual uses new, sexy Texinfo conditionals, rather than arcane
2480 M4 macros. The new texinfo.tex is provided in this release. Pre-built
2481 `info' files are also provided. To build `info' files from scratch,
2482 you will need the latest `makeinfo' release, which will be available in
2483 a future texinfo-X.Y release.
2485 *NOTE* The new texinfo.tex can cause old versions of TeX to hang.
2486 We're not sure exactly which versions have this problem, but it has
2487 been seen in 3.0. We highly recommend upgrading to TeX version 3.141
2488 or better. If that isn't possible, there is a patch in
2489 `texinfo/tex3patch' that will modify `texinfo/texinfo.tex' to work
2490 around this problem.
2494 GDB now supports array constants that can be used in expressions typed in by
2495 the user. The syntax is `{element, element, ...}'. Ie: you can now type
2496 `print {1, 2, 3}', and it will build up an array in memory malloc'd in
2499 The new directory `gdb/sparclite' contains a program that demonstrates
2500 how the sparc-stub.c remote stub runs on a Fujitsu SPARClite processor.
2502 * New native hosts supported
2504 HP/PA-RISC under HPUX using GNU tools hppa1.1-hp-hpux
2505 386 CPUs running SCO Unix 3.2v4 i386-unknown-sco3.2v4
2507 * New targets supported
2509 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi or udi29k
2511 * New file formats supported
2513 BFD now supports reading HP/PA-RISC executables (SOM file format?),
2514 HPUX core files, and SCO 3.2v2 core files.
2518 Attaching to processes now works again; thanks for the many bug reports.
2520 We have also stomped on a bunch of core dumps caused by
2521 printf_filtered("%s") problems.
2523 We eliminated a copyright problem on the rpc and ptrace header files
2524 for VxWorks, which was discovered at the last minute during the 4.7
2525 release. You should now be able to build a VxWorks GDB.
2527 You can now interrupt gdb while an attached process is running. This
2528 will cause the attached process to stop, and give control back to GDB.
2530 We fixed problems caused by using too many file descriptors
2531 for reading symbols from object files and libraries. This was
2532 especially a problem for programs that used many (~100) shared
2535 The `step' command now only enters a subroutine if there is line number
2536 information for the subroutine. Otherwise it acts like the `next'
2537 command. Previously, `step' would enter subroutines if there was
2538 any debugging information about the routine. This avoids problems
2539 when using `cc -g1' on MIPS machines.
2541 * Internal improvements
2543 GDB's internal interfaces have been improved to make it easier to support
2544 debugging of multiple languages in the future.
2546 GDB now uses a common structure for symbol information internally.
2547 Minimal symbols (derived from linkage symbols in object files), partial
2548 symbols (from a quick scan of debug information), and full symbols
2549 contain a common subset of information, making it easier to write
2550 shared code that handles any of them.
2552 * New command line options
2554 We now accept --silent as an alias for --quiet.
2558 The memory-mapped-malloc library is now licensed under the GNU Library
2559 General Public License.
2561 *** Changes in GDB-4.7:
2563 * Host/native/target split
2565 GDB has had some major internal surgery to untangle the support for
2566 hosts and remote targets. Now, when you configure GDB for a remote
2567 target, it will no longer load in all of the support for debugging
2568 local programs on the host. When fully completed and tested, this will
2569 ensure that arbitrary host/target combinations are possible.
2571 The primary conceptual shift is to separate the non-portable code in
2572 GDB into three categories. Host specific code is required any time GDB
2573 is compiled on that host, regardless of the target. Target specific
2574 code relates to the peculiarities of the target, but can be compiled on
2575 any host. Native specific code is everything else: it can only be
2576 built when the host and target are the same system. Child process
2577 handling and core file support are two common `native' examples.
2579 GDB's use of /proc for controlling Unix child processes is now cleaner.
2580 It has been split out into a single module under the `target_ops' vector,
2581 plus two native-dependent functions for each system that uses /proc.
2583 * New hosts supported
2585 HP/Apollo 68k (under the BSD domain) m68k-apollo-bsd or apollo68bsd
2586 386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
2587 386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or i386sco
2589 * New targets supported
2591 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
2592 68030 and CPU32 m68030-*-*, m68332-*-*
2594 * New native hosts supported
2596 386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
2597 (386bsd is not well tested yet)
2598 386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or sco
2600 * New file formats supported
2602 BFD now supports COFF files for the Zilog Z8000 microprocessor. It
2603 supports reading of `a.out.adobe' object files, which are an a.out
2604 format extended with minimal information about multiple sections.
2608 `show copying' is the same as the old `info copying'.
2609 `show warranty' is the same as `info warrantee'.
2610 These were renamed for consistency. The old commands continue to work.
2612 `info handle' is a new alias for `info signals'.
2614 You can now define pre-command hooks, which attach arbitrary command
2615 scripts to any command. The commands in the hook will be executed
2616 prior to the user's command. You can also create a hook which will be
2617 executed whenever the program stops. See gdb.texinfo.
2621 We now deal with Cfront style name mangling, and can even extract type
2622 info from mangled symbols. GDB can automatically figure out which
2623 symbol mangling style your C++ compiler uses.
2625 Calling of methods and virtual functions has been improved as well.
2629 The crash that occured when debugging Sun Ansi-C compiled binaries is
2630 fixed. This was due to mishandling of the extra N_SO stabs output
2633 We also finally got Ultrix 4.2 running in house, and fixed core file
2634 support, with help from a dozen people on the net.
2636 John M. Farrell discovered that the reason that single-stepping was so
2637 slow on all of the Mips based platforms (primarily SGI and DEC) was
2638 that we were trying to demangle and lookup a symbol used for internal
2639 purposes on every instruction that was being stepped through. Changing
2640 the name of that symbol so that it couldn't be mistaken for a C++
2641 mangled symbol sped things up a great deal.
2643 Rich Pixley sped up symbol lookups in general by getting much smarter
2644 about when C++ symbol mangling is necessary. This should make symbol
2645 completion (TAB on the command line) much faster. It's not as fast as
2646 we'd like, but it's significantly faster than gdb-4.6.
2650 A new user controllable variable 'call_scratch_address' can
2651 specify the location of a scratch area to be used when GDB
2652 calls a function in the target. This is necessary because the
2653 usual method of putting the scratch area on the stack does not work
2654 in systems that have separate instruction and data spaces.
2656 We integrated changes to support the 29k UDI (Universal Debugger
2657 Interface), but discovered at the last minute that we didn't have all
2658 of the appropriate copyright paperwork. We are working with AMD to
2659 resolve this, and hope to have it available soon.
2663 We have sped up the remote serial line protocol, especially for targets
2664 with lots of registers. It now supports a new `expedited status' ('T')
2665 message which can be used in place of the existing 'S' status message.
2666 This allows the remote stub to send only the registers that GDB
2667 needs to make a quick decision about single-stepping or conditional
2668 breakpoints, eliminating the need to fetch the entire register set for
2669 each instruction being stepped through.
2671 The GDB remote serial protocol now implements a write-through cache for
2672 registers, only re-reading the registers if the target has run.
2674 There is also a new remote serial stub for SPARC processors. You can
2675 find it in gdb-4.7/gdb/sparc-stub.c. This was written to support the
2676 Fujitsu SPARClite processor, but will run on any stand-alone SPARC
2677 processor with a serial port.
2681 Configure.in files have become much easier to read and modify. A new
2682 `table driven' format makes it more obvious what configurations are
2683 supported, and what files each one uses.
2687 There is a new opcodes library which will eventually contain all of the
2688 disassembly routines and opcode tables. At present, it only contains
2689 Sparc and Z8000 routines. This will allow the assembler, debugger, and
2690 disassembler (binutils/objdump) to share these routines.
2692 The libiberty library is now copylefted under the GNU Library General
2693 Public License. This allows more liberal use, and was done so libg++
2694 can use it. This makes no difference to GDB, since the Library License
2695 grants all the rights from the General Public License.
2699 The file gdb-4.7/gdb/doc/stabs.texinfo is a (relatively) complete
2700 reference to the stabs symbol info used by the debugger. It is (as far
2701 as we know) the only published document on this fascinating topic. We
2702 encourage you to read it, compare it to the stabs information on your
2703 system, and send improvements on the document in general (to
2706 And, of course, many bugs have been fixed.
2709 *** Changes in GDB-4.6:
2711 * Better support for C++ function names
2713 GDB now accepts as input the "demangled form" of C++ overloaded function
2714 names and member function names, and can do command completion on such names
2715 (using TAB, TAB-TAB, and ESC-?). The names have to be quoted with a pair of
2716 single quotes. Examples are 'func (int, long)' and 'obj::operator==(obj&)'.
2717 Make use of command completion, it is your friend.
2719 GDB also now accepts a variety of C++ mangled symbol formats. They are
2720 the GNU g++ style, the Cfront (ARM) style, and the Lucid (lcc) style.
2721 You can tell GDB which format to use by doing a 'set demangle-style {gnu,
2722 lucid, cfront, auto}'. 'gnu' is the default. Do a 'set demangle-style foo'
2723 for the list of formats.
2725 * G++ symbol mangling problem
2727 Recent versions of gcc have a bug in how they emit debugging information for
2728 C++ methods (when using dbx-style stabs). The file 'gcc.patch' (in this
2729 directory) can be applied to gcc to fix the problem. Alternatively, if you
2730 can't fix gcc, you can #define GCC_MANGLE_BUG when compling gdb/symtab.c. The
2731 usual symptom is difficulty with setting breakpoints on methods. GDB complains
2732 about the method being non-existent. (We believe that version 2.2.2 of GCC has
2735 * New 'maintenance' command
2737 All of the commands related to hacking GDB internals have been moved out of
2738 the main command set, and now live behind the 'maintenance' command. This
2739 can also be abbreviated as 'mt'. The following changes were made:
2741 dump-me -> maintenance dump-me
2742 info all-breakpoints -> maintenance info breakpoints
2743 printmsyms -> maintenance print msyms
2744 printobjfiles -> maintenance print objfiles
2745 printpsyms -> maintenance print psymbols
2746 printsyms -> maintenance print symbols
2748 The following commands are new:
2750 maintenance demangle Call internal GDB demangler routine to
2751 demangle a C++ link name and prints the result.
2752 maintenance print type Print a type chain for a given symbol
2754 * Change to .gdbinit file processing
2756 We now read the $HOME/.gdbinit file before processing the argv arguments
2757 (e.g. reading symbol files or core files). This allows global parameters to
2758 be set, which will apply during the symbol reading. The ./.gdbinit is still
2759 read after argv processing.
2761 * New hosts supported
2763 Solaris-2.0 !!! sparc-sun-solaris2 or sun4sol2
2765 GNU/Linux support i386-unknown-linux or linux
2767 We are also including code to support the HP/PA running BSD and HPUX. This
2768 is almost guaranteed not to work, as we didn't have time to test or build it
2769 for this release. We are including it so that the more adventurous (or
2770 masochistic) of you can play with it. We also had major problems with the
2771 fact that the compiler that we got from HP doesn't support the -g option.
2774 * New targets supported
2776 Hitachi H8/300 h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
2778 * More smarts about finding #include files
2780 GDB now remembers the compilation directory for all include files, and for
2781 all files from which C is generated (like yacc and lex sources). This
2782 greatly improves GDB's ability to find yacc/lex sources, and include files,
2783 especially if you are debugging your program from a directory different from
2784 the one that contains your sources.
2786 We also fixed a bug which caused difficulty with listing and setting
2787 breakpoints in include files which contain C code. (In the past, you had to
2788 try twice in order to list an include file that you hadn't looked at before.)
2790 * Interesting infernals change
2792 GDB now deals with arbitrary numbers of sections, where the symbols for each
2793 section must be relocated relative to that section's landing place in the
2794 target's address space. This work was needed to support ELF with embedded
2795 stabs used by Solaris-2.0.
2797 * Bug fixes (of course!)
2799 There have been loads of fixes for the following things:
2800 mips, rs6000, 29k/udi, m68k, g++, type handling, elf/dwarf, m88k,
2801 i960, stabs, DOS(GO32), procfs, etc...
2803 See the ChangeLog for details.
2805 *** Changes in GDB-4.5:
2807 * New machines supported (host and target)
2809 IBM RS6000 running AIX rs6000-ibm-aix or rs6000
2811 SGI Irix-4.x mips-sgi-irix4 or iris4
2813 * New malloc package
2815 GDB now uses a new memory manager called mmalloc, based on gmalloc.
2816 Mmalloc is capable of handling mutiple heaps of memory. It is also
2817 capable of saving a heap to a file, and then mapping it back in later.
2818 This can be used to greatly speedup the startup of GDB by using a
2819 pre-parsed symbol table which lives in a mmalloc managed heap. For
2820 more details, please read mmalloc/mmalloc.texi.
2824 The 'info proc' command (SVR4 only) has been enhanced quite a bit. See
2825 'help info proc' for details.
2827 * MIPS ecoff symbol table format
2829 The code that reads MIPS symbol table format is now supported on all hosts.
2830 Thanks to MIPS for releasing the sym.h and symconst.h files to make this
2833 * File name changes for MS-DOS
2835 Many files in the config directories have been renamed to make it easier to
2836 support GDB on MS-DOSe systems (which have very restrictive file name
2837 conventions :-( ). MS-DOSe host support (under DJ Delorie's GO32
2838 environment) is close to working but has some remaining problems. Note
2839 that debugging of DOS programs is not supported, due to limitations
2840 in the ``operating system'', but it can be used to host cross-debugging.
2842 * Cross byte order fixes
2844 Many fixes have been made to support cross debugging of Sparc and MIPS
2845 targets from hosts whose byte order differs.
2847 * New -mapped and -readnow options
2849 If memory-mapped files are available on your system through the 'mmap'
2850 system call, you can use the -mapped option on the `file' or
2851 `symbol-file' commands to cause GDB to write the symbols from your
2852 program into a reusable file. If the program you are debugging is
2853 called `/path/fred', the mapped symbol file will be `./fred.syms'.
2854 Future GDB debugging sessions will notice the presence of this file,
2855 and will quickly map in symbol information from it, rather than reading
2856 the symbol table from the executable program. Using the '-mapped'
2857 option in a GDB `file' or `symbol-file' command has the same effect as
2858 starting GDB with the '-mapped' command-line option.
2860 You can cause GDB to read the entire symbol table immediately by using
2861 the '-readnow' option with any of the commands that load symbol table
2862 information (or on the GDB command line). This makes the command
2863 slower, but makes future operations faster.
2865 The -mapped and -readnow options are typically combined in order to
2866 build a `fred.syms' file that contains complete symbol information.
2867 A simple GDB invocation to do nothing but build a `.syms' file for future
2870 gdb -batch -nx -mapped -readnow programname
2872 The `.syms' file is specific to the host machine on which GDB is run.
2873 It holds an exact image of GDB's internal symbol table. It cannot be
2874 shared across multiple host platforms.
2876 * longjmp() handling
2878 GDB is now capable of stepping and nexting over longjmp(), _longjmp(), and
2879 siglongjmp() without losing control. This feature has not yet been ported to
2880 all systems. It currently works on many 386 platforms, all MIPS-based
2881 platforms (SGI, DECstation, etc), and Sun3/4.
2885 Preliminary work has been put in to support the new Solaris OS from Sun. At
2886 this time, it can control and debug processes, but it is not capable of
2891 As always, many many bug fixes. The major areas were with g++, and mipsread.
2892 People using the MIPS-based platforms should experience fewer mysterious
2893 crashes and trashed symbol tables.
2895 *** Changes in GDB-4.4:
2897 * New machines supported (host and target)
2899 SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
2901 BSD Reno on Vax vax-dec-bsd
2902 Ultrix on Vax vax-dec-ultrix
2904 * New machines supported (target)
2906 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
2910 GDB continues to improve its handling of C++. `References' work better.
2911 The demangler has also been improved, and now deals with symbols mangled as
2912 per the Annotated C++ Reference Guide.
2914 GDB also now handles `stabs' symbol information embedded in MIPS
2915 `ecoff' symbol tables. Since the ecoff format was not easily
2916 extensible to handle new languages such as C++, this appeared to be a
2917 good way to put C++ debugging info into MIPS binaries. This option
2918 will be supported in the GNU C compiler, version 2, when it is
2921 * New features for SVR4
2923 GDB now handles SVR4 shared libraries, in the same fashion as SunOS
2924 shared libraries. Debugging dynamically linked programs should present
2925 only minor differences from debugging statically linked programs.
2927 The `info proc' command will print out information about any process
2928 on an SVR4 system (including the one you are debugging). At the moment,
2929 it prints the address mappings of the process.
2931 If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please send mail to
2934 * Better dynamic linking support in SunOS
2936 Reading symbols from shared libraries which contain debugging symbols
2937 now works properly. However, there remain issues such as automatic
2938 skipping of `transfer vector' code during function calls, which
2939 make it harder to debug code in a shared library, than to debug the
2940 same code linked statically.
2944 GDB is now using the latest `getopt' routines from the FSF. This
2945 version accepts the -- prefix for options with long names. GDB will
2946 continue to accept the old forms (-option and +option) as well.
2947 Various single letter abbreviations for options have been explicity
2948 added to the option table so that they won't get overshadowed in the
2949 future by other options that begin with the same letter.
2953 The `cleanup_undefined_types' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
2954 Many assorted bugs have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
2955 See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
2958 *** Changes in GDB-4.3:
2960 * New machines supported (host and target)
2962 Amiga 3000 running Amix m68k-cbm-svr4 or amix
2963 NCR 3000 386 running SVR4 i386-ncr-svr4 or ncr3000
2964 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
2966 * Almost SCO Unix support
2968 We had hoped to support:
2969 SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
2970 (except for core file support), but we discovered very late in the release
2971 that it has problems with process groups that render gdb unusable. Sorry
2972 about that. I encourage people to fix it and post the fixes.
2974 * Preliminary ELF and DWARF support
2976 GDB can read ELF object files on System V Release 4, and can handle
2977 debugging records for C, in DWARF format, in ELF files. This support
2978 is preliminary. If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please
2984 GDB now uses the latest `readline' library. One user-visible change
2985 is that two tabs will list possible command completions, which previously
2986 required typing M-? (meta-question mark, or ESC ?).
2990 The `stepi' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
2991 Many bugs in C++ have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
2992 See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
2994 * State of the MIPS world (in case you wondered):
2996 GDB can understand the symbol tables emitted by the compilers
2997 supplied by most vendors of MIPS-based machines, including DEC. These
2998 symbol tables are in a format that essentially nobody else uses.
3000 Some versions of gcc come with an assembler post-processor called
3001 mips-tfile. This program is required if you want to do source-level
3002 debugging of gcc-compiled programs. I believe FSF does not ship
3003 mips-tfile with gcc version 1, but it will eventually come with gcc
3006 Debugging of g++ output remains a problem. g++ version 1.xx does not
3007 really support it at all. (If you're lucky, you should be able to get
3008 line numbers and stack traces to work, but no parameters or local
3009 variables.) With some work it should be possible to improve the
3012 When gcc version 2 is released, you will have somewhat better luck.
3013 However, even then you will get confusing results for inheritance and
3016 We will eventually provide full debugging of g++ output on
3017 DECstations. This will probably involve some kind of stabs-in-ecoff
3018 encapulation, but the details have not been worked out yet.
3021 *** Changes in GDB-4.2:
3023 * Improved configuration
3025 Only one copy of `configure' exists now, and it is not self-modifying.
3026 Porting BFD is simpler.
3030 The `step' and `next' commands now only stop at the first instruction
3031 of a source line. This prevents the multiple stops that used to occur
3032 in switch statements, for-loops, etc. `Step' continues to stop if a
3033 function that has debugging information is called within the line.
3037 Lots of small bugs fixed. More remain.
3039 * New host supported (not target)
3041 Intel 386 PC clone running Mach i386-none-mach
3044 *** Changes in GDB-4.1:
3046 * Multiple source language support
3048 GDB now has internal scaffolding to handle several source languages.
3049 It determines the type of each source file from its filename extension,
3050 and will switch expression parsing and number formatting to match the
3051 language of the function in the currently selected stack frame.
3052 You can also specifically set the language to be used, with
3053 `set language c' or `set language modula-2'.
3057 GDB now has preliminary support for the GNU Modula-2 compiler,
3058 currently under development at the State University of New York at
3059 Buffalo. Development of both GDB and the GNU Modula-2 compiler will
3060 continue through the fall of 1991 and into 1992.
3062 Other Modula-2 compilers are currently not supported, and attempting to
3063 debug programs compiled with them will likely result in an error as the
3064 symbol table is read. Feel free to work on it, though!
3066 There are hooks in GDB for strict type checking and range checking,
3067 in the `Modula-2 philosophy', but they do not currently work.
3071 GDB can now write to executable and core files (e.g. patch
3072 a variable's value). You must turn this switch on, specify
3073 the file ("exec foo" or "core foo"), *then* modify it, e.g.
3074 by assigning a new value to a variable. Modifications take
3077 * Automatic SunOS shared library reading
3079 When you run your program, GDB automatically determines where its
3080 shared libraries (if any) have been loaded, and reads their symbols.
3081 The `share' command is no longer needed. This also works when
3082 examining core files.
3086 You can specify the number of lines that the `list' command shows.
3089 * New machines supported (host and target)
3091 SGI Iris (MIPS) running Irix V3: mips-sgi-irix or iris
3092 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x: m68k-sony-sysv or news
3093 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1: a29k-nyu-sym1 or ultra3
3095 * New hosts supported (not targets)
3097 IBM RT/PC: romp-ibm-aix or rtpc
3099 * New targets supported (not hosts)
3101 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
3102 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
3103 Ultracomputer remote kernel debug a29k-nyu-kern
3105 * New remote interfaces
3111 *** Changes in GDB-4.0:
3115 Wide output is wrapped at good places to make the output more readable.
3117 Gdb now supports cross-debugging from a host machine of one type to a
3118 target machine of another type. Communication with the target system
3119 is over serial lines. The ``target'' command handles connecting to the
3120 remote system; the ``load'' command will download a program into the
3121 remote system. Serial stubs for the m68k and i386 are provided. Gdb
3122 also supports debugging of realtime processes running under VxWorks,
3123 using SunRPC Remote Procedure Calls over TCP/IP to talk to a debugger
3124 stub on the target system.
3126 New CPUs supported include the AMD 29000 and Intel 960.
3128 GDB now reads object files and symbol tables via a ``binary file''
3129 library, which allows a single copy of GDB to debug programs of multiple
3130 object file types such as a.out and coff.
3132 There is now a GDB reference card in "doc/refcard.tex". (Make targets
3133 refcard.dvi and refcard.ps are available to format it).
3136 * Control-Variable user interface simplified
3138 All variables that control the operation of the debugger can be set
3139 by the ``set'' command, and displayed by the ``show'' command.
3141 For example, ``set prompt new-gdb=>'' will change your prompt to new-gdb=>.
3142 ``Show prompt'' produces the response:
3143 Gdb's prompt is new-gdb=>.
3145 What follows are the NEW set commands. The command ``help set'' will
3146 print a complete list of old and new set commands. ``help set FOO''
3147 will give a longer description of the variable FOO. ``show'' will show
3148 all of the variable descriptions and their current settings.
3150 confirm on/off: Enables warning questions for operations that are
3151 hard to recover from, e.g. rerunning the program while
3152 it is already running. Default is ON.
3154 editing on/off: Enables EMACS style command line editing
3155 of input. Previous lines can be recalled with
3156 control-P, the current line can be edited with control-B,
3157 you can search for commands with control-R, etc.
3160 history filename NAME: NAME is where the gdb command history
3161 will be stored. The default is .gdb_history,
3162 or the value of the environment variable
3165 history size N: The size, in commands, of the command history. The
3166 default is 256, or the value of the environment variable
3169 history save on/off: If this value is set to ON, the history file will
3170 be saved after exiting gdb. If set to OFF, the
3171 file will not be saved. The default is OFF.
3173 history expansion on/off: If this value is set to ON, then csh-like
3174 history expansion will be performed on
3175 command line input. The default is OFF.
3177 radix N: Sets the default radix for input and output. It can be set
3178 to 8, 10, or 16. Note that the argument to "radix" is interpreted
3179 in the current radix, so "set radix 10" is always a no-op.
3181 height N: This integer value is the number of lines on a page. Default
3182 is 24, the current `stty rows'' setting, or the ``li#''
3183 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
3186 width N: This integer value is the number of characters on a line.
3187 Default is 80, the current `stty cols'' setting, or the ``co#''
3188 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
3191 Note: ``set screensize'' is obsolete. Use ``set height'' and
3192 ``set width'' instead.
3194 print address on/off: Print memory addresses in various command displays,
3195 such as stack traces and structure values. Gdb looks
3196 more ``symbolic'' if you turn this off; it looks more
3197 ``machine level'' with it on. Default is ON.
3199 print array on/off: Prettyprint arrays. New convenient format! Default
3202 print demangle on/off: Print C++ symbols in "source" form if on,
3205 print asm-demangle on/off: Same, for assembler level printouts
3208 print vtbl on/off: Prettyprint C++ virtual function tables. Default is OFF.
3211 * Support for Epoch Environment.
3213 The epoch environment is a version of Emacs v18 with windowing. One
3214 new command, ``inspect'', is identical to ``print'', except that if you
3215 are running in the epoch environment, the value is printed in its own
3219 * Support for Shared Libraries
3221 GDB can now debug programs and core files that use SunOS shared libraries.
3222 Symbols from a shared library cannot be referenced
3223 before the shared library has been linked with the program (this
3224 happens after you type ``run'' and before the function main() is entered).
3225 At any time after this linking (including when examining core files
3226 from dynamically linked programs), gdb reads the symbols from each
3227 shared library when you type the ``sharedlibrary'' command.
3228 It can be abbreviated ``share''.
3230 sharedlibrary REGEXP: Load shared object library symbols for files
3231 matching a unix regular expression. No argument
3232 indicates to load symbols for all shared libraries.
3234 info sharedlibrary: Status of loaded shared libraries.
3239 A watchpoint stops execution of a program whenever the value of an
3240 expression changes. Checking for this slows down execution
3241 tremendously whenever you are in the scope of the expression, but is
3242 quite useful for catching tough ``bit-spreader'' or pointer misuse
3243 problems. Some machines such as the 386 have hardware for doing this
3244 more quickly, and future versions of gdb will use this hardware.
3246 watch EXP: Set a watchpoint (breakpoint) for an expression.
3248 info watchpoints: Information about your watchpoints.
3250 delete N: Deletes watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
3251 disable N: Temporarily turns off watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
3252 enable N: Re-enables watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
3255 * C++ multiple inheritance
3257 When used with a GCC version 2 compiler, GDB supports multiple inheritance
3260 * C++ exception handling
3262 Gdb now supports limited C++ exception handling. Besides the existing
3263 ability to breakpoint on an exception handler, gdb can breakpoint on
3264 the raising of an exception (before the stack is peeled back to the
3267 catch FOO: If there is a FOO exception handler in the dynamic scope,
3268 set a breakpoint to catch exceptions which may be raised there.
3269 Multiple exceptions (``catch foo bar baz'') may be caught.
3271 info catch: Lists all exceptions which may be caught in the
3272 current stack frame.
3275 * Minor command changes
3277 The command ``call func (arg, arg, ...)'' now acts like the print
3278 command, except it does not print or save a value if the function's result
3279 is void. This is similar to dbx usage.
3281 The ``up'' and ``down'' commands now always print the frame they end up
3282 at; ``up-silently'' and `down-silently'' can be used in scripts to change
3283 frames without printing.
3285 * New directory command
3287 'dir' now adds directories to the FRONT of the source search path.
3288 The path starts off empty. Source files that contain debug information
3289 about the directory in which they were compiled can be found even
3290 with an empty path; Sun CC and GCC include this information. If GDB can't
3291 find your source file in the current directory, type "dir .".
3293 * Configuring GDB for compilation
3295 For normal use, type ``./configure host''. See README or gdb.texinfo
3298 GDB now handles cross debugging. If you are remotely debugging between
3299 two different machines, type ``./configure host -target=targ''.
3300 Host is the machine where GDB will run; targ is the machine
3301 where the program that you are debugging will run.
projects / binutils.git / blob