What has changed in GDB?
(Organized release by release)
-*** Changes since GDB 5.3:
+*** Changes since GDB 6.3
+
+
+*** Changes in GDB 6.3:
+
+* GDB works with GCC -feliminate-dwarf2-dups
+
+GDB now supports a more compact representation of DWARF-2 debug
+information using DW_FORM_ref_addr references. These are produced
+by GCC with the option -feliminate-dwarf2-dups and also by some
+proprietary compilers. With GCC, you must use GCC 3.3.4 or later
+to use -feliminate-dwarf2-dups.
+
+* Internationalization
+
+When supported by the host system, GDB will be built with
+internationalization (libintl). The task of marking up the sources is
+continued, we're looking forward to our first translation.
+
+* Ada
+
+Initial support for debugging programs compiled with the GNAT
+implementation of the Ada programming language has been integrated
+into GDB. In this release, support is limited to expression evaluation.
+
+* New native configurations
+
+GNU/Linux/m32r m32r-*-linux-gnu
+
+* Remote 'p' packet
+
+GDB's remote protocol now includes support for the 'p' packet. This
+packet is used to fetch individual registers from a remote inferior.
+
+* END-OF-LIFE registers[] compatibility module
+
+GDB's internal register infrastructure has been completely rewritten.
+The new infrastructure making possible the implementation of key new
+features including 32x64 (e.g., 64-bit amd64 GDB debugging a 32-bit
+i386 application).
+
+GDB 6.3 will be the last release to include the the registers[]
+compatibility module that allowed out-of-date configurations to
+continue to work. This change directly impacts the following
+configurations:
+
+hppa-*-hpux
+ia64-*-aix
+mips-*-irix*
+*-*-lynx
+mips-*-linux-gnu
+sds protocol
+xdr protocol
+powerpc bdm protocol
+
+Unless there is activity to revive these configurations, they will be
+made OBSOLETE in GDB 6.4, and REMOVED from GDB 6.5.
+
+* OBSOLETE configurations and files
+
+Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
+been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
+configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
+permanently REMOVED.
+
+h8300-*-*
+mcore-*-*
+mn10300-*-*
+ns32k-*-*
+sh64-*-*
+v850-*-*
+
+*** Changes in GDB 6.2.1:
+
+* MIPS `break main; run' gave an heuristic-fence-post warning
+
+When attempting to run even a simple program, a warning about
+heuristic-fence-post being hit would be reported. This problem has
+been fixed.
+
+* MIPS IRIX 'long double' crashed GDB
+
+When examining a long double variable, GDB would get a segmentation
+fault. The crash has been fixed (but GDB 6.2 cannot correctly examine
+IRIX long double values).
+
+* VAX and "next"
+
+A bug in the VAX stack code was causing problems with the "next"
+command. This problem has been fixed.
+
+*** Changes in GDB 6.2:
+
+* Fix for ``many threads''
+
+On GNU/Linux systems that use the NPTL threads library, a program
+rapidly creating and deleting threads would confuse GDB leading to the
+error message:
+
+ ptrace: No such process.
+ thread_db_get_info: cannot get thread info: generic error
+
+This problem has been fixed.
+
+* "-async" and "-noasync" options removed.
+
+Support for the broken "-noasync" option has been removed (it caused
+GDB to dump core).
+
+* New ``start'' command.
+
+This command runs the program until the begining of the main procedure.
+
+* New BSD Kernel Data Access Library (libkvm) interface
+
+Using ``target kvm'' it is now possible to debug kernel core dumps and
+live kernel memory images on various FreeBSD, NetBSD and OpenBSD
+platforms. Currently supported (native-only) configurations are:
+
+FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
+FreeBSD/i386 i?86-*-freebsd*
+NetBSD/i386 i?86-*-netbsd*
+NetBSD/m68k m68*-*-netbsd*
+NetBSD/sparc sparc-*-netbsd*
+OpenBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-openbsd*
+OpenBSD/i386 i?86-*-openbsd*
+OpenBSD/m68k m68*-openbsd*
+OpenBSD/sparc sparc-*-openbsd*
+
+* Signal trampoline code overhauled
+
+Many generic problems with GDB's signal handling code have been fixed.
+These include: backtraces through non-contiguous stacks; recognition
+of sa_sigaction signal trampolines; backtrace from a NULL pointer
+call; backtrace through a signal trampoline; step into and out of
+signal handlers; and single-stepping in the signal trampoline.
+
+Please note that kernel bugs are a limiting factor here. These
+features have been shown to work on an s390 GNU/Linux system that
+include a 2.6.8-rc1 kernel. Ref PR breakpoints/1702.
+
+* Cygwin support for DWARF 2 added.
+
+* New native configurations
+
+GNU/Linux/hppa hppa*-*-linux*
+OpenBSD/hppa hppa*-*-openbsd*
+OpenBSD/m68k m68*-*-openbsd*
+OpenBSD/m88k m88*-*-openbsd*
+OpenBSD/powerpc powerpc-*-openbsd*
+NetBSD/vax vax-*-netbsd*
+OpenBSD/vax vax-*-openbsd*
+
+* END-OF-LIFE frame compatibility module
+
+GDB's internal frame infrastructure has been completely rewritten.
+The new infrastructure making it possible to support key new features
+including DWARF 2 Call Frame Information. To aid in the task of
+migrating old configurations to this new infrastructure, a
+compatibility module, that allowed old configurations to continue to
+work, was also included.
+
+GDB 6.2 will be the last release to include this frame compatibility
+module. This change directly impacts the following configurations:
+
+h8300-*-*
+mcore-*-*
+mn10300-*-*
+ns32k-*-*
+sh64-*-*
+v850-*-*
+xstormy16-*-*
+
+Unless there is activity to revive these configurations, they will be
+made OBSOLETE in GDB 6.3, and REMOVED from GDB 6.4.
+
+* REMOVED configurations and files
+
+Sun 3, running SunOS 3 m68*-*-sunos3*
+Sun 3, running SunOS 4 m68*-*-sunos4*
+Sun 2, running SunOS 3 m68000-*-sunos3*
+Sun 2, running SunOS 4 m68000-*-sunos4*
+Motorola 680x0 running LynxOS m68*-*-lynxos*
+AT&T 3b1/Unix pc m68*-att-*
+Bull DPX2 (68k, System V release 3) m68*-bull-sysv*
+decstation mips-dec-* mips-little-*
+riscos mips-*-riscos* mips-*-sysv*
+sonymips mips-sony-*
+sysv mips*-*-sysv4* (IRIX 5/6 not included)
+
+*** Changes in GDB 6.1.1:
+
+* TUI (Text-mode User Interface) built-in (also included in GDB 6.1)
+
+The TUI (Text-mode User Interface) is now built as part of a default
+GDB configuration. It is enabled by either selecting the TUI with the
+command line option "-i=tui" or by running the separate "gdbtui"
+program. For more information on the TUI, see the manual "Debugging
+with GDB".
+
+* Pending breakpoint support (also included in GDB 6.1)
+
+Support has been added to allow you to specify breakpoints in shared
+libraries that have not yet been loaded. If a breakpoint location
+cannot be found, and the "breakpoint pending" option is set to auto,
+GDB queries you if you wish to make the breakpoint pending on a future
+shared-library load. If and when GDB resolves the breakpoint symbol,
+the pending breakpoint is removed as one or more regular breakpoints
+are created.
+
+Pending breakpoints are very useful for GCJ Java debugging.
+
+* Fixed ISO-C build problems
+
+The files bfd/elf-bfd.h, gdb/dictionary.c and gdb/types.c contained
+non ISO-C code that stopped them being built using a more strict ISO-C
+compiler (e.g., IBM's C compiler).
+
+* Fixed build problem on IRIX 5
+
+Due to header problems with <sys/proc.h>, the file gdb/proc-api.c
+wasn't able to compile compile on an IRIX 5 system.
+
+* Added execute permission to gdb/gdbserver/configure
+
+The shell script gdb/testsuite/gdb.stabs/configure lacked execute
+permission. This bug would cause configure to fail on a number of
+systems (Solaris, IRIX). Ref: server/519.
+
+* Fixed build problem on hpux2.0w-hp-hpux11.00 using the HP ANSI C compiler
+
+Older HPUX ANSI C compilers did not accept variable array sizes. somsolib.c
+has been updated to use constant array sizes.
+
+* Fixed a panic in the DWARF Call Frame Info code on Solaris 2.7
+
+GCC 3.3.2, on Solaris 2.7, includes the DW_EH_PE_funcrel encoding in
+its generated DWARF Call Frame Info. This encoding was causing GDB to
+panic, that panic has been fixed. Ref: gdb/1628.
+
+* Fixed a problem when examining parameters in shared library code.
+
+When examining parameters in optimized shared library code generated
+by a mainline GCC, GDB would incorrectly report ``Variable "..." is
+not available''. GDB now correctly displays the variable's value.
+
+*** Changes in GDB 6.1:
+
+* Removed --with-mmalloc
+
+Support for the mmalloc memory manager has been removed, as it
+conflicted with the internal gdb byte cache.
+
+* Changes in AMD64 configurations
+
+The AMD64 target now includes the %cs and %ss registers. As a result
+the AMD64 remote protocol has changed; this affects the floating-point
+and SSE registers. If you rely on those registers for your debugging,
+you should upgrade gdbserver on the remote side.
+
+* Revised SPARC target
+
+The SPARC target has been completely revised, incorporating the
+FreeBSD/sparc64 support that was added for GDB 6.0. As a result
+support for LynxOS and SunOS 4 has been dropped. Calling functions
+from within GDB on operating systems with a non-executable stack
+(Solaris, OpenBSD) now works.
+
+* New C++ demangler
+
+GDB has a new C++ demangler which does a better job on the mangled
+names generated by current versions of g++. It also runs faster, so
+with this and other changes gdb should now start faster on large C++
+programs.
+
+* DWARF 2 Location Expressions
+
+GDB support for location expressions has been extended to support function
+arguments and frame bases. Older versions of GDB could crash when they
+encountered these.
+
+* C++ nested types and namespaces
+
+GDB's support for nested types and namespaces in C++ has been
+improved, especially if you use the DWARF 2 debugging format. (This
+is the default for recent versions of GCC on most platforms.)
+Specifically, if you have a class "Inner" defined within a class or
+namespace "Outer", then GDB realizes that the class's name is
+"Outer::Inner", not simply "Inner". This should greatly reduce the
+frequency of complaints about not finding RTTI symbols. In addition,
+if you are stopped at inside of a function defined within a namespace,
+GDB modifies its name lookup accordingly.
+
+* New native configurations
+
+NetBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-netbsd*
+OpenBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-openbsd*
+OpenBSD/alpha alpha*-*-openbsd*
+OpenBSD/sparc sparc-*-openbsd*
+OpenBSD/sparc64 sparc64-*-openbsd*
+
+* New debugging protocols
+
+M32R with SDI protocol m32r-*-elf*
+
+* "set prompt-escape-char" command deleted.
+
+The command "set prompt-escape-char" has been deleted. This command,
+and its very obscure effet on GDB's prompt, was never documented,
+tested, nor mentioned in the NEWS file.
+
+* OBSOLETE configurations and files
+
+Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
+been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
+configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
+permanently REMOVED.
+
+Sun 3, running SunOS 3 m68*-*-sunos3*
+Sun 3, running SunOS 4 m68*-*-sunos4*
+Sun 2, running SunOS 3 m68000-*-sunos3*
+Sun 2, running SunOS 4 m68000-*-sunos4*
+Motorola 680x0 running LynxOS m68*-*-lynxos*
+AT&T 3b1/Unix pc m68*-att-*
+Bull DPX2 (68k, System V release 3) m68*-bull-sysv*
+decstation mips-dec-* mips-little-*
+riscos mips-*-riscos* mips-*-sysv*
+sonymips mips-sony-*
+sysv mips*-*-sysv4* (IRIX 5/6 not included)
+
+* REMOVED configurations and files
+
+SGI Irix-4.x mips-sgi-irix4 or iris4
+SGI Iris (MIPS) running Irix V3: mips-sgi-irix or iris
+Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
+Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
+H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
+HP/PA running BSD hppa*-*-bsd*
+HP/PA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
+HP/PA Pro target hppa*-*-pro*
+PMAX (MIPS) running Mach 3.0 mips*-*-mach3*
+386BSD i[3456]86-*-bsd*
+Sequent family i[3456]86-sequent-sysv4*
+ i[3456]86-sequent-sysv*
+ i[3456]86-sequent-bsd*
+SPARC running LynxOS sparc-*-lynxos*
+SPARC running SunOS 4 sparc-*-sunos4*
+Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
+Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
+
+*** Changes in GDB 6.0:
+
+* Objective-C
+
+Support for debugging the Objective-C programming language has been
+integrated into GDB.
+
+* New backtrace mechanism (includes DWARF 2 Call Frame Information).
+
+DWARF 2's Call Frame Information makes available compiler generated
+information that more exactly describes the program's run-time stack.
+By using this information, GDB is able to provide more robust stack
+backtraces.
+
+The i386, amd64 (nee, x86-64), Alpha, m68hc11, ia64, and m32r targets
+have been updated to use a new backtrace mechanism which includes
+DWARF 2 CFI support.
+
+* Hosted file I/O.
+
+GDB's remote protocol has been extended to include support for hosted
+file I/O (where the remote target uses GDB's file system). See GDB's
+remote protocol documentation for details.
+
+* All targets using the new architecture framework.
+
+All of GDB's targets have been updated to use the new internal
+architecture framework. The way is now open for future GDB releases
+to include cross-architecture native debugging support (i386 on amd64,
+ppc32 on ppc64).
+
+* GNU/Linux's Thread Local Storage (TLS)
+
+GDB now includes support for for the GNU/Linux implementation of
+per-thread variables.
+
+* GNU/Linux's Native POSIX Thread Library (NPTL)
+
+GDB's thread code has been updated to work with either the new
+GNU/Linux NPTL thread library or the older "LinuxThreads" library.
+
+* Separate debug info.
+
+GDB, in conjunction with BINUTILS, now supports a mechanism for
+automatically loading debug information from a separate file. Instead
+of shipping full debug and non-debug versions of system libraries,
+system integrators can now instead ship just the stripped libraries
+and optional debug files.
+
+* DWARF 2 Location Expressions
+
+DWARF 2 Location Expressions allow the compiler to more completely
+describe the location of variables (even in optimized code) to the
+debugger.
+
+GDB now includes preliminary support for location expressions (support
+for DW_OP_piece is still missing).
+
+* Java
+
+A number of long standing bugs that caused GDB to die while starting a
+Java application have been fixed. GDB's Java support is now
+considered "useable".
+
+* GNU/Linux support for fork, vfork, and exec.
+
+The "catch fork", "catch exec", "catch vfork", and "set follow-fork-mode"
+commands are now implemented for GNU/Linux. They require a 2.5.x or later
+kernel.
+
+* GDB supports logging output to a file
+
+There are two new commands, "set logging" and "show logging", which can be
+used to capture GDB's output to a file.
+
+* The meaning of "detach" has changed for gdbserver
+
+The "detach" command will now resume the application, as documented. To
+disconnect from gdbserver and leave it stopped, use the new "disconnect"
+command.
+
+* d10v, m68hc11 `regs' command deprecated
+
+The `info registers' command has been updated so that it displays the
+registers using a format identical to the old `regs' command.
+
+* Profiling support
+
+A new command, "maint set profile on/off", has been added. This command can
+be used to enable or disable profiling while running GDB, to profile a
+session or a set of commands. In addition there is a new configure switch,
+"--enable-profiling", which will cause GDB to be compiled with profiling
+data, for more informative profiling results.
+
+* Default MI syntax changed to "mi2".
+
+The default MI (machine interface) syntax, enabled by the command line
+option "-i=mi", has been changed to "mi2". The previous MI syntax,
+"mi1", can be enabled by specifying the option "-i=mi1".
+
+Support for the original "mi0" syntax (included in GDB 5.0) has been
+removed.
+
+Fix for gdb/192: removed extraneous space when displaying frame level.
+Fix for gdb/672: update changelist is now output in mi list format.
+Fix for gdb/702: a -var-assign that updates the value now shows up
+ in a subsequent -var-update.
+
+* New native configurations.
+
+FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
+
+* Multi-arched targets.
+
+HP/PA HPUX11 hppa*-*-hpux*
+Renesas M32R/D w/simulator m32r-*-elf*
+
+* OBSOLETE configurations and files
+
+Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
+been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
+configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
+permanently REMOVED.
+
+Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
+Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
+H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
+HP/PA running BSD hppa*-*-bsd*
+HP/PA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
+HP/PA Pro target hppa*-*-pro*
+PMAX (MIPS) running Mach 3.0 mips*-*-mach3*
+Sequent family i[3456]86-sequent-sysv4*
+ i[3456]86-sequent-sysv*
+ i[3456]86-sequent-bsd*
+Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
+Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
+
+* REMOVED configurations and files
+
+V850EA ISA
+Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
+IBM AIX PS/2 i[3456]86-*-aix
+i386 running Mach 3.0 i[3456]86-*-mach3*
+i386 running Mach i[3456]86-*-mach*
+i386 running OSF/1 i[3456]86-*osf1mk*
+HP/Apollo 68k Family m68*-apollo*-sysv*,
+ m68*-apollo*-bsd*,
+ m68*-hp-bsd*, m68*-hp-hpux*
+Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
+Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
+Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
+OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
+I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
+
+* MIPS $fp behavior changed
+
+The convenience variable $fp, for the MIPS, now consistently returns
+the address of the current frame's base. Previously, depending on the
+context, $fp could refer to either $sp or the current frame's base
+address. See ``8.10 Registers'' in the manual ``Debugging with GDB:
+The GNU Source-Level Debugger''.
*** Changes in GDB 5.3:
+* GNU/Linux shared library multi-threaded performance improved.
+
+When debugging a multi-threaded application on GNU/Linux, GDB now uses
+`/proc', in preference to `ptrace' for memory reads. This may result
+in an improvement in the start-up time of multi-threaded, shared
+library applications when run under GDB. One GDB user writes: ``loads
+shared libs like mad''.
+
* ``gdbserver'' now supports multi-threaded applications on some targets
Support for debugging multi-threaded applications which use
projects / binutils.git / blobdiff