1 What has changed in GDB?
2 (Organized release by release)
4 *** Changes since GDB 6.0:
6 * DWARF 2 Location Expressions
8 GDB support for location expressions has been extended to support function
9 arguments and frame bases. Older versions of GDB could crash when they
12 * New native configurations
14 NetBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-netbsd*
16 * New debugging protocols
18 M32R with SDI protocol m32r-*-elf*
20 * "set prompt-escape-char" command deleted.
22 The command "set prompt-escape-char" has been deleted. This command,
23 and its very obscure effet on GDB's prompt, was never documented,
24 tested, nor mentioned in the NEWS file.
26 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
28 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
29 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
30 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
33 Sun 3, running SunOS 3 m68*-*-sunos3*
34 Sun 3, running SunOS 4 m68*-*-sunos4*
35 Sun 2, running SunOS 3 m68000-*-sunos3*
36 Sun 2, running SunOS 4 m68000-*-sunos4*
37 Motorola 680x0 running LynxOS m68*-*-lynxos*
38 AT&T 3b1/Unix pc m68*-att-*
39 Bull DPX2 (68k, System V release 3) m68*-bull-sysv*
40 decstation mips-dec-* mips-little-*
41 riscos mips-*-riscos* mips-*-sysv*
43 sysv mips*-*-sysv4* (IRIX 5/6 not included)
45 * REMOVED configurations and files
47 SGI Irix-4.x mips-sgi-irix4 or iris4
48 SGI Iris (MIPS) running Irix V3: mips-sgi-irix or iris
49 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
50 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
51 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
52 HP/PA running BSD hppa*-*-bsd*
53 HP/PA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
54 HP/PA Pro target hppa*-*-pro*
55 PMAX (MIPS) running Mach 3.0 mips*-*-mach3*
56 Sequent family i[3456]86-sequent-sysv4*
57 i[3456]86-sequent-sysv*
58 i[3456]86-sequent-bsd*
59 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
60 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
62 *** Changes in GDB 6.0:
66 Support for debugging the Objective-C programming language has been
69 * New backtrace mechanism (includes DWARF 2 Call Frame Information).
71 DWARF 2's Call Frame Information makes available compiler generated
72 information that more exactly describes the program's run-time stack.
73 By using this information, GDB is able to provide more robust stack
76 The i386, amd64 (nee, x86-64), Alpha, m68hc11, ia64, and m32r targets
77 have been updated to use a new backtrace mechanism which includes
82 GDB's remote protocol has been extended to include support for hosted
83 file I/O (where the remote target uses GDB's file system). See GDB's
84 remote protocol documentation for details.
86 * All targets using the new architecture framework.
88 All of GDB's targets have been updated to use the new internal
89 architecture framework. The way is now open for future GDB releases
90 to include cross-architecture native debugging support (i386 on amd64,
93 * GNU/Linux's Thread Local Storage (TLS)
95 GDB now includes support for for the GNU/Linux implementation of
98 * GNU/Linux's Native POSIX Thread Library (NPTL)
100 GDB's thread code has been updated to work with either the new
101 GNU/Linux NPTL thread library or the older "LinuxThreads" library.
103 * Separate debug info.
105 GDB, in conjunction with BINUTILS, now supports a mechanism for
106 automatically loading debug information from a separate file. Instead
107 of shipping full debug and non-debug versions of system libraries,
108 system integrators can now instead ship just the stripped libraries
109 and optional debug files.
111 * DWARF 2 Location Expressions
113 DWARF 2 Location Expressions allow the compiler to more completely
114 describe the location of variables (even in optimized code) to the
117 GDB now includes preliminary support for location expressions (support
118 for DW_OP_piece is still missing).
122 A number of long standing bugs that caused GDB to die while starting a
123 Java application have been fixed. GDB's Java support is now
124 considered "useable".
126 * GNU/Linux support for fork, vfork, and exec.
128 The "catch fork", "catch exec", "catch vfork", and "set follow-fork-mode"
129 commands are now implemented for GNU/Linux. They require a 2.5.x or later
132 * GDB supports logging output to a file
134 There are two new commands, "set logging" and "show logging", which can be
135 used to capture GDB's output to a file.
137 * The meaning of "detach" has changed for gdbserver
139 The "detach" command will now resume the application, as documented. To
140 disconnect from gdbserver and leave it stopped, use the new "disconnect"
143 * d10v, m68hc11 `regs' command deprecated
145 The `info registers' command has been updated so that it displays the
146 registers using a format identical to the old `regs' command.
150 A new command, "maint set profile on/off", has been added. This command can
151 be used to enable or disable profiling while running GDB, to profile a
152 session or a set of commands. In addition there is a new configure switch,
153 "--enable-profiling", which will cause GDB to be compiled with profiling
154 data, for more informative profiling results.
156 * Default MI syntax changed to "mi2".
158 The default MI (machine interface) syntax, enabled by the command line
159 option "-i=mi", has been changed to "mi2". The previous MI syntax,
160 "mi1", can be enabled by specifying the option "-i=mi1".
162 Support for the original "mi0" syntax (included in GDB 5.0) has been
165 Fix for gdb/192: removed extraneous space when displaying frame level.
166 Fix for gdb/672: update changelist is now output in mi list format.
167 Fix for gdb/702: a -var-assign that updates the value now shows up
168 in a subsequent -var-update.
170 * New native configurations.
172 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
174 * Multi-arched targets.
176 HP/PA HPUX11 hppa*-*-hpux*
177 Renesas M32R/D w/simulator m32r-*-elf*
179 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
181 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
182 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
183 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
186 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
187 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
188 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
189 HP/PA running BSD hppa*-*-bsd*
190 HP/PA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
191 HP/PA Pro target hppa*-*-pro*
192 PMAX (MIPS) running Mach 3.0 mips*-*-mach3*
193 Sequent family i[3456]86-sequent-sysv4*
194 i[3456]86-sequent-sysv*
195 i[3456]86-sequent-bsd*
196 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
197 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
199 * REMOVED configurations and files
202 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
203 IBM AIX PS/2 i[3456]86-*-aix
204 i386 running Mach 3.0 i[3456]86-*-mach3*
205 i386 running Mach i[3456]86-*-mach*
206 i386 running OSF/1 i[3456]86-*osf1mk*
207 HP/Apollo 68k Family m68*-apollo*-sysv*,
209 m68*-hp-bsd*, m68*-hp-hpux*
210 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
211 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
212 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
213 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
214 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
216 * MIPS $fp behavior changed
218 The convenience variable $fp, for the MIPS, now consistently returns
219 the address of the current frame's base. Previously, depending on the
220 context, $fp could refer to either $sp or the current frame's base
221 address. See ``8.10 Registers'' in the manual ``Debugging with GDB:
222 The GNU Source-Level Debugger''.
224 *** Changes in GDB 5.3:
226 * GNU/Linux shared library multi-threaded performance improved.
228 When debugging a multi-threaded application on GNU/Linux, GDB now uses
229 `/proc', in preference to `ptrace' for memory reads. This may result
230 in an improvement in the start-up time of multi-threaded, shared
231 library applications when run under GDB. One GDB user writes: ``loads
232 shared libs like mad''.
234 * ``gdbserver'' now supports multi-threaded applications on some targets
236 Support for debugging multi-threaded applications which use
237 the GNU/Linux LinuxThreads package has been added for
238 arm*-*-linux*-gnu*, i[3456]86-*-linux*-gnu*, mips*-*-linux*-gnu*,
239 powerpc*-*-linux*-gnu*, and sh*-*-linux*-gnu*.
241 * GDB now supports C/C++ preprocessor macros.
243 GDB now expands preprocessor macro invocations in C/C++ expressions,
244 and provides various commands for showing macro definitions and how
247 The new command `macro expand EXPRESSION' expands any macro
248 invocations in expression, and shows the result.
250 The new command `show macro MACRO-NAME' shows the definition of the
251 macro named MACRO-NAME, and where it was defined.
253 Most compilers don't include information about macros in the debugging
254 information by default. In GCC 3.1, for example, you need to compile
255 your program with the options `-gdwarf-2 -g3'. If the macro
256 information is present in the executable, GDB will read it.
258 * Multi-arched targets.
260 DEC Alpha (partial) alpha*-*-*
261 DEC VAX (partial) vax-*-*
263 National Semiconductor NS32000 (partial) ns32k-*-*
264 Motorola 68000 (partial) m68k-*-*
265 Motorola MCORE mcore-*-*
269 Fujitsu FRV architecture added by Red Hat frv*-*-*
272 * New native configurations
274 Alpha NetBSD alpha*-*-netbsd*
275 SH NetBSD sh*-*-netbsdelf*
276 MIPS NetBSD mips*-*-netbsd*
277 UltraSPARC NetBSD sparc64-*-netbsd*
279 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
281 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
282 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
283 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
286 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
287 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
288 IBM AIX PS/2 i[3456]86-*-aix
289 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
290 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
291 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
292 i386 running Mach 3.0 i[3456]86-*-mach3*
293 i386 running Mach i[3456]86-*-mach*
294 i386 running OSF/1 i[3456]86-*osf1mk*
295 HP/Apollo 68k Family m68*-apollo*-sysv*,
297 m68*-hp-bsd*, m68*-hp-hpux*
298 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
302 CHILL, a Pascal like language used by telecommunications companies.
304 * REMOVED configurations and files
306 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi, udi29k
307 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
308 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
309 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
310 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
312 testsuite/gdb.hp/gdb.threads-hp/ directory
314 * New command "set max-user-call-depth <nnn>"
316 This command allows the user to limit the call depth of user-defined
317 commands. The default is 1024.
319 * Changes in FreeBSD/i386 native debugging.
321 Support for the "generate-core-file" has been added.
323 * New commands "dump", "append", and "restore".
325 These commands allow data to be copied from target memory
326 to a bfd-format or binary file (dump and append), and back
327 from a file into memory (restore).
329 * Improved "next/step" support on multi-processor Alpha Tru64.
331 The previous single-step mechanism could cause unpredictable problems,
332 including the random appearance of SIGSEGV or SIGTRAP signals. The use
333 of a software single-step mechanism prevents this.
335 *** Changes in GDB 5.2.1:
343 gdb/182: gdb/323: gdb/237: On alpha, gdb was reporting:
344 mdebugread.c:2443: gdb-internal-error: sect_index_data not initialized
345 Fix, by Joel Brobecker imported from mainline.
347 gdb/439: gdb/291: On some ELF object files, gdb was reporting:
348 dwarf2read.c:1072: gdb-internal-error: sect_index_text not initialize
349 Fix, by Fred Fish, imported from mainline.
351 Dwarf2 .debug_frame & .eh_frame handler improved in many ways.
352 Surprisingly enough, it works now.
353 By Michal Ludvig, imported from mainline.
355 i386 hardware watchpoint support:
356 avoid misses on second run for some targets.
357 By Pierre Muller, imported from mainline.
359 *** Changes in GDB 5.2:
361 * New command "set trust-readonly-sections on[off]".
363 This command is a hint that tells gdb that read-only sections
364 really are read-only (ie. that their contents will not change).
365 In this mode, gdb will go to the object file rather than the
366 target to read memory from read-only sections (such as ".text").
367 This can be a significant performance improvement on some
368 (notably embedded) targets.
370 * New command "generate-core-file" (or "gcore").
372 This new gdb command allows the user to drop a core file of the child
373 process state at any time. So far it's been implemented only for
374 GNU/Linux and Solaris, but should be relatively easily ported to other
375 hosts. Argument is core file name (defaults to core.<pid>).
377 * New command line option
379 GDB now accepts --pid or -p followed by a process id.
381 * Change in command line behavior -- corefiles vs. process ids.
383 There is a subtle behavior in the way in which GDB handles
384 command line arguments. The first non-flag argument is always
385 a program to debug, but the second non-flag argument may either
386 be a corefile or a process id. Previously, GDB would attempt to
387 open the second argument as a corefile, and if that failed, would
388 issue a superfluous error message and then attempt to attach it as
389 a process. Now, if the second argument begins with a non-digit,
390 it will be treated as a corefile. If it begins with a digit,
391 GDB will attempt to attach it as a process, and if no such process
392 is found, will then attempt to open it as a corefile.
394 * Changes in ARM configurations.
396 Multi-arch support is enabled for all ARM configurations. The ARM/NetBSD
397 configuration is fully multi-arch.
399 * New native configurations
401 ARM NetBSD arm*-*-netbsd*
402 x86 OpenBSD i[3456]86-*-openbsd*
403 AMD x86-64 running GNU/Linux x86_64-*-linux-*
404 Sparc64 running FreeBSD sparc64-*-freebsd*
408 Sanyo XStormy16 xstormy16-elf
410 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
412 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
413 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
414 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
417 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi, udi29k
418 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
419 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
420 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
421 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
423 testsuite/gdb.hp/gdb.threads-hp/ directory
425 * REMOVED configurations and files
427 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
429 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
430 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
431 PowerPC Netware powerpc-*-netware*
432 Harris/CXUX m88k m88*-harris-cxux*
433 Most ns32k hosts and targets ns32k-*-mach3* ns32k-umax-*
434 ns32k-utek-sysv* ns32k-utek-*
435 SunOS 4.0.Xi on i386 i[3456]86-*-sunos*
436 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1 a29k-nyu-sym1 a29k-*-kern*
437 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x m68*-sony-sysv news
438 ISI Optimum V (3.05) under 4.3bsd. m68*-isi-*
439 Apple Macintosh (MPW) host and target N/A host, powerpc-*-macos*
441 * Changes to command line processing
443 The new `--args' feature can be used to specify command-line arguments
444 for the inferior from gdb's command line.
446 * Changes to key bindings
448 There is a new `operate-and-get-next' function bound to `C-o'.
450 *** Changes in GDB 5.1.1
452 Fix compile problem on DJGPP.
454 Fix a problem with floating-point registers on the i386 being
457 Fix to stop GDB crashing on .debug_str debug info.
459 Numerous documentation fixes.
461 Numerous testsuite fixes.
463 *** Changes in GDB 5.1:
465 * New native configurations
467 Alpha FreeBSD alpha*-*-freebsd*
468 x86 FreeBSD 3.x and 4.x i[3456]86*-freebsd[34]*
469 MIPS GNU/Linux mips*-*-linux*
470 MIPS SGI Irix 6.x mips*-sgi-irix6*
472 s390 and s390x GNU/Linux {s390,s390x}-*-linux*
476 Motorola 68HC11 and 68HC12 m68hc11-elf
478 UltraSparc running GNU/Linux sparc64-*-linux*
480 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
482 x86 FreeBSD before 2.2 i[3456]86*-freebsd{1,2.[01]}*,
483 Harris/CXUX m88k m88*-harris-cxux*
484 Most ns32k hosts and targets ns32k-*-mach3* ns32k-umax-*
485 ns32k-utek-sysv* ns32k-utek-*
486 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
488 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1 a29k-nyu-sym1 a29k-*-kern*
489 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
490 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
491 PowerPC Netware powerpc-*-netware*
492 SunOS 4.0.Xi on i386 i[3456]86-*-sunos*
493 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x m68*-sony-sysv news
494 ISI Optimum V (3.05) under 4.3bsd. m68*-isi-*
495 Apple Macintosh (MPW) host N/A
497 stuff.c (Program to stuff files into a specially prepared space in kdb)
498 kdb-start.c (Main loop for the standalone kernel debugger)
500 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
501 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
502 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
505 * REMOVED configurations and files
507 Altos 3068 m68*-altos-*
508 Convex c1-*-*, c2-*-*
510 ARM RISCix arm-*-* (as host)
514 * GDB has been converted to ISO C.
516 GDB's source code has been converted to ISO C. In particular, the
517 sources are fully protoized, and rely on standard headers being
522 * "info symbol" works on platforms which use COFF, ECOFF, XCOFF, and NLM.
524 * The MI enabled by default.
526 The new machine oriented interface (MI) introduced in GDB 5.0 has been
527 revised and enabled by default. Packages which use GDB as a debugging
528 engine behind a UI or another front end are encouraged to switch to
529 using the GDB/MI interface, instead of the old annotations interface
530 which is now deprecated.
532 * Support for debugging Pascal programs.
534 GDB now includes support for debugging Pascal programs. The following
535 main features are supported:
537 - Pascal-specific data types such as sets;
539 - automatic recognition of Pascal sources based on file-name
542 - Pascal-style display of data types, variables, and functions;
544 - a Pascal expression parser.
546 However, some important features are not yet supported.
548 - Pascal string operations are not supported at all;
550 - there are some problems with boolean types;
552 - Pascal type hexadecimal constants are not supported
553 because they conflict with the internal variables format;
555 - support for Pascal objects and classes is not full yet;
557 - unlike Pascal, GDB is case-sensitive for symbol names.
559 * Changes in completion.
561 Commands such as `shell', `run' and `set args', which pass arguments
562 to inferior programs, now complete on file names, similar to what
563 users expect at the shell prompt.
565 Commands which accept locations, such as `disassemble', `print',
566 `breakpoint', `until', etc. now complete on filenames as well as
567 program symbols. Thus, if you type "break foob TAB", and the source
568 files linked into the programs include `foobar.c', that file name will
569 be one of the candidates for completion. However, file names are not
570 considered for completion after you typed a colon that delimits a file
571 name from a name of a function in that file, as in "break foo.c:bar".
573 `set demangle-style' completes on available demangling styles.
575 * New platform-independent commands:
577 It is now possible to define a post-hook for a command as well as a
578 hook that runs before the command. For more details, see the
579 documentation of `hookpost' in the GDB manual.
581 * Changes in GNU/Linux native debugging.
583 Support for debugging multi-threaded programs has been completely
584 revised for all platforms except m68k and sparc. You can now debug as
585 many threads as your system allows you to have.
587 Attach/detach is supported for multi-threaded programs.
589 Support for SSE registers was added for x86. This doesn't work for
590 multi-threaded programs though.
592 * Changes in MIPS configurations.
594 Multi-arch support is enabled for all MIPS configurations.
596 GDB can now be built as native debugger on SGI Irix 6.x systems for
597 debugging n32 executables. (Debugging 64-bit executables is not yet
600 * Unified support for hardware watchpoints in all x86 configurations.
602 Most (if not all) native x86 configurations support hardware-assisted
603 breakpoints and watchpoints in a unified manner. This support
604 implements debug register sharing between watchpoints, which allows to
605 put a virtually infinite number of watchpoints on the same address,
606 and also supports watching regions up to 16 bytes with several debug
609 The new maintenance command `maintenance show-debug-regs' toggles
610 debugging print-outs in functions that insert, remove, and test
611 watchpoints and hardware breakpoints.
613 * Changes in the DJGPP native configuration.
615 New command ``info dos sysinfo'' displays assorted information about
616 the CPU, OS, memory, and DPMI server.
618 New commands ``info dos gdt'', ``info dos ldt'', and ``info dos idt''
619 display information about segment descriptors stored in GDT, LDT, and
622 New commands ``info dos pde'' and ``info dos pte'' display entries
623 from Page Directory and Page Tables (for now works with CWSDPMI only).
624 New command ``info dos address-pte'' displays the Page Table entry for
625 a given linear address.
627 GDB can now pass command lines longer than 126 characters to the
628 program being debugged (requires an update to the libdbg.a library
629 which is part of the DJGPP development kit).
631 DWARF2 debug info is now supported.
633 It is now possible to `step' and `next' through calls to `longjmp'.
635 * Changes in documentation.
637 All GDB documentation was converted to GFDL, the GNU Free
638 Documentation License.
640 Tracepoints-related commands are now fully documented in the GDB
643 TUI, the Text-mode User Interface, is now documented in the manual.
645 Tracepoints-related commands are now fully documented in the GDB
648 The "GDB Internals" manual now has an index. It also includes
649 documentation of `ui_out' functions, GDB coding standards, x86
650 hardware watchpoints, and memory region attributes.
652 * GDB's version number moved to ``version.in''
654 The Makefile variable VERSION has been replaced by the file
655 ``version.in''. People creating GDB distributions should update the
656 contents of this file.
660 GUD support is now a standard part of the EMACS distribution.
662 *** Changes in GDB 5.0:
664 * Improved support for debugging FP programs on x86 targets
666 Unified and much-improved support for debugging floating-point
667 programs on all x86 targets. In particular, ``info float'' now
668 displays the FP registers in the same format on all x86 targets, with
669 greater level of detail.
671 * Improvements and bugfixes in hardware-assisted watchpoints
673 It is now possible to watch array elements, struct members, and
674 bitfields with hardware-assisted watchpoints. Data-read watchpoints
675 on x86 targets no longer erroneously trigger when the address is
678 * Improvements in the native DJGPP version of GDB
680 The distribution now includes all the scripts and auxiliary files
681 necessary to build the native DJGPP version on MS-DOS/MS-Windows
682 machines ``out of the box''.
684 The DJGPP version can now debug programs that use signals. It is
685 possible to catch signals that happened in the debuggee, deliver
686 signals to it, interrupt it with Ctrl-C, etc. (Previously, a signal
687 would kill the program being debugged.) Programs that hook hardware
688 interrupts (keyboard, timer, etc.) can also be debugged.
690 It is now possible to debug DJGPP programs that redirect their
691 standard handles or switch them to raw (as opposed to cooked) mode, or
692 even close them. The command ``run < foo > bar'' works as expected,
693 and ``info terminal'' reports useful information about the debuggee's
694 terminal, including raw/cooked mode, redirection, etc.
696 The DJGPP version now uses termios functions for console I/O, which
697 enables debugging graphics programs. Interrupting GDB with Ctrl-C
700 DOS-style file names with drive letters are now fully supported by
703 It is now possible to debug DJGPP programs that switch their working
704 directory. It is also possible to rerun the debuggee any number of
705 times without restarting GDB; thus, you can use the same setup,
706 breakpoints, etc. for many debugging sessions.
708 * New native configurations
710 ARM GNU/Linux arm*-*-linux*
711 PowerPC GNU/Linux powerpc-*-linux*
715 Motorola MCore mcore-*-*
716 x86 VxWorks i[3456]86-*-vxworks*
717 PowerPC VxWorks powerpc-*-vxworks*
718 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
720 * OBSOLETE configurations
722 Altos 3068 m68*-altos-*
723 Convex c1-*-*, c2-*-*
725 ARM RISCix arm-*-* (as host)
728 Configurations that have been declared obsolete will be commented out,
729 but the code will be left in place. If there is no activity to revive
730 these configurations before the next release of GDB, the sources will
731 be permanently REMOVED.
733 * Gould support removed
735 Support for the Gould PowerNode and NP1 has been removed.
737 * New features for SVR4
739 On SVR4 native platforms (such as Solaris), if you attach to a process
740 without first loading a symbol file, GDB will now attempt to locate and
741 load symbols from the running process's executable file.
743 * Many C++ enhancements
745 C++ support has been greatly improved. Overload resolution now works properly
746 in almost all cases. RTTI support is on the way.
748 * Remote targets can connect to a sub-program
750 A popen(3) style serial-device has been added. This device starts a
751 sub-process (such as a stand-alone simulator) and then communicates
752 with that. The sub-program to run is specified using the syntax
753 ``|<program> <args>'' vis:
755 (gdb) set remotedebug 1
756 (gdb) target extended-remote |mn10300-elf-sim program-args
758 * MIPS 64 remote protocol
760 A long standing bug in the mips64 remote protocol where by GDB
761 expected certain 32 bit registers (ex SR) to be transfered as 32
762 instead of 64 bits has been fixed.
764 The command ``set remote-mips64-transfers-32bit-regs on'' has been
765 added to provide backward compatibility with older versions of GDB.
767 * ``set remotebinarydownload'' replaced by ``set remote X-packet''
769 The command ``set remotebinarydownload'' command has been replaced by
770 ``set remote X-packet''. Other commands in ``set remote'' family
771 include ``set remote P-packet''.
773 * Breakpoint commands accept ranges.
775 The breakpoint commands ``enable'', ``disable'', and ``delete'' now
776 accept a range of breakpoints, e.g. ``5-7''. The tracepoint command
777 ``tracepoint passcount'' also accepts a range of tracepoints.
779 * ``apropos'' command added.
781 The ``apropos'' command searches through command names and
782 documentation strings, printing out matches, making it much easier to
783 try to find a command that does what you are looking for.
787 A new machine oriented interface (MI) has been added to GDB. This
788 interface is designed for debug environments running GDB as a separate
789 process. This is part of the long term libGDB project. See the
790 "GDB/MI" chapter of the GDB manual for further information. It can be
791 enabled by configuring with:
793 .../configure --enable-gdbmi
795 *** Changes in GDB-4.18:
797 * New native configurations
799 HP-UX 10.20 hppa*-*-hpux10.20
800 HP-UX 11.x hppa*-*-hpux11.0*
801 M68K GNU/Linux m68*-*-linux*
805 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
806 Intel StrongARM strongarm-*-*
807 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
809 * OBSOLETE configurations
811 Gould PowerNode, NP1 np1-*-*, pn-*-*
813 Configurations that have been declared obsolete will be commented out,
814 but the code will be left in place. If there is no activity to revive
815 these configurations before the next release of GDB, the sources will
816 be permanently REMOVED.
820 As a compatibility experiment, GDB's source files buildsym.h and
821 buildsym.c have been converted to pure standard C, no longer
822 containing any K&R compatibility code. We believe that all systems in
823 use today either come with a standard C compiler, or have a GCC port
824 available. If this is not true, please report the affected
825 configuration to bug-gdb@gnu.org immediately. See the README file for
826 information about getting a standard C compiler if you don't have one
831 GDB now uses readline 2.2.
833 * set extension-language
835 You can now control the mapping between filename extensions and source
836 languages by using the `set extension-language' command. For instance,
837 you can ask GDB to treat .c files as C++ by saying
838 set extension-language .c c++
839 The command `info extensions' lists all of the recognized extensions
840 and their associated languages.
842 * Setting processor type for PowerPC and RS/6000
844 When GDB is configured for a powerpc*-*-* or an rs6000*-*-* target,
845 you can use the `set processor' command to specify what variant of the
846 PowerPC family you are debugging. The command
850 sets the PowerPC/RS6000 variant to NAME. GDB knows about the
851 following PowerPC and RS6000 variants:
853 ppc-uisa PowerPC UISA - a PPC processor as viewed by user-level code
854 rs6000 IBM RS6000 ("POWER") architecture, user-level view
856 403GC IBM PowerPC 403GC
857 505 Motorola PowerPC 505
858 860 Motorola PowerPC 860 or 850
859 601 Motorola PowerPC 601
860 602 Motorola PowerPC 602
861 603 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 603 or 603e
862 604 Motorola PowerPC 604 or 604e
863 750 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 750 or 750
865 At the moment, this command just tells GDB what to name the
866 special-purpose processor registers. Since almost all the affected
867 registers are inaccessible to user-level programs, this command is
868 only useful for remote debugging in its present form.
872 Thanks to a major code donation from Hewlett-Packard, GDB now has much
873 more extensive support for HP-UX. Added features include shared
874 library support, kernel threads and hardware watchpoints for 11.00,
875 support for HP's ANSI C and C++ compilers, and a compatibility mode
876 for xdb and dbx commands.
880 HP's donation includes the new concept of catchpoints, which is a
881 generalization of the old catch command. On HP-UX, it is now possible
882 to catch exec, fork, and vfork, as well as library loading.
884 This means that the existing catch command has changed; its first
885 argument now specifies the type of catch to be set up. See the
886 output of "help catch" for a list of catchpoint types.
888 * Debugging across forks
890 On HP-UX, you can choose which process to debug when a fork() happens
895 HP has donated a curses-based terminal user interface (TUI). To get
896 it, build with --enable-tui. Although this can be enabled for any
897 configuration, at present it only works for native HP debugging.
899 * GDB remote protocol additions
901 A new protocol packet 'X' that writes binary data is now available.
902 Default behavior is to try 'X', then drop back to 'M' if the stub
903 fails to respond. The settable variable `remotebinarydownload'
904 allows explicit control over the use of 'X'.
906 For 64-bit targets, the memory packets ('M' and 'm') can now contain a
907 full 64-bit address. The command
909 set remoteaddresssize 32
911 can be used to revert to the old behaviour. For existing remote stubs
912 the change should not be noticed, as the additional address information
915 In order to assist in debugging stubs, you may use the maintenance
916 command `packet' to send any text string to the stub. For instance,
918 maint packet heythere
920 sends the packet "$heythere#<checksum>". Note that it is very easy to
921 disrupt a debugging session by sending the wrong packet at the wrong
924 The compare-sections command allows you to compare section data on the
925 target to what is in the executable file without uploading or
926 downloading, by comparing CRC checksums.
928 * Tracing can collect general expressions
930 You may now collect general expressions at tracepoints. This requires
931 further additions to the target-side stub; see tracepoint.c and
932 doc/agentexpr.texi for further details.
934 * mask-address variable for Mips
936 For Mips targets, you may control the zeroing of the upper 32 bits of
937 a 64-bit address by entering `set mask-address on'. This is mainly
938 of interest to users of embedded R4xxx and R5xxx processors.
940 * Higher serial baud rates
942 GDB's serial code now allows you to specify baud rates 57600, 115200,
943 230400, and 460800 baud. (Note that your host system may not be able
944 to achieve all of these rates.)
948 The i960 configuration now includes an initial implementation of a
949 builtin simulator, contributed by Jim Wilson.
952 *** Changes in GDB-4.17:
954 * New native configurations
956 Alpha GNU/Linux alpha*-*-linux*
957 Unixware 2.x i[3456]86-unixware2*
958 Irix 6.x mips*-sgi-irix6*
959 PowerPC GNU/Linux powerpc-*-linux*
960 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
961 Sparc GNU/Linux sparc-*-linux*
962 Motorola sysV68 R3V7.1 m68k-motorola-sysv
966 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
967 Hitachi H8/300S h8300*-*-*
968 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
969 Matsushita MN10300 w/simulator mn10300-*-*
970 MIPS NEC VR4100 mips64*vr4100*{,el}-*-elf*
971 MIPS NEC VR5000 mips64*vr5000*{,el}-*-elf*
972 MIPS Toshiba TX39 mips64*tx39*{,el}-*-elf*
973 Mitsubishi D10V w/simulator d10v-*-*
974 Mitsubishi M32R/D w/simulator m32r-*-elf*
975 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
976 NEC V850 w/simulator v850-*-*
978 * New debugging protocols
980 ARM with RDI protocol arm*-*-*
981 M68K with dBUG monitor m68*-*-{aout,coff,elf}
982 DDB and LSI variants of PMON protocol mips*-*-*
983 PowerPC with DINK32 monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
984 PowerPC with SDS protocol powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
985 Macraigor OCD (Wiggler) devices powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
989 All configurations can now understand and use the DWARF 2 debugging
990 format. The choice is automatic, if the symbol file contains DWARF 2
995 GDB now includes basic Java language support. This support is
996 only useful with Java compilers that produce native machine code.
998 * solib-absolute-prefix and solib-search-path
1000 For SunOS and SVR4 shared libraries, you may now set the prefix for
1001 loading absolute shared library symbol files, and the search path for
1002 locating non-absolute shared library symbol files.
1004 * Live range splitting
1006 GDB can now effectively debug code for which GCC has performed live
1007 range splitting as part of its optimization. See gdb/doc/LRS for
1008 more details on the expected format of the stabs information.
1012 GDB's support for the GNU Hurd, including thread debugging, has been
1013 updated to work with current versions of the Hurd.
1017 GDB's ARM target configuration now handles the ARM7T (Thumb) 16-bit
1018 instruction set. ARM GDB automatically detects when Thumb
1019 instructions are in use, and adjusts disassembly and backtracing
1024 GDB's MIPS target configurations now handle the MIP16 16-bit
1029 GDB now includes support for overlays; if an executable has been
1030 linked such that multiple sections are based at the same address, GDB
1031 will decide which section to use for symbolic info. You can choose to
1032 control the decision manually, using overlay commands, or implement
1033 additional target-side support and use "overlay load-target" to bring
1034 in the overlay mapping. Do "help overlay" for more detail.
1038 The command "info symbol <address>" displays information about
1039 the symbol at the specified address.
1043 The standard remote protocol now includes an extension that allows
1044 asynchronous collection and display of trace data. This requires
1045 extensive support in the target-side debugging stub. Tracing mode
1046 includes a new interaction mode in GDB and new commands: see the
1047 file tracepoint.c for more details.
1051 Configurations for embedded MIPS now include a simulator contributed
1052 by Cygnus Solutions. The simulator supports the instruction sets
1053 of most MIPS variants.
1057 Sparc configurations may now include the ERC32 simulator contributed
1058 by the European Space Agency. The simulator is not built into
1059 Sparc targets by default; configure with --enable-sim to include it.
1063 For target configurations that may include multiple variants of a
1064 basic architecture (such as MIPS and SH), you may now set the
1065 architecture explicitly. "set arch" sets, "info arch" lists
1066 the possible architectures.
1068 *** Changes in GDB-4.16:
1070 * New native configurations
1072 Windows 95, x86 Windows NT i[345]86-*-cygwin32
1073 M68K NetBSD m68k-*-netbsd*
1074 PowerPC AIX 4.x powerpc-*-aix*
1075 PowerPC MacOS powerpc-*-macos*
1076 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
1077 RS/6000 AIX 4.x rs6000-*-aix4*
1081 ARM with RDP protocol arm-*-*
1082 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
1083 MIPS VxWorks mips*-*-vxworks*
1084 MIPS VR4300 with PMON mips64*vr4300{,el}-*-elf*
1085 PowerPC with PPCBUG monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi*
1087 Matra Sparclet sparclet-*-*
1091 The powerpc-eabi configuration now includes the PSIM simulator,
1092 contributed by Andrew Cagney, with assistance from Mike Meissner.
1093 PSIM is a very elaborate model of the PowerPC, including not only
1094 basic instruction set execution, but also details of execution unit
1095 performance and I/O hardware. See sim/ppc/README for more details.
1099 GDB now works with Solaris 2.5.
1101 * Windows 95/NT native
1103 GDB will now work as a native debugger on Windows 95 and Windows NT.
1104 To build it from source, you must use the "gnu-win32" environment,
1105 which uses a DLL to emulate enough of Unix to run the GNU tools.
1106 Further information, binaries, and sources are available at
1107 ftp.cygnus.com, under pub/gnu-win32.
1109 * dont-repeat command
1111 If a user-defined command includes the command `dont-repeat', then the
1112 command will not be repeated if the user just types return. This is
1113 useful if the command is time-consuming to run, so that accidental
1114 extra keystrokes don't run the same command many times.
1116 * Send break instead of ^C
1118 The standard remote protocol now includes an option to send a break
1119 rather than a ^C to the target in order to interrupt it. By default,
1120 GDB will send ^C; to send a break, set the variable `remotebreak' to 1.
1122 * Remote protocol timeout
1124 The standard remote protocol includes a new variable `remotetimeout'
1125 that allows you to set the number of seconds before GDB gives up trying
1126 to read from the target. The default value is 2.
1128 * Automatic tracking of dynamic object loading (HPUX and Solaris only)
1130 By default GDB will automatically keep track of objects as they are
1131 loaded and unloaded by the dynamic linker. By using the command `set
1132 stop-on-solib-events 1' you can arrange for GDB to stop the inferior
1133 when shared library events occur, thus allowing you to set breakpoints
1134 in shared libraries which are explicitly loaded by the inferior.
1136 Note this feature does not work on hpux8. On hpux9 you must link
1137 /usr/lib/end.o into your program. This feature should work
1138 automatically on hpux10.
1140 * Irix 5.x hardware watchpoint support
1142 Irix 5 configurations now support the use of hardware watchpoints.
1144 * Mips protocol "SYN garbage limit"
1146 When debugging a Mips target using the `target mips' protocol, you
1147 may set the number of characters that GDB will ignore by setting
1148 the `syn-garbage-limit'. A value of -1 means that GDB will ignore
1149 every character. The default value is 1050.
1151 * Recording and replaying remote debug sessions
1153 If you set `remotelogfile' to the name of a file, gdb will write to it
1154 a recording of a remote debug session. This recording may then be
1155 replayed back to gdb using "gdbreplay". See gdbserver/README for
1156 details. This is useful when you have a problem with GDB while doing
1157 remote debugging; you can make a recording of the session and send it
1158 to someone else, who can then recreate the problem.
1160 * Speedups for remote debugging
1162 GDB includes speedups for downloading and stepping MIPS systems using
1163 the IDT monitor, fast downloads to the Hitachi SH E7000 emulator,
1164 and more efficient S-record downloading.
1166 * Memory use reductions and statistics collection
1168 GDB now uses less memory and reports statistics about memory usage.
1169 Try the `maint print statistics' command, for example.
1171 *** Changes in GDB-4.15:
1173 * Psymtabs for XCOFF
1175 The symbol reader for AIX GDB now uses partial symbol tables. This
1176 can greatly improve startup time, especially for large executables.
1178 * Remote targets use caching
1180 Remote targets now use a data cache to speed up communication with the
1181 remote side. The data cache could lead to incorrect results because
1182 it doesn't know about volatile variables, thus making it impossible to
1183 debug targets which use memory mapped I/O devices. `set remotecache
1184 off' turns the the data cache off.
1186 * Remote targets may have threads
1188 The standard remote protocol now includes support for multiple threads
1189 in the target system, using new protocol commands 'H' and 'T'. See
1190 gdb/remote.c for details.
1194 If GDB is configured with `--enable-netrom', then it will include
1195 support for the NetROM ROM emulator from XLNT Designs. The NetROM
1196 acts as though it is a bank of ROM on the target board, but you can
1197 write into it over the network. GDB's support consists only of
1198 support for fast loading into the emulated ROM; to debug, you must use
1199 another protocol, such as standard remote protocol. The usual
1200 sequence is something like
1202 target nrom <netrom-hostname>
1204 target remote <netrom-hostname>:1235
1208 GDB now includes support for the Apple Macintosh, as a host only. It
1209 may be run as either an MPW tool or as a standalone application, and
1210 it can debug through the serial port. All the usual GDB commands are
1211 available, but to the target command, you must supply "serial" as the
1212 device type instead of "/dev/ttyXX". See mpw-README in the main
1213 directory for more information on how to build. The MPW configuration
1214 scripts */mpw-config.in support only a few targets, and only the
1215 mips-idt-ecoff target has been tested.
1219 GDB configuration now uses autoconf. This is not user-visible,
1220 but does simplify configuration and building.
1224 GDB now supports hpux10.
1226 *** Changes in GDB-4.14:
1228 * New native configurations
1230 x86 FreeBSD i[345]86-*-freebsd
1231 x86 NetBSD i[345]86-*-netbsd
1232 NS32k NetBSD ns32k-*-netbsd
1233 Sparc NetBSD sparc-*-netbsd
1237 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
1238 HP PA PRO embedded (WinBond W89K & Oki OP50N) hppa*-*-pro*
1239 CPU32 EST-300 emulator m68*-*-est*
1240 PowerPC ELF powerpc-*-elf
1243 * Alpha OSF/1 support for procfs
1245 GDB now supports procfs under OSF/1-2.x and higher, which makes it
1246 possible to attach to running processes. As the mounting of the /proc
1247 filesystem is optional on the Alpha, GDB automatically determines
1248 the availability of /proc during startup. This can lead to problems
1249 if /proc is unmounted after GDB has been started.
1251 * Arguments to user-defined commands
1253 User commands may accept up to 10 arguments separated by whitespace.
1254 Arguments are accessed within the user command via $arg0..$arg9. A
1257 print $arg0 + $arg1 + $arg2
1259 To execute the command use:
1262 Defines the command "adder" which prints the sum of its three arguments.
1263 Note the arguments are text substitutions, so they may reference variables,
1264 use complex expressions, or even perform inferior function calls.
1266 * New `if' and `while' commands
1268 This makes it possible to write more sophisticated user-defined
1269 commands. Both commands take a single argument, which is the
1270 expression to evaluate, and must be followed by the commands to
1271 execute, one per line, if the expression is nonzero, the list being
1272 terminated by the word `end'. The `if' command list may include an
1273 `else' word, which causes the following commands to be executed only
1274 if the expression is zero.
1276 * Fortran source language mode
1278 GDB now includes partial support for Fortran 77. It will recognize
1279 Fortran programs and can evaluate a subset of Fortran expressions, but
1280 variables and functions may not be handled correctly. GDB will work
1281 with G77, but does not yet know much about symbols emitted by other
1284 * Better HPUX support
1286 Most debugging facilities now work on dynamic executables for HPPAs
1287 running hpux9 or later. You can attach to running dynamically linked
1288 processes, but by default the dynamic libraries will be read-only, so
1289 for instance you won't be able to put breakpoints in them. To change
1290 that behavior do the following before running the program:
1296 This will cause the libraries to be mapped private and read-write.
1297 To revert to the normal behavior, do this:
1303 You cannot set breakpoints or examine data in the library until after
1304 the library is loaded if the function/data symbols do not have
1307 GDB can now also read debug symbols produced by the HP C compiler on
1308 HPPAs (sorry, no C++, Fortran or 68k support).
1310 * Target byte order now dynamically selectable
1312 You can choose which byte order to use with a target system, via the
1313 commands "set endian big" and "set endian little", and you can see the
1314 current setting by using "show endian". You can also give the command
1315 "set endian auto", in which case GDB will use the byte order
1316 associated with the executable. Currently, only embedded MIPS
1317 configurations support dynamic selection of target byte order.
1319 * New DOS host serial code
1321 This version uses DPMI interrupts to handle buffered I/O, so you
1322 no longer need to run asynctsr when debugging boards connected to
1325 *** Changes in GDB-4.13:
1327 * New "complete" command
1329 This lists all the possible completions for the rest of the line, if it
1330 were to be given as a command itself. This is intended for use by emacs.
1332 * Trailing space optional in prompt
1334 "set prompt" no longer adds a space for you after the prompt you set. This
1335 allows you to set a prompt which ends in a space or one that does not.
1337 * Breakpoint hit counts
1339 "info break" now displays a count of the number of times the breakpoint
1340 has been hit. This is especially useful in conjunction with "ignore"; you
1341 can ignore a large number of breakpoint hits, look at the breakpoint info
1342 to see how many times the breakpoint was hit, then run again, ignoring one
1343 less than that number, and this will get you quickly to the last hit of
1346 * Ability to stop printing at NULL character
1348 "set print null-stop" will cause GDB to stop printing the characters of
1349 an array when the first NULL is encountered. This is useful when large
1350 arrays actually contain only short strings.
1352 * Shared library breakpoints
1354 In SunOS 4.x, SVR4, and Alpha OSF/1 configurations, you can now set
1355 breakpoints in shared libraries before the executable is run.
1357 * Hardware watchpoints
1359 There is a new hardware breakpoint for the watch command for sparclite
1360 targets. See gdb/sparclite/hw_breakpoint.note.
1362 Hardware watchpoints are also now supported under GNU/Linux.
1366 Annotations have been added. These are for use with graphical interfaces,
1367 and are still experimental. Currently only gdba.el uses these.
1369 * Improved Irix 5 support
1371 GDB now works properly with Irix 5.2.
1373 * Improved HPPA support
1375 GDB now works properly with the latest GCC and GAS.
1377 * New native configurations
1379 Sequent PTX4 i[34]86-sequent-ptx4
1380 HPPA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
1381 Atari TT running SVR4 m68*-*-sysv4*
1382 RS/6000 LynxOS rs6000-*-lynxos*
1386 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
1387 MIPS R4000 mips64*{,el}-*-{ecoff,elf}
1390 * Hitachi SH7000 and E7000-PC ICE support
1392 There is now support for communicating with the Hitachi E7000-PC ICE.
1393 This is available automatically when GDB is configured for the SH.
1397 As usual, a variety of small fixes and improvements, both generic
1398 and configuration-specific. See the ChangeLog for more detail.
1400 *** Changes in GDB-4.12:
1402 * Irix 5 is now supported
1406 GDB-4.12 on the HPPA has a number of changes which make it unable
1407 to debug the output from the currently released versions of GCC and
1408 GAS (GCC 2.5.8 and GAS-2.2 or PAGAS-1.36). Until the next major release
1409 of GCC and GAS, versions of these tools designed to work with GDB-4.12
1410 can be retrieved via anonymous ftp from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist.
1413 *** Changes in GDB-4.11:
1415 * User visible changes:
1419 The "set remotedebug" option is now consistent between the mips remote
1420 target, remote targets using the gdb-specific protocol, UDI (AMD's
1421 debug protocol for the 29k) and the 88k bug monitor. It is now an
1422 integer specifying a debug level (normally 0 or 1, but 2 means more
1423 debugging info for the mips target).
1425 * DEC Alpha native support
1427 GDB now works on the DEC Alpha. GCC 2.4.5 does not produce usable
1428 debug info, but GDB works fairly well with the DEC compiler and should
1429 work with a future GCC release. See the README file for a few
1430 Alpha-specific notes.
1432 * Preliminary thread implementation
1434 GDB now has preliminary thread support for both SGI/Irix and LynxOS.
1436 * LynxOS native and target support for 386
1438 This release has been hosted on LynxOS 2.2, and also can be configured
1439 to remotely debug programs running under LynxOS (see gdb/gdbserver/README
1442 * Improvements in C++ mangling/demangling.
1444 This release has much better g++ debugging, specifically in name
1445 mangling/demangling, virtual function calls, print virtual table,
1446 call methods, ...etc.
1448 *** Changes in GDB-4.10:
1450 * User visible changes:
1452 Remote debugging using the GDB-specific (`target remote') protocol now
1453 supports the `load' command. This is only useful if you have some
1454 other way of getting the stub to the target system, and you can put it
1455 somewhere in memory where it won't get clobbered by the download.
1457 Filename completion now works.
1459 When run under emacs mode, the "info line" command now causes the
1460 arrow to point to the line specified. Also, "info line" prints
1461 addresses in symbolic form (as well as hex).
1463 All vxworks based targets now support a user settable option, called
1464 vxworks-timeout. This option represents the number of seconds gdb
1465 should wait for responses to rpc's. You might want to use this if
1466 your vxworks target is, perhaps, a slow software simulator or happens
1467 to be on the far side of a thin network line.
1471 This release contains support for using a DEC alpha as a GDB host for
1472 cross debugging. Native alpha debugging is not supported yet.
1475 *** Changes in GDB-4.9:
1479 This is the first GDB release which is accompanied by a matching testsuite.
1480 The testsuite requires installation of dejagnu, which should be available
1481 via ftp from most sites that carry GNU software.
1485 'Cfront' style demangling has had its name changed to 'ARM' style, to
1486 emphasize that it was written from the specifications in the C++ Annotated
1487 Reference Manual, not necessarily to be compatible with AT&T cfront. Despite
1488 disclaimers, it still generated too much confusion with users attempting to
1489 use gdb with AT&T cfront.
1493 GDB now uses a standard remote interface to a simulator library.
1494 So far, the library contains simulators for the Zilog Z8001/2, the
1495 Hitachi H8/300, H8/500 and Super-H.
1497 * New targets supported
1499 H8/300 simulator h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
1500 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
1501 SH simulator sh-hitachi-hms or sh
1502 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
1503 IDT MIPS board over serial line mips-idt-ecoff
1505 Cross-debugging to GO32 targets is supported. It requires a custom
1506 version of the i386-stub.c module which is integrated with the
1507 GO32 memory extender.
1509 * New remote protocols
1511 MIPS remote debugging protocol.
1513 * New source languages supported
1515 This version includes preliminary support for Chill, a Pascal like language
1516 used by telecommunications companies. Chill support is also being integrated
1517 into the GNU compiler, but we don't know when it will be publically available.
1520 *** Changes in GDB-4.8:
1522 * HP Precision Architecture supported
1524 GDB now supports HP PA-RISC machines running HPUX. A preliminary
1525 version of this support was available as a set of patches from the
1526 University of Utah. GDB does not support debugging of programs
1527 compiled with the HP compiler, because HP will not document their file
1528 format. Instead, you must use GCC (version 2.3.2 or later) and PA-GAS
1529 (as available from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist/pa-gas.u4.tar.Z).
1531 Many problems in the preliminary version have been fixed.
1533 * Faster and better demangling
1535 We have improved template demangling and fixed numerous bugs in the GNU style
1536 demangler. It can now handle type modifiers such as `static' or `const'. Wide
1537 character types (wchar_t) are now supported. Demangling of each symbol is now
1538 only done once, and is cached when the symbol table for a file is read in.
1539 This results in a small increase in memory usage for C programs, a moderate
1540 increase in memory usage for C++ programs, and a fantastic speedup in
1543 `Cfront' style demangling still doesn't work with AT&T cfront. It was written
1544 from the specifications in the Annotated Reference Manual, which AT&T's
1545 compiler does not actually implement.
1547 * G++ multiple inheritance compiler problem
1549 In the 2.3.2 release of gcc/g++, how the compiler resolves multiple
1550 inheritance lattices was reworked to properly discover ambiguities. We
1551 recently found an example which causes this new algorithm to fail in a
1552 very subtle way, producing bad debug information for those classes.
1553 The file 'gcc.patch' (in this directory) can be applied to gcc to
1554 circumvent the problem. A future GCC release will contain a complete
1557 The previous G++ debug info problem (mentioned below for the gdb-4.7
1558 release) is fixed in gcc version 2.3.2.
1560 * Improved configure script
1562 The `configure' script will now attempt to guess your system type if
1563 you don't supply a host system type. The old scheme of supplying a
1564 host system triplet is preferable over using this. All the magic is
1565 done in the new `config.guess' script. Examine it for details.
1567 We have also brought our configure script much more in line with the FSF's
1568 version. It now supports the --with-xxx options. In particular,
1569 `--with-minimal-bfd' can be used to make the GDB binary image smaller.
1570 The resulting GDB will not be able to read arbitrary object file formats --
1571 only the format ``expected'' to be used on the configured target system.
1572 We hope to make this the default in a future release.
1574 * Documentation improvements
1576 There's new internal documentation on how to modify GDB, and how to
1577 produce clean changes to the code. We implore people to read it
1578 before submitting changes.
1580 The GDB manual uses new, sexy Texinfo conditionals, rather than arcane
1581 M4 macros. The new texinfo.tex is provided in this release. Pre-built
1582 `info' files are also provided. To build `info' files from scratch,
1583 you will need the latest `makeinfo' release, which will be available in
1584 a future texinfo-X.Y release.
1586 *NOTE* The new texinfo.tex can cause old versions of TeX to hang.
1587 We're not sure exactly which versions have this problem, but it has
1588 been seen in 3.0. We highly recommend upgrading to TeX version 3.141
1589 or better. If that isn't possible, there is a patch in
1590 `texinfo/tex3patch' that will modify `texinfo/texinfo.tex' to work
1591 around this problem.
1595 GDB now supports array constants that can be used in expressions typed in by
1596 the user. The syntax is `{element, element, ...}'. Ie: you can now type
1597 `print {1, 2, 3}', and it will build up an array in memory malloc'd in
1600 The new directory `gdb/sparclite' contains a program that demonstrates
1601 how the sparc-stub.c remote stub runs on a Fujitsu SPARClite processor.
1603 * New native hosts supported
1605 HP/PA-RISC under HPUX using GNU tools hppa1.1-hp-hpux
1606 386 CPUs running SCO Unix 3.2v4 i386-unknown-sco3.2v4
1608 * New targets supported
1610 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi or udi29k
1612 * New file formats supported
1614 BFD now supports reading HP/PA-RISC executables (SOM file format?),
1615 HPUX core files, and SCO 3.2v2 core files.
1619 Attaching to processes now works again; thanks for the many bug reports.
1621 We have also stomped on a bunch of core dumps caused by
1622 printf_filtered("%s") problems.
1624 We eliminated a copyright problem on the rpc and ptrace header files
1625 for VxWorks, which was discovered at the last minute during the 4.7
1626 release. You should now be able to build a VxWorks GDB.
1628 You can now interrupt gdb while an attached process is running. This
1629 will cause the attached process to stop, and give control back to GDB.
1631 We fixed problems caused by using too many file descriptors
1632 for reading symbols from object files and libraries. This was
1633 especially a problem for programs that used many (~100) shared
1636 The `step' command now only enters a subroutine if there is line number
1637 information for the subroutine. Otherwise it acts like the `next'
1638 command. Previously, `step' would enter subroutines if there was
1639 any debugging information about the routine. This avoids problems
1640 when using `cc -g1' on MIPS machines.
1642 * Internal improvements
1644 GDB's internal interfaces have been improved to make it easier to support
1645 debugging of multiple languages in the future.
1647 GDB now uses a common structure for symbol information internally.
1648 Minimal symbols (derived from linkage symbols in object files), partial
1649 symbols (from a quick scan of debug information), and full symbols
1650 contain a common subset of information, making it easier to write
1651 shared code that handles any of them.
1653 * New command line options
1655 We now accept --silent as an alias for --quiet.
1659 The memory-mapped-malloc library is now licensed under the GNU Library
1660 General Public License.
1662 *** Changes in GDB-4.7:
1664 * Host/native/target split
1666 GDB has had some major internal surgery to untangle the support for
1667 hosts and remote targets. Now, when you configure GDB for a remote
1668 target, it will no longer load in all of the support for debugging
1669 local programs on the host. When fully completed and tested, this will
1670 ensure that arbitrary host/target combinations are possible.
1672 The primary conceptual shift is to separate the non-portable code in
1673 GDB into three categories. Host specific code is required any time GDB
1674 is compiled on that host, regardless of the target. Target specific
1675 code relates to the peculiarities of the target, but can be compiled on
1676 any host. Native specific code is everything else: it can only be
1677 built when the host and target are the same system. Child process
1678 handling and core file support are two common `native' examples.
1680 GDB's use of /proc for controlling Unix child processes is now cleaner.
1681 It has been split out into a single module under the `target_ops' vector,
1682 plus two native-dependent functions for each system that uses /proc.
1684 * New hosts supported
1686 HP/Apollo 68k (under the BSD domain) m68k-apollo-bsd or apollo68bsd
1687 386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
1688 386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or i386sco
1690 * New targets supported
1692 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
1693 68030 and CPU32 m68030-*-*, m68332-*-*
1695 * New native hosts supported
1697 386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
1698 (386bsd is not well tested yet)
1699 386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or sco
1701 * New file formats supported
1703 BFD now supports COFF files for the Zilog Z8000 microprocessor. It
1704 supports reading of `a.out.adobe' object files, which are an a.out
1705 format extended with minimal information about multiple sections.
1709 `show copying' is the same as the old `info copying'.
1710 `show warranty' is the same as `info warrantee'.
1711 These were renamed for consistency. The old commands continue to work.
1713 `info handle' is a new alias for `info signals'.
1715 You can now define pre-command hooks, which attach arbitrary command
1716 scripts to any command. The commands in the hook will be executed
1717 prior to the user's command. You can also create a hook which will be
1718 executed whenever the program stops. See gdb.texinfo.
1722 We now deal with Cfront style name mangling, and can even extract type
1723 info from mangled symbols. GDB can automatically figure out which
1724 symbol mangling style your C++ compiler uses.
1726 Calling of methods and virtual functions has been improved as well.
1730 The crash that occured when debugging Sun Ansi-C compiled binaries is
1731 fixed. This was due to mishandling of the extra N_SO stabs output
1734 We also finally got Ultrix 4.2 running in house, and fixed core file
1735 support, with help from a dozen people on the net.
1737 John M. Farrell discovered that the reason that single-stepping was so
1738 slow on all of the Mips based platforms (primarily SGI and DEC) was
1739 that we were trying to demangle and lookup a symbol used for internal
1740 purposes on every instruction that was being stepped through. Changing
1741 the name of that symbol so that it couldn't be mistaken for a C++
1742 mangled symbol sped things up a great deal.
1744 Rich Pixley sped up symbol lookups in general by getting much smarter
1745 about when C++ symbol mangling is necessary. This should make symbol
1746 completion (TAB on the command line) much faster. It's not as fast as
1747 we'd like, but it's significantly faster than gdb-4.6.
1751 A new user controllable variable 'call_scratch_address' can
1752 specify the location of a scratch area to be used when GDB
1753 calls a function in the target. This is necessary because the
1754 usual method of putting the scratch area on the stack does not work
1755 in systems that have separate instruction and data spaces.
1757 We integrated changes to support the 29k UDI (Universal Debugger
1758 Interface), but discovered at the last minute that we didn't have all
1759 of the appropriate copyright paperwork. We are working with AMD to
1760 resolve this, and hope to have it available soon.
1764 We have sped up the remote serial line protocol, especially for targets
1765 with lots of registers. It now supports a new `expedited status' ('T')
1766 message which can be used in place of the existing 'S' status message.
1767 This allows the remote stub to send only the registers that GDB
1768 needs to make a quick decision about single-stepping or conditional
1769 breakpoints, eliminating the need to fetch the entire register set for
1770 each instruction being stepped through.
1772 The GDB remote serial protocol now implements a write-through cache for
1773 registers, only re-reading the registers if the target has run.
1775 There is also a new remote serial stub for SPARC processors. You can
1776 find it in gdb-4.7/gdb/sparc-stub.c. This was written to support the
1777 Fujitsu SPARClite processor, but will run on any stand-alone SPARC
1778 processor with a serial port.
1782 Configure.in files have become much easier to read and modify. A new
1783 `table driven' format makes it more obvious what configurations are
1784 supported, and what files each one uses.
1788 There is a new opcodes library which will eventually contain all of the
1789 disassembly routines and opcode tables. At present, it only contains
1790 Sparc and Z8000 routines. This will allow the assembler, debugger, and
1791 disassembler (binutils/objdump) to share these routines.
1793 The libiberty library is now copylefted under the GNU Library General
1794 Public License. This allows more liberal use, and was done so libg++
1795 can use it. This makes no difference to GDB, since the Library License
1796 grants all the rights from the General Public License.
1800 The file gdb-4.7/gdb/doc/stabs.texinfo is a (relatively) complete
1801 reference to the stabs symbol info used by the debugger. It is (as far
1802 as we know) the only published document on this fascinating topic. We
1803 encourage you to read it, compare it to the stabs information on your
1804 system, and send improvements on the document in general (to
1805 bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu).
1807 And, of course, many bugs have been fixed.
1810 *** Changes in GDB-4.6:
1812 * Better support for C++ function names
1814 GDB now accepts as input the "demangled form" of C++ overloaded function
1815 names and member function names, and can do command completion on such names
1816 (using TAB, TAB-TAB, and ESC-?). The names have to be quoted with a pair of
1817 single quotes. Examples are 'func (int, long)' and 'obj::operator==(obj&)'.
1818 Make use of command completion, it is your friend.
1820 GDB also now accepts a variety of C++ mangled symbol formats. They are
1821 the GNU g++ style, the Cfront (ARM) style, and the Lucid (lcc) style.
1822 You can tell GDB which format to use by doing a 'set demangle-style {gnu,
1823 lucid, cfront, auto}'. 'gnu' is the default. Do a 'set demangle-style foo'
1824 for the list of formats.
1826 * G++ symbol mangling problem
1828 Recent versions of gcc have a bug in how they emit debugging information for
1829 C++ methods (when using dbx-style stabs). The file 'gcc.patch' (in this
1830 directory) can be applied to gcc to fix the problem. Alternatively, if you
1831 can't fix gcc, you can #define GCC_MANGLE_BUG when compling gdb/symtab.c. The
1832 usual symptom is difficulty with setting breakpoints on methods. GDB complains
1833 about the method being non-existent. (We believe that version 2.2.2 of GCC has
1836 * New 'maintenance' command
1838 All of the commands related to hacking GDB internals have been moved out of
1839 the main command set, and now live behind the 'maintenance' command. This
1840 can also be abbreviated as 'mt'. The following changes were made:
1842 dump-me -> maintenance dump-me
1843 info all-breakpoints -> maintenance info breakpoints
1844 printmsyms -> maintenance print msyms
1845 printobjfiles -> maintenance print objfiles
1846 printpsyms -> maintenance print psymbols
1847 printsyms -> maintenance print symbols
1849 The following commands are new:
1851 maintenance demangle Call internal GDB demangler routine to
1852 demangle a C++ link name and prints the result.
1853 maintenance print type Print a type chain for a given symbol
1855 * Change to .gdbinit file processing
1857 We now read the $HOME/.gdbinit file before processing the argv arguments
1858 (e.g. reading symbol files or core files). This allows global parameters to
1859 be set, which will apply during the symbol reading. The ./.gdbinit is still
1860 read after argv processing.
1862 * New hosts supported
1864 Solaris-2.0 !!! sparc-sun-solaris2 or sun4sol2
1866 GNU/Linux support i386-unknown-linux or linux
1868 We are also including code to support the HP/PA running BSD and HPUX. This
1869 is almost guaranteed not to work, as we didn't have time to test or build it
1870 for this release. We are including it so that the more adventurous (or
1871 masochistic) of you can play with it. We also had major problems with the
1872 fact that the compiler that we got from HP doesn't support the -g option.
1875 * New targets supported
1877 Hitachi H8/300 h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
1879 * More smarts about finding #include files
1881 GDB now remembers the compilation directory for all include files, and for
1882 all files from which C is generated (like yacc and lex sources). This
1883 greatly improves GDB's ability to find yacc/lex sources, and include files,
1884 especially if you are debugging your program from a directory different from
1885 the one that contains your sources.
1887 We also fixed a bug which caused difficulty with listing and setting
1888 breakpoints in include files which contain C code. (In the past, you had to
1889 try twice in order to list an include file that you hadn't looked at before.)
1891 * Interesting infernals change
1893 GDB now deals with arbitrary numbers of sections, where the symbols for each
1894 section must be relocated relative to that section's landing place in the
1895 target's address space. This work was needed to support ELF with embedded
1896 stabs used by Solaris-2.0.
1898 * Bug fixes (of course!)
1900 There have been loads of fixes for the following things:
1901 mips, rs6000, 29k/udi, m68k, g++, type handling, elf/dwarf, m88k,
1902 i960, stabs, DOS(GO32), procfs, etc...
1904 See the ChangeLog for details.
1906 *** Changes in GDB-4.5:
1908 * New machines supported (host and target)
1910 IBM RS6000 running AIX rs6000-ibm-aix or rs6000
1912 SGI Irix-4.x mips-sgi-irix4 or iris4
1914 * New malloc package
1916 GDB now uses a new memory manager called mmalloc, based on gmalloc.
1917 Mmalloc is capable of handling mutiple heaps of memory. It is also
1918 capable of saving a heap to a file, and then mapping it back in later.
1919 This can be used to greatly speedup the startup of GDB by using a
1920 pre-parsed symbol table which lives in a mmalloc managed heap. For
1921 more details, please read mmalloc/mmalloc.texi.
1925 The 'info proc' command (SVR4 only) has been enhanced quite a bit. See
1926 'help info proc' for details.
1928 * MIPS ecoff symbol table format
1930 The code that reads MIPS symbol table format is now supported on all hosts.
1931 Thanks to MIPS for releasing the sym.h and symconst.h files to make this
1934 * File name changes for MS-DOS
1936 Many files in the config directories have been renamed to make it easier to
1937 support GDB on MS-DOSe systems (which have very restrictive file name
1938 conventions :-( ). MS-DOSe host support (under DJ Delorie's GO32
1939 environment) is close to working but has some remaining problems. Note
1940 that debugging of DOS programs is not supported, due to limitations
1941 in the ``operating system'', but it can be used to host cross-debugging.
1943 * Cross byte order fixes
1945 Many fixes have been made to support cross debugging of Sparc and MIPS
1946 targets from hosts whose byte order differs.
1948 * New -mapped and -readnow options
1950 If memory-mapped files are available on your system through the 'mmap'
1951 system call, you can use the -mapped option on the `file' or
1952 `symbol-file' commands to cause GDB to write the symbols from your
1953 program into a reusable file. If the program you are debugging is
1954 called `/path/fred', the mapped symbol file will be `./fred.syms'.
1955 Future GDB debugging sessions will notice the presence of this file,
1956 and will quickly map in symbol information from it, rather than reading
1957 the symbol table from the executable program. Using the '-mapped'
1958 option in a GDB `file' or `symbol-file' command has the same effect as
1959 starting GDB with the '-mapped' command-line option.
1961 You can cause GDB to read the entire symbol table immediately by using
1962 the '-readnow' option with any of the commands that load symbol table
1963 information (or on the GDB command line). This makes the command
1964 slower, but makes future operations faster.
1966 The -mapped and -readnow options are typically combined in order to
1967 build a `fred.syms' file that contains complete symbol information.
1968 A simple GDB invocation to do nothing but build a `.syms' file for future
1971 gdb -batch -nx -mapped -readnow programname
1973 The `.syms' file is specific to the host machine on which GDB is run.
1974 It holds an exact image of GDB's internal symbol table. It cannot be
1975 shared across multiple host platforms.
1977 * longjmp() handling
1979 GDB is now capable of stepping and nexting over longjmp(), _longjmp(), and
1980 siglongjmp() without losing control. This feature has not yet been ported to
1981 all systems. It currently works on many 386 platforms, all MIPS-based
1982 platforms (SGI, DECstation, etc), and Sun3/4.
1986 Preliminary work has been put in to support the new Solaris OS from Sun. At
1987 this time, it can control and debug processes, but it is not capable of
1992 As always, many many bug fixes. The major areas were with g++, and mipsread.
1993 People using the MIPS-based platforms should experience fewer mysterious
1994 crashes and trashed symbol tables.
1996 *** Changes in GDB-4.4:
1998 * New machines supported (host and target)
2000 SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
2002 BSD Reno on Vax vax-dec-bsd
2003 Ultrix on Vax vax-dec-ultrix
2005 * New machines supported (target)
2007 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
2011 GDB continues to improve its handling of C++. `References' work better.
2012 The demangler has also been improved, and now deals with symbols mangled as
2013 per the Annotated C++ Reference Guide.
2015 GDB also now handles `stabs' symbol information embedded in MIPS
2016 `ecoff' symbol tables. Since the ecoff format was not easily
2017 extensible to handle new languages such as C++, this appeared to be a
2018 good way to put C++ debugging info into MIPS binaries. This option
2019 will be supported in the GNU C compiler, version 2, when it is
2022 * New features for SVR4
2024 GDB now handles SVR4 shared libraries, in the same fashion as SunOS
2025 shared libraries. Debugging dynamically linked programs should present
2026 only minor differences from debugging statically linked programs.
2028 The `info proc' command will print out information about any process
2029 on an SVR4 system (including the one you are debugging). At the moment,
2030 it prints the address mappings of the process.
2032 If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please send mail to
2033 bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were reqired (if any).
2035 * Better dynamic linking support in SunOS
2037 Reading symbols from shared libraries which contain debugging symbols
2038 now works properly. However, there remain issues such as automatic
2039 skipping of `transfer vector' code during function calls, which
2040 make it harder to debug code in a shared library, than to debug the
2041 same code linked statically.
2045 GDB is now using the latest `getopt' routines from the FSF. This
2046 version accepts the -- prefix for options with long names. GDB will
2047 continue to accept the old forms (-option and +option) as well.
2048 Various single letter abbreviations for options have been explicity
2049 added to the option table so that they won't get overshadowed in the
2050 future by other options that begin with the same letter.
2054 The `cleanup_undefined_types' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
2055 Many assorted bugs have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
2056 See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
2059 *** Changes in GDB-4.3:
2061 * New machines supported (host and target)
2063 Amiga 3000 running Amix m68k-cbm-svr4 or amix
2064 NCR 3000 386 running SVR4 i386-ncr-svr4 or ncr3000
2065 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
2067 * Almost SCO Unix support
2069 We had hoped to support:
2070 SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
2071 (except for core file support), but we discovered very late in the release
2072 that it has problems with process groups that render gdb unusable. Sorry
2073 about that. I encourage people to fix it and post the fixes.
2075 * Preliminary ELF and DWARF support
2077 GDB can read ELF object files on System V Release 4, and can handle
2078 debugging records for C, in DWARF format, in ELF files. This support
2079 is preliminary. If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please
2080 send mail to bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were
2085 GDB now uses the latest `readline' library. One user-visible change
2086 is that two tabs will list possible command completions, which previously
2087 required typing M-? (meta-question mark, or ESC ?).
2091 The `stepi' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
2092 Many bugs in C++ have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
2093 See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
2095 * State of the MIPS world (in case you wondered):
2097 GDB can understand the symbol tables emitted by the compilers
2098 supplied by most vendors of MIPS-based machines, including DEC. These
2099 symbol tables are in a format that essentially nobody else uses.
2101 Some versions of gcc come with an assembler post-processor called
2102 mips-tfile. This program is required if you want to do source-level
2103 debugging of gcc-compiled programs. I believe FSF does not ship
2104 mips-tfile with gcc version 1, but it will eventually come with gcc
2107 Debugging of g++ output remains a problem. g++ version 1.xx does not
2108 really support it at all. (If you're lucky, you should be able to get
2109 line numbers and stack traces to work, but no parameters or local
2110 variables.) With some work it should be possible to improve the
2113 When gcc version 2 is released, you will have somewhat better luck.
2114 However, even then you will get confusing results for inheritance and
2117 We will eventually provide full debugging of g++ output on
2118 DECstations. This will probably involve some kind of stabs-in-ecoff
2119 encapulation, but the details have not been worked out yet.
2122 *** Changes in GDB-4.2:
2124 * Improved configuration
2126 Only one copy of `configure' exists now, and it is not self-modifying.
2127 Porting BFD is simpler.
2131 The `step' and `next' commands now only stop at the first instruction
2132 of a source line. This prevents the multiple stops that used to occur
2133 in switch statements, for-loops, etc. `Step' continues to stop if a
2134 function that has debugging information is called within the line.
2138 Lots of small bugs fixed. More remain.
2140 * New host supported (not target)
2142 Intel 386 PC clone running Mach i386-none-mach
2145 *** Changes in GDB-4.1:
2147 * Multiple source language support
2149 GDB now has internal scaffolding to handle several source languages.
2150 It determines the type of each source file from its filename extension,
2151 and will switch expression parsing and number formatting to match the
2152 language of the function in the currently selected stack frame.
2153 You can also specifically set the language to be used, with
2154 `set language c' or `set language modula-2'.
2158 GDB now has preliminary support for the GNU Modula-2 compiler,
2159 currently under development at the State University of New York at
2160 Buffalo. Development of both GDB and the GNU Modula-2 compiler will
2161 continue through the fall of 1991 and into 1992.
2163 Other Modula-2 compilers are currently not supported, and attempting to
2164 debug programs compiled with them will likely result in an error as the
2165 symbol table is read. Feel free to work on it, though!
2167 There are hooks in GDB for strict type checking and range checking,
2168 in the `Modula-2 philosophy', but they do not currently work.
2172 GDB can now write to executable and core files (e.g. patch
2173 a variable's value). You must turn this switch on, specify
2174 the file ("exec foo" or "core foo"), *then* modify it, e.g.
2175 by assigning a new value to a variable. Modifications take
2178 * Automatic SunOS shared library reading
2180 When you run your program, GDB automatically determines where its
2181 shared libraries (if any) have been loaded, and reads their symbols.
2182 The `share' command is no longer needed. This also works when
2183 examining core files.
2187 You can specify the number of lines that the `list' command shows.
2190 * New machines supported (host and target)
2192 SGI Iris (MIPS) running Irix V3: mips-sgi-irix or iris
2193 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x: m68k-sony-sysv or news
2194 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1: a29k-nyu-sym1 or ultra3
2196 * New hosts supported (not targets)
2198 IBM RT/PC: romp-ibm-aix or rtpc
2200 * New targets supported (not hosts)
2202 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
2203 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
2204 Ultracomputer remote kernel debug a29k-nyu-kern
2206 * New remote interfaces
2212 *** Changes in GDB-4.0:
2216 Wide output is wrapped at good places to make the output more readable.
2218 Gdb now supports cross-debugging from a host machine of one type to a
2219 target machine of another type. Communication with the target system
2220 is over serial lines. The ``target'' command handles connecting to the
2221 remote system; the ``load'' command will download a program into the
2222 remote system. Serial stubs for the m68k and i386 are provided. Gdb
2223 also supports debugging of realtime processes running under VxWorks,
2224 using SunRPC Remote Procedure Calls over TCP/IP to talk to a debugger
2225 stub on the target system.
2227 New CPUs supported include the AMD 29000 and Intel 960.
2229 GDB now reads object files and symbol tables via a ``binary file''
2230 library, which allows a single copy of GDB to debug programs of multiple
2231 object file types such as a.out and coff.
2233 There is now a GDB reference card in "doc/refcard.tex". (Make targets
2234 refcard.dvi and refcard.ps are available to format it).
2237 * Control-Variable user interface simplified
2239 All variables that control the operation of the debugger can be set
2240 by the ``set'' command, and displayed by the ``show'' command.
2242 For example, ``set prompt new-gdb=>'' will change your prompt to new-gdb=>.
2243 ``Show prompt'' produces the response:
2244 Gdb's prompt is new-gdb=>.
2246 What follows are the NEW set commands. The command ``help set'' will
2247 print a complete list of old and new set commands. ``help set FOO''
2248 will give a longer description of the variable FOO. ``show'' will show
2249 all of the variable descriptions and their current settings.
2251 confirm on/off: Enables warning questions for operations that are
2252 hard to recover from, e.g. rerunning the program while
2253 it is already running. Default is ON.
2255 editing on/off: Enables EMACS style command line editing
2256 of input. Previous lines can be recalled with
2257 control-P, the current line can be edited with control-B,
2258 you can search for commands with control-R, etc.
2261 history filename NAME: NAME is where the gdb command history
2262 will be stored. The default is .gdb_history,
2263 or the value of the environment variable
2266 history size N: The size, in commands, of the command history. The
2267 default is 256, or the value of the environment variable
2270 history save on/off: If this value is set to ON, the history file will
2271 be saved after exiting gdb. If set to OFF, the
2272 file will not be saved. The default is OFF.
2274 history expansion on/off: If this value is set to ON, then csh-like
2275 history expansion will be performed on
2276 command line input. The default is OFF.
2278 radix N: Sets the default radix for input and output. It can be set
2279 to 8, 10, or 16. Note that the argument to "radix" is interpreted
2280 in the current radix, so "set radix 10" is always a no-op.
2282 height N: This integer value is the number of lines on a page. Default
2283 is 24, the current `stty rows'' setting, or the ``li#''
2284 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
2287 width N: This integer value is the number of characters on a line.
2288 Default is 80, the current `stty cols'' setting, or the ``co#''
2289 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
2292 Note: ``set screensize'' is obsolete. Use ``set height'' and
2293 ``set width'' instead.
2295 print address on/off: Print memory addresses in various command displays,
2296 such as stack traces and structure values. Gdb looks
2297 more ``symbolic'' if you turn this off; it looks more
2298 ``machine level'' with it on. Default is ON.
2300 print array on/off: Prettyprint arrays. New convenient format! Default
2303 print demangle on/off: Print C++ symbols in "source" form if on,
2306 print asm-demangle on/off: Same, for assembler level printouts
2309 print vtbl on/off: Prettyprint C++ virtual function tables. Default is OFF.
2312 * Support for Epoch Environment.
2314 The epoch environment is a version of Emacs v18 with windowing. One
2315 new command, ``inspect'', is identical to ``print'', except that if you
2316 are running in the epoch environment, the value is printed in its own
2320 * Support for Shared Libraries
2322 GDB can now debug programs and core files that use SunOS shared libraries.
2323 Symbols from a shared library cannot be referenced
2324 before the shared library has been linked with the program (this
2325 happens after you type ``run'' and before the function main() is entered).
2326 At any time after this linking (including when examining core files
2327 from dynamically linked programs), gdb reads the symbols from each
2328 shared library when you type the ``sharedlibrary'' command.
2329 It can be abbreviated ``share''.
2331 sharedlibrary REGEXP: Load shared object library symbols for files
2332 matching a unix regular expression. No argument
2333 indicates to load symbols for all shared libraries.
2335 info sharedlibrary: Status of loaded shared libraries.
2340 A watchpoint stops execution of a program whenever the value of an
2341 expression changes. Checking for this slows down execution
2342 tremendously whenever you are in the scope of the expression, but is
2343 quite useful for catching tough ``bit-spreader'' or pointer misuse
2344 problems. Some machines such as the 386 have hardware for doing this
2345 more quickly, and future versions of gdb will use this hardware.
2347 watch EXP: Set a watchpoint (breakpoint) for an expression.
2349 info watchpoints: Information about your watchpoints.
2351 delete N: Deletes watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
2352 disable N: Temporarily turns off watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
2353 enable N: Re-enables watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
2356 * C++ multiple inheritance
2358 When used with a GCC version 2 compiler, GDB supports multiple inheritance
2361 * C++ exception handling
2363 Gdb now supports limited C++ exception handling. Besides the existing
2364 ability to breakpoint on an exception handler, gdb can breakpoint on
2365 the raising of an exception (before the stack is peeled back to the
2368 catch FOO: If there is a FOO exception handler in the dynamic scope,
2369 set a breakpoint to catch exceptions which may be raised there.
2370 Multiple exceptions (``catch foo bar baz'') may be caught.
2372 info catch: Lists all exceptions which may be caught in the
2373 current stack frame.
2376 * Minor command changes
2378 The command ``call func (arg, arg, ...)'' now acts like the print
2379 command, except it does not print or save a value if the function's result
2380 is void. This is similar to dbx usage.
2382 The ``up'' and ``down'' commands now always print the frame they end up
2383 at; ``up-silently'' and `down-silently'' can be used in scripts to change
2384 frames without printing.
2386 * New directory command
2388 'dir' now adds directories to the FRONT of the source search path.
2389 The path starts off empty. Source files that contain debug information
2390 about the directory in which they were compiled can be found even
2391 with an empty path; Sun CC and GCC include this information. If GDB can't
2392 find your source file in the current directory, type "dir .".
2394 * Configuring GDB for compilation
2396 For normal use, type ``./configure host''. See README or gdb.texinfo
2399 GDB now handles cross debugging. If you are remotely debugging between
2400 two different machines, type ``./configure host -target=targ''.
2401 Host is the machine where GDB will run; targ is the machine
2402 where the program that you are debugging will run.
projects / external / binutils.git / blob