1 What has changed in GDB?
2 (Organized release by release)
4 *** Changes since GDB 8.3
6 * New built-in convenience variables $_gdb_major and $_gdb_minor
7 provide the GDB version. They are handy for conditionally using
8 features available only in or since specific GDB versions, in
9 scripts that should work error-free with many different versions,
10 such as in system-wide init files.
12 * GDB now supports Thread Local Storage (TLS) variables on several
13 FreeBSD architectures (amd64, i386, powerpc, riscv). Other
14 architectures require kernel changes. TLS is not yet supported for
15 amd64 and i386 process core dumps.
17 * Support for Pointer Authentication on AArch64 Linux.
19 * Two new convernience functions $_cimag and $_creal that extract the
20 imaginary and real parts respectively from complex numbers.
24 ** The gdb.Value type has a new method 'format_string' which returns a
25 string representing the value. The formatting is controlled by the
26 optional keyword arguments: 'raw', 'pretty_arrays', 'pretty_structs',
27 'array_indexes', 'symbols', 'unions', 'deref_refs', 'actual_objects',
28 'static_members', 'max_elements', 'repeat_threshold', and 'format'.
32 set may-call-functions [on|off]
33 show may-call-functions
34 This controls whether GDB will attempt to call functions in
35 the program, such as with expressions in the print command. It
36 defaults to on. Calling functions in the program being debugged
37 can have undesired side effects. It is now possible to forbid
38 such function calls. If function calls are forbidden, GDB will throw
39 an error when a command (such as print expression) calls a function
44 Allows deeply nested structures to be simplified when printing by
45 replacing deeply nested parts (beyond the max-depth) with ellipses.
46 The default max-depth is 20, but this can be set to unlimited to get
47 the old behavior back.
52 This lists all the possible completions for the rest of the line, if it
53 were to be given as a command itself. This is intended for use by MI
54 frontends in cases when separate CLI and MI channels cannot be used.
56 *** Changes in GDB 8.3
58 * GDB and GDBserver now support access to additional registers on
59 PowerPC GNU/Linux targets: PPR, DSCR, TAR, EBB/PMU registers, and
62 * GDB now has experimental support for the compilation and injection of
63 C++ source code into the inferior. This beta release does not include
64 support for several language features, such as templates, constructors,
67 This feature requires GCC 7.1 or higher built with libcp1.so
70 * GDB and GDBserver now support IPv6 connections. IPv6 addresses
71 can be passed using the '[ADDRESS]:PORT' notation, or the regular
72 'ADDRESS:PORT' method.
74 * DWARF index cache: GDB can now automatically save indices of DWARF
75 symbols on disk to speed up further loading of the same binaries.
77 * Ada task switching is now supported on aarch64-elf targets when
78 debugging a program using the Ravenscar Profile. For more information,
79 see the "Tasking Support when using the Ravenscar Profile" section
80 in the GDB user manual.
82 * GDB in batch mode now exits with status 1 if the last command to be
85 * The RISC-V target now supports target descriptions.
87 * System call catchpoints now support system call aliases on FreeBSD.
88 When the ABI of a system call changes in FreeBSD, this is
89 implemented by leaving a compatibility system call using the old ABI
90 at the existing number and allocating a new system call number for
91 the new ABI. For example, FreeBSD 12 altered the layout of 'struct
92 kevent' used by the 'kevent' system call. As a result, FreeBSD 12
93 kernels ship with both 'kevent' and 'freebsd11_kevent' system calls.
94 The 'freebsd11_kevent' system call is assigned an alias of 'kevent'
95 so that a system call catchpoint for the 'kevent' system call will
96 catch invocations of both the 'kevent' and 'freebsd11_kevent'
97 binaries. This ensures that 'kevent' system calls are caught for
98 binaries using either the old or new ABIs.
100 * Terminal styling is now available for the CLI and the TUI. GNU
101 Source Highlight can additionally be used to provide styling of
102 source code snippets. See the "set style" commands, below, for more
105 * Removed support for old demangling styles arm, edg, gnu, hp and
110 set debug compile-cplus-types
111 show debug compile-cplus-types
112 Control the display of debug output about type conversion in the
113 C++ compile feature. Commands have no effect while compiliong
118 Control whether debug output about files/functions skipping is
121 frame apply [all | COUNT | -COUNT | level LEVEL...] [FLAG]... COMMAND
122 Apply a command to some frames.
123 FLAG arguments allow to control what output to produce and how to handle
124 errors raised when applying COMMAND to a frame.
127 Apply a command to all threads (ignoring errors and empty output).
128 Shortcut for 'thread apply all -s COMMAND'.
131 Apply a command to all frames (ignoring errors and empty output).
132 Shortcut for 'frame apply all -s COMMAND'.
135 Apply a command to all frames of all threads (ignoring errors and empty
137 Shortcut for 'thread apply all -s frame apply all -s COMMAND'.
139 maint set dwarf unwinders (on|off)
140 maint show dwarf unwinders
141 Control whether DWARF unwinders can be used.
144 Display a list of open files for a process.
148 Changes to the "frame", "select-frame", and "info frame" CLI commands.
149 These commands all now take a frame specification which
150 is either a frame level, or one of the keywords 'level', 'address',
151 'function', or 'view' followed by a parameter. Selecting a frame by
152 address, or viewing a frame outside the current backtrace now
153 requires the use of a keyword. Selecting a frame by level is
154 unchanged. The MI comment "-stack-select-frame" is unchanged.
156 target remote FILENAME
157 target extended-remote FILENAME
158 If FILENAME is a Unix domain socket, GDB will attempt to connect
159 to this socket instead of opening FILENAME as a character device.
161 info args [-q] [-t TYPEREGEXP] [NAMEREGEXP]
162 info functions [-q] [-t TYPEREGEXP] [NAMEREGEXP]
163 info locals [-q] [-t TYPEREGEXP] [NAMEREGEXP]
164 info variables [-q] [-t TYPEREGEXP] [NAMEREGEXP]
165 These commands can now print only the searched entities
166 matching the provided regexp(s), giving a condition
167 on the entity names or entity types. The flag -q disables
168 printing headers or informations messages.
174 These commands now determine the syntax for the shown entities
175 according to the language chosen by `set language'. In particular,
176 `set language auto' means to automatically choose the language of
179 thread apply [all | COUNT | -COUNT] [FLAG]... COMMAND
180 The 'thread apply' command accepts new FLAG arguments.
181 FLAG arguments allow to control what output to produce and how to handle
182 errors raised when applying COMMAND to a thread.
184 set tui tab-width NCHARS
185 show tui tab-width NCHARS
186 "set tui tab-width" replaces the "tabset" command, which has been deprecated.
188 set style enabled [on|off]
190 Enable or disable terminal styling. Styling is enabled by default
191 on most hosts, but disabled by default when in batch mode.
193 set style sources [on|off]
195 Enable or disable source code styling. Source code styling is
196 enabled by default, but only takes effect if styling in general is
197 enabled, and if GDB was linked with GNU Source Highlight.
199 set style filename foreground COLOR
200 set style filename background COLOR
201 set style filename intensity VALUE
202 Control the styling of file names.
204 set style function foreground COLOR
205 set style function background COLOR
206 set style function intensity VALUE
207 Control the styling of function names.
209 set style variable foreground COLOR
210 set style variable background COLOR
211 set style variable intensity VALUE
212 Control the styling of variable names.
214 set style address foreground COLOR
215 set style address background COLOR
216 set style address intensity VALUE
217 Control the styling of addresses.
221 ** The default version of the MI interpreter is now 3 (-i=mi3).
223 ** The '-data-disassemble' MI command now accepts an '-a' option to
224 disassemble the whole function surrounding the given program
225 counter value or function name. Support for this feature can be
226 verified by using the "-list-features" command, which should
227 contain "data-disassemble-a-option".
229 ** Command responses and notifications that include a frame now include
230 the frame's architecture in a new "arch" attribute.
232 ** The output of information about multi-location breakpoints (which is
233 syntactically incorrect in MI 2) has changed in MI 3. This affects
234 the following commands and events:
238 - =breakpoint-created
239 - =breakpoint-modified
241 The -fix-multi-location-breakpoint-output command can be used to enable
242 this behavior with previous MI versions.
244 * New native configurations
246 GNU/Linux/RISC-V riscv*-*-linux*
247 FreeBSD/riscv riscv*-*-freebsd*
251 GNU/Linux/RISC-V riscv*-*-linux*
253 CSKY GNU/LINUX csky*-*-linux
254 FreeBSD/riscv riscv*-*-freebsd*
256 GNU/Linux/OpenRISC or1k*-*-linux*
260 GDB no longer supports native debugging on versions of MS-Windows
265 ** GDB no longer supports Python versions less than 2.6.
267 ** The gdb.Inferior type has a new 'progspace' property, which is the program
268 space associated to that inferior.
270 ** The gdb.Progspace type has a new 'objfiles' method, which returns the list
271 of objfiles associated to that program space.
273 ** gdb.SYMBOL_LOC_COMMON_BLOCK, gdb.SYMBOL_MODULE_DOMAIN, and
274 gdb.SYMBOL_COMMON_BLOCK_DOMAIN were added to reflect changes to
277 ** gdb.SYMBOL_VARIABLES_DOMAIN, gdb.SYMBOL_FUNCTIONS_DOMAIN, and
278 gdb.SYMBOL_TYPES_DOMAIN are now deprecated. These were never
279 correct and did not work properly.
281 ** The gdb.Value type has a new constructor, which is used to construct a
282 gdb.Value from a Python buffer object and a gdb.Type.
288 Enable or disable the undefined behavior sanitizer. This is
289 disabled by default, but passing --enable-ubsan=yes or
290 --enable-ubsan=auto to configure will enable it. Enabling this can
291 cause a performance penalty. The undefined behavior sanitizer was
292 first introduced in GCC 4.9.
294 *** Changes in GDB 8.2
296 * The 'set disassembler-options' command now supports specifying options
299 * The 'symbol-file' command now accepts an '-o' option to add a relative
300 offset to all sections.
302 * Similarly, the 'add-symbol-file' command also accepts an '-o' option to add
303 a relative offset to all sections, but it allows to override the load
304 address of individual sections using '-s'.
306 * The 'add-symbol-file' command no longer requires the second argument
307 (address of the text section).
309 * The endianness used with the 'set endian auto' mode in the absence of
310 an executable selected for debugging is now the last endianness chosen
311 either by one of the 'set endian big' and 'set endian little' commands
312 or by inferring from the last executable used, rather than the startup
315 * The pager now allows a "c" response, meaning to disable the pager
316 for the rest of the current command.
318 * The commands 'info variables/functions/types' now show the source line
319 numbers of symbol definitions when available.
321 * 'info proc' now works on running processes on FreeBSD systems and core
322 files created on FreeBSD systems.
324 * C expressions can now use _Alignof, and C++ expressions can now use
327 * Support for SVE on AArch64 Linux. Note that GDB does not detect changes to
328 the vector length while the process is running.
334 Control display of debugging info regarding the FreeBSD native target.
336 set|show varsize-limit
337 This new setting allows the user to control the maximum size of Ada
338 objects being printed when those objects have a variable type,
339 instead of that maximum size being hardcoded to 65536 bytes.
341 set|show record btrace cpu
342 Controls the processor to be used for enabling errata workarounds for
345 maint check libthread-db
346 Run integrity checks on the current inferior's thread debugging
349 maint set check-libthread-db (on|off)
350 maint show check-libthread-db
351 Control whether to run integrity checks on inferior specific thread
352 debugging libraries as they are loaded. The default is not to
357 ** Type alignment is now exposed via the "align" attribute of a gdb.Type.
359 ** The commands attached to a breakpoint can be set by assigning to
360 the breakpoint's "commands" field.
362 ** gdb.execute can now execute multi-line gdb commands.
364 ** The new functions gdb.convenience_variable and
365 gdb.set_convenience_variable can be used to get and set the value
366 of convenience variables.
368 ** A gdb.Parameter will no longer print the "set" help text on an
369 ordinary "set"; instead by default a "set" will be silent unless
370 the get_set_string method returns a non-empty string.
374 RiscV ELF riscv*-*-elf
376 * Removed targets and native configurations
378 m88k running OpenBSD m88*-*-openbsd*
379 SH-5/SH64 ELF sh64-*-elf*, SH-5/SH64 support in sh*
380 SH-5/SH64 running GNU/Linux SH-5/SH64 support in sh*-*-linux*
381 SH-5/SH64 running OpenBSD SH-5/SH64 support in sh*-*-openbsd*
383 * Aarch64/Linux hardware watchpoints improvements
385 Hardware watchpoints on unaligned addresses are now properly
386 supported when running Linux kernel 4.10 or higher: read and access
387 watchpoints are no longer spuriously missed, and all watchpoints
388 lengths between 1 and 8 bytes are supported. On older kernels,
389 watchpoints set on unaligned addresses are no longer missed, with
390 the tradeoff that there is a possibility of false hits being
395 --enable-codesign=CERT
396 This can be used to invoke "codesign -s CERT" after building gdb.
397 This option is useful on macOS, where code signing is required for
398 gdb to work properly.
400 --disable-gdbcli has been removed
401 This is now silently accepted, but does nothing.
403 *** Changes in GDB 8.1
405 * GDB now supports dynamically creating arbitrary register groups specified
406 in XML target descriptions. This allows for finer grain grouping of
407 registers on systems with a large amount of registers.
409 * The 'ptype' command now accepts a '/o' flag, which prints the
410 offsets and sizes of fields in a struct, like the pahole(1) tool.
412 * New "--readnever" command line option instructs GDB to not read each
413 symbol file's symbolic debug information. This makes startup faster
414 but at the expense of not being able to perform symbolic debugging.
415 This option is intended for use cases where symbolic debugging will
416 not be used, e.g., when you only need to dump the debuggee's core.
418 * GDB now uses the GNU MPFR library, if available, to emulate target
419 floating-point arithmetic during expression evaluation when the target
420 uses different floating-point formats than the host. At least version
421 3.1 of GNU MPFR is required.
423 * GDB now supports access to the guarded-storage-control registers and the
424 software-based guarded-storage broadcast control registers on IBM z14.
426 * On Unix systems, GDB now supports transmitting environment variables
427 that are to be set or unset to GDBserver. These variables will
428 affect the environment to be passed to the remote inferior.
430 To inform GDB of environment variables that are to be transmitted to
431 GDBserver, use the "set environment" command. Only user set
432 environment variables are sent to GDBserver.
434 To inform GDB of environment variables that are to be unset before
435 the remote inferior is started by the GDBserver, use the "unset
436 environment" command.
438 * Completion improvements
440 ** GDB can now complete function parameters in linespecs and
441 explicit locations without quoting. When setting breakpoints,
442 quoting around functions names to help with TAB-completion is
443 generally no longer necessary. For example, this now completes
446 (gdb) b function(in[TAB]
447 (gdb) b function(int)
449 Related, GDB is no longer confused with completing functions in
450 C++ anonymous namespaces:
453 (gdb) b (anonymous namespace)::[TAB][TAB]
454 (anonymous namespace)::a_function()
455 (anonymous namespace)::b_function()
457 ** GDB now has much improved linespec and explicit locations TAB
458 completion support, that better understands what you're
459 completing and offers better suggestions. For example, GDB no
460 longer offers data symbols as possible completions when you're
461 setting a breakpoint.
463 ** GDB now TAB-completes label symbol names.
465 ** The "complete" command now mimics TAB completion accurately.
467 * New command line options (gcore)
470 Dump all memory mappings.
472 * Breakpoints on C++ functions are now set on all scopes by default
474 By default, breakpoints on functions/methods are now interpreted as
475 specifying all functions with the given name ignoring missing
476 leading scopes (namespaces and classes).
478 For example, assuming a C++ program with symbols named:
483 both commands "break func()" and "break B::func()" set a breakpoint
486 You can use the new flag "-qualified" to override this. This makes
487 GDB interpret the specified function name as a complete
488 fully-qualified name instead. For example, using the same C++
489 program, the "break -q B::func" command sets a breakpoint on
490 "B::func", only. A parameter has been added to the Python
491 gdb.Breakpoint constructor to achieve the same result when creating
492 a breakpoint from Python.
494 * Breakpoints on functions marked with C++ ABI tags
496 GDB can now set breakpoints on functions marked with C++ ABI tags
497 (e.g., [abi:cxx11]). See here for a description of ABI tags:
498 https://developers.redhat.com/blog/2015/02/05/gcc5-and-the-c11-abi/
500 Functions with a C++11 abi tag are demangled/displayed like this:
502 function[abi:cxx11](int)
505 You can now set a breakpoint on such functions simply as if they had
508 (gdb) b function(int)
510 Or if you need to disambiguate between tags, like:
512 (gdb) b function[abi:other_tag](int)
514 Tab completion was adjusted accordingly as well.
518 ** New events gdb.new_inferior, gdb.inferior_deleted, and
519 gdb.new_thread are emitted. See the manual for further
520 description of these.
522 ** A new function, "gdb.rbreak" has been added to the Python API.
523 This function allows the setting of a large number of breakpoints
524 via a regex pattern in Python. See the manual for further details.
526 ** Python breakpoints can now accept explicit locations. See the
527 manual for a further description of this feature.
530 * New features in the GDB remote stub, GDBserver
532 ** GDBserver is now able to start inferior processes with a
533 specified initial working directory.
535 The user can set the desired working directory to be used from
536 GDB using the new "set cwd" command.
538 ** New "--selftest" command line option runs some GDBserver self
539 tests. These self tests are disabled in releases.
541 ** On Unix systems, GDBserver now does globbing expansion and variable
542 substitution in inferior command line arguments.
544 This is done by starting inferiors using a shell, like GDB does.
545 See "set startup-with-shell" in the user manual for how to disable
546 this from GDB when using "target extended-remote". When using
547 "target remote", you can disable the startup with shell by using the
548 new "--no-startup-with-shell" GDBserver command line option.
550 ** On Unix systems, GDBserver now supports receiving environment
551 variables that are to be set or unset from GDB. These variables
552 will affect the environment to be passed to the inferior.
554 * When catching an Ada exception raised with a message, GDB now prints
555 the message in the catchpoint hit notification. In GDB/MI mode, that
556 information is provided as an extra field named "exception-message"
557 in the *stopped notification.
559 * Trait objects can now be inspected When debugging Rust code. This
560 requires compiler support which will appear in Rust 1.24.
564 QEnvironmentHexEncoded
565 Inform GDBserver of an environment variable that is to be passed to
566 the inferior when starting it.
569 Inform GDBserver of an environment variable that is to be unset
570 before starting the remote inferior.
573 Inform GDBserver that the environment should be reset (i.e.,
574 user-set environment variables should be unset).
577 Indicates whether the inferior must be started with a shell or not.
580 Tell GDBserver that the inferior to be started should use a specific
583 * The "maintenance print c-tdesc" command now takes an optional
584 argument which is the file name of XML target description.
586 * The "maintenance selftest" command now takes an optional argument to
587 filter the tests to be run.
589 * The "enable", and "disable" commands now accept a range of
590 breakpoint locations, e.g. "enable 1.3-5".
595 Set and show the current working directory for the inferior.
598 Set and show compilation command used for compiling and injecting code
599 with the 'compile' commands.
601 set debug separate-debug-file
602 show debug separate-debug-file
603 Control the display of debug output about separate debug file search.
605 set dump-excluded-mappings
606 show dump-excluded-mappings
607 Control whether mappings marked with the VM_DONTDUMP flag should be
608 dumped when generating a core file.
611 List the registered selftests.
614 Start the debugged program stopping at the first instruction.
617 Control display of debugging messages related to OpenRISC targets.
619 set|show print type nested-type-limit
620 Set and show the limit of nesting level for nested types that the
621 type printer will show.
623 * TUI Single-Key mode now supports two new shortcut keys: `i' for stepi and
626 * Safer/improved support for debugging with no debug info
628 GDB no longer assumes functions with no debug information return
631 This means that GDB now refuses to call such functions unless you
632 tell it the function's type, by either casting the call to the
633 declared return type, or by casting the function to a function
634 pointer of the right type, and calling that:
636 (gdb) p getenv ("PATH")
637 'getenv' has unknown return type; cast the call to its declared return type
638 (gdb) p (char *) getenv ("PATH")
639 $1 = 0x7fffffffe "/usr/local/bin:/"...
640 (gdb) p ((char * (*) (const char *)) getenv) ("PATH")
641 $2 = 0x7fffffffe "/usr/local/bin:/"...
643 Similarly, GDB no longer assumes that global variables with no debug
644 info have type 'int', and refuses to print the variable's value
645 unless you tell it the variable's type:
648 'var' has unknown type; cast it to its declared type
652 * New native configurations
654 FreeBSD/aarch64 aarch64*-*-freebsd*
655 FreeBSD/arm arm*-*-freebsd*
659 FreeBSD/aarch64 aarch64*-*-freebsd*
660 FreeBSD/arm arm*-*-freebsd*
661 OpenRISC ELF or1k*-*-elf
663 * Removed targets and native configurations
665 Solaris 2.0-9 i?86-*-solaris2.[0-9], sparc*-*-solaris2.[0-9]
667 *** Changes in GDB 8.0
669 * GDB now supports access to the PKU register on GNU/Linux. The register is
670 added by the Memory Protection Keys for Userspace feature which will be
671 available in future Intel CPUs.
673 * GDB now supports C++11 rvalue references.
677 ** New functions to start, stop and access a running btrace recording.
678 ** Rvalue references are now supported in gdb.Type.
680 * GDB now supports recording and replaying rdrand and rdseed Intel 64
683 * Building GDB and GDBserver now requires a C++11 compiler.
685 For example, GCC 4.8 or later.
687 It is no longer possible to build GDB or GDBserver with a C
688 compiler. The --disable-build-with-cxx configure option has been
691 * Building GDB and GDBserver now requires GNU make >= 3.81.
693 It is no longer supported to build GDB or GDBserver with another
694 implementation of the make program or an earlier version of GNU make.
696 * Native debugging on MS-Windows supports command-line redirection
698 Command-line arguments used for starting programs on MS-Windows can
699 now include redirection symbols supported by native Windows shells,
700 such as '<', '>', '>>', '2>&1', etc. This affects GDB commands such
701 as "run", "start", and "set args", as well as the corresponding MI
704 * Support for thread names on MS-Windows.
706 GDB now catches and handles the special exception that programs
707 running on MS-Windows use to assign names to threads in the
710 * Support for Java programs compiled with gcj has been removed.
712 * User commands now accept an unlimited number of arguments.
713 Previously, only up to 10 was accepted.
715 * The "eval" command now expands user-defined command arguments.
717 This makes it easier to process a variable number of arguments:
722 eval "print $arg%d", $i
727 * Target descriptions can now describe registers for sparc32 and sparc64.
729 * GDB now supports DWARF version 5 (debug information format).
730 Its .debug_names index is not yet supported.
732 * New native configurations
734 FreeBSD/mips mips*-*-freebsd
738 Synopsys ARC arc*-*-elf32
739 FreeBSD/mips mips*-*-freebsd
741 * Removed targets and native configurations
743 Alpha running FreeBSD alpha*-*-freebsd*
744 Alpha running GNU/kFreeBSD alpha*-*-kfreebsd*-gnu
749 Erases all the flash memory regions reported by the target.
751 maint print arc arc-instruction address
752 Print internal disassembler information about instruction at a given address.
756 set disassembler-options
757 show disassembler-options
758 Controls the passing of target specific information to the disassembler.
759 If it is necessary to specify more than one disassembler option then
760 multiple options can be placed together into a comma separated list.
761 The default value is the empty string. Currently, the only supported
762 targets are ARM, PowerPC and S/390.
767 Erases all the flash memory regions reported by the target. This is
768 equivalent to the CLI command flash-erase.
770 -file-list-shared-libraries
771 List the shared libraries in the program. This is
772 equivalent to the CLI command "info shared".
775 Catchpoints stopping the program when Ada exceptions are
776 handled. This is equivalent to the CLI command "catch handlers".
778 *** Changes in GDB 7.12
780 * GDB and GDBserver now build with a C++ compiler by default.
782 The --enable-build-with-cxx configure option is now enabled by
783 default. One must now explicitly configure with
784 --disable-build-with-cxx in order to build with a C compiler. This
785 option will be removed in a future release.
787 * GDBserver now supports recording btrace without maintaining an active
790 * GDB now supports a negative repeat count in the 'x' command to examine
791 memory backward from the given address. For example:
794 #0 Func1 (n=42, p=0x40061c "hogehoge") at main.cpp:4
795 #1 0x400580 in main (argc=1, argv=0x7fffffffe5c8) at main.cpp:8
796 (gdb) x/-5i 0x0000000000400580
797 0x40056a <main(int, char**)+8>: mov %edi,-0x4(%rbp)
798 0x40056d <main(int, char**)+11>: mov %rsi,-0x10(%rbp)
799 0x400571 <main(int, char**)+15>: mov $0x40061c,%esi
800 0x400576 <main(int, char**)+20>: mov $0x2a,%edi
801 0x40057b <main(int, char**)+25>:
802 callq 0x400536 <Func1(int, char const*)>
804 * Fortran: Support structures with fields of dynamic types and
805 arrays of dynamic types.
807 * The symbol dumping maintenance commands have new syntax.
808 maint print symbols [-pc address] [--] [filename]
809 maint print symbols [-objfile objfile] [-source source] [--] [filename]
810 maint print psymbols [-objfile objfile] [-pc address] [--] [filename]
811 maint print psymbols [-objfile objfile] [-source source] [--] [filename]
812 maint print msymbols [-objfile objfile] [--] [filename]
814 * GDB now supports multibit bitfields and enums in target register
817 * New Python-based convenience function $_as_string(val), which returns
818 the textual representation of a value. This function is especially
819 useful to obtain the text label of an enum value.
821 * Intel MPX bound violation handling.
823 Segmentation faults caused by a Intel MPX boundary violation
824 now display the kind of violation (upper or lower), the memory
825 address accessed and the memory bounds, along with the usual
826 signal received and code location.
830 Program received signal SIGSEGV, Segmentation fault
831 Upper bound violation while accessing address 0x7fffffffc3b3
832 Bounds: [lower = 0x7fffffffc390, upper = 0x7fffffffc3a3]
833 0x0000000000400d7c in upper () at i386-mpx-sigsegv.c:68
835 * Rust language support.
836 GDB now supports debugging programs written in the Rust programming
837 language. See https://www.rust-lang.org/ for more information about
840 * Support for running interpreters on specified input/output devices
842 GDB now supports a new mechanism that allows frontends to provide
843 fully featured GDB console views, as a better alternative to
844 building such views on top of the "-interpreter-exec console"
845 command. See the new "new-ui" command below. With that command,
846 frontends can now start GDB in the traditional command-line mode
847 running in an embedded terminal emulator widget, and create a
848 separate MI interpreter running on a specified i/o device. In this
849 way, GDB handles line editing, history, tab completion, etc. in the
850 console all by itself, and the GUI uses the separate MI interpreter
851 for its own control and synchronization, invisible to the command
854 * The "catch syscall" command catches groups of related syscalls.
856 The "catch syscall" command now supports catching a group of related
857 syscalls using the 'group:' or 'g:' prefix.
862 skip -gfile file-glob-pattern
863 skip -function function
864 skip -rfunction regular-expression
865 A generalized form of the skip command, with new support for
866 glob-style file names and regular expressions for function names.
867 Additionally, a file spec and a function spec may now be combined.
869 maint info line-table REGEXP
870 Display the contents of GDB's internal line table data struture.
873 Run any GDB unit tests that were compiled in.
876 Start a new user interface instance running INTERP as interpreter,
877 using the TTY file for input/output.
881 ** gdb.Breakpoint objects have a new attribute "pending", which
882 indicates whether the breakpoint is pending.
883 ** Three new breakpoint-related events have been added:
884 gdb.breakpoint_created, gdb.breakpoint_modified, and
885 gdb.breakpoint_deleted.
888 Signal ("set") the given MS-Windows event object. This is used in
889 conjunction with the Windows JIT debugging (AeDebug) support, where
890 the OS suspends a crashing process until a debugger can attach to
891 it. Resuming the crashing process, in order to debug it, is done by
894 * Support for tracepoints and fast tracepoints on s390-linux and s390x-linux
895 was added in GDBserver, including JIT compiling fast tracepoint's
896 conditional expression bytecode into native code.
898 * Support for various remote target protocols and ROM monitors has
901 target m32rsdi Remote M32R debugging over SDI
902 target mips MIPS remote debugging protocol
903 target pmon PMON ROM monitor
904 target ddb NEC's DDB variant of PMON for Vr4300
905 target rockhopper NEC RockHopper variant of PMON
906 target lsi LSI variant of PMO
908 * Support for tracepoints and fast tracepoints on powerpc-linux,
909 powerpc64-linux, and powerpc64le-linux was added in GDBserver,
910 including JIT compiling fast tracepoint's conditional expression
911 bytecode into native code.
913 * MI async record =record-started now includes the method and format used for
914 recording. For example:
916 =record-started,thread-group="i1",method="btrace",format="bts"
918 * MI async record =thread-selected now includes the frame field. For example:
920 =thread-selected,id="3",frame={level="0",addr="0x00000000004007c0"}
924 Andes NDS32 nds32*-*-elf
926 *** Changes in GDB 7.11
928 * GDB now supports debugging kernel-based threads on FreeBSD.
930 * Per-inferior thread numbers
932 Thread numbers are now per inferior instead of global. If you're
933 debugging multiple inferiors, GDB displays thread IDs using a
934 qualified INF_NUM.THR_NUM form. For example:
938 1.1 Thread 0x7ffff7fc2740 (LWP 8155) (running)
939 1.2 Thread 0x7ffff7fc1700 (LWP 8168) (running)
940 * 2.1 Thread 0x7ffff7fc2740 (LWP 8157) (running)
941 2.2 Thread 0x7ffff7fc1700 (LWP 8190) (running)
943 As consequence, thread numbers as visible in the $_thread
944 convenience variable and in Python's InferiorThread.num attribute
945 are no longer unique between inferiors.
947 GDB now maintains a second thread ID per thread, referred to as the
948 global thread ID, which is the new equivalent of thread numbers in
949 previous releases. See also $_gthread below.
951 For backwards compatibility, MI's thread IDs always refer to global
954 * Commands that accept thread IDs now accept the qualified
955 INF_NUM.THR_NUM form as well. For example:
958 [Switching to thread 2.1 (Thread 0x7ffff7fc2740 (LWP 8157))] (running)
961 * In commands that accept a list of thread IDs, you can now refer to
962 all threads of an inferior using a star wildcard. GDB accepts
963 "INF_NUM.*", to refer to all threads of inferior INF_NUM, and "*" to
964 refer to all threads of the current inferior. For example, "info
967 * You can use "info threads -gid" to display the global thread ID of
970 * The new convenience variable $_gthread holds the global number of
973 * The new convenience variable $_inferior holds the number of the
976 * GDB now displays the ID and name of the thread that hit a breakpoint
977 or received a signal, if your program is multi-threaded. For
980 Thread 3 "bar" hit Breakpoint 1 at 0x40087a: file program.c, line 20.
981 Thread 1 "main" received signal SIGINT, Interrupt.
983 * Record btrace now supports non-stop mode.
985 * Support for tracepoints on aarch64-linux was added in GDBserver.
987 * The 'record instruction-history' command now indicates speculative execution
988 when using the Intel Processor Trace recording format.
990 * GDB now allows users to specify explicit locations, bypassing
991 the linespec parser. This feature is also available to GDB/MI
994 * Multi-architecture debugging is supported on AArch64 GNU/Linux.
995 GDB now is able to debug both AArch64 applications and ARM applications
998 * Support for fast tracepoints on aarch64-linux was added in GDBserver,
999 including JIT compiling fast tracepoint's conditional expression bytecode
1002 * GDB now supports displaced stepping on AArch64 GNU/Linux.
1004 * "info threads", "info inferiors", "info display", "info checkpoints"
1005 and "maint info program-spaces" now list the corresponding items in
1006 ascending ID order, for consistency with all other "info" commands.
1008 * In Ada, the overloads selection menu has been enhanced to display the
1009 parameter types and the return types for the matching overloaded subprograms.
1013 maint set target-non-stop (on|off|auto)
1014 maint show target-non-stop
1015 Control whether GDB targets always operate in non-stop mode even if
1016 "set non-stop" is "off". The default is "auto", meaning non-stop
1017 mode is enabled if supported by the target.
1019 maint set bfd-sharing
1020 maint show bfd-sharing
1021 Control the reuse of bfd objects.
1024 show debug bfd-cache
1025 Control display of debugging info regarding bfd caching.
1029 Control display of debugging info regarding FreeBSD threads.
1031 set remote multiprocess-extensions-packet
1032 show remote multiprocess-extensions-packet
1033 Set/show the use of the remote protocol multiprocess extensions.
1035 set remote thread-events
1036 show remote thread-events
1037 Set/show the use of thread create/exit events.
1039 set ada print-signatures on|off
1040 show ada print-signatures"
1041 Control whether parameter types and return types are displayed in overloads
1042 selection menus. It is activaled (@code{on}) by default.
1046 Controls the maximum size of memory, in bytes, that GDB will
1047 allocate for value contents. Prevents incorrect programs from
1048 causing GDB to allocate overly large buffers. Default is 64k.
1050 * The "disassemble" command accepts a new modifier: /s.
1051 It prints mixed source+disassembly like /m with two differences:
1052 - disassembled instructions are now printed in program order, and
1053 - and source for all relevant files is now printed.
1054 The "/m" option is now considered deprecated: its "source-centric"
1055 output hasn't proved useful in practice.
1057 * The "record instruction-history" command accepts a new modifier: /s.
1058 It behaves exactly like /m and prints mixed source+disassembly.
1060 * The "set scheduler-locking" command supports a new mode "replay".
1061 It behaves like "off" in record mode and like "on" in replay mode.
1063 * Support for various ROM monitors has been removed:
1065 target dbug dBUG ROM monitor for Motorola ColdFire
1066 target picobug Motorola picobug monitor
1067 target dink32 DINK32 ROM monitor for PowerPC
1068 target m32r Renesas M32R/D ROM monitor
1069 target mon2000 mon2000 ROM monitor
1070 target ppcbug PPCBUG ROM monitor for PowerPC
1072 * Support for reading/writing memory and extracting values on architectures
1073 whose memory is addressable in units of any integral multiple of 8 bits.
1076 Allows to break when an Ada exception is handled.
1078 * New remote packets
1081 Indicates that an exec system call was executed.
1083 exec-events feature in qSupported
1084 The qSupported packet allows GDB to request support for exec
1085 events using the new 'gdbfeature' exec-event, and the qSupported
1086 response can contain the corresponding 'stubfeature'. Set and
1087 show commands can be used to display whether these features are enabled.
1090 Equivalent to interrupting with the ^C character, but works in
1093 thread created stop reason (T05 create:...)
1094 Indicates that the thread was just created and is stopped at entry.
1096 thread exit stop reply (w exitcode;tid)
1097 Indicates that the thread has terminated.
1100 Enables/disables thread create and exit event reporting. For
1101 example, this is used in non-stop mode when GDB stops a set of
1102 threads and synchronously waits for the their corresponding stop
1103 replies. Without exit events, if one of the threads exits, GDB
1104 would hang forever not knowing that it should no longer expect a
1105 stop for that same thread.
1108 Indicates that there are no resumed threads left in the target (all
1109 threads are stopped). The remote stub reports support for this stop
1110 reply to GDB's qSupported query.
1113 Enables/disables catching syscalls from the inferior process.
1114 The remote stub reports support for this packet to GDB's qSupported query.
1116 syscall_entry stop reason
1117 Indicates that a syscall was just called.
1119 syscall_return stop reason
1120 Indicates that a syscall just returned.
1122 * Extended-remote exec events
1124 ** GDB now has support for exec events on extended-remote Linux targets.
1125 For such targets with Linux kernels 2.5.46 and later, this enables
1126 follow-exec-mode and exec catchpoints.
1128 set remote exec-event-feature-packet
1129 show remote exec-event-feature-packet
1130 Set/show the use of the remote exec event feature.
1132 * Thread names in remote protocol
1134 The reply to qXfer:threads:read may now include a name attribute for each
1137 * Target remote mode fork and exec events
1139 ** GDB now has support for fork and exec events on target remote mode
1140 Linux targets. For such targets with Linux kernels 2.5.46 and later,
1141 this enables follow-fork-mode, detach-on-fork, follow-exec-mode, and
1142 fork and exec catchpoints.
1144 * Remote syscall events
1146 ** GDB now has support for catch syscall on remote Linux targets,
1147 currently enabled on x86/x86_64 architectures.
1149 set remote catch-syscall-packet
1150 show remote catch-syscall-packet
1151 Set/show the use of the remote catch syscall feature.
1155 ** The -var-set-format command now accepts the zero-hexadecimal
1156 format. It outputs data in hexadecimal format with zero-padding on the
1161 ** gdb.InferiorThread objects have a new attribute "global_num",
1162 which refers to the thread's global thread ID. The existing
1163 "num" attribute now refers to the thread's per-inferior number.
1164 See "Per-inferior thread numbers" above.
1165 ** gdb.InferiorThread objects have a new attribute "inferior", which
1166 is the Inferior object the thread belongs to.
1168 *** Changes in GDB 7.10
1170 * Support for process record-replay and reverse debugging on aarch64*-linux*
1171 targets has been added. GDB now supports recording of A64 instruction set
1172 including advance SIMD instructions.
1174 * Support for Sun's version of the "stabs" debug file format has been removed.
1176 * GDB now honors the content of the file /proc/PID/coredump_filter
1177 (PID is the process ID) on GNU/Linux systems. This file can be used
1178 to specify the types of memory mappings that will be included in a
1179 corefile. For more information, please refer to the manual page of
1180 "core(5)". GDB also has a new command: "set use-coredump-filter
1181 on|off". It allows to set whether GDB will read the content of the
1182 /proc/PID/coredump_filter file when generating a corefile.
1184 * The "info os" command on GNU/Linux can now display information on
1186 "info os cpus" Listing of all cpus/cores on the system
1188 * GDB has two new commands: "set serial parity odd|even|none" and
1189 "show serial parity". These allows to set or show parity for the
1192 * The "info source" command now displays the producer string if it was
1193 present in the debug info. This typically includes the compiler version
1194 and may include things like its command line arguments.
1196 * The "info dll", an alias of the "info sharedlibrary" command,
1197 is now available on all platforms.
1199 * Directory names supplied to the "set sysroot" commands may be
1200 prefixed with "target:" to tell GDB to access shared libraries from
1201 the target system, be it local or remote. This replaces the prefix
1202 "remote:". The default sysroot has been changed from "" to
1203 "target:". "remote:" is automatically converted to "target:" for
1204 backward compatibility.
1206 * The system root specified by "set sysroot" will be prepended to the
1207 filename of the main executable (if reported to GDB as absolute by
1208 the operating system) when starting processes remotely, and when
1209 attaching to already-running local or remote processes.
1211 * GDB now supports automatic location and retrieval of executable
1212 files from remote targets. Remote debugging can now be initiated
1213 using only a "target remote" or "target extended-remote" command
1214 (no "set sysroot" or "file" commands are required). See "New remote
1217 * The "dump" command now supports verilog hex format.
1219 * GDB now supports the vector ABI on S/390 GNU/Linux targets.
1221 * On GNU/Linux, GDB and gdbserver are now able to access executable
1222 and shared library files without a "set sysroot" command when
1223 attaching to processes running in different mount namespaces from
1224 the debugger. This makes it possible to attach to processes in
1225 containers as simply as "gdb -p PID" or "gdbserver --attach PID".
1226 See "New remote packets" below.
1228 * The "tui reg" command now provides completion for all of the
1229 available register groups, including target specific groups.
1231 * The HISTSIZE environment variable is no longer read when determining
1232 the size of GDB's command history. GDB now instead reads the dedicated
1233 GDBHISTSIZE environment variable. Setting GDBHISTSIZE to "-1" or to "" now
1234 disables truncation of command history. Non-numeric values of GDBHISTSIZE
1239 ** Memory ports can now be unbuffered.
1243 ** gdb.Objfile objects have a new attribute "username",
1244 which is the name of the objfile as specified by the user,
1245 without, for example, resolving symlinks.
1246 ** You can now write frame unwinders in Python.
1247 ** gdb.Type objects have a new method "optimized_out",
1248 returning optimized out gdb.Value instance of this type.
1249 ** gdb.Value objects have new methods "reference_value" and
1250 "const_value" which return a reference to the value and a
1251 "const" version of the value respectively.
1255 maint print symbol-cache
1256 Print the contents of the symbol cache.
1258 maint print symbol-cache-statistics
1259 Print statistics of symbol cache usage.
1261 maint flush-symbol-cache
1262 Flush the contents of the symbol cache.
1266 Start branch trace recording using Branch Trace Store (BTS) format.
1269 Evaluate expression by using the compiler and print result.
1273 Explicit commands for enabling and disabling tui mode.
1276 set mpx bound on i386 and amd64
1277 Support for bound table investigation on Intel MPX enabled applications.
1281 Start branch trace recording using Intel Processor Trace format.
1284 Print information about branch tracing internals.
1286 maint btrace packet-history
1287 Print the raw branch tracing data.
1289 maint btrace clear-packet-history
1290 Discard the stored raw branch tracing data.
1293 Discard all branch tracing data. It will be fetched and processed
1294 anew by the next "record" command.
1299 Renamed from "set debug dwarf2-die".
1300 show debug dwarf-die
1301 Renamed from "show debug dwarf2-die".
1303 set debug dwarf-read
1304 Renamed from "set debug dwarf2-read".
1305 show debug dwarf-read
1306 Renamed from "show debug dwarf2-read".
1308 maint set dwarf always-disassemble
1309 Renamed from "maint set dwarf2 always-disassemble".
1310 maint show dwarf always-disassemble
1311 Renamed from "maint show dwarf2 always-disassemble".
1313 maint set dwarf max-cache-age
1314 Renamed from "maint set dwarf2 max-cache-age".
1315 maint show dwarf max-cache-age
1316 Renamed from "maint show dwarf2 max-cache-age".
1318 set debug dwarf-line
1319 show debug dwarf-line
1320 Control display of debugging info regarding DWARF line processing.
1323 show max-completions
1324 Set the maximum number of candidates to be considered during
1325 completion. The default value is 200. This limit allows GDB
1326 to avoid generating large completion lists, the computation of
1327 which can cause the debugger to become temporarily unresponsive.
1329 set history remove-duplicates
1330 show history remove-duplicates
1331 Control the removal of duplicate history entries.
1333 maint set symbol-cache-size
1334 maint show symbol-cache-size
1335 Control the size of the symbol cache.
1337 set|show record btrace bts buffer-size
1338 Set and show the size of the ring buffer used for branch tracing in
1340 The obtained size may differ from the requested size. Use "info
1341 record" to see the obtained buffer size.
1343 set debug linux-namespaces
1344 show debug linux-namespaces
1345 Control display of debugging info regarding Linux namespaces.
1347 set|show record btrace pt buffer-size
1348 Set and show the size of the ring buffer used for branch tracing in
1349 Intel Processor Trace format.
1350 The obtained size may differ from the requested size. Use "info
1351 record" to see the obtained buffer size.
1353 maint set|show btrace pt skip-pad
1354 Set and show whether PAD packets are skipped when computing the
1357 * The command 'thread apply all' can now support new option '-ascending'
1358 to call its specified command for all threads in ascending order.
1360 * Python/Guile scripting
1362 ** GDB now supports auto-loading of Python/Guile scripts contained in the
1363 special section named `.debug_gdb_scripts'.
1365 * New remote packets
1367 qXfer:btrace-conf:read
1368 Return the branch trace configuration for the current thread.
1370 Qbtrace-conf:bts:size
1371 Set the requested ring buffer size for branch tracing in BTS format.
1374 Enable Intel Procesor Trace-based branch tracing for the current
1375 process. The remote stub reports support for this packet to GDB's
1378 Qbtrace-conf:pt:size
1379 Set the requested ring buffer size for branch tracing in Intel Processor
1383 Indicates a memory breakpoint instruction was executed, irrespective
1384 of whether it was GDB that planted the breakpoint or the breakpoint
1385 is hardcoded in the program. This is required for correct non-stop
1389 Indicates the target stopped for a hardware breakpoint. This is
1390 required for correct non-stop mode operation.
1393 Return information about files on the remote system.
1395 qXfer:exec-file:read
1396 Return the full absolute name of the file that was executed to
1397 create a process running on the remote system.
1400 Select the filesystem on which vFile: operations with filename
1401 arguments will operate. This is required for GDB to be able to
1402 access files on remote targets where the remote stub does not
1403 share a common filesystem with the inferior(s).
1406 Indicates that a fork system call was executed.
1409 Indicates that a vfork system call was executed.
1411 vforkdone stop reason
1412 Indicates that a vfork child of the specified process has executed
1413 an exec or exit, allowing the vfork parent to resume execution.
1415 fork-events and vfork-events features in qSupported
1416 The qSupported packet allows GDB to request support for fork and
1417 vfork events using new 'gdbfeatures' fork-events and vfork-events,
1418 and the qSupported response can contain the corresponding
1419 'stubfeatures'. Set and show commands can be used to display
1420 whether these features are enabled.
1422 * Extended-remote fork events
1424 ** GDB now has support for fork events on extended-remote Linux
1425 targets. For targets with Linux kernels 2.5.60 and later, this
1426 enables follow-fork-mode and detach-on-fork for both fork and
1427 vfork, as well as fork and vfork catchpoints.
1429 * The info record command now shows the recording format and the
1430 branch tracing configuration for the current thread when using
1431 the btrace record target.
1432 For the BTS format, it shows the ring buffer size.
1434 * GDB now has support for DTrace USDT (Userland Static Defined
1435 Tracing) probes. The supported targets are x86_64-*-linux-gnu.
1437 * GDB now supports access to vector registers on S/390 GNU/Linux
1440 * Removed command line options
1442 -xdb HP-UX XDB compatibility mode.
1444 * Removed targets and native configurations
1446 HP/PA running HP-UX hppa*-*-hpux*
1447 Itanium running HP-UX ia64-*-hpux*
1449 * New configure options
1452 This configure option allows the user to build GDB with support for
1453 Intel Processor Trace (default: auto). This requires libipt.
1455 --with-libipt-prefix=PATH
1456 Specify the path to the version of libipt that GDB should use.
1457 $PATH/include should contain the intel-pt.h header and
1458 $PATH/lib should contain the libipt.so library.
1460 *** Changes in GDB 7.9.1
1464 ** Xmethods can now specify a result type.
1466 *** Changes in GDB 7.9
1468 * GDB now supports hardware watchpoints on x86 GNU Hurd.
1472 ** You can now access frame registers from Python scripts.
1473 ** New attribute 'producer' for gdb.Symtab objects.
1474 ** gdb.Objfile objects have a new attribute "progspace",
1475 which is the gdb.Progspace object of the containing program space.
1476 ** gdb.Objfile objects have a new attribute "owner".
1477 ** gdb.Objfile objects have a new attribute "build_id",
1478 which is the build ID generated when the file was built.
1479 ** gdb.Objfile objects have a new method "add_separate_debug_file".
1480 ** A new event "gdb.clear_objfiles" has been added, triggered when
1481 selecting a new file to debug.
1482 ** You can now add attributes to gdb.Objfile and gdb.Progspace objects.
1483 ** New function gdb.lookup_objfile.
1485 New events which are triggered when GDB modifies the state of the
1488 ** gdb.events.inferior_call_pre: Function call is about to be made.
1489 ** gdb.events.inferior_call_post: Function call has just been made.
1490 ** gdb.events.memory_changed: A memory location has been altered.
1491 ** gdb.events.register_changed: A register has been altered.
1493 * New Python-based convenience functions:
1495 ** $_caller_is(name [, number_of_frames])
1496 ** $_caller_matches(regexp [, number_of_frames])
1497 ** $_any_caller_is(name [, number_of_frames])
1498 ** $_any_caller_matches(regexp [, number_of_frames])
1500 * GDB now supports the compilation and injection of source code into
1501 the inferior. GDB will use GCC 5.0 or higher built with libcc1.so
1502 to compile the source code to object code, and if successful, inject
1503 and execute that code within the current context of the inferior.
1504 Currently the C language is supported. The commands used to
1505 interface with this new feature are:
1507 compile code [-raw|-r] [--] [source code]
1508 compile file [-raw|-r] filename
1512 demangle [-l language] [--] name
1513 Demangle "name" in the specified language, or the current language
1514 if elided. This command is renamed from the "maint demangle" command.
1515 The latter is kept as a no-op to avoid "maint demangle" being interpreted
1516 as "maint demangler-warning".
1518 queue-signal signal-name-or-number
1519 Queue a signal to be delivered to the thread when it is resumed.
1521 add-auto-load-scripts-directory directory
1522 Add entries to the list of directories from which to load auto-loaded
1525 maint print user-registers
1526 List all currently available "user" registers.
1528 compile code [-r|-raw] [--] [source code]
1529 Compile, inject, and execute in the inferior the executable object
1530 code produced by compiling the provided source code.
1532 compile file [-r|-raw] filename
1533 Compile and inject into the inferior the executable object code
1534 produced by compiling the source code stored in the filename
1537 * On resume, GDB now always passes the signal the program had stopped
1538 for to the thread the signal was sent to, even if the user changed
1539 threads before resuming. Previously GDB would often (but not
1540 always) deliver the signal to the thread that happens to be current
1543 * Conversely, the "signal" command now consistently delivers the
1544 requested signal to the current thread. GDB now asks for
1545 confirmation if the program had stopped for a signal and the user
1546 switched threads meanwhile.
1548 * "breakpoint always-inserted" modes "off" and "auto" merged.
1550 Now, when 'breakpoint always-inserted mode' is set to "off", GDB
1551 won't remove breakpoints from the target until all threads stop,
1552 even in non-stop mode. The "auto" mode has been removed, and "off"
1553 is now the default mode.
1557 set debug symbol-lookup
1558 show debug symbol-lookup
1559 Control display of debugging info regarding symbol lookup.
1563 ** The -list-thread-groups command outputs an exit-code field for
1564 inferiors that have exited.
1568 MIPS SDE mips*-sde*-elf*
1572 Support for these obsolete configurations has been removed.
1574 Alpha running OSF/1 (or Tru64) alpha*-*-osf*
1575 SGI Irix-5.x mips-*-irix5*
1576 SGI Irix-6.x mips-*-irix6*
1577 VAX running (4.2 - 4.3 Reno) BSD vax-*-bsd*
1578 VAX running Ultrix vax-*-ultrix*
1580 * The "dll-symbols" command, and its two aliases ("add-shared-symbol-files"
1581 and "assf"), have been removed. Use the "sharedlibrary" command, or
1582 its alias "share", instead.
1584 *** Changes in GDB 7.8
1586 * New command line options
1589 This is an alias for the --data-directory option.
1591 * GDB supports printing and modifying of variable length automatic arrays
1592 as specified in ISO C99.
1594 * The ARM simulator now supports instruction level tracing
1595 with or without disassembly.
1599 GDB now has support for scripting using Guile. Whether this is
1600 available is determined at configure time.
1601 Guile version 2.0 or greater is required.
1602 Guile version 2.0.9 is well tested, earlier 2.0 versions are not.
1604 * New commands (for set/show, see "New options" below)
1608 Invoke CODE by passing it to the Guile interpreter.
1612 Start a Guile interactive prompt (or "repl" for "read-eval-print loop").
1614 info auto-load guile-scripts [regexp]
1615 Print the list of automatically loaded Guile scripts.
1617 * The source command is now capable of sourcing Guile scripts.
1618 This feature is dependent on the debugger being built with Guile support.
1622 set print symbol-loading (off|brief|full)
1623 show print symbol-loading
1624 Control whether to print informational messages when loading symbol
1625 information for a file. The default is "full", but when debugging
1626 programs with large numbers of shared libraries the amount of output
1627 becomes less useful.
1629 set guile print-stack (none|message|full)
1630 show guile print-stack
1631 Show a stack trace when an error is encountered in a Guile script.
1633 set auto-load guile-scripts (on|off)
1634 show auto-load guile-scripts
1635 Control auto-loading of Guile script files.
1637 maint ada set ignore-descriptive-types (on|off)
1638 maint ada show ignore-descriptive-types
1639 Control whether the debugger should ignore descriptive types in Ada
1640 programs. The default is not to ignore the descriptive types. See
1641 the user manual for more details on descriptive types and the intended
1642 usage of this option.
1644 set auto-connect-native-target
1646 Control whether GDB is allowed to automatically connect to the
1647 native target for the run, attach, etc. commands when not connected
1648 to any target yet. See also "target native" below.
1650 set record btrace replay-memory-access (read-only|read-write)
1651 show record btrace replay-memory-access
1652 Control what memory accesses are allowed during replay.
1654 maint set target-async (on|off)
1655 maint show target-async
1656 This controls whether GDB targets operate in synchronous or
1657 asynchronous mode. Normally the default is asynchronous, if it is
1658 available; but this can be changed to more easily debug problems
1659 occurring only in synchronous mode.
1661 set mi-async (on|off)
1663 Control whether MI asynchronous mode is preferred. This supersedes
1664 "set target-async" of previous GDB versions.
1666 * "set target-async" is deprecated as a CLI option and is now an alias
1667 for "set mi-async" (only puts MI into async mode).
1669 * Background execution commands (e.g., "c&", "s&", etc.) are now
1670 possible ``out of the box'' if the target supports them. Previously
1671 the user would need to explicitly enable the possibility with the
1672 "set target-async on" command.
1674 * New features in the GDB remote stub, GDBserver
1676 ** New option --debug-format=option1[,option2,...] allows one to add
1677 additional text to each output. At present only timestamps
1678 are supported: --debug-format=timestamps.
1679 Timestamps can also be turned on with the
1680 "monitor set debug-format timestamps" command from GDB.
1682 * The 'record instruction-history' command now starts counting instructions
1683 at one. This also affects the instruction ranges reported by the
1684 'record function-call-history' command when given the /i modifier.
1686 * The command 'record function-call-history' supports a new modifier '/c' to
1687 indent the function names based on their call stack depth.
1688 The fields for the '/i' and '/l' modifier have been reordered.
1689 The source line range is now prefixed with 'at'.
1690 The instruction range is now prefixed with 'inst'.
1691 Both ranges are now printed as '<from>, <to>' to allow copy&paste to the
1692 "record instruction-history" and "list" commands.
1694 * The ranges given as arguments to the 'record function-call-history' and
1695 'record instruction-history' commands are now inclusive.
1697 * The btrace record target now supports the 'record goto' command.
1698 For locations inside the execution trace, the back trace is computed
1699 based on the information stored in the execution trace.
1701 * The btrace record target supports limited reverse execution and replay.
1702 The target does not record data and therefore does not allow reading
1703 memory or registers.
1705 * The "catch syscall" command now works on s390*-linux* targets.
1707 * The "compare-sections" command is no longer specific to target
1708 remote. It now works with all targets.
1710 * All native targets are now consistently called "native".
1711 Consequently, the "target child", "target GNU", "target djgpp",
1712 "target procfs" (Solaris/Irix/OSF/AIX) and "target darwin-child"
1713 commands have been replaced with "target native". The QNX/NTO port
1714 leaves the "procfs" target in place and adds a "native" target for
1715 consistency with other ports. The impact on users should be minimal
1716 as these commands previously either throwed an error, or were
1717 no-ops. The target's name is visible in the output of the following
1718 commands: "help target", "info target", "info files", "maint print
1721 * The "target native" command now connects to the native target. This
1722 can be used to launch native programs even when "set
1723 auto-connect-native-target" is set to off.
1725 * GDB now supports access to Intel MPX registers on GNU/Linux.
1727 * Support for Intel AVX-512 registers on GNU/Linux.
1728 Support displaying and modifying Intel AVX-512 registers
1729 $zmm0 - $zmm31 and $k0 - $k7 on GNU/Linux.
1731 * New remote packets
1733 qXfer:btrace:read's annex
1734 The qXfer:btrace:read packet supports a new annex 'delta' to read
1735 branch trace incrementally.
1739 ** Valid Python operations on gdb.Value objects representing
1740 structs/classes invoke the corresponding overloaded operators if
1742 ** New `Xmethods' feature in the Python API. Xmethods are
1743 additional methods or replacements for existing methods of a C++
1744 class. This feature is useful for those cases where a method
1745 defined in C++ source code could be inlined or optimized out by
1746 the compiler, making it unavailable to GDB.
1749 PowerPC64 GNU/Linux little-endian powerpc64le-*-linux*
1751 * The "dll-symbols" command, and its two aliases ("add-shared-symbol-files"
1752 and "assf"), have been deprecated. Use the "sharedlibrary" command, or
1753 its alias "share", instead.
1755 * The commands "set remotebaud" and "show remotebaud" are no longer
1756 supported. Use "set serial baud" and "show serial baud" (respectively)
1761 ** A new option "-gdb-set mi-async" replaces "-gdb-set
1762 target-async". The latter is left as a deprecated alias of the
1763 former for backward compatibility. If the target supports it,
1764 CLI background execution commands are now always possible by
1765 default, independently of whether the frontend stated a
1766 preference for asynchronous execution with "-gdb-set mi-async".
1767 Previously "-gdb-set target-async off" affected both MI execution
1768 commands and CLI execution commands.
1770 *** Changes in GDB 7.7
1772 * Improved support for process record-replay and reverse debugging on
1773 arm*-linux* targets. Support for thumb32 and syscall instruction
1774 recording has been added.
1776 * GDB now supports SystemTap SDT probes on AArch64 GNU/Linux.
1778 * GDB now supports Fission DWP file format version 2.
1779 http://gcc.gnu.org/wiki/DebugFission
1781 * New convenience function "$_isvoid", to check whether an expression
1782 is void. A void expression is an expression where the type of the
1783 result is "void". For example, some convenience variables may be
1784 "void" when evaluated (e.g., "$_exitcode" before the execution of
1785 the program being debugged; or an undefined convenience variable).
1786 Another example, when calling a function whose return type is
1789 * The "maintenance print objfiles" command now takes an optional regexp.
1791 * The "catch syscall" command now works on arm*-linux* targets.
1793 * GDB now consistently shows "<not saved>" when printing values of
1794 registers the debug info indicates have not been saved in the frame
1795 and there's nowhere to retrieve them from
1796 (callee-saved/call-clobbered registers):
1801 (gdb) info registers rax
1804 Before, the former would print "<optimized out>", and the latter
1805 "*value not available*".
1807 * New script contrib/gdb-add-index.sh for adding .gdb_index sections
1812 ** Frame filters and frame decorators have been added.
1813 ** Temporary breakpoints are now supported.
1814 ** Line tables representation has been added.
1815 ** New attribute 'parent_type' for gdb.Field objects.
1816 ** gdb.Field objects can be used as subscripts on gdb.Value objects.
1817 ** New attribute 'name' for gdb.Type objects.
1821 Nios II ELF nios2*-*-elf
1822 Nios II GNU/Linux nios2*-*-linux
1823 Texas Instruments MSP430 msp430*-*-elf
1825 * Removed native configurations
1827 Support for these a.out NetBSD and OpenBSD obsolete configurations has
1828 been removed. ELF variants of these configurations are kept supported.
1830 arm*-*-netbsd* but arm*-*-netbsdelf* is kept supported.
1831 i[34567]86-*-netbsd* but i[34567]86-*-netbsdelf* is kept supported.
1832 i[34567]86-*-openbsd[0-2].* but i[34567]86-*-openbsd* is kept supported.
1833 i[34567]86-*-openbsd3.[0-3]
1834 m68*-*-netbsd* but m68*-*-netbsdelf* is kept supported.
1835 sparc-*-netbsd* but sparc-*-netbsdelf* is kept supported.
1836 vax-*-netbsd* but vax-*-netbsdelf* is kept supported.
1840 Like "catch throw", but catches a re-thrown exception.
1841 maint check-psymtabs
1842 Renamed from old "maint check-symtabs".
1844 Perform consistency checks on symtabs.
1845 maint expand-symtabs
1846 Expand symtabs matching an optional regexp.
1849 Display the details of GDB configure-time options.
1851 maint set|show per-command
1852 maint set|show per-command space
1853 maint set|show per-command time
1854 maint set|show per-command symtab
1855 Enable display of per-command gdb resource usage.
1857 remove-symbol-file FILENAME
1858 remove-symbol-file -a ADDRESS
1859 Remove a symbol file added via add-symbol-file. The file to remove
1860 can be identified by its filename or by an address that lies within
1861 the boundaries of this symbol file in memory.
1864 info exceptions REGEXP
1865 Display the list of Ada exceptions defined in the program being
1866 debugged. If provided, only the exceptions whose names match REGEXP
1871 set debug symfile off|on
1873 Control display of debugging info regarding reading symbol files and
1874 symbol tables within those files
1876 set print raw frame-arguments
1877 show print raw frame-arguments
1878 Set/show whether to print frame arguments in raw mode,
1879 disregarding any defined pretty-printers.
1881 set remote trace-status-packet
1882 show remote trace-status-packet
1883 Set/show the use of remote protocol qTStatus packet.
1887 Control display of debugging messages related to Nios II targets.
1891 Control whether target-assisted range stepping is enabled.
1893 set startup-with-shell
1894 show startup-with-shell
1895 Specifies whether Unix child processes are started via a shell or
1900 Use the target memory cache for accesses to the code segment. This
1901 improves performance of remote debugging (particularly disassembly).
1903 * You can now use a literal value 'unlimited' for options that
1904 interpret 0 or -1 as meaning "unlimited". E.g., "set
1905 trace-buffer-size unlimited" is now an alias for "set
1906 trace-buffer-size -1" and "set height unlimited" is now an alias for
1909 * The "set debug symtab-create" debugging option of GDB has been changed to
1910 accept a verbosity level. 0 means "off", 1 provides basic debugging
1911 output, and values of 2 or greater provides more verbose output.
1913 * New command-line options
1915 Display the details of GDB configure-time options.
1917 * The command 'tsave' can now support new option '-ctf' to save trace
1918 buffer in Common Trace Format.
1920 * Newly installed $prefix/bin/gcore acts as a shell interface for the
1923 * GDB now implements the the C++ 'typeid' operator.
1925 * The new convenience variable $_exception holds the exception being
1926 thrown or caught at an exception-related catchpoint.
1928 * The exception-related catchpoints, like "catch throw", now accept a
1929 regular expression which can be used to filter exceptions by type.
1931 * The new convenience variable $_exitsignal is automatically set to
1932 the terminating signal number when the program being debugged dies
1933 due to an uncaught signal.
1937 ** All MI commands now accept an optional "--language" option.
1938 Support for this feature can be verified by using the "-list-features"
1939 command, which should contain "language-option".
1941 ** The new command -info-gdb-mi-command allows the user to determine
1942 whether a GDB/MI command is supported or not.
1944 ** The "^error" result record returned when trying to execute an undefined
1945 GDB/MI command now provides a variable named "code" whose content is the
1946 "undefined-command" error code. Support for this feature can be verified
1947 by using the "-list-features" command, which should contain
1948 "undefined-command-error-code".
1950 ** The -trace-save MI command can optionally save trace buffer in Common
1953 ** The new command -dprintf-insert sets a dynamic printf breakpoint.
1955 ** The command -data-list-register-values now accepts an optional
1956 "--skip-unavailable" option. When used, only the available registers
1959 ** The new command -trace-frame-collected dumps collected variables,
1960 computed expressions, tvars, memory and registers in a traceframe.
1962 ** The commands -stack-list-locals, -stack-list-arguments and
1963 -stack-list-variables now accept an option "--skip-unavailable".
1964 When used, only the available locals or arguments are displayed.
1966 ** The -exec-run command now accepts an optional "--start" option.
1967 When used, the command follows the same semantics as the "start"
1968 command, stopping the program's execution at the start of its
1969 main subprogram. Support for this feature can be verified using
1970 the "-list-features" command, which should contain
1971 "exec-run-start-option".
1973 ** The new commands -catch-assert and -catch-exceptions insert
1974 catchpoints stopping the program when Ada exceptions are raised.
1976 ** The new command -info-ada-exceptions provides the equivalent of
1977 the new "info exceptions" command.
1979 * New system-wide configuration scripts
1980 A GDB installation now provides scripts suitable for use as system-wide
1981 configuration scripts for the following systems:
1985 * GDB now supports target-assigned range stepping with remote targets.
1986 This improves the performance of stepping source lines by reducing
1987 the number of control packets from/to GDB. See "New remote packets"
1990 * GDB now understands the element 'tvar' in the XML traceframe info.
1991 It has the id of the collected trace state variables.
1993 * On S/390 targets that provide the transactional-execution feature,
1994 the program interruption transaction diagnostic block (TDB) is now
1995 represented as a number of additional "registers" in GDB.
1997 * New remote packets
2001 The vCont packet supports a new 'r' action, that tells the remote
2002 stub to step through an address range itself, without GDB
2003 involvemement at each single-step.
2005 qXfer:libraries-svr4:read's annex
2006 The previously unused annex of the qXfer:libraries-svr4:read packet
2007 is now used to support passing an argument list. The remote stub
2008 reports support for this argument list to GDB's qSupported query.
2009 The defined arguments are "start" and "prev", used to reduce work
2010 necessary for library list updating, resulting in significant
2013 * New features in the GDB remote stub, GDBserver
2015 ** GDBserver now supports target-assisted range stepping. Currently
2016 enabled on x86/x86_64 GNU/Linux targets.
2018 ** GDBserver now adds element 'tvar' in the XML in the reply to
2019 'qXfer:traceframe-info:read'. It has the id of the collected
2020 trace state variables.
2022 ** GDBserver now supports hardware watchpoints on the MIPS GNU/Linux
2025 * New 'z' formatter for printing and examining memory, this displays the
2026 value as hexadecimal zero padded on the left to the size of the type.
2028 * GDB can now use Windows x64 unwinding data.
2030 * The "set remotebaud" command has been replaced by "set serial baud".
2031 Similarly, "show remotebaud" has been replaced by "show serial baud".
2032 The "set remotebaud" and "show remotebaud" commands are still available
2033 to provide backward compatibility with older versions of GDB.
2035 *** Changes in GDB 7.6
2037 * Target record has been renamed to record-full.
2038 Record/replay is now enabled with the "record full" command.
2039 This also affects settings that are associated with full record/replay
2040 that have been moved from "set/show record" to "set/show record full":
2042 set|show record full insn-number-max
2043 set|show record full stop-at-limit
2044 set|show record full memory-query
2046 * A new record target "record-btrace" has been added. The new target
2047 uses hardware support to record the control-flow of a process. It
2048 does not support replaying the execution, but it implements the
2049 below new commands for investigating the recorded execution log.
2050 This new recording method can be enabled using:
2054 The "record-btrace" target is only available on Intel Atom processors
2055 and requires a Linux kernel 2.6.32 or later.
2057 * Two new commands have been added for record/replay to give information
2058 about the recorded execution without having to replay the execution.
2059 The commands are only supported by "record btrace".
2061 record instruction-history prints the execution history at
2062 instruction granularity
2064 record function-call-history prints the execution history at
2065 function granularity
2067 * New native configurations
2069 ARM AArch64 GNU/Linux aarch64*-*-linux-gnu
2070 FreeBSD/powerpc powerpc*-*-freebsd
2071 x86_64/Cygwin x86_64-*-cygwin*
2072 Tilera TILE-Gx GNU/Linux tilegx*-*-linux-gnu
2076 ARM AArch64 aarch64*-*-elf
2077 ARM AArch64 GNU/Linux aarch64*-*-linux
2078 Lynx 178 PowerPC powerpc-*-lynx*178
2079 x86_64/Cygwin x86_64-*-cygwin*
2080 Tilera TILE-Gx GNU/Linux tilegx*-*-linux
2082 * If the configured location of system.gdbinit file (as given by the
2083 --with-system-gdbinit option at configure time) is in the
2084 data-directory (as specified by --with-gdb-datadir at configure
2085 time) or in one of its subdirectories, then GDB will look for the
2086 system-wide init file in the directory specified by the
2087 --data-directory command-line option.
2089 * New command line options:
2091 -nh Disables auto-loading of ~/.gdbinit, but still executes all the
2092 other initialization files, unlike -nx which disables all of them.
2094 * Removed command line options
2096 -epoch This was used by the gdb mode in Epoch, an ancient fork of
2099 * The 'ptype' and 'whatis' commands now accept an argument to control
2102 * 'info proc' now works on some core files.
2106 ** Vectors can be created with gdb.Type.vector.
2108 ** Python's atexit.register now works in GDB.
2110 ** Types can be pretty-printed via a Python API.
2112 ** Python 3 is now supported (in addition to Python 2.4 or later)
2114 ** New class gdb.Architecture exposes GDB's internal representation
2115 of architecture in the Python API.
2117 ** New method Frame.architecture returns the gdb.Architecture object
2118 corresponding to the frame's architecture.
2120 * New Python-based convenience functions:
2122 ** $_memeq(buf1, buf2, length)
2123 ** $_streq(str1, str2)
2125 ** $_regex(str, regex)
2127 * The 'cd' command now defaults to using '~' (the home directory) if not
2130 * The C++ ABI now defaults to the GNU v3 ABI. This has been the
2131 default for GCC since November 2000.
2133 * The command 'forward-search' can now be abbreviated as 'fo'.
2135 * The command 'info tracepoints' can now display 'installed on target'
2136 or 'not installed on target' for each non-pending location of tracepoint.
2138 * New configure options
2140 --enable-libmcheck/--disable-libmcheck
2141 By default, development versions are built with -lmcheck on hosts
2142 that support it, in order to help track memory corruption issues.
2143 Release versions, on the other hand, are built without -lmcheck
2144 by default. The --enable-libmcheck/--disable-libmcheck configure
2145 options allow the user to override that default.
2146 --with-babeltrace/--with-babeltrace-include/--with-babeltrace-lib
2147 This configure option allows the user to build GDB with
2148 libbabeltrace using which GDB can read Common Trace Format data.
2150 * New commands (for set/show, see "New options" below)
2153 Catch signals. This is similar to "handle", but allows commands and
2154 conditions to be attached.
2157 List the BFDs known to GDB.
2159 python-interactive [command]
2161 Start a Python interactive prompt, or evaluate the optional command
2162 and print the result of expressions.
2165 "py" is a new alias for "python".
2167 enable type-printer [name]...
2168 disable type-printer [name]...
2169 Enable or disable type printers.
2173 ** For the Renesas Super-H architecture, the "regs" command has been removed
2174 (has been deprecated in GDB 7.5), and "info all-registers" should be used
2179 set print type methods (on|off)
2180 show print type methods
2181 Control whether method declarations are displayed by "ptype".
2182 The default is to show them.
2184 set print type typedefs (on|off)
2185 show print type typedefs
2186 Control whether typedef definitions are displayed by "ptype".
2187 The default is to show them.
2189 set filename-display basename|relative|absolute
2190 show filename-display
2191 Control the way in which filenames is displayed.
2192 The default is "relative", which preserves previous behavior.
2194 set trace-buffer-size
2195 show trace-buffer-size
2196 Request target to change the size of trace buffer.
2198 set remote trace-buffer-size-packet auto|on|off
2199 show remote trace-buffer-size-packet
2200 Control the use of the remote protocol `QTBuffer:size' packet.
2204 Control display of debugging messages related to ARM AArch64.
2207 set debug coff-pe-read
2208 show debug coff-pe-read
2209 Control display of debugging messages related to reading of COFF/PE
2214 Control display of debugging messages related to Mach-O symbols
2217 set debug notification
2218 show debug notification
2219 Control display of debugging info for async remote notification.
2223 ** Command parameter changes are now notified using new async record
2224 "=cmd-param-changed".
2225 ** Trace frame changes caused by command "tfind" are now notified using
2226 new async record "=traceframe-changed".
2227 ** The creation, deletion and modification of trace state variables
2228 are now notified using new async records "=tsv-created",
2229 "=tsv-deleted" and "=tsv-modified".
2230 ** The start and stop of process record are now notified using new
2231 async record "=record-started" and "=record-stopped".
2232 ** Memory changes are now notified using new async record
2234 ** The data-disassemble command response will include a "fullname" field
2235 containing the absolute file name when source has been requested.
2236 ** New optional parameter COUNT added to the "-data-write-memory-bytes"
2237 command, to allow pattern filling of memory areas.
2238 ** New commands "-catch-load"/"-catch-unload" added for intercepting
2239 library load/unload events.
2240 ** The response to breakpoint commands and breakpoint async records
2241 includes an "installed" field containing a boolean state about each
2242 non-pending tracepoint location is whether installed on target or not.
2243 ** Output of the "-trace-status" command includes a "trace-file" field
2244 containing the name of the trace file being examined. This field is
2245 optional, and only present when examining a trace file.
2246 ** The "fullname" field is now always present along with the "file" field,
2247 even if the file cannot be found by GDB.
2249 * GDB now supports the "mini debuginfo" section, .gnu_debugdata.
2250 You must have the LZMA library available when configuring GDB for this
2251 feature to be enabled. For more information, see:
2252 http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features/MiniDebugInfo
2254 * New remote packets
2257 Set the size of trace buffer. The remote stub reports support for this
2258 packet to gdb's qSupported query.
2261 Enable Branch Trace Store (BTS)-based branch tracing for the current
2262 thread. The remote stub reports support for this packet to gdb's
2266 Disable branch tracing for the current thread. The remote stub reports
2267 support for this packet to gdb's qSupported query.
2270 Read the traced branches for the current thread. The remote stub
2271 reports support for this packet to gdb's qSupported query.
2273 *** Changes in GDB 7.5
2275 * GDB now supports x32 ABI. Visit <http://sites.google.com/site/x32abi/>
2276 for more x32 ABI info.
2278 * GDB now supports access to MIPS DSP registers on Linux targets.
2280 * GDB now supports debugging microMIPS binaries.
2282 * The "info os" command on GNU/Linux can now display information on
2283 several new classes of objects managed by the operating system:
2284 "info os procgroups" lists process groups
2285 "info os files" lists file descriptors
2286 "info os sockets" lists internet-domain sockets
2287 "info os shm" lists shared-memory regions
2288 "info os semaphores" lists semaphores
2289 "info os msg" lists message queues
2290 "info os modules" lists loaded kernel modules
2292 * GDB now has support for SDT (Static Defined Tracing) probes. Currently,
2293 the only implemented backend is for SystemTap probes (<sys/sdt.h>). You
2294 can set a breakpoint using the new "-probe, "-pstap" or "-probe-stap"
2295 options and inspect the probe arguments using the new $_probe_arg family
2296 of convenience variables. You can obtain more information about SystemTap
2297 in <http://sourceware.org/systemtap/>.
2299 * GDB now supports reversible debugging on ARM, it allows you to
2300 debug basic ARM and THUMB instructions, and provides
2301 record/replay support.
2303 * The option "symbol-reloading" has been deleted as it is no longer used.
2307 ** GDB commands implemented in Python can now be put in command class
2310 ** The "maint set python print-stack on|off" is now deleted.
2312 ** A new class, gdb.printing.FlagEnumerationPrinter, can be used to
2313 apply "flag enum"-style pretty-printing to any enum.
2315 ** gdb.lookup_symbol can now work when there is no current frame.
2317 ** gdb.Symbol now has a 'line' attribute, holding the line number in
2318 the source at which the symbol was defined.
2320 ** gdb.Symbol now has the new attribute 'needs_frame' and the new
2321 method 'value'. The former indicates whether the symbol needs a
2322 frame in order to compute its value, and the latter computes the
2325 ** A new method 'referenced_value' on gdb.Value objects which can
2326 dereference pointer as well as C++ reference values.
2328 ** New methods 'global_block' and 'static_block' on gdb.Symtab objects
2329 which return the global and static blocks (as gdb.Block objects),
2330 of the underlying symbol table, respectively.
2332 ** New function gdb.find_pc_line which returns the gdb.Symtab_and_line
2333 object associated with a PC value.
2335 ** gdb.Symtab_and_line has new attribute 'last' which holds the end
2336 of the address range occupied by code for the current source line.
2338 * Go language support.
2339 GDB now supports debugging programs written in the Go programming
2342 * GDBserver now supports stdio connections.
2343 E.g. (gdb) target remote | ssh myhost gdbserver - hello
2345 * The binary "gdbtui" can no longer be built or installed.
2346 Use "gdb -tui" instead.
2348 * GDB will now print "flag" enums specially. A flag enum is one where
2349 all the enumerator values have no bits in common when pairwise
2350 "and"ed. When printing a value whose type is a flag enum, GDB will
2351 show all the constants, e.g., for enum E { ONE = 1, TWO = 2}:
2352 (gdb) print (enum E) 3
2355 * The filename part of a linespec will now match trailing components
2356 of a source file name. For example, "break gcc/expr.c:1000" will
2357 now set a breakpoint in build/gcc/expr.c, but not
2358 build/libcpp/expr.c.
2360 * The "info proc" and "generate-core-file" commands will now also
2361 work on remote targets connected to GDBserver on Linux.
2363 * The command "info catch" has been removed. It has been disabled
2364 since December 2007.
2366 * The "catch exception" and "catch assert" commands now accept
2367 a condition at the end of the command, much like the "break"
2368 command does. For instance:
2370 (gdb) catch exception Constraint_Error if Barrier = True
2372 Previously, it was possible to add a condition to such catchpoints,
2373 but it had to be done as a second step, after the catchpoint had been
2374 created, using the "condition" command.
2376 * The "info static-tracepoint-marker" command will now also work on
2377 native Linux targets with in-process agent.
2379 * GDB can now set breakpoints on inlined functions.
2381 * The .gdb_index section has been updated to include symbols for
2382 inlined functions. GDB will ignore older .gdb_index sections by
2383 default, which could cause symbol files to be loaded more slowly
2384 until their .gdb_index sections can be recreated. The new command
2385 "set use-deprecated-index-sections on" will cause GDB to use any older
2386 .gdb_index sections it finds. This will restore performance, but the
2387 ability to set breakpoints on inlined functions will be lost in symbol
2388 files with older .gdb_index sections.
2390 The .gdb_index section has also been updated to record more information
2391 about each symbol. This speeds up the "info variables", "info functions"
2392 and "info types" commands when used with programs having the .gdb_index
2393 section, as well as speeding up debugging with shared libraries using
2394 the .gdb_index section.
2396 * Ada support for GDB/MI Variable Objects has been added.
2398 * GDB can now support 'breakpoint always-inserted mode' in 'record'
2403 ** New command -info-os is the MI equivalent of "info os".
2405 ** Output logs ("set logging" and related) now include MI output.
2409 ** "set use-deprecated-index-sections on|off"
2410 "show use-deprecated-index-sections on|off"
2411 Controls the use of deprecated .gdb_index sections.
2413 ** "catch load" and "catch unload" can be used to stop when a shared
2414 library is loaded or unloaded, respectively.
2416 ** "enable count" can be used to auto-disable a breakpoint after
2419 ** "info vtbl" can be used to show the virtual method tables for
2420 C++ and Java objects.
2422 ** "explore" and its sub commands "explore value" and "explore type"
2423 can be used to recursively explore values and types of
2424 expressions. These commands are available only if GDB is
2425 configured with '--with-python'.
2427 ** "info auto-load" shows status of all kinds of auto-loaded files,
2428 "info auto-load gdb-scripts" shows status of auto-loading GDB canned
2429 sequences of commands files, "info auto-load python-scripts"
2430 shows status of auto-loading Python script files,
2431 "info auto-load local-gdbinit" shows status of loading init file
2432 (.gdbinit) from current directory and "info auto-load libthread-db" shows
2433 status of inferior specific thread debugging shared library loading.
2435 ** "info auto-load-scripts", "set auto-load-scripts on|off"
2436 and "show auto-load-scripts" commands have been deprecated, use their
2437 "info auto-load python-scripts", "set auto-load python-scripts on|off"
2438 and "show auto-load python-scripts" counterparts instead.
2440 ** "dprintf location,format,args..." creates a dynamic printf, which
2441 is basically a breakpoint that does a printf and immediately
2442 resumes your program's execution, so it is like a printf that you
2443 can insert dynamically at runtime instead of at compiletime.
2445 ** "set print symbol"
2447 Controls whether GDB attempts to display the symbol, if any,
2448 corresponding to addresses it prints. This defaults to "on", but
2449 you can set it to "off" to restore GDB's previous behavior.
2451 * Deprecated commands
2453 ** For the Renesas Super-H architecture, the "regs" command has been
2454 deprecated, and "info all-registers" should be used instead.
2458 Renesas RL78 rl78-*-elf
2459 HP OpenVMS ia64 ia64-hp-openvms*
2461 * GDBserver supports evaluation of breakpoint conditions. When
2462 support is advertised by GDBserver, GDB may be told to send the
2463 breakpoint conditions in bytecode form to GDBserver. GDBserver
2464 will only report the breakpoint trigger to GDB when its condition
2469 set mips compression
2470 show mips compression
2471 Select the compressed ISA encoding used in functions that have no symbol
2472 information available. The encoding can be set to either of:
2475 and is updated automatically from ELF file flags if available.
2477 set breakpoint condition-evaluation
2478 show breakpoint condition-evaluation
2479 Control whether breakpoint conditions are evaluated by GDB ("host") or by
2480 GDBserver ("target"). Default option "auto" chooses the most efficient
2482 This option can improve debugger efficiency depending on the speed of the
2486 Disable auto-loading globally.
2489 Show auto-loading setting of all kinds of auto-loaded files.
2491 set auto-load gdb-scripts on|off
2492 show auto-load gdb-scripts
2493 Control auto-loading of GDB canned sequences of commands files.
2495 set auto-load python-scripts on|off
2496 show auto-load python-scripts
2497 Control auto-loading of Python script files.
2499 set auto-load local-gdbinit on|off
2500 show auto-load local-gdbinit
2501 Control loading of init file (.gdbinit) from current directory.
2503 set auto-load libthread-db on|off
2504 show auto-load libthread-db
2505 Control auto-loading of inferior specific thread debugging shared library.
2507 set auto-load scripts-directory <dir1>[:<dir2>...]
2508 show auto-load scripts-directory
2509 Set a list of directories from which to load auto-loaded scripts.
2510 Automatically loaded Python scripts and GDB scripts are located in one
2511 of the directories listed by this option.
2512 The delimiter (':' above) may differ according to the host platform.
2514 set auto-load safe-path <dir1>[:<dir2>...]
2515 show auto-load safe-path
2516 Set a list of directories from which it is safe to auto-load files.
2517 The delimiter (':' above) may differ according to the host platform.
2519 set debug auto-load on|off
2520 show debug auto-load
2521 Control display of debugging info for auto-loading the files above.
2523 set dprintf-style gdb|call|agent
2525 Control the way in which a dynamic printf is performed; "gdb"
2526 requests a GDB printf command, while "call" causes dprintf to call a
2527 function in the inferior. "agent" requests that the target agent
2528 (such as GDBserver) do the printing.
2530 set dprintf-function <expr>
2531 show dprintf-function
2532 set dprintf-channel <expr>
2533 show dprintf-channel
2534 Set the function and optional first argument to the call when using
2535 the "call" style of dynamic printf.
2537 set disconnected-dprintf on|off
2538 show disconnected-dprintf
2539 Control whether agent-style dynamic printfs continue to be in effect
2540 after GDB disconnects.
2542 * New configure options
2544 --with-auto-load-dir
2545 Configure default value for the 'set auto-load scripts-directory'
2546 setting above. It defaults to '$debugdir:$datadir/auto-load',
2547 $debugdir representing global debugging info directories (available
2548 via 'show debug-file-directory') and $datadir representing GDB's data
2549 directory (available via 'show data-directory').
2551 --with-auto-load-safe-path
2552 Configure default value for the 'set auto-load safe-path' setting
2553 above. It defaults to the --with-auto-load-dir setting.
2555 --without-auto-load-safe-path
2556 Set 'set auto-load safe-path' to '/', effectively disabling this
2559 * New remote packets
2561 z0/z1 conditional breakpoints extension
2563 The z0/z1 breakpoint insertion packets have been extended to carry
2564 a list of conditional expressions over to the remote stub depending on the
2565 condition evaluation mode. The use of this extension can be controlled
2566 via the "set remote conditional-breakpoints-packet" command.
2570 Specify the signals which the remote stub may pass to the debugged
2571 program without GDB involvement.
2573 * New command line options
2575 --init-command=FILE, -ix Like --command, -x but execute it
2576 before loading inferior.
2577 --init-eval-command=COMMAND, -iex Like --eval-command=COMMAND, -ex but
2578 execute it before loading inferior.
2580 *** Changes in GDB 7.4
2582 * GDB now handles ambiguous linespecs more consistently; the existing
2583 FILE:LINE support has been expanded to other types of linespecs. A
2584 breakpoint will now be set on all matching locations in all
2585 inferiors, and locations will be added or removed according to
2588 * GDB now allows you to skip uninteresting functions and files when
2589 stepping with the "skip function" and "skip file" commands.
2591 * GDB has two new commands: "set remote hardware-watchpoint-length-limit"
2592 and "show remote hardware-watchpoint-length-limit". These allows to
2593 set or show the maximum length limit (in bytes) of a remote
2594 target hardware watchpoint.
2596 This allows e.g. to use "unlimited" hardware watchpoints with the
2597 gdbserver integrated in Valgrind version >= 3.7.0. Such Valgrind
2598 watchpoints are slower than real hardware watchpoints but are
2599 significantly faster than gdb software watchpoints.
2603 ** The register_pretty_printer function in module gdb.printing now takes
2604 an optional `replace' argument. If True, the new printer replaces any
2607 ** The "maint set python print-stack on|off" command has been
2608 deprecated and will be deleted in GDB 7.5.
2609 A new command: "set python print-stack none|full|message" has
2610 replaced it. Additionally, the default for "print-stack" is
2611 now "message", which just prints the error message without
2614 ** A prompt substitution hook (prompt_hook) is now available to the
2617 ** A new Python module, gdb.prompt has been added to the GDB Python
2618 modules library. This module provides functionality for
2619 escape sequences in prompts (used by set/show
2620 extended-prompt). These escape sequences are replaced by their
2621 corresponding value.
2623 ** Python commands and convenience-functions located in
2624 'data-directory'/python/gdb/command and
2625 'data-directory'/python/gdb/function are now automatically loaded
2628 ** Blocks now provide four new attributes. global_block and
2629 static_block will return the global and static blocks
2630 respectively. is_static and is_global are boolean attributes
2631 that indicate if the block is one of those two types.
2633 ** Symbols now provide the "type" attribute, the type of the symbol.
2635 ** The "gdb.breakpoint" function has been deprecated in favor of
2638 ** A new class "gdb.FinishBreakpoint" is provided to catch the return
2639 of a function. This class is based on the "finish" command
2640 available in the CLI.
2642 ** Type objects for struct and union types now allow access to
2643 the fields using standard Python dictionary (mapping) methods.
2644 For example, "some_type['myfield']" now works, as does
2645 "some_type.items()".
2647 ** A new event "gdb.new_objfile" has been added, triggered by loading a
2650 ** A new function, "deep_items" has been added to the gdb.types
2651 module in the GDB Python modules library. This function returns
2652 an iterator over the fields of a struct or union type. Unlike
2653 the standard Python "iteritems" method, it will recursively traverse
2654 any anonymous fields.
2658 ** "*stopped" events can report several new "reason"s, such as
2661 ** Breakpoint changes are now notified using new async records, like
2662 "=breakpoint-modified".
2664 ** New command -ada-task-info.
2666 * libthread-db-search-path now supports two special values: $sdir and $pdir.
2667 $sdir specifies the default system locations of shared libraries.
2668 $pdir specifies the directory where the libpthread used by the application
2671 GDB no longer looks in $sdir and $pdir after it has searched the directories
2672 mentioned in libthread-db-search-path. If you want to search those
2673 directories, they must be specified in libthread-db-search-path.
2674 The default value of libthread-db-search-path on GNU/Linux and Solaris
2675 systems is now "$sdir:$pdir".
2677 $pdir is not supported by gdbserver, it is currently ignored.
2678 $sdir is supported by gdbserver.
2680 * New configure option --with-iconv-bin.
2681 When using the internationalization support like the one in the GNU C
2682 library, GDB will invoke the "iconv" program to get a list of supported
2683 character sets. If this program lives in a non-standard location, one can
2684 use this option to specify where to find it.
2686 * When natively debugging programs on PowerPC BookE processors running
2687 a Linux kernel version 2.6.34 or later, GDB supports masked hardware
2688 watchpoints, which specify a mask in addition to an address to watch.
2689 The mask specifies that some bits of an address (the bits which are
2690 reset in the mask) should be ignored when matching the address accessed
2691 by the inferior against the watchpoint address. See the "PowerPC Embedded"
2692 section in the user manual for more details.
2694 * The new option --once causes GDBserver to stop listening for connections once
2695 the first connection is made. The listening port used by GDBserver will
2696 become available after that.
2698 * New commands "info macros" and "alias" have been added.
2700 * New function parameters suffix @entry specifies value of function parameter
2701 at the time the function got called. Entry values are available only since
2707 "!" is now an alias of the "shell" command.
2708 Note that no space is needed between "!" and SHELL COMMAND.
2712 watch EXPRESSION mask MASK_VALUE
2713 The watch command now supports the mask argument which allows creation
2714 of masked watchpoints, if the current architecture supports this feature.
2716 info auto-load-scripts [REGEXP]
2717 This command was formerly named "maintenance print section-scripts".
2718 It is now generally useful and is no longer a maintenance-only command.
2720 info macro [-all] [--] MACRO
2721 The info macro command has new options `-all' and `--'. The first for
2722 printing all definitions of a macro. The second for explicitly specifying
2723 the end of arguments and the beginning of the macro name in case the macro
2724 name starts with a hyphen.
2726 collect[/s] EXPRESSIONS
2727 The tracepoint collect command now takes an optional modifier "/s"
2728 that directs it to dereference pointer-to-character types and
2729 collect the bytes of memory up to a zero byte. The behavior is
2730 similar to what you see when you use the regular print command on a
2731 string. An optional integer following the "/s" sets a bound on the
2732 number of bytes that will be collected.
2735 The trace start command now interprets any supplied arguments as a
2736 note to be recorded with the trace run, with an effect similar to
2737 setting the variable trace-notes.
2740 The trace stop command now interprets any arguments as a note to be
2741 mentioned along with the tstatus report that the trace was stopped
2742 with a command. The effect is similar to setting the variable
2745 * Tracepoints can now be enabled and disabled at any time after a trace
2746 experiment has been started using the standard "enable" and "disable"
2747 commands. It is now possible to start a trace experiment with no enabled
2748 tracepoints; GDB will display a warning, but will allow the experiment to
2749 begin, assuming that tracepoints will be enabled as needed while the trace
2752 * Fast tracepoints on 32-bit x86-architectures can now be placed at
2753 locations with 4-byte instructions, when they were previously
2754 limited to locations with instructions of 5 bytes or longer.
2758 set debug dwarf2-read
2759 show debug dwarf2-read
2760 Turns on or off display of debugging messages related to reading
2761 DWARF debug info. The default is off.
2763 set debug symtab-create
2764 show debug symtab-create
2765 Turns on or off display of debugging messages related to symbol table
2766 creation. The default is off.
2769 show extended-prompt
2770 Set the GDB prompt, and allow escape sequences to be inserted to
2771 display miscellaneous information (see 'help set extended-prompt'
2772 for the list of sequences). This prompt (and any information
2773 accessed through the escape sequences) is updated every time the
2774 prompt is displayed.
2776 set print entry-values (both|compact|default|if-needed|no|only|preferred)
2777 show print entry-values
2778 Set printing of frame argument values at function entry. In some cases
2779 GDB can determine the value of function argument which was passed by the
2780 function caller, even if the value was modified inside the called function.
2782 set debug entry-values
2783 show debug entry-values
2784 Control display of debugging info for determining frame argument values at
2785 function entry and virtual tail call frames.
2787 set basenames-may-differ
2788 show basenames-may-differ
2789 Set whether a source file may have multiple base names.
2790 (A "base name" is the name of a file with the directory part removed.
2791 Example: The base name of "/home/user/hello.c" is "hello.c".)
2792 If set, GDB will canonicalize file names (e.g., expand symlinks)
2793 before comparing them. Canonicalization is an expensive operation,
2794 but it allows the same file be known by more than one base name.
2795 If not set (the default), all source files are assumed to have just
2796 one base name, and gdb will do file name comparisons more efficiently.
2802 Set a user name and notes for the current and any future trace runs.
2803 This is useful for long-running and/or disconnected traces, to
2804 inform others (or yourself) as to who is running the trace, supply
2805 contact information, or otherwise explain what is going on.
2807 set trace-stop-notes
2808 show trace-stop-notes
2809 Set a note attached to the trace run, that is displayed when the
2810 trace has been stopped by a tstop command. This is useful for
2811 instance as an explanation, if you are stopping a trace run that was
2812 started by someone else.
2814 * New remote packets
2818 Dynamically enable a tracepoint in a started trace experiment.
2822 Dynamically disable a tracepoint in a started trace experiment.
2826 Set the user and notes of the trace run.
2830 Query the current status of a tracepoint.
2834 Query the minimum length of instruction at which a fast tracepoint may
2837 * Dcache size (number of lines) and line-size are now runtime-configurable
2838 via "set dcache line" and "set dcache line-size" commands.
2842 Texas Instruments TMS320C6x tic6x-*-*
2846 Renesas RL78 rl78-*-elf
2848 *** Changes in GDB 7.3.1
2850 * The build failure for NetBSD and OpenBSD targets have now been fixed.
2852 *** Changes in GDB 7.3
2854 * GDB has a new command: "thread find [REGEXP]".
2855 It finds the thread id whose name, target id, or thread extra info
2856 matches the given regular expression.
2858 * The "catch syscall" command now works on mips*-linux* targets.
2860 * The -data-disassemble MI command now supports modes 2 and 3 for
2861 dumping the instruction opcodes.
2863 * New command line options
2865 -data-directory DIR Specify DIR as the "data-directory".
2866 This is mostly for testing purposes.
2868 * The "maint set python auto-load on|off" command has been renamed to
2869 "set auto-load-scripts on|off".
2871 * GDB has a new command: "set directories".
2872 It is like the "dir" command except that it replaces the
2873 source path list instead of augmenting it.
2875 * GDB now understands thread names.
2877 On GNU/Linux, "info threads" will display the thread name as set by
2878 prctl or pthread_setname_np.
2880 There is also a new command, "thread name", which can be used to
2881 assign a name internally for GDB to display.
2884 Initial support for the OpenCL C language (http://www.khronos.org/opencl)
2885 has been integrated into GDB.
2889 ** The function gdb.Write now accepts an optional keyword 'stream'.
2890 This keyword, when provided, will direct the output to either
2891 stdout, stderr, or GDB's logging output.
2893 ** Parameters can now be be sub-classed in Python, and in particular
2894 you may implement the get_set_doc and get_show_doc functions.
2895 This improves how Parameter set/show documentation is processed
2896 and allows for more dynamic content.
2898 ** Symbols, Symbol Table, Symbol Table and Line, Object Files,
2899 Inferior, Inferior Thread, Blocks, and Block Iterator APIs now
2900 have an is_valid method.
2902 ** Breakpoints can now be sub-classed in Python, and in particular
2903 you may implement a 'stop' function that is executed each time
2904 the inferior reaches that breakpoint.
2906 ** New function gdb.lookup_global_symbol looks up a global symbol.
2908 ** GDB values in Python are now callable if the value represents a
2909 function. For example, if 'some_value' represents a function that
2910 takes two integer parameters and returns a value, you can call
2911 that function like so:
2913 result = some_value (10,20)
2915 ** Module gdb.types has been added.
2916 It contains a collection of utilities for working with gdb.Types objects:
2917 get_basic_type, has_field, make_enum_dict.
2919 ** Module gdb.printing has been added.
2920 It contains utilities for writing and registering pretty-printers.
2921 New classes: PrettyPrinter, SubPrettyPrinter,
2922 RegexpCollectionPrettyPrinter.
2923 New function: register_pretty_printer.
2925 ** New commands "info pretty-printers", "enable pretty-printer" and
2926 "disable pretty-printer" have been added.
2928 ** gdb.parameter("directories") is now available.
2930 ** New function gdb.newest_frame returns the newest frame in the
2933 ** The gdb.InferiorThread class has a new "name" attribute. This
2934 holds the thread's name.
2936 ** Python Support for Inferior events.
2937 Python scripts can add observers to be notified of events
2938 occurring in the process being debugged.
2939 The following events are currently supported:
2940 - gdb.events.cont Continue event.
2941 - gdb.events.exited Inferior exited event.
2942 - gdb.events.stop Signal received, and Breakpoint hit events.
2946 ** GDB now puts template parameters in scope when debugging in an
2947 instantiation. For example, if you have:
2949 template<int X> int func (void) { return X; }
2951 then if you step into func<5>, "print X" will show "5". This
2952 feature requires proper debuginfo support from the compiler; it
2953 was added to GCC 4.5.
2955 ** The motion commands "next", "finish", "until", and "advance" now
2956 work better when exceptions are thrown. In particular, GDB will
2957 no longer lose control of the inferior; instead, the GDB will
2958 stop the inferior at the point at which the exception is caught.
2959 This functionality requires a change in the exception handling
2960 code that was introduced in GCC 4.5.
2962 * GDB now follows GCC's rules on accessing volatile objects when
2963 reading or writing target state during expression evaluation.
2964 One notable difference to prior behavior is that "print x = 0"
2965 no longer generates a read of x; the value of the assignment is
2966 now always taken directly from the value being assigned.
2968 * GDB now has some support for using labels in the program's source in
2969 linespecs. For instance, you can use "advance label" to continue
2970 execution to a label.
2972 * GDB now has support for reading and writing a new .gdb_index
2973 section. This section holds a fast index of DWARF debugging
2974 information and can be used to greatly speed up GDB startup and
2975 operation. See the documentation for `save gdb-index' for details.
2977 * The "watch" command now accepts an optional "-location" argument.
2978 When used, this causes GDB to watch the memory referred to by the
2979 expression. Such a watchpoint is never deleted due to it going out
2982 * GDB now supports thread debugging of core dumps on GNU/Linux.
2984 GDB now activates thread debugging using the libthread_db library
2985 when debugging GNU/Linux core dumps, similarly to when debugging
2986 live processes. As a result, when debugging a core dump file, GDB
2987 is now able to display pthread_t ids of threads. For example, "info
2988 threads" shows the same output as when debugging the process when it
2989 was live. In earlier releases, you'd see something like this:
2992 * 1 LWP 6780 main () at main.c:10
2994 While now you see this:
2997 * 1 Thread 0x7f0f5712a700 (LWP 6780) main () at main.c:10
2999 It is also now possible to inspect TLS variables when debugging core
3002 When debugging a core dump generated on a machine other than the one
3003 used to run GDB, you may need to point GDB at the correct
3004 libthread_db library with the "set libthread-db-search-path"
3005 command. See the user manual for more details on this command.
3007 * When natively debugging programs on PowerPC BookE processors running
3008 a Linux kernel version 2.6.34 or later, GDB supports ranged breakpoints,
3009 which stop execution of the inferior whenever it executes an instruction
3010 at any address within the specified range. See the "PowerPC Embedded"
3011 section in the user manual for more details.
3013 * New features in the GDB remote stub, GDBserver
3015 ** GDBserver is now supported on PowerPC LynxOS (versions 4.x and 5.x),
3016 and i686 LynxOS (version 5.x).
3018 ** GDBserver is now supported on Blackfin Linux.
3020 * New native configurations
3022 ia64 HP-UX ia64-*-hpux*
3026 Analog Devices, Inc. Blackfin Processor bfin-*
3028 * Ada task switching is now supported on sparc-elf targets when
3029 debugging a program using the Ravenscar Profile. For more information,
3030 see the "Tasking Support when using the Ravenscar Profile" section
3031 in the GDB user manual.
3033 * Guile support was removed.
3035 * New features in the GNU simulator
3037 ** The --map-info flag lists all known core mappings.
3039 ** CFI flashes may be simulated via the "cfi" device.
3041 *** Changes in GDB 7.2
3043 * Shared library support for remote targets by default
3045 When GDB is configured for a generic, non-OS specific target, like
3046 for example, --target=arm-eabi or one of the many *-*-elf targets,
3047 GDB now queries remote stubs for loaded shared libraries using the
3048 `qXfer:libraries:read' packet. Previously, shared library support
3049 was always disabled for such configurations.
3053 ** Argument Dependent Lookup (ADL)
3055 In C++ ADL lookup directs function search to the namespaces of its
3056 arguments even if the namespace has not been imported.
3066 Here the compiler will search for `foo' in the namespace of 'b'
3067 and find A::foo. GDB now supports this. This construct is commonly
3068 used in the Standard Template Library for operators.
3070 ** Improved User Defined Operator Support
3072 In addition to member operators, GDB now supports lookup of operators
3073 defined in a namespace and imported with a `using' directive, operators
3074 defined in the global scope, operators imported implicitly from an
3075 anonymous namespace, and the ADL operators mentioned in the previous
3077 GDB now also supports proper overload resolution for all the previously
3078 mentioned flavors of operators.
3080 ** static const class members
3082 Printing of static const class members that are initialized in the
3083 class definition has been fixed.
3085 * Windows Thread Information Block access.
3087 On Windows targets, GDB now supports displaying the Windows Thread
3088 Information Block (TIB) structure. This structure is visible either
3089 by using the new command `info w32 thread-information-block' or, by
3090 dereferencing the new convenience variable named `$_tlb', a
3091 thread-specific pointer to the TIB. This feature is also supported
3092 when remote debugging using GDBserver.
3094 * Static tracepoints
3096 Static tracepoints are calls in the user program into a tracing
3097 library. One such library is a port of the LTTng kernel tracer to
3098 userspace --- UST (LTTng Userspace Tracer, http://lttng.org/ust).
3099 When debugging with GDBserver, GDB now supports combining the GDB
3100 tracepoint machinery with such libraries. For example: the user can
3101 use GDB to probe a static tracepoint marker (a call from the user
3102 program into the tracing library) with the new "strace" command (see
3103 "New commands" below). This creates a "static tracepoint" in the
3104 breakpoint list, that can be manipulated with the same feature set
3105 as fast and regular tracepoints. E.g., collect registers, local and
3106 global variables, collect trace state variables, and define
3107 tracepoint conditions. In addition, the user can collect extra
3108 static tracepoint marker specific data, by collecting the new
3109 $_sdata internal variable. When analyzing the trace buffer, you can
3110 inspect $_sdata like any other variable available to GDB. For more
3111 information, see the "Tracepoints" chapter in GDB user manual. New
3112 remote packets have been defined to support static tracepoints, see
3113 the "New remote packets" section below.
3115 * Better reconstruction of tracepoints after disconnected tracing
3117 GDB will attempt to download the original source form of tracepoint
3118 definitions when starting a trace run, and then will upload these
3119 upon reconnection to the target, resulting in a more accurate
3120 reconstruction of the tracepoints that are in use on the target.
3124 You can now exercise direct control over the ways that GDB can
3125 affect your program. For instance, you can disallow the setting of
3126 breakpoints, so that the program can run continuously (assuming
3127 non-stop mode). In addition, the "observer" variable is available
3128 to switch all of the different controls; in observer mode, GDB
3129 cannot affect the target's behavior at all, which is useful for
3130 tasks like diagnosing live systems in the field.
3132 * The new convenience variable $_thread holds the number of the
3135 * New remote packets
3139 Return the address of the Windows Thread Information Block of a given thread.
3143 In response to several of the tracepoint packets, the target may now
3144 also respond with a number of intermediate `qRelocInsn' request
3145 packets before the final result packet, to have GDB handle
3146 relocating an instruction to execute at a different address. This
3147 is particularly useful for stubs that support fast tracepoints. GDB
3148 reports support for this feature in the qSupported packet.
3152 List static tracepoint markers in the target program.
3156 List static tracepoint markers at a given address in the target
3159 qXfer:statictrace:read
3161 Read the static trace data collected (by a `collect $_sdata'
3162 tracepoint action). The remote stub reports support for this packet
3163 to gdb's qSupported query.
3167 Send the current settings of GDB's permission flags.
3171 Send part of the source (textual) form of a tracepoint definition,
3172 which includes location, conditional, and action list.
3174 * The source command now accepts a -s option to force searching for the
3175 script in the source search path even if the script name specifies
3178 * New features in the GDB remote stub, GDBserver
3180 - GDBserver now support tracepoints (including fast tracepoints, and
3181 static tracepoints). The feature is currently supported by the
3182 i386-linux and amd64-linux builds. See the "Tracepoints support
3183 in gdbserver" section in the manual for more information.
3185 GDBserver JIT compiles the tracepoint's conditional agent
3186 expression bytecode into native code whenever possible for low
3187 overhead dynamic tracepoints conditionals. For such tracepoints,
3188 an expression that examines program state is evaluated when the
3189 tracepoint is reached, in order to determine whether to capture
3190 trace data. If the condition is simple and false, processing the
3191 tracepoint finishes very quickly and no data is gathered.
3193 GDBserver interfaces with the UST (LTTng Userspace Tracer) library
3194 for static tracepoints support.
3196 - GDBserver now supports x86_64 Windows 64-bit debugging.
3198 * GDB now sends xmlRegisters= in qSupported packet to indicate that
3199 it understands register description.
3201 * The --batch flag now disables pagination and queries.
3203 * X86 general purpose registers
3205 GDB now supports reading/writing byte, word and double-word x86
3206 general purpose registers directly. This means you can use, say,
3207 $ah or $ax to refer, respectively, to the byte register AH and
3208 16-bit word register AX that are actually portions of the 32-bit
3209 register EAX or 64-bit register RAX.
3211 * The `commands' command now accepts a range of breakpoints to modify.
3212 A plain `commands' following a command that creates multiple
3213 breakpoints affects all the breakpoints set by that command. This
3214 applies to breakpoints set by `rbreak', and also applies when a
3215 single `break' command creates multiple breakpoints (e.g.,
3216 breakpoints on overloaded c++ functions).
3218 * The `rbreak' command now accepts a filename specification as part of
3219 its argument, limiting the functions selected by the regex to those
3220 in the specified file.
3222 * Support for remote debugging Windows and SymbianOS shared libraries
3223 from Unix hosts has been improved. Non Windows GDB builds now can
3224 understand target reported file names that follow MS-DOS based file
3225 system semantics, such as file names that include drive letters and
3226 use the backslash character as directory separator. This makes it
3227 possible to transparently use the "set sysroot" and "set
3228 solib-search-path" on Unix hosts to point as host copies of the
3229 target's shared libraries. See the new command "set
3230 target-file-system-kind" described below, and the "Commands to
3231 specify files" section in the user manual for more information.
3235 eval template, expressions...
3236 Convert the values of one or more expressions under the control
3237 of the string template to a command line, and call it.
3239 set target-file-system-kind unix|dos-based|auto
3240 show target-file-system-kind
3241 Set or show the assumed file system kind for target reported file
3244 save breakpoints <filename>
3245 Save all current breakpoint definitions to a file suitable for use
3246 in a later debugging session. To read the saved breakpoint
3247 definitions, use the `source' command.
3249 `save tracepoints' is a new alias for `save-tracepoints'. The latter
3252 info static-tracepoint-markers
3253 Display information about static tracepoint markers in the target.
3255 strace FN | FILE:LINE | *ADDR | -m MARKER_ID
3256 Define a static tracepoint by probing a marker at the given
3257 function, line, address, or marker ID.
3261 Enable and disable observer mode.
3263 set may-write-registers on|off
3264 set may-write-memory on|off
3265 set may-insert-breakpoints on|off
3266 set may-insert-tracepoints on|off
3267 set may-insert-fast-tracepoints on|off
3268 set may-interrupt on|off
3269 Set individual permissions for GDB effects on the target. Note that
3270 some of these settings can have undesirable or surprising
3271 consequences, particularly when changed in the middle of a session.
3272 For instance, disabling the writing of memory can prevent
3273 breakpoints from being inserted, cause single-stepping to fail, or
3274 even crash your program, if you disable after breakpoints have been
3275 inserted. However, GDB should not crash.
3277 set record memory-query on|off
3278 show record memory-query
3279 Control whether to stop the inferior if memory changes caused
3280 by an instruction cannot be recorded.
3285 The disassemble command now supports "start,+length" form of two arguments.
3289 ** GDB now provides a new directory location, called the python directory,
3290 where Python scripts written for GDB can be installed. The location
3291 of that directory is <data-directory>/python, where <data-directory>
3292 is the GDB data directory. For more details, see section `Scripting
3293 GDB using Python' in the manual.
3295 ** The GDB Python API now has access to breakpoints, symbols, symbol
3296 tables, program spaces, inferiors, threads and frame's code blocks.
3297 Additionally, GDB Parameters can now be created from the API, and
3298 manipulated via set/show in the CLI.
3300 ** New functions gdb.target_charset, gdb.target_wide_charset,
3301 gdb.progspaces, gdb.current_progspace, and gdb.string_to_argv.
3303 ** New exception gdb.GdbError.
3305 ** Pretty-printers are now also looked up in the current program space.
3307 ** Pretty-printers can now be individually enabled and disabled.
3309 ** GDB now looks for names of Python scripts to auto-load in a
3310 special section named `.debug_gdb_scripts', in addition to looking
3311 for a OBJFILE-gdb.py script when OBJFILE is read by the debugger.
3313 * Tracepoint actions were unified with breakpoint commands. In particular,
3314 there are no longer differences in "info break" output for breakpoints and
3315 tracepoints and the "commands" command can be used for both tracepoints and
3316 regular breakpoints.
3320 ARM Symbian arm*-*-symbianelf*
3322 * D language support.
3323 GDB now supports debugging programs written in the D programming
3326 * GDB now supports the extended ptrace interface for PowerPC which is
3327 available since Linux kernel version 2.6.34. This automatically enables
3328 any hardware breakpoints and additional hardware watchpoints available in
3329 the processor. The old ptrace interface exposes just one hardware
3330 watchpoint and no hardware breakpoints.
3332 * GDB is now able to use the Data Value Compare (DVC) register available on
3333 embedded PowerPC processors to implement in hardware simple watchpoint
3334 conditions of the form:
3336 watch ADDRESS|VARIABLE if ADDRESS|VARIABLE == CONSTANT EXPRESSION
3338 This works in native GDB running on Linux kernels with the extended ptrace
3339 interface mentioned above.
3341 *** Changes in GDB 7.1
3345 ** Namespace Support
3347 GDB now supports importing of namespaces in C++. This enables the
3348 user to inspect variables from imported namespaces. Support for
3349 namepace aliasing has also been added. So, if a namespace is
3350 aliased in the current scope (e.g. namepace C=A; ) the user can
3351 print variables using the alias (e.g. (gdb) print C::x).
3355 All known bugs relating to the printing of virtual base class were
3356 fixed. It is now possible to call overloaded static methods using a
3361 The C++ cast operators static_cast<>, dynamic_cast<>, const_cast<>,
3362 and reinterpret_cast<> are now handled by the C++ expression parser.
3366 Xilinx MicroBlaze microblaze-*-*
3371 Xilinx MicroBlaze microblaze
3374 * Multi-program debugging.
3376 GDB now has support for multi-program (a.k.a. multi-executable or
3377 multi-exec) debugging. This allows for debugging multiple inferiors
3378 simultaneously each running a different program under the same GDB
3379 session. See "Debugging Multiple Inferiors and Programs" in the
3380 manual for more information. This implied some user visible changes
3381 in the multi-inferior support. For example, "info inferiors" now
3382 lists inferiors that are not running yet or that have exited
3383 already. See also "New commands" and "New options" below.
3385 * New tracing features
3387 GDB's tracepoint facility now includes several new features:
3389 ** Trace state variables
3391 GDB tracepoints now include support for trace state variables, which
3392 are variables managed by the target agent during a tracing
3393 experiment. They are useful for tracepoints that trigger each
3394 other, so for instance one tracepoint can count hits in a variable,
3395 and then a second tracepoint has a condition that is true when the
3396 count reaches a particular value. Trace state variables share the
3397 $-syntax of GDB convenience variables, and can appear in both
3398 tracepoint actions and condition expressions. Use the "tvariable"
3399 command to create, and "info tvariables" to view; see "Trace State
3400 Variables" in the manual for more detail.
3404 GDB now includes an option for defining fast tracepoints, which
3405 targets may implement more efficiently, such as by installing a jump
3406 into the target agent rather than a trap instruction. The resulting
3407 speedup can be by two orders of magnitude or more, although the
3408 tradeoff is that some program locations on some target architectures
3409 might not allow fast tracepoint installation, for instance if the
3410 instruction to be replaced is shorter than the jump. To request a
3411 fast tracepoint, use the "ftrace" command, with syntax identical to
3412 the regular trace command.
3414 ** Disconnected tracing
3416 It is now possible to detach GDB from the target while it is running
3417 a trace experiment, then reconnect later to see how the experiment
3418 is going. In addition, a new variable disconnected-tracing lets you
3419 tell the target agent whether to continue running a trace if the
3420 connection is lost unexpectedly.
3424 GDB now has the ability to save the trace buffer into a file, and
3425 then use that file as a target, similarly to you can do with
3426 corefiles. You can select trace frames, print data that was
3427 collected in them, and use tstatus to display the state of the
3428 tracing run at the moment that it was saved. To create a trace
3429 file, use "tsave <filename>", and to use it, do "target tfile
3432 ** Circular trace buffer
3434 You can ask the target agent to handle the trace buffer as a
3435 circular buffer, discarding the oldest trace frames to make room for
3436 newer ones, by setting circular-trace-buffer to on. This feature may
3437 not be available for all target agents.
3442 The disassemble command, when invoked with two arguments, now requires
3443 the arguments to be comma-separated.
3446 The info variables command now displays variable definitions. Files
3447 which only declare a variable are not shown.
3450 The source command is now capable of sourcing Python scripts.
3451 This feature is dependent on the debugger being build with Python
3454 Related to this enhancement is also the introduction of a new command
3455 "set script-extension" (see below).
3457 * New commands (for set/show, see "New options" below)
3459 record save [<FILENAME>]
3460 Save a file (in core file format) containing the process record
3461 execution log for replay debugging at a later time.
3463 record restore <FILENAME>
3464 Restore the process record execution log that was saved at an
3465 earlier time, for replay debugging.
3467 add-inferior [-copies <N>] [-exec <FILENAME>]
3470 clone-inferior [-copies <N>] [ID]
3471 Make a new inferior ready to execute the same program another
3472 inferior has loaded.
3477 maint info program-spaces
3478 List the program spaces loaded into GDB.
3480 set remote interrupt-sequence [Ctrl-C | BREAK | BREAK-g]
3481 show remote interrupt-sequence
3482 Allow the user to select one of ^C, a BREAK signal or BREAK-g
3483 as the sequence to the remote target in order to interrupt the execution.
3484 Ctrl-C is a default. Some system prefers BREAK which is high level of
3485 serial line for some certain time. Linux kernel prefers BREAK-g, a.k.a
3486 Magic SysRq g. It is BREAK signal and character 'g'.
3488 set remote interrupt-on-connect [on | off]
3489 show remote interrupt-on-connect
3490 When interrupt-on-connect is ON, gdb sends interrupt-sequence to
3491 remote target when gdb connects to it. This is needed when you debug
3494 set remotebreak [on | off]
3496 Deprecated. Use "set/show remote interrupt-sequence" instead.
3498 tvariable $NAME [ = EXP ]
3499 Create or modify a trace state variable.
3502 List trace state variables and their values.
3504 delete tvariable $NAME ...
3505 Delete one or more trace state variables.
3508 Evaluate the given expressions without collecting anything into the
3509 trace buffer. (Valid in tracepoint actions only.)
3511 ftrace FN / FILE:LINE / *ADDR
3512 Define a fast tracepoint at the given function, line, or address.
3514 * New expression syntax
3516 GDB now parses the 0b prefix of binary numbers the same way as GCC does.
3517 GDB now parses 0b101010 identically with 42.
3521 set follow-exec-mode new|same
3522 show follow-exec-mode
3523 Control whether GDB reuses the same inferior across an exec call or
3524 creates a new one. This is useful to be able to restart the old
3525 executable after the inferior having done an exec call.
3527 set default-collect EXPR, ...
3528 show default-collect
3529 Define a list of expressions to be collected at each tracepoint.
3530 This is a useful way to ensure essential items are not overlooked,
3531 such as registers or a critical global variable.
3533 set disconnected-tracing
3534 show disconnected-tracing
3535 If set to 1, the target is instructed to continue tracing if it
3536 loses its connection to GDB. If 0, the target is to stop tracing
3539 set circular-trace-buffer
3540 show circular-trace-buffer
3541 If set to on, the target is instructed to use a circular trace buffer
3542 and discard the oldest trace frames instead of stopping the trace due
3543 to a full trace buffer. If set to off, the trace stops when the buffer
3544 fills up. Some targets may not support this.
3546 set script-extension off|soft|strict
3547 show script-extension
3548 If set to "off", the debugger does not perform any script language
3549 recognition, and all sourced files are assumed to be GDB scripts.
3550 If set to "soft" (the default), files are sourced according to
3551 filename extension, falling back to GDB scripts if the first
3553 If set to "strict", files are sourced according to filename extension.
3555 set ada trust-PAD-over-XVS on|off
3556 show ada trust-PAD-over-XVS
3557 If off, activate a workaround against a bug in the debugging information
3558 generated by the compiler for PAD types (see gcc/exp_dbug.ads in
3559 the GCC sources for more information about the GNAT encoding and
3560 PAD types in particular). It is always safe to set this option to
3561 off, but this introduces a slight performance penalty. The default
3564 * Python API Improvements
3566 ** GDB provides the new class gdb.LazyString. This is useful in
3567 some pretty-printing cases. The new method gdb.Value.lazy_string
3568 provides a simple way to create objects of this type.
3570 ** The fields returned by gdb.Type.fields now have an
3571 `is_base_class' attribute.
3573 ** The new method gdb.Type.range returns the range of an array type.
3575 ** The new method gdb.parse_and_eval can be used to parse and
3576 evaluate an expression.
3578 * New remote packets
3581 Define a trace state variable.
3584 Get the current value of a trace state variable.
3587 Set desired tracing behavior upon disconnection.
3590 Set the trace buffer to be linear or circular.
3593 Get data about the tracepoints currently in use.
3597 Process record now works correctly with hardware watchpoints.
3599 Multiple bug fixes have been made to the mips-irix port, making it
3600 much more reliable. In particular:
3601 - Debugging threaded applications is now possible again. Previously,
3602 GDB would hang while starting the program, or while waiting for
3603 the program to stop at a breakpoint.
3604 - Attaching to a running process no longer hangs.
3605 - An error occurring while loading a core file has been fixed.
3606 - Changing the value of the PC register now works again. This fixes
3607 problems observed when using the "jump" command, or when calling
3608 a function from GDB, or even when assigning a new value to $pc.
3609 - With the "finish" and "return" commands, the return value for functions
3610 returning a small array is now correctly printed.
3611 - It is now possible to break on shared library code which gets executed
3612 during a shared library init phase (code executed while executing
3613 their .init section). Previously, the breakpoint would have no effect.
3614 - GDB is now able to backtrace through the signal handler for
3615 non-threaded programs.
3617 PIE (Position Independent Executable) programs debugging is now supported.
3618 This includes debugging execution of PIC (Position Independent Code) shared
3619 libraries although for that, it should be possible to run such libraries as an
3622 *** Changes in GDB 7.0
3624 * GDB now has an interface for JIT compilation. Applications that
3625 dynamically generate code can create symbol files in memory and register
3626 them with GDB. For users, the feature should work transparently, and
3627 for JIT developers, the interface is documented in the GDB manual in the
3628 "JIT Compilation Interface" chapter.
3630 * Tracepoints may now be conditional. The syntax is as for
3631 breakpoints; either an "if" clause appended to the "trace" command,
3632 or the "condition" command is available. GDB sends the condition to
3633 the target for evaluation using the same bytecode format as is used
3634 for tracepoint actions.
3636 * The disassemble command now supports: an optional /r modifier, print the
3637 raw instructions in hex as well as in symbolic form, and an optional /m
3638 modifier to print mixed source+assembly.
3640 * Process record and replay
3642 In a architecture environment that supports ``process record and
3643 replay'', ``process record and replay'' target can record a log of
3644 the process execution, and replay it with both forward and reverse
3647 * Reverse debugging: GDB now has new commands reverse-continue, reverse-
3648 step, reverse-next, reverse-finish, reverse-stepi, reverse-nexti, and
3649 set execution-direction {forward|reverse}, for targets that support
3652 * GDB now supports hardware watchpoints on MIPS/Linux systems. This
3653 feature is available with a native GDB running on kernel version
3656 * GDB now has support for multi-byte and wide character sets on the
3657 target. Strings whose character type is wchar_t, char16_t, or
3658 char32_t are now correctly printed. GDB supports wide- and unicode-
3659 literals in C, that is, L'x', L"string", u'x', u"string", U'x', and
3660 U"string" syntax. And, GDB allows the "%ls" and "%lc" formats in
3661 `printf'. This feature requires iconv to work properly; if your
3662 system does not have a working iconv, GDB can use GNU libiconv. See
3663 the installation instructions for more information.
3665 * GDB now supports automatic retrieval of shared library files from
3666 remote targets. To use this feature, specify a system root that begins
3667 with the `remote:' prefix, either via the `set sysroot' command or via
3668 the `--with-sysroot' configure-time option.
3670 * "info sharedlibrary" now takes an optional regex of libraries to show,
3671 and it now reports if a shared library has no debugging information.
3673 * Commands `set debug-file-directory', `set solib-search-path' and `set args'
3674 now complete on file names.
3676 * When completing in expressions, gdb will attempt to limit
3677 completions to allowable structure or union fields, where appropriate.
3678 For instance, consider:
3680 # struct example { int f1; double f2; };
3681 # struct example variable;
3684 If the user types TAB at the end of this command line, the available
3685 completions will be "f1" and "f2".
3687 * Inlined functions are now supported. They show up in backtraces, and
3688 the "step", "next", and "finish" commands handle them automatically.
3690 * GDB now supports the token-splicing (##) and stringification (#)
3691 operators when expanding macros. It also supports variable-arity
3694 * GDB now supports inspecting extra signal information, exported by
3695 the new $_siginfo convenience variable. The feature is currently
3696 implemented on linux ARM, i386 and amd64.
3698 * GDB can now display the VFP floating point registers and NEON vector
3699 registers on ARM targets. Both ARM GNU/Linux native GDB and gdbserver
3700 can provide these registers (requires Linux 2.6.30 or later). Remote
3701 and simulator targets may also provide them.
3703 * New remote packets
3706 Search memory for a sequence of bytes.
3709 Turn off `+'/`-' protocol acknowledgments to permit more efficient
3710 operation over reliable transport links. Use of this packet is
3711 controlled by the `set remote noack-packet' command.
3714 Kill the process with the specified process ID. Use this in preference
3715 to `k' when multiprocess protocol extensions are supported.
3718 Obtains additional operating system information
3722 Read or write additional signal information.
3724 * Removed remote protocol undocumented extension
3726 An undocumented extension to the remote protocol's `S' stop reply
3727 packet that permited the stub to pass a process id was removed.
3728 Remote servers should use the `T' stop reply packet instead.
3730 * GDB now supports multiple function calling conventions according to the
3731 DWARF-2 DW_AT_calling_convention function attribute.
3733 * The SH target utilizes the aforementioned change to distinguish between gcc
3734 and Renesas calling convention. It also adds the new CLI commands
3735 `set/show sh calling-convention'.
3737 * GDB can now read compressed debug sections, as produced by GNU gold
3738 with the --compress-debug-sections=zlib flag.
3740 * 64-bit core files are now supported on AIX.
3742 * Thread switching is now supported on Tru64.
3744 * Watchpoints can now be set on unreadable memory locations, e.g. addresses
3745 which will be allocated using malloc later in program execution.
3747 * The qXfer:libraries:read remote procotol packet now allows passing a
3748 list of section offsets.
3750 * On GNU/Linux, GDB can now attach to stopped processes. Several race
3751 conditions handling signals delivered during attach or thread creation
3752 have also been fixed.
3754 * GDB now supports the use of DWARF boolean types for Ada's type Boolean.
3755 From the user's standpoint, all unqualified instances of True and False
3756 are treated as the standard definitions, regardless of context.
3758 * GDB now parses C++ symbol and type names more flexibly. For
3761 template<typename T> class C { };
3764 GDB will now correctly handle all of:
3766 ptype C<char const *>
3767 ptype C<char const*>
3768 ptype C<const char *>
3769 ptype C<const char*>
3771 * New features in the GDB remote stub, gdbserver
3773 - The "--wrapper" command-line argument tells gdbserver to use a
3774 wrapper program to launch programs for debugging.
3776 - On PowerPC and S/390 targets, it is now possible to use a single
3777 gdbserver executable to debug both 32-bit and 64-bit programs.
3778 (This requires gdbserver itself to be built as a 64-bit executable.)
3780 - gdbserver uses the new noack protocol mode for TCP connections to
3781 reduce communications latency, if also supported and enabled in GDB.
3783 - Support for the sparc64-linux-gnu target is now included in
3786 - The amd64-linux build of gdbserver now supports debugging both
3787 32-bit and 64-bit programs.
3789 - The i386-linux, amd64-linux, and i386-win32 builds of gdbserver
3790 now support hardware watchpoints, and will use them automatically
3795 GDB now has support for scripting using Python. Whether this is
3796 available is determined at configure time.
3798 New GDB commands can now be written in Python.
3800 * Ada tasking support
3802 Ada tasks can now be inspected in GDB. The following commands have
3806 Print the list of Ada tasks.
3808 Print detailed information about task number N.
3810 Print the task number of the current task.
3812 Switch the context of debugging to task number N.
3814 * Support for user-defined prefixed commands. The "define" command can
3815 add new commands to existing prefixes, e.g. "target".
3817 * Multi-inferior, multi-process debugging.
3819 GDB now has generalized support for multi-inferior debugging. See
3820 "Debugging Multiple Inferiors" in the manual for more information.
3821 Although availability still depends on target support, the command
3822 set is more uniform now. The GNU/Linux specific multi-forks support
3823 has been migrated to this new framework. This implied some user
3824 visible changes; see "New commands" and also "Removed commands"
3827 * Target descriptions can now describe the target OS ABI. See the
3828 "Target Description Format" section in the user manual for more
3831 * Target descriptions can now describe "compatible" architectures
3832 to indicate that the target can execute applications for a different
3833 architecture in addition to those for the main target architecture.
3834 See the "Target Description Format" section in the user manual for
3837 * Multi-architecture debugging.
3839 GDB now includes general supports for debugging applications on
3840 hybrid systems that use more than one single processor architecture
3841 at the same time. Each such hybrid architecture still requires
3842 specific support to be added. The only hybrid architecture supported
3843 in this version of GDB is the Cell Broadband Engine.
3845 * GDB now supports integrated debugging of Cell/B.E. applications that
3846 use both the PPU and SPU architectures. To enable support for hybrid
3847 Cell/B.E. debugging, you need to configure GDB to support both the
3848 powerpc-linux or powerpc64-linux and the spu-elf targets, using the
3849 --enable-targets configure option.
3851 * Non-stop mode debugging.
3853 For some targets, GDB now supports an optional mode of operation in
3854 which you can examine stopped threads while other threads continue
3855 to execute freely. This is referred to as non-stop mode, with the
3856 old mode referred to as all-stop mode. See the "Non-Stop Mode"
3857 section in the user manual for more information.
3859 To be able to support remote non-stop debugging, a remote stub needs
3860 to implement the non-stop mode remote protocol extensions, as
3861 described in the "Remote Non-Stop" section of the user manual. The
3862 GDB remote stub, gdbserver, has been adjusted to support these
3863 extensions on linux targets.
3865 * New commands (for set/show, see "New options" below)
3867 catch syscall [NAME(S) | NUMBER(S)]
3868 Catch system calls. Arguments, which should be names of system
3869 calls or their numbers, mean catch only those syscalls. Without
3870 arguments, every syscall will be caught. When the inferior issues
3871 any of the specified syscalls, GDB will stop and announce the system
3872 call, both when it is called and when its call returns. This
3873 feature is currently available with a native GDB running on the
3874 Linux Kernel, under the following architectures: x86, x86_64,
3875 PowerPC and PowerPC64.
3877 find [/size-char] [/max-count] start-address, end-address|+search-space-size,
3879 Search memory for a sequence of bytes.
3881 maint set python print-stack
3882 maint show python print-stack
3883 Show a stack trace when an error is encountered in a Python script.
3886 Invoke CODE by passing it to the Python interpreter.
3891 These allow macros to be defined, undefined, and listed
3895 Show operating system information about processes.
3898 List the inferiors currently under GDB's control.
3901 Switch focus to inferior number NUM.
3904 Detach from inferior number NUM.
3907 Kill inferior number NUM.
3911 set spu stop-on-load
3912 show spu stop-on-load
3913 Control whether to stop for new SPE threads during Cell/B.E. debugging.
3915 set spu auto-flush-cache
3916 show spu auto-flush-cache
3917 Control whether to automatically flush the software-managed cache
3918 during Cell/B.E. debugging.
3920 set sh calling-convention
3921 show sh calling-convention
3922 Control the calling convention used when calling SH target functions.
3925 show debug timestamp
3926 Control display of timestamps with GDB debugging output.
3928 set disassemble-next-line
3929 show disassemble-next-line
3930 Control display of disassembled source lines or instructions when
3933 set remote noack-packet
3934 show remote noack-packet
3935 Set/show the use of remote protocol QStartNoAckMode packet. See above
3936 under "New remote packets."
3938 set remote query-attached-packet
3939 show remote query-attached-packet
3940 Control use of remote protocol `qAttached' (query-attached) packet.
3942 set remote read-siginfo-object
3943 show remote read-siginfo-object
3944 Control use of remote protocol `qXfer:siginfo:read' (read-siginfo-object)
3947 set remote write-siginfo-object
3948 show remote write-siginfo-object
3949 Control use of remote protocol `qXfer:siginfo:write' (write-siginfo-object)
3952 set remote reverse-continue
3953 show remote reverse-continue
3954 Control use of remote protocol 'bc' (reverse-continue) packet.
3956 set remote reverse-step
3957 show remote reverse-step
3958 Control use of remote protocol 'bs' (reverse-step) packet.
3960 set displaced-stepping
3961 show displaced-stepping
3962 Control displaced stepping mode. Displaced stepping is a way to
3963 single-step over breakpoints without removing them from the debuggee.
3964 Also known as "out-of-line single-stepping".
3967 show debug displaced
3968 Control display of debugging info for displaced stepping.
3970 maint set internal-error
3971 maint show internal-error
3972 Control what GDB does when an internal error is detected.
3974 maint set internal-warning
3975 maint show internal-warning
3976 Control what GDB does when an internal warning is detected.
3981 Use a wrapper program to launch programs for debugging.
3983 set multiple-symbols (all|ask|cancel)
3984 show multiple-symbols
3985 The value of this variable can be changed to adjust the debugger behavior
3986 when an expression or a breakpoint location contains an ambiguous symbol
3987 name (an overloaded function name, for instance).
3989 set breakpoint always-inserted
3990 show breakpoint always-inserted
3991 Keep breakpoints always inserted in the target, as opposed to inserting
3992 them when resuming the target, and removing them when the target stops.
3993 This option can improve debugger performance on slow remote targets.
3995 set arm fallback-mode (arm|thumb|auto)
3996 show arm fallback-mode
3997 set arm force-mode (arm|thumb|auto)
3999 These commands control how ARM GDB determines whether instructions
4000 are ARM or Thumb. The default for both settings is auto, which uses
4001 the current CPSR value for instructions without symbols; previous
4002 versions of GDB behaved as if "set arm fallback-mode arm".
4004 set disable-randomization
4005 show disable-randomization
4006 Standalone programs run with the virtual address space randomization enabled
4007 by default on some platforms. This option keeps the addresses stable across
4008 multiple debugging sessions.
4012 Control whether other threads are stopped or not when some thread hits
4017 Requests that asynchronous execution is enabled in the target, if available.
4018 In this case, it's possible to resume target in the background, and interact
4019 with GDB while the target is running. "show target-async" displays the
4020 current state of asynchronous execution of the target.
4022 set target-wide-charset
4023 show target-wide-charset
4024 The target-wide-charset is the name of the character set that GDB
4025 uses when printing characters whose type is wchar_t.
4027 set tcp auto-retry (on|off)
4029 set tcp connect-timeout
4030 show tcp connect-timeout
4031 These commands allow GDB to retry failed TCP connections to a remote stub
4032 with a specified timeout period; this is useful if the stub is launched
4033 in parallel with GDB but may not be ready to accept connections immediately.
4035 set libthread-db-search-path
4036 show libthread-db-search-path
4037 Control list of directories which GDB will search for appropriate
4040 set schedule-multiple (on|off)
4041 show schedule-multiple
4042 Allow GDB to resume all threads of all processes or only threads of
4043 the current process.
4047 Use more aggressive caching for accesses to the stack. This improves
4048 performance of remote debugging (particularly backtraces) without
4049 affecting correctness.
4051 set interactive-mode (on|off|auto)
4052 show interactive-mode
4053 Control whether GDB runs in interactive mode (on) or not (off).
4054 When in interactive mode, GDB waits for the user to answer all
4055 queries. Otherwise, GDB does not wait and assumes the default
4056 answer. When set to auto (the default), GDB determines which
4057 mode to use based on the stdin settings.
4062 For program forks, this is replaced by the new more generic `info
4063 inferiors' command. To list checkpoints, you can still use the
4064 `info checkpoints' command, which was an alias for the `info forks'
4068 Replaced by the new `inferior' command. To switch between
4069 checkpoints, you can still use the `restart' command, which was an
4070 alias for the `fork' command.
4073 This is removed, since some targets don't have a notion of
4074 processes. To switch between processes, you can still use the
4075 `inferior' command using GDB's own inferior number.
4078 For program forks, this is replaced by the new more generic `kill
4079 inferior' command. To delete a checkpoint, you can still use the
4080 `delete checkpoint' command, which was an alias for the `delete
4084 For program forks, this is replaced by the new more generic `detach
4085 inferior' command. To detach a checkpoint, you can still use the
4086 `detach checkpoint' command, which was an alias for the `detach
4089 * New native configurations
4091 x86/x86_64 Darwin i[34567]86-*-darwin*
4093 x86_64 MinGW x86_64-*-mingw*
4097 Lattice Mico32 lm32-*
4098 x86 DICOS i[34567]86-*-dicos*
4099 x86_64 DICOS x86_64-*-dicos*
4102 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports x86 Windows CE
4103 (mingw32ce) debugging.
4109 These commands were actually not implemented on any target.
4111 *** Changes in GDB 6.8
4113 * New native configurations
4115 NetBSD/hppa hppa*-*netbsd*
4116 Xtensa GNU/Linux xtensa*-*-linux*
4120 NetBSD/hppa hppa*-*-netbsd*
4121 Xtensa GNU/Lunux xtensa*-*-linux*
4123 * Change in command line behavior -- corefiles vs. process ids.
4125 When the '-p NUMBER' or '--pid NUMBER' options are used, and
4126 attaching to process NUMBER fails, GDB no longer attempts to open a
4127 core file named NUMBER. Attaching to a program using the -c option
4128 is no longer supported. Instead, use the '-p' or '--pid' options.
4130 * GDB can now be built as a native debugger for debugging Windows x86
4131 (mingw32) Portable Executable (PE) programs.
4133 * Pending breakpoints no longer change their number when their address
4136 * GDB now supports breakpoints with multiple locations,
4137 including breakpoints on C++ constructors, inside C++ templates,
4138 and in inlined functions.
4140 * GDB's ability to debug optimized code has been improved. GDB more
4141 accurately identifies function bodies and lexical blocks that occupy
4142 more than one contiguous range of addresses.
4144 * Target descriptions can now describe registers for PowerPC.
4146 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports the AltiVec and SPE
4147 registers on PowerPC targets.
4149 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports thread debugging on GNU/Linux
4150 targets even when the libthread_db library is not available.
4152 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports the new file transfer
4153 commands (remote put, remote get, and remote delete).
4155 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports run and attach in
4156 extended-remote mode.
4158 * hppa*64*-*-hpux11* target broken
4159 The debugger is unable to start a program and fails with the following
4160 error: "Error trying to get information about dynamic linker".
4161 The gdb-6.7 release is also affected.
4163 * GDB now supports the --enable-targets= configure option to allow
4164 building a single GDB executable that supports multiple remote
4165 target architectures.
4167 * GDB now supports debugging C and C++ programs which use the
4168 Decimal Floating Point extension. In addition, the PowerPC target
4169 now has a set of pseudo-registers to inspect decimal float values
4170 stored in two consecutive float registers.
4172 * The -break-insert MI command can optionally create pending
4175 * Improved support for debugging Ada
4176 Many improvements to the Ada language support have been made. These
4178 - Better support for Ada2005 interface types
4179 - Improved handling of arrays and slices in general
4180 - Better support for Taft-amendment types
4181 - The '{type} ADDRESS' expression is now allowed on the left hand-side
4183 - Improved command completion in Ada
4186 * GDB on GNU/Linux and HP/UX can now debug through "exec" of a new
4191 set print frame-arguments (all|scalars|none)
4192 show print frame-arguments
4193 The value of this variable can be changed to control which argument
4194 values should be printed by the debugger when displaying a frame.
4199 Transfer files to and from a remote target, and delete remote files.
4206 Transfer files to and from a remote target, and delete remote files.
4208 * New remote packets
4215 Open, close, read, write, and delete files on the remote system.
4218 Attach to an existing process on the remote system, in extended-remote
4222 Run a new process on the remote system, in extended-remote mode.
4224 *** Changes in GDB 6.7
4226 * Resolved 101 resource leaks, null pointer dereferences, etc. in gdb,
4227 bfd, libiberty and opcodes, as revealed by static analysis donated by
4228 Coverity, Inc. (http://scan.coverity.com).
4230 * When looking up multiply-defined global symbols, GDB will now prefer the
4231 symbol definition in the current shared library if it was built using the
4232 -Bsymbolic linker option.
4234 * When the Text User Interface (TUI) is not configured, GDB will now
4235 recognize the -tui command-line option and print a message that the TUI
4238 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now has lower overhead for high
4239 frequency signals (e.g. SIGALRM) via the QPassSignals packet.
4241 * GDB for MIPS targets now autodetects whether a remote target provides
4242 32-bit or 64-bit register values.
4244 * Support for C++ member pointers has been improved.
4246 * GDB now understands XML target descriptions, which specify the
4247 target's overall architecture. GDB can read a description from
4248 a local file or over the remote serial protocol.
4250 * Vectors of single-byte data use a new integer type which is not
4251 automatically displayed as character or string data.
4253 * The /s format now works with the print command. It displays
4254 arrays of single-byte integers and pointers to single-byte integers
4257 * Target descriptions can now describe target-specific registers,
4258 for architectures which have implemented the support (currently
4259 only ARM, M68K, and MIPS).
4261 * GDB and the GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now support the XScale
4264 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, has been updated to support
4265 ARM Windows CE (mingw32ce) debugging, and GDB Windows CE support
4266 has been rewritten to use the standard GDB remote protocol.
4268 * GDB can now step into C++ functions which are called through thunks.
4270 * GDB for the Cell/B.E. SPU now supports overlay debugging.
4272 * The GDB remote protocol "qOffsets" packet can now honor ELF segment
4273 layout. It also supports a TextSeg= and DataSeg= response when only
4274 segment base addresses (rather than offsets) are available.
4276 * The /i format now outputs any trailing branch delay slot instructions
4277 immediately following the last instruction within the count specified.
4279 * The GDB remote protocol "T" stop reply packet now supports a
4280 "library" response. Combined with the new "qXfer:libraries:read"
4281 packet, this response allows GDB to debug shared libraries on targets
4282 where the operating system manages the list of loaded libraries (e.g.
4283 Windows and SymbianOS).
4285 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports dynamic link libraries
4286 (DLLs) on Windows and Windows CE targets.
4288 * GDB now supports a faster verification that a .debug file matches its binary
4289 according to its build-id signature, if the signature is present.
4295 Enable or disable hardware flow control (RTS/CTS) on the serial port
4296 when debugging using remote targets.
4298 set mem inaccessible-by-default
4299 show mem inaccessible-by-default
4300 If the target supplies a memory map, for instance via the remote
4301 protocol's "qXfer:memory-map:read" packet, setting this variable
4302 prevents GDB from accessing memory outside the memory map. This
4303 is useful for targets with memory mapped registers or which react
4304 badly to accesses of unmapped address space.
4306 set breakpoint auto-hw
4307 show breakpoint auto-hw
4308 If the target supplies a memory map, for instance via the remote
4309 protocol's "qXfer:memory-map:read" packet, setting this variable
4310 lets GDB use hardware breakpoints automatically for memory regions
4311 where it can not use software breakpoints. This covers both the
4312 "break" command and internal breakpoints used for other commands
4313 including "next" and "finish".
4316 catch exception unhandled
4317 Stop the program execution when Ada exceptions are raised.
4320 Stop the program execution when an Ada assertion failed.
4324 Set an alternate system root for target files. This is a more
4325 general version of "set solib-absolute-prefix", which is now
4326 an alias to "set sysroot".
4329 Provide extended SPU facility status information. This set of
4330 commands is available only when debugging the Cell/B.E. SPU
4333 * New native configurations
4335 OpenBSD/sh sh*-*openbsd*
4338 unset tdesc filename
4340 Use the specified local file as an XML target description, and do
4341 not query the target for its built-in description.
4345 OpenBSD/sh sh*-*-openbsd*
4346 MIPS64 GNU/Linux (gdbserver) mips64-linux-gnu
4347 Toshiba Media Processor mep-elf
4349 * New remote packets
4352 Ignore the specified signals; pass them directly to the debugged program
4353 without stopping other threads or reporting them to GDB.
4355 qXfer:features:read:
4356 Read an XML target description from the target, which describes its
4361 Read or write contents of an spufs file on the target system. These
4362 packets are available only on the Cell/B.E. SPU architecture.
4364 qXfer:libraries:read:
4365 Report the loaded shared libraries. Combined with new "T" packet
4366 response, this packet allows GDB to debug shared libraries on
4367 targets where the operating system manages the list of loaded
4368 libraries (e.g. Windows and SymbianOS).
4372 Support for these obsolete configurations has been removed.
4380 i[34567]86-*-lynxos*
4381 i[34567]86-*-netware*
4382 i[34567]86-*-sco3.2v5*
4383 i[34567]86-*-sco3.2v4*
4385 i[34567]86-*-sysv4.2*
4388 i[34567]86-*-unixware2*
4389 i[34567]86-*-unixware*
4398 * Other removed features
4405 Various m68k-only ROM monitors.
4412 Various Renesas ROM monitors and debugging interfaces for SH and
4417 Support for a Macraigor serial interface to on-chip debugging.
4418 GDB does not directly support the newer parallel or USB
4423 A debug information format. The predecessor to DWARF 2 and
4424 DWARF 3, which are still supported.
4426 Support for the HP aCC compiler on HP-UX/PA-RISC
4428 SOM-encapsulated symbolic debugging information, automatic
4429 invocation of pxdb, and the aCC custom C++ ABI. This does not
4430 affect HP-UX for Itanium or GCC for HP-UX/PA-RISC. Code compiled
4431 with aCC can still be debugged on an assembly level.
4433 MIPS ".pdr" sections
4435 A MIPS-specific format used to describe stack frame layout
4436 in debugging information.
4440 GDB could work with an older version of Guile to debug
4441 the interpreter and Scheme programs running in it.
4443 set mips stack-arg-size
4444 set mips saved-gpreg-size
4446 Use "set mips abi" to control parameter passing for MIPS.
4448 *** Changes in GDB 6.6
4453 Cell Broadband Engine SPU spu-elf
4455 * GDB can now be configured as a cross-debugger targeting native Windows
4456 (mingw32) or Cygwin. It can communicate with a remote debugging stub
4457 running on a Windows system over TCP/IP to debug Windows programs.
4459 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, has been updated to support Windows and
4460 Cygwin debugging. Both single-threaded and multi-threaded programs are
4463 * The "set trust-readonly-sections" command works again. This command was
4464 broken in GDB 6.3, 6.4, and 6.5.
4466 * The "load" command now supports writing to flash memory, if the remote
4467 stub provides the required support.
4469 * Support for GNU/Linux Thread Local Storage (TLS, per-thread variables) no
4470 longer requires symbolic debug information (e.g. DWARF-2).
4475 unset substitute-path
4476 show substitute-path
4477 Manage a list of substitution rules that GDB uses to rewrite the name
4478 of the directories where the sources are located. This can be useful
4479 for instance when the sources were moved to a different location
4480 between compilation and debugging.
4484 Print each CLI command as it is executed. Each command is prefixed with
4485 a number of `+' symbols representing the nesting depth.
4486 The source command now has a `-v' option to enable the same feature.
4490 The ARM Demon monitor support (RDP protocol, "target rdp").
4492 Kernel Object Display, an embedded debugging feature which only worked with
4493 an obsolete version of Cisco IOS.
4495 The 'set download-write-size' and 'show download-write-size' commands.
4497 * New remote packets
4500 Tell a stub about GDB client features, and request remote target features.
4501 The first feature implemented is PacketSize, which allows the target to
4502 specify the size of packets it can handle - to minimize the number of
4503 packets required and improve performance when connected to a remote
4507 Fetch an OS auxilliary vector from the remote stub. This packet is a
4508 more efficient replacement for qPart:auxv:read.
4510 qXfer:memory-map:read:
4511 Fetch a memory map from the remote stub, including information about
4512 RAM, ROM, and flash memory devices.
4517 Erase and program a flash memory device.
4519 * Removed remote packets
4522 This packet has been replaced by qXfer:auxv:read. Only GDB 6.4 and 6.5
4523 used it, and only gdbserver implemented it.
4525 *** Changes in GDB 6.5
4529 Renesas M32C/M16C m32c-elf
4531 Morpho Technologies ms1 ms1-elf
4535 init-if-undefined Initialize a convenience variable, but
4536 only if it doesn't already have a value.
4538 The following commands are presently only implemented for native GNU/Linux:
4540 checkpoint Save a snapshot of the program state.
4542 restart <n> Return the program state to a
4543 previously saved state.
4545 info checkpoints List currently saved checkpoints.
4547 delete-checkpoint <n> Delete a previously saved checkpoint.
4549 set|show detach-on-fork Tell gdb whether to detach from a newly
4550 forked process, or to keep debugging it.
4552 info forks List forks of the user program that
4553 are available to be debugged.
4555 fork <n> Switch to debugging one of several
4556 forks of the user program that are
4557 available to be debugged.
4559 delete-fork <n> Delete a fork from the list of forks
4560 that are available to be debugged (and
4561 kill the forked process).
4563 detach-fork <n> Delete a fork from the list of forks
4564 that are available to be debugged (and
4565 allow the process to continue).
4569 Morpho Technologies ms2 ms1-elf
4571 * Improved Windows host support
4573 GDB now builds as a cross debugger hosted on i686-mingw32, including
4574 native console support, and remote communications using either
4575 network sockets or serial ports.
4577 * Improved Modula-2 language support
4579 GDB can now print most types in the Modula-2 syntax. This includes:
4580 basic types, set types, record types, enumerated types, range types,
4581 pointer types and ARRAY types. Procedure var parameters are correctly
4582 printed and hexadecimal addresses and character constants are also
4583 written in the Modula-2 syntax. Best results can be obtained by using
4584 GNU Modula-2 together with the -gdwarf-2 command line option.
4588 The ARM rdi-share module.
4590 The Netware NLM debug server.
4592 *** Changes in GDB 6.4
4594 * New native configurations
4596 OpenBSD/arm arm*-*-openbsd*
4597 OpenBSD/mips64 mips64-*-openbsd*
4601 Morpho Technologies ms1 ms1-elf
4603 * New command line options
4605 --batch-silent As for --batch, but totally silent.
4606 --return-child-result The debugger will exist with the same value
4607 the child (debugged) program exited with.
4608 --eval-command COMMAND, -ex COMMAND
4609 Execute a single GDB CLI command. This may be
4610 specified multiple times and in conjunction
4611 with the --command (-x) option.
4613 * Deprecated commands removed
4615 The following commands, that were deprecated in 2000, have been
4619 set|show arm disassembly-flavor set|show arm disassembler
4620 othernames set arm disassembler
4621 set|show remotedebug set|show debug remote
4622 set|show archdebug set|show debug arch
4623 set|show eventdebug set|show debug event
4626 * New BSD user-level threads support
4628 It is now possible to debug programs using the user-level threads
4629 library on OpenBSD and FreeBSD. Currently supported (target)
4632 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
4633 FreeBSD/i386 i386-*-freebsd*
4634 OpenBSD/i386 i386-*-openbsd*
4636 Note that the new kernel threads libraries introduced in FreeBSD 5.x
4637 are not yet supported.
4639 * New support for Matsushita MN10300 w/sim added
4640 (Work in progress). mn10300-elf.
4642 * REMOVED configurations and files
4644 VxWorks and the XDR protocol *-*-vxworks
4645 Motorola MCORE mcore-*-*
4646 National Semiconductor NS32000 ns32k-*-*
4648 * New "set print array-indexes" command
4650 After turning this setting "on", GDB prints the index of each element
4651 when displaying arrays. The default is "off" to preserve the previous
4654 * VAX floating point support
4656 GDB now supports the not-quite-ieee VAX F and D floating point formats.
4658 * User-defined command support
4660 In addition to using $arg0..$arg9 for argument passing, it is now possible
4661 to use $argc to determine now many arguments have been passed. See the
4662 section on user-defined commands in the user manual for more information.
4664 *** Changes in GDB 6.3:
4666 * New command line option
4668 GDB now accepts -l followed by a number to set the timeout for remote
4671 * GDB works with GCC -feliminate-dwarf2-dups
4673 GDB now supports a more compact representation of DWARF-2 debug
4674 information using DW_FORM_ref_addr references. These are produced
4675 by GCC with the option -feliminate-dwarf2-dups and also by some
4676 proprietary compilers. With GCC, you must use GCC 3.3.4 or later
4677 to use -feliminate-dwarf2-dups.
4679 * Internationalization
4681 When supported by the host system, GDB will be built with
4682 internationalization (libintl). The task of marking up the sources is
4683 continued, we're looking forward to our first translation.
4687 Initial support for debugging programs compiled with the GNAT
4688 implementation of the Ada programming language has been integrated
4689 into GDB. In this release, support is limited to expression evaluation.
4691 * New native configurations
4693 GNU/Linux/m32r m32r-*-linux-gnu
4697 GDB's remote protocol now includes support for the 'p' packet. This
4698 packet is used to fetch individual registers from a remote inferior.
4700 * END-OF-LIFE registers[] compatibility module
4702 GDB's internal register infrastructure has been completely rewritten.
4703 The new infrastructure making possible the implementation of key new
4704 features including 32x64 (e.g., 64-bit amd64 GDB debugging a 32-bit
4707 GDB 6.3 will be the last release to include the the registers[]
4708 compatibility module that allowed out-of-date configurations to
4709 continue to work. This change directly impacts the following
4719 powerpc bdm protocol
4721 Unless there is activity to revive these configurations, they will be
4722 made OBSOLETE in GDB 6.4, and REMOVED from GDB 6.5.
4724 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
4726 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
4727 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
4728 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
4729 permanently REMOVED.
4738 *** Changes in GDB 6.2.1:
4740 * MIPS `break main; run' gave an heuristic-fence-post warning
4742 When attempting to run even a simple program, a warning about
4743 heuristic-fence-post being hit would be reported. This problem has
4746 * MIPS IRIX 'long double' crashed GDB
4748 When examining a long double variable, GDB would get a segmentation
4749 fault. The crash has been fixed (but GDB 6.2 cannot correctly examine
4750 IRIX long double values).
4754 A bug in the VAX stack code was causing problems with the "next"
4755 command. This problem has been fixed.
4757 *** Changes in GDB 6.2:
4759 * Fix for ``many threads''
4761 On GNU/Linux systems that use the NPTL threads library, a program
4762 rapidly creating and deleting threads would confuse GDB leading to the
4765 ptrace: No such process.
4766 thread_db_get_info: cannot get thread info: generic error
4768 This problem has been fixed.
4770 * "-async" and "-noasync" options removed.
4772 Support for the broken "-noasync" option has been removed (it caused
4775 * New ``start'' command.
4777 This command runs the program until the begining of the main procedure.
4779 * New BSD Kernel Data Access Library (libkvm) interface
4781 Using ``target kvm'' it is now possible to debug kernel core dumps and
4782 live kernel memory images on various FreeBSD, NetBSD and OpenBSD
4783 platforms. Currently supported (native-only) configurations are:
4785 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
4786 FreeBSD/i386 i?86-*-freebsd*
4787 NetBSD/i386 i?86-*-netbsd*
4788 NetBSD/m68k m68*-*-netbsd*
4789 NetBSD/sparc sparc-*-netbsd*
4790 OpenBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-openbsd*
4791 OpenBSD/i386 i?86-*-openbsd*
4792 OpenBSD/m68k m68*-openbsd*
4793 OpenBSD/sparc sparc-*-openbsd*
4795 * Signal trampoline code overhauled
4797 Many generic problems with GDB's signal handling code have been fixed.
4798 These include: backtraces through non-contiguous stacks; recognition
4799 of sa_sigaction signal trampolines; backtrace from a NULL pointer
4800 call; backtrace through a signal trampoline; step into and out of
4801 signal handlers; and single-stepping in the signal trampoline.
4803 Please note that kernel bugs are a limiting factor here. These
4804 features have been shown to work on an s390 GNU/Linux system that
4805 include a 2.6.8-rc1 kernel. Ref PR breakpoints/1702.
4807 * Cygwin support for DWARF 2 added.
4809 * New native configurations
4811 GNU/Linux/hppa hppa*-*-linux*
4812 OpenBSD/hppa hppa*-*-openbsd*
4813 OpenBSD/m68k m68*-*-openbsd*
4814 OpenBSD/m88k m88*-*-openbsd*
4815 OpenBSD/powerpc powerpc-*-openbsd*
4816 NetBSD/vax vax-*-netbsd*
4817 OpenBSD/vax vax-*-openbsd*
4819 * END-OF-LIFE frame compatibility module
4821 GDB's internal frame infrastructure has been completely rewritten.
4822 The new infrastructure making it possible to support key new features
4823 including DWARF 2 Call Frame Information. To aid in the task of
4824 migrating old configurations to this new infrastructure, a
4825 compatibility module, that allowed old configurations to continue to
4826 work, was also included.
4828 GDB 6.2 will be the last release to include this frame compatibility
4829 module. This change directly impacts the following configurations:
4839 Unless there is activity to revive these configurations, they will be
4840 made OBSOLETE in GDB 6.3, and REMOVED from GDB 6.4.
4842 * REMOVED configurations and files
4844 Sun 3, running SunOS 3 m68*-*-sunos3*
4845 Sun 3, running SunOS 4 m68*-*-sunos4*
4846 Sun 2, running SunOS 3 m68000-*-sunos3*
4847 Sun 2, running SunOS 4 m68000-*-sunos4*
4848 Motorola 680x0 running LynxOS m68*-*-lynxos*
4849 AT&T 3b1/Unix pc m68*-att-*
4850 Bull DPX2 (68k, System V release 3) m68*-bull-sysv*
4851 decstation mips-dec-* mips-little-*
4852 riscos mips-*-riscos* mips-*-sysv*
4853 sonymips mips-sony-*
4854 sysv mips*-*-sysv4* (IRIX 5/6 not included)
4856 *** Changes in GDB 6.1.1:
4858 * TUI (Text-mode User Interface) built-in (also included in GDB 6.1)
4860 The TUI (Text-mode User Interface) is now built as part of a default
4861 GDB configuration. It is enabled by either selecting the TUI with the
4862 command line option "-i=tui" or by running the separate "gdbtui"
4863 program. For more information on the TUI, see the manual "Debugging
4866 * Pending breakpoint support (also included in GDB 6.1)
4868 Support has been added to allow you to specify breakpoints in shared
4869 libraries that have not yet been loaded. If a breakpoint location
4870 cannot be found, and the "breakpoint pending" option is set to auto,
4871 GDB queries you if you wish to make the breakpoint pending on a future
4872 shared-library load. If and when GDB resolves the breakpoint symbol,
4873 the pending breakpoint is removed as one or more regular breakpoints
4876 Pending breakpoints are very useful for GCJ Java debugging.
4878 * Fixed ISO-C build problems
4880 The files bfd/elf-bfd.h, gdb/dictionary.c and gdb/types.c contained
4881 non ISO-C code that stopped them being built using a more strict ISO-C
4882 compiler (e.g., IBM's C compiler).
4884 * Fixed build problem on IRIX 5
4886 Due to header problems with <sys/proc.h>, the file gdb/proc-api.c
4887 wasn't able to compile compile on an IRIX 5 system.
4889 * Added execute permission to gdb/gdbserver/configure
4891 The shell script gdb/testsuite/gdb.stabs/configure lacked execute
4892 permission. This bug would cause configure to fail on a number of
4893 systems (Solaris, IRIX). Ref: server/519.
4895 * Fixed build problem on hpux2.0w-hp-hpux11.00 using the HP ANSI C compiler
4897 Older HPUX ANSI C compilers did not accept variable array sizes. somsolib.c
4898 has been updated to use constant array sizes.
4900 * Fixed a panic in the DWARF Call Frame Info code on Solaris 2.7
4902 GCC 3.3.2, on Solaris 2.7, includes the DW_EH_PE_funcrel encoding in
4903 its generated DWARF Call Frame Info. This encoding was causing GDB to
4904 panic, that panic has been fixed. Ref: gdb/1628.
4906 * Fixed a problem when examining parameters in shared library code.
4908 When examining parameters in optimized shared library code generated
4909 by a mainline GCC, GDB would incorrectly report ``Variable "..." is
4910 not available''. GDB now correctly displays the variable's value.
4912 *** Changes in GDB 6.1:
4914 * Removed --with-mmalloc
4916 Support for the mmalloc memory manager has been removed, as it
4917 conflicted with the internal gdb byte cache.
4919 * Changes in AMD64 configurations
4921 The AMD64 target now includes the %cs and %ss registers. As a result
4922 the AMD64 remote protocol has changed; this affects the floating-point
4923 and SSE registers. If you rely on those registers for your debugging,
4924 you should upgrade gdbserver on the remote side.
4926 * Revised SPARC target
4928 The SPARC target has been completely revised, incorporating the
4929 FreeBSD/sparc64 support that was added for GDB 6.0. As a result
4930 support for LynxOS and SunOS 4 has been dropped. Calling functions
4931 from within GDB on operating systems with a non-executable stack
4932 (Solaris, OpenBSD) now works.
4936 GDB has a new C++ demangler which does a better job on the mangled
4937 names generated by current versions of g++. It also runs faster, so
4938 with this and other changes gdb should now start faster on large C++
4941 * DWARF 2 Location Expressions
4943 GDB support for location expressions has been extended to support function
4944 arguments and frame bases. Older versions of GDB could crash when they
4947 * C++ nested types and namespaces
4949 GDB's support for nested types and namespaces in C++ has been
4950 improved, especially if you use the DWARF 2 debugging format. (This
4951 is the default for recent versions of GCC on most platforms.)
4952 Specifically, if you have a class "Inner" defined within a class or
4953 namespace "Outer", then GDB realizes that the class's name is
4954 "Outer::Inner", not simply "Inner". This should greatly reduce the
4955 frequency of complaints about not finding RTTI symbols. In addition,
4956 if you are stopped at inside of a function defined within a namespace,
4957 GDB modifies its name lookup accordingly.
4959 * New native configurations
4961 NetBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-netbsd*
4962 OpenBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-openbsd*
4963 OpenBSD/alpha alpha*-*-openbsd*
4964 OpenBSD/sparc sparc-*-openbsd*
4965 OpenBSD/sparc64 sparc64-*-openbsd*
4967 * New debugging protocols
4969 M32R with SDI protocol m32r-*-elf*
4971 * "set prompt-escape-char" command deleted.
4973 The command "set prompt-escape-char" has been deleted. This command,
4974 and its very obscure effet on GDB's prompt, was never documented,
4975 tested, nor mentioned in the NEWS file.
4977 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
4979 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
4980 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
4981 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
4982 permanently REMOVED.
4984 Sun 3, running SunOS 3 m68*-*-sunos3*
4985 Sun 3, running SunOS 4 m68*-*-sunos4*
4986 Sun 2, running SunOS 3 m68000-*-sunos3*
4987 Sun 2, running SunOS 4 m68000-*-sunos4*
4988 Motorola 680x0 running LynxOS m68*-*-lynxos*
4989 AT&T 3b1/Unix pc m68*-att-*
4990 Bull DPX2 (68k, System V release 3) m68*-bull-sysv*
4991 decstation mips-dec-* mips-little-*
4992 riscos mips-*-riscos* mips-*-sysv*
4993 sonymips mips-sony-*
4994 sysv mips*-*-sysv4* (IRIX 5/6 not included)
4996 * REMOVED configurations and files
4998 SGI Irix-4.x mips-sgi-irix4 or iris4
4999 SGI Iris (MIPS) running Irix V3: mips-sgi-irix or iris
5000 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
5001 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
5002 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
5003 HP/PA running BSD hppa*-*-bsd*
5004 HP/PA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
5005 HP/PA Pro target hppa*-*-pro*
5006 PMAX (MIPS) running Mach 3.0 mips*-*-mach3*
5007 386BSD i[3456]86-*-bsd*
5008 Sequent family i[3456]86-sequent-sysv4*
5009 i[3456]86-sequent-sysv*
5010 i[3456]86-sequent-bsd*
5011 SPARC running LynxOS sparc-*-lynxos*
5012 SPARC running SunOS 4 sparc-*-sunos4*
5013 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
5014 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
5016 *** Changes in GDB 6.0:
5020 Support for debugging the Objective-C programming language has been
5021 integrated into GDB.
5023 * New backtrace mechanism (includes DWARF 2 Call Frame Information).
5025 DWARF 2's Call Frame Information makes available compiler generated
5026 information that more exactly describes the program's run-time stack.
5027 By using this information, GDB is able to provide more robust stack
5030 The i386, amd64 (nee, x86-64), Alpha, m68hc11, ia64, and m32r targets
5031 have been updated to use a new backtrace mechanism which includes
5032 DWARF 2 CFI support.
5036 GDB's remote protocol has been extended to include support for hosted
5037 file I/O (where the remote target uses GDB's file system). See GDB's
5038 remote protocol documentation for details.
5040 * All targets using the new architecture framework.
5042 All of GDB's targets have been updated to use the new internal
5043 architecture framework. The way is now open for future GDB releases
5044 to include cross-architecture native debugging support (i386 on amd64,
5047 * GNU/Linux's Thread Local Storage (TLS)
5049 GDB now includes support for for the GNU/Linux implementation of
5050 per-thread variables.
5052 * GNU/Linux's Native POSIX Thread Library (NPTL)
5054 GDB's thread code has been updated to work with either the new
5055 GNU/Linux NPTL thread library or the older "LinuxThreads" library.
5057 * Separate debug info.
5059 GDB, in conjunction with BINUTILS, now supports a mechanism for
5060 automatically loading debug information from a separate file. Instead
5061 of shipping full debug and non-debug versions of system libraries,
5062 system integrators can now instead ship just the stripped libraries
5063 and optional debug files.
5065 * DWARF 2 Location Expressions
5067 DWARF 2 Location Expressions allow the compiler to more completely
5068 describe the location of variables (even in optimized code) to the
5071 GDB now includes preliminary support for location expressions (support
5072 for DW_OP_piece is still missing).
5076 A number of long standing bugs that caused GDB to die while starting a
5077 Java application have been fixed. GDB's Java support is now
5078 considered "useable".
5080 * GNU/Linux support for fork, vfork, and exec.
5082 The "catch fork", "catch exec", "catch vfork", and "set follow-fork-mode"
5083 commands are now implemented for GNU/Linux. They require a 2.5.x or later
5086 * GDB supports logging output to a file
5088 There are two new commands, "set logging" and "show logging", which can be
5089 used to capture GDB's output to a file.
5091 * The meaning of "detach" has changed for gdbserver
5093 The "detach" command will now resume the application, as documented. To
5094 disconnect from gdbserver and leave it stopped, use the new "disconnect"
5097 * d10v, m68hc11 `regs' command deprecated
5099 The `info registers' command has been updated so that it displays the
5100 registers using a format identical to the old `regs' command.
5104 A new command, "maint set profile on/off", has been added. This command can
5105 be used to enable or disable profiling while running GDB, to profile a
5106 session or a set of commands. In addition there is a new configure switch,
5107 "--enable-profiling", which will cause GDB to be compiled with profiling
5108 data, for more informative profiling results.
5110 * Default MI syntax changed to "mi2".
5112 The default MI (machine interface) syntax, enabled by the command line
5113 option "-i=mi", has been changed to "mi2". The previous MI syntax,
5114 "mi1", can be enabled by specifying the option "-i=mi1".
5116 Support for the original "mi0" syntax (included in GDB 5.0) has been
5119 Fix for gdb/192: removed extraneous space when displaying frame level.
5120 Fix for gdb/672: update changelist is now output in mi list format.
5121 Fix for gdb/702: a -var-assign that updates the value now shows up
5122 in a subsequent -var-update.
5124 * New native configurations.
5126 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
5128 * Multi-arched targets.
5130 HP/PA HPUX11 hppa*-*-hpux*
5131 Renesas M32R/D w/simulator m32r-*-elf*
5133 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
5135 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
5136 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
5137 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
5138 permanently REMOVED.
5140 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
5141 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
5142 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
5143 HP/PA running BSD hppa*-*-bsd*
5144 HP/PA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
5145 HP/PA Pro target hppa*-*-pro*
5146 PMAX (MIPS) running Mach 3.0 mips*-*-mach3*
5147 Sequent family i[3456]86-sequent-sysv4*
5148 i[3456]86-sequent-sysv*
5149 i[3456]86-sequent-bsd*
5150 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
5151 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
5153 * REMOVED configurations and files
5156 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
5157 IBM AIX PS/2 i[3456]86-*-aix
5158 i386 running Mach 3.0 i[3456]86-*-mach3*
5159 i386 running Mach i[3456]86-*-mach*
5160 i386 running OSF/1 i[3456]86-*osf1mk*
5161 HP/Apollo 68k Family m68*-apollo*-sysv*,
5163 m68*-hp-bsd*, m68*-hp-hpux*
5164 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
5165 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
5166 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
5167 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
5168 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
5170 * MIPS $fp behavior changed
5172 The convenience variable $fp, for the MIPS, now consistently returns
5173 the address of the current frame's base. Previously, depending on the
5174 context, $fp could refer to either $sp or the current frame's base
5175 address. See ``8.10 Registers'' in the manual ``Debugging with GDB:
5176 The GNU Source-Level Debugger''.
5178 *** Changes in GDB 5.3:
5180 * GNU/Linux shared library multi-threaded performance improved.
5182 When debugging a multi-threaded application on GNU/Linux, GDB now uses
5183 `/proc', in preference to `ptrace' for memory reads. This may result
5184 in an improvement in the start-up time of multi-threaded, shared
5185 library applications when run under GDB. One GDB user writes: ``loads
5186 shared libs like mad''.
5188 * ``gdbserver'' now supports multi-threaded applications on some targets
5190 Support for debugging multi-threaded applications which use
5191 the GNU/Linux LinuxThreads package has been added for
5192 arm*-*-linux*-gnu*, i[3456]86-*-linux*-gnu*, mips*-*-linux*-gnu*,
5193 powerpc*-*-linux*-gnu*, and sh*-*-linux*-gnu*.
5195 * GDB now supports C/C++ preprocessor macros.
5197 GDB now expands preprocessor macro invocations in C/C++ expressions,
5198 and provides various commands for showing macro definitions and how
5201 The new command `macro expand EXPRESSION' expands any macro
5202 invocations in expression, and shows the result.
5204 The new command `show macro MACRO-NAME' shows the definition of the
5205 macro named MACRO-NAME, and where it was defined.
5207 Most compilers don't include information about macros in the debugging
5208 information by default. In GCC 3.1, for example, you need to compile
5209 your program with the options `-gdwarf-2 -g3'. If the macro
5210 information is present in the executable, GDB will read it.
5212 * Multi-arched targets.
5214 DEC Alpha (partial) alpha*-*-*
5215 DEC VAX (partial) vax-*-*
5217 National Semiconductor NS32000 (partial) ns32k-*-*
5218 Motorola 68000 (partial) m68k-*-*
5219 Motorola MCORE mcore-*-*
5223 Fujitsu FRV architecture added by Red Hat frv*-*-*
5226 * New native configurations
5228 Alpha NetBSD alpha*-*-netbsd*
5229 SH NetBSD sh*-*-netbsdelf*
5230 MIPS NetBSD mips*-*-netbsd*
5231 UltraSPARC NetBSD sparc64-*-netbsd*
5233 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
5235 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
5236 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
5237 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
5238 permanently REMOVED.
5240 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
5241 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
5242 IBM AIX PS/2 i[3456]86-*-aix
5243 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
5244 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
5245 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
5246 i386 running Mach 3.0 i[3456]86-*-mach3*
5247 i386 running Mach i[3456]86-*-mach*
5248 i386 running OSF/1 i[3456]86-*osf1mk*
5249 HP/Apollo 68k Family m68*-apollo*-sysv*,
5251 m68*-hp-bsd*, m68*-hp-hpux*
5252 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
5254 * OBSOLETE languages
5256 CHILL, a Pascal like language used by telecommunications companies.
5258 * REMOVED configurations and files
5260 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi, udi29k
5261 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
5262 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
5263 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
5264 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
5266 testsuite/gdb.hp/gdb.threads-hp/ directory
5268 * New command "set max-user-call-depth <nnn>"
5270 This command allows the user to limit the call depth of user-defined
5271 commands. The default is 1024.
5273 * Changes in FreeBSD/i386 native debugging.
5275 Support for the "generate-core-file" has been added.
5277 * New commands "dump", "append", and "restore".
5279 These commands allow data to be copied from target memory
5280 to a bfd-format or binary file (dump and append), and back
5281 from a file into memory (restore).
5283 * Improved "next/step" support on multi-processor Alpha Tru64.
5285 The previous single-step mechanism could cause unpredictable problems,
5286 including the random appearance of SIGSEGV or SIGTRAP signals. The use
5287 of a software single-step mechanism prevents this.
5289 *** Changes in GDB 5.2.1:
5297 gdb/182: gdb/323: gdb/237: On alpha, gdb was reporting:
5298 mdebugread.c:2443: gdb-internal-error: sect_index_data not initialized
5299 Fix, by Joel Brobecker imported from mainline.
5301 gdb/439: gdb/291: On some ELF object files, gdb was reporting:
5302 dwarf2read.c:1072: gdb-internal-error: sect_index_text not initialize
5303 Fix, by Fred Fish, imported from mainline.
5305 Dwarf2 .debug_frame & .eh_frame handler improved in many ways.
5306 Surprisingly enough, it works now.
5307 By Michal Ludvig, imported from mainline.
5309 i386 hardware watchpoint support:
5310 avoid misses on second run for some targets.
5311 By Pierre Muller, imported from mainline.
5313 *** Changes in GDB 5.2:
5315 * New command "set trust-readonly-sections on[off]".
5317 This command is a hint that tells gdb that read-only sections
5318 really are read-only (ie. that their contents will not change).
5319 In this mode, gdb will go to the object file rather than the
5320 target to read memory from read-only sections (such as ".text").
5321 This can be a significant performance improvement on some
5322 (notably embedded) targets.
5324 * New command "generate-core-file" (or "gcore").
5326 This new gdb command allows the user to drop a core file of the child
5327 process state at any time. So far it's been implemented only for
5328 GNU/Linux and Solaris, but should be relatively easily ported to other
5329 hosts. Argument is core file name (defaults to core.<pid>).
5331 * New command line option
5333 GDB now accepts --pid or -p followed by a process id.
5335 * Change in command line behavior -- corefiles vs. process ids.
5337 There is a subtle behavior in the way in which GDB handles
5338 command line arguments. The first non-flag argument is always
5339 a program to debug, but the second non-flag argument may either
5340 be a corefile or a process id. Previously, GDB would attempt to
5341 open the second argument as a corefile, and if that failed, would
5342 issue a superfluous error message and then attempt to attach it as
5343 a process. Now, if the second argument begins with a non-digit,
5344 it will be treated as a corefile. If it begins with a digit,
5345 GDB will attempt to attach it as a process, and if no such process
5346 is found, will then attempt to open it as a corefile.
5348 * Changes in ARM configurations.
5350 Multi-arch support is enabled for all ARM configurations. The ARM/NetBSD
5351 configuration is fully multi-arch.
5353 * New native configurations
5355 ARM NetBSD arm*-*-netbsd*
5356 x86 OpenBSD i[3456]86-*-openbsd*
5357 AMD x86-64 running GNU/Linux x86_64-*-linux-*
5358 Sparc64 running FreeBSD sparc64-*-freebsd*
5362 Sanyo XStormy16 xstormy16-elf
5364 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
5366 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
5367 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
5368 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
5369 permanently REMOVED.
5371 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi, udi29k
5372 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
5373 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
5374 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
5375 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
5377 testsuite/gdb.hp/gdb.threads-hp/ directory
5379 * REMOVED configurations and files
5381 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
5383 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
5384 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
5385 PowerPC Netware powerpc-*-netware*
5386 Harris/CXUX m88k m88*-harris-cxux*
5387 Most ns32k hosts and targets ns32k-*-mach3* ns32k-umax-*
5388 ns32k-utek-sysv* ns32k-utek-*
5389 SunOS 4.0.Xi on i386 i[3456]86-*-sunos*
5390 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1 a29k-nyu-sym1 a29k-*-kern*
5391 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x m68*-sony-sysv news
5392 ISI Optimum V (3.05) under 4.3bsd. m68*-isi-*
5393 Apple Macintosh (MPW) host and target N/A host, powerpc-*-macos*
5395 * Changes to command line processing
5397 The new `--args' feature can be used to specify command-line arguments
5398 for the inferior from gdb's command line.
5400 * Changes to key bindings
5402 There is a new `operate-and-get-next' function bound to `C-o'.
5404 *** Changes in GDB 5.1.1
5406 Fix compile problem on DJGPP.
5408 Fix a problem with floating-point registers on the i386 being
5411 Fix to stop GDB crashing on .debug_str debug info.
5413 Numerous documentation fixes.
5415 Numerous testsuite fixes.
5417 *** Changes in GDB 5.1:
5419 * New native configurations
5421 Alpha FreeBSD alpha*-*-freebsd*
5422 x86 FreeBSD 3.x and 4.x i[3456]86*-freebsd[34]*
5423 MIPS GNU/Linux mips*-*-linux*
5424 MIPS SGI Irix 6.x mips*-sgi-irix6*
5425 ia64 AIX ia64-*-aix*
5426 s390 and s390x GNU/Linux {s390,s390x}-*-linux*
5430 Motorola 68HC11 and 68HC12 m68hc11-elf
5432 UltraSparc running GNU/Linux sparc64-*-linux*
5434 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
5436 x86 FreeBSD before 2.2 i[3456]86*-freebsd{1,2.[01]}*,
5437 Harris/CXUX m88k m88*-harris-cxux*
5438 Most ns32k hosts and targets ns32k-*-mach3* ns32k-umax-*
5439 ns32k-utek-sysv* ns32k-utek-*
5440 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
5442 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1 a29k-nyu-sym1 a29k-*-kern*
5443 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
5444 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
5445 PowerPC Netware powerpc-*-netware*
5446 SunOS 4.0.Xi on i386 i[3456]86-*-sunos*
5447 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x m68*-sony-sysv news
5448 ISI Optimum V (3.05) under 4.3bsd. m68*-isi-*
5449 Apple Macintosh (MPW) host N/A
5451 stuff.c (Program to stuff files into a specially prepared space in kdb)
5452 kdb-start.c (Main loop for the standalone kernel debugger)
5454 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
5455 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
5456 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
5457 permanently REMOVED.
5459 * REMOVED configurations and files
5461 Altos 3068 m68*-altos-*
5462 Convex c1-*-*, c2-*-*
5464 ARM RISCix arm-*-* (as host)
5468 * GDB has been converted to ISO C.
5470 GDB's source code has been converted to ISO C. In particular, the
5471 sources are fully protoized, and rely on standard headers being
5476 * "info symbol" works on platforms which use COFF, ECOFF, XCOFF, and NLM.
5478 * The MI enabled by default.
5480 The new machine oriented interface (MI) introduced in GDB 5.0 has been
5481 revised and enabled by default. Packages which use GDB as a debugging
5482 engine behind a UI or another front end are encouraged to switch to
5483 using the GDB/MI interface, instead of the old annotations interface
5484 which is now deprecated.
5486 * Support for debugging Pascal programs.
5488 GDB now includes support for debugging Pascal programs. The following
5489 main features are supported:
5491 - Pascal-specific data types such as sets;
5493 - automatic recognition of Pascal sources based on file-name
5496 - Pascal-style display of data types, variables, and functions;
5498 - a Pascal expression parser.
5500 However, some important features are not yet supported.
5502 - Pascal string operations are not supported at all;
5504 - there are some problems with boolean types;
5506 - Pascal type hexadecimal constants are not supported
5507 because they conflict with the internal variables format;
5509 - support for Pascal objects and classes is not full yet;
5511 - unlike Pascal, GDB is case-sensitive for symbol names.
5513 * Changes in completion.
5515 Commands such as `shell', `run' and `set args', which pass arguments
5516 to inferior programs, now complete on file names, similar to what
5517 users expect at the shell prompt.
5519 Commands which accept locations, such as `disassemble', `print',
5520 `breakpoint', `until', etc. now complete on filenames as well as
5521 program symbols. Thus, if you type "break foob TAB", and the source
5522 files linked into the programs include `foobar.c', that file name will
5523 be one of the candidates for completion. However, file names are not
5524 considered for completion after you typed a colon that delimits a file
5525 name from a name of a function in that file, as in "break foo.c:bar".
5527 `set demangle-style' completes on available demangling styles.
5529 * New platform-independent commands:
5531 It is now possible to define a post-hook for a command as well as a
5532 hook that runs before the command. For more details, see the
5533 documentation of `hookpost' in the GDB manual.
5535 * Changes in GNU/Linux native debugging.
5537 Support for debugging multi-threaded programs has been completely
5538 revised for all platforms except m68k and sparc. You can now debug as
5539 many threads as your system allows you to have.
5541 Attach/detach is supported for multi-threaded programs.
5543 Support for SSE registers was added for x86. This doesn't work for
5544 multi-threaded programs though.
5546 * Changes in MIPS configurations.
5548 Multi-arch support is enabled for all MIPS configurations.
5550 GDB can now be built as native debugger on SGI Irix 6.x systems for
5551 debugging n32 executables. (Debugging 64-bit executables is not yet
5554 * Unified support for hardware watchpoints in all x86 configurations.
5556 Most (if not all) native x86 configurations support hardware-assisted
5557 breakpoints and watchpoints in a unified manner. This support
5558 implements debug register sharing between watchpoints, which allows to
5559 put a virtually infinite number of watchpoints on the same address,
5560 and also supports watching regions up to 16 bytes with several debug
5563 The new maintenance command `maintenance show-debug-regs' toggles
5564 debugging print-outs in functions that insert, remove, and test
5565 watchpoints and hardware breakpoints.
5567 * Changes in the DJGPP native configuration.
5569 New command ``info dos sysinfo'' displays assorted information about
5570 the CPU, OS, memory, and DPMI server.
5572 New commands ``info dos gdt'', ``info dos ldt'', and ``info dos idt''
5573 display information about segment descriptors stored in GDT, LDT, and
5576 New commands ``info dos pde'' and ``info dos pte'' display entries
5577 from Page Directory and Page Tables (for now works with CWSDPMI only).
5578 New command ``info dos address-pte'' displays the Page Table entry for
5579 a given linear address.
5581 GDB can now pass command lines longer than 126 characters to the
5582 program being debugged (requires an update to the libdbg.a library
5583 which is part of the DJGPP development kit).
5585 DWARF2 debug info is now supported.
5587 It is now possible to `step' and `next' through calls to `longjmp'.
5589 * Changes in documentation.
5591 All GDB documentation was converted to GFDL, the GNU Free
5592 Documentation License.
5594 Tracepoints-related commands are now fully documented in the GDB
5597 TUI, the Text-mode User Interface, is now documented in the manual.
5599 Tracepoints-related commands are now fully documented in the GDB
5602 The "GDB Internals" manual now has an index. It also includes
5603 documentation of `ui_out' functions, GDB coding standards, x86
5604 hardware watchpoints, and memory region attributes.
5606 * GDB's version number moved to ``version.in''
5608 The Makefile variable VERSION has been replaced by the file
5609 ``version.in''. People creating GDB distributions should update the
5610 contents of this file.
5614 GUD support is now a standard part of the EMACS distribution.
5616 *** Changes in GDB 5.0:
5618 * Improved support for debugging FP programs on x86 targets
5620 Unified and much-improved support for debugging floating-point
5621 programs on all x86 targets. In particular, ``info float'' now
5622 displays the FP registers in the same format on all x86 targets, with
5623 greater level of detail.
5625 * Improvements and bugfixes in hardware-assisted watchpoints
5627 It is now possible to watch array elements, struct members, and
5628 bitfields with hardware-assisted watchpoints. Data-read watchpoints
5629 on x86 targets no longer erroneously trigger when the address is
5632 * Improvements in the native DJGPP version of GDB
5634 The distribution now includes all the scripts and auxiliary files
5635 necessary to build the native DJGPP version on MS-DOS/MS-Windows
5636 machines ``out of the box''.
5638 The DJGPP version can now debug programs that use signals. It is
5639 possible to catch signals that happened in the debuggee, deliver
5640 signals to it, interrupt it with Ctrl-C, etc. (Previously, a signal
5641 would kill the program being debugged.) Programs that hook hardware
5642 interrupts (keyboard, timer, etc.) can also be debugged.
5644 It is now possible to debug DJGPP programs that redirect their
5645 standard handles or switch them to raw (as opposed to cooked) mode, or
5646 even close them. The command ``run < foo > bar'' works as expected,
5647 and ``info terminal'' reports useful information about the debuggee's
5648 terminal, including raw/cooked mode, redirection, etc.
5650 The DJGPP version now uses termios functions for console I/O, which
5651 enables debugging graphics programs. Interrupting GDB with Ctrl-C
5654 DOS-style file names with drive letters are now fully supported by
5657 It is now possible to debug DJGPP programs that switch their working
5658 directory. It is also possible to rerun the debuggee any number of
5659 times without restarting GDB; thus, you can use the same setup,
5660 breakpoints, etc. for many debugging sessions.
5662 * New native configurations
5664 ARM GNU/Linux arm*-*-linux*
5665 PowerPC GNU/Linux powerpc-*-linux*
5669 Motorola MCore mcore-*-*
5670 x86 VxWorks i[3456]86-*-vxworks*
5671 PowerPC VxWorks powerpc-*-vxworks*
5672 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
5674 * OBSOLETE configurations
5676 Altos 3068 m68*-altos-*
5677 Convex c1-*-*, c2-*-*
5679 ARM RISCix arm-*-* (as host)
5682 Configurations that have been declared obsolete will be commented out,
5683 but the code will be left in place. If there is no activity to revive
5684 these configurations before the next release of GDB, the sources will
5685 be permanently REMOVED.
5687 * Gould support removed
5689 Support for the Gould PowerNode and NP1 has been removed.
5691 * New features for SVR4
5693 On SVR4 native platforms (such as Solaris), if you attach to a process
5694 without first loading a symbol file, GDB will now attempt to locate and
5695 load symbols from the running process's executable file.
5697 * Many C++ enhancements
5699 C++ support has been greatly improved. Overload resolution now works properly
5700 in almost all cases. RTTI support is on the way.
5702 * Remote targets can connect to a sub-program
5704 A popen(3) style serial-device has been added. This device starts a
5705 sub-process (such as a stand-alone simulator) and then communicates
5706 with that. The sub-program to run is specified using the syntax
5707 ``|<program> <args>'' vis:
5709 (gdb) set remotedebug 1
5710 (gdb) target extended-remote |mn10300-elf-sim program-args
5712 * MIPS 64 remote protocol
5714 A long standing bug in the mips64 remote protocol where by GDB
5715 expected certain 32 bit registers (ex SR) to be transfered as 32
5716 instead of 64 bits has been fixed.
5718 The command ``set remote-mips64-transfers-32bit-regs on'' has been
5719 added to provide backward compatibility with older versions of GDB.
5721 * ``set remotebinarydownload'' replaced by ``set remote X-packet''
5723 The command ``set remotebinarydownload'' command has been replaced by
5724 ``set remote X-packet''. Other commands in ``set remote'' family
5725 include ``set remote P-packet''.
5727 * Breakpoint commands accept ranges.
5729 The breakpoint commands ``enable'', ``disable'', and ``delete'' now
5730 accept a range of breakpoints, e.g. ``5-7''. The tracepoint command
5731 ``tracepoint passcount'' also accepts a range of tracepoints.
5733 * ``apropos'' command added.
5735 The ``apropos'' command searches through command names and
5736 documentation strings, printing out matches, making it much easier to
5737 try to find a command that does what you are looking for.
5741 A new machine oriented interface (MI) has been added to GDB. This
5742 interface is designed for debug environments running GDB as a separate
5743 process. This is part of the long term libGDB project. See the
5744 "GDB/MI" chapter of the GDB manual for further information. It can be
5745 enabled by configuring with:
5747 .../configure --enable-gdbmi
5749 *** Changes in GDB-4.18:
5751 * New native configurations
5753 HP-UX 10.20 hppa*-*-hpux10.20
5754 HP-UX 11.x hppa*-*-hpux11.0*
5755 M68K GNU/Linux m68*-*-linux*
5759 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
5760 Intel StrongARM strongarm-*-*
5761 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
5763 * OBSOLETE configurations
5765 Gould PowerNode, NP1 np1-*-*, pn-*-*
5767 Configurations that have been declared obsolete will be commented out,
5768 but the code will be left in place. If there is no activity to revive
5769 these configurations before the next release of GDB, the sources will
5770 be permanently REMOVED.
5774 As a compatibility experiment, GDB's source files buildsym.h and
5775 buildsym.c have been converted to pure standard C, no longer
5776 containing any K&R compatibility code. We believe that all systems in
5777 use today either come with a standard C compiler, or have a GCC port
5778 available. If this is not true, please report the affected
5779 configuration to bug-gdb@gnu.org immediately. See the README file for
5780 information about getting a standard C compiler if you don't have one
5785 GDB now uses readline 2.2.
5787 * set extension-language
5789 You can now control the mapping between filename extensions and source
5790 languages by using the `set extension-language' command. For instance,
5791 you can ask GDB to treat .c files as C++ by saying
5792 set extension-language .c c++
5793 The command `info extensions' lists all of the recognized extensions
5794 and their associated languages.
5796 * Setting processor type for PowerPC and RS/6000
5798 When GDB is configured for a powerpc*-*-* or an rs6000*-*-* target,
5799 you can use the `set processor' command to specify what variant of the
5800 PowerPC family you are debugging. The command
5804 sets the PowerPC/RS6000 variant to NAME. GDB knows about the
5805 following PowerPC and RS6000 variants:
5807 ppc-uisa PowerPC UISA - a PPC processor as viewed by user-level code
5808 rs6000 IBM RS6000 ("POWER") architecture, user-level view
5810 403GC IBM PowerPC 403GC
5811 505 Motorola PowerPC 505
5812 860 Motorola PowerPC 860 or 850
5813 601 Motorola PowerPC 601
5814 602 Motorola PowerPC 602
5815 603 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 603 or 603e
5816 604 Motorola PowerPC 604 or 604e
5817 750 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 750 or 750
5819 At the moment, this command just tells GDB what to name the
5820 special-purpose processor registers. Since almost all the affected
5821 registers are inaccessible to user-level programs, this command is
5822 only useful for remote debugging in its present form.
5826 Thanks to a major code donation from Hewlett-Packard, GDB now has much
5827 more extensive support for HP-UX. Added features include shared
5828 library support, kernel threads and hardware watchpoints for 11.00,
5829 support for HP's ANSI C and C++ compilers, and a compatibility mode
5830 for xdb and dbx commands.
5834 HP's donation includes the new concept of catchpoints, which is a
5835 generalization of the old catch command. On HP-UX, it is now possible
5836 to catch exec, fork, and vfork, as well as library loading.
5838 This means that the existing catch command has changed; its first
5839 argument now specifies the type of catch to be set up. See the
5840 output of "help catch" for a list of catchpoint types.
5842 * Debugging across forks
5844 On HP-UX, you can choose which process to debug when a fork() happens
5849 HP has donated a curses-based terminal user interface (TUI). To get
5850 it, build with --enable-tui. Although this can be enabled for any
5851 configuration, at present it only works for native HP debugging.
5853 * GDB remote protocol additions
5855 A new protocol packet 'X' that writes binary data is now available.
5856 Default behavior is to try 'X', then drop back to 'M' if the stub
5857 fails to respond. The settable variable `remotebinarydownload'
5858 allows explicit control over the use of 'X'.
5860 For 64-bit targets, the memory packets ('M' and 'm') can now contain a
5861 full 64-bit address. The command
5863 set remoteaddresssize 32
5865 can be used to revert to the old behaviour. For existing remote stubs
5866 the change should not be noticed, as the additional address information
5869 In order to assist in debugging stubs, you may use the maintenance
5870 command `packet' to send any text string to the stub. For instance,
5872 maint packet heythere
5874 sends the packet "$heythere#<checksum>". Note that it is very easy to
5875 disrupt a debugging session by sending the wrong packet at the wrong
5878 The compare-sections command allows you to compare section data on the
5879 target to what is in the executable file without uploading or
5880 downloading, by comparing CRC checksums.
5882 * Tracing can collect general expressions
5884 You may now collect general expressions at tracepoints. This requires
5885 further additions to the target-side stub; see tracepoint.c and
5886 doc/agentexpr.texi for further details.
5888 * mask-address variable for Mips
5890 For Mips targets, you may control the zeroing of the upper 32 bits of
5891 a 64-bit address by entering `set mask-address on'. This is mainly
5892 of interest to users of embedded R4xxx and R5xxx processors.
5894 * Higher serial baud rates
5896 GDB's serial code now allows you to specify baud rates 57600, 115200,
5897 230400, and 460800 baud. (Note that your host system may not be able
5898 to achieve all of these rates.)
5902 The i960 configuration now includes an initial implementation of a
5903 builtin simulator, contributed by Jim Wilson.
5906 *** Changes in GDB-4.17:
5908 * New native configurations
5910 Alpha GNU/Linux alpha*-*-linux*
5911 Unixware 2.x i[3456]86-unixware2*
5912 Irix 6.x mips*-sgi-irix6*
5913 PowerPC GNU/Linux powerpc-*-linux*
5914 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
5915 Sparc GNU/Linux sparc-*-linux*
5916 Motorola sysV68 R3V7.1 m68k-motorola-sysv
5920 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
5921 Hitachi H8/300S h8300*-*-*
5922 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
5923 Matsushita MN10300 w/simulator mn10300-*-*
5924 MIPS NEC VR4100 mips64*vr4100*{,el}-*-elf*
5925 MIPS NEC VR5000 mips64*vr5000*{,el}-*-elf*
5926 MIPS Toshiba TX39 mips64*tx39*{,el}-*-elf*
5927 Mitsubishi D10V w/simulator d10v-*-*
5928 Mitsubishi M32R/D w/simulator m32r-*-elf*
5929 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
5930 NEC V850 w/simulator v850-*-*
5932 * New debugging protocols
5934 ARM with RDI protocol arm*-*-*
5935 M68K with dBUG monitor m68*-*-{aout,coff,elf}
5936 DDB and LSI variants of PMON protocol mips*-*-*
5937 PowerPC with DINK32 monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
5938 PowerPC with SDS protocol powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
5939 Macraigor OCD (Wiggler) devices powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
5943 All configurations can now understand and use the DWARF 2 debugging
5944 format. The choice is automatic, if the symbol file contains DWARF 2
5949 GDB now includes basic Java language support. This support is
5950 only useful with Java compilers that produce native machine code.
5952 * solib-absolute-prefix and solib-search-path
5954 For SunOS and SVR4 shared libraries, you may now set the prefix for
5955 loading absolute shared library symbol files, and the search path for
5956 locating non-absolute shared library symbol files.
5958 * Live range splitting
5960 GDB can now effectively debug code for which GCC has performed live
5961 range splitting as part of its optimization. See gdb/doc/LRS for
5962 more details on the expected format of the stabs information.
5966 GDB's support for the GNU Hurd, including thread debugging, has been
5967 updated to work with current versions of the Hurd.
5971 GDB's ARM target configuration now handles the ARM7T (Thumb) 16-bit
5972 instruction set. ARM GDB automatically detects when Thumb
5973 instructions are in use, and adjusts disassembly and backtracing
5978 GDB's MIPS target configurations now handle the MIP16 16-bit
5983 GDB now includes support for overlays; if an executable has been
5984 linked such that multiple sections are based at the same address, GDB
5985 will decide which section to use for symbolic info. You can choose to
5986 control the decision manually, using overlay commands, or implement
5987 additional target-side support and use "overlay load-target" to bring
5988 in the overlay mapping. Do "help overlay" for more detail.
5992 The command "info symbol <address>" displays information about
5993 the symbol at the specified address.
5997 The standard remote protocol now includes an extension that allows
5998 asynchronous collection and display of trace data. This requires
5999 extensive support in the target-side debugging stub. Tracing mode
6000 includes a new interaction mode in GDB and new commands: see the
6001 file tracepoint.c for more details.
6005 Configurations for embedded MIPS now include a simulator contributed
6006 by Cygnus Solutions. The simulator supports the instruction sets
6007 of most MIPS variants.
6011 Sparc configurations may now include the ERC32 simulator contributed
6012 by the European Space Agency. The simulator is not built into
6013 Sparc targets by default; configure with --enable-sim to include it.
6017 For target configurations that may include multiple variants of a
6018 basic architecture (such as MIPS and SH), you may now set the
6019 architecture explicitly. "set arch" sets, "info arch" lists
6020 the possible architectures.
6022 *** Changes in GDB-4.16:
6024 * New native configurations
6026 Windows 95, x86 Windows NT i[345]86-*-cygwin32
6027 M68K NetBSD m68k-*-netbsd*
6028 PowerPC AIX 4.x powerpc-*-aix*
6029 PowerPC MacOS powerpc-*-macos*
6030 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
6031 RS/6000 AIX 4.x rs6000-*-aix4*
6035 ARM with RDP protocol arm-*-*
6036 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
6037 MIPS VxWorks mips*-*-vxworks*
6038 MIPS VR4300 with PMON mips64*vr4300{,el}-*-elf*
6039 PowerPC with PPCBUG monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi*
6041 Matra Sparclet sparclet-*-*
6045 The powerpc-eabi configuration now includes the PSIM simulator,
6046 contributed by Andrew Cagney, with assistance from Mike Meissner.
6047 PSIM is a very elaborate model of the PowerPC, including not only
6048 basic instruction set execution, but also details of execution unit
6049 performance and I/O hardware. See sim/ppc/README for more details.
6053 GDB now works with Solaris 2.5.
6055 * Windows 95/NT native
6057 GDB will now work as a native debugger on Windows 95 and Windows NT.
6058 To build it from source, you must use the "gnu-win32" environment,
6059 which uses a DLL to emulate enough of Unix to run the GNU tools.
6060 Further information, binaries, and sources are available at
6061 ftp.cygnus.com, under pub/gnu-win32.
6063 * dont-repeat command
6065 If a user-defined command includes the command `dont-repeat', then the
6066 command will not be repeated if the user just types return. This is
6067 useful if the command is time-consuming to run, so that accidental
6068 extra keystrokes don't run the same command many times.
6070 * Send break instead of ^C
6072 The standard remote protocol now includes an option to send a break
6073 rather than a ^C to the target in order to interrupt it. By default,
6074 GDB will send ^C; to send a break, set the variable `remotebreak' to 1.
6076 * Remote protocol timeout
6078 The standard remote protocol includes a new variable `remotetimeout'
6079 that allows you to set the number of seconds before GDB gives up trying
6080 to read from the target. The default value is 2.
6082 * Automatic tracking of dynamic object loading (HPUX and Solaris only)
6084 By default GDB will automatically keep track of objects as they are
6085 loaded and unloaded by the dynamic linker. By using the command `set
6086 stop-on-solib-events 1' you can arrange for GDB to stop the inferior
6087 when shared library events occur, thus allowing you to set breakpoints
6088 in shared libraries which are explicitly loaded by the inferior.
6090 Note this feature does not work on hpux8. On hpux9 you must link
6091 /usr/lib/end.o into your program. This feature should work
6092 automatically on hpux10.
6094 * Irix 5.x hardware watchpoint support
6096 Irix 5 configurations now support the use of hardware watchpoints.
6098 * Mips protocol "SYN garbage limit"
6100 When debugging a Mips target using the `target mips' protocol, you
6101 may set the number of characters that GDB will ignore by setting
6102 the `syn-garbage-limit'. A value of -1 means that GDB will ignore
6103 every character. The default value is 1050.
6105 * Recording and replaying remote debug sessions
6107 If you set `remotelogfile' to the name of a file, gdb will write to it
6108 a recording of a remote debug session. This recording may then be
6109 replayed back to gdb using "gdbreplay". See gdbserver/README for
6110 details. This is useful when you have a problem with GDB while doing
6111 remote debugging; you can make a recording of the session and send it
6112 to someone else, who can then recreate the problem.
6114 * Speedups for remote debugging
6116 GDB includes speedups for downloading and stepping MIPS systems using
6117 the IDT monitor, fast downloads to the Hitachi SH E7000 emulator,
6118 and more efficient S-record downloading.
6120 * Memory use reductions and statistics collection
6122 GDB now uses less memory and reports statistics about memory usage.
6123 Try the `maint print statistics' command, for example.
6125 *** Changes in GDB-4.15:
6127 * Psymtabs for XCOFF
6129 The symbol reader for AIX GDB now uses partial symbol tables. This
6130 can greatly improve startup time, especially for large executables.
6132 * Remote targets use caching
6134 Remote targets now use a data cache to speed up communication with the
6135 remote side. The data cache could lead to incorrect results because
6136 it doesn't know about volatile variables, thus making it impossible to
6137 debug targets which use memory mapped I/O devices. `set remotecache
6138 off' turns the the data cache off.
6140 * Remote targets may have threads
6142 The standard remote protocol now includes support for multiple threads
6143 in the target system, using new protocol commands 'H' and 'T'. See
6144 gdb/remote.c for details.
6148 If GDB is configured with `--enable-netrom', then it will include
6149 support for the NetROM ROM emulator from XLNT Designs. The NetROM
6150 acts as though it is a bank of ROM on the target board, but you can
6151 write into it over the network. GDB's support consists only of
6152 support for fast loading into the emulated ROM; to debug, you must use
6153 another protocol, such as standard remote protocol. The usual
6154 sequence is something like
6156 target nrom <netrom-hostname>
6158 target remote <netrom-hostname>:1235
6162 GDB now includes support for the Apple Macintosh, as a host only. It
6163 may be run as either an MPW tool or as a standalone application, and
6164 it can debug through the serial port. All the usual GDB commands are
6165 available, but to the target command, you must supply "serial" as the
6166 device type instead of "/dev/ttyXX". See mpw-README in the main
6167 directory for more information on how to build. The MPW configuration
6168 scripts */mpw-config.in support only a few targets, and only the
6169 mips-idt-ecoff target has been tested.
6173 GDB configuration now uses autoconf. This is not user-visible,
6174 but does simplify configuration and building.
6178 GDB now supports hpux10.
6180 *** Changes in GDB-4.14:
6182 * New native configurations
6184 x86 FreeBSD i[345]86-*-freebsd
6185 x86 NetBSD i[345]86-*-netbsd
6186 NS32k NetBSD ns32k-*-netbsd
6187 Sparc NetBSD sparc-*-netbsd
6191 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
6192 HP PA PRO embedded (WinBond W89K & Oki OP50N) hppa*-*-pro*
6193 CPU32 EST-300 emulator m68*-*-est*
6194 PowerPC ELF powerpc-*-elf
6197 * Alpha OSF/1 support for procfs
6199 GDB now supports procfs under OSF/1-2.x and higher, which makes it
6200 possible to attach to running processes. As the mounting of the /proc
6201 filesystem is optional on the Alpha, GDB automatically determines
6202 the availability of /proc during startup. This can lead to problems
6203 if /proc is unmounted after GDB has been started.
6205 * Arguments to user-defined commands
6207 User commands may accept up to 10 arguments separated by whitespace.
6208 Arguments are accessed within the user command via $arg0..$arg9. A
6211 print $arg0 + $arg1 + $arg2
6213 To execute the command use:
6216 Defines the command "adder" which prints the sum of its three arguments.
6217 Note the arguments are text substitutions, so they may reference variables,
6218 use complex expressions, or even perform inferior function calls.
6220 * New `if' and `while' commands
6222 This makes it possible to write more sophisticated user-defined
6223 commands. Both commands take a single argument, which is the
6224 expression to evaluate, and must be followed by the commands to
6225 execute, one per line, if the expression is nonzero, the list being
6226 terminated by the word `end'. The `if' command list may include an
6227 `else' word, which causes the following commands to be executed only
6228 if the expression is zero.
6230 * Fortran source language mode
6232 GDB now includes partial support for Fortran 77. It will recognize
6233 Fortran programs and can evaluate a subset of Fortran expressions, but
6234 variables and functions may not be handled correctly. GDB will work
6235 with G77, but does not yet know much about symbols emitted by other
6238 * Better HPUX support
6240 Most debugging facilities now work on dynamic executables for HPPAs
6241 running hpux9 or later. You can attach to running dynamically linked
6242 processes, but by default the dynamic libraries will be read-only, so
6243 for instance you won't be able to put breakpoints in them. To change
6244 that behavior do the following before running the program:
6250 This will cause the libraries to be mapped private and read-write.
6251 To revert to the normal behavior, do this:
6257 You cannot set breakpoints or examine data in the library until after
6258 the library is loaded if the function/data symbols do not have
6261 GDB can now also read debug symbols produced by the HP C compiler on
6262 HPPAs (sorry, no C++, Fortran or 68k support).
6264 * Target byte order now dynamically selectable
6266 You can choose which byte order to use with a target system, via the
6267 commands "set endian big" and "set endian little", and you can see the
6268 current setting by using "show endian". You can also give the command
6269 "set endian auto", in which case GDB will use the byte order
6270 associated with the executable. Currently, only embedded MIPS
6271 configurations support dynamic selection of target byte order.
6273 * New DOS host serial code
6275 This version uses DPMI interrupts to handle buffered I/O, so you
6276 no longer need to run asynctsr when debugging boards connected to
6279 *** Changes in GDB-4.13:
6281 * New "complete" command
6283 This lists all the possible completions for the rest of the line, if it
6284 were to be given as a command itself. This is intended for use by emacs.
6286 * Trailing space optional in prompt
6288 "set prompt" no longer adds a space for you after the prompt you set. This
6289 allows you to set a prompt which ends in a space or one that does not.
6291 * Breakpoint hit counts
6293 "info break" now displays a count of the number of times the breakpoint
6294 has been hit. This is especially useful in conjunction with "ignore"; you
6295 can ignore a large number of breakpoint hits, look at the breakpoint info
6296 to see how many times the breakpoint was hit, then run again, ignoring one
6297 less than that number, and this will get you quickly to the last hit of
6300 * Ability to stop printing at NULL character
6302 "set print null-stop" will cause GDB to stop printing the characters of
6303 an array when the first NULL is encountered. This is useful when large
6304 arrays actually contain only short strings.
6306 * Shared library breakpoints
6308 In SunOS 4.x, SVR4, and Alpha OSF/1 configurations, you can now set
6309 breakpoints in shared libraries before the executable is run.
6311 * Hardware watchpoints
6313 There is a new hardware breakpoint for the watch command for sparclite
6314 targets. See gdb/sparclite/hw_breakpoint.note.
6316 Hardware watchpoints are also now supported under GNU/Linux.
6320 Annotations have been added. These are for use with graphical interfaces,
6321 and are still experimental. Currently only gdba.el uses these.
6323 * Improved Irix 5 support
6325 GDB now works properly with Irix 5.2.
6327 * Improved HPPA support
6329 GDB now works properly with the latest GCC and GAS.
6331 * New native configurations
6333 Sequent PTX4 i[34]86-sequent-ptx4
6334 HPPA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
6335 Atari TT running SVR4 m68*-*-sysv4*
6336 RS/6000 LynxOS rs6000-*-lynxos*
6340 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
6341 MIPS R4000 mips64*{,el}-*-{ecoff,elf}
6344 * Hitachi SH7000 and E7000-PC ICE support
6346 There is now support for communicating with the Hitachi E7000-PC ICE.
6347 This is available automatically when GDB is configured for the SH.
6351 As usual, a variety of small fixes and improvements, both generic
6352 and configuration-specific. See the ChangeLog for more detail.
6354 *** Changes in GDB-4.12:
6356 * Irix 5 is now supported
6360 GDB-4.12 on the HPPA has a number of changes which make it unable
6361 to debug the output from the currently released versions of GCC and
6362 GAS (GCC 2.5.8 and GAS-2.2 or PAGAS-1.36). Until the next major release
6363 of GCC and GAS, versions of these tools designed to work with GDB-4.12
6364 can be retrieved via anonymous ftp from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist.
6367 *** Changes in GDB-4.11:
6369 * User visible changes:
6373 The "set remotedebug" option is now consistent between the mips remote
6374 target, remote targets using the gdb-specific protocol, UDI (AMD's
6375 debug protocol for the 29k) and the 88k bug monitor. It is now an
6376 integer specifying a debug level (normally 0 or 1, but 2 means more
6377 debugging info for the mips target).
6379 * DEC Alpha native support
6381 GDB now works on the DEC Alpha. GCC 2.4.5 does not produce usable
6382 debug info, but GDB works fairly well with the DEC compiler and should
6383 work with a future GCC release. See the README file for a few
6384 Alpha-specific notes.
6386 * Preliminary thread implementation
6388 GDB now has preliminary thread support for both SGI/Irix and LynxOS.
6390 * LynxOS native and target support for 386
6392 This release has been hosted on LynxOS 2.2, and also can be configured
6393 to remotely debug programs running under LynxOS (see gdb/gdbserver/README
6396 * Improvements in C++ mangling/demangling.
6398 This release has much better g++ debugging, specifically in name
6399 mangling/demangling, virtual function calls, print virtual table,
6400 call methods, ...etc.
6402 *** Changes in GDB-4.10:
6404 * User visible changes:
6406 Remote debugging using the GDB-specific (`target remote') protocol now
6407 supports the `load' command. This is only useful if you have some
6408 other way of getting the stub to the target system, and you can put it
6409 somewhere in memory where it won't get clobbered by the download.
6411 Filename completion now works.
6413 When run under emacs mode, the "info line" command now causes the
6414 arrow to point to the line specified. Also, "info line" prints
6415 addresses in symbolic form (as well as hex).
6417 All vxworks based targets now support a user settable option, called
6418 vxworks-timeout. This option represents the number of seconds gdb
6419 should wait for responses to rpc's. You might want to use this if
6420 your vxworks target is, perhaps, a slow software simulator or happens
6421 to be on the far side of a thin network line.
6425 This release contains support for using a DEC alpha as a GDB host for
6426 cross debugging. Native alpha debugging is not supported yet.
6429 *** Changes in GDB-4.9:
6433 This is the first GDB release which is accompanied by a matching testsuite.
6434 The testsuite requires installation of dejagnu, which should be available
6435 via ftp from most sites that carry GNU software.
6439 'Cfront' style demangling has had its name changed to 'ARM' style, to
6440 emphasize that it was written from the specifications in the C++ Annotated
6441 Reference Manual, not necessarily to be compatible with AT&T cfront. Despite
6442 disclaimers, it still generated too much confusion with users attempting to
6443 use gdb with AT&T cfront.
6447 GDB now uses a standard remote interface to a simulator library.
6448 So far, the library contains simulators for the Zilog Z8001/2, the
6449 Hitachi H8/300, H8/500 and Super-H.
6451 * New targets supported
6453 H8/300 simulator h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
6454 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
6455 SH simulator sh-hitachi-hms or sh
6456 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
6457 IDT MIPS board over serial line mips-idt-ecoff
6459 Cross-debugging to GO32 targets is supported. It requires a custom
6460 version of the i386-stub.c module which is integrated with the
6461 GO32 memory extender.
6463 * New remote protocols
6465 MIPS remote debugging protocol.
6467 * New source languages supported
6469 This version includes preliminary support for Chill, a Pascal like language
6470 used by telecommunications companies. Chill support is also being integrated
6471 into the GNU compiler, but we don't know when it will be publically available.
6474 *** Changes in GDB-4.8:
6476 * HP Precision Architecture supported
6478 GDB now supports HP PA-RISC machines running HPUX. A preliminary
6479 version of this support was available as a set of patches from the
6480 University of Utah. GDB does not support debugging of programs
6481 compiled with the HP compiler, because HP will not document their file
6482 format. Instead, you must use GCC (version 2.3.2 or later) and PA-GAS
6483 (as available from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist/pa-gas.u4.tar.Z).
6485 Many problems in the preliminary version have been fixed.
6487 * Faster and better demangling
6489 We have improved template demangling and fixed numerous bugs in the GNU style
6490 demangler. It can now handle type modifiers such as `static' or `const'. Wide
6491 character types (wchar_t) are now supported. Demangling of each symbol is now
6492 only done once, and is cached when the symbol table for a file is read in.
6493 This results in a small increase in memory usage for C programs, a moderate
6494 increase in memory usage for C++ programs, and a fantastic speedup in
6497 `Cfront' style demangling still doesn't work with AT&T cfront. It was written
6498 from the specifications in the Annotated Reference Manual, which AT&T's
6499 compiler does not actually implement.
6501 * G++ multiple inheritance compiler problem
6503 In the 2.3.2 release of gcc/g++, how the compiler resolves multiple
6504 inheritance lattices was reworked to properly discover ambiguities. We
6505 recently found an example which causes this new algorithm to fail in a
6506 very subtle way, producing bad debug information for those classes.
6507 The file 'gcc.patch' (in this directory) can be applied to gcc to
6508 circumvent the problem. A future GCC release will contain a complete
6511 The previous G++ debug info problem (mentioned below for the gdb-4.7
6512 release) is fixed in gcc version 2.3.2.
6514 * Improved configure script
6516 The `configure' script will now attempt to guess your system type if
6517 you don't supply a host system type. The old scheme of supplying a
6518 host system triplet is preferable over using this. All the magic is
6519 done in the new `config.guess' script. Examine it for details.
6521 We have also brought our configure script much more in line with the FSF's
6522 version. It now supports the --with-xxx options. In particular,
6523 `--with-minimal-bfd' can be used to make the GDB binary image smaller.
6524 The resulting GDB will not be able to read arbitrary object file formats --
6525 only the format ``expected'' to be used on the configured target system.
6526 We hope to make this the default in a future release.
6528 * Documentation improvements
6530 There's new internal documentation on how to modify GDB, and how to
6531 produce clean changes to the code. We implore people to read it
6532 before submitting changes.
6534 The GDB manual uses new, sexy Texinfo conditionals, rather than arcane
6535 M4 macros. The new texinfo.tex is provided in this release. Pre-built
6536 `info' files are also provided. To build `info' files from scratch,
6537 you will need the latest `makeinfo' release, which will be available in
6538 a future texinfo-X.Y release.
6540 *NOTE* The new texinfo.tex can cause old versions of TeX to hang.
6541 We're not sure exactly which versions have this problem, but it has
6542 been seen in 3.0. We highly recommend upgrading to TeX version 3.141
6543 or better. If that isn't possible, there is a patch in
6544 `texinfo/tex3patch' that will modify `texinfo/texinfo.tex' to work
6545 around this problem.
6549 GDB now supports array constants that can be used in expressions typed in by
6550 the user. The syntax is `{element, element, ...}'. Ie: you can now type
6551 `print {1, 2, 3}', and it will build up an array in memory malloc'd in
6554 The new directory `gdb/sparclite' contains a program that demonstrates
6555 how the sparc-stub.c remote stub runs on a Fujitsu SPARClite processor.
6557 * New native hosts supported
6559 HP/PA-RISC under HPUX using GNU tools hppa1.1-hp-hpux
6560 386 CPUs running SCO Unix 3.2v4 i386-unknown-sco3.2v4
6562 * New targets supported
6564 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi or udi29k
6566 * New file formats supported
6568 BFD now supports reading HP/PA-RISC executables (SOM file format?),
6569 HPUX core files, and SCO 3.2v2 core files.
6573 Attaching to processes now works again; thanks for the many bug reports.
6575 We have also stomped on a bunch of core dumps caused by
6576 printf_filtered("%s") problems.
6578 We eliminated a copyright problem on the rpc and ptrace header files
6579 for VxWorks, which was discovered at the last minute during the 4.7
6580 release. You should now be able to build a VxWorks GDB.
6582 You can now interrupt gdb while an attached process is running. This
6583 will cause the attached process to stop, and give control back to GDB.
6585 We fixed problems caused by using too many file descriptors
6586 for reading symbols from object files and libraries. This was
6587 especially a problem for programs that used many (~100) shared
6590 The `step' command now only enters a subroutine if there is line number
6591 information for the subroutine. Otherwise it acts like the `next'
6592 command. Previously, `step' would enter subroutines if there was
6593 any debugging information about the routine. This avoids problems
6594 when using `cc -g1' on MIPS machines.
6596 * Internal improvements
6598 GDB's internal interfaces have been improved to make it easier to support
6599 debugging of multiple languages in the future.
6601 GDB now uses a common structure for symbol information internally.
6602 Minimal symbols (derived from linkage symbols in object files), partial
6603 symbols (from a quick scan of debug information), and full symbols
6604 contain a common subset of information, making it easier to write
6605 shared code that handles any of them.
6607 * New command line options
6609 We now accept --silent as an alias for --quiet.
6613 The memory-mapped-malloc library is now licensed under the GNU Library
6614 General Public License.
6616 *** Changes in GDB-4.7:
6618 * Host/native/target split
6620 GDB has had some major internal surgery to untangle the support for
6621 hosts and remote targets. Now, when you configure GDB for a remote
6622 target, it will no longer load in all of the support for debugging
6623 local programs on the host. When fully completed and tested, this will
6624 ensure that arbitrary host/target combinations are possible.
6626 The primary conceptual shift is to separate the non-portable code in
6627 GDB into three categories. Host specific code is required any time GDB
6628 is compiled on that host, regardless of the target. Target specific
6629 code relates to the peculiarities of the target, but can be compiled on
6630 any host. Native specific code is everything else: it can only be
6631 built when the host and target are the same system. Child process
6632 handling and core file support are two common `native' examples.
6634 GDB's use of /proc for controlling Unix child processes is now cleaner.
6635 It has been split out into a single module under the `target_ops' vector,
6636 plus two native-dependent functions for each system that uses /proc.
6638 * New hosts supported
6640 HP/Apollo 68k (under the BSD domain) m68k-apollo-bsd or apollo68bsd
6641 386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
6642 386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or i386sco
6644 * New targets supported
6646 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
6647 68030 and CPU32 m68030-*-*, m68332-*-*
6649 * New native hosts supported
6651 386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
6652 (386bsd is not well tested yet)
6653 386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or sco
6655 * New file formats supported
6657 BFD now supports COFF files for the Zilog Z8000 microprocessor. It
6658 supports reading of `a.out.adobe' object files, which are an a.out
6659 format extended with minimal information about multiple sections.
6663 `show copying' is the same as the old `info copying'.
6664 `show warranty' is the same as `info warrantee'.
6665 These were renamed for consistency. The old commands continue to work.
6667 `info handle' is a new alias for `info signals'.
6669 You can now define pre-command hooks, which attach arbitrary command
6670 scripts to any command. The commands in the hook will be executed
6671 prior to the user's command. You can also create a hook which will be
6672 executed whenever the program stops. See gdb.texinfo.
6676 We now deal with Cfront style name mangling, and can even extract type
6677 info from mangled symbols. GDB can automatically figure out which
6678 symbol mangling style your C++ compiler uses.
6680 Calling of methods and virtual functions has been improved as well.
6684 The crash that occured when debugging Sun Ansi-C compiled binaries is
6685 fixed. This was due to mishandling of the extra N_SO stabs output
6688 We also finally got Ultrix 4.2 running in house, and fixed core file
6689 support, with help from a dozen people on the net.
6691 John M. Farrell discovered that the reason that single-stepping was so
6692 slow on all of the Mips based platforms (primarily SGI and DEC) was
6693 that we were trying to demangle and lookup a symbol used for internal
6694 purposes on every instruction that was being stepped through. Changing
6695 the name of that symbol so that it couldn't be mistaken for a C++
6696 mangled symbol sped things up a great deal.
6698 Rich Pixley sped up symbol lookups in general by getting much smarter
6699 about when C++ symbol mangling is necessary. This should make symbol
6700 completion (TAB on the command line) much faster. It's not as fast as
6701 we'd like, but it's significantly faster than gdb-4.6.
6705 A new user controllable variable 'call_scratch_address' can
6706 specify the location of a scratch area to be used when GDB
6707 calls a function in the target. This is necessary because the
6708 usual method of putting the scratch area on the stack does not work
6709 in systems that have separate instruction and data spaces.
6711 We integrated changes to support the 29k UDI (Universal Debugger
6712 Interface), but discovered at the last minute that we didn't have all
6713 of the appropriate copyright paperwork. We are working with AMD to
6714 resolve this, and hope to have it available soon.
6718 We have sped up the remote serial line protocol, especially for targets
6719 with lots of registers. It now supports a new `expedited status' ('T')
6720 message which can be used in place of the existing 'S' status message.
6721 This allows the remote stub to send only the registers that GDB
6722 needs to make a quick decision about single-stepping or conditional
6723 breakpoints, eliminating the need to fetch the entire register set for
6724 each instruction being stepped through.
6726 The GDB remote serial protocol now implements a write-through cache for
6727 registers, only re-reading the registers if the target has run.
6729 There is also a new remote serial stub for SPARC processors. You can
6730 find it in gdb-4.7/gdb/sparc-stub.c. This was written to support the
6731 Fujitsu SPARClite processor, but will run on any stand-alone SPARC
6732 processor with a serial port.
6736 Configure.in files have become much easier to read and modify. A new
6737 `table driven' format makes it more obvious what configurations are
6738 supported, and what files each one uses.
6742 There is a new opcodes library which will eventually contain all of the
6743 disassembly routines and opcode tables. At present, it only contains
6744 Sparc and Z8000 routines. This will allow the assembler, debugger, and
6745 disassembler (binutils/objdump) to share these routines.
6747 The libiberty library is now copylefted under the GNU Library General
6748 Public License. This allows more liberal use, and was done so libg++
6749 can use it. This makes no difference to GDB, since the Library License
6750 grants all the rights from the General Public License.
6754 The file gdb-4.7/gdb/doc/stabs.texinfo is a (relatively) complete
6755 reference to the stabs symbol info used by the debugger. It is (as far
6756 as we know) the only published document on this fascinating topic. We
6757 encourage you to read it, compare it to the stabs information on your
6758 system, and send improvements on the document in general (to
6759 bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu).
6761 And, of course, many bugs have been fixed.
6764 *** Changes in GDB-4.6:
6766 * Better support for C++ function names
6768 GDB now accepts as input the "demangled form" of C++ overloaded function
6769 names and member function names, and can do command completion on such names
6770 (using TAB, TAB-TAB, and ESC-?). The names have to be quoted with a pair of
6771 single quotes. Examples are 'func (int, long)' and 'obj::operator==(obj&)'.
6772 Make use of command completion, it is your friend.
6774 GDB also now accepts a variety of C++ mangled symbol formats. They are
6775 the GNU g++ style, the Cfront (ARM) style, and the Lucid (lcc) style.
6776 You can tell GDB which format to use by doing a 'set demangle-style {gnu,
6777 lucid, cfront, auto}'. 'gnu' is the default. Do a 'set demangle-style foo'
6778 for the list of formats.
6780 * G++ symbol mangling problem
6782 Recent versions of gcc have a bug in how they emit debugging information for
6783 C++ methods (when using dbx-style stabs). The file 'gcc.patch' (in this
6784 directory) can be applied to gcc to fix the problem. Alternatively, if you
6785 can't fix gcc, you can #define GCC_MANGLE_BUG when compling gdb/symtab.c. The
6786 usual symptom is difficulty with setting breakpoints on methods. GDB complains
6787 about the method being non-existent. (We believe that version 2.2.2 of GCC has
6790 * New 'maintenance' command
6792 All of the commands related to hacking GDB internals have been moved out of
6793 the main command set, and now live behind the 'maintenance' command. This
6794 can also be abbreviated as 'mt'. The following changes were made:
6796 dump-me -> maintenance dump-me
6797 info all-breakpoints -> maintenance info breakpoints
6798 printmsyms -> maintenance print msyms
6799 printobjfiles -> maintenance print objfiles
6800 printpsyms -> maintenance print psymbols
6801 printsyms -> maintenance print symbols
6803 The following commands are new:
6805 maintenance demangle Call internal GDB demangler routine to
6806 demangle a C++ link name and prints the result.
6807 maintenance print type Print a type chain for a given symbol
6809 * Change to .gdbinit file processing
6811 We now read the $HOME/.gdbinit file before processing the argv arguments
6812 (e.g. reading symbol files or core files). This allows global parameters to
6813 be set, which will apply during the symbol reading. The ./.gdbinit is still
6814 read after argv processing.
6816 * New hosts supported
6818 Solaris-2.0 !!! sparc-sun-solaris2 or sun4sol2
6820 GNU/Linux support i386-unknown-linux or linux
6822 We are also including code to support the HP/PA running BSD and HPUX. This
6823 is almost guaranteed not to work, as we didn't have time to test or build it
6824 for this release. We are including it so that the more adventurous (or
6825 masochistic) of you can play with it. We also had major problems with the
6826 fact that the compiler that we got from HP doesn't support the -g option.
6829 * New targets supported
6831 Hitachi H8/300 h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
6833 * More smarts about finding #include files
6835 GDB now remembers the compilation directory for all include files, and for
6836 all files from which C is generated (like yacc and lex sources). This
6837 greatly improves GDB's ability to find yacc/lex sources, and include files,
6838 especially if you are debugging your program from a directory different from
6839 the one that contains your sources.
6841 We also fixed a bug which caused difficulty with listing and setting
6842 breakpoints in include files which contain C code. (In the past, you had to
6843 try twice in order to list an include file that you hadn't looked at before.)
6845 * Interesting infernals change
6847 GDB now deals with arbitrary numbers of sections, where the symbols for each
6848 section must be relocated relative to that section's landing place in the
6849 target's address space. This work was needed to support ELF with embedded
6850 stabs used by Solaris-2.0.
6852 * Bug fixes (of course!)
6854 There have been loads of fixes for the following things:
6855 mips, rs6000, 29k/udi, m68k, g++, type handling, elf/dwarf, m88k,
6856 i960, stabs, DOS(GO32), procfs, etc...
6858 See the ChangeLog for details.
6860 *** Changes in GDB-4.5:
6862 * New machines supported (host and target)
6864 IBM RS6000 running AIX rs6000-ibm-aix or rs6000
6866 SGI Irix-4.x mips-sgi-irix4 or iris4
6868 * New malloc package
6870 GDB now uses a new memory manager called mmalloc, based on gmalloc.
6871 Mmalloc is capable of handling mutiple heaps of memory. It is also
6872 capable of saving a heap to a file, and then mapping it back in later.
6873 This can be used to greatly speedup the startup of GDB by using a
6874 pre-parsed symbol table which lives in a mmalloc managed heap. For
6875 more details, please read mmalloc/mmalloc.texi.
6879 The 'info proc' command (SVR4 only) has been enhanced quite a bit. See
6880 'help info proc' for details.
6882 * MIPS ecoff symbol table format
6884 The code that reads MIPS symbol table format is now supported on all hosts.
6885 Thanks to MIPS for releasing the sym.h and symconst.h files to make this
6888 * File name changes for MS-DOS
6890 Many files in the config directories have been renamed to make it easier to
6891 support GDB on MS-DOSe systems (which have very restrictive file name
6892 conventions :-( ). MS-DOSe host support (under DJ Delorie's GO32
6893 environment) is close to working but has some remaining problems. Note
6894 that debugging of DOS programs is not supported, due to limitations
6895 in the ``operating system'', but it can be used to host cross-debugging.
6897 * Cross byte order fixes
6899 Many fixes have been made to support cross debugging of Sparc and MIPS
6900 targets from hosts whose byte order differs.
6902 * New -mapped and -readnow options
6904 If memory-mapped files are available on your system through the 'mmap'
6905 system call, you can use the -mapped option on the `file' or
6906 `symbol-file' commands to cause GDB to write the symbols from your
6907 program into a reusable file. If the program you are debugging is
6908 called `/path/fred', the mapped symbol file will be `./fred.syms'.
6909 Future GDB debugging sessions will notice the presence of this file,
6910 and will quickly map in symbol information from it, rather than reading
6911 the symbol table from the executable program. Using the '-mapped'
6912 option in a GDB `file' or `symbol-file' command has the same effect as
6913 starting GDB with the '-mapped' command-line option.
6915 You can cause GDB to read the entire symbol table immediately by using
6916 the '-readnow' option with any of the commands that load symbol table
6917 information (or on the GDB command line). This makes the command
6918 slower, but makes future operations faster.
6920 The -mapped and -readnow options are typically combined in order to
6921 build a `fred.syms' file that contains complete symbol information.
6922 A simple GDB invocation to do nothing but build a `.syms' file for future
6925 gdb -batch -nx -mapped -readnow programname
6927 The `.syms' file is specific to the host machine on which GDB is run.
6928 It holds an exact image of GDB's internal symbol table. It cannot be
6929 shared across multiple host platforms.
6931 * longjmp() handling
6933 GDB is now capable of stepping and nexting over longjmp(), _longjmp(), and
6934 siglongjmp() without losing control. This feature has not yet been ported to
6935 all systems. It currently works on many 386 platforms, all MIPS-based
6936 platforms (SGI, DECstation, etc), and Sun3/4.
6940 Preliminary work has been put in to support the new Solaris OS from Sun. At
6941 this time, it can control and debug processes, but it is not capable of
6946 As always, many many bug fixes. The major areas were with g++, and mipsread.
6947 People using the MIPS-based platforms should experience fewer mysterious
6948 crashes and trashed symbol tables.
6950 *** Changes in GDB-4.4:
6952 * New machines supported (host and target)
6954 SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
6956 BSD Reno on Vax vax-dec-bsd
6957 Ultrix on Vax vax-dec-ultrix
6959 * New machines supported (target)
6961 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
6965 GDB continues to improve its handling of C++. `References' work better.
6966 The demangler has also been improved, and now deals with symbols mangled as
6967 per the Annotated C++ Reference Guide.
6969 GDB also now handles `stabs' symbol information embedded in MIPS
6970 `ecoff' symbol tables. Since the ecoff format was not easily
6971 extensible to handle new languages such as C++, this appeared to be a
6972 good way to put C++ debugging info into MIPS binaries. This option
6973 will be supported in the GNU C compiler, version 2, when it is
6976 * New features for SVR4
6978 GDB now handles SVR4 shared libraries, in the same fashion as SunOS
6979 shared libraries. Debugging dynamically linked programs should present
6980 only minor differences from debugging statically linked programs.
6982 The `info proc' command will print out information about any process
6983 on an SVR4 system (including the one you are debugging). At the moment,
6984 it prints the address mappings of the process.
6986 If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please send mail to
6987 bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were reqired (if any).
6989 * Better dynamic linking support in SunOS
6991 Reading symbols from shared libraries which contain debugging symbols
6992 now works properly. However, there remain issues such as automatic
6993 skipping of `transfer vector' code during function calls, which
6994 make it harder to debug code in a shared library, than to debug the
6995 same code linked statically.
6999 GDB is now using the latest `getopt' routines from the FSF. This
7000 version accepts the -- prefix for options with long names. GDB will
7001 continue to accept the old forms (-option and +option) as well.
7002 Various single letter abbreviations for options have been explicity
7003 added to the option table so that they won't get overshadowed in the
7004 future by other options that begin with the same letter.
7008 The `cleanup_undefined_types' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
7009 Many assorted bugs have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
7010 See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
7013 *** Changes in GDB-4.3:
7015 * New machines supported (host and target)
7017 Amiga 3000 running Amix m68k-cbm-svr4 or amix
7018 NCR 3000 386 running SVR4 i386-ncr-svr4 or ncr3000
7019 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
7021 * Almost SCO Unix support
7023 We had hoped to support:
7024 SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
7025 (except for core file support), but we discovered very late in the release
7026 that it has problems with process groups that render gdb unusable. Sorry
7027 about that. I encourage people to fix it and post the fixes.
7029 * Preliminary ELF and DWARF support
7031 GDB can read ELF object files on System V Release 4, and can handle
7032 debugging records for C, in DWARF format, in ELF files. This support
7033 is preliminary. If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please
7034 send mail to bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were
7039 GDB now uses the latest `readline' library. One user-visible change
7040 is that two tabs will list possible command completions, which previously
7041 required typing M-? (meta-question mark, or ESC ?).
7045 The `stepi' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
7046 Many bugs in C++ have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
7047 See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
7049 * State of the MIPS world (in case you wondered):
7051 GDB can understand the symbol tables emitted by the compilers
7052 supplied by most vendors of MIPS-based machines, including DEC. These
7053 symbol tables are in a format that essentially nobody else uses.
7055 Some versions of gcc come with an assembler post-processor called
7056 mips-tfile. This program is required if you want to do source-level
7057 debugging of gcc-compiled programs. I believe FSF does not ship
7058 mips-tfile with gcc version 1, but it will eventually come with gcc
7061 Debugging of g++ output remains a problem. g++ version 1.xx does not
7062 really support it at all. (If you're lucky, you should be able to get
7063 line numbers and stack traces to work, but no parameters or local
7064 variables.) With some work it should be possible to improve the
7067 When gcc version 2 is released, you will have somewhat better luck.
7068 However, even then you will get confusing results for inheritance and
7071 We will eventually provide full debugging of g++ output on
7072 DECstations. This will probably involve some kind of stabs-in-ecoff
7073 encapulation, but the details have not been worked out yet.
7076 *** Changes in GDB-4.2:
7078 * Improved configuration
7080 Only one copy of `configure' exists now, and it is not self-modifying.
7081 Porting BFD is simpler.
7085 The `step' and `next' commands now only stop at the first instruction
7086 of a source line. This prevents the multiple stops that used to occur
7087 in switch statements, for-loops, etc. `Step' continues to stop if a
7088 function that has debugging information is called within the line.
7092 Lots of small bugs fixed. More remain.
7094 * New host supported (not target)
7096 Intel 386 PC clone running Mach i386-none-mach
7099 *** Changes in GDB-4.1:
7101 * Multiple source language support
7103 GDB now has internal scaffolding to handle several source languages.
7104 It determines the type of each source file from its filename extension,
7105 and will switch expression parsing and number formatting to match the
7106 language of the function in the currently selected stack frame.
7107 You can also specifically set the language to be used, with
7108 `set language c' or `set language modula-2'.
7112 GDB now has preliminary support for the GNU Modula-2 compiler,
7113 currently under development at the State University of New York at
7114 Buffalo. Development of both GDB and the GNU Modula-2 compiler will
7115 continue through the fall of 1991 and into 1992.
7117 Other Modula-2 compilers are currently not supported, and attempting to
7118 debug programs compiled with them will likely result in an error as the
7119 symbol table is read. Feel free to work on it, though!
7121 There are hooks in GDB for strict type checking and range checking,
7122 in the `Modula-2 philosophy', but they do not currently work.
7126 GDB can now write to executable and core files (e.g. patch
7127 a variable's value). You must turn this switch on, specify
7128 the file ("exec foo" or "core foo"), *then* modify it, e.g.
7129 by assigning a new value to a variable. Modifications take
7132 * Automatic SunOS shared library reading
7134 When you run your program, GDB automatically determines where its
7135 shared libraries (if any) have been loaded, and reads their symbols.
7136 The `share' command is no longer needed. This also works when
7137 examining core files.
7141 You can specify the number of lines that the `list' command shows.
7144 * New machines supported (host and target)
7146 SGI Iris (MIPS) running Irix V3: mips-sgi-irix or iris
7147 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x: m68k-sony-sysv or news
7148 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1: a29k-nyu-sym1 or ultra3
7150 * New hosts supported (not targets)
7152 IBM RT/PC: romp-ibm-aix or rtpc
7154 * New targets supported (not hosts)
7156 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
7157 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
7158 Ultracomputer remote kernel debug a29k-nyu-kern
7160 * New remote interfaces
7166 *** Changes in GDB-4.0:
7170 Wide output is wrapped at good places to make the output more readable.
7172 Gdb now supports cross-debugging from a host machine of one type to a
7173 target machine of another type. Communication with the target system
7174 is over serial lines. The ``target'' command handles connecting to the
7175 remote system; the ``load'' command will download a program into the
7176 remote system. Serial stubs for the m68k and i386 are provided. Gdb
7177 also supports debugging of realtime processes running under VxWorks,
7178 using SunRPC Remote Procedure Calls over TCP/IP to talk to a debugger
7179 stub on the target system.
7181 New CPUs supported include the AMD 29000 and Intel 960.
7183 GDB now reads object files and symbol tables via a ``binary file''
7184 library, which allows a single copy of GDB to debug programs of multiple
7185 object file types such as a.out and coff.
7187 There is now a GDB reference card in "doc/refcard.tex". (Make targets
7188 refcard.dvi and refcard.ps are available to format it).
7191 * Control-Variable user interface simplified
7193 All variables that control the operation of the debugger can be set
7194 by the ``set'' command, and displayed by the ``show'' command.
7196 For example, ``set prompt new-gdb=>'' will change your prompt to new-gdb=>.
7197 ``Show prompt'' produces the response:
7198 Gdb's prompt is new-gdb=>.
7200 What follows are the NEW set commands. The command ``help set'' will
7201 print a complete list of old and new set commands. ``help set FOO''
7202 will give a longer description of the variable FOO. ``show'' will show
7203 all of the variable descriptions and their current settings.
7205 confirm on/off: Enables warning questions for operations that are
7206 hard to recover from, e.g. rerunning the program while
7207 it is already running. Default is ON.
7209 editing on/off: Enables EMACS style command line editing
7210 of input. Previous lines can be recalled with
7211 control-P, the current line can be edited with control-B,
7212 you can search for commands with control-R, etc.
7215 history filename NAME: NAME is where the gdb command history
7216 will be stored. The default is .gdb_history,
7217 or the value of the environment variable
7220 history size N: The size, in commands, of the command history. The
7221 default is 256, or the value of the environment variable
7224 history save on/off: If this value is set to ON, the history file will
7225 be saved after exiting gdb. If set to OFF, the
7226 file will not be saved. The default is OFF.
7228 history expansion on/off: If this value is set to ON, then csh-like
7229 history expansion will be performed on
7230 command line input. The default is OFF.
7232 radix N: Sets the default radix for input and output. It can be set
7233 to 8, 10, or 16. Note that the argument to "radix" is interpreted
7234 in the current radix, so "set radix 10" is always a no-op.
7236 height N: This integer value is the number of lines on a page. Default
7237 is 24, the current `stty rows'' setting, or the ``li#''
7238 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
7241 width N: This integer value is the number of characters on a line.
7242 Default is 80, the current `stty cols'' setting, or the ``co#''
7243 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
7246 Note: ``set screensize'' is obsolete. Use ``set height'' and
7247 ``set width'' instead.
7249 print address on/off: Print memory addresses in various command displays,
7250 such as stack traces and structure values. Gdb looks
7251 more ``symbolic'' if you turn this off; it looks more
7252 ``machine level'' with it on. Default is ON.
7254 print array on/off: Prettyprint arrays. New convenient format! Default
7257 print demangle on/off: Print C++ symbols in "source" form if on,
7260 print asm-demangle on/off: Same, for assembler level printouts
7263 print vtbl on/off: Prettyprint C++ virtual function tables. Default is OFF.
7266 * Support for Epoch Environment.
7268 The epoch environment is a version of Emacs v18 with windowing. One
7269 new command, ``inspect'', is identical to ``print'', except that if you
7270 are running in the epoch environment, the value is printed in its own
7274 * Support for Shared Libraries
7276 GDB can now debug programs and core files that use SunOS shared libraries.
7277 Symbols from a shared library cannot be referenced
7278 before the shared library has been linked with the program (this
7279 happens after you type ``run'' and before the function main() is entered).
7280 At any time after this linking (including when examining core files
7281 from dynamically linked programs), gdb reads the symbols from each
7282 shared library when you type the ``sharedlibrary'' command.
7283 It can be abbreviated ``share''.
7285 sharedlibrary REGEXP: Load shared object library symbols for files
7286 matching a unix regular expression. No argument
7287 indicates to load symbols for all shared libraries.
7289 info sharedlibrary: Status of loaded shared libraries.
7294 A watchpoint stops execution of a program whenever the value of an
7295 expression changes. Checking for this slows down execution
7296 tremendously whenever you are in the scope of the expression, but is
7297 quite useful for catching tough ``bit-spreader'' or pointer misuse
7298 problems. Some machines such as the 386 have hardware for doing this
7299 more quickly, and future versions of gdb will use this hardware.
7301 watch EXP: Set a watchpoint (breakpoint) for an expression.
7303 info watchpoints: Information about your watchpoints.
7305 delete N: Deletes watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
7306 disable N: Temporarily turns off watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
7307 enable N: Re-enables watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
7310 * C++ multiple inheritance
7312 When used with a GCC version 2 compiler, GDB supports multiple inheritance
7315 * C++ exception handling
7317 Gdb now supports limited C++ exception handling. Besides the existing
7318 ability to breakpoint on an exception handler, gdb can breakpoint on
7319 the raising of an exception (before the stack is peeled back to the
7322 catch FOO: If there is a FOO exception handler in the dynamic scope,
7323 set a breakpoint to catch exceptions which may be raised there.
7324 Multiple exceptions (``catch foo bar baz'') may be caught.
7326 info catch: Lists all exceptions which may be caught in the
7327 current stack frame.
7330 * Minor command changes
7332 The command ``call func (arg, arg, ...)'' now acts like the print
7333 command, except it does not print or save a value if the function's result
7334 is void. This is similar to dbx usage.
7336 The ``up'' and ``down'' commands now always print the frame they end up
7337 at; ``up-silently'' and `down-silently'' can be used in scripts to change
7338 frames without printing.
7340 * New directory command
7342 'dir' now adds directories to the FRONT of the source search path.
7343 The path starts off empty. Source files that contain debug information
7344 about the directory in which they were compiled can be found even
7345 with an empty path; Sun CC and GCC include this information. If GDB can't
7346 find your source file in the current directory, type "dir .".
7348 * Configuring GDB for compilation
7350 For normal use, type ``./configure host''. See README or gdb.texinfo
7353 GDB now handles cross debugging. If you are remotely debugging between
7354 two different machines, type ``./configure host -target=targ''.
7355 Host is the machine where GDB will run; targ is the machine
7356 where the program that you are debugging will run.