1 What has changed in GDB?
2 (Organized release by release)
4 *** Changes since GDB 6.0:
6 * DWARF 2 Location Expressions
8 GDB support for location expressions has been extended to support function
9 arguments and frame bases. Older versions of GDB could crash when they
12 * New native configurations
14 NetBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-netbsd*
16 * New debugging protocols
18 M32R with SDI protocol m32r-*-elf*
20 * "set prompt-escape-char" command deleted.
22 The command "set prompt-escape-char" has been deleted. This command,
23 and its very obscure effet on GDB's prompt, was never documented,
24 tested, nor mentioned in the NEWS file.
26 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
28 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
29 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
30 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
33 Sun 3, running SunOS 3 m68*-*-sunos3*
34 Sun 3, running SunOS 4 m68*-*-sunos4*
35 Sun 2, running SunOS 3 m68000-*-sunos3*
36 Sun 2, running SunOS 4 m68000-*-sunos4*
37 Motorola 680x0 running LynxOS m68*-*-lynxos*
38 AT&T 3b1/Unix pc m68*-att-*
39 Bull DPX2 (68k, System V release 3) m68*-bull-sysv*
41 * REMOVED configurations and files
43 SGI Irix-4.x mips-sgi-irix4 or iris4
44 SGI Iris (MIPS) running Irix V3: mips-sgi-irix or iris
45 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
46 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
47 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
48 HP/PA running BSD hppa*-*-bsd*
49 HP/PA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
50 HP/PA Pro target hppa*-*-pro*
51 PMAX (MIPS) running Mach 3.0 mips*-*-mach3*
52 Sequent family i[3456]86-sequent-sysv4*
53 i[3456]86-sequent-sysv*
54 i[3456]86-sequent-bsd*
55 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
56 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
58 *** Changes in GDB 6.0:
62 Support for debugging the Objective-C programming language has been
65 * New backtrace mechanism (includes DWARF 2 Call Frame Information).
67 DWARF 2's Call Frame Information makes available compiler generated
68 information that more exactly describes the program's run-time stack.
69 By using this information, GDB is able to provide more robust stack
72 The i386, amd64 (nee, x86-64), Alpha, m68hc11, ia64, and m32r targets
73 have been updated to use a new backtrace mechanism which includes
78 GDB's remote protocol has been extended to include support for hosted
79 file I/O (where the remote target uses GDB's file system). See GDB's
80 remote protocol documentation for details.
82 * All targets using the new architecture framework.
84 All of GDB's targets have been updated to use the new internal
85 architecture framework. The way is now open for future GDB releases
86 to include cross-architecture native debugging support (i386 on amd64,
89 * GNU/Linux's Thread Local Storage (TLS)
91 GDB now includes support for for the GNU/Linux implementation of
94 * GNU/Linux's Native POSIX Thread Library (NPTL)
96 GDB's thread code has been updated to work with either the new
97 GNU/Linux NPTL thread library or the older "LinuxThreads" library.
99 * Separate debug info.
101 GDB, in conjunction with BINUTILS, now supports a mechanism for
102 automatically loading debug information from a separate file. Instead
103 of shipping full debug and non-debug versions of system libraries,
104 system integrators can now instead ship just the stripped libraries
105 and optional debug files.
107 * DWARF 2 Location Expressions
109 DWARF 2 Location Expressions allow the compiler to more completely
110 describe the location of variables (even in optimized code) to the
113 GDB now includes preliminary support for location expressions (support
114 for DW_OP_piece is still missing).
118 A number of long standing bugs that caused GDB to die while starting a
119 Java application have been fixed. GDB's Java support is now
120 considered "useable".
122 * GNU/Linux support for fork, vfork, and exec.
124 The "catch fork", "catch exec", "catch vfork", and "set follow-fork-mode"
125 commands are now implemented for GNU/Linux. They require a 2.5.x or later
128 * GDB supports logging output to a file
130 There are two new commands, "set logging" and "show logging", which can be
131 used to capture GDB's output to a file.
133 * The meaning of "detach" has changed for gdbserver
135 The "detach" command will now resume the application, as documented. To
136 disconnect from gdbserver and leave it stopped, use the new "disconnect"
139 * d10v, m68hc11 `regs' command deprecated
141 The `info registers' command has been updated so that it displays the
142 registers using a format identical to the old `regs' command.
146 A new command, "maint set profile on/off", has been added. This command can
147 be used to enable or disable profiling while running GDB, to profile a
148 session or a set of commands. In addition there is a new configure switch,
149 "--enable-profiling", which will cause GDB to be compiled with profiling
150 data, for more informative profiling results.
152 * Default MI syntax changed to "mi2".
154 The default MI (machine interface) syntax, enabled by the command line
155 option "-i=mi", has been changed to "mi2". The previous MI syntax,
156 "mi1", can be enabled by specifying the option "-i=mi1".
158 Support for the original "mi0" syntax (included in GDB 5.0) has been
161 Fix for gdb/192: removed extraneous space when displaying frame level.
162 Fix for gdb/672: update changelist is now output in mi list format.
163 Fix for gdb/702: a -var-assign that updates the value now shows up
164 in a subsequent -var-update.
166 * New native configurations.
168 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
170 * Multi-arched targets.
172 HP/PA HPUX11 hppa*-*-hpux*
173 Renesas M32R/D w/simulator m32r-*-elf*
175 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
177 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
178 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
179 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
182 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
183 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
184 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
185 HP/PA running BSD hppa*-*-bsd*
186 HP/PA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
187 HP/PA Pro target hppa*-*-pro*
188 PMAX (MIPS) running Mach 3.0 mips*-*-mach3*
189 Sequent family i[3456]86-sequent-sysv4*
190 i[3456]86-sequent-sysv*
191 i[3456]86-sequent-bsd*
192 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
193 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
195 * REMOVED configurations and files
198 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
199 IBM AIX PS/2 i[3456]86-*-aix
200 i386 running Mach 3.0 i[3456]86-*-mach3*
201 i386 running Mach i[3456]86-*-mach*
202 i386 running OSF/1 i[3456]86-*osf1mk*
203 HP/Apollo 68k Family m68*-apollo*-sysv*,
205 m68*-hp-bsd*, m68*-hp-hpux*
206 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
207 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
208 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
209 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
210 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
212 * MIPS $fp behavior changed
214 The convenience variable $fp, for the MIPS, now consistently returns
215 the address of the current frame's base. Previously, depending on the
216 context, $fp could refer to either $sp or the current frame's base
217 address. See ``8.10 Registers'' in the manual ``Debugging with GDB:
218 The GNU Source-Level Debugger''.
220 *** Changes in GDB 5.3:
222 * GNU/Linux shared library multi-threaded performance improved.
224 When debugging a multi-threaded application on GNU/Linux, GDB now uses
225 `/proc', in preference to `ptrace' for memory reads. This may result
226 in an improvement in the start-up time of multi-threaded, shared
227 library applications when run under GDB. One GDB user writes: ``loads
228 shared libs like mad''.
230 * ``gdbserver'' now supports multi-threaded applications on some targets
232 Support for debugging multi-threaded applications which use
233 the GNU/Linux LinuxThreads package has been added for
234 arm*-*-linux*-gnu*, i[3456]86-*-linux*-gnu*, mips*-*-linux*-gnu*,
235 powerpc*-*-linux*-gnu*, and sh*-*-linux*-gnu*.
237 * GDB now supports C/C++ preprocessor macros.
239 GDB now expands preprocessor macro invocations in C/C++ expressions,
240 and provides various commands for showing macro definitions and how
243 The new command `macro expand EXPRESSION' expands any macro
244 invocations in expression, and shows the result.
246 The new command `show macro MACRO-NAME' shows the definition of the
247 macro named MACRO-NAME, and where it was defined.
249 Most compilers don't include information about macros in the debugging
250 information by default. In GCC 3.1, for example, you need to compile
251 your program with the options `-gdwarf-2 -g3'. If the macro
252 information is present in the executable, GDB will read it.
254 * Multi-arched targets.
256 DEC Alpha (partial) alpha*-*-*
257 DEC VAX (partial) vax-*-*
259 National Semiconductor NS32000 (partial) ns32k-*-*
260 Motorola 68000 (partial) m68k-*-*
261 Motorola MCORE mcore-*-*
265 Fujitsu FRV architecture added by Red Hat frv*-*-*
268 * New native configurations
270 Alpha NetBSD alpha*-*-netbsd*
271 SH NetBSD sh*-*-netbsdelf*
272 MIPS NetBSD mips*-*-netbsd*
273 UltraSPARC NetBSD sparc64-*-netbsd*
275 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
277 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
278 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
279 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
282 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
283 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
284 IBM AIX PS/2 i[3456]86-*-aix
285 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
286 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
287 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
288 i386 running Mach 3.0 i[3456]86-*-mach3*
289 i386 running Mach i[3456]86-*-mach*
290 i386 running OSF/1 i[3456]86-*osf1mk*
291 HP/Apollo 68k Family m68*-apollo*-sysv*,
293 m68*-hp-bsd*, m68*-hp-hpux*
294 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
298 CHILL, a Pascal like language used by telecommunications companies.
300 * REMOVED configurations and files
302 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi, udi29k
303 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
304 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
305 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
306 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
308 testsuite/gdb.hp/gdb.threads-hp/ directory
310 * New command "set max-user-call-depth <nnn>"
312 This command allows the user to limit the call depth of user-defined
313 commands. The default is 1024.
315 * Changes in FreeBSD/i386 native debugging.
317 Support for the "generate-core-file" has been added.
319 * New commands "dump", "append", and "restore".
321 These commands allow data to be copied from target memory
322 to a bfd-format or binary file (dump and append), and back
323 from a file into memory (restore).
325 * Improved "next/step" support on multi-processor Alpha Tru64.
327 The previous single-step mechanism could cause unpredictable problems,
328 including the random appearance of SIGSEGV or SIGTRAP signals. The use
329 of a software single-step mechanism prevents this.
331 *** Changes in GDB 5.2.1:
339 gdb/182: gdb/323: gdb/237: On alpha, gdb was reporting:
340 mdebugread.c:2443: gdb-internal-error: sect_index_data not initialized
341 Fix, by Joel Brobecker imported from mainline.
343 gdb/439: gdb/291: On some ELF object files, gdb was reporting:
344 dwarf2read.c:1072: gdb-internal-error: sect_index_text not initialize
345 Fix, by Fred Fish, imported from mainline.
347 Dwarf2 .debug_frame & .eh_frame handler improved in many ways.
348 Surprisingly enough, it works now.
349 By Michal Ludvig, imported from mainline.
351 i386 hardware watchpoint support:
352 avoid misses on second run for some targets.
353 By Pierre Muller, imported from mainline.
355 *** Changes in GDB 5.2:
357 * New command "set trust-readonly-sections on[off]".
359 This command is a hint that tells gdb that read-only sections
360 really are read-only (ie. that their contents will not change).
361 In this mode, gdb will go to the object file rather than the
362 target to read memory from read-only sections (such as ".text").
363 This can be a significant performance improvement on some
364 (notably embedded) targets.
366 * New command "generate-core-file" (or "gcore").
368 This new gdb command allows the user to drop a core file of the child
369 process state at any time. So far it's been implemented only for
370 GNU/Linux and Solaris, but should be relatively easily ported to other
371 hosts. Argument is core file name (defaults to core.<pid>).
373 * New command line option
375 GDB now accepts --pid or -p followed by a process id.
377 * Change in command line behavior -- corefiles vs. process ids.
379 There is a subtle behavior in the way in which GDB handles
380 command line arguments. The first non-flag argument is always
381 a program to debug, but the second non-flag argument may either
382 be a corefile or a process id. Previously, GDB would attempt to
383 open the second argument as a corefile, and if that failed, would
384 issue a superfluous error message and then attempt to attach it as
385 a process. Now, if the second argument begins with a non-digit,
386 it will be treated as a corefile. If it begins with a digit,
387 GDB will attempt to attach it as a process, and if no such process
388 is found, will then attempt to open it as a corefile.
390 * Changes in ARM configurations.
392 Multi-arch support is enabled for all ARM configurations. The ARM/NetBSD
393 configuration is fully multi-arch.
395 * New native configurations
397 ARM NetBSD arm*-*-netbsd*
398 x86 OpenBSD i[3456]86-*-openbsd*
399 AMD x86-64 running GNU/Linux x86_64-*-linux-*
400 Sparc64 running FreeBSD sparc64-*-freebsd*
404 Sanyo XStormy16 xstormy16-elf
406 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
408 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
409 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
410 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
413 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi, udi29k
414 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
415 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
416 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
417 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
419 testsuite/gdb.hp/gdb.threads-hp/ directory
421 * REMOVED configurations and files
423 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
425 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
426 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
427 PowerPC Netware powerpc-*-netware*
428 Harris/CXUX m88k m88*-harris-cxux*
429 Most ns32k hosts and targets ns32k-*-mach3* ns32k-umax-*
430 ns32k-utek-sysv* ns32k-utek-*
431 SunOS 4.0.Xi on i386 i[3456]86-*-sunos*
432 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1 a29k-nyu-sym1 a29k-*-kern*
433 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x m68*-sony-sysv news
434 ISI Optimum V (3.05) under 4.3bsd. m68*-isi-*
435 Apple Macintosh (MPW) host and target N/A host, powerpc-*-macos*
437 * Changes to command line processing
439 The new `--args' feature can be used to specify command-line arguments
440 for the inferior from gdb's command line.
442 * Changes to key bindings
444 There is a new `operate-and-get-next' function bound to `C-o'.
446 *** Changes in GDB 5.1.1
448 Fix compile problem on DJGPP.
450 Fix a problem with floating-point registers on the i386 being
453 Fix to stop GDB crashing on .debug_str debug info.
455 Numerous documentation fixes.
457 Numerous testsuite fixes.
459 *** Changes in GDB 5.1:
461 * New native configurations
463 Alpha FreeBSD alpha*-*-freebsd*
464 x86 FreeBSD 3.x and 4.x i[3456]86*-freebsd[34]*
465 MIPS GNU/Linux mips*-*-linux*
466 MIPS SGI Irix 6.x mips*-sgi-irix6*
468 s390 and s390x GNU/Linux {s390,s390x}-*-linux*
472 Motorola 68HC11 and 68HC12 m68hc11-elf
474 UltraSparc running GNU/Linux sparc64-*-linux*
476 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
478 x86 FreeBSD before 2.2 i[3456]86*-freebsd{1,2.[01]}*,
479 Harris/CXUX m88k m88*-harris-cxux*
480 Most ns32k hosts and targets ns32k-*-mach3* ns32k-umax-*
481 ns32k-utek-sysv* ns32k-utek-*
482 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
484 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1 a29k-nyu-sym1 a29k-*-kern*
485 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
486 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
487 PowerPC Netware powerpc-*-netware*
488 SunOS 4.0.Xi on i386 i[3456]86-*-sunos*
489 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x m68*-sony-sysv news
490 ISI Optimum V (3.05) under 4.3bsd. m68*-isi-*
491 Apple Macintosh (MPW) host N/A
493 stuff.c (Program to stuff files into a specially prepared space in kdb)
494 kdb-start.c (Main loop for the standalone kernel debugger)
496 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
497 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
498 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
501 * REMOVED configurations and files
503 Altos 3068 m68*-altos-*
504 Convex c1-*-*, c2-*-*
506 ARM RISCix arm-*-* (as host)
510 * GDB has been converted to ISO C.
512 GDB's source code has been converted to ISO C. In particular, the
513 sources are fully protoized, and rely on standard headers being
518 * "info symbol" works on platforms which use COFF, ECOFF, XCOFF, and NLM.
520 * The MI enabled by default.
522 The new machine oriented interface (MI) introduced in GDB 5.0 has been
523 revised and enabled by default. Packages which use GDB as a debugging
524 engine behind a UI or another front end are encouraged to switch to
525 using the GDB/MI interface, instead of the old annotations interface
526 which is now deprecated.
528 * Support for debugging Pascal programs.
530 GDB now includes support for debugging Pascal programs. The following
531 main features are supported:
533 - Pascal-specific data types such as sets;
535 - automatic recognition of Pascal sources based on file-name
538 - Pascal-style display of data types, variables, and functions;
540 - a Pascal expression parser.
542 However, some important features are not yet supported.
544 - Pascal string operations are not supported at all;
546 - there are some problems with boolean types;
548 - Pascal type hexadecimal constants are not supported
549 because they conflict with the internal variables format;
551 - support for Pascal objects and classes is not full yet;
553 - unlike Pascal, GDB is case-sensitive for symbol names.
555 * Changes in completion.
557 Commands such as `shell', `run' and `set args', which pass arguments
558 to inferior programs, now complete on file names, similar to what
559 users expect at the shell prompt.
561 Commands which accept locations, such as `disassemble', `print',
562 `breakpoint', `until', etc. now complete on filenames as well as
563 program symbols. Thus, if you type "break foob TAB", and the source
564 files linked into the programs include `foobar.c', that file name will
565 be one of the candidates for completion. However, file names are not
566 considered for completion after you typed a colon that delimits a file
567 name from a name of a function in that file, as in "break foo.c:bar".
569 `set demangle-style' completes on available demangling styles.
571 * New platform-independent commands:
573 It is now possible to define a post-hook for a command as well as a
574 hook that runs before the command. For more details, see the
575 documentation of `hookpost' in the GDB manual.
577 * Changes in GNU/Linux native debugging.
579 Support for debugging multi-threaded programs has been completely
580 revised for all platforms except m68k and sparc. You can now debug as
581 many threads as your system allows you to have.
583 Attach/detach is supported for multi-threaded programs.
585 Support for SSE registers was added for x86. This doesn't work for
586 multi-threaded programs though.
588 * Changes in MIPS configurations.
590 Multi-arch support is enabled for all MIPS configurations.
592 GDB can now be built as native debugger on SGI Irix 6.x systems for
593 debugging n32 executables. (Debugging 64-bit executables is not yet
596 * Unified support for hardware watchpoints in all x86 configurations.
598 Most (if not all) native x86 configurations support hardware-assisted
599 breakpoints and watchpoints in a unified manner. This support
600 implements debug register sharing between watchpoints, which allows to
601 put a virtually infinite number of watchpoints on the same address,
602 and also supports watching regions up to 16 bytes with several debug
605 The new maintenance command `maintenance show-debug-regs' toggles
606 debugging print-outs in functions that insert, remove, and test
607 watchpoints and hardware breakpoints.
609 * Changes in the DJGPP native configuration.
611 New command ``info dos sysinfo'' displays assorted information about
612 the CPU, OS, memory, and DPMI server.
614 New commands ``info dos gdt'', ``info dos ldt'', and ``info dos idt''
615 display information about segment descriptors stored in GDT, LDT, and
618 New commands ``info dos pde'' and ``info dos pte'' display entries
619 from Page Directory and Page Tables (for now works with CWSDPMI only).
620 New command ``info dos address-pte'' displays the Page Table entry for
621 a given linear address.
623 GDB can now pass command lines longer than 126 characters to the
624 program being debugged (requires an update to the libdbg.a library
625 which is part of the DJGPP development kit).
627 DWARF2 debug info is now supported.
629 It is now possible to `step' and `next' through calls to `longjmp'.
631 * Changes in documentation.
633 All GDB documentation was converted to GFDL, the GNU Free
634 Documentation License.
636 Tracepoints-related commands are now fully documented in the GDB
639 TUI, the Text-mode User Interface, is now documented in the manual.
641 Tracepoints-related commands are now fully documented in the GDB
644 The "GDB Internals" manual now has an index. It also includes
645 documentation of `ui_out' functions, GDB coding standards, x86
646 hardware watchpoints, and memory region attributes.
648 * GDB's version number moved to ``version.in''
650 The Makefile variable VERSION has been replaced by the file
651 ``version.in''. People creating GDB distributions should update the
652 contents of this file.
656 GUD support is now a standard part of the EMACS distribution.
658 *** Changes in GDB 5.0:
660 * Improved support for debugging FP programs on x86 targets
662 Unified and much-improved support for debugging floating-point
663 programs on all x86 targets. In particular, ``info float'' now
664 displays the FP registers in the same format on all x86 targets, with
665 greater level of detail.
667 * Improvements and bugfixes in hardware-assisted watchpoints
669 It is now possible to watch array elements, struct members, and
670 bitfields with hardware-assisted watchpoints. Data-read watchpoints
671 on x86 targets no longer erroneously trigger when the address is
674 * Improvements in the native DJGPP version of GDB
676 The distribution now includes all the scripts and auxiliary files
677 necessary to build the native DJGPP version on MS-DOS/MS-Windows
678 machines ``out of the box''.
680 The DJGPP version can now debug programs that use signals. It is
681 possible to catch signals that happened in the debuggee, deliver
682 signals to it, interrupt it with Ctrl-C, etc. (Previously, a signal
683 would kill the program being debugged.) Programs that hook hardware
684 interrupts (keyboard, timer, etc.) can also be debugged.
686 It is now possible to debug DJGPP programs that redirect their
687 standard handles or switch them to raw (as opposed to cooked) mode, or
688 even close them. The command ``run < foo > bar'' works as expected,
689 and ``info terminal'' reports useful information about the debuggee's
690 terminal, including raw/cooked mode, redirection, etc.
692 The DJGPP version now uses termios functions for console I/O, which
693 enables debugging graphics programs. Interrupting GDB with Ctrl-C
696 DOS-style file names with drive letters are now fully supported by
699 It is now possible to debug DJGPP programs that switch their working
700 directory. It is also possible to rerun the debuggee any number of
701 times without restarting GDB; thus, you can use the same setup,
702 breakpoints, etc. for many debugging sessions.
704 * New native configurations
706 ARM GNU/Linux arm*-*-linux*
707 PowerPC GNU/Linux powerpc-*-linux*
711 Motorola MCore mcore-*-*
712 x86 VxWorks i[3456]86-*-vxworks*
713 PowerPC VxWorks powerpc-*-vxworks*
714 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
716 * OBSOLETE configurations
718 Altos 3068 m68*-altos-*
719 Convex c1-*-*, c2-*-*
721 ARM RISCix arm-*-* (as host)
724 Configurations that have been declared obsolete will be commented out,
725 but the code will be left in place. If there is no activity to revive
726 these configurations before the next release of GDB, the sources will
727 be permanently REMOVED.
729 * Gould support removed
731 Support for the Gould PowerNode and NP1 has been removed.
733 * New features for SVR4
735 On SVR4 native platforms (such as Solaris), if you attach to a process
736 without first loading a symbol file, GDB will now attempt to locate and
737 load symbols from the running process's executable file.
739 * Many C++ enhancements
741 C++ support has been greatly improved. Overload resolution now works properly
742 in almost all cases. RTTI support is on the way.
744 * Remote targets can connect to a sub-program
746 A popen(3) style serial-device has been added. This device starts a
747 sub-process (such as a stand-alone simulator) and then communicates
748 with that. The sub-program to run is specified using the syntax
749 ``|<program> <args>'' vis:
751 (gdb) set remotedebug 1
752 (gdb) target extended-remote |mn10300-elf-sim program-args
754 * MIPS 64 remote protocol
756 A long standing bug in the mips64 remote protocol where by GDB
757 expected certain 32 bit registers (ex SR) to be transfered as 32
758 instead of 64 bits has been fixed.
760 The command ``set remote-mips64-transfers-32bit-regs on'' has been
761 added to provide backward compatibility with older versions of GDB.
763 * ``set remotebinarydownload'' replaced by ``set remote X-packet''
765 The command ``set remotebinarydownload'' command has been replaced by
766 ``set remote X-packet''. Other commands in ``set remote'' family
767 include ``set remote P-packet''.
769 * Breakpoint commands accept ranges.
771 The breakpoint commands ``enable'', ``disable'', and ``delete'' now
772 accept a range of breakpoints, e.g. ``5-7''. The tracepoint command
773 ``tracepoint passcount'' also accepts a range of tracepoints.
775 * ``apropos'' command added.
777 The ``apropos'' command searches through command names and
778 documentation strings, printing out matches, making it much easier to
779 try to find a command that does what you are looking for.
783 A new machine oriented interface (MI) has been added to GDB. This
784 interface is designed for debug environments running GDB as a separate
785 process. This is part of the long term libGDB project. See the
786 "GDB/MI" chapter of the GDB manual for further information. It can be
787 enabled by configuring with:
789 .../configure --enable-gdbmi
791 *** Changes in GDB-4.18:
793 * New native configurations
795 HP-UX 10.20 hppa*-*-hpux10.20
796 HP-UX 11.x hppa*-*-hpux11.0*
797 M68K GNU/Linux m68*-*-linux*
801 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
802 Intel StrongARM strongarm-*-*
803 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
805 * OBSOLETE configurations
807 Gould PowerNode, NP1 np1-*-*, pn-*-*
809 Configurations that have been declared obsolete will be commented out,
810 but the code will be left in place. If there is no activity to revive
811 these configurations before the next release of GDB, the sources will
812 be permanently REMOVED.
816 As a compatibility experiment, GDB's source files buildsym.h and
817 buildsym.c have been converted to pure standard C, no longer
818 containing any K&R compatibility code. We believe that all systems in
819 use today either come with a standard C compiler, or have a GCC port
820 available. If this is not true, please report the affected
821 configuration to bug-gdb@gnu.org immediately. See the README file for
822 information about getting a standard C compiler if you don't have one
827 GDB now uses readline 2.2.
829 * set extension-language
831 You can now control the mapping between filename extensions and source
832 languages by using the `set extension-language' command. For instance,
833 you can ask GDB to treat .c files as C++ by saying
834 set extension-language .c c++
835 The command `info extensions' lists all of the recognized extensions
836 and their associated languages.
838 * Setting processor type for PowerPC and RS/6000
840 When GDB is configured for a powerpc*-*-* or an rs6000*-*-* target,
841 you can use the `set processor' command to specify what variant of the
842 PowerPC family you are debugging. The command
846 sets the PowerPC/RS6000 variant to NAME. GDB knows about the
847 following PowerPC and RS6000 variants:
849 ppc-uisa PowerPC UISA - a PPC processor as viewed by user-level code
850 rs6000 IBM RS6000 ("POWER") architecture, user-level view
852 403GC IBM PowerPC 403GC
853 505 Motorola PowerPC 505
854 860 Motorola PowerPC 860 or 850
855 601 Motorola PowerPC 601
856 602 Motorola PowerPC 602
857 603 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 603 or 603e
858 604 Motorola PowerPC 604 or 604e
859 750 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 750 or 750
861 At the moment, this command just tells GDB what to name the
862 special-purpose processor registers. Since almost all the affected
863 registers are inaccessible to user-level programs, this command is
864 only useful for remote debugging in its present form.
868 Thanks to a major code donation from Hewlett-Packard, GDB now has much
869 more extensive support for HP-UX. Added features include shared
870 library support, kernel threads and hardware watchpoints for 11.00,
871 support for HP's ANSI C and C++ compilers, and a compatibility mode
872 for xdb and dbx commands.
876 HP's donation includes the new concept of catchpoints, which is a
877 generalization of the old catch command. On HP-UX, it is now possible
878 to catch exec, fork, and vfork, as well as library loading.
880 This means that the existing catch command has changed; its first
881 argument now specifies the type of catch to be set up. See the
882 output of "help catch" for a list of catchpoint types.
884 * Debugging across forks
886 On HP-UX, you can choose which process to debug when a fork() happens
891 HP has donated a curses-based terminal user interface (TUI). To get
892 it, build with --enable-tui. Although this can be enabled for any
893 configuration, at present it only works for native HP debugging.
895 * GDB remote protocol additions
897 A new protocol packet 'X' that writes binary data is now available.
898 Default behavior is to try 'X', then drop back to 'M' if the stub
899 fails to respond. The settable variable `remotebinarydownload'
900 allows explicit control over the use of 'X'.
902 For 64-bit targets, the memory packets ('M' and 'm') can now contain a
903 full 64-bit address. The command
905 set remoteaddresssize 32
907 can be used to revert to the old behaviour. For existing remote stubs
908 the change should not be noticed, as the additional address information
911 In order to assist in debugging stubs, you may use the maintenance
912 command `packet' to send any text string to the stub. For instance,
914 maint packet heythere
916 sends the packet "$heythere#<checksum>". Note that it is very easy to
917 disrupt a debugging session by sending the wrong packet at the wrong
920 The compare-sections command allows you to compare section data on the
921 target to what is in the executable file without uploading or
922 downloading, by comparing CRC checksums.
924 * Tracing can collect general expressions
926 You may now collect general expressions at tracepoints. This requires
927 further additions to the target-side stub; see tracepoint.c and
928 doc/agentexpr.texi for further details.
930 * mask-address variable for Mips
932 For Mips targets, you may control the zeroing of the upper 32 bits of
933 a 64-bit address by entering `set mask-address on'. This is mainly
934 of interest to users of embedded R4xxx and R5xxx processors.
936 * Higher serial baud rates
938 GDB's serial code now allows you to specify baud rates 57600, 115200,
939 230400, and 460800 baud. (Note that your host system may not be able
940 to achieve all of these rates.)
944 The i960 configuration now includes an initial implementation of a
945 builtin simulator, contributed by Jim Wilson.
948 *** Changes in GDB-4.17:
950 * New native configurations
952 Alpha GNU/Linux alpha*-*-linux*
953 Unixware 2.x i[3456]86-unixware2*
954 Irix 6.x mips*-sgi-irix6*
955 PowerPC GNU/Linux powerpc-*-linux*
956 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
957 Sparc GNU/Linux sparc-*-linux*
958 Motorola sysV68 R3V7.1 m68k-motorola-sysv
962 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
963 Hitachi H8/300S h8300*-*-*
964 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
965 Matsushita MN10300 w/simulator mn10300-*-*
966 MIPS NEC VR4100 mips64*vr4100*{,el}-*-elf*
967 MIPS NEC VR5000 mips64*vr5000*{,el}-*-elf*
968 MIPS Toshiba TX39 mips64*tx39*{,el}-*-elf*
969 Mitsubishi D10V w/simulator d10v-*-*
970 Mitsubishi M32R/D w/simulator m32r-*-elf*
971 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
972 NEC V850 w/simulator v850-*-*
974 * New debugging protocols
976 ARM with RDI protocol arm*-*-*
977 M68K with dBUG monitor m68*-*-{aout,coff,elf}
978 DDB and LSI variants of PMON protocol mips*-*-*
979 PowerPC with DINK32 monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
980 PowerPC with SDS protocol powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
981 Macraigor OCD (Wiggler) devices powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
985 All configurations can now understand and use the DWARF 2 debugging
986 format. The choice is automatic, if the symbol file contains DWARF 2
991 GDB now includes basic Java language support. This support is
992 only useful with Java compilers that produce native machine code.
994 * solib-absolute-prefix and solib-search-path
996 For SunOS and SVR4 shared libraries, you may now set the prefix for
997 loading absolute shared library symbol files, and the search path for
998 locating non-absolute shared library symbol files.
1000 * Live range splitting
1002 GDB can now effectively debug code for which GCC has performed live
1003 range splitting as part of its optimization. See gdb/doc/LRS for
1004 more details on the expected format of the stabs information.
1008 GDB's support for the GNU Hurd, including thread debugging, has been
1009 updated to work with current versions of the Hurd.
1013 GDB's ARM target configuration now handles the ARM7T (Thumb) 16-bit
1014 instruction set. ARM GDB automatically detects when Thumb
1015 instructions are in use, and adjusts disassembly and backtracing
1020 GDB's MIPS target configurations now handle the MIP16 16-bit
1025 GDB now includes support for overlays; if an executable has been
1026 linked such that multiple sections are based at the same address, GDB
1027 will decide which section to use for symbolic info. You can choose to
1028 control the decision manually, using overlay commands, or implement
1029 additional target-side support and use "overlay load-target" to bring
1030 in the overlay mapping. Do "help overlay" for more detail.
1034 The command "info symbol <address>" displays information about
1035 the symbol at the specified address.
1039 The standard remote protocol now includes an extension that allows
1040 asynchronous collection and display of trace data. This requires
1041 extensive support in the target-side debugging stub. Tracing mode
1042 includes a new interaction mode in GDB and new commands: see the
1043 file tracepoint.c for more details.
1047 Configurations for embedded MIPS now include a simulator contributed
1048 by Cygnus Solutions. The simulator supports the instruction sets
1049 of most MIPS variants.
1053 Sparc configurations may now include the ERC32 simulator contributed
1054 by the European Space Agency. The simulator is not built into
1055 Sparc targets by default; configure with --enable-sim to include it.
1059 For target configurations that may include multiple variants of a
1060 basic architecture (such as MIPS and SH), you may now set the
1061 architecture explicitly. "set arch" sets, "info arch" lists
1062 the possible architectures.
1064 *** Changes in GDB-4.16:
1066 * New native configurations
1068 Windows 95, x86 Windows NT i[345]86-*-cygwin32
1069 M68K NetBSD m68k-*-netbsd*
1070 PowerPC AIX 4.x powerpc-*-aix*
1071 PowerPC MacOS powerpc-*-macos*
1072 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
1073 RS/6000 AIX 4.x rs6000-*-aix4*
1077 ARM with RDP protocol arm-*-*
1078 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
1079 MIPS VxWorks mips*-*-vxworks*
1080 MIPS VR4300 with PMON mips64*vr4300{,el}-*-elf*
1081 PowerPC with PPCBUG monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi*
1083 Matra Sparclet sparclet-*-*
1087 The powerpc-eabi configuration now includes the PSIM simulator,
1088 contributed by Andrew Cagney, with assistance from Mike Meissner.
1089 PSIM is a very elaborate model of the PowerPC, including not only
1090 basic instruction set execution, but also details of execution unit
1091 performance and I/O hardware. See sim/ppc/README for more details.
1095 GDB now works with Solaris 2.5.
1097 * Windows 95/NT native
1099 GDB will now work as a native debugger on Windows 95 and Windows NT.
1100 To build it from source, you must use the "gnu-win32" environment,
1101 which uses a DLL to emulate enough of Unix to run the GNU tools.
1102 Further information, binaries, and sources are available at
1103 ftp.cygnus.com, under pub/gnu-win32.
1105 * dont-repeat command
1107 If a user-defined command includes the command `dont-repeat', then the
1108 command will not be repeated if the user just types return. This is
1109 useful if the command is time-consuming to run, so that accidental
1110 extra keystrokes don't run the same command many times.
1112 * Send break instead of ^C
1114 The standard remote protocol now includes an option to send a break
1115 rather than a ^C to the target in order to interrupt it. By default,
1116 GDB will send ^C; to send a break, set the variable `remotebreak' to 1.
1118 * Remote protocol timeout
1120 The standard remote protocol includes a new variable `remotetimeout'
1121 that allows you to set the number of seconds before GDB gives up trying
1122 to read from the target. The default value is 2.
1124 * Automatic tracking of dynamic object loading (HPUX and Solaris only)
1126 By default GDB will automatically keep track of objects as they are
1127 loaded and unloaded by the dynamic linker. By using the command `set
1128 stop-on-solib-events 1' you can arrange for GDB to stop the inferior
1129 when shared library events occur, thus allowing you to set breakpoints
1130 in shared libraries which are explicitly loaded by the inferior.
1132 Note this feature does not work on hpux8. On hpux9 you must link
1133 /usr/lib/end.o into your program. This feature should work
1134 automatically on hpux10.
1136 * Irix 5.x hardware watchpoint support
1138 Irix 5 configurations now support the use of hardware watchpoints.
1140 * Mips protocol "SYN garbage limit"
1142 When debugging a Mips target using the `target mips' protocol, you
1143 may set the number of characters that GDB will ignore by setting
1144 the `syn-garbage-limit'. A value of -1 means that GDB will ignore
1145 every character. The default value is 1050.
1147 * Recording and replaying remote debug sessions
1149 If you set `remotelogfile' to the name of a file, gdb will write to it
1150 a recording of a remote debug session. This recording may then be
1151 replayed back to gdb using "gdbreplay". See gdbserver/README for
1152 details. This is useful when you have a problem with GDB while doing
1153 remote debugging; you can make a recording of the session and send it
1154 to someone else, who can then recreate the problem.
1156 * Speedups for remote debugging
1158 GDB includes speedups for downloading and stepping MIPS systems using
1159 the IDT monitor, fast downloads to the Hitachi SH E7000 emulator,
1160 and more efficient S-record downloading.
1162 * Memory use reductions and statistics collection
1164 GDB now uses less memory and reports statistics about memory usage.
1165 Try the `maint print statistics' command, for example.
1167 *** Changes in GDB-4.15:
1169 * Psymtabs for XCOFF
1171 The symbol reader for AIX GDB now uses partial symbol tables. This
1172 can greatly improve startup time, especially for large executables.
1174 * Remote targets use caching
1176 Remote targets now use a data cache to speed up communication with the
1177 remote side. The data cache could lead to incorrect results because
1178 it doesn't know about volatile variables, thus making it impossible to
1179 debug targets which use memory mapped I/O devices. `set remotecache
1180 off' turns the the data cache off.
1182 * Remote targets may have threads
1184 The standard remote protocol now includes support for multiple threads
1185 in the target system, using new protocol commands 'H' and 'T'. See
1186 gdb/remote.c for details.
1190 If GDB is configured with `--enable-netrom', then it will include
1191 support for the NetROM ROM emulator from XLNT Designs. The NetROM
1192 acts as though it is a bank of ROM on the target board, but you can
1193 write into it over the network. GDB's support consists only of
1194 support for fast loading into the emulated ROM; to debug, you must use
1195 another protocol, such as standard remote protocol. The usual
1196 sequence is something like
1198 target nrom <netrom-hostname>
1200 target remote <netrom-hostname>:1235
1204 GDB now includes support for the Apple Macintosh, as a host only. It
1205 may be run as either an MPW tool or as a standalone application, and
1206 it can debug through the serial port. All the usual GDB commands are
1207 available, but to the target command, you must supply "serial" as the
1208 device type instead of "/dev/ttyXX". See mpw-README in the main
1209 directory for more information on how to build. The MPW configuration
1210 scripts */mpw-config.in support only a few targets, and only the
1211 mips-idt-ecoff target has been tested.
1215 GDB configuration now uses autoconf. This is not user-visible,
1216 but does simplify configuration and building.
1220 GDB now supports hpux10.
1222 *** Changes in GDB-4.14:
1224 * New native configurations
1226 x86 FreeBSD i[345]86-*-freebsd
1227 x86 NetBSD i[345]86-*-netbsd
1228 NS32k NetBSD ns32k-*-netbsd
1229 Sparc NetBSD sparc-*-netbsd
1233 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
1234 HP PA PRO embedded (WinBond W89K & Oki OP50N) hppa*-*-pro*
1235 CPU32 EST-300 emulator m68*-*-est*
1236 PowerPC ELF powerpc-*-elf
1239 * Alpha OSF/1 support for procfs
1241 GDB now supports procfs under OSF/1-2.x and higher, which makes it
1242 possible to attach to running processes. As the mounting of the /proc
1243 filesystem is optional on the Alpha, GDB automatically determines
1244 the availability of /proc during startup. This can lead to problems
1245 if /proc is unmounted after GDB has been started.
1247 * Arguments to user-defined commands
1249 User commands may accept up to 10 arguments separated by whitespace.
1250 Arguments are accessed within the user command via $arg0..$arg9. A
1253 print $arg0 + $arg1 + $arg2
1255 To execute the command use:
1258 Defines the command "adder" which prints the sum of its three arguments.
1259 Note the arguments are text substitutions, so they may reference variables,
1260 use complex expressions, or even perform inferior function calls.
1262 * New `if' and `while' commands
1264 This makes it possible to write more sophisticated user-defined
1265 commands. Both commands take a single argument, which is the
1266 expression to evaluate, and must be followed by the commands to
1267 execute, one per line, if the expression is nonzero, the list being
1268 terminated by the word `end'. The `if' command list may include an
1269 `else' word, which causes the following commands to be executed only
1270 if the expression is zero.
1272 * Fortran source language mode
1274 GDB now includes partial support for Fortran 77. It will recognize
1275 Fortran programs and can evaluate a subset of Fortran expressions, but
1276 variables and functions may not be handled correctly. GDB will work
1277 with G77, but does not yet know much about symbols emitted by other
1280 * Better HPUX support
1282 Most debugging facilities now work on dynamic executables for HPPAs
1283 running hpux9 or later. You can attach to running dynamically linked
1284 processes, but by default the dynamic libraries will be read-only, so
1285 for instance you won't be able to put breakpoints in them. To change
1286 that behavior do the following before running the program:
1292 This will cause the libraries to be mapped private and read-write.
1293 To revert to the normal behavior, do this:
1299 You cannot set breakpoints or examine data in the library until after
1300 the library is loaded if the function/data symbols do not have
1303 GDB can now also read debug symbols produced by the HP C compiler on
1304 HPPAs (sorry, no C++, Fortran or 68k support).
1306 * Target byte order now dynamically selectable
1308 You can choose which byte order to use with a target system, via the
1309 commands "set endian big" and "set endian little", and you can see the
1310 current setting by using "show endian". You can also give the command
1311 "set endian auto", in which case GDB will use the byte order
1312 associated with the executable. Currently, only embedded MIPS
1313 configurations support dynamic selection of target byte order.
1315 * New DOS host serial code
1317 This version uses DPMI interrupts to handle buffered I/O, so you
1318 no longer need to run asynctsr when debugging boards connected to
1321 *** Changes in GDB-4.13:
1323 * New "complete" command
1325 This lists all the possible completions for the rest of the line, if it
1326 were to be given as a command itself. This is intended for use by emacs.
1328 * Trailing space optional in prompt
1330 "set prompt" no longer adds a space for you after the prompt you set. This
1331 allows you to set a prompt which ends in a space or one that does not.
1333 * Breakpoint hit counts
1335 "info break" now displays a count of the number of times the breakpoint
1336 has been hit. This is especially useful in conjunction with "ignore"; you
1337 can ignore a large number of breakpoint hits, look at the breakpoint info
1338 to see how many times the breakpoint was hit, then run again, ignoring one
1339 less than that number, and this will get you quickly to the last hit of
1342 * Ability to stop printing at NULL character
1344 "set print null-stop" will cause GDB to stop printing the characters of
1345 an array when the first NULL is encountered. This is useful when large
1346 arrays actually contain only short strings.
1348 * Shared library breakpoints
1350 In SunOS 4.x, SVR4, and Alpha OSF/1 configurations, you can now set
1351 breakpoints in shared libraries before the executable is run.
1353 * Hardware watchpoints
1355 There is a new hardware breakpoint for the watch command for sparclite
1356 targets. See gdb/sparclite/hw_breakpoint.note.
1358 Hardware watchpoints are also now supported under GNU/Linux.
1362 Annotations have been added. These are for use with graphical interfaces,
1363 and are still experimental. Currently only gdba.el uses these.
1365 * Improved Irix 5 support
1367 GDB now works properly with Irix 5.2.
1369 * Improved HPPA support
1371 GDB now works properly with the latest GCC and GAS.
1373 * New native configurations
1375 Sequent PTX4 i[34]86-sequent-ptx4
1376 HPPA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
1377 Atari TT running SVR4 m68*-*-sysv4*
1378 RS/6000 LynxOS rs6000-*-lynxos*
1382 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
1383 MIPS R4000 mips64*{,el}-*-{ecoff,elf}
1386 * Hitachi SH7000 and E7000-PC ICE support
1388 There is now support for communicating with the Hitachi E7000-PC ICE.
1389 This is available automatically when GDB is configured for the SH.
1393 As usual, a variety of small fixes and improvements, both generic
1394 and configuration-specific. See the ChangeLog for more detail.
1396 *** Changes in GDB-4.12:
1398 * Irix 5 is now supported
1402 GDB-4.12 on the HPPA has a number of changes which make it unable
1403 to debug the output from the currently released versions of GCC and
1404 GAS (GCC 2.5.8 and GAS-2.2 or PAGAS-1.36). Until the next major release
1405 of GCC and GAS, versions of these tools designed to work with GDB-4.12
1406 can be retrieved via anonymous ftp from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist.
1409 *** Changes in GDB-4.11:
1411 * User visible changes:
1415 The "set remotedebug" option is now consistent between the mips remote
1416 target, remote targets using the gdb-specific protocol, UDI (AMD's
1417 debug protocol for the 29k) and the 88k bug monitor. It is now an
1418 integer specifying a debug level (normally 0 or 1, but 2 means more
1419 debugging info for the mips target).
1421 * DEC Alpha native support
1423 GDB now works on the DEC Alpha. GCC 2.4.5 does not produce usable
1424 debug info, but GDB works fairly well with the DEC compiler and should
1425 work with a future GCC release. See the README file for a few
1426 Alpha-specific notes.
1428 * Preliminary thread implementation
1430 GDB now has preliminary thread support for both SGI/Irix and LynxOS.
1432 * LynxOS native and target support for 386
1434 This release has been hosted on LynxOS 2.2, and also can be configured
1435 to remotely debug programs running under LynxOS (see gdb/gdbserver/README
1438 * Improvements in C++ mangling/demangling.
1440 This release has much better g++ debugging, specifically in name
1441 mangling/demangling, virtual function calls, print virtual table,
1442 call methods, ...etc.
1444 *** Changes in GDB-4.10:
1446 * User visible changes:
1448 Remote debugging using the GDB-specific (`target remote') protocol now
1449 supports the `load' command. This is only useful if you have some
1450 other way of getting the stub to the target system, and you can put it
1451 somewhere in memory where it won't get clobbered by the download.
1453 Filename completion now works.
1455 When run under emacs mode, the "info line" command now causes the
1456 arrow to point to the line specified. Also, "info line" prints
1457 addresses in symbolic form (as well as hex).
1459 All vxworks based targets now support a user settable option, called
1460 vxworks-timeout. This option represents the number of seconds gdb
1461 should wait for responses to rpc's. You might want to use this if
1462 your vxworks target is, perhaps, a slow software simulator or happens
1463 to be on the far side of a thin network line.
1467 This release contains support for using a DEC alpha as a GDB host for
1468 cross debugging. Native alpha debugging is not supported yet.
1471 *** Changes in GDB-4.9:
1475 This is the first GDB release which is accompanied by a matching testsuite.
1476 The testsuite requires installation of dejagnu, which should be available
1477 via ftp from most sites that carry GNU software.
1481 'Cfront' style demangling has had its name changed to 'ARM' style, to
1482 emphasize that it was written from the specifications in the C++ Annotated
1483 Reference Manual, not necessarily to be compatible with AT&T cfront. Despite
1484 disclaimers, it still generated too much confusion with users attempting to
1485 use gdb with AT&T cfront.
1489 GDB now uses a standard remote interface to a simulator library.
1490 So far, the library contains simulators for the Zilog Z8001/2, the
1491 Hitachi H8/300, H8/500 and Super-H.
1493 * New targets supported
1495 H8/300 simulator h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
1496 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
1497 SH simulator sh-hitachi-hms or sh
1498 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
1499 IDT MIPS board over serial line mips-idt-ecoff
1501 Cross-debugging to GO32 targets is supported. It requires a custom
1502 version of the i386-stub.c module which is integrated with the
1503 GO32 memory extender.
1505 * New remote protocols
1507 MIPS remote debugging protocol.
1509 * New source languages supported
1511 This version includes preliminary support for Chill, a Pascal like language
1512 used by telecommunications companies. Chill support is also being integrated
1513 into the GNU compiler, but we don't know when it will be publically available.
1516 *** Changes in GDB-4.8:
1518 * HP Precision Architecture supported
1520 GDB now supports HP PA-RISC machines running HPUX. A preliminary
1521 version of this support was available as a set of patches from the
1522 University of Utah. GDB does not support debugging of programs
1523 compiled with the HP compiler, because HP will not document their file
1524 format. Instead, you must use GCC (version 2.3.2 or later) and PA-GAS
1525 (as available from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist/pa-gas.u4.tar.Z).
1527 Many problems in the preliminary version have been fixed.
1529 * Faster and better demangling
1531 We have improved template demangling and fixed numerous bugs in the GNU style
1532 demangler. It can now handle type modifiers such as `static' or `const'. Wide
1533 character types (wchar_t) are now supported. Demangling of each symbol is now
1534 only done once, and is cached when the symbol table for a file is read in.
1535 This results in a small increase in memory usage for C programs, a moderate
1536 increase in memory usage for C++ programs, and a fantastic speedup in
1539 `Cfront' style demangling still doesn't work with AT&T cfront. It was written
1540 from the specifications in the Annotated Reference Manual, which AT&T's
1541 compiler does not actually implement.
1543 * G++ multiple inheritance compiler problem
1545 In the 2.3.2 release of gcc/g++, how the compiler resolves multiple
1546 inheritance lattices was reworked to properly discover ambiguities. We
1547 recently found an example which causes this new algorithm to fail in a
1548 very subtle way, producing bad debug information for those classes.
1549 The file 'gcc.patch' (in this directory) can be applied to gcc to
1550 circumvent the problem. A future GCC release will contain a complete
1553 The previous G++ debug info problem (mentioned below for the gdb-4.7
1554 release) is fixed in gcc version 2.3.2.
1556 * Improved configure script
1558 The `configure' script will now attempt to guess your system type if
1559 you don't supply a host system type. The old scheme of supplying a
1560 host system triplet is preferable over using this. All the magic is
1561 done in the new `config.guess' script. Examine it for details.
1563 We have also brought our configure script much more in line with the FSF's
1564 version. It now supports the --with-xxx options. In particular,
1565 `--with-minimal-bfd' can be used to make the GDB binary image smaller.
1566 The resulting GDB will not be able to read arbitrary object file formats --
1567 only the format ``expected'' to be used on the configured target system.
1568 We hope to make this the default in a future release.
1570 * Documentation improvements
1572 There's new internal documentation on how to modify GDB, and how to
1573 produce clean changes to the code. We implore people to read it
1574 before submitting changes.
1576 The GDB manual uses new, sexy Texinfo conditionals, rather than arcane
1577 M4 macros. The new texinfo.tex is provided in this release. Pre-built
1578 `info' files are also provided. To build `info' files from scratch,
1579 you will need the latest `makeinfo' release, which will be available in
1580 a future texinfo-X.Y release.
1582 *NOTE* The new texinfo.tex can cause old versions of TeX to hang.
1583 We're not sure exactly which versions have this problem, but it has
1584 been seen in 3.0. We highly recommend upgrading to TeX version 3.141
1585 or better. If that isn't possible, there is a patch in
1586 `texinfo/tex3patch' that will modify `texinfo/texinfo.tex' to work
1587 around this problem.
1591 GDB now supports array constants that can be used in expressions typed in by
1592 the user. The syntax is `{element, element, ...}'. Ie: you can now type
1593 `print {1, 2, 3}', and it will build up an array in memory malloc'd in
1596 The new directory `gdb/sparclite' contains a program that demonstrates
1597 how the sparc-stub.c remote stub runs on a Fujitsu SPARClite processor.
1599 * New native hosts supported
1601 HP/PA-RISC under HPUX using GNU tools hppa1.1-hp-hpux
1602 386 CPUs running SCO Unix 3.2v4 i386-unknown-sco3.2v4
1604 * New targets supported
1606 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi or udi29k
1608 * New file formats supported
1610 BFD now supports reading HP/PA-RISC executables (SOM file format?),
1611 HPUX core files, and SCO 3.2v2 core files.
1615 Attaching to processes now works again; thanks for the many bug reports.
1617 We have also stomped on a bunch of core dumps caused by
1618 printf_filtered("%s") problems.
1620 We eliminated a copyright problem on the rpc and ptrace header files
1621 for VxWorks, which was discovered at the last minute during the 4.7
1622 release. You should now be able to build a VxWorks GDB.
1624 You can now interrupt gdb while an attached process is running. This
1625 will cause the attached process to stop, and give control back to GDB.
1627 We fixed problems caused by using too many file descriptors
1628 for reading symbols from object files and libraries. This was
1629 especially a problem for programs that used many (~100) shared
1632 The `step' command now only enters a subroutine if there is line number
1633 information for the subroutine. Otherwise it acts like the `next'
1634 command. Previously, `step' would enter subroutines if there was
1635 any debugging information about the routine. This avoids problems
1636 when using `cc -g1' on MIPS machines.
1638 * Internal improvements
1640 GDB's internal interfaces have been improved to make it easier to support
1641 debugging of multiple languages in the future.
1643 GDB now uses a common structure for symbol information internally.
1644 Minimal symbols (derived from linkage symbols in object files), partial
1645 symbols (from a quick scan of debug information), and full symbols
1646 contain a common subset of information, making it easier to write
1647 shared code that handles any of them.
1649 * New command line options
1651 We now accept --silent as an alias for --quiet.
1655 The memory-mapped-malloc library is now licensed under the GNU Library
1656 General Public License.
1658 *** Changes in GDB-4.7:
1660 * Host/native/target split
1662 GDB has had some major internal surgery to untangle the support for
1663 hosts and remote targets. Now, when you configure GDB for a remote
1664 target, it will no longer load in all of the support for debugging
1665 local programs on the host. When fully completed and tested, this will
1666 ensure that arbitrary host/target combinations are possible.
1668 The primary conceptual shift is to separate the non-portable code in
1669 GDB into three categories. Host specific code is required any time GDB
1670 is compiled on that host, regardless of the target. Target specific
1671 code relates to the peculiarities of the target, but can be compiled on
1672 any host. Native specific code is everything else: it can only be
1673 built when the host and target are the same system. Child process
1674 handling and core file support are two common `native' examples.
1676 GDB's use of /proc for controlling Unix child processes is now cleaner.
1677 It has been split out into a single module under the `target_ops' vector,
1678 plus two native-dependent functions for each system that uses /proc.
1680 * New hosts supported
1682 HP/Apollo 68k (under the BSD domain) m68k-apollo-bsd or apollo68bsd
1683 386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
1684 386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or i386sco
1686 * New targets supported
1688 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
1689 68030 and CPU32 m68030-*-*, m68332-*-*
1691 * New native hosts supported
1693 386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
1694 (386bsd is not well tested yet)
1695 386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or sco
1697 * New file formats supported
1699 BFD now supports COFF files for the Zilog Z8000 microprocessor. It
1700 supports reading of `a.out.adobe' object files, which are an a.out
1701 format extended with minimal information about multiple sections.
1705 `show copying' is the same as the old `info copying'.
1706 `show warranty' is the same as `info warrantee'.
1707 These were renamed for consistency. The old commands continue to work.
1709 `info handle' is a new alias for `info signals'.
1711 You can now define pre-command hooks, which attach arbitrary command
1712 scripts to any command. The commands in the hook will be executed
1713 prior to the user's command. You can also create a hook which will be
1714 executed whenever the program stops. See gdb.texinfo.
1718 We now deal with Cfront style name mangling, and can even extract type
1719 info from mangled symbols. GDB can automatically figure out which
1720 symbol mangling style your C++ compiler uses.
1722 Calling of methods and virtual functions has been improved as well.
1726 The crash that occured when debugging Sun Ansi-C compiled binaries is
1727 fixed. This was due to mishandling of the extra N_SO stabs output
1730 We also finally got Ultrix 4.2 running in house, and fixed core file
1731 support, with help from a dozen people on the net.
1733 John M. Farrell discovered that the reason that single-stepping was so
1734 slow on all of the Mips based platforms (primarily SGI and DEC) was
1735 that we were trying to demangle and lookup a symbol used for internal
1736 purposes on every instruction that was being stepped through. Changing
1737 the name of that symbol so that it couldn't be mistaken for a C++
1738 mangled symbol sped things up a great deal.
1740 Rich Pixley sped up symbol lookups in general by getting much smarter
1741 about when C++ symbol mangling is necessary. This should make symbol
1742 completion (TAB on the command line) much faster. It's not as fast as
1743 we'd like, but it's significantly faster than gdb-4.6.
1747 A new user controllable variable 'call_scratch_address' can
1748 specify the location of a scratch area to be used when GDB
1749 calls a function in the target. This is necessary because the
1750 usual method of putting the scratch area on the stack does not work
1751 in systems that have separate instruction and data spaces.
1753 We integrated changes to support the 29k UDI (Universal Debugger
1754 Interface), but discovered at the last minute that we didn't have all
1755 of the appropriate copyright paperwork. We are working with AMD to
1756 resolve this, and hope to have it available soon.
1760 We have sped up the remote serial line protocol, especially for targets
1761 with lots of registers. It now supports a new `expedited status' ('T')
1762 message which can be used in place of the existing 'S' status message.
1763 This allows the remote stub to send only the registers that GDB
1764 needs to make a quick decision about single-stepping or conditional
1765 breakpoints, eliminating the need to fetch the entire register set for
1766 each instruction being stepped through.
1768 The GDB remote serial protocol now implements a write-through cache for
1769 registers, only re-reading the registers if the target has run.
1771 There is also a new remote serial stub for SPARC processors. You can
1772 find it in gdb-4.7/gdb/sparc-stub.c. This was written to support the
1773 Fujitsu SPARClite processor, but will run on any stand-alone SPARC
1774 processor with a serial port.
1778 Configure.in files have become much easier to read and modify. A new
1779 `table driven' format makes it more obvious what configurations are
1780 supported, and what files each one uses.
1784 There is a new opcodes library which will eventually contain all of the
1785 disassembly routines and opcode tables. At present, it only contains
1786 Sparc and Z8000 routines. This will allow the assembler, debugger, and
1787 disassembler (binutils/objdump) to share these routines.
1789 The libiberty library is now copylefted under the GNU Library General
1790 Public License. This allows more liberal use, and was done so libg++
1791 can use it. This makes no difference to GDB, since the Library License
1792 grants all the rights from the General Public License.
1796 The file gdb-4.7/gdb/doc/stabs.texinfo is a (relatively) complete
1797 reference to the stabs symbol info used by the debugger. It is (as far
1798 as we know) the only published document on this fascinating topic. We
1799 encourage you to read it, compare it to the stabs information on your
1800 system, and send improvements on the document in general (to
1801 bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu).
1803 And, of course, many bugs have been fixed.
1806 *** Changes in GDB-4.6:
1808 * Better support for C++ function names
1810 GDB now accepts as input the "demangled form" of C++ overloaded function
1811 names and member function names, and can do command completion on such names
1812 (using TAB, TAB-TAB, and ESC-?). The names have to be quoted with a pair of
1813 single quotes. Examples are 'func (int, long)' and 'obj::operator==(obj&)'.
1814 Make use of command completion, it is your friend.
1816 GDB also now accepts a variety of C++ mangled symbol formats. They are
1817 the GNU g++ style, the Cfront (ARM) style, and the Lucid (lcc) style.
1818 You can tell GDB which format to use by doing a 'set demangle-style {gnu,
1819 lucid, cfront, auto}'. 'gnu' is the default. Do a 'set demangle-style foo'
1820 for the list of formats.
1822 * G++ symbol mangling problem
1824 Recent versions of gcc have a bug in how they emit debugging information for
1825 C++ methods (when using dbx-style stabs). The file 'gcc.patch' (in this
1826 directory) can be applied to gcc to fix the problem. Alternatively, if you
1827 can't fix gcc, you can #define GCC_MANGLE_BUG when compling gdb/symtab.c. The
1828 usual symptom is difficulty with setting breakpoints on methods. GDB complains
1829 about the method being non-existent. (We believe that version 2.2.2 of GCC has
1832 * New 'maintenance' command
1834 All of the commands related to hacking GDB internals have been moved out of
1835 the main command set, and now live behind the 'maintenance' command. This
1836 can also be abbreviated as 'mt'. The following changes were made:
1838 dump-me -> maintenance dump-me
1839 info all-breakpoints -> maintenance info breakpoints
1840 printmsyms -> maintenance print msyms
1841 printobjfiles -> maintenance print objfiles
1842 printpsyms -> maintenance print psymbols
1843 printsyms -> maintenance print symbols
1845 The following commands are new:
1847 maintenance demangle Call internal GDB demangler routine to
1848 demangle a C++ link name and prints the result.
1849 maintenance print type Print a type chain for a given symbol
1851 * Change to .gdbinit file processing
1853 We now read the $HOME/.gdbinit file before processing the argv arguments
1854 (e.g. reading symbol files or core files). This allows global parameters to
1855 be set, which will apply during the symbol reading. The ./.gdbinit is still
1856 read after argv processing.
1858 * New hosts supported
1860 Solaris-2.0 !!! sparc-sun-solaris2 or sun4sol2
1862 GNU/Linux support i386-unknown-linux or linux
1864 We are also including code to support the HP/PA running BSD and HPUX. This
1865 is almost guaranteed not to work, as we didn't have time to test or build it
1866 for this release. We are including it so that the more adventurous (or
1867 masochistic) of you can play with it. We also had major problems with the
1868 fact that the compiler that we got from HP doesn't support the -g option.
1871 * New targets supported
1873 Hitachi H8/300 h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
1875 * More smarts about finding #include files
1877 GDB now remembers the compilation directory for all include files, and for
1878 all files from which C is generated (like yacc and lex sources). This
1879 greatly improves GDB's ability to find yacc/lex sources, and include files,
1880 especially if you are debugging your program from a directory different from
1881 the one that contains your sources.
1883 We also fixed a bug which caused difficulty with listing and setting
1884 breakpoints in include files which contain C code. (In the past, you had to
1885 try twice in order to list an include file that you hadn't looked at before.)
1887 * Interesting infernals change
1889 GDB now deals with arbitrary numbers of sections, where the symbols for each
1890 section must be relocated relative to that section's landing place in the
1891 target's address space. This work was needed to support ELF with embedded
1892 stabs used by Solaris-2.0.
1894 * Bug fixes (of course!)
1896 There have been loads of fixes for the following things:
1897 mips, rs6000, 29k/udi, m68k, g++, type handling, elf/dwarf, m88k,
1898 i960, stabs, DOS(GO32), procfs, etc...
1900 See the ChangeLog for details.
1902 *** Changes in GDB-4.5:
1904 * New machines supported (host and target)
1906 IBM RS6000 running AIX rs6000-ibm-aix or rs6000
1908 SGI Irix-4.x mips-sgi-irix4 or iris4
1910 * New malloc package
1912 GDB now uses a new memory manager called mmalloc, based on gmalloc.
1913 Mmalloc is capable of handling mutiple heaps of memory. It is also
1914 capable of saving a heap to a file, and then mapping it back in later.
1915 This can be used to greatly speedup the startup of GDB by using a
1916 pre-parsed symbol table which lives in a mmalloc managed heap. For
1917 more details, please read mmalloc/mmalloc.texi.
1921 The 'info proc' command (SVR4 only) has been enhanced quite a bit. See
1922 'help info proc' for details.
1924 * MIPS ecoff symbol table format
1926 The code that reads MIPS symbol table format is now supported on all hosts.
1927 Thanks to MIPS for releasing the sym.h and symconst.h files to make this
1930 * File name changes for MS-DOS
1932 Many files in the config directories have been renamed to make it easier to
1933 support GDB on MS-DOSe systems (which have very restrictive file name
1934 conventions :-( ). MS-DOSe host support (under DJ Delorie's GO32
1935 environment) is close to working but has some remaining problems. Note
1936 that debugging of DOS programs is not supported, due to limitations
1937 in the ``operating system'', but it can be used to host cross-debugging.
1939 * Cross byte order fixes
1941 Many fixes have been made to support cross debugging of Sparc and MIPS
1942 targets from hosts whose byte order differs.
1944 * New -mapped and -readnow options
1946 If memory-mapped files are available on your system through the 'mmap'
1947 system call, you can use the -mapped option on the `file' or
1948 `symbol-file' commands to cause GDB to write the symbols from your
1949 program into a reusable file. If the program you are debugging is
1950 called `/path/fred', the mapped symbol file will be `./fred.syms'.
1951 Future GDB debugging sessions will notice the presence of this file,
1952 and will quickly map in symbol information from it, rather than reading
1953 the symbol table from the executable program. Using the '-mapped'
1954 option in a GDB `file' or `symbol-file' command has the same effect as
1955 starting GDB with the '-mapped' command-line option.
1957 You can cause GDB to read the entire symbol table immediately by using
1958 the '-readnow' option with any of the commands that load symbol table
1959 information (or on the GDB command line). This makes the command
1960 slower, but makes future operations faster.
1962 The -mapped and -readnow options are typically combined in order to
1963 build a `fred.syms' file that contains complete symbol information.
1964 A simple GDB invocation to do nothing but build a `.syms' file for future
1967 gdb -batch -nx -mapped -readnow programname
1969 The `.syms' file is specific to the host machine on which GDB is run.
1970 It holds an exact image of GDB's internal symbol table. It cannot be
1971 shared across multiple host platforms.
1973 * longjmp() handling
1975 GDB is now capable of stepping and nexting over longjmp(), _longjmp(), and
1976 siglongjmp() without losing control. This feature has not yet been ported to
1977 all systems. It currently works on many 386 platforms, all MIPS-based
1978 platforms (SGI, DECstation, etc), and Sun3/4.
1982 Preliminary work has been put in to support the new Solaris OS from Sun. At
1983 this time, it can control and debug processes, but it is not capable of
1988 As always, many many bug fixes. The major areas were with g++, and mipsread.
1989 People using the MIPS-based platforms should experience fewer mysterious
1990 crashes and trashed symbol tables.
1992 *** Changes in GDB-4.4:
1994 * New machines supported (host and target)
1996 SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
1998 BSD Reno on Vax vax-dec-bsd
1999 Ultrix on Vax vax-dec-ultrix
2001 * New machines supported (target)
2003 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
2007 GDB continues to improve its handling of C++. `References' work better.
2008 The demangler has also been improved, and now deals with symbols mangled as
2009 per the Annotated C++ Reference Guide.
2011 GDB also now handles `stabs' symbol information embedded in MIPS
2012 `ecoff' symbol tables. Since the ecoff format was not easily
2013 extensible to handle new languages such as C++, this appeared to be a
2014 good way to put C++ debugging info into MIPS binaries. This option
2015 will be supported in the GNU C compiler, version 2, when it is
2018 * New features for SVR4
2020 GDB now handles SVR4 shared libraries, in the same fashion as SunOS
2021 shared libraries. Debugging dynamically linked programs should present
2022 only minor differences from debugging statically linked programs.
2024 The `info proc' command will print out information about any process
2025 on an SVR4 system (including the one you are debugging). At the moment,
2026 it prints the address mappings of the process.
2028 If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please send mail to
2029 bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were reqired (if any).
2031 * Better dynamic linking support in SunOS
2033 Reading symbols from shared libraries which contain debugging symbols
2034 now works properly. However, there remain issues such as automatic
2035 skipping of `transfer vector' code during function calls, which
2036 make it harder to debug code in a shared library, than to debug the
2037 same code linked statically.
2041 GDB is now using the latest `getopt' routines from the FSF. This
2042 version accepts the -- prefix for options with long names. GDB will
2043 continue to accept the old forms (-option and +option) as well.
2044 Various single letter abbreviations for options have been explicity
2045 added to the option table so that they won't get overshadowed in the
2046 future by other options that begin with the same letter.
2050 The `cleanup_undefined_types' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
2051 Many assorted bugs have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
2052 See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
2055 *** Changes in GDB-4.3:
2057 * New machines supported (host and target)
2059 Amiga 3000 running Amix m68k-cbm-svr4 or amix
2060 NCR 3000 386 running SVR4 i386-ncr-svr4 or ncr3000
2061 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
2063 * Almost SCO Unix support
2065 We had hoped to support:
2066 SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
2067 (except for core file support), but we discovered very late in the release
2068 that it has problems with process groups that render gdb unusable. Sorry
2069 about that. I encourage people to fix it and post the fixes.
2071 * Preliminary ELF and DWARF support
2073 GDB can read ELF object files on System V Release 4, and can handle
2074 debugging records for C, in DWARF format, in ELF files. This support
2075 is preliminary. If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please
2076 send mail to bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were
2081 GDB now uses the latest `readline' library. One user-visible change
2082 is that two tabs will list possible command completions, which previously
2083 required typing M-? (meta-question mark, or ESC ?).
2087 The `stepi' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
2088 Many bugs in C++ have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
2089 See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
2091 * State of the MIPS world (in case you wondered):
2093 GDB can understand the symbol tables emitted by the compilers
2094 supplied by most vendors of MIPS-based machines, including DEC. These
2095 symbol tables are in a format that essentially nobody else uses.
2097 Some versions of gcc come with an assembler post-processor called
2098 mips-tfile. This program is required if you want to do source-level
2099 debugging of gcc-compiled programs. I believe FSF does not ship
2100 mips-tfile with gcc version 1, but it will eventually come with gcc
2103 Debugging of g++ output remains a problem. g++ version 1.xx does not
2104 really support it at all. (If you're lucky, you should be able to get
2105 line numbers and stack traces to work, but no parameters or local
2106 variables.) With some work it should be possible to improve the
2109 When gcc version 2 is released, you will have somewhat better luck.
2110 However, even then you will get confusing results for inheritance and
2113 We will eventually provide full debugging of g++ output on
2114 DECstations. This will probably involve some kind of stabs-in-ecoff
2115 encapulation, but the details have not been worked out yet.
2118 *** Changes in GDB-4.2:
2120 * Improved configuration
2122 Only one copy of `configure' exists now, and it is not self-modifying.
2123 Porting BFD is simpler.
2127 The `step' and `next' commands now only stop at the first instruction
2128 of a source line. This prevents the multiple stops that used to occur
2129 in switch statements, for-loops, etc. `Step' continues to stop if a
2130 function that has debugging information is called within the line.
2134 Lots of small bugs fixed. More remain.
2136 * New host supported (not target)
2138 Intel 386 PC clone running Mach i386-none-mach
2141 *** Changes in GDB-4.1:
2143 * Multiple source language support
2145 GDB now has internal scaffolding to handle several source languages.
2146 It determines the type of each source file from its filename extension,
2147 and will switch expression parsing and number formatting to match the
2148 language of the function in the currently selected stack frame.
2149 You can also specifically set the language to be used, with
2150 `set language c' or `set language modula-2'.
2154 GDB now has preliminary support for the GNU Modula-2 compiler,
2155 currently under development at the State University of New York at
2156 Buffalo. Development of both GDB and the GNU Modula-2 compiler will
2157 continue through the fall of 1991 and into 1992.
2159 Other Modula-2 compilers are currently not supported, and attempting to
2160 debug programs compiled with them will likely result in an error as the
2161 symbol table is read. Feel free to work on it, though!
2163 There are hooks in GDB for strict type checking and range checking,
2164 in the `Modula-2 philosophy', but they do not currently work.
2168 GDB can now write to executable and core files (e.g. patch
2169 a variable's value). You must turn this switch on, specify
2170 the file ("exec foo" or "core foo"), *then* modify it, e.g.
2171 by assigning a new value to a variable. Modifications take
2174 * Automatic SunOS shared library reading
2176 When you run your program, GDB automatically determines where its
2177 shared libraries (if any) have been loaded, and reads their symbols.
2178 The `share' command is no longer needed. This also works when
2179 examining core files.
2183 You can specify the number of lines that the `list' command shows.
2186 * New machines supported (host and target)
2188 SGI Iris (MIPS) running Irix V3: mips-sgi-irix or iris
2189 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x: m68k-sony-sysv or news
2190 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1: a29k-nyu-sym1 or ultra3
2192 * New hosts supported (not targets)
2194 IBM RT/PC: romp-ibm-aix or rtpc
2196 * New targets supported (not hosts)
2198 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
2199 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
2200 Ultracomputer remote kernel debug a29k-nyu-kern
2202 * New remote interfaces
2208 *** Changes in GDB-4.0:
2212 Wide output is wrapped at good places to make the output more readable.
2214 Gdb now supports cross-debugging from a host machine of one type to a
2215 target machine of another type. Communication with the target system
2216 is over serial lines. The ``target'' command handles connecting to the
2217 remote system; the ``load'' command will download a program into the
2218 remote system. Serial stubs for the m68k and i386 are provided. Gdb
2219 also supports debugging of realtime processes running under VxWorks,
2220 using SunRPC Remote Procedure Calls over TCP/IP to talk to a debugger
2221 stub on the target system.
2223 New CPUs supported include the AMD 29000 and Intel 960.
2225 GDB now reads object files and symbol tables via a ``binary file''
2226 library, which allows a single copy of GDB to debug programs of multiple
2227 object file types such as a.out and coff.
2229 There is now a GDB reference card in "doc/refcard.tex". (Make targets
2230 refcard.dvi and refcard.ps are available to format it).
2233 * Control-Variable user interface simplified
2235 All variables that control the operation of the debugger can be set
2236 by the ``set'' command, and displayed by the ``show'' command.
2238 For example, ``set prompt new-gdb=>'' will change your prompt to new-gdb=>.
2239 ``Show prompt'' produces the response:
2240 Gdb's prompt is new-gdb=>.
2242 What follows are the NEW set commands. The command ``help set'' will
2243 print a complete list of old and new set commands. ``help set FOO''
2244 will give a longer description of the variable FOO. ``show'' will show
2245 all of the variable descriptions and their current settings.
2247 confirm on/off: Enables warning questions for operations that are
2248 hard to recover from, e.g. rerunning the program while
2249 it is already running. Default is ON.
2251 editing on/off: Enables EMACS style command line editing
2252 of input. Previous lines can be recalled with
2253 control-P, the current line can be edited with control-B,
2254 you can search for commands with control-R, etc.
2257 history filename NAME: NAME is where the gdb command history
2258 will be stored. The default is .gdb_history,
2259 or the value of the environment variable
2262 history size N: The size, in commands, of the command history. The
2263 default is 256, or the value of the environment variable
2266 history save on/off: If this value is set to ON, the history file will
2267 be saved after exiting gdb. If set to OFF, the
2268 file will not be saved. The default is OFF.
2270 history expansion on/off: If this value is set to ON, then csh-like
2271 history expansion will be performed on
2272 command line input. The default is OFF.
2274 radix N: Sets the default radix for input and output. It can be set
2275 to 8, 10, or 16. Note that the argument to "radix" is interpreted
2276 in the current radix, so "set radix 10" is always a no-op.
2278 height N: This integer value is the number of lines on a page. Default
2279 is 24, the current `stty rows'' setting, or the ``li#''
2280 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
2283 width N: This integer value is the number of characters on a line.
2284 Default is 80, the current `stty cols'' setting, or the ``co#''
2285 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
2288 Note: ``set screensize'' is obsolete. Use ``set height'' and
2289 ``set width'' instead.
2291 print address on/off: Print memory addresses in various command displays,
2292 such as stack traces and structure values. Gdb looks
2293 more ``symbolic'' if you turn this off; it looks more
2294 ``machine level'' with it on. Default is ON.
2296 print array on/off: Prettyprint arrays. New convenient format! Default
2299 print demangle on/off: Print C++ symbols in "source" form if on,
2302 print asm-demangle on/off: Same, for assembler level printouts
2305 print vtbl on/off: Prettyprint C++ virtual function tables. Default is OFF.
2308 * Support for Epoch Environment.
2310 The epoch environment is a version of Emacs v18 with windowing. One
2311 new command, ``inspect'', is identical to ``print'', except that if you
2312 are running in the epoch environment, the value is printed in its own
2316 * Support for Shared Libraries
2318 GDB can now debug programs and core files that use SunOS shared libraries.
2319 Symbols from a shared library cannot be referenced
2320 before the shared library has been linked with the program (this
2321 happens after you type ``run'' and before the function main() is entered).
2322 At any time after this linking (including when examining core files
2323 from dynamically linked programs), gdb reads the symbols from each
2324 shared library when you type the ``sharedlibrary'' command.
2325 It can be abbreviated ``share''.
2327 sharedlibrary REGEXP: Load shared object library symbols for files
2328 matching a unix regular expression. No argument
2329 indicates to load symbols for all shared libraries.
2331 info sharedlibrary: Status of loaded shared libraries.
2336 A watchpoint stops execution of a program whenever the value of an
2337 expression changes. Checking for this slows down execution
2338 tremendously whenever you are in the scope of the expression, but is
2339 quite useful for catching tough ``bit-spreader'' or pointer misuse
2340 problems. Some machines such as the 386 have hardware for doing this
2341 more quickly, and future versions of gdb will use this hardware.
2343 watch EXP: Set a watchpoint (breakpoint) for an expression.
2345 info watchpoints: Information about your watchpoints.
2347 delete N: Deletes watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
2348 disable N: Temporarily turns off watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
2349 enable N: Re-enables watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
2352 * C++ multiple inheritance
2354 When used with a GCC version 2 compiler, GDB supports multiple inheritance
2357 * C++ exception handling
2359 Gdb now supports limited C++ exception handling. Besides the existing
2360 ability to breakpoint on an exception handler, gdb can breakpoint on
2361 the raising of an exception (before the stack is peeled back to the
2364 catch FOO: If there is a FOO exception handler in the dynamic scope,
2365 set a breakpoint to catch exceptions which may be raised there.
2366 Multiple exceptions (``catch foo bar baz'') may be caught.
2368 info catch: Lists all exceptions which may be caught in the
2369 current stack frame.
2372 * Minor command changes
2374 The command ``call func (arg, arg, ...)'' now acts like the print
2375 command, except it does not print or save a value if the function's result
2376 is void. This is similar to dbx usage.
2378 The ``up'' and ``down'' commands now always print the frame they end up
2379 at; ``up-silently'' and `down-silently'' can be used in scripts to change
2380 frames without printing.
2382 * New directory command
2384 'dir' now adds directories to the FRONT of the source search path.
2385 The path starts off empty. Source files that contain debug information
2386 about the directory in which they were compiled can be found even
2387 with an empty path; Sun CC and GCC include this information. If GDB can't
2388 find your source file in the current directory, type "dir .".
2390 * Configuring GDB for compilation
2392 For normal use, type ``./configure host''. See README or gdb.texinfo
2395 GDB now handles cross debugging. If you are remotely debugging between
2396 two different machines, type ``./configure host -target=targ''.
2397 Host is the machine where GDB will run; targ is the machine
2398 where the program that you are debugging will run.
projects / external / binutils.git / blob