What has changed in GDB?
(Organized release by release)
-*** Changes since GDB 7.4
+*** Changes since GDB 7.6
+
+* New commands:
+maint set|show per-command
+maint set|show per-command space
+maint set|show per-command time
+maint set|show per-command symtab
+ Enable display of per-command gdb resource usage.
+
+* New options
+
+set remote trace-status-packet
+show remote trace-status-packet
+ Set/show the use of remote protocol qTStatus packet.
+
+* The command 'tsave' can now support new option '-ctf' to save trace
+ buffer in Common Trace Format.
+
+* MI changes
+
+ ** The -trace-save MI command can optionally save trace buffer in Common
+ Trace Format now.
+
+*** Changes in GDB 7.6
+
+* Target record has been renamed to record-full.
+ Record/replay is now enabled with the "record full" command.
+ This also affects settings that are associated with full record/replay
+ that have been moved from "set/show record" to "set/show record full":
+
+set|show record full insn-number-max
+set|show record full stop-at-limit
+set|show record full memory-query
+
+* A new record target "record-btrace" has been added. The new target
+ uses hardware support to record the control-flow of a process. It
+ does not support replaying the execution, but it implements the
+ below new commands for investigating the recorded execution log.
+ This new recording method can be enabled using:
+
+record btrace
+
+ The "record-btrace" target is only available on Intel Atom processors
+ and requires a Linux kernel 2.6.32 or later.
+
+* Two new commands have been added for record/replay to give information
+ about the recorded execution without having to replay the execution.
+ The commands are only supported by "record btrace".
+
+record instruction-history prints the execution history at
+ instruction granularity
+
+record function-call-history prints the execution history at
+ function granularity
+
+* New native configurations
+
+ARM AArch64 GNU/Linux aarch64*-*-linux-gnu
+FreeBSD/powerpc powerpc*-*-freebsd
+Tilera TILE-Gx GNU/Linux tilegx*-*-linux-gnu
+
+* New targets
+
+ARM AArch64 aarch64*-*-elf
+ARM AArch64 GNU/Linux aarch64*-*-linux
+Lynx 178 PowerPC powerpc-*-lynx*178
+x86_64/Cygwin x86_64-*-cygwin*
+Tilera TILE-Gx GNU/Linux tilegx*-*-linux
+
+* If the configured location of system.gdbinit file (as given by the
+ --with-system-gdbinit option at configure time) is in the
+ data-directory (as specified by --with-gdb-datadir at configure
+ time) or in one of its subdirectories, then GDB will look for the
+ system-wide init file in the directory specified by the
+ --data-directory command-line option.
+
+* New command line options:
+
+-nh Disables auto-loading of ~/.gdbinit, but still executes all the
+ other initialization files, unlike -nx which disables all of them.
+
+* Removed command line options
+
+-epoch This was used by the gdb mode in Epoch, an ancient fork of
+ Emacs.
+
+* The 'ptype' and 'whatis' commands now accept an argument to control
+ type formatting.
+
+* 'info proc' now works on some core files.
+
+* Python scripting
+
+ ** Vectors can be created with gdb.Type.vector.
+
+ ** Python's atexit.register now works in GDB.
+
+ ** Types can be pretty-printed via a Python API.
+
+ ** Python 3 is now supported (in addition to Python 2.4 or later)
+
+ ** New class gdb.Architecture exposes GDB's internal representation
+ of architecture in the Python API.
+
+ ** New method Frame.architecture returns the gdb.Architecture object
+ corresponding to the frame's architecture.
+
+* New Python-based convenience functions:
+
+ ** $_memeq(buf1, buf2, length)
+ ** $_streq(str1, str2)
+ ** $_strlen(str)
+ ** $_regex(str, regex)
+
+* The 'cd' command now defaults to using '~' (the home directory) if not
+ given an argument.
+
+* The C++ ABI now defaults to the GNU v3 ABI. This has been the
+ default for GCC since November 2000.
+
+* The command 'forward-search' can now be abbreviated as 'fo'.
+
+* The command 'info tracepoints' can now display 'installed on target'
+ or 'not installed on target' for each non-pending location of tracepoint.
+
+* New configure options
+
+--enable-libmcheck/--disable-libmcheck
+ By default, development versions are built with -lmcheck on hosts
+ that support it, in order to help track memory corruption issues.
+ Release versions, on the other hand, are built without -lmcheck
+ by default. The --enable-libmcheck/--disable-libmcheck configure
+ options allow the user to override that default.
+
+* New commands (for set/show, see "New options" below)
+
+catch signal
+ Catch signals. This is similar to "handle", but allows commands and
+ conditions to be attached.
+
+maint info bfds
+ List the BFDs known to GDB.
+
+python-interactive [command]
+pi [command]
+ Start a Python interactive prompt, or evaluate the optional command
+ and print the result of expressions.
+
+py [command]
+ "py" is a new alias for "python".
+
+enable type-printer [name]...
+disable type-printer [name]...
+ Enable or disable type printers.
+
+* Removed commands
+
+ ** For the Renesas Super-H architecture, the "regs" command has been removed
+ (has been deprecated in GDB 7.5), and "info all-registers" should be used
+ instead.
+
+* New options
+
+set debug notification
+show debug notification
+ Control display of debugging info for async remote notification.
+
+set print type methods (on|off)
+show print type methods
+ Control whether method declarations are displayed by "ptype".
+ The default is to show them.
+
+set print type typedefs (on|off)
+show print type typedefs
+ Control whether typedef definitions are displayed by "ptype".
+ The default is to show them.
+
+set filename-display basename|relative|absolute
+show filename-display
+ Control the way in which filenames is displayed.
+ The default is "relative", which preserves previous behavior.
+
+set trace-buffer-size
+show trace-buffer-size
+ Request target to change the size of trace buffer.
+
+* MI changes
+
+ ** Command parameter changes are now notified using new async record
+ "=cmd-param-changed".
+ ** Trace frame changes caused by command "tfind" are now notified using
+ new async record "=traceframe-changed".
+ ** The creation, deletion and modification of trace state variables
+ are now notified using new async records "=tsv-created",
+ "=tsv-deleted" and "=tsv-modified".
+ ** The start and stop of process record are now notified using new
+ async record "=record-started" and "=record-stopped".
+ ** Memory changes are now notified using new async record
+ "=memory-changed".
+ ** The data-disassemble command response will include a "fullname" field
+ containing the absolute file name when GDB can determine it and source
+ has been requested.
+ ** New optional parameter COUNT added to the "-data-write-memory-bytes"
+ command, to allow pattern filling of memory areas.
+ ** New commands "-catch-load"/"-catch-unload" added for intercepting
+ library load/unload events.
+ ** The response to breakpoint commands and breakpoint async records
+ includes an "installed" field containing a boolean state about each
+ non-pending tracepoint location is whether installed on target or not.
+ ** Output of the "-trace-status" command includes a "trace-file" field
+ containing the name of the trace file being examined. This field is
+ optional, and only present when examining a trace file.
+
+* GDB now supports the "mini debuginfo" section, .gnu_debugdata.
+ You must have the LZMA library available when configuring GDB for this
+ feature to be enabled. For more information, see:
+ http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features/MiniDebugInfo
+
+* New remote packets
+
+QTBuffer:size
+ Set the size of trace buffer. The remote stub reports support for this
+ packet to gdb's qSupported query.
+
+*** Changes in GDB 7.5
+
+* GDB now supports x32 ABI. Visit <http://sites.google.com/site/x32abi/>
+ for more x32 ABI info.
+
+* GDB now supports access to MIPS DSP registers on Linux targets.
+
+* GDB now supports debugging microMIPS binaries.
+
+* The "info os" command on GNU/Linux can now display information on
+ several new classes of objects managed by the operating system:
+ "info os procgroups" lists process groups
+ "info os files" lists file descriptors
+ "info os sockets" lists internet-domain sockets
+ "info os shm" lists shared-memory regions
+ "info os semaphores" lists semaphores
+ "info os msg" lists message queues
+ "info os modules" lists loaded kernel modules
+
+* GDB now has support for SDT (Static Defined Tracing) probes. Currently,
+ the only implemented backend is for SystemTap probes (<sys/sdt.h>). You
+ can set a breakpoint using the new "-probe, "-pstap" or "-probe-stap"
+ options and inspect the probe arguments using the new $_probe_arg family
+ of convenience variables. You can obtain more information about SystemTap
+ in <http://sourceware.org/systemtap/>.
* GDB now supports reversible debugging on ARM, it allows you to
debug basic ARM and THUMB instructions, and provides
** A new method 'referenced_value' on gdb.Value objects which can
dereference pointer as well as C++ reference values.
+ ** New methods 'global_block' and 'static_block' on gdb.Symtab objects
+ which return the global and static blocks (as gdb.Block objects),
+ of the underlying symbol table, respectively.
+
+ ** New function gdb.find_pc_line which returns the gdb.Symtab_and_line
+ object associated with a PC value.
+
+ ** gdb.Symtab_and_line has new attribute 'last' which holds the end
+ of the address range occupied by code for the current source line.
+
+* Go language support.
+ GDB now supports debugging programs written in the Go programming
+ language.
+
* GDBserver now supports stdio connections.
E.g. (gdb) target remote | ssh myhost gdbserver - hello
* The .gdb_index section has been updated to include symbols for
inlined functions. GDB will ignore older .gdb_index sections by
default, which could cause symbol files to be loaded more slowly
- until their .gdb_index sections can be recreated. The new option
- --use-deprecated-index-sections will cause GDB to use any older
- .gdb_index sections it finds. This will restore performance, but
- the ability to set breakpoints on inlined functions will be lost
- in symbol files with older .gdb_index sections.
+ until their .gdb_index sections can be recreated. The new command
+ "set use-deprecated-index-sections on" will cause GDB to use any older
+ .gdb_index sections it finds. This will restore performance, but the
+ ability to set breakpoints on inlined functions will be lost in symbol
+ files with older .gdb_index sections.
+
+ The .gdb_index section has also been updated to record more information
+ about each symbol. This speeds up the "info variables", "info functions"
+ and "info types" commands when used with programs having the .gdb_index
+ section, as well as speeding up debugging with shared libraries using
+ the .gdb_index section.
+
+* Ada support for GDB/MI Variable Objects has been added.
+
+* GDB can now support 'breakpoint always-inserted mode' in 'record'
+ target.
+
+* MI changes
+
+ ** New command -info-os is the MI equivalent of "info os".
+
+ ** Output logs ("set logging" and related) now include MI output.
* New commands
+ ** "set use-deprecated-index-sections on|off"
+ "show use-deprecated-index-sections on|off"
+ Controls the use of deprecated .gdb_index sections.
+
** "catch load" and "catch unload" can be used to stop when a shared
library is loaded or unloaded, respectively.
** "info vtbl" can be used to show the virtual method tables for
C++ and Java objects.
+ ** "explore" and its sub commands "explore value" and "explore type"
+ can be used to reccursively explore values and types of
+ expressions. These commands are available only if GDB is
+ configured with '--with-python'.
+
+ ** "info auto-load" shows status of all kinds of auto-loaded files,
+ "info auto-load gdb-scripts" shows status of auto-loading GDB canned
+ sequences of commands files, "info auto-load python-scripts"
+ shows status of auto-loading Python script files,
+ "info auto-load local-gdbinit" shows status of loading init file
+ (.gdbinit) from current directory and "info auto-load libthread-db" shows
+ status of inferior specific thread debugging shared library loading.
+
+ ** "info auto-load-scripts", "set auto-load-scripts on|off"
+ and "show auto-load-scripts" commands have been deprecated, use their
+ "info auto-load python-scripts", "set auto-load python-scripts on|off"
+ and "show auto-load python-scripts" counterparts instead.
+
+ ** "dprintf location,format,args..." creates a dynamic printf, which
+ is basically a breakpoint that does a printf and immediately
+ resumes your program's execution, so it is like a printf that you
+ can insert dynamically at runtime instead of at compiletime.
+
+ ** "set print symbol"
+ "show print symbol"
+ Controls whether GDB attempts to display the symbol, if any,
+ corresponding to addresses it prints. This defaults to "on", but
+ you can set it to "off" to restore GDB's previous behavior.
+
+* Deprecated commands
+
+ ** For the Renesas Super-H architecture, the "regs" command has been
+ deprecated, and "info all-registers" should be used instead.
+
* New targets
Renesas RL78 rl78-*-elf
* New options
+set mips compression
+show mips compression
+ Select the compressed ISA encoding used in functions that have no symbol
+ information available. The encoding can be set to either of:
+ mips16
+ micromips
+ and is updated automatically from ELF file flags if available.
+
set breakpoint condition-evaluation
show breakpoint condition-evaluation
- Controls whether breakpoint conditions are evaluated by GDB ("host") or by
+ Control whether breakpoint conditions are evaluated by GDB ("host") or by
GDBserver ("target"). Default option "auto" chooses the most efficient
available mode.
This option can improve debugger efficiency depending on the speed of the
target.
+set auto-load off
+ Disable auto-loading globally.
+
+show auto-load
+ Show auto-loading setting of all kinds of auto-loaded files.
+
+set auto-load gdb-scripts on|off
+show auto-load gdb-scripts
+ Control auto-loading of GDB canned sequences of commands files.
+
+set auto-load python-scripts on|off
+show auto-load python-scripts
+ Control auto-loading of Python script files.
+
+set auto-load local-gdbinit on|off
+show auto-load local-gdbinit
+ Control loading of init file (.gdbinit) from current directory.
+
+set auto-load libthread-db on|off
+show auto-load libthread-db
+ Control auto-loading of inferior specific thread debugging shared library.
+
+set auto-load scripts-directory <dir1>[:<dir2>...]
+show auto-load scripts-directory
+ Set a list of directories from which to load auto-loaded scripts.
+ Automatically loaded Python scripts and GDB scripts are located in one
+ of the directories listed by this option.
+ The delimiter (':' above) may differ according to the host platform.
+
+set auto-load safe-path <dir1>[:<dir2>...]
+show auto-load safe-path
+ Set a list of directories from which it is safe to auto-load files.
+ The delimiter (':' above) may differ according to the host platform.
+
+set debug auto-load on|off
+show debug auto-load
+ Control display of debugging info for auto-loading the files above.
+
+set dprintf-style gdb|call|agent
+show dprintf-style
+ Control the way in which a dynamic printf is performed; "gdb"
+ requests a GDB printf command, while "call" causes dprintf to call a
+ function in the inferior. "agent" requests that the target agent
+ (such as GDBserver) do the printing.
+
+set dprintf-function <expr>
+show dprintf-function
+set dprintf-channel <expr>
+show dprintf-channel
+ Set the function and optional first argument to the call when using
+ the "call" style of dynamic printf.
+
+set disconnected-dprintf on|off
+show disconnected-dprintf
+ Control whether agent-style dynamic printfs continue to be in effect
+ after GDB disconnects.
+
+* New configure options
+
+--with-auto-load-dir
+ Configure default value for the 'set auto-load scripts-directory'
+ setting above. It defaults to '$debugdir:$datadir/auto-load',
+ $debugdir representing global debugging info directories (available
+ via 'show debug-file-directory') and $datadir representing GDB's data
+ directory (available via 'show data-directory').
+
+--with-auto-load-safe-path
+ Configure default value for the 'set auto-load safe-path' setting
+ above. It defaults to the --with-auto-load-dir setting.
+
+--without-auto-load-safe-path
+ Set 'set auto-load safe-path' to '/', effectively disabling this
+ security feature.
+
* New remote packets
z0/z1 conditional breakpoints extension
* New options
+set debug dwarf2-read
+show debug dwarf2-read
+ Turns on or off display of debugging messages related to reading
+ DWARF debug info. The default is off.
+
+set debug symtab-create
+show debug symtab-create
+ Turns on or off display of debugging messages related to symbol table
+ creation. The default is off.
+
set extended-prompt
show extended-prompt
Set the GDB prompt, and allow escape sequences to be inserted to
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