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1 What has changed in GDB?
2 (Organized release by release)
3
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4*** Changes since GDB 7.2
5
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6* Python scripting
7
8 ** GDB values in Python are now callable if the value represents a
9 function. For example, if 'some_value' represents a function that
10 takes two integer parameters and returns a value, you can call
11 that function like so:
12
13 result = some_value (10,20)
14
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15* C++ Improvements:
16
17 ** GDB now puts template parameters in scope when debugging in an
18 instantiation. For example, if you have:
19
20 template<int X> int func (void) { return X; }
21
22 then if you step into func<5>, "print X" will show "5". This
23 feature requires proper debuginfo support from the compiler; it
24 was added to GCC 4.5.
25
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26* GDB now has some support for using labels in the program's source in
27 linespecs. For instance, you can use "advance label" to continue
28 execution to a label.
29
30* GDB now has support for reading and writing a new .gdb_index
31 section. This section holds a fast index of DWARF debugging
32 information and can be used to greatly speed up GDB startup and
33 operation. See the documentation for `save gdb-index' for details.
34
b56df873 35* The "watch" command now accepts an optional "-location" argument.
14c0d4e1 36 When used, this causes GDB to watch the memory referred to by the
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37 expression. Such a watchpoint is never deleted due to it going out
38 of scope.
39
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40* GDB now supports thread debugging of core dumps on GNU/Linux.
41
42 GDB now activates thread debugging using the libthread_db library
43 when debugging GNU/Linux core dumps, similarly to when debugging
44 live processes. As a result, when debugging a core dump file, GDB
45 is now able to display pthread_t ids of threads. For example, "info
46 threads" shows the same output as when debugging the process when it
47 was live. In earlier releases, you'd see something like this:
48
49 (gdb) info threads
50 * 1 LWP 6780 main () at main.c:10
51
52 While now you see this:
53
54 (gdb) info threads
55 * 1 Thread 0x7f0f5712a700 (LWP 6780) main () at main.c:10
56
57 It is also now possible to inspect TLS variables when debugging core
58 dumps.
59
60 When debugging a core dump generated on a machine other than the one
61 used to run GDB, you may need to point GDB at the correct
62 libthread_db library with the "set libthread-db-search-path"
63 command. See the user manual for more details on this command.
64
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65* New features in the GDB remote stub, GDBserver
66
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67 ** GDBserver is now supported on PowerPC LynxOS (versions 4.x and 5.x),
68 and i686 LynxOS (version 5.x).
248c9dbc 69
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70* Ada task switching is now supported on sparc-elf targets when
71 debugging a program using the Ravenscar Profile. For more information,
72 see the "Tasking Support when using the Ravenscar Profile" section
73 in the GDB user manual.
74
76b8507d 75*** Changes in GDB 7.2
bfbf3774 76
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77* Shared library support for remote targets by default
78
79 When GDB is configured for a generic, non-OS specific target, like
80 for example, --target=arm-eabi or one of the many *-*-elf targets,
81 GDB now queries remote stubs for loaded shared libraries using the
82 `qXfer:libraries:read' packet. Previously, shared library support
83 was always disabled for such configurations.
84
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85* C++ Improvements:
86
87 ** Argument Dependent Lookup (ADL)
88
89 In C++ ADL lookup directs function search to the namespaces of its
90 arguments even if the namespace has not been imported.
91 For example:
92 namespace A
93 {
94 class B { };
95 void foo (B) { }
96 }
97 ...
98 A::B b
99 foo(b)
100 Here the compiler will search for `foo' in the namespace of 'b'
101 and find A::foo. GDB now supports this. This construct is commonly
102 used in the Standard Template Library for operators.
103
104 ** Improved User Defined Operator Support
105
106 In addition to member operators, GDB now supports lookup of operators
107 defined in a namespace and imported with a `using' directive, operators
108 defined in the global scope, operators imported implicitly from an
109 anonymous namespace, and the ADL operators mentioned in the previous
110 entry.
111 GDB now also supports proper overload resolution for all the previously
112 mentioned flavors of operators.
113
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114 ** static const class members
115
116 Printing of static const class members that are initialized in the
117 class definition has been fixed.
118
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119* Windows Thread Information Block access.
120
121 On Windows targets, GDB now supports displaying the Windows Thread
122 Information Block (TIB) structure. This structure is visible either
123 by using the new command `info w32 thread-information-block' or, by
124 dereferencing the new convenience variable named `$_tlb', a
125 thread-specific pointer to the TIB. This feature is also supported
126 when remote debugging using GDBserver.
127
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128* Static tracepoints
129
130 Static tracepoints are calls in the user program into a tracing
131 library. One such library is a port of the LTTng kernel tracer to
132 userspace --- UST (LTTng Userspace Tracer, http://lttng.org/ust).
133 When debugging with GDBserver, GDB now supports combining the GDB
134 tracepoint machinery with such libraries. For example: the user can
135 use GDB to probe a static tracepoint marker (a call from the user
136 program into the tracing library) with the new "strace" command (see
137 "New commands" below). This creates a "static tracepoint" in the
138 breakpoint list, that can be manipulated with the same feature set
139 as fast and regular tracepoints. E.g., collect registers, local and
140 global variables, collect trace state variables, and define
141 tracepoint conditions. In addition, the user can collect extra
142 static tracepoint marker specific data, by collecting the new
143 $_sdata internal variable. When analyzing the trace buffer, you can
144 inspect $_sdata like any other variable available to GDB. For more
145 information, see the "Tracepoints" chapter in GDB user manual. New
146 remote packets have been defined to support static tracepoints, see
147 the "New remote packets" section below.
148
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149* Better reconstruction of tracepoints after disconnected tracing
150
151 GDB will attempt to download the original source form of tracepoint
152 definitions when starting a trace run, and then will upload these
153 upon reconnection to the target, resulting in a more accurate
154 reconstruction of the tracepoints that are in use on the target.
155
156* Observer mode
157
158 You can now exercise direct control over the ways that GDB can
159 affect your program. For instance, you can disallow the setting of
160 breakpoints, so that the program can run continuously (assuming
161 non-stop mode). In addition, the "observer" variable is available
162 to switch all of the different controls; in observer mode, GDB
163 cannot affect the target's behavior at all, which is useful for
164 tasks like diagnosing live systems in the field.
165
166* The new convenience variable $_thread holds the number of the
167 current thread.
168
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169* New remote packets
170
171qGetTIBAddr
172
173 Return the address of the Windows Thread Information Block of a given thread.
174
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175qRelocInsn
176
177 In response to several of the tracepoint packets, the target may now
178 also respond with a number of intermediate `qRelocInsn' request
179 packets before the final result packet, to have GDB handle
180 relocating an instruction to execute at a different address. This
181 is particularly useful for stubs that support fast tracepoints. GDB
182 reports support for this feature in the qSupported packet.
183
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184qTfSTM, qTsSTM
185
186 List static tracepoint markers in the target program.
187
188qTSTMat
189
190 List static tracepoint markers at a given address in the target
191 program.
192
193qXfer:statictrace:read
194
195 Read the static trace data collected (by a `collect $_sdata'
196 tracepoint action). The remote stub reports support for this packet
197 to gdb's qSupported query.
198
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199QAllow
200
201 Send the current settings of GDB's permission flags.
202
203QTDPsrc
204
205 Send part of the source (textual) form of a tracepoint definition,
206 which includes location, conditional, and action list.
207
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208* The source command now accepts a -s option to force searching for the
209 script in the source search path even if the script name specifies
210 a directory.
211
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212* New features in the GDB remote stub, GDBserver
213
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214 - GDBserver now support tracepoints (including fast tracepoints, and
215 static tracepoints). The feature is currently supported by the
216 i386-linux and amd64-linux builds. See the "Tracepoints support
217 in gdbserver" section in the manual for more information.
218
219 GDBserver JIT compiles the tracepoint's conditional agent
220 expression bytecode into native code whenever possible for low
221 overhead dynamic tracepoints conditionals. For such tracepoints,
222 an expression that examines program state is evaluated when the
223 tracepoint is reached, in order to determine whether to capture
224 trace data. If the condition is simple and false, processing the
225 tracepoint finishes very quickly and no data is gathered.
226
227 GDBserver interfaces with the UST (LTTng Userspace Tracer) library
228 for static tracepoints support.
d337e9f0 229
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230 - GDBserver now supports x86_64 Windows 64-bit debugging.
231
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232* GDB now sends xmlRegisters= in qSupported packet to indicate that
233 it understands register description.
234
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235* The --batch flag now disables pagination and queries.
236
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237* X86 general purpose registers
238
239 GDB now supports reading/writing byte, word and double-word x86
240 general purpose registers directly. This means you can use, say,
241 $ah or $ax to refer, respectively, to the byte register AH and
242 16-bit word register AX that are actually portions of the 32-bit
243 register EAX or 64-bit register RAX.
244
95a42b64 245* The `commands' command now accepts a range of breakpoints to modify.
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246 A plain `commands' following a command that creates multiple
247 breakpoints affects all the breakpoints set by that command. This
248 applies to breakpoints set by `rbreak', and also applies when a
249 single `break' command creates multiple breakpoints (e.g.,
250 breakpoints on overloaded c++ functions).
95a42b64 251
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252* The `rbreak' command now accepts a filename specification as part of
253 its argument, limiting the functions selected by the regex to those
254 in the specified file.
255
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256* Support for remote debugging Windows and SymbianOS shared libraries
257 from Unix hosts has been improved. Non Windows GDB builds now can
258 understand target reported file names that follow MS-DOS based file
259 system semantics, such as file names that include drive letters and
260 use the backslash character as directory separator. This makes it
261 possible to transparently use the "set sysroot" and "set
262 solib-search-path" on Unix hosts to point as host copies of the
263 target's shared libraries. See the new command "set
264 target-file-system-kind" described below, and the "Commands to
265 specify files" section in the user manual for more information.
266
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267* New commands
268
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269eval template, expressions...
270 Convert the values of one or more expressions under the control
271 of the string template to a command line, and call it.
272
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273set target-file-system-kind unix|dos-based|auto
274show target-file-system-kind
275 Set or show the assumed file system kind for target reported file
276 names.
277
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278save breakpoints <filename>
279 Save all current breakpoint definitions to a file suitable for use
280 in a later debugging session. To read the saved breakpoint
281 definitions, use the `source' command.
282
283`save tracepoints' is a new alias for `save-tracepoints'. The latter
284is now deprecated.
285
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286info static-tracepoint-markers
287 Display information about static tracepoint markers in the target.
288
289strace FN | FILE:LINE | *ADDR | -m MARKER_ID
290 Define a static tracepoint by probing a marker at the given
291 function, line, address, or marker ID.
292
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293set observer on|off
294show observer
295 Enable and disable observer mode.
296
297set may-write-registers on|off
298set may-write-memory on|off
299set may-insert-breakpoints on|off
300set may-insert-tracepoints on|off
301set may-insert-fast-tracepoints on|off
302set may-interrupt on|off
303 Set individual permissions for GDB effects on the target. Note that
304 some of these settings can have undesirable or surprising
305 consequences, particularly when changed in the middle of a session.
306 For instance, disabling the writing of memory can prevent
307 breakpoints from being inserted, cause single-stepping to fail, or
308 even crash your program, if you disable after breakpoints have been
309 inserted. However, GDB should not crash.
310
311set record memory-query on|off
312show record memory-query
313 Control whether to stop the inferior if memory changes caused
314 by an instruction cannot be recorded.
315
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316* Changed commands
317
318disassemble
319 The disassemble command now supports "start,+length" form of two arguments.
320
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321* Python scripting
322
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323** GDB now provides a new directory location, called the python directory,
324 where Python scripts written for GDB can be installed. The location
325 of that directory is <data-directory>/python, where <data-directory>
326 is the GDB data directory. For more details, see section `Scripting
327 GDB using Python' in the manual.
328
adc36818 329** The GDB Python API now has access to breakpoints, symbols, symbol
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330 tables, program spaces, inferiors, threads and frame's code blocks.
331 Additionally, GDB Parameters can now be created from the API, and
332 manipulated via set/show in the CLI.
f870a310 333
fa33c3cd 334** New functions gdb.target_charset, gdb.target_wide_charset,
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335 gdb.progspaces, gdb.current_progspace, and gdb.string_to_argv.
336
337** New exception gdb.GdbError.
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338
339** Pretty-printers are now also looked up in the current program space.
f3e9a817 340
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341** Pretty-printers can now be individually enabled and disabled.
342
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343** GDB now looks for names of Python scripts to auto-load in a
344 special section named `.debug_gdb_scripts', in addition to looking
345 for a OBJFILE-gdb.py script when OBJFILE is read by the debugger.
346
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347* Tracepoint actions were unified with breakpoint commands. In particular,
348there are no longer differences in "info break" output for breakpoints and
349tracepoints and the "commands" command can be used for both tracepoints and
350regular breakpoints.
351
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352* New targets
353
354ARM Symbian arm*-*-symbianelf*
355
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356* D language support.
357 GDB now supports debugging programs written in the D programming
358 language.
359
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360* GDB now supports the extended ptrace interface for PowerPC which is
361 available since Linux kernel version 2.6.34. This automatically enables
362 any hardware breakpoints and additional hardware watchpoints available in
363 the processor. The old ptrace interface exposes just one hardware
364 watchpoint and no hardware breakpoints.
365
366* GDB is now able to use the Data Value Compare (DVC) register available on
367 embedded PowerPC processors to implement in hardware simple watchpoint
368 conditions of the form:
369
370 watch ADDRESS|VARIABLE if ADDRESS|VARIABLE == CONSTANT EXPRESSION
371
372 This works in native GDB running on Linux kernels with the extended ptrace
373 interface mentioned above.
374
bfbf3774 375*** Changes in GDB 7.1
abc7453d 376
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377* C++ Improvements
378
379 ** Namespace Support
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380
381 GDB now supports importing of namespaces in C++. This enables the
382 user to inspect variables from imported namespaces. Support for
383 namepace aliasing has also been added. So, if a namespace is
384 aliased in the current scope (e.g. namepace C=A; ) the user can
385 print variables using the alias (e.g. (gdb) print C::x).
386
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387 ** Bug Fixes
388
389 All known bugs relating to the printing of virtual base class were
390 fixed. It is now possible to call overloaded static methods using a
391 qualified name.
392
393 ** Cast Operators
394
395 The C++ cast operators static_cast<>, dynamic_cast<>, const_cast<>,
396 and reinterpret_cast<> are now handled by the C++ expression parser.
397
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398* New targets
399
400Xilinx MicroBlaze microblaze-*-*
34207b9e 401Renesas RX rx-*-elf
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402
403* New Simulators
404
405Xilinx MicroBlaze microblaze
34207b9e 406Renesas RX rx
2d1c1221 407
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408* Multi-program debugging.
409
410 GDB now has support for multi-program (a.k.a. multi-executable or
411 multi-exec) debugging. This allows for debugging multiple inferiors
412 simultaneously each running a different program under the same GDB
413 session. See "Debugging Multiple Inferiors and Programs" in the
414 manual for more information. This implied some user visible changes
415 in the multi-inferior support. For example, "info inferiors" now
416 lists inferiors that are not running yet or that have exited
417 already. See also "New commands" and "New options" below.
418
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419* New tracing features
420
421 GDB's tracepoint facility now includes several new features:
422
423 ** Trace state variables
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424
425 GDB tracepoints now include support for trace state variables, which
426 are variables managed by the target agent during a tracing
427 experiment. They are useful for tracepoints that trigger each
428 other, so for instance one tracepoint can count hits in a variable,
429 and then a second tracepoint has a condition that is true when the
430 count reaches a particular value. Trace state variables share the
431 $-syntax of GDB convenience variables, and can appear in both
432 tracepoint actions and condition expressions. Use the "tvariable"
433 command to create, and "info tvariables" to view; see "Trace State
434 Variables" in the manual for more detail.
7a697b8d 435
d5551862 436 ** Fast tracepoints
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437
438 GDB now includes an option for defining fast tracepoints, which
439 targets may implement more efficiently, such as by installing a jump
440 into the target agent rather than a trap instruction. The resulting
441 speedup can be by two orders of magnitude or more, although the
442 tradeoff is that some program locations on some target architectures
443 might not allow fast tracepoint installation, for instance if the
444 instruction to be replaced is shorter than the jump. To request a
445 fast tracepoint, use the "ftrace" command, with syntax identical to
446 the regular trace command.
447
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448 ** Disconnected tracing
449
450 It is now possible to detach GDB from the target while it is running
451 a trace experiment, then reconnect later to see how the experiment
452 is going. In addition, a new variable disconnected-tracing lets you
453 tell the target agent whether to continue running a trace if the
454 connection is lost unexpectedly.
455
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456 ** Trace files
457
458 GDB now has the ability to save the trace buffer into a file, and
459 then use that file as a target, similarly to you can do with
460 corefiles. You can select trace frames, print data that was
461 collected in them, and use tstatus to display the state of the
462 tracing run at the moment that it was saved. To create a trace
463 file, use "tsave <filename>", and to use it, do "target tfile
464 <name>".
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465
466 ** Circular trace buffer
467
468 You can ask the target agent to handle the trace buffer as a
469 circular buffer, discarding the oldest trace frames to make room for
470 newer ones, by setting circular-trace-buffer to on. This feature may
471 not be available for all target agents.
472
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473* Changed commands
474
475disassemble
476 The disassemble command, when invoked with two arguments, now requires
477 the arguments to be comma-separated.
478
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479info variables
480 The info variables command now displays variable definitions. Files
481 which only declare a variable are not shown.
482
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483source
484 The source command is now capable of sourcing Python scripts.
485 This feature is dependent on the debugger being build with Python
486 support.
487
488 Related to this enhancement is also the introduction of a new command
489 "set script-extension" (see below).
490
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491* New commands (for set/show, see "New options" below)
492
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493record save [<FILENAME>]
494 Save a file (in core file format) containing the process record
495 execution log for replay debugging at a later time.
496
497record restore <FILENAME>
498 Restore the process record execution log that was saved at an
499 earlier time, for replay debugging.
500
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501add-inferior [-copies <N>] [-exec <FILENAME>]
502 Add a new inferior.
503
504clone-inferior [-copies <N>] [ID]
505 Make a new inferior ready to execute the same program another
506 inferior has loaded.
507
508remove-inferior ID
509 Remove an inferior.
510
511maint info program-spaces
512 List the program spaces loaded into GDB.
513
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514set remote interrupt-sequence [Ctrl-C | BREAK | BREAK-g]
515show remote interrupt-sequence
516 Allow the user to select one of ^C, a BREAK signal or BREAK-g
517 as the sequence to the remote target in order to interrupt the execution.
518 Ctrl-C is a default. Some system prefers BREAK which is high level of
519 serial line for some certain time. Linux kernel prefers BREAK-g, a.k.a
520 Magic SysRq g. It is BREAK signal and character 'g'.
521
522set remote interrupt-on-connect [on | off]
523show remote interrupt-on-connect
524 When interrupt-on-connect is ON, gdb sends interrupt-sequence to
525 remote target when gdb connects to it. This is needed when you debug
526 Linux kernel.
527
528set remotebreak [on | off]
529show remotebreak
530Deprecated. Use "set/show remote interrupt-sequence" instead.
531
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532tvariable $NAME [ = EXP ]
533 Create or modify a trace state variable.
534
535info tvariables
536 List trace state variables and their values.
537
538delete tvariable $NAME ...
539 Delete one or more trace state variables.
540
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541teval EXPR, ...
542 Evaluate the given expressions without collecting anything into the
543 trace buffer. (Valid in tracepoint actions only.)
544
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545ftrace FN / FILE:LINE / *ADDR
546 Define a fast tracepoint at the given function, line, or address.
547
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548* New expression syntax
549
550 GDB now parses the 0b prefix of binary numbers the same way as GCC does.
551 GDB now parses 0b101010 identically with 42.
552
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553* New options
554
555set follow-exec-mode new|same
556show follow-exec-mode
557 Control whether GDB reuses the same inferior across an exec call or
558 creates a new one. This is useful to be able to restart the old
559 executable after the inferior having done an exec call.
560
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561set default-collect EXPR, ...
562show default-collect
563 Define a list of expressions to be collected at each tracepoint.
564 This is a useful way to ensure essential items are not overlooked,
565 such as registers or a critical global variable.
566
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567set disconnected-tracing
568show disconnected-tracing
569 If set to 1, the target is instructed to continue tracing if it
570 loses its connection to GDB. If 0, the target is to stop tracing
571 upon disconnection.
572
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573set circular-trace-buffer
574show circular-trace-buffer
575 If set to on, the target is instructed to use a circular trace buffer
576 and discard the oldest trace frames instead of stopping the trace due
577 to a full trace buffer. If set to off, the trace stops when the buffer
578 fills up. Some targets may not support this.
579
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580set script-extension off|soft|strict
581show script-extension
582 If set to "off", the debugger does not perform any script language
583 recognition, and all sourced files are assumed to be GDB scripts.
584 If set to "soft" (the default), files are sourced according to
585 filename extension, falling back to GDB scripts if the first
586 evaluation failed.
587 If set to "strict", files are sourced according to filename extension.
588
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589set ada trust-PAD-over-XVS on|off
590show ada trust-PAD-over-XVS
591 If off, activate a workaround against a bug in the debugging information
592 generated by the compiler for PAD types (see gcc/exp_dbug.ads in
593 the GCC sources for more information about the GNAT encoding and
594 PAD types in particular). It is always safe to set this option to
595 off, but this introduces a slight performance penalty. The default
596 is on.
597
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598* Python API Improvements
599
600 ** GDB provides the new class gdb.LazyString. This is useful in
601 some pretty-printing cases. The new method gdb.Value.lazy_string
602 provides a simple way to create objects of this type.
603
604 ** The fields returned by gdb.Type.fields now have an
605 `is_base_class' attribute.
606
607 ** The new method gdb.Type.range returns the range of an array type.
608
609 ** The new method gdb.parse_and_eval can be used to parse and
610 evaluate an expression.
611
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612* New remote packets
613
614QTDV
615 Define a trace state variable.
616
617qTV
618 Get the current value of a trace state variable.
619
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620QTDisconnected
621 Set desired tracing behavior upon disconnection.
622
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623QTBuffer:circular
624 Set the trace buffer to be linear or circular.
625
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626qTfP, qTsP
627 Get data about the tracepoints currently in use.
628
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629* Bug fixes
630
631Process record now works correctly with hardware watchpoints.
632
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633Multiple bug fixes have been made to the mips-irix port, making it
634much more reliable. In particular:
635 - Debugging threaded applications is now possible again. Previously,
636 GDB would hang while starting the program, or while waiting for
637 the program to stop at a breakpoint.
638 - Attaching to a running process no longer hangs.
639 - An error occurring while loading a core file has been fixed.
640 - Changing the value of the PC register now works again. This fixes
641 problems observed when using the "jump" command, or when calling
642 a function from GDB, or even when assigning a new value to $pc.
643 - With the "finish" and "return" commands, the return value for functions
644 returning a small array is now correctly printed.
645 - It is now possible to break on shared library code which gets executed
646 during a shared library init phase (code executed while executing
647 their .init section). Previously, the breakpoint would have no effect.
648 - GDB is now able to backtrace through the signal handler for
649 non-threaded programs.
650
93c26624
JK
651PIE (Position Independent Executable) programs debugging is now supported.
652This includes debugging execution of PIC (Position Independent Code) shared
653libraries although for that, it should be possible to run such libraries as an
654executable program.
655
abc7453d 656*** Changes in GDB 7.0
75feb17d 657
4efc6507
DE
658* GDB now has an interface for JIT compilation. Applications that
659dynamically generate code can create symbol files in memory and register
660them with GDB. For users, the feature should work transparently, and
661for JIT developers, the interface is documented in the GDB manual in the
662"JIT Compilation Interface" chapter.
663
782b2b07
SS
664* Tracepoints may now be conditional. The syntax is as for
665breakpoints; either an "if" clause appended to the "trace" command,
666or the "condition" command is available. GDB sends the condition to
667the target for evaluation using the same bytecode format as is used
668for tracepoint actions.
669
53a71c06
CR
670* The disassemble command now supports: an optional /r modifier, print the
671raw instructions in hex as well as in symbolic form, and an optional /m
672modifier to print mixed source+assembly.
e6158f16 673
e7a8dbfb
HZ
674* Process record and replay
675
676 In a architecture environment that supports ``process record and
677 replay'', ``process record and replay'' target can record a log of
678 the process execution, and replay it with both forward and reverse
679 execute commands.
680
64644d9b
MS
681* Reverse debugging: GDB now has new commands reverse-continue, reverse-
682step, reverse-next, reverse-finish, reverse-stepi, reverse-nexti, and
683set execution-direction {forward|reverse}, for targets that support
684reverse execution.
685
b9412953
DD
686* GDB now supports hardware watchpoints on MIPS/Linux systems. This
687feature is available with a native GDB running on kernel version
6882.6.28 or later.
689
6c7a06a3
TT
690* GDB now has support for multi-byte and wide character sets on the
691target. Strings whose character type is wchar_t, char16_t, or
692char32_t are now correctly printed. GDB supports wide- and unicode-
693literals in C, that is, L'x', L"string", u'x', u"string", U'x', and
694U"string" syntax. And, GDB allows the "%ls" and "%lc" formats in
695`printf'. This feature requires iconv to work properly; if your
696system does not have a working iconv, GDB can use GNU libiconv. See
697the installation instructions for more information.
698
f1838a98
UW
699* GDB now supports automatic retrieval of shared library files from
700remote targets. To use this feature, specify a system root that begins
701with the `remote:' prefix, either via the `set sysroot' command or via
702the `--with-sysroot' configure-time option.
703
55333a84
DE
704* "info sharedlibrary" now takes an optional regex of libraries to show,
705and it now reports if a shared library has no debugging information.
706
7f6a6314
PM
707* Commands `set debug-file-directory', `set solib-search-path' and `set args'
708now complete on file names.
709
65d12d83
TT
710* When completing in expressions, gdb will attempt to limit
711completions to allowable structure or union fields, where appropriate.
712For instance, consider:
713
714 # struct example { int f1; double f2; };
715 # struct example variable;
716 (gdb) p variable.
717
718If the user types TAB at the end of this command line, the available
719completions will be "f1" and "f2".
720
edb3359d
DJ
721* Inlined functions are now supported. They show up in backtraces, and
722the "step", "next", and "finish" commands handle them automatically.
723
2fae03e8
TT
724* GDB now supports the token-splicing (##) and stringification (#)
725operators when expanding macros. It also supports variable-arity
726macros.
727
47a3467a 728* GDB now supports inspecting extra signal information, exported by
58d6951d
DJ
729the new $_siginfo convenience variable. The feature is currently
730implemented on linux ARM, i386 and amd64.
731
732* GDB can now display the VFP floating point registers and NEON vector
733registers on ARM targets. Both ARM GNU/Linux native GDB and gdbserver
734can provide these registers (requires Linux 2.6.30 or later). Remote
735and simulator targets may also provide them.
47a3467a 736
08388c79
DE
737* New remote packets
738
739qSearch:memory:
740 Search memory for a sequence of bytes.
741
a6f3e723
SL
742QStartNoAckMode
743 Turn off `+'/`-' protocol acknowledgments to permit more efficient
744 operation over reliable transport links. Use of this packet is
745 controlled by the `set remote noack-packet' command.
746
d7713ae0
EZ
747vKill
748 Kill the process with the specified process ID. Use this in preference
749 to `k' when multiprocess protocol extensions are supported.
750
07e059b5
VP
751qXfer:osdata:read
752 Obtains additional operating system information
753
47a3467a
PA
754qXfer:siginfo:read
755qXfer:siginfo:write
756 Read or write additional signal information.
757
060871df
PA
758* Removed remote protocol undocumented extension
759
760 An undocumented extension to the remote protocol's `S' stop reply
761 packet that permited the stub to pass a process id was removed.
762 Remote servers should use the `T' stop reply packet instead.
763
c055b101 764* GDB now supports multiple function calling conventions according to the
a0ef4274 765DWARF-2 DW_AT_calling_convention function attribute.
c055b101
CV
766
767* The SH target utilizes the aforementioned change to distinguish between gcc
a0ef4274
DJ
768and Renesas calling convention. It also adds the new CLI commands
769`set/show sh calling-convention'.
c055b101 770
31fffb02
CS
771* GDB can now read compressed debug sections, as produced by GNU gold
772with the --compress-debug-sections=zlib flag.
773
88d8a8e0
JB
774* 64-bit core files are now supported on AIX.
775
7f99b190
JB
776* Thread switching is now supported on Tru64.
777
ccd213ac
DJ
778* Watchpoints can now be set on unreadable memory locations, e.g. addresses
779which will be allocated using malloc later in program execution.
780
1fddbabb 781* The qXfer:libraries:read remote procotol packet now allows passing a
31fffb02 782list of section offsets.
1fddbabb 783
a0ef4274
DJ
784* On GNU/Linux, GDB can now attach to stopped processes. Several race
785conditions handling signals delivered during attach or thread creation
786have also been fixed.
787
bfb8797a 788* GDB now supports the use of DWARF boolean types for Ada's type Boolean.
158c7665
PH
789From the user's standpoint, all unqualified instances of True and False
790are treated as the standard definitions, regardless of context.
bfb8797a 791
71c25dea
TT
792* GDB now parses C++ symbol and type names more flexibly. For
793example, given:
794
795 template<typename T> class C { };
796 C<char const *> c;
797
798GDB will now correctly handle all of:
799
800 ptype C<char const *>
801 ptype C<char const*>
802 ptype C<const char *>
803 ptype C<const char*>
804
ccd213ac
DJ
805* New features in the GDB remote stub, gdbserver
806
807 - The "--wrapper" command-line argument tells gdbserver to use a
808 wrapper program to launch programs for debugging.
809
7ae0e2a2
UW
810 - On PowerPC and S/390 targets, it is now possible to use a single
811 gdbserver executable to debug both 32-bit and 64-bit programs.
812 (This requires gdbserver itself to be built as a 64-bit executable.)
813
a6f3e723
SL
814 - gdbserver uses the new noack protocol mode for TCP connections to
815 reduce communications latency, if also supported and enabled in GDB.
816
da8bd9a3
DJ
817 - Support for the sparc64-linux-gnu target is now included in
818 gdbserver.
819
d70e31dd
DE
820 - The amd64-linux build of gdbserver now supports debugging both
821 32-bit and 64-bit programs.
822
823 - The i386-linux, amd64-linux, and i386-win32 builds of gdbserver
824 now support hardware watchpoints, and will use them automatically
825 as appropriate.
826
d57a3c85
TJB
827* Python scripting
828
829 GDB now has support for scripting using Python. Whether this is
830 available is determined at configure time.
831
d8906c6f
TJB
832 New GDB commands can now be written in Python.
833
aadc346a
JB
834* Ada tasking support
835
836 Ada tasks can now be inspected in GDB. The following commands have
837 been introduced:
838
839 info tasks
840 Print the list of Ada tasks.
841 info task N
842 Print detailed information about task number N.
843 task
844 Print the task number of the current task.
845 task N
846 Switch the context of debugging to task number N.
847
adb483fe
DJ
848* Support for user-defined prefixed commands. The "define" command can
849add new commands to existing prefixes, e.g. "target".
850
2277426b
PA
851* Multi-inferior, multi-process debugging.
852
853 GDB now has generalized support for multi-inferior debugging. See
854 "Debugging Multiple Inferiors" in the manual for more information.
855 Although availability still depends on target support, the command
856 set is more uniform now. The GNU/Linux specific multi-forks support
857 has been migrated to this new framework. This implied some user
858 visible changes; see "New commands" and also "Removed commands"
859 below.
860
08d16641
PA
861* Target descriptions can now describe the target OS ABI. See the
862"Target Description Format" section in the user manual for more
863information.
864
e35359c5
UW
865* Target descriptions can now describe "compatible" architectures
866to indicate that the target can execute applications for a different
867architecture in addition to those for the main target architecture.
868See the "Target Description Format" section in the user manual for
869more information.
870
85e747d2
UW
871* Multi-architecture debugging.
872
873 GDB now includes general supports for debugging applications on
874 hybrid systems that use more than one single processor architecture
875 at the same time. Each such hybrid architecture still requires
876 specific support to be added. The only hybrid architecture supported
877 in this version of GDB is the Cell Broadband Engine.
878
879* GDB now supports integrated debugging of Cell/B.E. applications that
880use both the PPU and SPU architectures. To enable support for hybrid
881Cell/B.E. debugging, you need to configure GDB to support both the
882powerpc-linux or powerpc64-linux and the spu-elf targets, using the
883--enable-targets configure option.
884
11ade57a
PA
885* Non-stop mode debugging.
886
887 For some targets, GDB now supports an optional mode of operation in
888 which you can examine stopped threads while other threads continue
889 to execute freely. This is referred to as non-stop mode, with the
890 old mode referred to as all-stop mode. See the "Non-Stop Mode"
891 section in the user manual for more information.
892
893 To be able to support remote non-stop debugging, a remote stub needs
894 to implement the non-stop mode remote protocol extensions, as
895 described in the "Remote Non-Stop" section of the user manual. The
896 GDB remote stub, gdbserver, has been adjusted to support these
897 extensions on linux targets.
898
d7713ae0 899* New commands (for set/show, see "New options" below)
75feb17d 900
a96d9b2e
SDJ
901catch syscall [NAME(S) | NUMBER(S)]
902 Catch system calls. Arguments, which should be names of system
903 calls or their numbers, mean catch only those syscalls. Without
904 arguments, every syscall will be caught. When the inferior issues
905 any of the specified syscalls, GDB will stop and announce the system
906 call, both when it is called and when its call returns. This
907 feature is currently available with a native GDB running on the
908 Linux Kernel, under the following architectures: x86, x86_64,
909 PowerPC and PowerPC64.
910
08388c79
DE
911find [/size-char] [/max-count] start-address, end-address|+search-space-size,
912 val1 [, val2, ...]
913 Search memory for a sequence of bytes.
914
d57a3c85
TJB
915maint set python print-stack
916maint show python print-stack
917 Show a stack trace when an error is encountered in a Python script.
918
919python [CODE]
920 Invoke CODE by passing it to the Python interpreter.
921
d7713ae0
EZ
922macro define
923macro list
924macro undef
925 These allow macros to be defined, undefined, and listed
926 interactively.
927
928info os processes
929 Show operating system information about processes.
930
2277426b
PA
931info inferiors
932 List the inferiors currently under GDB's control.
933
934inferior NUM
935 Switch focus to inferior number NUM.
936
937detach inferior NUM
938 Detach from inferior number NUM.
939
940kill inferior NUM
941 Kill inferior number NUM.
942
d7713ae0
EZ
943* New options
944
3285f3fe
UW
945set spu stop-on-load
946show spu stop-on-load
947 Control whether to stop for new SPE threads during Cell/B.E. debugging.
948
ff1a52c6
UW
949set spu auto-flush-cache
950show spu auto-flush-cache
951 Control whether to automatically flush the software-managed cache
952 during Cell/B.E. debugging.
953
d7713ae0
EZ
954set sh calling-convention
955show sh calling-convention
956 Control the calling convention used when calling SH target functions.
957
e0a3ce09 958set debug timestamp
75feb17d 959show debug timestamp
d7713ae0
EZ
960 Control display of timestamps with GDB debugging output.
961
962set disassemble-next-line
963show disassemble-next-line
964 Control display of disassembled source lines or instructions when
965 the debuggee stops.
966
967set remote noack-packet
968show remote noack-packet
969 Set/show the use of remote protocol QStartNoAckMode packet. See above
970 under "New remote packets."
971
972set remote query-attached-packet
973show remote query-attached-packet
974 Control use of remote protocol `qAttached' (query-attached) packet.
975
976set remote read-siginfo-object
977show remote read-siginfo-object
978 Control use of remote protocol `qXfer:siginfo:read' (read-siginfo-object)
979 packet.
980
981set remote write-siginfo-object
982show remote write-siginfo-object
983 Control use of remote protocol `qXfer:siginfo:write' (write-siginfo-object)
984 packet.
985
40ab02ce
MS
986set remote reverse-continue
987show remote reverse-continue
988 Control use of remote protocol 'bc' (reverse-continue) packet.
989
990set remote reverse-step
991show remote reverse-step
992 Control use of remote protocol 'bs' (reverse-step) packet.
993
d7713ae0
EZ
994set displaced-stepping
995show displaced-stepping
996 Control displaced stepping mode. Displaced stepping is a way to
997 single-step over breakpoints without removing them from the debuggee.
998 Also known as "out-of-line single-stepping".
999
1000set debug displaced
1001show debug displaced
1002 Control display of debugging info for displaced stepping.
1003
1004maint set internal-error
1005maint show internal-error
1006 Control what GDB does when an internal error is detected.
1007
1008maint set internal-warning
1009maint show internal-warning
1010 Control what GDB does when an internal warning is detected.
75feb17d 1011
ccd213ac
DJ
1012set exec-wrapper
1013show exec-wrapper
1014unset exec-wrapper
1015 Use a wrapper program to launch programs for debugging.
fa4727a6 1016
aad4b048
JB
1017set multiple-symbols (all|ask|cancel)
1018show multiple-symbols
1019 The value of this variable can be changed to adjust the debugger behavior
1020 when an expression or a breakpoint location contains an ambiguous symbol
1021 name (an overloaded function name, for instance).
1022
74960c60
VP
1023set breakpoint always-inserted
1024show breakpoint always-inserted
1025 Keep breakpoints always inserted in the target, as opposed to inserting
1026 them when resuming the target, and removing them when the target stops.
1027 This option can improve debugger performance on slow remote targets.
1028
0428b8f5
DJ
1029set arm fallback-mode (arm|thumb|auto)
1030show arm fallback-mode
1031set arm force-mode (arm|thumb|auto)
1032show arm force-mode
1033 These commands control how ARM GDB determines whether instructions
1034 are ARM or Thumb. The default for both settings is auto, which uses
1035 the current CPSR value for instructions without symbols; previous
1036 versions of GDB behaved as if "set arm fallback-mode arm".
1037
10568435
JK
1038set disable-randomization
1039show disable-randomization
1040 Standalone programs run with the virtual address space randomization enabled
1041 by default on some platforms. This option keeps the addresses stable across
1042 multiple debugging sessions.
1043
d7713ae0
EZ
1044set non-stop
1045show non-stop
1046 Control whether other threads are stopped or not when some thread hits
1047 a breakpoint.
1048
b3eb342c 1049set target-async
d7713ae0 1050show target-async
b3eb342c
VP
1051 Requests that asynchronous execution is enabled in the target, if available.
1052 In this case, it's possible to resume target in the background, and interact
1053 with GDB while the target is running. "show target-async" displays the
1054 current state of asynchronous execution of the target.
1055
6c7a06a3
TT
1056set target-wide-charset
1057show target-wide-charset
1058 The target-wide-charset is the name of the character set that GDB
1059 uses when printing characters whose type is wchar_t.
1060
84603566
SL
1061set tcp auto-retry (on|off)
1062show tcp auto-retry
1063set tcp connect-timeout
1064show tcp connect-timeout
1065 These commands allow GDB to retry failed TCP connections to a remote stub
1066 with a specified timeout period; this is useful if the stub is launched
1067 in parallel with GDB but may not be ready to accept connections immediately.
1068
17a37d48
PP
1069set libthread-db-search-path
1070show libthread-db-search-path
1071 Control list of directories which GDB will search for appropriate
1072 libthread_db.
1073
d4db2f36
PA
1074set schedule-multiple (on|off)
1075show schedule-multiple
1076 Allow GDB to resume all threads of all processes or only threads of
1077 the current process.
1078
4e5d721f
DE
1079set stack-cache
1080show stack-cache
1081 Use more aggressive caching for accesses to the stack. This improves
1082 performance of remote debugging (particularly backtraces) without
1083 affecting correctness.
1084
910c5da8
JB
1085set interactive-mode (on|off|auto)
1086show interactive-mode
1087 Control whether GDB runs in interactive mode (on) or not (off).
1088 When in interactive mode, GDB waits for the user to answer all
1089 queries. Otherwise, GDB does not wait and assumes the default
1090 answer. When set to auto (the default), GDB determines which
1091 mode to use based on the stdin settings.
1092
2277426b
PA
1093* Removed commands
1094
1095info forks
1096 For program forks, this is replaced by the new more generic `info
1097 inferiors' command. To list checkpoints, you can still use the
1098 `info checkpoints' command, which was an alias for the `info forks'
1099 command.
1100
1101fork NUM
1102 Replaced by the new `inferior' command. To switch between
1103 checkpoints, you can still use the `restart' command, which was an
1104 alias for the `fork' command.
1105
1106process PID
1107 This is removed, since some targets don't have a notion of
1108 processes. To switch between processes, you can still use the
1109 `inferior' command using GDB's own inferior number.
1110
1111delete fork NUM
1112 For program forks, this is replaced by the new more generic `kill
1113 inferior' command. To delete a checkpoint, you can still use the
1114 `delete checkpoint' command, which was an alias for the `delete
1115 fork' command.
1116
1117detach fork NUM
1118 For program forks, this is replaced by the new more generic `detach
1119 inferior' command. To detach a checkpoint, you can still use the
1120 `detach checkpoint' command, which was an alias for the `detach
1121 fork' command.
1122
a80b95ba
TG
1123* New native configurations
1124
1125x86/x86_64 Darwin i[34567]86-*-darwin*
1126
b8bfd3ed
JB
1127x86_64 MinGW x86_64-*-mingw*
1128
75a2d5e7
TT
1129* New targets
1130
c28c63d8 1131Lattice Mico32 lm32-*
75a2d5e7 1132x86 DICOS i[34567]86-*-dicos*
4c1d2973 1133x86_64 DICOS x86_64-*-dicos*
5f814c3b 1134S+core 3 score-*-*
75a2d5e7 1135
6de3146c
PA
1136* The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports x86 Windows CE
1137 (mingw32ce) debugging.
1138
d5cbbe6e
JB
1139* Removed commands
1140
1141catch load
1142catch unload
1143 These commands were actually not implemented on any target.
1144
75feb17d 1145*** Changes in GDB 6.8
f9ed52be 1146
af5ca30d
NH
1147* New native configurations
1148
1149NetBSD/hppa hppa*-*netbsd*
94a0e877 1150Xtensa GNU/Linux xtensa*-*-linux*
af5ca30d
NH
1151
1152* New targets
1153
1154NetBSD/hppa hppa*-*-netbsd*
94a0e877 1155Xtensa GNU/Lunux xtensa*-*-linux*
af5ca30d 1156
7a404eba
PA
1157* Change in command line behavior -- corefiles vs. process ids.
1158
1159 When the '-p NUMBER' or '--pid NUMBER' options are used, and
1160 attaching to process NUMBER fails, GDB no longer attempts to open a
1161 core file named NUMBER. Attaching to a program using the -c option
1162 is no longer supported. Instead, use the '-p' or '--pid' options.
1163
430ebac9
PA
1164* GDB can now be built as a native debugger for debugging Windows x86
1165(mingw32) Portable Executable (PE) programs.
1166
fe6fbf8b 1167* Pending breakpoints no longer change their number when their address
8d5f9c6f 1168is resolved.
fe6fbf8b
VP
1169
1170* GDB now supports breakpoints with multiple locations,
8d5f9c6f
DJ
1171including breakpoints on C++ constructors, inside C++ templates,
1172and in inlined functions.
fe6fbf8b 1173
10665d76
JB
1174* GDB's ability to debug optimized code has been improved. GDB more
1175accurately identifies function bodies and lexical blocks that occupy
1176more than one contiguous range of addresses.
1177
7cc46491
DJ
1178* Target descriptions can now describe registers for PowerPC.
1179
d71340b8
DJ
1180* The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports the AltiVec and SPE
1181registers on PowerPC targets.
1182
523c4513
DJ
1183* The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports thread debugging on GNU/Linux
1184targets even when the libthread_db library is not available.
1185
a6b151f1
DJ
1186* The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports the new file transfer
1187commands (remote put, remote get, and remote delete).
1188
2d717e4f
DJ
1189* The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports run and attach in
1190extended-remote mode.
1191
24a836bd 1192* hppa*64*-*-hpux11* target broken
d001be7a
DJ
1193The debugger is unable to start a program and fails with the following
1194error: "Error trying to get information about dynamic linker".
1195The gdb-6.7 release is also affected.
24a836bd 1196
d0c678e6
UW
1197* GDB now supports the --enable-targets= configure option to allow
1198building a single GDB executable that supports multiple remote
1199target architectures.
1200
d64a946d
TJB
1201* GDB now supports debugging C and C++ programs which use the
1202Decimal Floating Point extension. In addition, the PowerPC target
1203now has a set of pseudo-registers to inspect decimal float values
1204stored in two consecutive float registers.
1205
ee163bf5
VP
1206* The -break-insert MI command can optionally create pending
1207breakpoints now.
1208
b93b6ca7 1209* Improved support for debugging Ada
d001be7a
DJ
1210Many improvements to the Ada language support have been made. These
1211include:
b93b6ca7
JB
1212 - Better support for Ada2005 interface types
1213 - Improved handling of arrays and slices in general
1214 - Better support for Taft-amendment types
1215 - The '{type} ADDRESS' expression is now allowed on the left hand-side
1216 of an assignment
1217 - Improved command completion in Ada
1218 - Several bug fixes
1219
d001be7a
DJ
1220* GDB on GNU/Linux and HP/UX can now debug through "exec" of a new
1221process.
1222
a6b151f1
DJ
1223* New commands
1224
6d53d0af
JB
1225set print frame-arguments (all|scalars|none)
1226show print frame-arguments
1227 The value of this variable can be changed to control which argument
1228 values should be printed by the debugger when displaying a frame.
1229
a6b151f1
DJ
1230remote put
1231remote get
1232remote delete
1233 Transfer files to and from a remote target, and delete remote files.
1234
1235* New MI commands
1236
1237-target-file-put
1238-target-file-get
1239-target-file-delete
1240 Transfer files to and from a remote target, and delete remote files.
1241
1242* New remote packets
1243
1244vFile:open:
1245vFile:close:
1246vFile:pread:
1247vFile:pwrite:
1248vFile:unlink:
1249 Open, close, read, write, and delete files on the remote system.
d0c678e6 1250
2d717e4f
DJ
1251vAttach
1252 Attach to an existing process on the remote system, in extended-remote
1253 mode.
1254
1255vRun
1256 Run a new process on the remote system, in extended-remote mode.
1257
8d5f9c6f 1258*** Changes in GDB 6.7
6dd09645 1259
19d378fc
MS
1260* Resolved 101 resource leaks, null pointer dereferences, etc. in gdb,
1261bfd, libiberty and opcodes, as revealed by static analysis donated by
1262Coverity, Inc. (http://scan.coverity.com).
1263
3a40aaa0
UW
1264* When looking up multiply-defined global symbols, GDB will now prefer the
1265symbol definition in the current shared library if it was built using the
1266-Bsymbolic linker option.
1267
a6ec25f2
BW
1268* When the Text User Interface (TUI) is not configured, GDB will now
1269recognize the -tui command-line option and print a message that the TUI
1270is not supported.
1271
6dd09645
JB
1272* The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now has lower overhead for high
1273frequency signals (e.g. SIGALRM) via the QPassSignals packet.
1274
c9bb8148
DJ
1275* GDB for MIPS targets now autodetects whether a remote target provides
127632-bit or 64-bit register values.
1277
0d5de010
DJ
1278* Support for C++ member pointers has been improved.
1279
23181151
DJ
1280* GDB now understands XML target descriptions, which specify the
1281target's overall architecture. GDB can read a description from
1282a local file or over the remote serial protocol.
1283
ea37ba09
DJ
1284* Vectors of single-byte data use a new integer type which is not
1285automatically displayed as character or string data.
1286
1287* The /s format now works with the print command. It displays
1288arrays of single-byte integers and pointers to single-byte integers
1289as strings.
e1f48ead 1290
123dc839
DJ
1291* Target descriptions can now describe target-specific registers,
1292for architectures which have implemented the support (currently
8d5f9c6f 1293only ARM, M68K, and MIPS).
123dc839 1294
05a4558a
DJ
1295* GDB and the GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now support the XScale
1296iWMMXt coprocessor.
fb1e4ffc 1297
7c963485
PA
1298* The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, has been updated to support
1299ARM Windows CE (mingw32ce) debugging, and GDB Windows CE support
1300has been rewritten to use the standard GDB remote protocol.
1301
b18be20d
DJ
1302* GDB can now step into C++ functions which are called through thunks.
1303
0ca420ce
UW
1304* GDB for the Cell/B.E. SPU now supports overlay debugging.
1305
31d99776
DJ
1306* The GDB remote protocol "qOffsets" packet can now honor ELF segment
1307layout. It also supports a TextSeg= and DataSeg= response when only
1308segment base addresses (rather than offsets) are available.
1309
a4642986
MR
1310* The /i format now outputs any trailing branch delay slot instructions
1311immediately following the last instruction within the count specified.
1312
cfa9d6d9
DJ
1313* The GDB remote protocol "T" stop reply packet now supports a
1314"library" response. Combined with the new "qXfer:libraries:read"
1315packet, this response allows GDB to debug shared libraries on targets
1316where the operating system manages the list of loaded libraries (e.g.
1317Windows and SymbianOS).
255e7678
DJ
1318
1319* The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports dynamic link libraries
1320(DLLs) on Windows and Windows CE targets.
f5db8714
JK
1321
1322* GDB now supports a faster verification that a .debug file matches its binary
1323according to its build-id signature, if the signature is present.
cfa9d6d9 1324
c9bb8148
DJ
1325* New commands
1326
23776285
MR
1327set remoteflow
1328show remoteflow
1329 Enable or disable hardware flow control (RTS/CTS) on the serial port
1330 when debugging using remote targets.
1331
c9bb8148
DJ
1332set mem inaccessible-by-default
1333show mem inaccessible-by-default
1334 If the target supplies a memory map, for instance via the remote
1335 protocol's "qXfer:memory-map:read" packet, setting this variable
1336 prevents GDB from accessing memory outside the memory map. This
1337 is useful for targets with memory mapped registers or which react
1338 badly to accesses of unmapped address space.
1339
1340set breakpoint auto-hw
1341show breakpoint auto-hw
1342 If the target supplies a memory map, for instance via the remote
1343 protocol's "qXfer:memory-map:read" packet, setting this variable
1344 lets GDB use hardware breakpoints automatically for memory regions
1345 where it can not use software breakpoints. This covers both the
1346 "break" command and internal breakpoints used for other commands
1347 including "next" and "finish".
1348
0e420bd8
JB
1349catch exception
1350catch exception unhandled
1351 Stop the program execution when Ada exceptions are raised.
1352
1353catch assert
1354 Stop the program execution when an Ada assertion failed.
1355
f822c95b
DJ
1356set sysroot
1357show sysroot
1358 Set an alternate system root for target files. This is a more
1359 general version of "set solib-absolute-prefix", which is now
1360 an alias to "set sysroot".
1361
83cc5c53
UW
1362info spu
1363 Provide extended SPU facility status information. This set of
1364 commands is available only when debugging the Cell/B.E. SPU
1365 architecture.
1366
bd372731
MK
1367* New native configurations
1368
1369OpenBSD/sh sh*-*openbsd*
1370
23181151
DJ
1371set tdesc filename
1372unset tdesc filename
1373show tdesc filename
1374 Use the specified local file as an XML target description, and do
1375 not query the target for its built-in description.
1376
c9bb8148
DJ
1377* New targets
1378
54fe9172 1379OpenBSD/sh sh*-*-openbsd*
c9bb8148 1380MIPS64 GNU/Linux (gdbserver) mips64-linux-gnu
c077150c 1381Toshiba Media Processor mep-elf
c9bb8148 1382
6dd09645
JB
1383* New remote packets
1384
1385QPassSignals:
1386 Ignore the specified signals; pass them directly to the debugged program
1387 without stopping other threads or reporting them to GDB.
1388
23181151
DJ
1389qXfer:features:read:
1390 Read an XML target description from the target, which describes its
1391 features.
6dd09645 1392
83cc5c53
UW
1393qXfer:spu:read:
1394qXfer:spu:write:
1395 Read or write contents of an spufs file on the target system. These
1396 packets are available only on the Cell/B.E. SPU architecture.
1397
cfa9d6d9
DJ
1398qXfer:libraries:read:
1399 Report the loaded shared libraries. Combined with new "T" packet
1400 response, this packet allows GDB to debug shared libraries on
1401 targets where the operating system manages the list of loaded
1402 libraries (e.g. Windows and SymbianOS).
1403
483367ee
DJ
1404* Removed targets
1405
1406Support for these obsolete configurations has been removed.
1407
d08950c4
UW
1408alpha*-*-osf1*
1409alpha*-*-osf2*
7ce59000 1410d10v-*-*
483367ee
DJ
1411hppa*-*-hiux*
1412i[34567]86-ncr-*
1413i[34567]86-*-dgux*
1414i[34567]86-*-lynxos*
1415i[34567]86-*-netware*
1416i[34567]86-*-sco3.2v5*
1417i[34567]86-*-sco3.2v4*
1418i[34567]86-*-sco*
1419i[34567]86-*-sysv4.2*
1420i[34567]86-*-sysv4*
1421i[34567]86-*-sysv5*
1422i[34567]86-*-unixware2*
1423i[34567]86-*-unixware*
1424i[34567]86-*-sysv*
1425i[34567]86-*-isc*
1426m68*-cisco*-*
1427m68*-tandem-*
ad527d2e 1428mips*-*-pe
483367ee 1429rs6000-*-lynxos*
ad527d2e 1430sh*-*-pe
483367ee 1431
7ce59000
DJ
1432* Other removed features
1433
1434target abug
1435target cpu32bug
1436target est
1437target rom68k
1438
1439 Various m68k-only ROM monitors.
1440
ea35711c
DJ
1441target hms
1442target e7000
1443target sh3
1444target sh3e
1445
1446 Various Renesas ROM monitors and debugging interfaces for SH and
1447 H8/300.
1448
1449target ocd
1450
1451 Support for a Macraigor serial interface to on-chip debugging.
1452 GDB does not directly support the newer parallel or USB
1453 interfaces.
1454
7ce59000
DJ
1455DWARF 1 support
1456
1457 A debug information format. The predecessor to DWARF 2 and
1458 DWARF 3, which are still supported.
1459
54d61198
DJ
1460Support for the HP aCC compiler on HP-UX/PA-RISC
1461
1462 SOM-encapsulated symbolic debugging information, automatic
1463 invocation of pxdb, and the aCC custom C++ ABI. This does not
1464 affect HP-UX for Itanium or GCC for HP-UX/PA-RISC. Code compiled
1465 with aCC can still be debugged on an assembly level.
1466
ea35711c
DJ
1467MIPS ".pdr" sections
1468
1469 A MIPS-specific format used to describe stack frame layout
1470 in debugging information.
1471
1472Scheme support
1473
1474 GDB could work with an older version of Guile to debug
1475 the interpreter and Scheme programs running in it.
1476
1a69e1e4
DJ
1477set mips stack-arg-size
1478set mips saved-gpreg-size
1479
1480 Use "set mips abi" to control parameter passing for MIPS.
1481
6dd09645 1482*** Changes in GDB 6.6
e374b601 1483
ca3bf3bd
DJ
1484* New targets
1485
1486Xtensa xtensa-elf
9c309e77 1487Cell Broadband Engine SPU spu-elf
ca3bf3bd 1488
6aec2e11
DJ
1489* GDB can now be configured as a cross-debugger targeting native Windows
1490(mingw32) or Cygwin. It can communicate with a remote debugging stub
1491running on a Windows system over TCP/IP to debug Windows programs.
1492
1493* The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, has been updated to support Windows and
1494Cygwin debugging. Both single-threaded and multi-threaded programs are
1495supported.
1496
17218d91
DJ
1497* The "set trust-readonly-sections" command works again. This command was
1498broken in GDB 6.3, 6.4, and 6.5.
1499
9ebce043
DJ
1500* The "load" command now supports writing to flash memory, if the remote
1501stub provides the required support.
1502
7d3d3ece
DJ
1503* Support for GNU/Linux Thread Local Storage (TLS, per-thread variables) no
1504longer requires symbolic debug information (e.g. DWARF-2).
1505
4f8253f3
JB
1506* New commands
1507
1508set substitute-path
1509unset substitute-path
1510show substitute-path
1511 Manage a list of substitution rules that GDB uses to rewrite the name
1512 of the directories where the sources are located. This can be useful
1513 for instance when the sources were moved to a different location
1514 between compilation and debugging.
1515
9fa66fd7
AS
1516set trace-commands
1517show trace-commands
1518 Print each CLI command as it is executed. Each command is prefixed with
1519 a number of `+' symbols representing the nesting depth.
1520 The source command now has a `-v' option to enable the same feature.
1521
1f5befc1
DJ
1522* REMOVED features
1523
1524The ARM Demon monitor support (RDP protocol, "target rdp").
1525
2ec3381a
DJ
1526Kernel Object Display, an embedded debugging feature which only worked with
1527an obsolete version of Cisco IOS.
1528
3d00d119
DJ
1529The 'set download-write-size' and 'show download-write-size' commands.
1530
be2a5f71
DJ
1531* New remote packets
1532
1533qSupported:
1534 Tell a stub about GDB client features, and request remote target features.
1535 The first feature implemented is PacketSize, which allows the target to
1536 specify the size of packets it can handle - to minimize the number of
1537 packets required and improve performance when connected to a remote
1538 target.
1539
0876f84a
DJ
1540qXfer:auxv:read:
1541 Fetch an OS auxilliary vector from the remote stub. This packet is a
1542 more efficient replacement for qPart:auxv:read.
1543
9ebce043
DJ
1544qXfer:memory-map:read:
1545 Fetch a memory map from the remote stub, including information about
1546 RAM, ROM, and flash memory devices.
1547
1548vFlashErase:
1549vFlashWrite:
1550vFlashDone:
1551 Erase and program a flash memory device.
1552
0876f84a
DJ
1553* Removed remote packets
1554
1555qPart:auxv:read:
1556 This packet has been replaced by qXfer:auxv:read. Only GDB 6.4 and 6.5
1557 used it, and only gdbserver implemented it.
1558
e374b601 1559*** Changes in GDB 6.5
53e5f3cf 1560
96309189
MS
1561* New targets
1562
1563Renesas M32C/M16C m32c-elf
1564
1565Morpho Technologies ms1 ms1-elf
1566
53e5f3cf
AS
1567* New commands
1568
1569init-if-undefined Initialize a convenience variable, but
1570 only if it doesn't already have a value.
1571
ac264b3b
MS
1572The following commands are presently only implemented for native GNU/Linux:
1573
1574checkpoint Save a snapshot of the program state.
1575
1576restart <n> Return the program state to a
1577 previously saved state.
1578
1579info checkpoints List currently saved checkpoints.
1580
1581delete-checkpoint <n> Delete a previously saved checkpoint.
1582
1583set|show detach-on-fork Tell gdb whether to detach from a newly
1584 forked process, or to keep debugging it.
1585
1586info forks List forks of the user program that
1587 are available to be debugged.
1588
1589fork <n> Switch to debugging one of several
1590 forks of the user program that are
1591 available to be debugged.
1592
1593delete-fork <n> Delete a fork from the list of forks
1594 that are available to be debugged (and
1595 kill the forked process).
1596
1597detach-fork <n> Delete a fork from the list of forks
1598 that are available to be debugged (and
1599 allow the process to continue).
1600
3950dc3f
NS
1601* New architecture
1602
1603Morpho Technologies ms2 ms1-elf
1604
0ea3f30e
DJ
1605* Improved Windows host support
1606
1607GDB now builds as a cross debugger hosted on i686-mingw32, including
1608native console support, and remote communications using either
1609network sockets or serial ports.
1610
f79daebb
GM
1611* Improved Modula-2 language support
1612
1613GDB can now print most types in the Modula-2 syntax. This includes:
1614basic types, set types, record types, enumerated types, range types,
1615pointer types and ARRAY types. Procedure var parameters are correctly
1616printed and hexadecimal addresses and character constants are also
1617written in the Modula-2 syntax. Best results can be obtained by using
1618GNU Modula-2 together with the -gdwarf-2 command line option.
1619
acab6ab2
MM
1620* REMOVED features
1621
1622The ARM rdi-share module.
1623
f4267320
DJ
1624The Netware NLM debug server.
1625
53e5f3cf 1626*** Changes in GDB 6.4
156a53ca 1627
e0ecbda1
MK
1628* New native configurations
1629
02a677ac 1630OpenBSD/arm arm*-*-openbsd*
e0ecbda1
MK
1631OpenBSD/mips64 mips64-*-openbsd*
1632
d64a6579
KB
1633* New targets
1634
1635Morpho Technologies ms1 ms1-elf
1636
b33a6190
AS
1637* New command line options
1638
1639--batch-silent As for --batch, but totally silent.
1640--return-child-result The debugger will exist with the same value
1641 the child (debugged) program exited with.
1642--eval-command COMMAND, -ex COMMAND
1643 Execute a single GDB CLI command. This may be
1644 specified multiple times and in conjunction
1645 with the --command (-x) option.
1646
11dced61
AC
1647* Deprecated commands removed
1648
1649The following commands, that were deprecated in 2000, have been
1650removed:
1651
1652 Command Replacement
1653 set|show arm disassembly-flavor set|show arm disassembler
1654 othernames set arm disassembler
1655 set|show remotedebug set|show debug remote
1656 set|show archdebug set|show debug arch
1657 set|show eventdebug set|show debug event
1658 regs info registers
1659
6fe85783
MK
1660* New BSD user-level threads support
1661
1662It is now possible to debug programs using the user-level threads
1663library on OpenBSD and FreeBSD. Currently supported (target)
1664configurations are:
1665
1666FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
1667FreeBSD/i386 i386-*-freebsd*
1668OpenBSD/i386 i386-*-openbsd*
1669
1670Note that the new kernel threads libraries introduced in FreeBSD 5.x
1671are not yet supported.
1672
5260ca71
MS
1673* New support for Matsushita MN10300 w/sim added
1674(Work in progress). mn10300-elf.
1675
e84ecc99
AC
1676* REMOVED configurations and files
1677
1678VxWorks and the XDR protocol *-*-vxworks
9445aa30 1679Motorola MCORE mcore-*-*
9445aa30 1680National Semiconductor NS32000 ns32k-*-*
156a53ca 1681
31e35378
JB
1682* New "set print array-indexes" command
1683
1684After turning this setting "on", GDB prints the index of each element
1685when displaying arrays. The default is "off" to preserve the previous
1686behavior.
1687
e85e5c83
MK
1688* VAX floating point support
1689
1690GDB now supports the not-quite-ieee VAX F and D floating point formats.
1691
d91e9901
AS
1692* User-defined command support
1693
1694In addition to using $arg0..$arg9 for argument passing, it is now possible
1695to use $argc to determine now many arguments have been passed. See the
1696section on user-defined commands in the user manual for more information.
1697
f2cb65ca
MC
1698*** Changes in GDB 6.3:
1699
f47b1503
AS
1700* New command line option
1701
1702GDB now accepts -l followed by a number to set the timeout for remote
1703debugging.
1704
f2cb65ca
MC
1705* GDB works with GCC -feliminate-dwarf2-dups
1706
1707GDB now supports a more compact representation of DWARF-2 debug
1708information using DW_FORM_ref_addr references. These are produced
1709by GCC with the option -feliminate-dwarf2-dups and also by some
1710proprietary compilers. With GCC, you must use GCC 3.3.4 or later
1711to use -feliminate-dwarf2-dups.
860660cb 1712
d08c0230
AC
1713* Internationalization
1714
1715When supported by the host system, GDB will be built with
1716internationalization (libintl). The task of marking up the sources is
1717continued, we're looking forward to our first translation.
1718
117ea3cf
PH
1719* Ada
1720
1721Initial support for debugging programs compiled with the GNAT
1722implementation of the Ada programming language has been integrated
1723into GDB. In this release, support is limited to expression evaluation.
1724
d08c0230
AC
1725* New native configurations
1726
1727GNU/Linux/m32r m32r-*-linux-gnu
1728
1729* Remote 'p' packet
1730
1731GDB's remote protocol now includes support for the 'p' packet. This
1732packet is used to fetch individual registers from a remote inferior.
1733
1734* END-OF-LIFE registers[] compatibility module
1735
1736GDB's internal register infrastructure has been completely rewritten.
1737The new infrastructure making possible the implementation of key new
1738features including 32x64 (e.g., 64-bit amd64 GDB debugging a 32-bit
1739i386 application).
1740
1741GDB 6.3 will be the last release to include the the registers[]
1742compatibility module that allowed out-of-date configurations to
1743continue to work. This change directly impacts the following
1744configurations:
1745
1746hppa-*-hpux
1747ia64-*-aix
1748mips-*-irix*
1749*-*-lynx
1750mips-*-linux-gnu
1751sds protocol
1752xdr protocol
1753powerpc bdm protocol
1754
1755Unless there is activity to revive these configurations, they will be
1756made OBSOLETE in GDB 6.4, and REMOVED from GDB 6.5.
1757
1758* OBSOLETE configurations and files
1759
1760Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
1761been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
1762configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
1763permanently REMOVED.
1764
1765h8300-*-*
1766mcore-*-*
1767mn10300-*-*
1768ns32k-*-*
1769sh64-*-*
1770v850-*-*
1771
ebb7c577
AC
1772*** Changes in GDB 6.2.1:
1773
1774* MIPS `break main; run' gave an heuristic-fence-post warning
1775
1776When attempting to run even a simple program, a warning about
1777heuristic-fence-post being hit would be reported. This problem has
1778been fixed.
1779
1780* MIPS IRIX 'long double' crashed GDB
1781
1782When examining a long double variable, GDB would get a segmentation
1783fault. The crash has been fixed (but GDB 6.2 cannot correctly examine
1784IRIX long double values).
1785
1786* VAX and "next"
1787
1788A bug in the VAX stack code was causing problems with the "next"
1789command. This problem has been fixed.
1790
860660cb 1791*** Changes in GDB 6.2:
faae5abe 1792
0dea2468
AC
1793* Fix for ``many threads''
1794
1795On GNU/Linux systems that use the NPTL threads library, a program
1796rapidly creating and deleting threads would confuse GDB leading to the
1797error message:
1798
1799 ptrace: No such process.
1800 thread_db_get_info: cannot get thread info: generic error
1801
1802This problem has been fixed.
1803
2c07db7a
AC
1804* "-async" and "-noasync" options removed.
1805
1806Support for the broken "-noasync" option has been removed (it caused
1807GDB to dump core).
1808
c23968a2
JB
1809* New ``start'' command.
1810
1811This command runs the program until the begining of the main procedure.
1812
71009278
MK
1813* New BSD Kernel Data Access Library (libkvm) interface
1814
1815Using ``target kvm'' it is now possible to debug kernel core dumps and
1816live kernel memory images on various FreeBSD, NetBSD and OpenBSD
1817platforms. Currently supported (native-only) configurations are:
1818
1819FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
1820FreeBSD/i386 i?86-*-freebsd*
1821NetBSD/i386 i?86-*-netbsd*
1822NetBSD/m68k m68*-*-netbsd*
1823NetBSD/sparc sparc-*-netbsd*
1824OpenBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-openbsd*
1825OpenBSD/i386 i?86-*-openbsd*
1826OpenBSD/m68k m68*-openbsd*
1827OpenBSD/sparc sparc-*-openbsd*
1828
3c0b7db2
AC
1829* Signal trampoline code overhauled
1830
1831Many generic problems with GDB's signal handling code have been fixed.
1832These include: backtraces through non-contiguous stacks; recognition
1833of sa_sigaction signal trampolines; backtrace from a NULL pointer
1834call; backtrace through a signal trampoline; step into and out of
1835signal handlers; and single-stepping in the signal trampoline.
1836
73cc75f3
AC
1837Please note that kernel bugs are a limiting factor here. These
1838features have been shown to work on an s390 GNU/Linux system that
1839include a 2.6.8-rc1 kernel. Ref PR breakpoints/1702.
3c0b7db2 1840
7243600a
BF
1841* Cygwin support for DWARF 2 added.
1842
6f606e1c
MK
1843* New native configurations
1844
97dc871c 1845GNU/Linux/hppa hppa*-*-linux*
0e56aeaf 1846OpenBSD/hppa hppa*-*-openbsd*
bf2ca189
MK
1847OpenBSD/m68k m68*-*-openbsd*
1848OpenBSD/m88k m88*-*-openbsd*
d195bc9f 1849OpenBSD/powerpc powerpc-*-openbsd*
6f606e1c 1850NetBSD/vax vax-*-netbsd*
9f076e7a 1851OpenBSD/vax vax-*-openbsd*
6f606e1c 1852
a1b461bf
AC
1853* END-OF-LIFE frame compatibility module
1854
1855GDB's internal frame infrastructure has been completely rewritten.
1856The new infrastructure making it possible to support key new features
1857including DWARF 2 Call Frame Information. To aid in the task of
1858migrating old configurations to this new infrastructure, a
1859compatibility module, that allowed old configurations to continue to
1860work, was also included.
1861
1862GDB 6.2 will be the last release to include this frame compatibility
1863module. This change directly impacts the following configurations:
1864
1865h8300-*-*
1866mcore-*-*
1867mn10300-*-*
1868ns32k-*-*
1869sh64-*-*
1870v850-*-*
1871xstormy16-*-*
1872
1873Unless there is activity to revive these configurations, they will be
1874made OBSOLETE in GDB 6.3, and REMOVED from GDB 6.4.
1875
3c7012f5
AC
1876* REMOVED configurations and files
1877
1878Sun 3, running SunOS 3 m68*-*-sunos3*
1879Sun 3, running SunOS 4 m68*-*-sunos4*
1880Sun 2, running SunOS 3 m68000-*-sunos3*
1881Sun 2, running SunOS 4 m68000-*-sunos4*
1882Motorola 680x0 running LynxOS m68*-*-lynxos*
1883AT&T 3b1/Unix pc m68*-att-*
1884Bull DPX2 (68k, System V release 3) m68*-bull-sysv*
1885decstation mips-dec-* mips-little-*
1886riscos mips-*-riscos* mips-*-sysv*
1887sonymips mips-sony-*
1888sysv mips*-*-sysv4* (IRIX 5/6 not included)
1889
e5fe55f7
AC
1890*** Changes in GDB 6.1.1:
1891
1892* TUI (Text-mode User Interface) built-in (also included in GDB 6.1)
1893
1894The TUI (Text-mode User Interface) is now built as part of a default
1895GDB configuration. It is enabled by either selecting the TUI with the
1896command line option "-i=tui" or by running the separate "gdbtui"
1897program. For more information on the TUI, see the manual "Debugging
1898with GDB".
1899
1900* Pending breakpoint support (also included in GDB 6.1)
1901
1902Support has been added to allow you to specify breakpoints in shared
1903libraries that have not yet been loaded. If a breakpoint location
1904cannot be found, and the "breakpoint pending" option is set to auto,
1905GDB queries you if you wish to make the breakpoint pending on a future
1906shared-library load. If and when GDB resolves the breakpoint symbol,
1907the pending breakpoint is removed as one or more regular breakpoints
1908are created.
1909
1910Pending breakpoints are very useful for GCJ Java debugging.
1911
1912* Fixed ISO-C build problems
1913
1914The files bfd/elf-bfd.h, gdb/dictionary.c and gdb/types.c contained
1915non ISO-C code that stopped them being built using a more strict ISO-C
1916compiler (e.g., IBM's C compiler).
1917
1918* Fixed build problem on IRIX 5
1919
1920Due to header problems with <sys/proc.h>, the file gdb/proc-api.c
1921wasn't able to compile compile on an IRIX 5 system.
1922
1923* Added execute permission to gdb/gdbserver/configure
1924
1925The shell script gdb/testsuite/gdb.stabs/configure lacked execute
1926permission. This bug would cause configure to fail on a number of
1927systems (Solaris, IRIX). Ref: server/519.
1928
1929* Fixed build problem on hpux2.0w-hp-hpux11.00 using the HP ANSI C compiler
1930
1931Older HPUX ANSI C compilers did not accept variable array sizes. somsolib.c
1932has been updated to use constant array sizes.
1933
1934* Fixed a panic in the DWARF Call Frame Info code on Solaris 2.7
1935
1936GCC 3.3.2, on Solaris 2.7, includes the DW_EH_PE_funcrel encoding in
1937its generated DWARF Call Frame Info. This encoding was causing GDB to
1938panic, that panic has been fixed. Ref: gdb/1628.
1939
1940* Fixed a problem when examining parameters in shared library code.
1941
1942When examining parameters in optimized shared library code generated
1943by a mainline GCC, GDB would incorrectly report ``Variable "..." is
1944not available''. GDB now correctly displays the variable's value.
1945
faae5abe 1946*** Changes in GDB 6.1:
f2c06f52 1947
9175c9a3
MC
1948* Removed --with-mmalloc
1949
1950Support for the mmalloc memory manager has been removed, as it
1951conflicted with the internal gdb byte cache.
1952
3cc87ec0
MK
1953* Changes in AMD64 configurations
1954
1955The AMD64 target now includes the %cs and %ss registers. As a result
1956the AMD64 remote protocol has changed; this affects the floating-point
1957and SSE registers. If you rely on those registers for your debugging,
1958you should upgrade gdbserver on the remote side.
1959
f0424ef6
MK
1960* Revised SPARC target
1961
1962The SPARC target has been completely revised, incorporating the
1963FreeBSD/sparc64 support that was added for GDB 6.0. As a result
03cebad2
MK
1964support for LynxOS and SunOS 4 has been dropped. Calling functions
1965from within GDB on operating systems with a non-executable stack
1966(Solaris, OpenBSD) now works.
f0424ef6 1967
59659be2
ILT
1968* New C++ demangler
1969
1970GDB has a new C++ demangler which does a better job on the mangled
1971names generated by current versions of g++. It also runs faster, so
1972with this and other changes gdb should now start faster on large C++
1973programs.
1974
9e08b29b
DJ
1975* DWARF 2 Location Expressions
1976
1977GDB support for location expressions has been extended to support function
1978arguments and frame bases. Older versions of GDB could crash when they
1979encountered these.
1980
8dfe8985
DC
1981* C++ nested types and namespaces
1982
1983GDB's support for nested types and namespaces in C++ has been
1984improved, especially if you use the DWARF 2 debugging format. (This
1985is the default for recent versions of GCC on most platforms.)
1986Specifically, if you have a class "Inner" defined within a class or
1987namespace "Outer", then GDB realizes that the class's name is
1988"Outer::Inner", not simply "Inner". This should greatly reduce the
1989frequency of complaints about not finding RTTI symbols. In addition,
1990if you are stopped at inside of a function defined within a namespace,
1991GDB modifies its name lookup accordingly.
1992
cced5e27
MK
1993* New native configurations
1994
1995NetBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-netbsd*
27d1e716 1996OpenBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-openbsd*
2031c21a 1997OpenBSD/alpha alpha*-*-openbsd*
f2cab569
MK
1998OpenBSD/sparc sparc-*-openbsd*
1999OpenBSD/sparc64 sparc64-*-openbsd*
cced5e27 2000
b4b4b794
KI
2001* New debugging protocols
2002
2003M32R with SDI protocol m32r-*-elf*
2004
7989c619
AC
2005* "set prompt-escape-char" command deleted.
2006
2007The command "set prompt-escape-char" has been deleted. This command,
2008and its very obscure effet on GDB's prompt, was never documented,
2009tested, nor mentioned in the NEWS file.
2010
5994185b
AC
2011* OBSOLETE configurations and files
2012
2013Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
2014been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
2015configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
2016permanently REMOVED.
2017
2018Sun 3, running SunOS 3 m68*-*-sunos3*
2019Sun 3, running SunOS 4 m68*-*-sunos4*
2020Sun 2, running SunOS 3 m68000-*-sunos3*
2021Sun 2, running SunOS 4 m68000-*-sunos4*
2022Motorola 680x0 running LynxOS m68*-*-lynxos*
2023AT&T 3b1/Unix pc m68*-att-*
2024Bull DPX2 (68k, System V release 3) m68*-bull-sysv*
0748d941
AC
2025decstation mips-dec-* mips-little-*
2026riscos mips-*-riscos* mips-*-sysv*
2027sonymips mips-sony-*
2028sysv mips*-*-sysv4* (IRIX 5/6 not included)
5994185b 2029
0ddabb4c
AC
2030* REMOVED configurations and files
2031
2032SGI Irix-4.x mips-sgi-irix4 or iris4
2033SGI Iris (MIPS) running Irix V3: mips-sgi-irix or iris
4a8269c0
AC
2034Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
2035Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
2036H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
2037HP/PA running BSD hppa*-*-bsd*
2038HP/PA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
2039HP/PA Pro target hppa*-*-pro*
2040PMAX (MIPS) running Mach 3.0 mips*-*-mach3*
cf7c5c23 2041386BSD i[3456]86-*-bsd*
4a8269c0
AC
2042Sequent family i[3456]86-sequent-sysv4*
2043 i[3456]86-sequent-sysv*
2044 i[3456]86-sequent-bsd*
f0424ef6
MK
2045SPARC running LynxOS sparc-*-lynxos*
2046SPARC running SunOS 4 sparc-*-sunos4*
4a8269c0
AC
2047Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
2048Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
0ddabb4c 2049
c7f1390e
DJ
2050*** Changes in GDB 6.0:
2051
1fe43d45
AC
2052* Objective-C
2053
2054Support for debugging the Objective-C programming language has been
2055integrated into GDB.
2056
e6beb428
AC
2057* New backtrace mechanism (includes DWARF 2 Call Frame Information).
2058
2059DWARF 2's Call Frame Information makes available compiler generated
2060information that more exactly describes the program's run-time stack.
2061By using this information, GDB is able to provide more robust stack
2062backtraces.
2063
2064The i386, amd64 (nee, x86-64), Alpha, m68hc11, ia64, and m32r targets
2065have been updated to use a new backtrace mechanism which includes
2066DWARF 2 CFI support.
2067
2068* Hosted file I/O.
2069
2070GDB's remote protocol has been extended to include support for hosted
2071file I/O (where the remote target uses GDB's file system). See GDB's
2072remote protocol documentation for details.
2073
2074* All targets using the new architecture framework.
2075
2076All of GDB's targets have been updated to use the new internal
2077architecture framework. The way is now open for future GDB releases
2078to include cross-architecture native debugging support (i386 on amd64,
2079ppc32 on ppc64).
2080
2081* GNU/Linux's Thread Local Storage (TLS)
2082
2083GDB now includes support for for the GNU/Linux implementation of
2084per-thread variables.
2085
2086* GNU/Linux's Native POSIX Thread Library (NPTL)
2087
2088GDB's thread code has been updated to work with either the new
2089GNU/Linux NPTL thread library or the older "LinuxThreads" library.
2090
2091* Separate debug info.
2092
2093GDB, in conjunction with BINUTILS, now supports a mechanism for
2094automatically loading debug information from a separate file. Instead
2095of shipping full debug and non-debug versions of system libraries,
2096system integrators can now instead ship just the stripped libraries
2097and optional debug files.
2098
2099* DWARF 2 Location Expressions
2100
2101DWARF 2 Location Expressions allow the compiler to more completely
2102describe the location of variables (even in optimized code) to the
2103debugger.
2104
2105GDB now includes preliminary support for location expressions (support
2106for DW_OP_piece is still missing).
2107
2108* Java
2109
2110A number of long standing bugs that caused GDB to die while starting a
2111Java application have been fixed. GDB's Java support is now
2112considered "useable".
2113
85f8f974
DJ
2114* GNU/Linux support for fork, vfork, and exec.
2115
2116The "catch fork", "catch exec", "catch vfork", and "set follow-fork-mode"
2117commands are now implemented for GNU/Linux. They require a 2.5.x or later
2118kernel.
2119
0fac0b41
DJ
2120* GDB supports logging output to a file
2121
2122There are two new commands, "set logging" and "show logging", which can be
2123used to capture GDB's output to a file.
f2c06f52 2124
6ad8ae5c
DJ
2125* The meaning of "detach" has changed for gdbserver
2126
2127The "detach" command will now resume the application, as documented. To
2128disconnect from gdbserver and leave it stopped, use the new "disconnect"
2129command.
2130
e286caf2 2131* d10v, m68hc11 `regs' command deprecated
5f601589
AC
2132
2133The `info registers' command has been updated so that it displays the
2134registers using a format identical to the old `regs' command.
2135
d28f9cdf
DJ
2136* Profiling support
2137
2138A new command, "maint set profile on/off", has been added. This command can
2139be used to enable or disable profiling while running GDB, to profile a
2140session or a set of commands. In addition there is a new configure switch,
2141"--enable-profiling", which will cause GDB to be compiled with profiling
2142data, for more informative profiling results.
2143
da0f9dcd
AC
2144* Default MI syntax changed to "mi2".
2145
2146The default MI (machine interface) syntax, enabled by the command line
2147option "-i=mi", has been changed to "mi2". The previous MI syntax,
b68767c1 2148"mi1", can be enabled by specifying the option "-i=mi1".
da0f9dcd
AC
2149
2150Support for the original "mi0" syntax (included in GDB 5.0) has been
2151removed.
2152
fb9b6b35
JJ
2153Fix for gdb/192: removed extraneous space when displaying frame level.
2154Fix for gdb/672: update changelist is now output in mi list format.
2155Fix for gdb/702: a -var-assign that updates the value now shows up
2156 in a subsequent -var-update.
2157
954a4db8
MK
2158* New native configurations.
2159
2160FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
2161
6760f9e6
JB
2162* Multi-arched targets.
2163
b4263afa 2164HP/PA HPUX11 hppa*-*-hpux*
85a453d5 2165Renesas M32R/D w/simulator m32r-*-elf*
6760f9e6 2166
1b831c93
AC
2167* OBSOLETE configurations and files
2168
2169Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
2170been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
2171configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
2172permanently REMOVED.
2173
8b0e5691 2174Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
67f16606 2175Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
fd2299bd 2176H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
56056df7
AC
2177HP/PA running BSD hppa*-*-bsd*
2178HP/PA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
2179HP/PA Pro target hppa*-*-pro*
78c43945 2180PMAX (MIPS) running Mach 3.0 mips*-*-mach3*
2fbce691
AC
2181Sequent family i[3456]86-sequent-sysv4*
2182 i[3456]86-sequent-sysv*
2183 i[3456]86-sequent-bsd*
f81824a9
AC
2184Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
2185Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
fd2299bd 2186
5835abe7
NC
2187* REMOVED configurations and files
2188
2189V850EA ISA
1b831c93
AC
2190Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
2191IBM AIX PS/2 i[3456]86-*-aix
2192i386 running Mach 3.0 i[3456]86-*-mach3*
2193i386 running Mach i[3456]86-*-mach*
2194i386 running OSF/1 i[3456]86-*osf1mk*
2195HP/Apollo 68k Family m68*-apollo*-sysv*,
2196 m68*-apollo*-bsd*,
2197 m68*-hp-bsd*, m68*-hp-hpux*
2198Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
2199Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
2200Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
2201OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
2202I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
5835abe7 2203
a094c6fb
AC
2204* MIPS $fp behavior changed
2205
2206The convenience variable $fp, for the MIPS, now consistently returns
2207the address of the current frame's base. Previously, depending on the
2208context, $fp could refer to either $sp or the current frame's base
2209address. See ``8.10 Registers'' in the manual ``Debugging with GDB:
2210The GNU Source-Level Debugger''.
2211
299ffc64 2212*** Changes in GDB 5.3:
37057839 2213
46248966
AC
2214* GNU/Linux shared library multi-threaded performance improved.
2215
2216When debugging a multi-threaded application on GNU/Linux, GDB now uses
2217`/proc', in preference to `ptrace' for memory reads. This may result
2218in an improvement in the start-up time of multi-threaded, shared
2219library applications when run under GDB. One GDB user writes: ``loads
2220shared libs like mad''.
2221
b9d14705 2222* ``gdbserver'' now supports multi-threaded applications on some targets
6da02953 2223
b9d14705
DJ
2224Support for debugging multi-threaded applications which use
2225the GNU/Linux LinuxThreads package has been added for
2226arm*-*-linux*-gnu*, i[3456]86-*-linux*-gnu*, mips*-*-linux*-gnu*,
2227powerpc*-*-linux*-gnu*, and sh*-*-linux*-gnu*.
6da02953 2228
e0e9281e
JB
2229* GDB now supports C/C++ preprocessor macros.
2230
2231GDB now expands preprocessor macro invocations in C/C++ expressions,
2232and provides various commands for showing macro definitions and how
2233they expand.
2234
dd73b9bb
AC
2235The new command `macro expand EXPRESSION' expands any macro
2236invocations in expression, and shows the result.
2237
2238The new command `show macro MACRO-NAME' shows the definition of the
2239macro named MACRO-NAME, and where it was defined.
2240
e0e9281e
JB
2241Most compilers don't include information about macros in the debugging
2242information by default. In GCC 3.1, for example, you need to compile
2243your program with the options `-gdwarf-2 -g3'. If the macro
2244information is present in the executable, GDB will read it.
2245
2250ee0c
CV
2246* Multi-arched targets.
2247
6e3ba3b8
JT
2248DEC Alpha (partial) alpha*-*-*
2249DEC VAX (partial) vax-*-*
2250ee0c 2250NEC V850 v850-*-*
6e3ba3b8 2251National Semiconductor NS32000 (partial) ns32k-*-*
a1789893
GS
2252Motorola 68000 (partial) m68k-*-*
2253Motorola MCORE mcore-*-*
2250ee0c 2254
cd9bfe15 2255* New targets.
e33ce519 2256
456f8b9d
DB
2257Fujitsu FRV architecture added by Red Hat frv*-*-*
2258
e33ce519 2259
da8ca43d
JT
2260* New native configurations
2261
2262Alpha NetBSD alpha*-*-netbsd*
029923d4 2263SH NetBSD sh*-*-netbsdelf*
45888261 2264MIPS NetBSD mips*-*-netbsd*
9ce5c36a 2265UltraSPARC NetBSD sparc64-*-netbsd*
da8ca43d 2266
cd9bfe15
AC
2267* OBSOLETE configurations and files
2268
2269Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
2270been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
2271configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
2272permanently REMOVED.
2273
92eb23c5 2274Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
a99a9e1b 2275OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
1c7cc583 2276IBM AIX PS/2 i[3456]86-*-aix
7a3085c1 2277Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
7fb623f7 2278Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
eb4c54a2 2279Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
d8ee244c
MK
2280i386 running Mach 3.0 i[3456]86-*-mach3*
2281i386 running Mach i[3456]86-*-mach*
2282i386 running OSF/1 i[3456]86-*osf1mk*
822e978b
AC
2283HP/Apollo 68k Family m68*-apollo*-sysv*,
2284 m68*-apollo*-bsd*,
2285 m68*-hp-bsd*, m68*-hp-hpux*
4d210288 2286I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
92eb23c5 2287
db034ac5
AC
2288* OBSOLETE languages
2289
2290CHILL, a Pascal like language used by telecommunications companies.
2291
cd9bfe15
AC
2292* REMOVED configurations and files
2293
2294AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi, udi29k
2295A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
2296AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
2297AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
2298AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
2299
2300testsuite/gdb.hp/gdb.threads-hp/ directory
2301
20f01a46
DH
2302* New command "set max-user-call-depth <nnn>"
2303
2304This command allows the user to limit the call depth of user-defined
2305commands. The default is 1024.
2306
a5941fbf
MK
2307* Changes in FreeBSD/i386 native debugging.
2308
2309Support for the "generate-core-file" has been added.
2310
89743e04
MS
2311* New commands "dump", "append", and "restore".
2312
2313These commands allow data to be copied from target memory
2314to a bfd-format or binary file (dump and append), and back
2315from a file into memory (restore).
37057839 2316
9fb14e79
JB
2317* Improved "next/step" support on multi-processor Alpha Tru64.
2318
2319The previous single-step mechanism could cause unpredictable problems,
2320including the random appearance of SIGSEGV or SIGTRAP signals. The use
2321of a software single-step mechanism prevents this.
2322
2037aebb
AC
2323*** Changes in GDB 5.2.1:
2324
2325* New targets.
2326
2327Atmel AVR avr*-*-*
2328
2329* Bug fixes
2330
2331gdb/182: gdb/323: gdb/237: On alpha, gdb was reporting:
2332mdebugread.c:2443: gdb-internal-error: sect_index_data not initialized
2333Fix, by Joel Brobecker imported from mainline.
2334
2335gdb/439: gdb/291: On some ELF object files, gdb was reporting:
2336dwarf2read.c:1072: gdb-internal-error: sect_index_text not initialize
2337Fix, by Fred Fish, imported from mainline.
2338
2339Dwarf2 .debug_frame & .eh_frame handler improved in many ways.
2340Surprisingly enough, it works now.
2341By Michal Ludvig, imported from mainline.
2342
2343i386 hardware watchpoint support:
2344avoid misses on second run for some targets.
2345By Pierre Muller, imported from mainline.
2346
37057839 2347*** Changes in GDB 5.2:
eb7cedd9 2348
1a703748
MS
2349* New command "set trust-readonly-sections on[off]".
2350
2351This command is a hint that tells gdb that read-only sections
2352really are read-only (ie. that their contents will not change).
2353In this mode, gdb will go to the object file rather than the
2354target to read memory from read-only sections (such as ".text").
2355This can be a significant performance improvement on some
2356(notably embedded) targets.
2357
cefd4ef5
MS
2358* New command "generate-core-file" (or "gcore").
2359
55241689
AC
2360This new gdb command allows the user to drop a core file of the child
2361process state at any time. So far it's been implemented only for
2362GNU/Linux and Solaris, but should be relatively easily ported to other
2363hosts. Argument is core file name (defaults to core.<pid>).
cefd4ef5 2364
352ed7b4
MS
2365* New command line option
2366
2367GDB now accepts --pid or -p followed by a process id.
2368
2369* Change in command line behavior -- corefiles vs. process ids.
2370
2371There is a subtle behavior in the way in which GDB handles
2372command line arguments. The first non-flag argument is always
2373a program to debug, but the second non-flag argument may either
2374be a corefile or a process id. Previously, GDB would attempt to
2375open the second argument as a corefile, and if that failed, would
2376issue a superfluous error message and then attempt to attach it as
2377a process. Now, if the second argument begins with a non-digit,
2378it will be treated as a corefile. If it begins with a digit,
2379GDB will attempt to attach it as a process, and if no such process
2380is found, will then attempt to open it as a corefile.
2381
fe419ffc
RE
2382* Changes in ARM configurations.
2383
2384Multi-arch support is enabled for all ARM configurations. The ARM/NetBSD
2385configuration is fully multi-arch.
2386
eb7cedd9
MK
2387* New native configurations
2388
fe419ffc 2389ARM NetBSD arm*-*-netbsd*
eb7cedd9 2390x86 OpenBSD i[3456]86-*-openbsd*
55241689 2391AMD x86-64 running GNU/Linux x86_64-*-linux-*
768f0842 2392Sparc64 running FreeBSD sparc64-*-freebsd*
eb7cedd9 2393
c9f63e6b
CV
2394* New targets
2395
2396Sanyo XStormy16 xstormy16-elf
2397
9b4ff276
AC
2398* OBSOLETE configurations and files
2399
2400Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
2401been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
2402configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
2403permanently REMOVED.
2404
2405AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi, udi29k
2406A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
2407AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
2408AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
2409AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
2410
b4ceaee6 2411testsuite/gdb.hp/gdb.threads-hp/ directory
9b4ff276 2412
e2caac18
AC
2413* REMOVED configurations and files
2414
2415TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
7bc65f05 2416WDC 65816 w65-*-*
7768dd6c
AC
2417PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
2418PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
2419PowerPC Netware powerpc-*-netware*
5e734e1f 2420Harris/CXUX m88k m88*-harris-cxux*
1406caf7
AC
2421Most ns32k hosts and targets ns32k-*-mach3* ns32k-umax-*
2422 ns32k-utek-sysv* ns32k-utek-*
7e24f0b1 2423SunOS 4.0.Xi on i386 i[3456]86-*-sunos*
9b567150 2424Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1 a29k-nyu-sym1 a29k-*-kern*
3680c638
AC
2425Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x m68*-sony-sysv news
2426ISI Optimum V (3.05) under 4.3bsd. m68*-isi-*
a752853e 2427Apple Macintosh (MPW) host and target N/A host, powerpc-*-macos*
e2caac18 2428
c2a727fa
TT
2429* Changes to command line processing
2430
2431The new `--args' feature can be used to specify command-line arguments
2432for the inferior from gdb's command line.
2433
467d8519
TT
2434* Changes to key bindings
2435
2436There is a new `operate-and-get-next' function bound to `C-o'.
2437
7072a954
AC
2438*** Changes in GDB 5.1.1
2439
2440Fix compile problem on DJGPP.
2441
2442Fix a problem with floating-point registers on the i386 being
2443corrupted.
2444
2445Fix to stop GDB crashing on .debug_str debug info.
2446
2447Numerous documentation fixes.
2448
2449Numerous testsuite fixes.
2450
34f47bc4 2451*** Changes in GDB 5.1:
139760b7
MK
2452
2453* New native configurations
2454
2455Alpha FreeBSD alpha*-*-freebsd*
2456x86 FreeBSD 3.x and 4.x i[3456]86*-freebsd[34]*
55241689 2457MIPS GNU/Linux mips*-*-linux*
e23194cb
EZ
2458MIPS SGI Irix 6.x mips*-sgi-irix6*
2459ia64 AIX ia64-*-aix*
55241689 2460s390 and s390x GNU/Linux {s390,s390x}-*-linux*
139760b7 2461
bf64bfd6
AC
2462* New targets
2463
def90278 2464Motorola 68HC11 and 68HC12 m68hc11-elf
24be5c34 2465CRIS cris-axis
55241689 2466UltraSparc running GNU/Linux sparc64-*-linux*
def90278 2467
17e78a56 2468* OBSOLETE configurations and files
bf64bfd6
AC
2469
2470x86 FreeBSD before 2.2 i[3456]86*-freebsd{1,2.[01]}*,
9b9c068d 2471Harris/CXUX m88k m88*-harris-cxux*
bb19ff3b
AC
2472Most ns32k hosts and targets ns32k-*-mach3* ns32k-umax-*
2473 ns32k-utek-sysv* ns32k-utek-*
76f4ea53
AC
2474TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
2475WDC 65816 w65-*-*
4a1968f4 2476Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1 a29k-nyu-sym1 a29k-*-kern*
1b2b2c16
AC
2477PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
2478PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
2479PowerPC Netware powerpc-*-netware*
24f89b68 2480SunOS 4.0.Xi on i386 i[3456]86-*-sunos*
514e603d
AC
2481Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x m68*-sony-sysv news
2482ISI Optimum V (3.05) under 4.3bsd. m68*-isi-*
d036b4d9 2483Apple Macintosh (MPW) host N/A
bf64bfd6 2484
17e78a56
AC
2485stuff.c (Program to stuff files into a specially prepared space in kdb)
2486kdb-start.c (Main loop for the standalone kernel debugger)
2487
7fcca85b
AC
2488Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
2489been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
2490configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
2491permanently REMOVED.
2492
a196c81c 2493* REMOVED configurations and files
7fcca85b
AC
2494
2495Altos 3068 m68*-altos-*
2496Convex c1-*-*, c2-*-*
2497Pyramid pyramid-*-*
2498ARM RISCix arm-*-* (as host)
2499Tahoe tahoe-*-*
a196c81c 2500ser-ocd.c *-*-*
bf64bfd6 2501
6d6b80e5 2502* GDB has been converted to ISO C.
e23194cb 2503
6d6b80e5 2504GDB's source code has been converted to ISO C. In particular, the
e23194cb
EZ
2505sources are fully protoized, and rely on standard headers being
2506present.
2507
bf64bfd6
AC
2508* Other news:
2509
e23194cb
EZ
2510* "info symbol" works on platforms which use COFF, ECOFF, XCOFF, and NLM.
2511
2512* The MI enabled by default.
2513
2514The new machine oriented interface (MI) introduced in GDB 5.0 has been
2515revised and enabled by default. Packages which use GDB as a debugging
2516engine behind a UI or another front end are encouraged to switch to
2517using the GDB/MI interface, instead of the old annotations interface
2518which is now deprecated.
2519
2520* Support for debugging Pascal programs.
2521
2522GDB now includes support for debugging Pascal programs. The following
2523main features are supported:
2524
2525 - Pascal-specific data types such as sets;
2526
2527 - automatic recognition of Pascal sources based on file-name
2528 extension;
2529
2530 - Pascal-style display of data types, variables, and functions;
2531
2532 - a Pascal expression parser.
2533
2534However, some important features are not yet supported.
2535
2536 - Pascal string operations are not supported at all;
2537
2538 - there are some problems with boolean types;
2539
2540 - Pascal type hexadecimal constants are not supported
2541 because they conflict with the internal variables format;
2542
2543 - support for Pascal objects and classes is not full yet;
2544
2545 - unlike Pascal, GDB is case-sensitive for symbol names.
2546
2547* Changes in completion.
2548
2549Commands such as `shell', `run' and `set args', which pass arguments
2550to inferior programs, now complete on file names, similar to what
2551users expect at the shell prompt.
2552
2553Commands which accept locations, such as `disassemble', `print',
2554`breakpoint', `until', etc. now complete on filenames as well as
2555program symbols. Thus, if you type "break foob TAB", and the source
2556files linked into the programs include `foobar.c', that file name will
2557be one of the candidates for completion. However, file names are not
2558considered for completion after you typed a colon that delimits a file
2559name from a name of a function in that file, as in "break foo.c:bar".
2560
2561`set demangle-style' completes on available demangling styles.
2562
2563* New platform-independent commands:
2564
2565It is now possible to define a post-hook for a command as well as a
2566hook that runs before the command. For more details, see the
2567documentation of `hookpost' in the GDB manual.
2568
2569* Changes in GNU/Linux native debugging.
2570
d7275149
MK
2571Support for debugging multi-threaded programs has been completely
2572revised for all platforms except m68k and sparc. You can now debug as
2573many threads as your system allows you to have.
2574
e23194cb
EZ
2575Attach/detach is supported for multi-threaded programs.
2576
d7275149
MK
2577Support for SSE registers was added for x86. This doesn't work for
2578multi-threaded programs though.
e23194cb
EZ
2579
2580* Changes in MIPS configurations.
bf64bfd6
AC
2581
2582Multi-arch support is enabled for all MIPS configurations.
2583
e23194cb
EZ
2584GDB can now be built as native debugger on SGI Irix 6.x systems for
2585debugging n32 executables. (Debugging 64-bit executables is not yet
2586supported.)
2587
2588* Unified support for hardware watchpoints in all x86 configurations.
2589
2590Most (if not all) native x86 configurations support hardware-assisted
2591breakpoints and watchpoints in a unified manner. This support
2592implements debug register sharing between watchpoints, which allows to
2593put a virtually infinite number of watchpoints on the same address,
2594and also supports watching regions up to 16 bytes with several debug
2595registers.
2596
2597The new maintenance command `maintenance show-debug-regs' toggles
2598debugging print-outs in functions that insert, remove, and test
2599watchpoints and hardware breakpoints.
2600
2601* Changes in the DJGPP native configuration.
2602
2603New command ``info dos sysinfo'' displays assorted information about
2604the CPU, OS, memory, and DPMI server.
2605
2606New commands ``info dos gdt'', ``info dos ldt'', and ``info dos idt''
2607display information about segment descriptors stored in GDT, LDT, and
2608IDT.
2609
2610New commands ``info dos pde'' and ``info dos pte'' display entries
2611from Page Directory and Page Tables (for now works with CWSDPMI only).
2612New command ``info dos address-pte'' displays the Page Table entry for
2613a given linear address.
2614
2615GDB can now pass command lines longer than 126 characters to the
2616program being debugged (requires an update to the libdbg.a library
2617which is part of the DJGPP development kit).
2618
2619DWARF2 debug info is now supported.
2620
6c56c069
EZ
2621It is now possible to `step' and `next' through calls to `longjmp'.
2622
e23194cb
EZ
2623* Changes in documentation.
2624
2625All GDB documentation was converted to GFDL, the GNU Free
2626Documentation License.
2627
2628Tracepoints-related commands are now fully documented in the GDB
2629manual.
2630
2631TUI, the Text-mode User Interface, is now documented in the manual.
2632
2633Tracepoints-related commands are now fully documented in the GDB
2634manual.
2635
2636The "GDB Internals" manual now has an index. It also includes
2637documentation of `ui_out' functions, GDB coding standards, x86
2638hardware watchpoints, and memory region attributes.
2639
5d6640b1
AC
2640* GDB's version number moved to ``version.in''
2641
2642The Makefile variable VERSION has been replaced by the file
2643``version.in''. People creating GDB distributions should update the
2644contents of this file.
2645
1a1d8446
AC
2646* gdba.el deleted
2647
2648GUD support is now a standard part of the EMACS distribution.
139760b7 2649
9debab2f 2650*** Changes in GDB 5.0:
7a292a7a 2651
c63ce875
EZ
2652* Improved support for debugging FP programs on x86 targets
2653
2654Unified and much-improved support for debugging floating-point
2655programs on all x86 targets. In particular, ``info float'' now
2656displays the FP registers in the same format on all x86 targets, with
2657greater level of detail.
2658
2659* Improvements and bugfixes in hardware-assisted watchpoints
2660
2661It is now possible to watch array elements, struct members, and
2662bitfields with hardware-assisted watchpoints. Data-read watchpoints
2663on x86 targets no longer erroneously trigger when the address is
2664written.
2665
2666* Improvements in the native DJGPP version of GDB
2667
2668The distribution now includes all the scripts and auxiliary files
2669necessary to build the native DJGPP version on MS-DOS/MS-Windows
2670machines ``out of the box''.
2671
2672The DJGPP version can now debug programs that use signals. It is
2673possible to catch signals that happened in the debuggee, deliver
2674signals to it, interrupt it with Ctrl-C, etc. (Previously, a signal
2675would kill the program being debugged.) Programs that hook hardware
2676interrupts (keyboard, timer, etc.) can also be debugged.
2677
2678It is now possible to debug DJGPP programs that redirect their
2679standard handles or switch them to raw (as opposed to cooked) mode, or
2680even close them. The command ``run < foo > bar'' works as expected,
2681and ``info terminal'' reports useful information about the debuggee's
2682terminal, including raw/cooked mode, redirection, etc.
2683
2684The DJGPP version now uses termios functions for console I/O, which
2685enables debugging graphics programs. Interrupting GDB with Ctrl-C
2686also works.
2687
2688DOS-style file names with drive letters are now fully supported by
2689GDB.
2690
2691It is now possible to debug DJGPP programs that switch their working
2692directory. It is also possible to rerun the debuggee any number of
2693times without restarting GDB; thus, you can use the same setup,
2694breakpoints, etc. for many debugging sessions.
2695
ed9a39eb
JM
2696* New native configurations
2697
2698ARM GNU/Linux arm*-*-linux*
afc05dd4 2699PowerPC GNU/Linux powerpc-*-linux*
ed9a39eb 2700
7a292a7a
SS
2701* New targets
2702
96baa820 2703Motorola MCore mcore-*-*
adf40b2e
JM
2704x86 VxWorks i[3456]86-*-vxworks*
2705PowerPC VxWorks powerpc-*-vxworks*
7a292a7a
SS
2706TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
2707
085dd6e6
JM
2708* OBSOLETE configurations
2709
2710Altos 3068 m68*-altos-*
2711Convex c1-*-*, c2-*-*
9846de1b 2712Pyramid pyramid-*-*
ed9a39eb 2713ARM RISCix arm-*-* (as host)
104c1213 2714Tahoe tahoe-*-*
7a292a7a 2715
9debab2f
AC
2716Configurations that have been declared obsolete will be commented out,
2717but the code will be left in place. If there is no activity to revive
2718these configurations before the next release of GDB, the sources will
2719be permanently REMOVED.
2720
5330533d
SS
2721* Gould support removed
2722
2723Support for the Gould PowerNode and NP1 has been removed.
2724
bc9e5bbf
AC
2725* New features for SVR4
2726
2727On SVR4 native platforms (such as Solaris), if you attach to a process
2728without first loading a symbol file, GDB will now attempt to locate and
2729load symbols from the running process's executable file.
2730
2731* Many C++ enhancements
2732
2733C++ support has been greatly improved. Overload resolution now works properly
2734in almost all cases. RTTI support is on the way.
2735
adf40b2e
JM
2736* Remote targets can connect to a sub-program
2737
2738A popen(3) style serial-device has been added. This device starts a
2739sub-process (such as a stand-alone simulator) and then communicates
2740with that. The sub-program to run is specified using the syntax
2741``|<program> <args>'' vis:
2742
2743 (gdb) set remotedebug 1
2744 (gdb) target extended-remote |mn10300-elf-sim program-args
2745
43e526b9
JM
2746* MIPS 64 remote protocol
2747
2748A long standing bug in the mips64 remote protocol where by GDB
2749expected certain 32 bit registers (ex SR) to be transfered as 32
2750instead of 64 bits has been fixed.
2751
2752The command ``set remote-mips64-transfers-32bit-regs on'' has been
2753added to provide backward compatibility with older versions of GDB.
2754
96baa820
JM
2755* ``set remotebinarydownload'' replaced by ``set remote X-packet''
2756
2757The command ``set remotebinarydownload'' command has been replaced by
2758``set remote X-packet''. Other commands in ``set remote'' family
2759include ``set remote P-packet''.
2760
11cf8741
JM
2761* Breakpoint commands accept ranges.
2762
2763The breakpoint commands ``enable'', ``disable'', and ``delete'' now
2764accept a range of breakpoints, e.g. ``5-7''. The tracepoint command
2765``tracepoint passcount'' also accepts a range of tracepoints.
2766
7876dd43
DB
2767* ``apropos'' command added.
2768
2769The ``apropos'' command searches through command names and
2770documentation strings, printing out matches, making it much easier to
2771try to find a command that does what you are looking for.
2772
bc9e5bbf
AC
2773* New MI interface
2774
2775A new machine oriented interface (MI) has been added to GDB. This
2776interface is designed for debug environments running GDB as a separate
7162c0ca
EZ
2777process. This is part of the long term libGDB project. See the
2778"GDB/MI" chapter of the GDB manual for further information. It can be
2779enabled by configuring with:
bc9e5bbf
AC
2780
2781 .../configure --enable-gdbmi
2782
c906108c
SS
2783*** Changes in GDB-4.18:
2784
2785* New native configurations
2786
2787HP-UX 10.20 hppa*-*-hpux10.20
2788HP-UX 11.x hppa*-*-hpux11.0*
55241689 2789M68K GNU/Linux m68*-*-linux*
c906108c
SS
2790
2791* New targets
2792
2793Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
2794Intel StrongARM strongarm-*-*
2795Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
2796
2797* OBSOLETE configurations
2798
2799Gould PowerNode, NP1 np1-*-*, pn-*-*
2800
2801Configurations that have been declared obsolete will be commented out,
2802but the code will be left in place. If there is no activity to revive
2803these configurations before the next release of GDB, the sources will
2804be permanently REMOVED.
2805
2806* ANSI/ISO C
2807
2808As a compatibility experiment, GDB's source files buildsym.h and
2809buildsym.c have been converted to pure standard C, no longer
2810containing any K&R compatibility code. We believe that all systems in
2811use today either come with a standard C compiler, or have a GCC port
2812available. If this is not true, please report the affected
2813configuration to bug-gdb@gnu.org immediately. See the README file for
2814information about getting a standard C compiler if you don't have one
2815already.
2816
2817* Readline 2.2
2818
2819GDB now uses readline 2.2.
2820
2821* set extension-language
2822
2823You can now control the mapping between filename extensions and source
2824languages by using the `set extension-language' command. For instance,
2825you can ask GDB to treat .c files as C++ by saying
2826 set extension-language .c c++
2827The command `info extensions' lists all of the recognized extensions
2828and their associated languages.
2829
2830* Setting processor type for PowerPC and RS/6000
2831
2832When GDB is configured for a powerpc*-*-* or an rs6000*-*-* target,
2833you can use the `set processor' command to specify what variant of the
2834PowerPC family you are debugging. The command
2835
2836 set processor NAME
2837
2838sets the PowerPC/RS6000 variant to NAME. GDB knows about the
2839following PowerPC and RS6000 variants:
2840
2841 ppc-uisa PowerPC UISA - a PPC processor as viewed by user-level code
2842 rs6000 IBM RS6000 ("POWER") architecture, user-level view
2843 403 IBM PowerPC 403
2844 403GC IBM PowerPC 403GC
2845 505 Motorola PowerPC 505
2846 860 Motorola PowerPC 860 or 850
2847 601 Motorola PowerPC 601
2848 602 Motorola PowerPC 602
2849 603 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 603 or 603e
2850 604 Motorola PowerPC 604 or 604e
2851 750 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 750 or 750
2852
2853At the moment, this command just tells GDB what to name the
2854special-purpose processor registers. Since almost all the affected
2855registers are inaccessible to user-level programs, this command is
2856only useful for remote debugging in its present form.
2857
2858* HP-UX support
2859
2860Thanks to a major code donation from Hewlett-Packard, GDB now has much
2861more extensive support for HP-UX. Added features include shared
2862library support, kernel threads and hardware watchpoints for 11.00,
2863support for HP's ANSI C and C++ compilers, and a compatibility mode
2864for xdb and dbx commands.
2865
2866* Catchpoints
2867
2868HP's donation includes the new concept of catchpoints, which is a
2869generalization of the old catch command. On HP-UX, it is now possible
2870to catch exec, fork, and vfork, as well as library loading.
2871
2872This means that the existing catch command has changed; its first
2873argument now specifies the type of catch to be set up. See the
2874output of "help catch" for a list of catchpoint types.
2875
2876* Debugging across forks
2877
2878On HP-UX, you can choose which process to debug when a fork() happens
2879in the inferior.
2880
2881* TUI
2882
2883HP has donated a curses-based terminal user interface (TUI). To get
2884it, build with --enable-tui. Although this can be enabled for any
2885configuration, at present it only works for native HP debugging.
2886
2887* GDB remote protocol additions
2888
2889A new protocol packet 'X' that writes binary data is now available.
2890Default behavior is to try 'X', then drop back to 'M' if the stub
2891fails to respond. The settable variable `remotebinarydownload'
2892allows explicit control over the use of 'X'.
2893
2894For 64-bit targets, the memory packets ('M' and 'm') can now contain a
2895full 64-bit address. The command
2896
2897 set remoteaddresssize 32
2898
2899can be used to revert to the old behaviour. For existing remote stubs
2900the change should not be noticed, as the additional address information
2901will be discarded.
2902
2903In order to assist in debugging stubs, you may use the maintenance
2904command `packet' to send any text string to the stub. For instance,
2905
2906 maint packet heythere
2907
2908sends the packet "$heythere#<checksum>". Note that it is very easy to
2909disrupt a debugging session by sending the wrong packet at the wrong
2910time.
2911
2912The compare-sections command allows you to compare section data on the
2913target to what is in the executable file without uploading or
2914downloading, by comparing CRC checksums.
2915
2916* Tracing can collect general expressions
2917
2918You may now collect general expressions at tracepoints. This requires
2919further additions to the target-side stub; see tracepoint.c and
2920doc/agentexpr.texi for further details.
2921
2922* mask-address variable for Mips
2923
2924For Mips targets, you may control the zeroing of the upper 32 bits of
2925a 64-bit address by entering `set mask-address on'. This is mainly
2926of interest to users of embedded R4xxx and R5xxx processors.
2927
2928* Higher serial baud rates
2929
2930GDB's serial code now allows you to specify baud rates 57600, 115200,
2931230400, and 460800 baud. (Note that your host system may not be able
2932to achieve all of these rates.)
2933
2934* i960 simulator
2935
2936The i960 configuration now includes an initial implementation of a
2937builtin simulator, contributed by Jim Wilson.
2938
2939
2940*** Changes in GDB-4.17:
2941
2942* New native configurations
2943
2944Alpha GNU/Linux alpha*-*-linux*
2945Unixware 2.x i[3456]86-unixware2*
2946Irix 6.x mips*-sgi-irix6*
2947PowerPC GNU/Linux powerpc-*-linux*
2948PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
2949Sparc GNU/Linux sparc-*-linux*
2950Motorola sysV68 R3V7.1 m68k-motorola-sysv
2951
2952* New targets
2953
2954Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
2955Hitachi H8/300S h8300*-*-*
2956Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
2957Matsushita MN10300 w/simulator mn10300-*-*
2958MIPS NEC VR4100 mips64*vr4100*{,el}-*-elf*
2959MIPS NEC VR5000 mips64*vr5000*{,el}-*-elf*
2960MIPS Toshiba TX39 mips64*tx39*{,el}-*-elf*
2961Mitsubishi D10V w/simulator d10v-*-*
2962Mitsubishi M32R/D w/simulator m32r-*-elf*
2963Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
2964NEC V850 w/simulator v850-*-*
2965
2966* New debugging protocols
2967
2968ARM with RDI protocol arm*-*-*
2969M68K with dBUG monitor m68*-*-{aout,coff,elf}
2970DDB and LSI variants of PMON protocol mips*-*-*
2971PowerPC with DINK32 monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
2972PowerPC with SDS protocol powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
2973Macraigor OCD (Wiggler) devices powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
2974
2975* DWARF 2
2976
2977All configurations can now understand and use the DWARF 2 debugging
2978format. The choice is automatic, if the symbol file contains DWARF 2
2979information.
2980
2981* Java frontend
2982
2983GDB now includes basic Java language support. This support is
2984only useful with Java compilers that produce native machine code.
2985
2986* solib-absolute-prefix and solib-search-path
2987
2988For SunOS and SVR4 shared libraries, you may now set the prefix for
2989loading absolute shared library symbol files, and the search path for
2990locating non-absolute shared library symbol files.
2991
2992* Live range splitting
2993
2994GDB can now effectively debug code for which GCC has performed live
2995range splitting as part of its optimization. See gdb/doc/LRS for
2996more details on the expected format of the stabs information.
2997
2998* Hurd support
2999
3000GDB's support for the GNU Hurd, including thread debugging, has been
3001updated to work with current versions of the Hurd.
3002
3003* ARM Thumb support
3004
3005GDB's ARM target configuration now handles the ARM7T (Thumb) 16-bit
3006instruction set. ARM GDB automatically detects when Thumb
3007instructions are in use, and adjusts disassembly and backtracing
3008accordingly.
3009
3010* MIPS16 support
3011
3012GDB's MIPS target configurations now handle the MIP16 16-bit
3013instruction set.
3014
3015* Overlay support
3016
3017GDB now includes support for overlays; if an executable has been
3018linked such that multiple sections are based at the same address, GDB
3019will decide which section to use for symbolic info. You can choose to
3020control the decision manually, using overlay commands, or implement
3021additional target-side support and use "overlay load-target" to bring
3022in the overlay mapping. Do "help overlay" for more detail.
3023
3024* info symbol
3025
3026The command "info symbol <address>" displays information about
3027the symbol at the specified address.
3028
3029* Trace support
3030
3031The standard remote protocol now includes an extension that allows
3032asynchronous collection and display of trace data. This requires
3033extensive support in the target-side debugging stub. Tracing mode
3034includes a new interaction mode in GDB and new commands: see the
3035file tracepoint.c for more details.
3036
3037* MIPS simulator
3038
3039Configurations for embedded MIPS now include a simulator contributed
3040by Cygnus Solutions. The simulator supports the instruction sets
3041of most MIPS variants.
3042
3043* Sparc simulator
3044
3045Sparc configurations may now include the ERC32 simulator contributed
3046by the European Space Agency. The simulator is not built into
3047Sparc targets by default; configure with --enable-sim to include it.
3048
3049* set architecture
3050
3051For target configurations that may include multiple variants of a
3052basic architecture (such as MIPS and SH), you may now set the
3053architecture explicitly. "set arch" sets, "info arch" lists
3054the possible architectures.
3055
3056*** Changes in GDB-4.16:
3057
3058* New native configurations
3059
3060Windows 95, x86 Windows NT i[345]86-*-cygwin32
3061M68K NetBSD m68k-*-netbsd*
3062PowerPC AIX 4.x powerpc-*-aix*
3063PowerPC MacOS powerpc-*-macos*
3064PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
3065RS/6000 AIX 4.x rs6000-*-aix4*
3066
3067* New targets
3068
3069ARM with RDP protocol arm-*-*
3070I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
3071MIPS VxWorks mips*-*-vxworks*
3072MIPS VR4300 with PMON mips64*vr4300{,el}-*-elf*
3073PowerPC with PPCBUG monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi*
3074Hitachi SH3 sh-*-*
3075Matra Sparclet sparclet-*-*
3076
3077* PowerPC simulator
3078
3079The powerpc-eabi configuration now includes the PSIM simulator,
3080contributed by Andrew Cagney, with assistance from Mike Meissner.
3081PSIM is a very elaborate model of the PowerPC, including not only
3082basic instruction set execution, but also details of execution unit
3083performance and I/O hardware. See sim/ppc/README for more details.
3084
3085* Solaris 2.5
3086
3087GDB now works with Solaris 2.5.
3088
3089* Windows 95/NT native
3090
3091GDB will now work as a native debugger on Windows 95 and Windows NT.
3092To build it from source, you must use the "gnu-win32" environment,
3093which uses a DLL to emulate enough of Unix to run the GNU tools.
3094Further information, binaries, and sources are available at
3095ftp.cygnus.com, under pub/gnu-win32.
3096
3097* dont-repeat command
3098
3099If a user-defined command includes the command `dont-repeat', then the
3100command will not be repeated if the user just types return. This is
3101useful if the command is time-consuming to run, so that accidental
3102extra keystrokes don't run the same command many times.
3103
3104* Send break instead of ^C
3105
3106The standard remote protocol now includes an option to send a break
3107rather than a ^C to the target in order to interrupt it. By default,
3108GDB will send ^C; to send a break, set the variable `remotebreak' to 1.
3109
3110* Remote protocol timeout
3111
3112The standard remote protocol includes a new variable `remotetimeout'
3113that allows you to set the number of seconds before GDB gives up trying
3114to read from the target. The default value is 2.
3115
3116* Automatic tracking of dynamic object loading (HPUX and Solaris only)
3117
3118By default GDB will automatically keep track of objects as they are
3119loaded and unloaded by the dynamic linker. By using the command `set
3120stop-on-solib-events 1' you can arrange for GDB to stop the inferior
3121when shared library events occur, thus allowing you to set breakpoints
3122in shared libraries which are explicitly loaded by the inferior.
3123
3124Note this feature does not work on hpux8. On hpux9 you must link
3125/usr/lib/end.o into your program. This feature should work
3126automatically on hpux10.
3127
3128* Irix 5.x hardware watchpoint support
3129
3130Irix 5 configurations now support the use of hardware watchpoints.
3131
3132* Mips protocol "SYN garbage limit"
3133
3134When debugging a Mips target using the `target mips' protocol, you
3135may set the number of characters that GDB will ignore by setting
3136the `syn-garbage-limit'. A value of -1 means that GDB will ignore
3137every character. The default value is 1050.
3138
3139* Recording and replaying remote debug sessions
3140
3141If you set `remotelogfile' to the name of a file, gdb will write to it
3142a recording of a remote debug session. This recording may then be
3143replayed back to gdb using "gdbreplay". See gdbserver/README for
3144details. This is useful when you have a problem with GDB while doing
3145remote debugging; you can make a recording of the session and send it
3146to someone else, who can then recreate the problem.
3147
3148* Speedups for remote debugging
3149
3150GDB includes speedups for downloading and stepping MIPS systems using
3151the IDT monitor, fast downloads to the Hitachi SH E7000 emulator,
3152and more efficient S-record downloading.
3153
3154* Memory use reductions and statistics collection
3155
3156GDB now uses less memory and reports statistics about memory usage.
3157Try the `maint print statistics' command, for example.
3158
3159*** Changes in GDB-4.15:
3160
3161* Psymtabs for XCOFF
3162
3163The symbol reader for AIX GDB now uses partial symbol tables. This
3164can greatly improve startup time, especially for large executables.
3165
3166* Remote targets use caching
3167
3168Remote targets now use a data cache to speed up communication with the
3169remote side. The data cache could lead to incorrect results because
3170it doesn't know about volatile variables, thus making it impossible to
3171debug targets which use memory mapped I/O devices. `set remotecache
3172off' turns the the data cache off.
3173
3174* Remote targets may have threads
3175
3176The standard remote protocol now includes support for multiple threads
3177in the target system, using new protocol commands 'H' and 'T'. See
3178gdb/remote.c for details.
3179
3180* NetROM support
3181
3182If GDB is configured with `--enable-netrom', then it will include
3183support for the NetROM ROM emulator from XLNT Designs. The NetROM
3184acts as though it is a bank of ROM on the target board, but you can
3185write into it over the network. GDB's support consists only of
3186support for fast loading into the emulated ROM; to debug, you must use
3187another protocol, such as standard remote protocol. The usual
3188sequence is something like
3189
3190 target nrom <netrom-hostname>
3191 load <prog>
3192 target remote <netrom-hostname>:1235
3193
3194* Macintosh host
3195
3196GDB now includes support for the Apple Macintosh, as a host only. It
3197may be run as either an MPW tool or as a standalone application, and
3198it can debug through the serial port. All the usual GDB commands are
3199available, but to the target command, you must supply "serial" as the
3200device type instead of "/dev/ttyXX". See mpw-README in the main
3201directory for more information on how to build. The MPW configuration
3202scripts */mpw-config.in support only a few targets, and only the
3203mips-idt-ecoff target has been tested.
3204
3205* Autoconf
3206
3207GDB configuration now uses autoconf. This is not user-visible,
3208but does simplify configuration and building.
3209
3210* hpux10
3211
3212GDB now supports hpux10.
3213
3214*** Changes in GDB-4.14:
3215
3216* New native configurations
3217
3218x86 FreeBSD i[345]86-*-freebsd
3219x86 NetBSD i[345]86-*-netbsd
3220NS32k NetBSD ns32k-*-netbsd
3221Sparc NetBSD sparc-*-netbsd
3222
3223* New targets
3224
3225A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
3226HP PA PRO embedded (WinBond W89K & Oki OP50N) hppa*-*-pro*
3227CPU32 EST-300 emulator m68*-*-est*
3228PowerPC ELF powerpc-*-elf
3229WDC 65816 w65-*-*
3230
3231* Alpha OSF/1 support for procfs
3232
3233GDB now supports procfs under OSF/1-2.x and higher, which makes it
3234possible to attach to running processes. As the mounting of the /proc
3235filesystem is optional on the Alpha, GDB automatically determines
3236the availability of /proc during startup. This can lead to problems
3237if /proc is unmounted after GDB has been started.
3238
3239* Arguments to user-defined commands
3240
3241User commands may accept up to 10 arguments separated by whitespace.
3242Arguments are accessed within the user command via $arg0..$arg9. A
3243trivial example:
3244define adder
3245 print $arg0 + $arg1 + $arg2
3246
3247To execute the command use:
3248adder 1 2 3
3249
3250Defines the command "adder" which prints the sum of its three arguments.
3251Note the arguments are text substitutions, so they may reference variables,
3252use complex expressions, or even perform inferior function calls.
3253
3254* New `if' and `while' commands
3255
3256This makes it possible to write more sophisticated user-defined
3257commands. Both commands take a single argument, which is the
3258expression to evaluate, and must be followed by the commands to
3259execute, one per line, if the expression is nonzero, the list being
3260terminated by the word `end'. The `if' command list may include an
3261`else' word, which causes the following commands to be executed only
3262if the expression is zero.
3263
3264* Fortran source language mode
3265
3266GDB now includes partial support for Fortran 77. It will recognize
3267Fortran programs and can evaluate a subset of Fortran expressions, but
3268variables and functions may not be handled correctly. GDB will work
3269with G77, but does not yet know much about symbols emitted by other
3270Fortran compilers.
3271
3272* Better HPUX support
3273
3274Most debugging facilities now work on dynamic executables for HPPAs
3275running hpux9 or later. You can attach to running dynamically linked
3276processes, but by default the dynamic libraries will be read-only, so
3277for instance you won't be able to put breakpoints in them. To change
3278that behavior do the following before running the program:
3279
3280 adb -w a.out
3281 __dld_flags?W 0x5
3282 control-d
3283
3284This will cause the libraries to be mapped private and read-write.
3285To revert to the normal behavior, do this:
3286
3287 adb -w a.out
3288 __dld_flags?W 0x4
3289 control-d
3290
3291You cannot set breakpoints or examine data in the library until after
3292the library is loaded if the function/data symbols do not have
3293external linkage.
3294
3295GDB can now also read debug symbols produced by the HP C compiler on
3296HPPAs (sorry, no C++, Fortran or 68k support).
3297
3298* Target byte order now dynamically selectable
3299
3300You can choose which byte order to use with a target system, via the
3301commands "set endian big" and "set endian little", and you can see the
3302current setting by using "show endian". You can also give the command
3303"set endian auto", in which case GDB will use the byte order
3304associated with the executable. Currently, only embedded MIPS
3305configurations support dynamic selection of target byte order.
3306
3307* New DOS host serial code
3308
3309This version uses DPMI interrupts to handle buffered I/O, so you
3310no longer need to run asynctsr when debugging boards connected to
3311a PC's serial port.
3312
3313*** Changes in GDB-4.13:
3314
3315* New "complete" command
3316
3317This lists all the possible completions for the rest of the line, if it
3318were to be given as a command itself. This is intended for use by emacs.
3319
3320* Trailing space optional in prompt
3321
3322"set prompt" no longer adds a space for you after the prompt you set. This
3323allows you to set a prompt which ends in a space or one that does not.
3324
3325* Breakpoint hit counts
3326
3327"info break" now displays a count of the number of times the breakpoint
3328has been hit. This is especially useful in conjunction with "ignore"; you
3329can ignore a large number of breakpoint hits, look at the breakpoint info
3330to see how many times the breakpoint was hit, then run again, ignoring one
3331less than that number, and this will get you quickly to the last hit of
3332that breakpoint.
3333
3334* Ability to stop printing at NULL character
3335
3336"set print null-stop" will cause GDB to stop printing the characters of
3337an array when the first NULL is encountered. This is useful when large
3338arrays actually contain only short strings.
3339
3340* Shared library breakpoints
3341
3342In SunOS 4.x, SVR4, and Alpha OSF/1 configurations, you can now set
3343breakpoints in shared libraries before the executable is run.
3344
3345* Hardware watchpoints
3346
3347There is a new hardware breakpoint for the watch command for sparclite
3348targets. See gdb/sparclite/hw_breakpoint.note.
3349
55241689 3350Hardware watchpoints are also now supported under GNU/Linux.
c906108c
SS
3351
3352* Annotations
3353
3354Annotations have been added. These are for use with graphical interfaces,
3355and are still experimental. Currently only gdba.el uses these.
3356
3357* Improved Irix 5 support
3358
3359GDB now works properly with Irix 5.2.
3360
3361* Improved HPPA support
3362
3363GDB now works properly with the latest GCC and GAS.
3364
3365* New native configurations
3366
3367Sequent PTX4 i[34]86-sequent-ptx4
3368HPPA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
3369Atari TT running SVR4 m68*-*-sysv4*
3370RS/6000 LynxOS rs6000-*-lynxos*
3371
3372* New targets
3373
3374OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
3375MIPS R4000 mips64*{,el}-*-{ecoff,elf}
3376Sparc64 sparc64-*-*
3377
3378* Hitachi SH7000 and E7000-PC ICE support
3379
3380There is now support for communicating with the Hitachi E7000-PC ICE.
3381This is available automatically when GDB is configured for the SH.
3382
3383* Fixes
3384
3385As usual, a variety of small fixes and improvements, both generic
3386and configuration-specific. See the ChangeLog for more detail.
3387
3388*** Changes in GDB-4.12:
3389
3390* Irix 5 is now supported
3391
3392* HPPA support
3393
3394GDB-4.12 on the HPPA has a number of changes which make it unable
3395to debug the output from the currently released versions of GCC and
3396GAS (GCC 2.5.8 and GAS-2.2 or PAGAS-1.36). Until the next major release
3397of GCC and GAS, versions of these tools designed to work with GDB-4.12
3398can be retrieved via anonymous ftp from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist.
3399
3400
3401*** Changes in GDB-4.11:
3402
3403* User visible changes:
3404
3405* Remote Debugging
3406
3407The "set remotedebug" option is now consistent between the mips remote
3408target, remote targets using the gdb-specific protocol, UDI (AMD's
3409debug protocol for the 29k) and the 88k bug monitor. It is now an
3410integer specifying a debug level (normally 0 or 1, but 2 means more
3411debugging info for the mips target).
3412
3413* DEC Alpha native support
3414
3415GDB now works on the DEC Alpha. GCC 2.4.5 does not produce usable
3416debug info, but GDB works fairly well with the DEC compiler and should
3417work with a future GCC release. See the README file for a few
3418Alpha-specific notes.
3419
3420* Preliminary thread implementation
3421
3422GDB now has preliminary thread support for both SGI/Irix and LynxOS.
3423
3424* LynxOS native and target support for 386
3425
3426This release has been hosted on LynxOS 2.2, and also can be configured
3427to remotely debug programs running under LynxOS (see gdb/gdbserver/README
3428for details).
3429
3430* Improvements in C++ mangling/demangling.
3431
3432This release has much better g++ debugging, specifically in name
3433mangling/demangling, virtual function calls, print virtual table,
3434call methods, ...etc.
3435
3436*** Changes in GDB-4.10:
3437
3438 * User visible changes:
3439
3440Remote debugging using the GDB-specific (`target remote') protocol now
3441supports the `load' command. This is only useful if you have some
3442other way of getting the stub to the target system, and you can put it
3443somewhere in memory where it won't get clobbered by the download.
3444
3445Filename completion now works.
3446
3447When run under emacs mode, the "info line" command now causes the
3448arrow to point to the line specified. Also, "info line" prints
3449addresses in symbolic form (as well as hex).
3450
3451All vxworks based targets now support a user settable option, called
3452vxworks-timeout. This option represents the number of seconds gdb
3453should wait for responses to rpc's. You might want to use this if
3454your vxworks target is, perhaps, a slow software simulator or happens
3455to be on the far side of a thin network line.
3456
3457 * DEC alpha support
3458
3459This release contains support for using a DEC alpha as a GDB host for
3460cross debugging. Native alpha debugging is not supported yet.
3461
3462
3463*** Changes in GDB-4.9:
3464
3465 * Testsuite
3466
3467This is the first GDB release which is accompanied by a matching testsuite.
3468The testsuite requires installation of dejagnu, which should be available
3469via ftp from most sites that carry GNU software.
3470
3471 * C++ demangling
3472
3473'Cfront' style demangling has had its name changed to 'ARM' style, to
3474emphasize that it was written from the specifications in the C++ Annotated
3475Reference Manual, not necessarily to be compatible with AT&T cfront. Despite
3476disclaimers, it still generated too much confusion with users attempting to
3477use gdb with AT&T cfront.
3478
3479 * Simulators
3480
3481GDB now uses a standard remote interface to a simulator library.
3482So far, the library contains simulators for the Zilog Z8001/2, the
3483Hitachi H8/300, H8/500 and Super-H.
3484
3485 * New targets supported
3486
3487H8/300 simulator h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
3488H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
3489SH simulator sh-hitachi-hms or sh
3490Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
3491IDT MIPS board over serial line mips-idt-ecoff
3492
3493Cross-debugging to GO32 targets is supported. It requires a custom
3494version of the i386-stub.c module which is integrated with the
3495GO32 memory extender.
3496
3497 * New remote protocols
3498
3499MIPS remote debugging protocol.
3500
3501 * New source languages supported
3502
3503This version includes preliminary support for Chill, a Pascal like language
3504used by telecommunications companies. Chill support is also being integrated
3505into the GNU compiler, but we don't know when it will be publically available.
3506
3507
3508*** Changes in GDB-4.8:
3509
3510 * HP Precision Architecture supported
3511
3512GDB now supports HP PA-RISC machines running HPUX. A preliminary
3513version of this support was available as a set of patches from the
3514University of Utah. GDB does not support debugging of programs
3515compiled with the HP compiler, because HP will not document their file
3516format. Instead, you must use GCC (version 2.3.2 or later) and PA-GAS
3517(as available from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist/pa-gas.u4.tar.Z).
3518
3519Many problems in the preliminary version have been fixed.
3520
3521 * Faster and better demangling
3522
3523We have improved template demangling and fixed numerous bugs in the GNU style
3524demangler. It can now handle type modifiers such as `static' or `const'. Wide
3525character types (wchar_t) are now supported. Demangling of each symbol is now
3526only done once, and is cached when the symbol table for a file is read in.
3527This results in a small increase in memory usage for C programs, a moderate
3528increase in memory usage for C++ programs, and a fantastic speedup in
3529symbol lookups.
3530
3531`Cfront' style demangling still doesn't work with AT&T cfront. It was written
3532from the specifications in the Annotated Reference Manual, which AT&T's
3533compiler does not actually implement.
3534
3535 * G++ multiple inheritance compiler problem
3536
3537In the 2.3.2 release of gcc/g++, how the compiler resolves multiple
3538inheritance lattices was reworked to properly discover ambiguities. We
3539recently found an example which causes this new algorithm to fail in a
3540very subtle way, producing bad debug information for those classes.
3541The file 'gcc.patch' (in this directory) can be applied to gcc to
3542circumvent the problem. A future GCC release will contain a complete
3543fix.
3544
3545The previous G++ debug info problem (mentioned below for the gdb-4.7
3546release) is fixed in gcc version 2.3.2.
3547
3548 * Improved configure script
3549
3550The `configure' script will now attempt to guess your system type if
3551you don't supply a host system type. The old scheme of supplying a
3552host system triplet is preferable over using this. All the magic is
3553done in the new `config.guess' script. Examine it for details.
3554
3555We have also brought our configure script much more in line with the FSF's
3556version. It now supports the --with-xxx options. In particular,
3557`--with-minimal-bfd' can be used to make the GDB binary image smaller.
3558The resulting GDB will not be able to read arbitrary object file formats --
3559only the format ``expected'' to be used on the configured target system.
3560We hope to make this the default in a future release.
3561
3562 * Documentation improvements
3563
3564There's new internal documentation on how to modify GDB, and how to
3565produce clean changes to the code. We implore people to read it
3566before submitting changes.
3567
3568The GDB manual uses new, sexy Texinfo conditionals, rather than arcane
3569M4 macros. The new texinfo.tex is provided in this release. Pre-built
3570`info' files are also provided. To build `info' files from scratch,
3571you will need the latest `makeinfo' release, which will be available in
3572a future texinfo-X.Y release.
3573
3574*NOTE* The new texinfo.tex can cause old versions of TeX to hang.
3575We're not sure exactly which versions have this problem, but it has
3576been seen in 3.0. We highly recommend upgrading to TeX version 3.141
3577or better. If that isn't possible, there is a patch in
3578`texinfo/tex3patch' that will modify `texinfo/texinfo.tex' to work
3579around this problem.
3580
3581 * New features
3582
3583GDB now supports array constants that can be used in expressions typed in by
3584the user. The syntax is `{element, element, ...}'. Ie: you can now type
3585`print {1, 2, 3}', and it will build up an array in memory malloc'd in
3586the target program.
3587
3588The new directory `gdb/sparclite' contains a program that demonstrates
3589how the sparc-stub.c remote stub runs on a Fujitsu SPARClite processor.
3590
3591 * New native hosts supported
3592
3593HP/PA-RISC under HPUX using GNU tools hppa1.1-hp-hpux
3594386 CPUs running SCO Unix 3.2v4 i386-unknown-sco3.2v4
3595
3596 * New targets supported
3597
3598AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi or udi29k
3599
3600 * New file formats supported
3601
3602BFD now supports reading HP/PA-RISC executables (SOM file format?),
3603HPUX core files, and SCO 3.2v2 core files.
3604
3605 * Major bug fixes
3606
3607Attaching to processes now works again; thanks for the many bug reports.
3608
3609We have also stomped on a bunch of core dumps caused by
3610printf_filtered("%s") problems.
3611
3612We eliminated a copyright problem on the rpc and ptrace header files
3613for VxWorks, which was discovered at the last minute during the 4.7
3614release. You should now be able to build a VxWorks GDB.
3615
3616You can now interrupt gdb while an attached process is running. This
3617will cause the attached process to stop, and give control back to GDB.
3618
3619We fixed problems caused by using too many file descriptors
3620for reading symbols from object files and libraries. This was
3621especially a problem for programs that used many (~100) shared
3622libraries.
3623
3624The `step' command now only enters a subroutine if there is line number
3625information for the subroutine. Otherwise it acts like the `next'
3626command. Previously, `step' would enter subroutines if there was
3627any debugging information about the routine. This avoids problems
3628when using `cc -g1' on MIPS machines.
3629
3630 * Internal improvements
3631
3632GDB's internal interfaces have been improved to make it easier to support
3633debugging of multiple languages in the future.
3634
3635GDB now uses a common structure for symbol information internally.
3636Minimal symbols (derived from linkage symbols in object files), partial
3637symbols (from a quick scan of debug information), and full symbols
3638contain a common subset of information, making it easier to write
3639shared code that handles any of them.
3640
3641 * New command line options
3642
3643We now accept --silent as an alias for --quiet.
3644
3645 * Mmalloc licensing
3646
3647The memory-mapped-malloc library is now licensed under the GNU Library
3648General Public License.
3649
3650*** Changes in GDB-4.7:
3651
3652 * Host/native/target split
3653
3654GDB has had some major internal surgery to untangle the support for
3655hosts and remote targets. Now, when you configure GDB for a remote
3656target, it will no longer load in all of the support for debugging
3657local programs on the host. When fully completed and tested, this will
3658ensure that arbitrary host/target combinations are possible.
3659
3660The primary conceptual shift is to separate the non-portable code in
3661GDB into three categories. Host specific code is required any time GDB
3662is compiled on that host, regardless of the target. Target specific
3663code relates to the peculiarities of the target, but can be compiled on
3664any host. Native specific code is everything else: it can only be
3665built when the host and target are the same system. Child process
3666handling and core file support are two common `native' examples.
3667
3668GDB's use of /proc for controlling Unix child processes is now cleaner.
3669It has been split out into a single module under the `target_ops' vector,
3670plus two native-dependent functions for each system that uses /proc.
3671
3672 * New hosts supported
3673
3674HP/Apollo 68k (under the BSD domain) m68k-apollo-bsd or apollo68bsd
3675386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
3676386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or i386sco
3677
3678 * New targets supported
3679
3680Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
368168030 and CPU32 m68030-*-*, m68332-*-*
3682
3683 * New native hosts supported
3684
3685386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
3686 (386bsd is not well tested yet)
3687386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or sco
3688
3689 * New file formats supported
3690
3691BFD now supports COFF files for the Zilog Z8000 microprocessor. It
3692supports reading of `a.out.adobe' object files, which are an a.out
3693format extended with minimal information about multiple sections.
3694
3695 * New commands
3696
3697`show copying' is the same as the old `info copying'.
3698`show warranty' is the same as `info warrantee'.
3699These were renamed for consistency. The old commands continue to work.
3700
3701`info handle' is a new alias for `info signals'.
3702
3703You can now define pre-command hooks, which attach arbitrary command
3704scripts to any command. The commands in the hook will be executed
3705prior to the user's command. You can also create a hook which will be
3706executed whenever the program stops. See gdb.texinfo.
3707
3708 * C++ improvements
3709
3710We now deal with Cfront style name mangling, and can even extract type
3711info from mangled symbols. GDB can automatically figure out which
3712symbol mangling style your C++ compiler uses.
3713
3714Calling of methods and virtual functions has been improved as well.
3715
3716 * Major bug fixes
3717
3718The crash that occured when debugging Sun Ansi-C compiled binaries is
3719fixed. This was due to mishandling of the extra N_SO stabs output
3720by the compiler.
3721
3722We also finally got Ultrix 4.2 running in house, and fixed core file
3723support, with help from a dozen people on the net.
3724
3725John M. Farrell discovered that the reason that single-stepping was so
3726slow on all of the Mips based platforms (primarily SGI and DEC) was
3727that we were trying to demangle and lookup a symbol used for internal
3728purposes on every instruction that was being stepped through. Changing
3729the name of that symbol so that it couldn't be mistaken for a C++
3730mangled symbol sped things up a great deal.
3731
3732Rich Pixley sped up symbol lookups in general by getting much smarter
3733about when C++ symbol mangling is necessary. This should make symbol
3734completion (TAB on the command line) much faster. It's not as fast as
3735we'd like, but it's significantly faster than gdb-4.6.
3736
3737 * AMD 29k support
3738
3739A new user controllable variable 'call_scratch_address' can
3740specify the location of a scratch area to be used when GDB
3741calls a function in the target. This is necessary because the
3742usual method of putting the scratch area on the stack does not work
3743in systems that have separate instruction and data spaces.
3744
3745We integrated changes to support the 29k UDI (Universal Debugger
3746Interface), but discovered at the last minute that we didn't have all
3747of the appropriate copyright paperwork. We are working with AMD to
3748resolve this, and hope to have it available soon.
3749
3750 * Remote interfaces
3751
3752We have sped up the remote serial line protocol, especially for targets
3753with lots of registers. It now supports a new `expedited status' ('T')
3754message which can be used in place of the existing 'S' status message.
3755This allows the remote stub to send only the registers that GDB
3756needs to make a quick decision about single-stepping or conditional
3757breakpoints, eliminating the need to fetch the entire register set for
3758each instruction being stepped through.
3759
3760The GDB remote serial protocol now implements a write-through cache for
3761registers, only re-reading the registers if the target has run.
3762
3763There is also a new remote serial stub for SPARC processors. You can
3764find it in gdb-4.7/gdb/sparc-stub.c. This was written to support the
3765Fujitsu SPARClite processor, but will run on any stand-alone SPARC
3766processor with a serial port.
3767
3768 * Configuration
3769
3770Configure.in files have become much easier to read and modify. A new
3771`table driven' format makes it more obvious what configurations are
3772supported, and what files each one uses.
3773
3774 * Library changes
3775
3776There is a new opcodes library which will eventually contain all of the
3777disassembly routines and opcode tables. At present, it only contains
3778Sparc and Z8000 routines. This will allow the assembler, debugger, and
3779disassembler (binutils/objdump) to share these routines.
3780
3781The libiberty library is now copylefted under the GNU Library General
3782Public License. This allows more liberal use, and was done so libg++
3783can use it. This makes no difference to GDB, since the Library License
3784grants all the rights from the General Public License.
3785
3786 * Documentation
3787
3788The file gdb-4.7/gdb/doc/stabs.texinfo is a (relatively) complete
3789reference to the stabs symbol info used by the debugger. It is (as far
3790as we know) the only published document on this fascinating topic. We
3791encourage you to read it, compare it to the stabs information on your
3792system, and send improvements on the document in general (to
3793bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu).
3794
3795And, of course, many bugs have been fixed.
3796
3797
3798*** Changes in GDB-4.6:
3799
3800 * Better support for C++ function names
3801
3802GDB now accepts as input the "demangled form" of C++ overloaded function
3803names and member function names, and can do command completion on such names
3804(using TAB, TAB-TAB, and ESC-?). The names have to be quoted with a pair of
3805single quotes. Examples are 'func (int, long)' and 'obj::operator==(obj&)'.
3806Make use of command completion, it is your friend.
3807
3808GDB also now accepts a variety of C++ mangled symbol formats. They are
3809the GNU g++ style, the Cfront (ARM) style, and the Lucid (lcc) style.
3810You can tell GDB which format to use by doing a 'set demangle-style {gnu,
3811lucid, cfront, auto}'. 'gnu' is the default. Do a 'set demangle-style foo'
3812for the list of formats.
3813
3814 * G++ symbol mangling problem
3815
3816Recent versions of gcc have a bug in how they emit debugging information for
3817C++ methods (when using dbx-style stabs). The file 'gcc.patch' (in this
3818directory) can be applied to gcc to fix the problem. Alternatively, if you
3819can't fix gcc, you can #define GCC_MANGLE_BUG when compling gdb/symtab.c. The
3820usual symptom is difficulty with setting breakpoints on methods. GDB complains
3821about the method being non-existent. (We believe that version 2.2.2 of GCC has
3822this problem.)
3823
3824 * New 'maintenance' command
3825
3826All of the commands related to hacking GDB internals have been moved out of
3827the main command set, and now live behind the 'maintenance' command. This
3828can also be abbreviated as 'mt'. The following changes were made:
3829
3830 dump-me -> maintenance dump-me
3831 info all-breakpoints -> maintenance info breakpoints
3832 printmsyms -> maintenance print msyms
3833 printobjfiles -> maintenance print objfiles
3834 printpsyms -> maintenance print psymbols
3835 printsyms -> maintenance print symbols
3836
3837The following commands are new:
3838
3839 maintenance demangle Call internal GDB demangler routine to
3840 demangle a C++ link name and prints the result.
3841 maintenance print type Print a type chain for a given symbol
3842
3843 * Change to .gdbinit file processing
3844
3845We now read the $HOME/.gdbinit file before processing the argv arguments
3846(e.g. reading symbol files or core files). This allows global parameters to
3847be set, which will apply during the symbol reading. The ./.gdbinit is still
3848read after argv processing.
3849
3850 * New hosts supported
3851
3852Solaris-2.0 !!! sparc-sun-solaris2 or sun4sol2
3853
55241689 3854GNU/Linux support i386-unknown-linux or linux
c906108c
SS
3855
3856We are also including code to support the HP/PA running BSD and HPUX. This
3857is almost guaranteed not to work, as we didn't have time to test or build it
3858for this release. We are including it so that the more adventurous (or
3859masochistic) of you can play with it. We also had major problems with the
3860fact that the compiler that we got from HP doesn't support the -g option.
3861It costs extra.
3862
3863 * New targets supported
3864
3865Hitachi H8/300 h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
3866
3867 * More smarts about finding #include files
3868
3869GDB now remembers the compilation directory for all include files, and for
3870all files from which C is generated (like yacc and lex sources). This
3871greatly improves GDB's ability to find yacc/lex sources, and include files,
3872especially if you are debugging your program from a directory different from
3873the one that contains your sources.
3874
3875We also fixed a bug which caused difficulty with listing and setting
3876breakpoints in include files which contain C code. (In the past, you had to
3877try twice in order to list an include file that you hadn't looked at before.)
3878
3879 * Interesting infernals change
3880
3881GDB now deals with arbitrary numbers of sections, where the symbols for each
3882section must be relocated relative to that section's landing place in the
3883target's address space. This work was needed to support ELF with embedded
3884stabs used by Solaris-2.0.
3885
3886 * Bug fixes (of course!)
3887
3888There have been loads of fixes for the following things:
3889 mips, rs6000, 29k/udi, m68k, g++, type handling, elf/dwarf, m88k,
3890 i960, stabs, DOS(GO32), procfs, etc...
3891
3892See the ChangeLog for details.
3893
3894*** Changes in GDB-4.5:
3895
3896 * New machines supported (host and target)
3897
3898IBM RS6000 running AIX rs6000-ibm-aix or rs6000
3899
3900SGI Irix-4.x mips-sgi-irix4 or iris4
3901
3902 * New malloc package
3903
3904GDB now uses a new memory manager called mmalloc, based on gmalloc.
3905Mmalloc is capable of handling mutiple heaps of memory. It is also
3906capable of saving a heap to a file, and then mapping it back in later.
3907This can be used to greatly speedup the startup of GDB by using a
3908pre-parsed symbol table which lives in a mmalloc managed heap. For
3909more details, please read mmalloc/mmalloc.texi.
3910
3911 * info proc
3912
3913The 'info proc' command (SVR4 only) has been enhanced quite a bit. See
3914'help info proc' for details.
3915
3916 * MIPS ecoff symbol table format
3917
3918The code that reads MIPS symbol table format is now supported on all hosts.
3919Thanks to MIPS for releasing the sym.h and symconst.h files to make this
3920possible.
3921
3922 * File name changes for MS-DOS
3923
3924Many files in the config directories have been renamed to make it easier to
3925support GDB on MS-DOSe systems (which have very restrictive file name
3926conventions :-( ). MS-DOSe host support (under DJ Delorie's GO32
3927environment) is close to working but has some remaining problems. Note
3928that debugging of DOS programs is not supported, due to limitations
3929in the ``operating system'', but it can be used to host cross-debugging.
3930
3931 * Cross byte order fixes
3932
3933Many fixes have been made to support cross debugging of Sparc and MIPS
3934targets from hosts whose byte order differs.
3935
3936 * New -mapped and -readnow options
3937
3938If memory-mapped files are available on your system through the 'mmap'
3939system call, you can use the -mapped option on the `file' or
3940`symbol-file' commands to cause GDB to write the symbols from your
3941program into a reusable file. If the program you are debugging is
3942called `/path/fred', the mapped symbol file will be `./fred.syms'.
3943Future GDB debugging sessions will notice the presence of this file,
3944and will quickly map in symbol information from it, rather than reading
3945the symbol table from the executable program. Using the '-mapped'
3946option in a GDB `file' or `symbol-file' command has the same effect as
3947starting GDB with the '-mapped' command-line option.
3948
3949You can cause GDB to read the entire symbol table immediately by using
3950the '-readnow' option with any of the commands that load symbol table
3951information (or on the GDB command line). This makes the command
3952slower, but makes future operations faster.
3953
3954The -mapped and -readnow options are typically combined in order to
3955build a `fred.syms' file that contains complete symbol information.
3956A simple GDB invocation to do nothing but build a `.syms' file for future
3957use is:
3958
3959 gdb -batch -nx -mapped -readnow programname
3960
3961The `.syms' file is specific to the host machine on which GDB is run.
3962It holds an exact image of GDB's internal symbol table. It cannot be
3963shared across multiple host platforms.
3964
3965 * longjmp() handling
3966
3967GDB is now capable of stepping and nexting over longjmp(), _longjmp(), and
3968siglongjmp() without losing control. This feature has not yet been ported to
3969all systems. It currently works on many 386 platforms, all MIPS-based
3970platforms (SGI, DECstation, etc), and Sun3/4.
3971
3972 * Solaris 2.0
3973
3974Preliminary work has been put in to support the new Solaris OS from Sun. At
3975this time, it can control and debug processes, but it is not capable of
3976reading symbols.
3977
3978 * Bug fixes
3979
3980As always, many many bug fixes. The major areas were with g++, and mipsread.
3981People using the MIPS-based platforms should experience fewer mysterious
3982crashes and trashed symbol tables.
3983
3984*** Changes in GDB-4.4:
3985
3986 * New machines supported (host and target)
3987
3988SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
3989 (except core files)
3990BSD Reno on Vax vax-dec-bsd
3991Ultrix on Vax vax-dec-ultrix
3992
3993 * New machines supported (target)
3994
3995AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
3996
3997 * C++ support
3998
3999GDB continues to improve its handling of C++. `References' work better.
4000The demangler has also been improved, and now deals with symbols mangled as
4001per the Annotated C++ Reference Guide.
4002
4003GDB also now handles `stabs' symbol information embedded in MIPS
4004`ecoff' symbol tables. Since the ecoff format was not easily
4005extensible to handle new languages such as C++, this appeared to be a
4006good way to put C++ debugging info into MIPS binaries. This option
4007will be supported in the GNU C compiler, version 2, when it is
4008released.
4009
4010 * New features for SVR4
4011
4012GDB now handles SVR4 shared libraries, in the same fashion as SunOS
4013shared libraries. Debugging dynamically linked programs should present
4014only minor differences from debugging statically linked programs.
4015
4016The `info proc' command will print out information about any process
4017on an SVR4 system (including the one you are debugging). At the moment,
4018it prints the address mappings of the process.
4019
4020If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please send mail to
4021bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were reqired (if any).
4022
4023 * Better dynamic linking support in SunOS
4024
4025Reading symbols from shared libraries which contain debugging symbols
4026now works properly. However, there remain issues such as automatic
4027skipping of `transfer vector' code during function calls, which
4028make it harder to debug code in a shared library, than to debug the
4029same code linked statically.
4030
4031 * New Getopt
4032
4033GDB is now using the latest `getopt' routines from the FSF. This
4034version accepts the -- prefix for options with long names. GDB will
4035continue to accept the old forms (-option and +option) as well.
4036Various single letter abbreviations for options have been explicity
4037added to the option table so that they won't get overshadowed in the
4038future by other options that begin with the same letter.
4039
4040 * Bugs fixed
4041
4042The `cleanup_undefined_types' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
4043Many assorted bugs have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
4044See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
4045
4046
4047*** Changes in GDB-4.3:
4048
4049 * New machines supported (host and target)
4050
4051Amiga 3000 running Amix m68k-cbm-svr4 or amix
4052NCR 3000 386 running SVR4 i386-ncr-svr4 or ncr3000
4053Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
4054
4055 * Almost SCO Unix support
4056
4057We had hoped to support:
4058SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
4059(except for core file support), but we discovered very late in the release
4060that it has problems with process groups that render gdb unusable. Sorry
4061about that. I encourage people to fix it and post the fixes.
4062
4063 * Preliminary ELF and DWARF support
4064
4065GDB can read ELF object files on System V Release 4, and can handle
4066debugging records for C, in DWARF format, in ELF files. This support
4067is preliminary. If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please
4068send mail to bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were
4069reqired (if any).
4070
4071 * New Readline
4072
4073GDB now uses the latest `readline' library. One user-visible change
4074is that two tabs will list possible command completions, which previously
4075required typing M-? (meta-question mark, or ESC ?).
4076
4077 * Bugs fixed
4078
4079The `stepi' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
4080Many bugs in C++ have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
4081See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
4082
4083 * State of the MIPS world (in case you wondered):
4084
4085GDB can understand the symbol tables emitted by the compilers
4086supplied by most vendors of MIPS-based machines, including DEC. These
4087symbol tables are in a format that essentially nobody else uses.
4088
4089Some versions of gcc come with an assembler post-processor called
4090mips-tfile. This program is required if you want to do source-level
4091debugging of gcc-compiled programs. I believe FSF does not ship
4092mips-tfile with gcc version 1, but it will eventually come with gcc
4093version 2.
4094
4095Debugging of g++ output remains a problem. g++ version 1.xx does not
4096really support it at all. (If you're lucky, you should be able to get
4097line numbers and stack traces to work, but no parameters or local
4098variables.) With some work it should be possible to improve the
4099situation somewhat.
4100
4101When gcc version 2 is released, you will have somewhat better luck.
4102However, even then you will get confusing results for inheritance and
4103methods.
4104
4105We will eventually provide full debugging of g++ output on
4106DECstations. This will probably involve some kind of stabs-in-ecoff
4107encapulation, but the details have not been worked out yet.
4108
4109
4110*** Changes in GDB-4.2:
4111
4112 * Improved configuration
4113
4114Only one copy of `configure' exists now, and it is not self-modifying.
4115Porting BFD is simpler.
4116
4117 * Stepping improved
4118
4119The `step' and `next' commands now only stop at the first instruction
4120of a source line. This prevents the multiple stops that used to occur
4121in switch statements, for-loops, etc. `Step' continues to stop if a
4122function that has debugging information is called within the line.
4123
4124 * Bug fixing
4125
4126Lots of small bugs fixed. More remain.
4127
4128 * New host supported (not target)
4129
4130Intel 386 PC clone running Mach i386-none-mach
4131
4132
4133*** Changes in GDB-4.1:
4134
4135 * Multiple source language support
4136
4137GDB now has internal scaffolding to handle several source languages.
4138It determines the type of each source file from its filename extension,
4139and will switch expression parsing and number formatting to match the
4140language of the function in the currently selected stack frame.
4141You can also specifically set the language to be used, with
4142`set language c' or `set language modula-2'.
4143
4144 * GDB and Modula-2
4145
4146GDB now has preliminary support for the GNU Modula-2 compiler,
4147currently under development at the State University of New York at
4148Buffalo. Development of both GDB and the GNU Modula-2 compiler will
4149continue through the fall of 1991 and into 1992.
4150
4151Other Modula-2 compilers are currently not supported, and attempting to
4152debug programs compiled with them will likely result in an error as the
4153symbol table is read. Feel free to work on it, though!
4154
4155There are hooks in GDB for strict type checking and range checking,
4156in the `Modula-2 philosophy', but they do not currently work.
4157
4158 * set write on/off
4159
4160GDB can now write to executable and core files (e.g. patch
4161a variable's value). You must turn this switch on, specify
4162the file ("exec foo" or "core foo"), *then* modify it, e.g.
4163by assigning a new value to a variable. Modifications take
4164effect immediately.
4165
4166 * Automatic SunOS shared library reading
4167
4168When you run your program, GDB automatically determines where its
4169shared libraries (if any) have been loaded, and reads their symbols.
4170The `share' command is no longer needed. This also works when
4171examining core files.
4172
4173 * set listsize
4174
4175You can specify the number of lines that the `list' command shows.
4176The default is 10.
4177
4178 * New machines supported (host and target)
4179
4180SGI Iris (MIPS) running Irix V3: mips-sgi-irix or iris
4181Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x: m68k-sony-sysv or news
4182Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1: a29k-nyu-sym1 or ultra3
4183
4184 * New hosts supported (not targets)
4185
4186IBM RT/PC: romp-ibm-aix or rtpc
4187
4188 * New targets supported (not hosts)
4189
4190AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
4191AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
4192Ultracomputer remote kernel debug a29k-nyu-kern
4193
4194 * New remote interfaces
4195
4196AMD 29000 Adapt
4197AMD 29000 Minimon
4198
4199
4200*** Changes in GDB-4.0:
4201
4202 * New Facilities
4203
4204Wide output is wrapped at good places to make the output more readable.
4205
4206Gdb now supports cross-debugging from a host machine of one type to a
4207target machine of another type. Communication with the target system
4208is over serial lines. The ``target'' command handles connecting to the
4209remote system; the ``load'' command will download a program into the
4210remote system. Serial stubs for the m68k and i386 are provided. Gdb
4211also supports debugging of realtime processes running under VxWorks,
4212using SunRPC Remote Procedure Calls over TCP/IP to talk to a debugger
4213stub on the target system.
4214
4215New CPUs supported include the AMD 29000 and Intel 960.
4216
4217GDB now reads object files and symbol tables via a ``binary file''
4218library, which allows a single copy of GDB to debug programs of multiple
4219object file types such as a.out and coff.
4220
4221There is now a GDB reference card in "doc/refcard.tex". (Make targets
4222refcard.dvi and refcard.ps are available to format it).
4223
4224
4225 * Control-Variable user interface simplified
4226
4227All variables that control the operation of the debugger can be set
4228by the ``set'' command, and displayed by the ``show'' command.
4229
4230For example, ``set prompt new-gdb=>'' will change your prompt to new-gdb=>.
4231``Show prompt'' produces the response:
4232Gdb's prompt is new-gdb=>.
4233
4234What follows are the NEW set commands. The command ``help set'' will
4235print a complete list of old and new set commands. ``help set FOO''
4236will give a longer description of the variable FOO. ``show'' will show
4237all of the variable descriptions and their current settings.
4238
4239confirm on/off: Enables warning questions for operations that are
4240 hard to recover from, e.g. rerunning the program while
4241 it is already running. Default is ON.
4242
4243editing on/off: Enables EMACS style command line editing
4244 of input. Previous lines can be recalled with
4245 control-P, the current line can be edited with control-B,
4246 you can search for commands with control-R, etc.
4247 Default is ON.
4248
4249history filename NAME: NAME is where the gdb command history
4250 will be stored. The default is .gdb_history,
4251 or the value of the environment variable
4252 GDBHISTFILE.
4253
4254history size N: The size, in commands, of the command history. The
4255 default is 256, or the value of the environment variable
4256 HISTSIZE.
4257
4258history save on/off: If this value is set to ON, the history file will
4259 be saved after exiting gdb. If set to OFF, the
4260 file will not be saved. The default is OFF.
4261
4262history expansion on/off: If this value is set to ON, then csh-like
4263 history expansion will be performed on
4264 command line input. The default is OFF.
4265
4266radix N: Sets the default radix for input and output. It can be set
4267 to 8, 10, or 16. Note that the argument to "radix" is interpreted
4268 in the current radix, so "set radix 10" is always a no-op.
4269
4270height N: This integer value is the number of lines on a page. Default
4271 is 24, the current `stty rows'' setting, or the ``li#''
4272 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
4273 variable TERM.
4274
4275width N: This integer value is the number of characters on a line.
4276 Default is 80, the current `stty cols'' setting, or the ``co#''
4277 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
4278 variable TERM.
4279
4280Note: ``set screensize'' is obsolete. Use ``set height'' and
4281``set width'' instead.
4282
4283print address on/off: Print memory addresses in various command displays,
4284 such as stack traces and structure values. Gdb looks
4285 more ``symbolic'' if you turn this off; it looks more
4286 ``machine level'' with it on. Default is ON.
4287
4288print array on/off: Prettyprint arrays. New convenient format! Default
4289 is OFF.
4290
4291print demangle on/off: Print C++ symbols in "source" form if on,
4292 "raw" form if off.
4293
4294print asm-demangle on/off: Same, for assembler level printouts
4295 like instructions.
4296
4297print vtbl on/off: Prettyprint C++ virtual function tables. Default is OFF.
4298
4299
4300 * Support for Epoch Environment.
4301
4302The epoch environment is a version of Emacs v18 with windowing. One
4303new command, ``inspect'', is identical to ``print'', except that if you
4304are running in the epoch environment, the value is printed in its own
4305window.
4306
4307
4308 * Support for Shared Libraries
4309
4310GDB can now debug programs and core files that use SunOS shared libraries.
4311Symbols from a shared library cannot be referenced
4312before the shared library has been linked with the program (this
4313happens after you type ``run'' and before the function main() is entered).
4314At any time after this linking (including when examining core files
4315from dynamically linked programs), gdb reads the symbols from each
4316shared library when you type the ``sharedlibrary'' command.
4317It can be abbreviated ``share''.
4318
4319sharedlibrary REGEXP: Load shared object library symbols for files
4320 matching a unix regular expression. No argument
4321 indicates to load symbols for all shared libraries.
4322
4323info sharedlibrary: Status of loaded shared libraries.
4324
4325
4326 * Watchpoints
4327
4328A watchpoint stops execution of a program whenever the value of an
4329expression changes. Checking for this slows down execution
4330tremendously whenever you are in the scope of the expression, but is
4331quite useful for catching tough ``bit-spreader'' or pointer misuse
4332problems. Some machines such as the 386 have hardware for doing this
4333more quickly, and future versions of gdb will use this hardware.
4334
4335watch EXP: Set a watchpoint (breakpoint) for an expression.
4336
4337info watchpoints: Information about your watchpoints.
4338
4339delete N: Deletes watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
4340disable N: Temporarily turns off watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
4341enable N: Re-enables watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
4342
4343
4344 * C++ multiple inheritance
4345
4346When used with a GCC version 2 compiler, GDB supports multiple inheritance
4347for C++ programs.
4348
4349 * C++ exception handling
4350
4351Gdb now supports limited C++ exception handling. Besides the existing
4352ability to breakpoint on an exception handler, gdb can breakpoint on
4353the raising of an exception (before the stack is peeled back to the
4354handler's context).
4355
4356catch FOO: If there is a FOO exception handler in the dynamic scope,
4357 set a breakpoint to catch exceptions which may be raised there.
4358 Multiple exceptions (``catch foo bar baz'') may be caught.
4359
4360info catch: Lists all exceptions which may be caught in the
4361 current stack frame.
4362
4363
4364 * Minor command changes
4365
4366The command ``call func (arg, arg, ...)'' now acts like the print
4367command, except it does not print or save a value if the function's result
4368is void. This is similar to dbx usage.
4369
4370The ``up'' and ``down'' commands now always print the frame they end up
4371at; ``up-silently'' and `down-silently'' can be used in scripts to change
4372frames without printing.
4373
4374 * New directory command
4375
4376'dir' now adds directories to the FRONT of the source search path.
4377The path starts off empty. Source files that contain debug information
4378about the directory in which they were compiled can be found even
4379with an empty path; Sun CC and GCC include this information. If GDB can't
4380find your source file in the current directory, type "dir .".
4381
4382 * Configuring GDB for compilation
4383
4384For normal use, type ``./configure host''. See README or gdb.texinfo
4385for more details.
4386
4387GDB now handles cross debugging. If you are remotely debugging between
4388two different machines, type ``./configure host -target=targ''.
4389Host is the machine where GDB will run; targ is the machine
4390where the program that you are debugging will run.