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1 What has changed in GDB?
2 (Organized release by release)
3
3b2f13ff 4*** Changes since GDB 7.9
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5
6* GDB now honors the content of the file /proc/PID/coredump_filter
7 (PID is the process ID) on GNU/Linux systems. This file can be used
8 to specify the types of memory mappings that will be included in a
9 corefile. For more information, please refer to the manual page of
10 "core(5)". GDB also has a new command: "set use-coredump-filter
11 on|off". It allows to set whether GDB will read the content of the
12 /proc/PID/coredump_filter file when generating a corefile.
3b2f13ff 13
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14* The "info os" command on GNU/Linux can now display information on
15 cpu information :
16 "info os cpus" Listing of all cpus/cores on the system
17
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18* GDB has two new commands: "set serial parity odd|even|none" and
19 "show serial parity". These allows to set or show parity for the
20 remote serial I/O.
21
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22* The "info source" command now displays the producer string if it was
23 present in the debug info. This typically includes the compiler version
24 and may include things like its command line arguments.
25
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26* The "info dll", an alias of the "info sharedlibrary" command,
27 is now available on all platforms.
28
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29* Directory names supplied to the "set sysroot" commands may be
30 prefixed with "target:" to tell GDB to access shared libraries from
31 the target system, be it local or remote. This replaces the prefix
32 "remote:". The default sysroot has been changed from "" to
33 "target:". "remote:" is automatically converted to "target:" for
34 backward compatibility.
35
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36* The system root specified by "set sysroot" will be prepended to the
37 filename of the main executable (if reported to GDB as absolute by
38 the operating system) when starting processes remotely, and when
39 attaching to already-running local or remote processes.
40
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41* GDB now supports automatic location and retrieval of executable
42 files from remote targets. Remote debugging can now be initiated
43 using only a "target remote" or "target extended-remote" command
44 (no "set sysroot" or "file" commands are required). See "New remote
45 packets" below.
46
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47* The "dump" command now supports verilog hex format.
48
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49* GDB now supports the vector ABI on S/390 GNU/Linux targets.
50
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51* Guile Scripting
52
53 ** Memory ports can now be unbuffered.
54
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55* Python Scripting
56
57 ** gdb.Objfile objects have a new attribute "username",
58 which is the name of the objfile as specified by the user,
59 without, for example, resolving symlinks.
d11916aa 60 ** You can now write frame unwinders in Python.
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61 ** gdb.Type objects have a new method "optimized_out",
62 returning optimized out gdb.Value instance of this type.
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63 ** gdb.Value objects have new methods "reference_value" and
64 "const_value" which return a reference to the value and a
65 "const" version of the value respectively.
3a8b707a 66
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67* New commands
68
69maint print symbol-cache
70 Print the contents of the symbol cache.
71
72maint print symbol-cache-statistics
73 Print statistics of symbol cache usage.
74
75maint flush-symbol-cache
76 Flush the contents of the symbol cache.
77
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78record btrace bts
79record bts
80 Start branch trace recording using Branch Trace Store (BTS) format.
81
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82compile print
83 Evaluate expression by using the compiler and print result.
84
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85tui enable
86tui disable
87 Explicit commands for enabling and disabling tui mode.
88
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89* New options
90
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91set max-completions
92show max-completions
93 Set the maximum number of candidates to be considered during
94 completion. The default value is 200. This limit allows GDB
95 to avoid generating large completion lists, the computation of
96 which can cause the debugger to become temporarily unresponsive.
97
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98maint set symbol-cache-size
99maint show symbol-cache-size
100 Control the size of the symbol cache.
101
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102set|show record btrace bts buffer-size
103 Set and show the size of the ring buffer used for branch tracing in
104 BTS format.
105 The obtained size may differ from the requested size. Use "info
106 record" to see the obtained buffer size.
107
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108* The command 'thread apply all' can now support new option '-ascending'
109 to call its specified command for all threads in ascending order.
110
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111* Python/Guile scripting
112
113 ** GDB now supports auto-loading of Python/Guile scripts contained in the
114 special section named `.debug_gdb_scripts'.
115
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116* New remote packets
117
118qXfer:btrace-conf:read
119 Return the branch trace configuration for the current thread.
120
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121Qbtrace-conf:bts:size
122 Set the requested ring buffer size for branch tracing in BTS format.
123
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124swbreak stop reason
125 Indicates a memory breakpoint instruction was executed, irrespective
126 of whether it was GDB that planted the breakpoint or the breakpoint
127 is hardcoded in the program. This is required for correct non-stop
128 mode operation.
129
130hwbreak stop reason
131 Indicates the target stopped for a hardware breakpoint. This is
132 required for correct non-stop mode operation.
133
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134vFile:fstat:
135 Return information about files on the remote system.
136
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137qXfer:exec-file:read
138 Return the full absolute name of the file that was executed to
139 create a process running on the remote system.
140
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141fork stop reason
142 Indicates that a fork system call was executed.
143
144vfork stop reason
145 Indicates that a vfork system call was executed.
146
147vforkdone stop reason
148 Indicates that a vfork child of the specified process has executed
149 an exec or exit, allowing the vfork parent to resume execution.
150
151fork-events and vfork-events features in qSupported
152 The qSupported packet allows GDB to request support for fork and
153 vfork events using new 'gdbfeatures' fork-events and vfork-events,
154 and the qSupported response can contain the corresponding
155 'stubfeatures'. Set and show commands can be used to display
156 whether these features are enabled.
157
158* Extended-remote fork events
159
160 ** GDB now has support for fork events on extended-remote Linux
161 targets. For targets with Linux kernels 2.5.60 and later, this
162 enables follow-fork-mode and detach-on-fork for both fork and
163 vfork, as well as fork and vfork catchpoints.
164
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165* The info record command now shows the recording format and the
166 branch tracing configuration for the current thread when using
167 the btrace record target.
168 For the BTS format, it shows the ring buffer size.
169
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170* GDB now has support for DTrace USDT (Userland Static Defined
171 Tracing) probes. The supported targets are x86_64-*-linux-gnu.
172
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173* GDB now supports access to vector registers on S/390 GNU/Linux
174 targets.
175
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176* Removed command line options
177
178-xdb HP-UX XDB compatibility mode.
179
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180* Removed targets and native configurations
181
182HP/PA running HP-UX hppa*-*-hpux*
183Itanium running HP-UX ia64-*-hpux*
184
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185*** Changes in GDB 7.9.1
186
187* Python Scripting
188
189 ** Xmethods can now specify a result type.
190
3b2f13ff 191*** Changes in GDB 7.9
919b9a93 192
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193* GDB now supports hardware watchpoints on x86 GNU Hurd.
194
5f3b99cf 195* Python Scripting
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196
197 ** You can now access frame registers from Python scripts.
198 ** New attribute 'producer' for gdb.Symtab objects.
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199 ** gdb.Objfile objects have a new attribute "progspace",
200 which is the gdb.Progspace object of the containing program space.
a0be3e44 201 ** gdb.Objfile objects have a new attribute "owner".
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202 ** gdb.Objfile objects have a new attribute "build_id",
203 which is the build ID generated when the file was built.
86e4ed39 204 ** gdb.Objfile objects have a new method "add_separate_debug_file".
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205 ** A new event "gdb.clear_objfiles" has been added, triggered when
206 selecting a new file to debug.
02be9a71 207 ** You can now add attributes to gdb.Objfile and gdb.Progspace objects.
6dddd6a5 208 ** New function gdb.lookup_objfile.
5f3b99cf 209
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210 New events which are triggered when GDB modifies the state of the
211 inferior.
212
213 ** gdb.events.inferior_call_pre: Function call is about to be made.
214 ** gdb.events.inferior_call_post: Function call has just been made.
215 ** gdb.events.memory_changed: A memory location has been altered.
216 ** gdb.events.register_changed: A register has been altered.
217
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218* New Python-based convenience functions:
219
220 ** $_caller_is(name [, number_of_frames])
221 ** $_caller_matches(regexp [, number_of_frames])
222 ** $_any_caller_is(name [, number_of_frames])
223 ** $_any_caller_matches(regexp [, number_of_frames])
224
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225* GDB now supports the compilation and injection of source code into
226 the inferior. GDB will use GCC 5.0 or higher built with libcc1.so
227 to compile the source code to object code, and if successful, inject
228 and execute that code within the current context of the inferior.
229 Currently the C language is supported. The commands used to
230 interface with this new feature are:
231
232 compile code [-raw|-r] [--] [source code]
233 compile file [-raw|-r] filename
234
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235* New commands
236
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237demangle [-l language] [--] name
238 Demangle "name" in the specified language, or the current language
239 if elided. This command is renamed from the "maint demangle" command.
240 The latter is kept as a no-op to avoid "maint demangle" being interpreted
241 as "maint demangler-warning".
242
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243queue-signal signal-name-or-number
244 Queue a signal to be delivered to the thread when it is resumed.
245
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246add-auto-load-scripts-directory directory
247 Add entries to the list of directories from which to load auto-loaded
248 scripts.
249
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250maint print user-registers
251 List all currently available "user" registers.
252
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253compile code [-r|-raw] [--] [source code]
254 Compile, inject, and execute in the inferior the executable object
255 code produced by compiling the provided source code.
256
257compile file [-r|-raw] filename
258 Compile and inject into the inferior the executable object code
259 produced by compiling the source code stored in the filename
260 provided.
261
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262* On resume, GDB now always passes the signal the program had stopped
263 for to the thread the signal was sent to, even if the user changed
264 threads before resuming. Previously GDB would often (but not
265 always) deliver the signal to the thread that happens to be current
266 at resume time.
267
268* Conversely, the "signal" command now consistently delivers the
269 requested signal to the current thread. GDB now asks for
270 confirmation if the program had stopped for a signal and the user
271 switched threads meanwhile.
272
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273* "breakpoint always-inserted" modes "off" and "auto" merged.
274
275 Now, when 'breakpoint always-inserted mode' is set to "off", GDB
276 won't remove breakpoints from the target until all threads stop,
277 even in non-stop mode. The "auto" mode has been removed, and "off"
278 is now the default mode.
279
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280* New options
281
282set debug symbol-lookup
283show debug symbol-lookup
284 Control display of debugging info regarding symbol lookup.
285
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286* MI changes
287
288 ** The -list-thread-groups command outputs an exit-code field for
289 inferiors that have exited.
290
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291* New targets
292
293MIPS SDE mips*-sde*-elf*
294
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295* Removed targets
296
297Support for these obsolete configurations has been removed.
298
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299Alpha running OSF/1 (or Tru64) alpha*-*-osf*
300SGI Irix-5.x mips-*-irix5*
301SGI Irix-6.x mips-*-irix6*
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302VAX running (4.2 - 4.3 Reno) BSD vax-*-bsd*
303VAX running Ultrix vax-*-ultrix*
3831839c 304
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305* The "dll-symbols" command, and its two aliases ("add-shared-symbol-files"
306 and "assf"), have been removed. Use the "sharedlibrary" command, or
307 its alias "share", instead.
308
919b9a93 309*** Changes in GDB 7.8
e9475ead 310
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311* New command line options
312
313-D data-directory
314 This is an alias for the --data-directory option.
315
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316* GDB supports printing and modifying of variable length automatic arrays
317 as specified in ISO C99.
318
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319* The ARM simulator now supports instruction level tracing
320 with or without disassembly.
b7bba001 321
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322* Guile scripting
323
324 GDB now has support for scripting using Guile. Whether this is
325 available is determined at configure time.
326 Guile version 2.0 or greater is required.
327 Guile version 2.0.9 is well tested, earlier 2.0 versions are not.
328
329* New commands (for set/show, see "New options" below)
330
331guile [code]
332gu [code]
333 Invoke CODE by passing it to the Guile interpreter.
334
335guile-repl
336gr
337 Start a Guile interactive prompt (or "repl" for "read-eval-print loop").
338
339info auto-load guile-scripts [regexp]
340 Print the list of automatically loaded Guile scripts.
341
342* The source command is now capable of sourcing Guile scripts.
343 This feature is dependent on the debugger being built with Guile support.
344
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345* New options
346
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347set print symbol-loading (off|brief|full)
348show print symbol-loading
349 Control whether to print informational messages when loading symbol
350 information for a file. The default is "full", but when debugging
351 programs with large numbers of shared libraries the amount of output
352 becomes less useful.
353
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354set guile print-stack (none|message|full)
355show guile print-stack
356 Show a stack trace when an error is encountered in a Guile script.
357
358set auto-load guile-scripts (on|off)
359show auto-load guile-scripts
360 Control auto-loading of Guile script files.
361
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362maint ada set ignore-descriptive-types (on|off)
363maint ada show ignore-descriptive-types
364 Control whether the debugger should ignore descriptive types in Ada
365 programs. The default is not to ignore the descriptive types. See
366 the user manual for more details on descriptive types and the intended
367 usage of this option.
368
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369set auto-connect-native-target
370
371 Control whether GDB is allowed to automatically connect to the
372 native target for the run, attach, etc. commands when not connected
373 to any target yet. See also "target native" below.
374
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375set record btrace replay-memory-access (read-only|read-write)
376show record btrace replay-memory-access
377 Control what memory accesses are allowed during replay.
378
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379maint set target-async (on|off)
380maint show target-async
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381 This controls whether GDB targets operate in synchronous or
382 asynchronous mode. Normally the default is asynchronous, if it is
329ea579 383 available; but this can be changed to more easily debug problems
5784b3ca 384 occurring only in synchronous mode.
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385
386set mi-async (on|off)
387show mi-async
388 Control whether MI asynchronous mode is preferred. This supersedes
389 "set target-async" of previous GDB versions.
390
391* "set target-async" is deprecated as a CLI option and is now an alias
392 for "set mi-async" (only puts MI into async mode).
393
394* Background execution commands (e.g., "c&", "s&", etc.) are now
395 possible ``out of the box'' if the target supports them. Previously
396 the user would need to explicitly enable the possibility with the
397 "set target-async on" command.
398
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399* New features in the GDB remote stub, GDBserver
400
401 ** New option --debug-format=option1[,option2,...] allows one to add
402 additional text to each output. At present only timestamps
403 are supported: --debug-format=timestamps.
404 Timestamps can also be turned on with the
405 "monitor set debug-format timestamps" command from GDB.
406
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407* The 'record instruction-history' command now starts counting instructions
408 at one. This also affects the instruction ranges reported by the
409 'record function-call-history' command when given the /i modifier.
410
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411* The command 'record function-call-history' supports a new modifier '/c' to
412 indent the function names based on their call stack depth.
413 The fields for the '/i' and '/l' modifier have been reordered.
414 The source line range is now prefixed with 'at'.
415 The instruction range is now prefixed with 'inst'.
416 Both ranges are now printed as '<from>, <to>' to allow copy&paste to the
417 "record instruction-history" and "list" commands.
418
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419* The ranges given as arguments to the 'record function-call-history' and
420 'record instruction-history' commands are now inclusive.
421
066ce621 422* The btrace record target now supports the 'record goto' command.
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423 For locations inside the execution trace, the back trace is computed
424 based on the information stored in the execution trace.
066ce621 425
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426* The btrace record target supports limited reverse execution and replay.
427 The target does not record data and therefore does not allow reading
428 memory or registers.
429
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430* The "catch syscall" command now works on s390*-linux* targets.
431
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432* The "compare-sections" command is no longer specific to target
433 remote. It now works with all targets.
434
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435* All native targets are now consistently called "native".
436 Consequently, the "target child", "target GNU", "target djgpp",
437 "target procfs" (Solaris/Irix/OSF/AIX) and "target darwin-child"
438 commands have been replaced with "target native". The QNX/NTO port
439 leaves the "procfs" target in place and adds a "native" target for
440 consistency with other ports. The impact on users should be minimal
441 as these commands previously either throwed an error, or were
442 no-ops. The target's name is visible in the output of the following
443 commands: "help target", "info target", "info files", "maint print
444 target-stack".
445
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446* The "target native" command now connects to the native target. This
447 can be used to launch native programs even when "set
448 auto-connect-native-target" is set to off.
449
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450* GDB now supports access to Intel(R) MPX registers on GNU/Linux.
451
452* Support for Intel(R) AVX-512 registers on GNU/Linux.
453 Support displaying and modifying Intel(R) AVX-512 registers
454 $zmm0 - $zmm31 and $k0 - $k7 on GNU/Linux.
455
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456* New remote packets
457
458qXfer:btrace:read's annex
459 The qXfer:btrace:read packet supports a new annex 'delta' to read
460 branch trace incrementally.
461
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462* Python Scripting
463
464 ** Valid Python operations on gdb.Value objects representing
465 structs/classes invoke the corresponding overloaded operators if
466 available.
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467 ** New `Xmethods' feature in the Python API. Xmethods are
468 additional methods or replacements for existing methods of a C++
469 class. This feature is useful for those cases where a method
470 defined in C++ source code could be inlined or optimized out by
471 the compiler, making it unavailable to GDB.
f7bd0f78 472
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473* New targets
474PowerPC64 GNU/Linux little-endian powerpc64le-*-linux*
475
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476* The "dll-symbols" command, and its two aliases ("add-shared-symbol-files"
477 and "assf"), have been deprecated. Use the "sharedlibrary" command, or
478 its alias "share", instead.
479
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480* The commands "set remotebaud" and "show remotebaud" are no longer
481 supported. Use "set serial baud" and "show serial baud" (respectively)
482 instead.
483
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484* MI changes
485
486 ** A new option "-gdb-set mi-async" replaces "-gdb-set
487 target-async". The latter is left as a deprecated alias of the
488 former for backward compatibility. If the target supports it,
489 CLI background execution commands are now always possible by
490 default, independently of whether the frontend stated a
491 preference for asynchronous execution with "-gdb-set mi-async".
492 Previously "-gdb-set target-async off" affected both MI execution
493 commands and CLI execution commands.
494
b7bba001 495*** Changes in GDB 7.7
2d450646 496
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497* Improved support for process record-replay and reverse debugging on
498 arm*-linux* targets. Support for thumb32 and syscall instruction
499 recording has been added.
500
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501* GDB now supports SystemTap SDT probes on AArch64 GNU/Linux.
502
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503* GDB now supports Fission DWP file format version 2.
504 http://gcc.gnu.org/wiki/DebugFission
505
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506* New convenience function "$_isvoid", to check whether an expression
507 is void. A void expression is an expression where the type of the
508 result is "void". For example, some convenience variables may be
509 "void" when evaluated (e.g., "$_exitcode" before the execution of
510 the program being debugged; or an undefined convenience variable).
511 Another example, when calling a function whose return type is
512 "void".
513
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514* The "maintenance print objfiles" command now takes an optional regexp.
515
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516* The "catch syscall" command now works on arm*-linux* targets.
517
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518* GDB now consistently shows "<not saved>" when printing values of
519 registers the debug info indicates have not been saved in the frame
520 and there's nowhere to retrieve them from
521 (callee-saved/call-clobbered registers):
522
523 (gdb) p $rax
524 $1 = <not saved>
525
526 (gdb) info registers rax
527 rax <not saved>
528
529 Before, the former would print "<optimized out>", and the latter
530 "*value not available*".
531
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532* New script contrib/gdb-add-index.sh for adding .gdb_index sections
533 to binaries.
534
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535* Python scripting
536
537 ** Frame filters and frame decorators have been added.
f76c27b5 538 ** Temporary breakpoints are now supported.
bc79de95 539 ** Line tables representation has been added.
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540 ** New attribute 'parent_type' for gdb.Field objects.
541 ** gdb.Field objects can be used as subscripts on gdb.Value objects.
c0d48811 542 ** New attribute 'name' for gdb.Type objects.
1e611234 543
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544* New targets
545
546Nios II ELF nios2*-*-elf
547Nios II GNU/Linux nios2*-*-linux
42059f0e 548Texas Instruments MSP430 msp430*-*-elf
a1217d97 549
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550* Removed native configurations
551
552Support for these a.out NetBSD and OpenBSD obsolete configurations has
553been removed. ELF variants of these configurations are kept supported.
554
555arm*-*-netbsd* but arm*-*-netbsdelf* is kept supported.
556i[34567]86-*-netbsd* but i[34567]86-*-netbsdelf* is kept supported.
557i[34567]86-*-openbsd[0-2].* but i[34567]86-*-openbsd* is kept supported.
558i[34567]86-*-openbsd3.[0-3]
559m68*-*-netbsd* but m68*-*-netbsdelf* is kept supported.
560sparc-*-netbsd* but sparc-*-netbsdelf* is kept supported.
561vax-*-netbsd* but vax-*-netbsdelf* is kept supported.
562
bd712aed 563* New commands:
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564catch rethrow
565 Like "catch throw", but catches a re-thrown exception.
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566maint check-psymtabs
567 Renamed from old "maint check-symtabs".
568maint check-symtabs
569 Perform consistency checks on symtabs.
570maint expand-symtabs
571 Expand symtabs matching an optional regexp.
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573show configuration
574 Display the details of GDB configure-time options.
575
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576maint set|show per-command
577maint set|show per-command space
578maint set|show per-command time
579maint set|show per-command symtab
580 Enable display of per-command gdb resource usage.
581
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582remove-symbol-file FILENAME
583remove-symbol-file -a ADDRESS
584 Remove a symbol file added via add-symbol-file. The file to remove
585 can be identified by its filename or by an address that lies within
586 the boundaries of this symbol file in memory.
587
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588info exceptions
589info exceptions REGEXP
590 Display the list of Ada exceptions defined in the program being
591 debugged. If provided, only the exceptions whose names match REGEXP
592 are listed.
593
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594* New options
595
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596set debug symfile off|on
597show debug symfile
598 Control display of debugging info regarding reading symbol files and
599 symbol tables within those files
600
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DE
601set print raw frame-arguments
602show print raw frame-arguments
603 Set/show whether to print frame arguments in raw mode,
604 disregarding any defined pretty-printers.
605
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606set remote trace-status-packet
607show remote trace-status-packet
608 Set/show the use of remote protocol qTStatus packet.
609
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SL
610set debug nios2
611show debug nios2
612 Control display of debugging messages related to Nios II targets.
613
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PA
614set range-stepping
615show range-stepping
616 Control whether target-assisted range stepping is enabled.
617
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PA
618set startup-with-shell
619show startup-with-shell
620 Specifies whether Unix child processes are started via a shell or
621 directly.
622
29453a14
YQ
623set code-cache
624show code-cache
625 Use the target memory cache for accesses to the code segment. This
626 improves performance of remote debugging (particularly disassembly).
627
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PA
628* You can now use a literal value 'unlimited' for options that
629 interpret 0 or -1 as meaning "unlimited". E.g., "set
630 trace-buffer-size unlimited" is now an alias for "set
631 trace-buffer-size -1" and "set height unlimited" is now an alias for
632 "set height 0".
633
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DE
634* The "set debug symtab-create" debugging option of GDB has been changed to
635 accept a verbosity level. 0 means "off", 1 provides basic debugging
636 output, and values of 2 or greater provides more verbose output.
637
dccca75d
EZ
638* New command-line options
639--configuration
640 Display the details of GDB configure-time options.
641
d0353e76
YQ
642* The command 'tsave' can now support new option '-ctf' to save trace
643 buffer in Common Trace Format.
644
b292c783
JK
645* Newly installed $prefix/bin/gcore acts as a shell interface for the
646 GDB command gcore.
647
6e72ca20
TT
648* GDB now implements the the C++ 'typeid' operator.
649
b340913d
TT
650* The new convenience variable $_exception holds the exception being
651 thrown or caught at an exception-related catchpoint.
652
653* The exception-related catchpoints, like "catch throw", now accept a
654 regular expression which can be used to filter exceptions by type.
655
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SDJ
656* The new convenience variable $_exitsignal is automatically set to
657 the terminating signal number when the program being debugged dies
658 due to an uncaught signal.
659
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660* MI changes
661
403cb6b1 662 ** All MI commands now accept an optional "--language" option.
4e35e808
JB
663 Support for this feature can be verified by using the "-list-features"
664 command, which should contain "language-option".
403cb6b1 665
6b7cbff1
JB
666 ** The new command -info-gdb-mi-command allows the user to determine
667 whether a GDB/MI command is supported or not.
668
2ea126fa
JB
669 ** The "^error" result record returned when trying to execute an undefined
670 GDB/MI command now provides a variable named "code" whose content is the
671 "undefined-command" error code. Support for this feature can be verified
672 by using the "-list-features" command, which should contain
673 "undefined-command-error-code".
674
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675 ** The -trace-save MI command can optionally save trace buffer in Common
676 Trace Format now.
677
c5867ab6
HZ
678 ** The new command -dprintf-insert sets a dynamic printf breakpoint.
679
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YQ
680 ** The command -data-list-register-values now accepts an optional
681 "--skip-unavailable" option. When used, only the available registers
682 are displayed.
683
dc673c81
YQ
684 ** The new command -trace-frame-collected dumps collected variables,
685 computed expressions, tvars, memory and registers in a traceframe.
686
6211c335
YQ
687 ** The commands -stack-list-locals, -stack-list-arguments and
688 -stack-list-variables now accept an option "--skip-unavailable".
689 When used, only the available locals or arguments are displayed.
690
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JB
691 ** The -exec-run command now accepts an optional "--start" option.
692 When used, the command follows the same semantics as the "start"
693 command, stopping the program's execution at the start of its
72bfa06c
JB
694 main subprogram. Support for this feature can be verified using
695 the "-list-features" command, which should contain
696 "exec-run-start-option".
5713b9b5 697
40555925
JB
698 ** The new commands -catch-assert and -catch-exceptions insert
699 catchpoints stopping the program when Ada exceptions are raised.
700
58d06528
JB
701 ** The new command -info-ada-exceptions provides the equivalent of
702 the new "info exceptions" command.
703
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JB
704* New system-wide configuration scripts
705 A GDB installation now provides scripts suitable for use as system-wide
706 configuration scripts for the following systems:
707 ** ElinOS
708 ** Wind River Linux
709
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PA
710* GDB now supports target-assigned range stepping with remote targets.
711 This improves the performance of stepping source lines by reducing
712 the number of control packets from/to GDB. See "New remote packets"
713 below.
714
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YQ
715* GDB now understands the element 'tvar' in the XML traceframe info.
716 It has the id of the collected trace state variables.
717
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UW
718* On S/390 targets that provide the transactional-execution feature,
719 the program interruption transaction diagnostic block (TDB) is now
720 represented as a number of additional "registers" in GDB.
721
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PA
722* New remote packets
723
724vCont;r
725
726 The vCont packet supports a new 'r' action, that tells the remote
727 stub to step through an address range itself, without GDB
728 involvemement at each single-step.
729
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GB
730qXfer:libraries-svr4:read's annex
731 The previously unused annex of the qXfer:libraries-svr4:read packet
732 is now used to support passing an argument list. The remote stub
733 reports support for this argument list to GDB's qSupported query.
734 The defined arguments are "start" and "prev", used to reduce work
735 necessary for library list updating, resulting in significant
736 speedup.
737
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PA
738* New features in the GDB remote stub, GDBserver
739
740 ** GDBserver now supports target-assisted range stepping. Currently
741 enabled on x86/x86_64 GNU/Linux targets.
742
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YQ
743 ** GDBserver now adds element 'tvar' in the XML in the reply to
744 'qXfer:traceframe-info:read'. It has the id of the collected
745 trace state variables.
746
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YQ
747 ** GDBserver now supports hardware watchpoints on the MIPS GNU/Linux
748 target.
749
6fbe845e
AB
750* New 'z' formatter for printing and examining memory, this displays the
751 value as hexadecimal zero padded on the left to the size of the type.
752
9058cc3a
TG
753* GDB can now use Windows x64 unwinding data.
754
0d12017b
JB
755* The "set remotebaud" command has been replaced by "set serial baud".
756 Similarly, "show remotebaud" has been replaced by "show serial baud".
757 The "set remotebaud" and "show remotebaud" commands are still available
758 to provide backward compatibility with older versions of GDB.
759
2d450646 760*** Changes in GDB 7.6
80c8d323 761
59ea5688
MM
762* Target record has been renamed to record-full.
763 Record/replay is now enabled with the "record full" command.
764 This also affects settings that are associated with full record/replay
765 that have been moved from "set/show record" to "set/show record full":
766
767set|show record full insn-number-max
768set|show record full stop-at-limit
769set|show record full memory-query
770
771* A new record target "record-btrace" has been added. The new target
772 uses hardware support to record the control-flow of a process. It
773 does not support replaying the execution, but it implements the
774 below new commands for investigating the recorded execution log.
775 This new recording method can be enabled using:
776
777record btrace
778
779 The "record-btrace" target is only available on Intel Atom processors
780 and requires a Linux kernel 2.6.32 or later.
781
782* Two new commands have been added for record/replay to give information
783 about the recorded execution without having to replay the execution.
784 The commands are only supported by "record btrace".
785
786record instruction-history prints the execution history at
787 instruction granularity
788
789record function-call-history prints the execution history at
790 function granularity
791
543bf33d
AT
792* New native configurations
793
51d66578 794ARM AArch64 GNU/Linux aarch64*-*-linux-gnu
543bf33d 795FreeBSD/powerpc powerpc*-*-freebsd
4f4352f7 796x86_64/Cygwin x86_64-*-cygwin*
ea5f3910 797Tilera TILE-Gx GNU/Linux tilegx*-*-linux-gnu
543bf33d 798
249729c4
JB
799* New targets
800
51d66578
MS
801ARM AArch64 aarch64*-*-elf
802ARM AArch64 GNU/Linux aarch64*-*-linux
249729c4 803Lynx 178 PowerPC powerpc-*-lynx*178
3c095f49 804x86_64/Cygwin x86_64-*-cygwin*
ea5f3910 805Tilera TILE-Gx GNU/Linux tilegx*-*-linux
249729c4 806
e64e0392
DE
807* If the configured location of system.gdbinit file (as given by the
808 --with-system-gdbinit option at configure time) is in the
809 data-directory (as specified by --with-gdb-datadir at configure
810 time) or in one of its subdirectories, then GDB will look for the
811 system-wide init file in the directory specified by the
812 --data-directory command-line option.
813
07540c15
DE
814* New command line options:
815
816-nh Disables auto-loading of ~/.gdbinit, but still executes all the
817 other initialization files, unlike -nx which disables all of them.
818
e93a8774
TT
819* Removed command line options
820
821-epoch This was used by the gdb mode in Epoch, an ancient fork of
822 Emacs.
823
53342f27
TT
824* The 'ptype' and 'whatis' commands now accept an argument to control
825 type formatting.
826
451b7c33
TT
827* 'info proc' now works on some core files.
828
a72c3253
DE
829* Python scripting
830
831 ** Vectors can be created with gdb.Type.vector.
832
d7de8e3c
TT
833 ** Python's atexit.register now works in GDB.
834
18a9fc12
TT
835 ** Types can be pretty-printed via a Python API.
836
9a27f2c6
PK
837 ** Python 3 is now supported (in addition to Python 2.4 or later)
838
bea883fd
SCR
839 ** New class gdb.Architecture exposes GDB's internal representation
840 of architecture in the Python API.
841
842 ** New method Frame.architecture returns the gdb.Architecture object
843 corresponding to the frame's architecture.
844
a72c3253
DE
845* New Python-based convenience functions:
846
847 ** $_memeq(buf1, buf2, length)
848 ** $_streq(str1, str2)
849 ** $_strlen(str)
850 ** $_regex(str, regex)
851
f3c8a52a
JK
852* The 'cd' command now defaults to using '~' (the home directory) if not
853 given an argument.
854
1605ef26
TT
855* The C++ ABI now defaults to the GNU v3 ABI. This has been the
856 default for GCC since November 2000.
857
504b36fd
YQ
858* The command 'forward-search' can now be abbreviated as 'fo'.
859
f2a8bc8a
YQ
860* The command 'info tracepoints' can now display 'installed on target'
861 or 'not installed on target' for each non-pending location of tracepoint.
862
23a80689
JB
863* New configure options
864
865--enable-libmcheck/--disable-libmcheck
866 By default, development versions are built with -lmcheck on hosts
867 that support it, in order to help track memory corruption issues.
868 Release versions, on the other hand, are built without -lmcheck
869 by default. The --enable-libmcheck/--disable-libmcheck configure
870 options allow the user to override that default.
393fd4c3
YQ
871--with-babeltrace/--with-babeltrace-include/--with-babeltrace-lib
872 This configure option allows the user to build GDB with
873 libbabeltrace using which GDB can read Common Trace Format data.
23a80689 874
d6b28940
TT
875* New commands (for set/show, see "New options" below)
876
ab04a2af
TT
877catch signal
878 Catch signals. This is similar to "handle", but allows commands and
879 conditions to be attached.
880
d6b28940
TT
881maint info bfds
882 List the BFDs known to GDB.
883
8315665e
YPK
884python-interactive [command]
885pi [command]
886 Start a Python interactive prompt, or evaluate the optional command
887 and print the result of expressions.
888
889py [command]
890 "py" is a new alias for "python".
891
18a9fc12
TT
892enable type-printer [name]...
893disable type-printer [name]...
894 Enable or disable type printers.
895
aa9259cc
TS
896* Removed commands
897
898 ** For the Renesas Super-H architecture, the "regs" command has been removed
899 (has been deprecated in GDB 7.5), and "info all-registers" should be used
900 instead.
901
53342f27
TT
902* New options
903
904set print type methods (on|off)
905show print type methods
906 Control whether method declarations are displayed by "ptype".
907 The default is to show them.
908
909set print type typedefs (on|off)
910show print type typedefs
911 Control whether typedef definitions are displayed by "ptype".
912 The default is to show them.
913
1b56eb55
JK
914set filename-display basename|relative|absolute
915show filename-display
916 Control the way in which filenames is displayed.
917 The default is "relative", which preserves previous behavior.
918
e9f1758d
PA
919set trace-buffer-size
920show trace-buffer-size
921 Request target to change the size of trace buffer.
922
a46c1e42
PA
923set remote trace-buffer-size-packet auto|on|off
924show remote trace-buffer-size-packet
925 Control the use of the remote protocol `QTBuffer:size' packet.
926
be9a8770
PA
927set debug aarch64
928show debug aarch64
929 Control display of debugging messages related to ARM AArch64.
930 The default is off.
931
932set debug coff-pe-read
933show debug coff-pe-read
934 Control display of debugging messages related to reading of COFF/PE
935 exported symbols.
936
937set debug mach-o
938show debug mach-o
939 Control display of debugging messages related to Mach-O symbols
940 processing.
941
942set debug notification
943show debug notification
944 Control display of debugging info for async remote notification.
945
5b9afe8a
YQ
946* MI changes
947
948 ** Command parameter changes are now notified using new async record
949 "=cmd-param-changed".
201b4506
YQ
950 ** Trace frame changes caused by command "tfind" are now notified using
951 new async record "=traceframe-changed".
134a2066
YQ
952 ** The creation, deletion and modification of trace state variables
953 are now notified using new async records "=tsv-created",
954 "=tsv-deleted" and "=tsv-modified".
82a90ccf
YQ
955 ** The start and stop of process record are now notified using new
956 async record "=record-started" and "=record-stopped".
8de0566d
YQ
957 ** Memory changes are now notified using new async record
958 "=memory-changed".
ed8a1c2d 959 ** The data-disassemble command response will include a "fullname" field
ec83d211 960 containing the absolute file name when source has been requested.
62747a60
TT
961 ** New optional parameter COUNT added to the "-data-write-memory-bytes"
962 command, to allow pattern filling of memory areas.
3fa7bf06
MG
963 ** New commands "-catch-load"/"-catch-unload" added for intercepting
964 library load/unload events.
f2a8bc8a
YQ
965 ** The response to breakpoint commands and breakpoint async records
966 includes an "installed" field containing a boolean state about each
967 non-pending tracepoint location is whether installed on target or not.
f5911ea1
HAQ
968 ** Output of the "-trace-status" command includes a "trace-file" field
969 containing the name of the trace file being examined. This field is
970 optional, and only present when examining a trace file.
ec83d211
JK
971 ** The "fullname" field is now always present along with the "file" field,
972 even if the file cannot be found by GDB.
5b9afe8a 973
608e2dbb
TT
974* GDB now supports the "mini debuginfo" section, .gnu_debugdata.
975 You must have the LZMA library available when configuring GDB for this
976 feature to be enabled. For more information, see:
977 http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features/MiniDebugInfo
978
f6f899bf
HAQ
979* New remote packets
980
981QTBuffer:size
982 Set the size of trace buffer. The remote stub reports support for this
983 packet to gdb's qSupported query.
984
10782d74
MM
985Qbtrace:bts
986 Enable Branch Trace Store (BTS)-based branch tracing for the current
987 thread. The remote stub reports support for this packet to gdb's
988 qSupported query.
989
990Qbtrace:off
991 Disable branch tracing for the current thread. The remote stub reports
992 support for this packet to gdb's qSupported query.
993
994qXfer:btrace:read
995 Read the traced branches for the current thread. The remote stub
996 reports support for this packet to gdb's qSupported query.
997
80c8d323 998*** Changes in GDB 7.5
d6e00af6 999
1b3371b1
L
1000* GDB now supports x32 ABI. Visit <http://sites.google.com/site/x32abi/>
1001 for more x32 ABI info.
1002
d0e64392
MR
1003* GDB now supports access to MIPS DSP registers on Linux targets.
1004
4cc0665f
MR
1005* GDB now supports debugging microMIPS binaries.
1006
85d4a676
SS
1007* The "info os" command on GNU/Linux can now display information on
1008 several new classes of objects managed by the operating system:
1009 "info os procgroups" lists process groups
1010 "info os files" lists file descriptors
1011 "info os sockets" lists internet-domain sockets
1012 "info os shm" lists shared-memory regions
1013 "info os semaphores" lists semaphores
1014 "info os msg" lists message queues
1015 "info os modules" lists loaded kernel modules
1016
55aa24fb
SDJ
1017* GDB now has support for SDT (Static Defined Tracing) probes. Currently,
1018 the only implemented backend is for SystemTap probes (<sys/sdt.h>). You
1019 can set a breakpoint using the new "-probe, "-pstap" or "-probe-stap"
1020 options and inspect the probe arguments using the new $_probe_arg family
1021 of convenience variables. You can obtain more information about SystemTap
1022 in <http://sourceware.org/systemtap/>.
1023
72508ac0
PO
1024* GDB now supports reversible debugging on ARM, it allows you to
1025 debug basic ARM and THUMB instructions, and provides
1026 record/replay support.
1027
16899756
DE
1028* The option "symbol-reloading" has been deleted as it is no longer used.
1029
4795f398
DE
1030* Python scripting
1031
7d74f244
DE
1032 ** GDB commands implemented in Python can now be put in command class
1033 "gdb.COMMAND_USER".
1034
4795f398
DE
1035 ** The "maint set python print-stack on|off" is now deleted.
1036
50897289
TT
1037 ** A new class, gdb.printing.FlagEnumerationPrinter, can be used to
1038 apply "flag enum"-style pretty-printing to any enum.
1039
64e7d9dd
TT
1040 ** gdb.lookup_symbol can now work when there is no current frame.
1041
1042 ** gdb.Symbol now has a 'line' attribute, holding the line number in
1043 the source at which the symbol was defined.
1044
f0823d2c
TT
1045 ** gdb.Symbol now has the new attribute 'needs_frame' and the new
1046 method 'value'. The former indicates whether the symbol needs a
1047 frame in order to compute its value, and the latter computes the
1048 symbol's value.
1049
7b282c5a
SCR
1050 ** A new method 'referenced_value' on gdb.Value objects which can
1051 dereference pointer as well as C++ reference values.
1052
a20ee7a4
SCR
1053 ** New methods 'global_block' and 'static_block' on gdb.Symtab objects
1054 which return the global and static blocks (as gdb.Block objects),
1055 of the underlying symbol table, respectively.
1056
7efc75aa
SCR
1057 ** New function gdb.find_pc_line which returns the gdb.Symtab_and_line
1058 object associated with a PC value.
1059
ee0bf529
SCR
1060 ** gdb.Symtab_and_line has new attribute 'last' which holds the end
1061 of the address range occupied by code for the current source line.
1062
a766d390
DE
1063* Go language support.
1064 GDB now supports debugging programs written in the Go programming
1065 language.
1066
e0f9f062
DE
1067* GDBserver now supports stdio connections.
1068 E.g. (gdb) target remote | ssh myhost gdbserver - hello
1069
217bff3e
JK
1070* The binary "gdbtui" can no longer be built or installed.
1071 Use "gdb -tui" instead.
1072
cafec441
TT
1073* GDB will now print "flag" enums specially. A flag enum is one where
1074 all the enumerator values have no bits in common when pairwise
1075 "and"ed. When printing a value whose type is a flag enum, GDB will
1076 show all the constants, e.g., for enum E { ONE = 1, TWO = 2}:
1077 (gdb) print (enum E) 3
1078 $1 = (ONE | TWO)
1079
4aac40c8
TT
1080* The filename part of a linespec will now match trailing components
1081 of a source file name. For example, "break gcc/expr.c:1000" will
1082 now set a breakpoint in build/gcc/expr.c, but not
1083 build/libcpp/expr.c.
1084
d99bd577
UW
1085* The "info proc" and "generate-core-file" commands will now also
1086 work on remote targets connected to GDBserver on Linux.
1087
53fe1783
GB
1088* The command "info catch" has been removed. It has been disabled
1089 since December 2007.
1090
e41eec66
JB
1091* The "catch exception" and "catch assert" commands now accept
1092 a condition at the end of the command, much like the "break"
1093 command does. For instance:
1094
1095 (gdb) catch exception Constraint_Error if Barrier = True
1096
1097 Previously, it was possible to add a condition to such catchpoints,
1098 but it had to be done as a second step, after the catchpoint had been
1099 created, using the "condition" command.
1100
5808517f
YQ
1101* The "info static-tracepoint-marker" command will now also work on
1102 native Linux targets with in-process agent.
1103
481860b3
GB
1104* GDB can now set breakpoints on inlined functions.
1105
1106* The .gdb_index section has been updated to include symbols for
1107 inlined functions. GDB will ignore older .gdb_index sections by
1108 default, which could cause symbol files to be loaded more slowly
e615022a
DE
1109 until their .gdb_index sections can be recreated. The new command
1110 "set use-deprecated-index-sections on" will cause GDB to use any older
1111 .gdb_index sections it finds. This will restore performance, but the
1112 ability to set breakpoints on inlined functions will be lost in symbol
1113 files with older .gdb_index sections.
481860b3 1114
156942c7
DE
1115 The .gdb_index section has also been updated to record more information
1116 about each symbol. This speeds up the "info variables", "info functions"
1117 and "info types" commands when used with programs having the .gdb_index
1118 section, as well as speeding up debugging with shared libraries using
1119 the .gdb_index section.
1120
927fbba6
JB
1121* Ada support for GDB/MI Variable Objects has been added.
1122
20388dd6
YQ
1123* GDB can now support 'breakpoint always-inserted mode' in 'record'
1124 target.
1125
f3e0e960
SS
1126* MI changes
1127
1128 ** New command -info-os is the MI equivalent of "info os".
1129
37ce89eb
SS
1130 ** Output logs ("set logging" and related) now include MI output.
1131
edcc5120
TT
1132* New commands
1133
e615022a
DE
1134 ** "set use-deprecated-index-sections on|off"
1135 "show use-deprecated-index-sections on|off"
1136 Controls the use of deprecated .gdb_index sections.
1137
edcc5120
TT
1138 ** "catch load" and "catch unload" can be used to stop when a shared
1139 library is loaded or unloaded, respectively.
1140
816338b5
SS
1141 ** "enable count" can be used to auto-disable a breakpoint after
1142 several hits.
1143
57651221 1144 ** "info vtbl" can be used to show the virtual method tables for
c4aeac85
TT
1145 C++ and Java objects.
1146
06fc020f 1147 ** "explore" and its sub commands "explore value" and "explore type"
6ea71545 1148 can be used to recursively explore values and types of
06fc020f
SCR
1149 expressions. These commands are available only if GDB is
1150 configured with '--with-python'.
1151
bf88dd68
JK
1152 ** "info auto-load" shows status of all kinds of auto-loaded files,
1153 "info auto-load gdb-scripts" shows status of auto-loading GDB canned
1154 sequences of commands files, "info auto-load python-scripts"
1155 shows status of auto-loading Python script files,
1156 "info auto-load local-gdbinit" shows status of loading init file
1157 (.gdbinit) from current directory and "info auto-load libthread-db" shows
1158 status of inferior specific thread debugging shared library loading.
1159
1160 ** "info auto-load-scripts", "set auto-load-scripts on|off"
1161 and "show auto-load-scripts" commands have been deprecated, use their
1162 "info auto-load python-scripts", "set auto-load python-scripts on|off"
1163 and "show auto-load python-scripts" counterparts instead.
1164
e7e0cddf
SS
1165 ** "dprintf location,format,args..." creates a dynamic printf, which
1166 is basically a breakpoint that does a printf and immediately
1167 resumes your program's execution, so it is like a printf that you
1168 can insert dynamically at runtime instead of at compiletime.
1169
9cb709b6
TT
1170 ** "set print symbol"
1171 "show print symbol"
1172 Controls whether GDB attempts to display the symbol, if any,
1173 corresponding to addresses it prints. This defaults to "on", but
1174 you can set it to "off" to restore GDB's previous behavior.
1175
2d4c29c5
TS
1176* Deprecated commands
1177
1178 ** For the Renesas Super-H architecture, the "regs" command has been
1179 deprecated, and "info all-registers" should be used instead.
1180
a58b110a
KB
1181* New targets
1182
1183Renesas RL78 rl78-*-elf
60c9a3c0 1184HP OpenVMS ia64 ia64-hp-openvms*
a58b110a 1185
72895ff6
LM
1186* GDBserver supports evaluation of breakpoint conditions. When
1187 support is advertised by GDBserver, GDB may be told to send the
1188 breakpoint conditions in bytecode form to GDBserver. GDBserver
1189 will only report the breakpoint trigger to GDB when its condition
1190 evaluates to true.
1191
1192* New options
1193
4cc0665f
MR
1194set mips compression
1195show mips compression
1196 Select the compressed ISA encoding used in functions that have no symbol
1197 information available. The encoding can be set to either of:
1198 mips16
1199 micromips
1200 and is updated automatically from ELF file flags if available.
1201
72895ff6
LM
1202set breakpoint condition-evaluation
1203show breakpoint condition-evaluation
cf65ecd3 1204 Control whether breakpoint conditions are evaluated by GDB ("host") or by
5b43fab2
JK
1205 GDBserver ("target"). Default option "auto" chooses the most efficient
1206 available mode.
72895ff6
LM
1207 This option can improve debugger efficiency depending on the speed of the
1208 target.
1209
bf88dd68
JK
1210set auto-load off
1211 Disable auto-loading globally.
1212
1213show auto-load
1214 Show auto-loading setting of all kinds of auto-loaded files.
1215
1216set auto-load gdb-scripts on|off
1217show auto-load gdb-scripts
1218 Control auto-loading of GDB canned sequences of commands files.
1219
1220set auto-load python-scripts on|off
1221show auto-load python-scripts
1222 Control auto-loading of Python script files.
1223
1224set auto-load local-gdbinit on|off
1225show auto-load local-gdbinit
1226 Control loading of init file (.gdbinit) from current directory.
1227
1228set auto-load libthread-db on|off
1229show auto-load libthread-db
1230 Control auto-loading of inferior specific thread debugging shared library.
1231
7349ff92 1232set auto-load scripts-directory <dir1>[:<dir2>...]
9cc815f5 1233show auto-load scripts-directory
7349ff92
JK
1234 Set a list of directories from which to load auto-loaded scripts.
1235 Automatically loaded Python scripts and GDB scripts are located in one
1236 of the directories listed by this option.
1237 The delimiter (':' above) may differ according to the host platform.
1238
bccbefd2
JK
1239set auto-load safe-path <dir1>[:<dir2>...]
1240show auto-load safe-path
1241 Set a list of directories from which it is safe to auto-load files.
1242 The delimiter (':' above) may differ according to the host platform.
1243
4dc84fd1
JK
1244set debug auto-load on|off
1245show debug auto-load
1246 Control display of debugging info for auto-loading the files above.
1247
d3ce09f5 1248set dprintf-style gdb|call|agent
e7e0cddf 1249show dprintf-style
d3ce09f5
SS
1250 Control the way in which a dynamic printf is performed; "gdb"
1251 requests a GDB printf command, while "call" causes dprintf to call a
1252 function in the inferior. "agent" requests that the target agent
1253 (such as GDBserver) do the printing.
e7e0cddf
SS
1254
1255set dprintf-function <expr>
1256show dprintf-function
1257set dprintf-channel <expr>
1258show dprintf-channel
1259 Set the function and optional first argument to the call when using
1260 the "call" style of dynamic printf.
1261
d3ce09f5
SS
1262set disconnected-dprintf on|off
1263show disconnected-dprintf
1264 Control whether agent-style dynamic printfs continue to be in effect
1265 after GDB disconnects.
1266
6dea1fbd
JK
1267* New configure options
1268
7349ff92
JK
1269--with-auto-load-dir
1270 Configure default value for the 'set auto-load scripts-directory'
1564a261
JK
1271 setting above. It defaults to '$debugdir:$datadir/auto-load',
1272 $debugdir representing global debugging info directories (available
1273 via 'show debug-file-directory') and $datadir representing GDB's data
1274 directory (available via 'show data-directory').
7349ff92 1275
6dea1fbd
JK
1276--with-auto-load-safe-path
1277 Configure default value for the 'set auto-load safe-path' setting
7349ff92 1278 above. It defaults to the --with-auto-load-dir setting.
6dea1fbd
JK
1279
1280--without-auto-load-safe-path
1281 Set 'set auto-load safe-path' to '/', effectively disabling this
1282 security feature.
1283
72895ff6
LM
1284* New remote packets
1285
74c48cbb
PA
1286z0/z1 conditional breakpoints extension
1287
72895ff6
LM
1288 The z0/z1 breakpoint insertion packets have been extended to carry
1289 a list of conditional expressions over to the remote stub depending on the
1290 condition evaluation mode. The use of this extension can be controlled
1291 via the "set remote conditional-breakpoints-packet" command.
1292
9b224c5e
PA
1293QProgramSignals:
1294
1295 Specify the signals which the remote stub may pass to the debugged
1296 program without GDB involvement.
1297
8320cc4f
JK
1298* New command line options
1299
1300--init-command=FILE, -ix Like --command, -x but execute it
1301 before loading inferior.
1302--init-eval-command=COMMAND, -iex Like --eval-command=COMMAND, -ex but
1303 execute it before loading inferior.
1304
8837a20f
JB
1305*** Changes in GDB 7.4
1306
f8eba3c6
TT
1307* GDB now handles ambiguous linespecs more consistently; the existing
1308 FILE:LINE support has been expanded to other types of linespecs. A
1309 breakpoint will now be set on all matching locations in all
1310 inferiors, and locations will be added or removed according to
1311 inferior changes.
1312
1bfeeb0f
JL
1313* GDB now allows you to skip uninteresting functions and files when
1314 stepping with the "skip function" and "skip file" commands.
1315
480a3f21
PW
1316* GDB has two new commands: "set remote hardware-watchpoint-length-limit"
1317 and "show remote hardware-watchpoint-length-limit". These allows to
1318 set or show the maximum length limit (in bytes) of a remote
1319 target hardware watchpoint.
1320
1321 This allows e.g. to use "unlimited" hardware watchpoints with the
1322 gdbserver integrated in Valgrind version >= 3.7.0. Such Valgrind
1323 watchpoints are slower than real hardware watchpoints but are
1324 significantly faster than gdb software watchpoints.
1325
3a7bf607
PM
1326* Python scripting
1327
32d1c362 1328 ** The register_pretty_printer function in module gdb.printing now takes
7d0aff21 1329 an optional `replace' argument. If True, the new printer replaces any
32d1c362
DE
1330 existing one.
1331
3a7bf607 1332 ** The "maint set python print-stack on|off" command has been
4795f398
DE
1333 deprecated and will be deleted in GDB 7.5.
1334 A new command: "set python print-stack none|full|message" has
1335 replaced it. Additionally, the default for "print-stack" is
1336 now "message", which just prints the error message without
1337 the stack trace.
3a7bf607 1338
baacfb07 1339 ** A prompt substitution hook (prompt_hook) is now available to the
3a7bf607 1340 Python API.
713389e0 1341
fa3a4f15
PM
1342 ** A new Python module, gdb.prompt has been added to the GDB Python
1343 modules library. This module provides functionality for
baacfb07 1344 escape sequences in prompts (used by set/show
fa3a4f15
PM
1345 extended-prompt). These escape sequences are replaced by their
1346 corresponding value.
1347
5e239b84
PM
1348 ** Python commands and convenience-functions located in
1349 'data-directory'/python/gdb/command and
1350 'data-directory'/python/gdb/function are now automatically loaded
1351 on GDB start-up.
1352
9df2fbc4
PM
1353 ** Blocks now provide four new attributes. global_block and
1354 static_block will return the global and static blocks
1355 respectively. is_static and is_global are boolean attributes
1356 that indicate if the block is one of those two types.
1357
457e09f0
DE
1358 ** Symbols now provide the "type" attribute, the type of the symbol.
1359
6839b47f
KP
1360 ** The "gdb.breakpoint" function has been deprecated in favor of
1361 "gdb.breakpoints".
1362
cc72b2a2
KP
1363 ** A new class "gdb.FinishBreakpoint" is provided to catch the return
1364 of a function. This class is based on the "finish" command
1365 available in the CLI.
1366
84ad80e6
PK
1367 ** Type objects for struct and union types now allow access to
1368 the fields using standard Python dictionary (mapping) methods.
1369 For example, "some_type['myfield']" now works, as does
1370 "some_type.items()".
1371
20c168b5
KP
1372 ** A new event "gdb.new_objfile" has been added, triggered by loading a
1373 new object file.
1374
03c3051a
PK
1375 ** A new function, "deep_items" has been added to the gdb.types
1376 module in the GDB Python modules library. This function returns
1377 an iterator over the fields of a struct or union type. Unlike
1378 the standard Python "iteritems" method, it will recursively traverse
1379 any anonymous fields.
1380
7376e450
TT
1381* MI changes
1382
1383 ** "*stopped" events can report several new "reason"s, such as
1384 "solib-event".
1385
1386 ** Breakpoint changes are now notified using new async records, like
1387 "=breakpoint-modified".
1388
1389 ** New command -ada-task-info.
1390
98a5dd13
DE
1391* libthread-db-search-path now supports two special values: $sdir and $pdir.
1392 $sdir specifies the default system locations of shared libraries.
1393 $pdir specifies the directory where the libpthread used by the application
1394 lives.
1395
1396 GDB no longer looks in $sdir and $pdir after it has searched the directories
1397 mentioned in libthread-db-search-path. If you want to search those
1398 directories, they must be specified in libthread-db-search-path.
1399 The default value of libthread-db-search-path on GNU/Linux and Solaris
1400 systems is now "$sdir:$pdir".
1401
1402 $pdir is not supported by gdbserver, it is currently ignored.
1403 $sdir is supported by gdbserver.
1404
478aac75
DE
1405* New configure option --with-iconv-bin.
1406 When using the internationalization support like the one in the GNU C
1407 library, GDB will invoke the "iconv" program to get a list of supported
1408 character sets. If this program lives in a non-standard location, one can
1409 use this option to specify where to find it.
1410
9c06b0b4
TJB
1411* When natively debugging programs on PowerPC BookE processors running
1412 a Linux kernel version 2.6.34 or later, GDB supports masked hardware
1413 watchpoints, which specify a mask in addition to an address to watch.
1414 The mask specifies that some bits of an address (the bits which are
1415 reset in the mask) should be ignored when matching the address accessed
1416 by the inferior against the watchpoint address. See the "PowerPC Embedded"
1417 section in the user manual for more details.
1418
03f2bd59
JK
1419* The new option --once causes GDBserver to stop listening for connections once
1420 the first connection is made. The listening port used by GDBserver will
1421 become available after that.
1422
71eba9c2 1423* New commands "info macros" and "alias" have been added.
edc84990 1424
2bda9cc5
JK
1425* New function parameters suffix @entry specifies value of function parameter
1426 at the time the function got called. Entry values are available only since
1427 gcc version 4.7.
1428
ed59ded5
DE
1429* New commands
1430
1431!SHELL COMMAND
1432 "!" is now an alias of the "shell" command.
1433 Note that no space is needed between "!" and SHELL COMMAND.
1434
9c06b0b4
TJB
1435* Changed commands
1436
1437watch EXPRESSION mask MASK_VALUE
1438 The watch command now supports the mask argument which allows creation
1439 of masked watchpoints, if the current architecture supports this feature.
1440
dbaefcf7
DE
1441info auto-load-scripts [REGEXP]
1442 This command was formerly named "maintenance print section-scripts".
1443 It is now generally useful and is no longer a maintenance-only command.
1444
71eba9c2 1445info macro [-all] [--] MACRO
1446 The info macro command has new options `-all' and `--'. The first for
1447 printing all definitions of a macro. The second for explicitly specifying
1448 the end of arguments and the beginning of the macro name in case the macro
1449 name starts with a hyphen.
1450
3065dfb6
SS
1451collect[/s] EXPRESSIONS
1452 The tracepoint collect command now takes an optional modifier "/s"
1453 that directs it to dereference pointer-to-character types and
1454 collect the bytes of memory up to a zero byte. The behavior is
1455 similar to what you see when you use the regular print command on a
1456 string. An optional integer following the "/s" sets a bound on the
1457 number of bytes that will be collected.
1458
f196051f
SS
1459tstart [NOTES]
1460 The trace start command now interprets any supplied arguments as a
1461 note to be recorded with the trace run, with an effect similar to
1462 setting the variable trace-notes.
1463
1464tstop [NOTES]
1465 The trace stop command now interprets any arguments as a note to be
1466 mentioned along with the tstatus report that the trace was stopped
1467 with a command. The effect is similar to setting the variable
1468 trace-stop-notes.
1469
d248b706
KY
1470* Tracepoints can now be enabled and disabled at any time after a trace
1471 experiment has been started using the standard "enable" and "disable"
1472 commands. It is now possible to start a trace experiment with no enabled
1473 tracepoints; GDB will display a warning, but will allow the experiment to
1474 begin, assuming that tracepoints will be enabled as needed while the trace
1475 is running.
1476
405f8e94
SS
1477* Fast tracepoints on 32-bit x86-architectures can now be placed at
1478 locations with 4-byte instructions, when they were previously
1479 limited to locations with instructions of 5 bytes or longer.
1480
2bda9cc5
JK
1481* New options
1482
45cfd468
DE
1483set debug dwarf2-read
1484show debug dwarf2-read
1485 Turns on or off display of debugging messages related to reading
1486 DWARF debug info. The default is off.
1487
1488set debug symtab-create
1489show debug symtab-create
1490 Turns on or off display of debugging messages related to symbol table
1491 creation. The default is off.
1492
baacfb07
PM
1493set extended-prompt
1494show extended-prompt
1495 Set the GDB prompt, and allow escape sequences to be inserted to
1496 display miscellaneous information (see 'help set extended-prompt'
1497 for the list of sequences). This prompt (and any information
1498 accessed through the escape sequences) is updated every time the
1499 prompt is displayed.
1500
2bda9cc5
JK
1501set print entry-values (both|compact|default|if-needed|no|only|preferred)
1502show print entry-values
1503 Set printing of frame argument values at function entry. In some cases
1504 GDB can determine the value of function argument which was passed by the
1505 function caller, even if the value was modified inside the called function.
1506
1507set debug entry-values
1508show debug entry-values
1509 Control display of debugging info for determining frame argument values at
1510 function entry and virtual tail call frames.
1511
c011a4f4
DE
1512set basenames-may-differ
1513show basenames-may-differ
1514 Set whether a source file may have multiple base names.
1515 (A "base name" is the name of a file with the directory part removed.
1516 Example: The base name of "/home/user/hello.c" is "hello.c".)
1517 If set, GDB will canonicalize file names (e.g., expand symlinks)
1518 before comparing them. Canonicalization is an expensive operation,
1519 but it allows the same file be known by more than one base name.
1520 If not set (the default), all source files are assumed to have just
1521 one base name, and gdb will do file name comparisons more efficiently.
1522
f196051f
SS
1523set trace-user
1524show trace-user
1525set trace-notes
1526show trace-notes
1527 Set a user name and notes for the current and any future trace runs.
1528 This is useful for long-running and/or disconnected traces, to
1529 inform others (or yourself) as to who is running the trace, supply
1530 contact information, or otherwise explain what is going on.
1531
1532set trace-stop-notes
1533show trace-stop-notes
1534 Set a note attached to the trace run, that is displayed when the
1535 trace has been stopped by a tstop command. This is useful for
1536 instance as an explanation, if you are stopping a trace run that was
1537 started by someone else.
1538
d248b706
KY
1539* New remote packets
1540
1541QTEnable
1542
1543 Dynamically enable a tracepoint in a started trace experiment.
1544
1545QTDisable
1546
1547 Dynamically disable a tracepoint in a started trace experiment.
1548
f196051f
SS
1549QTNotes
1550
1551 Set the user and notes of the trace run.
1552
1553qTP
1554
1555 Query the current status of a tracepoint.
1556
405f8e94
SS
1557qTMinFTPILen
1558
1559 Query the minimum length of instruction at which a fast tracepoint may
1560 be placed.
1561
1a532630
PP
1562* Dcache size (number of lines) and line-size are now runtime-configurable
1563 via "set dcache line" and "set dcache line-size" commands.
1564
11315641
YQ
1565* New targets
1566
1567Texas Instruments TMS320C6x tic6x-*-*
1568
87326c78
DD
1569* New Simulators
1570
1571Renesas RL78 rl78-*-elf
1572
e8d56f18
JB
1573*** Changes in GDB 7.3.1
1574
1575* The build failure for NetBSD and OpenBSD targets have now been fixed.
1576
d6e00af6 1577*** Changes in GDB 7.3
797054e6 1578
60f98dde
MS
1579* GDB has a new command: "thread find [REGEXP]".
1580 It finds the thread id whose name, target id, or thread extra info
1581 matches the given regular expression.
1582
eee5b35e
DD
1583* The "catch syscall" command now works on mips*-linux* targets.
1584
b716877b
AB
1585* The -data-disassemble MI command now supports modes 2 and 3 for
1586 dumping the instruction opcodes.
1587
aae1c79a
DE
1588* New command line options
1589
1590-data-directory DIR Specify DIR as the "data-directory".
1591 This is mostly for testing purposes.
1592
a86caf66
DE
1593* The "maint set python auto-load on|off" command has been renamed to
1594 "set auto-load-scripts on|off".
1595
99e7ae30
DE
1596* GDB has a new command: "set directories".
1597 It is like the "dir" command except that it replaces the
1598 source path list instead of augmenting it.
1599
4694da01
TT
1600* GDB now understands thread names.
1601
1602 On GNU/Linux, "info threads" will display the thread name as set by
1603 prctl or pthread_setname_np.
1604
1605 There is also a new command, "thread name", which can be used to
1606 assign a name internally for GDB to display.
1607
f4b8a18d
KW
1608* OpenCL C
1609 Initial support for the OpenCL C language (http://www.khronos.org/opencl)
1610 has been integrated into GDB.
1611
585d1eb8
PM
1612* Python scripting
1613
da5d4055
PM
1614 ** The function gdb.Write now accepts an optional keyword 'stream'.
1615 This keyword, when provided, will direct the output to either
1616 stdout, stderr, or GDB's logging output.
1617
9a6f1302
PM
1618 ** Parameters can now be be sub-classed in Python, and in particular
1619 you may implement the get_set_doc and get_show_doc functions.
1620 This improves how Parameter set/show documentation is processed
1621 and allows for more dynamic content.
1622
29703da4
PM
1623 ** Symbols, Symbol Table, Symbol Table and Line, Object Files,
1624 Inferior, Inferior Thread, Blocks, and Block Iterator APIs now
1625 have an is_valid method.
1626
350c6c65
PM
1627 ** Breakpoints can now be sub-classed in Python, and in particular
1628 you may implement a 'stop' function that is executed each time
1629 the inferior reaches that breakpoint.
1630
6e6fbe60
DE
1631 ** New function gdb.lookup_global_symbol looks up a global symbol.
1632
585d1eb8
PM
1633 ** GDB values in Python are now callable if the value represents a
1634 function. For example, if 'some_value' represents a function that
1635 takes two integer parameters and returns a value, you can call
1636 that function like so:
1637
1638 result = some_value (10,20)
1639
0e3509db
DE
1640 ** Module gdb.types has been added.
1641 It contains a collection of utilities for working with gdb.Types objects:
1642 get_basic_type, has_field, make_enum_dict.
1643
7b51bc51
DE
1644 ** Module gdb.printing has been added.
1645 It contains utilities for writing and registering pretty-printers.
1646 New classes: PrettyPrinter, SubPrettyPrinter,
1647 RegexpCollectionPrettyPrinter.
1648 New function: register_pretty_printer.
1649
1650 ** New commands "info pretty-printers", "enable pretty-printer" and
1651 "disable pretty-printer" have been added.
1652
99e7ae30
DE
1653 ** gdb.parameter("directories") is now available.
1654
d8e22779
TT
1655 ** New function gdb.newest_frame returns the newest frame in the
1656 selected thread.
1657
4694da01
TT
1658 ** The gdb.InferiorThread class has a new "name" attribute. This
1659 holds the thread's name.
1660
505500db
SW
1661 ** Python Support for Inferior events.
1662 Python scripts can add observers to be notified of events
824446ad 1663 occurring in the process being debugged.
c17a9e46
HZ
1664 The following events are currently supported:
1665 - gdb.events.cont Continue event.
1666 - gdb.events.exited Inferior exited event.
1667 - gdb.events.stop Signal received, and Breakpoint hit events.
1668
def98928
TT
1669* C++ Improvements:
1670
1671 ** GDB now puts template parameters in scope when debugging in an
1672 instantiation. For example, if you have:
1673
1674 template<int X> int func (void) { return X; }
1675
1676 then if you step into func<5>, "print X" will show "5". This
1677 feature requires proper debuginfo support from the compiler; it
1678 was added to GCC 4.5.
1679
66cb8159
TT
1680 ** The motion commands "next", "finish", "until", and "advance" now
1681 work better when exceptions are thrown. In particular, GDB will
1682 no longer lose control of the inferior; instead, the GDB will
1683 stop the inferior at the point at which the exception is caught.
1684 This functionality requires a change in the exception handling
1685 code that was introduced in GCC 4.5.
1686
4aac0db7
UW
1687* GDB now follows GCC's rules on accessing volatile objects when
1688 reading or writing target state during expression evaluation.
1689 One notable difference to prior behavior is that "print x = 0"
1690 no longer generates a read of x; the value of the assignment is
1691 now always taken directly from the value being assigned.
1692
283e6a52
TT
1693* GDB now has some support for using labels in the program's source in
1694 linespecs. For instance, you can use "advance label" to continue
1695 execution to a label.
1696
1697* GDB now has support for reading and writing a new .gdb_index
1698 section. This section holds a fast index of DWARF debugging
1699 information and can be used to greatly speed up GDB startup and
1700 operation. See the documentation for `save gdb-index' for details.
1701
b56df873 1702* The "watch" command now accepts an optional "-location" argument.
14c0d4e1 1703 When used, this causes GDB to watch the memory referred to by the
b56df873
TT
1704 expression. Such a watchpoint is never deleted due to it going out
1705 of scope.
1706
ae53ffa4
PA
1707* GDB now supports thread debugging of core dumps on GNU/Linux.
1708
1709 GDB now activates thread debugging using the libthread_db library
1710 when debugging GNU/Linux core dumps, similarly to when debugging
1711 live processes. As a result, when debugging a core dump file, GDB
1712 is now able to display pthread_t ids of threads. For example, "info
1713 threads" shows the same output as when debugging the process when it
1714 was live. In earlier releases, you'd see something like this:
1715
1716 (gdb) info threads
1717 * 1 LWP 6780 main () at main.c:10
1718
1719 While now you see this:
1720
1721 (gdb) info threads
1722 * 1 Thread 0x7f0f5712a700 (LWP 6780) main () at main.c:10
1723
1724 It is also now possible to inspect TLS variables when debugging core
1725 dumps.
1726
1727 When debugging a core dump generated on a machine other than the one
1728 used to run GDB, you may need to point GDB at the correct
1729 libthread_db library with the "set libthread-db-search-path"
1730 command. See the user manual for more details on this command.
1731
f1310107
TJB
1732* When natively debugging programs on PowerPC BookE processors running
1733 a Linux kernel version 2.6.34 or later, GDB supports ranged breakpoints,
1734 which stop execution of the inferior whenever it executes an instruction
1735 at any address within the specified range. See the "PowerPC Embedded"
1736 section in the user manual for more details.
1737
248c9dbc
JB
1738* New features in the GDB remote stub, GDBserver
1739
1aee7009
JB
1740 ** GDBserver is now supported on PowerPC LynxOS (versions 4.x and 5.x),
1741 and i686 LynxOS (version 5.x).
248c9dbc 1742
eb826dc6
MF
1743 ** GDBserver is now supported on Blackfin Linux.
1744
44603653
JB
1745* New native configurations
1746
1747ia64 HP-UX ia64-*-hpux*
1748
91021223
MF
1749* New targets:
1750
1751Analog Devices, Inc. Blackfin Processor bfin-*
1752
6e1bb179
JB
1753* Ada task switching is now supported on sparc-elf targets when
1754 debugging a program using the Ravenscar Profile. For more information,
1755 see the "Tasking Support when using the Ravenscar Profile" section
1756 in the GDB user manual.
1757
50c97f38
TT
1758* Guile support was removed.
1759
448a92bf
MF
1760* New features in the GNU simulator
1761
1762 ** The --map-info flag lists all known core mappings.
1763
66ee2731
MF
1764 ** CFI flashes may be simulated via the "cfi" device.
1765
76b8507d 1766*** Changes in GDB 7.2
bfbf3774 1767
ba25b921
PA
1768* Shared library support for remote targets by default
1769
1770 When GDB is configured for a generic, non-OS specific target, like
1771 for example, --target=arm-eabi or one of the many *-*-elf targets,
1772 GDB now queries remote stubs for loaded shared libraries using the
1773 `qXfer:libraries:read' packet. Previously, shared library support
1774 was always disabled for such configurations.
1775
4656f5c6
SW
1776* C++ Improvements:
1777
1778 ** Argument Dependent Lookup (ADL)
1779
1780 In C++ ADL lookup directs function search to the namespaces of its
1781 arguments even if the namespace has not been imported.
1782 For example:
1783 namespace A
1784 {
1785 class B { };
1786 void foo (B) { }
1787 }
1788 ...
1789 A::B b
1790 foo(b)
1791 Here the compiler will search for `foo' in the namespace of 'b'
1792 and find A::foo. GDB now supports this. This construct is commonly
1793 used in the Standard Template Library for operators.
1794
1795 ** Improved User Defined Operator Support
1796
1797 In addition to member operators, GDB now supports lookup of operators
1798 defined in a namespace and imported with a `using' directive, operators
1799 defined in the global scope, operators imported implicitly from an
1800 anonymous namespace, and the ADL operators mentioned in the previous
1801 entry.
1802 GDB now also supports proper overload resolution for all the previously
1803 mentioned flavors of operators.
1804
254e6b9e
DE
1805 ** static const class members
1806
1807 Printing of static const class members that are initialized in the
1808 class definition has been fixed.
1809
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PM
1810* Windows Thread Information Block access.
1811
1812 On Windows targets, GDB now supports displaying the Windows Thread
1813 Information Block (TIB) structure. This structure is visible either
1814 by using the new command `info w32 thread-information-block' or, by
1815 dereferencing the new convenience variable named `$_tlb', a
1816 thread-specific pointer to the TIB. This feature is also supported
1817 when remote debugging using GDBserver.
1818
0fb4aa4b
PA
1819* Static tracepoints
1820
1821 Static tracepoints are calls in the user program into a tracing
1822 library. One such library is a port of the LTTng kernel tracer to
1823 userspace --- UST (LTTng Userspace Tracer, http://lttng.org/ust).
1824 When debugging with GDBserver, GDB now supports combining the GDB
1825 tracepoint machinery with such libraries. For example: the user can
1826 use GDB to probe a static tracepoint marker (a call from the user
1827 program into the tracing library) with the new "strace" command (see
1828 "New commands" below). This creates a "static tracepoint" in the
1829 breakpoint list, that can be manipulated with the same feature set
1830 as fast and regular tracepoints. E.g., collect registers, local and
1831 global variables, collect trace state variables, and define
1832 tracepoint conditions. In addition, the user can collect extra
1833 static tracepoint marker specific data, by collecting the new
1834 $_sdata internal variable. When analyzing the trace buffer, you can
1835 inspect $_sdata like any other variable available to GDB. For more
1836 information, see the "Tracepoints" chapter in GDB user manual. New
1837 remote packets have been defined to support static tracepoints, see
1838 the "New remote packets" section below.
1839
ca11e899
SS
1840* Better reconstruction of tracepoints after disconnected tracing
1841
1842 GDB will attempt to download the original source form of tracepoint
1843 definitions when starting a trace run, and then will upload these
1844 upon reconnection to the target, resulting in a more accurate
1845 reconstruction of the tracepoints that are in use on the target.
1846
1847* Observer mode
1848
1849 You can now exercise direct control over the ways that GDB can
1850 affect your program. For instance, you can disallow the setting of
1851 breakpoints, so that the program can run continuously (assuming
1852 non-stop mode). In addition, the "observer" variable is available
1853 to switch all of the different controls; in observer mode, GDB
1854 cannot affect the target's behavior at all, which is useful for
1855 tasks like diagnosing live systems in the field.
1856
1857* The new convenience variable $_thread holds the number of the
1858 current thread.
1859
711e434b
PM
1860* New remote packets
1861
1862qGetTIBAddr
1863
1864 Return the address of the Windows Thread Information Block of a given thread.
1865
dde08ee1
PA
1866qRelocInsn
1867
1868 In response to several of the tracepoint packets, the target may now
1869 also respond with a number of intermediate `qRelocInsn' request
1870 packets before the final result packet, to have GDB handle
1871 relocating an instruction to execute at a different address. This
1872 is particularly useful for stubs that support fast tracepoints. GDB
1873 reports support for this feature in the qSupported packet.
1874
0fb4aa4b
PA
1875qTfSTM, qTsSTM
1876
1877 List static tracepoint markers in the target program.
1878
1879qTSTMat
1880
1881 List static tracepoint markers at a given address in the target
1882 program.
1883
1884qXfer:statictrace:read
1885
1886 Read the static trace data collected (by a `collect $_sdata'
1887 tracepoint action). The remote stub reports support for this packet
1888 to gdb's qSupported query.
1889
ca11e899
SS
1890QAllow
1891
1892 Send the current settings of GDB's permission flags.
1893
1894QTDPsrc
1895
1896 Send part of the source (textual) form of a tracepoint definition,
1897 which includes location, conditional, and action list.
1898
3f7b2faa
DE
1899* The source command now accepts a -s option to force searching for the
1900 script in the source search path even if the script name specifies
1901 a directory.
1902
d337e9f0
PA
1903* New features in the GDB remote stub, GDBserver
1904
0fb4aa4b
PA
1905 - GDBserver now support tracepoints (including fast tracepoints, and
1906 static tracepoints). The feature is currently supported by the
1907 i386-linux and amd64-linux builds. See the "Tracepoints support
1908 in gdbserver" section in the manual for more information.
1909
1910 GDBserver JIT compiles the tracepoint's conditional agent
1911 expression bytecode into native code whenever possible for low
1912 overhead dynamic tracepoints conditionals. For such tracepoints,
1913 an expression that examines program state is evaluated when the
1914 tracepoint is reached, in order to determine whether to capture
1915 trace data. If the condition is simple and false, processing the
1916 tracepoint finishes very quickly and no data is gathered.
1917
1918 GDBserver interfaces with the UST (LTTng Userspace Tracer) library
1919 for static tracepoints support.
d337e9f0 1920
c24d0242
PM
1921 - GDBserver now supports x86_64 Windows 64-bit debugging.
1922
c8d5aac9
L
1923* GDB now sends xmlRegisters= in qSupported packet to indicate that
1924 it understands register description.
1925
7c953934
TT
1926* The --batch flag now disables pagination and queries.
1927
8685c86f
L
1928* X86 general purpose registers
1929
1930 GDB now supports reading/writing byte, word and double-word x86
1931 general purpose registers directly. This means you can use, say,
1932 $ah or $ax to refer, respectively, to the byte register AH and
1933 16-bit word register AX that are actually portions of the 32-bit
1934 register EAX or 64-bit register RAX.
1935
95a42b64 1936* The `commands' command now accepts a range of breakpoints to modify.
86b17b60
PA
1937 A plain `commands' following a command that creates multiple
1938 breakpoints affects all the breakpoints set by that command. This
1939 applies to breakpoints set by `rbreak', and also applies when a
1940 single `break' command creates multiple breakpoints (e.g.,
1941 breakpoints on overloaded c++ functions).
95a42b64 1942
8bd10a10
CM
1943* The `rbreak' command now accepts a filename specification as part of
1944 its argument, limiting the functions selected by the regex to those
1945 in the specified file.
1946
ab38a727
PA
1947* Support for remote debugging Windows and SymbianOS shared libraries
1948 from Unix hosts has been improved. Non Windows GDB builds now can
1949 understand target reported file names that follow MS-DOS based file
1950 system semantics, such as file names that include drive letters and
1951 use the backslash character as directory separator. This makes it
1952 possible to transparently use the "set sysroot" and "set
1953 solib-search-path" on Unix hosts to point as host copies of the
1954 target's shared libraries. See the new command "set
1955 target-file-system-kind" described below, and the "Commands to
1956 specify files" section in the user manual for more information.
1957
6149aea9
PA
1958* New commands
1959
f1421989
HZ
1960eval template, expressions...
1961 Convert the values of one or more expressions under the control
1962 of the string template to a command line, and call it.
1963
ab38a727
PA
1964set target-file-system-kind unix|dos-based|auto
1965show target-file-system-kind
1966 Set or show the assumed file system kind for target reported file
1967 names.
1968
6149aea9
PA
1969save breakpoints <filename>
1970 Save all current breakpoint definitions to a file suitable for use
1971 in a later debugging session. To read the saved breakpoint
1972 definitions, use the `source' command.
1973
1974`save tracepoints' is a new alias for `save-tracepoints'. The latter
1975is now deprecated.
1976
0fb4aa4b
PA
1977info static-tracepoint-markers
1978 Display information about static tracepoint markers in the target.
1979
1980strace FN | FILE:LINE | *ADDR | -m MARKER_ID
1981 Define a static tracepoint by probing a marker at the given
1982 function, line, address, or marker ID.
1983
ca11e899
SS
1984set observer on|off
1985show observer
1986 Enable and disable observer mode.
1987
1988set may-write-registers on|off
1989set may-write-memory on|off
1990set may-insert-breakpoints on|off
1991set may-insert-tracepoints on|off
1992set may-insert-fast-tracepoints on|off
1993set may-interrupt on|off
1994 Set individual permissions for GDB effects on the target. Note that
1995 some of these settings can have undesirable or surprising
1996 consequences, particularly when changed in the middle of a session.
1997 For instance, disabling the writing of memory can prevent
1998 breakpoints from being inserted, cause single-stepping to fail, or
1999 even crash your program, if you disable after breakpoints have been
2000 inserted. However, GDB should not crash.
2001
2002set record memory-query on|off
2003show record memory-query
2004 Control whether to stop the inferior if memory changes caused
2005 by an instruction cannot be recorded.
2006
53a71c06
CR
2007* Changed commands
2008
2009disassemble
2010 The disassemble command now supports "start,+length" form of two arguments.
2011
f3e9a817
PM
2012* Python scripting
2013
9279c692
JB
2014** GDB now provides a new directory location, called the python directory,
2015 where Python scripts written for GDB can be installed. The location
2016 of that directory is <data-directory>/python, where <data-directory>
2017 is the GDB data directory. For more details, see section `Scripting
2018 GDB using Python' in the manual.
2019
adc36818 2020** The GDB Python API now has access to breakpoints, symbols, symbol
595939de
PM
2021 tables, program spaces, inferiors, threads and frame's code blocks.
2022 Additionally, GDB Parameters can now be created from the API, and
2023 manipulated via set/show in the CLI.
f870a310 2024
fa33c3cd 2025** New functions gdb.target_charset, gdb.target_wide_charset,
07ca107c
DE
2026 gdb.progspaces, gdb.current_progspace, and gdb.string_to_argv.
2027
2028** New exception gdb.GdbError.
fa33c3cd
DE
2029
2030** Pretty-printers are now also looked up in the current program space.
f3e9a817 2031
967cf477
DE
2032** Pretty-printers can now be individually enabled and disabled.
2033
8a1ea21f
DE
2034** GDB now looks for names of Python scripts to auto-load in a
2035 special section named `.debug_gdb_scripts', in addition to looking
2036 for a OBJFILE-gdb.py script when OBJFILE is read by the debugger.
2037
a7bdde9e
VP
2038* Tracepoint actions were unified with breakpoint commands. In particular,
2039there are no longer differences in "info break" output for breakpoints and
2040tracepoints and the "commands" command can be used for both tracepoints and
2041regular breakpoints.
2042
05071a4d
PA
2043* New targets
2044
2045ARM Symbian arm*-*-symbianelf*
2046
6aecb9c2
JB
2047* D language support.
2048 GDB now supports debugging programs written in the D programming
2049 language.
2050
431e49aa
TJB
2051* GDB now supports the extended ptrace interface for PowerPC which is
2052 available since Linux kernel version 2.6.34. This automatically enables
2053 any hardware breakpoints and additional hardware watchpoints available in
2054 the processor. The old ptrace interface exposes just one hardware
2055 watchpoint and no hardware breakpoints.
2056
2057* GDB is now able to use the Data Value Compare (DVC) register available on
2058 embedded PowerPC processors to implement in hardware simple watchpoint
2059 conditions of the form:
2060
2061 watch ADDRESS|VARIABLE if ADDRESS|VARIABLE == CONSTANT EXPRESSION
2062
2063 This works in native GDB running on Linux kernels with the extended ptrace
2064 interface mentioned above.
2065
bfbf3774 2066*** Changes in GDB 7.1
abc7453d 2067
4eef138c
TT
2068* C++ Improvements
2069
2070 ** Namespace Support
71dee663
SW
2071
2072 GDB now supports importing of namespaces in C++. This enables the
2073 user to inspect variables from imported namespaces. Support for
2074 namepace aliasing has also been added. So, if a namespace is
2075 aliased in the current scope (e.g. namepace C=A; ) the user can
2076 print variables using the alias (e.g. (gdb) print C::x).
2077
4eef138c
TT
2078 ** Bug Fixes
2079
2080 All known bugs relating to the printing of virtual base class were
2081 fixed. It is now possible to call overloaded static methods using a
2082 qualified name.
2083
2084 ** Cast Operators
2085
2086 The C++ cast operators static_cast<>, dynamic_cast<>, const_cast<>,
2087 and reinterpret_cast<> are now handled by the C++ expression parser.
2088
2d1c1221
ME
2089* New targets
2090
2091Xilinx MicroBlaze microblaze-*-*
34207b9e 2092Renesas RX rx-*-elf
2d1c1221
ME
2093
2094* New Simulators
2095
2096Xilinx MicroBlaze microblaze
34207b9e 2097Renesas RX rx
2d1c1221 2098
6c95b8df
PA
2099* Multi-program debugging.
2100
2101 GDB now has support for multi-program (a.k.a. multi-executable or
2102 multi-exec) debugging. This allows for debugging multiple inferiors
2103 simultaneously each running a different program under the same GDB
2104 session. See "Debugging Multiple Inferiors and Programs" in the
2105 manual for more information. This implied some user visible changes
2106 in the multi-inferior support. For example, "info inferiors" now
2107 lists inferiors that are not running yet or that have exited
2108 already. See also "New commands" and "New options" below.
2109
d5551862
SS
2110* New tracing features
2111
2112 GDB's tracepoint facility now includes several new features:
2113
2114 ** Trace state variables
f61e138d
SS
2115
2116 GDB tracepoints now include support for trace state variables, which
2117 are variables managed by the target agent during a tracing
2118 experiment. They are useful for tracepoints that trigger each
2119 other, so for instance one tracepoint can count hits in a variable,
2120 and then a second tracepoint has a condition that is true when the
2121 count reaches a particular value. Trace state variables share the
2122 $-syntax of GDB convenience variables, and can appear in both
2123 tracepoint actions and condition expressions. Use the "tvariable"
2124 command to create, and "info tvariables" to view; see "Trace State
2125 Variables" in the manual for more detail.
7a697b8d 2126
d5551862 2127 ** Fast tracepoints
7a697b8d
SS
2128
2129 GDB now includes an option for defining fast tracepoints, which
2130 targets may implement more efficiently, such as by installing a jump
2131 into the target agent rather than a trap instruction. The resulting
2132 speedup can be by two orders of magnitude or more, although the
2133 tradeoff is that some program locations on some target architectures
2134 might not allow fast tracepoint installation, for instance if the
2135 instruction to be replaced is shorter than the jump. To request a
2136 fast tracepoint, use the "ftrace" command, with syntax identical to
2137 the regular trace command.
2138
d5551862
SS
2139 ** Disconnected tracing
2140
2141 It is now possible to detach GDB from the target while it is running
2142 a trace experiment, then reconnect later to see how the experiment
2143 is going. In addition, a new variable disconnected-tracing lets you
2144 tell the target agent whether to continue running a trace if the
2145 connection is lost unexpectedly.
2146
00bf0b85
SS
2147 ** Trace files
2148
2149 GDB now has the ability to save the trace buffer into a file, and
2150 then use that file as a target, similarly to you can do with
2151 corefiles. You can select trace frames, print data that was
2152 collected in them, and use tstatus to display the state of the
2153 tracing run at the moment that it was saved. To create a trace
2154 file, use "tsave <filename>", and to use it, do "target tfile
2155 <name>".
4daf5ac0
SS
2156
2157 ** Circular trace buffer
2158
2159 You can ask the target agent to handle the trace buffer as a
2160 circular buffer, discarding the oldest trace frames to make room for
2161 newer ones, by setting circular-trace-buffer to on. This feature may
2162 not be available for all target agents.
2163
21a0512e
PP
2164* Changed commands
2165
2166disassemble
2167 The disassemble command, when invoked with two arguments, now requires
2168 the arguments to be comma-separated.
2169
0fe7935b
DJ
2170info variables
2171 The info variables command now displays variable definitions. Files
2172 which only declare a variable are not shown.
2173
fb2e7cb4
JB
2174source
2175 The source command is now capable of sourcing Python scripts.
2176 This feature is dependent on the debugger being build with Python
2177 support.
2178
2179 Related to this enhancement is also the introduction of a new command
2180 "set script-extension" (see below).
2181
6c95b8df
PA
2182* New commands (for set/show, see "New options" below)
2183
399cd161
MS
2184record save [<FILENAME>]
2185 Save a file (in core file format) containing the process record
2186 execution log for replay debugging at a later time.
2187
2188record restore <FILENAME>
2189 Restore the process record execution log that was saved at an
2190 earlier time, for replay debugging.
2191
6c95b8df
PA
2192add-inferior [-copies <N>] [-exec <FILENAME>]
2193 Add a new inferior.
2194
2195clone-inferior [-copies <N>] [ID]
2196 Make a new inferior ready to execute the same program another
2197 inferior has loaded.
2198
2199remove-inferior ID
2200 Remove an inferior.
2201
2202maint info program-spaces
2203 List the program spaces loaded into GDB.
2204
9a7071a8
JB
2205set remote interrupt-sequence [Ctrl-C | BREAK | BREAK-g]
2206show remote interrupt-sequence
2207 Allow the user to select one of ^C, a BREAK signal or BREAK-g
2208 as the sequence to the remote target in order to interrupt the execution.
2209 Ctrl-C is a default. Some system prefers BREAK which is high level of
2210 serial line for some certain time. Linux kernel prefers BREAK-g, a.k.a
2211 Magic SysRq g. It is BREAK signal and character 'g'.
2212
2213set remote interrupt-on-connect [on | off]
2214show remote interrupt-on-connect
2215 When interrupt-on-connect is ON, gdb sends interrupt-sequence to
2216 remote target when gdb connects to it. This is needed when you debug
2217 Linux kernel.
2218
2219set remotebreak [on | off]
2220show remotebreak
2221Deprecated. Use "set/show remote interrupt-sequence" instead.
2222
f61e138d
SS
2223tvariable $NAME [ = EXP ]
2224 Create or modify a trace state variable.
2225
2226info tvariables
2227 List trace state variables and their values.
2228
2229delete tvariable $NAME ...
2230 Delete one or more trace state variables.
2231
6da95a67
SS
2232teval EXPR, ...
2233 Evaluate the given expressions without collecting anything into the
2234 trace buffer. (Valid in tracepoint actions only.)
2235
7a697b8d
SS
2236ftrace FN / FILE:LINE / *ADDR
2237 Define a fast tracepoint at the given function, line, or address.
2238
b0f02ee9
JK
2239* New expression syntax
2240
2241 GDB now parses the 0b prefix of binary numbers the same way as GCC does.
2242 GDB now parses 0b101010 identically with 42.
2243
6c95b8df
PA
2244* New options
2245
2246set follow-exec-mode new|same
2247show follow-exec-mode
2248 Control whether GDB reuses the same inferior across an exec call or
2249 creates a new one. This is useful to be able to restart the old
2250 executable after the inferior having done an exec call.
2251
236f1d4d
SS
2252set default-collect EXPR, ...
2253show default-collect
2254 Define a list of expressions to be collected at each tracepoint.
2255 This is a useful way to ensure essential items are not overlooked,
2256 such as registers or a critical global variable.
2257
d5551862
SS
2258set disconnected-tracing
2259show disconnected-tracing
2260 If set to 1, the target is instructed to continue tracing if it
2261 loses its connection to GDB. If 0, the target is to stop tracing
2262 upon disconnection.
2263
4daf5ac0
SS
2264set circular-trace-buffer
2265show circular-trace-buffer
2266 If set to on, the target is instructed to use a circular trace buffer
2267 and discard the oldest trace frames instead of stopping the trace due
2268 to a full trace buffer. If set to off, the trace stops when the buffer
2269 fills up. Some targets may not support this.
2270
fb2e7cb4
JB
2271set script-extension off|soft|strict
2272show script-extension
2273 If set to "off", the debugger does not perform any script language
2274 recognition, and all sourced files are assumed to be GDB scripts.
2275 If set to "soft" (the default), files are sourced according to
2276 filename extension, falling back to GDB scripts if the first
2277 evaluation failed.
2278 If set to "strict", files are sourced according to filename extension.
2279
2b71fc8e
JB
2280set ada trust-PAD-over-XVS on|off
2281show ada trust-PAD-over-XVS
2282 If off, activate a workaround against a bug in the debugging information
2283 generated by the compiler for PAD types (see gcc/exp_dbug.ads in
2284 the GCC sources for more information about the GNAT encoding and
2285 PAD types in particular). It is always safe to set this option to
2286 off, but this introduces a slight performance penalty. The default
2287 is on.
2288
de2e5182
TT
2289* Python API Improvements
2290
2291 ** GDB provides the new class gdb.LazyString. This is useful in
2292 some pretty-printing cases. The new method gdb.Value.lazy_string
2293 provides a simple way to create objects of this type.
2294
2295 ** The fields returned by gdb.Type.fields now have an
2296 `is_base_class' attribute.
2297
2298 ** The new method gdb.Type.range returns the range of an array type.
2299
2300 ** The new method gdb.parse_and_eval can be used to parse and
2301 evaluate an expression.
2302
f61e138d
SS
2303* New remote packets
2304
2305QTDV
2306 Define a trace state variable.
2307
2308qTV
2309 Get the current value of a trace state variable.
2310
d5551862
SS
2311QTDisconnected
2312 Set desired tracing behavior upon disconnection.
2313
4daf5ac0
SS
2314QTBuffer:circular
2315 Set the trace buffer to be linear or circular.
2316
d5551862
SS
2317qTfP, qTsP
2318 Get data about the tracepoints currently in use.
2319
2d483d34
MS
2320* Bug fixes
2321
2322Process record now works correctly with hardware watchpoints.
2323
6e0e5977
JB
2324Multiple bug fixes have been made to the mips-irix port, making it
2325much more reliable. In particular:
2326 - Debugging threaded applications is now possible again. Previously,
2327 GDB would hang while starting the program, or while waiting for
2328 the program to stop at a breakpoint.
2329 - Attaching to a running process no longer hangs.
2330 - An error occurring while loading a core file has been fixed.
2331 - Changing the value of the PC register now works again. This fixes
2332 problems observed when using the "jump" command, or when calling
2333 a function from GDB, or even when assigning a new value to $pc.
2334 - With the "finish" and "return" commands, the return value for functions
2335 returning a small array is now correctly printed.
2336 - It is now possible to break on shared library code which gets executed
2337 during a shared library init phase (code executed while executing
2338 their .init section). Previously, the breakpoint would have no effect.
2339 - GDB is now able to backtrace through the signal handler for
2340 non-threaded programs.
2341
93c26624
JK
2342PIE (Position Independent Executable) programs debugging is now supported.
2343This includes debugging execution of PIC (Position Independent Code) shared
2344libraries although for that, it should be possible to run such libraries as an
2345executable program.
2346
abc7453d 2347*** Changes in GDB 7.0
75feb17d 2348
4efc6507
DE
2349* GDB now has an interface for JIT compilation. Applications that
2350dynamically generate code can create symbol files in memory and register
2351them with GDB. For users, the feature should work transparently, and
2352for JIT developers, the interface is documented in the GDB manual in the
2353"JIT Compilation Interface" chapter.
2354
782b2b07
SS
2355* Tracepoints may now be conditional. The syntax is as for
2356breakpoints; either an "if" clause appended to the "trace" command,
2357or the "condition" command is available. GDB sends the condition to
2358the target for evaluation using the same bytecode format as is used
2359for tracepoint actions.
2360
53a71c06
CR
2361* The disassemble command now supports: an optional /r modifier, print the
2362raw instructions in hex as well as in symbolic form, and an optional /m
2363modifier to print mixed source+assembly.
e6158f16 2364
e7a8dbfb
HZ
2365* Process record and replay
2366
2367 In a architecture environment that supports ``process record and
2368 replay'', ``process record and replay'' target can record a log of
2369 the process execution, and replay it with both forward and reverse
2370 execute commands.
2371
64644d9b
MS
2372* Reverse debugging: GDB now has new commands reverse-continue, reverse-
2373step, reverse-next, reverse-finish, reverse-stepi, reverse-nexti, and
2374set execution-direction {forward|reverse}, for targets that support
2375reverse execution.
2376
b9412953
DD
2377* GDB now supports hardware watchpoints on MIPS/Linux systems. This
2378feature is available with a native GDB running on kernel version
23792.6.28 or later.
2380
6c7a06a3
TT
2381* GDB now has support for multi-byte and wide character sets on the
2382target. Strings whose character type is wchar_t, char16_t, or
2383char32_t are now correctly printed. GDB supports wide- and unicode-
2384literals in C, that is, L'x', L"string", u'x', u"string", U'x', and
2385U"string" syntax. And, GDB allows the "%ls" and "%lc" formats in
2386`printf'. This feature requires iconv to work properly; if your
2387system does not have a working iconv, GDB can use GNU libiconv. See
2388the installation instructions for more information.
2389
f1838a98
UW
2390* GDB now supports automatic retrieval of shared library files from
2391remote targets. To use this feature, specify a system root that begins
2392with the `remote:' prefix, either via the `set sysroot' command or via
2393the `--with-sysroot' configure-time option.
2394
55333a84
DE
2395* "info sharedlibrary" now takes an optional regex of libraries to show,
2396and it now reports if a shared library has no debugging information.
2397
7f6a6314
PM
2398* Commands `set debug-file-directory', `set solib-search-path' and `set args'
2399now complete on file names.
2400
65d12d83
TT
2401* When completing in expressions, gdb will attempt to limit
2402completions to allowable structure or union fields, where appropriate.
2403For instance, consider:
2404
2405 # struct example { int f1; double f2; };
2406 # struct example variable;
2407 (gdb) p variable.
2408
2409If the user types TAB at the end of this command line, the available
2410completions will be "f1" and "f2".
2411
edb3359d
DJ
2412* Inlined functions are now supported. They show up in backtraces, and
2413the "step", "next", and "finish" commands handle them automatically.
2414
2fae03e8
TT
2415* GDB now supports the token-splicing (##) and stringification (#)
2416operators when expanding macros. It also supports variable-arity
2417macros.
2418
47a3467a 2419* GDB now supports inspecting extra signal information, exported by
58d6951d
DJ
2420the new $_siginfo convenience variable. The feature is currently
2421implemented on linux ARM, i386 and amd64.
2422
2423* GDB can now display the VFP floating point registers and NEON vector
2424registers on ARM targets. Both ARM GNU/Linux native GDB and gdbserver
2425can provide these registers (requires Linux 2.6.30 or later). Remote
2426and simulator targets may also provide them.
47a3467a 2427
08388c79
DE
2428* New remote packets
2429
2430qSearch:memory:
2431 Search memory for a sequence of bytes.
2432
a6f3e723
SL
2433QStartNoAckMode
2434 Turn off `+'/`-' protocol acknowledgments to permit more efficient
2435 operation over reliable transport links. Use of this packet is
2436 controlled by the `set remote noack-packet' command.
2437
d7713ae0
EZ
2438vKill
2439 Kill the process with the specified process ID. Use this in preference
2440 to `k' when multiprocess protocol extensions are supported.
2441
07e059b5
VP
2442qXfer:osdata:read
2443 Obtains additional operating system information
2444
47a3467a
PA
2445qXfer:siginfo:read
2446qXfer:siginfo:write
2447 Read or write additional signal information.
2448
060871df
PA
2449* Removed remote protocol undocumented extension
2450
2451 An undocumented extension to the remote protocol's `S' stop reply
2452 packet that permited the stub to pass a process id was removed.
2453 Remote servers should use the `T' stop reply packet instead.
2454
c055b101 2455* GDB now supports multiple function calling conventions according to the
a0ef4274 2456DWARF-2 DW_AT_calling_convention function attribute.
c055b101
CV
2457
2458* The SH target utilizes the aforementioned change to distinguish between gcc
a0ef4274
DJ
2459and Renesas calling convention. It also adds the new CLI commands
2460`set/show sh calling-convention'.
c055b101 2461
31fffb02
CS
2462* GDB can now read compressed debug sections, as produced by GNU gold
2463with the --compress-debug-sections=zlib flag.
2464
88d8a8e0
JB
2465* 64-bit core files are now supported on AIX.
2466
7f99b190
JB
2467* Thread switching is now supported on Tru64.
2468
ccd213ac
DJ
2469* Watchpoints can now be set on unreadable memory locations, e.g. addresses
2470which will be allocated using malloc later in program execution.
2471
1fddbabb 2472* The qXfer:libraries:read remote procotol packet now allows passing a
31fffb02 2473list of section offsets.
1fddbabb 2474
a0ef4274
DJ
2475* On GNU/Linux, GDB can now attach to stopped processes. Several race
2476conditions handling signals delivered during attach or thread creation
2477have also been fixed.
2478
bfb8797a 2479* GDB now supports the use of DWARF boolean types for Ada's type Boolean.
158c7665
PH
2480From the user's standpoint, all unqualified instances of True and False
2481are treated as the standard definitions, regardless of context.
bfb8797a 2482
71c25dea
TT
2483* GDB now parses C++ symbol and type names more flexibly. For
2484example, given:
2485
2486 template<typename T> class C { };
2487 C<char const *> c;
2488
2489GDB will now correctly handle all of:
2490
2491 ptype C<char const *>
2492 ptype C<char const*>
2493 ptype C<const char *>
2494 ptype C<const char*>
2495
ccd213ac
DJ
2496* New features in the GDB remote stub, gdbserver
2497
2498 - The "--wrapper" command-line argument tells gdbserver to use a
2499 wrapper program to launch programs for debugging.
2500
7ae0e2a2
UW
2501 - On PowerPC and S/390 targets, it is now possible to use a single
2502 gdbserver executable to debug both 32-bit and 64-bit programs.
2503 (This requires gdbserver itself to be built as a 64-bit executable.)
2504
a6f3e723
SL
2505 - gdbserver uses the new noack protocol mode for TCP connections to
2506 reduce communications latency, if also supported and enabled in GDB.
2507
da8bd9a3
DJ
2508 - Support for the sparc64-linux-gnu target is now included in
2509 gdbserver.
2510
d70e31dd
DE
2511 - The amd64-linux build of gdbserver now supports debugging both
2512 32-bit and 64-bit programs.
2513
2514 - The i386-linux, amd64-linux, and i386-win32 builds of gdbserver
2515 now support hardware watchpoints, and will use them automatically
2516 as appropriate.
2517
d57a3c85
TJB
2518* Python scripting
2519
2520 GDB now has support for scripting using Python. Whether this is
2521 available is determined at configure time.
2522
d8906c6f
TJB
2523 New GDB commands can now be written in Python.
2524
aadc346a
JB
2525* Ada tasking support
2526
2527 Ada tasks can now be inspected in GDB. The following commands have
2528 been introduced:
2529
2530 info tasks
2531 Print the list of Ada tasks.
2532 info task N
2533 Print detailed information about task number N.
2534 task
2535 Print the task number of the current task.
2536 task N
2537 Switch the context of debugging to task number N.
2538
adb483fe
DJ
2539* Support for user-defined prefixed commands. The "define" command can
2540add new commands to existing prefixes, e.g. "target".
2541
2277426b
PA
2542* Multi-inferior, multi-process debugging.
2543
2544 GDB now has generalized support for multi-inferior debugging. See
2545 "Debugging Multiple Inferiors" in the manual for more information.
2546 Although availability still depends on target support, the command
2547 set is more uniform now. The GNU/Linux specific multi-forks support
2548 has been migrated to this new framework. This implied some user
2549 visible changes; see "New commands" and also "Removed commands"
2550 below.
2551
08d16641
PA
2552* Target descriptions can now describe the target OS ABI. See the
2553"Target Description Format" section in the user manual for more
2554information.
2555
e35359c5
UW
2556* Target descriptions can now describe "compatible" architectures
2557to indicate that the target can execute applications for a different
2558architecture in addition to those for the main target architecture.
2559See the "Target Description Format" section in the user manual for
2560more information.
2561
85e747d2
UW
2562* Multi-architecture debugging.
2563
2564 GDB now includes general supports for debugging applications on
2565 hybrid systems that use more than one single processor architecture
2566 at the same time. Each such hybrid architecture still requires
2567 specific support to be added. The only hybrid architecture supported
2568 in this version of GDB is the Cell Broadband Engine.
2569
2570* GDB now supports integrated debugging of Cell/B.E. applications that
2571use both the PPU and SPU architectures. To enable support for hybrid
2572Cell/B.E. debugging, you need to configure GDB to support both the
2573powerpc-linux or powerpc64-linux and the spu-elf targets, using the
2574--enable-targets configure option.
2575
11ade57a
PA
2576* Non-stop mode debugging.
2577
2578 For some targets, GDB now supports an optional mode of operation in
2579 which you can examine stopped threads while other threads continue
2580 to execute freely. This is referred to as non-stop mode, with the
2581 old mode referred to as all-stop mode. See the "Non-Stop Mode"
2582 section in the user manual for more information.
2583
2584 To be able to support remote non-stop debugging, a remote stub needs
2585 to implement the non-stop mode remote protocol extensions, as
2586 described in the "Remote Non-Stop" section of the user manual. The
2587 GDB remote stub, gdbserver, has been adjusted to support these
2588 extensions on linux targets.
2589
d7713ae0 2590* New commands (for set/show, see "New options" below)
75feb17d 2591
a96d9b2e
SDJ
2592catch syscall [NAME(S) | NUMBER(S)]
2593 Catch system calls. Arguments, which should be names of system
2594 calls or their numbers, mean catch only those syscalls. Without
2595 arguments, every syscall will be caught. When the inferior issues
2596 any of the specified syscalls, GDB will stop and announce the system
2597 call, both when it is called and when its call returns. This
2598 feature is currently available with a native GDB running on the
2599 Linux Kernel, under the following architectures: x86, x86_64,
2600 PowerPC and PowerPC64.
2601
08388c79
DE
2602find [/size-char] [/max-count] start-address, end-address|+search-space-size,
2603 val1 [, val2, ...]
2604 Search memory for a sequence of bytes.
2605
d57a3c85
TJB
2606maint set python print-stack
2607maint show python print-stack
2608 Show a stack trace when an error is encountered in a Python script.
2609
2610python [CODE]
2611 Invoke CODE by passing it to the Python interpreter.
2612
d7713ae0
EZ
2613macro define
2614macro list
2615macro undef
2616 These allow macros to be defined, undefined, and listed
2617 interactively.
2618
2619info os processes
2620 Show operating system information about processes.
2621
2277426b
PA
2622info inferiors
2623 List the inferiors currently under GDB's control.
2624
2625inferior NUM
2626 Switch focus to inferior number NUM.
2627
2628detach inferior NUM
2629 Detach from inferior number NUM.
2630
2631kill inferior NUM
2632 Kill inferior number NUM.
2633
d7713ae0
EZ
2634* New options
2635
3285f3fe
UW
2636set spu stop-on-load
2637show spu stop-on-load
2638 Control whether to stop for new SPE threads during Cell/B.E. debugging.
2639
ff1a52c6
UW
2640set spu auto-flush-cache
2641show spu auto-flush-cache
2642 Control whether to automatically flush the software-managed cache
2643 during Cell/B.E. debugging.
2644
d7713ae0
EZ
2645set sh calling-convention
2646show sh calling-convention
2647 Control the calling convention used when calling SH target functions.
2648
e0a3ce09 2649set debug timestamp
75feb17d 2650show debug timestamp
d7713ae0
EZ
2651 Control display of timestamps with GDB debugging output.
2652
2653set disassemble-next-line
2654show disassemble-next-line
2655 Control display of disassembled source lines or instructions when
2656 the debuggee stops.
2657
2658set remote noack-packet
2659show remote noack-packet
2660 Set/show the use of remote protocol QStartNoAckMode packet. See above
2661 under "New remote packets."
2662
2663set remote query-attached-packet
2664show remote query-attached-packet
2665 Control use of remote protocol `qAttached' (query-attached) packet.
2666
2667set remote read-siginfo-object
2668show remote read-siginfo-object
2669 Control use of remote protocol `qXfer:siginfo:read' (read-siginfo-object)
2670 packet.
2671
2672set remote write-siginfo-object
2673show remote write-siginfo-object
2674 Control use of remote protocol `qXfer:siginfo:write' (write-siginfo-object)
2675 packet.
2676
40ab02ce
MS
2677set remote reverse-continue
2678show remote reverse-continue
2679 Control use of remote protocol 'bc' (reverse-continue) packet.
2680
2681set remote reverse-step
2682show remote reverse-step
2683 Control use of remote protocol 'bs' (reverse-step) packet.
2684
d7713ae0
EZ
2685set displaced-stepping
2686show displaced-stepping
2687 Control displaced stepping mode. Displaced stepping is a way to
2688 single-step over breakpoints without removing them from the debuggee.
2689 Also known as "out-of-line single-stepping".
2690
2691set debug displaced
2692show debug displaced
2693 Control display of debugging info for displaced stepping.
2694
2695maint set internal-error
2696maint show internal-error
2697 Control what GDB does when an internal error is detected.
2698
2699maint set internal-warning
2700maint show internal-warning
2701 Control what GDB does when an internal warning is detected.
75feb17d 2702
ccd213ac
DJ
2703set exec-wrapper
2704show exec-wrapper
2705unset exec-wrapper
2706 Use a wrapper program to launch programs for debugging.
fa4727a6 2707
aad4b048
JB
2708set multiple-symbols (all|ask|cancel)
2709show multiple-symbols
2710 The value of this variable can be changed to adjust the debugger behavior
2711 when an expression or a breakpoint location contains an ambiguous symbol
2712 name (an overloaded function name, for instance).
2713
74960c60
VP
2714set breakpoint always-inserted
2715show breakpoint always-inserted
2716 Keep breakpoints always inserted in the target, as opposed to inserting
2717 them when resuming the target, and removing them when the target stops.
2718 This option can improve debugger performance on slow remote targets.
2719
0428b8f5
DJ
2720set arm fallback-mode (arm|thumb|auto)
2721show arm fallback-mode
2722set arm force-mode (arm|thumb|auto)
2723show arm force-mode
2724 These commands control how ARM GDB determines whether instructions
2725 are ARM or Thumb. The default for both settings is auto, which uses
2726 the current CPSR value for instructions without symbols; previous
2727 versions of GDB behaved as if "set arm fallback-mode arm".
2728
10568435
JK
2729set disable-randomization
2730show disable-randomization
2731 Standalone programs run with the virtual address space randomization enabled
2732 by default on some platforms. This option keeps the addresses stable across
2733 multiple debugging sessions.
2734
d7713ae0
EZ
2735set non-stop
2736show non-stop
2737 Control whether other threads are stopped or not when some thread hits
2738 a breakpoint.
2739
b3eb342c 2740set target-async
d7713ae0 2741show target-async
b3eb342c
VP
2742 Requests that asynchronous execution is enabled in the target, if available.
2743 In this case, it's possible to resume target in the background, and interact
2744 with GDB while the target is running. "show target-async" displays the
2745 current state of asynchronous execution of the target.
2746
6c7a06a3
TT
2747set target-wide-charset
2748show target-wide-charset
2749 The target-wide-charset is the name of the character set that GDB
2750 uses when printing characters whose type is wchar_t.
2751
84603566
SL
2752set tcp auto-retry (on|off)
2753show tcp auto-retry
2754set tcp connect-timeout
2755show tcp connect-timeout
2756 These commands allow GDB to retry failed TCP connections to a remote stub
2757 with a specified timeout period; this is useful if the stub is launched
2758 in parallel with GDB but may not be ready to accept connections immediately.
2759
17a37d48
PP
2760set libthread-db-search-path
2761show libthread-db-search-path
2762 Control list of directories which GDB will search for appropriate
2763 libthread_db.
2764
d4db2f36
PA
2765set schedule-multiple (on|off)
2766show schedule-multiple
2767 Allow GDB to resume all threads of all processes or only threads of
2768 the current process.
2769
4e5d721f
DE
2770set stack-cache
2771show stack-cache
2772 Use more aggressive caching for accesses to the stack. This improves
2773 performance of remote debugging (particularly backtraces) without
2774 affecting correctness.
2775
910c5da8
JB
2776set interactive-mode (on|off|auto)
2777show interactive-mode
2778 Control whether GDB runs in interactive mode (on) or not (off).
2779 When in interactive mode, GDB waits for the user to answer all
2780 queries. Otherwise, GDB does not wait and assumes the default
2781 answer. When set to auto (the default), GDB determines which
2782 mode to use based on the stdin settings.
2783
2277426b
PA
2784* Removed commands
2785
2786info forks
2787 For program forks, this is replaced by the new more generic `info
2788 inferiors' command. To list checkpoints, you can still use the
2789 `info checkpoints' command, which was an alias for the `info forks'
2790 command.
2791
2792fork NUM
2793 Replaced by the new `inferior' command. To switch between
2794 checkpoints, you can still use the `restart' command, which was an
2795 alias for the `fork' command.
2796
2797process PID
2798 This is removed, since some targets don't have a notion of
2799 processes. To switch between processes, you can still use the
2800 `inferior' command using GDB's own inferior number.
2801
2802delete fork NUM
2803 For program forks, this is replaced by the new more generic `kill
2804 inferior' command. To delete a checkpoint, you can still use the
2805 `delete checkpoint' command, which was an alias for the `delete
2806 fork' command.
2807
2808detach fork NUM
2809 For program forks, this is replaced by the new more generic `detach
2810 inferior' command. To detach a checkpoint, you can still use the
2811 `detach checkpoint' command, which was an alias for the `detach
2812 fork' command.
2813
a80b95ba
TG
2814* New native configurations
2815
2816x86/x86_64 Darwin i[34567]86-*-darwin*
2817
b8bfd3ed
JB
2818x86_64 MinGW x86_64-*-mingw*
2819
75a2d5e7
TT
2820* New targets
2821
c28c63d8 2822Lattice Mico32 lm32-*
75a2d5e7 2823x86 DICOS i[34567]86-*-dicos*
4c1d2973 2824x86_64 DICOS x86_64-*-dicos*
5f814c3b 2825S+core 3 score-*-*
75a2d5e7 2826
6de3146c
PA
2827* The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports x86 Windows CE
2828 (mingw32ce) debugging.
2829
d5cbbe6e
JB
2830* Removed commands
2831
2832catch load
2833catch unload
2834 These commands were actually not implemented on any target.
2835
75feb17d 2836*** Changes in GDB 6.8
f9ed52be 2837
af5ca30d
NH
2838* New native configurations
2839
2840NetBSD/hppa hppa*-*netbsd*
94a0e877 2841Xtensa GNU/Linux xtensa*-*-linux*
af5ca30d
NH
2842
2843* New targets
2844
2845NetBSD/hppa hppa*-*-netbsd*
94a0e877 2846Xtensa GNU/Lunux xtensa*-*-linux*
af5ca30d 2847
7a404eba
PA
2848* Change in command line behavior -- corefiles vs. process ids.
2849
2850 When the '-p NUMBER' or '--pid NUMBER' options are used, and
2851 attaching to process NUMBER fails, GDB no longer attempts to open a
2852 core file named NUMBER. Attaching to a program using the -c option
2853 is no longer supported. Instead, use the '-p' or '--pid' options.
2854
430ebac9
PA
2855* GDB can now be built as a native debugger for debugging Windows x86
2856(mingw32) Portable Executable (PE) programs.
2857
fe6fbf8b 2858* Pending breakpoints no longer change their number when their address
8d5f9c6f 2859is resolved.
fe6fbf8b
VP
2860
2861* GDB now supports breakpoints with multiple locations,
8d5f9c6f
DJ
2862including breakpoints on C++ constructors, inside C++ templates,
2863and in inlined functions.
fe6fbf8b 2864
10665d76
JB
2865* GDB's ability to debug optimized code has been improved. GDB more
2866accurately identifies function bodies and lexical blocks that occupy
2867more than one contiguous range of addresses.
2868
7cc46491
DJ
2869* Target descriptions can now describe registers for PowerPC.
2870
d71340b8
DJ
2871* The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports the AltiVec and SPE
2872registers on PowerPC targets.
2873
523c4513
DJ
2874* The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports thread debugging on GNU/Linux
2875targets even when the libthread_db library is not available.
2876
a6b151f1
DJ
2877* The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports the new file transfer
2878commands (remote put, remote get, and remote delete).
2879
2d717e4f
DJ
2880* The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports run and attach in
2881extended-remote mode.
2882
24a836bd 2883* hppa*64*-*-hpux11* target broken
d001be7a
DJ
2884The debugger is unable to start a program and fails with the following
2885error: "Error trying to get information about dynamic linker".
2886The gdb-6.7 release is also affected.
24a836bd 2887
d0c678e6
UW
2888* GDB now supports the --enable-targets= configure option to allow
2889building a single GDB executable that supports multiple remote
2890target architectures.
2891
d64a946d
TJB
2892* GDB now supports debugging C and C++ programs which use the
2893Decimal Floating Point extension. In addition, the PowerPC target
2894now has a set of pseudo-registers to inspect decimal float values
2895stored in two consecutive float registers.
2896
ee163bf5
VP
2897* The -break-insert MI command can optionally create pending
2898breakpoints now.
2899
b93b6ca7 2900* Improved support for debugging Ada
d001be7a
DJ
2901Many improvements to the Ada language support have been made. These
2902include:
b93b6ca7
JB
2903 - Better support for Ada2005 interface types
2904 - Improved handling of arrays and slices in general
2905 - Better support for Taft-amendment types
2906 - The '{type} ADDRESS' expression is now allowed on the left hand-side
2907 of an assignment
2908 - Improved command completion in Ada
2909 - Several bug fixes
2910
d001be7a
DJ
2911* GDB on GNU/Linux and HP/UX can now debug through "exec" of a new
2912process.
2913
a6b151f1
DJ
2914* New commands
2915
6d53d0af
JB
2916set print frame-arguments (all|scalars|none)
2917show print frame-arguments
2918 The value of this variable can be changed to control which argument
2919 values should be printed by the debugger when displaying a frame.
2920
a6b151f1
DJ
2921remote put
2922remote get
2923remote delete
2924 Transfer files to and from a remote target, and delete remote files.
2925
2926* New MI commands
2927
2928-target-file-put
2929-target-file-get
2930-target-file-delete
2931 Transfer files to and from a remote target, and delete remote files.
2932
2933* New remote packets
2934
2935vFile:open:
2936vFile:close:
2937vFile:pread:
2938vFile:pwrite:
2939vFile:unlink:
2940 Open, close, read, write, and delete files on the remote system.
d0c678e6 2941
2d717e4f
DJ
2942vAttach
2943 Attach to an existing process on the remote system, in extended-remote
2944 mode.
2945
2946vRun
2947 Run a new process on the remote system, in extended-remote mode.
2948
8d5f9c6f 2949*** Changes in GDB 6.7
6dd09645 2950
19d378fc
MS
2951* Resolved 101 resource leaks, null pointer dereferences, etc. in gdb,
2952bfd, libiberty and opcodes, as revealed by static analysis donated by
2953Coverity, Inc. (http://scan.coverity.com).
2954
3a40aaa0
UW
2955* When looking up multiply-defined global symbols, GDB will now prefer the
2956symbol definition in the current shared library if it was built using the
2957-Bsymbolic linker option.
2958
a6ec25f2
BW
2959* When the Text User Interface (TUI) is not configured, GDB will now
2960recognize the -tui command-line option and print a message that the TUI
2961is not supported.
2962
6dd09645
JB
2963* The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now has lower overhead for high
2964frequency signals (e.g. SIGALRM) via the QPassSignals packet.
2965
c9bb8148
DJ
2966* GDB for MIPS targets now autodetects whether a remote target provides
296732-bit or 64-bit register values.
2968
0d5de010
DJ
2969* Support for C++ member pointers has been improved.
2970
23181151
DJ
2971* GDB now understands XML target descriptions, which specify the
2972target's overall architecture. GDB can read a description from
2973a local file or over the remote serial protocol.
2974
ea37ba09
DJ
2975* Vectors of single-byte data use a new integer type which is not
2976automatically displayed as character or string data.
2977
2978* The /s format now works with the print command. It displays
2979arrays of single-byte integers and pointers to single-byte integers
2980as strings.
e1f48ead 2981
123dc839
DJ
2982* Target descriptions can now describe target-specific registers,
2983for architectures which have implemented the support (currently
8d5f9c6f 2984only ARM, M68K, and MIPS).
123dc839 2985
05a4558a
DJ
2986* GDB and the GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now support the XScale
2987iWMMXt coprocessor.
fb1e4ffc 2988
7c963485
PA
2989* The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, has been updated to support
2990ARM Windows CE (mingw32ce) debugging, and GDB Windows CE support
2991has been rewritten to use the standard GDB remote protocol.
2992
b18be20d
DJ
2993* GDB can now step into C++ functions which are called through thunks.
2994
0ca420ce
UW
2995* GDB for the Cell/B.E. SPU now supports overlay debugging.
2996
31d99776
DJ
2997* The GDB remote protocol "qOffsets" packet can now honor ELF segment
2998layout. It also supports a TextSeg= and DataSeg= response when only
2999segment base addresses (rather than offsets) are available.
3000
a4642986
MR
3001* The /i format now outputs any trailing branch delay slot instructions
3002immediately following the last instruction within the count specified.
3003
cfa9d6d9
DJ
3004* The GDB remote protocol "T" stop reply packet now supports a
3005"library" response. Combined with the new "qXfer:libraries:read"
3006packet, this response allows GDB to debug shared libraries on targets
3007where the operating system manages the list of loaded libraries (e.g.
3008Windows and SymbianOS).
255e7678
DJ
3009
3010* The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports dynamic link libraries
3011(DLLs) on Windows and Windows CE targets.
f5db8714
JK
3012
3013* GDB now supports a faster verification that a .debug file matches its binary
3014according to its build-id signature, if the signature is present.
cfa9d6d9 3015
c9bb8148
DJ
3016* New commands
3017
23776285
MR
3018set remoteflow
3019show remoteflow
3020 Enable or disable hardware flow control (RTS/CTS) on the serial port
3021 when debugging using remote targets.
3022
c9bb8148
DJ
3023set mem inaccessible-by-default
3024show mem inaccessible-by-default
3025 If the target supplies a memory map, for instance via the remote
3026 protocol's "qXfer:memory-map:read" packet, setting this variable
3027 prevents GDB from accessing memory outside the memory map. This
3028 is useful for targets with memory mapped registers or which react
3029 badly to accesses of unmapped address space.
3030
3031set breakpoint auto-hw
3032show breakpoint auto-hw
3033 If the target supplies a memory map, for instance via the remote
3034 protocol's "qXfer:memory-map:read" packet, setting this variable
3035 lets GDB use hardware breakpoints automatically for memory regions
3036 where it can not use software breakpoints. This covers both the
3037 "break" command and internal breakpoints used for other commands
3038 including "next" and "finish".
3039
0e420bd8
JB
3040catch exception
3041catch exception unhandled
3042 Stop the program execution when Ada exceptions are raised.
3043
3044catch assert
3045 Stop the program execution when an Ada assertion failed.
3046
f822c95b
DJ
3047set sysroot
3048show sysroot
3049 Set an alternate system root for target files. This is a more
3050 general version of "set solib-absolute-prefix", which is now
3051 an alias to "set sysroot".
3052
83cc5c53
UW
3053info spu
3054 Provide extended SPU facility status information. This set of
3055 commands is available only when debugging the Cell/B.E. SPU
3056 architecture.
3057
bd372731
MK
3058* New native configurations
3059
3060OpenBSD/sh sh*-*openbsd*
3061
23181151
DJ
3062set tdesc filename
3063unset tdesc filename
3064show tdesc filename
3065 Use the specified local file as an XML target description, and do
3066 not query the target for its built-in description.
3067
c9bb8148
DJ
3068* New targets
3069
54fe9172 3070OpenBSD/sh sh*-*-openbsd*
c9bb8148 3071MIPS64 GNU/Linux (gdbserver) mips64-linux-gnu
c077150c 3072Toshiba Media Processor mep-elf
c9bb8148 3073
6dd09645
JB
3074* New remote packets
3075
3076QPassSignals:
3077 Ignore the specified signals; pass them directly to the debugged program
3078 without stopping other threads or reporting them to GDB.
3079
23181151
DJ
3080qXfer:features:read:
3081 Read an XML target description from the target, which describes its
3082 features.
6dd09645 3083
83cc5c53
UW
3084qXfer:spu:read:
3085qXfer:spu:write:
3086 Read or write contents of an spufs file on the target system. These
3087 packets are available only on the Cell/B.E. SPU architecture.
3088
cfa9d6d9
DJ
3089qXfer:libraries:read:
3090 Report the loaded shared libraries. Combined with new "T" packet
3091 response, this packet allows GDB to debug shared libraries on
3092 targets where the operating system manages the list of loaded
3093 libraries (e.g. Windows and SymbianOS).
3094
483367ee
DJ
3095* Removed targets
3096
3097Support for these obsolete configurations has been removed.
3098
d08950c4
UW
3099alpha*-*-osf1*
3100alpha*-*-osf2*
7ce59000 3101d10v-*-*
483367ee
DJ
3102hppa*-*-hiux*
3103i[34567]86-ncr-*
3104i[34567]86-*-dgux*
3105i[34567]86-*-lynxos*
3106i[34567]86-*-netware*
3107i[34567]86-*-sco3.2v5*
3108i[34567]86-*-sco3.2v4*
3109i[34567]86-*-sco*
3110i[34567]86-*-sysv4.2*
3111i[34567]86-*-sysv4*
3112i[34567]86-*-sysv5*
3113i[34567]86-*-unixware2*
3114i[34567]86-*-unixware*
3115i[34567]86-*-sysv*
3116i[34567]86-*-isc*
3117m68*-cisco*-*
3118m68*-tandem-*
ad527d2e 3119mips*-*-pe
483367ee 3120rs6000-*-lynxos*
ad527d2e 3121sh*-*-pe
483367ee 3122
7ce59000
DJ
3123* Other removed features
3124
3125target abug
3126target cpu32bug
3127target est
3128target rom68k
3129
3130 Various m68k-only ROM monitors.
3131
ea35711c
DJ
3132target hms
3133target e7000
3134target sh3
3135target sh3e
3136
3137 Various Renesas ROM monitors and debugging interfaces for SH and
3138 H8/300.
3139
3140target ocd
3141
3142 Support for a Macraigor serial interface to on-chip debugging.
3143 GDB does not directly support the newer parallel or USB
3144 interfaces.
3145
7ce59000
DJ
3146DWARF 1 support
3147
3148 A debug information format. The predecessor to DWARF 2 and
3149 DWARF 3, which are still supported.
3150
54d61198
DJ
3151Support for the HP aCC compiler on HP-UX/PA-RISC
3152
3153 SOM-encapsulated symbolic debugging information, automatic
3154 invocation of pxdb, and the aCC custom C++ ABI. This does not
3155 affect HP-UX for Itanium or GCC for HP-UX/PA-RISC. Code compiled
3156 with aCC can still be debugged on an assembly level.
3157
ea35711c
DJ
3158MIPS ".pdr" sections
3159
3160 A MIPS-specific format used to describe stack frame layout
3161 in debugging information.
3162
3163Scheme support
3164
3165 GDB could work with an older version of Guile to debug
3166 the interpreter and Scheme programs running in it.
3167
1a69e1e4
DJ
3168set mips stack-arg-size
3169set mips saved-gpreg-size
3170
3171 Use "set mips abi" to control parameter passing for MIPS.
3172
6dd09645 3173*** Changes in GDB 6.6
e374b601 3174
ca3bf3bd
DJ
3175* New targets
3176
3177Xtensa xtensa-elf
9c309e77 3178Cell Broadband Engine SPU spu-elf
ca3bf3bd 3179
6aec2e11
DJ
3180* GDB can now be configured as a cross-debugger targeting native Windows
3181(mingw32) or Cygwin. It can communicate with a remote debugging stub
3182running on a Windows system over TCP/IP to debug Windows programs.
3183
3184* The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, has been updated to support Windows and
3185Cygwin debugging. Both single-threaded and multi-threaded programs are
3186supported.
3187
17218d91
DJ
3188* The "set trust-readonly-sections" command works again. This command was
3189broken in GDB 6.3, 6.4, and 6.5.
3190
9ebce043
DJ
3191* The "load" command now supports writing to flash memory, if the remote
3192stub provides the required support.
3193
7d3d3ece
DJ
3194* Support for GNU/Linux Thread Local Storage (TLS, per-thread variables) no
3195longer requires symbolic debug information (e.g. DWARF-2).
3196
4f8253f3
JB
3197* New commands
3198
3199set substitute-path
3200unset substitute-path
3201show substitute-path
3202 Manage a list of substitution rules that GDB uses to rewrite the name
3203 of the directories where the sources are located. This can be useful
3204 for instance when the sources were moved to a different location
3205 between compilation and debugging.
3206
9fa66fd7
AS
3207set trace-commands
3208show trace-commands
3209 Print each CLI command as it is executed. Each command is prefixed with
3210 a number of `+' symbols representing the nesting depth.
3211 The source command now has a `-v' option to enable the same feature.
3212
1f5befc1
DJ
3213* REMOVED features
3214
3215The ARM Demon monitor support (RDP protocol, "target rdp").
3216
2ec3381a
DJ
3217Kernel Object Display, an embedded debugging feature which only worked with
3218an obsolete version of Cisco IOS.
3219
3d00d119
DJ
3220The 'set download-write-size' and 'show download-write-size' commands.
3221
be2a5f71
DJ
3222* New remote packets
3223
3224qSupported:
3225 Tell a stub about GDB client features, and request remote target features.
3226 The first feature implemented is PacketSize, which allows the target to
3227 specify the size of packets it can handle - to minimize the number of
3228 packets required and improve performance when connected to a remote
3229 target.
3230
0876f84a
DJ
3231qXfer:auxv:read:
3232 Fetch an OS auxilliary vector from the remote stub. This packet is a
3233 more efficient replacement for qPart:auxv:read.
3234
9ebce043
DJ
3235qXfer:memory-map:read:
3236 Fetch a memory map from the remote stub, including information about
3237 RAM, ROM, and flash memory devices.
3238
3239vFlashErase:
3240vFlashWrite:
3241vFlashDone:
3242 Erase and program a flash memory device.
3243
0876f84a
DJ
3244* Removed remote packets
3245
3246qPart:auxv:read:
3247 This packet has been replaced by qXfer:auxv:read. Only GDB 6.4 and 6.5
3248 used it, and only gdbserver implemented it.
3249
e374b601 3250*** Changes in GDB 6.5
53e5f3cf 3251
96309189
MS
3252* New targets
3253
3254Renesas M32C/M16C m32c-elf
3255
3256Morpho Technologies ms1 ms1-elf
3257
53e5f3cf
AS
3258* New commands
3259
3260init-if-undefined Initialize a convenience variable, but
3261 only if it doesn't already have a value.
3262
ac264b3b
MS
3263The following commands are presently only implemented for native GNU/Linux:
3264
3265checkpoint Save a snapshot of the program state.
3266
3267restart <n> Return the program state to a
3268 previously saved state.
3269
3270info checkpoints List currently saved checkpoints.
3271
3272delete-checkpoint <n> Delete a previously saved checkpoint.
3273
3274set|show detach-on-fork Tell gdb whether to detach from a newly
3275 forked process, or to keep debugging it.
3276
3277info forks List forks of the user program that
3278 are available to be debugged.
3279
3280fork <n> Switch to debugging one of several
3281 forks of the user program that are
3282 available to be debugged.
3283
3284delete-fork <n> Delete a fork from the list of forks
3285 that are available to be debugged (and
3286 kill the forked process).
3287
3288detach-fork <n> Delete a fork from the list of forks
3289 that are available to be debugged (and
3290 allow the process to continue).
3291
3950dc3f
NS
3292* New architecture
3293
3294Morpho Technologies ms2 ms1-elf
3295
0ea3f30e
DJ
3296* Improved Windows host support
3297
3298GDB now builds as a cross debugger hosted on i686-mingw32, including
3299native console support, and remote communications using either
3300network sockets or serial ports.
3301
f79daebb
GM
3302* Improved Modula-2 language support
3303
3304GDB can now print most types in the Modula-2 syntax. This includes:
3305basic types, set types, record types, enumerated types, range types,
3306pointer types and ARRAY types. Procedure var parameters are correctly
3307printed and hexadecimal addresses and character constants are also
3308written in the Modula-2 syntax. Best results can be obtained by using
3309GNU Modula-2 together with the -gdwarf-2 command line option.
3310
acab6ab2
MM
3311* REMOVED features
3312
3313The ARM rdi-share module.
3314
f4267320
DJ
3315The Netware NLM debug server.
3316
53e5f3cf 3317*** Changes in GDB 6.4
156a53ca 3318
e0ecbda1
MK
3319* New native configurations
3320
02a677ac 3321OpenBSD/arm arm*-*-openbsd*
e0ecbda1
MK
3322OpenBSD/mips64 mips64-*-openbsd*
3323
d64a6579
KB
3324* New targets
3325
3326Morpho Technologies ms1 ms1-elf
3327
b33a6190
AS
3328* New command line options
3329
3330--batch-silent As for --batch, but totally silent.
3331--return-child-result The debugger will exist with the same value
3332 the child (debugged) program exited with.
3333--eval-command COMMAND, -ex COMMAND
3334 Execute a single GDB CLI command. This may be
3335 specified multiple times and in conjunction
3336 with the --command (-x) option.
3337
11dced61
AC
3338* Deprecated commands removed
3339
3340The following commands, that were deprecated in 2000, have been
3341removed:
3342
3343 Command Replacement
3344 set|show arm disassembly-flavor set|show arm disassembler
3345 othernames set arm disassembler
3346 set|show remotedebug set|show debug remote
3347 set|show archdebug set|show debug arch
3348 set|show eventdebug set|show debug event
3349 regs info registers
3350
6fe85783
MK
3351* New BSD user-level threads support
3352
3353It is now possible to debug programs using the user-level threads
3354library on OpenBSD and FreeBSD. Currently supported (target)
3355configurations are:
3356
3357FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
3358FreeBSD/i386 i386-*-freebsd*
3359OpenBSD/i386 i386-*-openbsd*
3360
3361Note that the new kernel threads libraries introduced in FreeBSD 5.x
3362are not yet supported.
3363
5260ca71
MS
3364* New support for Matsushita MN10300 w/sim added
3365(Work in progress). mn10300-elf.
3366
e84ecc99
AC
3367* REMOVED configurations and files
3368
3369VxWorks and the XDR protocol *-*-vxworks
9445aa30 3370Motorola MCORE mcore-*-*
9445aa30 3371National Semiconductor NS32000 ns32k-*-*
156a53ca 3372
31e35378
JB
3373* New "set print array-indexes" command
3374
3375After turning this setting "on", GDB prints the index of each element
3376when displaying arrays. The default is "off" to preserve the previous
3377behavior.
3378
e85e5c83
MK
3379* VAX floating point support
3380
3381GDB now supports the not-quite-ieee VAX F and D floating point formats.
3382
d91e9901
AS
3383* User-defined command support
3384
3385In addition to using $arg0..$arg9 for argument passing, it is now possible
3386to use $argc to determine now many arguments have been passed. See the
3387section on user-defined commands in the user manual for more information.
3388
f2cb65ca
MC
3389*** Changes in GDB 6.3:
3390
f47b1503
AS
3391* New command line option
3392
3393GDB now accepts -l followed by a number to set the timeout for remote
3394debugging.
3395
f2cb65ca
MC
3396* GDB works with GCC -feliminate-dwarf2-dups
3397
3398GDB now supports a more compact representation of DWARF-2 debug
3399information using DW_FORM_ref_addr references. These are produced
3400by GCC with the option -feliminate-dwarf2-dups and also by some
3401proprietary compilers. With GCC, you must use GCC 3.3.4 or later
3402to use -feliminate-dwarf2-dups.
860660cb 3403
d08c0230
AC
3404* Internationalization
3405
3406When supported by the host system, GDB will be built with
3407internationalization (libintl). The task of marking up the sources is
3408continued, we're looking forward to our first translation.
3409
117ea3cf
PH
3410* Ada
3411
3412Initial support for debugging programs compiled with the GNAT
3413implementation of the Ada programming language has been integrated
3414into GDB. In this release, support is limited to expression evaluation.
3415
d08c0230
AC
3416* New native configurations
3417
3418GNU/Linux/m32r m32r-*-linux-gnu
3419
3420* Remote 'p' packet
3421
3422GDB's remote protocol now includes support for the 'p' packet. This
3423packet is used to fetch individual registers from a remote inferior.
3424
3425* END-OF-LIFE registers[] compatibility module
3426
3427GDB's internal register infrastructure has been completely rewritten.
3428The new infrastructure making possible the implementation of key new
3429features including 32x64 (e.g., 64-bit amd64 GDB debugging a 32-bit
3430i386 application).
3431
3432GDB 6.3 will be the last release to include the the registers[]
3433compatibility module that allowed out-of-date configurations to
3434continue to work. This change directly impacts the following
3435configurations:
3436
3437hppa-*-hpux
3438ia64-*-aix
3439mips-*-irix*
3440*-*-lynx
3441mips-*-linux-gnu
3442sds protocol
3443xdr protocol
3444powerpc bdm protocol
3445
3446Unless there is activity to revive these configurations, they will be
3447made OBSOLETE in GDB 6.4, and REMOVED from GDB 6.5.
3448
3449* OBSOLETE configurations and files
3450
3451Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
3452been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
3453configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
3454permanently REMOVED.
3455
3456h8300-*-*
3457mcore-*-*
3458mn10300-*-*
3459ns32k-*-*
3460sh64-*-*
3461v850-*-*
3462
ebb7c577
AC
3463*** Changes in GDB 6.2.1:
3464
3465* MIPS `break main; run' gave an heuristic-fence-post warning
3466
3467When attempting to run even a simple program, a warning about
3468heuristic-fence-post being hit would be reported. This problem has
3469been fixed.
3470
3471* MIPS IRIX 'long double' crashed GDB
3472
3473When examining a long double variable, GDB would get a segmentation
3474fault. The crash has been fixed (but GDB 6.2 cannot correctly examine
3475IRIX long double values).
3476
3477* VAX and "next"
3478
3479A bug in the VAX stack code was causing problems with the "next"
3480command. This problem has been fixed.
3481
860660cb 3482*** Changes in GDB 6.2:
faae5abe 3483
0dea2468
AC
3484* Fix for ``many threads''
3485
3486On GNU/Linux systems that use the NPTL threads library, a program
3487rapidly creating and deleting threads would confuse GDB leading to the
3488error message:
3489
3490 ptrace: No such process.
3491 thread_db_get_info: cannot get thread info: generic error
3492
3493This problem has been fixed.
3494
2c07db7a
AC
3495* "-async" and "-noasync" options removed.
3496
3497Support for the broken "-noasync" option has been removed (it caused
3498GDB to dump core).
3499
c23968a2
JB
3500* New ``start'' command.
3501
3502This command runs the program until the begining of the main procedure.
3503
71009278
MK
3504* New BSD Kernel Data Access Library (libkvm) interface
3505
3506Using ``target kvm'' it is now possible to debug kernel core dumps and
3507live kernel memory images on various FreeBSD, NetBSD and OpenBSD
3508platforms. Currently supported (native-only) configurations are:
3509
3510FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
3511FreeBSD/i386 i?86-*-freebsd*
3512NetBSD/i386 i?86-*-netbsd*
3513NetBSD/m68k m68*-*-netbsd*
3514NetBSD/sparc sparc-*-netbsd*
3515OpenBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-openbsd*
3516OpenBSD/i386 i?86-*-openbsd*
3517OpenBSD/m68k m68*-openbsd*
3518OpenBSD/sparc sparc-*-openbsd*
3519
3c0b7db2
AC
3520* Signal trampoline code overhauled
3521
3522Many generic problems with GDB's signal handling code have been fixed.
3523These include: backtraces through non-contiguous stacks; recognition
3524of sa_sigaction signal trampolines; backtrace from a NULL pointer
3525call; backtrace through a signal trampoline; step into and out of
3526signal handlers; and single-stepping in the signal trampoline.
3527
73cc75f3
AC
3528Please note that kernel bugs are a limiting factor here. These
3529features have been shown to work on an s390 GNU/Linux system that
3530include a 2.6.8-rc1 kernel. Ref PR breakpoints/1702.
3c0b7db2 3531
7243600a
BF
3532* Cygwin support for DWARF 2 added.
3533
6f606e1c
MK
3534* New native configurations
3535
97dc871c 3536GNU/Linux/hppa hppa*-*-linux*
0e56aeaf 3537OpenBSD/hppa hppa*-*-openbsd*
bf2ca189
MK
3538OpenBSD/m68k m68*-*-openbsd*
3539OpenBSD/m88k m88*-*-openbsd*
d195bc9f 3540OpenBSD/powerpc powerpc-*-openbsd*
6f606e1c 3541NetBSD/vax vax-*-netbsd*
9f076e7a 3542OpenBSD/vax vax-*-openbsd*
6f606e1c 3543
a1b461bf
AC
3544* END-OF-LIFE frame compatibility module
3545
3546GDB's internal frame infrastructure has been completely rewritten.
3547The new infrastructure making it possible to support key new features
3548including DWARF 2 Call Frame Information. To aid in the task of
3549migrating old configurations to this new infrastructure, a
3550compatibility module, that allowed old configurations to continue to
3551work, was also included.
3552
3553GDB 6.2 will be the last release to include this frame compatibility
3554module. This change directly impacts the following configurations:
3555
3556h8300-*-*
3557mcore-*-*
3558mn10300-*-*
3559ns32k-*-*
3560sh64-*-*
3561v850-*-*
3562xstormy16-*-*
3563
3564Unless there is activity to revive these configurations, they will be
3565made OBSOLETE in GDB 6.3, and REMOVED from GDB 6.4.
3566
3c7012f5
AC
3567* REMOVED configurations and files
3568
3569Sun 3, running SunOS 3 m68*-*-sunos3*
3570Sun 3, running SunOS 4 m68*-*-sunos4*
3571Sun 2, running SunOS 3 m68000-*-sunos3*
3572Sun 2, running SunOS 4 m68000-*-sunos4*
3573Motorola 680x0 running LynxOS m68*-*-lynxos*
3574AT&T 3b1/Unix pc m68*-att-*
3575Bull DPX2 (68k, System V release 3) m68*-bull-sysv*
3576decstation mips-dec-* mips-little-*
3577riscos mips-*-riscos* mips-*-sysv*
3578sonymips mips-sony-*
3579sysv mips*-*-sysv4* (IRIX 5/6 not included)
3580
e5fe55f7
AC
3581*** Changes in GDB 6.1.1:
3582
3583* TUI (Text-mode User Interface) built-in (also included in GDB 6.1)
3584
3585The TUI (Text-mode User Interface) is now built as part of a default
3586GDB configuration. It is enabled by either selecting the TUI with the
3587command line option "-i=tui" or by running the separate "gdbtui"
3588program. For more information on the TUI, see the manual "Debugging
3589with GDB".
3590
3591* Pending breakpoint support (also included in GDB 6.1)
3592
3593Support has been added to allow you to specify breakpoints in shared
3594libraries that have not yet been loaded. If a breakpoint location
3595cannot be found, and the "breakpoint pending" option is set to auto,
3596GDB queries you if you wish to make the breakpoint pending on a future
3597shared-library load. If and when GDB resolves the breakpoint symbol,
3598the pending breakpoint is removed as one or more regular breakpoints
3599are created.
3600
3601Pending breakpoints are very useful for GCJ Java debugging.
3602
3603* Fixed ISO-C build problems
3604
3605The files bfd/elf-bfd.h, gdb/dictionary.c and gdb/types.c contained
3606non ISO-C code that stopped them being built using a more strict ISO-C
3607compiler (e.g., IBM's C compiler).
3608
3609* Fixed build problem on IRIX 5
3610
3611Due to header problems with <sys/proc.h>, the file gdb/proc-api.c
3612wasn't able to compile compile on an IRIX 5 system.
3613
3614* Added execute permission to gdb/gdbserver/configure
3615
3616The shell script gdb/testsuite/gdb.stabs/configure lacked execute
3617permission. This bug would cause configure to fail on a number of
3618systems (Solaris, IRIX). Ref: server/519.
3619
3620* Fixed build problem on hpux2.0w-hp-hpux11.00 using the HP ANSI C compiler
3621
3622Older HPUX ANSI C compilers did not accept variable array sizes. somsolib.c
3623has been updated to use constant array sizes.
3624
3625* Fixed a panic in the DWARF Call Frame Info code on Solaris 2.7
3626
3627GCC 3.3.2, on Solaris 2.7, includes the DW_EH_PE_funcrel encoding in
3628its generated DWARF Call Frame Info. This encoding was causing GDB to
3629panic, that panic has been fixed. Ref: gdb/1628.
3630
3631* Fixed a problem when examining parameters in shared library code.
3632
3633When examining parameters in optimized shared library code generated
3634by a mainline GCC, GDB would incorrectly report ``Variable "..." is
3635not available''. GDB now correctly displays the variable's value.
3636
faae5abe 3637*** Changes in GDB 6.1:
f2c06f52 3638
9175c9a3
MC
3639* Removed --with-mmalloc
3640
3641Support for the mmalloc memory manager has been removed, as it
3642conflicted with the internal gdb byte cache.
3643
3cc87ec0
MK
3644* Changes in AMD64 configurations
3645
3646The AMD64 target now includes the %cs and %ss registers. As a result
3647the AMD64 remote protocol has changed; this affects the floating-point
3648and SSE registers. If you rely on those registers for your debugging,
3649you should upgrade gdbserver on the remote side.
3650
f0424ef6
MK
3651* Revised SPARC target
3652
3653The SPARC target has been completely revised, incorporating the
3654FreeBSD/sparc64 support that was added for GDB 6.0. As a result
03cebad2
MK
3655support for LynxOS and SunOS 4 has been dropped. Calling functions
3656from within GDB on operating systems with a non-executable stack
3657(Solaris, OpenBSD) now works.
f0424ef6 3658
59659be2
ILT
3659* New C++ demangler
3660
3661GDB has a new C++ demangler which does a better job on the mangled
3662names generated by current versions of g++. It also runs faster, so
3663with this and other changes gdb should now start faster on large C++
3664programs.
3665
9e08b29b
DJ
3666* DWARF 2 Location Expressions
3667
3668GDB support for location expressions has been extended to support function
3669arguments and frame bases. Older versions of GDB could crash when they
3670encountered these.
3671
8dfe8985
DC
3672* C++ nested types and namespaces
3673
3674GDB's support for nested types and namespaces in C++ has been
3675improved, especially if you use the DWARF 2 debugging format. (This
3676is the default for recent versions of GCC on most platforms.)
3677Specifically, if you have a class "Inner" defined within a class or
3678namespace "Outer", then GDB realizes that the class's name is
3679"Outer::Inner", not simply "Inner". This should greatly reduce the
3680frequency of complaints about not finding RTTI symbols. In addition,
3681if you are stopped at inside of a function defined within a namespace,
3682GDB modifies its name lookup accordingly.
3683
cced5e27
MK
3684* New native configurations
3685
3686NetBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-netbsd*
27d1e716 3687OpenBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-openbsd*
2031c21a 3688OpenBSD/alpha alpha*-*-openbsd*
f2cab569
MK
3689OpenBSD/sparc sparc-*-openbsd*
3690OpenBSD/sparc64 sparc64-*-openbsd*
cced5e27 3691
b4b4b794
KI
3692* New debugging protocols
3693
3694M32R with SDI protocol m32r-*-elf*
3695
7989c619
AC
3696* "set prompt-escape-char" command deleted.
3697
3698The command "set prompt-escape-char" has been deleted. This command,
3699and its very obscure effet on GDB's prompt, was never documented,
3700tested, nor mentioned in the NEWS file.
3701
5994185b
AC
3702* OBSOLETE configurations and files
3703
3704Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
3705been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
3706configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
3707permanently REMOVED.
3708
3709Sun 3, running SunOS 3 m68*-*-sunos3*
3710Sun 3, running SunOS 4 m68*-*-sunos4*
3711Sun 2, running SunOS 3 m68000-*-sunos3*
3712Sun 2, running SunOS 4 m68000-*-sunos4*
3713Motorola 680x0 running LynxOS m68*-*-lynxos*
3714AT&T 3b1/Unix pc m68*-att-*
3715Bull DPX2 (68k, System V release 3) m68*-bull-sysv*
0748d941
AC
3716decstation mips-dec-* mips-little-*
3717riscos mips-*-riscos* mips-*-sysv*
3718sonymips mips-sony-*
3719sysv mips*-*-sysv4* (IRIX 5/6 not included)
5994185b 3720
0ddabb4c
AC
3721* REMOVED configurations and files
3722
3723SGI Irix-4.x mips-sgi-irix4 or iris4
3724SGI Iris (MIPS) running Irix V3: mips-sgi-irix or iris
4a8269c0
AC
3725Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
3726Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
3727H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
3728HP/PA running BSD hppa*-*-bsd*
3729HP/PA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
3730HP/PA Pro target hppa*-*-pro*
3731PMAX (MIPS) running Mach 3.0 mips*-*-mach3*
cf7c5c23 3732386BSD i[3456]86-*-bsd*
4a8269c0
AC
3733Sequent family i[3456]86-sequent-sysv4*
3734 i[3456]86-sequent-sysv*
3735 i[3456]86-sequent-bsd*
f0424ef6
MK
3736SPARC running LynxOS sparc-*-lynxos*
3737SPARC running SunOS 4 sparc-*-sunos4*
4a8269c0
AC
3738Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
3739Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
0ddabb4c 3740
c7f1390e
DJ
3741*** Changes in GDB 6.0:
3742
1fe43d45
AC
3743* Objective-C
3744
3745Support for debugging the Objective-C programming language has been
3746integrated into GDB.
3747
e6beb428
AC
3748* New backtrace mechanism (includes DWARF 2 Call Frame Information).
3749
3750DWARF 2's Call Frame Information makes available compiler generated
3751information that more exactly describes the program's run-time stack.
3752By using this information, GDB is able to provide more robust stack
3753backtraces.
3754
3755The i386, amd64 (nee, x86-64), Alpha, m68hc11, ia64, and m32r targets
3756have been updated to use a new backtrace mechanism which includes
3757DWARF 2 CFI support.
3758
3759* Hosted file I/O.
3760
3761GDB's remote protocol has been extended to include support for hosted
3762file I/O (where the remote target uses GDB's file system). See GDB's
3763remote protocol documentation for details.
3764
3765* All targets using the new architecture framework.
3766
3767All of GDB's targets have been updated to use the new internal
3768architecture framework. The way is now open for future GDB releases
3769to include cross-architecture native debugging support (i386 on amd64,
3770ppc32 on ppc64).
3771
3772* GNU/Linux's Thread Local Storage (TLS)
3773
3774GDB now includes support for for the GNU/Linux implementation of
3775per-thread variables.
3776
3777* GNU/Linux's Native POSIX Thread Library (NPTL)
3778
3779GDB's thread code has been updated to work with either the new
3780GNU/Linux NPTL thread library or the older "LinuxThreads" library.
3781
3782* Separate debug info.
3783
3784GDB, in conjunction with BINUTILS, now supports a mechanism for
3785automatically loading debug information from a separate file. Instead
3786of shipping full debug and non-debug versions of system libraries,
3787system integrators can now instead ship just the stripped libraries
3788and optional debug files.
3789
3790* DWARF 2 Location Expressions
3791
3792DWARF 2 Location Expressions allow the compiler to more completely
3793describe the location of variables (even in optimized code) to the
3794debugger.
3795
3796GDB now includes preliminary support for location expressions (support
3797for DW_OP_piece is still missing).
3798
3799* Java
3800
3801A number of long standing bugs that caused GDB to die while starting a
3802Java application have been fixed. GDB's Java support is now
3803considered "useable".
3804
85f8f974
DJ
3805* GNU/Linux support for fork, vfork, and exec.
3806
3807The "catch fork", "catch exec", "catch vfork", and "set follow-fork-mode"
3808commands are now implemented for GNU/Linux. They require a 2.5.x or later
3809kernel.
3810
0fac0b41
DJ
3811* GDB supports logging output to a file
3812
3813There are two new commands, "set logging" and "show logging", which can be
3814used to capture GDB's output to a file.
f2c06f52 3815
6ad8ae5c
DJ
3816* The meaning of "detach" has changed for gdbserver
3817
3818The "detach" command will now resume the application, as documented. To
3819disconnect from gdbserver and leave it stopped, use the new "disconnect"
3820command.
3821
e286caf2 3822* d10v, m68hc11 `regs' command deprecated
5f601589
AC
3823
3824The `info registers' command has been updated so that it displays the
3825registers using a format identical to the old `regs' command.
3826
d28f9cdf
DJ
3827* Profiling support
3828
3829A new command, "maint set profile on/off", has been added. This command can
3830be used to enable or disable profiling while running GDB, to profile a
3831session or a set of commands. In addition there is a new configure switch,
3832"--enable-profiling", which will cause GDB to be compiled with profiling
3833data, for more informative profiling results.
3834
da0f9dcd
AC
3835* Default MI syntax changed to "mi2".
3836
3837The default MI (machine interface) syntax, enabled by the command line
3838option "-i=mi", has been changed to "mi2". The previous MI syntax,
b68767c1 3839"mi1", can be enabled by specifying the option "-i=mi1".
da0f9dcd
AC
3840
3841Support for the original "mi0" syntax (included in GDB 5.0) has been
3842removed.
3843
fb9b6b35
JJ
3844Fix for gdb/192: removed extraneous space when displaying frame level.
3845Fix for gdb/672: update changelist is now output in mi list format.
3846Fix for gdb/702: a -var-assign that updates the value now shows up
3847 in a subsequent -var-update.
3848
954a4db8
MK
3849* New native configurations.
3850
3851FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
3852
6760f9e6
JB
3853* Multi-arched targets.
3854
b4263afa 3855HP/PA HPUX11 hppa*-*-hpux*
85a453d5 3856Renesas M32R/D w/simulator m32r-*-elf*
6760f9e6 3857
1b831c93
AC
3858* OBSOLETE configurations and files
3859
3860Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
3861been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
3862configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
3863permanently REMOVED.
3864
8b0e5691 3865Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
67f16606 3866Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
fd2299bd 3867H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
56056df7
AC
3868HP/PA running BSD hppa*-*-bsd*
3869HP/PA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
3870HP/PA Pro target hppa*-*-pro*
78c43945 3871PMAX (MIPS) running Mach 3.0 mips*-*-mach3*
2fbce691
AC
3872Sequent family i[3456]86-sequent-sysv4*
3873 i[3456]86-sequent-sysv*
3874 i[3456]86-sequent-bsd*
f81824a9
AC
3875Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
3876Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
fd2299bd 3877
5835abe7
NC
3878* REMOVED configurations and files
3879
3880V850EA ISA
1b831c93
AC
3881Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
3882IBM AIX PS/2 i[3456]86-*-aix
3883i386 running Mach 3.0 i[3456]86-*-mach3*
3884i386 running Mach i[3456]86-*-mach*
3885i386 running OSF/1 i[3456]86-*osf1mk*
3886HP/Apollo 68k Family m68*-apollo*-sysv*,
3887 m68*-apollo*-bsd*,
3888 m68*-hp-bsd*, m68*-hp-hpux*
3889Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
3890Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
3891Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
3892OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
3893I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
5835abe7 3894
a094c6fb
AC
3895* MIPS $fp behavior changed
3896
3897The convenience variable $fp, for the MIPS, now consistently returns
3898the address of the current frame's base. Previously, depending on the
3899context, $fp could refer to either $sp or the current frame's base
3900address. See ``8.10 Registers'' in the manual ``Debugging with GDB:
3901The GNU Source-Level Debugger''.
3902
299ffc64 3903*** Changes in GDB 5.3:
37057839 3904
46248966
AC
3905* GNU/Linux shared library multi-threaded performance improved.
3906
3907When debugging a multi-threaded application on GNU/Linux, GDB now uses
3908`/proc', in preference to `ptrace' for memory reads. This may result
3909in an improvement in the start-up time of multi-threaded, shared
3910library applications when run under GDB. One GDB user writes: ``loads
3911shared libs like mad''.
3912
b9d14705 3913* ``gdbserver'' now supports multi-threaded applications on some targets
6da02953 3914
b9d14705
DJ
3915Support for debugging multi-threaded applications which use
3916the GNU/Linux LinuxThreads package has been added for
3917arm*-*-linux*-gnu*, i[3456]86-*-linux*-gnu*, mips*-*-linux*-gnu*,
3918powerpc*-*-linux*-gnu*, and sh*-*-linux*-gnu*.
6da02953 3919
e0e9281e
JB
3920* GDB now supports C/C++ preprocessor macros.
3921
3922GDB now expands preprocessor macro invocations in C/C++ expressions,
3923and provides various commands for showing macro definitions and how
3924they expand.
3925
dd73b9bb
AC
3926The new command `macro expand EXPRESSION' expands any macro
3927invocations in expression, and shows the result.
3928
3929The new command `show macro MACRO-NAME' shows the definition of the
3930macro named MACRO-NAME, and where it was defined.
3931
e0e9281e
JB
3932Most compilers don't include information about macros in the debugging
3933information by default. In GCC 3.1, for example, you need to compile
3934your program with the options `-gdwarf-2 -g3'. If the macro
3935information is present in the executable, GDB will read it.
3936
2250ee0c
CV
3937* Multi-arched targets.
3938
6e3ba3b8
JT
3939DEC Alpha (partial) alpha*-*-*
3940DEC VAX (partial) vax-*-*
2250ee0c 3941NEC V850 v850-*-*
6e3ba3b8 3942National Semiconductor NS32000 (partial) ns32k-*-*
a1789893
GS
3943Motorola 68000 (partial) m68k-*-*
3944Motorola MCORE mcore-*-*
2250ee0c 3945
cd9bfe15 3946* New targets.
e33ce519 3947
456f8b9d
DB
3948Fujitsu FRV architecture added by Red Hat frv*-*-*
3949
e33ce519 3950
da8ca43d
JT
3951* New native configurations
3952
3953Alpha NetBSD alpha*-*-netbsd*
029923d4 3954SH NetBSD sh*-*-netbsdelf*
45888261 3955MIPS NetBSD mips*-*-netbsd*
9ce5c36a 3956UltraSPARC NetBSD sparc64-*-netbsd*
da8ca43d 3957
cd9bfe15
AC
3958* OBSOLETE configurations and files
3959
3960Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
3961been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
3962configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
3963permanently REMOVED.
3964
92eb23c5 3965Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
a99a9e1b 3966OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
1c7cc583 3967IBM AIX PS/2 i[3456]86-*-aix
7a3085c1 3968Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
7fb623f7 3969Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
eb4c54a2 3970Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
d8ee244c
MK
3971i386 running Mach 3.0 i[3456]86-*-mach3*
3972i386 running Mach i[3456]86-*-mach*
3973i386 running OSF/1 i[3456]86-*osf1mk*
822e978b
AC
3974HP/Apollo 68k Family m68*-apollo*-sysv*,
3975 m68*-apollo*-bsd*,
3976 m68*-hp-bsd*, m68*-hp-hpux*
4d210288 3977I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
92eb23c5 3978
db034ac5
AC
3979* OBSOLETE languages
3980
3981CHILL, a Pascal like language used by telecommunications companies.
3982
cd9bfe15
AC
3983* REMOVED configurations and files
3984
3985AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi, udi29k
3986A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
3987AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
3988AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
3989AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
3990
3991testsuite/gdb.hp/gdb.threads-hp/ directory
3992
20f01a46
DH
3993* New command "set max-user-call-depth <nnn>"
3994
3995This command allows the user to limit the call depth of user-defined
3996commands. The default is 1024.
3997
a5941fbf
MK
3998* Changes in FreeBSD/i386 native debugging.
3999
4000Support for the "generate-core-file" has been added.
4001
89743e04
MS
4002* New commands "dump", "append", and "restore".
4003
4004These commands allow data to be copied from target memory
4005to a bfd-format or binary file (dump and append), and back
4006from a file into memory (restore).
37057839 4007
9fb14e79
JB
4008* Improved "next/step" support on multi-processor Alpha Tru64.
4009
4010The previous single-step mechanism could cause unpredictable problems,
4011including the random appearance of SIGSEGV or SIGTRAP signals. The use
4012of a software single-step mechanism prevents this.
4013
2037aebb
AC
4014*** Changes in GDB 5.2.1:
4015
4016* New targets.
4017
4018Atmel AVR avr*-*-*
4019
4020* Bug fixes
4021
4022gdb/182: gdb/323: gdb/237: On alpha, gdb was reporting:
4023mdebugread.c:2443: gdb-internal-error: sect_index_data not initialized
4024Fix, by Joel Brobecker imported from mainline.
4025
4026gdb/439: gdb/291: On some ELF object files, gdb was reporting:
4027dwarf2read.c:1072: gdb-internal-error: sect_index_text not initialize
4028Fix, by Fred Fish, imported from mainline.
4029
4030Dwarf2 .debug_frame & .eh_frame handler improved in many ways.
4031Surprisingly enough, it works now.
4032By Michal Ludvig, imported from mainline.
4033
4034i386 hardware watchpoint support:
4035avoid misses on second run for some targets.
4036By Pierre Muller, imported from mainline.
4037
37057839 4038*** Changes in GDB 5.2:
eb7cedd9 4039
1a703748
MS
4040* New command "set trust-readonly-sections on[off]".
4041
4042This command is a hint that tells gdb that read-only sections
4043really are read-only (ie. that their contents will not change).
4044In this mode, gdb will go to the object file rather than the
4045target to read memory from read-only sections (such as ".text").
4046This can be a significant performance improvement on some
4047(notably embedded) targets.
4048
cefd4ef5
MS
4049* New command "generate-core-file" (or "gcore").
4050
55241689
AC
4051This new gdb command allows the user to drop a core file of the child
4052process state at any time. So far it's been implemented only for
4053GNU/Linux and Solaris, but should be relatively easily ported to other
4054hosts. Argument is core file name (defaults to core.<pid>).
cefd4ef5 4055
352ed7b4
MS
4056* New command line option
4057
4058GDB now accepts --pid or -p followed by a process id.
4059
4060* Change in command line behavior -- corefiles vs. process ids.
4061
4062There is a subtle behavior in the way in which GDB handles
4063command line arguments. The first non-flag argument is always
4064a program to debug, but the second non-flag argument may either
4065be a corefile or a process id. Previously, GDB would attempt to
4066open the second argument as a corefile, and if that failed, would
4067issue a superfluous error message and then attempt to attach it as
4068a process. Now, if the second argument begins with a non-digit,
4069it will be treated as a corefile. If it begins with a digit,
4070GDB will attempt to attach it as a process, and if no such process
4071is found, will then attempt to open it as a corefile.
4072
fe419ffc
RE
4073* Changes in ARM configurations.
4074
4075Multi-arch support is enabled for all ARM configurations. The ARM/NetBSD
4076configuration is fully multi-arch.
4077
eb7cedd9
MK
4078* New native configurations
4079
fe419ffc 4080ARM NetBSD arm*-*-netbsd*
eb7cedd9 4081x86 OpenBSD i[3456]86-*-openbsd*
55241689 4082AMD x86-64 running GNU/Linux x86_64-*-linux-*
768f0842 4083Sparc64 running FreeBSD sparc64-*-freebsd*
eb7cedd9 4084
c9f63e6b
CV
4085* New targets
4086
4087Sanyo XStormy16 xstormy16-elf
4088
9b4ff276
AC
4089* OBSOLETE configurations and files
4090
4091Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
4092been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
4093configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
4094permanently REMOVED.
4095
4096AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi, udi29k
4097A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
4098AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
4099AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
4100AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
4101
b4ceaee6 4102testsuite/gdb.hp/gdb.threads-hp/ directory
9b4ff276 4103
e2caac18
AC
4104* REMOVED configurations and files
4105
4106TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
7bc65f05 4107WDC 65816 w65-*-*
7768dd6c
AC
4108PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
4109PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
4110PowerPC Netware powerpc-*-netware*
5e734e1f 4111Harris/CXUX m88k m88*-harris-cxux*
1406caf7
AC
4112Most ns32k hosts and targets ns32k-*-mach3* ns32k-umax-*
4113 ns32k-utek-sysv* ns32k-utek-*
7e24f0b1 4114SunOS 4.0.Xi on i386 i[3456]86-*-sunos*
9b567150 4115Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1 a29k-nyu-sym1 a29k-*-kern*
3680c638
AC
4116Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x m68*-sony-sysv news
4117ISI Optimum V (3.05) under 4.3bsd. m68*-isi-*
a752853e 4118Apple Macintosh (MPW) host and target N/A host, powerpc-*-macos*
e2caac18 4119
c2a727fa
TT
4120* Changes to command line processing
4121
4122The new `--args' feature can be used to specify command-line arguments
4123for the inferior from gdb's command line.
4124
467d8519
TT
4125* Changes to key bindings
4126
4127There is a new `operate-and-get-next' function bound to `C-o'.
4128
7072a954
AC
4129*** Changes in GDB 5.1.1
4130
4131Fix compile problem on DJGPP.
4132
4133Fix a problem with floating-point registers on the i386 being
4134corrupted.
4135
4136Fix to stop GDB crashing on .debug_str debug info.
4137
4138Numerous documentation fixes.
4139
4140Numerous testsuite fixes.
4141
34f47bc4 4142*** Changes in GDB 5.1:
139760b7
MK
4143
4144* New native configurations
4145
4146Alpha FreeBSD alpha*-*-freebsd*
4147x86 FreeBSD 3.x and 4.x i[3456]86*-freebsd[34]*
55241689 4148MIPS GNU/Linux mips*-*-linux*
e23194cb
EZ
4149MIPS SGI Irix 6.x mips*-sgi-irix6*
4150ia64 AIX ia64-*-aix*
55241689 4151s390 and s390x GNU/Linux {s390,s390x}-*-linux*
139760b7 4152
bf64bfd6
AC
4153* New targets
4154
def90278 4155Motorola 68HC11 and 68HC12 m68hc11-elf
24be5c34 4156CRIS cris-axis
55241689 4157UltraSparc running GNU/Linux sparc64-*-linux*
def90278 4158
17e78a56 4159* OBSOLETE configurations and files
bf64bfd6
AC
4160
4161x86 FreeBSD before 2.2 i[3456]86*-freebsd{1,2.[01]}*,
9b9c068d 4162Harris/CXUX m88k m88*-harris-cxux*
bb19ff3b
AC
4163Most ns32k hosts and targets ns32k-*-mach3* ns32k-umax-*
4164 ns32k-utek-sysv* ns32k-utek-*
76f4ea53
AC
4165TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
4166WDC 65816 w65-*-*
4a1968f4 4167Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1 a29k-nyu-sym1 a29k-*-kern*
1b2b2c16
AC
4168PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
4169PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
4170PowerPC Netware powerpc-*-netware*
24f89b68 4171SunOS 4.0.Xi on i386 i[3456]86-*-sunos*
514e603d
AC
4172Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x m68*-sony-sysv news
4173ISI Optimum V (3.05) under 4.3bsd. m68*-isi-*
d036b4d9 4174Apple Macintosh (MPW) host N/A
bf64bfd6 4175
17e78a56
AC
4176stuff.c (Program to stuff files into a specially prepared space in kdb)
4177kdb-start.c (Main loop for the standalone kernel debugger)
4178
7fcca85b
AC
4179Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
4180been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
4181configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
4182permanently REMOVED.
4183
a196c81c 4184* REMOVED configurations and files
7fcca85b
AC
4185
4186Altos 3068 m68*-altos-*
4187Convex c1-*-*, c2-*-*
4188Pyramid pyramid-*-*
4189ARM RISCix arm-*-* (as host)
4190Tahoe tahoe-*-*
a196c81c 4191ser-ocd.c *-*-*
bf64bfd6 4192
6d6b80e5 4193* GDB has been converted to ISO C.
e23194cb 4194
6d6b80e5 4195GDB's source code has been converted to ISO C. In particular, the
e23194cb
EZ
4196sources are fully protoized, and rely on standard headers being
4197present.
4198
bf64bfd6
AC
4199* Other news:
4200
e23194cb
EZ
4201* "info symbol" works on platforms which use COFF, ECOFF, XCOFF, and NLM.
4202
4203* The MI enabled by default.
4204
4205The new machine oriented interface (MI) introduced in GDB 5.0 has been
4206revised and enabled by default. Packages which use GDB as a debugging
4207engine behind a UI or another front end are encouraged to switch to
4208using the GDB/MI interface, instead of the old annotations interface
4209which is now deprecated.
4210
4211* Support for debugging Pascal programs.
4212
4213GDB now includes support for debugging Pascal programs. The following
4214main features are supported:
4215
4216 - Pascal-specific data types such as sets;
4217
4218 - automatic recognition of Pascal sources based on file-name
4219 extension;
4220
4221 - Pascal-style display of data types, variables, and functions;
4222
4223 - a Pascal expression parser.
4224
4225However, some important features are not yet supported.
4226
4227 - Pascal string operations are not supported at all;
4228
4229 - there are some problems with boolean types;
4230
4231 - Pascal type hexadecimal constants are not supported
4232 because they conflict with the internal variables format;
4233
4234 - support for Pascal objects and classes is not full yet;
4235
4236 - unlike Pascal, GDB is case-sensitive for symbol names.
4237
4238* Changes in completion.
4239
4240Commands such as `shell', `run' and `set args', which pass arguments
4241to inferior programs, now complete on file names, similar to what
4242users expect at the shell prompt.
4243
4244Commands which accept locations, such as `disassemble', `print',
4245`breakpoint', `until', etc. now complete on filenames as well as
4246program symbols. Thus, if you type "break foob TAB", and the source
4247files linked into the programs include `foobar.c', that file name will
4248be one of the candidates for completion. However, file names are not
4249considered for completion after you typed a colon that delimits a file
4250name from a name of a function in that file, as in "break foo.c:bar".
4251
4252`set demangle-style' completes on available demangling styles.
4253
4254* New platform-independent commands:
4255
4256It is now possible to define a post-hook for a command as well as a
4257hook that runs before the command. For more details, see the
4258documentation of `hookpost' in the GDB manual.
4259
4260* Changes in GNU/Linux native debugging.
4261
d7275149
MK
4262Support for debugging multi-threaded programs has been completely
4263revised for all platforms except m68k and sparc. You can now debug as
4264many threads as your system allows you to have.
4265
e23194cb
EZ
4266Attach/detach is supported for multi-threaded programs.
4267
d7275149
MK
4268Support for SSE registers was added for x86. This doesn't work for
4269multi-threaded programs though.
e23194cb
EZ
4270
4271* Changes in MIPS configurations.
bf64bfd6
AC
4272
4273Multi-arch support is enabled for all MIPS configurations.
4274
e23194cb
EZ
4275GDB can now be built as native debugger on SGI Irix 6.x systems for
4276debugging n32 executables. (Debugging 64-bit executables is not yet
4277supported.)
4278
4279* Unified support for hardware watchpoints in all x86 configurations.
4280
4281Most (if not all) native x86 configurations support hardware-assisted
4282breakpoints and watchpoints in a unified manner. This support
4283implements debug register sharing between watchpoints, which allows to
4284put a virtually infinite number of watchpoints on the same address,
4285and also supports watching regions up to 16 bytes with several debug
4286registers.
4287
4288The new maintenance command `maintenance show-debug-regs' toggles
4289debugging print-outs in functions that insert, remove, and test
4290watchpoints and hardware breakpoints.
4291
4292* Changes in the DJGPP native configuration.
4293
4294New command ``info dos sysinfo'' displays assorted information about
4295the CPU, OS, memory, and DPMI server.
4296
4297New commands ``info dos gdt'', ``info dos ldt'', and ``info dos idt''
4298display information about segment descriptors stored in GDT, LDT, and
4299IDT.
4300
4301New commands ``info dos pde'' and ``info dos pte'' display entries
4302from Page Directory and Page Tables (for now works with CWSDPMI only).
4303New command ``info dos address-pte'' displays the Page Table entry for
4304a given linear address.
4305
4306GDB can now pass command lines longer than 126 characters to the
4307program being debugged (requires an update to the libdbg.a library
4308which is part of the DJGPP development kit).
4309
4310DWARF2 debug info is now supported.
4311
6c56c069
EZ
4312It is now possible to `step' and `next' through calls to `longjmp'.
4313
e23194cb
EZ
4314* Changes in documentation.
4315
4316All GDB documentation was converted to GFDL, the GNU Free
4317Documentation License.
4318
4319Tracepoints-related commands are now fully documented in the GDB
4320manual.
4321
4322TUI, the Text-mode User Interface, is now documented in the manual.
4323
4324Tracepoints-related commands are now fully documented in the GDB
4325manual.
4326
4327The "GDB Internals" manual now has an index. It also includes
4328documentation of `ui_out' functions, GDB coding standards, x86
4329hardware watchpoints, and memory region attributes.
4330
5d6640b1
AC
4331* GDB's version number moved to ``version.in''
4332
4333The Makefile variable VERSION has been replaced by the file
4334``version.in''. People creating GDB distributions should update the
4335contents of this file.
4336
1a1d8446
AC
4337* gdba.el deleted
4338
4339GUD support is now a standard part of the EMACS distribution.
139760b7 4340
9debab2f 4341*** Changes in GDB 5.0:
7a292a7a 4342
c63ce875
EZ
4343* Improved support for debugging FP programs on x86 targets
4344
4345Unified and much-improved support for debugging floating-point
4346programs on all x86 targets. In particular, ``info float'' now
4347displays the FP registers in the same format on all x86 targets, with
4348greater level of detail.
4349
4350* Improvements and bugfixes in hardware-assisted watchpoints
4351
4352It is now possible to watch array elements, struct members, and
4353bitfields with hardware-assisted watchpoints. Data-read watchpoints
4354on x86 targets no longer erroneously trigger when the address is
4355written.
4356
4357* Improvements in the native DJGPP version of GDB
4358
4359The distribution now includes all the scripts and auxiliary files
4360necessary to build the native DJGPP version on MS-DOS/MS-Windows
4361machines ``out of the box''.
4362
4363The DJGPP version can now debug programs that use signals. It is
4364possible to catch signals that happened in the debuggee, deliver
4365signals to it, interrupt it with Ctrl-C, etc. (Previously, a signal
4366would kill the program being debugged.) Programs that hook hardware
4367interrupts (keyboard, timer, etc.) can also be debugged.
4368
4369It is now possible to debug DJGPP programs that redirect their
4370standard handles or switch them to raw (as opposed to cooked) mode, or
4371even close them. The command ``run < foo > bar'' works as expected,
4372and ``info terminal'' reports useful information about the debuggee's
4373terminal, including raw/cooked mode, redirection, etc.
4374
4375The DJGPP version now uses termios functions for console I/O, which
4376enables debugging graphics programs. Interrupting GDB with Ctrl-C
4377also works.
4378
4379DOS-style file names with drive letters are now fully supported by
4380GDB.
4381
4382It is now possible to debug DJGPP programs that switch their working
4383directory. It is also possible to rerun the debuggee any number of
4384times without restarting GDB; thus, you can use the same setup,
4385breakpoints, etc. for many debugging sessions.
4386
ed9a39eb
JM
4387* New native configurations
4388
4389ARM GNU/Linux arm*-*-linux*
afc05dd4 4390PowerPC GNU/Linux powerpc-*-linux*
ed9a39eb 4391
7a292a7a
SS
4392* New targets
4393
96baa820 4394Motorola MCore mcore-*-*
adf40b2e
JM
4395x86 VxWorks i[3456]86-*-vxworks*
4396PowerPC VxWorks powerpc-*-vxworks*
7a292a7a
SS
4397TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
4398
085dd6e6
JM
4399* OBSOLETE configurations
4400
4401Altos 3068 m68*-altos-*
4402Convex c1-*-*, c2-*-*
9846de1b 4403Pyramid pyramid-*-*
ed9a39eb 4404ARM RISCix arm-*-* (as host)
104c1213 4405Tahoe tahoe-*-*
7a292a7a 4406
9debab2f
AC
4407Configurations that have been declared obsolete will be commented out,
4408but the code will be left in place. If there is no activity to revive
4409these configurations before the next release of GDB, the sources will
4410be permanently REMOVED.
4411
5330533d
SS
4412* Gould support removed
4413
4414Support for the Gould PowerNode and NP1 has been removed.
4415
bc9e5bbf
AC
4416* New features for SVR4
4417
4418On SVR4 native platforms (such as Solaris), if you attach to a process
4419without first loading a symbol file, GDB will now attempt to locate and
4420load symbols from the running process's executable file.
4421
4422* Many C++ enhancements
4423
4424C++ support has been greatly improved. Overload resolution now works properly
4425in almost all cases. RTTI support is on the way.
4426
adf40b2e
JM
4427* Remote targets can connect to a sub-program
4428
4429A popen(3) style serial-device has been added. This device starts a
4430sub-process (such as a stand-alone simulator) and then communicates
4431with that. The sub-program to run is specified using the syntax
4432``|<program> <args>'' vis:
4433
4434 (gdb) set remotedebug 1
4435 (gdb) target extended-remote |mn10300-elf-sim program-args
4436
43e526b9
JM
4437* MIPS 64 remote protocol
4438
4439A long standing bug in the mips64 remote protocol where by GDB
4440expected certain 32 bit registers (ex SR) to be transfered as 32
4441instead of 64 bits has been fixed.
4442
4443The command ``set remote-mips64-transfers-32bit-regs on'' has been
4444added to provide backward compatibility with older versions of GDB.
4445
96baa820
JM
4446* ``set remotebinarydownload'' replaced by ``set remote X-packet''
4447
4448The command ``set remotebinarydownload'' command has been replaced by
4449``set remote X-packet''. Other commands in ``set remote'' family
4450include ``set remote P-packet''.
4451
11cf8741
JM
4452* Breakpoint commands accept ranges.
4453
4454The breakpoint commands ``enable'', ``disable'', and ``delete'' now
4455accept a range of breakpoints, e.g. ``5-7''. The tracepoint command
4456``tracepoint passcount'' also accepts a range of tracepoints.
4457
7876dd43
DB
4458* ``apropos'' command added.
4459
4460The ``apropos'' command searches through command names and
4461documentation strings, printing out matches, making it much easier to
4462try to find a command that does what you are looking for.
4463
bc9e5bbf
AC
4464* New MI interface
4465
4466A new machine oriented interface (MI) has been added to GDB. This
4467interface is designed for debug environments running GDB as a separate
7162c0ca
EZ
4468process. This is part of the long term libGDB project. See the
4469"GDB/MI" chapter of the GDB manual for further information. It can be
4470enabled by configuring with:
bc9e5bbf
AC
4471
4472 .../configure --enable-gdbmi
4473
c906108c
SS
4474*** Changes in GDB-4.18:
4475
4476* New native configurations
4477
4478HP-UX 10.20 hppa*-*-hpux10.20
4479HP-UX 11.x hppa*-*-hpux11.0*
55241689 4480M68K GNU/Linux m68*-*-linux*
c906108c
SS
4481
4482* New targets
4483
4484Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
4485Intel StrongARM strongarm-*-*
4486Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
4487
4488* OBSOLETE configurations
4489
4490Gould PowerNode, NP1 np1-*-*, pn-*-*
4491
4492Configurations that have been declared obsolete will be commented out,
4493but the code will be left in place. If there is no activity to revive
4494these configurations before the next release of GDB, the sources will
4495be permanently REMOVED.
4496
4497* ANSI/ISO C
4498
4499As a compatibility experiment, GDB's source files buildsym.h and
4500buildsym.c have been converted to pure standard C, no longer
4501containing any K&R compatibility code. We believe that all systems in
4502use today either come with a standard C compiler, or have a GCC port
4503available. If this is not true, please report the affected
4504configuration to bug-gdb@gnu.org immediately. See the README file for
4505information about getting a standard C compiler if you don't have one
4506already.
4507
4508* Readline 2.2
4509
4510GDB now uses readline 2.2.
4511
4512* set extension-language
4513
4514You can now control the mapping between filename extensions and source
4515languages by using the `set extension-language' command. For instance,
4516you can ask GDB to treat .c files as C++ by saying
4517 set extension-language .c c++
4518The command `info extensions' lists all of the recognized extensions
4519and their associated languages.
4520
4521* Setting processor type for PowerPC and RS/6000
4522
4523When GDB is configured for a powerpc*-*-* or an rs6000*-*-* target,
4524you can use the `set processor' command to specify what variant of the
4525PowerPC family you are debugging. The command
4526
4527 set processor NAME
4528
4529sets the PowerPC/RS6000 variant to NAME. GDB knows about the
4530following PowerPC and RS6000 variants:
4531
4532 ppc-uisa PowerPC UISA - a PPC processor as viewed by user-level code
4533 rs6000 IBM RS6000 ("POWER") architecture, user-level view
4534 403 IBM PowerPC 403
4535 403GC IBM PowerPC 403GC
4536 505 Motorola PowerPC 505
4537 860 Motorola PowerPC 860 or 850
4538 601 Motorola PowerPC 601
4539 602 Motorola PowerPC 602
4540 603 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 603 or 603e
4541 604 Motorola PowerPC 604 or 604e
4542 750 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 750 or 750
4543
4544At the moment, this command just tells GDB what to name the
4545special-purpose processor registers. Since almost all the affected
4546registers are inaccessible to user-level programs, this command is
4547only useful for remote debugging in its present form.
4548
4549* HP-UX support
4550
4551Thanks to a major code donation from Hewlett-Packard, GDB now has much
4552more extensive support for HP-UX. Added features include shared
4553library support, kernel threads and hardware watchpoints for 11.00,
4554support for HP's ANSI C and C++ compilers, and a compatibility mode
4555for xdb and dbx commands.
4556
4557* Catchpoints
4558
4559HP's donation includes the new concept of catchpoints, which is a
4560generalization of the old catch command. On HP-UX, it is now possible
4561to catch exec, fork, and vfork, as well as library loading.
4562
4563This means that the existing catch command has changed; its first
4564argument now specifies the type of catch to be set up. See the
4565output of "help catch" for a list of catchpoint types.
4566
4567* Debugging across forks
4568
4569On HP-UX, you can choose which process to debug when a fork() happens
4570in the inferior.
4571
4572* TUI
4573
4574HP has donated a curses-based terminal user interface (TUI). To get
4575it, build with --enable-tui. Although this can be enabled for any
4576configuration, at present it only works for native HP debugging.
4577
4578* GDB remote protocol additions
4579
4580A new protocol packet 'X' that writes binary data is now available.
4581Default behavior is to try 'X', then drop back to 'M' if the stub
4582fails to respond. The settable variable `remotebinarydownload'
4583allows explicit control over the use of 'X'.
4584
4585For 64-bit targets, the memory packets ('M' and 'm') can now contain a
4586full 64-bit address. The command
4587
4588 set remoteaddresssize 32
4589
4590can be used to revert to the old behaviour. For existing remote stubs
4591the change should not be noticed, as the additional address information
4592will be discarded.
4593
4594In order to assist in debugging stubs, you may use the maintenance
4595command `packet' to send any text string to the stub. For instance,
4596
4597 maint packet heythere
4598
4599sends the packet "$heythere#<checksum>". Note that it is very easy to
4600disrupt a debugging session by sending the wrong packet at the wrong
4601time.
4602
4603The compare-sections command allows you to compare section data on the
4604target to what is in the executable file without uploading or
4605downloading, by comparing CRC checksums.
4606
4607* Tracing can collect general expressions
4608
4609You may now collect general expressions at tracepoints. This requires
4610further additions to the target-side stub; see tracepoint.c and
4611doc/agentexpr.texi for further details.
4612
4613* mask-address variable for Mips
4614
4615For Mips targets, you may control the zeroing of the upper 32 bits of
4616a 64-bit address by entering `set mask-address on'. This is mainly
4617of interest to users of embedded R4xxx and R5xxx processors.
4618
4619* Higher serial baud rates
4620
4621GDB's serial code now allows you to specify baud rates 57600, 115200,
4622230400, and 460800 baud. (Note that your host system may not be able
4623to achieve all of these rates.)
4624
4625* i960 simulator
4626
4627The i960 configuration now includes an initial implementation of a
4628builtin simulator, contributed by Jim Wilson.
4629
4630
4631*** Changes in GDB-4.17:
4632
4633* New native configurations
4634
4635Alpha GNU/Linux alpha*-*-linux*
4636Unixware 2.x i[3456]86-unixware2*
4637Irix 6.x mips*-sgi-irix6*
4638PowerPC GNU/Linux powerpc-*-linux*
4639PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
4640Sparc GNU/Linux sparc-*-linux*
4641Motorola sysV68 R3V7.1 m68k-motorola-sysv
4642
4643* New targets
4644
4645Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
4646Hitachi H8/300S h8300*-*-*
4647Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
4648Matsushita MN10300 w/simulator mn10300-*-*
4649MIPS NEC VR4100 mips64*vr4100*{,el}-*-elf*
4650MIPS NEC VR5000 mips64*vr5000*{,el}-*-elf*
4651MIPS Toshiba TX39 mips64*tx39*{,el}-*-elf*
4652Mitsubishi D10V w/simulator d10v-*-*
4653Mitsubishi M32R/D w/simulator m32r-*-elf*
4654Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
4655NEC V850 w/simulator v850-*-*
4656
4657* New debugging protocols
4658
4659ARM with RDI protocol arm*-*-*
4660M68K with dBUG monitor m68*-*-{aout,coff,elf}
4661DDB and LSI variants of PMON protocol mips*-*-*
4662PowerPC with DINK32 monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
4663PowerPC with SDS protocol powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
4664Macraigor OCD (Wiggler) devices powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
4665
4666* DWARF 2
4667
4668All configurations can now understand and use the DWARF 2 debugging
4669format. The choice is automatic, if the symbol file contains DWARF 2
4670information.
4671
4672* Java frontend
4673
4674GDB now includes basic Java language support. This support is
4675only useful with Java compilers that produce native machine code.
4676
4677* solib-absolute-prefix and solib-search-path
4678
4679For SunOS and SVR4 shared libraries, you may now set the prefix for
4680loading absolute shared library symbol files, and the search path for
4681locating non-absolute shared library symbol files.
4682
4683* Live range splitting
4684
4685GDB can now effectively debug code for which GCC has performed live
4686range splitting as part of its optimization. See gdb/doc/LRS for
4687more details on the expected format of the stabs information.
4688
4689* Hurd support
4690
4691GDB's support for the GNU Hurd, including thread debugging, has been
4692updated to work with current versions of the Hurd.
4693
4694* ARM Thumb support
4695
4696GDB's ARM target configuration now handles the ARM7T (Thumb) 16-bit
4697instruction set. ARM GDB automatically detects when Thumb
4698instructions are in use, and adjusts disassembly and backtracing
4699accordingly.
4700
4701* MIPS16 support
4702
4703GDB's MIPS target configurations now handle the MIP16 16-bit
4704instruction set.
4705
4706* Overlay support
4707
4708GDB now includes support for overlays; if an executable has been
4709linked such that multiple sections are based at the same address, GDB
4710will decide which section to use for symbolic info. You can choose to
4711control the decision manually, using overlay commands, or implement
4712additional target-side support and use "overlay load-target" to bring
4713in the overlay mapping. Do "help overlay" for more detail.
4714
4715* info symbol
4716
4717The command "info symbol <address>" displays information about
4718the symbol at the specified address.
4719
4720* Trace support
4721
4722The standard remote protocol now includes an extension that allows
4723asynchronous collection and display of trace data. This requires
4724extensive support in the target-side debugging stub. Tracing mode
4725includes a new interaction mode in GDB and new commands: see the
4726file tracepoint.c for more details.
4727
4728* MIPS simulator
4729
4730Configurations for embedded MIPS now include a simulator contributed
4731by Cygnus Solutions. The simulator supports the instruction sets
4732of most MIPS variants.
4733
4734* Sparc simulator
4735
4736Sparc configurations may now include the ERC32 simulator contributed
4737by the European Space Agency. The simulator is not built into
4738Sparc targets by default; configure with --enable-sim to include it.
4739
4740* set architecture
4741
4742For target configurations that may include multiple variants of a
4743basic architecture (such as MIPS and SH), you may now set the
4744architecture explicitly. "set arch" sets, "info arch" lists
4745the possible architectures.
4746
4747*** Changes in GDB-4.16:
4748
4749* New native configurations
4750
4751Windows 95, x86 Windows NT i[345]86-*-cygwin32
4752M68K NetBSD m68k-*-netbsd*
4753PowerPC AIX 4.x powerpc-*-aix*
4754PowerPC MacOS powerpc-*-macos*
4755PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
4756RS/6000 AIX 4.x rs6000-*-aix4*
4757
4758* New targets
4759
4760ARM with RDP protocol arm-*-*
4761I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
4762MIPS VxWorks mips*-*-vxworks*
4763MIPS VR4300 with PMON mips64*vr4300{,el}-*-elf*
4764PowerPC with PPCBUG monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi*
4765Hitachi SH3 sh-*-*
4766Matra Sparclet sparclet-*-*
4767
4768* PowerPC simulator
4769
4770The powerpc-eabi configuration now includes the PSIM simulator,
4771contributed by Andrew Cagney, with assistance from Mike Meissner.
4772PSIM is a very elaborate model of the PowerPC, including not only
4773basic instruction set execution, but also details of execution unit
4774performance and I/O hardware. See sim/ppc/README for more details.
4775
4776* Solaris 2.5
4777
4778GDB now works with Solaris 2.5.
4779
4780* Windows 95/NT native
4781
4782GDB will now work as a native debugger on Windows 95 and Windows NT.
4783To build it from source, you must use the "gnu-win32" environment,
4784which uses a DLL to emulate enough of Unix to run the GNU tools.
4785Further information, binaries, and sources are available at
4786ftp.cygnus.com, under pub/gnu-win32.
4787
4788* dont-repeat command
4789
4790If a user-defined command includes the command `dont-repeat', then the
4791command will not be repeated if the user just types return. This is
4792useful if the command is time-consuming to run, so that accidental
4793extra keystrokes don't run the same command many times.
4794
4795* Send break instead of ^C
4796
4797The standard remote protocol now includes an option to send a break
4798rather than a ^C to the target in order to interrupt it. By default,
4799GDB will send ^C; to send a break, set the variable `remotebreak' to 1.
4800
4801* Remote protocol timeout
4802
4803The standard remote protocol includes a new variable `remotetimeout'
4804that allows you to set the number of seconds before GDB gives up trying
4805to read from the target. The default value is 2.
4806
4807* Automatic tracking of dynamic object loading (HPUX and Solaris only)
4808
4809By default GDB will automatically keep track of objects as they are
4810loaded and unloaded by the dynamic linker. By using the command `set
4811stop-on-solib-events 1' you can arrange for GDB to stop the inferior
4812when shared library events occur, thus allowing you to set breakpoints
4813in shared libraries which are explicitly loaded by the inferior.
4814
4815Note this feature does not work on hpux8. On hpux9 you must link
4816/usr/lib/end.o into your program. This feature should work
4817automatically on hpux10.
4818
4819* Irix 5.x hardware watchpoint support
4820
4821Irix 5 configurations now support the use of hardware watchpoints.
4822
4823* Mips protocol "SYN garbage limit"
4824
4825When debugging a Mips target using the `target mips' protocol, you
4826may set the number of characters that GDB will ignore by setting
4827the `syn-garbage-limit'. A value of -1 means that GDB will ignore
4828every character. The default value is 1050.
4829
4830* Recording and replaying remote debug sessions
4831
4832If you set `remotelogfile' to the name of a file, gdb will write to it
4833a recording of a remote debug session. This recording may then be
4834replayed back to gdb using "gdbreplay". See gdbserver/README for
4835details. This is useful when you have a problem with GDB while doing
4836remote debugging; you can make a recording of the session and send it
4837to someone else, who can then recreate the problem.
4838
4839* Speedups for remote debugging
4840
4841GDB includes speedups for downloading and stepping MIPS systems using
4842the IDT monitor, fast downloads to the Hitachi SH E7000 emulator,
4843and more efficient S-record downloading.
4844
4845* Memory use reductions and statistics collection
4846
4847GDB now uses less memory and reports statistics about memory usage.
4848Try the `maint print statistics' command, for example.
4849
4850*** Changes in GDB-4.15:
4851
4852* Psymtabs for XCOFF
4853
4854The symbol reader for AIX GDB now uses partial symbol tables. This
4855can greatly improve startup time, especially for large executables.
4856
4857* Remote targets use caching
4858
4859Remote targets now use a data cache to speed up communication with the
4860remote side. The data cache could lead to incorrect results because
4861it doesn't know about volatile variables, thus making it impossible to
4862debug targets which use memory mapped I/O devices. `set remotecache
4863off' turns the the data cache off.
4864
4865* Remote targets may have threads
4866
4867The standard remote protocol now includes support for multiple threads
4868in the target system, using new protocol commands 'H' and 'T'. See
4869gdb/remote.c for details.
4870
4871* NetROM support
4872
4873If GDB is configured with `--enable-netrom', then it will include
4874support for the NetROM ROM emulator from XLNT Designs. The NetROM
4875acts as though it is a bank of ROM on the target board, but you can
4876write into it over the network. GDB's support consists only of
4877support for fast loading into the emulated ROM; to debug, you must use
4878another protocol, such as standard remote protocol. The usual
4879sequence is something like
4880
4881 target nrom <netrom-hostname>
4882 load <prog>
4883 target remote <netrom-hostname>:1235
4884
4885* Macintosh host
4886
4887GDB now includes support for the Apple Macintosh, as a host only. It
4888may be run as either an MPW tool or as a standalone application, and
4889it can debug through the serial port. All the usual GDB commands are
4890available, but to the target command, you must supply "serial" as the
4891device type instead of "/dev/ttyXX". See mpw-README in the main
4892directory for more information on how to build. The MPW configuration
4893scripts */mpw-config.in support only a few targets, and only the
4894mips-idt-ecoff target has been tested.
4895
4896* Autoconf
4897
4898GDB configuration now uses autoconf. This is not user-visible,
4899but does simplify configuration and building.
4900
4901* hpux10
4902
4903GDB now supports hpux10.
4904
4905*** Changes in GDB-4.14:
4906
4907* New native configurations
4908
4909x86 FreeBSD i[345]86-*-freebsd
4910x86 NetBSD i[345]86-*-netbsd
4911NS32k NetBSD ns32k-*-netbsd
4912Sparc NetBSD sparc-*-netbsd
4913
4914* New targets
4915
4916A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
4917HP PA PRO embedded (WinBond W89K & Oki OP50N) hppa*-*-pro*
4918CPU32 EST-300 emulator m68*-*-est*
4919PowerPC ELF powerpc-*-elf
4920WDC 65816 w65-*-*
4921
4922* Alpha OSF/1 support for procfs
4923
4924GDB now supports procfs under OSF/1-2.x and higher, which makes it
4925possible to attach to running processes. As the mounting of the /proc
4926filesystem is optional on the Alpha, GDB automatically determines
4927the availability of /proc during startup. This can lead to problems
4928if /proc is unmounted after GDB has been started.
4929
4930* Arguments to user-defined commands
4931
4932User commands may accept up to 10 arguments separated by whitespace.
4933Arguments are accessed within the user command via $arg0..$arg9. A
4934trivial example:
4935define adder
4936 print $arg0 + $arg1 + $arg2
4937
4938To execute the command use:
4939adder 1 2 3
4940
4941Defines the command "adder" which prints the sum of its three arguments.
4942Note the arguments are text substitutions, so they may reference variables,
4943use complex expressions, or even perform inferior function calls.
4944
4945* New `if' and `while' commands
4946
4947This makes it possible to write more sophisticated user-defined
4948commands. Both commands take a single argument, which is the
4949expression to evaluate, and must be followed by the commands to
4950execute, one per line, if the expression is nonzero, the list being
4951terminated by the word `end'. The `if' command list may include an
4952`else' word, which causes the following commands to be executed only
4953if the expression is zero.
4954
4955* Fortran source language mode
4956
4957GDB now includes partial support for Fortran 77. It will recognize
4958Fortran programs and can evaluate a subset of Fortran expressions, but
4959variables and functions may not be handled correctly. GDB will work
4960with G77, but does not yet know much about symbols emitted by other
4961Fortran compilers.
4962
4963* Better HPUX support
4964
4965Most debugging facilities now work on dynamic executables for HPPAs
4966running hpux9 or later. You can attach to running dynamically linked
4967processes, but by default the dynamic libraries will be read-only, so
4968for instance you won't be able to put breakpoints in them. To change
4969that behavior do the following before running the program:
4970
4971 adb -w a.out
4972 __dld_flags?W 0x5
4973 control-d
4974
4975This will cause the libraries to be mapped private and read-write.
4976To revert to the normal behavior, do this:
4977
4978 adb -w a.out
4979 __dld_flags?W 0x4
4980 control-d
4981
4982You cannot set breakpoints or examine data in the library until after
4983the library is loaded if the function/data symbols do not have
4984external linkage.
4985
4986GDB can now also read debug symbols produced by the HP C compiler on
4987HPPAs (sorry, no C++, Fortran or 68k support).
4988
4989* Target byte order now dynamically selectable
4990
4991You can choose which byte order to use with a target system, via the
4992commands "set endian big" and "set endian little", and you can see the
4993current setting by using "show endian". You can also give the command
4994"set endian auto", in which case GDB will use the byte order
4995associated with the executable. Currently, only embedded MIPS
4996configurations support dynamic selection of target byte order.
4997
4998* New DOS host serial code
4999
5000This version uses DPMI interrupts to handle buffered I/O, so you
5001no longer need to run asynctsr when debugging boards connected to
5002a PC's serial port.
5003
5004*** Changes in GDB-4.13:
5005
5006* New "complete" command
5007
5008This lists all the possible completions for the rest of the line, if it
5009were to be given as a command itself. This is intended for use by emacs.
5010
5011* Trailing space optional in prompt
5012
5013"set prompt" no longer adds a space for you after the prompt you set. This
5014allows you to set a prompt which ends in a space or one that does not.
5015
5016* Breakpoint hit counts
5017
5018"info break" now displays a count of the number of times the breakpoint
5019has been hit. This is especially useful in conjunction with "ignore"; you
5020can ignore a large number of breakpoint hits, look at the breakpoint info
5021to see how many times the breakpoint was hit, then run again, ignoring one
5022less than that number, and this will get you quickly to the last hit of
5023that breakpoint.
5024
5025* Ability to stop printing at NULL character
5026
5027"set print null-stop" will cause GDB to stop printing the characters of
5028an array when the first NULL is encountered. This is useful when large
5029arrays actually contain only short strings.
5030
5031* Shared library breakpoints
5032
5033In SunOS 4.x, SVR4, and Alpha OSF/1 configurations, you can now set
5034breakpoints in shared libraries before the executable is run.
5035
5036* Hardware watchpoints
5037
5038There is a new hardware breakpoint for the watch command for sparclite
5039targets. See gdb/sparclite/hw_breakpoint.note.
5040
55241689 5041Hardware watchpoints are also now supported under GNU/Linux.
c906108c
SS
5042
5043* Annotations
5044
5045Annotations have been added. These are for use with graphical interfaces,
5046and are still experimental. Currently only gdba.el uses these.
5047
5048* Improved Irix 5 support
5049
5050GDB now works properly with Irix 5.2.
5051
5052* Improved HPPA support
5053
5054GDB now works properly with the latest GCC and GAS.
5055
5056* New native configurations
5057
5058Sequent PTX4 i[34]86-sequent-ptx4
5059HPPA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
5060Atari TT running SVR4 m68*-*-sysv4*
5061RS/6000 LynxOS rs6000-*-lynxos*
5062
5063* New targets
5064
5065OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
5066MIPS R4000 mips64*{,el}-*-{ecoff,elf}
5067Sparc64 sparc64-*-*
5068
5069* Hitachi SH7000 and E7000-PC ICE support
5070
5071There is now support for communicating with the Hitachi E7000-PC ICE.
5072This is available automatically when GDB is configured for the SH.
5073
5074* Fixes
5075
5076As usual, a variety of small fixes and improvements, both generic
5077and configuration-specific. See the ChangeLog for more detail.
5078
5079*** Changes in GDB-4.12:
5080
5081* Irix 5 is now supported
5082
5083* HPPA support
5084
5085GDB-4.12 on the HPPA has a number of changes which make it unable
5086to debug the output from the currently released versions of GCC and
5087GAS (GCC 2.5.8 and GAS-2.2 or PAGAS-1.36). Until the next major release
5088of GCC and GAS, versions of these tools designed to work with GDB-4.12
5089can be retrieved via anonymous ftp from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist.
5090
5091
5092*** Changes in GDB-4.11:
5093
5094* User visible changes:
5095
5096* Remote Debugging
5097
5098The "set remotedebug" option is now consistent between the mips remote
5099target, remote targets using the gdb-specific protocol, UDI (AMD's
5100debug protocol for the 29k) and the 88k bug monitor. It is now an
5101integer specifying a debug level (normally 0 or 1, but 2 means more
5102debugging info for the mips target).
5103
5104* DEC Alpha native support
5105
5106GDB now works on the DEC Alpha. GCC 2.4.5 does not produce usable
5107debug info, but GDB works fairly well with the DEC compiler and should
5108work with a future GCC release. See the README file for a few
5109Alpha-specific notes.
5110
5111* Preliminary thread implementation
5112
5113GDB now has preliminary thread support for both SGI/Irix and LynxOS.
5114
5115* LynxOS native and target support for 386
5116
5117This release has been hosted on LynxOS 2.2, and also can be configured
5118to remotely debug programs running under LynxOS (see gdb/gdbserver/README
5119for details).
5120
5121* Improvements in C++ mangling/demangling.
5122
5123This release has much better g++ debugging, specifically in name
5124mangling/demangling, virtual function calls, print virtual table,
5125call methods, ...etc.
5126
5127*** Changes in GDB-4.10:
5128
5129 * User visible changes:
5130
5131Remote debugging using the GDB-specific (`target remote') protocol now
5132supports the `load' command. This is only useful if you have some
5133other way of getting the stub to the target system, and you can put it
5134somewhere in memory where it won't get clobbered by the download.
5135
5136Filename completion now works.
5137
5138When run under emacs mode, the "info line" command now causes the
5139arrow to point to the line specified. Also, "info line" prints
5140addresses in symbolic form (as well as hex).
5141
5142All vxworks based targets now support a user settable option, called
5143vxworks-timeout. This option represents the number of seconds gdb
5144should wait for responses to rpc's. You might want to use this if
5145your vxworks target is, perhaps, a slow software simulator or happens
5146to be on the far side of a thin network line.
5147
5148 * DEC alpha support
5149
5150This release contains support for using a DEC alpha as a GDB host for
5151cross debugging. Native alpha debugging is not supported yet.
5152
5153
5154*** Changes in GDB-4.9:
5155
5156 * Testsuite
5157
5158This is the first GDB release which is accompanied by a matching testsuite.
5159The testsuite requires installation of dejagnu, which should be available
5160via ftp from most sites that carry GNU software.
5161
5162 * C++ demangling
5163
5164'Cfront' style demangling has had its name changed to 'ARM' style, to
5165emphasize that it was written from the specifications in the C++ Annotated
5166Reference Manual, not necessarily to be compatible with AT&T cfront. Despite
5167disclaimers, it still generated too much confusion with users attempting to
5168use gdb with AT&T cfront.
5169
5170 * Simulators
5171
5172GDB now uses a standard remote interface to a simulator library.
5173So far, the library contains simulators for the Zilog Z8001/2, the
5174Hitachi H8/300, H8/500 and Super-H.
5175
5176 * New targets supported
5177
5178H8/300 simulator h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
5179H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
5180SH simulator sh-hitachi-hms or sh
5181Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
5182IDT MIPS board over serial line mips-idt-ecoff
5183
5184Cross-debugging to GO32 targets is supported. It requires a custom
5185version of the i386-stub.c module which is integrated with the
5186GO32 memory extender.
5187
5188 * New remote protocols
5189
5190MIPS remote debugging protocol.
5191
5192 * New source languages supported
5193
5194This version includes preliminary support for Chill, a Pascal like language
5195used by telecommunications companies. Chill support is also being integrated
5196into the GNU compiler, but we don't know when it will be publically available.
5197
5198
5199*** Changes in GDB-4.8:
5200
5201 * HP Precision Architecture supported
5202
5203GDB now supports HP PA-RISC machines running HPUX. A preliminary
5204version of this support was available as a set of patches from the
5205University of Utah. GDB does not support debugging of programs
5206compiled with the HP compiler, because HP will not document their file
5207format. Instead, you must use GCC (version 2.3.2 or later) and PA-GAS
5208(as available from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist/pa-gas.u4.tar.Z).
5209
5210Many problems in the preliminary version have been fixed.
5211
5212 * Faster and better demangling
5213
5214We have improved template demangling and fixed numerous bugs in the GNU style
5215demangler. It can now handle type modifiers such as `static' or `const'. Wide
5216character types (wchar_t) are now supported. Demangling of each symbol is now
5217only done once, and is cached when the symbol table for a file is read in.
5218This results in a small increase in memory usage for C programs, a moderate
5219increase in memory usage for C++ programs, and a fantastic speedup in
5220symbol lookups.
5221
5222`Cfront' style demangling still doesn't work with AT&T cfront. It was written
5223from the specifications in the Annotated Reference Manual, which AT&T's
5224compiler does not actually implement.
5225
5226 * G++ multiple inheritance compiler problem
5227
5228In the 2.3.2 release of gcc/g++, how the compiler resolves multiple
5229inheritance lattices was reworked to properly discover ambiguities. We
5230recently found an example which causes this new algorithm to fail in a
5231very subtle way, producing bad debug information for those classes.
5232The file 'gcc.patch' (in this directory) can be applied to gcc to
5233circumvent the problem. A future GCC release will contain a complete
5234fix.
5235
5236The previous G++ debug info problem (mentioned below for the gdb-4.7
5237release) is fixed in gcc version 2.3.2.
5238
5239 * Improved configure script
5240
5241The `configure' script will now attempt to guess your system type if
5242you don't supply a host system type. The old scheme of supplying a
5243host system triplet is preferable over using this. All the magic is
5244done in the new `config.guess' script. Examine it for details.
5245
5246We have also brought our configure script much more in line with the FSF's
5247version. It now supports the --with-xxx options. In particular,
5248`--with-minimal-bfd' can be used to make the GDB binary image smaller.
5249The resulting GDB will not be able to read arbitrary object file formats --
5250only the format ``expected'' to be used on the configured target system.
5251We hope to make this the default in a future release.
5252
5253 * Documentation improvements
5254
5255There's new internal documentation on how to modify GDB, and how to
5256produce clean changes to the code. We implore people to read it
5257before submitting changes.
5258
5259The GDB manual uses new, sexy Texinfo conditionals, rather than arcane
5260M4 macros. The new texinfo.tex is provided in this release. Pre-built
5261`info' files are also provided. To build `info' files from scratch,
5262you will need the latest `makeinfo' release, which will be available in
5263a future texinfo-X.Y release.
5264
5265*NOTE* The new texinfo.tex can cause old versions of TeX to hang.
5266We're not sure exactly which versions have this problem, but it has
5267been seen in 3.0. We highly recommend upgrading to TeX version 3.141
5268or better. If that isn't possible, there is a patch in
5269`texinfo/tex3patch' that will modify `texinfo/texinfo.tex' to work
5270around this problem.
5271
5272 * New features
5273
5274GDB now supports array constants that can be used in expressions typed in by
5275the user. The syntax is `{element, element, ...}'. Ie: you can now type
5276`print {1, 2, 3}', and it will build up an array in memory malloc'd in
5277the target program.
5278
5279The new directory `gdb/sparclite' contains a program that demonstrates
5280how the sparc-stub.c remote stub runs on a Fujitsu SPARClite processor.
5281
5282 * New native hosts supported
5283
5284HP/PA-RISC under HPUX using GNU tools hppa1.1-hp-hpux
5285386 CPUs running SCO Unix 3.2v4 i386-unknown-sco3.2v4
5286
5287 * New targets supported
5288
5289AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi or udi29k
5290
5291 * New file formats supported
5292
5293BFD now supports reading HP/PA-RISC executables (SOM file format?),
5294HPUX core files, and SCO 3.2v2 core files.
5295
5296 * Major bug fixes
5297
5298Attaching to processes now works again; thanks for the many bug reports.
5299
5300We have also stomped on a bunch of core dumps caused by
5301printf_filtered("%s") problems.
5302
5303We eliminated a copyright problem on the rpc and ptrace header files
5304for VxWorks, which was discovered at the last minute during the 4.7
5305release. You should now be able to build a VxWorks GDB.
5306
5307You can now interrupt gdb while an attached process is running. This
5308will cause the attached process to stop, and give control back to GDB.
5309
5310We fixed problems caused by using too many file descriptors
5311for reading symbols from object files and libraries. This was
5312especially a problem for programs that used many (~100) shared
5313libraries.
5314
5315The `step' command now only enters a subroutine if there is line number
5316information for the subroutine. Otherwise it acts like the `next'
5317command. Previously, `step' would enter subroutines if there was
5318any debugging information about the routine. This avoids problems
5319when using `cc -g1' on MIPS machines.
5320
5321 * Internal improvements
5322
5323GDB's internal interfaces have been improved to make it easier to support
5324debugging of multiple languages in the future.
5325
5326GDB now uses a common structure for symbol information internally.
5327Minimal symbols (derived from linkage symbols in object files), partial
5328symbols (from a quick scan of debug information), and full symbols
5329contain a common subset of information, making it easier to write
5330shared code that handles any of them.
5331
5332 * New command line options
5333
5334We now accept --silent as an alias for --quiet.
5335
5336 * Mmalloc licensing
5337
5338The memory-mapped-malloc library is now licensed under the GNU Library
5339General Public License.
5340
5341*** Changes in GDB-4.7:
5342
5343 * Host/native/target split
5344
5345GDB has had some major internal surgery to untangle the support for
5346hosts and remote targets. Now, when you configure GDB for a remote
5347target, it will no longer load in all of the support for debugging
5348local programs on the host. When fully completed and tested, this will
5349ensure that arbitrary host/target combinations are possible.
5350
5351The primary conceptual shift is to separate the non-portable code in
5352GDB into three categories. Host specific code is required any time GDB
5353is compiled on that host, regardless of the target. Target specific
5354code relates to the peculiarities of the target, but can be compiled on
5355any host. Native specific code is everything else: it can only be
5356built when the host and target are the same system. Child process
5357handling and core file support are two common `native' examples.
5358
5359GDB's use of /proc for controlling Unix child processes is now cleaner.
5360It has been split out into a single module under the `target_ops' vector,
5361plus two native-dependent functions for each system that uses /proc.
5362
5363 * New hosts supported
5364
5365HP/Apollo 68k (under the BSD domain) m68k-apollo-bsd or apollo68bsd
5366386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
5367386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or i386sco
5368
5369 * New targets supported
5370
5371Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
537268030 and CPU32 m68030-*-*, m68332-*-*
5373
5374 * New native hosts supported
5375
5376386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
5377 (386bsd is not well tested yet)
5378386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or sco
5379
5380 * New file formats supported
5381
5382BFD now supports COFF files for the Zilog Z8000 microprocessor. It
5383supports reading of `a.out.adobe' object files, which are an a.out
5384format extended with minimal information about multiple sections.
5385
5386 * New commands
5387
5388`show copying' is the same as the old `info copying'.
5389`show warranty' is the same as `info warrantee'.
5390These were renamed for consistency. The old commands continue to work.
5391
5392`info handle' is a new alias for `info signals'.
5393
5394You can now define pre-command hooks, which attach arbitrary command
5395scripts to any command. The commands in the hook will be executed
5396prior to the user's command. You can also create a hook which will be
5397executed whenever the program stops. See gdb.texinfo.
5398
5399 * C++ improvements
5400
5401We now deal with Cfront style name mangling, and can even extract type
5402info from mangled symbols. GDB can automatically figure out which
5403symbol mangling style your C++ compiler uses.
5404
5405Calling of methods and virtual functions has been improved as well.
5406
5407 * Major bug fixes
5408
5409The crash that occured when debugging Sun Ansi-C compiled binaries is
5410fixed. This was due to mishandling of the extra N_SO stabs output
5411by the compiler.
5412
5413We also finally got Ultrix 4.2 running in house, and fixed core file
5414support, with help from a dozen people on the net.
5415
5416John M. Farrell discovered that the reason that single-stepping was so
5417slow on all of the Mips based platforms (primarily SGI and DEC) was
5418that we were trying to demangle and lookup a symbol used for internal
5419purposes on every instruction that was being stepped through. Changing
5420the name of that symbol so that it couldn't be mistaken for a C++
5421mangled symbol sped things up a great deal.
5422
5423Rich Pixley sped up symbol lookups in general by getting much smarter
5424about when C++ symbol mangling is necessary. This should make symbol
5425completion (TAB on the command line) much faster. It's not as fast as
5426we'd like, but it's significantly faster than gdb-4.6.
5427
5428 * AMD 29k support
5429
5430A new user controllable variable 'call_scratch_address' can
5431specify the location of a scratch area to be used when GDB
5432calls a function in the target. This is necessary because the
5433usual method of putting the scratch area on the stack does not work
5434in systems that have separate instruction and data spaces.
5435
5436We integrated changes to support the 29k UDI (Universal Debugger
5437Interface), but discovered at the last minute that we didn't have all
5438of the appropriate copyright paperwork. We are working with AMD to
5439resolve this, and hope to have it available soon.
5440
5441 * Remote interfaces
5442
5443We have sped up the remote serial line protocol, especially for targets
5444with lots of registers. It now supports a new `expedited status' ('T')
5445message which can be used in place of the existing 'S' status message.
5446This allows the remote stub to send only the registers that GDB
5447needs to make a quick decision about single-stepping or conditional
5448breakpoints, eliminating the need to fetch the entire register set for
5449each instruction being stepped through.
5450
5451The GDB remote serial protocol now implements a write-through cache for
5452registers, only re-reading the registers if the target has run.
5453
5454There is also a new remote serial stub for SPARC processors. You can
5455find it in gdb-4.7/gdb/sparc-stub.c. This was written to support the
5456Fujitsu SPARClite processor, but will run on any stand-alone SPARC
5457processor with a serial port.
5458
5459 * Configuration
5460
5461Configure.in files have become much easier to read and modify. A new
5462`table driven' format makes it more obvious what configurations are
5463supported, and what files each one uses.
5464
5465 * Library changes
5466
5467There is a new opcodes library which will eventually contain all of the
5468disassembly routines and opcode tables. At present, it only contains
5469Sparc and Z8000 routines. This will allow the assembler, debugger, and
5470disassembler (binutils/objdump) to share these routines.
5471
5472The libiberty library is now copylefted under the GNU Library General
5473Public License. This allows more liberal use, and was done so libg++
5474can use it. This makes no difference to GDB, since the Library License
5475grants all the rights from the General Public License.
5476
5477 * Documentation
5478
5479The file gdb-4.7/gdb/doc/stabs.texinfo is a (relatively) complete
5480reference to the stabs symbol info used by the debugger. It is (as far
5481as we know) the only published document on this fascinating topic. We
5482encourage you to read it, compare it to the stabs information on your
5483system, and send improvements on the document in general (to
5484bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu).
5485
5486And, of course, many bugs have been fixed.
5487
5488
5489*** Changes in GDB-4.6:
5490
5491 * Better support for C++ function names
5492
5493GDB now accepts as input the "demangled form" of C++ overloaded function
5494names and member function names, and can do command completion on such names
5495(using TAB, TAB-TAB, and ESC-?). The names have to be quoted with a pair of
5496single quotes. Examples are 'func (int, long)' and 'obj::operator==(obj&)'.
5497Make use of command completion, it is your friend.
5498
5499GDB also now accepts a variety of C++ mangled symbol formats. They are
5500the GNU g++ style, the Cfront (ARM) style, and the Lucid (lcc) style.
5501You can tell GDB which format to use by doing a 'set demangle-style {gnu,
5502lucid, cfront, auto}'. 'gnu' is the default. Do a 'set demangle-style foo'
5503for the list of formats.
5504
5505 * G++ symbol mangling problem
5506
5507Recent versions of gcc have a bug in how they emit debugging information for
5508C++ methods (when using dbx-style stabs). The file 'gcc.patch' (in this
5509directory) can be applied to gcc to fix the problem. Alternatively, if you
5510can't fix gcc, you can #define GCC_MANGLE_BUG when compling gdb/symtab.c. The
5511usual symptom is difficulty with setting breakpoints on methods. GDB complains
5512about the method being non-existent. (We believe that version 2.2.2 of GCC has
5513this problem.)
5514
5515 * New 'maintenance' command
5516
5517All of the commands related to hacking GDB internals have been moved out of
5518the main command set, and now live behind the 'maintenance' command. This
5519can also be abbreviated as 'mt'. The following changes were made:
5520
5521 dump-me -> maintenance dump-me
5522 info all-breakpoints -> maintenance info breakpoints
5523 printmsyms -> maintenance print msyms
5524 printobjfiles -> maintenance print objfiles
5525 printpsyms -> maintenance print psymbols
5526 printsyms -> maintenance print symbols
5527
5528The following commands are new:
5529
5530 maintenance demangle Call internal GDB demangler routine to
5531 demangle a C++ link name and prints the result.
5532 maintenance print type Print a type chain for a given symbol
5533
5534 * Change to .gdbinit file processing
5535
5536We now read the $HOME/.gdbinit file before processing the argv arguments
5537(e.g. reading symbol files or core files). This allows global parameters to
5538be set, which will apply during the symbol reading. The ./.gdbinit is still
5539read after argv processing.
5540
5541 * New hosts supported
5542
5543Solaris-2.0 !!! sparc-sun-solaris2 or sun4sol2
5544
55241689 5545GNU/Linux support i386-unknown-linux or linux
c906108c
SS
5546
5547We are also including code to support the HP/PA running BSD and HPUX. This
5548is almost guaranteed not to work, as we didn't have time to test or build it
5549for this release. We are including it so that the more adventurous (or
5550masochistic) of you can play with it. We also had major problems with the
5551fact that the compiler that we got from HP doesn't support the -g option.
5552It costs extra.
5553
5554 * New targets supported
5555
5556Hitachi H8/300 h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
5557
5558 * More smarts about finding #include files
5559
5560GDB now remembers the compilation directory for all include files, and for
5561all files from which C is generated (like yacc and lex sources). This
5562greatly improves GDB's ability to find yacc/lex sources, and include files,
5563especially if you are debugging your program from a directory different from
5564the one that contains your sources.
5565
5566We also fixed a bug which caused difficulty with listing and setting
5567breakpoints in include files which contain C code. (In the past, you had to
5568try twice in order to list an include file that you hadn't looked at before.)
5569
5570 * Interesting infernals change
5571
5572GDB now deals with arbitrary numbers of sections, where the symbols for each
5573section must be relocated relative to that section's landing place in the
5574target's address space. This work was needed to support ELF with embedded
5575stabs used by Solaris-2.0.
5576
5577 * Bug fixes (of course!)
5578
5579There have been loads of fixes for the following things:
5580 mips, rs6000, 29k/udi, m68k, g++, type handling, elf/dwarf, m88k,
5581 i960, stabs, DOS(GO32), procfs, etc...
5582
5583See the ChangeLog for details.
5584
5585*** Changes in GDB-4.5:
5586
5587 * New machines supported (host and target)
5588
5589IBM RS6000 running AIX rs6000-ibm-aix or rs6000
5590
5591SGI Irix-4.x mips-sgi-irix4 or iris4
5592
5593 * New malloc package
5594
5595GDB now uses a new memory manager called mmalloc, based on gmalloc.
5596Mmalloc is capable of handling mutiple heaps of memory. It is also
5597capable of saving a heap to a file, and then mapping it back in later.
5598This can be used to greatly speedup the startup of GDB by using a
5599pre-parsed symbol table which lives in a mmalloc managed heap. For
5600more details, please read mmalloc/mmalloc.texi.
5601
5602 * info proc
5603
5604The 'info proc' command (SVR4 only) has been enhanced quite a bit. See
5605'help info proc' for details.
5606
5607 * MIPS ecoff symbol table format
5608
5609The code that reads MIPS symbol table format is now supported on all hosts.
5610Thanks to MIPS for releasing the sym.h and symconst.h files to make this
5611possible.
5612
5613 * File name changes for MS-DOS
5614
5615Many files in the config directories have been renamed to make it easier to
5616support GDB on MS-DOSe systems (which have very restrictive file name
5617conventions :-( ). MS-DOSe host support (under DJ Delorie's GO32
5618environment) is close to working but has some remaining problems. Note
5619that debugging of DOS programs is not supported, due to limitations
5620in the ``operating system'', but it can be used to host cross-debugging.
5621
5622 * Cross byte order fixes
5623
5624Many fixes have been made to support cross debugging of Sparc and MIPS
5625targets from hosts whose byte order differs.
5626
5627 * New -mapped and -readnow options
5628
5629If memory-mapped files are available on your system through the 'mmap'
5630system call, you can use the -mapped option on the `file' or
5631`symbol-file' commands to cause GDB to write the symbols from your
5632program into a reusable file. If the program you are debugging is
5633called `/path/fred', the mapped symbol file will be `./fred.syms'.
5634Future GDB debugging sessions will notice the presence of this file,
5635and will quickly map in symbol information from it, rather than reading
5636the symbol table from the executable program. Using the '-mapped'
5637option in a GDB `file' or `symbol-file' command has the same effect as
5638starting GDB with the '-mapped' command-line option.
5639
5640You can cause GDB to read the entire symbol table immediately by using
5641the '-readnow' option with any of the commands that load symbol table
5642information (or on the GDB command line). This makes the command
5643slower, but makes future operations faster.
5644
5645The -mapped and -readnow options are typically combined in order to
5646build a `fred.syms' file that contains complete symbol information.
5647A simple GDB invocation to do nothing but build a `.syms' file for future
5648use is:
5649
5650 gdb -batch -nx -mapped -readnow programname
5651
5652The `.syms' file is specific to the host machine on which GDB is run.
5653It holds an exact image of GDB's internal symbol table. It cannot be
5654shared across multiple host platforms.
5655
5656 * longjmp() handling
5657
5658GDB is now capable of stepping and nexting over longjmp(), _longjmp(), and
5659siglongjmp() without losing control. This feature has not yet been ported to
5660all systems. It currently works on many 386 platforms, all MIPS-based
5661platforms (SGI, DECstation, etc), and Sun3/4.
5662
5663 * Solaris 2.0
5664
5665Preliminary work has been put in to support the new Solaris OS from Sun. At
5666this time, it can control and debug processes, but it is not capable of
5667reading symbols.
5668
5669 * Bug fixes
5670
5671As always, many many bug fixes. The major areas were with g++, and mipsread.
5672People using the MIPS-based platforms should experience fewer mysterious
5673crashes and trashed symbol tables.
5674
5675*** Changes in GDB-4.4:
5676
5677 * New machines supported (host and target)
5678
5679SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
5680 (except core files)
5681BSD Reno on Vax vax-dec-bsd
5682Ultrix on Vax vax-dec-ultrix
5683
5684 * New machines supported (target)
5685
5686AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
5687
5688 * C++ support
5689
5690GDB continues to improve its handling of C++. `References' work better.
5691The demangler has also been improved, and now deals with symbols mangled as
5692per the Annotated C++ Reference Guide.
5693
5694GDB also now handles `stabs' symbol information embedded in MIPS
5695`ecoff' symbol tables. Since the ecoff format was not easily
5696extensible to handle new languages such as C++, this appeared to be a
5697good way to put C++ debugging info into MIPS binaries. This option
5698will be supported in the GNU C compiler, version 2, when it is
5699released.
5700
5701 * New features for SVR4
5702
5703GDB now handles SVR4 shared libraries, in the same fashion as SunOS
5704shared libraries. Debugging dynamically linked programs should present
5705only minor differences from debugging statically linked programs.
5706
5707The `info proc' command will print out information about any process
5708on an SVR4 system (including the one you are debugging). At the moment,
5709it prints the address mappings of the process.
5710
5711If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please send mail to
5712bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were reqired (if any).
5713
5714 * Better dynamic linking support in SunOS
5715
5716Reading symbols from shared libraries which contain debugging symbols
5717now works properly. However, there remain issues such as automatic
5718skipping of `transfer vector' code during function calls, which
5719make it harder to debug code in a shared library, than to debug the
5720same code linked statically.
5721
5722 * New Getopt
5723
5724GDB is now using the latest `getopt' routines from the FSF. This
5725version accepts the -- prefix for options with long names. GDB will
5726continue to accept the old forms (-option and +option) as well.
5727Various single letter abbreviations for options have been explicity
5728added to the option table so that they won't get overshadowed in the
5729future by other options that begin with the same letter.
5730
5731 * Bugs fixed
5732
5733The `cleanup_undefined_types' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
5734Many assorted bugs have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
5735See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
5736
5737
5738*** Changes in GDB-4.3:
5739
5740 * New machines supported (host and target)
5741
5742Amiga 3000 running Amix m68k-cbm-svr4 or amix
5743NCR 3000 386 running SVR4 i386-ncr-svr4 or ncr3000
5744Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
5745
5746 * Almost SCO Unix support
5747
5748We had hoped to support:
5749SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
5750(except for core file support), but we discovered very late in the release
5751that it has problems with process groups that render gdb unusable. Sorry
5752about that. I encourage people to fix it and post the fixes.
5753
5754 * Preliminary ELF and DWARF support
5755
5756GDB can read ELF object files on System V Release 4, and can handle
5757debugging records for C, in DWARF format, in ELF files. This support
5758is preliminary. If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please
5759send mail to bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were
5760reqired (if any).
5761
5762 * New Readline
5763
5764GDB now uses the latest `readline' library. One user-visible change
5765is that two tabs will list possible command completions, which previously
5766required typing M-? (meta-question mark, or ESC ?).
5767
5768 * Bugs fixed
5769
5770The `stepi' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
5771Many bugs in C++ have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
5772See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
5773
5774 * State of the MIPS world (in case you wondered):
5775
5776GDB can understand the symbol tables emitted by the compilers
5777supplied by most vendors of MIPS-based machines, including DEC. These
5778symbol tables are in a format that essentially nobody else uses.
5779
5780Some versions of gcc come with an assembler post-processor called
5781mips-tfile. This program is required if you want to do source-level
5782debugging of gcc-compiled programs. I believe FSF does not ship
5783mips-tfile with gcc version 1, but it will eventually come with gcc
5784version 2.
5785
5786Debugging of g++ output remains a problem. g++ version 1.xx does not
5787really support it at all. (If you're lucky, you should be able to get
5788line numbers and stack traces to work, but no parameters or local
5789variables.) With some work it should be possible to improve the
5790situation somewhat.
5791
5792When gcc version 2 is released, you will have somewhat better luck.
5793However, even then you will get confusing results for inheritance and
5794methods.
5795
5796We will eventually provide full debugging of g++ output on
5797DECstations. This will probably involve some kind of stabs-in-ecoff
5798encapulation, but the details have not been worked out yet.
5799
5800
5801*** Changes in GDB-4.2:
5802
5803 * Improved configuration
5804
5805Only one copy of `configure' exists now, and it is not self-modifying.
5806Porting BFD is simpler.
5807
5808 * Stepping improved
5809
5810The `step' and `next' commands now only stop at the first instruction
5811of a source line. This prevents the multiple stops that used to occur
5812in switch statements, for-loops, etc. `Step' continues to stop if a
5813function that has debugging information is called within the line.
5814
5815 * Bug fixing
5816
5817Lots of small bugs fixed. More remain.
5818
5819 * New host supported (not target)
5820
5821Intel 386 PC clone running Mach i386-none-mach
5822
5823
5824*** Changes in GDB-4.1:
5825
5826 * Multiple source language support
5827
5828GDB now has internal scaffolding to handle several source languages.
5829It determines the type of each source file from its filename extension,
5830and will switch expression parsing and number formatting to match the
5831language of the function in the currently selected stack frame.
5832You can also specifically set the language to be used, with
5833`set language c' or `set language modula-2'.
5834
5835 * GDB and Modula-2
5836
5837GDB now has preliminary support for the GNU Modula-2 compiler,
5838currently under development at the State University of New York at
5839Buffalo. Development of both GDB and the GNU Modula-2 compiler will
5840continue through the fall of 1991 and into 1992.
5841
5842Other Modula-2 compilers are currently not supported, and attempting to
5843debug programs compiled with them will likely result in an error as the
5844symbol table is read. Feel free to work on it, though!
5845
5846There are hooks in GDB for strict type checking and range checking,
5847in the `Modula-2 philosophy', but they do not currently work.
5848
5849 * set write on/off
5850
5851GDB can now write to executable and core files (e.g. patch
5852a variable's value). You must turn this switch on, specify
5853the file ("exec foo" or "core foo"), *then* modify it, e.g.
5854by assigning a new value to a variable. Modifications take
5855effect immediately.
5856
5857 * Automatic SunOS shared library reading
5858
5859When you run your program, GDB automatically determines where its
5860shared libraries (if any) have been loaded, and reads their symbols.
5861The `share' command is no longer needed. This also works when
5862examining core files.
5863
5864 * set listsize
5865
5866You can specify the number of lines that the `list' command shows.
5867The default is 10.
5868
5869 * New machines supported (host and target)
5870
5871SGI Iris (MIPS) running Irix V3: mips-sgi-irix or iris
5872Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x: m68k-sony-sysv or news
5873Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1: a29k-nyu-sym1 or ultra3
5874
5875 * New hosts supported (not targets)
5876
5877IBM RT/PC: romp-ibm-aix or rtpc
5878
5879 * New targets supported (not hosts)
5880
5881AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
5882AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
5883Ultracomputer remote kernel debug a29k-nyu-kern
5884
5885 * New remote interfaces
5886
5887AMD 29000 Adapt
5888AMD 29000 Minimon
5889
5890
5891*** Changes in GDB-4.0:
5892
5893 * New Facilities
5894
5895Wide output is wrapped at good places to make the output more readable.
5896
5897Gdb now supports cross-debugging from a host machine of one type to a
5898target machine of another type. Communication with the target system
5899is over serial lines. The ``target'' command handles connecting to the
5900remote system; the ``load'' command will download a program into the
5901remote system. Serial stubs for the m68k and i386 are provided. Gdb
5902also supports debugging of realtime processes running under VxWorks,
5903using SunRPC Remote Procedure Calls over TCP/IP to talk to a debugger
5904stub on the target system.
5905
5906New CPUs supported include the AMD 29000 and Intel 960.
5907
5908GDB now reads object files and symbol tables via a ``binary file''
5909library, which allows a single copy of GDB to debug programs of multiple
5910object file types such as a.out and coff.
5911
5912There is now a GDB reference card in "doc/refcard.tex". (Make targets
5913refcard.dvi and refcard.ps are available to format it).
5914
5915
5916 * Control-Variable user interface simplified
5917
5918All variables that control the operation of the debugger can be set
5919by the ``set'' command, and displayed by the ``show'' command.
5920
5921For example, ``set prompt new-gdb=>'' will change your prompt to new-gdb=>.
5922``Show prompt'' produces the response:
5923Gdb's prompt is new-gdb=>.
5924
5925What follows are the NEW set commands. The command ``help set'' will
5926print a complete list of old and new set commands. ``help set FOO''
5927will give a longer description of the variable FOO. ``show'' will show
5928all of the variable descriptions and their current settings.
5929
5930confirm on/off: Enables warning questions for operations that are
5931 hard to recover from, e.g. rerunning the program while
5932 it is already running. Default is ON.
5933
5934editing on/off: Enables EMACS style command line editing
5935 of input. Previous lines can be recalled with
5936 control-P, the current line can be edited with control-B,
5937 you can search for commands with control-R, etc.
5938 Default is ON.
5939
5940history filename NAME: NAME is where the gdb command history
5941 will be stored. The default is .gdb_history,
5942 or the value of the environment variable
5943 GDBHISTFILE.
5944
5945history size N: The size, in commands, of the command history. The
5946 default is 256, or the value of the environment variable
5947 HISTSIZE.
5948
5949history save on/off: If this value is set to ON, the history file will
5950 be saved after exiting gdb. If set to OFF, the
5951 file will not be saved. The default is OFF.
5952
5953history expansion on/off: If this value is set to ON, then csh-like
5954 history expansion will be performed on
5955 command line input. The default is OFF.
5956
5957radix N: Sets the default radix for input and output. It can be set
5958 to 8, 10, or 16. Note that the argument to "radix" is interpreted
5959 in the current radix, so "set radix 10" is always a no-op.
5960
5961height N: This integer value is the number of lines on a page. Default
5962 is 24, the current `stty rows'' setting, or the ``li#''
5963 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
5964 variable TERM.
5965
5966width N: This integer value is the number of characters on a line.
5967 Default is 80, the current `stty cols'' setting, or the ``co#''
5968 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
5969 variable TERM.
5970
5971Note: ``set screensize'' is obsolete. Use ``set height'' and
5972``set width'' instead.
5973
5974print address on/off: Print memory addresses in various command displays,
5975 such as stack traces and structure values. Gdb looks
5976 more ``symbolic'' if you turn this off; it looks more
5977 ``machine level'' with it on. Default is ON.
5978
5979print array on/off: Prettyprint arrays. New convenient format! Default
5980 is OFF.
5981
5982print demangle on/off: Print C++ symbols in "source" form if on,
5983 "raw" form if off.
5984
5985print asm-demangle on/off: Same, for assembler level printouts
5986 like instructions.
5987
5988print vtbl on/off: Prettyprint C++ virtual function tables. Default is OFF.
5989
5990
5991 * Support for Epoch Environment.
5992
5993The epoch environment is a version of Emacs v18 with windowing. One
5994new command, ``inspect'', is identical to ``print'', except that if you
5995are running in the epoch environment, the value is printed in its own
5996window.
5997
5998
5999 * Support for Shared Libraries
6000
6001GDB can now debug programs and core files that use SunOS shared libraries.
6002Symbols from a shared library cannot be referenced
6003before the shared library has been linked with the program (this
6004happens after you type ``run'' and before the function main() is entered).
6005At any time after this linking (including when examining core files
6006from dynamically linked programs), gdb reads the symbols from each
6007shared library when you type the ``sharedlibrary'' command.
6008It can be abbreviated ``share''.
6009
6010sharedlibrary REGEXP: Load shared object library symbols for files
6011 matching a unix regular expression. No argument
6012 indicates to load symbols for all shared libraries.
6013
6014info sharedlibrary: Status of loaded shared libraries.
6015
6016
6017 * Watchpoints
6018
6019A watchpoint stops execution of a program whenever the value of an
6020expression changes. Checking for this slows down execution
6021tremendously whenever you are in the scope of the expression, but is
6022quite useful for catching tough ``bit-spreader'' or pointer misuse
6023problems. Some machines such as the 386 have hardware for doing this
6024more quickly, and future versions of gdb will use this hardware.
6025
6026watch EXP: Set a watchpoint (breakpoint) for an expression.
6027
6028info watchpoints: Information about your watchpoints.
6029
6030delete N: Deletes watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
6031disable N: Temporarily turns off watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
6032enable N: Re-enables watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
6033
6034
6035 * C++ multiple inheritance
6036
6037When used with a GCC version 2 compiler, GDB supports multiple inheritance
6038for C++ programs.
6039
6040 * C++ exception handling
6041
6042Gdb now supports limited C++ exception handling. Besides the existing
6043ability to breakpoint on an exception handler, gdb can breakpoint on
6044the raising of an exception (before the stack is peeled back to the
6045handler's context).
6046
6047catch FOO: If there is a FOO exception handler in the dynamic scope,
6048 set a breakpoint to catch exceptions which may be raised there.
6049 Multiple exceptions (``catch foo bar baz'') may be caught.
6050
6051info catch: Lists all exceptions which may be caught in the
6052 current stack frame.
6053
6054
6055 * Minor command changes
6056
6057The command ``call func (arg, arg, ...)'' now acts like the print
6058command, except it does not print or save a value if the function's result
6059is void. This is similar to dbx usage.
6060
6061The ``up'' and ``down'' commands now always print the frame they end up
6062at; ``up-silently'' and `down-silently'' can be used in scripts to change
6063frames without printing.
6064
6065 * New directory command
6066
6067'dir' now adds directories to the FRONT of the source search path.
6068The path starts off empty. Source files that contain debug information
6069about the directory in which they were compiled can be found even
6070with an empty path; Sun CC and GCC include this information. If GDB can't
6071find your source file in the current directory, type "dir .".
6072
6073 * Configuring GDB for compilation
6074
6075For normal use, type ``./configure host''. See README or gdb.texinfo
6076for more details.
6077
6078GDB now handles cross debugging. If you are remotely debugging between
6079two different machines, type ``./configure host -target=targ''.
6080Host is the machine where GDB will run; targ is the machine
6081where the program that you are debugging will run.