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1 | README for gdb-4.18 release |
2 | Updated 4 Apr 1999 by Jim Blandy | |
3 | ||
4 | This is GDB, the GNU source-level debugger. | |
5 | A summary of new features is in the file `NEWS'. | |
6 | ||
7 | See the GDB home page at http://www.cygnus.com/gdb/ for up to date | |
8 | release information, mailing list links and archives, etc. | |
9 | ||
10 | ||
11 | Unpacking and Installation -- quick overview | |
12 | ========================== | |
13 | ||
14 | In this release, the GDB debugger sources, the generic GNU include | |
15 | files, the BFD ("binary file description") library, the readline | |
16 | library, and other libraries all have directories of their own | |
17 | underneath the gdb-4.18 directory. The idea is that a variety of GNU | |
18 | tools can share a common copy of these things. Be aware of variation | |
19 | over time--for example don't try to build gdb with a copy of bfd from | |
20 | a release other than the gdb release (such as a binutils or gas | |
21 | release), especially if the releases are more than a few weeks apart. | |
22 | Configuration scripts and makefiles exist to cruise up and down this | |
23 | directory tree and automatically build all the pieces in the right | |
24 | order. | |
25 | ||
26 | When you unpack the gdb-4.18.tar.gz file, you'll find a directory | |
27 | called `gdb-4.18', which contains: | |
28 | ||
29 | COPYING config.sub* libiberty/ opcodes/ | |
30 | COPYING.LIB configure* mmalloc/ readline/ | |
31 | Makefile.in configure.in move-if-change* sim/ | |
32 | README etc/ mpw-README texinfo/ | |
33 | bfd/ gdb/ mpw-build.in utils/ | |
34 | config/ include/ mpw-config.in | |
35 | config.guess* install.sh* mpw-configure | |
36 | ||
37 | To build GDB, you can just do: | |
38 | ||
39 | cd gdb-4.18 | |
40 | ./configure | |
41 | make | |
42 | cp gdb/gdb /usr/local/bin/gdb (or wherever you want) | |
43 | ||
44 | This will configure and build all the libraries as well as GDB. | |
45 | If `configure' can't determine your system type, specify one as its | |
46 | argument, e.g., sun4 or decstation. | |
47 | ||
48 | If you get compiler warnings during this stage, see the `Reporting Bugs' | |
49 | section below; there are a few known problems. | |
50 | ||
51 | GDB requires an ANSI C compiler. If you do not have an ANSI C | |
52 | compiler for your system, you may be able to download and install the | |
53 | GNU CC compiler. It is available via anonymous FTP from ftp.gnu.org, | |
54 | in /pub/gnu/gcc (as a URL, that's ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/gcc). | |
55 | ||
56 | GDB can be used as a cross-debugger, running on a machine of one type | |
57 | while debugging a program running on a machine of another type. See below. | |
58 | ||
59 | ||
60 | More Documentation | |
61 | ****************** | |
62 | ||
63 | All the documentation for GDB comes as part of the machine-readable | |
64 | distribution. The documentation is written in Texinfo format, which is | |
65 | a documentation system that uses a single source file to produce both | |
66 | on-line information and a printed manual. You can use one of the Info | |
67 | formatting commands to create the on-line version of the documentation | |
68 | and TeX (or `texi2roff') to typeset the printed version. | |
69 | ||
70 | GDB includes an already formatted copy of the on-line Info version of | |
71 | this manual in the `gdb/doc' subdirectory. The main Info file is | |
72 | `gdb-4.18/gdb/doc/gdb.info', and it refers to subordinate files matching | |
73 | `gdb.info*' in the same directory. If necessary, you can print out | |
74 | these files, or read them with any editor; but they are easier to read | |
75 | using the `info' subsystem in GNU Emacs or the standalone `info' program, | |
76 | available as part of the GNU Texinfo distribution. | |
77 | ||
78 | If you want to format these Info files yourself, you need one of the | |
79 | Info formatting programs, such as `texinfo-format-buffer' or | |
80 | `makeinfo'. | |
81 | ||
82 | If you have `makeinfo' installed, and are in the top level GDB | |
83 | source directory (`gdb-4.18', in the case of version 4.18), you can make | |
84 | the Info file by typing: | |
85 | ||
86 | cd gdb/doc | |
87 | make info | |
88 | ||
89 | If you want to typeset and print copies of this manual, you need | |
90 | TeX, a program to print its DVI output files, and `texinfo.tex', the | |
91 | Texinfo definitions file. This file is included in the GDB | |
92 | distribution, in the directory `gdb-4.18/texinfo'. | |
93 | ||
94 | TeX is a typesetting program; it does not print files directly, but | |
95 | produces output files called DVI files. To print a typeset document, | |
96 | you need a program to print DVI files. If your system has TeX | |
97 | installed, chances are it has such a program. The precise command to | |
98 | use depends on your system; `lpr -d' is common; another (for PostScript | |
99 | devices) is `dvips'. The DVI print command may require a file name | |
100 | without any extension or a `.dvi' extension. | |
101 | ||
102 | TeX also requires a macro definitions file called `texinfo.tex'. | |
103 | This file tells TeX how to typeset a document written in Texinfo | |
104 | format. On its own, TeX cannot read, much less typeset a Texinfo file. | |
105 | `texinfo.tex' is distributed with GDB and is located in the | |
106 | `gdb-4.18/texinfo' directory. | |
107 | ||
108 | If you have TeX and a DVI printer program installed, you can typeset | |
109 | and print this manual. First switch to the the `gdb' subdirectory of | |
110 | the main source directory (for example, to `gdb-4.18/gdb') and then type: | |
111 | ||
112 | make gdb.dvi | |
113 | ||
114 | ||
115 | Installing GDB | |
116 | ************** | |
117 | ||
118 | GDB comes with a `configure' script that automates the process of | |
119 | preparing GDB for installation; you can then use `make' to build the | |
120 | `gdb' program. | |
121 | ||
122 | The GDB distribution includes all the source code you need for GDB in | |
123 | a single directory, whose name is usually composed by appending the | |
124 | version number to `gdb'. | |
125 | ||
126 | For example, the GDB version 4.18 distribution is in the `gdb-4.18' | |
127 | directory. That directory contains: | |
128 | ||
129 | `gdb-4.18/{COPYING,COPYING.LIB}' | |
130 | Standard GNU license files. Please read them. | |
131 | ||
132 | `gdb-4.18/bfd' | |
133 | source for the Binary File Descriptor library | |
134 | ||
135 | `gdb-4.18/config*' | |
136 | script for configuring GDB, along with other support files | |
137 | ||
138 | `gdb-4.18/gdb' | |
139 | the source specific to GDB itself | |
140 | ||
141 | `gdb-4.18/include' | |
142 | GNU include files | |
143 | ||
144 | `gdb-4.18/libiberty' | |
145 | source for the `-liberty' free software library | |
146 | ||
147 | `gdb-4.18/mmalloc' | |
148 | source for the GNU memory-mapped malloc package | |
149 | ||
150 | `gdb-4.18/opcodes' | |
151 | source for the library of opcode tables and disassemblers | |
152 | ||
153 | `gdb-4.18/readline' | |
154 | source for the GNU command-line interface | |
155 | ||
156 | `gdb-4.18/sim' | |
157 | source for some simulators (ARM, D10V, SPARC, M32R, MIPS, PPC, V850, etc) | |
158 | ||
159 | `gdb-4.18/intl' | |
160 | source for the GNU gettext library, for internationalization. | |
161 | This is slightly modified from the standalone gettext | |
162 | distribution you can get from GNU. | |
163 | ||
164 | `gdb-4.18/texinfo' | |
165 | The `texinfo.tex' file, which you need in order to make a printed | |
166 | manual using TeX. | |
167 | ||
168 | `gdb-4.18/etc' | |
169 | Coding standards, useful files for editing GDB, and other | |
170 | miscellanea. | |
171 | ||
172 | `gdb-4.18/utils' | |
173 | A grab bag of random utilities. | |
174 | ||
175 | ||
176 | The simplest way to configure and build GDB is to run `configure' | |
177 | from the `gdb-VERSION-NUMBER' source directory, which in this example | |
178 | is the `gdb-4.18' directory. | |
179 | ||
180 | First switch to the `gdb-VERSION-NUMBER' source directory if you are | |
181 | not already in it; then run `configure'. | |
182 | ||
183 | For example: | |
184 | ||
185 | cd gdb-4.18 | |
186 | ./configure | |
187 | make | |
188 | ||
189 | Running `configure' followed by `make' builds the `bfd', | |
190 | `readline', `mmalloc', and `libiberty' libraries, then `gdb' itself. | |
191 | The configured source files, and the binaries, are left in the | |
192 | corresponding source directories. | |
193 | ||
194 | `configure' is a Bourne-shell (`/bin/sh') script; if your system | |
195 | does not recognize this automatically when you run a different shell, | |
196 | you may need to run `sh' on it explicitly: | |
197 | ||
198 | sh configure | |
199 | ||
200 | If you run `configure' from a directory that contains source | |
201 | directories for multiple libraries or programs, such as the `gdb-4.18' | |
202 | source directory for version 4.18, `configure' creates configuration | |
203 | files for every directory level underneath (unless you tell it not to, | |
204 | with the `--norecursion' option). | |
205 | ||
206 | You can run the `configure' script from any of the subordinate | |
207 | directories in the GDB distribution, if you only want to configure that | |
208 | subdirectory; but be sure to specify a path to it. | |
209 | ||
210 | For example, with version 4.18, type the following to configure only | |
211 | the `bfd' subdirectory: | |
212 | ||
213 | cd gdb-4.18/bfd | |
214 | ../configure | |
215 | ||
216 | You can install `gdb' anywhere; it has no hardwired paths. However, | |
217 | you should make sure that the shell on your path (named by the `SHELL' | |
218 | environment variable) is publicly readable. Remember that GDB uses the | |
219 | shell to start your program--some systems refuse to let GDB debug child | |
220 | processes whose programs are not readable. | |
221 | ||
222 | ||
223 | Compiling GDB in another directory | |
224 | ================================== | |
225 | ||
226 | If you want to run GDB versions for several host or target machines, | |
227 | you need a different `gdb' compiled for each combination of host and | |
228 | target. `configure' is designed to make this easy by allowing you to | |
229 | generate each configuration in a separate subdirectory, rather than in | |
230 | the source directory. If your `make' program handles the `VPATH' | |
231 | feature correctly (GNU `make' and SunOS 'make' are two that should), | |
232 | running `make' in each of these directories builds the `gdb' program | |
233 | specified there. | |
234 | ||
235 | To build `gdb' in a separate directory, run `configure' with the | |
236 | `--srcdir' option to specify where to find the source. (You also need | |
237 | to specify a path to find `configure' itself from your working | |
238 | directory. If the path to `configure' would be the same as the | |
239 | argument to `--srcdir', you can leave out the `--srcdir' option; it | |
240 | will be assumed.) | |
241 | ||
242 | For example, with version 4.18, you can build GDB in a separate | |
243 | directory for a Sun 4 like this: | |
244 | ||
245 | cd gdb-4.18 | |
246 | mkdir ../gdb-sun4 | |
247 | cd ../gdb-sun4 | |
248 | ../gdb-4.18/configure sun4 | |
249 | make | |
250 | ||
251 | When `configure' builds a configuration using a remote source | |
252 | directory, it creates a tree for the binaries with the same structure | |
253 | (and using the same names) as the tree under the source directory. In | |
254 | the example, you'd find the Sun 4 library `libiberty.a' in the | |
255 | directory `gdb-sun4/libiberty', and GDB itself in `gdb-sun4/gdb'. | |
256 | ||
257 | One popular reason to build several GDB configurations in separate | |
258 | directories is to configure GDB for cross-compiling (where GDB runs on | |
259 | one machine--the host--while debugging programs that run on another | |
260 | machine--the target). You specify a cross-debugging target by giving | |
261 | the `--target=TARGET' option to `configure'. | |
262 | ||
263 | When you run `make' to build a program or library, you must run it | |
264 | in a configured directory--whatever directory you were in when you | |
265 | called `configure' (or one of its subdirectories). | |
266 | ||
267 | The `Makefile' that `configure' generates in each source directory | |
268 | also runs recursively. If you type `make' in a source directory such | |
269 | as `gdb-4.18' (or in a separate configured directory configured with | |
270 | `--srcdir=PATH/gdb-4.18'), you will build all the required libraries, | |
271 | and then build GDB. | |
272 | ||
273 | When you have multiple hosts or targets configured in separate | |
274 | directories, you can run `make' on them in parallel (for example, if | |
275 | they are NFS-mounted on each of the hosts); they will not interfere | |
276 | with each other. | |
277 | ||
278 | ||
279 | Specifying names for hosts and targets | |
280 | ====================================== | |
281 | ||
282 | The specifications used for hosts and targets in the `configure' | |
283 | script are based on a three-part naming scheme, but some short | |
284 | predefined aliases are also supported. The full naming scheme encodes | |
285 | three pieces of information in the following pattern: | |
286 | ||
287 | ARCHITECTURE-VENDOR-OS | |
288 | ||
289 | For example, you can use the alias `sun4' as a HOST argument or in a | |
290 | `--target=TARGET' option. The equivalent full name is | |
291 | `sparc-sun-sunos4'. | |
292 | ||
293 | The `configure' script accompanying GDB does not provide any query | |
294 | facility to list all supported host and target names or aliases. | |
295 | `configure' calls the Bourne shell script `config.sub' to map | |
296 | abbreviations to full names; you can read the script, if you wish, or | |
297 | you can use it to test your guesses on abbreviations--for example: | |
298 | ||
299 | % sh config.sub sun4 | |
300 | sparc-sun-sunos4.1.1 | |
301 | % sh config.sub sun3 | |
302 | m68k-sun-sunos4.1.1 | |
303 | % sh config.sub decstation | |
304 | mips-dec-ultrix4.2 | |
305 | % sh config.sub hp300bsd | |
306 | m68k-hp-bsd | |
307 | % sh config.sub i386v | |
308 | i386-pc-sysv | |
309 | % sh config.sub i786v | |
310 | Invalid configuration `i786v': machine `i786v' not recognized | |
311 | ||
312 | `config.sub' is also distributed in the GDB source directory | |
313 | (`gdb-4.18', for version 4.18). | |
314 | ||
315 | ||
316 | `configure' options | |
317 | =================== | |
318 | ||
319 | Here is a summary of the `configure' options and arguments that are | |
320 | most often useful for building GDB. `configure' also has several other | |
321 | options not listed here. *note : (configure.info)What Configure Does, | |
322 | for a full explanation of `configure'. | |
323 | ||
324 | configure [--help] | |
325 | [--prefix=DIR] | |
326 | [--srcdir=PATH] | |
327 | [--norecursion] [--rm] | |
328 | [--enable-build-warnings] | |
329 | [--target=TARGET] | |
330 | [--host=HOST] | |
331 | [HOST] | |
332 | ||
333 | You may introduce options with a single `-' rather than `--' if you | |
334 | prefer; but you may abbreviate option names if you use `--'. | |
335 | ||
336 | `--help' | |
337 | Display a quick summary of how to invoke `configure'. | |
338 | ||
339 | `-prefix=DIR' | |
340 | Configure the source to install programs and files under directory | |
341 | `DIR'. | |
342 | ||
343 | `--srcdir=PATH' | |
344 | *Warning: using this option requires GNU `make', or another `make' | |
345 | that compatibly implements the `VPATH' feature.* | |
346 | Use this option to make configurations in directories separate | |
347 | from the GDB source directories. Among other things, you can use | |
348 | this to build (or maintain) several configurations simultaneously, | |
349 | in separate directories. `configure' writes configuration | |
350 | specific files in the current directory, but arranges for them to | |
351 | use the source in the directory PATH. `configure' will create | |
352 | directories under the working directory in parallel to the source | |
353 | directories below PATH. | |
354 | ||
355 | `--norecursion' | |
356 | Configure only the directory level where `configure' is executed; | |
357 | do not propagate configuration to subdirectories. | |
358 | ||
359 | `--rm' | |
360 | Remove the configuration that the other arguments specify. | |
361 | ||
362 | `--enable-build-warnings' | |
363 | When building the GDB sources, ask the compiler to warn about any | |
364 | code which looks even vaguely suspicious. You should only using | |
365 | this feature if you're compiling with GNU CC. It passes the | |
366 | following flags: | |
367 | -Wall | |
368 | -Wpointer-arith | |
369 | -Wstrict-prototypes | |
370 | -Wmissing-prototypes | |
371 | -Wmissing-declarations | |
372 | ||
373 | `--target=TARGET' | |
374 | Configure GDB for cross-debugging programs running on the specified | |
375 | TARGET. Without this option, GDB is configured to debug programs | |
376 | that run on the same machine (HOST) as GDB itself. | |
377 | ||
378 | There is no convenient way to generate a list of all available | |
379 | targets. | |
380 | ||
381 | `--host=HOST' | |
382 | Configure GDB to run on the specified HOST. | |
383 | ||
384 | There is no convenient way to generate a list of all available | |
385 | hosts. | |
386 | ||
387 | `HOST ...' | |
388 | Same as `--host=HOST'. If you omit this, GDB will guess; it's | |
389 | quite accurate. | |
390 | ||
391 | `configure' accepts other options, for compatibility with configuring | |
392 | other GNU tools recursively; but these are the only options that affect | |
393 | GDB or its supporting libraries. | |
394 | ||
395 | ||
396 | Languages other than C | |
397 | ======================= | |
398 | ||
399 | See the GDB manual (gdb/doc/gdb.texinfo) for information on this. | |
400 | ||
401 | ||
402 | Kernel debugging | |
403 | ================= | |
404 | ||
405 | I have't done this myself so I can't really offer any advice. | |
406 | Remote debugging over serial lines works fine, but the kernel debugging | |
407 | code in here has not been tested in years. Van Jacobson has | |
408 | better kernel debugging, but the UC lawyers won't let FSF have it. | |
409 | ||
410 | ||
411 | Remote debugging | |
412 | ================= | |
413 | ||
414 | The files m68k-stub.c, i386-stub.c, and sparc-stub.c are examples of | |
415 | remote stubs to be used with remote.c. They are designed to run | |
416 | standalone on an m68k, i386, or SPARC cpu and communicate properly with | |
417 | the remote.c stub over a serial line. | |
418 | ||
419 | The directory gdb/gdbserver/ contains `gdbserver', a program that | |
420 | allows remote debugging for Unix applications. gdbserver is only | |
421 | supported for some native configurations, including Sun 3, Sun 4, | |
422 | and Linux. | |
423 | ||
424 | There are a number of remote interfaces for talking to existing ROM | |
425 | monitors and other hardware: | |
426 | ||
427 | remote-adapt.c AMD 29000 "Adapt" | |
428 | remote-array.c Array Tech RAID controller | |
429 | remote-bug.c Motorola BUG monitor | |
430 | remote-d10v.c GDB protocol, talking to a d10v chip | |
431 | remote-e7000.c Hitachi E7000 ICE | |
432 | remote-eb.c AMD 29000 "EBMON" | |
433 | remote-es.c Ericsson 1800 monitor | |
434 | remote-est.c EST emulator | |
435 | remote-hms.c Hitachi Micro Systems H8/300 monitor | |
436 | remote-mips.c MIPS remote debugging protocol | |
437 | remote-mm.c AMD 29000 "minimon" | |
438 | remote-nindy.c Intel 960 "Nindy" | |
439 | remote-nrom.c NetROM ROM emulator | |
440 | remote-os9k.c PC running OS/9000 | |
441 | remote-rdi.c ARM with Angel monitor | |
442 | remote-rdp.c ARM with Demon monitor | |
443 | remote-sds.c PowerPC SDS monitor | |
444 | remote-sim.c Generalized simulator protocol | |
445 | remote-st.c Tandem ST-2000 monitor | |
446 | remote-udi.c AMD 29000 using the AMD "Universal Debug Interface" | |
447 | remote-vx.c VxWorks realtime kernel | |
448 | ||
449 | Remote-vx.c and the vx-share subdirectory contain a remote interface for the | |
450 | VxWorks realtime kernel, which communicates over TCP using the Sun | |
451 | RPC library. This would be a useful starting point for other remote- | |
452 | via-ethernet back ends. | |
453 | ||
454 | Remote-udi.c and the 29k-share subdirectory contain a remote interface | |
455 | for AMD 29000 programs, which uses the AMD "Universal Debug Interface". | |
456 | This allows GDB to talk to software simulators, emulators, and/or bare | |
457 | hardware boards, via network or serial interfaces. Note that GDB only | |
458 | provides an interface that speaks UDI, not a complete solution. You | |
459 | will need something on the other end that also speaks UDI. | |
460 | ||
461 | ||
462 | Reporting Bugs | |
463 | =============== | |
464 | ||
465 | The correct address for reporting bugs found in gdb is | |
466 | "bug-gdb@gnu.org". Please email all bugs, and all requests for | |
467 | help with GDB, to that address. Please include the GDB version number | |
468 | (e.g., gdb-4.18), and how you configured it (e.g., "sun4" or "mach386 | |
469 | host, i586-intel-synopsys target"). Since GDB now supports so many | |
470 | different configurations, it is important that you be precise about this. | |
471 | If at all possible, you should include the actual banner that GDB prints | |
472 | when it starts up, or failing that, the actual configure command that | |
473 | you used when configuring GDB. | |
474 | ||
475 | For more information on how/whether to report bugs, see the GDB Bugs | |
476 | section of the GDB manual (gdb/doc/gdb.texinfo). | |
477 | ||
478 | Known bugs: | |
479 | ||
480 | * Under Ultrix 4.2 (DECstation-3100) or Alphas under OSF/1, we have | |
481 | seen problems with backtraces after interrupting the inferior out | |
482 | of a read(). The problem is caused by ptrace() returning an | |
483 | incorrect value for the frame pointer register (register 15 or | |
484 | 30). As far as we can tell, this is a kernel problem. Any help | |
485 | with this would be greatly appreciated. | |
486 | ||
487 | * Under Ultrix 4.4 (DECstation-3100), setting the TERMCAP environment | |
488 | variable to a string without a trailing ':' can cause GDB to dump | |
489 | core upon startup. Although the core file makes it look as though | |
490 | GDB code failed, the crash actually occurs within a call to the | |
491 | termcap library function tgetent(). The problem can be solved by | |
492 | using the GNU Termcap library. | |
493 | ||
494 | Alphas running OSF/1 (versions 1.0 through 2.1) have the same buggy | |
495 | termcap code, but GDB behaves strangely rather than crashing. | |
496 | ||
497 | * On DECstations there are warnings about shift counts out of range in | |
498 | various BFD modules. None of them is a cause for alarm, they are actually | |
499 | a result of bugs in the DECstation compiler. | |
500 | ||
501 | * Notes for the DEC Alpha using OSF/1: | |
502 | The debugging output of native cc has two known problems; we view these | |
503 | as compiler bugs. | |
504 | The linker miscompacts symbol tables, which causes gdb to confuse the | |
505 | type of variables or results in `struct <illegal>' type outputs. | |
506 | dbx has the same problems with those executables. A workaround is to | |
507 | specify -Wl,-b when linking, but that will increase the executable size | |
508 | considerably. | |
509 | If a structure has incomplete type in one file (e.g., "struct foo *" | |
510 | without a definition for "struct foo"), gdb will be unable to find the | |
511 | structure definition from another file. | |
512 | It has been reported that the Ultrix 4.3A compiler on decstations has the | |
513 | same problems. | |
514 | ||
515 | * Notes for Solaris 2.x, using the SPARCworks cc compiler: | |
516 | You have to compile your program with the -xs option of the SPARCworks | |
517 | compiler to be able to debug your program with gdb. | |
518 | Under Solaris 2.3 you also need patch 101409-03 (Jumbo linker patch). | |
519 | Under Solaris 2.2, if you have patch 101052 installed, make sure | |
520 | that it is at least at revision 101052-06. | |
521 | ||
522 | * Under Irix 5 for SGIs, you must have installed the `compiler_dev.hdr' | |
523 | subsystem that is on the IDO CD, otherwise you will get complaints | |
524 | that certain files such as `/usr/include/syms.h' cannot be found. | |
525 | ||
526 | * Notes for BSD/386: | |
527 | To compile gdb-4.18 on BSD/386, you must run the configure script and | |
528 | its subscripts with bash. Here is an easy way to do this: | |
529 | ||
530 | bash -c 'CONFIG_SHELL=/bin/bash ./configure' | |
531 | ||
532 | (configure will report i386-unknown-bsd). Then, compile with the | |
533 | standard "make" command. | |
534 | ||
535 | GDB can produce warnings about symbols that it does not understand. By | |
536 | default, these warnings are disabled. You can enable them by executing | |
537 | `set complaint 10' (which you can put in your ~/.gdbinit if you like). | |
538 | I recommend doing this if you are working on a compiler, assembler, | |
539 | linker, or GDB, since it will point out problems that you may be able | |
540 | to fix. Warnings produced during symbol reading indicate some mismatch | |
541 | between the object file and GDB's symbol reading code. In many cases, | |
542 | it's a mismatch between the specs for the object file format, and what | |
543 | the compiler actually outputs or the debugger actually understands. | |
544 | ||
545 | ||
546 | X Windows versus GDB | |
547 | ===================== | |
548 | ||
549 | You should check out DDD, the Data Display Debugger. Here's the blurb | |
550 | from the DDD web site, http://www.cs.tu-bs.de/softech/ddd: | |
551 | ||
552 | The Data Display Debugger (DDD) is a popular graphical user | |
553 | interface for command-line debuggers such as GDB, DBX, JDB, WDB, | |
554 | XDB, the Perl debugger, and the Python debugger. Besides ``usual'' | |
555 | front-end features such as viewing source texts, DDD has become | |
556 | famous through its interactive graphical data display, where data | |
557 | structures are displayed as graphs. A simple mouse click | |
558 | dereferences pointers or views structure contents, updated each | |
559 | time the program stops. Using DDD, you can reason about your | |
560 | application by watching its data, not just by viewing it execute | |
561 | lines of source code. | |
562 | ||
563 | Emacs users will very likely enjoy the Grand Unified Debugger mode; | |
564 | try typing `M-x gdb RET'. | |
565 | ||
566 | Those interested in experimenting with a new kind of gdb-mode | |
567 | should load gdb/gdba.el into GNU Emacs 19.25 or later. Comments | |
568 | on this mode are also welcome. | |
569 | ||
570 | ||
571 | Writing Code for GDB | |
572 | ===================== | |
573 | ||
574 | There is a lot of information about writing code for GDB in the | |
575 | internals manual, distributed with GDB in gdb/doc/gdbint.texinfo. You | |
576 | can read it by hand, print it by using TeX and texinfo, or process it | |
577 | into an `info' file for use with Emacs' info mode or the standalone | |
578 | `info' program. | |
579 | ||
580 | If you are pondering writing anything but a short patch, especially | |
581 | take note of the information about copyrights in the node Submitting | |
582 | Patches. It can take quite a while to get all the paperwork done, so | |
583 | we encourage you to start that process as soon as you decide you are | |
584 | planning to work on something, or at least well ahead of when you | |
585 | think you will be ready to submit the patches. | |
586 | ||
587 | ||
588 | GDB Testsuite | |
589 | ============= | |
590 | ||
591 | There is a DejaGNU based testsuite available for testing your newly | |
592 | built GDB, or for regression testing GDBs with local modifications. | |
593 | ||
594 | Running the testsuite requires the prior installation of DejaGNU, | |
595 | which is generally available via ftp; you'll need a pretty recent | |
596 | release. Once DejaGNU is installed, you can run the tests in one of | |
597 | two ways: | |
598 | ||
599 | (1) cd gdb-4.18/gdb (assuming you also unpacked gdb) | |
600 | make check | |
601 | ||
602 | or | |
603 | ||
604 | (2) cd gdb-4.18/gdb/testsuite | |
605 | make site.exp (builds the site specific file) | |
606 | runtest -tool gdb GDB=../gdb (or GDB=<somepath> as appropriate) | |
607 | ||
608 | The second method gives you slightly more control in case of problems with | |
609 | building one or more test executables or if you are using the testsuite | |
610 | 'standalone', without it being part of the GDB source tree. | |
611 | ||
612 | See the DejaGNU documentation for further details. | |
613 | ||
614 | \f | |
615 | (this is for editing this file with GNU emacs) | |
616 | Local Variables: | |
617 | mode: text | |
618 | End: |