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1 What has changed in GDB?
2 (Organized release by release)
3
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4*** Changes since GDB 7.6
5
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6* GDB now supports Fission DWP file format version 2.
7 http://gcc.gnu.org/wiki/DebugFission
8
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9* New convenience function "$_isvoid", to check whether an expression
10 is void. A void expression is an expression where the type of the
11 result is "void". For example, some convenience variables may be
12 "void" when evaluated (e.g., "$_exitcode" before the execution of
13 the program being debugged; or an undefined convenience variable).
14 Another example, when calling a function whose return type is
15 "void".
16
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17* The "maintenance print objfiles" command now takes an optional regexp.
18
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19* The "catch syscall" command now works on arm*-linux* targets.
20
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21* GDB now consistently shows "<not saved>" when printing values of
22 registers the debug info indicates have not been saved in the frame
23 and there's nowhere to retrieve them from
24 (callee-saved/call-clobbered registers):
25
26 (gdb) p $rax
27 $1 = <not saved>
28
29 (gdb) info registers rax
30 rax <not saved>
31
32 Before, the former would print "<optimized out>", and the latter
33 "*value not available*".
34
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35* Python scripting
36
37 ** Frame filters and frame decorators have been added.
38
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39* New targets
40
41Nios II ELF nios2*-*-elf
42Nios II GNU/Linux nios2*-*-linux
42059f0e 43Texas Instruments MSP430 msp430*-*-elf
a1217d97 44
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45* Removed native configurations
46
47Support for these a.out NetBSD and OpenBSD obsolete configurations has
48been removed. ELF variants of these configurations are kept supported.
49
50arm*-*-netbsd* but arm*-*-netbsdelf* is kept supported.
51i[34567]86-*-netbsd* but i[34567]86-*-netbsdelf* is kept supported.
52i[34567]86-*-openbsd[0-2].* but i[34567]86-*-openbsd* is kept supported.
53i[34567]86-*-openbsd3.[0-3]
54m68*-*-netbsd* but m68*-*-netbsdelf* is kept supported.
55sparc-*-netbsd* but sparc-*-netbsdelf* is kept supported.
56vax-*-netbsd* but vax-*-netbsdelf* is kept supported.
57
bd712aed 58* New commands:
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59catch rethrow
60 Like "catch throw", but catches a re-thrown exception.
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61maint check-psymtabs
62 Renamed from old "maint check-symtabs".
63maint check-symtabs
64 Perform consistency checks on symtabs.
65maint expand-symtabs
66 Expand symtabs matching an optional regexp.
b340913d 67
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68show configuration
69 Display the details of GDB configure-time options.
70
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71maint set|show per-command
72maint set|show per-command space
73maint set|show per-command time
74maint set|show per-command symtab
75 Enable display of per-command gdb resource usage.
76
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77* New options
78
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79set debug symfile off|on
80show debug symfile
81 Control display of debugging info regarding reading symbol files and
82 symbol tables within those files
83
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84set print raw frame-arguments
85show print raw frame-arguments
86 Set/show whether to print frame arguments in raw mode,
87 disregarding any defined pretty-printers.
88
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89set remote trace-status-packet
90show remote trace-status-packet
91 Set/show the use of remote protocol qTStatus packet.
92
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93set debug nios2
94show debug nios2
95 Control display of debugging messages related to Nios II targets.
96
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97set range-stepping
98show range-stepping
99 Control whether target-assisted range stepping is enabled.
100
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101* You can now use a literal value 'unlimited' for options that
102 interpret 0 or -1 as meaning "unlimited". E.g., "set
103 trace-buffer-size unlimited" is now an alias for "set
104 trace-buffer-size -1" and "set height unlimited" is now an alias for
105 "set height 0".
106
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107* New command-line options
108--configuration
109 Display the details of GDB configure-time options.
110
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111* The command 'tsave' can now support new option '-ctf' to save trace
112 buffer in Common Trace Format.
113
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114* Newly installed $prefix/bin/gcore acts as a shell interface for the
115 GDB command gcore.
116
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117* GDB now implements the the C++ 'typeid' operator.
118
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119* The new convenience variable $_exception holds the exception being
120 thrown or caught at an exception-related catchpoint.
121
122* The exception-related catchpoints, like "catch throw", now accept a
123 regular expression which can be used to filter exceptions by type.
124
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125* The new convenience variable $_exitsignal is automatically set to
126 the terminating signal number when the program being debugged dies
127 due to an uncaught signal.
128
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129* MI changes
130
131 ** The -trace-save MI command can optionally save trace buffer in Common
132 Trace Format now.
133
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134 ** The new command -dprintf-insert sets a dynamic printf breakpoint.
135
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136 ** The command -data-list-register-values now accepts an optional
137 "--skip-unavailable" option. When used, only the available registers
138 are displayed.
139
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140 ** The new command -trace-frame-collected dumps collected variables,
141 computed expressions, tvars, memory and registers in a traceframe.
142
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143 ** The commands -stack-list-locals, -stack-list-arguments and
144 -stack-list-variables now accept an option "--skip-unavailable".
145 When used, only the available locals or arguments are displayed.
146
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147 ** The -exec-run command now accepts an optional "--start" option.
148 When used, the command follows the same semantics as the "start"
149 command, stopping the program's execution at the start of its
150 main subprogram.
151
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152 ** The new commands -catch-assert and -catch-exceptions insert
153 catchpoints stopping the program when Ada exceptions are raised.
154
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155* New system-wide configuration scripts
156 A GDB installation now provides scripts suitable for use as system-wide
157 configuration scripts for the following systems:
158 ** ElinOS
159 ** Wind River Linux
160
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161* GDB now supports target-assigned range stepping with remote targets.
162 This improves the performance of stepping source lines by reducing
163 the number of control packets from/to GDB. See "New remote packets"
164 below.
165
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166* GDB now understands the element 'tvar' in the XML traceframe info.
167 It has the id of the collected trace state variables.
168
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169* On S/390 targets that provide the transactional-execution feature,
170 the program interruption transaction diagnostic block (TDB) is now
171 represented as a number of additional "registers" in GDB.
172
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173* New remote packets
174
175vCont;r
176
177 The vCont packet supports a new 'r' action, that tells the remote
178 stub to step through an address range itself, without GDB
179 involvemement at each single-step.
180
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181qXfer:libraries-svr4:read's annex
182 The previously unused annex of the qXfer:libraries-svr4:read packet
183 is now used to support passing an argument list. The remote stub
184 reports support for this argument list to GDB's qSupported query.
185 The defined arguments are "start" and "prev", used to reduce work
186 necessary for library list updating, resulting in significant
187 speedup.
188
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189* New features in the GDB remote stub, GDBserver
190
191 ** GDBserver now supports target-assisted range stepping. Currently
192 enabled on x86/x86_64 GNU/Linux targets.
193
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194 ** GDBserver now adds element 'tvar' in the XML in the reply to
195 'qXfer:traceframe-info:read'. It has the id of the collected
196 trace state variables.
197
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198 ** GDBserver now supports hardware watchpoints on the MIPS GNU/Linux
199 target.
200
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201* New 'z' formatter for printing and examining memory, this displays the
202 value as hexadecimal zero padded on the left to the size of the type.
203
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204* GDB can now use Windows x64 unwinding data.
205
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206* The "set remotebaud" command has been replaced by "set serial baud".
207 Similarly, "show remotebaud" has been replaced by "show serial baud".
208 The "set remotebaud" and "show remotebaud" commands are still available
209 to provide backward compatibility with older versions of GDB.
210
2d450646 211*** Changes in GDB 7.6
80c8d323 212
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213* Target record has been renamed to record-full.
214 Record/replay is now enabled with the "record full" command.
215 This also affects settings that are associated with full record/replay
216 that have been moved from "set/show record" to "set/show record full":
217
218set|show record full insn-number-max
219set|show record full stop-at-limit
220set|show record full memory-query
221
222* A new record target "record-btrace" has been added. The new target
223 uses hardware support to record the control-flow of a process. It
224 does not support replaying the execution, but it implements the
225 below new commands for investigating the recorded execution log.
226 This new recording method can be enabled using:
227
228record btrace
229
230 The "record-btrace" target is only available on Intel Atom processors
231 and requires a Linux kernel 2.6.32 or later.
232
233* Two new commands have been added for record/replay to give information
234 about the recorded execution without having to replay the execution.
235 The commands are only supported by "record btrace".
236
237record instruction-history prints the execution history at
238 instruction granularity
239
240record function-call-history prints the execution history at
241 function granularity
242
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243* New native configurations
244
51d66578 245ARM AArch64 GNU/Linux aarch64*-*-linux-gnu
543bf33d 246FreeBSD/powerpc powerpc*-*-freebsd
4f4352f7 247x86_64/Cygwin x86_64-*-cygwin*
ea5f3910 248Tilera TILE-Gx GNU/Linux tilegx*-*-linux-gnu
543bf33d 249
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250* New targets
251
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252ARM AArch64 aarch64*-*-elf
253ARM AArch64 GNU/Linux aarch64*-*-linux
249729c4 254Lynx 178 PowerPC powerpc-*-lynx*178
3c095f49 255x86_64/Cygwin x86_64-*-cygwin*
ea5f3910 256Tilera TILE-Gx GNU/Linux tilegx*-*-linux
249729c4 257
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258* If the configured location of system.gdbinit file (as given by the
259 --with-system-gdbinit option at configure time) is in the
260 data-directory (as specified by --with-gdb-datadir at configure
261 time) or in one of its subdirectories, then GDB will look for the
262 system-wide init file in the directory specified by the
263 --data-directory command-line option.
264
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265* New command line options:
266
267-nh Disables auto-loading of ~/.gdbinit, but still executes all the
268 other initialization files, unlike -nx which disables all of them.
269
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270* Removed command line options
271
272-epoch This was used by the gdb mode in Epoch, an ancient fork of
273 Emacs.
274
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275* The 'ptype' and 'whatis' commands now accept an argument to control
276 type formatting.
277
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278* 'info proc' now works on some core files.
279
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280* Python scripting
281
282 ** Vectors can be created with gdb.Type.vector.
283
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284 ** Python's atexit.register now works in GDB.
285
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286 ** Types can be pretty-printed via a Python API.
287
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288 ** Python 3 is now supported (in addition to Python 2.4 or later)
289
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290 ** New class gdb.Architecture exposes GDB's internal representation
291 of architecture in the Python API.
292
293 ** New method Frame.architecture returns the gdb.Architecture object
294 corresponding to the frame's architecture.
295
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296* New Python-based convenience functions:
297
298 ** $_memeq(buf1, buf2, length)
299 ** $_streq(str1, str2)
300 ** $_strlen(str)
301 ** $_regex(str, regex)
302
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303* The 'cd' command now defaults to using '~' (the home directory) if not
304 given an argument.
305
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306* The C++ ABI now defaults to the GNU v3 ABI. This has been the
307 default for GCC since November 2000.
308
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309* The command 'forward-search' can now be abbreviated as 'fo'.
310
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311* The command 'info tracepoints' can now display 'installed on target'
312 or 'not installed on target' for each non-pending location of tracepoint.
313
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314* New configure options
315
316--enable-libmcheck/--disable-libmcheck
317 By default, development versions are built with -lmcheck on hosts
318 that support it, in order to help track memory corruption issues.
319 Release versions, on the other hand, are built without -lmcheck
320 by default. The --enable-libmcheck/--disable-libmcheck configure
321 options allow the user to override that default.
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322--with-babeltrace/--with-babeltrace-include/--with-babeltrace-lib
323 This configure option allows the user to build GDB with
324 libbabeltrace using which GDB can read Common Trace Format data.
23a80689 325
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326* New commands (for set/show, see "New options" below)
327
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328catch signal
329 Catch signals. This is similar to "handle", but allows commands and
330 conditions to be attached.
331
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332maint info bfds
333 List the BFDs known to GDB.
334
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335python-interactive [command]
336pi [command]
337 Start a Python interactive prompt, or evaluate the optional command
338 and print the result of expressions.
339
340py [command]
341 "py" is a new alias for "python".
342
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343enable type-printer [name]...
344disable type-printer [name]...
345 Enable or disable type printers.
346
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347* Removed commands
348
349 ** For the Renesas Super-H architecture, the "regs" command has been removed
350 (has been deprecated in GDB 7.5), and "info all-registers" should be used
351 instead.
352
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353* New options
354
355set print type methods (on|off)
356show print type methods
357 Control whether method declarations are displayed by "ptype".
358 The default is to show them.
359
360set print type typedefs (on|off)
361show print type typedefs
362 Control whether typedef definitions are displayed by "ptype".
363 The default is to show them.
364
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365set filename-display basename|relative|absolute
366show filename-display
367 Control the way in which filenames is displayed.
368 The default is "relative", which preserves previous behavior.
369
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370set trace-buffer-size
371show trace-buffer-size
372 Request target to change the size of trace buffer.
373
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374set remote trace-buffer-size-packet auto|on|off
375show remote trace-buffer-size-packet
376 Control the use of the remote protocol `QTBuffer:size' packet.
377
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378set debug aarch64
379show debug aarch64
380 Control display of debugging messages related to ARM AArch64.
381 The default is off.
382
383set debug coff-pe-read
384show debug coff-pe-read
385 Control display of debugging messages related to reading of COFF/PE
386 exported symbols.
387
388set debug mach-o
389show debug mach-o
390 Control display of debugging messages related to Mach-O symbols
391 processing.
392
393set debug notification
394show debug notification
395 Control display of debugging info for async remote notification.
396
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397* MI changes
398
399 ** Command parameter changes are now notified using new async record
400 "=cmd-param-changed".
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401 ** Trace frame changes caused by command "tfind" are now notified using
402 new async record "=traceframe-changed".
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403 ** The creation, deletion and modification of trace state variables
404 are now notified using new async records "=tsv-created",
405 "=tsv-deleted" and "=tsv-modified".
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406 ** The start and stop of process record are now notified using new
407 async record "=record-started" and "=record-stopped".
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408 ** Memory changes are now notified using new async record
409 "=memory-changed".
ed8a1c2d 410 ** The data-disassemble command response will include a "fullname" field
ec83d211 411 containing the absolute file name when source has been requested.
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412 ** New optional parameter COUNT added to the "-data-write-memory-bytes"
413 command, to allow pattern filling of memory areas.
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414 ** New commands "-catch-load"/"-catch-unload" added for intercepting
415 library load/unload events.
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416 ** The response to breakpoint commands and breakpoint async records
417 includes an "installed" field containing a boolean state about each
418 non-pending tracepoint location is whether installed on target or not.
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419 ** Output of the "-trace-status" command includes a "trace-file" field
420 containing the name of the trace file being examined. This field is
421 optional, and only present when examining a trace file.
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422 ** The "fullname" field is now always present along with the "file" field,
423 even if the file cannot be found by GDB.
5b9afe8a 424
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425* GDB now supports the "mini debuginfo" section, .gnu_debugdata.
426 You must have the LZMA library available when configuring GDB for this
427 feature to be enabled. For more information, see:
428 http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features/MiniDebugInfo
429
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430* New remote packets
431
432QTBuffer:size
433 Set the size of trace buffer. The remote stub reports support for this
434 packet to gdb's qSupported query.
435
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436Qbtrace:bts
437 Enable Branch Trace Store (BTS)-based branch tracing for the current
438 thread. The remote stub reports support for this packet to gdb's
439 qSupported query.
440
441Qbtrace:off
442 Disable branch tracing for the current thread. The remote stub reports
443 support for this packet to gdb's qSupported query.
444
445qXfer:btrace:read
446 Read the traced branches for the current thread. The remote stub
447 reports support for this packet to gdb's qSupported query.
448
80c8d323 449*** Changes in GDB 7.5
d6e00af6 450
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451* GDB now supports x32 ABI. Visit <http://sites.google.com/site/x32abi/>
452 for more x32 ABI info.
453
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454* GDB now supports access to MIPS DSP registers on Linux targets.
455
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456* GDB now supports debugging microMIPS binaries.
457
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458* The "info os" command on GNU/Linux can now display information on
459 several new classes of objects managed by the operating system:
460 "info os procgroups" lists process groups
461 "info os files" lists file descriptors
462 "info os sockets" lists internet-domain sockets
463 "info os shm" lists shared-memory regions
464 "info os semaphores" lists semaphores
465 "info os msg" lists message queues
466 "info os modules" lists loaded kernel modules
467
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468* GDB now has support for SDT (Static Defined Tracing) probes. Currently,
469 the only implemented backend is for SystemTap probes (<sys/sdt.h>). You
470 can set a breakpoint using the new "-probe, "-pstap" or "-probe-stap"
471 options and inspect the probe arguments using the new $_probe_arg family
472 of convenience variables. You can obtain more information about SystemTap
473 in <http://sourceware.org/systemtap/>.
474
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475* GDB now supports reversible debugging on ARM, it allows you to
476 debug basic ARM and THUMB instructions, and provides
477 record/replay support.
478
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479* The option "symbol-reloading" has been deleted as it is no longer used.
480
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481* Python scripting
482
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483 ** GDB commands implemented in Python can now be put in command class
484 "gdb.COMMAND_USER".
485
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486 ** The "maint set python print-stack on|off" is now deleted.
487
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488 ** A new class, gdb.printing.FlagEnumerationPrinter, can be used to
489 apply "flag enum"-style pretty-printing to any enum.
490
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491 ** gdb.lookup_symbol can now work when there is no current frame.
492
493 ** gdb.Symbol now has a 'line' attribute, holding the line number in
494 the source at which the symbol was defined.
495
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496 ** gdb.Symbol now has the new attribute 'needs_frame' and the new
497 method 'value'. The former indicates whether the symbol needs a
498 frame in order to compute its value, and the latter computes the
499 symbol's value.
500
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501 ** A new method 'referenced_value' on gdb.Value objects which can
502 dereference pointer as well as C++ reference values.
503
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504 ** New methods 'global_block' and 'static_block' on gdb.Symtab objects
505 which return the global and static blocks (as gdb.Block objects),
506 of the underlying symbol table, respectively.
507
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508 ** New function gdb.find_pc_line which returns the gdb.Symtab_and_line
509 object associated with a PC value.
510
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511 ** gdb.Symtab_and_line has new attribute 'last' which holds the end
512 of the address range occupied by code for the current source line.
513
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514* Go language support.
515 GDB now supports debugging programs written in the Go programming
516 language.
517
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518* GDBserver now supports stdio connections.
519 E.g. (gdb) target remote | ssh myhost gdbserver - hello
520
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521* The binary "gdbtui" can no longer be built or installed.
522 Use "gdb -tui" instead.
523
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524* GDB will now print "flag" enums specially. A flag enum is one where
525 all the enumerator values have no bits in common when pairwise
526 "and"ed. When printing a value whose type is a flag enum, GDB will
527 show all the constants, e.g., for enum E { ONE = 1, TWO = 2}:
528 (gdb) print (enum E) 3
529 $1 = (ONE | TWO)
530
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531* The filename part of a linespec will now match trailing components
532 of a source file name. For example, "break gcc/expr.c:1000" will
533 now set a breakpoint in build/gcc/expr.c, but not
534 build/libcpp/expr.c.
535
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536* The "info proc" and "generate-core-file" commands will now also
537 work on remote targets connected to GDBserver on Linux.
538
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539* The command "info catch" has been removed. It has been disabled
540 since December 2007.
541
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542* The "catch exception" and "catch assert" commands now accept
543 a condition at the end of the command, much like the "break"
544 command does. For instance:
545
546 (gdb) catch exception Constraint_Error if Barrier = True
547
548 Previously, it was possible to add a condition to such catchpoints,
549 but it had to be done as a second step, after the catchpoint had been
550 created, using the "condition" command.
551
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552* The "info static-tracepoint-marker" command will now also work on
553 native Linux targets with in-process agent.
554
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555* GDB can now set breakpoints on inlined functions.
556
557* The .gdb_index section has been updated to include symbols for
558 inlined functions. GDB will ignore older .gdb_index sections by
559 default, which could cause symbol files to be loaded more slowly
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560 until their .gdb_index sections can be recreated. The new command
561 "set use-deprecated-index-sections on" will cause GDB to use any older
562 .gdb_index sections it finds. This will restore performance, but the
563 ability to set breakpoints on inlined functions will be lost in symbol
564 files with older .gdb_index sections.
481860b3 565
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566 The .gdb_index section has also been updated to record more information
567 about each symbol. This speeds up the "info variables", "info functions"
568 and "info types" commands when used with programs having the .gdb_index
569 section, as well as speeding up debugging with shared libraries using
570 the .gdb_index section.
571
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572* Ada support for GDB/MI Variable Objects has been added.
573
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574* GDB can now support 'breakpoint always-inserted mode' in 'record'
575 target.
576
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577* MI changes
578
579 ** New command -info-os is the MI equivalent of "info os".
580
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581 ** Output logs ("set logging" and related) now include MI output.
582
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583* New commands
584
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585 ** "set use-deprecated-index-sections on|off"
586 "show use-deprecated-index-sections on|off"
587 Controls the use of deprecated .gdb_index sections.
588
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589 ** "catch load" and "catch unload" can be used to stop when a shared
590 library is loaded or unloaded, respectively.
591
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592 ** "enable count" can be used to auto-disable a breakpoint after
593 several hits.
594
57651221 595 ** "info vtbl" can be used to show the virtual method tables for
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596 C++ and Java objects.
597
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598 ** "explore" and its sub commands "explore value" and "explore type"
599 can be used to reccursively explore values and types of
600 expressions. These commands are available only if GDB is
601 configured with '--with-python'.
602
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603 ** "info auto-load" shows status of all kinds of auto-loaded files,
604 "info auto-load gdb-scripts" shows status of auto-loading GDB canned
605 sequences of commands files, "info auto-load python-scripts"
606 shows status of auto-loading Python script files,
607 "info auto-load local-gdbinit" shows status of loading init file
608 (.gdbinit) from current directory and "info auto-load libthread-db" shows
609 status of inferior specific thread debugging shared library loading.
610
611 ** "info auto-load-scripts", "set auto-load-scripts on|off"
612 and "show auto-load-scripts" commands have been deprecated, use their
613 "info auto-load python-scripts", "set auto-load python-scripts on|off"
614 and "show auto-load python-scripts" counterparts instead.
615
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616 ** "dprintf location,format,args..." creates a dynamic printf, which
617 is basically a breakpoint that does a printf and immediately
618 resumes your program's execution, so it is like a printf that you
619 can insert dynamically at runtime instead of at compiletime.
620
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621 ** "set print symbol"
622 "show print symbol"
623 Controls whether GDB attempts to display the symbol, if any,
624 corresponding to addresses it prints. This defaults to "on", but
625 you can set it to "off" to restore GDB's previous behavior.
626
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TS
627* Deprecated commands
628
629 ** For the Renesas Super-H architecture, the "regs" command has been
630 deprecated, and "info all-registers" should be used instead.
631
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KB
632* New targets
633
634Renesas RL78 rl78-*-elf
60c9a3c0 635HP OpenVMS ia64 ia64-hp-openvms*
a58b110a 636
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637* GDBserver supports evaluation of breakpoint conditions. When
638 support is advertised by GDBserver, GDB may be told to send the
639 breakpoint conditions in bytecode form to GDBserver. GDBserver
640 will only report the breakpoint trigger to GDB when its condition
641 evaluates to true.
642
643* New options
644
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MR
645set mips compression
646show mips compression
647 Select the compressed ISA encoding used in functions that have no symbol
648 information available. The encoding can be set to either of:
649 mips16
650 micromips
651 and is updated automatically from ELF file flags if available.
652
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653set breakpoint condition-evaluation
654show breakpoint condition-evaluation
cf65ecd3 655 Control whether breakpoint conditions are evaluated by GDB ("host") or by
5b43fab2
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656 GDBserver ("target"). Default option "auto" chooses the most efficient
657 available mode.
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658 This option can improve debugger efficiency depending on the speed of the
659 target.
660
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661set auto-load off
662 Disable auto-loading globally.
663
664show auto-load
665 Show auto-loading setting of all kinds of auto-loaded files.
666
667set auto-load gdb-scripts on|off
668show auto-load gdb-scripts
669 Control auto-loading of GDB canned sequences of commands files.
670
671set auto-load python-scripts on|off
672show auto-load python-scripts
673 Control auto-loading of Python script files.
674
675set auto-load local-gdbinit on|off
676show auto-load local-gdbinit
677 Control loading of init file (.gdbinit) from current directory.
678
679set auto-load libthread-db on|off
680show auto-load libthread-db
681 Control auto-loading of inferior specific thread debugging shared library.
682
7349ff92 683set auto-load scripts-directory <dir1>[:<dir2>...]
9cc815f5 684show auto-load scripts-directory
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JK
685 Set a list of directories from which to load auto-loaded scripts.
686 Automatically loaded Python scripts and GDB scripts are located in one
687 of the directories listed by this option.
688 The delimiter (':' above) may differ according to the host platform.
689
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690set auto-load safe-path <dir1>[:<dir2>...]
691show auto-load safe-path
692 Set a list of directories from which it is safe to auto-load files.
693 The delimiter (':' above) may differ according to the host platform.
694
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695set debug auto-load on|off
696show debug auto-load
697 Control display of debugging info for auto-loading the files above.
698
d3ce09f5 699set dprintf-style gdb|call|agent
e7e0cddf 700show dprintf-style
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SS
701 Control the way in which a dynamic printf is performed; "gdb"
702 requests a GDB printf command, while "call" causes dprintf to call a
703 function in the inferior. "agent" requests that the target agent
704 (such as GDBserver) do the printing.
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SS
705
706set dprintf-function <expr>
707show dprintf-function
708set dprintf-channel <expr>
709show dprintf-channel
710 Set the function and optional first argument to the call when using
711 the "call" style of dynamic printf.
712
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SS
713set disconnected-dprintf on|off
714show disconnected-dprintf
715 Control whether agent-style dynamic printfs continue to be in effect
716 after GDB disconnects.
717
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JK
718* New configure options
719
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JK
720--with-auto-load-dir
721 Configure default value for the 'set auto-load scripts-directory'
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JK
722 setting above. It defaults to '$debugdir:$datadir/auto-load',
723 $debugdir representing global debugging info directories (available
724 via 'show debug-file-directory') and $datadir representing GDB's data
725 directory (available via 'show data-directory').
7349ff92 726
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JK
727--with-auto-load-safe-path
728 Configure default value for the 'set auto-load safe-path' setting
7349ff92 729 above. It defaults to the --with-auto-load-dir setting.
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JK
730
731--without-auto-load-safe-path
732 Set 'set auto-load safe-path' to '/', effectively disabling this
733 security feature.
734
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LM
735* New remote packets
736
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PA
737z0/z1 conditional breakpoints extension
738
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LM
739 The z0/z1 breakpoint insertion packets have been extended to carry
740 a list of conditional expressions over to the remote stub depending on the
741 condition evaluation mode. The use of this extension can be controlled
742 via the "set remote conditional-breakpoints-packet" command.
743
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PA
744QProgramSignals:
745
746 Specify the signals which the remote stub may pass to the debugged
747 program without GDB involvement.
748
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JK
749* New command line options
750
751--init-command=FILE, -ix Like --command, -x but execute it
752 before loading inferior.
753--init-eval-command=COMMAND, -iex Like --eval-command=COMMAND, -ex but
754 execute it before loading inferior.
755
8837a20f
JB
756*** Changes in GDB 7.4
757
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TT
758* GDB now handles ambiguous linespecs more consistently; the existing
759 FILE:LINE support has been expanded to other types of linespecs. A
760 breakpoint will now be set on all matching locations in all
761 inferiors, and locations will be added or removed according to
762 inferior changes.
763
1bfeeb0f
JL
764* GDB now allows you to skip uninteresting functions and files when
765 stepping with the "skip function" and "skip file" commands.
766
480a3f21
PW
767* GDB has two new commands: "set remote hardware-watchpoint-length-limit"
768 and "show remote hardware-watchpoint-length-limit". These allows to
769 set or show the maximum length limit (in bytes) of a remote
770 target hardware watchpoint.
771
772 This allows e.g. to use "unlimited" hardware watchpoints with the
773 gdbserver integrated in Valgrind version >= 3.7.0. Such Valgrind
774 watchpoints are slower than real hardware watchpoints but are
775 significantly faster than gdb software watchpoints.
776
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777* Python scripting
778
32d1c362 779 ** The register_pretty_printer function in module gdb.printing now takes
7d0aff21 780 an optional `replace' argument. If True, the new printer replaces any
32d1c362
DE
781 existing one.
782
3a7bf607 783 ** The "maint set python print-stack on|off" command has been
4795f398
DE
784 deprecated and will be deleted in GDB 7.5.
785 A new command: "set python print-stack none|full|message" has
786 replaced it. Additionally, the default for "print-stack" is
787 now "message", which just prints the error message without
788 the stack trace.
3a7bf607 789
baacfb07 790 ** A prompt substitution hook (prompt_hook) is now available to the
3a7bf607 791 Python API.
713389e0 792
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PM
793 ** A new Python module, gdb.prompt has been added to the GDB Python
794 modules library. This module provides functionality for
baacfb07 795 escape sequences in prompts (used by set/show
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PM
796 extended-prompt). These escape sequences are replaced by their
797 corresponding value.
798
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PM
799 ** Python commands and convenience-functions located in
800 'data-directory'/python/gdb/command and
801 'data-directory'/python/gdb/function are now automatically loaded
802 on GDB start-up.
803
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804 ** Blocks now provide four new attributes. global_block and
805 static_block will return the global and static blocks
806 respectively. is_static and is_global are boolean attributes
807 that indicate if the block is one of those two types.
808
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DE
809 ** Symbols now provide the "type" attribute, the type of the symbol.
810
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KP
811 ** The "gdb.breakpoint" function has been deprecated in favor of
812 "gdb.breakpoints".
813
cc72b2a2
KP
814 ** A new class "gdb.FinishBreakpoint" is provided to catch the return
815 of a function. This class is based on the "finish" command
816 available in the CLI.
817
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PK
818 ** Type objects for struct and union types now allow access to
819 the fields using standard Python dictionary (mapping) methods.
820 For example, "some_type['myfield']" now works, as does
821 "some_type.items()".
822
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KP
823 ** A new event "gdb.new_objfile" has been added, triggered by loading a
824 new object file.
825
03c3051a
PK
826 ** A new function, "deep_items" has been added to the gdb.types
827 module in the GDB Python modules library. This function returns
828 an iterator over the fields of a struct or union type. Unlike
829 the standard Python "iteritems" method, it will recursively traverse
830 any anonymous fields.
831
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TT
832* MI changes
833
834 ** "*stopped" events can report several new "reason"s, such as
835 "solib-event".
836
837 ** Breakpoint changes are now notified using new async records, like
838 "=breakpoint-modified".
839
840 ** New command -ada-task-info.
841
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DE
842* libthread-db-search-path now supports two special values: $sdir and $pdir.
843 $sdir specifies the default system locations of shared libraries.
844 $pdir specifies the directory where the libpthread used by the application
845 lives.
846
847 GDB no longer looks in $sdir and $pdir after it has searched the directories
848 mentioned in libthread-db-search-path. If you want to search those
849 directories, they must be specified in libthread-db-search-path.
850 The default value of libthread-db-search-path on GNU/Linux and Solaris
851 systems is now "$sdir:$pdir".
852
853 $pdir is not supported by gdbserver, it is currently ignored.
854 $sdir is supported by gdbserver.
855
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DE
856* New configure option --with-iconv-bin.
857 When using the internationalization support like the one in the GNU C
858 library, GDB will invoke the "iconv" program to get a list of supported
859 character sets. If this program lives in a non-standard location, one can
860 use this option to specify where to find it.
861
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TJB
862* When natively debugging programs on PowerPC BookE processors running
863 a Linux kernel version 2.6.34 or later, GDB supports masked hardware
864 watchpoints, which specify a mask in addition to an address to watch.
865 The mask specifies that some bits of an address (the bits which are
866 reset in the mask) should be ignored when matching the address accessed
867 by the inferior against the watchpoint address. See the "PowerPC Embedded"
868 section in the user manual for more details.
869
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JK
870* The new option --once causes GDBserver to stop listening for connections once
871 the first connection is made. The listening port used by GDBserver will
872 become available after that.
873
71eba9c2 874* New commands "info macros" and "alias" have been added.
edc84990 875
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JK
876* New function parameters suffix @entry specifies value of function parameter
877 at the time the function got called. Entry values are available only since
878 gcc version 4.7.
879
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DE
880* New commands
881
882!SHELL COMMAND
883 "!" is now an alias of the "shell" command.
884 Note that no space is needed between "!" and SHELL COMMAND.
885
9c06b0b4
TJB
886* Changed commands
887
888watch EXPRESSION mask MASK_VALUE
889 The watch command now supports the mask argument which allows creation
890 of masked watchpoints, if the current architecture supports this feature.
891
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DE
892info auto-load-scripts [REGEXP]
893 This command was formerly named "maintenance print section-scripts".
894 It is now generally useful and is no longer a maintenance-only command.
895
71eba9c2 896info macro [-all] [--] MACRO
897 The info macro command has new options `-all' and `--'. The first for
898 printing all definitions of a macro. The second for explicitly specifying
899 the end of arguments and the beginning of the macro name in case the macro
900 name starts with a hyphen.
901
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SS
902collect[/s] EXPRESSIONS
903 The tracepoint collect command now takes an optional modifier "/s"
904 that directs it to dereference pointer-to-character types and
905 collect the bytes of memory up to a zero byte. The behavior is
906 similar to what you see when you use the regular print command on a
907 string. An optional integer following the "/s" sets a bound on the
908 number of bytes that will be collected.
909
f196051f
SS
910tstart [NOTES]
911 The trace start command now interprets any supplied arguments as a
912 note to be recorded with the trace run, with an effect similar to
913 setting the variable trace-notes.
914
915tstop [NOTES]
916 The trace stop command now interprets any arguments as a note to be
917 mentioned along with the tstatus report that the trace was stopped
918 with a command. The effect is similar to setting the variable
919 trace-stop-notes.
920
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KY
921* Tracepoints can now be enabled and disabled at any time after a trace
922 experiment has been started using the standard "enable" and "disable"
923 commands. It is now possible to start a trace experiment with no enabled
924 tracepoints; GDB will display a warning, but will allow the experiment to
925 begin, assuming that tracepoints will be enabled as needed while the trace
926 is running.
927
405f8e94
SS
928* Fast tracepoints on 32-bit x86-architectures can now be placed at
929 locations with 4-byte instructions, when they were previously
930 limited to locations with instructions of 5 bytes or longer.
931
2bda9cc5
JK
932* New options
933
45cfd468
DE
934set debug dwarf2-read
935show debug dwarf2-read
936 Turns on or off display of debugging messages related to reading
937 DWARF debug info. The default is off.
938
939set debug symtab-create
940show debug symtab-create
941 Turns on or off display of debugging messages related to symbol table
942 creation. The default is off.
943
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PM
944set extended-prompt
945show extended-prompt
946 Set the GDB prompt, and allow escape sequences to be inserted to
947 display miscellaneous information (see 'help set extended-prompt'
948 for the list of sequences). This prompt (and any information
949 accessed through the escape sequences) is updated every time the
950 prompt is displayed.
951
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JK
952set print entry-values (both|compact|default|if-needed|no|only|preferred)
953show print entry-values
954 Set printing of frame argument values at function entry. In some cases
955 GDB can determine the value of function argument which was passed by the
956 function caller, even if the value was modified inside the called function.
957
958set debug entry-values
959show debug entry-values
960 Control display of debugging info for determining frame argument values at
961 function entry and virtual tail call frames.
962
c011a4f4
DE
963set basenames-may-differ
964show basenames-may-differ
965 Set whether a source file may have multiple base names.
966 (A "base name" is the name of a file with the directory part removed.
967 Example: The base name of "/home/user/hello.c" is "hello.c".)
968 If set, GDB will canonicalize file names (e.g., expand symlinks)
969 before comparing them. Canonicalization is an expensive operation,
970 but it allows the same file be known by more than one base name.
971 If not set (the default), all source files are assumed to have just
972 one base name, and gdb will do file name comparisons more efficiently.
973
f196051f
SS
974set trace-user
975show trace-user
976set trace-notes
977show trace-notes
978 Set a user name and notes for the current and any future trace runs.
979 This is useful for long-running and/or disconnected traces, to
980 inform others (or yourself) as to who is running the trace, supply
981 contact information, or otherwise explain what is going on.
982
983set trace-stop-notes
984show trace-stop-notes
985 Set a note attached to the trace run, that is displayed when the
986 trace has been stopped by a tstop command. This is useful for
987 instance as an explanation, if you are stopping a trace run that was
988 started by someone else.
989
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KY
990* New remote packets
991
992QTEnable
993
994 Dynamically enable a tracepoint in a started trace experiment.
995
996QTDisable
997
998 Dynamically disable a tracepoint in a started trace experiment.
999
f196051f
SS
1000QTNotes
1001
1002 Set the user and notes of the trace run.
1003
1004qTP
1005
1006 Query the current status of a tracepoint.
1007
405f8e94
SS
1008qTMinFTPILen
1009
1010 Query the minimum length of instruction at which a fast tracepoint may
1011 be placed.
1012
1a532630
PP
1013* Dcache size (number of lines) and line-size are now runtime-configurable
1014 via "set dcache line" and "set dcache line-size" commands.
1015
11315641
YQ
1016* New targets
1017
1018Texas Instruments TMS320C6x tic6x-*-*
1019
87326c78
DD
1020* New Simulators
1021
1022Renesas RL78 rl78-*-elf
1023
e8d56f18
JB
1024*** Changes in GDB 7.3.1
1025
1026* The build failure for NetBSD and OpenBSD targets have now been fixed.
1027
d6e00af6 1028*** Changes in GDB 7.3
797054e6 1029
60f98dde
MS
1030* GDB has a new command: "thread find [REGEXP]".
1031 It finds the thread id whose name, target id, or thread extra info
1032 matches the given regular expression.
1033
eee5b35e
DD
1034* The "catch syscall" command now works on mips*-linux* targets.
1035
b716877b
AB
1036* The -data-disassemble MI command now supports modes 2 and 3 for
1037 dumping the instruction opcodes.
1038
aae1c79a
DE
1039* New command line options
1040
1041-data-directory DIR Specify DIR as the "data-directory".
1042 This is mostly for testing purposes.
1043
a86caf66
DE
1044* The "maint set python auto-load on|off" command has been renamed to
1045 "set auto-load-scripts on|off".
1046
99e7ae30
DE
1047* GDB has a new command: "set directories".
1048 It is like the "dir" command except that it replaces the
1049 source path list instead of augmenting it.
1050
4694da01
TT
1051* GDB now understands thread names.
1052
1053 On GNU/Linux, "info threads" will display the thread name as set by
1054 prctl or pthread_setname_np.
1055
1056 There is also a new command, "thread name", which can be used to
1057 assign a name internally for GDB to display.
1058
f4b8a18d
KW
1059* OpenCL C
1060 Initial support for the OpenCL C language (http://www.khronos.org/opencl)
1061 has been integrated into GDB.
1062
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PM
1063* Python scripting
1064
da5d4055
PM
1065 ** The function gdb.Write now accepts an optional keyword 'stream'.
1066 This keyword, when provided, will direct the output to either
1067 stdout, stderr, or GDB's logging output.
1068
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PM
1069 ** Parameters can now be be sub-classed in Python, and in particular
1070 you may implement the get_set_doc and get_show_doc functions.
1071 This improves how Parameter set/show documentation is processed
1072 and allows for more dynamic content.
1073
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PM
1074 ** Symbols, Symbol Table, Symbol Table and Line, Object Files,
1075 Inferior, Inferior Thread, Blocks, and Block Iterator APIs now
1076 have an is_valid method.
1077
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PM
1078 ** Breakpoints can now be sub-classed in Python, and in particular
1079 you may implement a 'stop' function that is executed each time
1080 the inferior reaches that breakpoint.
1081
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DE
1082 ** New function gdb.lookup_global_symbol looks up a global symbol.
1083
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PM
1084 ** GDB values in Python are now callable if the value represents a
1085 function. For example, if 'some_value' represents a function that
1086 takes two integer parameters and returns a value, you can call
1087 that function like so:
1088
1089 result = some_value (10,20)
1090
0e3509db
DE
1091 ** Module gdb.types has been added.
1092 It contains a collection of utilities for working with gdb.Types objects:
1093 get_basic_type, has_field, make_enum_dict.
1094
7b51bc51
DE
1095 ** Module gdb.printing has been added.
1096 It contains utilities for writing and registering pretty-printers.
1097 New classes: PrettyPrinter, SubPrettyPrinter,
1098 RegexpCollectionPrettyPrinter.
1099 New function: register_pretty_printer.
1100
1101 ** New commands "info pretty-printers", "enable pretty-printer" and
1102 "disable pretty-printer" have been added.
1103
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DE
1104 ** gdb.parameter("directories") is now available.
1105
d8e22779
TT
1106 ** New function gdb.newest_frame returns the newest frame in the
1107 selected thread.
1108
4694da01
TT
1109 ** The gdb.InferiorThread class has a new "name" attribute. This
1110 holds the thread's name.
1111
505500db
SW
1112 ** Python Support for Inferior events.
1113 Python scripts can add observers to be notified of events
824446ad 1114 occurring in the process being debugged.
c17a9e46
HZ
1115 The following events are currently supported:
1116 - gdb.events.cont Continue event.
1117 - gdb.events.exited Inferior exited event.
1118 - gdb.events.stop Signal received, and Breakpoint hit events.
1119
def98928
TT
1120* C++ Improvements:
1121
1122 ** GDB now puts template parameters in scope when debugging in an
1123 instantiation. For example, if you have:
1124
1125 template<int X> int func (void) { return X; }
1126
1127 then if you step into func<5>, "print X" will show "5". This
1128 feature requires proper debuginfo support from the compiler; it
1129 was added to GCC 4.5.
1130
66cb8159
TT
1131 ** The motion commands "next", "finish", "until", and "advance" now
1132 work better when exceptions are thrown. In particular, GDB will
1133 no longer lose control of the inferior; instead, the GDB will
1134 stop the inferior at the point at which the exception is caught.
1135 This functionality requires a change in the exception handling
1136 code that was introduced in GCC 4.5.
1137
4aac0db7
UW
1138* GDB now follows GCC's rules on accessing volatile objects when
1139 reading or writing target state during expression evaluation.
1140 One notable difference to prior behavior is that "print x = 0"
1141 no longer generates a read of x; the value of the assignment is
1142 now always taken directly from the value being assigned.
1143
283e6a52
TT
1144* GDB now has some support for using labels in the program's source in
1145 linespecs. For instance, you can use "advance label" to continue
1146 execution to a label.
1147
1148* GDB now has support for reading and writing a new .gdb_index
1149 section. This section holds a fast index of DWARF debugging
1150 information and can be used to greatly speed up GDB startup and
1151 operation. See the documentation for `save gdb-index' for details.
1152
b56df873 1153* The "watch" command now accepts an optional "-location" argument.
14c0d4e1 1154 When used, this causes GDB to watch the memory referred to by the
b56df873
TT
1155 expression. Such a watchpoint is never deleted due to it going out
1156 of scope.
1157
ae53ffa4
PA
1158* GDB now supports thread debugging of core dumps on GNU/Linux.
1159
1160 GDB now activates thread debugging using the libthread_db library
1161 when debugging GNU/Linux core dumps, similarly to when debugging
1162 live processes. As a result, when debugging a core dump file, GDB
1163 is now able to display pthread_t ids of threads. For example, "info
1164 threads" shows the same output as when debugging the process when it
1165 was live. In earlier releases, you'd see something like this:
1166
1167 (gdb) info threads
1168 * 1 LWP 6780 main () at main.c:10
1169
1170 While now you see this:
1171
1172 (gdb) info threads
1173 * 1 Thread 0x7f0f5712a700 (LWP 6780) main () at main.c:10
1174
1175 It is also now possible to inspect TLS variables when debugging core
1176 dumps.
1177
1178 When debugging a core dump generated on a machine other than the one
1179 used to run GDB, you may need to point GDB at the correct
1180 libthread_db library with the "set libthread-db-search-path"
1181 command. See the user manual for more details on this command.
1182
f1310107
TJB
1183* When natively debugging programs on PowerPC BookE processors running
1184 a Linux kernel version 2.6.34 or later, GDB supports ranged breakpoints,
1185 which stop execution of the inferior whenever it executes an instruction
1186 at any address within the specified range. See the "PowerPC Embedded"
1187 section in the user manual for more details.
1188
248c9dbc
JB
1189* New features in the GDB remote stub, GDBserver
1190
1aee7009
JB
1191 ** GDBserver is now supported on PowerPC LynxOS (versions 4.x and 5.x),
1192 and i686 LynxOS (version 5.x).
248c9dbc 1193
eb826dc6
MF
1194 ** GDBserver is now supported on Blackfin Linux.
1195
44603653
JB
1196* New native configurations
1197
1198ia64 HP-UX ia64-*-hpux*
1199
91021223
MF
1200* New targets:
1201
1202Analog Devices, Inc. Blackfin Processor bfin-*
1203
6e1bb179
JB
1204* Ada task switching is now supported on sparc-elf targets when
1205 debugging a program using the Ravenscar Profile. For more information,
1206 see the "Tasking Support when using the Ravenscar Profile" section
1207 in the GDB user manual.
1208
50c97f38
TT
1209* Guile support was removed.
1210
448a92bf
MF
1211* New features in the GNU simulator
1212
1213 ** The --map-info flag lists all known core mappings.
1214
66ee2731
MF
1215 ** CFI flashes may be simulated via the "cfi" device.
1216
76b8507d 1217*** Changes in GDB 7.2
bfbf3774 1218
ba25b921
PA
1219* Shared library support for remote targets by default
1220
1221 When GDB is configured for a generic, non-OS specific target, like
1222 for example, --target=arm-eabi or one of the many *-*-elf targets,
1223 GDB now queries remote stubs for loaded shared libraries using the
1224 `qXfer:libraries:read' packet. Previously, shared library support
1225 was always disabled for such configurations.
1226
4656f5c6
SW
1227* C++ Improvements:
1228
1229 ** Argument Dependent Lookup (ADL)
1230
1231 In C++ ADL lookup directs function search to the namespaces of its
1232 arguments even if the namespace has not been imported.
1233 For example:
1234 namespace A
1235 {
1236 class B { };
1237 void foo (B) { }
1238 }
1239 ...
1240 A::B b
1241 foo(b)
1242 Here the compiler will search for `foo' in the namespace of 'b'
1243 and find A::foo. GDB now supports this. This construct is commonly
1244 used in the Standard Template Library for operators.
1245
1246 ** Improved User Defined Operator Support
1247
1248 In addition to member operators, GDB now supports lookup of operators
1249 defined in a namespace and imported with a `using' directive, operators
1250 defined in the global scope, operators imported implicitly from an
1251 anonymous namespace, and the ADL operators mentioned in the previous
1252 entry.
1253 GDB now also supports proper overload resolution for all the previously
1254 mentioned flavors of operators.
1255
254e6b9e
DE
1256 ** static const class members
1257
1258 Printing of static const class members that are initialized in the
1259 class definition has been fixed.
1260
711e434b
PM
1261* Windows Thread Information Block access.
1262
1263 On Windows targets, GDB now supports displaying the Windows Thread
1264 Information Block (TIB) structure. This structure is visible either
1265 by using the new command `info w32 thread-information-block' or, by
1266 dereferencing the new convenience variable named `$_tlb', a
1267 thread-specific pointer to the TIB. This feature is also supported
1268 when remote debugging using GDBserver.
1269
0fb4aa4b
PA
1270* Static tracepoints
1271
1272 Static tracepoints are calls in the user program into a tracing
1273 library. One such library is a port of the LTTng kernel tracer to
1274 userspace --- UST (LTTng Userspace Tracer, http://lttng.org/ust).
1275 When debugging with GDBserver, GDB now supports combining the GDB
1276 tracepoint machinery with such libraries. For example: the user can
1277 use GDB to probe a static tracepoint marker (a call from the user
1278 program into the tracing library) with the new "strace" command (see
1279 "New commands" below). This creates a "static tracepoint" in the
1280 breakpoint list, that can be manipulated with the same feature set
1281 as fast and regular tracepoints. E.g., collect registers, local and
1282 global variables, collect trace state variables, and define
1283 tracepoint conditions. In addition, the user can collect extra
1284 static tracepoint marker specific data, by collecting the new
1285 $_sdata internal variable. When analyzing the trace buffer, you can
1286 inspect $_sdata like any other variable available to GDB. For more
1287 information, see the "Tracepoints" chapter in GDB user manual. New
1288 remote packets have been defined to support static tracepoints, see
1289 the "New remote packets" section below.
1290
ca11e899
SS
1291* Better reconstruction of tracepoints after disconnected tracing
1292
1293 GDB will attempt to download the original source form of tracepoint
1294 definitions when starting a trace run, and then will upload these
1295 upon reconnection to the target, resulting in a more accurate
1296 reconstruction of the tracepoints that are in use on the target.
1297
1298* Observer mode
1299
1300 You can now exercise direct control over the ways that GDB can
1301 affect your program. For instance, you can disallow the setting of
1302 breakpoints, so that the program can run continuously (assuming
1303 non-stop mode). In addition, the "observer" variable is available
1304 to switch all of the different controls; in observer mode, GDB
1305 cannot affect the target's behavior at all, which is useful for
1306 tasks like diagnosing live systems in the field.
1307
1308* The new convenience variable $_thread holds the number of the
1309 current thread.
1310
711e434b
PM
1311* New remote packets
1312
1313qGetTIBAddr
1314
1315 Return the address of the Windows Thread Information Block of a given thread.
1316
dde08ee1
PA
1317qRelocInsn
1318
1319 In response to several of the tracepoint packets, the target may now
1320 also respond with a number of intermediate `qRelocInsn' request
1321 packets before the final result packet, to have GDB handle
1322 relocating an instruction to execute at a different address. This
1323 is particularly useful for stubs that support fast tracepoints. GDB
1324 reports support for this feature in the qSupported packet.
1325
0fb4aa4b
PA
1326qTfSTM, qTsSTM
1327
1328 List static tracepoint markers in the target program.
1329
1330qTSTMat
1331
1332 List static tracepoint markers at a given address in the target
1333 program.
1334
1335qXfer:statictrace:read
1336
1337 Read the static trace data collected (by a `collect $_sdata'
1338 tracepoint action). The remote stub reports support for this packet
1339 to gdb's qSupported query.
1340
ca11e899
SS
1341QAllow
1342
1343 Send the current settings of GDB's permission flags.
1344
1345QTDPsrc
1346
1347 Send part of the source (textual) form of a tracepoint definition,
1348 which includes location, conditional, and action list.
1349
3f7b2faa
DE
1350* The source command now accepts a -s option to force searching for the
1351 script in the source search path even if the script name specifies
1352 a directory.
1353
d337e9f0
PA
1354* New features in the GDB remote stub, GDBserver
1355
0fb4aa4b
PA
1356 - GDBserver now support tracepoints (including fast tracepoints, and
1357 static tracepoints). The feature is currently supported by the
1358 i386-linux and amd64-linux builds. See the "Tracepoints support
1359 in gdbserver" section in the manual for more information.
1360
1361 GDBserver JIT compiles the tracepoint's conditional agent
1362 expression bytecode into native code whenever possible for low
1363 overhead dynamic tracepoints conditionals. For such tracepoints,
1364 an expression that examines program state is evaluated when the
1365 tracepoint is reached, in order to determine whether to capture
1366 trace data. If the condition is simple and false, processing the
1367 tracepoint finishes very quickly and no data is gathered.
1368
1369 GDBserver interfaces with the UST (LTTng Userspace Tracer) library
1370 for static tracepoints support.
d337e9f0 1371
c24d0242
PM
1372 - GDBserver now supports x86_64 Windows 64-bit debugging.
1373
c8d5aac9
L
1374* GDB now sends xmlRegisters= in qSupported packet to indicate that
1375 it understands register description.
1376
7c953934
TT
1377* The --batch flag now disables pagination and queries.
1378
8685c86f
L
1379* X86 general purpose registers
1380
1381 GDB now supports reading/writing byte, word and double-word x86
1382 general purpose registers directly. This means you can use, say,
1383 $ah or $ax to refer, respectively, to the byte register AH and
1384 16-bit word register AX that are actually portions of the 32-bit
1385 register EAX or 64-bit register RAX.
1386
95a42b64 1387* The `commands' command now accepts a range of breakpoints to modify.
86b17b60
PA
1388 A plain `commands' following a command that creates multiple
1389 breakpoints affects all the breakpoints set by that command. This
1390 applies to breakpoints set by `rbreak', and also applies when a
1391 single `break' command creates multiple breakpoints (e.g.,
1392 breakpoints on overloaded c++ functions).
95a42b64 1393
8bd10a10
CM
1394* The `rbreak' command now accepts a filename specification as part of
1395 its argument, limiting the functions selected by the regex to those
1396 in the specified file.
1397
ab38a727
PA
1398* Support for remote debugging Windows and SymbianOS shared libraries
1399 from Unix hosts has been improved. Non Windows GDB builds now can
1400 understand target reported file names that follow MS-DOS based file
1401 system semantics, such as file names that include drive letters and
1402 use the backslash character as directory separator. This makes it
1403 possible to transparently use the "set sysroot" and "set
1404 solib-search-path" on Unix hosts to point as host copies of the
1405 target's shared libraries. See the new command "set
1406 target-file-system-kind" described below, and the "Commands to
1407 specify files" section in the user manual for more information.
1408
6149aea9
PA
1409* New commands
1410
f1421989
HZ
1411eval template, expressions...
1412 Convert the values of one or more expressions under the control
1413 of the string template to a command line, and call it.
1414
ab38a727
PA
1415set target-file-system-kind unix|dos-based|auto
1416show target-file-system-kind
1417 Set or show the assumed file system kind for target reported file
1418 names.
1419
6149aea9
PA
1420save breakpoints <filename>
1421 Save all current breakpoint definitions to a file suitable for use
1422 in a later debugging session. To read the saved breakpoint
1423 definitions, use the `source' command.
1424
1425`save tracepoints' is a new alias for `save-tracepoints'. The latter
1426is now deprecated.
1427
0fb4aa4b
PA
1428info static-tracepoint-markers
1429 Display information about static tracepoint markers in the target.
1430
1431strace FN | FILE:LINE | *ADDR | -m MARKER_ID
1432 Define a static tracepoint by probing a marker at the given
1433 function, line, address, or marker ID.
1434
ca11e899
SS
1435set observer on|off
1436show observer
1437 Enable and disable observer mode.
1438
1439set may-write-registers on|off
1440set may-write-memory on|off
1441set may-insert-breakpoints on|off
1442set may-insert-tracepoints on|off
1443set may-insert-fast-tracepoints on|off
1444set may-interrupt on|off
1445 Set individual permissions for GDB effects on the target. Note that
1446 some of these settings can have undesirable or surprising
1447 consequences, particularly when changed in the middle of a session.
1448 For instance, disabling the writing of memory can prevent
1449 breakpoints from being inserted, cause single-stepping to fail, or
1450 even crash your program, if you disable after breakpoints have been
1451 inserted. However, GDB should not crash.
1452
1453set record memory-query on|off
1454show record memory-query
1455 Control whether to stop the inferior if memory changes caused
1456 by an instruction cannot be recorded.
1457
53a71c06
CR
1458* Changed commands
1459
1460disassemble
1461 The disassemble command now supports "start,+length" form of two arguments.
1462
f3e9a817
PM
1463* Python scripting
1464
9279c692
JB
1465** GDB now provides a new directory location, called the python directory,
1466 where Python scripts written for GDB can be installed. The location
1467 of that directory is <data-directory>/python, where <data-directory>
1468 is the GDB data directory. For more details, see section `Scripting
1469 GDB using Python' in the manual.
1470
adc36818 1471** The GDB Python API now has access to breakpoints, symbols, symbol
595939de
PM
1472 tables, program spaces, inferiors, threads and frame's code blocks.
1473 Additionally, GDB Parameters can now be created from the API, and
1474 manipulated via set/show in the CLI.
f870a310 1475
fa33c3cd 1476** New functions gdb.target_charset, gdb.target_wide_charset,
07ca107c
DE
1477 gdb.progspaces, gdb.current_progspace, and gdb.string_to_argv.
1478
1479** New exception gdb.GdbError.
fa33c3cd
DE
1480
1481** Pretty-printers are now also looked up in the current program space.
f3e9a817 1482
967cf477
DE
1483** Pretty-printers can now be individually enabled and disabled.
1484
8a1ea21f
DE
1485** GDB now looks for names of Python scripts to auto-load in a
1486 special section named `.debug_gdb_scripts', in addition to looking
1487 for a OBJFILE-gdb.py script when OBJFILE is read by the debugger.
1488
a7bdde9e
VP
1489* Tracepoint actions were unified with breakpoint commands. In particular,
1490there are no longer differences in "info break" output for breakpoints and
1491tracepoints and the "commands" command can be used for both tracepoints and
1492regular breakpoints.
1493
05071a4d
PA
1494* New targets
1495
1496ARM Symbian arm*-*-symbianelf*
1497
6aecb9c2
JB
1498* D language support.
1499 GDB now supports debugging programs written in the D programming
1500 language.
1501
431e49aa
TJB
1502* GDB now supports the extended ptrace interface for PowerPC which is
1503 available since Linux kernel version 2.6.34. This automatically enables
1504 any hardware breakpoints and additional hardware watchpoints available in
1505 the processor. The old ptrace interface exposes just one hardware
1506 watchpoint and no hardware breakpoints.
1507
1508* GDB is now able to use the Data Value Compare (DVC) register available on
1509 embedded PowerPC processors to implement in hardware simple watchpoint
1510 conditions of the form:
1511
1512 watch ADDRESS|VARIABLE if ADDRESS|VARIABLE == CONSTANT EXPRESSION
1513
1514 This works in native GDB running on Linux kernels with the extended ptrace
1515 interface mentioned above.
1516
bfbf3774 1517*** Changes in GDB 7.1
abc7453d 1518
4eef138c
TT
1519* C++ Improvements
1520
1521 ** Namespace Support
71dee663
SW
1522
1523 GDB now supports importing of namespaces in C++. This enables the
1524 user to inspect variables from imported namespaces. Support for
1525 namepace aliasing has also been added. So, if a namespace is
1526 aliased in the current scope (e.g. namepace C=A; ) the user can
1527 print variables using the alias (e.g. (gdb) print C::x).
1528
4eef138c
TT
1529 ** Bug Fixes
1530
1531 All known bugs relating to the printing of virtual base class were
1532 fixed. It is now possible to call overloaded static methods using a
1533 qualified name.
1534
1535 ** Cast Operators
1536
1537 The C++ cast operators static_cast<>, dynamic_cast<>, const_cast<>,
1538 and reinterpret_cast<> are now handled by the C++ expression parser.
1539
2d1c1221
ME
1540* New targets
1541
1542Xilinx MicroBlaze microblaze-*-*
34207b9e 1543Renesas RX rx-*-elf
2d1c1221
ME
1544
1545* New Simulators
1546
1547Xilinx MicroBlaze microblaze
34207b9e 1548Renesas RX rx
2d1c1221 1549
6c95b8df
PA
1550* Multi-program debugging.
1551
1552 GDB now has support for multi-program (a.k.a. multi-executable or
1553 multi-exec) debugging. This allows for debugging multiple inferiors
1554 simultaneously each running a different program under the same GDB
1555 session. See "Debugging Multiple Inferiors and Programs" in the
1556 manual for more information. This implied some user visible changes
1557 in the multi-inferior support. For example, "info inferiors" now
1558 lists inferiors that are not running yet or that have exited
1559 already. See also "New commands" and "New options" below.
1560
d5551862
SS
1561* New tracing features
1562
1563 GDB's tracepoint facility now includes several new features:
1564
1565 ** Trace state variables
f61e138d
SS
1566
1567 GDB tracepoints now include support for trace state variables, which
1568 are variables managed by the target agent during a tracing
1569 experiment. They are useful for tracepoints that trigger each
1570 other, so for instance one tracepoint can count hits in a variable,
1571 and then a second tracepoint has a condition that is true when the
1572 count reaches a particular value. Trace state variables share the
1573 $-syntax of GDB convenience variables, and can appear in both
1574 tracepoint actions and condition expressions. Use the "tvariable"
1575 command to create, and "info tvariables" to view; see "Trace State
1576 Variables" in the manual for more detail.
7a697b8d 1577
d5551862 1578 ** Fast tracepoints
7a697b8d
SS
1579
1580 GDB now includes an option for defining fast tracepoints, which
1581 targets may implement more efficiently, such as by installing a jump
1582 into the target agent rather than a trap instruction. The resulting
1583 speedup can be by two orders of magnitude or more, although the
1584 tradeoff is that some program locations on some target architectures
1585 might not allow fast tracepoint installation, for instance if the
1586 instruction to be replaced is shorter than the jump. To request a
1587 fast tracepoint, use the "ftrace" command, with syntax identical to
1588 the regular trace command.
1589
d5551862
SS
1590 ** Disconnected tracing
1591
1592 It is now possible to detach GDB from the target while it is running
1593 a trace experiment, then reconnect later to see how the experiment
1594 is going. In addition, a new variable disconnected-tracing lets you
1595 tell the target agent whether to continue running a trace if the
1596 connection is lost unexpectedly.
1597
00bf0b85
SS
1598 ** Trace files
1599
1600 GDB now has the ability to save the trace buffer into a file, and
1601 then use that file as a target, similarly to you can do with
1602 corefiles. You can select trace frames, print data that was
1603 collected in them, and use tstatus to display the state of the
1604 tracing run at the moment that it was saved. To create a trace
1605 file, use "tsave <filename>", and to use it, do "target tfile
1606 <name>".
4daf5ac0
SS
1607
1608 ** Circular trace buffer
1609
1610 You can ask the target agent to handle the trace buffer as a
1611 circular buffer, discarding the oldest trace frames to make room for
1612 newer ones, by setting circular-trace-buffer to on. This feature may
1613 not be available for all target agents.
1614
21a0512e
PP
1615* Changed commands
1616
1617disassemble
1618 The disassemble command, when invoked with two arguments, now requires
1619 the arguments to be comma-separated.
1620
0fe7935b
DJ
1621info variables
1622 The info variables command now displays variable definitions. Files
1623 which only declare a variable are not shown.
1624
fb2e7cb4
JB
1625source
1626 The source command is now capable of sourcing Python scripts.
1627 This feature is dependent on the debugger being build with Python
1628 support.
1629
1630 Related to this enhancement is also the introduction of a new command
1631 "set script-extension" (see below).
1632
6c95b8df
PA
1633* New commands (for set/show, see "New options" below)
1634
399cd161
MS
1635record save [<FILENAME>]
1636 Save a file (in core file format) containing the process record
1637 execution log for replay debugging at a later time.
1638
1639record restore <FILENAME>
1640 Restore the process record execution log that was saved at an
1641 earlier time, for replay debugging.
1642
6c95b8df
PA
1643add-inferior [-copies <N>] [-exec <FILENAME>]
1644 Add a new inferior.
1645
1646clone-inferior [-copies <N>] [ID]
1647 Make a new inferior ready to execute the same program another
1648 inferior has loaded.
1649
1650remove-inferior ID
1651 Remove an inferior.
1652
1653maint info program-spaces
1654 List the program spaces loaded into GDB.
1655
9a7071a8
JB
1656set remote interrupt-sequence [Ctrl-C | BREAK | BREAK-g]
1657show remote interrupt-sequence
1658 Allow the user to select one of ^C, a BREAK signal or BREAK-g
1659 as the sequence to the remote target in order to interrupt the execution.
1660 Ctrl-C is a default. Some system prefers BREAK which is high level of
1661 serial line for some certain time. Linux kernel prefers BREAK-g, a.k.a
1662 Magic SysRq g. It is BREAK signal and character 'g'.
1663
1664set remote interrupt-on-connect [on | off]
1665show remote interrupt-on-connect
1666 When interrupt-on-connect is ON, gdb sends interrupt-sequence to
1667 remote target when gdb connects to it. This is needed when you debug
1668 Linux kernel.
1669
1670set remotebreak [on | off]
1671show remotebreak
1672Deprecated. Use "set/show remote interrupt-sequence" instead.
1673
f61e138d
SS
1674tvariable $NAME [ = EXP ]
1675 Create or modify a trace state variable.
1676
1677info tvariables
1678 List trace state variables and their values.
1679
1680delete tvariable $NAME ...
1681 Delete one or more trace state variables.
1682
6da95a67
SS
1683teval EXPR, ...
1684 Evaluate the given expressions without collecting anything into the
1685 trace buffer. (Valid in tracepoint actions only.)
1686
7a697b8d
SS
1687ftrace FN / FILE:LINE / *ADDR
1688 Define a fast tracepoint at the given function, line, or address.
1689
b0f02ee9
JK
1690* New expression syntax
1691
1692 GDB now parses the 0b prefix of binary numbers the same way as GCC does.
1693 GDB now parses 0b101010 identically with 42.
1694
6c95b8df
PA
1695* New options
1696
1697set follow-exec-mode new|same
1698show follow-exec-mode
1699 Control whether GDB reuses the same inferior across an exec call or
1700 creates a new one. This is useful to be able to restart the old
1701 executable after the inferior having done an exec call.
1702
236f1d4d
SS
1703set default-collect EXPR, ...
1704show default-collect
1705 Define a list of expressions to be collected at each tracepoint.
1706 This is a useful way to ensure essential items are not overlooked,
1707 such as registers or a critical global variable.
1708
d5551862
SS
1709set disconnected-tracing
1710show disconnected-tracing
1711 If set to 1, the target is instructed to continue tracing if it
1712 loses its connection to GDB. If 0, the target is to stop tracing
1713 upon disconnection.
1714
4daf5ac0
SS
1715set circular-trace-buffer
1716show circular-trace-buffer
1717 If set to on, the target is instructed to use a circular trace buffer
1718 and discard the oldest trace frames instead of stopping the trace due
1719 to a full trace buffer. If set to off, the trace stops when the buffer
1720 fills up. Some targets may not support this.
1721
fb2e7cb4
JB
1722set script-extension off|soft|strict
1723show script-extension
1724 If set to "off", the debugger does not perform any script language
1725 recognition, and all sourced files are assumed to be GDB scripts.
1726 If set to "soft" (the default), files are sourced according to
1727 filename extension, falling back to GDB scripts if the first
1728 evaluation failed.
1729 If set to "strict", files are sourced according to filename extension.
1730
2b71fc8e
JB
1731set ada trust-PAD-over-XVS on|off
1732show ada trust-PAD-over-XVS
1733 If off, activate a workaround against a bug in the debugging information
1734 generated by the compiler for PAD types (see gcc/exp_dbug.ads in
1735 the GCC sources for more information about the GNAT encoding and
1736 PAD types in particular). It is always safe to set this option to
1737 off, but this introduces a slight performance penalty. The default
1738 is on.
1739
de2e5182
TT
1740* Python API Improvements
1741
1742 ** GDB provides the new class gdb.LazyString. This is useful in
1743 some pretty-printing cases. The new method gdb.Value.lazy_string
1744 provides a simple way to create objects of this type.
1745
1746 ** The fields returned by gdb.Type.fields now have an
1747 `is_base_class' attribute.
1748
1749 ** The new method gdb.Type.range returns the range of an array type.
1750
1751 ** The new method gdb.parse_and_eval can be used to parse and
1752 evaluate an expression.
1753
f61e138d
SS
1754* New remote packets
1755
1756QTDV
1757 Define a trace state variable.
1758
1759qTV
1760 Get the current value of a trace state variable.
1761
d5551862
SS
1762QTDisconnected
1763 Set desired tracing behavior upon disconnection.
1764
4daf5ac0
SS
1765QTBuffer:circular
1766 Set the trace buffer to be linear or circular.
1767
d5551862
SS
1768qTfP, qTsP
1769 Get data about the tracepoints currently in use.
1770
2d483d34
MS
1771* Bug fixes
1772
1773Process record now works correctly with hardware watchpoints.
1774
6e0e5977
JB
1775Multiple bug fixes have been made to the mips-irix port, making it
1776much more reliable. In particular:
1777 - Debugging threaded applications is now possible again. Previously,
1778 GDB would hang while starting the program, or while waiting for
1779 the program to stop at a breakpoint.
1780 - Attaching to a running process no longer hangs.
1781 - An error occurring while loading a core file has been fixed.
1782 - Changing the value of the PC register now works again. This fixes
1783 problems observed when using the "jump" command, or when calling
1784 a function from GDB, or even when assigning a new value to $pc.
1785 - With the "finish" and "return" commands, the return value for functions
1786 returning a small array is now correctly printed.
1787 - It is now possible to break on shared library code which gets executed
1788 during a shared library init phase (code executed while executing
1789 their .init section). Previously, the breakpoint would have no effect.
1790 - GDB is now able to backtrace through the signal handler for
1791 non-threaded programs.
1792
93c26624
JK
1793PIE (Position Independent Executable) programs debugging is now supported.
1794This includes debugging execution of PIC (Position Independent Code) shared
1795libraries although for that, it should be possible to run such libraries as an
1796executable program.
1797
abc7453d 1798*** Changes in GDB 7.0
75feb17d 1799
4efc6507
DE
1800* GDB now has an interface for JIT compilation. Applications that
1801dynamically generate code can create symbol files in memory and register
1802them with GDB. For users, the feature should work transparently, and
1803for JIT developers, the interface is documented in the GDB manual in the
1804"JIT Compilation Interface" chapter.
1805
782b2b07
SS
1806* Tracepoints may now be conditional. The syntax is as for
1807breakpoints; either an "if" clause appended to the "trace" command,
1808or the "condition" command is available. GDB sends the condition to
1809the target for evaluation using the same bytecode format as is used
1810for tracepoint actions.
1811
53a71c06
CR
1812* The disassemble command now supports: an optional /r modifier, print the
1813raw instructions in hex as well as in symbolic form, and an optional /m
1814modifier to print mixed source+assembly.
e6158f16 1815
e7a8dbfb
HZ
1816* Process record and replay
1817
1818 In a architecture environment that supports ``process record and
1819 replay'', ``process record and replay'' target can record a log of
1820 the process execution, and replay it with both forward and reverse
1821 execute commands.
1822
64644d9b
MS
1823* Reverse debugging: GDB now has new commands reverse-continue, reverse-
1824step, reverse-next, reverse-finish, reverse-stepi, reverse-nexti, and
1825set execution-direction {forward|reverse}, for targets that support
1826reverse execution.
1827
b9412953
DD
1828* GDB now supports hardware watchpoints on MIPS/Linux systems. This
1829feature is available with a native GDB running on kernel version
18302.6.28 or later.
1831
6c7a06a3
TT
1832* GDB now has support for multi-byte and wide character sets on the
1833target. Strings whose character type is wchar_t, char16_t, or
1834char32_t are now correctly printed. GDB supports wide- and unicode-
1835literals in C, that is, L'x', L"string", u'x', u"string", U'x', and
1836U"string" syntax. And, GDB allows the "%ls" and "%lc" formats in
1837`printf'. This feature requires iconv to work properly; if your
1838system does not have a working iconv, GDB can use GNU libiconv. See
1839the installation instructions for more information.
1840
f1838a98
UW
1841* GDB now supports automatic retrieval of shared library files from
1842remote targets. To use this feature, specify a system root that begins
1843with the `remote:' prefix, either via the `set sysroot' command or via
1844the `--with-sysroot' configure-time option.
1845
55333a84
DE
1846* "info sharedlibrary" now takes an optional regex of libraries to show,
1847and it now reports if a shared library has no debugging information.
1848
7f6a6314
PM
1849* Commands `set debug-file-directory', `set solib-search-path' and `set args'
1850now complete on file names.
1851
65d12d83
TT
1852* When completing in expressions, gdb will attempt to limit
1853completions to allowable structure or union fields, where appropriate.
1854For instance, consider:
1855
1856 # struct example { int f1; double f2; };
1857 # struct example variable;
1858 (gdb) p variable.
1859
1860If the user types TAB at the end of this command line, the available
1861completions will be "f1" and "f2".
1862
edb3359d
DJ
1863* Inlined functions are now supported. They show up in backtraces, and
1864the "step", "next", and "finish" commands handle them automatically.
1865
2fae03e8
TT
1866* GDB now supports the token-splicing (##) and stringification (#)
1867operators when expanding macros. It also supports variable-arity
1868macros.
1869
47a3467a 1870* GDB now supports inspecting extra signal information, exported by
58d6951d
DJ
1871the new $_siginfo convenience variable. The feature is currently
1872implemented on linux ARM, i386 and amd64.
1873
1874* GDB can now display the VFP floating point registers and NEON vector
1875registers on ARM targets. Both ARM GNU/Linux native GDB and gdbserver
1876can provide these registers (requires Linux 2.6.30 or later). Remote
1877and simulator targets may also provide them.
47a3467a 1878
08388c79
DE
1879* New remote packets
1880
1881qSearch:memory:
1882 Search memory for a sequence of bytes.
1883
a6f3e723
SL
1884QStartNoAckMode
1885 Turn off `+'/`-' protocol acknowledgments to permit more efficient
1886 operation over reliable transport links. Use of this packet is
1887 controlled by the `set remote noack-packet' command.
1888
d7713ae0
EZ
1889vKill
1890 Kill the process with the specified process ID. Use this in preference
1891 to `k' when multiprocess protocol extensions are supported.
1892
07e059b5
VP
1893qXfer:osdata:read
1894 Obtains additional operating system information
1895
47a3467a
PA
1896qXfer:siginfo:read
1897qXfer:siginfo:write
1898 Read or write additional signal information.
1899
060871df
PA
1900* Removed remote protocol undocumented extension
1901
1902 An undocumented extension to the remote protocol's `S' stop reply
1903 packet that permited the stub to pass a process id was removed.
1904 Remote servers should use the `T' stop reply packet instead.
1905
c055b101 1906* GDB now supports multiple function calling conventions according to the
a0ef4274 1907DWARF-2 DW_AT_calling_convention function attribute.
c055b101
CV
1908
1909* The SH target utilizes the aforementioned change to distinguish between gcc
a0ef4274
DJ
1910and Renesas calling convention. It also adds the new CLI commands
1911`set/show sh calling-convention'.
c055b101 1912
31fffb02
CS
1913* GDB can now read compressed debug sections, as produced by GNU gold
1914with the --compress-debug-sections=zlib flag.
1915
88d8a8e0
JB
1916* 64-bit core files are now supported on AIX.
1917
7f99b190
JB
1918* Thread switching is now supported on Tru64.
1919
ccd213ac
DJ
1920* Watchpoints can now be set on unreadable memory locations, e.g. addresses
1921which will be allocated using malloc later in program execution.
1922
1fddbabb 1923* The qXfer:libraries:read remote procotol packet now allows passing a
31fffb02 1924list of section offsets.
1fddbabb 1925
a0ef4274
DJ
1926* On GNU/Linux, GDB can now attach to stopped processes. Several race
1927conditions handling signals delivered during attach or thread creation
1928have also been fixed.
1929
bfb8797a 1930* GDB now supports the use of DWARF boolean types for Ada's type Boolean.
158c7665
PH
1931From the user's standpoint, all unqualified instances of True and False
1932are treated as the standard definitions, regardless of context.
bfb8797a 1933
71c25dea
TT
1934* GDB now parses C++ symbol and type names more flexibly. For
1935example, given:
1936
1937 template<typename T> class C { };
1938 C<char const *> c;
1939
1940GDB will now correctly handle all of:
1941
1942 ptype C<char const *>
1943 ptype C<char const*>
1944 ptype C<const char *>
1945 ptype C<const char*>
1946
ccd213ac
DJ
1947* New features in the GDB remote stub, gdbserver
1948
1949 - The "--wrapper" command-line argument tells gdbserver to use a
1950 wrapper program to launch programs for debugging.
1951
7ae0e2a2
UW
1952 - On PowerPC and S/390 targets, it is now possible to use a single
1953 gdbserver executable to debug both 32-bit and 64-bit programs.
1954 (This requires gdbserver itself to be built as a 64-bit executable.)
1955
a6f3e723
SL
1956 - gdbserver uses the new noack protocol mode for TCP connections to
1957 reduce communications latency, if also supported and enabled in GDB.
1958
da8bd9a3
DJ
1959 - Support for the sparc64-linux-gnu target is now included in
1960 gdbserver.
1961
d70e31dd
DE
1962 - The amd64-linux build of gdbserver now supports debugging both
1963 32-bit and 64-bit programs.
1964
1965 - The i386-linux, amd64-linux, and i386-win32 builds of gdbserver
1966 now support hardware watchpoints, and will use them automatically
1967 as appropriate.
1968
d57a3c85
TJB
1969* Python scripting
1970
1971 GDB now has support for scripting using Python. Whether this is
1972 available is determined at configure time.
1973
d8906c6f
TJB
1974 New GDB commands can now be written in Python.
1975
aadc346a
JB
1976* Ada tasking support
1977
1978 Ada tasks can now be inspected in GDB. The following commands have
1979 been introduced:
1980
1981 info tasks
1982 Print the list of Ada tasks.
1983 info task N
1984 Print detailed information about task number N.
1985 task
1986 Print the task number of the current task.
1987 task N
1988 Switch the context of debugging to task number N.
1989
adb483fe
DJ
1990* Support for user-defined prefixed commands. The "define" command can
1991add new commands to existing prefixes, e.g. "target".
1992
2277426b
PA
1993* Multi-inferior, multi-process debugging.
1994
1995 GDB now has generalized support for multi-inferior debugging. See
1996 "Debugging Multiple Inferiors" in the manual for more information.
1997 Although availability still depends on target support, the command
1998 set is more uniform now. The GNU/Linux specific multi-forks support
1999 has been migrated to this new framework. This implied some user
2000 visible changes; see "New commands" and also "Removed commands"
2001 below.
2002
08d16641
PA
2003* Target descriptions can now describe the target OS ABI. See the
2004"Target Description Format" section in the user manual for more
2005information.
2006
e35359c5
UW
2007* Target descriptions can now describe "compatible" architectures
2008to indicate that the target can execute applications for a different
2009architecture in addition to those for the main target architecture.
2010See the "Target Description Format" section in the user manual for
2011more information.
2012
85e747d2
UW
2013* Multi-architecture debugging.
2014
2015 GDB now includes general supports for debugging applications on
2016 hybrid systems that use more than one single processor architecture
2017 at the same time. Each such hybrid architecture still requires
2018 specific support to be added. The only hybrid architecture supported
2019 in this version of GDB is the Cell Broadband Engine.
2020
2021* GDB now supports integrated debugging of Cell/B.E. applications that
2022use both the PPU and SPU architectures. To enable support for hybrid
2023Cell/B.E. debugging, you need to configure GDB to support both the
2024powerpc-linux or powerpc64-linux and the spu-elf targets, using the
2025--enable-targets configure option.
2026
11ade57a
PA
2027* Non-stop mode debugging.
2028
2029 For some targets, GDB now supports an optional mode of operation in
2030 which you can examine stopped threads while other threads continue
2031 to execute freely. This is referred to as non-stop mode, with the
2032 old mode referred to as all-stop mode. See the "Non-Stop Mode"
2033 section in the user manual for more information.
2034
2035 To be able to support remote non-stop debugging, a remote stub needs
2036 to implement the non-stop mode remote protocol extensions, as
2037 described in the "Remote Non-Stop" section of the user manual. The
2038 GDB remote stub, gdbserver, has been adjusted to support these
2039 extensions on linux targets.
2040
d7713ae0 2041* New commands (for set/show, see "New options" below)
75feb17d 2042
a96d9b2e
SDJ
2043catch syscall [NAME(S) | NUMBER(S)]
2044 Catch system calls. Arguments, which should be names of system
2045 calls or their numbers, mean catch only those syscalls. Without
2046 arguments, every syscall will be caught. When the inferior issues
2047 any of the specified syscalls, GDB will stop and announce the system
2048 call, both when it is called and when its call returns. This
2049 feature is currently available with a native GDB running on the
2050 Linux Kernel, under the following architectures: x86, x86_64,
2051 PowerPC and PowerPC64.
2052
08388c79
DE
2053find [/size-char] [/max-count] start-address, end-address|+search-space-size,
2054 val1 [, val2, ...]
2055 Search memory for a sequence of bytes.
2056
d57a3c85
TJB
2057maint set python print-stack
2058maint show python print-stack
2059 Show a stack trace when an error is encountered in a Python script.
2060
2061python [CODE]
2062 Invoke CODE by passing it to the Python interpreter.
2063
d7713ae0
EZ
2064macro define
2065macro list
2066macro undef
2067 These allow macros to be defined, undefined, and listed
2068 interactively.
2069
2070info os processes
2071 Show operating system information about processes.
2072
2277426b
PA
2073info inferiors
2074 List the inferiors currently under GDB's control.
2075
2076inferior NUM
2077 Switch focus to inferior number NUM.
2078
2079detach inferior NUM
2080 Detach from inferior number NUM.
2081
2082kill inferior NUM
2083 Kill inferior number NUM.
2084
d7713ae0
EZ
2085* New options
2086
3285f3fe
UW
2087set spu stop-on-load
2088show spu stop-on-load
2089 Control whether to stop for new SPE threads during Cell/B.E. debugging.
2090
ff1a52c6
UW
2091set spu auto-flush-cache
2092show spu auto-flush-cache
2093 Control whether to automatically flush the software-managed cache
2094 during Cell/B.E. debugging.
2095
d7713ae0
EZ
2096set sh calling-convention
2097show sh calling-convention
2098 Control the calling convention used when calling SH target functions.
2099
e0a3ce09 2100set debug timestamp
75feb17d 2101show debug timestamp
d7713ae0
EZ
2102 Control display of timestamps with GDB debugging output.
2103
2104set disassemble-next-line
2105show disassemble-next-line
2106 Control display of disassembled source lines or instructions when
2107 the debuggee stops.
2108
2109set remote noack-packet
2110show remote noack-packet
2111 Set/show the use of remote protocol QStartNoAckMode packet. See above
2112 under "New remote packets."
2113
2114set remote query-attached-packet
2115show remote query-attached-packet
2116 Control use of remote protocol `qAttached' (query-attached) packet.
2117
2118set remote read-siginfo-object
2119show remote read-siginfo-object
2120 Control use of remote protocol `qXfer:siginfo:read' (read-siginfo-object)
2121 packet.
2122
2123set remote write-siginfo-object
2124show remote write-siginfo-object
2125 Control use of remote protocol `qXfer:siginfo:write' (write-siginfo-object)
2126 packet.
2127
40ab02ce
MS
2128set remote reverse-continue
2129show remote reverse-continue
2130 Control use of remote protocol 'bc' (reverse-continue) packet.
2131
2132set remote reverse-step
2133show remote reverse-step
2134 Control use of remote protocol 'bs' (reverse-step) packet.
2135
d7713ae0
EZ
2136set displaced-stepping
2137show displaced-stepping
2138 Control displaced stepping mode. Displaced stepping is a way to
2139 single-step over breakpoints without removing them from the debuggee.
2140 Also known as "out-of-line single-stepping".
2141
2142set debug displaced
2143show debug displaced
2144 Control display of debugging info for displaced stepping.
2145
2146maint set internal-error
2147maint show internal-error
2148 Control what GDB does when an internal error is detected.
2149
2150maint set internal-warning
2151maint show internal-warning
2152 Control what GDB does when an internal warning is detected.
75feb17d 2153
ccd213ac
DJ
2154set exec-wrapper
2155show exec-wrapper
2156unset exec-wrapper
2157 Use a wrapper program to launch programs for debugging.
fa4727a6 2158
aad4b048
JB
2159set multiple-symbols (all|ask|cancel)
2160show multiple-symbols
2161 The value of this variable can be changed to adjust the debugger behavior
2162 when an expression or a breakpoint location contains an ambiguous symbol
2163 name (an overloaded function name, for instance).
2164
74960c60
VP
2165set breakpoint always-inserted
2166show breakpoint always-inserted
2167 Keep breakpoints always inserted in the target, as opposed to inserting
2168 them when resuming the target, and removing them when the target stops.
2169 This option can improve debugger performance on slow remote targets.
2170
0428b8f5
DJ
2171set arm fallback-mode (arm|thumb|auto)
2172show arm fallback-mode
2173set arm force-mode (arm|thumb|auto)
2174show arm force-mode
2175 These commands control how ARM GDB determines whether instructions
2176 are ARM or Thumb. The default for both settings is auto, which uses
2177 the current CPSR value for instructions without symbols; previous
2178 versions of GDB behaved as if "set arm fallback-mode arm".
2179
10568435
JK
2180set disable-randomization
2181show disable-randomization
2182 Standalone programs run with the virtual address space randomization enabled
2183 by default on some platforms. This option keeps the addresses stable across
2184 multiple debugging sessions.
2185
d7713ae0
EZ
2186set non-stop
2187show non-stop
2188 Control whether other threads are stopped or not when some thread hits
2189 a breakpoint.
2190
b3eb342c 2191set target-async
d7713ae0 2192show target-async
b3eb342c
VP
2193 Requests that asynchronous execution is enabled in the target, if available.
2194 In this case, it's possible to resume target in the background, and interact
2195 with GDB while the target is running. "show target-async" displays the
2196 current state of asynchronous execution of the target.
2197
6c7a06a3
TT
2198set target-wide-charset
2199show target-wide-charset
2200 The target-wide-charset is the name of the character set that GDB
2201 uses when printing characters whose type is wchar_t.
2202
84603566
SL
2203set tcp auto-retry (on|off)
2204show tcp auto-retry
2205set tcp connect-timeout
2206show tcp connect-timeout
2207 These commands allow GDB to retry failed TCP connections to a remote stub
2208 with a specified timeout period; this is useful if the stub is launched
2209 in parallel with GDB but may not be ready to accept connections immediately.
2210
17a37d48
PP
2211set libthread-db-search-path
2212show libthread-db-search-path
2213 Control list of directories which GDB will search for appropriate
2214 libthread_db.
2215
d4db2f36
PA
2216set schedule-multiple (on|off)
2217show schedule-multiple
2218 Allow GDB to resume all threads of all processes or only threads of
2219 the current process.
2220
4e5d721f
DE
2221set stack-cache
2222show stack-cache
2223 Use more aggressive caching for accesses to the stack. This improves
2224 performance of remote debugging (particularly backtraces) without
2225 affecting correctness.
2226
910c5da8
JB
2227set interactive-mode (on|off|auto)
2228show interactive-mode
2229 Control whether GDB runs in interactive mode (on) or not (off).
2230 When in interactive mode, GDB waits for the user to answer all
2231 queries. Otherwise, GDB does not wait and assumes the default
2232 answer. When set to auto (the default), GDB determines which
2233 mode to use based on the stdin settings.
2234
2277426b
PA
2235* Removed commands
2236
2237info forks
2238 For program forks, this is replaced by the new more generic `info
2239 inferiors' command. To list checkpoints, you can still use the
2240 `info checkpoints' command, which was an alias for the `info forks'
2241 command.
2242
2243fork NUM
2244 Replaced by the new `inferior' command. To switch between
2245 checkpoints, you can still use the `restart' command, which was an
2246 alias for the `fork' command.
2247
2248process PID
2249 This is removed, since some targets don't have a notion of
2250 processes. To switch between processes, you can still use the
2251 `inferior' command using GDB's own inferior number.
2252
2253delete fork NUM
2254 For program forks, this is replaced by the new more generic `kill
2255 inferior' command. To delete a checkpoint, you can still use the
2256 `delete checkpoint' command, which was an alias for the `delete
2257 fork' command.
2258
2259detach fork NUM
2260 For program forks, this is replaced by the new more generic `detach
2261 inferior' command. To detach a checkpoint, you can still use the
2262 `detach checkpoint' command, which was an alias for the `detach
2263 fork' command.
2264
a80b95ba
TG
2265* New native configurations
2266
2267x86/x86_64 Darwin i[34567]86-*-darwin*
2268
b8bfd3ed
JB
2269x86_64 MinGW x86_64-*-mingw*
2270
75a2d5e7
TT
2271* New targets
2272
c28c63d8 2273Lattice Mico32 lm32-*
75a2d5e7 2274x86 DICOS i[34567]86-*-dicos*
4c1d2973 2275x86_64 DICOS x86_64-*-dicos*
5f814c3b 2276S+core 3 score-*-*
75a2d5e7 2277
6de3146c
PA
2278* The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports x86 Windows CE
2279 (mingw32ce) debugging.
2280
d5cbbe6e
JB
2281* Removed commands
2282
2283catch load
2284catch unload
2285 These commands were actually not implemented on any target.
2286
75feb17d 2287*** Changes in GDB 6.8
f9ed52be 2288
af5ca30d
NH
2289* New native configurations
2290
2291NetBSD/hppa hppa*-*netbsd*
94a0e877 2292Xtensa GNU/Linux xtensa*-*-linux*
af5ca30d
NH
2293
2294* New targets
2295
2296NetBSD/hppa hppa*-*-netbsd*
94a0e877 2297Xtensa GNU/Lunux xtensa*-*-linux*
af5ca30d 2298
7a404eba
PA
2299* Change in command line behavior -- corefiles vs. process ids.
2300
2301 When the '-p NUMBER' or '--pid NUMBER' options are used, and
2302 attaching to process NUMBER fails, GDB no longer attempts to open a
2303 core file named NUMBER. Attaching to a program using the -c option
2304 is no longer supported. Instead, use the '-p' or '--pid' options.
2305
430ebac9
PA
2306* GDB can now be built as a native debugger for debugging Windows x86
2307(mingw32) Portable Executable (PE) programs.
2308
fe6fbf8b 2309* Pending breakpoints no longer change their number when their address
8d5f9c6f 2310is resolved.
fe6fbf8b
VP
2311
2312* GDB now supports breakpoints with multiple locations,
8d5f9c6f
DJ
2313including breakpoints on C++ constructors, inside C++ templates,
2314and in inlined functions.
fe6fbf8b 2315
10665d76
JB
2316* GDB's ability to debug optimized code has been improved. GDB more
2317accurately identifies function bodies and lexical blocks that occupy
2318more than one contiguous range of addresses.
2319
7cc46491
DJ
2320* Target descriptions can now describe registers for PowerPC.
2321
d71340b8
DJ
2322* The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports the AltiVec and SPE
2323registers on PowerPC targets.
2324
523c4513
DJ
2325* The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports thread debugging on GNU/Linux
2326targets even when the libthread_db library is not available.
2327
a6b151f1
DJ
2328* The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports the new file transfer
2329commands (remote put, remote get, and remote delete).
2330
2d717e4f
DJ
2331* The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports run and attach in
2332extended-remote mode.
2333
24a836bd 2334* hppa*64*-*-hpux11* target broken
d001be7a
DJ
2335The debugger is unable to start a program and fails with the following
2336error: "Error trying to get information about dynamic linker".
2337The gdb-6.7 release is also affected.
24a836bd 2338
d0c678e6
UW
2339* GDB now supports the --enable-targets= configure option to allow
2340building a single GDB executable that supports multiple remote
2341target architectures.
2342
d64a946d
TJB
2343* GDB now supports debugging C and C++ programs which use the
2344Decimal Floating Point extension. In addition, the PowerPC target
2345now has a set of pseudo-registers to inspect decimal float values
2346stored in two consecutive float registers.
2347
ee163bf5
VP
2348* The -break-insert MI command can optionally create pending
2349breakpoints now.
2350
b93b6ca7 2351* Improved support for debugging Ada
d001be7a
DJ
2352Many improvements to the Ada language support have been made. These
2353include:
b93b6ca7
JB
2354 - Better support for Ada2005 interface types
2355 - Improved handling of arrays and slices in general
2356 - Better support for Taft-amendment types
2357 - The '{type} ADDRESS' expression is now allowed on the left hand-side
2358 of an assignment
2359 - Improved command completion in Ada
2360 - Several bug fixes
2361
d001be7a
DJ
2362* GDB on GNU/Linux and HP/UX can now debug through "exec" of a new
2363process.
2364
a6b151f1
DJ
2365* New commands
2366
6d53d0af
JB
2367set print frame-arguments (all|scalars|none)
2368show print frame-arguments
2369 The value of this variable can be changed to control which argument
2370 values should be printed by the debugger when displaying a frame.
2371
a6b151f1
DJ
2372remote put
2373remote get
2374remote delete
2375 Transfer files to and from a remote target, and delete remote files.
2376
2377* New MI commands
2378
2379-target-file-put
2380-target-file-get
2381-target-file-delete
2382 Transfer files to and from a remote target, and delete remote files.
2383
2384* New remote packets
2385
2386vFile:open:
2387vFile:close:
2388vFile:pread:
2389vFile:pwrite:
2390vFile:unlink:
2391 Open, close, read, write, and delete files on the remote system.
d0c678e6 2392
2d717e4f
DJ
2393vAttach
2394 Attach to an existing process on the remote system, in extended-remote
2395 mode.
2396
2397vRun
2398 Run a new process on the remote system, in extended-remote mode.
2399
8d5f9c6f 2400*** Changes in GDB 6.7
6dd09645 2401
19d378fc
MS
2402* Resolved 101 resource leaks, null pointer dereferences, etc. in gdb,
2403bfd, libiberty and opcodes, as revealed by static analysis donated by
2404Coverity, Inc. (http://scan.coverity.com).
2405
3a40aaa0
UW
2406* When looking up multiply-defined global symbols, GDB will now prefer the
2407symbol definition in the current shared library if it was built using the
2408-Bsymbolic linker option.
2409
a6ec25f2
BW
2410* When the Text User Interface (TUI) is not configured, GDB will now
2411recognize the -tui command-line option and print a message that the TUI
2412is not supported.
2413
6dd09645
JB
2414* The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now has lower overhead for high
2415frequency signals (e.g. SIGALRM) via the QPassSignals packet.
2416
c9bb8148
DJ
2417* GDB for MIPS targets now autodetects whether a remote target provides
241832-bit or 64-bit register values.
2419
0d5de010
DJ
2420* Support for C++ member pointers has been improved.
2421
23181151
DJ
2422* GDB now understands XML target descriptions, which specify the
2423target's overall architecture. GDB can read a description from
2424a local file or over the remote serial protocol.
2425
ea37ba09
DJ
2426* Vectors of single-byte data use a new integer type which is not
2427automatically displayed as character or string data.
2428
2429* The /s format now works with the print command. It displays
2430arrays of single-byte integers and pointers to single-byte integers
2431as strings.
e1f48ead 2432
123dc839
DJ
2433* Target descriptions can now describe target-specific registers,
2434for architectures which have implemented the support (currently
8d5f9c6f 2435only ARM, M68K, and MIPS).
123dc839 2436
05a4558a
DJ
2437* GDB and the GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now support the XScale
2438iWMMXt coprocessor.
fb1e4ffc 2439
7c963485
PA
2440* The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, has been updated to support
2441ARM Windows CE (mingw32ce) debugging, and GDB Windows CE support
2442has been rewritten to use the standard GDB remote protocol.
2443
b18be20d
DJ
2444* GDB can now step into C++ functions which are called through thunks.
2445
0ca420ce
UW
2446* GDB for the Cell/B.E. SPU now supports overlay debugging.
2447
31d99776
DJ
2448* The GDB remote protocol "qOffsets" packet can now honor ELF segment
2449layout. It also supports a TextSeg= and DataSeg= response when only
2450segment base addresses (rather than offsets) are available.
2451
a4642986
MR
2452* The /i format now outputs any trailing branch delay slot instructions
2453immediately following the last instruction within the count specified.
2454
cfa9d6d9
DJ
2455* The GDB remote protocol "T" stop reply packet now supports a
2456"library" response. Combined with the new "qXfer:libraries:read"
2457packet, this response allows GDB to debug shared libraries on targets
2458where the operating system manages the list of loaded libraries (e.g.
2459Windows and SymbianOS).
255e7678
DJ
2460
2461* The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports dynamic link libraries
2462(DLLs) on Windows and Windows CE targets.
f5db8714
JK
2463
2464* GDB now supports a faster verification that a .debug file matches its binary
2465according to its build-id signature, if the signature is present.
cfa9d6d9 2466
c9bb8148
DJ
2467* New commands
2468
23776285
MR
2469set remoteflow
2470show remoteflow
2471 Enable or disable hardware flow control (RTS/CTS) on the serial port
2472 when debugging using remote targets.
2473
c9bb8148
DJ
2474set mem inaccessible-by-default
2475show mem inaccessible-by-default
2476 If the target supplies a memory map, for instance via the remote
2477 protocol's "qXfer:memory-map:read" packet, setting this variable
2478 prevents GDB from accessing memory outside the memory map. This
2479 is useful for targets with memory mapped registers or which react
2480 badly to accesses of unmapped address space.
2481
2482set breakpoint auto-hw
2483show breakpoint auto-hw
2484 If the target supplies a memory map, for instance via the remote
2485 protocol's "qXfer:memory-map:read" packet, setting this variable
2486 lets GDB use hardware breakpoints automatically for memory regions
2487 where it can not use software breakpoints. This covers both the
2488 "break" command and internal breakpoints used for other commands
2489 including "next" and "finish".
2490
0e420bd8
JB
2491catch exception
2492catch exception unhandled
2493 Stop the program execution when Ada exceptions are raised.
2494
2495catch assert
2496 Stop the program execution when an Ada assertion failed.
2497
f822c95b
DJ
2498set sysroot
2499show sysroot
2500 Set an alternate system root for target files. This is a more
2501 general version of "set solib-absolute-prefix", which is now
2502 an alias to "set sysroot".
2503
83cc5c53
UW
2504info spu
2505 Provide extended SPU facility status information. This set of
2506 commands is available only when debugging the Cell/B.E. SPU
2507 architecture.
2508
bd372731
MK
2509* New native configurations
2510
2511OpenBSD/sh sh*-*openbsd*
2512
23181151
DJ
2513set tdesc filename
2514unset tdesc filename
2515show tdesc filename
2516 Use the specified local file as an XML target description, and do
2517 not query the target for its built-in description.
2518
c9bb8148
DJ
2519* New targets
2520
54fe9172 2521OpenBSD/sh sh*-*-openbsd*
c9bb8148 2522MIPS64 GNU/Linux (gdbserver) mips64-linux-gnu
c077150c 2523Toshiba Media Processor mep-elf
c9bb8148 2524
6dd09645
JB
2525* New remote packets
2526
2527QPassSignals:
2528 Ignore the specified signals; pass them directly to the debugged program
2529 without stopping other threads or reporting them to GDB.
2530
23181151
DJ
2531qXfer:features:read:
2532 Read an XML target description from the target, which describes its
2533 features.
6dd09645 2534
83cc5c53
UW
2535qXfer:spu:read:
2536qXfer:spu:write:
2537 Read or write contents of an spufs file on the target system. These
2538 packets are available only on the Cell/B.E. SPU architecture.
2539
cfa9d6d9
DJ
2540qXfer:libraries:read:
2541 Report the loaded shared libraries. Combined with new "T" packet
2542 response, this packet allows GDB to debug shared libraries on
2543 targets where the operating system manages the list of loaded
2544 libraries (e.g. Windows and SymbianOS).
2545
483367ee
DJ
2546* Removed targets
2547
2548Support for these obsolete configurations has been removed.
2549
d08950c4
UW
2550alpha*-*-osf1*
2551alpha*-*-osf2*
7ce59000 2552d10v-*-*
483367ee
DJ
2553hppa*-*-hiux*
2554i[34567]86-ncr-*
2555i[34567]86-*-dgux*
2556i[34567]86-*-lynxos*
2557i[34567]86-*-netware*
2558i[34567]86-*-sco3.2v5*
2559i[34567]86-*-sco3.2v4*
2560i[34567]86-*-sco*
2561i[34567]86-*-sysv4.2*
2562i[34567]86-*-sysv4*
2563i[34567]86-*-sysv5*
2564i[34567]86-*-unixware2*
2565i[34567]86-*-unixware*
2566i[34567]86-*-sysv*
2567i[34567]86-*-isc*
2568m68*-cisco*-*
2569m68*-tandem-*
ad527d2e 2570mips*-*-pe
483367ee 2571rs6000-*-lynxos*
ad527d2e 2572sh*-*-pe
483367ee 2573
7ce59000
DJ
2574* Other removed features
2575
2576target abug
2577target cpu32bug
2578target est
2579target rom68k
2580
2581 Various m68k-only ROM monitors.
2582
ea35711c
DJ
2583target hms
2584target e7000
2585target sh3
2586target sh3e
2587
2588 Various Renesas ROM monitors and debugging interfaces for SH and
2589 H8/300.
2590
2591target ocd
2592
2593 Support for a Macraigor serial interface to on-chip debugging.
2594 GDB does not directly support the newer parallel or USB
2595 interfaces.
2596
7ce59000
DJ
2597DWARF 1 support
2598
2599 A debug information format. The predecessor to DWARF 2 and
2600 DWARF 3, which are still supported.
2601
54d61198
DJ
2602Support for the HP aCC compiler on HP-UX/PA-RISC
2603
2604 SOM-encapsulated symbolic debugging information, automatic
2605 invocation of pxdb, and the aCC custom C++ ABI. This does not
2606 affect HP-UX for Itanium or GCC for HP-UX/PA-RISC. Code compiled
2607 with aCC can still be debugged on an assembly level.
2608
ea35711c
DJ
2609MIPS ".pdr" sections
2610
2611 A MIPS-specific format used to describe stack frame layout
2612 in debugging information.
2613
2614Scheme support
2615
2616 GDB could work with an older version of Guile to debug
2617 the interpreter and Scheme programs running in it.
2618
1a69e1e4
DJ
2619set mips stack-arg-size
2620set mips saved-gpreg-size
2621
2622 Use "set mips abi" to control parameter passing for MIPS.
2623
6dd09645 2624*** Changes in GDB 6.6
e374b601 2625
ca3bf3bd
DJ
2626* New targets
2627
2628Xtensa xtensa-elf
9c309e77 2629Cell Broadband Engine SPU spu-elf
ca3bf3bd 2630
6aec2e11
DJ
2631* GDB can now be configured as a cross-debugger targeting native Windows
2632(mingw32) or Cygwin. It can communicate with a remote debugging stub
2633running on a Windows system over TCP/IP to debug Windows programs.
2634
2635* The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, has been updated to support Windows and
2636Cygwin debugging. Both single-threaded and multi-threaded programs are
2637supported.
2638
17218d91
DJ
2639* The "set trust-readonly-sections" command works again. This command was
2640broken in GDB 6.3, 6.4, and 6.5.
2641
9ebce043
DJ
2642* The "load" command now supports writing to flash memory, if the remote
2643stub provides the required support.
2644
7d3d3ece
DJ
2645* Support for GNU/Linux Thread Local Storage (TLS, per-thread variables) no
2646longer requires symbolic debug information (e.g. DWARF-2).
2647
4f8253f3
JB
2648* New commands
2649
2650set substitute-path
2651unset substitute-path
2652show substitute-path
2653 Manage a list of substitution rules that GDB uses to rewrite the name
2654 of the directories where the sources are located. This can be useful
2655 for instance when the sources were moved to a different location
2656 between compilation and debugging.
2657
9fa66fd7
AS
2658set trace-commands
2659show trace-commands
2660 Print each CLI command as it is executed. Each command is prefixed with
2661 a number of `+' symbols representing the nesting depth.
2662 The source command now has a `-v' option to enable the same feature.
2663
1f5befc1
DJ
2664* REMOVED features
2665
2666The ARM Demon monitor support (RDP protocol, "target rdp").
2667
2ec3381a
DJ
2668Kernel Object Display, an embedded debugging feature which only worked with
2669an obsolete version of Cisco IOS.
2670
3d00d119
DJ
2671The 'set download-write-size' and 'show download-write-size' commands.
2672
be2a5f71
DJ
2673* New remote packets
2674
2675qSupported:
2676 Tell a stub about GDB client features, and request remote target features.
2677 The first feature implemented is PacketSize, which allows the target to
2678 specify the size of packets it can handle - to minimize the number of
2679 packets required and improve performance when connected to a remote
2680 target.
2681
0876f84a
DJ
2682qXfer:auxv:read:
2683 Fetch an OS auxilliary vector from the remote stub. This packet is a
2684 more efficient replacement for qPart:auxv:read.
2685
9ebce043
DJ
2686qXfer:memory-map:read:
2687 Fetch a memory map from the remote stub, including information about
2688 RAM, ROM, and flash memory devices.
2689
2690vFlashErase:
2691vFlashWrite:
2692vFlashDone:
2693 Erase and program a flash memory device.
2694
0876f84a
DJ
2695* Removed remote packets
2696
2697qPart:auxv:read:
2698 This packet has been replaced by qXfer:auxv:read. Only GDB 6.4 and 6.5
2699 used it, and only gdbserver implemented it.
2700
e374b601 2701*** Changes in GDB 6.5
53e5f3cf 2702
96309189
MS
2703* New targets
2704
2705Renesas M32C/M16C m32c-elf
2706
2707Morpho Technologies ms1 ms1-elf
2708
53e5f3cf
AS
2709* New commands
2710
2711init-if-undefined Initialize a convenience variable, but
2712 only if it doesn't already have a value.
2713
ac264b3b
MS
2714The following commands are presently only implemented for native GNU/Linux:
2715
2716checkpoint Save a snapshot of the program state.
2717
2718restart <n> Return the program state to a
2719 previously saved state.
2720
2721info checkpoints List currently saved checkpoints.
2722
2723delete-checkpoint <n> Delete a previously saved checkpoint.
2724
2725set|show detach-on-fork Tell gdb whether to detach from a newly
2726 forked process, or to keep debugging it.
2727
2728info forks List forks of the user program that
2729 are available to be debugged.
2730
2731fork <n> Switch to debugging one of several
2732 forks of the user program that are
2733 available to be debugged.
2734
2735delete-fork <n> Delete a fork from the list of forks
2736 that are available to be debugged (and
2737 kill the forked process).
2738
2739detach-fork <n> Delete a fork from the list of forks
2740 that are available to be debugged (and
2741 allow the process to continue).
2742
3950dc3f
NS
2743* New architecture
2744
2745Morpho Technologies ms2 ms1-elf
2746
0ea3f30e
DJ
2747* Improved Windows host support
2748
2749GDB now builds as a cross debugger hosted on i686-mingw32, including
2750native console support, and remote communications using either
2751network sockets or serial ports.
2752
f79daebb
GM
2753* Improved Modula-2 language support
2754
2755GDB can now print most types in the Modula-2 syntax. This includes:
2756basic types, set types, record types, enumerated types, range types,
2757pointer types and ARRAY types. Procedure var parameters are correctly
2758printed and hexadecimal addresses and character constants are also
2759written in the Modula-2 syntax. Best results can be obtained by using
2760GNU Modula-2 together with the -gdwarf-2 command line option.
2761
acab6ab2
MM
2762* REMOVED features
2763
2764The ARM rdi-share module.
2765
f4267320
DJ
2766The Netware NLM debug server.
2767
53e5f3cf 2768*** Changes in GDB 6.4
156a53ca 2769
e0ecbda1
MK
2770* New native configurations
2771
02a677ac 2772OpenBSD/arm arm*-*-openbsd*
e0ecbda1
MK
2773OpenBSD/mips64 mips64-*-openbsd*
2774
d64a6579
KB
2775* New targets
2776
2777Morpho Technologies ms1 ms1-elf
2778
b33a6190
AS
2779* New command line options
2780
2781--batch-silent As for --batch, but totally silent.
2782--return-child-result The debugger will exist with the same value
2783 the child (debugged) program exited with.
2784--eval-command COMMAND, -ex COMMAND
2785 Execute a single GDB CLI command. This may be
2786 specified multiple times and in conjunction
2787 with the --command (-x) option.
2788
11dced61
AC
2789* Deprecated commands removed
2790
2791The following commands, that were deprecated in 2000, have been
2792removed:
2793
2794 Command Replacement
2795 set|show arm disassembly-flavor set|show arm disassembler
2796 othernames set arm disassembler
2797 set|show remotedebug set|show debug remote
2798 set|show archdebug set|show debug arch
2799 set|show eventdebug set|show debug event
2800 regs info registers
2801
6fe85783
MK
2802* New BSD user-level threads support
2803
2804It is now possible to debug programs using the user-level threads
2805library on OpenBSD and FreeBSD. Currently supported (target)
2806configurations are:
2807
2808FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
2809FreeBSD/i386 i386-*-freebsd*
2810OpenBSD/i386 i386-*-openbsd*
2811
2812Note that the new kernel threads libraries introduced in FreeBSD 5.x
2813are not yet supported.
2814
5260ca71
MS
2815* New support for Matsushita MN10300 w/sim added
2816(Work in progress). mn10300-elf.
2817
e84ecc99
AC
2818* REMOVED configurations and files
2819
2820VxWorks and the XDR protocol *-*-vxworks
9445aa30 2821Motorola MCORE mcore-*-*
9445aa30 2822National Semiconductor NS32000 ns32k-*-*
156a53ca 2823
31e35378
JB
2824* New "set print array-indexes" command
2825
2826After turning this setting "on", GDB prints the index of each element
2827when displaying arrays. The default is "off" to preserve the previous
2828behavior.
2829
e85e5c83
MK
2830* VAX floating point support
2831
2832GDB now supports the not-quite-ieee VAX F and D floating point formats.
2833
d91e9901
AS
2834* User-defined command support
2835
2836In addition to using $arg0..$arg9 for argument passing, it is now possible
2837to use $argc to determine now many arguments have been passed. See the
2838section on user-defined commands in the user manual for more information.
2839
f2cb65ca
MC
2840*** Changes in GDB 6.3:
2841
f47b1503
AS
2842* New command line option
2843
2844GDB now accepts -l followed by a number to set the timeout for remote
2845debugging.
2846
f2cb65ca
MC
2847* GDB works with GCC -feliminate-dwarf2-dups
2848
2849GDB now supports a more compact representation of DWARF-2 debug
2850information using DW_FORM_ref_addr references. These are produced
2851by GCC with the option -feliminate-dwarf2-dups and also by some
2852proprietary compilers. With GCC, you must use GCC 3.3.4 or later
2853to use -feliminate-dwarf2-dups.
860660cb 2854
d08c0230
AC
2855* Internationalization
2856
2857When supported by the host system, GDB will be built with
2858internationalization (libintl). The task of marking up the sources is
2859continued, we're looking forward to our first translation.
2860
117ea3cf
PH
2861* Ada
2862
2863Initial support for debugging programs compiled with the GNAT
2864implementation of the Ada programming language has been integrated
2865into GDB. In this release, support is limited to expression evaluation.
2866
d08c0230
AC
2867* New native configurations
2868
2869GNU/Linux/m32r m32r-*-linux-gnu
2870
2871* Remote 'p' packet
2872
2873GDB's remote protocol now includes support for the 'p' packet. This
2874packet is used to fetch individual registers from a remote inferior.
2875
2876* END-OF-LIFE registers[] compatibility module
2877
2878GDB's internal register infrastructure has been completely rewritten.
2879The new infrastructure making possible the implementation of key new
2880features including 32x64 (e.g., 64-bit amd64 GDB debugging a 32-bit
2881i386 application).
2882
2883GDB 6.3 will be the last release to include the the registers[]
2884compatibility module that allowed out-of-date configurations to
2885continue to work. This change directly impacts the following
2886configurations:
2887
2888hppa-*-hpux
2889ia64-*-aix
2890mips-*-irix*
2891*-*-lynx
2892mips-*-linux-gnu
2893sds protocol
2894xdr protocol
2895powerpc bdm protocol
2896
2897Unless there is activity to revive these configurations, they will be
2898made OBSOLETE in GDB 6.4, and REMOVED from GDB 6.5.
2899
2900* OBSOLETE configurations and files
2901
2902Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
2903been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
2904configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
2905permanently REMOVED.
2906
2907h8300-*-*
2908mcore-*-*
2909mn10300-*-*
2910ns32k-*-*
2911sh64-*-*
2912v850-*-*
2913
ebb7c577
AC
2914*** Changes in GDB 6.2.1:
2915
2916* MIPS `break main; run' gave an heuristic-fence-post warning
2917
2918When attempting to run even a simple program, a warning about
2919heuristic-fence-post being hit would be reported. This problem has
2920been fixed.
2921
2922* MIPS IRIX 'long double' crashed GDB
2923
2924When examining a long double variable, GDB would get a segmentation
2925fault. The crash has been fixed (but GDB 6.2 cannot correctly examine
2926IRIX long double values).
2927
2928* VAX and "next"
2929
2930A bug in the VAX stack code was causing problems with the "next"
2931command. This problem has been fixed.
2932
860660cb 2933*** Changes in GDB 6.2:
faae5abe 2934
0dea2468
AC
2935* Fix for ``many threads''
2936
2937On GNU/Linux systems that use the NPTL threads library, a program
2938rapidly creating and deleting threads would confuse GDB leading to the
2939error message:
2940
2941 ptrace: No such process.
2942 thread_db_get_info: cannot get thread info: generic error
2943
2944This problem has been fixed.
2945
2c07db7a
AC
2946* "-async" and "-noasync" options removed.
2947
2948Support for the broken "-noasync" option has been removed (it caused
2949GDB to dump core).
2950
c23968a2
JB
2951* New ``start'' command.
2952
2953This command runs the program until the begining of the main procedure.
2954
71009278
MK
2955* New BSD Kernel Data Access Library (libkvm) interface
2956
2957Using ``target kvm'' it is now possible to debug kernel core dumps and
2958live kernel memory images on various FreeBSD, NetBSD and OpenBSD
2959platforms. Currently supported (native-only) configurations are:
2960
2961FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
2962FreeBSD/i386 i?86-*-freebsd*
2963NetBSD/i386 i?86-*-netbsd*
2964NetBSD/m68k m68*-*-netbsd*
2965NetBSD/sparc sparc-*-netbsd*
2966OpenBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-openbsd*
2967OpenBSD/i386 i?86-*-openbsd*
2968OpenBSD/m68k m68*-openbsd*
2969OpenBSD/sparc sparc-*-openbsd*
2970
3c0b7db2
AC
2971* Signal trampoline code overhauled
2972
2973Many generic problems with GDB's signal handling code have been fixed.
2974These include: backtraces through non-contiguous stacks; recognition
2975of sa_sigaction signal trampolines; backtrace from a NULL pointer
2976call; backtrace through a signal trampoline; step into and out of
2977signal handlers; and single-stepping in the signal trampoline.
2978
73cc75f3
AC
2979Please note that kernel bugs are a limiting factor here. These
2980features have been shown to work on an s390 GNU/Linux system that
2981include a 2.6.8-rc1 kernel. Ref PR breakpoints/1702.
3c0b7db2 2982
7243600a
BF
2983* Cygwin support for DWARF 2 added.
2984
6f606e1c
MK
2985* New native configurations
2986
97dc871c 2987GNU/Linux/hppa hppa*-*-linux*
0e56aeaf 2988OpenBSD/hppa hppa*-*-openbsd*
bf2ca189
MK
2989OpenBSD/m68k m68*-*-openbsd*
2990OpenBSD/m88k m88*-*-openbsd*
d195bc9f 2991OpenBSD/powerpc powerpc-*-openbsd*
6f606e1c 2992NetBSD/vax vax-*-netbsd*
9f076e7a 2993OpenBSD/vax vax-*-openbsd*
6f606e1c 2994
a1b461bf
AC
2995* END-OF-LIFE frame compatibility module
2996
2997GDB's internal frame infrastructure has been completely rewritten.
2998The new infrastructure making it possible to support key new features
2999including DWARF 2 Call Frame Information. To aid in the task of
3000migrating old configurations to this new infrastructure, a
3001compatibility module, that allowed old configurations to continue to
3002work, was also included.
3003
3004GDB 6.2 will be the last release to include this frame compatibility
3005module. This change directly impacts the following configurations:
3006
3007h8300-*-*
3008mcore-*-*
3009mn10300-*-*
3010ns32k-*-*
3011sh64-*-*
3012v850-*-*
3013xstormy16-*-*
3014
3015Unless there is activity to revive these configurations, they will be
3016made OBSOLETE in GDB 6.3, and REMOVED from GDB 6.4.
3017
3c7012f5
AC
3018* REMOVED configurations and files
3019
3020Sun 3, running SunOS 3 m68*-*-sunos3*
3021Sun 3, running SunOS 4 m68*-*-sunos4*
3022Sun 2, running SunOS 3 m68000-*-sunos3*
3023Sun 2, running SunOS 4 m68000-*-sunos4*
3024Motorola 680x0 running LynxOS m68*-*-lynxos*
3025AT&T 3b1/Unix pc m68*-att-*
3026Bull DPX2 (68k, System V release 3) m68*-bull-sysv*
3027decstation mips-dec-* mips-little-*
3028riscos mips-*-riscos* mips-*-sysv*
3029sonymips mips-sony-*
3030sysv mips*-*-sysv4* (IRIX 5/6 not included)
3031
e5fe55f7
AC
3032*** Changes in GDB 6.1.1:
3033
3034* TUI (Text-mode User Interface) built-in (also included in GDB 6.1)
3035
3036The TUI (Text-mode User Interface) is now built as part of a default
3037GDB configuration. It is enabled by either selecting the TUI with the
3038command line option "-i=tui" or by running the separate "gdbtui"
3039program. For more information on the TUI, see the manual "Debugging
3040with GDB".
3041
3042* Pending breakpoint support (also included in GDB 6.1)
3043
3044Support has been added to allow you to specify breakpoints in shared
3045libraries that have not yet been loaded. If a breakpoint location
3046cannot be found, and the "breakpoint pending" option is set to auto,
3047GDB queries you if you wish to make the breakpoint pending on a future
3048shared-library load. If and when GDB resolves the breakpoint symbol,
3049the pending breakpoint is removed as one or more regular breakpoints
3050are created.
3051
3052Pending breakpoints are very useful for GCJ Java debugging.
3053
3054* Fixed ISO-C build problems
3055
3056The files bfd/elf-bfd.h, gdb/dictionary.c and gdb/types.c contained
3057non ISO-C code that stopped them being built using a more strict ISO-C
3058compiler (e.g., IBM's C compiler).
3059
3060* Fixed build problem on IRIX 5
3061
3062Due to header problems with <sys/proc.h>, the file gdb/proc-api.c
3063wasn't able to compile compile on an IRIX 5 system.
3064
3065* Added execute permission to gdb/gdbserver/configure
3066
3067The shell script gdb/testsuite/gdb.stabs/configure lacked execute
3068permission. This bug would cause configure to fail on a number of
3069systems (Solaris, IRIX). Ref: server/519.
3070
3071* Fixed build problem on hpux2.0w-hp-hpux11.00 using the HP ANSI C compiler
3072
3073Older HPUX ANSI C compilers did not accept variable array sizes. somsolib.c
3074has been updated to use constant array sizes.
3075
3076* Fixed a panic in the DWARF Call Frame Info code on Solaris 2.7
3077
3078GCC 3.3.2, on Solaris 2.7, includes the DW_EH_PE_funcrel encoding in
3079its generated DWARF Call Frame Info. This encoding was causing GDB to
3080panic, that panic has been fixed. Ref: gdb/1628.
3081
3082* Fixed a problem when examining parameters in shared library code.
3083
3084When examining parameters in optimized shared library code generated
3085by a mainline GCC, GDB would incorrectly report ``Variable "..." is
3086not available''. GDB now correctly displays the variable's value.
3087
faae5abe 3088*** Changes in GDB 6.1:
f2c06f52 3089
9175c9a3
MC
3090* Removed --with-mmalloc
3091
3092Support for the mmalloc memory manager has been removed, as it
3093conflicted with the internal gdb byte cache.
3094
3cc87ec0
MK
3095* Changes in AMD64 configurations
3096
3097The AMD64 target now includes the %cs and %ss registers. As a result
3098the AMD64 remote protocol has changed; this affects the floating-point
3099and SSE registers. If you rely on those registers for your debugging,
3100you should upgrade gdbserver on the remote side.
3101
f0424ef6
MK
3102* Revised SPARC target
3103
3104The SPARC target has been completely revised, incorporating the
3105FreeBSD/sparc64 support that was added for GDB 6.0. As a result
03cebad2
MK
3106support for LynxOS and SunOS 4 has been dropped. Calling functions
3107from within GDB on operating systems with a non-executable stack
3108(Solaris, OpenBSD) now works.
f0424ef6 3109
59659be2
ILT
3110* New C++ demangler
3111
3112GDB has a new C++ demangler which does a better job on the mangled
3113names generated by current versions of g++. It also runs faster, so
3114with this and other changes gdb should now start faster on large C++
3115programs.
3116
9e08b29b
DJ
3117* DWARF 2 Location Expressions
3118
3119GDB support for location expressions has been extended to support function
3120arguments and frame bases. Older versions of GDB could crash when they
3121encountered these.
3122
8dfe8985
DC
3123* C++ nested types and namespaces
3124
3125GDB's support for nested types and namespaces in C++ has been
3126improved, especially if you use the DWARF 2 debugging format. (This
3127is the default for recent versions of GCC on most platforms.)
3128Specifically, if you have a class "Inner" defined within a class or
3129namespace "Outer", then GDB realizes that the class's name is
3130"Outer::Inner", not simply "Inner". This should greatly reduce the
3131frequency of complaints about not finding RTTI symbols. In addition,
3132if you are stopped at inside of a function defined within a namespace,
3133GDB modifies its name lookup accordingly.
3134
cced5e27
MK
3135* New native configurations
3136
3137NetBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-netbsd*
27d1e716 3138OpenBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-openbsd*
2031c21a 3139OpenBSD/alpha alpha*-*-openbsd*
f2cab569
MK
3140OpenBSD/sparc sparc-*-openbsd*
3141OpenBSD/sparc64 sparc64-*-openbsd*
cced5e27 3142
b4b4b794
KI
3143* New debugging protocols
3144
3145M32R with SDI protocol m32r-*-elf*
3146
7989c619
AC
3147* "set prompt-escape-char" command deleted.
3148
3149The command "set prompt-escape-char" has been deleted. This command,
3150and its very obscure effet on GDB's prompt, was never documented,
3151tested, nor mentioned in the NEWS file.
3152
5994185b
AC
3153* OBSOLETE configurations and files
3154
3155Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
3156been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
3157configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
3158permanently REMOVED.
3159
3160Sun 3, running SunOS 3 m68*-*-sunos3*
3161Sun 3, running SunOS 4 m68*-*-sunos4*
3162Sun 2, running SunOS 3 m68000-*-sunos3*
3163Sun 2, running SunOS 4 m68000-*-sunos4*
3164Motorola 680x0 running LynxOS m68*-*-lynxos*
3165AT&T 3b1/Unix pc m68*-att-*
3166Bull DPX2 (68k, System V release 3) m68*-bull-sysv*
0748d941
AC
3167decstation mips-dec-* mips-little-*
3168riscos mips-*-riscos* mips-*-sysv*
3169sonymips mips-sony-*
3170sysv mips*-*-sysv4* (IRIX 5/6 not included)
5994185b 3171
0ddabb4c
AC
3172* REMOVED configurations and files
3173
3174SGI Irix-4.x mips-sgi-irix4 or iris4
3175SGI Iris (MIPS) running Irix V3: mips-sgi-irix or iris
4a8269c0
AC
3176Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
3177Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
3178H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
3179HP/PA running BSD hppa*-*-bsd*
3180HP/PA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
3181HP/PA Pro target hppa*-*-pro*
3182PMAX (MIPS) running Mach 3.0 mips*-*-mach3*
cf7c5c23 3183386BSD i[3456]86-*-bsd*
4a8269c0
AC
3184Sequent family i[3456]86-sequent-sysv4*
3185 i[3456]86-sequent-sysv*
3186 i[3456]86-sequent-bsd*
f0424ef6
MK
3187SPARC running LynxOS sparc-*-lynxos*
3188SPARC running SunOS 4 sparc-*-sunos4*
4a8269c0
AC
3189Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
3190Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
0ddabb4c 3191
c7f1390e
DJ
3192*** Changes in GDB 6.0:
3193
1fe43d45
AC
3194* Objective-C
3195
3196Support for debugging the Objective-C programming language has been
3197integrated into GDB.
3198
e6beb428
AC
3199* New backtrace mechanism (includes DWARF 2 Call Frame Information).
3200
3201DWARF 2's Call Frame Information makes available compiler generated
3202information that more exactly describes the program's run-time stack.
3203By using this information, GDB is able to provide more robust stack
3204backtraces.
3205
3206The i386, amd64 (nee, x86-64), Alpha, m68hc11, ia64, and m32r targets
3207have been updated to use a new backtrace mechanism which includes
3208DWARF 2 CFI support.
3209
3210* Hosted file I/O.
3211
3212GDB's remote protocol has been extended to include support for hosted
3213file I/O (where the remote target uses GDB's file system). See GDB's
3214remote protocol documentation for details.
3215
3216* All targets using the new architecture framework.
3217
3218All of GDB's targets have been updated to use the new internal
3219architecture framework. The way is now open for future GDB releases
3220to include cross-architecture native debugging support (i386 on amd64,
3221ppc32 on ppc64).
3222
3223* GNU/Linux's Thread Local Storage (TLS)
3224
3225GDB now includes support for for the GNU/Linux implementation of
3226per-thread variables.
3227
3228* GNU/Linux's Native POSIX Thread Library (NPTL)
3229
3230GDB's thread code has been updated to work with either the new
3231GNU/Linux NPTL thread library or the older "LinuxThreads" library.
3232
3233* Separate debug info.
3234
3235GDB, in conjunction with BINUTILS, now supports a mechanism for
3236automatically loading debug information from a separate file. Instead
3237of shipping full debug and non-debug versions of system libraries,
3238system integrators can now instead ship just the stripped libraries
3239and optional debug files.
3240
3241* DWARF 2 Location Expressions
3242
3243DWARF 2 Location Expressions allow the compiler to more completely
3244describe the location of variables (even in optimized code) to the
3245debugger.
3246
3247GDB now includes preliminary support for location expressions (support
3248for DW_OP_piece is still missing).
3249
3250* Java
3251
3252A number of long standing bugs that caused GDB to die while starting a
3253Java application have been fixed. GDB's Java support is now
3254considered "useable".
3255
85f8f974
DJ
3256* GNU/Linux support for fork, vfork, and exec.
3257
3258The "catch fork", "catch exec", "catch vfork", and "set follow-fork-mode"
3259commands are now implemented for GNU/Linux. They require a 2.5.x or later
3260kernel.
3261
0fac0b41
DJ
3262* GDB supports logging output to a file
3263
3264There are two new commands, "set logging" and "show logging", which can be
3265used to capture GDB's output to a file.
f2c06f52 3266
6ad8ae5c
DJ
3267* The meaning of "detach" has changed for gdbserver
3268
3269The "detach" command will now resume the application, as documented. To
3270disconnect from gdbserver and leave it stopped, use the new "disconnect"
3271command.
3272
e286caf2 3273* d10v, m68hc11 `regs' command deprecated
5f601589
AC
3274
3275The `info registers' command has been updated so that it displays the
3276registers using a format identical to the old `regs' command.
3277
d28f9cdf
DJ
3278* Profiling support
3279
3280A new command, "maint set profile on/off", has been added. This command can
3281be used to enable or disable profiling while running GDB, to profile a
3282session or a set of commands. In addition there is a new configure switch,
3283"--enable-profiling", which will cause GDB to be compiled with profiling
3284data, for more informative profiling results.
3285
da0f9dcd
AC
3286* Default MI syntax changed to "mi2".
3287
3288The default MI (machine interface) syntax, enabled by the command line
3289option "-i=mi", has been changed to "mi2". The previous MI syntax,
b68767c1 3290"mi1", can be enabled by specifying the option "-i=mi1".
da0f9dcd
AC
3291
3292Support for the original "mi0" syntax (included in GDB 5.0) has been
3293removed.
3294
fb9b6b35
JJ
3295Fix for gdb/192: removed extraneous space when displaying frame level.
3296Fix for gdb/672: update changelist is now output in mi list format.
3297Fix for gdb/702: a -var-assign that updates the value now shows up
3298 in a subsequent -var-update.
3299
954a4db8
MK
3300* New native configurations.
3301
3302FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
3303
6760f9e6
JB
3304* Multi-arched targets.
3305
b4263afa 3306HP/PA HPUX11 hppa*-*-hpux*
85a453d5 3307Renesas M32R/D w/simulator m32r-*-elf*
6760f9e6 3308
1b831c93
AC
3309* OBSOLETE configurations and files
3310
3311Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
3312been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
3313configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
3314permanently REMOVED.
3315
8b0e5691 3316Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
67f16606 3317Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
fd2299bd 3318H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
56056df7
AC
3319HP/PA running BSD hppa*-*-bsd*
3320HP/PA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
3321HP/PA Pro target hppa*-*-pro*
78c43945 3322PMAX (MIPS) running Mach 3.0 mips*-*-mach3*
2fbce691
AC
3323Sequent family i[3456]86-sequent-sysv4*
3324 i[3456]86-sequent-sysv*
3325 i[3456]86-sequent-bsd*
f81824a9
AC
3326Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
3327Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
fd2299bd 3328
5835abe7
NC
3329* REMOVED configurations and files
3330
3331V850EA ISA
1b831c93
AC
3332Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
3333IBM AIX PS/2 i[3456]86-*-aix
3334i386 running Mach 3.0 i[3456]86-*-mach3*
3335i386 running Mach i[3456]86-*-mach*
3336i386 running OSF/1 i[3456]86-*osf1mk*
3337HP/Apollo 68k Family m68*-apollo*-sysv*,
3338 m68*-apollo*-bsd*,
3339 m68*-hp-bsd*, m68*-hp-hpux*
3340Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
3341Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
3342Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
3343OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
3344I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
5835abe7 3345
a094c6fb
AC
3346* MIPS $fp behavior changed
3347
3348The convenience variable $fp, for the MIPS, now consistently returns
3349the address of the current frame's base. Previously, depending on the
3350context, $fp could refer to either $sp or the current frame's base
3351address. See ``8.10 Registers'' in the manual ``Debugging with GDB:
3352The GNU Source-Level Debugger''.
3353
299ffc64 3354*** Changes in GDB 5.3:
37057839 3355
46248966
AC
3356* GNU/Linux shared library multi-threaded performance improved.
3357
3358When debugging a multi-threaded application on GNU/Linux, GDB now uses
3359`/proc', in preference to `ptrace' for memory reads. This may result
3360in an improvement in the start-up time of multi-threaded, shared
3361library applications when run under GDB. One GDB user writes: ``loads
3362shared libs like mad''.
3363
b9d14705 3364* ``gdbserver'' now supports multi-threaded applications on some targets
6da02953 3365
b9d14705
DJ
3366Support for debugging multi-threaded applications which use
3367the GNU/Linux LinuxThreads package has been added for
3368arm*-*-linux*-gnu*, i[3456]86-*-linux*-gnu*, mips*-*-linux*-gnu*,
3369powerpc*-*-linux*-gnu*, and sh*-*-linux*-gnu*.
6da02953 3370
e0e9281e
JB
3371* GDB now supports C/C++ preprocessor macros.
3372
3373GDB now expands preprocessor macro invocations in C/C++ expressions,
3374and provides various commands for showing macro definitions and how
3375they expand.
3376
dd73b9bb
AC
3377The new command `macro expand EXPRESSION' expands any macro
3378invocations in expression, and shows the result.
3379
3380The new command `show macro MACRO-NAME' shows the definition of the
3381macro named MACRO-NAME, and where it was defined.
3382
e0e9281e
JB
3383Most compilers don't include information about macros in the debugging
3384information by default. In GCC 3.1, for example, you need to compile
3385your program with the options `-gdwarf-2 -g3'. If the macro
3386information is present in the executable, GDB will read it.
3387
2250ee0c
CV
3388* Multi-arched targets.
3389
6e3ba3b8
JT
3390DEC Alpha (partial) alpha*-*-*
3391DEC VAX (partial) vax-*-*
2250ee0c 3392NEC V850 v850-*-*
6e3ba3b8 3393National Semiconductor NS32000 (partial) ns32k-*-*
a1789893
GS
3394Motorola 68000 (partial) m68k-*-*
3395Motorola MCORE mcore-*-*
2250ee0c 3396
cd9bfe15 3397* New targets.
e33ce519 3398
456f8b9d
DB
3399Fujitsu FRV architecture added by Red Hat frv*-*-*
3400
e33ce519 3401
da8ca43d
JT
3402* New native configurations
3403
3404Alpha NetBSD alpha*-*-netbsd*
029923d4 3405SH NetBSD sh*-*-netbsdelf*
45888261 3406MIPS NetBSD mips*-*-netbsd*
9ce5c36a 3407UltraSPARC NetBSD sparc64-*-netbsd*
da8ca43d 3408
cd9bfe15
AC
3409* OBSOLETE configurations and files
3410
3411Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
3412been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
3413configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
3414permanently REMOVED.
3415
92eb23c5 3416Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
a99a9e1b 3417OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
1c7cc583 3418IBM AIX PS/2 i[3456]86-*-aix
7a3085c1 3419Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
7fb623f7 3420Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
eb4c54a2 3421Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
d8ee244c
MK
3422i386 running Mach 3.0 i[3456]86-*-mach3*
3423i386 running Mach i[3456]86-*-mach*
3424i386 running OSF/1 i[3456]86-*osf1mk*
822e978b
AC
3425HP/Apollo 68k Family m68*-apollo*-sysv*,
3426 m68*-apollo*-bsd*,
3427 m68*-hp-bsd*, m68*-hp-hpux*
4d210288 3428I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
92eb23c5 3429
db034ac5
AC
3430* OBSOLETE languages
3431
3432CHILL, a Pascal like language used by telecommunications companies.
3433
cd9bfe15
AC
3434* REMOVED configurations and files
3435
3436AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi, udi29k
3437A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
3438AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
3439AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
3440AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
3441
3442testsuite/gdb.hp/gdb.threads-hp/ directory
3443
20f01a46
DH
3444* New command "set max-user-call-depth <nnn>"
3445
3446This command allows the user to limit the call depth of user-defined
3447commands. The default is 1024.
3448
a5941fbf
MK
3449* Changes in FreeBSD/i386 native debugging.
3450
3451Support for the "generate-core-file" has been added.
3452
89743e04
MS
3453* New commands "dump", "append", and "restore".
3454
3455These commands allow data to be copied from target memory
3456to a bfd-format or binary file (dump and append), and back
3457from a file into memory (restore).
37057839 3458
9fb14e79
JB
3459* Improved "next/step" support on multi-processor Alpha Tru64.
3460
3461The previous single-step mechanism could cause unpredictable problems,
3462including the random appearance of SIGSEGV or SIGTRAP signals. The use
3463of a software single-step mechanism prevents this.
3464
2037aebb
AC
3465*** Changes in GDB 5.2.1:
3466
3467* New targets.
3468
3469Atmel AVR avr*-*-*
3470
3471* Bug fixes
3472
3473gdb/182: gdb/323: gdb/237: On alpha, gdb was reporting:
3474mdebugread.c:2443: gdb-internal-error: sect_index_data not initialized
3475Fix, by Joel Brobecker imported from mainline.
3476
3477gdb/439: gdb/291: On some ELF object files, gdb was reporting:
3478dwarf2read.c:1072: gdb-internal-error: sect_index_text not initialize
3479Fix, by Fred Fish, imported from mainline.
3480
3481Dwarf2 .debug_frame & .eh_frame handler improved in many ways.
3482Surprisingly enough, it works now.
3483By Michal Ludvig, imported from mainline.
3484
3485i386 hardware watchpoint support:
3486avoid misses on second run for some targets.
3487By Pierre Muller, imported from mainline.
3488
37057839 3489*** Changes in GDB 5.2:
eb7cedd9 3490
1a703748
MS
3491* New command "set trust-readonly-sections on[off]".
3492
3493This command is a hint that tells gdb that read-only sections
3494really are read-only (ie. that their contents will not change).
3495In this mode, gdb will go to the object file rather than the
3496target to read memory from read-only sections (such as ".text").
3497This can be a significant performance improvement on some
3498(notably embedded) targets.
3499
cefd4ef5
MS
3500* New command "generate-core-file" (or "gcore").
3501
55241689
AC
3502This new gdb command allows the user to drop a core file of the child
3503process state at any time. So far it's been implemented only for
3504GNU/Linux and Solaris, but should be relatively easily ported to other
3505hosts. Argument is core file name (defaults to core.<pid>).
cefd4ef5 3506
352ed7b4
MS
3507* New command line option
3508
3509GDB now accepts --pid or -p followed by a process id.
3510
3511* Change in command line behavior -- corefiles vs. process ids.
3512
3513There is a subtle behavior in the way in which GDB handles
3514command line arguments. The first non-flag argument is always
3515a program to debug, but the second non-flag argument may either
3516be a corefile or a process id. Previously, GDB would attempt to
3517open the second argument as a corefile, and if that failed, would
3518issue a superfluous error message and then attempt to attach it as
3519a process. Now, if the second argument begins with a non-digit,
3520it will be treated as a corefile. If it begins with a digit,
3521GDB will attempt to attach it as a process, and if no such process
3522is found, will then attempt to open it as a corefile.
3523
fe419ffc
RE
3524* Changes in ARM configurations.
3525
3526Multi-arch support is enabled for all ARM configurations. The ARM/NetBSD
3527configuration is fully multi-arch.
3528
eb7cedd9
MK
3529* New native configurations
3530
fe419ffc 3531ARM NetBSD arm*-*-netbsd*
eb7cedd9 3532x86 OpenBSD i[3456]86-*-openbsd*
55241689 3533AMD x86-64 running GNU/Linux x86_64-*-linux-*
768f0842 3534Sparc64 running FreeBSD sparc64-*-freebsd*
eb7cedd9 3535
c9f63e6b
CV
3536* New targets
3537
3538Sanyo XStormy16 xstormy16-elf
3539
9b4ff276
AC
3540* OBSOLETE configurations and files
3541
3542Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
3543been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
3544configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
3545permanently REMOVED.
3546
3547AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi, udi29k
3548A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
3549AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
3550AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
3551AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
3552
b4ceaee6 3553testsuite/gdb.hp/gdb.threads-hp/ directory
9b4ff276 3554
e2caac18
AC
3555* REMOVED configurations and files
3556
3557TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
7bc65f05 3558WDC 65816 w65-*-*
7768dd6c
AC
3559PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
3560PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
3561PowerPC Netware powerpc-*-netware*
5e734e1f 3562Harris/CXUX m88k m88*-harris-cxux*
1406caf7
AC
3563Most ns32k hosts and targets ns32k-*-mach3* ns32k-umax-*
3564 ns32k-utek-sysv* ns32k-utek-*
7e24f0b1 3565SunOS 4.0.Xi on i386 i[3456]86-*-sunos*
9b567150 3566Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1 a29k-nyu-sym1 a29k-*-kern*
3680c638
AC
3567Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x m68*-sony-sysv news
3568ISI Optimum V (3.05) under 4.3bsd. m68*-isi-*
a752853e 3569Apple Macintosh (MPW) host and target N/A host, powerpc-*-macos*
e2caac18 3570
c2a727fa
TT
3571* Changes to command line processing
3572
3573The new `--args' feature can be used to specify command-line arguments
3574for the inferior from gdb's command line.
3575
467d8519
TT
3576* Changes to key bindings
3577
3578There is a new `operate-and-get-next' function bound to `C-o'.
3579
7072a954
AC
3580*** Changes in GDB 5.1.1
3581
3582Fix compile problem on DJGPP.
3583
3584Fix a problem with floating-point registers on the i386 being
3585corrupted.
3586
3587Fix to stop GDB crashing on .debug_str debug info.
3588
3589Numerous documentation fixes.
3590
3591Numerous testsuite fixes.
3592
34f47bc4 3593*** Changes in GDB 5.1:
139760b7
MK
3594
3595* New native configurations
3596
3597Alpha FreeBSD alpha*-*-freebsd*
3598x86 FreeBSD 3.x and 4.x i[3456]86*-freebsd[34]*
55241689 3599MIPS GNU/Linux mips*-*-linux*
e23194cb
EZ
3600MIPS SGI Irix 6.x mips*-sgi-irix6*
3601ia64 AIX ia64-*-aix*
55241689 3602s390 and s390x GNU/Linux {s390,s390x}-*-linux*
139760b7 3603
bf64bfd6
AC
3604* New targets
3605
def90278 3606Motorola 68HC11 and 68HC12 m68hc11-elf
24be5c34 3607CRIS cris-axis
55241689 3608UltraSparc running GNU/Linux sparc64-*-linux*
def90278 3609
17e78a56 3610* OBSOLETE configurations and files
bf64bfd6
AC
3611
3612x86 FreeBSD before 2.2 i[3456]86*-freebsd{1,2.[01]}*,
9b9c068d 3613Harris/CXUX m88k m88*-harris-cxux*
bb19ff3b
AC
3614Most ns32k hosts and targets ns32k-*-mach3* ns32k-umax-*
3615 ns32k-utek-sysv* ns32k-utek-*
76f4ea53
AC
3616TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
3617WDC 65816 w65-*-*
4a1968f4 3618Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1 a29k-nyu-sym1 a29k-*-kern*
1b2b2c16
AC
3619PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
3620PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
3621PowerPC Netware powerpc-*-netware*
24f89b68 3622SunOS 4.0.Xi on i386 i[3456]86-*-sunos*
514e603d
AC
3623Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x m68*-sony-sysv news
3624ISI Optimum V (3.05) under 4.3bsd. m68*-isi-*
d036b4d9 3625Apple Macintosh (MPW) host N/A
bf64bfd6 3626
17e78a56
AC
3627stuff.c (Program to stuff files into a specially prepared space in kdb)
3628kdb-start.c (Main loop for the standalone kernel debugger)
3629
7fcca85b
AC
3630Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
3631been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
3632configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
3633permanently REMOVED.
3634
a196c81c 3635* REMOVED configurations and files
7fcca85b
AC
3636
3637Altos 3068 m68*-altos-*
3638Convex c1-*-*, c2-*-*
3639Pyramid pyramid-*-*
3640ARM RISCix arm-*-* (as host)
3641Tahoe tahoe-*-*
a196c81c 3642ser-ocd.c *-*-*
bf64bfd6 3643
6d6b80e5 3644* GDB has been converted to ISO C.
e23194cb 3645
6d6b80e5 3646GDB's source code has been converted to ISO C. In particular, the
e23194cb
EZ
3647sources are fully protoized, and rely on standard headers being
3648present.
3649
bf64bfd6
AC
3650* Other news:
3651
e23194cb
EZ
3652* "info symbol" works on platforms which use COFF, ECOFF, XCOFF, and NLM.
3653
3654* The MI enabled by default.
3655
3656The new machine oriented interface (MI) introduced in GDB 5.0 has been
3657revised and enabled by default. Packages which use GDB as a debugging
3658engine behind a UI or another front end are encouraged to switch to
3659using the GDB/MI interface, instead of the old annotations interface
3660which is now deprecated.
3661
3662* Support for debugging Pascal programs.
3663
3664GDB now includes support for debugging Pascal programs. The following
3665main features are supported:
3666
3667 - Pascal-specific data types such as sets;
3668
3669 - automatic recognition of Pascal sources based on file-name
3670 extension;
3671
3672 - Pascal-style display of data types, variables, and functions;
3673
3674 - a Pascal expression parser.
3675
3676However, some important features are not yet supported.
3677
3678 - Pascal string operations are not supported at all;
3679
3680 - there are some problems with boolean types;
3681
3682 - Pascal type hexadecimal constants are not supported
3683 because they conflict with the internal variables format;
3684
3685 - support for Pascal objects and classes is not full yet;
3686
3687 - unlike Pascal, GDB is case-sensitive for symbol names.
3688
3689* Changes in completion.
3690
3691Commands such as `shell', `run' and `set args', which pass arguments
3692to inferior programs, now complete on file names, similar to what
3693users expect at the shell prompt.
3694
3695Commands which accept locations, such as `disassemble', `print',
3696`breakpoint', `until', etc. now complete on filenames as well as
3697program symbols. Thus, if you type "break foob TAB", and the source
3698files linked into the programs include `foobar.c', that file name will
3699be one of the candidates for completion. However, file names are not
3700considered for completion after you typed a colon that delimits a file
3701name from a name of a function in that file, as in "break foo.c:bar".
3702
3703`set demangle-style' completes on available demangling styles.
3704
3705* New platform-independent commands:
3706
3707It is now possible to define a post-hook for a command as well as a
3708hook that runs before the command. For more details, see the
3709documentation of `hookpost' in the GDB manual.
3710
3711* Changes in GNU/Linux native debugging.
3712
d7275149
MK
3713Support for debugging multi-threaded programs has been completely
3714revised for all platforms except m68k and sparc. You can now debug as
3715many threads as your system allows you to have.
3716
e23194cb
EZ
3717Attach/detach is supported for multi-threaded programs.
3718
d7275149
MK
3719Support for SSE registers was added for x86. This doesn't work for
3720multi-threaded programs though.
e23194cb
EZ
3721
3722* Changes in MIPS configurations.
bf64bfd6
AC
3723
3724Multi-arch support is enabled for all MIPS configurations.
3725
e23194cb
EZ
3726GDB can now be built as native debugger on SGI Irix 6.x systems for
3727debugging n32 executables. (Debugging 64-bit executables is not yet
3728supported.)
3729
3730* Unified support for hardware watchpoints in all x86 configurations.
3731
3732Most (if not all) native x86 configurations support hardware-assisted
3733breakpoints and watchpoints in a unified manner. This support
3734implements debug register sharing between watchpoints, which allows to
3735put a virtually infinite number of watchpoints on the same address,
3736and also supports watching regions up to 16 bytes with several debug
3737registers.
3738
3739The new maintenance command `maintenance show-debug-regs' toggles
3740debugging print-outs in functions that insert, remove, and test
3741watchpoints and hardware breakpoints.
3742
3743* Changes in the DJGPP native configuration.
3744
3745New command ``info dos sysinfo'' displays assorted information about
3746the CPU, OS, memory, and DPMI server.
3747
3748New commands ``info dos gdt'', ``info dos ldt'', and ``info dos idt''
3749display information about segment descriptors stored in GDT, LDT, and
3750IDT.
3751
3752New commands ``info dos pde'' and ``info dos pte'' display entries
3753from Page Directory and Page Tables (for now works with CWSDPMI only).
3754New command ``info dos address-pte'' displays the Page Table entry for
3755a given linear address.
3756
3757GDB can now pass command lines longer than 126 characters to the
3758program being debugged (requires an update to the libdbg.a library
3759which is part of the DJGPP development kit).
3760
3761DWARF2 debug info is now supported.
3762
6c56c069
EZ
3763It is now possible to `step' and `next' through calls to `longjmp'.
3764
e23194cb
EZ
3765* Changes in documentation.
3766
3767All GDB documentation was converted to GFDL, the GNU Free
3768Documentation License.
3769
3770Tracepoints-related commands are now fully documented in the GDB
3771manual.
3772
3773TUI, the Text-mode User Interface, is now documented in the manual.
3774
3775Tracepoints-related commands are now fully documented in the GDB
3776manual.
3777
3778The "GDB Internals" manual now has an index. It also includes
3779documentation of `ui_out' functions, GDB coding standards, x86
3780hardware watchpoints, and memory region attributes.
3781
5d6640b1
AC
3782* GDB's version number moved to ``version.in''
3783
3784The Makefile variable VERSION has been replaced by the file
3785``version.in''. People creating GDB distributions should update the
3786contents of this file.
3787
1a1d8446
AC
3788* gdba.el deleted
3789
3790GUD support is now a standard part of the EMACS distribution.
139760b7 3791
9debab2f 3792*** Changes in GDB 5.0:
7a292a7a 3793
c63ce875
EZ
3794* Improved support for debugging FP programs on x86 targets
3795
3796Unified and much-improved support for debugging floating-point
3797programs on all x86 targets. In particular, ``info float'' now
3798displays the FP registers in the same format on all x86 targets, with
3799greater level of detail.
3800
3801* Improvements and bugfixes in hardware-assisted watchpoints
3802
3803It is now possible to watch array elements, struct members, and
3804bitfields with hardware-assisted watchpoints. Data-read watchpoints
3805on x86 targets no longer erroneously trigger when the address is
3806written.
3807
3808* Improvements in the native DJGPP version of GDB
3809
3810The distribution now includes all the scripts and auxiliary files
3811necessary to build the native DJGPP version on MS-DOS/MS-Windows
3812machines ``out of the box''.
3813
3814The DJGPP version can now debug programs that use signals. It is
3815possible to catch signals that happened in the debuggee, deliver
3816signals to it, interrupt it with Ctrl-C, etc. (Previously, a signal
3817would kill the program being debugged.) Programs that hook hardware
3818interrupts (keyboard, timer, etc.) can also be debugged.
3819
3820It is now possible to debug DJGPP programs that redirect their
3821standard handles or switch them to raw (as opposed to cooked) mode, or
3822even close them. The command ``run < foo > bar'' works as expected,
3823and ``info terminal'' reports useful information about the debuggee's
3824terminal, including raw/cooked mode, redirection, etc.
3825
3826The DJGPP version now uses termios functions for console I/O, which
3827enables debugging graphics programs. Interrupting GDB with Ctrl-C
3828also works.
3829
3830DOS-style file names with drive letters are now fully supported by
3831GDB.
3832
3833It is now possible to debug DJGPP programs that switch their working
3834directory. It is also possible to rerun the debuggee any number of
3835times without restarting GDB; thus, you can use the same setup,
3836breakpoints, etc. for many debugging sessions.
3837
ed9a39eb
JM
3838* New native configurations
3839
3840ARM GNU/Linux arm*-*-linux*
afc05dd4 3841PowerPC GNU/Linux powerpc-*-linux*
ed9a39eb 3842
7a292a7a
SS
3843* New targets
3844
96baa820 3845Motorola MCore mcore-*-*
adf40b2e
JM
3846x86 VxWorks i[3456]86-*-vxworks*
3847PowerPC VxWorks powerpc-*-vxworks*
7a292a7a
SS
3848TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
3849
085dd6e6
JM
3850* OBSOLETE configurations
3851
3852Altos 3068 m68*-altos-*
3853Convex c1-*-*, c2-*-*
9846de1b 3854Pyramid pyramid-*-*
ed9a39eb 3855ARM RISCix arm-*-* (as host)
104c1213 3856Tahoe tahoe-*-*
7a292a7a 3857
9debab2f
AC
3858Configurations that have been declared obsolete will be commented out,
3859but the code will be left in place. If there is no activity to revive
3860these configurations before the next release of GDB, the sources will
3861be permanently REMOVED.
3862
5330533d
SS
3863* Gould support removed
3864
3865Support for the Gould PowerNode and NP1 has been removed.
3866
bc9e5bbf
AC
3867* New features for SVR4
3868
3869On SVR4 native platforms (such as Solaris), if you attach to a process
3870without first loading a symbol file, GDB will now attempt to locate and
3871load symbols from the running process's executable file.
3872
3873* Many C++ enhancements
3874
3875C++ support has been greatly improved. Overload resolution now works properly
3876in almost all cases. RTTI support is on the way.
3877
adf40b2e
JM
3878* Remote targets can connect to a sub-program
3879
3880A popen(3) style serial-device has been added. This device starts a
3881sub-process (such as a stand-alone simulator) and then communicates
3882with that. The sub-program to run is specified using the syntax
3883``|<program> <args>'' vis:
3884
3885 (gdb) set remotedebug 1
3886 (gdb) target extended-remote |mn10300-elf-sim program-args
3887
43e526b9
JM
3888* MIPS 64 remote protocol
3889
3890A long standing bug in the mips64 remote protocol where by GDB
3891expected certain 32 bit registers (ex SR) to be transfered as 32
3892instead of 64 bits has been fixed.
3893
3894The command ``set remote-mips64-transfers-32bit-regs on'' has been
3895added to provide backward compatibility with older versions of GDB.
3896
96baa820
JM
3897* ``set remotebinarydownload'' replaced by ``set remote X-packet''
3898
3899The command ``set remotebinarydownload'' command has been replaced by
3900``set remote X-packet''. Other commands in ``set remote'' family
3901include ``set remote P-packet''.
3902
11cf8741
JM
3903* Breakpoint commands accept ranges.
3904
3905The breakpoint commands ``enable'', ``disable'', and ``delete'' now
3906accept a range of breakpoints, e.g. ``5-7''. The tracepoint command
3907``tracepoint passcount'' also accepts a range of tracepoints.
3908
7876dd43
DB
3909* ``apropos'' command added.
3910
3911The ``apropos'' command searches through command names and
3912documentation strings, printing out matches, making it much easier to
3913try to find a command that does what you are looking for.
3914
bc9e5bbf
AC
3915* New MI interface
3916
3917A new machine oriented interface (MI) has been added to GDB. This
3918interface is designed for debug environments running GDB as a separate
7162c0ca
EZ
3919process. This is part of the long term libGDB project. See the
3920"GDB/MI" chapter of the GDB manual for further information. It can be
3921enabled by configuring with:
bc9e5bbf
AC
3922
3923 .../configure --enable-gdbmi
3924
c906108c
SS
3925*** Changes in GDB-4.18:
3926
3927* New native configurations
3928
3929HP-UX 10.20 hppa*-*-hpux10.20
3930HP-UX 11.x hppa*-*-hpux11.0*
55241689 3931M68K GNU/Linux m68*-*-linux*
c906108c
SS
3932
3933* New targets
3934
3935Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
3936Intel StrongARM strongarm-*-*
3937Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
3938
3939* OBSOLETE configurations
3940
3941Gould PowerNode, NP1 np1-*-*, pn-*-*
3942
3943Configurations that have been declared obsolete will be commented out,
3944but the code will be left in place. If there is no activity to revive
3945these configurations before the next release of GDB, the sources will
3946be permanently REMOVED.
3947
3948* ANSI/ISO C
3949
3950As a compatibility experiment, GDB's source files buildsym.h and
3951buildsym.c have been converted to pure standard C, no longer
3952containing any K&R compatibility code. We believe that all systems in
3953use today either come with a standard C compiler, or have a GCC port
3954available. If this is not true, please report the affected
3955configuration to bug-gdb@gnu.org immediately. See the README file for
3956information about getting a standard C compiler if you don't have one
3957already.
3958
3959* Readline 2.2
3960
3961GDB now uses readline 2.2.
3962
3963* set extension-language
3964
3965You can now control the mapping between filename extensions and source
3966languages by using the `set extension-language' command. For instance,
3967you can ask GDB to treat .c files as C++ by saying
3968 set extension-language .c c++
3969The command `info extensions' lists all of the recognized extensions
3970and their associated languages.
3971
3972* Setting processor type for PowerPC and RS/6000
3973
3974When GDB is configured for a powerpc*-*-* or an rs6000*-*-* target,
3975you can use the `set processor' command to specify what variant of the
3976PowerPC family you are debugging. The command
3977
3978 set processor NAME
3979
3980sets the PowerPC/RS6000 variant to NAME. GDB knows about the
3981following PowerPC and RS6000 variants:
3982
3983 ppc-uisa PowerPC UISA - a PPC processor as viewed by user-level code
3984 rs6000 IBM RS6000 ("POWER") architecture, user-level view
3985 403 IBM PowerPC 403
3986 403GC IBM PowerPC 403GC
3987 505 Motorola PowerPC 505
3988 860 Motorola PowerPC 860 or 850
3989 601 Motorola PowerPC 601
3990 602 Motorola PowerPC 602
3991 603 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 603 or 603e
3992 604 Motorola PowerPC 604 or 604e
3993 750 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 750 or 750
3994
3995At the moment, this command just tells GDB what to name the
3996special-purpose processor registers. Since almost all the affected
3997registers are inaccessible to user-level programs, this command is
3998only useful for remote debugging in its present form.
3999
4000* HP-UX support
4001
4002Thanks to a major code donation from Hewlett-Packard, GDB now has much
4003more extensive support for HP-UX. Added features include shared
4004library support, kernel threads and hardware watchpoints for 11.00,
4005support for HP's ANSI C and C++ compilers, and a compatibility mode
4006for xdb and dbx commands.
4007
4008* Catchpoints
4009
4010HP's donation includes the new concept of catchpoints, which is a
4011generalization of the old catch command. On HP-UX, it is now possible
4012to catch exec, fork, and vfork, as well as library loading.
4013
4014This means that the existing catch command has changed; its first
4015argument now specifies the type of catch to be set up. See the
4016output of "help catch" for a list of catchpoint types.
4017
4018* Debugging across forks
4019
4020On HP-UX, you can choose which process to debug when a fork() happens
4021in the inferior.
4022
4023* TUI
4024
4025HP has donated a curses-based terminal user interface (TUI). To get
4026it, build with --enable-tui. Although this can be enabled for any
4027configuration, at present it only works for native HP debugging.
4028
4029* GDB remote protocol additions
4030
4031A new protocol packet 'X' that writes binary data is now available.
4032Default behavior is to try 'X', then drop back to 'M' if the stub
4033fails to respond. The settable variable `remotebinarydownload'
4034allows explicit control over the use of 'X'.
4035
4036For 64-bit targets, the memory packets ('M' and 'm') can now contain a
4037full 64-bit address. The command
4038
4039 set remoteaddresssize 32
4040
4041can be used to revert to the old behaviour. For existing remote stubs
4042the change should not be noticed, as the additional address information
4043will be discarded.
4044
4045In order to assist in debugging stubs, you may use the maintenance
4046command `packet' to send any text string to the stub. For instance,
4047
4048 maint packet heythere
4049
4050sends the packet "$heythere#<checksum>". Note that it is very easy to
4051disrupt a debugging session by sending the wrong packet at the wrong
4052time.
4053
4054The compare-sections command allows you to compare section data on the
4055target to what is in the executable file without uploading or
4056downloading, by comparing CRC checksums.
4057
4058* Tracing can collect general expressions
4059
4060You may now collect general expressions at tracepoints. This requires
4061further additions to the target-side stub; see tracepoint.c and
4062doc/agentexpr.texi for further details.
4063
4064* mask-address variable for Mips
4065
4066For Mips targets, you may control the zeroing of the upper 32 bits of
4067a 64-bit address by entering `set mask-address on'. This is mainly
4068of interest to users of embedded R4xxx and R5xxx processors.
4069
4070* Higher serial baud rates
4071
4072GDB's serial code now allows you to specify baud rates 57600, 115200,
4073230400, and 460800 baud. (Note that your host system may not be able
4074to achieve all of these rates.)
4075
4076* i960 simulator
4077
4078The i960 configuration now includes an initial implementation of a
4079builtin simulator, contributed by Jim Wilson.
4080
4081
4082*** Changes in GDB-4.17:
4083
4084* New native configurations
4085
4086Alpha GNU/Linux alpha*-*-linux*
4087Unixware 2.x i[3456]86-unixware2*
4088Irix 6.x mips*-sgi-irix6*
4089PowerPC GNU/Linux powerpc-*-linux*
4090PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
4091Sparc GNU/Linux sparc-*-linux*
4092Motorola sysV68 R3V7.1 m68k-motorola-sysv
4093
4094* New targets
4095
4096Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
4097Hitachi H8/300S h8300*-*-*
4098Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
4099Matsushita MN10300 w/simulator mn10300-*-*
4100MIPS NEC VR4100 mips64*vr4100*{,el}-*-elf*
4101MIPS NEC VR5000 mips64*vr5000*{,el}-*-elf*
4102MIPS Toshiba TX39 mips64*tx39*{,el}-*-elf*
4103Mitsubishi D10V w/simulator d10v-*-*
4104Mitsubishi M32R/D w/simulator m32r-*-elf*
4105Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
4106NEC V850 w/simulator v850-*-*
4107
4108* New debugging protocols
4109
4110ARM with RDI protocol arm*-*-*
4111M68K with dBUG monitor m68*-*-{aout,coff,elf}
4112DDB and LSI variants of PMON protocol mips*-*-*
4113PowerPC with DINK32 monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
4114PowerPC with SDS protocol powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
4115Macraigor OCD (Wiggler) devices powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
4116
4117* DWARF 2
4118
4119All configurations can now understand and use the DWARF 2 debugging
4120format. The choice is automatic, if the symbol file contains DWARF 2
4121information.
4122
4123* Java frontend
4124
4125GDB now includes basic Java language support. This support is
4126only useful with Java compilers that produce native machine code.
4127
4128* solib-absolute-prefix and solib-search-path
4129
4130For SunOS and SVR4 shared libraries, you may now set the prefix for
4131loading absolute shared library symbol files, and the search path for
4132locating non-absolute shared library symbol files.
4133
4134* Live range splitting
4135
4136GDB can now effectively debug code for which GCC has performed live
4137range splitting as part of its optimization. See gdb/doc/LRS for
4138more details on the expected format of the stabs information.
4139
4140* Hurd support
4141
4142GDB's support for the GNU Hurd, including thread debugging, has been
4143updated to work with current versions of the Hurd.
4144
4145* ARM Thumb support
4146
4147GDB's ARM target configuration now handles the ARM7T (Thumb) 16-bit
4148instruction set. ARM GDB automatically detects when Thumb
4149instructions are in use, and adjusts disassembly and backtracing
4150accordingly.
4151
4152* MIPS16 support
4153
4154GDB's MIPS target configurations now handle the MIP16 16-bit
4155instruction set.
4156
4157* Overlay support
4158
4159GDB now includes support for overlays; if an executable has been
4160linked such that multiple sections are based at the same address, GDB
4161will decide which section to use for symbolic info. You can choose to
4162control the decision manually, using overlay commands, or implement
4163additional target-side support and use "overlay load-target" to bring
4164in the overlay mapping. Do "help overlay" for more detail.
4165
4166* info symbol
4167
4168The command "info symbol <address>" displays information about
4169the symbol at the specified address.
4170
4171* Trace support
4172
4173The standard remote protocol now includes an extension that allows
4174asynchronous collection and display of trace data. This requires
4175extensive support in the target-side debugging stub. Tracing mode
4176includes a new interaction mode in GDB and new commands: see the
4177file tracepoint.c for more details.
4178
4179* MIPS simulator
4180
4181Configurations for embedded MIPS now include a simulator contributed
4182by Cygnus Solutions. The simulator supports the instruction sets
4183of most MIPS variants.
4184
4185* Sparc simulator
4186
4187Sparc configurations may now include the ERC32 simulator contributed
4188by the European Space Agency. The simulator is not built into
4189Sparc targets by default; configure with --enable-sim to include it.
4190
4191* set architecture
4192
4193For target configurations that may include multiple variants of a
4194basic architecture (such as MIPS and SH), you may now set the
4195architecture explicitly. "set arch" sets, "info arch" lists
4196the possible architectures.
4197
4198*** Changes in GDB-4.16:
4199
4200* New native configurations
4201
4202Windows 95, x86 Windows NT i[345]86-*-cygwin32
4203M68K NetBSD m68k-*-netbsd*
4204PowerPC AIX 4.x powerpc-*-aix*
4205PowerPC MacOS powerpc-*-macos*
4206PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
4207RS/6000 AIX 4.x rs6000-*-aix4*
4208
4209* New targets
4210
4211ARM with RDP protocol arm-*-*
4212I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
4213MIPS VxWorks mips*-*-vxworks*
4214MIPS VR4300 with PMON mips64*vr4300{,el}-*-elf*
4215PowerPC with PPCBUG monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi*
4216Hitachi SH3 sh-*-*
4217Matra Sparclet sparclet-*-*
4218
4219* PowerPC simulator
4220
4221The powerpc-eabi configuration now includes the PSIM simulator,
4222contributed by Andrew Cagney, with assistance from Mike Meissner.
4223PSIM is a very elaborate model of the PowerPC, including not only
4224basic instruction set execution, but also details of execution unit
4225performance and I/O hardware. See sim/ppc/README for more details.
4226
4227* Solaris 2.5
4228
4229GDB now works with Solaris 2.5.
4230
4231* Windows 95/NT native
4232
4233GDB will now work as a native debugger on Windows 95 and Windows NT.
4234To build it from source, you must use the "gnu-win32" environment,
4235which uses a DLL to emulate enough of Unix to run the GNU tools.
4236Further information, binaries, and sources are available at
4237ftp.cygnus.com, under pub/gnu-win32.
4238
4239* dont-repeat command
4240
4241If a user-defined command includes the command `dont-repeat', then the
4242command will not be repeated if the user just types return. This is
4243useful if the command is time-consuming to run, so that accidental
4244extra keystrokes don't run the same command many times.
4245
4246* Send break instead of ^C
4247
4248The standard remote protocol now includes an option to send a break
4249rather than a ^C to the target in order to interrupt it. By default,
4250GDB will send ^C; to send a break, set the variable `remotebreak' to 1.
4251
4252* Remote protocol timeout
4253
4254The standard remote protocol includes a new variable `remotetimeout'
4255that allows you to set the number of seconds before GDB gives up trying
4256to read from the target. The default value is 2.
4257
4258* Automatic tracking of dynamic object loading (HPUX and Solaris only)
4259
4260By default GDB will automatically keep track of objects as they are
4261loaded and unloaded by the dynamic linker. By using the command `set
4262stop-on-solib-events 1' you can arrange for GDB to stop the inferior
4263when shared library events occur, thus allowing you to set breakpoints
4264in shared libraries which are explicitly loaded by the inferior.
4265
4266Note this feature does not work on hpux8. On hpux9 you must link
4267/usr/lib/end.o into your program. This feature should work
4268automatically on hpux10.
4269
4270* Irix 5.x hardware watchpoint support
4271
4272Irix 5 configurations now support the use of hardware watchpoints.
4273
4274* Mips protocol "SYN garbage limit"
4275
4276When debugging a Mips target using the `target mips' protocol, you
4277may set the number of characters that GDB will ignore by setting
4278the `syn-garbage-limit'. A value of -1 means that GDB will ignore
4279every character. The default value is 1050.
4280
4281* Recording and replaying remote debug sessions
4282
4283If you set `remotelogfile' to the name of a file, gdb will write to it
4284a recording of a remote debug session. This recording may then be
4285replayed back to gdb using "gdbreplay". See gdbserver/README for
4286details. This is useful when you have a problem with GDB while doing
4287remote debugging; you can make a recording of the session and send it
4288to someone else, who can then recreate the problem.
4289
4290* Speedups for remote debugging
4291
4292GDB includes speedups for downloading and stepping MIPS systems using
4293the IDT monitor, fast downloads to the Hitachi SH E7000 emulator,
4294and more efficient S-record downloading.
4295
4296* Memory use reductions and statistics collection
4297
4298GDB now uses less memory and reports statistics about memory usage.
4299Try the `maint print statistics' command, for example.
4300
4301*** Changes in GDB-4.15:
4302
4303* Psymtabs for XCOFF
4304
4305The symbol reader for AIX GDB now uses partial symbol tables. This
4306can greatly improve startup time, especially for large executables.
4307
4308* Remote targets use caching
4309
4310Remote targets now use a data cache to speed up communication with the
4311remote side. The data cache could lead to incorrect results because
4312it doesn't know about volatile variables, thus making it impossible to
4313debug targets which use memory mapped I/O devices. `set remotecache
4314off' turns the the data cache off.
4315
4316* Remote targets may have threads
4317
4318The standard remote protocol now includes support for multiple threads
4319in the target system, using new protocol commands 'H' and 'T'. See
4320gdb/remote.c for details.
4321
4322* NetROM support
4323
4324If GDB is configured with `--enable-netrom', then it will include
4325support for the NetROM ROM emulator from XLNT Designs. The NetROM
4326acts as though it is a bank of ROM on the target board, but you can
4327write into it over the network. GDB's support consists only of
4328support for fast loading into the emulated ROM; to debug, you must use
4329another protocol, such as standard remote protocol. The usual
4330sequence is something like
4331
4332 target nrom <netrom-hostname>
4333 load <prog>
4334 target remote <netrom-hostname>:1235
4335
4336* Macintosh host
4337
4338GDB now includes support for the Apple Macintosh, as a host only. It
4339may be run as either an MPW tool or as a standalone application, and
4340it can debug through the serial port. All the usual GDB commands are
4341available, but to the target command, you must supply "serial" as the
4342device type instead of "/dev/ttyXX". See mpw-README in the main
4343directory for more information on how to build. The MPW configuration
4344scripts */mpw-config.in support only a few targets, and only the
4345mips-idt-ecoff target has been tested.
4346
4347* Autoconf
4348
4349GDB configuration now uses autoconf. This is not user-visible,
4350but does simplify configuration and building.
4351
4352* hpux10
4353
4354GDB now supports hpux10.
4355
4356*** Changes in GDB-4.14:
4357
4358* New native configurations
4359
4360x86 FreeBSD i[345]86-*-freebsd
4361x86 NetBSD i[345]86-*-netbsd
4362NS32k NetBSD ns32k-*-netbsd
4363Sparc NetBSD sparc-*-netbsd
4364
4365* New targets
4366
4367A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
4368HP PA PRO embedded (WinBond W89K & Oki OP50N) hppa*-*-pro*
4369CPU32 EST-300 emulator m68*-*-est*
4370PowerPC ELF powerpc-*-elf
4371WDC 65816 w65-*-*
4372
4373* Alpha OSF/1 support for procfs
4374
4375GDB now supports procfs under OSF/1-2.x and higher, which makes it
4376possible to attach to running processes. As the mounting of the /proc
4377filesystem is optional on the Alpha, GDB automatically determines
4378the availability of /proc during startup. This can lead to problems
4379if /proc is unmounted after GDB has been started.
4380
4381* Arguments to user-defined commands
4382
4383User commands may accept up to 10 arguments separated by whitespace.
4384Arguments are accessed within the user command via $arg0..$arg9. A
4385trivial example:
4386define adder
4387 print $arg0 + $arg1 + $arg2
4388
4389To execute the command use:
4390adder 1 2 3
4391
4392Defines the command "adder" which prints the sum of its three arguments.
4393Note the arguments are text substitutions, so they may reference variables,
4394use complex expressions, or even perform inferior function calls.
4395
4396* New `if' and `while' commands
4397
4398This makes it possible to write more sophisticated user-defined
4399commands. Both commands take a single argument, which is the
4400expression to evaluate, and must be followed by the commands to
4401execute, one per line, if the expression is nonzero, the list being
4402terminated by the word `end'. The `if' command list may include an
4403`else' word, which causes the following commands to be executed only
4404if the expression is zero.
4405
4406* Fortran source language mode
4407
4408GDB now includes partial support for Fortran 77. It will recognize
4409Fortran programs and can evaluate a subset of Fortran expressions, but
4410variables and functions may not be handled correctly. GDB will work
4411with G77, but does not yet know much about symbols emitted by other
4412Fortran compilers.
4413
4414* Better HPUX support
4415
4416Most debugging facilities now work on dynamic executables for HPPAs
4417running hpux9 or later. You can attach to running dynamically linked
4418processes, but by default the dynamic libraries will be read-only, so
4419for instance you won't be able to put breakpoints in them. To change
4420that behavior do the following before running the program:
4421
4422 adb -w a.out
4423 __dld_flags?W 0x5
4424 control-d
4425
4426This will cause the libraries to be mapped private and read-write.
4427To revert to the normal behavior, do this:
4428
4429 adb -w a.out
4430 __dld_flags?W 0x4
4431 control-d
4432
4433You cannot set breakpoints or examine data in the library until after
4434the library is loaded if the function/data symbols do not have
4435external linkage.
4436
4437GDB can now also read debug symbols produced by the HP C compiler on
4438HPPAs (sorry, no C++, Fortran or 68k support).
4439
4440* Target byte order now dynamically selectable
4441
4442You can choose which byte order to use with a target system, via the
4443commands "set endian big" and "set endian little", and you can see the
4444current setting by using "show endian". You can also give the command
4445"set endian auto", in which case GDB will use the byte order
4446associated with the executable. Currently, only embedded MIPS
4447configurations support dynamic selection of target byte order.
4448
4449* New DOS host serial code
4450
4451This version uses DPMI interrupts to handle buffered I/O, so you
4452no longer need to run asynctsr when debugging boards connected to
4453a PC's serial port.
4454
4455*** Changes in GDB-4.13:
4456
4457* New "complete" command
4458
4459This lists all the possible completions for the rest of the line, if it
4460were to be given as a command itself. This is intended for use by emacs.
4461
4462* Trailing space optional in prompt
4463
4464"set prompt" no longer adds a space for you after the prompt you set. This
4465allows you to set a prompt which ends in a space or one that does not.
4466
4467* Breakpoint hit counts
4468
4469"info break" now displays a count of the number of times the breakpoint
4470has been hit. This is especially useful in conjunction with "ignore"; you
4471can ignore a large number of breakpoint hits, look at the breakpoint info
4472to see how many times the breakpoint was hit, then run again, ignoring one
4473less than that number, and this will get you quickly to the last hit of
4474that breakpoint.
4475
4476* Ability to stop printing at NULL character
4477
4478"set print null-stop" will cause GDB to stop printing the characters of
4479an array when the first NULL is encountered. This is useful when large
4480arrays actually contain only short strings.
4481
4482* Shared library breakpoints
4483
4484In SunOS 4.x, SVR4, and Alpha OSF/1 configurations, you can now set
4485breakpoints in shared libraries before the executable is run.
4486
4487* Hardware watchpoints
4488
4489There is a new hardware breakpoint for the watch command for sparclite
4490targets. See gdb/sparclite/hw_breakpoint.note.
4491
55241689 4492Hardware watchpoints are also now supported under GNU/Linux.
c906108c
SS
4493
4494* Annotations
4495
4496Annotations have been added. These are for use with graphical interfaces,
4497and are still experimental. Currently only gdba.el uses these.
4498
4499* Improved Irix 5 support
4500
4501GDB now works properly with Irix 5.2.
4502
4503* Improved HPPA support
4504
4505GDB now works properly with the latest GCC and GAS.
4506
4507* New native configurations
4508
4509Sequent PTX4 i[34]86-sequent-ptx4
4510HPPA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
4511Atari TT running SVR4 m68*-*-sysv4*
4512RS/6000 LynxOS rs6000-*-lynxos*
4513
4514* New targets
4515
4516OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
4517MIPS R4000 mips64*{,el}-*-{ecoff,elf}
4518Sparc64 sparc64-*-*
4519
4520* Hitachi SH7000 and E7000-PC ICE support
4521
4522There is now support for communicating with the Hitachi E7000-PC ICE.
4523This is available automatically when GDB is configured for the SH.
4524
4525* Fixes
4526
4527As usual, a variety of small fixes and improvements, both generic
4528and configuration-specific. See the ChangeLog for more detail.
4529
4530*** Changes in GDB-4.12:
4531
4532* Irix 5 is now supported
4533
4534* HPPA support
4535
4536GDB-4.12 on the HPPA has a number of changes which make it unable
4537to debug the output from the currently released versions of GCC and
4538GAS (GCC 2.5.8 and GAS-2.2 or PAGAS-1.36). Until the next major release
4539of GCC and GAS, versions of these tools designed to work with GDB-4.12
4540can be retrieved via anonymous ftp from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist.
4541
4542
4543*** Changes in GDB-4.11:
4544
4545* User visible changes:
4546
4547* Remote Debugging
4548
4549The "set remotedebug" option is now consistent between the mips remote
4550target, remote targets using the gdb-specific protocol, UDI (AMD's
4551debug protocol for the 29k) and the 88k bug monitor. It is now an
4552integer specifying a debug level (normally 0 or 1, but 2 means more
4553debugging info for the mips target).
4554
4555* DEC Alpha native support
4556
4557GDB now works on the DEC Alpha. GCC 2.4.5 does not produce usable
4558debug info, but GDB works fairly well with the DEC compiler and should
4559work with a future GCC release. See the README file for a few
4560Alpha-specific notes.
4561
4562* Preliminary thread implementation
4563
4564GDB now has preliminary thread support for both SGI/Irix and LynxOS.
4565
4566* LynxOS native and target support for 386
4567
4568This release has been hosted on LynxOS 2.2, and also can be configured
4569to remotely debug programs running under LynxOS (see gdb/gdbserver/README
4570for details).
4571
4572* Improvements in C++ mangling/demangling.
4573
4574This release has much better g++ debugging, specifically in name
4575mangling/demangling, virtual function calls, print virtual table,
4576call methods, ...etc.
4577
4578*** Changes in GDB-4.10:
4579
4580 * User visible changes:
4581
4582Remote debugging using the GDB-specific (`target remote') protocol now
4583supports the `load' command. This is only useful if you have some
4584other way of getting the stub to the target system, and you can put it
4585somewhere in memory where it won't get clobbered by the download.
4586
4587Filename completion now works.
4588
4589When run under emacs mode, the "info line" command now causes the
4590arrow to point to the line specified. Also, "info line" prints
4591addresses in symbolic form (as well as hex).
4592
4593All vxworks based targets now support a user settable option, called
4594vxworks-timeout. This option represents the number of seconds gdb
4595should wait for responses to rpc's. You might want to use this if
4596your vxworks target is, perhaps, a slow software simulator or happens
4597to be on the far side of a thin network line.
4598
4599 * DEC alpha support
4600
4601This release contains support for using a DEC alpha as a GDB host for
4602cross debugging. Native alpha debugging is not supported yet.
4603
4604
4605*** Changes in GDB-4.9:
4606
4607 * Testsuite
4608
4609This is the first GDB release which is accompanied by a matching testsuite.
4610The testsuite requires installation of dejagnu, which should be available
4611via ftp from most sites that carry GNU software.
4612
4613 * C++ demangling
4614
4615'Cfront' style demangling has had its name changed to 'ARM' style, to
4616emphasize that it was written from the specifications in the C++ Annotated
4617Reference Manual, not necessarily to be compatible with AT&T cfront. Despite
4618disclaimers, it still generated too much confusion with users attempting to
4619use gdb with AT&T cfront.
4620
4621 * Simulators
4622
4623GDB now uses a standard remote interface to a simulator library.
4624So far, the library contains simulators for the Zilog Z8001/2, the
4625Hitachi H8/300, H8/500 and Super-H.
4626
4627 * New targets supported
4628
4629H8/300 simulator h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
4630H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
4631SH simulator sh-hitachi-hms or sh
4632Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
4633IDT MIPS board over serial line mips-idt-ecoff
4634
4635Cross-debugging to GO32 targets is supported. It requires a custom
4636version of the i386-stub.c module which is integrated with the
4637GO32 memory extender.
4638
4639 * New remote protocols
4640
4641MIPS remote debugging protocol.
4642
4643 * New source languages supported
4644
4645This version includes preliminary support for Chill, a Pascal like language
4646used by telecommunications companies. Chill support is also being integrated
4647into the GNU compiler, but we don't know when it will be publically available.
4648
4649
4650*** Changes in GDB-4.8:
4651
4652 * HP Precision Architecture supported
4653
4654GDB now supports HP PA-RISC machines running HPUX. A preliminary
4655version of this support was available as a set of patches from the
4656University of Utah. GDB does not support debugging of programs
4657compiled with the HP compiler, because HP will not document their file
4658format. Instead, you must use GCC (version 2.3.2 or later) and PA-GAS
4659(as available from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist/pa-gas.u4.tar.Z).
4660
4661Many problems in the preliminary version have been fixed.
4662
4663 * Faster and better demangling
4664
4665We have improved template demangling and fixed numerous bugs in the GNU style
4666demangler. It can now handle type modifiers such as `static' or `const'. Wide
4667character types (wchar_t) are now supported. Demangling of each symbol is now
4668only done once, and is cached when the symbol table for a file is read in.
4669This results in a small increase in memory usage for C programs, a moderate
4670increase in memory usage for C++ programs, and a fantastic speedup in
4671symbol lookups.
4672
4673`Cfront' style demangling still doesn't work with AT&T cfront. It was written
4674from the specifications in the Annotated Reference Manual, which AT&T's
4675compiler does not actually implement.
4676
4677 * G++ multiple inheritance compiler problem
4678
4679In the 2.3.2 release of gcc/g++, how the compiler resolves multiple
4680inheritance lattices was reworked to properly discover ambiguities. We
4681recently found an example which causes this new algorithm to fail in a
4682very subtle way, producing bad debug information for those classes.
4683The file 'gcc.patch' (in this directory) can be applied to gcc to
4684circumvent the problem. A future GCC release will contain a complete
4685fix.
4686
4687The previous G++ debug info problem (mentioned below for the gdb-4.7
4688release) is fixed in gcc version 2.3.2.
4689
4690 * Improved configure script
4691
4692The `configure' script will now attempt to guess your system type if
4693you don't supply a host system type. The old scheme of supplying a
4694host system triplet is preferable over using this. All the magic is
4695done in the new `config.guess' script. Examine it for details.
4696
4697We have also brought our configure script much more in line with the FSF's
4698version. It now supports the --with-xxx options. In particular,
4699`--with-minimal-bfd' can be used to make the GDB binary image smaller.
4700The resulting GDB will not be able to read arbitrary object file formats --
4701only the format ``expected'' to be used on the configured target system.
4702We hope to make this the default in a future release.
4703
4704 * Documentation improvements
4705
4706There's new internal documentation on how to modify GDB, and how to
4707produce clean changes to the code. We implore people to read it
4708before submitting changes.
4709
4710The GDB manual uses new, sexy Texinfo conditionals, rather than arcane
4711M4 macros. The new texinfo.tex is provided in this release. Pre-built
4712`info' files are also provided. To build `info' files from scratch,
4713you will need the latest `makeinfo' release, which will be available in
4714a future texinfo-X.Y release.
4715
4716*NOTE* The new texinfo.tex can cause old versions of TeX to hang.
4717We're not sure exactly which versions have this problem, but it has
4718been seen in 3.0. We highly recommend upgrading to TeX version 3.141
4719or better. If that isn't possible, there is a patch in
4720`texinfo/tex3patch' that will modify `texinfo/texinfo.tex' to work
4721around this problem.
4722
4723 * New features
4724
4725GDB now supports array constants that can be used in expressions typed in by
4726the user. The syntax is `{element, element, ...}'. Ie: you can now type
4727`print {1, 2, 3}', and it will build up an array in memory malloc'd in
4728the target program.
4729
4730The new directory `gdb/sparclite' contains a program that demonstrates
4731how the sparc-stub.c remote stub runs on a Fujitsu SPARClite processor.
4732
4733 * New native hosts supported
4734
4735HP/PA-RISC under HPUX using GNU tools hppa1.1-hp-hpux
4736386 CPUs running SCO Unix 3.2v4 i386-unknown-sco3.2v4
4737
4738 * New targets supported
4739
4740AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi or udi29k
4741
4742 * New file formats supported
4743
4744BFD now supports reading HP/PA-RISC executables (SOM file format?),
4745HPUX core files, and SCO 3.2v2 core files.
4746
4747 * Major bug fixes
4748
4749Attaching to processes now works again; thanks for the many bug reports.
4750
4751We have also stomped on a bunch of core dumps caused by
4752printf_filtered("%s") problems.
4753
4754We eliminated a copyright problem on the rpc and ptrace header files
4755for VxWorks, which was discovered at the last minute during the 4.7
4756release. You should now be able to build a VxWorks GDB.
4757
4758You can now interrupt gdb while an attached process is running. This
4759will cause the attached process to stop, and give control back to GDB.
4760
4761We fixed problems caused by using too many file descriptors
4762for reading symbols from object files and libraries. This was
4763especially a problem for programs that used many (~100) shared
4764libraries.
4765
4766The `step' command now only enters a subroutine if there is line number
4767information for the subroutine. Otherwise it acts like the `next'
4768command. Previously, `step' would enter subroutines if there was
4769any debugging information about the routine. This avoids problems
4770when using `cc -g1' on MIPS machines.
4771
4772 * Internal improvements
4773
4774GDB's internal interfaces have been improved to make it easier to support
4775debugging of multiple languages in the future.
4776
4777GDB now uses a common structure for symbol information internally.
4778Minimal symbols (derived from linkage symbols in object files), partial
4779symbols (from a quick scan of debug information), and full symbols
4780contain a common subset of information, making it easier to write
4781shared code that handles any of them.
4782
4783 * New command line options
4784
4785We now accept --silent as an alias for --quiet.
4786
4787 * Mmalloc licensing
4788
4789The memory-mapped-malloc library is now licensed under the GNU Library
4790General Public License.
4791
4792*** Changes in GDB-4.7:
4793
4794 * Host/native/target split
4795
4796GDB has had some major internal surgery to untangle the support for
4797hosts and remote targets. Now, when you configure GDB for a remote
4798target, it will no longer load in all of the support for debugging
4799local programs on the host. When fully completed and tested, this will
4800ensure that arbitrary host/target combinations are possible.
4801
4802The primary conceptual shift is to separate the non-portable code in
4803GDB into three categories. Host specific code is required any time GDB
4804is compiled on that host, regardless of the target. Target specific
4805code relates to the peculiarities of the target, but can be compiled on
4806any host. Native specific code is everything else: it can only be
4807built when the host and target are the same system. Child process
4808handling and core file support are two common `native' examples.
4809
4810GDB's use of /proc for controlling Unix child processes is now cleaner.
4811It has been split out into a single module under the `target_ops' vector,
4812plus two native-dependent functions for each system that uses /proc.
4813
4814 * New hosts supported
4815
4816HP/Apollo 68k (under the BSD domain) m68k-apollo-bsd or apollo68bsd
4817386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
4818386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or i386sco
4819
4820 * New targets supported
4821
4822Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
482368030 and CPU32 m68030-*-*, m68332-*-*
4824
4825 * New native hosts supported
4826
4827386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
4828 (386bsd is not well tested yet)
4829386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or sco
4830
4831 * New file formats supported
4832
4833BFD now supports COFF files for the Zilog Z8000 microprocessor. It
4834supports reading of `a.out.adobe' object files, which are an a.out
4835format extended with minimal information about multiple sections.
4836
4837 * New commands
4838
4839`show copying' is the same as the old `info copying'.
4840`show warranty' is the same as `info warrantee'.
4841These were renamed for consistency. The old commands continue to work.
4842
4843`info handle' is a new alias for `info signals'.
4844
4845You can now define pre-command hooks, which attach arbitrary command
4846scripts to any command. The commands in the hook will be executed
4847prior to the user's command. You can also create a hook which will be
4848executed whenever the program stops. See gdb.texinfo.
4849
4850 * C++ improvements
4851
4852We now deal with Cfront style name mangling, and can even extract type
4853info from mangled symbols. GDB can automatically figure out which
4854symbol mangling style your C++ compiler uses.
4855
4856Calling of methods and virtual functions has been improved as well.
4857
4858 * Major bug fixes
4859
4860The crash that occured when debugging Sun Ansi-C compiled binaries is
4861fixed. This was due to mishandling of the extra N_SO stabs output
4862by the compiler.
4863
4864We also finally got Ultrix 4.2 running in house, and fixed core file
4865support, with help from a dozen people on the net.
4866
4867John M. Farrell discovered that the reason that single-stepping was so
4868slow on all of the Mips based platforms (primarily SGI and DEC) was
4869that we were trying to demangle and lookup a symbol used for internal
4870purposes on every instruction that was being stepped through. Changing
4871the name of that symbol so that it couldn't be mistaken for a C++
4872mangled symbol sped things up a great deal.
4873
4874Rich Pixley sped up symbol lookups in general by getting much smarter
4875about when C++ symbol mangling is necessary. This should make symbol
4876completion (TAB on the command line) much faster. It's not as fast as
4877we'd like, but it's significantly faster than gdb-4.6.
4878
4879 * AMD 29k support
4880
4881A new user controllable variable 'call_scratch_address' can
4882specify the location of a scratch area to be used when GDB
4883calls a function in the target. This is necessary because the
4884usual method of putting the scratch area on the stack does not work
4885in systems that have separate instruction and data spaces.
4886
4887We integrated changes to support the 29k UDI (Universal Debugger
4888Interface), but discovered at the last minute that we didn't have all
4889of the appropriate copyright paperwork. We are working with AMD to
4890resolve this, and hope to have it available soon.
4891
4892 * Remote interfaces
4893
4894We have sped up the remote serial line protocol, especially for targets
4895with lots of registers. It now supports a new `expedited status' ('T')
4896message which can be used in place of the existing 'S' status message.
4897This allows the remote stub to send only the registers that GDB
4898needs to make a quick decision about single-stepping or conditional
4899breakpoints, eliminating the need to fetch the entire register set for
4900each instruction being stepped through.
4901
4902The GDB remote serial protocol now implements a write-through cache for
4903registers, only re-reading the registers if the target has run.
4904
4905There is also a new remote serial stub for SPARC processors. You can
4906find it in gdb-4.7/gdb/sparc-stub.c. This was written to support the
4907Fujitsu SPARClite processor, but will run on any stand-alone SPARC
4908processor with a serial port.
4909
4910 * Configuration
4911
4912Configure.in files have become much easier to read and modify. A new
4913`table driven' format makes it more obvious what configurations are
4914supported, and what files each one uses.
4915
4916 * Library changes
4917
4918There is a new opcodes library which will eventually contain all of the
4919disassembly routines and opcode tables. At present, it only contains
4920Sparc and Z8000 routines. This will allow the assembler, debugger, and
4921disassembler (binutils/objdump) to share these routines.
4922
4923The libiberty library is now copylefted under the GNU Library General
4924Public License. This allows more liberal use, and was done so libg++
4925can use it. This makes no difference to GDB, since the Library License
4926grants all the rights from the General Public License.
4927
4928 * Documentation
4929
4930The file gdb-4.7/gdb/doc/stabs.texinfo is a (relatively) complete
4931reference to the stabs symbol info used by the debugger. It is (as far
4932as we know) the only published document on this fascinating topic. We
4933encourage you to read it, compare it to the stabs information on your
4934system, and send improvements on the document in general (to
4935bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu).
4936
4937And, of course, many bugs have been fixed.
4938
4939
4940*** Changes in GDB-4.6:
4941
4942 * Better support for C++ function names
4943
4944GDB now accepts as input the "demangled form" of C++ overloaded function
4945names and member function names, and can do command completion on such names
4946(using TAB, TAB-TAB, and ESC-?). The names have to be quoted with a pair of
4947single quotes. Examples are 'func (int, long)' and 'obj::operator==(obj&)'.
4948Make use of command completion, it is your friend.
4949
4950GDB also now accepts a variety of C++ mangled symbol formats. They are
4951the GNU g++ style, the Cfront (ARM) style, and the Lucid (lcc) style.
4952You can tell GDB which format to use by doing a 'set demangle-style {gnu,
4953lucid, cfront, auto}'. 'gnu' is the default. Do a 'set demangle-style foo'
4954for the list of formats.
4955
4956 * G++ symbol mangling problem
4957
4958Recent versions of gcc have a bug in how they emit debugging information for
4959C++ methods (when using dbx-style stabs). The file 'gcc.patch' (in this
4960directory) can be applied to gcc to fix the problem. Alternatively, if you
4961can't fix gcc, you can #define GCC_MANGLE_BUG when compling gdb/symtab.c. The
4962usual symptom is difficulty with setting breakpoints on methods. GDB complains
4963about the method being non-existent. (We believe that version 2.2.2 of GCC has
4964this problem.)
4965
4966 * New 'maintenance' command
4967
4968All of the commands related to hacking GDB internals have been moved out of
4969the main command set, and now live behind the 'maintenance' command. This
4970can also be abbreviated as 'mt'. The following changes were made:
4971
4972 dump-me -> maintenance dump-me
4973 info all-breakpoints -> maintenance info breakpoints
4974 printmsyms -> maintenance print msyms
4975 printobjfiles -> maintenance print objfiles
4976 printpsyms -> maintenance print psymbols
4977 printsyms -> maintenance print symbols
4978
4979The following commands are new:
4980
4981 maintenance demangle Call internal GDB demangler routine to
4982 demangle a C++ link name and prints the result.
4983 maintenance print type Print a type chain for a given symbol
4984
4985 * Change to .gdbinit file processing
4986
4987We now read the $HOME/.gdbinit file before processing the argv arguments
4988(e.g. reading symbol files or core files). This allows global parameters to
4989be set, which will apply during the symbol reading. The ./.gdbinit is still
4990read after argv processing.
4991
4992 * New hosts supported
4993
4994Solaris-2.0 !!! sparc-sun-solaris2 or sun4sol2
4995
55241689 4996GNU/Linux support i386-unknown-linux or linux
c906108c
SS
4997
4998We are also including code to support the HP/PA running BSD and HPUX. This
4999is almost guaranteed not to work, as we didn't have time to test or build it
5000for this release. We are including it so that the more adventurous (or
5001masochistic) of you can play with it. We also had major problems with the
5002fact that the compiler that we got from HP doesn't support the -g option.
5003It costs extra.
5004
5005 * New targets supported
5006
5007Hitachi H8/300 h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
5008
5009 * More smarts about finding #include files
5010
5011GDB now remembers the compilation directory for all include files, and for
5012all files from which C is generated (like yacc and lex sources). This
5013greatly improves GDB's ability to find yacc/lex sources, and include files,
5014especially if you are debugging your program from a directory different from
5015the one that contains your sources.
5016
5017We also fixed a bug which caused difficulty with listing and setting
5018breakpoints in include files which contain C code. (In the past, you had to
5019try twice in order to list an include file that you hadn't looked at before.)
5020
5021 * Interesting infernals change
5022
5023GDB now deals with arbitrary numbers of sections, where the symbols for each
5024section must be relocated relative to that section's landing place in the
5025target's address space. This work was needed to support ELF with embedded
5026stabs used by Solaris-2.0.
5027
5028 * Bug fixes (of course!)
5029
5030There have been loads of fixes for the following things:
5031 mips, rs6000, 29k/udi, m68k, g++, type handling, elf/dwarf, m88k,
5032 i960, stabs, DOS(GO32), procfs, etc...
5033
5034See the ChangeLog for details.
5035
5036*** Changes in GDB-4.5:
5037
5038 * New machines supported (host and target)
5039
5040IBM RS6000 running AIX rs6000-ibm-aix or rs6000
5041
5042SGI Irix-4.x mips-sgi-irix4 or iris4
5043
5044 * New malloc package
5045
5046GDB now uses a new memory manager called mmalloc, based on gmalloc.
5047Mmalloc is capable of handling mutiple heaps of memory. It is also
5048capable of saving a heap to a file, and then mapping it back in later.
5049This can be used to greatly speedup the startup of GDB by using a
5050pre-parsed symbol table which lives in a mmalloc managed heap. For
5051more details, please read mmalloc/mmalloc.texi.
5052
5053 * info proc
5054
5055The 'info proc' command (SVR4 only) has been enhanced quite a bit. See
5056'help info proc' for details.
5057
5058 * MIPS ecoff symbol table format
5059
5060The code that reads MIPS symbol table format is now supported on all hosts.
5061Thanks to MIPS for releasing the sym.h and symconst.h files to make this
5062possible.
5063
5064 * File name changes for MS-DOS
5065
5066Many files in the config directories have been renamed to make it easier to
5067support GDB on MS-DOSe systems (which have very restrictive file name
5068conventions :-( ). MS-DOSe host support (under DJ Delorie's GO32
5069environment) is close to working but has some remaining problems. Note
5070that debugging of DOS programs is not supported, due to limitations
5071in the ``operating system'', but it can be used to host cross-debugging.
5072
5073 * Cross byte order fixes
5074
5075Many fixes have been made to support cross debugging of Sparc and MIPS
5076targets from hosts whose byte order differs.
5077
5078 * New -mapped and -readnow options
5079
5080If memory-mapped files are available on your system through the 'mmap'
5081system call, you can use the -mapped option on the `file' or
5082`symbol-file' commands to cause GDB to write the symbols from your
5083program into a reusable file. If the program you are debugging is
5084called `/path/fred', the mapped symbol file will be `./fred.syms'.
5085Future GDB debugging sessions will notice the presence of this file,
5086and will quickly map in symbol information from it, rather than reading
5087the symbol table from the executable program. Using the '-mapped'
5088option in a GDB `file' or `symbol-file' command has the same effect as
5089starting GDB with the '-mapped' command-line option.
5090
5091You can cause GDB to read the entire symbol table immediately by using
5092the '-readnow' option with any of the commands that load symbol table
5093information (or on the GDB command line). This makes the command
5094slower, but makes future operations faster.
5095
5096The -mapped and -readnow options are typically combined in order to
5097build a `fred.syms' file that contains complete symbol information.
5098A simple GDB invocation to do nothing but build a `.syms' file for future
5099use is:
5100
5101 gdb -batch -nx -mapped -readnow programname
5102
5103The `.syms' file is specific to the host machine on which GDB is run.
5104It holds an exact image of GDB's internal symbol table. It cannot be
5105shared across multiple host platforms.
5106
5107 * longjmp() handling
5108
5109GDB is now capable of stepping and nexting over longjmp(), _longjmp(), and
5110siglongjmp() without losing control. This feature has not yet been ported to
5111all systems. It currently works on many 386 platforms, all MIPS-based
5112platforms (SGI, DECstation, etc), and Sun3/4.
5113
5114 * Solaris 2.0
5115
5116Preliminary work has been put in to support the new Solaris OS from Sun. At
5117this time, it can control and debug processes, but it is not capable of
5118reading symbols.
5119
5120 * Bug fixes
5121
5122As always, many many bug fixes. The major areas were with g++, and mipsread.
5123People using the MIPS-based platforms should experience fewer mysterious
5124crashes and trashed symbol tables.
5125
5126*** Changes in GDB-4.4:
5127
5128 * New machines supported (host and target)
5129
5130SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
5131 (except core files)
5132BSD Reno on Vax vax-dec-bsd
5133Ultrix on Vax vax-dec-ultrix
5134
5135 * New machines supported (target)
5136
5137AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
5138
5139 * C++ support
5140
5141GDB continues to improve its handling of C++. `References' work better.
5142The demangler has also been improved, and now deals with symbols mangled as
5143per the Annotated C++ Reference Guide.
5144
5145GDB also now handles `stabs' symbol information embedded in MIPS
5146`ecoff' symbol tables. Since the ecoff format was not easily
5147extensible to handle new languages such as C++, this appeared to be a
5148good way to put C++ debugging info into MIPS binaries. This option
5149will be supported in the GNU C compiler, version 2, when it is
5150released.
5151
5152 * New features for SVR4
5153
5154GDB now handles SVR4 shared libraries, in the same fashion as SunOS
5155shared libraries. Debugging dynamically linked programs should present
5156only minor differences from debugging statically linked programs.
5157
5158The `info proc' command will print out information about any process
5159on an SVR4 system (including the one you are debugging). At the moment,
5160it prints the address mappings of the process.
5161
5162If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please send mail to
5163bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were reqired (if any).
5164
5165 * Better dynamic linking support in SunOS
5166
5167Reading symbols from shared libraries which contain debugging symbols
5168now works properly. However, there remain issues such as automatic
5169skipping of `transfer vector' code during function calls, which
5170make it harder to debug code in a shared library, than to debug the
5171same code linked statically.
5172
5173 * New Getopt
5174
5175GDB is now using the latest `getopt' routines from the FSF. This
5176version accepts the -- prefix for options with long names. GDB will
5177continue to accept the old forms (-option and +option) as well.
5178Various single letter abbreviations for options have been explicity
5179added to the option table so that they won't get overshadowed in the
5180future by other options that begin with the same letter.
5181
5182 * Bugs fixed
5183
5184The `cleanup_undefined_types' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
5185Many assorted bugs have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
5186See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
5187
5188
5189*** Changes in GDB-4.3:
5190
5191 * New machines supported (host and target)
5192
5193Amiga 3000 running Amix m68k-cbm-svr4 or amix
5194NCR 3000 386 running SVR4 i386-ncr-svr4 or ncr3000
5195Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
5196
5197 * Almost SCO Unix support
5198
5199We had hoped to support:
5200SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
5201(except for core file support), but we discovered very late in the release
5202that it has problems with process groups that render gdb unusable. Sorry
5203about that. I encourage people to fix it and post the fixes.
5204
5205 * Preliminary ELF and DWARF support
5206
5207GDB can read ELF object files on System V Release 4, and can handle
5208debugging records for C, in DWARF format, in ELF files. This support
5209is preliminary. If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please
5210send mail to bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were
5211reqired (if any).
5212
5213 * New Readline
5214
5215GDB now uses the latest `readline' library. One user-visible change
5216is that two tabs will list possible command completions, which previously
5217required typing M-? (meta-question mark, or ESC ?).
5218
5219 * Bugs fixed
5220
5221The `stepi' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
5222Many bugs in C++ have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
5223See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
5224
5225 * State of the MIPS world (in case you wondered):
5226
5227GDB can understand the symbol tables emitted by the compilers
5228supplied by most vendors of MIPS-based machines, including DEC. These
5229symbol tables are in a format that essentially nobody else uses.
5230
5231Some versions of gcc come with an assembler post-processor called
5232mips-tfile. This program is required if you want to do source-level
5233debugging of gcc-compiled programs. I believe FSF does not ship
5234mips-tfile with gcc version 1, but it will eventually come with gcc
5235version 2.
5236
5237Debugging of g++ output remains a problem. g++ version 1.xx does not
5238really support it at all. (If you're lucky, you should be able to get
5239line numbers and stack traces to work, but no parameters or local
5240variables.) With some work it should be possible to improve the
5241situation somewhat.
5242
5243When gcc version 2 is released, you will have somewhat better luck.
5244However, even then you will get confusing results for inheritance and
5245methods.
5246
5247We will eventually provide full debugging of g++ output on
5248DECstations. This will probably involve some kind of stabs-in-ecoff
5249encapulation, but the details have not been worked out yet.
5250
5251
5252*** Changes in GDB-4.2:
5253
5254 * Improved configuration
5255
5256Only one copy of `configure' exists now, and it is not self-modifying.
5257Porting BFD is simpler.
5258
5259 * Stepping improved
5260
5261The `step' and `next' commands now only stop at the first instruction
5262of a source line. This prevents the multiple stops that used to occur
5263in switch statements, for-loops, etc. `Step' continues to stop if a
5264function that has debugging information is called within the line.
5265
5266 * Bug fixing
5267
5268Lots of small bugs fixed. More remain.
5269
5270 * New host supported (not target)
5271
5272Intel 386 PC clone running Mach i386-none-mach
5273
5274
5275*** Changes in GDB-4.1:
5276
5277 * Multiple source language support
5278
5279GDB now has internal scaffolding to handle several source languages.
5280It determines the type of each source file from its filename extension,
5281and will switch expression parsing and number formatting to match the
5282language of the function in the currently selected stack frame.
5283You can also specifically set the language to be used, with
5284`set language c' or `set language modula-2'.
5285
5286 * GDB and Modula-2
5287
5288GDB now has preliminary support for the GNU Modula-2 compiler,
5289currently under development at the State University of New York at
5290Buffalo. Development of both GDB and the GNU Modula-2 compiler will
5291continue through the fall of 1991 and into 1992.
5292
5293Other Modula-2 compilers are currently not supported, and attempting to
5294debug programs compiled with them will likely result in an error as the
5295symbol table is read. Feel free to work on it, though!
5296
5297There are hooks in GDB for strict type checking and range checking,
5298in the `Modula-2 philosophy', but they do not currently work.
5299
5300 * set write on/off
5301
5302GDB can now write to executable and core files (e.g. patch
5303a variable's value). You must turn this switch on, specify
5304the file ("exec foo" or "core foo"), *then* modify it, e.g.
5305by assigning a new value to a variable. Modifications take
5306effect immediately.
5307
5308 * Automatic SunOS shared library reading
5309
5310When you run your program, GDB automatically determines where its
5311shared libraries (if any) have been loaded, and reads their symbols.
5312The `share' command is no longer needed. This also works when
5313examining core files.
5314
5315 * set listsize
5316
5317You can specify the number of lines that the `list' command shows.
5318The default is 10.
5319
5320 * New machines supported (host and target)
5321
5322SGI Iris (MIPS) running Irix V3: mips-sgi-irix or iris
5323Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x: m68k-sony-sysv or news
5324Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1: a29k-nyu-sym1 or ultra3
5325
5326 * New hosts supported (not targets)
5327
5328IBM RT/PC: romp-ibm-aix or rtpc
5329
5330 * New targets supported (not hosts)
5331
5332AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
5333AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
5334Ultracomputer remote kernel debug a29k-nyu-kern
5335
5336 * New remote interfaces
5337
5338AMD 29000 Adapt
5339AMD 29000 Minimon
5340
5341
5342*** Changes in GDB-4.0:
5343
5344 * New Facilities
5345
5346Wide output is wrapped at good places to make the output more readable.
5347
5348Gdb now supports cross-debugging from a host machine of one type to a
5349target machine of another type. Communication with the target system
5350is over serial lines. The ``target'' command handles connecting to the
5351remote system; the ``load'' command will download a program into the
5352remote system. Serial stubs for the m68k and i386 are provided. Gdb
5353also supports debugging of realtime processes running under VxWorks,
5354using SunRPC Remote Procedure Calls over TCP/IP to talk to a debugger
5355stub on the target system.
5356
5357New CPUs supported include the AMD 29000 and Intel 960.
5358
5359GDB now reads object files and symbol tables via a ``binary file''
5360library, which allows a single copy of GDB to debug programs of multiple
5361object file types such as a.out and coff.
5362
5363There is now a GDB reference card in "doc/refcard.tex". (Make targets
5364refcard.dvi and refcard.ps are available to format it).
5365
5366
5367 * Control-Variable user interface simplified
5368
5369All variables that control the operation of the debugger can be set
5370by the ``set'' command, and displayed by the ``show'' command.
5371
5372For example, ``set prompt new-gdb=>'' will change your prompt to new-gdb=>.
5373``Show prompt'' produces the response:
5374Gdb's prompt is new-gdb=>.
5375
5376What follows are the NEW set commands. The command ``help set'' will
5377print a complete list of old and new set commands. ``help set FOO''
5378will give a longer description of the variable FOO. ``show'' will show
5379all of the variable descriptions and their current settings.
5380
5381confirm on/off: Enables warning questions for operations that are
5382 hard to recover from, e.g. rerunning the program while
5383 it is already running. Default is ON.
5384
5385editing on/off: Enables EMACS style command line editing
5386 of input. Previous lines can be recalled with
5387 control-P, the current line can be edited with control-B,
5388 you can search for commands with control-R, etc.
5389 Default is ON.
5390
5391history filename NAME: NAME is where the gdb command history
5392 will be stored. The default is .gdb_history,
5393 or the value of the environment variable
5394 GDBHISTFILE.
5395
5396history size N: The size, in commands, of the command history. The
5397 default is 256, or the value of the environment variable
5398 HISTSIZE.
5399
5400history save on/off: If this value is set to ON, the history file will
5401 be saved after exiting gdb. If set to OFF, the
5402 file will not be saved. The default is OFF.
5403
5404history expansion on/off: If this value is set to ON, then csh-like
5405 history expansion will be performed on
5406 command line input. The default is OFF.
5407
5408radix N: Sets the default radix for input and output. It can be set
5409 to 8, 10, or 16. Note that the argument to "radix" is interpreted
5410 in the current radix, so "set radix 10" is always a no-op.
5411
5412height N: This integer value is the number of lines on a page. Default
5413 is 24, the current `stty rows'' setting, or the ``li#''
5414 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
5415 variable TERM.
5416
5417width N: This integer value is the number of characters on a line.
5418 Default is 80, the current `stty cols'' setting, or the ``co#''
5419 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
5420 variable TERM.
5421
5422Note: ``set screensize'' is obsolete. Use ``set height'' and
5423``set width'' instead.
5424
5425print address on/off: Print memory addresses in various command displays,
5426 such as stack traces and structure values. Gdb looks
5427 more ``symbolic'' if you turn this off; it looks more
5428 ``machine level'' with it on. Default is ON.
5429
5430print array on/off: Prettyprint arrays. New convenient format! Default
5431 is OFF.
5432
5433print demangle on/off: Print C++ symbols in "source" form if on,
5434 "raw" form if off.
5435
5436print asm-demangle on/off: Same, for assembler level printouts
5437 like instructions.
5438
5439print vtbl on/off: Prettyprint C++ virtual function tables. Default is OFF.
5440
5441
5442 * Support for Epoch Environment.
5443
5444The epoch environment is a version of Emacs v18 with windowing. One
5445new command, ``inspect'', is identical to ``print'', except that if you
5446are running in the epoch environment, the value is printed in its own
5447window.
5448
5449
5450 * Support for Shared Libraries
5451
5452GDB can now debug programs and core files that use SunOS shared libraries.
5453Symbols from a shared library cannot be referenced
5454before the shared library has been linked with the program (this
5455happens after you type ``run'' and before the function main() is entered).
5456At any time after this linking (including when examining core files
5457from dynamically linked programs), gdb reads the symbols from each
5458shared library when you type the ``sharedlibrary'' command.
5459It can be abbreviated ``share''.
5460
5461sharedlibrary REGEXP: Load shared object library symbols for files
5462 matching a unix regular expression. No argument
5463 indicates to load symbols for all shared libraries.
5464
5465info sharedlibrary: Status of loaded shared libraries.
5466
5467
5468 * Watchpoints
5469
5470A watchpoint stops execution of a program whenever the value of an
5471expression changes. Checking for this slows down execution
5472tremendously whenever you are in the scope of the expression, but is
5473quite useful for catching tough ``bit-spreader'' or pointer misuse
5474problems. Some machines such as the 386 have hardware for doing this
5475more quickly, and future versions of gdb will use this hardware.
5476
5477watch EXP: Set a watchpoint (breakpoint) for an expression.
5478
5479info watchpoints: Information about your watchpoints.
5480
5481delete N: Deletes watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
5482disable N: Temporarily turns off watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
5483enable N: Re-enables watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
5484
5485
5486 * C++ multiple inheritance
5487
5488When used with a GCC version 2 compiler, GDB supports multiple inheritance
5489for C++ programs.
5490
5491 * C++ exception handling
5492
5493Gdb now supports limited C++ exception handling. Besides the existing
5494ability to breakpoint on an exception handler, gdb can breakpoint on
5495the raising of an exception (before the stack is peeled back to the
5496handler's context).
5497
5498catch FOO: If there is a FOO exception handler in the dynamic scope,
5499 set a breakpoint to catch exceptions which may be raised there.
5500 Multiple exceptions (``catch foo bar baz'') may be caught.
5501
5502info catch: Lists all exceptions which may be caught in the
5503 current stack frame.
5504
5505
5506 * Minor command changes
5507
5508The command ``call func (arg, arg, ...)'' now acts like the print
5509command, except it does not print or save a value if the function's result
5510is void. This is similar to dbx usage.
5511
5512The ``up'' and ``down'' commands now always print the frame they end up
5513at; ``up-silently'' and `down-silently'' can be used in scripts to change
5514frames without printing.
5515
5516 * New directory command
5517
5518'dir' now adds directories to the FRONT of the source search path.
5519The path starts off empty. Source files that contain debug information
5520about the directory in which they were compiled can be found even
5521with an empty path; Sun CC and GCC include this information. If GDB can't
5522find your source file in the current directory, type "dir .".
5523
5524 * Configuring GDB for compilation
5525
5526For normal use, type ``./configure host''. See README or gdb.texinfo
5527for more details.
5528
5529GDB now handles cross debugging. If you are remotely debugging between
5530two different machines, type ``./configure host -target=targ''.
5531Host is the machine where GDB will run; targ is the machine
5532where the program that you are debugging will run.