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1 What has changed in GDB?
2 (Organized release by release)
3
4 *** Changes since GDB 13
5
6 * GDB now has some support for integer types larger than 64 bits.
7
8 * Removed targets and native configurations
9
10 GDB no longer supports AIX 4.x, AIX 5.x and AIX 6.x. The minimum supported
11 AIX version is now AIX 7.1.
12
13 * Multi-target feature configuration
14
15 GDB now supports the individual configuration of remote targets' feature
16 sets. Based on the current selection of a target, the commands 'set remote
17 <name>-packet (on|off|auto)' and 'show remote <name>-packet' can be used to
18 configure a target's feature packet and to display its configuration,
19 respectively.
20
21 The individual packet sizes can be configured and shown using the commands
22 ** 'set remote memory-read-packet-size (number of bytes|fixed|limit)'
23 ** 'set remote memory-write-packet-size (number of bytes|fixed|limit)'
24 ** 'show remote memory-read-packet-size'
25 ** 'show remote memory-write-packet-size'.
26
27 The configuration of the packet itself, as well as the size of a memory-read
28 or memory-write packet applies to the currently selected target (if
29 available). If no target is selected, it applies to future remote
30 connections. Similarly, the show commands print the configuration of the
31 currently selected target. If no remote target is selected, the default
32 configuration for future connections is shown.
33
34 * MI version 1 has been removed.
35
36 * GDB has initial built-in support for the Debugger Adapter Protocol.
37 This support requires that GDB be built with Python scripting
38 enabled.
39
40 * For the break command, multiple uses of the 'thread' or 'task'
41 keywords will now give an error instead of just using the thread or
42 task id from the last instance of the keyword. E.g.:
43 break foo thread 1 thread 2
44 will now give an error rather than using 'thread 2'.
45
46 * For the watch command, multiple uses of the 'task' keyword will now
47 give an error instead of just using the task id from the last
48 instance of the keyword. E.g.:
49 watch my_var task 1 task 2
50 will now give an error rather than using 'task 2'. The 'thread'
51 keyword already gave an error when used multiple times with the
52 watch command, this remains unchanged.
53
54 * The 'set print elements' setting now helps when printing large arrays.
55 If an array would otherwise exceed max-value-size, but 'print elements'
56 is set such that the size of elements to print is less than or equal
57 to 'max-value-size', GDB will now still print the array, however only
58 'max-value-size' worth of data will be added into the value history.
59
60 * For both the break and watch commands, it is now invalid to use both
61 the 'thread' and 'task' keywords within the same command. For
62 example the following commnds will now give an error:
63 break foo thread 1 task 1
64 watch var thread 2 task 3
65
66 * New commands
67
68 maintenance print record-instruction [ N ]
69 Print the recorded information for a given instruction. If N is not given
70 prints how GDB would undo the last instruction executed. If N is negative,
71 prints how GDB would undo the N-th previous instruction, and if N is
72 positive, it prints how GDB will redo the N-th following instruction.
73
74 maintenance info frame-unwinders
75 List the frame unwinders currently in effect, starting with the highest
76 priority.
77
78 maintenance wait-for-index-cache
79 Wait until all pending writes to the index cache have completed.
80
81 set always-read-ctf on|off
82 show always-read-ctf
83 When off, CTF is only read if DWARF is not present. When on, CTF is
84 read regardless of whether DWARF is present. Off by default.
85
86 * New convenience function "$_shell", to execute a shell command and
87 return the result. This lets you run shell commands in expressions.
88 Some examples:
89
90 (gdb) p $_shell("true")
91 $1 = 0
92 (gdb) p $_shell("false")
93 $2 = 1
94 (gdb) break func if $_shell("some command") == 0
95
96 * MI changes
97
98 ** mi now reports 'no-history' as a stop reason when hitting the end of the
99 reverse execution history.
100
101 ** When creating a thread-specific breakpoint using the '-p' option,
102 the -break-insert command would report the 'thread' field twice in
103 the reply. The content of both fields was always identical. This
104 has now been fixed; the 'thread' field will be reported just once
105 for thread-specific breakpoints, or not at all for breakpoints
106 without a thread restriction. The same is also true for the 'task'
107 field of an Ada task-specific breakpoint.
108
109 * Python API
110
111 ** The gdb.unwinder.Unwinder.name attribute is now read-only.
112
113 ** The name argument passed to gdb.unwinder.Unwinder.__init__ must
114 now be of type 'str' otherwise a TypeError will be raised.
115
116 ** The gdb.unwinder.Unwinder.enabled attribute can now only accept
117 values of type 'bool'. Changing this attribute will now
118 invalidate GDB's frame-cache, which means GDB will need to
119 rebuild its frame-cache when next required - either with, or
120 without the particular unwinder, depending on how 'enabled' was
121 changed.
122
123 ** New methods added to the gdb.PendingFrame class. These methods
124 have the same behaviour as the corresponding methods on
125 gdb.Frame. The new methods are:
126
127 - gdb.PendingFrame.name: Return the name for the frame's
128 function, or None.
129 - gdb.PendingFrame.is_valid: Return True if the pending frame
130 object is valid.
131 - gdb.PendingFrame.pc: Return the $pc register value for this
132 frame.
133 - gdb.PendingFrame.language: Return a string containing the
134 language for this frame, or None.
135 - gdb.PendingFrame.find_sal: Return a gdb.Symtab_and_line
136 object for the current location within the pending frame, or
137 None.
138 - gdb.PendingFrame.block: Return a gdb.Block for the current
139 pending frame, or None.
140 - gdb.PendingFrame.function: Return a gdb.Symbol for the
141 current pending frame, or None.
142
143 ** The frame-id passed to gdb.PendingFrame.create_unwind_info can
144 now use either an integer or a gdb.Value object for each of its
145 'sp', 'pc', and 'special' attributes.
146
147 *** Changes in GDB 13
148
149 * MI version 1 is deprecated, and will be removed in GDB 14.
150
151 * GDB now supports dumping memory tag data for AArch64 MTE. It also supports
152 reading memory tag data for AArch64 MTE from core files generated by
153 the gcore command or the Linux kernel.
154
155 When a process uses memory-mapped pages protected by memory tags (for
156 example, AArch64 MTE), this additional information will be recorded in
157 the core file in the event of a crash or if GDB generates a core file
158 from the current process state. GDB will show this additional information
159 automatically, or through one of the memory-tag subcommands.
160
161 * "info breakpoints" now displays enabled breakpoint locations of
162 disabled breakpoints as in the "y-" state. For example:
163
164 (gdb) info breakpoints
165 Num Type Disp Enb Address What
166 1 breakpoint keep n <MULTIPLE>
167 1.1 y- 0x00000000000011b6 in ...
168 1.2 y- 0x00000000000011c2 in ...
169 1.3 n 0x00000000000011ce in ...
170
171 * Support for Thread Local Storage (TLS) variables on FreeBSD arm and
172 aarch64 architectures.
173
174 * GDB now supports hardware watchpoints on FreeBSD/Aarch64.
175
176 * Remove support for building against Python 2, it is now only possible to
177 build GDB against Python 3.
178
179 * DBX mode has been removed.
180
181 * GDB now honours the DWARF prologue_end line-table entry flag the compiler can
182 emit to indicate where a breakpoint should be placed to break in a function
183 past its prologue.
184
185 * Completion now also offers "NUMBER" for "set" commands that accept
186 a numeric argument and the "unlimited" keyword. For example:
187
188 (gdb) set width <TAB>
189 NUMBER unlimited
190
191 and consequently:
192
193 (gdb) complete set width
194 set width NUMBER
195 set width unlimited
196
197 * Disassembler styling using libopcodes. GDB now supports
198 disassembler styling using libopcodes. This is only available for
199 some targets (currently x86 and RISC-V). For unsupported targets
200 Python Pygments is still used. For supported targets, libopcodes
201 styling is used by default.
202
203 * The Windows native target now supports target async.
204
205 * gdb now supports zstd compressed debug sections (ELFCOMPRESS_ZSTD) for ELF.
206
207 * The format of 'disassemble /r' and 'record instruction-history /r'
208 has changed. The instruction bytes could now be grouped together,
209 and displayed in the endianness of the instruction. This is the
210 same layout as used by GNU objdump when disassembling.
211
212 There is now 'disassemble /b' and 'record instruction-history /b'
213 which will always display the instructions bytes one at a time in
214 memory order, that is, the byte at the lowest address first.
215
216 For both /r and /b GDB is now better at using whitespace in order to
217 align the disassembled instruction text.
218
219 * The TUI no longer styles the source and assembly code highlighted by
220 the current position indicator by default. You can however
221 re-enable styling using the new "set style tui-current-position"
222 command.
223
224 * New convenience variable $_inferior_thread_count contains the number
225 of live threads in the current inferior.
226
227 * When a breakpoint with multiple code locations is hit, GDB now prints
228 the code location using the syntax <breakpoint_number>.<location_number>
229 such as in:
230 Thread 1 "zeoes" hit Breakpoint 2.3, some_func () at zeoes.c:8
231
232 * When a breakpoint is hit, GDB now sets the convenience variables $_hit_bpnum
233 and $_hit_locno to the hit breakpoint number and code location number.
234 This allows to disable the last hit breakpoint using
235 (gdb) disable $_hit_bpnum
236 or disable only the specific breakpoint code location using
237 (gdb) disable $_hit_bpnum.$_hit_locno
238 These commands can be used inside the command list of a breakpoint to
239 automatically disable the just encountered breakpoint (or the just
240 encountered specific breakpoint code location).
241 When a breakpoint has only one location, $_hit_locno is set to 1 so that
242 (gdb) disable $_hit_bpnum.$_hit_locno
243 and
244 (gdb) disable $_hit_bpnum
245 are both disabling the breakpoint.
246
247 * New commands
248
249 maintenance set ignore-prologue-end-flag on|off
250 maintenance show ignore-prologue-end-flag
251 This setting, which is off by default, controls whether GDB ignores the
252 PROLOGUE-END flag from the line-table when skipping prologue. This can be
253 used to force GDB to use prologue analyzers if the line-table is constructed
254 from erroneous debug information.
255
256 set print nibbles [on|off]
257 show print nibbles
258 This controls whether the 'print/t' command will display binary values
259 in groups of four bits, known as "nibbles". The default is 'off'.
260
261 maintenance set libopcodes-styling on|off
262 maintenance show libopcodes-styling
263 These can be used to force off libopcodes based styling, the Python
264 Pygments styling will then be used instead.
265
266 set style disassembler comment
267 show style disassembler comment
268 set style disassembler immediate
269 show style disassembler immediate
270 set style disassembler mnemonic
271 show style disassembler mnemonic
272 set style disassembler register
273 show style disassembler register
274 set style disassembler address
275 show style disassembler address
276 set style disassembler symbol
277 show style disassembler symbol
278 For targets that support libopcodes based styling, these settings
279 control how various aspects of the disassembler output are styled.
280 The 'disassembler address' and 'disassembler symbol' styles are
281 aliases for the 'address' and 'function' styles respectively.
282
283 maintenance print frame-id [ LEVEL ]
284 Print GDB's internal frame-id for the frame at LEVEL. If LEVEL is
285 not given, then print the frame-id for the currently selected frame.
286
287 set debug infcall on|off
288 show debug infcall
289 Print additional debug messages about inferior function calls.
290
291 set debug solib on|off
292 show debug solib
293 Print additional debug messages about shared library handling.
294
295 set style tui-current-position [on|off]
296 Whether to style the source and assembly code highlighted by the
297 TUI's current position indicator. The default is off.
298
299 set print characters LIMIT
300 show print characters
301 This new setting is like 'set print elements', but controls how many
302 characters of a string are printed. This functionality used to be
303 covered by 'set print elements', but it can be controlled separately
304 now. LIMIT can be set to a numerical value to request that particular
305 character count, to 'unlimited' to print all characters of a string,
306 or to 'elements', which is also the default, to follow the setting of
307 'set print elements' as it used to be.
308
309 print -characters LIMIT
310 This new option to the 'print' command has the same effect as a temporary
311 use of 'set print characters'.
312
313 * Changed commands
314
315 document user-defined
316 It is now possible to document user-defined aliases.
317 When a user-defined alias is documented, the help and apropos commands
318 use the provided documentation instead of the documentation of the
319 aliased command.
320 Documenting a user-defined alias is particularly useful when the alias
321 is a set of nested 'with' commands to avoid showing the help of
322 the with command for an alias that will in fact launch the
323 last command given in the nested commands.
324
325 maintenance info line-table
326 Add a PROLOGUE-END column to the output which indicates that an
327 entry corresponds to an address where a breakpoint should be placed
328 to be at the first instruction past a function's prologue.
329
330 * Removed commands
331
332 set debug aix-solib on|off
333 show debug aix-solib
334 set debug solib-frv on|off
335 show debug solib-frv
336 Removed in favor of "set/show debug solib".
337
338 maintenance info program-spaces
339 This command now includes a 'Core File' column which indicates the
340 name of the core file associated with each program space.
341
342 * New targets
343
344 GNU/Linux/LoongArch (gdbserver) loongarch*-*-linux*
345
346 GNU/Linux/CSKY (gdbserver) csky*-*linux*
347
348 AMDGPU amdgcn-*-*
349
350 * MI changes
351
352 ** The async record stating the stopped reason 'breakpoint-hit' now
353 contains an optional field locno giving the code location number
354 when the breakpoint has multiple code locations.
355
356 * Python API
357
358 ** GDB will now reformat the doc string for gdb.Command and
359 gdb.Parameter sub-classes to remove unnecessary leading
360 whitespace from each line before using the string as the help
361 output.
362
363 ** New function gdb.format_address(ADDRESS, PROGSPACE, ARCHITECTURE),
364 that formats ADDRESS as 'address <symbol+offset>', where symbol is
365 looked up in PROGSPACE, and ARCHITECTURE is used to format address.
366 This is the same format that GDB uses when printing address, symbol,
367 and offset information from the disassembler.
368
369 ** New function gdb.current_language that returns the name of the
370 current language. Unlike gdb.parameter('language'), this will
371 never return 'auto'.
372
373 ** New method gdb.Frame.language that returns the name of the
374 frame's language.
375
376 ** New Python API for wrapping GDB's disassembler:
377
378 - gdb.disassembler.register_disassembler(DISASSEMBLER, ARCH).
379 DISASSEMBLER is a sub-class of gdb.disassembler.Disassembler.
380 ARCH is either None or a string containing a bfd architecture
381 name. DISASSEMBLER is registered as a disassembler for
382 architecture ARCH, or for all architectures if ARCH is None.
383 The previous disassembler registered for ARCH is returned, this
384 can be None if no previous disassembler was registered.
385
386 - gdb.disassembler.Disassembler is the class from which all
387 disassemblers should inherit. Its constructor takes a string,
388 a name for the disassembler, which is currently only used in
389 some debug output. Sub-classes should override the __call__
390 method to perform disassembly, invoking __call__ on this base
391 class will raise an exception.
392
393 - gdb.disassembler.DisassembleInfo is the class used to describe
394 a single disassembly request from GDB. An instance of this
395 class is passed to the __call__ method of
396 gdb.disassembler.Disassembler and has the following read-only
397 attributes: 'address', and 'architecture', as well as the
398 following method: 'read_memory'.
399
400 - gdb.disassembler.builtin_disassemble(INFO, MEMORY_SOURCE),
401 calls GDB's builtin disassembler on INFO, which is a
402 gdb.disassembler.DisassembleInfo object. MEMORY_SOURCE is
403 optional, its default value is None. If MEMORY_SOURCE is not
404 None then it must be an object that has a 'read_memory' method.
405
406 - gdb.disassembler.DisassemblerResult is a class that can be used
407 to wrap the result of a call to a Disassembler. It has
408 read-only attributes 'length' and 'string'.
409
410 ** gdb.Objfile now has an attribute named "is_file". This is True
411 if the objfile comes from a file, and False otherwise.
412
413 ** New function gdb.print_options that returns a dictionary of the
414 prevailing print options, in the form accepted by
415 gdb.Value.format_string.
416
417 ** gdb.Value.format_string now uses the format provided by 'print',
418 if it is called during a 'print' or other similar operation.
419
420 ** gdb.Value.format_string now accepts the 'summary' keyword. This
421 can be used to request a shorter representation of a value, the
422 way that 'set print frame-arguments scalars' does.
423
424 ** New Python type gdb.BreakpointLocation.
425 The new attribute 'locations' of gdb.Breakpoint returns a list of
426 gdb.BreakpointLocation objects specifying the locations where the
427 breakpoint is inserted into the debuggee.
428
429 ** The gdb.register_window_type method now restricts the set of
430 acceptable window names. The first character of a window's name
431 must start with a character in the set [a-zA-Z], every subsequent
432 character of a window's name must be in the set [-_.a-zA-Z0-9].
433
434 * New features in the GDB remote stub, GDBserver
435
436 ** GDBserver is now supported on LoongArch GNU/Linux.
437
438 ** GDBserver is now supported on CSKY GNU/Linux.
439
440 * LoongArch floating-point support
441
442 GDB now supports floating-point on LoongArch GNU/Linux.
443
444 * AMD GPU ROCm debugging support
445
446 GDB now supports debugging programs offloaded to AMD GPUs using the ROCm
447 platform.
448
449 *** Changes in GDB 12
450
451 * DBX mode is deprecated, and will be removed in GDB 13
452
453 * GDB 12 is the last release of GDB that will support building against
454 Python 2. From GDB 13, it will only be possible to build GDB itself
455 with Python 3 support.
456
457 * The disable-randomization setting now works on Windows.
458
459 * Improved C++ template support
460
461 GDB now treats functions/types involving C++ templates like it does function
462 overloads. Users may omit parameter lists to set breakpoints on families of
463 template functions, including types/functions composed of multiple template types:
464
465 (gdb) break template_func(template_1, int)
466
467 The above will set breakpoints at every function `template_func' where
468 the first function parameter is any template type named `template_1' and
469 the second function parameter is `int'.
470
471 TAB completion also gains similar improvements.
472
473 * The FreeBSD native target now supports async mode.
474
475 * Configure changes
476
477 --enable-threading
478
479 Enable or disable multithreaded symbol loading. This is enabled
480 by default, but passing --disable-threading or --enable-threading=no
481 to configure will disable it.
482
483 Disabling this can cause a performance penalty when there are a lot of
484 symbols to load, but is useful for debugging purposes.
485
486 * New commands
487
488 maint set backtrace-on-fatal-signal on|off
489 maint show backtrace-on-fatal-signal
490 This setting is 'on' by default. When 'on' GDB will print a limited
491 backtrace to stderr in the situation where GDB terminates with a
492 fatal signal. This only supported on some platforms where the
493 backtrace and backtrace_symbols_fd functions are available.
494
495 set source open on|off
496 show source open
497 This setting, which is on by default, controls whether GDB will try
498 to open source code files. Switching this off will stop GDB trying
499 to open and read source code files, which can be useful if the files
500 are located over a slow network connection.
501
502 set varsize-limit
503 show varsize-limit
504 These are now deprecated aliases for "set max-value-size" and
505 "show max-value-size".
506
507 task apply [all | TASK-IDS...] [FLAG]... COMMAND
508 Like "thread apply", but applies COMMAND to Ada tasks.
509
510 watch [...] task ID
511 Watchpoints can now be restricted to a specific Ada task.
512
513 maint set internal-error backtrace on|off
514 maint show internal-error backtrace
515 maint set internal-warning backtrace on|off
516 maint show internal-warning backtrace
517 GDB can now print a backtrace of itself when it encounters either an
518 internal-error, or an internal-warning. This is on by default for
519 internal-error and off by default for internal-warning.
520
521 set logging on|off
522 Deprecated and replaced by "set logging enabled on|off".
523
524 set logging enabled on|off
525 show logging enabled
526 These commands set or show whether logging is enabled or disabled.
527
528 exit
529 You can now exit GDB by using the new command "exit", in addition to
530 the existing "quit" command.
531
532 set debug threads on|off
533 show debug threads
534 Print additional debug messages about thread creation and deletion.
535
536 set debug linux-nat on|off
537 show debug linux-nat
538 These new commands replaced the old 'set debug lin-lwp' and 'show
539 debug lin-lwp' respectively. Turning this setting on prints debug
540 messages relating to GDB's handling of native Linux inferiors.
541
542 maint flush source-cache
543 Flush the contents of the source code cache.
544
545 maint set gnu-source-highlight enabled on|off
546 maint show gnu-source-highlight enabled
547 Whether GDB should use the GNU Source Highlight library for adding
548 styling to source code. When off, the library will not be used, even
549 when available. When GNU Source Highlight isn't used, or can't add
550 styling to a particular source file, then the Python Pygments
551 library will be used instead.
552
553 set suppress-cli-notifications (on|off)
554 show suppress-cli-notifications
555 This controls whether printing the notifications is suppressed for CLI.
556 CLI notifications occur when you change the selected context
557 (i.e., the current inferior, thread and/or the frame), or when
558 the program being debugged stops (e.g., because of hitting a
559 breakpoint, completing source-stepping, an interrupt, etc.).
560
561 set style disassembler enabled on|off
562 show style disassembler enabled
563 If GDB is compiled with Python support, and the Python Pygments
564 package is available, then, when this setting is on, disassembler
565 output will have styling applied.
566
567 set ada source-charset
568 show ada source-charset
569 Set the character set encoding that is assumed for Ada symbols. Valid
570 values for this follow the values that can be passed to the GNAT
571 compiler via the '-gnati' option. The default is ISO-8859-1.
572
573 tui layout
574 tui focus
575 tui refresh
576 tui window height
577 These are the new names for the old 'layout', 'focus', 'refresh',
578 and 'winheight' tui commands respectively. The old names still
579 exist as aliases to these new commands.
580
581 tui window width
582 winwidth
583 The new command 'tui window width', and the alias 'winwidth' allow
584 the width of a tui window to be adjusted when windows are laid out
585 in horizontal mode.
586
587 set debug tui on|off
588 show debug tui
589 Control the display of debug output about GDB's tui.
590
591 * Changed commands
592
593 print
594 Printing of floating-point values with base-modifying formats like
595 /x has been changed to display the underlying bytes of the value in
596 the desired base. This was GDB's documented behavior, but was never
597 implemented correctly.
598
599 maint packet
600 This command can now print a reply, if the reply includes
601 non-printable characters. Any non-printable characters are printed
602 as escaped hex, e.g. \x?? where '??' is replaces with the value of
603 the non-printable character.
604
605 clone-inferior
606 The clone-inferior command now ensures that the TTY, CMD and ARGS
607 settings are copied from the original inferior to the new one.
608 All modifications to the environment variables done using the 'set
609 environment' or 'unset environment' commands are also copied to the new
610 inferior.
611
612 set debug lin-lwp on|off
613 show debug lin-lwp
614 These commands have been removed from GDB. The new command 'set
615 debug linux-nat' and 'show debug linux-nat' should be used
616 instead.
617
618 info win
619 This command now includes information about the width of the tui
620 windows in its output.
621
622 layout
623 focus
624 refresh
625 winheight
626 These commands are now aliases for the 'tui layout', 'tui focus',
627 'tui refresh', and 'tui window height' commands respectively.
628
629 * GDB's Ada parser now supports an extension for specifying the exact
630 byte contents of a floating-point literal. This can be useful for
631 setting floating-point registers to a precise value without loss of
632 precision. The syntax is an extension of the based literal syntax.
633 Use, e.g., "16lf#0123abcd#" -- the number of "l"s controls the width
634 of the floating-point type, and the "f" is the marker for floating
635 point.
636
637 * MI changes
638
639 ** The '-add-inferior' with no option flags now inherits the
640 connection of the current inferior, this restores the behaviour of
641 GDB as it was prior to GDB 10.
642
643 ** The '-add-inferior' command now accepts a '--no-connection'
644 option, which causes the new inferior to start without a
645 connection.
646
647 ** The default version of the MI interpreter is now 4 (-i=mi4).
648
649 ** The "script" field in breakpoint output (which is syntactically
650 incorrect in MI 3 and below) has changed in MI 4 to become a list.
651 This affects the following commands and events:
652
653 - -break-insert
654 - -break-info
655 - =breakpoint-created
656 - =breakpoint-modified
657
658 The -fix-breakpoint-script-output command can be used to enable
659 this behavior with previous MI versions.
660
661 * New targets
662
663 GNU/Linux/LoongArch loongarch*-*-linux*
664
665 * Removed targets
666
667 S+core score-*-*
668
669 * Python API
670
671 ** New function gdb.add_history(), which takes a gdb.Value object
672 and adds the value it represents to GDB's history list. An
673 integer, the index of the new item in the history list, is
674 returned.
675
676 ** New function gdb.history_count(), which returns the number of
677 values in GDB's value history.
678
679 ** New gdb.events.gdb_exiting event. This event is called with a
680 gdb.GdbExitingEvent object which has the read-only attribute
681 'exit_code', which contains the value of the GDB exit code. This
682 event is triggered once GDB decides it is going to exit, but
683 before GDB starts to clean up its internal state.
684
685 ** New function gdb.architecture_names(), which returns a list
686 containing all of the possible Architecture.name() values. Each
687 entry is a string.
688
689 ** New function gdb.Architecture.integer_type(), which returns an
690 integer type given a size and a signed-ness.
691
692 ** New gdb.TargetConnection object type that represents a connection
693 (as displayed by the 'info connections' command). A sub-class,
694 gdb.RemoteTargetConnection, is used to represent 'remote' and
695 'extended-remote' connections.
696
697 ** The gdb.Inferior type now has a 'connection' property which is an
698 instance of gdb.TargetConnection, the connection used by this
699 inferior. This can be None if the inferior has no connection.
700
701 ** New 'gdb.events.connection_removed' event registry, which emits a
702 'gdb.ConnectionEvent' when a connection is removed from GDB.
703 This event has a 'connection' property, a gdb.TargetConnection
704 object for the connection being removed.
705
706 ** New gdb.connections() function that returns a list of all
707 currently active connections.
708
709 ** New gdb.RemoteTargetConnection.send_packet(PACKET) method. This
710 is equivalent to the existing 'maint packet' CLI command; it
711 allows a user specified packet to be sent to the remote target.
712
713 ** New function gdb.host_charset(), returns a string, which is the
714 name of the current host charset.
715
716 ** New gdb.set_parameter(NAME, VALUE). This sets the gdb parameter
717 NAME to VALUE.
718
719 ** New gdb.with_parameter(NAME, VALUE). This returns a context
720 manager that temporarily sets the gdb parameter NAME to VALUE,
721 then resets it when the context is exited.
722
723 ** The gdb.Value.format_string method now takes a 'styling'
724 argument, which is a boolean. When true, the returned string can
725 include escape sequences to apply styling. The styling will only
726 be present if styling is otherwise turned on in GDB (see 'help
727 set styling'). When false, which is the default if the argument
728 is not given, then no styling is applied to the returned string.
729
730 ** New read-only attribute gdb.InferiorThread.details, which is
731 either a string, containing additional, target specific thread
732 state information, or None, if there is no such additional
733 information.
734
735 ** New read-only attribute gdb.Type.is_scalar, which is True for
736 scalar types, and False for all other types.
737
738 ** New read-only attribute gdb.Type.is_signed. This attribute
739 should only be read when Type.is_scalar is True, and will be True
740 for signed types, and False for all other types. Attempting to
741 read this attribute for non-scalar types will raise a ValueError.
742
743 ** It is now possible to add GDB/MI commands implemented in Python.
744
745 * New features in the GDB remote stub, GDBserver
746
747 ** GDBserver is now supported on OpenRISC GNU/Linux.
748
749 * New native configurations
750
751 GNU/Linux/OpenRISC or1k*-*-linux*
752
753 *** Changes in GDB 11
754
755 * The 'set disassembler-options' command now supports specifying options
756 for the ARC target.
757
758 * GDB now supports general memory tagging functionality if the underlying
759 architecture supports the proper primitives and hooks. Currently this is
760 enabled only for AArch64 MTE.
761
762 This includes:
763
764 - Additional information when the inferior crashes with a SIGSEGV caused by
765 a memory tag violation.
766
767 - A new modifier 'm' for the "x" command, which displays allocation tags for a
768 particular memory range.
769
770 - Display of memory tag mismatches by "print", for addresses and
771 pointers, if memory tagging is supported by the architecture.
772
773 * Building GDB now requires GMP (The GNU Multiple Precision Arithmetic
774 Library).
775
776 * MI changes
777
778 ** '-break-insert --qualified' and '-dprintf-insert --qualified'
779
780 The MI -break-insert and -dprintf-insert commands now support a
781 new "--qualified" option that makes GDB interpret a specified
782 function name as a complete fully-qualified name. This is the
783 equivalent of the CLI's "break -qualified" and "dprintf
784 -qualified".
785
786 ** '-break-insert --force-condition' and '-dprintf-insert --force-condition'
787
788 The MI -break-insert and -dprintf-insert commands now support a
789 '--force-condition' flag to forcibly define a condition even when
790 the condition is invalid at all locations of the breakpoint. This
791 is equivalent to the '-force-condition' flag of the CLI's "break"
792 command.
793
794 ** '-break-condition --force'
795
796 The MI -break-condition command now supports a '--force' flag to
797 forcibly define a condition even when the condition is invalid at
798 all locations of the selected breakpoint. This is equivalent to
799 the '-force' flag of the CLI's "cond" command.
800
801 ** '-file-list-exec-source-files [--group-by-objfile]
802 [--basename | --dirname]
803 [--] [REGEXP]'
804
805 The existing -file-list-exec-source-files command now takes an
806 optional REGEXP which is used to filter the source files that are
807 included in the results.
808
809 By default REGEXP is matched against the full filename of the
810 source file. When one of --basename or --dirname is given then
811 REGEXP is only matched against the specified part of the full
812 source filename.
813
814 When the optional --group-by-objfile flag is used the output
815 format is changed, the results are now a list of object files
816 (executable and libraries) with the source files that are
817 associated with each object file.
818
819 The results from -file-list-exec-source-files now include a
820 'debug-fully-read' field which takes the value 'true' or 'false'.
821 A 'true' value indicates the source file is from a compilation
822 unit that has had its debug information fully read in by GDB, a
823 value of 'false' indicates GDB has only performed a partial scan
824 of the debug information so far.
825
826 * GDB now supports core file debugging for x86_64 Cygwin programs.
827
828 * GDB will now look for the .gdbinit file in a config directory before
829 looking for ~/.gdbinit. The file is searched for in the following
830 locations: $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/gdb/gdbinit, $HOME/.config/gdb/gdbinit,
831 $HOME/.gdbinit. On Apple hosts the search order is instead:
832 $HOME/Library/Preferences/gdb/gdbinit, $HOME/.gdbinit.
833
834 * GDB now supports fixed point types which are described in DWARF
835 as base types with a fixed-point encoding. Additionally, support
836 for the DW_AT_GNU_numerator and DW_AT_GNU_denominator has also
837 been added.
838
839 For Ada, this allows support for fixed point types without requiring
840 the use of the GNAT encoding (based on information added to the type's
841 name following a GNAT-specific format).
842
843 * GDB will now load and process commands from ~/.config/gdb/gdbearlyinit
844 or ~/.gdbearlyinit if these files are present. These files are
845 processed earlier than any of the other initialization files and
846 can affect parts of GDB's startup that previously had already been
847 completed before the initialization files were read, for example
848 styling of the initial GDB greeting.
849
850 * GDB now has two new options "--early-init-command" and
851 "--early-init-eval-command" with corresponding short options "-eix"
852 and "-eiex" that allow options (that would normally appear in a
853 gdbearlyinit file) to be passed on the command line.
854
855 * For RISC-V targets, the target feature "org.gnu.gdb.riscv.vector" is
856 now understood by GDB, and can be used to describe the vector
857 registers of a target. The precise requirements of this register
858 feature are documented in the GDB manual.
859
860 * For ARM targets, the "org.gnu.gdb.arm.m-profile-mve" feature is now
861 supported by GDB and describes a new VPR register from the ARM MVE
862 (Helium) extension. See the GDB manual for more information.
863
864 * TUI improvements
865
866 ** TUI windows now support mouse actions. The mouse wheel scrolls
867 the appropriate window.
868
869 ** Key combinations that do not have a specific action on the
870 focused window are passed to GDB. For example, you now can use
871 Ctrl-Left/Ctrl-Right to move between words in the command window
872 regardless of which window is in focus. Previously you would
873 need to focus on the command window for such key combinations to
874 work.
875
876 * New commands
877
878 set debug event-loop
879 show debug event-loop
880 Control the display of debug output about GDB's event loop.
881
882 set print memory-tag-violations
883 show print memory-tag-violations
884 Control whether to display additional information about memory tag violations
885 when printing pointers and addresses. Architecture support for memory
886 tagging is required for this option to have an effect.
887
888 maintenance flush symbol-cache
889 maintenance flush register-cache
890 These new commands are equivalent to the already existing commands
891 'maintenance flush-symbol-cache' and 'flushregs' respectively.
892
893 maintenance flush dcache
894 A new command to flush the dcache.
895
896 maintenance info target-sections
897 Print GDB's internal target sections table.
898
899 maintenance info jit
900 Print the JIT code objects in the inferior known to GDB.
901
902 memory-tag show-logical-tag POINTER
903 Print the logical tag for POINTER.
904 memory-tag with-logical-tag POINTER TAG
905 Print POINTER with logical tag TAG.
906 memory-tag show-allocation-tag ADDRESS
907 Print the allocation tag for ADDRESS.
908 memory-tag set-allocation-tag ADDRESS LENGTH TAGS
909 Set the allocation tag for [ADDRESS, ADDRESS + LENGTH) to TAGS.
910 memory-tag check POINTER
911 Validate that POINTER's logical tag matches the allocation tag.
912
913 set startup-quietly on|off
914 show startup-quietly
915 When 'on', this causes GDB to act as if "-silent" were passed on the
916 command line. This command needs to be added to an early
917 initialization file (e.g. ~/.config/gdb/gdbearlyinit) in order to
918 affect GDB.
919
920 set print type hex on|off
921 show print type hex
922 When 'on', the 'ptype' command uses hexadecimal notation to print sizes
923 and offsets of struct members. When 'off', decimal notation is used.
924
925 set python ignore-environment on|off
926 show python ignore-environment
927 When 'on', this causes GDB's builtin Python to ignore any
928 environment variables that would otherwise affect how Python
929 behaves. This command needs to be added to an early initialization
930 file (e.g. ~/.config/gdb/gdbearlyinit) in order to affect GDB.
931
932 set python dont-write-bytecode auto|on|off
933 show python dont-write-bytecode
934 When 'on', this causes GDB's builtin Python to not write any
935 byte-code (.pyc files) to disk. This command needs to be added to
936 an early initialization file (e.g. ~/.config/gdb/gdbearlyinit) in
937 order to affect GDB. When 'off' byte-code will always be written.
938 When set to 'auto' (the default) Python will check the
939 PYTHONDONTWRITEBYTECODE environment variable.
940
941 * Changed commands
942
943 break [PROBE_MODIFIER] [LOCATION] [thread THREADNUM]
944 [-force-condition] [if CONDITION]
945 This command would previously refuse setting a breakpoint if the
946 CONDITION expression is invalid at a location. It now accepts and
947 defines the breakpoint if there is at least one location at which
948 the CONDITION is valid. The locations for which the CONDITION is
949 invalid, are automatically disabled. If CONDITION is invalid at all
950 of the locations, setting the breakpoint is still rejected. However,
951 the '-force-condition' flag can be used in this case for forcing GDB to
952 define the breakpoint, making all the current locations automatically
953 disabled. This may be useful if the user knows the condition will
954 become meaningful at a future location, e.g. due to a shared library
955 load.
956
957 condition [-force] N COND
958 The behavior of this command is changed the same way for the 'break'
959 command as explained above. The '-force' flag can be used to force
960 GDB into defining the condition even when COND is invalid for all the
961 current locations of breakpoint N.
962
963 flushregs
964 maintenance flush-symbol-cache
965 These commands are deprecated in favor of the new commands
966 'maintenance flush register-cache' and 'maintenance flush
967 symbol-cache' respectively.
968
969 set style version foreground COLOR
970 set style version background COLOR
971 set style version intensity VALUE
972 Control the styling of GDB's version number text.
973
974 inferior [ID]
975 When the ID parameter is omitted, then this command prints information
976 about the current inferior. When the ID parameter is present, the
977 behavior of the command is unchanged and have the inferior ID become
978 the current inferior.
979
980 maintenance info sections
981 The ALLOBJ keyword has been replaced with an -all-objects command
982 line flag. It is now possible to filter which sections are printed
983 even when -all-objects is passed.
984
985 ptype[/FLAGS] TYPE | EXPRESSION
986 The 'ptype' command has two new flags. When '/x' is set, hexadecimal
987 notation is used when printing sizes and offsets of struct members.
988 When '/d' is set, decimal notation is used when printing sizes and
989 offsets of struct members. Default behavior is given by 'show print
990 type hex'.
991
992 info sources
993 The info sources command output has been restructured. The results
994 are now based around a list of objfiles (executable and libraries),
995 and for each objfile the source files that are part of that objfile
996 are listed.
997
998 * Removed targets and native configurations
999
1000 ARM Symbian arm*-*-symbianelf*
1001
1002 * New remote packets
1003
1004 qMemTags
1005 Request the remote to send allocation tags for a particular memory range.
1006 QMemTags
1007 Request the remote to store the specified allocation tags to the requested
1008 memory range.
1009
1010 * Guile API
1011
1012 ** Improved support for rvalue reference values:
1013 TYPE_CODE_RVALUE_REF is now exported as part of the API and the
1014 value-referenced-value procedure now handles rvalue reference
1015 values.
1016
1017 ** New procedures for obtaining value variants:
1018 value-reference-value, value-rvalue-reference-value and
1019 value-const-value.
1020
1021 ** Temporary breakpoints can now be created with make-breakpoint and
1022 tested for using breakpoint-temporary?.
1023
1024 * Python API
1025
1026 ** Inferior objects now contain a read-only 'connection_num' attribute that
1027 gives the connection number as seen in 'info connections' and
1028 'info inferiors'.
1029
1030 ** New method gdb.Frame.level() which returns the stack level of the
1031 frame object.
1032
1033 ** New method gdb.PendingFrame.level() which returns the stack level
1034 of the frame object.
1035
1036 ** When hitting a catchpoint, the Python API will now emit a
1037 gdb.BreakpointEvent rather than a gdb.StopEvent. The
1038 gdb.Breakpoint attached to the event will have type BP_CATCHPOINT.
1039
1040 ** Python TUI windows can now receive mouse click events. If the
1041 Window object implements the click method, it is called for each
1042 mouse click event in this window.
1043
1044 *** Changes in GDB 10
1045
1046 * There are new feature names for ARC targets: "org.gnu.gdb.arc.core"
1047 and "org.gnu.gdb.arc.aux". The old names are still supported but
1048 must be considered obsolete. They will be deprecated after some
1049 grace period.
1050
1051 * Help and apropos commands will now show the documentation of a
1052 command only once, even if that command has one or more aliases.
1053 These commands now show the command name, then all of its aliases,
1054 and finally the description of the command.
1055
1056 * 'help aliases' now shows only the user defined aliases. GDB predefined
1057 aliases are shown together with their aliased command.
1058
1059 * GDB now supports debuginfod, an HTTP server for distributing ELF/DWARF
1060 debugging information as well as source code.
1061
1062 When built with debuginfod, GDB can automatically query debuginfod
1063 servers for the separate debug files and source code of the executable
1064 being debugged.
1065
1066 To build GDB with debuginfod, pass --with-debuginfod to configure (this
1067 requires libdebuginfod, the debuginfod client library).
1068
1069 debuginfod is distributed with elfutils, starting with version 0.178.
1070
1071 You can get the latest version from https://sourceware.org/elfutils.
1072
1073 * Multi-target debugging support
1074
1075 GDB now supports debugging multiple target connections
1076 simultaneously. For example, you can now have each inferior
1077 connected to different remote servers running in different machines,
1078 or have one inferior debugging a local native process, an inferior
1079 debugging a core dump, etc.
1080
1081 This support is experimental and comes with some limitations -- you
1082 can only resume multiple targets simultaneously if all targets
1083 support non-stop mode, and all remote stubs or servers must support
1084 the same set of remote protocol features exactly. See also "info
1085 connections" and "add-inferior -no-connection" below, and "maint set
1086 target-non-stop" in the user manual.
1087
1088 * New features in the GDB remote stub, GDBserver
1089
1090 ** GDBserver is now supported on ARC GNU/Linux.
1091
1092 ** GDBserver is now supported on RISC-V GNU/Linux.
1093
1094 ** GDBserver no longer supports these host triplets:
1095
1096 i[34567]86-*-lynxos*
1097 powerpc-*-lynxos*
1098 i[34567]86-*-nto*
1099 bfin-*-*linux*
1100 crisv32-*-linux*
1101 cris-*-linux*
1102 m32r*-*-linux*
1103 tilegx-*-linux*
1104 arm*-*-mingw32ce*
1105 i[34567]86-*-mingw32ce*
1106
1107 * Debugging MS-Windows processes now sets $_exitsignal when the
1108 inferior is terminated by a signal, instead of setting $_exitcode.
1109
1110 * Multithreaded symbol loading has now been enabled by default on systems
1111 that support it (see entry for GDB 9, below), providing faster
1112 performance for programs with many symbols.
1113
1114 * The $_siginfo convenience variable now also works on Windows targets,
1115 and will display the EXCEPTION_RECORD of the last handled exception.
1116
1117 * TUI windows can now be arranged horizontally.
1118
1119 * The command history filename can now be set to the empty string
1120 either using 'set history filename' or by setting 'GDBHISTFILE=' in
1121 the environment. The effect of setting this filename to the empty
1122 string is that GDB will not try to load any previous command
1123 history.
1124
1125 * On Windows targets, it is now possible to debug 32-bit programs with a
1126 64-bit GDB.
1127
1128 * New commands
1129
1130 set exec-file-mismatch -- Set exec-file-mismatch handling (ask|warn|off).
1131 show exec-file-mismatch -- Show exec-file-mismatch handling (ask|warn|off).
1132 Set or show the option 'exec-file-mismatch'. When GDB attaches to a
1133 running process, this new option indicates whether to detect
1134 a mismatch between the current executable file loaded by GDB and the
1135 executable file used to start the process. If 'ask', the default,
1136 display a warning and ask the user whether to load the process
1137 executable file; if 'warn', just display a warning; if 'off', don't
1138 attempt to detect a mismatch.
1139
1140 tui new-layout NAME WINDOW WEIGHT [WINDOW WEIGHT]...
1141 Define a new TUI layout, specifying its name and the windows that
1142 will be displayed.
1143
1144 maintenance print xml-tdesc [FILE]
1145 Prints the current target description as an XML document. If the
1146 optional FILE is provided (which is an XML target description) then
1147 the target description is read from FILE into GDB, and then
1148 reprinted.
1149
1150 maintenance print core-file-backed-mappings
1151 Prints file-backed mappings loaded from a core file's note section.
1152 Output is expected to be similar to that of "info proc mappings".
1153
1154 set debug fortran-array-slicing on|off
1155 show debug fortran-array-slicing
1156 Print debugging when taking slices of Fortran arrays.
1157
1158 set fortran repack-array-slices on|off
1159 show fortran repack-array-slices
1160 When taking slices from Fortran arrays and strings, if the slice is
1161 non-contiguous within the original value then, when this option is
1162 on, the new value will be repacked into a single contiguous value.
1163 When this option is off, then the value returned will consist of a
1164 descriptor that describes the slice within the memory of the
1165 original parent value.
1166
1167 * Changed commands
1168
1169 alias [-a] [--] ALIAS = COMMAND [DEFAULT-ARGS...]
1170 The alias command can now specify default args for an alias.
1171 GDB automatically prepends the alias default args to the argument list
1172 provided explicitly by the user.
1173 For example, to have a backtrace with full details, you can define
1174 an alias 'bt_ALL' as
1175 'alias bt_ALL = backtrace -entry-values both -frame-arg all
1176 -past-main -past-entry -full'.
1177 Alias default arguments can also use a set of nested 'with' commands,
1178 e.g. 'alias pp10 = with print pretty -- with print elem 10 -- print'
1179 defines the alias pp10 that will pretty print a maximum of 10 elements
1180 of the given expression (if the expression is an array).
1181
1182 * New targets
1183
1184 GNU/Linux/RISC-V (gdbserver) riscv*-*-linux*
1185 BPF bpf-unknown-none
1186 Z80 z80-unknown-*
1187
1188 * Python API
1189
1190 ** gdb.register_window_type can be used to implement new TUI windows
1191 in Python.
1192
1193 ** Dynamic types can now be queried. gdb.Type has a new attribute,
1194 "dynamic", and gdb.Type.sizeof can be None for a dynamic type. A
1195 field of a dynamic type may have None for its "bitpos" attribute
1196 as well.
1197
1198 ** Commands written in Python can be in the "TUI" help class by
1199 registering with the new constant gdb.COMMAND_TUI.
1200
1201 ** New method gdb.PendingFrame.architecture () to retrieve the
1202 architecture of the pending frame.
1203
1204 ** New gdb.Architecture.registers method that returns a
1205 gdb.RegisterDescriptorIterator object, an iterator that returns
1206 gdb.RegisterDescriptor objects. The new RegisterDescriptor is a
1207 way to query the registers available for an architecture.
1208
1209 ** New gdb.Architecture.register_groups method that returns a
1210 gdb.RegisterGroupIterator object, an iterator that returns
1211 gdb.RegisterGroup objects. The new RegisterGroup is a way to
1212 discover the available register groups.
1213
1214 * Guile API
1215
1216 ** GDB can now be built with GNU Guile 3.0 and 2.2 in addition to 2.0.
1217
1218 ** Procedures 'memory-port-read-buffer-size',
1219 'set-memory-port-read-buffer-size!', 'memory-port-write-buffer-size',
1220 and 'set-memory-port-write-buffer-size!' are deprecated. When
1221 using Guile 2.2 and later, users who need to control the size of
1222 a memory port's internal buffer can use the 'setvbuf' procedure.
1223
1224 *** Changes in GDB 9
1225
1226 * 'thread-exited' event is now available in the annotations interface.
1227
1228 * New built-in convenience variables $_gdb_major and $_gdb_minor
1229 provide the GDB version. They are handy for conditionally using
1230 features available only in or since specific GDB versions, in
1231 scripts that should work error-free with many different versions,
1232 such as in system-wide init files.
1233
1234 * New built-in convenience functions $_gdb_setting, $_gdb_setting_str,
1235 $_gdb_maint_setting and $_gdb_maint_setting_str provide access to values
1236 of the GDB settings and the GDB maintenance settings. They are handy
1237 for changing the logic of user defined commands depending on the
1238 current GDB settings.
1239
1240 * GDB now supports Thread Local Storage (TLS) variables on several
1241 FreeBSD architectures (amd64, i386, powerpc, riscv). Other
1242 architectures require kernel changes. TLS is not yet supported for
1243 amd64 and i386 process core dumps.
1244
1245 * Support for Pointer Authentication (PAC) on AArch64 Linux. Return
1246 addresses that required unmasking are shown in the backtrace with the
1247 postfix [PAC].
1248
1249 * Two new convenience functions $_cimag and $_creal that extract the
1250 imaginary and real parts respectively from complex numbers.
1251
1252 * New built-in convenience variables $_shell_exitcode and $_shell_exitsignal
1253 provide the exitcode or exit status of the shell commands launched by
1254 GDB commands such as "shell", "pipe" and "make".
1255
1256 * The command define-prefix can now define user defined prefix commands.
1257 User defined commands can now be defined using these user defined prefix
1258 commands.
1259
1260 * Command names can now use the . character.
1261
1262 * The RX port now supports XML target descriptions.
1263
1264 * GDB now shows the Ada task names at more places, e.g. in task switching
1265 messages.
1266
1267 * GDB can now be compiled with Python 3 on Windows.
1268
1269 * New convenience variable $_ada_exception holds the address of the
1270 Ada exception being thrown. This is set by Ada-related catchpoints.
1271
1272 * GDB can now place breakpoints on nested functions and subroutines in
1273 Fortran code. The '::' operator can be used between parent and
1274 child scopes when placing breakpoints, for example:
1275
1276 (gdb) break outer_function::inner_function
1277
1278 The 'outer_function::' prefix is only needed if 'inner_function' is
1279 not visible in the current scope.
1280
1281 * In addition to the system-wide gdbinit file, if configured with
1282 --with-system-gdbinit-dir, GDB will now also load files in that directory
1283 as system gdbinit files, unless the -nx or -n flag is provided. Files
1284 with extensions .gdb, .py and .scm are supported as long as GDB was
1285 compiled with support for that language.
1286
1287 * GDB now supports multithreaded symbol loading for higher performance.
1288 This feature is still in testing, so it is disabled by default. You
1289 can turn it on using 'maint set worker-threads unlimited'.
1290
1291 * Python API
1292
1293 ** The gdb.Value type has a new method 'format_string' which returns a
1294 string representing the value. The formatting is controlled by the
1295 optional keyword arguments: 'raw', 'pretty_arrays', 'pretty_structs',
1296 'array_indexes', 'symbols', 'unions', 'deref_refs', 'actual_objects',
1297 'static_members', 'max_elements', 'repeat_threshold', and 'format'.
1298
1299 ** gdb.Type has a new property 'objfile' which returns the objfile the
1300 type was defined in.
1301
1302 ** The frame information printed by the python frame filtering code
1303 is now consistent with what the 'backtrace' command prints when
1304 there are no filters, or when the 'backtrace' '-no-filters' option
1305 is given.
1306
1307 ** The new function gdb.lookup_static_symbol can be used to look up
1308 symbols with static linkage.
1309
1310 ** The new function gdb.lookup_static_symbols can be used to look up
1311 all static symbols with static linkage.
1312
1313 ** gdb.Objfile has new methods 'lookup_global_symbol' and
1314 'lookup_static_symbol' to lookup a symbol from this objfile only.
1315
1316 ** gdb.Block now supports the dictionary syntax for accessing symbols in
1317 this block (e.g. block['local_variable']).
1318
1319 * New commands
1320
1321 | [COMMAND] | SHELL_COMMAND
1322 | -d DELIM COMMAND DELIM SHELL_COMMAND
1323 pipe [COMMAND] | SHELL_COMMAND
1324 pipe -d DELIM COMMAND DELIM SHELL_COMMAND
1325 Executes COMMAND and sends its output to SHELL_COMMAND.
1326 With no COMMAND, repeat the last executed command
1327 and send its output to SHELL_COMMAND.
1328
1329 define-prefix COMMAND
1330 Define or mark a command as a user-defined prefix command.
1331
1332 with SETTING [VALUE] [-- COMMAND]
1333 w SETTING [VALUE] [-- COMMAND]
1334 Temporarily set SETTING, run COMMAND, and restore SETTING.
1335 Usage: with SETTING -- COMMAND
1336 With no COMMAND, repeats the last executed command.
1337 SETTING is any GDB setting you can change with the "set"
1338 subcommands. For example, 'with language c -- print someobj'
1339 temporarily switches to the C language in order to print someobj.
1340 Settings can be combined: 'w lang c -- w print elements unlimited --
1341 usercmd' switches to the C language and runs usercmd with no limit
1342 of array elements to print.
1343
1344 maint with SETTING [VALUE] [-- COMMAND]
1345 Like "with", but works with "maintenance set" settings.
1346
1347 set may-call-functions [on|off]
1348 show may-call-functions
1349 This controls whether GDB will attempt to call functions in
1350 the program, such as with expressions in the print command. It
1351 defaults to on. Calling functions in the program being debugged
1352 can have undesired side effects. It is now possible to forbid
1353 such function calls. If function calls are forbidden, GDB will throw
1354 an error when a command (such as print expression) calls a function
1355 in the program.
1356
1357 set print finish [on|off]
1358 show print finish
1359 This controls whether the `finish' command will display the value
1360 that is returned by the current function. When `off', the value is
1361 still entered into the value history, but it is not printed. The
1362 default is `on'.
1363
1364 set print max-depth
1365 show print max-depth
1366 Allows deeply nested structures to be simplified when printing by
1367 replacing deeply nested parts (beyond the max-depth) with ellipses.
1368 The default max-depth is 20, but this can be set to unlimited to get
1369 the old behavior back.
1370
1371 set print raw-values [on|off]
1372 show print raw-values
1373 By default, GDB applies the enabled pretty printers when printing a
1374 value. This allows to ignore the enabled pretty printers for a series
1375 of commands. The default is 'off'.
1376
1377 set logging debugredirect [on|off]
1378 By default, GDB debug output will go to both the terminal and the logfile.
1379 Set if you want debug output to go only to the log file.
1380
1381 set style title foreground COLOR
1382 set style title background COLOR
1383 set style title intensity VALUE
1384 Control the styling of titles.
1385
1386 set style highlight foreground COLOR
1387 set style highlight background COLOR
1388 set style highlight intensity VALUE
1389 Control the styling of highlightings.
1390
1391 maint set worker-threads
1392 maint show worker-threads
1393 Control the number of worker threads that can be used by GDB. The
1394 default is 0. "unlimited" lets GDB choose a number that is
1395 reasonable. Currently worker threads are only used when demangling
1396 the names of linker symbols.
1397
1398 set style tui-border foreground COLOR
1399 set style tui-border background COLOR
1400 Control the styling of TUI borders.
1401
1402 set style tui-active-border foreground COLOR
1403 set style tui-active-border background COLOR
1404 Control the styling of the active TUI border.
1405
1406 maint set test-settings KIND
1407 maint show test-settings KIND
1408 A set of commands used by the testsuite for exercising the settings
1409 infrastructure.
1410
1411 maint set tui-resize-message [on|off]
1412 maint show tui-resize-message
1413 Control whether GDB prints a message each time the terminal is
1414 resized when in TUI mode. This is primarily useful for testing the
1415 TUI.
1416
1417 set print frame-info [short-location|location|location-and-address
1418 |source-and-location|source-line|auto]
1419 show print frame-info
1420 This controls what frame information is printed by the commands printing
1421 a frame. This setting will e.g. influence the behaviour of 'backtrace',
1422 'frame', 'stepi'. The python frame filtering also respect this setting.
1423 The 'backtrace' '-frame-info' option can override this global setting.
1424
1425 set tui compact-source
1426 show tui compact-source
1427
1428 Enable the "compact" display mode for the TUI source window. The
1429 compact display uses only as much space as is needed for the line
1430 numbers in the current file, and only a single space to separate the
1431 line numbers from the source.
1432
1433 info modules [-q] [REGEXP]
1434 Return a list of Fortran modules matching REGEXP, or all modules if
1435 no REGEXP is given.
1436
1437 info module functions [-q] [-m MODULE_REGEXP] [-t TYPE_REGEXP] [REGEXP]
1438 Return a list of functions within all modules, grouped by module.
1439 The list of functions can be restricted with the optional regular
1440 expressions. MODULE_REGEXP matches against the module name,
1441 TYPE_REGEXP matches against the function type signature, and REGEXP
1442 matches against the function name.
1443
1444 info module variables [-q] [-m MODULE_REGEXP] [-t TYPE_REGEXP] [REGEXP]
1445 Return a list of variables within all modules, grouped by module.
1446 The list of variables can be restricted with the optional regular
1447 expressions. MODULE_REGEXP matches against the module name,
1448 TYPE_REGEXP matches against the variable type, and REGEXP matches
1449 against the variable name.
1450
1451 set debug remote-packet-max-chars
1452 show debug remote-packet-max-chars
1453 Controls the number of characters to output in a remote packet when using
1454 "set debug remote".
1455 The default is 512 bytes.
1456
1457 info connections
1458 Lists the target connections currently in use.
1459
1460 * Changed commands
1461
1462 help
1463 The "help" command uses the title style to enhance the
1464 readibility of its output by styling the classes and
1465 command names.
1466
1467 apropos [-v] REGEXP
1468 Similarly to "help", the "apropos" command also uses the
1469 title style for the command names. "apropos" accepts now
1470 a flag "-v" (verbose) to show the full documentation
1471 of matching commands and to use the highlight style to mark
1472 the documentation parts matching REGEXP.
1473
1474 printf
1475 eval
1476 The GDB printf and eval commands can now print C-style and Ada-style
1477 string convenience variables without calling functions in the program.
1478 This allows to do formatted printing of strings without having
1479 a running inferior, or when debugging a core dump.
1480
1481 info sources [-dirname | -basename] [--] [REGEXP]
1482 This command has now optional arguments to only print the files
1483 whose names match REGEXP. The arguments -dirname and -basename
1484 allow to restrict matching respectively to the dirname and basename
1485 parts of the files.
1486
1487 show style
1488 The "show style" and its subcommands are now styling
1489 a style name in their output using its own style, to help
1490 the user visualize the different styles.
1491
1492 set print frame-arguments
1493 The new value 'presence' indicates to only indicate the presence of
1494 arguments using ..., instead of printing argument names and values.
1495
1496 set print raw-frame-arguments
1497 show print raw-frame-arguments
1498
1499 These commands replace the similarly-named "set/show print raw
1500 frame-arguments" commands (now with a dash instead of a space). The
1501 old commands are now deprecated and may be removed in a future
1502 release.
1503
1504 add-inferior [-no-connection]
1505 The add-inferior command now supports a "-no-connection" flag that
1506 makes the new inferior start with no target connection associated.
1507 By default, the new inferior inherits the target connection of the
1508 current inferior. See also "info connections".
1509
1510 info inferior
1511 This command's output now includes a new "Connection" column
1512 indicating which target connection an inferior is bound to. See
1513 "info connections" above.
1514
1515 maint test-options require-delimiter
1516 maint test-options unknown-is-error
1517 maint test-options unknown-is-operand
1518 maint show test-options-completion-result
1519 Commands used by the testsuite to validate the command options
1520 framework.
1521
1522 focus, winheight, +, -, >, <
1523 These commands are now case-sensitive.
1524
1525 * New command options, command completion
1526
1527 GDB now has a standard infrastructure to support dash-style command
1528 options ('-OPT'). One benefit is that commands that use it can
1529 easily support completion of command line arguments. Try "CMD
1530 -[TAB]" or "help CMD" to find options supported by a command. Over
1531 time, we intend to migrate most commands to this infrastructure. A
1532 number of commands got support for new command options in this
1533 release:
1534
1535 ** The "print" and "compile print" commands now support a number of
1536 options that allow overriding relevant global print settings as
1537 set by "set print" subcommands:
1538
1539 -address [on|off]
1540 -array [on|off]
1541 -array-indexes [on|off]
1542 -elements NUMBER|unlimited
1543 -null-stop [on|off]
1544 -object [on|off]
1545 -pretty [on|off]
1546 -raw-values [on|off]
1547 -repeats NUMBER|unlimited
1548 -static-members [on|off]
1549 -symbol [on|off]
1550 -union [on|off]
1551 -vtbl [on|off]
1552
1553 Note that because the "print"/"compile print" commands accept
1554 arbitrary expressions which may look like options (including
1555 abbreviations), if you specify any command option, then you must
1556 use a double dash ("--") to mark the end of argument processing.
1557
1558 ** The "backtrace" command now supports a number of options that
1559 allow overriding relevant global print settings as set by "set
1560 backtrace" and "set print" subcommands:
1561
1562 -entry-values no|only|preferred|if-needed|both|compact|default
1563 -frame-arguments all|scalars|none
1564 -raw-frame-arguments [on|off]
1565 -frame-info auto|source-line|location|source-and-location
1566 |location-and-address|short-location
1567 -past-main [on|off]
1568 -past-entry [on|off]
1569
1570 In addition, the full/no-filters/hide qualifiers are now also
1571 exposed as command options too:
1572
1573 -full
1574 -no-filters
1575 -hide
1576
1577 ** The "frame apply", "tfaas" and "faas" commands similarly now
1578 support the following options:
1579
1580 -past-main [on|off]
1581 -past-entry [on|off]
1582
1583 ** The new "info sources" options -dirname and -basename options
1584 are using the standard '-OPT' infrastructure.
1585
1586 All options above can also be abbreviated. The argument of boolean
1587 (on/off) options can be 0/1 too, and also the argument is assumed
1588 "on" if omitted. This allows writing compact command invocations,
1589 like for example:
1590
1591 (gdb) p -ra -p -o 0 -- *myptr
1592
1593 The above is equivalent to:
1594
1595 (gdb) print -raw-values -pretty -object off -- *myptr
1596
1597 ** The "info types" command now supports the '-q' flag to disable
1598 printing of some header information in a similar fashion to "info
1599 variables" and "info functions".
1600
1601 ** The "info variables", "info functions", and "whereis" commands
1602 now take a '-n' flag that excludes non-debug symbols (symbols
1603 from the symbol table, not from the debug info such as DWARF)
1604 from the results.
1605
1606 * Completion improvements
1607
1608 ** GDB can now complete the options of the "thread apply all" and
1609 "taas" commands, and their "-ascending" option can now be
1610 abbreviated.
1611
1612 ** GDB can now complete the options of the "info threads", "info
1613 functions", "info variables", "info locals", and "info args"
1614 commands.
1615
1616 ** GDB can now complete the options of the "compile file" and
1617 "compile code" commands. The "compile file" command now
1618 completes on filenames.
1619
1620 ** GDB can now complete the backtrace command's
1621 "full/no-filters/hide" qualifiers.
1622
1623 * In settings, you can now abbreviate "unlimited".
1624
1625 E.g., "set print elements u" is now equivalent to "set print
1626 elements unlimited".
1627
1628 * New MI commands
1629
1630 -complete
1631 This lists all the possible completions for the rest of the line, if it
1632 were to be given as a command itself. This is intended for use by MI
1633 frontends in cases when separate CLI and MI channels cannot be used.
1634
1635 -catch-throw, -catch-rethrow, and -catch-catch
1636 These can be used to catch C++ exceptions in a similar fashion to
1637 the CLI commands 'catch throw', 'catch rethrow', and 'catch catch'.
1638
1639 -symbol-info-functions, -symbol-info-types, and -symbol-info-variables
1640 These commands are the MI equivalent of the CLI commands 'info
1641 functions', 'info types', and 'info variables' respectively.
1642
1643 -symbol-info-modules, this is the MI equivalent of the CLI 'info
1644 modules' command.
1645
1646 -symbol-info-module-functions and -symbol-info-module-variables.
1647 These commands are the MI equivalent of the CLI commands 'info
1648 module functions' and 'info module variables'.
1649
1650 * Other MI changes
1651
1652 ** The default version of the MI interpreter is now 3 (-i=mi3).
1653
1654 ** The output of information about multi-location breakpoints (which is
1655 syntactically incorrect in MI 2) has changed in MI 3. This affects
1656 the following commands and events:
1657
1658 - -break-insert
1659 - -break-info
1660 - =breakpoint-created
1661 - =breakpoint-modified
1662
1663 The -fix-multi-location-breakpoint-output command can be used to enable
1664 this behavior with previous MI versions.
1665
1666 ** Backtraces and frames include a new optional field addr_flags which is
1667 given after the addr field. On AArch64 this contains PAC if the address
1668 has been masked in the frame. On all other targets the field is not
1669 present.
1670
1671 * Testsuite
1672
1673 The testsuite now creates the files gdb.cmd (containing the arguments
1674 used to launch GDB) and gdb.in (containing all the commands sent to
1675 GDB) in the output directory for each test script. Multiple invocations
1676 are appended with .1, .2, .3 etc.
1677
1678 * Building GDB and GDBserver now requires GNU make >= 3.82.
1679
1680 Using another implementation of the make program or an earlier version of
1681 GNU make to build GDB or GDBserver is not supported.
1682
1683 * Building GDB now requires GNU readline >= 7.0.
1684
1685 GDB now bundles GNU readline 8.0, but if you choose to use
1686 --with-system-readline, only readline >= 7.0 can be used.
1687
1688 * The TUI SingleKey keymap is now named "SingleKey". This can be used
1689 from .inputrc to bind keys in this keymap. This feature is only
1690 available when gdb is built against GNU readline 8.0 or later.
1691
1692 * Removed targets and native configurations
1693
1694 GDB no longer supports debugging the Cell Broadband Engine. This includes
1695 both debugging standalone Cell/B.E. SPU applications and integrated debugging
1696 of Cell/B.E. applications that use both the PPU and SPU architectures.
1697
1698 * New Simulators
1699
1700 TI PRU pru-*-elf
1701
1702 * Removed targets and native configurations
1703
1704 Solaris 10 i?86-*-solaris2.10, x86_64-*-solaris2.10,
1705 sparc*-*-solaris2.10
1706
1707 *** Changes in GDB 8.3
1708
1709 * GDB and GDBserver now support access to additional registers on
1710 PowerPC GNU/Linux targets: PPR, DSCR, TAR, EBB/PMU registers, and
1711 HTM registers.
1712
1713 * GDB now has experimental support for the compilation and injection of
1714 C++ source code into the inferior. This beta release does not include
1715 support for several language features, such as templates, constructors,
1716 and operators.
1717
1718 This feature requires GCC 7.1 or higher built with libcp1.so
1719 (the C++ plug-in).
1720
1721 * GDB and GDBserver now support IPv6 connections. IPv6 addresses
1722 can be passed using the '[ADDRESS]:PORT' notation, or the regular
1723 'ADDRESS:PORT' method.
1724
1725 * DWARF index cache: GDB can now automatically save indices of DWARF
1726 symbols on disk to speed up further loading of the same binaries.
1727
1728 * Ada task switching is now supported on aarch64-elf targets when
1729 debugging a program using the Ravenscar Profile. For more information,
1730 see the "Tasking Support when using the Ravenscar Profile" section
1731 in the GDB user manual.
1732
1733 * GDB in batch mode now exits with status 1 if the last command to be
1734 executed failed.
1735
1736 * The RISC-V target now supports target descriptions.
1737
1738 * System call catchpoints now support system call aliases on FreeBSD.
1739 When the ABI of a system call changes in FreeBSD, this is
1740 implemented by leaving a compatibility system call using the old ABI
1741 at the existing number and allocating a new system call number for
1742 the new ABI. For example, FreeBSD 12 altered the layout of 'struct
1743 kevent' used by the 'kevent' system call. As a result, FreeBSD 12
1744 kernels ship with both 'kevent' and 'freebsd11_kevent' system calls.
1745 The 'freebsd11_kevent' system call is assigned an alias of 'kevent'
1746 so that a system call catchpoint for the 'kevent' system call will
1747 catch invocations of both the 'kevent' and 'freebsd11_kevent'
1748 binaries. This ensures that 'kevent' system calls are caught for
1749 binaries using either the old or new ABIs.
1750
1751 * Terminal styling is now available for the CLI and the TUI. GNU
1752 Source Highlight can additionally be used to provide styling of
1753 source code snippets. See the "set style" commands, below, for more
1754 information.
1755
1756 * Removed support for old demangling styles arm, edg, gnu, hp and
1757 lucid.
1758
1759 * New commands
1760
1761 set debug compile-cplus-types
1762 show debug compile-cplus-types
1763 Control the display of debug output about type conversion in the
1764 C++ compile feature. Commands have no effect while compiling
1765 for other languages.
1766
1767 set debug skip
1768 show debug skip
1769 Control whether debug output about files/functions skipping is
1770 displayed.
1771
1772 frame apply [all | COUNT | -COUNT | level LEVEL...] [FLAG]... COMMAND
1773 Apply a command to some frames.
1774 FLAG arguments allow to control what output to produce and how to handle
1775 errors raised when applying COMMAND to a frame.
1776
1777 taas COMMAND
1778 Apply a command to all threads (ignoring errors and empty output).
1779 Shortcut for 'thread apply all -s COMMAND'.
1780
1781 faas COMMAND
1782 Apply a command to all frames (ignoring errors and empty output).
1783 Shortcut for 'frame apply all -s COMMAND'.
1784
1785 tfaas COMMAND
1786 Apply a command to all frames of all threads (ignoring errors and empty
1787 output).
1788 Shortcut for 'thread apply all -s frame apply all -s COMMAND'.
1789
1790 maint set dwarf unwinders (on|off)
1791 maint show dwarf unwinders
1792 Control whether DWARF unwinders can be used.
1793
1794 info proc files
1795 Display a list of open files for a process.
1796
1797 * Changed commands
1798
1799 Changes to the "frame", "select-frame", and "info frame" CLI commands.
1800 These commands all now take a frame specification which
1801 is either a frame level, or one of the keywords 'level', 'address',
1802 'function', or 'view' followed by a parameter. Selecting a frame by
1803 address, or viewing a frame outside the current backtrace now
1804 requires the use of a keyword. Selecting a frame by level is
1805 unchanged. The MI comment "-stack-select-frame" is unchanged.
1806
1807 target remote FILENAME
1808 target extended-remote FILENAME
1809 If FILENAME is a Unix domain socket, GDB will attempt to connect
1810 to this socket instead of opening FILENAME as a character device.
1811
1812 info args [-q] [-t TYPEREGEXP] [NAMEREGEXP]
1813 info functions [-q] [-t TYPEREGEXP] [NAMEREGEXP]
1814 info locals [-q] [-t TYPEREGEXP] [NAMEREGEXP]
1815 info variables [-q] [-t TYPEREGEXP] [NAMEREGEXP]
1816 These commands can now print only the searched entities
1817 matching the provided regexp(s), giving a condition
1818 on the entity names or entity types. The flag -q disables
1819 printing headers or informations messages.
1820
1821 info functions
1822 info types
1823 info variables
1824 rbreak
1825 These commands now determine the syntax for the shown entities
1826 according to the language chosen by `set language'. In particular,
1827 `set language auto' means to automatically choose the language of
1828 the shown entities.
1829
1830 thread apply [all | COUNT | -COUNT] [FLAG]... COMMAND
1831 The 'thread apply' command accepts new FLAG arguments.
1832 FLAG arguments allow to control what output to produce and how to handle
1833 errors raised when applying COMMAND to a thread.
1834
1835 set tui tab-width NCHARS
1836 show tui tab-width NCHARS
1837 "set tui tab-width" replaces the "tabset" command, which has been deprecated.
1838
1839 set style enabled [on|off]
1840 show style enabled
1841 Enable or disable terminal styling. Styling is enabled by default
1842 on most hosts, but disabled by default when in batch mode.
1843
1844 set style sources [on|off]
1845 show style sources
1846 Enable or disable source code styling. Source code styling is
1847 enabled by default, but only takes effect if styling in general is
1848 enabled, and if GDB was linked with GNU Source Highlight.
1849
1850 set style filename foreground COLOR
1851 set style filename background COLOR
1852 set style filename intensity VALUE
1853 Control the styling of file names.
1854
1855 set style function foreground COLOR
1856 set style function background COLOR
1857 set style function intensity VALUE
1858 Control the styling of function names.
1859
1860 set style variable foreground COLOR
1861 set style variable background COLOR
1862 set style variable intensity VALUE
1863 Control the styling of variable names.
1864
1865 set style address foreground COLOR
1866 set style address background COLOR
1867 set style address intensity VALUE
1868 Control the styling of addresses.
1869
1870 * MI changes
1871
1872 ** The '-data-disassemble' MI command now accepts an '-a' option to
1873 disassemble the whole function surrounding the given program
1874 counter value or function name. Support for this feature can be
1875 verified by using the "-list-features" command, which should
1876 contain "data-disassemble-a-option".
1877
1878 ** Command responses and notifications that include a frame now include
1879 the frame's architecture in a new "arch" attribute.
1880
1881 * New native configurations
1882
1883 GNU/Linux/RISC-V riscv*-*-linux*
1884 FreeBSD/riscv riscv*-*-freebsd*
1885
1886 * New targets
1887
1888 GNU/Linux/RISC-V riscv*-*-linux*
1889 CSKY ELF csky*-*-elf
1890 CSKY GNU/LINUX csky*-*-linux
1891 FreeBSD/riscv riscv*-*-freebsd*
1892 NXP S12Z s12z-*-elf
1893 GNU/Linux/OpenRISC or1k*-*-linux*
1894
1895 * Removed targets
1896
1897 GDB no longer supports native debugging on versions of MS-Windows
1898 before Windows XP.
1899
1900 * Python API
1901
1902 ** GDB no longer supports Python versions less than 2.6.
1903
1904 ** The gdb.Inferior type has a new 'progspace' property, which is the program
1905 space associated to that inferior.
1906
1907 ** The gdb.Progspace type has a new 'objfiles' method, which returns the list
1908 of objfiles associated to that program space.
1909
1910 ** gdb.SYMBOL_LOC_COMMON_BLOCK, gdb.SYMBOL_MODULE_DOMAIN, and
1911 gdb.SYMBOL_COMMON_BLOCK_DOMAIN were added to reflect changes to
1912 the gdb core.
1913
1914 ** gdb.SYMBOL_VARIABLES_DOMAIN, gdb.SYMBOL_FUNCTIONS_DOMAIN, and
1915 gdb.SYMBOL_TYPES_DOMAIN are now deprecated. These were never
1916 correct and did not work properly.
1917
1918 ** The gdb.Value type has a new constructor, which is used to construct a
1919 gdb.Value from a Python buffer object and a gdb.Type.
1920
1921 * Configure changes
1922
1923 --enable-ubsan
1924
1925 Enable or disable the undefined behavior sanitizer. This is
1926 disabled by default, but passing --enable-ubsan=yes or
1927 --enable-ubsan=auto to configure will enable it. Enabling this can
1928 cause a performance penalty. The undefined behavior sanitizer was
1929 first introduced in GCC 4.9.
1930
1931 *** Changes in GDB 8.2
1932
1933 * The 'set disassembler-options' command now supports specifying options
1934 for the MIPS target.
1935
1936 * The 'symbol-file' command now accepts an '-o' option to add a relative
1937 offset to all sections.
1938
1939 * Similarly, the 'add-symbol-file' command also accepts an '-o' option to add
1940 a relative offset to all sections, but it allows to override the load
1941 address of individual sections using '-s'.
1942
1943 * The 'add-symbol-file' command no longer requires the second argument
1944 (address of the text section).
1945
1946 * The endianness used with the 'set endian auto' mode in the absence of
1947 an executable selected for debugging is now the last endianness chosen
1948 either by one of the 'set endian big' and 'set endian little' commands
1949 or by inferring from the last executable used, rather than the startup
1950 default.
1951
1952 * The pager now allows a "c" response, meaning to disable the pager
1953 for the rest of the current command.
1954
1955 * The commands 'info variables/functions/types' now show the source line
1956 numbers of symbol definitions when available.
1957
1958 * 'info proc' now works on running processes on FreeBSD systems and core
1959 files created on FreeBSD systems.
1960
1961 * C expressions can now use _Alignof, and C++ expressions can now use
1962 alignof.
1963
1964 * Support for SVE on AArch64 Linux. Note that GDB does not detect changes to
1965 the vector length while the process is running.
1966
1967 * New commands
1968
1969 set debug fbsd-nat
1970 show debug fbsd-nat
1971 Control display of debugging info regarding the FreeBSD native target.
1972
1973 set|show varsize-limit
1974 This new setting allows the user to control the maximum size of Ada
1975 objects being printed when those objects have a variable type,
1976 instead of that maximum size being hardcoded to 65536 bytes.
1977
1978 set|show record btrace cpu
1979 Controls the processor to be used for enabling errata workarounds for
1980 branch trace decode.
1981
1982 maint check libthread-db
1983 Run integrity checks on the current inferior's thread debugging
1984 library
1985
1986 maint set check-libthread-db (on|off)
1987 maint show check-libthread-db
1988 Control whether to run integrity checks on inferior specific thread
1989 debugging libraries as they are loaded. The default is not to
1990 perform such checks.
1991
1992 * Python API
1993
1994 ** Type alignment is now exposed via the "align" attribute of a gdb.Type.
1995
1996 ** The commands attached to a breakpoint can be set by assigning to
1997 the breakpoint's "commands" field.
1998
1999 ** gdb.execute can now execute multi-line gdb commands.
2000
2001 ** The new functions gdb.convenience_variable and
2002 gdb.set_convenience_variable can be used to get and set the value
2003 of convenience variables.
2004
2005 ** A gdb.Parameter will no longer print the "set" help text on an
2006 ordinary "set"; instead by default a "set" will be silent unless
2007 the get_set_string method returns a non-empty string.
2008
2009 * New targets
2010
2011 RiscV ELF riscv*-*-elf
2012
2013 * Removed targets and native configurations
2014
2015 m88k running OpenBSD m88*-*-openbsd*
2016 SH-5/SH64 ELF sh64-*-elf*, SH-5/SH64 support in sh*
2017 SH-5/SH64 running GNU/Linux SH-5/SH64 support in sh*-*-linux*
2018 SH-5/SH64 running OpenBSD SH-5/SH64 support in sh*-*-openbsd*
2019
2020 * Aarch64/Linux hardware watchpoints improvements
2021
2022 Hardware watchpoints on unaligned addresses are now properly
2023 supported when running Linux kernel 4.10 or higher: read and access
2024 watchpoints are no longer spuriously missed, and all watchpoints
2025 lengths between 1 and 8 bytes are supported. On older kernels,
2026 watchpoints set on unaligned addresses are no longer missed, with
2027 the tradeoff that there is a possibility of false hits being
2028 reported.
2029
2030 * Configure changes
2031
2032 --enable-codesign=CERT
2033 This can be used to invoke "codesign -s CERT" after building gdb.
2034 This option is useful on macOS, where code signing is required for
2035 gdb to work properly.
2036
2037 --disable-gdbcli has been removed
2038 This is now silently accepted, but does nothing.
2039
2040 *** Changes in GDB 8.1
2041
2042 * GDB now supports dynamically creating arbitrary register groups specified
2043 in XML target descriptions. This allows for finer grain grouping of
2044 registers on systems with a large amount of registers.
2045
2046 * The 'ptype' command now accepts a '/o' flag, which prints the
2047 offsets and sizes of fields in a struct, like the pahole(1) tool.
2048
2049 * New "--readnever" command line option instructs GDB to not read each
2050 symbol file's symbolic debug information. This makes startup faster
2051 but at the expense of not being able to perform symbolic debugging.
2052 This option is intended for use cases where symbolic debugging will
2053 not be used, e.g., when you only need to dump the debuggee's core.
2054
2055 * GDB now uses the GNU MPFR library, if available, to emulate target
2056 floating-point arithmetic during expression evaluation when the target
2057 uses different floating-point formats than the host. At least version
2058 3.1 of GNU MPFR is required.
2059
2060 * GDB now supports access to the guarded-storage-control registers and the
2061 software-based guarded-storage broadcast control registers on IBM z14.
2062
2063 * On Unix systems, GDB now supports transmitting environment variables
2064 that are to be set or unset to GDBserver. These variables will
2065 affect the environment to be passed to the remote inferior.
2066
2067 To inform GDB of environment variables that are to be transmitted to
2068 GDBserver, use the "set environment" command. Only user set
2069 environment variables are sent to GDBserver.
2070
2071 To inform GDB of environment variables that are to be unset before
2072 the remote inferior is started by the GDBserver, use the "unset
2073 environment" command.
2074
2075 * Completion improvements
2076
2077 ** GDB can now complete function parameters in linespecs and
2078 explicit locations without quoting. When setting breakpoints,
2079 quoting around functions names to help with TAB-completion is
2080 generally no longer necessary. For example, this now completes
2081 correctly:
2082
2083 (gdb) b function(in[TAB]
2084 (gdb) b function(int)
2085
2086 Related, GDB is no longer confused with completing functions in
2087 C++ anonymous namespaces:
2088
2089 (gdb) b (anon[TAB]
2090 (gdb) b (anonymous namespace)::[TAB][TAB]
2091 (anonymous namespace)::a_function()
2092 (anonymous namespace)::b_function()
2093
2094 ** GDB now has much improved linespec and explicit locations TAB
2095 completion support, that better understands what you're
2096 completing and offers better suggestions. For example, GDB no
2097 longer offers data symbols as possible completions when you're
2098 setting a breakpoint.
2099
2100 ** GDB now TAB-completes label symbol names.
2101
2102 ** The "complete" command now mimics TAB completion accurately.
2103
2104 * New command line options (gcore)
2105
2106 -a
2107 Dump all memory mappings.
2108
2109 * Breakpoints on C++ functions are now set on all scopes by default
2110
2111 By default, breakpoints on functions/methods are now interpreted as
2112 specifying all functions with the given name ignoring missing
2113 leading scopes (namespaces and classes).
2114
2115 For example, assuming a C++ program with symbols named:
2116
2117 A::B::func()
2118 B::func()
2119
2120 both commands "break func()" and "break B::func()" set a breakpoint
2121 on both symbols.
2122
2123 You can use the new flag "-qualified" to override this. This makes
2124 GDB interpret the specified function name as a complete
2125 fully-qualified name instead. For example, using the same C++
2126 program, the "break -q B::func" command sets a breakpoint on
2127 "B::func", only. A parameter has been added to the Python
2128 gdb.Breakpoint constructor to achieve the same result when creating
2129 a breakpoint from Python.
2130
2131 * Breakpoints on functions marked with C++ ABI tags
2132
2133 GDB can now set breakpoints on functions marked with C++ ABI tags
2134 (e.g., [abi:cxx11]). See here for a description of ABI tags:
2135 https://developers.redhat.com/blog/2015/02/05/gcc5-and-the-c11-abi/
2136
2137 Functions with a C++11 abi tag are demangled/displayed like this:
2138
2139 function[abi:cxx11](int)
2140 ^^^^^^^^^^^
2141
2142 You can now set a breakpoint on such functions simply as if they had
2143 no tag, like:
2144
2145 (gdb) b function(int)
2146
2147 Or if you need to disambiguate between tags, like:
2148
2149 (gdb) b function[abi:other_tag](int)
2150
2151 Tab completion was adjusted accordingly as well.
2152
2153 * Python Scripting
2154
2155 ** New events gdb.new_inferior, gdb.inferior_deleted, and
2156 gdb.new_thread are emitted. See the manual for further
2157 description of these.
2158
2159 ** A new function, "gdb.rbreak" has been added to the Python API.
2160 This function allows the setting of a large number of breakpoints
2161 via a regex pattern in Python. See the manual for further details.
2162
2163 ** Python breakpoints can now accept explicit locations. See the
2164 manual for a further description of this feature.
2165
2166
2167 * New features in the GDB remote stub, GDBserver
2168
2169 ** GDBserver is now able to start inferior processes with a
2170 specified initial working directory.
2171
2172 The user can set the desired working directory to be used from
2173 GDB using the new "set cwd" command.
2174
2175 ** New "--selftest" command line option runs some GDBserver self
2176 tests. These self tests are disabled in releases.
2177
2178 ** On Unix systems, GDBserver now does globbing expansion and variable
2179 substitution in inferior command line arguments.
2180
2181 This is done by starting inferiors using a shell, like GDB does.
2182 See "set startup-with-shell" in the user manual for how to disable
2183 this from GDB when using "target extended-remote". When using
2184 "target remote", you can disable the startup with shell by using the
2185 new "--no-startup-with-shell" GDBserver command line option.
2186
2187 ** On Unix systems, GDBserver now supports receiving environment
2188 variables that are to be set or unset from GDB. These variables
2189 will affect the environment to be passed to the inferior.
2190
2191 * When catching an Ada exception raised with a message, GDB now prints
2192 the message in the catchpoint hit notification. In GDB/MI mode, that
2193 information is provided as an extra field named "exception-message"
2194 in the *stopped notification.
2195
2196 * Trait objects can now be inspected When debugging Rust code. This
2197 requires compiler support which will appear in Rust 1.24.
2198
2199 * New remote packets
2200
2201 QEnvironmentHexEncoded
2202 Inform GDBserver of an environment variable that is to be passed to
2203 the inferior when starting it.
2204
2205 QEnvironmentUnset
2206 Inform GDBserver of an environment variable that is to be unset
2207 before starting the remote inferior.
2208
2209 QEnvironmentReset
2210 Inform GDBserver that the environment should be reset (i.e.,
2211 user-set environment variables should be unset).
2212
2213 QStartupWithShell
2214 Indicates whether the inferior must be started with a shell or not.
2215
2216 QSetWorkingDir
2217 Tell GDBserver that the inferior to be started should use a specific
2218 working directory.
2219
2220 * The "maintenance print c-tdesc" command now takes an optional
2221 argument which is the file name of XML target description.
2222
2223 * The "maintenance selftest" command now takes an optional argument to
2224 filter the tests to be run.
2225
2226 * The "enable", and "disable" commands now accept a range of
2227 breakpoint locations, e.g. "enable 1.3-5".
2228
2229 * New commands
2230
2231 set|show cwd
2232 Set and show the current working directory for the inferior.
2233
2234 set|show compile-gcc
2235 Set and show compilation command used for compiling and injecting code
2236 with the 'compile' commands.
2237
2238 set debug separate-debug-file
2239 show debug separate-debug-file
2240 Control the display of debug output about separate debug file search.
2241
2242 set dump-excluded-mappings
2243 show dump-excluded-mappings
2244 Control whether mappings marked with the VM_DONTDUMP flag should be
2245 dumped when generating a core file.
2246
2247 maint info selftests
2248 List the registered selftests.
2249
2250 starti
2251 Start the debugged program stopping at the first instruction.
2252
2253 set|show debug or1k
2254 Control display of debugging messages related to OpenRISC targets.
2255
2256 set|show print type nested-type-limit
2257 Set and show the limit of nesting level for nested types that the
2258 type printer will show.
2259
2260 * TUI Single-Key mode now supports two new shortcut keys: `i' for stepi and
2261 `o' for nexti.
2262
2263 * Safer/improved support for debugging with no debug info
2264
2265 GDB no longer assumes functions with no debug information return
2266 'int'.
2267
2268 This means that GDB now refuses to call such functions unless you
2269 tell it the function's type, by either casting the call to the
2270 declared return type, or by casting the function to a function
2271 pointer of the right type, and calling that:
2272
2273 (gdb) p getenv ("PATH")
2274 'getenv' has unknown return type; cast the call to its declared return type
2275 (gdb) p (char *) getenv ("PATH")
2276 $1 = 0x7fffffffe "/usr/local/bin:/"...
2277 (gdb) p ((char * (*) (const char *)) getenv) ("PATH")
2278 $2 = 0x7fffffffe "/usr/local/bin:/"...
2279
2280 Similarly, GDB no longer assumes that global variables with no debug
2281 info have type 'int', and refuses to print the variable's value
2282 unless you tell it the variable's type:
2283
2284 (gdb) p var
2285 'var' has unknown type; cast it to its declared type
2286 (gdb) p (float) var
2287 $3 = 3.14
2288
2289 * New native configurations
2290
2291 FreeBSD/aarch64 aarch64*-*-freebsd*
2292 FreeBSD/arm arm*-*-freebsd*
2293
2294 * New targets
2295
2296 FreeBSD/aarch64 aarch64*-*-freebsd*
2297 FreeBSD/arm arm*-*-freebsd*
2298 OpenRISC ELF or1k*-*-elf
2299
2300 * Removed targets and native configurations
2301
2302 Solaris 2.0-9 i?86-*-solaris2.[0-9], sparc*-*-solaris2.[0-9]
2303
2304 *** Changes in GDB 8.0
2305
2306 * GDB now supports access to the PKU register on GNU/Linux. The register is
2307 added by the Memory Protection Keys for Userspace feature which will be
2308 available in future Intel CPUs.
2309
2310 * GDB now supports C++11 rvalue references.
2311
2312 * Python Scripting
2313
2314 ** New functions to start, stop and access a running btrace recording.
2315 ** Rvalue references are now supported in gdb.Type.
2316
2317 * GDB now supports recording and replaying rdrand and rdseed Intel 64
2318 instructions.
2319
2320 * Building GDB and GDBserver now requires a C++11 compiler.
2321
2322 For example, GCC 4.8 or later.
2323
2324 It is no longer possible to build GDB or GDBserver with a C
2325 compiler. The --disable-build-with-cxx configure option has been
2326 removed.
2327
2328 * Building GDB and GDBserver now requires GNU make >= 3.81.
2329
2330 It is no longer supported to build GDB or GDBserver with another
2331 implementation of the make program or an earlier version of GNU make.
2332
2333 * Native debugging on MS-Windows supports command-line redirection
2334
2335 Command-line arguments used for starting programs on MS-Windows can
2336 now include redirection symbols supported by native Windows shells,
2337 such as '<', '>', '>>', '2>&1', etc. This affects GDB commands such
2338 as "run", "start", and "set args", as well as the corresponding MI
2339 features.
2340
2341 * Support for thread names on MS-Windows.
2342
2343 GDB now catches and handles the special exception that programs
2344 running on MS-Windows use to assign names to threads in the
2345 debugger.
2346
2347 * Support for Java programs compiled with gcj has been removed.
2348
2349 * User commands now accept an unlimited number of arguments.
2350 Previously, only up to 10 was accepted.
2351
2352 * The "eval" command now expands user-defined command arguments.
2353
2354 This makes it easier to process a variable number of arguments:
2355
2356 define mycommand
2357 set $i = 0
2358 while $i < $argc
2359 eval "print $arg%d", $i
2360 set $i = $i + 1
2361 end
2362 end
2363
2364 * Target descriptions can now describe registers for sparc32 and sparc64.
2365
2366 * GDB now supports DWARF version 5 (debug information format).
2367 Its .debug_names index is not yet supported.
2368
2369 * New native configurations
2370
2371 FreeBSD/mips mips*-*-freebsd
2372
2373 * New targets
2374
2375 Synopsys ARC arc*-*-elf32
2376 FreeBSD/mips mips*-*-freebsd
2377
2378 * Removed targets and native configurations
2379
2380 Alpha running FreeBSD alpha*-*-freebsd*
2381 Alpha running GNU/kFreeBSD alpha*-*-kfreebsd*-gnu
2382
2383 * New commands
2384
2385 flash-erase
2386 Erases all the flash memory regions reported by the target.
2387
2388 maint print arc arc-instruction address
2389 Print internal disassembler information about instruction at a given address.
2390
2391 * New options
2392
2393 set disassembler-options
2394 show disassembler-options
2395 Controls the passing of target specific information to the disassembler.
2396 If it is necessary to specify more than one disassembler option then
2397 multiple options can be placed together into a comma separated list.
2398 The default value is the empty string. Currently, the only supported
2399 targets are ARM, PowerPC and S/390.
2400
2401 * New MI commands
2402
2403 -target-flash-erase
2404 Erases all the flash memory regions reported by the target. This is
2405 equivalent to the CLI command flash-erase.
2406
2407 -file-list-shared-libraries
2408 List the shared libraries in the program. This is
2409 equivalent to the CLI command "info shared".
2410
2411 -catch-handlers
2412 Catchpoints stopping the program when Ada exceptions are
2413 handled. This is equivalent to the CLI command "catch handlers".
2414
2415 *** Changes in GDB 7.12
2416
2417 * GDB and GDBserver now build with a C++ compiler by default.
2418
2419 The --enable-build-with-cxx configure option is now enabled by
2420 default. One must now explicitly configure with
2421 --disable-build-with-cxx in order to build with a C compiler. This
2422 option will be removed in a future release.
2423
2424 * GDBserver now supports recording btrace without maintaining an active
2425 GDB connection.
2426
2427 * GDB now supports a negative repeat count in the 'x' command to examine
2428 memory backward from the given address. For example:
2429
2430 (gdb) bt
2431 #0 Func1 (n=42, p=0x40061c "hogehoge") at main.cpp:4
2432 #1 0x400580 in main (argc=1, argv=0x7fffffffe5c8) at main.cpp:8
2433 (gdb) x/-5i 0x0000000000400580
2434 0x40056a <main(int, char**)+8>: mov %edi,-0x4(%rbp)
2435 0x40056d <main(int, char**)+11>: mov %rsi,-0x10(%rbp)
2436 0x400571 <main(int, char**)+15>: mov $0x40061c,%esi
2437 0x400576 <main(int, char**)+20>: mov $0x2a,%edi
2438 0x40057b <main(int, char**)+25>:
2439 callq 0x400536 <Func1(int, char const*)>
2440
2441 * Fortran: Support structures with fields of dynamic types and
2442 arrays of dynamic types.
2443
2444 * The symbol dumping maintenance commands have new syntax.
2445 maint print symbols [-pc address] [--] [filename]
2446 maint print symbols [-objfile objfile] [-source source] [--] [filename]
2447 maint print psymbols [-objfile objfile] [-pc address] [--] [filename]
2448 maint print psymbols [-objfile objfile] [-source source] [--] [filename]
2449 maint print msymbols [-objfile objfile] [--] [filename]
2450
2451 * GDB now supports multibit bitfields and enums in target register
2452 descriptions.
2453
2454 * New Python-based convenience function $_as_string(val), which returns
2455 the textual representation of a value. This function is especially
2456 useful to obtain the text label of an enum value.
2457
2458 * Intel MPX bound violation handling.
2459
2460 Segmentation faults caused by a Intel MPX boundary violation
2461 now display the kind of violation (upper or lower), the memory
2462 address accessed and the memory bounds, along with the usual
2463 signal received and code location.
2464
2465 For example:
2466
2467 Program received signal SIGSEGV, Segmentation fault
2468 Upper bound violation while accessing address 0x7fffffffc3b3
2469 Bounds: [lower = 0x7fffffffc390, upper = 0x7fffffffc3a3]
2470 0x0000000000400d7c in upper () at i386-mpx-sigsegv.c:68
2471
2472 * Rust language support.
2473 GDB now supports debugging programs written in the Rust programming
2474 language. See https://www.rust-lang.org/ for more information about
2475 Rust.
2476
2477 * Support for running interpreters on specified input/output devices
2478
2479 GDB now supports a new mechanism that allows frontends to provide
2480 fully featured GDB console views, as a better alternative to
2481 building such views on top of the "-interpreter-exec console"
2482 command. See the new "new-ui" command below. With that command,
2483 frontends can now start GDB in the traditional command-line mode
2484 running in an embedded terminal emulator widget, and create a
2485 separate MI interpreter running on a specified i/o device. In this
2486 way, GDB handles line editing, history, tab completion, etc. in the
2487 console all by itself, and the GUI uses the separate MI interpreter
2488 for its own control and synchronization, invisible to the command
2489 line.
2490
2491 * The "catch syscall" command catches groups of related syscalls.
2492
2493 The "catch syscall" command now supports catching a group of related
2494 syscalls using the 'group:' or 'g:' prefix.
2495
2496 * New commands
2497
2498 skip -file file
2499 skip -gfile file-glob-pattern
2500 skip -function function
2501 skip -rfunction regular-expression
2502 A generalized form of the skip command, with new support for
2503 glob-style file names and regular expressions for function names.
2504 Additionally, a file spec and a function spec may now be combined.
2505
2506 maint info line-table REGEXP
2507 Display the contents of GDB's internal line table data structure.
2508
2509 maint selftest
2510 Run any GDB unit tests that were compiled in.
2511
2512 new-ui INTERP TTY
2513 Start a new user interface instance running INTERP as interpreter,
2514 using the TTY file for input/output.
2515
2516 * Python Scripting
2517
2518 ** gdb.Breakpoint objects have a new attribute "pending", which
2519 indicates whether the breakpoint is pending.
2520 ** Three new breakpoint-related events have been added:
2521 gdb.breakpoint_created, gdb.breakpoint_modified, and
2522 gdb.breakpoint_deleted.
2523
2524 signal-event EVENTID
2525 Signal ("set") the given MS-Windows event object. This is used in
2526 conjunction with the Windows JIT debugging (AeDebug) support, where
2527 the OS suspends a crashing process until a debugger can attach to
2528 it. Resuming the crashing process, in order to debug it, is done by
2529 signalling an event.
2530
2531 * Support for tracepoints and fast tracepoints on s390-linux and s390x-linux
2532 was added in GDBserver, including JIT compiling fast tracepoint's
2533 conditional expression bytecode into native code.
2534
2535 * Support for various remote target protocols and ROM monitors has
2536 been removed:
2537
2538 target m32rsdi Remote M32R debugging over SDI
2539 target mips MIPS remote debugging protocol
2540 target pmon PMON ROM monitor
2541 target ddb NEC's DDB variant of PMON for Vr4300
2542 target rockhopper NEC RockHopper variant of PMON
2543 target lsi LSI variant of PMO
2544
2545 * Support for tracepoints and fast tracepoints on powerpc-linux,
2546 powerpc64-linux, and powerpc64le-linux was added in GDBserver,
2547 including JIT compiling fast tracepoint's conditional expression
2548 bytecode into native code.
2549
2550 * MI async record =record-started now includes the method and format used for
2551 recording. For example:
2552
2553 =record-started,thread-group="i1",method="btrace",format="bts"
2554
2555 * MI async record =thread-selected now includes the frame field. For example:
2556
2557 =thread-selected,id="3",frame={level="0",addr="0x00000000004007c0"}
2558
2559 * New targets
2560
2561 Andes NDS32 nds32*-*-elf
2562
2563 *** Changes in GDB 7.11
2564
2565 * GDB now supports debugging kernel-based threads on FreeBSD.
2566
2567 * Per-inferior thread numbers
2568
2569 Thread numbers are now per inferior instead of global. If you're
2570 debugging multiple inferiors, GDB displays thread IDs using a
2571 qualified INF_NUM.THR_NUM form. For example:
2572
2573 (gdb) info threads
2574 Id Target Id Frame
2575 1.1 Thread 0x7ffff7fc2740 (LWP 8155) (running)
2576 1.2 Thread 0x7ffff7fc1700 (LWP 8168) (running)
2577 * 2.1 Thread 0x7ffff7fc2740 (LWP 8157) (running)
2578 2.2 Thread 0x7ffff7fc1700 (LWP 8190) (running)
2579
2580 As consequence, thread numbers as visible in the $_thread
2581 convenience variable and in Python's InferiorThread.num attribute
2582 are no longer unique between inferiors.
2583
2584 GDB now maintains a second thread ID per thread, referred to as the
2585 global thread ID, which is the new equivalent of thread numbers in
2586 previous releases. See also $_gthread below.
2587
2588 For backwards compatibility, MI's thread IDs always refer to global
2589 IDs.
2590
2591 * Commands that accept thread IDs now accept the qualified
2592 INF_NUM.THR_NUM form as well. For example:
2593
2594 (gdb) thread 2.1
2595 [Switching to thread 2.1 (Thread 0x7ffff7fc2740 (LWP 8157))] (running)
2596 (gdb)
2597
2598 * In commands that accept a list of thread IDs, you can now refer to
2599 all threads of an inferior using a star wildcard. GDB accepts
2600 "INF_NUM.*", to refer to all threads of inferior INF_NUM, and "*" to
2601 refer to all threads of the current inferior. For example, "info
2602 threads 2.*".
2603
2604 * You can use "info threads -gid" to display the global thread ID of
2605 all threads.
2606
2607 * The new convenience variable $_gthread holds the global number of
2608 the current thread.
2609
2610 * The new convenience variable $_inferior holds the number of the
2611 current inferior.
2612
2613 * GDB now displays the ID and name of the thread that hit a breakpoint
2614 or received a signal, if your program is multi-threaded. For
2615 example:
2616
2617 Thread 3 "bar" hit Breakpoint 1 at 0x40087a: file program.c, line 20.
2618 Thread 1 "main" received signal SIGINT, Interrupt.
2619
2620 * Record btrace now supports non-stop mode.
2621
2622 * Support for tracepoints on aarch64-linux was added in GDBserver.
2623
2624 * The 'record instruction-history' command now indicates speculative execution
2625 when using the Intel Processor Trace recording format.
2626
2627 * GDB now allows users to specify explicit locations, bypassing
2628 the linespec parser. This feature is also available to GDB/MI
2629 clients.
2630
2631 * Multi-architecture debugging is supported on AArch64 GNU/Linux.
2632 GDB now is able to debug both AArch64 applications and ARM applications
2633 at the same time.
2634
2635 * Support for fast tracepoints on aarch64-linux was added in GDBserver,
2636 including JIT compiling fast tracepoint's conditional expression bytecode
2637 into native code.
2638
2639 * GDB now supports displaced stepping on AArch64 GNU/Linux.
2640
2641 * "info threads", "info inferiors", "info display", "info checkpoints"
2642 and "maint info program-spaces" now list the corresponding items in
2643 ascending ID order, for consistency with all other "info" commands.
2644
2645 * In Ada, the overloads selection menu has been enhanced to display the
2646 parameter types and the return types for the matching overloaded subprograms.
2647
2648 * New commands
2649
2650 maint set target-non-stop (on|off|auto)
2651 maint show target-non-stop
2652 Control whether GDB targets always operate in non-stop mode even if
2653 "set non-stop" is "off". The default is "auto", meaning non-stop
2654 mode is enabled if supported by the target.
2655
2656 maint set bfd-sharing
2657 maint show bfd-sharing
2658 Control the reuse of bfd objects.
2659
2660 set debug bfd-cache
2661 show debug bfd-cache
2662 Control display of debugging info regarding bfd caching.
2663
2664 set debug fbsd-lwp
2665 show debug fbsd-lwp
2666 Control display of debugging info regarding FreeBSD threads.
2667
2668 set remote multiprocess-extensions-packet
2669 show remote multiprocess-extensions-packet
2670 Set/show the use of the remote protocol multiprocess extensions.
2671
2672 set remote thread-events
2673 show remote thread-events
2674 Set/show the use of thread create/exit events.
2675
2676 set ada print-signatures on|off
2677 show ada print-signatures"
2678 Control whether parameter types and return types are displayed in overloads
2679 selection menus. It is activated (@code{on}) by default.
2680
2681 set max-value-size
2682 show max-value-size
2683 Controls the maximum size of memory, in bytes, that GDB will
2684 allocate for value contents. Prevents incorrect programs from
2685 causing GDB to allocate overly large buffers. Default is 64k.
2686
2687 * The "disassemble" command accepts a new modifier: /s.
2688 It prints mixed source+disassembly like /m with two differences:
2689 - disassembled instructions are now printed in program order, and
2690 - and source for all relevant files is now printed.
2691 The "/m" option is now considered deprecated: its "source-centric"
2692 output hasn't proved useful in practice.
2693
2694 * The "record instruction-history" command accepts a new modifier: /s.
2695 It behaves exactly like /m and prints mixed source+disassembly.
2696
2697 * The "set scheduler-locking" command supports a new mode "replay".
2698 It behaves like "off" in record mode and like "on" in replay mode.
2699
2700 * Support for various ROM monitors has been removed:
2701
2702 target dbug dBUG ROM monitor for Motorola ColdFire
2703 target picobug Motorola picobug monitor
2704 target dink32 DINK32 ROM monitor for PowerPC
2705 target m32r Renesas M32R/D ROM monitor
2706 target mon2000 mon2000 ROM monitor
2707 target ppcbug PPCBUG ROM monitor for PowerPC
2708
2709 * Support for reading/writing memory and extracting values on architectures
2710 whose memory is addressable in units of any integral multiple of 8 bits.
2711
2712 catch handlers
2713 Allows to break when an Ada exception is handled.
2714
2715 * New remote packets
2716
2717 exec stop reason
2718 Indicates that an exec system call was executed.
2719
2720 exec-events feature in qSupported
2721 The qSupported packet allows GDB to request support for exec
2722 events using the new 'gdbfeature' exec-event, and the qSupported
2723 response can contain the corresponding 'stubfeature'. Set and
2724 show commands can be used to display whether these features are enabled.
2725
2726 vCtrlC
2727 Equivalent to interrupting with the ^C character, but works in
2728 non-stop mode.
2729
2730 thread created stop reason (T05 create:...)
2731 Indicates that the thread was just created and is stopped at entry.
2732
2733 thread exit stop reply (w exitcode;tid)
2734 Indicates that the thread has terminated.
2735
2736 QThreadEvents
2737 Enables/disables thread create and exit event reporting. For
2738 example, this is used in non-stop mode when GDB stops a set of
2739 threads and synchronously waits for the their corresponding stop
2740 replies. Without exit events, if one of the threads exits, GDB
2741 would hang forever not knowing that it should no longer expect a
2742 stop for that same thread.
2743
2744 N stop reply
2745 Indicates that there are no resumed threads left in the target (all
2746 threads are stopped). The remote stub reports support for this stop
2747 reply to GDB's qSupported query.
2748
2749 QCatchSyscalls
2750 Enables/disables catching syscalls from the inferior process.
2751 The remote stub reports support for this packet to GDB's qSupported query.
2752
2753 syscall_entry stop reason
2754 Indicates that a syscall was just called.
2755
2756 syscall_return stop reason
2757 Indicates that a syscall just returned.
2758
2759 * Extended-remote exec events
2760
2761 ** GDB now has support for exec events on extended-remote Linux targets.
2762 For such targets with Linux kernels 2.5.46 and later, this enables
2763 follow-exec-mode and exec catchpoints.
2764
2765 set remote exec-event-feature-packet
2766 show remote exec-event-feature-packet
2767 Set/show the use of the remote exec event feature.
2768
2769 * Thread names in remote protocol
2770
2771 The reply to qXfer:threads:read may now include a name attribute for each
2772 thread.
2773
2774 * Target remote mode fork and exec events
2775
2776 ** GDB now has support for fork and exec events on target remote mode
2777 Linux targets. For such targets with Linux kernels 2.5.46 and later,
2778 this enables follow-fork-mode, detach-on-fork, follow-exec-mode, and
2779 fork and exec catchpoints.
2780
2781 * Remote syscall events
2782
2783 ** GDB now has support for catch syscall on remote Linux targets,
2784 currently enabled on x86/x86_64 architectures.
2785
2786 set remote catch-syscall-packet
2787 show remote catch-syscall-packet
2788 Set/show the use of the remote catch syscall feature.
2789
2790 * MI changes
2791
2792 ** The -var-set-format command now accepts the zero-hexadecimal
2793 format. It outputs data in hexadecimal format with zero-padding on the
2794 left.
2795
2796 * Python Scripting
2797
2798 ** gdb.InferiorThread objects have a new attribute "global_num",
2799 which refers to the thread's global thread ID. The existing
2800 "num" attribute now refers to the thread's per-inferior number.
2801 See "Per-inferior thread numbers" above.
2802 ** gdb.InferiorThread objects have a new attribute "inferior", which
2803 is the Inferior object the thread belongs to.
2804
2805 *** Changes in GDB 7.10
2806
2807 * Support for process record-replay and reverse debugging on aarch64*-linux*
2808 targets has been added. GDB now supports recording of A64 instruction set
2809 including advance SIMD instructions.
2810
2811 * Support for Sun's version of the "stabs" debug file format has been removed.
2812
2813 * GDB now honors the content of the file /proc/PID/coredump_filter
2814 (PID is the process ID) on GNU/Linux systems. This file can be used
2815 to specify the types of memory mappings that will be included in a
2816 corefile. For more information, please refer to the manual page of
2817 "core(5)". GDB also has a new command: "set use-coredump-filter
2818 on|off". It allows to set whether GDB will read the content of the
2819 /proc/PID/coredump_filter file when generating a corefile.
2820
2821 * The "info os" command on GNU/Linux can now display information on
2822 cpu information :
2823 "info os cpus" Listing of all cpus/cores on the system
2824
2825 * GDB has two new commands: "set serial parity odd|even|none" and
2826 "show serial parity". These allows to set or show parity for the
2827 remote serial I/O.
2828
2829 * The "info source" command now displays the producer string if it was
2830 present in the debug info. This typically includes the compiler version
2831 and may include things like its command line arguments.
2832
2833 * The "info dll", an alias of the "info sharedlibrary" command,
2834 is now available on all platforms.
2835
2836 * Directory names supplied to the "set sysroot" commands may be
2837 prefixed with "target:" to tell GDB to access shared libraries from
2838 the target system, be it local or remote. This replaces the prefix
2839 "remote:". The default sysroot has been changed from "" to
2840 "target:". "remote:" is automatically converted to "target:" for
2841 backward compatibility.
2842
2843 * The system root specified by "set sysroot" will be prepended to the
2844 filename of the main executable (if reported to GDB as absolute by
2845 the operating system) when starting processes remotely, and when
2846 attaching to already-running local or remote processes.
2847
2848 * GDB now supports automatic location and retrieval of executable
2849 files from remote targets. Remote debugging can now be initiated
2850 using only a "target remote" or "target extended-remote" command
2851 (no "set sysroot" or "file" commands are required). See "New remote
2852 packets" below.
2853
2854 * The "dump" command now supports verilog hex format.
2855
2856 * GDB now supports the vector ABI on S/390 GNU/Linux targets.
2857
2858 * On GNU/Linux, GDB and gdbserver are now able to access executable
2859 and shared library files without a "set sysroot" command when
2860 attaching to processes running in different mount namespaces from
2861 the debugger. This makes it possible to attach to processes in
2862 containers as simply as "gdb -p PID" or "gdbserver --attach PID".
2863 See "New remote packets" below.
2864
2865 * The "tui reg" command now provides completion for all of the
2866 available register groups, including target specific groups.
2867
2868 * The HISTSIZE environment variable is no longer read when determining
2869 the size of GDB's command history. GDB now instead reads the dedicated
2870 GDBHISTSIZE environment variable. Setting GDBHISTSIZE to "-1" or to "" now
2871 disables truncation of command history. Non-numeric values of GDBHISTSIZE
2872 are ignored.
2873
2874 * Guile Scripting
2875
2876 ** Memory ports can now be unbuffered.
2877
2878 * Python Scripting
2879
2880 ** gdb.Objfile objects have a new attribute "username",
2881 which is the name of the objfile as specified by the user,
2882 without, for example, resolving symlinks.
2883 ** You can now write frame unwinders in Python.
2884 ** gdb.Type objects have a new method "optimized_out",
2885 returning optimized out gdb.Value instance of this type.
2886 ** gdb.Value objects have new methods "reference_value" and
2887 "const_value" which return a reference to the value and a
2888 "const" version of the value respectively.
2889
2890 * New commands
2891
2892 maint print symbol-cache
2893 Print the contents of the symbol cache.
2894
2895 maint print symbol-cache-statistics
2896 Print statistics of symbol cache usage.
2897
2898 maint flush-symbol-cache
2899 Flush the contents of the symbol cache.
2900
2901 record btrace bts
2902 record bts
2903 Start branch trace recording using Branch Trace Store (BTS) format.
2904
2905 compile print
2906 Evaluate expression by using the compiler and print result.
2907
2908 tui enable
2909 tui disable
2910 Explicit commands for enabling and disabling tui mode.
2911
2912 show mpx bound
2913 set mpx bound on i386 and amd64
2914 Support for bound table investigation on Intel MPX enabled applications.
2915
2916 record btrace pt
2917 record pt
2918 Start branch trace recording using Intel Processor Trace format.
2919
2920 maint info btrace
2921 Print information about branch tracing internals.
2922
2923 maint btrace packet-history
2924 Print the raw branch tracing data.
2925
2926 maint btrace clear-packet-history
2927 Discard the stored raw branch tracing data.
2928
2929 maint btrace clear
2930 Discard all branch tracing data. It will be fetched and processed
2931 anew by the next "record" command.
2932
2933 * New options
2934
2935 set debug dwarf-die
2936 Renamed from "set debug dwarf2-die".
2937 show debug dwarf-die
2938 Renamed from "show debug dwarf2-die".
2939
2940 set debug dwarf-read
2941 Renamed from "set debug dwarf2-read".
2942 show debug dwarf-read
2943 Renamed from "show debug dwarf2-read".
2944
2945 maint set dwarf always-disassemble
2946 Renamed from "maint set dwarf2 always-disassemble".
2947 maint show dwarf always-disassemble
2948 Renamed from "maint show dwarf2 always-disassemble".
2949
2950 maint set dwarf max-cache-age
2951 Renamed from "maint set dwarf2 max-cache-age".
2952 maint show dwarf max-cache-age
2953 Renamed from "maint show dwarf2 max-cache-age".
2954
2955 set debug dwarf-line
2956 show debug dwarf-line
2957 Control display of debugging info regarding DWARF line processing.
2958
2959 set max-completions
2960 show max-completions
2961 Set the maximum number of candidates to be considered during
2962 completion. The default value is 200. This limit allows GDB
2963 to avoid generating large completion lists, the computation of
2964 which can cause the debugger to become temporarily unresponsive.
2965
2966 set history remove-duplicates
2967 show history remove-duplicates
2968 Control the removal of duplicate history entries.
2969
2970 maint set symbol-cache-size
2971 maint show symbol-cache-size
2972 Control the size of the symbol cache.
2973
2974 set|show record btrace bts buffer-size
2975 Set and show the size of the ring buffer used for branch tracing in
2976 BTS format.
2977 The obtained size may differ from the requested size. Use "info
2978 record" to see the obtained buffer size.
2979
2980 set debug linux-namespaces
2981 show debug linux-namespaces
2982 Control display of debugging info regarding Linux namespaces.
2983
2984 set|show record btrace pt buffer-size
2985 Set and show the size of the ring buffer used for branch tracing in
2986 Intel Processor Trace format.
2987 The obtained size may differ from the requested size. Use "info
2988 record" to see the obtained buffer size.
2989
2990 maint set|show btrace pt skip-pad
2991 Set and show whether PAD packets are skipped when computing the
2992 packet history.
2993
2994 * The command 'thread apply all' can now support new option '-ascending'
2995 to call its specified command for all threads in ascending order.
2996
2997 * Python/Guile scripting
2998
2999 ** GDB now supports auto-loading of Python/Guile scripts contained in the
3000 special section named `.debug_gdb_scripts'.
3001
3002 * New remote packets
3003
3004 qXfer:btrace-conf:read
3005 Return the branch trace configuration for the current thread.
3006
3007 Qbtrace-conf:bts:size
3008 Set the requested ring buffer size for branch tracing in BTS format.
3009
3010 Qbtrace:pt
3011 Enable Intel Processor Trace-based branch tracing for the current
3012 process. The remote stub reports support for this packet to GDB's
3013 qSupported query.
3014
3015 Qbtrace-conf:pt:size
3016 Set the requested ring buffer size for branch tracing in Intel Processor
3017 Trace format.
3018
3019 swbreak stop reason
3020 Indicates a memory breakpoint instruction was executed, irrespective
3021 of whether it was GDB that planted the breakpoint or the breakpoint
3022 is hardcoded in the program. This is required for correct non-stop
3023 mode operation.
3024
3025 hwbreak stop reason
3026 Indicates the target stopped for a hardware breakpoint. This is
3027 required for correct non-stop mode operation.
3028
3029 vFile:fstat:
3030 Return information about files on the remote system.
3031
3032 qXfer:exec-file:read
3033 Return the full absolute name of the file that was executed to
3034 create a process running on the remote system.
3035
3036 vFile:setfs:
3037 Select the filesystem on which vFile: operations with filename
3038 arguments will operate. This is required for GDB to be able to
3039 access files on remote targets where the remote stub does not
3040 share a common filesystem with the inferior(s).
3041
3042 fork stop reason
3043 Indicates that a fork system call was executed.
3044
3045 vfork stop reason
3046 Indicates that a vfork system call was executed.
3047
3048 vforkdone stop reason
3049 Indicates that a vfork child of the specified process has executed
3050 an exec or exit, allowing the vfork parent to resume execution.
3051
3052 fork-events and vfork-events features in qSupported
3053 The qSupported packet allows GDB to request support for fork and
3054 vfork events using new 'gdbfeatures' fork-events and vfork-events,
3055 and the qSupported response can contain the corresponding
3056 'stubfeatures'. Set and show commands can be used to display
3057 whether these features are enabled.
3058
3059 * Extended-remote fork events
3060
3061 ** GDB now has support for fork events on extended-remote Linux
3062 targets. For targets with Linux kernels 2.5.60 and later, this
3063 enables follow-fork-mode and detach-on-fork for both fork and
3064 vfork, as well as fork and vfork catchpoints.
3065
3066 * The info record command now shows the recording format and the
3067 branch tracing configuration for the current thread when using
3068 the btrace record target.
3069 For the BTS format, it shows the ring buffer size.
3070
3071 * GDB now has support for DTrace USDT (Userland Static Defined
3072 Tracing) probes. The supported targets are x86_64-*-linux-gnu.
3073
3074 * GDB now supports access to vector registers on S/390 GNU/Linux
3075 targets.
3076
3077 * Removed command line options
3078
3079 -xdb HP-UX XDB compatibility mode.
3080
3081 * Removed targets and native configurations
3082
3083 HP/PA running HP-UX hppa*-*-hpux*
3084 Itanium running HP-UX ia64-*-hpux*
3085
3086 * New configure options
3087
3088 --with-intel-pt
3089 This configure option allows the user to build GDB with support for
3090 Intel Processor Trace (default: auto). This requires libipt.
3091
3092 --with-libipt-prefix=PATH
3093 Specify the path to the version of libipt that GDB should use.
3094 $PATH/include should contain the intel-pt.h header and
3095 $PATH/lib should contain the libipt.so library.
3096
3097 *** Changes in GDB 7.9.1
3098
3099 * Python Scripting
3100
3101 ** Xmethods can now specify a result type.
3102
3103 *** Changes in GDB 7.9
3104
3105 * GDB now supports hardware watchpoints on x86 GNU Hurd.
3106
3107 * Python Scripting
3108
3109 ** You can now access frame registers from Python scripts.
3110 ** New attribute 'producer' for gdb.Symtab objects.
3111 ** gdb.Objfile objects have a new attribute "progspace",
3112 which is the gdb.Progspace object of the containing program space.
3113 ** gdb.Objfile objects have a new attribute "owner".
3114 ** gdb.Objfile objects have a new attribute "build_id",
3115 which is the build ID generated when the file was built.
3116 ** gdb.Objfile objects have a new method "add_separate_debug_file".
3117 ** A new event "gdb.clear_objfiles" has been added, triggered when
3118 selecting a new file to debug.
3119 ** You can now add attributes to gdb.Objfile and gdb.Progspace objects.
3120 ** New function gdb.lookup_objfile.
3121
3122 New events which are triggered when GDB modifies the state of the
3123 inferior.
3124
3125 ** gdb.events.inferior_call_pre: Function call is about to be made.
3126 ** gdb.events.inferior_call_post: Function call has just been made.
3127 ** gdb.events.memory_changed: A memory location has been altered.
3128 ** gdb.events.register_changed: A register has been altered.
3129
3130 * New Python-based convenience functions:
3131
3132 ** $_caller_is(name [, number_of_frames])
3133 ** $_caller_matches(regexp [, number_of_frames])
3134 ** $_any_caller_is(name [, number_of_frames])
3135 ** $_any_caller_matches(regexp [, number_of_frames])
3136
3137 * GDB now supports the compilation and injection of source code into
3138 the inferior. GDB will use GCC 5.0 or higher built with libcc1.so
3139 to compile the source code to object code, and if successful, inject
3140 and execute that code within the current context of the inferior.
3141 Currently the C language is supported. The commands used to
3142 interface with this new feature are:
3143
3144 compile code [-raw|-r] [--] [source code]
3145 compile file [-raw|-r] filename
3146
3147 * New commands
3148
3149 demangle [-l language] [--] name
3150 Demangle "name" in the specified language, or the current language
3151 if elided. This command is renamed from the "maint demangle" command.
3152 The latter is kept as a no-op to avoid "maint demangle" being interpreted
3153 as "maint demangler-warning".
3154
3155 queue-signal signal-name-or-number
3156 Queue a signal to be delivered to the thread when it is resumed.
3157
3158 add-auto-load-scripts-directory directory
3159 Add entries to the list of directories from which to load auto-loaded
3160 scripts.
3161
3162 maint print user-registers
3163 List all currently available "user" registers.
3164
3165 compile code [-r|-raw] [--] [source code]
3166 Compile, inject, and execute in the inferior the executable object
3167 code produced by compiling the provided source code.
3168
3169 compile file [-r|-raw] filename
3170 Compile and inject into the inferior the executable object code
3171 produced by compiling the source code stored in the filename
3172 provided.
3173
3174 * On resume, GDB now always passes the signal the program had stopped
3175 for to the thread the signal was sent to, even if the user changed
3176 threads before resuming. Previously GDB would often (but not
3177 always) deliver the signal to the thread that happens to be current
3178 at resume time.
3179
3180 * Conversely, the "signal" command now consistently delivers the
3181 requested signal to the current thread. GDB now asks for
3182 confirmation if the program had stopped for a signal and the user
3183 switched threads meanwhile.
3184
3185 * "breakpoint always-inserted" modes "off" and "auto" merged.
3186
3187 Now, when 'breakpoint always-inserted mode' is set to "off", GDB
3188 won't remove breakpoints from the target until all threads stop,
3189 even in non-stop mode. The "auto" mode has been removed, and "off"
3190 is now the default mode.
3191
3192 * New options
3193
3194 set debug symbol-lookup
3195 show debug symbol-lookup
3196 Control display of debugging info regarding symbol lookup.
3197
3198 * MI changes
3199
3200 ** The -list-thread-groups command outputs an exit-code field for
3201 inferiors that have exited.
3202
3203 * New targets
3204
3205 MIPS SDE mips*-sde*-elf*
3206
3207 * Removed targets
3208
3209 Support for these obsolete configurations has been removed.
3210
3211 Alpha running OSF/1 (or Tru64) alpha*-*-osf*
3212 SGI Irix-5.x mips-*-irix5*
3213 SGI Irix-6.x mips-*-irix6*
3214 VAX running (4.2 - 4.3 Reno) BSD vax-*-bsd*
3215 VAX running Ultrix vax-*-ultrix*
3216
3217 * The "dll-symbols" command, and its two aliases ("add-shared-symbol-files"
3218 and "assf"), have been removed. Use the "sharedlibrary" command, or
3219 its alias "share", instead.
3220
3221 *** Changes in GDB 7.8
3222
3223 * New command line options
3224
3225 -D data-directory
3226 This is an alias for the --data-directory option.
3227
3228 * GDB supports printing and modifying of variable length automatic arrays
3229 as specified in ISO C99.
3230
3231 * The ARM simulator now supports instruction level tracing
3232 with or without disassembly.
3233
3234 * Guile scripting
3235
3236 GDB now has support for scripting using Guile. Whether this is
3237 available is determined at configure time.
3238 Guile version 2.0 or greater is required.
3239 Guile version 2.0.9 is well tested, earlier 2.0 versions are not.
3240
3241 * New commands (for set/show, see "New options" below)
3242
3243 guile [code]
3244 gu [code]
3245 Invoke CODE by passing it to the Guile interpreter.
3246
3247 guile-repl
3248 gr
3249 Start a Guile interactive prompt (or "repl" for "read-eval-print loop").
3250
3251 info auto-load guile-scripts [regexp]
3252 Print the list of automatically loaded Guile scripts.
3253
3254 * The source command is now capable of sourcing Guile scripts.
3255 This feature is dependent on the debugger being built with Guile support.
3256
3257 * New options
3258
3259 set print symbol-loading (off|brief|full)
3260 show print symbol-loading
3261 Control whether to print informational messages when loading symbol
3262 information for a file. The default is "full", but when debugging
3263 programs with large numbers of shared libraries the amount of output
3264 becomes less useful.
3265
3266 set guile print-stack (none|message|full)
3267 show guile print-stack
3268 Show a stack trace when an error is encountered in a Guile script.
3269
3270 set auto-load guile-scripts (on|off)
3271 show auto-load guile-scripts
3272 Control auto-loading of Guile script files.
3273
3274 maint ada set ignore-descriptive-types (on|off)
3275 maint ada show ignore-descriptive-types
3276 Control whether the debugger should ignore descriptive types in Ada
3277 programs. The default is not to ignore the descriptive types. See
3278 the user manual for more details on descriptive types and the intended
3279 usage of this option.
3280
3281 set auto-connect-native-target
3282
3283 Control whether GDB is allowed to automatically connect to the
3284 native target for the run, attach, etc. commands when not connected
3285 to any target yet. See also "target native" below.
3286
3287 set record btrace replay-memory-access (read-only|read-write)
3288 show record btrace replay-memory-access
3289 Control what memory accesses are allowed during replay.
3290
3291 maint set target-async (on|off)
3292 maint show target-async
3293 This controls whether GDB targets operate in synchronous or
3294 asynchronous mode. Normally the default is asynchronous, if it is
3295 available; but this can be changed to more easily debug problems
3296 occurring only in synchronous mode.
3297
3298 set mi-async (on|off)
3299 show mi-async
3300 Control whether MI asynchronous mode is preferred. This supersedes
3301 "set target-async" of previous GDB versions.
3302
3303 * "set target-async" is deprecated as a CLI option and is now an alias
3304 for "set mi-async" (only puts MI into async mode).
3305
3306 * Background execution commands (e.g., "c&", "s&", etc.) are now
3307 possible ``out of the box'' if the target supports them. Previously
3308 the user would need to explicitly enable the possibility with the
3309 "set target-async on" command.
3310
3311 * New features in the GDB remote stub, GDBserver
3312
3313 ** New option --debug-format=option1[,option2,...] allows one to add
3314 additional text to each output. At present only timestamps
3315 are supported: --debug-format=timestamps.
3316 Timestamps can also be turned on with the
3317 "monitor set debug-format timestamps" command from GDB.
3318
3319 * The 'record instruction-history' command now starts counting instructions
3320 at one. This also affects the instruction ranges reported by the
3321 'record function-call-history' command when given the /i modifier.
3322
3323 * The command 'record function-call-history' supports a new modifier '/c' to
3324 indent the function names based on their call stack depth.
3325 The fields for the '/i' and '/l' modifier have been reordered.
3326 The source line range is now prefixed with 'at'.
3327 The instruction range is now prefixed with 'inst'.
3328 Both ranges are now printed as '<from>, <to>' to allow copy&paste to the
3329 "record instruction-history" and "list" commands.
3330
3331 * The ranges given as arguments to the 'record function-call-history' and
3332 'record instruction-history' commands are now inclusive.
3333
3334 * The btrace record target now supports the 'record goto' command.
3335 For locations inside the execution trace, the back trace is computed
3336 based on the information stored in the execution trace.
3337
3338 * The btrace record target supports limited reverse execution and replay.
3339 The target does not record data and therefore does not allow reading
3340 memory or registers.
3341
3342 * The "catch syscall" command now works on s390*-linux* targets.
3343
3344 * The "compare-sections" command is no longer specific to target
3345 remote. It now works with all targets.
3346
3347 * All native targets are now consistently called "native".
3348 Consequently, the "target child", "target GNU", "target djgpp",
3349 "target procfs" (Solaris/Irix/OSF/AIX) and "target darwin-child"
3350 commands have been replaced with "target native". The QNX/NTO port
3351 leaves the "procfs" target in place and adds a "native" target for
3352 consistency with other ports. The impact on users should be minimal
3353 as these commands previously either throwed an error, or were
3354 no-ops. The target's name is visible in the output of the following
3355 commands: "help target", "info target", "info files", "maint print
3356 target-stack".
3357
3358 * The "target native" command now connects to the native target. This
3359 can be used to launch native programs even when "set
3360 auto-connect-native-target" is set to off.
3361
3362 * GDB now supports access to Intel MPX registers on GNU/Linux.
3363
3364 * Support for Intel AVX-512 registers on GNU/Linux.
3365 Support displaying and modifying Intel AVX-512 registers
3366 $zmm0 - $zmm31 and $k0 - $k7 on GNU/Linux.
3367
3368 * New remote packets
3369
3370 qXfer:btrace:read's annex
3371 The qXfer:btrace:read packet supports a new annex 'delta' to read
3372 branch trace incrementally.
3373
3374 * Python Scripting
3375
3376 ** Valid Python operations on gdb.Value objects representing
3377 structs/classes invoke the corresponding overloaded operators if
3378 available.
3379 ** New `Xmethods' feature in the Python API. Xmethods are
3380 additional methods or replacements for existing methods of a C++
3381 class. This feature is useful for those cases where a method
3382 defined in C++ source code could be inlined or optimized out by
3383 the compiler, making it unavailable to GDB.
3384
3385 * New targets
3386 PowerPC64 GNU/Linux little-endian powerpc64le-*-linux*
3387
3388 * The "dll-symbols" command, and its two aliases ("add-shared-symbol-files"
3389 and "assf"), have been deprecated. Use the "sharedlibrary" command, or
3390 its alias "share", instead.
3391
3392 * The commands "set remotebaud" and "show remotebaud" are no longer
3393 supported. Use "set serial baud" and "show serial baud" (respectively)
3394 instead.
3395
3396 * MI changes
3397
3398 ** A new option "-gdb-set mi-async" replaces "-gdb-set
3399 target-async". The latter is left as a deprecated alias of the
3400 former for backward compatibility. If the target supports it,
3401 CLI background execution commands are now always possible by
3402 default, independently of whether the frontend stated a
3403 preference for asynchronous execution with "-gdb-set mi-async".
3404 Previously "-gdb-set target-async off" affected both MI execution
3405 commands and CLI execution commands.
3406
3407 *** Changes in GDB 7.7
3408
3409 * Improved support for process record-replay and reverse debugging on
3410 arm*-linux* targets. Support for thumb32 and syscall instruction
3411 recording has been added.
3412
3413 * GDB now supports SystemTap SDT probes on AArch64 GNU/Linux.
3414
3415 * GDB now supports Fission DWP file format version 2.
3416 http://gcc.gnu.org/wiki/DebugFission
3417
3418 * New convenience function "$_isvoid", to check whether an expression
3419 is void. A void expression is an expression where the type of the
3420 result is "void". For example, some convenience variables may be
3421 "void" when evaluated (e.g., "$_exitcode" before the execution of
3422 the program being debugged; or an undefined convenience variable).
3423 Another example, when calling a function whose return type is
3424 "void".
3425
3426 * The "maintenance print objfiles" command now takes an optional regexp.
3427
3428 * The "catch syscall" command now works on arm*-linux* targets.
3429
3430 * GDB now consistently shows "<not saved>" when printing values of
3431 registers the debug info indicates have not been saved in the frame
3432 and there's nowhere to retrieve them from
3433 (callee-saved/call-clobbered registers):
3434
3435 (gdb) p $rax
3436 $1 = <not saved>
3437
3438 (gdb) info registers rax
3439 rax <not saved>
3440
3441 Before, the former would print "<optimized out>", and the latter
3442 "*value not available*".
3443
3444 * New script contrib/gdb-add-index.sh for adding .gdb_index sections
3445 to binaries.
3446
3447 * Python scripting
3448
3449 ** Frame filters and frame decorators have been added.
3450 ** Temporary breakpoints are now supported.
3451 ** Line tables representation has been added.
3452 ** New attribute 'parent_type' for gdb.Field objects.
3453 ** gdb.Field objects can be used as subscripts on gdb.Value objects.
3454 ** New attribute 'name' for gdb.Type objects.
3455
3456 * New targets
3457
3458 Nios II ELF nios2*-*-elf
3459 Nios II GNU/Linux nios2*-*-linux
3460 Texas Instruments MSP430 msp430*-*-elf
3461
3462 * Removed native configurations
3463
3464 Support for these a.out NetBSD and OpenBSD obsolete configurations has
3465 been removed. ELF variants of these configurations are kept supported.
3466
3467 arm*-*-netbsd* but arm*-*-netbsdelf* is kept supported.
3468 i[34567]86-*-netbsd* but i[34567]86-*-netbsdelf* is kept supported.
3469 i[34567]86-*-openbsd[0-2].* but i[34567]86-*-openbsd* is kept supported.
3470 i[34567]86-*-openbsd3.[0-3]
3471 m68*-*-netbsd* but m68*-*-netbsdelf* is kept supported.
3472 sparc-*-netbsd* but sparc-*-netbsdelf* is kept supported.
3473 vax-*-netbsd* but vax-*-netbsdelf* is kept supported.
3474
3475 * New commands:
3476 catch rethrow
3477 Like "catch throw", but catches a re-thrown exception.
3478 maint check-psymtabs
3479 Renamed from old "maint check-symtabs".
3480 maint check-symtabs
3481 Perform consistency checks on symtabs.
3482 maint expand-symtabs
3483 Expand symtabs matching an optional regexp.
3484
3485 show configuration
3486 Display the details of GDB configure-time options.
3487
3488 maint set|show per-command
3489 maint set|show per-command space
3490 maint set|show per-command time
3491 maint set|show per-command symtab
3492 Enable display of per-command gdb resource usage.
3493
3494 remove-symbol-file FILENAME
3495 remove-symbol-file -a ADDRESS
3496 Remove a symbol file added via add-symbol-file. The file to remove
3497 can be identified by its filename or by an address that lies within
3498 the boundaries of this symbol file in memory.
3499
3500 info exceptions
3501 info exceptions REGEXP
3502 Display the list of Ada exceptions defined in the program being
3503 debugged. If provided, only the exceptions whose names match REGEXP
3504 are listed.
3505
3506 * New options
3507
3508 set debug symfile off|on
3509 show debug symfile
3510 Control display of debugging info regarding reading symbol files and
3511 symbol tables within those files
3512
3513 set print raw frame-arguments
3514 show print raw frame-arguments
3515 Set/show whether to print frame arguments in raw mode,
3516 disregarding any defined pretty-printers.
3517
3518 set remote trace-status-packet
3519 show remote trace-status-packet
3520 Set/show the use of remote protocol qTStatus packet.
3521
3522 set debug nios2
3523 show debug nios2
3524 Control display of debugging messages related to Nios II targets.
3525
3526 set range-stepping
3527 show range-stepping
3528 Control whether target-assisted range stepping is enabled.
3529
3530 set startup-with-shell
3531 show startup-with-shell
3532 Specifies whether Unix child processes are started via a shell or
3533 directly.
3534
3535 set code-cache
3536 show code-cache
3537 Use the target memory cache for accesses to the code segment. This
3538 improves performance of remote debugging (particularly disassembly).
3539
3540 * You can now use a literal value 'unlimited' for options that
3541 interpret 0 or -1 as meaning "unlimited". E.g., "set
3542 trace-buffer-size unlimited" is now an alias for "set
3543 trace-buffer-size -1" and "set height unlimited" is now an alias for
3544 "set height 0".
3545
3546 * The "set debug symtab-create" debugging option of GDB has been changed to
3547 accept a verbosity level. 0 means "off", 1 provides basic debugging
3548 output, and values of 2 or greater provides more verbose output.
3549
3550 * New command-line options
3551 --configuration
3552 Display the details of GDB configure-time options.
3553
3554 * The command 'tsave' can now support new option '-ctf' to save trace
3555 buffer in Common Trace Format.
3556
3557 * Newly installed $prefix/bin/gcore acts as a shell interface for the
3558 GDB command gcore.
3559
3560 * GDB now implements the C++ 'typeid' operator.
3561
3562 * The new convenience variable $_exception holds the exception being
3563 thrown or caught at an exception-related catchpoint.
3564
3565 * The exception-related catchpoints, like "catch throw", now accept a
3566 regular expression which can be used to filter exceptions by type.
3567
3568 * The new convenience variable $_exitsignal is automatically set to
3569 the terminating signal number when the program being debugged dies
3570 due to an uncaught signal.
3571
3572 * MI changes
3573
3574 ** All MI commands now accept an optional "--language" option.
3575 Support for this feature can be verified by using the "-list-features"
3576 command, which should contain "language-option".
3577
3578 ** The new command -info-gdb-mi-command allows the user to determine
3579 whether a GDB/MI command is supported or not.
3580
3581 ** The "^error" result record returned when trying to execute an undefined
3582 GDB/MI command now provides a variable named "code" whose content is the
3583 "undefined-command" error code. Support for this feature can be verified
3584 by using the "-list-features" command, which should contain
3585 "undefined-command-error-code".
3586
3587 ** The -trace-save MI command can optionally save trace buffer in Common
3588 Trace Format now.
3589
3590 ** The new command -dprintf-insert sets a dynamic printf breakpoint.
3591
3592 ** The command -data-list-register-values now accepts an optional
3593 "--skip-unavailable" option. When used, only the available registers
3594 are displayed.
3595
3596 ** The new command -trace-frame-collected dumps collected variables,
3597 computed expressions, tvars, memory and registers in a traceframe.
3598
3599 ** The commands -stack-list-locals, -stack-list-arguments and
3600 -stack-list-variables now accept an option "--skip-unavailable".
3601 When used, only the available locals or arguments are displayed.
3602
3603 ** The -exec-run command now accepts an optional "--start" option.
3604 When used, the command follows the same semantics as the "start"
3605 command, stopping the program's execution at the start of its
3606 main subprogram. Support for this feature can be verified using
3607 the "-list-features" command, which should contain
3608 "exec-run-start-option".
3609
3610 ** The new commands -catch-assert and -catch-exceptions insert
3611 catchpoints stopping the program when Ada exceptions are raised.
3612
3613 ** The new command -info-ada-exceptions provides the equivalent of
3614 the new "info exceptions" command.
3615
3616 * New system-wide configuration scripts
3617 A GDB installation now provides scripts suitable for use as system-wide
3618 configuration scripts for the following systems:
3619 ** ElinOS
3620 ** Wind River Linux
3621
3622 * GDB now supports target-assigned range stepping with remote targets.
3623 This improves the performance of stepping source lines by reducing
3624 the number of control packets from/to GDB. See "New remote packets"
3625 below.
3626
3627 * GDB now understands the element 'tvar' in the XML traceframe info.
3628 It has the id of the collected trace state variables.
3629
3630 * On S/390 targets that provide the transactional-execution feature,
3631 the program interruption transaction diagnostic block (TDB) is now
3632 represented as a number of additional "registers" in GDB.
3633
3634 * New remote packets
3635
3636 vCont;r
3637
3638 The vCont packet supports a new 'r' action, that tells the remote
3639 stub to step through an address range itself, without GDB
3640 involvemement at each single-step.
3641
3642 qXfer:libraries-svr4:read's annex
3643 The previously unused annex of the qXfer:libraries-svr4:read packet
3644 is now used to support passing an argument list. The remote stub
3645 reports support for this argument list to GDB's qSupported query.
3646 The defined arguments are "start" and "prev", used to reduce work
3647 necessary for library list updating, resulting in significant
3648 speedup.
3649
3650 * New features in the GDB remote stub, GDBserver
3651
3652 ** GDBserver now supports target-assisted range stepping. Currently
3653 enabled on x86/x86_64 GNU/Linux targets.
3654
3655 ** GDBserver now adds element 'tvar' in the XML in the reply to
3656 'qXfer:traceframe-info:read'. It has the id of the collected
3657 trace state variables.
3658
3659 ** GDBserver now supports hardware watchpoints on the MIPS GNU/Linux
3660 target.
3661
3662 * New 'z' formatter for printing and examining memory, this displays the
3663 value as hexadecimal zero padded on the left to the size of the type.
3664
3665 * GDB can now use Windows x64 unwinding data.
3666
3667 * The "set remotebaud" command has been replaced by "set serial baud".
3668 Similarly, "show remotebaud" has been replaced by "show serial baud".
3669 The "set remotebaud" and "show remotebaud" commands are still available
3670 to provide backward compatibility with older versions of GDB.
3671
3672 *** Changes in GDB 7.6
3673
3674 * Target record has been renamed to record-full.
3675 Record/replay is now enabled with the "record full" command.
3676 This also affects settings that are associated with full record/replay
3677 that have been moved from "set/show record" to "set/show record full":
3678
3679 set|show record full insn-number-max
3680 set|show record full stop-at-limit
3681 set|show record full memory-query
3682
3683 * A new record target "record-btrace" has been added. The new target
3684 uses hardware support to record the control-flow of a process. It
3685 does not support replaying the execution, but it implements the
3686 below new commands for investigating the recorded execution log.
3687 This new recording method can be enabled using:
3688
3689 record btrace
3690
3691 The "record-btrace" target is only available on Intel Atom processors
3692 and requires a Linux kernel 2.6.32 or later.
3693
3694 * Two new commands have been added for record/replay to give information
3695 about the recorded execution without having to replay the execution.
3696 The commands are only supported by "record btrace".
3697
3698 record instruction-history prints the execution history at
3699 instruction granularity
3700
3701 record function-call-history prints the execution history at
3702 function granularity
3703
3704 * New native configurations
3705
3706 ARM AArch64 GNU/Linux aarch64*-*-linux-gnu
3707 FreeBSD/powerpc powerpc*-*-freebsd
3708 x86_64/Cygwin x86_64-*-cygwin*
3709 Tilera TILE-Gx GNU/Linux tilegx*-*-linux-gnu
3710
3711 * New targets
3712
3713 ARM AArch64 aarch64*-*-elf
3714 ARM AArch64 GNU/Linux aarch64*-*-linux
3715 Lynx 178 PowerPC powerpc-*-lynx*178
3716 x86_64/Cygwin x86_64-*-cygwin*
3717 Tilera TILE-Gx GNU/Linux tilegx*-*-linux
3718
3719 * If the configured location of system.gdbinit file (as given by the
3720 --with-system-gdbinit option at configure time) is in the
3721 data-directory (as specified by --with-gdb-datadir at configure
3722 time) or in one of its subdirectories, then GDB will look for the
3723 system-wide init file in the directory specified by the
3724 --data-directory command-line option.
3725
3726 * New command line options:
3727
3728 -nh Disables auto-loading of ~/.gdbinit, but still executes all the
3729 other initialization files, unlike -nx which disables all of them.
3730
3731 * Removed command line options
3732
3733 -epoch This was used by the gdb mode in Epoch, an ancient fork of
3734 Emacs.
3735
3736 * The 'ptype' and 'whatis' commands now accept an argument to control
3737 type formatting.
3738
3739 * 'info proc' now works on some core files.
3740
3741 * Python scripting
3742
3743 ** Vectors can be created with gdb.Type.vector.
3744
3745 ** Python's atexit.register now works in GDB.
3746
3747 ** Types can be pretty-printed via a Python API.
3748
3749 ** Python 3 is now supported (in addition to Python 2.4 or later)
3750
3751 ** New class gdb.Architecture exposes GDB's internal representation
3752 of architecture in the Python API.
3753
3754 ** New method Frame.architecture returns the gdb.Architecture object
3755 corresponding to the frame's architecture.
3756
3757 * New Python-based convenience functions:
3758
3759 ** $_memeq(buf1, buf2, length)
3760 ** $_streq(str1, str2)
3761 ** $_strlen(str)
3762 ** $_regex(str, regex)
3763
3764 * The 'cd' command now defaults to using '~' (the home directory) if not
3765 given an argument.
3766
3767 * The C++ ABI now defaults to the GNU v3 ABI. This has been the
3768 default for GCC since November 2000.
3769
3770 * The command 'forward-search' can now be abbreviated as 'fo'.
3771
3772 * The command 'info tracepoints' can now display 'installed on target'
3773 or 'not installed on target' for each non-pending location of tracepoint.
3774
3775 * New configure options
3776
3777 --enable-libmcheck/--disable-libmcheck
3778 By default, development versions are built with -lmcheck on hosts
3779 that support it, in order to help track memory corruption issues.
3780 Release versions, on the other hand, are built without -lmcheck
3781 by default. The --enable-libmcheck/--disable-libmcheck configure
3782 options allow the user to override that default.
3783 --with-babeltrace/--with-babeltrace-include/--with-babeltrace-lib
3784 This configure option allows the user to build GDB with
3785 libbabeltrace using which GDB can read Common Trace Format data.
3786
3787 * New commands (for set/show, see "New options" below)
3788
3789 catch signal
3790 Catch signals. This is similar to "handle", but allows commands and
3791 conditions to be attached.
3792
3793 maint info bfds
3794 List the BFDs known to GDB.
3795
3796 python-interactive [command]
3797 pi [command]
3798 Start a Python interactive prompt, or evaluate the optional command
3799 and print the result of expressions.
3800
3801 py [command]
3802 "py" is a new alias for "python".
3803
3804 enable type-printer [name]...
3805 disable type-printer [name]...
3806 Enable or disable type printers.
3807
3808 * Removed commands
3809
3810 ** For the Renesas Super-H architecture, the "regs" command has been removed
3811 (has been deprecated in GDB 7.5), and "info all-registers" should be used
3812 instead.
3813
3814 * New options
3815
3816 set print type methods (on|off)
3817 show print type methods
3818 Control whether method declarations are displayed by "ptype".
3819 The default is to show them.
3820
3821 set print type typedefs (on|off)
3822 show print type typedefs
3823 Control whether typedef definitions are displayed by "ptype".
3824 The default is to show them.
3825
3826 set filename-display basename|relative|absolute
3827 show filename-display
3828 Control the way in which filenames is displayed.
3829 The default is "relative", which preserves previous behavior.
3830
3831 set trace-buffer-size
3832 show trace-buffer-size
3833 Request target to change the size of trace buffer.
3834
3835 set remote trace-buffer-size-packet auto|on|off
3836 show remote trace-buffer-size-packet
3837 Control the use of the remote protocol `QTBuffer:size' packet.
3838
3839 set debug aarch64
3840 show debug aarch64
3841 Control display of debugging messages related to ARM AArch64.
3842 The default is off.
3843
3844 set debug coff-pe-read
3845 show debug coff-pe-read
3846 Control display of debugging messages related to reading of COFF/PE
3847 exported symbols.
3848
3849 set debug mach-o
3850 show debug mach-o
3851 Control display of debugging messages related to Mach-O symbols
3852 processing.
3853
3854 set debug notification
3855 show debug notification
3856 Control display of debugging info for async remote notification.
3857
3858 * MI changes
3859
3860 ** Command parameter changes are now notified using new async record
3861 "=cmd-param-changed".
3862 ** Trace frame changes caused by command "tfind" are now notified using
3863 new async record "=traceframe-changed".
3864 ** The creation, deletion and modification of trace state variables
3865 are now notified using new async records "=tsv-created",
3866 "=tsv-deleted" and "=tsv-modified".
3867 ** The start and stop of process record are now notified using new
3868 async record "=record-started" and "=record-stopped".
3869 ** Memory changes are now notified using new async record
3870 "=memory-changed".
3871 ** The data-disassemble command response will include a "fullname" field
3872 containing the absolute file name when source has been requested.
3873 ** New optional parameter COUNT added to the "-data-write-memory-bytes"
3874 command, to allow pattern filling of memory areas.
3875 ** New commands "-catch-load"/"-catch-unload" added for intercepting
3876 library load/unload events.
3877 ** The response to breakpoint commands and breakpoint async records
3878 includes an "installed" field containing a boolean state about each
3879 non-pending tracepoint location is whether installed on target or not.
3880 ** Output of the "-trace-status" command includes a "trace-file" field
3881 containing the name of the trace file being examined. This field is
3882 optional, and only present when examining a trace file.
3883 ** The "fullname" field is now always present along with the "file" field,
3884 even if the file cannot be found by GDB.
3885
3886 * GDB now supports the "mini debuginfo" section, .gnu_debugdata.
3887 You must have the LZMA library available when configuring GDB for this
3888 feature to be enabled. For more information, see:
3889 http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features/MiniDebugInfo
3890
3891 * New remote packets
3892
3893 QTBuffer:size
3894 Set the size of trace buffer. The remote stub reports support for this
3895 packet to gdb's qSupported query.
3896
3897 Qbtrace:bts
3898 Enable Branch Trace Store (BTS)-based branch tracing for the current
3899 thread. The remote stub reports support for this packet to gdb's
3900 qSupported query.
3901
3902 Qbtrace:off
3903 Disable branch tracing for the current thread. The remote stub reports
3904 support for this packet to gdb's qSupported query.
3905
3906 qXfer:btrace:read
3907 Read the traced branches for the current thread. The remote stub
3908 reports support for this packet to gdb's qSupported query.
3909
3910 *** Changes in GDB 7.5
3911
3912 * GDB now supports x32 ABI. Visit <http://sites.google.com/site/x32abi/>
3913 for more x32 ABI info.
3914
3915 * GDB now supports access to MIPS DSP registers on Linux targets.
3916
3917 * GDB now supports debugging microMIPS binaries.
3918
3919 * The "info os" command on GNU/Linux can now display information on
3920 several new classes of objects managed by the operating system:
3921 "info os procgroups" lists process groups
3922 "info os files" lists file descriptors
3923 "info os sockets" lists internet-domain sockets
3924 "info os shm" lists shared-memory regions
3925 "info os semaphores" lists semaphores
3926 "info os msg" lists message queues
3927 "info os modules" lists loaded kernel modules
3928
3929 * GDB now has support for SDT (Static Defined Tracing) probes. Currently,
3930 the only implemented backend is for SystemTap probes (<sys/sdt.h>). You
3931 can set a breakpoint using the new "-probe, "-pstap" or "-probe-stap"
3932 options and inspect the probe arguments using the new $_probe_arg family
3933 of convenience variables. You can obtain more information about SystemTap
3934 in <http://sourceware.org/systemtap/>.
3935
3936 * GDB now supports reversible debugging on ARM, it allows you to
3937 debug basic ARM and THUMB instructions, and provides
3938 record/replay support.
3939
3940 * The option "symbol-reloading" has been deleted as it is no longer used.
3941
3942 * Python scripting
3943
3944 ** GDB commands implemented in Python can now be put in command class
3945 "gdb.COMMAND_USER".
3946
3947 ** The "maint set python print-stack on|off" is now deleted.
3948
3949 ** A new class, gdb.printing.FlagEnumerationPrinter, can be used to
3950 apply "flag enum"-style pretty-printing to any enum.
3951
3952 ** gdb.lookup_symbol can now work when there is no current frame.
3953
3954 ** gdb.Symbol now has a 'line' attribute, holding the line number in
3955 the source at which the symbol was defined.
3956
3957 ** gdb.Symbol now has the new attribute 'needs_frame' and the new
3958 method 'value'. The former indicates whether the symbol needs a
3959 frame in order to compute its value, and the latter computes the
3960 symbol's value.
3961
3962 ** A new method 'referenced_value' on gdb.Value objects which can
3963 dereference pointer as well as C++ reference values.
3964
3965 ** New methods 'global_block' and 'static_block' on gdb.Symtab objects
3966 which return the global and static blocks (as gdb.Block objects),
3967 of the underlying symbol table, respectively.
3968
3969 ** New function gdb.find_pc_line which returns the gdb.Symtab_and_line
3970 object associated with a PC value.
3971
3972 ** gdb.Symtab_and_line has new attribute 'last' which holds the end
3973 of the address range occupied by code for the current source line.
3974
3975 * Go language support.
3976 GDB now supports debugging programs written in the Go programming
3977 language.
3978
3979 * GDBserver now supports stdio connections.
3980 E.g. (gdb) target remote | ssh myhost gdbserver - hello
3981
3982 * The binary "gdbtui" can no longer be built or installed.
3983 Use "gdb -tui" instead.
3984
3985 * GDB will now print "flag" enums specially. A flag enum is one where
3986 all the enumerator values have no bits in common when pairwise
3987 "and"ed. When printing a value whose type is a flag enum, GDB will
3988 show all the constants, e.g., for enum E { ONE = 1, TWO = 2}:
3989 (gdb) print (enum E) 3
3990 $1 = (ONE | TWO)
3991
3992 * The filename part of a linespec will now match trailing components
3993 of a source file name. For example, "break gcc/expr.c:1000" will
3994 now set a breakpoint in build/gcc/expr.c, but not
3995 build/libcpp/expr.c.
3996
3997 * The "info proc" and "generate-core-file" commands will now also
3998 work on remote targets connected to GDBserver on Linux.
3999
4000 * The command "info catch" has been removed. It has been disabled
4001 since December 2007.
4002
4003 * The "catch exception" and "catch assert" commands now accept
4004 a condition at the end of the command, much like the "break"
4005 command does. For instance:
4006
4007 (gdb) catch exception Constraint_Error if Barrier = True
4008
4009 Previously, it was possible to add a condition to such catchpoints,
4010 but it had to be done as a second step, after the catchpoint had been
4011 created, using the "condition" command.
4012
4013 * The "info static-tracepoint-marker" command will now also work on
4014 native Linux targets with in-process agent.
4015
4016 * GDB can now set breakpoints on inlined functions.
4017
4018 * The .gdb_index section has been updated to include symbols for
4019 inlined functions. GDB will ignore older .gdb_index sections by
4020 default, which could cause symbol files to be loaded more slowly
4021 until their .gdb_index sections can be recreated. The new command
4022 "set use-deprecated-index-sections on" will cause GDB to use any older
4023 .gdb_index sections it finds. This will restore performance, but the
4024 ability to set breakpoints on inlined functions will be lost in symbol
4025 files with older .gdb_index sections.
4026
4027 The .gdb_index section has also been updated to record more information
4028 about each symbol. This speeds up the "info variables", "info functions"
4029 and "info types" commands when used with programs having the .gdb_index
4030 section, as well as speeding up debugging with shared libraries using
4031 the .gdb_index section.
4032
4033 * Ada support for GDB/MI Variable Objects has been added.
4034
4035 * GDB can now support 'breakpoint always-inserted mode' in 'record'
4036 target.
4037
4038 * MI changes
4039
4040 ** New command -info-os is the MI equivalent of "info os".
4041
4042 ** Output logs ("set logging" and related) now include MI output.
4043
4044 * New commands
4045
4046 ** "set use-deprecated-index-sections on|off"
4047 "show use-deprecated-index-sections on|off"
4048 Controls the use of deprecated .gdb_index sections.
4049
4050 ** "catch load" and "catch unload" can be used to stop when a shared
4051 library is loaded or unloaded, respectively.
4052
4053 ** "enable count" can be used to auto-disable a breakpoint after
4054 several hits.
4055
4056 ** "info vtbl" can be used to show the virtual method tables for
4057 C++ and Java objects.
4058
4059 ** "explore" and its sub commands "explore value" and "explore type"
4060 can be used to recursively explore values and types of
4061 expressions. These commands are available only if GDB is
4062 configured with '--with-python'.
4063
4064 ** "info auto-load" shows status of all kinds of auto-loaded files,
4065 "info auto-load gdb-scripts" shows status of auto-loading GDB canned
4066 sequences of commands files, "info auto-load python-scripts"
4067 shows status of auto-loading Python script files,
4068 "info auto-load local-gdbinit" shows status of loading init file
4069 (.gdbinit) from current directory and "info auto-load libthread-db" shows
4070 status of inferior specific thread debugging shared library loading.
4071
4072 ** "info auto-load-scripts", "set auto-load-scripts on|off"
4073 and "show auto-load-scripts" commands have been deprecated, use their
4074 "info auto-load python-scripts", "set auto-load python-scripts on|off"
4075 and "show auto-load python-scripts" counterparts instead.
4076
4077 ** "dprintf location,format,args..." creates a dynamic printf, which
4078 is basically a breakpoint that does a printf and immediately
4079 resumes your program's execution, so it is like a printf that you
4080 can insert dynamically at runtime instead of at compiletime.
4081
4082 ** "set print symbol"
4083 "show print symbol"
4084 Controls whether GDB attempts to display the symbol, if any,
4085 corresponding to addresses it prints. This defaults to "on", but
4086 you can set it to "off" to restore GDB's previous behavior.
4087
4088 * Deprecated commands
4089
4090 ** For the Renesas Super-H architecture, the "regs" command has been
4091 deprecated, and "info all-registers" should be used instead.
4092
4093 * New targets
4094
4095 Renesas RL78 rl78-*-elf
4096 HP OpenVMS ia64 ia64-hp-openvms*
4097
4098 * GDBserver supports evaluation of breakpoint conditions. When
4099 support is advertised by GDBserver, GDB may be told to send the
4100 breakpoint conditions in bytecode form to GDBserver. GDBserver
4101 will only report the breakpoint trigger to GDB when its condition
4102 evaluates to true.
4103
4104 * New options
4105
4106 set mips compression
4107 show mips compression
4108 Select the compressed ISA encoding used in functions that have no symbol
4109 information available. The encoding can be set to either of:
4110 mips16
4111 micromips
4112 and is updated automatically from ELF file flags if available.
4113
4114 set breakpoint condition-evaluation
4115 show breakpoint condition-evaluation
4116 Control whether breakpoint conditions are evaluated by GDB ("host") or by
4117 GDBserver ("target"). Default option "auto" chooses the most efficient
4118 available mode.
4119 This option can improve debugger efficiency depending on the speed of the
4120 target.
4121
4122 set auto-load off
4123 Disable auto-loading globally.
4124
4125 show auto-load
4126 Show auto-loading setting of all kinds of auto-loaded files.
4127
4128 set auto-load gdb-scripts on|off
4129 show auto-load gdb-scripts
4130 Control auto-loading of GDB canned sequences of commands files.
4131
4132 set auto-load python-scripts on|off
4133 show auto-load python-scripts
4134 Control auto-loading of Python script files.
4135
4136 set auto-load local-gdbinit on|off
4137 show auto-load local-gdbinit
4138 Control loading of init file (.gdbinit) from current directory.
4139
4140 set auto-load libthread-db on|off
4141 show auto-load libthread-db
4142 Control auto-loading of inferior specific thread debugging shared library.
4143
4144 set auto-load scripts-directory <dir1>[:<dir2>...]
4145 show auto-load scripts-directory
4146 Set a list of directories from which to load auto-loaded scripts.
4147 Automatically loaded Python scripts and GDB scripts are located in one
4148 of the directories listed by this option.
4149 The delimiter (':' above) may differ according to the host platform.
4150
4151 set auto-load safe-path <dir1>[:<dir2>...]
4152 show auto-load safe-path
4153 Set a list of directories from which it is safe to auto-load files.
4154 The delimiter (':' above) may differ according to the host platform.
4155
4156 set debug auto-load on|off
4157 show debug auto-load
4158 Control display of debugging info for auto-loading the files above.
4159
4160 set dprintf-style gdb|call|agent
4161 show dprintf-style
4162 Control the way in which a dynamic printf is performed; "gdb"
4163 requests a GDB printf command, while "call" causes dprintf to call a
4164 function in the inferior. "agent" requests that the target agent
4165 (such as GDBserver) do the printing.
4166
4167 set dprintf-function <expr>
4168 show dprintf-function
4169 set dprintf-channel <expr>
4170 show dprintf-channel
4171 Set the function and optional first argument to the call when using
4172 the "call" style of dynamic printf.
4173
4174 set disconnected-dprintf on|off
4175 show disconnected-dprintf
4176 Control whether agent-style dynamic printfs continue to be in effect
4177 after GDB disconnects.
4178
4179 * New configure options
4180
4181 --with-auto-load-dir
4182 Configure default value for the 'set auto-load scripts-directory'
4183 setting above. It defaults to '$debugdir:$datadir/auto-load',
4184 $debugdir representing global debugging info directories (available
4185 via 'show debug-file-directory') and $datadir representing GDB's data
4186 directory (available via 'show data-directory').
4187
4188 --with-auto-load-safe-path
4189 Configure default value for the 'set auto-load safe-path' setting
4190 above. It defaults to the --with-auto-load-dir setting.
4191
4192 --without-auto-load-safe-path
4193 Set 'set auto-load safe-path' to '/', effectively disabling this
4194 security feature.
4195
4196 * New remote packets
4197
4198 z0/z1 conditional breakpoints extension
4199
4200 The z0/z1 breakpoint insertion packets have been extended to carry
4201 a list of conditional expressions over to the remote stub depending on the
4202 condition evaluation mode. The use of this extension can be controlled
4203 via the "set remote conditional-breakpoints-packet" command.
4204
4205 QProgramSignals:
4206
4207 Specify the signals which the remote stub may pass to the debugged
4208 program without GDB involvement.
4209
4210 * New command line options
4211
4212 --init-command=FILE, -ix Like --command, -x but execute it
4213 before loading inferior.
4214 --init-eval-command=COMMAND, -iex Like --eval-command=COMMAND, -ex but
4215 execute it before loading inferior.
4216
4217 *** Changes in GDB 7.4
4218
4219 * GDB now handles ambiguous linespecs more consistently; the existing
4220 FILE:LINE support has been expanded to other types of linespecs. A
4221 breakpoint will now be set on all matching locations in all
4222 inferiors, and locations will be added or removed according to
4223 inferior changes.
4224
4225 * GDB now allows you to skip uninteresting functions and files when
4226 stepping with the "skip function" and "skip file" commands.
4227
4228 * GDB has two new commands: "set remote hardware-watchpoint-length-limit"
4229 and "show remote hardware-watchpoint-length-limit". These allows to
4230 set or show the maximum length limit (in bytes) of a remote
4231 target hardware watchpoint.
4232
4233 This allows e.g. to use "unlimited" hardware watchpoints with the
4234 gdbserver integrated in Valgrind version >= 3.7.0. Such Valgrind
4235 watchpoints are slower than real hardware watchpoints but are
4236 significantly faster than gdb software watchpoints.
4237
4238 * Python scripting
4239
4240 ** The register_pretty_printer function in module gdb.printing now takes
4241 an optional `replace' argument. If True, the new printer replaces any
4242 existing one.
4243
4244 ** The "maint set python print-stack on|off" command has been
4245 deprecated and will be deleted in GDB 7.5.
4246 A new command: "set python print-stack none|full|message" has
4247 replaced it. Additionally, the default for "print-stack" is
4248 now "message", which just prints the error message without
4249 the stack trace.
4250
4251 ** A prompt substitution hook (prompt_hook) is now available to the
4252 Python API.
4253
4254 ** A new Python module, gdb.prompt has been added to the GDB Python
4255 modules library. This module provides functionality for
4256 escape sequences in prompts (used by set/show
4257 extended-prompt). These escape sequences are replaced by their
4258 corresponding value.
4259
4260 ** Python commands and convenience-functions located in
4261 'data-directory'/python/gdb/command and
4262 'data-directory'/python/gdb/function are now automatically loaded
4263 on GDB start-up.
4264
4265 ** Blocks now provide four new attributes. global_block and
4266 static_block will return the global and static blocks
4267 respectively. is_static and is_global are boolean attributes
4268 that indicate if the block is one of those two types.
4269
4270 ** Symbols now provide the "type" attribute, the type of the symbol.
4271
4272 ** The "gdb.breakpoint" function has been deprecated in favor of
4273 "gdb.breakpoints".
4274
4275 ** A new class "gdb.FinishBreakpoint" is provided to catch the return
4276 of a function. This class is based on the "finish" command
4277 available in the CLI.
4278
4279 ** Type objects for struct and union types now allow access to
4280 the fields using standard Python dictionary (mapping) methods.
4281 For example, "some_type['myfield']" now works, as does
4282 "some_type.items()".
4283
4284 ** A new event "gdb.new_objfile" has been added, triggered by loading a
4285 new object file.
4286
4287 ** A new function, "deep_items" has been added to the gdb.types
4288 module in the GDB Python modules library. This function returns
4289 an iterator over the fields of a struct or union type. Unlike
4290 the standard Python "iteritems" method, it will recursively traverse
4291 any anonymous fields.
4292
4293 * MI changes
4294
4295 ** "*stopped" events can report several new "reason"s, such as
4296 "solib-event".
4297
4298 ** Breakpoint changes are now notified using new async records, like
4299 "=breakpoint-modified".
4300
4301 ** New command -ada-task-info.
4302
4303 * libthread-db-search-path now supports two special values: $sdir and $pdir.
4304 $sdir specifies the default system locations of shared libraries.
4305 $pdir specifies the directory where the libpthread used by the application
4306 lives.
4307
4308 GDB no longer looks in $sdir and $pdir after it has searched the directories
4309 mentioned in libthread-db-search-path. If you want to search those
4310 directories, they must be specified in libthread-db-search-path.
4311 The default value of libthread-db-search-path on GNU/Linux and Solaris
4312 systems is now "$sdir:$pdir".
4313
4314 $pdir is not supported by gdbserver, it is currently ignored.
4315 $sdir is supported by gdbserver.
4316
4317 * New configure option --with-iconv-bin.
4318 When using the internationalization support like the one in the GNU C
4319 library, GDB will invoke the "iconv" program to get a list of supported
4320 character sets. If this program lives in a non-standard location, one can
4321 use this option to specify where to find it.
4322
4323 * When natively debugging programs on PowerPC BookE processors running
4324 a Linux kernel version 2.6.34 or later, GDB supports masked hardware
4325 watchpoints, which specify a mask in addition to an address to watch.
4326 The mask specifies that some bits of an address (the bits which are
4327 reset in the mask) should be ignored when matching the address accessed
4328 by the inferior against the watchpoint address. See the "PowerPC Embedded"
4329 section in the user manual for more details.
4330
4331 * The new option --once causes GDBserver to stop listening for connections once
4332 the first connection is made. The listening port used by GDBserver will
4333 become available after that.
4334
4335 * New commands "info macros" and "alias" have been added.
4336
4337 * New function parameters suffix @entry specifies value of function parameter
4338 at the time the function got called. Entry values are available only since
4339 gcc version 4.7.
4340
4341 * New commands
4342
4343 !SHELL COMMAND
4344 "!" is now an alias of the "shell" command.
4345 Note that no space is needed between "!" and SHELL COMMAND.
4346
4347 * Changed commands
4348
4349 watch EXPRESSION mask MASK_VALUE
4350 The watch command now supports the mask argument which allows creation
4351 of masked watchpoints, if the current architecture supports this feature.
4352
4353 info auto-load-scripts [REGEXP]
4354 This command was formerly named "maintenance print section-scripts".
4355 It is now generally useful and is no longer a maintenance-only command.
4356
4357 info macro [-all] [--] MACRO
4358 The info macro command has new options `-all' and `--'. The first for
4359 printing all definitions of a macro. The second for explicitly specifying
4360 the end of arguments and the beginning of the macro name in case the macro
4361 name starts with a hyphen.
4362
4363 collect[/s] EXPRESSIONS
4364 The tracepoint collect command now takes an optional modifier "/s"
4365 that directs it to dereference pointer-to-character types and
4366 collect the bytes of memory up to a zero byte. The behavior is
4367 similar to what you see when you use the regular print command on a
4368 string. An optional integer following the "/s" sets a bound on the
4369 number of bytes that will be collected.
4370
4371 tstart [NOTES]
4372 The trace start command now interprets any supplied arguments as a
4373 note to be recorded with the trace run, with an effect similar to
4374 setting the variable trace-notes.
4375
4376 tstop [NOTES]
4377 The trace stop command now interprets any arguments as a note to be
4378 mentioned along with the tstatus report that the trace was stopped
4379 with a command. The effect is similar to setting the variable
4380 trace-stop-notes.
4381
4382 * Tracepoints can now be enabled and disabled at any time after a trace
4383 experiment has been started using the standard "enable" and "disable"
4384 commands. It is now possible to start a trace experiment with no enabled
4385 tracepoints; GDB will display a warning, but will allow the experiment to
4386 begin, assuming that tracepoints will be enabled as needed while the trace
4387 is running.
4388
4389 * Fast tracepoints on 32-bit x86-architectures can now be placed at
4390 locations with 4-byte instructions, when they were previously
4391 limited to locations with instructions of 5 bytes or longer.
4392
4393 * New options
4394
4395 set debug dwarf2-read
4396 show debug dwarf2-read
4397 Turns on or off display of debugging messages related to reading
4398 DWARF debug info. The default is off.
4399
4400 set debug symtab-create
4401 show debug symtab-create
4402 Turns on or off display of debugging messages related to symbol table
4403 creation. The default is off.
4404
4405 set extended-prompt
4406 show extended-prompt
4407 Set the GDB prompt, and allow escape sequences to be inserted to
4408 display miscellaneous information (see 'help set extended-prompt'
4409 for the list of sequences). This prompt (and any information
4410 accessed through the escape sequences) is updated every time the
4411 prompt is displayed.
4412
4413 set print entry-values (both|compact|default|if-needed|no|only|preferred)
4414 show print entry-values
4415 Set printing of frame argument values at function entry. In some cases
4416 GDB can determine the value of function argument which was passed by the
4417 function caller, even if the value was modified inside the called function.
4418
4419 set debug entry-values
4420 show debug entry-values
4421 Control display of debugging info for determining frame argument values at
4422 function entry and virtual tail call frames.
4423
4424 set basenames-may-differ
4425 show basenames-may-differ
4426 Set whether a source file may have multiple base names.
4427 (A "base name" is the name of a file with the directory part removed.
4428 Example: The base name of "/home/user/hello.c" is "hello.c".)
4429 If set, GDB will canonicalize file names (e.g., expand symlinks)
4430 before comparing them. Canonicalization is an expensive operation,
4431 but it allows the same file be known by more than one base name.
4432 If not set (the default), all source files are assumed to have just
4433 one base name, and gdb will do file name comparisons more efficiently.
4434
4435 set trace-user
4436 show trace-user
4437 set trace-notes
4438 show trace-notes
4439 Set a user name and notes for the current and any future trace runs.
4440 This is useful for long-running and/or disconnected traces, to
4441 inform others (or yourself) as to who is running the trace, supply
4442 contact information, or otherwise explain what is going on.
4443
4444 set trace-stop-notes
4445 show trace-stop-notes
4446 Set a note attached to the trace run, that is displayed when the
4447 trace has been stopped by a tstop command. This is useful for
4448 instance as an explanation, if you are stopping a trace run that was
4449 started by someone else.
4450
4451 * New remote packets
4452
4453 QTEnable
4454
4455 Dynamically enable a tracepoint in a started trace experiment.
4456
4457 QTDisable
4458
4459 Dynamically disable a tracepoint in a started trace experiment.
4460
4461 QTNotes
4462
4463 Set the user and notes of the trace run.
4464
4465 qTP
4466
4467 Query the current status of a tracepoint.
4468
4469 qTMinFTPILen
4470
4471 Query the minimum length of instruction at which a fast tracepoint may
4472 be placed.
4473
4474 * Dcache size (number of lines) and line-size are now runtime-configurable
4475 via "set dcache line" and "set dcache line-size" commands.
4476
4477 * New targets
4478
4479 Texas Instruments TMS320C6x tic6x-*-*
4480
4481 * New Simulators
4482
4483 Renesas RL78 rl78-*-elf
4484
4485 *** Changes in GDB 7.3.1
4486
4487 * The build failure for NetBSD and OpenBSD targets have now been fixed.
4488
4489 *** Changes in GDB 7.3
4490
4491 * GDB has a new command: "thread find [REGEXP]".
4492 It finds the thread id whose name, target id, or thread extra info
4493 matches the given regular expression.
4494
4495 * The "catch syscall" command now works on mips*-linux* targets.
4496
4497 * The -data-disassemble MI command now supports modes 2 and 3 for
4498 dumping the instruction opcodes.
4499
4500 * New command line options
4501
4502 -data-directory DIR Specify DIR as the "data-directory".
4503 This is mostly for testing purposes.
4504
4505 * The "maint set python auto-load on|off" command has been renamed to
4506 "set auto-load-scripts on|off".
4507
4508 * GDB has a new command: "set directories".
4509 It is like the "dir" command except that it replaces the
4510 source path list instead of augmenting it.
4511
4512 * GDB now understands thread names.
4513
4514 On GNU/Linux, "info threads" will display the thread name as set by
4515 prctl or pthread_setname_np.
4516
4517 There is also a new command, "thread name", which can be used to
4518 assign a name internally for GDB to display.
4519
4520 * OpenCL C
4521 Initial support for the OpenCL C language (http://www.khronos.org/opencl)
4522 has been integrated into GDB.
4523
4524 * Python scripting
4525
4526 ** The function gdb.Write now accepts an optional keyword 'stream'.
4527 This keyword, when provided, will direct the output to either
4528 stdout, stderr, or GDB's logging output.
4529
4530 ** Parameters can now be be sub-classed in Python, and in particular
4531 you may implement the get_set_doc and get_show_doc functions.
4532 This improves how Parameter set/show documentation is processed
4533 and allows for more dynamic content.
4534
4535 ** Symbols, Symbol Table, Symbol Table and Line, Object Files,
4536 Inferior, Inferior Thread, Blocks, and Block Iterator APIs now
4537 have an is_valid method.
4538
4539 ** Breakpoints can now be sub-classed in Python, and in particular
4540 you may implement a 'stop' function that is executed each time
4541 the inferior reaches that breakpoint.
4542
4543 ** New function gdb.lookup_global_symbol looks up a global symbol.
4544
4545 ** GDB values in Python are now callable if the value represents a
4546 function. For example, if 'some_value' represents a function that
4547 takes two integer parameters and returns a value, you can call
4548 that function like so:
4549
4550 result = some_value (10,20)
4551
4552 ** Module gdb.types has been added.
4553 It contains a collection of utilities for working with gdb.Types objects:
4554 get_basic_type, has_field, make_enum_dict.
4555
4556 ** Module gdb.printing has been added.
4557 It contains utilities for writing and registering pretty-printers.
4558 New classes: PrettyPrinter, SubPrettyPrinter,
4559 RegexpCollectionPrettyPrinter.
4560 New function: register_pretty_printer.
4561
4562 ** New commands "info pretty-printers", "enable pretty-printer" and
4563 "disable pretty-printer" have been added.
4564
4565 ** gdb.parameter("directories") is now available.
4566
4567 ** New function gdb.newest_frame returns the newest frame in the
4568 selected thread.
4569
4570 ** The gdb.InferiorThread class has a new "name" attribute. This
4571 holds the thread's name.
4572
4573 ** Python Support for Inferior events.
4574 Python scripts can add observers to be notified of events
4575 occurring in the process being debugged.
4576 The following events are currently supported:
4577 - gdb.events.cont Continue event.
4578 - gdb.events.exited Inferior exited event.
4579 - gdb.events.stop Signal received, and Breakpoint hit events.
4580
4581 * C++ Improvements:
4582
4583 ** GDB now puts template parameters in scope when debugging in an
4584 instantiation. For example, if you have:
4585
4586 template<int X> int func (void) { return X; }
4587
4588 then if you step into func<5>, "print X" will show "5". This
4589 feature requires proper debuginfo support from the compiler; it
4590 was added to GCC 4.5.
4591
4592 ** The motion commands "next", "finish", "until", and "advance" now
4593 work better when exceptions are thrown. In particular, GDB will
4594 no longer lose control of the inferior; instead, the GDB will
4595 stop the inferior at the point at which the exception is caught.
4596 This functionality requires a change in the exception handling
4597 code that was introduced in GCC 4.5.
4598
4599 * GDB now follows GCC's rules on accessing volatile objects when
4600 reading or writing target state during expression evaluation.
4601 One notable difference to prior behavior is that "print x = 0"
4602 no longer generates a read of x; the value of the assignment is
4603 now always taken directly from the value being assigned.
4604
4605 * GDB now has some support for using labels in the program's source in
4606 linespecs. For instance, you can use "advance label" to continue
4607 execution to a label.
4608
4609 * GDB now has support for reading and writing a new .gdb_index
4610 section. This section holds a fast index of DWARF debugging
4611 information and can be used to greatly speed up GDB startup and
4612 operation. See the documentation for `save gdb-index' for details.
4613
4614 * The "watch" command now accepts an optional "-location" argument.
4615 When used, this causes GDB to watch the memory referred to by the
4616 expression. Such a watchpoint is never deleted due to it going out
4617 of scope.
4618
4619 * GDB now supports thread debugging of core dumps on GNU/Linux.
4620
4621 GDB now activates thread debugging using the libthread_db library
4622 when debugging GNU/Linux core dumps, similarly to when debugging
4623 live processes. As a result, when debugging a core dump file, GDB
4624 is now able to display pthread_t ids of threads. For example, "info
4625 threads" shows the same output as when debugging the process when it
4626 was live. In earlier releases, you'd see something like this:
4627
4628 (gdb) info threads
4629 * 1 LWP 6780 main () at main.c:10
4630
4631 While now you see this:
4632
4633 (gdb) info threads
4634 * 1 Thread 0x7f0f5712a700 (LWP 6780) main () at main.c:10
4635
4636 It is also now possible to inspect TLS variables when debugging core
4637 dumps.
4638
4639 When debugging a core dump generated on a machine other than the one
4640 used to run GDB, you may need to point GDB at the correct
4641 libthread_db library with the "set libthread-db-search-path"
4642 command. See the user manual for more details on this command.
4643
4644 * When natively debugging programs on PowerPC BookE processors running
4645 a Linux kernel version 2.6.34 or later, GDB supports ranged breakpoints,
4646 which stop execution of the inferior whenever it executes an instruction
4647 at any address within the specified range. See the "PowerPC Embedded"
4648 section in the user manual for more details.
4649
4650 * New features in the GDB remote stub, GDBserver
4651
4652 ** GDBserver is now supported on PowerPC LynxOS (versions 4.x and 5.x),
4653 and i686 LynxOS (version 5.x).
4654
4655 ** GDBserver is now supported on Blackfin Linux.
4656
4657 * New native configurations
4658
4659 ia64 HP-UX ia64-*-hpux*
4660
4661 * New targets:
4662
4663 Analog Devices, Inc. Blackfin Processor bfin-*
4664
4665 * Ada task switching is now supported on sparc-elf targets when
4666 debugging a program using the Ravenscar Profile. For more information,
4667 see the "Tasking Support when using the Ravenscar Profile" section
4668 in the GDB user manual.
4669
4670 * Guile support was removed.
4671
4672 * New features in the GNU simulator
4673
4674 ** The --map-info flag lists all known core mappings.
4675
4676 ** CFI flashes may be simulated via the "cfi" device.
4677
4678 *** Changes in GDB 7.2
4679
4680 * Shared library support for remote targets by default
4681
4682 When GDB is configured for a generic, non-OS specific target, like
4683 for example, --target=arm-eabi or one of the many *-*-elf targets,
4684 GDB now queries remote stubs for loaded shared libraries using the
4685 `qXfer:libraries:read' packet. Previously, shared library support
4686 was always disabled for such configurations.
4687
4688 * C++ Improvements:
4689
4690 ** Argument Dependent Lookup (ADL)
4691
4692 In C++ ADL lookup directs function search to the namespaces of its
4693 arguments even if the namespace has not been imported.
4694 For example:
4695 namespace A
4696 {
4697 class B { };
4698 void foo (B) { }
4699 }
4700 ...
4701 A::B b
4702 foo(b)
4703 Here the compiler will search for `foo' in the namespace of 'b'
4704 and find A::foo. GDB now supports this. This construct is commonly
4705 used in the Standard Template Library for operators.
4706
4707 ** Improved User Defined Operator Support
4708
4709 In addition to member operators, GDB now supports lookup of operators
4710 defined in a namespace and imported with a `using' directive, operators
4711 defined in the global scope, operators imported implicitly from an
4712 anonymous namespace, and the ADL operators mentioned in the previous
4713 entry.
4714 GDB now also supports proper overload resolution for all the previously
4715 mentioned flavors of operators.
4716
4717 ** static const class members
4718
4719 Printing of static const class members that are initialized in the
4720 class definition has been fixed.
4721
4722 * Windows Thread Information Block access.
4723
4724 On Windows targets, GDB now supports displaying the Windows Thread
4725 Information Block (TIB) structure. This structure is visible either
4726 by using the new command `info w32 thread-information-block' or, by
4727 dereferencing the new convenience variable named `$_tlb', a
4728 thread-specific pointer to the TIB. This feature is also supported
4729 when remote debugging using GDBserver.
4730
4731 * Static tracepoints
4732
4733 Static tracepoints are calls in the user program into a tracing
4734 library. One such library is a port of the LTTng kernel tracer to
4735 userspace --- UST (LTTng Userspace Tracer, http://lttng.org/ust).
4736 When debugging with GDBserver, GDB now supports combining the GDB
4737 tracepoint machinery with such libraries. For example: the user can
4738 use GDB to probe a static tracepoint marker (a call from the user
4739 program into the tracing library) with the new "strace" command (see
4740 "New commands" below). This creates a "static tracepoint" in the
4741 breakpoint list, that can be manipulated with the same feature set
4742 as fast and regular tracepoints. E.g., collect registers, local and
4743 global variables, collect trace state variables, and define
4744 tracepoint conditions. In addition, the user can collect extra
4745 static tracepoint marker specific data, by collecting the new
4746 $_sdata internal variable. When analyzing the trace buffer, you can
4747 inspect $_sdata like any other variable available to GDB. For more
4748 information, see the "Tracepoints" chapter in GDB user manual. New
4749 remote packets have been defined to support static tracepoints, see
4750 the "New remote packets" section below.
4751
4752 * Better reconstruction of tracepoints after disconnected tracing
4753
4754 GDB will attempt to download the original source form of tracepoint
4755 definitions when starting a trace run, and then will upload these
4756 upon reconnection to the target, resulting in a more accurate
4757 reconstruction of the tracepoints that are in use on the target.
4758
4759 * Observer mode
4760
4761 You can now exercise direct control over the ways that GDB can
4762 affect your program. For instance, you can disallow the setting of
4763 breakpoints, so that the program can run continuously (assuming
4764 non-stop mode). In addition, the "observer" variable is available
4765 to switch all of the different controls; in observer mode, GDB
4766 cannot affect the target's behavior at all, which is useful for
4767 tasks like diagnosing live systems in the field.
4768
4769 * The new convenience variable $_thread holds the number of the
4770 current thread.
4771
4772 * New remote packets
4773
4774 qGetTIBAddr
4775
4776 Return the address of the Windows Thread Information Block of a given thread.
4777
4778 qRelocInsn
4779
4780 In response to several of the tracepoint packets, the target may now
4781 also respond with a number of intermediate `qRelocInsn' request
4782 packets before the final result packet, to have GDB handle
4783 relocating an instruction to execute at a different address. This
4784 is particularly useful for stubs that support fast tracepoints. GDB
4785 reports support for this feature in the qSupported packet.
4786
4787 qTfSTM, qTsSTM
4788
4789 List static tracepoint markers in the target program.
4790
4791 qTSTMat
4792
4793 List static tracepoint markers at a given address in the target
4794 program.
4795
4796 qXfer:statictrace:read
4797
4798 Read the static trace data collected (by a `collect $_sdata'
4799 tracepoint action). The remote stub reports support for this packet
4800 to gdb's qSupported query.
4801
4802 QAllow
4803
4804 Send the current settings of GDB's permission flags.
4805
4806 QTDPsrc
4807
4808 Send part of the source (textual) form of a tracepoint definition,
4809 which includes location, conditional, and action list.
4810
4811 * The source command now accepts a -s option to force searching for the
4812 script in the source search path even if the script name specifies
4813 a directory.
4814
4815 * New features in the GDB remote stub, GDBserver
4816
4817 - GDBserver now support tracepoints (including fast tracepoints, and
4818 static tracepoints). The feature is currently supported by the
4819 i386-linux and amd64-linux builds. See the "Tracepoints support
4820 in gdbserver" section in the manual for more information.
4821
4822 GDBserver JIT compiles the tracepoint's conditional agent
4823 expression bytecode into native code whenever possible for low
4824 overhead dynamic tracepoints conditionals. For such tracepoints,
4825 an expression that examines program state is evaluated when the
4826 tracepoint is reached, in order to determine whether to capture
4827 trace data. If the condition is simple and false, processing the
4828 tracepoint finishes very quickly and no data is gathered.
4829
4830 GDBserver interfaces with the UST (LTTng Userspace Tracer) library
4831 for static tracepoints support.
4832
4833 - GDBserver now supports x86_64 Windows 64-bit debugging.
4834
4835 * GDB now sends xmlRegisters= in qSupported packet to indicate that
4836 it understands register description.
4837
4838 * The --batch flag now disables pagination and queries.
4839
4840 * X86 general purpose registers
4841
4842 GDB now supports reading/writing byte, word and double-word x86
4843 general purpose registers directly. This means you can use, say,
4844 $ah or $ax to refer, respectively, to the byte register AH and
4845 16-bit word register AX that are actually portions of the 32-bit
4846 register EAX or 64-bit register RAX.
4847
4848 * The `commands' command now accepts a range of breakpoints to modify.
4849 A plain `commands' following a command that creates multiple
4850 breakpoints affects all the breakpoints set by that command. This
4851 applies to breakpoints set by `rbreak', and also applies when a
4852 single `break' command creates multiple breakpoints (e.g.,
4853 breakpoints on overloaded c++ functions).
4854
4855 * The `rbreak' command now accepts a filename specification as part of
4856 its argument, limiting the functions selected by the regex to those
4857 in the specified file.
4858
4859 * Support for remote debugging Windows and SymbianOS shared libraries
4860 from Unix hosts has been improved. Non Windows GDB builds now can
4861 understand target reported file names that follow MS-DOS based file
4862 system semantics, such as file names that include drive letters and
4863 use the backslash character as directory separator. This makes it
4864 possible to transparently use the "set sysroot" and "set
4865 solib-search-path" on Unix hosts to point as host copies of the
4866 target's shared libraries. See the new command "set
4867 target-file-system-kind" described below, and the "Commands to
4868 specify files" section in the user manual for more information.
4869
4870 * New commands
4871
4872 eval template, expressions...
4873 Convert the values of one or more expressions under the control
4874 of the string template to a command line, and call it.
4875
4876 set target-file-system-kind unix|dos-based|auto
4877 show target-file-system-kind
4878 Set or show the assumed file system kind for target reported file
4879 names.
4880
4881 save breakpoints <filename>
4882 Save all current breakpoint definitions to a file suitable for use
4883 in a later debugging session. To read the saved breakpoint
4884 definitions, use the `source' command.
4885
4886 `save tracepoints' is a new alias for `save-tracepoints'. The latter
4887 is now deprecated.
4888
4889 info static-tracepoint-markers
4890 Display information about static tracepoint markers in the target.
4891
4892 strace FN | FILE:LINE | *ADDR | -m MARKER_ID
4893 Define a static tracepoint by probing a marker at the given
4894 function, line, address, or marker ID.
4895
4896 set observer on|off
4897 show observer
4898 Enable and disable observer mode.
4899
4900 set may-write-registers on|off
4901 set may-write-memory on|off
4902 set may-insert-breakpoints on|off
4903 set may-insert-tracepoints on|off
4904 set may-insert-fast-tracepoints on|off
4905 set may-interrupt on|off
4906 Set individual permissions for GDB effects on the target. Note that
4907 some of these settings can have undesirable or surprising
4908 consequences, particularly when changed in the middle of a session.
4909 For instance, disabling the writing of memory can prevent
4910 breakpoints from being inserted, cause single-stepping to fail, or
4911 even crash your program, if you disable after breakpoints have been
4912 inserted. However, GDB should not crash.
4913
4914 set record memory-query on|off
4915 show record memory-query
4916 Control whether to stop the inferior if memory changes caused
4917 by an instruction cannot be recorded.
4918
4919 * Changed commands
4920
4921 disassemble
4922 The disassemble command now supports "start,+length" form of two arguments.
4923
4924 * Python scripting
4925
4926 ** GDB now provides a new directory location, called the python directory,
4927 where Python scripts written for GDB can be installed. The location
4928 of that directory is <data-directory>/python, where <data-directory>
4929 is the GDB data directory. For more details, see section `Scripting
4930 GDB using Python' in the manual.
4931
4932 ** The GDB Python API now has access to breakpoints, symbols, symbol
4933 tables, program spaces, inferiors, threads and frame's code blocks.
4934 Additionally, GDB Parameters can now be created from the API, and
4935 manipulated via set/show in the CLI.
4936
4937 ** New functions gdb.target_charset, gdb.target_wide_charset,
4938 gdb.progspaces, gdb.current_progspace, and gdb.string_to_argv.
4939
4940 ** New exception gdb.GdbError.
4941
4942 ** Pretty-printers are now also looked up in the current program space.
4943
4944 ** Pretty-printers can now be individually enabled and disabled.
4945
4946 ** GDB now looks for names of Python scripts to auto-load in a
4947 special section named `.debug_gdb_scripts', in addition to looking
4948 for a OBJFILE-gdb.py script when OBJFILE is read by the debugger.
4949
4950 * Tracepoint actions were unified with breakpoint commands. In particular,
4951 there are no longer differences in "info break" output for breakpoints and
4952 tracepoints and the "commands" command can be used for both tracepoints and
4953 regular breakpoints.
4954
4955 * New targets
4956
4957 ARM Symbian arm*-*-symbianelf*
4958
4959 * D language support.
4960 GDB now supports debugging programs written in the D programming
4961 language.
4962
4963 * GDB now supports the extended ptrace interface for PowerPC which is
4964 available since Linux kernel version 2.6.34. This automatically enables
4965 any hardware breakpoints and additional hardware watchpoints available in
4966 the processor. The old ptrace interface exposes just one hardware
4967 watchpoint and no hardware breakpoints.
4968
4969 * GDB is now able to use the Data Value Compare (DVC) register available on
4970 embedded PowerPC processors to implement in hardware simple watchpoint
4971 conditions of the form:
4972
4973 watch ADDRESS|VARIABLE if ADDRESS|VARIABLE == CONSTANT EXPRESSION
4974
4975 This works in native GDB running on Linux kernels with the extended ptrace
4976 interface mentioned above.
4977
4978 *** Changes in GDB 7.1
4979
4980 * C++ Improvements
4981
4982 ** Namespace Support
4983
4984 GDB now supports importing of namespaces in C++. This enables the
4985 user to inspect variables from imported namespaces. Support for
4986 namepace aliasing has also been added. So, if a namespace is
4987 aliased in the current scope (e.g. namepace C=A; ) the user can
4988 print variables using the alias (e.g. (gdb) print C::x).
4989
4990 ** Bug Fixes
4991
4992 All known bugs relating to the printing of virtual base class were
4993 fixed. It is now possible to call overloaded static methods using a
4994 qualified name.
4995
4996 ** Cast Operators
4997
4998 The C++ cast operators static_cast<>, dynamic_cast<>, const_cast<>,
4999 and reinterpret_cast<> are now handled by the C++ expression parser.
5000
5001 * New targets
5002
5003 Xilinx MicroBlaze microblaze-*-*
5004 Renesas RX rx-*-elf
5005
5006 * New Simulators
5007
5008 Xilinx MicroBlaze microblaze
5009 Renesas RX rx
5010
5011 * Multi-program debugging.
5012
5013 GDB now has support for multi-program (a.k.a. multi-executable or
5014 multi-exec) debugging. This allows for debugging multiple inferiors
5015 simultaneously each running a different program under the same GDB
5016 session. See "Debugging Multiple Inferiors and Programs" in the
5017 manual for more information. This implied some user visible changes
5018 in the multi-inferior support. For example, "info inferiors" now
5019 lists inferiors that are not running yet or that have exited
5020 already. See also "New commands" and "New options" below.
5021
5022 * New tracing features
5023
5024 GDB's tracepoint facility now includes several new features:
5025
5026 ** Trace state variables
5027
5028 GDB tracepoints now include support for trace state variables, which
5029 are variables managed by the target agent during a tracing
5030 experiment. They are useful for tracepoints that trigger each
5031 other, so for instance one tracepoint can count hits in a variable,
5032 and then a second tracepoint has a condition that is true when the
5033 count reaches a particular value. Trace state variables share the
5034 $-syntax of GDB convenience variables, and can appear in both
5035 tracepoint actions and condition expressions. Use the "tvariable"
5036 command to create, and "info tvariables" to view; see "Trace State
5037 Variables" in the manual for more detail.
5038
5039 ** Fast tracepoints
5040
5041 GDB now includes an option for defining fast tracepoints, which
5042 targets may implement more efficiently, such as by installing a jump
5043 into the target agent rather than a trap instruction. The resulting
5044 speedup can be by two orders of magnitude or more, although the
5045 tradeoff is that some program locations on some target architectures
5046 might not allow fast tracepoint installation, for instance if the
5047 instruction to be replaced is shorter than the jump. To request a
5048 fast tracepoint, use the "ftrace" command, with syntax identical to
5049 the regular trace command.
5050
5051 ** Disconnected tracing
5052
5053 It is now possible to detach GDB from the target while it is running
5054 a trace experiment, then reconnect later to see how the experiment
5055 is going. In addition, a new variable disconnected-tracing lets you
5056 tell the target agent whether to continue running a trace if the
5057 connection is lost unexpectedly.
5058
5059 ** Trace files
5060
5061 GDB now has the ability to save the trace buffer into a file, and
5062 then use that file as a target, similarly to you can do with
5063 corefiles. You can select trace frames, print data that was
5064 collected in them, and use tstatus to display the state of the
5065 tracing run at the moment that it was saved. To create a trace
5066 file, use "tsave <filename>", and to use it, do "target tfile
5067 <name>".
5068
5069 ** Circular trace buffer
5070
5071 You can ask the target agent to handle the trace buffer as a
5072 circular buffer, discarding the oldest trace frames to make room for
5073 newer ones, by setting circular-trace-buffer to on. This feature may
5074 not be available for all target agents.
5075
5076 * Changed commands
5077
5078 disassemble
5079 The disassemble command, when invoked with two arguments, now requires
5080 the arguments to be comma-separated.
5081
5082 info variables
5083 The info variables command now displays variable definitions. Files
5084 which only declare a variable are not shown.
5085
5086 source
5087 The source command is now capable of sourcing Python scripts.
5088 This feature is dependent on the debugger being build with Python
5089 support.
5090
5091 Related to this enhancement is also the introduction of a new command
5092 "set script-extension" (see below).
5093
5094 * New commands (for set/show, see "New options" below)
5095
5096 record save [<FILENAME>]
5097 Save a file (in core file format) containing the process record
5098 execution log for replay debugging at a later time.
5099
5100 record restore <FILENAME>
5101 Restore the process record execution log that was saved at an
5102 earlier time, for replay debugging.
5103
5104 add-inferior [-copies <N>] [-exec <FILENAME>]
5105 Add a new inferior.
5106
5107 clone-inferior [-copies <N>] [ID]
5108 Make a new inferior ready to execute the same program another
5109 inferior has loaded.
5110
5111 remove-inferior ID
5112 Remove an inferior.
5113
5114 maint info program-spaces
5115 List the program spaces loaded into GDB.
5116
5117 set remote interrupt-sequence [Ctrl-C | BREAK | BREAK-g]
5118 show remote interrupt-sequence
5119 Allow the user to select one of ^C, a BREAK signal or BREAK-g
5120 as the sequence to the remote target in order to interrupt the execution.
5121 Ctrl-C is a default. Some system prefers BREAK which is high level of
5122 serial line for some certain time. Linux kernel prefers BREAK-g, a.k.a
5123 Magic SysRq g. It is BREAK signal and character 'g'.
5124
5125 set remote interrupt-on-connect [on | off]
5126 show remote interrupt-on-connect
5127 When interrupt-on-connect is ON, gdb sends interrupt-sequence to
5128 remote target when gdb connects to it. This is needed when you debug
5129 Linux kernel.
5130
5131 set remotebreak [on | off]
5132 show remotebreak
5133 Deprecated. Use "set/show remote interrupt-sequence" instead.
5134
5135 tvariable $NAME [ = EXP ]
5136 Create or modify a trace state variable.
5137
5138 info tvariables
5139 List trace state variables and their values.
5140
5141 delete tvariable $NAME ...
5142 Delete one or more trace state variables.
5143
5144 teval EXPR, ...
5145 Evaluate the given expressions without collecting anything into the
5146 trace buffer. (Valid in tracepoint actions only.)
5147
5148 ftrace FN / FILE:LINE / *ADDR
5149 Define a fast tracepoint at the given function, line, or address.
5150
5151 * New expression syntax
5152
5153 GDB now parses the 0b prefix of binary numbers the same way as GCC does.
5154 GDB now parses 0b101010 identically with 42.
5155
5156 * New options
5157
5158 set follow-exec-mode new|same
5159 show follow-exec-mode
5160 Control whether GDB reuses the same inferior across an exec call or
5161 creates a new one. This is useful to be able to restart the old
5162 executable after the inferior having done an exec call.
5163
5164 set default-collect EXPR, ...
5165 show default-collect
5166 Define a list of expressions to be collected at each tracepoint.
5167 This is a useful way to ensure essential items are not overlooked,
5168 such as registers or a critical global variable.
5169
5170 set disconnected-tracing
5171 show disconnected-tracing
5172 If set to 1, the target is instructed to continue tracing if it
5173 loses its connection to GDB. If 0, the target is to stop tracing
5174 upon disconnection.
5175
5176 set circular-trace-buffer
5177 show circular-trace-buffer
5178 If set to on, the target is instructed to use a circular trace buffer
5179 and discard the oldest trace frames instead of stopping the trace due
5180 to a full trace buffer. If set to off, the trace stops when the buffer
5181 fills up. Some targets may not support this.
5182
5183 set script-extension off|soft|strict
5184 show script-extension
5185 If set to "off", the debugger does not perform any script language
5186 recognition, and all sourced files are assumed to be GDB scripts.
5187 If set to "soft" (the default), files are sourced according to
5188 filename extension, falling back to GDB scripts if the first
5189 evaluation failed.
5190 If set to "strict", files are sourced according to filename extension.
5191
5192 set ada trust-PAD-over-XVS on|off
5193 show ada trust-PAD-over-XVS
5194 If off, activate a workaround against a bug in the debugging information
5195 generated by the compiler for PAD types (see gcc/exp_dbug.ads in
5196 the GCC sources for more information about the GNAT encoding and
5197 PAD types in particular). It is always safe to set this option to
5198 off, but this introduces a slight performance penalty. The default
5199 is on.
5200
5201 * Python API Improvements
5202
5203 ** GDB provides the new class gdb.LazyString. This is useful in
5204 some pretty-printing cases. The new method gdb.Value.lazy_string
5205 provides a simple way to create objects of this type.
5206
5207 ** The fields returned by gdb.Type.fields now have an
5208 `is_base_class' attribute.
5209
5210 ** The new method gdb.Type.range returns the range of an array type.
5211
5212 ** The new method gdb.parse_and_eval can be used to parse and
5213 evaluate an expression.
5214
5215 * New remote packets
5216
5217 QTDV
5218 Define a trace state variable.
5219
5220 qTV
5221 Get the current value of a trace state variable.
5222
5223 QTDisconnected
5224 Set desired tracing behavior upon disconnection.
5225
5226 QTBuffer:circular
5227 Set the trace buffer to be linear or circular.
5228
5229 qTfP, qTsP
5230 Get data about the tracepoints currently in use.
5231
5232 * Bug fixes
5233
5234 Process record now works correctly with hardware watchpoints.
5235
5236 Multiple bug fixes have been made to the mips-irix port, making it
5237 much more reliable. In particular:
5238 - Debugging threaded applications is now possible again. Previously,
5239 GDB would hang while starting the program, or while waiting for
5240 the program to stop at a breakpoint.
5241 - Attaching to a running process no longer hangs.
5242 - An error occurring while loading a core file has been fixed.
5243 - Changing the value of the PC register now works again. This fixes
5244 problems observed when using the "jump" command, or when calling
5245 a function from GDB, or even when assigning a new value to $pc.
5246 - With the "finish" and "return" commands, the return value for functions
5247 returning a small array is now correctly printed.
5248 - It is now possible to break on shared library code which gets executed
5249 during a shared library init phase (code executed while executing
5250 their .init section). Previously, the breakpoint would have no effect.
5251 - GDB is now able to backtrace through the signal handler for
5252 non-threaded programs.
5253
5254 PIE (Position Independent Executable) programs debugging is now supported.
5255 This includes debugging execution of PIC (Position Independent Code) shared
5256 libraries although for that, it should be possible to run such libraries as an
5257 executable program.
5258
5259 *** Changes in GDB 7.0
5260
5261 * GDB now has an interface for JIT compilation. Applications that
5262 dynamically generate code can create symbol files in memory and register
5263 them with GDB. For users, the feature should work transparently, and
5264 for JIT developers, the interface is documented in the GDB manual in the
5265 "JIT Compilation Interface" chapter.
5266
5267 * Tracepoints may now be conditional. The syntax is as for
5268 breakpoints; either an "if" clause appended to the "trace" command,
5269 or the "condition" command is available. GDB sends the condition to
5270 the target for evaluation using the same bytecode format as is used
5271 for tracepoint actions.
5272
5273 * The disassemble command now supports: an optional /r modifier, print the
5274 raw instructions in hex as well as in symbolic form, and an optional /m
5275 modifier to print mixed source+assembly.
5276
5277 * Process record and replay
5278
5279 In a architecture environment that supports ``process record and
5280 replay'', ``process record and replay'' target can record a log of
5281 the process execution, and replay it with both forward and reverse
5282 execute commands.
5283
5284 * Reverse debugging: GDB now has new commands reverse-continue, reverse-
5285 step, reverse-next, reverse-finish, reverse-stepi, reverse-nexti, and
5286 set execution-direction {forward|reverse}, for targets that support
5287 reverse execution.
5288
5289 * GDB now supports hardware watchpoints on MIPS/Linux systems. This
5290 feature is available with a native GDB running on kernel version
5291 2.6.28 or later.
5292
5293 * GDB now has support for multi-byte and wide character sets on the
5294 target. Strings whose character type is wchar_t, char16_t, or
5295 char32_t are now correctly printed. GDB supports wide- and unicode-
5296 literals in C, that is, L'x', L"string", u'x', u"string", U'x', and
5297 U"string" syntax. And, GDB allows the "%ls" and "%lc" formats in
5298 `printf'. This feature requires iconv to work properly; if your
5299 system does not have a working iconv, GDB can use GNU libiconv. See
5300 the installation instructions for more information.
5301
5302 * GDB now supports automatic retrieval of shared library files from
5303 remote targets. To use this feature, specify a system root that begins
5304 with the `remote:' prefix, either via the `set sysroot' command or via
5305 the `--with-sysroot' configure-time option.
5306
5307 * "info sharedlibrary" now takes an optional regex of libraries to show,
5308 and it now reports if a shared library has no debugging information.
5309
5310 * Commands `set debug-file-directory', `set solib-search-path' and `set args'
5311 now complete on file names.
5312
5313 * When completing in expressions, gdb will attempt to limit
5314 completions to allowable structure or union fields, where appropriate.
5315 For instance, consider:
5316
5317 # struct example { int f1; double f2; };
5318 # struct example variable;
5319 (gdb) p variable.
5320
5321 If the user types TAB at the end of this command line, the available
5322 completions will be "f1" and "f2".
5323
5324 * Inlined functions are now supported. They show up in backtraces, and
5325 the "step", "next", and "finish" commands handle them automatically.
5326
5327 * GDB now supports the token-splicing (##) and stringification (#)
5328 operators when expanding macros. It also supports variable-arity
5329 macros.
5330
5331 * GDB now supports inspecting extra signal information, exported by
5332 the new $_siginfo convenience variable. The feature is currently
5333 implemented on linux ARM, i386 and amd64.
5334
5335 * GDB can now display the VFP floating point registers and NEON vector
5336 registers on ARM targets. Both ARM GNU/Linux native GDB and gdbserver
5337 can provide these registers (requires Linux 2.6.30 or later). Remote
5338 and simulator targets may also provide them.
5339
5340 * New remote packets
5341
5342 qSearch:memory:
5343 Search memory for a sequence of bytes.
5344
5345 QStartNoAckMode
5346 Turn off `+'/`-' protocol acknowledgments to permit more efficient
5347 operation over reliable transport links. Use of this packet is
5348 controlled by the `set remote noack-packet' command.
5349
5350 vKill
5351 Kill the process with the specified process ID. Use this in preference
5352 to `k' when multiprocess protocol extensions are supported.
5353
5354 qXfer:osdata:read
5355 Obtains additional operating system information
5356
5357 qXfer:siginfo:read
5358 qXfer:siginfo:write
5359 Read or write additional signal information.
5360
5361 * Removed remote protocol undocumented extension
5362
5363 An undocumented extension to the remote protocol's `S' stop reply
5364 packet that permitted the stub to pass a process id was removed.
5365 Remote servers should use the `T' stop reply packet instead.
5366
5367 * GDB now supports multiple function calling conventions according to the
5368 DWARF-2 DW_AT_calling_convention function attribute.
5369
5370 * The SH target utilizes the aforementioned change to distinguish between gcc
5371 and Renesas calling convention. It also adds the new CLI commands
5372 `set/show sh calling-convention'.
5373
5374 * GDB can now read compressed debug sections, as produced by GNU gold
5375 with the --compress-debug-sections=zlib flag.
5376
5377 * 64-bit core files are now supported on AIX.
5378
5379 * Thread switching is now supported on Tru64.
5380
5381 * Watchpoints can now be set on unreadable memory locations, e.g. addresses
5382 which will be allocated using malloc later in program execution.
5383
5384 * The qXfer:libraries:read remote protocol packet now allows passing a
5385 list of section offsets.
5386
5387 * On GNU/Linux, GDB can now attach to stopped processes. Several race
5388 conditions handling signals delivered during attach or thread creation
5389 have also been fixed.
5390
5391 * GDB now supports the use of DWARF boolean types for Ada's type Boolean.
5392 From the user's standpoint, all unqualified instances of True and False
5393 are treated as the standard definitions, regardless of context.
5394
5395 * GDB now parses C++ symbol and type names more flexibly. For
5396 example, given:
5397
5398 template<typename T> class C { };
5399 C<char const *> c;
5400
5401 GDB will now correctly handle all of:
5402
5403 ptype C<char const *>
5404 ptype C<char const*>
5405 ptype C<const char *>
5406 ptype C<const char*>
5407
5408 * New features in the GDB remote stub, gdbserver
5409
5410 - The "--wrapper" command-line argument tells gdbserver to use a
5411 wrapper program to launch programs for debugging.
5412
5413 - On PowerPC and S/390 targets, it is now possible to use a single
5414 gdbserver executable to debug both 32-bit and 64-bit programs.
5415 (This requires gdbserver itself to be built as a 64-bit executable.)
5416
5417 - gdbserver uses the new noack protocol mode for TCP connections to
5418 reduce communications latency, if also supported and enabled in GDB.
5419
5420 - Support for the sparc64-linux-gnu target is now included in
5421 gdbserver.
5422
5423 - The amd64-linux build of gdbserver now supports debugging both
5424 32-bit and 64-bit programs.
5425
5426 - The i386-linux, amd64-linux, and i386-win32 builds of gdbserver
5427 now support hardware watchpoints, and will use them automatically
5428 as appropriate.
5429
5430 * Python scripting
5431
5432 GDB now has support for scripting using Python. Whether this is
5433 available is determined at configure time.
5434
5435 New GDB commands can now be written in Python.
5436
5437 * Ada tasking support
5438
5439 Ada tasks can now be inspected in GDB. The following commands have
5440 been introduced:
5441
5442 info tasks
5443 Print the list of Ada tasks.
5444 info task N
5445 Print detailed information about task number N.
5446 task
5447 Print the task number of the current task.
5448 task N
5449 Switch the context of debugging to task number N.
5450
5451 * Support for user-defined prefixed commands. The "define" command can
5452 add new commands to existing prefixes, e.g. "target".
5453
5454 * Multi-inferior, multi-process debugging.
5455
5456 GDB now has generalized support for multi-inferior debugging. See
5457 "Debugging Multiple Inferiors" in the manual for more information.
5458 Although availability still depends on target support, the command
5459 set is more uniform now. The GNU/Linux specific multi-forks support
5460 has been migrated to this new framework. This implied some user
5461 visible changes; see "New commands" and also "Removed commands"
5462 below.
5463
5464 * Target descriptions can now describe the target OS ABI. See the
5465 "Target Description Format" section in the user manual for more
5466 information.
5467
5468 * Target descriptions can now describe "compatible" architectures
5469 to indicate that the target can execute applications for a different
5470 architecture in addition to those for the main target architecture.
5471 See the "Target Description Format" section in the user manual for
5472 more information.
5473
5474 * Multi-architecture debugging.
5475
5476 GDB now includes general supports for debugging applications on
5477 hybrid systems that use more than one single processor architecture
5478 at the same time. Each such hybrid architecture still requires
5479 specific support to be added. The only hybrid architecture supported
5480 in this version of GDB is the Cell Broadband Engine.
5481
5482 * GDB now supports integrated debugging of Cell/B.E. applications that
5483 use both the PPU and SPU architectures. To enable support for hybrid
5484 Cell/B.E. debugging, you need to configure GDB to support both the
5485 powerpc-linux or powerpc64-linux and the spu-elf targets, using the
5486 --enable-targets configure option.
5487
5488 * Non-stop mode debugging.
5489
5490 For some targets, GDB now supports an optional mode of operation in
5491 which you can examine stopped threads while other threads continue
5492 to execute freely. This is referred to as non-stop mode, with the
5493 old mode referred to as all-stop mode. See the "Non-Stop Mode"
5494 section in the user manual for more information.
5495
5496 To be able to support remote non-stop debugging, a remote stub needs
5497 to implement the non-stop mode remote protocol extensions, as
5498 described in the "Remote Non-Stop" section of the user manual. The
5499 GDB remote stub, gdbserver, has been adjusted to support these
5500 extensions on linux targets.
5501
5502 * New commands (for set/show, see "New options" below)
5503
5504 catch syscall [NAME(S) | NUMBER(S)]
5505 Catch system calls. Arguments, which should be names of system
5506 calls or their numbers, mean catch only those syscalls. Without
5507 arguments, every syscall will be caught. When the inferior issues
5508 any of the specified syscalls, GDB will stop and announce the system
5509 call, both when it is called and when its call returns. This
5510 feature is currently available with a native GDB running on the
5511 Linux Kernel, under the following architectures: x86, x86_64,
5512 PowerPC and PowerPC64.
5513
5514 find [/size-char] [/max-count] start-address, end-address|+search-space-size,
5515 val1 [, val2, ...]
5516 Search memory for a sequence of bytes.
5517
5518 maint set python print-stack
5519 maint show python print-stack
5520 Show a stack trace when an error is encountered in a Python script.
5521
5522 python [CODE]
5523 Invoke CODE by passing it to the Python interpreter.
5524
5525 macro define
5526 macro list
5527 macro undef
5528 These allow macros to be defined, undefined, and listed
5529 interactively.
5530
5531 info os processes
5532 Show operating system information about processes.
5533
5534 info inferiors
5535 List the inferiors currently under GDB's control.
5536
5537 inferior NUM
5538 Switch focus to inferior number NUM.
5539
5540 detach inferior NUM
5541 Detach from inferior number NUM.
5542
5543 kill inferior NUM
5544 Kill inferior number NUM.
5545
5546 * New options
5547
5548 set spu stop-on-load
5549 show spu stop-on-load
5550 Control whether to stop for new SPE threads during Cell/B.E. debugging.
5551
5552 set spu auto-flush-cache
5553 show spu auto-flush-cache
5554 Control whether to automatically flush the software-managed cache
5555 during Cell/B.E. debugging.
5556
5557 set sh calling-convention
5558 show sh calling-convention
5559 Control the calling convention used when calling SH target functions.
5560
5561 set debug timestamp
5562 show debug timestamp
5563 Control display of timestamps with GDB debugging output.
5564
5565 set disassemble-next-line
5566 show disassemble-next-line
5567 Control display of disassembled source lines or instructions when
5568 the debuggee stops.
5569
5570 set remote noack-packet
5571 show remote noack-packet
5572 Set/show the use of remote protocol QStartNoAckMode packet. See above
5573 under "New remote packets."
5574
5575 set remote query-attached-packet
5576 show remote query-attached-packet
5577 Control use of remote protocol `qAttached' (query-attached) packet.
5578
5579 set remote read-siginfo-object
5580 show remote read-siginfo-object
5581 Control use of remote protocol `qXfer:siginfo:read' (read-siginfo-object)
5582 packet.
5583
5584 set remote write-siginfo-object
5585 show remote write-siginfo-object
5586 Control use of remote protocol `qXfer:siginfo:write' (write-siginfo-object)
5587 packet.
5588
5589 set remote reverse-continue
5590 show remote reverse-continue
5591 Control use of remote protocol 'bc' (reverse-continue) packet.
5592
5593 set remote reverse-step
5594 show remote reverse-step
5595 Control use of remote protocol 'bs' (reverse-step) packet.
5596
5597 set displaced-stepping
5598 show displaced-stepping
5599 Control displaced stepping mode. Displaced stepping is a way to
5600 single-step over breakpoints without removing them from the debuggee.
5601 Also known as "out-of-line single-stepping".
5602
5603 set debug displaced
5604 show debug displaced
5605 Control display of debugging info for displaced stepping.
5606
5607 maint set internal-error
5608 maint show internal-error
5609 Control what GDB does when an internal error is detected.
5610
5611 maint set internal-warning
5612 maint show internal-warning
5613 Control what GDB does when an internal warning is detected.
5614
5615 set exec-wrapper
5616 show exec-wrapper
5617 unset exec-wrapper
5618 Use a wrapper program to launch programs for debugging.
5619
5620 set multiple-symbols (all|ask|cancel)
5621 show multiple-symbols
5622 The value of this variable can be changed to adjust the debugger behavior
5623 when an expression or a breakpoint location contains an ambiguous symbol
5624 name (an overloaded function name, for instance).
5625
5626 set breakpoint always-inserted
5627 show breakpoint always-inserted
5628 Keep breakpoints always inserted in the target, as opposed to inserting
5629 them when resuming the target, and removing them when the target stops.
5630 This option can improve debugger performance on slow remote targets.
5631
5632 set arm fallback-mode (arm|thumb|auto)
5633 show arm fallback-mode
5634 set arm force-mode (arm|thumb|auto)
5635 show arm force-mode
5636 These commands control how ARM GDB determines whether instructions
5637 are ARM or Thumb. The default for both settings is auto, which uses
5638 the current CPSR value for instructions without symbols; previous
5639 versions of GDB behaved as if "set arm fallback-mode arm".
5640
5641 set arm unwind-secure-frames
5642 Enable unwinding from Non-secure to Secure mode on Cortex-M with
5643 Security extension.
5644 This can trigger security exceptions when unwinding exception stacks.
5645
5646 set disable-randomization
5647 show disable-randomization
5648 Standalone programs run with the virtual address space randomization enabled
5649 by default on some platforms. This option keeps the addresses stable across
5650 multiple debugging sessions.
5651
5652 set non-stop
5653 show non-stop
5654 Control whether other threads are stopped or not when some thread hits
5655 a breakpoint.
5656
5657 set target-async
5658 show target-async
5659 Requests that asynchronous execution is enabled in the target, if available.
5660 In this case, it's possible to resume target in the background, and interact
5661 with GDB while the target is running. "show target-async" displays the
5662 current state of asynchronous execution of the target.
5663
5664 set target-wide-charset
5665 show target-wide-charset
5666 The target-wide-charset is the name of the character set that GDB
5667 uses when printing characters whose type is wchar_t.
5668
5669 set tcp auto-retry (on|off)
5670 show tcp auto-retry
5671 set tcp connect-timeout
5672 show tcp connect-timeout
5673 These commands allow GDB to retry failed TCP connections to a remote stub
5674 with a specified timeout period; this is useful if the stub is launched
5675 in parallel with GDB but may not be ready to accept connections immediately.
5676
5677 set libthread-db-search-path
5678 show libthread-db-search-path
5679 Control list of directories which GDB will search for appropriate
5680 libthread_db.
5681
5682 set schedule-multiple (on|off)
5683 show schedule-multiple
5684 Allow GDB to resume all threads of all processes or only threads of
5685 the current process.
5686
5687 set stack-cache
5688 show stack-cache
5689 Use more aggressive caching for accesses to the stack. This improves
5690 performance of remote debugging (particularly backtraces) without
5691 affecting correctness.
5692
5693 set interactive-mode (on|off|auto)
5694 show interactive-mode
5695 Control whether GDB runs in interactive mode (on) or not (off).
5696 When in interactive mode, GDB waits for the user to answer all
5697 queries. Otherwise, GDB does not wait and assumes the default
5698 answer. When set to auto (the default), GDB determines which
5699 mode to use based on the stdin settings.
5700
5701 * Removed commands
5702
5703 info forks
5704 For program forks, this is replaced by the new more generic `info
5705 inferiors' command. To list checkpoints, you can still use the
5706 `info checkpoints' command, which was an alias for the `info forks'
5707 command.
5708
5709 fork NUM
5710 Replaced by the new `inferior' command. To switch between
5711 checkpoints, you can still use the `restart' command, which was an
5712 alias for the `fork' command.
5713
5714 process PID
5715 This is removed, since some targets don't have a notion of
5716 processes. To switch between processes, you can still use the
5717 `inferior' command using GDB's own inferior number.
5718
5719 delete fork NUM
5720 For program forks, this is replaced by the new more generic `kill
5721 inferior' command. To delete a checkpoint, you can still use the
5722 `delete checkpoint' command, which was an alias for the `delete
5723 fork' command.
5724
5725 detach fork NUM
5726 For program forks, this is replaced by the new more generic `detach
5727 inferior' command. To detach a checkpoint, you can still use the
5728 `detach checkpoint' command, which was an alias for the `detach
5729 fork' command.
5730
5731 * New native configurations
5732
5733 x86/x86_64 Darwin i[34567]86-*-darwin*
5734
5735 x86_64 MinGW x86_64-*-mingw*
5736
5737 * New targets
5738
5739 Lattice Mico32 lm32-*
5740 x86 DICOS i[34567]86-*-dicos*
5741 x86_64 DICOS x86_64-*-dicos*
5742 S+core 3 score-*-*
5743
5744 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports x86 Windows CE
5745 (mingw32ce) debugging.
5746
5747 * Removed commands
5748
5749 catch load
5750 catch unload
5751 These commands were actually not implemented on any target.
5752
5753 *** Changes in GDB 6.8
5754
5755 * New native configurations
5756
5757 NetBSD/hppa hppa*-*netbsd*
5758 Xtensa GNU/Linux xtensa*-*-linux*
5759
5760 * New targets
5761
5762 NetBSD/hppa hppa*-*-netbsd*
5763 Xtensa GNU/Linux xtensa*-*-linux*
5764
5765 * Change in command line behavior -- corefiles vs. process ids.
5766
5767 When the '-p NUMBER' or '--pid NUMBER' options are used, and
5768 attaching to process NUMBER fails, GDB no longer attempts to open a
5769 core file named NUMBER. Attaching to a program using the -c option
5770 is no longer supported. Instead, use the '-p' or '--pid' options.
5771
5772 * GDB can now be built as a native debugger for debugging Windows x86
5773 (mingw32) Portable Executable (PE) programs.
5774
5775 * Pending breakpoints no longer change their number when their address
5776 is resolved.
5777
5778 * GDB now supports breakpoints with multiple locations,
5779 including breakpoints on C++ constructors, inside C++ templates,
5780 and in inlined functions.
5781
5782 * GDB's ability to debug optimized code has been improved. GDB more
5783 accurately identifies function bodies and lexical blocks that occupy
5784 more than one contiguous range of addresses.
5785
5786 * Target descriptions can now describe registers for PowerPC.
5787
5788 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports the AltiVec and SPE
5789 registers on PowerPC targets.
5790
5791 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports thread debugging on GNU/Linux
5792 targets even when the libthread_db library is not available.
5793
5794 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports the new file transfer
5795 commands (remote put, remote get, and remote delete).
5796
5797 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports run and attach in
5798 extended-remote mode.
5799
5800 * hppa*64*-*-hpux11* target broken
5801 The debugger is unable to start a program and fails with the following
5802 error: "Error trying to get information about dynamic linker".
5803 The gdb-6.7 release is also affected.
5804
5805 * GDB now supports the --enable-targets= configure option to allow
5806 building a single GDB executable that supports multiple remote
5807 target architectures.
5808
5809 * GDB now supports debugging C and C++ programs which use the
5810 Decimal Floating Point extension. In addition, the PowerPC target
5811 now has a set of pseudo-registers to inspect decimal float values
5812 stored in two consecutive float registers.
5813
5814 * The -break-insert MI command can optionally create pending
5815 breakpoints now.
5816
5817 * Improved support for debugging Ada
5818 Many improvements to the Ada language support have been made. These
5819 include:
5820 - Better support for Ada2005 interface types
5821 - Improved handling of arrays and slices in general
5822 - Better support for Taft-amendment types
5823 - The '{type} ADDRESS' expression is now allowed on the left hand-side
5824 of an assignment
5825 - Improved command completion in Ada
5826 - Several bug fixes
5827
5828 * GDB on GNU/Linux and HP/UX can now debug through "exec" of a new
5829 process.
5830
5831 * New commands
5832
5833 set print frame-arguments (all|scalars|none)
5834 show print frame-arguments
5835 The value of this variable can be changed to control which argument
5836 values should be printed by the debugger when displaying a frame.
5837
5838 remote put
5839 remote get
5840 remote delete
5841 Transfer files to and from a remote target, and delete remote files.
5842
5843 * New MI commands
5844
5845 -target-file-put
5846 -target-file-get
5847 -target-file-delete
5848 Transfer files to and from a remote target, and delete remote files.
5849
5850 * New remote packets
5851
5852 vFile:open:
5853 vFile:close:
5854 vFile:pread:
5855 vFile:pwrite:
5856 vFile:unlink:
5857 Open, close, read, write, and delete files on the remote system.
5858
5859 vAttach
5860 Attach to an existing process on the remote system, in extended-remote
5861 mode.
5862
5863 vRun
5864 Run a new process on the remote system, in extended-remote mode.
5865
5866 *** Changes in GDB 6.7
5867
5868 * Resolved 101 resource leaks, null pointer dereferences, etc. in gdb,
5869 bfd, libiberty and opcodes, as revealed by static analysis donated by
5870 Coverity, Inc. (http://scan.coverity.com).
5871
5872 * When looking up multiply-defined global symbols, GDB will now prefer the
5873 symbol definition in the current shared library if it was built using the
5874 -Bsymbolic linker option.
5875
5876 * When the Text User Interface (TUI) is not configured, GDB will now
5877 recognize the -tui command-line option and print a message that the TUI
5878 is not supported.
5879
5880 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now has lower overhead for high
5881 frequency signals (e.g. SIGALRM) via the QPassSignals packet.
5882
5883 * GDB for MIPS targets now autodetects whether a remote target provides
5884 32-bit or 64-bit register values.
5885
5886 * Support for C++ member pointers has been improved.
5887
5888 * GDB now understands XML target descriptions, which specify the
5889 target's overall architecture. GDB can read a description from
5890 a local file or over the remote serial protocol.
5891
5892 * Vectors of single-byte data use a new integer type which is not
5893 automatically displayed as character or string data.
5894
5895 * The /s format now works with the print command. It displays
5896 arrays of single-byte integers and pointers to single-byte integers
5897 as strings.
5898
5899 * Target descriptions can now describe target-specific registers,
5900 for architectures which have implemented the support (currently
5901 only ARM, M68K, and MIPS).
5902
5903 * GDB and the GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now support the XScale
5904 iWMMXt coprocessor.
5905
5906 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, has been updated to support
5907 ARM Windows CE (mingw32ce) debugging, and GDB Windows CE support
5908 has been rewritten to use the standard GDB remote protocol.
5909
5910 * GDB can now step into C++ functions which are called through thunks.
5911
5912 * GDB for the Cell/B.E. SPU now supports overlay debugging.
5913
5914 * The GDB remote protocol "qOffsets" packet can now honor ELF segment
5915 layout. It also supports a TextSeg= and DataSeg= response when only
5916 segment base addresses (rather than offsets) are available.
5917
5918 * The /i format now outputs any trailing branch delay slot instructions
5919 immediately following the last instruction within the count specified.
5920
5921 * The GDB remote protocol "T" stop reply packet now supports a
5922 "library" response. Combined with the new "qXfer:libraries:read"
5923 packet, this response allows GDB to debug shared libraries on targets
5924 where the operating system manages the list of loaded libraries (e.g.
5925 Windows and SymbianOS).
5926
5927 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports dynamic link libraries
5928 (DLLs) on Windows and Windows CE targets.
5929
5930 * GDB now supports a faster verification that a .debug file matches its binary
5931 according to its build-id signature, if the signature is present.
5932
5933 * New commands
5934
5935 set remoteflow
5936 show remoteflow
5937 Enable or disable hardware flow control (RTS/CTS) on the serial port
5938 when debugging using remote targets.
5939
5940 set mem inaccessible-by-default
5941 show mem inaccessible-by-default
5942 If the target supplies a memory map, for instance via the remote
5943 protocol's "qXfer:memory-map:read" packet, setting this variable
5944 prevents GDB from accessing memory outside the memory map. This
5945 is useful for targets with memory mapped registers or which react
5946 badly to accesses of unmapped address space.
5947
5948 set breakpoint auto-hw
5949 show breakpoint auto-hw
5950 If the target supplies a memory map, for instance via the remote
5951 protocol's "qXfer:memory-map:read" packet, setting this variable
5952 lets GDB use hardware breakpoints automatically for memory regions
5953 where it can not use software breakpoints. This covers both the
5954 "break" command and internal breakpoints used for other commands
5955 including "next" and "finish".
5956
5957 catch exception
5958 catch exception unhandled
5959 Stop the program execution when Ada exceptions are raised.
5960
5961 catch assert
5962 Stop the program execution when an Ada assertion failed.
5963
5964 set sysroot
5965 show sysroot
5966 Set an alternate system root for target files. This is a more
5967 general version of "set solib-absolute-prefix", which is now
5968 an alias to "set sysroot".
5969
5970 info spu
5971 Provide extended SPU facility status information. This set of
5972 commands is available only when debugging the Cell/B.E. SPU
5973 architecture.
5974
5975 * New native configurations
5976
5977 OpenBSD/sh sh*-*openbsd*
5978
5979 set tdesc filename
5980 unset tdesc filename
5981 show tdesc filename
5982 Use the specified local file as an XML target description, and do
5983 not query the target for its built-in description.
5984
5985 * New targets
5986
5987 OpenBSD/sh sh*-*-openbsd*
5988 MIPS64 GNU/Linux (gdbserver) mips64-linux-gnu
5989 Toshiba Media Processor mep-elf
5990
5991 * New remote packets
5992
5993 QPassSignals:
5994 Ignore the specified signals; pass them directly to the debugged program
5995 without stopping other threads or reporting them to GDB.
5996
5997 qXfer:features:read:
5998 Read an XML target description from the target, which describes its
5999 features.
6000
6001 qXfer:spu:read:
6002 qXfer:spu:write:
6003 Read or write contents of an spufs file on the target system. These
6004 packets are available only on the Cell/B.E. SPU architecture.
6005
6006 qXfer:libraries:read:
6007 Report the loaded shared libraries. Combined with new "T" packet
6008 response, this packet allows GDB to debug shared libraries on
6009 targets where the operating system manages the list of loaded
6010 libraries (e.g. Windows and SymbianOS).
6011
6012 * Removed targets
6013
6014 Support for these obsolete configurations has been removed.
6015
6016 alpha*-*-osf1*
6017 alpha*-*-osf2*
6018 d10v-*-*
6019 hppa*-*-hiux*
6020 i[34567]86-ncr-*
6021 i[34567]86-*-dgux*
6022 i[34567]86-*-lynxos*
6023 i[34567]86-*-netware*
6024 i[34567]86-*-sco3.2v5*
6025 i[34567]86-*-sco3.2v4*
6026 i[34567]86-*-sco*
6027 i[34567]86-*-sysv4.2*
6028 i[34567]86-*-sysv4*
6029 i[34567]86-*-sysv5*
6030 i[34567]86-*-unixware2*
6031 i[34567]86-*-unixware*
6032 i[34567]86-*-sysv*
6033 i[34567]86-*-isc*
6034 m68*-cisco*-*
6035 m68*-tandem-*
6036 mips*-*-pe
6037 rs6000-*-lynxos*
6038 sh*-*-pe
6039
6040 * Other removed features
6041
6042 target abug
6043 target cpu32bug
6044 target est
6045 target rom68k
6046
6047 Various m68k-only ROM monitors.
6048
6049 target hms
6050 target e7000
6051 target sh3
6052 target sh3e
6053
6054 Various Renesas ROM monitors and debugging interfaces for SH and
6055 H8/300.
6056
6057 target ocd
6058
6059 Support for a Macraigor serial interface to on-chip debugging.
6060 GDB does not directly support the newer parallel or USB
6061 interfaces.
6062
6063 DWARF 1 support
6064
6065 A debug information format. The predecessor to DWARF 2 and
6066 DWARF 3, which are still supported.
6067
6068 Support for the HP aCC compiler on HP-UX/PA-RISC
6069
6070 SOM-encapsulated symbolic debugging information, automatic
6071 invocation of pxdb, and the aCC custom C++ ABI. This does not
6072 affect HP-UX for Itanium or GCC for HP-UX/PA-RISC. Code compiled
6073 with aCC can still be debugged on an assembly level.
6074
6075 MIPS ".pdr" sections
6076
6077 A MIPS-specific format used to describe stack frame layout
6078 in debugging information.
6079
6080 Scheme support
6081
6082 GDB could work with an older version of Guile to debug
6083 the interpreter and Scheme programs running in it.
6084
6085 set mips stack-arg-size
6086 set mips saved-gpreg-size
6087
6088 Use "set mips abi" to control parameter passing for MIPS.
6089
6090 *** Changes in GDB 6.6
6091
6092 * New targets
6093
6094 Xtensa xtensa-elf
6095 Cell Broadband Engine SPU spu-elf
6096
6097 * GDB can now be configured as a cross-debugger targeting native Windows
6098 (mingw32) or Cygwin. It can communicate with a remote debugging stub
6099 running on a Windows system over TCP/IP to debug Windows programs.
6100
6101 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, has been updated to support Windows and
6102 Cygwin debugging. Both single-threaded and multi-threaded programs are
6103 supported.
6104
6105 * The "set trust-readonly-sections" command works again. This command was
6106 broken in GDB 6.3, 6.4, and 6.5.
6107
6108 * The "load" command now supports writing to flash memory, if the remote
6109 stub provides the required support.
6110
6111 * Support for GNU/Linux Thread Local Storage (TLS, per-thread variables) no
6112 longer requires symbolic debug information (e.g. DWARF-2).
6113
6114 * New commands
6115
6116 set substitute-path
6117 unset substitute-path
6118 show substitute-path
6119 Manage a list of substitution rules that GDB uses to rewrite the name
6120 of the directories where the sources are located. This can be useful
6121 for instance when the sources were moved to a different location
6122 between compilation and debugging.
6123
6124 set trace-commands
6125 show trace-commands
6126 Print each CLI command as it is executed. Each command is prefixed with
6127 a number of `+' symbols representing the nesting depth.
6128 The source command now has a `-v' option to enable the same feature.
6129
6130 * REMOVED features
6131
6132 The ARM Demon monitor support (RDP protocol, "target rdp").
6133
6134 Kernel Object Display, an embedded debugging feature which only worked with
6135 an obsolete version of Cisco IOS.
6136
6137 The 'set download-write-size' and 'show download-write-size' commands.
6138
6139 * New remote packets
6140
6141 qSupported:
6142 Tell a stub about GDB client features, and request remote target features.
6143 The first feature implemented is PacketSize, which allows the target to
6144 specify the size of packets it can handle - to minimize the number of
6145 packets required and improve performance when connected to a remote
6146 target.
6147
6148 qXfer:auxv:read:
6149 Fetch an OS auxilliary vector from the remote stub. This packet is a
6150 more efficient replacement for qPart:auxv:read.
6151
6152 qXfer:memory-map:read:
6153 Fetch a memory map from the remote stub, including information about
6154 RAM, ROM, and flash memory devices.
6155
6156 vFlashErase:
6157 vFlashWrite:
6158 vFlashDone:
6159 Erase and program a flash memory device.
6160
6161 * Removed remote packets
6162
6163 qPart:auxv:read:
6164 This packet has been replaced by qXfer:auxv:read. Only GDB 6.4 and 6.5
6165 used it, and only gdbserver implemented it.
6166
6167 *** Changes in GDB 6.5
6168
6169 * New targets
6170
6171 Renesas M32C/M16C m32c-elf
6172
6173 Morpho Technologies ms1 ms1-elf
6174
6175 * New commands
6176
6177 init-if-undefined Initialize a convenience variable, but
6178 only if it doesn't already have a value.
6179
6180 The following commands are presently only implemented for native GNU/Linux:
6181
6182 checkpoint Save a snapshot of the program state.
6183
6184 restart <n> Return the program state to a
6185 previously saved state.
6186
6187 info checkpoints List currently saved checkpoints.
6188
6189 delete-checkpoint <n> Delete a previously saved checkpoint.
6190
6191 set|show detach-on-fork Tell gdb whether to detach from a newly
6192 forked process, or to keep debugging it.
6193
6194 info forks List forks of the user program that
6195 are available to be debugged.
6196
6197 fork <n> Switch to debugging one of several
6198 forks of the user program that are
6199 available to be debugged.
6200
6201 delete-fork <n> Delete a fork from the list of forks
6202 that are available to be debugged (and
6203 kill the forked process).
6204
6205 detach-fork <n> Delete a fork from the list of forks
6206 that are available to be debugged (and
6207 allow the process to continue).
6208
6209 * New architecture
6210
6211 Morpho Technologies ms2 ms1-elf
6212
6213 * Improved Windows host support
6214
6215 GDB now builds as a cross debugger hosted on i686-mingw32, including
6216 native console support, and remote communications using either
6217 network sockets or serial ports.
6218
6219 * Improved Modula-2 language support
6220
6221 GDB can now print most types in the Modula-2 syntax. This includes:
6222 basic types, set types, record types, enumerated types, range types,
6223 pointer types and ARRAY types. Procedure var parameters are correctly
6224 printed and hexadecimal addresses and character constants are also
6225 written in the Modula-2 syntax. Best results can be obtained by using
6226 GNU Modula-2 together with the -gdwarf-2 command line option.
6227
6228 * REMOVED features
6229
6230 The ARM rdi-share module.
6231
6232 The Netware NLM debug server.
6233
6234 *** Changes in GDB 6.4
6235
6236 * New native configurations
6237
6238 OpenBSD/arm arm*-*-openbsd*
6239 OpenBSD/mips64 mips64-*-openbsd*
6240
6241 * New targets
6242
6243 Morpho Technologies ms1 ms1-elf
6244
6245 * New command line options
6246
6247 --batch-silent As for --batch, but totally silent.
6248 --return-child-result The debugger will exist with the same value
6249 the child (debugged) program exited with.
6250 --eval-command COMMAND, -ex COMMAND
6251 Execute a single GDB CLI command. This may be
6252 specified multiple times and in conjunction
6253 with the --command (-x) option.
6254
6255 * Deprecated commands removed
6256
6257 The following commands, that were deprecated in 2000, have been
6258 removed:
6259
6260 Command Replacement
6261 set|show arm disassembly-flavor set|show arm disassembler
6262 othernames set arm disassembler
6263 set|show remotedebug set|show debug remote
6264 set|show archdebug set|show debug arch
6265 set|show eventdebug set|show debug event
6266 regs info registers
6267
6268 * New BSD user-level threads support
6269
6270 It is now possible to debug programs using the user-level threads
6271 library on OpenBSD and FreeBSD. Currently supported (target)
6272 configurations are:
6273
6274 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
6275 FreeBSD/i386 i386-*-freebsd*
6276 OpenBSD/i386 i386-*-openbsd*
6277
6278 Note that the new kernel threads libraries introduced in FreeBSD 5.x
6279 are not yet supported.
6280
6281 * New support for Matsushita MN10300 w/sim added
6282 (Work in progress). mn10300-elf.
6283
6284 * REMOVED configurations and files
6285
6286 VxWorks and the XDR protocol *-*-vxworks
6287 Motorola MCORE mcore-*-*
6288 National Semiconductor NS32000 ns32k-*-*
6289
6290 * New "set print array-indexes" command
6291
6292 After turning this setting "on", GDB prints the index of each element
6293 when displaying arrays. The default is "off" to preserve the previous
6294 behavior.
6295
6296 * VAX floating point support
6297
6298 GDB now supports the not-quite-ieee VAX F and D floating point formats.
6299
6300 * User-defined command support
6301
6302 In addition to using $arg0..$arg9 for argument passing, it is now possible
6303 to use $argc to determine now many arguments have been passed. See the
6304 section on user-defined commands in the user manual for more information.
6305
6306 *** Changes in GDB 6.3:
6307
6308 * New command line option
6309
6310 GDB now accepts -l followed by a number to set the timeout for remote
6311 debugging.
6312
6313 * GDB works with GCC -feliminate-dwarf2-dups
6314
6315 GDB now supports a more compact representation of DWARF-2 debug
6316 information using DW_FORM_ref_addr references. These are produced
6317 by GCC with the option -feliminate-dwarf2-dups and also by some
6318 proprietary compilers. With GCC, you must use GCC 3.3.4 or later
6319 to use -feliminate-dwarf2-dups.
6320
6321 * Internationalization
6322
6323 When supported by the host system, GDB will be built with
6324 internationalization (libintl). The task of marking up the sources is
6325 continued, we're looking forward to our first translation.
6326
6327 * Ada
6328
6329 Initial support for debugging programs compiled with the GNAT
6330 implementation of the Ada programming language has been integrated
6331 into GDB. In this release, support is limited to expression evaluation.
6332
6333 * New native configurations
6334
6335 GNU/Linux/m32r m32r-*-linux-gnu
6336
6337 * Remote 'p' packet
6338
6339 GDB's remote protocol now includes support for the 'p' packet. This
6340 packet is used to fetch individual registers from a remote inferior.
6341
6342 * END-OF-LIFE registers[] compatibility module
6343
6344 GDB's internal register infrastructure has been completely rewritten.
6345 The new infrastructure making possible the implementation of key new
6346 features including 32x64 (e.g., 64-bit amd64 GDB debugging a 32-bit
6347 i386 application).
6348
6349 GDB 6.3 will be the last release to include the registers[]
6350 compatibility module that allowed out-of-date configurations to
6351 continue to work. This change directly impacts the following
6352 configurations:
6353
6354 hppa-*-hpux
6355 ia64-*-aix
6356 mips-*-irix*
6357 *-*-lynx
6358 mips-*-linux-gnu
6359 sds protocol
6360 xdr protocol
6361 powerpc bdm protocol
6362
6363 Unless there is activity to revive these configurations, they will be
6364 made OBSOLETE in GDB 6.4, and REMOVED from GDB 6.5.
6365
6366 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
6367
6368 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
6369 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
6370 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
6371 permanently REMOVED.
6372
6373 h8300-*-*
6374 mcore-*-*
6375 mn10300-*-*
6376 ns32k-*-*
6377 sh64-*-*
6378 v850-*-*
6379
6380 *** Changes in GDB 6.2.1:
6381
6382 * MIPS `break main; run' gave an heuristic-fence-post warning
6383
6384 When attempting to run even a simple program, a warning about
6385 heuristic-fence-post being hit would be reported. This problem has
6386 been fixed.
6387
6388 * MIPS IRIX 'long double' crashed GDB
6389
6390 When examining a long double variable, GDB would get a segmentation
6391 fault. The crash has been fixed (but GDB 6.2 cannot correctly examine
6392 IRIX long double values).
6393
6394 * VAX and "next"
6395
6396 A bug in the VAX stack code was causing problems with the "next"
6397 command. This problem has been fixed.
6398
6399 *** Changes in GDB 6.2:
6400
6401 * Fix for ``many threads''
6402
6403 On GNU/Linux systems that use the NPTL threads library, a program
6404 rapidly creating and deleting threads would confuse GDB leading to the
6405 error message:
6406
6407 ptrace: No such process.
6408 thread_db_get_info: cannot get thread info: generic error
6409
6410 This problem has been fixed.
6411
6412 * "-async" and "-noasync" options removed.
6413
6414 Support for the broken "-noasync" option has been removed (it caused
6415 GDB to dump core).
6416
6417 * New ``start'' command.
6418
6419 This command runs the program until the beginning of the main procedure.
6420
6421 * New BSD Kernel Data Access Library (libkvm) interface
6422
6423 Using ``target kvm'' it is now possible to debug kernel core dumps and
6424 live kernel memory images on various FreeBSD, NetBSD and OpenBSD
6425 platforms. Currently supported (native-only) configurations are:
6426
6427 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
6428 FreeBSD/i386 i?86-*-freebsd*
6429 NetBSD/i386 i?86-*-netbsd*
6430 NetBSD/m68k m68*-*-netbsd*
6431 NetBSD/sparc sparc-*-netbsd*
6432 OpenBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-openbsd*
6433 OpenBSD/i386 i?86-*-openbsd*
6434 OpenBSD/m68k m68*-openbsd*
6435 OpenBSD/sparc sparc-*-openbsd*
6436
6437 * Signal trampoline code overhauled
6438
6439 Many generic problems with GDB's signal handling code have been fixed.
6440 These include: backtraces through non-contiguous stacks; recognition
6441 of sa_sigaction signal trampolines; backtrace from a NULL pointer
6442 call; backtrace through a signal trampoline; step into and out of
6443 signal handlers; and single-stepping in the signal trampoline.
6444
6445 Please note that kernel bugs are a limiting factor here. These
6446 features have been shown to work on an s390 GNU/Linux system that
6447 include a 2.6.8-rc1 kernel. Ref PR breakpoints/1702.
6448
6449 * Cygwin support for DWARF 2 added.
6450
6451 * New native configurations
6452
6453 GNU/Linux/hppa hppa*-*-linux*
6454 OpenBSD/hppa hppa*-*-openbsd*
6455 OpenBSD/m68k m68*-*-openbsd*
6456 OpenBSD/m88k m88*-*-openbsd*
6457 OpenBSD/powerpc powerpc-*-openbsd*
6458 NetBSD/vax vax-*-netbsd*
6459 OpenBSD/vax vax-*-openbsd*
6460
6461 * END-OF-LIFE frame compatibility module
6462
6463 GDB's internal frame infrastructure has been completely rewritten.
6464 The new infrastructure making it possible to support key new features
6465 including DWARF 2 Call Frame Information. To aid in the task of
6466 migrating old configurations to this new infrastructure, a
6467 compatibility module, that allowed old configurations to continue to
6468 work, was also included.
6469
6470 GDB 6.2 will be the last release to include this frame compatibility
6471 module. This change directly impacts the following configurations:
6472
6473 h8300-*-*
6474 mcore-*-*
6475 mn10300-*-*
6476 ns32k-*-*
6477 sh64-*-*
6478 v850-*-*
6479 xstormy16-*-*
6480
6481 Unless there is activity to revive these configurations, they will be
6482 made OBSOLETE in GDB 6.3, and REMOVED from GDB 6.4.
6483
6484 * REMOVED configurations and files
6485
6486 Sun 3, running SunOS 3 m68*-*-sunos3*
6487 Sun 3, running SunOS 4 m68*-*-sunos4*
6488 Sun 2, running SunOS 3 m68000-*-sunos3*
6489 Sun 2, running SunOS 4 m68000-*-sunos4*
6490 Motorola 680x0 running LynxOS m68*-*-lynxos*
6491 AT&T 3b1/Unix pc m68*-att-*
6492 Bull DPX2 (68k, System V release 3) m68*-bull-sysv*
6493 decstation mips-dec-* mips-little-*
6494 riscos mips-*-riscos* mips-*-sysv*
6495 sonymips mips-sony-*
6496 sysv mips*-*-sysv4* (IRIX 5/6 not included)
6497
6498 *** Changes in GDB 6.1.1:
6499
6500 * TUI (Text-mode User Interface) built-in (also included in GDB 6.1)
6501
6502 The TUI (Text-mode User Interface) is now built as part of a default
6503 GDB configuration. It is enabled by either selecting the TUI with the
6504 command line option "-i=tui" or by running the separate "gdbtui"
6505 program. For more information on the TUI, see the manual "Debugging
6506 with GDB".
6507
6508 * Pending breakpoint support (also included in GDB 6.1)
6509
6510 Support has been added to allow you to specify breakpoints in shared
6511 libraries that have not yet been loaded. If a breakpoint location
6512 cannot be found, and the "breakpoint pending" option is set to auto,
6513 GDB queries you if you wish to make the breakpoint pending on a future
6514 shared-library load. If and when GDB resolves the breakpoint symbol,
6515 the pending breakpoint is removed as one or more regular breakpoints
6516 are created.
6517
6518 Pending breakpoints are very useful for GCJ Java debugging.
6519
6520 * Fixed ISO-C build problems
6521
6522 The files bfd/elf-bfd.h, gdb/dictionary.c and gdb/types.c contained
6523 non ISO-C code that stopped them being built using a more strict ISO-C
6524 compiler (e.g., IBM's C compiler).
6525
6526 * Fixed build problem on IRIX 5
6527
6528 Due to header problems with <sys/proc.h>, the file gdb/proc-api.c
6529 wasn't able to compile compile on an IRIX 5 system.
6530
6531 * Added execute permission to gdb/gdbserver/configure
6532
6533 The shell script gdb/testsuite/gdb.stabs/configure lacked execute
6534 permission. This bug would cause configure to fail on a number of
6535 systems (Solaris, IRIX). Ref: server/519.
6536
6537 * Fixed build problem on hpux2.0w-hp-hpux11.00 using the HP ANSI C compiler
6538
6539 Older HPUX ANSI C compilers did not accept variable array sizes. somsolib.c
6540 has been updated to use constant array sizes.
6541
6542 * Fixed a panic in the DWARF Call Frame Info code on Solaris 2.7
6543
6544 GCC 3.3.2, on Solaris 2.7, includes the DW_EH_PE_funcrel encoding in
6545 its generated DWARF Call Frame Info. This encoding was causing GDB to
6546 panic, that panic has been fixed. Ref: gdb/1628.
6547
6548 * Fixed a problem when examining parameters in shared library code.
6549
6550 When examining parameters in optimized shared library code generated
6551 by a mainline GCC, GDB would incorrectly report ``Variable "..." is
6552 not available''. GDB now correctly displays the variable's value.
6553
6554 *** Changes in GDB 6.1:
6555
6556 * Removed --with-mmalloc
6557
6558 Support for the mmalloc memory manager has been removed, as it
6559 conflicted with the internal gdb byte cache.
6560
6561 * Changes in AMD64 configurations
6562
6563 The AMD64 target now includes the %cs and %ss registers. As a result
6564 the AMD64 remote protocol has changed; this affects the floating-point
6565 and SSE registers. If you rely on those registers for your debugging,
6566 you should upgrade gdbserver on the remote side.
6567
6568 * Revised SPARC target
6569
6570 The SPARC target has been completely revised, incorporating the
6571 FreeBSD/sparc64 support that was added for GDB 6.0. As a result
6572 support for LynxOS and SunOS 4 has been dropped. Calling functions
6573 from within GDB on operating systems with a non-executable stack
6574 (Solaris, OpenBSD) now works.
6575
6576 * New C++ demangler
6577
6578 GDB has a new C++ demangler which does a better job on the mangled
6579 names generated by current versions of g++. It also runs faster, so
6580 with this and other changes gdb should now start faster on large C++
6581 programs.
6582
6583 * DWARF 2 Location Expressions
6584
6585 GDB support for location expressions has been extended to support function
6586 arguments and frame bases. Older versions of GDB could crash when they
6587 encountered these.
6588
6589 * C++ nested types and namespaces
6590
6591 GDB's support for nested types and namespaces in C++ has been
6592 improved, especially if you use the DWARF 2 debugging format. (This
6593 is the default for recent versions of GCC on most platforms.)
6594 Specifically, if you have a class "Inner" defined within a class or
6595 namespace "Outer", then GDB realizes that the class's name is
6596 "Outer::Inner", not simply "Inner". This should greatly reduce the
6597 frequency of complaints about not finding RTTI symbols. In addition,
6598 if you are stopped at inside of a function defined within a namespace,
6599 GDB modifies its name lookup accordingly.
6600
6601 * New native configurations
6602
6603 NetBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-netbsd*
6604 OpenBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-openbsd*
6605 OpenBSD/alpha alpha*-*-openbsd*
6606 OpenBSD/sparc sparc-*-openbsd*
6607 OpenBSD/sparc64 sparc64-*-openbsd*
6608
6609 * New debugging protocols
6610
6611 M32R with SDI protocol m32r-*-elf*
6612
6613 * "set prompt-escape-char" command deleted.
6614
6615 The command "set prompt-escape-char" has been deleted. This command,
6616 and its very obscure effect on GDB's prompt, was never documented,
6617 tested, nor mentioned in the NEWS file.
6618
6619 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
6620
6621 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
6622 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
6623 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
6624 permanently REMOVED.
6625
6626 Sun 3, running SunOS 3 m68*-*-sunos3*
6627 Sun 3, running SunOS 4 m68*-*-sunos4*
6628 Sun 2, running SunOS 3 m68000-*-sunos3*
6629 Sun 2, running SunOS 4 m68000-*-sunos4*
6630 Motorola 680x0 running LynxOS m68*-*-lynxos*
6631 AT&T 3b1/Unix pc m68*-att-*
6632 Bull DPX2 (68k, System V release 3) m68*-bull-sysv*
6633 decstation mips-dec-* mips-little-*
6634 riscos mips-*-riscos* mips-*-sysv*
6635 sonymips mips-sony-*
6636 sysv mips*-*-sysv4* (IRIX 5/6 not included)
6637
6638 * REMOVED configurations and files
6639
6640 SGI Irix-4.x mips-sgi-irix4 or iris4
6641 SGI Iris (MIPS) running Irix V3: mips-sgi-irix or iris
6642 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
6643 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
6644 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
6645 HP/PA running BSD hppa*-*-bsd*
6646 HP/PA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
6647 HP/PA Pro target hppa*-*-pro*
6648 PMAX (MIPS) running Mach 3.0 mips*-*-mach3*
6649 386BSD i[3456]86-*-bsd*
6650 Sequent family i[3456]86-sequent-sysv4*
6651 i[3456]86-sequent-sysv*
6652 i[3456]86-sequent-bsd*
6653 SPARC running LynxOS sparc-*-lynxos*
6654 SPARC running SunOS 4 sparc-*-sunos4*
6655 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
6656 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
6657
6658 *** Changes in GDB 6.0:
6659
6660 * Objective-C
6661
6662 Support for debugging the Objective-C programming language has been
6663 integrated into GDB.
6664
6665 * New backtrace mechanism (includes DWARF 2 Call Frame Information).
6666
6667 DWARF 2's Call Frame Information makes available compiler generated
6668 information that more exactly describes the program's run-time stack.
6669 By using this information, GDB is able to provide more robust stack
6670 backtraces.
6671
6672 The i386, amd64 (nee, x86-64), Alpha, m68hc11, ia64, and m32r targets
6673 have been updated to use a new backtrace mechanism which includes
6674 DWARF 2 CFI support.
6675
6676 * Hosted file I/O.
6677
6678 GDB's remote protocol has been extended to include support for hosted
6679 file I/O (where the remote target uses GDB's file system). See GDB's
6680 remote protocol documentation for details.
6681
6682 * All targets using the new architecture framework.
6683
6684 All of GDB's targets have been updated to use the new internal
6685 architecture framework. The way is now open for future GDB releases
6686 to include cross-architecture native debugging support (i386 on amd64,
6687 ppc32 on ppc64).
6688
6689 * GNU/Linux's Thread Local Storage (TLS)
6690
6691 GDB now includes support for for the GNU/Linux implementation of
6692 per-thread variables.
6693
6694 * GNU/Linux's Native POSIX Thread Library (NPTL)
6695
6696 GDB's thread code has been updated to work with either the new
6697 GNU/Linux NPTL thread library or the older "LinuxThreads" library.
6698
6699 * Separate debug info.
6700
6701 GDB, in conjunction with BINUTILS, now supports a mechanism for
6702 automatically loading debug information from a separate file. Instead
6703 of shipping full debug and non-debug versions of system libraries,
6704 system integrators can now instead ship just the stripped libraries
6705 and optional debug files.
6706
6707 * DWARF 2 Location Expressions
6708
6709 DWARF 2 Location Expressions allow the compiler to more completely
6710 describe the location of variables (even in optimized code) to the
6711 debugger.
6712
6713 GDB now includes preliminary support for location expressions (support
6714 for DW_OP_piece is still missing).
6715
6716 * Java
6717
6718 A number of long standing bugs that caused GDB to die while starting a
6719 Java application have been fixed. GDB's Java support is now
6720 considered "useable".
6721
6722 * GNU/Linux support for fork, vfork, and exec.
6723
6724 The "catch fork", "catch exec", "catch vfork", and "set follow-fork-mode"
6725 commands are now implemented for GNU/Linux. They require a 2.5.x or later
6726 kernel.
6727
6728 * GDB supports logging output to a file
6729
6730 There are two new commands, "set logging" and "show logging", which can be
6731 used to capture GDB's output to a file.
6732
6733 * The meaning of "detach" has changed for gdbserver
6734
6735 The "detach" command will now resume the application, as documented. To
6736 disconnect from gdbserver and leave it stopped, use the new "disconnect"
6737 command.
6738
6739 * d10v, m68hc11 `regs' command deprecated
6740
6741 The `info registers' command has been updated so that it displays the
6742 registers using a format identical to the old `regs' command.
6743
6744 * Profiling support
6745
6746 A new command, "maint set profile on/off", has been added. This command can
6747 be used to enable or disable profiling while running GDB, to profile a
6748 session or a set of commands. In addition there is a new configure switch,
6749 "--enable-profiling", which will cause GDB to be compiled with profiling
6750 data, for more informative profiling results.
6751
6752 * Default MI syntax changed to "mi2".
6753
6754 The default MI (machine interface) syntax, enabled by the command line
6755 option "-i=mi", has been changed to "mi2". The previous MI syntax,
6756 "mi1", can be enabled by specifying the option "-i=mi1".
6757
6758 Support for the original "mi0" syntax (included in GDB 5.0) has been
6759 removed.
6760
6761 Fix for gdb/192: removed extraneous space when displaying frame level.
6762 Fix for gdb/672: update changelist is now output in mi list format.
6763 Fix for gdb/702: a -var-assign that updates the value now shows up
6764 in a subsequent -var-update.
6765
6766 * New native configurations.
6767
6768 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
6769
6770 * Multi-arched targets.
6771
6772 HP/PA HPUX11 hppa*-*-hpux*
6773 Renesas M32R/D w/simulator m32r-*-elf*
6774
6775 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
6776
6777 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
6778 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
6779 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
6780 permanently REMOVED.
6781
6782 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
6783 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
6784 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
6785 HP/PA running BSD hppa*-*-bsd*
6786 HP/PA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
6787 HP/PA Pro target hppa*-*-pro*
6788 PMAX (MIPS) running Mach 3.0 mips*-*-mach3*
6789 Sequent family i[3456]86-sequent-sysv4*
6790 i[3456]86-sequent-sysv*
6791 i[3456]86-sequent-bsd*
6792 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
6793 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
6794
6795 * REMOVED configurations and files
6796
6797 V850EA ISA
6798 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
6799 IBM AIX PS/2 i[3456]86-*-aix
6800 i386 running Mach 3.0 i[3456]86-*-mach3*
6801 i386 running Mach i[3456]86-*-mach*
6802 i386 running OSF/1 i[3456]86-*osf1mk*
6803 HP/Apollo 68k Family m68*-apollo*-sysv*,
6804 m68*-apollo*-bsd*,
6805 m68*-hp-bsd*, m68*-hp-hpux*
6806 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
6807 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
6808 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
6809 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
6810 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
6811
6812 * MIPS $fp behavior changed
6813
6814 The convenience variable $fp, for the MIPS, now consistently returns
6815 the address of the current frame's base. Previously, depending on the
6816 context, $fp could refer to either $sp or the current frame's base
6817 address. See ``8.10 Registers'' in the manual ``Debugging with GDB:
6818 The GNU Source-Level Debugger''.
6819
6820 *** Changes in GDB 5.3:
6821
6822 * GNU/Linux shared library multi-threaded performance improved.
6823
6824 When debugging a multi-threaded application on GNU/Linux, GDB now uses
6825 `/proc', in preference to `ptrace' for memory reads. This may result
6826 in an improvement in the start-up time of multi-threaded, shared
6827 library applications when run under GDB. One GDB user writes: ``loads
6828 shared libs like mad''.
6829
6830 * ``gdbserver'' now supports multi-threaded applications on some targets
6831
6832 Support for debugging multi-threaded applications which use
6833 the GNU/Linux LinuxThreads package has been added for
6834 arm*-*-linux*-gnu*, i[3456]86-*-linux*-gnu*, mips*-*-linux*-gnu*,
6835 powerpc*-*-linux*-gnu*, and sh*-*-linux*-gnu*.
6836
6837 * GDB now supports C/C++ preprocessor macros.
6838
6839 GDB now expands preprocessor macro invocations in C/C++ expressions,
6840 and provides various commands for showing macro definitions and how
6841 they expand.
6842
6843 The new command `macro expand EXPRESSION' expands any macro
6844 invocations in expression, and shows the result.
6845
6846 The new command `show macro MACRO-NAME' shows the definition of the
6847 macro named MACRO-NAME, and where it was defined.
6848
6849 Most compilers don't include information about macros in the debugging
6850 information by default. In GCC 3.1, for example, you need to compile
6851 your program with the options `-gdwarf-2 -g3'. If the macro
6852 information is present in the executable, GDB will read it.
6853
6854 * Multi-arched targets.
6855
6856 DEC Alpha (partial) alpha*-*-*
6857 DEC VAX (partial) vax-*-*
6858 NEC V850 v850-*-*
6859 National Semiconductor NS32000 (partial) ns32k-*-*
6860 Motorola 68000 (partial) m68k-*-*
6861 Motorola MCORE mcore-*-*
6862
6863 * New targets.
6864
6865 Fujitsu FRV architecture added by Red Hat frv*-*-*
6866
6867
6868 * New native configurations
6869
6870 Alpha NetBSD alpha*-*-netbsd*
6871 SH NetBSD sh*-*-netbsdelf*
6872 MIPS NetBSD mips*-*-netbsd*
6873 UltraSPARC NetBSD sparc64-*-netbsd*
6874
6875 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
6876
6877 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
6878 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
6879 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
6880 permanently REMOVED.
6881
6882 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
6883 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
6884 IBM AIX PS/2 i[3456]86-*-aix
6885 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
6886 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
6887 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
6888 i386 running Mach 3.0 i[3456]86-*-mach3*
6889 i386 running Mach i[3456]86-*-mach*
6890 i386 running OSF/1 i[3456]86-*osf1mk*
6891 HP/Apollo 68k Family m68*-apollo*-sysv*,
6892 m68*-apollo*-bsd*,
6893 m68*-hp-bsd*, m68*-hp-hpux*
6894 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
6895
6896 * OBSOLETE languages
6897
6898 CHILL, a Pascal like language used by telecommunications companies.
6899
6900 * REMOVED configurations and files
6901
6902 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi, udi29k
6903 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
6904 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
6905 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
6906 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
6907
6908 testsuite/gdb.hp/gdb.threads-hp/ directory
6909
6910 * New command "set max-user-call-depth <nnn>"
6911
6912 This command allows the user to limit the call depth of user-defined
6913 commands. The default is 1024.
6914
6915 * Changes in FreeBSD/i386 native debugging.
6916
6917 Support for the "generate-core-file" has been added.
6918
6919 * New commands "dump", "append", and "restore".
6920
6921 These commands allow data to be copied from target memory
6922 to a bfd-format or binary file (dump and append), and back
6923 from a file into memory (restore).
6924
6925 * Improved "next/step" support on multi-processor Alpha Tru64.
6926
6927 The previous single-step mechanism could cause unpredictable problems,
6928 including the random appearance of SIGSEGV or SIGTRAP signals. The use
6929 of a software single-step mechanism prevents this.
6930
6931 *** Changes in GDB 5.2.1:
6932
6933 * New targets.
6934
6935 Atmel AVR avr*-*-*
6936
6937 * Bug fixes
6938
6939 gdb/182: gdb/323: gdb/237: On alpha, gdb was reporting:
6940 mdebugread.c:2443: gdb-internal-error: sect_index_data not initialized
6941 Fix, by Joel Brobecker imported from mainline.
6942
6943 gdb/439: gdb/291: On some ELF object files, gdb was reporting:
6944 dwarf2read.c:1072: gdb-internal-error: sect_index_text not initialize
6945 Fix, by Fred Fish, imported from mainline.
6946
6947 Dwarf2 .debug_frame & .eh_frame handler improved in many ways.
6948 Surprisingly enough, it works now.
6949 By Michal Ludvig, imported from mainline.
6950
6951 i386 hardware watchpoint support:
6952 avoid misses on second run for some targets.
6953 By Pierre Muller, imported from mainline.
6954
6955 *** Changes in GDB 5.2:
6956
6957 * New command "set trust-readonly-sections on[off]".
6958
6959 This command is a hint that tells gdb that read-only sections
6960 really are read-only (ie. that their contents will not change).
6961 In this mode, gdb will go to the object file rather than the
6962 target to read memory from read-only sections (such as ".text").
6963 This can be a significant performance improvement on some
6964 (notably embedded) targets.
6965
6966 * New command "generate-core-file" (or "gcore").
6967
6968 This new gdb command allows the user to drop a core file of the child
6969 process state at any time. So far it's been implemented only for
6970 GNU/Linux and Solaris, but should be relatively easily ported to other
6971 hosts. Argument is core file name (defaults to core.<pid>).
6972
6973 * New command line option
6974
6975 GDB now accepts --pid or -p followed by a process id.
6976
6977 * Change in command line behavior -- corefiles vs. process ids.
6978
6979 There is a subtle behavior in the way in which GDB handles
6980 command line arguments. The first non-flag argument is always
6981 a program to debug, but the second non-flag argument may either
6982 be a corefile or a process id. Previously, GDB would attempt to
6983 open the second argument as a corefile, and if that failed, would
6984 issue a superfluous error message and then attempt to attach it as
6985 a process. Now, if the second argument begins with a non-digit,
6986 it will be treated as a corefile. If it begins with a digit,
6987 GDB will attempt to attach it as a process, and if no such process
6988 is found, will then attempt to open it as a corefile.
6989
6990 * Changes in ARM configurations.
6991
6992 Multi-arch support is enabled for all ARM configurations. The ARM/NetBSD
6993 configuration is fully multi-arch.
6994
6995 * New native configurations
6996
6997 ARM NetBSD arm*-*-netbsd*
6998 x86 OpenBSD i[3456]86-*-openbsd*
6999 AMD x86-64 running GNU/Linux x86_64-*-linux-*
7000 Sparc64 running FreeBSD sparc64-*-freebsd*
7001
7002 * New targets
7003
7004 Sanyo XStormy16 xstormy16-elf
7005
7006 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
7007
7008 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
7009 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
7010 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
7011 permanently REMOVED.
7012
7013 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi, udi29k
7014 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
7015 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
7016 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
7017 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
7018
7019 testsuite/gdb.hp/gdb.threads-hp/ directory
7020
7021 * REMOVED configurations and files
7022
7023 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
7024 WDC 65816 w65-*-*
7025 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
7026 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
7027 PowerPC Netware powerpc-*-netware*
7028 Harris/CXUX m88k m88*-harris-cxux*
7029 Most ns32k hosts and targets ns32k-*-mach3* ns32k-umax-*
7030 ns32k-utek-sysv* ns32k-utek-*
7031 SunOS 4.0.Xi on i386 i[3456]86-*-sunos*
7032 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1 a29k-nyu-sym1 a29k-*-kern*
7033 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x m68*-sony-sysv news
7034 ISI Optimum V (3.05) under 4.3bsd. m68*-isi-*
7035 Apple Macintosh (MPW) host and target N/A host, powerpc-*-macos*
7036
7037 * Changes to command line processing
7038
7039 The new `--args' feature can be used to specify command-line arguments
7040 for the inferior from gdb's command line.
7041
7042 * Changes to key bindings
7043
7044 There is a new `operate-and-get-next' function bound to `C-o'.
7045
7046 *** Changes in GDB 5.1.1
7047
7048 Fix compile problem on DJGPP.
7049
7050 Fix a problem with floating-point registers on the i386 being
7051 corrupted.
7052
7053 Fix to stop GDB crashing on .debug_str debug info.
7054
7055 Numerous documentation fixes.
7056
7057 Numerous testsuite fixes.
7058
7059 *** Changes in GDB 5.1:
7060
7061 * New native configurations
7062
7063 Alpha FreeBSD alpha*-*-freebsd*
7064 x86 FreeBSD 3.x and 4.x i[3456]86*-freebsd[34]*
7065 MIPS GNU/Linux mips*-*-linux*
7066 MIPS SGI Irix 6.x mips*-sgi-irix6*
7067 ia64 AIX ia64-*-aix*
7068 s390 and s390x GNU/Linux {s390,s390x}-*-linux*
7069
7070 * New targets
7071
7072 Motorola 68HC11 and 68HC12 m68hc11-elf
7073 CRIS cris-axis
7074 UltraSparc running GNU/Linux sparc64-*-linux*
7075
7076 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
7077
7078 x86 FreeBSD before 2.2 i[3456]86*-freebsd{1,2.[01]}*,
7079 Harris/CXUX m88k m88*-harris-cxux*
7080 Most ns32k hosts and targets ns32k-*-mach3* ns32k-umax-*
7081 ns32k-utek-sysv* ns32k-utek-*
7082 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
7083 WDC 65816 w65-*-*
7084 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1 a29k-nyu-sym1 a29k-*-kern*
7085 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
7086 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
7087 PowerPC Netware powerpc-*-netware*
7088 SunOS 4.0.Xi on i386 i[3456]86-*-sunos*
7089 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x m68*-sony-sysv news
7090 ISI Optimum V (3.05) under 4.3bsd. m68*-isi-*
7091 Apple Macintosh (MPW) host N/A
7092
7093 stuff.c (Program to stuff files into a specially prepared space in kdb)
7094 kdb-start.c (Main loop for the standalone kernel debugger)
7095
7096 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
7097 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
7098 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
7099 permanently REMOVED.
7100
7101 * REMOVED configurations and files
7102
7103 Altos 3068 m68*-altos-*
7104 Convex c1-*-*, c2-*-*
7105 Pyramid pyramid-*-*
7106 ARM RISCix arm-*-* (as host)
7107 Tahoe tahoe-*-*
7108 ser-ocd.c *-*-*
7109
7110 * GDB has been converted to ISO C.
7111
7112 GDB's source code has been converted to ISO C. In particular, the
7113 sources are fully protoized, and rely on standard headers being
7114 present.
7115
7116 * Other news:
7117
7118 * "info symbol" works on platforms which use COFF, ECOFF, XCOFF, and NLM.
7119
7120 * The MI enabled by default.
7121
7122 The new machine oriented interface (MI) introduced in GDB 5.0 has been
7123 revised and enabled by default. Packages which use GDB as a debugging
7124 engine behind a UI or another front end are encouraged to switch to
7125 using the GDB/MI interface, instead of the old annotations interface
7126 which is now deprecated.
7127
7128 * Support for debugging Pascal programs.
7129
7130 GDB now includes support for debugging Pascal programs. The following
7131 main features are supported:
7132
7133 - Pascal-specific data types such as sets;
7134
7135 - automatic recognition of Pascal sources based on file-name
7136 extension;
7137
7138 - Pascal-style display of data types, variables, and functions;
7139
7140 - a Pascal expression parser.
7141
7142 However, some important features are not yet supported.
7143
7144 - Pascal string operations are not supported at all;
7145
7146 - there are some problems with boolean types;
7147
7148 - Pascal type hexadecimal constants are not supported
7149 because they conflict with the internal variables format;
7150
7151 - support for Pascal objects and classes is not full yet;
7152
7153 - unlike Pascal, GDB is case-sensitive for symbol names.
7154
7155 * Changes in completion.
7156
7157 Commands such as `shell', `run' and `set args', which pass arguments
7158 to inferior programs, now complete on file names, similar to what
7159 users expect at the shell prompt.
7160
7161 Commands which accept locations, such as `disassemble', `print',
7162 `breakpoint', `until', etc. now complete on filenames as well as
7163 program symbols. Thus, if you type "break foob TAB", and the source
7164 files linked into the programs include `foobar.c', that file name will
7165 be one of the candidates for completion. However, file names are not
7166 considered for completion after you typed a colon that delimits a file
7167 name from a name of a function in that file, as in "break foo.c:bar".
7168
7169 `set demangle-style' completes on available demangling styles.
7170
7171 * New platform-independent commands:
7172
7173 It is now possible to define a post-hook for a command as well as a
7174 hook that runs before the command. For more details, see the
7175 documentation of `hookpost' in the GDB manual.
7176
7177 * Changes in GNU/Linux native debugging.
7178
7179 Support for debugging multi-threaded programs has been completely
7180 revised for all platforms except m68k and sparc. You can now debug as
7181 many threads as your system allows you to have.
7182
7183 Attach/detach is supported for multi-threaded programs.
7184
7185 Support for SSE registers was added for x86. This doesn't work for
7186 multi-threaded programs though.
7187
7188 * Changes in MIPS configurations.
7189
7190 Multi-arch support is enabled for all MIPS configurations.
7191
7192 GDB can now be built as native debugger on SGI Irix 6.x systems for
7193 debugging n32 executables. (Debugging 64-bit executables is not yet
7194 supported.)
7195
7196 * Unified support for hardware watchpoints in all x86 configurations.
7197
7198 Most (if not all) native x86 configurations support hardware-assisted
7199 breakpoints and watchpoints in a unified manner. This support
7200 implements debug register sharing between watchpoints, which allows to
7201 put a virtually infinite number of watchpoints on the same address,
7202 and also supports watching regions up to 16 bytes with several debug
7203 registers.
7204
7205 The new maintenance command `maintenance show-debug-regs' toggles
7206 debugging print-outs in functions that insert, remove, and test
7207 watchpoints and hardware breakpoints.
7208
7209 * Changes in the DJGPP native configuration.
7210
7211 New command ``info dos sysinfo'' displays assorted information about
7212 the CPU, OS, memory, and DPMI server.
7213
7214 New commands ``info dos gdt'', ``info dos ldt'', and ``info dos idt''
7215 display information about segment descriptors stored in GDT, LDT, and
7216 IDT.
7217
7218 New commands ``info dos pde'' and ``info dos pte'' display entries
7219 from Page Directory and Page Tables (for now works with CWSDPMI only).
7220 New command ``info dos address-pte'' displays the Page Table entry for
7221 a given linear address.
7222
7223 GDB can now pass command lines longer than 126 characters to the
7224 program being debugged (requires an update to the libdbg.a library
7225 which is part of the DJGPP development kit).
7226
7227 DWARF2 debug info is now supported.
7228
7229 It is now possible to `step' and `next' through calls to `longjmp'.
7230
7231 * Changes in documentation.
7232
7233 All GDB documentation was converted to GFDL, the GNU Free
7234 Documentation License.
7235
7236 Tracepoints-related commands are now fully documented in the GDB
7237 manual.
7238
7239 TUI, the Text-mode User Interface, is now documented in the manual.
7240
7241 Tracepoints-related commands are now fully documented in the GDB
7242 manual.
7243
7244 The "GDB Internals" manual now has an index. It also includes
7245 documentation of `ui_out' functions, GDB coding standards, x86
7246 hardware watchpoints, and memory region attributes.
7247
7248 * GDB's version number moved to ``version.in''
7249
7250 The Makefile variable VERSION has been replaced by the file
7251 ``version.in''. People creating GDB distributions should update the
7252 contents of this file.
7253
7254 * gdba.el deleted
7255
7256 GUD support is now a standard part of the EMACS distribution.
7257
7258 *** Changes in GDB 5.0:
7259
7260 * Improved support for debugging FP programs on x86 targets
7261
7262 Unified and much-improved support for debugging floating-point
7263 programs on all x86 targets. In particular, ``info float'' now
7264 displays the FP registers in the same format on all x86 targets, with
7265 greater level of detail.
7266
7267 * Improvements and bugfixes in hardware-assisted watchpoints
7268
7269 It is now possible to watch array elements, struct members, and
7270 bitfields with hardware-assisted watchpoints. Data-read watchpoints
7271 on x86 targets no longer erroneously trigger when the address is
7272 written.
7273
7274 * Improvements in the native DJGPP version of GDB
7275
7276 The distribution now includes all the scripts and auxiliary files
7277 necessary to build the native DJGPP version on MS-DOS/MS-Windows
7278 machines ``out of the box''.
7279
7280 The DJGPP version can now debug programs that use signals. It is
7281 possible to catch signals that happened in the debuggee, deliver
7282 signals to it, interrupt it with Ctrl-C, etc. (Previously, a signal
7283 would kill the program being debugged.) Programs that hook hardware
7284 interrupts (keyboard, timer, etc.) can also be debugged.
7285
7286 It is now possible to debug DJGPP programs that redirect their
7287 standard handles or switch them to raw (as opposed to cooked) mode, or
7288 even close them. The command ``run < foo > bar'' works as expected,
7289 and ``info terminal'' reports useful information about the debuggee's
7290 terminal, including raw/cooked mode, redirection, etc.
7291
7292 The DJGPP version now uses termios functions for console I/O, which
7293 enables debugging graphics programs. Interrupting GDB with Ctrl-C
7294 also works.
7295
7296 DOS-style file names with drive letters are now fully supported by
7297 GDB.
7298
7299 It is now possible to debug DJGPP programs that switch their working
7300 directory. It is also possible to rerun the debuggee any number of
7301 times without restarting GDB; thus, you can use the same setup,
7302 breakpoints, etc. for many debugging sessions.
7303
7304 * New native configurations
7305
7306 ARM GNU/Linux arm*-*-linux*
7307 PowerPC GNU/Linux powerpc-*-linux*
7308
7309 * New targets
7310
7311 Motorola MCore mcore-*-*
7312 x86 VxWorks i[3456]86-*-vxworks*
7313 PowerPC VxWorks powerpc-*-vxworks*
7314 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
7315
7316 * OBSOLETE configurations
7317
7318 Altos 3068 m68*-altos-*
7319 Convex c1-*-*, c2-*-*
7320 Pyramid pyramid-*-*
7321 ARM RISCix arm-*-* (as host)
7322 Tahoe tahoe-*-*
7323
7324 Configurations that have been declared obsolete will be commented out,
7325 but the code will be left in place. If there is no activity to revive
7326 these configurations before the next release of GDB, the sources will
7327 be permanently REMOVED.
7328
7329 * Gould support removed
7330
7331 Support for the Gould PowerNode and NP1 has been removed.
7332
7333 * New features for SVR4
7334
7335 On SVR4 native platforms (such as Solaris), if you attach to a process
7336 without first loading a symbol file, GDB will now attempt to locate and
7337 load symbols from the running process's executable file.
7338
7339 * Many C++ enhancements
7340
7341 C++ support has been greatly improved. Overload resolution now works properly
7342 in almost all cases. RTTI support is on the way.
7343
7344 * Remote targets can connect to a sub-program
7345
7346 A popen(3) style serial-device has been added. This device starts a
7347 sub-process (such as a stand-alone simulator) and then communicates
7348 with that. The sub-program to run is specified using the syntax
7349 ``|<program> <args>'' vis:
7350
7351 (gdb) set remotedebug 1
7352 (gdb) target extended-remote |mn10300-elf-sim program-args
7353
7354 * MIPS 64 remote protocol
7355
7356 A long standing bug in the mips64 remote protocol where by GDB
7357 expected certain 32 bit registers (ex SR) to be transfered as 32
7358 instead of 64 bits has been fixed.
7359
7360 The command ``set remote-mips64-transfers-32bit-regs on'' has been
7361 added to provide backward compatibility with older versions of GDB.
7362
7363 * ``set remotebinarydownload'' replaced by ``set remote X-packet''
7364
7365 The command ``set remotebinarydownload'' command has been replaced by
7366 ``set remote X-packet''. Other commands in ``set remote'' family
7367 include ``set remote P-packet''.
7368
7369 * Breakpoint commands accept ranges.
7370
7371 The breakpoint commands ``enable'', ``disable'', and ``delete'' now
7372 accept a range of breakpoints, e.g. ``5-7''. The tracepoint command
7373 ``tracepoint passcount'' also accepts a range of tracepoints.
7374
7375 * ``apropos'' command added.
7376
7377 The ``apropos'' command searches through command names and
7378 documentation strings, printing out matches, making it much easier to
7379 try to find a command that does what you are looking for.
7380
7381 * New MI interface
7382
7383 A new machine oriented interface (MI) has been added to GDB. This
7384 interface is designed for debug environments running GDB as a separate
7385 process. This is part of the long term libGDB project. See the
7386 "GDB/MI" chapter of the GDB manual for further information. It can be
7387 enabled by configuring with:
7388
7389 .../configure --enable-gdbmi
7390
7391 *** Changes in GDB-4.18:
7392
7393 * New native configurations
7394
7395 HP-UX 10.20 hppa*-*-hpux10.20
7396 HP-UX 11.x hppa*-*-hpux11.0*
7397 M68K GNU/Linux m68*-*-linux*
7398
7399 * New targets
7400
7401 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
7402 Intel StrongARM strongarm-*-*
7403 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
7404
7405 * OBSOLETE configurations
7406
7407 Gould PowerNode, NP1 np1-*-*, pn-*-*
7408
7409 Configurations that have been declared obsolete will be commented out,
7410 but the code will be left in place. If there is no activity to revive
7411 these configurations before the next release of GDB, the sources will
7412 be permanently REMOVED.
7413
7414 * ANSI/ISO C
7415
7416 As a compatibility experiment, GDB's source files buildsym.h and
7417 buildsym.c have been converted to pure standard C, no longer
7418 containing any K&R compatibility code. We believe that all systems in
7419 use today either come with a standard C compiler, or have a GCC port
7420 available. If this is not true, please report the affected
7421 configuration to bug-gdb@gnu.org immediately. See the README file for
7422 information about getting a standard C compiler if you don't have one
7423 already.
7424
7425 * Readline 2.2
7426
7427 GDB now uses readline 2.2.
7428
7429 * set extension-language
7430
7431 You can now control the mapping between filename extensions and source
7432 languages by using the `set extension-language' command. For instance,
7433 you can ask GDB to treat .c files as C++ by saying
7434 set extension-language .c c++
7435 The command `info extensions' lists all of the recognized extensions
7436 and their associated languages.
7437
7438 * Setting processor type for PowerPC and RS/6000
7439
7440 When GDB is configured for a powerpc*-*-* or an rs6000*-*-* target,
7441 you can use the `set processor' command to specify what variant of the
7442 PowerPC family you are debugging. The command
7443
7444 set processor NAME
7445
7446 sets the PowerPC/RS6000 variant to NAME. GDB knows about the
7447 following PowerPC and RS6000 variants:
7448
7449 ppc-uisa PowerPC UISA - a PPC processor as viewed by user-level code
7450 rs6000 IBM RS6000 ("POWER") architecture, user-level view
7451 403 IBM PowerPC 403
7452 403GC IBM PowerPC 403GC
7453 505 Motorola PowerPC 505
7454 860 Motorola PowerPC 860 or 850
7455 601 Motorola PowerPC 601
7456 602 Motorola PowerPC 602
7457 603 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 603 or 603e
7458 604 Motorola PowerPC 604 or 604e
7459 750 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 750 or 750
7460
7461 At the moment, this command just tells GDB what to name the
7462 special-purpose processor registers. Since almost all the affected
7463 registers are inaccessible to user-level programs, this command is
7464 only useful for remote debugging in its present form.
7465
7466 * HP-UX support
7467
7468 Thanks to a major code donation from Hewlett-Packard, GDB now has much
7469 more extensive support for HP-UX. Added features include shared
7470 library support, kernel threads and hardware watchpoints for 11.00,
7471 support for HP's ANSI C and C++ compilers, and a compatibility mode
7472 for xdb and dbx commands.
7473
7474 * Catchpoints
7475
7476 HP's donation includes the new concept of catchpoints, which is a
7477 generalization of the old catch command. On HP-UX, it is now possible
7478 to catch exec, fork, and vfork, as well as library loading.
7479
7480 This means that the existing catch command has changed; its first
7481 argument now specifies the type of catch to be set up. See the
7482 output of "help catch" for a list of catchpoint types.
7483
7484 * Debugging across forks
7485
7486 On HP-UX, you can choose which process to debug when a fork() happens
7487 in the inferior.
7488
7489 * TUI
7490
7491 HP has donated a curses-based terminal user interface (TUI). To get
7492 it, build with --enable-tui. Although this can be enabled for any
7493 configuration, at present it only works for native HP debugging.
7494
7495 * GDB remote protocol additions
7496
7497 A new protocol packet 'X' that writes binary data is now available.
7498 Default behavior is to try 'X', then drop back to 'M' if the stub
7499 fails to respond. The settable variable `remotebinarydownload'
7500 allows explicit control over the use of 'X'.
7501
7502 For 64-bit targets, the memory packets ('M' and 'm') can now contain a
7503 full 64-bit address. The command
7504
7505 set remoteaddresssize 32
7506
7507 can be used to revert to the old behaviour. For existing remote stubs
7508 the change should not be noticed, as the additional address information
7509 will be discarded.
7510
7511 In order to assist in debugging stubs, you may use the maintenance
7512 command `packet' to send any text string to the stub. For instance,
7513
7514 maint packet heythere
7515
7516 sends the packet "$heythere#<checksum>". Note that it is very easy to
7517 disrupt a debugging session by sending the wrong packet at the wrong
7518 time.
7519
7520 The compare-sections command allows you to compare section data on the
7521 target to what is in the executable file without uploading or
7522 downloading, by comparing CRC checksums.
7523
7524 * Tracing can collect general expressions
7525
7526 You may now collect general expressions at tracepoints. This requires
7527 further additions to the target-side stub; see tracepoint.c and
7528 doc/agentexpr.texi for further details.
7529
7530 * mask-address variable for Mips
7531
7532 For Mips targets, you may control the zeroing of the upper 32 bits of
7533 a 64-bit address by entering `set mask-address on'. This is mainly
7534 of interest to users of embedded R4xxx and R5xxx processors.
7535
7536 * Higher serial baud rates
7537
7538 GDB's serial code now allows you to specify baud rates 57600, 115200,
7539 230400, and 460800 baud. (Note that your host system may not be able
7540 to achieve all of these rates.)
7541
7542 * i960 simulator
7543
7544 The i960 configuration now includes an initial implementation of a
7545 builtin simulator, contributed by Jim Wilson.
7546
7547
7548 *** Changes in GDB-4.17:
7549
7550 * New native configurations
7551
7552 Alpha GNU/Linux alpha*-*-linux*
7553 Unixware 2.x i[3456]86-unixware2*
7554 Irix 6.x mips*-sgi-irix6*
7555 PowerPC GNU/Linux powerpc-*-linux*
7556 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
7557 Sparc GNU/Linux sparc-*-linux*
7558 Motorola sysV68 R3V7.1 m68k-motorola-sysv
7559
7560 * New targets
7561
7562 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
7563 Hitachi H8/300S h8300*-*-*
7564 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
7565 Matsushita MN10300 w/simulator mn10300-*-*
7566 MIPS NEC VR4100 mips64*vr4100*{,el}-*-elf*
7567 MIPS NEC VR5000 mips64*vr5000*{,el}-*-elf*
7568 MIPS Toshiba TX39 mips64*tx39*{,el}-*-elf*
7569 Mitsubishi D10V w/simulator d10v-*-*
7570 Mitsubishi M32R/D w/simulator m32r-*-elf*
7571 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
7572 NEC V850 w/simulator v850-*-*
7573
7574 * New debugging protocols
7575
7576 ARM with RDI protocol arm*-*-*
7577 M68K with dBUG monitor m68*-*-{aout,coff,elf}
7578 DDB and LSI variants of PMON protocol mips*-*-*
7579 PowerPC with DINK32 monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
7580 PowerPC with SDS protocol powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
7581 Macraigor OCD (Wiggler) devices powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
7582
7583 * DWARF 2
7584
7585 All configurations can now understand and use the DWARF 2 debugging
7586 format. The choice is automatic, if the symbol file contains DWARF 2
7587 information.
7588
7589 * Java frontend
7590
7591 GDB now includes basic Java language support. This support is
7592 only useful with Java compilers that produce native machine code.
7593
7594 * solib-absolute-prefix and solib-search-path
7595
7596 For SunOS and SVR4 shared libraries, you may now set the prefix for
7597 loading absolute shared library symbol files, and the search path for
7598 locating non-absolute shared library symbol files.
7599
7600 * Live range splitting
7601
7602 GDB can now effectively debug code for which GCC has performed live
7603 range splitting as part of its optimization. See gdb/doc/LRS for
7604 more details on the expected format of the stabs information.
7605
7606 * Hurd support
7607
7608 GDB's support for the GNU Hurd, including thread debugging, has been
7609 updated to work with current versions of the Hurd.
7610
7611 * ARM Thumb support
7612
7613 GDB's ARM target configuration now handles the ARM7T (Thumb) 16-bit
7614 instruction set. ARM GDB automatically detects when Thumb
7615 instructions are in use, and adjusts disassembly and backtracing
7616 accordingly.
7617
7618 * MIPS16 support
7619
7620 GDB's MIPS target configurations now handle the MIP16 16-bit
7621 instruction set.
7622
7623 * Overlay support
7624
7625 GDB now includes support for overlays; if an executable has been
7626 linked such that multiple sections are based at the same address, GDB
7627 will decide which section to use for symbolic info. You can choose to
7628 control the decision manually, using overlay commands, or implement
7629 additional target-side support and use "overlay load-target" to bring
7630 in the overlay mapping. Do "help overlay" for more detail.
7631
7632 * info symbol
7633
7634 The command "info symbol <address>" displays information about
7635 the symbol at the specified address.
7636
7637 * Trace support
7638
7639 The standard remote protocol now includes an extension that allows
7640 asynchronous collection and display of trace data. This requires
7641 extensive support in the target-side debugging stub. Tracing mode
7642 includes a new interaction mode in GDB and new commands: see the
7643 file tracepoint.c for more details.
7644
7645 * MIPS simulator
7646
7647 Configurations for embedded MIPS now include a simulator contributed
7648 by Cygnus Solutions. The simulator supports the instruction sets
7649 of most MIPS variants.
7650
7651 * Sparc simulator
7652
7653 Sparc configurations may now include the ERC32 simulator contributed
7654 by the European Space Agency. The simulator is not built into
7655 Sparc targets by default; configure with --enable-sim to include it.
7656
7657 * set architecture
7658
7659 For target configurations that may include multiple variants of a
7660 basic architecture (such as MIPS and SH), you may now set the
7661 architecture explicitly. "set arch" sets, "info arch" lists
7662 the possible architectures.
7663
7664 *** Changes in GDB-4.16:
7665
7666 * New native configurations
7667
7668 Windows 95, x86 Windows NT i[345]86-*-cygwin32
7669 M68K NetBSD m68k-*-netbsd*
7670 PowerPC AIX 4.x powerpc-*-aix*
7671 PowerPC MacOS powerpc-*-macos*
7672 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
7673 RS/6000 AIX 4.x rs6000-*-aix4*
7674
7675 * New targets
7676
7677 ARM with RDP protocol arm-*-*
7678 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
7679 MIPS VxWorks mips*-*-vxworks*
7680 MIPS VR4300 with PMON mips64*vr4300{,el}-*-elf*
7681 PowerPC with PPCBUG monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi*
7682 Hitachi SH3 sh-*-*
7683 Matra Sparclet sparclet-*-*
7684
7685 * PowerPC simulator
7686
7687 The powerpc-eabi configuration now includes the PSIM simulator,
7688 contributed by Andrew Cagney, with assistance from Mike Meissner.
7689 PSIM is a very elaborate model of the PowerPC, including not only
7690 basic instruction set execution, but also details of execution unit
7691 performance and I/O hardware. See sim/ppc/README for more details.
7692
7693 * Solaris 2.5
7694
7695 GDB now works with Solaris 2.5.
7696
7697 * Windows 95/NT native
7698
7699 GDB will now work as a native debugger on Windows 95 and Windows NT.
7700 To build it from source, you must use the "gnu-win32" environment,
7701 which uses a DLL to emulate enough of Unix to run the GNU tools.
7702 Further information, binaries, and sources are available at
7703 ftp.cygnus.com, under pub/gnu-win32.
7704
7705 * dont-repeat command
7706
7707 If a user-defined command includes the command `dont-repeat', then the
7708 command will not be repeated if the user just types return. This is
7709 useful if the command is time-consuming to run, so that accidental
7710 extra keystrokes don't run the same command many times.
7711
7712 * Send break instead of ^C
7713
7714 The standard remote protocol now includes an option to send a break
7715 rather than a ^C to the target in order to interrupt it. By default,
7716 GDB will send ^C; to send a break, set the variable `remotebreak' to 1.
7717
7718 * Remote protocol timeout
7719
7720 The standard remote protocol includes a new variable `remotetimeout'
7721 that allows you to set the number of seconds before GDB gives up trying
7722 to read from the target. The default value is 2.
7723
7724 * Automatic tracking of dynamic object loading (HPUX and Solaris only)
7725
7726 By default GDB will automatically keep track of objects as they are
7727 loaded and unloaded by the dynamic linker. By using the command `set
7728 stop-on-solib-events 1' you can arrange for GDB to stop the inferior
7729 when shared library events occur, thus allowing you to set breakpoints
7730 in shared libraries which are explicitly loaded by the inferior.
7731
7732 Note this feature does not work on hpux8. On hpux9 you must link
7733 /usr/lib/end.o into your program. This feature should work
7734 automatically on hpux10.
7735
7736 * Irix 5.x hardware watchpoint support
7737
7738 Irix 5 configurations now support the use of hardware watchpoints.
7739
7740 * Mips protocol "SYN garbage limit"
7741
7742 When debugging a Mips target using the `target mips' protocol, you
7743 may set the number of characters that GDB will ignore by setting
7744 the `syn-garbage-limit'. A value of -1 means that GDB will ignore
7745 every character. The default value is 1050.
7746
7747 * Recording and replaying remote debug sessions
7748
7749 If you set `remotelogfile' to the name of a file, gdb will write to it
7750 a recording of a remote debug session. This recording may then be
7751 replayed back to gdb using "gdbreplay". See gdbserver/README for
7752 details. This is useful when you have a problem with GDB while doing
7753 remote debugging; you can make a recording of the session and send it
7754 to someone else, who can then recreate the problem.
7755
7756 * Speedups for remote debugging
7757
7758 GDB includes speedups for downloading and stepping MIPS systems using
7759 the IDT monitor, fast downloads to the Hitachi SH E7000 emulator,
7760 and more efficient S-record downloading.
7761
7762 * Memory use reductions and statistics collection
7763
7764 GDB now uses less memory and reports statistics about memory usage.
7765 Try the `maint print statistics' command, for example.
7766
7767 *** Changes in GDB-4.15:
7768
7769 * Psymtabs for XCOFF
7770
7771 The symbol reader for AIX GDB now uses partial symbol tables. This
7772 can greatly improve startup time, especially for large executables.
7773
7774 * Remote targets use caching
7775
7776 Remote targets now use a data cache to speed up communication with the
7777 remote side. The data cache could lead to incorrect results because
7778 it doesn't know about volatile variables, thus making it impossible to
7779 debug targets which use memory mapped I/O devices. `set remotecache
7780 off' turns the data cache off.
7781
7782 * Remote targets may have threads
7783
7784 The standard remote protocol now includes support for multiple threads
7785 in the target system, using new protocol commands 'H' and 'T'. See
7786 gdb/remote.c for details.
7787
7788 * NetROM support
7789
7790 If GDB is configured with `--enable-netrom', then it will include
7791 support for the NetROM ROM emulator from XLNT Designs. The NetROM
7792 acts as though it is a bank of ROM on the target board, but you can
7793 write into it over the network. GDB's support consists only of
7794 support for fast loading into the emulated ROM; to debug, you must use
7795 another protocol, such as standard remote protocol. The usual
7796 sequence is something like
7797
7798 target nrom <netrom-hostname>
7799 load <prog>
7800 target remote <netrom-hostname>:1235
7801
7802 * Macintosh host
7803
7804 GDB now includes support for the Apple Macintosh, as a host only. It
7805 may be run as either an MPW tool or as a standalone application, and
7806 it can debug through the serial port. All the usual GDB commands are
7807 available, but to the target command, you must supply "serial" as the
7808 device type instead of "/dev/ttyXX". See mpw-README in the main
7809 directory for more information on how to build. The MPW configuration
7810 scripts */mpw-config.in support only a few targets, and only the
7811 mips-idt-ecoff target has been tested.
7812
7813 * Autoconf
7814
7815 GDB configuration now uses autoconf. This is not user-visible,
7816 but does simplify configuration and building.
7817
7818 * hpux10
7819
7820 GDB now supports hpux10.
7821
7822 *** Changes in GDB-4.14:
7823
7824 * New native configurations
7825
7826 x86 FreeBSD i[345]86-*-freebsd
7827 x86 NetBSD i[345]86-*-netbsd
7828 NS32k NetBSD ns32k-*-netbsd
7829 Sparc NetBSD sparc-*-netbsd
7830
7831 * New targets
7832
7833 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
7834 HP PA PRO embedded (WinBond W89K & Oki OP50N) hppa*-*-pro*
7835 CPU32 EST-300 emulator m68*-*-est*
7836 PowerPC ELF powerpc-*-elf
7837 WDC 65816 w65-*-*
7838
7839 * Alpha OSF/1 support for procfs
7840
7841 GDB now supports procfs under OSF/1-2.x and higher, which makes it
7842 possible to attach to running processes. As the mounting of the /proc
7843 filesystem is optional on the Alpha, GDB automatically determines
7844 the availability of /proc during startup. This can lead to problems
7845 if /proc is unmounted after GDB has been started.
7846
7847 * Arguments to user-defined commands
7848
7849 User commands may accept up to 10 arguments separated by whitespace.
7850 Arguments are accessed within the user command via $arg0..$arg9. A
7851 trivial example:
7852 define adder
7853 print $arg0 + $arg1 + $arg2
7854
7855 To execute the command use:
7856 adder 1 2 3
7857
7858 Defines the command "adder" which prints the sum of its three arguments.
7859 Note the arguments are text substitutions, so they may reference variables,
7860 use complex expressions, or even perform inferior function calls.
7861
7862 * New `if' and `while' commands
7863
7864 This makes it possible to write more sophisticated user-defined
7865 commands. Both commands take a single argument, which is the
7866 expression to evaluate, and must be followed by the commands to
7867 execute, one per line, if the expression is nonzero, the list being
7868 terminated by the word `end'. The `if' command list may include an
7869 `else' word, which causes the following commands to be executed only
7870 if the expression is zero.
7871
7872 * Fortran source language mode
7873
7874 GDB now includes partial support for Fortran 77. It will recognize
7875 Fortran programs and can evaluate a subset of Fortran expressions, but
7876 variables and functions may not be handled correctly. GDB will work
7877 with G77, but does not yet know much about symbols emitted by other
7878 Fortran compilers.
7879
7880 * Better HPUX support
7881
7882 Most debugging facilities now work on dynamic executables for HPPAs
7883 running hpux9 or later. You can attach to running dynamically linked
7884 processes, but by default the dynamic libraries will be read-only, so
7885 for instance you won't be able to put breakpoints in them. To change
7886 that behavior do the following before running the program:
7887
7888 adb -w a.out
7889 __dld_flags?W 0x5
7890 control-d
7891
7892 This will cause the libraries to be mapped private and read-write.
7893 To revert to the normal behavior, do this:
7894
7895 adb -w a.out
7896 __dld_flags?W 0x4
7897 control-d
7898
7899 You cannot set breakpoints or examine data in the library until after
7900 the library is loaded if the function/data symbols do not have
7901 external linkage.
7902
7903 GDB can now also read debug symbols produced by the HP C compiler on
7904 HPPAs (sorry, no C++, Fortran or 68k support).
7905
7906 * Target byte order now dynamically selectable
7907
7908 You can choose which byte order to use with a target system, via the
7909 commands "set endian big" and "set endian little", and you can see the
7910 current setting by using "show endian". You can also give the command
7911 "set endian auto", in which case GDB will use the byte order
7912 associated with the executable. Currently, only embedded MIPS
7913 configurations support dynamic selection of target byte order.
7914
7915 * New DOS host serial code
7916
7917 This version uses DPMI interrupts to handle buffered I/O, so you
7918 no longer need to run asynctsr when debugging boards connected to
7919 a PC's serial port.
7920
7921 *** Changes in GDB-4.13:
7922
7923 * New "complete" command
7924
7925 This lists all the possible completions for the rest of the line, if it
7926 were to be given as a command itself. This is intended for use by emacs.
7927
7928 * Trailing space optional in prompt
7929
7930 "set prompt" no longer adds a space for you after the prompt you set. This
7931 allows you to set a prompt which ends in a space or one that does not.
7932
7933 * Breakpoint hit counts
7934
7935 "info break" now displays a count of the number of times the breakpoint
7936 has been hit. This is especially useful in conjunction with "ignore"; you
7937 can ignore a large number of breakpoint hits, look at the breakpoint info
7938 to see how many times the breakpoint was hit, then run again, ignoring one
7939 less than that number, and this will get you quickly to the last hit of
7940 that breakpoint.
7941
7942 * Ability to stop printing at NULL character
7943
7944 "set print null-stop" will cause GDB to stop printing the characters of
7945 an array when the first NULL is encountered. This is useful when large
7946 arrays actually contain only short strings.
7947
7948 * Shared library breakpoints
7949
7950 In SunOS 4.x, SVR4, and Alpha OSF/1 configurations, you can now set
7951 breakpoints in shared libraries before the executable is run.
7952
7953 * Hardware watchpoints
7954
7955 There is a new hardware breakpoint for the watch command for sparclite
7956 targets. See gdb/sparclite/hw_breakpoint.note.
7957
7958 Hardware watchpoints are also now supported under GNU/Linux.
7959
7960 * Annotations
7961
7962 Annotations have been added. These are for use with graphical interfaces,
7963 and are still experimental. Currently only gdba.el uses these.
7964
7965 * Improved Irix 5 support
7966
7967 GDB now works properly with Irix 5.2.
7968
7969 * Improved HPPA support
7970
7971 GDB now works properly with the latest GCC and GAS.
7972
7973 * New native configurations
7974
7975 Sequent PTX4 i[34]86-sequent-ptx4
7976 HPPA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
7977 Atari TT running SVR4 m68*-*-sysv4*
7978 RS/6000 LynxOS rs6000-*-lynxos*
7979
7980 * New targets
7981
7982 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
7983 MIPS R4000 mips64*{,el}-*-{ecoff,elf}
7984 Sparc64 sparc64-*-*
7985
7986 * Hitachi SH7000 and E7000-PC ICE support
7987
7988 There is now support for communicating with the Hitachi E7000-PC ICE.
7989 This is available automatically when GDB is configured for the SH.
7990
7991 * Fixes
7992
7993 As usual, a variety of small fixes and improvements, both generic
7994 and configuration-specific. See the ChangeLog for more detail.
7995
7996 *** Changes in GDB-4.12:
7997
7998 * Irix 5 is now supported
7999
8000 * HPPA support
8001
8002 GDB-4.12 on the HPPA has a number of changes which make it unable
8003 to debug the output from the currently released versions of GCC and
8004 GAS (GCC 2.5.8 and GAS-2.2 or PAGAS-1.36). Until the next major release
8005 of GCC and GAS, versions of these tools designed to work with GDB-4.12
8006 can be retrieved via anonymous ftp from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist.
8007
8008
8009 *** Changes in GDB-4.11:
8010
8011 * User visible changes:
8012
8013 * Remote Debugging
8014
8015 The "set remotedebug" option is now consistent between the mips remote
8016 target, remote targets using the gdb-specific protocol, UDI (AMD's
8017 debug protocol for the 29k) and the 88k bug monitor. It is now an
8018 integer specifying a debug level (normally 0 or 1, but 2 means more
8019 debugging info for the mips target).
8020
8021 * DEC Alpha native support
8022
8023 GDB now works on the DEC Alpha. GCC 2.4.5 does not produce usable
8024 debug info, but GDB works fairly well with the DEC compiler and should
8025 work with a future GCC release. See the README file for a few
8026 Alpha-specific notes.
8027
8028 * Preliminary thread implementation
8029
8030 GDB now has preliminary thread support for both SGI/Irix and LynxOS.
8031
8032 * LynxOS native and target support for 386
8033
8034 This release has been hosted on LynxOS 2.2, and also can be configured
8035 to remotely debug programs running under LynxOS (see gdb/gdbserver/README
8036 for details).
8037
8038 * Improvements in C++ mangling/demangling.
8039
8040 This release has much better g++ debugging, specifically in name
8041 mangling/demangling, virtual function calls, print virtual table,
8042 call methods, ...etc.
8043
8044 *** Changes in GDB-4.10:
8045
8046 * User visible changes:
8047
8048 Remote debugging using the GDB-specific (`target remote') protocol now
8049 supports the `load' command. This is only useful if you have some
8050 other way of getting the stub to the target system, and you can put it
8051 somewhere in memory where it won't get clobbered by the download.
8052
8053 Filename completion now works.
8054
8055 When run under emacs mode, the "info line" command now causes the
8056 arrow to point to the line specified. Also, "info line" prints
8057 addresses in symbolic form (as well as hex).
8058
8059 All vxworks based targets now support a user settable option, called
8060 vxworks-timeout. This option represents the number of seconds gdb
8061 should wait for responses to rpc's. You might want to use this if
8062 your vxworks target is, perhaps, a slow software simulator or happens
8063 to be on the far side of a thin network line.
8064
8065 * DEC alpha support
8066
8067 This release contains support for using a DEC alpha as a GDB host for
8068 cross debugging. Native alpha debugging is not supported yet.
8069
8070
8071 *** Changes in GDB-4.9:
8072
8073 * Testsuite
8074
8075 This is the first GDB release which is accompanied by a matching testsuite.
8076 The testsuite requires installation of dejagnu, which should be available
8077 via ftp from most sites that carry GNU software.
8078
8079 * C++ demangling
8080
8081 'Cfront' style demangling has had its name changed to 'ARM' style, to
8082 emphasize that it was written from the specifications in the C++ Annotated
8083 Reference Manual, not necessarily to be compatible with AT&T cfront. Despite
8084 disclaimers, it still generated too much confusion with users attempting to
8085 use gdb with AT&T cfront.
8086
8087 * Simulators
8088
8089 GDB now uses a standard remote interface to a simulator library.
8090 So far, the library contains simulators for the Zilog Z8001/2, the
8091 Hitachi H8/300, H8/500 and Super-H.
8092
8093 * New targets supported
8094
8095 H8/300 simulator h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
8096 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
8097 SH simulator sh-hitachi-hms or sh
8098 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
8099 IDT MIPS board over serial line mips-idt-ecoff
8100
8101 Cross-debugging to GO32 targets is supported. It requires a custom
8102 version of the i386-stub.c module which is integrated with the
8103 GO32 memory extender.
8104
8105 * New remote protocols
8106
8107 MIPS remote debugging protocol.
8108
8109 * New source languages supported
8110
8111 This version includes preliminary support for Chill, a Pascal like language
8112 used by telecommunications companies. Chill support is also being integrated
8113 into the GNU compiler, but we don't know when it will be publically available.
8114
8115
8116 *** Changes in GDB-4.8:
8117
8118 * HP Precision Architecture supported
8119
8120 GDB now supports HP PA-RISC machines running HPUX. A preliminary
8121 version of this support was available as a set of patches from the
8122 University of Utah. GDB does not support debugging of programs
8123 compiled with the HP compiler, because HP will not document their file
8124 format. Instead, you must use GCC (version 2.3.2 or later) and PA-GAS
8125 (as available from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist/pa-gas.u4.tar.Z).
8126
8127 Many problems in the preliminary version have been fixed.
8128
8129 * Faster and better demangling
8130
8131 We have improved template demangling and fixed numerous bugs in the GNU style
8132 demangler. It can now handle type modifiers such as `static' or `const'. Wide
8133 character types (wchar_t) are now supported. Demangling of each symbol is now
8134 only done once, and is cached when the symbol table for a file is read in.
8135 This results in a small increase in memory usage for C programs, a moderate
8136 increase in memory usage for C++ programs, and a fantastic speedup in
8137 symbol lookups.
8138
8139 `Cfront' style demangling still doesn't work with AT&T cfront. It was written
8140 from the specifications in the Annotated Reference Manual, which AT&T's
8141 compiler does not actually implement.
8142
8143 * G++ multiple inheritance compiler problem
8144
8145 In the 2.3.2 release of gcc/g++, how the compiler resolves multiple
8146 inheritance lattices was reworked to properly discover ambiguities. We
8147 recently found an example which causes this new algorithm to fail in a
8148 very subtle way, producing bad debug information for those classes.
8149 The file 'gcc.patch' (in this directory) can be applied to gcc to
8150 circumvent the problem. A future GCC release will contain a complete
8151 fix.
8152
8153 The previous G++ debug info problem (mentioned below for the gdb-4.7
8154 release) is fixed in gcc version 2.3.2.
8155
8156 * Improved configure script
8157
8158 The `configure' script will now attempt to guess your system type if
8159 you don't supply a host system type. The old scheme of supplying a
8160 host system triplet is preferable over using this. All the magic is
8161 done in the new `config.guess' script. Examine it for details.
8162
8163 We have also brought our configure script much more in line with the FSF's
8164 version. It now supports the --with-xxx options. In particular,
8165 `--with-minimal-bfd' can be used to make the GDB binary image smaller.
8166 The resulting GDB will not be able to read arbitrary object file formats --
8167 only the format ``expected'' to be used on the configured target system.
8168 We hope to make this the default in a future release.
8169
8170 * Documentation improvements
8171
8172 There's new internal documentation on how to modify GDB, and how to
8173 produce clean changes to the code. We implore people to read it
8174 before submitting changes.
8175
8176 The GDB manual uses new, sexy Texinfo conditionals, rather than arcane
8177 M4 macros. The new texinfo.tex is provided in this release. Pre-built
8178 `info' files are also provided. To build `info' files from scratch,
8179 you will need the latest `makeinfo' release, which will be available in
8180 a future texinfo-X.Y release.
8181
8182 *NOTE* The new texinfo.tex can cause old versions of TeX to hang.
8183 We're not sure exactly which versions have this problem, but it has
8184 been seen in 3.0. We highly recommend upgrading to TeX version 3.141
8185 or better. If that isn't possible, there is a patch in
8186 `texinfo/tex3patch' that will modify `texinfo/texinfo.tex' to work
8187 around this problem.
8188
8189 * New features
8190
8191 GDB now supports array constants that can be used in expressions typed in by
8192 the user. The syntax is `{element, element, ...}'. Ie: you can now type
8193 `print {1, 2, 3}', and it will build up an array in memory malloc'd in
8194 the target program.
8195
8196 The new directory `gdb/sparclite' contains a program that demonstrates
8197 how the sparc-stub.c remote stub runs on a Fujitsu SPARClite processor.
8198
8199 * New native hosts supported
8200
8201 HP/PA-RISC under HPUX using GNU tools hppa1.1-hp-hpux
8202 386 CPUs running SCO Unix 3.2v4 i386-unknown-sco3.2v4
8203
8204 * New targets supported
8205
8206 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi or udi29k
8207
8208 * New file formats supported
8209
8210 BFD now supports reading HP/PA-RISC executables (SOM file format?),
8211 HPUX core files, and SCO 3.2v2 core files.
8212
8213 * Major bug fixes
8214
8215 Attaching to processes now works again; thanks for the many bug reports.
8216
8217 We have also stomped on a bunch of core dumps caused by
8218 printf_filtered("%s") problems.
8219
8220 We eliminated a copyright problem on the rpc and ptrace header files
8221 for VxWorks, which was discovered at the last minute during the 4.7
8222 release. You should now be able to build a VxWorks GDB.
8223
8224 You can now interrupt gdb while an attached process is running. This
8225 will cause the attached process to stop, and give control back to GDB.
8226
8227 We fixed problems caused by using too many file descriptors
8228 for reading symbols from object files and libraries. This was
8229 especially a problem for programs that used many (~100) shared
8230 libraries.
8231
8232 The `step' command now only enters a subroutine if there is line number
8233 information for the subroutine. Otherwise it acts like the `next'
8234 command. Previously, `step' would enter subroutines if there was
8235 any debugging information about the routine. This avoids problems
8236 when using `cc -g1' on MIPS machines.
8237
8238 * Internal improvements
8239
8240 GDB's internal interfaces have been improved to make it easier to support
8241 debugging of multiple languages in the future.
8242
8243 GDB now uses a common structure for symbol information internally.
8244 Minimal symbols (derived from linkage symbols in object files), partial
8245 symbols (from a quick scan of debug information), and full symbols
8246 contain a common subset of information, making it easier to write
8247 shared code that handles any of them.
8248
8249 * New command line options
8250
8251 We now accept --silent as an alias for --quiet.
8252
8253 * Mmalloc licensing
8254
8255 The memory-mapped-malloc library is now licensed under the GNU Library
8256 General Public License.
8257
8258 *** Changes in GDB-4.7:
8259
8260 * Host/native/target split
8261
8262 GDB has had some major internal surgery to untangle the support for
8263 hosts and remote targets. Now, when you configure GDB for a remote
8264 target, it will no longer load in all of the support for debugging
8265 local programs on the host. When fully completed and tested, this will
8266 ensure that arbitrary host/target combinations are possible.
8267
8268 The primary conceptual shift is to separate the non-portable code in
8269 GDB into three categories. Host specific code is required any time GDB
8270 is compiled on that host, regardless of the target. Target specific
8271 code relates to the peculiarities of the target, but can be compiled on
8272 any host. Native specific code is everything else: it can only be
8273 built when the host and target are the same system. Child process
8274 handling and core file support are two common `native' examples.
8275
8276 GDB's use of /proc for controlling Unix child processes is now cleaner.
8277 It has been split out into a single module under the `target_ops' vector,
8278 plus two native-dependent functions for each system that uses /proc.
8279
8280 * New hosts supported
8281
8282 HP/Apollo 68k (under the BSD domain) m68k-apollo-bsd or apollo68bsd
8283 386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
8284 386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or i386sco
8285
8286 * New targets supported
8287
8288 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
8289 68030 and CPU32 m68030-*-*, m68332-*-*
8290
8291 * New native hosts supported
8292
8293 386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
8294 (386bsd is not well tested yet)
8295 386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or sco
8296
8297 * New file formats supported
8298
8299 BFD now supports COFF files for the Zilog Z8000 microprocessor. It
8300 supports reading of `a.out.adobe' object files, which are an a.out
8301 format extended with minimal information about multiple sections.
8302
8303 * New commands
8304
8305 `show copying' is the same as the old `info copying'.
8306 `show warranty' is the same as `info warrantee'.
8307 These were renamed for consistency. The old commands continue to work.
8308
8309 `info handle' is a new alias for `info signals'.
8310
8311 You can now define pre-command hooks, which attach arbitrary command
8312 scripts to any command. The commands in the hook will be executed
8313 prior to the user's command. You can also create a hook which will be
8314 executed whenever the program stops. See gdb.texinfo.
8315
8316 * C++ improvements
8317
8318 We now deal with Cfront style name mangling, and can even extract type
8319 info from mangled symbols. GDB can automatically figure out which
8320 symbol mangling style your C++ compiler uses.
8321
8322 Calling of methods and virtual functions has been improved as well.
8323
8324 * Major bug fixes
8325
8326 The crash that occurred when debugging Sun Ansi-C compiled binaries is
8327 fixed. This was due to mishandling of the extra N_SO stabs output
8328 by the compiler.
8329
8330 We also finally got Ultrix 4.2 running in house, and fixed core file
8331 support, with help from a dozen people on the net.
8332
8333 John M. Farrell discovered that the reason that single-stepping was so
8334 slow on all of the Mips based platforms (primarily SGI and DEC) was
8335 that we were trying to demangle and lookup a symbol used for internal
8336 purposes on every instruction that was being stepped through. Changing
8337 the name of that symbol so that it couldn't be mistaken for a C++
8338 mangled symbol sped things up a great deal.
8339
8340 Rich Pixley sped up symbol lookups in general by getting much smarter
8341 about when C++ symbol mangling is necessary. This should make symbol
8342 completion (TAB on the command line) much faster. It's not as fast as
8343 we'd like, but it's significantly faster than gdb-4.6.
8344
8345 * AMD 29k support
8346
8347 A new user controllable variable 'call_scratch_address' can
8348 specify the location of a scratch area to be used when GDB
8349 calls a function in the target. This is necessary because the
8350 usual method of putting the scratch area on the stack does not work
8351 in systems that have separate instruction and data spaces.
8352
8353 We integrated changes to support the 29k UDI (Universal Debugger
8354 Interface), but discovered at the last minute that we didn't have all
8355 of the appropriate copyright paperwork. We are working with AMD to
8356 resolve this, and hope to have it available soon.
8357
8358 * Remote interfaces
8359
8360 We have sped up the remote serial line protocol, especially for targets
8361 with lots of registers. It now supports a new `expedited status' ('T')
8362 message which can be used in place of the existing 'S' status message.
8363 This allows the remote stub to send only the registers that GDB
8364 needs to make a quick decision about single-stepping or conditional
8365 breakpoints, eliminating the need to fetch the entire register set for
8366 each instruction being stepped through.
8367
8368 The GDB remote serial protocol now implements a write-through cache for
8369 registers, only re-reading the registers if the target has run.
8370
8371 There is also a new remote serial stub for SPARC processors. You can
8372 find it in gdb-4.7/gdb/sparc-stub.c. This was written to support the
8373 Fujitsu SPARClite processor, but will run on any stand-alone SPARC
8374 processor with a serial port.
8375
8376 * Configuration
8377
8378 Configure.in files have become much easier to read and modify. A new
8379 `table driven' format makes it more obvious what configurations are
8380 supported, and what files each one uses.
8381
8382 * Library changes
8383
8384 There is a new opcodes library which will eventually contain all of the
8385 disassembly routines and opcode tables. At present, it only contains
8386 Sparc and Z8000 routines. This will allow the assembler, debugger, and
8387 disassembler (binutils/objdump) to share these routines.
8388
8389 The libiberty library is now copylefted under the GNU Library General
8390 Public License. This allows more liberal use, and was done so libg++
8391 can use it. This makes no difference to GDB, since the Library License
8392 grants all the rights from the General Public License.
8393
8394 * Documentation
8395
8396 The file gdb-4.7/gdb/doc/stabs.texinfo is a (relatively) complete
8397 reference to the stabs symbol info used by the debugger. It is (as far
8398 as we know) the only published document on this fascinating topic. We
8399 encourage you to read it, compare it to the stabs information on your
8400 system, and send improvements on the document in general (to
8401 bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu).
8402
8403 And, of course, many bugs have been fixed.
8404
8405
8406 *** Changes in GDB-4.6:
8407
8408 * Better support for C++ function names
8409
8410 GDB now accepts as input the "demangled form" of C++ overloaded function
8411 names and member function names, and can do command completion on such names
8412 (using TAB, TAB-TAB, and ESC-?). The names have to be quoted with a pair of
8413 single quotes. Examples are 'func (int, long)' and 'obj::operator==(obj&)'.
8414 Make use of command completion, it is your friend.
8415
8416 GDB also now accepts a variety of C++ mangled symbol formats. They are
8417 the GNU g++ style, the Cfront (ARM) style, and the Lucid (lcc) style.
8418 You can tell GDB which format to use by doing a 'set demangle-style {gnu,
8419 lucid, cfront, auto}'. 'gnu' is the default. Do a 'set demangle-style foo'
8420 for the list of formats.
8421
8422 * G++ symbol mangling problem
8423
8424 Recent versions of gcc have a bug in how they emit debugging information for
8425 C++ methods (when using dbx-style stabs). The file 'gcc.patch' (in this
8426 directory) can be applied to gcc to fix the problem. Alternatively, if you
8427 can't fix gcc, you can #define GCC_MANGLE_BUG when compiling gdb/symtab.c. The
8428 usual symptom is difficulty with setting breakpoints on methods. GDB complains
8429 about the method being non-existent. (We believe that version 2.2.2 of GCC has
8430 this problem.)
8431
8432 * New 'maintenance' command
8433
8434 All of the commands related to hacking GDB internals have been moved out of
8435 the main command set, and now live behind the 'maintenance' command. This
8436 can also be abbreviated as 'mt'. The following changes were made:
8437
8438 dump-me -> maintenance dump-me
8439 info all-breakpoints -> maintenance info breakpoints
8440 printmsyms -> maintenance print msyms
8441 printobjfiles -> maintenance print objfiles
8442 printpsyms -> maintenance print psymbols
8443 printsyms -> maintenance print symbols
8444
8445 The following commands are new:
8446
8447 maintenance demangle Call internal GDB demangler routine to
8448 demangle a C++ link name and prints the result.
8449 maintenance print type Print a type chain for a given symbol
8450
8451 * Change to .gdbinit file processing
8452
8453 We now read the $HOME/.gdbinit file before processing the argv arguments
8454 (e.g. reading symbol files or core files). This allows global parameters to
8455 be set, which will apply during the symbol reading. The ./.gdbinit is still
8456 read after argv processing.
8457
8458 * New hosts supported
8459
8460 Solaris-2.0 !!! sparc-sun-solaris2 or sun4sol2
8461
8462 GNU/Linux support i386-unknown-linux or linux
8463
8464 We are also including code to support the HP/PA running BSD and HPUX. This
8465 is almost guaranteed not to work, as we didn't have time to test or build it
8466 for this release. We are including it so that the more adventurous (or
8467 masochistic) of you can play with it. We also had major problems with the
8468 fact that the compiler that we got from HP doesn't support the -g option.
8469 It costs extra.
8470
8471 * New targets supported
8472
8473 Hitachi H8/300 h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
8474
8475 * More smarts about finding #include files
8476
8477 GDB now remembers the compilation directory for all include files, and for
8478 all files from which C is generated (like yacc and lex sources). This
8479 greatly improves GDB's ability to find yacc/lex sources, and include files,
8480 especially if you are debugging your program from a directory different from
8481 the one that contains your sources.
8482
8483 We also fixed a bug which caused difficulty with listing and setting
8484 breakpoints in include files which contain C code. (In the past, you had to
8485 try twice in order to list an include file that you hadn't looked at before.)
8486
8487 * Interesting infernals change
8488
8489 GDB now deals with arbitrary numbers of sections, where the symbols for each
8490 section must be relocated relative to that section's landing place in the
8491 target's address space. This work was needed to support ELF with embedded
8492 stabs used by Solaris-2.0.
8493
8494 * Bug fixes (of course!)
8495
8496 There have been loads of fixes for the following things:
8497 mips, rs6000, 29k/udi, m68k, g++, type handling, elf/dwarf, m88k,
8498 i960, stabs, DOS(GO32), procfs, etc...
8499
8500 See the ChangeLog for details.
8501
8502 *** Changes in GDB-4.5:
8503
8504 * New machines supported (host and target)
8505
8506 IBM RS6000 running AIX rs6000-ibm-aix or rs6000
8507
8508 SGI Irix-4.x mips-sgi-irix4 or iris4
8509
8510 * New malloc package
8511
8512 GDB now uses a new memory manager called mmalloc, based on gmalloc.
8513 Mmalloc is capable of handling multiple heaps of memory. It is also
8514 capable of saving a heap to a file, and then mapping it back in later.
8515 This can be used to greatly speedup the startup of GDB by using a
8516 pre-parsed symbol table which lives in a mmalloc managed heap. For
8517 more details, please read mmalloc/mmalloc.texi.
8518
8519 * info proc
8520
8521 The 'info proc' command (SVR4 only) has been enhanced quite a bit. See
8522 'help info proc' for details.
8523
8524 * MIPS ecoff symbol table format
8525
8526 The code that reads MIPS symbol table format is now supported on all hosts.
8527 Thanks to MIPS for releasing the sym.h and symconst.h files to make this
8528 possible.
8529
8530 * File name changes for MS-DOS
8531
8532 Many files in the config directories have been renamed to make it easier to
8533 support GDB on MS-DOSe systems (which have very restrictive file name
8534 conventions :-( ). MS-DOSe host support (under DJ Delorie's GO32
8535 environment) is close to working but has some remaining problems. Note
8536 that debugging of DOS programs is not supported, due to limitations
8537 in the ``operating system'', but it can be used to host cross-debugging.
8538
8539 * Cross byte order fixes
8540
8541 Many fixes have been made to support cross debugging of Sparc and MIPS
8542 targets from hosts whose byte order differs.
8543
8544 * New -mapped and -readnow options
8545
8546 If memory-mapped files are available on your system through the 'mmap'
8547 system call, you can use the -mapped option on the `file' or
8548 `symbol-file' commands to cause GDB to write the symbols from your
8549 program into a reusable file. If the program you are debugging is
8550 called `/path/fred', the mapped symbol file will be `./fred.syms'.
8551 Future GDB debugging sessions will notice the presence of this file,
8552 and will quickly map in symbol information from it, rather than reading
8553 the symbol table from the executable program. Using the '-mapped'
8554 option in a GDB `file' or `symbol-file' command has the same effect as
8555 starting GDB with the '-mapped' command-line option.
8556
8557 You can cause GDB to read the entire symbol table immediately by using
8558 the '-readnow' option with any of the commands that load symbol table
8559 information (or on the GDB command line). This makes the command
8560 slower, but makes future operations faster.
8561
8562 The -mapped and -readnow options are typically combined in order to
8563 build a `fred.syms' file that contains complete symbol information.
8564 A simple GDB invocation to do nothing but build a `.syms' file for future
8565 use is:
8566
8567 gdb -batch -nx -mapped -readnow programname
8568
8569 The `.syms' file is specific to the host machine on which GDB is run.
8570 It holds an exact image of GDB's internal symbol table. It cannot be
8571 shared across multiple host platforms.
8572
8573 * longjmp() handling
8574
8575 GDB is now capable of stepping and nexting over longjmp(), _longjmp(), and
8576 siglongjmp() without losing control. This feature has not yet been ported to
8577 all systems. It currently works on many 386 platforms, all MIPS-based
8578 platforms (SGI, DECstation, etc), and Sun3/4.
8579
8580 * Solaris 2.0
8581
8582 Preliminary work has been put in to support the new Solaris OS from Sun. At
8583 this time, it can control and debug processes, but it is not capable of
8584 reading symbols.
8585
8586 * Bug fixes
8587
8588 As always, many many bug fixes. The major areas were with g++, and mipsread.
8589 People using the MIPS-based platforms should experience fewer mysterious
8590 crashes and trashed symbol tables.
8591
8592 *** Changes in GDB-4.4:
8593
8594 * New machines supported (host and target)
8595
8596 SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
8597 (except core files)
8598 BSD Reno on Vax vax-dec-bsd
8599 Ultrix on Vax vax-dec-ultrix
8600
8601 * New machines supported (target)
8602
8603 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
8604
8605 * C++ support
8606
8607 GDB continues to improve its handling of C++. `References' work better.
8608 The demangler has also been improved, and now deals with symbols mangled as
8609 per the Annotated C++ Reference Guide.
8610
8611 GDB also now handles `stabs' symbol information embedded in MIPS
8612 `ecoff' symbol tables. Since the ecoff format was not easily
8613 extensible to handle new languages such as C++, this appeared to be a
8614 good way to put C++ debugging info into MIPS binaries. This option
8615 will be supported in the GNU C compiler, version 2, when it is
8616 released.
8617
8618 * New features for SVR4
8619
8620 GDB now handles SVR4 shared libraries, in the same fashion as SunOS
8621 shared libraries. Debugging dynamically linked programs should present
8622 only minor differences from debugging statically linked programs.
8623
8624 The `info proc' command will print out information about any process
8625 on an SVR4 system (including the one you are debugging). At the moment,
8626 it prints the address mappings of the process.
8627
8628 If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please send mail to
8629 bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were reqired (if any).
8630
8631 * Better dynamic linking support in SunOS
8632
8633 Reading symbols from shared libraries which contain debugging symbols
8634 now works properly. However, there remain issues such as automatic
8635 skipping of `transfer vector' code during function calls, which
8636 make it harder to debug code in a shared library, than to debug the
8637 same code linked statically.
8638
8639 * New Getopt
8640
8641 GDB is now using the latest `getopt' routines from the FSF. This
8642 version accepts the -- prefix for options with long names. GDB will
8643 continue to accept the old forms (-option and +option) as well.
8644 Various single letter abbreviations for options have been explicity
8645 added to the option table so that they won't get overshadowed in the
8646 future by other options that begin with the same letter.
8647
8648 * Bugs fixed
8649
8650 The `cleanup_undefined_types' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
8651 Many assorted bugs have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
8652 See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
8653
8654
8655 *** Changes in GDB-4.3:
8656
8657 * New machines supported (host and target)
8658
8659 Amiga 3000 running Amix m68k-cbm-svr4 or amix
8660 NCR 3000 386 running SVR4 i386-ncr-svr4 or ncr3000
8661 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
8662
8663 * Almost SCO Unix support
8664
8665 We had hoped to support:
8666 SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
8667 (except for core file support), but we discovered very late in the release
8668 that it has problems with process groups that render gdb unusable. Sorry
8669 about that. I encourage people to fix it and post the fixes.
8670
8671 * Preliminary ELF and DWARF support
8672
8673 GDB can read ELF object files on System V Release 4, and can handle
8674 debugging records for C, in DWARF format, in ELF files. This support
8675 is preliminary. If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please
8676 send mail to bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were
8677 reqired (if any).
8678
8679 * New Readline
8680
8681 GDB now uses the latest `readline' library. One user-visible change
8682 is that two tabs will list possible command completions, which previously
8683 required typing M-? (meta-question mark, or ESC ?).
8684
8685 * Bugs fixed
8686
8687 The `stepi' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
8688 Many bugs in C++ have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
8689 See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
8690
8691 * State of the MIPS world (in case you wondered):
8692
8693 GDB can understand the symbol tables emitted by the compilers
8694 supplied by most vendors of MIPS-based machines, including DEC. These
8695 symbol tables are in a format that essentially nobody else uses.
8696
8697 Some versions of gcc come with an assembler post-processor called
8698 mips-tfile. This program is required if you want to do source-level
8699 debugging of gcc-compiled programs. I believe FSF does not ship
8700 mips-tfile with gcc version 1, but it will eventually come with gcc
8701 version 2.
8702
8703 Debugging of g++ output remains a problem. g++ version 1.xx does not
8704 really support it at all. (If you're lucky, you should be able to get
8705 line numbers and stack traces to work, but no parameters or local
8706 variables.) With some work it should be possible to improve the
8707 situation somewhat.
8708
8709 When gcc version 2 is released, you will have somewhat better luck.
8710 However, even then you will get confusing results for inheritance and
8711 methods.
8712
8713 We will eventually provide full debugging of g++ output on
8714 DECstations. This will probably involve some kind of stabs-in-ecoff
8715 encapulation, but the details have not been worked out yet.
8716
8717
8718 *** Changes in GDB-4.2:
8719
8720 * Improved configuration
8721
8722 Only one copy of `configure' exists now, and it is not self-modifying.
8723 Porting BFD is simpler.
8724
8725 * Stepping improved
8726
8727 The `step' and `next' commands now only stop at the first instruction
8728 of a source line. This prevents the multiple stops that used to occur
8729 in switch statements, for-loops, etc. `Step' continues to stop if a
8730 function that has debugging information is called within the line.
8731
8732 * Bug fixing
8733
8734 Lots of small bugs fixed. More remain.
8735
8736 * New host supported (not target)
8737
8738 Intel 386 PC clone running Mach i386-none-mach
8739
8740
8741 *** Changes in GDB-4.1:
8742
8743 * Multiple source language support
8744
8745 GDB now has internal scaffolding to handle several source languages.
8746 It determines the type of each source file from its filename extension,
8747 and will switch expression parsing and number formatting to match the
8748 language of the function in the currently selected stack frame.
8749 You can also specifically set the language to be used, with
8750 `set language c' or `set language modula-2'.
8751
8752 * GDB and Modula-2
8753
8754 GDB now has preliminary support for the GNU Modula-2 compiler,
8755 currently under development at the State University of New York at
8756 Buffalo. Development of both GDB and the GNU Modula-2 compiler will
8757 continue through the fall of 1991 and into 1992.
8758
8759 Other Modula-2 compilers are currently not supported, and attempting to
8760 debug programs compiled with them will likely result in an error as the
8761 symbol table is read. Feel free to work on it, though!
8762
8763 There are hooks in GDB for strict type checking and range checking,
8764 in the `Modula-2 philosophy', but they do not currently work.
8765
8766 * set write on/off
8767
8768 GDB can now write to executable and core files (e.g. patch
8769 a variable's value). You must turn this switch on, specify
8770 the file ("exec foo" or "core foo"), *then* modify it, e.g.
8771 by assigning a new value to a variable. Modifications take
8772 effect immediately.
8773
8774 * Automatic SunOS shared library reading
8775
8776 When you run your program, GDB automatically determines where its
8777 shared libraries (if any) have been loaded, and reads their symbols.
8778 The `share' command is no longer needed. This also works when
8779 examining core files.
8780
8781 * set listsize
8782
8783 You can specify the number of lines that the `list' command shows.
8784 The default is 10.
8785
8786 * New machines supported (host and target)
8787
8788 SGI Iris (MIPS) running Irix V3: mips-sgi-irix or iris
8789 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x: m68k-sony-sysv or news
8790 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1: a29k-nyu-sym1 or ultra3
8791
8792 * New hosts supported (not targets)
8793
8794 IBM RT/PC: romp-ibm-aix or rtpc
8795
8796 * New targets supported (not hosts)
8797
8798 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
8799 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
8800 Ultracomputer remote kernel debug a29k-nyu-kern
8801
8802 * New remote interfaces
8803
8804 AMD 29000 Adapt
8805 AMD 29000 Minimon
8806
8807
8808 *** Changes in GDB-4.0:
8809
8810 * New Facilities
8811
8812 Wide output is wrapped at good places to make the output more readable.
8813
8814 Gdb now supports cross-debugging from a host machine of one type to a
8815 target machine of another type. Communication with the target system
8816 is over serial lines. The ``target'' command handles connecting to the
8817 remote system; the ``load'' command will download a program into the
8818 remote system. Serial stubs for the m68k and i386 are provided. Gdb
8819 also supports debugging of realtime processes running under VxWorks,
8820 using SunRPC Remote Procedure Calls over TCP/IP to talk to a debugger
8821 stub on the target system.
8822
8823 New CPUs supported include the AMD 29000 and Intel 960.
8824
8825 GDB now reads object files and symbol tables via a ``binary file''
8826 library, which allows a single copy of GDB to debug programs of multiple
8827 object file types such as a.out and coff.
8828
8829 There is now a GDB reference card in "doc/refcard.tex". (Make targets
8830 refcard.dvi and refcard.ps are available to format it).
8831
8832
8833 * Control-Variable user interface simplified
8834
8835 All variables that control the operation of the debugger can be set
8836 by the ``set'' command, and displayed by the ``show'' command.
8837
8838 For example, ``set prompt new-gdb=>'' will change your prompt to new-gdb=>.
8839 ``Show prompt'' produces the response:
8840 Gdb's prompt is new-gdb=>.
8841
8842 What follows are the NEW set commands. The command ``help set'' will
8843 print a complete list of old and new set commands. ``help set FOO''
8844 will give a longer description of the variable FOO. ``show'' will show
8845 all of the variable descriptions and their current settings.
8846
8847 confirm on/off: Enables warning questions for operations that are
8848 hard to recover from, e.g. rerunning the program while
8849 it is already running. Default is ON.
8850
8851 editing on/off: Enables EMACS style command line editing
8852 of input. Previous lines can be recalled with
8853 control-P, the current line can be edited with control-B,
8854 you can search for commands with control-R, etc.
8855 Default is ON.
8856
8857 history filename NAME: NAME is where the gdb command history
8858 will be stored. The default is .gdb_history,
8859 or the value of the environment variable
8860 GDBHISTFILE.
8861
8862 history size N: The size, in commands, of the command history. The
8863 default is 256, or the value of the environment variable
8864 HISTSIZE.
8865
8866 history save on/off: If this value is set to ON, the history file will
8867 be saved after exiting gdb. If set to OFF, the
8868 file will not be saved. The default is OFF.
8869
8870 history expansion on/off: If this value is set to ON, then csh-like
8871 history expansion will be performed on
8872 command line input. The default is OFF.
8873
8874 radix N: Sets the default radix for input and output. It can be set
8875 to 8, 10, or 16. Note that the argument to "radix" is interpreted
8876 in the current radix, so "set radix 10" is always a no-op.
8877
8878 height N: This integer value is the number of lines on a page. Default
8879 is 24, the current `stty rows'' setting, or the ``li#''
8880 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
8881 variable TERM.
8882
8883 width N: This integer value is the number of characters on a line.
8884 Default is 80, the current `stty cols'' setting, or the ``co#''
8885 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
8886 variable TERM.
8887
8888 Note: ``set screensize'' is obsolete. Use ``set height'' and
8889 ``set width'' instead.
8890
8891 print address on/off: Print memory addresses in various command displays,
8892 such as stack traces and structure values. Gdb looks
8893 more ``symbolic'' if you turn this off; it looks more
8894 ``machine level'' with it on. Default is ON.
8895
8896 print array on/off: Prettyprint arrays. New convenient format! Default
8897 is OFF.
8898
8899 print demangle on/off: Print C++ symbols in "source" form if on,
8900 "raw" form if off.
8901
8902 print asm-demangle on/off: Same, for assembler level printouts
8903 like instructions.
8904
8905 print vtbl on/off: Prettyprint C++ virtual function tables. Default is OFF.
8906
8907
8908 * Support for Epoch Environment.
8909
8910 The epoch environment is a version of Emacs v18 with windowing. One
8911 new command, ``inspect'', is identical to ``print'', except that if you
8912 are running in the epoch environment, the value is printed in its own
8913 window.
8914
8915
8916 * Support for Shared Libraries
8917
8918 GDB can now debug programs and core files that use SunOS shared libraries.
8919 Symbols from a shared library cannot be referenced
8920 before the shared library has been linked with the program (this
8921 happens after you type ``run'' and before the function main() is entered).
8922 At any time after this linking (including when examining core files
8923 from dynamically linked programs), gdb reads the symbols from each
8924 shared library when you type the ``sharedlibrary'' command.
8925 It can be abbreviated ``share''.
8926
8927 sharedlibrary REGEXP: Load shared object library symbols for files
8928 matching a unix regular expression. No argument
8929 indicates to load symbols for all shared libraries.
8930
8931 info sharedlibrary: Status of loaded shared libraries.
8932
8933
8934 * Watchpoints
8935
8936 A watchpoint stops execution of a program whenever the value of an
8937 expression changes. Checking for this slows down execution
8938 tremendously whenever you are in the scope of the expression, but is
8939 quite useful for catching tough ``bit-spreader'' or pointer misuse
8940 problems. Some machines such as the 386 have hardware for doing this
8941 more quickly, and future versions of gdb will use this hardware.
8942
8943 watch EXP: Set a watchpoint (breakpoint) for an expression.
8944
8945 info watchpoints: Information about your watchpoints.
8946
8947 delete N: Deletes watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
8948 disable N: Temporarily turns off watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
8949 enable N: Re-enables watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
8950
8951
8952 * C++ multiple inheritance
8953
8954 When used with a GCC version 2 compiler, GDB supports multiple inheritance
8955 for C++ programs.
8956
8957 * C++ exception handling
8958
8959 Gdb now supports limited C++ exception handling. Besides the existing
8960 ability to breakpoint on an exception handler, gdb can breakpoint on
8961 the raising of an exception (before the stack is peeled back to the
8962 handler's context).
8963
8964 catch FOO: If there is a FOO exception handler in the dynamic scope,
8965 set a breakpoint to catch exceptions which may be raised there.
8966 Multiple exceptions (``catch foo bar baz'') may be caught.
8967
8968 info catch: Lists all exceptions which may be caught in the
8969 current stack frame.
8970
8971
8972 * Minor command changes
8973
8974 The command ``call func (arg, arg, ...)'' now acts like the print
8975 command, except it does not print or save a value if the function's result
8976 is void. This is similar to dbx usage.
8977
8978 The ``up'' and ``down'' commands now always print the frame they end up
8979 at; ``up-silently'' and `down-silently'' can be used in scripts to change
8980 frames without printing.
8981
8982 * New directory command
8983
8984 'dir' now adds directories to the FRONT of the source search path.
8985 The path starts off empty. Source files that contain debug information
8986 about the directory in which they were compiled can be found even
8987 with an empty path; Sun CC and GCC include this information. If GDB can't
8988 find your source file in the current directory, type "dir .".
8989
8990 * Configuring GDB for compilation
8991
8992 For normal use, type ``./configure host''. See README or gdb.texinfo
8993 for more details.
8994
8995 GDB now handles cross debugging. If you are remotely debugging between
8996 two different machines, type ``./configure host -target=targ''.
8997 Host is the machine where GDB will run; targ is the machine
8998 where the program that you are debugging will run.