3851114a9f707ef0a2f1a2291e745e869d240e41
[binutils-gdb.git] / gdb / NEWS
1 What has changed in GDB?
2 (Organized release by release)
3
4 *** Changes since GDB 14
5
6 * Building GDB and GDBserver now requires a C++17 compiler.
7 For example, GCC 9 or later.
8
9 * GDB index now contains information about the main function. This speeds up
10 startup when it is being used for some large binaries.
11
12 * Changed commands
13
14 disassemble
15 Attempting to use both the 'r' and 'b' flags with the disassemble
16 command will now give an error. Previously the 'b' flag would
17 always override the 'r' flag.
18
19 * Python API
20
21 ** New function gdb.notify_mi(NAME, DATA), that emits custom
22 GDB/MI async notification.
23
24 ** New read/write attribute gdb.Value.bytes that contains a bytes
25 object holding the contents of this value.
26
27 *** Changes in GDB 14
28
29 * GDB now supports the AArch64 Scalable Matrix Extension 2 (SME2), which
30 includes a new 512 bit lookup table register named ZT0.
31
32 * GDB now supports the AArch64 Scalable Matrix Extension (SME), which includes
33 a new matrix register named ZA, a new thread register TPIDR2 and a new vector
34 length register SVG (streaming vector granule). GDB also supports tracking
35 ZA state across signal frames.
36
37 Some features are still under development or are dependent on ABI specs that
38 are still in alpha stage. For example, manual function calls with ZA state
39 don't have any special handling, and tracking of SVG changes based on
40 DWARF information is still not implemented, but there are plans to do so in
41 the future.
42
43 * GDB now recognizes the NO_COLOR environment variable and disables
44 styling according to the spec. See https://no-color.org/.
45 Styling can be re-enabled with "set style enabled on".
46
47 * The AArch64 'org.gnu.gdb.aarch64.pauth' Pointer Authentication feature string
48 has been deprecated in favor of the 'org.gnu.gdb.aarch64.pauth_v2' feature
49 string.
50
51 * GDB now has some support for integer types larger than 64 bits.
52
53 * Removed targets and native configurations
54
55 GDB no longer supports AIX 4.x, AIX 5.x and AIX 6.x. The minimum supported
56 AIX version is now AIX 7.1.
57
58 * Multi-target feature configuration
59
60 GDB now supports the individual configuration of remote targets' feature
61 sets. Based on the current selection of a target, the commands 'set remote
62 <name>-packet (on|off|auto)' and 'show remote <name>-packet' can be used to
63 configure a target's feature packet and to display its configuration,
64 respectively.
65
66 The individual packet sizes can be configured and shown using the commands
67 ** 'set remote memory-read-packet-size (number of bytes|fixed|limit)'
68 ** 'set remote memory-write-packet-size (number of bytes|fixed|limit)'
69 ** 'show remote memory-read-packet-size'
70 ** 'show remote memory-write-packet-size'.
71
72 The configuration of the packet itself, as well as the size of a memory-read
73 or memory-write packet applies to the currently selected target (if
74 available). If no target is selected, it applies to future remote
75 connections. Similarly, the show commands print the configuration of the
76 currently selected target. If no remote target is selected, the default
77 configuration for future connections is shown.
78
79 * GDB has initial built-in support for the Debugger Adapter Protocol.
80 This support requires that GDB be built with Python scripting
81 enabled.
82
83 * For the break command, multiple uses of the 'thread' or 'task'
84 keywords will now give an error instead of just using the thread or
85 task id from the last instance of the keyword. E.g.:
86 break foo thread 1 thread 2
87 will now give an error rather than using 'thread 2'.
88
89 * For the watch command, multiple uses of the 'task' keyword will now
90 give an error instead of just using the task id from the last
91 instance of the keyword. E.g.:
92 watch my_var task 1 task 2
93 will now give an error rather than using 'task 2'. The 'thread'
94 keyword already gave an error when used multiple times with the
95 watch command, this remains unchanged.
96
97 * The 'set print elements' setting now helps when printing large arrays.
98 If an array would otherwise exceed max-value-size, but 'print elements'
99 is set such that the size of elements to print is less than or equal
100 to 'max-value-size', GDB will now still print the array, however only
101 'max-value-size' worth of data will be added into the value history.
102
103 * For both the break and watch commands, it is now invalid to use both
104 the 'thread' and 'task' keywords within the same command. For
105 example the following commnds will now give an error:
106 break foo thread 1 task 1
107 watch var thread 2 task 3
108
109 * The printf command now accepts a '%V' output format which will
110 format an expression just as the 'print' command would. Print
111 options can be placed withing '[...]' after the '%V' to modify how
112 the value is printed. E.g:
113 printf "%V", some_array
114 printf "%V[-array-indexes on]", some_array
115 will print the array without, or with array indexes included, just
116 as the array would be printed by the 'print' command. This
117 functionality is also available for dprintf when dprintf-style is
118 'gdb'.
119
120 * When the printf command requires a string to be fetched from the
121 inferior, GDB now uses the existing 'max-value-size' setting to the
122 limit the memory allocated within GDB. The default 'max-value-size'
123 is 64k. To print longer strings you should increase
124 'max-value-size'.
125
126 * The Ada 2022 Enum_Rep and Enum_Val attributes are now supported.
127
128 * The Ada 2022 target name symbol ('@') is now supported by the Ada
129 expression parser.
130
131 * The 'list' command now accepts '.' as an argument, which tells GDB to
132 print the location around the point of execution within the current frame.
133 If the inferior hasn't started yet, the command will print around the
134 beginning of the 'main' function.
135
136 * Using the 'list' command with no arguments in a situation where the
137 command would attempt to list past the end of the file now warns the
138 user that the end of file has been reached, refers the user to the
139 newly added '.' argument
140
141 * Breakpoints can now be inferior-specific. This is similar to the
142 existing thread-specific breakpoint support. Breakpoint conditions
143 can include the 'inferior' keyword followed by an inferior id (as
144 displayed in the 'info inferiors' output). It is invalid to use the
145 'inferior' keyword with either the 'thread' or 'task' keywords when
146 creating a breakpoint.
147
148 * New convenience function "$_shell", to execute a shell command and
149 return the result. This lets you run shell commands in expressions.
150 Some examples:
151
152 (gdb) p $_shell("true")
153 $1 = 0
154 (gdb) p $_shell("false")
155 $2 = 1
156 (gdb) break func if $_shell("some command") == 0
157
158 * Configure changes
159
160 --additional-debug-dirs=PATHs
161
162 Provide a colon-separated list of additional directories to search for
163 separate debug info. These directories are added to the default value of
164 the 'debug-file-directory' GDB parameter.
165
166 * New commands
167
168 set debug breakpoint on|off
169 show debug breakpoint
170 Print additional debug messages about breakpoint insertion and removal.
171
172 maintenance print record-instruction [ N ]
173 Print the recorded information for a given instruction. If N is not given
174 prints how GDB would undo the last instruction executed. If N is negative,
175 prints how GDB would undo the N-th previous instruction, and if N is
176 positive, it prints how GDB will redo the N-th following instruction.
177
178 maintenance info frame-unwinders
179 List the frame unwinders currently in effect, starting with the highest
180 priority.
181
182 maintenance wait-for-index-cache
183 Wait until all pending writes to the index cache have completed.
184
185 set always-read-ctf on|off
186 show always-read-ctf
187 When off, CTF is only read if DWARF is not present. When on, CTF is
188 read regardless of whether DWARF is present. Off by default.
189
190 info main
191 Get main symbol to identify entry point into program.
192
193 set tui mouse-events [on|off]
194 show tui mouse-events
195 When on (default), mouse clicks control the TUI and can be accessed by
196 Python extensions. When off, mouse clicks are handled by the terminal,
197 enabling terminal-native text selection.
198
199 * MI changes
200
201 ** MI version 1 has been removed.
202
203 ** mi now reports 'no-history' as a stop reason when hitting the end of the
204 reverse execution history.
205
206 ** When creating a thread-specific breakpoint using the '-p' option,
207 the -break-insert command would report the 'thread' field twice in
208 the reply. The content of both fields was always identical. This
209 has now been fixed; the 'thread' field will be reported just once
210 for thread-specific breakpoints, or not at all for breakpoints
211 without a thread restriction. The same is also true for the 'task'
212 field of an Ada task-specific breakpoint.
213
214 ** It is no longer possible to create a thread-specific breakpoint for
215 a thread that doesn't exist using '-break-insert -p ID'. Creating
216 breakpoints for non-existent threads is not allowed when using the
217 CLI, that the MI allowed it was a long standing bug, which has now
218 been fixed.
219
220 ** The '--simple-values' argument to the '-stack-list-arguments',
221 '-stack-list-locals', '-stack-list-variables', and '-var-list-children'
222 commands now takes reference types into account: that is, a value is now
223 considered simple if it is neither an array, structure, or union, nor a
224 reference to an array, structure, or union. (Previously all references were
225 considered simple.) Support for this feature can be verified by using the
226 '-list-features' command, which should contain "simple-values-ref-types".
227
228 ** The -break-insert command now accepts a '-g thread-group-id' option
229 to allow for the creation of inferior-specific breakpoints.
230
231 ** The bkpt tuple, which appears in breakpoint-created notifications,
232 and in the result of the -break-insert command can now include an
233 optional 'inferior' field for both the main breakpoint, and each
234 location, when the breakpoint is inferior-specific.
235
236 * Python API
237
238 ** gdb.ThreadExitedEvent added. Emits a ThreadEvent.
239
240 ** The gdb.unwinder.Unwinder.name attribute is now read-only.
241
242 ** The name argument passed to gdb.unwinder.Unwinder.__init__ must
243 now be of type 'str' otherwise a TypeError will be raised.
244
245 ** The gdb.unwinder.Unwinder.enabled attribute can now only accept
246 values of type 'bool'. Changing this attribute will now
247 invalidate GDB's frame-cache, which means GDB will need to
248 rebuild its frame-cache when next required - either with, or
249 without the particular unwinder, depending on how 'enabled' was
250 changed.
251
252 ** New methods added to the gdb.PendingFrame class. These methods
253 have the same behaviour as the corresponding methods on
254 gdb.Frame. The new methods are:
255
256 - gdb.PendingFrame.name: Return the name for the frame's
257 function, or None.
258 - gdb.PendingFrame.is_valid: Return True if the pending frame
259 object is valid.
260 - gdb.PendingFrame.pc: Return the $pc register value for this
261 frame.
262 - gdb.PendingFrame.language: Return a string containing the
263 language for this frame, or None.
264 - gdb.PendingFrame.find_sal: Return a gdb.Symtab_and_line
265 object for the current location within the pending frame, or
266 None.
267 - gdb.PendingFrame.block: Return a gdb.Block for the current
268 pending frame, or None.
269 - gdb.PendingFrame.function: Return a gdb.Symbol for the
270 current pending frame, or None.
271
272 ** The frame-id passed to gdb.PendingFrame.create_unwind_info can
273 now use either an integer or a gdb.Value object for each of its
274 'sp', 'pc', and 'special' attributes.
275
276 ** A new class gdb.unwinder.FrameId has been added. Instances of
277 this class are constructed with 'sp' (stack-pointer) and 'pc'
278 (program-counter) values, and can be used as the frame-id when
279 calling gdb.PendingFrame.create_unwind_info.
280
281 ** It is now no longer possible to sub-class the
282 gdb.disassembler.DisassemblerResult type.
283
284 ** The Disassembler API from the gdb.disassembler module has been
285 extended to include styling support:
286
287 - The DisassemblerResult class can now be initialized with a list
288 of parts. Each part represents part of the disassembled
289 instruction along with the associated style information. This
290 list of parts can be accessed with the new
291 DisassemblerResult.parts property.
292
293 - New constants gdb.disassembler.STYLE_* representing all the
294 different styles part of an instruction might have.
295
296 - New methods DisassembleInfo.text_part and
297 DisassembleInfo.address_part which are used to create the new
298 styled parts of a disassembled instruction.
299
300 - Changes are backwards compatible, the older API can still be
301 used to disassemble instructions without styling.
302
303 ** New function gdb.execute_mi(COMMAND, [ARG]...), that invokes a
304 GDB/MI command and returns the output as a Python dictionary.
305
306 ** New function gdb.block_signals(). This returns a context manager
307 that blocks any signals that GDB needs to handle itself.
308
309 ** New class gdb.Thread. This is a subclass of threading.Thread
310 that calls gdb.block_signals in its "start" method.
311
312 ** gdb.parse_and_eval now has a new "global_context" parameter.
313 This can be used to request that the parse only examine global
314 symbols.
315
316 ** gdb.Inferior now has a new "arguments" attribute. This holds the
317 command-line arguments to the inferior, if known.
318
319 ** gdb.Inferior now has a new "main_name" attribute. This holds the
320 name of the inferior's "main", if known.
321
322 ** gdb.Inferior now has new methods "clear_env", "set_env", and
323 "unset_env". These can be used to modify the inferior's
324 environment before it is started.
325
326 ** gdb.Value now has the 'assign' method.
327
328 ** gdb.Value now has the 'to_array' method. This converts an
329 array-like Value to an array.
330
331 ** gdb.Progspace now has the new method "objfile_for_address". This
332 returns the gdb.Objfile, if any, that covers a given address.
333
334 ** gdb.Breakpoint now has an "inferior" attribute. If the
335 Breakpoint object is inferior specific then this attribute holds
336 the inferior-id (an integer). If the Breakpoint object is not
337 inferior specific, then this field contains None. This field can
338 be written too.
339
340 ** gdb.Type now has the "is_array_like" and "is_string_like"
341 methods. These reflect GDB's internal idea of whether a type
342 might be array- or string-like, even if they do not have the
343 corresponding type code.
344
345 ** gdb.ValuePrinter is a new class that can be used as the base
346 class for the result of applying a pretty-printer. As a base
347 class, it signals to gdb that the printer may implement new
348 pretty-printer methods.
349
350 ** New attribute Progspace.symbol_file. This attribute holds the
351 gdb.Objfile that corresponds to Progspace.filename (when
352 Progspace.filename is not None), otherwise, this attribute is
353 itself None.
354
355 ** New attribute Progspace.executable_filename. This attribute
356 holds a string containing a file name set by the "exec-file" or
357 "file" commands, or None if no executable file is set. This
358 isn't the exact string passed by the user to these commands; the
359 file name will have been partially resolved to an absolute file
360 name.
361
362 ** A new executable_changed event registry is available. This event
363 emits ExecutableChangedEvent objects, which have 'progspace' (a
364 gdb.Progspace) and 'reload' (a Boolean) attributes. This event
365 is emitted when gdb.Progspace.executable_filename changes.
366
367 ** New event registries gdb.events.new_progspace and
368 gdb.events.free_progspace, these emit NewProgspaceEvent and
369 FreeProgspaceEvent event types respectively. Both of these event
370 types have a single 'progspace' attribute, which is the
371 gdb.Progspace that is either being added to GDB, or removed from
372 GDB.
373
374 ** gdb.LazyString now implements the __str__ method.
375
376 *** Changes in GDB 13
377
378 * MI version 1 is deprecated, and will be removed in GDB 14.
379
380 * GDB now supports dumping memory tag data for AArch64 MTE. It also supports
381 reading memory tag data for AArch64 MTE from core files generated by
382 the gcore command or the Linux kernel.
383
384 When a process uses memory-mapped pages protected by memory tags (for
385 example, AArch64 MTE), this additional information will be recorded in
386 the core file in the event of a crash or if GDB generates a core file
387 from the current process state. GDB will show this additional information
388 automatically, or through one of the memory-tag subcommands.
389
390 * "info breakpoints" now displays enabled breakpoint locations of
391 disabled breakpoints as in the "y-" state. For example:
392
393 (gdb) info breakpoints
394 Num Type Disp Enb Address What
395 1 breakpoint keep n <MULTIPLE>
396 1.1 y- 0x00000000000011b6 in ...
397 1.2 y- 0x00000000000011c2 in ...
398 1.3 n 0x00000000000011ce in ...
399
400 * Support for Thread Local Storage (TLS) variables on FreeBSD arm and
401 aarch64 architectures.
402
403 * GDB now supports hardware watchpoints on FreeBSD/Aarch64.
404
405 * Remove support for building against Python 2, it is now only possible to
406 build GDB against Python 3.
407
408 * DBX mode has been removed.
409
410 * GDB now honours the DWARF prologue_end line-table entry flag the compiler can
411 emit to indicate where a breakpoint should be placed to break in a function
412 past its prologue.
413
414 * Completion now also offers "NUMBER" for "set" commands that accept
415 a numeric argument and the "unlimited" keyword. For example:
416
417 (gdb) set width <TAB>
418 NUMBER unlimited
419
420 and consequently:
421
422 (gdb) complete set width
423 set width NUMBER
424 set width unlimited
425
426 * Disassembler styling using libopcodes. GDB now supports
427 disassembler styling using libopcodes. This is only available for
428 some targets (currently x86 and RISC-V). For unsupported targets
429 Python Pygments is still used. For supported targets, libopcodes
430 styling is used by default.
431
432 * The Windows native target now supports target async.
433
434 * gdb now supports zstd compressed debug sections (ELFCOMPRESS_ZSTD) for ELF.
435
436 * The format of 'disassemble /r' and 'record instruction-history /r'
437 has changed. The instruction bytes could now be grouped together,
438 and displayed in the endianness of the instruction. This is the
439 same layout as used by GNU objdump when disassembling.
440
441 There is now 'disassemble /b' and 'record instruction-history /b'
442 which will always display the instructions bytes one at a time in
443 memory order, that is, the byte at the lowest address first.
444
445 For both /r and /b GDB is now better at using whitespace in order to
446 align the disassembled instruction text.
447
448 * The TUI no longer styles the source and assembly code highlighted by
449 the current position indicator by default. You can however
450 re-enable styling using the new "set style tui-current-position"
451 command.
452
453 * New convenience variable $_inferior_thread_count contains the number
454 of live threads in the current inferior.
455
456 * When a breakpoint with multiple code locations is hit, GDB now prints
457 the code location using the syntax <breakpoint_number>.<location_number>
458 such as in:
459 Thread 1 "zeoes" hit Breakpoint 2.3, some_func () at zeoes.c:8
460
461 * When a breakpoint is hit, GDB now sets the convenience variables $_hit_bpnum
462 and $_hit_locno to the hit breakpoint number and code location number.
463 This allows to disable the last hit breakpoint using
464 (gdb) disable $_hit_bpnum
465 or disable only the specific breakpoint code location using
466 (gdb) disable $_hit_bpnum.$_hit_locno
467 These commands can be used inside the command list of a breakpoint to
468 automatically disable the just encountered breakpoint (or the just
469 encountered specific breakpoint code location).
470 When a breakpoint has only one location, $_hit_locno is set to 1 so that
471 (gdb) disable $_hit_bpnum.$_hit_locno
472 and
473 (gdb) disable $_hit_bpnum
474 are both disabling the breakpoint.
475
476 * New commands
477
478 maintenance set ignore-prologue-end-flag on|off
479 maintenance show ignore-prologue-end-flag
480 This setting, which is off by default, controls whether GDB ignores the
481 PROLOGUE-END flag from the line-table when skipping prologue. This can be
482 used to force GDB to use prologue analyzers if the line-table is constructed
483 from erroneous debug information.
484
485 set print nibbles [on|off]
486 show print nibbles
487 This controls whether the 'print/t' command will display binary values
488 in groups of four bits, known as "nibbles". The default is 'off'.
489
490 maintenance set libopcodes-styling on|off
491 maintenance show libopcodes-styling
492 These can be used to force off libopcodes based styling, the Python
493 Pygments styling will then be used instead.
494
495 set style disassembler comment
496 show style disassembler comment
497 set style disassembler immediate
498 show style disassembler immediate
499 set style disassembler mnemonic
500 show style disassembler mnemonic
501 set style disassembler register
502 show style disassembler register
503 set style disassembler address
504 show style disassembler address
505 set style disassembler symbol
506 show style disassembler symbol
507 For targets that support libopcodes based styling, these settings
508 control how various aspects of the disassembler output are styled.
509 The 'disassembler address' and 'disassembler symbol' styles are
510 aliases for the 'address' and 'function' styles respectively.
511
512 maintenance print frame-id [ LEVEL ]
513 Print GDB's internal frame-id for the frame at LEVEL. If LEVEL is
514 not given, then print the frame-id for the currently selected frame.
515
516 set debug infcall on|off
517 show debug infcall
518 Print additional debug messages about inferior function calls.
519
520 set debug solib on|off
521 show debug solib
522 Print additional debug messages about shared library handling.
523
524 set style tui-current-position [on|off]
525 Whether to style the source and assembly code highlighted by the
526 TUI's current position indicator. The default is off.
527
528 set print characters LIMIT
529 show print characters
530 This new setting is like 'set print elements', but controls how many
531 characters of a string are printed. This functionality used to be
532 covered by 'set print elements', but it can be controlled separately
533 now. LIMIT can be set to a numerical value to request that particular
534 character count, to 'unlimited' to print all characters of a string,
535 or to 'elements', which is also the default, to follow the setting of
536 'set print elements' as it used to be.
537
538 print -characters LIMIT
539 This new option to the 'print' command has the same effect as a temporary
540 use of 'set print characters'.
541
542 * Changed commands
543
544 document user-defined
545 It is now possible to document user-defined aliases.
546 When a user-defined alias is documented, the help and apropos commands
547 use the provided documentation instead of the documentation of the
548 aliased command.
549 Documenting a user-defined alias is particularly useful when the alias
550 is a set of nested 'with' commands to avoid showing the help of
551 the with command for an alias that will in fact launch the
552 last command given in the nested commands.
553
554 maintenance info line-table
555 Add a PROLOGUE-END column to the output which indicates that an
556 entry corresponds to an address where a breakpoint should be placed
557 to be at the first instruction past a function's prologue.
558
559 * Removed commands
560
561 set debug aix-solib on|off
562 show debug aix-solib
563 set debug solib-frv on|off
564 show debug solib-frv
565 Removed in favor of "set/show debug solib".
566
567 maintenance info program-spaces
568 This command now includes a 'Core File' column which indicates the
569 name of the core file associated with each program space.
570
571 * New targets
572
573 GNU/Linux/LoongArch (gdbserver) loongarch*-*-linux*
574
575 GNU/Linux/CSKY (gdbserver) csky*-*linux*
576
577 AMDGPU amdgcn-*-*
578
579 * MI changes
580
581 ** The async record stating the stopped reason 'breakpoint-hit' now
582 contains an optional field locno giving the code location number
583 when the breakpoint has multiple code locations.
584
585 * Python API
586
587 ** GDB will now reformat the doc string for gdb.Command and
588 gdb.Parameter sub-classes to remove unnecessary leading
589 whitespace from each line before using the string as the help
590 output.
591
592 ** New function gdb.format_address(ADDRESS, PROGSPACE, ARCHITECTURE),
593 that formats ADDRESS as 'address <symbol+offset>', where symbol is
594 looked up in PROGSPACE, and ARCHITECTURE is used to format address.
595 This is the same format that GDB uses when printing address, symbol,
596 and offset information from the disassembler.
597
598 ** New function gdb.current_language that returns the name of the
599 current language. Unlike gdb.parameter('language'), this will
600 never return 'auto'.
601
602 ** New method gdb.Frame.language that returns the name of the
603 frame's language.
604
605 ** New Python API for wrapping GDB's disassembler:
606
607 - gdb.disassembler.register_disassembler(DISASSEMBLER, ARCH).
608 DISASSEMBLER is a sub-class of gdb.disassembler.Disassembler.
609 ARCH is either None or a string containing a bfd architecture
610 name. DISASSEMBLER is registered as a disassembler for
611 architecture ARCH, or for all architectures if ARCH is None.
612 The previous disassembler registered for ARCH is returned, this
613 can be None if no previous disassembler was registered.
614
615 - gdb.disassembler.Disassembler is the class from which all
616 disassemblers should inherit. Its constructor takes a string,
617 a name for the disassembler, which is currently only used in
618 some debug output. Sub-classes should override the __call__
619 method to perform disassembly, invoking __call__ on this base
620 class will raise an exception.
621
622 - gdb.disassembler.DisassembleInfo is the class used to describe
623 a single disassembly request from GDB. An instance of this
624 class is passed to the __call__ method of
625 gdb.disassembler.Disassembler and has the following read-only
626 attributes: 'address', and 'architecture', as well as the
627 following method: 'read_memory'.
628
629 - gdb.disassembler.builtin_disassemble(INFO, MEMORY_SOURCE),
630 calls GDB's builtin disassembler on INFO, which is a
631 gdb.disassembler.DisassembleInfo object. MEMORY_SOURCE is
632 optional, its default value is None. If MEMORY_SOURCE is not
633 None then it must be an object that has a 'read_memory' method.
634
635 - gdb.disassembler.DisassemblerResult is a class that can be used
636 to wrap the result of a call to a Disassembler. It has
637 read-only attributes 'length' and 'string'.
638
639 ** gdb.Objfile now has an attribute named "is_file". This is True
640 if the objfile comes from a file, and False otherwise.
641
642 ** New function gdb.print_options that returns a dictionary of the
643 prevailing print options, in the form accepted by
644 gdb.Value.format_string.
645
646 ** gdb.Value.format_string now uses the format provided by 'print',
647 if it is called during a 'print' or other similar operation.
648
649 ** gdb.Value.format_string now accepts the 'summary' keyword. This
650 can be used to request a shorter representation of a value, the
651 way that 'set print frame-arguments scalars' does.
652
653 ** New Python type gdb.BreakpointLocation.
654 The new attribute 'locations' of gdb.Breakpoint returns a list of
655 gdb.BreakpointLocation objects specifying the locations where the
656 breakpoint is inserted into the debuggee.
657
658 ** The gdb.register_window_type method now restricts the set of
659 acceptable window names. The first character of a window's name
660 must start with a character in the set [a-zA-Z], every subsequent
661 character of a window's name must be in the set [-_.a-zA-Z0-9].
662
663 * New features in the GDB remote stub, GDBserver
664
665 ** GDBserver is now supported on LoongArch GNU/Linux.
666
667 ** GDBserver is now supported on CSKY GNU/Linux.
668
669 * LoongArch floating-point support
670
671 GDB now supports floating-point on LoongArch GNU/Linux.
672
673 * AMD GPU ROCm debugging support
674
675 GDB now supports debugging programs offloaded to AMD GPUs using the ROCm
676 platform.
677
678 *** Changes in GDB 12
679
680 * DBX mode is deprecated, and will be removed in GDB 13
681
682 * GDB 12 is the last release of GDB that will support building against
683 Python 2. From GDB 13, it will only be possible to build GDB itself
684 with Python 3 support.
685
686 * The disable-randomization setting now works on Windows.
687
688 * Improved C++ template support
689
690 GDB now treats functions/types involving C++ templates like it does function
691 overloads. Users may omit parameter lists to set breakpoints on families of
692 template functions, including types/functions composed of multiple template types:
693
694 (gdb) break template_func(template_1, int)
695
696 The above will set breakpoints at every function `template_func' where
697 the first function parameter is any template type named `template_1' and
698 the second function parameter is `int'.
699
700 TAB completion also gains similar improvements.
701
702 * The FreeBSD native target now supports async mode.
703
704 * Configure changes
705
706 --enable-threading
707
708 Enable or disable multithreaded symbol loading. This is enabled
709 by default, but passing --disable-threading or --enable-threading=no
710 to configure will disable it.
711
712 Disabling this can cause a performance penalty when there are a lot of
713 symbols to load, but is useful for debugging purposes.
714
715 * New commands
716
717 maint set backtrace-on-fatal-signal on|off
718 maint show backtrace-on-fatal-signal
719 This setting is 'on' by default. When 'on' GDB will print a limited
720 backtrace to stderr in the situation where GDB terminates with a
721 fatal signal. This only supported on some platforms where the
722 backtrace and backtrace_symbols_fd functions are available.
723
724 set source open on|off
725 show source open
726 This setting, which is on by default, controls whether GDB will try
727 to open source code files. Switching this off will stop GDB trying
728 to open and read source code files, which can be useful if the files
729 are located over a slow network connection.
730
731 set varsize-limit
732 show varsize-limit
733 These are now deprecated aliases for "set max-value-size" and
734 "show max-value-size".
735
736 task apply [all | TASK-IDS...] [FLAG]... COMMAND
737 Like "thread apply", but applies COMMAND to Ada tasks.
738
739 watch [...] task ID
740 Watchpoints can now be restricted to a specific Ada task.
741
742 maint set internal-error backtrace on|off
743 maint show internal-error backtrace
744 maint set internal-warning backtrace on|off
745 maint show internal-warning backtrace
746 GDB can now print a backtrace of itself when it encounters either an
747 internal-error, or an internal-warning. This is on by default for
748 internal-error and off by default for internal-warning.
749
750 set logging on|off
751 Deprecated and replaced by "set logging enabled on|off".
752
753 set logging enabled on|off
754 show logging enabled
755 These commands set or show whether logging is enabled or disabled.
756
757 exit
758 You can now exit GDB by using the new command "exit", in addition to
759 the existing "quit" command.
760
761 set debug threads on|off
762 show debug threads
763 Print additional debug messages about thread creation and deletion.
764
765 set debug linux-nat on|off
766 show debug linux-nat
767 These new commands replaced the old 'set debug lin-lwp' and 'show
768 debug lin-lwp' respectively. Turning this setting on prints debug
769 messages relating to GDB's handling of native Linux inferiors.
770
771 maint flush source-cache
772 Flush the contents of the source code cache.
773
774 maint set gnu-source-highlight enabled on|off
775 maint show gnu-source-highlight enabled
776 Whether GDB should use the GNU Source Highlight library for adding
777 styling to source code. When off, the library will not be used, even
778 when available. When GNU Source Highlight isn't used, or can't add
779 styling to a particular source file, then the Python Pygments
780 library will be used instead.
781
782 set suppress-cli-notifications (on|off)
783 show suppress-cli-notifications
784 This controls whether printing the notifications is suppressed for CLI.
785 CLI notifications occur when you change the selected context
786 (i.e., the current inferior, thread and/or the frame), or when
787 the program being debugged stops (e.g., because of hitting a
788 breakpoint, completing source-stepping, an interrupt, etc.).
789
790 set style disassembler enabled on|off
791 show style disassembler enabled
792 If GDB is compiled with Python support, and the Python Pygments
793 package is available, then, when this setting is on, disassembler
794 output will have styling applied.
795
796 set ada source-charset
797 show ada source-charset
798 Set the character set encoding that is assumed for Ada symbols. Valid
799 values for this follow the values that can be passed to the GNAT
800 compiler via the '-gnati' option. The default is ISO-8859-1.
801
802 tui layout
803 tui focus
804 tui refresh
805 tui window height
806 These are the new names for the old 'layout', 'focus', 'refresh',
807 and 'winheight' tui commands respectively. The old names still
808 exist as aliases to these new commands.
809
810 tui window width
811 winwidth
812 The new command 'tui window width', and the alias 'winwidth' allow
813 the width of a tui window to be adjusted when windows are laid out
814 in horizontal mode.
815
816 set debug tui on|off
817 show debug tui
818 Control the display of debug output about GDB's tui.
819
820 * Changed commands
821
822 print
823 Printing of floating-point values with base-modifying formats like
824 /x has been changed to display the underlying bytes of the value in
825 the desired base. This was GDB's documented behavior, but was never
826 implemented correctly.
827
828 maint packet
829 This command can now print a reply, if the reply includes
830 non-printable characters. Any non-printable characters are printed
831 as escaped hex, e.g. \x?? where '??' is replaces with the value of
832 the non-printable character.
833
834 clone-inferior
835 The clone-inferior command now ensures that the TTY, CMD and ARGS
836 settings are copied from the original inferior to the new one.
837 All modifications to the environment variables done using the 'set
838 environment' or 'unset environment' commands are also copied to the new
839 inferior.
840
841 set debug lin-lwp on|off
842 show debug lin-lwp
843 These commands have been removed from GDB. The new command 'set
844 debug linux-nat' and 'show debug linux-nat' should be used
845 instead.
846
847 info win
848 This command now includes information about the width of the tui
849 windows in its output.
850
851 layout
852 focus
853 refresh
854 winheight
855 These commands are now aliases for the 'tui layout', 'tui focus',
856 'tui refresh', and 'tui window height' commands respectively.
857
858 * GDB's Ada parser now supports an extension for specifying the exact
859 byte contents of a floating-point literal. This can be useful for
860 setting floating-point registers to a precise value without loss of
861 precision. The syntax is an extension of the based literal syntax.
862 Use, e.g., "16lf#0123abcd#" -- the number of "l"s controls the width
863 of the floating-point type, and the "f" is the marker for floating
864 point.
865
866 * MI changes
867
868 ** The '-add-inferior' with no option flags now inherits the
869 connection of the current inferior, this restores the behaviour of
870 GDB as it was prior to GDB 10.
871
872 ** The '-add-inferior' command now accepts a '--no-connection'
873 option, which causes the new inferior to start without a
874 connection.
875
876 ** The default version of the MI interpreter is now 4 (-i=mi4).
877
878 ** The "script" field in breakpoint output (which is syntactically
879 incorrect in MI 3 and below) has changed in MI 4 to become a list.
880 This affects the following commands and events:
881
882 - -break-insert
883 - -break-info
884 - =breakpoint-created
885 - =breakpoint-modified
886
887 The -fix-breakpoint-script-output command can be used to enable
888 this behavior with previous MI versions.
889
890 * New targets
891
892 GNU/Linux/LoongArch loongarch*-*-linux*
893
894 * Removed targets
895
896 S+core score-*-*
897
898 * Python API
899
900 ** New function gdb.add_history(), which takes a gdb.Value object
901 and adds the value it represents to GDB's history list. An
902 integer, the index of the new item in the history list, is
903 returned.
904
905 ** New function gdb.history_count(), which returns the number of
906 values in GDB's value history.
907
908 ** New gdb.events.gdb_exiting event. This event is called with a
909 gdb.GdbExitingEvent object which has the read-only attribute
910 'exit_code', which contains the value of the GDB exit code. This
911 event is triggered once GDB decides it is going to exit, but
912 before GDB starts to clean up its internal state.
913
914 ** New function gdb.architecture_names(), which returns a list
915 containing all of the possible Architecture.name() values. Each
916 entry is a string.
917
918 ** New function gdb.Architecture.integer_type(), which returns an
919 integer type given a size and a signed-ness.
920
921 ** New gdb.TargetConnection object type that represents a connection
922 (as displayed by the 'info connections' command). A sub-class,
923 gdb.RemoteTargetConnection, is used to represent 'remote' and
924 'extended-remote' connections.
925
926 ** The gdb.Inferior type now has a 'connection' property which is an
927 instance of gdb.TargetConnection, the connection used by this
928 inferior. This can be None if the inferior has no connection.
929
930 ** New 'gdb.events.connection_removed' event registry, which emits a
931 'gdb.ConnectionEvent' when a connection is removed from GDB.
932 This event has a 'connection' property, a gdb.TargetConnection
933 object for the connection being removed.
934
935 ** New gdb.connections() function that returns a list of all
936 currently active connections.
937
938 ** New gdb.RemoteTargetConnection.send_packet(PACKET) method. This
939 is equivalent to the existing 'maint packet' CLI command; it
940 allows a user specified packet to be sent to the remote target.
941
942 ** New function gdb.host_charset(), returns a string, which is the
943 name of the current host charset.
944
945 ** New gdb.set_parameter(NAME, VALUE). This sets the gdb parameter
946 NAME to VALUE.
947
948 ** New gdb.with_parameter(NAME, VALUE). This returns a context
949 manager that temporarily sets the gdb parameter NAME to VALUE,
950 then resets it when the context is exited.
951
952 ** The gdb.Value.format_string method now takes a 'styling'
953 argument, which is a boolean. When true, the returned string can
954 include escape sequences to apply styling. The styling will only
955 be present if styling is otherwise turned on in GDB (see 'help
956 set styling'). When false, which is the default if the argument
957 is not given, then no styling is applied to the returned string.
958
959 ** New read-only attribute gdb.InferiorThread.details, which is
960 either a string, containing additional, target specific thread
961 state information, or None, if there is no such additional
962 information.
963
964 ** New read-only attribute gdb.Type.is_scalar, which is True for
965 scalar types, and False for all other types.
966
967 ** New read-only attribute gdb.Type.is_signed. This attribute
968 should only be read when Type.is_scalar is True, and will be True
969 for signed types, and False for all other types. Attempting to
970 read this attribute for non-scalar types will raise a ValueError.
971
972 ** It is now possible to add GDB/MI commands implemented in Python.
973
974 * New features in the GDB remote stub, GDBserver
975
976 ** GDBserver is now supported on OpenRISC GNU/Linux.
977
978 * New native configurations
979
980 GNU/Linux/OpenRISC or1k*-*-linux*
981
982 *** Changes in GDB 11
983
984 * The 'set disassembler-options' command now supports specifying options
985 for the ARC target.
986
987 * GDB now supports general memory tagging functionality if the underlying
988 architecture supports the proper primitives and hooks. Currently this is
989 enabled only for AArch64 MTE.
990
991 This includes:
992
993 - Additional information when the inferior crashes with a SIGSEGV caused by
994 a memory tag violation.
995
996 - A new modifier 'm' for the "x" command, which displays allocation tags for a
997 particular memory range.
998
999 - Display of memory tag mismatches by "print", for addresses and
1000 pointers, if memory tagging is supported by the architecture.
1001
1002 * Building GDB now requires GMP (The GNU Multiple Precision Arithmetic
1003 Library).
1004
1005 * MI changes
1006
1007 ** '-break-insert --qualified' and '-dprintf-insert --qualified'
1008
1009 The MI -break-insert and -dprintf-insert commands now support a
1010 new "--qualified" option that makes GDB interpret a specified
1011 function name as a complete fully-qualified name. This is the
1012 equivalent of the CLI's "break -qualified" and "dprintf
1013 -qualified".
1014
1015 ** '-break-insert --force-condition' and '-dprintf-insert --force-condition'
1016
1017 The MI -break-insert and -dprintf-insert commands now support a
1018 '--force-condition' flag to forcibly define a condition even when
1019 the condition is invalid at all locations of the breakpoint. This
1020 is equivalent to the '-force-condition' flag of the CLI's "break"
1021 command.
1022
1023 ** '-break-condition --force'
1024
1025 The MI -break-condition command now supports a '--force' flag to
1026 forcibly define a condition even when the condition is invalid at
1027 all locations of the selected breakpoint. This is equivalent to
1028 the '-force' flag of the CLI's "cond" command.
1029
1030 ** '-file-list-exec-source-files [--group-by-objfile]
1031 [--basename | --dirname]
1032 [--] [REGEXP]'
1033
1034 The existing -file-list-exec-source-files command now takes an
1035 optional REGEXP which is used to filter the source files that are
1036 included in the results.
1037
1038 By default REGEXP is matched against the full filename of the
1039 source file. When one of --basename or --dirname is given then
1040 REGEXP is only matched against the specified part of the full
1041 source filename.
1042
1043 When the optional --group-by-objfile flag is used the output
1044 format is changed, the results are now a list of object files
1045 (executable and libraries) with the source files that are
1046 associated with each object file.
1047
1048 The results from -file-list-exec-source-files now include a
1049 'debug-fully-read' field which takes the value 'true' or 'false'.
1050 A 'true' value indicates the source file is from a compilation
1051 unit that has had its debug information fully read in by GDB, a
1052 value of 'false' indicates GDB has only performed a partial scan
1053 of the debug information so far.
1054
1055 * GDB now supports core file debugging for x86_64 Cygwin programs.
1056
1057 * GDB will now look for the .gdbinit file in a config directory before
1058 looking for ~/.gdbinit. The file is searched for in the following
1059 locations: $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/gdb/gdbinit, $HOME/.config/gdb/gdbinit,
1060 $HOME/.gdbinit. On Apple hosts the search order is instead:
1061 $HOME/Library/Preferences/gdb/gdbinit, $HOME/.gdbinit.
1062
1063 * GDB now supports fixed point types which are described in DWARF
1064 as base types with a fixed-point encoding. Additionally, support
1065 for the DW_AT_GNU_numerator and DW_AT_GNU_denominator has also
1066 been added.
1067
1068 For Ada, this allows support for fixed point types without requiring
1069 the use of the GNAT encoding (based on information added to the type's
1070 name following a GNAT-specific format).
1071
1072 * GDB will now load and process commands from ~/.config/gdb/gdbearlyinit
1073 or ~/.gdbearlyinit if these files are present. These files are
1074 processed earlier than any of the other initialization files and
1075 can affect parts of GDB's startup that previously had already been
1076 completed before the initialization files were read, for example
1077 styling of the initial GDB greeting.
1078
1079 * GDB now has two new options "--early-init-command" and
1080 "--early-init-eval-command" with corresponding short options "-eix"
1081 and "-eiex" that allow options (that would normally appear in a
1082 gdbearlyinit file) to be passed on the command line.
1083
1084 * For RISC-V targets, the target feature "org.gnu.gdb.riscv.vector" is
1085 now understood by GDB, and can be used to describe the vector
1086 registers of a target. The precise requirements of this register
1087 feature are documented in the GDB manual.
1088
1089 * For ARM targets, the "org.gnu.gdb.arm.m-profile-mve" feature is now
1090 supported by GDB and describes a new VPR register from the ARM MVE
1091 (Helium) extension. See the GDB manual for more information.
1092
1093 * TUI improvements
1094
1095 ** TUI windows now support mouse actions. The mouse wheel scrolls
1096 the appropriate window.
1097
1098 ** Key combinations that do not have a specific action on the
1099 focused window are passed to GDB. For example, you now can use
1100 Ctrl-Left/Ctrl-Right to move between words in the command window
1101 regardless of which window is in focus. Previously you would
1102 need to focus on the command window for such key combinations to
1103 work.
1104
1105 * New commands
1106
1107 set debug event-loop
1108 show debug event-loop
1109 Control the display of debug output about GDB's event loop.
1110
1111 set print memory-tag-violations
1112 show print memory-tag-violations
1113 Control whether to display additional information about memory tag violations
1114 when printing pointers and addresses. Architecture support for memory
1115 tagging is required for this option to have an effect.
1116
1117 maintenance flush symbol-cache
1118 maintenance flush register-cache
1119 These new commands are equivalent to the already existing commands
1120 'maintenance flush-symbol-cache' and 'flushregs' respectively.
1121
1122 maintenance flush dcache
1123 A new command to flush the dcache.
1124
1125 maintenance info target-sections
1126 Print GDB's internal target sections table.
1127
1128 maintenance info jit
1129 Print the JIT code objects in the inferior known to GDB.
1130
1131 memory-tag show-logical-tag POINTER
1132 Print the logical tag for POINTER.
1133 memory-tag with-logical-tag POINTER TAG
1134 Print POINTER with logical tag TAG.
1135 memory-tag show-allocation-tag ADDRESS
1136 Print the allocation tag for ADDRESS.
1137 memory-tag set-allocation-tag ADDRESS LENGTH TAGS
1138 Set the allocation tag for [ADDRESS, ADDRESS + LENGTH) to TAGS.
1139 memory-tag check POINTER
1140 Validate that POINTER's logical tag matches the allocation tag.
1141
1142 set startup-quietly on|off
1143 show startup-quietly
1144 When 'on', this causes GDB to act as if "-silent" were passed on the
1145 command line. This command needs to be added to an early
1146 initialization file (e.g. ~/.config/gdb/gdbearlyinit) in order to
1147 affect GDB.
1148
1149 set print type hex on|off
1150 show print type hex
1151 When 'on', the 'ptype' command uses hexadecimal notation to print sizes
1152 and offsets of struct members. When 'off', decimal notation is used.
1153
1154 set python ignore-environment on|off
1155 show python ignore-environment
1156 When 'on', this causes GDB's builtin Python to ignore any
1157 environment variables that would otherwise affect how Python
1158 behaves. This command needs to be added to an early initialization
1159 file (e.g. ~/.config/gdb/gdbearlyinit) in order to affect GDB.
1160
1161 set python dont-write-bytecode auto|on|off
1162 show python dont-write-bytecode
1163 When 'on', this causes GDB's builtin Python to not write any
1164 byte-code (.pyc files) to disk. This command needs to be added to
1165 an early initialization file (e.g. ~/.config/gdb/gdbearlyinit) in
1166 order to affect GDB. When 'off' byte-code will always be written.
1167 When set to 'auto' (the default) Python will check the
1168 PYTHONDONTWRITEBYTECODE environment variable.
1169
1170 * Changed commands
1171
1172 break [PROBE_MODIFIER] [LOCATION] [thread THREADNUM]
1173 [-force-condition] [if CONDITION]
1174 This command would previously refuse setting a breakpoint if the
1175 CONDITION expression is invalid at a location. It now accepts and
1176 defines the breakpoint if there is at least one location at which
1177 the CONDITION is valid. The locations for which the CONDITION is
1178 invalid, are automatically disabled. If CONDITION is invalid at all
1179 of the locations, setting the breakpoint is still rejected. However,
1180 the '-force-condition' flag can be used in this case for forcing GDB to
1181 define the breakpoint, making all the current locations automatically
1182 disabled. This may be useful if the user knows the condition will
1183 become meaningful at a future location, e.g. due to a shared library
1184 load.
1185
1186 condition [-force] N COND
1187 The behavior of this command is changed the same way for the 'break'
1188 command as explained above. The '-force' flag can be used to force
1189 GDB into defining the condition even when COND is invalid for all the
1190 current locations of breakpoint N.
1191
1192 flushregs
1193 maintenance flush-symbol-cache
1194 These commands are deprecated in favor of the new commands
1195 'maintenance flush register-cache' and 'maintenance flush
1196 symbol-cache' respectively.
1197
1198 set style version foreground COLOR
1199 set style version background COLOR
1200 set style version intensity VALUE
1201 Control the styling of GDB's version number text.
1202
1203 inferior [ID]
1204 When the ID parameter is omitted, then this command prints information
1205 about the current inferior. When the ID parameter is present, the
1206 behavior of the command is unchanged and have the inferior ID become
1207 the current inferior.
1208
1209 maintenance info sections
1210 The ALLOBJ keyword has been replaced with an -all-objects command
1211 line flag. It is now possible to filter which sections are printed
1212 even when -all-objects is passed.
1213
1214 ptype[/FLAGS] TYPE | EXPRESSION
1215 The 'ptype' command has two new flags. When '/x' is set, hexadecimal
1216 notation is used when printing sizes and offsets of struct members.
1217 When '/d' is set, decimal notation is used when printing sizes and
1218 offsets of struct members. Default behavior is given by 'show print
1219 type hex'.
1220
1221 info sources
1222 The info sources command output has been restructured. The results
1223 are now based around a list of objfiles (executable and libraries),
1224 and for each objfile the source files that are part of that objfile
1225 are listed.
1226
1227 * Removed targets and native configurations
1228
1229 ARM Symbian arm*-*-symbianelf*
1230
1231 * New remote packets
1232
1233 qMemTags
1234 Request the remote to send allocation tags for a particular memory range.
1235 QMemTags
1236 Request the remote to store the specified allocation tags to the requested
1237 memory range.
1238
1239 * Guile API
1240
1241 ** Improved support for rvalue reference values:
1242 TYPE_CODE_RVALUE_REF is now exported as part of the API and the
1243 value-referenced-value procedure now handles rvalue reference
1244 values.
1245
1246 ** New procedures for obtaining value variants:
1247 value-reference-value, value-rvalue-reference-value and
1248 value-const-value.
1249
1250 ** Temporary breakpoints can now be created with make-breakpoint and
1251 tested for using breakpoint-temporary?.
1252
1253 * Python API
1254
1255 ** Inferior objects now contain a read-only 'connection_num' attribute that
1256 gives the connection number as seen in 'info connections' and
1257 'info inferiors'.
1258
1259 ** New method gdb.Frame.level() which returns the stack level of the
1260 frame object.
1261
1262 ** New method gdb.PendingFrame.level() which returns the stack level
1263 of the frame object.
1264
1265 ** When hitting a catchpoint, the Python API will now emit a
1266 gdb.BreakpointEvent rather than a gdb.StopEvent. The
1267 gdb.Breakpoint attached to the event will have type BP_CATCHPOINT.
1268
1269 ** Python TUI windows can now receive mouse click events. If the
1270 Window object implements the click method, it is called for each
1271 mouse click event in this window.
1272
1273 *** Changes in GDB 10
1274
1275 * There are new feature names for ARC targets: "org.gnu.gdb.arc.core"
1276 and "org.gnu.gdb.arc.aux". The old names are still supported but
1277 must be considered obsolete. They will be deprecated after some
1278 grace period.
1279
1280 * Help and apropos commands will now show the documentation of a
1281 command only once, even if that command has one or more aliases.
1282 These commands now show the command name, then all of its aliases,
1283 and finally the description of the command.
1284
1285 * 'help aliases' now shows only the user defined aliases. GDB predefined
1286 aliases are shown together with their aliased command.
1287
1288 * GDB now supports debuginfod, an HTTP server for distributing ELF/DWARF
1289 debugging information as well as source code.
1290
1291 When built with debuginfod, GDB can automatically query debuginfod
1292 servers for the separate debug files and source code of the executable
1293 being debugged.
1294
1295 To build GDB with debuginfod, pass --with-debuginfod to configure (this
1296 requires libdebuginfod, the debuginfod client library).
1297
1298 debuginfod is distributed with elfutils, starting with version 0.178.
1299
1300 You can get the latest version from https://sourceware.org/elfutils.
1301
1302 * Multi-target debugging support
1303
1304 GDB now supports debugging multiple target connections
1305 simultaneously. For example, you can now have each inferior
1306 connected to different remote servers running in different machines,
1307 or have one inferior debugging a local native process, an inferior
1308 debugging a core dump, etc.
1309
1310 This support is experimental and comes with some limitations -- you
1311 can only resume multiple targets simultaneously if all targets
1312 support non-stop mode, and all remote stubs or servers must support
1313 the same set of remote protocol features exactly. See also "info
1314 connections" and "add-inferior -no-connection" below, and "maint set
1315 target-non-stop" in the user manual.
1316
1317 * New features in the GDB remote stub, GDBserver
1318
1319 ** GDBserver is now supported on ARC GNU/Linux.
1320
1321 ** GDBserver is now supported on RISC-V GNU/Linux.
1322
1323 ** GDBserver no longer supports these host triplets:
1324
1325 i[34567]86-*-lynxos*
1326 powerpc-*-lynxos*
1327 i[34567]86-*-nto*
1328 bfin-*-*linux*
1329 crisv32-*-linux*
1330 cris-*-linux*
1331 m32r*-*-linux*
1332 tilegx-*-linux*
1333 arm*-*-mingw32ce*
1334 i[34567]86-*-mingw32ce*
1335
1336 * Debugging MS-Windows processes now sets $_exitsignal when the
1337 inferior is terminated by a signal, instead of setting $_exitcode.
1338
1339 * Multithreaded symbol loading has now been enabled by default on systems
1340 that support it (see entry for GDB 9, below), providing faster
1341 performance for programs with many symbols.
1342
1343 * The $_siginfo convenience variable now also works on Windows targets,
1344 and will display the EXCEPTION_RECORD of the last handled exception.
1345
1346 * TUI windows can now be arranged horizontally.
1347
1348 * The command history filename can now be set to the empty string
1349 either using 'set history filename' or by setting 'GDBHISTFILE=' in
1350 the environment. The effect of setting this filename to the empty
1351 string is that GDB will not try to load any previous command
1352 history.
1353
1354 * On Windows targets, it is now possible to debug 32-bit programs with a
1355 64-bit GDB.
1356
1357 * New commands
1358
1359 set exec-file-mismatch -- Set exec-file-mismatch handling (ask|warn|off).
1360 show exec-file-mismatch -- Show exec-file-mismatch handling (ask|warn|off).
1361 Set or show the option 'exec-file-mismatch'. When GDB attaches to a
1362 running process, this new option indicates whether to detect
1363 a mismatch between the current executable file loaded by GDB and the
1364 executable file used to start the process. If 'ask', the default,
1365 display a warning and ask the user whether to load the process
1366 executable file; if 'warn', just display a warning; if 'off', don't
1367 attempt to detect a mismatch.
1368
1369 tui new-layout NAME WINDOW WEIGHT [WINDOW WEIGHT]...
1370 Define a new TUI layout, specifying its name and the windows that
1371 will be displayed.
1372
1373 maintenance print xml-tdesc [FILE]
1374 Prints the current target description as an XML document. If the
1375 optional FILE is provided (which is an XML target description) then
1376 the target description is read from FILE into GDB, and then
1377 reprinted.
1378
1379 maintenance print core-file-backed-mappings
1380 Prints file-backed mappings loaded from a core file's note section.
1381 Output is expected to be similar to that of "info proc mappings".
1382
1383 set debug fortran-array-slicing on|off
1384 show debug fortran-array-slicing
1385 Print debugging when taking slices of Fortran arrays.
1386
1387 set fortran repack-array-slices on|off
1388 show fortran repack-array-slices
1389 When taking slices from Fortran arrays and strings, if the slice is
1390 non-contiguous within the original value then, when this option is
1391 on, the new value will be repacked into a single contiguous value.
1392 When this option is off, then the value returned will consist of a
1393 descriptor that describes the slice within the memory of the
1394 original parent value.
1395
1396 * Changed commands
1397
1398 alias [-a] [--] ALIAS = COMMAND [DEFAULT-ARGS...]
1399 The alias command can now specify default args for an alias.
1400 GDB automatically prepends the alias default args to the argument list
1401 provided explicitly by the user.
1402 For example, to have a backtrace with full details, you can define
1403 an alias 'bt_ALL' as
1404 'alias bt_ALL = backtrace -entry-values both -frame-arg all
1405 -past-main -past-entry -full'.
1406 Alias default arguments can also use a set of nested 'with' commands,
1407 e.g. 'alias pp10 = with print pretty -- with print elem 10 -- print'
1408 defines the alias pp10 that will pretty print a maximum of 10 elements
1409 of the given expression (if the expression is an array).
1410
1411 * New targets
1412
1413 GNU/Linux/RISC-V (gdbserver) riscv*-*-linux*
1414 BPF bpf-unknown-none
1415 Z80 z80-unknown-*
1416
1417 * Python API
1418
1419 ** gdb.register_window_type can be used to implement new TUI windows
1420 in Python.
1421
1422 ** Dynamic types can now be queried. gdb.Type has a new attribute,
1423 "dynamic", and gdb.Type.sizeof can be None for a dynamic type. A
1424 field of a dynamic type may have None for its "bitpos" attribute
1425 as well.
1426
1427 ** Commands written in Python can be in the "TUI" help class by
1428 registering with the new constant gdb.COMMAND_TUI.
1429
1430 ** New method gdb.PendingFrame.architecture () to retrieve the
1431 architecture of the pending frame.
1432
1433 ** New gdb.Architecture.registers method that returns a
1434 gdb.RegisterDescriptorIterator object, an iterator that returns
1435 gdb.RegisterDescriptor objects. The new RegisterDescriptor is a
1436 way to query the registers available for an architecture.
1437
1438 ** New gdb.Architecture.register_groups method that returns a
1439 gdb.RegisterGroupIterator object, an iterator that returns
1440 gdb.RegisterGroup objects. The new RegisterGroup is a way to
1441 discover the available register groups.
1442
1443 * Guile API
1444
1445 ** GDB can now be built with GNU Guile 3.0 and 2.2 in addition to 2.0.
1446
1447 ** Procedures 'memory-port-read-buffer-size',
1448 'set-memory-port-read-buffer-size!', 'memory-port-write-buffer-size',
1449 and 'set-memory-port-write-buffer-size!' are deprecated. When
1450 using Guile 2.2 and later, users who need to control the size of
1451 a memory port's internal buffer can use the 'setvbuf' procedure.
1452
1453 *** Changes in GDB 9
1454
1455 * 'thread-exited' event is now available in the annotations interface.
1456
1457 * New built-in convenience variables $_gdb_major and $_gdb_minor
1458 provide the GDB version. They are handy for conditionally using
1459 features available only in or since specific GDB versions, in
1460 scripts that should work error-free with many different versions,
1461 such as in system-wide init files.
1462
1463 * New built-in convenience functions $_gdb_setting, $_gdb_setting_str,
1464 $_gdb_maint_setting and $_gdb_maint_setting_str provide access to values
1465 of the GDB settings and the GDB maintenance settings. They are handy
1466 for changing the logic of user defined commands depending on the
1467 current GDB settings.
1468
1469 * GDB now supports Thread Local Storage (TLS) variables on several
1470 FreeBSD architectures (amd64, i386, powerpc, riscv). Other
1471 architectures require kernel changes. TLS is not yet supported for
1472 amd64 and i386 process core dumps.
1473
1474 * Support for Pointer Authentication (PAC) on AArch64 Linux. Return
1475 addresses that required unmasking are shown in the backtrace with the
1476 postfix [PAC].
1477
1478 * Two new convenience functions $_cimag and $_creal that extract the
1479 imaginary and real parts respectively from complex numbers.
1480
1481 * New built-in convenience variables $_shell_exitcode and $_shell_exitsignal
1482 provide the exitcode or exit status of the shell commands launched by
1483 GDB commands such as "shell", "pipe" and "make".
1484
1485 * The command define-prefix can now define user defined prefix commands.
1486 User defined commands can now be defined using these user defined prefix
1487 commands.
1488
1489 * Command names can now use the . character.
1490
1491 * The RX port now supports XML target descriptions.
1492
1493 * GDB now shows the Ada task names at more places, e.g. in task switching
1494 messages.
1495
1496 * GDB can now be compiled with Python 3 on Windows.
1497
1498 * New convenience variable $_ada_exception holds the address of the
1499 Ada exception being thrown. This is set by Ada-related catchpoints.
1500
1501 * GDB can now place breakpoints on nested functions and subroutines in
1502 Fortran code. The '::' operator can be used between parent and
1503 child scopes when placing breakpoints, for example:
1504
1505 (gdb) break outer_function::inner_function
1506
1507 The 'outer_function::' prefix is only needed if 'inner_function' is
1508 not visible in the current scope.
1509
1510 * In addition to the system-wide gdbinit file, if configured with
1511 --with-system-gdbinit-dir, GDB will now also load files in that directory
1512 as system gdbinit files, unless the -nx or -n flag is provided. Files
1513 with extensions .gdb, .py and .scm are supported as long as GDB was
1514 compiled with support for that language.
1515
1516 * GDB now supports multithreaded symbol loading for higher performance.
1517 This feature is still in testing, so it is disabled by default. You
1518 can turn it on using 'maint set worker-threads unlimited'.
1519
1520 * Python API
1521
1522 ** The gdb.Value type has a new method 'format_string' which returns a
1523 string representing the value. The formatting is controlled by the
1524 optional keyword arguments: 'raw', 'pretty_arrays', 'pretty_structs',
1525 'array_indexes', 'symbols', 'unions', 'deref_refs', 'actual_objects',
1526 'static_members', 'max_elements', 'repeat_threshold', and 'format'.
1527
1528 ** gdb.Type has a new property 'objfile' which returns the objfile the
1529 type was defined in.
1530
1531 ** The frame information printed by the python frame filtering code
1532 is now consistent with what the 'backtrace' command prints when
1533 there are no filters, or when the 'backtrace' '-no-filters' option
1534 is given.
1535
1536 ** The new function gdb.lookup_static_symbol can be used to look up
1537 symbols with static linkage.
1538
1539 ** The new function gdb.lookup_static_symbols can be used to look up
1540 all static symbols with static linkage.
1541
1542 ** gdb.Objfile has new methods 'lookup_global_symbol' and
1543 'lookup_static_symbol' to lookup a symbol from this objfile only.
1544
1545 ** gdb.Block now supports the dictionary syntax for accessing symbols in
1546 this block (e.g. block['local_variable']).
1547
1548 * New commands
1549
1550 | [COMMAND] | SHELL_COMMAND
1551 | -d DELIM COMMAND DELIM SHELL_COMMAND
1552 pipe [COMMAND] | SHELL_COMMAND
1553 pipe -d DELIM COMMAND DELIM SHELL_COMMAND
1554 Executes COMMAND and sends its output to SHELL_COMMAND.
1555 With no COMMAND, repeat the last executed command
1556 and send its output to SHELL_COMMAND.
1557
1558 define-prefix COMMAND
1559 Define or mark a command as a user-defined prefix command.
1560
1561 with SETTING [VALUE] [-- COMMAND]
1562 w SETTING [VALUE] [-- COMMAND]
1563 Temporarily set SETTING, run COMMAND, and restore SETTING.
1564 Usage: with SETTING -- COMMAND
1565 With no COMMAND, repeats the last executed command.
1566 SETTING is any GDB setting you can change with the "set"
1567 subcommands. For example, 'with language c -- print someobj'
1568 temporarily switches to the C language in order to print someobj.
1569 Settings can be combined: 'w lang c -- w print elements unlimited --
1570 usercmd' switches to the C language and runs usercmd with no limit
1571 of array elements to print.
1572
1573 maint with SETTING [VALUE] [-- COMMAND]
1574 Like "with", but works with "maintenance set" settings.
1575
1576 set may-call-functions [on|off]
1577 show may-call-functions
1578 This controls whether GDB will attempt to call functions in
1579 the program, such as with expressions in the print command. It
1580 defaults to on. Calling functions in the program being debugged
1581 can have undesired side effects. It is now possible to forbid
1582 such function calls. If function calls are forbidden, GDB will throw
1583 an error when a command (such as print expression) calls a function
1584 in the program.
1585
1586 set print finish [on|off]
1587 show print finish
1588 This controls whether the `finish' command will display the value
1589 that is returned by the current function. When `off', the value is
1590 still entered into the value history, but it is not printed. The
1591 default is `on'.
1592
1593 set print max-depth
1594 show print max-depth
1595 Allows deeply nested structures to be simplified when printing by
1596 replacing deeply nested parts (beyond the max-depth) with ellipses.
1597 The default max-depth is 20, but this can be set to unlimited to get
1598 the old behavior back.
1599
1600 set print raw-values [on|off]
1601 show print raw-values
1602 By default, GDB applies the enabled pretty printers when printing a
1603 value. This allows to ignore the enabled pretty printers for a series
1604 of commands. The default is 'off'.
1605
1606 set logging debugredirect [on|off]
1607 By default, GDB debug output will go to both the terminal and the logfile.
1608 Set if you want debug output to go only to the log file.
1609
1610 set style title foreground COLOR
1611 set style title background COLOR
1612 set style title intensity VALUE
1613 Control the styling of titles.
1614
1615 set style highlight foreground COLOR
1616 set style highlight background COLOR
1617 set style highlight intensity VALUE
1618 Control the styling of highlightings.
1619
1620 maint set worker-threads
1621 maint show worker-threads
1622 Control the number of worker threads that can be used by GDB. The
1623 default is 0. "unlimited" lets GDB choose a number that is
1624 reasonable. Currently worker threads are only used when demangling
1625 the names of linker symbols.
1626
1627 set style tui-border foreground COLOR
1628 set style tui-border background COLOR
1629 Control the styling of TUI borders.
1630
1631 set style tui-active-border foreground COLOR
1632 set style tui-active-border background COLOR
1633 Control the styling of the active TUI border.
1634
1635 maint set test-settings KIND
1636 maint show test-settings KIND
1637 A set of commands used by the testsuite for exercising the settings
1638 infrastructure.
1639
1640 maint set tui-resize-message [on|off]
1641 maint show tui-resize-message
1642 Control whether GDB prints a message each time the terminal is
1643 resized when in TUI mode. This is primarily useful for testing the
1644 TUI.
1645
1646 set print frame-info [short-location|location|location-and-address
1647 |source-and-location|source-line|auto]
1648 show print frame-info
1649 This controls what frame information is printed by the commands printing
1650 a frame. This setting will e.g. influence the behaviour of 'backtrace',
1651 'frame', 'stepi'. The python frame filtering also respect this setting.
1652 The 'backtrace' '-frame-info' option can override this global setting.
1653
1654 set tui compact-source
1655 show tui compact-source
1656
1657 Enable the "compact" display mode for the TUI source window. The
1658 compact display uses only as much space as is needed for the line
1659 numbers in the current file, and only a single space to separate the
1660 line numbers from the source.
1661
1662 info modules [-q] [REGEXP]
1663 Return a list of Fortran modules matching REGEXP, or all modules if
1664 no REGEXP is given.
1665
1666 info module functions [-q] [-m MODULE_REGEXP] [-t TYPE_REGEXP] [REGEXP]
1667 Return a list of functions within all modules, grouped by module.
1668 The list of functions can be restricted with the optional regular
1669 expressions. MODULE_REGEXP matches against the module name,
1670 TYPE_REGEXP matches against the function type signature, and REGEXP
1671 matches against the function name.
1672
1673 info module variables [-q] [-m MODULE_REGEXP] [-t TYPE_REGEXP] [REGEXP]
1674 Return a list of variables within all modules, grouped by module.
1675 The list of variables can be restricted with the optional regular
1676 expressions. MODULE_REGEXP matches against the module name,
1677 TYPE_REGEXP matches against the variable type, and REGEXP matches
1678 against the variable name.
1679
1680 set debug remote-packet-max-chars
1681 show debug remote-packet-max-chars
1682 Controls the number of characters to output in a remote packet when using
1683 "set debug remote".
1684 The default is 512 bytes.
1685
1686 info connections
1687 Lists the target connections currently in use.
1688
1689 * Changed commands
1690
1691 help
1692 The "help" command uses the title style to enhance the
1693 readibility of its output by styling the classes and
1694 command names.
1695
1696 apropos [-v] REGEXP
1697 Similarly to "help", the "apropos" command also uses the
1698 title style for the command names. "apropos" accepts now
1699 a flag "-v" (verbose) to show the full documentation
1700 of matching commands and to use the highlight style to mark
1701 the documentation parts matching REGEXP.
1702
1703 printf
1704 eval
1705 The GDB printf and eval commands can now print C-style and Ada-style
1706 string convenience variables without calling functions in the program.
1707 This allows to do formatted printing of strings without having
1708 a running inferior, or when debugging a core dump.
1709
1710 info sources [-dirname | -basename] [--] [REGEXP]
1711 This command has now optional arguments to only print the files
1712 whose names match REGEXP. The arguments -dirname and -basename
1713 allow to restrict matching respectively to the dirname and basename
1714 parts of the files.
1715
1716 show style
1717 The "show style" and its subcommands are now styling
1718 a style name in their output using its own style, to help
1719 the user visualize the different styles.
1720
1721 set print frame-arguments
1722 The new value 'presence' indicates to only indicate the presence of
1723 arguments using ..., instead of printing argument names and values.
1724
1725 set print raw-frame-arguments
1726 show print raw-frame-arguments
1727
1728 These commands replace the similarly-named "set/show print raw
1729 frame-arguments" commands (now with a dash instead of a space). The
1730 old commands are now deprecated and may be removed in a future
1731 release.
1732
1733 add-inferior [-no-connection]
1734 The add-inferior command now supports a "-no-connection" flag that
1735 makes the new inferior start with no target connection associated.
1736 By default, the new inferior inherits the target connection of the
1737 current inferior. See also "info connections".
1738
1739 info inferior
1740 This command's output now includes a new "Connection" column
1741 indicating which target connection an inferior is bound to. See
1742 "info connections" above.
1743
1744 maint test-options require-delimiter
1745 maint test-options unknown-is-error
1746 maint test-options unknown-is-operand
1747 maint show test-options-completion-result
1748 Commands used by the testsuite to validate the command options
1749 framework.
1750
1751 focus, winheight, +, -, >, <
1752 These commands are now case-sensitive.
1753
1754 * New command options, command completion
1755
1756 GDB now has a standard infrastructure to support dash-style command
1757 options ('-OPT'). One benefit is that commands that use it can
1758 easily support completion of command line arguments. Try "CMD
1759 -[TAB]" or "help CMD" to find options supported by a command. Over
1760 time, we intend to migrate most commands to this infrastructure. A
1761 number of commands got support for new command options in this
1762 release:
1763
1764 ** The "print" and "compile print" commands now support a number of
1765 options that allow overriding relevant global print settings as
1766 set by "set print" subcommands:
1767
1768 -address [on|off]
1769 -array [on|off]
1770 -array-indexes [on|off]
1771 -elements NUMBER|unlimited
1772 -null-stop [on|off]
1773 -object [on|off]
1774 -pretty [on|off]
1775 -raw-values [on|off]
1776 -repeats NUMBER|unlimited
1777 -static-members [on|off]
1778 -symbol [on|off]
1779 -union [on|off]
1780 -vtbl [on|off]
1781
1782 Note that because the "print"/"compile print" commands accept
1783 arbitrary expressions which may look like options (including
1784 abbreviations), if you specify any command option, then you must
1785 use a double dash ("--") to mark the end of argument processing.
1786
1787 ** The "backtrace" command now supports a number of options that
1788 allow overriding relevant global print settings as set by "set
1789 backtrace" and "set print" subcommands:
1790
1791 -entry-values no|only|preferred|if-needed|both|compact|default
1792 -frame-arguments all|scalars|none
1793 -raw-frame-arguments [on|off]
1794 -frame-info auto|source-line|location|source-and-location
1795 |location-and-address|short-location
1796 -past-main [on|off]
1797 -past-entry [on|off]
1798
1799 In addition, the full/no-filters/hide qualifiers are now also
1800 exposed as command options too:
1801
1802 -full
1803 -no-filters
1804 -hide
1805
1806 ** The "frame apply", "tfaas" and "faas" commands similarly now
1807 support the following options:
1808
1809 -past-main [on|off]
1810 -past-entry [on|off]
1811
1812 ** The new "info sources" options -dirname and -basename options
1813 are using the standard '-OPT' infrastructure.
1814
1815 All options above can also be abbreviated. The argument of boolean
1816 (on/off) options can be 0/1 too, and also the argument is assumed
1817 "on" if omitted. This allows writing compact command invocations,
1818 like for example:
1819
1820 (gdb) p -ra -p -o 0 -- *myptr
1821
1822 The above is equivalent to:
1823
1824 (gdb) print -raw-values -pretty -object off -- *myptr
1825
1826 ** The "info types" command now supports the '-q' flag to disable
1827 printing of some header information in a similar fashion to "info
1828 variables" and "info functions".
1829
1830 ** The "info variables", "info functions", and "whereis" commands
1831 now take a '-n' flag that excludes non-debug symbols (symbols
1832 from the symbol table, not from the debug info such as DWARF)
1833 from the results.
1834
1835 * Completion improvements
1836
1837 ** GDB can now complete the options of the "thread apply all" and
1838 "taas" commands, and their "-ascending" option can now be
1839 abbreviated.
1840
1841 ** GDB can now complete the options of the "info threads", "info
1842 functions", "info variables", "info locals", and "info args"
1843 commands.
1844
1845 ** GDB can now complete the options of the "compile file" and
1846 "compile code" commands. The "compile file" command now
1847 completes on filenames.
1848
1849 ** GDB can now complete the backtrace command's
1850 "full/no-filters/hide" qualifiers.
1851
1852 * In settings, you can now abbreviate "unlimited".
1853
1854 E.g., "set print elements u" is now equivalent to "set print
1855 elements unlimited".
1856
1857 * New MI commands
1858
1859 -complete
1860 This lists all the possible completions for the rest of the line, if it
1861 were to be given as a command itself. This is intended for use by MI
1862 frontends in cases when separate CLI and MI channels cannot be used.
1863
1864 -catch-throw, -catch-rethrow, and -catch-catch
1865 These can be used to catch C++ exceptions in a similar fashion to
1866 the CLI commands 'catch throw', 'catch rethrow', and 'catch catch'.
1867
1868 -symbol-info-functions, -symbol-info-types, and -symbol-info-variables
1869 These commands are the MI equivalent of the CLI commands 'info
1870 functions', 'info types', and 'info variables' respectively.
1871
1872 -symbol-info-modules, this is the MI equivalent of the CLI 'info
1873 modules' command.
1874
1875 -symbol-info-module-functions and -symbol-info-module-variables.
1876 These commands are the MI equivalent of the CLI commands 'info
1877 module functions' and 'info module variables'.
1878
1879 * Other MI changes
1880
1881 ** The default version of the MI interpreter is now 3 (-i=mi3).
1882
1883 ** The output of information about multi-location breakpoints (which is
1884 syntactically incorrect in MI 2) has changed in MI 3. This affects
1885 the following commands and events:
1886
1887 - -break-insert
1888 - -break-info
1889 - =breakpoint-created
1890 - =breakpoint-modified
1891
1892 The -fix-multi-location-breakpoint-output command can be used to enable
1893 this behavior with previous MI versions.
1894
1895 ** Backtraces and frames include a new optional field addr_flags which is
1896 given after the addr field. On AArch64 this contains PAC if the address
1897 has been masked in the frame. On all other targets the field is not
1898 present.
1899
1900 * Testsuite
1901
1902 The testsuite now creates the files gdb.cmd (containing the arguments
1903 used to launch GDB) and gdb.in (containing all the commands sent to
1904 GDB) in the output directory for each test script. Multiple invocations
1905 are appended with .1, .2, .3 etc.
1906
1907 * Building GDB and GDBserver now requires GNU make >= 3.82.
1908
1909 Using another implementation of the make program or an earlier version of
1910 GNU make to build GDB or GDBserver is not supported.
1911
1912 * Building GDB now requires GNU readline >= 7.0.
1913
1914 GDB now bundles GNU readline 8.0, but if you choose to use
1915 --with-system-readline, only readline >= 7.0 can be used.
1916
1917 * The TUI SingleKey keymap is now named "SingleKey". This can be used
1918 from .inputrc to bind keys in this keymap. This feature is only
1919 available when gdb is built against GNU readline 8.0 or later.
1920
1921 * Removed targets and native configurations
1922
1923 GDB no longer supports debugging the Cell Broadband Engine. This includes
1924 both debugging standalone Cell/B.E. SPU applications and integrated debugging
1925 of Cell/B.E. applications that use both the PPU and SPU architectures.
1926
1927 * New Simulators
1928
1929 TI PRU pru-*-elf
1930
1931 * Removed targets and native configurations
1932
1933 Solaris 10 i?86-*-solaris2.10, x86_64-*-solaris2.10,
1934 sparc*-*-solaris2.10
1935
1936 *** Changes in GDB 8.3
1937
1938 * GDB and GDBserver now support access to additional registers on
1939 PowerPC GNU/Linux targets: PPR, DSCR, TAR, EBB/PMU registers, and
1940 HTM registers.
1941
1942 * GDB now has experimental support for the compilation and injection of
1943 C++ source code into the inferior. This beta release does not include
1944 support for several language features, such as templates, constructors,
1945 and operators.
1946
1947 This feature requires GCC 7.1 or higher built with libcp1.so
1948 (the C++ plug-in).
1949
1950 * GDB and GDBserver now support IPv6 connections. IPv6 addresses
1951 can be passed using the '[ADDRESS]:PORT' notation, or the regular
1952 'ADDRESS:PORT' method.
1953
1954 * DWARF index cache: GDB can now automatically save indices of DWARF
1955 symbols on disk to speed up further loading of the same binaries.
1956
1957 * Ada task switching is now supported on aarch64-elf targets when
1958 debugging a program using the Ravenscar Profile. For more information,
1959 see the "Tasking Support when using the Ravenscar Profile" section
1960 in the GDB user manual.
1961
1962 * GDB in batch mode now exits with status 1 if the last command to be
1963 executed failed.
1964
1965 * The RISC-V target now supports target descriptions.
1966
1967 * System call catchpoints now support system call aliases on FreeBSD.
1968 When the ABI of a system call changes in FreeBSD, this is
1969 implemented by leaving a compatibility system call using the old ABI
1970 at the existing number and allocating a new system call number for
1971 the new ABI. For example, FreeBSD 12 altered the layout of 'struct
1972 kevent' used by the 'kevent' system call. As a result, FreeBSD 12
1973 kernels ship with both 'kevent' and 'freebsd11_kevent' system calls.
1974 The 'freebsd11_kevent' system call is assigned an alias of 'kevent'
1975 so that a system call catchpoint for the 'kevent' system call will
1976 catch invocations of both the 'kevent' and 'freebsd11_kevent'
1977 binaries. This ensures that 'kevent' system calls are caught for
1978 binaries using either the old or new ABIs.
1979
1980 * Terminal styling is now available for the CLI and the TUI. GNU
1981 Source Highlight can additionally be used to provide styling of
1982 source code snippets. See the "set style" commands, below, for more
1983 information.
1984
1985 * Removed support for old demangling styles arm, edg, gnu, hp and
1986 lucid.
1987
1988 * New commands
1989
1990 set debug compile-cplus-types
1991 show debug compile-cplus-types
1992 Control the display of debug output about type conversion in the
1993 C++ compile feature. Commands have no effect while compiling
1994 for other languages.
1995
1996 set debug skip
1997 show debug skip
1998 Control whether debug output about files/functions skipping is
1999 displayed.
2000
2001 frame apply [all | COUNT | -COUNT | level LEVEL...] [FLAG]... COMMAND
2002 Apply a command to some frames.
2003 FLAG arguments allow to control what output to produce and how to handle
2004 errors raised when applying COMMAND to a frame.
2005
2006 taas COMMAND
2007 Apply a command to all threads (ignoring errors and empty output).
2008 Shortcut for 'thread apply all -s COMMAND'.
2009
2010 faas COMMAND
2011 Apply a command to all frames (ignoring errors and empty output).
2012 Shortcut for 'frame apply all -s COMMAND'.
2013
2014 tfaas COMMAND
2015 Apply a command to all frames of all threads (ignoring errors and empty
2016 output).
2017 Shortcut for 'thread apply all -s frame apply all -s COMMAND'.
2018
2019 maint set dwarf unwinders (on|off)
2020 maint show dwarf unwinders
2021 Control whether DWARF unwinders can be used.
2022
2023 info proc files
2024 Display a list of open files for a process.
2025
2026 * Changed commands
2027
2028 Changes to the "frame", "select-frame", and "info frame" CLI commands.
2029 These commands all now take a frame specification which
2030 is either a frame level, or one of the keywords 'level', 'address',
2031 'function', or 'view' followed by a parameter. Selecting a frame by
2032 address, or viewing a frame outside the current backtrace now
2033 requires the use of a keyword. Selecting a frame by level is
2034 unchanged. The MI comment "-stack-select-frame" is unchanged.
2035
2036 target remote FILENAME
2037 target extended-remote FILENAME
2038 If FILENAME is a Unix domain socket, GDB will attempt to connect
2039 to this socket instead of opening FILENAME as a character device.
2040
2041 info args [-q] [-t TYPEREGEXP] [NAMEREGEXP]
2042 info functions [-q] [-t TYPEREGEXP] [NAMEREGEXP]
2043 info locals [-q] [-t TYPEREGEXP] [NAMEREGEXP]
2044 info variables [-q] [-t TYPEREGEXP] [NAMEREGEXP]
2045 These commands can now print only the searched entities
2046 matching the provided regexp(s), giving a condition
2047 on the entity names or entity types. The flag -q disables
2048 printing headers or informations messages.
2049
2050 info functions
2051 info types
2052 info variables
2053 rbreak
2054 These commands now determine the syntax for the shown entities
2055 according to the language chosen by `set language'. In particular,
2056 `set language auto' means to automatically choose the language of
2057 the shown entities.
2058
2059 thread apply [all | COUNT | -COUNT] [FLAG]... COMMAND
2060 The 'thread apply' command accepts new FLAG arguments.
2061 FLAG arguments allow to control what output to produce and how to handle
2062 errors raised when applying COMMAND to a thread.
2063
2064 set tui tab-width NCHARS
2065 show tui tab-width NCHARS
2066 "set tui tab-width" replaces the "tabset" command, which has been deprecated.
2067
2068 set style enabled [on|off]
2069 show style enabled
2070 Enable or disable terminal styling. Styling is enabled by default
2071 on most hosts, but disabled by default when in batch mode.
2072
2073 set style sources [on|off]
2074 show style sources
2075 Enable or disable source code styling. Source code styling is
2076 enabled by default, but only takes effect if styling in general is
2077 enabled, and if GDB was linked with GNU Source Highlight.
2078
2079 set style filename foreground COLOR
2080 set style filename background COLOR
2081 set style filename intensity VALUE
2082 Control the styling of file names.
2083
2084 set style function foreground COLOR
2085 set style function background COLOR
2086 set style function intensity VALUE
2087 Control the styling of function names.
2088
2089 set style variable foreground COLOR
2090 set style variable background COLOR
2091 set style variable intensity VALUE
2092 Control the styling of variable names.
2093
2094 set style address foreground COLOR
2095 set style address background COLOR
2096 set style address intensity VALUE
2097 Control the styling of addresses.
2098
2099 * MI changes
2100
2101 ** The '-data-disassemble' MI command now accepts an '-a' option to
2102 disassemble the whole function surrounding the given program
2103 counter value or function name. Support for this feature can be
2104 verified by using the "-list-features" command, which should
2105 contain "data-disassemble-a-option".
2106
2107 ** Command responses and notifications that include a frame now include
2108 the frame's architecture in a new "arch" attribute.
2109
2110 * New native configurations
2111
2112 GNU/Linux/RISC-V riscv*-*-linux*
2113 FreeBSD/riscv riscv*-*-freebsd*
2114
2115 * New targets
2116
2117 GNU/Linux/RISC-V riscv*-*-linux*
2118 CSKY ELF csky*-*-elf
2119 CSKY GNU/LINUX csky*-*-linux
2120 FreeBSD/riscv riscv*-*-freebsd*
2121 NXP S12Z s12z-*-elf
2122 GNU/Linux/OpenRISC or1k*-*-linux*
2123
2124 * Removed targets
2125
2126 GDB no longer supports native debugging on versions of MS-Windows
2127 before Windows XP.
2128
2129 * Python API
2130
2131 ** GDB no longer supports Python versions less than 2.6.
2132
2133 ** The gdb.Inferior type has a new 'progspace' property, which is the program
2134 space associated to that inferior.
2135
2136 ** The gdb.Progspace type has a new 'objfiles' method, which returns the list
2137 of objfiles associated to that program space.
2138
2139 ** gdb.SYMBOL_LOC_COMMON_BLOCK, gdb.SYMBOL_MODULE_DOMAIN, and
2140 gdb.SYMBOL_COMMON_BLOCK_DOMAIN were added to reflect changes to
2141 the gdb core.
2142
2143 ** gdb.SYMBOL_VARIABLES_DOMAIN, gdb.SYMBOL_FUNCTIONS_DOMAIN, and
2144 gdb.SYMBOL_TYPES_DOMAIN are now deprecated. These were never
2145 correct and did not work properly.
2146
2147 ** The gdb.Value type has a new constructor, which is used to construct a
2148 gdb.Value from a Python buffer object and a gdb.Type.
2149
2150 * Configure changes
2151
2152 --enable-ubsan
2153
2154 Enable or disable the undefined behavior sanitizer. This is
2155 disabled by default, but passing --enable-ubsan=yes or
2156 --enable-ubsan=auto to configure will enable it. Enabling this can
2157 cause a performance penalty. The undefined behavior sanitizer was
2158 first introduced in GCC 4.9.
2159
2160 *** Changes in GDB 8.2
2161
2162 * The 'set disassembler-options' command now supports specifying options
2163 for the MIPS target.
2164
2165 * The 'symbol-file' command now accepts an '-o' option to add a relative
2166 offset to all sections.
2167
2168 * Similarly, the 'add-symbol-file' command also accepts an '-o' option to add
2169 a relative offset to all sections, but it allows to override the load
2170 address of individual sections using '-s'.
2171
2172 * The 'add-symbol-file' command no longer requires the second argument
2173 (address of the text section).
2174
2175 * The endianness used with the 'set endian auto' mode in the absence of
2176 an executable selected for debugging is now the last endianness chosen
2177 either by one of the 'set endian big' and 'set endian little' commands
2178 or by inferring from the last executable used, rather than the startup
2179 default.
2180
2181 * The pager now allows a "c" response, meaning to disable the pager
2182 for the rest of the current command.
2183
2184 * The commands 'info variables/functions/types' now show the source line
2185 numbers of symbol definitions when available.
2186
2187 * 'info proc' now works on running processes on FreeBSD systems and core
2188 files created on FreeBSD systems.
2189
2190 * C expressions can now use _Alignof, and C++ expressions can now use
2191 alignof.
2192
2193 * Support for SVE on AArch64 Linux. Note that GDB does not detect changes to
2194 the vector length while the process is running.
2195
2196 * New commands
2197
2198 set debug fbsd-nat
2199 show debug fbsd-nat
2200 Control display of debugging info regarding the FreeBSD native target.
2201
2202 set|show varsize-limit
2203 This new setting allows the user to control the maximum size of Ada
2204 objects being printed when those objects have a variable type,
2205 instead of that maximum size being hardcoded to 65536 bytes.
2206
2207 set|show record btrace cpu
2208 Controls the processor to be used for enabling errata workarounds for
2209 branch trace decode.
2210
2211 maint check libthread-db
2212 Run integrity checks on the current inferior's thread debugging
2213 library
2214
2215 maint set check-libthread-db (on|off)
2216 maint show check-libthread-db
2217 Control whether to run integrity checks on inferior specific thread
2218 debugging libraries as they are loaded. The default is not to
2219 perform such checks.
2220
2221 * Python API
2222
2223 ** Type alignment is now exposed via the "align" attribute of a gdb.Type.
2224
2225 ** The commands attached to a breakpoint can be set by assigning to
2226 the breakpoint's "commands" field.
2227
2228 ** gdb.execute can now execute multi-line gdb commands.
2229
2230 ** The new functions gdb.convenience_variable and
2231 gdb.set_convenience_variable can be used to get and set the value
2232 of convenience variables.
2233
2234 ** A gdb.Parameter will no longer print the "set" help text on an
2235 ordinary "set"; instead by default a "set" will be silent unless
2236 the get_set_string method returns a non-empty string.
2237
2238 * New targets
2239
2240 RiscV ELF riscv*-*-elf
2241
2242 * Removed targets and native configurations
2243
2244 m88k running OpenBSD m88*-*-openbsd*
2245 SH-5/SH64 ELF sh64-*-elf*, SH-5/SH64 support in sh*
2246 SH-5/SH64 running GNU/Linux SH-5/SH64 support in sh*-*-linux*
2247 SH-5/SH64 running OpenBSD SH-5/SH64 support in sh*-*-openbsd*
2248
2249 * Aarch64/Linux hardware watchpoints improvements
2250
2251 Hardware watchpoints on unaligned addresses are now properly
2252 supported when running Linux kernel 4.10 or higher: read and access
2253 watchpoints are no longer spuriously missed, and all watchpoints
2254 lengths between 1 and 8 bytes are supported. On older kernels,
2255 watchpoints set on unaligned addresses are no longer missed, with
2256 the tradeoff that there is a possibility of false hits being
2257 reported.
2258
2259 * Configure changes
2260
2261 --enable-codesign=CERT
2262 This can be used to invoke "codesign -s CERT" after building gdb.
2263 This option is useful on macOS, where code signing is required for
2264 gdb to work properly.
2265
2266 --disable-gdbcli has been removed
2267 This is now silently accepted, but does nothing.
2268
2269 *** Changes in GDB 8.1
2270
2271 * GDB now supports dynamically creating arbitrary register groups specified
2272 in XML target descriptions. This allows for finer grain grouping of
2273 registers on systems with a large amount of registers.
2274
2275 * The 'ptype' command now accepts a '/o' flag, which prints the
2276 offsets and sizes of fields in a struct, like the pahole(1) tool.
2277
2278 * New "--readnever" command line option instructs GDB to not read each
2279 symbol file's symbolic debug information. This makes startup faster
2280 but at the expense of not being able to perform symbolic debugging.
2281 This option is intended for use cases where symbolic debugging will
2282 not be used, e.g., when you only need to dump the debuggee's core.
2283
2284 * GDB now uses the GNU MPFR library, if available, to emulate target
2285 floating-point arithmetic during expression evaluation when the target
2286 uses different floating-point formats than the host. At least version
2287 3.1 of GNU MPFR is required.
2288
2289 * GDB now supports access to the guarded-storage-control registers and the
2290 software-based guarded-storage broadcast control registers on IBM z14.
2291
2292 * On Unix systems, GDB now supports transmitting environment variables
2293 that are to be set or unset to GDBserver. These variables will
2294 affect the environment to be passed to the remote inferior.
2295
2296 To inform GDB of environment variables that are to be transmitted to
2297 GDBserver, use the "set environment" command. Only user set
2298 environment variables are sent to GDBserver.
2299
2300 To inform GDB of environment variables that are to be unset before
2301 the remote inferior is started by the GDBserver, use the "unset
2302 environment" command.
2303
2304 * Completion improvements
2305
2306 ** GDB can now complete function parameters in linespecs and
2307 explicit locations without quoting. When setting breakpoints,
2308 quoting around functions names to help with TAB-completion is
2309 generally no longer necessary. For example, this now completes
2310 correctly:
2311
2312 (gdb) b function(in[TAB]
2313 (gdb) b function(int)
2314
2315 Related, GDB is no longer confused with completing functions in
2316 C++ anonymous namespaces:
2317
2318 (gdb) b (anon[TAB]
2319 (gdb) b (anonymous namespace)::[TAB][TAB]
2320 (anonymous namespace)::a_function()
2321 (anonymous namespace)::b_function()
2322
2323 ** GDB now has much improved linespec and explicit locations TAB
2324 completion support, that better understands what you're
2325 completing and offers better suggestions. For example, GDB no
2326 longer offers data symbols as possible completions when you're
2327 setting a breakpoint.
2328
2329 ** GDB now TAB-completes label symbol names.
2330
2331 ** The "complete" command now mimics TAB completion accurately.
2332
2333 * New command line options (gcore)
2334
2335 -a
2336 Dump all memory mappings.
2337
2338 * Breakpoints on C++ functions are now set on all scopes by default
2339
2340 By default, breakpoints on functions/methods are now interpreted as
2341 specifying all functions with the given name ignoring missing
2342 leading scopes (namespaces and classes).
2343
2344 For example, assuming a C++ program with symbols named:
2345
2346 A::B::func()
2347 B::func()
2348
2349 both commands "break func()" and "break B::func()" set a breakpoint
2350 on both symbols.
2351
2352 You can use the new flag "-qualified" to override this. This makes
2353 GDB interpret the specified function name as a complete
2354 fully-qualified name instead. For example, using the same C++
2355 program, the "break -q B::func" command sets a breakpoint on
2356 "B::func", only. A parameter has been added to the Python
2357 gdb.Breakpoint constructor to achieve the same result when creating
2358 a breakpoint from Python.
2359
2360 * Breakpoints on functions marked with C++ ABI tags
2361
2362 GDB can now set breakpoints on functions marked with C++ ABI tags
2363 (e.g., [abi:cxx11]). See here for a description of ABI tags:
2364 https://developers.redhat.com/blog/2015/02/05/gcc5-and-the-c11-abi/
2365
2366 Functions with a C++11 abi tag are demangled/displayed like this:
2367
2368 function[abi:cxx11](int)
2369 ^^^^^^^^^^^
2370
2371 You can now set a breakpoint on such functions simply as if they had
2372 no tag, like:
2373
2374 (gdb) b function(int)
2375
2376 Or if you need to disambiguate between tags, like:
2377
2378 (gdb) b function[abi:other_tag](int)
2379
2380 Tab completion was adjusted accordingly as well.
2381
2382 * Python Scripting
2383
2384 ** New events gdb.new_inferior, gdb.inferior_deleted, and
2385 gdb.new_thread are emitted. See the manual for further
2386 description of these.
2387
2388 ** A new function, "gdb.rbreak" has been added to the Python API.
2389 This function allows the setting of a large number of breakpoints
2390 via a regex pattern in Python. See the manual for further details.
2391
2392 ** Python breakpoints can now accept explicit locations. See the
2393 manual for a further description of this feature.
2394
2395
2396 * New features in the GDB remote stub, GDBserver
2397
2398 ** GDBserver is now able to start inferior processes with a
2399 specified initial working directory.
2400
2401 The user can set the desired working directory to be used from
2402 GDB using the new "set cwd" command.
2403
2404 ** New "--selftest" command line option runs some GDBserver self
2405 tests. These self tests are disabled in releases.
2406
2407 ** On Unix systems, GDBserver now does globbing expansion and variable
2408 substitution in inferior command line arguments.
2409
2410 This is done by starting inferiors using a shell, like GDB does.
2411 See "set startup-with-shell" in the user manual for how to disable
2412 this from GDB when using "target extended-remote". When using
2413 "target remote", you can disable the startup with shell by using the
2414 new "--no-startup-with-shell" GDBserver command line option.
2415
2416 ** On Unix systems, GDBserver now supports receiving environment
2417 variables that are to be set or unset from GDB. These variables
2418 will affect the environment to be passed to the inferior.
2419
2420 * When catching an Ada exception raised with a message, GDB now prints
2421 the message in the catchpoint hit notification. In GDB/MI mode, that
2422 information is provided as an extra field named "exception-message"
2423 in the *stopped notification.
2424
2425 * Trait objects can now be inspected When debugging Rust code. This
2426 requires compiler support which will appear in Rust 1.24.
2427
2428 * New remote packets
2429
2430 QEnvironmentHexEncoded
2431 Inform GDBserver of an environment variable that is to be passed to
2432 the inferior when starting it.
2433
2434 QEnvironmentUnset
2435 Inform GDBserver of an environment variable that is to be unset
2436 before starting the remote inferior.
2437
2438 QEnvironmentReset
2439 Inform GDBserver that the environment should be reset (i.e.,
2440 user-set environment variables should be unset).
2441
2442 QStartupWithShell
2443 Indicates whether the inferior must be started with a shell or not.
2444
2445 QSetWorkingDir
2446 Tell GDBserver that the inferior to be started should use a specific
2447 working directory.
2448
2449 * The "maintenance print c-tdesc" command now takes an optional
2450 argument which is the file name of XML target description.
2451
2452 * The "maintenance selftest" command now takes an optional argument to
2453 filter the tests to be run.
2454
2455 * The "enable", and "disable" commands now accept a range of
2456 breakpoint locations, e.g. "enable 1.3-5".
2457
2458 * New commands
2459
2460 set|show cwd
2461 Set and show the current working directory for the inferior.
2462
2463 set|show compile-gcc
2464 Set and show compilation command used for compiling and injecting code
2465 with the 'compile' commands.
2466
2467 set debug separate-debug-file
2468 show debug separate-debug-file
2469 Control the display of debug output about separate debug file search.
2470
2471 set dump-excluded-mappings
2472 show dump-excluded-mappings
2473 Control whether mappings marked with the VM_DONTDUMP flag should be
2474 dumped when generating a core file.
2475
2476 maint info selftests
2477 List the registered selftests.
2478
2479 starti
2480 Start the debugged program stopping at the first instruction.
2481
2482 set|show debug or1k
2483 Control display of debugging messages related to OpenRISC targets.
2484
2485 set|show print type nested-type-limit
2486 Set and show the limit of nesting level for nested types that the
2487 type printer will show.
2488
2489 * TUI Single-Key mode now supports two new shortcut keys: `i' for stepi and
2490 `o' for nexti.
2491
2492 * Safer/improved support for debugging with no debug info
2493
2494 GDB no longer assumes functions with no debug information return
2495 'int'.
2496
2497 This means that GDB now refuses to call such functions unless you
2498 tell it the function's type, by either casting the call to the
2499 declared return type, or by casting the function to a function
2500 pointer of the right type, and calling that:
2501
2502 (gdb) p getenv ("PATH")
2503 'getenv' has unknown return type; cast the call to its declared return type
2504 (gdb) p (char *) getenv ("PATH")
2505 $1 = 0x7fffffffe "/usr/local/bin:/"...
2506 (gdb) p ((char * (*) (const char *)) getenv) ("PATH")
2507 $2 = 0x7fffffffe "/usr/local/bin:/"...
2508
2509 Similarly, GDB no longer assumes that global variables with no debug
2510 info have type 'int', and refuses to print the variable's value
2511 unless you tell it the variable's type:
2512
2513 (gdb) p var
2514 'var' has unknown type; cast it to its declared type
2515 (gdb) p (float) var
2516 $3 = 3.14
2517
2518 * New native configurations
2519
2520 FreeBSD/aarch64 aarch64*-*-freebsd*
2521 FreeBSD/arm arm*-*-freebsd*
2522
2523 * New targets
2524
2525 FreeBSD/aarch64 aarch64*-*-freebsd*
2526 FreeBSD/arm arm*-*-freebsd*
2527 OpenRISC ELF or1k*-*-elf
2528
2529 * Removed targets and native configurations
2530
2531 Solaris 2.0-9 i?86-*-solaris2.[0-9], sparc*-*-solaris2.[0-9]
2532
2533 *** Changes in GDB 8.0
2534
2535 * GDB now supports access to the PKU register on GNU/Linux. The register is
2536 added by the Memory Protection Keys for Userspace feature which will be
2537 available in future Intel CPUs.
2538
2539 * GDB now supports C++11 rvalue references.
2540
2541 * Python Scripting
2542
2543 ** New functions to start, stop and access a running btrace recording.
2544 ** Rvalue references are now supported in gdb.Type.
2545
2546 * GDB now supports recording and replaying rdrand and rdseed Intel 64
2547 instructions.
2548
2549 * Building GDB and GDBserver now requires a C++11 compiler.
2550
2551 For example, GCC 4.8 or later.
2552
2553 It is no longer possible to build GDB or GDBserver with a C
2554 compiler. The --disable-build-with-cxx configure option has been
2555 removed.
2556
2557 * Building GDB and GDBserver now requires GNU make >= 3.81.
2558
2559 It is no longer supported to build GDB or GDBserver with another
2560 implementation of the make program or an earlier version of GNU make.
2561
2562 * Native debugging on MS-Windows supports command-line redirection
2563
2564 Command-line arguments used for starting programs on MS-Windows can
2565 now include redirection symbols supported by native Windows shells,
2566 such as '<', '>', '>>', '2>&1', etc. This affects GDB commands such
2567 as "run", "start", and "set args", as well as the corresponding MI
2568 features.
2569
2570 * Support for thread names on MS-Windows.
2571
2572 GDB now catches and handles the special exception that programs
2573 running on MS-Windows use to assign names to threads in the
2574 debugger.
2575
2576 * Support for Java programs compiled with gcj has been removed.
2577
2578 * User commands now accept an unlimited number of arguments.
2579 Previously, only up to 10 was accepted.
2580
2581 * The "eval" command now expands user-defined command arguments.
2582
2583 This makes it easier to process a variable number of arguments:
2584
2585 define mycommand
2586 set $i = 0
2587 while $i < $argc
2588 eval "print $arg%d", $i
2589 set $i = $i + 1
2590 end
2591 end
2592
2593 * Target descriptions can now describe registers for sparc32 and sparc64.
2594
2595 * GDB now supports DWARF version 5 (debug information format).
2596 Its .debug_names index is not yet supported.
2597
2598 * New native configurations
2599
2600 FreeBSD/mips mips*-*-freebsd
2601
2602 * New targets
2603
2604 Synopsys ARC arc*-*-elf32
2605 FreeBSD/mips mips*-*-freebsd
2606
2607 * Removed targets and native configurations
2608
2609 Alpha running FreeBSD alpha*-*-freebsd*
2610 Alpha running GNU/kFreeBSD alpha*-*-kfreebsd*-gnu
2611
2612 * New commands
2613
2614 flash-erase
2615 Erases all the flash memory regions reported by the target.
2616
2617 maint print arc arc-instruction address
2618 Print internal disassembler information about instruction at a given address.
2619
2620 * New options
2621
2622 set disassembler-options
2623 show disassembler-options
2624 Controls the passing of target specific information to the disassembler.
2625 If it is necessary to specify more than one disassembler option then
2626 multiple options can be placed together into a comma separated list.
2627 The default value is the empty string. Currently, the only supported
2628 targets are ARM, PowerPC and S/390.
2629
2630 * New MI commands
2631
2632 -target-flash-erase
2633 Erases all the flash memory regions reported by the target. This is
2634 equivalent to the CLI command flash-erase.
2635
2636 -file-list-shared-libraries
2637 List the shared libraries in the program. This is
2638 equivalent to the CLI command "info shared".
2639
2640 -catch-handlers
2641 Catchpoints stopping the program when Ada exceptions are
2642 handled. This is equivalent to the CLI command "catch handlers".
2643
2644 *** Changes in GDB 7.12
2645
2646 * GDB and GDBserver now build with a C++ compiler by default.
2647
2648 The --enable-build-with-cxx configure option is now enabled by
2649 default. One must now explicitly configure with
2650 --disable-build-with-cxx in order to build with a C compiler. This
2651 option will be removed in a future release.
2652
2653 * GDBserver now supports recording btrace without maintaining an active
2654 GDB connection.
2655
2656 * GDB now supports a negative repeat count in the 'x' command to examine
2657 memory backward from the given address. For example:
2658
2659 (gdb) bt
2660 #0 Func1 (n=42, p=0x40061c "hogehoge") at main.cpp:4
2661 #1 0x400580 in main (argc=1, argv=0x7fffffffe5c8) at main.cpp:8
2662 (gdb) x/-5i 0x0000000000400580
2663 0x40056a <main(int, char**)+8>: mov %edi,-0x4(%rbp)
2664 0x40056d <main(int, char**)+11>: mov %rsi,-0x10(%rbp)
2665 0x400571 <main(int, char**)+15>: mov $0x40061c,%esi
2666 0x400576 <main(int, char**)+20>: mov $0x2a,%edi
2667 0x40057b <main(int, char**)+25>:
2668 callq 0x400536 <Func1(int, char const*)>
2669
2670 * Fortran: Support structures with fields of dynamic types and
2671 arrays of dynamic types.
2672
2673 * The symbol dumping maintenance commands have new syntax.
2674 maint print symbols [-pc address] [--] [filename]
2675 maint print symbols [-objfile objfile] [-source source] [--] [filename]
2676 maint print psymbols [-objfile objfile] [-pc address] [--] [filename]
2677 maint print psymbols [-objfile objfile] [-source source] [--] [filename]
2678 maint print msymbols [-objfile objfile] [--] [filename]
2679
2680 * GDB now supports multibit bitfields and enums in target register
2681 descriptions.
2682
2683 * New Python-based convenience function $_as_string(val), which returns
2684 the textual representation of a value. This function is especially
2685 useful to obtain the text label of an enum value.
2686
2687 * Intel MPX bound violation handling.
2688
2689 Segmentation faults caused by a Intel MPX boundary violation
2690 now display the kind of violation (upper or lower), the memory
2691 address accessed and the memory bounds, along with the usual
2692 signal received and code location.
2693
2694 For example:
2695
2696 Program received signal SIGSEGV, Segmentation fault
2697 Upper bound violation while accessing address 0x7fffffffc3b3
2698 Bounds: [lower = 0x7fffffffc390, upper = 0x7fffffffc3a3]
2699 0x0000000000400d7c in upper () at i386-mpx-sigsegv.c:68
2700
2701 * Rust language support.
2702 GDB now supports debugging programs written in the Rust programming
2703 language. See https://www.rust-lang.org/ for more information about
2704 Rust.
2705
2706 * Support for running interpreters on specified input/output devices
2707
2708 GDB now supports a new mechanism that allows frontends to provide
2709 fully featured GDB console views, as a better alternative to
2710 building such views on top of the "-interpreter-exec console"
2711 command. See the new "new-ui" command below. With that command,
2712 frontends can now start GDB in the traditional command-line mode
2713 running in an embedded terminal emulator widget, and create a
2714 separate MI interpreter running on a specified i/o device. In this
2715 way, GDB handles line editing, history, tab completion, etc. in the
2716 console all by itself, and the GUI uses the separate MI interpreter
2717 for its own control and synchronization, invisible to the command
2718 line.
2719
2720 * The "catch syscall" command catches groups of related syscalls.
2721
2722 The "catch syscall" command now supports catching a group of related
2723 syscalls using the 'group:' or 'g:' prefix.
2724
2725 * New commands
2726
2727 skip -file file
2728 skip -gfile file-glob-pattern
2729 skip -function function
2730 skip -rfunction regular-expression
2731 A generalized form of the skip command, with new support for
2732 glob-style file names and regular expressions for function names.
2733 Additionally, a file spec and a function spec may now be combined.
2734
2735 maint info line-table REGEXP
2736 Display the contents of GDB's internal line table data structure.
2737
2738 maint selftest
2739 Run any GDB unit tests that were compiled in.
2740
2741 new-ui INTERP TTY
2742 Start a new user interface instance running INTERP as interpreter,
2743 using the TTY file for input/output.
2744
2745 * Python Scripting
2746
2747 ** gdb.Breakpoint objects have a new attribute "pending", which
2748 indicates whether the breakpoint is pending.
2749 ** Three new breakpoint-related events have been added:
2750 gdb.breakpoint_created, gdb.breakpoint_modified, and
2751 gdb.breakpoint_deleted.
2752
2753 signal-event EVENTID
2754 Signal ("set") the given MS-Windows event object. This is used in
2755 conjunction with the Windows JIT debugging (AeDebug) support, where
2756 the OS suspends a crashing process until a debugger can attach to
2757 it. Resuming the crashing process, in order to debug it, is done by
2758 signalling an event.
2759
2760 * Support for tracepoints and fast tracepoints on s390-linux and s390x-linux
2761 was added in GDBserver, including JIT compiling fast tracepoint's
2762 conditional expression bytecode into native code.
2763
2764 * Support for various remote target protocols and ROM monitors has
2765 been removed:
2766
2767 target m32rsdi Remote M32R debugging over SDI
2768 target mips MIPS remote debugging protocol
2769 target pmon PMON ROM monitor
2770 target ddb NEC's DDB variant of PMON for Vr4300
2771 target rockhopper NEC RockHopper variant of PMON
2772 target lsi LSI variant of PMO
2773
2774 * Support for tracepoints and fast tracepoints on powerpc-linux,
2775 powerpc64-linux, and powerpc64le-linux was added in GDBserver,
2776 including JIT compiling fast tracepoint's conditional expression
2777 bytecode into native code.
2778
2779 * MI async record =record-started now includes the method and format used for
2780 recording. For example:
2781
2782 =record-started,thread-group="i1",method="btrace",format="bts"
2783
2784 * MI async record =thread-selected now includes the frame field. For example:
2785
2786 =thread-selected,id="3",frame={level="0",addr="0x00000000004007c0"}
2787
2788 * New targets
2789
2790 Andes NDS32 nds32*-*-elf
2791
2792 *** Changes in GDB 7.11
2793
2794 * GDB now supports debugging kernel-based threads on FreeBSD.
2795
2796 * Per-inferior thread numbers
2797
2798 Thread numbers are now per inferior instead of global. If you're
2799 debugging multiple inferiors, GDB displays thread IDs using a
2800 qualified INF_NUM.THR_NUM form. For example:
2801
2802 (gdb) info threads
2803 Id Target Id Frame
2804 1.1 Thread 0x7ffff7fc2740 (LWP 8155) (running)
2805 1.2 Thread 0x7ffff7fc1700 (LWP 8168) (running)
2806 * 2.1 Thread 0x7ffff7fc2740 (LWP 8157) (running)
2807 2.2 Thread 0x7ffff7fc1700 (LWP 8190) (running)
2808
2809 As consequence, thread numbers as visible in the $_thread
2810 convenience variable and in Python's InferiorThread.num attribute
2811 are no longer unique between inferiors.
2812
2813 GDB now maintains a second thread ID per thread, referred to as the
2814 global thread ID, which is the new equivalent of thread numbers in
2815 previous releases. See also $_gthread below.
2816
2817 For backwards compatibility, MI's thread IDs always refer to global
2818 IDs.
2819
2820 * Commands that accept thread IDs now accept the qualified
2821 INF_NUM.THR_NUM form as well. For example:
2822
2823 (gdb) thread 2.1
2824 [Switching to thread 2.1 (Thread 0x7ffff7fc2740 (LWP 8157))] (running)
2825 (gdb)
2826
2827 * In commands that accept a list of thread IDs, you can now refer to
2828 all threads of an inferior using a star wildcard. GDB accepts
2829 "INF_NUM.*", to refer to all threads of inferior INF_NUM, and "*" to
2830 refer to all threads of the current inferior. For example, "info
2831 threads 2.*".
2832
2833 * You can use "info threads -gid" to display the global thread ID of
2834 all threads.
2835
2836 * The new convenience variable $_gthread holds the global number of
2837 the current thread.
2838
2839 * The new convenience variable $_inferior holds the number of the
2840 current inferior.
2841
2842 * GDB now displays the ID and name of the thread that hit a breakpoint
2843 or received a signal, if your program is multi-threaded. For
2844 example:
2845
2846 Thread 3 "bar" hit Breakpoint 1 at 0x40087a: file program.c, line 20.
2847 Thread 1 "main" received signal SIGINT, Interrupt.
2848
2849 * Record btrace now supports non-stop mode.
2850
2851 * Support for tracepoints on aarch64-linux was added in GDBserver.
2852
2853 * The 'record instruction-history' command now indicates speculative execution
2854 when using the Intel Processor Trace recording format.
2855
2856 * GDB now allows users to specify explicit locations, bypassing
2857 the linespec parser. This feature is also available to GDB/MI
2858 clients.
2859
2860 * Multi-architecture debugging is supported on AArch64 GNU/Linux.
2861 GDB now is able to debug both AArch64 applications and ARM applications
2862 at the same time.
2863
2864 * Support for fast tracepoints on aarch64-linux was added in GDBserver,
2865 including JIT compiling fast tracepoint's conditional expression bytecode
2866 into native code.
2867
2868 * GDB now supports displaced stepping on AArch64 GNU/Linux.
2869
2870 * "info threads", "info inferiors", "info display", "info checkpoints"
2871 and "maint info program-spaces" now list the corresponding items in
2872 ascending ID order, for consistency with all other "info" commands.
2873
2874 * In Ada, the overloads selection menu has been enhanced to display the
2875 parameter types and the return types for the matching overloaded subprograms.
2876
2877 * New commands
2878
2879 maint set target-non-stop (on|off|auto)
2880 maint show target-non-stop
2881 Control whether GDB targets always operate in non-stop mode even if
2882 "set non-stop" is "off". The default is "auto", meaning non-stop
2883 mode is enabled if supported by the target.
2884
2885 maint set bfd-sharing
2886 maint show bfd-sharing
2887 Control the reuse of bfd objects.
2888
2889 set debug bfd-cache
2890 show debug bfd-cache
2891 Control display of debugging info regarding bfd caching.
2892
2893 set debug fbsd-lwp
2894 show debug fbsd-lwp
2895 Control display of debugging info regarding FreeBSD threads.
2896
2897 set remote multiprocess-extensions-packet
2898 show remote multiprocess-extensions-packet
2899 Set/show the use of the remote protocol multiprocess extensions.
2900
2901 set remote thread-events
2902 show remote thread-events
2903 Set/show the use of thread create/exit events.
2904
2905 set ada print-signatures on|off
2906 show ada print-signatures"
2907 Control whether parameter types and return types are displayed in overloads
2908 selection menus. It is activated (@code{on}) by default.
2909
2910 set max-value-size
2911 show max-value-size
2912 Controls the maximum size of memory, in bytes, that GDB will
2913 allocate for value contents. Prevents incorrect programs from
2914 causing GDB to allocate overly large buffers. Default is 64k.
2915
2916 * The "disassemble" command accepts a new modifier: /s.
2917 It prints mixed source+disassembly like /m with two differences:
2918 - disassembled instructions are now printed in program order, and
2919 - and source for all relevant files is now printed.
2920 The "/m" option is now considered deprecated: its "source-centric"
2921 output hasn't proved useful in practice.
2922
2923 * The "record instruction-history" command accepts a new modifier: /s.
2924 It behaves exactly like /m and prints mixed source+disassembly.
2925
2926 * The "set scheduler-locking" command supports a new mode "replay".
2927 It behaves like "off" in record mode and like "on" in replay mode.
2928
2929 * Support for various ROM monitors has been removed:
2930
2931 target dbug dBUG ROM monitor for Motorola ColdFire
2932 target picobug Motorola picobug monitor
2933 target dink32 DINK32 ROM monitor for PowerPC
2934 target m32r Renesas M32R/D ROM monitor
2935 target mon2000 mon2000 ROM monitor
2936 target ppcbug PPCBUG ROM monitor for PowerPC
2937
2938 * Support for reading/writing memory and extracting values on architectures
2939 whose memory is addressable in units of any integral multiple of 8 bits.
2940
2941 catch handlers
2942 Allows to break when an Ada exception is handled.
2943
2944 * New remote packets
2945
2946 exec stop reason
2947 Indicates that an exec system call was executed.
2948
2949 exec-events feature in qSupported
2950 The qSupported packet allows GDB to request support for exec
2951 events using the new 'gdbfeature' exec-event, and the qSupported
2952 response can contain the corresponding 'stubfeature'. Set and
2953 show commands can be used to display whether these features are enabled.
2954
2955 vCtrlC
2956 Equivalent to interrupting with the ^C character, but works in
2957 non-stop mode.
2958
2959 thread created stop reason (T05 create:...)
2960 Indicates that the thread was just created and is stopped at entry.
2961
2962 thread exit stop reply (w exitcode;tid)
2963 Indicates that the thread has terminated.
2964
2965 QThreadEvents
2966 Enables/disables thread create and exit event reporting. For
2967 example, this is used in non-stop mode when GDB stops a set of
2968 threads and synchronously waits for the their corresponding stop
2969 replies. Without exit events, if one of the threads exits, GDB
2970 would hang forever not knowing that it should no longer expect a
2971 stop for that same thread.
2972
2973 N stop reply
2974 Indicates that there are no resumed threads left in the target (all
2975 threads are stopped). The remote stub reports support for this stop
2976 reply to GDB's qSupported query.
2977
2978 QCatchSyscalls
2979 Enables/disables catching syscalls from the inferior process.
2980 The remote stub reports support for this packet to GDB's qSupported query.
2981
2982 syscall_entry stop reason
2983 Indicates that a syscall was just called.
2984
2985 syscall_return stop reason
2986 Indicates that a syscall just returned.
2987
2988 * Extended-remote exec events
2989
2990 ** GDB now has support for exec events on extended-remote Linux targets.
2991 For such targets with Linux kernels 2.5.46 and later, this enables
2992 follow-exec-mode and exec catchpoints.
2993
2994 set remote exec-event-feature-packet
2995 show remote exec-event-feature-packet
2996 Set/show the use of the remote exec event feature.
2997
2998 * Thread names in remote protocol
2999
3000 The reply to qXfer:threads:read may now include a name attribute for each
3001 thread.
3002
3003 * Target remote mode fork and exec events
3004
3005 ** GDB now has support for fork and exec events on target remote mode
3006 Linux targets. For such targets with Linux kernels 2.5.46 and later,
3007 this enables follow-fork-mode, detach-on-fork, follow-exec-mode, and
3008 fork and exec catchpoints.
3009
3010 * Remote syscall events
3011
3012 ** GDB now has support for catch syscall on remote Linux targets,
3013 currently enabled on x86/x86_64 architectures.
3014
3015 set remote catch-syscall-packet
3016 show remote catch-syscall-packet
3017 Set/show the use of the remote catch syscall feature.
3018
3019 * MI changes
3020
3021 ** The -var-set-format command now accepts the zero-hexadecimal
3022 format. It outputs data in hexadecimal format with zero-padding on the
3023 left.
3024
3025 * Python Scripting
3026
3027 ** gdb.InferiorThread objects have a new attribute "global_num",
3028 which refers to the thread's global thread ID. The existing
3029 "num" attribute now refers to the thread's per-inferior number.
3030 See "Per-inferior thread numbers" above.
3031 ** gdb.InferiorThread objects have a new attribute "inferior", which
3032 is the Inferior object the thread belongs to.
3033
3034 *** Changes in GDB 7.10
3035
3036 * Support for process record-replay and reverse debugging on aarch64*-linux*
3037 targets has been added. GDB now supports recording of A64 instruction set
3038 including advance SIMD instructions.
3039
3040 * Support for Sun's version of the "stabs" debug file format has been removed.
3041
3042 * GDB now honors the content of the file /proc/PID/coredump_filter
3043 (PID is the process ID) on GNU/Linux systems. This file can be used
3044 to specify the types of memory mappings that will be included in a
3045 corefile. For more information, please refer to the manual page of
3046 "core(5)". GDB also has a new command: "set use-coredump-filter
3047 on|off". It allows to set whether GDB will read the content of the
3048 /proc/PID/coredump_filter file when generating a corefile.
3049
3050 * The "info os" command on GNU/Linux can now display information on
3051 cpu information :
3052 "info os cpus" Listing of all cpus/cores on the system
3053
3054 * GDB has two new commands: "set serial parity odd|even|none" and
3055 "show serial parity". These allows to set or show parity for the
3056 remote serial I/O.
3057
3058 * The "info source" command now displays the producer string if it was
3059 present in the debug info. This typically includes the compiler version
3060 and may include things like its command line arguments.
3061
3062 * The "info dll", an alias of the "info sharedlibrary" command,
3063 is now available on all platforms.
3064
3065 * Directory names supplied to the "set sysroot" commands may be
3066 prefixed with "target:" to tell GDB to access shared libraries from
3067 the target system, be it local or remote. This replaces the prefix
3068 "remote:". The default sysroot has been changed from "" to
3069 "target:". "remote:" is automatically converted to "target:" for
3070 backward compatibility.
3071
3072 * The system root specified by "set sysroot" will be prepended to the
3073 filename of the main executable (if reported to GDB as absolute by
3074 the operating system) when starting processes remotely, and when
3075 attaching to already-running local or remote processes.
3076
3077 * GDB now supports automatic location and retrieval of executable
3078 files from remote targets. Remote debugging can now be initiated
3079 using only a "target remote" or "target extended-remote" command
3080 (no "set sysroot" or "file" commands are required). See "New remote
3081 packets" below.
3082
3083 * The "dump" command now supports verilog hex format.
3084
3085 * GDB now supports the vector ABI on S/390 GNU/Linux targets.
3086
3087 * On GNU/Linux, GDB and gdbserver are now able to access executable
3088 and shared library files without a "set sysroot" command when
3089 attaching to processes running in different mount namespaces from
3090 the debugger. This makes it possible to attach to processes in
3091 containers as simply as "gdb -p PID" or "gdbserver --attach PID".
3092 See "New remote packets" below.
3093
3094 * The "tui reg" command now provides completion for all of the
3095 available register groups, including target specific groups.
3096
3097 * The HISTSIZE environment variable is no longer read when determining
3098 the size of GDB's command history. GDB now instead reads the dedicated
3099 GDBHISTSIZE environment variable. Setting GDBHISTSIZE to "-1" or to "" now
3100 disables truncation of command history. Non-numeric values of GDBHISTSIZE
3101 are ignored.
3102
3103 * Guile Scripting
3104
3105 ** Memory ports can now be unbuffered.
3106
3107 * Python Scripting
3108
3109 ** gdb.Objfile objects have a new attribute "username",
3110 which is the name of the objfile as specified by the user,
3111 without, for example, resolving symlinks.
3112 ** You can now write frame unwinders in Python.
3113 ** gdb.Type objects have a new method "optimized_out",
3114 returning optimized out gdb.Value instance of this type.
3115 ** gdb.Value objects have new methods "reference_value" and
3116 "const_value" which return a reference to the value and a
3117 "const" version of the value respectively.
3118
3119 * New commands
3120
3121 maint print symbol-cache
3122 Print the contents of the symbol cache.
3123
3124 maint print symbol-cache-statistics
3125 Print statistics of symbol cache usage.
3126
3127 maint flush-symbol-cache
3128 Flush the contents of the symbol cache.
3129
3130 record btrace bts
3131 record bts
3132 Start branch trace recording using Branch Trace Store (BTS) format.
3133
3134 compile print
3135 Evaluate expression by using the compiler and print result.
3136
3137 tui enable
3138 tui disable
3139 Explicit commands for enabling and disabling tui mode.
3140
3141 show mpx bound
3142 set mpx bound on i386 and amd64
3143 Support for bound table investigation on Intel MPX enabled applications.
3144
3145 record btrace pt
3146 record pt
3147 Start branch trace recording using Intel Processor Trace format.
3148
3149 maint info btrace
3150 Print information about branch tracing internals.
3151
3152 maint btrace packet-history
3153 Print the raw branch tracing data.
3154
3155 maint btrace clear-packet-history
3156 Discard the stored raw branch tracing data.
3157
3158 maint btrace clear
3159 Discard all branch tracing data. It will be fetched and processed
3160 anew by the next "record" command.
3161
3162 * New options
3163
3164 set debug dwarf-die
3165 Renamed from "set debug dwarf2-die".
3166 show debug dwarf-die
3167 Renamed from "show debug dwarf2-die".
3168
3169 set debug dwarf-read
3170 Renamed from "set debug dwarf2-read".
3171 show debug dwarf-read
3172 Renamed from "show debug dwarf2-read".
3173
3174 maint set dwarf always-disassemble
3175 Renamed from "maint set dwarf2 always-disassemble".
3176 maint show dwarf always-disassemble
3177 Renamed from "maint show dwarf2 always-disassemble".
3178
3179 maint set dwarf max-cache-age
3180 Renamed from "maint set dwarf2 max-cache-age".
3181 maint show dwarf max-cache-age
3182 Renamed from "maint show dwarf2 max-cache-age".
3183
3184 set debug dwarf-line
3185 show debug dwarf-line
3186 Control display of debugging info regarding DWARF line processing.
3187
3188 set max-completions
3189 show max-completions
3190 Set the maximum number of candidates to be considered during
3191 completion. The default value is 200. This limit allows GDB
3192 to avoid generating large completion lists, the computation of
3193 which can cause the debugger to become temporarily unresponsive.
3194
3195 set history remove-duplicates
3196 show history remove-duplicates
3197 Control the removal of duplicate history entries.
3198
3199 maint set symbol-cache-size
3200 maint show symbol-cache-size
3201 Control the size of the symbol cache.
3202
3203 set|show record btrace bts buffer-size
3204 Set and show the size of the ring buffer used for branch tracing in
3205 BTS format.
3206 The obtained size may differ from the requested size. Use "info
3207 record" to see the obtained buffer size.
3208
3209 set debug linux-namespaces
3210 show debug linux-namespaces
3211 Control display of debugging info regarding Linux namespaces.
3212
3213 set|show record btrace pt buffer-size
3214 Set and show the size of the ring buffer used for branch tracing in
3215 Intel Processor Trace format.
3216 The obtained size may differ from the requested size. Use "info
3217 record" to see the obtained buffer size.
3218
3219 maint set|show btrace pt skip-pad
3220 Set and show whether PAD packets are skipped when computing the
3221 packet history.
3222
3223 * The command 'thread apply all' can now support new option '-ascending'
3224 to call its specified command for all threads in ascending order.
3225
3226 * Python/Guile scripting
3227
3228 ** GDB now supports auto-loading of Python/Guile scripts contained in the
3229 special section named `.debug_gdb_scripts'.
3230
3231 * New remote packets
3232
3233 qXfer:btrace-conf:read
3234 Return the branch trace configuration for the current thread.
3235
3236 Qbtrace-conf:bts:size
3237 Set the requested ring buffer size for branch tracing in BTS format.
3238
3239 Qbtrace:pt
3240 Enable Intel Processor Trace-based branch tracing for the current
3241 process. The remote stub reports support for this packet to GDB's
3242 qSupported query.
3243
3244 Qbtrace-conf:pt:size
3245 Set the requested ring buffer size for branch tracing in Intel Processor
3246 Trace format.
3247
3248 swbreak stop reason
3249 Indicates a memory breakpoint instruction was executed, irrespective
3250 of whether it was GDB that planted the breakpoint or the breakpoint
3251 is hardcoded in the program. This is required for correct non-stop
3252 mode operation.
3253
3254 hwbreak stop reason
3255 Indicates the target stopped for a hardware breakpoint. This is
3256 required for correct non-stop mode operation.
3257
3258 vFile:fstat:
3259 Return information about files on the remote system.
3260
3261 qXfer:exec-file:read
3262 Return the full absolute name of the file that was executed to
3263 create a process running on the remote system.
3264
3265 vFile:setfs:
3266 Select the filesystem on which vFile: operations with filename
3267 arguments will operate. This is required for GDB to be able to
3268 access files on remote targets where the remote stub does not
3269 share a common filesystem with the inferior(s).
3270
3271 fork stop reason
3272 Indicates that a fork system call was executed.
3273
3274 vfork stop reason
3275 Indicates that a vfork system call was executed.
3276
3277 vforkdone stop reason
3278 Indicates that a vfork child of the specified process has executed
3279 an exec or exit, allowing the vfork parent to resume execution.
3280
3281 fork-events and vfork-events features in qSupported
3282 The qSupported packet allows GDB to request support for fork and
3283 vfork events using new 'gdbfeatures' fork-events and vfork-events,
3284 and the qSupported response can contain the corresponding
3285 'stubfeatures'. Set and show commands can be used to display
3286 whether these features are enabled.
3287
3288 * Extended-remote fork events
3289
3290 ** GDB now has support for fork events on extended-remote Linux
3291 targets. For targets with Linux kernels 2.5.60 and later, this
3292 enables follow-fork-mode and detach-on-fork for both fork and
3293 vfork, as well as fork and vfork catchpoints.
3294
3295 * The info record command now shows the recording format and the
3296 branch tracing configuration for the current thread when using
3297 the btrace record target.
3298 For the BTS format, it shows the ring buffer size.
3299
3300 * GDB now has support for DTrace USDT (Userland Static Defined
3301 Tracing) probes. The supported targets are x86_64-*-linux-gnu.
3302
3303 * GDB now supports access to vector registers on S/390 GNU/Linux
3304 targets.
3305
3306 * Removed command line options
3307
3308 -xdb HP-UX XDB compatibility mode.
3309
3310 * Removed targets and native configurations
3311
3312 HP/PA running HP-UX hppa*-*-hpux*
3313 Itanium running HP-UX ia64-*-hpux*
3314
3315 * New configure options
3316
3317 --with-intel-pt
3318 This configure option allows the user to build GDB with support for
3319 Intel Processor Trace (default: auto). This requires libipt.
3320
3321 --with-libipt-prefix=PATH
3322 Specify the path to the version of libipt that GDB should use.
3323 $PATH/include should contain the intel-pt.h header and
3324 $PATH/lib should contain the libipt.so library.
3325
3326 *** Changes in GDB 7.9.1
3327
3328 * Python Scripting
3329
3330 ** Xmethods can now specify a result type.
3331
3332 *** Changes in GDB 7.9
3333
3334 * GDB now supports hardware watchpoints on x86 GNU Hurd.
3335
3336 * Python Scripting
3337
3338 ** You can now access frame registers from Python scripts.
3339 ** New attribute 'producer' for gdb.Symtab objects.
3340 ** gdb.Objfile objects have a new attribute "progspace",
3341 which is the gdb.Progspace object of the containing program space.
3342 ** gdb.Objfile objects have a new attribute "owner".
3343 ** gdb.Objfile objects have a new attribute "build_id",
3344 which is the build ID generated when the file was built.
3345 ** gdb.Objfile objects have a new method "add_separate_debug_file".
3346 ** A new event "gdb.clear_objfiles" has been added, triggered when
3347 selecting a new file to debug.
3348 ** You can now add attributes to gdb.Objfile and gdb.Progspace objects.
3349 ** New function gdb.lookup_objfile.
3350
3351 New events which are triggered when GDB modifies the state of the
3352 inferior.
3353
3354 ** gdb.events.inferior_call_pre: Function call is about to be made.
3355 ** gdb.events.inferior_call_post: Function call has just been made.
3356 ** gdb.events.memory_changed: A memory location has been altered.
3357 ** gdb.events.register_changed: A register has been altered.
3358
3359 * New Python-based convenience functions:
3360
3361 ** $_caller_is(name [, number_of_frames])
3362 ** $_caller_matches(regexp [, number_of_frames])
3363 ** $_any_caller_is(name [, number_of_frames])
3364 ** $_any_caller_matches(regexp [, number_of_frames])
3365
3366 * GDB now supports the compilation and injection of source code into
3367 the inferior. GDB will use GCC 5.0 or higher built with libcc1.so
3368 to compile the source code to object code, and if successful, inject
3369 and execute that code within the current context of the inferior.
3370 Currently the C language is supported. The commands used to
3371 interface with this new feature are:
3372
3373 compile code [-raw|-r] [--] [source code]
3374 compile file [-raw|-r] filename
3375
3376 * New commands
3377
3378 demangle [-l language] [--] name
3379 Demangle "name" in the specified language, or the current language
3380 if elided. This command is renamed from the "maint demangle" command.
3381 The latter is kept as a no-op to avoid "maint demangle" being interpreted
3382 as "maint demangler-warning".
3383
3384 queue-signal signal-name-or-number
3385 Queue a signal to be delivered to the thread when it is resumed.
3386
3387 add-auto-load-scripts-directory directory
3388 Add entries to the list of directories from which to load auto-loaded
3389 scripts.
3390
3391 maint print user-registers
3392 List all currently available "user" registers.
3393
3394 compile code [-r|-raw] [--] [source code]
3395 Compile, inject, and execute in the inferior the executable object
3396 code produced by compiling the provided source code.
3397
3398 compile file [-r|-raw] filename
3399 Compile and inject into the inferior the executable object code
3400 produced by compiling the source code stored in the filename
3401 provided.
3402
3403 * On resume, GDB now always passes the signal the program had stopped
3404 for to the thread the signal was sent to, even if the user changed
3405 threads before resuming. Previously GDB would often (but not
3406 always) deliver the signal to the thread that happens to be current
3407 at resume time.
3408
3409 * Conversely, the "signal" command now consistently delivers the
3410 requested signal to the current thread. GDB now asks for
3411 confirmation if the program had stopped for a signal and the user
3412 switched threads meanwhile.
3413
3414 * "breakpoint always-inserted" modes "off" and "auto" merged.
3415
3416 Now, when 'breakpoint always-inserted mode' is set to "off", GDB
3417 won't remove breakpoints from the target until all threads stop,
3418 even in non-stop mode. The "auto" mode has been removed, and "off"
3419 is now the default mode.
3420
3421 * New options
3422
3423 set debug symbol-lookup
3424 show debug symbol-lookup
3425 Control display of debugging info regarding symbol lookup.
3426
3427 * MI changes
3428
3429 ** The -list-thread-groups command outputs an exit-code field for
3430 inferiors that have exited.
3431
3432 * New targets
3433
3434 MIPS SDE mips*-sde*-elf*
3435
3436 * Removed targets
3437
3438 Support for these obsolete configurations has been removed.
3439
3440 Alpha running OSF/1 (or Tru64) alpha*-*-osf*
3441 SGI Irix-5.x mips-*-irix5*
3442 SGI Irix-6.x mips-*-irix6*
3443 VAX running (4.2 - 4.3 Reno) BSD vax-*-bsd*
3444 VAX running Ultrix vax-*-ultrix*
3445
3446 * The "dll-symbols" command, and its two aliases ("add-shared-symbol-files"
3447 and "assf"), have been removed. Use the "sharedlibrary" command, or
3448 its alias "share", instead.
3449
3450 *** Changes in GDB 7.8
3451
3452 * New command line options
3453
3454 -D data-directory
3455 This is an alias for the --data-directory option.
3456
3457 * GDB supports printing and modifying of variable length automatic arrays
3458 as specified in ISO C99.
3459
3460 * The ARM simulator now supports instruction level tracing
3461 with or without disassembly.
3462
3463 * Guile scripting
3464
3465 GDB now has support for scripting using Guile. Whether this is
3466 available is determined at configure time.
3467 Guile version 2.0 or greater is required.
3468 Guile version 2.0.9 is well tested, earlier 2.0 versions are not.
3469
3470 * New commands (for set/show, see "New options" below)
3471
3472 guile [code]
3473 gu [code]
3474 Invoke CODE by passing it to the Guile interpreter.
3475
3476 guile-repl
3477 gr
3478 Start a Guile interactive prompt (or "repl" for "read-eval-print loop").
3479
3480 info auto-load guile-scripts [regexp]
3481 Print the list of automatically loaded Guile scripts.
3482
3483 * The source command is now capable of sourcing Guile scripts.
3484 This feature is dependent on the debugger being built with Guile support.
3485
3486 * New options
3487
3488 set print symbol-loading (off|brief|full)
3489 show print symbol-loading
3490 Control whether to print informational messages when loading symbol
3491 information for a file. The default is "full", but when debugging
3492 programs with large numbers of shared libraries the amount of output
3493 becomes less useful.
3494
3495 set guile print-stack (none|message|full)
3496 show guile print-stack
3497 Show a stack trace when an error is encountered in a Guile script.
3498
3499 set auto-load guile-scripts (on|off)
3500 show auto-load guile-scripts
3501 Control auto-loading of Guile script files.
3502
3503 maint ada set ignore-descriptive-types (on|off)
3504 maint ada show ignore-descriptive-types
3505 Control whether the debugger should ignore descriptive types in Ada
3506 programs. The default is not to ignore the descriptive types. See
3507 the user manual for more details on descriptive types and the intended
3508 usage of this option.
3509
3510 set auto-connect-native-target
3511
3512 Control whether GDB is allowed to automatically connect to the
3513 native target for the run, attach, etc. commands when not connected
3514 to any target yet. See also "target native" below.
3515
3516 set record btrace replay-memory-access (read-only|read-write)
3517 show record btrace replay-memory-access
3518 Control what memory accesses are allowed during replay.
3519
3520 maint set target-async (on|off)
3521 maint show target-async
3522 This controls whether GDB targets operate in synchronous or
3523 asynchronous mode. Normally the default is asynchronous, if it is
3524 available; but this can be changed to more easily debug problems
3525 occurring only in synchronous mode.
3526
3527 set mi-async (on|off)
3528 show mi-async
3529 Control whether MI asynchronous mode is preferred. This supersedes
3530 "set target-async" of previous GDB versions.
3531
3532 * "set target-async" is deprecated as a CLI option and is now an alias
3533 for "set mi-async" (only puts MI into async mode).
3534
3535 * Background execution commands (e.g., "c&", "s&", etc.) are now
3536 possible ``out of the box'' if the target supports them. Previously
3537 the user would need to explicitly enable the possibility with the
3538 "set target-async on" command.
3539
3540 * New features in the GDB remote stub, GDBserver
3541
3542 ** New option --debug-format=option1[,option2,...] allows one to add
3543 additional text to each output. At present only timestamps
3544 are supported: --debug-format=timestamps.
3545 Timestamps can also be turned on with the
3546 "monitor set debug-format timestamps" command from GDB.
3547
3548 * The 'record instruction-history' command now starts counting instructions
3549 at one. This also affects the instruction ranges reported by the
3550 'record function-call-history' command when given the /i modifier.
3551
3552 * The command 'record function-call-history' supports a new modifier '/c' to
3553 indent the function names based on their call stack depth.
3554 The fields for the '/i' and '/l' modifier have been reordered.
3555 The source line range is now prefixed with 'at'.
3556 The instruction range is now prefixed with 'inst'.
3557 Both ranges are now printed as '<from>, <to>' to allow copy&paste to the
3558 "record instruction-history" and "list" commands.
3559
3560 * The ranges given as arguments to the 'record function-call-history' and
3561 'record instruction-history' commands are now inclusive.
3562
3563 * The btrace record target now supports the 'record goto' command.
3564 For locations inside the execution trace, the back trace is computed
3565 based on the information stored in the execution trace.
3566
3567 * The btrace record target supports limited reverse execution and replay.
3568 The target does not record data and therefore does not allow reading
3569 memory or registers.
3570
3571 * The "catch syscall" command now works on s390*-linux* targets.
3572
3573 * The "compare-sections" command is no longer specific to target
3574 remote. It now works with all targets.
3575
3576 * All native targets are now consistently called "native".
3577 Consequently, the "target child", "target GNU", "target djgpp",
3578 "target procfs" (Solaris/Irix/OSF/AIX) and "target darwin-child"
3579 commands have been replaced with "target native". The QNX/NTO port
3580 leaves the "procfs" target in place and adds a "native" target for
3581 consistency with other ports. The impact on users should be minimal
3582 as these commands previously either throwed an error, or were
3583 no-ops. The target's name is visible in the output of the following
3584 commands: "help target", "info target", "info files", "maint print
3585 target-stack".
3586
3587 * The "target native" command now connects to the native target. This
3588 can be used to launch native programs even when "set
3589 auto-connect-native-target" is set to off.
3590
3591 * GDB now supports access to Intel MPX registers on GNU/Linux.
3592
3593 * Support for Intel AVX-512 registers on GNU/Linux.
3594 Support displaying and modifying Intel AVX-512 registers
3595 $zmm0 - $zmm31 and $k0 - $k7 on GNU/Linux.
3596
3597 * New remote packets
3598
3599 qXfer:btrace:read's annex
3600 The qXfer:btrace:read packet supports a new annex 'delta' to read
3601 branch trace incrementally.
3602
3603 * Python Scripting
3604
3605 ** Valid Python operations on gdb.Value objects representing
3606 structs/classes invoke the corresponding overloaded operators if
3607 available.
3608 ** New `Xmethods' feature in the Python API. Xmethods are
3609 additional methods or replacements for existing methods of a C++
3610 class. This feature is useful for those cases where a method
3611 defined in C++ source code could be inlined or optimized out by
3612 the compiler, making it unavailable to GDB.
3613
3614 * New targets
3615 PowerPC64 GNU/Linux little-endian powerpc64le-*-linux*
3616
3617 * The "dll-symbols" command, and its two aliases ("add-shared-symbol-files"
3618 and "assf"), have been deprecated. Use the "sharedlibrary" command, or
3619 its alias "share", instead.
3620
3621 * The commands "set remotebaud" and "show remotebaud" are no longer
3622 supported. Use "set serial baud" and "show serial baud" (respectively)
3623 instead.
3624
3625 * MI changes
3626
3627 ** A new option "-gdb-set mi-async" replaces "-gdb-set
3628 target-async". The latter is left as a deprecated alias of the
3629 former for backward compatibility. If the target supports it,
3630 CLI background execution commands are now always possible by
3631 default, independently of whether the frontend stated a
3632 preference for asynchronous execution with "-gdb-set mi-async".
3633 Previously "-gdb-set target-async off" affected both MI execution
3634 commands and CLI execution commands.
3635
3636 *** Changes in GDB 7.7
3637
3638 * Improved support for process record-replay and reverse debugging on
3639 arm*-linux* targets. Support for thumb32 and syscall instruction
3640 recording has been added.
3641
3642 * GDB now supports SystemTap SDT probes on AArch64 GNU/Linux.
3643
3644 * GDB now supports Fission DWP file format version 2.
3645 http://gcc.gnu.org/wiki/DebugFission
3646
3647 * New convenience function "$_isvoid", to check whether an expression
3648 is void. A void expression is an expression where the type of the
3649 result is "void". For example, some convenience variables may be
3650 "void" when evaluated (e.g., "$_exitcode" before the execution of
3651 the program being debugged; or an undefined convenience variable).
3652 Another example, when calling a function whose return type is
3653 "void".
3654
3655 * The "maintenance print objfiles" command now takes an optional regexp.
3656
3657 * The "catch syscall" command now works on arm*-linux* targets.
3658
3659 * GDB now consistently shows "<not saved>" when printing values of
3660 registers the debug info indicates have not been saved in the frame
3661 and there's nowhere to retrieve them from
3662 (callee-saved/call-clobbered registers):
3663
3664 (gdb) p $rax
3665 $1 = <not saved>
3666
3667 (gdb) info registers rax
3668 rax <not saved>
3669
3670 Before, the former would print "<optimized out>", and the latter
3671 "*value not available*".
3672
3673 * New script contrib/gdb-add-index.sh for adding .gdb_index sections
3674 to binaries.
3675
3676 * Python scripting
3677
3678 ** Frame filters and frame decorators have been added.
3679 ** Temporary breakpoints are now supported.
3680 ** Line tables representation has been added.
3681 ** New attribute 'parent_type' for gdb.Field objects.
3682 ** gdb.Field objects can be used as subscripts on gdb.Value objects.
3683 ** New attribute 'name' for gdb.Type objects.
3684
3685 * New targets
3686
3687 Nios II ELF nios2*-*-elf
3688 Nios II GNU/Linux nios2*-*-linux
3689 Texas Instruments MSP430 msp430*-*-elf
3690
3691 * Removed native configurations
3692
3693 Support for these a.out NetBSD and OpenBSD obsolete configurations has
3694 been removed. ELF variants of these configurations are kept supported.
3695
3696 arm*-*-netbsd* but arm*-*-netbsdelf* is kept supported.
3697 i[34567]86-*-netbsd* but i[34567]86-*-netbsdelf* is kept supported.
3698 i[34567]86-*-openbsd[0-2].* but i[34567]86-*-openbsd* is kept supported.
3699 i[34567]86-*-openbsd3.[0-3]
3700 m68*-*-netbsd* but m68*-*-netbsdelf* is kept supported.
3701 sparc-*-netbsd* but sparc-*-netbsdelf* is kept supported.
3702 vax-*-netbsd* but vax-*-netbsdelf* is kept supported.
3703
3704 * New commands:
3705 catch rethrow
3706 Like "catch throw", but catches a re-thrown exception.
3707 maint check-psymtabs
3708 Renamed from old "maint check-symtabs".
3709 maint check-symtabs
3710 Perform consistency checks on symtabs.
3711 maint expand-symtabs
3712 Expand symtabs matching an optional regexp.
3713
3714 show configuration
3715 Display the details of GDB configure-time options.
3716
3717 maint set|show per-command
3718 maint set|show per-command space
3719 maint set|show per-command time
3720 maint set|show per-command symtab
3721 Enable display of per-command gdb resource usage.
3722
3723 remove-symbol-file FILENAME
3724 remove-symbol-file -a ADDRESS
3725 Remove a symbol file added via add-symbol-file. The file to remove
3726 can be identified by its filename or by an address that lies within
3727 the boundaries of this symbol file in memory.
3728
3729 info exceptions
3730 info exceptions REGEXP
3731 Display the list of Ada exceptions defined in the program being
3732 debugged. If provided, only the exceptions whose names match REGEXP
3733 are listed.
3734
3735 * New options
3736
3737 set debug symfile off|on
3738 show debug symfile
3739 Control display of debugging info regarding reading symbol files and
3740 symbol tables within those files
3741
3742 set print raw frame-arguments
3743 show print raw frame-arguments
3744 Set/show whether to print frame arguments in raw mode,
3745 disregarding any defined pretty-printers.
3746
3747 set remote trace-status-packet
3748 show remote trace-status-packet
3749 Set/show the use of remote protocol qTStatus packet.
3750
3751 set debug nios2
3752 show debug nios2
3753 Control display of debugging messages related to Nios II targets.
3754
3755 set range-stepping
3756 show range-stepping
3757 Control whether target-assisted range stepping is enabled.
3758
3759 set startup-with-shell
3760 show startup-with-shell
3761 Specifies whether Unix child processes are started via a shell or
3762 directly.
3763
3764 set code-cache
3765 show code-cache
3766 Use the target memory cache for accesses to the code segment. This
3767 improves performance of remote debugging (particularly disassembly).
3768
3769 * You can now use a literal value 'unlimited' for options that
3770 interpret 0 or -1 as meaning "unlimited". E.g., "set
3771 trace-buffer-size unlimited" is now an alias for "set
3772 trace-buffer-size -1" and "set height unlimited" is now an alias for
3773 "set height 0".
3774
3775 * The "set debug symtab-create" debugging option of GDB has been changed to
3776 accept a verbosity level. 0 means "off", 1 provides basic debugging
3777 output, and values of 2 or greater provides more verbose output.
3778
3779 * New command-line options
3780 --configuration
3781 Display the details of GDB configure-time options.
3782
3783 * The command 'tsave' can now support new option '-ctf' to save trace
3784 buffer in Common Trace Format.
3785
3786 * Newly installed $prefix/bin/gcore acts as a shell interface for the
3787 GDB command gcore.
3788
3789 * GDB now implements the C++ 'typeid' operator.
3790
3791 * The new convenience variable $_exception holds the exception being
3792 thrown or caught at an exception-related catchpoint.
3793
3794 * The exception-related catchpoints, like "catch throw", now accept a
3795 regular expression which can be used to filter exceptions by type.
3796
3797 * The new convenience variable $_exitsignal is automatically set to
3798 the terminating signal number when the program being debugged dies
3799 due to an uncaught signal.
3800
3801 * MI changes
3802
3803 ** All MI commands now accept an optional "--language" option.
3804 Support for this feature can be verified by using the "-list-features"
3805 command, which should contain "language-option".
3806
3807 ** The new command -info-gdb-mi-command allows the user to determine
3808 whether a GDB/MI command is supported or not.
3809
3810 ** The "^error" result record returned when trying to execute an undefined
3811 GDB/MI command now provides a variable named "code" whose content is the
3812 "undefined-command" error code. Support for this feature can be verified
3813 by using the "-list-features" command, which should contain
3814 "undefined-command-error-code".
3815
3816 ** The -trace-save MI command can optionally save trace buffer in Common
3817 Trace Format now.
3818
3819 ** The new command -dprintf-insert sets a dynamic printf breakpoint.
3820
3821 ** The command -data-list-register-values now accepts an optional
3822 "--skip-unavailable" option. When used, only the available registers
3823 are displayed.
3824
3825 ** The new command -trace-frame-collected dumps collected variables,
3826 computed expressions, tvars, memory and registers in a traceframe.
3827
3828 ** The commands -stack-list-locals, -stack-list-arguments and
3829 -stack-list-variables now accept an option "--skip-unavailable".
3830 When used, only the available locals or arguments are displayed.
3831
3832 ** The -exec-run command now accepts an optional "--start" option.
3833 When used, the command follows the same semantics as the "start"
3834 command, stopping the program's execution at the start of its
3835 main subprogram. Support for this feature can be verified using
3836 the "-list-features" command, which should contain
3837 "exec-run-start-option".
3838
3839 ** The new commands -catch-assert and -catch-exceptions insert
3840 catchpoints stopping the program when Ada exceptions are raised.
3841
3842 ** The new command -info-ada-exceptions provides the equivalent of
3843 the new "info exceptions" command.
3844
3845 * New system-wide configuration scripts
3846 A GDB installation now provides scripts suitable for use as system-wide
3847 configuration scripts for the following systems:
3848 ** ElinOS
3849 ** Wind River Linux
3850
3851 * GDB now supports target-assigned range stepping with remote targets.
3852 This improves the performance of stepping source lines by reducing
3853 the number of control packets from/to GDB. See "New remote packets"
3854 below.
3855
3856 * GDB now understands the element 'tvar' in the XML traceframe info.
3857 It has the id of the collected trace state variables.
3858
3859 * On S/390 targets that provide the transactional-execution feature,
3860 the program interruption transaction diagnostic block (TDB) is now
3861 represented as a number of additional "registers" in GDB.
3862
3863 * New remote packets
3864
3865 vCont;r
3866
3867 The vCont packet supports a new 'r' action, that tells the remote
3868 stub to step through an address range itself, without GDB
3869 involvemement at each single-step.
3870
3871 qXfer:libraries-svr4:read's annex
3872 The previously unused annex of the qXfer:libraries-svr4:read packet
3873 is now used to support passing an argument list. The remote stub
3874 reports support for this argument list to GDB's qSupported query.
3875 The defined arguments are "start" and "prev", used to reduce work
3876 necessary for library list updating, resulting in significant
3877 speedup.
3878
3879 * New features in the GDB remote stub, GDBserver
3880
3881 ** GDBserver now supports target-assisted range stepping. Currently
3882 enabled on x86/x86_64 GNU/Linux targets.
3883
3884 ** GDBserver now adds element 'tvar' in the XML in the reply to
3885 'qXfer:traceframe-info:read'. It has the id of the collected
3886 trace state variables.
3887
3888 ** GDBserver now supports hardware watchpoints on the MIPS GNU/Linux
3889 target.
3890
3891 * New 'z' formatter for printing and examining memory, this displays the
3892 value as hexadecimal zero padded on the left to the size of the type.
3893
3894 * GDB can now use Windows x64 unwinding data.
3895
3896 * The "set remotebaud" command has been replaced by "set serial baud".
3897 Similarly, "show remotebaud" has been replaced by "show serial baud".
3898 The "set remotebaud" and "show remotebaud" commands are still available
3899 to provide backward compatibility with older versions of GDB.
3900
3901 *** Changes in GDB 7.6
3902
3903 * Target record has been renamed to record-full.
3904 Record/replay is now enabled with the "record full" command.
3905 This also affects settings that are associated with full record/replay
3906 that have been moved from "set/show record" to "set/show record full":
3907
3908 set|show record full insn-number-max
3909 set|show record full stop-at-limit
3910 set|show record full memory-query
3911
3912 * A new record target "record-btrace" has been added. The new target
3913 uses hardware support to record the control-flow of a process. It
3914 does not support replaying the execution, but it implements the
3915 below new commands for investigating the recorded execution log.
3916 This new recording method can be enabled using:
3917
3918 record btrace
3919
3920 The "record-btrace" target is only available on Intel Atom processors
3921 and requires a Linux kernel 2.6.32 or later.
3922
3923 * Two new commands have been added for record/replay to give information
3924 about the recorded execution without having to replay the execution.
3925 The commands are only supported by "record btrace".
3926
3927 record instruction-history prints the execution history at
3928 instruction granularity
3929
3930 record function-call-history prints the execution history at
3931 function granularity
3932
3933 * New native configurations
3934
3935 ARM AArch64 GNU/Linux aarch64*-*-linux-gnu
3936 FreeBSD/powerpc powerpc*-*-freebsd
3937 x86_64/Cygwin x86_64-*-cygwin*
3938 Tilera TILE-Gx GNU/Linux tilegx*-*-linux-gnu
3939
3940 * New targets
3941
3942 ARM AArch64 aarch64*-*-elf
3943 ARM AArch64 GNU/Linux aarch64*-*-linux
3944 Lynx 178 PowerPC powerpc-*-lynx*178
3945 x86_64/Cygwin x86_64-*-cygwin*
3946 Tilera TILE-Gx GNU/Linux tilegx*-*-linux
3947
3948 * If the configured location of system.gdbinit file (as given by the
3949 --with-system-gdbinit option at configure time) is in the
3950 data-directory (as specified by --with-gdb-datadir at configure
3951 time) or in one of its subdirectories, then GDB will look for the
3952 system-wide init file in the directory specified by the
3953 --data-directory command-line option.
3954
3955 * New command line options:
3956
3957 -nh Disables auto-loading of ~/.gdbinit, but still executes all the
3958 other initialization files, unlike -nx which disables all of them.
3959
3960 * Removed command line options
3961
3962 -epoch This was used by the gdb mode in Epoch, an ancient fork of
3963 Emacs.
3964
3965 * The 'ptype' and 'whatis' commands now accept an argument to control
3966 type formatting.
3967
3968 * 'info proc' now works on some core files.
3969
3970 * Python scripting
3971
3972 ** Vectors can be created with gdb.Type.vector.
3973
3974 ** Python's atexit.register now works in GDB.
3975
3976 ** Types can be pretty-printed via a Python API.
3977
3978 ** Python 3 is now supported (in addition to Python 2.4 or later)
3979
3980 ** New class gdb.Architecture exposes GDB's internal representation
3981 of architecture in the Python API.
3982
3983 ** New method Frame.architecture returns the gdb.Architecture object
3984 corresponding to the frame's architecture.
3985
3986 * New Python-based convenience functions:
3987
3988 ** $_memeq(buf1, buf2, length)
3989 ** $_streq(str1, str2)
3990 ** $_strlen(str)
3991 ** $_regex(str, regex)
3992
3993 * The 'cd' command now defaults to using '~' (the home directory) if not
3994 given an argument.
3995
3996 * The C++ ABI now defaults to the GNU v3 ABI. This has been the
3997 default for GCC since November 2000.
3998
3999 * The command 'forward-search' can now be abbreviated as 'fo'.
4000
4001 * The command 'info tracepoints' can now display 'installed on target'
4002 or 'not installed on target' for each non-pending location of tracepoint.
4003
4004 * New configure options
4005
4006 --enable-libmcheck/--disable-libmcheck
4007 By default, development versions are built with -lmcheck on hosts
4008 that support it, in order to help track memory corruption issues.
4009 Release versions, on the other hand, are built without -lmcheck
4010 by default. The --enable-libmcheck/--disable-libmcheck configure
4011 options allow the user to override that default.
4012 --with-babeltrace/--with-babeltrace-include/--with-babeltrace-lib
4013 This configure option allows the user to build GDB with
4014 libbabeltrace using which GDB can read Common Trace Format data.
4015
4016 * New commands (for set/show, see "New options" below)
4017
4018 catch signal
4019 Catch signals. This is similar to "handle", but allows commands and
4020 conditions to be attached.
4021
4022 maint info bfds
4023 List the BFDs known to GDB.
4024
4025 python-interactive [command]
4026 pi [command]
4027 Start a Python interactive prompt, or evaluate the optional command
4028 and print the result of expressions.
4029
4030 py [command]
4031 "py" is a new alias for "python".
4032
4033 enable type-printer [name]...
4034 disable type-printer [name]...
4035 Enable or disable type printers.
4036
4037 * Removed commands
4038
4039 ** For the Renesas Super-H architecture, the "regs" command has been removed
4040 (has been deprecated in GDB 7.5), and "info all-registers" should be used
4041 instead.
4042
4043 * New options
4044
4045 set print type methods (on|off)
4046 show print type methods
4047 Control whether method declarations are displayed by "ptype".
4048 The default is to show them.
4049
4050 set print type typedefs (on|off)
4051 show print type typedefs
4052 Control whether typedef definitions are displayed by "ptype".
4053 The default is to show them.
4054
4055 set filename-display basename|relative|absolute
4056 show filename-display
4057 Control the way in which filenames is displayed.
4058 The default is "relative", which preserves previous behavior.
4059
4060 set trace-buffer-size
4061 show trace-buffer-size
4062 Request target to change the size of trace buffer.
4063
4064 set remote trace-buffer-size-packet auto|on|off
4065 show remote trace-buffer-size-packet
4066 Control the use of the remote protocol `QTBuffer:size' packet.
4067
4068 set debug aarch64
4069 show debug aarch64
4070 Control display of debugging messages related to ARM AArch64.
4071 The default is off.
4072
4073 set debug coff-pe-read
4074 show debug coff-pe-read
4075 Control display of debugging messages related to reading of COFF/PE
4076 exported symbols.
4077
4078 set debug mach-o
4079 show debug mach-o
4080 Control display of debugging messages related to Mach-O symbols
4081 processing.
4082
4083 set debug notification
4084 show debug notification
4085 Control display of debugging info for async remote notification.
4086
4087 * MI changes
4088
4089 ** Command parameter changes are now notified using new async record
4090 "=cmd-param-changed".
4091 ** Trace frame changes caused by command "tfind" are now notified using
4092 new async record "=traceframe-changed".
4093 ** The creation, deletion and modification of trace state variables
4094 are now notified using new async records "=tsv-created",
4095 "=tsv-deleted" and "=tsv-modified".
4096 ** The start and stop of process record are now notified using new
4097 async record "=record-started" and "=record-stopped".
4098 ** Memory changes are now notified using new async record
4099 "=memory-changed".
4100 ** The data-disassemble command response will include a "fullname" field
4101 containing the absolute file name when source has been requested.
4102 ** New optional parameter COUNT added to the "-data-write-memory-bytes"
4103 command, to allow pattern filling of memory areas.
4104 ** New commands "-catch-load"/"-catch-unload" added for intercepting
4105 library load/unload events.
4106 ** The response to breakpoint commands and breakpoint async records
4107 includes an "installed" field containing a boolean state about each
4108 non-pending tracepoint location is whether installed on target or not.
4109 ** Output of the "-trace-status" command includes a "trace-file" field
4110 containing the name of the trace file being examined. This field is
4111 optional, and only present when examining a trace file.
4112 ** The "fullname" field is now always present along with the "file" field,
4113 even if the file cannot be found by GDB.
4114
4115 * GDB now supports the "mini debuginfo" section, .gnu_debugdata.
4116 You must have the LZMA library available when configuring GDB for this
4117 feature to be enabled. For more information, see:
4118 http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features/MiniDebugInfo
4119
4120 * New remote packets
4121
4122 QTBuffer:size
4123 Set the size of trace buffer. The remote stub reports support for this
4124 packet to gdb's qSupported query.
4125
4126 Qbtrace:bts
4127 Enable Branch Trace Store (BTS)-based branch tracing for the current
4128 thread. The remote stub reports support for this packet to gdb's
4129 qSupported query.
4130
4131 Qbtrace:off
4132 Disable branch tracing for the current thread. The remote stub reports
4133 support for this packet to gdb's qSupported query.
4134
4135 qXfer:btrace:read
4136 Read the traced branches for the current thread. The remote stub
4137 reports support for this packet to gdb's qSupported query.
4138
4139 *** Changes in GDB 7.5
4140
4141 * GDB now supports x32 ABI. Visit <http://sites.google.com/site/x32abi/>
4142 for more x32 ABI info.
4143
4144 * GDB now supports access to MIPS DSP registers on Linux targets.
4145
4146 * GDB now supports debugging microMIPS binaries.
4147
4148 * The "info os" command on GNU/Linux can now display information on
4149 several new classes of objects managed by the operating system:
4150 "info os procgroups" lists process groups
4151 "info os files" lists file descriptors
4152 "info os sockets" lists internet-domain sockets
4153 "info os shm" lists shared-memory regions
4154 "info os semaphores" lists semaphores
4155 "info os msg" lists message queues
4156 "info os modules" lists loaded kernel modules
4157
4158 * GDB now has support for SDT (Static Defined Tracing) probes. Currently,
4159 the only implemented backend is for SystemTap probes (<sys/sdt.h>). You
4160 can set a breakpoint using the new "-probe, "-pstap" or "-probe-stap"
4161 options and inspect the probe arguments using the new $_probe_arg family
4162 of convenience variables. You can obtain more information about SystemTap
4163 in <http://sourceware.org/systemtap/>.
4164
4165 * GDB now supports reversible debugging on ARM, it allows you to
4166 debug basic ARM and THUMB instructions, and provides
4167 record/replay support.
4168
4169 * The option "symbol-reloading" has been deleted as it is no longer used.
4170
4171 * Python scripting
4172
4173 ** GDB commands implemented in Python can now be put in command class
4174 "gdb.COMMAND_USER".
4175
4176 ** The "maint set python print-stack on|off" is now deleted.
4177
4178 ** A new class, gdb.printing.FlagEnumerationPrinter, can be used to
4179 apply "flag enum"-style pretty-printing to any enum.
4180
4181 ** gdb.lookup_symbol can now work when there is no current frame.
4182
4183 ** gdb.Symbol now has a 'line' attribute, holding the line number in
4184 the source at which the symbol was defined.
4185
4186 ** gdb.Symbol now has the new attribute 'needs_frame' and the new
4187 method 'value'. The former indicates whether the symbol needs a
4188 frame in order to compute its value, and the latter computes the
4189 symbol's value.
4190
4191 ** A new method 'referenced_value' on gdb.Value objects which can
4192 dereference pointer as well as C++ reference values.
4193
4194 ** New methods 'global_block' and 'static_block' on gdb.Symtab objects
4195 which return the global and static blocks (as gdb.Block objects),
4196 of the underlying symbol table, respectively.
4197
4198 ** New function gdb.find_pc_line which returns the gdb.Symtab_and_line
4199 object associated with a PC value.
4200
4201 ** gdb.Symtab_and_line has new attribute 'last' which holds the end
4202 of the address range occupied by code for the current source line.
4203
4204 * Go language support.
4205 GDB now supports debugging programs written in the Go programming
4206 language.
4207
4208 * GDBserver now supports stdio connections.
4209 E.g. (gdb) target remote | ssh myhost gdbserver - hello
4210
4211 * The binary "gdbtui" can no longer be built or installed.
4212 Use "gdb -tui" instead.
4213
4214 * GDB will now print "flag" enums specially. A flag enum is one where
4215 all the enumerator values have no bits in common when pairwise
4216 "and"ed. When printing a value whose type is a flag enum, GDB will
4217 show all the constants, e.g., for enum E { ONE = 1, TWO = 2}:
4218 (gdb) print (enum E) 3
4219 $1 = (ONE | TWO)
4220
4221 * The filename part of a linespec will now match trailing components
4222 of a source file name. For example, "break gcc/expr.c:1000" will
4223 now set a breakpoint in build/gcc/expr.c, but not
4224 build/libcpp/expr.c.
4225
4226 * The "info proc" and "generate-core-file" commands will now also
4227 work on remote targets connected to GDBserver on Linux.
4228
4229 * The command "info catch" has been removed. It has been disabled
4230 since December 2007.
4231
4232 * The "catch exception" and "catch assert" commands now accept
4233 a condition at the end of the command, much like the "break"
4234 command does. For instance:
4235
4236 (gdb) catch exception Constraint_Error if Barrier = True
4237
4238 Previously, it was possible to add a condition to such catchpoints,
4239 but it had to be done as a second step, after the catchpoint had been
4240 created, using the "condition" command.
4241
4242 * The "info static-tracepoint-marker" command will now also work on
4243 native Linux targets with in-process agent.
4244
4245 * GDB can now set breakpoints on inlined functions.
4246
4247 * The .gdb_index section has been updated to include symbols for
4248 inlined functions. GDB will ignore older .gdb_index sections by
4249 default, which could cause symbol files to be loaded more slowly
4250 until their .gdb_index sections can be recreated. The new command
4251 "set use-deprecated-index-sections on" will cause GDB to use any older
4252 .gdb_index sections it finds. This will restore performance, but the
4253 ability to set breakpoints on inlined functions will be lost in symbol
4254 files with older .gdb_index sections.
4255
4256 The .gdb_index section has also been updated to record more information
4257 about each symbol. This speeds up the "info variables", "info functions"
4258 and "info types" commands when used with programs having the .gdb_index
4259 section, as well as speeding up debugging with shared libraries using
4260 the .gdb_index section.
4261
4262 * Ada support for GDB/MI Variable Objects has been added.
4263
4264 * GDB can now support 'breakpoint always-inserted mode' in 'record'
4265 target.
4266
4267 * MI changes
4268
4269 ** New command -info-os is the MI equivalent of "info os".
4270
4271 ** Output logs ("set logging" and related) now include MI output.
4272
4273 * New commands
4274
4275 ** "set use-deprecated-index-sections on|off"
4276 "show use-deprecated-index-sections on|off"
4277 Controls the use of deprecated .gdb_index sections.
4278
4279 ** "catch load" and "catch unload" can be used to stop when a shared
4280 library is loaded or unloaded, respectively.
4281
4282 ** "enable count" can be used to auto-disable a breakpoint after
4283 several hits.
4284
4285 ** "info vtbl" can be used to show the virtual method tables for
4286 C++ and Java objects.
4287
4288 ** "explore" and its sub commands "explore value" and "explore type"
4289 can be used to recursively explore values and types of
4290 expressions. These commands are available only if GDB is
4291 configured with '--with-python'.
4292
4293 ** "info auto-load" shows status of all kinds of auto-loaded files,
4294 "info auto-load gdb-scripts" shows status of auto-loading GDB canned
4295 sequences of commands files, "info auto-load python-scripts"
4296 shows status of auto-loading Python script files,
4297 "info auto-load local-gdbinit" shows status of loading init file
4298 (.gdbinit) from current directory and "info auto-load libthread-db" shows
4299 status of inferior specific thread debugging shared library loading.
4300
4301 ** "info auto-load-scripts", "set auto-load-scripts on|off"
4302 and "show auto-load-scripts" commands have been deprecated, use their
4303 "info auto-load python-scripts", "set auto-load python-scripts on|off"
4304 and "show auto-load python-scripts" counterparts instead.
4305
4306 ** "dprintf location,format,args..." creates a dynamic printf, which
4307 is basically a breakpoint that does a printf and immediately
4308 resumes your program's execution, so it is like a printf that you
4309 can insert dynamically at runtime instead of at compiletime.
4310
4311 ** "set print symbol"
4312 "show print symbol"
4313 Controls whether GDB attempts to display the symbol, if any,
4314 corresponding to addresses it prints. This defaults to "on", but
4315 you can set it to "off" to restore GDB's previous behavior.
4316
4317 * Deprecated commands
4318
4319 ** For the Renesas Super-H architecture, the "regs" command has been
4320 deprecated, and "info all-registers" should be used instead.
4321
4322 * New targets
4323
4324 Renesas RL78 rl78-*-elf
4325 HP OpenVMS ia64 ia64-hp-openvms*
4326
4327 * GDBserver supports evaluation of breakpoint conditions. When
4328 support is advertised by GDBserver, GDB may be told to send the
4329 breakpoint conditions in bytecode form to GDBserver. GDBserver
4330 will only report the breakpoint trigger to GDB when its condition
4331 evaluates to true.
4332
4333 * New options
4334
4335 set mips compression
4336 show mips compression
4337 Select the compressed ISA encoding used in functions that have no symbol
4338 information available. The encoding can be set to either of:
4339 mips16
4340 micromips
4341 and is updated automatically from ELF file flags if available.
4342
4343 set breakpoint condition-evaluation
4344 show breakpoint condition-evaluation
4345 Control whether breakpoint conditions are evaluated by GDB ("host") or by
4346 GDBserver ("target"). Default option "auto" chooses the most efficient
4347 available mode.
4348 This option can improve debugger efficiency depending on the speed of the
4349 target.
4350
4351 set auto-load off
4352 Disable auto-loading globally.
4353
4354 show auto-load
4355 Show auto-loading setting of all kinds of auto-loaded files.
4356
4357 set auto-load gdb-scripts on|off
4358 show auto-load gdb-scripts
4359 Control auto-loading of GDB canned sequences of commands files.
4360
4361 set auto-load python-scripts on|off
4362 show auto-load python-scripts
4363 Control auto-loading of Python script files.
4364
4365 set auto-load local-gdbinit on|off
4366 show auto-load local-gdbinit
4367 Control loading of init file (.gdbinit) from current directory.
4368
4369 set auto-load libthread-db on|off
4370 show auto-load libthread-db
4371 Control auto-loading of inferior specific thread debugging shared library.
4372
4373 set auto-load scripts-directory <dir1>[:<dir2>...]
4374 show auto-load scripts-directory
4375 Set a list of directories from which to load auto-loaded scripts.
4376 Automatically loaded Python scripts and GDB scripts are located in one
4377 of the directories listed by this option.
4378 The delimiter (':' above) may differ according to the host platform.
4379
4380 set auto-load safe-path <dir1>[:<dir2>...]
4381 show auto-load safe-path
4382 Set a list of directories from which it is safe to auto-load files.
4383 The delimiter (':' above) may differ according to the host platform.
4384
4385 set debug auto-load on|off
4386 show debug auto-load
4387 Control display of debugging info for auto-loading the files above.
4388
4389 set dprintf-style gdb|call|agent
4390 show dprintf-style
4391 Control the way in which a dynamic printf is performed; "gdb"
4392 requests a GDB printf command, while "call" causes dprintf to call a
4393 function in the inferior. "agent" requests that the target agent
4394 (such as GDBserver) do the printing.
4395
4396 set dprintf-function <expr>
4397 show dprintf-function
4398 set dprintf-channel <expr>
4399 show dprintf-channel
4400 Set the function and optional first argument to the call when using
4401 the "call" style of dynamic printf.
4402
4403 set disconnected-dprintf on|off
4404 show disconnected-dprintf
4405 Control whether agent-style dynamic printfs continue to be in effect
4406 after GDB disconnects.
4407
4408 * New configure options
4409
4410 --with-auto-load-dir
4411 Configure default value for the 'set auto-load scripts-directory'
4412 setting above. It defaults to '$debugdir:$datadir/auto-load',
4413 $debugdir representing global debugging info directories (available
4414 via 'show debug-file-directory') and $datadir representing GDB's data
4415 directory (available via 'show data-directory').
4416
4417 --with-auto-load-safe-path
4418 Configure default value for the 'set auto-load safe-path' setting
4419 above. It defaults to the --with-auto-load-dir setting.
4420
4421 --without-auto-load-safe-path
4422 Set 'set auto-load safe-path' to '/', effectively disabling this
4423 security feature.
4424
4425 * New remote packets
4426
4427 z0/z1 conditional breakpoints extension
4428
4429 The z0/z1 breakpoint insertion packets have been extended to carry
4430 a list of conditional expressions over to the remote stub depending on the
4431 condition evaluation mode. The use of this extension can be controlled
4432 via the "set remote conditional-breakpoints-packet" command.
4433
4434 QProgramSignals:
4435
4436 Specify the signals which the remote stub may pass to the debugged
4437 program without GDB involvement.
4438
4439 * New command line options
4440
4441 --init-command=FILE, -ix Like --command, -x but execute it
4442 before loading inferior.
4443 --init-eval-command=COMMAND, -iex Like --eval-command=COMMAND, -ex but
4444 execute it before loading inferior.
4445
4446 *** Changes in GDB 7.4
4447
4448 * GDB now handles ambiguous linespecs more consistently; the existing
4449 FILE:LINE support has been expanded to other types of linespecs. A
4450 breakpoint will now be set on all matching locations in all
4451 inferiors, and locations will be added or removed according to
4452 inferior changes.
4453
4454 * GDB now allows you to skip uninteresting functions and files when
4455 stepping with the "skip function" and "skip file" commands.
4456
4457 * GDB has two new commands: "set remote hardware-watchpoint-length-limit"
4458 and "show remote hardware-watchpoint-length-limit". These allows to
4459 set or show the maximum length limit (in bytes) of a remote
4460 target hardware watchpoint.
4461
4462 This allows e.g. to use "unlimited" hardware watchpoints with the
4463 gdbserver integrated in Valgrind version >= 3.7.0. Such Valgrind
4464 watchpoints are slower than real hardware watchpoints but are
4465 significantly faster than gdb software watchpoints.
4466
4467 * Python scripting
4468
4469 ** The register_pretty_printer function in module gdb.printing now takes
4470 an optional `replace' argument. If True, the new printer replaces any
4471 existing one.
4472
4473 ** The "maint set python print-stack on|off" command has been
4474 deprecated and will be deleted in GDB 7.5.
4475 A new command: "set python print-stack none|full|message" has
4476 replaced it. Additionally, the default for "print-stack" is
4477 now "message", which just prints the error message without
4478 the stack trace.
4479
4480 ** A prompt substitution hook (prompt_hook) is now available to the
4481 Python API.
4482
4483 ** A new Python module, gdb.prompt has been added to the GDB Python
4484 modules library. This module provides functionality for
4485 escape sequences in prompts (used by set/show
4486 extended-prompt). These escape sequences are replaced by their
4487 corresponding value.
4488
4489 ** Python commands and convenience-functions located in
4490 'data-directory'/python/gdb/command and
4491 'data-directory'/python/gdb/function are now automatically loaded
4492 on GDB start-up.
4493
4494 ** Blocks now provide four new attributes. global_block and
4495 static_block will return the global and static blocks
4496 respectively. is_static and is_global are boolean attributes
4497 that indicate if the block is one of those two types.
4498
4499 ** Symbols now provide the "type" attribute, the type of the symbol.
4500
4501 ** The "gdb.breakpoint" function has been deprecated in favor of
4502 "gdb.breakpoints".
4503
4504 ** A new class "gdb.FinishBreakpoint" is provided to catch the return
4505 of a function. This class is based on the "finish" command
4506 available in the CLI.
4507
4508 ** Type objects for struct and union types now allow access to
4509 the fields using standard Python dictionary (mapping) methods.
4510 For example, "some_type['myfield']" now works, as does
4511 "some_type.items()".
4512
4513 ** A new event "gdb.new_objfile" has been added, triggered by loading a
4514 new object file.
4515
4516 ** A new function, "deep_items" has been added to the gdb.types
4517 module in the GDB Python modules library. This function returns
4518 an iterator over the fields of a struct or union type. Unlike
4519 the standard Python "iteritems" method, it will recursively traverse
4520 any anonymous fields.
4521
4522 * MI changes
4523
4524 ** "*stopped" events can report several new "reason"s, such as
4525 "solib-event".
4526
4527 ** Breakpoint changes are now notified using new async records, like
4528 "=breakpoint-modified".
4529
4530 ** New command -ada-task-info.
4531
4532 * libthread-db-search-path now supports two special values: $sdir and $pdir.
4533 $sdir specifies the default system locations of shared libraries.
4534 $pdir specifies the directory where the libpthread used by the application
4535 lives.
4536
4537 GDB no longer looks in $sdir and $pdir after it has searched the directories
4538 mentioned in libthread-db-search-path. If you want to search those
4539 directories, they must be specified in libthread-db-search-path.
4540 The default value of libthread-db-search-path on GNU/Linux and Solaris
4541 systems is now "$sdir:$pdir".
4542
4543 $pdir is not supported by gdbserver, it is currently ignored.
4544 $sdir is supported by gdbserver.
4545
4546 * New configure option --with-iconv-bin.
4547 When using the internationalization support like the one in the GNU C
4548 library, GDB will invoke the "iconv" program to get a list of supported
4549 character sets. If this program lives in a non-standard location, one can
4550 use this option to specify where to find it.
4551
4552 * When natively debugging programs on PowerPC BookE processors running
4553 a Linux kernel version 2.6.34 or later, GDB supports masked hardware
4554 watchpoints, which specify a mask in addition to an address to watch.
4555 The mask specifies that some bits of an address (the bits which are
4556 reset in the mask) should be ignored when matching the address accessed
4557 by the inferior against the watchpoint address. See the "PowerPC Embedded"
4558 section in the user manual for more details.
4559
4560 * The new option --once causes GDBserver to stop listening for connections once
4561 the first connection is made. The listening port used by GDBserver will
4562 become available after that.
4563
4564 * New commands "info macros" and "alias" have been added.
4565
4566 * New function parameters suffix @entry specifies value of function parameter
4567 at the time the function got called. Entry values are available only since
4568 gcc version 4.7.
4569
4570 * New commands
4571
4572 !SHELL COMMAND
4573 "!" is now an alias of the "shell" command.
4574 Note that no space is needed between "!" and SHELL COMMAND.
4575
4576 * Changed commands
4577
4578 watch EXPRESSION mask MASK_VALUE
4579 The watch command now supports the mask argument which allows creation
4580 of masked watchpoints, if the current architecture supports this feature.
4581
4582 info auto-load-scripts [REGEXP]
4583 This command was formerly named "maintenance print section-scripts".
4584 It is now generally useful and is no longer a maintenance-only command.
4585
4586 info macro [-all] [--] MACRO
4587 The info macro command has new options `-all' and `--'. The first for
4588 printing all definitions of a macro. The second for explicitly specifying
4589 the end of arguments and the beginning of the macro name in case the macro
4590 name starts with a hyphen.
4591
4592 collect[/s] EXPRESSIONS
4593 The tracepoint collect command now takes an optional modifier "/s"
4594 that directs it to dereference pointer-to-character types and
4595 collect the bytes of memory up to a zero byte. The behavior is
4596 similar to what you see when you use the regular print command on a
4597 string. An optional integer following the "/s" sets a bound on the
4598 number of bytes that will be collected.
4599
4600 tstart [NOTES]
4601 The trace start command now interprets any supplied arguments as a
4602 note to be recorded with the trace run, with an effect similar to
4603 setting the variable trace-notes.
4604
4605 tstop [NOTES]
4606 The trace stop command now interprets any arguments as a note to be
4607 mentioned along with the tstatus report that the trace was stopped
4608 with a command. The effect is similar to setting the variable
4609 trace-stop-notes.
4610
4611 * Tracepoints can now be enabled and disabled at any time after a trace
4612 experiment has been started using the standard "enable" and "disable"
4613 commands. It is now possible to start a trace experiment with no enabled
4614 tracepoints; GDB will display a warning, but will allow the experiment to
4615 begin, assuming that tracepoints will be enabled as needed while the trace
4616 is running.
4617
4618 * Fast tracepoints on 32-bit x86-architectures can now be placed at
4619 locations with 4-byte instructions, when they were previously
4620 limited to locations with instructions of 5 bytes or longer.
4621
4622 * New options
4623
4624 set debug dwarf2-read
4625 show debug dwarf2-read
4626 Turns on or off display of debugging messages related to reading
4627 DWARF debug info. The default is off.
4628
4629 set debug symtab-create
4630 show debug symtab-create
4631 Turns on or off display of debugging messages related to symbol table
4632 creation. The default is off.
4633
4634 set extended-prompt
4635 show extended-prompt
4636 Set the GDB prompt, and allow escape sequences to be inserted to
4637 display miscellaneous information (see 'help set extended-prompt'
4638 for the list of sequences). This prompt (and any information
4639 accessed through the escape sequences) is updated every time the
4640 prompt is displayed.
4641
4642 set print entry-values (both|compact|default|if-needed|no|only|preferred)
4643 show print entry-values
4644 Set printing of frame argument values at function entry. In some cases
4645 GDB can determine the value of function argument which was passed by the
4646 function caller, even if the value was modified inside the called function.
4647
4648 set debug entry-values
4649 show debug entry-values
4650 Control display of debugging info for determining frame argument values at
4651 function entry and virtual tail call frames.
4652
4653 set basenames-may-differ
4654 show basenames-may-differ
4655 Set whether a source file may have multiple base names.
4656 (A "base name" is the name of a file with the directory part removed.
4657 Example: The base name of "/home/user/hello.c" is "hello.c".)
4658 If set, GDB will canonicalize file names (e.g., expand symlinks)
4659 before comparing them. Canonicalization is an expensive operation,
4660 but it allows the same file be known by more than one base name.
4661 If not set (the default), all source files are assumed to have just
4662 one base name, and gdb will do file name comparisons more efficiently.
4663
4664 set trace-user
4665 show trace-user
4666 set trace-notes
4667 show trace-notes
4668 Set a user name and notes for the current and any future trace runs.
4669 This is useful for long-running and/or disconnected traces, to
4670 inform others (or yourself) as to who is running the trace, supply
4671 contact information, or otherwise explain what is going on.
4672
4673 set trace-stop-notes
4674 show trace-stop-notes
4675 Set a note attached to the trace run, that is displayed when the
4676 trace has been stopped by a tstop command. This is useful for
4677 instance as an explanation, if you are stopping a trace run that was
4678 started by someone else.
4679
4680 * New remote packets
4681
4682 QTEnable
4683
4684 Dynamically enable a tracepoint in a started trace experiment.
4685
4686 QTDisable
4687
4688 Dynamically disable a tracepoint in a started trace experiment.
4689
4690 QTNotes
4691
4692 Set the user and notes of the trace run.
4693
4694 qTP
4695
4696 Query the current status of a tracepoint.
4697
4698 qTMinFTPILen
4699
4700 Query the minimum length of instruction at which a fast tracepoint may
4701 be placed.
4702
4703 * Dcache size (number of lines) and line-size are now runtime-configurable
4704 via "set dcache line" and "set dcache line-size" commands.
4705
4706 * New targets
4707
4708 Texas Instruments TMS320C6x tic6x-*-*
4709
4710 * New Simulators
4711
4712 Renesas RL78 rl78-*-elf
4713
4714 *** Changes in GDB 7.3.1
4715
4716 * The build failure for NetBSD and OpenBSD targets have now been fixed.
4717
4718 *** Changes in GDB 7.3
4719
4720 * GDB has a new command: "thread find [REGEXP]".
4721 It finds the thread id whose name, target id, or thread extra info
4722 matches the given regular expression.
4723
4724 * The "catch syscall" command now works on mips*-linux* targets.
4725
4726 * The -data-disassemble MI command now supports modes 2 and 3 for
4727 dumping the instruction opcodes.
4728
4729 * New command line options
4730
4731 -data-directory DIR Specify DIR as the "data-directory".
4732 This is mostly for testing purposes.
4733
4734 * The "maint set python auto-load on|off" command has been renamed to
4735 "set auto-load-scripts on|off".
4736
4737 * GDB has a new command: "set directories".
4738 It is like the "dir" command except that it replaces the
4739 source path list instead of augmenting it.
4740
4741 * GDB now understands thread names.
4742
4743 On GNU/Linux, "info threads" will display the thread name as set by
4744 prctl or pthread_setname_np.
4745
4746 There is also a new command, "thread name", which can be used to
4747 assign a name internally for GDB to display.
4748
4749 * OpenCL C
4750 Initial support for the OpenCL C language (http://www.khronos.org/opencl)
4751 has been integrated into GDB.
4752
4753 * Python scripting
4754
4755 ** The function gdb.Write now accepts an optional keyword 'stream'.
4756 This keyword, when provided, will direct the output to either
4757 stdout, stderr, or GDB's logging output.
4758
4759 ** Parameters can now be be sub-classed in Python, and in particular
4760 you may implement the get_set_doc and get_show_doc functions.
4761 This improves how Parameter set/show documentation is processed
4762 and allows for more dynamic content.
4763
4764 ** Symbols, Symbol Table, Symbol Table and Line, Object Files,
4765 Inferior, Inferior Thread, Blocks, and Block Iterator APIs now
4766 have an is_valid method.
4767
4768 ** Breakpoints can now be sub-classed in Python, and in particular
4769 you may implement a 'stop' function that is executed each time
4770 the inferior reaches that breakpoint.
4771
4772 ** New function gdb.lookup_global_symbol looks up a global symbol.
4773
4774 ** GDB values in Python are now callable if the value represents a
4775 function. For example, if 'some_value' represents a function that
4776 takes two integer parameters and returns a value, you can call
4777 that function like so:
4778
4779 result = some_value (10,20)
4780
4781 ** Module gdb.types has been added.
4782 It contains a collection of utilities for working with gdb.Types objects:
4783 get_basic_type, has_field, make_enum_dict.
4784
4785 ** Module gdb.printing has been added.
4786 It contains utilities for writing and registering pretty-printers.
4787 New classes: PrettyPrinter, SubPrettyPrinter,
4788 RegexpCollectionPrettyPrinter.
4789 New function: register_pretty_printer.
4790
4791 ** New commands "info pretty-printers", "enable pretty-printer" and
4792 "disable pretty-printer" have been added.
4793
4794 ** gdb.parameter("directories") is now available.
4795
4796 ** New function gdb.newest_frame returns the newest frame in the
4797 selected thread.
4798
4799 ** The gdb.InferiorThread class has a new "name" attribute. This
4800 holds the thread's name.
4801
4802 ** Python Support for Inferior events.
4803 Python scripts can add observers to be notified of events
4804 occurring in the process being debugged.
4805 The following events are currently supported:
4806 - gdb.events.cont Continue event.
4807 - gdb.events.exited Inferior exited event.
4808 - gdb.events.stop Signal received, and Breakpoint hit events.
4809
4810 * C++ Improvements:
4811
4812 ** GDB now puts template parameters in scope when debugging in an
4813 instantiation. For example, if you have:
4814
4815 template<int X> int func (void) { return X; }
4816
4817 then if you step into func<5>, "print X" will show "5". This
4818 feature requires proper debuginfo support from the compiler; it
4819 was added to GCC 4.5.
4820
4821 ** The motion commands "next", "finish", "until", and "advance" now
4822 work better when exceptions are thrown. In particular, GDB will
4823 no longer lose control of the inferior; instead, the GDB will
4824 stop the inferior at the point at which the exception is caught.
4825 This functionality requires a change in the exception handling
4826 code that was introduced in GCC 4.5.
4827
4828 * GDB now follows GCC's rules on accessing volatile objects when
4829 reading or writing target state during expression evaluation.
4830 One notable difference to prior behavior is that "print x = 0"
4831 no longer generates a read of x; the value of the assignment is
4832 now always taken directly from the value being assigned.
4833
4834 * GDB now has some support for using labels in the program's source in
4835 linespecs. For instance, you can use "advance label" to continue
4836 execution to a label.
4837
4838 * GDB now has support for reading and writing a new .gdb_index
4839 section. This section holds a fast index of DWARF debugging
4840 information and can be used to greatly speed up GDB startup and
4841 operation. See the documentation for `save gdb-index' for details.
4842
4843 * The "watch" command now accepts an optional "-location" argument.
4844 When used, this causes GDB to watch the memory referred to by the
4845 expression. Such a watchpoint is never deleted due to it going out
4846 of scope.
4847
4848 * GDB now supports thread debugging of core dumps on GNU/Linux.
4849
4850 GDB now activates thread debugging using the libthread_db library
4851 when debugging GNU/Linux core dumps, similarly to when debugging
4852 live processes. As a result, when debugging a core dump file, GDB
4853 is now able to display pthread_t ids of threads. For example, "info
4854 threads" shows the same output as when debugging the process when it
4855 was live. In earlier releases, you'd see something like this:
4856
4857 (gdb) info threads
4858 * 1 LWP 6780 main () at main.c:10
4859
4860 While now you see this:
4861
4862 (gdb) info threads
4863 * 1 Thread 0x7f0f5712a700 (LWP 6780) main () at main.c:10
4864
4865 It is also now possible to inspect TLS variables when debugging core
4866 dumps.
4867
4868 When debugging a core dump generated on a machine other than the one
4869 used to run GDB, you may need to point GDB at the correct
4870 libthread_db library with the "set libthread-db-search-path"
4871 command. See the user manual for more details on this command.
4872
4873 * When natively debugging programs on PowerPC BookE processors running
4874 a Linux kernel version 2.6.34 or later, GDB supports ranged breakpoints,
4875 which stop execution of the inferior whenever it executes an instruction
4876 at any address within the specified range. See the "PowerPC Embedded"
4877 section in the user manual for more details.
4878
4879 * New features in the GDB remote stub, GDBserver
4880
4881 ** GDBserver is now supported on PowerPC LynxOS (versions 4.x and 5.x),
4882 and i686 LynxOS (version 5.x).
4883
4884 ** GDBserver is now supported on Blackfin Linux.
4885
4886 * New native configurations
4887
4888 ia64 HP-UX ia64-*-hpux*
4889
4890 * New targets:
4891
4892 Analog Devices, Inc. Blackfin Processor bfin-*
4893
4894 * Ada task switching is now supported on sparc-elf targets when
4895 debugging a program using the Ravenscar Profile. For more information,
4896 see the "Tasking Support when using the Ravenscar Profile" section
4897 in the GDB user manual.
4898
4899 * Guile support was removed.
4900
4901 * New features in the GNU simulator
4902
4903 ** The --map-info flag lists all known core mappings.
4904
4905 ** CFI flashes may be simulated via the "cfi" device.
4906
4907 *** Changes in GDB 7.2
4908
4909 * Shared library support for remote targets by default
4910
4911 When GDB is configured for a generic, non-OS specific target, like
4912 for example, --target=arm-eabi or one of the many *-*-elf targets,
4913 GDB now queries remote stubs for loaded shared libraries using the
4914 `qXfer:libraries:read' packet. Previously, shared library support
4915 was always disabled for such configurations.
4916
4917 * C++ Improvements:
4918
4919 ** Argument Dependent Lookup (ADL)
4920
4921 In C++ ADL lookup directs function search to the namespaces of its
4922 arguments even if the namespace has not been imported.
4923 For example:
4924 namespace A
4925 {
4926 class B { };
4927 void foo (B) { }
4928 }
4929 ...
4930 A::B b
4931 foo(b)
4932 Here the compiler will search for `foo' in the namespace of 'b'
4933 and find A::foo. GDB now supports this. This construct is commonly
4934 used in the Standard Template Library for operators.
4935
4936 ** Improved User Defined Operator Support
4937
4938 In addition to member operators, GDB now supports lookup of operators
4939 defined in a namespace and imported with a `using' directive, operators
4940 defined in the global scope, operators imported implicitly from an
4941 anonymous namespace, and the ADL operators mentioned in the previous
4942 entry.
4943 GDB now also supports proper overload resolution for all the previously
4944 mentioned flavors of operators.
4945
4946 ** static const class members
4947
4948 Printing of static const class members that are initialized in the
4949 class definition has been fixed.
4950
4951 * Windows Thread Information Block access.
4952
4953 On Windows targets, GDB now supports displaying the Windows Thread
4954 Information Block (TIB) structure. This structure is visible either
4955 by using the new command `info w32 thread-information-block' or, by
4956 dereferencing the new convenience variable named `$_tlb', a
4957 thread-specific pointer to the TIB. This feature is also supported
4958 when remote debugging using GDBserver.
4959
4960 * Static tracepoints
4961
4962 Static tracepoints are calls in the user program into a tracing
4963 library. One such library is a port of the LTTng kernel tracer to
4964 userspace --- UST (LTTng Userspace Tracer, http://lttng.org/ust).
4965 When debugging with GDBserver, GDB now supports combining the GDB
4966 tracepoint machinery with such libraries. For example: the user can
4967 use GDB to probe a static tracepoint marker (a call from the user
4968 program into the tracing library) with the new "strace" command (see
4969 "New commands" below). This creates a "static tracepoint" in the
4970 breakpoint list, that can be manipulated with the same feature set
4971 as fast and regular tracepoints. E.g., collect registers, local and
4972 global variables, collect trace state variables, and define
4973 tracepoint conditions. In addition, the user can collect extra
4974 static tracepoint marker specific data, by collecting the new
4975 $_sdata internal variable. When analyzing the trace buffer, you can
4976 inspect $_sdata like any other variable available to GDB. For more
4977 information, see the "Tracepoints" chapter in GDB user manual. New
4978 remote packets have been defined to support static tracepoints, see
4979 the "New remote packets" section below.
4980
4981 * Better reconstruction of tracepoints after disconnected tracing
4982
4983 GDB will attempt to download the original source form of tracepoint
4984 definitions when starting a trace run, and then will upload these
4985 upon reconnection to the target, resulting in a more accurate
4986 reconstruction of the tracepoints that are in use on the target.
4987
4988 * Observer mode
4989
4990 You can now exercise direct control over the ways that GDB can
4991 affect your program. For instance, you can disallow the setting of
4992 breakpoints, so that the program can run continuously (assuming
4993 non-stop mode). In addition, the "observer" variable is available
4994 to switch all of the different controls; in observer mode, GDB
4995 cannot affect the target's behavior at all, which is useful for
4996 tasks like diagnosing live systems in the field.
4997
4998 * The new convenience variable $_thread holds the number of the
4999 current thread.
5000
5001 * New remote packets
5002
5003 qGetTIBAddr
5004
5005 Return the address of the Windows Thread Information Block of a given thread.
5006
5007 qRelocInsn
5008
5009 In response to several of the tracepoint packets, the target may now
5010 also respond with a number of intermediate `qRelocInsn' request
5011 packets before the final result packet, to have GDB handle
5012 relocating an instruction to execute at a different address. This
5013 is particularly useful for stubs that support fast tracepoints. GDB
5014 reports support for this feature in the qSupported packet.
5015
5016 qTfSTM, qTsSTM
5017
5018 List static tracepoint markers in the target program.
5019
5020 qTSTMat
5021
5022 List static tracepoint markers at a given address in the target
5023 program.
5024
5025 qXfer:statictrace:read
5026
5027 Read the static trace data collected (by a `collect $_sdata'
5028 tracepoint action). The remote stub reports support for this packet
5029 to gdb's qSupported query.
5030
5031 QAllow
5032
5033 Send the current settings of GDB's permission flags.
5034
5035 QTDPsrc
5036
5037 Send part of the source (textual) form of a tracepoint definition,
5038 which includes location, conditional, and action list.
5039
5040 * The source command now accepts a -s option to force searching for the
5041 script in the source search path even if the script name specifies
5042 a directory.
5043
5044 * New features in the GDB remote stub, GDBserver
5045
5046 - GDBserver now support tracepoints (including fast tracepoints, and
5047 static tracepoints). The feature is currently supported by the
5048 i386-linux and amd64-linux builds. See the "Tracepoints support
5049 in gdbserver" section in the manual for more information.
5050
5051 GDBserver JIT compiles the tracepoint's conditional agent
5052 expression bytecode into native code whenever possible for low
5053 overhead dynamic tracepoints conditionals. For such tracepoints,
5054 an expression that examines program state is evaluated when the
5055 tracepoint is reached, in order to determine whether to capture
5056 trace data. If the condition is simple and false, processing the
5057 tracepoint finishes very quickly and no data is gathered.
5058
5059 GDBserver interfaces with the UST (LTTng Userspace Tracer) library
5060 for static tracepoints support.
5061
5062 - GDBserver now supports x86_64 Windows 64-bit debugging.
5063
5064 * GDB now sends xmlRegisters= in qSupported packet to indicate that
5065 it understands register description.
5066
5067 * The --batch flag now disables pagination and queries.
5068
5069 * X86 general purpose registers
5070
5071 GDB now supports reading/writing byte, word and double-word x86
5072 general purpose registers directly. This means you can use, say,
5073 $ah or $ax to refer, respectively, to the byte register AH and
5074 16-bit word register AX that are actually portions of the 32-bit
5075 register EAX or 64-bit register RAX.
5076
5077 * The `commands' command now accepts a range of breakpoints to modify.
5078 A plain `commands' following a command that creates multiple
5079 breakpoints affects all the breakpoints set by that command. This
5080 applies to breakpoints set by `rbreak', and also applies when a
5081 single `break' command creates multiple breakpoints (e.g.,
5082 breakpoints on overloaded c++ functions).
5083
5084 * The `rbreak' command now accepts a filename specification as part of
5085 its argument, limiting the functions selected by the regex to those
5086 in the specified file.
5087
5088 * Support for remote debugging Windows and SymbianOS shared libraries
5089 from Unix hosts has been improved. Non Windows GDB builds now can
5090 understand target reported file names that follow MS-DOS based file
5091 system semantics, such as file names that include drive letters and
5092 use the backslash character as directory separator. This makes it
5093 possible to transparently use the "set sysroot" and "set
5094 solib-search-path" on Unix hosts to point as host copies of the
5095 target's shared libraries. See the new command "set
5096 target-file-system-kind" described below, and the "Commands to
5097 specify files" section in the user manual for more information.
5098
5099 * New commands
5100
5101 eval template, expressions...
5102 Convert the values of one or more expressions under the control
5103 of the string template to a command line, and call it.
5104
5105 set target-file-system-kind unix|dos-based|auto
5106 show target-file-system-kind
5107 Set or show the assumed file system kind for target reported file
5108 names.
5109
5110 save breakpoints <filename>
5111 Save all current breakpoint definitions to a file suitable for use
5112 in a later debugging session. To read the saved breakpoint
5113 definitions, use the `source' command.
5114
5115 `save tracepoints' is a new alias for `save-tracepoints'. The latter
5116 is now deprecated.
5117
5118 info static-tracepoint-markers
5119 Display information about static tracepoint markers in the target.
5120
5121 strace FN | FILE:LINE | *ADDR | -m MARKER_ID
5122 Define a static tracepoint by probing a marker at the given
5123 function, line, address, or marker ID.
5124
5125 set observer on|off
5126 show observer
5127 Enable and disable observer mode.
5128
5129 set may-write-registers on|off
5130 set may-write-memory on|off
5131 set may-insert-breakpoints on|off
5132 set may-insert-tracepoints on|off
5133 set may-insert-fast-tracepoints on|off
5134 set may-interrupt on|off
5135 Set individual permissions for GDB effects on the target. Note that
5136 some of these settings can have undesirable or surprising
5137 consequences, particularly when changed in the middle of a session.
5138 For instance, disabling the writing of memory can prevent
5139 breakpoints from being inserted, cause single-stepping to fail, or
5140 even crash your program, if you disable after breakpoints have been
5141 inserted. However, GDB should not crash.
5142
5143 set record memory-query on|off
5144 show record memory-query
5145 Control whether to stop the inferior if memory changes caused
5146 by an instruction cannot be recorded.
5147
5148 * Changed commands
5149
5150 disassemble
5151 The disassemble command now supports "start,+length" form of two arguments.
5152
5153 * Python scripting
5154
5155 ** GDB now provides a new directory location, called the python directory,
5156 where Python scripts written for GDB can be installed. The location
5157 of that directory is <data-directory>/python, where <data-directory>
5158 is the GDB data directory. For more details, see section `Scripting
5159 GDB using Python' in the manual.
5160
5161 ** The GDB Python API now has access to breakpoints, symbols, symbol
5162 tables, program spaces, inferiors, threads and frame's code blocks.
5163 Additionally, GDB Parameters can now be created from the API, and
5164 manipulated via set/show in the CLI.
5165
5166 ** New functions gdb.target_charset, gdb.target_wide_charset,
5167 gdb.progspaces, gdb.current_progspace, and gdb.string_to_argv.
5168
5169 ** New exception gdb.GdbError.
5170
5171 ** Pretty-printers are now also looked up in the current program space.
5172
5173 ** Pretty-printers can now be individually enabled and disabled.
5174
5175 ** GDB now looks for names of Python scripts to auto-load in a
5176 special section named `.debug_gdb_scripts', in addition to looking
5177 for a OBJFILE-gdb.py script when OBJFILE is read by the debugger.
5178
5179 * Tracepoint actions were unified with breakpoint commands. In particular,
5180 there are no longer differences in "info break" output for breakpoints and
5181 tracepoints and the "commands" command can be used for both tracepoints and
5182 regular breakpoints.
5183
5184 * New targets
5185
5186 ARM Symbian arm*-*-symbianelf*
5187
5188 * D language support.
5189 GDB now supports debugging programs written in the D programming
5190 language.
5191
5192 * GDB now supports the extended ptrace interface for PowerPC which is
5193 available since Linux kernel version 2.6.34. This automatically enables
5194 any hardware breakpoints and additional hardware watchpoints available in
5195 the processor. The old ptrace interface exposes just one hardware
5196 watchpoint and no hardware breakpoints.
5197
5198 * GDB is now able to use the Data Value Compare (DVC) register available on
5199 embedded PowerPC processors to implement in hardware simple watchpoint
5200 conditions of the form:
5201
5202 watch ADDRESS|VARIABLE if ADDRESS|VARIABLE == CONSTANT EXPRESSION
5203
5204 This works in native GDB running on Linux kernels with the extended ptrace
5205 interface mentioned above.
5206
5207 *** Changes in GDB 7.1
5208
5209 * C++ Improvements
5210
5211 ** Namespace Support
5212
5213 GDB now supports importing of namespaces in C++. This enables the
5214 user to inspect variables from imported namespaces. Support for
5215 namepace aliasing has also been added. So, if a namespace is
5216 aliased in the current scope (e.g. namepace C=A; ) the user can
5217 print variables using the alias (e.g. (gdb) print C::x).
5218
5219 ** Bug Fixes
5220
5221 All known bugs relating to the printing of virtual base class were
5222 fixed. It is now possible to call overloaded static methods using a
5223 qualified name.
5224
5225 ** Cast Operators
5226
5227 The C++ cast operators static_cast<>, dynamic_cast<>, const_cast<>,
5228 and reinterpret_cast<> are now handled by the C++ expression parser.
5229
5230 * New targets
5231
5232 Xilinx MicroBlaze microblaze-*-*
5233 Renesas RX rx-*-elf
5234
5235 * New Simulators
5236
5237 Xilinx MicroBlaze microblaze
5238 Renesas RX rx
5239
5240 * Multi-program debugging.
5241
5242 GDB now has support for multi-program (a.k.a. multi-executable or
5243 multi-exec) debugging. This allows for debugging multiple inferiors
5244 simultaneously each running a different program under the same GDB
5245 session. See "Debugging Multiple Inferiors and Programs" in the
5246 manual for more information. This implied some user visible changes
5247 in the multi-inferior support. For example, "info inferiors" now
5248 lists inferiors that are not running yet or that have exited
5249 already. See also "New commands" and "New options" below.
5250
5251 * New tracing features
5252
5253 GDB's tracepoint facility now includes several new features:
5254
5255 ** Trace state variables
5256
5257 GDB tracepoints now include support for trace state variables, which
5258 are variables managed by the target agent during a tracing
5259 experiment. They are useful for tracepoints that trigger each
5260 other, so for instance one tracepoint can count hits in a variable,
5261 and then a second tracepoint has a condition that is true when the
5262 count reaches a particular value. Trace state variables share the
5263 $-syntax of GDB convenience variables, and can appear in both
5264 tracepoint actions and condition expressions. Use the "tvariable"
5265 command to create, and "info tvariables" to view; see "Trace State
5266 Variables" in the manual for more detail.
5267
5268 ** Fast tracepoints
5269
5270 GDB now includes an option for defining fast tracepoints, which
5271 targets may implement more efficiently, such as by installing a jump
5272 into the target agent rather than a trap instruction. The resulting
5273 speedup can be by two orders of magnitude or more, although the
5274 tradeoff is that some program locations on some target architectures
5275 might not allow fast tracepoint installation, for instance if the
5276 instruction to be replaced is shorter than the jump. To request a
5277 fast tracepoint, use the "ftrace" command, with syntax identical to
5278 the regular trace command.
5279
5280 ** Disconnected tracing
5281
5282 It is now possible to detach GDB from the target while it is running
5283 a trace experiment, then reconnect later to see how the experiment
5284 is going. In addition, a new variable disconnected-tracing lets you
5285 tell the target agent whether to continue running a trace if the
5286 connection is lost unexpectedly.
5287
5288 ** Trace files
5289
5290 GDB now has the ability to save the trace buffer into a file, and
5291 then use that file as a target, similarly to you can do with
5292 corefiles. You can select trace frames, print data that was
5293 collected in them, and use tstatus to display the state of the
5294 tracing run at the moment that it was saved. To create a trace
5295 file, use "tsave <filename>", and to use it, do "target tfile
5296 <name>".
5297
5298 ** Circular trace buffer
5299
5300 You can ask the target agent to handle the trace buffer as a
5301 circular buffer, discarding the oldest trace frames to make room for
5302 newer ones, by setting circular-trace-buffer to on. This feature may
5303 not be available for all target agents.
5304
5305 * Changed commands
5306
5307 disassemble
5308 The disassemble command, when invoked with two arguments, now requires
5309 the arguments to be comma-separated.
5310
5311 info variables
5312 The info variables command now displays variable definitions. Files
5313 which only declare a variable are not shown.
5314
5315 source
5316 The source command is now capable of sourcing Python scripts.
5317 This feature is dependent on the debugger being build with Python
5318 support.
5319
5320 Related to this enhancement is also the introduction of a new command
5321 "set script-extension" (see below).
5322
5323 * New commands (for set/show, see "New options" below)
5324
5325 record save [<FILENAME>]
5326 Save a file (in core file format) containing the process record
5327 execution log for replay debugging at a later time.
5328
5329 record restore <FILENAME>
5330 Restore the process record execution log that was saved at an
5331 earlier time, for replay debugging.
5332
5333 add-inferior [-copies <N>] [-exec <FILENAME>]
5334 Add a new inferior.
5335
5336 clone-inferior [-copies <N>] [ID]
5337 Make a new inferior ready to execute the same program another
5338 inferior has loaded.
5339
5340 remove-inferior ID
5341 Remove an inferior.
5342
5343 maint info program-spaces
5344 List the program spaces loaded into GDB.
5345
5346 set remote interrupt-sequence [Ctrl-C | BREAK | BREAK-g]
5347 show remote interrupt-sequence
5348 Allow the user to select one of ^C, a BREAK signal or BREAK-g
5349 as the sequence to the remote target in order to interrupt the execution.
5350 Ctrl-C is a default. Some system prefers BREAK which is high level of
5351 serial line for some certain time. Linux kernel prefers BREAK-g, a.k.a
5352 Magic SysRq g. It is BREAK signal and character 'g'.
5353
5354 set remote interrupt-on-connect [on | off]
5355 show remote interrupt-on-connect
5356 When interrupt-on-connect is ON, gdb sends interrupt-sequence to
5357 remote target when gdb connects to it. This is needed when you debug
5358 Linux kernel.
5359
5360 set remotebreak [on | off]
5361 show remotebreak
5362 Deprecated. Use "set/show remote interrupt-sequence" instead.
5363
5364 tvariable $NAME [ = EXP ]
5365 Create or modify a trace state variable.
5366
5367 info tvariables
5368 List trace state variables and their values.
5369
5370 delete tvariable $NAME ...
5371 Delete one or more trace state variables.
5372
5373 teval EXPR, ...
5374 Evaluate the given expressions without collecting anything into the
5375 trace buffer. (Valid in tracepoint actions only.)
5376
5377 ftrace FN / FILE:LINE / *ADDR
5378 Define a fast tracepoint at the given function, line, or address.
5379
5380 * New expression syntax
5381
5382 GDB now parses the 0b prefix of binary numbers the same way as GCC does.
5383 GDB now parses 0b101010 identically with 42.
5384
5385 * New options
5386
5387 set follow-exec-mode new|same
5388 show follow-exec-mode
5389 Control whether GDB reuses the same inferior across an exec call or
5390 creates a new one. This is useful to be able to restart the old
5391 executable after the inferior having done an exec call.
5392
5393 set default-collect EXPR, ...
5394 show default-collect
5395 Define a list of expressions to be collected at each tracepoint.
5396 This is a useful way to ensure essential items are not overlooked,
5397 such as registers or a critical global variable.
5398
5399 set disconnected-tracing
5400 show disconnected-tracing
5401 If set to 1, the target is instructed to continue tracing if it
5402 loses its connection to GDB. If 0, the target is to stop tracing
5403 upon disconnection.
5404
5405 set circular-trace-buffer
5406 show circular-trace-buffer
5407 If set to on, the target is instructed to use a circular trace buffer
5408 and discard the oldest trace frames instead of stopping the trace due
5409 to a full trace buffer. If set to off, the trace stops when the buffer
5410 fills up. Some targets may not support this.
5411
5412 set script-extension off|soft|strict
5413 show script-extension
5414 If set to "off", the debugger does not perform any script language
5415 recognition, and all sourced files are assumed to be GDB scripts.
5416 If set to "soft" (the default), files are sourced according to
5417 filename extension, falling back to GDB scripts if the first
5418 evaluation failed.
5419 If set to "strict", files are sourced according to filename extension.
5420
5421 set ada trust-PAD-over-XVS on|off
5422 show ada trust-PAD-over-XVS
5423 If off, activate a workaround against a bug in the debugging information
5424 generated by the compiler for PAD types (see gcc/exp_dbug.ads in
5425 the GCC sources for more information about the GNAT encoding and
5426 PAD types in particular). It is always safe to set this option to
5427 off, but this introduces a slight performance penalty. The default
5428 is on.
5429
5430 * Python API Improvements
5431
5432 ** GDB provides the new class gdb.LazyString. This is useful in
5433 some pretty-printing cases. The new method gdb.Value.lazy_string
5434 provides a simple way to create objects of this type.
5435
5436 ** The fields returned by gdb.Type.fields now have an
5437 `is_base_class' attribute.
5438
5439 ** The new method gdb.Type.range returns the range of an array type.
5440
5441 ** The new method gdb.parse_and_eval can be used to parse and
5442 evaluate an expression.
5443
5444 * New remote packets
5445
5446 QTDV
5447 Define a trace state variable.
5448
5449 qTV
5450 Get the current value of a trace state variable.
5451
5452 QTDisconnected
5453 Set desired tracing behavior upon disconnection.
5454
5455 QTBuffer:circular
5456 Set the trace buffer to be linear or circular.
5457
5458 qTfP, qTsP
5459 Get data about the tracepoints currently in use.
5460
5461 * Bug fixes
5462
5463 Process record now works correctly with hardware watchpoints.
5464
5465 Multiple bug fixes have been made to the mips-irix port, making it
5466 much more reliable. In particular:
5467 - Debugging threaded applications is now possible again. Previously,
5468 GDB would hang while starting the program, or while waiting for
5469 the program to stop at a breakpoint.
5470 - Attaching to a running process no longer hangs.
5471 - An error occurring while loading a core file has been fixed.
5472 - Changing the value of the PC register now works again. This fixes
5473 problems observed when using the "jump" command, or when calling
5474 a function from GDB, or even when assigning a new value to $pc.
5475 - With the "finish" and "return" commands, the return value for functions
5476 returning a small array is now correctly printed.
5477 - It is now possible to break on shared library code which gets executed
5478 during a shared library init phase (code executed while executing
5479 their .init section). Previously, the breakpoint would have no effect.
5480 - GDB is now able to backtrace through the signal handler for
5481 non-threaded programs.
5482
5483 PIE (Position Independent Executable) programs debugging is now supported.
5484 This includes debugging execution of PIC (Position Independent Code) shared
5485 libraries although for that, it should be possible to run such libraries as an
5486 executable program.
5487
5488 *** Changes in GDB 7.0
5489
5490 * GDB now has an interface for JIT compilation. Applications that
5491 dynamically generate code can create symbol files in memory and register
5492 them with GDB. For users, the feature should work transparently, and
5493 for JIT developers, the interface is documented in the GDB manual in the
5494 "JIT Compilation Interface" chapter.
5495
5496 * Tracepoints may now be conditional. The syntax is as for
5497 breakpoints; either an "if" clause appended to the "trace" command,
5498 or the "condition" command is available. GDB sends the condition to
5499 the target for evaluation using the same bytecode format as is used
5500 for tracepoint actions.
5501
5502 * The disassemble command now supports: an optional /r modifier, print the
5503 raw instructions in hex as well as in symbolic form, and an optional /m
5504 modifier to print mixed source+assembly.
5505
5506 * Process record and replay
5507
5508 In a architecture environment that supports ``process record and
5509 replay'', ``process record and replay'' target can record a log of
5510 the process execution, and replay it with both forward and reverse
5511 execute commands.
5512
5513 * Reverse debugging: GDB now has new commands reverse-continue, reverse-
5514 step, reverse-next, reverse-finish, reverse-stepi, reverse-nexti, and
5515 set execution-direction {forward|reverse}, for targets that support
5516 reverse execution.
5517
5518 * GDB now supports hardware watchpoints on MIPS/Linux systems. This
5519 feature is available with a native GDB running on kernel version
5520 2.6.28 or later.
5521
5522 * GDB now has support for multi-byte and wide character sets on the
5523 target. Strings whose character type is wchar_t, char16_t, or
5524 char32_t are now correctly printed. GDB supports wide- and unicode-
5525 literals in C, that is, L'x', L"string", u'x', u"string", U'x', and
5526 U"string" syntax. And, GDB allows the "%ls" and "%lc" formats in
5527 `printf'. This feature requires iconv to work properly; if your
5528 system does not have a working iconv, GDB can use GNU libiconv. See
5529 the installation instructions for more information.
5530
5531 * GDB now supports automatic retrieval of shared library files from
5532 remote targets. To use this feature, specify a system root that begins
5533 with the `remote:' prefix, either via the `set sysroot' command or via
5534 the `--with-sysroot' configure-time option.
5535
5536 * "info sharedlibrary" now takes an optional regex of libraries to show,
5537 and it now reports if a shared library has no debugging information.
5538
5539 * Commands `set debug-file-directory', `set solib-search-path' and `set args'
5540 now complete on file names.
5541
5542 * When completing in expressions, gdb will attempt to limit
5543 completions to allowable structure or union fields, where appropriate.
5544 For instance, consider:
5545
5546 # struct example { int f1; double f2; };
5547 # struct example variable;
5548 (gdb) p variable.
5549
5550 If the user types TAB at the end of this command line, the available
5551 completions will be "f1" and "f2".
5552
5553 * Inlined functions are now supported. They show up in backtraces, and
5554 the "step", "next", and "finish" commands handle them automatically.
5555
5556 * GDB now supports the token-splicing (##) and stringification (#)
5557 operators when expanding macros. It also supports variable-arity
5558 macros.
5559
5560 * GDB now supports inspecting extra signal information, exported by
5561 the new $_siginfo convenience variable. The feature is currently
5562 implemented on linux ARM, i386 and amd64.
5563
5564 * GDB can now display the VFP floating point registers and NEON vector
5565 registers on ARM targets. Both ARM GNU/Linux native GDB and gdbserver
5566 can provide these registers (requires Linux 2.6.30 or later). Remote
5567 and simulator targets may also provide them.
5568
5569 * New remote packets
5570
5571 qSearch:memory:
5572 Search memory for a sequence of bytes.
5573
5574 QStartNoAckMode
5575 Turn off `+'/`-' protocol acknowledgments to permit more efficient
5576 operation over reliable transport links. Use of this packet is
5577 controlled by the `set remote noack-packet' command.
5578
5579 vKill
5580 Kill the process with the specified process ID. Use this in preference
5581 to `k' when multiprocess protocol extensions are supported.
5582
5583 qXfer:osdata:read
5584 Obtains additional operating system information
5585
5586 qXfer:siginfo:read
5587 qXfer:siginfo:write
5588 Read or write additional signal information.
5589
5590 * Removed remote protocol undocumented extension
5591
5592 An undocumented extension to the remote protocol's `S' stop reply
5593 packet that permitted the stub to pass a process id was removed.
5594 Remote servers should use the `T' stop reply packet instead.
5595
5596 * GDB now supports multiple function calling conventions according to the
5597 DWARF-2 DW_AT_calling_convention function attribute.
5598
5599 * The SH target utilizes the aforementioned change to distinguish between gcc
5600 and Renesas calling convention. It also adds the new CLI commands
5601 `set/show sh calling-convention'.
5602
5603 * GDB can now read compressed debug sections, as produced by GNU gold
5604 with the --compress-debug-sections=zlib flag.
5605
5606 * 64-bit core files are now supported on AIX.
5607
5608 * Thread switching is now supported on Tru64.
5609
5610 * Watchpoints can now be set on unreadable memory locations, e.g. addresses
5611 which will be allocated using malloc later in program execution.
5612
5613 * The qXfer:libraries:read remote protocol packet now allows passing a
5614 list of section offsets.
5615
5616 * On GNU/Linux, GDB can now attach to stopped processes. Several race
5617 conditions handling signals delivered during attach or thread creation
5618 have also been fixed.
5619
5620 * GDB now supports the use of DWARF boolean types for Ada's type Boolean.
5621 From the user's standpoint, all unqualified instances of True and False
5622 are treated as the standard definitions, regardless of context.
5623
5624 * GDB now parses C++ symbol and type names more flexibly. For
5625 example, given:
5626
5627 template<typename T> class C { };
5628 C<char const *> c;
5629
5630 GDB will now correctly handle all of:
5631
5632 ptype C<char const *>
5633 ptype C<char const*>
5634 ptype C<const char *>
5635 ptype C<const char*>
5636
5637 * New features in the GDB remote stub, gdbserver
5638
5639 - The "--wrapper" command-line argument tells gdbserver to use a
5640 wrapper program to launch programs for debugging.
5641
5642 - On PowerPC and S/390 targets, it is now possible to use a single
5643 gdbserver executable to debug both 32-bit and 64-bit programs.
5644 (This requires gdbserver itself to be built as a 64-bit executable.)
5645
5646 - gdbserver uses the new noack protocol mode for TCP connections to
5647 reduce communications latency, if also supported and enabled in GDB.
5648
5649 - Support for the sparc64-linux-gnu target is now included in
5650 gdbserver.
5651
5652 - The amd64-linux build of gdbserver now supports debugging both
5653 32-bit and 64-bit programs.
5654
5655 - The i386-linux, amd64-linux, and i386-win32 builds of gdbserver
5656 now support hardware watchpoints, and will use them automatically
5657 as appropriate.
5658
5659 * Python scripting
5660
5661 GDB now has support for scripting using Python. Whether this is
5662 available is determined at configure time.
5663
5664 New GDB commands can now be written in Python.
5665
5666 * Ada tasking support
5667
5668 Ada tasks can now be inspected in GDB. The following commands have
5669 been introduced:
5670
5671 info tasks
5672 Print the list of Ada tasks.
5673 info task N
5674 Print detailed information about task number N.
5675 task
5676 Print the task number of the current task.
5677 task N
5678 Switch the context of debugging to task number N.
5679
5680 * Support for user-defined prefixed commands. The "define" command can
5681 add new commands to existing prefixes, e.g. "target".
5682
5683 * Multi-inferior, multi-process debugging.
5684
5685 GDB now has generalized support for multi-inferior debugging. See
5686 "Debugging Multiple Inferiors" in the manual for more information.
5687 Although availability still depends on target support, the command
5688 set is more uniform now. The GNU/Linux specific multi-forks support
5689 has been migrated to this new framework. This implied some user
5690 visible changes; see "New commands" and also "Removed commands"
5691 below.
5692
5693 * Target descriptions can now describe the target OS ABI. See the
5694 "Target Description Format" section in the user manual for more
5695 information.
5696
5697 * Target descriptions can now describe "compatible" architectures
5698 to indicate that the target can execute applications for a different
5699 architecture in addition to those for the main target architecture.
5700 See the "Target Description Format" section in the user manual for
5701 more information.
5702
5703 * Multi-architecture debugging.
5704
5705 GDB now includes general supports for debugging applications on
5706 hybrid systems that use more than one single processor architecture
5707 at the same time. Each such hybrid architecture still requires
5708 specific support to be added. The only hybrid architecture supported
5709 in this version of GDB is the Cell Broadband Engine.
5710
5711 * GDB now supports integrated debugging of Cell/B.E. applications that
5712 use both the PPU and SPU architectures. To enable support for hybrid
5713 Cell/B.E. debugging, you need to configure GDB to support both the
5714 powerpc-linux or powerpc64-linux and the spu-elf targets, using the
5715 --enable-targets configure option.
5716
5717 * Non-stop mode debugging.
5718
5719 For some targets, GDB now supports an optional mode of operation in
5720 which you can examine stopped threads while other threads continue
5721 to execute freely. This is referred to as non-stop mode, with the
5722 old mode referred to as all-stop mode. See the "Non-Stop Mode"
5723 section in the user manual for more information.
5724
5725 To be able to support remote non-stop debugging, a remote stub needs
5726 to implement the non-stop mode remote protocol extensions, as
5727 described in the "Remote Non-Stop" section of the user manual. The
5728 GDB remote stub, gdbserver, has been adjusted to support these
5729 extensions on linux targets.
5730
5731 * New commands (for set/show, see "New options" below)
5732
5733 catch syscall [NAME(S) | NUMBER(S)]
5734 Catch system calls. Arguments, which should be names of system
5735 calls or their numbers, mean catch only those syscalls. Without
5736 arguments, every syscall will be caught. When the inferior issues
5737 any of the specified syscalls, GDB will stop and announce the system
5738 call, both when it is called and when its call returns. This
5739 feature is currently available with a native GDB running on the
5740 Linux Kernel, under the following architectures: x86, x86_64,
5741 PowerPC and PowerPC64.
5742
5743 find [/size-char] [/max-count] start-address, end-address|+search-space-size,
5744 val1 [, val2, ...]
5745 Search memory for a sequence of bytes.
5746
5747 maint set python print-stack
5748 maint show python print-stack
5749 Show a stack trace when an error is encountered in a Python script.
5750
5751 python [CODE]
5752 Invoke CODE by passing it to the Python interpreter.
5753
5754 macro define
5755 macro list
5756 macro undef
5757 These allow macros to be defined, undefined, and listed
5758 interactively.
5759
5760 info os processes
5761 Show operating system information about processes.
5762
5763 info inferiors
5764 List the inferiors currently under GDB's control.
5765
5766 inferior NUM
5767 Switch focus to inferior number NUM.
5768
5769 detach inferior NUM
5770 Detach from inferior number NUM.
5771
5772 kill inferior NUM
5773 Kill inferior number NUM.
5774
5775 * New options
5776
5777 set spu stop-on-load
5778 show spu stop-on-load
5779 Control whether to stop for new SPE threads during Cell/B.E. debugging.
5780
5781 set spu auto-flush-cache
5782 show spu auto-flush-cache
5783 Control whether to automatically flush the software-managed cache
5784 during Cell/B.E. debugging.
5785
5786 set sh calling-convention
5787 show sh calling-convention
5788 Control the calling convention used when calling SH target functions.
5789
5790 set debug timestamp
5791 show debug timestamp
5792 Control display of timestamps with GDB debugging output.
5793
5794 set disassemble-next-line
5795 show disassemble-next-line
5796 Control display of disassembled source lines or instructions when
5797 the debuggee stops.
5798
5799 set remote noack-packet
5800 show remote noack-packet
5801 Set/show the use of remote protocol QStartNoAckMode packet. See above
5802 under "New remote packets."
5803
5804 set remote query-attached-packet
5805 show remote query-attached-packet
5806 Control use of remote protocol `qAttached' (query-attached) packet.
5807
5808 set remote read-siginfo-object
5809 show remote read-siginfo-object
5810 Control use of remote protocol `qXfer:siginfo:read' (read-siginfo-object)
5811 packet.
5812
5813 set remote write-siginfo-object
5814 show remote write-siginfo-object
5815 Control use of remote protocol `qXfer:siginfo:write' (write-siginfo-object)
5816 packet.
5817
5818 set remote reverse-continue
5819 show remote reverse-continue
5820 Control use of remote protocol 'bc' (reverse-continue) packet.
5821
5822 set remote reverse-step
5823 show remote reverse-step
5824 Control use of remote protocol 'bs' (reverse-step) packet.
5825
5826 set displaced-stepping
5827 show displaced-stepping
5828 Control displaced stepping mode. Displaced stepping is a way to
5829 single-step over breakpoints without removing them from the debuggee.
5830 Also known as "out-of-line single-stepping".
5831
5832 set debug displaced
5833 show debug displaced
5834 Control display of debugging info for displaced stepping.
5835
5836 maint set internal-error
5837 maint show internal-error
5838 Control what GDB does when an internal error is detected.
5839
5840 maint set internal-warning
5841 maint show internal-warning
5842 Control what GDB does when an internal warning is detected.
5843
5844 set exec-wrapper
5845 show exec-wrapper
5846 unset exec-wrapper
5847 Use a wrapper program to launch programs for debugging.
5848
5849 set multiple-symbols (all|ask|cancel)
5850 show multiple-symbols
5851 The value of this variable can be changed to adjust the debugger behavior
5852 when an expression or a breakpoint location contains an ambiguous symbol
5853 name (an overloaded function name, for instance).
5854
5855 set breakpoint always-inserted
5856 show breakpoint always-inserted
5857 Keep breakpoints always inserted in the target, as opposed to inserting
5858 them when resuming the target, and removing them when the target stops.
5859 This option can improve debugger performance on slow remote targets.
5860
5861 set arm fallback-mode (arm|thumb|auto)
5862 show arm fallback-mode
5863 set arm force-mode (arm|thumb|auto)
5864 show arm force-mode
5865 These commands control how ARM GDB determines whether instructions
5866 are ARM or Thumb. The default for both settings is auto, which uses
5867 the current CPSR value for instructions without symbols; previous
5868 versions of GDB behaved as if "set arm fallback-mode arm".
5869
5870 set arm unwind-secure-frames
5871 Enable unwinding from Non-secure to Secure mode on Cortex-M with
5872 Security extension.
5873 This can trigger security exceptions when unwinding exception stacks.
5874
5875 set disable-randomization
5876 show disable-randomization
5877 Standalone programs run with the virtual address space randomization enabled
5878 by default on some platforms. This option keeps the addresses stable across
5879 multiple debugging sessions.
5880
5881 set non-stop
5882 show non-stop
5883 Control whether other threads are stopped or not when some thread hits
5884 a breakpoint.
5885
5886 set target-async
5887 show target-async
5888 Requests that asynchronous execution is enabled in the target, if available.
5889 In this case, it's possible to resume target in the background, and interact
5890 with GDB while the target is running. "show target-async" displays the
5891 current state of asynchronous execution of the target.
5892
5893 set target-wide-charset
5894 show target-wide-charset
5895 The target-wide-charset is the name of the character set that GDB
5896 uses when printing characters whose type is wchar_t.
5897
5898 set tcp auto-retry (on|off)
5899 show tcp auto-retry
5900 set tcp connect-timeout
5901 show tcp connect-timeout
5902 These commands allow GDB to retry failed TCP connections to a remote stub
5903 with a specified timeout period; this is useful if the stub is launched
5904 in parallel with GDB but may not be ready to accept connections immediately.
5905
5906 set libthread-db-search-path
5907 show libthread-db-search-path
5908 Control list of directories which GDB will search for appropriate
5909 libthread_db.
5910
5911 set schedule-multiple (on|off)
5912 show schedule-multiple
5913 Allow GDB to resume all threads of all processes or only threads of
5914 the current process.
5915
5916 set stack-cache
5917 show stack-cache
5918 Use more aggressive caching for accesses to the stack. This improves
5919 performance of remote debugging (particularly backtraces) without
5920 affecting correctness.
5921
5922 set interactive-mode (on|off|auto)
5923 show interactive-mode
5924 Control whether GDB runs in interactive mode (on) or not (off).
5925 When in interactive mode, GDB waits for the user to answer all
5926 queries. Otherwise, GDB does not wait and assumes the default
5927 answer. When set to auto (the default), GDB determines which
5928 mode to use based on the stdin settings.
5929
5930 * Removed commands
5931
5932 info forks
5933 For program forks, this is replaced by the new more generic `info
5934 inferiors' command. To list checkpoints, you can still use the
5935 `info checkpoints' command, which was an alias for the `info forks'
5936 command.
5937
5938 fork NUM
5939 Replaced by the new `inferior' command. To switch between
5940 checkpoints, you can still use the `restart' command, which was an
5941 alias for the `fork' command.
5942
5943 process PID
5944 This is removed, since some targets don't have a notion of
5945 processes. To switch between processes, you can still use the
5946 `inferior' command using GDB's own inferior number.
5947
5948 delete fork NUM
5949 For program forks, this is replaced by the new more generic `kill
5950 inferior' command. To delete a checkpoint, you can still use the
5951 `delete checkpoint' command, which was an alias for the `delete
5952 fork' command.
5953
5954 detach fork NUM
5955 For program forks, this is replaced by the new more generic `detach
5956 inferior' command. To detach a checkpoint, you can still use the
5957 `detach checkpoint' command, which was an alias for the `detach
5958 fork' command.
5959
5960 * New native configurations
5961
5962 x86/x86_64 Darwin i[34567]86-*-darwin*
5963
5964 x86_64 MinGW x86_64-*-mingw*
5965
5966 * New targets
5967
5968 Lattice Mico32 lm32-*
5969 x86 DICOS i[34567]86-*-dicos*
5970 x86_64 DICOS x86_64-*-dicos*
5971 S+core 3 score-*-*
5972
5973 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports x86 Windows CE
5974 (mingw32ce) debugging.
5975
5976 * Removed commands
5977
5978 catch load
5979 catch unload
5980 These commands were actually not implemented on any target.
5981
5982 *** Changes in GDB 6.8
5983
5984 * New native configurations
5985
5986 NetBSD/hppa hppa*-*netbsd*
5987 Xtensa GNU/Linux xtensa*-*-linux*
5988
5989 * New targets
5990
5991 NetBSD/hppa hppa*-*-netbsd*
5992 Xtensa GNU/Linux xtensa*-*-linux*
5993
5994 * Change in command line behavior -- corefiles vs. process ids.
5995
5996 When the '-p NUMBER' or '--pid NUMBER' options are used, and
5997 attaching to process NUMBER fails, GDB no longer attempts to open a
5998 core file named NUMBER. Attaching to a program using the -c option
5999 is no longer supported. Instead, use the '-p' or '--pid' options.
6000
6001 * GDB can now be built as a native debugger for debugging Windows x86
6002 (mingw32) Portable Executable (PE) programs.
6003
6004 * Pending breakpoints no longer change their number when their address
6005 is resolved.
6006
6007 * GDB now supports breakpoints with multiple locations,
6008 including breakpoints on C++ constructors, inside C++ templates,
6009 and in inlined functions.
6010
6011 * GDB's ability to debug optimized code has been improved. GDB more
6012 accurately identifies function bodies and lexical blocks that occupy
6013 more than one contiguous range of addresses.
6014
6015 * Target descriptions can now describe registers for PowerPC.
6016
6017 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports the AltiVec and SPE
6018 registers on PowerPC targets.
6019
6020 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports thread debugging on GNU/Linux
6021 targets even when the libthread_db library is not available.
6022
6023 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports the new file transfer
6024 commands (remote put, remote get, and remote delete).
6025
6026 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports run and attach in
6027 extended-remote mode.
6028
6029 * hppa*64*-*-hpux11* target broken
6030 The debugger is unable to start a program and fails with the following
6031 error: "Error trying to get information about dynamic linker".
6032 The gdb-6.7 release is also affected.
6033
6034 * GDB now supports the --enable-targets= configure option to allow
6035 building a single GDB executable that supports multiple remote
6036 target architectures.
6037
6038 * GDB now supports debugging C and C++ programs which use the
6039 Decimal Floating Point extension. In addition, the PowerPC target
6040 now has a set of pseudo-registers to inspect decimal float values
6041 stored in two consecutive float registers.
6042
6043 * The -break-insert MI command can optionally create pending
6044 breakpoints now.
6045
6046 * Improved support for debugging Ada
6047 Many improvements to the Ada language support have been made. These
6048 include:
6049 - Better support for Ada2005 interface types
6050 - Improved handling of arrays and slices in general
6051 - Better support for Taft-amendment types
6052 - The '{type} ADDRESS' expression is now allowed on the left hand-side
6053 of an assignment
6054 - Improved command completion in Ada
6055 - Several bug fixes
6056
6057 * GDB on GNU/Linux and HP/UX can now debug through "exec" of a new
6058 process.
6059
6060 * New commands
6061
6062 set print frame-arguments (all|scalars|none)
6063 show print frame-arguments
6064 The value of this variable can be changed to control which argument
6065 values should be printed by the debugger when displaying a frame.
6066
6067 remote put
6068 remote get
6069 remote delete
6070 Transfer files to and from a remote target, and delete remote files.
6071
6072 * New MI commands
6073
6074 -target-file-put
6075 -target-file-get
6076 -target-file-delete
6077 Transfer files to and from a remote target, and delete remote files.
6078
6079 * New remote packets
6080
6081 vFile:open:
6082 vFile:close:
6083 vFile:pread:
6084 vFile:pwrite:
6085 vFile:unlink:
6086 Open, close, read, write, and delete files on the remote system.
6087
6088 vAttach
6089 Attach to an existing process on the remote system, in extended-remote
6090 mode.
6091
6092 vRun
6093 Run a new process on the remote system, in extended-remote mode.
6094
6095 *** Changes in GDB 6.7
6096
6097 * Resolved 101 resource leaks, null pointer dereferences, etc. in gdb,
6098 bfd, libiberty and opcodes, as revealed by static analysis donated by
6099 Coverity, Inc. (http://scan.coverity.com).
6100
6101 * When looking up multiply-defined global symbols, GDB will now prefer the
6102 symbol definition in the current shared library if it was built using the
6103 -Bsymbolic linker option.
6104
6105 * When the Text User Interface (TUI) is not configured, GDB will now
6106 recognize the -tui command-line option and print a message that the TUI
6107 is not supported.
6108
6109 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now has lower overhead for high
6110 frequency signals (e.g. SIGALRM) via the QPassSignals packet.
6111
6112 * GDB for MIPS targets now autodetects whether a remote target provides
6113 32-bit or 64-bit register values.
6114
6115 * Support for C++ member pointers has been improved.
6116
6117 * GDB now understands XML target descriptions, which specify the
6118 target's overall architecture. GDB can read a description from
6119 a local file or over the remote serial protocol.
6120
6121 * Vectors of single-byte data use a new integer type which is not
6122 automatically displayed as character or string data.
6123
6124 * The /s format now works with the print command. It displays
6125 arrays of single-byte integers and pointers to single-byte integers
6126 as strings.
6127
6128 * Target descriptions can now describe target-specific registers,
6129 for architectures which have implemented the support (currently
6130 only ARM, M68K, and MIPS).
6131
6132 * GDB and the GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now support the XScale
6133 iWMMXt coprocessor.
6134
6135 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, has been updated to support
6136 ARM Windows CE (mingw32ce) debugging, and GDB Windows CE support
6137 has been rewritten to use the standard GDB remote protocol.
6138
6139 * GDB can now step into C++ functions which are called through thunks.
6140
6141 * GDB for the Cell/B.E. SPU now supports overlay debugging.
6142
6143 * The GDB remote protocol "qOffsets" packet can now honor ELF segment
6144 layout. It also supports a TextSeg= and DataSeg= response when only
6145 segment base addresses (rather than offsets) are available.
6146
6147 * The /i format now outputs any trailing branch delay slot instructions
6148 immediately following the last instruction within the count specified.
6149
6150 * The GDB remote protocol "T" stop reply packet now supports a
6151 "library" response. Combined with the new "qXfer:libraries:read"
6152 packet, this response allows GDB to debug shared libraries on targets
6153 where the operating system manages the list of loaded libraries (e.g.
6154 Windows and SymbianOS).
6155
6156 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports dynamic link libraries
6157 (DLLs) on Windows and Windows CE targets.
6158
6159 * GDB now supports a faster verification that a .debug file matches its binary
6160 according to its build-id signature, if the signature is present.
6161
6162 * New commands
6163
6164 set remoteflow
6165 show remoteflow
6166 Enable or disable hardware flow control (RTS/CTS) on the serial port
6167 when debugging using remote targets.
6168
6169 set mem inaccessible-by-default
6170 show mem inaccessible-by-default
6171 If the target supplies a memory map, for instance via the remote
6172 protocol's "qXfer:memory-map:read" packet, setting this variable
6173 prevents GDB from accessing memory outside the memory map. This
6174 is useful for targets with memory mapped registers or which react
6175 badly to accesses of unmapped address space.
6176
6177 set breakpoint auto-hw
6178 show breakpoint auto-hw
6179 If the target supplies a memory map, for instance via the remote
6180 protocol's "qXfer:memory-map:read" packet, setting this variable
6181 lets GDB use hardware breakpoints automatically for memory regions
6182 where it can not use software breakpoints. This covers both the
6183 "break" command and internal breakpoints used for other commands
6184 including "next" and "finish".
6185
6186 catch exception
6187 catch exception unhandled
6188 Stop the program execution when Ada exceptions are raised.
6189
6190 catch assert
6191 Stop the program execution when an Ada assertion failed.
6192
6193 set sysroot
6194 show sysroot
6195 Set an alternate system root for target files. This is a more
6196 general version of "set solib-absolute-prefix", which is now
6197 an alias to "set sysroot".
6198
6199 info spu
6200 Provide extended SPU facility status information. This set of
6201 commands is available only when debugging the Cell/B.E. SPU
6202 architecture.
6203
6204 * New native configurations
6205
6206 OpenBSD/sh sh*-*openbsd*
6207
6208 set tdesc filename
6209 unset tdesc filename
6210 show tdesc filename
6211 Use the specified local file as an XML target description, and do
6212 not query the target for its built-in description.
6213
6214 * New targets
6215
6216 OpenBSD/sh sh*-*-openbsd*
6217 MIPS64 GNU/Linux (gdbserver) mips64-linux-gnu
6218 Toshiba Media Processor mep-elf
6219
6220 * New remote packets
6221
6222 QPassSignals:
6223 Ignore the specified signals; pass them directly to the debugged program
6224 without stopping other threads or reporting them to GDB.
6225
6226 qXfer:features:read:
6227 Read an XML target description from the target, which describes its
6228 features.
6229
6230 qXfer:spu:read:
6231 qXfer:spu:write:
6232 Read or write contents of an spufs file on the target system. These
6233 packets are available only on the Cell/B.E. SPU architecture.
6234
6235 qXfer:libraries:read:
6236 Report the loaded shared libraries. Combined with new "T" packet
6237 response, this packet allows GDB to debug shared libraries on
6238 targets where the operating system manages the list of loaded
6239 libraries (e.g. Windows and SymbianOS).
6240
6241 * Removed targets
6242
6243 Support for these obsolete configurations has been removed.
6244
6245 alpha*-*-osf1*
6246 alpha*-*-osf2*
6247 d10v-*-*
6248 hppa*-*-hiux*
6249 i[34567]86-ncr-*
6250 i[34567]86-*-dgux*
6251 i[34567]86-*-lynxos*
6252 i[34567]86-*-netware*
6253 i[34567]86-*-sco3.2v5*
6254 i[34567]86-*-sco3.2v4*
6255 i[34567]86-*-sco*
6256 i[34567]86-*-sysv4.2*
6257 i[34567]86-*-sysv4*
6258 i[34567]86-*-sysv5*
6259 i[34567]86-*-unixware2*
6260 i[34567]86-*-unixware*
6261 i[34567]86-*-sysv*
6262 i[34567]86-*-isc*
6263 m68*-cisco*-*
6264 m68*-tandem-*
6265 mips*-*-pe
6266 rs6000-*-lynxos*
6267 sh*-*-pe
6268
6269 * Other removed features
6270
6271 target abug
6272 target cpu32bug
6273 target est
6274 target rom68k
6275
6276 Various m68k-only ROM monitors.
6277
6278 target hms
6279 target e7000
6280 target sh3
6281 target sh3e
6282
6283 Various Renesas ROM monitors and debugging interfaces for SH and
6284 H8/300.
6285
6286 target ocd
6287
6288 Support for a Macraigor serial interface to on-chip debugging.
6289 GDB does not directly support the newer parallel or USB
6290 interfaces.
6291
6292 DWARF 1 support
6293
6294 A debug information format. The predecessor to DWARF 2 and
6295 DWARF 3, which are still supported.
6296
6297 Support for the HP aCC compiler on HP-UX/PA-RISC
6298
6299 SOM-encapsulated symbolic debugging information, automatic
6300 invocation of pxdb, and the aCC custom C++ ABI. This does not
6301 affect HP-UX for Itanium or GCC for HP-UX/PA-RISC. Code compiled
6302 with aCC can still be debugged on an assembly level.
6303
6304 MIPS ".pdr" sections
6305
6306 A MIPS-specific format used to describe stack frame layout
6307 in debugging information.
6308
6309 Scheme support
6310
6311 GDB could work with an older version of Guile to debug
6312 the interpreter and Scheme programs running in it.
6313
6314 set mips stack-arg-size
6315 set mips saved-gpreg-size
6316
6317 Use "set mips abi" to control parameter passing for MIPS.
6318
6319 *** Changes in GDB 6.6
6320
6321 * New targets
6322
6323 Xtensa xtensa-elf
6324 Cell Broadband Engine SPU spu-elf
6325
6326 * GDB can now be configured as a cross-debugger targeting native Windows
6327 (mingw32) or Cygwin. It can communicate with a remote debugging stub
6328 running on a Windows system over TCP/IP to debug Windows programs.
6329
6330 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, has been updated to support Windows and
6331 Cygwin debugging. Both single-threaded and multi-threaded programs are
6332 supported.
6333
6334 * The "set trust-readonly-sections" command works again. This command was
6335 broken in GDB 6.3, 6.4, and 6.5.
6336
6337 * The "load" command now supports writing to flash memory, if the remote
6338 stub provides the required support.
6339
6340 * Support for GNU/Linux Thread Local Storage (TLS, per-thread variables) no
6341 longer requires symbolic debug information (e.g. DWARF-2).
6342
6343 * New commands
6344
6345 set substitute-path
6346 unset substitute-path
6347 show substitute-path
6348 Manage a list of substitution rules that GDB uses to rewrite the name
6349 of the directories where the sources are located. This can be useful
6350 for instance when the sources were moved to a different location
6351 between compilation and debugging.
6352
6353 set trace-commands
6354 show trace-commands
6355 Print each CLI command as it is executed. Each command is prefixed with
6356 a number of `+' symbols representing the nesting depth.
6357 The source command now has a `-v' option to enable the same feature.
6358
6359 * REMOVED features
6360
6361 The ARM Demon monitor support (RDP protocol, "target rdp").
6362
6363 Kernel Object Display, an embedded debugging feature which only worked with
6364 an obsolete version of Cisco IOS.
6365
6366 The 'set download-write-size' and 'show download-write-size' commands.
6367
6368 * New remote packets
6369
6370 qSupported:
6371 Tell a stub about GDB client features, and request remote target features.
6372 The first feature implemented is PacketSize, which allows the target to
6373 specify the size of packets it can handle - to minimize the number of
6374 packets required and improve performance when connected to a remote
6375 target.
6376
6377 qXfer:auxv:read:
6378 Fetch an OS auxilliary vector from the remote stub. This packet is a
6379 more efficient replacement for qPart:auxv:read.
6380
6381 qXfer:memory-map:read:
6382 Fetch a memory map from the remote stub, including information about
6383 RAM, ROM, and flash memory devices.
6384
6385 vFlashErase:
6386 vFlashWrite:
6387 vFlashDone:
6388 Erase and program a flash memory device.
6389
6390 * Removed remote packets
6391
6392 qPart:auxv:read:
6393 This packet has been replaced by qXfer:auxv:read. Only GDB 6.4 and 6.5
6394 used it, and only gdbserver implemented it.
6395
6396 *** Changes in GDB 6.5
6397
6398 * New targets
6399
6400 Renesas M32C/M16C m32c-elf
6401
6402 Morpho Technologies ms1 ms1-elf
6403
6404 * New commands
6405
6406 init-if-undefined Initialize a convenience variable, but
6407 only if it doesn't already have a value.
6408
6409 The following commands are presently only implemented for native GNU/Linux:
6410
6411 checkpoint Save a snapshot of the program state.
6412
6413 restart <n> Return the program state to a
6414 previously saved state.
6415
6416 info checkpoints List currently saved checkpoints.
6417
6418 delete-checkpoint <n> Delete a previously saved checkpoint.
6419
6420 set|show detach-on-fork Tell gdb whether to detach from a newly
6421 forked process, or to keep debugging it.
6422
6423 info forks List forks of the user program that
6424 are available to be debugged.
6425
6426 fork <n> Switch to debugging one of several
6427 forks of the user program that are
6428 available to be debugged.
6429
6430 delete-fork <n> Delete a fork from the list of forks
6431 that are available to be debugged (and
6432 kill the forked process).
6433
6434 detach-fork <n> Delete a fork from the list of forks
6435 that are available to be debugged (and
6436 allow the process to continue).
6437
6438 * New architecture
6439
6440 Morpho Technologies ms2 ms1-elf
6441
6442 * Improved Windows host support
6443
6444 GDB now builds as a cross debugger hosted on i686-mingw32, including
6445 native console support, and remote communications using either
6446 network sockets or serial ports.
6447
6448 * Improved Modula-2 language support
6449
6450 GDB can now print most types in the Modula-2 syntax. This includes:
6451 basic types, set types, record types, enumerated types, range types,
6452 pointer types and ARRAY types. Procedure var parameters are correctly
6453 printed and hexadecimal addresses and character constants are also
6454 written in the Modula-2 syntax. Best results can be obtained by using
6455 GNU Modula-2 together with the -gdwarf-2 command line option.
6456
6457 * REMOVED features
6458
6459 The ARM rdi-share module.
6460
6461 The Netware NLM debug server.
6462
6463 *** Changes in GDB 6.4
6464
6465 * New native configurations
6466
6467 OpenBSD/arm arm*-*-openbsd*
6468 OpenBSD/mips64 mips64-*-openbsd*
6469
6470 * New targets
6471
6472 Morpho Technologies ms1 ms1-elf
6473
6474 * New command line options
6475
6476 --batch-silent As for --batch, but totally silent.
6477 --return-child-result The debugger will exist with the same value
6478 the child (debugged) program exited with.
6479 --eval-command COMMAND, -ex COMMAND
6480 Execute a single GDB CLI command. This may be
6481 specified multiple times and in conjunction
6482 with the --command (-x) option.
6483
6484 * Deprecated commands removed
6485
6486 The following commands, that were deprecated in 2000, have been
6487 removed:
6488
6489 Command Replacement
6490 set|show arm disassembly-flavor set|show arm disassembler
6491 othernames set arm disassembler
6492 set|show remotedebug set|show debug remote
6493 set|show archdebug set|show debug arch
6494 set|show eventdebug set|show debug event
6495 regs info registers
6496
6497 * New BSD user-level threads support
6498
6499 It is now possible to debug programs using the user-level threads
6500 library on OpenBSD and FreeBSD. Currently supported (target)
6501 configurations are:
6502
6503 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
6504 FreeBSD/i386 i386-*-freebsd*
6505 OpenBSD/i386 i386-*-openbsd*
6506
6507 Note that the new kernel threads libraries introduced in FreeBSD 5.x
6508 are not yet supported.
6509
6510 * New support for Matsushita MN10300 w/sim added
6511 (Work in progress). mn10300-elf.
6512
6513 * REMOVED configurations and files
6514
6515 VxWorks and the XDR protocol *-*-vxworks
6516 Motorola MCORE mcore-*-*
6517 National Semiconductor NS32000 ns32k-*-*
6518
6519 * New "set print array-indexes" command
6520
6521 After turning this setting "on", GDB prints the index of each element
6522 when displaying arrays. The default is "off" to preserve the previous
6523 behavior.
6524
6525 * VAX floating point support
6526
6527 GDB now supports the not-quite-ieee VAX F and D floating point formats.
6528
6529 * User-defined command support
6530
6531 In addition to using $arg0..$arg9 for argument passing, it is now possible
6532 to use $argc to determine now many arguments have been passed. See the
6533 section on user-defined commands in the user manual for more information.
6534
6535 *** Changes in GDB 6.3:
6536
6537 * New command line option
6538
6539 GDB now accepts -l followed by a number to set the timeout for remote
6540 debugging.
6541
6542 * GDB works with GCC -feliminate-dwarf2-dups
6543
6544 GDB now supports a more compact representation of DWARF-2 debug
6545 information using DW_FORM_ref_addr references. These are produced
6546 by GCC with the option -feliminate-dwarf2-dups and also by some
6547 proprietary compilers. With GCC, you must use GCC 3.3.4 or later
6548 to use -feliminate-dwarf2-dups.
6549
6550 * Internationalization
6551
6552 When supported by the host system, GDB will be built with
6553 internationalization (libintl). The task of marking up the sources is
6554 continued, we're looking forward to our first translation.
6555
6556 * Ada
6557
6558 Initial support for debugging programs compiled with the GNAT
6559 implementation of the Ada programming language has been integrated
6560 into GDB. In this release, support is limited to expression evaluation.
6561
6562 * New native configurations
6563
6564 GNU/Linux/m32r m32r-*-linux-gnu
6565
6566 * Remote 'p' packet
6567
6568 GDB's remote protocol now includes support for the 'p' packet. This
6569 packet is used to fetch individual registers from a remote inferior.
6570
6571 * END-OF-LIFE registers[] compatibility module
6572
6573 GDB's internal register infrastructure has been completely rewritten.
6574 The new infrastructure making possible the implementation of key new
6575 features including 32x64 (e.g., 64-bit amd64 GDB debugging a 32-bit
6576 i386 application).
6577
6578 GDB 6.3 will be the last release to include the registers[]
6579 compatibility module that allowed out-of-date configurations to
6580 continue to work. This change directly impacts the following
6581 configurations:
6582
6583 hppa-*-hpux
6584 ia64-*-aix
6585 mips-*-irix*
6586 *-*-lynx
6587 mips-*-linux-gnu
6588 sds protocol
6589 xdr protocol
6590 powerpc bdm protocol
6591
6592 Unless there is activity to revive these configurations, they will be
6593 made OBSOLETE in GDB 6.4, and REMOVED from GDB 6.5.
6594
6595 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
6596
6597 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
6598 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
6599 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
6600 permanently REMOVED.
6601
6602 h8300-*-*
6603 mcore-*-*
6604 mn10300-*-*
6605 ns32k-*-*
6606 sh64-*-*
6607 v850-*-*
6608
6609 *** Changes in GDB 6.2.1:
6610
6611 * MIPS `break main; run' gave an heuristic-fence-post warning
6612
6613 When attempting to run even a simple program, a warning about
6614 heuristic-fence-post being hit would be reported. This problem has
6615 been fixed.
6616
6617 * MIPS IRIX 'long double' crashed GDB
6618
6619 When examining a long double variable, GDB would get a segmentation
6620 fault. The crash has been fixed (but GDB 6.2 cannot correctly examine
6621 IRIX long double values).
6622
6623 * VAX and "next"
6624
6625 A bug in the VAX stack code was causing problems with the "next"
6626 command. This problem has been fixed.
6627
6628 *** Changes in GDB 6.2:
6629
6630 * Fix for ``many threads''
6631
6632 On GNU/Linux systems that use the NPTL threads library, a program
6633 rapidly creating and deleting threads would confuse GDB leading to the
6634 error message:
6635
6636 ptrace: No such process.
6637 thread_db_get_info: cannot get thread info: generic error
6638
6639 This problem has been fixed.
6640
6641 * "-async" and "-noasync" options removed.
6642
6643 Support for the broken "-noasync" option has been removed (it caused
6644 GDB to dump core).
6645
6646 * New ``start'' command.
6647
6648 This command runs the program until the beginning of the main procedure.
6649
6650 * New BSD Kernel Data Access Library (libkvm) interface
6651
6652 Using ``target kvm'' it is now possible to debug kernel core dumps and
6653 live kernel memory images on various FreeBSD, NetBSD and OpenBSD
6654 platforms. Currently supported (native-only) configurations are:
6655
6656 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
6657 FreeBSD/i386 i?86-*-freebsd*
6658 NetBSD/i386 i?86-*-netbsd*
6659 NetBSD/m68k m68*-*-netbsd*
6660 NetBSD/sparc sparc-*-netbsd*
6661 OpenBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-openbsd*
6662 OpenBSD/i386 i?86-*-openbsd*
6663 OpenBSD/m68k m68*-openbsd*
6664 OpenBSD/sparc sparc-*-openbsd*
6665
6666 * Signal trampoline code overhauled
6667
6668 Many generic problems with GDB's signal handling code have been fixed.
6669 These include: backtraces through non-contiguous stacks; recognition
6670 of sa_sigaction signal trampolines; backtrace from a NULL pointer
6671 call; backtrace through a signal trampoline; step into and out of
6672 signal handlers; and single-stepping in the signal trampoline.
6673
6674 Please note that kernel bugs are a limiting factor here. These
6675 features have been shown to work on an s390 GNU/Linux system that
6676 include a 2.6.8-rc1 kernel. Ref PR breakpoints/1702.
6677
6678 * Cygwin support for DWARF 2 added.
6679
6680 * New native configurations
6681
6682 GNU/Linux/hppa hppa*-*-linux*
6683 OpenBSD/hppa hppa*-*-openbsd*
6684 OpenBSD/m68k m68*-*-openbsd*
6685 OpenBSD/m88k m88*-*-openbsd*
6686 OpenBSD/powerpc powerpc-*-openbsd*
6687 NetBSD/vax vax-*-netbsd*
6688 OpenBSD/vax vax-*-openbsd*
6689
6690 * END-OF-LIFE frame compatibility module
6691
6692 GDB's internal frame infrastructure has been completely rewritten.
6693 The new infrastructure making it possible to support key new features
6694 including DWARF 2 Call Frame Information. To aid in the task of
6695 migrating old configurations to this new infrastructure, a
6696 compatibility module, that allowed old configurations to continue to
6697 work, was also included.
6698
6699 GDB 6.2 will be the last release to include this frame compatibility
6700 module. This change directly impacts the following configurations:
6701
6702 h8300-*-*
6703 mcore-*-*
6704 mn10300-*-*
6705 ns32k-*-*
6706 sh64-*-*
6707 v850-*-*
6708 xstormy16-*-*
6709
6710 Unless there is activity to revive these configurations, they will be
6711 made OBSOLETE in GDB 6.3, and REMOVED from GDB 6.4.
6712
6713 * REMOVED configurations and files
6714
6715 Sun 3, running SunOS 3 m68*-*-sunos3*
6716 Sun 3, running SunOS 4 m68*-*-sunos4*
6717 Sun 2, running SunOS 3 m68000-*-sunos3*
6718 Sun 2, running SunOS 4 m68000-*-sunos4*
6719 Motorola 680x0 running LynxOS m68*-*-lynxos*
6720 AT&T 3b1/Unix pc m68*-att-*
6721 Bull DPX2 (68k, System V release 3) m68*-bull-sysv*
6722 decstation mips-dec-* mips-little-*
6723 riscos mips-*-riscos* mips-*-sysv*
6724 sonymips mips-sony-*
6725 sysv mips*-*-sysv4* (IRIX 5/6 not included)
6726
6727 *** Changes in GDB 6.1.1:
6728
6729 * TUI (Text-mode User Interface) built-in (also included in GDB 6.1)
6730
6731 The TUI (Text-mode User Interface) is now built as part of a default
6732 GDB configuration. It is enabled by either selecting the TUI with the
6733 command line option "-i=tui" or by running the separate "gdbtui"
6734 program. For more information on the TUI, see the manual "Debugging
6735 with GDB".
6736
6737 * Pending breakpoint support (also included in GDB 6.1)
6738
6739 Support has been added to allow you to specify breakpoints in shared
6740 libraries that have not yet been loaded. If a breakpoint location
6741 cannot be found, and the "breakpoint pending" option is set to auto,
6742 GDB queries you if you wish to make the breakpoint pending on a future
6743 shared-library load. If and when GDB resolves the breakpoint symbol,
6744 the pending breakpoint is removed as one or more regular breakpoints
6745 are created.
6746
6747 Pending breakpoints are very useful for GCJ Java debugging.
6748
6749 * Fixed ISO-C build problems
6750
6751 The files bfd/elf-bfd.h, gdb/dictionary.c and gdb/types.c contained
6752 non ISO-C code that stopped them being built using a more strict ISO-C
6753 compiler (e.g., IBM's C compiler).
6754
6755 * Fixed build problem on IRIX 5
6756
6757 Due to header problems with <sys/proc.h>, the file gdb/proc-api.c
6758 wasn't able to compile compile on an IRIX 5 system.
6759
6760 * Added execute permission to gdb/gdbserver/configure
6761
6762 The shell script gdb/testsuite/gdb.stabs/configure lacked execute
6763 permission. This bug would cause configure to fail on a number of
6764 systems (Solaris, IRIX). Ref: server/519.
6765
6766 * Fixed build problem on hpux2.0w-hp-hpux11.00 using the HP ANSI C compiler
6767
6768 Older HPUX ANSI C compilers did not accept variable array sizes. somsolib.c
6769 has been updated to use constant array sizes.
6770
6771 * Fixed a panic in the DWARF Call Frame Info code on Solaris 2.7
6772
6773 GCC 3.3.2, on Solaris 2.7, includes the DW_EH_PE_funcrel encoding in
6774 its generated DWARF Call Frame Info. This encoding was causing GDB to
6775 panic, that panic has been fixed. Ref: gdb/1628.
6776
6777 * Fixed a problem when examining parameters in shared library code.
6778
6779 When examining parameters in optimized shared library code generated
6780 by a mainline GCC, GDB would incorrectly report ``Variable "..." is
6781 not available''. GDB now correctly displays the variable's value.
6782
6783 *** Changes in GDB 6.1:
6784
6785 * Removed --with-mmalloc
6786
6787 Support for the mmalloc memory manager has been removed, as it
6788 conflicted with the internal gdb byte cache.
6789
6790 * Changes in AMD64 configurations
6791
6792 The AMD64 target now includes the %cs and %ss registers. As a result
6793 the AMD64 remote protocol has changed; this affects the floating-point
6794 and SSE registers. If you rely on those registers for your debugging,
6795 you should upgrade gdbserver on the remote side.
6796
6797 * Revised SPARC target
6798
6799 The SPARC target has been completely revised, incorporating the
6800 FreeBSD/sparc64 support that was added for GDB 6.0. As a result
6801 support for LynxOS and SunOS 4 has been dropped. Calling functions
6802 from within GDB on operating systems with a non-executable stack
6803 (Solaris, OpenBSD) now works.
6804
6805 * New C++ demangler
6806
6807 GDB has a new C++ demangler which does a better job on the mangled
6808 names generated by current versions of g++. It also runs faster, so
6809 with this and other changes gdb should now start faster on large C++
6810 programs.
6811
6812 * DWARF 2 Location Expressions
6813
6814 GDB support for location expressions has been extended to support function
6815 arguments and frame bases. Older versions of GDB could crash when they
6816 encountered these.
6817
6818 * C++ nested types and namespaces
6819
6820 GDB's support for nested types and namespaces in C++ has been
6821 improved, especially if you use the DWARF 2 debugging format. (This
6822 is the default for recent versions of GCC on most platforms.)
6823 Specifically, if you have a class "Inner" defined within a class or
6824 namespace "Outer", then GDB realizes that the class's name is
6825 "Outer::Inner", not simply "Inner". This should greatly reduce the
6826 frequency of complaints about not finding RTTI symbols. In addition,
6827 if you are stopped at inside of a function defined within a namespace,
6828 GDB modifies its name lookup accordingly.
6829
6830 * New native configurations
6831
6832 NetBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-netbsd*
6833 OpenBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-openbsd*
6834 OpenBSD/alpha alpha*-*-openbsd*
6835 OpenBSD/sparc sparc-*-openbsd*
6836 OpenBSD/sparc64 sparc64-*-openbsd*
6837
6838 * New debugging protocols
6839
6840 M32R with SDI protocol m32r-*-elf*
6841
6842 * "set prompt-escape-char" command deleted.
6843
6844 The command "set prompt-escape-char" has been deleted. This command,
6845 and its very obscure effect on GDB's prompt, was never documented,
6846 tested, nor mentioned in the NEWS file.
6847
6848 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
6849
6850 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
6851 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
6852 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
6853 permanently REMOVED.
6854
6855 Sun 3, running SunOS 3 m68*-*-sunos3*
6856 Sun 3, running SunOS 4 m68*-*-sunos4*
6857 Sun 2, running SunOS 3 m68000-*-sunos3*
6858 Sun 2, running SunOS 4 m68000-*-sunos4*
6859 Motorola 680x0 running LynxOS m68*-*-lynxos*
6860 AT&T 3b1/Unix pc m68*-att-*
6861 Bull DPX2 (68k, System V release 3) m68*-bull-sysv*
6862 decstation mips-dec-* mips-little-*
6863 riscos mips-*-riscos* mips-*-sysv*
6864 sonymips mips-sony-*
6865 sysv mips*-*-sysv4* (IRIX 5/6 not included)
6866
6867 * REMOVED configurations and files
6868
6869 SGI Irix-4.x mips-sgi-irix4 or iris4
6870 SGI Iris (MIPS) running Irix V3: mips-sgi-irix or iris
6871 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
6872 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
6873 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
6874 HP/PA running BSD hppa*-*-bsd*
6875 HP/PA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
6876 HP/PA Pro target hppa*-*-pro*
6877 PMAX (MIPS) running Mach 3.0 mips*-*-mach3*
6878 386BSD i[3456]86-*-bsd*
6879 Sequent family i[3456]86-sequent-sysv4*
6880 i[3456]86-sequent-sysv*
6881 i[3456]86-sequent-bsd*
6882 SPARC running LynxOS sparc-*-lynxos*
6883 SPARC running SunOS 4 sparc-*-sunos4*
6884 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
6885 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
6886
6887 *** Changes in GDB 6.0:
6888
6889 * Objective-C
6890
6891 Support for debugging the Objective-C programming language has been
6892 integrated into GDB.
6893
6894 * New backtrace mechanism (includes DWARF 2 Call Frame Information).
6895
6896 DWARF 2's Call Frame Information makes available compiler generated
6897 information that more exactly describes the program's run-time stack.
6898 By using this information, GDB is able to provide more robust stack
6899 backtraces.
6900
6901 The i386, amd64 (nee, x86-64), Alpha, m68hc11, ia64, and m32r targets
6902 have been updated to use a new backtrace mechanism which includes
6903 DWARF 2 CFI support.
6904
6905 * Hosted file I/O.
6906
6907 GDB's remote protocol has been extended to include support for hosted
6908 file I/O (where the remote target uses GDB's file system). See GDB's
6909 remote protocol documentation for details.
6910
6911 * All targets using the new architecture framework.
6912
6913 All of GDB's targets have been updated to use the new internal
6914 architecture framework. The way is now open for future GDB releases
6915 to include cross-architecture native debugging support (i386 on amd64,
6916 ppc32 on ppc64).
6917
6918 * GNU/Linux's Thread Local Storage (TLS)
6919
6920 GDB now includes support for for the GNU/Linux implementation of
6921 per-thread variables.
6922
6923 * GNU/Linux's Native POSIX Thread Library (NPTL)
6924
6925 GDB's thread code has been updated to work with either the new
6926 GNU/Linux NPTL thread library or the older "LinuxThreads" library.
6927
6928 * Separate debug info.
6929
6930 GDB, in conjunction with BINUTILS, now supports a mechanism for
6931 automatically loading debug information from a separate file. Instead
6932 of shipping full debug and non-debug versions of system libraries,
6933 system integrators can now instead ship just the stripped libraries
6934 and optional debug files.
6935
6936 * DWARF 2 Location Expressions
6937
6938 DWARF 2 Location Expressions allow the compiler to more completely
6939 describe the location of variables (even in optimized code) to the
6940 debugger.
6941
6942 GDB now includes preliminary support for location expressions (support
6943 for DW_OP_piece is still missing).
6944
6945 * Java
6946
6947 A number of long standing bugs that caused GDB to die while starting a
6948 Java application have been fixed. GDB's Java support is now
6949 considered "useable".
6950
6951 * GNU/Linux support for fork, vfork, and exec.
6952
6953 The "catch fork", "catch exec", "catch vfork", and "set follow-fork-mode"
6954 commands are now implemented for GNU/Linux. They require a 2.5.x or later
6955 kernel.
6956
6957 * GDB supports logging output to a file
6958
6959 There are two new commands, "set logging" and "show logging", which can be
6960 used to capture GDB's output to a file.
6961
6962 * The meaning of "detach" has changed for gdbserver
6963
6964 The "detach" command will now resume the application, as documented. To
6965 disconnect from gdbserver and leave it stopped, use the new "disconnect"
6966 command.
6967
6968 * d10v, m68hc11 `regs' command deprecated
6969
6970 The `info registers' command has been updated so that it displays the
6971 registers using a format identical to the old `regs' command.
6972
6973 * Profiling support
6974
6975 A new command, "maint set profile on/off", has been added. This command can
6976 be used to enable or disable profiling while running GDB, to profile a
6977 session or a set of commands. In addition there is a new configure switch,
6978 "--enable-profiling", which will cause GDB to be compiled with profiling
6979 data, for more informative profiling results.
6980
6981 * Default MI syntax changed to "mi2".
6982
6983 The default MI (machine interface) syntax, enabled by the command line
6984 option "-i=mi", has been changed to "mi2". The previous MI syntax,
6985 "mi1", can be enabled by specifying the option "-i=mi1".
6986
6987 Support for the original "mi0" syntax (included in GDB 5.0) has been
6988 removed.
6989
6990 Fix for gdb/192: removed extraneous space when displaying frame level.
6991 Fix for gdb/672: update changelist is now output in mi list format.
6992 Fix for gdb/702: a -var-assign that updates the value now shows up
6993 in a subsequent -var-update.
6994
6995 * New native configurations.
6996
6997 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
6998
6999 * Multi-arched targets.
7000
7001 HP/PA HPUX11 hppa*-*-hpux*
7002 Renesas M32R/D w/simulator m32r-*-elf*
7003
7004 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
7005
7006 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
7007 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
7008 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
7009 permanently REMOVED.
7010
7011 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
7012 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
7013 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
7014 HP/PA running BSD hppa*-*-bsd*
7015 HP/PA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
7016 HP/PA Pro target hppa*-*-pro*
7017 PMAX (MIPS) running Mach 3.0 mips*-*-mach3*
7018 Sequent family i[3456]86-sequent-sysv4*
7019 i[3456]86-sequent-sysv*
7020 i[3456]86-sequent-bsd*
7021 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
7022 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
7023
7024 * REMOVED configurations and files
7025
7026 V850EA ISA
7027 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
7028 IBM AIX PS/2 i[3456]86-*-aix
7029 i386 running Mach 3.0 i[3456]86-*-mach3*
7030 i386 running Mach i[3456]86-*-mach*
7031 i386 running OSF/1 i[3456]86-*osf1mk*
7032 HP/Apollo 68k Family m68*-apollo*-sysv*,
7033 m68*-apollo*-bsd*,
7034 m68*-hp-bsd*, m68*-hp-hpux*
7035 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
7036 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
7037 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
7038 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
7039 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
7040
7041 * MIPS $fp behavior changed
7042
7043 The convenience variable $fp, for the MIPS, now consistently returns
7044 the address of the current frame's base. Previously, depending on the
7045 context, $fp could refer to either $sp or the current frame's base
7046 address. See ``8.10 Registers'' in the manual ``Debugging with GDB:
7047 The GNU Source-Level Debugger''.
7048
7049 *** Changes in GDB 5.3:
7050
7051 * GNU/Linux shared library multi-threaded performance improved.
7052
7053 When debugging a multi-threaded application on GNU/Linux, GDB now uses
7054 `/proc', in preference to `ptrace' for memory reads. This may result
7055 in an improvement in the start-up time of multi-threaded, shared
7056 library applications when run under GDB. One GDB user writes: ``loads
7057 shared libs like mad''.
7058
7059 * ``gdbserver'' now supports multi-threaded applications on some targets
7060
7061 Support for debugging multi-threaded applications which use
7062 the GNU/Linux LinuxThreads package has been added for
7063 arm*-*-linux*-gnu*, i[3456]86-*-linux*-gnu*, mips*-*-linux*-gnu*,
7064 powerpc*-*-linux*-gnu*, and sh*-*-linux*-gnu*.
7065
7066 * GDB now supports C/C++ preprocessor macros.
7067
7068 GDB now expands preprocessor macro invocations in C/C++ expressions,
7069 and provides various commands for showing macro definitions and how
7070 they expand.
7071
7072 The new command `macro expand EXPRESSION' expands any macro
7073 invocations in expression, and shows the result.
7074
7075 The new command `show macro MACRO-NAME' shows the definition of the
7076 macro named MACRO-NAME, and where it was defined.
7077
7078 Most compilers don't include information about macros in the debugging
7079 information by default. In GCC 3.1, for example, you need to compile
7080 your program with the options `-gdwarf-2 -g3'. If the macro
7081 information is present in the executable, GDB will read it.
7082
7083 * Multi-arched targets.
7084
7085 DEC Alpha (partial) alpha*-*-*
7086 DEC VAX (partial) vax-*-*
7087 NEC V850 v850-*-*
7088 National Semiconductor NS32000 (partial) ns32k-*-*
7089 Motorola 68000 (partial) m68k-*-*
7090 Motorola MCORE mcore-*-*
7091
7092 * New targets.
7093
7094 Fujitsu FRV architecture added by Red Hat frv*-*-*
7095
7096
7097 * New native configurations
7098
7099 Alpha NetBSD alpha*-*-netbsd*
7100 SH NetBSD sh*-*-netbsdelf*
7101 MIPS NetBSD mips*-*-netbsd*
7102 UltraSPARC NetBSD sparc64-*-netbsd*
7103
7104 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
7105
7106 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
7107 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
7108 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
7109 permanently REMOVED.
7110
7111 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
7112 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
7113 IBM AIX PS/2 i[3456]86-*-aix
7114 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
7115 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
7116 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
7117 i386 running Mach 3.0 i[3456]86-*-mach3*
7118 i386 running Mach i[3456]86-*-mach*
7119 i386 running OSF/1 i[3456]86-*osf1mk*
7120 HP/Apollo 68k Family m68*-apollo*-sysv*,
7121 m68*-apollo*-bsd*,
7122 m68*-hp-bsd*, m68*-hp-hpux*
7123 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
7124
7125 * OBSOLETE languages
7126
7127 CHILL, a Pascal like language used by telecommunications companies.
7128
7129 * REMOVED configurations and files
7130
7131 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi, udi29k
7132 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
7133 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
7134 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
7135 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
7136
7137 testsuite/gdb.hp/gdb.threads-hp/ directory
7138
7139 * New command "set max-user-call-depth <nnn>"
7140
7141 This command allows the user to limit the call depth of user-defined
7142 commands. The default is 1024.
7143
7144 * Changes in FreeBSD/i386 native debugging.
7145
7146 Support for the "generate-core-file" has been added.
7147
7148 * New commands "dump", "append", and "restore".
7149
7150 These commands allow data to be copied from target memory
7151 to a bfd-format or binary file (dump and append), and back
7152 from a file into memory (restore).
7153
7154 * Improved "next/step" support on multi-processor Alpha Tru64.
7155
7156 The previous single-step mechanism could cause unpredictable problems,
7157 including the random appearance of SIGSEGV or SIGTRAP signals. The use
7158 of a software single-step mechanism prevents this.
7159
7160 *** Changes in GDB 5.2.1:
7161
7162 * New targets.
7163
7164 Atmel AVR avr*-*-*
7165
7166 * Bug fixes
7167
7168 gdb/182: gdb/323: gdb/237: On alpha, gdb was reporting:
7169 mdebugread.c:2443: gdb-internal-error: sect_index_data not initialized
7170 Fix, by Joel Brobecker imported from mainline.
7171
7172 gdb/439: gdb/291: On some ELF object files, gdb was reporting:
7173 dwarf2read.c:1072: gdb-internal-error: sect_index_text not initialize
7174 Fix, by Fred Fish, imported from mainline.
7175
7176 Dwarf2 .debug_frame & .eh_frame handler improved in many ways.
7177 Surprisingly enough, it works now.
7178 By Michal Ludvig, imported from mainline.
7179
7180 i386 hardware watchpoint support:
7181 avoid misses on second run for some targets.
7182 By Pierre Muller, imported from mainline.
7183
7184 *** Changes in GDB 5.2:
7185
7186 * New command "set trust-readonly-sections on[off]".
7187
7188 This command is a hint that tells gdb that read-only sections
7189 really are read-only (ie. that their contents will not change).
7190 In this mode, gdb will go to the object file rather than the
7191 target to read memory from read-only sections (such as ".text").
7192 This can be a significant performance improvement on some
7193 (notably embedded) targets.
7194
7195 * New command "generate-core-file" (or "gcore").
7196
7197 This new gdb command allows the user to drop a core file of the child
7198 process state at any time. So far it's been implemented only for
7199 GNU/Linux and Solaris, but should be relatively easily ported to other
7200 hosts. Argument is core file name (defaults to core.<pid>).
7201
7202 * New command line option
7203
7204 GDB now accepts --pid or -p followed by a process id.
7205
7206 * Change in command line behavior -- corefiles vs. process ids.
7207
7208 There is a subtle behavior in the way in which GDB handles
7209 command line arguments. The first non-flag argument is always
7210 a program to debug, but the second non-flag argument may either
7211 be a corefile or a process id. Previously, GDB would attempt to
7212 open the second argument as a corefile, and if that failed, would
7213 issue a superfluous error message and then attempt to attach it as
7214 a process. Now, if the second argument begins with a non-digit,
7215 it will be treated as a corefile. If it begins with a digit,
7216 GDB will attempt to attach it as a process, and if no such process
7217 is found, will then attempt to open it as a corefile.
7218
7219 * Changes in ARM configurations.
7220
7221 Multi-arch support is enabled for all ARM configurations. The ARM/NetBSD
7222 configuration is fully multi-arch.
7223
7224 * New native configurations
7225
7226 ARM NetBSD arm*-*-netbsd*
7227 x86 OpenBSD i[3456]86-*-openbsd*
7228 AMD x86-64 running GNU/Linux x86_64-*-linux-*
7229 Sparc64 running FreeBSD sparc64-*-freebsd*
7230
7231 * New targets
7232
7233 Sanyo XStormy16 xstormy16-elf
7234
7235 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
7236
7237 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
7238 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
7239 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
7240 permanently REMOVED.
7241
7242 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi, udi29k
7243 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
7244 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
7245 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
7246 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
7247
7248 testsuite/gdb.hp/gdb.threads-hp/ directory
7249
7250 * REMOVED configurations and files
7251
7252 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
7253 WDC 65816 w65-*-*
7254 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
7255 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
7256 PowerPC Netware powerpc-*-netware*
7257 Harris/CXUX m88k m88*-harris-cxux*
7258 Most ns32k hosts and targets ns32k-*-mach3* ns32k-umax-*
7259 ns32k-utek-sysv* ns32k-utek-*
7260 SunOS 4.0.Xi on i386 i[3456]86-*-sunos*
7261 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1 a29k-nyu-sym1 a29k-*-kern*
7262 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x m68*-sony-sysv news
7263 ISI Optimum V (3.05) under 4.3bsd. m68*-isi-*
7264 Apple Macintosh (MPW) host and target N/A host, powerpc-*-macos*
7265
7266 * Changes to command line processing
7267
7268 The new `--args' feature can be used to specify command-line arguments
7269 for the inferior from gdb's command line.
7270
7271 * Changes to key bindings
7272
7273 There is a new `operate-and-get-next' function bound to `C-o'.
7274
7275 *** Changes in GDB 5.1.1
7276
7277 Fix compile problem on DJGPP.
7278
7279 Fix a problem with floating-point registers on the i386 being
7280 corrupted.
7281
7282 Fix to stop GDB crashing on .debug_str debug info.
7283
7284 Numerous documentation fixes.
7285
7286 Numerous testsuite fixes.
7287
7288 *** Changes in GDB 5.1:
7289
7290 * New native configurations
7291
7292 Alpha FreeBSD alpha*-*-freebsd*
7293 x86 FreeBSD 3.x and 4.x i[3456]86*-freebsd[34]*
7294 MIPS GNU/Linux mips*-*-linux*
7295 MIPS SGI Irix 6.x mips*-sgi-irix6*
7296 ia64 AIX ia64-*-aix*
7297 s390 and s390x GNU/Linux {s390,s390x}-*-linux*
7298
7299 * New targets
7300
7301 Motorola 68HC11 and 68HC12 m68hc11-elf
7302 CRIS cris-axis
7303 UltraSparc running GNU/Linux sparc64-*-linux*
7304
7305 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
7306
7307 x86 FreeBSD before 2.2 i[3456]86*-freebsd{1,2.[01]}*,
7308 Harris/CXUX m88k m88*-harris-cxux*
7309 Most ns32k hosts and targets ns32k-*-mach3* ns32k-umax-*
7310 ns32k-utek-sysv* ns32k-utek-*
7311 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
7312 WDC 65816 w65-*-*
7313 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1 a29k-nyu-sym1 a29k-*-kern*
7314 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
7315 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
7316 PowerPC Netware powerpc-*-netware*
7317 SunOS 4.0.Xi on i386 i[3456]86-*-sunos*
7318 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x m68*-sony-sysv news
7319 ISI Optimum V (3.05) under 4.3bsd. m68*-isi-*
7320 Apple Macintosh (MPW) host N/A
7321
7322 stuff.c (Program to stuff files into a specially prepared space in kdb)
7323 kdb-start.c (Main loop for the standalone kernel debugger)
7324
7325 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
7326 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
7327 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
7328 permanently REMOVED.
7329
7330 * REMOVED configurations and files
7331
7332 Altos 3068 m68*-altos-*
7333 Convex c1-*-*, c2-*-*
7334 Pyramid pyramid-*-*
7335 ARM RISCix arm-*-* (as host)
7336 Tahoe tahoe-*-*
7337 ser-ocd.c *-*-*
7338
7339 * GDB has been converted to ISO C.
7340
7341 GDB's source code has been converted to ISO C. In particular, the
7342 sources are fully protoized, and rely on standard headers being
7343 present.
7344
7345 * Other news:
7346
7347 * "info symbol" works on platforms which use COFF, ECOFF, XCOFF, and NLM.
7348
7349 * The MI enabled by default.
7350
7351 The new machine oriented interface (MI) introduced in GDB 5.0 has been
7352 revised and enabled by default. Packages which use GDB as a debugging
7353 engine behind a UI or another front end are encouraged to switch to
7354 using the GDB/MI interface, instead of the old annotations interface
7355 which is now deprecated.
7356
7357 * Support for debugging Pascal programs.
7358
7359 GDB now includes support for debugging Pascal programs. The following
7360 main features are supported:
7361
7362 - Pascal-specific data types such as sets;
7363
7364 - automatic recognition of Pascal sources based on file-name
7365 extension;
7366
7367 - Pascal-style display of data types, variables, and functions;
7368
7369 - a Pascal expression parser.
7370
7371 However, some important features are not yet supported.
7372
7373 - Pascal string operations are not supported at all;
7374
7375 - there are some problems with boolean types;
7376
7377 - Pascal type hexadecimal constants are not supported
7378 because they conflict with the internal variables format;
7379
7380 - support for Pascal objects and classes is not full yet;
7381
7382 - unlike Pascal, GDB is case-sensitive for symbol names.
7383
7384 * Changes in completion.
7385
7386 Commands such as `shell', `run' and `set args', which pass arguments
7387 to inferior programs, now complete on file names, similar to what
7388 users expect at the shell prompt.
7389
7390 Commands which accept locations, such as `disassemble', `print',
7391 `breakpoint', `until', etc. now complete on filenames as well as
7392 program symbols. Thus, if you type "break foob TAB", and the source
7393 files linked into the programs include `foobar.c', that file name will
7394 be one of the candidates for completion. However, file names are not
7395 considered for completion after you typed a colon that delimits a file
7396 name from a name of a function in that file, as in "break foo.c:bar".
7397
7398 `set demangle-style' completes on available demangling styles.
7399
7400 * New platform-independent commands:
7401
7402 It is now possible to define a post-hook for a command as well as a
7403 hook that runs before the command. For more details, see the
7404 documentation of `hookpost' in the GDB manual.
7405
7406 * Changes in GNU/Linux native debugging.
7407
7408 Support for debugging multi-threaded programs has been completely
7409 revised for all platforms except m68k and sparc. You can now debug as
7410 many threads as your system allows you to have.
7411
7412 Attach/detach is supported for multi-threaded programs.
7413
7414 Support for SSE registers was added for x86. This doesn't work for
7415 multi-threaded programs though.
7416
7417 * Changes in MIPS configurations.
7418
7419 Multi-arch support is enabled for all MIPS configurations.
7420
7421 GDB can now be built as native debugger on SGI Irix 6.x systems for
7422 debugging n32 executables. (Debugging 64-bit executables is not yet
7423 supported.)
7424
7425 * Unified support for hardware watchpoints in all x86 configurations.
7426
7427 Most (if not all) native x86 configurations support hardware-assisted
7428 breakpoints and watchpoints in a unified manner. This support
7429 implements debug register sharing between watchpoints, which allows to
7430 put a virtually infinite number of watchpoints on the same address,
7431 and also supports watching regions up to 16 bytes with several debug
7432 registers.
7433
7434 The new maintenance command `maintenance show-debug-regs' toggles
7435 debugging print-outs in functions that insert, remove, and test
7436 watchpoints and hardware breakpoints.
7437
7438 * Changes in the DJGPP native configuration.
7439
7440 New command ``info dos sysinfo'' displays assorted information about
7441 the CPU, OS, memory, and DPMI server.
7442
7443 New commands ``info dos gdt'', ``info dos ldt'', and ``info dos idt''
7444 display information about segment descriptors stored in GDT, LDT, and
7445 IDT.
7446
7447 New commands ``info dos pde'' and ``info dos pte'' display entries
7448 from Page Directory and Page Tables (for now works with CWSDPMI only).
7449 New command ``info dos address-pte'' displays the Page Table entry for
7450 a given linear address.
7451
7452 GDB can now pass command lines longer than 126 characters to the
7453 program being debugged (requires an update to the libdbg.a library
7454 which is part of the DJGPP development kit).
7455
7456 DWARF2 debug info is now supported.
7457
7458 It is now possible to `step' and `next' through calls to `longjmp'.
7459
7460 * Changes in documentation.
7461
7462 All GDB documentation was converted to GFDL, the GNU Free
7463 Documentation License.
7464
7465 Tracepoints-related commands are now fully documented in the GDB
7466 manual.
7467
7468 TUI, the Text-mode User Interface, is now documented in the manual.
7469
7470 Tracepoints-related commands are now fully documented in the GDB
7471 manual.
7472
7473 The "GDB Internals" manual now has an index. It also includes
7474 documentation of `ui_out' functions, GDB coding standards, x86
7475 hardware watchpoints, and memory region attributes.
7476
7477 * GDB's version number moved to ``version.in''
7478
7479 The Makefile variable VERSION has been replaced by the file
7480 ``version.in''. People creating GDB distributions should update the
7481 contents of this file.
7482
7483 * gdba.el deleted
7484
7485 GUD support is now a standard part of the EMACS distribution.
7486
7487 *** Changes in GDB 5.0:
7488
7489 * Improved support for debugging FP programs on x86 targets
7490
7491 Unified and much-improved support for debugging floating-point
7492 programs on all x86 targets. In particular, ``info float'' now
7493 displays the FP registers in the same format on all x86 targets, with
7494 greater level of detail.
7495
7496 * Improvements and bugfixes in hardware-assisted watchpoints
7497
7498 It is now possible to watch array elements, struct members, and
7499 bitfields with hardware-assisted watchpoints. Data-read watchpoints
7500 on x86 targets no longer erroneously trigger when the address is
7501 written.
7502
7503 * Improvements in the native DJGPP version of GDB
7504
7505 The distribution now includes all the scripts and auxiliary files
7506 necessary to build the native DJGPP version on MS-DOS/MS-Windows
7507 machines ``out of the box''.
7508
7509 The DJGPP version can now debug programs that use signals. It is
7510 possible to catch signals that happened in the debuggee, deliver
7511 signals to it, interrupt it with Ctrl-C, etc. (Previously, a signal
7512 would kill the program being debugged.) Programs that hook hardware
7513 interrupts (keyboard, timer, etc.) can also be debugged.
7514
7515 It is now possible to debug DJGPP programs that redirect their
7516 standard handles or switch them to raw (as opposed to cooked) mode, or
7517 even close them. The command ``run < foo > bar'' works as expected,
7518 and ``info terminal'' reports useful information about the debuggee's
7519 terminal, including raw/cooked mode, redirection, etc.
7520
7521 The DJGPP version now uses termios functions for console I/O, which
7522 enables debugging graphics programs. Interrupting GDB with Ctrl-C
7523 also works.
7524
7525 DOS-style file names with drive letters are now fully supported by
7526 GDB.
7527
7528 It is now possible to debug DJGPP programs that switch their working
7529 directory. It is also possible to rerun the debuggee any number of
7530 times without restarting GDB; thus, you can use the same setup,
7531 breakpoints, etc. for many debugging sessions.
7532
7533 * New native configurations
7534
7535 ARM GNU/Linux arm*-*-linux*
7536 PowerPC GNU/Linux powerpc-*-linux*
7537
7538 * New targets
7539
7540 Motorola MCore mcore-*-*
7541 x86 VxWorks i[3456]86-*-vxworks*
7542 PowerPC VxWorks powerpc-*-vxworks*
7543 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
7544
7545 * OBSOLETE configurations
7546
7547 Altos 3068 m68*-altos-*
7548 Convex c1-*-*, c2-*-*
7549 Pyramid pyramid-*-*
7550 ARM RISCix arm-*-* (as host)
7551 Tahoe tahoe-*-*
7552
7553 Configurations that have been declared obsolete will be commented out,
7554 but the code will be left in place. If there is no activity to revive
7555 these configurations before the next release of GDB, the sources will
7556 be permanently REMOVED.
7557
7558 * Gould support removed
7559
7560 Support for the Gould PowerNode and NP1 has been removed.
7561
7562 * New features for SVR4
7563
7564 On SVR4 native platforms (such as Solaris), if you attach to a process
7565 without first loading a symbol file, GDB will now attempt to locate and
7566 load symbols from the running process's executable file.
7567
7568 * Many C++ enhancements
7569
7570 C++ support has been greatly improved. Overload resolution now works properly
7571 in almost all cases. RTTI support is on the way.
7572
7573 * Remote targets can connect to a sub-program
7574
7575 A popen(3) style serial-device has been added. This device starts a
7576 sub-process (such as a stand-alone simulator) and then communicates
7577 with that. The sub-program to run is specified using the syntax
7578 ``|<program> <args>'' vis:
7579
7580 (gdb) set remotedebug 1
7581 (gdb) target extended-remote |mn10300-elf-sim program-args
7582
7583 * MIPS 64 remote protocol
7584
7585 A long standing bug in the mips64 remote protocol where by GDB
7586 expected certain 32 bit registers (ex SR) to be transfered as 32
7587 instead of 64 bits has been fixed.
7588
7589 The command ``set remote-mips64-transfers-32bit-regs on'' has been
7590 added to provide backward compatibility with older versions of GDB.
7591
7592 * ``set remotebinarydownload'' replaced by ``set remote X-packet''
7593
7594 The command ``set remotebinarydownload'' command has been replaced by
7595 ``set remote X-packet''. Other commands in ``set remote'' family
7596 include ``set remote P-packet''.
7597
7598 * Breakpoint commands accept ranges.
7599
7600 The breakpoint commands ``enable'', ``disable'', and ``delete'' now
7601 accept a range of breakpoints, e.g. ``5-7''. The tracepoint command
7602 ``tracepoint passcount'' also accepts a range of tracepoints.
7603
7604 * ``apropos'' command added.
7605
7606 The ``apropos'' command searches through command names and
7607 documentation strings, printing out matches, making it much easier to
7608 try to find a command that does what you are looking for.
7609
7610 * New MI interface
7611
7612 A new machine oriented interface (MI) has been added to GDB. This
7613 interface is designed for debug environments running GDB as a separate
7614 process. This is part of the long term libGDB project. See the
7615 "GDB/MI" chapter of the GDB manual for further information. It can be
7616 enabled by configuring with:
7617
7618 .../configure --enable-gdbmi
7619
7620 *** Changes in GDB-4.18:
7621
7622 * New native configurations
7623
7624 HP-UX 10.20 hppa*-*-hpux10.20
7625 HP-UX 11.x hppa*-*-hpux11.0*
7626 M68K GNU/Linux m68*-*-linux*
7627
7628 * New targets
7629
7630 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
7631 Intel StrongARM strongarm-*-*
7632 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
7633
7634 * OBSOLETE configurations
7635
7636 Gould PowerNode, NP1 np1-*-*, pn-*-*
7637
7638 Configurations that have been declared obsolete will be commented out,
7639 but the code will be left in place. If there is no activity to revive
7640 these configurations before the next release of GDB, the sources will
7641 be permanently REMOVED.
7642
7643 * ANSI/ISO C
7644
7645 As a compatibility experiment, GDB's source files buildsym.h and
7646 buildsym.c have been converted to pure standard C, no longer
7647 containing any K&R compatibility code. We believe that all systems in
7648 use today either come with a standard C compiler, or have a GCC port
7649 available. If this is not true, please report the affected
7650 configuration to bug-gdb@gnu.org immediately. See the README file for
7651 information about getting a standard C compiler if you don't have one
7652 already.
7653
7654 * Readline 2.2
7655
7656 GDB now uses readline 2.2.
7657
7658 * set extension-language
7659
7660 You can now control the mapping between filename extensions and source
7661 languages by using the `set extension-language' command. For instance,
7662 you can ask GDB to treat .c files as C++ by saying
7663 set extension-language .c c++
7664 The command `info extensions' lists all of the recognized extensions
7665 and their associated languages.
7666
7667 * Setting processor type for PowerPC and RS/6000
7668
7669 When GDB is configured for a powerpc*-*-* or an rs6000*-*-* target,
7670 you can use the `set processor' command to specify what variant of the
7671 PowerPC family you are debugging. The command
7672
7673 set processor NAME
7674
7675 sets the PowerPC/RS6000 variant to NAME. GDB knows about the
7676 following PowerPC and RS6000 variants:
7677
7678 ppc-uisa PowerPC UISA - a PPC processor as viewed by user-level code
7679 rs6000 IBM RS6000 ("POWER") architecture, user-level view
7680 403 IBM PowerPC 403
7681 403GC IBM PowerPC 403GC
7682 505 Motorola PowerPC 505
7683 860 Motorola PowerPC 860 or 850
7684 601 Motorola PowerPC 601
7685 602 Motorola PowerPC 602
7686 603 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 603 or 603e
7687 604 Motorola PowerPC 604 or 604e
7688 750 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 750 or 750
7689
7690 At the moment, this command just tells GDB what to name the
7691 special-purpose processor registers. Since almost all the affected
7692 registers are inaccessible to user-level programs, this command is
7693 only useful for remote debugging in its present form.
7694
7695 * HP-UX support
7696
7697 Thanks to a major code donation from Hewlett-Packard, GDB now has much
7698 more extensive support for HP-UX. Added features include shared
7699 library support, kernel threads and hardware watchpoints for 11.00,
7700 support for HP's ANSI C and C++ compilers, and a compatibility mode
7701 for xdb and dbx commands.
7702
7703 * Catchpoints
7704
7705 HP's donation includes the new concept of catchpoints, which is a
7706 generalization of the old catch command. On HP-UX, it is now possible
7707 to catch exec, fork, and vfork, as well as library loading.
7708
7709 This means that the existing catch command has changed; its first
7710 argument now specifies the type of catch to be set up. See the
7711 output of "help catch" for a list of catchpoint types.
7712
7713 * Debugging across forks
7714
7715 On HP-UX, you can choose which process to debug when a fork() happens
7716 in the inferior.
7717
7718 * TUI
7719
7720 HP has donated a curses-based terminal user interface (TUI). To get
7721 it, build with --enable-tui. Although this can be enabled for any
7722 configuration, at present it only works for native HP debugging.
7723
7724 * GDB remote protocol additions
7725
7726 A new protocol packet 'X' that writes binary data is now available.
7727 Default behavior is to try 'X', then drop back to 'M' if the stub
7728 fails to respond. The settable variable `remotebinarydownload'
7729 allows explicit control over the use of 'X'.
7730
7731 For 64-bit targets, the memory packets ('M' and 'm') can now contain a
7732 full 64-bit address. The command
7733
7734 set remoteaddresssize 32
7735
7736 can be used to revert to the old behaviour. For existing remote stubs
7737 the change should not be noticed, as the additional address information
7738 will be discarded.
7739
7740 In order to assist in debugging stubs, you may use the maintenance
7741 command `packet' to send any text string to the stub. For instance,
7742
7743 maint packet heythere
7744
7745 sends the packet "$heythere#<checksum>". Note that it is very easy to
7746 disrupt a debugging session by sending the wrong packet at the wrong
7747 time.
7748
7749 The compare-sections command allows you to compare section data on the
7750 target to what is in the executable file without uploading or
7751 downloading, by comparing CRC checksums.
7752
7753 * Tracing can collect general expressions
7754
7755 You may now collect general expressions at tracepoints. This requires
7756 further additions to the target-side stub; see tracepoint.c and
7757 doc/agentexpr.texi for further details.
7758
7759 * mask-address variable for Mips
7760
7761 For Mips targets, you may control the zeroing of the upper 32 bits of
7762 a 64-bit address by entering `set mask-address on'. This is mainly
7763 of interest to users of embedded R4xxx and R5xxx processors.
7764
7765 * Higher serial baud rates
7766
7767 GDB's serial code now allows you to specify baud rates 57600, 115200,
7768 230400, and 460800 baud. (Note that your host system may not be able
7769 to achieve all of these rates.)
7770
7771 * i960 simulator
7772
7773 The i960 configuration now includes an initial implementation of a
7774 builtin simulator, contributed by Jim Wilson.
7775
7776
7777 *** Changes in GDB-4.17:
7778
7779 * New native configurations
7780
7781 Alpha GNU/Linux alpha*-*-linux*
7782 Unixware 2.x i[3456]86-unixware2*
7783 Irix 6.x mips*-sgi-irix6*
7784 PowerPC GNU/Linux powerpc-*-linux*
7785 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
7786 Sparc GNU/Linux sparc-*-linux*
7787 Motorola sysV68 R3V7.1 m68k-motorola-sysv
7788
7789 * New targets
7790
7791 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
7792 Hitachi H8/300S h8300*-*-*
7793 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
7794 Matsushita MN10300 w/simulator mn10300-*-*
7795 MIPS NEC VR4100 mips64*vr4100*{,el}-*-elf*
7796 MIPS NEC VR5000 mips64*vr5000*{,el}-*-elf*
7797 MIPS Toshiba TX39 mips64*tx39*{,el}-*-elf*
7798 Mitsubishi D10V w/simulator d10v-*-*
7799 Mitsubishi M32R/D w/simulator m32r-*-elf*
7800 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
7801 NEC V850 w/simulator v850-*-*
7802
7803 * New debugging protocols
7804
7805 ARM with RDI protocol arm*-*-*
7806 M68K with dBUG monitor m68*-*-{aout,coff,elf}
7807 DDB and LSI variants of PMON protocol mips*-*-*
7808 PowerPC with DINK32 monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
7809 PowerPC with SDS protocol powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
7810 Macraigor OCD (Wiggler) devices powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
7811
7812 * DWARF 2
7813
7814 All configurations can now understand and use the DWARF 2 debugging
7815 format. The choice is automatic, if the symbol file contains DWARF 2
7816 information.
7817
7818 * Java frontend
7819
7820 GDB now includes basic Java language support. This support is
7821 only useful with Java compilers that produce native machine code.
7822
7823 * solib-absolute-prefix and solib-search-path
7824
7825 For SunOS and SVR4 shared libraries, you may now set the prefix for
7826 loading absolute shared library symbol files, and the search path for
7827 locating non-absolute shared library symbol files.
7828
7829 * Live range splitting
7830
7831 GDB can now effectively debug code for which GCC has performed live
7832 range splitting as part of its optimization. See gdb/doc/LRS for
7833 more details on the expected format of the stabs information.
7834
7835 * Hurd support
7836
7837 GDB's support for the GNU Hurd, including thread debugging, has been
7838 updated to work with current versions of the Hurd.
7839
7840 * ARM Thumb support
7841
7842 GDB's ARM target configuration now handles the ARM7T (Thumb) 16-bit
7843 instruction set. ARM GDB automatically detects when Thumb
7844 instructions are in use, and adjusts disassembly and backtracing
7845 accordingly.
7846
7847 * MIPS16 support
7848
7849 GDB's MIPS target configurations now handle the MIP16 16-bit
7850 instruction set.
7851
7852 * Overlay support
7853
7854 GDB now includes support for overlays; if an executable has been
7855 linked such that multiple sections are based at the same address, GDB
7856 will decide which section to use for symbolic info. You can choose to
7857 control the decision manually, using overlay commands, or implement
7858 additional target-side support and use "overlay load-target" to bring
7859 in the overlay mapping. Do "help overlay" for more detail.
7860
7861 * info symbol
7862
7863 The command "info symbol <address>" displays information about
7864 the symbol at the specified address.
7865
7866 * Trace support
7867
7868 The standard remote protocol now includes an extension that allows
7869 asynchronous collection and display of trace data. This requires
7870 extensive support in the target-side debugging stub. Tracing mode
7871 includes a new interaction mode in GDB and new commands: see the
7872 file tracepoint.c for more details.
7873
7874 * MIPS simulator
7875
7876 Configurations for embedded MIPS now include a simulator contributed
7877 by Cygnus Solutions. The simulator supports the instruction sets
7878 of most MIPS variants.
7879
7880 * Sparc simulator
7881
7882 Sparc configurations may now include the ERC32 simulator contributed
7883 by the European Space Agency. The simulator is not built into
7884 Sparc targets by default; configure with --enable-sim to include it.
7885
7886 * set architecture
7887
7888 For target configurations that may include multiple variants of a
7889 basic architecture (such as MIPS and SH), you may now set the
7890 architecture explicitly. "set arch" sets, "info arch" lists
7891 the possible architectures.
7892
7893 *** Changes in GDB-4.16:
7894
7895 * New native configurations
7896
7897 Windows 95, x86 Windows NT i[345]86-*-cygwin32
7898 M68K NetBSD m68k-*-netbsd*
7899 PowerPC AIX 4.x powerpc-*-aix*
7900 PowerPC MacOS powerpc-*-macos*
7901 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
7902 RS/6000 AIX 4.x rs6000-*-aix4*
7903
7904 * New targets
7905
7906 ARM with RDP protocol arm-*-*
7907 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
7908 MIPS VxWorks mips*-*-vxworks*
7909 MIPS VR4300 with PMON mips64*vr4300{,el}-*-elf*
7910 PowerPC with PPCBUG monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi*
7911 Hitachi SH3 sh-*-*
7912 Matra Sparclet sparclet-*-*
7913
7914 * PowerPC simulator
7915
7916 The powerpc-eabi configuration now includes the PSIM simulator,
7917 contributed by Andrew Cagney, with assistance from Mike Meissner.
7918 PSIM is a very elaborate model of the PowerPC, including not only
7919 basic instruction set execution, but also details of execution unit
7920 performance and I/O hardware. See sim/ppc/README for more details.
7921
7922 * Solaris 2.5
7923
7924 GDB now works with Solaris 2.5.
7925
7926 * Windows 95/NT native
7927
7928 GDB will now work as a native debugger on Windows 95 and Windows NT.
7929 To build it from source, you must use the "gnu-win32" environment,
7930 which uses a DLL to emulate enough of Unix to run the GNU tools.
7931 Further information, binaries, and sources are available at
7932 ftp.cygnus.com, under pub/gnu-win32.
7933
7934 * dont-repeat command
7935
7936 If a user-defined command includes the command `dont-repeat', then the
7937 command will not be repeated if the user just types return. This is
7938 useful if the command is time-consuming to run, so that accidental
7939 extra keystrokes don't run the same command many times.
7940
7941 * Send break instead of ^C
7942
7943 The standard remote protocol now includes an option to send a break
7944 rather than a ^C to the target in order to interrupt it. By default,
7945 GDB will send ^C; to send a break, set the variable `remotebreak' to 1.
7946
7947 * Remote protocol timeout
7948
7949 The standard remote protocol includes a new variable `remotetimeout'
7950 that allows you to set the number of seconds before GDB gives up trying
7951 to read from the target. The default value is 2.
7952
7953 * Automatic tracking of dynamic object loading (HPUX and Solaris only)
7954
7955 By default GDB will automatically keep track of objects as they are
7956 loaded and unloaded by the dynamic linker. By using the command `set
7957 stop-on-solib-events 1' you can arrange for GDB to stop the inferior
7958 when shared library events occur, thus allowing you to set breakpoints
7959 in shared libraries which are explicitly loaded by the inferior.
7960
7961 Note this feature does not work on hpux8. On hpux9 you must link
7962 /usr/lib/end.o into your program. This feature should work
7963 automatically on hpux10.
7964
7965 * Irix 5.x hardware watchpoint support
7966
7967 Irix 5 configurations now support the use of hardware watchpoints.
7968
7969 * Mips protocol "SYN garbage limit"
7970
7971 When debugging a Mips target using the `target mips' protocol, you
7972 may set the number of characters that GDB will ignore by setting
7973 the `syn-garbage-limit'. A value of -1 means that GDB will ignore
7974 every character. The default value is 1050.
7975
7976 * Recording and replaying remote debug sessions
7977
7978 If you set `remotelogfile' to the name of a file, gdb will write to it
7979 a recording of a remote debug session. This recording may then be
7980 replayed back to gdb using "gdbreplay". See gdbserver/README for
7981 details. This is useful when you have a problem with GDB while doing
7982 remote debugging; you can make a recording of the session and send it
7983 to someone else, who can then recreate the problem.
7984
7985 * Speedups for remote debugging
7986
7987 GDB includes speedups for downloading and stepping MIPS systems using
7988 the IDT monitor, fast downloads to the Hitachi SH E7000 emulator,
7989 and more efficient S-record downloading.
7990
7991 * Memory use reductions and statistics collection
7992
7993 GDB now uses less memory and reports statistics about memory usage.
7994 Try the `maint print statistics' command, for example.
7995
7996 *** Changes in GDB-4.15:
7997
7998 * Psymtabs for XCOFF
7999
8000 The symbol reader for AIX GDB now uses partial symbol tables. This
8001 can greatly improve startup time, especially for large executables.
8002
8003 * Remote targets use caching
8004
8005 Remote targets now use a data cache to speed up communication with the
8006 remote side. The data cache could lead to incorrect results because
8007 it doesn't know about volatile variables, thus making it impossible to
8008 debug targets which use memory mapped I/O devices. `set remotecache
8009 off' turns the data cache off.
8010
8011 * Remote targets may have threads
8012
8013 The standard remote protocol now includes support for multiple threads
8014 in the target system, using new protocol commands 'H' and 'T'. See
8015 gdb/remote.c for details.
8016
8017 * NetROM support
8018
8019 If GDB is configured with `--enable-netrom', then it will include
8020 support for the NetROM ROM emulator from XLNT Designs. The NetROM
8021 acts as though it is a bank of ROM on the target board, but you can
8022 write into it over the network. GDB's support consists only of
8023 support for fast loading into the emulated ROM; to debug, you must use
8024 another protocol, such as standard remote protocol. The usual
8025 sequence is something like
8026
8027 target nrom <netrom-hostname>
8028 load <prog>
8029 target remote <netrom-hostname>:1235
8030
8031 * Macintosh host
8032
8033 GDB now includes support for the Apple Macintosh, as a host only. It
8034 may be run as either an MPW tool or as a standalone application, and
8035 it can debug through the serial port. All the usual GDB commands are
8036 available, but to the target command, you must supply "serial" as the
8037 device type instead of "/dev/ttyXX". See mpw-README in the main
8038 directory for more information on how to build. The MPW configuration
8039 scripts */mpw-config.in support only a few targets, and only the
8040 mips-idt-ecoff target has been tested.
8041
8042 * Autoconf
8043
8044 GDB configuration now uses autoconf. This is not user-visible,
8045 but does simplify configuration and building.
8046
8047 * hpux10
8048
8049 GDB now supports hpux10.
8050
8051 *** Changes in GDB-4.14:
8052
8053 * New native configurations
8054
8055 x86 FreeBSD i[345]86-*-freebsd
8056 x86 NetBSD i[345]86-*-netbsd
8057 NS32k NetBSD ns32k-*-netbsd
8058 Sparc NetBSD sparc-*-netbsd
8059
8060 * New targets
8061
8062 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
8063 HP PA PRO embedded (WinBond W89K & Oki OP50N) hppa*-*-pro*
8064 CPU32 EST-300 emulator m68*-*-est*
8065 PowerPC ELF powerpc-*-elf
8066 WDC 65816 w65-*-*
8067
8068 * Alpha OSF/1 support for procfs
8069
8070 GDB now supports procfs under OSF/1-2.x and higher, which makes it
8071 possible to attach to running processes. As the mounting of the /proc
8072 filesystem is optional on the Alpha, GDB automatically determines
8073 the availability of /proc during startup. This can lead to problems
8074 if /proc is unmounted after GDB has been started.
8075
8076 * Arguments to user-defined commands
8077
8078 User commands may accept up to 10 arguments separated by whitespace.
8079 Arguments are accessed within the user command via $arg0..$arg9. A
8080 trivial example:
8081 define adder
8082 print $arg0 + $arg1 + $arg2
8083
8084 To execute the command use:
8085 adder 1 2 3
8086
8087 Defines the command "adder" which prints the sum of its three arguments.
8088 Note the arguments are text substitutions, so they may reference variables,
8089 use complex expressions, or even perform inferior function calls.
8090
8091 * New `if' and `while' commands
8092
8093 This makes it possible to write more sophisticated user-defined
8094 commands. Both commands take a single argument, which is the
8095 expression to evaluate, and must be followed by the commands to
8096 execute, one per line, if the expression is nonzero, the list being
8097 terminated by the word `end'. The `if' command list may include an
8098 `else' word, which causes the following commands to be executed only
8099 if the expression is zero.
8100
8101 * Fortran source language mode
8102
8103 GDB now includes partial support for Fortran 77. It will recognize
8104 Fortran programs and can evaluate a subset of Fortran expressions, but
8105 variables and functions may not be handled correctly. GDB will work
8106 with G77, but does not yet know much about symbols emitted by other
8107 Fortran compilers.
8108
8109 * Better HPUX support
8110
8111 Most debugging facilities now work on dynamic executables for HPPAs
8112 running hpux9 or later. You can attach to running dynamically linked
8113 processes, but by default the dynamic libraries will be read-only, so
8114 for instance you won't be able to put breakpoints in them. To change
8115 that behavior do the following before running the program:
8116
8117 adb -w a.out
8118 __dld_flags?W 0x5
8119 control-d
8120
8121 This will cause the libraries to be mapped private and read-write.
8122 To revert to the normal behavior, do this:
8123
8124 adb -w a.out
8125 __dld_flags?W 0x4
8126 control-d
8127
8128 You cannot set breakpoints or examine data in the library until after
8129 the library is loaded if the function/data symbols do not have
8130 external linkage.
8131
8132 GDB can now also read debug symbols produced by the HP C compiler on
8133 HPPAs (sorry, no C++, Fortran or 68k support).
8134
8135 * Target byte order now dynamically selectable
8136
8137 You can choose which byte order to use with a target system, via the
8138 commands "set endian big" and "set endian little", and you can see the
8139 current setting by using "show endian". You can also give the command
8140 "set endian auto", in which case GDB will use the byte order
8141 associated with the executable. Currently, only embedded MIPS
8142 configurations support dynamic selection of target byte order.
8143
8144 * New DOS host serial code
8145
8146 This version uses DPMI interrupts to handle buffered I/O, so you
8147 no longer need to run asynctsr when debugging boards connected to
8148 a PC's serial port.
8149
8150 *** Changes in GDB-4.13:
8151
8152 * New "complete" command
8153
8154 This lists all the possible completions for the rest of the line, if it
8155 were to be given as a command itself. This is intended for use by emacs.
8156
8157 * Trailing space optional in prompt
8158
8159 "set prompt" no longer adds a space for you after the prompt you set. This
8160 allows you to set a prompt which ends in a space or one that does not.
8161
8162 * Breakpoint hit counts
8163
8164 "info break" now displays a count of the number of times the breakpoint
8165 has been hit. This is especially useful in conjunction with "ignore"; you
8166 can ignore a large number of breakpoint hits, look at the breakpoint info
8167 to see how many times the breakpoint was hit, then run again, ignoring one
8168 less than that number, and this will get you quickly to the last hit of
8169 that breakpoint.
8170
8171 * Ability to stop printing at NULL character
8172
8173 "set print null-stop" will cause GDB to stop printing the characters of
8174 an array when the first NULL is encountered. This is useful when large
8175 arrays actually contain only short strings.
8176
8177 * Shared library breakpoints
8178
8179 In SunOS 4.x, SVR4, and Alpha OSF/1 configurations, you can now set
8180 breakpoints in shared libraries before the executable is run.
8181
8182 * Hardware watchpoints
8183
8184 There is a new hardware breakpoint for the watch command for sparclite
8185 targets. See gdb/sparclite/hw_breakpoint.note.
8186
8187 Hardware watchpoints are also now supported under GNU/Linux.
8188
8189 * Annotations
8190
8191 Annotations have been added. These are for use with graphical interfaces,
8192 and are still experimental. Currently only gdba.el uses these.
8193
8194 * Improved Irix 5 support
8195
8196 GDB now works properly with Irix 5.2.
8197
8198 * Improved HPPA support
8199
8200 GDB now works properly with the latest GCC and GAS.
8201
8202 * New native configurations
8203
8204 Sequent PTX4 i[34]86-sequent-ptx4
8205 HPPA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
8206 Atari TT running SVR4 m68*-*-sysv4*
8207 RS/6000 LynxOS rs6000-*-lynxos*
8208
8209 * New targets
8210
8211 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
8212 MIPS R4000 mips64*{,el}-*-{ecoff,elf}
8213 Sparc64 sparc64-*-*
8214
8215 * Hitachi SH7000 and E7000-PC ICE support
8216
8217 There is now support for communicating with the Hitachi E7000-PC ICE.
8218 This is available automatically when GDB is configured for the SH.
8219
8220 * Fixes
8221
8222 As usual, a variety of small fixes and improvements, both generic
8223 and configuration-specific. See the ChangeLog for more detail.
8224
8225 *** Changes in GDB-4.12:
8226
8227 * Irix 5 is now supported
8228
8229 * HPPA support
8230
8231 GDB-4.12 on the HPPA has a number of changes which make it unable
8232 to debug the output from the currently released versions of GCC and
8233 GAS (GCC 2.5.8 and GAS-2.2 or PAGAS-1.36). Until the next major release
8234 of GCC and GAS, versions of these tools designed to work with GDB-4.12
8235 can be retrieved via anonymous ftp from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist.
8236
8237
8238 *** Changes in GDB-4.11:
8239
8240 * User visible changes:
8241
8242 * Remote Debugging
8243
8244 The "set remotedebug" option is now consistent between the mips remote
8245 target, remote targets using the gdb-specific protocol, UDI (AMD's
8246 debug protocol for the 29k) and the 88k bug monitor. It is now an
8247 integer specifying a debug level (normally 0 or 1, but 2 means more
8248 debugging info for the mips target).
8249
8250 * DEC Alpha native support
8251
8252 GDB now works on the DEC Alpha. GCC 2.4.5 does not produce usable
8253 debug info, but GDB works fairly well with the DEC compiler and should
8254 work with a future GCC release. See the README file for a few
8255 Alpha-specific notes.
8256
8257 * Preliminary thread implementation
8258
8259 GDB now has preliminary thread support for both SGI/Irix and LynxOS.
8260
8261 * LynxOS native and target support for 386
8262
8263 This release has been hosted on LynxOS 2.2, and also can be configured
8264 to remotely debug programs running under LynxOS (see gdb/gdbserver/README
8265 for details).
8266
8267 * Improvements in C++ mangling/demangling.
8268
8269 This release has much better g++ debugging, specifically in name
8270 mangling/demangling, virtual function calls, print virtual table,
8271 call methods, ...etc.
8272
8273 *** Changes in GDB-4.10:
8274
8275 * User visible changes:
8276
8277 Remote debugging using the GDB-specific (`target remote') protocol now
8278 supports the `load' command. This is only useful if you have some
8279 other way of getting the stub to the target system, and you can put it
8280 somewhere in memory where it won't get clobbered by the download.
8281
8282 Filename completion now works.
8283
8284 When run under emacs mode, the "info line" command now causes the
8285 arrow to point to the line specified. Also, "info line" prints
8286 addresses in symbolic form (as well as hex).
8287
8288 All vxworks based targets now support a user settable option, called
8289 vxworks-timeout. This option represents the number of seconds gdb
8290 should wait for responses to rpc's. You might want to use this if
8291 your vxworks target is, perhaps, a slow software simulator or happens
8292 to be on the far side of a thin network line.
8293
8294 * DEC alpha support
8295
8296 This release contains support for using a DEC alpha as a GDB host for
8297 cross debugging. Native alpha debugging is not supported yet.
8298
8299
8300 *** Changes in GDB-4.9:
8301
8302 * Testsuite
8303
8304 This is the first GDB release which is accompanied by a matching testsuite.
8305 The testsuite requires installation of dejagnu, which should be available
8306 via ftp from most sites that carry GNU software.
8307
8308 * C++ demangling
8309
8310 'Cfront' style demangling has had its name changed to 'ARM' style, to
8311 emphasize that it was written from the specifications in the C++ Annotated
8312 Reference Manual, not necessarily to be compatible with AT&T cfront. Despite
8313 disclaimers, it still generated too much confusion with users attempting to
8314 use gdb with AT&T cfront.
8315
8316 * Simulators
8317
8318 GDB now uses a standard remote interface to a simulator library.
8319 So far, the library contains simulators for the Zilog Z8001/2, the
8320 Hitachi H8/300, H8/500 and Super-H.
8321
8322 * New targets supported
8323
8324 H8/300 simulator h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
8325 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
8326 SH simulator sh-hitachi-hms or sh
8327 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
8328 IDT MIPS board over serial line mips-idt-ecoff
8329
8330 Cross-debugging to GO32 targets is supported. It requires a custom
8331 version of the i386-stub.c module which is integrated with the
8332 GO32 memory extender.
8333
8334 * New remote protocols
8335
8336 MIPS remote debugging protocol.
8337
8338 * New source languages supported
8339
8340 This version includes preliminary support for Chill, a Pascal like language
8341 used by telecommunications companies. Chill support is also being integrated
8342 into the GNU compiler, but we don't know when it will be publically available.
8343
8344
8345 *** Changes in GDB-4.8:
8346
8347 * HP Precision Architecture supported
8348
8349 GDB now supports HP PA-RISC machines running HPUX. A preliminary
8350 version of this support was available as a set of patches from the
8351 University of Utah. GDB does not support debugging of programs
8352 compiled with the HP compiler, because HP will not document their file
8353 format. Instead, you must use GCC (version 2.3.2 or later) and PA-GAS
8354 (as available from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist/pa-gas.u4.tar.Z).
8355
8356 Many problems in the preliminary version have been fixed.
8357
8358 * Faster and better demangling
8359
8360 We have improved template demangling and fixed numerous bugs in the GNU style
8361 demangler. It can now handle type modifiers such as `static' or `const'. Wide
8362 character types (wchar_t) are now supported. Demangling of each symbol is now
8363 only done once, and is cached when the symbol table for a file is read in.
8364 This results in a small increase in memory usage for C programs, a moderate
8365 increase in memory usage for C++ programs, and a fantastic speedup in
8366 symbol lookups.
8367
8368 `Cfront' style demangling still doesn't work with AT&T cfront. It was written
8369 from the specifications in the Annotated Reference Manual, which AT&T's
8370 compiler does not actually implement.
8371
8372 * G++ multiple inheritance compiler problem
8373
8374 In the 2.3.2 release of gcc/g++, how the compiler resolves multiple
8375 inheritance lattices was reworked to properly discover ambiguities. We
8376 recently found an example which causes this new algorithm to fail in a
8377 very subtle way, producing bad debug information for those classes.
8378 The file 'gcc.patch' (in this directory) can be applied to gcc to
8379 circumvent the problem. A future GCC release will contain a complete
8380 fix.
8381
8382 The previous G++ debug info problem (mentioned below for the gdb-4.7
8383 release) is fixed in gcc version 2.3.2.
8384
8385 * Improved configure script
8386
8387 The `configure' script will now attempt to guess your system type if
8388 you don't supply a host system type. The old scheme of supplying a
8389 host system triplet is preferable over using this. All the magic is
8390 done in the new `config.guess' script. Examine it for details.
8391
8392 We have also brought our configure script much more in line with the FSF's
8393 version. It now supports the --with-xxx options. In particular,
8394 `--with-minimal-bfd' can be used to make the GDB binary image smaller.
8395 The resulting GDB will not be able to read arbitrary object file formats --
8396 only the format ``expected'' to be used on the configured target system.
8397 We hope to make this the default in a future release.
8398
8399 * Documentation improvements
8400
8401 There's new internal documentation on how to modify GDB, and how to
8402 produce clean changes to the code. We implore people to read it
8403 before submitting changes.
8404
8405 The GDB manual uses new, sexy Texinfo conditionals, rather than arcane
8406 M4 macros. The new texinfo.tex is provided in this release. Pre-built
8407 `info' files are also provided. To build `info' files from scratch,
8408 you will need the latest `makeinfo' release, which will be available in
8409 a future texinfo-X.Y release.
8410
8411 *NOTE* The new texinfo.tex can cause old versions of TeX to hang.
8412 We're not sure exactly which versions have this problem, but it has
8413 been seen in 3.0. We highly recommend upgrading to TeX version 3.141
8414 or better. If that isn't possible, there is a patch in
8415 `texinfo/tex3patch' that will modify `texinfo/texinfo.tex' to work
8416 around this problem.
8417
8418 * New features
8419
8420 GDB now supports array constants that can be used in expressions typed in by
8421 the user. The syntax is `{element, element, ...}'. Ie: you can now type
8422 `print {1, 2, 3}', and it will build up an array in memory malloc'd in
8423 the target program.
8424
8425 The new directory `gdb/sparclite' contains a program that demonstrates
8426 how the sparc-stub.c remote stub runs on a Fujitsu SPARClite processor.
8427
8428 * New native hosts supported
8429
8430 HP/PA-RISC under HPUX using GNU tools hppa1.1-hp-hpux
8431 386 CPUs running SCO Unix 3.2v4 i386-unknown-sco3.2v4
8432
8433 * New targets supported
8434
8435 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi or udi29k
8436
8437 * New file formats supported
8438
8439 BFD now supports reading HP/PA-RISC executables (SOM file format?),
8440 HPUX core files, and SCO 3.2v2 core files.
8441
8442 * Major bug fixes
8443
8444 Attaching to processes now works again; thanks for the many bug reports.
8445
8446 We have also stomped on a bunch of core dumps caused by
8447 printf_filtered("%s") problems.
8448
8449 We eliminated a copyright problem on the rpc and ptrace header files
8450 for VxWorks, which was discovered at the last minute during the 4.7
8451 release. You should now be able to build a VxWorks GDB.
8452
8453 You can now interrupt gdb while an attached process is running. This
8454 will cause the attached process to stop, and give control back to GDB.
8455
8456 We fixed problems caused by using too many file descriptors
8457 for reading symbols from object files and libraries. This was
8458 especially a problem for programs that used many (~100) shared
8459 libraries.
8460
8461 The `step' command now only enters a subroutine if there is line number
8462 information for the subroutine. Otherwise it acts like the `next'
8463 command. Previously, `step' would enter subroutines if there was
8464 any debugging information about the routine. This avoids problems
8465 when using `cc -g1' on MIPS machines.
8466
8467 * Internal improvements
8468
8469 GDB's internal interfaces have been improved to make it easier to support
8470 debugging of multiple languages in the future.
8471
8472 GDB now uses a common structure for symbol information internally.
8473 Minimal symbols (derived from linkage symbols in object files), partial
8474 symbols (from a quick scan of debug information), and full symbols
8475 contain a common subset of information, making it easier to write
8476 shared code that handles any of them.
8477
8478 * New command line options
8479
8480 We now accept --silent as an alias for --quiet.
8481
8482 * Mmalloc licensing
8483
8484 The memory-mapped-malloc library is now licensed under the GNU Library
8485 General Public License.
8486
8487 *** Changes in GDB-4.7:
8488
8489 * Host/native/target split
8490
8491 GDB has had some major internal surgery to untangle the support for
8492 hosts and remote targets. Now, when you configure GDB for a remote
8493 target, it will no longer load in all of the support for debugging
8494 local programs on the host. When fully completed and tested, this will
8495 ensure that arbitrary host/target combinations are possible.
8496
8497 The primary conceptual shift is to separate the non-portable code in
8498 GDB into three categories. Host specific code is required any time GDB
8499 is compiled on that host, regardless of the target. Target specific
8500 code relates to the peculiarities of the target, but can be compiled on
8501 any host. Native specific code is everything else: it can only be
8502 built when the host and target are the same system. Child process
8503 handling and core file support are two common `native' examples.
8504
8505 GDB's use of /proc for controlling Unix child processes is now cleaner.
8506 It has been split out into a single module under the `target_ops' vector,
8507 plus two native-dependent functions for each system that uses /proc.
8508
8509 * New hosts supported
8510
8511 HP/Apollo 68k (under the BSD domain) m68k-apollo-bsd or apollo68bsd
8512 386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
8513 386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or i386sco
8514
8515 * New targets supported
8516
8517 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
8518 68030 and CPU32 m68030-*-*, m68332-*-*
8519
8520 * New native hosts supported
8521
8522 386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
8523 (386bsd is not well tested yet)
8524 386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or sco
8525
8526 * New file formats supported
8527
8528 BFD now supports COFF files for the Zilog Z8000 microprocessor. It
8529 supports reading of `a.out.adobe' object files, which are an a.out
8530 format extended with minimal information about multiple sections.
8531
8532 * New commands
8533
8534 `show copying' is the same as the old `info copying'.
8535 `show warranty' is the same as `info warrantee'.
8536 These were renamed for consistency. The old commands continue to work.
8537
8538 `info handle' is a new alias for `info signals'.
8539
8540 You can now define pre-command hooks, which attach arbitrary command
8541 scripts to any command. The commands in the hook will be executed
8542 prior to the user's command. You can also create a hook which will be
8543 executed whenever the program stops. See gdb.texinfo.
8544
8545 * C++ improvements
8546
8547 We now deal with Cfront style name mangling, and can even extract type
8548 info from mangled symbols. GDB can automatically figure out which
8549 symbol mangling style your C++ compiler uses.
8550
8551 Calling of methods and virtual functions has been improved as well.
8552
8553 * Major bug fixes
8554
8555 The crash that occurred when debugging Sun Ansi-C compiled binaries is
8556 fixed. This was due to mishandling of the extra N_SO stabs output
8557 by the compiler.
8558
8559 We also finally got Ultrix 4.2 running in house, and fixed core file
8560 support, with help from a dozen people on the net.
8561
8562 John M. Farrell discovered that the reason that single-stepping was so
8563 slow on all of the Mips based platforms (primarily SGI and DEC) was
8564 that we were trying to demangle and lookup a symbol used for internal
8565 purposes on every instruction that was being stepped through. Changing
8566 the name of that symbol so that it couldn't be mistaken for a C++
8567 mangled symbol sped things up a great deal.
8568
8569 Rich Pixley sped up symbol lookups in general by getting much smarter
8570 about when C++ symbol mangling is necessary. This should make symbol
8571 completion (TAB on the command line) much faster. It's not as fast as
8572 we'd like, but it's significantly faster than gdb-4.6.
8573
8574 * AMD 29k support
8575
8576 A new user controllable variable 'call_scratch_address' can
8577 specify the location of a scratch area to be used when GDB
8578 calls a function in the target. This is necessary because the
8579 usual method of putting the scratch area on the stack does not work
8580 in systems that have separate instruction and data spaces.
8581
8582 We integrated changes to support the 29k UDI (Universal Debugger
8583 Interface), but discovered at the last minute that we didn't have all
8584 of the appropriate copyright paperwork. We are working with AMD to
8585 resolve this, and hope to have it available soon.
8586
8587 * Remote interfaces
8588
8589 We have sped up the remote serial line protocol, especially for targets
8590 with lots of registers. It now supports a new `expedited status' ('T')
8591 message which can be used in place of the existing 'S' status message.
8592 This allows the remote stub to send only the registers that GDB
8593 needs to make a quick decision about single-stepping or conditional
8594 breakpoints, eliminating the need to fetch the entire register set for
8595 each instruction being stepped through.
8596
8597 The GDB remote serial protocol now implements a write-through cache for
8598 registers, only re-reading the registers if the target has run.
8599
8600 There is also a new remote serial stub for SPARC processors. You can
8601 find it in gdb-4.7/gdb/sparc-stub.c. This was written to support the
8602 Fujitsu SPARClite processor, but will run on any stand-alone SPARC
8603 processor with a serial port.
8604
8605 * Configuration
8606
8607 Configure.in files have become much easier to read and modify. A new
8608 `table driven' format makes it more obvious what configurations are
8609 supported, and what files each one uses.
8610
8611 * Library changes
8612
8613 There is a new opcodes library which will eventually contain all of the
8614 disassembly routines and opcode tables. At present, it only contains
8615 Sparc and Z8000 routines. This will allow the assembler, debugger, and
8616 disassembler (binutils/objdump) to share these routines.
8617
8618 The libiberty library is now copylefted under the GNU Library General
8619 Public License. This allows more liberal use, and was done so libg++
8620 can use it. This makes no difference to GDB, since the Library License
8621 grants all the rights from the General Public License.
8622
8623 * Documentation
8624
8625 The file gdb-4.7/gdb/doc/stabs.texinfo is a (relatively) complete
8626 reference to the stabs symbol info used by the debugger. It is (as far
8627 as we know) the only published document on this fascinating topic. We
8628 encourage you to read it, compare it to the stabs information on your
8629 system, and send improvements on the document in general (to
8630 bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu).
8631
8632 And, of course, many bugs have been fixed.
8633
8634
8635 *** Changes in GDB-4.6:
8636
8637 * Better support for C++ function names
8638
8639 GDB now accepts as input the "demangled form" of C++ overloaded function
8640 names and member function names, and can do command completion on such names
8641 (using TAB, TAB-TAB, and ESC-?). The names have to be quoted with a pair of
8642 single quotes. Examples are 'func (int, long)' and 'obj::operator==(obj&)'.
8643 Make use of command completion, it is your friend.
8644
8645 GDB also now accepts a variety of C++ mangled symbol formats. They are
8646 the GNU g++ style, the Cfront (ARM) style, and the Lucid (lcc) style.
8647 You can tell GDB which format to use by doing a 'set demangle-style {gnu,
8648 lucid, cfront, auto}'. 'gnu' is the default. Do a 'set demangle-style foo'
8649 for the list of formats.
8650
8651 * G++ symbol mangling problem
8652
8653 Recent versions of gcc have a bug in how they emit debugging information for
8654 C++ methods (when using dbx-style stabs). The file 'gcc.patch' (in this
8655 directory) can be applied to gcc to fix the problem. Alternatively, if you
8656 can't fix gcc, you can #define GCC_MANGLE_BUG when compiling gdb/symtab.c. The
8657 usual symptom is difficulty with setting breakpoints on methods. GDB complains
8658 about the method being non-existent. (We believe that version 2.2.2 of GCC has
8659 this problem.)
8660
8661 * New 'maintenance' command
8662
8663 All of the commands related to hacking GDB internals have been moved out of
8664 the main command set, and now live behind the 'maintenance' command. This
8665 can also be abbreviated as 'mt'. The following changes were made:
8666
8667 dump-me -> maintenance dump-me
8668 info all-breakpoints -> maintenance info breakpoints
8669 printmsyms -> maintenance print msyms
8670 printobjfiles -> maintenance print objfiles
8671 printpsyms -> maintenance print psymbols
8672 printsyms -> maintenance print symbols
8673
8674 The following commands are new:
8675
8676 maintenance demangle Call internal GDB demangler routine to
8677 demangle a C++ link name and prints the result.
8678 maintenance print type Print a type chain for a given symbol
8679
8680 * Change to .gdbinit file processing
8681
8682 We now read the $HOME/.gdbinit file before processing the argv arguments
8683 (e.g. reading symbol files or core files). This allows global parameters to
8684 be set, which will apply during the symbol reading. The ./.gdbinit is still
8685 read after argv processing.
8686
8687 * New hosts supported
8688
8689 Solaris-2.0 !!! sparc-sun-solaris2 or sun4sol2
8690
8691 GNU/Linux support i386-unknown-linux or linux
8692
8693 We are also including code to support the HP/PA running BSD and HPUX. This
8694 is almost guaranteed not to work, as we didn't have time to test or build it
8695 for this release. We are including it so that the more adventurous (or
8696 masochistic) of you can play with it. We also had major problems with the
8697 fact that the compiler that we got from HP doesn't support the -g option.
8698 It costs extra.
8699
8700 * New targets supported
8701
8702 Hitachi H8/300 h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
8703
8704 * More smarts about finding #include files
8705
8706 GDB now remembers the compilation directory for all include files, and for
8707 all files from which C is generated (like yacc and lex sources). This
8708 greatly improves GDB's ability to find yacc/lex sources, and include files,
8709 especially if you are debugging your program from a directory different from
8710 the one that contains your sources.
8711
8712 We also fixed a bug which caused difficulty with listing and setting
8713 breakpoints in include files which contain C code. (In the past, you had to
8714 try twice in order to list an include file that you hadn't looked at before.)
8715
8716 * Interesting infernals change
8717
8718 GDB now deals with arbitrary numbers of sections, where the symbols for each
8719 section must be relocated relative to that section's landing place in the
8720 target's address space. This work was needed to support ELF with embedded
8721 stabs used by Solaris-2.0.
8722
8723 * Bug fixes (of course!)
8724
8725 There have been loads of fixes for the following things:
8726 mips, rs6000, 29k/udi, m68k, g++, type handling, elf/dwarf, m88k,
8727 i960, stabs, DOS(GO32), procfs, etc...
8728
8729 See the ChangeLog for details.
8730
8731 *** Changes in GDB-4.5:
8732
8733 * New machines supported (host and target)
8734
8735 IBM RS6000 running AIX rs6000-ibm-aix or rs6000
8736
8737 SGI Irix-4.x mips-sgi-irix4 or iris4
8738
8739 * New malloc package
8740
8741 GDB now uses a new memory manager called mmalloc, based on gmalloc.
8742 Mmalloc is capable of handling multiple heaps of memory. It is also
8743 capable of saving a heap to a file, and then mapping it back in later.
8744 This can be used to greatly speedup the startup of GDB by using a
8745 pre-parsed symbol table which lives in a mmalloc managed heap. For
8746 more details, please read mmalloc/mmalloc.texi.
8747
8748 * info proc
8749
8750 The 'info proc' command (SVR4 only) has been enhanced quite a bit. See
8751 'help info proc' for details.
8752
8753 * MIPS ecoff symbol table format
8754
8755 The code that reads MIPS symbol table format is now supported on all hosts.
8756 Thanks to MIPS for releasing the sym.h and symconst.h files to make this
8757 possible.
8758
8759 * File name changes for MS-DOS
8760
8761 Many files in the config directories have been renamed to make it easier to
8762 support GDB on MS-DOSe systems (which have very restrictive file name
8763 conventions :-( ). MS-DOSe host support (under DJ Delorie's GO32
8764 environment) is close to working but has some remaining problems. Note
8765 that debugging of DOS programs is not supported, due to limitations
8766 in the ``operating system'', but it can be used to host cross-debugging.
8767
8768 * Cross byte order fixes
8769
8770 Many fixes have been made to support cross debugging of Sparc and MIPS
8771 targets from hosts whose byte order differs.
8772
8773 * New -mapped and -readnow options
8774
8775 If memory-mapped files are available on your system through the 'mmap'
8776 system call, you can use the -mapped option on the `file' or
8777 `symbol-file' commands to cause GDB to write the symbols from your
8778 program into a reusable file. If the program you are debugging is
8779 called `/path/fred', the mapped symbol file will be `./fred.syms'.
8780 Future GDB debugging sessions will notice the presence of this file,
8781 and will quickly map in symbol information from it, rather than reading
8782 the symbol table from the executable program. Using the '-mapped'
8783 option in a GDB `file' or `symbol-file' command has the same effect as
8784 starting GDB with the '-mapped' command-line option.
8785
8786 You can cause GDB to read the entire symbol table immediately by using
8787 the '-readnow' option with any of the commands that load symbol table
8788 information (or on the GDB command line). This makes the command
8789 slower, but makes future operations faster.
8790
8791 The -mapped and -readnow options are typically combined in order to
8792 build a `fred.syms' file that contains complete symbol information.
8793 A simple GDB invocation to do nothing but build a `.syms' file for future
8794 use is:
8795
8796 gdb -batch -nx -mapped -readnow programname
8797
8798 The `.syms' file is specific to the host machine on which GDB is run.
8799 It holds an exact image of GDB's internal symbol table. It cannot be
8800 shared across multiple host platforms.
8801
8802 * longjmp() handling
8803
8804 GDB is now capable of stepping and nexting over longjmp(), _longjmp(), and
8805 siglongjmp() without losing control. This feature has not yet been ported to
8806 all systems. It currently works on many 386 platforms, all MIPS-based
8807 platforms (SGI, DECstation, etc), and Sun3/4.
8808
8809 * Solaris 2.0
8810
8811 Preliminary work has been put in to support the new Solaris OS from Sun. At
8812 this time, it can control and debug processes, but it is not capable of
8813 reading symbols.
8814
8815 * Bug fixes
8816
8817 As always, many many bug fixes. The major areas were with g++, and mipsread.
8818 People using the MIPS-based platforms should experience fewer mysterious
8819 crashes and trashed symbol tables.
8820
8821 *** Changes in GDB-4.4:
8822
8823 * New machines supported (host and target)
8824
8825 SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
8826 (except core files)
8827 BSD Reno on Vax vax-dec-bsd
8828 Ultrix on Vax vax-dec-ultrix
8829
8830 * New machines supported (target)
8831
8832 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
8833
8834 * C++ support
8835
8836 GDB continues to improve its handling of C++. `References' work better.
8837 The demangler has also been improved, and now deals with symbols mangled as
8838 per the Annotated C++ Reference Guide.
8839
8840 GDB also now handles `stabs' symbol information embedded in MIPS
8841 `ecoff' symbol tables. Since the ecoff format was not easily
8842 extensible to handle new languages such as C++, this appeared to be a
8843 good way to put C++ debugging info into MIPS binaries. This option
8844 will be supported in the GNU C compiler, version 2, when it is
8845 released.
8846
8847 * New features for SVR4
8848
8849 GDB now handles SVR4 shared libraries, in the same fashion as SunOS
8850 shared libraries. Debugging dynamically linked programs should present
8851 only minor differences from debugging statically linked programs.
8852
8853 The `info proc' command will print out information about any process
8854 on an SVR4 system (including the one you are debugging). At the moment,
8855 it prints the address mappings of the process.
8856
8857 If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please send mail to
8858 bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were reqired (if any).
8859
8860 * Better dynamic linking support in SunOS
8861
8862 Reading symbols from shared libraries which contain debugging symbols
8863 now works properly. However, there remain issues such as automatic
8864 skipping of `transfer vector' code during function calls, which
8865 make it harder to debug code in a shared library, than to debug the
8866 same code linked statically.
8867
8868 * New Getopt
8869
8870 GDB is now using the latest `getopt' routines from the FSF. This
8871 version accepts the -- prefix for options with long names. GDB will
8872 continue to accept the old forms (-option and +option) as well.
8873 Various single letter abbreviations for options have been explicity
8874 added to the option table so that they won't get overshadowed in the
8875 future by other options that begin with the same letter.
8876
8877 * Bugs fixed
8878
8879 The `cleanup_undefined_types' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
8880 Many assorted bugs have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
8881 See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
8882
8883
8884 *** Changes in GDB-4.3:
8885
8886 * New machines supported (host and target)
8887
8888 Amiga 3000 running Amix m68k-cbm-svr4 or amix
8889 NCR 3000 386 running SVR4 i386-ncr-svr4 or ncr3000
8890 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
8891
8892 * Almost SCO Unix support
8893
8894 We had hoped to support:
8895 SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
8896 (except for core file support), but we discovered very late in the release
8897 that it has problems with process groups that render gdb unusable. Sorry
8898 about that. I encourage people to fix it and post the fixes.
8899
8900 * Preliminary ELF and DWARF support
8901
8902 GDB can read ELF object files on System V Release 4, and can handle
8903 debugging records for C, in DWARF format, in ELF files. This support
8904 is preliminary. If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please
8905 send mail to bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were
8906 reqired (if any).
8907
8908 * New Readline
8909
8910 GDB now uses the latest `readline' library. One user-visible change
8911 is that two tabs will list possible command completions, which previously
8912 required typing M-? (meta-question mark, or ESC ?).
8913
8914 * Bugs fixed
8915
8916 The `stepi' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
8917 Many bugs in C++ have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
8918 See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
8919
8920 * State of the MIPS world (in case you wondered):
8921
8922 GDB can understand the symbol tables emitted by the compilers
8923 supplied by most vendors of MIPS-based machines, including DEC. These
8924 symbol tables are in a format that essentially nobody else uses.
8925
8926 Some versions of gcc come with an assembler post-processor called
8927 mips-tfile. This program is required if you want to do source-level
8928 debugging of gcc-compiled programs. I believe FSF does not ship
8929 mips-tfile with gcc version 1, but it will eventually come with gcc
8930 version 2.
8931
8932 Debugging of g++ output remains a problem. g++ version 1.xx does not
8933 really support it at all. (If you're lucky, you should be able to get
8934 line numbers and stack traces to work, but no parameters or local
8935 variables.) With some work it should be possible to improve the
8936 situation somewhat.
8937
8938 When gcc version 2 is released, you will have somewhat better luck.
8939 However, even then you will get confusing results for inheritance and
8940 methods.
8941
8942 We will eventually provide full debugging of g++ output on
8943 DECstations. This will probably involve some kind of stabs-in-ecoff
8944 encapulation, but the details have not been worked out yet.
8945
8946
8947 *** Changes in GDB-4.2:
8948
8949 * Improved configuration
8950
8951 Only one copy of `configure' exists now, and it is not self-modifying.
8952 Porting BFD is simpler.
8953
8954 * Stepping improved
8955
8956 The `step' and `next' commands now only stop at the first instruction
8957 of a source line. This prevents the multiple stops that used to occur
8958 in switch statements, for-loops, etc. `Step' continues to stop if a
8959 function that has debugging information is called within the line.
8960
8961 * Bug fixing
8962
8963 Lots of small bugs fixed. More remain.
8964
8965 * New host supported (not target)
8966
8967 Intel 386 PC clone running Mach i386-none-mach
8968
8969
8970 *** Changes in GDB-4.1:
8971
8972 * Multiple source language support
8973
8974 GDB now has internal scaffolding to handle several source languages.
8975 It determines the type of each source file from its filename extension,
8976 and will switch expression parsing and number formatting to match the
8977 language of the function in the currently selected stack frame.
8978 You can also specifically set the language to be used, with
8979 `set language c' or `set language modula-2'.
8980
8981 * GDB and Modula-2
8982
8983 GDB now has preliminary support for the GNU Modula-2 compiler,
8984 currently under development at the State University of New York at
8985 Buffalo. Development of both GDB and the GNU Modula-2 compiler will
8986 continue through the fall of 1991 and into 1992.
8987
8988 Other Modula-2 compilers are currently not supported, and attempting to
8989 debug programs compiled with them will likely result in an error as the
8990 symbol table is read. Feel free to work on it, though!
8991
8992 There are hooks in GDB for strict type checking and range checking,
8993 in the `Modula-2 philosophy', but they do not currently work.
8994
8995 * set write on/off
8996
8997 GDB can now write to executable and core files (e.g. patch
8998 a variable's value). You must turn this switch on, specify
8999 the file ("exec foo" or "core foo"), *then* modify it, e.g.
9000 by assigning a new value to a variable. Modifications take
9001 effect immediately.
9002
9003 * Automatic SunOS shared library reading
9004
9005 When you run your program, GDB automatically determines where its
9006 shared libraries (if any) have been loaded, and reads their symbols.
9007 The `share' command is no longer needed. This also works when
9008 examining core files.
9009
9010 * set listsize
9011
9012 You can specify the number of lines that the `list' command shows.
9013 The default is 10.
9014
9015 * New machines supported (host and target)
9016
9017 SGI Iris (MIPS) running Irix V3: mips-sgi-irix or iris
9018 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x: m68k-sony-sysv or news
9019 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1: a29k-nyu-sym1 or ultra3
9020
9021 * New hosts supported (not targets)
9022
9023 IBM RT/PC: romp-ibm-aix or rtpc
9024
9025 * New targets supported (not hosts)
9026
9027 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
9028 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
9029 Ultracomputer remote kernel debug a29k-nyu-kern
9030
9031 * New remote interfaces
9032
9033 AMD 29000 Adapt
9034 AMD 29000 Minimon
9035
9036
9037 *** Changes in GDB-4.0:
9038
9039 * New Facilities
9040
9041 Wide output is wrapped at good places to make the output more readable.
9042
9043 Gdb now supports cross-debugging from a host machine of one type to a
9044 target machine of another type. Communication with the target system
9045 is over serial lines. The ``target'' command handles connecting to the
9046 remote system; the ``load'' command will download a program into the
9047 remote system. Serial stubs for the m68k and i386 are provided. Gdb
9048 also supports debugging of realtime processes running under VxWorks,
9049 using SunRPC Remote Procedure Calls over TCP/IP to talk to a debugger
9050 stub on the target system.
9051
9052 New CPUs supported include the AMD 29000 and Intel 960.
9053
9054 GDB now reads object files and symbol tables via a ``binary file''
9055 library, which allows a single copy of GDB to debug programs of multiple
9056 object file types such as a.out and coff.
9057
9058 There is now a GDB reference card in "doc/refcard.tex". (Make targets
9059 refcard.dvi and refcard.ps are available to format it).
9060
9061
9062 * Control-Variable user interface simplified
9063
9064 All variables that control the operation of the debugger can be set
9065 by the ``set'' command, and displayed by the ``show'' command.
9066
9067 For example, ``set prompt new-gdb=>'' will change your prompt to new-gdb=>.
9068 ``Show prompt'' produces the response:
9069 Gdb's prompt is new-gdb=>.
9070
9071 What follows are the NEW set commands. The command ``help set'' will
9072 print a complete list of old and new set commands. ``help set FOO''
9073 will give a longer description of the variable FOO. ``show'' will show
9074 all of the variable descriptions and their current settings.
9075
9076 confirm on/off: Enables warning questions for operations that are
9077 hard to recover from, e.g. rerunning the program while
9078 it is already running. Default is ON.
9079
9080 editing on/off: Enables EMACS style command line editing
9081 of input. Previous lines can be recalled with
9082 control-P, the current line can be edited with control-B,
9083 you can search for commands with control-R, etc.
9084 Default is ON.
9085
9086 history filename NAME: NAME is where the gdb command history
9087 will be stored. The default is .gdb_history,
9088 or the value of the environment variable
9089 GDBHISTFILE.
9090
9091 history size N: The size, in commands, of the command history. The
9092 default is 256, or the value of the environment variable
9093 HISTSIZE.
9094
9095 history save on/off: If this value is set to ON, the history file will
9096 be saved after exiting gdb. If set to OFF, the
9097 file will not be saved. The default is OFF.
9098
9099 history expansion on/off: If this value is set to ON, then csh-like
9100 history expansion will be performed on
9101 command line input. The default is OFF.
9102
9103 radix N: Sets the default radix for input and output. It can be set
9104 to 8, 10, or 16. Note that the argument to "radix" is interpreted
9105 in the current radix, so "set radix 10" is always a no-op.
9106
9107 height N: This integer value is the number of lines on a page. Default
9108 is 24, the current `stty rows'' setting, or the ``li#''
9109 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
9110 variable TERM.
9111
9112 width N: This integer value is the number of characters on a line.
9113 Default is 80, the current `stty cols'' setting, or the ``co#''
9114 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
9115 variable TERM.
9116
9117 Note: ``set screensize'' is obsolete. Use ``set height'' and
9118 ``set width'' instead.
9119
9120 print address on/off: Print memory addresses in various command displays,
9121 such as stack traces and structure values. Gdb looks
9122 more ``symbolic'' if you turn this off; it looks more
9123 ``machine level'' with it on. Default is ON.
9124
9125 print array on/off: Prettyprint arrays. New convenient format! Default
9126 is OFF.
9127
9128 print demangle on/off: Print C++ symbols in "source" form if on,
9129 "raw" form if off.
9130
9131 print asm-demangle on/off: Same, for assembler level printouts
9132 like instructions.
9133
9134 print vtbl on/off: Prettyprint C++ virtual function tables. Default is OFF.
9135
9136
9137 * Support for Epoch Environment.
9138
9139 The epoch environment is a version of Emacs v18 with windowing. One
9140 new command, ``inspect'', is identical to ``print'', except that if you
9141 are running in the epoch environment, the value is printed in its own
9142 window.
9143
9144
9145 * Support for Shared Libraries
9146
9147 GDB can now debug programs and core files that use SunOS shared libraries.
9148 Symbols from a shared library cannot be referenced
9149 before the shared library has been linked with the program (this
9150 happens after you type ``run'' and before the function main() is entered).
9151 At any time after this linking (including when examining core files
9152 from dynamically linked programs), gdb reads the symbols from each
9153 shared library when you type the ``sharedlibrary'' command.
9154 It can be abbreviated ``share''.
9155
9156 sharedlibrary REGEXP: Load shared object library symbols for files
9157 matching a unix regular expression. No argument
9158 indicates to load symbols for all shared libraries.
9159
9160 info sharedlibrary: Status of loaded shared libraries.
9161
9162
9163 * Watchpoints
9164
9165 A watchpoint stops execution of a program whenever the value of an
9166 expression changes. Checking for this slows down execution
9167 tremendously whenever you are in the scope of the expression, but is
9168 quite useful for catching tough ``bit-spreader'' or pointer misuse
9169 problems. Some machines such as the 386 have hardware for doing this
9170 more quickly, and future versions of gdb will use this hardware.
9171
9172 watch EXP: Set a watchpoint (breakpoint) for an expression.
9173
9174 info watchpoints: Information about your watchpoints.
9175
9176 delete N: Deletes watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
9177 disable N: Temporarily turns off watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
9178 enable N: Re-enables watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
9179
9180
9181 * C++ multiple inheritance
9182
9183 When used with a GCC version 2 compiler, GDB supports multiple inheritance
9184 for C++ programs.
9185
9186 * C++ exception handling
9187
9188 Gdb now supports limited C++ exception handling. Besides the existing
9189 ability to breakpoint on an exception handler, gdb can breakpoint on
9190 the raising of an exception (before the stack is peeled back to the
9191 handler's context).
9192
9193 catch FOO: If there is a FOO exception handler in the dynamic scope,
9194 set a breakpoint to catch exceptions which may be raised there.
9195 Multiple exceptions (``catch foo bar baz'') may be caught.
9196
9197 info catch: Lists all exceptions which may be caught in the
9198 current stack frame.
9199
9200
9201 * Minor command changes
9202
9203 The command ``call func (arg, arg, ...)'' now acts like the print
9204 command, except it does not print or save a value if the function's result
9205 is void. This is similar to dbx usage.
9206
9207 The ``up'' and ``down'' commands now always print the frame they end up
9208 at; ``up-silently'' and `down-silently'' can be used in scripts to change
9209 frames without printing.
9210
9211 * New directory command
9212
9213 'dir' now adds directories to the FRONT of the source search path.
9214 The path starts off empty. Source files that contain debug information
9215 about the directory in which they were compiled can be found even
9216 with an empty path; Sun CC and GCC include this information. If GDB can't
9217 find your source file in the current directory, type "dir .".
9218
9219 * Configuring GDB for compilation
9220
9221 For normal use, type ``./configure host''. See README or gdb.texinfo
9222 for more details.
9223
9224 GDB now handles cross debugging. If you are remotely debugging between
9225 two different machines, type ``./configure host -target=targ''.
9226 Host is the machine where GDB will run; targ is the machine
9227 where the program that you are debugging will run.