1 What has changed in GDB?
2 (Organized release by release)
4 *** Changes since GDB 16
6 * "set style" commands now supports numeric format for basic colors
7 from 0 to 255 and #RRGGBB format for TrueColor.
9 * New built-in convenience variable $_colorsupport provides comma-separated
10 list of color space names supported by terminal. Each color space name is one
11 of monochrome, ansi_8color, aixterm_16color, xterm_256color or rgb_24bit.
12 It is handy for conditionally using styling colors based on terminal features.
15 (gdb) if $_regex ($_colorsupport, ".*(^|,)rgb_24bit($|,).*")
16 >set style filename background #FACADE
18 >if $_regex ($_colorsupport, ".*(^|,)xterm_256color($|,).*")
19 >set style filename background 224
21 >set style filename background red
25 * UST (static tracepoint) support from gdbserver has been removed.
29 maintenance check psymtabs
30 Renamed from maintenance check-psymtabs
32 maintenance check symtabs
33 Renamed from maintenance check-symtabs
37 ** New class gdb.Color for dealing with colors.
39 ** New constant gdb.PARAM_COLOR represents color type of a
40 gdb.Parameter.value. Parameter's value is gdb.Color instance.
44 ** New type <gdb:color> for dealing with colors.
46 ** New constant PARAM_COLOR represents color type of a value
47 of a <gdb:parameter> object. Parameter's value is <gdb::color> instance.
51 * Support for Nios II targets has been removed as this architecture
52 has been EOL'ed by Intel.
54 * GDB now supports watchpoints for tagged data pointers (see
55 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tagged_pointer) on amd64, such as the
56 one used by the Linear Address Masking (LAM) feature provided by
59 * Debugging support for Intel MPX has been removed. This includes the
61 ** MPX register support
62 ** the commands "show/set mpx bound" (deprecated since GDB 15)
63 ** i386 and amd64 implementation of the hooks report_signal_info and
66 * GDB now supports printing of asynchronous events from the Intel Processor
67 Trace during 'record instruction-history', 'record function-call-history'
68 and all stepping commands. This can be controlled with the new
69 "set record btrace pt event-tracing" command.
71 * GDB now supports printing of ptwrite payloads from the Intel Processor
72 Trace during 'record instruction-history', 'record function-call-history'
73 and all stepping commands. The payload is also accessible in Python as a
74 RecordAuxiliary object. Printing is customizable via a ptwrite filter
75 function in Python. By default, the raw ptwrite payload is printed for
76 each ptwrite that is encountered.
78 * For breakpoints that are created in the 'pending' state, any
79 'thread' or 'task' keywords are parsed at the time the breakpoint is
80 created, rather than at the time the breakpoint becomes non-pending.
82 * Thread-specific breakpoints are only inserted into the program space
83 in which the thread of interest is running. In most cases program
84 spaces are unique for each inferior, so this means that
85 thread-specific breakpoints will usually only be inserted for the
86 inferior containing the thread of interest. The breakpoint will
87 be hit no less than before.
89 * For ARM targets, the offset of the pc in the jmp_buf has been fixed to match
90 glibc 2.20 and later. This should only matter when not using libc probes.
91 This may cause breakage when using an incompatible libc, like uclibc or
92 newlib, or an older glibc.
94 * MTE (Memory Tagging Extension) debugging is now supported on AArch64 baremetal
97 * Remove support (native and remote) for QNX Neutrino (triplet
100 * In a record session, when a forward emulation reaches the end of the reverse
101 history, the warning message has been changed to indicate that the end of the
102 history has been reached. It also specifies that the forward execution can
103 continue, and the recording will also continue.
105 * The Ada 'Object_Size attribute is now supported.
107 * Support for process record/replay and reverse debugging on loongarch*-linux*
108 targets has been added.
110 * New bash script gstack uses GDB to print stack traces of running processes.
114 ** Added gdb.record.clear. Clears the trace data of the current recording.
115 This forces re-decoding of the trace for successive commands.
117 ** Added the new event source gdb.tui_enabled.
119 ** New module gdb.missing_objfile that facilitates dealing with
120 missing objfiles when opening a core-file.
122 ** New function gdb.missing_objfile.register_handler that can
123 register an instance of a sub-class of
124 gdb.missing_debug.MissingObjfileHandler as a handler for missing
127 ** New class gdb.missing_objfile.MissingObjfileHandler which can be
128 sub-classed to create handlers for missing objfiles.
130 ** The 'signed' argument to gdb.Architecture.integer_type() will no
131 longer accept non-bool types.
133 ** The gdb.MICommand.installed property can only be set to True or
136 ** The 'qualified' argument to gdb.Breakpoint constructor will no
137 longer accept non-bool types.
139 ** Added the gdb.Symbol.is_artificial attribute.
141 * Debugger Adapter Protocol changes
143 ** The "scopes" request will now return a scope holding global
144 variables from the stack frame's compilation unit.
146 ** The "scopes" request will return a "returnValue" scope holding
147 the return value from the latest "stepOut" command, when
150 ** The "launch" and "attach" requests were rewritten in accordance
151 with some clarifications to the spec. Now they can be sent at
152 any time after the "initialized" event, but will not take effect
153 (or send a response) until after the "configurationDone" request
156 ** The "variables" request will not return artificial symbols.
160 show jit-reader-directory
161 Show the name of the directory that "jit-reader-load" uses for
164 set style line-number foreground COLOR
165 set style line-number background COLOR
166 set style line-number intensity VALUE
167 Control the styling of line numbers printed by GDB.
169 set style command foreground COLOR
170 set style command background COLOR
171 set style command intensity VALUE
172 Control the styling of GDB commands when displayed by GDB.
174 set style title foreground COLOR
175 set style title background COLOR
176 set style title intensity VALUE
177 This style now applies to the header line of lists, for example the
178 first line of the output of "info breakpoints". Previous uses of
179 this style have been replaced with the new "command" style.
181 set warn-language-frame-mismatch [on|off]
182 show warn-language-frame-mismatch
183 Control the warning that is emitted when specifying a language that
184 does not match the current frame's language.
186 maintenance info inline-frames [ADDRESS]
187 New command which displays GDB's inline-frame information for the
188 current address, or for ADDRESS if specified. The output identifies
189 inlined frames which start at the specified address.
191 maintenance info blocks [ADDRESS]
192 New command which displays information about all of the blocks at
193 ADDRESS, or at the current address if ADDRESS is not given. Blocks
194 are listed starting at the inner global block out to the most inner
197 maintenance frame-unwinder disable [-all | -name NAME | [-class] CLASS]
198 maintenance frame-unwinder enable [-all | -name NAME | [-class] CLASS]
199 Enable or disable frame unwinders. This is only meant to be used when
200 testing unwinders themselves, and you want to ensure that a fallback
201 algorithm won't obscure a regression. GDB is not expected to behave
202 well if you try to execute the inferior with unwinders disabled.
204 info missing-objfile-handlers
205 List all the registered missing-objfile handlers.
207 enable missing-objfile-handler LOCUS HANDLER
208 disable missing-objfile-handler LOCUS HANDLER
209 Enable or disable a missing-objfile handler with a name matching the
210 regular expression HANDLER, in LOCUS.
212 LOCUS can be 'global' to operate on global missing-objfile handler,
213 'progspace' to operate on handlers within the current program space,
214 or can be a regular expression which is matched against the filename
215 of the primary executable in each program space.
220 This command now supports file-name completion.
222 remove-symbol-file -a ADDRESS
223 The ADDRESS expression can now be a full expression consisting of
224 multiple terms, e.g. 'function + 0x1000' (without quotes),
225 previously only a single term could be given.
234 These commands now require their filename argument to be quoted if
235 it contains white space or quote characters. If the argument
236 contains no such special characters then quoting is not required.
238 maintenance print remote-registers
239 Add an "Expedited" column to the output of the command. It indicates
240 which registers were included in the last stop reply packet received by
243 mainenance info frame-unwinders
244 Add a CLASS column to the output. This class is a somewhat arbitrary
245 grouping of unwinders, based on which area of GDB adds the unwinder.
246 Also add an ENABLED column, that will show if the unwinder is enabled
249 maintenance set dwarf unwinders (on|off)
250 This command has been removed because the same functionality can be
251 achieved with maint frame-unwinder (enable|disable) DEBUGINFO.
253 maintenance show dwarf unwinders
254 This command has been removed since the functionality can be achieved
255 by checking the last column of maint info frame-unwinders.
258 Now includes the version of GNU Readline library that GDB is using.
263 Return information about files on the remote system. Like
264 vFile:fstat but takes a filename rather than an open file
268 Given ADDR and LENGTH, fetch LENGTH units from the memory at address
269 ADDR and send the fetched data in binary format. This packet is
270 equivalent to 'm', except that the data in the response are in
273 *** Changes in GDB 15
275 * The MPX commands "show/set mpx bound" have been deprecated, as Intel
276 listed MPX as removed in 2019.
278 * Building GDB and GDBserver now requires a C++17 compiler.
279 For example, GCC 9 or later.
281 * GDB index now contains information about the main function. This speeds up
282 startup when it is being used for some large binaries.
284 * On hosts where threading is available, DWARF reading is now done in
285 the background, resulting in faster startup. This can be controlled
286 using "maint set dwarf synchronous".
291 Attempting to use both the 'r' and 'b' flags with the disassemble
292 command will now give an error. Previously the 'b' flag would
293 always override the 'r' flag.
297 GDB now generates sparse core files, on systems that support it.
299 maintenance info line-table
300 Add an EPILOGUE-BEGIN column to the output of the command. It indicates
301 if the line is considered the start of the epilgoue, and thus a point at
302 which the frame can be considered destroyed.
304 set unwindonsignal on|off
306 These commands are now aliases for the new set/show unwind-on-signal.
309 This command now gives an error if any unexpected arguments are
310 found after the command.
313 When using the command "list ." in a location that has no debug information
314 or no file loaded, GDB now says that there is no debug information to print
315 lines. This makes it more obvious that there is no information, as opposed
316 to implying there is no inferior loaded.
320 info missing-debug-handler
321 List all the registered missing debug handlers.
323 enable missing-debug-handler LOCUS HANDLER
324 disable missing-debug-handler LOCUS HANDLER
325 Enable or disable a missing debug handler with a name matching the
326 regular expression HANDLER, in LOCUS.
328 LOCUS can be 'global' to operate on global missing debug handler,
329 'progspace' to operate on handlers within the current program space,
330 or can be a regular expression which is matched against the filename
331 of the primary executable in each program space.
333 maintenance info linux-lwps
334 List all LWPs under control of the linux-nat target.
336 set remote thread-options-packet
337 show remote thread-options-packet
338 Set/show the use of the thread options packet.
340 set direct-call-timeout SECONDS
341 show direct-call-timeout
342 set indirect-call-timeout SECONDS
343 show indirect-call-timeout
344 These new settings can be used to limit how long GDB will wait for
345 an inferior function call to complete. The direct timeout is used
346 for inferior function calls from e.g. 'call' and 'print' commands,
347 while the indirect timeout is used for inferior function calls from
348 within a conditional breakpoint expression.
350 The default for the direct timeout is unlimited, while the default
351 for the indirect timeout is 30 seconds.
353 These timeouts will only have an effect for targets that are
354 operating in async mode. For non-async targets the timeouts are
355 ignored, GDB will wait indefinitely for an inferior function to
356 complete, unless interrupted by the user using Ctrl-C.
358 set unwind-on-timeout on|off
359 show unwind-on-timeout
360 These commands control whether GDB should unwind the stack when a
361 timeout occurs during an inferior function call. The default is
362 off, in which case the inferior will remain in the frame where the
363 timeout occurred. When on, GDB will unwind the stack removing the
364 dummy frame that was added for the inferior call, and restoring the
365 inferior state to how it was before the inferior call started.
367 set unwind-on-signal on|off
368 show unwind-on-signal
369 These new commands replaces the existing set/show unwindonsignal. The
370 old command is maintained as an alias.
372 * New features in the GDB remote stub, GDBserver
374 ** The --remote-debug and --event-loop-debug command line options
377 ** The --debug command line option now takes an optional comma
378 separated list of components to emit debug for. The currently
379 supported components are: all, threads, event-loop, and remote.
380 If no components are given then threads is assumed.
382 ** The 'monitor set remote-debug' and 'monitor set event-loop-debug'
383 command have been removed.
385 ** The 'monitor set debug 0|1' command has been extended to take a
386 component name, e.g.: 'monitor set debug COMPONENT off|on'.
387 Possible component names are: all, threads, event-loop, and
392 ** New function gdb.notify_mi(NAME, DATA), that emits custom
393 GDB/MI async notification.
395 ** New read/write attribute gdb.Value.bytes that contains a bytes
396 object holding the contents of this value.
398 ** New module gdb.missing_debug that facilitates dealing with
399 objfiles that are missing any debug information.
401 ** New function gdb.missing_debug.register_handler that can register
402 an instance of a sub-class of gdb.missing_debug.MissingDebugInfo
403 as a handler for objfiles that are missing debug information.
405 ** New class gdb.missing_debug.MissingDebugInfo which can be
406 sub-classed to create handlers for objfiles with missing debug
409 ** Stop events now have a "details" attribute that holds a
410 dictionary that carries the same information as an MI "*stopped"
413 ** New function gdb.interrupt(), that interrupts GDB as if the user
416 ** New gdb.InferiorThread.ptid_string attribute. This read-only
417 attribute contains the string that appears in the 'Target Id'
418 column of the 'info threads' command output.
420 ** It is no longer possible to create new gdb.Progspace object using
421 'gdb.Progspace()', this will result in a TypeError. Progspace
422 objects can still be obtained through calling other API
423 functions, for example 'gdb.current_progspace()'.
425 ** User defined attributes can be added to a gdb.Inferior object,
426 these will be stored in the object's new Inferior.__dict__
429 ** User defined attributes can be added to a gdb.InferiorThread
430 object, these will be stored in the object's new
431 InferiorThread.__dict__ attribute.
433 ** New constants gdb.SYMBOL_TYPE_DOMAIN, gdb.SYMBOL_FUNCTION_DOMAIN,
434 and gdb.SEARCH_*_DOMAIN corresponding to all the existing symbol
435 domains. Symbol lookup can now search in multiple domains at
436 once, and can also narrowly search for just a type or function.
438 * Debugger Adapter Protocol changes
440 ** GDB now emits the "process" event.
442 ** GDB now supports the "cancel" request.
444 ** The "attach" request now supports specifying the program.
446 ** New command "set debug dap-log-level" controls DAP logging.
448 ** The "set debug dap-log-file" command is now documented. This
449 command was available in GDB 14 but not documented.
453 ** New constants SYMBOL_TYPE_DOMAIN, SYMBOL_FUNCTION_DOMAIN, and
454 SEARCH_*_DOMAIN corresponding to all the existing symbol domains.
455 Symbol lookup can now search in multiple domains at once, and can
456 also narrowly search for just a type or function.
460 New stop reason: clone
461 Indicates that a clone system call was executed.
464 Enable/disable optional event reporting, on a per-thread basis.
465 Currently supported options are GDB_THREAD_OPTION_CLONE, to enable
466 clone event reporting, and GDB_THREAD_OPTION_EXIT to enable thread
467 exit event reporting.
469 QThreadOptions in qSupported
470 The qSupported packet allows GDB to inform the stub it supports the
471 QThreadOptions packet, and the qSupported response can contain the
472 set of thread options the remote stub supports.
475 This new packet allows GDB to query the stub about a given address to check
476 if it is tagged or not. Many memory tagging-related GDB commands need to
477 perform this check before they read/write the allocation tag related to an
478 address. Currently, however, this is done through a 'vFile' request to read
479 the file /proc/<PID>/smaps and check if the address is in a region reported
480 as memory tagged. Since not all targets have a notion of what the smaps
481 file is about, this new packet provides a more generic way to perform such
484 *** Changes in GDB 14
486 * GDB now supports the AArch64 Scalable Matrix Extension 2 (SME2), which
487 includes a new 512 bit lookup table register named ZT0.
489 * GDB now supports the AArch64 Scalable Matrix Extension (SME), which includes
490 a new matrix register named ZA, a new thread register TPIDR2 and a new vector
491 length register SVG (streaming vector granule). GDB also supports tracking
492 ZA state across signal frames.
494 Some features are still under development or are dependent on ABI specs that
495 are still in alpha stage. For example, manual function calls with ZA state
496 don't have any special handling, and tracking of SVG changes based on
497 DWARF information is still not implemented, but there are plans to do so in
500 * GDB now recognizes the NO_COLOR environment variable and disables
501 styling according to the spec. See https://no-color.org/.
502 Styling can be re-enabled with "set style enabled on".
504 * The AArch64 'org.gnu.gdb.aarch64.pauth' Pointer Authentication feature string
505 has been deprecated in favor of the 'org.gnu.gdb.aarch64.pauth_v2' feature
508 * GDB now has some support for integer types larger than 64 bits.
510 * Removed targets and native configurations
512 GDB no longer supports AIX 4.x, AIX 5.x and AIX 6.x. The minimum supported
513 AIX version is now AIX 7.1.
515 * Multi-target feature configuration
517 GDB now supports the individual configuration of remote targets' feature
518 sets. Based on the current selection of a target, the commands 'set remote
519 <name>-packet (on|off|auto)' and 'show remote <name>-packet' can be used to
520 configure a target's feature packet and to display its configuration,
523 The individual packet sizes can be configured and shown using the commands
524 ** 'set remote memory-read-packet-size (number of bytes|fixed|limit)'
525 ** 'set remote memory-write-packet-size (number of bytes|fixed|limit)'
526 ** 'show remote memory-read-packet-size'
527 ** 'show remote memory-write-packet-size'.
529 The configuration of the packet itself, as well as the size of a memory-read
530 or memory-write packet applies to the currently selected target (if
531 available). If no target is selected, it applies to future remote
532 connections. Similarly, the show commands print the configuration of the
533 currently selected target. If no remote target is selected, the default
534 configuration for future connections is shown.
536 * GDB has initial built-in support for the Debugger Adapter Protocol.
537 This support requires that GDB be built with Python scripting
540 * For the break command, multiple uses of the 'thread' or 'task'
541 keywords will now give an error instead of just using the thread or
542 task id from the last instance of the keyword. E.g.:
543 break foo thread 1 thread 2
544 will now give an error rather than using 'thread 2'.
546 * For the watch command, multiple uses of the 'task' keyword will now
547 give an error instead of just using the task id from the last
548 instance of the keyword. E.g.:
549 watch my_var task 1 task 2
550 will now give an error rather than using 'task 2'. The 'thread'
551 keyword already gave an error when used multiple times with the
552 watch command, this remains unchanged.
554 * The 'set print elements' setting now helps when printing large arrays.
555 If an array would otherwise exceed max-value-size, but 'print elements'
556 is set such that the size of elements to print is less than or equal
557 to 'max-value-size', GDB will now still print the array, however only
558 'max-value-size' worth of data will be added into the value history.
560 * For both the break and watch commands, it is now invalid to use both
561 the 'thread' and 'task' keywords within the same command. For
562 example the following commnds will now give an error:
563 break foo thread 1 task 1
564 watch var thread 2 task 3
566 * The printf command now accepts a '%V' output format which will
567 format an expression just as the 'print' command would. Print
568 options can be placed within '[...]' after the '%V' to modify how
569 the value is printed. E.g:
570 printf "%V", some_array
571 printf "%V[-array-indexes on]", some_array
572 will print the array without, or with array indexes included, just
573 as the array would be printed by the 'print' command. This
574 functionality is also available for dprintf when dprintf-style is
577 * When the printf command requires a string to be fetched from the
578 inferior, GDB now uses the existing 'max-value-size' setting to the
579 limit the memory allocated within GDB. The default 'max-value-size'
580 is 64k. To print longer strings you should increase
583 * The Ada 2022 Enum_Rep and Enum_Val attributes are now supported.
585 * The Ada 2022 target name symbol ('@') is now supported by the Ada
588 * The 'list' command now accepts '.' as an argument, which tells GDB to
589 print the location around the point of execution within the current frame.
590 If the inferior hasn't started yet, the command will print around the
591 beginning of the 'main' function.
593 * Using the 'list' command with no arguments in a situation where the
594 command would attempt to list past the end of the file now warns the
595 user that the end of file has been reached, refers the user to the
596 newly added '.' argument
598 * Breakpoints can now be inferior-specific. This is similar to the
599 existing thread-specific breakpoint support. Breakpoint conditions
600 can include the 'inferior' keyword followed by an inferior id (as
601 displayed in the 'info inferiors' output). It is invalid to use the
602 'inferior' keyword with either the 'thread' or 'task' keywords when
603 creating a breakpoint.
605 * New convenience function "$_shell", to execute a shell command and
606 return the result. This lets you run shell commands in expressions.
609 (gdb) p $_shell("true")
611 (gdb) p $_shell("false")
613 (gdb) break func if $_shell("some command") == 0
617 --additional-debug-dirs=PATHs
619 Provide a colon-separated list of additional directories to search for
620 separate debug info. These directories are added to the default value of
621 the 'debug-file-directory' GDB parameter.
625 set debug breakpoint on|off
626 show debug breakpoint
627 Print additional debug messages about breakpoint insertion and removal.
629 maintenance print record-instruction [ N ]
630 Print the recorded information for a given instruction. If N is not given
631 prints how GDB would undo the last instruction executed. If N is negative,
632 prints how GDB would undo the N-th previous instruction, and if N is
633 positive, it prints how GDB will redo the N-th following instruction.
635 maintenance info frame-unwinders
636 List the frame unwinders currently in effect, starting with the highest
639 maintenance wait-for-index-cache
640 Wait until all pending writes to the index cache have completed.
642 set always-read-ctf on|off
644 When off, CTF is only read if DWARF is not present. When on, CTF is
645 read regardless of whether DWARF is present. Off by default.
648 Get main symbol to identify entry point into program.
650 set tui mouse-events [on|off]
651 show tui mouse-events
652 When on (default), mouse clicks control the TUI and can be accessed by
653 Python extensions. When off, mouse clicks are handled by the terminal,
654 enabling terminal-native text selection.
658 ** MI version 1 has been removed.
660 ** mi now reports 'no-history' as a stop reason when hitting the end of the
661 reverse execution history.
663 ** When creating a thread-specific breakpoint using the '-p' option,
664 the -break-insert command would report the 'thread' field twice in
665 the reply. The content of both fields was always identical. This
666 has now been fixed; the 'thread' field will be reported just once
667 for thread-specific breakpoints, or not at all for breakpoints
668 without a thread restriction. The same is also true for the 'task'
669 field of an Ada task-specific breakpoint.
671 ** It is no longer possible to create a thread-specific breakpoint for
672 a thread that doesn't exist using '-break-insert -p ID'. Creating
673 breakpoints for non-existent threads is not allowed when using the
674 CLI, that the MI allowed it was a long standing bug, which has now
677 ** The '--simple-values' argument to the '-stack-list-arguments',
678 '-stack-list-locals', '-stack-list-variables', and '-var-list-children'
679 commands now takes reference types into account: that is, a value is now
680 considered simple if it is neither an array, structure, or union, nor a
681 reference to an array, structure, or union. (Previously all references were
682 considered simple.) Support for this feature can be verified by using the
683 '-list-features' command, which should contain "simple-values-ref-types".
685 ** The -break-insert command now accepts a '-g thread-group-id' option
686 to allow for the creation of inferior-specific breakpoints.
688 ** The bkpt tuple, which appears in breakpoint-created notifications,
689 and in the result of the -break-insert command can now include an
690 optional 'inferior' field for both the main breakpoint, and each
691 location, when the breakpoint is inferior-specific.
695 ** gdb.ThreadExitedEvent added. Emits a ThreadEvent.
697 ** The gdb.unwinder.Unwinder.name attribute is now read-only.
699 ** The name argument passed to gdb.unwinder.Unwinder.__init__ must
700 now be of type 'str' otherwise a TypeError will be raised.
702 ** The gdb.unwinder.Unwinder.enabled attribute can now only accept
703 values of type 'bool'. Changing this attribute will now
704 invalidate GDB's frame-cache, which means GDB will need to
705 rebuild its frame-cache when next required - either with, or
706 without the particular unwinder, depending on how 'enabled' was
709 ** New methods added to the gdb.PendingFrame class. These methods
710 have the same behavior as the corresponding methods on
711 gdb.Frame. The new methods are:
713 - gdb.PendingFrame.name: Return the name for the frame's
715 - gdb.PendingFrame.is_valid: Return True if the pending frame
717 - gdb.PendingFrame.pc: Return the $pc register value for this
719 - gdb.PendingFrame.language: Return a string containing the
720 language for this frame, or None.
721 - gdb.PendingFrame.find_sal: Return a gdb.Symtab_and_line
722 object for the current location within the pending frame, or
724 - gdb.PendingFrame.block: Return a gdb.Block for the current
725 pending frame, or None.
726 - gdb.PendingFrame.function: Return a gdb.Symbol for the
727 current pending frame, or None.
729 ** The frame-id passed to gdb.PendingFrame.create_unwind_info can
730 now use either an integer or a gdb.Value object for each of its
731 'sp', 'pc', and 'special' attributes.
733 ** A new class gdb.unwinder.FrameId has been added. Instances of
734 this class are constructed with 'sp' (stack-pointer) and 'pc'
735 (program-counter) values, and can be used as the frame-id when
736 calling gdb.PendingFrame.create_unwind_info.
738 ** It is now no longer possible to sub-class the
739 gdb.disassembler.DisassemblerResult type.
741 ** The Disassembler API from the gdb.disassembler module has been
742 extended to include styling support:
744 - The DisassemblerResult class can now be initialized with a list
745 of parts. Each part represents part of the disassembled
746 instruction along with the associated style information. This
747 list of parts can be accessed with the new
748 DisassemblerResult.parts property.
750 - New constants gdb.disassembler.STYLE_* representing all the
751 different styles part of an instruction might have.
753 - New methods DisassembleInfo.text_part and
754 DisassembleInfo.address_part which are used to create the new
755 styled parts of a disassembled instruction.
757 - Changes are backwards compatible, the older API can still be
758 used to disassemble instructions without styling.
760 ** New function gdb.execute_mi(COMMAND, [ARG]...), that invokes a
761 GDB/MI command and returns the output as a Python dictionary.
763 ** New function gdb.block_signals(). This returns a context manager
764 that blocks any signals that GDB needs to handle itself.
766 ** New class gdb.Thread. This is a subclass of threading.Thread
767 that calls gdb.block_signals in its "start" method.
769 ** gdb.parse_and_eval now has a new "global_context" parameter.
770 This can be used to request that the parse only examine global
773 ** gdb.Inferior now has a new "arguments" attribute. This holds the
774 command-line arguments to the inferior, if known.
776 ** gdb.Inferior now has a new "main_name" attribute. This holds the
777 name of the inferior's "main", if known.
779 ** gdb.Inferior now has new methods "clear_env", "set_env", and
780 "unset_env". These can be used to modify the inferior's
781 environment before it is started.
783 ** gdb.Value now has the 'assign' method.
785 ** gdb.Value now has the 'to_array' method. This converts an
786 array-like Value to an array.
788 ** gdb.Progspace now has the new method "objfile_for_address". This
789 returns the gdb.Objfile, if any, that covers a given address.
791 ** gdb.Breakpoint now has an "inferior" attribute. If the
792 Breakpoint object is inferior specific then this attribute holds
793 the inferior-id (an integer). If the Breakpoint object is not
794 inferior specific, then this field contains None. This field can
797 ** gdb.Type now has the "is_array_like" and "is_string_like"
798 methods. These reflect GDB's internal idea of whether a type
799 might be array- or string-like, even if they do not have the
800 corresponding type code.
802 ** gdb.ValuePrinter is a new class that can be used as the base
803 class for the result of applying a pretty-printer. As a base
804 class, it signals to gdb that the printer may implement new
805 pretty-printer methods.
807 ** New attribute Progspace.symbol_file. This attribute holds the
808 gdb.Objfile that corresponds to Progspace.filename (when
809 Progspace.filename is not None), otherwise, this attribute is
812 ** New attribute Progspace.executable_filename. This attribute
813 holds a string containing a file name set by the "exec-file" or
814 "file" commands, or None if no executable file is set. This
815 isn't the exact string passed by the user to these commands; the
816 file name will have been partially resolved to an absolute file
819 ** A new executable_changed event registry is available. This event
820 emits ExecutableChangedEvent objects, which have 'progspace' (a
821 gdb.Progspace) and 'reload' (a Boolean) attributes. This event
822 is emitted when gdb.Progspace.executable_filename changes.
824 ** New event registries gdb.events.new_progspace and
825 gdb.events.free_progspace, these emit NewProgspaceEvent and
826 FreeProgspaceEvent event types respectively. Both of these event
827 types have a single 'progspace' attribute, which is the
828 gdb.Progspace that is either being added to GDB, or removed from
831 ** gdb.LazyString now implements the __str__ method.
833 ** New method gdb.Frame.static_link that returns the outer frame
834 of a nested function frame.
836 *** Changes in GDB 13
838 * MI version 1 is deprecated, and will be removed in GDB 14.
840 * GDB now supports dumping memory tag data for AArch64 MTE. It also supports
841 reading memory tag data for AArch64 MTE from core files generated by
842 the gcore command or the Linux kernel.
844 When a process uses memory-mapped pages protected by memory tags (for
845 example, AArch64 MTE), this additional information will be recorded in
846 the core file in the event of a crash or if GDB generates a core file
847 from the current process state. GDB will show this additional information
848 automatically, or through one of the memory-tag subcommands.
850 * Scheduler-locking and new threads
852 When scheduler-locking is in effect, only the current thread may run
853 when the inferior is resumed. However, previously, new threads
854 created by the resumed thread would still be able to run free. Now,
855 they are held stopped.
857 * "info breakpoints" now displays enabled breakpoint locations of
858 disabled breakpoints as in the "y-" state. For example:
860 (gdb) info breakpoints
861 Num Type Disp Enb Address What
862 1 breakpoint keep n <MULTIPLE>
863 1.1 y- 0x00000000000011b6 in ...
864 1.2 y- 0x00000000000011c2 in ...
865 1.3 n 0x00000000000011ce in ...
867 * Support for Thread Local Storage (TLS) variables on FreeBSD arm and
868 aarch64 architectures.
870 * GDB now supports hardware watchpoints on FreeBSD/Aarch64.
872 * Remove support for building against Python 2, it is now only possible to
873 build GDB against Python 3.
875 * DBX mode has been removed.
877 * GDB now honours the DWARF prologue_end line-table entry flag the compiler can
878 emit to indicate where a breakpoint should be placed to break in a function
881 * Completion now also offers "NUMBER" for "set" commands that accept
882 a numeric argument and the "unlimited" keyword. For example:
884 (gdb) set width <TAB>
889 (gdb) complete set width
893 * Disassembler styling using libopcodes. GDB now supports
894 disassembler styling using libopcodes. This is only available for
895 some targets (currently x86 and RISC-V). For unsupported targets
896 Python Pygments is still used. For supported targets, libopcodes
897 styling is used by default.
899 * The Windows native target now supports target async.
901 * gdb now supports zstd compressed debug sections (ELFCOMPRESS_ZSTD) for ELF.
903 * The format of 'disassemble /r' and 'record instruction-history /r'
904 has changed. The instruction bytes could now be grouped together,
905 and displayed in the endianness of the instruction. This is the
906 same layout as used by GNU objdump when disassembling.
908 There is now 'disassemble /b' and 'record instruction-history /b'
909 which will always display the instructions bytes one at a time in
910 memory order, that is, the byte at the lowest address first.
912 For both /r and /b GDB is now better at using whitespace in order to
913 align the disassembled instruction text.
915 * The TUI no longer styles the source and assembly code highlighted by
916 the current position indicator by default. You can however
917 re-enable styling using the new "set style tui-current-position"
920 * New convenience variable $_inferior_thread_count contains the number
921 of live threads in the current inferior.
923 * When a breakpoint with multiple code locations is hit, GDB now prints
924 the code location using the syntax <breakpoint_number>.<location_number>
926 Thread 1 "zeoes" hit Breakpoint 2.3, some_func () at zeoes.c:8
928 * When a breakpoint is hit, GDB now sets the convenience variables $_hit_bpnum
929 and $_hit_locno to the hit breakpoint number and code location number.
930 This allows to disable the last hit breakpoint using
931 (gdb) disable $_hit_bpnum
932 or disable only the specific breakpoint code location using
933 (gdb) disable $_hit_bpnum.$_hit_locno
934 These commands can be used inside the command list of a breakpoint to
935 automatically disable the just encountered breakpoint (or the just
936 encountered specific breakpoint code location).
937 When a breakpoint has only one location, $_hit_locno is set to 1 so that
938 (gdb) disable $_hit_bpnum.$_hit_locno
940 (gdb) disable $_hit_bpnum
941 are both disabling the breakpoint.
945 maintenance set ignore-prologue-end-flag on|off
946 maintenance show ignore-prologue-end-flag
947 This setting, which is off by default, controls whether GDB ignores the
948 PROLOGUE-END flag from the line-table when skipping prologue. This can be
949 used to force GDB to use prologue analyzers if the line-table is constructed
950 from erroneous debug information.
952 set print nibbles [on|off]
954 This controls whether the 'print/t' command will display binary values
955 in groups of four bits, known as "nibbles". The default is 'off'.
957 maintenance set libopcodes-styling on|off
958 maintenance show libopcodes-styling
959 These can be used to force off libopcodes based styling, the Python
960 Pygments styling will then be used instead.
962 set style disassembler comment
963 show style disassembler comment
964 set style disassembler immediate
965 show style disassembler immediate
966 set style disassembler mnemonic
967 show style disassembler mnemonic
968 set style disassembler register
969 show style disassembler register
970 set style disassembler address
971 show style disassembler address
972 set style disassembler symbol
973 show style disassembler symbol
974 For targets that support libopcodes based styling, these settings
975 control how various aspects of the disassembler output are styled.
976 The 'disassembler address' and 'disassembler symbol' styles are
977 aliases for the 'address' and 'function' styles respectively.
979 maintenance print frame-id [ LEVEL ]
980 Print GDB's internal frame-id for the frame at LEVEL. If LEVEL is
981 not given, then print the frame-id for the currently selected frame.
983 set debug infcall on|off
985 Print additional debug messages about inferior function calls.
987 set debug solib on|off
989 Print additional debug messages about shared library handling.
991 set style tui-current-position [on|off]
992 Whether to style the source and assembly code highlighted by the
993 TUI's current position indicator. The default is off.
995 set print characters LIMIT
996 show print characters
997 This new setting is like 'set print elements', but controls how many
998 characters of a string are printed. This functionality used to be
999 covered by 'set print elements', but it can be controlled separately
1000 now. LIMIT can be set to a numerical value to request that particular
1001 character count, to 'unlimited' to print all characters of a string,
1002 or to 'elements', which is also the default, to follow the setting of
1003 'set print elements' as it used to be.
1005 print -characters LIMIT
1006 This new option to the 'print' command has the same effect as a temporary
1007 use of 'set print characters'.
1011 document user-defined
1012 It is now possible to document user-defined aliases.
1013 When a user-defined alias is documented, the help and apropos commands
1014 use the provided documentation instead of the documentation of the
1016 Documenting a user-defined alias is particularly useful when the alias
1017 is a set of nested 'with' commands to avoid showing the help of
1018 the with command for an alias that will in fact launch the
1019 last command given in the nested commands.
1021 maintenance info line-table
1022 Add a PROLOGUE-END column to the output which indicates that an
1023 entry corresponds to an address where a breakpoint should be placed
1024 to be at the first instruction past a function's prologue.
1028 set debug aix-solib on|off
1029 show debug aix-solib
1030 set debug solib-frv on|off
1031 show debug solib-frv
1032 Removed in favor of "set/show debug solib".
1034 maintenance info program-spaces
1035 This command now includes a 'Core File' column which indicates the
1036 name of the core file associated with each program space.
1040 GNU/Linux/LoongArch (gdbserver) loongarch*-*-linux*
1042 GNU/Linux/CSKY (gdbserver) csky*-*linux*
1048 ** The async record stating the stopped reason 'breakpoint-hit' now
1049 contains an optional field locno giving the code location number
1050 when the breakpoint has multiple code locations.
1054 ** GDB will now reformat the doc string for gdb.Command and
1055 gdb.Parameter sub-classes to remove unnecessary leading
1056 whitespace from each line before using the string as the help
1059 ** New function gdb.format_address(ADDRESS, PROGSPACE, ARCHITECTURE),
1060 that formats ADDRESS as 'address <symbol+offset>', where symbol is
1061 looked up in PROGSPACE, and ARCHITECTURE is used to format address.
1062 This is the same format that GDB uses when printing address, symbol,
1063 and offset information from the disassembler.
1065 ** New function gdb.current_language that returns the name of the
1066 current language. Unlike gdb.parameter('language'), this will
1067 never return 'auto'.
1069 ** New method gdb.Frame.language that returns the name of the
1072 ** New Python API for wrapping GDB's disassembler:
1074 - gdb.disassembler.register_disassembler(DISASSEMBLER, ARCH).
1075 DISASSEMBLER is a sub-class of gdb.disassembler.Disassembler.
1076 ARCH is either None or a string containing a bfd architecture
1077 name. DISASSEMBLER is registered as a disassembler for
1078 architecture ARCH, or for all architectures if ARCH is None.
1079 The previous disassembler registered for ARCH is returned, this
1080 can be None if no previous disassembler was registered.
1082 - gdb.disassembler.Disassembler is the class from which all
1083 disassemblers should inherit. Its constructor takes a string,
1084 a name for the disassembler, which is currently only used in
1085 some debug output. Sub-classes should override the __call__
1086 method to perform disassembly, invoking __call__ on this base
1087 class will raise an exception.
1089 - gdb.disassembler.DisassembleInfo is the class used to describe
1090 a single disassembly request from GDB. An instance of this
1091 class is passed to the __call__ method of
1092 gdb.disassembler.Disassembler and has the following read-only
1093 attributes: 'address', and 'architecture', as well as the
1094 following method: 'read_memory'.
1096 - gdb.disassembler.builtin_disassemble(INFO, MEMORY_SOURCE),
1097 calls GDB's builtin disassembler on INFO, which is a
1098 gdb.disassembler.DisassembleInfo object. MEMORY_SOURCE is
1099 optional, its default value is None. If MEMORY_SOURCE is not
1100 None then it must be an object that has a 'read_memory' method.
1102 - gdb.disassembler.DisassemblerResult is a class that can be used
1103 to wrap the result of a call to a Disassembler. It has
1104 read-only attributes 'length' and 'string'.
1106 ** gdb.Objfile now has an attribute named "is_file". This is True
1107 if the objfile comes from a file, and False otherwise.
1109 ** New function gdb.print_options that returns a dictionary of the
1110 prevailing print options, in the form accepted by
1111 gdb.Value.format_string.
1113 ** gdb.Value.format_string now uses the format provided by 'print',
1114 if it is called during a 'print' or other similar operation.
1116 ** gdb.Value.format_string now accepts the 'summary' keyword. This
1117 can be used to request a shorter representation of a value, the
1118 way that 'set print frame-arguments scalars' does.
1120 ** New Python type gdb.BreakpointLocation.
1121 The new attribute 'locations' of gdb.Breakpoint returns a list of
1122 gdb.BreakpointLocation objects specifying the locations where the
1123 breakpoint is inserted into the debuggee.
1125 ** The gdb.register_window_type method now restricts the set of
1126 acceptable window names. The first character of a window's name
1127 must start with a character in the set [a-zA-Z], every subsequent
1128 character of a window's name must be in the set [-_.a-zA-Z0-9].
1130 * New features in the GDB remote stub, GDBserver
1132 ** GDBserver is now supported on LoongArch GNU/Linux.
1134 ** GDBserver is now supported on CSKY GNU/Linux.
1136 * LoongArch floating-point support
1138 GDB now supports floating-point on LoongArch GNU/Linux.
1140 * AMD GPU ROCm debugging support
1142 GDB now supports debugging programs offloaded to AMD GPUs using the ROCm
1145 *** Changes in GDB 12
1147 * DBX mode is deprecated, and will be removed in GDB 13
1149 * GDB 12 is the last release of GDB that will support building against
1150 Python 2. From GDB 13, it will only be possible to build GDB itself
1151 with Python 3 support.
1153 * The disable-randomization setting now works on Windows.
1155 * Improved C++ template support
1157 GDB now treats functions/types involving C++ templates like it does function
1158 overloads. Users may omit parameter lists to set breakpoints on families of
1159 template functions, including types/functions composed of multiple template types:
1161 (gdb) break template_func(template_1, int)
1163 The above will set breakpoints at every function `template_func' where
1164 the first function parameter is any template type named `template_1' and
1165 the second function parameter is `int'.
1167 TAB completion also gains similar improvements.
1169 * The FreeBSD native target now supports async mode.
1175 Enable or disable multithreaded symbol loading. This is enabled
1176 by default, but passing --disable-threading or --enable-threading=no
1177 to configure will disable it.
1179 Disabling this can cause a performance penalty when there are a lot of
1180 symbols to load, but is useful for debugging purposes.
1184 maint set backtrace-on-fatal-signal on|off
1185 maint show backtrace-on-fatal-signal
1186 This setting is 'on' by default. When 'on' GDB will print a limited
1187 backtrace to stderr in the situation where GDB terminates with a
1188 fatal signal. This only supported on some platforms where the
1189 backtrace and backtrace_symbols_fd functions are available.
1191 set source open on|off
1193 This setting, which is on by default, controls whether GDB will try
1194 to open source code files. Switching this off will stop GDB trying
1195 to open and read source code files, which can be useful if the files
1196 are located over a slow network connection.
1200 These are now deprecated aliases for "set max-value-size" and
1201 "show max-value-size".
1203 task apply [all | TASK-IDS...] [FLAG]... COMMAND
1204 Like "thread apply", but applies COMMAND to Ada tasks.
1207 Watchpoints can now be restricted to a specific Ada task.
1209 maint set internal-error backtrace on|off
1210 maint show internal-error backtrace
1211 maint set internal-warning backtrace on|off
1212 maint show internal-warning backtrace
1213 GDB can now print a backtrace of itself when it encounters either an
1214 internal-error, or an internal-warning. This is on by default for
1215 internal-error and off by default for internal-warning.
1218 Deprecated and replaced by "set logging enabled on|off".
1220 set logging enabled on|off
1221 show logging enabled
1222 These commands set or show whether logging is enabled or disabled.
1225 You can now exit GDB by using the new command "exit", in addition to
1226 the existing "quit" command.
1228 set debug threads on|off
1230 Print additional debug messages about thread creation and deletion.
1232 set debug linux-nat on|off
1233 show debug linux-nat
1234 These new commands replaced the old 'set debug lin-lwp' and 'show
1235 debug lin-lwp' respectively. Turning this setting on prints debug
1236 messages relating to GDB's handling of native Linux inferiors.
1238 maint flush source-cache
1239 Flush the contents of the source code cache.
1241 maint set gnu-source-highlight enabled on|off
1242 maint show gnu-source-highlight enabled
1243 Whether GDB should use the GNU Source Highlight library for adding
1244 styling to source code. When off, the library will not be used, even
1245 when available. When GNU Source Highlight isn't used, or can't add
1246 styling to a particular source file, then the Python Pygments
1247 library will be used instead.
1249 set suppress-cli-notifications (on|off)
1250 show suppress-cli-notifications
1251 This controls whether printing the notifications is suppressed for CLI.
1252 CLI notifications occur when you change the selected context
1253 (i.e., the current inferior, thread and/or the frame), or when
1254 the program being debugged stops (e.g., because of hitting a
1255 breakpoint, completing source-stepping, an interrupt, etc.).
1257 set style disassembler enabled on|off
1258 show style disassembler enabled
1259 If GDB is compiled with Python support, and the Python Pygments
1260 package is available, then, when this setting is on, disassembler
1261 output will have styling applied.
1263 set ada source-charset
1264 show ada source-charset
1265 Set the character set encoding that is assumed for Ada symbols. Valid
1266 values for this follow the values that can be passed to the GNAT
1267 compiler via the '-gnati' option. The default is ISO-8859-1.
1273 These are the new names for the old 'layout', 'focus', 'refresh',
1274 and 'winheight' tui commands respectively. The old names still
1275 exist as aliases to these new commands.
1279 The new command 'tui window width', and the alias 'winwidth' allow
1280 the width of a tui window to be adjusted when windows are laid out
1283 set debug tui on|off
1285 Control the display of debug output about GDB's tui.
1290 Printing of floating-point values with base-modifying formats like
1291 /x has been changed to display the underlying bytes of the value in
1292 the desired base. This was GDB's documented behavior, but was never
1293 implemented correctly.
1296 This command can now print a reply, if the reply includes
1297 non-printable characters. Any non-printable characters are printed
1298 as escaped hex, e.g. \x?? where '??' is replaces with the value of
1299 the non-printable character.
1302 The clone-inferior command now ensures that the TTY, CMD and ARGS
1303 settings are copied from the original inferior to the new one.
1304 All modifications to the environment variables done using the 'set
1305 environment' or 'unset environment' commands are also copied to the new
1308 set debug lin-lwp on|off
1310 These commands have been removed from GDB. The new command 'set
1311 debug linux-nat' and 'show debug linux-nat' should be used
1315 This command now includes information about the width of the tui
1316 windows in its output.
1322 These commands are now aliases for the 'tui layout', 'tui focus',
1323 'tui refresh', and 'tui window height' commands respectively.
1325 * GDB's Ada parser now supports an extension for specifying the exact
1326 byte contents of a floating-point literal. This can be useful for
1327 setting floating-point registers to a precise value without loss of
1328 precision. The syntax is an extension of the based literal syntax.
1329 Use, e.g., "16lf#0123abcd#" -- the number of "l"s controls the width
1330 of the floating-point type, and the "f" is the marker for floating
1335 ** The '-add-inferior' with no option flags now inherits the
1336 connection of the current inferior, this restores the behavior of
1337 GDB as it was prior to GDB 10.
1339 ** The '-add-inferior' command now accepts a '--no-connection'
1340 option, which causes the new inferior to start without a
1343 ** The default version of the MI interpreter is now 4 (-i=mi4).
1345 ** The "script" field in breakpoint output (which is syntactically
1346 incorrect in MI 3 and below) has changed in MI 4 to become a list.
1347 This affects the following commands and events:
1351 - =breakpoint-created
1352 - =breakpoint-modified
1354 The -fix-breakpoint-script-output command can be used to enable
1355 this behavior with previous MI versions.
1359 GNU/Linux/LoongArch loongarch*-*-linux*
1367 ** New function gdb.add_history(), which takes a gdb.Value object
1368 and adds the value it represents to GDB's history list. An
1369 integer, the index of the new item in the history list, is
1372 ** New function gdb.history_count(), which returns the number of
1373 values in GDB's value history.
1375 ** New gdb.events.gdb_exiting event. This event is called with a
1376 gdb.GdbExitingEvent object which has the read-only attribute
1377 'exit_code', which contains the value of the GDB exit code. This
1378 event is triggered once GDB decides it is going to exit, but
1379 before GDB starts to clean up its internal state.
1381 ** New function gdb.architecture_names(), which returns a list
1382 containing all of the possible Architecture.name() values. Each
1385 ** New function gdb.Architecture.integer_type(), which returns an
1386 integer type given a size and a signed-ness.
1388 ** New gdb.TargetConnection object type that represents a connection
1389 (as displayed by the 'info connections' command). A sub-class,
1390 gdb.RemoteTargetConnection, is used to represent 'remote' and
1391 'extended-remote' connections.
1393 ** The gdb.Inferior type now has a 'connection' property which is an
1394 instance of gdb.TargetConnection, the connection used by this
1395 inferior. This can be None if the inferior has no connection.
1397 ** New 'gdb.events.connection_removed' event registry, which emits a
1398 'gdb.ConnectionEvent' when a connection is removed from GDB.
1399 This event has a 'connection' property, a gdb.TargetConnection
1400 object for the connection being removed.
1402 ** New gdb.connections() function that returns a list of all
1403 currently active connections.
1405 ** New gdb.RemoteTargetConnection.send_packet(PACKET) method. This
1406 is equivalent to the existing 'maint packet' CLI command; it
1407 allows a user specified packet to be sent to the remote target.
1409 ** New function gdb.host_charset(), returns a string, which is the
1410 name of the current host charset.
1412 ** New gdb.set_parameter(NAME, VALUE). This sets the gdb parameter
1415 ** New gdb.with_parameter(NAME, VALUE). This returns a context
1416 manager that temporarily sets the gdb parameter NAME to VALUE,
1417 then resets it when the context is exited.
1419 ** The gdb.Value.format_string method now takes a 'styling'
1420 argument, which is a boolean. When true, the returned string can
1421 include escape sequences to apply styling. The styling will only
1422 be present if styling is otherwise turned on in GDB (see 'help
1423 set styling'). When false, which is the default if the argument
1424 is not given, then no styling is applied to the returned string.
1426 ** New read-only attribute gdb.InferiorThread.details, which is
1427 either a string, containing additional, target specific thread
1428 state information, or None, if there is no such additional
1431 ** New read-only attribute gdb.Type.is_scalar, which is True for
1432 scalar types, and False for all other types.
1434 ** New read-only attribute gdb.Type.is_signed. This attribute
1435 should only be read when Type.is_scalar is True, and will be True
1436 for signed types, and False for all other types. Attempting to
1437 read this attribute for non-scalar types will raise a ValueError.
1439 ** It is now possible to add GDB/MI commands implemented in Python.
1441 * New features in the GDB remote stub, GDBserver
1443 ** GDBserver is now supported on OpenRISC GNU/Linux.
1445 * New native configurations
1447 GNU/Linux/OpenRISC or1k*-*-linux*
1449 *** Changes in GDB 11
1451 * The 'set disassembler-options' command now supports specifying options
1454 * GDB now supports general memory tagging functionality if the underlying
1455 architecture supports the proper primitives and hooks. Currently this is
1456 enabled only for AArch64 MTE.
1460 - Additional information when the inferior crashes with a SIGSEGV caused by
1461 a memory tag violation.
1463 - A new modifier 'm' for the "x" command, which displays allocation tags for a
1464 particular memory range.
1466 - Display of memory tag mismatches by "print", for addresses and
1467 pointers, if memory tagging is supported by the architecture.
1469 * Building GDB now requires GMP (The GNU Multiple Precision Arithmetic
1474 ** '-break-insert --qualified' and '-dprintf-insert --qualified'
1476 The MI -break-insert and -dprintf-insert commands now support a
1477 new "--qualified" option that makes GDB interpret a specified
1478 function name as a complete fully-qualified name. This is the
1479 equivalent of the CLI's "break -qualified" and "dprintf
1482 ** '-break-insert --force-condition' and '-dprintf-insert --force-condition'
1484 The MI -break-insert and -dprintf-insert commands now support a
1485 '--force-condition' flag to forcibly define a condition even when
1486 the condition is invalid at all locations of the breakpoint. This
1487 is equivalent to the '-force-condition' flag of the CLI's "break"
1490 ** '-break-condition --force'
1492 The MI -break-condition command now supports a '--force' flag to
1493 forcibly define a condition even when the condition is invalid at
1494 all locations of the selected breakpoint. This is equivalent to
1495 the '-force' flag of the CLI's "cond" command.
1497 ** '-file-list-exec-source-files [--group-by-objfile]
1498 [--basename | --dirname]
1501 The existing -file-list-exec-source-files command now takes an
1502 optional REGEXP which is used to filter the source files that are
1503 included in the results.
1505 By default REGEXP is matched against the full filename of the
1506 source file. When one of --basename or --dirname is given then
1507 REGEXP is only matched against the specified part of the full
1510 When the optional --group-by-objfile flag is used the output
1511 format is changed, the results are now a list of object files
1512 (executable and libraries) with the source files that are
1513 associated with each object file.
1515 The results from -file-list-exec-source-files now include a
1516 'debug-fully-read' field which takes the value 'true' or 'false'.
1517 A 'true' value indicates the source file is from a compilation
1518 unit that has had its debug information fully read in by GDB, a
1519 value of 'false' indicates GDB has only performed a partial scan
1520 of the debug information so far.
1522 * GDB now supports core file debugging for x86_64 Cygwin programs.
1524 * GDB will now look for the .gdbinit file in a config directory before
1525 looking for ~/.gdbinit. The file is searched for in the following
1526 locations: $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/gdb/gdbinit, $HOME/.config/gdb/gdbinit,
1527 $HOME/.gdbinit. On Apple hosts the search order is instead:
1528 $HOME/Library/Preferences/gdb/gdbinit, $HOME/.gdbinit.
1530 * GDB now supports fixed point types which are described in DWARF
1531 as base types with a fixed-point encoding. Additionally, support
1532 for the DW_AT_GNU_numerator and DW_AT_GNU_denominator has also
1535 For Ada, this allows support for fixed point types without requiring
1536 the use of the GNAT encoding (based on information added to the type's
1537 name following a GNAT-specific format).
1539 * GDB will now load and process commands from ~/.config/gdb/gdbearlyinit
1540 or ~/.gdbearlyinit if these files are present. These files are
1541 processed earlier than any of the other initialization files and
1542 can affect parts of GDB's startup that previously had already been
1543 completed before the initialization files were read, for example
1544 styling of the initial GDB greeting.
1546 * GDB now has two new options "--early-init-command" and
1547 "--early-init-eval-command" with corresponding short options "-eix"
1548 and "-eiex" that allow options (that would normally appear in a
1549 gdbearlyinit file) to be passed on the command line.
1551 * For RISC-V targets, the target feature "org.gnu.gdb.riscv.vector" is
1552 now understood by GDB, and can be used to describe the vector
1553 registers of a target. The precise requirements of this register
1554 feature are documented in the GDB manual.
1556 * For ARM targets, the "org.gnu.gdb.arm.m-profile-mve" feature is now
1557 supported by GDB and describes a new VPR register from the ARM MVE
1558 (Helium) extension. See the GDB manual for more information.
1562 ** TUI windows now support mouse actions. The mouse wheel scrolls
1563 the appropriate window.
1565 ** Key combinations that do not have a specific action on the
1566 focused window are passed to GDB. For example, you now can use
1567 Ctrl-Left/Ctrl-Right to move between words in the command window
1568 regardless of which window is in focus. Previously you would
1569 need to focus on the command window for such key combinations to
1574 set debug event-loop
1575 show debug event-loop
1576 Control the display of debug output about GDB's event loop.
1578 set print memory-tag-violations
1579 show print memory-tag-violations
1580 Control whether to display additional information about memory tag violations
1581 when printing pointers and addresses. Architecture support for memory
1582 tagging is required for this option to have an effect.
1584 maintenance flush symbol-cache
1585 maintenance flush register-cache
1586 These new commands are equivalent to the already existing commands
1587 'maintenance flush-symbol-cache' and 'flushregs' respectively.
1589 maintenance flush dcache
1590 A new command to flush the dcache.
1592 maintenance info target-sections
1593 Print GDB's internal target sections table.
1595 maintenance info jit
1596 Print the JIT code objects in the inferior known to GDB.
1598 memory-tag show-logical-tag POINTER
1599 Print the logical tag for POINTER.
1600 memory-tag with-logical-tag POINTER TAG
1601 Print POINTER with logical tag TAG.
1602 memory-tag show-allocation-tag ADDRESS
1603 Print the allocation tag for ADDRESS.
1604 memory-tag set-allocation-tag ADDRESS LENGTH TAGS
1605 Set the allocation tag for [ADDRESS, ADDRESS + LENGTH) to TAGS.
1606 memory-tag check POINTER
1607 Validate that POINTER's logical tag matches the allocation tag.
1609 set startup-quietly on|off
1610 show startup-quietly
1611 When 'on', this causes GDB to act as if "-silent" were passed on the
1612 command line. This command needs to be added to an early
1613 initialization file (e.g. ~/.config/gdb/gdbearlyinit) in order to
1616 set print type hex on|off
1618 When 'on', the 'ptype' command uses hexadecimal notation to print sizes
1619 and offsets of struct members. When 'off', decimal notation is used.
1621 set python ignore-environment on|off
1622 show python ignore-environment
1623 When 'on', this causes GDB's builtin Python to ignore any
1624 environment variables that would otherwise affect how Python
1625 behaves. This command needs to be added to an early initialization
1626 file (e.g. ~/.config/gdb/gdbearlyinit) in order to affect GDB.
1628 set python dont-write-bytecode auto|on|off
1629 show python dont-write-bytecode
1630 When 'on', this causes GDB's builtin Python to not write any
1631 byte-code (.pyc files) to disk. This command needs to be added to
1632 an early initialization file (e.g. ~/.config/gdb/gdbearlyinit) in
1633 order to affect GDB. When 'off' byte-code will always be written.
1634 When set to 'auto' (the default) Python will check the
1635 PYTHONDONTWRITEBYTECODE environment variable.
1639 break [PROBE_MODIFIER] [LOCATION] [thread THREADNUM]
1640 [-force-condition] [if CONDITION]
1641 This command would previously refuse setting a breakpoint if the
1642 CONDITION expression is invalid at a location. It now accepts and
1643 defines the breakpoint if there is at least one location at which
1644 the CONDITION is valid. The locations for which the CONDITION is
1645 invalid, are automatically disabled. If CONDITION is invalid at all
1646 of the locations, setting the breakpoint is still rejected. However,
1647 the '-force-condition' flag can be used in this case for forcing GDB to
1648 define the breakpoint, making all the current locations automatically
1649 disabled. This may be useful if the user knows the condition will
1650 become meaningful at a future location, e.g. due to a shared library
1653 condition [-force] N COND
1654 The behavior of this command is changed the same way for the 'break'
1655 command as explained above. The '-force' flag can be used to force
1656 GDB into defining the condition even when COND is invalid for all the
1657 current locations of breakpoint N.
1660 maintenance flush-symbol-cache
1661 These commands are deprecated in favor of the new commands
1662 'maintenance flush register-cache' and 'maintenance flush
1663 symbol-cache' respectively.
1665 set style version foreground COLOR
1666 set style version background COLOR
1667 set style version intensity VALUE
1668 Control the styling of GDB's version number text.
1671 When the ID parameter is omitted, then this command prints information
1672 about the current inferior. When the ID parameter is present, the
1673 behavior of the command is unchanged and have the inferior ID become
1674 the current inferior.
1676 maintenance info sections
1677 The ALLOBJ keyword has been replaced with an -all-objects command
1678 line flag. It is now possible to filter which sections are printed
1679 even when -all-objects is passed.
1681 ptype[/FLAGS] TYPE | EXPRESSION
1682 The 'ptype' command has two new flags. When '/x' is set, hexadecimal
1683 notation is used when printing sizes and offsets of struct members.
1684 When '/d' is set, decimal notation is used when printing sizes and
1685 offsets of struct members. Default behavior is given by 'show print
1689 The info sources command output has been restructured. The results
1690 are now based around a list of objfiles (executable and libraries),
1691 and for each objfile the source files that are part of that objfile
1694 * Removed targets and native configurations
1696 ARM Symbian arm*-*-symbianelf*
1698 * New remote packets
1701 Request the remote to send allocation tags for a particular memory range.
1703 Request the remote to store the specified allocation tags to the requested
1708 ** Improved support for rvalue reference values:
1709 TYPE_CODE_RVALUE_REF is now exported as part of the API and the
1710 value-referenced-value procedure now handles rvalue reference
1713 ** New procedures for obtaining value variants:
1714 value-reference-value, value-rvalue-reference-value and
1717 ** Temporary breakpoints can now be created with make-breakpoint and
1718 tested for using breakpoint-temporary?.
1722 ** Inferior objects now contain a read-only 'connection_num' attribute that
1723 gives the connection number as seen in 'info connections' and
1726 ** New method gdb.Frame.level() which returns the stack level of the
1729 ** New method gdb.PendingFrame.level() which returns the stack level
1730 of the frame object.
1732 ** When hitting a catchpoint, the Python API will now emit a
1733 gdb.BreakpointEvent rather than a gdb.StopEvent. The
1734 gdb.Breakpoint attached to the event will have type BP_CATCHPOINT.
1736 ** Python TUI windows can now receive mouse click events. If the
1737 Window object implements the click method, it is called for each
1738 mouse click event in this window.
1740 *** Changes in GDB 10
1742 * There are new feature names for ARC targets: "org.gnu.gdb.arc.core"
1743 and "org.gnu.gdb.arc.aux". The old names are still supported but
1744 must be considered obsolete. They will be deprecated after some
1747 * Help and apropos commands will now show the documentation of a
1748 command only once, even if that command has one or more aliases.
1749 These commands now show the command name, then all of its aliases,
1750 and finally the description of the command.
1752 * 'help aliases' now shows only the user defined aliases. GDB predefined
1753 aliases are shown together with their aliased command.
1755 * GDB now supports debuginfod, an HTTP server for distributing ELF/DWARF
1756 debugging information as well as source code.
1758 When built with debuginfod, GDB can automatically query debuginfod
1759 servers for the separate debug files and source code of the executable
1762 To build GDB with debuginfod, pass --with-debuginfod to configure (this
1763 requires libdebuginfod, the debuginfod client library).
1765 debuginfod is distributed with elfutils, starting with version 0.178.
1767 You can get the latest version from https://sourceware.org/elfutils.
1769 * Multi-target debugging support
1771 GDB now supports debugging multiple target connections
1772 simultaneously. For example, you can now have each inferior
1773 connected to different remote servers running in different machines,
1774 or have one inferior debugging a local native process, an inferior
1775 debugging a core dump, etc.
1777 This support is experimental and comes with some limitations -- you
1778 can only resume multiple targets simultaneously if all targets
1779 support non-stop mode, and all remote stubs or servers must support
1780 the same set of remote protocol features exactly. See also "info
1781 connections" and "add-inferior -no-connection" below, and "maint set
1782 target-non-stop" in the user manual.
1784 * New features in the GDB remote stub, GDBserver
1786 ** GDBserver is now supported on ARC GNU/Linux.
1788 ** GDBserver is now supported on RISC-V GNU/Linux.
1790 ** GDBserver no longer supports these host triplets:
1792 i[34567]86-*-lynxos*
1801 i[34567]86-*-mingw32ce*
1803 * Debugging MS-Windows processes now sets $_exitsignal when the
1804 inferior is terminated by a signal, instead of setting $_exitcode.
1806 * Multithreaded symbol loading has now been enabled by default on systems
1807 that support it (see entry for GDB 9, below), providing faster
1808 performance for programs with many symbols.
1810 * The $_siginfo convenience variable now also works on Windows targets,
1811 and will display the EXCEPTION_RECORD of the last handled exception.
1813 * TUI windows can now be arranged horizontally.
1815 * The command history filename can now be set to the empty string
1816 either using 'set history filename' or by setting 'GDBHISTFILE=' in
1817 the environment. The effect of setting this filename to the empty
1818 string is that GDB will not try to load any previous command
1821 * On Windows targets, it is now possible to debug 32-bit programs with a
1826 set exec-file-mismatch -- Set exec-file-mismatch handling (ask|warn|off).
1827 show exec-file-mismatch -- Show exec-file-mismatch handling (ask|warn|off).
1828 Set or show the option 'exec-file-mismatch'. When GDB attaches to a
1829 running process, this new option indicates whether to detect
1830 a mismatch between the current executable file loaded by GDB and the
1831 executable file used to start the process. If 'ask', the default,
1832 display a warning and ask the user whether to load the process
1833 executable file; if 'warn', just display a warning; if 'off', don't
1834 attempt to detect a mismatch.
1836 tui new-layout NAME WINDOW WEIGHT [WINDOW WEIGHT]...
1837 Define a new TUI layout, specifying its name and the windows that
1840 maintenance print xml-tdesc [FILE]
1841 Prints the current target description as an XML document. If the
1842 optional FILE is provided (which is an XML target description) then
1843 the target description is read from FILE into GDB, and then
1846 maintenance print core-file-backed-mappings
1847 Prints file-backed mappings loaded from a core file's note section.
1848 Output is expected to be similar to that of "info proc mappings".
1850 set debug fortran-array-slicing on|off
1851 show debug fortran-array-slicing
1852 Print debugging when taking slices of Fortran arrays.
1854 set fortran repack-array-slices on|off
1855 show fortran repack-array-slices
1856 When taking slices from Fortran arrays and strings, if the slice is
1857 non-contiguous within the original value then, when this option is
1858 on, the new value will be repacked into a single contiguous value.
1859 When this option is off, then the value returned will consist of a
1860 descriptor that describes the slice within the memory of the
1861 original parent value.
1865 alias [-a] [--] ALIAS = COMMAND [DEFAULT-ARGS...]
1866 The alias command can now specify default args for an alias.
1867 GDB automatically prepends the alias default args to the argument list
1868 provided explicitly by the user.
1869 For example, to have a backtrace with full details, you can define
1870 an alias 'bt_ALL' as
1871 'alias bt_ALL = backtrace -entry-values both -frame-arg all
1872 -past-main -past-entry -full'.
1873 Alias default arguments can also use a set of nested 'with' commands,
1874 e.g. 'alias pp10 = with print pretty -- with print elem 10 -- print'
1875 defines the alias pp10 that will pretty print a maximum of 10 elements
1876 of the given expression (if the expression is an array).
1880 GNU/Linux/RISC-V (gdbserver) riscv*-*-linux*
1881 BPF bpf-unknown-none
1886 ** gdb.register_window_type can be used to implement new TUI windows
1889 ** Dynamic types can now be queried. gdb.Type has a new attribute,
1890 "dynamic", and gdb.Type.sizeof can be None for a dynamic type. A
1891 field of a dynamic type may have None for its "bitpos" attribute
1894 ** Commands written in Python can be in the "TUI" help class by
1895 registering with the new constant gdb.COMMAND_TUI.
1897 ** New method gdb.PendingFrame.architecture () to retrieve the
1898 architecture of the pending frame.
1900 ** New gdb.Architecture.registers method that returns a
1901 gdb.RegisterDescriptorIterator object, an iterator that returns
1902 gdb.RegisterDescriptor objects. The new RegisterDescriptor is a
1903 way to query the registers available for an architecture.
1905 ** New gdb.Architecture.register_groups method that returns a
1906 gdb.RegisterGroupIterator object, an iterator that returns
1907 gdb.RegisterGroup objects. The new RegisterGroup is a way to
1908 discover the available register groups.
1912 ** GDB can now be built with GNU Guile 3.0 and 2.2 in addition to 2.0.
1914 ** Procedures 'memory-port-read-buffer-size',
1915 'set-memory-port-read-buffer-size!', 'memory-port-write-buffer-size',
1916 and 'set-memory-port-write-buffer-size!' are deprecated. When
1917 using Guile 2.2 and later, users who need to control the size of
1918 a memory port's internal buffer can use the 'setvbuf' procedure.
1920 *** Changes in GDB 9
1922 * 'thread-exited' event is now available in the annotations interface.
1924 * New built-in convenience variables $_gdb_major and $_gdb_minor
1925 provide the GDB version. They are handy for conditionally using
1926 features available only in or since specific GDB versions, in
1927 scripts that should work error-free with many different versions,
1928 such as in system-wide init files.
1930 * New built-in convenience functions $_gdb_setting, $_gdb_setting_str,
1931 $_gdb_maint_setting and $_gdb_maint_setting_str provide access to values
1932 of the GDB settings and the GDB maintenance settings. They are handy
1933 for changing the logic of user defined commands depending on the
1934 current GDB settings.
1936 * GDB now supports Thread Local Storage (TLS) variables on several
1937 FreeBSD architectures (amd64, i386, powerpc, riscv). Other
1938 architectures require kernel changes. TLS is not yet supported for
1939 amd64 and i386 process core dumps.
1941 * Support for Pointer Authentication (PAC) on AArch64 Linux. Return
1942 addresses that required unmasking are shown in the backtrace with the
1945 * Two new convenience functions $_cimag and $_creal that extract the
1946 imaginary and real parts respectively from complex numbers.
1948 * New built-in convenience variables $_shell_exitcode and $_shell_exitsignal
1949 provide the exitcode or exit status of the shell commands launched by
1950 GDB commands such as "shell", "pipe" and "make".
1952 * The command define-prefix can now define user defined prefix commands.
1953 User defined commands can now be defined using these user defined prefix
1956 * Command names can now use the . character.
1958 * The RX port now supports XML target descriptions.
1960 * GDB now shows the Ada task names at more places, e.g. in task switching
1963 * GDB can now be compiled with Python 3 on Windows.
1965 * New convenience variable $_ada_exception holds the address of the
1966 Ada exception being thrown. This is set by Ada-related catchpoints.
1968 * GDB can now place breakpoints on nested functions and subroutines in
1969 Fortran code. The '::' operator can be used between parent and
1970 child scopes when placing breakpoints, for example:
1972 (gdb) break outer_function::inner_function
1974 The 'outer_function::' prefix is only needed if 'inner_function' is
1975 not visible in the current scope.
1977 * In addition to the system-wide gdbinit file, if configured with
1978 --with-system-gdbinit-dir, GDB will now also load files in that directory
1979 as system gdbinit files, unless the -nx or -n flag is provided. Files
1980 with extensions .gdb, .py and .scm are supported as long as GDB was
1981 compiled with support for that language.
1983 * GDB now supports multithreaded symbol loading for higher performance.
1984 This feature is still in testing, so it is disabled by default. You
1985 can turn it on using 'maint set worker-threads unlimited'.
1989 ** The gdb.Value type has a new method 'format_string' which returns a
1990 string representing the value. The formatting is controlled by the
1991 optional keyword arguments: 'raw', 'pretty_arrays', 'pretty_structs',
1992 'array_indexes', 'symbols', 'unions', 'deref_refs', 'actual_objects',
1993 'static_members', 'max_elements', 'repeat_threshold', and 'format'.
1995 ** gdb.Type has a new property 'objfile' which returns the objfile the
1996 type was defined in.
1998 ** The frame information printed by the python frame filtering code
1999 is now consistent with what the 'backtrace' command prints when
2000 there are no filters, or when the 'backtrace' '-no-filters' option
2003 ** The new function gdb.lookup_static_symbol can be used to look up
2004 symbols with static linkage.
2006 ** The new function gdb.lookup_static_symbols can be used to look up
2007 all static symbols with static linkage.
2009 ** gdb.Objfile has new methods 'lookup_global_symbol' and
2010 'lookup_static_symbol' to lookup a symbol from this objfile only.
2012 ** gdb.Block now supports the dictionary syntax for accessing symbols in
2013 this block (e.g. block['local_variable']).
2017 | [COMMAND] | SHELL_COMMAND
2018 | -d DELIM COMMAND DELIM SHELL_COMMAND
2019 pipe [COMMAND] | SHELL_COMMAND
2020 pipe -d DELIM COMMAND DELIM SHELL_COMMAND
2021 Executes COMMAND and sends its output to SHELL_COMMAND.
2022 With no COMMAND, repeat the last executed command
2023 and send its output to SHELL_COMMAND.
2025 define-prefix COMMAND
2026 Define or mark a command as a user-defined prefix command.
2028 with SETTING [VALUE] [-- COMMAND]
2029 w SETTING [VALUE] [-- COMMAND]
2030 Temporarily set SETTING, run COMMAND, and restore SETTING.
2031 Usage: with SETTING -- COMMAND
2032 With no COMMAND, repeats the last executed command.
2033 SETTING is any GDB setting you can change with the "set"
2034 subcommands. For example, 'with language c -- print someobj'
2035 temporarily switches to the C language in order to print someobj.
2036 Settings can be combined: 'w lang c -- w print elements unlimited --
2037 usercmd' switches to the C language and runs usercmd with no limit
2038 of array elements to print.
2040 maint with SETTING [VALUE] [-- COMMAND]
2041 Like "with", but works with "maintenance set" settings.
2043 set may-call-functions [on|off]
2044 show may-call-functions
2045 This controls whether GDB will attempt to call functions in
2046 the program, such as with expressions in the print command. It
2047 defaults to on. Calling functions in the program being debugged
2048 can have undesired side effects. It is now possible to forbid
2049 such function calls. If function calls are forbidden, GDB will throw
2050 an error when a command (such as print expression) calls a function
2053 set print finish [on|off]
2055 This controls whether the `finish' command will display the value
2056 that is returned by the current function. When `off', the value is
2057 still entered into the value history, but it is not printed. The
2061 show print max-depth
2062 Allows deeply nested structures to be simplified when printing by
2063 replacing deeply nested parts (beyond the max-depth) with ellipses.
2064 The default max-depth is 20, but this can be set to unlimited to get
2065 the old behavior back.
2067 set print raw-values [on|off]
2068 show print raw-values
2069 By default, GDB applies the enabled pretty printers when printing a
2070 value. This allows to ignore the enabled pretty printers for a series
2071 of commands. The default is 'off'.
2073 set logging debugredirect [on|off]
2074 By default, GDB debug output will go to both the terminal and the logfile.
2075 Set if you want debug output to go only to the log file.
2077 set style title foreground COLOR
2078 set style title background COLOR
2079 set style title intensity VALUE
2080 Control the styling of titles.
2082 set style highlight foreground COLOR
2083 set style highlight background COLOR
2084 set style highlight intensity VALUE
2085 Control the styling of highlightings.
2087 maint set worker-threads
2088 maint show worker-threads
2089 Control the number of worker threads that can be used by GDB. The
2090 default is 0. "unlimited" lets GDB choose a number that is
2091 reasonable. Currently worker threads are only used when demangling
2092 the names of linker symbols.
2094 set style tui-border foreground COLOR
2095 set style tui-border background COLOR
2096 Control the styling of TUI borders.
2098 set style tui-active-border foreground COLOR
2099 set style tui-active-border background COLOR
2100 Control the styling of the active TUI border.
2102 maint set test-settings KIND
2103 maint show test-settings KIND
2104 A set of commands used by the testsuite for exercising the settings
2107 maint set tui-resize-message [on|off]
2108 maint show tui-resize-message
2109 Control whether GDB prints a message each time the terminal is
2110 resized when in TUI mode. This is primarily useful for testing the
2113 set print frame-info [short-location|location|location-and-address
2114 |source-and-location|source-line|auto]
2115 show print frame-info
2116 This controls what frame information is printed by the commands printing
2117 a frame. This setting will e.g. influence the behavior of 'backtrace',
2118 'frame', 'stepi'. The python frame filtering also respect this setting.
2119 The 'backtrace' '-frame-info' option can override this global setting.
2121 set tui compact-source
2122 show tui compact-source
2124 Enable the "compact" display mode for the TUI source window. The
2125 compact display uses only as much space as is needed for the line
2126 numbers in the current file, and only a single space to separate the
2127 line numbers from the source.
2129 info modules [-q] [REGEXP]
2130 Return a list of Fortran modules matching REGEXP, or all modules if
2133 info module functions [-q] [-m MODULE_REGEXP] [-t TYPE_REGEXP] [REGEXP]
2134 Return a list of functions within all modules, grouped by module.
2135 The list of functions can be restricted with the optional regular
2136 expressions. MODULE_REGEXP matches against the module name,
2137 TYPE_REGEXP matches against the function type signature, and REGEXP
2138 matches against the function name.
2140 info module variables [-q] [-m MODULE_REGEXP] [-t TYPE_REGEXP] [REGEXP]
2141 Return a list of variables within all modules, grouped by module.
2142 The list of variables can be restricted with the optional regular
2143 expressions. MODULE_REGEXP matches against the module name,
2144 TYPE_REGEXP matches against the variable type, and REGEXP matches
2145 against the variable name.
2147 set debug remote-packet-max-chars
2148 show debug remote-packet-max-chars
2149 Controls the number of characters to output in a remote packet when using
2151 The default is 512 bytes.
2154 Lists the target connections currently in use.
2159 The "help" command uses the title style to enhance the
2160 readibility of its output by styling the classes and
2164 Similarly to "help", the "apropos" command also uses the
2165 title style for the command names. "apropos" accepts now
2166 a flag "-v" (verbose) to show the full documentation
2167 of matching commands and to use the highlight style to mark
2168 the documentation parts matching REGEXP.
2172 The GDB printf and eval commands can now print C-style and Ada-style
2173 string convenience variables without calling functions in the program.
2174 This allows to do formatted printing of strings without having
2175 a running inferior, or when debugging a core dump.
2177 info sources [-dirname | -basename] [--] [REGEXP]
2178 This command has now optional arguments to only print the files
2179 whose names match REGEXP. The arguments -dirname and -basename
2180 allow to restrict matching respectively to the dirname and basename
2184 The "show style" and its subcommands are now styling
2185 a style name in their output using its own style, to help
2186 the user visualize the different styles.
2188 set print frame-arguments
2189 The new value 'presence' indicates to only indicate the presence of
2190 arguments using ..., instead of printing argument names and values.
2192 set print raw-frame-arguments
2193 show print raw-frame-arguments
2195 These commands replace the similarly-named "set/show print raw
2196 frame-arguments" commands (now with a dash instead of a space). The
2197 old commands are now deprecated and may be removed in a future
2200 add-inferior [-no-connection]
2201 The add-inferior command now supports a "-no-connection" flag that
2202 makes the new inferior start with no target connection associated.
2203 By default, the new inferior inherits the target connection of the
2204 current inferior. See also "info connections".
2207 This command's output now includes a new "Connection" column
2208 indicating which target connection an inferior is bound to. See
2209 "info connections" above.
2211 maint test-options require-delimiter
2212 maint test-options unknown-is-error
2213 maint test-options unknown-is-operand
2214 maint show test-options-completion-result
2215 Commands used by the testsuite to validate the command options
2218 focus, winheight, +, -, >, <
2219 These commands are now case-sensitive.
2221 * New command options, command completion
2223 GDB now has a standard infrastructure to support dash-style command
2224 options ('-OPT'). One benefit is that commands that use it can
2225 easily support completion of command line arguments. Try "CMD
2226 -[TAB]" or "help CMD" to find options supported by a command. Over
2227 time, we intend to migrate most commands to this infrastructure. A
2228 number of commands got support for new command options in this
2231 ** The "print" and "compile print" commands now support a number of
2232 options that allow overriding relevant global print settings as
2233 set by "set print" subcommands:
2237 -array-indexes [on|off]
2238 -elements NUMBER|unlimited
2242 -raw-values [on|off]
2243 -repeats NUMBER|unlimited
2244 -static-members [on|off]
2249 Note that because the "print"/"compile print" commands accept
2250 arbitrary expressions which may look like options (including
2251 abbreviations), if you specify any command option, then you must
2252 use a double dash ("--") to mark the end of argument processing.
2254 ** The "backtrace" command now supports a number of options that
2255 allow overriding relevant global print settings as set by "set
2256 backtrace" and "set print" subcommands:
2258 -entry-values no|only|preferred|if-needed|both|compact|default
2259 -frame-arguments all|scalars|none
2260 -raw-frame-arguments [on|off]
2261 -frame-info auto|source-line|location|source-and-location
2262 |location-and-address|short-location
2264 -past-entry [on|off]
2266 In addition, the full/no-filters/hide qualifiers are now also
2267 exposed as command options too:
2273 ** The "frame apply", "tfaas" and "faas" commands similarly now
2274 support the following options:
2277 -past-entry [on|off]
2279 ** The new "info sources" options -dirname and -basename options
2280 are using the standard '-OPT' infrastructure.
2282 All options above can also be abbreviated. The argument of boolean
2283 (on/off) options can be 0/1 too, and also the argument is assumed
2284 "on" if omitted. This allows writing compact command invocations,
2287 (gdb) p -ra -p -o 0 -- *myptr
2289 The above is equivalent to:
2291 (gdb) print -raw-values -pretty -object off -- *myptr
2293 ** The "info types" command now supports the '-q' flag to disable
2294 printing of some header information in a similar fashion to "info
2295 variables" and "info functions".
2297 ** The "info variables", "info functions", and "whereis" commands
2298 now take a '-n' flag that excludes non-debug symbols (symbols
2299 from the symbol table, not from the debug info such as DWARF)
2302 * Completion improvements
2304 ** GDB can now complete the options of the "thread apply all" and
2305 "taas" commands, and their "-ascending" option can now be
2308 ** GDB can now complete the options of the "info threads", "info
2309 functions", "info variables", "info locals", and "info args"
2312 ** GDB can now complete the options of the "compile file" and
2313 "compile code" commands. The "compile file" command now
2314 completes on filenames.
2316 ** GDB can now complete the backtrace command's
2317 "full/no-filters/hide" qualifiers.
2319 * In settings, you can now abbreviate "unlimited".
2321 E.g., "set print elements u" is now equivalent to "set print
2322 elements unlimited".
2327 This lists all the possible completions for the rest of the line, if it
2328 were to be given as a command itself. This is intended for use by MI
2329 frontends in cases when separate CLI and MI channels cannot be used.
2331 -catch-throw, -catch-rethrow, and -catch-catch
2332 These can be used to catch C++ exceptions in a similar fashion to
2333 the CLI commands 'catch throw', 'catch rethrow', and 'catch catch'.
2335 -symbol-info-functions, -symbol-info-types, and -symbol-info-variables
2336 These commands are the MI equivalent of the CLI commands 'info
2337 functions', 'info types', and 'info variables' respectively.
2339 -symbol-info-modules, this is the MI equivalent of the CLI 'info
2342 -symbol-info-module-functions and -symbol-info-module-variables.
2343 These commands are the MI equivalent of the CLI commands 'info
2344 module functions' and 'info module variables'.
2348 ** The default version of the MI interpreter is now 3 (-i=mi3).
2350 ** The output of information about multi-location breakpoints (which is
2351 syntactically incorrect in MI 2) has changed in MI 3. This affects
2352 the following commands and events:
2356 - =breakpoint-created
2357 - =breakpoint-modified
2359 The -fix-multi-location-breakpoint-output command can be used to enable
2360 this behavior with previous MI versions.
2362 ** Backtraces and frames include a new optional field addr_flags which is
2363 given after the addr field. On AArch64 this contains PAC if the address
2364 has been masked in the frame. On all other targets the field is not
2369 The testsuite now creates the files gdb.cmd (containing the arguments
2370 used to launch GDB) and gdb.in (containing all the commands sent to
2371 GDB) in the output directory for each test script. Multiple invocations
2372 are appended with .1, .2, .3 etc.
2374 * Building GDB and GDBserver now requires GNU make >= 3.82.
2376 Using another implementation of the make program or an earlier version of
2377 GNU make to build GDB or GDBserver is not supported.
2379 * Building GDB now requires GNU readline >= 7.0.
2381 GDB now bundles GNU readline 8.0, but if you choose to use
2382 --with-system-readline, only readline >= 7.0 can be used.
2384 * The TUI SingleKey keymap is now named "SingleKey". This can be used
2385 from .inputrc to bind keys in this keymap. This feature is only
2386 available when gdb is built against GNU readline 8.0 or later.
2388 * Removed targets and native configurations
2390 GDB no longer supports debugging the Cell Broadband Engine. This includes
2391 both debugging standalone Cell/B.E. SPU applications and integrated debugging
2392 of Cell/B.E. applications that use both the PPU and SPU architectures.
2398 * Removed targets and native configurations
2400 Solaris 10 i?86-*-solaris2.10, x86_64-*-solaris2.10,
2401 sparc*-*-solaris2.10
2403 *** Changes in GDB 8.3
2405 * GDB and GDBserver now support access to additional registers on
2406 PowerPC GNU/Linux targets: PPR, DSCR, TAR, EBB/PMU registers, and
2409 * GDB now has experimental support for the compilation and injection of
2410 C++ source code into the inferior. This beta release does not include
2411 support for several language features, such as templates, constructors,
2414 This feature requires GCC 7.1 or higher built with libcp1.so
2417 * GDB and GDBserver now support IPv6 connections. IPv6 addresses
2418 can be passed using the '[ADDRESS]:PORT' notation, or the regular
2419 'ADDRESS:PORT' method.
2421 * DWARF index cache: GDB can now automatically save indices of DWARF
2422 symbols on disk to speed up further loading of the same binaries.
2424 * Ada task switching is now supported on aarch64-elf targets when
2425 debugging a program using the Ravenscar Profile. For more information,
2426 see the "Tasking Support when using the Ravenscar Profile" section
2427 in the GDB user manual.
2429 * GDB in batch mode now exits with status 1 if the last command to be
2432 * The RISC-V target now supports target descriptions.
2434 * System call catchpoints now support system call aliases on FreeBSD.
2435 When the ABI of a system call changes in FreeBSD, this is
2436 implemented by leaving a compatibility system call using the old ABI
2437 at the existing number and allocating a new system call number for
2438 the new ABI. For example, FreeBSD 12 altered the layout of 'struct
2439 kevent' used by the 'kevent' system call. As a result, FreeBSD 12
2440 kernels ship with both 'kevent' and 'freebsd11_kevent' system calls.
2441 The 'freebsd11_kevent' system call is assigned an alias of 'kevent'
2442 so that a system call catchpoint for the 'kevent' system call will
2443 catch invocations of both the 'kevent' and 'freebsd11_kevent'
2444 binaries. This ensures that 'kevent' system calls are caught for
2445 binaries using either the old or new ABIs.
2447 * Terminal styling is now available for the CLI and the TUI. GNU
2448 Source Highlight can additionally be used to provide styling of
2449 source code snippets. See the "set style" commands, below, for more
2452 * Removed support for old demangling styles arm, edg, gnu, hp and
2457 set debug compile-cplus-types
2458 show debug compile-cplus-types
2459 Control the display of debug output about type conversion in the
2460 C++ compile feature. Commands have no effect while compiling
2461 for other languages.
2465 Control whether debug output about files/functions skipping is
2468 frame apply [all | COUNT | -COUNT | level LEVEL...] [FLAG]... COMMAND
2469 Apply a command to some frames.
2470 FLAG arguments allow to control what output to produce and how to handle
2471 errors raised when applying COMMAND to a frame.
2474 Apply a command to all threads (ignoring errors and empty output).
2475 Shortcut for 'thread apply all -s COMMAND'.
2478 Apply a command to all frames (ignoring errors and empty output).
2479 Shortcut for 'frame apply all -s COMMAND'.
2482 Apply a command to all frames of all threads (ignoring errors and empty
2484 Shortcut for 'thread apply all -s frame apply all -s COMMAND'.
2486 maint set dwarf unwinders (on|off)
2487 maint show dwarf unwinders
2488 Control whether DWARF unwinders can be used.
2491 Display a list of open files for a process.
2495 Changes to the "frame", "select-frame", and "info frame" CLI commands.
2496 These commands all now take a frame specification which
2497 is either a frame level, or one of the keywords 'level', 'address',
2498 'function', or 'view' followed by a parameter. Selecting a frame by
2499 address, or viewing a frame outside the current backtrace now
2500 requires the use of a keyword. Selecting a frame by level is
2501 unchanged. The MI comment "-stack-select-frame" is unchanged.
2503 target remote FILENAME
2504 target extended-remote FILENAME
2505 If FILENAME is a Unix domain socket, GDB will attempt to connect
2506 to this socket instead of opening FILENAME as a character device.
2508 info args [-q] [-t TYPEREGEXP] [NAMEREGEXP]
2509 info functions [-q] [-t TYPEREGEXP] [NAMEREGEXP]
2510 info locals [-q] [-t TYPEREGEXP] [NAMEREGEXP]
2511 info variables [-q] [-t TYPEREGEXP] [NAMEREGEXP]
2512 These commands can now print only the searched entities
2513 matching the provided regexp(s), giving a condition
2514 on the entity names or entity types. The flag -q disables
2515 printing headers or informations messages.
2521 These commands now determine the syntax for the shown entities
2522 according to the language chosen by `set language'. In particular,
2523 `set language auto' means to automatically choose the language of
2526 thread apply [all | COUNT | -COUNT] [FLAG]... COMMAND
2527 The 'thread apply' command accepts new FLAG arguments.
2528 FLAG arguments allow to control what output to produce and how to handle
2529 errors raised when applying COMMAND to a thread.
2531 set tui tab-width NCHARS
2532 show tui tab-width NCHARS
2533 "set tui tab-width" replaces the "tabset" command, which has been deprecated.
2535 set style enabled [on|off]
2537 Enable or disable terminal styling. Styling is enabled by default
2538 on most hosts, but disabled by default when in batch mode.
2540 set style sources [on|off]
2542 Enable or disable source code styling. Source code styling is
2543 enabled by default, but only takes effect if styling in general is
2544 enabled, and if GDB was linked with GNU Source Highlight.
2546 set style filename foreground COLOR
2547 set style filename background COLOR
2548 set style filename intensity VALUE
2549 Control the styling of file names.
2551 set style function foreground COLOR
2552 set style function background COLOR
2553 set style function intensity VALUE
2554 Control the styling of function names.
2556 set style variable foreground COLOR
2557 set style variable background COLOR
2558 set style variable intensity VALUE
2559 Control the styling of variable names.
2561 set style address foreground COLOR
2562 set style address background COLOR
2563 set style address intensity VALUE
2564 Control the styling of addresses.
2568 ** The '-data-disassemble' MI command now accepts an '-a' option to
2569 disassemble the whole function surrounding the given program
2570 counter value or function name. Support for this feature can be
2571 verified by using the "-list-features" command, which should
2572 contain "data-disassemble-a-option".
2574 ** Command responses and notifications that include a frame now include
2575 the frame's architecture in a new "arch" attribute.
2577 * New native configurations
2579 GNU/Linux/RISC-V riscv*-*-linux*
2580 FreeBSD/riscv riscv*-*-freebsd*
2584 GNU/Linux/RISC-V riscv*-*-linux*
2585 CSKY ELF csky*-*-elf
2586 CSKY GNU/LINUX csky*-*-linux
2587 FreeBSD/riscv riscv*-*-freebsd*
2589 GNU/Linux/OpenRISC or1k*-*-linux*
2593 GDB no longer supports native debugging on versions of MS-Windows
2598 ** GDB no longer supports Python versions less than 2.6.
2600 ** The gdb.Inferior type has a new 'progspace' property, which is the program
2601 space associated to that inferior.
2603 ** The gdb.Progspace type has a new 'objfiles' method, which returns the list
2604 of objfiles associated to that program space.
2606 ** gdb.SYMBOL_LOC_COMMON_BLOCK, gdb.SYMBOL_MODULE_DOMAIN, and
2607 gdb.SYMBOL_COMMON_BLOCK_DOMAIN were added to reflect changes to
2610 ** gdb.SYMBOL_VARIABLES_DOMAIN, gdb.SYMBOL_FUNCTIONS_DOMAIN, and
2611 gdb.SYMBOL_TYPES_DOMAIN are now deprecated. These were never
2612 correct and did not work properly.
2614 ** The gdb.Value type has a new constructor, which is used to construct a
2615 gdb.Value from a Python buffer object and a gdb.Type.
2621 Enable or disable the undefined behavior sanitizer. This is
2622 disabled by default, but passing --enable-ubsan=yes or
2623 --enable-ubsan=auto to configure will enable it. Enabling this can
2624 cause a performance penalty. The undefined behavior sanitizer was
2625 first introduced in GCC 4.9.
2627 *** Changes in GDB 8.2
2629 * The 'set disassembler-options' command now supports specifying options
2630 for the MIPS target.
2632 * The 'symbol-file' command now accepts an '-o' option to add a relative
2633 offset to all sections.
2635 * Similarly, the 'add-symbol-file' command also accepts an '-o' option to add
2636 a relative offset to all sections, but it allows to override the load
2637 address of individual sections using '-s'.
2639 * The 'add-symbol-file' command no longer requires the second argument
2640 (address of the text section).
2642 * The endianness used with the 'set endian auto' mode in the absence of
2643 an executable selected for debugging is now the last endianness chosen
2644 either by one of the 'set endian big' and 'set endian little' commands
2645 or by inferring from the last executable used, rather than the startup
2648 * The pager now allows a "c" response, meaning to disable the pager
2649 for the rest of the current command.
2651 * The commands 'info variables/functions/types' now show the source line
2652 numbers of symbol definitions when available.
2654 * 'info proc' now works on running processes on FreeBSD systems and core
2655 files created on FreeBSD systems.
2657 * C expressions can now use _Alignof, and C++ expressions can now use
2660 * Support for SVE on AArch64 Linux. Note that GDB does not detect changes to
2661 the vector length while the process is running.
2667 Control display of debugging info regarding the FreeBSD native target.
2669 set|show varsize-limit
2670 This new setting allows the user to control the maximum size of Ada
2671 objects being printed when those objects have a variable type,
2672 instead of that maximum size being hardcoded to 65536 bytes.
2674 set|show record btrace cpu
2675 Controls the processor to be used for enabling errata workarounds for
2676 branch trace decode.
2678 maint check libthread-db
2679 Run integrity checks on the current inferior's thread debugging
2682 maint set check-libthread-db (on|off)
2683 maint show check-libthread-db
2684 Control whether to run integrity checks on inferior specific thread
2685 debugging libraries as they are loaded. The default is not to
2686 perform such checks.
2690 ** Type alignment is now exposed via the "align" attribute of a gdb.Type.
2692 ** The commands attached to a breakpoint can be set by assigning to
2693 the breakpoint's "commands" field.
2695 ** gdb.execute can now execute multi-line gdb commands.
2697 ** The new functions gdb.convenience_variable and
2698 gdb.set_convenience_variable can be used to get and set the value
2699 of convenience variables.
2701 ** A gdb.Parameter will no longer print the "set" help text on an
2702 ordinary "set"; instead by default a "set" will be silent unless
2703 the get_set_string method returns a non-empty string.
2707 RiscV ELF riscv*-*-elf
2709 * Removed targets and native configurations
2711 m88k running OpenBSD m88*-*-openbsd*
2712 SH-5/SH64 ELF sh64-*-elf*, SH-5/SH64 support in sh*
2713 SH-5/SH64 running GNU/Linux SH-5/SH64 support in sh*-*-linux*
2714 SH-5/SH64 running OpenBSD SH-5/SH64 support in sh*-*-openbsd*
2716 * Aarch64/Linux hardware watchpoints improvements
2718 Hardware watchpoints on unaligned addresses are now properly
2719 supported when running Linux kernel 4.10 or higher: read and access
2720 watchpoints are no longer spuriously missed, and all watchpoints
2721 lengths between 1 and 8 bytes are supported. On older kernels,
2722 watchpoints set on unaligned addresses are no longer missed, with
2723 the tradeoff that there is a possibility of false hits being
2728 --enable-codesign=CERT
2729 This can be used to invoke "codesign -s CERT" after building gdb.
2730 This option is useful on macOS, where code signing is required for
2731 gdb to work properly.
2733 --disable-gdbcli has been removed
2734 This is now silently accepted, but does nothing.
2736 *** Changes in GDB 8.1
2738 * GDB now supports dynamically creating arbitrary register groups specified
2739 in XML target descriptions. This allows for finer grain grouping of
2740 registers on systems with a large amount of registers.
2742 * The 'ptype' command now accepts a '/o' flag, which prints the
2743 offsets and sizes of fields in a struct, like the pahole(1) tool.
2745 * New "--readnever" command line option instructs GDB to not read each
2746 symbol file's symbolic debug information. This makes startup faster
2747 but at the expense of not being able to perform symbolic debugging.
2748 This option is intended for use cases where symbolic debugging will
2749 not be used, e.g., when you only need to dump the debuggee's core.
2751 * GDB now uses the GNU MPFR library, if available, to emulate target
2752 floating-point arithmetic during expression evaluation when the target
2753 uses different floating-point formats than the host. At least version
2754 3.1 of GNU MPFR is required.
2756 * GDB now supports access to the guarded-storage-control registers and the
2757 software-based guarded-storage broadcast control registers on IBM z14.
2759 * On Unix systems, GDB now supports transmitting environment variables
2760 that are to be set or unset to GDBserver. These variables will
2761 affect the environment to be passed to the remote inferior.
2763 To inform GDB of environment variables that are to be transmitted to
2764 GDBserver, use the "set environment" command. Only user set
2765 environment variables are sent to GDBserver.
2767 To inform GDB of environment variables that are to be unset before
2768 the remote inferior is started by the GDBserver, use the "unset
2769 environment" command.
2771 * Completion improvements
2773 ** GDB can now complete function parameters in linespecs and
2774 explicit locations without quoting. When setting breakpoints,
2775 quoting around functions names to help with TAB-completion is
2776 generally no longer necessary. For example, this now completes
2779 (gdb) b function(in[TAB]
2780 (gdb) b function(int)
2782 Related, GDB is no longer confused with completing functions in
2783 C++ anonymous namespaces:
2786 (gdb) b (anonymous namespace)::[TAB][TAB]
2787 (anonymous namespace)::a_function()
2788 (anonymous namespace)::b_function()
2790 ** GDB now has much improved linespec and explicit locations TAB
2791 completion support, that better understands what you're
2792 completing and offers better suggestions. For example, GDB no
2793 longer offers data symbols as possible completions when you're
2794 setting a breakpoint.
2796 ** GDB now TAB-completes label symbol names.
2798 ** The "complete" command now mimics TAB completion accurately.
2800 * New command line options (gcore)
2803 Dump all memory mappings.
2805 * Breakpoints on C++ functions are now set on all scopes by default
2807 By default, breakpoints on functions/methods are now interpreted as
2808 specifying all functions with the given name ignoring missing
2809 leading scopes (namespaces and classes).
2811 For example, assuming a C++ program with symbols named:
2816 both commands "break func()" and "break B::func()" set a breakpoint
2819 You can use the new flag "-qualified" to override this. This makes
2820 GDB interpret the specified function name as a complete
2821 fully-qualified name instead. For example, using the same C++
2822 program, the "break -q B::func" command sets a breakpoint on
2823 "B::func", only. A parameter has been added to the Python
2824 gdb.Breakpoint constructor to achieve the same result when creating
2825 a breakpoint from Python.
2827 * Breakpoints on functions marked with C++ ABI tags
2829 GDB can now set breakpoints on functions marked with C++ ABI tags
2830 (e.g., [abi:cxx11]). See here for a description of ABI tags:
2831 https://developers.redhat.com/blog/2015/02/05/gcc5-and-the-c11-abi/
2833 Functions with a C++11 abi tag are demangled/displayed like this:
2835 function[abi:cxx11](int)
2838 You can now set a breakpoint on such functions simply as if they had
2841 (gdb) b function(int)
2843 Or if you need to disambiguate between tags, like:
2845 (gdb) b function[abi:other_tag](int)
2847 Tab completion was adjusted accordingly as well.
2851 ** New events gdb.new_inferior, gdb.inferior_deleted, and
2852 gdb.new_thread are emitted. See the manual for further
2853 description of these.
2855 ** A new function, "gdb.rbreak" has been added to the Python API.
2856 This function allows the setting of a large number of breakpoints
2857 via a regex pattern in Python. See the manual for further details.
2859 ** Python breakpoints can now accept explicit locations. See the
2860 manual for a further description of this feature.
2863 * New features in the GDB remote stub, GDBserver
2865 ** GDBserver is now able to start inferior processes with a
2866 specified initial working directory.
2868 The user can set the desired working directory to be used from
2869 GDB using the new "set cwd" command.
2871 ** New "--selftest" command line option runs some GDBserver self
2872 tests. These self tests are disabled in releases.
2874 ** On Unix systems, GDBserver now does globbing expansion and variable
2875 substitution in inferior command line arguments.
2877 This is done by starting inferiors using a shell, like GDB does.
2878 See "set startup-with-shell" in the user manual for how to disable
2879 this from GDB when using "target extended-remote". When using
2880 "target remote", you can disable the startup with shell by using the
2881 new "--no-startup-with-shell" GDBserver command line option.
2883 ** On Unix systems, GDBserver now supports receiving environment
2884 variables that are to be set or unset from GDB. These variables
2885 will affect the environment to be passed to the inferior.
2887 * When catching an Ada exception raised with a message, GDB now prints
2888 the message in the catchpoint hit notification. In GDB/MI mode, that
2889 information is provided as an extra field named "exception-message"
2890 in the *stopped notification.
2892 * Trait objects can now be inspected When debugging Rust code. This
2893 requires compiler support which will appear in Rust 1.24.
2895 * New remote packets
2897 QEnvironmentHexEncoded
2898 Inform GDBserver of an environment variable that is to be passed to
2899 the inferior when starting it.
2902 Inform GDBserver of an environment variable that is to be unset
2903 before starting the remote inferior.
2906 Inform GDBserver that the environment should be reset (i.e.,
2907 user-set environment variables should be unset).
2910 Indicates whether the inferior must be started with a shell or not.
2913 Tell GDBserver that the inferior to be started should use a specific
2916 * The "maintenance print c-tdesc" command now takes an optional
2917 argument which is the file name of XML target description.
2919 * The "maintenance selftest" command now takes an optional argument to
2920 filter the tests to be run.
2922 * The "enable", and "disable" commands now accept a range of
2923 breakpoint locations, e.g. "enable 1.3-5".
2928 Set and show the current working directory for the inferior.
2930 set|show compile-gcc
2931 Set and show compilation command used for compiling and injecting code
2932 with the 'compile' commands.
2934 set debug separate-debug-file
2935 show debug separate-debug-file
2936 Control the display of debug output about separate debug file search.
2938 set dump-excluded-mappings
2939 show dump-excluded-mappings
2940 Control whether mappings marked with the VM_DONTDUMP flag should be
2941 dumped when generating a core file.
2943 maint info selftests
2944 List the registered selftests.
2947 Start the debugged program stopping at the first instruction.
2950 Control display of debugging messages related to OpenRISC targets.
2952 set|show print type nested-type-limit
2953 Set and show the limit of nesting level for nested types that the
2954 type printer will show.
2956 * TUI Single-Key mode now supports two new shortcut keys: `i' for stepi and
2959 * Safer/improved support for debugging with no debug info
2961 GDB no longer assumes functions with no debug information return
2964 This means that GDB now refuses to call such functions unless you
2965 tell it the function's type, by either casting the call to the
2966 declared return type, or by casting the function to a function
2967 pointer of the right type, and calling that:
2969 (gdb) p getenv ("PATH")
2970 'getenv' has unknown return type; cast the call to its declared return type
2971 (gdb) p (char *) getenv ("PATH")
2972 $1 = 0x7fffffffe "/usr/local/bin:/"...
2973 (gdb) p ((char * (*) (const char *)) getenv) ("PATH")
2974 $2 = 0x7fffffffe "/usr/local/bin:/"...
2976 Similarly, GDB no longer assumes that global variables with no debug
2977 info have type 'int', and refuses to print the variable's value
2978 unless you tell it the variable's type:
2981 'var' has unknown type; cast it to its declared type
2985 * New native configurations
2987 FreeBSD/aarch64 aarch64*-*-freebsd*
2988 FreeBSD/arm arm*-*-freebsd*
2992 FreeBSD/aarch64 aarch64*-*-freebsd*
2993 FreeBSD/arm arm*-*-freebsd*
2994 OpenRISC ELF or1k*-*-elf
2996 * Removed targets and native configurations
2998 Solaris 2.0-9 i?86-*-solaris2.[0-9], sparc*-*-solaris2.[0-9]
3000 *** Changes in GDB 8.0
3002 * GDB now supports access to the PKU register on GNU/Linux. The register is
3003 added by the Memory Protection Keys for Userspace feature which will be
3004 available in future Intel CPUs.
3006 * GDB now supports C++11 rvalue references.
3010 ** New functions to start, stop and access a running btrace recording.
3011 ** Rvalue references are now supported in gdb.Type.
3013 * GDB now supports recording and replaying rdrand and rdseed Intel 64
3016 * Building GDB and GDBserver now requires a C++11 compiler.
3018 For example, GCC 4.8 or later.
3020 It is no longer possible to build GDB or GDBserver with a C
3021 compiler. The --disable-build-with-cxx configure option has been
3024 * Building GDB and GDBserver now requires GNU make >= 3.81.
3026 It is no longer supported to build GDB or GDBserver with another
3027 implementation of the make program or an earlier version of GNU make.
3029 * Native debugging on MS-Windows supports command-line redirection
3031 Command-line arguments used for starting programs on MS-Windows can
3032 now include redirection symbols supported by native Windows shells,
3033 such as '<', '>', '>>', '2>&1', etc. This affects GDB commands such
3034 as "run", "start", and "set args", as well as the corresponding MI
3037 * Support for thread names on MS-Windows.
3039 GDB now catches and handles the special exception that programs
3040 running on MS-Windows use to assign names to threads in the
3043 * Support for Java programs compiled with gcj has been removed.
3045 * User commands now accept an unlimited number of arguments.
3046 Previously, only up to 10 was accepted.
3048 * The "eval" command now expands user-defined command arguments.
3050 This makes it easier to process a variable number of arguments:
3055 eval "print $arg%d", $i
3060 * Target descriptions can now describe registers for sparc32 and sparc64.
3062 * GDB now supports DWARF version 5 (debug information format).
3063 Its .debug_names index is not yet supported.
3065 * New native configurations
3067 FreeBSD/mips mips*-*-freebsd
3071 Synopsys ARC arc*-*-elf32
3072 FreeBSD/mips mips*-*-freebsd
3074 * Removed targets and native configurations
3076 Alpha running FreeBSD alpha*-*-freebsd*
3077 Alpha running GNU/kFreeBSD alpha*-*-kfreebsd*-gnu
3082 Erases all the flash memory regions reported by the target.
3084 maint print arc arc-instruction address
3085 Print internal disassembler information about instruction at a given address.
3089 set disassembler-options
3090 show disassembler-options
3091 Controls the passing of target specific information to the disassembler.
3092 If it is necessary to specify more than one disassembler option then
3093 multiple options can be placed together into a comma separated list.
3094 The default value is the empty string. Currently, the only supported
3095 targets are ARM, PowerPC and S/390.
3100 Erases all the flash memory regions reported by the target. This is
3101 equivalent to the CLI command flash-erase.
3103 -file-list-shared-libraries
3104 List the shared libraries in the program. This is
3105 equivalent to the CLI command "info shared".
3108 Catchpoints stopping the program when Ada exceptions are
3109 handled. This is equivalent to the CLI command "catch handlers".
3111 *** Changes in GDB 7.12
3113 * GDB and GDBserver now build with a C++ compiler by default.
3115 The --enable-build-with-cxx configure option is now enabled by
3116 default. One must now explicitly configure with
3117 --disable-build-with-cxx in order to build with a C compiler. This
3118 option will be removed in a future release.
3120 * GDBserver now supports recording btrace without maintaining an active
3123 * GDB now supports a negative repeat count in the 'x' command to examine
3124 memory backward from the given address. For example:
3127 #0 Func1 (n=42, p=0x40061c "hogehoge") at main.cpp:4
3128 #1 0x400580 in main (argc=1, argv=0x7fffffffe5c8) at main.cpp:8
3129 (gdb) x/-5i 0x0000000000400580
3130 0x40056a <main(int, char**)+8>: mov %edi,-0x4(%rbp)
3131 0x40056d <main(int, char**)+11>: mov %rsi,-0x10(%rbp)
3132 0x400571 <main(int, char**)+15>: mov $0x40061c,%esi
3133 0x400576 <main(int, char**)+20>: mov $0x2a,%edi
3134 0x40057b <main(int, char**)+25>:
3135 callq 0x400536 <Func1(int, char const*)>
3137 * Fortran: Support structures with fields of dynamic types and
3138 arrays of dynamic types.
3140 * The symbol dumping maintenance commands have new syntax.
3141 maint print symbols [-pc address] [--] [filename]
3142 maint print symbols [-objfile objfile] [-source source] [--] [filename]
3143 maint print psymbols [-objfile objfile] [-pc address] [--] [filename]
3144 maint print psymbols [-objfile objfile] [-source source] [--] [filename]
3145 maint print msymbols [-objfile objfile] [--] [filename]
3147 * GDB now supports multibit bitfields and enums in target register
3150 * New Python-based convenience function $_as_string(val), which returns
3151 the textual representation of a value. This function is especially
3152 useful to obtain the text label of an enum value.
3154 * Intel MPX bound violation handling.
3156 Segmentation faults caused by a Intel MPX boundary violation
3157 now display the kind of violation (upper or lower), the memory
3158 address accessed and the memory bounds, along with the usual
3159 signal received and code location.
3163 Program received signal SIGSEGV, Segmentation fault
3164 Upper bound violation while accessing address 0x7fffffffc3b3
3165 Bounds: [lower = 0x7fffffffc390, upper = 0x7fffffffc3a3]
3166 0x0000000000400d7c in upper () at i386-mpx-sigsegv.c:68
3168 * Rust language support.
3169 GDB now supports debugging programs written in the Rust programming
3170 language. See https://www.rust-lang.org/ for more information about
3173 * Support for running interpreters on specified input/output devices
3175 GDB now supports a new mechanism that allows frontends to provide
3176 fully featured GDB console views, as a better alternative to
3177 building such views on top of the "-interpreter-exec console"
3178 command. See the new "new-ui" command below. With that command,
3179 frontends can now start GDB in the traditional command-line mode
3180 running in an embedded terminal emulator widget, and create a
3181 separate MI interpreter running on a specified i/o device. In this
3182 way, GDB handles line editing, history, tab completion, etc. in the
3183 console all by itself, and the GUI uses the separate MI interpreter
3184 for its own control and synchronization, invisible to the command
3187 * The "catch syscall" command catches groups of related syscalls.
3189 The "catch syscall" command now supports catching a group of related
3190 syscalls using the 'group:' or 'g:' prefix.
3195 skip -gfile file-glob-pattern
3196 skip -function function
3197 skip -rfunction regular-expression
3198 A generalized form of the skip command, with new support for
3199 glob-style file names and regular expressions for function names.
3200 Additionally, a file spec and a function spec may now be combined.
3202 maint info line-table REGEXP
3203 Display the contents of GDB's internal line table data structure.
3206 Run any GDB unit tests that were compiled in.
3209 Start a new user interface instance running INTERP as interpreter,
3210 using the TTY file for input/output.
3214 ** gdb.Breakpoint objects have a new attribute "pending", which
3215 indicates whether the breakpoint is pending.
3216 ** Three new breakpoint-related events have been added:
3217 gdb.breakpoint_created, gdb.breakpoint_modified, and
3218 gdb.breakpoint_deleted.
3220 signal-event EVENTID
3221 Signal ("set") the given MS-Windows event object. This is used in
3222 conjunction with the Windows JIT debugging (AeDebug) support, where
3223 the OS suspends a crashing process until a debugger can attach to
3224 it. Resuming the crashing process, in order to debug it, is done by
3225 signalling an event.
3227 * Support for tracepoints and fast tracepoints on s390-linux and s390x-linux
3228 was added in GDBserver, including JIT compiling fast tracepoint's
3229 conditional expression bytecode into native code.
3231 * Support for various remote target protocols and ROM monitors has
3234 target m32rsdi Remote M32R debugging over SDI
3235 target mips MIPS remote debugging protocol
3236 target pmon PMON ROM monitor
3237 target ddb NEC's DDB variant of PMON for Vr4300
3238 target rockhopper NEC RockHopper variant of PMON
3239 target lsi LSI variant of PMO
3241 * Support for tracepoints and fast tracepoints on powerpc-linux,
3242 powerpc64-linux, and powerpc64le-linux was added in GDBserver,
3243 including JIT compiling fast tracepoint's conditional expression
3244 bytecode into native code.
3246 * MI async record =record-started now includes the method and format used for
3247 recording. For example:
3249 =record-started,thread-group="i1",method="btrace",format="bts"
3251 * MI async record =thread-selected now includes the frame field. For example:
3253 =thread-selected,id="3",frame={level="0",addr="0x00000000004007c0"}
3257 Andes NDS32 nds32*-*-elf
3259 *** Changes in GDB 7.11
3261 * GDB now supports debugging kernel-based threads on FreeBSD.
3263 * Per-inferior thread numbers
3265 Thread numbers are now per inferior instead of global. If you're
3266 debugging multiple inferiors, GDB displays thread IDs using a
3267 qualified INF_NUM.THR_NUM form. For example:
3271 1.1 Thread 0x7ffff7fc2740 (LWP 8155) (running)
3272 1.2 Thread 0x7ffff7fc1700 (LWP 8168) (running)
3273 * 2.1 Thread 0x7ffff7fc2740 (LWP 8157) (running)
3274 2.2 Thread 0x7ffff7fc1700 (LWP 8190) (running)
3276 As consequence, thread numbers as visible in the $_thread
3277 convenience variable and in Python's InferiorThread.num attribute
3278 are no longer unique between inferiors.
3280 GDB now maintains a second thread ID per thread, referred to as the
3281 global thread ID, which is the new equivalent of thread numbers in
3282 previous releases. See also $_gthread below.
3284 For backwards compatibility, MI's thread IDs always refer to global
3287 * Commands that accept thread IDs now accept the qualified
3288 INF_NUM.THR_NUM form as well. For example:
3291 [Switching to thread 2.1 (Thread 0x7ffff7fc2740 (LWP 8157))] (running)
3294 * In commands that accept a list of thread IDs, you can now refer to
3295 all threads of an inferior using a star wildcard. GDB accepts
3296 "INF_NUM.*", to refer to all threads of inferior INF_NUM, and "*" to
3297 refer to all threads of the current inferior. For example, "info
3300 * You can use "info threads -gid" to display the global thread ID of
3303 * The new convenience variable $_gthread holds the global number of
3306 * The new convenience variable $_inferior holds the number of the
3309 * GDB now displays the ID and name of the thread that hit a breakpoint
3310 or received a signal, if your program is multi-threaded. For
3313 Thread 3 "bar" hit Breakpoint 1 at 0x40087a: file program.c, line 20.
3314 Thread 1 "main" received signal SIGINT, Interrupt.
3316 * Record btrace now supports non-stop mode.
3318 * Support for tracepoints on aarch64-linux was added in GDBserver.
3320 * The 'record instruction-history' command now indicates speculative execution
3321 when using the Intel Processor Trace recording format.
3323 * GDB now allows users to specify explicit locations, bypassing
3324 the linespec parser. This feature is also available to GDB/MI
3327 * Multi-architecture debugging is supported on AArch64 GNU/Linux.
3328 GDB now is able to debug both AArch64 applications and ARM applications
3331 * Support for fast tracepoints on aarch64-linux was added in GDBserver,
3332 including JIT compiling fast tracepoint's conditional expression bytecode
3335 * GDB now supports displaced stepping on AArch64 GNU/Linux.
3337 * "info threads", "info inferiors", "info display", "info checkpoints"
3338 and "maint info program-spaces" now list the corresponding items in
3339 ascending ID order, for consistency with all other "info" commands.
3341 * In Ada, the overloads selection menu has been enhanced to display the
3342 parameter types and the return types for the matching overloaded subprograms.
3346 maint set target-non-stop (on|off|auto)
3347 maint show target-non-stop
3348 Control whether GDB targets always operate in non-stop mode even if
3349 "set non-stop" is "off". The default is "auto", meaning non-stop
3350 mode is enabled if supported by the target.
3352 maint set bfd-sharing
3353 maint show bfd-sharing
3354 Control the reuse of bfd objects.
3357 show debug bfd-cache
3358 Control display of debugging info regarding bfd caching.
3362 Control display of debugging info regarding FreeBSD threads.
3364 set remote multiprocess-extensions-packet
3365 show remote multiprocess-extensions-packet
3366 Set/show the use of the remote protocol multiprocess extensions.
3368 set remote thread-events
3369 show remote thread-events
3370 Set/show the use of thread create/exit events.
3372 set ada print-signatures on|off
3373 show ada print-signatures"
3374 Control whether parameter types and return types are displayed in overloads
3375 selection menus. It is activated (@code{on}) by default.
3379 Controls the maximum size of memory, in bytes, that GDB will
3380 allocate for value contents. Prevents incorrect programs from
3381 causing GDB to allocate overly large buffers. Default is 64k.
3383 * The "disassemble" command accepts a new modifier: /s.
3384 It prints mixed source+disassembly like /m with two differences:
3385 - disassembled instructions are now printed in program order, and
3386 - and source for all relevant files is now printed.
3387 The "/m" option is now considered deprecated: its "source-centric"
3388 output hasn't proved useful in practice.
3390 * The "record instruction-history" command accepts a new modifier: /s.
3391 It behaves exactly like /m and prints mixed source+disassembly.
3393 * The "set scheduler-locking" command supports a new mode "replay".
3394 It behaves like "off" in record mode and like "on" in replay mode.
3396 * Support for various ROM monitors has been removed:
3398 target dbug dBUG ROM monitor for Motorola ColdFire
3399 target picobug Motorola picobug monitor
3400 target dink32 DINK32 ROM monitor for PowerPC
3401 target m32r Renesas M32R/D ROM monitor
3402 target mon2000 mon2000 ROM monitor
3403 target ppcbug PPCBUG ROM monitor for PowerPC
3405 * Support for reading/writing memory and extracting values on architectures
3406 whose memory is addressable in units of any integral multiple of 8 bits.
3409 Allows to break when an Ada exception is handled.
3411 * New remote packets
3414 Indicates that an exec system call was executed.
3416 exec-events feature in qSupported
3417 The qSupported packet allows GDB to request support for exec
3418 events using the new 'gdbfeature' exec-event, and the qSupported
3419 response can contain the corresponding 'stubfeature'. Set and
3420 show commands can be used to display whether these features are enabled.
3423 Equivalent to interrupting with the ^C character, but works in
3426 thread created stop reason (T05 create:...)
3427 Indicates that the thread was just created and is stopped at entry.
3429 thread exit stop reply (w exitcode;tid)
3430 Indicates that the thread has terminated.
3433 Enables/disables thread create and exit event reporting. For
3434 example, this is used in non-stop mode when GDB stops a set of
3435 threads and synchronously waits for the their corresponding stop
3436 replies. Without exit events, if one of the threads exits, GDB
3437 would hang forever not knowing that it should no longer expect a
3438 stop for that same thread.
3441 Indicates that there are no resumed threads left in the target (all
3442 threads are stopped). The remote stub reports support for this stop
3443 reply to GDB's qSupported query.
3446 Enables/disables catching syscalls from the inferior process.
3447 The remote stub reports support for this packet to GDB's qSupported query.
3449 syscall_entry stop reason
3450 Indicates that a syscall was just called.
3452 syscall_return stop reason
3453 Indicates that a syscall just returned.
3455 * Extended-remote exec events
3457 ** GDB now has support for exec events on extended-remote Linux targets.
3458 For such targets with Linux kernels 2.5.46 and later, this enables
3459 follow-exec-mode and exec catchpoints.
3461 set remote exec-event-feature-packet
3462 show remote exec-event-feature-packet
3463 Set/show the use of the remote exec event feature.
3465 * Thread names in remote protocol
3467 The reply to qXfer:threads:read may now include a name attribute for each
3470 * Target remote mode fork and exec events
3472 ** GDB now has support for fork and exec events on target remote mode
3473 Linux targets. For such targets with Linux kernels 2.5.46 and later,
3474 this enables follow-fork-mode, detach-on-fork, follow-exec-mode, and
3475 fork and exec catchpoints.
3477 * Remote syscall events
3479 ** GDB now has support for catch syscall on remote Linux targets,
3480 currently enabled on x86/x86_64 architectures.
3482 set remote catch-syscall-packet
3483 show remote catch-syscall-packet
3484 Set/show the use of the remote catch syscall feature.
3488 ** The -var-set-format command now accepts the zero-hexadecimal
3489 format. It outputs data in hexadecimal format with zero-padding on the
3494 ** gdb.InferiorThread objects have a new attribute "global_num",
3495 which refers to the thread's global thread ID. The existing
3496 "num" attribute now refers to the thread's per-inferior number.
3497 See "Per-inferior thread numbers" above.
3498 ** gdb.InferiorThread objects have a new attribute "inferior", which
3499 is the Inferior object the thread belongs to.
3501 *** Changes in GDB 7.10
3503 * Support for process record-replay and reverse debugging on aarch64*-linux*
3504 targets has been added. GDB now supports recording of A64 instruction set
3505 including advance SIMD instructions.
3507 * Support for Sun's version of the "stabs" debug file format has been removed.
3509 * GDB now honors the content of the file /proc/PID/coredump_filter
3510 (PID is the process ID) on GNU/Linux systems. This file can be used
3511 to specify the types of memory mappings that will be included in a
3512 corefile. For more information, please refer to the manual page of
3513 "core(5)". GDB also has a new command: "set use-coredump-filter
3514 on|off". It allows to set whether GDB will read the content of the
3515 /proc/PID/coredump_filter file when generating a corefile.
3517 * The "info os" command on GNU/Linux can now display information on
3519 "info os cpus" Listing of all cpus/cores on the system
3521 * GDB has two new commands: "set serial parity odd|even|none" and
3522 "show serial parity". These allows to set or show parity for the
3525 * The "info source" command now displays the producer string if it was
3526 present in the debug info. This typically includes the compiler version
3527 and may include things like its command line arguments.
3529 * The "info dll", an alias of the "info sharedlibrary" command,
3530 is now available on all platforms.
3532 * Directory names supplied to the "set sysroot" commands may be
3533 prefixed with "target:" to tell GDB to access shared libraries from
3534 the target system, be it local or remote. This replaces the prefix
3535 "remote:". The default sysroot has been changed from "" to
3536 "target:". "remote:" is automatically converted to "target:" for
3537 backward compatibility.
3539 * The system root specified by "set sysroot" will be prepended to the
3540 filename of the main executable (if reported to GDB as absolute by
3541 the operating system) when starting processes remotely, and when
3542 attaching to already-running local or remote processes.
3544 * GDB now supports automatic location and retrieval of executable
3545 files from remote targets. Remote debugging can now be initiated
3546 using only a "target remote" or "target extended-remote" command
3547 (no "set sysroot" or "file" commands are required). See "New remote
3550 * The "dump" command now supports verilog hex format.
3552 * GDB now supports the vector ABI on S/390 GNU/Linux targets.
3554 * On GNU/Linux, GDB and gdbserver are now able to access executable
3555 and shared library files without a "set sysroot" command when
3556 attaching to processes running in different mount namespaces from
3557 the debugger. This makes it possible to attach to processes in
3558 containers as simply as "gdb -p PID" or "gdbserver --attach PID".
3559 See "New remote packets" below.
3561 * The "tui reg" command now provides completion for all of the
3562 available register groups, including target specific groups.
3564 * The HISTSIZE environment variable is no longer read when determining
3565 the size of GDB's command history. GDB now instead reads the dedicated
3566 GDBHISTSIZE environment variable. Setting GDBHISTSIZE to "-1" or to "" now
3567 disables truncation of command history. Non-numeric values of GDBHISTSIZE
3572 ** Memory ports can now be unbuffered.
3576 ** gdb.Objfile objects have a new attribute "username",
3577 which is the name of the objfile as specified by the user,
3578 without, for example, resolving symlinks.
3579 ** You can now write frame unwinders in Python.
3580 ** gdb.Type objects have a new method "optimized_out",
3581 returning optimized out gdb.Value instance of this type.
3582 ** gdb.Value objects have new methods "reference_value" and
3583 "const_value" which return a reference to the value and a
3584 "const" version of the value respectively.
3588 maint print symbol-cache
3589 Print the contents of the symbol cache.
3591 maint print symbol-cache-statistics
3592 Print statistics of symbol cache usage.
3594 maint flush-symbol-cache
3595 Flush the contents of the symbol cache.
3599 Start branch trace recording using Branch Trace Store (BTS) format.
3602 Evaluate expression by using the compiler and print result.
3606 Explicit commands for enabling and disabling tui mode.
3609 set mpx bound on i386 and amd64
3610 Support for bound table investigation on Intel MPX enabled applications.
3614 Start branch trace recording using Intel Processor Trace format.
3617 Print information about branch tracing internals.
3619 maint btrace packet-history
3620 Print the raw branch tracing data.
3622 maint btrace clear-packet-history
3623 Discard the stored raw branch tracing data.
3626 Discard all branch tracing data. It will be fetched and processed
3627 anew by the next "record" command.
3632 Renamed from "set debug dwarf2-die".
3633 show debug dwarf-die
3634 Renamed from "show debug dwarf2-die".
3636 set debug dwarf-read
3637 Renamed from "set debug dwarf2-read".
3638 show debug dwarf-read
3639 Renamed from "show debug dwarf2-read".
3641 maint set dwarf always-disassemble
3642 Renamed from "maint set dwarf2 always-disassemble".
3643 maint show dwarf always-disassemble
3644 Renamed from "maint show dwarf2 always-disassemble".
3646 maint set dwarf max-cache-age
3647 Renamed from "maint set dwarf2 max-cache-age".
3648 maint show dwarf max-cache-age
3649 Renamed from "maint show dwarf2 max-cache-age".
3651 set debug dwarf-line
3652 show debug dwarf-line
3653 Control display of debugging info regarding DWARF line processing.
3656 show max-completions
3657 Set the maximum number of candidates to be considered during
3658 completion. The default value is 200. This limit allows GDB
3659 to avoid generating large completion lists, the computation of
3660 which can cause the debugger to become temporarily unresponsive.
3662 set history remove-duplicates
3663 show history remove-duplicates
3664 Control the removal of duplicate history entries.
3666 maint set symbol-cache-size
3667 maint show symbol-cache-size
3668 Control the size of the symbol cache.
3670 set|show record btrace bts buffer-size
3671 Set and show the size of the ring buffer used for branch tracing in
3673 The obtained size may differ from the requested size. Use "info
3674 record" to see the obtained buffer size.
3676 set debug linux-namespaces
3677 show debug linux-namespaces
3678 Control display of debugging info regarding Linux namespaces.
3680 set|show record btrace pt buffer-size
3681 Set and show the size of the ring buffer used for branch tracing in
3682 Intel Processor Trace format.
3683 The obtained size may differ from the requested size. Use "info
3684 record" to see the obtained buffer size.
3686 maint set|show btrace pt skip-pad
3687 Set and show whether PAD packets are skipped when computing the
3690 * The command 'thread apply all' can now support new option '-ascending'
3691 to call its specified command for all threads in ascending order.
3693 * Python/Guile scripting
3695 ** GDB now supports auto-loading of Python/Guile scripts contained in the
3696 special section named `.debug_gdb_scripts'.
3698 * New remote packets
3700 qXfer:btrace-conf:read
3701 Return the branch trace configuration for the current thread.
3703 Qbtrace-conf:bts:size
3704 Set the requested ring buffer size for branch tracing in BTS format.
3707 Enable Intel Processor Trace-based branch tracing for the current
3708 process. The remote stub reports support for this packet to GDB's
3711 Qbtrace-conf:pt:size
3712 Set the requested ring buffer size for branch tracing in Intel Processor
3716 Indicates a memory breakpoint instruction was executed, irrespective
3717 of whether it was GDB that planted the breakpoint or the breakpoint
3718 is hardcoded in the program. This is required for correct non-stop
3722 Indicates the target stopped for a hardware breakpoint. This is
3723 required for correct non-stop mode operation.
3726 Return information about files on the remote system.
3728 qXfer:exec-file:read
3729 Return the full absolute name of the file that was executed to
3730 create a process running on the remote system.
3733 Select the filesystem on which vFile: operations with filename
3734 arguments will operate. This is required for GDB to be able to
3735 access files on remote targets where the remote stub does not
3736 share a common filesystem with the inferior(s).
3739 Indicates that a fork system call was executed.
3742 Indicates that a vfork system call was executed.
3744 vforkdone stop reason
3745 Indicates that a vfork child of the specified process has executed
3746 an exec or exit, allowing the vfork parent to resume execution.
3748 fork-events and vfork-events features in qSupported
3749 The qSupported packet allows GDB to request support for fork and
3750 vfork events using new 'gdbfeatures' fork-events and vfork-events,
3751 and the qSupported response can contain the corresponding
3752 'stubfeatures'. Set and show commands can be used to display
3753 whether these features are enabled.
3755 * Extended-remote fork events
3757 ** GDB now has support for fork events on extended-remote Linux
3758 targets. For targets with Linux kernels 2.5.60 and later, this
3759 enables follow-fork-mode and detach-on-fork for both fork and
3760 vfork, as well as fork and vfork catchpoints.
3762 * The info record command now shows the recording format and the
3763 branch tracing configuration for the current thread when using
3764 the btrace record target.
3765 For the BTS format, it shows the ring buffer size.
3767 * GDB now has support for DTrace USDT (Userland Static Defined
3768 Tracing) probes. The supported targets are x86_64-*-linux-gnu.
3770 * GDB now supports access to vector registers on S/390 GNU/Linux
3773 * Removed command line options
3775 -xdb HP-UX XDB compatibility mode.
3777 * Removed targets and native configurations
3779 HP/PA running HP-UX hppa*-*-hpux*
3780 Itanium running HP-UX ia64-*-hpux*
3782 * New configure options
3785 This configure option allows the user to build GDB with support for
3786 Intel Processor Trace (default: auto). This requires libipt.
3788 --with-libipt-prefix=PATH
3789 Specify the path to the version of libipt that GDB should use.
3790 $PATH/include should contain the intel-pt.h header and
3791 $PATH/lib should contain the libipt.so library.
3793 *** Changes in GDB 7.9.1
3797 ** Xmethods can now specify a result type.
3799 *** Changes in GDB 7.9
3801 * GDB now supports hardware watchpoints on x86 GNU Hurd.
3805 ** You can now access frame registers from Python scripts.
3806 ** New attribute 'producer' for gdb.Symtab objects.
3807 ** gdb.Objfile objects have a new attribute "progspace",
3808 which is the gdb.Progspace object of the containing program space.
3809 ** gdb.Objfile objects have a new attribute "owner".
3810 ** gdb.Objfile objects have a new attribute "build_id",
3811 which is the build ID generated when the file was built.
3812 ** gdb.Objfile objects have a new method "add_separate_debug_file".
3813 ** A new event "gdb.clear_objfiles" has been added, triggered when
3814 selecting a new file to debug.
3815 ** You can now add attributes to gdb.Objfile and gdb.Progspace objects.
3816 ** New function gdb.lookup_objfile.
3818 New events which are triggered when GDB modifies the state of the
3821 ** gdb.events.inferior_call_pre: Function call is about to be made.
3822 ** gdb.events.inferior_call_post: Function call has just been made.
3823 ** gdb.events.memory_changed: A memory location has been altered.
3824 ** gdb.events.register_changed: A register has been altered.
3826 * New Python-based convenience functions:
3828 ** $_caller_is(name [, number_of_frames])
3829 ** $_caller_matches(regexp [, number_of_frames])
3830 ** $_any_caller_is(name [, number_of_frames])
3831 ** $_any_caller_matches(regexp [, number_of_frames])
3833 * GDB now supports the compilation and injection of source code into
3834 the inferior. GDB will use GCC 5.0 or higher built with libcc1.so
3835 to compile the source code to object code, and if successful, inject
3836 and execute that code within the current context of the inferior.
3837 Currently the C language is supported. The commands used to
3838 interface with this new feature are:
3840 compile code [-raw|-r] [--] [source code]
3841 compile file [-raw|-r] filename
3845 demangle [-l language] [--] name
3846 Demangle "name" in the specified language, or the current language
3847 if elided. This command is renamed from the "maint demangle" command.
3848 The latter is kept as a no-op to avoid "maint demangle" being interpreted
3849 as "maint demangler-warning".
3851 queue-signal signal-name-or-number
3852 Queue a signal to be delivered to the thread when it is resumed.
3854 add-auto-load-scripts-directory directory
3855 Add entries to the list of directories from which to load auto-loaded
3858 maint print user-registers
3859 List all currently available "user" registers.
3861 compile code [-r|-raw] [--] [source code]
3862 Compile, inject, and execute in the inferior the executable object
3863 code produced by compiling the provided source code.
3865 compile file [-r|-raw] filename
3866 Compile and inject into the inferior the executable object code
3867 produced by compiling the source code stored in the filename
3870 * On resume, GDB now always passes the signal the program had stopped
3871 for to the thread the signal was sent to, even if the user changed
3872 threads before resuming. Previously GDB would often (but not
3873 always) deliver the signal to the thread that happens to be current
3876 * Conversely, the "signal" command now consistently delivers the
3877 requested signal to the current thread. GDB now asks for
3878 confirmation if the program had stopped for a signal and the user
3879 switched threads meanwhile.
3881 * "breakpoint always-inserted" modes "off" and "auto" merged.
3883 Now, when 'breakpoint always-inserted mode' is set to "off", GDB
3884 won't remove breakpoints from the target until all threads stop,
3885 even in non-stop mode. The "auto" mode has been removed, and "off"
3886 is now the default mode.
3890 set debug symbol-lookup
3891 show debug symbol-lookup
3892 Control display of debugging info regarding symbol lookup.
3896 ** The -list-thread-groups command outputs an exit-code field for
3897 inferiors that have exited.
3901 MIPS SDE mips*-sde*-elf*
3905 Support for these obsolete configurations has been removed.
3907 Alpha running OSF/1 (or Tru64) alpha*-*-osf*
3908 SGI Irix-5.x mips-*-irix5*
3909 SGI Irix-6.x mips-*-irix6*
3910 VAX running (4.2 - 4.3 Reno) BSD vax-*-bsd*
3911 VAX running Ultrix vax-*-ultrix*
3913 * The "dll-symbols" command, and its two aliases ("add-shared-symbol-files"
3914 and "assf"), have been removed. Use the "sharedlibrary" command, or
3915 its alias "share", instead.
3917 *** Changes in GDB 7.8
3919 * New command line options
3922 This is an alias for the --data-directory option.
3924 * GDB supports printing and modifying of variable length automatic arrays
3925 as specified in ISO C99.
3927 * The ARM simulator now supports instruction level tracing
3928 with or without disassembly.
3932 GDB now has support for scripting using Guile. Whether this is
3933 available is determined at configure time.
3934 Guile version 2.0 or greater is required.
3935 Guile version 2.0.9 is well tested, earlier 2.0 versions are not.
3937 * New commands (for set/show, see "New options" below)
3941 Invoke CODE by passing it to the Guile interpreter.
3945 Start a Guile interactive prompt (or "repl" for "read-eval-print loop").
3947 info auto-load guile-scripts [regexp]
3948 Print the list of automatically loaded Guile scripts.
3950 * The source command is now capable of sourcing Guile scripts.
3951 This feature is dependent on the debugger being built with Guile support.
3955 set print symbol-loading (off|brief|full)
3956 show print symbol-loading
3957 Control whether to print informational messages when loading symbol
3958 information for a file. The default is "full", but when debugging
3959 programs with large numbers of shared libraries the amount of output
3960 becomes less useful.
3962 set guile print-stack (none|message|full)
3963 show guile print-stack
3964 Show a stack trace when an error is encountered in a Guile script.
3966 set auto-load guile-scripts (on|off)
3967 show auto-load guile-scripts
3968 Control auto-loading of Guile script files.
3970 maint ada set ignore-descriptive-types (on|off)
3971 maint ada show ignore-descriptive-types
3972 Control whether the debugger should ignore descriptive types in Ada
3973 programs. The default is not to ignore the descriptive types. See
3974 the user manual for more details on descriptive types and the intended
3975 usage of this option.
3977 set auto-connect-native-target
3979 Control whether GDB is allowed to automatically connect to the
3980 native target for the run, attach, etc. commands when not connected
3981 to any target yet. See also "target native" below.
3983 set record btrace replay-memory-access (read-only|read-write)
3984 show record btrace replay-memory-access
3985 Control what memory accesses are allowed during replay.
3987 maint set target-async (on|off)
3988 maint show target-async
3989 This controls whether GDB targets operate in synchronous or
3990 asynchronous mode. Normally the default is asynchronous, if it is
3991 available; but this can be changed to more easily debug problems
3992 occurring only in synchronous mode.
3994 set mi-async (on|off)
3996 Control whether MI asynchronous mode is preferred. This supersedes
3997 "set target-async" of previous GDB versions.
3999 * "set target-async" is deprecated as a CLI option and is now an alias
4000 for "set mi-async" (only puts MI into async mode).
4002 * Background execution commands (e.g., "c&", "s&", etc.) are now
4003 possible ``out of the box'' if the target supports them. Previously
4004 the user would need to explicitly enable the possibility with the
4005 "set target-async on" command.
4007 * New features in the GDB remote stub, GDBserver
4009 ** New option --debug-format=option1[,option2,...] allows one to add
4010 additional text to each output. At present only timestamps
4011 are supported: --debug-format=timestamps.
4012 Timestamps can also be turned on with the
4013 "monitor set debug-format timestamps" command from GDB.
4015 * The 'record instruction-history' command now starts counting instructions
4016 at one. This also affects the instruction ranges reported by the
4017 'record function-call-history' command when given the /i modifier.
4019 * The command 'record function-call-history' supports a new modifier '/c' to
4020 indent the function names based on their call stack depth.
4021 The fields for the '/i' and '/l' modifier have been reordered.
4022 The source line range is now prefixed with 'at'.
4023 The instruction range is now prefixed with 'inst'.
4024 Both ranges are now printed as '<from>, <to>' to allow copy&paste to the
4025 "record instruction-history" and "list" commands.
4027 * The ranges given as arguments to the 'record function-call-history' and
4028 'record instruction-history' commands are now inclusive.
4030 * The btrace record target now supports the 'record goto' command.
4031 For locations inside the execution trace, the back trace is computed
4032 based on the information stored in the execution trace.
4034 * The btrace record target supports limited reverse execution and replay.
4035 The target does not record data and therefore does not allow reading
4036 memory or registers.
4038 * The "catch syscall" command now works on s390*-linux* targets.
4040 * The "compare-sections" command is no longer specific to target
4041 remote. It now works with all targets.
4043 * All native targets are now consistently called "native".
4044 Consequently, the "target child", "target GNU", "target djgpp",
4045 "target procfs" (Solaris/Irix/OSF/AIX) and "target darwin-child"
4046 commands have been replaced with "target native". The QNX/NTO port
4047 leaves the "procfs" target in place and adds a "native" target for
4048 consistency with other ports. The impact on users should be minimal
4049 as these commands previously either throwed an error, or were
4050 no-ops. The target's name is visible in the output of the following
4051 commands: "help target", "info target", "info files", "maint print
4054 * The "target native" command now connects to the native target. This
4055 can be used to launch native programs even when "set
4056 auto-connect-native-target" is set to off.
4058 * GDB now supports access to Intel MPX registers on GNU/Linux.
4060 * Support for Intel AVX-512 registers on GNU/Linux.
4061 Support displaying and modifying Intel AVX-512 registers
4062 $zmm0 - $zmm31 and $k0 - $k7 on GNU/Linux.
4064 * New remote packets
4066 qXfer:btrace:read's annex
4067 The qXfer:btrace:read packet supports a new annex 'delta' to read
4068 branch trace incrementally.
4072 ** Valid Python operations on gdb.Value objects representing
4073 structs/classes invoke the corresponding overloaded operators if
4075 ** New `Xmethods' feature in the Python API. Xmethods are
4076 additional methods or replacements for existing methods of a C++
4077 class. This feature is useful for those cases where a method
4078 defined in C++ source code could be inlined or optimized out by
4079 the compiler, making it unavailable to GDB.
4082 PowerPC64 GNU/Linux little-endian powerpc64le-*-linux*
4084 * The "dll-symbols" command, and its two aliases ("add-shared-symbol-files"
4085 and "assf"), have been deprecated. Use the "sharedlibrary" command, or
4086 its alias "share", instead.
4088 * The commands "set remotebaud" and "show remotebaud" are no longer
4089 supported. Use "set serial baud" and "show serial baud" (respectively)
4094 ** A new option "-gdb-set mi-async" replaces "-gdb-set
4095 target-async". The latter is left as a deprecated alias of the
4096 former for backward compatibility. If the target supports it,
4097 CLI background execution commands are now always possible by
4098 default, independently of whether the frontend stated a
4099 preference for asynchronous execution with "-gdb-set mi-async".
4100 Previously "-gdb-set target-async off" affected both MI execution
4101 commands and CLI execution commands.
4103 *** Changes in GDB 7.7
4105 * Improved support for process record-replay and reverse debugging on
4106 arm*-linux* targets. Support for thumb32 and syscall instruction
4107 recording has been added.
4109 * GDB now supports SystemTap SDT probes on AArch64 GNU/Linux.
4111 * GDB now supports Fission DWP file format version 2.
4112 http://gcc.gnu.org/wiki/DebugFission
4114 * New convenience function "$_isvoid", to check whether an expression
4115 is void. A void expression is an expression where the type of the
4116 result is "void". For example, some convenience variables may be
4117 "void" when evaluated (e.g., "$_exitcode" before the execution of
4118 the program being debugged; or an undefined convenience variable).
4119 Another example, when calling a function whose return type is
4122 * The "maintenance print objfiles" command now takes an optional regexp.
4124 * The "catch syscall" command now works on arm*-linux* targets.
4126 * GDB now consistently shows "<not saved>" when printing values of
4127 registers the debug info indicates have not been saved in the frame
4128 and there's nowhere to retrieve them from
4129 (callee-saved/call-clobbered registers):
4134 (gdb) info registers rax
4137 Before, the former would print "<optimized out>", and the latter
4138 "*value not available*".
4140 * New script contrib/gdb-add-index.sh for adding .gdb_index sections
4145 ** Frame filters and frame decorators have been added.
4146 ** Temporary breakpoints are now supported.
4147 ** Line tables representation has been added.
4148 ** New attribute 'parent_type' for gdb.Field objects.
4149 ** gdb.Field objects can be used as subscripts on gdb.Value objects.
4150 ** New attribute 'name' for gdb.Type objects.
4154 Nios II ELF nios2*-*-elf
4155 Nios II GNU/Linux nios2*-*-linux
4156 Texas Instruments MSP430 msp430*-*-elf
4158 * Removed native configurations
4160 Support for these a.out NetBSD and OpenBSD obsolete configurations has
4161 been removed. ELF variants of these configurations are kept supported.
4163 arm*-*-netbsd* but arm*-*-netbsdelf* is kept supported.
4164 i[34567]86-*-netbsd* but i[34567]86-*-netbsdelf* is kept supported.
4165 i[34567]86-*-openbsd[0-2].* but i[34567]86-*-openbsd* is kept supported.
4166 i[34567]86-*-openbsd3.[0-3]
4167 m68*-*-netbsd* but m68*-*-netbsdelf* is kept supported.
4168 sparc-*-netbsd* but sparc-*-netbsdelf* is kept supported.
4169 vax-*-netbsd* but vax-*-netbsdelf* is kept supported.
4173 Like "catch throw", but catches a re-thrown exception.
4174 maint check-psymtabs
4175 Renamed from old "maint check-symtabs".
4177 Perform consistency checks on symtabs.
4178 maint expand-symtabs
4179 Expand symtabs matching an optional regexp.
4182 Display the details of GDB configure-time options.
4184 maint set|show per-command
4185 maint set|show per-command space
4186 maint set|show per-command time
4187 maint set|show per-command symtab
4188 Enable display of per-command gdb resource usage.
4190 remove-symbol-file FILENAME
4191 remove-symbol-file -a ADDRESS
4192 Remove a symbol file added via add-symbol-file. The file to remove
4193 can be identified by its filename or by an address that lies within
4194 the boundaries of this symbol file in memory.
4197 info exceptions REGEXP
4198 Display the list of Ada exceptions defined in the program being
4199 debugged. If provided, only the exceptions whose names match REGEXP
4204 set debug symfile off|on
4206 Control display of debugging info regarding reading symbol files and
4207 symbol tables within those files
4209 set print raw frame-arguments
4210 show print raw frame-arguments
4211 Set/show whether to print frame arguments in raw mode,
4212 disregarding any defined pretty-printers.
4214 set remote trace-status-packet
4215 show remote trace-status-packet
4216 Set/show the use of remote protocol qTStatus packet.
4220 Control display of debugging messages related to Nios II targets.
4224 Control whether target-assisted range stepping is enabled.
4226 set startup-with-shell
4227 show startup-with-shell
4228 Specifies whether Unix child processes are started via a shell or
4233 Use the target memory cache for accesses to the code segment. This
4234 improves performance of remote debugging (particularly disassembly).
4236 * You can now use a literal value 'unlimited' for options that
4237 interpret 0 or -1 as meaning "unlimited". E.g., "set
4238 trace-buffer-size unlimited" is now an alias for "set
4239 trace-buffer-size -1" and "set height unlimited" is now an alias for
4242 * The "set debug symtab-create" debugging option of GDB has been changed to
4243 accept a verbosity level. 0 means "off", 1 provides basic debugging
4244 output, and values of 2 or greater provides more verbose output.
4246 * New command-line options
4248 Display the details of GDB configure-time options.
4250 * The command 'tsave' can now support new option '-ctf' to save trace
4251 buffer in Common Trace Format.
4253 * Newly installed $prefix/bin/gcore acts as a shell interface for the
4256 * GDB now implements the C++ 'typeid' operator.
4258 * The new convenience variable $_exception holds the exception being
4259 thrown or caught at an exception-related catchpoint.
4261 * The exception-related catchpoints, like "catch throw", now accept a
4262 regular expression which can be used to filter exceptions by type.
4264 * The new convenience variable $_exitsignal is automatically set to
4265 the terminating signal number when the program being debugged dies
4266 due to an uncaught signal.
4270 ** All MI commands now accept an optional "--language" option.
4271 Support for this feature can be verified by using the "-list-features"
4272 command, which should contain "language-option".
4274 ** The new command -info-gdb-mi-command allows the user to determine
4275 whether a GDB/MI command is supported or not.
4277 ** The "^error" result record returned when trying to execute an undefined
4278 GDB/MI command now provides a variable named "code" whose content is the
4279 "undefined-command" error code. Support for this feature can be verified
4280 by using the "-list-features" command, which should contain
4281 "undefined-command-error-code".
4283 ** The -trace-save MI command can optionally save trace buffer in Common
4286 ** The new command -dprintf-insert sets a dynamic printf breakpoint.
4288 ** The command -data-list-register-values now accepts an optional
4289 "--skip-unavailable" option. When used, only the available registers
4292 ** The new command -trace-frame-collected dumps collected variables,
4293 computed expressions, tvars, memory and registers in a traceframe.
4295 ** The commands -stack-list-locals, -stack-list-arguments and
4296 -stack-list-variables now accept an option "--skip-unavailable".
4297 When used, only the available locals or arguments are displayed.
4299 ** The -exec-run command now accepts an optional "--start" option.
4300 When used, the command follows the same semantics as the "start"
4301 command, stopping the program's execution at the start of its
4302 main subprogram. Support for this feature can be verified using
4303 the "-list-features" command, which should contain
4304 "exec-run-start-option".
4306 ** The new commands -catch-assert and -catch-exceptions insert
4307 catchpoints stopping the program when Ada exceptions are raised.
4309 ** The new command -info-ada-exceptions provides the equivalent of
4310 the new "info exceptions" command.
4312 * New system-wide configuration scripts
4313 A GDB installation now provides scripts suitable for use as system-wide
4314 configuration scripts for the following systems:
4318 * GDB now supports target-assigned range stepping with remote targets.
4319 This improves the performance of stepping source lines by reducing
4320 the number of control packets from/to GDB. See "New remote packets"
4323 * GDB now understands the element 'tvar' in the XML traceframe info.
4324 It has the id of the collected trace state variables.
4326 * On S/390 targets that provide the transactional-execution feature,
4327 the program interruption transaction diagnostic block (TDB) is now
4328 represented as a number of additional "registers" in GDB.
4330 * New remote packets
4334 The vCont packet supports a new 'r' action, that tells the remote
4335 stub to step through an address range itself, without GDB
4336 involvemement at each single-step.
4338 qXfer:libraries-svr4:read's annex
4339 The previously unused annex of the qXfer:libraries-svr4:read packet
4340 is now used to support passing an argument list. The remote stub
4341 reports support for this argument list to GDB's qSupported query.
4342 The defined arguments are "start" and "prev", used to reduce work
4343 necessary for library list updating, resulting in significant
4346 * New features in the GDB remote stub, GDBserver
4348 ** GDBserver now supports target-assisted range stepping. Currently
4349 enabled on x86/x86_64 GNU/Linux targets.
4351 ** GDBserver now adds element 'tvar' in the XML in the reply to
4352 'qXfer:traceframe-info:read'. It has the id of the collected
4353 trace state variables.
4355 ** GDBserver now supports hardware watchpoints on the MIPS GNU/Linux
4358 * New 'z' formatter for printing and examining memory, this displays the
4359 value as hexadecimal zero padded on the left to the size of the type.
4361 * GDB can now use Windows x64 unwinding data.
4363 * The "set remotebaud" command has been replaced by "set serial baud".
4364 Similarly, "show remotebaud" has been replaced by "show serial baud".
4365 The "set remotebaud" and "show remotebaud" commands are still available
4366 to provide backward compatibility with older versions of GDB.
4368 *** Changes in GDB 7.6
4370 * Target record has been renamed to record-full.
4371 Record/replay is now enabled with the "record full" command.
4372 This also affects settings that are associated with full record/replay
4373 that have been moved from "set/show record" to "set/show record full":
4375 set|show record full insn-number-max
4376 set|show record full stop-at-limit
4377 set|show record full memory-query
4379 * A new record target "record-btrace" has been added. The new target
4380 uses hardware support to record the control-flow of a process. It
4381 does not support replaying the execution, but it implements the
4382 below new commands for investigating the recorded execution log.
4383 This new recording method can be enabled using:
4387 The "record-btrace" target is only available on Intel Atom processors
4388 and requires a Linux kernel 2.6.32 or later.
4390 * Two new commands have been added for record/replay to give information
4391 about the recorded execution without having to replay the execution.
4392 The commands are only supported by "record btrace".
4394 record instruction-history prints the execution history at
4395 instruction granularity
4397 record function-call-history prints the execution history at
4398 function granularity
4400 * New native configurations
4402 ARM AArch64 GNU/Linux aarch64*-*-linux-gnu
4403 FreeBSD/powerpc powerpc*-*-freebsd
4404 x86_64/Cygwin x86_64-*-cygwin*
4405 Tilera TILE-Gx GNU/Linux tilegx*-*-linux-gnu
4409 ARM AArch64 aarch64*-*-elf
4410 ARM AArch64 GNU/Linux aarch64*-*-linux
4411 Lynx 178 PowerPC powerpc-*-lynx*178
4412 x86_64/Cygwin x86_64-*-cygwin*
4413 Tilera TILE-Gx GNU/Linux tilegx*-*-linux
4415 * If the configured location of system.gdbinit file (as given by the
4416 --with-system-gdbinit option at configure time) is in the
4417 data-directory (as specified by --with-gdb-datadir at configure
4418 time) or in one of its subdirectories, then GDB will look for the
4419 system-wide init file in the directory specified by the
4420 --data-directory command-line option.
4422 * New command line options:
4424 -nh Disables auto-loading of ~/.gdbinit, but still executes all the
4425 other initialization files, unlike -nx which disables all of them.
4427 * Removed command line options
4429 -epoch This was used by the gdb mode in Epoch, an ancient fork of
4432 * The 'ptype' and 'whatis' commands now accept an argument to control
4435 * 'info proc' now works on some core files.
4439 ** Vectors can be created with gdb.Type.vector.
4441 ** Python's atexit.register now works in GDB.
4443 ** Types can be pretty-printed via a Python API.
4445 ** Python 3 is now supported (in addition to Python 2.4 or later)
4447 ** New class gdb.Architecture exposes GDB's internal representation
4448 of architecture in the Python API.
4450 ** New method Frame.architecture returns the gdb.Architecture object
4451 corresponding to the frame's architecture.
4453 * New Python-based convenience functions:
4455 ** $_memeq(buf1, buf2, length)
4456 ** $_streq(str1, str2)
4458 ** $_regex(str, regex)
4460 * The 'cd' command now defaults to using '~' (the home directory) if not
4463 * The C++ ABI now defaults to the GNU v3 ABI. This has been the
4464 default for GCC since November 2000.
4466 * The command 'forward-search' can now be abbreviated as 'fo'.
4468 * The command 'info tracepoints' can now display 'installed on target'
4469 or 'not installed on target' for each non-pending location of tracepoint.
4471 * New configure options
4473 --enable-libmcheck/--disable-libmcheck
4474 By default, development versions are built with -lmcheck on hosts
4475 that support it, in order to help track memory corruption issues.
4476 Release versions, on the other hand, are built without -lmcheck
4477 by default. The --enable-libmcheck/--disable-libmcheck configure
4478 options allow the user to override that default.
4479 --with-babeltrace/--with-babeltrace-include/--with-babeltrace-lib
4480 This configure option allows the user to build GDB with
4481 libbabeltrace using which GDB can read Common Trace Format data.
4483 * New commands (for set/show, see "New options" below)
4486 Catch signals. This is similar to "handle", but allows commands and
4487 conditions to be attached.
4490 List the BFDs known to GDB.
4492 python-interactive [command]
4494 Start a Python interactive prompt, or evaluate the optional command
4495 and print the result of expressions.
4498 "py" is a new alias for "python".
4500 enable type-printer [name]...
4501 disable type-printer [name]...
4502 Enable or disable type printers.
4506 ** For the Renesas Super-H architecture, the "regs" command has been removed
4507 (has been deprecated in GDB 7.5), and "info all-registers" should be used
4512 set print type methods (on|off)
4513 show print type methods
4514 Control whether method declarations are displayed by "ptype".
4515 The default is to show them.
4517 set print type typedefs (on|off)
4518 show print type typedefs
4519 Control whether typedef definitions are displayed by "ptype".
4520 The default is to show them.
4522 set filename-display basename|relative|absolute
4523 show filename-display
4524 Control the way in which filenames is displayed.
4525 The default is "relative", which preserves previous behavior.
4527 set trace-buffer-size
4528 show trace-buffer-size
4529 Request target to change the size of trace buffer.
4531 set remote trace-buffer-size-packet auto|on|off
4532 show remote trace-buffer-size-packet
4533 Control the use of the remote protocol `QTBuffer:size' packet.
4537 Control display of debugging messages related to ARM AArch64.
4540 set debug coff-pe-read
4541 show debug coff-pe-read
4542 Control display of debugging messages related to reading of COFF/PE
4547 Control display of debugging messages related to Mach-O symbols
4550 set debug notification
4551 show debug notification
4552 Control display of debugging info for async remote notification.
4556 ** Command parameter changes are now notified using new async record
4557 "=cmd-param-changed".
4558 ** Trace frame changes caused by command "tfind" are now notified using
4559 new async record "=traceframe-changed".
4560 ** The creation, deletion and modification of trace state variables
4561 are now notified using new async records "=tsv-created",
4562 "=tsv-deleted" and "=tsv-modified".
4563 ** The start and stop of process record are now notified using new
4564 async record "=record-started" and "=record-stopped".
4565 ** Memory changes are now notified using new async record
4567 ** The data-disassemble command response will include a "fullname" field
4568 containing the absolute file name when source has been requested.
4569 ** New optional parameter COUNT added to the "-data-write-memory-bytes"
4570 command, to allow pattern filling of memory areas.
4571 ** New commands "-catch-load"/"-catch-unload" added for intercepting
4572 library load/unload events.
4573 ** The response to breakpoint commands and breakpoint async records
4574 includes an "installed" field containing a boolean state about each
4575 non-pending tracepoint location is whether installed on target or not.
4576 ** Output of the "-trace-status" command includes a "trace-file" field
4577 containing the name of the trace file being examined. This field is
4578 optional, and only present when examining a trace file.
4579 ** The "fullname" field is now always present along with the "file" field,
4580 even if the file cannot be found by GDB.
4582 * GDB now supports the "mini debuginfo" section, .gnu_debugdata.
4583 You must have the LZMA library available when configuring GDB for this
4584 feature to be enabled. For more information, see:
4585 http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features/MiniDebugInfo
4587 * New remote packets
4590 Set the size of trace buffer. The remote stub reports support for this
4591 packet to gdb's qSupported query.
4594 Enable Branch Trace Store (BTS)-based branch tracing for the current
4595 thread. The remote stub reports support for this packet to gdb's
4599 Disable branch tracing for the current thread. The remote stub reports
4600 support for this packet to gdb's qSupported query.
4603 Read the traced branches for the current thread. The remote stub
4604 reports support for this packet to gdb's qSupported query.
4606 *** Changes in GDB 7.5
4608 * GDB now supports x32 ABI. Visit <http://sites.google.com/site/x32abi/>
4609 for more x32 ABI info.
4611 * GDB now supports access to MIPS DSP registers on Linux targets.
4613 * GDB now supports debugging microMIPS binaries.
4615 * The "info os" command on GNU/Linux can now display information on
4616 several new classes of objects managed by the operating system:
4617 "info os procgroups" lists process groups
4618 "info os files" lists file descriptors
4619 "info os sockets" lists internet-domain sockets
4620 "info os shm" lists shared-memory regions
4621 "info os semaphores" lists semaphores
4622 "info os msg" lists message queues
4623 "info os modules" lists loaded kernel modules
4625 * GDB now has support for SDT (Static Defined Tracing) probes. Currently,
4626 the only implemented backend is for SystemTap probes (<sys/sdt.h>). You
4627 can set a breakpoint using the new "-probe, "-pstap" or "-probe-stap"
4628 options and inspect the probe arguments using the new $_probe_arg family
4629 of convenience variables. You can obtain more information about SystemTap
4630 in <http://sourceware.org/systemtap/>.
4632 * GDB now supports reversible debugging on ARM, it allows you to
4633 debug basic ARM and THUMB instructions, and provides
4634 record/replay support.
4636 * The option "symbol-reloading" has been deleted as it is no longer used.
4640 ** GDB commands implemented in Python can now be put in command class
4643 ** The "maint set python print-stack on|off" is now deleted.
4645 ** A new class, gdb.printing.FlagEnumerationPrinter, can be used to
4646 apply "flag enum"-style pretty-printing to any enum.
4648 ** gdb.lookup_symbol can now work when there is no current frame.
4650 ** gdb.Symbol now has a 'line' attribute, holding the line number in
4651 the source at which the symbol was defined.
4653 ** gdb.Symbol now has the new attribute 'needs_frame' and the new
4654 method 'value'. The former indicates whether the symbol needs a
4655 frame in order to compute its value, and the latter computes the
4658 ** A new method 'referenced_value' on gdb.Value objects which can
4659 dereference pointer as well as C++ reference values.
4661 ** New methods 'global_block' and 'static_block' on gdb.Symtab objects
4662 which return the global and static blocks (as gdb.Block objects),
4663 of the underlying symbol table, respectively.
4665 ** New function gdb.find_pc_line which returns the gdb.Symtab_and_line
4666 object associated with a PC value.
4668 ** gdb.Symtab_and_line has new attribute 'last' which holds the end
4669 of the address range occupied by code for the current source line.
4671 * Go language support.
4672 GDB now supports debugging programs written in the Go programming
4675 * GDBserver now supports stdio connections.
4676 E.g. (gdb) target remote | ssh myhost gdbserver - hello
4678 * The binary "gdbtui" can no longer be built or installed.
4679 Use "gdb -tui" instead.
4681 * GDB will now print "flag" enums specially. A flag enum is one where
4682 all the enumerator values have no bits in common when pairwise
4683 "and"ed. When printing a value whose type is a flag enum, GDB will
4684 show all the constants, e.g., for enum E { ONE = 1, TWO = 2}:
4685 (gdb) print (enum E) 3
4688 * The filename part of a linespec will now match trailing components
4689 of a source file name. For example, "break gcc/expr.c:1000" will
4690 now set a breakpoint in build/gcc/expr.c, but not
4691 build/libcpp/expr.c.
4693 * The "info proc" and "generate-core-file" commands will now also
4694 work on remote targets connected to GDBserver on Linux.
4696 * The command "info catch" has been removed. It has been disabled
4697 since December 2007.
4699 * The "catch exception" and "catch assert" commands now accept
4700 a condition at the end of the command, much like the "break"
4701 command does. For instance:
4703 (gdb) catch exception Constraint_Error if Barrier = True
4705 Previously, it was possible to add a condition to such catchpoints,
4706 but it had to be done as a second step, after the catchpoint had been
4707 created, using the "condition" command.
4709 * The "info static-tracepoint-marker" command will now also work on
4710 native Linux targets with in-process agent.
4712 * GDB can now set breakpoints on inlined functions.
4714 * The .gdb_index section has been updated to include symbols for
4715 inlined functions. GDB will ignore older .gdb_index sections by
4716 default, which could cause symbol files to be loaded more slowly
4717 until their .gdb_index sections can be recreated. The new command
4718 "set use-deprecated-index-sections on" will cause GDB to use any older
4719 .gdb_index sections it finds. This will restore performance, but the
4720 ability to set breakpoints on inlined functions will be lost in symbol
4721 files with older .gdb_index sections.
4723 The .gdb_index section has also been updated to record more information
4724 about each symbol. This speeds up the "info variables", "info functions"
4725 and "info types" commands when used with programs having the .gdb_index
4726 section, as well as speeding up debugging with shared libraries using
4727 the .gdb_index section.
4729 * Ada support for GDB/MI Variable Objects has been added.
4731 * GDB can now support 'breakpoint always-inserted mode' in 'record'
4736 ** New command -info-os is the MI equivalent of "info os".
4738 ** Output logs ("set logging" and related) now include MI output.
4742 ** "set use-deprecated-index-sections on|off"
4743 "show use-deprecated-index-sections on|off"
4744 Controls the use of deprecated .gdb_index sections.
4746 ** "catch load" and "catch unload" can be used to stop when a shared
4747 library is loaded or unloaded, respectively.
4749 ** "enable count" can be used to auto-disable a breakpoint after
4752 ** "info vtbl" can be used to show the virtual method tables for
4753 C++ and Java objects.
4755 ** "explore" and its sub commands "explore value" and "explore type"
4756 can be used to recursively explore values and types of
4757 expressions. These commands are available only if GDB is
4758 configured with '--with-python'.
4760 ** "info auto-load" shows status of all kinds of auto-loaded files,
4761 "info auto-load gdb-scripts" shows status of auto-loading GDB canned
4762 sequences of commands files, "info auto-load python-scripts"
4763 shows status of auto-loading Python script files,
4764 "info auto-load local-gdbinit" shows status of loading init file
4765 (.gdbinit) from current directory and "info auto-load libthread-db" shows
4766 status of inferior specific thread debugging shared library loading.
4768 ** "info auto-load-scripts", "set auto-load-scripts on|off"
4769 and "show auto-load-scripts" commands have been deprecated, use their
4770 "info auto-load python-scripts", "set auto-load python-scripts on|off"
4771 and "show auto-load python-scripts" counterparts instead.
4773 ** "dprintf location,format,args..." creates a dynamic printf, which
4774 is basically a breakpoint that does a printf and immediately
4775 resumes your program's execution, so it is like a printf that you
4776 can insert dynamically at runtime instead of at compiletime.
4778 ** "set print symbol"
4780 Controls whether GDB attempts to display the symbol, if any,
4781 corresponding to addresses it prints. This defaults to "on", but
4782 you can set it to "off" to restore GDB's previous behavior.
4784 * Deprecated commands
4786 ** For the Renesas Super-H architecture, the "regs" command has been
4787 deprecated, and "info all-registers" should be used instead.
4791 Renesas RL78 rl78-*-elf
4792 HP OpenVMS ia64 ia64-hp-openvms*
4794 * GDBserver supports evaluation of breakpoint conditions. When
4795 support is advertised by GDBserver, GDB may be told to send the
4796 breakpoint conditions in bytecode form to GDBserver. GDBserver
4797 will only report the breakpoint trigger to GDB when its condition
4802 set mips compression
4803 show mips compression
4804 Select the compressed ISA encoding used in functions that have no symbol
4805 information available. The encoding can be set to either of:
4808 and is updated automatically from ELF file flags if available.
4810 set breakpoint condition-evaluation
4811 show breakpoint condition-evaluation
4812 Control whether breakpoint conditions are evaluated by GDB ("host") or by
4813 GDBserver ("target"). Default option "auto" chooses the most efficient
4815 This option can improve debugger efficiency depending on the speed of the
4819 Disable auto-loading globally.
4822 Show auto-loading setting of all kinds of auto-loaded files.
4824 set auto-load gdb-scripts on|off
4825 show auto-load gdb-scripts
4826 Control auto-loading of GDB canned sequences of commands files.
4828 set auto-load python-scripts on|off
4829 show auto-load python-scripts
4830 Control auto-loading of Python script files.
4832 set auto-load local-gdbinit on|off
4833 show auto-load local-gdbinit
4834 Control loading of init file (.gdbinit) from current directory.
4836 set auto-load libthread-db on|off
4837 show auto-load libthread-db
4838 Control auto-loading of inferior specific thread debugging shared library.
4840 set auto-load scripts-directory <dir1>[:<dir2>...]
4841 show auto-load scripts-directory
4842 Set a list of directories from which to load auto-loaded scripts.
4843 Automatically loaded Python scripts and GDB scripts are located in one
4844 of the directories listed by this option.
4845 The delimiter (':' above) may differ according to the host platform.
4847 set auto-load safe-path <dir1>[:<dir2>...]
4848 show auto-load safe-path
4849 Set a list of directories from which it is safe to auto-load files.
4850 The delimiter (':' above) may differ according to the host platform.
4852 set debug auto-load on|off
4853 show debug auto-load
4854 Control display of debugging info for auto-loading the files above.
4856 set dprintf-style gdb|call|agent
4858 Control the way in which a dynamic printf is performed; "gdb"
4859 requests a GDB printf command, while "call" causes dprintf to call a
4860 function in the inferior. "agent" requests that the target agent
4861 (such as GDBserver) do the printing.
4863 set dprintf-function <expr>
4864 show dprintf-function
4865 set dprintf-channel <expr>
4866 show dprintf-channel
4867 Set the function and optional first argument to the call when using
4868 the "call" style of dynamic printf.
4870 set disconnected-dprintf on|off
4871 show disconnected-dprintf
4872 Control whether agent-style dynamic printfs continue to be in effect
4873 after GDB disconnects.
4875 * New configure options
4877 --with-auto-load-dir
4878 Configure default value for the 'set auto-load scripts-directory'
4879 setting above. It defaults to '$debugdir:$datadir/auto-load',
4880 $debugdir representing global debugging info directories (available
4881 via 'show debug-file-directory') and $datadir representing GDB's data
4882 directory (available via 'show data-directory').
4884 --with-auto-load-safe-path
4885 Configure default value for the 'set auto-load safe-path' setting
4886 above. It defaults to the --with-auto-load-dir setting.
4888 --without-auto-load-safe-path
4889 Set 'set auto-load safe-path' to '/', effectively disabling this
4892 * New remote packets
4894 z0/z1 conditional breakpoints extension
4896 The z0/z1 breakpoint insertion packets have been extended to carry
4897 a list of conditional expressions over to the remote stub depending on the
4898 condition evaluation mode. The use of this extension can be controlled
4899 via the "set remote conditional-breakpoints-packet" command.
4903 Specify the signals which the remote stub may pass to the debugged
4904 program without GDB involvement.
4906 * New command line options
4908 --init-command=FILE, -ix Like --command, -x but execute it
4909 before loading inferior.
4910 --init-eval-command=COMMAND, -iex Like --eval-command=COMMAND, -ex but
4911 execute it before loading inferior.
4913 *** Changes in GDB 7.4
4915 * GDB now handles ambiguous linespecs more consistently; the existing
4916 FILE:LINE support has been expanded to other types of linespecs. A
4917 breakpoint will now be set on all matching locations in all
4918 inferiors, and locations will be added or removed according to
4921 * GDB now allows you to skip uninteresting functions and files when
4922 stepping with the "skip function" and "skip file" commands.
4924 * GDB has two new commands: "set remote hardware-watchpoint-length-limit"
4925 and "show remote hardware-watchpoint-length-limit". These allows to
4926 set or show the maximum length limit (in bytes) of a remote
4927 target hardware watchpoint.
4929 This allows e.g. to use "unlimited" hardware watchpoints with the
4930 gdbserver integrated in Valgrind version >= 3.7.0. Such Valgrind
4931 watchpoints are slower than real hardware watchpoints but are
4932 significantly faster than gdb software watchpoints.
4936 ** The register_pretty_printer function in module gdb.printing now takes
4937 an optional `replace' argument. If True, the new printer replaces any
4940 ** The "maint set python print-stack on|off" command has been
4941 deprecated and will be deleted in GDB 7.5.
4942 A new command: "set python print-stack none|full|message" has
4943 replaced it. Additionally, the default for "print-stack" is
4944 now "message", which just prints the error message without
4947 ** A prompt substitution hook (prompt_hook) is now available to the
4950 ** A new Python module, gdb.prompt has been added to the GDB Python
4951 modules library. This module provides functionality for
4952 escape sequences in prompts (used by set/show
4953 extended-prompt). These escape sequences are replaced by their
4954 corresponding value.
4956 ** Python commands and convenience-functions located in
4957 'data-directory'/python/gdb/command and
4958 'data-directory'/python/gdb/function are now automatically loaded
4961 ** Blocks now provide four new attributes. global_block and
4962 static_block will return the global and static blocks
4963 respectively. is_static and is_global are boolean attributes
4964 that indicate if the block is one of those two types.
4966 ** Symbols now provide the "type" attribute, the type of the symbol.
4968 ** The "gdb.breakpoint" function has been deprecated in favor of
4971 ** A new class "gdb.FinishBreakpoint" is provided to catch the return
4972 of a function. This class is based on the "finish" command
4973 available in the CLI.
4975 ** Type objects for struct and union types now allow access to
4976 the fields using standard Python dictionary (mapping) methods.
4977 For example, "some_type['myfield']" now works, as does
4978 "some_type.items()".
4980 ** A new event "gdb.new_objfile" has been added, triggered by loading a
4983 ** A new function, "deep_items" has been added to the gdb.types
4984 module in the GDB Python modules library. This function returns
4985 an iterator over the fields of a struct or union type. Unlike
4986 the standard Python "iteritems" method, it will recursively traverse
4987 any anonymous fields.
4991 ** "*stopped" events can report several new "reason"s, such as
4994 ** Breakpoint changes are now notified using new async records, like
4995 "=breakpoint-modified".
4997 ** New command -ada-task-info.
4999 * libthread-db-search-path now supports two special values: $sdir and $pdir.
5000 $sdir specifies the default system locations of shared libraries.
5001 $pdir specifies the directory where the libpthread used by the application
5004 GDB no longer looks in $sdir and $pdir after it has searched the directories
5005 mentioned in libthread-db-search-path. If you want to search those
5006 directories, they must be specified in libthread-db-search-path.
5007 The default value of libthread-db-search-path on GNU/Linux and Solaris
5008 systems is now "$sdir:$pdir".
5010 $pdir is not supported by gdbserver, it is currently ignored.
5011 $sdir is supported by gdbserver.
5013 * New configure option --with-iconv-bin.
5014 When using the internationalization support like the one in the GNU C
5015 library, GDB will invoke the "iconv" program to get a list of supported
5016 character sets. If this program lives in a non-standard location, one can
5017 use this option to specify where to find it.
5019 * When natively debugging programs on PowerPC BookE processors running
5020 a Linux kernel version 2.6.34 or later, GDB supports masked hardware
5021 watchpoints, which specify a mask in addition to an address to watch.
5022 The mask specifies that some bits of an address (the bits which are
5023 reset in the mask) should be ignored when matching the address accessed
5024 by the inferior against the watchpoint address. See the "PowerPC Embedded"
5025 section in the user manual for more details.
5027 * The new option --once causes GDBserver to stop listening for connections once
5028 the first connection is made. The listening port used by GDBserver will
5029 become available after that.
5031 * New commands "info macros" and "alias" have been added.
5033 * New function parameters suffix @entry specifies value of function parameter
5034 at the time the function got called. Entry values are available only since
5040 "!" is now an alias of the "shell" command.
5041 Note that no space is needed between "!" and SHELL COMMAND.
5045 watch EXPRESSION mask MASK_VALUE
5046 The watch command now supports the mask argument which allows creation
5047 of masked watchpoints, if the current architecture supports this feature.
5049 info auto-load-scripts [REGEXP]
5050 This command was formerly named "maintenance print section-scripts".
5051 It is now generally useful and is no longer a maintenance-only command.
5053 info macro [-all] [--] MACRO
5054 The info macro command has new options `-all' and `--'. The first for
5055 printing all definitions of a macro. The second for explicitly specifying
5056 the end of arguments and the beginning of the macro name in case the macro
5057 name starts with a hyphen.
5059 collect[/s] EXPRESSIONS
5060 The tracepoint collect command now takes an optional modifier "/s"
5061 that directs it to dereference pointer-to-character types and
5062 collect the bytes of memory up to a zero byte. The behavior is
5063 similar to what you see when you use the regular print command on a
5064 string. An optional integer following the "/s" sets a bound on the
5065 number of bytes that will be collected.
5068 The trace start command now interprets any supplied arguments as a
5069 note to be recorded with the trace run, with an effect similar to
5070 setting the variable trace-notes.
5073 The trace stop command now interprets any arguments as a note to be
5074 mentioned along with the tstatus report that the trace was stopped
5075 with a command. The effect is similar to setting the variable
5078 * Tracepoints can now be enabled and disabled at any time after a trace
5079 experiment has been started using the standard "enable" and "disable"
5080 commands. It is now possible to start a trace experiment with no enabled
5081 tracepoints; GDB will display a warning, but will allow the experiment to
5082 begin, assuming that tracepoints will be enabled as needed while the trace
5085 * Fast tracepoints on 32-bit x86-architectures can now be placed at
5086 locations with 4-byte instructions, when they were previously
5087 limited to locations with instructions of 5 bytes or longer.
5091 set debug dwarf2-read
5092 show debug dwarf2-read
5093 Turns on or off display of debugging messages related to reading
5094 DWARF debug info. The default is off.
5096 set debug symtab-create
5097 show debug symtab-create
5098 Turns on or off display of debugging messages related to symbol table
5099 creation. The default is off.
5102 show extended-prompt
5103 Set the GDB prompt, and allow escape sequences to be inserted to
5104 display miscellaneous information (see 'help set extended-prompt'
5105 for the list of sequences). This prompt (and any information
5106 accessed through the escape sequences) is updated every time the
5107 prompt is displayed.
5109 set print entry-values (both|compact|default|if-needed|no|only|preferred)
5110 show print entry-values
5111 Set printing of frame argument values at function entry. In some cases
5112 GDB can determine the value of function argument which was passed by the
5113 function caller, even if the value was modified inside the called function.
5115 set debug entry-values
5116 show debug entry-values
5117 Control display of debugging info for determining frame argument values at
5118 function entry and virtual tail call frames.
5120 set basenames-may-differ
5121 show basenames-may-differ
5122 Set whether a source file may have multiple base names.
5123 (A "base name" is the name of a file with the directory part removed.
5124 Example: The base name of "/home/user/hello.c" is "hello.c".)
5125 If set, GDB will canonicalize file names (e.g., expand symlinks)
5126 before comparing them. Canonicalization is an expensive operation,
5127 but it allows the same file be known by more than one base name.
5128 If not set (the default), all source files are assumed to have just
5129 one base name, and gdb will do file name comparisons more efficiently.
5135 Set a user name and notes for the current and any future trace runs.
5136 This is useful for long-running and/or disconnected traces, to
5137 inform others (or yourself) as to who is running the trace, supply
5138 contact information, or otherwise explain what is going on.
5140 set trace-stop-notes
5141 show trace-stop-notes
5142 Set a note attached to the trace run, that is displayed when the
5143 trace has been stopped by a tstop command. This is useful for
5144 instance as an explanation, if you are stopping a trace run that was
5145 started by someone else.
5147 * New remote packets
5151 Dynamically enable a tracepoint in a started trace experiment.
5155 Dynamically disable a tracepoint in a started trace experiment.
5159 Set the user and notes of the trace run.
5163 Query the current status of a tracepoint.
5167 Query the minimum length of instruction at which a fast tracepoint may
5170 * Dcache size (number of lines) and line-size are now runtime-configurable
5171 via "set dcache line" and "set dcache line-size" commands.
5175 Texas Instruments TMS320C6x tic6x-*-*
5179 Renesas RL78 rl78-*-elf
5181 *** Changes in GDB 7.3.1
5183 * The build failure for NetBSD and OpenBSD targets have now been fixed.
5185 *** Changes in GDB 7.3
5187 * GDB has a new command: "thread find [REGEXP]".
5188 It finds the thread id whose name, target id, or thread extra info
5189 matches the given regular expression.
5191 * The "catch syscall" command now works on mips*-linux* targets.
5193 * The -data-disassemble MI command now supports modes 2 and 3 for
5194 dumping the instruction opcodes.
5196 * New command line options
5198 -data-directory DIR Specify DIR as the "data-directory".
5199 This is mostly for testing purposes.
5201 * The "maint set python auto-load on|off" command has been renamed to
5202 "set auto-load-scripts on|off".
5204 * GDB has a new command: "set directories".
5205 It is like the "dir" command except that it replaces the
5206 source path list instead of augmenting it.
5208 * GDB now understands thread names.
5210 On GNU/Linux, "info threads" will display the thread name as set by
5211 prctl or pthread_setname_np.
5213 There is also a new command, "thread name", which can be used to
5214 assign a name internally for GDB to display.
5217 Initial support for the OpenCL C language (http://www.khronos.org/opencl)
5218 has been integrated into GDB.
5222 ** The function gdb.Write now accepts an optional keyword 'stream'.
5223 This keyword, when provided, will direct the output to either
5224 stdout, stderr, or GDB's logging output.
5226 ** Parameters can now be be sub-classed in Python, and in particular
5227 you may implement the get_set_doc and get_show_doc functions.
5228 This improves how Parameter set/show documentation is processed
5229 and allows for more dynamic content.
5231 ** Symbols, Symbol Table, Symbol Table and Line, Object Files,
5232 Inferior, Inferior Thread, Blocks, and Block Iterator APIs now
5233 have an is_valid method.
5235 ** Breakpoints can now be sub-classed in Python, and in particular
5236 you may implement a 'stop' function that is executed each time
5237 the inferior reaches that breakpoint.
5239 ** New function gdb.lookup_global_symbol looks up a global symbol.
5241 ** GDB values in Python are now callable if the value represents a
5242 function. For example, if 'some_value' represents a function that
5243 takes two integer parameters and returns a value, you can call
5244 that function like so:
5246 result = some_value (10,20)
5248 ** Module gdb.types has been added.
5249 It contains a collection of utilities for working with gdb.Types objects:
5250 get_basic_type, has_field, make_enum_dict.
5252 ** Module gdb.printing has been added.
5253 It contains utilities for writing and registering pretty-printers.
5254 New classes: PrettyPrinter, SubPrettyPrinter,
5255 RegexpCollectionPrettyPrinter.
5256 New function: register_pretty_printer.
5258 ** New commands "info pretty-printers", "enable pretty-printer" and
5259 "disable pretty-printer" have been added.
5261 ** gdb.parameter("directories") is now available.
5263 ** New function gdb.newest_frame returns the newest frame in the
5266 ** The gdb.InferiorThread class has a new "name" attribute. This
5267 holds the thread's name.
5269 ** Python Support for Inferior events.
5270 Python scripts can add observers to be notified of events
5271 occurring in the process being debugged.
5272 The following events are currently supported:
5273 - gdb.events.cont Continue event.
5274 - gdb.events.exited Inferior exited event.
5275 - gdb.events.stop Signal received, and Breakpoint hit events.
5279 ** GDB now puts template parameters in scope when debugging in an
5280 instantiation. For example, if you have:
5282 template<int X> int func (void) { return X; }
5284 then if you step into func<5>, "print X" will show "5". This
5285 feature requires proper debuginfo support from the compiler; it
5286 was added to GCC 4.5.
5288 ** The motion commands "next", "finish", "until", and "advance" now
5289 work better when exceptions are thrown. In particular, GDB will
5290 no longer lose control of the inferior; instead, the GDB will
5291 stop the inferior at the point at which the exception is caught.
5292 This functionality requires a change in the exception handling
5293 code that was introduced in GCC 4.5.
5295 * GDB now follows GCC's rules on accessing volatile objects when
5296 reading or writing target state during expression evaluation.
5297 One notable difference to prior behavior is that "print x = 0"
5298 no longer generates a read of x; the value of the assignment is
5299 now always taken directly from the value being assigned.
5301 * GDB now has some support for using labels in the program's source in
5302 linespecs. For instance, you can use "advance label" to continue
5303 execution to a label.
5305 * GDB now has support for reading and writing a new .gdb_index
5306 section. This section holds a fast index of DWARF debugging
5307 information and can be used to greatly speed up GDB startup and
5308 operation. See the documentation for `save gdb-index' for details.
5310 * The "watch" command now accepts an optional "-location" argument.
5311 When used, this causes GDB to watch the memory referred to by the
5312 expression. Such a watchpoint is never deleted due to it going out
5315 * GDB now supports thread debugging of core dumps on GNU/Linux.
5317 GDB now activates thread debugging using the libthread_db library
5318 when debugging GNU/Linux core dumps, similarly to when debugging
5319 live processes. As a result, when debugging a core dump file, GDB
5320 is now able to display pthread_t ids of threads. For example, "info
5321 threads" shows the same output as when debugging the process when it
5322 was live. In earlier releases, you'd see something like this:
5325 * 1 LWP 6780 main () at main.c:10
5327 While now you see this:
5330 * 1 Thread 0x7f0f5712a700 (LWP 6780) main () at main.c:10
5332 It is also now possible to inspect TLS variables when debugging core
5335 When debugging a core dump generated on a machine other than the one
5336 used to run GDB, you may need to point GDB at the correct
5337 libthread_db library with the "set libthread-db-search-path"
5338 command. See the user manual for more details on this command.
5340 * When natively debugging programs on PowerPC BookE processors running
5341 a Linux kernel version 2.6.34 or later, GDB supports ranged breakpoints,
5342 which stop execution of the inferior whenever it executes an instruction
5343 at any address within the specified range. See the "PowerPC Embedded"
5344 section in the user manual for more details.
5346 * New features in the GDB remote stub, GDBserver
5348 ** GDBserver is now supported on PowerPC LynxOS (versions 4.x and 5.x),
5349 and i686 LynxOS (version 5.x).
5351 ** GDBserver is now supported on Blackfin Linux.
5353 * New native configurations
5355 ia64 HP-UX ia64-*-hpux*
5359 Analog Devices, Inc. Blackfin Processor bfin-*
5361 * Ada task switching is now supported on sparc-elf targets when
5362 debugging a program using the Ravenscar Profile. For more information,
5363 see the "Tasking Support when using the Ravenscar Profile" section
5364 in the GDB user manual.
5366 * Guile support was removed.
5368 * New features in the GNU simulator
5370 ** The --map-info flag lists all known core mappings.
5372 ** CFI flashes may be simulated via the "cfi" device.
5374 *** Changes in GDB 7.2
5376 * Shared library support for remote targets by default
5378 When GDB is configured for a generic, non-OS specific target, like
5379 for example, --target=arm-eabi or one of the many *-*-elf targets,
5380 GDB now queries remote stubs for loaded shared libraries using the
5381 `qXfer:libraries:read' packet. Previously, shared library support
5382 was always disabled for such configurations.
5386 ** Argument Dependent Lookup (ADL)
5388 In C++ ADL lookup directs function search to the namespaces of its
5389 arguments even if the namespace has not been imported.
5399 Here the compiler will search for `foo' in the namespace of 'b'
5400 and find A::foo. GDB now supports this. This construct is commonly
5401 used in the Standard Template Library for operators.
5403 ** Improved User Defined Operator Support
5405 In addition to member operators, GDB now supports lookup of operators
5406 defined in a namespace and imported with a `using' directive, operators
5407 defined in the global scope, operators imported implicitly from an
5408 anonymous namespace, and the ADL operators mentioned in the previous
5410 GDB now also supports proper overload resolution for all the previously
5411 mentioned flavors of operators.
5413 ** static const class members
5415 Printing of static const class members that are initialized in the
5416 class definition has been fixed.
5418 * Windows Thread Information Block access.
5420 On Windows targets, GDB now supports displaying the Windows Thread
5421 Information Block (TIB) structure. This structure is visible either
5422 by using the new command `info w32 thread-information-block' or, by
5423 dereferencing the new convenience variable named `$_tlb', a
5424 thread-specific pointer to the TIB. This feature is also supported
5425 when remote debugging using GDBserver.
5427 * Static tracepoints
5429 Static tracepoints are calls in the user program into a tracing
5430 library. One such library is a port of the LTTng kernel tracer to
5431 userspace --- UST (LTTng Userspace Tracer, http://lttng.org/ust).
5432 When debugging with GDBserver, GDB now supports combining the GDB
5433 tracepoint machinery with such libraries. For example: the user can
5434 use GDB to probe a static tracepoint marker (a call from the user
5435 program into the tracing library) with the new "strace" command (see
5436 "New commands" below). This creates a "static tracepoint" in the
5437 breakpoint list, that can be manipulated with the same feature set
5438 as fast and regular tracepoints. E.g., collect registers, local and
5439 global variables, collect trace state variables, and define
5440 tracepoint conditions. In addition, the user can collect extra
5441 static tracepoint marker specific data, by collecting the new
5442 $_sdata internal variable. When analyzing the trace buffer, you can
5443 inspect $_sdata like any other variable available to GDB. For more
5444 information, see the "Tracepoints" chapter in GDB user manual. New
5445 remote packets have been defined to support static tracepoints, see
5446 the "New remote packets" section below.
5448 * Better reconstruction of tracepoints after disconnected tracing
5450 GDB will attempt to download the original source form of tracepoint
5451 definitions when starting a trace run, and then will upload these
5452 upon reconnection to the target, resulting in a more accurate
5453 reconstruction of the tracepoints that are in use on the target.
5457 You can now exercise direct control over the ways that GDB can
5458 affect your program. For instance, you can disallow the setting of
5459 breakpoints, so that the program can run continuously (assuming
5460 non-stop mode). In addition, the "observer" variable is available
5461 to switch all of the different controls; in observer mode, GDB
5462 cannot affect the target's behavior at all, which is useful for
5463 tasks like diagnosing live systems in the field.
5465 * The new convenience variable $_thread holds the number of the
5468 * New remote packets
5472 Return the address of the Windows Thread Information Block of a given thread.
5476 In response to several of the tracepoint packets, the target may now
5477 also respond with a number of intermediate `qRelocInsn' request
5478 packets before the final result packet, to have GDB handle
5479 relocating an instruction to execute at a different address. This
5480 is particularly useful for stubs that support fast tracepoints. GDB
5481 reports support for this feature in the qSupported packet.
5485 List static tracepoint markers in the target program.
5489 List static tracepoint markers at a given address in the target
5492 qXfer:statictrace:read
5494 Read the static trace data collected (by a `collect $_sdata'
5495 tracepoint action). The remote stub reports support for this packet
5496 to gdb's qSupported query.
5500 Send the current settings of GDB's permission flags.
5504 Send part of the source (textual) form of a tracepoint definition,
5505 which includes location, conditional, and action list.
5507 * The source command now accepts a -s option to force searching for the
5508 script in the source search path even if the script name specifies
5511 * New features in the GDB remote stub, GDBserver
5513 - GDBserver now support tracepoints (including fast tracepoints, and
5514 static tracepoints). The feature is currently supported by the
5515 i386-linux and amd64-linux builds. See the "Tracepoints support
5516 in gdbserver" section in the manual for more information.
5518 GDBserver JIT compiles the tracepoint's conditional agent
5519 expression bytecode into native code whenever possible for low
5520 overhead dynamic tracepoints conditionals. For such tracepoints,
5521 an expression that examines program state is evaluated when the
5522 tracepoint is reached, in order to determine whether to capture
5523 trace data. If the condition is simple and false, processing the
5524 tracepoint finishes very quickly and no data is gathered.
5526 GDBserver interfaces with the UST (LTTng Userspace Tracer) library
5527 for static tracepoints support.
5529 - GDBserver now supports x86_64 Windows 64-bit debugging.
5531 * GDB now sends xmlRegisters= in qSupported packet to indicate that
5532 it understands register description.
5534 * The --batch flag now disables pagination and queries.
5536 * X86 general purpose registers
5538 GDB now supports reading/writing byte, word and double-word x86
5539 general purpose registers directly. This means you can use, say,
5540 $ah or $ax to refer, respectively, to the byte register AH and
5541 16-bit word register AX that are actually portions of the 32-bit
5542 register EAX or 64-bit register RAX.
5544 * The `commands' command now accepts a range of breakpoints to modify.
5545 A plain `commands' following a command that creates multiple
5546 breakpoints affects all the breakpoints set by that command. This
5547 applies to breakpoints set by `rbreak', and also applies when a
5548 single `break' command creates multiple breakpoints (e.g.,
5549 breakpoints on overloaded c++ functions).
5551 * The `rbreak' command now accepts a filename specification as part of
5552 its argument, limiting the functions selected by the regex to those
5553 in the specified file.
5555 * Support for remote debugging Windows and SymbianOS shared libraries
5556 from Unix hosts has been improved. Non Windows GDB builds now can
5557 understand target reported file names that follow MS-DOS based file
5558 system semantics, such as file names that include drive letters and
5559 use the backslash character as directory separator. This makes it
5560 possible to transparently use the "set sysroot" and "set
5561 solib-search-path" on Unix hosts to point as host copies of the
5562 target's shared libraries. See the new command "set
5563 target-file-system-kind" described below, and the "Commands to
5564 specify files" section in the user manual for more information.
5568 eval template, expressions...
5569 Convert the values of one or more expressions under the control
5570 of the string template to a command line, and call it.
5572 set target-file-system-kind unix|dos-based|auto
5573 show target-file-system-kind
5574 Set or show the assumed file system kind for target reported file
5577 save breakpoints <filename>
5578 Save all current breakpoint definitions to a file suitable for use
5579 in a later debugging session. To read the saved breakpoint
5580 definitions, use the `source' command.
5582 `save tracepoints' is a new alias for `save-tracepoints'. The latter
5585 info static-tracepoint-markers
5586 Display information about static tracepoint markers in the target.
5588 strace FN | FILE:LINE | *ADDR | -m MARKER_ID
5589 Define a static tracepoint by probing a marker at the given
5590 function, line, address, or marker ID.
5594 Enable and disable observer mode.
5596 set may-write-registers on|off
5597 set may-write-memory on|off
5598 set may-insert-breakpoints on|off
5599 set may-insert-tracepoints on|off
5600 set may-insert-fast-tracepoints on|off
5601 set may-interrupt on|off
5602 Set individual permissions for GDB effects on the target. Note that
5603 some of these settings can have undesirable or surprising
5604 consequences, particularly when changed in the middle of a session.
5605 For instance, disabling the writing of memory can prevent
5606 breakpoints from being inserted, cause single-stepping to fail, or
5607 even crash your program, if you disable after breakpoints have been
5608 inserted. However, GDB should not crash.
5610 set record memory-query on|off
5611 show record memory-query
5612 Control whether to stop the inferior if memory changes caused
5613 by an instruction cannot be recorded.
5618 The disassemble command now supports "start,+length" form of two arguments.
5622 ** GDB now provides a new directory location, called the python directory,
5623 where Python scripts written for GDB can be installed. The location
5624 of that directory is <data-directory>/python, where <data-directory>
5625 is the GDB data directory. For more details, see section `Scripting
5626 GDB using Python' in the manual.
5628 ** The GDB Python API now has access to breakpoints, symbols, symbol
5629 tables, program spaces, inferiors, threads and frame's code blocks.
5630 Additionally, GDB Parameters can now be created from the API, and
5631 manipulated via set/show in the CLI.
5633 ** New functions gdb.target_charset, gdb.target_wide_charset,
5634 gdb.progspaces, gdb.current_progspace, and gdb.string_to_argv.
5636 ** New exception gdb.GdbError.
5638 ** Pretty-printers are now also looked up in the current program space.
5640 ** Pretty-printers can now be individually enabled and disabled.
5642 ** GDB now looks for names of Python scripts to auto-load in a
5643 special section named `.debug_gdb_scripts', in addition to looking
5644 for a OBJFILE-gdb.py script when OBJFILE is read by the debugger.
5646 * Tracepoint actions were unified with breakpoint commands. In particular,
5647 there are no longer differences in "info break" output for breakpoints and
5648 tracepoints and the "commands" command can be used for both tracepoints and
5649 regular breakpoints.
5653 ARM Symbian arm*-*-symbianelf*
5655 * D language support.
5656 GDB now supports debugging programs written in the D programming
5659 * GDB now supports the extended ptrace interface for PowerPC which is
5660 available since Linux kernel version 2.6.34. This automatically enables
5661 any hardware breakpoints and additional hardware watchpoints available in
5662 the processor. The old ptrace interface exposes just one hardware
5663 watchpoint and no hardware breakpoints.
5665 * GDB is now able to use the Data Value Compare (DVC) register available on
5666 embedded PowerPC processors to implement in hardware simple watchpoint
5667 conditions of the form:
5669 watch ADDRESS|VARIABLE if ADDRESS|VARIABLE == CONSTANT EXPRESSION
5671 This works in native GDB running on Linux kernels with the extended ptrace
5672 interface mentioned above.
5674 *** Changes in GDB 7.1
5678 ** Namespace Support
5680 GDB now supports importing of namespaces in C++. This enables the
5681 user to inspect variables from imported namespaces. Support for
5682 namepace aliasing has also been added. So, if a namespace is
5683 aliased in the current scope (e.g. namepace C=A; ) the user can
5684 print variables using the alias (e.g. (gdb) print C::x).
5688 All known bugs relating to the printing of virtual base class were
5689 fixed. It is now possible to call overloaded static methods using a
5694 The C++ cast operators static_cast<>, dynamic_cast<>, const_cast<>,
5695 and reinterpret_cast<> are now handled by the C++ expression parser.
5699 Xilinx MicroBlaze microblaze-*-*
5704 Xilinx MicroBlaze microblaze
5707 * Multi-program debugging.
5709 GDB now has support for multi-program (a.k.a. multi-executable or
5710 multi-exec) debugging. This allows for debugging multiple inferiors
5711 simultaneously each running a different program under the same GDB
5712 session. See "Debugging Multiple Inferiors and Programs" in the
5713 manual for more information. This implied some user visible changes
5714 in the multi-inferior support. For example, "info inferiors" now
5715 lists inferiors that are not running yet or that have exited
5716 already. See also "New commands" and "New options" below.
5718 * New tracing features
5720 GDB's tracepoint facility now includes several new features:
5722 ** Trace state variables
5724 GDB tracepoints now include support for trace state variables, which
5725 are variables managed by the target agent during a tracing
5726 experiment. They are useful for tracepoints that trigger each
5727 other, so for instance one tracepoint can count hits in a variable,
5728 and then a second tracepoint has a condition that is true when the
5729 count reaches a particular value. Trace state variables share the
5730 $-syntax of GDB convenience variables, and can appear in both
5731 tracepoint actions and condition expressions. Use the "tvariable"
5732 command to create, and "info tvariables" to view; see "Trace State
5733 Variables" in the manual for more detail.
5737 GDB now includes an option for defining fast tracepoints, which
5738 targets may implement more efficiently, such as by installing a jump
5739 into the target agent rather than a trap instruction. The resulting
5740 speedup can be by two orders of magnitude or more, although the
5741 tradeoff is that some program locations on some target architectures
5742 might not allow fast tracepoint installation, for instance if the
5743 instruction to be replaced is shorter than the jump. To request a
5744 fast tracepoint, use the "ftrace" command, with syntax identical to
5745 the regular trace command.
5747 ** Disconnected tracing
5749 It is now possible to detach GDB from the target while it is running
5750 a trace experiment, then reconnect later to see how the experiment
5751 is going. In addition, a new variable disconnected-tracing lets you
5752 tell the target agent whether to continue running a trace if the
5753 connection is lost unexpectedly.
5757 GDB now has the ability to save the trace buffer into a file, and
5758 then use that file as a target, similarly to you can do with
5759 corefiles. You can select trace frames, print data that was
5760 collected in them, and use tstatus to display the state of the
5761 tracing run at the moment that it was saved. To create a trace
5762 file, use "tsave <filename>", and to use it, do "target tfile
5765 ** Circular trace buffer
5767 You can ask the target agent to handle the trace buffer as a
5768 circular buffer, discarding the oldest trace frames to make room for
5769 newer ones, by setting circular-trace-buffer to on. This feature may
5770 not be available for all target agents.
5775 The disassemble command, when invoked with two arguments, now requires
5776 the arguments to be comma-separated.
5779 The info variables command now displays variable definitions. Files
5780 which only declare a variable are not shown.
5783 The source command is now capable of sourcing Python scripts.
5784 This feature is dependent on the debugger being build with Python
5787 Related to this enhancement is also the introduction of a new command
5788 "set script-extension" (see below).
5790 * New commands (for set/show, see "New options" below)
5792 record save [<FILENAME>]
5793 Save a file (in core file format) containing the process record
5794 execution log for replay debugging at a later time.
5796 record restore <FILENAME>
5797 Restore the process record execution log that was saved at an
5798 earlier time, for replay debugging.
5800 add-inferior [-copies <N>] [-exec <FILENAME>]
5803 clone-inferior [-copies <N>] [ID]
5804 Make a new inferior ready to execute the same program another
5805 inferior has loaded.
5810 maint info program-spaces
5811 List the program spaces loaded into GDB.
5813 set remote interrupt-sequence [Ctrl-C | BREAK | BREAK-g]
5814 show remote interrupt-sequence
5815 Allow the user to select one of ^C, a BREAK signal or BREAK-g
5816 as the sequence to the remote target in order to interrupt the execution.
5817 Ctrl-C is a default. Some system prefers BREAK which is high level of
5818 serial line for some certain time. Linux kernel prefers BREAK-g, a.k.a
5819 Magic SysRq g. It is BREAK signal and character 'g'.
5821 set remote interrupt-on-connect [on | off]
5822 show remote interrupt-on-connect
5823 When interrupt-on-connect is ON, gdb sends interrupt-sequence to
5824 remote target when gdb connects to it. This is needed when you debug
5827 set remotebreak [on | off]
5829 Deprecated. Use "set/show remote interrupt-sequence" instead.
5831 tvariable $NAME [ = EXP ]
5832 Create or modify a trace state variable.
5835 List trace state variables and their values.
5837 delete tvariable $NAME ...
5838 Delete one or more trace state variables.
5841 Evaluate the given expressions without collecting anything into the
5842 trace buffer. (Valid in tracepoint actions only.)
5844 ftrace FN / FILE:LINE / *ADDR
5845 Define a fast tracepoint at the given function, line, or address.
5847 * New expression syntax
5849 GDB now parses the 0b prefix of binary numbers the same way as GCC does.
5850 GDB now parses 0b101010 identically with 42.
5854 set follow-exec-mode new|same
5855 show follow-exec-mode
5856 Control whether GDB reuses the same inferior across an exec call or
5857 creates a new one. This is useful to be able to restart the old
5858 executable after the inferior having done an exec call.
5860 set default-collect EXPR, ...
5861 show default-collect
5862 Define a list of expressions to be collected at each tracepoint.
5863 This is a useful way to ensure essential items are not overlooked,
5864 such as registers or a critical global variable.
5866 set disconnected-tracing
5867 show disconnected-tracing
5868 If set to 1, the target is instructed to continue tracing if it
5869 loses its connection to GDB. If 0, the target is to stop tracing
5872 set circular-trace-buffer
5873 show circular-trace-buffer
5874 If set to on, the target is instructed to use a circular trace buffer
5875 and discard the oldest trace frames instead of stopping the trace due
5876 to a full trace buffer. If set to off, the trace stops when the buffer
5877 fills up. Some targets may not support this.
5879 set script-extension off|soft|strict
5880 show script-extension
5881 If set to "off", the debugger does not perform any script language
5882 recognition, and all sourced files are assumed to be GDB scripts.
5883 If set to "soft" (the default), files are sourced according to
5884 filename extension, falling back to GDB scripts if the first
5886 If set to "strict", files are sourced according to filename extension.
5888 set ada trust-PAD-over-XVS on|off
5889 show ada trust-PAD-over-XVS
5890 If off, activate a workaround against a bug in the debugging information
5891 generated by the compiler for PAD types (see gcc/exp_dbug.ads in
5892 the GCC sources for more information about the GNAT encoding and
5893 PAD types in particular). It is always safe to set this option to
5894 off, but this introduces a slight performance penalty. The default
5897 * Python API Improvements
5899 ** GDB provides the new class gdb.LazyString. This is useful in
5900 some pretty-printing cases. The new method gdb.Value.lazy_string
5901 provides a simple way to create objects of this type.
5903 ** The fields returned by gdb.Type.fields now have an
5904 `is_base_class' attribute.
5906 ** The new method gdb.Type.range returns the range of an array type.
5908 ** The new method gdb.parse_and_eval can be used to parse and
5909 evaluate an expression.
5911 * New remote packets
5914 Define a trace state variable.
5917 Get the current value of a trace state variable.
5920 Set desired tracing behavior upon disconnection.
5923 Set the trace buffer to be linear or circular.
5926 Get data about the tracepoints currently in use.
5930 Process record now works correctly with hardware watchpoints.
5932 Multiple bug fixes have been made to the mips-irix port, making it
5933 much more reliable. In particular:
5934 - Debugging threaded applications is now possible again. Previously,
5935 GDB would hang while starting the program, or while waiting for
5936 the program to stop at a breakpoint.
5937 - Attaching to a running process no longer hangs.
5938 - An error occurring while loading a core file has been fixed.
5939 - Changing the value of the PC register now works again. This fixes
5940 problems observed when using the "jump" command, or when calling
5941 a function from GDB, or even when assigning a new value to $pc.
5942 - With the "finish" and "return" commands, the return value for functions
5943 returning a small array is now correctly printed.
5944 - It is now possible to break on shared library code which gets executed
5945 during a shared library init phase (code executed while executing
5946 their .init section). Previously, the breakpoint would have no effect.
5947 - GDB is now able to backtrace through the signal handler for
5948 non-threaded programs.
5950 PIE (Position Independent Executable) programs debugging is now supported.
5951 This includes debugging execution of PIC (Position Independent Code) shared
5952 libraries although for that, it should be possible to run such libraries as an
5955 *** Changes in GDB 7.0
5957 * GDB now has an interface for JIT compilation. Applications that
5958 dynamically generate code can create symbol files in memory and register
5959 them with GDB. For users, the feature should work transparently, and
5960 for JIT developers, the interface is documented in the GDB manual in the
5961 "JIT Compilation Interface" chapter.
5963 * Tracepoints may now be conditional. The syntax is as for
5964 breakpoints; either an "if" clause appended to the "trace" command,
5965 or the "condition" command is available. GDB sends the condition to
5966 the target for evaluation using the same bytecode format as is used
5967 for tracepoint actions.
5969 * The disassemble command now supports: an optional /r modifier, print the
5970 raw instructions in hex as well as in symbolic form, and an optional /m
5971 modifier to print mixed source+assembly.
5973 * Process record and replay
5975 In a architecture environment that supports ``process record and
5976 replay'', ``process record and replay'' target can record a log of
5977 the process execution, and replay it with both forward and reverse
5980 * Reverse debugging: GDB now has new commands reverse-continue, reverse-
5981 step, reverse-next, reverse-finish, reverse-stepi, reverse-nexti, and
5982 set execution-direction {forward|reverse}, for targets that support
5985 * GDB now supports hardware watchpoints on MIPS/Linux systems. This
5986 feature is available with a native GDB running on kernel version
5989 * GDB now has support for multi-byte and wide character sets on the
5990 target. Strings whose character type is wchar_t, char16_t, or
5991 char32_t are now correctly printed. GDB supports wide- and unicode-
5992 literals in C, that is, L'x', L"string", u'x', u"string", U'x', and
5993 U"string" syntax. And, GDB allows the "%ls" and "%lc" formats in
5994 `printf'. This feature requires iconv to work properly; if your
5995 system does not have a working iconv, GDB can use GNU libiconv. See
5996 the installation instructions for more information.
5998 * GDB now supports automatic retrieval of shared library files from
5999 remote targets. To use this feature, specify a system root that begins
6000 with the `remote:' prefix, either via the `set sysroot' command or via
6001 the `--with-sysroot' configure-time option.
6003 * "info sharedlibrary" now takes an optional regex of libraries to show,
6004 and it now reports if a shared library has no debugging information.
6006 * Commands `set debug-file-directory', `set solib-search-path' and `set args'
6007 now complete on file names.
6009 * When completing in expressions, gdb will attempt to limit
6010 completions to allowable structure or union fields, where appropriate.
6011 For instance, consider:
6013 # struct example { int f1; double f2; };
6014 # struct example variable;
6017 If the user types TAB at the end of this command line, the available
6018 completions will be "f1" and "f2".
6020 * Inlined functions are now supported. They show up in backtraces, and
6021 the "step", "next", and "finish" commands handle them automatically.
6023 * GDB now supports the token-splicing (##) and stringification (#)
6024 operators when expanding macros. It also supports variable-arity
6027 * GDB now supports inspecting extra signal information, exported by
6028 the new $_siginfo convenience variable. The feature is currently
6029 implemented on linux ARM, i386 and amd64.
6031 * GDB can now display the VFP floating point registers and NEON vector
6032 registers on ARM targets. Both ARM GNU/Linux native GDB and gdbserver
6033 can provide these registers (requires Linux 2.6.30 or later). Remote
6034 and simulator targets may also provide them.
6036 * New remote packets
6039 Search memory for a sequence of bytes.
6042 Turn off `+'/`-' protocol acknowledgments to permit more efficient
6043 operation over reliable transport links. Use of this packet is
6044 controlled by the `set remote noack-packet' command.
6047 Kill the process with the specified process ID. Use this in preference
6048 to `k' when multiprocess protocol extensions are supported.
6051 Obtains additional operating system information
6055 Read or write additional signal information.
6057 * Removed remote protocol undocumented extension
6059 An undocumented extension to the remote protocol's `S' stop reply
6060 packet that permitted the stub to pass a process id was removed.
6061 Remote servers should use the `T' stop reply packet instead.
6063 * GDB now supports multiple function calling conventions according to the
6064 DWARF-2 DW_AT_calling_convention function attribute.
6066 * The SH target utilizes the aforementioned change to distinguish between gcc
6067 and Renesas calling convention. It also adds the new CLI commands
6068 `set/show sh calling-convention'.
6070 * GDB can now read compressed debug sections, as produced by GNU gold
6071 with the --compress-debug-sections=zlib flag.
6073 * 64-bit core files are now supported on AIX.
6075 * Thread switching is now supported on Tru64.
6077 * Watchpoints can now be set on unreadable memory locations, e.g. addresses
6078 which will be allocated using malloc later in program execution.
6080 * The qXfer:libraries:read remote protocol packet now allows passing a
6081 list of section offsets.
6083 * On GNU/Linux, GDB can now attach to stopped processes. Several race
6084 conditions handling signals delivered during attach or thread creation
6085 have also been fixed.
6087 * GDB now supports the use of DWARF boolean types for Ada's type Boolean.
6088 From the user's standpoint, all unqualified instances of True and False
6089 are treated as the standard definitions, regardless of context.
6091 * GDB now parses C++ symbol and type names more flexibly. For
6094 template<typename T> class C { };
6097 GDB will now correctly handle all of:
6099 ptype C<char const *>
6100 ptype C<char const*>
6101 ptype C<const char *>
6102 ptype C<const char*>
6104 * New features in the GDB remote stub, gdbserver
6106 - The "--wrapper" command-line argument tells gdbserver to use a
6107 wrapper program to launch programs for debugging.
6109 - On PowerPC and S/390 targets, it is now possible to use a single
6110 gdbserver executable to debug both 32-bit and 64-bit programs.
6111 (This requires gdbserver itself to be built as a 64-bit executable.)
6113 - gdbserver uses the new noack protocol mode for TCP connections to
6114 reduce communications latency, if also supported and enabled in GDB.
6116 - Support for the sparc64-linux-gnu target is now included in
6119 - The amd64-linux build of gdbserver now supports debugging both
6120 32-bit and 64-bit programs.
6122 - The i386-linux, amd64-linux, and i386-win32 builds of gdbserver
6123 now support hardware watchpoints, and will use them automatically
6128 GDB now has support for scripting using Python. Whether this is
6129 available is determined at configure time.
6131 New GDB commands can now be written in Python.
6133 * Ada tasking support
6135 Ada tasks can now be inspected in GDB. The following commands have
6139 Print the list of Ada tasks.
6141 Print detailed information about task number N.
6143 Print the task number of the current task.
6145 Switch the context of debugging to task number N.
6147 * Support for user-defined prefixed commands. The "define" command can
6148 add new commands to existing prefixes, e.g. "target".
6150 * Multi-inferior, multi-process debugging.
6152 GDB now has generalized support for multi-inferior debugging. See
6153 "Debugging Multiple Inferiors" in the manual for more information.
6154 Although availability still depends on target support, the command
6155 set is more uniform now. The GNU/Linux specific multi-forks support
6156 has been migrated to this new framework. This implied some user
6157 visible changes; see "New commands" and also "Removed commands"
6160 * Target descriptions can now describe the target OS ABI. See the
6161 "Target Description Format" section in the user manual for more
6164 * Target descriptions can now describe "compatible" architectures
6165 to indicate that the target can execute applications for a different
6166 architecture in addition to those for the main target architecture.
6167 See the "Target Description Format" section in the user manual for
6170 * Multi-architecture debugging.
6172 GDB now includes general supports for debugging applications on
6173 hybrid systems that use more than one single processor architecture
6174 at the same time. Each such hybrid architecture still requires
6175 specific support to be added. The only hybrid architecture supported
6176 in this version of GDB is the Cell Broadband Engine.
6178 * GDB now supports integrated debugging of Cell/B.E. applications that
6179 use both the PPU and SPU architectures. To enable support for hybrid
6180 Cell/B.E. debugging, you need to configure GDB to support both the
6181 powerpc-linux or powerpc64-linux and the spu-elf targets, using the
6182 --enable-targets configure option.
6184 * Non-stop mode debugging.
6186 For some targets, GDB now supports an optional mode of operation in
6187 which you can examine stopped threads while other threads continue
6188 to execute freely. This is referred to as non-stop mode, with the
6189 old mode referred to as all-stop mode. See the "Non-Stop Mode"
6190 section in the user manual for more information.
6192 To be able to support remote non-stop debugging, a remote stub needs
6193 to implement the non-stop mode remote protocol extensions, as
6194 described in the "Remote Non-Stop" section of the user manual. The
6195 GDB remote stub, gdbserver, has been adjusted to support these
6196 extensions on linux targets.
6198 * New commands (for set/show, see "New options" below)
6200 catch syscall [NAME(S) | NUMBER(S)]
6201 Catch system calls. Arguments, which should be names of system
6202 calls or their numbers, mean catch only those syscalls. Without
6203 arguments, every syscall will be caught. When the inferior issues
6204 any of the specified syscalls, GDB will stop and announce the system
6205 call, both when it is called and when its call returns. This
6206 feature is currently available with a native GDB running on the
6207 Linux Kernel, under the following architectures: x86, x86_64,
6208 PowerPC and PowerPC64.
6210 find [/size-char] [/max-count] start-address, end-address|+search-space-size,
6212 Search memory for a sequence of bytes.
6214 maint set python print-stack
6215 maint show python print-stack
6216 Show a stack trace when an error is encountered in a Python script.
6219 Invoke CODE by passing it to the Python interpreter.
6224 These allow macros to be defined, undefined, and listed
6228 Show operating system information about processes.
6231 List the inferiors currently under GDB's control.
6234 Switch focus to inferior number NUM.
6237 Detach from inferior number NUM.
6240 Kill inferior number NUM.
6244 set spu stop-on-load
6245 show spu stop-on-load
6246 Control whether to stop for new SPE threads during Cell/B.E. debugging.
6248 set spu auto-flush-cache
6249 show spu auto-flush-cache
6250 Control whether to automatically flush the software-managed cache
6251 during Cell/B.E. debugging.
6253 set sh calling-convention
6254 show sh calling-convention
6255 Control the calling convention used when calling SH target functions.
6258 show debug timestamp
6259 Control display of timestamps with GDB debugging output.
6261 set disassemble-next-line
6262 show disassemble-next-line
6263 Control display of disassembled source lines or instructions when
6266 set remote noack-packet
6267 show remote noack-packet
6268 Set/show the use of remote protocol QStartNoAckMode packet. See above
6269 under "New remote packets."
6271 set remote query-attached-packet
6272 show remote query-attached-packet
6273 Control use of remote protocol `qAttached' (query-attached) packet.
6275 set remote read-siginfo-object
6276 show remote read-siginfo-object
6277 Control use of remote protocol `qXfer:siginfo:read' (read-siginfo-object)
6280 set remote write-siginfo-object
6281 show remote write-siginfo-object
6282 Control use of remote protocol `qXfer:siginfo:write' (write-siginfo-object)
6285 set remote reverse-continue
6286 show remote reverse-continue
6287 Control use of remote protocol 'bc' (reverse-continue) packet.
6289 set remote reverse-step
6290 show remote reverse-step
6291 Control use of remote protocol 'bs' (reverse-step) packet.
6293 set displaced-stepping
6294 show displaced-stepping
6295 Control displaced stepping mode. Displaced stepping is a way to
6296 single-step over breakpoints without removing them from the debuggee.
6297 Also known as "out-of-line single-stepping".
6300 show debug displaced
6301 Control display of debugging info for displaced stepping.
6303 maint set internal-error
6304 maint show internal-error
6305 Control what GDB does when an internal error is detected.
6307 maint set internal-warning
6308 maint show internal-warning
6309 Control what GDB does when an internal warning is detected.
6314 Use a wrapper program to launch programs for debugging.
6316 set multiple-symbols (all|ask|cancel)
6317 show multiple-symbols
6318 The value of this variable can be changed to adjust the debugger behavior
6319 when an expression or a breakpoint location contains an ambiguous symbol
6320 name (an overloaded function name, for instance).
6322 set breakpoint always-inserted
6323 show breakpoint always-inserted
6324 Keep breakpoints always inserted in the target, as opposed to inserting
6325 them when resuming the target, and removing them when the target stops.
6326 This option can improve debugger performance on slow remote targets.
6328 set arm fallback-mode (arm|thumb|auto)
6329 show arm fallback-mode
6330 set arm force-mode (arm|thumb|auto)
6332 These commands control how ARM GDB determines whether instructions
6333 are ARM or Thumb. The default for both settings is auto, which uses
6334 the current CPSR value for instructions without symbols; previous
6335 versions of GDB behaved as if "set arm fallback-mode arm".
6337 set arm unwind-secure-frames
6338 Enable unwinding from Non-secure to Secure mode on Cortex-M with
6340 This can trigger security exceptions when unwinding exception stacks.
6342 set disable-randomization
6343 show disable-randomization
6344 Standalone programs run with the virtual address space randomization enabled
6345 by default on some platforms. This option keeps the addresses stable across
6346 multiple debugging sessions.
6350 Control whether other threads are stopped or not when some thread hits
6355 Requests that asynchronous execution is enabled in the target, if available.
6356 In this case, it's possible to resume target in the background, and interact
6357 with GDB while the target is running. "show target-async" displays the
6358 current state of asynchronous execution of the target.
6360 set target-wide-charset
6361 show target-wide-charset
6362 The target-wide-charset is the name of the character set that GDB
6363 uses when printing characters whose type is wchar_t.
6365 set tcp auto-retry (on|off)
6367 set tcp connect-timeout
6368 show tcp connect-timeout
6369 These commands allow GDB to retry failed TCP connections to a remote stub
6370 with a specified timeout period; this is useful if the stub is launched
6371 in parallel with GDB but may not be ready to accept connections immediately.
6373 set libthread-db-search-path
6374 show libthread-db-search-path
6375 Control list of directories which GDB will search for appropriate
6378 set schedule-multiple (on|off)
6379 show schedule-multiple
6380 Allow GDB to resume all threads of all processes or only threads of
6381 the current process.
6385 Use more aggressive caching for accesses to the stack. This improves
6386 performance of remote debugging (particularly backtraces) without
6387 affecting correctness.
6389 set interactive-mode (on|off|auto)
6390 show interactive-mode
6391 Control whether GDB runs in interactive mode (on) or not (off).
6392 When in interactive mode, GDB waits for the user to answer all
6393 queries. Otherwise, GDB does not wait and assumes the default
6394 answer. When set to auto (the default), GDB determines which
6395 mode to use based on the stdin settings.
6400 For program forks, this is replaced by the new more generic `info
6401 inferiors' command. To list checkpoints, you can still use the
6402 `info checkpoints' command, which was an alias for the `info forks'
6406 Replaced by the new `inferior' command. To switch between
6407 checkpoints, you can still use the `restart' command, which was an
6408 alias for the `fork' command.
6411 This is removed, since some targets don't have a notion of
6412 processes. To switch between processes, you can still use the
6413 `inferior' command using GDB's own inferior number.
6416 For program forks, this is replaced by the new more generic `kill
6417 inferior' command. To delete a checkpoint, you can still use the
6418 `delete checkpoint' command, which was an alias for the `delete
6422 For program forks, this is replaced by the new more generic `detach
6423 inferior' command. To detach a checkpoint, you can still use the
6424 `detach checkpoint' command, which was an alias for the `detach
6427 * New native configurations
6429 x86/x86_64 Darwin i[34567]86-*-darwin*
6431 x86_64 MinGW x86_64-*-mingw*
6435 Lattice Mico32 lm32-*
6436 x86 DICOS i[34567]86-*-dicos*
6437 x86_64 DICOS x86_64-*-dicos*
6440 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports x86 Windows CE
6441 (mingw32ce) debugging.
6447 These commands were actually not implemented on any target.
6449 *** Changes in GDB 6.8
6451 * New native configurations
6453 NetBSD/hppa hppa*-*netbsd*
6454 Xtensa GNU/Linux xtensa*-*-linux*
6458 NetBSD/hppa hppa*-*-netbsd*
6459 Xtensa GNU/Linux xtensa*-*-linux*
6461 * Change in command line behavior -- corefiles vs. process ids.
6463 When the '-p NUMBER' or '--pid NUMBER' options are used, and
6464 attaching to process NUMBER fails, GDB no longer attempts to open a
6465 core file named NUMBER. Attaching to a program using the -c option
6466 is no longer supported. Instead, use the '-p' or '--pid' options.
6468 * GDB can now be built as a native debugger for debugging Windows x86
6469 (mingw32) Portable Executable (PE) programs.
6471 * Pending breakpoints no longer change their number when their address
6474 * GDB now supports breakpoints with multiple locations,
6475 including breakpoints on C++ constructors, inside C++ templates,
6476 and in inlined functions.
6478 * GDB's ability to debug optimized code has been improved. GDB more
6479 accurately identifies function bodies and lexical blocks that occupy
6480 more than one contiguous range of addresses.
6482 * Target descriptions can now describe registers for PowerPC.
6484 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports the AltiVec and SPE
6485 registers on PowerPC targets.
6487 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports thread debugging on GNU/Linux
6488 targets even when the libthread_db library is not available.
6490 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports the new file transfer
6491 commands (remote put, remote get, and remote delete).
6493 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports run and attach in
6494 extended-remote mode.
6496 * hppa*64*-*-hpux11* target broken
6497 The debugger is unable to start a program and fails with the following
6498 error: "Error trying to get information about dynamic linker".
6499 The gdb-6.7 release is also affected.
6501 * GDB now supports the --enable-targets= configure option to allow
6502 building a single GDB executable that supports multiple remote
6503 target architectures.
6505 * GDB now supports debugging C and C++ programs which use the
6506 Decimal Floating Point extension. In addition, the PowerPC target
6507 now has a set of pseudo-registers to inspect decimal float values
6508 stored in two consecutive float registers.
6510 * The -break-insert MI command can optionally create pending
6513 * Improved support for debugging Ada
6514 Many improvements to the Ada language support have been made. These
6516 - Better support for Ada2005 interface types
6517 - Improved handling of arrays and slices in general
6518 - Better support for Taft-amendment types
6519 - The '{type} ADDRESS' expression is now allowed on the left hand-side
6521 - Improved command completion in Ada
6524 * GDB on GNU/Linux and HP/UX can now debug through "exec" of a new
6529 set print frame-arguments (all|scalars|none)
6530 show print frame-arguments
6531 The value of this variable can be changed to control which argument
6532 values should be printed by the debugger when displaying a frame.
6537 Transfer files to and from a remote target, and delete remote files.
6544 Transfer files to and from a remote target, and delete remote files.
6546 * New remote packets
6553 Open, close, read, write, and delete files on the remote system.
6556 Attach to an existing process on the remote system, in extended-remote
6560 Run a new process on the remote system, in extended-remote mode.
6562 *** Changes in GDB 6.7
6564 * Resolved 101 resource leaks, null pointer dereferences, etc. in gdb,
6565 bfd, libiberty and opcodes, as revealed by static analysis donated by
6566 Coverity, Inc. (http://scan.coverity.com).
6568 * When looking up multiply-defined global symbols, GDB will now prefer the
6569 symbol definition in the current shared library if it was built using the
6570 -Bsymbolic linker option.
6572 * When the Text User Interface (TUI) is not configured, GDB will now
6573 recognize the -tui command-line option and print a message that the TUI
6576 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now has lower overhead for high
6577 frequency signals (e.g. SIGALRM) via the QPassSignals packet.
6579 * GDB for MIPS targets now autodetects whether a remote target provides
6580 32-bit or 64-bit register values.
6582 * Support for C++ member pointers has been improved.
6584 * GDB now understands XML target descriptions, which specify the
6585 target's overall architecture. GDB can read a description from
6586 a local file or over the remote serial protocol.
6588 * Vectors of single-byte data use a new integer type which is not
6589 automatically displayed as character or string data.
6591 * The /s format now works with the print command. It displays
6592 arrays of single-byte integers and pointers to single-byte integers
6595 * Target descriptions can now describe target-specific registers,
6596 for architectures which have implemented the support (currently
6597 only ARM, M68K, and MIPS).
6599 * GDB and the GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now support the XScale
6602 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, has been updated to support
6603 ARM Windows CE (mingw32ce) debugging, and GDB Windows CE support
6604 has been rewritten to use the standard GDB remote protocol.
6606 * GDB can now step into C++ functions which are called through thunks.
6608 * GDB for the Cell/B.E. SPU now supports overlay debugging.
6610 * The GDB remote protocol "qOffsets" packet can now honor ELF segment
6611 layout. It also supports a TextSeg= and DataSeg= response when only
6612 segment base addresses (rather than offsets) are available.
6614 * The /i format now outputs any trailing branch delay slot instructions
6615 immediately following the last instruction within the count specified.
6617 * The GDB remote protocol "T" stop reply packet now supports a
6618 "library" response. Combined with the new "qXfer:libraries:read"
6619 packet, this response allows GDB to debug shared libraries on targets
6620 where the operating system manages the list of loaded libraries (e.g.
6621 Windows and SymbianOS).
6623 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, now supports dynamic link libraries
6624 (DLLs) on Windows and Windows CE targets.
6626 * GDB now supports a faster verification that a .debug file matches its binary
6627 according to its build-id signature, if the signature is present.
6633 Enable or disable hardware flow control (RTS/CTS) on the serial port
6634 when debugging using remote targets.
6636 set mem inaccessible-by-default
6637 show mem inaccessible-by-default
6638 If the target supplies a memory map, for instance via the remote
6639 protocol's "qXfer:memory-map:read" packet, setting this variable
6640 prevents GDB from accessing memory outside the memory map. This
6641 is useful for targets with memory mapped registers or which react
6642 badly to accesses of unmapped address space.
6644 set breakpoint auto-hw
6645 show breakpoint auto-hw
6646 If the target supplies a memory map, for instance via the remote
6647 protocol's "qXfer:memory-map:read" packet, setting this variable
6648 lets GDB use hardware breakpoints automatically for memory regions
6649 where it can not use software breakpoints. This covers both the
6650 "break" command and internal breakpoints used for other commands
6651 including "next" and "finish".
6654 catch exception unhandled
6655 Stop the program execution when Ada exceptions are raised.
6658 Stop the program execution when an Ada assertion failed.
6662 Set an alternate system root for target files. This is a more
6663 general version of "set solib-absolute-prefix", which is now
6664 an alias to "set sysroot".
6667 Provide extended SPU facility status information. This set of
6668 commands is available only when debugging the Cell/B.E. SPU
6671 * New native configurations
6673 OpenBSD/sh sh*-*openbsd*
6676 unset tdesc filename
6678 Use the specified local file as an XML target description, and do
6679 not query the target for its built-in description.
6683 OpenBSD/sh sh*-*-openbsd*
6684 MIPS64 GNU/Linux (gdbserver) mips64-linux-gnu
6685 Toshiba Media Processor mep-elf
6687 * New remote packets
6690 Ignore the specified signals; pass them directly to the debugged program
6691 without stopping other threads or reporting them to GDB.
6693 qXfer:features:read:
6694 Read an XML target description from the target, which describes its
6699 Read or write contents of an spufs file on the target system. These
6700 packets are available only on the Cell/B.E. SPU architecture.
6702 qXfer:libraries:read:
6703 Report the loaded shared libraries. Combined with new "T" packet
6704 response, this packet allows GDB to debug shared libraries on
6705 targets where the operating system manages the list of loaded
6706 libraries (e.g. Windows and SymbianOS).
6710 Support for these obsolete configurations has been removed.
6718 i[34567]86-*-lynxos*
6719 i[34567]86-*-netware*
6720 i[34567]86-*-sco3.2v5*
6721 i[34567]86-*-sco3.2v4*
6723 i[34567]86-*-sysv4.2*
6726 i[34567]86-*-unixware2*
6727 i[34567]86-*-unixware*
6736 * Other removed features
6743 Various m68k-only ROM monitors.
6750 Various Renesas ROM monitors and debugging interfaces for SH and
6755 Support for a Macraigor serial interface to on-chip debugging.
6756 GDB does not directly support the newer parallel or USB
6761 A debug information format. The predecessor to DWARF 2 and
6762 DWARF 3, which are still supported.
6764 Support for the HP aCC compiler on HP-UX/PA-RISC
6766 SOM-encapsulated symbolic debugging information, automatic
6767 invocation of pxdb, and the aCC custom C++ ABI. This does not
6768 affect HP-UX for Itanium or GCC for HP-UX/PA-RISC. Code compiled
6769 with aCC can still be debugged on an assembly level.
6771 MIPS ".pdr" sections
6773 A MIPS-specific format used to describe stack frame layout
6774 in debugging information.
6778 GDB could work with an older version of Guile to debug
6779 the interpreter and Scheme programs running in it.
6781 set mips stack-arg-size
6782 set mips saved-gpreg-size
6784 Use "set mips abi" to control parameter passing for MIPS.
6786 *** Changes in GDB 6.6
6791 Cell Broadband Engine SPU spu-elf
6793 * GDB can now be configured as a cross-debugger targeting native Windows
6794 (mingw32) or Cygwin. It can communicate with a remote debugging stub
6795 running on a Windows system over TCP/IP to debug Windows programs.
6797 * The GDB remote stub, gdbserver, has been updated to support Windows and
6798 Cygwin debugging. Both single-threaded and multi-threaded programs are
6801 * The "set trust-readonly-sections" command works again. This command was
6802 broken in GDB 6.3, 6.4, and 6.5.
6804 * The "load" command now supports writing to flash memory, if the remote
6805 stub provides the required support.
6807 * Support for GNU/Linux Thread Local Storage (TLS, per-thread variables) no
6808 longer requires symbolic debug information (e.g. DWARF-2).
6813 unset substitute-path
6814 show substitute-path
6815 Manage a list of substitution rules that GDB uses to rewrite the name
6816 of the directories where the sources are located. This can be useful
6817 for instance when the sources were moved to a different location
6818 between compilation and debugging.
6822 Print each CLI command as it is executed. Each command is prefixed with
6823 a number of `+' symbols representing the nesting depth.
6824 The source command now has a `-v' option to enable the same feature.
6828 The ARM Demon monitor support (RDP protocol, "target rdp").
6830 Kernel Object Display, an embedded debugging feature which only worked with
6831 an obsolete version of Cisco IOS.
6833 The 'set download-write-size' and 'show download-write-size' commands.
6835 * New remote packets
6838 Tell a stub about GDB client features, and request remote target features.
6839 The first feature implemented is PacketSize, which allows the target to
6840 specify the size of packets it can handle - to minimize the number of
6841 packets required and improve performance when connected to a remote
6845 Fetch an OS auxiliary vector from the remote stub. This packet is a
6846 more efficient replacement for qPart:auxv:read.
6848 qXfer:memory-map:read:
6849 Fetch a memory map from the remote stub, including information about
6850 RAM, ROM, and flash memory devices.
6855 Erase and program a flash memory device.
6857 * Removed remote packets
6860 This packet has been replaced by qXfer:auxv:read. Only GDB 6.4 and 6.5
6861 used it, and only gdbserver implemented it.
6863 *** Changes in GDB 6.5
6867 Renesas M32C/M16C m32c-elf
6869 Morpho Technologies ms1 ms1-elf
6873 init-if-undefined Initialize a convenience variable, but
6874 only if it doesn't already have a value.
6876 The following commands are presently only implemented for native GNU/Linux:
6878 checkpoint Save a snapshot of the program state.
6880 restart <n> Return the program state to a
6881 previously saved state.
6883 info checkpoints List currently saved checkpoints.
6885 delete-checkpoint <n> Delete a previously saved checkpoint.
6887 set|show detach-on-fork Tell gdb whether to detach from a newly
6888 forked process, or to keep debugging it.
6890 info forks List forks of the user program that
6891 are available to be debugged.
6893 fork <n> Switch to debugging one of several
6894 forks of the user program that are
6895 available to be debugged.
6897 delete-fork <n> Delete a fork from the list of forks
6898 that are available to be debugged (and
6899 kill the forked process).
6901 detach-fork <n> Delete a fork from the list of forks
6902 that are available to be debugged (and
6903 allow the process to continue).
6907 Morpho Technologies ms2 ms1-elf
6909 * Improved Windows host support
6911 GDB now builds as a cross debugger hosted on i686-mingw32, including
6912 native console support, and remote communications using either
6913 network sockets or serial ports.
6915 * Improved Modula-2 language support
6917 GDB can now print most types in the Modula-2 syntax. This includes:
6918 basic types, set types, record types, enumerated types, range types,
6919 pointer types and ARRAY types. Procedure var parameters are correctly
6920 printed and hexadecimal addresses and character constants are also
6921 written in the Modula-2 syntax. Best results can be obtained by using
6922 GNU Modula-2 together with the -gdwarf-2 command line option.
6926 The ARM rdi-share module.
6928 The Netware NLM debug server.
6930 *** Changes in GDB 6.4
6932 * New native configurations
6934 OpenBSD/arm arm*-*-openbsd*
6935 OpenBSD/mips64 mips64-*-openbsd*
6939 Morpho Technologies ms1 ms1-elf
6941 * New command line options
6943 --batch-silent As for --batch, but totally silent.
6944 --return-child-result The debugger will exist with the same value
6945 the child (debugged) program exited with.
6946 --eval-command COMMAND, -ex COMMAND
6947 Execute a single GDB CLI command. This may be
6948 specified multiple times and in conjunction
6949 with the --command (-x) option.
6951 * Deprecated commands removed
6953 The following commands, that were deprecated in 2000, have been
6957 set|show arm disassembly-flavor set|show arm disassembler
6958 othernames set arm disassembler
6959 set|show remotedebug set|show debug remote
6960 set|show archdebug set|show debug arch
6961 set|show eventdebug set|show debug event
6964 * New BSD user-level threads support
6966 It is now possible to debug programs using the user-level threads
6967 library on OpenBSD and FreeBSD. Currently supported (target)
6970 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
6971 FreeBSD/i386 i386-*-freebsd*
6972 OpenBSD/i386 i386-*-openbsd*
6974 Note that the new kernel threads libraries introduced in FreeBSD 5.x
6975 are not yet supported.
6977 * New support for Matsushita MN10300 w/sim added
6978 (Work in progress). mn10300-elf.
6980 * REMOVED configurations and files
6982 VxWorks and the XDR protocol *-*-vxworks
6983 Motorola MCORE mcore-*-*
6984 National Semiconductor NS32000 ns32k-*-*
6986 * New "set print array-indexes" command
6988 After turning this setting "on", GDB prints the index of each element
6989 when displaying arrays. The default is "off" to preserve the previous
6992 * VAX floating point support
6994 GDB now supports the not-quite-ieee VAX F and D floating point formats.
6996 * User-defined command support
6998 In addition to using $arg0..$arg9 for argument passing, it is now possible
6999 to use $argc to determine now many arguments have been passed. See the
7000 section on user-defined commands in the user manual for more information.
7002 *** Changes in GDB 6.3:
7004 * New command line option
7006 GDB now accepts -l followed by a number to set the timeout for remote
7009 * GDB works with GCC -feliminate-dwarf2-dups
7011 GDB now supports a more compact representation of DWARF-2 debug
7012 information using DW_FORM_ref_addr references. These are produced
7013 by GCC with the option -feliminate-dwarf2-dups and also by some
7014 proprietary compilers. With GCC, you must use GCC 3.3.4 or later
7015 to use -feliminate-dwarf2-dups.
7017 * Internationalization
7019 When supported by the host system, GDB will be built with
7020 internationalization (libintl). The task of marking up the sources is
7021 continued, we're looking forward to our first translation.
7025 Initial support for debugging programs compiled with the GNAT
7026 implementation of the Ada programming language has been integrated
7027 into GDB. In this release, support is limited to expression evaluation.
7029 * New native configurations
7031 GNU/Linux/m32r m32r-*-linux-gnu
7035 GDB's remote protocol now includes support for the 'p' packet. This
7036 packet is used to fetch individual registers from a remote inferior.
7038 * END-OF-LIFE registers[] compatibility module
7040 GDB's internal register infrastructure has been completely rewritten.
7041 The new infrastructure making possible the implementation of key new
7042 features including 32x64 (e.g., 64-bit amd64 GDB debugging a 32-bit
7045 GDB 6.3 will be the last release to include the registers[]
7046 compatibility module that allowed out-of-date configurations to
7047 continue to work. This change directly impacts the following
7057 powerpc bdm protocol
7059 Unless there is activity to revive these configurations, they will be
7060 made OBSOLETE in GDB 6.4, and REMOVED from GDB 6.5.
7062 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
7064 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
7065 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
7066 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
7067 permanently REMOVED.
7076 *** Changes in GDB 6.2.1:
7078 * MIPS `break main; run' gave an heuristic-fence-post warning
7080 When attempting to run even a simple program, a warning about
7081 heuristic-fence-post being hit would be reported. This problem has
7084 * MIPS IRIX 'long double' crashed GDB
7086 When examining a long double variable, GDB would get a segmentation
7087 fault. The crash has been fixed (but GDB 6.2 cannot correctly examine
7088 IRIX long double values).
7092 A bug in the VAX stack code was causing problems with the "next"
7093 command. This problem has been fixed.
7095 *** Changes in GDB 6.2:
7097 * Fix for ``many threads''
7099 On GNU/Linux systems that use the NPTL threads library, a program
7100 rapidly creating and deleting threads would confuse GDB leading to the
7103 ptrace: No such process.
7104 thread_db_get_info: cannot get thread info: generic error
7106 This problem has been fixed.
7108 * "-async" and "-noasync" options removed.
7110 Support for the broken "-noasync" option has been removed (it caused
7113 * New ``start'' command.
7115 This command runs the program until the beginning of the main procedure.
7117 * New BSD Kernel Data Access Library (libkvm) interface
7119 Using ``target kvm'' it is now possible to debug kernel core dumps and
7120 live kernel memory images on various FreeBSD, NetBSD and OpenBSD
7121 platforms. Currently supported (native-only) configurations are:
7123 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
7124 FreeBSD/i386 i?86-*-freebsd*
7125 NetBSD/i386 i?86-*-netbsd*
7126 NetBSD/m68k m68*-*-netbsd*
7127 NetBSD/sparc sparc-*-netbsd*
7128 OpenBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-openbsd*
7129 OpenBSD/i386 i?86-*-openbsd*
7130 OpenBSD/m68k m68*-openbsd*
7131 OpenBSD/sparc sparc-*-openbsd*
7133 * Signal trampoline code overhauled
7135 Many generic problems with GDB's signal handling code have been fixed.
7136 These include: backtraces through non-contiguous stacks; recognition
7137 of sa_sigaction signal trampolines; backtrace from a NULL pointer
7138 call; backtrace through a signal trampoline; step into and out of
7139 signal handlers; and single-stepping in the signal trampoline.
7141 Please note that kernel bugs are a limiting factor here. These
7142 features have been shown to work on an s390 GNU/Linux system that
7143 include a 2.6.8-rc1 kernel. Ref PR breakpoints/1702.
7145 * Cygwin support for DWARF 2 added.
7147 * New native configurations
7149 GNU/Linux/hppa hppa*-*-linux*
7150 OpenBSD/hppa hppa*-*-openbsd*
7151 OpenBSD/m68k m68*-*-openbsd*
7152 OpenBSD/m88k m88*-*-openbsd*
7153 OpenBSD/powerpc powerpc-*-openbsd*
7154 NetBSD/vax vax-*-netbsd*
7155 OpenBSD/vax vax-*-openbsd*
7157 * END-OF-LIFE frame compatibility module
7159 GDB's internal frame infrastructure has been completely rewritten.
7160 The new infrastructure making it possible to support key new features
7161 including DWARF 2 Call Frame Information. To aid in the task of
7162 migrating old configurations to this new infrastructure, a
7163 compatibility module, that allowed old configurations to continue to
7164 work, was also included.
7166 GDB 6.2 will be the last release to include this frame compatibility
7167 module. This change directly impacts the following configurations:
7177 Unless there is activity to revive these configurations, they will be
7178 made OBSOLETE in GDB 6.3, and REMOVED from GDB 6.4.
7180 * REMOVED configurations and files
7182 Sun 3, running SunOS 3 m68*-*-sunos3*
7183 Sun 3, running SunOS 4 m68*-*-sunos4*
7184 Sun 2, running SunOS 3 m68000-*-sunos3*
7185 Sun 2, running SunOS 4 m68000-*-sunos4*
7186 Motorola 680x0 running LynxOS m68*-*-lynxos*
7187 AT&T 3b1/Unix pc m68*-att-*
7188 Bull DPX2 (68k, System V release 3) m68*-bull-sysv*
7189 decstation mips-dec-* mips-little-*
7190 riscos mips-*-riscos* mips-*-sysv*
7191 sonymips mips-sony-*
7192 sysv mips*-*-sysv4* (IRIX 5/6 not included)
7194 *** Changes in GDB 6.1.1:
7196 * TUI (Text-mode User Interface) built-in (also included in GDB 6.1)
7198 The TUI (Text-mode User Interface) is now built as part of a default
7199 GDB configuration. It is enabled by either selecting the TUI with the
7200 command line option "-i=tui" or by running the separate "gdbtui"
7201 program. For more information on the TUI, see the manual "Debugging
7204 * Pending breakpoint support (also included in GDB 6.1)
7206 Support has been added to allow you to specify breakpoints in shared
7207 libraries that have not yet been loaded. If a breakpoint location
7208 cannot be found, and the "breakpoint pending" option is set to auto,
7209 GDB queries you if you wish to make the breakpoint pending on a future
7210 shared-library load. If and when GDB resolves the breakpoint symbol,
7211 the pending breakpoint is removed as one or more regular breakpoints
7214 Pending breakpoints are very useful for GCJ Java debugging.
7216 * Fixed ISO-C build problems
7218 The files bfd/elf-bfd.h, gdb/dictionary.c and gdb/types.c contained
7219 non ISO-C code that stopped them being built using a more strict ISO-C
7220 compiler (e.g., IBM's C compiler).
7222 * Fixed build problem on IRIX 5
7224 Due to header problems with <sys/proc.h>, the file gdb/proc-api.c
7225 wasn't able to compile compile on an IRIX 5 system.
7227 * Added execute permission to gdb/gdbserver/configure
7229 The shell script gdb/testsuite/gdb.stabs/configure lacked execute
7230 permission. This bug would cause configure to fail on a number of
7231 systems (Solaris, IRIX). Ref: server/519.
7233 * Fixed build problem on hpux2.0w-hp-hpux11.00 using the HP ANSI C compiler
7235 Older HPUX ANSI C compilers did not accept variable array sizes. somsolib.c
7236 has been updated to use constant array sizes.
7238 * Fixed a panic in the DWARF Call Frame Info code on Solaris 2.7
7240 GCC 3.3.2, on Solaris 2.7, includes the DW_EH_PE_funcrel encoding in
7241 its generated DWARF Call Frame Info. This encoding was causing GDB to
7242 panic, that panic has been fixed. Ref: gdb/1628.
7244 * Fixed a problem when examining parameters in shared library code.
7246 When examining parameters in optimized shared library code generated
7247 by a mainline GCC, GDB would incorrectly report ``Variable "..." is
7248 not available''. GDB now correctly displays the variable's value.
7250 *** Changes in GDB 6.1:
7252 * Removed --with-mmalloc
7254 Support for the mmalloc memory manager has been removed, as it
7255 conflicted with the internal gdb byte cache.
7257 * Changes in AMD64 configurations
7259 The AMD64 target now includes the %cs and %ss registers. As a result
7260 the AMD64 remote protocol has changed; this affects the floating-point
7261 and SSE registers. If you rely on those registers for your debugging,
7262 you should upgrade gdbserver on the remote side.
7264 * Revised SPARC target
7266 The SPARC target has been completely revised, incorporating the
7267 FreeBSD/sparc64 support that was added for GDB 6.0. As a result
7268 support for LynxOS and SunOS 4 has been dropped. Calling functions
7269 from within GDB on operating systems with a non-executable stack
7270 (Solaris, OpenBSD) now works.
7274 GDB has a new C++ demangler which does a better job on the mangled
7275 names generated by current versions of g++. It also runs faster, so
7276 with this and other changes gdb should now start faster on large C++
7279 * DWARF 2 Location Expressions
7281 GDB support for location expressions has been extended to support function
7282 arguments and frame bases. Older versions of GDB could crash when they
7285 * C++ nested types and namespaces
7287 GDB's support for nested types and namespaces in C++ has been
7288 improved, especially if you use the DWARF 2 debugging format. (This
7289 is the default for recent versions of GCC on most platforms.)
7290 Specifically, if you have a class "Inner" defined within a class or
7291 namespace "Outer", then GDB realizes that the class's name is
7292 "Outer::Inner", not simply "Inner". This should greatly reduce the
7293 frequency of complaints about not finding RTTI symbols. In addition,
7294 if you are stopped at inside of a function defined within a namespace,
7295 GDB modifies its name lookup accordingly.
7297 * New native configurations
7299 NetBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-netbsd*
7300 OpenBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-openbsd*
7301 OpenBSD/alpha alpha*-*-openbsd*
7302 OpenBSD/sparc sparc-*-openbsd*
7303 OpenBSD/sparc64 sparc64-*-openbsd*
7305 * New debugging protocols
7307 M32R with SDI protocol m32r-*-elf*
7309 * "set prompt-escape-char" command deleted.
7311 The command "set prompt-escape-char" has been deleted. This command,
7312 and its very obscure effect on GDB's prompt, was never documented,
7313 tested, nor mentioned in the NEWS file.
7315 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
7317 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
7318 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
7319 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
7320 permanently REMOVED.
7322 Sun 3, running SunOS 3 m68*-*-sunos3*
7323 Sun 3, running SunOS 4 m68*-*-sunos4*
7324 Sun 2, running SunOS 3 m68000-*-sunos3*
7325 Sun 2, running SunOS 4 m68000-*-sunos4*
7326 Motorola 680x0 running LynxOS m68*-*-lynxos*
7327 AT&T 3b1/Unix pc m68*-att-*
7328 Bull DPX2 (68k, System V release 3) m68*-bull-sysv*
7329 decstation mips-dec-* mips-little-*
7330 riscos mips-*-riscos* mips-*-sysv*
7331 sonymips mips-sony-*
7332 sysv mips*-*-sysv4* (IRIX 5/6 not included)
7334 * REMOVED configurations and files
7336 SGI Irix-4.x mips-sgi-irix4 or iris4
7337 SGI Iris (MIPS) running Irix V3: mips-sgi-irix or iris
7338 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
7339 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
7340 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
7341 HP/PA running BSD hppa*-*-bsd*
7342 HP/PA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
7343 HP/PA Pro target hppa*-*-pro*
7344 PMAX (MIPS) running Mach 3.0 mips*-*-mach3*
7345 386BSD i[3456]86-*-bsd*
7346 Sequent family i[3456]86-sequent-sysv4*
7347 i[3456]86-sequent-sysv*
7348 i[3456]86-sequent-bsd*
7349 SPARC running LynxOS sparc-*-lynxos*
7350 SPARC running SunOS 4 sparc-*-sunos4*
7351 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
7352 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
7354 *** Changes in GDB 6.0:
7358 Support for debugging the Objective-C programming language has been
7359 integrated into GDB.
7361 * New backtrace mechanism (includes DWARF 2 Call Frame Information).
7363 DWARF 2's Call Frame Information makes available compiler generated
7364 information that more exactly describes the program's run-time stack.
7365 By using this information, GDB is able to provide more robust stack
7368 The i386, amd64 (nee, x86-64), Alpha, m68hc11, ia64, and m32r targets
7369 have been updated to use a new backtrace mechanism which includes
7370 DWARF 2 CFI support.
7374 GDB's remote protocol has been extended to include support for hosted
7375 file I/O (where the remote target uses GDB's file system). See GDB's
7376 remote protocol documentation for details.
7378 * All targets using the new architecture framework.
7380 All of GDB's targets have been updated to use the new internal
7381 architecture framework. The way is now open for future GDB releases
7382 to include cross-architecture native debugging support (i386 on amd64,
7385 * GNU/Linux's Thread Local Storage (TLS)
7387 GDB now includes support for for the GNU/Linux implementation of
7388 per-thread variables.
7390 * GNU/Linux's Native POSIX Thread Library (NPTL)
7392 GDB's thread code has been updated to work with either the new
7393 GNU/Linux NPTL thread library or the older "LinuxThreads" library.
7395 * Separate debug info.
7397 GDB, in conjunction with BINUTILS, now supports a mechanism for
7398 automatically loading debug information from a separate file. Instead
7399 of shipping full debug and non-debug versions of system libraries,
7400 system integrators can now instead ship just the stripped libraries
7401 and optional debug files.
7403 * DWARF 2 Location Expressions
7405 DWARF 2 Location Expressions allow the compiler to more completely
7406 describe the location of variables (even in optimized code) to the
7409 GDB now includes preliminary support for location expressions (support
7410 for DW_OP_piece is still missing).
7414 A number of long standing bugs that caused GDB to die while starting a
7415 Java application have been fixed. GDB's Java support is now
7416 considered "useable".
7418 * GNU/Linux support for fork, vfork, and exec.
7420 The "catch fork", "catch exec", "catch vfork", and "set follow-fork-mode"
7421 commands are now implemented for GNU/Linux. They require a 2.5.x or later
7424 * GDB supports logging output to a file
7426 There are two new commands, "set logging" and "show logging", which can be
7427 used to capture GDB's output to a file.
7429 * The meaning of "detach" has changed for gdbserver
7431 The "detach" command will now resume the application, as documented. To
7432 disconnect from gdbserver and leave it stopped, use the new "disconnect"
7435 * d10v, m68hc11 `regs' command deprecated
7437 The `info registers' command has been updated so that it displays the
7438 registers using a format identical to the old `regs' command.
7442 A new command, "maint set profile on/off", has been added. This command can
7443 be used to enable or disable profiling while running GDB, to profile a
7444 session or a set of commands. In addition there is a new configure switch,
7445 "--enable-profiling", which will cause GDB to be compiled with profiling
7446 data, for more informative profiling results.
7448 * Default MI syntax changed to "mi2".
7450 The default MI (machine interface) syntax, enabled by the command line
7451 option "-i=mi", has been changed to "mi2". The previous MI syntax,
7452 "mi1", can be enabled by specifying the option "-i=mi1".
7454 Support for the original "mi0" syntax (included in GDB 5.0) has been
7457 Fix for gdb/192: removed extraneous space when displaying frame level.
7458 Fix for gdb/672: update changelist is now output in mi list format.
7459 Fix for gdb/702: a -var-assign that updates the value now shows up
7460 in a subsequent -var-update.
7462 * New native configurations.
7464 FreeBSD/amd64 x86_64-*-freebsd*
7466 * Multi-arched targets.
7468 HP/PA HPUX11 hppa*-*-hpux*
7469 Renesas M32R/D w/simulator m32r-*-elf*
7471 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
7473 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
7474 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
7475 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
7476 permanently REMOVED.
7478 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
7479 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
7480 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
7481 HP/PA running BSD hppa*-*-bsd*
7482 HP/PA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
7483 HP/PA Pro target hppa*-*-pro*
7484 PMAX (MIPS) running Mach 3.0 mips*-*-mach3*
7485 Sequent family i[3456]86-sequent-sysv4*
7486 i[3456]86-sequent-sysv*
7487 i[3456]86-sequent-bsd*
7488 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
7489 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
7491 * REMOVED configurations and files
7494 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
7495 IBM AIX PS/2 i[3456]86-*-aix
7496 i386 running Mach 3.0 i[3456]86-*-mach3*
7497 i386 running Mach i[3456]86-*-mach*
7498 i386 running OSF/1 i[3456]86-*osf1mk*
7499 HP/Apollo 68k Family m68*-apollo*-sysv*,
7501 m68*-hp-bsd*, m68*-hp-hpux*
7502 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
7503 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
7504 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
7505 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
7506 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
7508 * MIPS $fp behavior changed
7510 The convenience variable $fp, for the MIPS, now consistently returns
7511 the address of the current frame's base. Previously, depending on the
7512 context, $fp could refer to either $sp or the current frame's base
7513 address. See ``8.10 Registers'' in the manual ``Debugging with GDB:
7514 The GNU Source-Level Debugger''.
7516 *** Changes in GDB 5.3:
7518 * GNU/Linux shared library multi-threaded performance improved.
7520 When debugging a multi-threaded application on GNU/Linux, GDB now uses
7521 `/proc', in preference to `ptrace' for memory reads. This may result
7522 in an improvement in the start-up time of multi-threaded, shared
7523 library applications when run under GDB. One GDB user writes: ``loads
7524 shared libs like mad''.
7526 * ``gdbserver'' now supports multi-threaded applications on some targets
7528 Support for debugging multi-threaded applications which use
7529 the GNU/Linux LinuxThreads package has been added for
7530 arm*-*-linux*-gnu*, i[3456]86-*-linux*-gnu*, mips*-*-linux*-gnu*,
7531 powerpc*-*-linux*-gnu*, and sh*-*-linux*-gnu*.
7533 * GDB now supports C/C++ preprocessor macros.
7535 GDB now expands preprocessor macro invocations in C/C++ expressions,
7536 and provides various commands for showing macro definitions and how
7539 The new command `macro expand EXPRESSION' expands any macro
7540 invocations in expression, and shows the result.
7542 The new command `show macro MACRO-NAME' shows the definition of the
7543 macro named MACRO-NAME, and where it was defined.
7545 Most compilers don't include information about macros in the debugging
7546 information by default. In GCC 3.1, for example, you need to compile
7547 your program with the options `-gdwarf-2 -g3'. If the macro
7548 information is present in the executable, GDB will read it.
7550 * Multi-arched targets.
7552 DEC Alpha (partial) alpha*-*-*
7553 DEC VAX (partial) vax-*-*
7555 National Semiconductor NS32000 (partial) ns32k-*-*
7556 Motorola 68000 (partial) m68k-*-*
7557 Motorola MCORE mcore-*-*
7561 Fujitsu FRV architecture added by Red Hat frv*-*-*
7564 * New native configurations
7566 Alpha NetBSD alpha*-*-netbsd*
7567 SH NetBSD sh*-*-netbsdelf*
7568 MIPS NetBSD mips*-*-netbsd*
7569 UltraSPARC NetBSD sparc64-*-netbsd*
7571 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
7573 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
7574 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
7575 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
7576 permanently REMOVED.
7578 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
7579 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
7580 IBM AIX PS/2 i[3456]86-*-aix
7581 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
7582 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
7583 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
7584 i386 running Mach 3.0 i[3456]86-*-mach3*
7585 i386 running Mach i[3456]86-*-mach*
7586 i386 running OSF/1 i[3456]86-*osf1mk*
7587 HP/Apollo 68k Family m68*-apollo*-sysv*,
7589 m68*-hp-bsd*, m68*-hp-hpux*
7590 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
7592 * OBSOLETE languages
7594 CHILL, a Pascal like language used by telecommunications companies.
7596 * REMOVED configurations and files
7598 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi, udi29k
7599 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
7600 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
7601 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
7602 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
7604 testsuite/gdb.hp/gdb.threads-hp/ directory
7606 * New command "set max-user-call-depth <nnn>"
7608 This command allows the user to limit the call depth of user-defined
7609 commands. The default is 1024.
7611 * Changes in FreeBSD/i386 native debugging.
7613 Support for the "generate-core-file" has been added.
7615 * New commands "dump", "append", and "restore".
7617 These commands allow data to be copied from target memory
7618 to a bfd-format or binary file (dump and append), and back
7619 from a file into memory (restore).
7621 * Improved "next/step" support on multi-processor Alpha Tru64.
7623 The previous single-step mechanism could cause unpredictable problems,
7624 including the random appearance of SIGSEGV or SIGTRAP signals. The use
7625 of a software single-step mechanism prevents this.
7627 *** Changes in GDB 5.2.1:
7635 gdb/182: gdb/323: gdb/237: On alpha, gdb was reporting:
7636 mdebugread.c:2443: gdb-internal-error: sect_index_data not initialized
7637 Fix, by Joel Brobecker imported from mainline.
7639 gdb/439: gdb/291: On some ELF object files, gdb was reporting:
7640 dwarf2read.c:1072: gdb-internal-error: sect_index_text not initialize
7641 Fix, by Fred Fish, imported from mainline.
7643 Dwarf2 .debug_frame & .eh_frame handler improved in many ways.
7644 Surprisingly enough, it works now.
7645 By Michal Ludvig, imported from mainline.
7647 i386 hardware watchpoint support:
7648 avoid misses on second run for some targets.
7649 By Pierre Muller, imported from mainline.
7651 *** Changes in GDB 5.2:
7653 * New command "set trust-readonly-sections on[off]".
7655 This command is a hint that tells gdb that read-only sections
7656 really are read-only (ie. that their contents will not change).
7657 In this mode, gdb will go to the object file rather than the
7658 target to read memory from read-only sections (such as ".text").
7659 This can be a significant performance improvement on some
7660 (notably embedded) targets.
7662 * New command "generate-core-file" (or "gcore").
7664 This new gdb command allows the user to drop a core file of the child
7665 process state at any time. So far it's been implemented only for
7666 GNU/Linux and Solaris, but should be relatively easily ported to other
7667 hosts. Argument is core file name (defaults to core.<pid>).
7669 * New command line option
7671 GDB now accepts --pid or -p followed by a process id.
7673 * Change in command line behavior -- corefiles vs. process ids.
7675 There is a subtle behavior in the way in which GDB handles
7676 command line arguments. The first non-flag argument is always
7677 a program to debug, but the second non-flag argument may either
7678 be a corefile or a process id. Previously, GDB would attempt to
7679 open the second argument as a corefile, and if that failed, would
7680 issue a superfluous error message and then attempt to attach it as
7681 a process. Now, if the second argument begins with a non-digit,
7682 it will be treated as a corefile. If it begins with a digit,
7683 GDB will attempt to attach it as a process, and if no such process
7684 is found, will then attempt to open it as a corefile.
7686 * Changes in ARM configurations.
7688 Multi-arch support is enabled for all ARM configurations. The ARM/NetBSD
7689 configuration is fully multi-arch.
7691 * New native configurations
7693 ARM NetBSD arm*-*-netbsd*
7694 x86 OpenBSD i[3456]86-*-openbsd*
7695 AMD x86-64 running GNU/Linux x86_64-*-linux-*
7696 Sparc64 running FreeBSD sparc64-*-freebsd*
7700 Sanyo XStormy16 xstormy16-elf
7702 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
7704 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
7705 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
7706 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
7707 permanently REMOVED.
7709 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi, udi29k
7710 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
7711 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
7712 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
7713 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
7715 testsuite/gdb.hp/gdb.threads-hp/ directory
7717 * REMOVED configurations and files
7719 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
7721 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
7722 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
7723 PowerPC Netware powerpc-*-netware*
7724 Harris/CXUX m88k m88*-harris-cxux*
7725 Most ns32k hosts and targets ns32k-*-mach3* ns32k-umax-*
7726 ns32k-utek-sysv* ns32k-utek-*
7727 SunOS 4.0.Xi on i386 i[3456]86-*-sunos*
7728 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1 a29k-nyu-sym1 a29k-*-kern*
7729 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x m68*-sony-sysv news
7730 ISI Optimum V (3.05) under 4.3bsd. m68*-isi-*
7731 Apple Macintosh (MPW) host and target N/A host, powerpc-*-macos*
7733 * Changes to command line processing
7735 The new `--args' feature can be used to specify command-line arguments
7736 for the inferior from gdb's command line.
7738 * Changes to key bindings
7740 There is a new `operate-and-get-next' function bound to `C-o'.
7742 *** Changes in GDB 5.1.1
7744 Fix compile problem on DJGPP.
7746 Fix a problem with floating-point registers on the i386 being
7749 Fix to stop GDB crashing on .debug_str debug info.
7751 Numerous documentation fixes.
7753 Numerous testsuite fixes.
7755 *** Changes in GDB 5.1:
7757 * New native configurations
7759 Alpha FreeBSD alpha*-*-freebsd*
7760 x86 FreeBSD 3.x and 4.x i[3456]86*-freebsd[34]*
7761 MIPS GNU/Linux mips*-*-linux*
7762 MIPS SGI Irix 6.x mips*-sgi-irix6*
7763 ia64 AIX ia64-*-aix*
7764 s390 and s390x GNU/Linux {s390,s390x}-*-linux*
7768 Motorola 68HC11 and 68HC12 m68hc11-elf
7770 UltraSparc running GNU/Linux sparc64-*-linux*
7772 * OBSOLETE configurations and files
7774 x86 FreeBSD before 2.2 i[3456]86*-freebsd{1,2.[01]}*,
7775 Harris/CXUX m88k m88*-harris-cxux*
7776 Most ns32k hosts and targets ns32k-*-mach3* ns32k-umax-*
7777 ns32k-utek-sysv* ns32k-utek-*
7778 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
7780 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1 a29k-nyu-sym1 a29k-*-kern*
7781 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
7782 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
7783 PowerPC Netware powerpc-*-netware*
7784 SunOS 4.0.Xi on i386 i[3456]86-*-sunos*
7785 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x m68*-sony-sysv news
7786 ISI Optimum V (3.05) under 4.3bsd. m68*-isi-*
7787 Apple Macintosh (MPW) host N/A
7789 stuff.c (Program to stuff files into a specially prepared space in kdb)
7790 kdb-start.c (Main loop for the standalone kernel debugger)
7792 Configurations that have been declared obsolete in this release have
7793 been commented out. Unless there is activity to revive these
7794 configurations, the next release of GDB will have their sources
7795 permanently REMOVED.
7797 * REMOVED configurations and files
7799 Altos 3068 m68*-altos-*
7800 Convex c1-*-*, c2-*-*
7802 ARM RISCix arm-*-* (as host)
7806 * GDB has been converted to ISO C.
7808 GDB's source code has been converted to ISO C. In particular, the
7809 sources are fully protoized, and rely on standard headers being
7814 * "info symbol" works on platforms which use COFF, ECOFF, XCOFF, and NLM.
7816 * The MI enabled by default.
7818 The new machine oriented interface (MI) introduced in GDB 5.0 has been
7819 revised and enabled by default. Packages which use GDB as a debugging
7820 engine behind a UI or another front end are encouraged to switch to
7821 using the GDB/MI interface, instead of the old annotations interface
7822 which is now deprecated.
7824 * Support for debugging Pascal programs.
7826 GDB now includes support for debugging Pascal programs. The following
7827 main features are supported:
7829 - Pascal-specific data types such as sets;
7831 - automatic recognition of Pascal sources based on file-name
7834 - Pascal-style display of data types, variables, and functions;
7836 - a Pascal expression parser.
7838 However, some important features are not yet supported.
7840 - Pascal string operations are not supported at all;
7842 - there are some problems with boolean types;
7844 - Pascal type hexadecimal constants are not supported
7845 because they conflict with the internal variables format;
7847 - support for Pascal objects and classes is not full yet;
7849 - unlike Pascal, GDB is case-sensitive for symbol names.
7851 * Changes in completion.
7853 Commands such as `shell', `run' and `set args', which pass arguments
7854 to inferior programs, now complete on file names, similar to what
7855 users expect at the shell prompt.
7857 Commands which accept locations, such as `disassemble', `print',
7858 `breakpoint', `until', etc. now complete on filenames as well as
7859 program symbols. Thus, if you type "break foob TAB", and the source
7860 files linked into the programs include `foobar.c', that file name will
7861 be one of the candidates for completion. However, file names are not
7862 considered for completion after you typed a colon that delimits a file
7863 name from a name of a function in that file, as in "break foo.c:bar".
7865 `set demangle-style' completes on available demangling styles.
7867 * New platform-independent commands:
7869 It is now possible to define a post-hook for a command as well as a
7870 hook that runs before the command. For more details, see the
7871 documentation of `hookpost' in the GDB manual.
7873 * Changes in GNU/Linux native debugging.
7875 Support for debugging multi-threaded programs has been completely
7876 revised for all platforms except m68k and sparc. You can now debug as
7877 many threads as your system allows you to have.
7879 Attach/detach is supported for multi-threaded programs.
7881 Support for SSE registers was added for x86. This doesn't work for
7882 multi-threaded programs though.
7884 * Changes in MIPS configurations.
7886 Multi-arch support is enabled for all MIPS configurations.
7888 GDB can now be built as native debugger on SGI Irix 6.x systems for
7889 debugging n32 executables. (Debugging 64-bit executables is not yet
7892 * Unified support for hardware watchpoints in all x86 configurations.
7894 Most (if not all) native x86 configurations support hardware-assisted
7895 breakpoints and watchpoints in a unified manner. This support
7896 implements debug register sharing between watchpoints, which allows to
7897 put a virtually infinite number of watchpoints on the same address,
7898 and also supports watching regions up to 16 bytes with several debug
7901 The new maintenance command `maintenance show-debug-regs' toggles
7902 debugging print-outs in functions that insert, remove, and test
7903 watchpoints and hardware breakpoints.
7905 * Changes in the DJGPP native configuration.
7907 New command ``info dos sysinfo'' displays assorted information about
7908 the CPU, OS, memory, and DPMI server.
7910 New commands ``info dos gdt'', ``info dos ldt'', and ``info dos idt''
7911 display information about segment descriptors stored in GDT, LDT, and
7914 New commands ``info dos pde'' and ``info dos pte'' display entries
7915 from Page Directory and Page Tables (for now works with CWSDPMI only).
7916 New command ``info dos address-pte'' displays the Page Table entry for
7917 a given linear address.
7919 GDB can now pass command lines longer than 126 characters to the
7920 program being debugged (requires an update to the libdbg.a library
7921 which is part of the DJGPP development kit).
7923 DWARF2 debug info is now supported.
7925 It is now possible to `step' and `next' through calls to `longjmp'.
7927 * Changes in documentation.
7929 All GDB documentation was converted to GFDL, the GNU Free
7930 Documentation License.
7932 Tracepoints-related commands are now fully documented in the GDB
7935 TUI, the Text-mode User Interface, is now documented in the manual.
7937 Tracepoints-related commands are now fully documented in the GDB
7940 The "GDB Internals" manual now has an index. It also includes
7941 documentation of `ui_out' functions, GDB coding standards, x86
7942 hardware watchpoints, and memory region attributes.
7944 * GDB's version number moved to ``version.in''
7946 The Makefile variable VERSION has been replaced by the file
7947 ``version.in''. People creating GDB distributions should update the
7948 contents of this file.
7952 GUD support is now a standard part of the EMACS distribution.
7954 *** Changes in GDB 5.0:
7956 * Improved support for debugging FP programs on x86 targets
7958 Unified and much-improved support for debugging floating-point
7959 programs on all x86 targets. In particular, ``info float'' now
7960 displays the FP registers in the same format on all x86 targets, with
7961 greater level of detail.
7963 * Improvements and bugfixes in hardware-assisted watchpoints
7965 It is now possible to watch array elements, struct members, and
7966 bitfields with hardware-assisted watchpoints. Data-read watchpoints
7967 on x86 targets no longer erroneously trigger when the address is
7970 * Improvements in the native DJGPP version of GDB
7972 The distribution now includes all the scripts and auxiliary files
7973 necessary to build the native DJGPP version on MS-DOS/MS-Windows
7974 machines ``out of the box''.
7976 The DJGPP version can now debug programs that use signals. It is
7977 possible to catch signals that happened in the debuggee, deliver
7978 signals to it, interrupt it with Ctrl-C, etc. (Previously, a signal
7979 would kill the program being debugged.) Programs that hook hardware
7980 interrupts (keyboard, timer, etc.) can also be debugged.
7982 It is now possible to debug DJGPP programs that redirect their
7983 standard handles or switch them to raw (as opposed to cooked) mode, or
7984 even close them. The command ``run < foo > bar'' works as expected,
7985 and ``info terminal'' reports useful information about the debuggee's
7986 terminal, including raw/cooked mode, redirection, etc.
7988 The DJGPP version now uses termios functions for console I/O, which
7989 enables debugging graphics programs. Interrupting GDB with Ctrl-C
7992 DOS-style file names with drive letters are now fully supported by
7995 It is now possible to debug DJGPP programs that switch their working
7996 directory. It is also possible to rerun the debuggee any number of
7997 times without restarting GDB; thus, you can use the same setup,
7998 breakpoints, etc. for many debugging sessions.
8000 * New native configurations
8002 ARM GNU/Linux arm*-*-linux*
8003 PowerPC GNU/Linux powerpc-*-linux*
8007 Motorola MCore mcore-*-*
8008 x86 VxWorks i[3456]86-*-vxworks*
8009 PowerPC VxWorks powerpc-*-vxworks*
8010 TI TMS320C80 tic80-*-*
8012 * OBSOLETE configurations
8014 Altos 3068 m68*-altos-*
8015 Convex c1-*-*, c2-*-*
8017 ARM RISCix arm-*-* (as host)
8020 Configurations that have been declared obsolete will be commented out,
8021 but the code will be left in place. If there is no activity to revive
8022 these configurations before the next release of GDB, the sources will
8023 be permanently REMOVED.
8025 * Gould support removed
8027 Support for the Gould PowerNode and NP1 has been removed.
8029 * New features for SVR4
8031 On SVR4 native platforms (such as Solaris), if you attach to a process
8032 without first loading a symbol file, GDB will now attempt to locate and
8033 load symbols from the running process's executable file.
8035 * Many C++ enhancements
8037 C++ support has been greatly improved. Overload resolution now works properly
8038 in almost all cases. RTTI support is on the way.
8040 * Remote targets can connect to a sub-program
8042 A popen(3) style serial-device has been added. This device starts a
8043 sub-process (such as a stand-alone simulator) and then communicates
8044 with that. The sub-program to run is specified using the syntax
8045 ``|<program> <args>'' vis:
8047 (gdb) set remotedebug 1
8048 (gdb) target extended-remote |mn10300-elf-sim program-args
8050 * MIPS 64 remote protocol
8052 A long standing bug in the mips64 remote protocol where by GDB
8053 expected certain 32 bit registers (ex SR) to be transferred as 32
8054 instead of 64 bits has been fixed.
8056 The command ``set remote-mips64-transfers-32bit-regs on'' has been
8057 added to provide backward compatibility with older versions of GDB.
8059 * ``set remotebinarydownload'' replaced by ``set remote X-packet''
8061 The command ``set remotebinarydownload'' command has been replaced by
8062 ``set remote X-packet''. Other commands in ``set remote'' family
8063 include ``set remote P-packet''.
8065 * Breakpoint commands accept ranges.
8067 The breakpoint commands ``enable'', ``disable'', and ``delete'' now
8068 accept a range of breakpoints, e.g. ``5-7''. The tracepoint command
8069 ``tracepoint passcount'' also accepts a range of tracepoints.
8071 * ``apropos'' command added.
8073 The ``apropos'' command searches through command names and
8074 documentation strings, printing out matches, making it much easier to
8075 try to find a command that does what you are looking for.
8079 A new machine oriented interface (MI) has been added to GDB. This
8080 interface is designed for debug environments running GDB as a separate
8081 process. This is part of the long term libGDB project. See the
8082 "GDB/MI" chapter of the GDB manual for further information. It can be
8083 enabled by configuring with:
8085 .../configure --enable-gdbmi
8087 *** Changes in GDB-4.18:
8089 * New native configurations
8091 HP-UX 10.20 hppa*-*-hpux10.20
8092 HP-UX 11.x hppa*-*-hpux11.0*
8093 M68K GNU/Linux m68*-*-linux*
8097 Fujitsu FR30 fr30-*-elf*
8098 Intel StrongARM strongarm-*-*
8099 Mitsubishi D30V d30v-*-*
8101 * OBSOLETE configurations
8103 Gould PowerNode, NP1 np1-*-*, pn-*-*
8105 Configurations that have been declared obsolete will be commented out,
8106 but the code will be left in place. If there is no activity to revive
8107 these configurations before the next release of GDB, the sources will
8108 be permanently REMOVED.
8112 As a compatibility experiment, GDB's source files buildsym.h and
8113 buildsym.c have been converted to pure standard C, no longer
8114 containing any K&R compatibility code. We believe that all systems in
8115 use today either come with a standard C compiler, or have a GCC port
8116 available. If this is not true, please report the affected
8117 configuration to bug-gdb@gnu.org immediately. See the README file for
8118 information about getting a standard C compiler if you don't have one
8123 GDB now uses readline 2.2.
8125 * set extension-language
8127 You can now control the mapping between filename extensions and source
8128 languages by using the `set extension-language' command. For instance,
8129 you can ask GDB to treat .c files as C++ by saying
8130 set extension-language .c c++
8131 The command `info extensions' lists all of the recognized extensions
8132 and their associated languages.
8134 * Setting processor type for PowerPC and RS/6000
8136 When GDB is configured for a powerpc*-*-* or an rs6000*-*-* target,
8137 you can use the `set processor' command to specify what variant of the
8138 PowerPC family you are debugging. The command
8142 sets the PowerPC/RS6000 variant to NAME. GDB knows about the
8143 following PowerPC and RS6000 variants:
8145 ppc-uisa PowerPC UISA - a PPC processor as viewed by user-level code
8146 rs6000 IBM RS6000 ("POWER") architecture, user-level view
8148 403GC IBM PowerPC 403GC
8149 505 Motorola PowerPC 505
8150 860 Motorola PowerPC 860 or 850
8151 601 Motorola PowerPC 601
8152 602 Motorola PowerPC 602
8153 603 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 603 or 603e
8154 604 Motorola PowerPC 604 or 604e
8155 750 Motorola/IBM PowerPC 750 or 750
8157 At the moment, this command just tells GDB what to name the
8158 special-purpose processor registers. Since almost all the affected
8159 registers are inaccessible to user-level programs, this command is
8160 only useful for remote debugging in its present form.
8164 Thanks to a major code donation from Hewlett-Packard, GDB now has much
8165 more extensive support for HP-UX. Added features include shared
8166 library support, kernel threads and hardware watchpoints for 11.00,
8167 support for HP's ANSI C and C++ compilers, and a compatibility mode
8168 for xdb and dbx commands.
8172 HP's donation includes the new concept of catchpoints, which is a
8173 generalization of the old catch command. On HP-UX, it is now possible
8174 to catch exec, fork, and vfork, as well as library loading.
8176 This means that the existing catch command has changed; its first
8177 argument now specifies the type of catch to be set up. See the
8178 output of "help catch" for a list of catchpoint types.
8180 * Debugging across forks
8182 On HP-UX, you can choose which process to debug when a fork() happens
8187 HP has donated a curses-based terminal user interface (TUI). To get
8188 it, build with --enable-tui. Although this can be enabled for any
8189 configuration, at present it only works for native HP debugging.
8191 * GDB remote protocol additions
8193 A new protocol packet 'X' that writes binary data is now available.
8194 Default behavior is to try 'X', then drop back to 'M' if the stub
8195 fails to respond. The settable variable `remotebinarydownload'
8196 allows explicit control over the use of 'X'.
8198 For 64-bit targets, the memory packets ('M' and 'm') can now contain a
8199 full 64-bit address. The command
8201 set remoteaddresssize 32
8203 can be used to revert to the old behavior. For existing remote stubs
8204 the change should not be noticed, as the additional address information
8207 In order to assist in debugging stubs, you may use the maintenance
8208 command `packet' to send any text string to the stub. For instance,
8210 maint packet heythere
8212 sends the packet "$heythere#<checksum>". Note that it is very easy to
8213 disrupt a debugging session by sending the wrong packet at the wrong
8216 The compare-sections command allows you to compare section data on the
8217 target to what is in the executable file without uploading or
8218 downloading, by comparing CRC checksums.
8220 * Tracing can collect general expressions
8222 You may now collect general expressions at tracepoints. This requires
8223 further additions to the target-side stub; see tracepoint.c and
8224 doc/agentexpr.texi for further details.
8226 * mask-address variable for Mips
8228 For Mips targets, you may control the zeroing of the upper 32 bits of
8229 a 64-bit address by entering `set mask-address on'. This is mainly
8230 of interest to users of embedded R4xxx and R5xxx processors.
8232 * Higher serial baud rates
8234 GDB's serial code now allows you to specify baud rates 57600, 115200,
8235 230400, and 460800 baud. (Note that your host system may not be able
8236 to achieve all of these rates.)
8240 The i960 configuration now includes an initial implementation of a
8241 builtin simulator, contributed by Jim Wilson.
8244 *** Changes in GDB-4.17:
8246 * New native configurations
8248 Alpha GNU/Linux alpha*-*-linux*
8249 Unixware 2.x i[3456]86-unixware2*
8250 Irix 6.x mips*-sgi-irix6*
8251 PowerPC GNU/Linux powerpc-*-linux*
8252 PowerPC Solaris powerpcle-*-solaris*
8253 Sparc GNU/Linux sparc-*-linux*
8254 Motorola sysV68 R3V7.1 m68k-motorola-sysv
8258 Argonaut Risc Chip (ARC) arc-*-*
8259 Hitachi H8/300S h8300*-*-*
8260 Matsushita MN10200 w/simulator mn10200-*-*
8261 Matsushita MN10300 w/simulator mn10300-*-*
8262 MIPS NEC VR4100 mips64*vr4100*{,el}-*-elf*
8263 MIPS NEC VR5000 mips64*vr5000*{,el}-*-elf*
8264 MIPS Toshiba TX39 mips64*tx39*{,el}-*-elf*
8265 Mitsubishi D10V w/simulator d10v-*-*
8266 Mitsubishi M32R/D w/simulator m32r-*-elf*
8267 Tsqware Sparclet sparclet-*-*
8268 NEC V850 w/simulator v850-*-*
8270 * New debugging protocols
8272 ARM with RDI protocol arm*-*-*
8273 M68K with dBUG monitor m68*-*-{aout,coff,elf}
8274 DDB and LSI variants of PMON protocol mips*-*-*
8275 PowerPC with DINK32 monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
8276 PowerPC with SDS protocol powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
8277 Macraigor OCD (Wiggler) devices powerpc{,le}-*-eabi
8281 All configurations can now understand and use the DWARF 2 debugging
8282 format. The choice is automatic, if the symbol file contains DWARF 2
8287 GDB now includes basic Java language support. This support is
8288 only useful with Java compilers that produce native machine code.
8290 * solib-absolute-prefix and solib-search-path
8292 For SunOS and SVR4 shared libraries, you may now set the prefix for
8293 loading absolute shared library symbol files, and the search path for
8294 locating non-absolute shared library symbol files.
8296 * Live range splitting
8298 GDB can now effectively debug code for which GCC has performed live
8299 range splitting as part of its optimization. See gdb/doc/LRS for
8300 more details on the expected format of the stabs information.
8304 GDB's support for the GNU Hurd, including thread debugging, has been
8305 updated to work with current versions of the Hurd.
8309 GDB's ARM target configuration now handles the ARM7T (Thumb) 16-bit
8310 instruction set. ARM GDB automatically detects when Thumb
8311 instructions are in use, and adjusts disassembly and backtracing
8316 GDB's MIPS target configurations now handle the MIP16 16-bit
8321 GDB now includes support for overlays; if an executable has been
8322 linked such that multiple sections are based at the same address, GDB
8323 will decide which section to use for symbolic info. You can choose to
8324 control the decision manually, using overlay commands, or implement
8325 additional target-side support and use "overlay load-target" to bring
8326 in the overlay mapping. Do "help overlay" for more detail.
8330 The command "info symbol <address>" displays information about
8331 the symbol at the specified address.
8335 The standard remote protocol now includes an extension that allows
8336 asynchronous collection and display of trace data. This requires
8337 extensive support in the target-side debugging stub. Tracing mode
8338 includes a new interaction mode in GDB and new commands: see the
8339 file tracepoint.c for more details.
8343 Configurations for embedded MIPS now include a simulator contributed
8344 by Cygnus Solutions. The simulator supports the instruction sets
8345 of most MIPS variants.
8349 Sparc configurations may now include the ERC32 simulator contributed
8350 by the European Space Agency. The simulator is not built into
8351 Sparc targets by default; configure with --enable-sim to include it.
8355 For target configurations that may include multiple variants of a
8356 basic architecture (such as MIPS and SH), you may now set the
8357 architecture explicitly. "set arch" sets, "info arch" lists
8358 the possible architectures.
8360 *** Changes in GDB-4.16:
8362 * New native configurations
8364 Windows 95, x86 Windows NT i[345]86-*-cygwin32
8365 M68K NetBSD m68k-*-netbsd*
8366 PowerPC AIX 4.x powerpc-*-aix*
8367 PowerPC MacOS powerpc-*-macos*
8368 PowerPC Windows NT powerpcle-*-cygwin32
8369 RS/6000 AIX 4.x rs6000-*-aix4*
8373 ARM with RDP protocol arm-*-*
8374 I960 with MON960 i960-*-coff
8375 MIPS VxWorks mips*-*-vxworks*
8376 MIPS VR4300 with PMON mips64*vr4300{,el}-*-elf*
8377 PowerPC with PPCBUG monitor powerpc{,le}-*-eabi*
8379 Matra Sparclet sparclet-*-*
8383 The powerpc-eabi configuration now includes the PSIM simulator,
8384 contributed by Andrew Cagney, with assistance from Mike Meissner.
8385 PSIM is a very elaborate model of the PowerPC, including not only
8386 basic instruction set execution, but also details of execution unit
8387 performance and I/O hardware. See sim/ppc/README for more details.
8391 GDB now works with Solaris 2.5.
8393 * Windows 95/NT native
8395 GDB will now work as a native debugger on Windows 95 and Windows NT.
8396 To build it from source, you must use the "gnu-win32" environment,
8397 which uses a DLL to emulate enough of Unix to run the GNU tools.
8398 Further information, binaries, and sources are available at
8399 ftp.cygnus.com, under pub/gnu-win32.
8401 * dont-repeat command
8403 If a user-defined command includes the command `dont-repeat', then the
8404 command will not be repeated if the user just types return. This is
8405 useful if the command is time-consuming to run, so that accidental
8406 extra keystrokes don't run the same command many times.
8408 * Send break instead of ^C
8410 The standard remote protocol now includes an option to send a break
8411 rather than a ^C to the target in order to interrupt it. By default,
8412 GDB will send ^C; to send a break, set the variable `remotebreak' to 1.
8414 * Remote protocol timeout
8416 The standard remote protocol includes a new variable `remotetimeout'
8417 that allows you to set the number of seconds before GDB gives up trying
8418 to read from the target. The default value is 2.
8420 * Automatic tracking of dynamic object loading (HPUX and Solaris only)
8422 By default GDB will automatically keep track of objects as they are
8423 loaded and unloaded by the dynamic linker. By using the command `set
8424 stop-on-solib-events 1' you can arrange for GDB to stop the inferior
8425 when shared library events occur, thus allowing you to set breakpoints
8426 in shared libraries which are explicitly loaded by the inferior.
8428 Note this feature does not work on hpux8. On hpux9 you must link
8429 /usr/lib/end.o into your program. This feature should work
8430 automatically on hpux10.
8432 * Irix 5.x hardware watchpoint support
8434 Irix 5 configurations now support the use of hardware watchpoints.
8436 * Mips protocol "SYN garbage limit"
8438 When debugging a Mips target using the `target mips' protocol, you
8439 may set the number of characters that GDB will ignore by setting
8440 the `syn-garbage-limit'. A value of -1 means that GDB will ignore
8441 every character. The default value is 1050.
8443 * Recording and replaying remote debug sessions
8445 If you set `remotelogfile' to the name of a file, gdb will write to it
8446 a recording of a remote debug session. This recording may then be
8447 replayed back to gdb using "gdbreplay". See gdbserver/README for
8448 details. This is useful when you have a problem with GDB while doing
8449 remote debugging; you can make a recording of the session and send it
8450 to someone else, who can then recreate the problem.
8452 * Speedups for remote debugging
8454 GDB includes speedups for downloading and stepping MIPS systems using
8455 the IDT monitor, fast downloads to the Hitachi SH E7000 emulator,
8456 and more efficient S-record downloading.
8458 * Memory use reductions and statistics collection
8460 GDB now uses less memory and reports statistics about memory usage.
8461 Try the `maint print statistics' command, for example.
8463 *** Changes in GDB-4.15:
8465 * Psymtabs for XCOFF
8467 The symbol reader for AIX GDB now uses partial symbol tables. This
8468 can greatly improve startup time, especially for large executables.
8470 * Remote targets use caching
8472 Remote targets now use a data cache to speed up communication with the
8473 remote side. The data cache could lead to incorrect results because
8474 it doesn't know about volatile variables, thus making it impossible to
8475 debug targets which use memory mapped I/O devices. `set remotecache
8476 off' turns the data cache off.
8478 * Remote targets may have threads
8480 The standard remote protocol now includes support for multiple threads
8481 in the target system, using new protocol commands 'H' and 'T'. See
8482 gdb/remote.c for details.
8486 If GDB is configured with `--enable-netrom', then it will include
8487 support for the NetROM ROM emulator from XLNT Designs. The NetROM
8488 acts as though it is a bank of ROM on the target board, but you can
8489 write into it over the network. GDB's support consists only of
8490 support for fast loading into the emulated ROM; to debug, you must use
8491 another protocol, such as standard remote protocol. The usual
8492 sequence is something like
8494 target nrom <netrom-hostname>
8496 target remote <netrom-hostname>:1235
8500 GDB now includes support for the Apple Macintosh, as a host only. It
8501 may be run as either an MPW tool or as a standalone application, and
8502 it can debug through the serial port. All the usual GDB commands are
8503 available, but to the target command, you must supply "serial" as the
8504 device type instead of "/dev/ttyXX". See mpw-README in the main
8505 directory for more information on how to build. The MPW configuration
8506 scripts */mpw-config.in support only a few targets, and only the
8507 mips-idt-ecoff target has been tested.
8511 GDB configuration now uses autoconf. This is not user-visible,
8512 but does simplify configuration and building.
8516 GDB now supports hpux10.
8518 *** Changes in GDB-4.14:
8520 * New native configurations
8522 x86 FreeBSD i[345]86-*-freebsd
8523 x86 NetBSD i[345]86-*-netbsd
8524 NS32k NetBSD ns32k-*-netbsd
8525 Sparc NetBSD sparc-*-netbsd
8529 A29K VxWorks a29k-*-vxworks
8530 HP PA PRO embedded (WinBond W89K & Oki OP50N) hppa*-*-pro*
8531 CPU32 EST-300 emulator m68*-*-est*
8532 PowerPC ELF powerpc-*-elf
8535 * Alpha OSF/1 support for procfs
8537 GDB now supports procfs under OSF/1-2.x and higher, which makes it
8538 possible to attach to running processes. As the mounting of the /proc
8539 filesystem is optional on the Alpha, GDB automatically determines
8540 the availability of /proc during startup. This can lead to problems
8541 if /proc is unmounted after GDB has been started.
8543 * Arguments to user-defined commands
8545 User commands may accept up to 10 arguments separated by whitespace.
8546 Arguments are accessed within the user command via $arg0..$arg9. A
8549 print $arg0 + $arg1 + $arg2
8551 To execute the command use:
8554 Defines the command "adder" which prints the sum of its three arguments.
8555 Note the arguments are text substitutions, so they may reference variables,
8556 use complex expressions, or even perform inferior function calls.
8558 * New `if' and `while' commands
8560 This makes it possible to write more sophisticated user-defined
8561 commands. Both commands take a single argument, which is the
8562 expression to evaluate, and must be followed by the commands to
8563 execute, one per line, if the expression is nonzero, the list being
8564 terminated by the word `end'. The `if' command list may include an
8565 `else' word, which causes the following commands to be executed only
8566 if the expression is zero.
8568 * Fortran source language mode
8570 GDB now includes partial support for Fortran 77. It will recognize
8571 Fortran programs and can evaluate a subset of Fortran expressions, but
8572 variables and functions may not be handled correctly. GDB will work
8573 with G77, but does not yet know much about symbols emitted by other
8576 * Better HPUX support
8578 Most debugging facilities now work on dynamic executables for HPPAs
8579 running hpux9 or later. You can attach to running dynamically linked
8580 processes, but by default the dynamic libraries will be read-only, so
8581 for instance you won't be able to put breakpoints in them. To change
8582 that behavior do the following before running the program:
8588 This will cause the libraries to be mapped private and read-write.
8589 To revert to the normal behavior, do this:
8595 You cannot set breakpoints or examine data in the library until after
8596 the library is loaded if the function/data symbols do not have
8599 GDB can now also read debug symbols produced by the HP C compiler on
8600 HPPAs (sorry, no C++, Fortran or 68k support).
8602 * Target byte order now dynamically selectable
8604 You can choose which byte order to use with a target system, via the
8605 commands "set endian big" and "set endian little", and you can see the
8606 current setting by using "show endian". You can also give the command
8607 "set endian auto", in which case GDB will use the byte order
8608 associated with the executable. Currently, only embedded MIPS
8609 configurations support dynamic selection of target byte order.
8611 * New DOS host serial code
8613 This version uses DPMI interrupts to handle buffered I/O, so you
8614 no longer need to run asynctsr when debugging boards connected to
8617 *** Changes in GDB-4.13:
8619 * New "complete" command
8621 This lists all the possible completions for the rest of the line, if it
8622 were to be given as a command itself. This is intended for use by emacs.
8624 * Trailing space optional in prompt
8626 "set prompt" no longer adds a space for you after the prompt you set. This
8627 allows you to set a prompt which ends in a space or one that does not.
8629 * Breakpoint hit counts
8631 "info break" now displays a count of the number of times the breakpoint
8632 has been hit. This is especially useful in conjunction with "ignore"; you
8633 can ignore a large number of breakpoint hits, look at the breakpoint info
8634 to see how many times the breakpoint was hit, then run again, ignoring one
8635 less than that number, and this will get you quickly to the last hit of
8638 * Ability to stop printing at NULL character
8640 "set print null-stop" will cause GDB to stop printing the characters of
8641 an array when the first NULL is encountered. This is useful when large
8642 arrays actually contain only short strings.
8644 * Shared library breakpoints
8646 In SunOS 4.x, SVR4, and Alpha OSF/1 configurations, you can now set
8647 breakpoints in shared libraries before the executable is run.
8649 * Hardware watchpoints
8651 There is a new hardware breakpoint for the watch command for sparclite
8652 targets. See gdb/sparclite/hw_breakpoint.note.
8654 Hardware watchpoints are also now supported under GNU/Linux.
8658 Annotations have been added. These are for use with graphical interfaces,
8659 and are still experimental. Currently only gdba.el uses these.
8661 * Improved Irix 5 support
8663 GDB now works properly with Irix 5.2.
8665 * Improved HPPA support
8667 GDB now works properly with the latest GCC and GAS.
8669 * New native configurations
8671 Sequent PTX4 i[34]86-sequent-ptx4
8672 HPPA running OSF/1 hppa*-*-osf*
8673 Atari TT running SVR4 m68*-*-sysv4*
8674 RS/6000 LynxOS rs6000-*-lynxos*
8678 OS/9000 i[34]86-*-os9k
8679 MIPS R4000 mips64*{,el}-*-{ecoff,elf}
8682 * Hitachi SH7000 and E7000-PC ICE support
8684 There is now support for communicating with the Hitachi E7000-PC ICE.
8685 This is available automatically when GDB is configured for the SH.
8689 As usual, a variety of small fixes and improvements, both generic
8690 and configuration-specific. See the ChangeLog for more detail.
8692 *** Changes in GDB-4.12:
8694 * Irix 5 is now supported
8698 GDB-4.12 on the HPPA has a number of changes which make it unable
8699 to debug the output from the currently released versions of GCC and
8700 GAS (GCC 2.5.8 and GAS-2.2 or PAGAS-1.36). Until the next major release
8701 of GCC and GAS, versions of these tools designed to work with GDB-4.12
8702 can be retrieved via anonymous ftp from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist.
8705 *** Changes in GDB-4.11:
8707 * User visible changes:
8711 The "set remotedebug" option is now consistent between the mips remote
8712 target, remote targets using the gdb-specific protocol, UDI (AMD's
8713 debug protocol for the 29k) and the 88k bug monitor. It is now an
8714 integer specifying a debug level (normally 0 or 1, but 2 means more
8715 debugging info for the mips target).
8717 * DEC Alpha native support
8719 GDB now works on the DEC Alpha. GCC 2.4.5 does not produce usable
8720 debug info, but GDB works fairly well with the DEC compiler and should
8721 work with a future GCC release. See the README file for a few
8722 Alpha-specific notes.
8724 * Preliminary thread implementation
8726 GDB now has preliminary thread support for both SGI/Irix and LynxOS.
8728 * LynxOS native and target support for 386
8730 This release has been hosted on LynxOS 2.2, and also can be configured
8731 to remotely debug programs running under LynxOS (see gdb/gdbserver/README
8734 * Improvements in C++ mangling/demangling.
8736 This release has much better g++ debugging, specifically in name
8737 mangling/demangling, virtual function calls, print virtual table,
8738 call methods, ...etc.
8740 *** Changes in GDB-4.10:
8742 * User visible changes:
8744 Remote debugging using the GDB-specific (`target remote') protocol now
8745 supports the `load' command. This is only useful if you have some
8746 other way of getting the stub to the target system, and you can put it
8747 somewhere in memory where it won't get clobbered by the download.
8749 Filename completion now works.
8751 When run under emacs mode, the "info line" command now causes the
8752 arrow to point to the line specified. Also, "info line" prints
8753 addresses in symbolic form (as well as hex).
8755 All vxworks based targets now support a user settable option, called
8756 vxworks-timeout. This option represents the number of seconds gdb
8757 should wait for responses to rpc's. You might want to use this if
8758 your vxworks target is, perhaps, a slow software simulator or happens
8759 to be on the far side of a thin network line.
8763 This release contains support for using a DEC alpha as a GDB host for
8764 cross debugging. Native alpha debugging is not supported yet.
8767 *** Changes in GDB-4.9:
8771 This is the first GDB release which is accompanied by a matching testsuite.
8772 The testsuite requires installation of dejagnu, which should be available
8773 via ftp from most sites that carry GNU software.
8777 'Cfront' style demangling has had its name changed to 'ARM' style, to
8778 emphasize that it was written from the specifications in the C++ Annotated
8779 Reference Manual, not necessarily to be compatible with AT&T cfront. Despite
8780 disclaimers, it still generated too much confusion with users attempting to
8781 use gdb with AT&T cfront.
8785 GDB now uses a standard remote interface to a simulator library.
8786 So far, the library contains simulators for the Zilog Z8001/2, the
8787 Hitachi H8/300, H8/500 and Super-H.
8789 * New targets supported
8791 H8/300 simulator h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
8792 H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
8793 SH simulator sh-hitachi-hms or sh
8794 Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
8795 IDT MIPS board over serial line mips-idt-ecoff
8797 Cross-debugging to GO32 targets is supported. It requires a custom
8798 version of the i386-stub.c module which is integrated with the
8799 GO32 memory extender.
8801 * New remote protocols
8803 MIPS remote debugging protocol.
8805 * New source languages supported
8807 This version includes preliminary support for Chill, a Pascal like language
8808 used by telecommunications companies. Chill support is also being integrated
8809 into the GNU compiler, but we don't know when it will be publicly available.
8812 *** Changes in GDB-4.8:
8814 * HP Precision Architecture supported
8816 GDB now supports HP PA-RISC machines running HPUX. A preliminary
8817 version of this support was available as a set of patches from the
8818 University of Utah. GDB does not support debugging of programs
8819 compiled with the HP compiler, because HP will not document their file
8820 format. Instead, you must use GCC (version 2.3.2 or later) and PA-GAS
8821 (as available from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist/pa-gas.u4.tar.Z).
8823 Many problems in the preliminary version have been fixed.
8825 * Faster and better demangling
8827 We have improved template demangling and fixed numerous bugs in the GNU style
8828 demangler. It can now handle type modifiers such as `static' or `const'. Wide
8829 character types (wchar_t) are now supported. Demangling of each symbol is now
8830 only done once, and is cached when the symbol table for a file is read in.
8831 This results in a small increase in memory usage for C programs, a moderate
8832 increase in memory usage for C++ programs, and a fantastic speedup in
8835 `Cfront' style demangling still doesn't work with AT&T cfront. It was written
8836 from the specifications in the Annotated Reference Manual, which AT&T's
8837 compiler does not actually implement.
8839 * G++ multiple inheritance compiler problem
8841 In the 2.3.2 release of gcc/g++, how the compiler resolves multiple
8842 inheritance lattices was reworked to properly discover ambiguities. We
8843 recently found an example which causes this new algorithm to fail in a
8844 very subtle way, producing bad debug information for those classes.
8845 The file 'gcc.patch' (in this directory) can be applied to gcc to
8846 circumvent the problem. A future GCC release will contain a complete
8849 The previous G++ debug info problem (mentioned below for the gdb-4.7
8850 release) is fixed in gcc version 2.3.2.
8852 * Improved configure script
8854 The `configure' script will now attempt to guess your system type if
8855 you don't supply a host system type. The old scheme of supplying a
8856 host system triplet is preferable over using this. All the magic is
8857 done in the new `config.guess' script. Examine it for details.
8859 We have also brought our configure script much more in line with the FSF's
8860 version. It now supports the --with-xxx options. In particular,
8861 `--with-minimal-bfd' can be used to make the GDB binary image smaller.
8862 The resulting GDB will not be able to read arbitrary object file formats --
8863 only the format ``expected'' to be used on the configured target system.
8864 We hope to make this the default in a future release.
8866 * Documentation improvements
8868 There's new internal documentation on how to modify GDB, and how to
8869 produce clean changes to the code. We implore people to read it
8870 before submitting changes.
8872 The GDB manual uses new, sexy Texinfo conditionals, rather than arcane
8873 M4 macros. The new texinfo.tex is provided in this release. Pre-built
8874 `info' files are also provided. To build `info' files from scratch,
8875 you will need the latest `makeinfo' release, which will be available in
8876 a future texinfo-X.Y release.
8878 *NOTE* The new texinfo.tex can cause old versions of TeX to hang.
8879 We're not sure exactly which versions have this problem, but it has
8880 been seen in 3.0. We highly recommend upgrading to TeX version 3.141
8881 or better. If that isn't possible, there is a patch in
8882 `texinfo/tex3patch' that will modify `texinfo/texinfo.tex' to work
8883 around this problem.
8887 GDB now supports array constants that can be used in expressions typed in by
8888 the user. The syntax is `{element, element, ...}'. Ie: you can now type
8889 `print {1, 2, 3}', and it will build up an array in memory malloc'd in
8892 The new directory `gdb/sparclite' contains a program that demonstrates
8893 how the sparc-stub.c remote stub runs on a Fujitsu SPARClite processor.
8895 * New native hosts supported
8897 HP/PA-RISC under HPUX using GNU tools hppa1.1-hp-hpux
8898 386 CPUs running SCO Unix 3.2v4 i386-unknown-sco3.2v4
8900 * New targets supported
8902 AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi or udi29k
8904 * New file formats supported
8906 BFD now supports reading HP/PA-RISC executables (SOM file format?),
8907 HPUX core files, and SCO 3.2v2 core files.
8911 Attaching to processes now works again; thanks for the many bug reports.
8913 We have also stomped on a bunch of core dumps caused by
8914 printf_filtered("%s") problems.
8916 We eliminated a copyright problem on the rpc and ptrace header files
8917 for VxWorks, which was discovered at the last minute during the 4.7
8918 release. You should now be able to build a VxWorks GDB.
8920 You can now interrupt gdb while an attached process is running. This
8921 will cause the attached process to stop, and give control back to GDB.
8923 We fixed problems caused by using too many file descriptors
8924 for reading symbols from object files and libraries. This was
8925 especially a problem for programs that used many (~100) shared
8928 The `step' command now only enters a subroutine if there is line number
8929 information for the subroutine. Otherwise it acts like the `next'
8930 command. Previously, `step' would enter subroutines if there was
8931 any debugging information about the routine. This avoids problems
8932 when using `cc -g1' on MIPS machines.
8934 * Internal improvements
8936 GDB's internal interfaces have been improved to make it easier to support
8937 debugging of multiple languages in the future.
8939 GDB now uses a common structure for symbol information internally.
8940 Minimal symbols (derived from linkage symbols in object files), partial
8941 symbols (from a quick scan of debug information), and full symbols
8942 contain a common subset of information, making it easier to write
8943 shared code that handles any of them.
8945 * New command line options
8947 We now accept --silent as an alias for --quiet.
8951 The memory-mapped-malloc library is now licensed under the GNU Library
8952 General Public License.
8954 *** Changes in GDB-4.7:
8956 * Host/native/target split
8958 GDB has had some major internal surgery to untangle the support for
8959 hosts and remote targets. Now, when you configure GDB for a remote
8960 target, it will no longer load in all of the support for debugging
8961 local programs on the host. When fully completed and tested, this will
8962 ensure that arbitrary host/target combinations are possible.
8964 The primary conceptual shift is to separate the non-portable code in
8965 GDB into three categories. Host specific code is required any time GDB
8966 is compiled on that host, regardless of the target. Target specific
8967 code relates to the peculiarities of the target, but can be compiled on
8968 any host. Native specific code is everything else: it can only be
8969 built when the host and target are the same system. Child process
8970 handling and core file support are two common `native' examples.
8972 GDB's use of /proc for controlling Unix child processes is now cleaner.
8973 It has been split out into a single module under the `target_ops' vector,
8974 plus two native-dependent functions for each system that uses /proc.
8976 * New hosts supported
8978 HP/Apollo 68k (under the BSD domain) m68k-apollo-bsd or apollo68bsd
8979 386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
8980 386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or i386sco
8982 * New targets supported
8984 Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
8985 68030 and CPU32 m68030-*-*, m68332-*-*
8987 * New native hosts supported
8989 386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
8990 (386bsd is not well tested yet)
8991 386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or sco
8993 * New file formats supported
8995 BFD now supports COFF files for the Zilog Z8000 microprocessor. It
8996 supports reading of `a.out.adobe' object files, which are an a.out
8997 format extended with minimal information about multiple sections.
9001 `show copying' is the same as the old `info copying'.
9002 `show warranty' is the same as `info warrantee'.
9003 These were renamed for consistency. The old commands continue to work.
9005 `info handle' is a new alias for `info signals'.
9007 You can now define pre-command hooks, which attach arbitrary command
9008 scripts to any command. The commands in the hook will be executed
9009 prior to the user's command. You can also create a hook which will be
9010 executed whenever the program stops. See gdb.texinfo.
9014 We now deal with Cfront style name mangling, and can even extract type
9015 info from mangled symbols. GDB can automatically figure out which
9016 symbol mangling style your C++ compiler uses.
9018 Calling of methods and virtual functions has been improved as well.
9022 The crash that occurred when debugging Sun Ansi-C compiled binaries is
9023 fixed. This was due to mishandling of the extra N_SO stabs output
9026 We also finally got Ultrix 4.2 running in house, and fixed core file
9027 support, with help from a dozen people on the net.
9029 John M. Farrell discovered that the reason that single-stepping was so
9030 slow on all of the Mips based platforms (primarily SGI and DEC) was
9031 that we were trying to demangle and lookup a symbol used for internal
9032 purposes on every instruction that was being stepped through. Changing
9033 the name of that symbol so that it couldn't be mistaken for a C++
9034 mangled symbol sped things up a great deal.
9036 Rich Pixley sped up symbol lookups in general by getting much smarter
9037 about when C++ symbol mangling is necessary. This should make symbol
9038 completion (TAB on the command line) much faster. It's not as fast as
9039 we'd like, but it's significantly faster than gdb-4.6.
9043 A new user controllable variable 'call_scratch_address' can
9044 specify the location of a scratch area to be used when GDB
9045 calls a function in the target. This is necessary because the
9046 usual method of putting the scratch area on the stack does not work
9047 in systems that have separate instruction and data spaces.
9049 We integrated changes to support the 29k UDI (Universal Debugger
9050 Interface), but discovered at the last minute that we didn't have all
9051 of the appropriate copyright paperwork. We are working with AMD to
9052 resolve this, and hope to have it available soon.
9056 We have sped up the remote serial line protocol, especially for targets
9057 with lots of registers. It now supports a new `expedited status' ('T')
9058 message which can be used in place of the existing 'S' status message.
9059 This allows the remote stub to send only the registers that GDB
9060 needs to make a quick decision about single-stepping or conditional
9061 breakpoints, eliminating the need to fetch the entire register set for
9062 each instruction being stepped through.
9064 The GDB remote serial protocol now implements a write-through cache for
9065 registers, only re-reading the registers if the target has run.
9067 There is also a new remote serial stub for SPARC processors. You can
9068 find it in gdb-4.7/gdb/sparc-stub.c. This was written to support the
9069 Fujitsu SPARClite processor, but will run on any stand-alone SPARC
9070 processor with a serial port.
9074 Configure.in files have become much easier to read and modify. A new
9075 `table driven' format makes it more obvious what configurations are
9076 supported, and what files each one uses.
9080 There is a new opcodes library which will eventually contain all of the
9081 disassembly routines and opcode tables. At present, it only contains
9082 Sparc and Z8000 routines. This will allow the assembler, debugger, and
9083 disassembler (binutils/objdump) to share these routines.
9085 The libiberty library is now copylefted under the GNU Library General
9086 Public License. This allows more liberal use, and was done so libg++
9087 can use it. This makes no difference to GDB, since the Library License
9088 grants all the rights from the General Public License.
9092 The file gdb-4.7/gdb/doc/stabs.texinfo is a (relatively) complete
9093 reference to the stabs symbol info used by the debugger. It is (as far
9094 as we know) the only published document on this fascinating topic. We
9095 encourage you to read it, compare it to the stabs information on your
9096 system, and send improvements on the document in general (to
9097 bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu).
9099 And, of course, many bugs have been fixed.
9102 *** Changes in GDB-4.6:
9104 * Better support for C++ function names
9106 GDB now accepts as input the "demangled form" of C++ overloaded function
9107 names and member function names, and can do command completion on such names
9108 (using TAB, TAB-TAB, and ESC-?). The names have to be quoted with a pair of
9109 single quotes. Examples are 'func (int, long)' and 'obj::operator==(obj&)'.
9110 Make use of command completion, it is your friend.
9112 GDB also now accepts a variety of C++ mangled symbol formats. They are
9113 the GNU g++ style, the Cfront (ARM) style, and the Lucid (lcc) style.
9114 You can tell GDB which format to use by doing a 'set demangle-style {gnu,
9115 lucid, cfront, auto}'. 'gnu' is the default. Do a 'set demangle-style foo'
9116 for the list of formats.
9118 * G++ symbol mangling problem
9120 Recent versions of gcc have a bug in how they emit debugging information for
9121 C++ methods (when using dbx-style stabs). The file 'gcc.patch' (in this
9122 directory) can be applied to gcc to fix the problem. Alternatively, if you
9123 can't fix gcc, you can #define GCC_MANGLE_BUG when compiling gdb/symtab.c. The
9124 usual symptom is difficulty with setting breakpoints on methods. GDB complains
9125 about the method being non-existent. (We believe that version 2.2.2 of GCC has
9128 * New 'maintenance' command
9130 All of the commands related to hacking GDB internals have been moved out of
9131 the main command set, and now live behind the 'maintenance' command. This
9132 can also be abbreviated as 'mt'. The following changes were made:
9134 dump-me -> maintenance dump-me
9135 info all-breakpoints -> maintenance info breakpoints
9136 printmsyms -> maintenance print msyms
9137 printobjfiles -> maintenance print objfiles
9138 printpsyms -> maintenance print psymbols
9139 printsyms -> maintenance print symbols
9141 The following commands are new:
9143 maintenance demangle Call internal GDB demangler routine to
9144 demangle a C++ link name and prints the result.
9145 maintenance print type Print a type chain for a given symbol
9147 * Change to .gdbinit file processing
9149 We now read the $HOME/.gdbinit file before processing the argv arguments
9150 (e.g. reading symbol files or core files). This allows global parameters to
9151 be set, which will apply during the symbol reading. The ./.gdbinit is still
9152 read after argv processing.
9154 * New hosts supported
9156 Solaris-2.0 !!! sparc-sun-solaris2 or sun4sol2
9158 GNU/Linux support i386-unknown-linux or linux
9160 We are also including code to support the HP/PA running BSD and HPUX. This
9161 is almost guaranteed not to work, as we didn't have time to test or build it
9162 for this release. We are including it so that the more adventurous (or
9163 masochistic) of you can play with it. We also had major problems with the
9164 fact that the compiler that we got from HP doesn't support the -g option.
9167 * New targets supported
9169 Hitachi H8/300 h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
9171 * More smarts about finding #include files
9173 GDB now remembers the compilation directory for all include files, and for
9174 all files from which C is generated (like yacc and lex sources). This
9175 greatly improves GDB's ability to find yacc/lex sources, and include files,
9176 especially if you are debugging your program from a directory different from
9177 the one that contains your sources.
9179 We also fixed a bug which caused difficulty with listing and setting
9180 breakpoints in include files which contain C code. (In the past, you had to
9181 try twice in order to list an include file that you hadn't looked at before.)
9183 * Interesting infernals change
9185 GDB now deals with arbitrary numbers of sections, where the symbols for each
9186 section must be relocated relative to that section's landing place in the
9187 target's address space. This work was needed to support ELF with embedded
9188 stabs used by Solaris-2.0.
9190 * Bug fixes (of course!)
9192 There have been loads of fixes for the following things:
9193 mips, rs6000, 29k/udi, m68k, g++, type handling, elf/dwarf, m88k,
9194 i960, stabs, DOS(GO32), procfs, etc...
9196 See the ChangeLog for details.
9198 *** Changes in GDB-4.5:
9200 * New machines supported (host and target)
9202 IBM RS6000 running AIX rs6000-ibm-aix or rs6000
9204 SGI Irix-4.x mips-sgi-irix4 or iris4
9206 * New malloc package
9208 GDB now uses a new memory manager called mmalloc, based on gmalloc.
9209 Mmalloc is capable of handling multiple heaps of memory. It is also
9210 capable of saving a heap to a file, and then mapping it back in later.
9211 This can be used to greatly speedup the startup of GDB by using a
9212 pre-parsed symbol table which lives in a mmalloc managed heap. For
9213 more details, please read mmalloc/mmalloc.texi.
9217 The 'info proc' command (SVR4 only) has been enhanced quite a bit. See
9218 'help info proc' for details.
9220 * MIPS ecoff symbol table format
9222 The code that reads MIPS symbol table format is now supported on all hosts.
9223 Thanks to MIPS for releasing the sym.h and symconst.h files to make this
9226 * File name changes for MS-DOS
9228 Many files in the config directories have been renamed to make it easier to
9229 support GDB on MS-DOSe systems (which have very restrictive file name
9230 conventions :-( ). MS-DOSe host support (under DJ Delorie's GO32
9231 environment) is close to working but has some remaining problems. Note
9232 that debugging of DOS programs is not supported, due to limitations
9233 in the ``operating system'', but it can be used to host cross-debugging.
9235 * Cross byte order fixes
9237 Many fixes have been made to support cross debugging of Sparc and MIPS
9238 targets from hosts whose byte order differs.
9240 * New -mapped and -readnow options
9242 If memory-mapped files are available on your system through the 'mmap'
9243 system call, you can use the -mapped option on the `file' or
9244 `symbol-file' commands to cause GDB to write the symbols from your
9245 program into a reusable file. If the program you are debugging is
9246 called `/path/fred', the mapped symbol file will be `./fred.syms'.
9247 Future GDB debugging sessions will notice the presence of this file,
9248 and will quickly map in symbol information from it, rather than reading
9249 the symbol table from the executable program. Using the '-mapped'
9250 option in a GDB `file' or `symbol-file' command has the same effect as
9251 starting GDB with the '-mapped' command-line option.
9253 You can cause GDB to read the entire symbol table immediately by using
9254 the '-readnow' option with any of the commands that load symbol table
9255 information (or on the GDB command line). This makes the command
9256 slower, but makes future operations faster.
9258 The -mapped and -readnow options are typically combined in order to
9259 build a `fred.syms' file that contains complete symbol information.
9260 A simple GDB invocation to do nothing but build a `.syms' file for future
9263 gdb -batch -nx -mapped -readnow programname
9265 The `.syms' file is specific to the host machine on which GDB is run.
9266 It holds an exact image of GDB's internal symbol table. It cannot be
9267 shared across multiple host platforms.
9269 * longjmp() handling
9271 GDB is now capable of stepping and nexting over longjmp(), _longjmp(), and
9272 siglongjmp() without losing control. This feature has not yet been ported to
9273 all systems. It currently works on many 386 platforms, all MIPS-based
9274 platforms (SGI, DECstation, etc), and Sun3/4.
9278 Preliminary work has been put in to support the new Solaris OS from Sun. At
9279 this time, it can control and debug processes, but it is not capable of
9284 As always, many many bug fixes. The major areas were with g++, and mipsread.
9285 People using the MIPS-based platforms should experience fewer mysterious
9286 crashes and trashed symbol tables.
9288 *** Changes in GDB-4.4:
9290 * New machines supported (host and target)
9292 SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
9294 BSD Reno on Vax vax-dec-bsd
9295 Ultrix on Vax vax-dec-ultrix
9297 * New machines supported (target)
9299 AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
9303 GDB continues to improve its handling of C++. `References' work better.
9304 The demangler has also been improved, and now deals with symbols mangled as
9305 per the Annotated C++ Reference Guide.
9307 GDB also now handles `stabs' symbol information embedded in MIPS
9308 `ecoff' symbol tables. Since the ecoff format was not easily
9309 extensible to handle new languages such as C++, this appeared to be a
9310 good way to put C++ debugging info into MIPS binaries. This option
9311 will be supported in the GNU C compiler, version 2, when it is
9314 * New features for SVR4
9316 GDB now handles SVR4 shared libraries, in the same fashion as SunOS
9317 shared libraries. Debugging dynamically linked programs should present
9318 only minor differences from debugging statically linked programs.
9320 The `info proc' command will print out information about any process
9321 on an SVR4 system (including the one you are debugging). At the moment,
9322 it prints the address mappings of the process.
9324 If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please send mail to
9325 bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were reqired (if any).
9327 * Better dynamic linking support in SunOS
9329 Reading symbols from shared libraries which contain debugging symbols
9330 now works properly. However, there remain issues such as automatic
9331 skipping of `transfer vector' code during function calls, which
9332 make it harder to debug code in a shared library, than to debug the
9333 same code linked statically.
9337 GDB is now using the latest `getopt' routines from the FSF. This
9338 version accepts the -- prefix for options with long names. GDB will
9339 continue to accept the old forms (-option and +option) as well.
9340 Various single letter abbreviations for options have been explicity
9341 added to the option table so that they won't get overshadowed in the
9342 future by other options that begin with the same letter.
9346 The `cleanup_undefined_types' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
9347 Many assorted bugs have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
9348 See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
9351 *** Changes in GDB-4.3:
9353 * New machines supported (host and target)
9355 Amiga 3000 running Amix m68k-cbm-svr4 or amix
9356 NCR 3000 386 running SVR4 i386-ncr-svr4 or ncr3000
9357 Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
9359 * Almost SCO Unix support
9361 We had hoped to support:
9362 SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
9363 (except for core file support), but we discovered very late in the release
9364 that it has problems with process groups that render gdb unusable. Sorry
9365 about that. I encourage people to fix it and post the fixes.
9367 * Preliminary ELF and DWARF support
9369 GDB can read ELF object files on System V Release 4, and can handle
9370 debugging records for C, in DWARF format, in ELF files. This support
9371 is preliminary. If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please
9372 send mail to bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were
9377 GDB now uses the latest `readline' library. One user-visible change
9378 is that two tabs will list possible command completions, which previously
9379 required typing M-? (meta-question mark, or ESC ?).
9383 The `stepi' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
9384 Many bugs in C++ have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
9385 See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
9387 * State of the MIPS world (in case you wondered):
9389 GDB can understand the symbol tables emitted by the compilers
9390 supplied by most vendors of MIPS-based machines, including DEC. These
9391 symbol tables are in a format that essentially nobody else uses.
9393 Some versions of gcc come with an assembler post-processor called
9394 mips-tfile. This program is required if you want to do source-level
9395 debugging of gcc-compiled programs. I believe FSF does not ship
9396 mips-tfile with gcc version 1, but it will eventually come with gcc
9399 Debugging of g++ output remains a problem. g++ version 1.xx does not
9400 really support it at all. (If you're lucky, you should be able to get
9401 line numbers and stack traces to work, but no parameters or local
9402 variables.) With some work it should be possible to improve the
9405 When gcc version 2 is released, you will have somewhat better luck.
9406 However, even then you will get confusing results for inheritance and
9409 We will eventually provide full debugging of g++ output on
9410 DECstations. This will probably involve some kind of stabs-in-ecoff
9411 encapulation, but the details have not been worked out yet.
9414 *** Changes in GDB-4.2:
9416 * Improved configuration
9418 Only one copy of `configure' exists now, and it is not self-modifying.
9419 Porting BFD is simpler.
9423 The `step' and `next' commands now only stop at the first instruction
9424 of a source line. This prevents the multiple stops that used to occur
9425 in switch statements, for-loops, etc. `Step' continues to stop if a
9426 function that has debugging information is called within the line.
9430 Lots of small bugs fixed. More remain.
9432 * New host supported (not target)
9434 Intel 386 PC clone running Mach i386-none-mach
9437 *** Changes in GDB-4.1:
9439 * Multiple source language support
9441 GDB now has internal scaffolding to handle several source languages.
9442 It determines the type of each source file from its filename extension,
9443 and will switch expression parsing and number formatting to match the
9444 language of the function in the currently selected stack frame.
9445 You can also specifically set the language to be used, with
9446 `set language c' or `set language modula-2'.
9450 GDB now has preliminary support for the GNU Modula-2 compiler,
9451 currently under development at the State University of New York at
9452 Buffalo. Development of both GDB and the GNU Modula-2 compiler will
9453 continue through the fall of 1991 and into 1992.
9455 Other Modula-2 compilers are currently not supported, and attempting to
9456 debug programs compiled with them will likely result in an error as the
9457 symbol table is read. Feel free to work on it, though!
9459 There are hooks in GDB for strict type checking and range checking,
9460 in the `Modula-2 philosophy', but they do not currently work.
9464 GDB can now write to executable and core files (e.g. patch
9465 a variable's value). You must turn this switch on, specify
9466 the file ("exec foo" or "core foo"), *then* modify it, e.g.
9467 by assigning a new value to a variable. Modifications take
9470 * Automatic SunOS shared library reading
9472 When you run your program, GDB automatically determines where its
9473 shared libraries (if any) have been loaded, and reads their symbols.
9474 The `share' command is no longer needed. This also works when
9475 examining core files.
9479 You can specify the number of lines that the `list' command shows.
9482 * New machines supported (host and target)
9484 SGI Iris (MIPS) running Irix V3: mips-sgi-irix or iris
9485 Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x: m68k-sony-sysv or news
9486 Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1: a29k-nyu-sym1 or ultra3
9488 * New hosts supported (not targets)
9490 IBM RT/PC: romp-ibm-aix or rtpc
9492 * New targets supported (not hosts)
9494 AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
9495 AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
9496 Ultracomputer remote kernel debug a29k-nyu-kern
9498 * New remote interfaces
9504 *** Changes in GDB-4.0:
9508 Wide output is wrapped at good places to make the output more readable.
9510 Gdb now supports cross-debugging from a host machine of one type to a
9511 target machine of another type. Communication with the target system
9512 is over serial lines. The ``target'' command handles connecting to the
9513 remote system; the ``load'' command will download a program into the
9514 remote system. Serial stubs for the m68k and i386 are provided. Gdb
9515 also supports debugging of realtime processes running under VxWorks,
9516 using SunRPC Remote Procedure Calls over TCP/IP to talk to a debugger
9517 stub on the target system.
9519 New CPUs supported include the AMD 29000 and Intel 960.
9521 GDB now reads object files and symbol tables via a ``binary file''
9522 library, which allows a single copy of GDB to debug programs of multiple
9523 object file types such as a.out and coff.
9525 There is now a GDB reference card in "doc/refcard.tex". (Make targets
9526 refcard.dvi and refcard.ps are available to format it).
9529 * Control-Variable user interface simplified
9531 All variables that control the operation of the debugger can be set
9532 by the ``set'' command, and displayed by the ``show'' command.
9534 For example, ``set prompt new-gdb=>'' will change your prompt to new-gdb=>.
9535 ``Show prompt'' produces the response:
9536 Gdb's prompt is new-gdb=>.
9538 What follows are the NEW set commands. The command ``help set'' will
9539 print a complete list of old and new set commands. ``help set FOO''
9540 will give a longer description of the variable FOO. ``show'' will show
9541 all of the variable descriptions and their current settings.
9543 confirm on/off: Enables warning questions for operations that are
9544 hard to recover from, e.g. rerunning the program while
9545 it is already running. Default is ON.
9547 editing on/off: Enables EMACS style command line editing
9548 of input. Previous lines can be recalled with
9549 control-P, the current line can be edited with control-B,
9550 you can search for commands with control-R, etc.
9553 history filename NAME: NAME is where the gdb command history
9554 will be stored. The default is .gdb_history,
9555 or the value of the environment variable
9558 history size N: The size, in commands, of the command history. The
9559 default is 256, or the value of the environment variable
9562 history save on/off: If this value is set to ON, the history file will
9563 be saved after exiting gdb. If set to OFF, the
9564 file will not be saved. The default is OFF.
9566 history expansion on/off: If this value is set to ON, then csh-like
9567 history expansion will be performed on
9568 command line input. The default is OFF.
9570 radix N: Sets the default radix for input and output. It can be set
9571 to 8, 10, or 16. Note that the argument to "radix" is interpreted
9572 in the current radix, so "set radix 10" is always a no-op.
9574 height N: This integer value is the number of lines on a page. Default
9575 is 24, the current `stty rows'' setting, or the ``li#''
9576 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
9579 width N: This integer value is the number of characters on a line.
9580 Default is 80, the current `stty cols'' setting, or the ``co#''
9581 setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
9584 Note: ``set screensize'' is obsolete. Use ``set height'' and
9585 ``set width'' instead.
9587 print address on/off: Print memory addresses in various command displays,
9588 such as stack traces and structure values. Gdb looks
9589 more ``symbolic'' if you turn this off; it looks more
9590 ``machine level'' with it on. Default is ON.
9592 print array on/off: Prettyprint arrays. New convenient format! Default
9595 print demangle on/off: Print C++ symbols in "source" form if on,
9598 print asm-demangle on/off: Same, for assembler level printouts
9601 print vtbl on/off: Prettyprint C++ virtual function tables. Default is OFF.
9604 * Support for Epoch Environment.
9606 The epoch environment is a version of Emacs v18 with windowing. One
9607 new command, ``inspect'', is identical to ``print'', except that if you
9608 are running in the epoch environment, the value is printed in its own
9612 * Support for Shared Libraries
9614 GDB can now debug programs and core files that use SunOS shared libraries.
9615 Symbols from a shared library cannot be referenced
9616 before the shared library has been linked with the program (this
9617 happens after you type ``run'' and before the function main() is entered).
9618 At any time after this linking (including when examining core files
9619 from dynamically linked programs), gdb reads the symbols from each
9620 shared library when you type the ``sharedlibrary'' command.
9621 It can be abbreviated ``share''.
9623 sharedlibrary REGEXP: Load shared object library symbols for files
9624 matching a unix regular expression. No argument
9625 indicates to load symbols for all shared libraries.
9627 info sharedlibrary: Status of loaded shared libraries.
9632 A watchpoint stops execution of a program whenever the value of an
9633 expression changes. Checking for this slows down execution
9634 tremendously whenever you are in the scope of the expression, but is
9635 quite useful for catching tough ``bit-spreader'' or pointer misuse
9636 problems. Some machines such as the 386 have hardware for doing this
9637 more quickly, and future versions of gdb will use this hardware.
9639 watch EXP: Set a watchpoint (breakpoint) for an expression.
9641 info watchpoints: Information about your watchpoints.
9643 delete N: Deletes watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
9644 disable N: Temporarily turns off watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
9645 enable N: Re-enables watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
9648 * C++ multiple inheritance
9650 When used with a GCC version 2 compiler, GDB supports multiple inheritance
9653 * C++ exception handling
9655 Gdb now supports limited C++ exception handling. Besides the existing
9656 ability to breakpoint on an exception handler, gdb can breakpoint on
9657 the raising of an exception (before the stack is peeled back to the
9660 catch FOO: If there is a FOO exception handler in the dynamic scope,
9661 set a breakpoint to catch exceptions which may be raised there.
9662 Multiple exceptions (``catch foo bar baz'') may be caught.
9664 info catch: Lists all exceptions which may be caught in the
9665 current stack frame.
9668 * Minor command changes
9670 The command ``call func (arg, arg, ...)'' now acts like the print
9671 command, except it does not print or save a value if the function's result
9672 is void. This is similar to dbx usage.
9674 The ``up'' and ``down'' commands now always print the frame they end up
9675 at; ``up-silently'' and `down-silently'' can be used in scripts to change
9676 frames without printing.
9678 * New directory command
9680 'dir' now adds directories to the FRONT of the source search path.
9681 The path starts off empty. Source files that contain debug information
9682 about the directory in which they were compiled can be found even
9683 with an empty path; Sun CC and GCC include this information. If GDB can't
9684 find your source file in the current directory, type "dir .".
9686 * Configuring GDB for compilation
9688 For normal use, type ``./configure host''. See README or gdb.texinfo
9691 GDB now handles cross debugging. If you are remotely debugging between
9692 two different machines, type ``./configure host -target=targ''.
9693 Host is the machine where GDB will run; targ is the machine
9694 where the program that you are debugging will run.