994 lines
38 KiB
Plaintext
994 lines
38 KiB
Plaintext
What has changed since GDB-3.5?
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(Organized release by release)
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*** Changes in GDB-4.11:
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* User visible changes:
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* Remote Debugging
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The "set remotedebug" option is now consistent between the mips remote
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target, remote targets using the gdb-specific protocol, UDI (AMD's
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debug protocol for the 29k) and the 88k bug monitor. It is now an
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integer specifying a debug level (normally 0 or 1, but 2 means more
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debugging info for the mips target).
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* DEC Alpha native support
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GDB now works on the DEC Alpha. GCC 2.4.5 does not produce usable
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debug info, but GDB works fairly well with the DEC compiler and should
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work with a future GCC release. See the README file for a few
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Alpha-specific notes.
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* Preliminary thread implementation
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GDB now has preliminary thread support for both SGI/Irix and LynxOS.
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* LynxOS native and target support for 386
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This release has been hosted on LynxOS 2.2, and also can be configured
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to remotely debug programs running under LynxOS (see gdb/gdbserver/README
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for details).
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* Improvements in C++ mangling/demangling.
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This release has much better g++ debugging, specifically in name
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mangling/demangling, virtual function calls, print virtual table,
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call methods, ...etc.
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*** Changes in GDB-4.10:
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* User visible changes:
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Remote debugging using the GDB-specific (`target remote') protocol now
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supports the `load' command. This is only useful if you have some
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other way of getting the stub to the target system, and you can put it
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somewhere in memory where it won't get clobbered by the download.
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Filename completion now works.
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When run under emacs mode, the "info line" command now causes the
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arrow to point to the line specified. Also, "info line" prints
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addresses in symbolic form (as well as hex).
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All vxworks based targets now support a user settable option, called
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vxworks-timeout. This option represents the number of seconds gdb
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should wait for responses to rpc's. You might want to use this if
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your vxworks target is, perhaps, a slow software simulator or happens
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to be on the far side of a thin network line.
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* DEC alpha support
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This release contains support for using a DEC alpha as a GDB host for
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cross debugging. Native alpha debugging is not supported yet.
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*** Changes in GDB-4.9:
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* Testsuite
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This is the first GDB release which is accompanied by a matching testsuite.
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The testsuite requires installation of dejagnu, which should be available
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via ftp from most sites that carry GNU software.
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* C++ demangling
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'Cfront' style demangling has had its name changed to 'ARM' style, to
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emphasize that it was written from the specifications in the C++ Annotated
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Reference Manual, not necessarily to be compatible with AT&T cfront. Despite
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disclaimers, it still generated too much confusion with users attempting to
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use gdb with AT&T cfront.
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* Simulators
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GDB now uses a standard remote interface to a simulator library.
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So far, the library contains simulators for the Zilog Z8001/2, the
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Hitachi H8/300, H8/500 and Super-H.
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* New targets supported
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H8/300 simulator h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
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H8/500 simulator h8500-hitachi-hms or h8500hms
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SH simulator sh-hitachi-hms or sh
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Z8000 simulator z8k-zilog-none or z8ksim
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IDT MIPS board over serial line mips-idt-ecoff
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Cross-debugging to GO32 targets is supported. It requires a custom
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version of the i386-stub.c module which is integrated with the
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GO32 memory extender.
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* New remote protocols
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MIPS remote debugging protocol.
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* New source languages supported
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This version includes preliminary support for Chill, a Pascal like language
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used by telecommunications companies. Chill support is also being integrated
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into the GNU compiler, but we don't know when it will be publically available.
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*** Changes in GDB-4.8:
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* HP Precision Architecture supported
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GDB now supports HP PA-RISC machines running HPUX. A preliminary
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version of this support was available as a set of patches from the
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University of Utah. GDB does not support debugging of programs
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compiled with the HP compiler, because HP will not document their file
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format. Instead, you must use GCC (version 2.3.2 or later) and PA-GAS
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(as available from jaguar.cs.utah.edu:/dist/pa-gas.u4.tar.Z).
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Many problems in the preliminary version have been fixed.
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* Faster and better demangling
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We have improved template demangling and fixed numerous bugs in the GNU style
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demangler. It can now handle type modifiers such as `static' or `const'. Wide
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character types (wchar_t) are now supported. Demangling of each symbol is now
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only done once, and is cached when the symbol table for a file is read in.
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This results in a small increase in memory usage for C programs, a moderate
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increase in memory usage for C++ programs, and a fantastic speedup in
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symbol lookups.
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`Cfront' style demangling still doesn't work with AT&T cfront. It was written
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from the specifications in the Annotated Reference Manual, which AT&T's
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compiler does not actually implement.
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* G++ multiple inheritance compiler problem
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In the 2.3.2 release of gcc/g++, how the compiler resolves multiple
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inheritance lattices was reworked to properly discover ambiguities. We
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recently found an example which causes this new algorithm to fail in a
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very subtle way, producing bad debug information for those classes.
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The file 'gcc.patch' (in this directory) can be applied to gcc to
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circumvent the problem. A future GCC release will contain a complete
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fix.
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The previous G++ debug info problem (mentioned below for the gdb-4.7
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release) is fixed in gcc version 2.3.2.
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* Improved configure script
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The `configure' script will now attempt to guess your system type if
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you don't supply a host system type. The old scheme of supplying a
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host system triplet is preferable over using this. All the magic is
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done in the new `config.guess' script. Examine it for details.
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We have also brought our configure script much more in line with the FSF's
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version. It now supports the --with-xxx options. In particular,
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`--with-minimal-bfd' can be used to make the GDB binary image smaller.
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The resulting GDB will not be able to read arbitrary object file formats --
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only the format ``expected'' to be used on the configured target system.
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We hope to make this the default in a future release.
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* Documentation improvements
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There's new internal documentation on how to modify GDB, and how to
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produce clean changes to the code. We implore people to read it
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before submitting changes.
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The GDB manual uses new, sexy Texinfo conditionals, rather than arcane
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M4 macros. The new texinfo.tex is provided in this release. Pre-built
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`info' files are also provided. To build `info' files from scratch,
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you will need the latest `makeinfo' release, which will be available in
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a future texinfo-X.Y release.
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*NOTE* The new texinfo.tex can cause old versions of TeX to hang.
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We're not sure exactly which versions have this problem, but it has
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been seen in 3.0. We highly recommend upgrading to TeX version 3.141
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or better. If that isn't possible, there is a patch in
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`texinfo/tex3patch' that will modify `texinfo/texinfo.tex' to work
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around this problem.
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* New features
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GDB now supports array constants that can be used in expressions typed in by
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the user. The syntax is `{element, element, ...}'. Ie: you can now type
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`print {1, 2, 3}', and it will build up an array in memory malloc'd in
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the target program.
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The new directory `gdb/sparclite' contains a program that demonstrates
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how the sparc-stub.c remote stub runs on a Fujitsu SPARClite processor.
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* New native hosts supported
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HP/PA-RISC under HPUX using GNU tools hppa1.1-hp-hpux
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386 CPUs running SCO Unix 3.2v4 i386-unknown-sco3.2v4
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* New targets supported
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AMD 29k family via UDI a29k-amd-udi or udi29k
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* New file formats supported
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BFD now supports reading HP/PA-RISC executables (SOM file format?),
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HPUX core files, and SCO 3.2v2 core files.
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* Major bug fixes
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Attaching to processes now works again; thanks for the many bug reports.
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We have also stomped on a bunch of core dumps caused by
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printf_filtered("%s") problems.
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We eliminated a copyright problem on the rpc and ptrace header files
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for VxWorks, which was discovered at the last minute during the 4.7
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release. You should now be able to build a VxWorks GDB.
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You can now interrupt gdb while an attached process is running. This
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will cause the attached process to stop, and give control back to GDB.
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We fixed problems caused by using too many file descriptors
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for reading symbols from object files and libraries. This was
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especially a problem for programs that used many (~100) shared
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libraries.
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The `step' command now only enters a subroutine if there is line number
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information for the subroutine. Otherwise it acts like the `next'
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command. Previously, `step' would enter subroutines if there was
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any debugging information about the routine. This avoids problems
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when using `cc -g1' on MIPS machines.
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* Internal improvements
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GDB's internal interfaces have been improved to make it easier to support
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debugging of multiple languages in the future.
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GDB now uses a common structure for symbol information internally.
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Minimal symbols (derived from linkage symbols in object files), partial
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symbols (from a quick scan of debug information), and full symbols
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contain a common subset of information, making it easier to write
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shared code that handles any of them.
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* New command line options
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We now accept --silent as an alias for --quiet.
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* Mmalloc licensing
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The memory-mapped-malloc library is now licensed under the GNU Library
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General Public License.
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*** Changes in GDB-4.7:
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* Host/native/target split
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GDB has had some major internal surgery to untangle the support for
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hosts and remote targets. Now, when you configure GDB for a remote
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target, it will no longer load in all of the support for debugging
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local programs on the host. When fully completed and tested, this will
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ensure that arbitrary host/target combinations are possible.
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The primary conceptual shift is to separate the non-portable code in
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GDB into three categories. Host specific code is required any time GDB
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is compiled on that host, regardless of the target. Target specific
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code relates to the peculiarities of the target, but can be compiled on
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any host. Native specific code is everything else: it can only be
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built when the host and target are the same system. Child process
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handling and core file support are two common `native' examples.
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GDB's use of /proc for controlling Unix child processes is now cleaner.
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It has been split out into a single module under the `target_ops' vector,
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plus two native-dependent functions for each system that uses /proc.
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* New hosts supported
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HP/Apollo 68k (under the BSD domain) m68k-apollo-bsd or apollo68bsd
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386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
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386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or i386sco
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* New targets supported
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Fujitsu SPARClite sparclite-fujitsu-none or sparclite
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68030 and CPU32 m68030-*-*, m68332-*-*
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* New native hosts supported
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386 CPUs running various BSD ports i386-unknown-bsd or 386bsd
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(386bsd is not well tested yet)
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386 CPUs running SCO Unix i386-unknown-scosysv322 or sco
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* New file formats supported
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BFD now supports COFF files for the Zilog Z8000 microprocessor. It
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supports reading of `a.out.adobe' object files, which are an a.out
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format extended with minimal information about multiple sections.
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* New commands
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`show copying' is the same as the old `info copying'.
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`show warranty' is the same as `info warrantee'.
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These were renamed for consistency. The old commands continue to work.
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`info handle' is a new alias for `info signals'.
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You can now define pre-command hooks, which attach arbitrary command
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scripts to any command. The commands in the hook will be executed
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prior to the user's command. You can also create a hook which will be
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executed whenever the program stops. See gdb.texinfo.
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* C++ improvements
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We now deal with Cfront style name mangling, and can even extract type
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info from mangled symbols. GDB can automatically figure out which
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symbol mangling style your C++ compiler uses.
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Calling of methods and virtual functions has been improved as well.
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* Major bug fixes
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The crash that occured when debugging Sun Ansi-C compiled binaries is
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fixed. This was due to mishandling of the extra N_SO stabs output
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by the compiler.
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We also finally got Ultrix 4.2 running in house, and fixed core file
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support, with help from a dozen people on the net.
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John M. Farrell discovered that the reason that single-stepping was so
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slow on all of the Mips based platforms (primarily SGI and DEC) was
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that we were trying to demangle and lookup a symbol used for internal
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purposes on every instruction that was being stepped through. Changing
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the name of that symbol so that it couldn't be mistaken for a C++
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mangled symbol sped things up a great deal.
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Rich Pixley sped up symbol lookups in general by getting much smarter
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about when C++ symbol mangling is necessary. This should make symbol
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completion (TAB on the command line) much faster. It's not as fast as
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we'd like, but it's significantly faster than gdb-4.6.
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* AMD 29k support
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A new user controllable variable 'call_scratch_address' can
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specify the location of a scratch area to be used when GDB
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calls a function in the target. This is necessary because the
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usual method of putting the scratch area on the stack does not work
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in systems that have separate instruction and data spaces.
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We integrated changes to support the 29k UDI (Universal Debugger
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Interface), but discovered at the last minute that we didn't have all
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of the appropriate copyright paperwork. We are working with AMD to
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resolve this, and hope to have it available soon.
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* Remote interfaces
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We have sped up the remote serial line protocol, especially for targets
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with lots of registers. It now supports a new `expedited status' ('T')
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message which can be used in place of the existing 'S' status message.
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This allows the remote stub to send only the registers that GDB
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needs to make a quick decision about single-stepping or conditional
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breakpoints, eliminating the need to fetch the entire register set for
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each instruction being stepped through.
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The GDB remote serial protocol now implements a write-through cache for
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registers, only re-reading the registers if the target has run.
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There is also a new remote serial stub for SPARC processors. You can
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find it in gdb-4.7/gdb/sparc-stub.c. This was written to support the
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Fujitsu SPARClite processor, but will run on any stand-alone SPARC
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processor with a serial port.
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* Configuration
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Configure.in files have become much easier to read and modify. A new
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`table driven' format makes it more obvious what configurations are
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supported, and what files each one uses.
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* Library changes
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There is a new opcodes library which will eventually contain all of the
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disassembly routines and opcode tables. At present, it only contains
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Sparc and Z8000 routines. This will allow the assembler, debugger, and
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disassembler (binutils/objdump) to share these routines.
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The libiberty library is now copylefted under the GNU Library General
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Public License. This allows more liberal use, and was done so libg++
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can use it. This makes no difference to GDB, since the Library License
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grants all the rights from the General Public License.
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* Documentation
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The file gdb-4.7/gdb/doc/stabs.texinfo is a (relatively) complete
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reference to the stabs symbol info used by the debugger. It is (as far
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as we know) the only published document on this fascinating topic. We
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encourage you to read it, compare it to the stabs information on your
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system, and send improvements on the document in general (to
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bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu).
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And, of course, many bugs have been fixed.
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*** Changes in GDB-4.6:
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* Better support for C++ function names
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GDB now accepts as input the "demangled form" of C++ overloaded function
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names and member function names, and can do command completion on such names
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(using TAB, TAB-TAB, and ESC-?). The names have to be quoted with a pair of
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single quotes. Examples are 'func (int, long)' and 'obj::operator==(obj&)'.
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Make use of command completion, it is your friend.
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GDB also now accepts a variety of C++ mangled symbol formats. They are
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the GNU g++ style, the Cfront (ARM) style, and the Lucid (lcc) style.
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You can tell GDB which format to use by doing a 'set demangle-style {gnu,
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lucid, cfront, auto}'. 'gnu' is the default. Do a 'set demangle-style foo'
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for the list of formats.
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* G++ symbol mangling problem
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Recent versions of gcc have a bug in how they emit debugging information for
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C++ methods (when using dbx-style stabs). The file 'gcc.patch' (in this
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directory) can be applied to gcc to fix the problem. Alternatively, if you
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can't fix gcc, you can #define GCC_MANGLE_BUG when compling gdb/symtab.c. The
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usual symptom is difficulty with setting breakpoints on methods. GDB complains
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about the method being non-existent. (We believe that version 2.2.2 of GCC has
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this problem.)
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* New 'maintenance' command
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All of the commands related to hacking GDB internals have been moved out of
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the main command set, and now live behind the 'maintenance' command. This
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can also be abbreviated as 'mt'. The following changes were made:
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dump-me -> maintenance dump-me
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info all-breakpoints -> maintenance info breakpoints
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printmsyms -> maintenance print msyms
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printobjfiles -> maintenance print objfiles
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printpsyms -> maintenance print psymbols
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printsyms -> maintenance print symbols
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The following commands are new:
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maintenance demangle Call internal GDB demangler routine to
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demangle a C++ link name and prints the result.
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maintenance print type Print a type chain for a given symbol
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* Change to .gdbinit file processing
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We now read the $HOME/.gdbinit file before processing the argv arguments
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(e.g. reading symbol files or core files). This allows global parameters to
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be set, which will apply during the symbol reading. The ./.gdbinit is still
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read after argv processing.
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* New hosts supported
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Solaris-2.0 !!! sparc-sun-solaris2 or sun4sol2
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Linux support i386-unknown-linux or linux
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We are also including code to support the HP/PA running BSD and HPUX. This
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is almost guaranteed not to work, as we didn't have time to test or build it
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for this release. We are including it so that the more adventurous (or
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masochistic) of you can play with it. We also had major problems with the
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fact that the compiler that we got from HP doesn't support the -g option.
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It costs extra.
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* New targets supported
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Hitachi H8/300 h8300-hitachi-hms or h8300hms
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* More smarts about finding #include files
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GDB now remembers the compilation directory for all include files, and for
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all files from which C is generated (like yacc and lex sources). This
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greatly improves GDB's ability to find yacc/lex sources, and include files,
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especially if you are debugging your program from a directory different from
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the one that contains your sources.
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We also fixed a bug which caused difficulty with listing and setting
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breakpoints in include files which contain C code. (In the past, you had to
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try twice in order to list an include file that you hadn't looked at before.)
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* Interesting infernals change
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GDB now deals with arbitrary numbers of sections, where the symbols for each
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section must be relocated relative to that section's landing place in the
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target's address space. This work was needed to support ELF with embedded
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stabs used by Solaris-2.0.
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* Bug fixes (of course!)
|
|
|
|
There have been loads of fixes for the following things:
|
|
mips, rs6000, 29k/udi, m68k, g++, type handling, elf/dwarf, m88k,
|
|
i960, stabs, DOS(GO32), procfs, etc...
|
|
|
|
See the ChangeLog for details.
|
|
|
|
*** Changes in GDB-4.5:
|
|
|
|
* New machines supported (host and target)
|
|
|
|
IBM RS6000 running AIX rs6000-ibm-aix or rs6000
|
|
|
|
SGI Irix-4.x mips-sgi-irix4 or iris4
|
|
|
|
* New malloc package
|
|
|
|
GDB now uses a new memory manager called mmalloc, based on gmalloc.
|
|
Mmalloc is capable of handling mutiple heaps of memory. It is also
|
|
capable of saving a heap to a file, and then mapping it back in later.
|
|
This can be used to greatly speedup the startup of GDB by using a
|
|
pre-parsed symbol table which lives in a mmalloc managed heap. For
|
|
more details, please read mmalloc/mmalloc.texi.
|
|
|
|
* info proc
|
|
|
|
The 'info proc' command (SVR4 only) has been enhanced quite a bit. See
|
|
'help info proc' for details.
|
|
|
|
* MIPS ecoff symbol table format
|
|
|
|
The code that reads MIPS symbol table format is now supported on all hosts.
|
|
Thanks to MIPS for releasing the sym.h and symconst.h files to make this
|
|
possible.
|
|
|
|
* File name changes for MS-DOS
|
|
|
|
Many files in the config directories have been renamed to make it easier to
|
|
support GDB on MS-DOSe systems (which have very restrictive file name
|
|
conventions :-( ). MS-DOSe host support (under DJ Delorie's GO32
|
|
environment) is close to working but has some remaining problems. Note
|
|
that debugging of DOS programs is not supported, due to limitations
|
|
in the ``operating system'', but it can be used to host cross-debugging.
|
|
|
|
* Cross byte order fixes
|
|
|
|
Many fixes have been made to support cross debugging of Sparc and MIPS
|
|
targets from hosts whose byte order differs.
|
|
|
|
* New -mapped and -readnow options
|
|
|
|
If memory-mapped files are available on your system through the 'mmap'
|
|
system call, you can use the -mapped option on the `file' or
|
|
`symbol-file' commands to cause GDB to write the symbols from your
|
|
program into a reusable file. If the program you are debugging is
|
|
called `/path/fred', the mapped symbol file will be `./fred.syms'.
|
|
Future GDB debugging sessions will notice the presence of this file,
|
|
and will quickly map in symbol information from it, rather than reading
|
|
the symbol table from the executable program. Using the '-mapped'
|
|
option in a GDB `file' or `symbol-file' command has the same effect as
|
|
starting GDB with the '-mapped' command-line option.
|
|
|
|
You can cause GDB to read the entire symbol table immediately by using
|
|
the '-readnow' option with any of the commands that load symbol table
|
|
information (or on the GDB command line). This makes the command
|
|
slower, but makes future operations faster.
|
|
|
|
The -mapped and -readnow options are typically combined in order to
|
|
build a `fred.syms' file that contains complete symbol information.
|
|
A simple GDB invocation to do nothing but build a `.syms' file for future
|
|
use is:
|
|
|
|
gdb -batch -nx -mapped -readnow programname
|
|
|
|
The `.syms' file is specific to the host machine on which GDB is run.
|
|
It holds an exact image of GDB's internal symbol table. It cannot be
|
|
shared across multiple host platforms.
|
|
|
|
* longjmp() handling
|
|
|
|
GDB is now capable of stepping and nexting over longjmp(), _longjmp(), and
|
|
siglongjmp() without losing control. This feature has not yet been ported to
|
|
all systems. It currently works on many 386 platforms, all MIPS-based
|
|
platforms (SGI, DECstation, etc), and Sun3/4.
|
|
|
|
* Solaris 2.0
|
|
|
|
Preliminary work has been put in to support the new Solaris OS from Sun. At
|
|
this time, it can control and debug processes, but it is not capable of
|
|
reading symbols.
|
|
|
|
* Bug fixes
|
|
|
|
As always, many many bug fixes. The major areas were with g++, and mipsread.
|
|
People using the MIPS-based platforms should experience fewer mysterious
|
|
crashes and trashed symbol tables.
|
|
|
|
*** Changes in GDB-4.4:
|
|
|
|
* New machines supported (host and target)
|
|
|
|
SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
|
|
(except core files)
|
|
BSD Reno on Vax vax-dec-bsd
|
|
Ultrix on Vax vax-dec-ultrix
|
|
|
|
* New machines supported (target)
|
|
|
|
AMD 29000 embedded, using EBMON a29k-none-none
|
|
|
|
* C++ support
|
|
|
|
GDB continues to improve its handling of C++. `References' work better.
|
|
The demangler has also been improved, and now deals with symbols mangled as
|
|
per the Annotated C++ Reference Guide.
|
|
|
|
GDB also now handles `stabs' symbol information embedded in MIPS
|
|
`ecoff' symbol tables. Since the ecoff format was not easily
|
|
extensible to handle new languages such as C++, this appeared to be a
|
|
good way to put C++ debugging info into MIPS binaries. This option
|
|
will be supported in the GNU C compiler, version 2, when it is
|
|
released.
|
|
|
|
* New features for SVR4
|
|
|
|
GDB now handles SVR4 shared libraries, in the same fashion as SunOS
|
|
shared libraries. Debugging dynamically linked programs should present
|
|
only minor differences from debugging statically linked programs.
|
|
|
|
The `info proc' command will print out information about any process
|
|
on an SVR4 system (including the one you are debugging). At the moment,
|
|
it prints the address mappings of the process.
|
|
|
|
If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please send mail to
|
|
bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were reqired (if any).
|
|
|
|
* Better dynamic linking support in SunOS
|
|
|
|
Reading symbols from shared libraries which contain debugging symbols
|
|
now works properly. However, there remain issues such as automatic
|
|
skipping of `transfer vector' code during function calls, which
|
|
make it harder to debug code in a shared library, than to debug the
|
|
same code linked statically.
|
|
|
|
* New Getopt
|
|
|
|
GDB is now using the latest `getopt' routines from the FSF. This
|
|
version accepts the -- prefix for options with long names. GDB will
|
|
continue to accept the old forms (-option and +option) as well.
|
|
Various single letter abbreviations for options have been explicity
|
|
added to the option table so that they won't get overshadowed in the
|
|
future by other options that begin with the same letter.
|
|
|
|
* Bugs fixed
|
|
|
|
The `cleanup_undefined_types' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
|
|
Many assorted bugs have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
|
|
See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
|
|
|
|
|
|
*** Changes in GDB-4.3:
|
|
|
|
* New machines supported (host and target)
|
|
|
|
Amiga 3000 running Amix m68k-cbm-svr4 or amix
|
|
NCR 3000 386 running SVR4 i386-ncr-svr4 or ncr3000
|
|
Motorola Delta 88000 running Sys V m88k-motorola-sysv or delta88
|
|
|
|
* Almost SCO Unix support
|
|
|
|
We had hoped to support:
|
|
SCO Unix on i386 IBM PC clones i386-sco-sysv or i386sco
|
|
(except for core file support), but we discovered very late in the release
|
|
that it has problems with process groups that render gdb unusable. Sorry
|
|
about that. I encourage people to fix it and post the fixes.
|
|
|
|
* Preliminary ELF and DWARF support
|
|
|
|
GDB can read ELF object files on System V Release 4, and can handle
|
|
debugging records for C, in DWARF format, in ELF files. This support
|
|
is preliminary. If you bring up GDB on another SVR4 system, please
|
|
send mail to bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu to let us know what changes were
|
|
reqired (if any).
|
|
|
|
* New Readline
|
|
|
|
GDB now uses the latest `readline' library. One user-visible change
|
|
is that two tabs will list possible command completions, which previously
|
|
required typing M-? (meta-question mark, or ESC ?).
|
|
|
|
* Bugs fixed
|
|
|
|
The `stepi' bug that many of you noticed has been squashed.
|
|
Many bugs in C++ have been handled. Many more remain to be handled.
|
|
See the various ChangeLog files (primarily in gdb and bfd) for details.
|
|
|
|
* State of the MIPS world (in case you wondered):
|
|
|
|
GDB can understand the symbol tables emitted by the compilers
|
|
supplied by most vendors of MIPS-based machines, including DEC. These
|
|
symbol tables are in a format that essentially nobody else uses.
|
|
|
|
Some versions of gcc come with an assembler post-processor called
|
|
mips-tfile. This program is required if you want to do source-level
|
|
debugging of gcc-compiled programs. I believe FSF does not ship
|
|
mips-tfile with gcc version 1, but it will eventually come with gcc
|
|
version 2.
|
|
|
|
Debugging of g++ output remains a problem. g++ version 1.xx does not
|
|
really support it at all. (If you're lucky, you should be able to get
|
|
line numbers and stack traces to work, but no parameters or local
|
|
variables.) With some work it should be possible to improve the
|
|
situation somewhat.
|
|
|
|
When gcc version 2 is released, you will have somewhat better luck.
|
|
However, even then you will get confusing results for inheritance and
|
|
methods.
|
|
|
|
We will eventually provide full debugging of g++ output on
|
|
DECstations. This will probably involve some kind of stabs-in-ecoff
|
|
encapulation, but the details have not been worked out yet.
|
|
|
|
|
|
*** Changes in GDB-4.2:
|
|
|
|
* Improved configuration
|
|
|
|
Only one copy of `configure' exists now, and it is not self-modifying.
|
|
Porting BFD is simpler.
|
|
|
|
* Stepping improved
|
|
|
|
The `step' and `next' commands now only stop at the first instruction
|
|
of a source line. This prevents the multiple stops that used to occur
|
|
in switch statements, for-loops, etc. `Step' continues to stop if a
|
|
function that has debugging information is called within the line.
|
|
|
|
* Bug fixing
|
|
|
|
Lots of small bugs fixed. More remain.
|
|
|
|
* New host supported (not target)
|
|
|
|
Intel 386 PC clone running Mach i386-none-mach
|
|
|
|
|
|
*** Changes in GDB-4.1:
|
|
|
|
* Multiple source language support
|
|
|
|
GDB now has internal scaffolding to handle several source languages.
|
|
It determines the type of each source file from its filename extension,
|
|
and will switch expression parsing and number formatting to match the
|
|
language of the function in the currently selected stack frame.
|
|
You can also specifically set the language to be used, with
|
|
`set language c' or `set language modula-2'.
|
|
|
|
* GDB and Modula-2
|
|
|
|
GDB now has preliminary support for the GNU Modula-2 compiler,
|
|
currently under development at the State University of New York at
|
|
Buffalo. Development of both GDB and the GNU Modula-2 compiler will
|
|
continue through the fall of 1991 and into 1992.
|
|
|
|
Other Modula-2 compilers are currently not supported, and attempting to
|
|
debug programs compiled with them will likely result in an error as the
|
|
symbol table is read. Feel free to work on it, though!
|
|
|
|
There are hooks in GDB for strict type checking and range checking,
|
|
in the `Modula-2 philosophy', but they do not currently work.
|
|
|
|
* set write on/off
|
|
|
|
GDB can now write to executable and core files (e.g. patch
|
|
a variable's value). You must turn this switch on, specify
|
|
the file ("exec foo" or "core foo"), *then* modify it, e.g.
|
|
by assigning a new value to a variable. Modifications take
|
|
effect immediately.
|
|
|
|
* Automatic SunOS shared library reading
|
|
|
|
When you run your program, GDB automatically determines where its
|
|
shared libraries (if any) have been loaded, and reads their symbols.
|
|
The `share' command is no longer needed. This also works when
|
|
examining core files.
|
|
|
|
* set listsize
|
|
|
|
You can specify the number of lines that the `list' command shows.
|
|
The default is 10.
|
|
|
|
* New machines supported (host and target)
|
|
|
|
SGI Iris (MIPS) running Irix V3: mips-sgi-irix or iris
|
|
Sony NEWS (68K) running NEWSOS 3.x: m68k-sony-sysv or news
|
|
Ultracomputer (29K) running Sym1: a29k-nyu-sym1 or ultra3
|
|
|
|
* New hosts supported (not targets)
|
|
|
|
IBM RT/PC: romp-ibm-aix or rtpc
|
|
|
|
* New targets supported (not hosts)
|
|
|
|
AMD 29000 embedded with COFF a29k-none-coff
|
|
AMD 29000 embedded with a.out a29k-none-aout
|
|
Ultracomputer remote kernel debug a29k-nyu-kern
|
|
|
|
* New remote interfaces
|
|
|
|
AMD 29000 Adapt
|
|
AMD 29000 Minimon
|
|
|
|
|
|
*** Changes in GDB-4.0:
|
|
|
|
* New Facilities
|
|
|
|
Wide output is wrapped at good places to make the output more readable.
|
|
|
|
Gdb now supports cross-debugging from a host machine of one type to a
|
|
target machine of another type. Communication with the target system
|
|
is over serial lines. The ``target'' command handles connecting to the
|
|
remote system; the ``load'' command will download a program into the
|
|
remote system. Serial stubs for the m68k and i386 are provided. Gdb
|
|
also supports debugging of realtime processes running under VxWorks,
|
|
using SunRPC Remote Procedure Calls over TCP/IP to talk to a debugger
|
|
stub on the target system.
|
|
|
|
New CPUs supported include the AMD 29000 and Intel 960.
|
|
|
|
GDB now reads object files and symbol tables via a ``binary file''
|
|
library, which allows a single copy of GDB to debug programs of multiple
|
|
object file types such as a.out and coff.
|
|
|
|
There is now a GDB reference card in "doc/refcard.tex". (Make targets
|
|
refcard.dvi and refcard.ps are available to format it).
|
|
|
|
|
|
* Control-Variable user interface simplified
|
|
|
|
All variables that control the operation of the debugger can be set
|
|
by the ``set'' command, and displayed by the ``show'' command.
|
|
|
|
For example, ``set prompt new-gdb=>'' will change your prompt to new-gdb=>.
|
|
``Show prompt'' produces the response:
|
|
Gdb's prompt is new-gdb=>.
|
|
|
|
What follows are the NEW set commands. The command ``help set'' will
|
|
print a complete list of old and new set commands. ``help set FOO''
|
|
will give a longer description of the variable FOO. ``show'' will show
|
|
all of the variable descriptions and their current settings.
|
|
|
|
confirm on/off: Enables warning questions for operations that are
|
|
hard to recover from, e.g. rerunning the program while
|
|
it is already running. Default is ON.
|
|
|
|
editing on/off: Enables EMACS style command line editing
|
|
of input. Previous lines can be recalled with
|
|
control-P, the current line can be edited with control-B,
|
|
you can search for commands with control-R, etc.
|
|
Default is ON.
|
|
|
|
history filename NAME: NAME is where the gdb command history
|
|
will be stored. The default is .gdb_history,
|
|
or the value of the environment variable
|
|
GDBHISTFILE.
|
|
|
|
history size N: The size, in commands, of the command history. The
|
|
default is 256, or the value of the environment variable
|
|
HISTSIZE.
|
|
|
|
history save on/off: If this value is set to ON, the history file will
|
|
be saved after exiting gdb. If set to OFF, the
|
|
file will not be saved. The default is OFF.
|
|
|
|
history expansion on/off: If this value is set to ON, then csh-like
|
|
history expansion will be performed on
|
|
command line input. The default is OFF.
|
|
|
|
radix N: Sets the default radix for input and output. It can be set
|
|
to 8, 10, or 16. Note that the argument to "radix" is interpreted
|
|
in the current radix, so "set radix 10" is always a no-op.
|
|
|
|
height N: This integer value is the number of lines on a page. Default
|
|
is 24, the current `stty rows'' setting, or the ``li#''
|
|
setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
|
|
variable TERM.
|
|
|
|
width N: This integer value is the number of characters on a line.
|
|
Default is 80, the current `stty cols'' setting, or the ``co#''
|
|
setting from the termcap entry matching the environment
|
|
variable TERM.
|
|
|
|
Note: ``set screensize'' is obsolete. Use ``set height'' and
|
|
``set width'' instead.
|
|
|
|
print address on/off: Print memory addresses in various command displays,
|
|
such as stack traces and structure values. Gdb looks
|
|
more ``symbolic'' if you turn this off; it looks more
|
|
``machine level'' with it on. Default is ON.
|
|
|
|
print array on/off: Prettyprint arrays. New convenient format! Default
|
|
is OFF.
|
|
|
|
print demangle on/off: Print C++ symbols in "source" form if on,
|
|
"raw" form if off.
|
|
|
|
print asm-demangle on/off: Same, for assembler level printouts
|
|
like instructions.
|
|
|
|
print vtbl on/off: Prettyprint C++ virtual function tables. Default is OFF.
|
|
|
|
|
|
* Support for Epoch Environment.
|
|
|
|
The epoch environment is a version of Emacs v18 with windowing. One
|
|
new command, ``inspect'', is identical to ``print'', except that if you
|
|
are running in the epoch environment, the value is printed in its own
|
|
window.
|
|
|
|
|
|
* Support for Shared Libraries
|
|
|
|
GDB can now debug programs and core files that use SunOS shared libraries.
|
|
Symbols from a shared library cannot be referenced
|
|
before the shared library has been linked with the program (this
|
|
happens after you type ``run'' and before the function main() is entered).
|
|
At any time after this linking (including when examining core files
|
|
from dynamically linked programs), gdb reads the symbols from each
|
|
shared library when you type the ``sharedlibrary'' command.
|
|
It can be abbreviated ``share''.
|
|
|
|
sharedlibrary REGEXP: Load shared object library symbols for files
|
|
matching a unix regular expression. No argument
|
|
indicates to load symbols for all shared libraries.
|
|
|
|
info sharedlibrary: Status of loaded shared libraries.
|
|
|
|
|
|
* Watchpoints
|
|
|
|
A watchpoint stops execution of a program whenever the value of an
|
|
expression changes. Checking for this slows down execution
|
|
tremendously whenever you are in the scope of the expression, but is
|
|
quite useful for catching tough ``bit-spreader'' or pointer misuse
|
|
problems. Some machines such as the 386 have hardware for doing this
|
|
more quickly, and future versions of gdb will use this hardware.
|
|
|
|
watch EXP: Set a watchpoint (breakpoint) for an expression.
|
|
|
|
info watchpoints: Information about your watchpoints.
|
|
|
|
delete N: Deletes watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
|
|
disable N: Temporarily turns off watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
|
|
enable N: Re-enables watchpoint number N (same as breakpoints).
|
|
|
|
|
|
* C++ multiple inheritance
|
|
|
|
When used with a GCC version 2 compiler, GDB supports multiple inheritance
|
|
for C++ programs.
|
|
|
|
* C++ exception handling
|
|
|
|
Gdb now supports limited C++ exception handling. Besides the existing
|
|
ability to breakpoint on an exception handler, gdb can breakpoint on
|
|
the raising of an exception (before the stack is peeled back to the
|
|
handler's context).
|
|
|
|
catch FOO: If there is a FOO exception handler in the dynamic scope,
|
|
set a breakpoint to catch exceptions which may be raised there.
|
|
Multiple exceptions (``catch foo bar baz'') may be caught.
|
|
|
|
info catch: Lists all exceptions which may be caught in the
|
|
current stack frame.
|
|
|
|
|
|
* Minor command changes
|
|
|
|
The command ``call func (arg, arg, ...)'' now acts like the print
|
|
command, except it does not print or save a value if the function's result
|
|
is void. This is similar to dbx usage.
|
|
|
|
The ``up'' and ``down'' commands now always print the frame they end up
|
|
at; ``up-silently'' and `down-silently'' can be used in scripts to change
|
|
frames without printing.
|
|
|
|
* New directory command
|
|
|
|
'dir' now adds directories to the FRONT of the source search path.
|
|
The path starts off empty. Source files that contain debug information
|
|
about the directory in which they were compiled can be found even
|
|
with an empty path; Sun CC and GCC include this information. If GDB can't
|
|
find your source file in the current directory, type "dir .".
|
|
|
|
* Configuring GDB for compilation
|
|
|
|
For normal use, type ``./configure host''. See README or gdb.texinfo
|
|
for more details.
|
|
|
|
GDB now handles cross debugging. If you are remotely debugging between
|
|
two different machines, type ``./configure host -target=targ''.
|
|
Host is the machine where GDB will run; targ is the machine
|
|
where the program that you are debugging will run.
|