aboutsummaryrefslogtreecommitdiff
path: root/gdb/README
diff options
context:
space:
mode:
authorStan Shebs <shebs@codesourcery.com>1999-04-16 01:35:26 +0000
committerStan Shebs <shebs@codesourcery.com>1999-04-16 01:35:26 +0000
commitc906108c21474dfb4ed285bcc0ac6fe02cd400cc (patch)
treea0015aa5cedc19ccbab307251353a41722a3ae13 /gdb/README
parentcd946cff9ede3f30935803403f06f6ed30cad136 (diff)
downloadgdb-c906108c21474dfb4ed285bcc0ac6fe02cd400cc.zip
gdb-c906108c21474dfb4ed285bcc0ac6fe02cd400cc.tar.gz
gdb-c906108c21474dfb4ed285bcc0ac6fe02cd400cc.tar.bz2
Initial creation of sourceware repositorygdb-4_18-branchpoint
Diffstat (limited to 'gdb/README')
-rw-r--r--gdb/README618
1 files changed, 618 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/gdb/README b/gdb/README
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fd791ce
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gdb/README
@@ -0,0 +1,618 @@
+ README for gdb-4.18 release
+ Updated 4 Apr 1999 by Jim Blandy
+
+This is GDB, the GNU source-level debugger.
+A summary of new features is in the file `NEWS'.
+
+See the GDB home page at http://www.cygnus.com/gdb/ for up to date
+release information, mailing list links and archives, etc.
+
+
+Unpacking and Installation -- quick overview
+==========================
+
+In this release, the GDB debugger sources, the generic GNU include
+files, the BFD ("binary file description") library, the readline
+library, and other libraries all have directories of their own
+underneath the gdb-4.18 directory. The idea is that a variety of GNU
+tools can share a common copy of these things. Be aware of variation
+over time--for example don't try to build gdb with a copy of bfd from
+a release other than the gdb release (such as a binutils or gas
+release), especially if the releases are more than a few weeks apart.
+Configuration scripts and makefiles exist to cruise up and down this
+directory tree and automatically build all the pieces in the right
+order.
+
+When you unpack the gdb-4.18.tar.gz file, you'll find a directory
+called `gdb-4.18', which contains:
+
+ COPYING config.sub* libiberty/ opcodes/
+ COPYING.LIB configure* mmalloc/ readline/
+ Makefile.in configure.in move-if-change* sim/
+ README etc/ mpw-README texinfo/
+ bfd/ gdb/ mpw-build.in utils/
+ config/ include/ mpw-config.in
+ config.guess* install.sh* mpw-configure
+
+To build GDB, you can just do:
+
+ cd gdb-4.18
+ ./configure
+ make
+ cp gdb/gdb /usr/local/bin/gdb (or wherever you want)
+
+This will configure and build all the libraries as well as GDB.
+If `configure' can't determine your system type, specify one as its
+argument, e.g., sun4 or decstation.
+
+If you get compiler warnings during this stage, see the `Reporting Bugs'
+section below; there are a few known problems.
+
+GDB requires an ANSI C compiler. If you do not have an ANSI C
+compiler for your system, you may be able to download and install the
+GNU CC compiler. It is available via anonymous FTP from ftp.gnu.org,
+in /pub/gnu/gcc (as a URL, that's ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/gcc).
+
+GDB can be used as a cross-debugger, running on a machine of one type
+while debugging a program running on a machine of another type. See below.
+
+
+More Documentation
+******************
+
+ All the documentation for GDB comes as part of the machine-readable
+distribution. The documentation is written in Texinfo format, which is
+a documentation system that uses a single source file to produce both
+on-line information and a printed manual. You can use one of the Info
+formatting commands to create the on-line version of the documentation
+and TeX (or `texi2roff') to typeset the printed version.
+
+ GDB includes an already formatted copy of the on-line Info version of
+this manual in the `gdb/doc' subdirectory. The main Info file is
+`gdb-4.18/gdb/doc/gdb.info', and it refers to subordinate files matching
+`gdb.info*' in the same directory. If necessary, you can print out
+these files, or read them with any editor; but they are easier to read
+using the `info' subsystem in GNU Emacs or the standalone `info' program,
+available as part of the GNU Texinfo distribution.
+
+ If you want to format these Info files yourself, you need one of the
+Info formatting programs, such as `texinfo-format-buffer' or
+`makeinfo'.
+
+ If you have `makeinfo' installed, and are in the top level GDB
+source directory (`gdb-4.18', in the case of version 4.18), you can make
+the Info file by typing:
+
+ cd gdb/doc
+ make info
+
+ If you want to typeset and print copies of this manual, you need
+TeX, a program to print its DVI output files, and `texinfo.tex', the
+Texinfo definitions file. This file is included in the GDB
+distribution, in the directory `gdb-4.18/texinfo'.
+
+ TeX is a typesetting program; it does not print files directly, but
+produces output files called DVI files. To print a typeset document,
+you need a program to print DVI files. If your system has TeX
+installed, chances are it has such a program. The precise command to
+use depends on your system; `lpr -d' is common; another (for PostScript
+devices) is `dvips'. The DVI print command may require a file name
+without any extension or a `.dvi' extension.
+
+ TeX also requires a macro definitions file called `texinfo.tex'.
+This file tells TeX how to typeset a document written in Texinfo
+format. On its own, TeX cannot read, much less typeset a Texinfo file.
+ `texinfo.tex' is distributed with GDB and is located in the
+`gdb-4.18/texinfo' directory.
+
+ If you have TeX and a DVI printer program installed, you can typeset
+and print this manual. First switch to the the `gdb' subdirectory of
+the main source directory (for example, to `gdb-4.18/gdb') and then type:
+
+ make gdb.dvi
+
+
+Installing GDB
+**************
+
+ GDB comes with a `configure' script that automates the process of
+preparing GDB for installation; you can then use `make' to build the
+`gdb' program.
+
+ The GDB distribution includes all the source code you need for GDB in
+a single directory, whose name is usually composed by appending the
+version number to `gdb'.
+
+ For example, the GDB version 4.18 distribution is in the `gdb-4.18'
+directory. That directory contains:
+
+`gdb-4.18/{COPYING,COPYING.LIB}'
+ Standard GNU license files. Please read them.
+
+`gdb-4.18/bfd'
+ source for the Binary File Descriptor library
+
+`gdb-4.18/config*'
+ script for configuring GDB, along with other support files
+
+`gdb-4.18/gdb'
+ the source specific to GDB itself
+
+`gdb-4.18/include'
+ GNU include files
+
+`gdb-4.18/libiberty'
+ source for the `-liberty' free software library
+
+`gdb-4.18/mmalloc'
+ source for the GNU memory-mapped malloc package
+
+`gdb-4.18/opcodes'
+ source for the library of opcode tables and disassemblers
+
+`gdb-4.18/readline'
+ source for the GNU command-line interface
+
+`gdb-4.18/sim'
+ source for some simulators (ARM, D10V, SPARC, M32R, MIPS, PPC, V850, etc)
+
+`gdb-4.18/intl'
+ source for the GNU gettext library, for internationalization.
+ This is slightly modified from the standalone gettext
+ distribution you can get from GNU.
+
+`gdb-4.18/texinfo'
+ The `texinfo.tex' file, which you need in order to make a printed
+ manual using TeX.
+
+`gdb-4.18/etc'
+ Coding standards, useful files for editing GDB, and other
+ miscellanea.
+
+`gdb-4.18/utils'
+ A grab bag of random utilities.
+
+
+ The simplest way to configure and build GDB is to run `configure'
+from the `gdb-VERSION-NUMBER' source directory, which in this example
+is the `gdb-4.18' directory.
+
+ First switch to the `gdb-VERSION-NUMBER' source directory if you are
+not already in it; then run `configure'.
+
+ For example:
+
+ cd gdb-4.18
+ ./configure
+ make
+
+ Running `configure' followed by `make' builds the `bfd',
+`readline', `mmalloc', and `libiberty' libraries, then `gdb' itself.
+The configured source files, and the binaries, are left in the
+corresponding source directories.
+
+ `configure' is a Bourne-shell (`/bin/sh') script; if your system
+does not recognize this automatically when you run a different shell,
+you may need to run `sh' on it explicitly:
+
+ sh configure
+
+ If you run `configure' from a directory that contains source
+directories for multiple libraries or programs, such as the `gdb-4.18'
+source directory for version 4.18, `configure' creates configuration
+files for every directory level underneath (unless you tell it not to,
+with the `--norecursion' option).
+
+ You can run the `configure' script from any of the subordinate
+directories in the GDB distribution, if you only want to configure that
+subdirectory; but be sure to specify a path to it.
+
+ For example, with version 4.18, type the following to configure only
+the `bfd' subdirectory:
+
+ cd gdb-4.18/bfd
+ ../configure
+
+ You can install `gdb' anywhere; it has no hardwired paths. However,
+you should make sure that the shell on your path (named by the `SHELL'
+environment variable) is publicly readable. Remember that GDB uses the
+shell to start your program--some systems refuse to let GDB debug child
+processes whose programs are not readable.
+
+
+Compiling GDB in another directory
+==================================
+
+ If you want to run GDB versions for several host or target machines,
+you need a different `gdb' compiled for each combination of host and
+target. `configure' is designed to make this easy by allowing you to
+generate each configuration in a separate subdirectory, rather than in
+the source directory. If your `make' program handles the `VPATH'
+feature correctly (GNU `make' and SunOS 'make' are two that should),
+running `make' in each of these directories builds the `gdb' program
+specified there.
+
+ To build `gdb' in a separate directory, run `configure' with the
+`--srcdir' option to specify where to find the source. (You also need
+to specify a path to find `configure' itself from your working
+directory. If the path to `configure' would be the same as the
+argument to `--srcdir', you can leave out the `--srcdir' option; it
+will be assumed.)
+
+ For example, with version 4.18, you can build GDB in a separate
+directory for a Sun 4 like this:
+
+ cd gdb-4.18
+ mkdir ../gdb-sun4
+ cd ../gdb-sun4
+ ../gdb-4.18/configure sun4
+ make
+
+ When `configure' builds a configuration using a remote source
+directory, it creates a tree for the binaries with the same structure
+(and using the same names) as the tree under the source directory. In
+the example, you'd find the Sun 4 library `libiberty.a' in the
+directory `gdb-sun4/libiberty', and GDB itself in `gdb-sun4/gdb'.
+
+ One popular reason to build several GDB configurations in separate
+directories is to configure GDB for cross-compiling (where GDB runs on
+one machine--the host--while debugging programs that run on another
+machine--the target). You specify a cross-debugging target by giving
+the `--target=TARGET' option to `configure'.
+
+ When you run `make' to build a program or library, you must run it
+in a configured directory--whatever directory you were in when you
+called `configure' (or one of its subdirectories).
+
+ The `Makefile' that `configure' generates in each source directory
+also runs recursively. If you type `make' in a source directory such
+as `gdb-4.18' (or in a separate configured directory configured with
+`--srcdir=PATH/gdb-4.18'), you will build all the required libraries,
+and then build GDB.
+
+ When you have multiple hosts or targets configured in separate
+directories, you can run `make' on them in parallel (for example, if
+they are NFS-mounted on each of the hosts); they will not interfere
+with each other.
+
+
+Specifying names for hosts and targets
+======================================
+
+ The specifications used for hosts and targets in the `configure'
+script are based on a three-part naming scheme, but some short
+predefined aliases are also supported. The full naming scheme encodes
+three pieces of information in the following pattern:
+
+ ARCHITECTURE-VENDOR-OS
+
+ For example, you can use the alias `sun4' as a HOST argument or in a
+`--target=TARGET' option. The equivalent full name is
+`sparc-sun-sunos4'.
+
+ The `configure' script accompanying GDB does not provide any query
+facility to list all supported host and target names or aliases.
+`configure' calls the Bourne shell script `config.sub' to map
+abbreviations to full names; you can read the script, if you wish, or
+you can use it to test your guesses on abbreviations--for example:
+
+ % sh config.sub sun4
+ sparc-sun-sunos4.1.1
+ % sh config.sub sun3
+ m68k-sun-sunos4.1.1
+ % sh config.sub decstation
+ mips-dec-ultrix4.2
+ % sh config.sub hp300bsd
+ m68k-hp-bsd
+ % sh config.sub i386v
+ i386-pc-sysv
+ % sh config.sub i786v
+ Invalid configuration `i786v': machine `i786v' not recognized
+
+`config.sub' is also distributed in the GDB source directory
+(`gdb-4.18', for version 4.18).
+
+
+`configure' options
+===================
+
+ Here is a summary of the `configure' options and arguments that are
+most often useful for building GDB. `configure' also has several other
+options not listed here. *note : (configure.info)What Configure Does,
+for a full explanation of `configure'.
+
+ configure [--help]
+ [--prefix=DIR]
+ [--srcdir=PATH]
+ [--norecursion] [--rm]
+ [--enable-build-warnings]
+ [--target=TARGET]
+ [--host=HOST]
+ [HOST]
+
+You may introduce options with a single `-' rather than `--' if you
+prefer; but you may abbreviate option names if you use `--'.
+
+`--help'
+ Display a quick summary of how to invoke `configure'.
+
+`-prefix=DIR'
+ Configure the source to install programs and files under directory
+ `DIR'.
+
+`--srcdir=PATH'
+ *Warning: using this option requires GNU `make', or another `make'
+ that compatibly implements the `VPATH' feature.*
+ Use this option to make configurations in directories separate
+ from the GDB source directories. Among other things, you can use
+ this to build (or maintain) several configurations simultaneously,
+ in separate directories. `configure' writes configuration
+ specific files in the current directory, but arranges for them to
+ use the source in the directory PATH. `configure' will create
+ directories under the working directory in parallel to the source
+ directories below PATH.
+
+`--norecursion'
+ Configure only the directory level where `configure' is executed;
+ do not propagate configuration to subdirectories.
+
+`--rm'
+ Remove the configuration that the other arguments specify.
+
+`--enable-build-warnings'
+ When building the GDB sources, ask the compiler to warn about any
+ code which looks even vaguely suspicious. You should only using
+ this feature if you're compiling with GNU CC. It passes the
+ following flags:
+ -Wall
+ -Wpointer-arith
+ -Wstrict-prototypes
+ -Wmissing-prototypes
+ -Wmissing-declarations
+
+`--target=TARGET'
+ Configure GDB for cross-debugging programs running on the specified
+ TARGET. Without this option, GDB is configured to debug programs
+ that run on the same machine (HOST) as GDB itself.
+
+ There is no convenient way to generate a list of all available
+ targets.
+
+`--host=HOST'
+ Configure GDB to run on the specified HOST.
+
+ There is no convenient way to generate a list of all available
+ hosts.
+
+`HOST ...'
+ Same as `--host=HOST'. If you omit this, GDB will guess; it's
+ quite accurate.
+
+`configure' accepts other options, for compatibility with configuring
+other GNU tools recursively; but these are the only options that affect
+GDB or its supporting libraries.
+
+
+Languages other than C
+=======================
+
+See the GDB manual (gdb/doc/gdb.texinfo) for information on this.
+
+
+Kernel debugging
+=================
+
+I have't done this myself so I can't really offer any advice.
+Remote debugging over serial lines works fine, but the kernel debugging
+code in here has not been tested in years. Van Jacobson has
+better kernel debugging, but the UC lawyers won't let FSF have it.
+
+
+Remote debugging
+=================
+
+The files m68k-stub.c, i386-stub.c, and sparc-stub.c are examples of
+remote stubs to be used with remote.c. They are designed to run
+standalone on an m68k, i386, or SPARC cpu and communicate properly with
+the remote.c stub over a serial line.
+
+The directory gdb/gdbserver/ contains `gdbserver', a program that
+allows remote debugging for Unix applications. gdbserver is only
+supported for some native configurations, including Sun 3, Sun 4,
+and Linux.
+
+There are a number of remote interfaces for talking to existing ROM
+monitors and other hardware:
+
+ remote-adapt.c AMD 29000 "Adapt"
+ remote-array.c Array Tech RAID controller
+ remote-bug.c Motorola BUG monitor
+ remote-d10v.c GDB protocol, talking to a d10v chip
+ remote-e7000.c Hitachi E7000 ICE
+ remote-eb.c AMD 29000 "EBMON"
+ remote-es.c Ericsson 1800 monitor
+ remote-est.c EST emulator
+ remote-hms.c Hitachi Micro Systems H8/300 monitor
+ remote-mips.c MIPS remote debugging protocol
+ remote-mm.c AMD 29000 "minimon"
+ remote-nindy.c Intel 960 "Nindy"
+ remote-nrom.c NetROM ROM emulator
+ remote-os9k.c PC running OS/9000
+ remote-rdi.c ARM with Angel monitor
+ remote-rdp.c ARM with Demon monitor
+ remote-sds.c PowerPC SDS monitor
+ remote-sim.c Generalized simulator protocol
+ remote-st.c Tandem ST-2000 monitor
+ remote-udi.c AMD 29000 using the AMD "Universal Debug Interface"
+ remote-vx.c VxWorks realtime kernel
+
+Remote-vx.c and the vx-share subdirectory contain a remote interface for the
+VxWorks realtime kernel, which communicates over TCP using the Sun
+RPC library. This would be a useful starting point for other remote-
+via-ethernet back ends.
+
+Remote-udi.c and the 29k-share subdirectory contain a remote interface
+for AMD 29000 programs, which uses the AMD "Universal Debug Interface".
+This allows GDB to talk to software simulators, emulators, and/or bare
+hardware boards, via network or serial interfaces. Note that GDB only
+provides an interface that speaks UDI, not a complete solution. You
+will need something on the other end that also speaks UDI.
+
+
+Reporting Bugs
+===============
+
+The correct address for reporting bugs found in gdb is
+"bug-gdb@gnu.org". Please email all bugs, and all requests for
+help with GDB, to that address. Please include the GDB version number
+(e.g., gdb-4.18), and how you configured it (e.g., "sun4" or "mach386
+host, i586-intel-synopsys target"). Since GDB now supports so many
+different configurations, it is important that you be precise about this.
+If at all possible, you should include the actual banner that GDB prints
+when it starts up, or failing that, the actual configure command that
+you used when configuring GDB.
+
+For more information on how/whether to report bugs, see the GDB Bugs
+section of the GDB manual (gdb/doc/gdb.texinfo).
+
+Known bugs:
+
+ * Under Ultrix 4.2 (DECstation-3100) or Alphas under OSF/1, we have
+ seen problems with backtraces after interrupting the inferior out
+ of a read(). The problem is caused by ptrace() returning an
+ incorrect value for the frame pointer register (register 15 or
+ 30). As far as we can tell, this is a kernel problem. Any help
+ with this would be greatly appreciated.
+
+ * Under Ultrix 4.4 (DECstation-3100), setting the TERMCAP environment
+ variable to a string without a trailing ':' can cause GDB to dump
+ core upon startup. Although the core file makes it look as though
+ GDB code failed, the crash actually occurs within a call to the
+ termcap library function tgetent(). The problem can be solved by
+ using the GNU Termcap library.
+
+ Alphas running OSF/1 (versions 1.0 through 2.1) have the same buggy
+ termcap code, but GDB behaves strangely rather than crashing.
+
+ * On DECstations there are warnings about shift counts out of range in
+ various BFD modules. None of them is a cause for alarm, they are actually
+ a result of bugs in the DECstation compiler.
+
+ * Notes for the DEC Alpha using OSF/1:
+ The debugging output of native cc has two known problems; we view these
+ as compiler bugs.
+ The linker miscompacts symbol tables, which causes gdb to confuse the
+ type of variables or results in `struct <illegal>' type outputs.
+ dbx has the same problems with those executables. A workaround is to
+ specify -Wl,-b when linking, but that will increase the executable size
+ considerably.
+ If a structure has incomplete type in one file (e.g., "struct foo *"
+ without a definition for "struct foo"), gdb will be unable to find the
+ structure definition from another file.
+ It has been reported that the Ultrix 4.3A compiler on decstations has the
+ same problems.
+
+ * Notes for Solaris 2.x, using the SPARCworks cc compiler:
+ You have to compile your program with the -xs option of the SPARCworks
+ compiler to be able to debug your program with gdb.
+ Under Solaris 2.3 you also need patch 101409-03 (Jumbo linker patch).
+ Under Solaris 2.2, if you have patch 101052 installed, make sure
+ that it is at least at revision 101052-06.
+
+ * Under Irix 5 for SGIs, you must have installed the `compiler_dev.hdr'
+ subsystem that is on the IDO CD, otherwise you will get complaints
+ that certain files such as `/usr/include/syms.h' cannot be found.
+
+ * Notes for BSD/386:
+ To compile gdb-4.18 on BSD/386, you must run the configure script and
+ its subscripts with bash. Here is an easy way to do this:
+
+ bash -c 'CONFIG_SHELL=/bin/bash ./configure'
+
+ (configure will report i386-unknown-bsd). Then, compile with the
+ standard "make" command.
+
+GDB can produce warnings about symbols that it does not understand. By
+default, these warnings are disabled. You can enable them by executing
+`set complaint 10' (which you can put in your ~/.gdbinit if you like).
+I recommend doing this if you are working on a compiler, assembler,
+linker, or GDB, since it will point out problems that you may be able
+to fix. Warnings produced during symbol reading indicate some mismatch
+between the object file and GDB's symbol reading code. In many cases,
+it's a mismatch between the specs for the object file format, and what
+the compiler actually outputs or the debugger actually understands.
+
+
+X Windows versus GDB
+=====================
+
+You should check out DDD, the Data Display Debugger. Here's the blurb
+from the DDD web site, http://www.cs.tu-bs.de/softech/ddd:
+
+ The Data Display Debugger (DDD) is a popular graphical user
+ interface for command-line debuggers such as GDB, DBX, JDB, WDB,
+ XDB, the Perl debugger, and the Python debugger. Besides ``usual''
+ front-end features such as viewing source texts, DDD has become
+ famous through its interactive graphical data display, where data
+ structures are displayed as graphs. A simple mouse click
+ dereferences pointers or views structure contents, updated each
+ time the program stops. Using DDD, you can reason about your
+ application by watching its data, not just by viewing it execute
+ lines of source code.
+
+Emacs users will very likely enjoy the Grand Unified Debugger mode;
+try typing `M-x gdb RET'.
+
+Those interested in experimenting with a new kind of gdb-mode
+should load gdb/gdba.el into GNU Emacs 19.25 or later. Comments
+on this mode are also welcome.
+
+
+Writing Code for GDB
+=====================
+
+There is a lot of information about writing code for GDB in the
+internals manual, distributed with GDB in gdb/doc/gdbint.texinfo. You
+can read it by hand, print it by using TeX and texinfo, or process it
+into an `info' file for use with Emacs' info mode or the standalone
+`info' program.
+
+If you are pondering writing anything but a short patch, especially
+take note of the information about copyrights in the node Submitting
+Patches. It can take quite a while to get all the paperwork done, so
+we encourage you to start that process as soon as you decide you are
+planning to work on something, or at least well ahead of when you
+think you will be ready to submit the patches.
+
+
+GDB Testsuite
+=============
+
+There is a DejaGNU based testsuite available for testing your newly
+built GDB, or for regression testing GDBs with local modifications.
+
+Running the testsuite requires the prior installation of DejaGNU,
+which is generally available via ftp; you'll need a pretty recent
+release. Once DejaGNU is installed, you can run the tests in one of
+two ways:
+
+ (1) cd gdb-4.18/gdb (assuming you also unpacked gdb)
+ make check
+
+or
+
+ (2) cd gdb-4.18/gdb/testsuite
+ make site.exp (builds the site specific file)
+ runtest -tool gdb GDB=../gdb (or GDB=<somepath> as appropriate)
+
+The second method gives you slightly more control in case of problems with
+building one or more test executables or if you are using the testsuite
+'standalone', without it being part of the GDB source tree.
+
+See the DejaGNU documentation for further details.
+
+
+(this is for editing this file with GNU emacs)
+Local Variables:
+mode: text
+End: