5 ms·

GDB 7.0 released

59 points by edw519 17y ago

bbsabelli 17y ago
Love GDB. It has saved my life many times, but who uses it anymore? Not trolling, just curious. Managed code has won, has it not?
- biohacker42 17y ago
  There's plenty of C/C++ work. A lot of legacy but a good chunk of new stuff too.
- amichail 17y ago
  Apple's Xcode uses GDB.
- stonemetal 17y ago
  open source evidently: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/21/open_source_projects_08/ http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/21/open_source_projects...
- bct 17y ago
  Webapps and x86 have "won" too, but if you think nobody writes code for anything else you're awfully sheltered.
- GeneralMaximus 17y ago
  No, not yet. C and C++ are not only alive, but thriving.
- icefox 17y ago
  I used it last night :)
- pgbovine 17y ago
  as other posters on this thread have mentioned, i think it really depends on the community you belong to ... many GNU open-source hackers swear by C and won't touch managed code with a ten-foot-long stick because of their associations with Sun (Java) and MSFT (.NET) ... whereas if you're writing enterprise applications in a big company, your entire firm is probably on .NET and would scoff at those unix hippies still using command-line gdb :) joelonsoftware has an article entitled Biculturalism that addresses this issue: http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/Biculturalism.html http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/Biculturalism.html
  - zeugma 17y ago
    GDB integrate very well with recent Emacs.(tooltip, visual breakpoint, stactrace etc)
tmm1 17y ago
Reverse debugging, awesome! http://www.gnu.org/software/gdb/news/reversible.html http://www.gnu.org/software/gdb/news/reversible.html
- speek 17y ago
  The reverse debugging is built on http://dmtcp.sourceforge.net/ http://dmtcp.sourceforge.net/ (if I recall correctly). It's really neat technology
- Dauntless 17y ago
  Cool. Visual Studio 2010 was supposed to do that also, I'm glad to hear GDB already has it.
- msnyder 17y ago
  This is available now, in the just released gdb-7.0. Debug any native Linux process in reverse, on x86 and x86_64 architectures. Reverse-continue, reverse-step, reverse-next, and so on. It's pretty fast, too!
- msnyder1 17y ago
  New web tutorial for gdb reverse debugging: http://www.sourceware.org/gdb/wiki/ProcessRecord/Tutorial http://www.sourceware.org/gdb/wiki/ProcessRecord/Tutorial
- msnyder 17y ago
  Oh, and there is an online tutorial at http://sourceware.org/gdb/wiki/ProcessRecord/Tutorial http://sourceware.org/gdb/wiki/ProcessRecord/Tutorial
yan 17y ago
The major new features are: * Python scripting support * Reverse debugging, Process record and replay * Non-stop debugging * Multi-architecture debugging * Multi-inferior, multi-process debugging It also features many enhancements and bug fixes, including: * GDB now has an interface for JIT compilation * Tracepoints may now be conditional * Multi-byte and wide character set support * New /r and /m modifiers for the "disassemble" command * Automatic retrieval of shared library files from remote targets * Inlined functions are now supported * New remote protocal packets * GDB is now able to read compressed debug sections * Thread switching is now supported on Tru64 * Ada task switching is now supported * New features in gdbserver, the GDB remote stub * New command to stop execution when a system call is made
- glhaynes 17y ago
  I'd be really interested to know a bit more about some of these. Anybody know what "non-stop" or "multi-inferior" debugging are? And what sort of benefit is gained from using multi-process debugging rather than having a separate gdb attached to each process? Anyway, sounds like an awesomely good release.
  - msnyder 17y ago
    "non-stop" means that some or all of the threads in the process may be running while gdb is prompting the user for the next command. So for instance you may have one thread stop at a breakpoint, but the rest keep running. "Multi-inferior" means you can be debugging several different processes at once. I didn't work on this one personally so I can't say much about the benefits. But the work was paid for by a contractee, so obviously somebody thinks it is better. ;-0
known 17y ago
truss and strace are also good debugging tools where GDB is not applicable for e.g. to debug sockets based client-server system
- jws 17y ago
  The gdb "attach" command is handy for those too.
grogers 17y ago
Its a shame that the c++ pretty printers are packaged with libstdc++ (ie with gcc sources) not with gdb.
- mapleoin 17y ago
  why?
msnyder1 17y ago
A new tutorial on using gdb reverse debugging: http://www.sourceware.org/gdb/wiki/ProcessRecord/Tutorial http://www.sourceware.org/gdb/wiki/ProcessRecord/Tutorial

59 points by edw519 17y ago

Love GDB. It has saved my life many times, but who uses it anymore? Not trolling, just curious. Managed code has won, has it not?

biohacker42 17y ago
There's plenty of C/C++ work. A lot of legacy but a good chunk of new stuff too.
amichail 17y ago
Apple's Xcode uses GDB.
stonemetal 17y ago
open source evidently: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/21/open_source_projects_08/ http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/21/open_source_projects...
bct 17y ago
Webapps and x86 have "won" too, but if you think nobody writes code for anything else you're awfully sheltered.
GeneralMaximus 17y ago
No, not yet. C and C++ are not only alive, but thriving.
icefox 17y ago
I used it last night :)
pgbovine 17y ago
as other posters on this thread have mentioned, i think it really depends on the community you belong to ... many GNU open-source hackers swear by C and won't touch managed code with a ten-foot-long stick because of their associations with Sun (Java) and MSFT (.NET) ... whereas if you're writing enterprise applications in a big company, your entire firm is probably on .NET and would scoff at those unix hippies still using command-line gdb :) joelonsoftware has an article entitled Biculturalism that addresses this issue: http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/Biculturalism.html http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/Biculturalism.html
- zeugma 17y ago
  GDB integrate very well with recent Emacs.(tooltip, visual breakpoint, stactrace etc)

tmm1 17y ago

Reverse debugging, awesome! http://www.gnu.org/software/gdb/news/reversible.html http://www.gnu.org/software/gdb/news/reversible.html

speek 17y ago
The reverse debugging is built on http://dmtcp.sourceforge.net/ http://dmtcp.sourceforge.net/ (if I recall correctly). It's really neat technology
Dauntless 17y ago
Cool. Visual Studio 2010 was supposed to do that also, I'm glad to hear GDB already has it.
msnyder 17y ago
This is available now, in the just released gdb-7.0. Debug any native Linux process in reverse, on x86 and x86_64 architectures. Reverse-continue, reverse-step, reverse-next, and so on. It's pretty fast, too!
msnyder1 17y ago
New web tutorial for gdb reverse debugging: http://www.sourceware.org/gdb/wiki/ProcessRecord/Tutorial http://www.sourceware.org/gdb/wiki/ProcessRecord/Tutorial
msnyder 17y ago
Oh, and there is an online tutorial at http://sourceware.org/gdb/wiki/ProcessRecord/Tutorial http://sourceware.org/gdb/wiki/ProcessRecord/Tutorial

yan 17y ago

The major new features are: * Python scripting support * Reverse debugging, Process record and replay * Non-stop debugging * Multi-architecture debugging * Multi-inferior, multi-process debugging It also features many enhancements and bug fixes, including: * GDB now has an interface for JIT compilation * Tracepoints may now be conditional * Multi-byte and wide character set support * New /r and /m modifiers for the "disassemble" command * Automatic retrieval of shared library files from remote targets * Inlined functions are now supported * New remote protocal packets * GDB is now able to read compressed debug sections * Thread switching is now supported on Tru64 * Ada task switching is now supported * New features in gdbserver, the GDB remote stub * New command to stop execution when a system call is made

glhaynes 17y ago
I'd be really interested to know a bit more about some of these. Anybody know what "non-stop" or "multi-inferior" debugging are? And what sort of benefit is gained from using multi-process debugging rather than having a separate gdb attached to each process? Anyway, sounds like an awesomely good release.
- msnyder 17y ago
  "non-stop" means that some or all of the threads in the process may be running while gdb is prompting the user for the next command. So for instance you may have one thread stop at a breakpoint, but the rest keep running. "Multi-inferior" means you can be debugging several different processes at once. I didn't work on this one personally so I can't say much about the benefits. But the work was paid for by a contractee, so obviously somebody thinks it is better. ;-0

known 17y ago

truss and strace are also good debugging tools where GDB is not applicable for e.g. to debug sockets based client-server system

jws 17y ago
The gdb "attach" command is handy for those too.

grogers 17y ago

Its a shame that the c++ pretty printers are packaged with libstdc++ (ie with gcc sources) not with gdb.

mapleoin 17y ago
why?

msnyder1 17y ago

A new tutorial on using gdb reverse debugging: http://www.sourceware.org/gdb/wiki/ProcessRecord/Tutorial http://www.sourceware.org/gdb/wiki/ProcessRecord/Tutorial