DDD News -*- text -*- ******** DDD 3.3 ======= DDD 3.3 brings data themes, debugger interaction while the program is running, support for JDB 1.2, and several bug fixes. Data Themes ----------- - DDD supports _data themes_ - modifiers that change the appearance of program data. Try `Data->Themes'. - Data themes included with this release are: * Show specific expressions in a smaller font (useful for arrays). * Show display titles in a smaller font. * Suppress specific structure members or expressions. - New data themes can be defined by users and installed at run-time. - More themes are in preparation, such as rendering of C++ STL data structures. Debuggers and Languages ----------------------- - JDB as of JDK 1.2 is supported. - GDB 5.0 is supported. - You can use `ddd --wdb' to have DDD startup with WDB. - When choosing a debugger automatically, DDD will try `wdb' if `gdb' is not available. - WindRiver's version of GDB (within the Tornado/vxworks environment) is supported. See the DDD Reference, Section `WindRiver GDB' for details. (5) - SGI DBX, Sun DBX, other DBXes as well as Compaq Ladebug can now attach to processes via DDD. (1) - Parsing of GDB breakpoint information has been improved. (2) - Parsing of Perl breakpoint information has been improved. - Perl hash keys containing spaces are supported. (8) - Using the separate execution window now improves parsing debugger output. See the DDD documentation for the new `bufferGDBOutput' resource. Examining Data -------------- - New displays can be created left-to-right. See `Edit => Preferences => Data => Placement'. (6) - Handling of Ladebug array output has been improved. (7) - Handling of multiple C++ base classes has been improved. - Names that are keywords in some programming languages (such as `interface', `object', `class') should no longer impose problems when occurring in programs of other languages. - Several memory leaks have been plugged. (1) User Interface -------------- - The default DDD font has been changed from `helvetica-bold' to `helvetica-medium', thus integrating better into KDE and GNOME environments. - You can interact with the debugger while the program is running; DDD automatically interrupts and resumes debuggee execution. See the `stopAndContinue' resource for details. - Undo and Redo now apply on logical groups of commands. If an action caused multiple commands, Undo will undo them with one click. - Interrupts (Ctrl+C) from the controlling TTY can be issued multiple times. - With LessTif, the source window no longer scrolls around when setting or deleting breakpoints. - With LessTif, combo boxes (drop-down text boxes) no longer shrink. - With LessTif, Text selection works better. - With LessTif, typing in the debugger console works better. - With LessTif, switching the register set works. - Drag and Drop of breakpoints in the machine code is supported. - Names of debuggee files and directories may contain spaces. - Spin boxes (used to step values) have been slightly improved. - Forwarding of keyboard events from the source window into the debugger console is now optional. See the `consoleHasFocus' resource. (10) Printing -------- - PostScript printing includes background colors (e.g. changed values) Installation ------------ - PLEASE NOTE: Several installation details have changed. Be sure to read the `INSTALL' file for new installation instructions. - Several DDD resources (such as the application defaults) now reside in separate files, reducing DDD executable size and memory footprint by about 300k. - To run DDD from the build directory (i.e. before installing), you must set the DDD_HOME and XUSERFILESEARCH environment variables. See the `INSTALL' file for details. - The configure `--enable-rpath' option allows you to specify a path to be searched for dynamic libraries at run-time. - DDD Makefiles are now GNU standards-compliant and generated by automake. - DDD Makefiles use libtool for generic shared library support. - A bad dependency on $(SHELL) in the Makefile has been fixed. This caused unnecessary calls of flex and bison in the distribution. (9) - A bad wildcard use in the Makefile has been fixed. (3) - A compilation problem in `PannedGE.C' with some GCC variants has been fixed. - DDD now compiles cleanly even with `gcc -Wwrite-strings'. This avoids several warnings/errors on C++ compilers other than GCC. (1) - The `--configuration' option now gives more information about the compiler being used to compile DDD. (1) - ddd.texi rules in the Makefile have been fixed. (4) - The release includes the `libiberty' and `readline' packages as of GDB 5.0. License ------- - All remaining parts of DDD that used the GNU Library Public General License (LGPL) have been changed to use the GNU General Public License (GPL) instead. - The DDD Manual is released under the new GNU Free Documentation License. Tracking Code Changes --------------------- - This release no longer includes `ChangeLog' files. Instead, you can directly access old and recent DDD versions (including a list of all changes) via the public CVS interface at http://sourceforge.net/projects/ddd/ - You can also download most recent DDD versions from the public CVS interface. See the file `README-CVS' in the CVS archive for details. Acknowledgments --------------- Thanks to: (1) Arnaud Desitter (2) Hiro Sugawara (3) Yann Dirson (4) H. Nanosecond (5) Gary Cliff (6) Danny Van Elsen (7) Philippe Midol-Monnet (8) Felipe Rivera (9) Thomas Anders (10) Colin DDD 3.2.1 ========= DDD 3.2.1 brings some minor bug fixes and major LessTif bug workarounds. - [LessTif] Helpers (such as uncompressing the DDD manual) work fine. - [LessTif] The `Print' dialog (esp. printing to file) works fine. - [LessTif] Restarting DDD (while saving settings) works fine. - [LessTif] Small fixes for building with LessTif on SGI. - [Perl] In the data display, Perl hash keys are properly quoted. - [Ladebug] More Ladebug variants are supported. - [Ladebug] `Edit -> Ladebug settings' should work. - A string pointer error on 64 bit machines has been fixed. - Minor bugs with clustered displays have been fixed. - DDD makes more attempts in locating the initial main function. - DDD PostScript documentation can be printed on multiple pages per sheet. DDD 3.2 ======= DDD 3.2 brings a new documentation and several minor improvements. DDD is now a GNU program ------------------------ - Starting with this release, DDD is an official GNU program, distributed by the Free Software Foundation. This brings a number of administrative changes: * DDD is distributed as source only using GNU FTP sites and mirrors. * The DDD WWW page is now `http://www.gnu.org/software/ddd/'. * The DDD mailing addresses are now `bug-ddd@gnu.org' (for bug reports) and `ddd@gnu.org' (for announcements, discussions, or anything else). You can subscribe to these lists by sending an e-mail to `bug-ddd-request@gnu.org' and `ddd-request@gnu.org', respectively. The old mailing list addresses are now just aliases for the new ones. Documentation ------------- - There is a new DDD manual, generated from Texinfo source, and coming in HTML, PDF, PostScript, Info, as well as plain text format. Debuggers and Languages ----------------------- - This release contains partial support for the Compaq/DEC `Ladebug' debugger. Please send in bug reports listing remaining problems. - Parsing of JDB data has been improved. - DBX prompts for object file names are recognized. User Interface -------------- - `Breakpoint Properties', `Define Command', and `Debugger Settings' have an `Apply' button that applies changes to text fields. - In TTY mode, you can edit and complete the command line as in GDB. (Uses GNU readline library.) - Ctrl+E moves the cursor to the end of the line. For a `Run' shortcut, use F2/F3 or Shift+Ctrl+E. - DDD uses the locale as specified by the environment (such as $LANG). This allows input of locale characters in DDD dialogs; error messages may also come up in your locale. If you experience any problems, set LANG=C when invoking DDD. Plotting -------- - If you have several indexed variables in a cluster (such as X[1], X[3], and X[5]), DDD plots the cluster as 2-D plot, where the X axis shows the index, and the Y axis shows the values. This is useful for plotting array slices (see below). Source Navigation ----------------- - Using GDB, `Open Source' no longer automatically reads all shared libraries of the debuggee; this took too much time with some programs. There is an additional button that loads libraries. Data exploration ---------------- - You can rotate structs, saving space by omitting the member names. A rotated struct looks very much like a horizontal array. - The last rotation setting is used for new displays and is saved together with other DDD options. - Array slices `ARRAY[FROM..TO]' are much better supported: * By default, the displayed values are clustered and displayed like an ordinary array. * Array slices can be plotted, too (see `Plotting', above). - You can use the FROM..TO notation in arbitrary values, and also multiple times; `graph display 1..5 * 1..5' creates a multiplication table. - To select multiple displays, it suffices that the selection rectangle touches a display (rather than enclosing it entirely). - The Display Editor has buttons for clustering and unclustering displays. Running the Program ------------------- - Breakpoint commands are also supported for DBX, Perl, and XDB. - In Perl, DDD supports temporary breakpoints. Settings -------- - DDD saves the GDB source directory path with the current session. - DDD saves the JDB class path only with the current session. DDD 3.2 also incorporates all improvements and bug fixes from earlier releases. For older news, see the file `NEWS-OLD' in the DDD distribution. $Id: NEWS,v 1.531 2001/01/26 09:24:09 zeller Exp $