This document discusses the following topics:

• Overview
• What is New in This Release
• Patches, Defects and Fixes
• Known Problems in This Release
• Features Supported in Previous Versions of WDB GUI
• Related Documentation

HP WDB 5.6 supports the following new features:

• Enhanced thread debugging features

  The thread debugging feature in HP WDB GUI 5.6, provides extended information on the state of threads, mutexes,read-write locks, and condition variables.
  This feature provides support for the following thread debugging commands:

  • Support for info thread and info thread <thread-id>

    To view information about the threads, select the Threads tab. This displays all the active threads in the debugged application.

    To enable advanced thread debugging, right click the Threads window and select the Advanced Thread View option. This displays the Mutex tab, the R/W Locks tab, and the Cond Var tab. You can also select Tools->Advanced Thread View to enable advanced thread debugging. You must enable Advanced Thread View to view information on specific threads and pthread primitives.

    To view extended information on a specific thread, right-click the required thread and select the Thread Info option.

  • Support for info mutex and info mutex <mutex-id>

    To view information about mutexes, enable Tools ->Advanced Thread View and select the Mutex tab. This displays all the active mutexes in the debugged application. To view information about a specific mutex, right-click the required mutex and select the Mutex/Thread Info option.

  • Support for info rwlock and info rwlock <rwlock-id>

    To view information about read-write locks, enable Tools ->Advanced Thread View and select the R/W Locks tab. This displays all the active read-write locks in the debugged application. To view information about a specific read-write lock, right click the required read-write lock and select the RW Lock/thread Info option.

  • Support for info condvar and info condvar <condvar-id>

    To view information about conditional variables, enable Tools ->Advanced Thread View and select the Cond Var tab. This displays all the active current conditional variables in the debugged application. To view information about a specific conditional variable, right click the required conditional variable and select the Condvar/Mutex Info tab.

  • Note:

    • The advanced thread debugging features are supported for PA-RISC and Itanium applications running on HP-UX 11i v2 and later versions of the operating system. HP WDB GUI does not support thread debugging of PA-RISC applications on Integrity systems.

    • The tracing pthread library is required for advanced thread-debugging. The pthread tracer library is available by default on systems running HP-UX 11i v2 or later. The thread debugging feature in HP WDB is dependent on the availability of the Dynamic Linker Version B.11.19.

    • HP WDB GUI uses librtc.sl to enable thread debugging support. If the debugger is installed in a directory other than the default /opt/langtools/bin directory, you must use the environment variable, LIBRTC_SERVER, to export the path of the appropriate version of librtc.sl.

    • HP WDB GUI does not support debugging of programs that link with the archive version of the standard C library, libc.a, or the core library, libcl.a. The programs must be linked with libc.sl.

    • For PA-RISC 32-bit applications, the dynamic library path look-up must be enabled for advanced thread debugging. To enable dynamic library path look-up for advanced thread debugging, enter the following command at HP-UX prompt:

      # chatr +s enable <PA32-bitApp>
      

      This command automatically enables dynamic library path look-up. No additional environmental variables are required.

• Extended Information on the Heap

  The heap report obtained in the Memory Usage view provides additional information on the start of the heap, end of the heap, and the total heap size.

• Support for Inline Debugging

  HP WDB GUI 5.6 provides inline debugging support for debugging applications in Integrity and HP 9000 systems. To enable inline debugging in HP 9000 systems, the applications must compiled with +inline debug option (added in the A.03.65 and later versions of the HP aC++ compiler). In Integrity systems, the applications that are compiled with -g option support inline debugging by default. Compiler versions A.06.02 and later in Integrity systems support this feature.

  To enable or disable inline debugging, select Tools->Inline Debug and set the required inline debugging option.

  The following options are displayed for Inline Debug:

  • On

    Select Tools->Inline Debug->On to enable inline debugging functionality without the inline breakpoint feature. This command is enabled by default in Integrity and HP 9000 systems.

  • Off

    Select Tools->Inline Debug->Off to disable the inline debugging feature. You can disable inline debugging by entering this command before loading the application for debugging.

  • Breakpoint All

    Select Tools->Inline Debug->Breakpoint All to enable the setting and modifying of breakpoints at all instances of a particular inline function, in addition to enabling the inline debugging feature. A single instance of the specified inline function is displayed as a representative instance for all the instances of the specified inline function. This creates a single-breakpoint illusion for multiple instances of the inline function. You can set and modify breakpoints at all the instances of the inline functions by setting and modifying breakpoints at the displayed instance of the inline function. This option must be enabled before loading the application for debugging.

  • Breakpoint Ind.

    Select Tools->Inline Debug->Breakpoint Ind. to enable the setting and modifying normal breakpoints at a particular inline function, in addition to enabling the inline debugging feature. All instances of a particular inline function are displayed as separate breakpoint occurrences. You can set or modify individual breakpoints at specific instances of the inline function while retaining the breakpoints in other instances of the specified inline function. This option must be enabled before loading the application for debugging.

  Limitations:

  • The inline breakpoint features are not available for programs running on HP 9000 systems.

  • The inline breakpoint features are not available for programs that are compiled with +O2 optimization level and above in Integrity systems.

  • The inline breakpoint features can degrade performance of the application that is being debugged. You can explicitly disable the breakpoint features and continue to use other inline debugging features when these features are not required.

  • The inline breakpoint features are not supported for PA-RISC applications running on Integrity systems.

• WDB GUI aborts on reaching the XCopyArea function in HP 9000 systems.
• The formatting of displayed text in the command window of WDB-GUI is not consistent for long data values.
• The register window is wide and requires scrolling to view the registers.
• The display of the register window is not consistent for PA-RISC applications running on Integrity systems.
• Breakpoints cannot be viewed or modified in the disassembly window for Integrity systems.

• There are no reported problems in this release of HP WDB GUI.

The following table lists the documentation available for HP WDB GUI: