Installing GDB

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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 4.16 distribution is in the `gdb-4.16'
directory.  That directory contains:

`gdb-4.16/configure (and supporting files)'
     script for configuring GDB and all its supporting libraries

`gdb-4.16/gdb'
     the source specific to GDB itself

`gdb-4.16/bfd'
     source for the Binary File Descriptor library

`gdb-4.16/include'
     GNU include files

`gdb-4.16/libiberty'
     source for the `-liberty' free software library

`gdb-4.16/opcodes'
     source for the library of opcode tables and disassemblers

`gdb-4.16/readline'
     source for the GNU command-line interface

`gdb-4.16/glob'
     source for the GNU filename pattern-matching subroutine

`gdb-4.16/mmalloc'
     source for the GNU memory-mapped malloc package

   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-4.16' directory.

   First switch to the `gdb-VERSION-NUMBER' source directory if you are
not already in it; then run `configure'.  Pass the identifier for the
platform on which GDB will run as an argument.

   For example:

     cd gdb-4.16
     ./configure HOST
     make

where HOST is an identifier such as `sun4' or `decstation', that
identifies the platform where GDB will run.  (You can often leave off
HOST; `configure' tries to guess the correct value by examining your
system.)

   Running `configure HOST' and then running `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 HOST

   If you run `configure' from a directory that contains source
directories for multiple libraries or programs, such as the `gdb-4.16'
source directory for version 4.16, `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 4.16, type the following to configure only
the `bfd' subdirectory:

     cd gdb-4.16/bfd
     ../configure HOST

   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.
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