21.3.7 PowerPC Embedded

gdb supports using the DVC (Data Value Compare) register to implement in hardware simple hardware watchpoint conditions of the form:

     (gdb) watch ADDRESS|VARIABLE \
       if  ADDRESS|VARIABLE == CONSTANT EXPRESSION

The DVC register will be automatically used whenever gdb detects such pattern in a condition expression. This feature is available in native gdb running on a Linux kernel version 2.6.34 or newer.

gdb provides the following PowerPC-specific commands:

set powerpc soft-float

show powerpc soft-float

Force gdb to use (or not use) a software floating point calling convention. By default, gdb selects the calling convention based on the selected architecture and the provided executable file.

set powerpc vector-abi

show powerpc vector-abi

Force gdb to use the specified calling convention for vector arguments and return values. The valid options are ‘auto’; ‘generic’, to avoid vector registers even if they are present; ‘altivec’, to use AltiVec registers; and ‘spe’ to use SPE registers. By default, gdb selects the calling convention based on the selected architecture and the provided executable file.

target dink32 dev

DINK32 ROM monitor.

target ppcbug dev

target ppcbug1 dev

PPCBUG ROM monitor for PowerPC.

target sds dev

SDS monitor, running on a PowerPC board (such as Motorola's ADS).

The following commands specific to the SDS protocol are supported by gdb:

set sdstimeout nsec

Set the timeout for SDS protocol reads to be nsec seconds. The default is 2 seconds.

show sdstimeout

Show the current value of the SDS timeout.

sds command

Send the specified command string to the SDS monitor.