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17<title>Debugging with GDB: Requirements</title>
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64<a name="Requirements"></a>
65<div class="header">
66<p>
67Next: <a href="Running-Configure.html#Running-Configure" accesskey="n" rel="next">Running Configure</a>, Up: <a href="Installing-GDB.html#Installing-GDB" accesskey="u" rel="up">Installing GDB</a> &nbsp; [<a href="index.html#SEC_Contents" title="Table of contents" rel="contents">Contents</a>][<a href="Concept-Index.html#Concept-Index" title="Index" rel="index">Index</a>]</p>
68</div>
69<hr>
70<a name="Requirements-for-Building-GDB"></a>
71<h3 class="section">C.1 Requirements for Building <small>GDB</small></h3>
72<a name="index-building-GDB_002c-requirements-for"></a>
73
74<p>Building <small>GDB</small> requires various tools and packages to be available.
75Other packages will be used only if they are found.
76</p>
77<a name="Tools_002fPackages-Necessary-for-Building-GDB"></a>
78<h3 class="heading">Tools/Packages Necessary for Building <small>GDB</small></h3>
79<dl compact="compact">
80<dt>C<tt>++</tt>11 compiler</dt>
81<dd><p><small>GDB</small> is written in C<tt>++</tt>11.  It should be buildable with any
82recent C<tt>++</tt>11 compiler, e.g. GCC.
83</p>
84</dd>
85<dt>GNU make</dt>
86<dd><p><small>GDB</small>&rsquo;s build system relies on features only found in the GNU
87make program.  Other variants of <code>make</code> will not work.
88</p></dd>
89</dl>
90
91<a name="Tools_002fPackages-Optional-for-Building-GDB"></a>
92<h3 class="heading">Tools/Packages Optional for Building <small>GDB</small></h3>
93<dl compact="compact">
94<dt>Expat</dt>
95<dd><a name="Expat"></a><p><small>GDB</small> can use the Expat XML parsing library.  This library may be
96included with your operating system distribution; if it is not, you
97can get the latest version from <a href="http://expat.sourceforge.net">http://expat.sourceforge.net</a>.
98The <samp>configure</samp> script will search for this library in several
99standard locations; if it is installed in an unusual path, you can
100use the <samp>--with-libexpat-prefix</samp> option to specify its location.
101</p>
102<p>Expat is used for:
103</p>
104<ul>
105<li> Remote protocol memory maps (see <a href="Memory-Map-Format.html#Memory-Map-Format">Memory Map Format</a>)
106</li><li> Target descriptions (see <a href="Target-Descriptions.html#Target-Descriptions">Target Descriptions</a>)
107</li><li> Remote shared library lists (See <a href="Library-List-Format.html#Library-List-Format">Library List Format</a>,
108or alternatively see <a href="Library-List-Format-for-SVR4-Targets.html#Library-List-Format-for-SVR4-Targets">Library List Format for SVR4 Targets</a>)
109</li><li> MS-Windows shared libraries (see <a href="Files.html#Shared-Libraries">Shared Libraries</a>)
110</li><li> Traceframe info (see <a href="Traceframe-Info-Format.html#Traceframe-Info-Format">Traceframe Info Format</a>)
111</li><li> Branch trace (see <a href="Branch-Trace-Format.html#Branch-Trace-Format">Branch Trace Format</a>,
112see <a href="Branch-Trace-Configuration-Format.html#Branch-Trace-Configuration-Format">Branch Trace Configuration Format</a>)
113</li></ul>
114
115</dd>
116<dt>Guile</dt>
117<dd><p><small>GDB</small> can be scripted using GNU Guile.  See <a href="Guile.html#Guile">Guile</a>.  By
118default, <small>GDB</small> will be compiled if the Guile libraries are
119installed and are found by <samp>configure</samp>.  You can use the
120<code>--with-guile</code> option to request Guile, and pass either the Guile
121version number or the file name of the relevant <code>pkg-config</code>
122program to choose a particular version of Guile.
123</p>
124</dd>
125<dt>iconv</dt>
126<dd><p><small>GDB</small>&rsquo;s features related to character sets (see <a href="Character-Sets.html#Character-Sets">Character Sets</a>) require a functioning <code>iconv</code> implementation.  If you are
127on a GNU system, then this is provided by the GNU C Library.  Some
128other systems also provide a working <code>iconv</code>.
129</p>
130<p>If <small>GDB</small> is using the <code>iconv</code> program which is installed
131in a non-standard place, you will need to tell <small>GDB</small> where to
132find it.  This is done with <samp>--with-iconv-bin</samp> which specifies
133the directory that contains the <code>iconv</code> program.  This program is
134run in order to make a list of the available character sets.
135</p>
136<p>On systems without <code>iconv</code>, you can install GNU Libiconv.  If
137Libiconv is installed in a standard place, <small>GDB</small> will
138automatically use it if it is needed.  If you have previously
139installed Libiconv in a non-standard place, you can use the
140<samp>--with-libiconv-prefix</samp> option to <samp>configure</samp>.
141</p>
142<p><small>GDB</small>&rsquo;s top-level <samp>configure</samp> and <samp>Makefile</samp> will
143arrange to build Libiconv if a directory named <samp>libiconv</samp> appears
144in the top-most source directory.  If Libiconv is built this way, and
145if the operating system does not provide a suitable <code>iconv</code>
146implementation, then the just-built library will automatically be used
147by <small>GDB</small>.  One easy way to set this up is to download GNU
148Libiconv, unpack it inside the top-level directory of the <small>GDB</small>
149source tree, and then rename the directory holding the Libiconv source
150code to &lsquo;<samp>libiconv</samp>&rsquo;.
151</p>
152</dd>
153<dt>lzma</dt>
154<dd><p><small>GDB</small> can support debugging sections that are compressed with
155the LZMA library.  See <a href="MiniDebugInfo.html#MiniDebugInfo">MiniDebugInfo</a>.  If this library is not
156included with your operating system, you can find it in the xz package
157at <a href="http://tukaani.org/xz/">http://tukaani.org/xz/</a>.  If the LZMA library is available in
158the usual place, then the <samp>configure</samp> script will use it
159automatically.  If it is installed in an unusual path, you can use the
160<samp>--with-lzma-prefix</samp> option to specify its location.
161</p>
162</dd>
163<dt>MPFR</dt>
164<dd><a name="MPFR"></a><p><small>GDB</small> can use the GNU MPFR multiple-precision floating-point
165library.  This library may be included with your operating system
166distribution; if it is not, you can get the latest version from
167<a href="http://www.mpfr.org">http://www.mpfr.org</a>.  The <samp>configure</samp> script will search
168for this library in several standard locations; if it is installed
169in an unusual path, you can use the <samp>--with-libmpfr-prefix</samp>
170option to specify its location.
171</p>
172<p>GNU MPFR is used to emulate target floating-point arithmetic during
173expression evaluation when the target uses different floating-point
174formats than the host.  If GNU MPFR it is not available, <small>GDB</small>
175will fall back to using host floating-point arithmetic.
176</p>
177</dd>
178<dt>Python</dt>
179<dd><p><small>GDB</small> can be scripted using Python language.  See <a href="Python.html#Python">Python</a>.
180By default, <small>GDB</small> will be compiled if the Python libraries are
181installed and are found by <samp>configure</samp>.  You can use the
182<code>--with-python</code> option to request Python, and pass either the
183file name of the relevant <code>python</code> executable, or the name of the
184directory in which Python is installed, to choose a particular
185installation of Python.
186</p>
187</dd>
188<dt>zlib</dt>
189<dd><a name="index-compressed-debug-sections"></a>
190<p><small>GDB</small> will use the &lsquo;<samp>zlib</samp>&rsquo; library, if available, to read
191compressed debug sections.  Some linkers, such as GNU gold, are capable
192of producing binaries with compressed debug sections.  If <small>GDB</small>
193is compiled with &lsquo;<samp>zlib</samp>&rsquo;, it will be able to read the debug
194information in such binaries.
195</p>
196<p>The &lsquo;<samp>zlib</samp>&rsquo; library is likely included with your operating system
197distribution; if it is not, you can get the latest version from
198<a href="http://zlib.net">http://zlib.net</a>.
199</p></dd>
200</dl>
201
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205Next: <a href="Running-Configure.html#Running-Configure" accesskey="n" rel="next">Running Configure</a>, Up: <a href="Installing-GDB.html#Installing-GDB" accesskey="u" rel="up">Installing GDB</a> &nbsp; [<a href="index.html#SEC_Contents" title="Table of contents" rel="contents">Contents</a>][<a href="Concept-Index.html#Concept-Index" title="Index" rel="index">Index</a>]</p>
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