Debugging with GDB: Requirements

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### C.1 Requirements for Building GDB

Building GDB requires various tools and packages to be available. Other packages will be used only if they are found.

### Tools/Packages Necessary for Building GDB

ISO C90 compiler

  GDB is written in ISO C90. It should be buildable with any working C90 compiler, e.g. GCC.

### Tools/Packages Optional for Building GDB

Expat

  GDB can use the Expat XML parsing library. This library may be included with your operating system distribution; if it is not, you can get the latest version from http://expat.sourceforge.net. The `configure` script will search for this library in several standard locations; if it is installed in an unusual path, you can use the `--with-libexpat-prefix` option to specify its location.

  Expat is used for:

  - Remote protocol memory maps (see Memory Map Format)
  - Target descriptions (see Target Descriptions)
  - Remote shared library lists (See Library List Format, or alternatively see Library List Format for SVR4 Targets)
  - MS-Windows shared libraries (see Shared Libraries)
  - Traceframe info (see Traceframe Info Format)
  - Branch trace (see Branch Trace Format, see Branch Trace Configuration Format)
zlib

  GDB will use the ‘`zlib`’ library, if available, to read compressed debug sections. Some linkers, such as GNU gold, are capable of producing binaries with compressed debug sections. If GDB is compiled with ‘`zlib`’, it will be able to read the debug information in such binaries.

  The ‘`zlib`’ library is likely included with your operating system distribution; if it is not, you can get the latest version from http://zlib.net.

iconv

  GDB’s features related to character sets (see Character Sets) require a functioning `iconv` implementation. If you are on a GNU system, then this is provided by the GNU C Library. Some other systems also provide a working `iconv`.

  If GDB is using the `iconv` program which is installed in a non-standard place, you will need to tell GDB where to find it. This is done with `--with-iconv-bin` which specifies the directory that contains the `iconv` program.

  On systems without `iconv`, you can install GNU Libiconv. If you have previously installed Libiconv, you can use the `--with-libiconv-prefix` option to configure.

  GDB’s top-level `configure` and `Makefile` will arrange to build Libiconv if a directory named `libiconv` appears in the top-most source directory. If Libiconv is built this way, and if the operating system does not provide a suitable `iconv` implementation, then the just-built library will automatically be used by GDB. One easy way to set this up is to download GNU Libiconv, unpack it, and then rename the directory holding the Libiconv source code to ‘`libiconv`’.

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