Tidy this up for the 3.10.0 beta.
git-svn-id: svn://svn.valgrind.org/valgrind/trunk@14425 a5019735-40e9-0310-863c-91ae7b9d1cf9
diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 84df31f..47124dd 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -1,117 +1,167 @@
-Release 3.10.0 (?? ?????? 201?)
+Release 3.10.0 (?? ?????? 2014)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-3.10.0 is not yet released.
-* ================== DEPRECATED FEATURES =================
+3.10.0 is not yet released. This is a beta of 3.10.0.
-* --db-attach is now a deprecated feature which will be removed in the
- next valgrind release (not counting bug-fix releases). The vgdb
- capabilities are superior and should be used instead. Learn more here:
- http://valgrind.org/docs/manual/manual-core-adv.html#manual-core-adv.gdbserver
+3.10.0 is a feature release with many improvements and the usual
+collection of bug fixes.
+
+This release supports X86/Linux, AMD64/Linux, ARM32/Linux,
+ARM64/Linux, PPC32/Linux, PPC64BE/Linux, PPC64LE/Linux, S390X/Linux,
+MIPS32/Linux, MIPS64/Linux, ARM/Android, X86/Android, X86/MacOSX 10.9
+and AMD64/MacOSX 10.9. Support for MacOSX 10.8 and 10.9 is
+significantly improved relative to the 3.9.0 release.
* ================== PLATFORM CHANGES =================
+* Support for the 64-bit ARM Architecture (AArch64 ARMv8). This port
+ is mostly complete, and is usable, but some SIMD instructions are as
+ yet unsupported.
+
+* Support for little-endian variant of the 64-bit POWER architecture.
+
* Support for Android on MIPS32.
+
* Support for 64bit FPU on MIPS32 platforms.
+* Both 32- and 64-bit executables are supported on MacOSX 10.8 and 10.9.
+
+* ================== DEPRECATED FEATURES =================
+
+* --db-attach is now deprecated and will be removed in the next
+ valgrind feature release. The built-in GDB server capabilities are
+ superior and should be used instead. Learn more here:
+ http://valgrind.org/docs/manual/manual-core-adv.html#manual-core-adv.gdbserver
+
* ==================== TOOL CHANGES ====================
* Memcheck:
- - new client requests
- VALGRIND_DISABLE_ADDR_ERROR_REPORTING_IN_RANGE and
- VALGRIND_ENABLE_ADDR_ERROR_REPORTING_IN_RANGE
- - new leak check heuristic 'length64' to detect interior pointers
- pointing at offset 64bit of a block, when the first 8 bytes contains
- the block size - 8. This is e.g. used by sqlite3MemMalloc.
- - if a syscall param (e.g. bind struct sockaddr, sendmsg struct msghdr,
- ...) has several fields not initialised, an error is now reported for
- each field. Previously, an error was reported only for the first wrong
- field.
- - new flag --show-mismatched-frees=no|yes [yes], to optionally disable
- allocator/deallocator mismatch checking.
+
+ - Client code can now selectively disable and re-enable reporting of
+ invalid address errors in specific ranges using the new client
+ requests VALGRIND_DISABLE_ADDR_ERROR_REPORTING_IN_RANGE and
+ VALGRIND_ENABLE_ADDR_ERROR_REPORTING_IN_RANGE.
+
+ - Leak checker: there is a new leak check heuristic called
+ "length64". This is used to detect interior pointers pointing 8
+ bytes inside a block, on the assumption that the first 8 bytes
+ holds the value "block size - 8". This is used by
+ sqlite3MemMalloc, for example.
+
+ - Checking of system call parameters: if a syscall parameter
+ (e.g. bind struct sockaddr, sendmsg struct msghdr, ...) has
+ several fields not initialised, an error is now reported for each
+ field. Previously, an error was reported only for the first
+ uninitialised field.
+
+ - Mismatched alloc/free checking: a new flag
+ --show-mismatched-frees=no|yes [yes] makes it possible to turn off
+ such checks if necessary.
* Helgrind:
- - Race condition error message with allocated blocks also show
- the thread nr that allocated the racy block.
- - All locks referenced by an error message are now announced.
- Previously, some error messages were just showing the lock addresses.
- - The message indicating where a lock was first observed now also
- describes the address/location of the lock.
- - Helgrind now understands the Ada task termination rules
- and creates a 'H-B relationship' between a terminated task and
- its master. This avoids some false positive and avoids big
- memory usage when a lot of Ada tasks are created and terminated.
+
+ - Improvements to error messages:
+
+ o Race condition error message involving heap allocated blocks also
+ show the thread number that allocated the raced-on block.
+
+ o All locks referenced by an error message are now announced.
+ Previously, some error messages only showed the lock addresses.
+
+ o The message indicating where a lock was first observed now also
+ describes the address/location of the lock.
+
+ - Helgrind now understands the Ada task termination rules and
+ creates a happens-before relationship between a terminated task
+ and its master. This avoids some false positives and avoids a big
+ memory leak when a lot of Ada tasks are created and terminated.
The interceptions are only activated with forthcoming releasses of
gnatpro >= 7.3.0w-20140611 and gcc >= 5.0.
- - Helgrind GDB server monitor command 'info locks' giving
- the list of locks, their location, and their status.
+
+ - A new GDB server monitor command "info locks" giving the list of
+ locks, their location, and their status.
* Callgrind:
+
- callgrind_control now supports the --vgdb-prefix argument,
which is needed if valgrind was started with this same argument.
* ==================== OTHER CHANGES ====================
-* The semantic of stack start/end boundaries in valgrind.h
- VALGRIND_STACK_REGISTER has been clarified/documented.
- The convention is that start and end are respectively the lowest
- and highest addressable bytes of the stack.
+* Unwinding through inlined function calls. By default, stack
+ unwinding now makes use of Dwarf3 inlined-unwind information if it
+ is available. The practical effect is that inlined calls become
+ visible in stack traces. The suppression matching machinery has
+ been adjusted accordingly. This is controlled by the new option
+ --read-inline-info=yes|no [yes].
-* Better stacktraces and suppression matching for inlined function calls.
- The new option --read-inline-info=yes|no allows to control the reading
- of the dwarf debug information describing inlined function calls.
- When this debug info is read, stacktraces will properly show inlined
- function calls.
+ In the 3.10.0 beta release(s), inlined unwinding is only enabled for
+ Memcheck and Helgrind. It is hoped to enable it for all tools in
+ the 3.10.0 final release.
-* Address description logic has been improved and is now common
- between memcheck and helgrind, resulting in better address
- descriptions for some error messages.
+* Valgrind can now read EXIDX unwind information on 32-bit ARM
+ targets. If an object contains both CFI and EXIDX unwind
+ information, Valgrind will prefer the CFI over the EXIDX. This
+ facilitates unwinding through system libraries on arm-android
+ targets.
-* New and modified GDB server monitor features:
+* Address description logic has been improved and is now common
+ between Memcheck and Helgrind, resulting in better address
+ descriptions for some kinds of error messages.
- - thread local variables/storage (__thread) can now be displayed.
-
- - The GDB server monitor command 'v.info location <address>'
- outputs information about an address. The information produced depends
- on the tool and on the options given to valgrind.
- Possibly, the following are described: global variables, local (stack)
- variables, allocated or freed blocks, ...
-
- - The option "--vgdb-stop-at=event1,event2,..." allows the user
- to ask GDB server to stop before program execution, at the end
- of the program execution and on Valgrind internal errors.
-
- - A new monitor command "v.info stats" that shows various valgrind core and
- tool statistics.
-
- - A new monitor command "v.set hostvisibility" that allows GDB server
- to provide access to Valgrind internal host status/memory.
-
-* New option --aspace-minaddr=<address> allows to (possibly) make
- use of some more memory by decreasing the default value above which
- Valgrind maps memory or solve some conflicts with system libraries
- by increasing the value.
- See user manual for details.
-
-* Minor improvements in dwarf handling with --read-var-info=yes
- - Ada and C struct containing VLA do not cause a bad DIE error anymore
- - Code compiled with -ffunction-sections -fdata-sections -Wl,--gc-sections
- does not cause assert errors anymore.
+* Error messages about dubious arguments (eg, to malloc or calloc) are
+ output like other errors. This means that they can be suppressed
+ and they have a stack trace.
* The C++ demangler has been updated for better C++11 support.
-* Error messages about fishy arguments (formerly known as silly arguments)
- are output like other errors (e.g. they can be suppressed) and now include a
- backtrace to aid debugging.
+* New and modified GDB server monitor features:
-* Reduction of memory used by Valgrind to read and store the debug information.
+ - Thread local variables/storage (__thread) can now be displayed.
-* Valgrind can now read EXIDX unwind information on 32-bit ARM targets.
- If an object contains both CFI and EXIDX unwind information, Valgrind
- will prefer the CFI over the EXIDX.
+ - The GDB server monitor command "v.info location <address>"
+ displays information about an address. The information produced
+ depends on the tool and on the options given to valgrind.
+ Possibly, the following are described: global variables, local
+ (stack) variables, allocated or freed blocks, ...
-* Typos or unknown values in --sim-hints and --kernel-variant command
- line options are now detected and reported to the user as a usage error.
+ - The option "--vgdb-stop-at=event1,event2,..." allows the user to
+ ask the GDB server to stop at the start of program execution, at
+ the end of the program execution and on Valgrind internal errors.
+
+ - A new monitor command "v.info stats" shows various Valgrind core
+ and tool statistics.
+
+ - A new monitor command "v.set hostvisibility" allows the GDB server
+ to provide access to Valgrind internal host status/memory.
+
+* A new option "--aspace-minaddr=<address>" can in some situations
+ allow the use of more memory by decreasing the address above which
+ Valgrind maps memory. It can also be used to solve address
+ conflicts with system libraries by increasing the default value.
+ See user manual for details.
+
+* The amount of memory used by Valgrind to store debug info (unwind
+ info, line number information and symbol data) has been
+ significantly reduced, even though Valgrind now reads more
+ information in order to support unwinding of inlined function calls.
+
+* Dwarf3 handling with --read-var-info=yes has been improved:
+
+ - Ada and C struct containing VLAs no longer cause a "bad DIE" error
+
+ - Code compiled with
+ -ffunction-sections -fdata-sections -Wl,--gc-sections
+ no longer causes assertion failures.
+
+* Improved checking for the --sim-hints= and --kernel-variant=
+ options. Unknown strings are now detected and reported to the user
+ as a usage error.
+
+* The semantics of stack start/end boundaries in the valgrind.h
+ VALGRIND_STACK_REGISTER client request has been clarified and
+ documented. The convention is that start and end are respectively
+ the lowest and highest addressable bytes of the stack.
* ==================== FIXED BUGS ====================
@@ -259,6 +309,7 @@
n-i-bz ppc32/64: fix a regression with the mtfsb0/mtfsb1 instructions
+
Release 3.9.0 (31 October 2013)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
3.9.0 is a feature release with many improvements and the usual
