The previous version of IDA Pro did not add anything to the debugger and we felt it is time for changes. We reimplemented the debugger core and improved the debugger modules.
The new debugger is more efficient and has better support for multithreaded applications. Breakpoint handling is faster, more logical and less deadlocking. Exception handling is more user friendly.
The debugger servers are multithreaded: they can handle multiple debug sessions, no need to kill a hung server or run multiple copies.
* Debugger modules
We added two new debugger targets:
o iPhone debugger. Click here for the details. (link will be defined later)
o Symbian OS debugger. Click here for the details. (link will be defined later)
We publish the source code of all debugger modules.
The Linux debugger module has been improved to support multithreaded applications. We support NPTL based kernels.
* Better analysis for PC and ARM
The most important improvements include support for PIC addressing modes, more jump tables and many other useful patterns. In practice this means that the output for iPhone/iMac/Linux/Symbian applications greatly improves. Please refer to the comparison page for more details.
* New PDB plugin
The new plugin extracts all name and type information from a PDB file and imports it into the database. The difference is spectacular. (link will be defined later)
* New TILIB utility
This small and nifty utility allows you to create your own type libraries. The Load C header command in IDA Pro could be used to load them in the past. The TILIB utility is easier to use and gives more control. It also can import preprocessor symbol information.
* Support for third party languages
Interested parties may register their own language interpreter (perl/python/ruby - you name it) to be used as the expression evaluator in IDA. This will allow you to use your favorite language everywhere in IDA.
* Signatures
As usual, the new release comes with updated signatures, type libraries, ids files, etc. Namely, we updated them for the latest Visual Studio, Intel, and Borland compilers.
