MIPS machines and the function stack

MIPS-based computers use an unusual stack frame, which sometimes requires GDB to search backward in the object code to find the beginning of a function.

To improve response time — especially for embedded applications, where GDB may be restricted to a slow serial line for this search — you may want to limit the size of this search, using one of these commands:

set heuristic-fence-post limit
Restrict GDB to examining at most limit bytes in its search for the beginning of a function. A value of 0 (the default) means there's no limit. However, except for 0, the larger the limit the more bytes heuristic-fence-post must search and therefore the longer it takes to run.
show heuristic-fence-post
Display the current limit.

These commands are available only when GDB is configured for debugging programs on MIPS processors.