remote debug broken?

["Robert Trask" <rtrask at broadcom dot com>]

Hello,
I want to use the remote debug feature on gdb wherein I have a
[superior] debugger running on a host system (Linux I386 pc) and an
[inferior] debugger running on the target (embedded Linux on MIPS). I
have tried this in gdb v5.3 and v6.0, the same behavior results.

I built the superior debugger in the usual way:
./configure        // build for native operation
make
then installed in my bin directory.

I built the inferior debugger in the gdbserver directory:
mkdir mipsobj
cd mipsobj
setenv CC <my mips cross gcc path>
../configure mips-linux-gnu
make

And then installed on my target...


I then start up the inferior debugger (gdbserver) on the target:

gdbserver host:tcp_port <prog-to-debug>

This obligingly waits for the superior debugger to contact it and start
matters.

I start gdb on the host in the usual way:

gdb <prog-to-debug>

then:
(gdb) target remote 10.18.99.108:6001
Remote debugging using 10.18.99.108:6001
Sending packet: $Hc-1#09...Ack
Packet received: OK
Sending packet: $qC#b4...Ack
Packet received: 
Sending packet: $qOffsets#4b...Ack
Packet received: 
Sending packet: $?#3f...Ack
Packet received: T0525:2aac0e50;1d:7fff7ee0;
Couldn't establish connection to remote target
Reply contains invalid hex digit 59


The hex digit 59 is a semicolon. Looking at the gdbserver sources I can
see it thinks (correctly) it's replying to a resume command and
expressly uses semicolons as field delimiters.

Am I missing an important step somewhere, doing something dumb,  or
both? Does remote debugging no longer work? Any ideas or suggestions
would be appreciated.

thanks!

/bob