A target is the execution environment occupied by your program.
Often, gdb runs in the same host environment as your program;
in that case, the debugging target is specified as a side effect when
you use the file or core commands. When you need more
flexibility—for example, running gdb on a physically separate
host, or controlling a standalone system over a serial port or a
realtime system over a TCP/IP connection—you can use the target
command to specify one of the target types configured for gdb
(see Commands for Managing Targets).
It is possible to build gdb for several different target architectures. When gdb is built like that, you can choose one of the available architectures with the set architecture command.
set architecture arch"auto", in addition to one of the
supported architectures.
show architectureset processorprocessorset architecture
and show architecture.