(after a "make clobber" to ensure there weren't any stale artifacts lying around)

$ ./configure --without-doc-strings && make && ./python -m test -v test_gdb

<snip>

======================================================================
FAIL: test_lists (test.test_gdb.PrettyPrintTests)
Verify the pretty-printing of lists
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/home/ncoghlan/devel/py3k/Lib/test/test_gdb.py", line 257, in test_lists
    self.assertGdbRepr(list(range(5)))
  File "/home/ncoghlan/devel/py3k/Lib/test/test_gdb.py", line 226, in assertGdbRepr
    cmds_after_breakpoint)
  File "/home/ncoghlan/devel/py3k/Lib/test/test_gdb.py", line 194, in get_gdb_repr
    import_site=import_site)
  File "/home/ncoghlan/devel/py3k/Lib/test/test_gdb.py", line 177, in get_stack_trace
    self.assertEqual(unexpected_errlines, [])
AssertionError: Lists differ: ["Python Exception <type 'exceptions.Unico[215 chars]e: "] != []

First list contains 2 additional elements.
First extra element 0:
Python Exception <type 'exceptions.UnicodeDecodeError'> 'utf8' codec can't decode byte 0x80 in position 0: invalid start byte: 

+ []
- ["Python Exception <type 'exceptions.UnicodeDecodeError'> 'utf8' codec can't "
-  'decode byte 0x80 in position 0: invalid start byte: ',
-  "Python Exception <type 'exceptions.UnicodeDecodeError'> 'utf8' codec can't "
-  'decode byte 0x80 in position 0: invalid start byte: ']

======================================================================
FAIL: test_selfreferential_list (test.test_gdb.PrettyPrintTests)
Ensure that a reference loop involving a list doesn't lead proxyval
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/home/ncoghlan/devel/py3k/Lib/test/test_gdb.py", line 473, in test_selfreferential_list
    self.get_gdb_repr("a = [3, 4, 5] ; a.append(a) ; id(a)")
  File "/home/ncoghlan/devel/py3k/Lib/test/test_gdb.py", line 194, in get_gdb_repr
    import_site=import_site)
  File "/home/ncoghlan/devel/py3k/Lib/test/test_gdb.py", line 177, in get_stack_trace
    self.assertEqual(unexpected_errlines, [])
AssertionError: Lists differ: ["Python Exception <type 'exceptions.Unico[229 chars]e: "] != []

First list contains 2 additional elements.
First extra element 0:
Python Exception <type 'exceptions.UnicodeDecodeError'> 'utf8' codec can't decode byte 0xe0 in position 0: invalid continuation byte: 

+ []
- ["Python Exception <type 'exceptions.UnicodeDecodeError'> 'utf8' codec can't "
-  'decode byte 0xe0 in position 0: invalid continuation byte: ',
-  "Python Exception <type 'exceptions.UnicodeDecodeError'> 'utf8' codec can't "
-  'decode byte 0xe0 in position 0: invalid continuation byte: ']

======================================================================
FAIL: test_subclassing_list (test.test_gdb.PrettyPrintTests)
Verify the pretty-printing of an instance of a list subclass
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/home/ncoghlan/devel/py3k/Lib/test/test_gdb.py", line 376, in test_subclassing_list
    id(foo)''')
  File "/home/ncoghlan/devel/py3k/Lib/test/test_gdb.py", line 194, in get_gdb_repr
    import_site=import_site)
  File "/home/ncoghlan/devel/py3k/Lib/test/test_gdb.py", line 177, in get_stack_trace
    self.assertEqual(unexpected_errlines, [])
AssertionError: Lists differ: ["Python Exception <type 'exceptions.Unico[215 chars]e: "] != []

First list contains 2 additional elements.
First extra element 0:
Python Exception <type 'exceptions.UnicodeDecodeError'> 'utf8' codec can't decode byte 0xa0 in position 0: invalid start byte: 

+ []
- ["Python Exception <type 'exceptions.UnicodeDecodeError'> 'utf8' codec can't "
-  'decode byte 0xa0 in position 0: invalid start byte: ',
-  "Python Exception <type 'exceptions.UnicodeDecodeError'> 'utf8' codec can't "
-  'decode byte 0xa0 in position 0: invalid start byte: ']

======================================================================
FAIL: test_truncation (test.test_gdb.PrettyPrintTests)
Verify that very long output is truncated
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/home/ncoghlan/devel/py3k/Lib/test/test_gdb.py", line 530, in test_truncation
    gdb_repr, gdb_output = self.get_gdb_repr('id(list(range(1000)))')
  File "/home/ncoghlan/devel/py3k/Lib/test/test_gdb.py", line 194, in get_gdb_repr
    import_site=import_site)
  File "/home/ncoghlan/devel/py3k/Lib/test/test_gdb.py", line 177, in get_stack_trace
    self.assertEqual(unexpected_errlines, [])
AssertionError: Lists differ: ["Python Exception <type 'exceptions.Unico[215 chars]e: "] != []

First list contains 2 additional elements.
First extra element 0:
Python Exception <type 'exceptions.UnicodeDecodeError'> 'utf8' codec can't decode byte 0x80 in position 0: invalid start byte: 

+ []
- ["Python Exception <type 'exceptions.UnicodeDecodeError'> 'utf8' codec can't "
-  'decode byte 0x80 in position 0: invalid start byte: ',
-  "Python Exception <type 'exceptions.UnicodeDecodeError'> 'utf8' codec can't "
-  'decode byte 0x80 in position 0: invalid start byte: ']

======================================================================
FAIL: test_tuples (test.test_gdb.PrettyPrintTests)
Verify the pretty-printing of tuples
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/home/ncoghlan/devel/py3k/Lib/test/test_gdb.py", line 307, in test_tuples
    self.assertGdbRepr(tuple())
  File "/home/ncoghlan/devel/py3k/Lib/test/test_gdb.py", line 226, in assertGdbRepr
    cmds_after_breakpoint)
  File "/home/ncoghlan/devel/py3k/Lib/test/test_gdb.py", line 194, in get_gdb_repr
    import_site=import_site)
  File "/home/ncoghlan/devel/py3k/Lib/test/test_gdb.py", line 177, in get_stack_trace
    self.assertEqual(unexpected_errlines, [])
AssertionError: Lists differ: ["Python Exception <type 'exceptions.Unico[215 chars]e: "] != []

First list contains 2 additional elements.
First extra element 0:
Python Exception <type 'exceptions.UnicodeDecodeError'> 'utf8' codec can't decode byte 0xb0 in position 0: invalid start byte: 

+ []
- ["Python Exception <type 'exceptions.UnicodeDecodeError'> 'utf8' codec can't "
-  'decode byte 0xb0 in position 0: invalid start byte: ',
-  "Python Exception <type 'exceptions.UnicodeDecodeError'> 'utf8' codec can't "
-  'decode byte 0xb0 in position 0: invalid start byte: ']

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Ran 45 tests in 12.146s

FAILED (failures=5, skipped=15)
test test_gdb failed
1 test failed:
    test_gdb

@Nick/Dave, any comment on this problem?

@Nick,

I have tested with the last 3.8 and 3.7 and Fedora 29.

./configure --without-doc-strings > /dev/null ;and make -j 4 > /dev/null ;and ./python -m test -W test_gdb
Run tests sequentially
0:00:00 load avg: 1.49 [1/1] test_gdb
test_gdb passed in 41 sec 934 ms

== Tests result: SUCCESS ==

1 test OK.

Total duration: 41 sec 938 ms
Tests result: SUCCESS


tested with 3.7 and fedora 29

Run tests sequentially
0:00:00 load avg: 2.02 [1/1] test_gdb
test_gdb passed in 42 sec 345 ms

== Tests result: SUCCESS ==

1 test OK.

Total duration: 42 sec 349 ms
Tests result: SUCCESS

Because there is no error, I close this issue.