diff --git a/pkgs/development/tools/misc/gdb/darwin-target-match.patch b/pkgs/development/tools/misc/gdb/darwin-target-match.patch
index 1328d919503..978a6795056 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/tools/misc/gdb/darwin-target-match.patch
+++ b/pkgs/development/tools/misc/gdb/darwin-target-match.patch
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 --- a/configure	2017-06-05 00:51:26.000000000 +0900
 +++ b/configure	2018-03-06 23:12:58.000000000 +0900
-@@ -3603,7 +3603,7 @@
+@@ -3644,7 +3644,7 @@
      noconfigdirs="$noconfigdirs ld gprof"
      noconfigdirs="$noconfigdirs sim target-rda"
      ;;
diff --git a/pkgs/development/tools/misc/gdb/debug-info-from-env.patch b/pkgs/development/tools/misc/gdb/debug-info-from-env.patch
index 499b61ba869..de59bd2d17b 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/tools/misc/gdb/debug-info-from-env.patch
+++ b/pkgs/development/tools/misc/gdb/debug-info-from-env.patch
@@ -1,15 +1,24 @@
-Initialize debug-file-directory from NIX_DEBUG_INFO_DIRS, a colon-separated list
-of directories with separate debugging information files.
-
---- a/gdb/main.c
-+++ b/gdb/main.c
-@@ -556,3 +556,8 @@ captured_main_1 (struct captured_main_args *context)
+diff -ur a/gdb/main.c b/gdb/main.c
+--- a/gdb/main.c	2020-02-08 13:50:14.000000000 +0100
++++ b/gdb/main.c	2020-02-24 10:02:07.731806739 +0100
+@@ -567,9 +567,17 @@
+       gdb_sysroot = xstrdup (TARGET_SYSROOT_PREFIX);
+     }
  
--  debug_file_directory = relocate_gdb_directory (DEBUGDIR,
-+  debug_file_directory = getenv("NIX_DEBUG_INFO_DIRS");
-+
+-  debug_file_directory
+-    = xstrdup (relocate_gdb_directory (DEBUGDIR,
+-				     DEBUGDIR_RELOCATABLE).c_str ());
++  debug_file_directory = getenv ("NIX_DEBUG_INFO_DIRS");
 +  if (debug_file_directory != NULL)
-+    debug_file_directory = xstrdup(debug_file_directory);
++    // This might be updated later using
++    // $ set debug-file-directory /to/some/path
++    // which will use xfree. We must then have a xmallocated
++    // copy of the string that can be xfeed later.
++    debug_file_directory = xstrdup (debug_file_directory);
 +  else
-+    debug_file_directory = relocate_gdb_directory (DEBUGDIR,
- 						 DEBUGDIR_RELOCATABLE);
++    debug_file_directory
++      = xstrdup (relocate_gdb_directory (DEBUGDIR,
++                                         DEBUGDIR_RELOCATABLE).c_str ());
+ 
+   gdb_datadir = relocate_gdb_directory (GDB_DATADIR,
+ 					GDB_DATADIR_RELOCATABLE);
diff --git a/pkgs/development/tools/misc/gdb/default.nix b/pkgs/development/tools/misc/gdb/default.nix
index e125b7418f6..baaba624570 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/tools/misc/gdb/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/tools/misc/gdb/default.nix
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@
 
 let
   basename = "gdb-${version}";
-  version = "8.3.1";
+  version = "9.1";
 in
 
 assert pythonSupport -> python3 != null;
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
 
   src = fetchurl {
     url = "mirror://gnu/gdb/${basename}.tar.xz";
-    sha256 = "1i2pjwaafrlz7wqm40b4znr77ai32rjsxkpl2az38yyarpbv8m8y";
+    sha256 = "0dqp1p7w836iwijg1zb4a784n0j4pyjiw5v6h8fg5lpx6b40x7k9";
   };
 
   postPatch = if stdenv.isDarwin then ''
@@ -65,6 +65,13 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   # TODO(@Ericson2314): Always pass "--target" and always prefix.
   configurePlatforms = [ "build" "host" ] ++ stdenv.lib.optional (stdenv.targetPlatform != stdenv.hostPlatform) "target";
 
+  # GDB have to be built out of tree.
+  preConfigure = ''
+    mkdir _build
+    cd _build
+  '';
+  configureScript = "../configure";
+
   configureFlags = with stdenv.lib; [
     "--enable-targets=all" "--enable-64-bit-bfd"
     "--disable-install-libbfd"
@@ -100,6 +107,6 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     license = stdenv.lib.licenses.gpl3Plus;
 
     platforms = with platforms; linux ++ cygwin ++ darwin;
-    maintainers = with maintainers; [ pierron globin ];
+    maintainers = with maintainers; [ pierron globin lsix ];
   };
 }
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
index 7134e930a69..2680f8b776e 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
@@ -10791,6 +10791,7 @@ in
 
   gdb = callPackage ../development/tools/misc/gdb {
     guile = null;
+    readline = readline80;
   };
 
   jhiccup = callPackage ../development/tools/java/jhiccup { };