The gdb version check ends up trying to invoke gdb on the target - not so nice if your target is too small to accomodate gdb in the first place.
I've added a check similar to the one in gdb-test to punt on non-native targets.
libstdc++-v3: 2013-09-17 Joern Rennecke <joern.renne...@embecosm.com> * testsuite/lib/gdb-test.exp (gdb_batch_check): Don't invoke gdb on cross targets. Index: lib/gdb-test.exp =================================================================== --- lib/gdb-test.exp (revision 216243) +++ lib/gdb-test.exp (working copy) @@ -229,6 +229,8 @@ # Invoke gdb with a command and pattern-match the output. proc gdb_batch_check {command pattern} { + if { ![isnative] || [is_remote target] } { return 0 } + set gdb_name $::env(GUALITY_GDB_NAME) set cmd "$gdb_name -nw -nx -quiet -batch -ex \"$command\"" send_log "Spawning: $cmd\n"