The status bar is the general purpose way for CGDB to show the user which commands they are currently typing or report errors to the user when they occur. CGDB does not use popup's or other forms of I/O to alert the user of information or problems.
While CGDB is running, you can configure it with any of the commands that
are valid in CGDB's configuration file. Simply type : in the source
window, and you will see the colon, and the rest of the command you type
appear in the status bar. When you are finished typing the command that
you are interested in, type enter. This will alert CGDB to execute
the command. If at any point you would like to cancel the current
command typed so far, type the cgdb mode key. This will put you back
into CGDB mode. For a description of the cgdb mode key, see
Switching Windows.
The full list of commands that are available in the source window is in Configuring CGDB.