enabling core dumps

usually what happens is (# meant to be a comment char)

 % R -d gdb -f test.R
 gdb> run
 ...segfault happens, breaks into gdb
 gdb> bt # print the backtrace
 gdb> up # move up the stack, to get to 'your' frame
 gdb> l # show source listing, use -O0 compiler flag, see gdb> help dir
 gdb> print some_suspect_variable
 gdb> call Rf_PrintValue(some_suspect_sexp)
 gdb> break suspect_function
 gdb> run # restart script, but break at suspect_function

to continue a slightly old thread...

... If I launch gdb this way I don't have any means to navigate through
previously executed gdb lines using M-p and M-n, but following a
(gdb) run
or
(gdb) continue
I can use M-p and M-n to recall previous R commands

If I launch gdb in other ways M-p and M-n function as expected. I 
suppose there
is a confusion between gdb's M-p and ESS's M-p so that M-p only functions in
the ESS session.

I quite like running gdb using R's -d flag, but not being able to navigate
through the line history is sub-optimal. I'd be interested to hear if other
people running gdb this way encountered this problem and how they resolved it.

thanks
David