diff --git a/debug/org.eclipse.cdt.debug.mi.core/src/org/eclipse/cdt/debug/mi/core/GDBStreamMonitor.java b/debug/org.eclipse.cdt.debug.mi.core/src/org/eclipse/cdt/debug/mi/core/GDBStreamMonitor.java
index 58747a3e4da..a45aa7209b6 100644
--- a/debug/org.eclipse.cdt.debug.mi.core/src/org/eclipse/cdt/debug/mi/core/GDBStreamMonitor.java
+++ b/debug/org.eclipse.cdt.debug.mi.core/src/org/eclipse/cdt/debug/mi/core/GDBStreamMonitor.java
@@ -7,7 +7,8 @@ package org.eclipse.cdt.debug.mi.core;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.InputStream;
-import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.Collections;
+import java.util.LinkedList;
 import java.util.List;
 
 import org.eclipse.debug.core.IStreamListener;
@@ -17,13 +18,12 @@ import org.eclipse.debug.core.model.IStreamMonitor;
  */
 public class GDBStreamMonitor implements IStreamMonitor {
 
-	List listeners;
-	StringBuffer buffer;
+	List listeners = Collections.synchronizedList(new LinkedList());
+ 
+	StringBuffer contents = new StringBuffer();
 	InputStream stream;
 
 	public GDBStreamMonitor(InputStream s) {
-		listeners = new ArrayList();
-		buffer = new StringBuffer();
 		stream = s;
 	}
 
@@ -34,22 +34,6 @@ public class GDBStreamMonitor implements IStreamMonitor {
 		listeners.add(listener);
 	}
 
-	/**
-	 * @see org.eclipse.debug.core.model.IStreamMonitor#getContents()
-	 */
-	public String getContents() {
-		try {
-			int count = stream.available();
-			byte[] bytes = new byte[count];
-			count =  stream.read(bytes);
-			if (count > 0) {
-				buffer.append(bytes);
-			}
-		} catch (IOException e) {
-		}
-		return buffer.toString();
-	}
-
 	/**
 	 * @see org.eclipse.debug.core.model.IStreamMonitor#removeListener(IStreamListener)
 	 */
@@ -57,4 +41,52 @@ public class GDBStreamMonitor implements IStreamMonitor {
 		listeners.remove(listener);
 	}
 
+	/**
+	 * Notifies the listeners.
+	 */
+	private void fireStreamAppended(String text) {
+		IStreamListener[] array = (IStreamListener[])listeners.toArray(new IStreamListener[0]);
+		for (int i = 0; i < array.length; i++) {
+			array[i].streamAppended(text, this);
+		}
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * @see org.eclipse.debug.core.model.IStreamMonitor#getContents()
+	 */
+	public String getContents() {
+		return contents.toString();
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * Continually reads from the stream.
+	 */
+	void read() {
+		byte[] bytes = new byte[1024];
+		int count = 0;
+		try {
+			while ((count = stream.read(bytes)) >= 0) {
+				if (count > 0) {
+					String text = new String(bytes, 0, count);
+					contents.append(text);
+					fireStreamAppended(text);
+				}
+			}
+			stream.close();
+		} catch (IOException e) {
+			// e.printStackTrace();
+		} catch (NullPointerException e) {
+			// killing the stream monitor while reading can cause an NPE
+		}
+	}
+
+	public void startMonitoring() {
+		Thread thread = new Thread(new Runnable() {
+			public void run() {
+				read();
+			}
+		}, "GDB stream Monitor");
+		thread.setDaemon(true);
+		thread.start();
+	}
 }