Debugging with GDB (February 2008)
Table Of Contents
- Summary of GDB
- A Sample GDB Session
- Getting In and Out of GDB
- GDB Commands
- Running Programs Under GDB
- Stopping and Continuing
- Examining the Stack
- Examining Source Files
- Examining Data
- Using GDB with Different Languages
- Examining the Symbol Table
- Altering Execution
- GDB Files
- Specifying a Debugging Target
- HP-UX Configuration-Specific Information
- Summary of HP Enhancements to GDB
- HP-UX dependencies
- Supported Platforms and Modes
- HP-UX targets
- Support for Alternate root
- Specifying object file directories
- Fix and continue debugging
- Inline Support
- Debugging Macros
- Debugging Memory Problems
- When to suspect a memory leak
- Memory debugging restrictions
- Memory Debugging Methodologies
- Debugging Memory in Interactive Mode
- Debugging Memory in Batch Mode
- Debugging Memory Interactively After Attaching to a Running Process
- Configuring memory debugging settings
- Scenarios in memory debugging
- Stop when freeing unallocated or deallocated blocks
- Stop when freeing a block if bad writes occurred outside block boundary
- Stop when a specified block address is allocated or deallocated
- Scramble previous memory contents at malloc/free calls
- Detect dangling pointers and dangling blocks
- Detect in-block corruption of freed blocks
- Specify the amount of guard bytes for every block of allocated memory
- Comparison of Memory Debugging Commands in Interactive Mode and Batch Mode
- Heap Profiling
- Memory Checking Analysis for User Defined Memory Management Routines
- Commands to track the change in data segment value
- Thread Debugging Support
- Debugging MPI Programs
- Debugging multiple processes ( programs with fork and vfork calls)
- Debugging Core Files
- Printing the Execution Path Entries for the Current Frame or Thread
- Invoking GDB Before a Program Aborts
- Aborting a Command Line Call
- Instruction Level Stepping
- Enhanced support for watchpoints and breakpoints
- Debugging support for shared libraries
- Language support
- Enhanced Java Debugging Support
- Commands for Examining Java Virtual Machine(JVM) internals
- Support for stack traces in Java, C, and C++ programs
- Support for 64-bit Java, C, aC++ stack unwinding
- Enhanced support for C++ templates
- Support for __fpreg data type on IPF
- Support for _Complex variables in HP C
- Support for debugging namespaces
- Command for evaluating the address of an expression
- Viewing Wide Character Strings
- Support for output logging
- Getting information from a non-debug executable
- Debugging optimized code
- Visual Interface for WDB
- Starting and stopping Visual Interface for WDB
- Navigating the Visual Interface for WDB display
- Specifying foreground and background colors
- Using the X-window graphical interface
- Using the TUI mode
- Changing the size of the source or debugger pane
- Using commands to browse through source files
- Loading source files
- Editing source files
- Editing the command line and command-line history
- Saving the contents of a debugging session to a file
- Support for ddd
- Support for XDB commands
- GNU GDB Logging Commands
- Support for command line calls in a stripped executable
- Displaying the current block scope information
- Linux support
- The HP-UX Terminal User Interface
- XDB to WDB Transition Guide
- By-function lists of XDB commands and HP WDB equivalents
- Overall breakpoint commands
- XDB data formats and HP WDB equivalents
- XDB location syntax and HP WDB equivalents
- XDB special language operators and HP WDB equivalents
- XDB special variables and HP WDB equivalents
- XDB variable identifiers and HP WDB equivalents
- Alphabetical lists of XDB commands and HP WDB equivalents
- Controlling GDB
- Canned Sequences of Commands
- Using GDB under gnu Emacs
- GDB Annotations
- The gdb/mi Interface
- Function and purpose
- Notation and terminology
- gdb/mi Command Syntax
- gdb/mi compatibility with CLI
- gdb/mi output records
- gdb/mi command description format
- gdb/mi breakpoint table commands
- gdb/mi Data manipulation
- gdb/mi program control
- Miscellaneous GDB commands in gdb/mi
- gdb/mi Stack Manipulation Commands
- gdb/mi Symbol query commands
- gdb/mi Target Manipulation Commands
- gdb/mi thread commands
- gdb/mi tracepoint commands
- gdb/mi variable objects
- Reporting Bugs in GDB
- Installing GDB
- Index
Chapter 14: HP-UX Configuration-Specific Information 171
Size: 3 \*Total Number of Branch Paths in Current Function
Effective entries: 2 \*Number of Branches executed till this instant
Current entry: 2 \* Last executed branch number
(gdb) i gep
Global execution path table:
G0 0x4000a80:2 main (execpath.c:10)
G1 0x4000bd0:2 main (execpath.c:16)
(gdb) i gep summary
Summary for global execution path table
Size: 65536 \*Maximum execution path entries to be stored
Effective entries: 2 \*Number of global execution path entries
Current entry: 1 \*The last Global Path ID executed
(gdb)
14.16 Invoking GDB Before a Program Aborts
This -crashdebug option enables GDB to monitor the execution of a process or a
program. It invokes GDB when the program execution is about to abort. Once the
debugger is invoked, you can debug the application using the normal debugger com-
mands. This option enables you to debug a live process instead of getting a core dump
if the program is about to abort.
You can examine the state of the process, make changes to the state and continue
program execution, force a core dump, or terminate execution. It enables you to
control program execution under the debugger if the program is about to abort. You
can load a new process or attach to a running process for monitoring.
To monitor a new process, enter the following command:
gdb -crashdebug <command> <options>
To monitor a running process, attach to the process using the following command:
gdb -crashdebug -pid <pid>
14.17 Aborting a Command Line Call
When a command line call is issued and it is interrupted by a breakpoint or a signal
before completing the program execution, the abort command enables the user to
abort the command line call without allowing the signal to modify the state of the
debugged process.
When a signal interrupts program execution, it can modify the process state of the de-
bugged program and result in an abrupt termination of the program (due to addressing
errors from a call that is not a part of the source program). In such cases, the abort
command is particularly useful in exiting the command line call without modifying the
process state of the debugged program.
The following example illustrates the use of the abort command:
(gdb) break main
Breakpoint 1 at 0x2c74: file .../address_error.c, line 41.