Debugging with GDB Manual (5900-1473; WDB 6.2; January 2011)

NOTE: Linker with version number B.11.19 or higher is required for debugging
memory problems.
• From HP WDB 5.7 onwards, the archive version of the run time check library,
librtc.a, is not available. You must use the shared version of the library,
librtc.[sl|so], instead.
14.10.3 Memory Debugging Methodologies
HP WDB enables you to debug memory problems in applications written for HP-UX 11.x
or later using C, aC++, FORTRAN 77, and Fortran 90.
HP WDB provides several commands that help expose memory-related problems.
HP WDB offers the following memory-debugging capabilities:
• Reports memory leaks
• Reports heap allocation profile
• Reports open file descriptors. This is applicable only in batch mode.
• Stops program execution if bad writes occur with string operations such as strcpy
and memcpy
• Stops program execution when freeing unallocated or de-allocated blocks
• Stops program execution when freeing a block if bad writes occur outside block
boundary
• Stops program execution conditionally based on whether a specified block address
is allocated or de-allocated
• Scrambles previous memory contents at malloc() and free() calls
• Simulates and detects out-of-memory event errors
• Detects dangling pointers and dangling blocks
• Detects in-block corruption of freed blocks
• Specifies the amount of guard bytes for every block of allocated memory
• Displays the run time type information for C++ polymorphic objects
You can use any of the following methods to identify memory problems:
• See “Debugging Memory in Interactive Mode” (page 153).
• See “Debugging Memory in Batch Mode” (page 157).
• See “Debugging Memory Interactively After Attaching to a Running Process”
(page 165).
152 HP-UX Configuration-Specific Information