symbol not found error in Trace32 cmm script - trace32

LOCAL &aVariable
&aVariable = Var.Val('\someheader.h\SOMEMACRO')
where SOMEMACRO was defined in the header as a static const and in a diffErent sub-directory as the cmm script

Check the windows sYmbol.Browse and sYmbol.List.MACRO if you can find SOMEMACRO in there.
If you can't find your macro, check if you have loaded your ELF with option /MARCO at command Data.LOAD.Elf
If you still can't find your macro, your ELF file does most likely not have the macro names inside the debug information included in your ELF. In this case, check the build options of your compiler, if it allows to add names of your macros to the ELF's debug information (e.g. GCC does this with -g3)

Related

can gdb allow to see ALL source code?

I was debugging an application created in C ++ for Linux when I realized that the executables in release version were compiled with the -g flag.
My concern is whether it is possible to read the source code of the executable through gdb using list or backtrace (exploiting some know core dump or antoher method)
No, the source code is not included in the executable, even when compiled with -g. What is included are references to the source code, so there's a mapping between program addresses and file and line numbers.
There will also be information in the debug that describe the functions in your program, so there will be information describing each function, the types taken and returned, and what local variables it contains, there's also information about which addresses correspond to which functions. All your types and global variables will also be described in the debug information.
It is possible to split the debug information out of you program using objcopy, the following is taken from the gdb online manual (https://sourceware.org/gdb/onlinedocs/gdb/Separate-Debug-Files.html)
objcopy --only-keep-debug foo foo.debug
strip -g foo
objcopy --add-gnu-debuglink=foo.debug foo
This takes the debug information out of foo and places it in foo.debug, the strips the debug information out of foo and adds a link between foo.debug back to foo.
Now you, as the developer can debug release builds by loading the additional foo.debug file containing the debug data, while the customer is only given foo and so does not see the debug information.
A more detailed look at creating split debug information can be found here How to generate gcc debug symbol outside the build target?
No, source code is not included in a binary built with -g and therefore it will not be possible to read it using only the binary.
Things that they may be able to read include:
Names of variables and functions
For each intruction: full path of source file, line in the file and name of the function it is in

Why does the executable binary file contain paths of included header files?

Why does the compiled and linked executable file contain paths of header files included in my source code? I am using the wxWidgets library and compile with Visual Studio 2013 and gcc. What are these header files used for? If it is a compiler option, how can I disable it to avoid this?
Build configuration: release, static linking.
There may be several explanations for such strings to appear in the executable file:
You may have debugging information bundled in the executable for the debugger to use. Use strip to remove that, or do not use the -g compile option. You should also compile with NDEBUG defined to disable debugging code and assertions. It is usually the case for the Release mode, but you may want to double check.
Some functions may use __FILE__ for tracing or logging purposes. __FILE__ expands to the source file name at the point of macro expansion, which may be a source or a header file. One such function is assert(): it is actually a macro that expands to a test and some error reporting code that includes the current filename.
Some sources may have static source ids in the form of static char arrays to keep track of source code versions. This approach is quite obsolete, but many old sources still have them.
Look for such things in the source files or header files whose name appear in the executable and fix the problems.
wxwidgets has many asserts in its header files (e.g. in wx/string.h as you noticed), all using the wxASSERT macro defined in wx/debug.h
In order to disable these, you can #define wxDEBUG_LEVEL 0 prior to including any wxwidget headers.

export symbols from IDA pro for use in GDB

I have a dylib file a2.dylib I disassembled in IDA pro which is stripped of symbols. I have used a1.dylib which has symbols albeit older version of a2.dylib with Bindiff to diff out function names to match a2.dylib. I need these derived function names to be exported for use in debugging a2.dylib inside GDB; something like a equivalent of a windows PDB file for use inside GDB. How could I go about doing it in IDA pro 6.4? thanks.
You can easily create a symbol table with SymTabCreator. All you need is a list of address ↔ symbol mapping.
Note that the README says it works for main executables only, so you may need to adjust the imageBase offset for a dylib.

can I override the version block in a dll?

Suppose I have built a lot of dlls from a certain revision of the svn repository. (It might by any revisioning system)
I am able to create a resource file containing an entry that denotes the revision number.
Can I link that resource file into the dll's I have already built? Some sort of editbin or the like?
You can write a small program to do this, using the UpdateResource function in Windows NT:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms648049(v=VS.85).aspx
The resource compiler uses the C pre-processor. You can simply use a #define in a header file you #include in your .rc file. Or use the /D command line option for rc.exe. You can use the macro symbol in your resource definition.

How can I get the compiler tell me what file #define a value?

My code is linking against several other libraries that are also developed at my company, one of these libraries is redefining several values from errno.h, I would like to be able to fix this, however I am having trouble finding the exact file that is redefining these values, I am want to know if there is a way to make the compiler tell me when a file has defined a particular value.
You can probably do it by adding -include errno.h to the command line that builds the library in question. Here's a quick example. I have a C program called "file.c":
#define ESRCH 8
That's it - then I compile with:
cc -c -include errno.h file.c
And presto, a compiler warning:
file.c:1:1: warning: "ESRCH" redefined
In file included from /usr/include/errno.h:23,
from <command-line>:0:
/usr/include/sys/errno.h:84:1: warning: this is the location of the previous definition
That will tell you where your bad definitions are.
Have you tried searching with grep?
If you don't want to search through all your headers for the particular #define, you could use
#undef YOUR_MANIFEST_CONSTANT
after each #include in your source module and then start removing them from the bottom up and see where your definitions come from.
Also, your compiler may tell you that a #define has been redefined. Turn all your warnings on.
With GCC I did something similar with:
g++ input.cc -dD -E > cpp.out
-dD tells cpp to print all defines where they were defined. And in the cpp output there are also markers for the include file names and the line numbers.
It is possible that some environments, I'm thinking IDE's here, have configuration options tied into the "project settings" rather than using a configuration header. If you work with a lot of other developers in a place where this behavior is NOT frowned on then you might also check your tool settings.
Most compilers will tell you where the problem is, you have to look and think about what the diagnostic notification is telling you.
Short of that, grep/findstr on *nix/Windows is your friend.
If that yields nothing then check for tool settings in your build system.
Some IDE's will jump to the correct location if you right click on the usage and select 'go to definition'.
Another option if you're really stuck is a command line option on the compiler. Most compilers have an option to output the assembler they generate when compiling C++ code.
You can view this assembler (which has comments letting you know the relative line number in the C++ source file). You don't have to understand the assembler but you can see what value was used and what files and definitions were included when the compiler ran. Check your compiler's documentation for the exact option to use