Open and list a function while debugging w. GDB - gdb

How can I open or view or list a function while using GDB, stepping does not work.
Example:
if (strcmp(argv[1],"s")==0)
(gdb) s
unsigned int a = functionINeed(argv[1]);
(gdb) s
if (!a)
(gdb) s
test(argv[1]);
My question is how can I view "functionINeed" ?

Related

Continue debugging after SegFault in GDB?

I am debugging a huge program using GDB and there is a SegFault in my program.
Instead of re-running the program, is it possible to switch to a previous stack frame and continue execution from there?
On Unix and Linux systems, at least, you can use gdb's handle command to tell gdb to stop the program when a signal is received (with the stop keyword) and not to pass the signal to the program (with the nopass keyword). When the program stops, you can use the return command to return a value from the current frame, then continue the program.
$ gdb -q segvtest
Reading symbols from segvtest...done.
(gdb) list 1,99999
1 #include <stdio.h>
2
3 int a()
4 {
5 int *p = 0;
6 return *p;
7 }
8
9 int main()
10 {
11 int i = a();
12 printf("a() returned %d\n", i);
13 }
(gdb) handle SIGSEGV stop nopass
Signal Stop Print Pass to program Description
SIGSEGV Yes Yes No Segmentation fault
(gdb) run
Starting program: /home/mp/segvtest
Program received signal SIGSEGV, Segmentation fault.
0x00000000080006c0 in a () at segvtest.c:6
6 return *p;
(gdb) return 12345
Make a return now? (y or n) y
#0 0x00000000080006d6 in main () at segvtest.c:11
11 int i = a();
(gdb) c
Continuing.
a() returned 12345
[Inferior 1 (process 74) exited normally]
(gdb)
is it possible to switch to a previous stack frame and continue
execution from there?
Yes, you can do it with reverse debugging.
When you get segfault, run reverse-finish to go out of the current frame in reverse direction. You will stop in the previous frame where you are about to call the function that caused a segfault.

Where to put HW BP to catch the global variable address corruption?

Program in C/C++ runs on embedded PowerPC under debugger with HW break points capabilities.
There is global variable 'char Name[256]' known in 2 files and 2 tasks correspondingly. One task reads Name, another fills it with a text, '1234567...', for example.
At some moment, global variable Name gets corrupted. When asked for the variable address gdb shows (and application prints by debug printouts) address equal to 0x31323334.
How to catch this bug with HW breakpoints? I mean at what address to put HWBP.
When I look into assembler, I see:
lis 9,Name#ha
lwz 9,Namel#l(9)
So, how memory corruption can change the code without influencing the application flow - it should crash immediately, no?
Thanks a lot ahead
0x31323334 is "1234" sans null terminator. Further, "Global variable address corruption" does not make much sense "global variables" (whose addresses do not change), nor really for an array of size 256 (unless you're using a pointer somewhere and it's the pointer which is being corrupted). So I suspect you might be unfamiliar with GDB.
When using GNU gdb (Ubuntu 7.7.1-0ubuntu5~14.04.2) 7.7.1 on x86 (admittedly, not ppc, but basically the same software) with the following test file:
// g++ test.cpp -g
#include <iostream>
char Name[256] = "123456789";
int main() {
Name[0] = 'a';
std::cout << Name << std::endl;
}
I can get the following output from GDB:
(gdb) break main
Breakpoint 2 at 0x40086a: file test.cpp, line 6.
(gdb) r
Starting program: /home/keithb/dev/mytest/a.out
Breakpoint 2, main () at test.cpp:6
6 Name[0] = 'a';
(gdb) whatis Name
type = char [256]
(gdb) print Name
$1 = "123456789", '\000' <repeats 246 times>
(gdb) print &Name
$2 = (char (*)[256]) 0x6010c0 <Name>
In any case, if you really do want to set a "hardware breakpoint" (GDB calls those "watchpoints"), then you can do get the address of Name prior to corruption. Then just set the watchpoint and wait for your program to write to the address.
(gdb) c
Continuing.
a23456789
[Inferior 1 (process 21878) exited normally]
(gdb) delete 2
(gdb) watch *0x6010c0
Hardware watchpoint 3: *0x6010c0
(gdb) r
Starting program: /home/keithb/dev/mytest/a.out
Hardware watchpoint 3: *0x6010c0
Old value = 875770417
New value = 875770465
main () at test.cpp:7
7 std::cout << Name << std::endl;
(gdb)

../mingwrt-4.0.3-1-mingw32-src/src/libcrt/crt/crt1.c: No such file or directory

I am new to program world. I am learning C with Dev-cpp 5.6.1
I had a problem with my Debugger (GNU gdb (GDB) 7.6.1). When I debug any program, the debugger warned me
Single stepping until exit from function main,
which has no line number information.
and
__mingw_CRTStartup ()
at ../mingwrt-4.0.3-1-mingw32-src/src/libcrt/crt/crt1.c:260
260 ../mingwrt-4.0.3-1-mingw32-src/src/libcrt/crt/crt1.c: No such file or directory.
The problem happened before. I solved it by reinstalling Dev-Cpp (also reset old configure). But after a little time the problem came back again.
Example code:
#include <stdio.h>
int main(void)
{
int a, b;
printf("Please give me number 1: ");
scanf("%d", &a);
printf("Please give me number 2: ");
scanf("%d", &b);
printf("Sum = %d", a + b);
}
The debugger warned me:
C:\Users\Nam\Dropbox\code>gdb sum.exe
GNU gdb (GDB) 7.6.1
Copyright (C) 2013 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.
There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law. Type "show copying"
and "show warranty" for details.
This GDB was configured as "mingw32".
For bug reporting instructions, please see:
<http://www.gnu.org/software/gdb/bugs/>...
Reading symbols from C:\Users\Nam\Dropbox\code\sum.exe...done.
(gdb) b main
Breakpoint 1 at 0x4016b3
(gdb) n
The program is not being run.
(gdb) r
Starting program: C:\Users\Nam\Dropbox\code/sum.exe
[New Thread 7148.0x1b6c]
Breakpoint 1, 0x004016b3 in main ()
(gdb) n
Single stepping until exit from function main,
which has no line number information.
Please give me number 1: 3
Please give me number 2: 4
Sum = 7__mingw_CRTStartup ()
at ../mingwrt-4.0.3-1-mingw32-src/src/libcrt/crt/crt1.c:260
260 ../mingwrt-4.0.3-1-mingw32-src/src/libcrt/crt/crt1.c: No such file or di
rectory.
(gdb)
I couldn't know how to fix it.
Anyone helps me please :(. Thanks in advance
I couldn't know how to fix it.
I don't think it is necessary to fix it. You got this message since you had already returned from main() and now you are not in your code, it is mingw code that calls your main(). I did the same test as you and this is backtrace after finishing main:
10 printf("Sum = %d", a + b);
(gdb)
Sum = 311 }
(gdb) bt
#0 main () at t.c:11
(gdb) n
__mingw_CRTStartup () at ../mingw/crt1.c:250
250 ../mingw/crt1.c: No such file or directory.
(gdb) bt
#0 __mingw_CRTStartup () at ../mingw/crt1.c:250
#1 0x00401284 in mainCRTStartup () at ../mingw/crt1.c:264
(gdb) n
252 in ../mingw/crt1.c
(gdb) n
[Inferior 1 (process 1448) exited normally]
(gdb)
Again - you don't have to debug mingw startup code. Just give gdb command "continue" so that it can finish executing your process.
I have found source of this __mingw_CRTStartup here http://gitorious.org/mingw/mingw-runtime/source/be97f73714b4e267e5903fc9bdeb0f23fcc3ac8f:crt1.c#L200. You can take a look at what steps mingw library does after returning from main:
static void __attribute__((noreturn))
__mingw_CRTStartup (void)
{
int nRet;
/* skipped some lines ... */
nRet = main (_argc, _argv, environ);
/*
* Perform exit processing for the C library. This means
* flushing output and calling 'atexit' registered functions.
*/
_cexit ();
ExitProcess (nRet);
}
Some useful links:
1) https://stackoverflow.com/a/4988376/184968

gdb: break when a particular object is altered

I have an object defined in c++ with a pointer to it used in various functions and files throughout the project. I am having an issue with the data being updated, so I want to debug it to see what is happening. Ideally, I want to break every time the object is accessed. however, watch requires a specific memory address. So, for example, if I have:
class data{
public:
int a;
int b;
};
then gdb will only break when a is altered, since the pointer to data is pointed at a, but not when b is altered.
Is there a way to break whenever the entire range of memory covered by the data class is altered?
Is there a way to break whenever the entire range of memory covered by the data class is altered?
Perhaps.
GDB hardware watchpoints use special debug registers in hardware, and there is usually a limit on how such registers work. On x86, you can set up to 4 word-sized hardware watch points, so for example you gave you can set watchpoints on &data->a and &data->b, and that will "cover" entire memory of the data.
I am guessing that your actual data has many more members though, and so 4 word-sized watch points will not suffice.
If you are on platform which has Valgrind support, and if your program can execute under Valgrind, then you can use Valgrind's built-in gdbserver to set watchpoints on arbitrary regions of memory.
Update:
I looked through the page you linked to and couldn't find what I was looking for
I am not sure what you were looking for. Here is a sample session showing how it works:
#include <stdlib.h>
void foo(char *p)
{
*p = 'a';
}
typedef struct {
char buf[1024];
} data;
int main()
{
data *d = calloc(1, sizeof(data));
foo(d->buf + 999);
}
gcc -g main.c
valgrind --vgdb-error=0 ./a.out
...
==10345== TO DEBUG THIS PROCESS USING GDB: start GDB like this
==10345== /path/to/gdb ./a.out
==10345== and then give GDB the following command
==10345== target remote | vgdb --pid=10345
... Valgrind now waits for debugger to attach.
In another window:
gdb ./a.out
GNU gdb (GDB) 7.4
...
(gdb) target remote | vgdb --pid=10345
relaying data between gdb and process 10345
[Switching to Thread 10345]
0x0000000004000af0 in _start () from /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2
(gdb) b main
Breakpoint 1 at 0x40053d: file main.c, line 14.
(gdb) c
Breakpoint 1, main () at main.c:14
14 data *d = calloc(1, sizeof(data));
(gdb) n
15 foo(d->buf + 999);
(gdb) watch *d
Hardware watchpoint 2: *d
Note that a "hardware" watchpoint has been set on entire *d.
It's a hardware watchpoint only in the sense that Valgrind is the hardware.
(gdb) p d.buf[999]
$1 = 0 '\000'
(gdb) c
Hardware watchpoint 2: *d
Old value = {buf = '\000' <repeats 1023 times>}
New value = {buf = '\000' <repeats 999 times>, "a", '\000' <repeats 23 times>}
foo (p=0x51b6457 "a") at main.c:6
6 }
(gdb) q
Voila: the debugger stopped when 999th element was modified, proving that the watchpoint "covered" the entire structure.

How can I step through nested function calls in GDB?

Sometimes I want to debug functions like this:
my_func1(my_func2(my_func3(val)));
Is there a way I can step through this nested call in GDB?
I want to step through my_func3, then my_func2, then my_func1, etc.
What command are you stepping with? next would go to next line when debugging my_func1(my_func2(my_func3(val)));, but step should enter my_func3.
Example:
int my_func1(int i)
{
return i;
}
int my_func2(int i)
{
return i;
}
int my_func3(int i)
{
return i;
}
int main(void)
{
return my_func1(my_func2(my_func3(1)));
}
Debugged:
(gdb) b main
Breakpoint 1 at 0x4004a4: file c.c, line 19.
(gdb) run
Starting program: test
Breakpoint 1, main () at c.c:19
19 return my_func1(my_func2(my_func3(1)));
(gdb) step
my_func3 (i=1) at c.c:14
14 return i;
(gdb) step
15 }
(gdb) step
my_func2 (i=1) at c.c:9
9 return i;
(gdb) step
10 }
(gdb) step
my_func1 (i=1) at c.c:4
4 return i;
(gdb) step
5 }
(gdb) step
main () at c.c:20
20 }
(gdb) cont
Continuing.
Program exited with code 01.
(gdb)
If you know the where the function definition is in the source code one solution will be to put break point inside that function.
Yes, although you may have get your hands dirty with the disassembly. First try the step command (abbreviation s). If that doesn't put you into my_func3(), try instead the stepi command (abbreviation si) to step one instruction at a time. This may take several invocations, since there can be a lot of instructions setting up the function call arguments and cleaning up afterwards.