Everytime I attach to a process using gdb, it will stop the target program, and I need to type 'cont' to let it go. Is there a way to attach to a process without stopping it? This makes things easier if the process will behave differently if it stops for a while.
I know there is already a fine answer for this, but I prefer not using an additional file.
Here is another answer:
gdb attach $(pidof process_name) -ex cont
You can't make it not stop. You can however instantly continue... Create a simple batch script which will attach to a specific process and instantly continuing execution after attaching:
gdb attach $1 -x <(echo "cont")
./attach PID
For when you don't know the PID of the process...
gdb attach $(pgrep -f myApp) -ex cont
Related
I'd like to to debug a multiprocess C++ project with GDB, specifically I'd like to know if there is a way to achieve the following
Attach multiple processes to a single instance of GDB while letting all the processes run
Setting up a breakpoint in the source code of one of the processes stops all the attached processes
The ideal solution would be something similar to what is offered by the Visual Studio debugger as described here.
At the moment I'm able to attach multiple processes to a GDB instance but then only the current selected inferior is executed while the others are stopped and waiting for a continue command.
In order to be able to run inferiors in the background, one needs to issue this gdb command
set target-async on
after start up and before running anything. With this option in effect, one ca issue
continue&
(or just c&) and this will send the inferior to the background, giving an opportunity to switch to run another one.
Stopping all inferiors at once is a bit more difficult. There is no built-in command for that. Fortunately gdb is scriptable and it is possible to attach a script to a breakpoint. Once the breakpoint is hit, the commands are executed. Put inferior n and interrupt commands in the script for each inferior. It is probably more convenient to do that from a Python script, something like
(gdb) python
>inf = gdb.inferiors()
>for i in inf:
> gdb.execute("inferior %d" % i.num)
> gdb.execute("interrupt")
I am using gdbserver to debug a remote process. I am able to attach gdbserver to the process after it has launched and is waiting for input.
However, I want to attach gdbserver to the process while it is being launched. The process is launched via a shell script and I cannot change how this process is being launched i.e. I cannot modify the shell script to launch the process via a call to gdbserver.
How do I attach gdbserver to this process as soon as it launches?
Edit: I am able to create a wait loop at the start of main(). For example a loop which waits till it finds a file at a predetermined location :
#include <unistd.h>
int main() {
while( access("/home/username/CONTINUE", F_OK) == -1)
sleep(1);
/*
...all the rest of main()
*/
return 0;
}
We can attach gdbserver while the process is busy with this loop, set breakpoints as required and say touch /home/username/CONTINUE to exit the loop. But this requires us to be able to access the source code, compile the binary and place it on the target machine. I am looking for a better, easier way than this.
But this requires us to be able to access the source code1, compile the binary and place it on the target machine. I am looking for a better, easier way than this.
It looks like you are working on a linux / unix like remote operating system.
If you have admin access to the remote system, the simplest way I could think of is to rename the original executable, and replace that with a shell script named like the original executable, that starts the now renamed under control of gdbserver.
Something like (assumed executable /usr/bin/foo) at the target machine:
root:# cd /usr/bin
root:# mv foo foo_
root:# echo "#!/bin/sh\ngdbserver /dev/com1 foo_ foo.txt" > foo
root:# chmod a+x foo
As it says in the gdbserver man(1) page:
This tells gdbserver to debug foo_ with an argument of foo.txt, and
to communicate with GDB via /dev/com1. gdbserver now waits patiently
for the host GDB to communicate with it.
Another way I could think of without modifying the original process at all, could be a little program that monitors changes in the /dev/proc directory(ies), and attaches gdbserver at such event with the associated pid.
Though it's kind of luck then, if gdbserver is attached, before that process already schedules to main().
1You should have acces to the source code anyways for reasonable debugging with gdb. Though there are cases where you can just get with the (dis-)assembly code as well.
I automate my gdb script like this
gdb -q --args the_program <<EOL
# breakpoints etc.
run
EOL
Works fine, however when interrupting the running process with Ctrl+C, the entire process falsely exits:
Quit anyway? (y or n) [answered Y; input not from terminal]
, meaning gdb is not interactive anymore. How do I prevent this?
For some reason, the interrupt signal works fine when using an external commands file like gdb ... -x the_commands_file. But this question is about the stdin-way. Is there a possibility to send the desired commands via stdin but still be able to keep interaction possible afterwards?
I start gdb as following: gdb --args parentExecutable LotsOfArgsForParent
I also run: set follow-fork-mode child
parentExecutable forks at some point and executes a childExecutable with some arguments. I debug the child for a while. Then, I use the run command of gdb to restart the parentExecutable with the arguments given in the beginning. However, instead, the childExecutable restarts -- from scratch without any arguments. How can I make gdb start the parent with the arguments provided in the beginning?
There are actually two modes to pay attention to in this scenario. One mode is follow-fork-mode, which tells gdb what to do when the inferior forks. However, there is also follow-exec-mode, which tells gdb how to handle an exec call.
The default setting for follow-exec-mode is same, which tells gdb to reuse the current inferior for the exec'd process. In this situation, once the child process stops, run will re-run the child.
What you want, instead, is set follow-exec-mode new. In this mode, gdb will make a new inferior in response to the exec. Then, when you want to re-run the original executable, you can switch back to the first inferior (use info inferior to get a list and the inferior command to select one). Then run will re-run the original.
Another way to do all this is multi-inferior debugging, using set detach-on-fork off. However, in my experience, this mode is still a bit flaky. Once it works, though, I think it will be the preferred approach.
How do I stop a GDB execution without a breakpoint?
Just use a regular interrupt Ctrl-c will work just fine. GDB just forwards the SIGINT to the debugging process which then dies. GDB will catch the non-standard exit and break the process there, so you can still examine all the threads, their stacks and current values of variables. This works fine, though you would be better off using break points. The only time I find myself doing this is, if I think I've gotten into some sort of infinite loop.
GUI applications don't react to ^C and ^Break the way console applications do. Since these days most non-trivial projects tend to be GUI applications or libraries primarily used in GUI applications, you have two options:
Send SIGSTOP to the application from a separate terminal. This is cumbersome.
If you press ^C or ^Break on the GDB prompt, GDB will terminate but the application will remain running. You can then run GDB again to attach to it using the -p command-line switch. This loses debugger state.
In both cases, you might find this helpful: tasklist | grepProcessName| sed -e 's/ProcessName*\([0-9]*\).*/gdbModuleName-pid=\1/' > rungdb.sh You can modify this for use in shell scripts, makefiles or to send a signal instead of attaching GDB.
info threads will help you figure out which thread you want to look at. Then use threadThreadNumber to switch to it.
Start a shell, find the process ID using ps and send it SIGSTOP or SIGINT by using the kill command (e.g. kill -INT pid).
Just type BREAK without any arguments.
Break, when called without any arguments, break sets a breakpoint at the next instruction to be executed in the selected stack frame
Ctrl + Z seems to work for me (but only in some cases - I'm not sure why).