This is gdb.info, produced by makeinfo version 6.5 from gdb.texinfo. Copyright (C) 1988-2020 Free Software Foundation, Inc. Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with the Invariant Sections being "Free Software" and "Free Software Needs Free Documentation", with the Front-Cover Texts being "A GNU Manual," and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: "You are free to copy and modify this GNU Manual. Buying copies from GNU Press supports the FSF in developing GNU and promoting software freedom." INFO-DIR-SECTION Software development START-INFO-DIR-ENTRY * Gdb: (gdb). The GNU debugger. * gdbserver: (gdb) Server. The GNU debugging server. END-INFO-DIR-ENTRY This file documents the GNU debugger GDB. This is the Tenth Edition, of 'Debugging with GDB: the GNU Source-Level Debugger' for GDB (GDB) Version 9.2. Copyright (C) 1988-2020 Free Software Foundation, Inc. Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with the Invariant Sections being "Free Software" and "Free Software Needs Free Documentation", with the Front-Cover Texts being "A GNU Manual," and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: "You are free to copy and modify this GNU Manual. Buying copies from GNU Press supports the FSF in developing GNU and promoting software freedom."  File: gdb.info, Node: Arithmetic In Guile, Next: Types In Guile, Prev: Values From Inferior In Guile, Up: Guile API 23.3.3.6 Arithmetic In Guile ............................ The '(gdb)' module provides several functions for performing arithmetic on '' objects. The arithmetic is performed as if it were done by the target, and therefore has target semantics which are not necessarily those of Scheme. For example operations work with a fixed precision, not the arbitrary precision of Scheme. Wherever a function takes an integer or pointer as an operand, GDB will convert appropriate Scheme values to perform the operation. -- Scheme Procedure: value-add a b -- Scheme Procedure: value-sub a b -- Scheme Procedure: value-mul a b -- Scheme Procedure: value-div a b -- Scheme Procedure: value-rem a b -- Scheme Procedure: value-mod a b -- Scheme Procedure: value-pow a b -- Scheme Procedure: value-not a -- Scheme Procedure: value-neg a -- Scheme Procedure: value-pos a -- Scheme Procedure: value-abs a -- Scheme Procedure: value-lsh a b -- Scheme Procedure: value-rsh a b -- Scheme Procedure: value-min a b -- Scheme Procedure: value-max a b -- Scheme Procedure: value-lognot a -- Scheme Procedure: value-logand a b -- Scheme Procedure: value-logior a b -- Scheme Procedure: value-logxor a b -- Scheme Procedure: value=? a b -- Scheme Procedure: value? a b -- Scheme Procedure: value>=? a b Scheme does not provide a 'not-equal' function, and thus Guile support in GDB does not either.  File: gdb.info, Node: Types In Guile, Next: Guile Pretty Printing API, Prev: Arithmetic In Guile, Up: Guile API 23.3.3.7 Types In Guile ....................... GDB represents types from the inferior in objects of type ''. The following type-related procedures are provided by the '(gdb)' module. -- Scheme Procedure: type? object Return '#t' if OBJECT is an object of type ''. Otherwise return '#f'. -- Scheme Procedure: lookup-type name [#:block block] This function looks up a type by its NAME, which must be a string. If BLOCK is given, it is an object of type '', and NAME is looked up in that scope. Otherwise, it is searched for globally. Ordinarily, this function will return an instance of ''. If the named type cannot be found, it will throw an exception. -- Scheme Procedure: type-code type Return the type code of TYPE. The type code will be one of the 'TYPE_CODE_' constants defined below. -- Scheme Procedure: type-tag type Return the tag name of TYPE. The tag name is the name after 'struct', 'union', or 'enum' in C and C++; not all languages have this concept. If this type has no tag name, then '#f' is returned. -- Scheme Procedure: type-name type Return the name of TYPE. If this type has no name, then '#f' is returned. -- Scheme Procedure: type-print-name type Return the print name of TYPE. This returns something even for anonymous types. For example, for an anonymous C struct '"struct {...}"' is returned. -- Scheme Procedure: type-sizeof type Return the size of this type, in target 'char' units. Usually, a target's 'char' type will be an 8-bit byte. However, on some unusual platforms, this type may have a different size. -- Scheme Procedure: type-strip-typedefs type Return a new '' that represents the real type of TYPE, after removing all layers of typedefs. -- Scheme Procedure: type-array type n1 [n2] Return a new '' object which represents an array of this type. If one argument is given, it is the inclusive upper bound of the array; in this case the lower bound is zero. If two arguments are given, the first argument is the lower bound of the array, and the second argument is the upper bound of the array. An array's length must not be negative, but the bounds can be. -- Scheme Procedure: type-vector type n1 [n2] Return a new '' object which represents a vector of this type. If one argument is given, it is the inclusive upper bound of the vector; in this case the lower bound is zero. If two arguments are given, the first argument is the lower bound of the vector, and the second argument is the upper bound of the vector. A vector's length must not be negative, but the bounds can be. The difference between an 'array' and a 'vector' is that arrays behave like in C: when used in expressions they decay to a pointer to the first element whereas vectors are treated as first class values. -- Scheme Procedure: type-pointer type Return a new '' object which represents a pointer to TYPE. -- Scheme Procedure: type-range type Return a list of two elements: the low bound and high bound of TYPE. If TYPE does not have a range, an exception is thrown. -- Scheme Procedure: type-reference type Return a new '' object which represents a reference to TYPE. -- Scheme Procedure: type-target type Return a new '' object which represents the target type of TYPE. For a pointer type, the target type is the type of the pointed-to object. For an array type (meaning C-like arrays), the target type is the type of the elements of the array. For a function or method type, the target type is the type of the return value. For a complex type, the target type is the type of the elements. For a typedef, the target type is the aliased type. If the type does not have a target, this method will throw an exception. -- Scheme Procedure: type-const type Return a new '' object which represents a 'const'-qualified variant of TYPE. -- Scheme Procedure: type-volatile type Return a new '' object which represents a 'volatile'-qualified variant of TYPE. -- Scheme Procedure: type-unqualified type Return a new '' object which represents an unqualified variant of TYPE. That is, the result is neither 'const' nor 'volatile'. -- Scheme Procedure: type-num-fields Return the number of fields of '' TYPE. -- Scheme Procedure: type-fields type Return the fields of TYPE as a list. For structure and union types, 'fields' has the usual meaning. Range types have two fields, the minimum and maximum values. Enum types have one field per enum constant. Function and method types have one field per parameter. The base types of C++ classes are also represented as fields. If the type has no fields, or does not fit into one of these categories, an empty list will be returned. *Note Fields of a type in Guile::. -- Scheme Procedure: make-field-iterator type Return the fields of TYPE as a object. *Note Iterators In Guile::. -- Scheme Procedure: type-field type field-name Return field named FIELD-NAME in TYPE. The result is an object of type ''. *Note Fields of a type in Guile::. If the type does not have fields, or FIELD-NAME is not a field of TYPE, an exception is thrown. For example, if 'some-type' is a '' instance holding a structure type, you can access its 'foo' field with: (define bar (type-field some-type "foo")) 'bar' will be a '' object. -- Scheme Procedure: type-has-field? type name Return '#t' if '' TYPE has field named NAME. Otherwise return '#f'. Each type has a code, which indicates what category this type falls into. The available type categories are represented by constants defined in the '(gdb)' module: 'TYPE_CODE_PTR' The type is a pointer. 'TYPE_CODE_ARRAY' The type is an array. 'TYPE_CODE_STRUCT' The type is a structure. 'TYPE_CODE_UNION' The type is a union. 'TYPE_CODE_ENUM' The type is an enum. 'TYPE_CODE_FLAGS' A bit flags type, used for things such as status registers. 'TYPE_CODE_FUNC' The type is a function. 'TYPE_CODE_INT' The type is an integer type. 'TYPE_CODE_FLT' A floating point type. 'TYPE_CODE_VOID' The special type 'void'. 'TYPE_CODE_SET' A Pascal set type. 'TYPE_CODE_RANGE' A range type, that is, an integer type with bounds. 'TYPE_CODE_STRING' A string type. Note that this is only used for certain languages with language-defined string types; C strings are not represented this way. 'TYPE_CODE_BITSTRING' A string of bits. It is deprecated. 'TYPE_CODE_ERROR' An unknown or erroneous type. 'TYPE_CODE_METHOD' A method type, as found in C++. 'TYPE_CODE_METHODPTR' A pointer-to-member-function. 'TYPE_CODE_MEMBERPTR' A pointer-to-member. 'TYPE_CODE_REF' A reference type. 'TYPE_CODE_CHAR' A character type. 'TYPE_CODE_BOOL' A boolean type. 'TYPE_CODE_COMPLEX' A complex float type. 'TYPE_CODE_TYPEDEF' A typedef to some other type. 'TYPE_CODE_NAMESPACE' A C++ namespace. 'TYPE_CODE_DECFLOAT' A decimal floating point type. 'TYPE_CODE_INTERNAL_FUNCTION' A function internal to GDB. This is the type used to represent convenience functions (*note Convenience Funs::). Further support for types is provided in the '(gdb types)' Guile module (*note Guile Types Module::). Each field is represented as an object of type ''. The following field-related procedures are provided by the '(gdb)' module: -- Scheme Procedure: field? object Return '#t' if OBJECT is an object of type ''. Otherwise return '#f'. -- Scheme Procedure: field-name field Return the name of the field, or '#f' for anonymous fields. -- Scheme Procedure: field-type field Return the type of the field. This is usually an instance of '', but it can be '#f' in some situations. -- Scheme Procedure: field-enumval field Return the enum value represented by '' FIELD. -- Scheme Procedure: field-bitpos field Return the bit position of '' FIELD. This attribute is not available for 'static' fields (as in C++). -- Scheme Procedure: field-bitsize field If the field is packed, or is a bitfield, return the size of '' FIELD in bits. Otherwise, zero is returned; in which case the field's size is given by its type. -- Scheme Procedure: field-artificial? field Return '#t' if the field is artificial, usually meaning that it was provided by the compiler and not the user. Otherwise return '#f'. -- Scheme Procedure: field-base-class? field Return '#t' if the field represents a base class of a C++ structure. Otherwise return '#f'.  File: gdb.info, Node: Guile Pretty Printing API, Next: Selecting Guile Pretty-Printers, Prev: Types In Guile, Up: Guile API 23.3.3.8 Guile Pretty Printing API .................................. An example output is provided (*note Pretty Printing::). A pretty-printer is represented by an object of type . Pretty-printer objects are created with 'make-pretty-printer'. The following pretty-printer-related procedures are provided by the '(gdb)' module: -- Scheme Procedure: make-pretty-printer name lookup-function Return a '' object named NAME. LOOKUP-FUNCTION is a function of one parameter: the value to be printed. If the value is handled by this pretty-printer, then LOOKUP-FUNCTION returns an object of type to perform the actual pretty-printing. Otherwise LOOKUP-FUNCTION returns '#f'. -- Scheme Procedure: pretty-printer? object Return '#t' if OBJECT is a '' object. Otherwise return '#f'. -- Scheme Procedure: pretty-printer-enabled? pretty-printer Return '#t' if PRETTY-PRINTER is enabled. Otherwise return '#f'. -- Scheme Procedure: set-pretty-printer-enabled! pretty-printer flag Set the enabled flag of PRETTY-PRINTER to FLAG. The value returned is unspecified. -- Scheme Procedure: pretty-printers Return the list of global pretty-printers. -- Scheme Procedure: set-pretty-printers! pretty-printers Set the list of global pretty-printers to PRETTY-PRINTERS. The value returned is unspecified. -- Scheme Procedure: make-pretty-printer-worker display-hint to-string children Return an object of type ''. This function takes three parameters: 'display-hint' DISPLAY-HINT provides a hint to GDB or GDB front end via MI to change the formatting of the value being printed. The value must be a string or '#f' (meaning there is no hint). Several values for DISPLAY-HINT are predefined by GDB: 'array' Indicate that the object being printed is "array-like". The CLI uses this to respect parameters such as 'set print elements' and 'set print array'. 'map' Indicate that the object being printed is "map-like", and that the children of this value can be assumed to alternate between keys and values. 'string' Indicate that the object being printed is "string-like". If the printer's 'to-string' function returns a Guile string of some kind, then GDB will call its internal language-specific string-printing function to format the string. For the CLI this means adding quotation marks, possibly escaping some characters, respecting 'set print elements', and the like. 'to-string' TO-STRING is either a function of one parameter, the '' object, or '#f'. When printing from the CLI, if the 'to-string' method exists, then GDB will prepend its result to the values returned by 'children'. Exactly how this formatting is done is dependent on the display hint, and may change as more hints are added. Also, depending on the print settings (*note Print Settings::), the CLI may print just the result of 'to-string' in a stack trace, omitting the result of 'children'. If this method returns a string, it is printed verbatim. Otherwise, if this method returns an instance of '', then GDB prints this value. This may result in a call to another pretty-printer. If instead the method returns a Guile value which is convertible to a '', then GDB performs the conversion and prints the resulting value. Again, this may result in a call to another pretty-printer. Guile scalars (integers, floats, and booleans) and strings are convertible to ''; other types are not. Finally, if this method returns '#f' then no further operations are peformed in this method and nothing is printed. If the result is not one of these types, an exception is raised. TO-STRING may also be '#f' in which case it is left to CHILDREN to print the value. 'children' CHILDREN is either a function of one parameter, the '' object, or '#f'. GDB will call this function on a pretty-printer to compute the children of the pretty-printer's value. This function must return a object. Each item returned by the iterator must be a tuple holding two elements. The first element is the "name" of the child; the second element is the child's value. The value can be any Guile object which is convertible to a GDB value. If CHILDREN is '#f', GDB will act as though the value has no children. Children may be hidden from display based on the value of 'set print max-depth' (*note Print Settings::). GDB provides a function which can be used to look up the default pretty-printer for a '': -- Scheme Procedure: default-visualizer value This function takes a '' object as an argument. If a pretty-printer for this value exists, then it is returned. If no such printer exists, then this returns '#f'.  File: gdb.info, Node: Selecting Guile Pretty-Printers, Next: Writing a Guile Pretty-Printer, Prev: Guile Pretty Printing API, Up: Guile API 23.3.3.9 Selecting Guile Pretty-Printers ........................................ There are three sets of pretty-printers that GDB searches: * Per-objfile list of pretty-printers (*note Objfiles In Guile::). * Per-progspace list of pretty-printers (*note Progspaces In Guile::). * The global list of pretty-printers (*note Guile Pretty Printing API::). These printers are available when debugging any inferior. Pretty-printer lookup is done by passing the value to be printed to the lookup function of each enabled object in turn. Lookup stops when a lookup function returns a non-'#f' value or when the list is exhausted. Lookup functions must return either a '' object or '#f'. Otherwise an exception is thrown. GDB first checks the result of 'objfile-pretty-printers' of each '' in the current program space and iteratively calls each enabled lookup function in the list for that '' until a non-'#f' object is returned. If no pretty-printer is found in the objfile lists, GDB then searches the result of 'progspace-pretty-printers' of the current program space, calling each enabled function until a non-'#f' object is returned. After these lists have been exhausted, it tries the global pretty-printers list, obtained with 'pretty-printers', again calling each enabled function until a non-'#f' object is returned. The order in which the objfiles are searched is not specified. For a given list, functions are always invoked from the head of the list, and iterated over sequentially until the end of the list, or a '' object is returned. For various reasons a pretty-printer may not work. For example, the underlying data structure may have changed and the pretty-printer is out of date. The consequences of a broken pretty-printer are severe enough that GDB provides support for enabling and disabling individual printers. For example, if 'print frame-arguments' is on, a backtrace can become highly illegible if any argument is printed with a broken printer. Pretty-printers are enabled and disabled from Scheme by calling 'set-pretty-printer-enabled!'. *Note Guile Pretty Printing API::.  File: gdb.info, Node: Writing a Guile Pretty-Printer, Next: Commands In Guile, Prev: Selecting Guile Pretty-Printers, Up: Guile API 23.3.3.10 Writing a Guile Pretty-Printer ........................................ A pretty-printer consists of two basic parts: a lookup function to determine if the type is supported, and the printer itself. Here is an example showing how a 'std::string' printer might be written. *Note Guile Pretty Printing API::, for details. (define (make-my-string-printer value) "Print a my::string string" (make-pretty-printer-worker "string" (lambda (printer) (value-field value "_data")) #f)) And here is an example showing how a lookup function for the printer example above might be written. (define (str-lookup-function pretty-printer value) (let ((tag (type-tag (value-type value)))) (and tag (string-prefix? "std::string<" tag) (make-my-string-printer value)))) Then to register this printer in the global printer list: (append-pretty-printer! (make-pretty-printer "my-string" str-lookup-function)) The example lookup function extracts the value's type, and attempts to match it to a type that it can pretty-print. If it is a type the printer can pretty-print, it will return a object. If not, it returns '#f'. We recommend that you put your core pretty-printers into a Guile package. If your pretty-printers are for use with a library, we further recommend embedding a version number into the package name. This practice will enable GDB to load multiple versions of your pretty-printers at the same time, because they will have different names. You should write auto-loaded code (*note Guile Auto-loading::) such that it can be evaluated multiple times without changing its meaning. An ideal auto-load file will consist solely of 'import's of your printer modules, followed by a call to a register pretty-printers with the current objfile. Taken as a whole, this approach will scale nicely to multiple inferiors, each potentially using a different library version. Embedding a version number in the Guile package name will ensure that GDB is able to load both sets of printers simultaneously. Then, because the search for pretty-printers is done by objfile, and because your auto-loaded code took care to register your library's printers with a specific objfile, GDB will find the correct printers for the specific version of the library used by each inferior. To continue the 'my::string' example, this code might appear in '(my-project my-library v1)': (use-modules (gdb)) (define (register-printers objfile) (append-objfile-pretty-printer! (make-pretty-printer "my-string" str-lookup-function))) And then the corresponding contents of the auto-load file would be: (use-modules (gdb) (my-project my-library v1)) (register-printers (current-objfile)) The previous example illustrates a basic pretty-printer. There are a few things that can be improved on. The printer only handles one type, whereas a library typically has several types. One could install a lookup function for each desired type in the library, but one could also have a single lookup function recognize several types. The latter is the conventional way this is handled. If a pretty-printer can handle multiple data types, then its "subprinters" are the printers for the individual data types. The '(gdb printing)' module provides a formal way of solving this problem (*note Guile Printing Module::). Here is another example that handles multiple types. These are the types we are going to pretty-print: struct foo { int a, b; }; struct bar { struct foo x, y; }; Here are the printers: (define (make-foo-printer value) "Print a foo object" (make-pretty-printer-worker "foo" (lambda (printer) (format #f "a=<~a> b=<~a>" (value-field value "a") (value-field value "a"))) #f)) (define (make-bar-printer value) "Print a bar object" (make-pretty-printer-worker "foo" (lambda (printer) (format #f "x=<~a> y=<~a>" (value-field value "x") (value-field value "y"))) #f)) This example doesn't need a lookup function, that is handled by the '(gdb printing)' module. Instead a function is provided to build up the object that handles the lookup. (use-modules (gdb printing)) (define (build-pretty-printer) (let ((pp (make-pretty-printer-collection "my-library"))) (pp-collection-add-tag-printer "foo" make-foo-printer) (pp-collection-add-tag-printer "bar" make-bar-printer) pp)) And here is the autoload support: (use-modules (gdb) (my-library)) (append-objfile-pretty-printer! (current-objfile) (build-pretty-printer)) Finally, when this printer is loaded into GDB, here is the corresponding output of 'info pretty-printer': (gdb) info pretty-printer my_library.so: my-library foo bar  File: gdb.info, Node: Commands In Guile, Next: Parameters In Guile, Prev: Writing a Guile Pretty-Printer, Up: Guile API 23.3.3.11 Commands In Guile ........................... You can implement new GDB CLI commands in Guile. A CLI command object is created with the 'make-command' Guile function, and added to GDB with the 'register-command!' Guile function. This two-step approach is taken to separate out the side-effect of adding the command to GDB from 'make-command'. There is no support for multi-line commands, that is commands that consist of multiple lines and are terminated with 'end'. -- Scheme Procedure: (make-command name [#:invoke invoke] [#:command-class command-class] [#:completer-class completer] [#:prefix? prefix] [#:doc doc-string]) The argument NAME is the name of the command. If NAME consists of multiple words, then the initial words are looked for as prefix commands. In this case, if one of the prefix commands does not exist, an exception is raised. The result is the '' object representing the command. The command is not usable until it has been registered with GDB with 'register-command!'. The rest of the arguments are optional. The argument INVOKE is a procedure of three arguments: SELF, ARGS and FROM-TTY. The argument SELF is the '' object representing the command. The argument ARGS is a string representing the arguments passed to the command, after leading and trailing whitespace has been stripped. The argument FROM-TTY is a boolean flag and specifies whether the command should consider itself to have been originated from the user invoking it interactively. If this function throws an exception, it is turned into a GDB 'error' call. Otherwise, the return value is ignored. The argument COMMAND-CLASS is one of the 'COMMAND_' constants defined below. This argument tells GDB how to categorize the new command in the help system. The default is 'COMMAND_NONE'. The argument COMPLETER is either '#f', one of the 'COMPLETE_' constants defined below, or a procedure, also defined below. This argument tells GDB how to perform completion for this command. If not provided or if the value is '#f', then no completion is performed on the command. The argument PREFIX is a boolean flag indicating whether the new command is a prefix command; sub-commands of this command may be registered. The argument DOC-STRING is help text for the new command. If no documentation string is provided, the default value "This command is not documented." is used. -- Scheme Procedure: register-command! command Add COMMAND, a '' object, to GDB's list of commands. It is an error to register a command more than once. The result is unspecified. -- Scheme Procedure: command? object Return '#t' if OBJECT is a '' object. Otherwise return '#f'. -- Scheme Procedure: dont-repeat By default, a GDB command is repeated when the user enters a blank line at the command prompt. A command can suppress this behavior by invoking the 'dont-repeat' function. This is similar to the user command 'dont-repeat', see *note dont-repeat: Define. -- Scheme Procedure: string->argv string Convert a string to a list of strings split up according to GDB's argv parsing rules. It is recommended to use this for consistency. Arguments are separated by spaces and may be quoted. Example: scheme@(guile-user)> (string->argv "1 2\\ \\\"3 '4 \"5' \"6 '7\"") $1 = ("1" "2 \"3" "4 \"5" "6 '7") -- Scheme Procedure: throw-user-error message . args Throw a 'gdb:user-error' exception. The argument MESSAGE is the error message as a format string, like the FMT argument to the 'format' Scheme function. *Note (guile)Formatted Output::. The argument ARGS is a list of the optional arguments of MESSAGE. This is used when the command detects a user error of some kind, say a bad command argument. (gdb) guile (use-modules (gdb)) (gdb) guile (register-command! (make-command "test-user-error" #:command-class COMMAND_OBSCURE #:invoke (lambda (self arg from-tty) (throw-user-error "Bad argument ~a" arg)))) end (gdb) test-user-error ugh ERROR: Bad argument ugh -- completer: self text word If the COMPLETER option to 'make-command' is a procedure, it takes three arguments: SELF which is the '' object, and TEXT and WORD which are both strings. The argument TEXT holds the complete command line up to the cursor's location. The argument WORD holds the last word of the command line; this is computed using a word-breaking heuristic. All forms of completion are handled by this function, that is, the and key bindings (*note Completion::), and the 'complete' command (*note complete: Help.). This procedure can return several kinds of values: * If the return value is a list, the contents of the list are used as the completions. It is up to COMPLETER to ensure that the contents actually do complete the word. An empty list is allowed, it means that there were no completions available. Only string elements of the list are used; other elements in the list are ignored. * If the return value is a '' object, it is iterated over to obtain the completions. It is up to 'completer-procedure' to ensure that the results actually do complete the word. Only string elements of the result are used; other elements in the sequence are ignored. * All other results are treated as though there were no available completions. When a new command is registered, it will have been declared as a member of some general class of commands. This is used to classify top-level commands in the on-line help system; note that prefix commands are not listed under their own category but rather that of their top-level command. The available classifications are represented by constants defined in the 'gdb' module: 'COMMAND_NONE' The command does not belong to any particular class. A command in this category will not be displayed in any of the help categories. This is the default. 'COMMAND_RUNNING' The command is related to running the inferior. For example, 'start', 'step', and 'continue' are in this category. Type 'help running' at the GDB prompt to see a list of commands in this category. 'COMMAND_DATA' The command is related to data or variables. For example, 'call', 'find', and 'print' are in this category. Type 'help data' at the GDB prompt to see a list of commands in this category. 'COMMAND_STACK' The command has to do with manipulation of the stack. For example, 'backtrace', 'frame', and 'return' are in this category. Type 'help stack' at the GDB prompt to see a list of commands in this category. 'COMMAND_FILES' This class is used for file-related commands. For example, 'file', 'list' and 'section' are in this category. Type 'help files' at the GDB prompt to see a list of commands in this category. 'COMMAND_SUPPORT' This should be used for "support facilities", generally meaning things that are useful to the user when interacting with GDB, but not related to the state of the inferior. For example, 'help', 'make', and 'shell' are in this category. Type 'help support' at the GDB prompt to see a list of commands in this category. 'COMMAND_STATUS' The command is an 'info'-related command, that is, related to the state of GDB itself. For example, 'info', 'macro', and 'show' are in this category. Type 'help status' at the GDB prompt to see a list of commands in this category. 'COMMAND_BREAKPOINTS' The command has to do with breakpoints. For example, 'break', 'clear', and 'delete' are in this category. Type 'help breakpoints' at the GDB prompt to see a list of commands in this category. 'COMMAND_TRACEPOINTS' The command has to do with tracepoints. For example, 'trace', 'actions', and 'tfind' are in this category. Type 'help tracepoints' at the GDB prompt to see a list of commands in this category. 'COMMAND_USER' The command is a general purpose command for the user, and typically does not fit in one of the other categories. Type 'help user-defined' at the GDB prompt to see a list of commands in this category, as well as the list of gdb macros (*note Sequences::). 'COMMAND_OBSCURE' The command is only used in unusual circumstances, or is not of general interest to users. For example, 'checkpoint', 'fork', and 'stop' are in this category. Type 'help obscure' at the GDB prompt to see a list of commands in this category. 'COMMAND_MAINTENANCE' The command is only useful to GDB maintainers. The 'maintenance' and 'flushregs' commands are in this category. Type 'help internals' at the GDB prompt to see a list of commands in this category. A new command can use a predefined completion function, either by specifying it via an argument at initialization, or by returning it from the 'completer' procedure. These predefined completion constants are all defined in the 'gdb' module: 'COMPLETE_NONE' This constant means that no completion should be done. 'COMPLETE_FILENAME' This constant means that filename completion should be performed. 'COMPLETE_LOCATION' This constant means that location completion should be done. *Note Specify Location::. 'COMPLETE_COMMAND' This constant means that completion should examine GDB command names. 'COMPLETE_SYMBOL' This constant means that completion should be done using symbol names as the source. 'COMPLETE_EXPRESSION' This constant means that completion should be done on expressions. Often this means completing on symbol names, but some language parsers also have support for completing on field names. The following code snippet shows how a trivial CLI command can be implemented in Guile: (gdb) guile (register-command! (make-command "hello-world" #:command-class COMMAND_USER #:doc "Greet the whole world." #:invoke (lambda (self args from-tty) (display "Hello, World!\n")))) end (gdb) hello-world Hello, World!  File: gdb.info, Node: Parameters In Guile, Next: Progspaces In Guile, Prev: Commands In Guile, Up: Guile API 23.3.3.12 Parameters In Guile ............................. You can implement new GDB "parameters" using Guile (1). There are many parameters that already exist and can be set in GDB. Two examples are: 'set follow-fork' and 'set charset'. Setting these parameters influences certain behavior in GDB. Similarly, you can define parameters that can be used to influence behavior in custom Guile scripts and commands. A new parameter is defined with the 'make-parameter' Guile function, and added to GDB with the 'register-parameter!' Guile function. This two-step approach is taken to separate out the side-effect of adding the parameter to GDB from 'make-parameter'. Parameters are exposed to the user via the 'set' and 'show' commands. *Note Help::. -- Scheme Procedure: (make-parameter name [#:command-class command-class] [#:parameter-type parameter-type] [#:enum-list enum-list] [#:set-func set-func] [#:show-func show-func] [#:doc doc] [#:set-doc set-doc] [#:show-doc show-doc] [#:initial-value initial-value]) The argument NAME is the name of the new parameter. If NAME consists of multiple words, then the initial words are looked for as prefix parameters. An example of this can be illustrated with the 'set print' set of parameters. If NAME is 'print foo', then 'print' will be searched as the prefix parameter. In this case the parameter can subsequently be accessed in GDB as 'set print foo'. If NAME consists of multiple words, and no prefix parameter group can be found, an exception is raised. The result is the '' object representing the parameter. The parameter is not usable until it has been registered with GDB with 'register-parameter!'. The rest of the arguments are optional. The argument COMMAND-CLASS should be one of the 'COMMAND_' constants (*note Commands In Guile::). This argument tells GDB how to categorize the new parameter in the help system. The default is 'COMMAND_NONE'. The argument PARAMETER-TYPE should be one of the 'PARAM_' constants defined below. This argument tells GDB the type of the new parameter; this information is used for input validation and completion. The default is 'PARAM_BOOLEAN'. If PARAMETER-TYPE is 'PARAM_ENUM', then ENUM-LIST must be a list of strings. These strings represent the possible values for the parameter. If PARAMETER-TYPE is not 'PARAM_ENUM', then the presence of ENUM-LIST will cause an exception to be thrown. The argument SET-FUNC is a function of one argument: SELF which is the '' object representing the parameter. GDB will call this function when a PARAMETER's value has been changed via the 'set' API (for example, 'set foo off'). The value of the parameter has already been set to the new value. This function must return a string to be displayed to the user. GDB will add a trailing newline if the string is non-empty. GDB generally doesn't print anything when a parameter is set, thus typically this function should return '""'. A non-empty string result should typically be used for displaying warnings and errors. The argument SHOW-FUNC is a function of two arguments: SELF which is the '' object representing the parameter, and SVALUE which is the string representation of the current value. GDB will call this function when a PARAMETER's 'show' API has been invoked (for example, 'show foo'). This function must return a string, and will be displayed to the user. GDB will add a trailing newline. The argument DOC is the help text for the new parameter. If there is no documentation string, a default value is used. The argument SET-DOC is the help text for this parameter's 'set' command. The argument SHOW-DOC is the help text for this parameter's 'show' command. The argument INITIAL-VALUE specifies the initial value of the parameter. If it is a function, it takes one parameter, the '' object and its result is used as the initial value of the parameter. The initial value must be valid for the parameter type, otherwise an exception is thrown. -- Scheme Procedure: register-parameter! parameter Add PARAMETER, a '' object, to GDB's list of parameters. It is an error to register a parameter more than once. The result is unspecified. -- Scheme Procedure: parameter? object Return '#t' if OBJECT is a '' object. Otherwise return '#f'. -- Scheme Procedure: parameter-value parameter Return the value of PARAMETER which may either be a '' object or a string naming the parameter. -- Scheme Procedure: set-parameter-value! parameter new-value Assign PARAMETER the value of NEW-VALUE. The argument PARAMETER must be an object of type ''. GDB does validation when assignments are made. When a new parameter is defined, its type must be specified. The available types are represented by constants defined in the 'gdb' module: 'PARAM_BOOLEAN' The value is a plain boolean. The Guile boolean values, '#t' and '#f' are the only valid values. 'PARAM_AUTO_BOOLEAN' The value has three possible states: true, false, and 'auto'. In Guile, true and false are represented using boolean constants, and 'auto' is represented using '#:auto'. 'PARAM_UINTEGER' The value is an unsigned integer. The value of 0 should be interpreted to mean "unlimited". 'PARAM_ZINTEGER' The value is an integer. 'PARAM_ZUINTEGER' The value is an unsigned integer. 'PARAM_ZUINTEGER_UNLIMITED' The value is an integer in the range '[0, INT_MAX]'. A value of '-1' means "unlimited", and other negative numbers are not allowed. 'PARAM_STRING' The value is a string. When the user modifies the string, any escape sequences, such as '\t', '\f', and octal escapes, are translated into corresponding characters and encoded into the current host charset. 'PARAM_STRING_NOESCAPE' The value is a string. When the user modifies the string, escapes are passed through untranslated. 'PARAM_OPTIONAL_FILENAME' The value is a either a filename (a string), or '#f'. 'PARAM_FILENAME' The value is a filename. This is just like 'PARAM_STRING_NOESCAPE', but uses file names for completion. 'PARAM_ENUM' The value is a string, which must be one of a collection of string constants provided when the parameter is created. ---------- Footnotes ---------- (1) Note that GDB parameters must not be confused with Guile’s parameter objects (*note (guile)Parameters::).  File: gdb.info, Node: Progspaces In Guile, Next: Objfiles In Guile, Prev: Parameters In Guile, Up: Guile API 23.3.3.13 Program Spaces In Guile ................................. A program space, or "progspace", represents a symbolic view of an address space. It consists of all of the objfiles of the program. *Note Objfiles In Guile::. *Note program spaces: Inferiors and Programs, for more details about program spaces. Each progspace is represented by an instance of the '' smob. *Note GDB Scheme Data Types::. The following progspace-related functions are available in the '(gdb)' module: -- Scheme Procedure: progspace? object Return '#t' if OBJECT is a '' object. Otherwise return '#f'. -- Scheme Procedure: progspace-valid? progspace Return '#t' if PROGSPACE is valid, '#f' if not. A '' object can become invalid if the program it refers to is not loaded in GDB any longer. -- Scheme Procedure: current-progspace This function returns the program space of the currently selected inferior. There is always a current progspace, this never returns '#f'. *Note Inferiors and Programs::. -- Scheme Procedure: progspaces Return a list of all the progspaces currently known to GDB. -- Scheme Procedure: progspace-filename progspace Return the absolute file name of PROGSPACE as a string. This is the name of the file passed as the argument to the 'file' or 'symbol-file' commands. If the program space does not have an associated file name, then '#f' is returned. This occurs, for example, when GDB is started without a program to debug. A 'gdb:invalid-object-error' exception is thrown if PROGSPACE is invalid. -- Scheme Procedure: progspace-objfiles progspace Return the list of objfiles of PROGSPACE. The order of objfiles in the result is arbitrary. Each element is an object of type ''. *Note Objfiles In Guile::. A 'gdb:invalid-object-error' exception is thrown if PROGSPACE is invalid. -- Scheme Procedure: progspace-pretty-printers progspace Return the list of pretty-printers of PROGSPACE. Each element is an object of type ''. *Note Guile Pretty Printing API::, for more information. -- Scheme Procedure: set-progspace-pretty-printers! progspace printer-list Set the list of registered '' objects for PROGSPACE to PRINTER-LIST. *Note Guile Pretty Printing API::, for more information.  File: gdb.info, Node: Objfiles In Guile, Next: Frames In Guile, Prev: Progspaces In Guile, Up: Guile API 23.3.3.14 Objfiles In Guile ........................... GDB loads symbols for an inferior from various symbol-containing files (*note Files::). These include the primary executable file, any shared libraries used by the inferior, and any separate debug info files (*note Separate Debug Files::). GDB calls these symbol-containing files "objfiles". Each objfile is represented as an object of type ''. The following objfile-related procedures are provided by the '(gdb)' module: -- Scheme Procedure: objfile? object Return '#t' if OBJECT is a '' object. Otherwise return '#f'. -- Scheme Procedure: objfile-valid? objfile Return '#t' if OBJFILE is valid, '#f' if not. A '' object can become invalid if the object file it refers to is not loaded in GDB any longer. All other '' procedures will throw an exception if it is invalid at the time the procedure is called. -- Scheme Procedure: objfile-filename objfile Return the file name of OBJFILE as a string, with symbolic links resolved. -- Scheme Procedure: objfile-progspace objfile Return the '' that this object file lives in. *Note Progspaces In Guile::, for more on progspaces. -- Scheme Procedure: objfile-pretty-printers objfile Return the list of registered '' objects for OBJFILE. *Note Guile Pretty Printing API::, for more information. -- Scheme Procedure: set-objfile-pretty-printers! objfile printer-list Set the list of registered '' objects for OBJFILE to PRINTER-LIST. The PRINTER-LIST must be a list of '' objects. *Note Guile Pretty Printing API::, for more information. -- Scheme Procedure: current-objfile When auto-loading a Guile script (*note Guile Auto-loading::), GDB sets the "current objfile" to the corresponding objfile. This function returns the current objfile. If there is no current objfile, this function returns '#f'. -- Scheme Procedure: objfiles Return a list of all the objfiles in the current program space.  File: gdb.info, Node: Frames In Guile, Next: Blocks In Guile, Prev: Objfiles In Guile, Up: Guile API 23.3.3.15 Accessing inferior stack frames from Guile. ..................................................... When the debugged program stops, GDB is able to analyze its call stack (*note Stack frames: Frames.). The '' class represents a frame in the stack. A '' object is only valid while its corresponding frame exists in the inferior's stack. If you try to use an invalid frame object, GDB will throw a 'gdb:invalid-object' exception (*note Guile Exception Handling::). Two '' objects can be compared for equality with the 'equal?' function, like: (gdb) guile (equal? (newest-frame) (selected-frame)) #t The following frame-related procedures are provided by the '(gdb)' module: -- Scheme Procedure: frame? object Return '#t' if OBJECT is a '' object. Otherwise return '#f'. -- Scheme Procedure: frame-valid? frame Returns '#t' if FRAME is valid, '#f' if not. A frame object can become invalid if the frame it refers to doesn't exist anymore in the inferior. All '' procedures will throw an exception if the frame is invalid at the time the procedure is called. -- Scheme Procedure: frame-name frame Return the function name of FRAME, or '#f' if it can't be obtained. -- Scheme Procedure: frame-arch frame Return the '' object corresponding to FRAME's architecture. *Note Architectures In Guile::. -- Scheme Procedure: frame-type frame Return the type of FRAME. The value can be one of: 'NORMAL_FRAME' An ordinary stack frame. 'DUMMY_FRAME' A fake stack frame that was created by GDB when performing an inferior function call. 'INLINE_FRAME' A frame representing an inlined function. The function was inlined into a 'NORMAL_FRAME' that is older than this one. 'TAILCALL_FRAME' A frame representing a tail call. *Note Tail Call Frames::. 'SIGTRAMP_FRAME' A signal trampoline frame. This is the frame created by the OS when it calls into a signal handler. 'ARCH_FRAME' A fake stack frame representing a cross-architecture call. 'SENTINEL_FRAME' This is like 'NORMAL_FRAME', but it is only used for the newest frame. -- Scheme Procedure: frame-unwind-stop-reason frame Return an integer representing the reason why it's not possible to find more frames toward the outermost frame. Use 'unwind-stop-reason-string' to convert the value returned by this function to a string. The value can be one of: 'FRAME_UNWIND_NO_REASON' No particular reason (older frames should be available). 'FRAME_UNWIND_NULL_ID' The previous frame's analyzer returns an invalid result. 'FRAME_UNWIND_OUTERMOST' This frame is the outermost. 'FRAME_UNWIND_UNAVAILABLE' Cannot unwind further, because that would require knowing the values of registers or memory that have not been collected. 'FRAME_UNWIND_INNER_ID' This frame ID looks like it ought to belong to a NEXT frame, but we got it for a PREV frame. Normally, this is a sign of unwinder failure. It could also indicate stack corruption. 'FRAME_UNWIND_SAME_ID' This frame has the same ID as the previous one. That means that unwinding further would almost certainly give us another frame with exactly the same ID, so break the chain. Normally, this is a sign of unwinder failure. It could also indicate stack corruption. 'FRAME_UNWIND_NO_SAVED_PC' The frame unwinder did not find any saved PC, but we needed one to unwind further. 'FRAME_UNWIND_MEMORY_ERROR' The frame unwinder caused an error while trying to access memory. 'FRAME_UNWIND_FIRST_ERROR' Any stop reason greater or equal to this value indicates some kind of error. This special value facilitates writing code that tests for errors in unwinding in a way that will work correctly even if the list of the other values is modified in future GDB versions. Using it, you could write: (define reason (frame-unwind-stop-readon (selected-frame))) (define reason-str (unwind-stop-reason-string reason)) (if (>= reason FRAME_UNWIND_FIRST_ERROR) (format #t "An error occured: ~s\n" reason-str)) -- Scheme Procedure: frame-pc frame Return the frame's resume address. -- Scheme Procedure: frame-block frame Return the frame's code block as a '' object. *Note Blocks In Guile::. -- Scheme Procedure: frame-function frame Return the symbol for the function corresponding to this frame as a '' object, or '#f' if there isn't one. *Note Symbols In Guile::. -- Scheme Procedure: frame-older frame Return the frame that called FRAME. -- Scheme Procedure: frame-newer frame Return the frame called by FRAME. -- Scheme Procedure: frame-sal frame Return the frame's '' (symtab and line) object. *Note Symbol Tables In Guile::. -- Scheme Procedure: frame-read-register frame register Return the value of REGISTER in FRAME. REGISTER should be a string, like 'pc'. -- Scheme Procedure: frame-read-var frame variable [#:block block] Return the value of VARIABLE in FRAME. If the optional argument BLOCK is provided, search for the variable from that block; otherwise start at the frame's current block (which is determined by the frame's current program counter). The VARIABLE must be given as a string or a '' object, and BLOCK must be a '' object. -- Scheme Procedure: frame-select frame Set FRAME to be the selected frame. *Note Examining the Stack: Stack. -- Scheme Procedure: selected-frame Return the selected frame object. *Note Selecting a Frame: Selection. -- Scheme Procedure: newest-frame Return the newest frame object for the selected thread. -- Scheme Procedure: unwind-stop-reason-string reason Return a string explaining the reason why GDB stopped unwinding frames, as expressed by the given REASON code (an integer, see the 'frame-unwind-stop-reason' procedure above in this section).  File: gdb.info, Node: Blocks In Guile, Next: Symbols In Guile, Prev: Frames In Guile, Up: Guile API 23.3.3.16 Accessing blocks from Guile. ...................................... In GDB, symbols are stored in blocks. A block corresponds roughly to a scope in the source code. Blocks are organized hierarchically, and are represented individually in Guile as an object of type ''. Blocks rely on debugging information being available. A frame has a block. Please see *note Frames In Guile::, for a more in-depth discussion of frames. The outermost block is known as the "global block". The global block typically holds public global variables and functions. The block nested just inside the global block is the "static block". The static block typically holds file-scoped variables and functions. GDB provides a method to get a block's superblock, but there is currently no way to examine the sub-blocks of a block, or to iterate over all the blocks in a symbol table (*note Symbol Tables In Guile::). Here is a short example that should help explain blocks: /* This is in the global block. */ int global; /* This is in the static block. */ static int file_scope; /* 'function' is in the global block, and 'argument' is in a block nested inside of 'function'. */ int function (int argument) { /* 'local' is in a block inside 'function'. It may or may not be in the same block as 'argument'. */ int local; { /* 'inner' is in a block whose superblock is the one holding 'local'. */ int inner; /* If this call is expanded by the compiler, you may see a nested block here whose function is 'inline_function' and whose superblock is the one holding 'inner'. */ inline_function (); } } The following block-related procedures are provided by the '(gdb)' module: -- Scheme Procedure: block? object Return '#t' if OBJECT is a '' object. Otherwise return '#f'. -- Scheme Procedure: block-valid? block Returns '#t' if '' BLOCK is valid, '#f' if not. A block object can become invalid if the block it refers to doesn't exist anymore in the inferior. All other '' methods will throw an exception if it is invalid at the time the procedure is called. The block's validity is also checked during iteration over symbols of the block. -- Scheme Procedure: block-start block Return the start address of '' BLOCK. -- Scheme Procedure: block-end block Return the end address of '' BLOCK. -- Scheme Procedure: block-function block Return the name of '' BLOCK represented as a '' object. If the block is not named, then '#f' is returned. For ordinary function blocks, the superblock is the static block. However, you should note that it is possible for a function block to have a superblock that is not the static block - for instance this happens for an inlined function. -- Scheme Procedure: block-superblock block Return the block containing '' BLOCK. If the parent block does not exist, then '#f' is returned. -- Scheme Procedure: block-global-block block Return the global block associated with '' BLOCK. -- Scheme Procedure: block-static-block block Return the static block associated with '' BLOCK. -- Scheme Procedure: block-global? block Return '#t' if '' BLOCK is a global block. Otherwise return '#f'. -- Scheme Procedure: block-static? block Return '#t' if '' BLOCK is a static block. Otherwise return '#f'. -- Scheme Procedure: block-symbols Return a list of all symbols (as objects) in '' BLOCK. -- Scheme Procedure: make-block-symbols-iterator block Return an object of type '' that will iterate over all symbols of the block. Guile programs should not assume that a specific block object will always contain a given symbol, since changes in GDB features and infrastructure may cause symbols move across blocks in a symbol table. *Note Iterators In Guile::. -- Scheme Procedure: block-symbols-progress? Return #t if the object is a object. This object would be obtained from the 'progress' element of the '' object returned by 'make-block-symbols-iterator'. -- Scheme Procedure: lookup-block pc Return the innermost '' containing the given PC value. If the block cannot be found for the PC value specified, the function will return '#f'.  File: gdb.info, Node: Symbols In Guile, Next: Symbol Tables In Guile, Prev: Blocks In Guile, Up: Guile API 23.3.3.17 Guile representation of Symbols. .......................................... GDB represents every variable, function and type as an entry in a symbol table. *Note Examining the Symbol Table: Symbols. Guile represents these symbols in GDB with the '' object. The following symbol-related procedures are provided by the '(gdb)' module: -- Scheme Procedure: symbol? object Return '#t' if OBJECT is an object of type ''. Otherwise return '#f'. -- Scheme Procedure: symbol-valid? symbol Return '#t' if the '' object is valid, '#f' if not. A '' object can become invalid if the symbol it refers to does not exist in GDB any longer. All other '' procedures will throw an exception if it is invalid at the time the procedure is called. -- Scheme Procedure: symbol-type symbol Return the type of SYMBOL or '#f' if no type is recorded. The result is an object of type ''. *Note Types In Guile::. -- Scheme Procedure: symbol-symtab symbol Return the symbol table in which SYMBOL appears. The result is an object of type ''. *Note Symbol Tables In Guile::. -- Scheme Procedure: symbol-line symbol Return the line number in the source code at which SYMBOL was defined. This is an integer. -- Scheme Procedure: symbol-name symbol Return the name of SYMBOL as a string. -- Scheme Procedure: symbol-linkage-name symbol Return the name of SYMBOL, as used by the linker (i.e., may be mangled). -- Scheme Procedure: symbol-print-name symbol Return the name of SYMBOL in a form suitable for output. This is either 'name' or 'linkage_name', depending on whether the user asked GDB to display demangled or mangled names. -- Scheme Procedure: symbol-addr-class symbol Return the address class of the symbol. This classifies how to find the value of a symbol. Each address class is a constant defined in the '(gdb)' module and described later in this chapter. -- Scheme Procedure: symbol-needs-frame? symbol Return '#t' if evaluating SYMBOL's value requires a frame (*note Frames In Guile::) and '#f' otherwise. Typically, local variables will require a frame, but other symbols will not. -- Scheme Procedure: symbol-argument? symbol Return '#t' if SYMBOL is an argument of a function. Otherwise return '#f'. -- Scheme Procedure: symbol-constant? symbol Return '#t' if SYMBOL is a constant. Otherwise return '#f'. -- Scheme Procedure: symbol-function? symbol Return '#t' if SYMBOL is a function or a method. Otherwise return '#f'. -- Scheme Procedure: symbol-variable? symbol Return '#t' if SYMBOL is a variable. Otherwise return '#f'. -- Scheme Procedure: symbol-value symbol [#:frame frame] Compute the value of SYMBOL, as a ''. For functions, this computes the address of the function, cast to the appropriate type. If the symbol requires a frame in order to compute its value, then FRAME must be given. If FRAME is not given, or if FRAME is invalid, then an exception is thrown. -- Scheme Procedure: lookup-symbol name [#:block block] [#:domain domain] This function searches for a symbol by name. The search scope can be restricted to the parameters defined in the optional domain and block arguments. NAME is the name of the symbol. It must be a string. The optional BLOCK argument restricts the search to symbols visible in that BLOCK. The BLOCK argument must be a '' object. If omitted, the block for the current frame is used. The optional DOMAIN argument restricts the search to the domain type. The DOMAIN argument must be a domain constant defined in the '(gdb)' module and described later in this chapter. The result is a list of two elements. The first element is a '' object or '#f' if the symbol is not found. If the symbol is found, the second element is '#t' if the symbol is a field of a method's object (e.g., 'this' in C++), otherwise it is '#f'. If the symbol is not found, the second element is '#f'. -- Scheme Procedure: lookup-global-symbol name [#:domain domain] This function searches for a global symbol by name. The search scope can be restricted by the domain argument. NAME is the name of the symbol. It must be a string. The optional DOMAIN argument restricts the search to the domain type. The DOMAIN argument must be a domain constant defined in the '(gdb)' module and described later in this chapter. The result is a '' object or '#f' if the symbol is not found. The available domain categories in '' are represented as constants in the '(gdb)' module: 'SYMBOL_UNDEF_DOMAIN' This is used when a domain has not been discovered or none of the following domains apply. This usually indicates an error either in the symbol information or in GDB's handling of symbols. 'SYMBOL_VAR_DOMAIN' This domain contains variables, function names, typedef names and enum type values. 'SYMBOL_STRUCT_DOMAIN' This domain holds struct, union and enum type names. 'SYMBOL_LABEL_DOMAIN' This domain contains names of labels (for gotos). 'SYMBOL_VARIABLES_DOMAIN' This domain holds a subset of the 'SYMBOLS_VAR_DOMAIN'; it contains everything minus functions and types. 'SYMBOL_FUNCTIONS_DOMAIN' This domain contains all functions. 'SYMBOL_TYPES_DOMAIN' This domain contains all types. The available address class categories in '' are represented as constants in the 'gdb' module: 'SYMBOL_LOC_UNDEF' If this is returned by address class, it indicates an error either in the symbol information or in GDB's handling of symbols. 'SYMBOL_LOC_CONST' Value is constant int. 'SYMBOL_LOC_STATIC' Value is at a fixed address. 'SYMBOL_LOC_REGISTER' Value is in a register. 'SYMBOL_LOC_ARG' Value is an argument. This value is at the offset stored within the symbol inside the frame's argument list. 'SYMBOL_LOC_REF_ARG' Value address is stored in the frame's argument list. Just like 'LOC_ARG' except that the value's address is stored at the offset, not the value itself. 'SYMBOL_LOC_REGPARM_ADDR' Value is a specified register. Just like 'LOC_REGISTER' except the register holds the address of the argument instead of the argument itself. 'SYMBOL_LOC_LOCAL' Value is a local variable. 'SYMBOL_LOC_TYPEDEF' Value not used. Symbols in the domain 'SYMBOL_STRUCT_DOMAIN' all have this class. 'SYMBOL_LOC_BLOCK' Value is a block. 'SYMBOL_LOC_CONST_BYTES' Value is a byte-sequence. 'SYMBOL_LOC_UNRESOLVED' Value is at a fixed address, but the address of the variable has to be determined from the minimal symbol table whenever the variable is referenced. 'SYMBOL_LOC_OPTIMIZED_OUT' The value does not actually exist in the program. 'SYMBOL_LOC_COMPUTED' The value's address is a computed location.  File: gdb.info, Node: Symbol Tables In Guile, Next: Breakpoints In Guile, Prev: Symbols In Guile, Up: Guile API 23.3.3.18 Symbol table representation in Guile. ............................................... Access to symbol table data maintained by GDB on the inferior is exposed to Guile via two objects: '' (symtab-and-line) and ''. Symbol table and line data for a frame is returned from the 'frame-find-sal' '' procedure. *Note Frames In Guile::. For more information on GDB's symbol table management, see *note Examining the Symbol Table: Symbols. The following symtab-related procedures are provided by the '(gdb)' module: -- Scheme Procedure: symtab? object Return '#t' if OBJECT is an object of type ''. Otherwise return '#f'. -- Scheme Procedure: symtab-valid? symtab Return '#t' if the '' object is valid, '#f' if not. A '' object becomes invalid when the symbol table it refers to no longer exists in GDB. All other '' procedures will throw an exception if it is invalid at the time the procedure is called. -- Scheme Procedure: symtab-filename symtab Return the symbol table's source filename. -- Scheme Procedure: symtab-fullname symtab Return the symbol table's source absolute file name. -- Scheme Procedure: symtab-objfile symtab Return the symbol table's backing object file. *Note Objfiles In Guile::. -- Scheme Procedure: symtab-global-block symtab Return the global block of the underlying symbol table. *Note Blocks In Guile::. -- Scheme Procedure: symtab-static-block symtab Return the static block of the underlying symbol table. *Note Blocks In Guile::. The following symtab-and-line-related procedures are provided by the '(gdb)' module: -- Scheme Procedure: sal? object Return '#t' if OBJECT is an object of type ''. Otherwise return '#f'. -- Scheme Procedure: sal-valid? sal Return '#t' if SAL is valid, '#f' if not. A '' object becomes invalid when the Symbol table object it refers to no longer exists in GDB. All other '' procedures will throw an exception if it is invalid at the time the procedure is called. -- Scheme Procedure: sal-symtab sal Return the symbol table object ('') for SAL. -- Scheme Procedure: sal-line sal Return the line number for SAL. -- Scheme Procedure: sal-pc sal Return the start of the address range occupied by code for SAL. -- Scheme Procedure: sal-last sal Return the end of the address range occupied by code for SAL. -- Scheme Procedure: find-pc-line pc Return the '' object corresponding to the PC value. If an invalid value of PC is passed as an argument, then the 'symtab' and 'line' attributes of the returned '' object will be '#f' and 0 respectively.  File: gdb.info, Node: Breakpoints In Guile, Next: Lazy Strings In Guile, Prev: Symbol Tables In Guile, Up: Guile API 23.3.3.19 Manipulating breakpoints using Guile .............................................. Breakpoints in Guile are represented by objects of type ''. New breakpoints can be created with the 'make-breakpoint' Guile function, and then added to GDB with the 'register-breakpoint!' Guile function. This two-step approach is taken to separate out the side-effect of adding the breakpoint to GDB from 'make-breakpoint'. Support is also provided to view and manipulate breakpoints created outside of Guile. The following breakpoint-related procedures are provided by the '(gdb)' module: -- Scheme Procedure: make-breakpoint location [#:type type] [#:wp-class wp-class] [#:internal internal] Create a new breakpoint at LOCATION, a string naming the location of the breakpoint, or an expression that defines a watchpoint. The contents can be any location recognized by the 'break' command, or in the case of a watchpoint, by the 'watch' command. The breakpoint is initially marked as 'invalid'. The breakpoint is not usable until it has been registered with GDB with 'register-breakpoint!', at which point it becomes 'valid'. The result is the '' object representing the breakpoint. The optional TYPE denotes the breakpoint to create. This argument can be either 'BP_BREAKPOINT' or 'BP_WATCHPOINT', and defaults to 'BP_BREAKPOINT'. The optional WP-CLASS argument defines the class of watchpoint to create, if TYPE is 'BP_WATCHPOINT'. If a watchpoint class is not provided, it is assumed to be a 'WP_WRITE' class. The optional INTERNAL argument allows the breakpoint to become invisible to the user. The breakpoint will neither be reported when registered, nor will it be listed in the output from 'info breakpoints' (but will be listed with the 'maint info breakpoints' command). If an internal flag is not provided, the breakpoint is visible (non-internal). When a watchpoint is created, GDB will try to create a hardware assisted watchpoint. If successful, the type of the watchpoint is changed from 'BP_WATCHPOINT' to 'BP_HARDWARE_WATCHPOINT' for 'WP_WRITE', 'BP_READ_WATCHPOINT' for 'WP_READ', and 'BP_ACCESS_WATCHPOINT' for 'WP_ACCESS'. If not successful, the type of the watchpoint is left as 'WP_WATCHPOINT'. The available types are represented by constants defined in the 'gdb' module: 'BP_BREAKPOINT' Normal code breakpoint. 'BP_WATCHPOINT' Watchpoint breakpoint. 'BP_HARDWARE_WATCHPOINT' Hardware assisted watchpoint. This value cannot be specified when creating the breakpoint. 'BP_READ_WATCHPOINT' Hardware assisted read watchpoint. This value cannot be specified when creating the breakpoint. 'BP_ACCESS_WATCHPOINT' Hardware assisted access watchpoint. This value cannot be specified when creating the breakpoint. The available watchpoint types represented by constants are defined in the '(gdb)' module: 'WP_READ' Read only watchpoint. 'WP_WRITE' Write only watchpoint. 'WP_ACCESS' Read/Write watchpoint. -- Scheme Procedure: register-breakpoint! breakpoint Add BREAKPOINT, a '' object, to GDB's list of breakpoints. The breakpoint must have been created with 'make-breakpoint'. One cannot register breakpoints that have been created outside of Guile. Once a breakpoint is registered it becomes 'valid'. It is an error to register an already registered breakpoint. The result is unspecified. -- Scheme Procedure: delete-breakpoint! breakpoint Remove BREAKPOINT from GDB's list of breakpoints. This also invalidates the Guile BREAKPOINT object. Any further attempt to access the object will throw an exception. If BREAKPOINT was created from Guile with 'make-breakpoint' it may be re-registered with GDB, in which case the breakpoint becomes valid again. -- Scheme Procedure: breakpoints Return a list of all breakpoints. Each element of the list is a '' object. -- Scheme Procedure: breakpoint? object Return '#t' if OBJECT is a '' object, and '#f' otherwise. -- Scheme Procedure: breakpoint-valid? breakpoint Return '#t' if BREAKPOINT is valid, '#f' otherwise. Breakpoints created with 'make-breakpoint' are marked as invalid until they are registered with GDB with 'register-breakpoint!'. A '' object can become invalid if the user deletes the breakpoint. In this case, the object still exists, but the underlying breakpoint does not. In the cases of watchpoint scope, the watchpoint remains valid even if execution of the inferior leaves the scope of that watchpoint. -- Scheme Procedure: breakpoint-number breakpoint Return the breakpoint's number -- the identifier used by the user to manipulate the breakpoint. -- Scheme Procedure: breakpoint-type breakpoint Return the breakpoint's type -- the identifier used to determine the actual breakpoint type or use-case. -- Scheme Procedure: breakpoint-visible? breakpoint Return '#t' if the breakpoint is visible to the user when hit, or when the 'info breakpoints' command is run. Otherwise return '#f'. -- Scheme Procedure: breakpoint-location breakpoint Return the location of the breakpoint, as specified by the user. It is a string. If the breakpoint does not have a location (that is, it is a watchpoint) return '#f'. -- Scheme Procedure: breakpoint-expression breakpoint Return the breakpoint expression, as specified by the user. It is a string. If the breakpoint does not have an expression (the breakpoint is not a watchpoint) return '#f'. -- Scheme Procedure: breakpoint-enabled? breakpoint Return '#t' if the breakpoint is enabled, and '#f' otherwise. -- Scheme Procedure: set-breakpoint-enabled! breakpoint flag Set the enabled state of BREAKPOINT to FLAG. If flag is '#f' it is disabled, otherwise it is enabled. -- Scheme Procedure: breakpoint-silent? breakpoint Return '#t' if the breakpoint is silent, and '#f' otherwise. Note that a breakpoint can also be silent if it has commands and the first command is 'silent'. This is not reported by the 'silent' attribute. -- Scheme Procedure: set-breakpoint-silent! breakpoint flag Set the silent state of BREAKPOINT to FLAG. If flag is '#f' the breakpoint is made silent, otherwise it is made non-silent (or noisy). -- Scheme Procedure: breakpoint-ignore-count breakpoint Return the ignore count for BREAKPOINT. -- Scheme Procedure: set-breakpoint-ignore-count! breakpoint count Set the ignore count for BREAKPOINT to COUNT. -- Scheme Procedure: breakpoint-hit-count breakpoint Return hit count of BREAKPOINT. -- Scheme Procedure: set-breakpoint-hit-count! breakpoint count Set the hit count of BREAKPOINT to COUNT. At present, COUNT must be zero. -- Scheme Procedure: breakpoint-thread breakpoint Return the global-thread-id for thread-specific breakpoint BREAKPOINT. Return #f if BREAKPOINT is not thread-specific. -- Scheme Procedure: set-breakpoint-thread! breakpoint global-thread-id|#f Set the thread-id for BREAKPOINT to GLOBAL-THREAD-ID If set to '#f', the breakpoint is no longer thread-specific. -- Scheme Procedure: breakpoint-task breakpoint If the breakpoint is Ada task-specific, return the Ada task id. If the breakpoint is not task-specific (or the underlying language is not Ada), return '#f'. -- Scheme Procedure: set-breakpoint-task! breakpoint task Set the Ada task of BREAKPOINT to TASK. If set to '#f', the breakpoint is no longer task-specific. -- Scheme Procedure: breakpoint-condition breakpoint Return the condition of BREAKPOINT, as specified by the user. It is a string. If there is no condition, return '#f'. -- Scheme Procedure: set-breakpoint-condition! breakpoint condition Set the condition of BREAKPOINT to CONDITION, which must be a string. If set to '#f' then the breakpoint becomes unconditional. -- Scheme Procedure: breakpoint-stop breakpoint Return the stop predicate of BREAKPOINT. See 'set-breakpoint-stop!' below in this section. -- Scheme Procedure: set-breakpoint-stop! breakpoint procedure|#f Set the stop predicate of BREAKPOINT. The predicate PROCEDURE takes one argument: the object. If this predicate is set to a procedure then it is invoked whenever the inferior reaches this breakpoint. If it returns '#t', or any non-'#f' value, then the inferior is stopped, otherwise the inferior will continue. If there are multiple breakpoints at the same location with a 'stop' predicate, each one will be called regardless of the return status of the previous. This ensures that all 'stop' predicates have a chance to execute at that location. In this scenario if one of the methods returns '#t' but the others return '#f', the inferior will still be stopped. You should not alter the execution state of the inferior (i.e., step, next, etc.), alter the current frame context (i.e., change the current active frame), or alter, add or delete any breakpoint. As a general rule, you should not alter any data within GDB or the inferior at this time. Example 'stop' implementation: (define (my-stop? bkpt) (let ((int-val (parse-and-eval "foo"))) (value=? int-val 3))) (define bkpt (make-breakpoint "main.c:42")) (register-breakpoint! bkpt) (set-breakpoint-stop! bkpt my-stop?) -- Scheme Procedure: breakpoint-commands breakpoint Return the commands attached to BREAKPOINT as a string, or '#f' if there are none.  File: gdb.info, Node: Lazy Strings In Guile, Next: Architectures In Guile, Prev: Breakpoints In Guile, Up: Guile API 23.3.3.20 Guile representation of lazy strings. ............................................... A "lazy string" is a string whose contents is not retrieved or encoded until it is needed. A '' is represented in GDB as an 'address' that points to a region of memory, an 'encoding' that will be used to encode that region of memory, and a 'length' to delimit the region of memory that represents the string. The difference between a '' and a string wrapped within a '' is that a '' will be treated differently by GDB when printing. A '' is retrieved and encoded during printing, while a '' wrapping a string is immediately retrieved and encoded on creation. The following lazy-string-related procedures are provided by the '(gdb)' module: -- Scheme Procedure: lazy-string? object Return '#t' if OBJECT is an object of type ''. Otherwise return '#f'. -- Scheme Procedure: lazy-string-address lazy-sring Return the address of LAZY-STRING. -- Scheme Procedure: lazy-string-length lazy-string Return the length of LAZY-STRING in characters. If the length is -1, then the string will be fetched and encoded up to the first null of appropriate width. -- Scheme Procedure: lazy-string-encoding lazy-string Return the encoding that will be applied to LAZY-STRING when the string is printed by GDB. If the encoding is not set, or contains an empty string, then GDB will select the most appropriate encoding when the string is printed. -- Scheme Procedure: lazy-string-type lazy-string Return the type that is represented by LAZY-STRING's type. For a lazy string this is a pointer or array type. To resolve this to the lazy string's character type, use 'type-target-type'. *Note Types In Guile::. -- Scheme Procedure: lazy-string->value lazy-string Convert the '' to a ''. This value will point to the string in memory, but will lose all the delayed retrieval, encoding and handling that GDB applies to a ''.  File: gdb.info, Node: Architectures In Guile, Next: Disassembly In Guile, Prev: Lazy Strings In Guile, Up: Guile API 23.3.3.21 Guile representation of architectures ............................................... GDB uses architecture specific parameters and artifacts in a number of its various computations. An architecture is represented by an instance of the '' class. The following architecture-related procedures are provided by the '(gdb)' module: -- Scheme Procedure: arch? object Return '#t' if OBJECT is an object of type ''. Otherwise return '#f'. -- Scheme Procedure: current-arch Return the current architecture as a '' object. -- Scheme Procedure: arch-name arch Return the name (string value) of '' ARCH. -- Scheme Procedure: arch-charset arch Return name of target character set of '' ARCH. -- Scheme Procedure: arch-wide-charset Return name of target wide character set of '' ARCH. Each architecture provides a set of predefined types, obtained by the following functions. -- Scheme Procedure: arch-void-type arch Return the '' object for a 'void' type of architecture ARCH. -- Scheme Procedure: arch-char-type arch Return the '' object for a 'char' type of architecture ARCH. -- Scheme Procedure: arch-short-type arch Return the '' object for a 'short' type of architecture ARCH. -- Scheme Procedure: arch-int-type arch Return the '' object for an 'int' type of architecture ARCH. -- Scheme Procedure: arch-long-type arch Return the '' object for a 'long' type of architecture ARCH. -- Scheme Procedure: arch-schar-type arch Return the '' object for a 'signed char' type of architecture ARCH. -- Scheme Procedure: arch-uchar-type arch Return the '' object for an 'unsigned char' type of architecture ARCH. -- Scheme Procedure: arch-ushort-type arch Return the '' object for an 'unsigned short' type of architecture ARCH. -- Scheme Procedure: arch-uint-type arch Return the '' object for an 'unsigned int' type of architecture ARCH. -- Scheme Procedure: arch-ulong-type arch Return the '' object for an 'unsigned long' type of architecture ARCH. -- Scheme Procedure: arch-float-type arch Return the '' object for a 'float' type of architecture ARCH. -- Scheme Procedure: arch-double-type arch Return the '' object for a 'double' type of architecture ARCH. -- Scheme Procedure: arch-longdouble-type arch Return the '' object for a 'long double' type of architecture ARCH. -- Scheme Procedure: arch-bool-type arch Return the '' object for a 'bool' type of architecture ARCH. -- Scheme Procedure: arch-longlong-type arch Return the '' object for a 'long long' type of architecture ARCH. -- Scheme Procedure: arch-ulonglong-type arch Return the '' object for an 'unsigned long long' type of architecture ARCH. -- Scheme Procedure: arch-int8-type arch Return the '' object for an 'int8' type of architecture ARCH. -- Scheme Procedure: arch-uint8-type arch Return the '' object for a 'uint8' type of architecture ARCH. -- Scheme Procedure: arch-int16-type arch Return the '' object for an 'int16' type of architecture ARCH. -- Scheme Procedure: arch-uint16-type arch Return the '' object for a 'uint16' type of architecture ARCH. -- Scheme Procedure: arch-int32-type arch Return the '' object for an 'int32' type of architecture ARCH. -- Scheme Procedure: arch-uint32-type arch Return the '' object for a 'uint32' type of architecture ARCH. -- Scheme Procedure: arch-int64-type arch Return the '' object for an 'int64' type of architecture ARCH. -- Scheme Procedure: arch-uint64-type arch Return the '' object for a 'uint64' type of architecture ARCH. Example: (gdb) guile (type-name (arch-uchar-type (current-arch))) "unsigned char"  File: gdb.info, Node: Disassembly In Guile, Next: I/O Ports in Guile, Prev: Architectures In Guile, Up: Guile API 23.3.3.22 Disassembly In Guile .............................. The disassembler can be invoked from Scheme code. Furthermore, the disassembler can take a Guile port as input, allowing one to disassemble from any source, and not just target memory. -- Scheme Procedure: arch-disassemble arch start-pc [#:port port] [#:offset offset] [#:size size] [#:count count] Return a list of disassembled instructions starting from the memory address START-PC. The optional argument PORT specifies the input port to read bytes from. If PORT is '#f' then bytes are read from target memory. The optional argument OFFSET specifies the address offset of the first byte in PORT. This is useful, for example, when PORT specifies a 'bytevector' and you want the bytevector to be disassembled as if it came from that address. The START-PC passed to the reader for PORT is offset by the same amount. Example: (gdb) guile (use-modules (rnrs io ports)) (gdb) guile (define pc (value->integer (parse-and-eval "$pc"))) (gdb) guile (define mem (open-memory #:start pc)) (gdb) guile (define bv (get-bytevector-n mem 10)) (gdb) guile (define bv-port (open-bytevector-input-port bv)) (gdb) guile (define arch (current-arch)) (gdb) guile (arch-disassemble arch pc #:port bv-port #:offset pc) (((address . 4195516) (asm . "mov $0x4005c8,%edi") (length . 5))) The optional arguments SIZE and COUNT determine the number of instructions in the returned list. If either SIZE or COUNT is specified as zero, then no instructions are disassembled and an empty list is returned. If both the optional arguments SIZE and COUNT are specified, then a list of at most COUNT disassembled instructions whose start address falls in the closed memory address interval from START-PC to (START-PC + SIZE - 1) are returned. If SIZE is not specified, but COUNT is specified, then COUNT number of instructions starting from the address START-PC are returned. If COUNT is not specified but SIZE is specified, then all instructions whose start address falls in the closed memory address interval from START-PC to (START-PC + SIZE - 1) are returned. If neither SIZE nor COUNT are specified, then a single instruction at START-PC is returned. Each element of the returned list is an alist (associative list) with the following keys: 'address' The value corresponding to this key is a Guile integer of the memory address of the instruction. 'asm' The value corresponding to this key is a string value which represents the instruction with assembly language mnemonics. The assembly language flavor used is the same as that specified by the current CLI variable 'disassembly-flavor'. *Note Machine Code::. 'length' The value corresponding to this key is the length of the instruction in bytes.  File: gdb.info, Node: I/O Ports in Guile, Next: Memory Ports in Guile, Prev: Disassembly In Guile, Up: Guile API 23.3.3.23 I/O Ports in Guile ............................ -- Scheme Procedure: input-port Return GDB's input port as a Guile port object. -- Scheme Procedure: output-port Return GDB's output port as a Guile port object. -- Scheme Procedure: error-port Return GDB's error port as a Guile port object. -- Scheme Procedure: stdio-port? object Return '#t' if OBJECT is a GDB stdio port. Otherwise return '#f'.  File: gdb.info, Node: Memory Ports in Guile, Next: Iterators In Guile, Prev: I/O Ports in Guile, Up: Guile API 23.3.3.24 Memory Ports in Guile ............................... GDB provides a 'port' interface to target memory. This allows Guile code to read/write target memory using Guile's port and bytevector functionality. The main routine is 'open-memory' which returns a port object. One can then read/write memory using that object. -- Scheme Procedure: open-memory [#:mode mode] [#:start address] [#:size size] Return a port object that can be used for reading and writing memory. The port will be open according to MODE, which is the standard mode argument to Guile port open routines, except that the '"a"' and '"l"' modes are not supported. *Note (guile)File Ports::. The '"b"' (binary) character may be present, but is ignored: memory ports are binary only. If '"0"' is appended then the port is marked as unbuffered. The default is '"r"', read-only and buffered. The chunk of memory that can be accessed can be bounded. If both START and SIZE are unspecified, all of memory can be accessed. If only START is specified, all of memory from that point on can be accessed. If only SIZE if specified, all memory in the range [0,SIZE) can be accessed. If both are specified, all memory in the rane [START,START+SIZE) can be accessed. -- Scheme Procedure: memory-port? Return '#t' if OBJECT is an object of type ''. Otherwise return '#f'. -- Scheme Procedure: memory-port-range memory-port Return the range of '' MEMORY-PORT as a list of two elements: '(start end)'. The range is START to END inclusive. -- Scheme Procedure: memory-port-read-buffer-size memory-port Return the size of the read buffer of '' MEMORY-PORT. -- Scheme Procedure: set-memory-port-read-buffer-size! memory-port size Set the size of the read buffer of '' MEMORY-PORT to SIZE. The result is unspecified. -- Scheme Procedure: memory-port-write-buffer-size memory-port Return the size of the write buffer of '' MEMORY-PORT. -- Scheme Procedure: set-memory-port-write-buffer-size! memory-port size Set the size of the write buffer of '' MEMORY-PORT to SIZE. The result is unspecified. A memory port is closed like any other port, with 'close-port'. Combined with Guile's 'bytevectors', memory ports provide a lot of utility. For example, to fill a buffer of 10 integers in memory, one can do something like the following. ;; In the program: int buffer[10]; (use-modules (rnrs bytevectors)) (use-modules (rnrs io ports)) (define addr (parse-and-eval "buffer")) (define n 10) (define byte-size (* n 4)) (define mem-port (open-memory #:mode "r+" #:start (value->integer addr) #:size byte-size)) (define byte-vec (make-bytevector byte-size)) (do ((i 0 (+ i 1))) ((>= i n)) (bytevector-s32-native-set! byte-vec (* i 4) (* i 42))) (put-bytevector mem-port byte-vec) (close-port mem-port)  File: gdb.info, Node: Iterators In Guile, Prev: Memory Ports in Guile, Up: Guile API 23.3.3.25 Iterators In Guile ............................ A simple iterator facility is provided to allow, for example, iterating over the set of program symbols without having to first construct a list of all of them. A useful contribution would be to add support for SRFI 41 and SRFI 45. -- Scheme Procedure: make-iterator object progress next! A '' object is constructed with the 'make-iterator' procedure. It takes three arguments: the object to be iterated over, an object to record the progress of the iteration, and a procedure to return the next element in the iteration, or an implementation chosen value to denote the end of iteration. By convention, end of iteration is marked with '(end-of-iteration)', and may be tested with the 'end-of-iteration?' predicate. The result of '(end-of-iteration)' is chosen so that it is not otherwise used by the '(gdb)' module. If you are using '' in your own code it is your responsibility to maintain this invariant. A trivial example for illustration's sake: (use-modules (gdb iterator)) (define my-list (list 1 2 3)) (define iter (make-iterator my-list my-list (lambda (iter) (let ((l (iterator-progress iter))) (if (eq? l '()) (end-of-iteration) (begin (set-iterator-progress! iter (cdr l)) (car l))))))) Here is a slightly more realistic example, which computes a list of all the functions in 'my-global-block'. (use-modules (gdb iterator)) (define this-sal (find-pc-line (frame-pc (selected-frame)))) (define this-symtab (sal-symtab this-sal)) (define this-global-block (symtab-global-block this-symtab)) (define syms-iter (make-block-symbols-iterator this-global-block)) (define functions (iterator-filter symbol-function? syms-iter)) -- Scheme Procedure: iterator? object Return '#t' if OBJECT is a '' object. Otherwise return '#f'. -- Scheme Procedure: iterator-object iterator Return the first argument that was passed to 'make-iterator'. This is the object being iterated over. -- Scheme Procedure: iterator-progress iterator Return the object tracking iteration progress. -- Scheme Procedure: set-iterator-progress! iterator new-value Set the object tracking iteration progress. -- Scheme Procedure: iterator-next! iterator Invoke the procedure that was the third argument to 'make-iterator', passing it one argument, the '' object. The result is either the next element in the iteration, or an end marker as implemented by the 'next!' procedure. By convention the end marker is the result of '(end-of-iteration)'. -- Scheme Procedure: end-of-iteration Return the Scheme object that denotes end of iteration. -- Scheme Procedure: end-of-iteration? object Return '#t' if OBJECT is the end of iteration marker. Otherwise return '#f'. These functions are provided by the '(gdb iterator)' module to assist in using iterators. -- Scheme Procedure: make-list-iterator list Return a '' object that will iterate over LIST. -- Scheme Procedure: iterator->list iterator Return the elements pointed to by ITERATOR as a list. -- Scheme Procedure: iterator-map proc iterator Return the list of objects obtained by applying PROC to the object pointed to by ITERATOR and to each subsequent object. -- Scheme Procedure: iterator-for-each proc iterator Apply PROC to each element pointed to by ITERATOR. The result is unspecified. -- Scheme Procedure: iterator-filter pred iterator Return the list of elements pointed to by ITERATOR that satisfy PRED. -- Scheme Procedure: iterator-until pred iterator Run ITERATOR until the result of '(pred element)' is true and return that as the result. Otherwise return '#f'.  File: gdb.info, Node: Guile Auto-loading, Next: Guile Modules, Prev: Guile API, Up: Guile 23.3.4 Guile Auto-loading ------------------------- When a new object file is read (for example, due to the 'file' command, or because the inferior has loaded a shared library), GDB will look for Guile support scripts in two ways: 'OBJFILE-gdb.scm' and the '.debug_gdb_scripts' section. *Note Auto-loading extensions::. The auto-loading feature is useful for supplying application-specific debugging commands and scripts. Auto-loading can be enabled or disabled, and the list of auto-loaded scripts can be printed. 'set auto-load guile-scripts [on|off]' Enable or disable the auto-loading of Guile scripts. 'show auto-load guile-scripts' Show whether auto-loading of Guile scripts is enabled or disabled. 'info auto-load guile-scripts [REGEXP]' Print the list of all Guile scripts that GDB auto-loaded. Also printed is the list of Guile scripts that were mentioned in the '.debug_gdb_scripts' section and were not found. This is useful because their names are not printed when GDB tries to load them and fails. There may be many of them, and printing an error message for each one is problematic. If REGEXP is supplied only Guile scripts with matching names are printed. Example: (gdb) info auto-load guile-scripts Loaded Script Yes scm-section-script.scm full name: /tmp/scm-section-script.scm No my-foo-pretty-printers.scm When reading an auto-loaded file, GDB sets the "current objfile". This is available via the 'current-objfile' procedure (*note Objfiles In Guile::). This can be useful for registering objfile-specific pretty-printers.  File: gdb.info, Node: Guile Modules, Prev: Guile Auto-loading, Up: Guile 23.3.5 Guile Modules -------------------- GDB comes with several modules to assist writing Guile code. * Menu: * Guile Printing Module:: Building and registering pretty-printers * Guile Types Module:: Utilities for working with types  File: gdb.info, Node: Guile Printing Module, Next: Guile Types Module, Up: Guile Modules 23.3.5.1 Guile Printing Module .............................. This module provides a collection of utilities for working with pretty-printers. Usage: (use-modules (gdb printing)) -- Scheme Procedure: prepend-pretty-printer! object printer Add PRINTER to the front of the list of pretty-printers for OBJECT. The OBJECT must either be a '' object, or '#f' in which case PRINTER is added to the global list of printers. -- Scheme Procecure: append-pretty-printer! object printer Add PRINTER to the end of the list of pretty-printers for OBJECT. The OBJECT must either be a '' object, or '#f' in which case PRINTER is added to the global list of printers.  File: gdb.info, Node: Guile Types Module, Prev: Guile Printing Module, Up: Guile Modules 23.3.5.2 Guile Types Module ........................... This module provides a collection of utilities for working with '' objects. Usage: (use-modules (gdb types)) -- Scheme Procedure: get-basic-type type Return TYPE with const and volatile qualifiers stripped, and with typedefs and C++ references converted to the underlying type. C++ example: typedef const int const_int; const_int foo (3); const_int& foo_ref (foo); int main () { return 0; } Then in gdb: (gdb) start (gdb) guile (use-modules (gdb) (gdb types)) (gdb) guile (define foo-ref (parse-and-eval "foo_ref")) (gdb) guile (get-basic-type (value-type foo-ref)) int -- Scheme Procedure: type-has-field-deep? type field Return '#t' if TYPE, assumed to be a type with fields (e.g., a structure or union), has field FIELD. Otherwise return '#f'. This searches baseclasses, whereas 'type-has-field?' does not. -- Scheme Procedure: make-enum-hashtable enum-type Return a Guile hash table produced from ENUM-TYPE. Elements in the hash table are referenced with 'hashq-ref'.  File: gdb.info, Node: Auto-loading extensions, Next: Multiple Extension Languages, Prev: Guile, Up: Extending GDB 23.4 Auto-loading extensions ============================ GDB provides two mechanisms for automatically loading extensions when a new object file is read (for example, due to the 'file' command, or because the inferior has loaded a shared library): 'OBJFILE-gdb.EXT' and the '.debug_gdb_scripts' section of modern file formats like ELF. * Menu: * objfile-gdb.ext file: objfile-gdbdotext file. The 'OBJFILE-gdb.EXT' file * .debug_gdb_scripts section: dotdebug_gdb_scripts section. The '.debug_gdb_scripts' section * Which flavor to choose?:: The auto-loading feature is useful for supplying application-specific debugging commands and features. Auto-loading can be enabled or disabled, and the list of auto-loaded scripts can be printed. See the 'auto-loading' section of each extension language for more information. For GDB command files see *note Auto-loading sequences::. For Python files see *note Python Auto-loading::. Note that loading of this script file also requires accordingly configured 'auto-load safe-path' (*note Auto-loading safe path::).  File: gdb.info, Node: objfile-gdbdotext file, Next: dotdebug_gdb_scripts section, Up: Auto-loading extensions 23.4.1 The 'OBJFILE-gdb.EXT' file --------------------------------- When a new object file is read, GDB looks for a file named 'OBJFILE-gdb.EXT' (we call it SCRIPT-NAME below), where OBJFILE is the object file's name and where EXT is the file extension for the extension language: 'OBJFILE-gdb.gdb' GDB's own command language 'OBJFILE-gdb.py' Python 'OBJFILE-gdb.scm' Guile SCRIPT-NAME is formed by ensuring that the file name of OBJFILE is absolute, following all symlinks, and resolving '.' and '..' components, and appending the '-gdb.EXT' suffix. If this file exists and is readable, GDB will evaluate it as a script in the specified extension language. If this file does not exist, then GDB will look for SCRIPT-NAME file in all of the directories as specified below. Note that loading of these files requires an accordingly configured 'auto-load safe-path' (*note Auto-loading safe path::). For object files using '.exe' suffix GDB tries to load first the scripts normally according to its '.exe' filename. But if no scripts are found GDB also tries script filenames matching the object file without its '.exe' suffix. This '.exe' stripping is case insensitive and it is attempted on any platform. This makes the script filenames compatible between Unix and MS-Windows hosts. 'set auto-load scripts-directory [DIRECTORIES]' Control GDB auto-loaded scripts location. Multiple directory entries may be delimited by the host platform path separator in use (':' on Unix, ';' on MS-Windows and MS-DOS). Each entry here needs to be covered also by the security setting 'set auto-load safe-path' (*note set auto-load safe-path::). This variable defaults to '$debugdir:$datadir/auto-load'. The default 'set auto-load safe-path' value can be also overriden by GDB configuration option '--with-auto-load-dir'. Any reference to '$debugdir' will get replaced by DEBUG-FILE-DIRECTORY value (*note Separate Debug Files::) and any reference to '$datadir' will get replaced by DATA-DIRECTORY which is determined at GDB startup (*note Data Files::). '$debugdir' and '$datadir' must be placed as a directory component -- either alone or delimited by '/' or '\' directory separators, depending on the host platform. The list of directories uses path separator (':' on GNU and Unix systems, ';' on MS-Windows and MS-DOS) to separate directories, similarly to the 'PATH' environment variable. 'show auto-load scripts-directory' Show GDB auto-loaded scripts location. 'add-auto-load-scripts-directory [DIRECTORIES...]' Add an entry (or list of entries) to the list of auto-loaded scripts locations. Multiple entries may be delimited by the host platform path separator in use. GDB does not track which files it has already auto-loaded this way. GDB will load the associated script every time the corresponding OBJFILE is opened. So your '-gdb.EXT' file should be careful to avoid errors if it is evaluated more than once.  File: gdb.info, Node: dotdebug_gdb_scripts section, Next: Which flavor to choose?, Prev: objfile-gdbdotext file, Up: Auto-loading extensions 23.4.2 The '.debug_gdb_scripts' section --------------------------------------- For systems using file formats like ELF and COFF, when GDB loads a new object file it will look for a special section named '.debug_gdb_scripts'. If this section exists, its contents is a list of null-terminated entries specifying scripts to load. Each entry begins with a non-null prefix byte that specifies the kind of entry, typically the extension language and whether the script is in a file or inlined in '.debug_gdb_scripts'. The following entries are supported: 'SECTION_SCRIPT_ID_PYTHON_FILE = 1' 'SECTION_SCRIPT_ID_SCHEME_FILE = 3' 'SECTION_SCRIPT_ID_PYTHON_TEXT = 4' 'SECTION_SCRIPT_ID_SCHEME_TEXT = 6' 23.4.2.1 Script File Entries ............................ If the entry specifies a file, GDB will look for the file first in the current directory and then along the source search path (*note Specifying Source Directories: Source Path.), except that '$cdir' is not searched, since the compilation directory is not relevant to scripts. File entries can be placed in section '.debug_gdb_scripts' with, for example, this GCC macro for Python scripts. /* Note: The "MS" section flags are to remove duplicates. */ #define DEFINE_GDB_PY_SCRIPT(script_name) \ asm("\ .pushsection \".debug_gdb_scripts\", \"MS\",@progbits,1\n\ .byte 1 /* Python */\n\ .asciz \"" script_name "\"\n\ .popsection \n\ "); For Guile scripts, replace '.byte 1' with '.byte 3'. Then one can reference the macro in a header or source file like this: DEFINE_GDB_PY_SCRIPT ("my-app-scripts.py") The script name may include directories if desired. Note that loading of this script file also requires accordingly configured 'auto-load safe-path' (*note Auto-loading safe path::). If the macro invocation is put in a header, any application or library using this header will get a reference to the specified script, and with the use of '"MS"' attributes on the section, the linker will remove duplicates. 23.4.2.2 Script Text Entries ............................ Script text entries allow to put the executable script in the entry itself instead of loading it from a file. The first line of the entry, everything after the prefix byte and up to the first newline ('0xa') character, is the script name, and must not contain any kind of space character, e.g., spaces or tabs. The rest of the entry, up to the trailing null byte, is the script to execute in the specified language. The name needs to be unique among all script names, as GDB executes each script only once based on its name. Here is an example from file 'py-section-script.c' in the GDB testsuite. #include "symcat.h" #include "gdb/section-scripts.h" asm( ".pushsection \".debug_gdb_scripts\", \"MS\",@progbits,1\n" ".byte " XSTRING (SECTION_SCRIPT_ID_PYTHON_TEXT) "\n" ".ascii \"gdb.inlined-script\\n\"\n" ".ascii \"class test_cmd (gdb.Command):\\n\"\n" ".ascii \" def __init__ (self):\\n\"\n" ".ascii \" super (test_cmd, self).__init__ (" "\\\"test-cmd\\\", gdb.COMMAND_OBSCURE)\\n\"\n" ".ascii \" def invoke (self, arg, from_tty):\\n\"\n" ".ascii \" print (\\\"test-cmd output, arg = %s\\\" % arg)\\n\"\n" ".ascii \"test_cmd ()\\n\"\n" ".byte 0\n" ".popsection\n" ); Loading of inlined scripts requires a properly configured 'auto-load safe-path' (*note Auto-loading safe path::). The path to specify in 'auto-load safe-path' is the path of the file containing the '.debug_gdb_scripts' section.  File: gdb.info, Node: Which flavor to choose?, Prev: dotdebug_gdb_scripts section, Up: Auto-loading extensions 23.4.3 Which flavor to choose? ------------------------------ Given the multiple ways of auto-loading extensions, it might not always be clear which one to choose. This section provides some guidance. Benefits of the '-gdb.EXT' way: * Can be used with file formats that don't support multiple sections. * Ease of finding scripts for public libraries. Scripts specified in the '.debug_gdb_scripts' section are searched for in the source search path. For publicly installed libraries, e.g., 'libstdc++', there typically isn't a source directory in which to find the script. * Doesn't require source code additions. Benefits of the '.debug_gdb_scripts' way: * Works with static linking. Scripts for libraries done the '-gdb.EXT' way require an objfile to trigger their loading. When an application is statically linked the only objfile available is the executable, and it is cumbersome to attach all the scripts from all the input libraries to the executable's '-gdb.EXT' script. * Works with classes that are entirely inlined. Some classes can be entirely inlined, and thus there may not be an associated shared library to attach a '-gdb.EXT' script to. * Scripts needn't be copied out of the source tree. In some circumstances, apps can be built out of large collections of internal libraries, and the build infrastructure necessary to install the '-gdb.EXT' scripts in a place where GDB can find them is cumbersome. It may be easier to specify the scripts in the '.debug_gdb_scripts' section as relative paths, and add a path to the top of the source tree to the source search path.  File: gdb.info, Node: Multiple Extension Languages, Next: Aliases, Prev: Auto-loading extensions, Up: Extending GDB 23.5 Multiple Extension Languages ================================= The Guile and Python extension languages do not share any state, and generally do not interfere with each other. There are some things to be aware of, however. 23.5.1 Python comes first ------------------------- Python was GDB's first extension language, and to avoid breaking existing behaviour Python comes first. This is generally solved by the "first one wins" principle. GDB maintains a list of enabled extension languages, and when it makes a call to an extension language, (say to pretty-print a value), it tries each in turn until an extension language indicates it has performed the request (e.g., has returned the pretty-printed form of a value). This extends to errors while performing such requests: If an error happens while, for example, trying to pretty-print an object then the error is reported and any following extension languages are not tried.  File: gdb.info, Node: Aliases, Prev: Multiple Extension Languages, Up: Extending GDB 23.6 Creating new spellings of existing commands ================================================ It is often useful to define alternate spellings of existing commands. For example, if a new GDB command defined in Python has a long name to type, it is handy to have an abbreviated version of it that involves less typing. GDB itself uses aliases. For example 's' is an alias of the 'step' command even though it is otherwise an ambiguous abbreviation of other commands like 'set' and 'show'. Aliases are also used to provide shortened or more common versions of multi-word commands. For example, GDB provides the 'tty' alias of the 'set inferior-tty' command. You can define a new alias with the 'alias' command. 'alias [-a] [--] ALIAS = COMMAND' ALIAS specifies the name of the new alias. Each word of ALIAS must consist of letters, numbers, dashes and underscores. COMMAND specifies the name of an existing command that is being aliased. The '-a' option specifies that the new alias is an abbreviation of the command. Abbreviations are not shown in command lists displayed by the 'help' command. The '--' option specifies the end of options, and is useful when ALIAS begins with a dash. Here is a simple example showing how to make an abbreviation of a command so that there is less to type. Suppose you were tired of typing 'disas', the current shortest unambiguous abbreviation of the 'disassemble' command and you wanted an even shorter version named 'di'. The following will accomplish this. (gdb) alias -a di = disas Note that aliases are different from user-defined commands. With a user-defined command, you also need to write documentation for it with the 'document' command. An alias automatically picks up the documentation of the existing command. Here is an example where we make 'elms' an abbreviation of 'elements' in the 'set print elements' command. This is to show that you can make an abbreviation of any part of a command. (gdb) alias -a set print elms = set print elements (gdb) alias -a show print elms = show print elements (gdb) set p elms 20 (gdb) show p elms Limit on string chars or array elements to print is 200. Note that if you are defining an alias of a 'set' command, and you want to have an alias for the corresponding 'show' command, then you need to define the latter separately. Unambiguously abbreviated commands are allowed in COMMAND and ALIAS, just as they are normally. (gdb) alias -a set pr elms = set p ele Finally, here is an example showing the creation of a one word alias for a more complex command. This creates alias 'spe' of the command 'set print elements'. (gdb) alias spe = set print elements (gdb) spe 20  File: gdb.info, Node: Interpreters, Next: TUI, Prev: Extending GDB, Up: Top 24 Command Interpreters *********************** GDB supports multiple command interpreters, and some command infrastructure to allow users or user interface writers to switch between interpreters or run commands in other interpreters. GDB currently supports two command interpreters, the console interpreter (sometimes called the command-line interpreter or CLI) and the machine interface interpreter (or GDB/MI). This manual describes both of these interfaces in great detail. By default, GDB will start with the console interpreter. However, the user may choose to start GDB with another interpreter by specifying the '-i' or '--interpreter' startup options. Defined interpreters include: 'console' The traditional console or command-line interpreter. This is the most often used interpreter with GDB. With no interpreter specified at runtime, GDB will use this interpreter. 'mi' The newest GDB/MI interface (currently 'mi3'). Used primarily by programs wishing to use GDB as a backend for a debugger GUI or an IDE. For more information, see *note The GDB/MI Interface: GDB/MI. 'mi3' The GDB/MI interface introduced in GDB 9.1. 'mi2' The GDB/MI interface introduced in GDB 6.0. 'mi1' The GDB/MI interface introduced in GDB 5.1. You may execute commands in any interpreter from the current interpreter using the appropriate command. If you are running the console interpreter, simply use the 'interpreter-exec' command: interpreter-exec mi "-data-list-register-names" GDB/MI has a similar command, although it is only available in versions of GDB which support GDB/MI version 2 (or greater). Note that 'interpreter-exec' only changes the interpreter for the duration of the specified command. It does not change the interpreter permanently. Although you may only choose a single interpreter at startup, it is possible to run an independent interpreter on a specified input/output device (usually a tty). For example, consider a debugger GUI or IDE that wants to provide a GDB console view. It may do so by embedding a terminal emulator widget in its GUI, starting GDB in the traditional command-line mode with stdin/stdout/stderr redirected to that terminal, and then creating an MI interpreter running on a specified input/output device. The console interpreter created by GDB at startup handles commands the user types in the terminal widget, while the GUI controls and synchronizes state with GDB using the separate MI interpreter. To start a new secondary "user interface" running MI, use the 'new-ui' command: new-ui INTERPRETER TTY The INTERPRETER parameter specifies the interpreter to run. This accepts the same values as the 'interpreter-exec' command. For example, 'console', 'mi', 'mi2', etc. The TTY parameter specifies the name of the bidirectional file the interpreter uses for input/output, usually the name of a pseudoterminal slave on Unix systems. For example: (gdb) new-ui mi /dev/pts/9 runs an MI interpreter on '/dev/pts/9'.  File: gdb.info, Node: TUI, Next: Emacs, Prev: Interpreters, Up: Top 25 GDB Text User Interface ************************** * Menu: * TUI Overview:: TUI overview * TUI Keys:: TUI key bindings * TUI Single Key Mode:: TUI single key mode * TUI Commands:: TUI-specific commands * TUI Configuration:: TUI configuration variables The GDB Text User Interface (TUI) is a terminal interface which uses the 'curses' library to show the source file, the assembly output, the program registers and GDB commands in separate text windows. The TUI mode is supported only on platforms where a suitable version of the 'curses' library is available. The TUI mode is enabled by default when you invoke GDB as 'gdb -tui'. You can also switch in and out of TUI mode while GDB runs by using various TUI commands and key bindings, such as 'tui enable' or 'C-x C-a'. *Note TUI Commands: TUI Commands, and *note TUI Key Bindings: TUI Keys.  File: gdb.info, Node: TUI Overview, Next: TUI Keys, Up: TUI 25.1 TUI Overview ================= In TUI mode, GDB can display several text windows: _command_ This window is the GDB command window with the GDB prompt and the GDB output. The GDB input is still managed using readline. _source_ The source window shows the source file of the program. The current line and active breakpoints are displayed in this window. _assembly_ The assembly window shows the disassembly output of the program. _register_ This window shows the processor registers. Registers are highlighted when their values change. The source and assembly windows show the current program position by highlighting the current line and marking it with a '>' marker. Breakpoints are indicated with two markers. The first marker indicates the breakpoint type: 'B' Breakpoint which was hit at least once. 'b' Breakpoint which was never hit. 'H' Hardware breakpoint which was hit at least once. 'h' Hardware breakpoint which was never hit. The second marker indicates whether the breakpoint is enabled or not: '+' Breakpoint is enabled. '-' Breakpoint is disabled. The source, assembly and register windows are updated when the current thread changes, when the frame changes, or when the program counter changes. These windows are not all visible at the same time. The command window is always visible. The others can be arranged in several layouts: * source only, * assembly only, * source and assembly, * source and registers, or * assembly and registers. A status line above the command window shows the following information: _target_ Indicates the current GDB target. (*note Specifying a Debugging Target: Targets.). _process_ Gives the current process or thread number. When no process is being debugged, this field is set to 'No process'. _function_ Gives the current function name for the selected frame. The name is demangled if demangling is turned on (*note Print Settings::). When there is no symbol corresponding to the current program counter, the string '??' is displayed. _line_ Indicates the current line number for the selected frame. When the current line number is not known, the string '??' is displayed. _pc_ Indicates the current program counter address.  File: gdb.info, Node: TUI Keys, Next: TUI Single Key Mode, Prev: TUI Overview, Up: TUI 25.2 TUI Key Bindings ===================== The TUI installs several key bindings in the readline keymaps (*note Command Line Editing::). The following key bindings are installed for both TUI mode and the GDB standard mode. 'C-x C-a' 'C-x a' 'C-x A' Enter or leave the TUI mode. When leaving the TUI mode, the curses window management stops and GDB operates using its standard mode, writing on the terminal directly. When reentering the TUI mode, control is given back to the curses windows. The screen is then refreshed. This key binding uses the bindable Readline function 'tui-switch-mode'. 'C-x 1' Use a TUI layout with only one window. The layout will either be 'source' or 'assembly'. When the TUI mode is not active, it will switch to the TUI mode. Think of this key binding as the Emacs 'C-x 1' binding. This key binding uses the bindable Readline function 'tui-delete-other-windows'. 'C-x 2' Use a TUI layout with at least two windows. When the current layout already has two windows, the next layout with two windows is used. When a new layout is chosen, one window will always be common to the previous layout and the new one. Think of it as the Emacs 'C-x 2' binding. This key binding uses the bindable Readline function 'tui-change-windows'. 'C-x o' Change the active window. The TUI associates several key bindings (like scrolling and arrow keys) with the active window. This command gives the focus to the next TUI window. Think of it as the Emacs 'C-x o' binding. This key binding uses the bindable Readline function 'tui-other-window'. 'C-x s' Switch in and out of the TUI SingleKey mode that binds single keys to GDB commands (*note TUI Single Key Mode::). This key binding uses the bindable Readline function 'next-keymap'. The following key bindings only work in the TUI mode: Scroll the active window one page up. Scroll the active window one page down. Scroll the active window one line up. Scroll the active window one line down. Scroll the active window one column left. Scroll the active window one column right. 'C-L' Refresh the screen. Because the arrow keys scroll the active window in the TUI mode, they are not available for their normal use by readline unless the command window has the focus. When another window is active, you must use other readline key bindings such as 'C-p', 'C-n', 'C-b' and 'C-f' to control the command window.  File: gdb.info, Node: TUI Single Key Mode, Next: TUI Commands, Prev: TUI Keys, Up: TUI 25.3 TUI Single Key Mode ======================== The TUI also provides a "SingleKey" mode, which binds several frequently used GDB commands to single keys. Type 'C-x s' to switch into this mode, where the following key bindings are used: 'c' continue 'd' down 'f' finish 'n' next 'o' nexti. The shortcut letter 'o' stands for "step Over". 'q' exit the SingleKey mode. 'r' run 's' step 'i' stepi. The shortcut letter 'i' stands for "step Into". 'u' up 'v' info locals 'w' where Other keys temporarily switch to the GDB command prompt. The key that was pressed is inserted in the editing buffer so that it is possible to type most GDB commands without interaction with the TUI SingleKey mode. Once the command is entered the TUI SingleKey mode is restored. The only way to permanently leave this mode is by typing 'q' or 'C-x s'. If GDB was built with Readline 8.0 or later, the TUI SingleKey keymap will be named 'SingleKey'. This can be used in '.inputrc' to add additional bindings to this keymap.  File: gdb.info, Node: TUI Commands, Next: TUI Configuration, Prev: TUI Single Key Mode, Up: TUI 25.4 TUI-specific Commands ========================== The TUI has specific commands to control the text windows. These commands are always available, even when GDB is not in the TUI mode. When GDB is in the standard mode, most of these commands will automatically switch to the TUI mode. Note that if GDB's 'stdout' is not connected to a terminal, or GDB has been started with the machine interface interpreter (*note The GDB/MI Interface: GDB/MI.), most of these commands will fail with an error, because it would not be possible or desirable to enable curses window management. 'tui enable' Activate TUI mode. The last active TUI window layout will be used if TUI mode has previously been used in the current debugging session, otherwise a default layout is used. 'tui disable' Disable TUI mode, returning to the console interpreter. 'info win' List and give the size of all displayed windows. 'layout NAME' Changes which TUI windows are displayed. In each layout the command window is always displayed, the NAME parameter controls which additional windows are displayed, and can be any of the following: 'next' Display the next layout. 'prev' Display the previous layout. 'src' Display the source and command windows. 'asm' Display the assembly and command windows. 'split' Display the source, assembly, and command windows. 'regs' When in 'src' layout display the register, source, and command windows. When in 'asm' or 'split' layout display the register, assembler, and command windows. 'focus NAME' Changes which TUI window is currently active for scrolling. The NAME parameter can be any of the following: 'next' Make the next window active for scrolling. 'prev' Make the previous window active for scrolling. 'src' Make the source window active for scrolling. 'asm' Make the assembly window active for scrolling. 'regs' Make the register window active for scrolling. 'cmd' Make the command window active for scrolling. 'refresh' Refresh the screen. This is similar to typing 'C-L'. 'tui reg GROUP' Changes the register group displayed in the tui register window to GROUP. If the register window is not currently displayed this command will cause the register window to be displayed. The list of register groups, as well as their order is target specific. The following groups are available on most targets: 'next' Repeatedly selecting this group will cause the display to cycle through all of the available register groups. 'prev' Repeatedly selecting this group will cause the display to cycle through all of the available register groups in the reverse order to NEXT. 'general' Display the general registers. 'float' Display the floating point registers. 'system' Display the system registers. 'vector' Display the vector registers. 'all' Display all registers. 'update' Update the source window and the current execution point. 'winheight NAME +COUNT' 'winheight NAME -COUNT' Change the height of the window NAME by COUNT lines. Positive counts increase the height, while negative counts decrease it. The NAME parameter can be one of 'src' (the source window), 'cmd' (the command window), 'asm' (the disassembly window), or 'regs' (the register display window).  File: gdb.info, Node: TUI Configuration, Prev: TUI Commands, Up: TUI 25.5 TUI Configuration Variables ================================ Several configuration variables control the appearance of TUI windows. 'set tui border-kind KIND' Select the border appearance for the source, assembly and register windows. The possible values are the following: 'space' Use a space character to draw the border. 'ascii' Use ASCII characters '+', '-' and '|' to draw the border. 'acs' Use the Alternate Character Set to draw the border. The border is drawn using character line graphics if the terminal supports them. 'set tui border-mode MODE' 'set tui active-border-mode MODE' Select the display attributes for the borders of the inactive windows or the active window. The MODE can be one of the following: 'normal' Use normal attributes to display the border. 'standout' Use standout mode. 'reverse' Use reverse video mode. 'half' Use half bright mode. 'half-standout' Use half bright and standout mode. 'bold' Use extra bright or bold mode. 'bold-standout' Use extra bright or bold and standout mode. 'set tui tab-width NCHARS' Set the width of tab stops to be NCHARS characters. This setting affects the display of TAB characters in the source and assembly windows. 'set tui compact-source [on|off]' Set whether the TUI source window is displayed in "compact" form. The default display uses more space for line numbers and starts the source text at the next tab stop; the compact display uses only as much space as is needed for the line numbers in the current file, and only a single space to separate the line numbers from the source. Note that the colors of the TUI borders can be controlled using the appropriate 'set style' commands. *Note Output Styling::.  File: gdb.info, Node: Emacs, Next: GDB/MI, Prev: TUI, Up: Top 26 Using GDB under GNU Emacs **************************** A special interface allows you to use GNU Emacs to view (and edit) the source files for the program you are debugging with GDB. To use this interface, use the command 'M-x gdb' in Emacs. Give the executable file you want to debug as an argument. This command starts GDB as a subprocess of Emacs, with input and output through a newly created Emacs buffer. Running GDB under Emacs can be just like running GDB normally except for two things: * All "terminal" input and output goes through an Emacs buffer, called the GUD buffer. This applies both to GDB commands and their output, and to the input and output done by the program you are debugging. This is useful because it means that you can copy the text of previous commands and input them again; you can even use parts of the output in this way. All the facilities of Emacs' Shell mode are available for interacting with your program. In particular, you can send signals the usual way--for example, 'C-c C-c' for an interrupt, 'C-c C-z' for a stop. * GDB displays source code through Emacs. Each time GDB displays a stack frame, Emacs automatically finds the source file for that frame and puts an arrow ('=>') at the left margin of the current line. Emacs uses a separate buffer for source display, and splits the screen to show both your GDB session and the source. Explicit GDB 'list' or search commands still produce output as usual, but you probably have no reason to use them from Emacs. We call this "text command mode". Emacs 22.1, and later, also uses a graphical mode, enabled by default, which provides further buffers that can control the execution and describe the state of your program. *Note (Emacs)GDB Graphical Interface::. If you specify an absolute file name when prompted for the 'M-x gdb' argument, then Emacs sets your current working directory to where your program resides. If you only specify the file name, then Emacs sets your current working directory to the directory associated with the previous buffer. In this case, GDB may find your program by searching your environment's 'PATH' variable, but on some operating systems it might not find the source. So, although the GDB input and output session proceeds normally, the auxiliary buffer does not display the current source and line of execution. The initial working directory of GDB is printed on the top line of the GUD buffer and this serves as a default for the commands that specify files for GDB to operate on. *Note Commands to Specify Files: Files. By default, 'M-x gdb' calls the program called 'gdb'. If you need to call GDB by a different name (for example, if you keep several configurations around, with different names) you can customize the Emacs variable 'gud-gdb-command-name' to run the one you want. In the GUD buffer, you can use these special Emacs commands in addition to the standard Shell mode commands: 'C-h m' Describe the features of Emacs' GUD Mode. 'C-c C-s' Execute to another source line, like the GDB 'step' command; also update the display window to show the current file and location. 'C-c C-n' Execute to next source line in this function, skipping all function calls, like the GDB 'next' command. Then update the display window to show the current file and location. 'C-c C-i' Execute one instruction, like the GDB 'stepi' command; update display window accordingly. 'C-c C-f' Execute until exit from the selected stack frame, like the GDB 'finish' command. 'C-c C-r' Continue execution of your program, like the GDB 'continue' command. 'C-c <' Go up the number of frames indicated by the numeric argument (*note Numeric Arguments: (Emacs)Arguments.), like the GDB 'up' command. 'C-c >' Go down the number of frames indicated by the numeric argument, like the GDB 'down' command. In any source file, the Emacs command 'C-x ' ('gud-break') tells GDB to set a breakpoint on the source line point is on. In text command mode, if you type 'M-x speedbar', Emacs displays a separate frame which shows a backtrace when the GUD buffer is current. Move point to any frame in the stack and type to make it become the current frame and display the associated source in the source buffer. Alternatively, click 'Mouse-2' to make the selected frame become the current one. In graphical mode, the speedbar displays watch expressions. If you accidentally delete the source-display buffer, an easy way to get it back is to type the command 'f' in the GDB buffer, to request a frame display; when you run under Emacs, this recreates the source buffer if necessary to show you the context of the current frame. The source files displayed in Emacs are in ordinary Emacs buffers which are visiting the source files in the usual way. You can edit the files with these buffers if you wish; but keep in mind that GDB communicates with Emacs in terms of line numbers. If you add or delete lines from the text, the line numbers that GDB knows cease to correspond properly with the code. A more detailed description of Emacs' interaction with GDB is given in the Emacs manual (*note (Emacs)Debuggers::).  File: gdb.info, Node: GDB/MI, Next: Annotations, Prev: Emacs, Up: Top 27 The GDB/MI Interface *********************** * Menu: * GDB/MI General Design:: * GDB/MI Command Syntax:: * GDB/MI Compatibility with CLI:: * GDB/MI Development and Front Ends:: * GDB/MI Output Records:: * GDB/MI Simple Examples:: * GDB/MI Command Description Format:: * GDB/MI Breakpoint Commands:: * GDB/MI Catchpoint Commands:: * GDB/MI Program Context:: * GDB/MI Thread Commands:: * GDB/MI Ada Tasking Commands:: * GDB/MI Program Execution:: * GDB/MI Stack Manipulation:: * GDB/MI Variable Objects:: * GDB/MI Data Manipulation:: * GDB/MI Tracepoint Commands:: * GDB/MI Symbol Query:: * GDB/MI File Commands:: * GDB/MI Target Manipulation:: * GDB/MI File Transfer Commands:: * GDB/MI Ada Exceptions Commands:: * GDB/MI Support Commands:: * GDB/MI Miscellaneous Commands:: Function and Purpose ==================== GDB/MI is a line based machine oriented text interface to GDB and is activated by specifying using the '--interpreter' command line option (*note Mode Options::). It is specifically intended to support the development of systems which use the debugger as just one small component of a larger system. This chapter is a specification of the GDB/MI interface. It is written in the form of a reference manual. Note that GDB/MI is still under construction, so some of the features described below are incomplete and subject to change (*note GDB/MI Development and Front Ends: GDB/MI Development and Front Ends.). Notation and Terminology ======================== This chapter uses the following notation: * '|' separates two alternatives. * '[ SOMETHING ]' indicates that SOMETHING is optional: it may or may not be given. * '( GROUP )*' means that GROUP inside the parentheses may repeat zero or more times. * '( GROUP )+' means that GROUP inside the parentheses may repeat one or more times. * '"STRING"' means a literal STRING. * Menu: * GDB/MI General Design:: * GDB/MI Command Syntax:: * GDB/MI Compatibility with CLI:: * GDB/MI Development and Front Ends:: * GDB/MI Output Records:: * GDB/MI Simple Examples:: * GDB/MI Command Description Format:: * GDB/MI Breakpoint Commands:: * GDB/MI Catchpoint Commands:: * GDB/MI Program Context:: * GDB/MI Thread Commands:: * GDB/MI Ada Tasking Commands:: * GDB/MI Program Execution:: * GDB/MI Stack Manipulation:: * GDB/MI Variable Objects:: * GDB/MI Data Manipulation:: * GDB/MI Tracepoint Commands:: * GDB/MI Symbol Query:: * GDB/MI File Commands:: * GDB/MI Target Manipulation:: * GDB/MI File Transfer Commands:: * GDB/MI Ada Exceptions Commands:: * GDB/MI Support Commands:: * GDB/MI Miscellaneous Commands::  File: gdb.info, Node: GDB/MI General Design, Next: GDB/MI Command Syntax, Up: GDB/MI 27.1 GDB/MI General Design ========================== Interaction of a GDB/MI frontend with GDB involves three parts--commands sent to GDB, responses to those commands and notifications. Each command results in exactly one response, indicating either successful completion of the command, or an error. For the commands that do not resume the target, the response contains the requested information. For the commands that resume the target, the response only indicates whether the target was successfully resumed. Notifications is the mechanism for reporting changes in the state of the target, or in GDB state, that cannot conveniently be associated with a command and reported as part of that command response. The important examples of notifications are: * Exec notifications. These are used to report changes in target state--when a target is resumed, or stopped. It would not be feasible to include this information in response of resuming commands, because one resume commands can result in multiple events in different threads. Also, quite some time may pass before any event happens in the target, while a frontend needs to know whether the resuming command itself was successfully executed. * Console output, and status notifications. Console output notifications are used to report output of CLI commands, as well as diagnostics for other commands. Status notifications are used to report the progress of a long-running operation. Naturally, including this information in command response would mean no output is produced until the command is finished, which is undesirable. * General notifications. Commands may have various side effects on the GDB or target state beyond their official purpose. For example, a command may change the selected thread. Although such changes can be included in command response, using notification allows for more orthogonal frontend design. There's no guarantee that whenever an MI command reports an error, GDB or the target are in any specific state, and especially, the state is not reverted to the state before the MI command was processed. Therefore, whenever an MI command results in an error, we recommend that the frontend refreshes all the information shown in the user interface. * Menu: * Context management:: * Asynchronous and non-stop modes:: * Thread groups::  File: gdb.info, Node: Context management, Next: Asynchronous and non-stop modes, Up: GDB/MI General Design 27.1.1 Context management ------------------------- 27.1.1.1 Threads and Frames ........................... In most cases when GDB accesses the target, this access is done in context of a specific thread and frame (*note Frames::). Often, even when accessing global data, the target requires that a thread be specified. The CLI interface maintains the selected thread and frame, and supplies them to target on each command. This is convenient, because a command line user would not want to specify that information explicitly on each command, and because user interacts with GDB via a single terminal, so no confusion is possible as to what thread and frame are the current ones. In the case of MI, the concept of selected thread and frame is less useful. First, a frontend can easily remember this information itself. Second, a graphical frontend can have more than one window, each one used for debugging a different thread, and the frontend might want to access additional threads for internal purposes. This increases the risk that by relying on implicitly selected thread, the frontend may be operating on a wrong one. Therefore, each MI command should explicitly specify which thread and frame to operate on. To make it possible, each MI command accepts the '--thread' and '--frame' options, the value to each is GDB global identifier for thread and frame to operate on. Usually, each top-level window in a frontend allows the user to select a thread and a frame, and remembers the user selection for further operations. However, in some cases GDB may suggest that the current thread or frame be changed. For example, when stopping on a breakpoint it is reasonable to switch to the thread where breakpoint is hit. For another example, if the user issues the CLI 'thread' or 'frame' commands via the frontend, it is desirable to change the frontend's selection to the one specified by user. GDB communicates the suggestion to change current thread and frame using the '=thread-selected' notification. Note that historically, MI shares the selected thread with CLI, so frontends used the '-thread-select' to execute commands in the right context. However, getting this to work right is cumbersome. The simplest way is for frontend to emit '-thread-select' command before every command. This doubles the number of commands that need to be sent. The alternative approach is to suppress '-thread-select' if the selected thread in GDB is supposed to be identical to the thread the frontend wants to operate on. However, getting this optimization right can be tricky. In particular, if the frontend sends several commands to GDB, and one of the commands changes the selected thread, then the behaviour of subsequent commands will change. So, a frontend should either wait for response from such problematic commands, or explicitly add '-thread-select' for all subsequent commands. No frontend is known to do this exactly right, so it is suggested to just always pass the '--thread' and '--frame' options. 27.1.1.2 Language ................. The execution of several commands depends on which language is selected. By default, the current language (*note show language::) is used. But for commands known to be language-sensitive, it is recommended to use the '--language' option. This option takes one argument, which is the name of the language to use while executing the command. For instance: -data-evaluate-expression --language c "sizeof (void*)" ^done,value="4" (gdb) The valid language names are the same names accepted by the 'set language' command (*note Manually::), excluding 'auto', 'local' or 'unknown'.  File: gdb.info, Node: Asynchronous and non-stop modes, Next: Thread groups, Prev: Context management, Up: GDB/MI General Design 27.1.2 Asynchronous command execution and non-stop mode ------------------------------------------------------- On some targets, GDB is capable of processing MI commands even while the target is running. This is called "asynchronous command execution" (*note Background Execution::). The frontend may specify a preference for asynchronous execution using the '-gdb-set mi-async 1' command, which should be emitted before either running the executable or attaching to the target. After the frontend has started the executable or attached to the target, it can find if asynchronous execution is enabled using the '-list-target-features' command. '-gdb-set mi-async on' '-gdb-set mi-async off' Set whether MI is in asynchronous mode. When 'off', which is the default, MI execution commands (e.g., '-exec-continue') are foreground commands, and GDB waits for the program to stop before processing further commands. When 'on', MI execution commands are background execution commands (e.g., '-exec-continue' becomes the equivalent of the 'c&' CLI command), and so GDB is capable of processing MI commands even while the target is running. '-gdb-show mi-async' Show whether MI asynchronous mode is enabled. Note: In GDB version 7.7 and earlier, this option was called 'target-async' instead of 'mi-async', and it had the effect of both putting MI in asynchronous mode and making CLI background commands possible. CLI background commands are now always possible "out of the box" if the target supports them. The old spelling is kept as a deprecated alias for backwards compatibility. Even if GDB can accept a command while target is running, many commands that access the target do not work when the target is running. Therefore, asynchronous command execution is most useful when combined with non-stop mode (*note Non-Stop Mode::). Then, it is possible to examine the state of one thread, while other threads are running. When a given thread is running, MI commands that try to access the target in the context of that thread may not work, or may work only on some targets. In particular, commands that try to operate on thread's stack will not work, on any target. Commands that read memory, or modify breakpoints, may work or not work, depending on the target. Note that even commands that operate on global state, such as 'print', 'set', and breakpoint commands, still access the target in the context of a specific thread, so frontend should try to find a stopped thread and perform the operation on that thread (using the '--thread' option). Which commands will work in the context of a running thread is highly target dependent. However, the two commands '-exec-interrupt', to stop a thread, and '-thread-info', to find the state of a thread, will always work.  File: gdb.info, Node: Thread groups, Prev: Asynchronous and non-stop modes, Up: GDB/MI General Design 27.1.3 Thread groups -------------------- GDB may be used to debug several processes at the same time. On some platforms, GDB may support debugging of several hardware systems, each one having several cores with several different processes running on each core. This section describes the MI mechanism to support such debugging scenarios. The key observation is that regardless of the structure of the target, MI can have a global list of threads, because most commands that accept the '--thread' option do not need to know what process that thread belongs to. Therefore, it is not necessary to introduce neither additional '--process' option, nor an notion of the current process in the MI interface. The only strictly new feature that is required is the ability to find how the threads are grouped into processes. To allow the user to discover such grouping, and to support arbitrary hierarchy of machines/cores/processes, MI introduces the concept of a "thread group". Thread group is a collection of threads and other thread groups. A thread group always has a string identifier, a type, and may have additional attributes specific to the type. A new command, '-list-thread-groups', returns the list of top-level thread groups, which correspond to processes that GDB is debugging at the moment. By passing an identifier of a thread group to the '-list-thread-groups' command, it is possible to obtain the members of specific thread group. To allow the user to easily discover processes, and other objects, he wishes to debug, a concept of "available thread group" is introduced. Available thread group is an thread group that GDB is not debugging, but that can be attached to, using the '-target-attach' command. The list of available top-level thread groups can be obtained using '-list-thread-groups --available'. In general, the content of a thread group may be only retrieved only after attaching to that thread group. Thread groups are related to inferiors (*note Inferiors and Programs::). Each inferior corresponds to a thread group of a special type 'process', and some additional operations are permitted on such thread groups.  File: gdb.info, Node: GDB/MI Command Syntax, Next: GDB/MI Compatibility with CLI, Prev: GDB/MI General Design, Up: GDB/MI 27.2 GDB/MI Command Syntax ========================== * Menu: * GDB/MI Input Syntax:: * GDB/MI Output Syntax::  File: gdb.info, Node: GDB/MI Input Syntax, Next: GDB/MI Output Syntax, Up: GDB/MI Command Syntax 27.2.1 GDB/MI Input Syntax -------------------------- 'COMMAND ==>' 'CLI-COMMAND | MI-COMMAND' 'CLI-COMMAND ==>' '[ TOKEN ] CLI-COMMAND NL', where CLI-COMMAND is any existing GDB CLI command. 'MI-COMMAND ==>' '[ TOKEN ] "-" OPERATION ( " " OPTION )* [ " --" ] ( " " PARAMETER )* NL' 'TOKEN ==>' "any sequence of digits" 'OPTION ==>' '"-" PARAMETER [ " " PARAMETER ]' 'PARAMETER ==>' 'NON-BLANK-SEQUENCE | C-STRING' 'OPERATION ==>' _any of the operations described in this chapter_ 'NON-BLANK-SEQUENCE ==>' _anything, provided it doesn't contain special characters such as "-", NL, """ and of course " "_ 'C-STRING ==>' '""" SEVEN-BIT-ISO-C-STRING-CONTENT """' 'NL ==>' 'CR | CR-LF' Notes: * The CLI commands are still handled by the MI interpreter; their output is described below. * The 'TOKEN', when present, is passed back when the command finishes. * Some MI commands accept optional arguments as part of the parameter list. Each option is identified by a leading '-' (dash) and may be followed by an optional argument parameter. Options occur first in the parameter list and can be delimited from normal parameters using '--' (this is useful when some parameters begin with a dash). Pragmatics: * We want easy access to the existing CLI syntax (for debugging). * We want it to be easy to spot a MI operation.  File: gdb.info, Node: GDB/MI Output Syntax, Prev: GDB/MI Input Syntax, Up: GDB/MI Command Syntax 27.2.2 GDB/MI Output Syntax --------------------------- The output from GDB/MI consists of zero or more out-of-band records followed, optionally, by a single result record. This result record is for the most recent command. The sequence of output records is terminated by '(gdb)'. If an input command was prefixed with a 'TOKEN' then the corresponding output for that command will also be prefixed by that same TOKEN. 'OUTPUT ==>' '( OUT-OF-BAND-RECORD )* [ RESULT-RECORD ] "(gdb)" NL' 'RESULT-RECORD ==>' ' [ TOKEN ] "^" RESULT-CLASS ( "," RESULT )* NL' 'OUT-OF-BAND-RECORD ==>' 'ASYNC-RECORD | STREAM-RECORD' 'ASYNC-RECORD ==>' 'EXEC-ASYNC-OUTPUT | STATUS-ASYNC-OUTPUT | NOTIFY-ASYNC-OUTPUT' 'EXEC-ASYNC-OUTPUT ==>' '[ TOKEN ] "*" ASYNC-OUTPUT NL' 'STATUS-ASYNC-OUTPUT ==>' '[ TOKEN ] "+" ASYNC-OUTPUT NL' 'NOTIFY-ASYNC-OUTPUT ==>' '[ TOKEN ] "=" ASYNC-OUTPUT NL' 'ASYNC-OUTPUT ==>' 'ASYNC-CLASS ( "," RESULT )*' 'RESULT-CLASS ==>' '"done" | "running" | "connected" | "error" | "exit"' 'ASYNC-CLASS ==>' '"stopped" | OTHERS' (where OTHERS will be added depending on the needs--this is still in development). 'RESULT ==>' ' VARIABLE "=" VALUE' 'VARIABLE ==>' ' STRING ' 'VALUE ==>' ' CONST | TUPLE | LIST ' 'CONST ==>' 'C-STRING' 'TUPLE ==>' ' "{}" | "{" RESULT ( "," RESULT )* "}" ' 'LIST ==>' ' "[]" | "[" VALUE ( "," VALUE )* "]" | "[" RESULT ( "," RESULT )* "]" ' 'STREAM-RECORD ==>' 'CONSOLE-STREAM-OUTPUT | TARGET-STREAM-OUTPUT | LOG-STREAM-OUTPUT' 'CONSOLE-STREAM-OUTPUT ==>' '"~" C-STRING NL' 'TARGET-STREAM-OUTPUT ==>' '"@" C-STRING NL' 'LOG-STREAM-OUTPUT ==>' '"&" C-STRING NL' 'NL ==>' 'CR | CR-LF' 'TOKEN ==>' _any sequence of digits_. Notes: * All output sequences end in a single line containing a period. * The 'TOKEN' is from the corresponding request. Note that for all async output, while the token is allowed by the grammar and may be output by future versions of GDB for select async output messages, it is generally omitted. Frontends should treat all async output as reporting general changes in the state of the target and there should be no need to associate async output to any prior command. * STATUS-ASYNC-OUTPUT contains on-going status information about the progress of a slow operation. It can be discarded. All status output is prefixed by '+'. * EXEC-ASYNC-OUTPUT contains asynchronous state change on the target (stopped, started, disappeared). All async output is prefixed by '*'. * NOTIFY-ASYNC-OUTPUT contains supplementary information that the client should handle (e.g., a new breakpoint information). All notify output is prefixed by '='. * CONSOLE-STREAM-OUTPUT is output that should be displayed as is in the console. It is the textual response to a CLI command. All the console output is prefixed by '~'. * TARGET-STREAM-OUTPUT is the output produced by the target program. All the target output is prefixed by '@'. * LOG-STREAM-OUTPUT is output text coming from GDB's internals, for instance messages that should be displayed as part of an error log. All the log output is prefixed by '&'. * New GDB/MI commands should only output LISTS containing VALUES. *Note GDB/MI Stream Records: GDB/MI Stream Records, for more details about the various output records.  File: gdb.info, Node: GDB/MI Compatibility with CLI, Next: GDB/MI Development and Front Ends, Prev: GDB/MI Command Syntax, Up: GDB/MI 27.3 GDB/MI Compatibility with CLI ================================== For the developers convenience CLI commands can be entered directly, but there may be some unexpected behaviour. For example, commands that query the user will behave as if the user replied yes, breakpoint command lists are not executed and some CLI commands, such as 'if', 'when' and 'define', prompt for further input with '>', which is not valid MI output. This feature may be removed at some stage in the future and it is recommended that front ends use the '-interpreter-exec' command (*note -interpreter-exec::).  File: gdb.info, Node: GDB/MI Development and Front Ends, Next: GDB/MI Output Records, Prev: GDB/MI Compatibility with CLI, Up: GDB/MI 27.4 GDB/MI Development and Front Ends ====================================== The application which takes the MI output and presents the state of the program being debugged to the user is called a "front end". Since GDB/MI is used by a variety of front ends to GDB, changes to the MI interface may break existing usage. This section describes how the protocol changes and how to request previous version of the protocol when it does. Some changes in MI need not break a carefully designed front end, and for these the MI version will remain unchanged. The following is a list of changes that may occur within one level, so front ends should parse MI output in a way that can handle them: * New MI commands may be added. * New fields may be added to the output of any MI command. * The range of values for fields with specified values, e.g., 'in_scope' (*note -var-update::) may be extended. If the changes are likely to break front ends, the MI version level will be increased by one. The new versions of the MI protocol are not compatible with the old versions. Old versions of MI remain available, allowing front ends to keep using them until they are modified to use the latest MI version. Since '--interpreter=mi' always points to the latest MI version, it is recommended that front ends request a specific version of MI when launching GDB (e.g. '--interpreter=mi2') to make sure they get an interpreter with the MI version they expect. The following table gives a summary of the the released versions of the MI interface: the version number, the version of GDB in which it first appeared and the breaking changes compared to the previous version. MI GDB Breaking changes versionversion ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 5.1 None 2 6.0 * The '-environment-pwd', '-environment-directory' and '-environment-path' commands now returns values using the MI output syntax, rather than CLI output syntax. * '-var-list-children''s 'children' result field is now a list, rather than a tuple. * '-var-update''s 'changelist' result field is now a list, rather than a tuple. 3 9.1 * The output of information about multi-location breakpoints has changed in the responses to the '-break-insert' and '-break-info' commands, as well as in the '=breakpoint-created' and '=breakpoint-modified' events. The multiple locations are now placed in a 'locations' field, whose value is a list. If your front end cannot yet migrate to a more recent version of the MI protocol, you can nevertheless selectively enable specific features available in those recent MI versions, using the following commands: '-fix-multi-location-breakpoint-output' Use the output for multi-location breakpoints which was introduced by MI 3, even when using MI versions 2 or 1. This command has no effect when using MI version 3 or later. The best way to avoid unexpected changes in MI that might break your front end is to make your project known to GDB developers and follow development on and .  File: gdb.info, Node: GDB/MI Output Records, Next: GDB/MI Simple Examples, Prev: GDB/MI Development and Front Ends, Up: GDB/MI 27.5 GDB/MI Output Records ========================== * Menu: * GDB/MI Result Records:: * GDB/MI Stream Records:: * GDB/MI Async Records:: * GDB/MI Breakpoint Information:: * GDB/MI Frame Information:: * GDB/MI Thread Information:: * GDB/MI Ada Exception Information::  File: gdb.info, Node: GDB/MI Result Records, Next: GDB/MI Stream Records, Up: GDB/MI Output Records 27.5.1 GDB/MI Result Records ---------------------------- In addition to a number of out-of-band notifications, the response to a GDB/MI command includes one of the following result indications: '"^done" [ "," RESULTS ]' The synchronous operation was successful, 'RESULTS' are the return values. '"^running"' This result record is equivalent to '^done'. Historically, it was output instead of '^done' if the command has resumed the target. This behaviour is maintained for backward compatibility, but all frontends should treat '^done' and '^running' identically and rely on the '*running' output record to determine which threads are resumed. '"^connected"' GDB has connected to a remote target. '"^error" "," "msg=" C-STRING [ "," "code=" C-STRING ]' The operation failed. The 'msg=C-STRING' variable contains the corresponding error message. If present, the 'code=C-STRING' variable provides an error code on which consumers can rely on to detect the corresponding error condition. At present, only one error code is defined: '"undefined-command"' Indicates that the command causing the error does not exist. '"^exit"' GDB has terminated.  File: gdb.info, Node: GDB/MI Stream Records, Next: GDB/MI Async Records, Prev: GDB/MI Result Records, Up: GDB/MI Output Records 27.5.2 GDB/MI Stream Records ---------------------------- GDB internally maintains a number of output streams: the console, the target, and the log. The output intended for each of these streams is funneled through the GDB/MI interface using "stream records". Each stream record begins with a unique "prefix character" which identifies its stream (*note GDB/MI Output Syntax: GDB/MI Output Syntax.). In addition to the prefix, each stream record contains a 'STRING-OUTPUT'. This is either raw text (with an implicit new line) or a quoted C string (which does not contain an implicit newline). '"~" STRING-OUTPUT' The console output stream contains text that should be displayed in the CLI console window. It contains the textual responses to CLI commands. '"@" STRING-OUTPUT' The target output stream contains any textual output from the running target. This is only present when GDB's event loop is truly asynchronous, which is currently only the case for remote targets. '"&" STRING-OUTPUT' The log stream contains debugging messages being produced by GDB's internals.  File: gdb.info, Node: GDB/MI Async Records, Next: GDB/MI Breakpoint Information, Prev: GDB/MI Stream Records, Up: GDB/MI Output Records 27.5.3 GDB/MI Async Records --------------------------- "Async" records are used to notify the GDB/MI client of additional changes that have occurred. Those changes can either be a consequence of GDB/MI commands (e.g., a breakpoint modified) or a result of target activity (e.g., target stopped). The following is the list of possible async records: '*running,thread-id="THREAD"' The target is now running. The THREAD field can be the global thread ID of the the thread that is now running, and it can be 'all' if all threads are running. The frontend should assume that no interaction with a running thread is possible after this notification is produced. The frontend should not assume that this notification is output only once for any command. GDB may emit this notification several times, either for different threads, because it cannot resume all threads together, or even for a single thread, if the thread must be stepped though some code before letting it run freely. '*stopped,reason="REASON",thread-id="ID",stopped-threads="STOPPED",core="CORE"' The target has stopped. The REASON field can have one of the following values: 'breakpoint-hit' A breakpoint was reached. 'watchpoint-trigger' A watchpoint was triggered. 'read-watchpoint-trigger' A read watchpoint was triggered. 'access-watchpoint-trigger' An access watchpoint was triggered. 'function-finished' An -exec-finish or similar CLI command was accomplished. 'location-reached' An -exec-until or similar CLI command was accomplished. 'watchpoint-scope' A watchpoint has gone out of scope. 'end-stepping-range' An -exec-next, -exec-next-instruction, -exec-step, -exec-step-instruction or similar CLI command was accomplished. 'exited-signalled' The inferior exited because of a signal. 'exited' The inferior exited. 'exited-normally' The inferior exited normally. 'signal-received' A signal was received by the inferior. 'solib-event' The inferior has stopped due to a library being loaded or unloaded. This can happen when 'stop-on-solib-events' (*note Files::) is set or when a 'catch load' or 'catch unload' catchpoint is in use (*note Set Catchpoints::). 'fork' The inferior has forked. This is reported when 'catch fork' (*note Set Catchpoints::) has been used. 'vfork' The inferior has vforked. This is reported in when 'catch vfork' (*note Set Catchpoints::) has been used. 'syscall-entry' The inferior entered a system call. This is reported when 'catch syscall' (*note Set Catchpoints::) has been used. 'syscall-return' The inferior returned from a system call. This is reported when 'catch syscall' (*note Set Catchpoints::) has been used. 'exec' The inferior called 'exec'. This is reported when 'catch exec' (*note Set Catchpoints::) has been used. The ID field identifies the global thread ID of the thread that directly caused the stop - for example by hitting a breakpoint. Depending on whether all-stop mode is in effect (*note All-Stop Mode::), GDB may either stop all threads, or only the thread that directly triggered the stop. If all threads are stopped, the STOPPED field will have the value of '"all"'. Otherwise, the value of the STOPPED field will be a list of thread identifiers. Presently, this list will always include a single thread, but frontend should be prepared to see several threads in the list. The CORE field reports the processor core on which the stop event has happened. This field may be absent if such information is not available. '=thread-group-added,id="ID"' '=thread-group-removed,id="ID"' A thread group was either added or removed. The ID field contains the GDB identifier of the thread group. When a thread group is added, it generally might not be associated with a running process. When a thread group is removed, its id becomes invalid and cannot be used in any way. '=thread-group-started,id="ID",pid="PID"' A thread group became associated with a running program, either because the program was just started or the thread group was attached to a program. The ID field contains the GDB identifier of the thread group. The PID field contains process identifier, specific to the operating system. '=thread-group-exited,id="ID"[,exit-code="CODE"]' A thread group is no longer associated with a running program, either because the program has exited, or because it was detached from. The ID field contains the GDB identifier of the thread group. The CODE field is the exit code of the inferior; it exists only when the inferior exited with some code. '=thread-created,id="ID",group-id="GID"' '=thread-exited,id="ID",group-id="GID"' A thread either was created, or has exited. The ID field contains the global GDB identifier of the thread. The GID field identifies the thread group this thread belongs to. '=thread-selected,id="ID"[,frame="FRAME"]' Informs that the selected thread or frame were changed. This notification is not emitted as result of the '-thread-select' or '-stack-select-frame' commands, but is emitted whenever an MI command that is not documented to change the selected thread and frame actually changes them. In particular, invoking, directly or indirectly (via user-defined command), the CLI 'thread' or 'frame' commands, will generate this notification. Changing the thread or frame from another user interface (see *note Interpreters::) will also generate this notification. The FRAME field is only present if the newly selected thread is stopped. See *note GDB/MI Frame Information:: for the format of its value. We suggest that in response to this notification, front ends highlight the selected thread and cause subsequent commands to apply to that thread. '=library-loaded,...' Reports that a new library file was loaded by the program. This notification has 5 fields--ID, TARGET-NAME, HOST-NAME, SYMBOLS-LOADED and RANGES. The ID field is an opaque identifier of the library. For remote debugging case, TARGET-NAME and HOST-NAME fields give the name of the library file on the target, and on the host respectively. For native debugging, both those fields have the same value. The SYMBOLS-LOADED field is emitted only for backward compatibility and should not be relied on to convey any useful information. The THREAD-GROUP field, if present, specifies the id of the thread group in whose context the library was loaded. If the field is absent, it means the library was loaded in the context of all present thread groups. The RANGES field specifies the ranges of addresses belonging to this library. '=library-unloaded,...' Reports that a library was unloaded by the program. This notification has 3 fields--ID, TARGET-NAME and HOST-NAME with the same meaning as for the '=library-loaded' notification. The THREAD-GROUP field, if present, specifies the id of the thread group in whose context the library was unloaded. If the field is absent, it means the library was unloaded in the context of all present thread groups. '=traceframe-changed,num=TFNUM,tracepoint=TPNUM' '=traceframe-changed,end' Reports that the trace frame was changed and its new number is TFNUM. The number of the tracepoint associated with this trace frame is TPNUM. '=tsv-created,name=NAME,initial=INITIAL' Reports that the new trace state variable NAME is created with initial value INITIAL. '=tsv-deleted,name=NAME' '=tsv-deleted' Reports that the trace state variable NAME is deleted or all trace state variables are deleted. '=tsv-modified,name=NAME,initial=INITIAL[,current=CURRENT]' Reports that the trace state variable NAME is modified with the initial value INITIAL. The current value CURRENT of trace state variable is optional and is reported if the current value of trace state variable is known. '=breakpoint-created,bkpt={...}' '=breakpoint-modified,bkpt={...}' '=breakpoint-deleted,id=NUMBER' Reports that a breakpoint was created, modified, or deleted, respectively. Only user-visible breakpoints are reported to the MI user. The BKPT argument is of the same form as returned by the various breakpoint commands; *Note GDB/MI Breakpoint Commands::. The NUMBER is the ordinal number of the breakpoint. Note that if a breakpoint is emitted in the result record of a command, then it will not also be emitted in an async record. '=record-started,thread-group="ID",method="METHOD"[,format="FORMAT"]' '=record-stopped,thread-group="ID"' Execution log recording was either started or stopped on an inferior. The ID is the GDB identifier of the thread group corresponding to the affected inferior. The METHOD field indicates the method used to record execution. If the method in use supports multiple recording formats, FORMAT will be present and contain the currently used format. *Note Process Record and Replay::, for existing method and format values. '=cmd-param-changed,param=PARAM,value=VALUE' Reports that a parameter of the command 'set PARAM' is changed to VALUE. In the multi-word 'set' command, the PARAM is the whole parameter list to 'set' command. For example, In command 'set check type on', PARAM is 'check type' and VALUE is 'on'. '=memory-changed,thread-group=ID,addr=ADDR,len=LEN[,type="code"]' Reports that bytes from ADDR to DATA + LEN were written in an inferior. The ID is the identifier of the thread group corresponding to the affected inferior. The optional 'type="code"' part is reported if the memory written to holds executable code.  File: gdb.info, Node: GDB/MI Breakpoint Information, Next: GDB/MI Frame Information, Prev: GDB/MI Async Records, Up: GDB/MI Output Records 27.5.4 GDB/MI Breakpoint Information ------------------------------------ When GDB reports information about a breakpoint, a tracepoint, a watchpoint, or a catchpoint, it uses a tuple with the following fields: 'number' The breakpoint number. 'type' The type of the breakpoint. For ordinary breakpoints this will be 'breakpoint', but many values are possible. 'catch-type' If the type of the breakpoint is 'catchpoint', then this indicates the exact type of catchpoint. 'disp' This is the breakpoint disposition--either 'del', meaning that the breakpoint will be deleted at the next stop, or 'keep', meaning that the breakpoint will not be deleted. 'enabled' This indicates whether the breakpoint is enabled, in which case the value is 'y', or disabled, in which case the value is 'n'. Note that this is not the same as the field 'enable'. 'addr' The address of the breakpoint. This may be a hexidecimal number, giving the address; or the string '', for a pending breakpoint; or the string '', for a breakpoint with multiple locations. This field will not be present if no address can be determined. For example, a watchpoint does not have an address. 'addr_flags' Optional field containing any flags related to the address. These flags are architecture-dependent; see *note Architectures:: for their meaning for a particular CPU. 'func' If known, the function in which the breakpoint appears. If not known, this field is not present. 'filename' The name of the source file which contains this function, if known. If not known, this field is not present. 'fullname' The full file name of the source file which contains this function, if known. If not known, this field is not present. 'line' The line number at which this breakpoint appears, if known. If not known, this field is not present. 'at' If the source file is not known, this field may be provided. If provided, this holds the address of the breakpoint, possibly followed by a symbol name. 'pending' If this breakpoint is pending, this field is present and holds the text used to set the breakpoint, as entered by the user. 'evaluated-by' Where this breakpoint's condition is evaluated, either 'host' or 'target'. 'thread' If this is a thread-specific breakpoint, then this identifies the thread in which the breakpoint can trigger. 'task' If this breakpoint is restricted to a particular Ada task, then this field will hold the task identifier. 'cond' If the breakpoint is conditional, this is the condition expression. 'ignore' The ignore count of the breakpoint. 'enable' The enable count of the breakpoint. 'traceframe-usage' FIXME. 'static-tracepoint-marker-string-id' For a static tracepoint, the name of the static tracepoint marker. 'mask' For a masked watchpoint, this is the mask. 'pass' A tracepoint's pass count. 'original-location' The location of the breakpoint as originally specified by the user. This field is optional. 'times' The number of times the breakpoint has been hit. 'installed' This field is only given for tracepoints. This is either 'y', meaning that the tracepoint is installed, or 'n', meaning that it is not. 'what' Some extra data, the exact contents of which are type-dependent. 'locations' This field is present if the breakpoint has multiple locations. It is also exceptionally present if the breakpoint is enabled and has a single, disabled location. The value is a list of locations. The format of a location is described below. A location in a multi-location breakpoint is represented as a tuple with the following fields: 'number' The location number as a dotted pair, like '1.2'. The first digit is the number of the parent breakpoint. The second digit is the number of the location within that breakpoint. 'enabled' This indicates whether the location is enabled, in which case the value is 'y', or disabled, in which case the value is 'n'. Note that this is not the same as the field 'enable'. 'addr' The address of this location as an hexidecimal number. 'addr_flags' Optional field containing any flags related to the address. These flags are architecture-dependent; see *note Architectures:: for their meaning for a particular CPU. 'func' If known, the function in which the location appears. If not known, this field is not present. 'file' The name of the source file which contains this location, if known. If not known, this field is not present. 'fullname' The full file name of the source file which contains this location, if known. If not known, this field is not present. 'line' The line number at which this location appears, if known. If not known, this field is not present. 'thread-groups' The thread groups this location is in. For example, here is what the output of '-break-insert' (*note GDB/MI Breakpoint Commands::) might be: -> -break-insert main <- ^done,bkpt={number="1",type="breakpoint",disp="keep", enabled="y",addr="0x08048564",func="main",file="myprog.c", fullname="/home/nickrob/myprog.c",line="68",thread-groups=["i1"], times="0"} <- (gdb)  File: gdb.info, Node: GDB/MI Frame Information, Next: GDB/MI Thread Information, Prev: GDB/MI Breakpoint Information, Up: GDB/MI Output Records 27.5.5 GDB/MI Frame Information ------------------------------- Response from many MI commands includes an information about stack frame. This information is a tuple that may have the following fields: 'level' The level of the stack frame. The innermost frame has the level of zero. This field is always present. 'func' The name of the function corresponding to the frame. This field may be absent if GDB is unable to determine the function name. 'addr' The code address for the frame. This field is always present. 'addr_flags' Optional field containing any flags related to the address. These flags are architecture-dependent; see *note Architectures:: for their meaning for a particular CPU. 'file' The name of the source files that correspond to the frame's code address. This field may be absent. 'line' The source line corresponding to the frames' code address. This field may be absent. 'from' The name of the binary file (either executable or shared library) the corresponds to the frame's code address. This field may be absent.  File: gdb.info, Node: GDB/MI Thread Information, Next: GDB/MI Ada Exception Information, Prev: GDB/MI Frame Information, Up: GDB/MI Output Records 27.5.6 GDB/MI Thread Information -------------------------------- Whenever GDB has to report an information about a thread, it uses a tuple with the following fields. The fields are always present unless stated otherwise. 'id' The global numeric id assigned to the thread by GDB. 'target-id' The target-specific string identifying the thread. 'details' Additional information about the thread provided by the target. It is supposed to be human-readable and not interpreted by the frontend. This field is optional. 'name' The name of the thread. If the user specified a name using the 'thread name' command, then this name is given. Otherwise, if GDB can extract the thread name from the target, then that name is given. If GDB cannot find the thread name, then this field is omitted. 'state' The execution state of the thread, either 'stopped' or 'running', depending on whether the thread is presently running. 'frame' The stack frame currently executing in the thread. This field is only present if the thread is stopped. Its format is documented in *note GDB/MI Frame Information::. 'core' The value of this field is an integer number of the processor core the thread was last seen on. This field is optional.  File: gdb.info, Node: GDB/MI Ada Exception Information, Prev: GDB/MI Thread Information, Up: GDB/MI Output Records 27.5.7 GDB/MI Ada Exception Information --------------------------------------- Whenever a '*stopped' record is emitted because the program stopped after hitting an exception catchpoint (*note Set Catchpoints::), GDB provides the name of the exception that was raised via the 'exception-name' field. Also, for exceptions that were raised with an exception message, GDB provides that message via the 'exception-message' field.  File: gdb.info, Node: GDB/MI Simple Examples, Next: GDB/MI Command Description Format, Prev: GDB/MI Output Records, Up: GDB/MI 27.6 Simple Examples of GDB/MI Interaction ========================================== This subsection presents several simple examples of interaction using the GDB/MI interface. In these examples, '->' means that the following line is passed to GDB/MI as input, while '<-' means the output received from GDB/MI. Note the line breaks shown in the examples are here only for readability, they don't appear in the real output. Setting a Breakpoint -------------------- Setting a breakpoint generates synchronous output which contains detailed information of the breakpoint. -> -break-insert main <- ^done,bkpt={number="1",type="breakpoint",disp="keep", enabled="y",addr="0x08048564",func="main",file="myprog.c", fullname="/home/nickrob/myprog.c",line="68",thread-groups=["i1"], times="0"} <- (gdb) Program Execution ----------------- Program execution generates asynchronous records and MI gives the reason that execution stopped. -> -exec-run <- ^running <- (gdb) <- *stopped,reason="breakpoint-hit",disp="keep",bkptno="1",thread-id="0", frame={addr="0x08048564",func="main", args=[{name="argc",value="1"},{name="argv",value="0xbfc4d4d4"}], file="myprog.c",fullname="/home/nickrob/myprog.c",line="68", arch="i386:x86_64"} <- (gdb) -> -exec-continue <- ^running <- (gdb) <- *stopped,reason="exited-normally" <- (gdb) Quitting GDB ------------ Quitting GDB just prints the result class '^exit'. -> (gdb) <- -gdb-exit <- ^exit Please note that '^exit' is printed immediately, but it might take some time for GDB to actually exit. During that time, GDB performs necessary cleanups, including killing programs being debugged or disconnecting from debug hardware, so the frontend should wait till GDB exits and should only forcibly kill GDB if it fails to exit in reasonable time. A Bad Command ------------- Here's what happens if you pass a non-existent command: -> -rubbish <- ^error,msg="Undefined MI command: rubbish" <- (gdb)  File: gdb.info, Node: GDB/MI Command Description Format, Next: GDB/MI Breakpoint Commands, Prev: GDB/MI Simple Examples, Up: GDB/MI 27.7 GDB/MI Command Description Format ====================================== The remaining sections describe blocks of commands. Each block of commands is laid out in a fashion similar to this section. Motivation ---------- The motivation for this collection of commands. Introduction ------------ A brief introduction to this collection of commands as a whole. Commands -------- For each command in the block, the following is described: Synopsis ........ -command ARGS... Result ...... GDB Command ........... The corresponding GDB CLI command(s), if any. Example ....... Example(s) formatted for readability. Some of the described commands have not been implemented yet and these are labeled N.A. (not available).  File: gdb.info, Node: GDB/MI Breakpoint Commands, Next: GDB/MI Catchpoint Commands, Prev: GDB/MI Command Description Format, Up: GDB/MI 27.8 GDB/MI Breakpoint Commands =============================== This section documents GDB/MI commands for manipulating breakpoints. The '-break-after' Command -------------------------- Synopsis ........ -break-after NUMBER COUNT The breakpoint number NUMBER is not in effect until it has been hit COUNT times. To see how this is reflected in the output of the '-break-list' command, see the description of the '-break-list' command below. GDB Command ........... The corresponding GDB command is 'ignore'. Example ....... (gdb) -break-insert main ^done,bkpt={number="1",type="breakpoint",disp="keep", enabled="y",addr="0x000100d0",func="main",file="hello.c", fullname="/home/foo/hello.c",line="5",thread-groups=["i1"], times="0"} (gdb) -break-after 1 3 ~ ^done (gdb) -break-list ^done,BreakpointTable={nr_rows="1",nr_cols="6", hdr=[{width="3",alignment="-1",col_name="number",colhdr="Num"}, {width="14",alignment="-1",col_name="type",colhdr="Type"}, {width="4",alignment="-1",col_name="disp",colhdr="Disp"}, {width="3",alignment="-1",col_name="enabled",colhdr="Enb"}, {width="10",alignment="-1",col_name="addr",colhdr="Address"}, {width="40",alignment="2",col_name="what",colhdr="What"}], body=[bkpt={number="1",type="breakpoint",disp="keep",enabled="y", addr="0x000100d0",func="main",file="hello.c",fullname="/home/foo/hello.c", line="5",thread-groups=["i1"],times="0",ignore="3"}]} (gdb) The '-break-commands' Command ----------------------------- Synopsis ........ -break-commands NUMBER [ COMMAND1 ... COMMANDN ] Specifies the CLI commands that should be executed when breakpoint NUMBER is hit. The parameters COMMAND1 to COMMANDN are the commands. If no command is specified, any previously-set commands are cleared. *Note Break Commands::. Typical use of this functionality is tracing a program, that is, printing of values of some variables whenever breakpoint is hit and then continuing. GDB Command ........... The corresponding GDB command is 'commands'. Example ....... (gdb) -break-insert main ^done,bkpt={number="1",type="breakpoint",disp="keep", enabled="y",addr="0x000100d0",func="main",file="hello.c", fullname="/home/foo/hello.c",line="5",thread-groups=["i1"], times="0"} (gdb) -break-commands 1 "print v" "continue" ^done (gdb) The '-break-condition' Command ------------------------------ Synopsis ........ -break-condition NUMBER EXPR Breakpoint NUMBER will stop the program only if the condition in EXPR is true. The condition becomes part of the '-break-list' output (see the description of the '-break-list' command below). GDB Command ........... The corresponding GDB command is 'condition'. Example ....... (gdb) -break-condition 1 1 ^done (gdb) -break-list ^done,BreakpointTable={nr_rows="1",nr_cols="6", hdr=[{width="3",alignment="-1",col_name="number",colhdr="Num"}, {width="14",alignment="-1",col_name="type",colhdr="Type"}, {width="4",alignment="-1",col_name="disp",colhdr="Disp"}, {width="3",alignment="-1",col_name="enabled",colhdr="Enb"}, {width="10",alignment="-1",col_name="addr",colhdr="Address"}, {width="40",alignment="2",col_name="what",colhdr="What"}], body=[bkpt={number="1",type="breakpoint",disp="keep",enabled="y", addr="0x000100d0",func="main",file="hello.c",fullname="/home/foo/hello.c", line="5",cond="1",thread-groups=["i1"],times="0",ignore="3"}]} (gdb) The '-break-delete' Command --------------------------- Synopsis ........ -break-delete ( BREAKPOINT )+ Delete the breakpoint(s) whose number(s) are specified in the argument list. This is obviously reflected in the breakpoint list. GDB Command ........... The corresponding GDB command is 'delete'. Example ....... (gdb) -break-delete 1 ^done (gdb) -break-list ^done,BreakpointTable={nr_rows="0",nr_cols="6", hdr=[{width="3",alignment="-1",col_name="number",colhdr="Num"}, {width="14",alignment="-1",col_name="type",colhdr="Type"}, {width="4",alignment="-1",col_name="disp",colhdr="Disp"}, {width="3",alignment="-1",col_name="enabled",colhdr="Enb"}, {width="10",alignment="-1",col_name="addr",colhdr="Address"}, {width="40",alignment="2",col_name="what",colhdr="What"}], body=[]} (gdb) The '-break-disable' Command ---------------------------- Synopsis ........ -break-disable ( BREAKPOINT )+ Disable the named BREAKPOINT(s). The field 'enabled' in the break list is now set to 'n' for the named BREAKPOINT(s). GDB Command ........... The corresponding GDB command is 'disable'. Example ....... (gdb) -break-disable 2 ^done (gdb) -break-list ^done,BreakpointTable={nr_rows="1",nr_cols="6", hdr=[{width="3",alignment="-1",col_name="number",colhdr="Num"}, {width="14",alignment="-1",col_name="type",colhdr="Type"}, {width="4",alignment="-1",col_name="disp",colhdr="Disp"}, {width="3",alignment="-1",col_name="enabled",colhdr="Enb"}, {width="10",alignment="-1",col_name="addr",colhdr="Address"}, {width="40",alignment="2",col_name="what",colhdr="What"}], body=[bkpt={number="2",type="breakpoint",disp="keep",enabled="n", addr="0x000100d0",func="main",file="hello.c",fullname="/home/foo/hello.c", line="5",thread-groups=["i1"],times="0"}]} (gdb) The '-break-enable' Command --------------------------- Synopsis ........ -break-enable ( BREAKPOINT )+ Enable (previously disabled) BREAKPOINT(s). GDB Command ........... The corresponding GDB command is 'enable'. Example ....... (gdb) -break-enable 2 ^done (gdb) -break-list ^done,BreakpointTable={nr_rows="1",nr_cols="6", hdr=[{width="3",alignment="-1",col_name="number",colhdr="Num"}, {width="14",alignment="-1",col_name="type",colhdr="Type"}, {width="4",alignment="-1",col_name="disp",colhdr="Disp"}, {width="3",alignment="-1",col_name="enabled",colhdr="Enb"}, {width="10",alignment="-1",col_name="addr",colhdr="Address"}, {width="40",alignment="2",col_name="what",colhdr="What"}], body=[bkpt={number="2",type="breakpoint",disp="keep",enabled="y", addr="0x000100d0",func="main",file="hello.c",fullname="/home/foo/hello.c", line="5",thread-groups=["i1"],times="0"}]} (gdb) The '-break-info' Command ------------------------- Synopsis ........ -break-info BREAKPOINT Get information about a single breakpoint. The result is a table of breakpoints. *Note GDB/MI Breakpoint Information::, for details on the format of each breakpoint in the table. GDB Command ........... The corresponding GDB command is 'info break BREAKPOINT'. Example ....... N.A. The '-break-insert' Command --------------------------- Synopsis ........ -break-insert [ -t ] [ -h ] [ -f ] [ -d ] [ -a ] [ -c CONDITION ] [ -i IGNORE-COUNT ] [ -p THREAD-ID ] [ LOCATION ] If specified, LOCATION, can be one of: LINESPEC LOCATION A linespec location. *Note Linespec Locations::. EXPLICIT LOCATION An explicit location. GDB/MI explicit locations are analogous to the CLI's explicit locations using the option names listed below. *Note Explicit Locations::. '--source FILENAME' The source file name of the location. This option requires the use of either '--function' or '--line'. '--function FUNCTION' The name of a function or method. '--label LABEL' The name of a label. '--line LINEOFFSET' An absolute or relative line offset from the start of the location. ADDRESS LOCATION An address location, *ADDRESS. *Note Address Locations::. The possible optional parameters of this command are: '-t' Insert a temporary breakpoint. '-h' Insert a hardware breakpoint. '-f' If LOCATION cannot be parsed (for example if it refers to unknown files or functions), create a pending breakpoint. Without this flag, GDB will report an error, and won't create a breakpoint, if LOCATION cannot be parsed. '-d' Create a disabled breakpoint. '-a' Create a tracepoint. *Note Tracepoints::. When this parameter is used together with '-h', a fast tracepoint is created. '-c CONDITION' Make the breakpoint conditional on CONDITION. '-i IGNORE-COUNT' Initialize the IGNORE-COUNT. '-p THREAD-ID' Restrict the breakpoint to the thread with the specified global THREAD-ID. Result ...... *Note GDB/MI Breakpoint Information::, for details on the format of the resulting breakpoint. Note: this format is open to change. GDB Command ........... The corresponding GDB commands are 'break', 'tbreak', 'hbreak', and 'thbreak'. Example ....... (gdb) -break-insert main ^done,bkpt={number="1",addr="0x0001072c",file="recursive2.c", fullname="/home/foo/recursive2.c,line="4",thread-groups=["i1"], times="0"} (gdb) -break-insert -t foo ^done,bkpt={number="2",addr="0x00010774",file="recursive2.c", fullname="/home/foo/recursive2.c,line="11",thread-groups=["i1"], times="0"} (gdb) -break-list ^done,BreakpointTable={nr_rows="2",nr_cols="6", hdr=[{width="3",alignment="-1",col_name="number",colhdr="Num"}, {width="14",alignment="-1",col_name="type",colhdr="Type"}, {width="4",alignment="-1",col_name="disp",colhdr="Disp"}, {width="3",alignment="-1",col_name="enabled",colhdr="Enb"}, {width="10",alignment="-1",col_name="addr",colhdr="Address"}, {width="40",alignment="2",col_name="what",colhdr="What"}], body=[bkpt={number="1",type="breakpoint",disp="keep",enabled="y", addr="0x0001072c", func="main",file="recursive2.c", fullname="/home/foo/recursive2.c,"line="4",thread-groups=["i1"], times="0"}, bkpt={number="2",type="breakpoint",disp="del",enabled="y", addr="0x00010774",func="foo",file="recursive2.c", fullname="/home/foo/recursive2.c",line="11",thread-groups=["i1"], times="0"}]} (gdb) The '-dprintf-insert' Command ----------------------------- Synopsis ........ -dprintf-insert [ -t ] [ -f ] [ -d ] [ -c CONDITION ] [ -i IGNORE-COUNT ] [ -p THREAD-ID ] [ LOCATION ] [ FORMAT ] [ ARGUMENT ] If supplied, LOCATION may be specified the same way as for the '-break-insert' command. *Note -break-insert::. The possible optional parameters of this command are: '-t' Insert a temporary breakpoint. '-f' If LOCATION cannot be parsed (for example, if it refers to unknown files or functions), create a pending breakpoint. Without this flag, GDB will report an error, and won't create a breakpoint, if LOCATION cannot be parsed. '-d' Create a disabled breakpoint. '-c CONDITION' Make the breakpoint conditional on CONDITION. '-i IGNORE-COUNT' Set the ignore count of the breakpoint (*note ignore count: Conditions.) to IGNORE-COUNT. '-p THREAD-ID' Restrict the breakpoint to the thread with the specified global THREAD-ID. Result ...... *Note GDB/MI Breakpoint Information::, for details on the format of the resulting breakpoint. GDB Command ........... The corresponding GDB command is 'dprintf'. Example ....... (gdb) 4-dprintf-insert foo "At foo entry\n" 4^done,bkpt={number="1",type="dprintf",disp="keep",enabled="y", addr="0x000000000040061b",func="foo",file="mi-dprintf.c", fullname="mi-dprintf.c",line="25",thread-groups=["i1"], times="0",script={"printf \"At foo entry\\n\"","continue"}, original-location="foo"} (gdb) 5-dprintf-insert 26 "arg=%d, g=%d\n" arg g 5^done,bkpt={number="2",type="dprintf",disp="keep",enabled="y", addr="0x000000000040062a",func="foo",file="mi-dprintf.c", fullname="mi-dprintf.c",line="26",thread-groups=["i1"], times="0",script={"printf \"arg=%d, g=%d\\n\", arg, g","continue"}, original-location="mi-dprintf.c:26"} (gdb) The '-break-list' Command ------------------------- Synopsis ........ -break-list Displays the list of inserted breakpoints, showing the following fields: 'Number' number of the breakpoint 'Type' type of the breakpoint: 'breakpoint' or 'watchpoint' 'Disposition' should the breakpoint be deleted or disabled when it is hit: 'keep' or 'nokeep' 'Enabled' is the breakpoint enabled or no: 'y' or 'n' 'Address' memory location at which the breakpoint is set 'What' logical location of the breakpoint, expressed by function name, file name, line number 'Thread-groups' list of thread groups to which this breakpoint applies 'Times' number of times the breakpoint has been hit If there are no breakpoints or watchpoints, the 'BreakpointTable' 'body' field is an empty list. GDB Command ........... The corresponding GDB command is 'info break'. Example ....... (gdb) -break-list ^done,BreakpointTable={nr_rows="2",nr_cols="6", hdr=[{width="3",alignment="-1",col_name="number",colhdr="Num"}, {width="14",alignment="-1",col_name="type",colhdr="Type"}, {width="4",alignment="-1",col_name="disp",colhdr="Disp"}, {width="3",alignment="-1",col_name="enabled",colhdr="Enb"}, {width="10",alignment="-1",col_name="addr",colhdr="Address"}, {width="40",alignment="2",col_name="what",colhdr="What"}], body=[bkpt={number="1",type="breakpoint",disp="keep",enabled="y", addr="0x000100d0",func="main",file="hello.c",line="5",thread-groups=["i1"], times="0"}, bkpt={number="2",type="breakpoint",disp="keep",enabled="y", addr="0x00010114",func="foo",file="hello.c",fullname="/home/foo/hello.c", line="13",thread-groups=["i1"],times="0"}]} (gdb) Here's an example of the result when there are no breakpoints: (gdb) -break-list ^done,BreakpointTable={nr_rows="0",nr_cols="6", hdr=[{width="3",alignment="-1",col_name="number",colhdr="Num"}, {width="14",alignment="-1",col_name="type",colhdr="Type"}, {width="4",alignment="-1",col_name="disp",colhdr="Disp"}, {width="3",alignment="-1",col_name="enabled",colhdr="Enb"}, {width="10",alignment="-1",col_name="addr",colhdr="Address"}, {width="40",alignment="2",col_name="what",colhdr="What"}], body=[]} (gdb) The '-break-passcount' Command ------------------------------ Synopsis ........ -break-passcount TRACEPOINT-NUMBER PASSCOUNT Set the passcount for tracepoint TRACEPOINT-NUMBER to PASSCOUNT. If the breakpoint referred to by TRACEPOINT-NUMBER is not a tracepoint, error is emitted. This corresponds to CLI command 'passcount'. The '-break-watch' Command -------------------------- Synopsis ........ -break-watch [ -a | -r ] Create a watchpoint. With the '-a' option it will create an "access" watchpoint, i.e., a watchpoint that triggers either on a read from or on a write to the memory location. With the '-r' option, the watchpoint created is a "read" watchpoint, i.e., it will trigger only when the memory location is accessed for reading. Without either of the options, the watchpoint created is a regular watchpoint, i.e., it will trigger when the memory location is accessed for writing. *Note Setting Watchpoints: Set Watchpoints. Note that '-break-list' will report a single list of watchpoints and breakpoints inserted. GDB Command ........... The corresponding GDB commands are 'watch', 'awatch', and 'rwatch'. Example ....... Setting a watchpoint on a variable in the 'main' function: (gdb) -break-watch x ^done,wpt={number="2",exp="x"} (gdb) -exec-continue ^running (gdb) *stopped,reason="watchpoint-trigger",wpt={number="2",exp="x"}, value={old="-268439212",new="55"}, frame={func="main",args=[],file="recursive2.c", fullname="/home/foo/bar/recursive2.c",line="5",arch="i386:x86_64"} (gdb) Setting a watchpoint on a variable local to a function. GDB will stop the program execution twice: first for the variable changing value, then for the watchpoint going out of scope. (gdb) -break-watch C ^done,wpt={number="5",exp="C"} (gdb) -exec-continue ^running (gdb) *stopped,reason="watchpoint-trigger", wpt={number="5",exp="C"},value={old="-276895068",new="3"}, frame={func="callee4",args=[], file="../../../devo/gdb/testsuite/gdb.mi/basics.c", fullname="/home/foo/bar/devo/gdb/testsuite/gdb.mi/basics.c",line="13", arch="i386:x86_64"} (gdb) -exec-continue ^running (gdb) *stopped,reason="watchpoint-scope",wpnum="5", frame={func="callee3",args=[{name="strarg", value="0x11940 \"A string argument.\""}], file="../../../devo/gdb/testsuite/gdb.mi/basics.c", fullname="/home/foo/bar/devo/gdb/testsuite/gdb.mi/basics.c",line="18", arch="i386:x86_64"} (gdb) Listing breakpoints and watchpoints, at different points in the program execution. Note that once the watchpoint goes out of scope, it is deleted. (gdb) -break-watch C ^done,wpt={number="2",exp="C"} (gdb) -break-list ^done,BreakpointTable={nr_rows="2",nr_cols="6", hdr=[{width="3",alignment="-1",col_name="number",colhdr="Num"}, {width="14",alignment="-1",col_name="type",colhdr="Type"}, {width="4",alignment="-1",col_name="disp",colhdr="Disp"}, {width="3",alignment="-1",col_name="enabled",colhdr="Enb"}, {width="10",alignment="-1",col_name="addr",colhdr="Address"}, {width="40",alignment="2",col_name="what",colhdr="What"}], body=[bkpt={number="1",type="breakpoint",disp="keep",enabled="y", addr="0x00010734",func="callee4", file="../../../devo/gdb/testsuite/gdb.mi/basics.c", fullname="/home/foo/devo/gdb/testsuite/gdb.mi/basics.c"line="8",thread-groups=["i1"], times="1"}, bkpt={number="2",type="watchpoint",disp="keep", enabled="y",addr="",what="C",thread-groups=["i1"],times="0"}]} (gdb) -exec-continue ^running (gdb) *stopped,reason="watchpoint-trigger",wpt={number="2",exp="C"}, value={old="-276895068",new="3"}, frame={func="callee4",args=[], file="../../../devo/gdb/testsuite/gdb.mi/basics.c", fullname="/home/foo/bar/devo/gdb/testsuite/gdb.mi/basics.c",line="13", arch="i386:x86_64"} (gdb) -break-list ^done,BreakpointTable={nr_rows="2",nr_cols="6", hdr=[{width="3",alignment="-1",col_name="number",colhdr="Num"}, {width="14",alignment="-1",col_name="type",colhdr="Type"}, {width="4",alignment="-1",col_name="disp",colhdr="Disp"}, {width="3",alignment="-1",col_name="enabled",colhdr="Enb"}, {width="10",alignment="-1",col_name="addr",colhdr="Address"}, {width="40",alignment="2",col_name="what",colhdr="What"}], body=[bkpt={number="1",type="breakpoint",disp="keep",enabled="y", addr="0x00010734",func="callee4", file="../../../devo/gdb/testsuite/gdb.mi/basics.c", fullname="/home/foo/devo/gdb/testsuite/gdb.mi/basics.c",line="8",thread-groups=["i1"], times="1"}, bkpt={number="2",type="watchpoint",disp="keep", enabled="y",addr="",what="C",thread-groups=["i1"],times="-5"}]} (gdb) -exec-continue ^running ^done,reason="watchpoint-scope",wpnum="2", frame={func="callee3",args=[{name="strarg", value="0x11940 \"A string argument.\""}], file="../../../devo/gdb/testsuite/gdb.mi/basics.c", fullname="/home/foo/bar/devo/gdb/testsuite/gdb.mi/basics.c",line="18", arch="i386:x86_64"} (gdb) -break-list ^done,BreakpointTable={nr_rows="1",nr_cols="6", hdr=[{width="3",alignment="-1",col_name="number",colhdr="Num"}, {width="14",alignment="-1",col_name="type",colhdr="Type"}, {width="4",alignment="-1",col_name="disp",colhdr="Disp"}, {width="3",alignment="-1",col_name="enabled",colhdr="Enb"}, {width="10",alignment="-1",col_name="addr",colhdr="Address"}, {width="40",alignment="2",col_name="what",colhdr="What"}], body=[bkpt={number="1",type="breakpoint",disp="keep",enabled="y", addr="0x00010734",func="callee4", file="../../../devo/gdb/testsuite/gdb.mi/basics.c", fullname="/home/foo/devo/gdb/testsuite/gdb.mi/basics.c",line="8", thread-groups=["i1"],times="1"}]} (gdb)  File: gdb.info, Node: GDB/MI Catchpoint Commands, Next: GDB/MI Program Context, Prev: GDB/MI Breakpoint Commands, Up: GDB/MI 27.9 GDB/MI Catchpoint Commands =============================== This section documents GDB/MI commands for manipulating catchpoints. * Menu: * Shared Library GDB/MI Catchpoint Commands:: * Ada Exception GDB/MI Catchpoint Commands:: * C++ Exception GDB/MI Catchpoint Commands::  File: gdb.info, Node: Shared Library GDB/MI Catchpoint Commands, Next: Ada Exception GDB/MI Catchpoint Commands, Up: GDB/MI Catchpoint Commands 27.9.1 Shared Library GDB/MI Catchpoints ---------------------------------------- The '-catch-load' Command ------------------------- Synopsis ........ -catch-load [ -t ] [ -d ] REGEXP Add a catchpoint for library load events. If the '-t' option is used, the catchpoint is a temporary one (*note Setting Breakpoints: Set Breaks.). If the '-d' option is used, the catchpoint is created in a disabled state. The 'regexp' argument is a regular expression used to match the name of the loaded library. GDB Command ........... The corresponding GDB command is 'catch load'. Example ....... -catch-load -t foo.so ^done,bkpt={number="1",type="catchpoint",disp="del",enabled="y", what="load of library matching foo.so",catch-type="load",times="0"} (gdb) The '-catch-unload' Command --------------------------- Synopsis ........ -catch-unload [ -t ] [ -d ] REGEXP Add a catchpoint for library unload events. If the '-t' option is used, the catchpoint is a temporary one (*note Setting Breakpoints: Set Breaks.). If the '-d' option is used, the catchpoint is created in a disabled state. The 'regexp' argument is a regular expression used to match the name of the unloaded library. GDB Command ........... The corresponding GDB command is 'catch unload'. Example ....... -catch-unload -d bar.so ^done,bkpt={number="2",type="catchpoint",disp="keep",enabled="n", what="load of library matching bar.so",catch-type="unload",times="0"} (gdb)  File: gdb.info, Node: Ada Exception GDB/MI Catchpoint Commands, Next: C++ Exception GDB/MI Catchpoint Commands, Prev: Shared Library GDB/MI Catchpoint Commands, Up: GDB/MI Catchpoint Commands 27.9.2 Ada Exception GDB/MI Catchpoints --------------------------------------- The following GDB/MI commands can be used to create catchpoints that stop the execution when Ada exceptions are being raised. The '-catch-assert' Command --------------------------- Synopsis ........ -catch-assert [ -c CONDITION] [ -d ] [ -t ] Add a catchpoint for failed Ada assertions. The possible optional parameters for this command are: '-c CONDITION' Make the catchpoint conditional on CONDITION. '-d' Create a disabled catchpoint. '-t' Create a temporary catchpoint. GDB Command ........... The corresponding GDB command is 'catch assert'. Example ....... -catch-assert ^done,bkptno="5",bkpt={number="5",type="breakpoint",disp="keep", enabled="y",addr="0x0000000000404888",what="failed Ada assertions", thread-groups=["i1"],times="0", original-location="__gnat_debug_raise_assert_failure"} (gdb) The '-catch-exception' Command ------------------------------ Synopsis ........ -catch-exception [ -c CONDITION] [ -d ] [ -e EXCEPTION-NAME ] [ -t ] [ -u ] Add a catchpoint stopping when Ada exceptions are raised. By default, the command stops the program when any Ada exception gets raised. But it is also possible, by using some of the optional parameters described below, to create more selective catchpoints. The possible optional parameters for this command are: '-c CONDITION' Make the catchpoint conditional on CONDITION. '-d' Create a disabled catchpoint. '-e EXCEPTION-NAME' Only stop when EXCEPTION-NAME is raised. This option cannot be used combined with '-u'. '-t' Create a temporary catchpoint. '-u' Stop only when an unhandled exception gets raised. This option cannot be used combined with '-e'. GDB Command ........... The corresponding GDB commands are 'catch exception' and 'catch exception unhandled'. Example ....... -catch-exception -e Program_Error ^done,bkptno="4",bkpt={number="4",type="breakpoint",disp="keep", enabled="y",addr="0x0000000000404874", what="`Program_Error' Ada exception", thread-groups=["i1"], times="0",original-location="__gnat_debug_raise_exception"} (gdb) The '-catch-handlers' Command ----------------------------- Synopsis ........ -catch-handlers [ -c CONDITION] [ -d ] [ -e EXCEPTION-NAME ] [ -t ] Add a catchpoint stopping when Ada exceptions are handled. By default, the command stops the program when any Ada exception gets handled. But it is also possible, by using some of the optional parameters described below, to create more selective catchpoints. The possible optional parameters for this command are: '-c CONDITION' Make the catchpoint conditional on CONDITION. '-d' Create a disabled catchpoint. '-e EXCEPTION-NAME' Only stop when EXCEPTION-NAME is handled. '-t' Create a temporary catchpoint. GDB Command ........... The corresponding GDB command is 'catch handlers'. Example ....... -catch-handlers -e Constraint_Error ^done,bkptno="4",bkpt={number="4",type="breakpoint",disp="keep", enabled="y",addr="0x0000000000402f68", what="`Constraint_Error' Ada exception handlers",thread-groups=["i1"], times="0",original-location="__gnat_begin_handler"} (gdb)  File: gdb.info, Node: C++ Exception GDB/MI Catchpoint Commands, Prev: Ada Exception GDB/MI Catchpoint Commands, Up: GDB/MI Catchpoint Commands 27.9.3 C++ Exception GDB/MI Catchpoints --------------------------------------- The following GDB/MI commands can be used to create catchpoints that stop the execution when C++ exceptions are being throw, rethrown, or caught. The '-catch-throw' Command -------------------------- Synopsis ........ -catch-throw [ -t ] [ -r REGEXP] Stop when the debuggee throws a C++ exception. If REGEXP is given, then only exceptions whose type matches the regular expression will be caught. If '-t' is given, then the catchpoint is enabled only for one stop, the catchpoint is automatically deleted after stopping once for the event. GDB Command ........... The corresponding GDB commands are 'catch throw' and 'tcatch throw' (*note Set Catchpoints::). Example ....... -catch-throw -r exception_type ^done,bkpt={number="1",type="catchpoint",disp="keep",enabled="y", what="exception throw",catch-type="throw", thread-groups=["i1"], regexp="exception_type",times="0"} (gdb) -exec-run ^running (gdb) ~"\n" ~"Catchpoint 1 (exception thrown), 0x00007ffff7ae00ed in __cxa_throw () from /lib64/libstdc++.so.6\n" *stopped,bkptno="1",reason="breakpoint-hit",disp="keep", frame={addr="0x00007ffff7ae00ed",func="__cxa_throw", args=[],from="/lib64/libstdc++.so.6",arch="i386:x86-64"}, thread-id="1",stopped-threads="all",core="6" (gdb) The '-catch-rethrow' Command ---------------------------- Synopsis ........ -catch-rethrow [ -t ] [ -r REGEXP] Stop when a C++ exception is re-thrown. If REGEXP is given, then only exceptions whose type matches the regular expression will be caught. If '-t' is given, then the catchpoint is enabled only for one stop, the catchpoint is automatically deleted after the first event is caught. GDB Command ........... The corresponding GDB commands are 'catch rethrow' and 'tcatch rethrow' (*note Set Catchpoints::). Example ....... -catch-rethrow -r exception_type ^done,bkpt={number="1",type="catchpoint",disp="keep",enabled="y", what="exception rethrow",catch-type="rethrow", thread-groups=["i1"], regexp="exception_type",times="0"} (gdb) -exec-run ^running (gdb) ~"\n" ~"Catchpoint 1 (exception rethrown), 0x00007ffff7ae00ed in __cxa_rethrow () from /lib64/libstdc++.so.6\n" *stopped,bkptno="1",reason="breakpoint-hit",disp="keep", frame={addr="0x00007ffff7ae00ed",func="__cxa_rethrow", args=[],from="/lib64/libstdc++.so.6",arch="i386:x86-64"}, thread-id="1",stopped-threads="all",core="6" (gdb) The '-catch-catch' Command -------------------------- Synopsis ........ -catch-catch [ -t ] [ -r REGEXP] Stop when the debuggee catches a C++ exception. If REGEXP is given, then only exceptions whose type matches the regular expression will be caught. If '-t' is given, then the catchpoint is enabled only for one stop, the catchpoint is automatically deleted after the first event is caught. GDB Command ........... The corresponding GDB commands are 'catch catch' and 'tcatch catch' (*note Set Catchpoints::). Example ....... -catch-catch -r exception_type ^done,bkpt={number="1",type="catchpoint",disp="keep",enabled="y", what="exception catch",catch-type="catch", thread-groups=["i1"], regexp="exception_type",times="0"} (gdb) -exec-run ^running (gdb) ~"\n" ~"Catchpoint 1 (exception caught), 0x00007ffff7ae00ed in __cxa_begin_catch () from /lib64/libstdc++.so.6\n" *stopped,bkptno="1",reason="breakpoint-hit",disp="keep", frame={addr="0x00007ffff7ae00ed",func="__cxa_begin_catch", args=[],from="/lib64/libstdc++.so.6",arch="i386:x86-64"}, thread-id="1",stopped-threads="all",core="6" (gdb)  File: gdb.info, Node: GDB/MI Program Context, Next: GDB/MI Thread Commands, Prev: GDB/MI Catchpoint Commands, Up: GDB/MI 27.10 GDB/MI Program Context ============================ The '-exec-arguments' Command ----------------------------- Synopsis ........ -exec-arguments ARGS Set the inferior program arguments, to be used in the next '-exec-run'. GDB Command ........... The corresponding GDB command is 'set args'. Example ....... (gdb) -exec-arguments -v word ^done (gdb) The '-environment-cd' Command ----------------------------- Synopsis ........ -environment-cd PATHDIR Set GDB's working directory. GDB Command ........... The corresponding GDB command is 'cd'. Example ....... (gdb) -environment-cd /kwikemart/marge/ezannoni/flathead-dev/devo/gdb ^done (gdb) The '-environment-directory' Command ------------------------------------ Synopsis ........ -environment-directory [ -r ] [ PATHDIR ]+ Add directories PATHDIR to beginning of search path for source files. If the '-r' option is used, the search path is reset to the default search path. If directories PATHDIR are supplied in addition to the '-r' option, the search path is first reset and then addition occurs as normal. Multiple directories may be specified, separated by blanks. Specifying multiple directories in a single command results in the directories added to the beginning of the search path in the same order they were presented in the command. If blanks are needed as part of a directory name, double-quotes should be used around the name. In the command output, the path will show up separated by the system directory-separator character. The directory-separator character must not be used in any directory name. If no directories are specified, the current search path is displayed. GDB Command ........... The corresponding GDB command is 'dir'. Example ....... (gdb) -environment-directory /kwikemart/marge/ezannoni/flathead-dev/devo/gdb ^done,source-path="/kwikemart/marge/ezannoni/flathead-dev/devo/gdb:$cdir:$cwd" (gdb) -environment-directory "" ^done,source-path="/kwikemart/marge/ezannoni/flathead-dev/devo/gdb:$cdir:$cwd" (gdb) -environment-directory -r /home/jjohnstn/src/gdb /usr/src ^done,source-path="/home/jjohnstn/src/gdb:/usr/src:$cdir:$cwd" (gdb) -environment-directory -r ^done,source-path="$cdir:$cwd" (gdb) The '-environment-path' Command ------------------------------- Synopsis ........ -environment-path [ -r ] [ PATHDIR ]+ Add directories PATHDIR to beginning of search path for object files. If the '-r' option is used, the search path is reset to the original search path that existed at gdb start-up. If directories PATHDIR are supplied in addition to the '-r' option, the search path is first reset and then addition occurs as normal. Multiple directories may be specified, separated by blanks. Specifying multiple directories in a single command results in the directories added to the beginning of the search path in the same order they were presented in the command. If blanks are needed as part of a directory name, double-quotes should be used around the name. In the command output, the path will show up separated by the system directory-separator character. The directory-separator character must not be used in any directory name. If no directories are specified, the current path is displayed. GDB Command ........... The corresponding GDB command is 'path'. Example ....... (gdb) -environment-path ^done,path="/usr/bin" (gdb) -environment-path /kwikemart/marge/ezannoni/flathead-dev/ppc-eabi/gdb /bin ^done,path="/kwikemart/marge/ezannoni/flathead-dev/ppc-eabi/gdb:/bin:/usr/bin" (gdb) -environment-path -r /usr/local/bin ^done,path="/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin" (gdb) The '-environment-pwd' Command ------------------------------ Synopsis ........ -environment-pwd Show the current working directory. GDB Command ........... The corresponding GDB command is 'pwd'. Example ....... (gdb) -environment-pwd ^done,cwd="/kwikemart/marge/ezannoni/flathead-dev/devo/gdb" (gdb)  File: gdb.info, Node: GDB/MI Thread Commands, Next: GDB/MI Ada Tasking Commands, Prev: GDB/MI Program Context, Up: GDB/MI 27.11 GDB/MI Thread Commands ============================ The '-thread-info' Command -------------------------- Synopsis ........ -thread-info [ THREAD-ID ] Reports information about either a specific thread, if the THREAD-ID parameter is present, or about all threads. THREAD-ID is the thread's global thread ID. When printing information about all threads, also reports the global ID of the current thread. GDB Command ........... The 'info thread' command prints the same information about all threads. Result ...... The result contains the following attributes: 'threads' A list of threads. The format of the elements of the list is described in *note GDB/MI Thread Information::. 'current-thread-id' The global id of the currently selected thread. This field is omitted if there is no selected thread (for example, when the selected inferior is not running, and therefore has no threads) or if a THREAD-ID argument was passed to the command. Example ....... -thread-info ^done,threads=[ {id="2",target-id="Thread 0xb7e14b90 (LWP 21257)", frame={level="0",addr="0xffffe410",func="__kernel_vsyscall", args=[]},state="running"}, {id="1",target-id="Thread 0xb7e156b0 (LWP 21254)", frame={level="0",addr="0x0804891f",func="foo", args=[{name="i",value="10"}], file="/tmp/a.c",fullname="/tmp/a.c",line="158",arch="i386:x86_64"}, state="running"}], current-thread-id="1" (gdb) The '-thread-list-ids' Command ------------------------------ Synopsis ........ -thread-list-ids Produces a list of the currently known global GDB thread ids. At the end of the list it also prints the total number of such threads. This command is retained for historical reasons, the '-thread-info' command should be used instead. GDB Command ........... Part of 'info threads' supplies the same information. Example ....... (gdb) -thread-list-ids ^done,thread-ids={thread-id="3",thread-id="2",thread-id="1"}, current-thread-id="1",number-of-threads="3" (gdb) The '-thread-select' Command ---------------------------- Synopsis ........ -thread-select THREAD-ID Make thread with global thread number THREAD-ID the current thread. It prints the number of the new current thread, and the topmost frame for that thread. This command is deprecated in favor of explicitly using the '--thread' option to each command. GDB Command ........... The corresponding GDB command is 'thread'. Example ....... (gdb) -exec-next ^running (gdb) *stopped,reason="end-stepping-range",thread-id="2",line="187", file="../../../devo/gdb/testsuite/gdb.threads/linux-dp.c" (gdb) -thread-list-ids ^done, thread-ids={thread-id="3",thread-id="2",thread-id="1"}, number-of-threads="3" (gdb) -thread-select 3 ^done,new-thread-id="3", frame={level="0",func="vprintf", args=[{name="format",value="0x8048e9c \"%*s%c %d %c\\n\""}, {name="arg",value="0x2"}],file="vprintf.c",line="31",arch="i386:x86_64"} (gdb)  File: gdb.info, Node: GDB/MI Ada Tasking Commands, Next: GDB/MI Program Execution, Prev: GDB/MI Thread Commands, Up: GDB/MI 27.12 GDB/MI Ada Tasking Commands ================================= The '-ada-task-info' Command ---------------------------- Synopsis ........ -ada-task-info [ TASK-ID ] Reports information about either a specific Ada task, if the TASK-ID parameter is present, or about all Ada tasks. GDB Command ........... The 'info tasks' command prints the same information about all Ada tasks (*note Ada Tasks::). Result ...... The result is a table of Ada tasks. The following columns are defined for each Ada task: 'current' This field exists only for the current thread. It has the value '*'. 'id' The identifier that GDB uses to refer to the Ada task. 'task-id' The identifier that the target uses to refer to the Ada task. 'thread-id' The global thread identifier of the thread corresponding to the Ada task. This field should always exist, as Ada tasks are always implemented on top of a thread. But if GDB cannot find this corresponding thread for any reason, the field is omitted. 'parent-id' This field exists only when the task was created by another task. In this case, it provides the ID of the parent task. 'priority' The base priority of the task. 'state' The current state of the task. For a detailed description of the possible states, see *note Ada Tasks::. 'name' The name of the task. Example ....... -ada-task-info ^done,tasks={nr_rows="3",nr_cols="8", hdr=[{width="1",alignment="-1",col_name="current",colhdr=""}, {width="3",alignment="1",col_name="id",colhdr="ID"}, {width="9",alignment="1",col_name="task-id",colhdr="TID"}, {width="4",alignment="1",col_name="thread-id",colhdr=""}, {width="4",alignment="1",col_name="parent-id",colhdr="P-ID"}, {width="3",alignment="1",col_name="priority",colhdr="Pri"}, {width="22",alignment="-1",col_name="state",colhdr="State"}, {width="1",alignment="2",col_name="name",colhdr="Name"}], body=[{current="*",id="1",task-id=" 644010",thread-id="1",priority="48", state="Child Termination Wait",name="main_task"}]} (gdb)  File: gdb.info, Node: GDB/MI Program Execution, Next: GDB/MI Stack Manipulation, Prev: GDB/MI Ada Tasking Commands, Up: GDB/MI 27.13 GDB/MI Program Execution ============================== These are the asynchronous commands which generate the out-of-band record '*stopped'. Currently GDB only really executes asynchronously with remote targets and this interaction is mimicked in other cases. The '-exec-continue' Command ---------------------------- Synopsis ........ -exec-continue [--reverse] [--all|--thread-group N] Resumes the execution of the inferior program, which will continue to execute until it reaches a debugger stop event. If the '--reverse' option is specified, execution resumes in reverse until it reaches a stop event. Stop events may include * breakpoints or watchpoints * signals or exceptions * the end of the process (or its beginning under '--reverse') * the end or beginning of a replay log if one is being used. In all-stop mode (*note All-Stop Mode::), may resume only one thread, or all threads, depending on the value of the 'scheduler-locking' variable. If '--all' is specified, all threads (in all inferiors) will be resumed. The '--all' option is ignored in all-stop mode. If the '--thread-group' options is specified, then all threads in that thread group are resumed. GDB Command ........... The corresponding GDB corresponding is 'continue'. Example ....... -exec-continue ^running (gdb) @Hello world *stopped,reason="breakpoint-hit",disp="keep",bkptno="2",frame={ func="foo",args=[],file="hello.c",fullname="/home/foo/bar/hello.c", line="13",arch="i386:x86_64"} (gdb) The '-exec-finish' Command -------------------------- Synopsis ........ -exec-finish [--reverse] Resumes the execution of the inferior program until the current function is exited. Displays the results returned by the function. If the '--reverse' option is specified, resumes the reverse execution of the inferior program until the point where current function was called. GDB Command ........... The corresponding GDB command is 'finish'. Example ....... Function returning 'void'. -exec-finish ^running (gdb) @hello from foo *stopped,reason="function-finished",frame={func="main",args=[], file="hello.c",fullname="/home/foo/bar/hello.c",line="7",arch="i386:x86_64"} (gdb) Function returning other than 'void'. The name of the internal GDB variable storing the result is printed, together with the value itself. -exec-finish ^running (gdb) *stopped,reason="function-finished",frame={addr="0x000107b0",func="foo", args=[{name="a",value="1"],{name="b",value="9"}}, file="recursive2.c",fullname="/home/foo/bar/recursive2.c",line="14", arch="i386:x86_64"}, gdb-result-var="$1",return-value="0" (gdb) The '-exec-interrupt' Command ----------------------------- Synopsis ........ -exec-interrupt [--all|--thread-group N] Interrupts the background execution of the target. Note how the token associated with the stop message is the one for the execution command that has been interrupted. The token for the interrupt itself only appears in the '^done' output. If the user is trying to interrupt a non-running program, an error message will be printed. Note that when asynchronous execution is enabled, this command is asynchronous just like other execution commands. That is, first the '^done' response will be printed, and the target stop will be reported after that using the '*stopped' notification. In non-stop mode, only the context thread is interrupted by default. All threads (in all inferiors) will be interrupted if the '--all' option is specified. If the '--thread-group' option is specified, all threads in that group will be interrupted. GDB Command ........... The corresponding GDB command is 'interrupt'. Example ....... (gdb) 111-exec-continue 111^running (gdb) 222-exec-interrupt 222^done (gdb) 111*stopped,signal-name="SIGINT",signal-meaning="Interrupt", frame={addr="0x00010140",func="foo",args=[],file="try.c", fullname="/home/foo/bar/try.c",line="13",arch="i386:x86_64"} (gdb) (gdb) -exec-interrupt ^error,msg="mi_cmd_exec_interrupt: Inferior not executing." (gdb) The '-exec-jump' Command ------------------------ Synopsis ........ -exec-jump LOCATION Resumes execution of the inferior program at the location specified by parameter. *Note Specify Location::, for a description of the different forms of LOCATION. GDB Command ........... The corresponding GDB command is 'jump'. Example ....... -exec-jump foo.c:10 *running,thread-id="all" ^running The '-exec-next' Command ------------------------ Synopsis ........ -exec-next [--reverse] Resumes execution of the inferior program, stopping when the beginning of the next source line is reached. If the '--reverse' option is specified, resumes reverse execution of the inferior program, stopping at the beginning of the previous source line. If you issue this command on the first line of a function, it will take you back to the caller of that function, to the source line where the function was called. GDB Command ........... The corresponding GDB command is 'next'. Example ....... -exec-next ^running (gdb) *stopped,reason="end-stepping-range",line="8",file="hello.c" (gdb) The '-exec-next-instruction' Command ------------------------------------ Synopsis ........ -exec-next-instruction [--reverse] Executes one machine instruction. If the instruction is a function call, continues until the function returns. If the program stops at an instruction in the middle of a source line, the address will be printed as well. If the '--reverse' option is specified, resumes reverse execution of the inferior program, stopping at the previous instruction. If the previously executed instruction was a return from another function, it will continue to execute in reverse until the call to that function (from the current stack frame) is reached. GDB Command ........... The corresponding GDB command is 'nexti'. Example ....... (gdb) -exec-next-instruction ^running (gdb) *stopped,reason="end-stepping-range", addr="0x000100d4",line="5",file="hello.c" (gdb) The '-exec-return' Command -------------------------- Synopsis ........ -exec-return Makes current function return immediately. Doesn't execute the inferior. Displays the new current frame. GDB Command ........... The corresponding GDB command is 'return'. Example ....... (gdb) 200-break-insert callee4 200^done,bkpt={number="1",addr="0x00010734", file="../../../devo/gdb/testsuite/gdb.mi/basics.c",line="8"} (gdb) 000-exec-run 000^running (gdb) 000*stopped,reason="breakpoint-hit",disp="keep",bkptno="1", frame={func="callee4",args=[], file="../../../devo/gdb/testsuite/gdb.mi/basics.c", fullname="/home/foo/bar/devo/gdb/testsuite/gdb.mi/basics.c",line="8", arch="i386:x86_64"} (gdb) 205-break-delete 205^done (gdb) 111-exec-return 111^done,frame={level="0",func="callee3", args=[{name="strarg", value="0x11940 \"A string argument.\""}], file="../../../devo/gdb/testsuite/gdb.mi/basics.c", fullname="/home/foo/bar/devo/gdb/testsuite/gdb.mi/basics.c",line="18", arch="i386:x86_64"} (gdb) The '-exec-run' Command ----------------------- Synopsis ........ -exec-run [ --all | --thread-group N ] [ --start ] Starts execution of the inferior from the beginning. The inferior executes until either a breakpoint is encountered or the program exits. In the latter case the output will include an exit code, if the program has exited exceptionally. When neither the '--all' nor the '--thread-group' option is specified, the current inferior is started. If the '--thread-group' option is specified, it should refer to a thread group of type 'process', and that thread group will be started. If the '--all' option is specified, then all inferiors will be started. Using the '--start' option instructs the debugger to stop the execution at the start of the inferior's main subprogram, following the same behavior as the 'start' command (*note Starting::). GDB Command ........... The corresponding GDB command is 'run'. Examples ........ (gdb) -break-insert main ^done,bkpt={number="1",addr="0x0001072c",file="recursive2.c",line="4"} (gdb) -exec-run ^running (gdb) *stopped,reason="breakpoint-hit",disp="keep",bkptno="1", frame={func="main",args=[],file="recursive2.c", fullname="/home/foo/bar/recursive2.c",line="4",arch="i386:x86_64"} (gdb) Program exited normally: (gdb) -exec-run ^running (gdb) x = 55 *stopped,reason="exited-normally" (gdb) Program exited exceptionally: (gdb) -exec-run ^running (gdb) x = 55 *stopped,reason="exited",exit-code="01" (gdb) Another way the program can terminate is if it receives a signal such as 'SIGINT'. In this case, GDB/MI displays this: (gdb) *stopped,reason="exited-signalled",signal-name="SIGINT", signal-meaning="Interrupt" The '-exec-step' Command ------------------------ Synopsis ........ -exec-step [--reverse] Resumes execution of the inferior program, stopping when the beginning of the next source line is reached, if the next source line is not a function call. If it is, stop at the first instruction of the called function. If the '--reverse' option is specified, resumes reverse execution of the inferior program, stopping at the beginning of the previously executed source line. GDB Command ........... The corresponding GDB command is 'step'. Example ....... Stepping into a function: -exec-step ^running (gdb) *stopped,reason="end-stepping-range", frame={func="foo",args=[{name="a",value="10"}, {name="b",value="0"}],file="recursive2.c", fullname="/home/foo/bar/recursive2.c",line="11",arch="i386:x86_64"} (gdb) Regular stepping: -exec-step ^running (gdb) *stopped,reason="end-stepping-range",line="14",file="recursive2.c" (gdb) The '-exec-step-instruction' Command ------------------------------------ Synopsis ........ -exec-step-instruction [--reverse] Resumes the inferior which executes one machine instruction. If the '--reverse' option is specified, resumes reverse execution of the inferior program, stopping at the previously executed instruction. The output, once GDB has stopped, will vary depending on whether we have stopped in the middle of a source line or not. In the former case, the address at which the program stopped will be printed as well. GDB Command ........... The corresponding GDB command is 'stepi'. Example ....... (gdb) -exec-step-instruction ^running (gdb) *stopped,reason="end-stepping-range", frame={func="foo",args=[],file="try.c", fullname="/home/foo/bar/try.c",line="10",arch="i386:x86_64"} (gdb) -exec-step-instruction ^running (gdb) *stopped,reason="end-stepping-range", frame={addr="0x000100f4",func="foo",args=[],file="try.c", fullname="/home/foo/bar/try.c",line="10",arch="i386:x86_64"} (gdb) The '-exec-until' Command ------------------------- Synopsis ........ -exec-until [ LOCATION ] Executes the inferior until the LOCATION specified in the argument is reached. If there is no argument, the inferior executes until a source line greater than the current one is reached. The reason for stopping in this case will be 'location-reached'. GDB Command ........... The corresponding GDB command is 'until'. Example ....... (gdb) -exec-until recursive2.c:6 ^running (gdb) x = 55 *stopped,reason="location-reached",frame={func="main",args=[], file="recursive2.c",fullname="/home/foo/bar/recursive2.c",line="6", arch="i386:x86_64"} (gdb)  File: gdb.info, Node: GDB/MI Stack Manipulation, Next: GDB/MI Variable Objects, Prev: GDB/MI Program Execution, Up: GDB/MI 27.14 GDB/MI Stack Manipulation Commands ======================================== The '-enable-frame-filters' Command ----------------------------------- -enable-frame-filters GDB allows Python-based frame filters to affect the output of the MI commands relating to stack traces. As there is no way to implement this in a fully backward-compatible way, a front end must request that this functionality be enabled. Once enabled, this feature cannot be disabled. Note that if Python support has not been compiled into GDB, this command will still succeed (and do nothing). The '-stack-info-frame' Command ------------------------------- Synopsis ........ -stack-info-frame Get info on the selected frame. GDB Command ........... The corresponding GDB command is 'info frame' or 'frame' (without arguments). Example ....... (gdb) -stack-info-frame ^done,frame={level="1",addr="0x0001076c",func="callee3", file="../../../devo/gdb/testsuite/gdb.mi/basics.c", fullname="/home/foo/bar/devo/gdb/testsuite/gdb.mi/basics.c",line="17", arch="i386:x86_64"} (gdb) The '-stack-info-depth' Command ------------------------------- Synopsis ........ -stack-info-depth [ MAX-DEPTH ] Return the depth of the stack. If the integer argument MAX-DEPTH is specified, do not count beyond MAX-DEPTH frames. GDB Command ........... There's no equivalent GDB command. Example ....... For a stack with frame levels 0 through 11: (gdb) -stack-info-depth ^done,depth="12" (gdb) -stack-info-depth 4 ^done,depth="4" (gdb) -stack-info-depth 12 ^done,depth="12" (gdb) -stack-info-depth 11 ^done,depth="11" (gdb) -stack-info-depth 13 ^done,depth="12" (gdb) The '-stack-list-arguments' Command ----------------------------------- Synopsis ........ -stack-list-arguments [ --no-frame-filters ] [ --skip-unavailable ] PRINT-VALUES [ LOW-FRAME HIGH-FRAME ] Display a list of the arguments for the frames between LOW-FRAME and HIGH-FRAME (inclusive). If LOW-FRAME and HIGH-FRAME are not provided, list the arguments for the whole call stack. If the two arguments are equal, show the single frame at the corresponding level. It is an error if LOW-FRAME is larger than the actual number of frames. On the other hand, HIGH-FRAME may be larger than the actual number of frames, in which case only existing frames will be returned. If PRINT-VALUES is 0 or '--no-values', print only the names of the variables; if it is 1 or '--all-values', print also their values; and if it is 2 or '--simple-values', print the name, type and value for simple data types, and the name and type for arrays, structures and unions. If the option '--no-frame-filters' is supplied, then Python frame filters will not be executed. If the '--skip-unavailable' option is specified, arguments that are not available are not listed. Partially available arguments are still displayed, however. Use of this command to obtain arguments in a single frame is deprecated in favor of the '-stack-list-variables' command. GDB Command ........... GDB does not have an equivalent command. 'gdbtk' has a 'gdb_get_args' command which partially overlaps with the functionality of '-stack-list-arguments'. Example ....... (gdb) -stack-list-frames ^done, stack=[ frame={level="0",addr="0x00010734",func="callee4", file="../../../devo/gdb/testsuite/gdb.mi/basics.c", fullname="/home/foo/bar/devo/gdb/testsuite/gdb.mi/basics.c",line="8", arch="i386:x86_64"}, frame={level="1",addr="0x0001076c",func="callee3", file="../../../devo/gdb/testsuite/gdb.mi/basics.c", fullname="/home/foo/bar/devo/gdb/testsuite/gdb.mi/basics.c",line="17", arch="i386:x86_64"}, frame={level="2",addr="0x0001078c",func="callee2", file="../../../devo/gdb/testsuite/gdb.mi/basics.c", fullname="/home/foo/bar/devo/gdb/testsuite/gdb.mi/basics.c",line="22", arch="i386:x86_64"}, frame={level="3",addr="0x000107b4",func="callee1", file="../../../devo/gdb/testsuite/gdb.mi/basics.c", fullname="/home/foo/bar/devo/gdb/testsuite/gdb.mi/basics.c",line="27", arch="i386:x86_64"}, frame={level="4",addr="0x000107e0",func="main", file="../../../devo/gdb/testsuite/gdb.mi/basics.c", fullname="/home/foo/bar/devo/gdb/testsuite/gdb.mi/basics.c",line="32", arch="i386:x86_64"}] (gdb) -stack-list-arguments 0 ^done, stack-args=[ frame={level="0",args=[]}, frame={level="1",args=[name="strarg"]}, frame={level="2",args=[name="intarg",name="strarg"]}, frame={level="3",args=[name="intarg",name="strarg",name="fltarg"]}, frame={level="4",args=[]}] (gdb) -stack-list-arguments 1 ^done, stack-args=[ frame={level="0",args=[]}, frame={level="1", args=[{name="strarg",value="0x11940 \"A string argument.\""}]}, frame={level="2",args=[ {name="intarg",value="2"}, {name="strarg",value="0x11940 \"A string argument.\""}]}, {frame={level="3",args=[ {name="intarg",value="2"}, {name="strarg",value="0x11940 \"A string argument.\""}, {name="fltarg",value="3.5"}]}, frame={level="4",args=[]}] (gdb) -stack-list-arguments 0 2 2 ^done,stack-args=[frame={level="2",args=[name="intarg",name="strarg"]}] (gdb) -stack-list-arguments 1 2 2 ^done,stack-args=[frame={level="2", args=[{name="intarg",value="2"}, {name="strarg",value="0x11940 \"A string argument.\""}]}] (gdb) The '-stack-list-frames' Command -------------------------------- Synopsis ........ -stack-list-frames [ --no-frame-filters LOW-FRAME HIGH-FRAME ] List the frames currently on the stack. For each frame it displays the following info: 'LEVEL' The frame number, 0 being the topmost frame, i.e., the innermost function. 'ADDR' The '$pc' value for that frame. 'FUNC' Function name. 'FILE' File name of the source file where the function lives. 'FULLNAME' The full file name of the source file where the function lives. 'LINE' Line number corresponding to the '$pc'. 'FROM' The shared library where this function is defined. This is only given if the frame's function is not known. 'ARCH' Frame's architecture. If invoked without arguments, this command prints a backtrace for the whole stack. If given two integer arguments, it shows the frames whose levels are between the two arguments (inclusive). If the two arguments are equal, it shows the single frame at the corresponding level. It is an error if LOW-FRAME is larger than the actual number of frames. On the other hand, HIGH-FRAME may be larger than the actual number of frames, in which case only existing frames will be returned. If the option '--no-frame-filters' is supplied, then Python frame filters will not be executed. GDB Command ........... The corresponding GDB commands are 'backtrace' and 'where'. Example ....... Full stack backtrace: (gdb) -stack-list-frames ^done,stack= [frame={level="0",addr="0x0001076c",func="foo", file="recursive2.c",fullname="/home/foo/bar/recursive2.c",line="11", arch="i386:x86_64"}, frame={level="1",addr="0x000107a4",func="foo", file="recursive2.c",fullname="/home/foo/bar/recursive2.c",line="14", arch="i386:x86_64"}, frame={level="2",addr="0x000107a4",func="foo", file="recursive2.c",fullname="/home/foo/bar/recursive2.c",line="14", arch="i386:x86_64"}, frame={level="3",addr="0x000107a4",func="foo", file="recursive2.c",fullname="/home/foo/bar/recursive2.c",line="14", arch="i386:x86_64"}, frame={level="4",addr="0x000107a4",func="foo", file="recursive2.c",fullname="/home/foo/bar/recursive2.c",line="14", arch="i386:x86_64"}, frame={level="5",addr="0x000107a4",func="foo", file="recursive2.c",fullname="/home/foo/bar/recursive2.c",line="14", arch="i386:x86_64"}, frame={level="6",addr="0x000107a4",func="foo", file="recursive2.c",fullname="/home/foo/bar/recursive2.c",line="14", arch="i386:x86_64"}, frame={level="7",addr="0x000107a4",func="foo", file="recursive2.c",fullname="/home/foo/bar/recursive2.c",line="14", arch="i386:x86_64"}, frame={level="8",addr="0x000107a4",func="foo", file="recursive2.c",fullname="/home/foo/bar/recursive2.c",line="14", arch="i386:x86_64"}, frame={level="9",addr="0x000107a4",func="foo", file="recursive2.c",fullname="/home/foo/bar/recursive2.c",line="14", arch="i386:x86_64"}, frame={level="10",addr="0x000107a4",func="foo", file="recursive2.c",fullname="/home/foo/bar/recursive2.c",line="14", arch="i386:x86_64"}, frame={level="11",addr="0x00010738",func="main", file="recursive2.c",fullname="/home/foo/bar/recursive2.c",line="4", arch="i386:x86_64"}] (gdb) Show frames between LOW_FRAME and HIGH_FRAME: (gdb) -stack-list-frames 3 5 ^done,stack= [frame={level="3",addr="0x000107a4",func="foo", file="recursive2.c",fullname="/home/foo/bar/recursive2.c",line="14", arch="i386:x86_64"}, frame={level="4",addr="0x000107a4",func="foo", file="recursive2.c",fullname="/home/foo/bar/recursive2.c",line="14", arch="i386:x86_64"}, frame={level="5",addr="0x000107a4",func="foo", file="recursive2.c",fullname="/home/foo/bar/recursive2.c",line="14", arch="i386:x86_64"}] (gdb) Show a single frame: (gdb) -stack-list-frames 3 3 ^done,stack= [frame={level="3",addr="0x000107a4",func="foo", file="recursive2.c",fullname="/home/foo/bar/recursive2.c",line="14", arch="i386:x86_64"}] (gdb) The '-stack-list-locals' Command -------------------------------- Synopsis ........ -stack-list-locals [ --no-frame-filters ] [ --skip-unavailable ] PRINT-VALUES Display the local variable names for the selected frame. If PRINT-VALUES is 0 or '--no-values', print only the names of the variables; if it is 1 or '--all-values', print also their values; and if it is 2 or '--simple-values', print the name, type and value for simple data types, and the name and type for arrays, structures and unions. In this last case, a frontend can immediately display the value of simple data types and create variable objects for other data types when the user wishes to explore their values in more detail. If the option '--no-frame-filters' is supplied, then Python frame filters will not be executed. If the '--skip-unavailable' option is specified, local variables that are not available are not listed. Partially available local variables are still displayed, however. This command is deprecated in favor of the '-stack-list-variables' command. GDB Command ........... 'info locals' in GDB, 'gdb_get_locals' in 'gdbtk'. Example ....... (gdb) -stack-list-locals 0 ^done,locals=[name="A",name="B",name="C"] (gdb) -stack-list-locals --all-values ^done,locals=[{name="A",value="1"},{name="B",value="2"}, {name="C",value="{1, 2, 3}"}] -stack-list-locals --simple-values ^done,locals=[{name="A",type="int",value="1"}, {name="B",type="int",value="2"},{name="C",type="int [3]"}] (gdb) The '-stack-list-variables' Command ----------------------------------- Synopsis ........ -stack-list-variables [ --no-frame-filters ] [ --skip-unavailable ] PRINT-VALUES Display the names of local variables and function arguments for the selected frame. If PRINT-VALUES is 0 or '--no-values', print only the names of the variables; if it is 1 or '--all-values', print also their values; and if it is 2 or '--simple-values', print the name, type and value for simple data types, and the name and type for arrays, structures and unions. If the option '--no-frame-filters' is supplied, then Python frame filters will not be executed. If the '--skip-unavailable' option is specified, local variables and arguments that are not available are not listed. Partially available arguments and local variables are still displayed, however. Example ....... (gdb) -stack-list-variables --thread 1 --frame 0 --all-values ^done,variables=[{name="x",value="11"},{name="s",value="{a = 1, b = 2}"}] (gdb) The '-stack-select-frame' Command --------------------------------- Synopsis ........ -stack-select-frame FRAMENUM Change the selected frame. Select a different frame FRAMENUM on the stack. This command in deprecated in favor of passing the '--frame' option to every command. GDB Command ........... The corresponding GDB commands are 'frame', 'up', 'down', 'select-frame', 'up-silent', and 'down-silent'. Example ....... (gdb) -stack-select-frame 2 ^done (gdb)  File: gdb.info, Node: GDB/MI Variable Objects, Next: GDB/MI Data Manipulation, Prev: GDB/MI Stack Manipulation, Up: GDB/MI 27.15 GDB/MI Variable Objects ============================= Introduction to Variable Objects -------------------------------- Variable objects are "object-oriented" MI interface for examining and changing values of expressions. Unlike some other MI interfaces that work with expressions, variable objects are specifically designed for simple and efficient presentation in the frontend. A variable object is identified by string name. When a variable object is created, the frontend specifies the expression for that variable object. The expression can be a simple variable, or it can be an arbitrary complex expression, and can even involve CPU registers. After creating a variable object, the frontend can invoke other variable object operations--for example to obtain or change the value of a variable object, or to change display format. Variable objects have hierarchical tree structure. Any variable object that corresponds to a composite type, such as structure in C, has a number of child variable objects, for example corresponding to each element of a structure. A child variable object can itself have children, recursively. Recursion ends when we reach leaf variable objects, which always have built-in types. Child variable objects are created only by explicit request, so if a frontend is not interested in the children of a particular variable object, no child will be created. For a leaf variable object it is possible to obtain its value as a string, or set the value from a string. String value can be also obtained for a non-leaf variable object, but it's generally a string that only indicates the type of the object, and does not list its contents. Assignment to a non-leaf variable object is not allowed. A frontend does not need to read the values of all variable objects each time the program stops. Instead, MI provides an update command that lists all variable objects whose values has changed since the last update operation. This considerably reduces the amount of data that must be transferred to the frontend. As noted above, children variable objects are created on demand, and only leaf variable objects have a real value. As result, gdb will read target memory only for leaf variables that frontend has created. The automatic update is not always desirable. For example, a frontend might want to keep a value of some expression for future reference, and never update it. For another example, fetching memory is relatively slow for embedded targets, so a frontend might want to disable automatic update for the variables that are either not visible on the screen, or "closed". This is possible using so called "frozen variable objects". Such variable objects are never implicitly updated. Variable objects can be either "fixed" or "floating". For the fixed variable object, the expression is parsed when the variable object is created, including associating identifiers to specific variables. The meaning of expression never changes. For a floating variable object the values of variables whose names appear in the expressions are re-evaluated every time in the context of the current frame. Consider this example: void do_work(...) { struct work_state state; if (...) do_work(...); } If a fixed variable object for the 'state' variable is created in this function, and we enter the recursive call, the variable object will report the value of 'state' in the top-level 'do_work' invocation. On the other hand, a floating variable object will report the value of 'state' in the current frame. If an expression specified when creating a fixed variable object refers to a local variable, the variable object becomes bound to the thread and frame in which the variable object is created. When such variable object is updated, GDB makes sure that the thread/frame combination the variable object is bound to still exists, and re-evaluates the variable object in context of that thread/frame. The following is the complete set of GDB/MI operations defined to access this functionality: *Operation* *Description* '-enable-pretty-printing' enable Python-based pretty-printing '-var-create' create a variable object '-var-delete' delete the variable object and/or its children '-var-set-format' set the display format of this variable '-var-show-format' show the display format of this variable '-var-info-num-children' tells how many children this object has '-var-list-children' return a list of the object's children '-var-info-type' show the type of this variable object '-var-info-expression' print parent-relative expression that this variable object represents '-var-info-path-expression' print full expression that this variable object represents '-var-show-attributes' is this variable editable? does it exist here? '-var-evaluate-expression' get the value of this variable '-var-assign' set the value of this variable '-var-update' update the variable and its children '-var-set-frozen' set frozenness attribute '-var-set-update-range' set range of children to display on update In the next subsection we describe each operation in detail and suggest how it can be used. Description And Use of Operations on Variable Objects ----------------------------------------------------- The '-enable-pretty-printing' Command ------------------------------------- -enable-pretty-printing GDB allows Python-based visualizers to affect the output of the MI variable object commands. However, because there was no way to implement this in a fully backward-compatible way, a front end must request that this functionality be enabled. Once enabled, this feature cannot be disabled. Note that if Python support has not been compiled into GDB, this command will still succeed (and do nothing). This feature is currently (as of GDB 7.0) experimental, and may work differently in future versions of GDB. The '-var-create' Command ------------------------- Synopsis ........ -var-create {NAME | "-"} {FRAME-ADDR | "*" | "@"} EXPRESSION This operation creates a variable object, which allows the monitoring of a variable, the result of an expression, a memory cell or a CPU register. The NAME parameter is the string by which the object can be referenced. It must be unique. If '-' is specified, the varobj system will generate a string "varNNNNNN" automatically. It will be unique provided that one does not specify NAME of that format. The command fails if a duplicate name is found. The frame under which the expression should be evaluated can be specified by FRAME-ADDR. A '*' indicates that the current frame should be used. A '@' indicates that a floating variable object must be created. EXPRESSION is any expression valid on the current language set (must not begin with a '*'), or one of the following: * '*ADDR', where ADDR is the address of a memory cell * '*ADDR-ADDR' -- a memory address range (TBD) * '$REGNAME' -- a CPU register name A varobj's contents may be provided by a Python-based pretty-printer. In this case the varobj is known as a "dynamic varobj". Dynamic varobjs have slightly different semantics in some cases. If the '-enable-pretty-printing' command is not sent, then GDB will never create a dynamic varobj. This ensures backward compatibility for existing clients. Result ...... This operation returns attributes of the newly-created varobj. These are: 'name' The name of the varobj. 'numchild' The number of children of the varobj. This number is not necessarily reliable for a dynamic varobj. Instead, you must examine the 'has_more' attribute. 'value' The varobj's scalar value. For a varobj whose type is some sort of aggregate (e.g., a 'struct'), or for a dynamic varobj, this value will not be interesting. 'type' The varobj's type. This is a string representation of the type, as would be printed by the GDB CLI. If 'print object' (*note set print object: Print Settings.) is set to 'on', the _actual_ (derived) type of the object is shown rather than the _declared_ one. 'thread-id' If a variable object is bound to a specific thread, then this is the thread's global identifier. 'has_more' For a dynamic varobj, this indicates whether there appear to be any children available. For a non-dynamic varobj, this will be 0. 'dynamic' This attribute will be present and have the value '1' if the varobj is a dynamic varobj. If the varobj is not a dynamic varobj, then this attribute will not be present. 'displayhint' A dynamic varobj can supply a display hint to the front end. The value comes directly from the Python pretty-printer object's 'display_hint' method. *Note Pretty Printing API::. Typical output will look like this: name="NAME",numchild="N",type="TYPE",thread-id="M", has_more="HAS_MORE" The '-var-delete' Command ------------------------- Synopsis ........ -var-delete [ -c ] NAME Deletes a previously created variable object and all of its children. With the '-c' option, just deletes the children. Returns an error if the object NAME is not found. The '-var-set-format' Command ----------------------------- Synopsis ........ -var-set-format NAME FORMAT-SPEC Sets the output format for the value of the object NAME to be FORMAT-SPEC. The syntax for the FORMAT-SPEC is as follows: FORMAT-SPEC ==> {binary | decimal | hexadecimal | octal | natural | zero-hexadecimal} The natural format is the default format choosen automatically based on the variable type (like decimal for an 'int', hex for pointers, etc.). The zero-hexadecimal format has a representation similar to hexadecimal but with padding zeroes to the left of the value. For example, a 32-bit hexadecimal value of 0x1234 would be represented as 0x00001234 in the zero-hexadecimal format. For a variable with children, the format is set only on the variable itself, and the children are not affected. The '-var-show-format' Command ------------------------------ Synopsis ........ -var-show-format NAME Returns the format used to display the value of the object NAME. FORMAT ==> FORMAT-SPEC The '-var-info-num-children' Command ------------------------------------ Synopsis ........ -var-info-num-children NAME Returns the number of children of a variable object NAME: numchild=N Note that this number is not completely reliable for a dynamic varobj. It will return the current number of children, but more children may be available. The '-var-list-children' Command -------------------------------- Synopsis ........ -var-list-children [PRINT-VALUES] NAME [FROM TO] Return a list of the children of the specified variable object and create variable objects for them, if they do not already exist. With a single argument or if PRINT-VALUES has a value of 0 or '--no-values', print only the names of the variables; if PRINT-VALUES is 1 or '--all-values', also print their values; and if it is 2 or '--simple-values' print the name and value for simple data types and just the name for arrays, structures and unions. FROM and TO, if specified, indicate the range of children to report. If FROM or TO is less than zero, the range is reset and all children will be reported. Otherwise, children starting at FROM (zero-based) and up to and excluding TO will be reported. If a child range is requested, it will only affect the current call to '-var-list-children', but not future calls to '-var-update'. For this, you must instead use '-var-set-update-range'. The intent of this approach is to enable a front end to implement any update approach it likes; for example, scrolling a view may cause the front end to request more children with '-var-list-children', and then the front end could call '-var-set-update-range' with a different range to ensure that future updates are restricted to just the visible items. For each child the following results are returned: NAME Name of the variable object created for this child. EXP The expression to be shown to the user by the front end to designate this child. For example this may be the name of a structure member. For a dynamic varobj, this value cannot be used to form an expression. There is no way to do this at all with a dynamic varobj. For C/C++ structures there are several pseudo children returned to designate access qualifiers. For these pseudo children EXP is 'public', 'private', or 'protected'. In this case the type and value are not present. A dynamic varobj will not report the access qualifying pseudo-children, regardless of the language. This information is not available at all with a dynamic varobj. NUMCHILD Number of children this child has. For a dynamic varobj, this will be 0. TYPE The type of the child. If 'print object' (*note set print object: Print Settings.) is set to 'on', the _actual_ (derived) type of the object is shown rather than the _declared_ one. VALUE If values were requested, this is the value. THREAD-ID If this variable object is associated with a thread, this is the thread's global thread id. Otherwise this result is not present. FROZEN If the variable object is frozen, this variable will be present with a value of 1. DISPLAYHINT A dynamic varobj can supply a display hint to the front end. The value comes directly from the Python pretty-printer object's 'display_hint' method. *Note Pretty Printing API::. DYNAMIC This attribute will be present and have the value '1' if the varobj is a dynamic varobj. If the varobj is not a dynamic varobj, then this attribute will not be present. The result may have its own attributes: 'displayhint' A dynamic varobj can supply a display hint to the front end. The value comes directly from the Python pretty-printer object's 'display_hint' method. *Note Pretty Printing API::. 'has_more' This is an integer attribute which is nonzero if there are children remaining after the end of the selected range. Example ....... (gdb) -var-list-children n ^done,numchild=N,children=[child={name=NAME,exp=EXP, numchild=N,type=TYPE},(repeats N times)] (gdb) -var-list-children --all-values n ^done,numchild=N,children=[child={name=NAME,exp=EXP, numchild=N,value=VALUE,type=TYPE},(repeats N times)] The '-var-info-type' Command ---------------------------- Synopsis ........ -var-info-type NAME Returns the type of the specified variable NAME. The type is returned as a string in the same format as it is output by the GDB CLI: type=TYPENAME The '-var-info-expression' Command ---------------------------------- Synopsis ........ -var-info-expression NAME Returns a string that is suitable for presenting this variable object in user interface. The string is generally not valid expression in the current language, and cannot be evaluated. For example, if 'a' is an array, and variable object 'A' was created for 'a', then we'll get this output: (gdb) -var-info-expression A.1 ^done,lang="C",exp="1" Here, the value of 'lang' is the language name, which can be found in *note Supported Languages::. Note that the output of the '-var-list-children' command also includes those expressions, so the '-var-info-expression' command is of limited use. The '-var-info-path-expression' Command --------------------------------------- Synopsis ........ -var-info-path-expression NAME Returns an expression that can be evaluated in the current context and will yield the same value that a variable object has. Compare this with the '-var-info-expression' command, which result can be used only for UI presentation. Typical use of the '-var-info-path-expression' command is creating a watchpoint from a variable object. This command is currently not valid for children of a dynamic varobj, and will give an error when invoked on one. For example, suppose 'C' is a C++ class, derived from class 'Base', and that the 'Base' class has a member called 'm_size'. Assume a variable 'c' is has the type of 'C' and a variable object 'C' was created for variable 'c'. Then, we'll get this output: (gdb) -var-info-path-expression C.Base.public.m_size ^done,path_expr=((Base)c).m_size) The '-var-show-attributes' Command ---------------------------------- Synopsis ........ -var-show-attributes NAME List attributes of the specified variable object NAME: status=ATTR [ ( ,ATTR )* ] where ATTR is '{ { editable | noneditable } | TBD }'. The '-var-evaluate-expression' Command -------------------------------------- Synopsis ........ -var-evaluate-expression [-f FORMAT-SPEC] NAME Evaluates the expression that is represented by the specified variable object and returns its value as a string. The format of the string can be specified with the '-f' option. The possible values of this option are the same as for '-var-set-format' (*note -var-set-format::). If the '-f' option is not specified, the current display format will be used. The current display format can be changed using the '-var-set-format' command. value=VALUE Note that one must invoke '-var-list-children' for a variable before the value of a child variable can be evaluated. The '-var-assign' Command ------------------------- Synopsis ........ -var-assign NAME EXPRESSION Assigns the value of EXPRESSION to the variable object specified by NAME. The object must be 'editable'. If the variable's value is altered by the assign, the variable will show up in any subsequent '-var-update' list. Example ....... (gdb) -var-assign var1 3 ^done,value="3" (gdb) -var-update * ^done,changelist=[{name="var1",in_scope="true",type_changed="false"}] (gdb) The '-var-update' Command ------------------------- Synopsis ........ -var-update [PRINT-VALUES] {NAME | "*"} Reevaluate the expressions corresponding to the variable object NAME and all its direct and indirect children, and return the list of variable objects whose values have changed; NAME must be a root variable object. Here, "changed" means that the result of '-var-evaluate-expression' before and after the '-var-update' is different. If '*' is used as the variable object names, all existing variable objects are updated, except for frozen ones (*note -var-set-frozen::). The option PRINT-VALUES determines whether both names and values, or just names are printed. The possible values of this option are the same as for '-var-list-children' (*note -var-list-children::). It is recommended to use the '--all-values' option, to reduce the number of MI commands needed on each program stop. With the '*' parameter, if a variable object is bound to a currently running thread, it will not be updated, without any diagnostic. If '-var-set-update-range' was previously used on a varobj, then only the selected range of children will be reported. '-var-update' reports all the changed varobjs in a tuple named 'changelist'. Each item in the change list is itself a tuple holding: 'name' The name of the varobj. 'value' If values were requested for this update, then this field will be present and will hold the value of the varobj. 'in_scope' This field is a string which may take one of three values: '"true"' The variable object's current value is valid. '"false"' The variable object does not currently hold a valid value but it may hold one in the future if its associated expression comes back into scope. '"invalid"' The variable object no longer holds a valid value. This can occur when the executable file being debugged has changed, either through recompilation or by using the GDB 'file' command. The front end should normally choose to delete these variable objects. In the future new values may be added to this list so the front should be prepared for this possibility. *Note GDB/MI Development and Front Ends: GDB/MI Development and Front Ends. 'type_changed' This is only present if the varobj is still valid. If the type changed, then this will be the string 'true'; otherwise it will be 'false'. When a varobj's type changes, its children are also likely to have become incorrect. Therefore, the varobj's children are automatically deleted when this attribute is 'true'. Also, the varobj's update range, when set using the '-var-set-update-range' command, is unset. 'new_type' If the varobj's type changed, then this field will be present and will hold the new type. 'new_num_children' For a dynamic varobj, if the number of children changed, or if the type changed, this will be the new number of children. The 'numchild' field in other varobj responses is generally not valid for a dynamic varobj - it will show the number of children that GDB knows about, but because dynamic varobjs lazily instantiate their children, this will not reflect the number of children which may be available. The 'new_num_children' attribute only reports changes to the number of children known by GDB. This is the only way to detect whether an update has removed children (which necessarily can only happen at the end of the update range). 'displayhint' The display hint, if any. 'has_more' This is an integer value, which will be 1 if there are more children available outside the varobj's update range. 'dynamic' This attribute will be present and have the value '1' if the varobj is a dynamic varobj. If the varobj is not a dynamic varobj, then this attribute will not be present. 'new_children' If new children were added to a dynamic varobj within the selected update range (as set by '-var-set-update-range'), then they will be listed in this attribute. Example ....... (gdb) -var-assign var1 3 ^done,value="3" (gdb) -var-update --all-values var1 ^done,changelist=[{name="var1",value="3",in_scope="true", type_changed="false"}] (gdb) The '-var-set-frozen' Command ----------------------------- Synopsis ........ -var-set-frozen NAME FLAG Set the frozenness flag on the variable object NAME. The FLAG parameter should be either '1' to make the variable frozen or '0' to make it unfrozen. If a variable object is frozen, then neither itself, nor any of its children, are implicitly updated by '-var-update' of a parent variable or by '-var-update *'. Only '-var-update' of the variable itself will update its value and values of its children. After a variable object is unfrozen, it is implicitly updated by all subsequent '-var-update' operations. Unfreezing a variable does not update it, only subsequent '-var-update' does. Example ....... (gdb) -var-set-frozen V 1 ^done (gdb) The '-var-set-update-range' command ----------------------------------- Synopsis ........ -var-set-update-range NAME FROM TO Set the range of children to be returned by future invocations of '-var-update'. FROM and TO indicate the range of children to report. If FROM or TO is less than zero, the range is reset and all children will be reported. Otherwise, children starting at FROM (zero-based) and up to and excluding TO will be reported. Example ....... (gdb) -var-set-update-range V 1 2 ^done The '-var-set-visualizer' command --------------------------------- Synopsis ........ -var-set-visualizer NAME VISUALIZER Set a visualizer for the variable object NAME. VISUALIZER is the visualizer to use. The special value 'None' means to disable any visualizer in use. If not 'None', VISUALIZER must be a Python expression. This expression must evaluate to a callable object which accepts a single argument. GDB will call this object with the value of the varobj NAME as an argument (this is done so that the same Python pretty-printing code can be used for both the CLI and MI). When called, this object must return an object which conforms to the pretty-printing interface (*note Pretty Printing API::). The pre-defined function 'gdb.default_visualizer' may be used to select a visualizer by following the built-in process (*note Selecting Pretty-Printers::). This is done automatically when a varobj is created, and so ordinarily is not needed. This feature is only available if Python support is enabled. The MI command '-list-features' (*note GDB/MI Support Commands::) can be used to check this. Example ....... Resetting the visualizer: (gdb) -var-set-visualizer V None ^done Reselecting the default (type-based) visualizer: (gdb) -var-set-visualizer V gdb.default_visualizer ^done Suppose 'SomeClass' is a visualizer class. A lambda expression can be used to instantiate this class for a varobj: (gdb) -var-set-visualizer V "lambda val: SomeClass()" ^done  File: gdb.info, Node: GDB/MI Data Manipulation, Next: GDB/MI Tracepoint Commands, Prev: GDB/MI Variable Objects, Up: GDB/MI 27.16 GDB/MI Data Manipulation ============================== This section describes the GDB/MI commands that manipulate data: examine memory and registers, evaluate expressions, etc. For details about what an addressable memory unit is, *note addressable memory unit::. The '-data-disassemble' Command ------------------------------- Synopsis ........ -data-disassemble [ -s START-ADDR -e END-ADDR ] | [ -a ADDR ] | [ -f FILENAME -l LINENUM [ -n LINES ] ] -- MODE Where: 'START-ADDR' is the beginning address (or '$pc') 'END-ADDR' is the end address 'ADDR' is an address anywhere within (or the name of) the function to disassemble. If an address is specified, the whole function surrounding that address will be disassembled. If a name is specified, the whole function with that name will be disassembled. 'FILENAME' is the name of the file to disassemble 'LINENUM' is the line number to disassemble around 'LINES' is the number of disassembly lines to be produced. If it is -1, the whole function will be disassembled, in case no END-ADDR is specified. If END-ADDR is specified as a non-zero value, and LINES is lower than the number of disassembly lines between START-ADDR and END-ADDR, only LINES lines are displayed; if LINES is higher than the number of lines between START-ADDR and END-ADDR, only the lines up to END-ADDR are displayed. 'MODE' is one of: * 0 disassembly only * 1 mixed source and disassembly (deprecated) * 2 disassembly with raw opcodes * 3 mixed source and disassembly with raw opcodes (deprecated) * 4 mixed source and disassembly * 5 mixed source and disassembly with raw opcodes Modes 1 and 3 are deprecated. The output is "source centric" which hasn't proved useful in practice. *Note Machine Code::, for a discussion of the difference between '/m' and '/s' output of the 'disassemble' command. Result ...... The result of the '-data-disassemble' command will be a list named 'asm_insns', the contents of this list depend on the MODE used with the '-data-disassemble' command. For modes 0 and 2 the 'asm_insns' list contains tuples with the following fields: 'address' The address at which this instruction was disassembled. 'func-name' The name of the function this instruction is within. 'offset' The decimal offset in bytes from the start of 'func-name'. 'inst' The text disassembly for this 'address'. 'opcodes' This field is only present for modes 2, 3 and 5. This contains the raw opcode bytes for the 'inst' field. For modes 1, 3, 4 and 5 the 'asm_insns' list contains tuples named 'src_and_asm_line', each of which has the following fields: 'line' The line number within 'file'. 'file' The file name from the compilation unit. This might be an absolute file name or a relative file name depending on the compile command used. 'fullname' Absolute file name of 'file'. It is converted to a canonical form using the source file search path (*note Specifying Source Directories: Source Path.) and after resolving all the symbolic links. If the source file is not found this field will contain the path as present in the debug information. 'line_asm_insn' This is a list of tuples containing the disassembly for 'line' in 'file'. The fields of each tuple are the same as for '-data-disassemble' in MODE 0 and 2, so 'address', 'func-name', 'offset', 'inst', and optionally 'opcodes'. Note that whatever included in the 'inst' field, is not manipulated directly by GDB/MI, i.e., it is not possible to adjust its format. GDB Command ........... The corresponding GDB command is 'disassemble'. Example ....... Disassemble from the current value of '$pc' to '$pc + 20': (gdb) -data-disassemble -s $pc -e "$pc + 20" -- 0 ^done, asm_insns=[ {address="0x000107c0",func-name="main",offset="4", inst="mov 2, %o0"}, {address="0x000107c4",func-name="main",offset="8", inst="sethi %hi(0x11800), %o2"}, {address="0x000107c8",func-name="main",offset="12", inst="or %o2, 0x140, %o1\t! 0x11940 <_lib_version+8>"}, {address="0x000107cc",func-name="main",offset="16", inst="sethi %hi(0x11800), %o2"}, {address="0x000107d0",func-name="main",offset="20", inst="or %o2, 0x168, %o4\t! 0x11968 <_lib_version+48>"}] (gdb) Disassemble the whole 'main' function. Line 32 is part of 'main'. -data-disassemble -f basics.c -l 32 -- 0 ^done,asm_insns=[ {address="0x000107bc",func-name="main",offset="0", inst="save %sp, -112, %sp"}, {address="0x000107c0",func-name="main",offset="4", inst="mov 2, %o0"}, {address="0x000107c4",func-name="main",offset="8", inst="sethi %hi(0x11800), %o2"}, [...] {address="0x0001081c",func-name="main",offset="96",inst="ret "}, {address="0x00010820",func-name="main",offset="100",inst="restore "}] (gdb) Disassemble 3 instructions from the start of 'main': (gdb) -data-disassemble -f basics.c -l 32 -n 3 -- 0 ^done,asm_insns=[ {address="0x000107bc",func-name="main",offset="0", inst="save %sp, -112, %sp"}, {address="0x000107c0",func-name="main",offset="4", inst="mov 2, %o0"}, {address="0x000107c4",func-name="main",offset="8", inst="sethi %hi(0x11800), %o2"}] (gdb) Disassemble 3 instructions from the start of 'main' in mixed mode: (gdb) -data-disassemble -f basics.c -l 32 -n 3 -- 1 ^done,asm_insns=[ src_and_asm_line={line="31", file="../../../src/gdb/testsuite/gdb.mi/basics.c", fullname="/absolute/path/to/src/gdb/testsuite/gdb.mi/basics.c", line_asm_insn=[{address="0x000107bc", func-name="main",offset="0",inst="save %sp, -112, %sp"}]}, src_and_asm_line={line="32", file="../../../src/gdb/testsuite/gdb.mi/basics.c", fullname="/absolute/path/to/src/gdb/testsuite/gdb.mi/basics.c", line_asm_insn=[{address="0x000107c0", func-name="main",offset="4",inst="mov 2, %o0"}, {address="0x000107c4",func-name="main",offset="8", inst="sethi %hi(0x11800), %o2"}]}] (gdb) The '-data-evaluate-expression' Command --------------------------------------- Synopsis ........ -data-evaluate-expression EXPR Evaluate EXPR as an expression. The expression could contain an inferior function call. The function call will execute synchronously. If the expression contains spaces, it must be enclosed in double quotes. GDB Command ........... The corresponding GDB commands are 'print', 'output', and 'call'. In 'gdbtk' only, there's a corresponding 'gdb_eval' command. Example ....... In the following example, the numbers that precede the commands are the "tokens" described in *note GDB/MI Command Syntax: GDB/MI Command Syntax. Notice how GDB/MI returns the same tokens in its output. 211-data-evaluate-expression A 211^done,value="1" (gdb) 311-data-evaluate-expression &A 311^done,value="0xefffeb7c" (gdb) 411-data-evaluate-expression A+3 411^done,value="4" (gdb) 511-data-evaluate-expression "A + 3" 511^done,value="4" (gdb) The '-data-list-changed-registers' Command ------------------------------------------ Synopsis ........ -data-list-changed-registers Display a list of the registers that have changed. GDB Command ........... GDB doesn't have a direct analog for this command; 'gdbtk' has the corresponding command 'gdb_changed_register_list'. Example ....... On a PPC MBX board: (gdb) -exec-continue ^running (gdb) *stopped,reason="breakpoint-hit",disp="keep",bkptno="1",frame={ func="main",args=[],file="try.c",fullname="/home/foo/bar/try.c", line="5",arch="powerpc"} (gdb) -data-list-changed-registers ^done,changed-registers=["0","1","2","4","5","6","7","8","9", "10","11","13","14","15","16","17","18","19","20","21","22","23", "24","25","26","27","28","30","31","64","65","66","67","69"] (gdb) The '-data-list-register-names' Command --------------------------------------- Synopsis ........ -data-list-register-names [ ( REGNO )+ ] Show a list of register names for the current target. If no arguments are given, it shows a list of the names of all the registers. If integer numbers are given as arguments, it will print a list of the names of the registers corresponding to the arguments. To ensure consistency between a register name and its number, the output list may include empty register names. GDB Command ........... GDB does not have a command which corresponds to '-data-list-register-names'. In 'gdbtk' there is a corresponding command 'gdb_regnames'. Example ....... For the PPC MBX board: (gdb) -data-list-register-names ^done,register-names=["r0","r1","r2","r3","r4","r5","r6","r7", "r8","r9","r10","r11","r12","r13","r14","r15","r16","r17","r18", "r19","r20","r21","r22","r23","r24","r25","r26","r27","r28","r29", "r30","r31","f0","f1","f2","f3","f4","f5","f6","f7","f8","f9", "f10","f11","f12","f13","f14","f15","f16","f17","f18","f19","f20", "f21","f22","f23","f24","f25","f26","f27","f28","f29","f30","f31", "", "pc","ps","cr","lr","ctr","xer"] (gdb) -data-list-register-names 1 2 3 ^done,register-names=["r1","r2","r3"] (gdb) The '-data-list-register-values' Command ---------------------------------------- Synopsis ........ -data-list-register-values [ --skip-unavailable ] FMT [ ( REGNO )*] Display the registers' contents. The format according to which the registers' contents are to be returned is given by FMT, followed by an optional list of numbers specifying the registers to display. A missing list of numbers indicates that the contents of all the registers must be returned. The '--skip-unavailable' option indicates that only the available registers are to be returned. Allowed formats for FMT are: 'x' Hexadecimal 'o' Octal 't' Binary 'd' Decimal 'r' Raw 'N' Natural GDB Command ........... The corresponding GDB commands are 'info reg', 'info all-reg', and (in 'gdbtk') 'gdb_fetch_registers'. Example ....... For a PPC MBX board (note: line breaks are for readability only, they don't appear in the actual output): (gdb) -data-list-register-values r 64 65 ^done,register-values=[{number="64",value="0xfe00a300"}, {number="65",value="0x00029002"}] (gdb) -data-list-register-values x ^done,register-values=[{number="0",value="0xfe0043c8"}, {number="1",value="0x3fff88"},{number="2",value="0xfffffffe"}, {number="3",value="0x0"},{number="4",value="0xa"}, {number="5",value="0x3fff68"},{number="6",value="0x3fff58"}, {number="7",value="0xfe011e98"},{number="8",value="0x2"}, {number="9",value="0xfa202820"},{number="10",value="0xfa202808"}, {number="11",value="0x1"},{number="12",value="0x0"}, {number="13",value="0x4544"},{number="14",value="0xffdfffff"}, {number="15",value="0xffffffff"},{number="16",value="0xfffffeff"}, {number="17",value="0xefffffed"},{number="18",value="0xfffffffe"}, {number="19",value="0xffffffff"},{number="20",value="0xffffffff"}, {number="21",value="0xffffffff"},{number="22",value="0xfffffff7"}, {number="23",value="0xffffffff"},{number="24",value="0xffffffff"}, {number="25",value="0xffffffff"},{number="26",value="0xfffffffb"}, {number="27",value="0xffffffff"},{number="28",value="0xf7bfffff"}, {number="29",value="0x0"},{number="30",value="0xfe010000"}, {number="31",value="0x0"},{number="32",value="0x0"}, {number="33",value="0x0"},{number="34",value="0x0"}, {number="35",value="0x0"},{number="36",value="0x0"}, {number="37",value="0x0"},{number="38",value="0x0"}, {number="39",value="0x0"},{number="40",value="0x0"}, {number="41",value="0x0"},{number="42",value="0x0"}, {number="43",value="0x0"},{number="44",value="0x0"}, {number="45",value="0x0"},{number="46",value="0x0"}, {number="47",value="0x0"},{number="48",value="0x0"}, {number="49",value="0x0"},{number="50",value="0x0"}, {number="51",value="0x0"},{number="52",value="0x0"}, {number="53",value="0x0"},{number="54",value="0x0"}, {number="55",value="0x0"},{number="56",value="0x0"}, {number="57",value="0x0"},{number="58",value="0x0"}, {number="59",value="0x0"},{number="60",value="0x0"}, {number="61",value="0x0"},{number="62",value="0x0"}, {number="63",value="0x0"},{number="64",value="0xfe00a300"}, {number="65",value="0x29002"},{number="66",value="0x202f04b5"}, {number="67",value="0xfe0043b0"},{number="68",value="0xfe00b3e4"}, {number="69",value="0x20002b03"}] (gdb) The '-data-read-memory' Command ------------------------------- This command is deprecated, use '-data-read-memory-bytes' instead. Synopsis ........ -data-read-memory [ -o BYTE-OFFSET ] ADDRESS WORD-FORMAT WORD-SIZE NR-ROWS NR-COLS [ ASCHAR ] where: 'ADDRESS' An expression specifying the address of the first memory word to be read. Complex expressions containing embedded white space should be quoted using the C convention. 'WORD-FORMAT' The format to be used to print the memory words. The notation is the same as for GDB's 'print' command (*note Output Formats: Output Formats.). 'WORD-SIZE' The size of each memory word in bytes. 'NR-ROWS' The number of rows in the output table. 'NR-COLS' The number of columns in the output table. 'ASCHAR' If present, indicates that each row should include an ASCII dump. The value of ASCHAR is used as a padding character when a byte is not a member of the printable ASCII character set (printable ASCII characters are those whose code is between 32 and 126, inclusively). 'BYTE-OFFSET' An offset to add to the ADDRESS before fetching memory. This command displays memory contents as a table of NR-ROWS by NR-COLS words, each word being WORD-SIZE bytes. In total, 'NR-ROWS * NR-COLS * WORD-SIZE' bytes are read (returned as 'total-bytes'). Should less than the requested number of bytes be returned by the target, the missing words are identified using 'N/A'. The number of bytes read from the target is returned in 'nr-bytes' and the starting address used to read memory in 'addr'. The address of the next/previous row or page is available in 'next-row' and 'prev-row', 'next-page' and 'prev-page'. GDB Command ........... The corresponding GDB command is 'x'. 'gdbtk' has 'gdb_get_mem' memory read command. Example ....... Read six bytes of memory starting at 'bytes+6' but then offset by '-6' bytes. Format as three rows of two columns. One byte per word. Display each word in hex. (gdb) 9-data-read-memory -o -6 -- bytes+6 x 1 3 2 9^done,addr="0x00001390",nr-bytes="6",total-bytes="6", next-row="0x00001396",prev-row="0x0000138e",next-page="0x00001396", prev-page="0x0000138a",memory=[ {addr="0x00001390",data=["0x00","0x01"]}, {addr="0x00001392",data=["0x02","0x03"]}, {addr="0x00001394",data=["0x04","0x05"]}] (gdb) Read two bytes of memory starting at address 'shorts + 64' and display as a single word formatted in decimal. (gdb) 5-data-read-memory shorts+64 d 2 1 1 5^done,addr="0x00001510",nr-bytes="2",total-bytes="2", next-row="0x00001512",prev-row="0x0000150e", next-page="0x00001512",prev-page="0x0000150e",memory=[ {addr="0x00001510",data=["128"]}] (gdb) Read thirty two bytes of memory starting at 'bytes+16' and format as eight rows of four columns. Include a string encoding with 'x' used as the non-printable character. (gdb) 4-data-read-memory bytes+16 x 1 8 4 x 4^done,addr="0x000013a0",nr-bytes="32",total-bytes="32", next-row="0x000013c0",prev-row="0x0000139c", next-page="0x000013c0",prev-page="0x00001380",memory=[ {addr="0x000013a0",data=["0x10","0x11","0x12","0x13"],ascii="xxxx"}, {addr="0x000013a4",data=["0x14","0x15","0x16","0x17"],ascii="xxxx"}, {addr="0x000013a8",data=["0x18","0x19","0x1a","0x1b"],ascii="xxxx"}, {addr="0x000013ac",data=["0x1c","0x1d","0x1e","0x1f"],ascii="xxxx"}, {addr="0x000013b0",data=["0x20","0x21","0x22","0x23"],ascii=" !\"#"}, {addr="0x000013b4",data=["0x24","0x25","0x26","0x27"],ascii="$%&'"}, {addr="0x000013b8",data=["0x28","0x29","0x2a","0x2b"],ascii="()*+"}, {addr="0x000013bc",data=["0x2c","0x2d","0x2e","0x2f"],ascii=",-./"}] (gdb) The '-data-read-memory-bytes' Command ------------------------------------- Synopsis ........ -data-read-memory-bytes [ -o OFFSET ] ADDRESS COUNT where: 'ADDRESS' An expression specifying the address of the first addressable memory unit to be read. Complex expressions containing embedded white space should be quoted using the C convention. 'COUNT' The number of addressable memory units to read. This should be an integer literal. 'OFFSET' The offset relative to ADDRESS at which to start reading. This should be an integer literal. This option is provided so that a frontend is not required to first evaluate address and then perform address arithmetics itself. This command attempts to read all accessible memory regions in the specified range. First, all regions marked as unreadable in the memory map (if one is defined) will be skipped. *Note Memory Region Attributes::. Second, GDB will attempt to read the remaining regions. For each one, if reading full region results in an errors, GDB will try to read a subset of the region. In general, every single memory unit in the region may be readable or not, and the only way to read every readable unit is to try a read at every address, which is not practical. Therefore, GDB will attempt to read all accessible memory units at either beginning or the end of the region, using a binary division scheme. This heuristic works well for reading across a memory map boundary. Note that if a region has a readable range that is neither at the beginning or the end, GDB will not read it. The result record (*note GDB/MI Result Records::) that is output of the command includes a field named 'memory' whose content is a list of tuples. Each tuple represent a successfully read memory block and has the following fields: 'begin' The start address of the memory block, as hexadecimal literal. 'end' The end address of the memory block, as hexadecimal literal. 'offset' The offset of the memory block, as hexadecimal literal, relative to the start address passed to '-data-read-memory-bytes'. 'contents' The contents of the memory block, in hex. GDB Command ........... The corresponding GDB command is 'x'. Example ....... (gdb) -data-read-memory-bytes &a 10 ^done,memory=[{begin="0xbffff154",offset="0x00000000", end="0xbffff15e", contents="01000000020000000300"}] (gdb) The '-data-write-memory-bytes' Command -------------------------------------- Synopsis ........ -data-write-memory-bytes ADDRESS CONTENTS -data-write-memory-bytes ADDRESS CONTENTS [COUNT] where: 'ADDRESS' An expression specifying the address of the first addressable memory unit to be written. Complex expressions containing embedded white space should be quoted using the C convention. 'CONTENTS' The hex-encoded data to write. It is an error if CONTENTS does not represent an integral number of addressable memory units. 'COUNT' Optional argument indicating the number of addressable memory units to be written. If COUNT is greater than CONTENTS' length, GDB will repeatedly write CONTENTS until it fills COUNT memory units. GDB Command ........... There's no corresponding GDB command. Example ....... (gdb) -data-write-memory-bytes &a "aabbccdd" ^done (gdb) (gdb) -data-write-memory-bytes &a "aabbccdd" 16e ^done (gdb)