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b6ba6518 | 1 | .\" Copyright 1991, 1999 Free Software Foundation, Inc. |
c906108c SS |
2 | .\" See section COPYING for conditions for redistribution |
3 | .\" $Id$ | |
87885426 | 4 | .TH gdb 1 "22may2002" "GNU Tools" "GNU Tools" |
c906108c SS |
5 | .SH NAME |
6 | gdb \- The GNU Debugger | |
7 | .SH SYNOPSIS | |
8 | .na | |
9 | .TP | |
10 | .B gdb | |
11 | .RB "[\|" \-help "\|]" | |
12 | .RB "[\|" \-nx "\|]" | |
13 | .RB "[\|" \-q "\|]" | |
14 | .RB "[\|" \-batch "\|]" | |
15 | .RB "[\|" \-cd=\c | |
16 | .I dir\c | |
17 | \|] | |
18 | .RB "[\|" \-f "\|]" | |
19 | .RB "[\|" "\-b\ "\c | |
20 | .IR bps "\|]" | |
21 | .RB "[\|" "\-tty="\c | |
22 | .IR dev "\|]" | |
23 | .RB "[\|" "\-s "\c | |
24 | .I symfile\c | |
25 | \&\|] | |
26 | .RB "[\|" "\-e "\c | |
27 | .I prog\c | |
28 | \&\|] | |
29 | .RB "[\|" "\-se "\c | |
30 | .I prog\c | |
31 | \&\|] | |
32 | .RB "[\|" "\-c "\c | |
33 | .I core\c | |
34 | \&\|] | |
35 | .RB "[\|" "\-x "\c | |
36 | .I cmds\c | |
37 | \&\|] | |
38 | .RB "[\|" "\-d "\c | |
39 | .I dir\c | |
40 | \&\|] | |
41 | .RB "[\|" \c | |
42 | .I prog\c | |
43 | .RB "[\|" \c | |
44 | .IR core \||\| procID\c | |
45 | \&\|]\&\|] | |
46 | .ad b | |
47 | .SH DESCRIPTION | |
48 | The purpose of a debugger such as GDB is to allow you to see what is | |
49 | going on ``inside'' another program while it executes\(em\&or what another | |
50 | program was doing at the moment it crashed. | |
51 | ||
52 | GDB can do four main kinds of things (plus other things in support of | |
53 | these) to help you catch bugs in the act: | |
54 | ||
55 | .TP | |
56 | \ \ \ \(bu | |
57 | Start your program, specifying anything that might affect its behavior. | |
58 | ||
59 | .TP | |
60 | \ \ \ \(bu | |
61 | Make your program stop on specified conditions. | |
62 | ||
63 | .TP | |
64 | \ \ \ \(bu | |
65 | Examine what has happened, when your program has stopped. | |
66 | ||
67 | .TP | |
68 | \ \ \ \(bu | |
69 | Change things in your program, so you can experiment with correcting the | |
70 | effects of one bug and go on to learn about another. | |
71 | .PP | |
72 | ||
73 | You can use GDB to debug programs written in C, C++, and Modula-2. | |
74 | Fortran support will be added when a GNU Fortran compiler is ready. | |
75 | ||
76 | GDB is invoked with the shell command \c | |
77 | .B gdb\c | |
78 | \&. Once started, it reads | |
79 | commands from the terminal until you tell it to exit with the GDB | |
80 | command \c | |
81 | .B quit\c | |
82 | \&. You can get online help from \c | |
83 | .B gdb\c | |
84 | \& itself | |
85 | by using the command \c | |
86 | .B help\c | |
87 | \&. | |
88 | ||
89 | You can run \c | |
90 | .B gdb\c | |
91 | \& with no arguments or options; but the most | |
92 | usual way to start GDB is with one argument or two, specifying an | |
93 | executable program as the argument: | |
94 | .sp | |
95 | .br | |
96 | gdb\ program | |
97 | .br | |
98 | .sp | |
99 | ||
100 | You can also start with both an executable program and a core file specified: | |
101 | .sp | |
102 | .br | |
103 | gdb\ program\ core | |
104 | .br | |
105 | .sp | |
106 | ||
107 | You can, instead, specify a process ID as a second argument, if you want | |
108 | to debug a running process: | |
109 | .sp | |
110 | .br | |
111 | gdb\ program\ 1234 | |
112 | .br | |
113 | .sp | |
114 | ||
115 | would attach GDB to process \c | |
116 | .B 1234\c | |
117 | \& (unless you also have a file | |
118 | named `\|\c | |
119 | .B 1234\c | |
120 | \&\|'; GDB does check for a core file first). | |
121 | ||
122 | Here are some of the most frequently needed GDB commands: | |
123 | .TP | |
124 | .B break \fR[\|\fIfile\fB:\fR\|]\fIfunction | |
125 | \& | |
126 | Set a breakpoint at \c | |
127 | .I function\c | |
128 | \& (in \c | |
129 | .I file\c | |
130 | \&). | |
131 | .TP | |
132 | .B run \fR[\|\fIarglist\fR\|] | |
133 | Start your program (with \c | |
134 | .I arglist\c | |
135 | \&, if specified). | |
136 | .TP | |
137 | .B bt | |
138 | Backtrace: display the program stack. | |
139 | .TP | |
140 | .BI print " expr"\c | |
141 | \& | |
142 | Display the value of an expression. | |
143 | .TP | |
144 | .B c | |
145 | Continue running your program (after stopping, e.g. at a breakpoint). | |
146 | .TP | |
147 | .B next | |
148 | Execute next program line (after stopping); step \c | |
149 | .I over\c | |
150 | \& any | |
151 | function calls in the line. | |
152 | .TP | |
87885426 FN |
153 | .B edit \fR[\|\fIfile\fB:\fR\|]\fIfunction |
154 | look at the program line where it is presently stopped. | |
155 | .TP | |
156 | .B list \fR[\|\fIfile\fB:\fR\|]\fIfunction | |
157 | type the text of the program in the vicinity of where it is presently stopped. | |
158 | .TP | |
c906108c SS |
159 | .B step |
160 | Execute next program line (after stopping); step \c | |
161 | .I into\c | |
162 | \& any | |
163 | function calls in the line. | |
164 | .TP | |
165 | .B help \fR[\|\fIname\fR\|] | |
166 | Show information about GDB command \c | |
167 | .I name\c | |
168 | \&, or general information | |
169 | about using GDB. | |
170 | .TP | |
171 | .B quit | |
172 | Exit from GDB. | |
173 | .PP | |
174 | For full details on GDB, see \c | |
175 | .I | |
176 | Using GDB: A Guide to the GNU Source-Level Debugger\c | |
177 | \&, by Richard M. Stallman and Roland H. Pesch. The same text is available online | |
178 | as the \c | |
179 | .B gdb\c | |
180 | \& entry in the \c | |
181 | .B info\c | |
182 | \& program. | |
183 | .SH OPTIONS | |
184 | Any arguments other than options specify an executable | |
185 | file and core file (or process ID); that is, the first argument | |
186 | encountered with no | |
187 | associated option flag is equivalent to a `\|\c | |
188 | .B \-se\c | |
189 | \&\|' option, and the | |
190 | second, if any, is equivalent to a `\|\c | |
191 | .B \-c\c | |
192 | \&\|' option if it's the name of a file. Many options have | |
193 | both long and short forms; both are shown here. The long forms are also | |
194 | recognized if you truncate them, so long as enough of the option is | |
195 | present to be unambiguous. (If you prefer, you can flag option | |
196 | arguments with `\|\c | |
197 | .B +\c | |
198 | \&\|' rather than `\|\c | |
199 | .B \-\c | |
200 | \&\|', though we illustrate the | |
201 | more usual convention.) | |
202 | ||
203 | All the options and command line arguments you give are processed | |
204 | in sequential order. The order makes a difference when the | |
205 | `\|\c | |
206 | .B \-x\c | |
207 | \&\|' option is used. | |
208 | ||
209 | .TP | |
210 | .B \-help | |
211 | .TP | |
212 | .B \-h | |
213 | List all options, with brief explanations. | |
214 | ||
215 | .TP | |
216 | .BI "\-symbols=" "file"\c | |
217 | .TP | |
218 | .BI "\-s " "file"\c | |
219 | \& | |
220 | Read symbol table from file \c | |
221 | .I file\c | |
222 | \&. | |
223 | ||
224 | .TP | |
225 | .B \-write | |
226 | Enable writing into executable and core files. | |
227 | ||
228 | .TP | |
229 | .BI "\-exec=" "file"\c | |
230 | .TP | |
231 | .BI "\-e " "file"\c | |
232 | \& | |
233 | Use file \c | |
234 | .I file\c | |
235 | \& as the executable file to execute when | |
236 | appropriate, and for examining pure data in conjunction with a core | |
237 | dump. | |
238 | ||
239 | .TP | |
240 | .BI "\-se=" "file"\c | |
241 | \& | |
242 | Read symbol table from file \c | |
243 | .I file\c | |
244 | \& and use it as the executable | |
245 | file. | |
246 | ||
247 | .TP | |
248 | .BI "\-core=" "file"\c | |
249 | .TP | |
250 | .BI "\-c " "file"\c | |
251 | \& | |
252 | Use file \c | |
253 | .I file\c | |
254 | \& as a core dump to examine. | |
255 | ||
256 | .TP | |
257 | .BI "\-command=" "file"\c | |
258 | .TP | |
259 | .BI "\-x " "file"\c | |
260 | \& | |
261 | Execute GDB commands from file \c | |
262 | .I file\c | |
263 | \&. | |
264 | ||
265 | .TP | |
266 | .BI "\-directory=" "directory"\c | |
267 | .TP | |
268 | .BI "\-d " "directory"\c | |
269 | \& | |
270 | Add \c | |
271 | .I directory\c | |
272 | \& to the path to search for source files. | |
273 | .PP | |
274 | ||
275 | .TP | |
276 | .B \-nx | |
277 | .TP | |
278 | .B \-n | |
279 | Do not execute commands from any `\|\c | |
280 | .B .gdbinit\c | |
281 | \&\|' initialization files. | |
282 | Normally, the commands in these files are executed after all the | |
283 | command options and arguments have been processed. | |
284 | ||
285 | ||
286 | .TP | |
287 | .B \-quiet | |
288 | .TP | |
289 | .B \-q | |
290 | ``Quiet''. Do not print the introductory and copyright messages. These | |
291 | messages are also suppressed in batch mode. | |
292 | ||
293 | .TP | |
294 | .B \-batch | |
295 | Run in batch mode. Exit with status \c | |
296 | .B 0\c | |
297 | \& after processing all the command | |
298 | files specified with `\|\c | |
299 | .B \-x\c | |
300 | \&\|' (and `\|\c | |
301 | .B .gdbinit\c | |
302 | \&\|', if not inhibited). | |
303 | Exit with nonzero status if an error occurs in executing the GDB | |
304 | commands in the command files. | |
305 | ||
306 | Batch mode may be useful for running GDB as a filter, for example to | |
307 | download and run a program on another computer; in order to make this | |
308 | more useful, the message | |
309 | .sp | |
310 | .br | |
311 | Program\ exited\ normally. | |
312 | .br | |
313 | .sp | |
314 | ||
315 | (which is ordinarily issued whenever a program running under GDB control | |
316 | terminates) is not issued when running in batch mode. | |
317 | ||
318 | .TP | |
319 | .BI "\-cd=" "directory"\c | |
320 | \& | |
321 | Run GDB using \c | |
322 | .I directory\c | |
323 | \& as its working directory, | |
324 | instead of the current directory. | |
325 | ||
326 | .TP | |
327 | .B \-fullname | |
328 | .TP | |
329 | .B \-f | |
330 | Emacs sets this option when it runs GDB as a subprocess. It tells GDB | |
331 | to output the full file name and line number in a standard, | |
332 | recognizable fashion each time a stack frame is displayed (which | |
333 | includes each time the program stops). This recognizable format looks | |
334 | like two `\|\c | |
335 | .B \032\c | |
336 | \&\|' characters, followed by the file name, line number | |
337 | and character position separated by colons, and a newline. The | |
338 | Emacs-to-GDB interface program uses the two `\|\c | |
339 | .B \032\c | |
340 | \&\|' characters as | |
341 | a signal to display the source code for the frame. | |
342 | ||
343 | .TP | |
344 | .BI "\-b " "bps"\c | |
345 | \& | |
346 | Set the line speed (baud rate or bits per second) of any serial | |
347 | interface used by GDB for remote debugging. | |
348 | ||
349 | .TP | |
350 | .BI "\-tty=" "device"\c | |
351 | \& | |
352 | Run using \c | |
353 | .I device\c | |
354 | \& for your program's standard input and output. | |
355 | .PP | |
356 | ||
357 | .SH "SEE ALSO" | |
358 | .RB "`\|" gdb "\|'" | |
359 | entry in | |
360 | .B info\c | |
361 | \&; | |
362 | .I | |
363 | Using GDB: A Guide to the GNU Source-Level Debugger\c | |
364 | , Richard M. Stallman and Roland H. Pesch, July 1991. | |
365 | .SH COPYING | |
366 | Copyright (c) 1991 Free Software Foundation, Inc. | |
367 | .PP | |
368 | Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of | |
369 | this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice | |
370 | are preserved on all copies. | |
371 | .PP | |
372 | Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this | |
373 | manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided that the | |
374 | entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a | |
375 | permission notice identical to this one. | |
376 | .PP | |
377 | Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this | |
378 | manual into another language, under the above conditions for modified | |
379 | versions, except that this permission notice may be included in | |
380 | translations approved by the Free Software Foundation instead of in | |
381 | the original English. |