Linux in a Nutshell, Third Edition

Name

gdb

Synopsis

gdb [options] [program [core|pid]]

Description

GDB (GNU DeBugger) allows you to step through C, C++, and Modula-2 programs in order to find the point at which they break. The program to be debugged is normally specified on the command line; you can also specify a core or, if you want to investigate a running program, a process ID.

Options

-s file, -symbols= file

Consult file for symbol table. With -e, also uses file as the executable.

-e file, -exec= file

Use file as executable, to be read in conjunction with source code. May be used in conjunction with -s to read symbol table from the executable.

-c file, -core= file

Consult file for information provided by a core dump.

-x file, -command= file

Read gdb commands from file.

-d directory, -directory= directory

Include directory in path that is searched for source files.

-n, -nx

Ignore .gdbinit file.

-q, -quiet

Suppress introductory and copyright messages.

-batch

Exit after executing all the commands specified in .gdbinit and -x files. Print no startup messages.

-cd= directory

Use directory as gdb’s working directory.

-f, -fullname

Show full filename and line number for each stack frame.

-b bps

Set line speed of serial device used by GDB to bps.

-tty= device

Set standard in and standard out to device.

Common commands

These are just some of the more common gdb commands; there are too many commands to list all of them here:

bt

Print the current location within the program and a stack trace showing how the current location ...