Debugging with GDB: The GNU Source-Level Debugger
The GNU Debugger allows you to see what is going on "inside" a program while it executes - or what a program was doing at the moment it crashed.
GDB supports C, C++, Java, Fortran and Assembly among other languages; it is also designed to work closely with the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC).
The GNU Debugger Program has four special features that helps you catch bugs in the act:
- It starts your program for you, specifying anything that might affect it's behavior.
- Makes your program stop under specified conditions.
- Examines what happened when the program stopped.
- Allows you to experiment with changes to see what effect they have on the program.
This book will show you:
- setting and clearing breakpoints
- examining the stack, source files and data
- examining the symbol table
- altering program execution
- specifying a target for debugging
- how to control the debugger
- how to use canned command sequences
- how to install GDB
- and much more!
This manual is written for programmers. It is designed so someone can begin utilizing GDB after just reading the first chapter, or read the whole manual and master the program. Synopsis of ideas and extensive examples are given.
About the authors:
Richard M. Stallman, founder of the Free Software movement, is the original author of GDB. Roland Pesch is a professional technical writer. Stan Shebs was a primary maintainer of GDB during the 1990's.