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NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | OPTIONS | SEE ALSO | COPYRIGHT | COLOPHON |
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GDBSERVER(1) GNU Development Tools GDBSERVER(1)
gdbserver - Remote Server for the GNU Debugger
gdbserver comm prog [args...]
gdbserver --attach comm pid
gdbserver --multi comm
gdbserver is a program that allows you to run GDB on a different
machine than the one which is running the program being debugged.
Usage (server (target) side):
First, you need to have a copy of the program you want to debug put
onto the target system. The program can be stripped to save space if
needed, as gdbserver doesn't care about symbols. All symbol handling
is taken care of by the GDB running on the host system.
To use the server, you log on to the target system, and run the
gdbserver program. You must tell it (a) how to communicate with GDB,
(b) the name of your program, and (c) its arguments. The general
syntax is:
target> gdbserver <comm> <program> [<args> ...]
For example, using a serial port, you might say:
target> gdbserver /dev/com1 emacs foo.txt
This tells gdbserver to debug emacs with an argument of foo.txt, and
to communicate with GDB via /dev/com1. gdbserver now waits patiently
for the host GDB to communicate with it.
To use a TCP connection, you could say:
target> gdbserver host:2345 emacs foo.txt
This says pretty much the same thing as the last example, except that
we are going to communicate with the "host" GDB via TCP. The
"host:2345" argument means that we are expecting to see a TCP
connection from "host" to local TCP port 2345. (Currently, the
"host" part is ignored.) You can choose any number you want for the
port number as long as it does not conflict with any existing TCP
ports on the target system. This same port number must be used in
the host GDBs "target remote" command, which will be described
shortly. Note that if you chose a port number that conflicts with
another service, gdbserver will print an error message and exit.
gdbserver can also attach to running programs. This is accomplished
via the --attach argument. The syntax is:
target> gdbserver --attach <comm> <pid>
pid is the process ID of a currently running process. It isn't
necessary to point gdbserver at a binary for the running process.
To start "gdbserver" without supplying an initial command to run or
process ID to attach, use the --multi command line option. In such
case you should connect using "target extended-remote" to start the
program you want to debug.
target> gdbserver --multi <comm>
Usage (host side):
You need an unstripped copy of the target program on your host
system, since GDB needs to examine it's symbol tables and such.
Start up GDB as you normally would, with the target program as the
first argument. (You may need to use the --baud option if the serial
line is running at anything except 9600 baud.) That is "gdb
TARGET-PROG", or "gdb --baud BAUD TARGET-PROG". After that, the only
new command you need to know about is "target remote" (or "target
extended-remote"). Its argument is either a device name (usually a
serial device, like /dev/ttyb), or a "HOST:PORT" descriptor. For
example:
(gdb) target remote /dev/ttyb
communicates with the server via serial line /dev/ttyb, and:
(gdb) target remote the-target:2345
communicates via a TCP connection to port 2345 on host `the-target',
where you previously started up gdbserver with the same port number.
Note that for TCP connections, you must start up gdbserver prior to
using the `target remote' command, otherwise you may get an error
that looks something like `Connection refused'.
gdbserver can also debug multiple inferiors at once, described in the
GDB manual in node "Inferiors and Programs" -- shell command "info -f
gdb -n 'Inferiors and Programs'". In such case use the
"extended-remote" GDB command variant:
(gdb) target extended-remote the-target:2345
The gdbserver option --multi may or may not be used in such case.
There are three different modes for invoking gdbserver:
· Debug a specific program specified by its program name:
gdbserver <comm> <prog> [<args>...]
The comm parameter specifies how should the server communicate
with GDB; it is either a device name (to use a serial line), a
TCP port number (":1234"), or "-" or "stdio" to use stdin/stdout
of "gdbserver". Specify the name of the program to debug in
prog. Any remaining arguments will be passed to the program
verbatim. When the program exits, GDB will close the connection,
and "gdbserver" will exit.
· Debug a specific program by specifying the process ID of a
running program:
gdbserver --attach <comm> <pid>
The comm parameter is as described above. Supply the process ID
of a running program in pid; GDB will do everything else. Like
with the previous mode, when the process pid exits, GDB will
close the connection, and "gdbserver" will exit.
· Multi-process mode -- debug more than one program/process:
gdbserver --multi <comm>
In this mode, GDB can instruct gdbserver which command(s) to run.
Unlike the other 2 modes, GDB will not close the connection when
a process being debugged exits, so you can debug several
processes in the same session.
In each of the modes you may specify these options:
--help
List all options, with brief explanations.
--version
This option causes gdbserver to print its version number and
exit.
--attach
gdbserver will attach to a running program. The syntax is:
target> gdbserver --attach <comm> <pid>
pid is the process ID of a currently running process. It isn't
necessary to point gdbserver at a binary for the running process.
--multi
To start "gdbserver" without supplying an initial command to run
or process ID to attach, use this command line option. Then you
can connect using "target extended-remote" and start the program
you want to debug. The syntax is:
target> gdbserver --multi <comm>
--debug
Instruct "gdbserver" to display extra status information about
the debugging process. This option is intended for "gdbserver"
development and for bug reports to the developers.
--remote-debug
Instruct "gdbserver" to display remote protocol debug output.
This option is intended for "gdbserver" development and for bug
reports to the developers.
--debug-format=option1[,option2,...]
Instruct "gdbserver" to include extra information in each line of
debugging output.
--wrapper
Specify a wrapper to launch programs for debugging. The option
should be followed by the name of the wrapper, then any command-
line arguments to pass to the wrapper, then "--" indicating the
end of the wrapper arguments.
--once
By default, gdbserver keeps the listening TCP port open, so that
additional connections are possible. However, if you start
"gdbserver" with the --once option, it will stop listening for
any further connection attempts after connecting to the first GDB
session.
The full documentation for GDB is maintained as a Texinfo manual. If
the "info" and "gdb" programs and GDB's Texinfo documentation are
properly installed at your site, the command
info gdb
should give you access to the complete manual.
Using GDB: A Guide to the GNU Source-Level Debugger, Richard M.
Stallman and Roland H. Pesch, July 1991.
Copyright (c) 1988-2018 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."
This page is part of the gdb (GNU debugger) project. Information
about the project can be found at ⟨http://www.gnu.org/software/gdb/⟩.
If you have a bug report for this manual page, see
⟨http://www.gnu.org/software/gdb/bugs/⟩. This page was obtained from
the tarball gdb-8.1.tar.gz fetched from
⟨https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/gdb/⟩ on 2018-02-02. If you discover any
rendering problems in this HTML version of the page, or you believe
there is a better or more up-to-date source for the page, or you have
corrections or improvements to the information in this COLOPHON
(which is not part of the original manual page), send a mail to
man-pages@man7.org
gdb-8.1 2018-01-31 GDBSERVER(1)
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