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Oracle Solaris Studio 12.2: Debugging a Program With dbx
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Document Information

Preface

1.  Getting Started With dbx

2.  Starting dbx

3.  Customizing dbx

4.  Viewing and Navigating To Code

5.  Controlling Program Execution

6.  Setting Breakpoints and Traces

7.  Using the Call Stack

8.  Evaluating and Displaying Data

9.  Using Runtime Checking

10.  Fixing and Continuing

11.  Debugging Multithreaded Applications

12.  Debugging Child Processes

13.  Debugging OpenMP Programs

14.  Working With Signals

15.  Debugging C++ With dbx

16.  Debugging Fortran Using dbx

17.  Debugging a Java Application With dbx

18.  Debugging at the Machine-Instruction Level

19.  Using dbx With the Korn Shell

20.  Debugging Shared Libraries

A.  Modifying a Program State

B.  Event Management

Event Handlers

Event Safety

Creating Event Handlers

Manipulating Event Handlers

Using Event Counters

Setting Event Specifications

Breakpoint Event Specifications

in function

at [filename:]line_number

at address_expression

infile filename

infunction function

inmember function inmethod function

inclass classname [-recurse | -norecurse]

inobject object-expression [-recurse | -norecurse]

Data Change Event Specifications

access mode address-expression [, byte-size-expression]

change variable

cond condition-expression

System Event Specifications

dlopen [ lib-path ] dlclose [ lib-path ]

fault fault

lwp_exit

sig signal

sig signal sub-code

sysin code | name

sysout code | name

sysin | sysout

Execution Progress Event Specifications

exit exitcode

next

returns

returns function

step

Other Event Specifications

attach

detach

lastrites

proc_gone

prog_new

stop

sync

syncrtld

thr_create [thread_id]

thr_exit

throw

throw type

throw -unhandled

throw -unexpected

timer seconds

Event Specification Modifiers

-if condition

-resumeone

-in function

-disable

-count n-count infinity

-temp

-instr

-thread thread_id

-lwp lwp_id

-hidden

-perm

Parsing and Ambiguity

Using Predefined Variables

Variables Valid for when Command

$handlerid

Variables Valid for when Command and Specific Events

Event Handler Examples

Setting a Breakpoint for Store to an Array Member

Implementing a Simple Trace

Enabling a Handler While Within a Function (in function)

Determining the Number of Lines Executed

Determining the Number of Instructions Executed by a Source Line

Enabling a Breakpoint After an Event Occurs

Resetting Application Files for replay

Checking Program Status

Catch Floating Point Exceptions

C.  Command Reference

Index

Using Predefined Variables

Certain read-only ksh predefined variables are provided. The following variables are always valid:

Variable
Definition
$ins
Disassembly of the current instruction.
$lineno
Current line number in decimal.
$vlineno
Current “visiting” line number in decimal.
$line
Contents of the current line.
$func
Name of the current function.
$vfunc
Name of the current “visiting” function.
$class
Name of the class to which $func belongs.
$vclass
Name of the class to which $vfunc belongs.
$file
Name of the current file.
$vfile
Name of the current file being visited.
$loadobj
Name of the current loadable object.
$vloadobj
Name of the current loadable object being visited.
$scope
Scope of the current PC in back-quote notation.
$vscope
Scope of the visited PC in back-quote notation.
$funcaddr
Address of $func in hex.
$caller
Name of the function calling $func.
$dllist
After a dlopen or dlclose event, contains the list of load objects just loaded or unloaded. The first word of dllist is a “+” or a “-” depending on whether a dlopen or a dlclose has occurred.
$newhandlerid
ID of the most recently created handler. This variable has an undefined value after any command that deletes handlers. Use the variable immediately after creating a handler. dbx cannot capture all of the handler IDs for a command that creates multiple handlers.
$firedhandlers
List of handler ids that caused the most recent stoppage. The handlers on the list are marked with “*” in the output of the status command.
$proc
Process ID of the current process being debugged.
$lwp
Lwp ID of the current LWP.
$thread
Thread ID of the current thread.
$newlwp
lwp ID of a newly created LWP.
$newthread
Thread ID of a newly created thread.
$prog
Full path name of the program being debugged.
$oprog
Previous value of $prog, which is used to get back to what you were debugging following an exec(), when $prog reverts to “-”. While $prog is expanded to a full path name, $oprog contains the program path as specified on the command line or to the debug command. If exec() is called more than once, there is no way to return to the original program.
$exec32
True if the dbx binary is 32–bit.
$exitcode
Exit status from the last run of the program. The value is an empty string if the process has not exited.
$booting
Set to true if the event occurs during the “boot” process. Whenever a new program is debugged, it is first booted so that the list and location of shared libraries can be ascertained. The process is then killed. This sequence is termed booting.

While booting is occurring, all events are still available. Use this variable to distinguish, for example, the sync and syncrtld events occurring during a debugging run and the ones occurring during a normal run.

As an example, consider that whereami can be implemented as:

function whereami {
  echo Stopped in $func at line $lineno in file $(basename $file)
  echo "$lineno\t$line"
}

Variables Valid for when Command

The following variables are valid only within the body of a when command.

$handlerid

During the execution of the body, $handlerid is the id of the when command to which the body belongs. These commands are equivalent:

when X -temp { do_stuff; }
when X  { do_stuff; delete $handlerid; }

Variables Valid for when Command and Specific Events

Certain variables are valid only within the body of a when command and for specific events as shown in the following tables.

Table B-1 Variables Valid for sig Event

Variable
Description
$sig
Signal number that caused the event
$sigstr
Name of $sig
$sigcode
Subcode of $sig if applicable
$sigcodestr
Name of $sigcode
$sigsender
Process ID of sender of the signal, if appropriate

Table B-2 Variable Valid for exit Event

Variable
Description
$exitcode
Value of the argument passed to _exit(2) or exit(3) or the return value of main

Table B-3 Variable Valid for dlopen and dlclose Events

Variable
Description
$dlobj
Pathname of the load object dlopened or dlclosed

Table B-4 Variables Valid for sysin and sysout Events

Variable
Description
$syscode
System call number
$sysname
System call name

Table B-5 Variable Valid for proc_gone Events

Variable
Description
$reason
One of signal, exit, kill, or detach

Table B-6 Variables Valid for thr_create Event

Variable
Description
$newthread
Id of the newly created thread (for example, t@5)
$newlwp
Id of the newly created LWP (for example, l@4)

Table B-7 Variables Valid for watch Event

Variable
Description
$watchaddr
The address being written to, read from, or executed
$watchmode
One of the following: r for read, w for write, x for execute; followed by one of the following: a for after, b for before