Processor-Specific Features

Some kmdb functionality is specific to an individual processor architecture. For example, various x86 processors support a hardware branch tracing capability that is not found on some other processor architectures. Access to processor-specific features is provided through processor-specific dcmds that are only present on systems that support them. The availability of processor-specific support will be indicated in the output of the ::status dcmd. The debugger relies upon the kernel to determine the processor type. Therefore, even though the debugger may provide features for a given processor architecture, this support will not be exposed until the kernel has progressed to the point where processor identification has completed.