Oracle Solaris Developer Tools

The Oracle Solaris OS includes a number of developer software packages, which are available when you install the appropriate Oracle Solaris software group for developers. For installation purposes, the Oracle Solaris OS is logically divided into software groups, which are collections of Oracle Solaris packages.

When you install the Oracle Solaris OS, you must select one of the following software groups, which contain the developer packages:

• Developer

• Entire

• Entire Plus OEM

With these software groups, you get compilers such as the GNU C compiler (gcc) and the Java compiler (javac). Also installed are the GNU source-level debugger (gdb) and the modular debugger (mdb and kmdb), a linker (ld), source control utilities (sccs), and build utilities such as make. See the article Building Software on the Solaris OS for a quick lesson in using some of the standard tools.

Most developers should use the more powerful Oracle Solaris Studio and NetBeans development and build tools. See Using the Oracle Solaris Studio Tools and Using the NetBeans IDE.

Using the Runtime Linker and Link Editor

The Oracle Solaris OS provides a link editor and runtime linker. The Linker and Libraries Guide covers the link editor ld(1), the runtime linker ld.so.1(1), the ELF object file format, and shared objects, which are sometimes referred to as shared libraries.

The manual is intended for a range of programmers who are interested in the Oracle Solaris linkers, from the beginner to the advanced user. Beginners learn the principal operations of the link editor and runtime linker. Intermediate programmers learn to create and use efficient custom libraries. Advanced programmers, such as language-tools developers, learn how to interpret and generate object files. A chapter on application binary interfaces describes how to manage the evolution of an interface that is provided by a dynamic object. Other chapters cover thread-local storage and mapfile directives.

Kernel-Level Debugging

The Modular Debugger mdb is an extensible, general purpose debugging tool for the Oracle Solaris OS. The Oracle Solaris Modular Debugger Guide describes how to use the mdb(1) command to debug complex software systems. The guide emphasizes the facilities that are available for debugging the Oracle Solaris kernel and associated device drivers and modules. The guide includes a complete reference for the mdb language syntax, debugger features, and the mdb module programming API.

The Oracle Solaris Modular Debugger Guide also features information on kmdb, the kernel-level analogue to mdb.