[HN Gopher] Writing a Linux Debugger (2017)
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       Writing a Linux Debugger (2017)
        
       Author : lrsjng
       Score  : 67 points
       Date   : 2023-06-13 21:09 UTC (1 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (blog.tartanllama.xyz)
 (TXT) w3m dump (blog.tartanllama.xyz)
        
       | hoten wrote:
       | Appreciated the How is Babby Formed reference in chapter two:)
        
       | PhilipRoman wrote:
       | Nice, I really like that it describes the DWARF format instead of
       | just handwaving around it. I've been considering adding DWARF
       | support to my compiler so that I can use mainstream debuggers
       | with it and this article has just destroyed my last excuse to
       | procrastinate.
       | 
       | I must admit, the title got me very excited (it's still a cool
       | article regardless) - something I've always wanted is a system-
       | wide debugger for Linux. Something that can put breakpoints in
       | arbitrary executables or shell scripts (via custom /bin/sh
       | wrapper?) system wide, not just within a debugging session. I'd
       | love to be able to put conditional breakpoints on, say, any
       | process that opens a named pipe matching some regex. I find that
       | when dealing with complex systems involving systemd services,
       | cron jobs, udev and 30 different daemons running in background,
       | gdb and strace simply aren't enough.
        
       | Veserv wrote:
       | As someone who does debugger development as part of their day
       | job, I can attest that this is a very good introduction to the
       | details of basic debugger operation and implementation. If you
       | are unfamiliar with the topic, I recommend you give it a try as
       | it immediately starts giving useful nuggets of knowledge that are
       | applicable in other circumstances if you are ever interested in
       | doing low level or embedded development.
        
         | HexDecOctBin wrote:
         | However, note that the libelfin library that the author uses is
         | pretty much unmaintained.
         | 
         | I am not sure what would be the right way to parse ELF and
         | DWARF? libelf/libdwarf, libdw, or something else?
         | 
         | Also, since you are probably in the know, is liblldb
         | "extensible", in the sense that can liblldb can be used as a
         | foundation of a new debugger with experimental features added
         | on top of it?
        
           | msla wrote:
           | libbfd is apparently what the GNU debugger uses:
           | 
           | https://ftp.gnu.org/old-
           | gnu/Manuals/bfd-2.9.1/html_chapter/b...
           | 
           | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binary_File_Descriptor_library
        
             | tromey wrote:
             | gdb uses BFD for object file access but has its own DWARF
             | reader.
        
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       (page generated 2023-06-14 23:01 UTC)