Question

I decided to find out how our C/C+ *nix practitioners use the gdb debugger.

Here is what I typically use:

1. b – break filename.c:line #, function, filename.cpp:function, className::Member
2. n, c, s — next continue step
3. gdb program name => set breakpoints ==> run [parameter list] (I do this to set break points before the program starts)
4. l – to list the surrounding source code.
5. attach processID
   6 break [location]
6. gdb programName corefile.core (to examine why app crashed)
7. I also sometimes set breakpoint at exit function (break exit) to examine program stacks
8. info b to examine all the breakpoints
9. clear [breakpoints list ]

How do you use it?

Answer 1

Most useful gdb commands in my opinion (aside from all already listed):

• info threads – information about threads
• thread N – switch to thread N
• catch throw – break on any thrown exception. Useful when you caught the bug only after the stack unwound.
• printf,print – examine any and all expressions, printf accepts C-style formatting specifiers

Finally, if debugging over a slow link, the text UI might be of use. To use it, start gdb with the --tui command-line switch.