Non-interactive stepping

Non-interactive stepping

[Christopher Nebergall]

Is it possible to use GDB (or another app) to print out the executing source
code file name, line number, function name etc, for an application (compiled
with -g) in a non-interactive manner (print the output to stdout)?  I used a
similar type of debugging in basica years ago and miss having something
similar in modern debuggers.

I want to do something similar to

gdb -[Some command line argument] a.out
a.out: main.c:5 main() May  1 16:18:07 CDT 2004
a.out: main.c:6 main() May  1 16:18:08 CDT 2004
a.out: main.c:7 main() May  1 16:18:09 CDT 2004
a.out: main.c:25 print() May  1 16:18:09 CDT 2004
a.out: main.c:28 print() May  1 16:18:09 CDT 2004
a.out: source2.c:10 echo() May  1 16:18:10 CDT 2004
a.out: source2.c:11 echo() May  1 16:18:10 CDT 2004
a.out: source2.c:11 echo() May  1 16:18:12 CDT 2004
a.out: main.c:29 print() May  1 16:18:13 CDT 2004
a.out: main.c:8 main() May  1 16:18:14 CDT 2004
etc...

The main reason I want this is to record program flow during real execution
of the program without having to step through it line by line in the
debugger. If there is a segfault, it's pretty easy to determine the program
flow which caused it.  It would also be useful to discover how a large
program works, and what operations in a program's GUI or command line touch
which lines of source code. It could also be used for very crude profiling.

Thanks,
Christopher

Re: Non-interactive stepping

[Bob Rossi]

On Sat, May 01, 2004 at 03:34:19PM -0600, Christopher Nebergall wrote:
> Is it possible to use GDB (or another app) to print out the executing source
> code file name, line number, function name etc, for an application (compiled
> with -g) in a non-interactive manner (print the output to stdout)?  I used a
> similar type of debugging in basica years ago and miss having something
> similar in modern debuggers.
> 
> I want to do something similar to
> 
> gdb -[Some command line argument] a.out
> a.out: main.c:5 main() May  1 16:18:07 CDT 2004
> a.out: main.c:6 main() May  1 16:18:08 CDT 2004
> a.out: main.c:7 main() May  1 16:18:09 CDT 2004
> a.out: main.c:25 print() May  1 16:18:09 CDT 2004
> a.out: main.c:28 print() May  1 16:18:09 CDT 2004
> a.out: source2.c:10 echo() May  1 16:18:10 CDT 2004
> a.out: source2.c:11 echo() May  1 16:18:10 CDT 2004
> a.out: source2.c:11 echo() May  1 16:18:12 CDT 2004
> a.out: main.c:29 print() May  1 16:18:13 CDT 2004
> a.out: main.c:8 main() May  1 16:18:14 CDT 2004
> etc...
> 
> The main reason I want this is to record program flow during real execution
> of the program without having to step through it line by line in the
> debugger. If there is a segfault, it's pretty easy to determine the program
> flow which caused it.  It would also be useful to discover how a large
> program works, and what operations in a program's GUI or command line touch
> which lines of source code. It could also be used for very crude profiling.

I don't think you should be using a debugger to do this.

Have you considered a code coverage tool? 
I think gcov might do what you want.

Bob Rossi

Re: Non-interactive stepping

[Kip Macy]

That would tell him what lines the program executed, not the order in
which they were executed.


			-Kip



On Sun, 2 May 2004, Bob Rossi wrote:

> On Sat, May 01, 2004 at 03:34:19PM -0600, Christopher Nebergall wrote:
> > Is it possible to use GDB (or another app) to print out the executing source
> > code file name, line number, function name etc, for an application (compiled
> > with -g) in a non-interactive manner (print the output to stdout)?  I used a
> > similar type of debugging in basica years ago and miss having something
> > similar in modern debuggers.
> >
> > I want to do something similar to
> >
> > gdb -[Some command line argument] a.out
> > a.out: main.c:5 main() May  1 16:18:07 CDT 2004
> > a.out: main.c:6 main() May  1 16:18:08 CDT 2004
> > a.out: main.c:7 main() May  1 16:18:09 CDT 2004
> > a.out: main.c:25 print() May  1 16:18:09 CDT 2004
> > a.out: main.c:28 print() May  1 16:18:09 CDT 2004
> > a.out: source2.c:10 echo() May  1 16:18:10 CDT 2004
> > a.out: source2.c:11 echo() May  1 16:18:10 CDT 2004
> > a.out: source2.c:11 echo() May  1 16:18:12 CDT 2004
> > a.out: main.c:29 print() May  1 16:18:13 CDT 2004
> > a.out: main.c:8 main() May  1 16:18:14 CDT 2004
> > etc...
> >
> > The main reason I want this is to record program flow during real execution
> > of the program without having to step through it line by line in the
> > debugger. If there is a segfault, it's pretty easy to determine the program
> > flow which caused it.  It would also be useful to discover how a large
> > program works, and what operations in a program's GUI or command line touch
> > which lines of source code. It could also be used for very crude profiling.
>
> I don't think you should be using a debugger to do this.
>
> Have you considered a code coverage tool?
> I think gcov might do what you want.
>
> Bob Rossi
>

Re: Non-interactive stepping

[Nick Roberts]

> I want to do something similar to

> gdb -[Some command line argument] a.out
> a.out: main.c:5 main() May  1 16:18:07 CDT 2004
> a.out: main.c:6 main() May  1 16:18:08 CDT 2004
> a.out: main.c:7 main() May  1 16:18:09 CDT 2004
> a.out: main.c:25 print() May  1 16:18:09 CDT 2004
> a.out: main.c:28 print() May  1 16:18:09 CDT 2004
> a.out: source2.c:10 echo() May  1 16:18:10 CDT 2004
> a.out: source2.c:11 echo() May  1 16:18:10 CDT 2004
> a.out: source2.c:11 echo() May  1 16:18:12 CDT 2004
> a.out: main.c:29 print() May  1 16:18:13 CDT 2004
> a.out: main.c:8 main() May  1 16:18:14 CDT 2004
> etc...

Here's an ugly hack that gives you line information.

Put the following user-defined command in your .gdbinit file:

define mytrace
  set height 0
  b main
  run
  while 1
    step
  end
end

Run gdb with "gdb -ann=1 myprog" and type "mytrace" at the prompt

to get something like:

(gdb) mytrace
Breakpoint 1 at 0x804849f: file myprog.c, line 38.

Breakpoint 1, main () at myprog.c:38
^Z^Z/home/nick/myprog.c:38:389:beg:0x804849f
^Z^Z/home/nick/myprog.c:44:470:beg:0x80484a6
^Z^Z/home/nick/myprog.c:49:585:beg:0x80484ec
^Z^Z/home/nick/myprog.c:50:595:beg:0x80484f5
^Z^Z/home/nick/myprog.c:51:611:beg:0x804850d
^Z^Z/home/nick/myprog.c:52:628:beg:0x8048525
^Z^Z/home/nick/myprog.c:53:637:beg:0x804852c
...

You might want to re-direct any program output.

Nick

Re: Non-interactive stepping

[C T Nebergall]

Thanks! That'll work ok for relatively small programs, so I'll probably
take advantage of it, but I'm still in need of something cleaner for large
programs.  I'm starting to code in Mozilla, a tool like this would be
invaluable for understanding the flow of the code when its running.  I
wouldn't mind hacking GDB to try and get this type of functionality if I
knew where to start.

Thanks,
Christopher


On Sun, 2 May 2004, Nick Roberts wrote:

|> I want to do something similar to
|
|> gdb -[Some command line argument] a.out
|> a.out: main.c:5 main() May  1 16:18:07 CDT 2004
|> a.out: main.c:6 main() May  1 16:18:08 CDT 2004
|> a.out: main.c:7 main() May  1 16:18:09 CDT 2004
|> a.out: main.c:25 print() May  1 16:18:09 CDT 2004
|> a.out: main.c:28 print() May  1 16:18:09 CDT 2004
|> a.out: source2.c:10 echo() May  1 16:18:10 CDT 2004
|> a.out: source2.c:11 echo() May  1 16:18:10 CDT 2004
|> a.out: source2.c:11 echo() May  1 16:18:12 CDT 2004
|> a.out: main.c:29 print() May  1 16:18:13 CDT 2004
|> a.out: main.c:8 main() May  1 16:18:14 CDT 2004
|> etc...
|
|Here's an ugly hack that gives you line information.
|
|Put the following user-defined command in your .gdbinit file:
|
|define mytrace
|  set height 0
|  b main
|  run
|  while 1
|    step
|  end
|end
|
|Run gdb with "gdb -ann=1 myprog" and type "mytrace" at the prompt
|
|to get something like:
|
|(gdb) mytrace
|Breakpoint 1 at 0x804849f: file myprog.c, line 38.
|
|Breakpoint 1, main () at myprog.c:38
|^Z^Z/home/nick/myprog.c:38:389:beg:0x804849f
|^Z^Z/home/nick/myprog.c:44:470:beg:0x80484a6
|^Z^Z/home/nick/myprog.c:49:585:beg:0x80484ec
|^Z^Z/home/nick/myprog.c:50:595:beg:0x80484f5
|^Z^Z/home/nick/myprog.c:51:611:beg:0x804850d
|^Z^Z/home/nick/myprog.c:52:628:beg:0x8048525
|^Z^Z/home/nick/myprog.c:53:637:beg:0x804852c
|...
|
|You might want to re-direct any program output.
|
|Nick
|