breaking on open(2) on linux

["Marty Leisner" <leisner@rochester.rr.com>]

I've used gdb for 20 years...I've found the ability to 
break on a system call and then backtrace very useful when
reverse engineering code

Now, I can't do it (not sure when I last could -- I recall its been
a problem before, but I worked around it).

strace shows open(2) calls...

I have no problem breaking on exit(3) or _exit(2) -- or write(2). 
But I can't seem to break on
open(2).

I'm using ubuntu 7.10 with recent gdb/gcc...

marty