Re: Problem with unsigned char * data

[Andrew Cagney <cagney@gnu.org>]

> Gentlemen,
> 
> I have a problem with gdb/Insight :-(
> 
> On a board, when a "unsigned char *" pointer is badly initialized to 
> 0xffffffff( that for us is outside the memory ), trying to print the pointer's value in the local variable window or in the watchpoint window makes the GUI crash.
> 
> Using the gdb console, the answer is quite verbose, but correct:
> (gdb) print pt1
> $6 = 
> Error: Error in st200emu :  Cannot read buffer at memory adress 0xffffffff
> Adaptor error on: read memory access at address  (Exception 5 while executing ROM command)
> 
> It seems that gdb tries to read at 0xffffffff and, for pointers to unsigned char, displays by default the string pointed. 
> 
> Do you know if there is a gdb option disabling this behaviour?

Which target are you using?

The message appears to come from the target and that should recover from 
these error conditions reporting them back to GDB.

The other option is to look at the ``mem'' command, it was added to 
address this problem of errant targets (I'm not sure of its status 
though - doesn't appear to be tested).

Andrew