A Tutorial Introduction to ADB

ABSTRACT

      Debugging tools generally provide a wealth of information about the inner workings of programs. These tools have been available on UNIXto allow users to examine ``core'' files that result from aborted programs. A new debugging program, ADB, provides enhanced capabilities to examine "core" and other program files in a variety of formats, run programs with embedded breakpoints and patch files.

      ADB is an indispensable but complex tool for debugging crashed systems and/or programs. This document provides an introduction to ADB with examples of its use. It explains the various formatting options, techniques for debugging C programs, examples of printing file system information and patching.

Table of Contents

• 1. Introduction
• 2. A Quick Survey
  • 2.1. Invocation
  • 2.2. Current Address
  • 2.3. Formats
  • 2.4. General Request Meanings
• 3. Debugging C Programs
  • 3.1. Debugging A Core Image
  • 3.2. Multiple Functions
  • 3.3. Setting Breakpoints
  • 3.4. Advanced Breakpoint Usage
  • 3.5. Other Breakpoint Facilities
• 4. Maps
• 5. Advanced Usage
  • 5.1. Formatted dump
  • 5.2. Directory Dump
  • 5.3. Ilist Dump
  • 5.4. Converting values
• 6. Patching
• 7. Anomalies
• 8. Acknowledgements
• 9. References
• Footnotes