NAME

adb − debugger

SYNOPSIS

adb [ −w ] [ −k ] [ −I dir ] [ objfil [ corfil ] ]

DESCRIPTION

Adb is an interactive, general purpose debugger.  It examines files and provides a controlled environment for the execution of UNIX programs. 

Objfil is normally an executable program file, preferably containing a symbol table. If the file does not contain a symbol table, it can still be examined, but the symbolic features of adb cannot be used.  The default for objfil is a.out.  Corfil is assumed to be a core image file produced after executing objfil. The default for corfil is core. 

OPTIONS

−w Create both objfil and corfil if necessary and open them for reading and writing so that files can be modified using adb.

−k Do UNIX kernel memory mapping; should be used when core is a UNIX crash dump or /dev/mem. 

−I specifies a directory where files to be read with $< or $<< (see below) will be sought; the default is /usr/lib/adb.

USAGE

Refer to Adb in Program Debugging Tools for the Sun Workstation . 

FILES

a.out
core

SEE ALSO

cc(1), dbx(1), ptrace(2), a.out(5), core(5)
Using adb to debug the UNIX kernel in the Sun System Internals Guide.

DIAGNOSTICS

‘Adb’ when there is no current command or format.  Comments about inaccessible files, syntax errors, abnormal termination of commands, etc.  Exit status is 0, unless last command failed or returned nonzero status. 

BUGS

There doesn’t seem to be any way to clear all breakpoints. 

Adb uses the symbolic information in an old and now obsolete format generated by the −go flag of cc(1); it should be changed to use the new format used by the dbx debugger and generated by −g. 

Since no shell is invoked to interpret the arguments of the :r command, the customary wild−card and variable expansions cannot occur. 

Since there is little type−checking on addresses, using a sourcefile address in an inappropriate context may lead to unexpected results: ‘main?i will almost certainly not do anything useful. 

Sun Release 3.0β  —  Last change: 8 August 1985