How I use GDB

Collection of GDB commands that I use

Exit point of a function

Tells where a function returned.

(gdb) record
(gdb) fin
(gdb) reverse-step

Annoying sigpipe

Sometimes my application keeps receiving this signal while I try to debug. Dont know why but this is my solution.

(gdb) handle SIGPIPE nostop noprint pass

Saving breakpoints for future use

You can save the breakpoints of a session to load them later!

(gdb) save breakpoints <filename>
Saved to file 'bp'.

After saving you can continue your debug session normally. In this example I used bp as filename. To load the breakpoints, even in another session use:

(gdb) source <filename>

Pretty Print

Show objects and structures in a better way.

(gdb) set print pretty on

Print complete strings

When you have a long string, the print command won't print all the characters. To solve this:

(gdb) set print elements 0

Save what you need to a file

In Linux, I save what I always use to a file, so I don't need to type the same commands every time:

> cat ~/.gdbinit
set pretty print on
set print elements 0

Optional front-end

Most of the time I use cgdb. The command set is the same as GDB, and you can see the source code while you debug.