[Xen-users] gdb ignoring breakpoints when used with hvmloader

[Franklin Webber <franklin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hello,

I am trying to use gdb to debug a kernel that must run
fully virtualized under Xen.  The kernel crashes soon
after it is started; I want to step through the execution
before it crashes. Unfortunately, gdb does not behave
as expected in this situation and so far has been
unusable for this task.

I am wondering: has any reader of this mailing list
succeeded in using gdb in the way I describe below?
Or is there a better way?

If I start the kernel running, it will crash
before I have time to attach gdbserver and
connect with gdb.  Therefore, I am trying to start
the kernel in a paused state, set up gdb,
then continue from the beginning until a breakpoint
is reached:

>xm create -p Kernel.conf

>gdbserver-xen 127.0.0.1:9999 --attach ###
domain currently paused
...

>gdb Kernel.bin

(gdb) directory Kernel.dir
Source directories searched: Kernel.dir:....

(gdb) target remote 127.0.0.1:9999
Remote debugging using 127.0.0.1:9999
[New Thread 0]
[Switching to Thread 0]
0x00000000 in loader ()
warning: shared library handler failed to enable breakpoint

(gdb) break interesting_function
Breakpoint 1 at 0x####: file ....

(gdb) continue
Continuing.

From here, gdb proceeds to the crash point without breaking.
I believe it is ignoring the breakpoints because:
-- If I use a simpler kernel that does not crash
  but instead loops forever, I can see output from
  the kernel generated after the breakpoints.
-- If I inspect the state of the domU using the
  XenCntrl functions, I can see the EIP of the breakpoints
  being reached.

Some other observations:
-- If I run the simpler kernel _paravirtualized_,
  gdb works as expected.  So am I seeing a bug
  in gdb that only appears with full virtualization?

-- If I try to step through the execution from the
  beginning, fully virtualized, I execute a few dozen
  instructions from the "hvmloader" executable.
  When the first x86 "out" instruction is executed,
  however, gdb proceeds as though I had told it to
  "continue", i.e., it never breaks.

-- When stepping through the execution,
  gdbserver-xen routinely announces:
  "unsupported xc_ptrace request PTRACE_SETFPXREGS".
  Is this a related symptom?

Any help you can give me would be greatly appreciated.

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