pgarg@pollux.usc.edu (Pankaj K. Garg) (10/03/88)
I am having trouble debugging programs which fork other processes. Dbx doesn't seem to handle them easily. Is there some feature of dbx that I am missing or is there another tool which helps in this debugging process? I am using sun workstations running Unix 4.3. ...pankaj US Mail: Computer Science Department E-mail: garg@cse.usc.edu University of Southern California Los Angeles, CA 90089-0782 Phone: (213)743-7995
chris@mimsy.UUCP (Chris Torek) (10/03/88)
In article <12523@oberon.USC.EDU> pgarg@pollux.usc.edu (Pankaj K. Garg) writes: > I am having trouble debugging programs which fork other >processes. Dbx doesn't seem to handle them easily. > I am using sun workstations running Unix 4.3. [Sun workstations do not run `Unix 4.3', by which I guess that you mean `4.3BSD': Sun workstations run SunOS and Mach. This question should have been directed to a Unix-specific group, not comp.lang.c; I have redirected followups to comp.unix.questions.] You are quite right; the existing Unix debuggers cannot handle programs that fork. SunOS 4.0 provides new facilities that make it possible, but if you are dealing with older Unixes, you must either delete the fork, or fall back on more `traditional' debugging schemes. -- In-Real-Life: Chris Torek, Univ of MD Comp Sci Dept (+1 301 454 7163) Domain: chris@mimsy.umd.edu Path: uunet!mimsy!chris
greggy@infmx.UUCP (greg yachuk) (10/04/88)
In article <12523@oberon.USC.EDU> pgarg@pollux.usc.edu () writes: > I am having trouble debugging programs which fork other >processes. Dbx doesn't seem to handle them easily. I've just gotten my evaluation copy of Saber-C (Version 2.0.1), but haven't installed it yet. Even though it is interpreted C (wait, don't gag yet!), it claims to be able to handle forks and signals. The demo I saw also has some spiffy visual display of structs and linked lists. I'll let you know after I try it. I have no affiliation with Saber, and am not even yet a satisfied customer. Maybe soon... They are: Saber Software, Inc. 30 J.F.K. Street Cambridge, MA 02138 (617) 876-7636 {inhp4, decvax}!harvard!saber saber@harvard.harvard.edu -greg Greg Yachuk Informix Software Inc., Menlo Park, CA (415) 322-4100 {uunet,pyramid}!infmx!greggy why yes, I DID choose that login myself
mh@wlbr.EATON.COM (Mike Hoegeman) (10/04/88)
In article <12523@oberon.USC.EDU- pgarg@pollux.usc.edu () writes:
-
- I am having trouble debugging programs which fork other
-processes. Dbx doesn't seem to handle them easily. Is there
-some feature of dbx that I am missing or is there another tool
-which helps in this debugging process?
-
I've had this problem too. If you are debugging the parent somtimes you
have to put a sleep(2) in the child part of the fork so dbx "stays"
with debugging the parent. if you want to debug the child , do
something like put a pause() at the start of the child part of the fork
then attach to the child process with the "debug" feature of dbx (see
dbx man page). once you've attached send a signal with kill(1) to break
it out of the pause ( don't forget to put in a no-op signal catcher in
too).
hope this helps.mlandau@bbn.com (Matt Landau) (10/04/88)
In comp.lang.c (<480@infmx.UUCP>), greggy@infmx.UUCP (greg yachuk) writes: >I've just gotten my evaluation copy of Saber-C ... >... it claims to be able to handle forks and signals. The demo >I saw also has some spiffy visual display of structs and linked lists. >I'll let you know after I try it. I have no affiliation with Saber, >and am not even yet a satisfied customer. Maybe soon... Well, I'm a pretty satisfied customer. Yep, Saber does a decent job with signals and forks. I've uses it to debug server/client processes by running each end of the system under a copy of Saber. When the server forks, Saber spwans another copy of itself to handle the child process. Pretty spiffy. -- Matt Landau Waiting for a flash of enlightenment mlandau@bbn.com in all this blood and thunder