[comp.sys.sun] dbx on Sparc

jeffv@bisco.kodak.com (Jeff Van Epps) (06/05/91)

dbx and dbxtool on Sparc is giving us all sorts of grief.  (Running 4.1.1
SunOS by the way).  Everything from dumping core to lying about the values of
variables.  For some of the problems it looks like there *might* be some
correlation with having shared libraries in use.  Not trying to debug them,
just having them linked.  Short list of the problems:

	- dbx dumps core
	- prints wrong value for short in middle of parameter list
	- prints utter garbage for values of variables

These things don't happen all the time, but only most of the time, which
makes it exceedingly frustrating to use and at the same time makes it hard
to pin down what exactly is causing dbx mental problems.

Some examples:

oak{sjs}100% dbx product
Read 1986 symbols
Segmentation fault (core dumped)

or sometimes it likes to do this:

oak{sjs}100% dbx product
Read 1986 symbols
Bus error (core dumped)


Our SA says there are no dbx patches available, but I thought I'd bring up
our tale here to see if we were alone in the universe or if this is a common
problem.  While I don't really expect a magic answer which cures everything,
answers such as "use gdb", "use adb", "use printf", and "who needs a debugger,
I write perfect code" will not be helpful.

Thanks for listening.

-- 
If the From: line says nobody@kodak.com, don't believe it.

    Jeff Van Epps          jeffv@bisco.kodak.com