GDB TUI: Scroll assembly view above current instruction

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I've only just started using GDB recently, but I'm super impressed by it. No wonder it's the de-facto debugger for many users. One minor annoyance that I've found, though, is that I find myself unable to scroll above the current instruction in the TUI assembly view. I can scroll up and down just fine so long as display buffer is underneath the current instruction.

Other than something like x/20i [address] (which kind of defeats the purpose of a scrollable window) or altering the memory with a jump and setting a subsequent breakpoint, is there any way to tell the TUI assembly view to look at another location that might be above (lower memory than) the current instruction?

Edit: This only seems to happen when attached to an already running process, not when using gdb to launch the process. Sometimes I can scroll up until the current instruction, other times I can't scroll up t all.

Best Answer

There seems to be some kind of issue with scrolling assembly in gdb tui like you explain, but a simple workaround exists.

So, first enable tui and disassembly view by pressing ctrl+x ctrl+a. Then show disassembly view by entering layout asm or something similar.

Now that windows should let you scroll with keys or mouse, but if it stops (which for me sometimes happens at beginning of some function) enter the usual disassemble command and disassembly view will update to that location.

Example:

disass main
disass 0x1234

Related Solutions

Show current assembly instruction in GDB

You can switch to assembly layout in GDB:

(gdb) layout asm

See here for more information. The current assembly instruction will be shown in assembler window.

   ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
   │0x7ffff740d756 <__libc_start_main+214>  mov    0x39670b(%rip),%rax        #│
   │0x7ffff740d75d <__libc_start_main+221>  mov    0x8(%rsp),%rsi              │
   │0x7ffff740d762 <__libc_start_main+226>  mov    0x14(%rsp),%edi             │
   │0x7ffff740d766 <__libc_start_main+230>  mov    (%rax),%rdx                 │
   │0x7ffff740d769 <__libc_start_main+233>  callq  *0x18(%rsp)                 │
  >│0x7ffff740d76d <__libc_start_main+237>  mov    %eax,%edi                   │
   │0x7ffff740d76f <__libc_start_main+239>  callq  0x7ffff7427970 <exit>       │
   │0x7ffff740d774 <__libc_start_main+244>  xor    %edx,%edx                   │
   │0x7ffff740d776 <__libc_start_main+246>  jmpq   0x7ffff740d6b9 <__libc_start│
   │0x7ffff740d77b <__libc_start_main+251>  mov    0x39ca2e(%rip),%rax        #│
   │0x7ffff740d782 <__libc_start_main+258>  ror    $0x11,%rax                  │
   │0x7ffff740d786 <__libc_start_main+262>  xor    %fs:0x30,%rax               │
   │0x7ffff740d78f <__libc_start_main+271>  callq  *%rax                       │
   └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
multi-thre process 3718 In: __libc_start_main     Line: ??   PC: 0x7ffff740d76d
#3  0x00007ffff7466eb5 in _IO_do_write () from /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6
#4  0x00007ffff74671ff in _IO_file_overflow ()
   from /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6
#5  0x0000000000408756 in ?? ()
#6  0x0000000000403980 in ?? ()
#7  0x00007ffff740d76d in __libc_start_main ()
   from /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6
(gdb)

Linux – Using gdb to single-step assembly code outside specified executable causes error “cannot find bounds of current function”

Instead of gdb, run gdbtui. Or run gdb with the -tui switch. Or press C-x C-a after entering gdb. Now you're in GDB's TUI mode.

Enter layout asm to make the upper window display assembly -- this will automatically follow your instruction pointer, although you can also change frames or scroll around while debugging. Press C-x s to enter SingleKey mode, where run continue up down finish etc. are abbreviated to a single key, allowing you to walk through your program very quickly.

   +---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
B+>|0x402670 <main>         push   %r15                                        |
   |0x402672 <main+2>       mov    %edi,%r15d                                  |
   |0x402675 <main+5>       push   %r14                                        |
   |0x402677 <main+7>       push   %r13                                        |
   |0x402679 <main+9>       mov    %rsi,%r13                                   |
   |0x40267c <main+12>      push   %r12                                        |
   |0x40267e <main+14>      push   %rbp                                        |
   |0x40267f <main+15>      push   %rbx                                        |
   |0x402680 <main+16>      sub    $0x438,%rsp                                 |
   |0x402687 <main+23>      mov    (%rsi),%rdi                                 |
   |0x40268a <main+26>      movq   $0x402a10,0x400(%rsp)                       |
   |0x402696 <main+38>      movq   $0x0,0x408(%rsp)                            |
   |0x4026a2 <main+50>      movq   $0x402510,0x410(%rsp)                       |
   +---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
child process 21518 In: main                            Line: ??   PC: 0x402670
(gdb) file /opt/j64-602/bin/jconsole
Reading symbols from /opt/j64-602/bin/jconsole...done.
(no debugging symbols found)...done.
(gdb) layout asm
(gdb) start
(gdb)

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Show current assembly instruction in GDB

Linux – Using gdb to single-step assembly code outside specified executable causes error “cannot find bounds of current function”

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