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[PATCH v2 08/14] docs/system: clarify limits of using gdbstub in system


From: Alex Bennée
Subject: [PATCH v2 08/14] docs/system: clarify limits of using gdbstub in system emulation
Date: Mon, 20 Nov 2023 15:08:27 +0000

It seems some users will try and use the gdbstub to debug userspace
inside a system emulation. While possible clarify the limitations of
this approach and direct the users to a less head scratching way of
debugging user-space.

Signed-off-by: Alex Bennée <alex.bennee@linaro.org>
Clarifies: https://gitlab.com/qemu-project/qemu/-/issues/1274
---
 docs/system/gdb.rst | 13 ++++++++++++-
 1 file changed, 12 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/docs/system/gdb.rst b/docs/system/gdb.rst
index 9906991b84..c0cc0c9c7e 100644
--- a/docs/system/gdb.rst
+++ b/docs/system/gdb.rst
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ As TCG cannot track all memory accesses in user-mode there is 
no
 support for watchpoints.
 
 Relocating code
----------------
+===============
 
 On modern kernels confusion can be caused by code being relocated by
 features such as address space layout randomisation. To avoid
@@ -68,6 +68,17 @@ confusion when debugging such things you either need to 
update gdb's
 view of where things are in memory or perhaps more trivially disable
 ASLR when booting the system.
 
+Debugging user-space in system emulation
+========================================
+
+While technically possible to debug a user-space program running
+inside a system image it does present challenges. Kernel preemption
+and execution mode changes between kernel and user mode can make it
+hard to follow whats going on. Unless you are specifically trying to
+debug some interaction between kernel and user-space you are better
+off running your guest program with gdb either in the guest or using
+a gdbserver exposed via a port to the outside world.
+
 Debugging multicore machines
 ============================
 
-- 
2.39.2




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