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  There are numerous things that can be done to improve the ease with

  which C++ binaries are debugged when using the GNU tool chain. Here

  are some of them.

    Compiler flags determine how debug information is transmitted

    between compilation and debug or analysis tools.

    The default optimizations and debug flags for a libstdc++ build

    are -g -O2. However, both debug and optimization

    flags can be varied to change debugging characteristics. For

    instance, turning off all optimization via the -g -O0

    -fno-inline flags will disable inlining and optimizations,

    and add debugging information, so that stepping through all functions,

    (including inlined constructors and destructors) is possible. In

    addition, -fno-eliminate-unused-debug-types can be

    used when additional debug information, such as nested class info,

    is desired.

  Or, the debug format that the compiler and debugger use to

  communicate information about source constructs can be changed via

  -gdwarf-2 or -gstabs flags: some debugging

  formats permit more expressive type and scope information to be

  shown in gdb. Expressiveness can be enhanced by flags like

  -g3. The default debug information for a particular

  platform can be identified via the value set by the

  PREFERRED_DEBUGGING_TYPE macro in the gcc sources.

  Many other options are available: please see 

  url="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Debugging-Options.html#Debugging%20Options">"Options

  for Debugging Your Program" in Using the GNU Compiler

  Collection (GCC) for a complete list.

  If you would like debug symbols in libstdc++, there are two ways to

  build libstdc++ with debug flags. The first is to run make from the

  toplevel in a freshly-configured tree with

     --enable-libstdcxx-debug

and perhaps

     --enable-libstdcxx-debug-flags='...'

  to create a separate debug build. Both the normal build and the

  debug build will persist, without having to specify

  CXXFLAGS, and the debug library will be installed in a

  separate directory tree, in (prefix)/lib/debug. For

  more information, look at the 

  linkend="manual.intro.setup.configure">configuration section.

  A second approach is to use the configuration flags

     make CXXFLAGS='-g3 -fno-inline -O0' all

  This quick and dirty approach is often sufficient for quick

  debugging tasks, when you cannot or don't want to recompile your

  application to use the debug mode.

  There are various third party memory tracing and debug utilities

  that can be used to provide detailed memory allocation information

  about C++ code. An exhaustive list of tools is not going to be

  attempted, but includes mtrace, valgrind,

  mudflap, and the non-free commercial product

  purify. In addition, libcwd has a

  replacement for the global new and delete operators that can track

  memory allocation and deallocation and provide useful memory

  statistics.

  Regardless of the memory debugging tool being used, there is one

  thing of great importance to keep in mind when debugging C++ code

  that uses new and delete: there are

  different kinds of allocation schemes that can be used by 

  std::allocator . For implementation details, see the 

  linkend="manual.ext.allocator.mt">mt allocator documentation and

  look specifically for GLIBCXX_FORCE_NEW.

  In a nutshell, the default allocator used by 

  std::allocator is a high-performance pool allocator, and can

  give the mistaken impression that in a suspect executable, memory is

  being leaked, when in reality the memory "leak" is a pool being used

  by the library's allocator and is reclaimed after program

  termination.

  For valgrind, there are some specific items to keep in mind. First

  of all, use a version of valgrind that will work with current GNU

  C++ tools: the first that can do this is valgrind 1.0.4, but later

  versions should work at least as well. Second of all, use a

  completely unoptimized build to avoid confusing valgrind. Third, use

  GLIBCXX_FORCE_NEW to keep extraneous pool allocation noise from

  cluttering debug information.

  Fourth, it may be necessary to force deallocation in other libraries

  as well, namely the "C" library. On linux, this can be accomplished

  with the appropriate use of the __cxa_atexit or

  atexit functions.

   #include <cstdlib>

   extern "C" void __libc_freeres(void);

   void do_something() { }

   int main()

   {

     atexit(__libc_freeres);

     do_something();

     return 0;

   }

or, using __cxa_atexit:

   extern "C" void __libc_freeres(void);

   extern "C" int __cxa_atexit(void (*func) (void *), void *arg, void *d);

   void do_something() { }

   int main()

   {

      extern void* __dso_handle __attribute__ ((__weak__));

      __cxa_atexit((void (*) (void *)) __libc_freeres, NULL,

                   &__dso_handle ? __dso_handle : NULL);

      do_test();

      return 0;

   }

  Suggested valgrind flags, given the suggestions above about setting

  up the runtime environment, library, and test file, might be:

   valgrind -v --num-callers=20 --leak-check=yes --leak-resolution=high --show-reachable=yes a.out

  Many options are available for gdb itself: please see 

  url="http://sources.redhat.com/gdb/current/onlinedocs/gdb_13.html#SEC125">

  "GDB features for C++"  in the gdb documentation. Also

  recommended: the other parts of this manual.

  These settings can either be switched on in at the gdb command line,

  or put into a .gdbint file to establish default debugging

  characteristics, like so:

   set print pretty on

   set print object on

   set print static-members on

   set print vtbl on

   set print demangle on

   set demangle-style gnu-v3

  Starting with version 7.0, GDB includes support for writing

  pretty-printers in Python.  Pretty printers for STL classes are

  distributed with GCC from version 4.5.0.  The most recent version of

  these printers are always found in libstdc++ svn repository.

  To enable these printers, check-out the latest printers to a local

  directory:

  svn co svn://gcc.gnu.org/svn/gcc/trunk/libstdc++-v3/python

  Next, add the following section to your ~/.gdbinit  The path must

  match the location where the Python module above was checked-out.

  So if checked out to: /home/maude/gdb_printers/, the path would be as

  written in the example below.

  python

  import sys

  sys.path.insert(0, '/home/maude/gdb_printers/python')

  from libstdcxx.v6.printers import register_libstdcxx_printers

  register_libstdcxx_printers (None)

  end

  The path should be the only element that needs to be adjusted in the

  example.  Once loaded, STL classes that the printers support

  should print in a more human-readable format.  To print the classes

  in the old style, use the /r (raw) switch in the print command

  (i.e., print /r foo).  This will print the classes as if the Python

  pretty-printers were not loaded.

  For additional information on STL support and GDB please visit:

   "GDB Support

  for STL"  in the GDB wiki.  Additionally, in-depth

  documentation and discussion of the pretty printing feature can be

  found in "Pretty Printing" node in the GDB manual.  You can find

  on-line versions of the GDB user manual in GDB's homepage, at

   "GDB: The GNU Project

  Debugger" .

  The verbose

  termination handler gives information about uncaught

  exceptions which are killing the program.  It is described in the

  linked-to page.

   The Debug Mode

  has compile and run-time checks for many containers.

   The Compile-Time

  Checks Extension has compile-time checks for many algorithms.

   The Profile-based

  Performance Analysis Extension has performance checks for many

  algorithms.