Remote Debugger

By
Aamir Ansari
 Topics
 Introduction
 Why use remote debugging?
 How the stuff works?
 GNU debugger (gdb)
 Limitations
 Benefits
 What is remote debugging?
 Debugging a program running on one
system while controlling the program from
another system is known as remote
debugging. The debugger supports
remote debugging by allowing you to run
the debugger user interface on one
system, while running the debug engine
on another system.
 How to start remote debugger?
Start the debugger in one of two ways :

 Start a debug engine daemon, then start

the debugger user interface
 Start a debugger user interface daemon,
then start a debug engine
 Why use remote debugging?
 The program you are debugging is
running on another user's system, and is
behaving differently on that system than
on your own
 You want to debug a program that uses
graphics or has a graphical user interface
 The program you are debugging was
compiled for a platform that the debugger
user interface does not run on.
How the stuff works?

Components of a remote debug session

GNU debugger
(gdb)
 Limitations
 inability to debug startup code

 code must execute from RAM

 a communication channel must exist to

interface the target to the host computer
 Benefits
 most commonly used downloading and testing
tools during development of embedded software

 inexpensive (low cost)

 price of a remote debugger does not add

significantly to the cost of a suite of cross-
development tools (compiler, linker, locator,
etc.)
Thank You