Make GDBserver abort on internal error in development mode

Currently, if GDBserver hits some internal assertion, it exits with
error status, instead of aborting.  This makes it harder to debug
GDBserver, as you can't just debug a core file if GDBserver fails an
assertion.  I've had to hack the code to make GDBserver abort to debug
something several times before.

I believe the reason it exits instead of aborting, is to prevent
potentially littering the filesystem of smaller embedded targets with
core files.  I think I recall Daniel Jacobowitz once saying that many
years ago, but I can't be sure.  Anyhow, that seems reasonable to me.

Since we nowadays have a distinction between development and release
modes, I propose to make GDBserver abort on internal error if in
development mode, while keeping the status quo when in release mode.

Thus, after this patch, in development mode, you get:

 $ ../gdbserver/gdbserver
 ../../src/gdbserver/server.cc:3711: A problem internal to GDBserver has been detected.
 captured_main: Assertion `0' failed.
 Aborted (core dumped)
 $

while in release mode, you'll continue to get:

 $ ../gdbserver/gdbserver
 ../../src/gdbserver/server.cc:3711: A problem internal to GDBserver has been detected.
 captured_main: Assertion `0' failed.
 $ echo $?
 1

I do not think that this requires a separate configure switch.

A "--target_board=native-extended-gdbserver" run on Ubuntu 20.04 ends
up with:

		 === gdb Summary ===

 # of unexpected core files      29
 ...

for me, of which 8 are GDBserver core dumps, 7 more than without this
patch.

Change-Id: I6861e08ad71f65a0332c91ec95ca001d130b0e9d

diff --git a/gdbserver/utils.cc b/gdbserver/utils.cc
index 4f6516c9cf292e79436e826b52f86449eea65ab1..d24057c6012c021901bb20e43009ebc8213525d1 100644 (file)
--- a/gdbserver/utils.cc
+++ b/gdbserver/utils.cc
@@ -28,13 +28,27 @@
 
 /* Generally useful subroutines used throughout the program.  */
 
+/* If in release mode, just exit.  This avoids potentially littering
+   the filesystem of small embedded targets with core files.  If in
+   development mode however, abort, producing core files to help with
+   debugging GDBserver.  */
+static void ATTRIBUTE_NORETURN
+abort_or_exit ()
+{
+#ifdef DEVELOPMENT
+  abort ();
+#else
+  exit (1);
+#endif
+}
+
 void
 malloc_failure (long size)
 {
   fprintf (stderr,
           PREFIX "ran out of memory while trying to allocate %lu bytes\n",
           (unsigned long) size);
-  exit (1);
+  abort_or_exit ();
 }
 
 /* Print the system error message for errno, and also mention STRING
@@ -82,7 +96,7 @@ vwarning (const char *string, va_list args)
   fprintf (stderr, "\n");
 }
 
-/* Report a problem internal to GDBserver, and exit.  */
+/* Report a problem internal to GDBserver, and abort/exit.  */
 
 void
 internal_verror (const char *file, int line, const char *fmt, va_list args)
@@ -91,7 +105,7 @@ internal_verror (const char *file, int line, const char *fmt, va_list args)
 %s:%d: A problem internal to " TOOLNAME " has been detected.\n", file, line);
   vfprintf (stderr, fmt, args);
   fprintf (stderr, "\n");
-  exit (1);
+  abort_or_exit ();
 }
 
 /* Report a problem internal to GDBserver.  */

diff --git a/gdbsupport/config.in b/gdbsupport/config.in
index a7ae23b498495d0857fa44f8f737962578dec012..577866c97b37214703fec0ef79ea4b71673e8e73 100644 (file)
--- a/gdbsupport/config.in
+++ b/gdbsupport/config.in
@@ -11,6 +11,9 @@
 /* Define to 1 if using `alloca.c'. */
 #undef C_ALLOCA
 
+/* Define if development-mode features are enabled. */
+#undef DEVELOPMENT
+
 /* Define to 1 if translation of program messages to the user's native
    language is requested. */
 #undef ENABLE_NLS

diff --git a/gdbsupport/configure b/gdbsupport/configure
index 618f487749f527673196325512400dab844cb1d0..0b48521deb6f323956d3a7773c5c830e8c7ddb30 100755 (executable)
--- a/gdbsupport/configure
+++ b/gdbsupport/configure
@@ -624,6 +624,7 @@ ac_subst_vars='am__EXEEXT_FALSE
 am__EXEEXT_TRUE
 LTLIBOBJS
 LIBOBJS
+CONFIG_STATUS_DEPENDENCIES
 WERROR_CFLAGS
 WARN_CFLAGS
 HAVE_PIPE_OR_PIPE2_FALSE
@@ -10452,6 +10453,15 @@ ac_compiler_gnu=$ac_cv_c_compiler_gnu
 
 
 
+# Set the 'development' global.
+. $srcdir/../bfd/development.sh
+
+if test "$development" = true ; then
+
+$as_echo "#define DEVELOPMENT 1" >>confdefs.h
+
+fi
+
 case ${host} in
   *mingw32*)
 
@@ -10460,6 +10470,9 @@ $as_echo "#define USE_WIN32API 1" >>confdefs.h
     ;;
 esac
 
+CONFIG_STATUS_DEPENDENCIES='$srcdir/../bfd/development.sh'
+
+
 ac_config_files="$ac_config_files Makefile"
 
 cat >confcache <<\_ACEOF

diff --git a/gdbsupport/configure.ac b/gdbsupport/configure.ac
index 1f794605f3c2b4bf92bdce0d5540e0d173cff5df..ac2ade6a220973460cd63d1ca197748115c2c6cb 100644 (file)
--- a/gdbsupport/configure.ac
+++ b/gdbsupport/configure.ac
@@ -63,6 +63,14 @@ GDB_AC_PTRACE
 AM_GDB_COMPILER_TYPE
 AM_GDB_WARNINGS
 
+# Set the 'development' global.
+. $srcdir/../bfd/development.sh
+
+if test "$development" = true ; then
+   AC_DEFINE(DEVELOPMENT, 1,
+            [Define if development-mode features are enabled.])
+fi
+
 case ${host} in
   *mingw32*)
     AC_DEFINE(USE_WIN32API, 1,
@@ -73,5 +81,7 @@ case ${host} in
     ;;
 esac
 
+AC_SUBST([CONFIG_STATUS_DEPENDENCIES], ['$srcdir/../bfd/development.sh'])
+
 AC_CONFIG_FILES([Makefile])
 AC_OUTPUT