Good day -
I'd be most grateful if anyone could enlighten me as to how
to set a watchpoint on an unsigned short parameter variable
in lldb .
I am trying to follow the instructions at :
https://lldb.llvm.org/lldb-gdb.html
but they do not work to set watchpoints.
There seems to be no other documentation for LLDB commands -
or if anyone knows of any , please let me know.
I have a function like :
void f ( unsigned short x )
{ }
With the debugger stopped inside f, I have tried:
(lldb) p &x
(uint16_t *) $3 = 0x0001001122c0
(lldb) wa s v -s 2 -w write 0x0001001122c0
error: no variable named '0x0001001122c0' found in this frame
(lldb) wa s v -s 2 -w write x
error: Watchpoint creation failed (addr=0x, size=0,
variable
expression='x').
error: cannot set a watchpoint with watch_size of 0
(lldb) wa s e -s 2 -w write 0x0001001122c0
error: expression evaluation of address to watch failed
expression evaluated: -s 2 -w write 0x0001001122c0
(lldb) wa s e -s 2 -w write *0x0001001122c0
error: expression evaluation of address to watch failed
expression evaluated: -s 2 -w write *0x0001001122c0
(lldb) wa s e -s 2 -w write ((unsigned short*)0x0001001122c0)
error: expression evaluation of address to watch failed
expression evaluated: -s 2 -w write ((unsigned short*)0x0001001122c0)
(lldb) wa s v -s 2 -w write &x
error: 'x' doesn't have a valid address
# ^- this error is really strange, particularly as I can do:
(lldb) p &x
(uint16_t *) $5 = 0x0001001122c0
It seems to me lldb's implementation of watch points is fundamentally broken -
there is no way I've been able to get it to work .
Unfortunately, I have to use MacOSX, so gdb is not available.
Please, can anyone suggest how to successfully set a watchpoint on
a parameter (stack) located variable value with lldb ?
It does not seem to be possible.
My next step, if no answers to this mail, would be to analyse the LLDB
source code to see if I can figure out how watchpoints are meant to
be set, seeing as there is no reference documentation for LLDB commands,
either installed as manual pages or online. This to me makes LLDB unsuitable
for production use, but unforunately I have to use it (I need to debug under
MacOSX 10,14.3 ).
The help output for is of no use either:
(lldb) help watch set
"Syntax: watchpoint set []
The following subcommands are supported:
expression -- Set a watchpoint on an address by supplying an
expression. Use the
'-w' option to specify the type of watchpoint and the '-s'
option to specify the
byte size to watch for.
"
The above statement is provably false:
(lldb) wa s v -s 2 x
error: Watchpoint creation failed (addr=0x, size=0,
variable expression='x').
error: cannot set a watchpoint with watch_size of 0
# maybe the -s option goes after the 'set' ? no:
(lldb) wa s -s 2 v reader_id
invalid command 'watchpoint set -s'.
All attempts to
"Use the '-w' option to specify the type of watchpoint and the
'-s' option to
specify the byte size to watch for.
"
fail, so there must be alot missing from the help description.
The help for the variable syntax is also vague, and provably false :
"variable -- Set a watchpoint on a variable. Use the '-w'
option to specify the type
of watchpoint and the '-s' option to specify the
byte size to watch for.
If no '-w' option is specified, it defaults to
write. If no '-s' option is
specified, it defaults to the variable's byte
size. Note that there are
limited hardware resources for watchpoints. If
watchpoint setting
fails, consider disable/delete existing ones to
free up resources.
(lldb) wa s v x
error: Watchpoint creation failed (addr=0x,
size=0, variable
expression='x').
error: cannot set a watchpoint with watch_size of 0
(lldb) wa s -s 2 v x
invalid command 'watchpoint set -s'.
(lldb) wa s v -s 2 x
error: Watchpoint creation failed (addr=0x,
size=0, variable
expression='x').
error: cannot set a watchpoint with watch_size of 0
So lldb's watch command can neither get the size from a '-s' option, nor can
it get the size from sizeof(variable) . How then is one meant to
set the size ?
Obviously, lldb's watchpoint implementation needs much further work - has
anyone been able to get it to do anything useful ? If so, please
let me know how,
and what.
If there is any reference documentation for lldb, besides the false
and misleading
'https://lldb.llvm.org/lldb-gdb.html', which actually describes in detail and
correctly the syntax of every lldb command, please let me know.
Any idea
