I've come up with a simpler test case on an Ubuntu 20.10 system which follows:
1) Execute 'gdb --args cat' 2) in gdb type 'run' 3) press Ctrl-Z 4) in gdb type 'generate-core-file /tmp/cat.core' 5) download the dbgsym for coreutils 6) Extract them 'dbg-deb -x coreutils-dbgsym_8.32-3ubuntu1_amd64.ddeb /tmp/dbgsym' 7) Execute "gdb --ex 'file /bin/cat' --ex 'core-file /tmp/cat.core' --ex 'set debug-file-directory /tmp/dbgsym/usr/lib/debug'" In gdb you'll see the following error message: Reading symbols from /bin/cat... (No debugging symbols found in /bin/cat) Running "objdump -g /bin/cat" we can see the location for the separate debug info: Contents of the .gnu_debugaltlink section (loaded from /bin/cat): Separate debug info file: /usr/lib/debug/.dwz/x86_64-linux-gnu/coreutils.debug Build-ID (0x14 bytes): cb 5b e4 8a 6d b2 52 6e 9c 80 8d 64 ec 4b 1f b7 7f 0c ca 9e Contents of the .gnu_debuglink section (loaded from /bin/cat): Separate debug info file: a7cee6aca864b8f79dfaa8a267855333b445c1.debug CRC value: 0x5e28a31d The separate debug info file exists in /tmp/dbgsym: [ 11:07AM 10857 ] [ bdmurray@impulse:/tmp/dbgsym ] $ find . -name a7cee\*.debug ./usr/lib/debug/.build-id/fb/a7cee6aca864b8f79dfaa8a267855333b445c1.debug However despite setting debug-file-directory an strace reveals that /tmp/dbgsym is not searched: $ grep a7cee /tmp/gdb-bin-cat.trace access("/usr/lib/debug/.build-id/fb/a7cee6aca864b8f79dfaa8a267855333b445c1.debug", F_OK) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) openat(AT_FDCWD, "/bin/a7cee6aca864b8f79dfaa8a267855333b445c1.debug", O_RDONLY|O_CLOEXEC) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) openat(AT_FDCWD, "/bin/.debug/a7cee6aca864b8f79dfaa8a267855333b445c1.debug", O_RDONLY|O_CLOEXEC) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/lib/debug//bin/a7cee6aca864b8f79dfaa8a267855333b445c1.debug", O_RDONLY|O_CLOEXEC) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Bugs, which is subscribed to Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1818918 Title: gdb doesn't search in debug-file-directory for .gnu_debugaltlink To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/apport/+bug/1818918/+subscriptions -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs