loading gdb source for a shared library

Question

i'm using gdb 7.2 on ubuntu 10.10

while stepping with step i get to a point that looks (literally) like this:

0x00130a2c in boost::contexts::context::impl_t::impl_t(void (*)(void*), void*, unsigned int, boost::contexts::context::impl_t*, std::auto_ptr<boost::contexts::context::allocator_base>) () from /home/lurscher/third_party/boost_1_45_0/stage/lib/libboost_context.so.1.45.0

So i want now to associate the appropiate source files; which likely should be on /home/lurscher/third_party/boost_1_45_0/boost/context and /home/lurscher/third_party/boost_1_45_0/libs/context.

But the truth is i'm not sure how to achieve this, its been years since i had to debug in terminal mode

Answer 1

You can compile the third-party library with debugging symbols, and those debugging symbols will chain [i.e. if your app is compiled with debugging symbols, you can step through and see the source lines even within the library]

boost jam takes a debug argument which will instruct it to build a debug version.

in gcc, debug symbols is -g

Answer 2

If your library is compiled in the debug mode, but GDB just doesn't find the sources, you should use the dir command to add the source directory to the search list.