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   <meta name="AUTHOR" content="bkoz@gcc.gnu.org (Benjamin Kosnik)" />
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   <title>Debugging schemes and strategies</title>
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<h1 class="centered"><a name="top">Debugging schemes and strategies</a></h1>

<p class="fineprint"><em>
   The latest version of this document is always available at
   <a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/libstdc++/debug.html">
   http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/libstdc++/debug.html</a>.
</em></p>

<p><em>
   To the <a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/libstdc++/">libstdc++-v3 homepage</a>.
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<p>There are numerous things that can be done to improve the ease with
   which C++ binaries are debugged when using the GNU
   tool chain. Here are some of them.
</p>

<h3 class="left"><a name="gplusplus">Compiler flags determine debug info</a></h3>
<p>The default optimizations and debug flags for a libstdc++ build are
   <code>-g -O2</code>. However, both debug and optimization flags can
   be varied to change debugging characteristics. For instance,
   turning off all optimization via the <code>-g -O0</code> flag will
   disable inlining, so that stepping through all functions, including
   inlined constructors and destructors, is possible. In addition,
   <code>-fno-eliminate-unused-debug-types</code> can be used when
   additional debug information, such as nested class info, is desired.
</p>

<p>Or, the debug format that the compiler and debugger use to communicate
   information about source constructs can be changed via <code>
   -gdwarf-2 </code> or <code> -gstabs </code> flags: some debugging
   formats permit more expressive type and scope information to be
   shown in gdb.  The default debug information for a particular
   platform can be identified via the value set by the
   PREFERRED_DEBUGGING_TYPE macro in the gcc sources.
</p>

<p>Many other options are available: please see
<a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Debugging-Options.html#Debugging%20Options">"Options for Debugging Your Program"</a>
   in Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC) for a complete list.
</p>

<h3 class="left"><a name="lib">Using special flags to make a debug binary</a></h3>
<p>If you would like debug symbols in libstdc++, there are two ways to
  build libstdc++ with debug flags. The first is to run make from the
  toplevel in a freshly-configured tree with
</p>
<pre>
     --enable-libstdcxx-debug
</pre>
<p>and perhaps</p>
<pre>
     --enable-libstdcxx-debug-flags='...'
</pre>
<p>to create a separate debug build. Both the normal build and the
   debug build will persist, without having to specify
   <code>CXXFLAGS</code>, and the debug library will be installed in a
   separate directory tree, in <code>(prefix)/lib/debug</code>. For
   more information, look at the <a href="configopts.html">configuration
   options</a> document.
</p>

<p>A second approach is to use the configuration flags
</p>
<pre>
     make CXXFLAGS='-g3 -O0' all
</pre>

<p>This quick and dirty approach is often sufficient for quick
  debugging tasks, when you cannot or don't want to recompile your
  application to use the <a href="#safe">debug mode</a>.</p>

<h3 class="left"><a name="safe">The libstdc++ debug mode</a></h3>
<p>By default, libstdc++ is built with efficiency in mind, and
  therefore performs little or no error checking that is not required
  by the C++ standard. This means that programs that incorrectly use
  the C++ standard library will exhibit behavior that is not portable
  and may not even be predictable, because they tread into
  implementation-specific or undefined behavior. To detect some of
  these errors before they can become problematic, libstdc++ offers a
  debug mode that provides additional checking of library facilities,
  and will report errors in the use of libstdc++ as soon as they can
  be detected by emitting a description of the problem to standard
  error and aborting the program.  This debug mode is available with
  GCC 3.4.0 and later versions. </p>

<p>The libstdc++ debug mode performs checking for many areas of the C++
  standard, but the focus is on checking interactions among standard
  iterators, containers, and algorithms, including:</p>

  <ul>
    <li><em>Safe iterators</em>: Iterators keep track of the
    container whose elements they reference, so errors such as
    incrementing a past-the-end iterator or dereferencing an iterator
    that points to a container that has been destructed are diagnosed
    immediately.</li>

    <li><em>Algorithm preconditions</em>: Algorithms attempt to
    validate their input parameters to detect errors as early as
    possible. For instance, the <code>set_intersection</code>
    algorithm requires that its iterator
    parameters <code>first1</code> and <code>last1</code> form a valid
    iterator range, and that the sequence
    [<code>first1</code>, <code>last1</code>) is sorted according to
    the same predicate that was passed
    to <code>set_intersection</code>; the libstdc++ debug mode will
    detect an error if the sequence is not sorted or was sorted by a
    different predicate.</li>
  </ul>

<h4 class="left">Using the libstdc++ debug mode</h4>
<p>To use the libstdc++ debug mode, compile your application with the
  compiler flag <code>-D_GLIBCXX_DEBUG</code>. Note that this flag
  changes the sizes and behavior of standard class templates such
  as <code>std::vector</code>, and therefore you can only link code
  compiled with debug mode and code compiled without debug mode if no
  instantiation of a container is passed between the two translation
  units.</p>

<p>For information about the design of the libstdc++ debug mode,
  please see the <a href="debug_mode.html">libstdc++ debug mode design
  document</a>.</p>

<h4 class="left">Using the debugging containers without debug
  mode</h4>
<p>When it is not feasible to recompile your entire application, or
  only specific containers need checking, debugging containers are
  available as GNU extensions. These debugging containers are
  functionally equivalent to the standard drop-in containers used in
  debug mode, but they are available in a separate namespace as GNU
  extensions and may be used in programs compiled with either release
  mode or with debug mode. The
  following table provides the names and headers of the debugging
  containers:
</p>

<table title="Debugging containers" border="1">
  <tr>
    <th>Container</th>
    <th>Header</th>
    <th>Debug container</th>
    <th>Debug header</th>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>std::bitset</td>
    <td>&lt;bitset&gt;</td>
    <td>debug::bitset</td>
    <td>&lt;debug/bitset&gt;</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>std::deque</td>
    <td>&lt;deque&gt;</td>
    <td>debug::deque</td>
    <td>&lt;debug/deque&gt;</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>std::list</td>
    <td>&lt;list&gt;</td>
    <td>debug::list</td>
    <td>&lt;debug/list&gt;</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>std::map</td>
    <td>&lt;map&gt;</td>
    <td>debug::map</td>
    <td>&lt;debug/map&gt;</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>std::multimap</td>
    <td>&lt;map&gt;</td>
    <td>debug::multimap</td>
    <td>&lt;debug/map&gt;</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>std::multiset</td>
    <td>&lt;set&gt;</td>
    <td>debug::multiset</td>
    <td>&lt;debug/set&gt;</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>std::set</td>
    <td>&lt;set&gt;</td>
    <td>debug::set</td>
    <td>&lt;debug/set&gt;</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>std::string</td>
    <td>&lt;string&gt;</td>
    <td>debug::string</td>
    <td>&lt;debug/string&gt;</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>std::wstring</td>
    <td>&lt;string&gt;</td>
    <td>debug::wstring</td>
    <td>&lt;debug/string&gt;</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>std::basic_string</td>
    <td>&lt;string&gt;</td>
    <td>debug::basic_string</td>
    <td>&lt;debug/string&gt;</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>std::vector</td>
    <td>&lt;vector&gt;</td>
    <td>debug::vector</td>
    <td>&lt;debug/vector&gt;</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>__gnu_cxx::hash_map</td>
    <td>&lt;ext/hash_map&gt;</td>
    <td>debug::hash_map</td>
    <td>&lt;debug/hash_map&gt;</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>__gnu_cxx::hash_multimap</td>
    <td>&lt;ext/hash_map&gt;</td>
    <td>debug::hash_multimap</td>
    <td>&lt;debug/hash_map&gt;</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>__gnu_cxx::hash_set</td>
    <td>&lt;ext/hash_set&gt;</td>
    <td>debug::hash_set</td>
    <td>&lt;debug/hash_set&gt;</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>__gnu_cxx::hash_multiset</td>
    <td>&lt;ext/hash_set&gt;</td>
    <td>debug::hash_multiset</td>
    <td>&lt;debug/hash_set&gt;</td>
  </tr>
</table>

<h4 class="left">Debug mode semantics</h4>
<p>A program that uses the C++ standard library correctly
  will maintain the same semantics under debug mode as it had with
  the normal (release) library. All functional and exception-handling
  guarantees made by the normal library also hold for the debug mode
  library, with one exception: performance guarantees made by the
  normal library may not hold in the debug mode library. For
  instance, erasing an element in a <code>std::list</code> is a
  constant-time operation in normal library, but in debug mode it is
  linear in the number of iterators that reference that particular
  list. So while your (correct) program won't change its results, it
  is likely to execute more slowly.</p>

<p>libstdc++ includes many extensions to the C++ standard library. In
  some cases the extensions are obvious, such as the hashed
  associative containers, whereas other extensions give predictable
  results to behavior that would otherwise be undefined, such as
  throwing an exception when a <code>std::basic_string</code> is
  constructed from a NULL character pointer. This latter category also
  includes implementation-defined and unspecified semantics, such as
  the growth rate of a vector. Use of these extensions is not
  considered incorrect, so code that relies on them will not be
  rejected by debug mode. However, use of these extensions may affect
  the portability of code to other implementations of the C++ standard
  library, and is therefore somewhat hazardous. For this reason, the
  libstdc++ debug mode offers a "pedantic" mode (similar to
  GCC's <code>-pedantic</code> compiler flag) that attempts to emulate
  the semantics guaranteed by the C++ standard. For
  instance, constructing a <code>std::basic_string</code> with a NULL
  character pointer would result in an exception under normal mode or
  non-pedantic debug mode (this is a libstdc++ extension), whereas
  under pedantic debug mode libstdc++ would signal an error. To enable
  the pedantic debug mode, compile your program with
  both <code>-D_GLIBCXX_DEBUG</code>
  and <code>-D_GLIBCXX_DEBUG_PEDANTIC</code> .
  (N.B. In GCC 3.4.x and 4.0.0, due to a bug,
  <code>-D_GLIBXX_DEBUG_PEDANTIC</code> was also needed. The problem has
  been fixed in GCC 4.0.1 and later versions.) </p>

<p>The following library components provide extra debugging
  capabilities in debug mode:</p>
<ul>
  <li><code>std::basic_string</code> (no safe iterators)</li>
  <li><code>std::bitset</code></li>
  <li><code>std::deque</code></li>
  <li><code>std::list</code></li>
  <li><code>std::map</code></li>
  <li><code>std::multimap</code></li>
  <li><code>std::multiset</code></li>
  <li><code>std::set</code></li>
  <li><code>std::vector</code></li>
  <li><code>__gnu_cxx::hash_map</code></li>
  <li><code>__gnu_cxx::hash_multimap</code></li>
  <li><code>__gnu_cxx::hash_multiset</code></li>
  <li><code>__gnu_cxx::hash_set</code></li>
</ul>


<h3 class="left"><a name="mem">Tips for memory leak hunting</a></h3>

<p>There are various third party memory tracing and debug utilities
   that can be used to provide detailed memory allocation information
   about C++ code. An exhaustive list of tools is not going to be
   attempted, but includes <code>mtrace</code>, <code>valgrind</code>,
   <code>mudflap</code>, and the non-free commercial product
   <code>purify</code>. In addition, <code>libcwd</code> has a
   replacement for the global new and delete operators that can track
   memory allocation and deallocation and provide useful memory
   statistics.
</p>

<p>Regardless of the memory debugging tool being used, there is one
   thing of great importance to keep in mind when debugging C++ code
   that uses <code>new</code> and <code>delete</code>:
   there are different kinds of allocation schemes that can be used by
   <code> std::allocator </code>. For implementation details, see this
   <a href="ext/howto.html#3"> document</a> and look specifically for
   <code>GLIBCXX_FORCE_NEW</code>.
</p>

<p>In a nutshell, the default allocator used by <code>
   std::allocator</code> is a high-performance pool allocator, and can
   give the mistaken impression that in a suspect executable, memory
   is being leaked, when in reality the memory "leak" is a pool being
   used by the library's allocator and is reclaimed after program
   termination.
</p>

<p>For valgrind, there are some specific items to keep in mind. First
   of all, use a version of valgrind that will work with current GNU
   C++ tools: the first that can do this is valgrind 1.0.4, but later
   versions should work at least as well. Second of all, use a
   completely unoptimized build to avoid confusing valgrind. Third,
   use GLIBCXX_FORCE_NEW to keep extraneous pool allocation noise from
   cluttering debug information.
</p>

<p>Fourth, it may be necessary to force deallocation in other
   libraries as well, namely the "C" library. On linux, this can be
   accomplished with the appropriate use of the
   <code>__cxa_atexit</code> or <code>atexit</code> functions.
</p>

<pre>
   #include &lt;cstdlib&gt;

   extern "C" void __libc_freeres(void);

   void do_something() { }

   int main()
   {
     atexit(__libc_freeres);
     do_something();
     return 0;
   }
</pre>


<p>or, using <code>__cxa_atexit</code>:</p>

<pre>
   extern "C" void __libc_freeres(void);
   extern "C" int __cxa_atexit(void (*func) (void *), void *arg, void *d);

   void do_something() { }

   int main()
   {
      extern void* __dso_handle __attribute__ ((__weak__));
      __cxa_atexit((void (*) (void *)) __libc_freeres, NULL,
                   &amp;__dso_handle ? __dso_handle : NULL);
      do_test();
      return 0;
   }
</pre>

<p>Suggested valgrind flags, given the suggestions above about setting
   up the runtime environment, library, and test file, might be:
</p>
<pre>
   valgrind -v --num-callers=20 --leak-check=yes --leak-resolution=high --show-reachable=yes a.out
</pre>


<h3 class="left"><a name="gdb">Some gdb strategies</a></h3>
<p>Many options are available for gdb itself: please see <a
   href="http://sources.redhat.com/gdb/current/onlinedocs/gdb_13.html#SEC109">
   "GDB features for C++" </a> in the gdb documentation. Also
   recommended: the other parts of this manual.
</p>

<p>These settings can either be switched on in at the gdb command
   line, or put into a .gdbint file to establish default debugging
   characteristics, like so:
</p>

<pre>
   set print pretty on
   set print object on
   set print static-members on
   set print vtbl on
   set print demangle on
   set demangle-style gnu-v3
</pre>


<h3 class="left"><a name="verbterm">Tracking uncaught exceptions</a></h3>
<p>The <a href="19_diagnostics/howto.html#4">verbose termination handler</a>
   gives information about uncaught exceptions which are killing the
   program.  It is described in the linked-to page.
</p>


<p>Return <a href="#top">to the top of the page</a> or
   <a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/libstdc++/">to the libstdc++ homepage</a>.
</p>


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<p class="fineprint"><em>
See <a href="17_intro/license.html">license.html</a> for copying conditions.
Comments and suggestions are welcome, and may be sent to
<a href="mailto:libstdc++@gcc.gnu.org">the libstdc++ mailing list</a>.
</em></p>


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