Android debugging ndk-gdb

Question

I have been fighting with this for days and I have gotten closer but still no luck. I am trying to build an android app via ndk-build NDK_DEBUG=1 which works just fine. I can launch from eclipse and have it run, but I want to debug from the command line. So I tried different approaches with ndk-gdb and have had no luck. I have tried "ndk-gdb --start --nowait --verbose","ndk-gdb --start --verbose", "ndk-debug" and nothing seems to work. I get a slightly different output if I take out the 'no-wait' flag, however the same errors pop up...

without the no-wait flag:

Claudias-MacBook-Pro:Android claudia$ ndk-gdb --start --verbose
Android NDK installation path: /Applications/Intel/INDE/Framework/NDK
Using default adb command: /Applications/Intel/INDE/Framework/ADT/sdk/platform-tools/adb
ADB version found: Android Debug Bridge version 1.0.31
Using ADB flags: 
Using JDB command: /usr/bin/jdb
Using auto-detected project path: .
Found package name: com.yourcompany.neckrowfish
ABIs targetted by application: armeabi armeabi-v7a
Device API Level: 19
Device CPU ABIs: x86 armeabi-v7a
Compatible device ABI: armeabi-v7a
Using gdb setup init: ./libs/armeabi-v7a/gdb.setup
Using toolchain prefix: /Applications/Intel/INDE/Framework/NDK/toolchains/arm-linux-androideabi-4.8/prebuilt/darwin-x86_64/bin/arm-linux-androideabi-
Using app out directory: ./obj/local/armeabi-v7a
Found debuggable flag: true
Found data directory: '/data/data/com.yourcompany.neckrowfish'
Found device gdbserver: /data/data/com.yourcompany.neckrowfish/lib/gdbserver
Found first launchable activity: .neckrowfish
Launching activity: com.yourcompany.neckrowfish/.neckrowfish
## COMMAND: adb_cmd shell am start -D -n com.yourcompany.neckrowfish/.neckrowfish
Starting: Intent { cmp=com.yourcompany.neckrowfish/.neckrowfish }
## COMMAND: adb_cmd shell sleep 2
Found running PID: 17094
Launched gdbserver succesfully.
Setup network redirection
## COMMAND: adb_cmd forward tcp:5039 localfilesystem:/data/data/com.yourcompany.neckrowfish/debug-socket
## COMMAND: adb_cmd shell run-as com.yourcompany.neckrowfish /data/data/com.yourcompany.neckrowfish/lib/gdbserver +debug-socket --attach 17094
## COMMAND: adb_cmd pull /system/bin/app_process ./obj/local/armeabi-v7a/app_process
Cannot attach to lwp 17094: Function not implemented (38)

Exiting
2859 KB/s (12780 bytes in 0.004s)
Pulled app_process from device/emulator.
## COMMAND: adb_cmd pull /system/bin/linker ./obj/local/armeabi-v7a/linker
5510 KB/s (183465 bytes in 0.032s)
Pulled linker from device/emulator.
## COMMAND: adb_cmd pull /system/lib/libc.so ./obj/local/armeabi-v7a/libc.so
3730 KB/s (824333 bytes in 0.215s)
Pulled libc.so from device/emulator.
Setup JDB connection
## COMMAND: adb_cmd forward tcp:65534 jdwp:17094
java.io.IOException: handshake failed - connection prematurally closed
    at com.sun.tools.jdi.SocketTransportService.handshake(SocketTransportService.java:118)
    at com.sun.tools.jdi.SocketTransportService.attach(SocketTransportService.java:214)
    at com.sun.tools.jdi.GenericAttachingConnector.attach(GenericAttachingConnector.java:98)
    at com.sun.tools.jdi.SocketAttachingConnector.attach(SocketAttachingConnector.java:72)
    at com.sun.tools.example.debug.tty.VMConnection.attachTarget(VMConnection.java:358)
    at com.sun.tools.example.debug.tty.VMConnection.open(VMConnection.java:168)
    at com.sun.tools.example.debug.tty.Env.init(Env.java:64)
    at com.sun.tools.example.debug.tty.TTY.main(TTY.java:1010)

Fatal error:
Unable to attach to target VM.
GNU gdb (GDB) 7.3.1-gg2
Copyright (C) 2011 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.
There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.  Type "show copying"
and "show warranty" for details.
This GDB was configured as "--host=x86_64-apple-darwin --target=arm-linux-android".
For bug reporting instructions, please see:
<http://source.android.com/source/report-bugs.html>.
./obj/local/armeabi-v7a/gdb.setup:4: Error in sourced command file:
Remote connection closed
(gdb) 

This causes a 'waiting for the debugger' notification on my android device, so with the flag I get:

Claudias-MacBook-Pro:Android claudia$ ndk-gdb --start --nowait --verbose
Android NDK installation path: /Applications/Intel/INDE/Framework/NDK
Using default adb command: /Applications/Intel/INDE/Framework/ADT/sdk/platform-tools/adb
ADB version found: Android Debug Bridge version 1.0.31
Using ADB flags: 
Using JDB command: /usr/bin/jdb
Using auto-detected project path: .
Found package name: com.yourcompany.neckrowfish
ABIs targetted by application: armeabi armeabi-v7a
Device API Level: 19
Device CPU ABIs: x86 armeabi-v7a
Compatible device ABI: armeabi-v7a
Using gdb setup init: ./libs/armeabi-v7a/gdb.setup
Using toolchain prefix: /Applications/Intel/INDE/Framework/NDK/toolchains/arm-linux-androideabi-4.8/prebuilt/darwin-x86_64/bin/arm-linux-androideabi-
Using app out directory: ./obj/local/armeabi-v7a
Found debuggable flag: true
Found data directory: '/data/data/com.yourcompany.neckrowfish'
Found device gdbserver: /data/data/com.yourcompany.neckrowfish/lib/gdbserver
Found first launchable activity: .neckrowfish
Launching activity: com.yourcompany.neckrowfish/.neckrowfish
## COMMAND: adb_cmd shell am start -n com.yourcompany.neckrowfish/.neckrowfish
Starting: Intent { cmp=com.yourcompany.neckrowfish/.neckrowfish }
Warning: Activity not started, its current task has been brought to the front
## COMMAND: adb_cmd shell sleep 2
Found running PID: 17094
Launched gdbserver succesfully.
Setup network redirection
## COMMAND: adb_cmd forward tcp:5039 localfilesystem:/data/data/com.yourcompany.neckrowfish/debug-socket
## COMMAND: adb_cmd shell run-as com.yourcompany.neckrowfish /data/data/com.yourcompany.neckrowfish/lib/gdbserver +debug-socket --attach 17094
## COMMAND: adb_cmd pull /system/bin/app_process ./obj/local/armeabi-v7a/app_process
Cannot attach to lwp 17094: Function not implemented (38)

Exiting
2539 KB/s (12780 bytes in 0.004s)
Pulled app_process from device/emulator.
## COMMAND: adb_cmd pull /system/bin/linker ./obj/local/armeabi-v7a/linker
4498 KB/s (183465 bytes in 0.039s)
Pulled linker from device/emulator.
## COMMAND: adb_cmd pull /system/lib/libc.so ./obj/local/armeabi-v7a/libc.so
2676 KB/s (824333 bytes in 0.300s)
Pulled libc.so from device/emulator.
GNU gdb (GDB) 7.3.1-gg2
Copyright (C) 2011 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.
There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.  Type "show copying"
and "show warranty" for details.
This GDB was configured as "--host=x86_64-apple-darwin --target=arm-linux-android".
For bug reporting instructions, please see:
<http://source.android.com/source/report-bugs.html>.
./obj/local/armeabi-v7a/gdb.setup:4: Error in sourced command file:
Remote connection closed
(gdb) 

Does anyone have any clue what my issue might be?? Thank you!!

Answer 1

Try - ndk-gdb.py

This problem seems to be fairly common. My solution was to NOT use the ndk-gdb bash script provided. In any case, the bash script didn't work for me and the python version did.

The python version might be included in the newest versions of the NDK, but if not you can grab it from the master branch of the NDK source.

You can clone it at:

git clone https://android.googlesource.com/platform/ndk

Pull out the ndk-gdb.py file and place it in your NDK folder. Since I used brew to install the NDK, r10c at the time of this writing, the NDK was in /usr/local/opt/android-ndk.

1. Call ndk-build with the debug flag.

   ndk-build clean all NDK_DEBUG=1

2. Reinstall the app.

3. Launch it using gdb.

   ndk-gdb.py --start --verbose --project=/dir/with/android/xml

If Eclipse is open you should notice the debugger come to life.