Can't step into string.h function with GDB

Question

Having trouble stepping into string.h in GDB 7.5. Here's a simple example program:

Source code:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>

int main() {
    char str1[20];
    strcpy(str1, "STEP INTO ME\n");
    printf(str1);
}

Compiled: ~$ gcc -g foo.c

Invoked: ~$ gdb -q ./a.out

GDB:

(gdb) break 5
Breakpoint 1 at 0x8048471: file foo.c, line 6.
(gdb) break strcpy
Function "strcpy" not defined.
Make breakpoint pending on future shared library load? (y or [n]) y

Breakpoint 2 (strcpy) pending.
(gdb) run 
Starting program: /home/user/a.out 

Breakpoint 1, main () at foo.c:6
6               strcpy(str_a, "Hello, world!\n");
(gdb) step
7               printf(str_a);

Shouldn't I be in the string library at this point? Instead it continues to the printf().

---

EDIT:

Scott's suggestion "worked", but not in the expected manner.

Breakpoint 1, main () at foo.c:6
6               strcpy(str_a, "Hello, world!\n");
(gdb) i r $eip
eip            0x80484a1        0x80484a1 <main+21>
(gdb) step

Breakpoint 2, __strcpy_ssse3 () at ../sysdeps/i386/i686/multiarch/strcpy-ssse3.S:78
78      ../sysdeps/i386/i686/multiarch/strcpy-ssse3.S: No such file or directory.
(gdb) i r $eip
eip            0xb7e9c820       0xb7e9c820 <__strcpy_ssse3> 

I am surprised at the directory in 78... expected something like: /lib/.../cmov/libc.so.6. And the claim that there is no such file or directory.

Answer 1

Recompile your code with gcc -fno-builtin -g foo.c and the gdb step command will work. (See -fno-builtin documentation). Otherwise small strcpy(), memcpy() calls would often be translated into open coded data movement instructions, e.g. on x86-64:

4   int main() {
   0x000000000040052c <+0>: push   %rbp
   0x000000000040052d <+1>: mov    %rsp,%rbp
   0x0000000000400530 <+4>: sub    $0x20,%rsp

5       char str1[20];
6       strcpy(str1, "STEP INTO ME\n");
   0x0000000000400534 <+8>: lea    -0x20(%rbp),%rax
   0x0000000000400538 <+12>:    movl   $0x50455453,(%rax)
   0x000000000040053e <+18>:    movl   $0x544e4920,0x4(%rax)
   0x0000000000400545 <+25>:    movl   $0x454d204f,0x8(%rax)
   0x000000000040054c <+32>:    movw   $0xa,0xc(%rax)

7       printf(str1);
   0x0000000000400552 <+38>:    lea    -0x20(%rbp),%rax
   0x0000000000400556 <+42>:    mov    %rax,%rdi
   0x0000000000400559 <+45>:    mov    $0x0,%eax
   0x000000000040055e <+50>:    callq  0x400410 <printf@plt>

8   }
   0x0000000000400563 <+55>:    leaveq 
   0x0000000000400564 <+56>:    retq

You can see the strpcy() call being compiled into multiple MOV instructions.

gcc -fno-builtin compiles the same program into:

4   int main() {
   0x000000000040057c <+0>: push   %rbp
   0x000000000040057d <+1>: mov    %rsp,%rbp
   0x0000000000400580 <+4>: sub    $0x20,%rsp

5       char str1[20];
6       strcpy(str1, "STEP INTO ME\n");
   0x0000000000400584 <+8>: lea    -0x20(%rbp),%rax
   0x0000000000400588 <+12>:    mov    $0x400660,%esi
   0x000000000040058d <+17>:    mov    %rax,%rdi
   0x0000000000400590 <+20>:    callq  0x400450 <strcpy@plt>

7       printf(str1);
   0x0000000000400595 <+25>:    lea    -0x20(%rbp),%rax
   0x0000000000400599 <+29>:    mov    %rax,%rdi
   0x000000000040059c <+32>:    mov    $0x0,%eax
   0x00000000004005a1 <+37>:    callq  0x400460 <printf@plt>

8   }
   0x00000000004005a6 <+42>:    leaveq 
   0x00000000004005a7 <+43>:    retq 

and you can see the call to <strcpy@plt>.

Assuming you wanted to step into strcpy() to study its implementation, you'd want to have debug info for libc.so installed. Unfortunately the way to get debug info differs between Linux distros. On Fedora it's as simple as debuginfo-install glibc. It takes more steps on Ubuntu and Debian. This RPM DPKG Rosetta Stone page have links to instructions for Fedora, Ubuntu and Debian (search for debuginfo).

Since you're on Ubuntu 12.10 and actually want to see the strcpy() assembly source code:

$ sudo apt-get install libc6-dbg
$ sudo apt-get source libc6-dev
$ gdb ./a.out
(gdb) directory eglibc-2.15/sysdeps
Source directories searched: /home/scottt/eglibc-2.15/sysdeps:$cdir:$cwd
(gdb) break strcpy
Breakpoint 1 at 0x400450
(gdb) run
Starting program: /home/scottt/a.out 

Breakpoint 1, __strcpy_sse2 () at ../sysdeps/x86_64/multiarch/../strcpy.S:32
32      movq %rsi, %rcx     /* Source register. */

Answer 2

You tried to set a breakpoint for a function defined in the string library usually part of the standard C library - libc.so

And as gdb informs you:

(gdb) break strcpy
Function "strcpy" not defined.
Make breakpoint pending on future shared library load? (y or [n]) y

Breakpoint 2 (strcpy) pending.

the library is not loaded yet.

But the real problem is, even when the library is loaded, if the library i.e. libc.so does not have debug symbols in it, you would not be able to step through the code within the library using gdb.

You could enable verbose mode to see which symbols, gdb is able to load:

(gdb) b main
Breakpoint 1 at 0x400914: file test.cpp, line 7.
(gdb) set verbose on
(gdb) run
Starting program: /home/agururaghave/.scratch/gdb-test/test 
Reading symbols from /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2...(no debugging symbols found)...done.
Loaded symbols for /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2
Reading symbols from system-supplied DSO at 0x7ffff7ffb000...(no debugging symbols found)...done.
Reading symbols from /usr/lib64/libstdc++.so.6...(no debugging symbols found)...done.
Registering libstdc++-v6 pretty-printer for /usr/lib64/libstdc++.so.6 ...
Loaded symbols for /usr/lib64/libstdc++.so.6
Reading symbols from /lib64/libm.so.6...(no debugging symbols found)...done.
Loaded symbols for /lib64/libm.so.6
Reading symbols from /lib64/libgcc_s.so.1...(no debugging symbols found)...done.
Loaded symbols for /lib64/libgcc_s.so.1
Reading symbols from /lib64/libc.so.6...(no debugging symbols found)...done.
Loaded symbols for /lib64/libc.so.6

Breakpoint 1, main () at test.cpp:7
7       bool result = myObj1 < myObj2;

This line for example tells you whether it was able to get the symbols for libc.so:

Reading symbols from /lib64/libc.so.6...(no debugging symbols found)...done.

You could then figure out where the debug symbols are picked up from using show debug-file-directory:

(gdb) show debug-file-directory 
The directory where separate debug symbols are searched for is "/usr/lib/debug".

As you see /usr/lib/debug here does not contain the full .so with debug symbols. Instead it only has the debug info without any .text or .data sections of the actual libc.so which the program uses for execution.

The solution to install the debug info for libraries would be distro specific.

I think the package is called libc6-dbg on the debian based distros. On my openSUSE machine, it seems to be called glibc-debuginfo

BTW, +1 on scottt's suggestion of using -fno-builtin so that gcc does not use its built-in methods for functions like strcpy and other standard ones defined as part of C standard.