GDB Python support, ImportError no module named gdb

Question

I am trying to compile gdb with python support so I can use the PrettyPrinters provided at : http://gcc.gnu.org/svn/gcc/trunk/libstdc++-v3/python

I downloaded the latest gdb source from (http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/gdb/gdb-7.6.1.tar.gz) and compiled it on my Centos 6.4 as follows: 1. ./configure --with-python 2. make

Do I need to provide a path or another argument to --with-python with the path to python libs or executable?

After compilation when I run gdb, I see this warning:

Python Exception <type 'exceptions.ImportError'> No module named gdb:
warning:
Could not load the Python gdb module from `/usr/local/share/gdb/python'.
Limited Python support is available from the _gdb module.
Suggest passing --data-directory=/path/to/gdb/data-directory.

The exception is obvious here and whatever I am going to do next is going to fail because it needs the gdb module, but I gave it a try anyways. So I added the following lines to ~/.gdbinit:

import sys 

sys.path.insert(0, '/tmp/pretty/python')
from libstdcxx.v6.printers import register_libstdcxx_printers
register_libstdcxx_printers (None)

Now when I start gdb, I get this error:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<string>", line 3, in <module>
  File "/tmp/pretty/python/libstdcxx/v6/printers.py", line 18, in <module>
    import gdb
ImportError: No module named gdb
Error while executing Python code.

Can someone help me resolve this issue?

Answer 1

If anyone is stumbling upon this post trying to compile Python and GDB in Solus 4.1, please read the following setup guide created by me (Obviously swap out any directory names/trees to your own ones)

Set up .profile like this:

source /usr/share/defaults/etc/profile

# Adding variables to PATH
PATH=$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH;

# Emscripten variables
PATH=$HOME/Applications/emsdk:$PATH;
PATH=$HOME/Applications/emsdk/node/12.18.1_64bit/bin:$PATH;
PATH=$HOME/Applications/emsdk/upstream/emscripten:$PATH; 

# GDB variables


# Python variables

PATH=$HOME/Applications/Python-3.9.1/out/bin:$PATH;
LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$HOME/Applications/Python-3.9.1/out/lib:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH;
alias python=/home/jeremi-solus/Applications/Python-3.9.1/out/bin/python3.9

# GDBM variables


# GEF variables


# Various apps variables
PATH=$HOME/Applications:$PATH;

export PATH
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH


# ... remaining .profile

Set up .bashrc like this

#import profile data if exists  
if [ -f "$HOME/.profile" ]; then
  source "$HOME/.profile"
#else load default profile environment variables
else
  source /usr/share/defaults/etc/profile
fi

# ... remaining .bashrc

Compile Python (debug build + dev (--enable-shared is equivalent to python3-dev)) (create the "out" directory first - then run both commands from it)

../configure --with-pydebug --with-lto --enable-optimizations --prefix=/home/jeremi-solus/Applications/Python-3.9.1/out --exec-prefix=/home/jeremi-solus/Applications/Python-3.9.1/out --enable-shared

make altinstall

After compiling Python, you can start compiling GDB. set these flags before running the "configure" command (before compiling)

export CFLAGS="-I/home/jeremi-solus/Applications/Python-3.9.1/out/include/python3.9d -I/home/jeremi-solus/Applications/Python-3.9.1/out/include/python3.9d"
export LDFLAGS="-L/home/jeremi-solus/Applications/Python-3.9.1/out/lib  -lcrypt -lpthread -ldl  -lutil -lm" 
export LIBS="-lcrypt -lpthread -ldl  -lutil -lm"

Note down the path to compiled Python binary. You need to pass this path to GDB configure script

/home/jeremi-solus/Applications/Python-3.9.1/out/bin/python3.9

Run configure script like this - make sure you don't close the bash shell after exporting the earlier set values!! Also, make sure earlier set .profile vars are set by running source ~/.bashrc

./configure --prefix=/home/jeremi-solus/Applications/gdb-10.1/out --exec-prefix=/home/jeremi-solus/Applications/gdb-10.1/out --enable-lto --with-python=/home/jeremi-solus/Applications/Python-3.9.1/out/bin/python3.9

Make GDB (run this from the out directory)

make

Start GDB with this command

./gdb -data-directory ./data-directory