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Re: [patch#2 0/6] auto-load: intro


On Thu, 29 Mar 2012 14:55:50 +0200, Pedro Alves wrote:
> On 03/29/2012 10:09 AM, Jan Kratochvil wrote:
> > I have found "set auto-load libthread-db" needs to apply also for gdbserver.
> > It currently does not.  Currently I do not find it a real world problem due to
> > some limitations of current gdbserver.
> 
> Such as?

I was writing it in general, in general it is too difficult to run gdbserver,
one needs to do it separately in shell, restart or kill it in various cases,
I normally run it in non-extended mode which has its futher limitations.
And after all in most common cases one can just use linux-nat instead.

Therefore usage of gdbserver is AFAIK in various special cases where one is
more than aware of the remote security / untrusted remote code.  This patchset
is trying to address the common "gdb ./file ./core" which has security
implications user does not expect IMNSHO.

FYI I also miss there for example "set follow-fork-mode" as I am not used for
multi-inferior mode and real world OS apps / launchers use fork a lot.

Specifically for this security patchset gdbserver is offtopic.  If you have
untrusted inferior you use GDB either for:
 * Loading its core file - but FSF gdbserver cannot load core files.
 * Examining its symbols / code - but then you do not need gdbserver at all.

Feature of "set auto-load libthread-db" without "set auto-load safe-path" is
just a side-effect of this patchset, it is not so useful on its own IMO.

After all "set auto-load safe-path" would need to use remote pathnames which
are host-specific; this is sure solvable but it is not a trivial patch IMO.


Thanks,
Jan


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