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Re: [RFC] Unified watchpoints for x86 platforms
- To: gdb at sources dot redhat dot com
- Subject: Re: [RFC] Unified watchpoints for x86 platforms
- From: Eli Zaretskii <eliz at is dot elta dot co dot il>
- Date: Thu, 15 Feb 2001 13:46:27 +0200 (IST)
- References: <200009070855.EAA00749@albacore> <200009070855.EAA00749@albacore> <200009071500.LAA07756@indy.delorie.com> <200009081529.e88FTjx15960@debye.wins.uva.nl> <200102101533.KAA10417@indy.delorie.com>
- Reply-to: Eli Zaretskii <eliz at is dot elta dot co dot il>
Ping!
No one posted any approvals or disprovals of this design. Do I take
the silence as a sign of agreement and start coding?
> I started working on the unified support for hardware-assisted
> breakpoints and watchpoints on x86 platforms (see TODO). Since I
> don't feel I know enough about all the aspects of this on any platform
> but DJGPP, I thought I'd better get the framework agreed to before I
> start coding.
>
> Here's the API I suggest for use by higher-level GDB code:
>
> (Note: I'm not good at inventing names, so please suggest better
> ones if you want.)
>
> int i386_hwbp_insert (int pid, CORE_ADDR addr, int len, int kind);
>
> This function inserts a breakpoint or watchpoint to watch memory
> region starting at address ADDR whose length is LEN bytes. The
> watchpoint will watch said memory region for accesses whose type
> is defined by KIND:
>
> HW_READ break if the region is accessed for reading[1]
> HW_WRITE break if the region is accessed for writing
> HW_ACCESS break if the region is accessed for either
> reading or writing
> HW_IO_ACCESS same as HW_ACCESS type, but for I/O read/write
> access[2]
> HW_EXECUTE instruction execution breakpoint
>
> The function returns 0 upon success, else -1.
>
> Notes:
> [1] Since x86 doesn't support read data watchpoints, HW_READ will
> actually be implemented as a read/write watchpoint, and relies
> on higher-level GDB code to distinguish between reads and
> writes. The infrastructure to support this is already in place
> in breakpoint.c, since GDB 5.0.
>
> [2] I/O watchpoints are not currently supported (AFAIK) by GDB on
> any x86 platform. I can provide the code to handle it, but do
> people think we should define a command to access this feature?
> If so, should we provide separate read, write, and access types
> of watchpoints, or a single access type (the only one supported
> by x86's debug registers) is enough?
>
> Note that I/O watchpoints require that the DE (debug extensions)
> flag in the CR4 register be set. I don't know what platforms
> set it and under what circumstances.
>
> int i386_hwbp_remove (int pid, CORE_ADDR addr, int len, int kind);
>
> This function removes a breakpoint of watchpoint at address ADDR
> which watches a memory region of LEN bytes and whose type is given
> by KIND. It returns 0 upon success, else -1.
>
> int i386_hwbp_region_ok (CORE_ADDR addr, int len);
>
> This function tests whether a memory region of LEN bytes starting at
> ADDR can be watched with debug registers. It returns 1 if the
> region can be watched, 0 otherwise.
>
> int i386_hwbp_stopped_by_watchpoint (int pid);
>
> This function returns the address of a breakpoint or watchpoint
> which could have stopped the debuggee. If no watchpoint triggered,
> it returns 0.
>
> To actually insert and remove breakpoints and watchpoints, I need
> low-level system-dependent functions. Here's the API I suggest for
> this low-levwl layer. (These are macros so that targets could define
> them on their nm-*.h files. On a typical Unix or GNU/Linux system,
> each of these macros will call `ptrace' with suitable arguments.)
>
> void HWBP_SET_ADDR (int pid, int dr_num, CORE_ADDR addr);
>
> This macro sets the debug register DR_NUM in the inferior to watch
> the address ADDR. DR_NUM can be in the range [0..3].
>
> void HWBP_SET_CONTROL (int pid, unsigned int val);
>
> This macro sets the DR7 debug control register in the inferior to
> the value VAL.
>
> unsigned int HWBP_GET_STATUS (int pid);
>
> This macro returns the value of the DR6 debug status register from
> the inferior.
>
> In the discussion we had back in September, Mark said that the
> status register should be per thread. Does that mean that we need
> an additional argument (int tid?) to pass to HWBP_GET_STATUS? If
> so, how will this argument get into the i386_hwbp_* functions which
> will call these macros?
>
> Or maybe the target end can figure out the thread id by itself with
> some TIDGET(pid) magic?
>
>
> Comments? Suggestions? Flames?
>