System call support in reversible debugging

[Jakob Engblom]

> Hi Michael and Hui,
> 
> I am sorry for my late response.
> 
> Thanks for your explanation. So we can’t treat the system calls as a
> black box and have to understand the detailed implementation of each
> system call. I think we need to understand every lines of the code in
> the system calls carefully enough, and care about the difference of
> the Linux kernel since the code of system calls might change
> frequently. Do we have any good ways to do it?

To really do this right, you should use a full-system simulator that lets you
debug OS and user code at the same time, as it is attacking the system at the
hardware/software interface level. 

As long as you attack a program as a user-level problem only, you cannot debug
into the kernel, as the process record facilities are built on kernel features
that only apply to user-level programs. As I understand it. 

Both VmWare and Virtutech offer solutions for this that you can drive over
gdb-serial, in reverse when needed. 

Best regards,

/jakob

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Jakob Engblom, PhD, Technical Marketing Manager

Virtutech                   Direct: +46 8 690 07 47   
Drottningholmsvägen 22      Mobile: +46 709 242 646  
11243 Stockholm             Web:    www.virtutech.com 
Sweden
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