Hardware watchpoint for read

[Luis Gustavo]

On 04/24/2012 10:15 AM, Xin Tong wrote:
> On Tue, Apr 24, 2012 at 9:09 AM, Luis Gustavo<luis_gustavo@mentor.com>  wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>>
>> On 04/24/2012 10:02 AM, Xin Tong wrote:
>>>
>>> Hello
>>>
>>> I am wondering that can gdb insert hardware watch point for read to
>>> the watched memory ? can other debugger do that ? is it supported in
>>> hardware watchpoint ?
>>>
>>> Thanks
>>>
>>> Xin
>>>
>>
>> Read watchpoints are hard to implement as soft-watchpoints, so they're
>> usually implemented as hardware watchpoints.
>
> software write watchpoint is easier to implement ? do not software
> watchpoint need to watch all memory accesses (read and write) to a
> memory location in software ?

Writes are "easier" to implemenet due to the fact that they usually 
change memory contents. Reads don't.

>
>>
>> If a debugger knows how to properly set the bits in the hardware, either
>> through ptrace or other means, it can configure a read/write/read-write
>> watchpoint. Depends on hardware support really.
>
> do you know whether this is supported on the x86 chips ? is thee a way
> to try this out in gdb ?

All those modes should be supported in x86. Try "watch", "rwatch" and 
"awatch".

>
>>
>> Regards,
>> Luis