stack trace

stack trace

[Singh, Umesh K (MED)]

is it possible to get the stack trace without attaching the process to debugger. For Ex. can i write a func let's say "print_stack_trace()" and call it anywhere in my program to print the stack trace at that point of time.

i thot it will be helpful in my big programs.

if it is possible, any direction/pointers???

thanks,
-umesh

Re: stack trace

[Glynn Clements]

Singh, Umesh K (MED) wrote:

> is it possible to get the stack trace without attaching the process to
> debugger. For Ex. can i write a func let's say "print_stack_trace()"
> and call it anywhere in my program to print the stack trace at that
> point of time.
> 
> i thot it will be helpful in my big programs.
> 
> if it is possible, any direction/pointers???

Sure it's possible, but it's a fair amount of work. If your programs
is released under the GPL, the easiest solution would be to take the
relevant code from gdb. Otherwise, look at the "stabs" Info file for
the details of the format of the debug information.

However, in order to get meaningful output, you will need to compile
your program with debug info, and ideally without any optimisation
(i.e. without -O, and definitely without -fomit-frame-pointer).

-- 
Glynn Clements <glynn.clements@virgin.net>

Re: stack trace

[Fekete Gabor]

On Thu, 21 Aug 2003, Singh, Umesh K (MED) wrote:

> is it possible to get the stack trace without attaching the process to debugger. For Ex. can i write a func let's say "print_stack_trace()" and call it anywhere in my program to print the stack trace at that point of time.

read this:
http://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=6391
it might help.

Re: (F)stack trace

[Steven]

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> is it possible to get the stack trace without attaching the process
> to debugger. For Ex. can i write a func let's say
> "print_stack_trace()" and call it anywhere in my program to print
> the stack trace at that point of time.
If you're using glibc, it's reasonably easy:

#include <execinfo.h>

void print_stack_trace(void)
{
	void *buffer[100];
	int x;
	x = backtrace(buffer, 100);
	backtrace_symbols_fd(buffer, x, 1);
}

Steven Smith,
sos22@cam.ac.uk.

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Re: stack trace

[Luciano Miguel Ferreira Rocha]

On Thu, Aug 21, 2003 at 09:29:56AM +0530, Singh, Umesh K (MED) wrote:
> is it possible to get the stack trace without attaching the process to debugger. For Ex. can i write a func let's say "print_stack_trace()" and call it anywhere in my program to print the stack trace at that point of time.
> 
> i thot it will be helpful in my big programs.
> 
> if it is possible, any direction/pointers???

Other people pointed to backtrace(), but I normally use in my programs,
for debugging purposes, assert(3) or abort(2) directly. The program is
also then terminated.

Thus I get a core file with the state of the program at that time. (Don't
forget to check the ulimit for core file size.)

Regards,
Luciano Rocha