Kernel driver debugging

Kernel driver debugging

[iweiny]

I am looking for the best way to debug kernel modules/drivers.

I am trying to get a PCI Audio Card (Creative SBLive) working just to do some
testing.  (ie don't want to spend a lot of time on PCI or this particular
card.)

In addition we would like to have a way to read registers and other values from
the hardware as we go forward.

What is the best solution?

Are there any good docs on-line for xmon, kgdb, and/or kdb?

I have also read about BDM4GDB and BDI2000.  Is BDI2000 worth the cost?  Are
there other BDM's for the 405 which work well with Linux?

Thanks again,
Ira Weiny
Digital Home Technologies


** Sent via the linuxppc-embedded mail list. See http://lists.linuxppc.org/

Re: Kernel driver debugging

[Wolfgang Denk]

In message <200104262352.QAA01767@batcave2.batcave> you wrote:
>
> I am looking for the best way to debug kernel modules/drivers.

Get a decent debugger :-)

> In addition we would like to have a way to read registers and other values from
> the hardware as we go forward.

That's one of the basic factions of any BDM/JTAG debugger...

> What is the best solution?

Get yourself a BDI2000.

> I have also read about BDM4GDB and BDI2000.  Is BDI2000 worth the cost?  Are
> there other BDM's for the 405 which work well with Linux?

The BDM4GDB is working only  with  MPC8xx  CPU's  (at  least  in  the
current version). I don't know of any effort to adapt it for the 40x.

And yes, the BDI2000 is worth every single dollar you pay for it.

Feel free to contact me for details...

Wolfgang Denk

--
Software Engineering:  Embedded and Realtime Systems,  Embedded Linux
Phone: (+49)-8142-4596-87  Fax: (+49)-8142-4596-88  Email: wd@denx.de
Defaults are wonderful, just like fire.
                  - Larry Wall in <1996Mar6.004121.27890@netlabs.com>

** Sent via the linuxppc-embedded mail list. See http://lists.linuxppc.org/

RE: Kernel driver debugging

[Gessner, Matt]

Hear, hear!

I love mine... I'm not doing linux debugging w/ it
right now, but I am about a 5 minute walk from my
test device... and this REALLY makes it cool...
and with a firmware upgrade it can be made to do
any of their supported devices just with an upload.
I have 8260 and 860 devices I've used with the same
BDI2000... Thanks Reudi@abatron!

Matt

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Wolfgang Denk [mailto:wd@denx.de]
> Sent: Thursday, April 26, 2001 8:14 PM
> To: iweiny@pacbell.net
> Cc: linuxppc-embedded@lists.linuxppc.org
> Subject: Re: Kernel driver debugging
>
>
>
> In message <200104262352.QAA01767@batcave2.batcave> you wrote:
> >
> > I am looking for the best way to debug kernel modules/drivers.
>
> Get a decent debugger :-)
>
> > In addition we would like to have a way to read registers
> and other values from
> > the hardware as we go forward.
>
> That's one of the basic factions of any BDM/JTAG debugger...
>
> > What is the best solution?
>
> Get yourself a BDI2000.
>
> > I have also read about BDM4GDB and BDI2000.  Is BDI2000
> worth the cost?  Are
> > there other BDM's for the 405 which work well with Linux?
>
> The BDM4GDB is working only  with  MPC8xx  CPU's  (at  least  in  the
> current version). I don't know of any effort to adapt it for the 40x.
>
> And yes, the BDI2000 is worth every single dollar you pay for it.
>
> Feel free to contact me for details...
>
> Wolfgang Denk
>
> --
> Software Engineering:  Embedded and Realtime Systems,  Embedded Linux
> Phone: (+49)-8142-4596-87  Fax: (+49)-8142-4596-88  Email: wd@denx.de
> Defaults are wonderful, just like fire.
>                   - Larry Wall in <1996Mar6.004121.27890@netlabs.com>
>

** Sent via the linuxppc-embedded mail list. See http://lists.linuxppc.org/

Re: Kernel driver debugging

[Bryan Rittmeyer]

Wolfgang Denk wrote:

> And yes, the BDI2000 is worth every single dollar you pay for it.

Yep, and then some. We are having great luck with this unit here,
and I highly recommend it to anyone doing low-level stuff with
the PowerPC and Linux...

Regards,

Bryan

--
Bryan Rittmeyer
mailto:bryan@ixiacom.com
Ixia Communications
26601 W. Agoura Rd.
Calabasas, CA 91302

** Sent via the linuxppc-embedded mail list. See http://lists.linuxppc.org/

Re: Kernel driver debugging

[John Cagle]

What about IBM's tools: RiscWatch and RiscTrace?  Does anyone have
any experience with these, and how do they differ from the BDI2000?

Thanks,
John

------------------------------
John Cagle <jcagle@kernel.org>

On Thu, Apr 26, 2001 at 05:39:50PM -0700, Bryan Rittmeyer wrote:
>
> Wolfgang Denk wrote:
>
> > And yes, the BDI2000 is worth every single dollar you pay for it.
>
> Yep, and then some. We are having great luck with this unit here,
> and I highly recommend it to anyone doing low-level stuff with
> the PowerPC and Linux...
>
> Regards,
>
> Bryan

** Sent via the linuxppc-embedded mail list. See http://lists.linuxppc.org/

Re: Kernel driver debugging

[Scott Anderson]

John Cagle wrote:
>
> What about IBM's tools: RiscWatch and RiscTrace?  Does anyone have
> any experience with these, and how do they differ from the BDI2000?

RiscWatch runs on Wintel.  It doesn't come anywhere near integrating
well with Linux.  I also encountered problems because the RiscWatch
doesn't give you as much control over the initialization it does to
the processor.  The bottom line for me is that it is *way* nicer to
use ddd on top of gdb debugging a kernel built with -ggdb using the
Abatron.  RiscTrace should give you the advantage of being able to
see the past execution of your code, but in practice, I never found
it very useful.

    Scott

** Sent via the linuxppc-embedded mail list. See http://lists.linuxppc.org/