quick kmdb cheatsheet
This is mainly a reference for myself since I have been playing with OpenSolaris kernel internals lately:
- To enable kmdb edit the kernel’s grub entry and append
-k
to it. - Break into kmdb:
f1+a
- Display status:
::status
- List available kmdb commands (and be amazed):
::dcmds
- View registers for CPU 0:
::cpuregs -c 0
and/or::regs
- Set a breakpoint at the given symbol or address:
::bp [symbol or address]
- Set a read/write watchpoint at the given symbol or address:
[symbol or address] ::wp -rw
- Display breakpoints and watchpoints:
::events
- Delete breakpoint (or watchpoint) #1:
::delete 1
- Continue execution:
:c
- Next instruction, step into function calls:
::step
- Next instruction, step over function calls:
::step over
- Return from current function:
::step out
- Continue execution until the next branching instruction (only x86):
::step branch
- Disassemble around RIP:
<rip::dis
- Disassemble 100 instructions starting at the given symbol or address:
::dis -n 100 [symbol or address]
- View backtrace:
$C
- View IDT:
::idt
- View symbols:
::nm
- View the kernel message buffer:
::msgbuf
- Quit kmdb and reboot:
::quit
This brief cheatsheet does not do kmdb justice; it is an amazing built-in kernel debugger with countless features. For more details read the manpage.