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Name

adb - general-purpose debugger

Synopsis

adb [ -w ] [ -k ] [ -I dir ] [ -P prompt ] [ -V mode ] [objectfile [ corefile [ swapfile ] ] ]

Availability

SUNWcsu

Description

adb is an interactive, general-purpose debugger. It can be used to examine files and provides a controlled environment for the execution of programs.

objectfile is normally an executable program file, preferably containing a symbol table. If the file does not contain a symbol table, it can still be examined, but the symbolic features of adb cannot be used. The default for objectfile is a.out. corefile is assumed to be a core image file produced after executing objectfile. The default for corefile is core. swapfile is the image of the swap device used. It is valid only when used with the -k option.

Options

-w
Create both objectfile and corefile, if necessary, and open them for reading and writing so that they can be modified using adb.
-k
Perform kernel memory mapping; use when corefile is a system crash dump or /dev/mem, or when using a swapfile.
-I dir
Specify a colon-separated list of directories where files to be read with $< or $<< (see below) will be sought; the default is /usr/platform/plat-name/lib/adb:/usr/lib/adb, where plat-name is the name of the platform implementation. plat-name can be found using the -i option of uname(1) .
-P prompt
Specify the adb prompt string.
-V mode
(SPARC only) Specify the disassembly and register display mode. Options are: 0 (v8), 1 (generic V9), and 2 (v9 plus Sun Ultra-SPARC specific instructions). The default mode is determined by the type of corefile being examined.

Usage

adb reads commands from the standard input and displays responses on the standard output. It does not supply a prompt by default. It ignores the QUIT signal. INTERRUPT invokes the next adb command. adb generally recognizes command input of the form:

[ address ] [, count ] [ command ] [ ; ]

address and count (if supplied) are expressions that result, respectively, in a new current address, and a repetition count. command is composed of a verb followed by a modifier or list of modifiers.

The symbol ‘.’ represents the current location. It is initially zero. The default count is ‘1’.

Expressions