Re: gdb 5.1 dumped core on me [was: Emacs abort under gdb]

[Andrew Cagney]

> From: Francesco Potorti` <address@hidden>
> > Date: Tue, 22 Jan 2002 12:27:11 +0100
> >
> > (gdb) p/x current_buffer->auto_save_file_name
> > $59 = 0x1827b31c
> > (gdb) xstring
> > $60 = (struct Lisp_String *) 0x827b31c
> > Segmentation fault (core dumped)
>
>
> Does GDB's core file say something interesting about where did GDB
> crash?


Especially a backtrace.

The other useful thing would be a confirmation that the Debian GDB 5.1 
really is a stock GDB 5.1 and doesn't have patches applied.  Is there 
anything unusual in the startup message for instance?


> Anyway, since no one responded, let me rephrase the (implicit)
> question in Francesco's report: Is GDB supposed to handle invalid
> memory accesses gracefully?  That is, if the user asks GDB to access
> the inferior's memory via an invalid pointer, does GDB protect itself
> against SIGSEGV and other related calamities?


GDB should never dump core.  Which means it does need to try to protect 
its self from such calamities.

Andrew