Embed GDB or LLDB inside C++ program and Launch Debugger from the code

Question

Is there a way to statically compile a C++ binary that embeds gbd or lldb, so that the debugger can be launched from within the code?

Essentially, I'd like to be able to spawn the debugger from the code without having to run the code from the debugger.

The best analogy is pasting import ipdb; ipdb.set_trace in python code to start a debugger at that line of code.

lldb.llvm.org/resources/architecture.html#api tells that there is a C++ API, thus it is definitely possible to embed LLDB into your binary. — Vlad Faust
– Vlad Faust, Commented Sep 5, 2020 at 10:44

Employed Russian · Accepted Answer · 2017-10-26 22:14:12Z

1

You don't need to compile in GDB or LLDB for this to work: you can invoke external binary on yourself:

if (some_condition_that_requires_debugging) {
  char cmd[100];
  sprintf(cmd, "/usr/bin/gdb -p %d", getpid());
  // invoke debugger on itself
  system(cmd);
}

answered Oct 26, 2017 at 22:14

Employed Russian

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1 Comment

Vlad Faust Over a year ago

This does not answer the OP's question.

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