Re: howto disassemble without debug information

[duane_ellis at franklin dot com]

keith> Actually, you're going to run into a lot of trouble using an 
keith> assembler-only approach to debugging. GDB was simply never 
keith> written to deal properly with this situation. As a result, 
keith> Insight won't be of much help in this regard, either.

This subject has been brought up multiple times in this list over the 
years.

Sadly - I agree, Keith is correct, unless and until somebody fixes GDB in 
this 
regard, it ain't gonna work well. This is one of the single most 
frustrating 
needs an embedded (firmware type) developer has that is missing from GDB 
in general. And in this situation, all of the features of Insight are 
useless.

It's not just Insight, but all the GDB front ends suffer from this. The 
bulk of the [developer] GDB population do not debug in an embedded 
environment, and do not understand the issues and problems that 
embedded (firmware) developers face.

Others in this and other threads have posted ideas like (a) get the 
source, 
(b) create a symbol table, (c) do this, or (d) do that. Often times those 
suggestions are not practical. If you [or other lurkers reading this] 
disagree 
then sorry - you don't walk our [embedded] shoes.

marco> but every commercial debugging software I tested has this feature

You get what you pay for. 

This is exactly why - I don't use GDB for everything. :-( and I pay good
money for a good debugger.

If you stop at the local D.I.Y. type home improvement stores, look at all 
the types of hammers you can buy. Depending on what you are doing - some
work better then others.

There is a saying: 
        If your only tool is a hammer, 
                all of your problems will look like nails.

The bulk of the GDB developers seem to be blinded by their hammer & nails.

For me, GDB is just one debugger I use. Sadly - this exact problem is one 
of 
the primary examples where GDB-only solutions fall flat on their faces.

-Duane.