Using Linux Eclipse, can I programatically tell I am executing in the debugger (gdb)?

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The subject pretty much covers it: Using Linux Eclipse, can I programatically tell I am executing in the debugger (gdb)?

Just curious, what have you tried so far? (ex: arg[0]) And what platform are you on? — MartyE, Aug 15 '12 at 11:59
Tried nothing except google. And "Using **Linux** Eclipse, can I ... " — Wes Miller, Aug 15 '12 at 12:25
See this question - Detect if gdb is running http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3596781/detect-if-gdb-is-running — Tom, Aug 15 '12 at 12:37
@WesMiller I'm more likely to give an upvote if you tried a few things. For instance if main is defined as `int main(int argc, char **argv)` attempt to see the output of `argv[0]`. — MartyE, Aug 15 '12 at 13:48
But @MartyE, I couldn't think of anything to try! That's why I asked. T'is rather the point, isn't it. — Wes Miller, Aug 15 '12 at 15:13

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 15 '12 at 11:56

2

You'll probably have to resort to obscure hacking.

For example, you could examine the "TracerPid" in your /proc/<pid>/status file to determine if you are being ptraced.

If you actually want to know whether you're ptraced by a gdb, you could try looking at the exe link of that process (but that's not reliable).

answered Aug 15 '12 at 11:56

Christian Stieber

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YES!! I answered my own question below with my code for anyone who wants to use it – Wes Miller Aug 15 '12 at 15:09

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 15 '12 at 15:11

//=====================================================================
// effectively performs  `cat /proc/$pid/status | grep TracerPid`
//=====================================================================
bool     RunningInDebugger( pid_t pid )
{
   std::string       line        = "";
   std::string       pidFileName = "";
   size_t            y           = 0;
   size_t            x           = 0;
   bool              rc          = FALSE;

   pidFileName = "/proc/";
   pidFileName = pidFileName.append( NumToStr( pid ).c_str() );
   pidFileName = pidFileName.append( "/status" );

   std::ifstream     pidFile  (pidFileName.c_str() );

   if ( pidFile.is_open() )
   {
      while ( pidFile.good() )
      {
         getline (pidFile,line);
         x = line.find( "TracerPid:" );
         if ( x != std::string::npos )
         {
            line = line.substr( x+11 );                        // length of "TracerPid:" + 1
            x = line.find_first_not_of( " \t" );               // find first non whitespace character
            y = line.find_first_of( " ", x );                  // next whitespace
            if ( std::string::npos == y )                      // can't find trailing spaces that aren't there
               y = line.size() - 1;
            rc = atoi( line.substr( x, y-x+1 ).c_str() );
            pidFile.close();                                   // pidFile will no longer be "good"
         }
      }
      pidFile.close();
   }
   else     // File open failed
      rc = FALSE;

   return rc;
}

Thanks this helped a bunch. Just a note though, if you don't already have `pid` and do not want to go through the trouble to get it, you can simply read from `/proc/self/status` as `self` will map to the `pid` of the process — kalelien, Sep 04 '13 at 19:31

Using Linux Eclipse, can I programatically tell I am executing in the debugger (gdb)?

2 Answers2