As Jester correctly pointed out in a comment, you just need to use set architecture i8086
when using gdb
so that it knows to assume 16-bit 8086 instruction format. You can learn about the gdb targets here.
I'm adding this as an answer because it was too hard to explain in a comment. If you assemble and link things separately you can generate debug information that can then be used by gdb
to provide source level debugging even when done remotely against 16-bit code. To do this we modify your assembly file slightly:
;org 0x7c00 - remove as it may be rejected when assembling
; with elf format. We can specify it on command
; line or via a linker script.
bits 16
; Use a label for our main entry point so we can break on it
; by name in the debugger
main:
cli
mov ax, 0x0E61
int 0x10
hlt
times 510 - ($-$$) db 0
dw 0xaa55
I've added some comments to identify the trivial changes made. Now we can use commands like these to assemble our file so that it contains debug output in the dwarf format. We link it to a final elf image. This elf image can be used for symbolic debugging by gdb
. We can then convert the elf format to a flat binary with objcopy
nasm -f elf32 -g3 -F dwarf main.asm -o main.o
ld -Ttext=0x7c00 -melf_i386 main.o -o main.elf
objcopy -O binary main.elf main.img
qemu-system-i386 -hda main.img -S -s &
gdb main.elf \
-ex 'target remote localhost:1234' \
-ex 'set architecture i8086' \
-ex 'layout src' \
-ex 'layout regs' \
-ex 'break main' \
-ex 'continue'
I've made some minor changes. I use the main.elf
file (with symblic information) when starting up gdb
.
I also add some more useful layouts for assembly code and the registers that may make debugging on the command line easier. I also break on main
(not the address). The source code from our assembly file should also appear because of the debugging information. You can use layout asm
instead of layout src
if you prefer to see the raw assembly.
This general concept can work on other formats supported by NASM and LD on other platforms. elf32
and elf_i386
as well as the debugging type will have to be modified for the specific environment. My sample targets systems that understand Linux Elf32 binaries.
Debugging 16-bit real mode bootloader with GDB/QEMU
Unfortunately by default gdb
doesn't do segment:offset calculations and will use the value in EIP for breakpoints. You have to specify breakpoints as 32-bit addresses (EIP).
When it comes to stepping through real mode code it can be cumbersome because gdb
doesn't handle real mode segmentation. If you step into an interrupt handler you'll discover gdb
will display the assembly code relative to EIP. Effectively gdb
will be showing you disassembly of the wrong memory location since it didn't account for CS. Thankfully someone has created a GDB script to help. Download the script to your development directory and then run QEMU with something like:
qemu-system-i386 -hda main.img -S -s &
gdb -ix gdbinit_real_mode.txt main.elf \
-ex 'target remote localhost:1234' \
-ex 'break main' \
-ex 'continue'
The script takes care of setting the architecture to i8086 and then hooks itself into gdb
. It provides a number of new macros that can make stepping through 16 bit code easier.
break_int : adds a breakpoint on a software interrupt vector (the way
the good old MS DOS and BIOS expose their APIs)
break_int_if_ah : adds a conditional breakpoint on a software interrupt. AH has to be equals to the given parameter. This is used to filter service calls of interrupts. For instance, you sometimes only wants to break when the function AH=0h of the interruption 10h is called (change screen mode).
stepo : this is a kabalistic macro used to 'step-over' function and interrupt calls. How does it work ? The opcode of the current instruction is extracted and if it is a function or interrupt call, the "next" instruction address is computed, a temporary breakpoint is added on that address and the 'continue' function is called.
step_until_ret : this is used to singlestep until we encounter a 'RET' instruction.
step_until_iret : this is used to singlestep until we encounter an 'IRET' instruction.
step_until_int : this is used to singlestep until we encounter an 'INT' instruction.
This script also prints out addresses and registers with segmentation calculated in. Output after each instruction execution looks like:
---------------------------[ STACK ]---
D2EA F000 0000 0000 6F62 0000 0000 0000
7784 0000 7C00 0000 0080 0000 0000 0000
---------------------------[ DS:SI ]---
00000000: 53 FF 00 F0 53 FF 00 F0 C3 E2 00 F0 53 FF 00 F0 S...S.......S...
00000010: 53 FF 00 F0 53 FF 00 F0 53 FF 00 F0 53 FF 00 F0 S...S...S...S...
00000020: A5 FE 00 F0 87 E9 00 F0 76 D6 00 F0 76 D6 00 F0 ........v...v...
00000030: 76 D6 00 F0 76 D6 00 F0 57 EF 00 F0 76 D6 00 F0 v...v...W...v...
---------------------------[ ES:DI ]---
00000000: 53 FF 00 F0 53 FF 00 F0 C3 E2 00 F0 53 FF 00 F0 S...S.......S...
00000010: 53 FF 00 F0 53 FF 00 F0 53 FF 00 F0 53 FF 00 F0 S...S...S...S...
00000020: A5 FE 00 F0 87 E9 00 F0 76 D6 00 F0 76 D6 00 F0 ........v...v...
00000030: 76 D6 00 F0 76 D6 00 F0 57 EF 00 F0 76 D6 00 F0 v...v...W...v...
----------------------------[ CPU ]----
AX: AA55 BX: 0000 CX: 0000 DX: 0080
SI: 0000 DI: 0000 SP: 6F2C BP: 0000
CS: 0000 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 SS: 0000
IP: 7C00 EIP:00007C00
CS:IP: 0000:7C00 (0x07C00)
SS:SP: 0000:6F2C (0x06F2C)
SS:BP: 0000:0000 (0x00000)
OF <0> DF <0> IF <1> TF <0> SF <0> ZF <0> AF <0> PF <0> CF <0>
ID <0> VIP <0> VIF <0> AC <0> VM <0> RF <0> NT <0> IOPL <0>
---------------------------[ CODE ]----
=> 0x7c00 <main>: cli
0x7c01: mov ax,0xe61
0x7c04: int 0x10
0x7c06: hlt
0x7c07: add BYTE PTR [bx+si],al
0x7c09: add BYTE PTR [bx+si],al
0x7c0b: add BYTE PTR [bx+si],al
0x7c0d: add BYTE PTR [bx+si],al
0x7c0f: add BYTE PTR [bx+si],al
0x7c11: add BYTE PTR [bx+si],al