winedbg (1)

NAME

winedbg - Wine debugger

SYNOPSIS

winedbg [ options ] [ program_name [ program_arguments ] | wpid ]

winedbg --gdb [ options ] [ program_name [ program_arguments ] | wpid ]

winedbg --auto wpid

winedbg --minidump [ file.mdmp ] wpid

winedbg file.mdmp

DESCRIPTION

winedbg is a debugger for Wine. It allows:

+ debugging native Win32 applications
+ debugging Winelib applications
+ being a drop-in replacement for Dr Watson

MODES

winedbg can be used in five modes. The first argument to the program determines the mode winedbg will run in.

default

Without any explicit mode, this is standard winedbg operating mode. winedbg will act as the front end for the user.

--gdb

winedbg will be used as a proxy for gdb. gdb will be the front end for command handling, and winedbg will proxy all debugging requests from gdb to the Win32 APIs.

--auto

This mode is used when winedbg is set up in AeDebug registry entry as the default debugger. winedbg will then display basic information about a crash. This is useful for users who don't want to debug a crash, but rather gather relevant information about the crash to be sent to developers.

--minidump

This mode is similar to the --auto one, except that instead of printing the information on the screen (as --auto does), it's saved into a minidump file. The name of the file is either passed on the command line, or generated by WineDbg when none is given. This file could later on be reloaded into winedbg for further examination.

file.mdmp

In this mode winedbg reloads the state of a debuggee which has been saved into a minidump file. See either the minidump command below, or the --minidump mode.

OPTIONS

When in default mode, the following options are available:

--command string

winedbg will execute the command string as if it was keyed on winedbg command line, and then will exit. This can be handy for getting the pid of running processes (winedbg --command "info proc").

--file filename

winedbg will execute the list of commands contained in file filename as if they were keyed on winedbg command line, and then will exit.

When in gdb proxy mode, the following options are available:

--no-start

gdb will not be automatically started. Relevant information for starting gdb is printed on screen. This is somehow useful when not directly using gdb but some graphical front-ends, like ddd or kgbd.

--with-xterm

This will run gdb in its own xterm instead of using the current Unix console for textual display.

In all modes, the rest of the command line, when passed, is used to identify which programs, if any, has to debugged:

program_name

This is the name of an executable to start for a debugging session. winedbg will actually create a process with this executable. If programs_arguments are also given, they will be used as arguments for creating the process to be debugged.

wpid

winedbg will attach to the process which Windows pid is wpid. Use the info proc command within winedbg to list running processes and their Windows pids.

default

If nothing is specified, you will enter the debugger without any run nor attached process. You'll have to do the job yourself.

COMMANDS

Default mode, and while reloading a minidump file:

Most of commands used in winedbg are similar to the ones from gdb. Please refer to the gdb documentations for some more details. See the gdb differences section later on to get a list of variations from gdb commands.

Misc. commands

abort

Aborts the debugger.

quit

Exits the debugger.

attach N

Attach to a Wine process (N is its Windows ID, numeric or hexadecimal). IDs can be obtained using the info process command. Note the info process command returns hexadecimal values

detach

Detach from a Wine-process.

Help commands

help

Prints some help on the commands.

help info

Prints some help on info commands

Flow control commands

cont

Continue execution until next breakpoint or exception.

pass

Pass the exception event up to the filter chain.

step

Continue execution until next C line of code (enters function call)

next

Continue execution until next C line of code (doesn't enter function call)

stepi

Execute next assembly instruction (enters function call)

nexti

Execute next assembly instruction (doesn't enter function call)

finish

Execute until return of current function is reached.

cont, step, next, stepi, nexti can be postfixed by a number (N), meaning that the command must be executed N times before control is returned to the user.

Breakpoints, watchpoints

enable N

Enables (break|watch)-point N

disable N

Disables (break|watch)-point N

delete N

Deletes (break|watch)-point N

cond N

Removes any existing condition to (break|watch)-point N

cond N expr

Adds condition expr to (break|watch)-point N. expr will be evaluated each time the (break|watch)-point is hit. If the result is a zero value, the breakpoint isn't triggered.

break * N

Adds a breakpoint at address N

break id

Adds a breakpoint at the address of symbol id

break id N

Adds a breakpoint at the line N inside symbol id.

break N

Adds a breakpoint at line N of current source file.

break

Adds a breakpoint at current $PC address.

watch * N

Adds a watch command (on write) at address N (on 4 bytes).

watch id

Adds a watch command (on write) at the address of symbol id. Size depends on size of id.

rwatch * N

Adds a watch command (on read) at address N (on 4 bytes).

rwatch id

Adds a watch command (on read) at the address of symbol id. Size depends on size of id.

info break

Lists all (break|watch)-points (with their state).

You can use the symbol EntryPoint to stand for the entry point of the Dll.

When setting a (break|watch)-point by id, if the symbol cannot be found (for example, the symbol is contained in a not yet loaded module), winedbg will recall the name of the symbol and will try to set the breakpoint each time a new module is loaded (until it succeeds).

Stack manipulation

bt

Print calling stack of current thread.

bt N

Print calling stack of thread of ID N. Note: this doesn't change the position of the current frame as manipulated by the up & dn commands).

up

Goes up one frame in current thread's stack

up N

Goes up N frames in current thread's stack

dn

Goes down one frame in current thread's stack

dn N

Goes down N frames in current thread's stack

frame N

Sets N as the current frame for current thread's stack.

info locals

Prints information on local variables for current function frame.

Directory & source file manipulation

show dir

Prints the list of dirs where source files are looked for.

dir pathname

Adds pathname to the list of dirs where to look for source files

dir

Deletes the list of dirs where to look for source files

symbolfile pathname

Loads external symbol definition file pathname

symbolfile pathname N

Loads external symbol definition file pathname (applying an offset of N to addresses)

list

Lists 10 source lines forwards from current position.

list -

Lists 10 source lines backwards from current position

list N

Lists 10 source lines from line N in current file

list pathname:N

Lists 10 source lines from line N in file pathname

list id

Lists 10 source lines of function id

list * N

Lists 10 source lines from address N

You can specify the end target (to change the 10 lines value) using the ',' separator. For example:

list 123, 234

lists source lines from line 123 up to line 234 in current file

list foo.c:1,56

lists source lines from line 1 up to 56 in file foo.c

Displaying

A display is an expression that's evaluated and printed after the execution of any winedbg command.

display

info display

Lists the active displays

display expr

Adds a display for expression expr

display /fmt expr

Adds a display for expression expr. Printing evaluated expr is done using the given format (see print command for more on formats)

del display N

undisplay N

Deletes display N

Disassembly

disas

Disassemble from current position

disas expr

Disassemble from address expr

disas expr,expr

Disassembles code between addresses specified by the two expressions

Memory (reading, writing, typing)

x expr

Examines memory at address expr

x /fmt expr

Examines memory at address expr using format fmt

print expr

Prints the value of expr (possibly using its type)

print /fmt expr

Prints the value of expr (possibly using its type)

set var = expr

Writes the value of expr in var variable

whatis expr

Prints the C type of expression expr

fmt

is either letter or count letter, where letter can be:

s

an ASCII string

u

a UTF16 Unicode string

i

instructions (disassemble)

x

32-bit unsigned hexadecimal integer

d

32-bit signed decimal integer

w

16-bit unsigned hexadecimal integer

c

character (only printable 0x20-0x7f are actually printed)

b

8-bit unsigned hexadecimal integer

g

Win32 GUID

Expressions

Expressions in Wine Debugger are mostly written in a C form. However, there are a few discrepancies:

Identifiers can take a '!' in their names. This allows mainly to specify a module where to look the ID from, e.g. USER32!CreateWindowExA.

In a cast operation, when specifying a structure or a union, you must use the struct or union keyword (even if your program uses a typedef).

When specifying an identifier, if several symbols with this name exist, the debugger will prompt for the symbol you want to use. Pick up the one you want from its number.

Misc.

minidump file.mdmp saves the debugging context of the debuggee into a minidump file called file.mdmp.

Information on Wine internals

info class

Lists all Windows classes registered in Wine

info class id

Prints information on Windows class id

info share

Lists all the dynamic libraries loaded in the debugged program (including .so files, NE and PE DLLs)

info share N

Prints information on module at address N

info regs

Prints the value of the CPU registers

info all-regs

Prints the value of the CPU and Floating Point registers

info segment

Lists all allocated segments (i386 only)

info segment N

Prints information on segment N (i386 only)

info stack

Prints the values on top of the stack

info map

Lists all virtual mappings used by the debugged program

info map N

Lists all virtual mappings used by the program of Windows pid N

info wnd

Displays the window hierarchy starting from the desktop window

info wnd N

Prints information of Window of handle N

info process

Lists all w-processes in Wine session

info thread

Lists all w-threads in Wine session

info frame

Lists the exception frames (starting from current stack frame). You can also pass, as optional argument, a thread id (instead of current thread) to examine its exception frames.

Debug messages can be turned on and off as you are debugging using the set command, but only for channels initialized with the WINEDEBUG environment variable.

set warn + win

Turns on warn on win channel

set + win

Turns on warn/fixme/err/trace on win channel

set - win

Turns off warn/fixme/err/trace on win channel

set fixme - all

Turns off fixme class on all channels

Gdb mode:

See the gdb documentation for all the gdb commands.

However, a few Wine extensions are available, through the monitor command:

monitor wnd

Lists all windows in the Wine session

monitor proc

Lists all processes in the Wine session

monitor mem

Displays memory mapping of debugged process

Auto and minidump modes:

Since no user input is possible, no commands are available.

ENVIRONMENT

WINE_GDB

When used in gdb proxy mode, WINE_GDB specifies the name (and the path) of the executable to be used for gdb. "gdb" is used by default.

AUTHORS

The first version was written by Eric Youngdale.

See Wine developers list for the rest of contributors.

BUGS

Bugs can be reported on the Wine bug tracker

AVAILABILITY

winedbg is part of the Wine distribution, which is available through WineHQ, the Wine development headquarters

SEE ALSO

wine(1),
Wine documentation and support