Does RHEL 5 support debugging kernel using kgdb?

Solution Verified - Updated -

Environment

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5
  • kernel
  • Real Time(rt) kernel
  • kgdg

Issue

  • How to debug real time(rt) kernel using kgdb?
  • Can we enable support for kgdg in RHEL-5 kernel?

Resolution

  • Support for kgdg is not added to any RHEL-5 kernels (including real time (rt) kernels). This can be verified by executing following command on the system.
    Eg:
$ cat /boot/config-$(uname -r) | grep -i kgdb
CONFIG_HAVING_ARCH_KGDB=y
# CONFIG_KGDB is not set   <<<---

  • The debugging support in kernel is available with "kprobe" functions (trace mechanisms) as well as multiple "crash dump" utilities such as "kdump" along with "kernel-debuginfo" packages and "crash" utility.

  • The file /usr/share/doc/kernel-doc-2.6.18/Documentation/sh/kgdb.txt explains how to enable support for kgdg but according to the documentation this will requires a recompilation of kernel which is not supported by Red Hat Technical Support.

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