xref: /freebsd/share/man/man4/netgdb.4 (revision cc68614da8232d8baaca0ae0d0dd8f890f06623e)
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25.\" $FreeBSD$
26.\"
27.Dd October 17, 2019
28.Dt NETGDB 4
29.Os
30.Sh NAME
31.Nm netgdb
32.Nd protocol for debugging the kernel with GDB over the network
33.Sh SYNOPSIS
34NetGDB support is compiled by default, if DDB, GDB, and INET are enabled.
35To build a kernel without it, add the following line to your kernel
36configuration file:
37.Bd -ragged -offset indent
38.Cd "nooptions NETGDB"
39.Ed
40.Sh DESCRIPTION
41.Nm
42is a UDP-based protocol for communicating with a remote GDB client via an
43intermediary proxy.
44.Pp
45A
46.Nm
47session is started by using the
48.Ic netgdb Fl s Ar server Oo Fl g Ar gateway Fl c Ar client Fl i Ar iface Oc
49command in
50.Xr ddb 4
51to connect to a proxy server.
52When the connection is made, the proxy server logs a message that a
53.Nm
54client has connected.
55It subsequently establishes a TCP listening socket and logs a message
56specifying which port it is listening on.
57Then it waits for a GDB client to connect.
58The GDB command to connect is:
59.Bd -ragged -offset indent
60.Ic target remote Aq Ar proxyip:proxyport
61.Ed
62.Pp
63At this point, the server proxies traffic back and forth between
64.Nm
65and the ordinary GDB client, speaking the ordinary GDB remote protocol.
66The
67.Nm
68session is identical to any other kernel GDB sesssion from the perspective
69of the GDB debugger.
70.Sh IMPLEMENTATION NOTES
71The UDP protocol is based on the same packet structure and a subset of the
72exact same message types as
73.Xr netdump 4 .
74It uses the
75.Dv HERALD ,
76.Dv DATA ( née VMCORE ) ,
77and
78.Dv FINISHED
79message types.
80Like
81.Xr netdump 4 ,
82the client's initial
83.Dv HERALD
84message is acknowledged from a random source port, and the client sends
85subsequent communication to that port.
86.Pp
87Unlike
88.Xr netdump 4 ,
89the initial
90.Dv HERALD
91port is 20025.
92Additionally,
93the proxy server sends responses to the source port of the client's initial
94.Dv HERALD ,
95rather than a separate reserved port.
96.Nm
97message and acknowledgements are bidirectional.
98The sequence number and acknowledgement protocol is otherwise identical to
99the unidirectional version used by netdump; it just runs in both directions.
100Acknowledgements are sent to and from the same addresses and ports as
101regular messages.
102.Pp
103The first version of the
104.Nm
105protocol uses the protocol number
106.Dv Sq 0x2515f095
107in the 32-bit
108.Va aux2
109parameter of the initial
110.Dv HERALD
111message.
112.Pp
113The list of supported network drivers and protocol families is identical to
114that of
115.Xr netdump 4 .
116.Sh DIAGNOSTICS
117The following variable is available via both
118.Xr sysctl 8
119and
120.Xr loader 8
121(as a tunable):
122.Bl -tag -width "indent"
123.It Va debug.gdb.netgdb.debug
124Control debug message verbosity.
125Debug messages are disabled by default.
126They may be enabled by setting the variable to a non-zero value.
127.El
128.Sh SEE ALSO
129.Xr ddb 4 ,
130.Xr gdb 4 ,
131.Xr netdump 4
132.Sh HISTORY
133.Nm
134first appeared in
135.Fx 13.0 .
136.Sh BUGS
137.Nm
138may only be used after the kernel has panicked, due to limitations in the
139treatment of locking primitives under
140.Xr ddb 4 .
141.Sh SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS
142Version 1 of the
143.Nm
144protocol has no security properties whatsoever.
145All messages are sent and acknowledged in cleartext, and no message
146authentication codes are used to prevent attackers from forging messages.
147It is absolutely inappropriate for use across the public internet.
148