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23Copyright (c) 1999 by Sun Microsystems, Inc.
24All rights reserved.
25
26#ident	"%Z%%M%	%I%	%E% SMI"
27
281. Introduction
29
30This directory contains source code for sample debugger modules for the Modular
31Debugger (MDB).  These modules demonstrate how developers can use the MDB
32programming API to extend the capabilities of MDB itself.  MDB is an extensible
33utility for low-level debugging and editing of the live operating system,
34operating system crash dumps, user processes,  user process core dumps, and
35object files.  For a more detailed description of MDB features and documentation
36for the MDB programming API, refer to the manual, "Solaris Modular Debugger
37Guide".  This document is available on-line at http://docs.sun.com and can
38be ordered from Fatbrain.com at http://www1.fatbrain.com/documentation/sun.
39
402. Configuration
41
42As the files in this directory are owned by the administrator, you should make
43a copy of this directory to your home directory or other location before you
44begin experimenting with MDB.  If you wish to change the configuration, edit
45the CC and LINT macro definitions in Makefile.sparc, Makefile.sparcv9, and
46Makefile.i386 to point to the appropriate pathnames.  The Makefiles contained
47in this directory are set up to use the C compiler (cc) and lint utility found
48in your $PATH.  These three Makefiles can also be used to define base compiler
49settings for the corresponding instruction set architecture (ISA):
50
51	Makefile.sparc		- rules for building 32-bit SPARC objects
52	Makefile.sparcv9	- rules for building 64-bit SPARC objects
53	Makefile.i386		- rules for building 32-bit IA objects
54
55The Makefile.common file adds common compiler and linker flags to these base
56definitions, and defines the rules for building the example modules.  You will
57not need to change any of the definitions here in order to build the examples.
58If you wish to construct additional modules of your own, edit the MODULES macro
59at the top of Makefile.common.  For example, if you create a new module source
60file common/mymodule.c, you should change:
61
62<	MODULES = example1.so example2.so
63
64to:
65
66>	MODULES = example1.so example2.so mymodule.so
67
68and then execute "make".
69
703. Targets
71
72The Makefile in this directory supports the following targets:
73
74	make all (default)	- build all modules for the current machine
75	make clean		- remove object files from build directories
76	make clean.lint		- remove lint files from build directories
77	make clobber		- remove objects, modules, and lint files
78	make lint		- run lint against each example module
79
80To build the example modules, execute "make" in this directory.  This will
81execute the default "make all" target.
82
834. Loading Modules
84
85After you successfully compile the example modules, the module object files
86reside in one or more of the i386/, sparc/, and sparcv9/ subdirectories
87depending on the ISAs supported on your machine.  In order to load the example
88modules, you can either use the ::load built-in dcmd with the absolute pathname
89of a given module, or you can adjust the module library path to include the
90directory where your modules are located.  This can be done using the ::set -L
91built-in dcmd.  For example:
92
93	> ::set -L %o:/usr/demo/mdb/%i
94	> ::load example1
95
96The %o token expands to the old value of the path.  The %i token expands to
97the appropriate ISA name.  You can restore this setting each time you use
98MDB by adding the ::set directive to your $HOME/.mdbrc file.  This file, if
99present, is processed automatically each time you start the debugger.
100
1015. Example 1: Echo and Vmstat
102
103The first example module provides the source code for two example loadable
104dcmds.  ::simple_echo is a command to echo back its arguments, similar to
105/usr/bin/echo or MDB's built-in ::echo dcmd.  ::vminfo is a command to read
106and print the kernel's global virtual memory statistics structure.  This
107example introduces the basic structure of an MDB module and demonstrates some
108simple argument processing.  In order to use ::vminfo, you will need to apply
109MDB to a crash dump of your system, or to the live kernel.  To apply MDB to a
110crash dump, you might execute:
111
112	$ mdb unix.0 vmcore.0
113
114To apply MDB to the live kernel, become super-user and then execute:
115
116	# mdb -k
117
1186. Example 2: Proc Walker and PS
119
120The second example module provides a more realistic example of something you
121might want to do with MDB: print a formatted table of active processes,
122similar to the /usr/bin/ps command or MDB's ::ps dcmd.  This example
123introduces the concept of a walker, a set of functions which describe how to
124iterate over a data structure, and them demonstrates how the ::simple_ps
125dcmd can be built using this walker.  Using the simple_proc walker, you can
126obtain a listing of kernel proc_t addresses:
127
128	> ::load example2
129	> ::walk simple_proc
130	71690a80
131	7168ee40
132	71611898
133	[ ... ]
134	7103b178
135	7103b888
136	1041ce20
137
138Using the ::simple_ps dcmd you can obtain a formatted listing of processes:
139
140	> ::simple_ps
141	PID COMM
142	285 sh
143	271 mibiisa
144	269 ttymon
145	[ ... ]
146
1477. Packaging and Installation
148
149If you are a software developer, you may wish to develop and deliver MDB
150modules along with your software products in order to facilitate analysis
151of software problems at customer sites.  Your completed MDB modules should
152be packaged along with your software and delivered into the appropriate
153MDB module directory.  For kernel debugging modules, your module should
154be delivered in one of the following directories:
155
156	/usr/lib/mdb/kvm
157	/usr/platform/`uname -i`/lib/mdb/kvm
158
159and should be named after your kernel module.  For example, the "ip" kernel
160module has a debugging module named "ip.so".
161