How to get the source code from executable using gdb??

[VEL_1]

How to get the source code from executable using gdb??

Can anyone explain me with simple c program?

[Claudio Cilloni]

binary executables doesn't contain the source code. They can be compiled including debug informations, so debuggers like gdb, ddd etc... could run step-by-step the executable while showing the source code, but you need the original source code file.

Ciao
Claudio

[dirk dierickx]

first, for gdb to be able to work the binary needs to be compiled with the debuging option.
second, if you want to debug an application/tool that was included in your linux distro, you can almost always download the source code and look at it, or compile it yourself this time including the debug option.

[Himabindu Vuppula · Accepted solution]

* You will first have to compile your executable using -g option. This will generate debug information in the binary and tell gdb where to look for source files and source and instruction correlations.
* Whiile debugging, the source files need to be avaliable for access by gdb.
* You can use "list" command to list a source file inside gdb.
* "Disassemble" command will show the assembly and source code interspersed.

[Muthukumar_5]

We can easily get source of a c program as,

-- exmaple program ---
//test.c
#include

main() {

printf("Hello World!!\n");
}

--Compilation--
cc -ggdb3 -o test test.c
where -ggdb3 will have all debugging symbols

--Debugging--
gdb -q test
(gdb) li
1 #include
2
3 main() {
4
5 printf("Hello World!!\n");
6 }
(gdb)q

That is all.

HTH.