Linux Kernel Module Debugging – GDB setup

I will explain how to debug my own loadable kernel module with remote debugging.

First we need to tell the gdb we are using remote debugging, in case of Ethernet we need to set the debugee IP and port (i.e. target remote localhost:8832), If we are using serial , this will be the commands:
(gdb)set remotebaud 115200
(gdb)target remote /dev/ttyS0

I will use the “hello world” module we have created(hello-world-kernel-module) for this demonstration.

We need to install the compiled module in our guest machine, so copy it to the machine and type:
# insmod hello.ko
(We can verify the insmod by seeking the output in the “/var/log/messages/ file, please refer to the “hello world” post).

Now, we need to add our module's symbols into the debugger, we will need to know the address of our module after we load it into the kernel.
The module start address can be found using the following command on our guest machine (after the insmod):
# cat /sys/module/hello/sections/.text
0xd0b1a000 (<-- my guest output)
# cat /sys/module/hello/sections/.data
0xd0b1a38c (<-- my guest output)
# cat /sys/module/hello/sections/.bss
0xd0b1b580 (<-- my guest output)

After the gdb was connected to the target, We inform it our module offset (the compiled kernel is located at : /home/ofer/hello.ko):
(gdb)add-symbol-file /home/ofer/hello.ko 0xd0b1a000 -s .data 0xd0b1a38c -s .bss 0xd0b1b580

Now I will add breakpoint to the module function:
(gdb)b hello_func
and I will receive the following answer in the gdb output window:
Breakpoint 1 at 0xd0b1a003: file /home/ofer/hello.ko, line 10.

In order to call this function, I will remove the module from the guest console and re-insmod it (which invoke the hello_func function):
# rmmod hello
# insmod hello.ko
The gdb will stop in the required function and we can debug the code.