Auto-loading extensions (Debugging with GDB)
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23.5 Auto-loading extensions
GDB provides two mechanisms for automatically loading extensions when a new object file is read (for example, due to the file command, or because the inferior has loaded a shared library): objfile-gdb.ext (see The objfile-gdb.ext file) and the .debug_gdb_scripts section of modern file formats like ELF (see The .debug_gdb_scripts section). For a discussion of the differences between these two approaches see Which flavor to choose?.
The auto-loading feature is useful for supplying application-specific debugging commands and features.
Auto-loading can be enabled or disabled, and the list of auto-loaded scripts can be printed. See the ‘auto-loading’ section of each extension language for more information. For GDB command files see Auto-loading sequences. For Python files see Python Auto-loading.
Note that loading of this script file also requires accordingly configured auto-load safe-path (see Auto-loading safe path).
| • objfile-gdbdotext file: | The objfile-gdb.ext file
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| • dotdebug_gdb_scripts section: | The .debug_gdb_scripts section
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| • Which flavor to choose?: | Choosing between these approaches |
