Enable memleak option in gdb for linux

Question

I am trying to see which process which is causing a memory leak, and dump the heap which is causing it to see what is the issue.

Which command do I use in gdb to set the memory leak on and check the heap?

I tried:

(gdb) check -leaks

checkpoint: can't find fork function in inferior.

(gdb) help info heap

Undefined info command: "heap".  Try "help info".

(gdb) help info leaks 

Undefined info command: "leaks".  Try "help info".

so gdb doesnt have any inbuilt command to do it? Basically in my org, i donot have root permissions and not sure if they ll install valgrind — user862833, Feb 08 '13 at 15:01
No I did not try valgrind, i built it, but couldnot make install as i donot have root permissions and cant access the valgrind at the point where i run the service, if you can help it would be great with this, — user862833, Feb 08 '13 at 15:05
I have the same issue. I cannot use valgrind, because all I have is a core. It's not reproducible. Please don't try and change the question to something you can answer. Thanks. — Owl, Mar 08 '16 at 15:14
I can't use Valgrind with my DPDK-based program. I can only use GDB. — sudo, Jul 25 '17 at 17:41

score 12 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:16

12

Valgrind is your answer as people have pointed out. Normally, Valgrind will only report errors at the end of your program's execution. You can link Valgrind with GDB (vgdb) to dump Valgrind stats during a program's execution while it's running under GDB.

Refer to a similar question asked:

Dumping contents of lost memory reported by Valgrind

edited May 23 '17 at 12:16

Community

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answered Feb 08 '13 at 15:18

Forhad Ahmed

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While I'm fond of valgrind, unfortunately it isn't available on all platforms. The OP asked about gdb, which is available on more platforms than valgrind (e.g., sparc solaris). – Brian Vandenberg Apr 10 '14 at 17:46

score 4 · Answer 2 · 2014-10-02T13:53:36.423

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info leaks and info heap are commands that are available in gdb only on HP-UX (HP-UX gdb is a customized version of Open Source GNU debugger gdb and is called on The HP Wildebeest Debugger (WDB) - http://www.hp.com/go/wdb ). On Linux you need to use valgrind.

edited Oct 02 '14 at 13:53

answered Feb 08 '13 at 15:20

Enable memleak option in gdb for linux

2 Answers2

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