8.1 Running and Debugging Ada Programs

This section discusses how to debug Ada programs.

An incorrect Ada program may be handled in three ways by the GNAT compiler:

• The illegality may be a violation of the static semantics of Ada. In that case GNAT diagnoses the constructs in the program that are illegal. It is then a straightforward matter for the user to modify those parts of the program.
• The illegality may be a violation of the dynamic semantics of Ada. In that case the program compiles and executes, but may generate incorrect results, or may terminate abnormally with some exception.
• When presented with a program that contains convoluted errors, GNAT itself may terminate abnormally without providing full diagnostics on the incorrect user program.

• The GNAT Debugger GDB
• Running GDB
• Introduction to GDB Commands
• Using Ada Expressions
• Calling User-Defined Subprograms
• Using the next Command in a Function
• Stopping When Ada Exceptions Are Raised
• Ada Tasks
• Debugging Generic Units
• Remote Debugging with gdbserver
• GNAT Abnormal Termination or Failure to Terminate
• Naming Conventions for GNAT Source Files
• Getting Internal Debugging Information
• Stack Traceback