Next: Kill Process, Previous: Input/Output, Up: Running
attach process-idinfo files shows your active
targets.) The command takes as argument a process ID. The usual way to
find out the process-id of a Unix process is with the ps utility,
or with the ‘jobs -l’ shell command.
attach does not repeat if you press <RET> a second time after
executing the command.
To use attach, your program must be running in an environment
which supports processes; for example, attach does not work for
programs on bare-board targets that lack an operating system. You must
also have permission to send the process a signal.
When you use attach, the debugger finds the program running in
the process first by looking in the current working directory, then (if
the program is not found) by using the source file search path
(see Specifying Source Directories). You can also use
the file command to load the program. See Commands to Specify Files.
The first thing gdb does after arranging to debug the specified
process is to stop it. You can examine and modify an attached process
with all the gdb commands that are ordinarily available when
you start processes with run. You can insert breakpoints; you
can step and continue; you can modify storage. If you would rather the
process continue running, you may use the continue command after
attaching gdb to the process.
detachdetach command to release it from gdb control. Detaching
the process continues its execution. After the detach command,
that process and gdb become completely independent once more, and you
are ready to attach another process or start one with run.
detach does not repeat if you press <RET> again after
executing the command.
If you exit gdb while you have an attached process, you detach
that process. If you use the run command, you kill that process.
By default, gdb asks for confirmation if you try to do either of these
things; you can control whether or not you need to confirm by using the
set confirm command (see Optional Warnings and Messages).