Re: Problem trying to get DDD to debug a simple assembly language program

[Roger Davis]

Hi Richard,

I don't have an explanation for your problem, but I can tell you that ddd 
does work at 64-bit, and the scads of startup messages about fonts are 
common and do not normally reflect a serious problem. I do recall others 
having problems similar to yours (although not necessarily with 
assembler), so I'd search the list archives carefully.

Roger Davis
Univ. of Hawaii

On Wed, 3 Apr 2013, Rich Loda wrote:

> I have a Zareason 64 bit laptop running Ubuntu Linux 12.10 64 bit. Have been reading an 
> "Assembly language step by step" book and have been attempting to use ddd
> to  debug. Obtained ddd from Ubuntu software center download.
> Have compiled: nasm -f elf64 -g -F dwarf junk.asm
> Linked: ld -o junk junk.o
> The program from terminal successfully prints "Eat at Joe's!" as it should.
>
> However, when I try to load it into ddd  the program hangs and I get a continuous 
> hourglass. The code "displays", but I can't set breakpoints or do anything else.
> The only way I can get it to load is from the terminal, i.e ____$ddd junk.
>
> When I do the above. I note that the terminal lists several Warnings, e.g Warning: Cannot 
> convert string "-*helvetica-medium-r .....and Warning: could not load font....."
> I believe leaving the cursor hung up also.
>
> I've tried the unzipped file from the book site (called "eatsyscall"), and also 
> retyping in only the executable asm (no comments) to no avail.
>
> I can "debug" the (working) program with gdb from the terminal. Can set breaks, 
> list, inspect registers as one should.
>
> I've tried web sites and reading the ddd manual, but am at a loss. I suspect 
> I'm doing something silly, but would appreciate any feedback. Could it be ddd 
> doesn't handle 64 bit code? Note the same
> thing happens, even if I use the 32-bit book version that was already compiled 
> when unzipped?!
>
> Thanks in advance,
> Rich