Re: [ANNOUNCE] Merkey's Kernel Debugger

[jidong xiao]

On Mon, Aug 4, 2008 at 1:22 AM,  <jmerkey@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
>
> This is a linux port of the kernel debugger I wrote in 2000 for the
> MANOS/Gadugi Operating System.  I created this particular
> port in June of this year from the MANOS/Gadugi source code I released
> under the GNU public license in 2000.
>
> I wrote the SMP debugger use in SMP Netware in 1994 and 1995, and that was
> later rolled into the main Netware kernel, though a lot of folks
> contributed helped merge it into Netware.  This debugger closely resembles
> the legacy Netware kernel debugger, and I find it easier to use than kdb
> with less
> crashes and problems.
>
> This version is ia32 only at present, but I am completing x86_64 support
> and will post it as it is completed.  I basically wrote this tool for
> my own internal use and for my projects since I could not find a debugger
> in linux I was used to.  I add support to it as I need it for my own
> internal use.
>
> This linux port of my kernel debugger does not require kdb or the kdb hooks
> and is more minimal than kdb and has some features kdb does not, such as
> Intel style disassembly with dereferencing of data during disassembly
> and a very robust mathematical numeric support with conditional breakpoints.
>
> I created a far more robust version of this debugger in 2001 which
> included source level support, integrated screen and keyboard support,
> remote networking capability, and loader support and licensed it to another
> company.  I was placed under a 5 year non-compete not to port
> this tool to Linux until end of year 2007.  The folks who licensed it
> did absolutely nothing with it of consequence, and 2007 has come and gone,
> so I am released from the non-compete and decided to port the debugger
> from my old Open Source operating system and I figured it might be as useful
> to others as it has been for my projects.
>
> I will be posting user space modules which can be loaded with this version
> at some point which will enable source level debugging and a bunch of
> other features.  This add ons may get farmed out to another company for
> support.
>
> KNOWN ISSUES
> ------------
>
> This debugger works very well on SMP systems, but some of the directed
> NMI features are intended for post mortem crashed systems.
>
> All numbers entered are interpreted as hex.  If you want a number
> interpreted from the debugger console in decimal, add an 'r' to the end of
> the number for "real number".
>
> There is awesome help support in the debugger.  type "help" or "help
> <command name>".
>
> I have support for post-mortem directed NMI breakpoints from the debugger
> console if you want to halt another processor which can hang on some
> systems, but usually does not.
>
> I do not have ia64 support and since Intel in 2000 refused to share ia64
> information with me, I never completed the ia64 section of the debugger.
> If and when I obtain an ia64 system, I will look into putting it in or
> try to adapt the disassembler out of kdb which has ia64 and x86_64 support.
>
>
>
> vanilla kernels
>
> ftp://ftp.wolfmountaingroup.org/pub/mdb/mdb-2.6.18-ia32-08-02-08.patch
> ftp://ftp.wolfmountaingroup.org/pub/mdb/mdb-2.6.19-ia32-08-02-08.patch
> ftp://ftp.wolfmountaingroup.org/pub/mdb/mdb-2.6.20-ia32-08-02-08.patch
> ftp://ftp.wolfmountaingroup.org/pub/mdb/mdb-2.6.21-ia32-08-02-08.patch
> ftp://ftp.wolfmountaingroup.org/pub/mdb/mdb-2.6.22-ia32-08-02-08.patch
> ftp://ftp.wolfmountaingroup.org/pub/mdb/mdb-2.6.23-ia32-08-02-08.patch
> ftp://ftp.wolfmountaingroup.org/pub/mdb/mdb-2.6.24-ia32-08-02-08.patch
> ftp://ftp.wolfmountaingroup.org/pub/mdb/mdb-2.6.25-ia32-08-02-08.patch
> ftp://ftp.wolfmountaingroup.org/pub/mdb/mdb-2.6.26-ia32-08-02-08.patch
>
>
> Linux distributions
>
> ftp://ftp.wolfmountaingroup.org/pub/mdb/distro/mdb-2.6.16-ia32-SLES-10-08-02-08.patch
> ftp://ftp.wolfmountaingroup.org/pub/mdb/distro/mdb-2.6.18-el5-08-02-08.patch
> ftp://ftp.wolfmountaingroup.org/pub/mdb/distro/mdb-2.6.22.5-31-ia32-suse10.3-08-01-08.patch
> ftp://ftp.wolfmountaingroup.org/pub/mdb/distro/mdb-2.6.23-ia32-fc8-08-02-08.patch
> ftp://ftp.wolfmountaingroup.org/pub/mdb/distro/mdb-2.6.25.14-ia32-fc9-08-02-08.patch
>
> Any additional code fixes I would appreciate being placed back into the
> tree, so please sent them back to me if you find the debugger useful.
>
> I commend Keith Owens for his work on kdb and his project is more than
> welcome to share and adapt the code from mdb if it is useful for their
> project.  I am certainly looking seriously at using the disassembler in
> kdb for mdb, with my enhancements rolled into it.
>
> Jeffrey Vernon Merkey
>
>
Well I think given the fact that kdb is not accepted by Linus, there
is little possibility that mdb will be included in mainline kernel.
Though I don't know why kgdb is acceptable.

Regards
Jason Xiao
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