question about ptrace

[jim ruxton]

Thanks Hugh,
I used strace and sent the result to the developer. It generated a huge
4.8 MB file, probably because I just chose default output ie. didn't
specify any flags except write to a file. Ya I would really like to hear
a talk on what these streams of output reveal :)
Jim


On Thu, 2007-11-22 at 18:17 -0500, D. Hugh Redelmeier wrote:
> | From: jim ruxton <cinetron-uEvt2TsIf2EsA/PxXw9srA at public.gmane.org>
> | 
> | Hi I'm using Kubuntu gutsty and having problems with Ekiga ( a VOIP
> | application) . I've been communicating with the developer and trying to
> | figure out why. When I run it with debugging flag set ie 
> | ekiga -d 4
> | the developer says that the ptrace info isn't showing up.
> 
> I don't know what that means.  I would be very surprised if Ekiga uses
> ptrace -- it is just too esoteric a feature.  strace, gdb, and UML
> all use ptrace.
> 
> ptrace(2) is a system call.  If you are not a programmer, you are
> probably not going to use it directly.
> 
> The developer probably means strace(1), a command that shows you all
> the system calls that a program performs.  strace(1) is a program that
> most likely uses ptrace(2).
> 
> | Does anyone
> | know if ptrace is available for kubuntu or how to start it. I can't find
> | it on my system although I have ptrace.h . I'm lost as to how ptrace
> | actually works. Thanks for any help.
> 
> Ubuntu surely has ptrace.  You surely don't want to use it directly.
> 
> If you need to use strace, it is imaginable that ubuntu requires you
> to install it from a package in their repository.
> 
> strace is a very useful tool.  Its output is a list of system calls
> made by the program being traced so it requires a certain amount of
> background knowledge to understand.
> 
> 
> Perhaps "understanding strace output" would be a good topic for a TLUG
> meeting.
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