TotalView Users Guide - CI Wiki

Compiling Programs
The first step in getting a program ready for debugging is to add your compiler’s
–g debugging command-line option. This option tells your compiler
to generate symbol table debugging information; for example:
cc –g –o executable source_program
You can also debug programs that you did not compile using the –g option,
or programs for which you do not have source code. For more information,
see “Viewing the Assembler Version of Your Code” on page 171.
The following table presents some general considerations “Compilers and
Platforms in the TotalView Reference Guide contains additional considerations.
Compiler Option or Library What It Does When to Use It
Debugging symbols option
(usually –g)
Optimization option
(usually –O)
multi-process programming
library (usually dbfork)
Using File Extensions
Generates debugging
information in the symbol
table.
Rearranges code to
optimize your program’s
execution.
Some compilers won’t
let you use the –O option
and the –g option at the
same time.
Even if your compiler
lets you use the –O option,
don’t use it when debugging
your program, since strange
results often occur.
Uses special versions of the
fork() and execve() system
calls.
In some cases, you
need to use the –lpthread
option.
For more information
about dbfork, see “Linking
with the dbfork Library”
contained in the “Compilers
and Platforms” Chapter of
the TotalView Reference
Guide.
Before debugging any
program with TotalView.
After you finish
debugging your program.
Before debugging a multiprocess
program that
explicitly calls fork() or
execve().
See “Debugging
Processes That Call the fork()
Function” on page 361 and
“Debugging Processes that
Call the execve() Function”
on page 361.
When TotalView opens a file, it uses the file's extension to determine which
programming language you used. If you are using an unusual extension, you
can manually associate your extension with a programming language by setting
the TV::suffixes variable in a startup file. For more information, see the
“TotalView Variables” chapter in the TotalView Reference Guide.
Your installation may have its own guidelines for compiling programs. Your
site administrator may have made a