td_ta_map_lwp2thr

To debug live processes on modern Linux GDB needs four libthread_db functions:

• td_ta_map_lwp2thr (required for initial attach)
• td_thr_get_info (required for initial attach)
• td_thr_tls_get_addr (not required for initial attach, but required for “p errno” on regular executables)
• td_thr_tlsbase (not required for initial attach, but required for “p errno” for -static -pthread executables)

To debug a corefile on modern Linux GDB needs one more libthread_db function:

• td_ta_thr_iter

GDB makes some other libthread_db calls too, but these are bookkeeping that won’t be required with the replacement. So, the order of work will be:

1. Implement replacements for the four core functions.
2. Get those approved and committed in GDB, BFD and glibc (and in binutils, coreutils readelf).
3. Replace td_ta_thr_iter too, and get that committed.
4. Implement runtime-linker interface stuff to allow GDB to follow dlmopen.

The first (non-bookkeeping) function GDB calls is td_ta_map_lwp2thr and it’s a pig. If I can do td_ta_map_lwp2thr I can do anything.

When you call it, td_ta_map_lwp2thr has four ways it can proceed:

1. If __pthread_initialize_minimal has not gotten far enough we can’t rely on whatever’s in the thread registers. If this is the case, td_ta_map_lwp2thr checks that the LWP is the initial thread and sets th->th_unique to NULL. (Other bits of libthread_db spot this NULL and act accordingly.) td_ta_map_lwp2thr decides whether __pthread_initialize_minimal has gotten far enough by examining __stack_user.next in the inferior. If it’s NULL then __pthread_initialize_minimal has not gotten far enough.
2. On ta_howto_const_thread_area architectures (x86_64, aarch64, arm)
   [glibc/sysdeps/*/nptl/tls.h has
     #define DB_THREAD_SELF CONST_THREAD_AREA(bits, value)
   which exports
     const uint32_t _thread_db_const_thread_area = value;
   from glibc/nptl_db/db_info.c]:
   • td_ta_map_lwp2thr will call ps_get_thread_area with value

   to set th->th_unique.

   ps_get_thread_area (in GDB) does different things for different
   architectures:

   1. on x86_64, value is a register number (FS or GS)
      ps_get_thread_area returns the contents of that register.
   2. on arm, GDB uses PTRACE_GET_THREAD_AREA, NULL and subtracts value from the result.
   3. on aarch64, GDB uses PTRACE_GETREGSET, NT_ARM_TLS and subtracts value from the result.
3. On ta_howto_reg architectures (ppc*, s390*)
   [glibc/sysdeps/*/nptl/tls.h has
     #define DB_THREAD_SELF REGISTER(bits, size, regofs, bias)...
   which exports
     const uint32_t _thread_db_register32[3] = {size, regofs, bias};
   and/or
     const uint32_t _thread_db_register64[3] = {size, regofs, bias};
   from glibc/nptl_db/db_info.c]:

   td_ta_map_lwp2thr will:

   • call ps_lgetregs to get the inferior’s registers
   • get the contents of the specified register (with _td_fetch_value_local)

       and

   • SUBTRACT bias from the register’s contents

   to set th->unique.

4. On ta_howto_reg_thread_area architectures (i386)
   [glibc/sysdeps/*/nptl/tls.h has
     #define DB_THREAD_SELF REGISTER_THREAD_AREA(bits, size, regofs, bias)...
   which exports
     const uint32_t _thread_db_register32_thread_area[3] = {size, regofs, bias};
   and/or
     const uint32_t _thread_db_register64_thread_area[3] = {size, regofs, bias};
   from glibc/nptl_db/db_info.c]:

   td_ta_map_lwp2thr will:

   • call ps_lgetregs to get the inferior’s registers
   • get the contents of the specified register (with _td_fetch_value_local)
   • RIGHT SHIFT the register’s contents by bias

       and

   • call ps_get_thread_area with that number

   to set th->unique.

   ps_get_thread_area (in GDB) does different things for different
   architectures:

   4. on i386, GDB uses PTRACE_GET_THREAD_AREA, VALUE and returns the second element of the result.

Cases 2, 3, and 4 will obviously be hardwired into the specific architecture’s libpthread. But… yeah.