List local and global variables

[saman]

Hey,

I have a general question here. I am trying to get the list of all global variables in a C code along with the local variables and their scope. I also need the memory address in which they are going to be saved. I already managed to write a script in GDB to run the code step by step and in each step writes the local variable list and their values in a file.
The thing I am going to need is kinda more comprehensive than that. Actually the only option that I see right now is to write a code to process the output file of the mentioned script and create another script to get the address of the variables. this is a hard job and I am wondering is there any way to get the variable names and addresses (automatically, by using gdb or any other tool). and also I couldn't find a way to get the list of global variables in gdb.

Thanks

[Salem]

Valgrind Home

Valgrind is an instrumentation framework for building dynamic analysis tools. There are Valgrind tools that can automatically detect many memory management and threading bugs, and profile your programs in detail. You can also use Valgrind to build new tools.

The Valgrind distribution currently includes six production-quality tools: a memory error detector, two thread error detectors, a cache and branch-prediction profiler, a call-graph generating cache and branch-prediction profiler, and a heap profiler. It also includes three experimental tools: a heap/stack/global array overrun detector, a second heap profiler that examines how heap blocks are used, and a SimPoint basic block vector generator. It runs on the following platforms: X86/Linux, AMD64/Linux, ARM/Linux, PPC32/Linux, PPC64/Linux, X86/Darwin and AMD64/Darwin (Mac OS X 10.5 and 10.6).

Perhaps study how these tools work. In order to know whether something has overrun, it has to know where it is to begin with. From that, it should be a small step to figuring out it's name and contents.

> and also I couldn't find a way to get the list of global variables in gdb.
You could pre-parse the output of 'nm prog', which will list all the global symbols in prog.

I'm not sure what you want to get from the addresses of local variables. For utility functions called from different places, the addresses of it's local variables are going to change from one call to another.

[saman]

Thanks for the information. I will look into the tool you mentioned.
I am a computer engineer and right now I am working on a project to investigate the relationship between the contents of the memory (variables in general) and also their addresses, and the power usage of the processor and memory. it is kind of a hard job but this is the first step needed for doing it. as for the local variables, I am aware of the difference in address in different calls. in fact, I am treating them like they are completely different variables.

[Mario F.]

*scratches head*