[v6,3/3] gdb/gcore: interrupt all threads to generate core in non-stop targets

  If the user tries to generate a core dump (using the gcore command)
while some threads are running, a non-helpful error message is shown.

Lets consider the following session as an example (debugging the test
program included in this patch):

    (gdb) set non-stop on
    (gdb) b 37
    (gdb) r
    Thread 1 "gcore-nonstop" hit Breakpoint 1, main () at gcore-nonstop.c:39
    (gdb) info thread
       Id   Target Id                                          Frame
     * 1    Thread 0x7ffff7d7a740 (LWP 431838) "gcore-nonstop" main () at gcore-nonstop.c:39
       2    Thread 0x7ffff7d79640 (LWP 431841) "gcore-nonstop" (running)
    (gdb) gcore
    Couldn't get registers: No such process.

The reported error ("No such process") does not help the user understand
what happens.  This is due to the fact that we cannot access the
registers of a running thread.  Even if we ignore this error, generating
a core dump while any thread might update memory would most likely
result in a core file with an inconsistent view of the process' memory.

This patch proposes to change this.

For non-stop targets change the gcore command so it first stops all
running threads (from the current inferior) before generating the
corefile, and then resumes them in their previous state.  To achieve
this, this patch exposes the restart_threads function in infrun.h (used
to be local to infrun.c).  We also allow the first parameter
(event_thread) to be nullptr as it is possible that the gcore command is
called while all threads are running, in which case we want all threads
to be restarted at the end of the procedure.

Similar change for all-stop targets turns out to be less straight
forward.  For this reason, when dealing with all-stop targets, this
patch proposes to error-out early with a meaningful message.

Tested on x86_64 on native GDB and the native-extended-gdbserver board.
---
 gdb/NEWS                                 |  8 +++
 gdb/doc/gdb.texinfo                      |  5 ++
 gdb/gcore.c                              | 20 ++++++
 gdb/infrun.c                             | 16 ++---
 gdb/infrun.h                             |  9 +++
 gdb/testsuite/gdb.base/gcore-nonstop.c   | 44 +++++++++++++
 gdb/testsuite/gdb.base/gcore-nonstop.exp | 79 ++++++++++++++++++++++++
 7 files changed, 170 insertions(+), 11 deletions(-)
 create mode 100644 gdb/testsuite/gdb.base/gcore-nonstop.c
 create mode 100644 gdb/testsuite/gdb.base/gcore-nonstop.exp
  

> CC: <lsix@lancelotsix.com>, Lancelot SIX <lancelot.six@amd.com>
> Date: Wed, 22 Mar 2023 16:35:04 +0000
> From: Lancelot SIX via Gdb-patches <gdb-patches@sourceware.org>
> 
> diff --git a/gdb/NEWS b/gdb/NEWS
> index cc262f1f8a6..65ac722bd2e 100644
> --- a/gdb/NEWS
> +++ b/gdb/NEWS
> @@ -91,6 +91,14 @@ show always-read-ctf
>     $2 = 1
>     (gdb) break func if $_shell("some command") == 0
>  
> +* Changed commands
> +
> +gcore
> +generate-core-file
> +  For non-stop targets, GDB ensures that all threads are stopped before
> +  generating a core dump.  At the end of the command, threads are restored
> +  to their previous state.
> +
>  * MI changes

This part is OK.

> --- a/gdb/doc/gdb.texinfo
> +++ b/gdb/doc/gdb.texinfo
> @@ -13763,6 +13763,11 @@ Produce a core dump of the inferior process.  The optional argument
>  specified, the file name defaults to @file{core.@var{pid}}, where
>  @var{pid} is the inferior process ID.
>  
> +If the current inferior's target is non-stop, @value{GDBN} ensures that

Please add a cross-reference after "non-stop" to where we describe
that mode.

Thanks.

Reviewed-By: Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org>
  

Hi Eli,

>>
>> +If the current inferior's target is non-stop, @value{GDBN} ensures that
> 
> Please add a cross-reference after "non-stop" to where we describe
> that mode.

I have done the change locally.  This part of the patch is now:

diff --git a/gdb/doc/gdb.texinfo b/gdb/doc/gdb.texinfo
index 6c811b8be2e..00949b4b950 100644
--- a/gdb/doc/gdb.texinfo
+++ b/gdb/doc/gdb.texinfo
@@ -13763,6 +13763,12 @@ Produce a core dump of the inferior process. 
The optional argument
  specified, the file name defaults to @file{core.@var{pid}}, where
  @var{pid} is the inferior process ID.

+If the current inferior's target is non-stop  (@pxref{Non-Stop Mode}),
+@value{GDBN} ensures that all the inferior's threads are stopped while
+generating the core dump.  @value{GDBN} stops every running threads of
+the inferior before generating the core dump and resumes them when the
+command is done.
+
  Note that this command is implemented only for some systems (as of
  this writing, @sc{gnu}/Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris, and S390).

Best,
Lancelot.

> 
> Thanks.
> 
> Reviewed-By: Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org>
  

Hi,

Kindly pinging on this patch.

Best,
Lancelot.

On 22/03/2023 16:35, Lancelot SIX wrote:
> If the user tries to generate a core dump (using the gcore command)
> while some threads are running, a non-helpful error message is shown.
> 
> Lets consider the following session as an example (debugging the test
> program included in this patch):
> 
>      (gdb) set non-stop on
>      (gdb) b 37
>      (gdb) r
>      Thread 1 "gcore-nonstop" hit Breakpoint 1, main () at gcore-nonstop.c:39
>      (gdb) info thread
>         Id   Target Id                                          Frame
>       * 1    Thread 0x7ffff7d7a740 (LWP 431838) "gcore-nonstop" main () at gcore-nonstop.c:39
>         2    Thread 0x7ffff7d79640 (LWP 431841) "gcore-nonstop" (running)
>      (gdb) gcore
>      Couldn't get registers: No such process.
> 
> The reported error ("No such process") does not help the user understand
> what happens.  This is due to the fact that we cannot access the
> registers of a running thread.  Even if we ignore this error, generating
> a core dump while any thread might update memory would most likely
> result in a core file with an inconsistent view of the process' memory.
> 
> This patch proposes to change this.
> 
> For non-stop targets change the gcore command so it first stops all
> running threads (from the current inferior) before generating the
> corefile, and then resumes them in their previous state.  To achieve
> this, this patch exposes the restart_threads function in infrun.h (used
> to be local to infrun.c).  We also allow the first parameter
> (event_thread) to be nullptr as it is possible that the gcore command is
> called while all threads are running, in which case we want all threads
> to be restarted at the end of the procedure.
> 
> Similar change for all-stop targets turns out to be less straight
> forward.  For this reason, when dealing with all-stop targets, this
> patch proposes to error-out early with a meaningful message.
> 
> Tested on x86_64 on native GDB and the native-extended-gdbserver board.
> ---
>   gdb/NEWS                                 |  8 +++
>   gdb/doc/gdb.texinfo                      |  5 ++
>   gdb/gcore.c                              | 20 ++++++
>   gdb/infrun.c                             | 16 ++---
>   gdb/infrun.h                             |  9 +++
>   gdb/testsuite/gdb.base/gcore-nonstop.c   | 44 +++++++++++++
>   gdb/testsuite/gdb.base/gcore-nonstop.exp | 79 ++++++++++++++++++++++++
>   7 files changed, 170 insertions(+), 11 deletions(-)
>   create mode 100644 gdb/testsuite/gdb.base/gcore-nonstop.c
>   create mode 100644 gdb/testsuite/gdb.base/gcore-nonstop.exp
> 
> diff --git a/gdb/NEWS b/gdb/NEWS
> index cc262f1f8a6..65ac722bd2e 100644
> --- a/gdb/NEWS
> +++ b/gdb/NEWS
> @@ -91,6 +91,14 @@ show always-read-ctf
>      $2 = 1
>      (gdb) break func if $_shell("some command") == 0
>   
> +* Changed commands
> +
> +gcore
> +generate-core-file
> +  For non-stop targets, GDB ensures that all threads are stopped before
> +  generating a core dump.  At the end of the command, threads are restored
> +  to their previous state.
> +
>   * MI changes
>   
>   ** mi now reports 'no-history' as a stop reason when hitting the end of the
> diff --git a/gdb/doc/gdb.texinfo b/gdb/doc/gdb.texinfo
> index 6c811b8be2e..574684d9e28 100644
> --- a/gdb/doc/gdb.texinfo
> +++ b/gdb/doc/gdb.texinfo
> @@ -13763,6 +13763,11 @@ Produce a core dump of the inferior process.  The optional argument
>   specified, the file name defaults to @file{core.@var{pid}}, where
>   @var{pid} is the inferior process ID.
>   
> +If the current inferior's target is non-stop, @value{GDBN} ensures that
> +all the inferior's threads are stopped while generating the core dump.
> +@value{GDBN} stops every running threads of the inferior before
> +generating the core dump and resumes them when the command is done.
> +
>   Note that this command is implemented only for some systems (as of
>   this writing, @sc{gnu}/Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris, and S390).
>   
> diff --git a/gdb/gcore.c b/gdb/gcore.c
> index 973abadb013..217976ac4e0 100644
> --- a/gdb/gcore.c
> +++ b/gdb/gcore.c
> @@ -34,6 +34,7 @@
>   #include "regset.h"
>   #include "gdb_bfd.h"
>   #include "readline/tilde.h"
> +#include "infrun.h"
>   #include <algorithm>
>   #include "gdbsupport/gdb_unlinker.h"
>   #include "gdbsupport/byte-vector.h"
> @@ -131,6 +132,20 @@ gcore_command (const char *args, int from_tty)
>     if (!target_has_execution ())
>       noprocess ();
>   
> +  scoped_restore_current_thread restore_current_thread;
> +  scoped_disable_commit_resumed disable_commit_resume ("generating coredump");
> +  struct inferior *inf = current_inferior ();
> +  scoped_finish_thread_state finish_state (inf->process_target (),
> +					   ptid_t (inf->pid));
> +
> +  if (target_is_non_stop_p (inf))
> +    stop_all_threads ("generating coredump", inf);
> +  else
> +    for (thread_info *thread : inf->non_exited_threads ())
> +      if (thread->executing ())
> +	error (_("At least one thread is still running, cannot generate a "
> +		 "core dump."));
> +
>     if (args && *args)
>       corefilename.reset (tilde_expand (args));
>     else
> @@ -161,6 +176,11 @@ gcore_command (const char *args, int from_tty)
>       }
>   
>     gdb_printf ("Saved corefile %s\n", corefilename.get ());
> +
> +  if (exists_non_stop_target ())
> +    restart_threads (nullptr, inf);
> +
> +  disable_commit_resume.reset_and_commit ();
>   }
>   
>   static enum bfd_architecture
> diff --git a/gdb/infrun.c b/gdb/infrun.c
> index a509e0d5bef..7364bfa623c 100644
> --- a/gdb/infrun.c
> +++ b/gdb/infrun.c
> @@ -97,9 +97,6 @@ static void resume (gdb_signal sig);
>   
>   static void wait_for_inferior (inferior *inf);
>   
> -static void restart_threads (struct thread_info *event_thread,
> -			     inferior *inf = nullptr);
> -
>   static bool start_step_over (void);
>   
>   static bool step_over_info_valid_p (void);
> @@ -6008,18 +6005,15 @@ handle_inferior_event (struct execution_control_state *ecs)
>       }
>   }
>   
> -/* Restart threads back to what they were trying to do back when we
> -   paused them (because of an in-line step-over or vfork, for example).
> -   The EVENT_THREAD thread is ignored (not restarted).
> -
> -   If INF is non-nullptr, only resume threads from INF.  */
> +/* See infrun.h.  */
>   
> -static void
> +void
>   restart_threads (struct thread_info *event_thread, inferior *inf)
>   {
>     INFRUN_SCOPED_DEBUG_START_END ("event_thread=%s, inf=%d",
> -				 event_thread->ptid.to_string ().c_str (),
> -				 inf != nullptr ? inf->num : -1);
> +				 (event_thread != nullptr
> +				  ? event_thread->ptid.to_string ().c_str ()
> +				  : "None"), inf != nullptr ? inf->num : -1);
>   
>     gdb_assert (!step_over_info_valid_p ());
>   
> diff --git a/gdb/infrun.h b/gdb/infrun.h
> index 5219063586d..4b2a04e503b 100644
> --- a/gdb/infrun.h
> +++ b/gdb/infrun.h
> @@ -182,6 +182,15 @@ extern void nullify_last_target_wait_ptid ();
>      all threads of all inferiors.  */
>   extern void stop_all_threads (const char *reason, inferior *inf = nullptr);
>   
> +/* Restart threads back to what they were trying to do back when we
> +   paused them (because of an in-line step-over or vfork, for example).
> +   The EVENT_THREAD thread, if non-nullptr, is ignored (not restarted).
> +
> +   If INF is non-nullptr, only resume threads from INF.  */
> +
> +extern void restart_threads (struct thread_info *event_thread,
> +			     inferior *inf = nullptr);
> +
>   extern void prepare_for_detach (void);
>   
>   extern void fetch_inferior_event ();
> diff --git a/gdb/testsuite/gdb.base/gcore-nonstop.c b/gdb/testsuite/gdb.base/gcore-nonstop.c
> new file mode 100644
> index 00000000000..a96c011ad14
> --- /dev/null
> +++ b/gdb/testsuite/gdb.base/gcore-nonstop.c
> @@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
> +/* This testcase is part of GDB, the GNU debugger.
> +
> +   Copyright 2022-2023 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
> +
> +   This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
> +   it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
> +   the Free Software Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or
> +   (at your option) any later version.
> +
> +   This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
> +   but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
> +   MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
> +   GNU General Public License for more details.
> +
> +   You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
> +   along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.  */
> +
> +#include <pthread.h>
> +
> +static pthread_barrier_t barrier;
> +
> +static void *
> +worker_func (void *ignored)
> +{
> +  pthread_barrier_wait (&barrier);
> +  return NULL;
> +}
> +
> +int
> +main (void)
> +{
> +  pthread_t worker_thread;
> +  pthread_barrier_init (&barrier, NULL, 2);
> +
> +  pthread_create (&worker_thread, NULL, worker_func, NULL);
> +
> +  /* Break here.  */
> +
> +  pthread_barrier_wait (&barrier);
> +  pthread_join (worker_thread, NULL);
> +  pthread_barrier_destroy (&barrier);
> +
> +  return 0;
> +}
> diff --git a/gdb/testsuite/gdb.base/gcore-nonstop.exp b/gdb/testsuite/gdb.base/gcore-nonstop.exp
> new file mode 100644
> index 00000000000..172dd760e73
> --- /dev/null
> +++ b/gdb/testsuite/gdb.base/gcore-nonstop.exp
> @@ -0,0 +1,79 @@
> +# Copyright 2022-2023 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
> +
> +# This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
> +# it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
> +# the Free Software Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or
> +# (at your option) any later version.
> +#
> +# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
> +# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
> +# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
> +# GNU General Public License for more details.
> +#
> +# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
> +# along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
> +
> +# Check that in non-stop mode, if some threads are running when the user
> +# launches the "gcore" command, GDB suspends all threads, generates the core
> +# file and resumes threads which where running before the "gcore" command
> +# got issued.  If running threads were not stopped, GDB would report errors
> +# when trying to capture the thread's state.
> +
> +standard_testfile
> +
> +if { [build_executable "failed to build" \
> +	${testfile} ${srcfile} {pthreads debug}] } {
> +    return
> +}
> +
> +save_vars { GDBFLAGS } {
> +    append GDBFLAGS " -ex \"set non-stop on\""
> +    clean_restart ${binfile}
> +}
> +
> +set lineno [gdb_get_line_number "Break here"]
> +if { ![runto $lineno] } {
> +    return
> +}
> +
> +# We should be stopped in thread 1 while thread 2 is running.
> +gdb_test_sequence "info threads" "info threads" {
> +    {Id\s+Target Id\s+Frame}
> +    {\*\s+1[^\n]*\n}
> +    {\s+2\s+[^\n]*\(running\)[^\n]*\n}
> +}
> +
> +set th1_pc ""
> +gdb_test_multiple "p/x \$pc" "fetch thread 1 PC" {
> +  -wrap -re "$::decimal = ($::hex)" {
> +    set th1_pc $expect_out(1,string)
> +    pass $gdb_test_name
> +  }
> +}
> +
> +set corefile [standard_output_file "corefile"]
> +if {![gdb_gcore_cmd $corefile "generate corefile"]} {
> +  # gdb_gcore_cmd issues a "UNSUPPORTED".
> +  return
> +}
> +
> +# After the core file is generated, thread 2 should be back running
> +# and thread 1 should still be selected.
> +gdb_test_sequence "info threads" "correct thread selection after gcore" {
> +    {Id\s+Target Id\s+Frame}
> +    {\*\s+1[^\n]*\n}
> +    {\s+2\s+[^\n]*\(running\)[^\n]*\n}
> +}
> +
> +# Thread 1 is at the same PC it was before calling the gcore command.
> +gdb_test "p/x \$pc" "\\\$$::decimal = $th1_pc" "thread 1 unchanged"
> +
> +clean_restart $binfile
> +gdb_test "core-file $corefile" "Core was generated by.*" "load corefile"
> +
> +# The core file has the 2 threads.
> +gdb_test_sequence "info threads" "threads in corefile" {
> +    {Id\s+Target Id\s+Frame}
> +    {\s+1\s+Thread[^\n]*\n}
> +    {\s+2\s+Thread[^\n]*\n}
> +}
  

> Date: Wed, 10 May 2023 19:46:36 +0100
> Cc: lsix@lancelotsix.com
> From: Lancelot SIX via Gdb-patches <gdb-patches@sourceware.org>
> 
> Hi,
> 
> Kindly pinging on this patch.

I believe I already reviewed the documentation parts, yes?
  

>> Date: Wed, 10 May 2023 19:46:36 +0100
>> Cc: lsix@lancelotsix.com
>> From: Lancelot SIX via Gdb-patches <gdb-patches@sourceware.org>
>>
>> Hi,
>>
>> Kindly pinging on this patch.
> 
> I believe I already reviewed the documentation parts, yes?

Hi,

Yes you have. There was just a remark about a missing cross-reference 
which I have since added locally 
(https://sourceware.org/pipermail/gdb-patches/2023-March/198220.html).

I wanted to check if the rest of the series needed other modification 
before sending a full new revision.

Thanks,
Lancelot.