Frames.html 6.3 KB

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  15. <title>Debugging with GDB: Frames</title>
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  64. <a name="Stack-Frames"></a>
  65. <h3 class="section">8.1 Stack Frames</h3>
  66. <a name="index-frame_002c-definition"></a>
  67. <a name="index-stack-frame"></a>
  68. <p>The call stack is divided up into contiguous pieces called <em>stack
  69. frames</em>, or <em>frames</em> for short; each frame is the data associated
  70. with one call to one function. The frame contains the arguments given
  71. to the function, the function&rsquo;s local variables, and the address at
  72. which the function is executing.
  73. </p>
  74. <a name="index-initial-frame"></a>
  75. <a name="index-outermost-frame"></a>
  76. <a name="index-innermost-frame"></a>
  77. <p>When your program is started, the stack has only one frame, that of the
  78. function <code>main</code>. This is called the <em>initial</em> frame or the
  79. <em>outermost</em> frame. Each time a function is called, a new frame is
  80. made. Each time a function returns, the frame for that function invocation
  81. is eliminated. If a function is recursive, there can be many frames for
  82. the same function. The frame for the function in which execution is
  83. actually occurring is called the <em>innermost</em> frame. This is the most
  84. recently created of all the stack frames that still exist.
  85. </p>
  86. <a name="index-frame-pointer"></a>
  87. <p>Inside your program, stack frames are identified by their addresses. A
  88. stack frame consists of many bytes, each of which has its own address; each
  89. kind of computer has a convention for choosing one byte whose
  90. address serves as the address of the frame. Usually this address is kept
  91. in a register called the <em>frame pointer register</em>
  92. (see <a href="Registers.html#Registers">$fp</a>) while execution is going on in that frame.
  93. </p>
  94. <a name="index-frame-level"></a>
  95. <a name="index-frame-number"></a>
  96. <p><small>GDB</small> labels each existing stack frame with a <em>level</em>, a
  97. number that is zero for the innermost frame, one for the frame that
  98. called it, and so on upward. These level numbers give you a way of
  99. designating stack frames in <small>GDB</small> commands. The terms
  100. <em>frame number</em> and <em>frame level</em> can be used interchangeably to
  101. describe this number.
  102. </p>
  103. <a name="index-frameless-execution"></a>
  104. <p>Some compilers provide a way to compile functions so that they operate
  105. without stack frames. (For example, the <small>GCC</small> option
  106. </p><div class="smallexample">
  107. <pre class="smallexample">&lsquo;<samp>-fomit-frame-pointer</samp>&rsquo;
  108. </pre></div>
  109. <p>generates functions without a frame.)
  110. This is occasionally done with heavily used library functions to save
  111. the frame setup time. <small>GDB</small> has limited facilities for dealing
  112. with these function invocations. If the innermost function invocation
  113. has no stack frame, <small>GDB</small> nevertheless regards it as though
  114. it had a separate frame, which is numbered zero as usual, allowing
  115. correct tracing of the function call chain. However, <small>GDB</small> has
  116. no provision for frameless functions elsewhere in the stack.
  117. </p>
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