2 Approaches to Kernel Debugging

We’re here! From this chapter, for the remainder of the book, you shall delve into the exciting world of Linux kernel debugging.

Even a casual perusal of topics related to kernel debugging will quickly have you realize that there are many approaches to it, and correspondingly, many tools and techniques that can and are brought to bear on the problem. In this relatively short chapter, we’ll first check out some ways of classifying bugs by type. Classifying defects or bugs by type will help you gain a high-level understanding of them and where they fall, and at times overlap, better. We shall classify bugs by various types or views: the classic view, by memory issues, by the security related view and finally, by typical issues caused within the Linux kernel.

Next, we consider why there are various approaches to kernel debugging, and then summarize exactly what these approaches are and when it’s generally appropriate to use which approach...