Debug a simple C-code application from the command line using GDB

GDB is frequently used to dig into problems you may have with a C or C++ program that you may have written. Alternatively, you can run GDB to debug an executable or binary. In this section, we will perform the former.

One of the most typical entry points to understand how to debug using GDB is by running simple examples of executables written in C or C++. Many of the software resources available for developing on hardware platforms such as BeagleBone Black, commonly rely on C or C++. These are the core, low-level (and mid-level) languages needed for deep manipulation of the machinery. Indeed, most of the binaries that you will often load to your BBB are written in one or both of these two languages. They also serve as a vital bridge between high-level and low-level programming, which we will see in later chapters.

If you are already an Arduino user or even a Raspberry Pi developer, this is old news because you already know that...