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(gdb.info)Automatic Overlay Debugging

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Automatic Overlay Debugging
===========================

   GDB can automatically track which overlays are mapped and which are
not, given some simple co-operation from the overlay manager in the
inferior.  If you enable automatic overlay debugging with the `overlay
auto' command (Note: Overlay Commands), GDB looks in the inferior's
memory for certain variables describing the current state of the
overlays.

   Here are the variables your overlay manager must define to support
GDB's automatic overlay debugging:

`_ovly_table':
     This variable must be an array of the following structures:

          struct
          {
            /* The overlay's mapped address.  */
            unsigned long vma;
          
            /* The size of the overlay, in bytes.  */
            unsigned long size;
          
            /* The overlay's load address.  */
            unsigned long lma;
          
            /* Non-zero if the overlay is currently mapped;
               zero otherwise.  */
            unsigned long mapped;
          }

`_novlys':
     This variable must be a four-byte signed integer, holding the total
     number of elements in `_ovly_table'.

   To decide whether a particular overlay is mapped or not, GDB looks
for an entry in `_ovly_table' whose `vma' and `lma' members equal the
VMA and LMA of the overlay's section in the executable file.  When GDB
finds a matching entry, it consults the entry's `mapped' member to
determine whether the overlay is currently mapped.

   In addition, your overlay manager may define a function called
`_ovly_debug_event'.  If this function is defined, GDB will silently
set a breakpoint there.  If the overlay manager then calls this
function whenever it has changed the overlay table, this will enable
GDB to accurately keep track of which overlays are in program memory,
and update any breakpoints that may be set in overlays.  This will
allow breakpoints to work even if the overlays are kept in ROM or other
non-writable memory while they are not being executed.