![\"\"](\"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/gdb-source-tracking-breakpoints.jpg\"){kind=tracking}
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
One of the main abilities of a debugger is setting breakpoints. <\/span> <\/p>\n Imagine you are debugging: you set breakpoints on a bunch of GDB source-tracking breakpoints change this situation. When you set a To enable the source-tracking feature, run:<\/p>\n (gdb) set breakpoint source-tracking enabled on<\/kbd><\/p>\n Set a breakpoint using file:line notation:<\/p>\n (gdb) break myfile.c:42<\/kbd> GDB now tracks the source around this line. The info breakpoints command (gdb) info breakpoints<\/kbd> Now edit the source \u2014 say a few lines are added above the breakpoint, Breakpoint 1 adjusted from line 42 to line 45.<\/em><\/p>\n Run info breakpoints again to confirm the new location:<\/p>\n (gdb) info breakpoints As you can see, GDB updated the breakpoint line to match the new location.<\/p>\n The matching algorithm requires an exact string match of the captured source GDB only searches within a 12-line window around the original location. If warning: Breakpoint 1 source code not found after reload, keeping original Source context cannot be captured when a breakpoint is created pending Source tracking is not supported for ranged breakpoints (set with Breakpoints on inline functions that expand to multiple locations are not This feature is not yet available in a stable GDB release. There are two A pre-built package is available through a COPR repository. Enable it and sudo dnf copr enable ahajkova\/GDB-source-tracking-breakpoints To disable the repository again after testing:<\/p>\n sudo dnf copr disable ahajkova\/GDB-source-tracking-breakpoints<\/kbd><\/p>\n The COPR project page is at: GDB source-tracking breakpoints are an experimental feature currently under One of the main abilities of a debugger is setting breakpoints.GDB: The GNU Project Debugger now introduces an experimental featurecalled source-tracking breakpoints that tracks the source line a breakpointwas set to. Introduction Imagine you are debugging: you set breakpoints on a bunch ofsource lines, inspect some values, and get ideas about how to change yourcode. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":136855,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[45,61,1578,46,47],"class_list":["post-136854","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fedora-os","tag-fedora","tag-fedora-project-community","tag-gdb","tag-magazine","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136854","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=136854"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136854\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/136855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=136854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=136854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=136854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
GDB: The GNU Project Debugger<\/a> now introduces an experimental feature
called source-tracking breakpoints that tracks the source line a breakpoint
was set to. <\/p>\nIntroduction<\/h2>\n
source lines, inspect some values, and get ideas about how to change your
code. You edit the source and recompile, but keep your GDB session running
and type run to reload the newly compiled executable. Because you changed
the source, the breakpoint line numbers shifted. Right now, you have to
disable the existing breakpoints and set new ones.<\/p>\n
breakpoint using file:line<\/em> notation, when this feature is enabled, GDB
captures a small window of the surrounding source code. When you recompile
and reload the executable, GDB adjusts any breakpoints whose lines shifted
due to source changes. This is especially helpful in ad-hoc debug sessions
where you want to keep debugging without manually resetting breakpoints
after each edit-compile cycle.<\/p>\nSetting a source-tracking breakpoint<\/h2>\n
Breakpoint 1 at 0x401234: file myfile.c, line 42.<\/em><\/p>\n
shows whether a breakpoint is tracked:<\/p>\n
Num Type Disp Enb Address What
1 breakpoint keep y 0x0000000000401234 in calculate at myfile.c:42
source-tracking enabled (tracking 3 lines around line 42)<\/em><\/p>\n
shifting it from line 42 to line 45. After recompiling and reloading the
executable with run, GDB resets the breakpoint to the new line and displays:<\/p>\n
<\/kbd>Num Type Disp Enb Address What
1 breakpoint keep y 0x0000000000401256 in calculate at myfile.c:45
source-tracking enabled (tracking 3 lines around line 45)<\/em><\/p>\nLimitations<\/h2>\n
lines. Whitespace-only changes or trivial reformatting of the tracked lines
will confuse the matcher and may cause the breakpoint not to be found.<\/p>\n
the code shifted by more than that \u2014 for example, because a large block was
inserted above \u2014 the breakpoint will not be found. GDB will keep the
original location and print a warning:<\/p>\n
location.<\/em><\/p>\n
(e.g., with set breakpoint pending on), because no symbol table is available
yet. When the breakpoint later resolves to a location, it will not be
source-tracked.<\/p>\n
break-range).<\/p>\n
source-tracked, as each location may have moved differently.<\/p>\nHow to try this experimental feature<\/h2>\n
ways to try it.<\/p>\nInstall from COPR (for Fedora users)<\/h3>\n
install:<\/p>\n
sudo dnf upgrade gdb<\/kbd><\/p>\n
https:\/\/copr.fedorainfracloud.org\/coprs\/ahajkova\/GDB-source-tracking-breakpo
ints\/<\/a><\/p>\nBuild from source<\/h3>\n
\n
git clone git:\/\/sourceware.org\/git\/binutils-gdb.git
cd binutils-gdb<\/kbd><\/li>\n
https:\/\/sourceware.org\/pipermail\/gdb-patches\/2026-April\/226349.html<\/a><\/li>\n
mkdir build && cd build
..\/configure --prefix=\/usr\/local
make -j$(nproc) all-gdb<\/kbd><\/li>\n
.\/gdb\/gdb<\/kbd><\/li>\n<\/ol>\nConclusion<\/h2>\n
upstream review and not yet available in a stable GDB release. This link
https:\/\/sourceware.org\/gdb\/current\/onlinedocs\/gdb.html\/Set-Breaks.html<\/a>
covers all available breakpoint commands. If you try this feature out and
hit any kind of unexpected behavior, feedback is very welcome \u2014 you can
follow and respond to the upstream patch discussion on the GDB mailing list
at https:\/\/sourceware.org\/pipermail\/gdb-patches\/2026-April\/226349.html<\/a><\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"