This patch fixes this on x86 Linux:
(gdb) watch *buf@2
Hardware watchpoint 8: *buf@2
(gdb) si
0x00000000004005a7 34 for (i = 0; i < 100000; i++); /* stepi line */
(gdb) del
Delete all breakpoints? (y or n) y
(gdb) watch *(buf+1)@1
Hardware watchpoint 9: *(buf+1)@1
(gdb) si
0x00000000004005a7 in main () at ../../../src/gdb/testsuite/gdb.base/watchpoint-reuse-slot.c:34
34 for (i = 0; i < 100000; i++); /* stepi line */
Couldn't write debug register: Invalid argument.
(gdb)
In the example above the debug registers are being switched from this
state:
CONTROL (DR7): 0000000000050101 STATUS (DR6): 0000000000000000
DR0: addr=0x0000000000601040, ref.count=1 DR1: addr=0x0000000000000000, ref.count=0
DR2: addr=0x0000000000000000, ref.count=0 DR3: addr=0x0000000000000000, ref.count=0
to this:
CONTROL (DR7): 0000000000010101 STATUS (DR6): 0000000000000000
DR0: addr=0x0000000000601041, ref.count=1 DR1: addr=0x0000000000000000, ref.count=0
DR2: addr=0x0000000000000000, ref.count=0 DR3: addr=0x0000000000000000, ref.count=0
That is, before, DR7 was setup for watching a 2 byte region starting
at what's in DR0 (0x601040).
And after, DR7 is setup for watching a 1 byte region starting at
what's in DR0 (0x601041).
We always write DR0..DR3 before DR7, because if we enable a slot's
bits in DR7, you need to have already written the corresponding
DR0..DR3 registers -- the kernel rejects the DR7 write with EINVAL
otherwise.
The error shown above is the opposite scenario. When we try to write
0x601041 to DR0, DR7's bits still indicate intent of watching a 2-byte
region. That DR0/DR7 combination is invalid, because 0x601041 is
unaligned. To watch two bytes, we'd have to use two slots. So the
kernel errors out with EINVAL.
Fix this by always first clearing DR7, then writing DR0..DR3, and then
setting DR7's bits.
A little optimization -- if we're disabling the last watchpoint, then
we can clear DR7 just once. The changes to nat/i386-dregs.c make that
easier to detect, and as bonus, they make it a little easier to make
sense of DR7 in the debug logs, as we no longer need to remember we're
seeing stale bits.
Tested on x86_64 Fedora 20, native and GDBserver.
This adds an exhaustive test that switches between many different
combinations of watchpoint types and addresses and widths.
gdb/
2014-06-23 Pedro Alves <palves@redhat.com>
* amd64-linux-nat.c (amd64_linux_prepare_to_resume): Clear
DR_CONTROL before setting DR0..DR3.
* i386-linux-nat.c (i386_linux_prepare_to_resume): Likewise.
* nat/i386-dregs.c (i386_remove_aligned_watchpoint): Clear all
bits of DR_CONTROL related to the debug register slot being
disabled. If all slots are vacant, clear local slowdown as well,
and assert DR_CONTROL is 0.
gdb/gdbserver/
2014-06-23 Pedro Alves <palves@redhat.com>
* linux-x86-low.c (x86_linux_prepare_to_resume): Clear DR_CONTROL
before setting DR0..DR3.
gdb/testsuite/
2014-06-23 Pedro Alves <palves@redhat.com>
* gdb.base/watchpoint-reuse-slot.c: New file.
* gdb.base/watchpoint-reuse-slot.exp: New file.
8e9db26e29