Debugger/Python

libptmalloc currently works with any gdb version that supports Python >= 3.5.

libptmalloc code attempts to abstract the debugger so could theoretically be ported to any debugger with Python support.

Glibc debug symbols

Although libptmalloc may not require a glibc compiled with gdb debugging support and symbols, it functions best if you do use one. Without debug symbols you will need to supply the address of main_arena, mp_ and optionally tcache yourself.

Ubuntu

apt-get install libc6-dbg

Fedora

yum install yum-utils
debuginfo-install glibc

or

dnf install dnf-plugins-core
dnf debuginfo-install glibc

CentOS

yum install glibc-debuginfo

PhotonOS

On PhotonOS 1.0, the normal glibc library already includes symbols. On PhotonOS 3.0, you can get them from:

tdnf install glibc-debuginfo

libptmalloc installation

Clone the repo:

git clone https://github.com/nccgroup/libptmalloc

Install the Python packages. Note that future-fstrings is only required for Python < 3.7 (so effectively for Python 3.5 and 3.6):

pip3 install -r libptmalloc/requirements.txt

General installation

Then install it globally:

sudo pip3 install ./libptmalloc/

or

cd libptmalloc
sudo python3 setup.py install

Then you can load it into gdb:

(gdb) python from libptmalloc import *

Note: you can add this command to your gdbinit:

echo "python from libptmalloc import *" >> ~/.gdbinit

Use without installation

If you don't want to install it globally, you can just source this file:

(gdb) source libptmalloc/pyptmalloc-dev.py

If you need to modify the libptmalloc and reload it in your debugger, please refer to DevelopmentGuide.md.