Is it possible to set a gdb watchpoint programmatically?

Question

I want to set a watchpoint (break on hardware write) temporarily in my C++ program to find memory corruption.

I\'ve seen all the ways to do it manually through gdb,

Answer 1

If you happen to be using Xcode, you can achieve the required effect (automatic setting of watchpoints) by using an action on another breakpoint to set your watchpoint:

1. Set up a breakpoint somewhere where the variable you want to watch will be in scope that will be hit before you need to start watching the variable,
2. Right-click on the breakpoint and select Edit Breakpoint...,
3. Click on Add Action and add a Debugger Command with an LLDB command like: watchpoint set variable (or if you're using GDB¹, a command like: watch ),
4. Check the Automatically continue after evaluating actions checkbox.

_{1: GDB is no longer supported in more recent versions of Xcode, but I believe it is still possible to set it up manually.}