Could not load shared library symbols for linux-vdso.so.1. while debugging

Question

Not loading VDSO.so is one of the famous bugs you encounter while using gdb and glibc >2.2. I found that was planned to get repaired in gdb 7.5.1, but it wasn\'t. Okay I f

Answer 1

For anyone who (like me) just wants gdb to shut up about missing symbols, try adding this to your ~/.gdbinit (but see caveats below):

set logging redirect on
set logging file /dev/null
python
def on_new_objfile(e):
    gdb.execute("set logging off")
    #print "new objfile:",e.new_objfile.filename
    if e.new_objfile.filename[:19] == "system-supplied DSO":
        gdb.execute("set logging on") # hide inevitable error message
gdb.events.new_objfile.connect(on_new_objfile)
end

Caveats:

• Monopolizes the set logging interface; if you want to use logging you'll need to change it to save the previous logging settings.
• Hard-codes "system-supplied DSO"; might be brittle wrt new kernel or gdb versions.
• It assumes at least one objfile will be loaded after vdso to reenable output; I'd be very interested if anyone with better gdb internals knowledge could point out the actual after-symbol-load-has-failed hook, since for now it risks leaving output disabled when the program starts if vdso is the last objfile loaded.