Setting GDB hardware watchpoint/how to set software watchpoint

Question

An earlier question explained that on x86 the size of objects being watched is limited by debug registers. As expected, I can \"watch\" a double variable. But I can\'t watch

Answer 1

Yes, you can:

set can-use-hw-watchpoints 0

From 5.1.2 Setting Watchpoints:

You can force GDB to use only software watchpoints with the set can-use-hw-watchpoints 0 command. With this variable set to zero, GDB will never try to use hardware watchpoints, even if the underlying system supports them. (Note that hardware-assisted watchpoints that were set before setting can-use-hw-watchpoints to zero will still use the hardware mechanism of watching expression values.)

set can-use-hw-watchpoints

    Set whether or not to use hardware watchpoints.

show can-use-hw-watchpoints

    Show the current mode of using hardware watchpoints.