DBSYM(8) BSD System Manager's Manual DBSYM(8)
NAME
dbsym -- copy kernel symbol table into db_symtab space
SYNOPSIS
dbsym [-v] [-b bfdname] kernel
DESCRIPTION
dbsym is used to copy the symbol table in a newly linked kernel into the db_symtab array (in the data section) so that the ddb(4) kernel
debugger can find the symbols. This program is only used on systems for which the boot program does not load the symbol table into memory
with the kernel. The space for these symbols is reserved in the data segment using a config option like:
options SYMTAB_SPACE=72000
The size of the db_symtab array (the value of SYMTAB_SPACE) must be at least as large as the kernel symbol table. If insufficient space is
reserved, dbsym will refuse to copy the symbol table.
To recognize kernel executable format, the -b flag specifies BFD name of kernel.
If the -v flag is given, dbsym will print out status information as it is copying the symbol table.
Note that debugging symbols are not useful to the ddb(4) kernel debugger, so to minimize the size of the kernel, one should either compile
the kernel without debugging symbols (no -g flag) or use the strip(1) command to strip debugging symbols from the kernel before dbsym is used
to copy the symbol table. The command
strip -d netbsd
will strip out debugging symbols.
SEE ALSO
strip(1), ddb(4)
BSD
November 9, 2001 BSD
