How to generate Debug symbols with Makefile for C?

Question

I'm trying to use GDB and KDEvelop to debug a console app under Knoppix VM. KDevelop and GDB don't break at my breakpoints. I suspect it's because they don't have debug symbols.

If I'm correct how do I need to change my Makefile to create those. Maybe the problem is somewhere else?

Regards, Ariel

Answer 1

Include -g in the flags sent to the compiler and linker. The default variables for this are CFLAGS and LDFLAGS respectively.

The second step: exclude -s from flags (-s means strip)

Answer 2

If you are able to see source and set the breakpoint, then you probably have debugging symbols established. However, the usual sequence is:

gcc -g -o (outputname) (source files...)
gdb outputname

Give more specifics about what you are doing and what messages you see and we can be more specific.

Answer 3

The full example would be:

CFLAGS =-g

all: program.o
    gcc -o program program.o

The CFLAGS here is applied to both the compiler and the linker.