> Yes, "gdb -k netbsd.N vmcore.N" works - sort of.  It puts you into a
> "kgdb" mode.

> options         DEBUG, DIAGNOSTIC       # extra kernel debugging
> options         KGDB                    # support for kernel gdb
> options         KGDBDEV=0xc01, KGDBRATE=38400   # device & baud rate

> Running "gdb -k netbsd.1 vmcore.1" yields

> netbsd4me [/var/crash] # gdb -k netbsd.1 vmcore.1
> (no debugging symbols found)...panic: rtfree 2
> #0  0xf8006c9c in snapshot ()
> (kgdb) where
> #0  0xf8006c9c in snapshot ()
[...]
> #9  0xf80233a8 in sosend ()
> ...
> (kgdb)

> Why does it say "No debugging symbols found" (and apparently there
> aren't) if I built the kernel with "options DEBUG, DIAGNOSTIC"?

Because those don't control debugging in the sense of debugger symbols
in the symbol table; those control debugging in the sense of putting
some extra consistency checks and such into the kernel.

> The man page for config.new admonishes

>      The old undocumented-gflag is no longer supported.  Instead, use
>      ``makeoptions DEBUG="-g"'' and (typically) ``options KGDB''.

> Perhaps a reminder that `options DEBUG, DIAGNOSTIC' *and*
> `makeoptions DEBUG="-g"' are probably both needed to get crash dumps
> working is in order?

Um, your crash dumps are working just fine.  I wouldn't expect you even
need DEBUG or DIAGNOSTIC for them, though since I haven't checked I
could well be wrong.

What I would suggest is that you (a) use makeoptions DEBUG="-g" in your
kernel config and (b) uncomment lines 89, 90, 91, and 92 in
Makefile.sparc (in arch/sparc/conf - I don't know why they're commented
by default).  Then when you run gdb -k, use the .gdb kernel, but
install the other one as your boot kernel.  (The .gdb one will be huge;
if you have five or six spare megs of disk in /, you can boot that one
if you want, but there's really no point.)

					der Mouse

			    mouse@collatz.mcrcim.mcgill.edu