GDB on OS X Mavericks or newer and Xcode 5 or newer

Sent here from GDB on OS X Mavericks and Xcode 5.

(macOS only)

Overview

This page explains how to build and install gdb on macOS using #Homebrew or #Fink.

Since Mavericks 10.9, Xcode 5 no longer installs gdb by default and not globally.

For general notes about installing FPC and Lazarus see Installing Lazarus on macOS.

About using gdb see GDB Debugger Tips.

Homebrew

Install homebrew

Open a Terminal and install homebrew:

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ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)"

Here is an example output:

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mattias@mac:~$ ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)"
==> This script will install:
/usr/local/bin/brew
/usr/local/Library/...
/usr/local/share/man/man1/brew.1
==> The following directories will be made group writable:
/usr/local/.
/usr/local/bin
/usr/local/lib
/usr/local/share
/usr/local/share/doc
==> The following directories will have their group set to admin:
/usr/local/.
/usr/local/bin
/usr/local/lib
/usr/local/share
/usr/local/share/doc

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Press ENTER to continue or any other key to abort
==> /usr/bin/sudo /bin/chmod g+rwx /usr/local/. /usr/local/bin /usr/local/lib /usr/local/share /usr/local/share/doc

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WARNING: Improper use of the sudo command could lead to data loss
or the deletion of important system files. Please double-check your
typing when using sudo. Type "man sudo" for more information.

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To proceed, enter your password, or type Ctrl-C to abort.

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Password:
==> /usr/bin/sudo /usr/bin/chgrp admin /usr/local/. /usr/local/bin /usr/local/lib /usr/local/share /usr/local/share/doc
==> Installing the Command Line Tools (expect a GUI popup):
==> /usr/bin/sudo /usr/bin/xcode-select --install
xcode-select: note: install requested for command line developer tools
Press any key when the installation has completed.
==> Downloading and installing Homebrew...
remote: Finding bitmap roots...
remote: Counting objects: 136798, done.
remote: Compressing objects: 100% (45940/45940), done.
remote: Total 136798 (delta 94648), reused 131779 (delta 89816)
Receiving objects: 100% (136798/136798), 25.15 MiB | 738.00 KiB/s, done.
Resolving deltas: 100% (94648/94648), done.
From https://github.com/mxcl/homebrew
 * [new branch]      master     -> origin/master
HEAD is now at 55d2970 play/sox conflict
==> Installation successful!
You should run `brew doctor' *before* you install anything.
Now type: brew help

Install gdb

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brew install https://raw.github.com/Homebrew/homebrew-dupes/master/gdb.rb

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brew install gdb

Here is an example output:

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mattias@mac:~$ brew install https://raw.github.com/Homebrew/homebrew-dupes/master/gdb.rb
######################################################################## 100,0%
==> Installing gdb dependency: readline
==> Downloading https://downloads.sf.net/project/machomebrew/Bottles/readline-6.2.4.maveri
######################################################################## 100,0%
==> Pouring readline-6.2.4.mavericks.bottle.1.tar.gz
==> Caveats
This formula is keg-only: so it was not symlinked into /usr/local.

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macOS provides the BSD libedit library, which shadows libreadline.
In order to prevent conflicts when programs look for libreadline we are
defaulting this GNU Readline installation to keg-only.

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Generally there are no consequences of this for you. If you build your
own software and it requires this formula, you'll need to add to your
build variables:

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LDFLAGS:  -L/usr/local/opt/readline/lib
CPPFLAGS: -I/usr/local/opt/readline/include

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==> Summary
/usr/local/Cellar/readline/6.2.4: 31 files, 1,6M
==> Installing gdb
==> Downloading http://ftpmirror.gnu.org/gdb/gdb-7.6.1.tar.bz2
######################################################################## 100,0%
==> ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/Cellar/gdb/7.6.1 --with-system-readline --with-python=
==> make
==> make install
==> Caveats
gdb requires special privileges to access Mach ports.
You will need to codesign the binary. For instructions, see:

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http://sourceware.org/gdb/wiki/BuildingOnDarwin

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==> Summary
????  /usr/local/Cellar/gdb/7.6.1: 27 files, 5,0M, built in 105 seconds

The new gdb does not run yet. You will get the error:

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The GDB command:
???-exec-run??? returned the error:
???,msg=???Unable to find Mach task port for process-id 62593:
(os/kern) failure (0x5). (please check gdb is codesigned - see taskgated(8))??????

Follow the instructions in the #Codesigning gdb section to solve this.

Fink

Install Fink

Install fink according to the description here: http://www.finkproject.org/download/index.php

Install a version of gdb

There is the choice between gdb with modifications of apple and more recent version of gdb without apple mods.

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:~$ fink install apple-gdb

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:~$ fink install gdb

The first gives you /sw/bin/gdb, the second /sw/bin/fsf-gdb. You can use either of the two, but only after you have code signed them (See below).

Codesigning gdb

Follow the instructions on the gdb wiki. That page also contains troubleshooting hints.

If you installed apple-gdb via fink, there are two issues:

The file /sw/bin/gdb is a script that invokes the actual gdb binary. Codesigning the script is possible, but does not achieve anything. The actual binary that you have to codesign is located at /sw/lib/apple-gdb/gdb
The author of the /sw/bin/gdb script does not like the codesigning method of giving gdb permissions to debug programs (because you still have to provide an administrator password in that case), and therefore that script will still produce an error even after codesigning the gdb binary. The easiest way to work around this is to start the debugger directly using /sw/lib/apple-gdb/gdb instead.

Known issues & Work-Arounds

Breakpoints might not work: If that happens, go to your Project Options and change the Type of debug info from Automatic to Dwarf2 (-gw2). Do a project Build, and try running your application again via the IDE.

From the Free Pascal wiki, page "GDB on OS X Mavericks or newer and Xcode 5 or newer", as it stood on 2020-02-09 after a change by Trev, out of the wiki's dump of 2024-05-26. Copyright stays with the author who wrote it, according to the old wiki's Licensing page. If you have concerns about this material, message the admin.

Revision 2, last changed by WikiArchive 11-6-2026.

Edited on wiki.freepascal.org by 10 people, 2013–2020

From the official wiki's backup of 26 May 2024: who edited this page there, and when. Edits made there after that date were not recorded, and the earlier versions are not shown here; the main page says why.

When	Who	What changed
11-12-2013	Mattias2	Created page
11-12-2013	Mattias2	Install gdb
11-12-2013	Mattias2	Overview
11-12-2013	Mattias2	Overview
11-12-2013	Mattias2	Overview
11-13-2013	Jwdietrich	moved GDB on OS X Maverick to GDB on OS X Mavericks and Xcode 5: The correct name of OS X 10.9 is Mavericks. Additinoally, the article applies to any installation of Xcode 5. (minor)
11-13-2013	Jwdietrich	Categorization
11-13-2013	Jwdietrich	Categorization
11-18-2013	Mattias2	homebrew installieren
1-1-2014	BigChimp	Install homebrew: Fix as per http://forum.lazarus.freepascal.org/index.php/topic,23088.msg137418.html#msg137418
10-14-2014	BigChimp	Codesigning gdb (minor)
10-22-2014	Mischi	Overview: adding fink
10-22-2014	Mischi	Install gdb: Add link for the installation of fink
10-22-2014	Mischi	Install homebrew
10-22-2014	Mischi	Install fink
10-22-2014	Mischi	Install gdb: Add fink
10-22-2014	Mischi	fink (minor)
12-10-2014	MartinIsla	Install homebrew
1-4-2015	Jwdietrich	Platform template added.
1-5-2015	Jwdietrich	Platform template updated.
4-19-2015	Jonas	(minor)
4-19-2015	Jonas	Codesigning gdb (minor)
6-17-2015	Ggeldenhuys	Codesigning gdb
10-24-2015	Mischi	Codesigning gdb
10-24-2015	Mischi	modify to page internal links
4-23-2016	Jwdietrich	Jwdietrich moved page GDB on OS X Mavericks and Xcode 5 to GDB on OS X Mavericks or newer and Xcode 5 or newer: Adapting title to newer Xcode versions (minor)
5-3-2016	T01iK	Install gdb
6-4-2016	Clemens	Add `sudo' to `codesign' commands
6-13-2016	Jwdietrich	Replacing Mac OS X template by macOS template. (minor)
7-7-2016	Jonas	Codesigning gdb: Replaced copy of codesigning instructions with a reference to the official gdb wiki, and mention issues with fink's apple-gdb
2-6-2017	Mischi	Fink: typo correction (minor)
2-7-2017	Mischi	Install Fink: select english version (minor)
12-13-2019	Trev	Rationalised macOS categories (minor)
12-22-2019	Trev	OSX -> macOS/dropped (minor)
2-9-2020	Trev	Bypass page link redirect (minor)

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