How do you install debug symbols on KDE Linux?

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1

I want collect debug info for a kwin crash that I reported here: https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=512707. However, I’m not sure how to install debug symbols on KDE Linux.

I tried following the steps for Arch Linux and setting the DEBUGINFOD_URLS
environment variable but since KDE Linux is immutable there’s probably different that needs to be done. Does someone know how to install debug symbols or get gdb to download them (e.g. with debuginfo or debuginfod-find)?

2

The debuginfod URL is pre-configured on KDE Linux, so they should be downloaded automatically when you use coredumpctl or DrKonqi.

Did you see a specific problem of some sort while collecting details of the crash?

3

Hi Nate! Thanks for your reply. I checked and you are correct, DEBUGINFOD_URLS is already set and contains another URL for KDE Linux. So, I will leave it alone when I try capturing debug logs again.

I am following the steps at: https://community.kde.org/KWin/Debugging#Debug_KWin_with_GDB. It said to run these 2 commands:
echo 0 | sudo tee /proc/sys/kernel/yama/ptrace_scope
sudo gdb -pid $(pidof kwin_wayland) -batch -ex “set logging file kwin_wayland.gdb” -ex “set logging enabled on” -ex “continue” -ex “thread apply all backtrace” -ex “quit”

After reading your message, I did notice that coredumpctl was listed in the steps below https://community.kde.org/KWin/Debugging#Function_call_traces. I did try running coredumpctl after the crash and it produced a log similar to the gdb output log. This is the command that I ran where 1331 was the PID of kwin when it crashed:
coredumpctl dump 1331 --output=cat > kwincrash.log

I think the problem is that the output has ??? (or n/a for coredumpctl) so it doesn’t help. For example, I see this in the log:
#4 0x00007ff84f6a31a8 n/a (libkwin.so.6 + 0x5311a8)

Is the ??? and n/a the problem? Is there another command that needs to go with coredumpctl?

4

I think I got it working. The biggest problem was that kwin would keep crashing so I couldn’t use the automatic popup of DrKonqi to install debugging symbols.

Here are some of the things that I did (in case someone else has the same issue):

  1. Made kwin crash (so I could use DrKonqi). I ran this at the command line: "kill -SIGSEGV $(pidof kwin_wayland)”. In “KWin - Crash Handler”, click “See Developer Information”. Then click “Install Debug Symbols”. Also, click “Automatically download debug symbols to enhance crash reports”
  2. Create gdbinit file for root. Run: “echo “set debuginfod enabled on” > sudo tee /root/.gdbinit”
  3. Other helpful links:
    Core dump - ArchWiki
    Plasma Crash Course - DrKonqi - Harald Sitter's KDE Blog
5

Posting this as the accepted solution: I ran DrKonqi and followed the instructions there.

My comment above did not get a full crash log. I ended up disabling my GPU Passthrough and running “drkonqi-coredump-gui".

I followed the steps in DrKonqi to view an old crash log and downloaded debug symbols. I was able to get the “stars” to a good level.

I did have to increase my VM RAM size from 4GB to 8GB in order to generate a full backtrace. This ended up being the solution that worked.