A kernel debugger is a debugger present in some kernels to ease debugging and kernel development by the kernel developers. A kernel debugger might be a stub implementing low-level operations, with a full-blown debugger such as gdb, running on another machine, sending commands to the stub over a serial line or a network connection, or it might provide a command line that can be used directly on the machine being debugged.
Operating systems and operating system kernels that contain a kernel debugger:
- The Windows NT family includes a kernel debugger named KD, which can act as a local debugger with limited capabilities (reading and writing kernel memory, but not setting breakpoints) and can attach to a remote machine over a serial line, IEEE 1394 connection, or USB 2 connection. The WinDbg GUI debugger can also be used to debug kernels on local and remote machines.
- BeOS
- DragonFly BSD
- Linux kernel; No kernel debugger was included in the mainline Linux tree prior to version 2.6.26-rc1 because Linus Torvalds didn't want a kernel debugger in the kernel.
- KDB (local)
- KGDB (remote)
- OS X
Famous quotes containing the word kernel:
“After night’s thunder far away had rolled
The fiery day had a kernel sweet of cold”
—Edward Thomas (1878–1917)
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