This package contains debug symbols that can be useful for debugging applications that use grpc pre-compiled binary gems. An example of a pre-compiled binary gem is `grpc-1.58.0-x86_64-linux.gem` (as opposed to a source-built gem like `grpc-1.58.0.gem`). `grpc-native-debug` gems contain debug symbols which complement the native libraries in these grpc binary gems. After fetching and unpacking a proper `grpc-native-debug` gem, one can load the correct `.dbg` symbol file to debug their grpc application. # Background grpc-ruby pre-compiled binary gems are *released with debug symbols stripped*. As a consequence, if you are to examine a grpc stack trace in a debugger for example, a lot of information will initially be missing. # Using grpc-native-debug ## Finding the correct grpc-native-debug gem Each `grpc-native-debug` gem is *one-to-one* with a `grpc` gem. Specifically: - The version of a `grpc-native-debug` gem **must match the version** of the `grpc` gem. - The ruby platform of a `grpc-native-debug` gem **must match the ruby platform** of the `grpc` gem. So for example, if you are debugging `grpc-1.60.1-x86_64-linux.gem`, then you need to fetch `grpc-native-debug-1.60.1-x86_64-linux.gem`. ## Finding the correct .dbg symbol file Each `grpc-native-debug` gem has a top-level `symbols` directory containing symbol files ending in `.dbg`. `grpc` binary gems are shipped with multiple native libraries. There is one native library for each supported *minor version* of ruby. As such, `grpc-native-debug` gems have exactly one `.dbg` file for each native library in the corresponding `grpc` gem. If you unpack a `grpc-native-debug` gem and look at the `symbols` directory, you might see something like this: ``` grpc-native-debug-1.60.1-x86_64-linux/symbols/grpc-1.60.1-x86_64-linux-ruby-3.0.dbg grpc-native-debug-1.60.1-x86_64-linux/symbols/grpc-1.60.1-x86_64-linux-ruby-2.7.dbg grpc-native-debug-1.60.1-x86_64-linux/symbols/grpc-1.60.1-x86_64-linux-ruby-3.2.dbg grpc-native-debug-1.60.1-x86_64-linux/symbols/grpc-1.60.1-x86_64-linux-ruby-3.1.dbg ``` In each of these `.dbg` files, the `ruby--` portion of the string indicates which ruby version it's supposed to be used with. So for example, if you are debugging `grpc-1.60.1-x86_64-linux.gem` on ruby-3.0, then you need to use symbol file `grpc-native-debug-1.60.1-x86_64-linux/symbols/grpc-1.60.1-x86_64-linux-ruby-3.0.dbg`. ## Putting symbols into action (example gdb workflow) There are a variety of ways to use these symbols. As a toy example, suppose we are running an application under gdb using: - ruby-3.0 - grpc-1.60.1.x86_64-linux.gem At first, in gdb we might dump a grpc-ruby stack trace looking something like this: ``` (gdb) bt #0 0x00007ffff7926e56 in epoll_wait (epfd=5, events=0x7ffff3cb4144, maxevents=100, timeout=-1) at ../sysdeps/unix/sysv/linux/epoll_wait.c:30 #1 0x00007ffff383eb9e in ?? () from /home/.rvm/gems/ruby-3.0.0/gems/grpc-1.60.1-x86_64-linux/src/ruby/lib/grpc/3.0/grpc_c.so #2 0x00007ffff355e002 in ?? () from /home/.rvm/gems/ruby-3.0.0/gems/grpc-1.60.1-x86_64-linux/src/ruby/lib/grpc/3.0/grpc_c.so #3 0x00007ffff38466e2 in ?? () from /home/.rvm/gems/ruby-3.0.0/gems/grpc-1.60.1-x86_64-linux/src/ruby/lib/grpc/3.0/grpc_c.so #4 0x00007ffff35ba2ea in ?? () from /home/.rvm/gems/ruby-3.0.0/gems/grpc-1.60.1-x86_64-linux/src/ruby/lib/grpc/3.0/grpc_c.so #5 0x00007ffff34abf6b in ?? () from /home/.rvm/gems/ruby-3.0.0/gems/grpc-1.60.1-x86_64-linux/src/ruby/lib/grpc/3.0/grpc_c.so #6 0x00007ffff7c67ca7 in rb_nogvl (func=0x7ffff34abed3, data1=0x0, ubf=, data2=, flags=) at thread.c:1669 #7 0x00007ffff34ab110 in ?? () from /home/.rvm/gems/ruby-3.0.0/gems/grpc-1.60.1-x86_64-linux/src/ruby/lib/grpc/3.0/grpc_c.so #8 0x00007ffff7c6780c in thread_do_start (th=0x555555ad16e0) at thread.c:769 #9 thread_start_func_2 (th=th@entry=0x555555ad16e0, stack_start=) at thread.c:822 #10 0x00007ffff7c679a6 in thread_start_func_1 (th_ptr=) at /home/.rvm/src/ruby-3.0.0/thread_pthread.c:994 #11 0x00007ffff78a63ec in start_thread (arg=) at ./nptl/pthread_create.c:444 #12 0x00007ffff7926a4c in clone3 () at ../sysdeps/unix/sysv/linux/x86_64/clone3.S:81 ``` We could take the following steps to get more debug info:

1) Fetch the correct grpc-native-debug gem

``` cd /home gem fetch grpc-native-debug-1.60.1.x86_64-linux.gem gem unpack grpc-native-debug-1.60.1.x86_64-linux.gem ``` (note again the version and platform of `grpc-native-debug` must match the `grpc` gem)

2) Load debug symbols (for ruby-3.0)

``` (gdb) info sharedlibrary From To Syms Read Shared Object Library ... 0x00007ffff3497450 0x00007ffff3a61912 Yes (*) /home/.rvm/gems/ruby-3.0.0/gems/grpc-1.60.1-x86_64-linux/src/ruby/lib/grpc/3.0/grpc_c.so 0x00007ffff3e78730 0x00007ffff3ea60df Yes (*) /home/.rvm/gems/ruby-3.0.0/gems/google-protobuf-3.24.4-x86_64-linux/lib/google/3.0/protobuf_c.so (*): Shared library is missing debugging information. (gdb) add-symbol-file /home/grpc-native-debug-1.60.1-x86_64-linux/symbols/grpc-1.60.1-x86_64-linux-ruby-3.0.dbg 0x00007ffff3497450 add symbol table from file "/home/grpc-native-debug-1.60.1-x86_64-linux/symbols/grpc-1.60.1-x86_64-linux-ruby-3.0.dbg" at .text_addr = 0x7ffff3497450 (y or n) y Reading symbols from /home/grpc-native-debug-1.60.1-x86_64-linux/symbols/grpc-1.60.1-x86_64-linux-ruby-3.0.dbg... (gdb) ``` Our stack trace might look more like this now: ``` (gdb) bt #0 0x00007ffff7926e56 in epoll_wait (epfd=5, events=0x7ffff3cb4144, maxevents=100, timeout=-1) at ../sysdeps/unix/sysv/linux/epoll_wait.c:30 #1 0x00007ffff383eb9e in do_epoll_wait (ps=0x555555ad1690, deadline=...) at src/core/lib/iomgr/ev_epoll1_linux.cc:723 #2 pollset_work (ps=0x555555ad1690, worker_hdl=0x0, deadline=...) at src/core/lib/iomgr/ev_epoll1_linux.cc:1038 #3 0x00007ffff355e002 in pollset_work (pollset=, worker=, deadline=...) at src/core/lib/iomgr/ev_posix.cc:249 #4 0x00007ffff38466e2 in grpc_pollset_work (pollset=, worker=, deadline=...) at src/core/lib/iomgr/pollset.cc:48 #5 0x00007ffff35ba2ea in cq_next (cq=0x555555ad1510, deadline=..., reserved=) at src/core/lib/surface/completion_queue.cc:1043 #6 0x00007ffff34abf6b in run_poll_channels_loop_no_gil (arg=arg@entry=0x0) at ../../../../src/ruby/ext/grpc/rb_channel.c:663 #7 0x00007ffff7c67ca7 in rb_nogvl (func=0x7ffff34abed3 , data1=0x0, ubf=, data2=, flags=flags@entry=0) at thread.c:1669 #8 0x00007ffff7c68138 in rb_thread_call_without_gvl (func=, data1=, ubf=, data2=) at thread.c:1785 #9 0x00007ffff34ab110 in run_poll_channels_loop (arg=) at ../../../../src/ruby/ext/grpc/rb_channel.c:734 #10 0x00007ffff7c6780c in thread_do_start (th=0x555555ad16e0) at thread.c:769 #11 thread_start_func_2 (th=th@entry=0x555555ad16e0, stack_start=) at thread.c:822 #12 0x00007ffff7c679a6 in thread_start_func_1 (th_ptr=) at /home/.rvm/src/ruby-3.0.0/thread_pthread.c:994 #13 0x00007ffff78a63ec in start_thread (arg=) at ./nptl/pthread_create.c:444 #14 0x00007ffff7926a4c in clone3 () at ../sysdeps/unix/sysv/linux/x86_64/clone3.S:81 ``` This is better, but if we try to examine a frame closely we'll notice that source file information is still missing: ``` (gdb) up #1 0x00007ffff383eb9e in do_epoll_wait (ps=0x555555ad1690, deadline=...) at src/core/lib/iomgr/ev_epoll1_linux.cc:723 723 src/core/lib/iomgr/ev_epoll1_linux.cc: No such file or directory. (gdb) list 718 in src/core/lib/iomgr/ev_epoll1_linux.cc (gdb) ```

3) Resolve source files

First, we fetch the *source* `grpc` gem at the **exact same version** of our binary `grpc` gem: ``` cd /home gem fetch grpc-1.60.1.gem gem unpack grpc-1.60.1.gem ``` Now we can load those sources in gdb: ``` (gdb) dir /home/grpc-1.60.1 Source directories searched: /home/grpc-1.60.1:$cdir:$cwd (gdb) ``` Our stack frame will might look more like this now: ``` (gdb) list warning: Source file is more recent than executable. 718 int timeout = poll_deadline_to_millis_timeout(deadline); 719 if (timeout != 0) { 720 GRPC_SCHEDULING_START_BLOCKING_REGION; 721 } 722 do { 723 r = epoll_wait(g_epoll_set.epfd, g_epoll_set.events, MAX_EPOLL_EVENTS, 724 timeout); 725 } while (r < 0 && errno == EINTR); 726 if (timeout != 0) { 727 GRPC_SCHEDULING_END_BLOCKING_REGION; (gdb) ``` But if we move up a few stack frames we might *still* be missing some source information: ``` (gdb) up #6 0x00007ffff34abf6b in run_poll_channels_loop_no_gil (arg=arg@entry=0x0) at ../../../../src/ruby/ext/grpc/rb_channel.c:663 663 ../../../../src/ruby/ext/grpc/rb_channel.c: No such file or directory. ``` A portion of the grpc-ruby native extension is built from a sub-directory: `src/ruby/ext/grpc`. So we also need to add that sub-directory, to fix this: ``` (gdb) dir /home/grpc-1.60.1/src/ruby/ext/grpc Source directories searched: /home/grpc-1.60.1/src/ruby/ext/grpc:/home/grpc-1.60.1:$cdir:$cwd ``` Note the additional info: ``` (gdb) list warning: Source file is more recent than executable. 658 gpr_mu_lock(&global_connection_polling_mu); 659 gpr_cv_broadcast(&global_connection_polling_cv); 660 gpr_mu_unlock(&global_connection_polling_mu); 661 662 for (;;) { 663 event = grpc_completion_queue_next( 664 g_channel_polling_cq, gpr_inf_future(GPR_CLOCK_REALTIME), NULL); 665 if (event.type == GRPC_QUEUE_SHUTDOWN) { 666 break; 667 } (gdb) ``` # Support grpc-native-debug currently only supports: - ruby platforms: `x86_64-linux` and `x86-linux` - grpc >= 1.60.0