Debugging with GDB: Architectures In Python

Debugging with GDB: Architectures In Python

23.2.2.33 Python representation of architectures

GDB uses architecture specific parameters and artifacts in a number of its various computations. An architecture is represented by an instance of the gdb.Architecture class.

A gdb.Architecture class has the following methods:

Function: Architecture.name (): Return the name (string value) of the architecture.

Function: Architecture.disassemble (start_pc [, end_pc [, count ]])

Return a list of disassembled instructions starting from the memory address start_pc. The optional arguments end_pc and count determine the number of instructions in the returned list. If both the optional arguments end_pc and count are specified, then a list of at most count disassembled instructions whose start address falls in the closed memory address interval from start_pc to end_pc are returned. If end_pc is not specified, but count is specified, then count number of instructions starting from the address start_pc are returned. If count is not specified but end_pc is specified, then all instructions whose start address falls in the closed memory address interval from start_pc to end_pc are returned. If neither end_pc nor count are specified, then a single instruction at start_pc is returned. For all of these cases, each element of the returned list is a Python dict with the following string keys:

addr: The value corresponding to this key is a Python long integer capturing the memory address of the instruction.
asm: The value corresponding to this key is a string value which represents the instruction with assembly language mnemonics. The assembly language flavor used is the same as that specified by the current CLI variable disassembly-flavor. See Machine Code.
length: The value corresponding to this key is the length (integer value) of the instruction in bytes.