Tribblix: manual page: yasm

YASM_DBGFMTS(7) Yasm Supported Debug Formats YASM_DBGFMTS(7)

NAME

yasm_dbgfmts - Yasm Supported Debugging Formats

SYNOPSIS

yasm -g dbgfmt ...

DESCRIPTION

The standard Yasm distribution includes a number of modules for
different debugging formats. The debugging information is embedded
into the object file. Use of a non-"null" debug format also causes
Yasm to output all symbols to the object file (including local
symbols).

The debug format is selected on the yasm(1) command line by use of
the -g dbgfmt command line option.

CV8
The CV8 debug format is used by Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 (version
8.0) and is completely undocumented, although it bears strong
similarities to earlier CodeView formats. Yasm's support for the CV8
debug format is currently limited to generating assembly-level line
number information (to allow some level of source-level debugging).
The CV8 debug information is stored in the .debug$S and .debug$T
sections of the Win64 object file.

DWARF2
The DWARF 2 debug format is a complex, well-documented standard for
debugging information. It was created to overcome shortcomings in
STABS, allowing for much more detailed and compact descriptions of
data structures, data variable movement, and complex language
structures such as in C++. The debugging information is stored in
sections (just like normal program sections) in the object file. Yasm
supports full pass-through of DWARF2 debugging information (e.g. from
a C++ compiler), and can also generate assembly-level line number
information.

NULL

The "null" debug format is a placeholder; it adds no debugging
information to the output file.

STABS

The STABS debug format is a poorly documented, semi-standard format
for debugging information in COFF and ELF object files. The debugging
information is stored as part of the object file's symbol table and
thus is limited in complexity and scope. Despite this, STABS is a
common debugging format on older Unix and compatible systems, as well
as DJGPP.

AUTHOR

Peter Johnson <peter@tortall.net>
Author.