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authorDaniel Baumann <daniel.baumann@progress-linux.org>2024-04-07 19:33:14 +0000
committerDaniel Baumann <daniel.baumann@progress-linux.org>2024-04-07 19:33:14 +0000
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+How to get a stacktrace with WinDbg
+===================================
+
++--------------------------------------------------------------------+
+| This page is an import from MDN and the contents might be outdated |
++--------------------------------------------------------------------+
+
+Introduction
+------------
+
+Sometimes you need to get a stacktrace (call stack) for a crash or hang
+but `Breakpad <http://kb.mozillazine.org/Breakpad>`__ fails because it's
+a special crash or a hang. This article describes how to get a
+stacktrace in those cases with WinDbg on Windows. (To get a stacktrace
+for Thunderbird or some other product, substitute the product name where
+ever you see Firefox in this instructions.)
+
+Requirements
+------------
+
+To get such a stacktrace you need to install the following software:
+
+Debugging Tools for Windows
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+Microsoft distributes the Debugging Tools for Windows for free, those
+include WinDbg which you will need here. Download it from `Install
+Debugging Tools for
+Windows <https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/drivers/download-the-wdk>`__.
+(*You'll want the 32-bit version*, even if you are using a 64-bit
+version of Windows) Then install it, the standard settings in the
+installation process are fine.
+
+A Firefox nightly or release
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+You need a Firefox version for which symbols are availables from the
+:ref:`symbol server <Using The Mozilla Symbol Server>` to use
+with WinDbg. You can use any `official nightly
+build <https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/nightly/>`__ or released
+version of Firefox from Mozilla. You can find the latest trunk nightly
+builds under
+`http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.o.../latest-trunk/ <https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/nightly/latest-mozilla-central/>`__.
+
+
+Debugging
+---------
+
+To begin debugging, ensure that Firefox is not already running and open
+WinDbg from the Start menu. (Start->All Programs->Debugging Tools for
+Windows->WinDbg) Next, open the **"File"** menu and choose **"Open
+Executable..."**. In the file chooser window that appears, open the
+firefox.exe executable in your Firefox program folder (C:\Program
+Files\Mozilla Firefox).
+
+You should now see a "Command" text window with debug output at the top
+and an input box at the bottom. Before debugging can start, several
+commands must be entered into the one-line input box at the bottom of
+the Command window.
+
+.. note::
+
+ Tip: All commands must be entered exactly as written, one line at a
+ time, into the bottom of the Command box.
+
+ - Copying and pasting each line is the easiest method to avoid
+ mistakes
+ - Some commands start with a period (.) or a pipe character (|),
+ which is required. (The keystroke for a pipe character on US
+ keyboards is SHIFT+\)
+ - Submit the log file on a bug or via the support site, even if
+ nothing seems to happen during the debug process
+
+
+Start debugging
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+Now that Firefox is opened in the debugger, you need to configure your
+WinDbg to download symbols from the Mozilla symbol server. To load the
+symbols, enter the three commands below, pressing enter after each one.
+(More details are available at :ref:`symbol server <Using The Mozilla Symbol Server>`.)
+
+::
+
+ .sympath SRV*c:\symbols*http://symbols.mozilla.org/firefox;SRV*c:\symbols*http://msdl.microsoft.com/download/symbols
+ .symfix+ c:\symbols
+ .reload /f
+
+Now wait for the symbols to download. This may take some time depending
+on your connection speed; the total size of the Mozilla and Microsoft
+symbols download is around 1.4GB. WinDbg will show "Busy" at the bottom
+of the application window until the download is complete.
+
+Once the download is complete, you need to configure WinDbg to examine
+child processes, ignore a specific event caused by Flash Player, and
+record a log of loaded modules. You will also want to open a log file to
+save data you collect. To do this, enter these four commands, pressing
+enter after each one.
+
+::
+
+ .logopen /t c:\temp\firefox-debug.log
+ .childdbg 1
+ .tlist
+ sxn gp
+ lm
+
+If you see firefox.exe listed in the output from .tlist more than once,
+then you are already running the application and need to close the
+running instance first before you start debugging, otherwise you won't
+get useful results.
+
+Now run Firefox by opening the **Debug** menu and clicking **Go**.
+**While Firefox is running, you will not be able to type any commands
+into the debugger.** After it starts, try to reproduce the crash or
+hanging issue that you are seeing.
+
+.. note::
+
+ If Firefox fails to start, and you see lines of text followed by a
+ command prompt in the debugger, a "breakpoint" may have been
+ triggered. If you are prompted for a command but don't see an error
+ about a crash, go back to the **Debug** menu and press **Go**.
+
+Once the browser crashes, you will see an error (such as "Access
+violation") in the WinDbg Command window. If Firefox hangs and there is
+no command prompt available in the debugger, open the **Debug** menu and
+choose **Break.** Once the browser has crashed or been stopped, continue
+with the steps below.
+
+
+After the crash or hang
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+You need to capture the debug information to include in a bug comment or
+support request. Enter these three commands, one at a time, to get the
+stacktrace, crash/hang analysis and log of loaded modules. (Again, press
+Enter after each command.)
+
+::
+
+ ~* kp
+ !analyze -v -f
+ lm
+
+After these steps are completed, find the file
+**c:\temp\firefox-debug-(Today's Date).txt** on your hard drive. To
+provide the information to the development community, submit this file
+with a `support request <https://support.mozilla.com/>`__ or attach it
+to a related bug on `Bugzilla <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/>`__.
+
+
+Producing a minidump
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+Sometimes the stacktrace alone is not enough information for a developer
+to figure out what went wrong. A developer may ask you for a "minidump"
+or a "full memory dump", which are files containing more information
+about the process. :ref:`You can easily produce minidumps from WinDBG and
+provide them to developers <Capturing a minidump>`.
+
+FAQ
+
+Q: I am running Windows 7 (32-bit or 64-bit) and I see an exception in
+the WinDbg command window that says 'ntdll32!LdrpDoDebuggerBreak+0x2c'
+or 'ntdll32!LdrpDoDebuggerBreak+0x30'. What do I do now?
+
+A: If you see 'int 3' after either of those exceptions, you will need to
+execute the following commands in WinDbg.
+
+::
+
+ bp ntdll!LdrpDoDebuggerBreak+0x30
+ bp ntdll!LdrpDoDebuggerBreak+0x2c
+ eb ntdll!LdrpDoDebuggerBreak+0x30 0x90
+ eb ntdll!LdrpDoDebuggerBreak+0x2c 0x90
+
+| Make sure you enter them one at a time and press enter after each one.
+ If you use the 64-bit version of Windows, you need to replace "ntdll"
+ in these commands with "ntdll32".
+| Q: The first four frames of my stack trace look like this:
+
+::
+
+ 0012fe20 7c90e89a ntdll!KiFastSystemCallRet
+ 0012fe24 7c81cd96 ntdll!ZwTerminateProcess+0xc
+ 0012ff20 7c81cdee kernel32!_ExitProcess+0x62
+
+ 0012ff34 6000179e kernel32!ExitProcess+0x14
+
+This looks wrong to me?!
+
+A: You ran the application without the "Debug child processes also"
+check box being checked. You need to detach the debugger and open the
+application again, this time with the check box being checked.
+
+Q: WinDbg tells me that it is unable to verify checksum for firefox.exe.
+Is this normal?
+
+A: Yes, this is normal and can be ignored.
+
+Q: Should I click yes or no when WinDbg asks me to "Save information for
+workspace?"
+
+A: Click yes and WinDbg will save you from having to enter in the symbol
+location for Firefox.exe in the future. Click no if you'd rather not
+having WinDbg save this information.
+
+Q: I'm seeing "wow64" on top of each thread, is that ok ?
+
+A: No, you are running a 64 bit version of Windbg and trying to debug a
+32 bit version of the mozilla software. Redownload and install the 32
+bit version of windbg.
+
+
+Troubleshooting: Symbols will not download
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+If symbols will not download no matter what you do, the problem may be
+that Internet Explorer has been set to the **Work Offline** mode. You
+will not receive any warnings of this in Windbg, Visual C++ or Visual
+Studio. Even using the command line with symchk.exe to download symbols
+will fail. This is because Microsoft uses Internet Explorer's internet &
+proxy settings to download the symbol files. Check the File menu of
+Internet Explorer to ensure "Work Offline" is unchecked.
+
+
+See also
+--------
+
+- :ref:`symbol server <Using The Mozilla Symbol Server>` Maps addresses to human readable strings.
+- :ref:`source server <Using The Mozilla Source Server>` Maps addresses to source code lines