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1. Check if the package has a debugging version available. In general, debugging packages will be named with a -dbg suffix

2. If not, you can generally* build one this way:

   1. Install the build-time dependencies for the package:

      sudo apt-get build-dep <package>

   2. Build .debs for debugging:

      DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS="nostrip noopt" sudo apt-get source -b <package>

   3. Install the needed .debs (they will be in the current working directory if the build succeeded):

      sudo dpkg --install <package.deb>

3. Start the program under control of gdb:

   gdb <program>
   handle SIG33 pass nostop noprint
   (gdb) run <arguments, if any>

4. The program will start. Perform any actions necessary to reproduce the crash

5. Retrieve a backtrace of the crash:

   (gdb) thread apply all bt full 

6. Include the complete output from gdb in your bug report

* most of the packages support the build of debugging version in this way. If that doesn't work for a package you can open a bug against it.

CategoryDocumentation