4.4. Running Applications from GDB
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## 4.4. Running Applications from GDB

You can run GDB, the GNU Debugger, on your host system to debug programs running remotely on a target board or system. You can also run and debug programs using the GDB simulator.

When starting GDB, give it the pathname to the program you want to debug as a command-line argument. For example, if you have built the factorial program as described in Section 4.1, “Building an Application”, enter:

    > arm-none-eabi-gdb factorial

While this section explains the alternatives for using GDB to run and debug application programs, explaining the use of the GDB command-line interface is beyond the scope of this document. Please refer to the GDB manual for further instructions.

### 4.4.1. Connecting to the GDB Simulator

GDB includes a simulator that allows you to debug ARM EABI applications without target hardware. To start and connect to the simulator from within GDB, use this command:

    (gdb) target sim

### 4.4.2. Connecting to the Sourcery CodeBench Debug Sprite

The Sourcery CodeBench Debug Sprite is a program that runs on the host system to support hardware debugging devices. You can use the Debug Sprite to run and debug programs on a target board without an operating system, or to debug an operating system kernel. See Chapter 6, “Sourcery CodeBench Debug Sprite” for detailed information about the supported devices.

You can start the Sprite directly from within GDB:

    (gdb) target remote | arm-none-eabi-sprite arguments

Refer to Section 6.3, “Invoking Sourcery CodeBench Debug Sprite” for a full description of the Sprite arguments.

### 4.4.3. Connecting to an External GDB Server

From within GDB, you can connect to a running `gdbserver` or other debugging stub that uses the GDB remote protocol using:

    (gdb) target remote host:port

where `host` is the host name or IP address of the machine the stub is running on, and `port` is the port number it is listening on for TCP connections.

### 4.4.4. Loading and Running Applications

Connecting to a bare-metal target or simulator from GDB does not cause your program to be loaded into target memory. You must do this explicitly from GDB after you connect:

    (gdb) load

Alternatively, you can use third-party tools to load your application into flash memory before starting GDB.

To begin execution of your application, you should generally use the `continue` command:

    (gdb) continue

However, you should use `run` instead of `continue` to start your program if you used `target sim` to connect:

    (gdb) run

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