QEMU isn't the problem here, but GDB is. I will start with a recommendations if you intend to use GDB to debug the BIOS:
- Do not use qemu-system-x86_64. Use qemu-system-i386 instead. This will avoid a packet too long problem and a pile of numbers being displayed. This may or may not happen to you depending on the version of GDB being used.
With that being said, GDB's real problem is that it has no knowledge of real mode segment:offset addressing. When you boot QEMU it starts in 16-bit real mode to start executing the legacy BIOS. GDB's lack of real mode debugging support is the real issue. You can read more about it in another Stackoverflow answer I wrote. To summarize:
Unfortunately by default gdb doesn't do segment:offset calculations
and will use the value in EIP for breakpoints. You have to specify
breakpoints as 32-bit addresses (EIP).
When it comes to stepping through real mode code it can be cumbersome
because gdb doesn't handle real mode segmentation. If you step into an
interrupt handler you'll discover gdb will display the assembly code
relative to EIP. Effectively gdb will be showing you disassembly of
the wrong memory location since it didn't account for CS.
Over the years changes to GDB have made debugging real mode code more involved and negotiating connections to remote hosts has become more problematic. Based on my answer above and the other 2 answers under the same question you may be able to get this working satisfactorily on old and new versions of GDB by trying the following:
Make a file called target.xml with the following:
<?xml version="1.0"?><!DOCTYPE target SYSTEM "gdb-target.dtd">
<target>
<architecture>i8086</architecture>
<xi:include href="i386-32bit.xml"/>
</target>
Create a file called i386-32bit.xml with the contents of this URL. Alternatively you can retrieve this file from the command line on Linux based OSes with:
wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/qemu/qemu/master/gdb-xml/i386-32bit.xml
Create a script file called gdb_init_real_mode.txt with the following:
# Special mode for GDB that allows to debug/disassemble REAL MODE x86 code
#
# It has been designed to be used with QEMU or BOCHS gdb-stub
#
# 08/2011 Hugo Mercier - GPL v3 license
#
# Freely inspired from "A user-friendly gdb configuration file" widely available
# on the Internet
set confirm off
set verbose off
set prompt 33[31mreal-mode-gdb$ 33[0m
set output-radix 0d10
set input-radix 0d10
# These make gdb never pause in its output
set height 0
set width 0
# Intel syntax
set disassembly-flavor intel
# Real mode
#set architecture i8086
set $SHOW_CONTEXT = 1
set $REAL_MODE = 1
# By default A20 is present
set $ADDRESS_MASK = 0x1FFFFF
# nb of instructions to display
set $CODE_SIZE = 10
define enable-a20
set $ADDRESS_MASK = 0x1FFFFF
end
define disable-a20
set $ADDRESS_MASK = 0x0FFFFF
end
# convert segment:offset address to physical address
define r2p
if $argc < 2
printf "Arguments: segment offset
"
else
set $ADDR = (((unsigned long)$arg0 & 0xFFFF) << 4) + (((unsigned long)$arg1 & 0xFFFF) & $ADDRESS_MASK)
printf "0x%05X
", $ADDR
end
end
document r2p
Convert segment:offset address to physical address
Set the global variable $ADDR to the computed one
end
# get address of Interruption
define int_addr
if $argc < 1
printf "Argument: interruption_number
"
else
set $offset = (unsigned short)*($arg0 * 4)
set $segment = (unsigned short)*($arg0 * 4 + 2)
r2p $segment $offset
printf "%04X:%04X
", $segment, $offset
end
end
document int_addr
Get address of interruption
end
define compute_regs
set $rax = ((unsigned long)$eax & 0xFFFF)
set $rbx = ((unsigned long)$ebx & 0xFFFF)
set $rcx = ((unsigned long)$ecx & 0xFFFF)
set $rdx = ((unsigned long)$edx & 0xFFFF)
set $rsi = ((unsigned long)$esi & 0xFFFF)
set $rdi = ((unsigned long)$edi & 0xFFFF)
set $rbp = ((unsigned long)$ebp & 0xFFFF)
set $rsp = ((unsigned long)$esp & 0xFFFF)
set $rcs = ((unsigned long)$cs & 0xFFFF)
set $rds = ((unsigned long)$ds & 0xFFFF)
set $res = ((unsigned long)$es & 0xFFFF)
set $rss = ((unsigned long)$ss & 0xFFFF)
set $rip = ((((unsigned long)$cs & 0xFFFF) << 4) + ((unsigned long)$eip & 0xFFFF)) & $ADDRESS_MASK
set $r_ss_sp = ((((unsigned long)$ss & 0xFFFF) << 4) + ((unsigned long)$esp & 0xFFFF)) & $ADDRESS_MASK
set $r_ss_bp = ((((unsigned long)$ss & 0xFFFF) << 4) + ((unsigned long)$ebp & 0xFFFF)) & $ADDRESS_MASK
end
define print_regs
printf "AX: %04X BX: %04X ", $rax, $rbx
printf "CX: %04X DX: %04X
", $rcx, $rdx
printf "SI: %04X DI: %04X ", $rsi, $rdi
printf "SP: %04X BP: %04X
", $rsp, $rbp
printf "CS: %04X DS: %04X ", $rcs, $rds
printf "ES: %04X SS: %04X
", $res, $rss
printf "
"
printf "IP: %04X EIP:%08X
", ((unsigned short)$eip & 0xFFFF), $eip
printf "CS:IP: %04X:%04X (0x%05X)
", $rcs, ((unsigned short)$eip & 0xFFFF), $rip
printf "SS:SP: %04X:%04X (0x%05X)
", $rss, $rsp, $r_ss_sp
printf "SS:BP: %04X:%04X (0x%05X)
", $rss, $rbp, $r_ss_bp
end
document print_regs
Print CPU registers
end
define print_eflags
printf "OF <%d> DF <%d> IF <%d> TF <%d>",
(($eflags >> 0xB) & 1), (($eflags >> 0xA) & 1),
(($eflags >> 9) & 1), (($eflags >> 8) & 1)
printf " SF <%d> ZF <%d> AF <%d> PF <%d> CF <%d>
",
(($eflags >> 7) & 1), (($eflags >> 6) & 1),
(($eflags >> 4) & 1), (($eflags >> 2) & 1), ($eflags & 1)
printf "ID <%d> VIP <%d> VIF <%d> AC <%d>",
(($eflags >> 0x15) & 1), (($eflags >> 0x14) & 1),
(($eflags >> 0x13) & 1), (($eflags >> 0x12) & 1)
printf " VM <%d> RF <%d> NT <%d> IOPL <%d>
",
(($eflags >> 0x11) & 1), (($eflags >> 0x10) & 1),
(($eflags >> 0xE) & 1), (($eflags >> 0xC) & 3)
end
document print_eflags
Print eflags register.
end
# dump content of bytes in memory
# arg0 : addr
# arg1 : nb of bytes
define _dump_memb
if $argc < 2
printf "Arguments: address number_of_bytes
"
else
set $_nb = $arg1
set $_i = 0
set $_addr = $arg0
while ($_i < $_nb)
printf "%02X ", *((unsigned char*)$_addr + $_i)
set $_i++
end
end
end
# dump content of memory in words
# arg0 : addr
# arg1 : nb of words
define _dump_memw
if $argc < 2
printf "Arguments: address number_of_words
"
else
set $_nb = $arg1
set $_i = 0
set $_addr = $arg0
while ($_i < $_nb)
printf "%04X ", *((unsigned short*)$_addr + $_i)
set $_i++
end
end
end
# display data at given address
define print_data
if ($argc > 0)
set $seg = $arg0
set $off = $arg1
set $raddr = ($arg0 << 16) + $arg1
set $maddr = ($arg0 << 4) + $arg1
set $w = 16
set $i = (int)0
while ($i < 4)
printf "%08X: ", ($raddr + $i * $w)
set $j = (int)0
while ($j < $w)
printf "%02X ", *(unsigned char*)($maddr + $i * $w + $j)
set $j++
end
printf " "
set $j = (int)0
while ($j < $w)
set $c = *(unsigned char*)($maddr + $i * $w + $j)
if ($c > 32) && ($c < 128)
printf "%c", $c
else
printf "."
end
set $j++
end
printf "
"
set $i++
end
end
end
define context
printf "---------------------------[ STACK ]---
"
_dump_memw $r_ss_sp 8
printf "
"
set $_a = $r_ss_sp + 16
_dump_memw $_a 8
printf "
"
printf "---------------------------[ DS:SI ]---
"
print_data $ds $rsi
printf "---------------------------[ ES:DI ]---
"
print_data $es $rdi
printf "----------------------------[ CPU ]----
"
print_regs
print_eflags
printf "---------------------------[ CODE ]----
"
set $_code_size = $CODE_SIZE
# disassemble
# first call x/i with an address
# subsequent calls to x/i will increment address
if ($_code_size > 0)
x /i $rip
set $_code_size--
end
while ($_code_size > 0)
x /i
set $_code_size--
end
end
document context
Print context window, i.e. regs, stack, ds:esi and disassemble cs:eip.
end
define hook-stop
compute_regs
if ($SHOW_CONTEXT > 0)
context
end
end
document hook-stop
!!! FOR INTERNAL USE ONLY - DO NOT CALL !!!
end
# add a breakpoint on an interrupt
define break_int
set $offset = (unsigned short)*($arg0 * 4)
set $segment = (unsigned short)*($arg0 * 4 + 2)
break *$offset
end
define break_int_if_ah
if ($argc < 2)
printf "Arguments: INT_N AH
"
else
set $addr = (unsigned short)*($arg0 * 4)
set $segment = (unsigned short)*($arg0 * 4 + 2)
break *$addr if ((unsigned long)$eax & 0xFF00) == ($arg1 << 8)
end
end
document break_int_if_ah
Install a breakpoint on INT N only if AH is equal to the expected value
end
define break_int_if_ax
if ($argc < 2)
printf "Arguments: INT_N AX
"
else
set $addr = (unsigned short)*($arg0 * 4)
set $segment = (unsigned short)*($arg0 * 4 + 2)
break *$addr if ((unsigned long)$eax & 0xFFFF) == $arg1
end
end
document break_int_if_ax
Install a breakpoint on INT N only if AX is equal to the expected value
end
define stepo
## we know that an opcode starting by 0xE8 has a fixed length
## for the 0xFF opcodes, we can enumerate what is possible to have
set $lip = $rip
set $offset = 0
# first, get rid of segment prefixes, if any
set $_byte1 = *(unsigned char *)$rip
# CALL DS:xx CS:xx, etc.
if ($_byte1 == 0x3E || $_byte1 == 0x26 || $_byte1 == 0x2E || $_byte1 == 0x36 || $_byte1 == 0x3E || $_byte1 == 0x64 || $_byte1 == 0x65)
set $lip = $rip + 1
set $_byte1 = *(unsigned char*)$lip
set $offset = 1
end
set $_byte2 = *(unsigned char *)($lip+1)
set $_byte3 = *(unsigned char *)($lip+2)
set $noffset = 0
if ($_byte1 == 0xE8)
# call near
set $noffset = 3
else
if ($_byte1 == 0xFF)
# A "ModR/M" byte follows
set $_mod = ($_byte2 & 0xC0) >> 6
set $_reg = ($_byte2 & 0x38) >> 3
set $_rm = ($_byte2 & 7)
#printf "mod: %d reg: %d rm: %d
", $_mod, $_reg, $_rm
# only for CALL instructions
if ($_reg == 2 || $_reg == 3)
# default offset
set $noffset = 2
