How To Install GDB on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS

In this tutorial, we will show you how to install GDB on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS. GNU Debugger, commonly known as GDB, is an essential tool for software developers. It helps identify and resolve bugs, enabling smoother code execution. GDB offers features like real-time monitoring, memory analysis, and code profiling, making it indispensable for both novice and experienced programmers.

This article assumes you have at least basic knowledge of Linux, know how to use the shell, and most importantly, you host your site on your own VPS. The installation is quite simple and assumes you are running in the root account, if not you may need to add ‘sudo‘ to the commands to get root privileges. I will show you the step-by-step installation of the GDB (The GNU Project Debugger) on Ubuntu 22.04. You can follow the same instructions for Ubuntu 22.04 and any other Debian-based distribution like Linux Mint, Elementary OS, Pop!_OS, and more as well.

Prerequisites

• A server running one of the following operating systems: Ubuntu 22.04, 20.04, and any other Debian-based distribution like Linux Mint.
• It’s recommended that you use a fresh OS install to prevent any potential issues.
• SSH access to the server (or just open Terminal if you’re on a desktop).
• An active internet connection. You’ll need an internet connection to download the necessary packages and dependencies for GDB.
• A non-root sudo user or access to the root user. We recommend acting as a non-root sudo user, however, as you can harm your system if you’re not careful when acting as the root.

Install GDB on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS Jammy Jellyfish

Step 1. First, make sure that all your system packages are up-to-date by running the following apt commands in the terminal.

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade

Step 2. Installing GDB on Ubuntu 22.04.

• Method 1: Installing GDB using apt

Installing GDB via the package manager is the easiest method. Run the following command:

sudo apt install gdb

Verify that GDB has been installed by running the following command:

gdb --version

• Method 2: Compiling GDB from source

First, install the build-essential package, which contains the necessary tools for compiling software, by running the following command:

sudo apt install build-essential

Next, download the GDB source code from the official GNU website. You can use the following command to download the latest version:

wget https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/gdb/gdb-13.2.tar.gz

Extract the source code by running the following command:

tar -xvf gdb-13.2.tar.gz

Change into the extracted directory by running the following command:

cd gdb-13.2

Configure the build by running the following command:

./configure

This will check your system for the necessary dependencies and generate a Makefile.

Compile the source code by running the following command:

make

This will compile the source code and create the GDB executable.

Install GDB by running the following command:

sudo make install

This will install GDB on your system.

Verify that GDB has been installed by running the following command:

gdb --version

This should display the version of GDB that has been installed on your system.

Step 3. Getting Started with Basic GDB Usage.

GDB is most effective when you know how to use it. Here’s a quick example of debugging a simple C program:

Create a file named hello.c with the following code:

#include <stdio.h>
int main() {
int num = 5;
printf("Number: %d\n", num);
return 0;
}

Compile the program with debugging symbols:

gcc -g -o hello hello.c

Launch GDB:

gdb ./hello

Congratulations! You have successfully installed GDB. Thanks for using this tutorial for installing the GDB (The GNU Project Debugger) on the Ubuntu system. For additional help or useful information, we recommend you check the official GDB website.