In recent years I have switched to using LLDB (of the LLVM project) as my primary debugger. In this post I’ll show how to debug instances of std::shared_ptr and std::unique_ptr, and what the differences are.
Create “pointers.cc” with the following contents:
#include <memory>
class Test {
public:
Test() : a(1), b(2), c(3) { }
int a, b, c;
};
int main() {
auto sptr = std::make_shared<Test>();
auto uptr = std::make_unique<Test>();
return 0;
}
Compile the program as pointers with debugging symbols. The compiler must be C++14 compliant like Clang 3.4+ or GCC 4.9+ due to the usage of std::make_unique. Let’s load it up with LLDB:
% lldb ./pointers
(lldb) target create "./pointers"
Current executable set to './pointers' (x86_64).
(lldb) b 13
Breakpoint 1: where = pointers`main + 343 at pointers.cc:13, address = 0x0000000100001357
(lldb) r
Process 65102 launched: './pointers' (x86_64)
Process 65102 stopped
* thread #1: tid = 0x18881d, 0x0000000100001357 pointers`main + 343 at pointers.cc:13, queue = 'com.apple.main-thread', stop reason = breakpoint 1.1
frame #0: 0x0000000100001357 pointers`main + 343 at pointers.cc:13
10 int main() {
11 auto sptr = std::make_shared<Test>();
12 auto uptr = std::make_unique<Test>();
-> 13 return 0;
14 }
We want to find out what the member variables of the two pointers are. If we just print the value it won’t help much:
(lldb) p sptr
(std::__1::shared_ptr<Test>) $0 = std::__1::shared_ptr<Test>::element_type @ 0x00000001001037f8 strong=1 weak=1 {
__ptr_ = 0x00000001001037f8
}
We observe that sptr has the member __ptr_ with address 0x00000001001037f8, which is how we access its members:
(lldb) p sptr.__ptr_
(element_type *) $1 = 0x00000001001037f8
(lldb) p *sptr.__ptr_
(std::__1::shared_ptr<Test>::element_type) $2 = (a = 1, b = 2, c = 3)
The ::element_type has type Test so the following is equivalent:
(lldb) p *(Test*)sptr.__ptr_
(Test) $3 = (a = 1, b = 2, c = 3)
The address can also be used directly:
(lldb) p *(Test*)0x00000001001037f8
(Test) $4 = (a = 1, b = 2, c = 3)
Now, uptr is a little different:
(lldb) p uptr
(std::__1::unique_ptr<Test, std::__1::default_delete<Test> >) $5 = {
__ptr_ = {
std::__1::__libcpp_compressed_pair_imp<Test *, std::__1::default_delete<Test>, 2> = {
__first_ = 0x0000000100101490
}
}
}
It also has the __ptr_ but it doesn’t point directly to its value like sptr.__ptr_ does:
(lldb) p uptr.__ptr_
(std::__1::__compressed_pair<Test *, std::__1::default_delete<Test> >) $6 = {
std::__1::__libcpp_compressed_pair_imp<Test *, std::__1::default_delete<Test>, 2> = {
__first_ = 0x0000000100101490
}
}
(lldb) p *uptr.__ptr_
error: indirection requires pointer operand ('std::__1::__compressed_pair<Test *, std::__1::default_delete<Test> >' invalid)
Instead we have to reference the __first_ member, but can still use the address directly, of course:
(lldb) p uptr.__ptr_.__first_
(Test *) $7 = 0x0000000100101490
(lldb) p *uptr.__ptr_.__first_
(Test) $8 = (a = 1, b = 2, c = 3)
(lldb) p *(Test*)0x0000000100101490
(Test) $9 = (a = 1, b = 2, c = 3)