ndk-gdb unable to find gdb.setup

Question

I am trying to use ndk-gdb to debug my native android project. When I run the command ndk-gdb I get the error

 Could not find gdb.setup under ./libs/

Explanation

• Running MacOSX, ndk r10e; Using ndk sample San Angeles
• Followed steps here to setup native debugging https://developer.android.com/ndk/guides/ndk-gdb.html
• Basically I set android:debuggable="true", APP_OPTIM := debug and built native using ndk-build NDK_DEBUG=1 (these 3 setting may be superfluous, but just in case)
• Used ant debug, adb install to install; Ran app and app runs fine

• Running ndk-gdb --verbose produces

  ndk-gdb --verbose

  Android NDK installation path:

    /Users/hanantha/Documents/Dev/android-ndk-r10e
  

  Using default adb command:

   /Users/hanantha/Documents/Dev/android-sdk-macosx/platform-tools/adb
  

  ADB version found: Android Debug Bridge version 1.0.32

   Revision eac51f2bb6a8-android
  

  Using ADB flags:

  Using JDB command:

  /usr/bin/jdb
  

  Using auto-detected project path: .

  Found package name: com.example.SanAngeles

  ABIs targetted by application: arm64-v8a armeabi armeabi-v7a armeabi-v7a mips mips64 x86 x86_64

  Device API Level: 19

  Device CPU ABIs: x86

  Compatible device ABI:

  Using gdb setup init:

   ./libs/armeabi/gdb.setup
  

  Using toolchain prefix:

   /Users/hanantha/Documents/Dev/android-ndk-r10e/toolchains/x86-4.8/prebuilt/darwin-x86_64/bin/i686-linux-android-
  

  Using app out directory: ./obj/local/armeabi

  Found debuggable flag: true

  ERROR:

      Could not find gdb.setup under ./libs/
     This usually means you modified your AndroidManifest.xml to set
     the android:debuggable flag to 'true' but did not rebuild the
     native binaries. Please call 'ndk-build' to do so,
     *then* re-install to the device!
  

Answer 1

I just answered in the post: https://stackoverflow.com/a/32972182/1617066

I ran into the same problem. It seems something changed in recent version of Android Build tools.

The trick is:

ERROR: Could not find gdb.setup under ./libs/

It expects gdb.setup is in the directory libs but NOT libs/armeabi

so the simple workground is to copy gdb.setup and gdbserver from "libs/cpu" to "libs" and it works like a magic!

Answer 2

• This is a bug from adb. Issue 191085: ndk-gdb issue - Could not find gdb.setup under ./libs/ (even though it's there)

• I recommend to modify ndk-gdb rather than copy gdb.setup to libs every time you debug a new project: