GSTACK(1)

📦
version 18.1 · 10 versions
, in fedora 43

💅 GSTACK(1) — the gstack page, bestie edition 🎀

okay so you found gstack(1) in the GNU Development Tools manual and you're like "what does this even do" — don't worry, I got you. sit down, grab a strawberry 🍓, and let's get into it.

✨ NAME ✨

gstack — prints a stack trace of a running program. that's it, that's the whole vibe. 🦋

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

gstack [-h | --help] [-v | --version] pid

💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

okay so picture this: you've got a program running, it's got a process ID pid, and you want to know what it's actually doing in there. gstack prints a stack trace of that running program, fr fr. and like — if the process is multi-threaded, it outputs backtraces for every single thread that exists in the process. every one. no thread left behind, periodt. 👑

the way it works is lowkey genius: the script invokes GDB, attaches to the given process ID, prints the stack trace, and then detaches from the process. in and out, main character energy, doesn't overstay. ✨

heads up bestie: gstack exits with non-zero status if "gdb" was unable to attach to the given process ID for any reason — like if the process ID doesn't exist, or you don't have sufficient privileges to attach to the process. so if it flops, check those two things first. 😭

💅 OPTIONS 💅

  • --help, -h — lists all the options with brief explanations. the "wait what can this thing do" button. 🫶
  • --version, -v — prints version information and then exits. cute, quick, gone. 🎀

🌈 ENVIRONMENT 🌈

these are the env vars that tell gstack which tools to grab, iykyk:

  • AWK — full file name for an Awk interpreter to use. if it's not set, PATH will be searched for an "awk" program. 🔍
  • GDB — full file name for a GDB executable to use to generate stack backtraces. if it's not set, PATH will be searched for a "gdb" program.
  • GDBARGS — optional arguments to be passed to the "gdb" program. little extra seasoning for your gdb, as a treat. 🌶️

🦋 SEE ALSO 🦋

the full documentation for GDB is maintained as a Texinfo manual. if the "info" and "gdb" programs and GDB's Texinfo documentation are properly installed at your site, the command

info gdb

should give you access to the complete manual. literally the whole thing. go read it, it's giving encyclopedia but make it debugging. 📚

also, from the archives: Using GDB: A Guide to the GNU Source-Level Debugger, by Richard M. Stallman and Roland H. Pesch, July 1991. vintage. iconic. ate. 💜

Copyright (c) 1988-2026 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with the Invariant Sections being "Free Software" and "Free Software Needs Free Documentation", with the Front-Cover Texts being "A GNU Manual,", and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below.

(a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: "You are free to copy and modify this GNU Manual. Buying copies from GNU Press supports the FSF in developing GNU and promoting software freedom."

aaaand that's the page!! 🫶 this lil cutie came from gdb-18.1-1.fc43, dated 2026-10-27, and it's filed under GSTACK(1) — mwah, go print some stack traces bestie 💋✨

📦 where this page comes from
  • fedora 43: gdb 18.1-1.fc43 · GPL-3.0-or-later AND BSD-3-Clause AND FSFAP AND LGPL-2.1-or-later AND GPL-2.0-or-later AND LGPL-2.0-or-later AND LicenseRef-Fedora-Public-Domain AND GFDL-1.3-or-later AND LGPL-2.0-or-later WITH GCC-exception-2.0 AND GPL-3.0-or-later WITH GCC-exception-3.1 AND GPL-2.0-or-later WITH GNU-compiler-exception AND MIT
  • 💖 girlified by deepseek-ai/DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash-1017 on : a language model's rewrite of the original, under its terms