sleeping_thread_to_gdb_regs(9)

💤 sleeping_thread_to_gdb_regs — the manual page, but make it make sense 🎀

okay bestie, so this is sleeping_thread_to_gdb_regs(9) from the Kernel API Manual, and honestly? it's giving "niche but iconic" 💅 let's get into it.

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✨ NAME ✨

sleeping_thread_to_gdb_regs — literally just converts ptrace regs to GDB regs, no cap 🦋

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

void sleeping_thread_to_gdb_regs (unsigned long *gdb_regs , struct
task_struct *p );

that's the whole signature, bestie — she's short and she knows it ✨

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🩷 ARGUMENTS 🩷

• gdb_regs — a pointer to hold the registers in the order GDB wants. like, GDB has opinions about ordering and we're respecting them 🫶
• p — the struct task_struct of the desired process. the one you're snooping on 👀

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💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

okay so the whole vibe here:

Convert the register values of the sleeping process in p to the format that GDB expects. that's the job. that's the assignment. periodt 💅

This function is called when kgdb does not have access to the struct pt_regs — like, it's just not available, tragic, we move — and therefore it should fill the gdb registers gdb_regs with what has been saved in the struct thread_struct thread field during switch_to. that's the source of truth here, bestie, that's the stash 🧚

so lowkey: no pt_regs? no problem. we pull from thread_struct's thread field and vibe check it into GDB's preferred layout. slay 🔥

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👑 SEE ALSO 👑

Kernel file ./include/linux/kgdb.h, plus the whole kgdb friend group — they all show up together, it's a whole era:

• kgdb_skipexception(9)
• kgdb_breakpoint(9)
• kgdb_arch_init(9)
• kgdb_arch_exit(9)
• pt_regs_to_gdb_regs(9)
• gdb_regs_to_pt_regs(9)
• kgdb_arch_handle_exception(9)
• kgdb_arch_handle_qxfer_pkt(9)
• kgdb_call_nmi_hook(9)
• kgdb_roundup_cpus(9)
• kgdb_arch_set_pc(9)
• kgdb_arch_late(9)
• struct kgdb_arch(9)
• struct kgdb_io(9)

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ngl, if you're here you're probably already deep in kgdb debugging at 2am. drink some water, bestie 🍓

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and that's the whole page!! sign-off time: this one lives under ./include/linux, dated October 2026, and yes it's still part of the Kernel API Manual — mwah, go debug something iconic 💜✨