Updated: 2021/Apr/14

DWARF_INIT(3)              Library Functions Manual              DWARF_INIT(3)

     dwarf_init, dwarf_elf_init - allocate a DWARF debug descriptor

     DWARF Access Library (libdwarf, -ldwarf)

     #include <libdwarf.h>

     dwarf_init(int fd, int mode, Dwarf_Handler errhand, Dwarf_Ptr errarg,
         Dwarf_Debug *ret, Dwarf_Error *err);

     dwarf_elf_init(Elf *elf, int mode, Dwarf_Handler errhand,
         Dwarf_Ptr errarg, Dwarf_Debug *ret, Dwarf_Error *err);

     These functions allocate and return a Dwarf_Debug instance for the object
     denoted by argument fd or elf.  This instance would be used for
     subsequent access to debugging information in the object by other
     functions in the DWARF(3) library.

     For function dwarf_init(), argument fd denotes an open file descriptor
     referencing a compilation object.  Function dwarf_init() implicitly
     allocates an Elf descriptor for argument fd.

     For function dwarf_elf_init(), argument elf denotes a descriptor returned
     by elf_begin(3) or elf_memory(3).

     Argument mode specifies the access mode desired.  It should be at least
     as permissive as the mode with which the file descriptor fd or the ELF
     descriptor elf was created with.  Legal values for argument mode are:

     DW_DLC_RDWR   Permit reading and writing of DWARF information.
     DW_DLC_READ   Operate in read-only mode.
     DW_DLC_WRITE  Permit writing of DWARF information.

     Argument errhand denotes a function to be called in case of an error.  If
     this argument is NULL then a default error handling scheme is used.  See
     dwarf(3) for a description of the error handling scheme used by the
     DWARF(3) library.

     Argument errarg is passed to the error handler function denoted by
     argument errhand when it is invoked.

     Argument ret points to the memory location that will hold a Dwarf_Debug
     reference on a successful call these functions.

     Argument err references a memory location that would hold a Dwarf_Error
     descriptor in case of an error.

   Memory Management
     The Dwarf_Debug instance returned by these functions should be freed
     using dwarf_finish().

     The current implementation does not support access modes DW_DLC_RDWR and

     These functions return the following values:

     [DW_DLV_OK]             This return value indicates a successful return.

     [DW_DLV_ERROR]          The operation failed.

     [DW_DLV_NO_ENTRY]       The object specified by arguments fd or elf did
                             not contain debug information.

     To initialize a Dwarf_Debug instance from a open file descriptor
     referencing an ELF object, and with the default error handler, use:

           Dwarf_Error err;
           Dwarf_Debug dbg;

           if (dwarf_init(fd, DW_DLC_READ, NULL, NULL, &dbg, &err) !=
                   errx(EXIT_FAILURE, "dwarf_init: %s", dwarf_errmsg(err));

     dwarf(3), dwarf_errmsg(3), dwarf_finish(3), dwarf_get_elf(3),
     elf_begin(3), elf_memory(3)

NetBSD 9.99                    November 9, 2011                    NetBSD 9.99