blob: 27f48f4d23b8fcaff475b76f9492c30584949ad4 [file] [log] [blame]
<html lang="en">
<head>
<title>Host I/O Packets - Debugging with GDB</title>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html">
<meta name="description" content="Debugging with GDB">
<meta name="generator" content="makeinfo 4.13">
<link title="Top" rel="start" href="index.html#Top">
<link rel="up" href="Remote-Protocol.html#Remote-Protocol" title="Remote Protocol">
<link rel="prev" href="Tracepoint-Packets.html#Tracepoint-Packets" title="Tracepoint Packets">
<link rel="next" href="Interrupts.html#Interrupts" title="Interrupts">
<link href="http://www.gnu.org/software/texinfo/" rel="generator-home" title="Texinfo Homepage">
<!--
Copyright (C) 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996,
1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010
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.''-->
<meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css">
<style type="text/css"><!--
pre.display { font-family:inherit }
pre.format { font-family:inherit }
pre.smalldisplay { font-family:inherit; font-size:smaller }
pre.smallformat { font-family:inherit; font-size:smaller }
pre.smallexample { font-size:smaller }
pre.smalllisp { font-size:smaller }
span.sc { font-variant:small-caps }
span.roman { font-family:serif; font-weight:normal; }
span.sansserif { font-family:sans-serif; font-weight:normal; }
--></style>
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="../cs.css">
</head>
<body>
<div class="node">
<a name="Host-I%2fO-Packets"></a>
<a name="Host-I_002fO-Packets"></a>
<p>
Next:&nbsp;<a rel="next" accesskey="n" href="Interrupts.html#Interrupts">Interrupts</a>,
Previous:&nbsp;<a rel="previous" accesskey="p" href="Tracepoint-Packets.html#Tracepoint-Packets">Tracepoint Packets</a>,
Up:&nbsp;<a rel="up" accesskey="u" href="Remote-Protocol.html#Remote-Protocol">Remote Protocol</a>
<hr>
</div>
<h3 class="section">D.8 Host I/O Packets</h3>
<p><a name="index-Host-I_002fO_002c-remote-protocol-2487"></a><a name="index-file-transfer_002c-remote-protocol-2488"></a>
The <dfn>Host I/O</dfn> packets allow <span class="sc">gdb</span> to perform I/O
operations on the far side of a remote link. For example, Host I/O is
used to upload and download files to a remote target with its own
filesystem. Host I/O uses the same constant values and data structure
layout as the target-initiated File-I/O protocol. However, the
Host I/O packets are structured differently. The target-initiated
protocol relies on target memory to store parameters and buffers.
Host I/O requests are initiated by <span class="sc">gdb</span>, and the
target's memory is not involved. See <a href="File_002dI_002fO-Remote-Protocol-Extension.html#File_002dI_002fO-Remote-Protocol-Extension">File-I/O Remote Protocol Extension</a>, for more details on the target-initiated protocol.
<p>The Host I/O request packets all encode a single operation along with
its arguments. They have this format:
<dl>
<dt>&lsquo;<samp><span class="samp">vFile:</span><var>operation</var><span class="samp">: </span><var>parameter</var><span class="samp">...</span></samp>&rsquo;<dd><var>operation</var> is the name of the particular request; the target
should compare the entire packet name up to the second colon when checking
for a supported operation. The format of <var>parameter</var> depends on
the operation. Numbers are always passed in hexadecimal. Negative
numbers have an explicit minus sign (i.e. two's complement is not
used). Strings (e.g. filenames) are encoded as a series of
hexadecimal bytes. The last argument to a system call may be a
buffer of escaped binary data (see <a href="Binary-Data.html#Binary-Data">Binary Data</a>).
</dl>
<p>The valid responses to Host I/O packets are:
<dl>
<dt>&lsquo;<samp><span class="samp">F </span><var>result</var><span class="samp"> [, </span><var>errno</var><span class="samp">] [; </span><var>attachment</var><span class="samp">]</span></samp>&rsquo;<dd><var>result</var> is the integer value returned by this operation, usually
non-negative for success and -1 for errors. If an error has occured,
<var>errno</var> will be included in the result. <var>errno</var> will have a
value defined by the File-I/O protocol (see <a href="Errno-Values.html#Errno-Values">Errno Values</a>). For
operations which return data, <var>attachment</var> supplies the data as a
binary buffer. Binary buffers in response packets are escaped in the
normal way (see <a href="Binary-Data.html#Binary-Data">Binary Data</a>). See the individual packet
documentation for the interpretation of <var>result</var> and
<var>attachment</var>.
<br><dt>&lsquo;<samp></samp>&rsquo;<dd>An empty response indicates that this operation is not recognized.
</dl>
<p>These are the supported Host I/O operations:
<dl>
<dt>&lsquo;<samp><span class="samp">vFile:open: </span><var>pathname</var><span class="samp">, </span><var>flags</var><span class="samp">, </span><var>mode</var></samp>&rsquo;<dd>Open a file at <var>pathname</var> and return a file descriptor for it, or
return -1 if an error occurs. <var>pathname</var> is a string,
<var>flags</var> is an integer indicating a mask of open flags
(see <a href="Open-Flags.html#Open-Flags">Open Flags</a>), and <var>mode</var> is an integer indicating a mask
of mode bits to use if the file is created (see <a href="mode_005ft-Values.html#mode_005ft-Values">mode_t Values</a>).
See <a href="open.html#open">open</a>, for details of the open flags and mode values.
<br><dt>&lsquo;<samp><span class="samp">vFile:close: </span><var>fd</var></samp>&rsquo;<dd>Close the open file corresponding to <var>fd</var> and return 0, or
-1 if an error occurs.
<br><dt>&lsquo;<samp><span class="samp">vFile:pread: </span><var>fd</var><span class="samp">, </span><var>count</var><span class="samp">, </span><var>offset</var></samp>&rsquo;<dd>Read data from the open file corresponding to <var>fd</var>. Up to
<var>count</var> bytes will be read from the file, starting at <var>offset</var>
relative to the start of the file. The target may read fewer bytes;
common reasons include packet size limits and an end-of-file
condition. The number of bytes read is returned. Zero should only be
returned for a successful read at the end of the file, or if
<var>count</var> was zero.
<p>The data read should be returned as a binary attachment on success.
If zero bytes were read, the response should include an empty binary
attachment (i.e. a trailing semicolon). The return value is the
number of target bytes read; the binary attachment may be longer if
some characters were escaped.
<br><dt>&lsquo;<samp><span class="samp">vFile:pwrite: </span><var>fd</var><span class="samp">, </span><var>offset</var><span class="samp">, </span><var>data</var></samp>&rsquo;<dd>Write <var>data</var> (a binary buffer) to the open file corresponding
to <var>fd</var>. Start the write at <var>offset</var> from the start of the
file. Unlike many <code>write</code> system calls, there is no
separate <var>count</var> argument; the length of <var>data</var> in the
packet is used. &lsquo;<samp><span class="samp">vFile:write</span></samp>&rsquo; returns the number of bytes written,
which may be shorter than the length of <var>data</var>, or -1 if an
error occurred.
<br><dt>&lsquo;<samp><span class="samp">vFile:unlink: </span><var>pathname</var></samp>&rsquo;<dd>Delete the file at <var>pathname</var> on the target. Return 0,
or -1 if an error occurs. <var>pathname</var> is a string.
</dl>
</body></html>