search for package
You may encounter such a situation that some shared libraries are stripped when you debug core file. For example,
(gdb) info shared
From To Syms Read Shared Object Library
0xb778f430 0xb77a6054 Yes (*) /lib/i386-linux-gnu/libncurses.so.5
0xb75ef350 0xb7728f4e Yes /lib/i386-linux-gnu/libc.so.6
0xb75d2ad0 0xb75d3a9c Yes /lib/i386-linux-gnu/libdl.so.2
0xb75b87d0 0xb75c2c24 Yes (*) /lib/i386-linux-gnu/libtinfo.so.5
0xb77c9830 0xb77e1e7c Yes /lib/ld-linux.so.2
(*): Shared library is missing debugging information.
You would like to search for package, which relevant shared object is included. With library, which contains symbol table and you can examine more closely core file.
install
You need to have apt-file command for searching packages. Let’s install apt-file, as it is not installed by default.
$ sudo apt-get install apt-file
update cache
So as to search for packages, you need to have local cache. Let’s download cache from repository and update cache.
$ apt-file update
search & install
Now you are ready for searching packages. Take sample quoted above and search for “libncurses.so.5”.
$ apt-file search libncurses.so.5
lib64ncurses5: /lib64/libncurses.so.5
lib64ncurses5: /lib64/libncurses.so.5.9
libncurses5: /lib/i386-linux-gnu/libncurses.so.5
libncurses5: /lib/i386-linux-gnu/libncurses.so.5.9
libncurses5-dbg: /usr/lib/debug/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libncurses.so.5.9
libncurses5-dbg: /usr/lib/debug/lib64/libncurses.so.5.9
libncurses5-dbg: /usr/lib/debug/libncurses.so.5
libncurses5-dbg: /usr/lib/debug/libncurses.so.5.9
libncurses5-dbg: /usr/lib/debug/usr/libx32/libncurses.so.5.9
libx32ncurses5: /usr/libx32/libncurses.so.5
libx32ncurses5: /usr/libx32/libncurses.so.5.9
libncurses5-dbg must be our target package. Ok, let’s install it.
$ sudo apt-get install libncurses5-dbg
Now you can see stacks with function names and arguments. And checking status of shared libraries, you will confirm libraries not stripped.
(gdb) info shared
From To Syms Read Shared Object Library
0xb778f430 0xb77a6054 Yes /lib/i386-linux-gnu/libncurses.so.5
0xb75ef350 0xb7728f4e Yes /lib/i386-linux-gnu/libc.so.6
0xb75d2ad0 0xb75d3a9c Yes /lib/i386-linux-gnu/libdl.so.2
0xb75b87d0 0xb75c2c24 Yes /lib/i386-linux-gnu/libtinfo.so.5
0xb77c9830 0xb77e1e7c Yes /lib/ld-linux.so.2