Debuginfod service

Debian now has a debuginfod server available for its users. Please keep reading this page if you would like to know how to configure your system to use debuginfod.

TL;DR: How do I configure my system to use debuginfod?

As of version TBD, libdebuginfod (part of the elfutils package) will automatically install a file named /etc/profile.d/debuginfod.sh which contains the proper configuration to make your debugging tools work with debuginfod (assuming that they have support for it).

If you cannot install this version of libdebuginfod, don't despair! All you have to do is make sure that the following environment variable is properly set in your shell (usually by editing your ~/.bashrc, if you're using Bash):

export DEBUGINFOD_URLS="https://debuginfod.debian.net"

What is debuginfod?

From the official project page, debuginfod is a client/server [...] that automatically distributes ELF/DWARF/source-code from servers to clients such as debuggers across HTTP.

In other words, debuginfod eliminates the need for users to install debuginfo packages in order to debug programs using GDB, systemtap or other tools. When you configure your system to use a debuginfod server, the debugging tool (which needs to have the support for debuginfod implemented) will automatically download the debug symbols it needs over HTTPS, making the process much more seamless.

What tools support debuginfod?

There is an official list in the project page. In Debian sid/buster, GDB, elfutils and binutils all have support for debuginfod. For buster, you might need to resort to Backports.

What distributions are supported?

Currently, we provide debug symbols from the following Debian distributions:

Eventually, the plan is to support debuginfo files from the snapshot service as well.

Who is the resposible for the Debian instance?

SergioDuriganJunior