Hi,

I need gdb but when I run gdb command I get the following error:

bash: gdb: command not found

Could you please tell me what should I do to fix this error? Probably gdb is not installed on my computer. How can I install gdb?

thanks!
Ghazale

Usually, you'd install things using your distribution's package management system. gdb is a standard piece of software, so I'd be very surprised if your distribution didn't have a package for it. If you need help with using the package manager, you'll need to tell us which distribution you're using.

I have Debian.

One way to install gdb in debian is:

sudo apt-get update
(This ensures apt knows the newest versions of packeges.)
sudo apt-get install gdb
(This installs gdb.)

But there are a lot of other options to install software in debian, e.g. aptitude, which offers menus.

apt-get install gdb (as root)

apt-get is the lowest-common-denominator command-line package manager for Debian (and derived distros). There are other ways of managing software on Debian-likes (e.g. Synaptic Package Manager is a GUI frontend to apt), but apt-get is always there when all else fails.

Also, I don't really use Debian on a regular basis (save for a virtual machine I have for testing support suggestions ), so I don't know all the ins and outs of Debian's package management system; this is just advice from someone who's messed with Ubuntu in the past, as well as having a little bit of vanilla Debian experience.

EDIT: damn, too late.

The following command(as root) will install gdb on Debian. You can also hunt it down in the Synaptic GUI if you want.

apt-get install gdb

Edit: Holy crap, in the 20 seconds it took me to reply like 3 other people responded.

sudo apt-get install gdb gave me this error:

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
You might want to run 'apt-get -f install' to correct these:
The following packages have unmet dependencies:
gdb : Depends: gdbserver but it is not going to be installed
sun-java6-jre : Depends: sun-java6-bin (>= 6.26-0squeeze1) but it is not going to be installed or
ia32-sun-java6-bin (>= 6.26-0squeeze1) but it is not going to be installed
Recommends: gsfonts-x11 but it is not going to be installed
E: Unmet dependencies. Try 'apt-get -f install' with no packages (or specify a solution).

I tried it with -f as well and it gave the same error, any idea?

Just a guess: sometimes, I get such problems solved with aptitude. It suggests solutions to unresolved dependencies.

EDIT: Sorry for the misunderstanding: I meant aptitute with the menu-driven user interface. It is started just with:

sudo aptitude install gdb gives this error:

The following NEW packages will be installed:
gdb gdbserver{a}
0 packages upgraded, 2 newly installed, 0 to remove and 190 not upgraded.
Need to get 0 B of archives. After unpacking 4,878 kB will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n/?] Y
E: I wasn't able to locate file for the sun-java6-jre package. This might mean you need to manually fix this package.
E: I wasn't able to locate file for the sun-java6-jre package. This might mean you need to manually fix this package.
E: Internal error: couldn't generate list of packages to download

So try manually installing Sun Java with:

Then try installing gdb.

Java : Probably check that "non-free" packages are included :
Synaptic, Settings > Archives > > Other Software.

Refresh Synaptic. Or close Synaptic, and do # apt-get update


The command : 'apt-get update' must be used quite often to include updates.

The safe way is always : apt-get update && apt-get install <package>
Like : apt-get update && apt-get install gdb

.

what is Synaptic? There is no file with that name on my computer.

sudo apt-get install sun-java6-jre gives this error : (((((((((((((( I don't know what is wrong with my Linux

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
E: The package sun-java6-bin needs to be reinstalled, but I can't find an archive for it.