valgrind issues/alternatives

[falconhoof]

Hello everyone. I am new to OpenBSD on bare metal and I've recently done my first install; it went swimmingly. As to be expected, I'm having a few growing pains with transitioning my development projects over to it, but there's one issue that doesn't make sense to me at all.

Background: Anyone familiar with C/C++ development on Linux will have heard of valgrind so I won't bother to go into details about it specifically here. I integrate it into my makefiles at work and at play. Accordingly, I'd like to be able to use this tool on OpenBSD.

The problem is that the version of valgrind that the valgrind package installs flat out does not work. Any attempt to execute it results in an immediate abort trap. Normally I'd do much more digging myself before asking for help, but I'm a long way from home in regards to the tools one would normally use to debug such a thing, and I'm concerned that something else is amok given a distributed binary is failing in such a manner.

I confirmed that pkg doesn't think I'm missing any dependencies for it using pkg_check, and there doesn't seem to be a glibc issue (gcc yields binaries quite happily), so I'm hoping someone else may have an insight. Ideally, I'd like to use valgrind, but if there's a comparable alternative I'm open to that.

Cheers!

[ibara]

Originally Posted by falconhoof

The problem is that the version of valgrind that the valgrind package installs flat out does not work.

This is true. And known. Ask on ports@.

Originally Posted by falconhoof

I confirmed that pkg doesn't think I'm missing any dependencies for it using pkg_check, and there doesn't seem to be a glibc issue (gcc yields binaries quite happily)

Don't use /usr/bin/gcc unless you're sure you want that. The default compiler is /usr/bin/cc (aka clang-8.0.0), and gcc is just there for compatibility in the event you have binaries lying around from the pre-6.2 era.

If you need a newer gcc, install the gcc package (aka run doas pkg_add gcc). That will give you gcc-8.3.0 (the binary will be named egcc).

[PapaParrot]

I can't help you at all, but my suggestion would be to try to contact the package maintainer, there should be some information on who, etc. at the bottom of the page if you run the 'man valgrind'
Or look here: http://openports.se/devel/valgrind

This OpenBSD port is still very preliminary and has minimal functionality
(memcheck). All problems should be reported to the "valgrind-openbsd" page:

https://bitbucket.org/uebayasi/valgrind-openbsd/

I think that might be the fastest , easiest route to possible answers, also to let the maintainer know about the problems.
==== edited ====
We posted almost at the same time, any way, there you go.
===== edit again====
Stumbled onto this, from a old thread:

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Please use $ pkg_info valgrind -- the output will describe the limitations of the OpenBSD package, and where to report issues.

[jggimi]

While the MALLOC OPTIONS do not replace valgrind, they provide memory management features which might be helpful during development. See the malloc(3) man page.

[J65nko]

Don't know if it as an alternative, but on FreeBSD valgrind seems to be functional. See https://www.freshports.org/devel/valgrind/

The FreeBSD port of valgrind is mentioned under the "Out Of Tree" section of http://www.valgrind.org/info/platforms.html

[ibara]

Originally Posted by falconhoof

I confirmed that pkg doesn't think I'm missing any dependencies for it using pkg_check, and there doesn't seem to be a glibc issue

Re-reading this, it appears you think that glibc is available on OpenBSD. There is no glibc on OpenBSD (or any *BSD, for that matter).

[falconhoof]

Originally Posted by ibara

Re-reading this, it appears you think that glibc is available on OpenBSD. There is no glibc on OpenBSD (or any *BSD, for that matter).

Thanks. As I mentioned in my first post, I'm very new to the BSD's so I apologize for such a naive assumption. I took the presence of gcc and the possibility of even having valgrind, both very closely associated with glibc, as a indication that it was present. My mistake.

Originally Posted by ibara

This is true. And known. Ask on ports@.

My I hazard a question as to why it's available as a port then? It seems strange to make something available that is known to be completely broken.

Originally Posted by GarryRr

I can't help you at all, but my suggestion would be to try to contact the package maintainer, there should be some information on who, etc. at the bottom of the page if you run the 'man valgrind'

If that's an acceptable action to take in the community, then that sounds like a fine idea. Perhaps the maintainer could even use a helping hand...

Originally Posted by J65nko

Don't know if it as an alternative, but on FreeBSD valgrind seems to be functional. See https://www.freshports.org/devel/valgrind/

My entry into BSD derivatives was inspired by coworker who is a notable advocate of OBSD, and sold me on it to the point that I didn't even consider its siblings/cousins. It also seems a bit hasty to drop an OS entirely for the want of a particular port. However, it would certainly help expand my knowledge of the BSD's in general to play with FreeBSD a bit.

Also, thanks to everyone who responded. I appreciate your help, patience, and understanding.

[ibara]

Originally Posted by falconhoof

My I hazard a question as to why it's available as a port then? It seems strange to make something available that is known to be completely broken.

It worked when it was initially imported and there is hope it will work again.

Originally Posted by falconhoof

If that's an acceptable action to take in the community, then that sounds like a fine idea. Perhaps the maintainer could even use a helping hand...

That would be a great idea. Fair warning if you're too good at maintaining Valgrind on OpenBSD then the job might become yours!