gdb fails to run ELF 64-bit program with “File format not recognized”

Question

I\'m trying to use GDB to debug (to find an annoying segfault). When I run:

gdb ./filename

from the command line, I get the following error:

Answer 1

What you need to be checking, is really the bfd library. The binary file descriptor library is what binutils / gdb uses to actually parse and handle binaries (ELF/a.out etc..).

You can see the current supported platforms via objdump;

# objdump -H

objdump: supported targets: elf32-powerpc aixcoff-rs6000 elf32-powerpcle ppcboot elf64-powerpc elf64-powerpcle elf64-little elf64-big elf32-little elf32-big srec symbolsrec tekhex binary ihex
objdump: supported architectures: rs6000:6000 rs6000:rs1 rs6000:rsc rs6000:rs2 powerpc:common powerpc:common64 powerpc:603 powerpc:EC603e powerpc:604 powerpc:403 powerpc:601 powerpc:620 powerpc:630 powerpc:a35 powerpc:rs64ii powerpc:rs64iii powerpc:7400 powerpc:e500 powerpc:MPC8XX powerpc:750

The following PPC specific disassembler options are supported for use with
the -M switch:
  booke|booke32|booke64    Disassemble the BookE instructions
  e300                     Disassemble the e300 instructions
  e500|e500x2              Disassemble the e500 instructions
  efs                      Disassemble the EFS instructions
  power4                   Disassemble the Power4 instructions
  power5                   Disassemble the Power5 instructions
  power6                   Disassemble the Power6 instructions
  32                       Do not disassemble 64-bit instructions
  64                       Allow disassembly of 64-bit instructions