Why can't I step into a C++ cout standard library function in GDB?

Question

I wrote a simple test.cc as follows:

#include 
using namespace std;

int main()
{
  cout << \"Hello world\" << endl;         


        

Answer 1

Without the debugging information it's still possible to debug it, just a whole lot more painful. See here.

If like me, you just want to break on other calls to the same function without digging any deeper, it's not too difficult to set a breakpoint on the function address obtained from the disassembly with disas.

Answer 2

If it wasn't linked against a version of the standard library with debugging information, it doesn't know how to step into the library; it can only step over it (that is, run until control returns to the code with the debugging information).

Consult the documentation for your system to find out how to install the debug version of the standard C and C++ libraries.