Hi!
I am running VMWare Fusion 6.0.2 on a MacMini running 10.8.5. The Mac has 16GB memory and a 2.5 GHz Intel Core i5 CPU.
I am debugging a KEXT that is installed on a target VM and am using gdb on the host. Everything works great except that the target stalls at unpredictable points and this requires a reboot. This normally happens when I single-step within a function.
Naturally, once the target stalls, I lose all context of where I was and have to start over...very frustrating.
Based on https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/documentation/Darwin/Conceptual/KEXTConcept/KEXTConceptDebugger/debug_tutorial.html, I know that GDB kernel debug sessions "don't last indefinitely. Because you must halt the target machine's kernel to use GDB, internal inconsistencies may appear that cause the target kernel to panic or hang, forcing you to reboot the target machine".
However, the frequency that I see a stall/hang is pretty lousy. Are other folks running into the same problems with debugging a VM target? Does anyone have any suggestions as to how to reduce the frequency of target stalls during remote kernel debug sessions?
Also, what are people's opinions of using VMWare Fusion for kernel debugging instead of setting up a physical 2-machine debug environment?
Thanks!