Error: you did not specify -i=mi on GDB's command line! in Docker - docker

Question

I need to run gdb inside Docker, and I have a strong preference for the interface provided by emacs.
When doing M-x gdb, I enter "docker-compose -f ~/docker-services/dev/docker-compose.yml exec dev_rhel7 bash -c "gdb -i=mi"", and then it shows me the following message.
Current directory is /home/drcoeurjoly/docker-services/dev/
Error: you did not specify -i=mi on GDB's command line!
WARNING: The MY_UID variable is not set. Defaulting to a blank string.
1-inferior-tty-set /dev/pts/3
2-gdb-set height 0
3-gdb-set non-stop 1
4-enable-pretty-printing
5-file-list-exec-source-files
6-file-list-exec-source-file
7-gdb-show prompt
8-stack-info-frame
9-thread-info
10-break-list
11-thread-info
12-break-list
=thread-group-added,id="i1"
~"GNU gdb (GDB) Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.6.1-114.el7\n"
~"Copyright (C) 2013 Free Software Foundation, Inc.\n"
~"License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html\nThis is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.\nThere is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law. Type \"show copying\"\nand \"show warranty\" for details.\n"
~"This GDB was configured as \"x86_64-redhat-linux-gnu\".\nFor bug reporting instructions, please see:\n"
~"http://www.gnu.org/software/gdb/bugs/.\n"
=cmd-param-changed,param="history save",value="on"
=cmd-param-changed,param="history filename",value="/home/drcoeurjoly/dotfiles/gdb/.gdb_history"
=cmd-param-changed,param="print pretty",value="on"
=cmd-param-changed,param="print object",value="on"
=cmd-param-changed,param="print vtbl",value="on"
=cmd-param-changed,param="demangle-style",value="gnu-v3"
=cmd-param-changed,param="follow-fork-mode",value="child"
=cmd-param-changed,param="detach-on-fork",value="off"
(gdb)
1^done
(gdb)
2^done
(gdb)
3^done
(gdb)
4^done
(gdb)
5^done,files=[]
(gdb)
6^error,msg="No symbol table is loaded. Use the \"file\" command."
(gdb)
7^done,value="(gdb) "
(gdb)
8^error,msg="No registers."
(gdb)
9^done,threads=[]
(gdb)
10^done,BreakpointTable={nr_rows="0",nr_cols="6",hdr=[{width="7",alignment="-1",col_name="number",colhdr="Num"},{width="14",alignment="-1",col_name="type",colhdr="Type"},{width="4",alignment="-1",col_name="disp",colhdr="Disp"},{width="3",alignment="-1",col_name="enabled",colhdr="Enb"},{width="10",alignment="-1",col_name="addr",colhdr="Address"},{width="40",alignment="2",col_name="what",colhdr="What"}],body=[]}
(gdb)
11^done,threads=[]
(gdb)
12^done,BreakpointTable={nr_rows="0",nr_cols="6",hdr=[{width="7",alignment="-1",col_name="number",colhdr="Num"},{width="14",alignment="-1",col_name="type",colhdr="Type"},{width="4",alignment="-1",col_name="disp",colhdr="Disp"},{width="3",alignment="-1",col_name="enabled",colhdr="Enb"},{width="10",alignment="-1",col_name="addr",colhdr="Address"},{width="40",alignment="2",col_name="what",colhdr="What"}],body=[]}
(gdb)
Note that I successfully enter gdb in Docker, since GDB says:
"GNU gdb (GDB) Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.6.1-114.el7\n"
In my host operating system (Debian):
gdb --version
outputs:
GNU gdb (Debian 8.2.1-2+b3) 8.2.1
In Debian, I execute the Docker command:
docker-compose -f ~/docker-services/dev/docker-compose.yml exec dev_rhel7 bash -c "gdb -i=mi"
and I get the machine-oriented text interface.
From the previous test I deduce that it is an issue of emacs, not Docker.
When entering the path of a binary instead of the option -i=mi, it reads the symbols just fine:
M-x gdb RETURN docker-compose -f ~/docker-services/dev/docker-compose.yml exec dev_rhel7 bash -c "gdb ~/babel_sandbox/build/foo"
which outputs:
Current directory is /home/drcoeurjoly/docker-services/dev/
Error: you did not specify -i=mi on GDB's command line!
WARNING: The MY_UID variable is not set. Defaulting to a blank string.
1-inferior-tty-set /dev/pts/3
2-gdb-set height 0
3-gdb-set non-stop 1
4-enable-pretty-printing
5-file-list-exec-source-files
6-file-list-exec-source-file
7-gdb-show prompt
8-stack-info-frame
9-thread-info
10-break-list
11-thread-info
12-break-list
GNU gdb (GDB) Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.6.1-114.el7
Copyright (C) 2013 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.
There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law. Type "show copying"
and "show warranty" for details.
This GDB was configured as "x86_64-redhat-linux-gnu".
For bug reporting instructions, please see:
http://www.gnu.org/software/gdb/bugs/...
Reading symbols from /home/drcoeurjoly/babel_sandbox/build/foo...done.
(gdb) 1-inferior-tty-set /dev/pts/3
Undefined command: "1-inferior-tty-set". Try "help".
(gdb) 2-gdb-set height 0
Undefined command: "2-gdb-set". Try "help".
(gdb) 3-gdb-set non-stop 1
Undefined command: "3-gdb-set". Try "help".
(gdb) 4-enable-pretty-printing
Undefined command: "4-enable-pretty-printing". Try "help".
(gdb) 5-file-list-exec-source-files
Undefined command: "5-file-list-exec-source-files". Try "help".
(gdb) 6-file-list-exec-source-file
Undefined command: "6-file-list-exec-source-file". Try "help".
(gdb) 7-gdb-show prompt
Undefined command: "7-gdb-show". Try "help".
(gdb) 8-stack-info-frame
Undefined command: "8-stack-info-frame". Try "help".
(gdb) 9-thread-info
Undefined command: "9-thread-info". Try "help".
(gdb) 10-break-list
Undefined command: "10-break-list". Try "help".
(gdb) 11-thread-info
Undefined command: "11-thread-info". Try "help".
(gdb) 12-break-list
Undefined command: "12-break-list". Try "help".
(gdb)
I also tried putting the gdb -i=mi inside a script and calling that from emacs, to no avail. Calling directly from bash worked and not from emacs.
Relevant information:
My spacemacs config
foo program used for testing argument passing to gdb in emacs.
I don't know if the dockerfile and docker-compose yml are relevant. If so, I will create a repo.
Versions:
Host:
uname -a
Linux des26 4.19.0-6-amd64 #1 SMP Debian 4.19.67-2+deb10u2 (2019-11-11) x86_64 GNU/Linux
Emacs in host:
emacs --version
GNU Emacs 26.3
GDB in host:
gdb --version
GNU gdb (Debian 8.2.1-2+b3) 8.2.1
Docker in host:
docker --version
Docker version 18.09.1, build 4c52b90
Docker-compose in host:
docker-compose --version
docker-compose version 1.21.0, build unknown
Docker container:
cat /etc/redhat-release
CentOS Linux release 7.5.1804 (Core)
GDB in docker container:
gdb --version
GNU gdb (GDB) Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.6.1-114.el7
This issue was reported by Robert Mecklenburg here and here as early as august 2017.