cstratak reported the following test failure on Fedora 24 when building Python 3.6 with LTO + PGO:

======================================================================
FAIL: test_threads (test.test_gdb.PyBtTests)
Verify that "py-bt" indicates threads that are waiting for the GIL
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/builddir/build/BUILD/Python-3.6.1/Lib/test/test_gdb.py", line 783, in test_threads
    cmds_after_breakpoint=['thread apply all py-bt'])
  File "/builddir/build/BUILD/Python-3.6.1/Lib/test/test_gdb.py", line 218, in get_stack_trace
    self.assertEqual(unexpected_errlines, [])
AssertionError: Lists differ: ["Python Exception <class 'ValueError'> Va[95 chars]nd."] != []
First list contains 2 additional elements.
First extra element 0:
"Python Exception <class 'ValueError'> Variable 'func_obj' not found.: "
+ []
- ["Python Exception <class 'ValueError'> Variable 'func_obj' not found.: ",
-  "Error occurred in Python command: Variable 'func_obj' not found."]
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Full build log

All the dependencies dragged.

gdb is of version 7.11. The failures do not happen with gdb 7.12 (which exists in later Fedora releases).

I created https://github.com/python/cpython/pull/1549 to update test_gdb.py and python-gdb.py in Python 3.6. I don't know if it will fix the issus, but it shouldn't hurt :-)

Note: test_gdb is skipped on later Fedora's actually (possibly due to gdb package no being dragged at the minimal buildroot) so the issue might still be there, so the gdb version might have no effect on that. Will investigate further.

So the issue wasn't restricted to a specific gdb version or distro release, as due to some issues dependency issues the gdb binary wasn't pulled in the buildroot which makes test_gdb to get skipped.

So I was able to reproduce it on my system by installing gdb (version 7.12.1), compiling python 3.6 from sources with
--enable-optimizations and --with-lto flags enabled and running 'make test'

Also applied the relevant PR however it didn't fix the issue.

Attaching the full log of 'make test'

New changeset d05f7fdf6cf77724bd3064fb5a0846ef5cfe0c88 by Victor Stinner in branch '3.6':
[3.6] bpo-30345: Update test_gdb.py and python-gdb.py from master (#1549)
https://github.com/python/cpython/commit/d05f7fdf6cf77724bd3064fb5a0846ef5cfe0c88

I rebuilt my python-3.6.1 with the path (https://github.com/python/cpython/commit/d05f7fdf6cf77724bd3064fb5a0846ef5cfe0c88) and tried debugging again -- same problem:

% gdb7121 /opt/bin/python3.6
...
(gdb) r SCRIPT.py
Thread 1 received signal SIGSEGV, Segmentation fault.
...
(gdb) py-bt
Python Exception <type 'exceptions.ValueError'> Variable 'func_obj' not found.: 
Error occurred in Python command: Variable 'func_obj' not found.

The actual stack, which I'm trying to debug, begins like this:

#0  0xbfbfd34e in ?? ()
#1  0x2a9ec81e in ?? () from /opt/lib/qt5/libQt5WebKit.so.5
#2  0x2acf0efe in ?? () from /opt/lib/qt5/libQt5WebKit.so.5
#3  0x2acd8b74 in ?? () from /opt/lib/qt5/libQt5WebKit.so.5
#4  0x2acd5d60 in ?? () from /opt/lib/qt5/libQt5WebKit.so.5
#5  0x2acd87ae in ?? () from /opt/lib/qt5/libQt5WebKit.so.5
#6  0x2a9fe2e3 in QWebFrameAdapter::load(QNetworkRequest const&, QNetworkAccessManager::Operation, QByteArray const&) () from /opt/lib/qt5/libQt5WebKit.so.5
#7  0x2d7a18dd in QWebFrame::setUrl(QUrl const&) () from /opt/lib/qt5/libQt5WebKitWidgets.so.5
#8  0x2d7ad5eb in QWebView::setUrl(QUrl const&) () from /opt/lib/qt5/libQt5WebKitWidgets.so.5
#9  0x2d75efd4 in meth_QWebView_setUrl(_object*, _object*) ()
   from /opt/lib/python3.6/site-packages/PyQt5/QtWebKitWidgets.so
#10 0x28125151 in _PyCFunction_FastCallDict () from /opt/lib/libpython3.6m.so.1.0
#11 0x28125326 in _PyCFunction_FastCallKeywords () from /opt/lib/libpython3.6m.so.1.0
#12 0x2819a458 in ?? () from /opt/lib/libpython3.6m.so.1.0
#13 0x28193ab2 in _PyEval_EvalFrameDefault () from /opt/lib/libpython3.6m.so.1.0
#14 0x2819b790 in ?? () from /opt/lib/libpython3.6m.so.1.0
#15 0x2819a425 in ?? () from /opt/lib/libpython3.6m.so.1.0
#16 0x28193ab2 in _PyEval_EvalFrameDefault () from /opt/lib/libpython3.6m.so.1.0
[...]

Maybe, it is "too deep" into the native (not Python) code for the feature to work?

It seems that commit (https://github.com/python/cpython/commit/c52572319cbd50adff85050a54122c25239a516d) changed the parameter name in the definition of _PyCFunction_FastCallDict().  I believe that changing 'func_obj' to just 'func' should fix it (in Tools/gdb/libpython.py).

So, I tried the modified patch (see http://aldan.algebra.com/~mi/tmp/patch-issue30345) -- and now I simply get a different variable name in the error-message:

(gdb) py-bt
Python Exception <type 'exceptions.ValueError'> Variable 'func' not found.: 
Error occurred in Python command: Variable 'func' not found.

However, the older version of the patch only referenced "func_obj" in test_gdb.py -- not in libpython.py -- so I may have misunderstood Jeremy's suggestion entirely...

LTO may break the debug symbols and make GDB unusable.
There is an option, that fixes the issue: to use a -g switch in link flags.
Note that this slows loading of the debug symbols significantly.

I suggest these options as possible approaches:

1) make the configure script include -g in LDFLAGS when --enable-optimizations and --with-lto are used

2) same as 1), but only when --with-pydebug is also used.

3) document this problem and make the user aware that this possible fix (-g in link flags) exists

> - ["Python Exception <class 'ValueError'> Variable 'func_obj' not found.: ",

bpo-32962: My commit 019d33b7a447e78057842332fb5d3bad01922122 "python-gdb catchs ValueError on read_var()" (PR 7692) catches this ValueError.

Yes, but that is not a fix really in this case.
While it makes the test pass because it 'correctly' prints out unknown objects, it makes no real difference when actually debugging. The -g switch at link time makes the debug symbols readable and user is able to debug just as usual.

I tested on the current master:

git clean -fdx
./configure --with-lto --enable-optimizations
sed -i -e 's/^PROFILE_TASK=.*/PROFILE_TASK=-c pass/' Makefile
make 2>&1|tee log

Python is compiled twice:

* (1) gcc -DNDEBUG -g -O3 -flto -fprofile-generate (...)
* (2) gcc -DNDEBUG -g -O3 -flto -fprofile-use (...)

I see -g in both compilation steps.

It seems like debug symbols are still here:

vstinner@apu$ file ./python
./python: ELF 64-bit LSB executable, x86-64, (...), with debug_info, not stripped

But I confirm that test_gdb fails when using LTO+PGO.

gdb seems to be to read any C function argument:

$ gdb -args  ./python Lib/test/gdb_sample.py
(gdb) b builtin_id
(gdb) run
Breakpoint 1, 0x0000000000518da0 in builtin_id ()
(gdb) py-bt
Traceback (most recent call first):
  (unable to read python frame information)
  (unable to read python frame information)
  (unable to read python frame information)
  (unable to read python frame information)

Those -g switches you see there are during compile-time.
For this to work, you need to enable it also during link/time:
./configure --enable-optimizations --with-lto LDFLAGS="-g"

Except for py-bt, you should also try bt. With this link flag enabled, I can observe significant slowdown on my machine during the backtrace when using bt command (At least when I let the PGO do all the profiling, when compiled with the sed edit you posted here, I observe none).

> Except for py-bt, you should also try bt.

Oh. Using PGO+LTO but without LDFLAGS=-g, bt only shows me function names: all arguments are missing.

I tested with LDFLAGS=-g: py-bt and bt work as expected, and test_gdb pass.

I created PR 7709 to always compile Python with LDFLAGS=-g.

Very interesting article about PGO and LTO changes in GCC:
https://hubicka.blogspot.com/2018/06/gcc-8-link-time-and-interprocedural.html

See "Early debug info" paragraph.

New changeset 06fe77a84bd29d51506ab2ff703ae585a6121af2 by Victor Stinner in branch 'master':
bpo-30345: Add -g to LDFLAGS for LTO (GH-7709)
https://github.com/python/cpython/commit/06fe77a84bd29d51506ab2ff703ae585a6121af2

Ok, I pushed a change to the master branch. Now the question is if Python 2.7, 3.6 and 3.7 should be fixed as well?

I will wait at least one day to see if buildbots are happy.

I created backports to 2.7, 3.6 and 3.7 branches: do you see any reason to not fix python-gdb.py in these branches? (Any reason to not add -g to $LTOFLAGS?)

New changeset 1bb9dd337ed5aa9eafc8e2ce017ceedf044145e3 by Victor Stinner (Miss Islington (bot)) in branch '3.7':
bpo-30345: Add -g to LDFLAGS for LTO (GH-7709) (GH-7824)
https://github.com/python/cpython/commit/1bb9dd337ed5aa9eafc8e2ce017ceedf044145e3

New changeset 78392885c9b08021c89649728053d31503d8a509 by Victor Stinner in branch '3.6':
bpo-30345: Add -g to LDFLAGS for LTO (GH-7709) (GH-7826)
https://github.com/python/cpython/commit/78392885c9b08021c89649728053d31503d8a509

New changeset 319cfb5f30c2f5da0cdcd556574727ca347cb7de by Victor Stinner in branch '2.7':
bpo-30345: Add -g to LDFLAGS for LTO (GH-7709) (GH-7825)
https://github.com/python/cpython/commit/319cfb5f30c2f5da0cdcd556574727ca347cb7de

> I created backports to 2.7, 3.6 and 3.7 branches: do you see any reason to not fix python-gdb.py in these branches? (Any reason to not add -g to $LTOFLAGS?)

Honestly, the risk is very low: only "./configure --with-lto" is impacted and the addition of -g is protected by $ac_cv_prog_cc_g in configure. The -g flag just asks to copy debug symbols, it should not impact compiler performances.
0
Anyway, if something goes wrong, obviously we can revert the change and see for a different fix.

Thanks cstratak for the bug report, and thanks Marcel Plch for the proposed fix (it works well)!

New changeset 21cfae107e410bf4b0ab3c142ca4449bc33290f5 by Inada Naoki in branch 'master':
bpo-30345: travis: use -Og with --with-pydebug (GH-14423)
https://github.com/python/cpython/commit/21cfae107e410bf4b0ab3c142ca4449bc33290f5

I think test_gdb is useful for 3.8 branch because some PEP 590 relating changes will be backported to it.
But I don't know how test_gdb is useful for older branches.

New changeset 60f24b23bf6ac485d195bb904635bdc3fe646b07 by Miss Islington (bot) in branch '3.8':
bpo-30345: travis: use -Og with --with-pydebug (GH-14423)
https://github.com/python/cpython/commit/60f24b23bf6ac485d195bb904635bdc3fe646b07

I'm fine with relying on buildbots for test_gdb on Python 3.7 and older. Thanks for the fixes.