cannot load runtime-gdb.py

I'm trying to debug a program written using Go inside eclipse. I can set and hit breakpoints pretty consistently, but I cannot view the contents of my variables. When I start debugging the program, I always get the following error on my console.

warning: File "/usr/local/go/src/pkg/runtime/runtime-gdb.py" auto-loading has been declined by your `auto-load safe-path' set to "$debugdir:$datadir/auto-load".
To enable execution of this file add
add-auto-load-safe-path /usr/local/go/src/pkg/runtime/runtime-gdb.py
line to your configuration file "/home/johnlawrie/.gdbinit".
To completely disable this security protection add
set auto-load safe-path /
line to your configuration file "/home/johnlawrie/.gdbinit".
For more information about this security protection see the
"Auto-loading safe path" section in the GDB manual. E.g., run from the shell:
info "(gdb)Auto-loading safe path"

Thinking that the problem might be due to the error message, I put the entry into my .gdbinit file as instructed. However, I get the same message every time I run as if I did nothing at all. This is the contents of my /home/johnlawrie/.gdbinit file

add-auto-load-safe-path /usr/local/go/src/pkg/runtime/runtime-gdb.py

Any ideas what I need to do to make this change take effect? I have tried logged off and back in.

Thanks,
John Lawrie

It did learn what was happening. When gdb is started from Eclipse/CDT, it is started with option -nx, which means it doesn't load .gdbinit in the home directory.

I was able to get this to work by creating a .gdbinit file as a peer to the src, bin, and pkg directories in my workspace and adding the following line to it

set auto-load safe-path /usr/local/go/

It should be add-auto-load-safe-path /usr/local/go/src/pkg/, not the path to the script.

Also keep in mind that gdb doesn't really work with Go, specially v1.3.

From http://golang.org/doc/gdb:

> GDB does not understand Go programs well. The stack management,
> threading, and runtime contain aspects that differ enough from the
> execution model GDB expects that they can confuse the debugger, even
> when the program is compiled with gccgo. As a consequence, although
> GDB can be useful in some situations, it is not a reliable debugger
> for Go programs, particularly heavily concurrent ones. Moreover, it is
> not a priority for the Go project to address these issues, which are
> difficult. In short, the instructions below should be taken only as a
> guide to how to use GDB when it works, not as a guarantee of success.