Ubuntu 14.04, gcc 4.8.4: gdb pretty printing doesn't work because of Python issue
Question: I'm getting this error when launching a program in gdb:

    
    
    Using host libthread_db library "/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libthread_db.so.1".
    Traceback (most recent call last):
    File "/usr/share/gdb/auto-load/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libstdc++.so.6.0.19-gdb.py", line 63, in <module>
    from libstdcxx.v6.printers import register_libstdcxx_printers
    ImportError: No module named 'libstdcxx'
    

Google turned up this bug report: <http://osdir.com/ml/debian-
gcc/2014-02/msg00061.html> This bug report list using the command `python
print sys.path` on the gdb prompt. However, when I try to use any python on
the gdb prompt, this happens:

    
    
    (gdb) python print sys.path
    File "<string>", line 1
    print sys.path
            ^
    SyntaxError: invalid syntax
    Error while executing Python code.
    
    (gdb) python print "Hello"
    File "<string>", line 1
    print "HellO"
                ^
    SyntaxError: invalid syntax
    Error while executing Python code.
    

I'm using Ubuntu 14.04 LTS, relevant version information:

    
    
    $ gcc --version
    gcc (Ubuntu 4.8.4-2ubuntu1~14.04) 4.8.4
    $ gdb --version
    GNU gdb (Ubuntu 7.7.1-0ubuntu5~14.04.2) 7.7.1
    $ python --version
    Python 2.7.6
    

Clearly, something in my setup is broken. Is it python, gdb, or something
else?


Answer: I'm posting this as an answer so it will be easier for others to find it. The
comments from Mark Plotnick and webbertiger are the actual answer.

To summarize, here is what worked for me:

  * Created a ~/.gdbinit file
  * Added `python sys.path.append("/usr/share/gcc-4.8/python");` to that file

I'm using Eclipse CDT so I checked that this file is being used in window >
preferences > GDB > GDB command file.

