Back in June, while working on a Rust project, I had the unfortunate opportunity to stumble upon a very obscure bug in a dependency. The bug didn't occur in the debug build target at all, only the release target. And even then, the bug didn't present itself 100%. It hovered between 10-50%.

I'll cover the obstacles I encountered, the tools I used, and how I applied them. This story involves Rust stable 1.18 and nightly 1.19 along with GDB 8.0 and reverse debugger (rr) 4.5.0.

What Am I Developing?

A customer of mine uses open-source software to manage their inventory and organize the inventory with an unorthodox method. Searching with MySQL queries against multiple fields scattered across a few tables has slowed to a crawl (10-60 seconds) as the size of their inventory grew. On top of that, the search results lacked any scoring and many results were irrelevant.

So I decided to solve this problem--once and for all!!... perhaps--by writing a custom fuzzy search daemon that will periodically fetch the searchable data from the database and cache it, then allow the inventory software to exchange search terms for a much shorter list of relevant search results.

I chose Rust to program the daemon, and in anticipation for orchestrating the many tasks that will be incorporated--most of which are input/output (IO) bound--I settled on using tokio async framework along with the mysql_async crate which provides a database API utilizing tokio.

I created an initial proof of concept (POC) by rewriting my favorite fuzzy search program with a scoring algorithm relevant to my needs. Search data was exported from the customer's database and placed in a CSV file to avoid the complexity of database programming at this stage. Testing the fuzzy search showed it performed abysmally with the debug target (upward of 5-10 seconds to match and score against 100k candidates), while the release target operated between 11-30 milliseconds. Also promising is that the search data used with this POC only consumed 2.5 MB.

The Symptom

How I found this bug is a story itself, and demonstrates why monopolizing testing against a debug target may postpone disaster until you near the end of a project. I prefer to identify bugs as early as possible via spot testing so troubleshooting has less code to suspect.

As I add new features (e.g. config file, DB support, HTTP interface, endpoints, etc), I'll test mostly against the debug target, and before moving on to another feature, I'll check the release target to ensure performance hasn't dropped significantly.

It was during this release target test for the database addition that mysql_async first reported a PacketOutOfOrder error. I retested a dozen times or so and found the error occurred frequently, but not every time.

▶ DSN=mysql://testbot:testbot@192.168.0.162/fake_data RUST_LOG=bug_test_01=debug ./target/release/bug-test-01 DEBUG:bug_test_01: running thread 'main' panicked at 'error resolving future: Error(PacketOutOfOrder, State { next_error: None, backtrace: None })', src/libcore/result.rs:859 note: Run with `RUST_BACKTRACE=1` for a backtrace.

This is a problem. A single query will pull megabytes of data from the MySQL server and cache that information to facilitate fast searches. The application can't frequently fail to pull megabytes of data and retry without putting unwanted load on the network and database. I must understand why the application runs flawlessly on the slow debug target, but not on the blazingly fast release target.

The game is afoot.

First Steps

A long time ago, I eschewed Windows in favor of Linux. Over the years, I discarded integrated development environments (IDEs) and their difficult build systems, opinionated project layouts, *cough* and lack of Vim keybindings *cough*. I've much enjoyed the command-line and its versatility and the development tools that live there.

Except the Gnu debugger (GDB). It has been my Kryptonite when debugging programs and it's typically a last resort. I just haven't paid the technical debt to master it, or for the matter use it proficiently.

So my first-pick method for determining what my program is doing versus what it should be doing is print statements. Since the error originated from mysql_async, I cloned the crate locally and modified it to print the MySQL packet sequence ID it found before the error.

diff --git a/src/conn/futures/read_packet.rs b/src/conn/futures/read_packet.rs index 33719f0..ea5fe58 100644 --- a/src/conn/futures/read_packet.rs +++ b/src/conn/futures/read_packet.rs @@ -46,6 +46,7 @@ impl Future for ReadPacket { let packet = { let conn = self.conn.as_mut().unwrap(); if conn.seq_id != seq_id { + debug!("packet out of order. found {}, expected {}", seq_id, conn.seq_id); return Err(ErrorKind::PacketOutOfOrder.into()); } conn.stream = Some(stream);

The output from a test run confirmed the sequence did break (expected 98, found 221), and after a few more test runs, I found the error never occurs at the same MySQL packet. Is my program receiving garbage from my database, or is it buggy?

▶ DSN=mysql://testbot:testbot@192.168.0.162/fake_data RUST_LOG=bug_test_01=debug,mysql_async=debug ./target/release/bug-test-01 DEBUG:bug_test_01: running ...connection handshake and query submission... DEBUG:mysql_async::proto: Last seq id 1 DEBUG:mysql_async::proto: Last seq id 2 DEBUG:mysql_async::proto: Last seq id 3 DEBUG:mysql_async::proto: Last seq id 4 DEBUG:mysql_async::proto: Last seq id 5 DEBUG:mysql_async::proto: Last seq id 6 DEBUG:mysql_async::proto: Last seq id 7 DEBUG:mysql_async::proto: Last seq id 8 DEBUG:mysql_async::proto: Last seq id 9 DEBUG:mysql_async::proto: Last seq id 10 ...sequence of repeating ids from 0 to 255... DEBUG:mysql_async::proto: Last seq id 217 DEBUG:mysql_async::proto: Last seq id 218 DEBUG:mysql_async::proto: Last seq id 219 DEBUG:mysql_async::proto: Last seq id 220 DEBUG:mysql_async::proto: Last seq id 221 DEBUG:mysql_async::proto: Last seq id 98 DEBUG:mysql_async::conn::futures::read_packet: packet out of order. found 98, expected 221 thread 'main' panicked at 'error resolving future: Error(PacketOutOfOrder, State { next_error: None, backtrace: None })', src/libcore/result.rs:859 note: Run with `RUST_BACKTRACE=1` for a backtrace.

I previously used my MySQL 5.5 database server extensively for a variety of tests in the past without issue, so I'm not inclined to suspect it suddenly broke. But I don't like uncertainty hovering over my shoulder when I'm trying to troubleshoot. It has a tendency to accumulate. Besides, a quick network packet analysis with Wireshark should confirm whether the problem is in my application or beyond my network interface card (NIC). Yep. Just a quick analysis....

Turns out Wireshark has nifty dissectors that will parse protocols within protocols. It has one for MySQL! And it found a malformed MySQL packet! Whew, am I glad the cause isn't some random intermittent behavior in my program, because I wasn't looking forward to that bug hunt at all.

I've come to learn that a thorough attention to detail is essential to troubleshoot productively. Always look at your results from different angles and verify they are all in accord.

So back to Wireshark I go. I should be able to cross reference the last sequence ID from my print statements against the Wireshark packet capture. The packet prior to the malformed packet has a sequence ID of 193 while my print statements claim it parsed sequence ID 101 before finding 52. I also get malformed MySQL packets in Wireshark when the test run succeeds. This is "no bueno". So much for quick. Jinxed again.

# Ouput corresponding to Wireshark capture screenshot. ▶ DSN=mysql://testbot:testbot@192.168.0.162/fake_data RUST_LOG=bug_test_01=debug,mysql_async=debug ./target/release/bug-test-01 ... DEBUG:mysql_async::proto: Last seq id 100 DEBUG:mysql_async::proto: Last seq id 101 DEBUG:mysql_async::proto: Last seq id 52 DEBUG:mysql_async::conn::futures::read_packet: packet out of order. found 52, expected 102 thread 'main' panicked at 'error resolving future: Error(PacketOutOfOrder, State { next_error: None, backtrace: None })', src/libcore/result.rs:859

At this point in my story, I took a long detour to debug Wireshark's MySQL dissector. I won't go into the details. I reported the bug, found a work-around, recompiled Wireshark with a patch, and was back in business. No more malformed MySQL packets.

Afterwards, I captured all the MySQL packets until my program reset the TCP connection to the database. Wireshark shows all the sequence IDs are in order now... repeatedly. I think it's safe to say my network hardware is functioning properly along with the database. But for good measure, I tested against a spare MariaDB 10.1.21 database, and the application still suffers from PacketOutOfOrder .

Note that this entire time I reran a single SQL query against one dataset, so every query execution should transfer identical data from the database.

At this point, my application fails at random points while parsing the SQL packets. I'm certain the failure occurs on the same instruction[s], just at a different iteration of some loop executing that instruction. I could switch to a debugger and stop at this random point with a breakpoint on the code that noticed the mismatched sequence ID, but there's a couple problems with heading in this direction now:

I have to backtrack from this random point. I'm not familiar with GDB's reverse debugging (running the program backwards), so I'd rather not rely on it at this point. Without reverse debugging, I need the cause of the problem to be in the program stack when I hit the breakpoint. Since I'm using futures to write asynchronous code, there's a good chance the cause is no longer on the program stack. I'm debugging an optimized release target. The optimizations can prevent GDB from accessing variables (i.e. print var ). They also reorder instructions and program follows a different order of execution than the source code presents. The release target has no debugging information. This prevents GDB from matching the assembly code to my source code. Later, I found that Rust can build release targets with debugging information. Just add the following to your Cargo.toml [3]. [profile.release] debug = true

Let's try to get ahead of that point in the program when it runs awry.

What is the MySQL Parser Doing?

The MySQL protocol starts out rather simple. A four-byte header holds a three-byte length and a one-byte sequence ID. The header is followed by length bytes of data. The data must be parsed at some point, but I can ignore that in this case. The data contains rows of the result set for the SELECT query I run. At the point my application fails, the data section does not influence parsing the MySQL packets.

I added some extra print statements to mysql_async's code that parsed the network data into MySQL packets give me a brief play-by-play description of its process to answer questions like:

When does it start on a new packet? When is it waiting on bytes for the header? When does it have the header and what values did it find? When does it get the data?

With three, maybe four, print statements the error disappears. Remove those print statements, the error returns. Add them, the error vanishes. This bug appears to be a race condition. Those print statements delay the parsing loop just long enough that the bug cannot manifest itself. This severely hampers my ability to generate clues.

Using one or two print statements to collect information isn't effective when the bug presents at random points in the execution path. Stepping forward through the application with GDB will certainly delay the execution and prevent the race condition from manifesting. I wasn't sure sure how to debug this further, so I asked for help.

A Short, Self Contained, Correct Example

Asking for programming/debugging advice is fraught with peril. Provide too few details, and the person trying to help must fill in the blanks using their imagination or ask 20+ questions. The former leads to a thread of confusion and irrelevant solutions to similar-but-different problems. The latter can quickly cascade into a waste of everyone's time. It helps to imagine someone else is asking you to help solve the problem, and consider what information you would need from them.

On the other, hand providing too much information can make the problem difficult to understand or identify. The wise sages of the internet love nothing more than to impart the correct knowledge with the least fuss.

To this end, the short, self contained, correct example (SSCCE) is a terrific tool that demonstrates the problem, and allows intrepid programmers to fully understand the task at hand; find a specific, pertinent solution; and test their solution works before submission.

It's also often the case that in generating an SSCCE (or a very detailed question), I stumble upon the answer myself before any question is presented. Do not underestimate the utility of this exercise, no matter how tedious.

One additional benefit of an SSCCE is that it's small and quicker to compile than a large application. When you're poking and prodding the source code to see what effect that has, short compile times matter.

By the time I post my SSCCE on github, I stripped away all my application code and what is left is a how to use example from the mysql_async README. My code is no longer suspect. But how far down my software stack do I have to go to chase this bug?

Presenting the Reverse Debugger

On the Rust user forum, @inejge recommended I try rr. It's a nifty bit of software that records the traffic between your program and the outside world by intercepting syscalls. rr then integrates with GDB to allow you to replay a recording (henceforth referred to as trace) in forward or reverse. There's a chance rr may add too much overhead to my application and prevent the race condition, but this will be fantastic if it works.

After installing rr, creating a trace is simply rr record <program> . It took a few tries, but I managed to capture a trace with the PacketOutOrder error!

# Ouput corresponding to Wireshark capture screenshot. ▶ DSN=mysql://testbot:testbot@192.168.0.162/fake_data RUST_LOG=bug_test_01=debug,mysql_async=debug rr record ./target/release/bug-test-01 ... DEBUG:mysql_async::proto: Last seq id 255 DEBUG:mysql_async::proto: Last seq id 0 DEBUG:mysql_async::proto: Last seq id 1 DEBUG:mysql_async::proto: Last seq id 2 DEBUG:mysql_async::proto: Last seq id 3 DEBUG:mysql_async::proto: Last seq id 101 DEBUG:mysql_async::conn::futures::read_packet: packet out of order. found 101, expected 3 thread 'main' panicked at 'error resolving future: Error(PacketOutOfOrder, State { next_error: None, backtrace: None })', src/libcore/result.rs:859

I still wanted to get ahead of the error before I dive into GDB. So, after trying one print statement in a few spots, I settled on this one.

diff --git a/src/io/mod.rs b/src/io/mod.rs index 05d7b8b..c55c75c 100644 --- a/src/io/mod.rs +++ b/src/io/mod.rs @@ -146,6 +146,7 @@ impl stream::Stream for Stream { new_packet }, ParseResult::Incomplete(mut new_packet, needed) => { + debug!("data needs {} bytes", needed); let buf_handle = self.buf.as_mut().unwrap(); let buf_len = buf_handle.len(); for byte in buf_handle.drain(..cmp::min(needed, buf_len)) { diff --git a/src/proto.rs b/src/proto.rs index 109beac..b0321a0 100644 --- a/src/proto.rs +++ b/src/proto.rs @@ -304,7 +304,7 @@ impl NewPacket { } else { let length = u24_le(&*self.header).unwrap(); self.last_seq_id = self.header[3]; - debug!("Last seq id {}", self.last_seq_id); + //debug!("Last seq id {}", self.last_seq_id); self.header.clear(); if length == 0 { return ParseResult::Done(Packet { payload: self.data }, self.last_seq_id);

Take a quick peek at the output below. When the SSCCE veers off the track, it runs through 287 more iterations of the parsing loop before the PacketOutOfOrder error occurs. That's a whole mess of code I don't have to step over backwards, and further, I'm now confident I haven't missed some detail lurking in that mess. Even better, that needed variable jumps over 1000 consistently. I can set a conditional breakpoint in GDB to stop when needed > 1000 .

▶ DSN=mysql://testbot:testbot@192.168.0.162/fake_data RUST_LOG=bug_test_01=debug,mysql_async=debug rr record ./target/release/bug-test-01 ...hundreds of lines needing < 500 bytes DEBUG:mysql_async::io: data needs 93 bytes DEBUG:mysql_async::io: data needs 105 bytes DEBUG:mysql_async::io: data needs 109 bytes DEBUG:mysql_async::io: data needs 113 bytes DEBUG:mysql_async::io: data needs 80 bytes DEBUG:mysql_async::io: data needs 96 bytes DEBUG:mysql_async::io: data needs 82 bytes ...and boom!... DEBUG:mysql_async::io: data needs 3420429 bytes DEBUG:mysql_async::io: data needs 3350929 bytes DEBUG:mysql_async::io: data needs 3350929 bytes ...284 lines needing > 1000 bytes, and then a problem is detected... DEBUG:mysql_async::conn::futures::read_packet: packet out of order. found 50, expected 93 thread 'main' panicked at 'error resolving future: Error(PacketOutOfOrder, State { next_error: None, backtrace: None })', src/libcore/result.rs:859

I want to take a quick moment to point out a detail I missed. From the start, I wanted to determine why the packet out of order error occurs. But I failed to notice here that the answer depends on another question: why does the parser read a header with an invalid length field of 3420429 bytes, yet the same header contains a sequence ID that was not out of order? Had I not missed this detail, I would not later develop suspicions that the Rust optimizer might contain an obscure bug.

Enter GDB - Preparation

Now I'm ready fire up GDB. It's as simple as rr replay to open the latest trace in GDB. On ArchLinux, rr traces are stored in $HOME/.local/share/rr (I have no idea why they aren't in $HOME/.cache/rr per the XDG spec) If you want to open an earlier replay, you can use rr replay $HOME/.local/share/rr/<trace dir> to specify a particular trace.

I'm not a fluent reader assembly code, let alone translating assembly back into Rust. I wanted GDB to match the assembly with the source code that generated it. For that, I must tell GDB where to find my Rust source code and the mysql_async fork I modified. I'll let the current working folder of my project establish where that source code can be found.

Let's make sure I have the Rust source code on my machine.

▶ rustup component list | grep src rust-src (installed)

If rust-src had not appeared, rustup component add rust-src will download and install the Rust source files. I highly recommend rustup if you're not already using it.

Inside GDB, I updated its search path.

GDB> directory /home/boxofrox/.config/rustup/toolchains/stable-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/lib/rustlib/src/rust/ GDB> directory /home/boxofrox/files/development/rust/crates/mysql_async

There's one small snag, though. The debugging info in the application binary says the Rust source code is under a root folder of /checkout . This is easily fixed with the substitute-path setting.

GDB> set substitute-path /checkout/src /src GDB> show substitute-path List of all source path substitution rules: `/checkout/src' -> `/src'.

The last thing I set up was gdb-dashboard. This amazing piece of software expands the usability of GDB to new horizons. Throw in the Pygments python library ( pip install Pygments ), and GDB starts to rival the fancy IDEs I left behind.

Now with that taken care of, it's time to start debugging.

Assembly, Out-of-order Execution, and Optimized Variables. Hoorah.

The area of code I focused on begins with line 149 in src/io/mod.rs of mysql_async v0.9.3 as shown below.

131 let next_packet = match next_packet { 132 ParseResult:: Done ( packet , seq_id ) => { 133 self .next_packet = Some ( NewPacket:: empty ( ) . parse ( ) ) ; 134 return Ok ( Ready ( Some ( ( packet , seq_id ) ) ) ) ; 135 } , 136 ParseResult:: NeedHeader ( mut new_packet , needed ) => { 137 let buf_handle = self .buf. as_mut ( ) . unwrap ( ) ; 138 let buf_len = buf_handle. len ( ) ; 139 for byte in buf_handle. drain ( .. cmp:: min ( needed , buf_len ) ) { 140 new_packet. push_header ( byte ) ; 141 } 142 if buf_len ! = 0 { 143 should_poll = true ; 144 } 145 146 new_packet 147 } , 148 ParseResult:: Incomplete ( mut new_packet , needed ) => { 149 debug! ( " data needs {} bytes " , needed ) ; 150 let buf_handle = self .buf. as_mut ( ) . unwrap ( ) ; 151 let buf_len = buf_handle. len ( ) ; 152 for byte in buf_handle. drain ( .. cmp:: min ( needed , buf_len ) ) { 153 new_packet. push ( byte ) ; 154 } 155 if buf_len ! = 0 { 156 should_poll = true ; 157 } 158 159 new_packet 160 } , 161 } ;

The first order of business was to set the conditional breakpoint, run the program, and break execution on line 149.

GDB> breakpoint src/io/mod.rs:149 if needed > 1000 GDB> continue DEBUG:bug_test_01: running DEBUG:mysql_async::proto: Last seq id 0 Error in testing breakpoint condition: value has been optimized out

Value has been optimized out?! Curses. The value that would otherwise have a permanent residence in some memory location named needed with a debug target, is now a vagrant wandering between CPU registers and the program stack. This is one of the hassles I dealt with. The other was out-of-order execution. Converting my source code to machine code in the precise order I wrote the code doesn't maximize the performance of the CPU. The compiler will rearrange instructions so long as the behavior of my program doesn't change, and I can worry more about my source code making sense while the compiler worries about the performance aspect.

Due to the optimization error, my breakpoint is no longer conditional, but it still breaks on line 149. The assembly below is GDB's AT&T-flavored assembly. Instructions are written as OPCODE SRC DEST . If you prefer Intel-flavored assembly, there's a setting [1] [2] for that, too.

─── Assembly ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── 0x000056066b1aad5c ? ja 0x56066b1aade5 < mysql_async:: io:: :: poll + 1557 > 0x000056066b1aad62 ? mov % r8 , % rbx 0x000056066b1aad65 ? lea - 0x168 ( % rbp ) , % rax > 0x000056066b1aad6c ? mov % rax , - 0x1d0 ( % rbp ) | 0x000056066b1aad73 ? lea 0xd1306 ( % rip ) , % rax # 0x56066b27c080 < core:: fmt:: num:: :: fmt > | 0x000056066b1aad7a ? mov % rax , - 0x1c8 ( % rbp ) 0x000056066b1aad81 ? lea 0x364df8 ( % rip ) , % rax # 0x56066b50fb80 < ref .ad > ─── Source ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── 144 } 145 146 new_packet 147 } , 148 ParseResult:: Incomplete ( mut new_packet , needed ) => { > 149 debug! ( " data needs {} bytes " , needed ) ; 150 let buf_handle = self .buf. as_mut ( ) . unwrap ( ) ; 151 let buf_len = buf_handle. len ( ) ; 152 for byte in buf_handle. drain ( .. cmp:: min ( needed , buf_len ) ) { 153 new_packet. push ( byte ) ; 154 }

I have no idea what that assembly is doing. Evaluating self , self.buf , .as_mut() , .unwrap() ? I'll likely never know and half those possibilities are probably invalid thanks to Rust's zero-cost abstractions, which I am happy to have.

But let's not get off track. I need to find where needed 's value is hiding at this moment in the program. Around line 149 (o'clock), I should always find it in the same place. Let's backtrack to line 148.

GDB > reverse - next 149 debug! ( " data needs {} bytes " , needed ) ; GDB > reverse - next 148 ParseResult:: Incomplete ( mut new_packet , needed ) => { ─── Assembly ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── 0x000056066b1aace4 ? mov % rcx , - 0x40 ( % rbp ) > 0x000056066b1aace8 ? mov % r13 , - 0x100 ( % rbp ) | 0x000056066b1aace8 ? mov % r13 , - 0x100 ( % rbp ) | 0x000056066b1aacef ? mov % r12 , - 0xf8 ( % rbp ) | 0x000056066b1aacf6 ? mov % r8 , - 0xf0 ( % rbp ) | 0x000056066b1aacfd ? mov % rbx , - 0xe8 ( % rbp ) | 0x000056066b1aad04 ? mov - 0x58 ( % rbp ) , % rax | 0x000056066b1aad08 ? mov % rax , - 0xe0 ( % rbp ) | 0x000056066b1aad0f ? mov - 0x68 ( % rbp ) , % rax | 0x000056066b1aad13 ? mov % rax , - 0xd8 ( % rbp ) | 0x000056066b1aad1a ? movdqa - 0x1c0 ( % rbp ) , % xmm0 | 0x000056066b1aad22 ? movdqa % xmm0 , - 0xd0 ( % rbp ) | 0x000056066b1aad2a ? mov % r14 , - 0x168 ( % rbp ) 0x000056066b1aad31 ? lea 0x38f880 ( % rip ) , % rax # 0x56066b53a5b8 < _ZN3log20MAX_LOG_LEVEL_FILTER17he494f5e9534fe154E > ─── Source ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── 144 } 145 146 new_packet 147 } , > 148 ParseResult:: Incomplete ( mut new_packet , needed ) => { 149 debug! ( " data needs {} bytes " , needed ) ; 150 let buf_handle = self .buf. as_mut ( ) . unwrap ( ) ; 151 let buf_len = buf_handle. len ( ) ; 152 for byte in buf_handle. drain ( .. cmp:: min ( needed , buf_len ) ) { 153 new_packet. push ( byte ) ; 154 }

How cool is that! With rr, you can move forwards or backwards through your running program on a whim! GDB provides reverse commands for continue , next , next-instruction , step , and step-instruction . reverse-continue ( rc )

( ) reverse-next ( rn )

( ) reverse-next-instruction ( rni )

( ) reverse-step ( rs )

( ) reverse-step-instruction ( rsi )

Hmmm. The program counter (PC) jumped backward from 0x---------d6c to 0x---------ce8. There are quite a few instructions between line 148 and 149. If I know the first value that needed should have, I might be able to read the registers or stack locations in that assembly and correlate with that first value. According to my packet capture, the first MySQL packet received has a packet length of 1, and that number is just too common to trust.

As luck would have it, breeden4 and kmc on the #rust IRC channel informed me of test::black_box(var) . A nice bit of Rust black magic that prevents the optimizer from touching the var expression inside. There is some setup necessary to use it.

Must use nightly toolchain.

Import the test crate. mysql_async already provides this behind the features = [ nightly ] option.

Add use test; at the top of src/io/mod.rs . #[cfg(feature = " nightly " )] use test ;

Rebuild SSCCE with cargo +nightly build --release .

Rerun SSCCE with rr record until error manifests.

rr replay to jump into GDB and adjust the settings again. (I should really see about putting the setup in a dot file or something)

Modifying src/io/mod.rs pushed the code down, so the breakpoint now resides at line 152. I did have to remove my debug! statement so the error would reappear.

GDB > breakpoint src / io / mod .rs : 152 Breakpoint 1 at 0x562330bbe417 : file / home / boxofrox / files / development / rust / crates / mysql_async / src / io / mod .rs , line 152. GDB > continue Continuing. warning : Could not load shared library symbols for linux - vdso.so. 1. Do you need " set solib-search-path " or " set sysroot " ? DEBUG : bug_test_01 : running Breakpoint 1 , mysql_async:: io:: :: poll ( self = 0x7f9c58e5c590 ) at / home / boxofrox / files / development / rust / crates / mysql_async / src / io / mod .rs : 153 153 let buf_handle = self .buf. as_mut ( ) . unwrap ( ) ;

Huh. I wonder why it stopped at line 153. The breakpoint must stop after the line executes. That's convenient when I want to see the effect of that line of code. Not so much now.

GDB > reverse - next 152 test:: black_box ( & needed ) ; ─── Assembly ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── 0x0000562330bbe39b ? mov % r13 , 0xc0 ( % rsp ) // line 151 0x0000562330bbe3a3 ? mov % rbx , 0xc8 ( % rsp ) 0x0000562330bbe3ab ? mov % r10 , 0xd0 ( % rsp ) 0x0000562330bbe3b3 ? mov % r12 , 0xd8 ( % rsp ) 0x0000562330bbe3bb ? mov 0x38 ( % rsp ) , % rax 0x0000562330bbe3c0 ? mov % rax , 0xe0 ( % rsp ) 0x0000562330bbe3c8 ? mov 0x40 ( % rsp ) , % rax 0x0000562330bbe3cd ? mov % rax , 0xe8 ( % rsp ) 0x0000562330bbe3d5 ? movdqa 0x190 ( % rsp ) , % xmm0 0x0000562330bbe3de ? movdqa % xmm0 , 0xf0 ( % rsp ) 0x0000562330bbe3e7 ? mov % r14 , 0x148 ( % rsp ) 0x0000562330bbe3ef ? lea 0x148 ( % rsp ) , % rax // $rsp +0x148 holds needed > 0x0000562330bbe3f7 ? mov % rax , 0x200 ( % rsp ) // test::black_box() | 0x0000562330bbe3ff ? lea 0x200 ( % rsp ) , % rax // rax is never used 0x0000562330bbe407 ? mov 0xb0 ( % r15 ) , % r12 0x0000562330bbe40e ? test % r12 , % r12 0x0000562330bbe411 ? je 0x562330bbea65 < mysql_async:: io:: :: poll + 3781 > 0x0000562330bbe417 ? lea 0xa0 ( % r15 ) , % rax // rax overwritten here ─── Source ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── 150 } , 151 ParseResult:: Incomplete ( mut new_packet , needed ) => { > 152 test:: black_box ( & needed ) ; 153 let buf_handle = self .buf. as_mut ( ) . unwrap ( ) ; 154 let buf_len = buf_handle. len ( ) ; 155 for byte in buf_handle. drain ( .. cmp:: min ( needed , buf_len ) ) { 156 new_packet. push ( byte ) ; 157 }

And here we are. If I run GDB> x/gu $rax , GDB will show me the 64-bit unsigned value in that memory location. That is needed . $rax won't help me when it changes on line 153, so I'll use $rsp + 0x148 instead. Now let's set that breakpoint! Bear with me, we're going to visit all my mistakes. Someone may actually learn something from these examples.

Strike One

GDB > disable 1 GDB > breakpoint src / io / mod .rs : 152 if * ( $rsp + 0x148 ) > 1000 Note : breakpoint 1 ( disabled ) also set at pc 0x562330bbe417 . Breakpoint 2 at 0x562330bbe417 : file / home / boxofrox / files / development / rust / crates / mysql_async / src / io / mod .rs , line 152. GDB > continue Continuing. Error in testing breakpoint condition : Attempt to dereference a generic pointer. Breakpoint 2 , mysql_async:: io:: :: poll ( self = 0x7f9c58e5c988 ) at / home / boxofrox / files / development / rust / crates / mysql_async / src / io / mod .rs : 153 153 let buf_handle = self .buf. as_mut ( ) . unwrap ( ) ;

Attempt to dereference a generic pointer. Hmmm. Guess I need to cast that. Let's fall back to my old C programming days and make that happen.

Strike Two

// get rid of the invalid breakpiong GDB > delete 2 GDB > break src / io / mod .rs : 152 if * ( ( unsigned long * ) ( $rsp + 0x148 ) ) > 1000 syntax error in expression , near `long * ) ( $rsp + 0x148 ) ) > 1000 ' .

Wait, what? How does GDB not recognize C syntax??? You mileage will vary here. I asked on #rust, #archliux, #gdb, and #rr and the syntax worked for some and not others. But ultimately, it doesn't work because GDB can parse many languages and knows it's working with Rust source code. Rust syntax casting will work.

Home Run

GDB > breakpoint src / io / mod .rs : 152 if * ( ( $rsp + 0x148 ) as & usize ) > 1000 Note : breakpoints 1 ( disabled ) also set at pc 0x562330bbe417 . Breakpoint 3 at 0x562330bbe417 : file / home / boxofrox / files / development / rust / crates / mysql_async / src / io / mod .rs , line 152. GDB > continue Continuing. Breakpoint 3 , mysql_async:: io:: :: poll ( self = 0x7ffcdf688fa8 ) at / home / boxofrox / files / development / rust / crates / mysql_async / src / io / mod .rs : 153 153 let buf_handle = self .buf. as_mut ( ) . unwrap ( ) ; GDB > x / gu $rsp + 0x148 0x7ffcdf666688 : 6698509

The memory at $rsp + 0x148 was loaded with the value in $r14 . I could have avoided the issues with casting by using if $r14 > 1000 , but I felt that stack memory would be less transient than the registers and more reliable.

The program has stopped and it looks like needed is 6698509. Seems a bit high compared to the numbers I looked at before. How can I be sure I didn't make a mistake and stumble upon a garbage value? Let's enable breakpoint 1 and stop at line 152 on the previous execution. There should be a reasonable value there if I have indeed found needed .

GDB > enable 1 GDB > reverse - continue Continuing. Breakpoint 1 , mysql_async:: io:: :: poll ( self = 0x7ffcdf688fa8 ) at / home / boxofrox / files / development / rust / crates / mysql_async / src / io / mod .rs : 153 153 let buf_handle = self .buf. as_mut ( ) . unwrap ( ) ; GDB > x / gu $rsp + 0x148 0x7ffcdf666688 : 63

And 63 is very reasonable. Looks like I arrived at the correct position in the program. I reversed a couple more times; found 62, 61, and 60 as expected; then continued forward to breakpoint 1 when needed was 63.

From here, I want to step through the program as it parses the bad packet. Where does that start in the code? Here is the relevant code in its entirety with my notes.

// > src/io/mod.rs 101 fn poll ( & mut self ) -> Poll < Option < ( Packet, u8 ) > , Error > { 102 // should read everything from self.endpoint 103 let mut would_block = false ; 104 if ! self .closed { 105 let mut buf = [ 0 u8 ; 4096 ] ; // Read as many bytes as possible from the network socket 106 loop { 107 match self .endpoint. as_mut ( ) . unwrap ( ) . read ( & mut buf [ .. ] ) { 108 Ok ( 0 ) => { // Nothing more to read 109 break ; 110 } , 111 Ok ( size ) => { // Any bytes read are put in long-term storage (relative to lifetime of a local // variable buffer) 112 let buf_handle = self .buf. as_mut ( ) . unwrap ( ) ; 113 buf_handle. extend ( & buf [ .. size ] ) ; 114 } , 115 Err ( ref e ) if e. kind ( ) = = io:: ErrorKind:: WouldBlock => { // Nothing more to read. Let the program keep running instead of blocking. Yay async. 116 would_block = true ; 117 break ; 118 } , 119 Err ( error ) => { 120 self .closed = true ; 121 return Err ( Error:: from ( error ) ) ; 122 } , 123 } ; 124 } 125 } else { 126 return Ok ( Ready ( None ) ) ; 127 } 128 129 // need to call again if there is a data in self.buf 130 // or data was written to packet parser 131 let mut should_poll = false ; 132 // Regardless whether bytes were read from the network, always try to move // parsing further. There may be some bytes in long-term storage left to use. // Pick up where the parsing left off last time. This establishes a state // machine when parsing is interrupted by lack of data from the network. 133 let next_packet = self .next_packet. take ( ) . expect ( " Stream.next_packet should not be None " ) ; // Either finish a packet, or copy bytes from long-term storage into `next_packet`. 134 let next_packet = match next_packet { 135 ParseResult:: Done ( packet , seq_id ) => { // Packet is complete. Set up to parse the next packet before returning the completed packet. 136 self .next_packet = Some ( NewPacket:: empty ( ) . parse ( ) ) ; 137 return Ok ( Ready ( Some ( ( packet , seq_id ) ) ) ) ; 138 } , 139 ParseResult:: NeedHeader ( mut new_packet , needed ) => { // Parsing the header is in progress. `needed` tells us how many more bytes are // needed to finish the header. It's never much as the header is four bytes in // size. 140 let buf_handle = self .buf. as_mut ( ) . unwrap ( ) ; 141 let buf_len = buf_handle. len ( ) ; // Copy the needed bytes from long-term storage, or what's available if supply // is short. 142 for byte in buf_handle. drain ( .. cmp:: min ( needed , buf_len ) ) { 143 new_packet. push_header ( byte ) ; 144 } 145 if buf_len ! = 0 { // Plan to recurse `poll()` if there are more bytes in long-term storage. 146 should_poll = true ; 147 } 148 149 new_packet 150 } , 151 ParseResult:: Incomplete ( mut new_packet , needed ) => { // Collecting the data determined by the length field in the header. // `needed` tells us how many more bytes are needed. 152 test:: black_box ( & needed ) ; 153 let buf_handle = self .buf. as_mut ( ) . unwrap ( ) ; 154 let buf_len = buf_handle. len ( ) ; 155 for byte in buf_handle. drain ( .. cmp:: min ( needed , buf_len ) ) { 156 new_packet. push ( byte ) ; 157 } 158 if buf_len ! = 0 { // Plan to recurse `poll()` if there are more bytes in long-term storage. 159 should_poll = true ; 160 } 161 162 new_packet 163 } , 164 } ; 165 // Regardless whether bytes were copied into `next_packet`, try to parse any // bytes that were copied and arrange for the next loop iteration to pick up where // this leaves off. `parse()` source code provided below. 166 self .next_packet = Some ( next_packet. parse ( ) ) ; 167 // Recurse if planned, or there's a possibility to read more bytes from the // network socket. 168 if should_poll | | ! would_block { 169 self . poll ( ) 170 } else { 171 Ok ( NotReady ) 172 } // > /src/proto.rs 271 #[derive(Debug)] 272 pub struct NewPacket { 273 data : Vec < u8 > , 274 length : usize , 275 header : Vec < u8 > , 276 last_seq_id : u8 , 277 } 278 279 impl NewPacket { ... 298 pub fn parse ( mut self ) -> ParseResult { // No idea what this does. If more data exists than MAX_PAYLOAD_LEN, is it // discarded? 299 let last_packet_part = self .data. len ( ) % consts:: MAX_PAYLOAD_LEN ; 300 if last_packet_part = = 0 { // No data exists, run through the parsing checklist. // Do we have all the bytes for the header? 301 if self .header. len ( ) ! = 4 { 302 let needed = 4 - self .header. len ( ) ; // Plan to parse the header when all bytes are available. 303 return ParseResult:: NeedHeader ( self , needed ) ; 304 } else { // All the bytes for the header arrived. Decompose into packet length and // sequence ID. 305 let length = u24_le ( & * self .header ) . unwrap ( ) ; 306 self .last_seq_id = self .header [ 3 ] ; 307 // debug!("Last seq id {}", self.last_seq_id); 308 self .header. clear ( ) ; 309 if length = = 0 { // Plan to complete packet on the next iteration. 310 return ParseResult:: Done ( Packet { payload : self .data } , self .last_seq_id ) ; 311 } else { 312 self .length = length as usize ; // Plan to read more bytes for data on the next iteration. 313 return ParseResult:: Incomplete ( self , length as usize ) ; 314 } 315 } 316 } else { // Fast path? Waiting for all the data bytes to arrive. 317 if last_packet_part = = self .length { 318 return ParseResult:: Done ( Packet { payload : self .data } , self .last_seq_id ) ; 319 } else { 320 let length = self .length ; 321 return ParseResult:: Incomplete ( self , length - last_packet_part ) ; 322 } 323 } 324 } 325 }

So here's my plan.

Jump forward to src/io/mod.rs:140 when the broken packet starts getting parsed, then Jump backward to the top of the poll function. Observe how many bytes are going into long-term storage self.buf , and Observe how many bytes are available in self.buf , after reading from the network stops. Observe how many bytes are copied into next_packet . Maybe also verify that the bytes read from self.buf were written to next_packet instead of garbage. Observe the behavior and result of next_packet.parse() . Repeat 3-6 until anomaly is found.

The first two steps are simple enough.

GDB > breakpoint src / io / mod .rs : 140 Breakpoint 4 at 0x562330bbe10f : file / home / boxofrox / files / development / rust / crates / mysql_async / src / io / mod .rs , line 140. GDB > continue Continuing. Breakpoint 4 , mysql_async:: io:: :: poll ( self = 0x7ffcdf688fa8 ) at / home / boxofrox / files / development / rust / crates / mysql_async / src / io / mod .rs : 140 140 let buf_handle = self .buf. as_mut ( ) . unwrap ( ) ; GDB > breakpoint src / io / mod .rs : 101 Breakpoint 5 at 0x562330bbdbbb : file / home / boxofrox / files / development / rust / crates / mysql_async / src / io / mod .rs , line 101. GDB > reverse - continue Continuing. Breakpoint 5 , mysql_async:: io:: :: poll ( self = 0x7ffcdf688fa8 ) at / home / boxofrox / files / development / rust / crates / mysql_async / src / io / mod .rs : 104 104 if ! self .closed {

The remaining steps require quite a bit of work. Not only are the variables optimized away, but they are complex types (i.e. structs). Rust RFC 79 intentionally leaves memory layout unspecified for structs and enums for optimizations. In Rust 1.18, the reorder optimization went live. I spent quite a bit of time trying to figure out how to identity what memory layout the compiler used. Turns out, rustc -Z print-type-sizes will print the memory layout as well as the sizes. There's quite a bit of information to sift through, so I ran the following to dump all the information relevant to the SSCCE into a file I could search.

RUSTFLAGS = " -Z print-type-sizes " cargo +nightly build --release > /tmp/boxofrox/ type -sizes.txt

Also turns out, that memory layout is only useful when a struct is kept in memory (like in a unoptimized variable), which isn't the case here. LLVM will tear structs apart to optimize the fields individually. Great for performance. Not so great for debugging.

So what does one do in this situation? test::black_box() would work if I weren't pushing the limits with my first use of it. Add more and the error no longer occurs. Stack offsets (e.g. $rsp + 0x148 ) seem to vary wildly from build to build, so I can't move test::black_box() around to identify each field at a time.

I adopted another technique I would call a choke-point method. Basically, I paw through the code looking for simple expressions that use or assign to the variable I'm interested in, then cross my fingers and pray that expression wasn't optimized away.

An rvalue assignment is only a viable choke point when backtracking through the code. The compiler doesn't care where a value was stored on the stack earlier and may assign the value to a new stack location. So finding an rvalue assignment after your "instruction of interest" may present you with the wrong stack location.

So how did I apply this method? Recall that I wanted to observe the number of bytes in self.buf as step 3 of my plan. First, I characterize the variable type so I know what part(s) I'm looking for. self.buf is a std::collections::VecDeque<u8> , which is composed of other types. After digging through the rust source a bit, it breaks down into:

⎧ tail : usize VecDeque<T> ⎨ head : usize ⎧ ptr : Unique<T> { pointer : NonZero<*const T> ⎩ buf : RawVec<T> ⎨ cap : usize ⎩ a : Alloc = Heap

Or more simply:

⎧ tail : usize VecDeque<T> ⎨ head : usize ⎪ ptr : *T ⎩ cap : usize

In the snippet below, line 112 looks like it would simplify to one or two instructions and provide a starting address for self.buf , but buf_handle is a temporary variable and was optimized away. Line 113 references two variables, so I don't know exactly which assembly opcodes pertain to which variable. Instead, I tried drilling down into that call to VecDeque::extend since it receives self.buf and interacts with the VecDeque data.

112 let buf_handle = self .buf. as_mut ( ) . unwrap ( ) ; 113 buf_handle. extend ( & buf [ .. size ] ) ;

Eventually, I ran into the private function VecDeque::is_full() :

─── Assembly ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── 0x0000562330bbdc75 ? mov 0xa8 ( % r15 ) , % rdx 0x0000562330bbdc7c ? mov 0xb8 ( % r15 ) , % rbx 0x0000562330bbdc83 ? mov % rdx , % rax 0x0000562330bbdc86 ? sub 0xa0 ( % r15 ) , % rax 0x0000562330bbdc8d ? lea - 0x1 ( % rbx ) , % rcx 0x0000562330bbdc91 ? and % rax , % rcx > 0x0000562330bbdc94 ? mov % rbx , % rax | 0x0000562330bbdc97 ? sub % rcx , % rax 0x0000562330bbdc9a ? cmp $ 0x1 , % rax ─── Source ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── 139 /// Returns `true` if and only if the buffer is at full capacity. 140 #[inline] 141 fn is_full ( & self ) -> bool { > 142 self . cap ( ) - self . len ( ) = = 1 143 } ... 791 #[stable(feature = " rust1 " , since = " 1.0.0 " )] 792 pub fn len ( & self ) -> usize { 793 count ( self .tail , self .head , self . cap ( ) ) 794 } ─── Registers ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── rax 0x0000000000000000 rbx 0x0000000000080000 rcx 0x0000000000000000 rdx 0x0000000000000000 rsi 0x00007ffcdf6679a0 rdi 0x0000000000000006 rbp 0x00007ffcdf668a00 rsp 0x00007ffcdf6677a0 r8 0x0000000000000000 r9 0x0000000000000000 r10 0x0000000000000000 r11 0x000000000000002d r12 0x00007ffcdf6679a0 r13 0x0000000000001000 r14 0x000000000000000d r15 0x00007ffcdf688fa8 rip 0x0000562330bbdc94 eflags [ PF ZF IF ]

According to this assembly, $rax - $rcx is equivalent to self.cap() - self.len() . Tracing backward, I found that $r15 + 0xb8 holds self.cap() at address 0x77ffcdf688fa8 + 0xb8 and self.len() is computed from self.head - self.tail , and that correlates to ($r15 + 0xa8) - ($r15 + 0xa0) in the assembly above. If I look at a hex-dump of the 32 bytes at the $r15 + 0xa0 address, I find a layout similar to the VecDeque characterization I created earlier.

─── Memory ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── 0x00007ffcdf689048 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................ tail head 0x00007ffcdf689058 00 61 f0 58 9c 7f 00 00 00 00 08 00 00 00 00 00 .a.X............ ptr ?? cap

At this point, I wasn't sure I found ptr , but since the code is in the process of extending an empty ( head = tail = 0 ) VecDeque with bytes, I can watch the 0x80000 bytes at 0x7f9c58f06100 and see that they fill with bytes as I step through the rest of the process. I also noted that ptr is subject to change when the buffer grows, so whenever I wanted to watch the memory for self.buf , I had to keep track of when ptr changed.

With this method in hand, I ran through my plan, paraphrasing each line of code until I had a story that made sense up until the glitch occurred.

A Story of an Anomaly in the Machine

At the time the application flakes out, the mysql_async library has read the last four bytes retrieved from the tokio_core::net::TcpStream into an empty intermediate data structure mysql_async::proto::NewPacket , called new_packet , that is used to parse one MySQL packet as bytes become available. These last four bytes are the 4-byte header of the next MySQL packet to parse and they are copied into the new_packet.header , a std::vec::Vec (assertion new_packet.header.len() == 4 ), then decomposed into an 8-bit sequence ID and a 24-bit unsigned length.

Now that the MySQL header is read, the length indicates that 115 more bytes of data are needed to complete the packet. Since there are no more bytes to process, another attempt to read from TcpStream commences, and fails with Err(WouldBlock) , at which point the mysql_async library schedules a future read, then tries to reparse new_packet just one more time in case some bytes had been read.

The new_packet.parse() function (in src/proto.rs line 298) is a state machine transitioner that checks the current state, and with its return value, schedules where the next bytes read from the TcpStream shall go when put into new_packet . The program already pulled four bytes for the header, the buffer was empty, and there are no more bytes to be had at this point. When the parse function checks to see if the header has all its bytes, it's here that the register--that represents new_packet.header.len() --contains 0x00 instead of 0x04. The code erroneously returns a ParseResult::NeedHeader instead of ParseResult::IncompleteData , which corrupts further reading of the TcpStream .

Anomaly is found. And, damn, does the program have to run fast to trigger it.

The Fix I Had Not Found

By the time I got this far, I had spent hours over three weeks digging through the program and was so burnt out I couldn't see the forest through the trees.

Before I could spend hours more working backwards from the anomaly trying to understand why that register for new_packet.header.len() reset to zero, @inejge pointed out the culprit for me [4] and saved the day. Turns out, line 308 in src/proto.rs was clearing out the contents of the new_packet.header vector.

// src/proto.rs 307 // debug!("Last seq id {}", self.last_seq_id); 308 self .header. clear ( ) ; 309 if length = = 0 {

Oh, let me count the number of times I looked at that line of code as I stepped through the program again and again, teasing out stack locations for optimized variables, and not once did my mind register that line even existed.

I submitted a pull request to remove line 308, which was accepted and mysql_async runs all the better for it.

Some Lessons Learned and Other Wisdom

Attention to detail is key. Analyze from different perspectives to correlate results and verify conclusions are accurate. Never underestimate the utility of a second [or third] pair of eyes. Always question your assumptions, sometimes when you think you got them right, they're wrong. Keep your anger and frustration in check. When asking for assistance, a negative tone is less inviting to a volunteer. It's easy to misdirect anger at the person trying to help, and volunteers neither want nor deserve that. Make an effort, at the very least, to keep a neutral tone. You can't share a rr trace with others. It's tied directly to your hardware and OS, due to the syscall recording. Efforts are underway to lift this limitation, though. Just because you're programming with Rust doesn't mean your code won't suffer from wierd behavior.

Conclusion

This bug was a great opportunity to learn the grittier side of debugging. The unfortunate aspect was that stumbling over the "things I didn't know" was a huge time sink when I could barely afford it. The next time I run into a similar problem, I'll be better equipped to handle the case.

Many thanks to @inejge, @Mark-Simulacrum for their assistance troubleshooting this bug. I offered @inejge a tip for a cup of coffee (or some such) for finding the solution. Instead he asked that I write this blog post. You can thank him for all this 😜.

My thanks also goes out to all the Rust devs and community, Tokio devs, and especially @blackbeam for his work maintaining mysql_async.