dwarf-expert

SKILL.md

Technical expertise for analyzing DWARF debug files and understanding the DWARF standard (v3–v5).

Covers DWARF standard questions, parsing debug information from binaries, and code that interacts with DWARF data

Provides verification workflows using llvm-dwarfdump --verify for structural validation and quality metrics

Supports parsing tools including dwarfdump, readelf, and DWARF parsing libraries (libdwarf, pyelftools, gimli)

References authoritative sources: official DWARF standards, LLVM implementation, and libdwarf reference code

Excludes DWARF v1/v2, general ELF parsing, executable debugging, binary reverse engineering, and compiler-specific generation issues

Overview

This skill provides technical knowledge and expertise about the DWARF standard and how to interact with DWARF files. Tasks include answering questions about the DWARF standard, providing examples of various DWARF features, parsing and/or creating DWARF files, and writing/modifying/analyzing code that interacts with DWARF data.

When to Use This Skill

Understanding or parsing DWARF debug information from compiled binaries

Answering questions about the DWARF standard (v3, v4, v5)

Writing or reviewing code that interacts with DWARF data

Using dwarfdump or readelf to extract debug information

Verifying DWARF data integrity with llvm-dwarfdump --verify

Working with DWARF parsing libraries (libdwarf, pyelftools, gimli, etc.)

When NOT to Use This Skill

DWARF v1/v2 Analysis: Expertise limited to versions 3, 4, and 5.

General ELF Parsing: Use standard ELF tools if DWARF data isn't needed.

Executable Debugging: Use dedicated debugging tools (gdb, lldb, etc) for debugging executable code/runtime behavior.

Binary Reverse Engineering: Use dedicated RE tools (Ghidra, IDA) unless specifically analyzing DWARF sections.

Compiler Debugging: DWARF generation issues are compiler-specific, not covered here.

Authoritative Sources

When specific DWARF standard information is needed, use these authoritative sources: