Multiple tools can be use to trace programs execution, gdb, valgrind,…
Strace#
Using strace and some options I often use.
# trace a whole process
strace process 2>&1
# filter by system calls to $file
strace -e open process 2>&1 | grep "$file"
strace -e open,access 2>&1 | grep "$file"
# specify a pid
strace -p $pid
# print only a summary
strace --summary-only -p $pid
# tracing network process
# in this example `nc www.example.com 80`
strace -e poll,select,connect,recvfrom,sendto nc www.example.com 80Valgrind#
valgrind -v $commandGDB#
gdb $command