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Install debug symbol packages on Azure Linux

Debug symbol (debuginfo) RPMs contain the symbol tables that debuggers and profilers, such as gdb, use to resolve addresses to function names and source lines. Azure Linux publishes a debuginfo package alongside most binary packages, but the debuginfo repository isn't enabled by default. This avoids pulling large symbol packages onto production systems unless you explicitly opt in.

This article explains where Azure Linux publishes debuginfo packages, how to enable the debuginfo repository, and how to install symbol packages on a system that needs them.

Note

Azure Linux 4.0 is now in preview and is strictly limited to evaluation and testing purposes. It's not suitable for production use.

Prerequisites

  • An Azure Linux system that you can authenticate to with shell access.
  • A user account with sudo privileges, which is required to write .repo files under /etc/yum.repos.d/ and to install packages.

Where Azure Linux publishes debuginfo packages

Azure Linux publishes debuginfo RPMs to packages.microsoft.com (PMC) in a dedicated location, organized by release version, release stage, and architecture. For Azure Linux 4.0, the layout is:

https://packages.microsoft.com/azurelinux/4.0/<STAGE>/base/debuginfo/<ARCH>/
  • <STAGE> is beta for packages in Azure Linux preview.
  • <ARCH> is the target architecture, such as x86_64 or aarch64.

The version, stage, and architecture must match the system the symbols will be loaded on. Mismatched debuginfo packages don't resolve symbols correctly.

Enable the debuginfo repository

  1. To install debuginfo packages, configure DNF to read from the Azure Linux debuginfo repository for your release and architecture:

    sudo dnf5 config-manager --set-enabled azurelinux-base-debuginfo.enabled=1

  2. Confirm that the debuginfo repository is enabled using the following command:

    dnf repolist

    The output should list the new debuginfo repository alongside the default Azure Linux repositories.

Install a debug symbol package

After the debuginfo repository is enabled, install symbol packages with dnf install. Debug symbol packages share the binary package's name and add a -debuginfo suffix. For example, to install symbols for glibc, run:

sudo dnf install glibc-debuginfo

To install symbols for several packages at once, list each -debuginfo package on the command line. For example:

sudo dnf install glibc-debuginfo openssl-debuginfo

After installation, debuggers and profilers automatically pick up the new symbols from /usr/lib/debug/.

Tip

Match the debuginfo package version to the binary package version that's installed on the system. Mismatched versions cause the debugger to fall back to address-only stack traces. Run dnf info <package>-debuginfo to confirm the available version before you install.

Related content

To learn more about Azure Linux package management, see Package management on Azure Linux overview.

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