DWARF Debugging Information Format
DWARF
gdb, lldb, and perf rely on DWARF — the spec is maintained independently from ELF (gABI) and LLVM debug info.
What It Is
Standard debugging data format used by ELF binaries — describes source correlation, types, stack frames, and locations for debuggers and profilers.
Taxonomy
By DWARF version: 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6 (draft) · Section-based reference
Top-Level Categories
Master Catalog
Sub-Indexes & Guides
Informal committee (operating under the Free Standards Group / Linux Foundation umbrella) that maintains the DWARF Debugging Information Format standard. DWARF is the debug info format embedded in ELF binaries and used by GDB, LLDB, Valgrind, perf, crash reporters, and sanitizers. DWARF 5 (2017) is the current version.
View all bodies →Curated specs from DWARF
Every debugger, profiler, crash reporter, and sanitizer on Linux/macOS reads DWARF. Understanding it is critical for improving build-time debug quality, diagnosing toolchain issues, and building custom binary analysis tools.