go-delve/delve · error

could not find compile unit

Error message

could not find compile unit

What it means

LocationCovers resolves the PC ranges covered by a location expression; it first looks up the compile unit (CU) that contains the DWARF entry's offset. This error means no compile unit in bi.Images[0] claims that offset — the DIE referenced does not belong to any known CU, so its location list cannot be interpreted.

Source

Thrown at pkg/proc/bininfo.go:1376

// LocationCovers returns the list of PC addresses that is covered by the
// location attribute 'attr' of entry 'entry'.
func (bi *BinaryInfo) LocationCovers(entry *dwarf.Entry, attr dwarf.Attr) ([][2]uint64, error) {
	a := entry.Val(attr)
	if a == nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("attribute %s not found", attr)
	}
	if _, isblock := a.([]byte); isblock {
		return [][2]uint64{{0, ^uint64(0)}}, nil
	}

	off, ok := a.(int64)
	if !ok {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("attribute %s of unsupported type %T", attr, a)
	}
	cu := bi.Images[0].findCompileUnitForOffset(entry.Offset)
	if cu == nil {
		return nil, errors.New("could not find compile unit")
	}
	if cu.Version >= 5 && cu.image.loclist5 != nil {
		return nil, errors.New("LocationCovers does not support DWARFv5")
	}

	image := cu.image
	base := cu.lowPC
	if image == nil || image.loclist2.Empty() {
		return nil, errors.New("malformed executable")
	}

	r := [][2]uint64{}
	var e loclist.Entry
	image.loclist2.Seek(int(off))
	for image.loclist2.Next(&e) {
		if e.BaseAddressSelection() {
			base = e.HighPC
			continue

View on GitHub (pinned to a23773e6c3)

Solutions

1. Ensure the debug info and the running binary come from the exact same build (same build-id)
2. Reload the binary info after rebuilding the target
3. Verify the image containing the entry is loaded (Images[0] must be the image owning the entry)
4. If writing tooling, resolve the CU through the correct image instead of assuming Images[0]

Example fix

// before
cu := bi.Images[0].findCompileUnitForOffset(off) // nil -> error
// after
for _, img := range bi.Images {
    if cu := img.findCompileUnitForOffset(off); cu != nil { break }
}

// verify the build matches before interpreting DWARF offsets
if buildID(binaryPath) != buildID(debugInfoPath) {
    return errors.New("binary and debug info come from different builds")
}

cu, err := locationCovers(...)
if err != nil && err.Error() == "could not find compile unit" {
    // reload binary info from the current build and retry
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling LocationCovers with a loclist/DIE entry whose Offset does not fall inside any compile unit found by findCompileUnitForOffset; using stale DWARF offsets from a mismatched or outdated binary.

Common situations: Mixing executable and symbol files from different builds (build mismatch after recompile); corrupt or truncated .debug_info; tooling that hands Delve raw offsets from the wrong image.

Related errors

• ErrStackUnderflow
• ErrStackIndexOutOfBounds
• ErrMemoryReadUnavailable
• empty OP stack
• could not retrieve CFA for current PC

AI-assisted analysis of go-delve/delve@a23773e6c3 (2026-08-31). Data as JSON: /api/errors/a366001b1ce2ba97. Report an issue: GitHub.