go-delve/delve · error

ErrNoDebugInfoFound

ErrNoDebugInfoFound

Error message

could not open debug info

What it means

ErrNoDebugInfoFound is returned when Delve can neither read a .debug_info section from the executable nor locate an external debug info file (e.g. via the GNU debuglink or build-id path). Without DWARF debug_info, no types, variables, or source-level breakpoint mapping can be resolved, so loading binary info aborts with this sentinel error.

Source

Thrown at pkg/proc/bininfo.go:134

	regabi bool

	debugPinnerFn *Function
	logger        logflags.Logger
	eventsFn      func(*Event)

	cancelDownloadsMu sync.Mutex
	cancelDownloads   func()
	downloadsCtx      context.Context
}

var (
	// ErrCouldNotDetermineRelocation is an error returned when Delve could not determine the base address of a
	// position independent executable.
	ErrCouldNotDetermineRelocation = errors.New("could not determine the base address of a PIE")

	// ErrNoDebugInfoFound is returned when Delve cannot open the debug_info
	// section or find an external debug info file.
	ErrNoDebugInfoFound = errors.New("could not open debug info")
)

var (
	supportedLinuxArch = map[elf.Machine]bool{
		elf.EM_X86_64:    true,
		elf.EM_AARCH64:   true,
		elf.EM_386:       true,
		elf.EM_PPC64:     true,
		elf.EM_RISCV:     true,
		elf.EM_LOONGARCH: true,
	}

	supportedWindowsArch = map[_PEMachine]bool{
		_IMAGE_FILE_MACHINE_AMD64: true,
		_IMAGE_FILE_MACHINE_ARM64: true,
	}

	supportedDarwinArch = map[macho.Cpu]bool{

View on GitHub (pinned to a23773e6c3)

Solutions

1. Rebuild with debug info: go build without -s -w (default go build keeps DWARF)
2. Install the matching debug symbols package (e.g. debian -dbgsym) so the debuglink/build-id resolves
3. Place the .debug file in one of the searched locations: alongside the binary, ./​.debug/, /usr/lib/debug/
4. Point Delve at an unstripped copy of the same binary

Example fix

// before
CGO_ENABLED=0 go build -ldflags="-s -w" -o app .   // stripped, no debug_info
// after
go build -o app .   // DWARF retained

func hasDebugInfo(path string) bool {
    f, err := os.Open(path); if err != nil { return false }
    defer f.Close()
    ef, err := elf.NewFile(f); if err != nil { return false }
    return ef.Section(".debug_info") != nil
}

func isNoDebugInfo(err error) bool {
    return errors.Is(err, proc.ErrNoDebugInfoFound)
}

if err := loadErr; err != nil {
    if errors.Is(err, proc.ErrNoDebugInfoFound) {
        // prompt user to rebuild unstripped or install dbgsym package
    }
}

When it happens

Trigger: Loading a binary built with -ldflags="-s -w" or without any -gcflags debug info; a stripped executable whose separate debug file is missing from the debuglink location.

Common situations: Debugging stripped production binaries; separating debug symbols into -dbg packages but running on a machine where the package isn't installed; Docker scratch images containing only the stripped binary.

Related errors

• could not read debug info (%v) and could not read go symbol
• ErrTypeNotFound
• entry has no location attribute
• malformed executable
• can't open separate debug file:

AI-assisted analysis of go-delve/delve@a23773e6c3 (2026-08-31). Data as JSON: /api/errors/e311577c85329367. Report an issue: GitHub.