go-delve/delve · error

malformed variable DIE (name)

Error message

malformed variable DIE (name)

What it means

readVarEntry extracts the name of a variable from its DWARF DIE (debug info entry). If the DIE has no dwarf.AttrName attribute, or the attribute is not a string, the variable entry is considered malformed and this error is thrown. This indicates corrupt, truncated, or unexpectedly-shaped DWARF debug information rather than a bug in the caller's code.

Source

Thrown at pkg/proc/variables.go:1216

		if field.Name == memberName {
			return structVar.toField(field)
		}
		if field.Name == "&"+memberName && closure {
			f, err := structVar.toField(field)
			if err != nil {
				return nil, err
			}
			return f.maybeDereference(), nil
		}
	}

	return nil, fmt.Errorf("%s has no member %s", vname, memberName)
}

func readVarEntry(entry *godwarf.Tree, image *Image) (name string, typ godwarf.Type, err error) {
	name, ok := entry.Val(dwarf.AttrName).(string)
	if !ok {
		return "", nil, errors.New("malformed variable DIE (name)")
	}

	typ, err = entry.Type(image.dwarf, image.index, image.typeCache)
	if err != nil {
		return "", nil, err
	}

	return name, typ, nil
}

// Extracts the name and type of a variable from a dwarf entry
// then executes the instructions given in the  DW_AT_location attribute to grab the variable's address
func extractVarInfoFromEntry(tgt *Target, bi *BinaryInfo, image *Image, regs op.DwarfRegisters, mem MemoryReadWriter, entry *godwarf.Tree, dictAddr uint64) (*Variable, error) {
	if entry.Tag != dwarf.TagFormalParameter && entry.Tag != dwarf.TagVariable {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("invalid entry tag, only supports FormalParameter and Variable, got %s", entry.Tag.String())
	}

	n, t, err := readVarEntry(entry, image)

View on GitHub (pinned to a23773e6c3)

Solutions

1. Rebuild the binary with full, unstripped debug info (do not use -ldflags='-s -w') and retry.
2. Upgrade delve to the latest version so it can parse DWARF emitted by your Go compiler version.
3. Verify the executable is not truncated/corrupted (rebuild or re-download it).
4. If the binary comes from a third party, ask for a build with standard Go toolchain flags.
5. Bisect the Go toolchain version if the failure started after a compiler upgrade.

Example fix

// before
dlv exec ./app-stripped-binary
// after
go build -gcflags="all=-N -l" -o ./app .
dlv exec ./app

name, ok := entry.Val(dwarf.AttrName).(string)
if !ok || name == "" {
    // skip or regenerate debug info for this DIE
    return
}

func hasVarName(entry *godwarf.Tree) bool {
    _, ok := entry.Val(dwarf.AttrName).(string)
    return ok
}

v, err := readVarEntry(tree, image)
if err != nil {
    if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "malformed variable DIE") {
        // fall back: skip this variable, log DIE offset
        return
    }
    return err
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling APIs that resolve variables by DIE (e.g. variable evaluation that goes through readVarEntry) when the compiled binary's DWARF info lacks a name attribute on the variable DIE — typically due to stripped/mangled debug info, compiler bugs, or optimizations emitting partial DIEs.

Common situations: Debugging binaries built with unusual flags (-w -s then partially restored symbols), binaries produced by non-standard toolchains or linkers, corrupted executables, or newer Go/compiler versions emitting DWARF shapes the delve version in use does not understand.

Understand the failure class

• Parsing and encoding errors: unexpected token, malformed input — why parsers reject input and how to find the real culprit.

Related errors

• unable to find function context
• unable to find locals: no debug information present in binar
• malformed map type: buckets, oldbuckets or overflow field no
• ctx variable not found
• ep variable not found

AI-assisted analysis of go-delve/delve@a23773e6c3 (2026-08-31). Data as JSON: /api/errors/3a325b938a74e0da. Report an issue: GitHub.