Here is a patch to add a default command debugger-trap to break into GDB, together with a default breakpoint set in .gdbinit The immediate benefit for developers is a standard command to use where there isn't one at the moment, as explained in DEBUG, only general guidance. The long-term benefit is it can be the foundation for further work to enhance debugging in Emacs with GDB, with the ability to programmatically break into GDB, something I am working on as part of C/Lisp hybrid debugging aids. This patch has received substantial advice and reviewed by Eli. It is posted here for the benefit of the community for further discussion. To recap, we need a do-nothing primitive, whose sole purpose is to allow setting a breakpoint there to get control to GDB. redraw-display and similar functions are usually okay, but they could get in the way if what they do modifies Emacs in a way that interferes with debugging, for example if they remove some display artifact one is debugging, or run functions as side effect that modify the global state. Adding Paul Eggert as the main recent contributor to etc/DEBUG for thoughts.