Although packets are character based, they cannot simply be represented as strings, since binary packets may contain the end of string character (zero). Packets are therefore represented as a simple struct, rsp_buf:

struct rsp_buf
{
  char  data[GDB_BUF_MAX];
  int   len;
};
	

For convenience, all packets have a zero added at location data[len], allowing the data field of non-binary packets to be printed as a simple string for debugging purposes.