<error message>
──────────────────────────────────────────────
Error (CMD685-IMG54):
! failed to load symbols for "vmlinux"
! Request to load DWARF debug info failed: section .debug_info at offset 0x49481
──────────────────────────────────────────────

Tools: SoC EDS
Device: Cyclone V


This error is displayed when the debug information format (DWARF) of the load target is not supported.
This error occurs due to a change in GCC version 4.7 → 4.8, which changed the default setting of debug information format from DWARF version 2 to DWARF version 4.

◎ This error does not occur if DS-5 attached to SoC EDS 14.0 or later is used.
(Except when you intentionally specify an unsupported debug format)

◎ When using the debug environment of SoC EDS 13.1 or earlier, the following countermeasures are required.

Specify the option -gdwarf-2 (DWARF version 2) as the debug information format when building the module/kernel to be debugged.
The above options should be added according to the configuration of the project to be debugged.
As an example, here is how to specify the -gdwarf-2 option for the 3.10ltsi kernel in "Yocto: Building Yocto 1.5 Dora with meta-altera" published on Rocketboards.
 http://www.rocketboards.org/foswiki/Documentation/YoctoDoraBuildWithMetaAltera

1. Command: Run "bitbake virtual/kernel -c devshell"
Another console will start with the environment variables for cross-compiling set.
(Current Directory is also moved to the build target kernel folder)

2. Add -gdwarf-2 option to Makefile (below) under kernel source directory
Target file: poky/build/tmp/work/socfpga_cyclone5-poky-linux-gnueabi/linux-altera-ltsi/3.10-r1/git/Makefile

Edit: Line 618
[Before editing] KBUILD_CFLAGS += -g
[After editing] KBUILD_CFLAGS += -gdwarf-2

3. Run build with make command from console
(I didn't need clean because it automatically recognizes change sources)

make clean (*if needed)
make menuconfig (*if needed)
make "$CCLD" modules zImage

4. Command: "bitbake virtual/kernel -c deploy"
Store the newly generated images in the /build/tmp/deploy/images folder