debug function called within "while-no-input" - debugging

I try to debug a function compute that is called within the context of while-no-input.
(while-no-input (compute arg1 arg2))
Instrumenting compute for edebug and pressing the keys of the edebug have it jump outside the computation and this spoils the execution of the debugger in an ugly way.
I do not know whether it is possible to debug the compute without cutting while-no-input.

Right. while-no-input doesn't care whether the input comes from typing while in the debugger.
To debug in a context like this, I'd insert calls to message in the code you want to debug, echoing to buffer *Messages* any intermediate values or other info that helps.
while-no-input cares only about input, not output (e.g. calls to message).

Related

how to force gdb to stop right after the start of program execution?

I've tried to set breakpoint on every function that makes any sense but program exit before reaching any of those. Is there a way to make program run in step-by-step mode from the start so I can see what's going on?
I'm trying to debug /usr/bin/id if it's important (we have custom plugin for it and it's misbehaved)
P.S. Start command doesn't work for me here(it should be a comment, but I don't have enough rep for it)
Get the program entry point address and insert a breakpoint at that address.
One way to do this is to do info files which gives you for example "Entry point: 0x4045a4". Then do "break *0x4045a4". After run-ning program, it will immediately stop.
From here on you can use single stepping instructions (like step or stepi) to proceed.
You did not tell what system you are trying to debug. If code is in read-only memory you may need to use hardware breakpoints (hbreak) if they are supported by that system.
Use start command
The ‘start’ command does the equivalent of setting a temporary breakpoint at the beginning of the main procedure and then invoking the ‘run’ command.
e.g.
a program with debug info main, and usage like this: main arg1 arg2
gdb main
(gdb) start arg1 arg2
Use starti. Unlike start this stops at the actual first instruction, not at main().
You can type record full right after running the program. This will record all instructions and make them possible for replaying/going back.
For main function, you'd need to type this before reaching the breakpoint so you can set an earlier one by break _start -> _start is a function always called before the standard main function. (apparently applies only to the gcc compiler or similar)
Then continue to main breakpoint and do reverse-stepi to go exactly one instruction back
For more info about recording look here: link

Function reenters in interrupt

I have function that prints debug output to UART. If interrupt occurs when this function works, then debug output from interrupt break previous debug text. So I have something like this:
"03:32:46 Loading data fr03:32:46 Button pressed".
I consider some solutions. I prefer not disable interrupts, instead of it disable debug output if it breaks other debug print function.
What is the good way for solving this problem?
Basically don't do print statements in an ISR as this will have influences on the performance. If you want to know if an ISR was called (e.g. via a button press), try to this by setting output pins and toggling attached LEDs.
Use ISRs to set flags or perform short calculations.

How to get the program call stack trace?

My program can be started in 2 ways:
the START OF SELECTION event that calls a MAIN function from one of my local classes.
the ZAVGTTA4 transaction that calls the same method.
at PAI, for the BACK event, when calling LEAVE TO SCREEN '0'., my program behaves in 2 ways according to how it was started. I want to get back to the selection screen (1000).
I thought about querying the stack, where i'm sure to find how my program was called. I can see that the stack trace is different, but i don't know how to acces my stack from the program. I've heard about the RTTI that i think might be able to help me.
You may try SYSTEM_CALLSTACK.
DATA:
abap_callstack_line TYPE abap_callstack_line,
callstack TYPE abap_callstack.
CALL FUNCTION 'SYSTEM_CALLSTACK'
EXPORTING
max_level = 4
IMPORTING
callstack = callstack.
But in your case I would prefer an additional parameter and the calling place can fill this entry. I would not call the parameter called_by but something like behaviour or mode.

How to debug Erlang code?

I have some Ruby and Java background and I'm accustomed to having exact numbers of lines in the error logs.
So, if there is an error in the compiled code, I will see the number of line which caused the exception in the console output.
Like in this Ruby example:
my_ruby_code.rb:13:in `/': divided by 0 (ZeroDivisionError)
from my_ruby_code.rb:13
It's simple and fast - I just go to the line number 13 and fix the error.
On the contrary, Erlang just says something like:
** exception error: no match of right hand side value [xxxx]
in function my_module:my_fun/1
in call from my_module:other_fun/2
There are no line numbers to look at.
And if I have two lines like
X = Param1,
Y = Param2,
in 'my_fun', how can understand in which line the problem lies?
Additionally, I have tried to switch to Emacs+Elang-mode from Vim, but the only bonus I've got so far is the ability to cycle through compilation errors inside Emacs (C-k `).
So, the process of writing code and seeking for simple logical errors like 'no match of right hand side' seems to be a bit cumbersome.
I have tried to add a lot of "io:format" lines in the code, but it is additional work which takes time.
I have also tried to use distel, but it requires 10 steps to just open a debugger once.
Questions:
What is the most straight and simple way to debug Erlang code?
Does Emacs' erlang-mode has something superior in terms of Erlang development comparing to Vim?
What development 'write-compile-debug' cycle do you prefer? Do you leave Emacs to compile and run the code in the terminal? How do you search for errors in your Erlang code?
Debugging Erlang code can be tricky at times, especially dealing with badmatch errors. In general, two good guidelines to keep are:
Keep functions short
Use return values directly if you can, instead of binding temporary variables (this will give you the benefit of getting function_clause errors etc which are way more informative)
That being said, using the debuggers are usually required to quickly get to the bottom of errors. I recommend to use the command line debugger, dbg, instead of the graphical one, debugger (it's way faster when you know how to use it, and you don't have to context switch from the Erlang shell to a GUI).
Given the sample expression you provided, the case is often that you have more than just variables being assigned to other variables (which is absolutely unnecessary in Erlang):
run(X, Y) ->
X = something(whatever),
Y = other:thing(more_data),
Debugging a badmatch error here is aided by using the command line debugger:
1> dbg:tracer(). % Start the CLI debugger
{ok,<0.55.0>}
2> dbg:p(all, c). % Trace all processes, only calls
{ok,[{matched,nonode#nohost,29}]}
3> dbg:tpl(my_module, something, x). % tpl = trace local functions as well
{ok,[{matched,nonode#nohost,1},{saved,x}]}
4> dbg:tp(other, do, x). % tp = trace exported functions
{ok,[{matched,nonode#nohost,1},{saved,x}]}
5> dbg:tp(my_module, run, x). % x means print exceptions
{ok,[{matched,nonode#nohost,1},{saved,x}]} % (and normal return values)
Look for {matched,_,1} in the return value... if this would have been 0 instead of 1 (or more) that would have meant that no functions matched the pattern. Full documentation for the dbg module can be found here.
Given that both something/1 and other:do/1 always returns ok, the following could happen:
6> my_module:run(ok, ok).
(<0.72.0>) call my_module:run(ok,ok)
(<0.72.0>) call my_module:something(whatever)
(<0.72.0>) returned from my_module:something/1 -> ok
(<0.72.0>) call other:thing(more_data)
(<0.72.0>) returned from other:thing/1 -> ok
(<0.72.0>) returned from my_module:run/2 -> ok
ok
Here we can see the whole call procedure, and what return values were given. If we call it with something we know will fail:
7> my_module:run(error, error).
** exception error: no match of right hand side value ok
(<0.72.0>) call my_module:run(error,error)
(<0.72.0>) call my_module:something(whatever)
(<0.72.0>) returned from my_module:something/1 -> ok
(<0.72.0>) exception_from {my_module,run,2} {error,{badmatch,ok}}
Here we can see that we got a badmatch exception, something/1 was called, but never other:do/1 so we can deduce that the badmatch happened before that call.
Getting proficient with the command line debugger will save you a lot of time, whether you debug simple (but tricky!) badmatch errors or something much more complex.
You can use the Erlang debugger to step through your code and see which line is failing.
From erl, start the debugger with:
debugger:start().
Then you can choose which modules you want to in interpreted mode (required for debugging) using the UI or using the console with ii:
ii(my_module).
Adding breakpoints is done in the UI or console again:
ib(my_module, my_func, func_arity).
Also, in Erlang R15 we'll finally have line number in stack traces!
If you replace your erlang installation with a recent one, you will have line numbers, they were added starting with version 15.
If the new versions are not yet available on your operating system, you could build from source or try to get a packaged version here: http://www.erlang-solutions.com/section/132/download-erlang-otp
You can use "debug_info" at compile time of the file and "debugger"
1> c(test_module, [debug_info]).
{ok, test_module}
2> debugger:start().
More details about how do Debugging in Erlang you can follow by link to video - https://vimeo.com/32724400

Windows Client graphics written off the window to upper-left of screen

I have a Windows WinMain() window in which I write simple graphics -- merely LineTo() and FillRect(). The rectangles move around. After about an hour, the output that used o go to the main window, all of a sudden goes to the upper left corner of my screen -- as if client coordinates were being interpreted as screen coordinates. My GetDC()'s and ReleaseDC()'s seem to be balanced, and I even checked the return value from ReleaseDC(), make sure it is not 0 (per MSDN). Sometimes the output moves back to my main window. When I got to the debugger (VS 2010), my coordinates do not seem amiss--but output is going to the wrong place. I handle WM_PAINT, WM_CREATE, WM_TIMER, and a few others. I do not know how to debug this. Any help would be appreciated.
This has 'not checking return values' written all over it. Pretty crucial in raw Win32 programming, most every API function returns a boolean or a handle where FALSE or NULL indicates failure. GetLastError() provides the error code.
A cheap way to check for this without modifying code is by using the debugger to look at the EAX register value after the API call. A 0 indicates failure. In Visual Studio you can do so by using the #eax and #err pseudo variables in the Watch window, respectively the function return value and the GetLastError value.
This goes bad once Windows starts failing API calls, probably because of a resource leak. You can see it with TaskMgr.exe, Processes tab. View + Select Columns and tick Handles, USER objects and GDI objects. It is usually the latter, restoring the device context and releasing drawing objects is very easy to fumble. You don't have to wait until it fails, a steadily climbing number in one of those columns is the giveaway. It goes belly-up when the value hits 10,000
You must be calling GetDC(NULL) somewhere by mistake, which would get the DC for the entire desktop.
You could make all your GetDC calls call a wrapper function which asserts if the argument is NULL to help track this down:
#include <assert.h>
HDC GetDCAssert(HWND hWnd)
{
assert(hWnd);
return ::GetDC(hWnd);
}

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