= ruby-debug == Overview ruby-debug is a fast implementation of the standard debugger debug.rb. The faster execution speed is achieved by utilizing a new hook in the Ruby C API. == Requirements ruby-debug requires Ruby 1.8.4 or higher. Unless you get the packages as a binary (Microsoft Windows binaries are sometimes available), you'll need a C compiler and Ruby development headers, and a Make program so the extension in ruby-debug-base can be compiled when it is installed. To install on Microsoft Windows, unless you run under cygwin or mingw you'll need Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0 also known as VC6. http://rubyforge.org/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=16774&group_id=1900&atid=7436 suggests why. == Install ruby-debug is provided as a RubyGem. To install: <tt>gem install ruby-debug</tt> This should also pull in <tt>ruby-debug-base</tt> as a dependency. (If you install ruby-debug-base explicitly, you can add in the <tt>--test</tt> option after "install" to have the regression test run before installing.) For Emacs support and the Reference Manual, get <tt>ruby-debug-extra</tt>. This is not a RubyGem, you'll need a Make program and a POSIX shell. With this installed, run: sh ./configure make make test # optional, but a good idea sudo make install ==== Install on MS Windows Compiling under cygwin or mingw works like it does on Unix. * Have Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0 (VC6) installed - exactly that version. * Set the appropriate environment variables. * run `nmake'. * Copy ruby_debug.so to `win32'. * Go to the ruby_debug root. * rake win32_gem * The file is in named `rdebug-debug-base-0.10.0-mswin32.gem'. == Usage There are two ways of running ruby-debug. === rdebug executable: $ rdebug <your-script> When you start your script this way, the debugger will stop at the first line of code in the script file. So you will be able to set up your breakpoints. === ruby-debug API The second way is to use the ruby-debug API to interrupt your code execution at run time. require 'ruby-debug' ; Debugger.start ... def your_method ... debugger ... end or require 'ruby-debug' ; Debugger.start do ... debugger end When Kernel#debugger method is executed, the debugger is activated and you will be able to inspect and step through your code. == Performance The <tt>debug.rb</tt> script that comes with the standard Ruby library uses <tt>Kernel#set_trace_func</tt> API. Implementing the debugger in pure Ruby has a negative impact on the speed of your program execution. This is because the Ruby interpreter creates a Binding object each trace call, even though it is not being used most of the time. ruby-debug moves most of the functionality for Binding access and for breakpoint testing to a native extension. Because this code is in C and because and can be selectively enabled or disabled, the overhead in running your program can be minimized. == License See LICENSE for license information. = ruby-debug-base for JRuby == Overview (j)ruby-debug-base provides the fast debugger extension for JRuby interpreter. It is the same as ruby-debug-base native C extension from ruby-debug project (http://rubyforge.org/projects/ruby-debug/), but for JRuby. == Install (j)ruby-debug-base is available as a RubyGem: jruby -S gem install ruby-debug-base == Usage The usage is then the same as with native ruby-debugger, but you might need to force JRuby which has to run in interpreted mode. Simplest usage is: $ jruby --debug -S rdebug <your-script> Or easier, you might create 'jruby-dm' ('dm' for 'debugger-mode'): $ cat ~/bin/jruby-dm #!/bin/bash jruby --debug "$@" Then you may run just as you used to: $ jruby-dm -S rdebug <your-script> For more information see: http://bashdb.sourceforge.net/ruby-debug.html To build run: $ rake java gem == License See MIT-LICENSE for license information.