1*debug.txt* For Vim version 7.2. Last change: 2009 Jul 22 2 3 4 VIM REFERENCE MANUAL by Bram Moolenaar 5 6 7Debugging Vim *debug-vim* 8 9This is for debugging Vim itself, when it doesn't work properly. 10For debugging Vim scripts, functions, etc. see |debug-scripts| 11 121. Location of a crash, using gcc and gdb |debug-gcc| 132. Locating memory leaks |debug-leaks| 143. Windows Bug Reporting |debug-win32| 15 16============================================================================== 17 181. Location of a crash, using gcc and gdb *debug-gcc* 19 20When Vim crashes in one of the test files, and you are using gcc for 21compilation, here is what you can do to find out exactly where Vim crashes. 22This also applies when using the MingW tools. 23 241. Compile Vim with the "-g" option (there is a line in the Makefile for this, 25 which you can uncomment). 26 272. Execute these commands (replace "11" with the test that fails): > 28 cd testdir 29 gdb ../vim 30 run -u unix.vim -U NONE -s dotest.in test11.in 31 323. Check where Vim crashes, gdb should give a message for this. 33 344. Get a stack trace from gdb with this command: > 35 where 36< You can check out different places in the stack trace with: > 37 frame 3 38< Replace "3" with one of the numbers in the stack trace. 39 40============================================================================== 41 422. Locating memory leaks *debug-leaks* 43 44If you suspect Vim is leaking memory and you are using Linux, the valgrind 45tool is very useful to pinpoint memory leaks. 46 47First of all, build Vim with EXITFREE defined. Search for this in MAKEFILE 48and uncomment the line. 49 50Use this command to start Vim: *valgrind* 51> 52 valgrind --log-file=valgrind.log ./vim 53 54Note: Vim will run much slower. If your .vimrc is big or you have several 55plugins you need to be patient for startup, or run with the "-u NONE" 56argument. 57 58============================================================================== 59 603. Windows Bug Reporting *debug-win32* 61 62If the Windows version of Vim crashes in a reproducible manner, you can take 63some steps to provide a useful bug report. 64 65 66GENERIC ~ 67 68You must obtain the debugger symbols (PDB) file for your executable: gvim.pdb 69for gvim.exe, or vim.pdb for vim.exe. The PDB should be available from the 70same place that you obtained the executable. Be sure to use the PDB that 71matches the EXE (same date). 72 73If you built the executable yourself with the Microsoft Visual C++ compiler, 74then the PDB was built with the EXE. 75 76Alternatively, if you have the source files, you can import Make_ivc.mak into 77Visual Studio as a workspace. Then select a debug configuration, build and 78you can do all kinds of debugging (set breakpoints, watch variables, etc.). 79 80If you have Visual Studio, use that instead of the VC Toolkit and WinDbg. 81 82For other compilers, you should always use the corresponding debugger: TD for 83a Vim executable compiled with the Borland compiler; gdb (see above 84|debug-gcc|) for the Cygwin and MinGW compilers. 85 86 87 *debug-vs2005* 882.2 Debugging Vim crashes with Visual Studio 2005/Visual C++ 2005 Express ~ 89 90First launch vim.exe or gvim.exe and then launch Visual Studio. (If you don't 91have Visual Studio, follow the instructions at |get-ms-debuggers| to obtain a 92free copy of Visual C++ 2005 Express Edition.) 93 94On the Tools menu, click Attach to Process. Choose the Vim process. 95 96In Vim, reproduce the crash. A dialog will appear in Visual Studio, telling 97you about the unhandled exception in the Vim process. Click Break to break 98into the process. 99 100Visual Studio will pop up another dialog, telling you that no symbols are 101loaded and that the source code cannot be displayed. Click OK. 102 103Several windows will open. Right-click in the Call Stack window. Choose Load 104Symbols. The Find Symbols dialog will open, looking for (g)vim.pdb. Navigate 105to the directory where you have the PDB file and click Open. 106 107At this point, you should have a full call stack with vim function names and 108line numbers. Double-click one of the lines and the Find Source dialog will 109appear. Navigate to the directory where the Vim source is (if you have it.) 110 111If you don't know how to debug this any further, follow the instructions 112at ":help bug-reports". Paste the call stack into the bug report. 113 114If you have a non-free version of Visual Studio, you can save a minidump via 115the Debug menu and send it with the bug report. A minidump is a small file 116(<100KB), which contains information about the state of your process. 117Visual C++ 2005 Express Edition cannot save minidumps and it cannot be 118installed as a just-in-time debugger. Use WinDbg, |debug-windbg|, if you 119need to save minidumps or you want a just-in-time (postmortem) debugger. 120 121 *debug-windbg* 1222.3 Debugging Vim crashes with WinDbg ~ 123 124See |get-ms-debuggers| to obtain a copy of WinDbg. 125 126As with the Visual Studio IDE, you can attach WinDbg to a running Vim process. 127You can also have your system automatically invoke WinDbg as a postmortem 128debugger. To set WinDbg as your postmortem debugger, run "windbg -I". 129 130To attach WinDbg to a running Vim process, launch WinDbg. On the File menu, 131choose Attach to a Process. Select the Vim process and click OK. 132 133At this point, choose Symbol File Path on the File menu, and add the folder 134containing your Vim PDB to the sympath. If you have Vim source available, 135use Source File Path on the File menu. You can now open source files in WinDbg 136and set breakpoints, if you like. Reproduce your crash. WinDbg should open the 137source file at the point of the crash. Using the View menu, you can examine 138the call stack, local variables, watch windows, and so on. 139 140If WinDbg is your postmortem debugger, you do not need to attach WinDbg to 141your Vim process. Simply reproduce the crash and WinDbg will launch 142automatically. As above, set the Symbol File Path and the Source File Path. 143 144To save a minidump, type the following at the WinDbg command line: > 145 .dump vim.dmp 146< 147 *debug-minidump* 1482.4 Opening a Minidump ~ 149 150If you have a minidump file, you can open it in Visual Studio or in WinDbg. 151 152In Visual Studio 2005: on the File menu, choose Open, then Project/Solution. 153Navigate to the .dmp file and open it. Now press F5 to invoke the debugger. 154Follow the instructions in |debug-vs2005| to set the Symbol File Path. 155 156In WinDbg: choose Open Crash Dump on the File menu. Follow the instructions in 157|debug-windbg| to set the Symbol File Path. 158 159 *get-ms-debuggers* 1602.5 Obtaining Microsoft Debugging Tools ~ 161 162The Debugging Tools for Windows (including WinDbg) can be downloaded from 163 http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/devtools/debugging/default.mspx 164This includes the WinDbg debugger. 165 166Visual C++ 2005 Express Edition can be downloaded for free from: 167 http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/visualC/default.aspx 168 169========================================================================= 170 vim:tw=78:ts=8:ft=help:norl: 171