1*debug.txt* For Vim version 7.0f. Last change: 2006 Apr 24 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. Windows Bug Reporting |debug-win32| 14 15============================================================================== 16 171. Location of a crash, using gcc and gdb *debug-gcc* 18 19When Vim crashes in one of the test files, and you are using gcc for 20compilation, here is what you can do to find out exactly where Vim crashes. 21This also applies when using the MingW tools. 22 231. Compile Vim with the "-g" option (there is a line in the Makefile for this, 24 which you can uncomment). 25 262. Execute these commands (replace "11" with the test that fails): > 27 cd testdir 28 gdb ../vim 29 run -u unix.vim -U NONE -s dotest.in test11.in 30 313. Check where Vim crashes, gdb should give a message for this. 32 334. Get a stack trace from gdb with this command: > 34 where 35< You can check out different places in the stack trace with: > 36 frame 3 37< Replace "3" with one of the numbers in the stack trace. 38 39============================================================================== 40 412. Windows Bug Reporting *debug-win32* 42 43If the Windows version of Vim crashes in a reproducible manner, you can take 44some steps to provide a useful bug report. 45 46 47GENERIC ~ 48 49You must obtain the debugger symbols (PDB) file for your executable: gvim.pdb 50for gvim.exe, or vim.pdb for vim.exe. It should be available from the same 51place that you obtained the executable. Be sure to use the PDB that matches 52the EXE (same date). 53 54If you built the executable yourself with the Microsoft Visual C++ compiler, 55then the PDB was built with the EXE. 56 57Alternatively, if you have the source files, you can import Make_ivc.mak into 58Visual Studio as a workspace. Then select a debug configuration, build and 59you can do all kinds of debugging (set breakpoints, watch variables, etc.). 60 61If you have Visual Studio, use that instead of the VC Toolkit and WinDbg. 62 63For other compilers, you should always use the corresponding debugger: TD for 64a Vim executable compiled with the Borland compiler; gdb (see above 65|debug-gcc|) for the Cygwin and MinGW compilers. 66 67 68Debugging Vim crashes with Visual Studio 2005/Visual C++ 2005 Express ~ 69 70First launch vim.exe or gvim.exe and then launch Visual Studio. (If you don't 71have Visual Studio, follow the instructions in src/INSTALLpc.txt to obtain a 72free copy of Visual C++ 2005 Express Edition.) 73 74On the Tools menu, click Attach to Process. Choose the Vim process. 75 76In Vim, reproduce the crash. A dialog will appear in Visual Studio, telling 77you about the unhandled exception in the Vim process. Click Break to break 78into the process. 79 80Visual Studio will pop up another dialog, telling you that no symbols are 81loaded and that the source code cannot be displayed. Click OK. 82 83Several windows will open. Right-click in the Call Stack window. Choose Load 84Symbols. The Find Symbols dialog will open, looking for (g)vim.pdb. Navigate 85to the directory where you have the PDB file and click Open. 86 87At this point, you should have a full call stack with vim function names and 88line numbers. Double-click one of the lines and the Find Source dialog will 89appear. Navigate to the directory where the Vim source is (if you have it.) 90 91If you don't know how to debug this any further, follow the instructions 92at ":help bug-reports". Paste the call stack into the bug report. 93 94If you have a non-free version of Visual Studio, you can save a minidump via 95the Debug menu and send it with the bug report. A minidump is a small file 96(<100KB), which contains information about the state of your process. 97 98 99Debugging Vim with Debugging Tools ~ 100 101You can download the Microsoft Visual C++ Toolkit from 102 http://msdn.microsoft.com/visualc/vctoolkit2003/ 103This contains the command-line tools, but not the Visual Studio IDE. 104 105The Debugging Tools for Windows can be downloaded from 106 http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/devtools/debugging/default.mspx 107This includes the WinDbg debugger. 108 109 110========================================================================= 111 vim:tw=78:ts=8:ft=help:norl: 112