Accepting in the Debugger

However, when you proceed or single step, the original method which was active when the debugger entered and which is still in the calling chain, is resumed. Therefore, it is best to resend, restart or abort the execution. Please read the chapter on "Restarting / Returning", for more information on effect and limitations in those functions.

The debugger will show an indicator ("Showing Original" vs. "Showing current Version") to remind you about which version of the code you are looking at, after a code change.

The MiniDebugger

The MiniDebugger is entered

• if a severe error happens within the Debugger itself,
• or if you are running a standalone Smalltalk application without a graphical debugger
• or without graphical classes at all,
• or if an error is encountered in scripting mode.
• or by pressing CTRL-C in console (if there is one)
• or by sending ST/X a signal (SIGILL, SIGFPE or SIGINT) from a shell (unix only)

To get a list of available miniDebugger commands, type "?" (question-mark) at its prompt.

The most useful MiniDebugger commands are:

'?'

help; lists available commands

'c'

continue (same as corresponding debugger function)

'a'

abort (same as corresponding debugger function)

'T'

terminate the process. Be careful to not terminate the event dispatcher or scheduler.

'p' (lower case)

print walkback. This shows the context chain in a format similar to what is shown in the graphical debugger.

'P' (upper case)

print processes. This outputs a list of known processes with their process ids and names.

'U' and 'D'(both upper case)

removes all method- and statement breakpoints from the system. Useful, if you are cought in a debugger loop, after placing a breakpoint in a heavily used system- or redraw method.

'x'

exit smalltalk. This exits the system immediately, without asking any questions. Think about issuing an 'S' or 'C' command before doing that.

'I'

enter a line-by-line emergency interpreter. Leave the interpreter by entering "#exit".

'C'

save the changes made during this session to a separate changefile. This changefile can be reapplied or investigated once you restarted ST/X. Of course, the regular changefile will also contain these changes, but also all intermediate one's, which may now be obsolete. So the file saved here contains a condensed set of changed methods. This is the same function that is also provided by the Launcher's "Save Session Changes" menu function.

'S'

save an emergency image into the file "crash.img". Depending on how corrupted the current state of the system is, this image may or may not be able to be restarted. In most cases, it is worth a try. But think about issuing a 'C' command in addition.

Even if the saved image is not restartable, it may still be investigated via the "Snapshot Image Browser", which can be opened via the Launcher's menu. From within that, it should be possible to fileOut relevant classes and reload/browse them after a fresh start.

Hint: Emergency Repair in the Minidebugger

    <className> compile:'<nameOfMethodWithArguments>
	...
	fixed code here
	...
    '

Footnotes