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What Good Linux Debuggers Are There?
David Weekly asks: "I'm programming for a small software company that's got a fair bit of C++ code; we've been using gdb whilst on Linux, but have been a little frustrated by its shortcomings with multithreaded applications and its fumbling multiple inheritance issues. I poked around on the Net and, other than gdb, I was only able to find Etnus' TotalView as a modern, actively-developed Linux debugger. Are there really only two Linux debuggers (that one can take seriously)? How, for instance, do folks who code up Apache modules test them in multithreaded mode? (i.e., not just using '-X'.) I'd love to hear answers more substantive than 'use printf()' and/or 'just use ____, my favorite gdb frontend'."
[article author] A number of people have thoughtfully suggested trying out Intel's debugger (aka LDB). Unfortunately, from what I found, it looks like LDB has only a subset of gdb functions, and can't even do simple things, like attach to processes. It seems that Intel has given up making their own Linux debugger and has decided to join up with GDB development. That's why I didn't include it. Thanks anyhow to those who did suggest it and thanks to those of you who suggested some other debuggers; I'll take a look at them.
David E. Weekly
Code / Think / Teach / Learn
h4x0r for
UPS is the only debugger I use anymore! I've never used it in the situations you asked about (multithreaded code etc), but I have generally found it's a very fast and lean debugger. It's also cross-platform, which is nice.
(The only real downside is its user interface, which isn't too great.)
You may want to take a look at Borland's Kylix, the linux-native port of Borland's respocted IDE's for C, C++, and Delphi (they claim it supports the same features as windows versions). It comes with a high quality debugger/profiler, and, while not free, a trial version is available.