Bug 3643 – Website provides no guidance on debugging

• Status: RESOLVED
• Resolution: FIXED
• Component: WebKit Website

[Curt Arnold]

It would be helpful if the web site had a "Debugging WebKit" page that gave strategies for debugging.  For 
example, suggested approaches for watching JavaScript execution, page loading, etc.

[Joost de Valk (AlthA)]

i agree.

[Trey Matteson]

How about just the fact that you have to create a custom executable to run Safari (or some other app) 
under the debugger?  I don't think that is very obvious - or maybe there is some better way that I didn't 
discover.

[Joost de Valk (AlthA)]

This should be written by someone, thinking about bdash / MacDome / mjs here :)

[David Kilzer (:ddkilzer)]

There is a web page on the wiki that describes how to do this:

http://wiki.opendarwin.org/index.php/WebKit:Debugging_WebKit_with_Xcode

This page should be linked from somewhere on http://webkit.opendarwin.org/.

[Sam Weinig]

While then wiki page does explain how to set up the debugging enviornment, it would be nice to have a list of some useful techniques for this codebase.  This might include detailing how to print out String values and some of the debug mode only methods.

[Robert Blaut]

Created attachment 22449 [details]
Fix for the issue

Main part of the bug was fixed long time ago by creating a page: http://webkit.org/building/debug.html

My patch extend the info by adding link to Xcode Debugging Guide as requested in comment #5.

[Eric Seidel (no email)]

Comment on attachment 22449 [details]
Fix for the issue

+<li><p>Study <a href="http://developer.apple.com/documentation/DeveloperTools/Conceptual/XcodeDebugging/index.html">Xcode Debugging Guide</a></p>
+<p>Xcode Debugging Guide contains describes the Xcode debugging facilities and the recommended debugging techniques.</p>
+</li>

Would be better said as:

+<li><p>See the <a href="http://developer.apple.com/documentation/DeveloperTools/Conceptual/XcodeDebugging/index.html">Xcode Debugging Guide</a> for more information on using XCode to debug software on Mac OS X.</p>
+</li>

[Robert Blaut]

Created attachment 22509 [details]
updated fix reflecting review comment

[Mark Rowe (bdash)]

Comment on attachment 22509 [details]
updated fix reflecting review comment

r=me, though "XCode" should be "Xcode".

[Curt Arnold]

At the time of the original bug filing, there was not an available (at least outside of Apple) JavaScript debugger, so trying to track down deviations in script execution between WebKit and other browsers would have involved building WebKit (reasonably documented), running under a debugger and finding the appropriate places to set breakpoints to monitor execution (both daunting for somebody not already intimate with the code). 

http://webkit.org/building/debug.html likely adequately addresses getting WebKit running under a debugger, but does not address the other issue mentioned in the original bug report of appropriate breakpoints or other techniques to start monitoring the internals.  The article addresses how to load WebKit under a debugger, but doesn't really address effective debugging techniques.

That may be of less importance now since there are (apparently) JavaScript debuggers for WebKit, but there is no mention of their existence on this page other than the non-obvious link to the obsolete Drosera.   http://developer.apple.com/internet/safari/faq.html#anchor14 does tell how to enable Web Inspector in Safari, but a web search will yield a lot of other hits that predate Web Inspector.

To address the original motivation for the bug, the page should, at least, mention the integrated JavaScript debugger and tell how to enable it or provide an appropriate link.

[Mark Rowe (bdash)]

Please re-open a new bug report for any further improvements to the website that you would like to see. The patch associated with this bug has been landed, so this will be closed.