Does Insight Actually work or is it just an alpha or pre-alpha?

Does Insight Actually work or is it just an alpha or pre-alpha?

[Dave Arnold]

has anyone actually been able to use Insight to do debugging?

I have downloaded the latest and greatest pre-built version for windows95
and haven't been able to use it at all.  Nice GUI but useless because

1. Breakpoints don't work
2. Can't load .exe's for debugging
3. Show's all source in Assembly.
4. Execution stops with error 193:
5. Single stepping doesn't work

Let me elaborate:

1. Breakpoints don't work:

run gdb from a bash prompt with executable name as argument: BASH.EXE-2.04$
gdb foo
...Insight gui pops up showing source code foo.c  ... set a break point in
main at the first
instruction,...click run, then nothing happens, execution doesn't stop at
the breakpoint,
focus moves to last line of main() being highlighted and the red breakpoint
marker there being
on.

2. Can't load .exe's for debugging:
...run gdb like so: BASH.EXE-2.04$ gdb
...gui pops up...from file menu choose Open...browse to and choose an
executable to debug...
source is all displayed in assembly, cannot switch view to 'source' the file
list at bottom
of the window has bunch of files not associated with your program
like...libccrt0.cc, mount.h, _ansi.h...
and so on.  Execution will stop at a breakpoint, but when trying to single
step, program seems to
run to completion and doesn't stop at the next instruction.

3. Source code in Assembly:
...when loading .exe's from commandline like so: gdb foo  source code is
shown C but when loading
from file->open menu only viewable in assembly.

4. Execution stops with error 193:
load an executable into gdb for debugging,
open the console view
(gdb) file foo
(gdb) break main
Breakpoint 3 at 0x2704: file foo.c, line 50.
(gdb) r
Starting program: /lab5/foo model1
Error: Error creating process /lab5/foo , (error 193)


5. Single stepping doesn't work:

...Same as above, can't step into a program. Have to set a breakpoint first
I assume and then
run...but I think this is just the way gdb works right? In order to step you
have to first 'run' the program.
but would be nice if you could step into a program without having to set any
breakpoints.
Sometimes what happens is the execution breaks in one of the cygwin files
and Insight window is
showing source like this:

- 0x40374f <cygwin_crt0_common(int (*)(int, char **, char **))+47>:
- 0x403754 <cygwin_crt0_common(int (*)(int, char **, char **))+52>:


I would really like to use Insight to do debugging but so far it's useless
to me besides having a nice
GUI.  Can anyone give me any suggestions to resolve these issues?  Initially
I was very excited to see
such a great looking front end but that is starting to fade unless I figure
out how to make this thing work.
The online help is so minimal, doesn't help much.

/dAVe

Re: Does Insight Actually work or is it just an alpha orpre-alpha?

[Jim Ingham]

Also sprach Dave Arnold:

I have not tried Insight on Win95, only on NT, but some of Cygnus's
customers use it on 95, and it does seem to work.  Couple of questions for
you come to mind:

1) How did you compile the code that you are trying to debug (presumably
gcc, but looks like not "-g"?)

2) What version of Cygwin are you using?

3) If you run "gdb -nw" do you get the same problems (does "list" show you
sources, do breakpoints work, etc...)

Jim

> has anyone actually been able to use Insight to do debugging?
> 
> I have downloaded the latest and greatest pre-built version for windows95
> and haven't been able to use it at all.  Nice GUI but useless because
> 
> 1. Breakpoints don't work
> 2. Can't load .exe's for debugging
> 3. Show's all source in Assembly.
> 4. Execution stops with error 193:
> 5. Single stepping doesn't work
> 
> Let me elaborate:
> 
> 1. Breakpoints don't work:
> 
> run gdb from a bash prompt with executable name as argument: BASH.EXE-2.04$
> gdb foo
> ...Insight gui pops up showing source code foo.c  ... set a break point in
> main at the first
> instruction,...click run, then nothing happens, execution doesn't stop at
> the breakpoint,
> focus moves to last line of main() being highlighted and the red breakpoint
> marker there being
> on.
> 
> 2. Can't load .exe's for debugging:
> ...run gdb like so: BASH.EXE-2.04$ gdb
> ...gui pops up...from file menu choose Open...browse to and choose an
> executable to debug...
> source is all displayed in assembly, cannot switch view to 'source' the file
> list at bottom
> of the window has bunch of files not associated with your program
> like...libccrt0.cc, mount.h, _ansi.h...
> and so on.  Execution will stop at a breakpoint, but when trying to single
> step, program seems to
> run to completion and doesn't stop at the next instruction.
> 
> 3. Source code in Assembly:
> ...when loading .exe's from commandline like so: gdb foo  source code is
> shown C but when loading
> from file->open menu only viewable in assembly.
> 
> 4. Execution stops with error 193:
> load an executable into gdb for debugging,
> open the console view
> (gdb) file foo
> (gdb) break main
> Breakpoint 3 at 0x2704: file foo.c, line 50.
> (gdb) r
> Starting program: /lab5/foo model1
> Error: Error creating process /lab5/foo , (error 193)
> 
> 
> 5. Single stepping doesn't work:
> 
> ...Same as above, can't step into a program. Have to set a breakpoint first
> I assume and then
> run...but I think this is just the way gdb works right? In order to step you
> have to first 'run' the program.
> but would be nice if you could step into a program without having to set any
> breakpoints.
> Sometimes what happens is the execution breaks in one of the cygwin files
> and Insight window is
> showing source like this:
> 
> - 0x40374f <cygwin_crt0_common(int (*)(int, char **, char **))+47>:
> - 0x403754 <cygwin_crt0_common(int (*)(int, char **, char **))+52>:
> 
> 
> I would really like to use Insight to do debugging but so far it's useless
> to me besides having a nice
> GUI.  Can anyone give me any suggestions to resolve these issues?  Initially
> I was very excited to see
> such a great looking front end but that is starting to fade unless I figure
> out how to make this thing work.
> The online help is so minimal, doesn't help much.
> 
> /dAVe
> 
> 
> 

-- 
Jim Ingham                                 jingham@apple.com
Apple Computer

Re: Does Insight Actually work or is it just an alpha or pre-alpha?

[Mo DeJong]

On Fri, 30 Jun 2000, Venkat H. wrote:

> Insight must not be very popular because it seems like nobody
> has responded to your question.  I think the insight debugger
> you downloaded is probably just an alpha that still VERY VERY
> BUGGY and alot of the features just appear to be there but
> are not really implemented yet.

It is more likely that nobody on the list has run into these problems 
before. I run Linux so there is not much I can add to a discussion on
Win 98 problems. I am not going to pretend that insight does not
have its problems, but it does 99% of what I need most of the time.

> You might consider downloading the source code and
> building it yourself and debugging it with some other tools, but
> thats a lot if you've never done it before.

Always good advice. If you are having problems you can either give up
or roll up your sleeves and figure out what is wrong. Are you
up for the challenge?

Mo DeJong
Red Hat Inc

Re: Does Insight Actually work or is it just an alpha or pre-alpha?

[Venkat H.]

Insight must not be very popular because it seems like nobody
has responded to your question.  I think the insight debugger
you downloaded is probably just an alpha that still VERY VERY
BUGGY and alot of the features just appear to be there but
are not really implemented yet.

You might consider downloading the source code and
building it yourself and debugging it with some other tools, but
thats a lot if you've never done it before.

good luck!
Vinnie

-----Original Message-----
From: Dave Arnold <avr_fan@nettaxi.com>
To: insight@sourceware.cygnus.com <insight@sourceware.cygnus.com>
Date: Friday, June 30, 2000 2:07 AM
Subject: Does Insight Actually work or is it just an alpha or pre-alpha?


>has anyone actually been able to use Insight to do debugging?
>
>I have downloaded the latest and greatest pre-built version for windows95
>and haven't been able to use it at all.  Nice GUI but useless because
>
>1. Breakpoints don't work
>2. Can't load .exe's for debugging
>3. Show's all source in Assembly.
>4. Execution stops with error 193:
>5. Single stepping doesn't work
>
>Let me elaborate:
>
>1. Breakpoints don't work:
>
>run gdb from a bash prompt with executable name as argument: BASH.EXE-2.04$
>gdb foo
>...Insight gui pops up showing source code foo.c  ... set a break point in
>main at the first
>instruction,...click run, then nothing happens, execution doesn't stop at
>the breakpoint,
>focus moves to last line of main() being highlighted and the red breakpoint
>marker there being
>on.
>
>2. Can't load .exe's for debugging:
>...run gdb like so: BASH.EXE-2.04$ gdb
>...gui pops up...from file menu choose Open...browse to and choose an
>executable to debug...
>source is all displayed in assembly, cannot switch view to 'source' the
file
>list at bottom
>of the window has bunch of files not associated with your program
>like...libccrt0.cc, mount.h, _ansi.h...
>and so on.  Execution will stop at a breakpoint, but when trying to single
>step, program seems to
>run to completion and doesn't stop at the next instruction.
>
>3. Source code in Assembly:
>...when loading .exe's from commandline like so: gdb foo  source code is
>shown C but when loading
>from file->open menu only viewable in assembly.
>
>4. Execution stops with error 193:
>load an executable into gdb for debugging,
>open the console view
>(gdb) file foo
>(gdb) break main
>Breakpoint 3 at 0x2704: file foo.c, line 50.
>(gdb) r
>Starting program: /lab5/foo model1
>Error: Error creating process /lab5/foo , (error 193)
>
>
>5. Single stepping doesn't work:
>
>...Same as above, can't step into a program. Have to set a breakpoint first
>I assume and then
>run...but I think this is just the way gdb works right? In order to step
you
>have to first 'run' the program.
>but would be nice if you could step into a program without having to set
any
>breakpoints.
>Sometimes what happens is the execution breaks in one of the cygwin files
>and Insight window is
>showing source like this:
>
>- 0x40374f <cygwin_crt0_common(int (*)(int, char **, char **))+47>:
>- 0x403754 <cygwin_crt0_common(int (*)(int, char **, char **))+52>:
>
>
>I would really like to use Insight to do debugging but so far it's useless
>to me besides having a nice
>GUI.  Can anyone give me any suggestions to resolve these issues?
Initially
>I was very excited to see
>such a great looking front end but that is starting to fade unless I figure
>out how to make this thing work.
>The online help is so minimal, doesn't help much.
>
>/dAVe
>
>