Liberating the Debugging Experience with the GDB Python API
summary
Shows how gdb’s Python API plus external libraries build concrete debugging tools: uses frame decorators and frame filters to collapse verbose template backtraces and hide library frames, implements temporary and finish breakpoints to fake single-step by calling libClang to find user-call sites, connects to Valgrind’s server mode and parses monitor output to build a pointer graph with graph_tool to detect three-block reference loops, and drives a PyQt5 visualization of std::sort (throttled for demo). All demos run and reproduce the claimed results.
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chapters (19)
- 0:00Introduction
- 0:48Outline
- 1:52Basic Python
- 4:12Improving Stack Traces
- 5:22Frame decorators
- 6:25decorators
- 6:52demo
- 8:30better stepping
- 9:16breakpoint
- 10:29lib clang
- 12:25lambda and sort
- 13:19finding leaks
- 15:02directed graph
- 16:20directed graph example
- 19:29visualizing algorithms
- 20:31building a graphical display
- 22:44the demo
- 24:17wrapping up
- 25:19conclusion
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