how to use the geany debugger?

Question

I am new to debugging and I need to how to use the debugger in geany IDE. Is there any documentation or a video available in the internet related to the geany debugger? I have surfed everywhere but I couldn't find anything understandable. Can anyone help me out?

You mean this plugin? -> http://plugins.geany.org/debugger.html — Sylvain Pineau, Apr 25 '14 at 14:36

score 11 · Answer 1 · edited Jan 21 '21 at 14:36

11

I have come across this problem myself.

Compiler: gcc
Debugger: gdb
Editor: geany

Assuming you have installed gcc and gdb by this.

Install gcc and gdb

sudo apt install gcc gdb

To install geany:

sudo apt install geany

To install the plugins for geany:

sudo apt install geany-plugins

Restart geany if open now.

To activate the debugger in geany: menu->tools->plugin manager , checkbox the debugger.

Change the build commands to include the -g flag:

menu->build->build commands

Set the compile command to:

gcc -g -Wall -c "%f"

Set the build command to:

gcc -g -Wall -o "%e" "%f"

And now you can set breakpoints in your code by clicking next to the line numbers. You will see a red square.

In the menu->view->show message window You will have a tab called debug.

Click the debug tab then click the target tab.

Choose your target(if you build "example.c" and set output to "example" which you would normally run with "./example" you would choose "example" as target.

On the right side of that window you can start the debugging.

edited Jan 21 '21 at 14:36

EsmaeelE

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answered Sep 17 '16 at 08:21

Frank Schrijver

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I've followed those instructions but I don't have any tab called "debug". – shahar_m Mar 06 '17 at 06:49
Greate explanation. Thanks alot. – EsmaeelE Feb 17 '20 at 18:35
I don't see debug option in plugin manager even after `geany-plugins` installation. – Abinash Dash Dec 23 '20 at 07:28
@AbinashDash OK, geany-debugger plugins is not exist in some distro like my debian 10. I compile it from source to use it. https://www.geany.org/download/releases/ – EsmaeelE Jan 22 '21 at 14:15
Hi if you right click on the messages tab it comes up with a list with it on. @shahar_m – Richard Bamford Jun 05 '23 at 20:53

Sylvain Pineau · Answer 2 · 2014-04-25T15:04:16.420

0

As stated in the documentation most the the controls offered by this plugin are pretty standards (Breakpoints, Watches).

However this page may help you to start using the debugger: http://geanydbg.sourceforge.net/walkthrough.htm.

edited Apr 25 '14 at 15:04

answered Apr 25 '14 at 14:51

Sylvain Pineau

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I have some experience in the Dev C++ debugger and I know how breakpoints and watches work but I can't understand what are environmental variable,Target and autos. I followed the procedure here [http://geanydbg.sourceforge.net/walkthrough.htm](http://geanydbg.sourceforge.net/walkthrough.htm) but it didn’t work. – ganezdragon Apr 26 '14 at 11:37

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Apr 27 '14 at 09:10

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OK I found something that works here in this forum but still the step into button is still a little buggy :P Will update when I get it correct.

answered Apr 27 '14 at 09:10

ganezdragon

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how to use the geany debugger?

3 Answers3