[Mono-list] The Mono Crisis

[Paolo Molaro]

On 09/09/04 Ralph Mason wrote:
> It lacks a workable debugger of any kind - Yes I know there is this 
> method and that method that you 'can' use but they all suck. They don't 
> build or they need this and that, but no one can actually nail down 
> exactly what this and that is.

Yes, we recognize it's an issue. Toshok started working a few days ago
to improve the debugging situation.

> We have been diligently trying to use mono for about 6 month or more and 
> have tried basically every permutation of debuggers, library versions, 
> NPTL no NPTL this kernel that kernel, this garbage collector, that one, 

The mono debugger is mostly unusable right now, so it's better if people
don't waste time with it unless they plan to work on it.

> none at all,  gdb etc etc (This whole freezing up NTPL / GC problem and 

gdb works for me (you need version 6.0 or 6.2 to handle therads, earlier
versions didn't support them very well). Of course, using it with
managed code is a bit of a pain unless you're interested in the jit code
produced:-) There are a couple of helper functions, like
print_method_from_ip() to move around: we definitely need to add more,
like a describe_object() or describe_locals() helper.

> the way that the problem is not recognized as a problem is the second 
> largest problem I have with mono)

Is this the issue on gentoo? People seem to have tracked down an issue
between libgc and nptl, but it doesn't look they have reported it to
either the nptl or the libgc developers: we could do it, but it would be
better if it's done by someone who can actually reproduce the issue
since he could give details.

> Mono Needs a STABLE debugger that will build and run on ANY system.  The 
> debugger needs to be able to step into interop libraries (or have some 
> way to debug both at once);

I agree completely.

> Can anyone make this happen?  Miguel?

As said, Toshok started to work a few days ago on this very issue.
Thanks.

lupus

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