duktape/website/guide/debugger.html

<h1 id="debugger">Debugger</h1>

<p>Duktape has built-in debugger support as an option you can enable during
compilation.  Debugger support adds about 10kB of code footprint and has
very minimal memory footprint.</p>

<p>The debugger is based on the following main concepts:</p>
<ul>
<li>Duktape provides a built-in <b>debug protocol</b> which is the same for all
    applications.  The application doesn't need to parse or understand the
    debug protocol.  The debug protocol is a compact binary protocol so that
    it works well on low memory targets with low speed connectivity.  There
    is a <b>JSON mapping</b> for the debug protocol and a JSON debug proxy to
    make it easier to integrate a debug client.</li>
<li>The debug protocol runs over a reliable, stream-based <b>debug transport</b>.
    To maximize portability, the concrete transport is provided by application
    code as a set of callbacks implementing a stream interface.  A streamed
    transport allows unbuffered streaming of debug messages, which keeps memory
    usage very low.</li>
<li>A <b>debug client</b> terminates the transport connection and uses the Duktape
    debug protocol to interact with Duktape internals: pause/resume, stepping,
    breakpoints, eval, etc.  You can also use the JSON debug proxy for easier
    integration.</li>
<li>A very narrow <b>debug API</b> is used by the application code to attach and
    detach a debugger, and to provide the callbacks needed to implement the
    debug transport.  All other debug activity happens through the debug
    protocol which is implemented by Duktape directly with no application
    involvement.</li>
</ul>

<p>The most appropriate debug transport varies a lot between debug targets;
it can be Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, a serial line, a stream embedded into a custom
management protocol, etc.  Although there is no "standard" transport, a TCP
connection is a useful default.  The Duktape distributable includes all the
pieces you need to get started with debugging using a TCP transport:</p>

<ul>
<li>An example implementation of the callbacks needed for a TCP transport:
    <a href="https://github.com/svaarala/duktape/blob/master/examples/debug-trans-socket/">duk_trans_socket.c</a></li>
<li>Debugger support for the Duktape command line tool (<code>duk</code>) using
    the TCP transport: <code>--debugger</code> option</li>
<li>A debugger web UI based on
    <a href="http://nodejs.org/">Node.js</a>,
    <a href="http://expressjs.com/">Express</a>, and
    <a href="http://socket.io/">socket.io</a>:
    <a href="https://github.com/svaarala/duktape/blob/master/debugger/">duk_debug.js</a></li>
</ul>

<p>The Node.js based debugger web UI (<code>duk_debug.js</code>) can connect
to the Duktape command line, but can also talk directly with any other target
implementing a TCP transport.  You can also customize it to use a different
transport or use a proxy which converts between TCP and your custom transport.
It's also possible to write your own debug client from scratch and e.g.
integrate it to a custom IDE.  You can integrate directly with a debug target
using the binary debug protocol, or use the JSON proxy provided by
<code>duk_debug.js</code>.</p>

<p>For more details on the implementation and how to get started, see:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://github.com/svaarala/duktape/blob/master/debugger/README.rst">debugger/README.rst</a></li>
<li><a href="https://github.com/svaarala/duktape/blob/master/doc/debugger.rst">debugger.rst</a></li>
<li><a href="https://github.com/svaarala/duktape/blob/master/examples/debug-trans-dvalue/">duk_trans_dvalue.c</a>:
    example debug transport with local debug protocol decoding/encoding</li>
</ul>