diff etc/DEBUG @ 90370:e3bacb89536a

Revision: [e-mail]/emacs--unicode--0--patch-46 Merge from emacs--devo--0 Patches applied: * emacs--devo--0 (patch 157-163) - Update from CVS - Merge from gnus--rel--5.10 * gnus--rel--5.10 (patch 58-61) - Update from CVS

--- a/etc/DEBUG	Tue Mar 14 12:15:08 2006 +0000
+++ b/etc/DEBUG	Sun Mar 19 19:43:57 2006 +0000
@@ -245,6 +245,25 @@
 
    xsymbol
 
+** Using GDB in Emacs
+
+Debugging with GDB in Emacs offers some advantages over the command line (See
+the GDB Graphical Interface node of the Emacs manual).  There are also some
+features available just for debugging Emacs:
+
+1) The command gud-pp isavailable on the tool bar (the `pp' icon) and allows
+   the user to print the s-expression of the variable at point, in the GUD
+   buffer.
+
+2) Pressing `p' on a component of a watch expression that is a lisp object
+   in the speedbar prints its s-expression in the GUD buffer.
+
+3) The STOP button on the tool bar is adjusted so that it sends SIGTSTP
+   instead of the usual SIGINT.
+
+4) The command gud-pv has the global binding 'C-x C-a C-v' and prints the
+   value of the lisp variable at point.
+
 ** Debugging what happens while preloading and dumping Emacs
 
 Type `gdb temacs' and start it with `r -batch -l loadup dump'.
@@ -487,22 +506,44 @@
 The array `last_marked' (defined on alloc.c) can be used to display up
 to 500 last objects marked by the garbage collection process.
 Whenever the garbage collector marks a Lisp object, it records the
-pointer to that object in the `last_marked' array.  The variable
-`last_marked_index' holds the index into the `last_marked' array one
-place beyond where the pointer to the very last marked object is
-stored.
+pointer to that object in the `last_marked' array, which is maintained
+as a circular buffer.  The variable `last_marked_index' holds the
+index into the `last_marked' array one place beyond where the pointer
+to the very last marked object is stored.
 
 The single most important goal in debugging GC problems is to find the
 Lisp data structure that got corrupted.  This is not easy since GC
 changes the tag bits and relocates strings which make it hard to look
 at Lisp objects with commands such as `pr'.  It is sometimes necessary
 to convert Lisp_Object variables into pointers to C struct's manually.
-Use the `last_marked' array and the source to reconstruct the sequence
-that objects were marked.
 
-Once you discover the corrupted Lisp object or data structure, it is
-useful to look at it in a fresh Emacs session and compare its contents
-with a session that you are debugging.
+Use the `last_marked' array and the source to reconstruct the sequence
+that objects were marked.  In general, you need to correlate the
+values recorded in the `last_marked' array with the corresponding
+stack frames in the backtrace, beginning with the innermost frame.
+Some subroutines of `mark_object' are invoked recursively, others loop
+over portions of the data structure and mark them as they go.  By
+looking at the code of those routines and comparing the frames in the
+backtrace with the values in `last_marked', you will be able to find
+connections between the values in `last_marked'.  E.g., when GC finds
+a cons cell, it recursively marks its car and its cdr.  Similar things
+happen with properties of symbols, elements of vectors, etc.  Use
+these connections to reconstruct the data structure that was being
+marked, paying special attention to the strings and names of symbols
+that you encounter: these strings and symbol names can be used to grep
+the sources to find out what high-level symbols and global variables
+are involved in the crash.
+
+Once you discover the corrupted Lisp object or data structure, grep
+the sources for its uses and try to figure out what could cause the
+corruption.  If looking at the sources doesn;t help, you could try
+setting a watchpoint on the corrupted data, and see what code modifies
+it in some invalid way.  (Obviously, this technique is only useful for
+data that is modified only very rarely.)
+
+It is also useful to look at the corrupted object or data structure in
+a fresh Emacs session and compare its contents with a session that you
+are debugging.
 
 ** Debugging problems with non-ASCII characters