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31 <h1>Debugging i3: How To</h1>
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32 <span id="author">Michael Stapelberg</span><br />
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33 <span id="email"><tt><<a href="mailto:michael@i3wm.org">michael@i3wm.org</a>></tt></span><br />
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34 <span id="revdate">February 2012</span>
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37 <div class="sectionbody">
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38 <div class="paragraph"><p>This document describes how to debug i3 suitably for sending us useful bug
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39 reports, even if you have no clue of C programming.</p></div>
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40 <div class="paragraph"><p>First of all: Thank you for being interested in debugging i3. It really means
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41 something to us to get your bug fixed. If you have any questions about the
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42 debugging and/or need further help, do not hesitate to contact us!</p></div>
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46 <h2 id="_verify_you_are_using_the_latest_development_version">1. Verify you are using the latest (development) version</h2>
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47 <div class="sectionbody">
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48 <div class="paragraph"><p>Please verify that you are using the latest version of i3:</p></div>
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49 <div class="listingblock">
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50 <div class="content">
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51 <pre><tt>$ i3 --version
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52 i3 version 4.1.2-248-g51728ba (2012-02-12, branch "next")</tt></pre>
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54 <div class="paragraph"><p>Your version can look like this:</p></div>
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55 <div class="dlist"><dl>
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56 <dt class="hdlist1">
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61 You are using a release version. Please
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62 upgrade to a development version first, or read
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63 <a href="debugging-release-version.html">Debugging i3: How To (release version)</a>.
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66 <dt class="hdlist1">
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71 Your version is 248 commits newer than 4.1.2, and the git revision of your
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72 version is <tt>51728ba</tt>. Go to <a href="http://code.i3wm.org/i3/commit/?h=next">http://code.i3wm.org/i3/commit/?h=next</a> and see if
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73 the line "commit" starts with the same revision. If so, you are using the
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78 <div class="paragraph"><p>Development versions of i3 have several properties which make debugging easier:</p></div>
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79 <div class="olist arabic"><ol class="arabic">
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82 Shared memory debug logging is enabled by default. You do not have to enable
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88 Core dumps are enabled by default.
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93 If you are using a version from the Debian/Ubuntu autobuilder, it is
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94 compiled without optimization. Debug symbols are available in the i3-wm-dbg
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95 package. When compiling i3 yourself, debug mode is the default.
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101 <div class="sect1">
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102 <h2 id="_obtaining_the_debug_logfile">2. Obtaining the debug logfile</h2>
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103 <div class="sectionbody">
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104 <div class="paragraph"><p>No matter whether i3 misbehaved in some way without crashing or whether it just
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105 crashed, the logfile provides all information necessary to debug the problem.</p></div>
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106 <div class="paragraph"><p>To save a compressed version of the logfile (suitable for attaching it to a
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107 bugreport), use:</p></div>
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108 <div class="listingblock">
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109 <div class="content">
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110 <pre><tt>i3-dump-log | gzip -9c > /tmp/i3.log.gz</tt></pre>
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112 <div class="paragraph"><p>This command does not depend on i3 (it also works when i3 currently displays
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113 the crash dialog), but it requires a working X11 connection. When running it
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114 from a virtual console (Ctrl-Alt-F1), use:</p></div>
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115 <div class="listingblock">
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116 <div class="content">
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117 <pre><tt>DISPLAY=:0 i3-dump-log | gzip -9c > /tmp/i3.log.gz</tt></pre>
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121 <div class="sect1">
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122 <h2 id="_obtaining_a_backtrace">3. Obtaining a backtrace</h2>
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123 <div class="sectionbody">
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124 <div class="paragraph"><p>When i3 displays its crash dialog, do the following:</p></div>
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125 <div class="olist arabic"><ol class="arabic">
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128 Switch to a virtual console (Ctrl-Alt-F1) or login from a different computer
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133 Generate a backtrace (see below)
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138 Switch back to the crash dialog (Ctrl-Alt-F7)
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143 Restart i3 in-place (you will keep your session), continue working
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147 <div class="paragraph"><p>This is how you get a backtrace from a running i3 process:</p></div>
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148 <div class="listingblock">
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149 <div class="content">
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150 <pre><tt>I3PID=$(pidof i3)
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151 gdb /proc/$I3PID/exe $I3PID \
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153 --ex 'backtrace full' > /tmp/i3-backtrace.txt 2>&1</tt></pre>
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157 <div class="sect1">
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158 <h2 id="_sending_bug_reports_debugging_on_irc">4. Sending bug reports/debugging on IRC</h2>
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159 <div class="sectionbody">
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160 <div class="paragraph"><p>When sending bug reports, please attach the <strong>whole</strong> log file. Even if you think
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161 you found the section which clearly highlights the problem, additional
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162 information might be necessary to completely diagnose the problem.</p></div>
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163 <div class="paragraph"><p>When debugging with us in IRC, be prepared to use a so called nopaste service
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164 such as <a href="http://nopaste.info">http://nopaste.info</a> or <a href="http://pastebin.com">http://pastebin.com</a> because pasting large
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165 amounts of text in IRC sometimes leads to incomplete lines (servers have line
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166 length limitations) or flood kicks.</p></div>
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170 <div id="footnotes"><hr /></div>
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171 <div id="footer" lang="de">
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172 © 2009-2011 Michael Stapelberg, <a href="/impress.html">Impressum</a>
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