+++ /dev/null
-Debugging i3: How To (release version)
-======================================
-Michael Stapelberg <michael@i3wm.org>
-February 2012
-
-This document describes how to debug i3 suitably for sending us useful bug
-reports, even if you have no clue of C programming.
-
-First of all: Thank you for being interested in debugging i3. It really means
-something to us to get your bug fixed. If you have any questions about the
-debugging and/or need further help, do not hesitate to contact us!
-
-NOTE: This document is for the release version of i3. If you are using a
-development version, please see link:debugging.html[Debugging i3: How To]
-instead.
-
-== Consider using the development version
-
-This document is for the release version of i3. In many cases, bugs are already
-fixed in the development version of i3. If they aren’t, we will still ask you
-to reproduce your error with the most recent development version of i3.
-Therefore, please upgrade to a development version and continue reading at
-link:debugging.html[Debugging i3: How To].
-
-If you absolutely cannot upgrade to a development version of i3, you may
-continue reading this document.
-
-== Enabling logging
-
-i3 logs useful information to stdout. To have a clearly defined place where log
-files will be saved, you should redirect stdout and stderr in your
-+~/.xsession+. While you’re at it, putting each run of i3 in a separate log
-file with date/time in its filename is a good idea to not get confused about
-the different log files later on.
-
---------------------------------------------------------------------
-exec /usr/bin/i3 >~/i3log-$(date +'%F-%k-%M-%S') 2>&1
---------------------------------------------------------------------
-
-To enable verbose output and all levels of debug output (required when
-attaching logfiles to bugreports), add the parameters +-V -d all+, like this:
-
---------------------------------------------------------------------
-exec /usr/bin/i3 -V -d all >~/i3log-$(date +'%F-%k-%M-%S') 2>&1
---------------------------------------------------------------------
-
-== Enabling core dumps
-
-When i3 crashes, often you have the chance of getting a 'core dump' (an image
-of the memory of the i3 process which can be loaded into a debugger). To get a
-core dump, you have to make sure that the user limit for core dump files is set
-high enough. Many systems ship with a default value which even forbids core
-dumps completely. To disable the limit completely and thus enable core dumps,
-use the following command (in your +~/.xsession+, before starting i3):
-
--------------------
-ulimit -c unlimited
--------------------
-
-Furthermore, to easily recognize core dumps and allow multiple of them, you
-should set a custom core dump filename pattern, using a command like the
-following:
-
----------------------------------------------
-sudo sysctl -w kernel.core_pattern=core.%e.%p
----------------------------------------------
-
-This will generate files which have the executable’s file name (%e) and the
-process id (%p) in it. You can save this setting across reboots using
-+/etc/sysctl.conf+.
-
-== Compiling with debug symbols
-
-To actually get useful core dumps, you should make sure that your version of i3
-is compiled with debug symbols, that is, that the symbols are not stripped
-during the build process. You can check whether your executable contains
-symbols by issuing the following command:
-
-----------------
-file $(which i3)
-----------------
-
-You should get an output like this:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-/usr/bin/i3: ELF 64-bit LSB executable, x86-64, version 1 (SYSV), dynamically
-linked (uses shared libs), for GNU/Linux 2.6.18, not stripped
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
-Notice the +not stripped+, which is the important part. If you have a version
-which is stripped, please have a look if your distribution provides debug
-symbols (package +i3-wm-dbg+ on Debian for example) or if you can turn off
-stripping. If nothing helps, please build i3 from source.
-
-== Generating a backtrace
-
-Once you have made sure that your i3 is compiled with debug symbols and that
-core dumps are enabled, you can start making sense out of the core dumps.
-
-Because the core dump depends on the original executable (and its debug
-symbols), please do this as soon as you encounter the problem. If you
-re-compile i3, your core dump might be useless afterwards.
-
-Please install +gdb+, a debugger for C. No worries, you don’t need to learn it
-now. Start gdb using the following command (replacing the actual name of the
-core dump of course):
-
-----------------------------
-gdb $(which i3) core.i3.3849
-----------------------------
-
-Then, generate a backtrace using:
-
---------------
-backtrace full
---------------
-
-== Sending bug reports/debugging on IRC
-
-When sending bug reports, please paste the relevant part of the log (if in
-doubt, please send us rather too much information than too less) and the whole
-backtrace (if there was a core dump).
-
-When debugging with us in IRC, be prepared to use a so called nopaste service
-such as http://nopaste.info or http://pastebin.com because pasting large
-amounts of text in IRC sometimes leads to incomplete lines (servers have line
-length limitations) or flood kicks.
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