iPhone simulator debugging: breakpoints rarely work.

Question

iPhone simulator debugging: breakpoints rarely work.

I'm having a lot of problems getting breakpoints to "take" when debugging my software in the iPhone simulator (Beta 3 SDK).

Many of my breakpoints "turn orange" once I start running the app, which makes me think that somehow they couldn't be found by the debugger. This is infuriating and, as far as I can tell, happens about 85% of the time. Every once in a while the exact same breakpoints "just work."

Can anyone advice on how to get this working all the time?

Thanks,
Dave

Macbook Pro, Mac OS X (10.5.2)

Posted on Apr 17, 2008 6:16 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Jun 7, 2008 4:37 AM in response to thedavewithin

As saggymac said:
"The default setting for debugging libraries and frameworks is Load Symbols Lazily. On occasion this causes breakpoints to not be hit. Turning off this setting makes it take longer to start debugging, but hits breakpoints more reliably."
may be you should set this option OFF... (XCode-Preferences-Debugging)

Reply

Answer 2

Jun 12, 2008 3:03 AM in response to thedavewithin

Try rebooting the mac. I tried this with a suggestion from this forum & it started working normally. It may be helpful cleaning up the project prior to a reboot.

Reply

Answer 3

Jun 12, 2008 3:35 AM in response to Sanjay Adlakhiya

Reboot should not be allowed. With proper debug settings, you should be able to hit the breakpoints.
Or in some cases you can clean the build and manually delete the project build cache.

- Vijay

Reply

Answer 4

Jun 22, 2008 9:38 AM in response to thedavewithin

Make sure you are using cmd-Y to start debugging. If you use cmd-R to run/rerun app then the breakpoints won't be activated or seem to be randomly activated.

Reply

Answer 5

Sep 4, 2008 11:14 PM in response to Vijay Malhan

I think Vijay hit the nail on the head. I was having the same problem, the debugger was not stopping at breakpoints. So, I did a "Clean All Targets" from the Build menu, then deleted my Build folder from my project folder. After building again, the breakpoints seem to work fine.

chrizzle

Reply

Answer 6

Sep 5, 2008 5:17 AM in response to thedavewithin

I have only been able to get breakpoints to work reliably if I also have a breakpoint set in the applicationDidFinishLaunching: method of the application delegate. A bit of a pain to always hit this breakpoint first, but it seems to cause the rest of the breakpoints to work reliably.

Reply

Answer 7

Sep 5, 2008 6:23 AM in response to Laurie Davis

I noticed similar problems, but I did find the cause of the breakpoints not being hit, at least in my case. When I hit CMD+r for run, sometimes the breakpoints turn to a light blue color. I can then go back into X-Code and click the breakpoint until it turns a darker blue color. They will then be hit during program execution.

Reply

Answer 8

Xanthos

Level 3

540 points

Sep 5, 2008 12:25 PM in response to britmansell

Strange. Breakpoints have been pretty reliable for me. Although sometimes I notice odd things happening in Xcode when I have been running it for an extended period of time and find that a reboot helps. Kinda scary I know.

Reply

Answer 9

gonk

Level 1

0 points

Sep 5, 2008 12:54 PM in response to Xanthos

I was having this problem, then discovered this thread... what Harland Macia says above is right... make sure you are actually telling it to "debug" and not just "run" when you run it. Also, look in your project info and make sure you are creating debug symbols for the target you are debugging.

Reply