Debug Platform/Planning

This page is gathering place of ideas for the future evolution of the Eclipse debug platform (3.*, and e4).

There will be a phone meeting held at 11AM CST (12PM EST, 9AM PST) on Thursday, August 21st, 2008 to gather and dicuss these ideas. Please add your ideas here and join the meeting to discuss:

• Toll-free dial-in (North America): 1-866-245-5059
• Global toll free: 800-4444-1010
• Conference ID: 1696709

Debug Platform 3.5 and 3.*

Modularity

• Asynchronous viewer framework

  161435 

  Contribute asynchronous viewer to JFace.

  242489 

  Create a virtual viewer implementation for use in tests, debug search, and a view-less active context provider.

  DSF View Model implementation for standard debug model 

  Prototype a standard debug model/flexible hierarchy integration using DSF View Model (Pawel Piech).

Platform

Spawner 

Contribute process "Spawner" from CDT to platform, to support process IDs and system signals (Darin Wright).

212316 

Make it easier to create different breakpoint types from the same editor.

213074 

Make run to line adapter async.

229219 

Allow command framework handlers easy access to active debug context.

175538 

Allow plug-ins to extend/modify/cancel launches.

CDT breakpoint actions 

Move breakpoint actions from CDT to the platform (Ken Ryall).

Launch configurations in EFS 

Support EFS (external file system) for launch configuration persistence (Darin Wright).

Workflow

• Debugging without the debug view or debug perspective

  Active debug context switcher 

  Create a lightweight mechanism for switching and reporting the active debug context (Pawel Piech).

  Debug toolbar 

  Add a top-level toolbar for Debug actions (Pawel Piech).

  Debug dashboard 

  Create a lightweight variables view or "debug dashboard" (requested by ?).

• Debugger tooltip enhancements

  Instant debugger tooltips 

  Implement debugger tooltips as "instant debugger tooltips", which appear without waiting for operating system delay (Darin Wright).

  Tooltip updates 

  Each time you step, tooltip automatically refreshes the displayed value (Darin Wright).

  In-line expressions editing 

  In the Expressions view, allow user to click or double-click to add or edit expressions in-line, without opening a dialog (requested by ?).

• Breakpoints presentation
  • 238954 : Decorate breakpoints according to active debug context.
  • 238956 Improve usability of the breakpoints view.

Reliability

• Performance tests 

  Create more meaningful performance tests and backport to 3.4

  Viewer simulator 

  Create a framework based on the virtual viewer that simulates the common debugger views and validates debug model's content providers. (Pawel Piech)

Debug Platform e4

More modular

• Use services instead of singletons (launch manager, expression manager...)
• Separate launching into a new component, that can be used without debug
• Moving forward what happens to the standard debug model? DSF?

Better platform

• Improve launch framework
  • Consolidate/simplify launching APIs (mixed mode, launch shortcuts, contextual launch)
  • Should we continue to use launch configurations, or consider an architecture that would allow aspects of a launch be used more easily to compose different types of launch configurations (e.g. JRE, Source lookup...)
    • How can we make the UI for a launch aspect more reuseable?
  • Merge external tools with run/debug
  • Support for multi-launch
  • Provide direct access to a process's input/output streams (no need for StreamsProxy)
  • Namespace for launch configurations should not be flat