windbg.dd

Ddoc

The D reference compiler DMD and the LLVM-based LDC compiler can both output symbolic
debug information that can be used by most Windows debuggers. With the exception of
generating OMF object files when using -m32 with dmd, the linker will generate a PDB file
containing the debug information of the executable.

$(P To prepare a program for symbolic debugging, compile
with the $(B -gf) switch:
)

$(CONSOLE
dmd -gf -m64 myprogram.d
)

$(P How to start debugging the program depends on debugger being used. For example debugging with Visual Studio
can be invoked by opening the "Developer Command Prompt for VS" and executing:
)

$(CONSOLE
devenv myprogram.exe
)

$(P If you want to pass arguments to the debuggee you have to use the /debugexe switch:
)

$(CONSOLE
devenv /debugexe myprogram.exe args...
)

$(P where $(D args...) are the command line arguments to myprogram.exe.
)

$(P When the debugger comes up, load myprogram.d and set a breakpoint at the beginning of your $(D main()) function.
Running the program will stop at your breakpoint in $(D main()).
The debugger should then allow you to step through the program, show local variables and watch expressions.
)

$(P If you have $(LINK2 $(VISUALD), Visual D) installed as an extension to Visual Studio, the debugger understands D expressions
in watch expressions and is able to inspect D-specific language constructs like dynamic and associative arrays.
This functionality might also be available in other debuggers if they support it through
$(LINK2 https://github.com/rainers/mago/tree/master/MagoMI/mago-mi, mago-mi).
)

$(P Debuggers without these extensions will interpret your code as C/C++. Most debug information maps naturally
to C data structures, but the respective syntax has to be used, e.g. `->` must be used instead of `.` to display
a class member in a watch expression.
)

$(P When compiling the program with dmd without specifying an architecture (i.e. using the default -m32), the
Digital Mars linker optlink.exe is used to produce the executable. The debug information format used is an
ancient version of CodeView that is only partially supported by more recent debuggers. You can use
$(LINK2 https://github.com/rainers/cv2pdb, cv2pdb)
to convert the debug information to the ubiquitous PDB format.
)

Macros:
    TITLE=Debugging D on Windows
    _=