Debugging GlobalSight

Probably the best way to debug GlobalSight is to start it so that it accepts debugger connections, then attach to it whenever you want to debug. The following instructions use the jdb debugger that comes with the Sun JDK, but other debuggers can attach in a similar way.

First, pass the following command line options to java:

-agentlib:jdwp=transport=dt_socket,address=8912,server=y,suspend=n.

On Linux, edit jboss/jboss_server/bin/run.conf. This applies whether GlobalSight is started from the init.d service or the startJboss.sh script. Add the line

JAVA_OPTS="$JAVA_OPTS -agentlib:jdwp=transport=dt_socket,address=8912,server=y,suspend=n

On Windows, edit jboss\jboss_server\bin\run.bat and add

set JAVA_OPTS=%JAVA_OPTS% -agentlib:jdwp=transport=dt_socket,address=8912,server=y,suspend=n

The basic command to attach with jdb is

jdb -sourcepath=<source>/main6/envoy/src/java:<source>/main6/diplomat/dev/src/java:<source>/main6/ling -attach 8912

on Unix and

jdb -sourcepath=<source>\main6\envoy\src\java;<source>\main6\diplomat\dev\src/java;<source>\main6\ling -attach 8912

on Windows. <source> refers to the base of the GlobalSight source tree. This tells jdb where to find the GlobalSight source code.

Third-Party Libraries

You may need to debug into some of the third-party libraries that GlobalSight uses, such as Tomcat or Xerces. First, download the source for any of the following packages, and unpack them into a directory (referred to as <libsource>):

Tomcat 5.0.28
JBoss 4.0.1
Hibernate 3.1
Lucene 1.9 (The actual version used in GlobalSight is 1.4.2)
Commons Logging 1.0.3
log4j 1.2.8
dom4j 1.6.1
Xerces 1.4.3
Jaxen 1.1 beta 4

The versions are those currently used in GlobalSight (except for Lucene, as noted).

After downloading the third-party sources, the full jdb command is

jdb -sourcepath=<source>/dev/main6/envoy/src/java:<source>/dev/main6/diplomat/dev/src/java:<source>/dev/main6/ling:<libsource>/jakarta-tomcat-5.0.28-src/jakarta-tomcat-catalina/catalina/src/share:<libsource>/jboss-4.0.1-src/system/src/main:<libsource>/hibernate-3.1/src:<libsource>/lucene-1.9-final/src/java:<libsource>/commons-logging-1.0.3-src/src/java:<libsource>/jakarta-log4j-1.2.8/src/java:<libsource>/dom4j-1.6.1/src/java:<libsource>/xerces-1_4_3/src:<libsource>/jaxen-1.1-beta-4/src/java/main -attach 8912

on Unix and

jdb -sourcepath=<source>\dev\main6\envoy\src\java;<source>\dev\main6\diplomat\dev\src\java;<source>\dev\main6\ling;<libsource>\jakarta-tomcat-5.0.28-src\jakarta-tomcat-catalina\catalina\src\share;<libsource>\jboss-4.0.1-src\system\src\main;<libsource>\hibernate-3.1\src;<libsource>\lucene-1.9-final\src\java;<libsource>\commons-logging-1.0.3-src\src\java;<libsource>\jakarta-log4j-1.2.8\src\java;<libsource>\dom4j-1.6.1\src\java;<libsource>\xerces-1_4_3\src;<libsource>\jaxen-1.1-beta-4\src\java\main -attach 8912

on Windows.

If in a debugging session you need to add a new source directory, enter use <sourcepath> at the jdb command line.

Command-Line Editing

To add command-line editing, history and keyword completion to jdb on Unix, I highly recommend rlwrap. Just add rlwrap in front of your jdb command line. You might also create a file in your home directory called ~/.jdb_completions containing common commands, for example:

stop clear catch ignore run cont step next list where up down print dump locals set quit

Debugging GlobalSight