Debugging

Debugging a Compiler Crash or Internal Error

When the compiler generates an internal error or directly crashes, using gdb or lldb is a great way to find out more about what has gone wrong.

See Debugging with GDB or LLDB for general information on debugging applications written with Open Dylan.

An internal error from the compiler will often look something like this:

Internal error: ELEMENT outside of range: -5

To find out what is happening, run the compiler under gdb or lldb, and set a breakpoint on Kdisplay_conditionYcommand_linesVenvironment_commandsI. Doing so will allow you to see the stack trace at the time of the internal error.

Dumping DFM Output

DFM is a relatively readable intermediate language used by the compiler. It can be useful for debugging the compiler, but also for optimizing Dylan code in general since it shows (for example) where the compiler wasn’t able to optimize method dispatch.

The main point you need to know is to add the -dfm flag when you invoke dylan-compiler. This will generate DFM output files in your _build/build/ directory.