In reply to @swalf "Hello, I have a": Chat Gpt




Yeah, debugging in Nim can be a bit tricky, especially with how the garbage
collector (GC) has changed over time. Here’s the current situation:

1. GDB and nim-gdb.py Issues

The nim-gdb.py script, which was supposed to provide better Nim variable
inspection, hasn't kept up with recent Nim versions. Many users report that it
doesn’t work properly anymore.

Because Nim’s GC has changed, pointers to heap-allocated objects may not be easy
to inspect directly in GDB.


2. Workarounds for Variable Inspection

Using --stackTrace:on and --debugger:native

This gives better debugging symbols for GDB.

You can try --passC:-g --passL:-g to improve debugging information.


Printing Debug Info Manually

Sometimes, echo or debugEcho is the best way to see variable values while
debugging.


--lineDir:on

This can sometimes improve source mapping in GDB.



3. Alternative Debuggers

LLDB: Some people have had more luck using LLDB instead of GDB.

RR (Mozilla's Debugger): If you need a more powerful debugging experience, rr
can be useful for replay debugging.

VSCode/Nim Plugin Debugging: The Nim extension for VSCode is still a work in
progress, but using it with native debugger can sometimes work better.


4. Future Improvements

Nim’s debugging story is improving, but right now, it’s not as polished as
something like Rust’s rust-gdb or rust-lldb.

The Nim community is aware of these issues, and there might be improvements in
newer releases.


For now, debugging Nim effectively often means relying on echo, careful use of
debugger hooks, and manually inspecting memory when needed.