Debug Platform/Planning

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

M2

• Reliability

  • 242489 

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

• Platform

  212316 

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

  229219 

  Allow command framework handlers easy access to active debug context.

M3

• 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).

• Platform Enhancements

  213074 

  Make run to line adapter async.

  244059 

  Allow breakpoints to specify when they should be overwritten on import

  236980 

  [launching] Support ILaunchConfigurations on EFS

• JDT Enhancements
  • Execution Environments : Support for custom execution environments. This is a joint effort between OSGi, JDT, and PDE. OSGi needs support for contributing OSGi profile definitions. JDT needs to be able to reference those profiles (connect an .ee file to an OSGi profile), PDE needs to be able to set compiler options based on an OSGi profile, and API tooling needs to be able to understand the profile definitions as well to build a system library component.

M4

• Reliability
  • Rework performance test suite to make relevant/stable test cases
• Workflow
  • Memory View

    244822 

    streamline memory view workflow & reduce UI clutter (Ted Williams, Wind River)

• • Multiple-context debugging

    Debug working sets 

    Implement a mechanism to let the user group a sub-set of debug contexts, and then use this sub-set to drive content of debugger views. A color, label, and a decorator could be used to identify the working set.

    Multiple instances of debugger views 

    Allow user to create multiple instances of Variables, Registers and other debugger views. To make this feature useful, also allow the user to select the input debug context for the views.

Debug Platform 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).

  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

    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 (Mike Morearty).

    Tooltip updates 

    Each time you step, tooltip automatically refreshes the displayed value (Mike Morearty).

    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 (Mike Morearty).

  • Breakpoints presentation

    238954 

    Decorate breakpoints according to active debug context.

    238956 

    Improve usability of the breakpoints view.

  • Multiple-context debugging

    Debugging with multiple editors visible 

    Allow debugger to manage the editor area to display multiple debug sessions simultaneously.

• Reliability

  • Performance tests 

    Create more meaningful performance tests and backport to 3.4

Debug Platform e4

• Modularity

  Services 

  Use services instead of singletons (launch manager, expression manager...)

  Launch Framework 

  Separate launching into a new component, that can be used without debug

  DSF 

  Moving forward what happens to the standard debug model? DSF?

• Platform
  • Improve launch framework

    Launch APIs 

    Consolidate/simplify launching APIs (mixed mode, launch shortcuts, contextual launch)

    Decouple launch configurations 

    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?

    External tools 

    Merge external tools with run/debug

    Multi-launch 

    Support for multi-launch

    Get rid of StreamsProxy 

    Provide direct access to a process's input/output streams (no need for StreamsProxy)

    Launch configuration namespaces 

    Namespace for launch configurations should not be flat